《Zombie Sister Strategy》


 1 The Betrayal of Human Beings

    In Eastern China''s Sea City...


    Sea City used to be one of the economically developed cities which had huge populations. But at present, it had degraded into a wasteland of dilapidation, without a trace of human habitation, and only a swarm of slow-moving zombies lumbering through the city.


    At the moment, a scene was at play inside a closed room of a building in this deserted city¡­


    The room had no windows and only a door, which was locked as well. There was no furniture save for a bed. It used to be a secret resting room in the CEO''s office of a large company.


    From the ought-to-be empty room came some small sounds which could cause faces to blush and hearts to beat faster. On the bed inside the room, an act of forced sex was happening. However, nobody could have imagined that the one suffering this unspeakable act was a man, lying on the bed and unable to move.


    An hour later, a woman walked out of the room, her face filled with satisfaction. Although she wasn''t ugly, her makeup was too heavy. Her lips were red as blood, and her face was caked in a layer of white foundation. The thick eyeshadow had obscured the original shape of her eyes. Her thick, long eyelashes fluttered down, lightly covering her eyes.


    She had a body that could make men obsessed and women jealous. She was tall, with curves in all the right places¡ªfullness in the chest, a soft, wasp waist, with a gently rounded hip, underneath which was a pair of beautiful legs, which were straight, slim, and long.


    There was an office space outside the room. The three people who had been keeping watch there all turned to look at the woman as she came out, hints of contempt hidden in their eyes.


    "Time to go," said the woman while beaming with satisfaction.


    While speaking, she drew out a gun and walked out of the office ahead of the others. She kept her back warily against the wall while moving toward the stairs. The three didn''t say anything, just pulled out their own guns and followed her out. But behind her, they silently exchanged glances loaded with an intent to murder.


    Back in the room with no windows, a man lay flat on the bed, unable to move. He had a very handsome face, though it was heavily flushed at that moment. His nose was straight, and his thin lips were pressed together into a straight line. His long and narrow eyes contained a strong murderous intent, and were turning red while staring at the ceiling. His face was twisted with a mixture of wrath and homicidal intent, and his teeth were clenched tightly.


    If he had found Ling Ling''s location, how could he ever have just meekly let that woman do such a thing to him?


    ...


    But before long, the woman, whose face was a mask of heavy makeup, was knocked unconscious and thrown into a swarm of zombies. The zombies slowly slunk toward her before pouncing, biting, and tearing.


    She woke up with an excruciating, tearing pain, her screams splitting the air around her, "Ah! Ling Yong! Liu Hongshi! Liang Caiyan! You won''t get away! Ah¡­ Ah¡­ I''ll hunt you, and I''ll find you¡­ even as a zombie! Ah¡­ Hahaha¡­ Do you think I wasn''t prepared for this? The little girl isn''t there¡­ Ah¡­"


    A twisted and savage smile appeared on her face while she was screaming. However, her heart-tearing screeches gradually faded, heard by nobody but the zombies.


    However, just as she was about to be torn into pieces by the zombies, a strong wave of energy suddenly erupted from her brain, propelling the zombies away from her body.


    After picking themselves up, all the zombies froze. They were confusedly rooted to their spots for a while before swaying away, and none of them noticed this ''fresh food'' ever again.


    ...


    A day later, a squad of soldiers showed up from the opposite direction and moved toward the other side of the city while firing their weapons at the zombies. This was the only path to be taken, with dense woods and parks on both sides. In this apocalyptic world, human beings would rather face zombies than the mutated creatures in those places.


    For this reason, all wooded areas had slowly been designated as forbidden areas.


    Lu Tianyu, who had been dead for a day, lay stiffly on the ground. She had this twisted expression in her face, as though she was still suffering the immense pain. Her body and limbs had become shreds of flesh and skin, barely recognizable as human.


    Her body was besmeared with blood, though she fortunately hadn''t been completely torn into pieces. She lay silently on the ground with a ghastly pale face, her gray eyes staring at the sky.


    Pale gray eyes¡­ it was a characteristic of zombies.


    Suddenly, these pale and lifeless eyes moved. A living person would be scared literally to death if they saw this, because this was the early sign of the transition from human to zombie.


    Her eyes moved again¡­ and again. All of a sudden, those pale gray eyes turned black. Not just the pupils, but even the whites of those eyes turned black in this instant. Slight changes had begun happening to her body in the meanwhile¡ªher fingernails had started growing, turning sharp and hard, and she no longer smelled like something that had rotted.


    She moved slightly, then stiffly sat up on the ground, looking around blankly. About ten seconds later, she tried to stand up, quickly realizing that her body seemed to be not so under control.


    She tried for a few times, but couldn''t get up because her knees were stiff. She looked around for something to hold onto, but there was nothing nearby.


    At last, Lin Qiao had no choice but to try bending her knees. She spent quite a while to finally struggle to her feet, but once upright, she discovered something even more terrifying.


    She stared at her hands, stunned.


    There were purple-black dried blood stains under her black and sharp nails. Her arms were filthy, and all the skin and flesh had been chewed up, with only the pale white bones remaining. The skin on the back of her hands was bluish pale, also stained with black dried blood.


    Her entire body was stiff, and limbs were lacking coordination, so she felt off-balance.


    She was dumbstruck as she stared at her hands and then her body. She closed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. She then reopened her eyes but found no change in this ravaged body of hers, which was barely in human shape.


    She raised her head and howled at the sky, ''What the hell!''


    However, all that came out of her mouth was "Roarrrrrrrrrr!"


    Maybe her growl was too alien, that the zombies nearby who had been busily attacking the squad of human soldiers all halted simultaneously and then turned to look at her. The soldiers who had been defending against the zombies paused briefly as well, then like the zombies, turned to look at her.


    Human beings¡ªThis zombie''s voice is so weird?


    Zombies¡ªWhat is this zombie shouting about?


    But soon, these human beings and zombies had forgotten about this weird zombie and continued fighting.


    Lin Qiao looked at her hollowed stomach, dumbfounded.


    Damn it! What the hell was this? Who could tell her what on earth had happened? Was she dreaming?


    She raised her head and looked around, abruptly seeing two groups of people not far away. ''Why does the outermost group look so much like the zombies from the movies?'' She wondered.


    She looked around, and what came into her vision were the ruins of war. She saw dilapidated buildings and completely broken windows, with nothing left in the window frames. The scenes by the road were just as dismaying, and the traffic was paralyzed, and broken cars were abandoned either by the side of the road or right in the middle. Some of the streetlights had tilted, and some had fallen to the ground. Rubble and dust were scattered all around, and the looks of the trees had become fairly strange as well.

 2 Came Back to Life as A Zombie

    Chapter 2 - Resurrected As A Zombie


    This strange environment made Lin Qiao feel out of her wits. She looked around in confusion while weighing this new reality. She must be dreaming! She must definitely be dreaming!


    She looked down at her stomach once again.


    Her stomach had been ripped from her body, so why was she still conscious? And, what was that strange sound she just made?


    She felt that she might be going crazy. She seemed to remember merely having a fever and taking some medicine, then falling asleep. So, how come the world had become like this by the time she woke up?


    ''Yes, I must be dreaming! I am dreaming! I am dreaming!''


    Lin Qiao repeated this in a bid to convince herself. She had fallen asleep after taking the medicine, and probably just hadn''t woken up yet.


    Otherwise, how could she feel nothing while her body was in this state?


    Before she could figure out anything, she suddenly sensed a dull ache in her brain. Strange memories that didn''t belong to her randomly flooded her mind, and the dull ache instantly augmented into a swelling pain that threatened to burst her head open. Her face immediately twisted in agony, then she opened her mouth wide and gave a shout.


    "Roarrrr!"


    With that, her body toppled sideways and fell to the ground.


    Within the memories, she saw an ordinary but adorable girl growing from a chubby toddler into a beautiful young lady. Every scene of the growing girl''s life, from primary school to middle school, and then to college, scrolled through Lin Qiao''s mind. This girl''s name was Lu Tianyu. She had been admitted to her dream college, and it should have been so wonderful. However, on her first day of college, the world suddenly changed.


    In the classroom, all the new students were looking curiously at each other while introducing themselves one after another. However, things started going wrong when it was the turn of a girl who had been lying motionlessly on her desk.


    No matter how loudly the other students called her, the girl wouldn''t wake up. Someone even pushed her, yet she still would not wake. The teacher had no other choice but to ask two male students to help her to the infirmary. However, right at the time when the two male students reached the door of the classroom with this unconscious girl, she suddenly opened her eyes.


    Furthermore, those eyes were pale gray in color. She didn''t say a word after opening her eyes, but abruptly turned her head two seconds later and opened her mouth wide. Baring her teeth, she bit the neck of one of the two male students who had been holding her.


    Shrill screams spread throughout the entire building,


    The others hurriedly pulled the male student away from the girl, but he had already fainted. On the other side, the girl who bit him had become so incredibly strong that even a couple of male students couldn''t hold her down. They just helplessly watched her hurt some other students by biting and scratching them.


    The same thing began happening throughout the city, attracting the attention of the government and local police. On that day, all available police and military forces were called out to deal with these strange and frightening events.


    That night, a strange hush blanketed the world, and the people woke up the next morning to find their world destroyed.


    Only thirty percent of all human beings in the world woke up as themselves, while the remaining seventy percent had all turned into slow-moving zombies with no real consciousness, just the insanely strong desire to eat human beings!


    In fact, these memories were utterly disordered, but Lin Qiao slowly managed to put all the pieces together. Even though many parts were missing, she was still able to confirm one thing...


    These memories all belonged to somebody else!


    From the memories of this girl called Lu Tianyu, Lin Qiao learned another fact-since the apocalyptic era started, five years had passed!


    The apocalyptic era began just the day after she took the medicine the last time for her fever and fell asleep.The next morning, many people woke up as senseless zombies that could do nothing but bite every living person they saw. Of course, many others woke up as normal people. And, there were still others who looked normal in appearance, but their physical quality had been drastically changed.


    The last type of people were the ones who triggered their superpowers soon after.


    By now, Lu Tianyu was twenty-three years old.


    In Lu Tianyu''s memories, she did not wake up in the apocalyptic world as a zombie or with a triggered superpower, but as an ordinary person.


    In this war-ridden and chaotic apocalyptic world, she was completely defenseless.


    Therefore, she had to bargain for survival with her body and clever schemes. Luckily, she had a beautiful face. In the apocalyptic world, the number of women had dropped so dramatically that ninety percent of the people in a base were men, while only ten percent were women. Women had become like rare animals, so she was quite popular being a beautiful woman.


    She had been good at scheming ever since she was a child. She framed people and played all kinds of dirty tricks just to survive in this dangerous, chaotic world.


    It was strange that Lin Qiao recalled many of Lu Tianyu''s memories, but not all of them. She felt that there were still a lot of things that she hadn''t recollected yet. For example, she couldn''t see anything that Lu Tianyu had done recently.


    Twenty years of strange memories filled her mind. Lin Qiao was a little confused, so much so that she nearly lost herself and forgot who she was. Was she Lin Qiao? Was she Lu Tianyu?


    Fortunately, while she was gripped by an awful headache, a coolness spread through her brain, triggering her own memories and stopping her from becoming Lu Tianyu fully.


    She touched her body and found that her clothes barely covered her body. She lowered her head and looked down at her hollowed stomach, as well as her zombie-eaten breasts.


    Lin Qiao wanted to cry, but no tears would come out. She had confirmed one thing¡ªshe had become someone else because she had returned from death in someone else''s body! She wondered if her own body had woken up in that world-ending morning like the others. Or perhaps it had become a female zombie who knew nothing except biting every human being it saw!


    ''Damn it! Even a rebirth should at least put me into a living person''s body! It could be male or female, old or young! What does this broken zombie body mean? Even if I have to live in a zombie body, I should at least have one that is whole!'' She screamed in her heart.


    Depressed, Lin Qiao raised her head and roared, "Roarrrrrrr!"


    The zombies around her seemed to sense her discontentment, as they all quieted down suddenly. Then, something weird happened¡ªall of the zombies around her slowly moved away from her, and an area was soon vacated around her.


    Lin Qiao lay on the ground, looking around with a strong and strange sensation lingering in her mind.


    From Lu Tianyu''s memories, she learned about the changes and developments of the apocalyptic world, and some things that Lu Tianyu had done after the old world ended. Although these memories were incomplete, they were enough for Lin Qiao to learn that Lu Tianyu was the most disgusting and despicable woman in the entire base. She traded for precious resources in the beds of different men, and evilly caused the deaths of many innocent people. However, beautiful women were even more popular in an apocalyptic world like this than they used to be in the old world.


    Five years¡­ five whole years had passed. All the people in the base had known that Lu Tianyu was an evil, calculative, and sl*tty woman.


    However, Lin Qiao couldn''t understand why she hadn''t woken up that morning when the old world ended instead of five years later. Why did it take her five years?


    What about her family? Her comrades? Were they still alive?


    No, she couldn''t be like this! She needed to find her mother, brother, sister-in-law, sister, and others! She needed to know how they had been all this while, and whether they had turned into zombies or superpowered ones!

 3 Stolen Clothe

    Chapter 3 - Stolen Clothes


    "Hurry¡­ There''re too many zombies¡­ Watch out on your left!"


    "This side is blocked¡­ There''s no way through¡­"


    "Ah!"


    "Lin Yu..."


    "Don''t go over there! Lin Yu''s hand has been scratched by zombies..."


    "Don''t come over! Captain! Don''t let me turn into a zombie¡­ Hm¡­ Kill me now¡­ I¡­ Captain..."


    "Lin Yu! Lin Yu!"


    On the other side, the battle situation had now changed. The result of the battle was tipping in favor of the zombies as some human squad members had been wounded.


    "Captain¡­ Take care of my¡­ sis-sister¡­ for me..."


    ...


    "No! Lin Yu! You hang in there! That''s an order! What would Lin Yan do if you died?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t hear these conversations with her ears. Instead, the words just appeared in her mind. In addition to these, she had also been hearing other voices, some of which were repeating two words over and over.


    ''So hungry¡­ So hungry¡­ So hungry¡­''


    These voices were like tiny hammers that had been ceaselessly pounding her brain. Because of them, Lin Qiao suffered a splitting headache once again. She bared her teeth in pain, slowly twisting her body to struggle.


    "Captain¡­ you go! I have got your back! I''ll save a bullet for myself! You go now!" Lin Yu gripped his gun with both hands and blew a zombie''s head off with a bullet each as he shouted at Captain Li Zheng.


    However, Li Zheng wasn''t swayed. "No! Lin Yu, we must return with the same number of people as we came out with. I can''t leave you here alone!" He insisted.


    Lin Yu shouted hysterically, "Captain! There are too many zombies! We can''t all leave! Someone has to stay and cover the rear. I''m already infected by the virus! I''ll become a zombie whether I make it back or not! Let me do this!"


    For some reason, Lin Qiao felt a jolt of recognition when she heard the name ''Lin Yu''. However, the piercing pain in her head stopped her from thinking clearly, making her tumble on the ground while screaming and pounding her head with her hands.


    "Roar..."


    Waves of pain distorted her perception of the surrounding environment. By the time she recovered, another day had passed away.


    She lied on the ground while gazing at the sky. She had no idea how long she had lain there. The only sensation available to her right now was hunger. She was so starving!


    However, when she covered her stomach with her hands, her stiff hands only found a hole.


    She was speechless.


    ''Damn it! I don''t even have a stomach! How could I still be hungry?''


    Lin Qiao wanted to stand up, but she immediately realized that her body would not obey this command.


    Why wouldn''t her knees bend? How was she supposed to stand up like this?


    After struggling on the ground for a while, Lin Qiao finally got up.


    ''Damn it! The life of a zombie is so hard!'' She was starving, but what could she do? She wanted to eat so, so badly! Even though she wanted to find her family, she needed to fill her ''stomach'' to give herself the strength to look for them!


    Lin Qiao raised her nose, sniffed around and sensed a faint, sweet aroma.


    She lowered her head to look at her stomach and chest, then raised her stiff arms, trying for some time to bend her finger joints and pull at her ragged clothes.


    ''Hmm, these rags can''t cover my body.''


    It seemed that she needed to find some decent clothes to cover herself with first.


    She was now a zombie. How was she supposed to live her life hereafter? What should she do when she was hungry? Eat human beings? That wouldn''t be possible! But, would she starve to death if she didn''t eat human beings? She could always replace human beings with other living things, right?


    Lin Qiao moved her feet and tried to walk forward, but she found that her extra heavy legs were as stiff as her arms. Thus, it was extremely hard for her to walk normally.


    She could only move slowly toward a shopping mall step by step.


    In this apocalyptic world which had been deserted for five years already, Lin Qiao had no idea why didn''t she wake up until now, neither did she know if her family survived the destruction of the old world, or if they were even alive right now.


    She should at least go back to her hometown and try finding them. However, finding a way back seemed to be a little difficult under the current circumstances! The internet had been paralyzed in the city, and telecommunication was already impossible. The ruins lay everywhere, making Lin Qiao feel awfully disturbed. She watched the zombies shamble all over the place, and even wondered if she should feel lucky for becoming a conscious zombie. After all, it would be much more convenient for her to move around like this.


    To go back to her hometown, she needed to find a car first. She could only go back once she had transportation. However, at this moment, finding some clothes was a more pressing matter. However, even after putting in quite a lot of effort in searching through the entire shopping mall, she failed to find any wearable clothes, or even suitable fabric!


    Even more annoyingly, the search had exhausted her highly disabled body. ''Strange! Why would zombies feel tired?'' She wondered.


    Lin Qiao sat by the front entrance of the shopping mall while struggling with this question. She raised her head and glanced at the sky, finding that it was noon already. She then glanced across the zombies lumbering around and suddenly had an idea.


    She could borrow clothes from those zombies, couldn''t she?


    With this thought, she fixed her eyes on a female zombie in a long dress and stood up immediately, walking toward it.


    "Roar¡­ Roar¡­ oar!"


    What she had said was, ''You! Stop!''.


    The female zombie stopped moving and turned her already-broken neck while tilting her pale face at an impossible angle toward Lin Qiao.


    "Roar?"


    Lin Qiao stared at the female zombie''s pale gray eyes with her own pure black ones and continued roaring, "Roar¡­ roar¡­ roarrrrrr!"


    ''Lend me your clothes,'' she said.


    "Roar?"


    Clearly, this zombie wasn''t intelligent, and was having trouble understanding her.


    Lin Qiao stopped roaring, walked straight up to the female zombie, and raised a hand to rip her clothing.


    "Roar!" The female zombie suddenly went crazy and raised her zombie claws to scratch Li Qiao''s face when she saw the latter trying to rip off her clothes. Lin Qiao instinctively tilted her head and dodged the claws while slapping the female zombie''s face at the same time.


    Crack!


    This female zombie''s head, which was tilted on her neck, was slapped off clean by Lin Qiao and fell onto the ground.


    ''Hmm? Eh?? Damn it! How could it just fall off? Was it no more than a piece of skin that was holding her neck and head together before?''


    Lin Qiao was astounded, gazing at her own claws. Had she grown stronger? Or, was the head falling off already?


    ''This zombie should have followed my words while I was being nice! How dare it attack me first?'' Lin Qiao raised a foot and angrily kicked the headless zombie.


    Thud!


    The zombie fell onto the ground.


    Lin Qiao slowly moved toward the female zombie and tried to squat down beside it¡­


    ''Damn it! I can''t even bend my knees!''


    In the end, she directly sat on the ground.


    She bent down from the waist and ripped off the female zombie''s clothes. Fortunately, her fingers were still agile.


    With more than a little difficulty, she finally managed to put on the zombie''s gray, dusty dress. She then crooked her stiff hands, buttoned up the dress, and dusted it off. Finally, she looked a little more respectable now.


    At this moment, Lin Qiao again caught a whiff of the attractive aroma and followed it slowly.


    She was so hungry! She needed to find the source of that aroma and figure out if it were edible.


    After pondering briefly, Lin Qiao moved her stiff legs and followed the aroma step by step. However, her movements were agonizingly slow. She had no way to speed up, because her legs wouldn''t allow it. If she forced them, she would just end up falling face down on the ground.

 4 Strong Claws

    These zombies were all slow in reacting, so they barely responded to Lin Qiao''s roars. Only when Lin Qiao roared a couple more times with a very strong repelling vibe did these zombies move aside. As she roared, they moved slightly, and as she roared again and again, they moved further bit by bit.


    The closer she got to the aroma, the more zombies could be seen gathered around. When she arrived at a closed warehouse, she sensed that the aroma was coming from inside. However, a swarm of zombies was sticking themselves on the door.


    One step, two steps, three steps¡­ Without a watch, she had lost track of time, so she could only count her footsteps while walking very slowly.


    When she had walked for about five-hundred steps, she suddenly realized that the zombie crowd around her had grown quite dense. She didn''t like to be touched by these zombies, so she bared her teeth and roared at them as she walked.


    "Roar! Roar!" She roared at the zombies to try and make them go away while squeezing through the crowd. ''Damn!'' She couldn''t get through as her limbs again refused to work according to her will.


    She felt irritated and burst into a great roar, "Roar! Roar!"


    ''Piss off!'' She tried to say.


    After she uttered this last roar, the zombies around her all paused and then turned to look at her. Perhaps, her voice had made them feel provoked.


    "Roarrrr!" Unexpectedly, all of them roared back at Lin Qiao.


    ''Damn it! Do they want a fight?'' Lin Qiao wondered.


    Lin Qiao looked at these completely defaced zombies and stopped roaring. Then, she raised a hand and jabbed her claws directly into the head of a zombie beside her.


    For some reason, the movement of her hand was like a conditioned reflex and some kind of instinct once she intended to attack. By the time she realized what was happening, she found her fingers sticking straight in the zombie''s head.


    ''Damn it! Have my fingers somehow turned into steel or stone? How can these fingers penetrate a zombie''s head?'' Lin Qiao pulled out her fingers and raised them in front of her, staring at them in shock.


    "Roarrrr!" The other zombies all began drawing back as if they had received some kind of danger signal when they saw Lin Qiao piercing a zombie''s head.


    Lin Qiao stared at her fingers. To reconfirm, she reached out her left arm and gripped a zombie on her left side, which had just taken two steps backward. Amidst the zombie''s howls, she raised her right hand and fiercely stabbed her fingers into its head.


    Puff!


    As expected, she penetrated the zombie''s skull easily. Then, she put forth her strength with her arms and fingers.


    Crack!


    The zombie''s head was split into two pieces, which then fell onto the ground.


    Following a silvery noise, Lin Qiao lowered her head and saw a fingertip-sized, white-colored, prismatic crystal piece fall out of the zombie''s head. She glanced at this crystal piece with surprise, wondering if she should squat down to pick it up.


    She hesitated because her knees wouldn''t bend at all! Fortunately, her waist was a little more flexible now, and allowed her to stoop down.


    She tried to stoop and then reach down her hands to pick up this crystal piece. She managed to stoop a little, but felt some difficulties when she bent her waist to ninety degrees. She gritted her teeth and at last managed to pick up the crystal, straightening back up and then sighing in relief.


    What she didn''t notice was that after she picked up the crystal shard, the surrounding zombies had moved even farther backward.


    She pinched the crystal piece and sensed a faint warmth coming from it. She didn''t know that if she were just an ordinary zombie, she would have been incinerated by this crystal piece without leaving even a single piece of bone.


    However, she held it with her claws and nothing happened.


    She intended to take a closer look at this tiny crystal piece while pitching it with her fingernails to find out exactly what it was. However, a beam of black light suddenly flashed across her nails and the crystal piece first turned to vapor, disappearing slowly. It had vaporized, leaving nothing but a wisp of smoke.


    Lin Qiao felt nothing else but a warmth flowing through her body for a moment.


    ''Eh? What happened?'' She stared at her black fingernails in bewilderment. She observed them on both sides for quite a while, but failed to find an answer. So, she gave up trying.


    She turned her head again toward the door, from where the aroma was coming. At this moment, she suddenly found that the area was already vacated. Moments earlier, this place had been crowded with zombies. But now, all the zombies had retreated back seven to eight meters away from her.


    She glanced at these zombies with confusion, then slowly walked toward the door. She raised both hands to push the door, but was unable to even budge it.


    The door was made from aluminum alloy. She scratched the door with her fingernails and caused a squeaking noise, then raised her hands while wondering if her claw was stronger or the door.


    Glancing at the door lock, she realized that she would have to do things in a smarter way if she couldn''t break the door.


    She walked over and bent down, then began studying the door lock.


    A zombie was studying a door lock¡­ If a living person were to see this, it would make them raise their eyebrows or even have their eyeglasses falling off.


    Lin Qiao dug into the keyhole and scratched, but still failed to unlock the door. As a result, she got angry and violently poked her fingers into the crack of this tightly closed door.


    Crack!


    She actually penetrated the door!


    ''Even that worked?''


    She moved her fingers in the crack and put forth her strength to push the door aside. However, nothing happened until she held her breath and pulled the door with all her might. The door was distorted a bit due to her strength, showing a small slit which allowed her to reach her hands in and unlock the door from the inside.


    Once the door opened, the aroma filled up her nostrils as she pushed the door open and walked inside. Although it was all dark inside, she found that she could see everything clearly.


    She looked at the source of the aroma. However, the moment she saw it clearly, her face darkened.


    And that was because it was a person!


    It was a person lying on the ground, but she couldn''t tell if the former was alive or not.


    She walked over while realizing that the aroma being emitted from this person was like that of grilled pork, making her feel exceptionally hungry!


    She stooped down beside this person like an old man. She felt that she was drooling and her claws had reached out to this human being while she was sensing this person''s aroma.


    However, just as her claws were about to pierce into this man''s head, she suddenly realized what she was doing and immediately withdrew her claws.


    Damn it! Was she eating people now?


    She straightened up, but then stooped again to poke this man''s face with her nails. She could sense a faint warmth being transmitted through those nails.


    She drew back her claws and looked at this man with shock.


    He was not dead!


    However, from what she could see, he had been infected with the virus already, hadn''t he?


    Lin Qiao looked at his face. His skin hadn''t changed much, but his lips had already turned blue.


    While Lin Qiao was wondering what to do with this man who was about to turn into a zombie, she was suddenly inflicted with a headache so sharp that she felt that her brain was exploding.


    "Roar!"


    She raised her head and screamed in pain. She opened her dark eyes as wide as she could and bared her sharp teeth. It seemed that her pair of canine teeth had grown especially long.


    In the next second, Lin Qiao''s body tilted sideways and she fell onto the man''s body.


    All of a sudden, a wave of green light flashed across her vision, then both of them disappeared. The warehouse was left empty, without the slightest trace of any living things.


    Lin Qiao''s head still ached dully when she woke up, only to be dumbfounded once she opened her eyes.


    ''What the hell? What is this place? Why am I in a strange place every time I wake up and open my eyes?''


    Lin Qiao widely opened her black eyes and hurriedly lowered her head to check her body. However, she discovered with disappointment that her broken body hadn''t changed, neither had her dress.


    However¡­

 5 An Inexplicable Space

    Lin Qiao turned her head and found herself surrounded by refreshing greenery. The air was fresh, clean, and natural. It felt unpolluted by modern industry.


    Even though it was just grass around her, seeing this sea of lush green brightened her mood considerably.


    She struggled for a while with stiff movements, and finally stood back up before accidentally slipping and falling again.


    She felt that her mouth was gaping open and that her sharp teeth seemed to have pierced through something. She was startled when she saw it clearly, and immediately pulled out her teeth to sit up.


    ''Oh my!'' There was a person beside her, the infected man whom she had seen earlier. She fell onto his body and... seemed to have bitten him.


    Why was this man here with her? Furthermore, what was this place? How did she get here?


    She raised her head and looked at the white sky, but saw no sun.


    She then turned her head to look around and found that along with the grassland was actually a small, glistening lake. She was delighted by the sight of the lake, as she immediately took one step and started moving toward the lake.


    It had been midsummer the last time she had woken up. Even though she couldn''t feel the heat anymore since becoming a zombie, she could not stand her broken and dirty body.


    However, Lin Qiao didn''t notice the strange change which had come over the face of the dying man who had the virus spreading all over his body. His pale skin had slowly returned to its normal color, and the blueness was fading from his lips. Obviously, this meant that the virus was leaving his body. Although at a very slow rate, it would gradually disappear over time.


    In fact, at that moment, the virus was disappearing fastest from his chest that had been accidentally bitten by Lin Qiao just then.


    Lin Qiao knew nothing about any of this as she excitedly walked toward the small lake. The lake looked quite nearby, but it still seemed to take forever for her to get there.


    She lay face down by the lake and cupped her claws together to drink a few mouthfuls from it. Then, she took off her dress which had taken her some serious effort to put on. Looking at this devastated body, she could only imagine how cruelly Lu Tianyu had been attacked, and how much pain she had suffered before she died.


    Lin Qiao took off her ragged clothes and pants, then stooped down and washed them in the lake. It took a long time to clean these clothes and pants. She was a bit of a neat-freak, so she felt extremely uncomfortable on seeing this body of hers.


    As she stooped down further, her intestines fell out of her body.


    After that, she sat in the lake and cleaned her intestines with her hands before tucking them back into her belly. Then, she cleaned her ragged clothes once more and wrapped her stomach with them.


    As an OCD patient, she spent a long while to wrap herself and finally make herself look as clean and tidy as possible.


    She felt absolutely nothing while doing all this, although she knew it must look extremely weird for anyone else.


    After wrapping her belly, she began washing her arms and legs which were badly mutilated, covered in blood, and missing chunks of flesh in some parts.


    While doing so, Lin Qiao didn''t feel the energy that was slowly percolating into her blood through her wounds soaked by the lake water. This energy was causing her black, clotted blood to begin flowing again while her wounds had been healing themselves. No new flesh had grown back, but the wounds were scabbing over faster than before, and the virus had disappeared completely from her body by this point.


    She was still in the form of a zombie though, with a pale face and sharp teeth jutting out of her mouth.


    She didn''t notice any of these changes, just as she didn''t notice what had happened to the man. At this moment, she suddenly began to feel sleepy while bathing. Before she realized anything, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.


    Subsequently, she slept for three whole days.


    When she finally woke up, she found herself still soaking in the water. She moved slightly and turned around, crawling back to the bank.


    At this point, she suddenly realized that her legs had become quite agile.


    She stood by the lakeside, raised a foot, and put it back down. Then, she raised it again and put it down again¡­ After that, she kicked out with a foot! Her legs were actually as flexible as those of healthy human beings!


    She opened her pure black eyes wide and looked at her hands, then glanced at her legs. She shook all her limbs, then bent her waist in different directions.


    She looked just the same as before, but felt much better.


    With delight, she suddenly closed her hand and tried punching out, actually managing to do it! Her punch lacked some strength, but it was swift enough.


    She wondered if her voice had recovered or not.


    She pondered over this for a while and then opened her mouth to say ''Hello''.


    "Roar, roar!"


    A drop of sweat oozed out of her forehead when she heard her own roars. Her voice didn''t seem to have recovered.


    She sighed as she raised her head, then looked around and saw the man again. She didn''t know for how long she had lain in the water, but the man hadn''t woken up.


    She walked over to him and found that she could squat quite easily. His aroma had become so much stronger than earlier that it made her feel starving. She scratched his neck with her black nails, then raised her head to look at the sky with confusion.


    What on earth was this place? How did they get here? How could she get out? ''Get out¡­''


    A bright light flashed across her eyes once she began to think about how to leave. Next, she lost her balance and fell onto the ground.


    "Roar!"


    ''Damn it! what the hell?'' By the time Lin Qiao could react, she was surrounded by complete darkness.


    ''What... What happened?'' She had been underneath a white sky moments ago, so how could she suddenly fall into darkness?


    Fortunately, she still had sharp eyes and could see clearly even in the darkness. However, what she saw was like a black and white photo. She looked around, and just as she expected, the man was there as well.


    ''Wait! This place looks a little familiar.''


    She raised her head again and looked around, then recognized where she was. Wasn''t this the warehouse where she had broken the door, gone inside, and found this man? Why was she here again? Where were the grassland and the small lake? Where did they go?


    She stood up and turned around to take a peek outside the door. The outside was empty, with no zombies or anything else.


    She didn''t understand her situation. She had been in a different place just then, so how could she suddenly be back here?


    She replayed what had just happened, wondering which detail went wrong that had brought her back here.


    Right! Earlier in that place, she had been thinking about how she had gotten there, and how she could leave. Then, she ended up back in here.


    '' ''Out''? Yes! Did this mean ''out''?''


    Lin Qiao had a vague sensation, so she raised her hand and touched her forehead.


    Could she go back in?


    As soon as this thought flashed through her mind, another bright light dazzled her eyes. When she came back to her senses, she saw the green grassland and that same small lake before her once again.


    This place really turned out to be some mysterious space! Did this mean that she was a superpowered one too? Did she have the space power?


    Lin Qiao thought about this unsurely as she touched her forehead with her sharp nails again. This time, she definitely felt something there between her eyebrows, something that seemed to be connected with this space.


    Was her superpower nucleus right inside her forehead? Lin Qiao tried to come up with another thought.

 6 Lin Yu’s Awakening

    ''Out! I want to get out of here...''


    As a result, a white light flashed across Lin Qiao''s eyes. Before she realized what was happening, she was already back in the dark warehouse.


    It was truly a mysterious space! Realizing this, she started to get excited. She actually had a mysterious space! She could hardly believe it.


    ''I want to get in!''


    She muttered the words silently to herself once again, and as expected, she reappeared in that space.


    "Roarrrr!" She screamed with joy, although the sound that came out of her was certainly not pleasant to hear. She immediately shut her mouth and didn''t dare to make another sound as she was shocked by her own voice.


    She was starving now, but no food existed in this space, and all she could see were grasses and a lake in here. She couldn''t feed on grasses, could she?


    She walked toward the lake and gazed into the clear lake water. When she took a bath earlier in this lake, she had noticed that there were no living fishes in the lake.


    She thought for a while, then again said ''out'' silently. A moment later, she was back in the warehouse once again.


    She was starving, but obviously couldn''t eat the man. So, she had no choice but to find some other food source. She was worried that this man would be eaten by the other zombies if she left him here. ''Should I wake him up?''


    However, this man was turning into a zombie, wasn''t he? He would probably die soon, and then his body would stiffen. After that, he would turn into a zombie, stand back up, and lumber around like the others.


    Lin Qiao looked at this man. He surely couldn''t survive anyway, and would turn into a zombie soon. She struggled with her conscience for a while, but in the end, she just walked out.


    ''Forget it! I should just leave him here and take care of myself first.'' She thought.


    She was a zombie now, and didn''t know what to do! She had learned from Lu Tianyu''s memories that certain kinds of people were capable of hunting zombies in this post-apocalyptic world.


    Those were the superpowered people.


    In the past five years, human beings had survived a huge disaster, and had gotten used to this new lifestyle soon after. They slowly adapted, and eventually, a small number of superpowered people emerged.


    The awakening of superpowers was so difficult that only one in ten thousand people could usually awaken a superpower. After five years, a great diversity of superpowers now existed in this new world.


    Lu Tianyu''s squad once had over a hundred people, but the number had gradually dwindled during the escape because of three superpowered people. Those three didn''t protect everyone because they believed that they had no obligation to do so. Being superpowered, they very much enjoyed their feeling of superiority, as the ordinary ones depended on them and admired them.


    In this apocalyptic world where people died every day, survival was the top priority! Therefore, the weak, ordinary people were simply ants to be trodden under the feet of these superpowered ones.


    Later on, some powerful superpowered people and military people who were already strong as ordinary human beings built a few bases. As more and more superpowered people emerged in the bases and grew stronger and stronger, the bases expanded in scale, and the residents started to carry out zombie-hunting missions. At the bases, people traded for food, which was the scarcest supply in this post-apocalyptic world, with zombie heads. Human beings developed, but zombies didn''t. Five years had passed, and these bases run by human beings grew larger and larger. Although the zombies were never eradicated, they were still witless, soul-less, and lacking mobility.


    If the situation continued, a great number of these zombies would probably be killed in a couple of decades.


    Not long after Lin Qiao left the warehouse, the man lying on the ground moved his eyelids and opened his eyes.


    Lin Yu sat up in confusion and found that he was surrounded by darkness, and could see nothing clearly except blurry shades of the evening outside the door.


    He sat there for a while in a daze, then slowly stood up and walked outside.


    What had happened to him? He remembered that he had locked himself in a warehouse. He felt his muscles becoming stiffer and stiffer, his skin stretching tight, and he knew then that he was turning into a zombie.


    Later on, his entire body stiffened, his limbs were too heavy to be lifted, and his eyelids were so heavy that he was unable to keep them open. At last, he couldn''t help but fall asleep. Back then, he realized that he might never be able to wake back up.


    When people next saw him, they would see nobody but a conscienceless zombie. Someone could shoot him in the forehead at any time, and then, he would not even exist as a zombie.


    ''But... But... What is happening? Have I died and become a ghost? Like a real ghost?''


    Lin Yu put his hand into his mouth and bit it.


    "Ouch! This hurts!" He had bitten too hard, howled in pain as a result. He couldn''t help but cover this hand with the other and leap around in pain.


    ''What happened? Didn''t I die?'' After calming down, Lin Yu looked at his body, stunned at what he saw. He realized that his body wasn''t stiff anymore. He could feel his muscles relax as he walked outside.


    He thought of something suddenly and reached a hand down to his waist, then pulled out a military dagger, popped the blade, and cut the back of his hand with it.


    "Hmm?"


    The blade left a bleeding slash on his skin. He couldn''t see it in the dark night, so he put the wound near his mouth and licked it.


    Metallic, salty, and a little sweet... It was the taste of blood!


    He was a little confused. He had indeed been infected by the zombie virus, which he remembered clearly. He also remembered that his body had already begun to stiffen before he passed out. So, how come all those feelings were gone now?


    He was just like a healthy human being now, and even his blood was fresh.


    ...


    While Lin Yu was examining the shocking changes in his body, Lin Qiao was already far away.


    She was starving!


    She raised her head and gazed at the starry sky. The stars were still there, but the moon was missing. It seemed that it was either the beginning or the end of the month on the Lunar calendar right now.


    Under the starlight, her vision became clearer.


    She needed to find some food!


    However, she didn''t know what she could eat. She was a zombie now, and what did zombies eat except human beings? It seemed that human food was no longer edible to her already!


    It was late, but Lin Qiao was still able to see everything clearly. She gave this some thought, then realized that she had no other choice but to walk around and see what she could find.


    Besides, she needed to find her family. She didn''t know if they were still alive, living in some corner of this world.


    She looked around for direction. She had learned where she currently was from Lu Tianyu''s memories, and knew that her hometown was located in the South, which had turned into the South Cloud Island Base. Lu Tianyu and her squad were heading to the Huaxia City Great Base, which was in the opposite direction. Therefore, to head South, she would need to turn around and to walk in the opposite way.


    ''Where should I go?''


    South Island was located in a seaside city in the South, and was more than a thousand kilometers away from Sea City in Eastern China. She didn''t have a map or a car, but If she wanted to go to South Cloud Island, she would need both of these things.


    However, she was a zombie now, so where could she find these two things? She thought about this for a moment, then decided to head to Huaxia City first, as it was the nearest city from here. She would have a chance to meet human beings around a human base, and once she met humans, she would be able to figure out a way to get a car and a map.


    Night time was filled with zombies strolling slowly through its depths and looking quite scary. Even though Lin Qiao was now a zombie herself, she was still apprehensive at the sight of these zombies swaying back and forth in the night.


    ''Just keep looking at them and you''ll get used to them! Just keep looking at them and you''ll get used to them! Just keep looking and you''ll get used to them!''


    Hypnotizing herself with these thoughts, she began heading North.

 7 The Aroma of Food

    The only good thing about the nighttime was that it was much cooler without the scorching sun of the daytime.


    By now, Lin Qiao was walking in a more natural and much faster way. The stiff-legged feeling from before had completely disappeared.


    What had happened? Why was she so much more flexible now?


    She kept thinking about this while walking. Suddenly, her nose twitched as a trace of a strange aroma wafted toward her from an unknown source,


    ''Eh? This aroma! It has to be something edible!''


    Lin Qiao instinctively had this thought as she caught the aroma. This had to be the sweet smell of food. She raised her head to sniff it carefully, and found that it came from the woods on the left-hand side.


    She turned around and followed the aroma, walking into the woods comprising of the oddly shaped trees.


    The woods were completely dark, but that didn''t bother her as she now had an owl-like night vision and was able to see everything clearly.


    Her eyes were sharp, as was her sense of smell. It seemed that becoming a zombie wasn''t so bad after all.


    The closer she got to the woods, the stronger the aroma became. She had also detected some other faint aromas, but she didn''t give up on the one that she had caught in the first place. She moved through the woods, pushing aside the branches and vines with her hands to create a path where there was none.


    Some vines and leaves with thorns scratched her skin, but she felt nothing.


    She continued on into the woods, sensing the source of the aroma getting closer and closer.


    ''Almost there! Something edible! It''s something edible for zombies! It isn''t a human though, is it?'' She prayed in her heart, promising herself that if the aroma belonged to a human, she would bite her own flesh off and eat that instead!


    She halted when reached a large tree and stared at the trunk near the roots. There was a hole in the tree trunk, which was where the aroma was coming from.


    ''It isn''t a human being! Thank god!''


    The hole was small, just the size of a human head. She squatted and lowered her head to look inside.


    Squeak!


    All of a sudden, a fist-sized figure darted out of the hole at lightning speed and flew directly at her face.


    There was no time for her to lift her arm and defend herself from it.


    ''Holy smokes! What the hell is that?'' Feeling spooked, Lin Qiao unconsciously bared her sharp teeth and instinctively backed away while fiercely biting at the black creature.


    Squeak!


    A horrible shriek came from Lin Qiao''s mouth.


    To be exact, the shriek came from the thing in her mouth.


    She felt an intensely struggling lump of fur between her teeth. Sweet blood had been flowing from that thing into her mouth as her sharp teeth had bitten into it!


    Sure enough, the thing became limp after a short struggle.


    She raised her hand and removed the thing from her mouth to take a look at it, only to be struck speechless.


    Damn it! It was a very chubby mutant mouse.


    Lin Qiao dangled this dying mouse before her eyes to get a better look at it.


    After its mutation, this mouse hadn''t grown in shape, but its two front teeth were especially sharp and long, sticking out of its mouth on each side. This mouse''s fur was also much longer than that of normal ones.


    Lin Qiao licked the blood on her mouth. To her surprise, she actually felt no awful feelings. The blood in her mouth was fishy, sweet, and... acceptable.


    She smiled while holding the mouse by its tail.


    If this mutant mouse was edible, could she eat other animals as well? As to whether there would be any adverse effects, she would know only after finishing up this mouse.


    Squeak!


    At that moment, some strange noises were heard from inside the hole in the tree. Judging by the noise, Lin Qiao figured that those could be some baby mice.


    She put a hand inside the hole, and as expected, found a few tiny things which were extremely soft and smooth. When she saw the five to six furless baby mice on her palm, she suddenly had an idea. These baby mice weren''t even big enough to fill the gaps between her teeth, so she wondered if she could keep them in her space.


    With this thought, she concentrated and said one word inside her head.


    ½øÈ¥.


    ''In.''


    In the next second, she found herself on the lush grassland, with the large mouse in one hand and the baby mice in the other.


    She wanted to keep these baby mice, but she had already killed the adult mouse. She glanced at the adult mouse and then at the six baby mice.


    What should she feed them with? There was nothing here in this space but grass and lake water.


    She put the adult mouse aside, squatted down, and conveniently picked a handful of grass leaves. She then wadded them up with one hand before putting them on the ground and shaping them into a small nest. After that, she placed the baby mice inside the nest.


    ''Oh well, I''ll leave them here for now. I''ll just eat them if they can''t survive.''


    She turned around to look at the adult mouse, wondering how she would eat it as she had no tool to build a fire. Besides, she didn''t know if zombies needed their food to be cooked or not. What if cooked food gave her diarrhea? If that happened, would she keep on eating raw meat?


    She directly left the space with the adult mouse clutched in her hand.


    Looking around, she saw nothing but trees. She had walked a great distance from any human settlement, and couldn''t find anything to start a fire with in this wilderness.


    And unfortunately, she didn''t have a fire superpower.


    At last, she made up her mind while staring at the dead mouse, then lifted her claws and began to skin it with them.


    She didn''t feel much about eating mice, because she had once spent half a month in a forest during devil training. In the whole fifteen days, she survived by eating only what she could find in the forest. Back then, mice could be counted as a gourmet meal, as she and her teammates also dined on snakes, frogs, worms, and other creatures... However at that time, she and her teammates had one advantage, which was having a fire.


    But now¡­


    She sighed as she skillfully opened up the adult mouse. The mouse had a thin membrane under its skin, along which, Lin Qiao finished skinning the mouse quite easily without causing a bleed.


    She sharply twisted the mouse''s head off and threw it away, then gently sliced open the mouse from its chest all the way to below its belly button with her nail. After that, she dug out the intestines without breaking them, threw them away, and then scooped out the liver.


    She sniffed at it, and unexpectedly, she sensed no unpleasant smell. She then stuck out her tongue gave it an experimental lick, finding it to be soft and a little warm.


    She took a deep breath, then put the raw mouse liver into her mouth. She was a little too scared to chew it, so she held it in her mouth for a while. Surprisingly, it seemed a little sweet! She couldn''t help but bite into it.


    The texture of the mouse liver was soft and tender, and it was unexpectedly tasty, with no strong scent of blood or any other off-putting flavor. It was so sweet and soft that she only needed to chew a few times before finishing it off.


    After having her first taste of raw food, she felt less stressed about the whole thing. So, she put the mouse meat directly into her mouth and began to chew. In the end, she even chewed up the bones and swallowed them as well.


    At that moment, she suddenly thought of her stomach and hurriedly lifted her dress to look at her belly which was wrapped in cloth strips. She hesitated, not sure if she should unwrap the cloth to check whether her stomach was still inside her body or not!


    Earlier on, she hadn''t paid much attention except noting that only her intestines were exposed, and not the other organs.


    But now, she actually began to worry. If her stomach was gone, would the food that she just ate simply fall out?


    She touched her stomach and felt that it was still torn open though there was no discomfort. She thought about this and that strange sensation overcame her once again. When she had woken up, she saw that the stomach of this body had been ripped apart already. And yet somehow, she still felt hunger!


    This was the only feeling that zombies had, wasn''t it?

 8 The Evildoing Woman

    The mouse meat had satiated her hunger slightly, but she was still hungry! She wanted more meat!


    While thinking, she sniffed the air once again. Some faint aroma came from afar, clearly indicating the presence of an edible source!


    She kept sniffing and couldn''t help but follow the aroma. She again squirmed through the woods, making her way out to reach an overgrown grassland. The grasses were tall, about a meter in height and reaching her thighs.


    She followed the aroma and noticed that it grew stronger and stronger after she reached this grassland. Yet, when she walked to a certain spot, the aroma disappeared. She looked down at the ground, feeling a strange certainty that the source of the aroma was underneath her feet.


    She squatted and looked down at the grassroots, finding a spot that had no grass growing over it.


    She raked the area with her claws and found the earth to be soft. There seemed to be a hole down there, possibly a rabbit hole.


    Without thinking, she began digging quickly with both her hands. She found that her new nails were especially useful as digging tools. These nails were even able to penetrate zombie skulls, so they surely encountered no resistance from mere earth.


    She wielded both her arms and dug very quickly! Soon enough, she had created a large hole which was connected to a tunnel as she kept digging through it.


    In just a few minutes, she had already dug half a meter deep into the ground. While she was digging, a gray figure suddenly sprinted out of the tunnel.


    Fortunately, Lin Qiao''s reactions were fast enough, plus she was already prepared. When the gray creature raced out, she thrust out her hand and clenched her fingers, catching hold of a fluffy animal.


    She lifted it up and took a look. ''Wow! Such a big rabbit!'' The size of this rabbit was no longer the same as that of ordinary rabbits. This rabbit in her hand was twice as big as regular rabbits, almost as big as a young Chinese rural dog.


    After seeing this gray rabbit, a thought flashed across Lin Qiao''s mind, ''Now, this is a full meal!''


    The rabbit in her hand was quite fierce. It kicked its legs with a surprising strength and wielded its front paws wildly, intensely struggling and twisting its body to try and free itself from her grip.


    Her fingernails had already sunk into the rabbit''s skin as she seized the furry pelt on its back. The rabbit struggled so vigorously that Lin Qiao couldn''t help but bare her teeth, open her mouth, and bite its neck.


    About half an hour later, Lin Qiao wiped her mouth and looked at the clean rabbit fur in her hand.


    She wondered if she could collect the rabbit fur in her space.


    As she thought about this, she looked at the fur in her hand and said one word in her head.


    ''Collect!''


    As soon as she finished thinking the word, the furry pelt disappeared from her hand, vanishing into thin air.


    ''In!''


    After thinking that, she too disappeared without a trace, reappearing on the grassland a short while later.


    The reason she went inside the space was to check whether the rabbit fur was truly in there. As she expected, this space could collect things for her as well. To collect something, she didn''t need to take it in herself and only needed to touch it.


    Standing in the hole on the grassland, she was preparing to turn away and leave this place when she heard some noise from the rabbit hole that made her pause.


    ''Are there baby rabbits inside?''


    With this thought, she couldn''t help but squat again and put her hand inside the hole. A sudden stinging pain on her finger made her pull her hand back, and then she saw a fist-sized grey rabbit dangling from her finger.


    The baby rabbit was biting her finger and kicking its legs. Lin Qiao caught it with her finger as if she was fishing, feeling a little speechless.


    She then grabbed the rabbit with her other hand.


    ''Collect!''


    And just like that, the baby rabbit was stored in her space as well.


    She then put her hand back into the hole and continued rummaging, but found nothing even after spending a few minutes hunting through the hole.


    She sighed while standing up and raised her head to look at the sky, then turned around and walked back.


    Maybe because she was full now, some more fragments of Lu Tianyu''s incomplete memories popped up in her mind. While she was recollecting these disjointed memories, a throbbing headache hit her again. However this time, the pain wasn''t as bad as before.


    In these memories, a large group of soldiers had shown up in a field camp, Lu Tianyu being one of them. However, she was often with a little girl who was around four or five years old.


    These memories were found to be incomplete as Lin Qiao sensed the scenes in her head. At last, the scene got fixed in a room. The little girl''s limbs were tied, and her mouth was taped, her black and shiny eyes filled with fear. The one who had tied her up was none other than Lu Tianyu herself.


    Lin Qiao finally remembered this now.


    Before this, many memories had flashed through her mind, all disjointed and from a long time ago. As for Lu Tianyu''s memories of the past six months, not too many of them had emerged in Lin Qiao''s mind.


    Lin Qiao hurried back, as she didn''t know whether that little girl was still alive or not! The girl had been locked up for three or four days by now, and Lin Qiao was worried that she might have had starved to death already!


    Thinking about this, Lin Qiao felt a deep contempt for Lu Tianyu. That woman was so selfish, unscrupulous, evil, and brutal that she had even hurt a child! She deserved to be bitten to death by zombies!


    ...


    In the dark night, a zombie was running swiftly down the road in a baggy dress.


    Lin Qiao ran very fast because she was so worried about the child. However, the child''s location was too far from her current location. Her limbs weren''t as stiff as zombie limbs anymore, but still, they couldn''t allow her to run fast enough.


    As she was running, she realized that she didn''t feel tired at all! That was another benefit of being a zombie.


    Her heart had stopped beating. She didn''t breathe, and couldn''t feel anything when she was running. She ran and ran, but still felt nothing after running five miles, as if she was not the one who had ran all this while.


    However, she did feel waves of dull ache in her head during the run. She endured the pain while worrying about the child, with some images flashing across her mind from time to time.


    In those images, she saw a naked handsome man underneath her with red, raging eyes, strong chest muscles, and a snow-white skin like that of a girl. However, it was a man indeed¡­


    Another scene flashed across her mind, comprising of two men and a woman. It seemed they often carried out missions together, and all three of them had superpowers. The middle-aged man had lustful eyes, the woman looked frosty as ice, and the young man was fierce-looking.


    At last, the scene froze again. The fierce-looking man was facing Lu Tianyu with his fists clenched and the woman was throwing out sharp ice crystals that pierced her shoulders while the middle-aged man was talking coldly. Lu Tianyu screamed one last time just before she died.


    As she was recalling all of this, Lin Qiao wondered if this could be counted as karma. Lu Tuanyu had gotten many people killed before, and in the end, she was killed by her own teammates.


    Lin Qiao was a zombie, so nothing came out to stop her while she was running in the darkness. When running, she was also trying to piece the badly disjointed memories together in her head.


    To sum everything up, Lu Tianyu, this sl*tty woman, had her eyes on a man. In order to have this man, she kidnapped his five-year-old child and then raped him!


    Holy heavens! This woman actually did such a thing before she died! Why couldn''t she have raped a different man? Why did she have to rape a man who seemed to be so powerful!


    Lin Qiao was just speechless as she prayed for herself, ''Please don''t let me run into that man. I''ll just send his child back in secret! But, I don''t even know whether the child is still alive or not! Damn it!''


    ...


    When Lin Qiao was running desperately toward the city, a squadron of soldiers had been resting for two whole days inside the warehouse where Lu Tianyu was killed by Liu Hongshi and the others in the city.

 9 Enemy Suddenly Appeared

    On the roof platform of the warehouse, a man who was over six feet tall and wearing camouflage military clothing stood on the edge, lifting his head and looking at the dark sky.


    At this time, another tall man in camouflage military clothing walked up. Turning his head to look around, he walked toward the man standing on the platform.


    "I knew you were here. I know you''re worried about Ling Ling, but you haven''t rested for days. You should go down and rest for a while. Don''t burn yourself out before you find her!" The tall man sighed and said.


    "Long, I don''t even know if Ling Ling is still alive! How can I possibly sleep? It was all my fault. I was careless, and I actually let that woman take Ling Ling away." Wu Chengyue''s handsome face had a gloomy look on it. His beautiful eyes were bloodshot and filled with anxiety, regret, pain, as well as an extremely strong desire to kill.


    Xiao Yunlong patted his shoulder and said, "Don''t worry! The seed that Yue planted in Ling Ling''s body isn''t dead, which means she is still alive. We will try harder to find her, and we will get her back for sure."


    Wu Chengyue''s expression changed as a stony murderous intent shrouded his face. The veins stood out on his forehead one after another as he said through gritted teeth, "I will kill that woman! If anything happens to Ling Ling, I will rip that woman to pieces!"


    In this apocalyptic world, horrors like rape and gang rape often happened to women. After all, women were too rare, and some men would always resort to taking women by force when they had no way to vent their desires. Besides, in this world, power was the absolute principle, as well as the only law of this world. People relied on their brute strength to speak for themselves here.


    However, he was raped by a woman¡­


    The more Wu Chengyue thought about this, the stronger his desire to kill became.


    Nevertheless, he didn''t know that the woman he wanted to rip to pieces had already been eaten by zombies, and that another soul had taken over her body, coming back to life as a zombie.


    "That woman won''t get far. As long as she is still in this city, we''ll find her," said Xiao Yunlong.


    At the same time, on the other side of the city, Lin Qiao was searching through the memories in her head while heading to the place where the little girl was hidden by the previous owner of the body.


    Soon, she came upon a dilapidated cold storage facility. She put her face against the door to feel what was inside, but could sense nothing.


    This cold storage was used for freezing meat. Due to the lack of electricity, it had been abandoned since the apocalyptic era began. However, this building was especially sturdy, such that those ordinary zombies wouldn''t be able to break through its thick iron door.


    Furthermore, it was airtight. The compartments inside had all been opened and the inner space was not small, but Lin Qiao was still worried that the little girl might have already died from suffocation. After all, many days had passed since the latter was hidden there.


    Standing in front of the cold storage, she looked at the door lock and knitted her zombie eyebrows together as she lowered her head and began to fumble in her own pockets. She went through all her pockets, but found no keys. So, how could she open the door?


    What should she do? She couldn''t open the door without keys!


    She became a little anxious as she made a few circles on the spot, ignoring the other zombies which were stumbling past.


    These zombies looked very scary at night, but once one got used to their looks, one would find that there was nothing to be afraid of, especially when they weren''t dangerous to oneself anymore.


    Lin Qiao made two circles, then looked at her dark claws, which held a cold luster, and back at the thick door. She wondered if she could force it open with her claws. Would she break her claws against the door?


    No average person could open this door without a key, but, she wasn''t an average person anymore, was she?


    She raised her hand and tried to insert the tips of her claws into the thin door slit, but they wouldn''t fit!


    She scratched and scratched, twisting her fingers¡­ Finally, she managed to catch the door seam with her claws, but was unable to put forth her strength.


    After struggling for a while, she squatted on the ground, fretfully scratching her head with her claws in frustration.


    What could she do? She couldn''t open the door, and the building didn''t have windows or any other openings.


    Right at that moment, she suddenly sensed a message within her head.


    "Here, this way! We must find the child before they do!"


    This was a clear message, and its goal was definitive.


    ''People are coming!'' Lin Qiao immediately stood up and darted into a dark room through an open door on the side, hiding in there.


    Soon, she heard some voices.


    "Has that woman been here?"


    "I happened to see her walking this way. I can''t say for sure if she has hidden the kid here or not."


    "We''ve searched through so many places. Where the hell did the b*tch hide the child?"


    "Has she killed the child?"


    "No! I have received a message which said that the kid is not dead yet. Can''t you see Wu Chengyue is still trying to find her?"


    "But..."


    "No ''buts''. Let''s first find out if any place in this area could hide a person."


    Lin Qiao hid in the darkness while staring at the three people with her dark eyes, which bore no resemblance to the eyes of normal people.


    It was them, the three superpowered people who had gotten Lu Tianyu killed.


    Lin Qiao watched the three people dodge the zombies which had been constantly approaching them. Meanwhile, they appeared to be looking for something.


    She didn''t expect that these people would want the little girl as well, and she had no way to find out what they needed the little girl for. These three didn''t look like good people anyway.


    They made her feel unsafe. She knew that any one of them was stronger than her, and that she would have no chance of beating any of them. That was the reason why she had hidden so quietly.


    She watched the three get closer and closer to the cold storage where the kid was locked.


    "Eh? This is a cold storage unit!" Liang Caiyan said while pointing at the cold storage that Lin Qiao had been standing in front of moments before.


    With his eyes flashing, Lin Yong said, "This cold storage unit is perfect for hiding people. Zombies can''t break in."


    "Could that woman have hidden the child here?" Liu Hongshi asked.


    The three exchanged a look, feeling that it was highly probable.


    "Let''s get in there and find out," said Lin Yong.


    As he was speaking, he raised his palm, and a tongue of flame shot out of it a second later. He then turned his palm around and pressed the flame onto the door lock area.


    Lin Qiao watched them quietly. The two relatively younger people stood with their backs to the door of the cold storage, facing the zombies outside. They killed every zombie that approached them in order to stop the other zombies from doing the same. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man behind them was doing something to the door lock.


    A whole ten minutes had passed by. As these three people lingered in the area, they began to attract more and more zombies, which were now crowding toward them.


    "Roar... Roar... Roar... Roar..." The zombies bared their teeth and wielded their claws as they pounced on the three, but ended up either being stabbed by Liang Caiyan''s sharp ice crystals, or having their heads blown off by Liu Hongshi''s steel cudgel.


    However, as more and more zombies gathered in the area, the two gradually became overwhelmed. Just as they couldn''t help but intend to ask Lin Yong if it was done, the latter took a step backward.


    On the thick door before him, the door lock was twisted and bent out of shape oddly, as if it had been melted at a high temperature.


    Bang!


    Lin Yong aimed and smashed a heavy punch at the twisted door lock. With that, the door cracked and a slit appeared.


    Lin Qiao cursed silently in her head on seeing that the three had opened the door. She couldn''t let them take the child, because she had felt their evil intentions toward the child. The child might even die at their hands.


    However, she was no match for them at the moment. What could she do?


    Looking at the zombies that had surrounded the door of the cold storage, she suddenly had only one thought in her mind.


    If only these zombies would charge savagely at the three! ''Charge! All charge!'' she shouted in her head.

 10 Riotous Zombies

    Lin Qiao failed to notice that as soon as she had this thought, the crowd of zombies became agitated, transitioning from moving stiffly to rushing forward crazily with an agile speed. They opened their mouth wide, baring their teeth and extending their hands in front while fiercely swarming forward.


    The surrounding zombies which had been slowly approaching all thrust their feet against the ground and rushed at the three like crazy.


    "What happened? Why are these zombies going crazy all of a sudden?" The two who had been defending the group were already busy warding off the increasing number of the zombies, when all the zombies on the scene suddenly went mad, violently pouncing on them.


    The two were immediately overwhelmed and their defense instantly fell apart as they quickly lost their advantage.


    Lin Yong had sensed the abnormal movements of the zombies once he broke the door lock. Before he pushed the door open, he turned around to check the situation behind him. At that instant, all he saw was the mad expressions of the surrounding zombies, startling him greatly. He then hurriedly turned around to launch attacks and defend against the approaching zombies.


    Lin Qiao opened her zombie eyes wide, feeling a little strange when watching the changes happening outside.


    Why were these zombies suddenly going mad?


    However, as she watched the trio being attacked by more and more zombies, an idea flashed across her mind. She walked out of the dark room, joined the group of zombies, and rushed at the trio.


    At first, there were barely two-hundred zombies in this area, but for some unknown reason, endless zombies suddenly showed up nearby. Baring their claws and teeth, they all charged at the three with abandon while their number kept increasing steadily.


    "What happened? What has happened? Why are these zombies rioting?" Lin Yong asked in confusion while wielding his arms and sending out streaks of flame to singe the zombies which were pouncing on him.


    Liu Hongshi was getting anxious as well. Facing more and more zombies, a layer of sweat oozed out of his face. "I don''t know! They suddenly went mad," he yelled back.


    The three tried their best to defend themselves against the zombies, but none of their superpowers were high-leveled. As the number of zombies increased, it got more and more difficult to repel them.


    At last, Liu Hongshi said a little fretfully, "It''s not working. There''re more and more zombies coming. We''re going to get exhausted. Let''s leave for now. If this continues, we''ll be surrounded and eaten by zombies eventually."


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao had already quickly made her way around the wall from the edge of the zombie mob.


    She saw that the three had no choice but to give up on the cold storage as more and more zombies approached them. They fought their way through the zombie mob and left the area temporarily.


    With that, the zombie crowd also followed them away from the door of the cold storage.


    Lin Qiao walked to the door and raised a claw to push it.


    The two lingering zombies near the door turned back their heads after Lin Qiao pushed the door open, oddly staring at the door before Lin Qiao''s face with their pale gray eyes, as though something had attracted them.


    Lin Qiao''s nose was many times more sensitive than the noses of these average brainless zombies. Therefore, she had sensed a tempting aroma quite a while ago.


    She felt that the zombies around her wanted to approach the door as well.


    "Roar!" Lin Qiao growled angrily at them as a strong spiritual force was sent from her mind to repel these zombies.


    "Roar¡­ Roar¡­ Ow-whoo..." After being forced back by her growls, the surrounding zombies turned around immediately and limped away.


    Having seen the situation, Lin Qiao paused briefly. She didn''t give these zombies another thought as she just wanted to check on the child.


    As soon as she caught the aroma, she had the confirmation that there was a living person inside, even though the aroma was very faint.


    She pushed the door open, walked inside, and then closed the door behind her. The cold storage was so dark on the inside that ordinary people wouldn''t be able to see their own hands in front of their faces. However, Lin Qiao could clearly see everything in this place.


    This cold storage unit had many compartments. She followed the aroma to one compartment, and as she had expected, she spotted something in a corner.


    Hurriedly making her way to the corner, she smelt this faint aroma that made her feel hungry and also made her desire to eat raw meat resurge.


    She wanted to eat! She wanted to eat meat, to drink blood!


    These thoughts muddled her brain for a second, but she soon realized what had happened.


    While suppressing her hunger with her willpower, she moved to the corner and squatted down, gently pulling away the blanket which had something wrapped in it using her nails.


    The blanket was unwrapped, exposing an adorable face. The pair of eyes were closed tightly, and the lips were parched.


    Lin Qiao lifted the child up, spreading her fingers with her long and sharp nails and gently stroking the child''s face.


    As a zombie, she had no body temperature, but she could still feel the temperature of other things, such as the warmth of this kid''s skin.


    On touching the child, Lin Qiao felt that the former''s body temperature was a little low. Her teeth were clenched, eyes tightly closed, and her breath was shallow. Lin Qiao lowered her head and put her ear against the child''s chest, finding that her heartbeat was very slow.


    Lin Qiao knew that the child was dying, and she couldn''t possibly leave her here.


    She thus held up the child and hurried out of the cold storage.


    Judging by the child''s parched lips, Lin Qiao surmised that she hadn''t eaten or drunk for a few days. An adult would be dead after three days without water, let alone a five-year-old child.


    But miraculously, this child in Lin Qiao''s arms was still alive, although at her last breaths.


    From Lu Tianyu''s memories, Lin Qiao learned who this child was, and that she actually had a superpower as well. However, her power wasn''t strong enough yet, and she hadn''t learned to control it or use it to attack.


    Nevertheless, her instinctive desire for survival allowed her power to firmly protect her life-force, which was why she was still alive after days without food and water.


    Lin Qiao carried the child outside, but she was at a loss without knowing what to do. The child was unwell, and would die unless she was given some food and water soon.


    Lin Qiao looked around, finding nothing but ruins. How could any water possibly be found here?


    Suddenly, she thought of the small, clear lake in her mysterious space. She looked at the child in her arms, then abruptly raised her head and growled again.


    "Roarrrr!"


    ''Back off!'' she said.


    The growl was meant for the surrounding zombies who were attempting to approach them bit by bit. On hearing her threatening roar, these zombies retreated immediately.


    Lin Qiao held the child and concentrated, then firmly said a single word in her heart.


    ''In!''


    As a bright light flashed across her eyes, the dark, abandoned street before her eyes changed into a lush green grassland, although the light in this place was a little dim and misty right now.


    She quickly carried the child to the lakeside and laid her down on the ground. After that, she glanced at the grass near the lake and found an extra wide and long blade, plucking it out.


    Next, she rolled the grass blade into a funnel, with which, she scooped some water from the lake and put it gently by the child''s tightly closed mouth. Then, she clasped the child''s jaw and gently pinched it with her other hand.


    Consequently, the child''s mouth was opened, and she poured the water gently into it.


    She knew that this five-year-old child was called Ling Ling, and that she was that man''s daughter.

 11 Controlled Zombies

    The water trickled into Ling Ling''s mouth. At first, it kept spilling out, but after Lin Qiao tried a few more times, her subconscious seemed to wake up and she slowly began to swallow the water.


    As the child had finally drunk some water, Lin Qiao exhaled a breath of relief that she had been holding in all this time.


    The child took a few more sips, after which Lin Qiao couldn''t make her drink any more water. She threw away the grass leaf, picked up the child, and walked away. Finding a dry spot on the grass, she laid the girl down along with the blanket.


    After setting the child down, she put her palm on her chest to feel her heartbeat. The child''s heartbeat was still very weak, but stable nevertheless, and without the frightening irregularity that she had felt before.


    Lin Qiao thought about what to do and decided that the best course of action was to send this child back to her father. She thought of it as making amends for the bad things done by the former owner of her body. It was dangerous and inconvenient for the child to be with her anyway.


    As a zombie, she had an instinctive hunger deep down for living human beings, so she worried that she might lose control someday and eat this child.


    As the child had been found, she now needed to find the group of people and send the child back secretly without alerting them.


    It seemed to be quite simple, but the problem was that she was a zombie, and those people would attack her as soon as she approached them. Fortunately, she now looked nothing like that woman with heavy makeup. Otherwise, every single one of those people would try to kill her on sight, wouldn''t they?


    Just as Lin Qiao prepared to leave her space and try finding the child''s father, the child, who had her eyes closed and had been asleep the whole time, twitched her eyelids slightly and then slowly opened them without any warning.


    Lin Qiao was busy preparing to leave and didn''t notice that the child had woken up.


    "Ahhhhhh!" All of a sudden, a high-pitched scream gave Lin Qiao one hell of a scare, making her jump. All the fine hairs on her body stood straight up as she bared her teeth and leaped to her feet like a startled cat, looking at the source of this scream with her face alert and filled with fear.


    She saw the child already sitting up while looking at her with a face that was a picture of fear, and bright eyes that were filled with panic.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    On the other side, Wuyue Ling''s had a confused look in her eyes when she saw Lin Qiao react that way.


    However, in the next second, she suddenly realized that this creature standing in front of her was a zombie, a human-eating monster. Her dad had told her that these monsters liked to eat human beings, especially children!!!


    Wu Yueling became horrified right away, fixing her wide-open eyes on Lin Qiao. She wanted to scream and cry, but she hadn''t noticed that she couldn''t utter a single sound anymore, and her body had become uncontrollably stiff.


    ''She''ll eat me! She''ll definitely eat me!'' she screamed in her head.


    Once Lin Qiao recovered from her own scare, she patted her chest with her claws to calm herself without realizing that, in fact, she no longer had a heart.


    ''She scared the life out of me! This little kid almost gave me a heart attack... My god!''


    After patting her chest a few times, Lin Qiao suddenly thought of something.


    ''Damn it! Damn it! I''m a zombie! How could a child possibly scare the life out of me!''


    She raised up her head and looked at the child. The girl was staring back at her with two big wide-open eyes. Her body was stiffened, and pupils were shrinking and dilating. Lin Qiao felt that the girl would pass out immediately if she got any closer. However, before this thought had even faded from her mind, the little girl trembled by the sight of her face which was covered with wounds, then fell on the ground with her eyes rolling back.


    ''See? My face has scared her senseless... Wait, is my face really so scary?'' Lin Qiao wondered.


    She walked over to check on the child and found that her whole face had taken on a bluish tint. Apparently, she had been scared quite badly.


    Lin Qiao placed the child''s body into a comfortable position, letting her sleep comfortably in the blanket.


    Then, she stood up and turned around while saying one word silently.


    ''Out''.


    A bright flash appeared before her eyes. When she could finally see again, she found herself out of the space as expected, standing in the same spot where she had entered the space from.


    She looked at the scattered zombies around her and realized that they could somehow understand her orders. She had also been faintly sensing these zombies'' thoughts, which were comprising of just one phrase¡ª''So hungry!''


    She too was incredibly hungry, more so than ever as she had been staying with the little girl the whole time. Smelling the girl''s enticing aroma made her want to bite the little thing so badly.


    Beyond that, she was a little confused when she thought about the rioting of zombies that happened earlier.


    At the time, she was just thinking that if only those zombies would all rush at the three, she would have a chance to lose herself in the crowd. What she didn''t expect was that the zombie mob really would charge at the three. She didn''t know for sure if they heard and understood her order, and yet, the fact that more and more zombies were attracted to that area seemed to suggest that they did.


    She turned to a wandering zombie near her, fixed her eyes on it, and murmured silently, ''Look at me... Look at me... Look at me...''


    As expected, the male zombie that Lin Qiao was staring at stopped shuffling forward, slowly turned his head back to look at her, then turned his entire body around as his gray, half rolled up eyes stared at her in confusion.


    ''Walk over...'' Lin Qiao kept staring at him and said silently.


    Next thing she knew, the zombie began swaying toward her.


    When that happened, Lin Qiao was truly shocked because the male zombie was really able to sense her thoughts and follow her orders. Had she evolved into a high-level zombie already? Was that why she was able to control these unintelligent zombies?


    As she was thinking about this, the male zombie had swayed to where she was, then stopped and looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then waved him off.


    ''Go away.''


    After receiving her command, the male zombie turned around and left, still confused.


    Lin Qiao then performed the same test on another zombie and got the same result. She was now certain that she had been upgraded, although she didn''t know how many levels she had risen, neither was she clear about the zombie ranking system.


    After confirming that she was able to control other zombies, she turned around without further deliberations and searched through Lu Tianyu''s memories for the location of the building in which she had raped the man.


    After confirming the direction, she promptly headed that way.


    She didn''t know if the man would still be there, but she believed that he would be nearby. He must be searching for his daughter near that area for sure.


    It was night time now, perfect for her activities.


    She ran in that direction like a nimble shadow in the darkness of the night. She ran quite fast, but still didn''t feel tired at all. Two hours later, she came to the front of that building, but didn''t detect any human vibes or see any humans.


    She stood in an obscure corner and called a zombie over, trying to communicate mentally with it.


    ''Are there human beings in this place?'' she asked silently.


    The zombie looked at her with confusion, failing to comprehend her meaning, and seeming to have completely no idea what she was talking about.


    "Roar!"


    ''Human beings?'' Lin Qiao asked which ended up emitting out in the form of a growl.


    The zombie continued looking at her confusedly, giving absolutely no response.


    "Roarrrr?"


    ''Have you seen any human being?'' she asked again.


    The zombie couldn''t look any more confused at this point.


    Lin Qiao was speechless, having no idea how to proceed forward from this point.

 12 Communication Between Zombies

    Lin Qiao continued to roar at the zombie for a while without receiving the slightest response or reaction from the latter. She felt like she was talking to a cow, which could understand rudimentary instructions but not answer any questions.


    She had no way of communicating with this zombie at all.


    Understanding this, she sighed and gave up on asking it for directions.


    ''Hungry¡­''


    Suddenly, a thought popped up in Lin Qiao''s mind, seeming to come from someone other than herself.


    ''Hungry... Hungry... Hungry...''


    Her head ached slightly, as she felt similar to when she first woke up and found that she was processing a lot of information composed of thoughts belonging to someone other than herself. She remembered passing out from the pain due to such a huge amount of information flooding into her brain yesterday or the day before. But now, she merely received a small amount of information that wasn''t as strong as what she had sensed earlier, and the headache was faint as well.


    She lifted her head and looked around. ''Who is crying out that they''re hungry?'' She wondered.


    ''Hungry... Hungry...''


    Just then, the thought emerged again.


    Lin Qiao sensed it, and could hear it shouting ''hungry''. Suddenly she realized that this thought was from no one else but the zombie right in front of her.


    "Roar", Lin Qiao couldn''t help but roar at the zombie.


    ''Are you hungry?'' she asked.


    The zombie only looked at her in confusion, then roared back at her, "Roar."


    ''Hungry.'' The zombie replied.


    "Roar", Lin Qiao tried again to ask him, ''Is there any human in this place?''


    This time, the zombie didn''t reply, but simply continued to look at her blankly just like before.


    She sighed and waved a hand at the zombie, signaling it to leave. At this moment, the zombie showed quick reflexes and left immediately.


    Lin Qiao kept looking around, thinking that she should maybe explore this place to see if she could find those people. However, as she was preparing to go, a voice suddenly burst into loud cries inside her head, startling her.


    ''Damn! Where is this cry coming from?''


    She fretfully looked left and right, then front and behind, but couldn''t see anyone or sense any child crying in the vicinity.


    Wahhhhh... Wooooo...


    Another wave of the child''s cries was heard, still ringing inside her mind. This time, Lin Qiao changed her expression slightly and immediately said ''in'' silently in her head.


    In the next moment, she disappeared from the obscure corner where she had been hiding.


    As soon as Lin Qiao entered the space, the crying in her head instantly turned into actual crying sounds.


    "Whooo¡­ Wahhhh¡­ Wooooo!" The child sitting on the blanket was crying on finding herself all alone in a strange place after waking up, due to which she was terrified. After she cried for a short while, a horrible-looking zombie suddenly appeared right before her eyes, which frightened her and made her shut up at once.


    The moment she saw Lin Qiao, she opened her eyes wide, staring at the latter in terror. Her body stiffened so badly that she even began to tremble.


    She wanted to cry, but couldn''t open her mouth or make any sound emerge from her throat. Gripped by pure terror, she watched this zombie whom she had seen once before walking toward her.


    ''She''s coming over to eat me! She''s gonna eat me! I''m going to be eaten!'' The little girl was scared to death, but at least she didn''t pass out again.


    Lin Qiao was lured by Wu Yueling''s aroma and couldn''t help drooling, but at the same time, she was also reading the latter''s mind. She saw that Wu Yueling was staring at her in horror with her lips pressed together and body stiff, not daring to move at all.


    Lin Qiao tried moving her foot, but saw a tremor run through Wu Yueling''s body the moment she did. Wu Yueling then quickly curled herself up, wrapped her arms around her knees, and hung her head.


    ''Daddy! I''m gonna be eaten! Daddy! Please come to save me! Daddy...''


    Lin Qiao had to take a small step backward when she heard the little girl screaming in her own head. She thought for a while, then turned around and left the space.


    Quite a while later, Wu Yueling realized that she seemed to be fine. Why hadn''t the zombie bitten her yet? She slowly raised her head with surprise but saw nothing in the spot where the zombie had been standing.


    Wu Yueling had been given quite a fright. She hurriedly looked around, but still couldn''t find the zombie.


    ''Where is the zombie? Where did it go? It was standing right there, preparing to eat me.''


    She looked to her left and then to her right, but found no zombie. After that, she sighed slightly in relief. And before long, she pouted, her mouth curved downward as she struggled not to cry again.


    ''There is no one here! It''s so scary! Where is my daddy? Why didn''t he come to find me? I want my daddy! Daddy...''


    After leaving her space, Lin Qiao stood quietly while looking at the sky. She didn''t know what the time was because she didn''t have a watch, but judging from the starlight, it should be around three or four o''clock in the morning.


    She looked around, suddenly noticing a very tall building. Her black eyes shone as she turned around and quietly ran toward the building''s gate under the cover of darkness. She moved as quietly as a cat which had stood up on its rear tires. Only her clothes made some slight noise while fluttering in the air.


    This building had thirty to forty floors. As there was no elevator, her only choice was to climb the stairs.


    The surrounding zombies all stepped away from her or turned around to avoid looking at her once she approached them.


    Ordinary zombies couldn''t climb stairs because their knee joints were too stiff. Only zombies which had evolved to level-one or above were able to walk and run nimbly, capable of going up and down the stairs like Lin Qiao was doing now.


    The evolutionary process of zombies was slow. The unintelligent zombies could only find food by relying on their instinctive hunger, and only a small number of evolved zombies fared slightly better than that. Due to this, Lin Qiao hadn''t seen any of the higher-level zombies in Lu Tianyu''s memories until this moment.


    At level one and two, the zombies were still unintelligent. They were merely a group of nimble and swift monsters whose only awareness was their desire to eat human beings.


    Only at levels three or above would zombies with intelligence emerge.


    To evolve to level one or two, ordinary zombies needed to consume a great amount of blood and flesh of ordinary human beings, or some blood and flesh of superpowered human beings. After that, the evolvement from level two to three was even more difficult.


    Not even one in a hundred level-two zombies could evolve to level three.


    However, as soon as Lin Qiao opened her eyes, she had directly evolved to level-three from an ordinary zombie. She even had almost reached level-four, in fact!


    She had memories and a soul, and of course, she had her intelligence.


    However, she still didn''t like climbing floors, even though she had become a zombie. She felt dizzy while climbing the stairs floor by floor, despite the fact that she couldn''t feel tired or be out of breath, or that her heart was going to explode like a living human being''s would by now.


    She felt dizzy! Dizzy!


    After climbing a dozen floors, she even felt tight in the chest.


    ''Damn it! Am I not a zombie? How can I possibly feel dizzy and chest tightness? Can''t I even live happily as a zombie?''


    She stopped on the twentieth floor, walking to the window around the side while complaining to herself.


    This was already the twentieth floor, and this height should allow her to see the things present in the area.

 13 The Scent in the Air

    Lin Qiao walked to a window beside the stairs in the building and looked outside. In the eyes of ordinary humans, there was only darkness outside. The buildings, plants, and all the other things on the ground were just shades and shadows in the dim light.


    However, Lin Qiao could see everything clearly. Zombies weren''t able to see colors, but Lin Qiao''s eyes were slightly different from those of ordinary zombies.


    Her eyes were even darker than the shades of night. She opened those eyes wide and swept her gaze across the area which could be seen from the window. However, even after searching for a while, she detected not a single light. She guessed that those people were being careful not to draw attention to themselves.


    After observing things for a little longer and still seeing nothing, her eyes sparkled as she changed her way of searching.


    She lifted her chin slightly, closed her eyes, and carefully sniffed the air again and again.


    She had come to realize that her sense of smell was now even sharper than that of dogs. As she had hoped, after spending a while sniffing the scent in the winds around the tall buildings, she sensed something special.


    Among all the scents she detected, the strongest was the rancid stench from zombie bodies. She also detected some strange scents from plantlife and mutated animals, but those were faint, diluted by other scents in the air.


    By now, she could tell the smells apart, especially those of living people and zombies. However, she didn''t yet know the reach of her sense of smell.


    She sniffed for quite a while in this tall building, detecting all kinds of smells but finding none which belonged to living human beings.


    She didn''t want to give up, so she walked about aimlessly on this floor, then ran in the other direction and found another window. She removed the window pane, then stuck her head out, and sniffed as hard as she could.


    But still, she detected no trace of living human beings while standing in this building.


    She found this a little perplexing. Wouldn''t that man send his people out to look for his daughter? Why couldn''t she detect any live human being in this area?


    Should she keep the little one if she failed to find her family?


    Lin Qiao struggled a little with this thought.


    She was a zombie now, and no matter how hungry she felt, she couldn''t seem to die. But unlike her, the little one in her space was a living human being, a five-year-old child. A human being needed to eat, especially a child. If she were not careful, the child could get sick, and that would be troublesome.


    Thinking of the little one, Lin Qiao suddenly realized that she hadn''t been sensing anything from her for some time now, and could no longer hear her cries. What if the child had had an accident? This thought flashed across Lin Qiao''s mind, and she hurriedly re-entered her space.


    A bright light flashed across her eyes and then she showed up in the space, which was still misty and had no sounds disturbing the silence.


    Lin Qiao''s eyes swept across the area and found Wu Yueling''s tiny body curled up on the ground, wrapped in the small blanket.


    Her heart sank as she hurried over. Suppressing her urge to eat the child, she squatted down to observe the color on the girl''s face. Her face was very pale, as were her lips, and the rims of her eyes were dark and bluish.


    Lin Qiao wanted to reach out and touch the girl''s forehead, but the sight of her black and shiny nails made her pause.


    Zombies'' teeth and nails all carried the zombie virus, and the virus on her dark and sharp nails must be more potent than that of ordinary zombies.


    She couldn''t directly touch the child''s skin with these nails! Therefore, she wondered if she was able to somehow retract her nails.


    She looked at her fingernails and thought about retracting them, causing a strange feeling to arise in her finger bones. She then fixed her eyes on her nails and actually saw them slowly turning white and becoming shorter. Next, she watched the sharp nails disappear from her fingers and look like the nails of ordinary humans.


    She looked at her fingers with confusion, then raised her other hand. The fingernails on her other hand were still black and sharp.


    Could¡­her fingernails change according to her thoughts?


    She thought about this with a degree of uncertainty, then pointed at her unchanged hand, staring at her fingertips as she whispered silently in her heart.


    ''Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!''


    As expected, her other hand slowly started looking like a hand of an ordinary human while her dark fingernails disappeared.


    After watching her fingernails change, she remained silent for a while, then tentatively touched the child''s forehead with her fingers.


    The child''s skin was cold, much colder than the normal body temperature of healthy humans.


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly and immediately withdrew her hand.


    She didn''t know if the child had been awakened by the coldness of her fingers, but after she withdrew her hand, the child''s eyelids suddenly twitched and then slowly opened.


    ''This isn''t good!''


    Lin Qiao''s heart skipped a beat. She shouted silently in her head and then hurriedly stood up to step aside, darting five meters away from the child while looking nervously back at her.


    That had been a completely instinctive reaction of Lin Qiao because earlier on, the child burst into screams and almost fainted on seeing her. Just now, the girl suddenly opened her eyes once again, and if she saw that Lin Qiao was standing right beside her, she would be scared to death, wouldn''t she?


    The child turned her head and began to look around blankly. And as Lin Qiao had thought, the girl became fully awake the moment she saw her. Her large, watery, but somehow lusterless eyes were fixed onto Lin Qiao''s face and grew even wider with fear.


    But this time, she didn''t scream, and just bit her lips tightly while staring at Lin Qiao without blinking.


    Lin Qiao was standing five meters away as she looked helplessly back at the girl. She had always been hopeless with children. Children at this age were the most ignorant, self-willed, and naughty creatures in the world, the hardest ones to pacify. To make matters worse, their cries were shrill to the point of being deafening!


    A wailing child was at the top of the list of the things that she couldn''t stand.


    ''She''s here! She''s back! She''s here to eat me... This zombie is gonna eat me... Wooo... Daddy! Daddy! Where are you? Come and save me! Come and save Ling Ling! Why won''t you come to save Ling Ling?''


    Just as Lin Qiao was reaching a despairing level of indecision, she suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of fear, desperation, panic, and other negative emotions. At the same time, she was able to read the mind behind it.


    These were clearly the child''s current feelings.


    But soon, these feelings became weaker and weaker.


    ''I''m gonna die... Daddy... I''m gonna be eaten... Daddy...''


    ''Daddy... Daddy¡­''


    ''Daddy¡­''


    Lin Qiao was startled and dismayed to notice that the light in the child''s eyes was dimming.


    ''What should I do? What should I do?'' Lin Qiao was becoming anxious, almost scratching her head in her frustration. She had already felt that the child was losing the desire to survive, truly believing that she would be eaten.


    If Lin Qiao left the space now, there was a chance that the child might recover a little. However, that wasn''t a permanent solution. The child hadn''t eaten for days, which had resulted in her body beginning to fail. Now that she had lost her desire to survive, that would only speed up the failure of her body.

 14 Silent Communication

    Lin Qiao was stiff with worry. She didn''t know what to do, but she knew that she shouldn''t approach the child right now. All she could do was move two steps backward and try making the child react.


    What she really wanted was to carry the child to the lake and get her to drink some more water.


    She had taken a bath in that lake earlier on, and didn''t know if the virus in her body had infected the water or not. However, she remembered that the child had drunk a tiny bit of lake water when she first came in, and no adverse effects seemed to have appeared so far. This proved that the water was safe.


    When Lin Qiao stepped back, Wu Yueling''s eyes suddenly sparkled. Surprisingly, those dull eyes of hers began brightening, and the fear and desperation in them seemed to be magically fading away, albeit marginally so. Then, she looked at Lin Qiao with curiosity.


    Children could actually be very sensitive. When she saw Lin Qiao''s horrible zombie face just now, her first response was fear. However, this wasn''t the first time she had seen the latter, and was actually the second or even the third time.


    She was scared, but when she saw Lin Qiao step backward, she was suddenly reminded of a question. Why hadn''t this zombie bitten her yet?


    Although Wu Yueling was very young, she had seen zombies before, which had left her with psychological scars that were the root of her current psychological problems.


    In her memories, zombies were terrifying, and would savagely pounce and bite anyone they saw.


    Why hadn''t this zombie pounced on her? Why was this zombie standing so far away from her, as though she was too scared to approach?


    Thinking about this suddenly set off an internal struggle inside Wu Yueling''s little head. For a moment, she found that she actually wasn''t as scared as she had been before.


    She also recalled that the last time she saw this zombie, it had jumped away from her, as though it were startled by her screams.


    Wu Yueling pictured the startled Lin Qiao whose hairs were standing nearly straight up on her head.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao was carefully observing Wu Yueling''s every move. She had noticed the change of expression on the latter''s face, and at the same time, she also had a faint sense that this child''s fear and despair had abated slightly, replaced by curiosity instead.


    ''The psychology of children is strange indeed!'' Lin Qiao thought. But in the meantime, she silently sighed in relief as well. Now that the little one wasn''t as afraid of her, other things should be much easier.


    As Lin Qiao was reading Wu Yueling''s mind, she suddenly had an idea.


    She was able to control zombies and read their minds, so... could she convey her own thoughts to others as well? Could she let this little one know what she had been thinking? If she could¡­


    Once she thought of this possibility, Lin Qiao felt her heart beating faster, even though she knew that this was an illusion as her heart wasn''t beating at all. She didn''t have any heartbeat at all!


    Thinking of this, Lin Qiao decided on immediate action. She looked at Wu Yueling in the eyes, then suddenly sat cross-legged on the ground while facing her confused gaze. After that, the two of them just stared at each other.


    ''What is she doing? Isn''t she coming over to bite me? Isn''t she going to eat me?''


    Wu Yueling''s sense of danger gradually faded, and she became more and more curious. When she saw that Lin Qiao made no attempt to approach her and simply sat on the ground, these thoughts instantly popped up in her mind.


    And of course, Lin Qiao could sense her thoughts.


    Children who were only a few years old were barely able to keep their thoughts hidden. In fact, Wu Yueling''s thoughts played like a movie across her face.


    The two gazed at each other for a while, after which, Lin Qiao lifted her hand slightly and waved at Yueling, as though greeting her.


    Wu Yueling sat in front of Lin Qiao, wondered what she was doing. She was obviously quite confused by the latter''s action.


    She blinked her eyes and then moved her body, finally feeling that lying like this was very uncomfortable. So, she supported her body with her arms and slowly sat up while looking at Lin Qiao alertly.


    "Hrr? Hrr?" Lin Qiao produced a low, gravelly sound from her throat in a bid to try and talk to Wu Yueling.


    ''Ling Ling? Ling Ling?''


    She concentrated her thoughts and called Wu Yueling both out loud and in her heart. However, her tongue was stiff being a zombie, which made her voice sound weird like ''hrr, hrr''.


    Wu Yueling couldn''t do anything but look back at her with a confused expression on her face


    Lin Qiao tried a few more times, but Wu Yueling had only been looking at her, feeling strange without showing any change of expression.


    After a while, Lin Qiao sighed with disappointment.


    On hearing this sigh, the expression in Wu Yueling''s eyes slightly changed. However, this was unnoticed by Lin Qiao, who had turned around to look at the lake.


    Since she had failed to communicate by using her thoughts, she thought she would try with actions.


    After glancing at the lake, Lin Qiao had a sudden inspiration, and then she slowly stood up.


    Seeing her stand up, Wu Yueling became nervous again. But next, she soon realized that this zombie wasn''t coming near her.


    ''What is she doing?'' Wu Yueling wondered curiously as she watched Lin Qiao walk to the lake.


    Lin Qiao reached the lakeside, plucked a few long grass leaves, then deftly wove them into a small, green dragonfly. She subsequently put the dragonfly down, picked up a few more leaves, and made a small funnel with them. Next, she pinched the edge of the funnel, put it into the lake, and scooped up some water.


    The lake water was as clear as before. It poured into the funnel woven by Lin Qiao, and she was delighted that it didn''t leak out.


    Lin Qiao held the water-filled funnel in one hand and the grass dragonfly in the other, then slowly walked back to Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling was watching Lin Qiao with wide-eyed curiosity, as she wanted to know what the latter had been doing by the lake. However, when she saw Lin Qiao suddenly stand up and walk toward her, she was startled and instinctively drew back.


    Seeing her reaction, Lin Qiao immediately stopped walking and stood still. Moving no other part of her body except for her arms, she slowly extended the things in her hands forward.


    As she had hoped, the little one was instantly attracted by the grass dragonfly and funnel in her hands. For some reason, children were always interested in straw-woven toys like these.


    Lin Qiao lived in the countryside as a child, and her grandpa had taught her how to make grass dragonflies like this one. She had never imagined that she would be using this to cheer up a child one day.


    She showed Wu Yueling the grass dragonfly and was gratified to see that the repulsion she had seen in Wu Yueling''s eyes was now gone. After that, she raised her foot and took two more steps toward Wu Yueling.


    She caught the child''s attention once she moved, but this time, the child didn''t seem to be as nervous as before. Wu Yueling just looked at Lin Qiao in the eye and then switched her attention to the dragonfly in her hand.


    Lin Qiao took the child''s reaction as permission to proceed. So, she lifted her foot again and slowly walked toward the little girl.


    The little girl watched her warily and nervously, but couldn''t help glancing at the grass dragonfly in her hand.


    Lin Qiao slowly moved to about a meter away from the child, leaving some space between them. This space gave the child a little sense of security, and also allowed her to clearly see the grass dragonfly in Lin Qiao''s hand. Therefore, the child now showed much less repulsion toward her than before.

 15 The Rise of Speed

    Lin Qiao was unwilling to give up. As she handed the things in her hands to Wu Yueling, she again ''said'' a few words to her.


    "Hurr? Hurr?"


    ''Ling Ling? Ling Ling?'' she called her name.


    At that moment, she noticed a change in Wu Yueling''s expression. The little one paused for a second, then dragged her eyes away from the grass dragonfly in Lin Qiao''s hand to look at her left and then right with confusion, only too see nothing. After that, she turned back and looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes, her eyes filled with confusion.


    Seeing her reaction, Lin Qiao paused briefly as well. She felt a flicker in her heart, which she suddenly realized was delight.


    "Hurr, roarrrrr?" She made another series of weird sounds as she tried again to say Wu Yueling''s name. ''Ling Ling, can you hear me?'' she asked.


    This time, Wu Yueling''s reaction was unexpected.


    After hearing Lin Qiao''s voice again, she stared straight at the former as her expression seemed to freeze. She kept staring at Lin Qiao without making any sound, or even having any thought in her mind.


    Lin Qiao was confused.


    Had Wu Yueling heard her or not? Why had her expression suddenly frozen like that? Had her voice scared her?


    From Lu Tianyu''s memories, Lin Qiao had learned that this child was an introvert who never liked to talk. With the exception of her father, she wouldn''t let anyone get near her.


    She was kidnapped by Lu Tianyu because the latter had used Wu Chengyue as an excuse. Lu Tianyu took advantage of the other''s carelessness and tricked the little girl into a corner, then directly knocked her out and carried her away.


    As for how a base leader''s daughter could be kidnapped so easily, the sole reason was that Lu Tianyu had a powerful person backing her¡ªanother base leader had been helping her.


    Wu Yueling''s stiff expression relaxed quickly, but her eyes remained vigilant as she gazed at Lin Qiao. She could still see the grass dragonfly in the latter''s hand.


    As the child focused on the grass dragonfly, Lin Qiao immediately seized the opportunity to hand it to her.


    By now, Wu Yueling was no longer afraid of Lin Qiao. She had seen a lot of zombies, and they were almost always ugly and gross. However, as long as this zombie didn''t try to bite and eat her, she didn''t care.


    Looking at the grass dragonfly that Lin Qiao had handed to her, Wu Yueling now understood that it was meant for her. She remained motionless for a while, then slowly reached out her hand from the blanket and carefully took it from the former''s hand.


    Lin Qiao then slowly placed the funnel near Wu Yueling''s mouth and beckoned her to drink a little. The water had already begun to seep out from the bottom of the funnel.


    However, Wu Yueling only looked at the water silently without opening her mouth to drink it, but not avoiding it either.


    Lin Qiao could only keep patiently holding the funnel, afraid to put it down.


    After about twenty seconds by Lin Qiao''s count, Wu Yueling finally made a move.


    She lightly and tentatively leaned her mouth toward the funnel in Lin Qiao''s hand, opening her mouth just a little to take a sip of the water in the funnel. About half of the water had already seeped out by that time. She then discovered that the water was quite sweet, so she continued drinking it.


    By the time the child had finally drunk all the water in the funnel, Lin Qiao felt she should have had sweat trickling down her face, even though zombies didn''t sweat.


    ''Phew! The little princess finally drank some water! My heart is so tired!'' Lin Qiao complained silently.


    But then, another problem occurred to her. By this time, the child couldn''t feel hunger anymore as she had been starving for too long, but the water she just drank was likely to re-ignite that feeling of hunger.


    After the girl had finished the water in the leaf funnel, Lin Qiao turned around and fetched another funnel-full of water for the child to drink.


    After watching her finish the water again, Lin Qiao finally sighed with relief. She put the funnel in her hand, then took a step to the side and left the space.


    Wu Yueling''s eyes widened as she watched Lin Qiao disappear right in front of her. She stared at the spot where Lin Qiao had disappeared from for a while, then suddenly turned her head and began searching around her.


    She searched the surrounding area with her eyes, but saw no trace of that weird zombie. There was no one but herself in that place. It was all quiet in there, without even a gust of wind to disturb the environment.


    Suddenly, a strong and uneasy feeling emerged in Wu Yueling''s heart. She opened her eyes even wider and tried very hard to search around in panic, but still found nothing.


    There was not a trace of that zombie!


    Her round eyes suddenly turned red, but she didn''t cry out loud. Instead, she bit her lip tightly and gripped the grass dragonfly that Lin Qiao gave her, again curling up her body.


    She didn''t notice that both her hunger and thirst had actually been satiated after she drank the lake water that Lin Qiao gave her. Her physical condition wasn''t as bad as Lin Qiao had thought. On the contrary, her energy was now slowly being restored.


    ...


    Lin Qiao came out of the space and reappeared in the building. She sniffed at the air, sensing a fruity aroma from a long distance away. After that, she turned around immediately and walked toward the stairs.


    She suddenly discovered that her sense of smell was getting sharper and sharper.


    ''Holy heavens! Am I turning into a dog? It seems that us zombies have quite some useful skills!'' She ran down the stairs at high speed while thinking this.


    She just wanted to find some food for the little one as quickly as possible. If the little one died before she could send her back to her father, she would become an unforgivable sinner.


    Thinking of this made her run even faster. At first, she could cover only a few stairs with one step, but later on, she began jumping down and could almost cover a whole staircase with just a few steps while leaving behind a swishing noise.


    She also noticed that her pace had regulated and was becoming faster and faster. She found that her limbs were nimbler and her legs stronger, yet much lighter than before.


    She leaped down from the fifth or sixth stair, feeling absolutely no impact as she landed on the hard ground. By this time, she felt that she was as agile and light as a cat.


    It had taken her a long time to climb these stairs, but by leaping down swiftly, she was soon out of the building.


    She looked at the sky and found that it was still dark. However, she knew that dawn was coming soon.


    She turned around and ran as fast as she could in the direction of the fruity aroma.


    Lin Qiao was an impatient person, and therefore, she would never walk when she could run. At times when she couldn''t run, she would walk fairly fast with giant steps.


    She was running through the darkness of the night once again while trying to find out how fast she could run.


    She focused her eyes on her legs and the road while listening to the slight whooshing noise caused by the wind blowing across her ears.


    If anyone else was here, he or she would have been shocked by seeing how fast she was. She ran like a bolt of lightning, and her speed had already exceeded that of record-breaking Olympic athletes many times over.


    However, Lin Qiao knew nothing of this. She only knew that the longer she ran, the more exhilarated she became. She felt that she could keep running forever as long as she didn''t plan to stop.

 16 Mutated Strawberry

    After half an hour of running, Lin Qiao''s speed had elevated to another level, although she still remained unaware of this. It was only as she stopped in a strawberry field that she felt a slight chest congestion, and even then, she didn''t know if it was because she had run too far or too fast.


    However, the chest congestion didn''t seem to affect her body too much, so she quickly ignored it.


    She stood on the edge of the strawberry field, with dense and lush strawberry plants under her feet.


    As for why nobody else had discovered this place? It was probably because these strawberries were obviously mutant.


    In the present post-apocalyptic world, sixty to seventy percent of all the plants on earth had been infected, and were either dead or mutant. Normally, mutant plants would become poisonous or man-eating.


    Similar to mutant animals, many mutant plants became dreadful killers. That was the reason why the surviving human beings in this world would not go near areas of dense vegetation, such as parks, mountains, and woods.


    The leaves and roots of the strawberries in front of Lin Qiao were three or four times larger than usual, covering the entire field. The strawberries in this field had a weird green color along with red speckles, and there was a strong rotting smell permeating the whole area.


    Because of how these mutant strawberries looked, the survivors in this apocalyptic world would all avoid coming near the area by their mere sight. They would not dare to approach, let alone taste them.


    Lin Qiao, as a matter of fact, was unable to see the color of these strawberries. However, judging from merely their shape, she knew that these strawberries weren''t normal. She was able to detect a faint strawberry aroma underneath the rotten smell, and was confused for a moment.


    Looking at the appearance of these mutated strawberries, she knew that they shouldn''t be edible in theory. However, after she sensed the hidden aroma, some kind of intuition told her that these strawberries weren''t poisonous.


    She was puzzled, but didn''t hesitate to go straight down into the strawberry field. The strawberry leaves reached her lower legs.


    She bent down and picked a large, ripe strawberry, then brought it near her nose to sniff it.


    The bad odor was still there, but so was the aroma. The mixture of the two scents smelled strange, and made her nose a little itchy.


    She pulled the strawberry away and rubbed her nose with the other hand while wondering if it was truly edible. Suddenly, she thought of the baby rabbit and the nest of baby mice that she had put into her space earlier.


    She clutched the pear-sized strawberry, then turned around and disappeared from where she was, as though no zombie had ever visited this strawberry field.


    There was a flash before her eyes, and then came the familiar white light.


    She subconsciously searched for the little one the moment she came back. As expected, the child was in the same spot, but had curled up, squatting on the ground.


    ''She is still awake!''


    Lin Qiao was a little surprised at this.


    Wu Yueling was squatting sideways with her body wrapped in the blanket and her hands holding the grass dragonfly that Lin Qiao had given her. Therefore, Lin Qiao''s sudden appearance didn''s immediately attract her attention. She squatted there with her head lowered, playing with the grass dragonfly and looking like a chubby roll.


    Lin Qiao didn''t disturb the child, but turned her head to look around, carefully observing the areas of lush grass and listening for any sound.


    As expected, she soon heard a slight noise.


    No wind existed in this space, and therefore, no grass blades would be rustled by any wind.


    This was the reason why Wu Yueling had felt a little scared after Lin Qiao suddenly disappeared. This place was way too quiet and expansive.


    Lin Qiao held her breath and quietly walked toward the noise.


    As for holding her breath, that was actually her imagination as all of her bodily functions had stopped. However, as they said, ''Old habits die hard''.


    She walked silently over to a thick growth of grass. Her footsteps were completely soundless, and made no impact against the ground. Therefore, when she quietly reached the place where the noise came from, she saw a fist-sized rabbit squatting among the grass with its back to her, holding a fistful of grass and eating with vigor.


    The rabbit was totally focused on eating, completely unaware of the zombie standing behind it.


    Lin Qiao quietly moved closer. She held the strawberry with her left hand and reached out with her right hand, stooping as she slowly extended her hand to within about ten centimeters of the rabbit before thrusting her palm forward and grabbing it.


    The baby rabbit was startled by the sudden grasp and began struggling, letting out panicked, shrill screams.


    Lin Qiao lifted it up, watching it twist its body and struggle in her hand. The rabbit''s screams immediately attracted Wu Yueling''s attention.


    The moment she turned her head, she saw the zombie who had fed her water standing in the grass. The grass reached the zombie''s knees, so she could only see the latter from the thighs up.


    Wu Yueling couldn''t help but stand up when she saw Lin Qiao. Her eyes sparkled with a trace of surprise as she turned around and stared straight at her. She wasn''t afraid of Lin Qiao anymore, because this zombie didn''t want to eat or kill her.


    Lin Qiao grasped the rabbit and walked away, not toward Wu Yueling but to a clean area by the lake. Then, she sat on the ground with her legs crossed.


    She held the baby rabbit, letting it struggle in her hand. After a short while, the baby rabbit slowly calmed down as though it knew that its struggle was futile, or it might have gotten too tired.


    After the rabbit had quieted down, Lin Qiao put the strawberry from her other hand close to the rabbit''s face in order to see its reaction. She didn''t know if the rabbit liked strawberries or not, and even if it didn''t agree to eat it, she intended to stick a piece of the strawberry into its mouth to see if there would be any toxic reaction.


    Maybe because the smell of the strawberry made its nose twitch, the rabbit''s reaction was to draw back immediately, then turn its nose and mouth as far away from the strawberry as possible.


    Lin Qiao patiently held the strawberry. She didn''t break off a piece to put into the rabbit''s mouth right away, but waited to see if it would sense its aroma.


    However, the rabbit didn''t seem to sense the faint, fruity aroma. Quite a while had passed, but it still didn''t turn its head back.


    Lin Qiao had no choice but to put the strawberry down and hold the rabbit on the ground to immobilize it. Next, she broke off a piece of the strawberry with her fingers and popped it directly into the rabbit''s mouth. Then, she pinched its mouth and thrust the strawberry piece straight down its throat.


    As a result, the piece of strawberry was stuck in the rabbit''s throat. The rabbit was unable to cough it out, and had to swallow it.


    After putting the strawberry piece into the rabbit''s throat, Lin Qiao lifted it and continued to observe it. When she forced it to eat the strawberry, it had kicked its hind legs strongly for a few times, but made no other reaction after that.


    One second, two seconds, three seconds¡­ A minute passed by. Lin Qiao shook the rabbit and found it to be still alive, without showing any sign of dying.


    How long did chronic poisoning take? The rabbit was not displaying any adverse reaction yet, but would the poison attack later after making its way through the rabbit''s system?


    As she was thinking about this, Lin Qiao abruptly swung her arm and threw the rabbit aside onto the grass. Then, she turned and saw Wu Yueling, who was standing silently behind her, less than three meters away.

 17 Mutation and Mutation

    Lin Qiao was speechless.


    After being thrown onto the grassland, the rabbit sprung to life immediately. It turned around and darted away, disappearing into the grass.


    Wu Yueling was standing at a distance, watching Lin Qiao''s every move.


    At first, she thought that this zombie was going to eat the cute baby rabbit, and hence was quite nervous for the latter. But then, she slowly realized that things were not as she had thought. She also saw that the zombie was holding a strawberry-like fruit.


    Then, she watched the strange zombie feed the strawberry to the rabbit.


    Her dad had told her that all the plants out here were mutant and poisonous, and only the plants at the base were edible. She also knew that normal strawberries were red, and were much smaller than the one she was seeing right now.


    The color of the strawberry held in this zombie''s hand was just too weird! Her dad had said that the mutations in plants mainly affected their shapes and colors, and therefore, she was quite sure that this strawberry must be mutant.


    She was shocked that the zombie would feed this poisonous, mutated strawberry to the little rabbit. Would the little rabbit die now?


    The rabbit didn''t seem like it wanted to touch the strawberry, but the zombie had stuffed a small piece into its mouth.


    Wu Yueling suddenly became frightened of the zombie once again.


    Therefore, when Lin Qiao saw Wu Yueling, the latter took her blanket and quickly withdrew to over twenty meters away.


    Lin Qiao was speechless again.


    ''Why did you come so close if you are afraid of me?''


    She rolled her eyes in her heart. A zombie could never understand what a child was thinking.


    After seeing the rabbit hop away briskly, Lin Qiao decided to check on it in half an hour. She took the mutant strawberry which now had a little hole on it, then stood up and walked to the lake to wash it in the water.


    After washing it, she held it to her face and examined it. She was about to take a bite, but suddenly paused when her teeth touched the strawberry.


    She snapped her mouth close and held the strawberry to her nose to sniff it, then found something strange.


    The rotten smell of the strawberry had disappeared, leaving behind only that faint sweet aroma.


    ''Eh? Where has the stench gone?''


    Confused, Lin Qiao sniffed it again and confirmed that the strong stink had really disappeared.


    How did it disappear?


    She was perplexed, but delighted at the same time. After all, without the stink, the strawberry had become much more acceptable than before.


    With this thought, she immediately put the strawberry into her mouth and took a bite.


    As a zombie, she surely couldn''t taste any flavor, but the texture was still there. The strawberry was tender, juicy, soft, and refreshing. It tasted like a normal strawberry, just meatier and juicier.


    Lin Qiao sighed with disappointment, feeling a little sorry for herself as her tongue could not taste anything now.


    As for the strawberry being poisonous or not, she wasn''t concerned as she was a zombie herself and the strawberry wouldn''t kill her even if it were poisonous. She was infected by the virus already, so the virus in fruits could no longer harm her.


    However, she was concerned about the altered smell of the strawberry. She would have a clearer indication after she had checked on the rabbit''s condition again.


    Although the rabbit was also a mutant, it was different from the mutant plants. Mutant animals didn''t carry any virus, and only the animals which had turned into zombie animals would carry it within their bodies.


    Living mutant animals with flesh and blood like this little rabbit were similar to superpowered human beings. Some parts of them had changed, but the physiological functions of their bodies remained unchanged.


    Therefore, the flesh and blood of living mutant animals remained the same as before. The only difference in them was that their mutation had given them upgraded powers.


    Wu Yueling fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao, watching this zombie actually eat the mutant strawberry. She surely knew that this zombie wouldn''t be harmed by the virus, but she still felt weird about it.


    ''As a zombie, shouldn''t you eat and bite human beings? Shouldn''t you pounce on every living human being you see?''


    She was young, but she wasn''t stupid. She grew up in the post-apocalyptic world, and her dad had taught her lots of things. Therefore, she was quite familiar with this world.


    Was the zombie hungry as well? Why would this hungry zombie eat a strawberry instead of her?


    Even as a smart child, Wu Yueling struggled to comprehend Lin Qiao''s behavior with her five-year-old mind.


    To be honest, she thought that even an adult would be confused by this zombie''s behavior! Who had ever seen a zombie leave a live human being alone and eat a strawberry? Even if she was an intelligent zombie, she couldn''t possibly change her instinctive urge to eat human beings, could she? What on earth was this strawberry-eating zombie?


    While Wu Yueling was staring at Lin Qiao in confusion, Lin Qiao had also been observing the former with suspicion.


    Due to the occupation that she had before she came back to life, her observation would always happen unwittingly. Before she realized that she was doing it, she would often find that she had unconsciously observed the environment around her and had every detail imprinted in her brain. Therefore, once she had scanned the area again to compare it with what was already in her head, she would be able to identify the differences.


    Right now, Lin Qiao realized that something was not quite right with Wu Yueling.


    Earlier on, this child looked faint and weak from hunger, yet she now looked nothing like someone who hadn''t eaten for days, despite the fact that she was just a little child!


    At that moment, Wu Yuling was standing seven or eight meters away from Lin Qiao, but the latter could still see her face clearly.


    Her face was still pale, but her eyes were luminous again. Even though her gaze toward Lin Qiao remained vigilant, there was also confusion and some curiosity there. The weakness and dimness in her eyes were already gone, along with the desperation and all the other negative emotions.


    Lin Qiao knew that children tended to change as quickly and suddenly as the weather. They were unpredictable, and would laugh or cry without any warning.


    Earlier on, this little one had been so terrified of Lin Qiao, but now, her curiosity allowed her to get closer.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what had happened to this little one. Earlier on, she had been worried that the girl might die, but now, this child was standing right in front of her, seeming to be quite fine.


    ''You have already taken my grass dragonfly. Why are you still hiding from me?''


    Lin Qiao could tell that this kid was pretty smart. She was able to differentiate the good people from the bad ones, and she wouldn''t believe every word that the others said.


    Based on Lu Tianyu''s memories, Wu Yueling loathed her. When she was tricked by the former, she had refused to believe her at first. However, the former had uncovered some secrets about Wu Chengyue with Yang Chao''s help, and armed with those, she managed to lure Wu Yueling away. Wu Yueling was still filled with suspicion back then, and soon had realized that things weren''t right. So, although she turned around and ran, how could she outrun Lu Tianyu? As a result, she was directly knocked out.

 18 Intelligent Zombie

    While looking at Wu Yueling, Lin Qiao chewed the strawberry unconsciously. The strawberry soon melted in her mouth and was swallowed directly. Sadly, she didn''t find it to be delicious, neither did she feel that her stomach was satisfied.


    After that first bite, she didn''t want to continue eating the strawberry. Glancing at the strawberry in her hand once which now had a bite missing, she threw it onto the grass.


    She looked at the grass dragonfly in Wu Yueling''s hands and gave it some thought, then raised her arm abruptly and waved at the latter, gesturing for her to come over.


    However, Wu Yueling turned and ran immediately when she saw Lin Qiao wave at her.


    Lin Qiao sighed.


    ''Alright...'' Since the little one refused to come to her, she decided to have some fun by herself.


    She glanced at where Wu Yueling had run to and saw that she had hidden in the grass. She wondered if the girl was afraid of bugs.


    Lin Qiao turned around and walked to a thick patch of grass, picking up a few long grass blades. These grass blades were able to create thin gashes on human skin as they had burrs on the edges, and would harden when they matured. However, her hands couldn''t be harmed by these grass blades because she was a zombie!


    After picking some grass blades, she wove and folded them to make a grass frog, a grass ball, a grass butterfly, and several other small trinkets¡­


    She finished weaving and put these small trinkets into a clearing, then glanced at Wu Yueling, who had stuck her head out to peep at her from her hiding place. After that, she turned around and left the space.


    She didn''t know where this space originated from. She had no idea if it was brought here or created by her own soul, or maybe had existed inside Lu Tianyu''s body and yet was never activated by her. She didn''t know the exact function of this space either, but she did know that storing and growing plants within it were possible.


    As soon as she left the space, Lin Qiao made a spot to sit down, then looked at the sky that was brightening by now.


    She realized that she didn''t need to sleep as she didn''t get tired. Did zombies really need no sleep? She looked at the zombies who had been wandering in this city in the middle of the night and felt that that might be true.


    The strawberry field wasn''t far away from the city. Therefore, there must be zombies wandering nearby Yet, these zombies were scattered here and there, and not gathered in a mob.


    She was thinking about how she could get to South Cloud Island Base faster.


    ''That''s it! I should find a driveable vehicle.'' Somehow, she had forgotten about this plan from earlier on, and hadn''t thought about the car for a while. Perhaps it was because she had become too focused on finding food, and then began worrying about Wu Yueling.


    It seemed that after filling up her stomach, she needed to find a car first.


    There were many cars of every make and model abandoned in the SZ district, but she didn''t know whether they were still driveable or not. The gasoline in the gas stations might have been looted long ago, and it was questionable as to whether she would find any.


    She touched her belly and felt that it was now full of bumps and hollows, leading to a very strange feeling. Back when she was an ordinary human, her physical perception of human bodies had been deeply ingrained since long ago. Now that she was in this state, if she were still a human being, she would have been tortured almost to death by the pain even if she remained alive.


    Fortunately, she felt nothing in such a state. She thought that she was fortunate to have become a zombie, because the pain caused by all the traumas that this body had suffered would have surely killed her otherwise!


    She raised her nose and sniffed around, but detected no aroma to arouse her appetite, nor did she detect anything that she wanted to eat.


    She sighed and decided to look around her.


    She wouldn''t starve to death even if she failed to find any food, but this constant hunger was very uncomfortable. Even finding another mouse to snack on would be nice at this point!


    In passing, she could also try to find Wu Chengyue and his people, so that she could return the little one to them. After that, she wouldn''t have to worry about the child at least!


    She stood up right away, then turned around and began walking.


    After leaving the strawberry field, she walked into the city. However, she stopped soon afterward with her ears twitching slightly before she continued on.


    She walked a while longer, then suddenly leaped to the side as she reached a factory area. After swiftly rolling on the ground, she knelt on one knee and lowered her body, supporting herself with her arms. Fully alert, she stared at a monster which had suddenly and silently pounced on her from the top of a two-story factory.


    Even though it was a monster, it looked humanoid. Judging by its appearance, it should have been a high-level zombie. Its face had lost the original, identifiable human features. Its eyes were black without any white sclera, similar to Lin Qiao''s. Those pure black eyes also had a weird luster.


    The original shape of its nose was still recognizable, but the mouth was cracked wide open, stretching from the left ear to the right. Once it opened that mouth, Lin Qiao could see its elongated teeth protruding from the rotten gums. A dark, dirty liquid was dripping from those teeth, emitting a rotten stench.


    The zombie was standing on a pair of slightly bent legs. Its back was hunched, and its fists were held contortedly before its chest to form a claw. Its eyes sparkled with a vicious greed as it stared at Lin Qiao, facing her in a hunting posture while treating her as prey.


    Lin Qiao could sense a strange vibe emanating from the zombie. It was like the vibes of humans, specifically those who were dominant and held positions of power.


    Judging by its vibe, Lin Qiao guessed that it was a peak-level-three intelligent zombie.


    Why would this kind of a zombie attack her? Lin Qiao had no answer to that question.


    She searched through Lu Tianyu''s memories and found that even though that woman had done all kinds of evil things at her base, she hadn''t ever seen a high-level zombie herself.


    Based on her memories, she only knew that high-level zombies would attack lower level zombies and then dig out their zombie nucleus to strengthen themselves.


    Lin Qiao recalled that she had cut a zombie''s head earlier on when saving the unconscious man. After that, a crystal piece had fallen out of the zombie''s head and disappeared directly after being pinched by her.


    Had she absorbed it? No wonder!


    It seemed that this high-level zombie was seeing her as its prey. Was its intention to dig out the nucleus in her head?


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes. She was on full alert, but her entire body had been locked on by this high-level zombie. She knew that the moment she moved, the zombie would burst up and fly at her.


    She sneered silently. She was also an intelligent zombie, and even though her vibe was suppressed, she hadn''t experienced a strong sense of danger. Besides, even if she was unable to defeat this high-level zombie, couldn''t she just run? Even if she failed to run, she still had her space! Would this zombie be able to follow her into her space?


    However, Lin Qiao didn''t know that she was only a basic-stage level-three zombie, while the one in front of her was already at the peak of level-three, and was preparing to step up to level-four.


    It had set its sight on Lin Qiao because it wanted to use her zombie nucleus for its own evolution. It could easily absorb level-three zombie nuclei, but there was one disadvantage¡ªfor a level-three zombie, the energy contained in one level-three zombie nucleus might not be great enough to help it cross the bottleneck to enter level-four. If this level-three zombie had found a level-four superpowered nucleus, it would definitely be able to level up. However, a level-three zombie without a superpower had no qualification of casting its greedy eyes on level-four zombies.


    Furthermore, finding a level-four zombie nucleus by the roadside was absolutely impossible.


    Therefore, this level-three zombie had decided to go for the second best option, which was finding as many level-three zombie nuclei as possible. It had decided to choose quantity over quality, as the accumulation of energy might also lead to a breakthrough.


    Besides, it had sensed that Lin Qiao was just a newly upgraded level-three zombie, and that her power didn''t seem to be stable yet.

 19 The Energy of A Zombie Nucleus

    Lin Qiao stared at this intelligent zombie vigilantly, while the latter stared right back at her. She had noticed that there were no other zombies around, making this place a little empty... and now she knew why.


    The other zombies in this area should either have been cleaned out or scared away by this intelligent zombie.


    Low-level zombies were instinctively afraid of high-level zombies. Therefore, once a high-level zombie showed up in an area with limited self-control, low-level zombies would all instinctively avoid it and run as far away as possible.


    Moreover, this was an intelligent zombie with an I.Q. comparable to five to ten-year-old children. It already knew how to make a sneak attack, which meant it was quite smart.


    Just as Lin Qiao was taking in the details of the surrounding environment, the intelligent zombie in front of her moved suddenly.


    It bent its legs and thrust them against the ground to pounce on Lin Qiao at an incredible speed. Within just one-tenth of a second, it had rushed up to Lin Qiao from meters away, its ten shiny, sharp fingernails stabbing at her.


    The claws of high-level zombies were incredibly sharp, even harder than diamonds. Lin Qiao knew this because she had a pair of claws just like that of her own.


    When the enemy attacked so suddenly and swiftly, Lin Qiao only had time to turn her body and launch a punch. At that moment, her zombie instincts weren''t working, and all she had were her old combat skills which had automatically taken over.


    Fortunately, her reaction was fast enough as she had been vigilant against the enemy, and her punch landed squarely on the intelligent zombie''s side face.


    Bang!


    The intelligent zombie flew sideways, landing heavily in a walled corner seven or eight meters away and rolling twice on the ground.


    After making these rolls, the intelligent zombie immediately bounced back up and faced Lin Qiao. It supported its body with arms, with its legs bent like an animal as it stared fiercely at her.


    However, there was also confusion in its fierce eyes.


    It was struck dumb by Lin Qiao''s punch!


    It clearly sensed that Lin Qiao wasn''t strong, nor was she at a higher level than itself. Logically speaking, Lin Qiao should have been no match. And yet for some reason, she had not only thwarted its attack, but also landed a punch on its face.


    "Wooo!" The intelligent zombie uttered a roar deep from its throat as it pondered over this. Its voice was weird and unpleasant to hear, containing an oppressive warning that sounded like the warning from a higher-positioned being to a lower-positioned one. This warning promised that if the one who had been warned refused to obey, it would be punished.


    This kind of roar was only effective amongst zombies. A lower-level zombie would be frightened the moment it heard this roar, and would either surrender or run in panic.


    Clearly, this zombie intended to suppress Lin Qiao in this way.


    However, Lin Qiao seemed to not hear this roar as she just looked at him quietly.


    She flexed and extended her fingers while feeling surprised that she had actually punched this zombie seven or eight meters away. It seemed that besides her sharp claws, she also had great strength!


    Fortunately, her reactions were not much slower than those of this intelligent zombie. After that first punch, Lin Qiao was slightly more confident about her fighting abilities.


    She looked at this intelligent zombie and suddenly smiled wickedly, letting out a roar of her own.


    "Roar!"


    Her roar was also deep, but slightly higher-pitched than the roar of the intelligent zombie.


    That was clearly provocative!


    ''Damn! Don''t you wanna bite me? Come on! Fight me if you can! Let''s see how good you really are!''


    As Lin Qiao expected, the intelligent zombie in front of her was enraged as soon as it heard her roar. The provocative meaning in her voice was too obvious, and it made this high-level zombie feel badly offended.


    "Roar!" It burst into a loud roar, then thrust its four limbs against the ground and again rushed at her, even faster than before.


    Watching it pounce on her like a fierce wild dog, Lin Qiao bent her legs slightly. She aimed at her enemy at the same time as it launched at her, finally leaping high to dive down on her from the air.


    She lowered her body to give herself some space, then suddenly lifted her hands as the zombie flew overhead. Then, she grasped its legs and tugged them backward before smashing it violently onto the ground.


    Thud!


    A muffled noise was heard as the zombie''s fleshy body bumped against the ground. As it was flying over Lin Qiao''s head, this intelligent zombie never expected its legs to be grabbed. In that instant, it felt its forward motion pause and reverse, followed by it being suddenly turned upside down.


    It was smashed heavily down onto the hard ground on its back. The impact shook its entire body and made it feel like its bones were falling apart.


    Lin Qiao had a great strength, and for this move, she had utilized all of it. On hearing the thud as the zombie smashed onto the ground, she knew that it must have suffered severely, but she didn''t stop because of that. The next second, she flexed and then extended her fingers, popping out her dark claws and swiftly stabbing the zombie''s head.


    "Roar..." The intelligent zombie didn''t even manage to utter its roar before Lin Qiao directly cut off half of its head.


    Thick brain matter splashed all over the ground, with a green rhombus crystal piece that was around the size of a thumb mixed in the brains.


    Zombie nucleus!


    From Lu Tianyu''s memories, Lin Qiao had learned about the different levels and corresponding colors of zombie nuclei, as well as their functions. She now knew that she was able to absorb the energies in zombie nuclei, mutant animals nuclei, and the crystal nuclei from human beings.


    She felt this was very similar to the settings of the post-apocalyptic fictions that she had read online.


    Ranging from low-level to high-level, the colors of zombie nuclei were white, transparent, grey, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, purple, and black. The nuclei of ordinary zombies were all white, while the nuclei of the highest leveled, level-nine superpowered zombies were black.


    She scratched away the brain matter of this intelligent zombie with her sharp nails, then picked out its nucleus and pinched it with her fingers.


    The zombie nucleus was searing hot, but that did not concern her.


    That was because in the next instant, she sensed that the heat had turned into a warm current which flowed into her body through her fingers, circulating in her entire body, from her head to her feet, before returning to her brain at last.


    The warm current didn''t stop flowing ceaselessly through her body.


    She felt very comfortable. All of her body parts that the warm current reached were aching at first, then comforted and refreshed as if someone was massaging her.


    She felt all of her pores open, and a few minutes later, the green zombie nucleus in her hand slowly shrank and then disappeared.


    After the warm current ceased, Lin Qiao let out a long breath.


    Having been nourished by this wave of energy, she felt that her body had become lighter, and the luster on her claws had gotten brighter. She retracted her claws and made fists, but felt no changes in her strength.


    Zombie nuclei were energy sources, and absorbing energy felt seriously good indeed! No wonder intelligent zombies would attack lower-level zombies. However, intelligent zombies liked the crystal nuclei of human beings even more.

 20 Stolen Prey

    The flesh of superpowered human beings was sweet and tasty, and the energy contained in their crystal nuclei was pure, unlike the zombie nuclei which had too many impurities.


    Just like zombies, humans sought zombie nuclei as well. The most profitable job in the bases at that time was zombie-hunting indeed.


    Lin Qiao didn''t think that this level-three zombie would actually be quite weak. Although this fight was simple and violent, it was over quickly.


    The energy contained in the zombie nucleus soothed her entire body but failed to quench her hunger. She still wanted to eat.


    ''I want meat! Meat! Meat!''


    While roaring in her head, she took a simple glance at the intelligent zombie, then turned and left.


    ...


    The sky was already brightening, and the surrounding area was becoming clearer. She couldn''t see a lot of colors, but she could still sense the change in the light. After finishing off this intelligent zombie which had shown up out of the blue, Lin Qiao turned around and continued moving forward, in search for a drivable car.


    Not long after she had left, a few people showed up and surrounded the dead intelligent zombie, their faces filled with surprise and confusion.


    "Is it dead? How come?" Liu Hongshi said in amazement as he stared at the corpse on the ground. The other two didn''t respond, only observing the dead zombie with somber expressions.


    Lin Yong took a look at the zombie, then pointed at its head which had been cut open and said, "It was killed by another intelligent zombie. The edge of the wound on its head is rough, clearly created by bare hands. Only intelligent zombies at level-three or above can cause damage like this."


    Liang Caiyan frowned slightly and nodded.


    Liu Hongshi''s face was a little dark as he stared at the dead zombie and said, "We''ve been chasing it for so long, only for it to be killed by another zombie! Our efforts have been wasted!"


    Lin Yong''s face was also dark with anger, but he didn''t say a word.


    "This should be the only level-three zombie in this area. Has some newcomer seized its territory?" Liang Caiyan asked with confusion.


    Every high-level zombie was territorial. A level-three zombie would find an ownerless area, occupy it, and claim it as its own territory. If another level-three zombie wanted to live in this area permanently, it would need to drive the original level-three zombie away.


    The weak had always been prey for the strong, and this was the most primitive law applicable in this world.


    The strong would live while the weak would die.


    Hence, if two high-level zombies fought over a territory, the weaker one would always die unless it ran fast enough. Thus, if the newcomer was a higher-level zombie, the original territory owner would flee right away without any doubt!


    "This zombie wasn''t wounded by a superpower because there was no trace of it left in the surroundings. Its enemy wasn''t a superpowered zombie but a level-three one just like it. However, that other zombie managed to cut its head so neatly, which is quite strange," said Lin Yong.


    The other two looked around them. As Lin Yong had said, there was no damage done to the surrounding area by any superpower, and there was no other wound on this intelligent zombie''s body either. This zombie was killed with one clean move! A level-three zombie without any superpower couldn''t possibly achieve this.


    Besides, this dead zombie was just a breath away from becoming a level-four zombie. Among all level-three zombies, it was already close to level-four, just lacking in a superpower. It shouldn''t possibly have been killed by a same-level intelligent zombie so easily!


    "Could it be a level-four zombie with super strength?" Liang Caiyan thought of this possibility and said hesitantly.


    Lin Yong nodded with a serious look.


    Liu Hongshi sounded shocked as he said, "What? Level-four? We''ve been in this area for so long with no hint of a level-four zombie showing up! Could it be wrong?"


    Liang Caiyan glanced at him and said, "Do you think a level-three intelligent zombie could kill it so easily and neatly? Even if a level-three zombie could kill it, a great and long fight would be inevitable! But look around you, no any trace of a fight at all! Does it look like a big fight happened here?"


    Liu Hongshi had no answer to this.


    She was right. What kind of level-three zombie could kill a nearly level-four zombie so easily and quickly?


    However, he wasn''t about to give up as he said, "Then, what should we do now? Go after that level-four zombie?"


    As soon as he said this, the faces of the other two immediately darkened!


    They had had their sights locked on this zombie and had chased it for a month already, but it fell into another zombie''s hands in the end!


    This result was so unacceptable that they felt like vomiting blood!


    However, they were no match for level-four zombies with their current powers. They were all superpowered¡ªtwo at level-three and one at level-four. However, when facing zombies of this level, they were all defenseless.


    Human beings didn''t have the high speed and great strength of zombies. In addition to their speed and strength, zombies had beast-like instincts. Therefore, a high-level zombie could defeat three average superpowered human beings easily at one time!


    ...


    On the other side, Lin Qiao found quite a few cars abandoned by the roadside, but couldn''t start any of them even after trying many times. She struggled for quite a while but failed to find even one drivable car.


    She couldn''t help but feel a little frustrated as she found no food or car.


    Suddenly, she thought of the rabbit in her space.


    Right! She needed to see if the rabbit had died from poisoning after eating the mutant strawberry!


    At the thought of this, she immediately entered her space.


    She looked around as soon as she entered her space, but couldn''t see Wu Yueling. She then located the child by using her sense of smell, after which, she walked into the thick grass.


    She didn''t go to Wu Yueling though, and instead went to find the rabbit.


    In fact, she didn''t need to use her sense of smell at all, because she somehow had a foresight like a sixth sense in her space, and it was especially potent.


    She had a sense of where Wu Yueling was, and she confirmed it by sniffing. She also had a faint sense of the rabbit and the few baby mice which hadn''t opened their eyes yet. The sense of the baby mice was exceptionally weak, and she would have missed it if she wasn''t seeking it specifically.


    The few baby mice were tenacious. They had been left here for so long, but hadn''t starved to death.


    Lin Qiao thought that she might just eat these few furless little things to satiate her hunger if she couldn''t find any other food.


    She walked to the rabbit quietly and saw that it was burrowing, as she had expected.


    It didn''t die! That meant that the strawberries were edible!


    Lin Qiao happily looked at the hunched rabbit digging vigorously with its pair of forepaws. She could tell for sure that this rabbit had created more than one burrow.


    The rabbit was so focused on its digging that it hadn''t felt the presence of the zombie behind it.


    Lin Qiao observed it for a while and stopped worrying. Then, she stood up and walked over to Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling was sleeping right by the lake, curled up in a clearing by the edge of the grass, having wrapped herself in the blanket.


    A faint smile appeared on Lin Qiao''s stiff face as she saw that the little grass toys that she had made scattered around the kid. However, she couldn''t see how eerie that smile would be for any other person who happened to look at her.


    She took another glance at Wu Yueling, then turned around and flashed out of her space. As soon as she reappeared where she had disappeared from outside, she began running swiftly toward the strawberry field.

 21 The Current Situation in the Apocalyptic World

    She didn''t know that the intelligent zombie she had just killed was being hunted by others. Neither did she know that she had snatched away the prey of those hunters. The only thing she did know was that the level-three zombie''s nucleus seemed useless to her.


    She felt content while absorbing the energy, but nothing other than that. She couldn''t understand why high-level zombies liked to collect zombie nuclei.


    Thinking all that, she ran toward the strawberry field which wasn''t far away. Her speed had increased so much that she was now running as fast as a gust of wind.


    Moreover, she was the only zombie who dared to run so undisguisedly on a broad road.


    Daytime had arrived again by now. The other zombies were all moving slowly while she was running like the wind. By running at such a speed, she was clearly telling the others that a high-level zombie existed in this area, wasn''t she? After all, all the other high-level zombies now had crisis awareness. They hid themselves because they feared being hunted and rounded up by human beings.


    However, Lin Qiao didn''t care about any of this because she had yet to fully and deeply realize the fact that she was a zombie even at that moment. Besides, she tended to be simple-minded sometimes, and wouldn''t over-think an issue.


    It was due to precisely this reason that she was soon targeted.


    "Eh? Damn! Come on! A high-level zombie!" Among the members of a small freely-formed zombie hunting squad who had been resting on the third floor of a building, a man had been sitting by the window and looking down onto the road. At that moment, he saw a figure rush past, leaving clouds of smoke and dust behind it.


    Its speed was that of someone driving a sports car!


    The man sitting at the window glanced down but failed to see Lin Qiao''s appearance clearly, just her back as she disappeared within a blink.


    He leaped up immediately.


    In the post-apocalyptic world, people would normally come out of bases in groups. They would either join freely formed zombie hunting groups or would become parts of the zombie hunting squads attached to the regular army. Absolutely no human dared to take any action alone, not even high-level superpowered people.


    A superpowered human being would get exhausted at some point, no matter how powerful he or she was. However, zombies were everywhere, crowding toward every living human being they found. They were slow, but a mass of zombies could still overpower and kill superpowered human beings. After all, when zombies detected the scent of living human beings, they would fearlessly rush up again and again with no other sense than the desire to feed, just like a wolf pack eyeing fresh meat.


    "Where?" The other zombie hunters immediately rushed over to the man at the window on hearing him exclaim ''high-level zombie''. They stuck their heads out of the window to look outside, but saw nothing.


    The young man who saw Lin Qiao shoved the others out of the way, then supported his body with his arms and directly leaped down from the window on the third floor.


    "Cut the crap! It''ll be gone if we don''t chase!" Huang Xiao leaped down from the window, nimbly rolled forward on the ground, then swiftly jumped back up and started chasing after Lin Qiao.


    "Huang Xiao!" Seeing him rush out, Xie Dong shouted out, his brow knitted in a frown.


    After Huang Xiao jumped out of the window, the others all stepped back and then swarmed to the second floor. The few agile ones directly leaped down from the second floor, while the two slower ones rushed down to the first floor and exited the building the last. Like wolves that had sighted meat, the group of people followed Huang Xiao, running in Lin Qiao''s direction.


    Xie Dong followed behind these people. His face was expressionless except for his knitted brows, which indicated his anger.


    The bases were no longer running short of food by now as some people with botanical superpowers had been able to plant and grow fruits and vegetables. With that, every base had already planted large amounts of crops. The apocalyptic world soil couldn''t be compared with that in the old world, but it was good enough to keep people from dying of hunger.


    The resources from the old world had greatly depleted because of the consumption in the past few years. By this time, rice and flour could only be afforded by high-level base leaders. The ordinary survivors would get nothing more than a hard, steamed bread that tasted like chaff, and a small bottle of water per day.


    Accommodations were also graded. Survivors without superpowers or strong backgrounds had no other choice but to live in big tents. A big tent would accommodate tens of people, and sometimes over a hundred. Consequently, they would be very crowded, dirty, and messy. Only superpowered people and administrators could afford to live in single rooms or other relatively luxurious accommodations in the buildings inside the bases.


    After the apocalyptic era had begun, the weather had changed significantly. The daytime was scorching hot while the nighttime was icy cold. The difference in temperature between day and night was dramatic. During the daytime, the temperature varied from forty to fifty degrees, but during the night, it would drop to about ten degrees. People wouldn''t be frozen to death, but would still feel awfully cold.


    The people who wanted decent food would have to accept missions and venture out of the bases. Only when they brought back valuable things would they be able to trade these items for better food and accommodation. And of course, high-level zombie nuclei were very precious.


    Currently, there was no minimum requirement of numbers for the people who dared to leave the bases. The base administrators didn''t care about these things. They would give permission for leaving to one single person or a hundred-men group, as long as people signed in and out. In particular, the people returning to the bases had to pass strict inspections, in case they brought the virus back to the bases.


    Most of the people who ventured out were hunting zombies for their nuclei. Zombie nuclei could strengthen the crystal nuclei of human beings, which were also called superpower nuclei. Therefore, strong superpowered human beings were the main force of defense against zombies. In order to grow stronger, these superpowered people would all go out to hunt high-level zombies or purchase zombie nuclei from other people at the bases.


    Among the group of people chasing after Lin Qiao at the moment, Huang Xiao was a peak-level-three superpowered human being, and the Captain, Xie Dong, was at level-four. All the others were merely cannon fodder at levels one and two.


    That was the way things worked in the post-apocalyptic world. The weak people depended on the strong for survival, while the strong recruited underlings as expendable cannon fodder to shield themselves and save their own strength.


    Huang Xiao was the Deputy Captain of this temporary squad. In terms of power, his level-three wind superpower made him the second strongest in the squad.


    The main strength of the squad was Xie Dong, who had level-four fire power. He was in the special forces before the apocalyptic era began, so it was fairly reasonable for him to be the Captain of this squad. He had a well-featured face and a commanding military presence, which made him appear very serious and unapproachable. As he was outstandingly capable, he was the one making decisions for the squad most of the time, and the others had been simply following him. They could choose not to follow him, but he wouldn''t bother to protect them in that case, as he didn''t have to be responsible for the lives of those who were disobedient to him.


    However, one person didn''t think this way.


    Huang Xiao activated his wind power after leaping down from the third floor ahead of the others, then immediately chased Lin Qiao to a long distance away. At that time, it was already too late for Xie Dong to call his name from behind, so he could only follow behind his squad while restraining his anger.


    The nuclei of high-level zombies were especially precious, but one would be foolish to disregard their fighting ability and wisdom.


    In the post-apocalyptic world, it took great efforts and a long time for zombies to upgrade. Therefore, high-level zombies were pretty rare.


    A level-three zombie nucleus could be exchanged for a bagful of white flour, while a level-four zombie nucleus could be traded for a bagful of rice, five top-quality quilts, and a few sets of clean clothes. That was why many people desperately wanted to take out high-level zombies in order to secure these commodities.

 22 The Human Being who Blocked the Way

    Xie Dong frowned, unsure about the level of this zombie that Huang Xiao had seen. If it were level-four, then that would be a serious problem.


    Level-four superpowered zombies were quite rare, and level-five ones were seen even less. In the recent two years, only two or three level-five zombie leaders had shown up. They were all exceptionally powerful, and the people who had unfortunately encountered them were mostly dead.


    Currently, level four was the highest level of the zombies that people could find frequently. Level-three intelligent zombies were more often seen than level-four ones of course. With the strength of Xie Dong''s squad, they might truly face a troublesome situation if it were a level-four superpowered zombie.


    ...


    While running, Lin Qiao suddenly sensed the scent of human beings from behind.


    She knew that a human squad was there when she ran past that area earlier as she had sensed the human aroma from a long distance. She just didn''t take it seriously, as she felt that if she left them alone, they would do the same to her.


    At no point had she expected that these people would want to provoke her even when she caused no offense to them!


    She stopped, then turned around and quietly stared at the human being who had almost caught up with her.


    The man was very fast. Lin Qiao could sense the waves of superpower emanating from him. She had guessed that he was gifted with wind power, because she could see how fast and swift his steps were.


    Seeing that the zombie had suddenly stopped, Huang Xiao''s heart immediately flipped with joy. He rushed and stopped twenty meters away from Lin Qiao, his eyes fixed on this female zombie while looking at her from head to toe.


    This zombie''s hair hung loosely but seemed quite clean. Her face had been destroyed, entirely covered by large tearing wounds, such that it was impossible to see how she originally looked. She had a pair of dark eyes that only high-level zombies had, and her pale lips were pressed tightly together.


    She stood there straight in a long baggy dress which blurred her body shape, looking at him with composure in her eyes,


    The fact that this female zombie didn''t fiercely pounce on him or show any other sign of aggression made Huang Xiao feel strange. She hadn''t even extended her claws to overtly get ready for attack.


    It was worth mentioning that when human beings were hunting high-level zombies, the latter had also been hunting superpowered human beings. The same as human beings, zombies always acted in teams, because in a fight between one level-three zombie and a couple of superpowered human beings, the zombie''s chance of winning was incredibly low.


    At the moment, Huang Xiao was all alone as his teammates hadn''t caught up yet. Thanks to his superpower, he had left the rest of the squad far behind. For the high-level zombie standing in front of him, now was the best time to attack.


    If she were a regular zombie, she would have pounced on him right away. Therefore, Huang Xiao had left himself a space with a radius of nearly twenty meters to give himself the time and freedom for reaction.


    However, this zombie before his eyes didn''t attack him thirstily as he expected. Instead it just calmly stood there, quietly watching him.


    They had not begun fighting, so he couldn''t tell if this female zombie was at level three or four. He just guessed level-three based on her speed.


    Lin Qiao quietly looked at this man for a while. She clearly knew that he was waiting for his teammates and didn''t want to start the fight right now, because she could sense some of this man''s thoughts. The distance between them was significant and his thoughts weren''t clear, yet she still sensed them.


    After knowing his thoughts, she was unwilling to wait with him and fall in a disadvantage. Hence, she turned back and darted away in her original direction.


    "Stop!" Seeing this female zombie turn back and run away, Huang Xiao inadvertently burst into a growl and lunged at her. He supported his legs with his wind power while wielding both arms to release a rapid wave of wind blades.


    Lin Qiao sharply sensed Huang Xiao''s attack. She nimbly dodged as the wind blades cut at her, then leaped up high in the air. Twisting her body for a few times midair, she flipped once before landing agilely back on the ground.


    She dodged more than ten of Huang Xiao''s wind blades which failed to even touch a corner of her clothing. Nevertheless, she was infuriated by this sudden attack.


    ''Damn! Do you think zombies are all pushovers? Watch now as I kick your a*s! You think you''re the only bully, huh?''


    She popped out her claws while bending at the waist, then thrust her feet against the ground and pounced on Huang Xiao. She was so fast that she had rushed up to Huang Xiao with one swift move.


    By that point, Huang Xiao had inadvertently shortened the distance between Lin Qiao and himself while pursuing and attacking. As he was still feeling a little surprised about how this female zombie agilely moved her body and easily dodge all his wind blades, he saw her land back on the ground and suddenly charge at him. She was so fast that she even looked like a shred of a shadow. In a blink, she was right before his eyes.


    ''Not good!'' Huang Xiao immediately realized that he had made a grave error as the sense of danger in his heart rose sharply and he hurriedly attempted to draw back.


    However, in his haste, he actually forgot to increase his speed with his wind power, managing to do nothing more than building a wind wall around his body. The wind wall lasted only about two seconds before Lin Qiao tore it down with her claws.


    Then, before Huang Xiao could figure out what was happening, he realized that he had suffered a few hits. In the next instant, he was flying in the air because Lin Qiao had kicked him away.


    After that, Huang Xiao rolled on the ground for a few times, then sat up and instinctively rubbed his arms in panic, checking his body for wounds.


    If he were wounded, he wouldn''t be able to escape his fate of becoming a zombie!


    He checked his entire body and found no scratch wound on his skin. The greatest pain came from his abdomen where he had suffered a heavy kick.


    ''No? No... No wound! Thank god!''


    Huang Xiao leaped up, scarcely able to believe his luck. As he prepared to recheck himself to see if he really hadn''t been wounded by the zombie, he suddenly felt cold and then saw some ragged clothes falling onto the ground around his feet.


    Then, he looked down at himself, only to see his exposed skin!


    Huang Xiao was stunned into silence.


    ''Damn!!!''


    He instinctively squeezed his legs together and covered the area below his lower abdomen with both hands as quickly as he could. Then, he lifted his head and looked around him in confusion.


    He saw no zombie, and only his late-arriving teammates.


    "Whoa! What the hell? Huang Xiao, what happened to you?"


    The rest of the squad was dumbfounded as the first thing they saw after arriving was Huang Xiao standing there naked! One of them couldn''t help but laugh out loud, then blurted out this question.


    ''Damn it! I really want a hole to crawl into!'' Huang Xiao thought.


    The expression on Xie Dong''s face was hard to read as he gently made a fist and held it to his mouth, then coughed and said, "Eh-hem¡­ You, lend some clothes to Huang Xiao for him to cover his body. Don''t just laugh!"


    He turned his face away while speaking, filled with embarrassment.


    Hearing him, the others finally came to their senses. One of them took off his jacket and threw it to Huang Xiao while still laughing.


    "Huang Xiao, have you been molested by someone?"

 23 A Foreboding of Danger

    Huang Xiao''s face was flushed as he caught the jacket with one hand, then slightly turned and quickly wrapped it around his waist. His already red face darkened as he hissed through gritted teeth, "Not ''some one''!"


    While speaking, he scanned the area but failed to find even a trace of that high-level female zombie. The others were shocked by his words, and one of them asked, "Not some one? It couldn''t have been some zombie, could it?"


    Huang Xiao didn''t know how to respond.


    Xie Dong finally threw out the question, "So then, where is this high-level zombie that you mentioned? There seems to be not a single zombie in this area, eh?"


    He looked around and found that this area was strangely empty. Leave alone high-level zombies, not even a regular zombie could be found here. The figures of zombies could only be seen hundreds of meters away from here.


    Huang Xiao did not concern himself with this. He moved suddenly and swiftly toward the regular zombies some distance away. He selected a relatively clean-looking male zombie and sliced off its head with a wind blade, then rushed up and ripped off its pants.


    Instead of being grateful toward Lin Qiao for not killing him, his teeth were clenched with hatred.


    She was just an intelligent zombie, but she had humiliated him so badly. How could he possibly let it go after being humiliated by a zombie like that? Next time he saw her, he would slice off her flesh, turn her into a skeleton, and then cut open her head to take out her nucleus.


    ...


    Not far away from this squad of people, a lone figure stood in a corner on top of a dozen-story building, staring down at them. Its cold eyes sparkled with a desire to kill and a greed to feed.


    On the ground, Xie Dong''s heart skipped a beat as a strange sensation washed over him. He didn''t recognize this feeling, so he looked around in confusion but found nothing abnormal.


    On the other side of the road, Lin Qiao was hiding in another building, leaning against the wall next to a window with her back to Xie Dong and his teammates. Her eyes sparkled dimly as she glanced upward from the window.


    She sensed a strong vibe from the sixteenth floor of the building opposite, but she wasn''t the target of its owner. Clearly, this creature was coming for this group of living human beings.


    Although she knew that the vibe wasn''t meant for her, she still felt a strong sense of danger. It seemed that this creature was especially powerful. However, she couldn''t tell what it was based merely on the vibe. Was it a high-level zombie? A zombie beast? Or a mutant animal?


    Whatever it was, she felt that these people were in danger, because she knew that they were no match for that creature.


    As Lin Qiao was wondering what that creature would do next, she suddenly lost track of its vibe. She hurriedly fixed her eyes in that direction, but that dark silhouette was gone now, and so was its vibe, without leaving a trace. Her feeling of danger had faded, but it hadn''t disappeared entirely.


    While puzzling over this, she suddenly sensed a few other vibes and smells of human beings. No, not just a few... These smells belonged to many people and were all tangled up together.


    However, only a few among all the human vibes she sensed were powerful. Although, one of them even made her feel suppressed.


    No wonder that creature had hidden its own vibe or left temporarily. It couldn''t defeat this group of people who were now approaching this area. That was it, a group of people was coming in this direction.


    Lin Qiao took the opportunity to leave as well while the group was still some distance away. She quietly sneaked away from the area where nobody was present.


    Not long after she left, a group of people showed up from afar.


    "Look! That looks like a zombie-hunting army from the base." Xie Dong''s people had spotted the gradually emerging army as well.


    "Looks like it."


    "Yeah! The army out here for hunting zombies and collecting resources is led by Wu Chengyue this time. That should be them."


    "Let''s go. No high-level zombie is in this area anymore. Even if there is one, we won''t get a chance to kill it now that they''re here." Wearing a pair of pants snatched off a zombie, Huang Xiao looked at the army which was coming this way, his face filled with fear and jealousy.


    Xie Dong shook his head and said, "No, we should follow them. It''ll be safer that way."


    He now knew what had made his heart flip earlier on and had given him such a strange sensation. It was the kind of feeling of danger that people would experience when they were targeted by fierce beasts. He felt that his squad had already been targeted by a powerful zombie, which could well be the one that had led them here.


    Therefore, as the zombie-hunting army from the base was passing by, the squad could follow them for a while. There were some powerful members in that army¡ªmany of them were at level-four, and a couple of them were even at level-five. Furthermore, as one of the leaders of the base, Wu Chengyue surely possessed a high-level superpower. In the Sea City Base, only three level-seven superpowered human beings existed after all.


    Together, these three level-seven powerful beings controlled the entire Sea City Base.


    Because of the characteristic wisdom, as well as learning and adaptive abilities of human beings, the human survivors had been growing stronger at quite a steady rate since the apocalyptic era began.


    Not only had the strongest superpowered human beings from the Sea City Base achieved level-seven, but the leaders of many other bases were also mostly at level-seven or above. This post-apocalyptic world was dominated by zombies. Therefore, a primitive hierarchy was naturally formed, according to which, the powerful ones commanded respect.


    Hearing Xie Dong, Huang Xiao immediately knitted his brows and said, "Follow them? What can we possibly get by following them? They might even use us as cannon fodder and make us defend against zombies for them."


    He surely didn''t want to go with the powerful ones in the army, because he knew that those people would claim all high-level zombies which could be found. In that case, what would be left for them? At the very most, they would end up helping the army in dealing with some average level one to two zombies. However, the nuclei of those zombies were hardly valuable.


    He came out of the base for an adventure to win riches and honor. How could one make a harvest without taking the risk? If so, they didn''t need to form a zombie-hunting squad to hunt zombies outside then.


    Besides, if they joined this army, they would be required to hand over all the resources they had gained in the action except for zombies nuclei.


    Xie Dong felt that Huang Xiao''s words did make sense, but he also knew that the situation had changed. Earlier on, he had felt that his squad had been targeted, and he believed that to be true. After all, he was always exceptionally alert toward danger.


    Moreover, the enemy''s power was so mysterious that he couldn''t sense it at all. Without the feeling of danger in his heart, he wouldn''t have even known that his squad had already been targeted.


    Therefore, at this point, saving their own lives should be the top priority. If they were dead, all that they wanted would become meaningless.


    With a somber face, he said seriously, "I feel that we''ve been targeted. If we insist on acting by ourselves, we might encounter danger which won''t be easily overcome."


    Huang Xiao tittered, mocking Xie Dong''s words, "You always say that you have sharp feelings. But look, we''ve been out here for so many days following you, yet have found nothing. Except for the great number of low-level zombies that we dealt with every day, we haven''t seen even a trace of any high-level zombie. Finally, I spotted one today, but we lost her because of your slow movements."

 24 Independence or Dependence

    While speaking, Huang Xiao signaled the others in the squad with his eyes.


    "Yeah Captain, the Deputy Captain is right. If we follow the army, we won''t get a thing. The zombie nuclei we''ll earn by hunting average zombies for them won''t be any more than we can get on our own."


    "Exactly! Moreover, we have finally found a high-level zombie now. I don''t think she''s gone far. We might run into her again if we keep chasing. Why do we need to follow the army then?"


    "Besides, there are so many of us. If we find a level-three zombie, there''s no way we''ll let her get away. Even if we bump into a level-four one, we''ll still have a good chance against it. Even in the worst case, if we can''t defeat the zombie, can''t we just run? Perhaps, we can kill a level-four zombie by joining forces. If that happens, we would earn a fortune, wouldn''t we? That would be a bagful of rice and clean quilts!"


    "Right, right¡­" The few who had received Huang Xiao''s silent signals immediately joined the conversation to side with him.


    Xie Dong frowned and said with a frosty look, "None of us has ever encountered a level-four-zombie, and we have no idea how powerful they are. But, my feelings can''t be wrong."


    "Captain, you yourself are a level-four being with a fire superpower. Are you still afraid of level-four zombies? That would be wrong!" Huang Xiao said smilingly. Although his expression was neutral, his eyes flashed with jealousy and hatred.


    "Yeah!"


    "Even though I''m at level-four, I''m still not sure that I can defeat a level-four zombie. Besides, I have heard that level-four superpowered human beings are no match for level-four zombies at all." Looking at these people who seemed to be unmoved by his arguments, Xie Dong knitted his eyebrows with impatience.


    At that moment, Huang Xiao shrugged and said, "I don''t care. I won''t follow the army anyway. Besides, they may not allow us to join them."


    Aside of from, if those in the army saw him in this state, they would laugh their heads off behind his back, wouldn''t they?


    Thinking about this finally got Huang Xiao''s feet moving. He then began walking in the other direction ahead of the others.


    Xie Dong glanced around at the others, noting that six or seven of the nine didn''t seem to be willing to listen to him. He then looked at the direction which Huang Xiao had gone to, having no choice but to sigh and nod.


    "Alright then. We leave this place now."


    He surely knew that Huang Xiao had hostile feelings toward him. This time, ever since they left the base, the latter had been running opposite him, acting impulsively irrespective of the consequences.


    Of course, he had a lot of complaints about Huang Xiao, but as the Captain and the strongest one in the squad, he couldn''t do anything about it except protecting all his teammates like a nanny. He also needed to give consideration to the rest of the squad''s opinions. After all, if the squad members were at variance with each other, it could lead to dangerous infighting.


    Therefore, he had been trying to be patient with Huang Xiao''s reckless behavior all this while.


    ...


    After they left, Wu Chengyue arrived with a formidable thousand-man army.


    In the front of the group were three modified and heavy off-road vehicles. These vehicles could not only defend against zombies'' claws, but could also knock down any zombie walls in their way. In the apocalyptic era, all vehicles were reinforced with layers of giant metal thorns on the front, which jutted out like huge nails.


    When these vehicles collided with zombie walls, blood and meat pieces would splash across the sky. Nothing could stop these vehicles.


    Behind these off-road vehicles were a few heavy, green colored army trucks, also modified for practicality in this zombie infested world.


    The motorcade stopped in the area where Xie Dong and his squad had been standing a while ago. An extra tall and strong man came out of the first vehicle, followed by a few men and a squad of soldiers.


    These soldiers cleared off the surrounding zombies and turned this area into an empty place once they got off the vehicle.


    The tall and strong man stood in the front, his sharp eyes scanning the surrounding area. His eyes paused briefly on where Xie Dong and his squad had recently been standing, then moved away.


    At this time, a man appeared from behind them. He was shorter than the man in the front, but his body shape could still be described as tall and straight. The expression on his handsome face was quite mild. His eyes contained the faintest hint of a smile, and the corners of his lips were on the verge of curving. It was such that the others couldn''t tell if he was smiling or not.


    This man looked gentle, warm, and humble. However, the camouflage clothing that he was wearing slightly cut down his gentle warmth and gave him a serious, soldier-like presence.


    At this very moment, no one could detect the fierceness that he had shown the last time because of Lu Tianyu. However, his brows were still drawing slightly together in a frown, showing a worried look.


    "It left fast, or we would have bagged ourselves another level-four zombie nucleus," he said while sighing slightly.


    The tall and strong man turned around and glanced at him, then snorted coldly and said, "That zombie-hunting squad probably didn''t even know what had targeted them. One level-four, one level-three, and four level-two superpowered human beings, along with a few ordinary ones... Hmm... In front of a level-four zombie, a squad like this is just a food delivery service. I thought they''d smartly follow us once they saw us, but it seems that they''re a bunch of idiots."


    Wu Yuecheng slightly turned up his mouth corners, but the glimmer of a smile in his eyes wasn''t brightening. He said, "They left the base to risk their lives for a better life. People''s desires are just like this. The more they want something, the more they are willing to risk to get it."


    The tall and strong man nodded in agreement, then turned around and shouted at the dozen or so level-four superpowered soldiers behind him, "Squad one to five, take your people and search the surrounding area for signs of Ling Ling. Squad six to ten, search for high-level zombies and hunt them down... Move!"


    "Yes, sir!" From amongst the dozens of people behind him, ten immediately stood in attention and responded before turning to carry out their orders. They gathered their people and leaped into action straightaway.


    At that moment, a young woman got off the vehicle a little anxiously. She looked to be about twenty years old, but was twenty-three in fact. She had a magical vibe about her that belonged to the forests.


    She wasn''t gorgeous, but wasn''t ugly either. She could be counted as pretty, like a pretty girl next door. Her face was clean, and her watery eyes were quite clear.


    This woman was Wu Chengyue''s Deputy Commander, and her name was Meng Yue, a level-five with botanical power.


    With an anxious look, Meng Yue strode over to Wu Chengyue, then grabbed his arm and said, "Brother Yue, I sense it! Ling is nearby! The feeling is weak, but it''s there."


    The two men both changed their expressions when they heard her words. The faint smile on Wu Chengyue''s face faded as he stared at Meng Yue nervously, asking anxiously and excitedly, "Where? Where? Yue, have you sensed Ling Ling''s location?"


    If Meng Yue hadn''t been confirming that Ling Ling was alright, Wu Chengyue wouldn''t have been able to remain as calm as he was right now. When he heard Meng Yue say that she had sensed his daughter, his restrained vibe was suddenly stirred as he became agitated.


    Meng Yue closed her eyes and sank into her sensation with a serious look. Suddenly, she opened her eyes as a beam of light flashed across them while she pointed in a direction and said, "That way."


    Next, she felt two figures flash by as the two men in front of her disappeared without a trace.

 25 Suddenly Struck by Lightning

    On the other side, Ling Qiao had taken a detour and was running toward the strawberry field. She didn''t know that the little one''s father was in that large troop of people.


    At that moment, she was struggling with one difficult issue¡ªhow to persuade the little one to eat some strawberries?


    Apart from the abnormal color of the strawberry, the little one''s parents had no doubt taught her not to eat things outside. Furthermore, the strawberry had a horrible odor. Although the odor disappeared later on, Lin Qiao didn''t know if that was because of losing its freshness after a while or having been washed with the lake water in her space.


    The little one was willing to drink the water that she offered, but Lin Qiao wasn''t sure if she would be willing to eat the strawberries that she provided.


    As she mulled this over, Lin Qiao ran faster toward the strawberry field. However, before she could get far, she was held up again.


    Looking at the series of steel thorns which suddenly appeared floating in the air while pointing at her, Lin Qiao had no choice but to stop.


    "Why is it a zombie?" A confused voice arose behind her.


    Lin Qiao silently turned her head and saw two tall men standing no more than five meters behind her. She hadn''t sensed their approach at all.


    Lin Qiao''s dark eyes sparkled as she recognized Wu Chengyue. She really wanted to enter her space right now and bring out the little one, then directly throw her to the ground and run away. However, the problem was that she didn''t seem capable of running away under the eyes of these two men. The best she could hope for was enter her space again and hide in there without coming back out.


    And once she brought out the little one, these two might directly make their move.


    While she was frozen with indecision, on the other side, Xiao Yunlong had already made a direct move.


    Ling Qiao sensed a sharp coldness run through her entire body. Before she realized what had happened, her body had instinctively reacted. She suddenly thrust her feet against the ground and nimbly flipped in the air before landing lightly back on the ground after a series of metal thorns stuck into the ground.


    ''Damn it! They didn''t even greet, attacking straightaway! There''s no room for negotiation here!'' Lin Qiao cursed silently, her facial expression turning a little ferocious as she got angry.


    "Roar!" She bared her teeth and growled at the two men.


    Wu Chengyue watched her move with surprise, then said to Xiao Yunlong, "She doesn''t seem like an average level-three intelligent zombie. She reacted quickly, and actually dodged your attack."


    Xiao Yunlong raised his eyebrows and responded, also with a trace of surprise in his eyes, "She''s mad."


    Lin Qiao now realized that she must be looking as strange as a real zombie, so she hurriedly relaxed her expression, but couldn''t help rolling her eyes after hearing Xiao Yunlong''s words.


    She twitched her nose toward the two men. They smelled so good! The blood and flesh of high-level superpowered human beings had been washed by energies, and seemed quite pure and delicious.


    However, due to the strong vibes that she sensed from these two men, Lin Qiao only dared to sneakily steal a few sniffs.


    Wu Chengyue turned his head to look around. His attention wasn''t focused on this zombie in front of him. All he wanted was to locate his daughter as soon as possible.


    Xiao Yunlong had been staring at Lin Qiao the whole time, so he clearly saw her roll her eyes. Those eyes were pure black, but he somehow recognized the eye-rolling from her expression. Then, he saw this female zombie sneakily sniff toward him with the unmistakable hunger in the gesture. Xiao Yunlong grasped all these details with his eyes.


    He felt that there was something different about this zombie, so he stared at Lin Qiao with interest.


    For some reason, Lin Qiao was unable to read the minds of these two men. It was probably because they were way too strong and their powers had blocked her sensation.


    She didn''t dare to make any moves, feeling her scalp turn numb as this tall man in front of her kept gazing at her. She was afraid that if she moved even slightly, the two men would directly destroy her. She wasn''t strong enough to defeat them, so she had to stay humble.


    She couldn''t bring a person out of her space with just her mind. The only way that she could do this was to go inside and then bring that person back out with her. She thought it might be because her energy level was not high enough yet for achieving that stage of development. However, she believed that when her energy and level had both improved, she should be able to directly control things in her space with her mind.


    She could faintly sense this aspect of her powers.


    Right at this moment, Meng Yue arrived on the scene.


    She looked at Lin Qiao up and down with surprise, then blurted out, "Strange! How can it be a zombie? Brother Yue, she has Ling Ling''s smell!"


    On hearing this, Wu Chengyue''s expression changed immediately. Sharp frosty lights shot from his eyes toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao was startled by Meng Yue''s words. Before she could figure out how this woman could smell Wu Yueling''s from her body, a strong sense of danger suddenly rose in her heart and shivers raced down her spine.


    Boom!


    A purple lightning bolt descended from the sky and struck on Lin Qiao''s head within a blink of an eye! At the same time, a scream could also be heard.


    "Brother Yue, no!"


    Lin Qiao had no time to dodge. By the time she realized what was happening, the lightning bolt had already landed on her head. Her whole body quivered and then she felt it turn numb and stiff. Although she couldn''t feel any pain, she was disabled from moving.


    Meanwhile, a strong burnt smell surrounded her body.


    Meng Yue angrily grabbed Wu Chengyue''s arm and said, "Brother Yue! What are you doing? How am I supposed to detect Ling Ling''s vibe if you kill her?"


    Wu Chengyue smiled at her and said, "Don''t worry. I have my power controlled. I won''t kill her. I just temporarily disabled her."


    Meng Yue sighed in relief. She had been afraid that Wu Chengyue was too emotional and might strike the zombie into ash.


    "Roar!" Lin Qiao finally recovered from the numbness and she let out a roar of rage.


    Being struck by lightning felt really bad. Fortunately, she had a zombie body. Otherwise, the pain would have killed her, wouldn''t it? Yet, being struck by lightning wasn''t much fun even for a zombie.


    She was dazzled and light-headed. Her body didn''t suffer much pain, but was disabled from moving. She had also been sensing waves of dull pain radiating from her chest, restricting her imaginary breath.


    This dull pain in her chest seemed to come all the way from her soul, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.


    Damn! All she wanted to do was to give the little one back to this man, but he attacked her with lightning just like that! In that instant, she made up her mind¡ªshe wouldn''t give the little one back!


    The moment this thought occurred to her, Lin Qiao roared angrily at the three people, then suddenly flashed across the air and disappeared, leaving the three dumbfounded people staring at the spot where she had disappeared from.


    "She... Why is she gone?" Meng Yue widened her eyes, staring straight ahead in confusion.


    "Space power?" Xiao Yunlong knitted his eyebrows as well.


    "She''s a level-four zombie!" Wu Chengyue''s face darkened slightly.


    The three of them had actually let a level-four zombie disappear right before their faces. Or rather, the zombie had gotten away from them!


    Meng Yue now realized what had happened too. Suddenly, her eyes shone as she said, "So, Ling Ling is actually in her space!"

 26 The Vanished Zombie

    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong looked back at her, their eyes reflecting the same thought.


    Meng Yue now said with a sudden understanding, "No wonder my reaction to the seed is so weak. It turns out that we are separated by a space. Fortunately, her level isn''t high. If she was at a slightly higher level, I might not be able to have even this weak sensation."


    Xiao Yunlong suddenly smiled at Wu Chengue and said, "See, you struck her away! Now, how do you propose we find her? Her space should be mobile. When she comes out again, she might be in a different place."


    Hearing him, Wu Chengyue''s face darkened even further and turned a little sour. His mild expression was nowhere to be seen.


    At that point, Meng Yue glared at Xiao Yunlong and said angrily, "Why are you so happy? Aren''t you worried about Ling Ling? What if that zombie has been keeping Ling Ling as a food supply? Now that you two have rattled her cage, what will we do if she gets mad and eats Ling Ling once she enters her space?"


    Xiao Yunlong shrugged and said, "I didn''t make a move! I wonder if you realized that this zombie is a little different from other high-level zombies."


    Wu Chengyue didn''t respond, only looking at him.


    Meng Yue asked with surprise, "What''s different about her?"


    Xiao Yunlong said, "High-level zombies have intelligence. Their behaviors are almost the same as the behaviors of human beings because they have learned it by mimicking human beings. But just now, I observed that zombie and noted that she didn''t have the hostility that the other zombies all have. Besides, some of her human-like actions were very natural, nothing like an imitation."


    No hostility... This meant that the zombie hadn''t killed or eaten human beings. However, as a zombie, how could she possibly not eat or kill human beings, particularly as a high-level zombie.


    She didn''t eat human beings, which meant she wouldn''t eat Wu Yueling.


    Once he said this, the other two fell silent.


    Wu Chengyue gazed at the spot where Lin Qiao had disappeared and replayed the encounter in his head. He now realized that he truly hadn''t sensed any hostility from that female zombie earlier on.


    Was that a zombie which wouldn''t kill human beings?


    "How come? What kind of zombie doesn''t kill human beings? Human beings are their food source, and once zombies see human beings, they will instinctively pounce upon and eat them. It''s some kind of bestial, instinctive appetite, and it can never change." Meng Yue said in disbelief,


    Even though she said this, she showed doubt in her eyes as she had detected no fierce hostility from the female zombie''s vibe either. She had a nature-based power, so she was many times more sensitive to vibes than the two men beside her.


    However, she still couldn''t believe that.


    Xiao Yunlong again suggested, "Perhaps, that female zombie was helping Ling Ling in finding her parents. She may not know that it''s you who she has been looking for. But, as she has suffered a strike from you, I think that even if she finds out your identity as Ling Ling''s father someday, she may not want to give her back to you anymore."


    Hearing him, Wu Chengyue instantly felt embarrassed for some reason.


    Even though he knew that what Xiao Yunlong said could never happen to a zombie that had lost its humanity, he subconsciously preferred to believe that this was a miracle. Perhaps, his daughter was still alive and well in that zombie''s space.


    "Besides, didn''t you notice that she had no intention of attacking? I was going to play with her, but she was struck by you and got scared away." Xiao Yunlong continued while sighing regretfully.


    Looking at Wu Chengyue''s constantly darkening face, Meng Yue couldn''t help but say to Xiao Yunlong, "Alright, you can quit talking. Now, in any case, we need to find that zombie before we can find Ling Ling."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and said, "It seems to be the only way. I''ll send some people to carefully search the area for miles around."


    Meng Yue nodded in agreement, "Let''s do this for now. I''ll go back and bring some people to encamp in this area. Perhaps, that zombie didn''t actually leave. When she comes out, we''ll be ready to stop her."


    After having finished talking, the two of them jumped into action and left Wu Chengyue staying put.


    ...


    On the other side, Lin Qiao flashed into her space. Once inside, she fell to the ground along with a puffing noise, then lay on the ground without moving. The burnt smell on her body immediately spread in the space, dissolving in the air.


    Once she showed up in the space, Wu Yueling sensed her presence and then saw her lying motionlessly in the clearing by the lake, with her whole body burned back.


    Wu Yueling was shocked as she looked at Lin Qiao in confusion, wondering what had happened to this zombie.


    She felt that Lin Qiao''s look was a little familiar. This zombie here looked like those zombies which were vanquished by her dad''s superpower. When her dad struck people with lightning, the ones who suffered the strikes would look just like this.


    However, because Wu Chengyue had never struck anyone into ashes in front of her, she didn''t know that her dad was actually able to strike human beings or zombies straight into nothingness with just one bolt of lightning.


    Wu Chengyue was afraid that it might traumatize his daughter, so he had never launched a fierce attack in front of her.


    For some reason, Wu Yueling felt a little uneasy when she saw Lin Qiao in such a state. She was afraid that the latter would die like this. What would she do if the latter died?


    She didn''t know exactly what this place was, but she had been here for so long now. In this place, except for the grassland and a small lake, the rest was a vast expanse of whiteness, and she could see nothing clearly. She didn''t know how to get out, and no one else existed in this place.


    She had once tried to approach the edge of the white mist, but couldn''t see anything clearly even while standing in front of it. So, she dared not to go any further in. For this reason, she had stayed by the lake and in the grass all this while.


    The only creatures she had seen in this place were this zombie, who wouldn''t hurt her, and that rabbit which had shown up earlier. The rabbit ran into the grass and disappeared after being released by the zombie earlier on. This zombie made a grass dragonfly for her to play with, and fetched some water for her to drink. When the zombie wasn''t here, she had gone to the lakeside by herself to drink with the grass funnel that the zombie had left for her.


    She was quite delighted when she saw the zombie return. However, on seeing the latter in this seemingly bad condition, her delight turned into concern.


    Even though she didn''t really understand the concept of worry yet, she didn''t like seeing the zombie like this.


    Seeing Lin Qiao show up but lying movelessly on the ground, Wu Yueling immediately ran over and peered at her from about three meters away. After looking at her for a while and noting that she still wasn''t moving, Wu Yueling slowly put out a foot to take a step, and then another step.


    She carefully inched her way closer to Lin Qiao, circling up to a step away from her and then stopping again.


    Although this zombie had been acting harmless to her, she was still afraid that this zombie would suddenly leap up and run her down.


    She paused by Lin Qiao''s side for a while. When she saw this zombie simply keep her eyes closed without making any reaction, she slowly squatted, intending to take a closer look at her face.


    ''What happened to her? Why doesn''t she get up? How long will she sleep before she wakes up?''


    The little Wu Yueling couldn''t figure out why, and could only wait for Lin Qiao to wake up.

 27 Eased Relationship

    Even after waiting for quite a long while, Wu Yueling still saw no reaction from Lin Qiao. Hence, she felt a bit strange, wondering why this would happen.


    While thinking, she suddenly and unconsciously reached out a hand, gently pushing Lin Qiao''s shoulder.


    ''Wake up! Wake up!''


    She pushed a few times, but Lin Qiao still didn''t open her eyes. She didn''t know what to do at this point. Unsure of herself, she stood up and turned around, then suddenly saw the lake water.


    ''Right! I''ll give her some lake water.''


    Wu Yueling remembered that she herself was hungry and thirsty before, feeling utterly uncomfortable. The zombie had given her some water, and after drinking it, she had felt much better. Although she was still very hungry, her stomach no longer ached.


    Thinking of this, Wu Yueling ran to the lakeside with the grass funnel that Lin Qiao had woven for her earlier and awkwardly fetched some water. Then, she carefully carried it to Lin Qiao and slowly poured the water into Lin Qiao''s mouth after squatting down.


    However, Lin Qiao didn''t open her mouth to let Wu Yueling pour the water into it. Instead, the water flowed onto the ground from Lin Qiao''s cracked lips.


    Nevertheless, Wu Yueling wasn''t discouraged. She stood back up and ran to the lakeside to fetch some more water, then tried again to pour it into Lin Qiao''s mouth. Right at that moment, she saw that the zombie had slightly opened her mouth and drank some of it.


    Seeing this, Wu Yueling immediately felt delighted.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes slightly and glanced at the kid with her pure black eyes. In fact, she hadn''t fainted, but had suffered a severe tightness in the chest which made her very uncomfortable. She kept her eyes closed the whole time, enduring the uncomfortable feeling and waiting for it to fade.


    She was surprised because she could not have anticipated Wu Yueling to actually worry about her, and fetch some water for her to drink.


    She could read the little one''s mind. She sighed slightly in relief, because she knew that this little one had finally accepted her.


    In reality, she understood that Wu Yueling accepted her like this only because she was afraid of being here alone. Children wanted company after all. Even though Wu Yueling had autism, she still wanted to stay with someone when stuck in a strange environment.


    Lin Qiao tried to move her fingers and found that although her body was stiff, she could still manage to move.


    She put her forearms onto the ground to support her body, then slowly sat up while looking at Wu Yueling, whose eyes sparkled brightly even though her expression was blank.


    Seeing Lin Qiao wake up, Wu Yueling immediately backed away. She only retreated to about three meters though, then picked up her blanket and wrapped herself up again.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Yueling, then lowered her head to look down at her own clothes. As she had imagined, her clothes were already ragged. Many parts of her clothes were burnt, leaving only a few rags hanging on her.


    She raised her hands to touch her own head, then turned to look at her shoulders. As she expected, her hair had curled up wildly. She then looked at her arms, thighs, and other exposed body areas, finding that her bluish-gray skin had been burnt black.


    She raised her head and glance at Wu Yueling again. She couldn''t help feeling a little angry at the little one as her dad was the one who had done all this. He had actually struck her with lightning!


    She could barely stand up now, so how was she supposed to take the kid out of the space? Besides, she dared not to go out yet. What if Wu Chengyue and his people were guarding out there? In that case, she would be walking right into their trap by showing her face, wouldn''t she?


    However, she couldn''t leave this location without going out or monitor the outside situation from within her space.


    She struggled to find a solution and realized that she temporarily had no way of getting out. She wondered if she could send Wu Yueling out from inside the space. However, as she didn''t know the outside situation, she couldn''t know if Wu Chengyue and his people were gone, or if zombies were present there now. How could she send Wu Yueling out under such uncertain circumstances?


    Thinking of this, Lin Qiao gave Wu Yueling another stare, and found that this little one seemed to be in a weird condition.


    How come this little one was looking more and more energetic? She hadn''t eaten all this while, but why had the ruddy color come back to her cheeks?


    But soon, her thoughts were distracted from Wu Yueling by the waves of burnt smell which made her a little dizzy. Reminded by the smell, she thought of her current look. She couldn''t stay like this. She had to take a bath in the lake to remove the smell from her body first. Moreover, what should she do with her hair?


    Zombie hair were already dead and dry. To make matters worse, her hair had become scorched and frizzy after being struck by lightning. She might as well cut her hair as it was useless in keeping them.


    After making up her mind, she struggled up to her feet. Trying to control her stiff legs, she then shambled to the lakeside, ripping off her clothes with her claws while walking.


    It didn''t take much of her strength to take off her ragged clothes. She simply pulled at them and the clothes fell into pieces, exposing her burnt, black body, as well as the cloth strips that were wrapped around her waist.


    Before she stripped naked in front of the child, Lin Qiao turned around and glanced at Wu Yueling. She found that the kid had actually covered her eyes with her hands, as though she couldn''t bear to watch.


    Lin Qiao was amused as she looked away and unwrapped the cloth strips from her waist.


    Looking at the hole in her stomach, she found that it had also been burnt black. The black hole hollowed in her belly, such that she couldn''t even see her intestines and other organs clearly.


    She raised her head and looked at the lake surface as she walked deep into the water step by step. Nothing had happened to Wu Yueling since she drank the water from this lake. Based on this fact, Lin Qiao could assume that the lake water was safe. She wondered if her zombie virus had failed to affect the lake water earlier on when she bathed in the lake, or if it''s effect was just too minor to cause any harm.


    She couldn''t think of so much at the moment. In the worst case scenario, she would go to the other side of the lake when she wanted to drink the water next time.


    After going into the water, she walked deeper and deeper until the water reached her chest. She stood in the water and slowly scrubbed her black skin, feeling her body being soothed by the cool water.


    She wasn''t moving fast, as her body wouldn''t allow it. When she had finally washed all reachable body areas and was preparing to go back ashore, she paused for a second. Her clothes had been torn into pieces, and would no longer cover her body!


    What was she supposed to wear now? She wondered if the little one would be willing to lend her the blanket that she had been wrapping her own body with if she requested to borrow it.


    She felt acutely uncomfortable thinking of being naked even inside her space.


    Was she upgrading herself into a pervert zombie now?


    At this point, Lin Qiao finally thought of this. Her face darkened, even though it was already burnt black by the lightning.


    If she had known that she would be in dire need of clothes, she would have conveniently searched for some and stored them in her space after killing that intelligent zombie. Yet now, she didn''t even have a single piece of cloth to cover her body.


    Wu Chengyue was such a b*stard!


    Maybe her anger was too strong or for other reasons, Wu Yueling actually sensed her thoughts from the short distance.


    Wu Yueling now knew that this zombie wanted her blanket, and also understood that the clothes which had been thrown to the ground by the zombie were definitely no longer wearable.


    So, she ran over while holding her blanket. Then, she threw it to the lakeside and turned around, running far away again while leaving Lin Qiao speechless.

 28 The Images in her head

    Lin Qiao watched Wu Yueling throw the blanket to the ground and then swiftly run away with surprise, not knowing what to say.


    This little one was quite smart, as well as caring, wasn''t she?


    Lin Qiao silently walked ashore, bending over with difficulty to pick up the blanket. She carried the blanket as she popped out her claw and cut through it a few times. The small blanket was soon cut into two, and she wrapped her body with one half to cover her damaged chest and black stomach. Then, she directly made a wrap-around skirt with the other half.


    Wearing these temporary clothes made from the blanket, Lin Qiao finally sighed in relief and then smiled at Wu Yueling from the distance.


    Wu Yueling immediately turned around and ran backward for a few steps after seeing her horrible smile.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t think of anything to say anymore.


    ''Alright, so my current look is indeed a little unacceptable¡­ But, my little friend, can you not overreact?''


    Just then, Wu Yueling seemed to have feared that Lin Qiao might die after all!


    Lin Qiao turned around and walked to the lakeside, then slowly squatted there. Fortunately, even though her body was still stiff, her joints were supple enough to allow her to bend her limbs. However, she couldn''t move too fast, or her stiff body would seize up altogether and she wouldn''t be able to move at all.


    She looked at her own reflection on the lake surface. Her hairs were scruffy and frizzy, with her facial features not so clearly visible underneath them. She swept her hair behind her head to expose her entire face.


    She didn''t know when it had happened, but the wounds on her face had healed, leaving large, dark-brown colored scars on her cheeks. Her pure black, weird eyes were shining.


    She looked horrible indeed!


    She smiled, causing the wounds on her face to twist, looking grotesque. No wonder the little one ran away once she saw her smiling.


    Lin Qiao imagined how terrified the child must have felt on seeing her smiling face.


    She looked horrible with her face covered by hair, but even worse when she exposed her visage. It was obviously better to keep her face covered.


    She slowly stood up and walked to the edge of the grass, then found a relatively clean spot to sit down.


    At this moment, she had a good deal of things to figure out. Looking at Wu Yueling, who stood a short distance away, she wondered whether it was her space that had been allowing this child to slowly turn for the better. After all, even though the child hadn''t been eating, she didn''t seem about to starve to death.


    That was very abnormal!


    Was time standing still in her space? It shouldn''t be. Judging from the growth of the grasses in here, time had been moving steadily in this place. Was it because of the water? Was the little one''s hunger eased by the lake water that she drank? However, the lake water couldn''t possibly restore her body functions too, could it?


    She felt that this space was very mysterious, and she didn''t know what all kind of special effects the lake water might deliver. She herself had drunk quite some water from this lake as well.


    ''Right!'' Lin Qiao suddenly recalled that when she entered this space for the first time, she soaked herself in the lake and fell asleep. She didn''t know how long she slept for, but after she woke up, her body had become flexible. At that time, she hadn''t noticed that it was because of the lake water, and thought of it as a natural change of her body.


    She now thought it over and figured that it could be the effect of the lake water!


    The lake water seemed to be able to help in increasing her zombie level!


    With this thought, Lin Qiao felt delighted. This space really seemed to be a treasure that she had been gifted with after coming back to life.


    Earlier on, the mutant strawberry''s unpleasant odor disappeared after it was washed in the lake. Could the lake water also serve the function of odor removal?


    After figuring this out, Lin Qiao was much less unhappy. But then, she glanced at Wu Yueling and said to herself in her heart with anger, ''I was going to send her back to that man. But now, I will not! I have changed my mind!''


    Who said that Wu Chengyue was a nice man? Who said that he was a gentle and kind person? He was clearly a smiling tiger! Without warning, he had struck her with lightning directly! She would remember this for sure! Even though Lu Tianyu had raped him¡­ Lu Tianyu was already dead, and she, Lin Qiao, had nothing to do with her!


    However, how should she get out now? She didn''t know anything about the situation outside. She had no way to find out if there were people guarding out there.


    If only she could read the minds of the people on the outside from inside her space... That way, she would also be able to find out if there were people out there.


    Lin Qiao tried to close her eyes in order to listen and feel.


    When she closed her eyes and tried hard to sense, a hazy image suddenly popped up inside her brain. The image was familiar, as it was the spot where she had entered the space from.


    ''Eh? How can this happen?''


    She opened her eyes and the image immediately disappeared from her mind right away. Deep confusion clouded her eyes before she closed them again.


    As she had expected, once she closed her eyes and thought about the outside situation, the image appeared in her mind once again, even more clearly than before. However, the image was colorless, as though composed of a series of black, white, and gray shadows. The range of the image had started expanding as well, and she could now see some human figures.


    These people were in camouflage clothing, and their faces were all clean. They all carried guns, and were walking casually around the surrounding area. These were clearly human beings, not zombies.


    Apart from the image that she had been seeing in her head, Lin Qiao couldn''t sense any vibe. However, she knew that this must be a true depiction of the current situation outside.


    That was already enough!


    She could see an army station not too far away. It was a temporary station, but she knew for sure that this army was the one that Wu Chengyue had been leading.


    The zombies in this area had been basically eradicated, as Lin Qiao didn''t see even a single one of them.


    As her eyeballs rolled under her eyelids, the image changed. She looked from left to right and noticed that it was now nightfall outside.


    Some soldiers in their camouflage clothing were patrolling while others were sitting to the side, gathered in groups of two or three.


    As she had thought, Wu Chengyue had people stationed in this area. Under these circumstances, how could she sneak out? Facing so many people, she would be encircled the moment she showed up, wouldn''t she?


    Lin Qiao pondered over it as she observed the outside situation with a sour face. Sadly, she couldn''t read the minds of those people. Otherwise, she might have been able to learn more about the situation and prepare accordingly.


    She opened her eyes and the images of the outside world in her head all disappeared. As though her eyes were a switch, she could see the situation outside once she closed them, and once opened, the connection between her and the outside world would be cut off.


    She turned around and suddenly saw Wu Yueling, who had sneakily moved to her side and was silently looking at her from less than half a meter away without attracting her attention.


    When Lin Qiao''s eyes opened, Wu Yueling widened her own eyes and moved her feet. She instinctively wanted to run, but her foot drew back midway and she continued standing there while looking at Lin Qiao.


    She was still a little afraid of Lin Qiao, but she couldn''t resist wanting to stay by her side.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her. She was reluctant to move, so she continued sitting on the ground to rest. For some reason, after observing the outside situation twice, she felt quite weary, such that her whole body felt listless. She didn''t feel this tiredness physically, but mentally.

 29 Moving in A Dream

    She sat there and fell asleep, getting lost in a dream. In her dream, she exited the space but none of the surrounding people discovered her, as if she was invisible. Then, she broke into a run, her movements smooth and her feet flexible.


    She kept running toward the strawberry field. She didn''t know for how long she ran before she saw the strawberry field.


    In the next moment, she woke up with a start. Opening her eyes, she looked around and found herself still in the space. She thought that maybe she had such a dream because she wanted so much to leave this location. However, she also felt that it all seemed quite strange.


    Did normal zombies dream?


    She also found that she was still sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. It was so weird that she could even manage to fall asleep while sitting upright in a meditation posture.


    She felt a little thirsty as she glanced at Wu Yueling, who was sitting beside her. The child had found some hay from an unknown source and paved the ground with a thick layer of it. She was now sitting on it, playing with the grass dragonfly that Lin Qiao had made for her.


    Lin Qiao stretched her legs and felt that they were still quite stiff. And for an unknown reason, she also sensed a faint pain from them.


    With a great effort, she finally stood up from the ground, then slowly walked to the lake. Recalling that this was the place where she took a bath earlier on, she walked around the lake to the other side.


    She turned back and glanced at Wu Yueling, who was walking behind her, feeling that this kid was becoming a little dependent on her.


    She walked very slowly. Her legs were a little heavy and sore, so she took each step with some difficulty.


    She paid close attention to her steps and the lake water while pondering over the question of why a zombie might dream. What she didn''t think about was why her legs were sore. Logically speaking, she was a zombie, and shouldn''t have any sensations at all.


    If she had discovered this, she might have realized that some unimaginable changes had happened to her body again, but she didn''t.


    After spending half an hour, she finally reached another side of the lake where she stopped and slowly squatted near the water. Then, she directly cupped her hands to drink from the lake. After taking quite a few gulps, she finally felt her energy begin to return.


    Having finished drinking, she took a few steps backward, standing by the lake with her eyes closed as she wanted to see if there were still people out there.


    But this time, the image which emerged in her mind didn''t come from the same spot that she had entered her space from.


    She hurriedly opened her eyes, which reflected her uncertainty, and then immediately closed them again. As she expected, she still couldn''t see the urban area where she had entered the space from, and instead saw a strawberry field.


    A mutant strawberry field!


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes again, lost in her confusion. She couldn''t understand why she was able to see the strawberry field.


    Had she been wrong earlier? Was her vision not limited to the place that she entered the space from? Could she actually see whichever place she wanted to go to?


    With this thought in mind, she closed her eyes once again to try and see the location of those soldiers whom she had observed before, but saw nothing. Inside her mind was still the same strawberry field that she had been to before.


    How could this happen? Had she left her old location already?


    Was this just her imagination? If she went out now, would she still reappear in that place which was guarded by Wu Chengyue and his people?


    She thought that it was probable, but the image in her mind was rather clear. The moon was hanging in the sky, showing that it was the middle of the night right now.


    Had she truly arrived in the strawberry field already?


    This thought lingered in her mind, urging her to go out. She was afraid that she might be wrong, so she didn''t dare to go out immediately, wanting to see if she was right at the same time.


    Plop!


    She suddenly heard a stone drop into the water.


    She opened her eyes to find Wu Yueling squatting by the lakeside, picking up small stones from the ground and mindlessly throwing them into the water. Judging by her expression, she seemed to also want to find out if any other creatures existed in the lake.


    Lin Qiao clenched her teeth and decided to go out. She needed to clarify the situation, or she would only be driven to distraction by this question.


    If she went out and found that she was still in the area where the army was stationed, at worst, she would come back immediately. She estimated that she could come back in less than a second. Could those few people realize what was happening within such a short time and attack her effectively? She greatly doubted that.


    After making the decision, Lin Qiao took a deep breath and then silently said ''out'' in her heart. After a light flashed across her eyes, she saw a real strawberry field instead of the vision in her mind!


    Her eyes widened and a glow flashed across her pure black eyes as she was pleasantly surprised. She circled around and found that she was truly in the strawberry field instead of that urban area.


    She still remembered her dream, in which, she had run for a very long time to get to the strawberry field. But in reality, the distance between Wu Chengyue, his people, and this strawberry field was only about ten kilometers. She didn''t need to run for a long time, and could arrive here quickly under normal conditions. However, in her dream, she did spend a long time running.


    How could this be? What had happened?


    Lin Qiao couldn''t figure this out, feeling that she was out of her depth here!


    If she were able to move the space by merely dreaming, then, could she simply dream and make it happen whenever she wanted to escape from inside the space in the future? However, what if she didn''t dream? Or, what if she couldn''t have such a dream on demand?


    And dreaming¡­ She couldn''t control that now, could she?


    Thinking about this, Lin Qiao wanted to cry a little but failed to shed any tears. She had such a great skill, but didn''t know where the switch was. It was so awful!


    She glanced around, once again confirming that she wasn''t dreaming. After that, she bent over and picked two full handfuls of strawberries, which were only around six or seven in number, and then re-entered the space.


    Once she was back inside, she saw the bewildered Wu Yueling looking around, seemingly at a loss. She didn''t know what the child was looking for.


    The moment Lin Qiao came in, Wu Yueling fixed her eyes on her. Her eyes turned red as she stared at Lin Qiao, her face filled with grievance and dissatisfaction.


    Lin Qiao was confused. ''What does this child want?''


    As she couldn''t read the little one''s mind at that moment, she had no choice but to reach out her hands, offering the strawberries to Wu Yueling.


    Seeing the strawberries that Lin Qiao held out for her, Wu Yueling paused briefly first, then immediately covered her nose and turned her face while backing away, frowning with dislike.


    ''They stink!''


    This time, Lin Qiao finally sensed her thought.


    How could she coax this child to eat the strawberries? Lin Qiao wondered about this while thinking about the options. In any case, she decided to first wash the strawberries to see if the lake water could wash off the bad smell.


    She turned around and walked to the lakeside, squatting there stiffly. She laid the extra large strawberries by the lakeside before putting them in the water one after another and carefully scrubbing them.

 30 Come Eat Strawberries

    While watching Lin Qiao''s movements, Wu Yueling came closer with her nose covered, but she still kept herself one or two meters away from them.


    Lin Qiao washed the strawberries, but then realized that she had nothing to hold them on, so she paused again.


    As she recalled that the strawberry leaves were quite large, she thought she might as well go out to pick some of them and bring them here to hold these strawberries.


    With this thought in mind, she gently put the few washed strawberries onto the ground, then once again disappeared from the space. She exited the space, picked a few large and intact leaves, and returned to wash them with the lake water. After that, she washed the strawberries again and wrapped them within these leaves.


    She sniffed the strawberries, and as she had anticipated, the bad smell was now gone.


    Lin Qiao carried the strawberries in both hands, then took a few steps toward the edge of the grass. Putting the strawberries on the ground along with the leaves, she stood up straight while looking and waving at Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling''s eyes were filled with confusion when she saw the zombie waving. She tightly pinched her nose and stayed where she was, continuing to spectate instead of going to Lin Qiao.


    When Wu Yueling refused to come to her, Lin Qiao''s ears suddenly pricked up as she detected a slight noise. She turned her head and saw a small grey fluffy ball shoot out of the grass. It stood by the grass, looking at her and the strawberries by her feet.


    Lin Qiao looked back at it. Surprisingly, she found that the rabbit''s eyes were actually glowing while staring at the strawberries. It seemed that the rabbit wanted to come over but didn''t dare to.


    The rabbit''s wary posture reminded her of Wu Yueling.


    ''Are these two of a kind?'' Lin Qiao asked herself.


    Sensing the yearning in the rabbit''s eyes, Lin Qiao tried throwing the smallest strawberry over to it.


    The rabbit was startled by the strawberry which was suddenly thrown at her. It reflexively turned around and darted back into the grass straightaway.


    Lin Qiao stood still. As she had expected, the rabbit stuck its head out of the grass again a few seconds later. It looked around and found no danger, then leaped out and inched its way to the strawberry. After that, it reached forward with its forepaws, grabbed the strawberry, and then immediately turned around, slipping once more into the grass.


    Earlier on, it wouldn''t eat the strawberry even when Lin Qiao forced it to. But now, it was literally stealing those strawberries.


    Lin Qiao watched the rabbit carry the strawberry away in confusion, then turned around and waved at Wu Yueling.


    ''Come over here.''


    While looking at Wu Yueling''s sparkling eyes, she spoke to the child in her heart. She didn''t know if she could send out her thoughts, but the eye-contact worked indeed.


    However, she saw Wu Yueling shaking her head at her in the next moment.


    ''This¡­ Did she hear my thoughts?'' Lin Qiao paused, uncertainty clouding her thoughts.


    She picked up a strawberry, held it under her nose, and sniffed. Then, she looked at Wu Yueling and waved at her again while saying a few worlds silently.


    ''Come over here. The strawberries have been washed. They no longer stink.''


    After finishing this sentence in her heart, Lin Qiao stared at Wu Yueling and waited for her response. She wasn''t sure if the little one shook her head because she had heard her thoughts or if she was just smart enough to guess her meaning from her movements and expression. Either way, it seemed that they now had a way of communicating with each other.


    Wu Yueling didn''t say a word, she never had. She wouldn''t even say a word to Wu Chengyue, and had always expressed her thoughts only through movements. Therefore, she might have been able to guess Lin Qiao''s meaning from her movements.


    As expected, Wu Yueling made some movements of her own after Lin Qiao implied that the strawberries were washed and no longer stank. She slowly loosened her hands which had been pinching her nose, then raised her nose and sniffed toward the strawberries. After confirming that she truly didn''t sense the bad smell, she put down her hands. However, she still didn''t walk over to Lin Qiao.


    ''Really not stinking? Is she lying to me? Those strawberries are poisonous, aren''t they? Will I die if I eat them? But, that rabbit ate some last time and it didn''t die.'' As these thoughts ran through her head, Wu Yueling look at Lin Qiao and struggled.


    Lin Qiao sensed her thoughts. Instead of standing there, she slightly turned her body and sat on the ground by the strawberries. Then, she picked up a strawberry and smelled its sweet aroma. No wonder that rabbit ran over so fast. Clearly, its sense of smell was quite sharp as well.


    However, this sweet aroma held little attraction for Lin Qiao, and didn''t awaken her appetite. Instead, it was the smell of Wu Yueling that had been making her drool this whole time.


    She glanced at Wu Yueling meaningfully and waved at her again. Seeing that Wu Yueling was finally coming over, she pointed at the strawberry in her hand, then put it into her own mouth and took a bite.


    The strawberry had a soft and smooth texture, but Lin Qiao still couldn''t taste its flavor.


    Unlike its skin, the flesh of the strawberries was pink.


    Lin Qiao finished the strawberry with a few bites, then spread her open hands toward Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling had already started to believe her a little by now. She slowly walked over, and while walking, she sniffed the air for a trace of that bad odor which she had sensed earlier.


    However, even as she came close to Lin Qiao, she couldn''t smell that awful odor again.


    Lin Qiao picked up a beautiful and plump strawberry, then handed it to her. The strawberry still had drops of water on it, making it look tempting in its own way.


    ''Eat, not poisonous.'' Lin Qiao said to Wu Yueling with her eyes.


    She was worried that Wu Yueling wouldn''t understand her meaning, so she pointed at the strawberry, then waved her hand and swept it across her own neck. After doing that, she closed her eyes, tilted her head, and rolled out her tongue to imitate death for Wu Yueling.


    However, the kid was only confused by all that.


    Moments ago, Wu Yueling had already understood her meaning. However, seeing her make such a scary look, the child immediately felt weird and didn''t know how to react.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes and looked at Wu Yueling''s blank face. She didn''t sense the latter''s thoughts, but the kid looked at her in a way that one might look at a psychopath, making her fall silent.


    She was despised by this little kid, wasn''t she?


    After staring at the weirdly acting Lin Qiao for a few moments, Wu Yueling silently reached out a hand and took the strawberry which Lin Qiao had held out for her, carefully putting it under her nose and sniffing it. She smelled a nice, sweet aroma instead of the bad odor, then squeezed it and found that it was a little soft.


    Lin Qiao raised a finger and then pointed it at her mouth. She meant to encourage Wu Yueling to take a bite and taste the strawberry. However, the latter looked at her with hesitation, doubting for quite a while.


    She didn''t dare eat it, as she was afraid that it might be poisonous. However, the strawberry now smelled quite delicious. It smelled so good, so sweet! Would it taste quite sweet as well?


    Seeing her struggling look, Lin Qiao knew what she was thinking without even sensing her thoughts. She then pointed in the direction where the rabbit had disappeared while speaking to her silently with her eyes, ''It''s alright. The rabbit didn''t die.''


    Finally, Wu Yueling could no longer resist the temptation of the strawberry''s aroma and opened her mouth, making a gentle, small bite. She had chosen to believe Lin Qiao.


    A sweet and slightly sour flavor spread from the tip of her tongue, immediately making her eyes shine. She then took a larger bite, after which, she began eating with an enjoyable face, no longer caring whether the strawberry was poisonous or not.


    She munched on the strawberry readily. After all, her stomach had been empty as she had been starving for quite long.

 31 Plant Strawberries in the space

    Seeing that the little girl had finally eaten something, Lin Qiao felt slightly relieved. However, the former couldn''t live on strawberries, so she still needed to find her some other food. As she didn''t plan to send her back for the time being, she had to go and find her some more food.


    She also needed to find herself some clothes, and beyond that, needed to figure out a way to improve her body condition, as staying this stiff was not a solution. Also, her level seemed to be a bit low and her strength was too poor. She had to grow her strength!


    In her current condition, if she encountered level-five zombie leaders or superpowered human beings at level-five or above, she would be totally beaten up. She might have time to hide in her space only if she were lucky.


    The problem was that she didn''t know how to improve her strength. Should she kill zombies and take zombie nuclei like the other zombies did? But earlier on, that level-three zombie''s nucleus hadn''t seemed to benefit her at all, did it?


    Or, should she kill human beings and collect their energy nuclei?


    She couldn''t just randomly kill human beings! If the targets were villains¡­That was a workable thought¡ªthis apocalyptic world had provided no shortage of villains!


    Wasn''t Lu Tianyu a villain? What about the ones who got her killed?


    If Lin Qiao restored her strength now, she would no longer need to worry about Lin Yong and her other enemies. She could directly pick a fight with them and even have a chance of winning!


    All in all, if she were going to head South to find her family, she must improve her strength beforehand. After all, she didn''t know what she might run into on her way! In this world, zombies weren''t the only things to fear.


    Thinking of these things, Lin Qiao turned around and prepared to exit the space. But suddenly, she thought of the little one''s aggrieved and lost expression and realized that the child might feel bored or afraid of staying here alone.


    ''Why not catch that rabbit for her to play with? But then, although the rabbit is small, it looks rather fierce, doesn''t it? Will it bite?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Lin Qiao focused her ears, carefully listening for noises from the surrounding grasses, then sniffed around with her nose to confirm the little rabbit''s location. After that, she stood up and turned around, slowly walking into the grass.


    Wu Yueling watched her curiously, wondering what she was going to do. Quite a while later, she saw Lin Qiao come out while carrying that rabbit.


    Lin Qiao gripped the soft fur behind the rabbit''s neck, which had curled up its legs, dropped its ears, and widened its red eyes. Its two forepaws were still holding the half-eaten strawberry.


    She walked up to Wu Yueling and handed the rabbit to her. The girl raised her head and looked at her, then glanced at the rabbit. Her expression was blank and a little confused.


    ''Is this for me? I don''t want it! This rabbit is so ugly! I don''t want it!''


    Wu Yueling glanced at it a couple of times, then suddenly turned her face which registered a dislike.


    Sensing her thoughts, Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    Didn''t all little girls like fluffy animals? Wasn''t that what people said? Who was the dumba*s who said that? Besides, although this rabbit looked ashy, it was not ugly! Its eyes were very round, its ears were long, and its buck teeth were cute. It was actually quite adorable!


    Lin Qiao held the rabbit to her own face and looked at it carefully. After confirming that it was indeed quite adorable, she offered the rabbit to Wu Yueling again.


    Wu Yueling once again turned her head without glancing at the rabbit and continued to silently eat her strawberries.


    Lin Qiao had no choice but to put the rabbit down. She then poked Wu Yueling''s head with her finger. This child hadn''t washed her hair for many days, so her ponytail was now loose and greasy.


    Wu Yueling raised her head to look at Lin Qiao as the latter poked her.


    Lin Qiao first pointed at the sky with her finger, then pointed at herself. After that, she suddenly vanished.


    With these gestures, she was trying to warn Wu Yueling that she would be leaving.


    Seeing Lin Qiao disappear suddenly, Wu Yueling paused for a second, then her eyes turned red and her lips quivered. She looked around in panic but didn''t see Lin Qiao. Maybe because she had experienced this a few times and had gotten used to this already, she calmed back down after glancing around again and confirming that Lin Qiao had truly left this place.


    She quietly continued to eat her strawberry, finally finishing a whole one. After that, she lowered her head and looked at the rest of the strawberries beside her, then soon picked another one and continued eating.


    ...


    Lin Qiao gazed around at the strawberry field after exiting the space. The moonlight poured onto the ground, casting a faint silvery glow. As the strawberries couldn''t be stored in her space for too long after being picked, she wondered if she could plant some strawberry plants in her space and make them grow.


    She made a move once she had this idea, immediately bending over in the strawberry field and digging up the roots of a strawberry plant. She didn''t know how to transplant, so she simply dug out the entire strawberry plant along with the soil, then directly threw it into her space.


    Fortunately, her claws were useful and allowed her to dig into the ground easily. However, her movements were slow due to her poor flexibility. Finally an hour later, a large area of this strawberry field was emptied by a zombie named Lin Qiao.


    After digging up tens of strawberry plants, Lin Qiao stopped and then flashed into her space.


    Once she was in the space, she found that the strawberry plants had been thrown into the middle of the grass, crushing the grasses to the ground. At the moment, Wu Yueling stood quite far away while holding the last two washed strawberries.


    Many strawberries were still hanging on the strawberry plants that Lin Qiao had thrown in, so the entire place stank due to the unwashed fruit.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t bothered by the stench, so she slowly separated these strawberry plants and then began digging holes in her space. After digging, she directly planted these strawberries in.


    This series of movements took her a long while. After she finished planting the strawberries, she stood up and glanced at Wu Yueling, only to find that the kid had moved to the other side of the lake and was curled up asleep on the grasses.


    Lin Qiao suddenly slapped her own forehead. She should have brought something to sleep on first, but she hadn''t thought about that.


    The little one looked so pitiful while sleeping on the grasses like this!


    She went to the lakeside and washed her hands. After carefully washing the soil off her hands, she looked back at the planted strawberries. The strawberries plants were wilting, and she would need to water them later on.


    She again flashed out of the space, then glanced around her and spotted a house-like building in the near distance. It should be where the owner of this strawberry field had lived before the apocalyptic era started.


    She walked toward the house and soon arrived there, albeit with a bit of an effort.


    It was a flat-roofed house. The door and windows were shabby, and the things inside the house had been ransacked and carelessly thrown about. This house had clearly been looted, but that must have had happened a very long time ago, because everything was covered by a thick layer of dust now.


    Lin Qiao walked inside and took a look around. Not much was left in there, as everything of use had already been taken away.


    She wandered around, searching through the living room and bedroom, but failed to find even a rotten quilt. She found a dusty mat which hadn''t broken even after such a long time because it was made from bamboo.

 32 The Change of the Claws

    Lin Qiao picked up the mat, then walked out of the house and hung it on a handrail outside. After doing this, she broke off a sturdy twig with leaves on it and whacked the bamboo mat hard, sending dust flying into the air.


    She instinctively covered her nose before stretching out her hand which was holding the twig and continuing to whack and sweep, even though the dust couldn''t cause any irritation obviously.


    She stopped until she saw no more dust rising, then turned around and walked back into the room.


    This was the only house nearby, so she had no other place to go and search for the things she needed immediately. Besides the mat, she also found a few old clothes there. Some of them were already worn down, but fortunately, a few items were still wearable. Although those were all menswear, she didn''t care as she just needed something to cover herself right now, and fashion appropriateness was the last of her worries.


    She shook those clothes, stirring up another wave of dust¡­


    At last, Lin Qiao found some pots, pans, and bowls, which she threw into her space along with the other useful articles that she found. The bed, table, chairs, stools, couch, and some other things were also thrown into her space.


    After looking around and seeing that she had nearly emptied the house, Lin Qiao turned around and entered her space.


    Before this, nothing but grasses had existed in her space. She wouldn''t have cared about this if she were alone. She was able to fall asleep by lying randomly on the ground anyway, although zombies didn''t seem to need sleep.


    But now, she was responsible for a child, and surely couldn''t let her sleep on the ground! The child had a blanket before, but she had torn it apart.


    Fortunately, some people had lived near this strawberry field before, and a few of their belongings were still useable.


    Lin Qiao threw everything she could find into her space and piled them up on a spot far away from her own strawberry field. After returning to her space, she started to get busy with dusting and cleaning those things.


    She picked up a piece of rag and wetted it with the lake water, then wiped the bed, tables, chairs, and all the other articles with it. After being done with that, she washed the pots, pans, and bowls. Having washed everything, she dragged the plank bed to a flat area, nipped off a huge bunch of grasses with her fingernails, and laid them on it, followed by putting the bamboo mat on top of the grasses.


    Finishing all of this, she went around to the other side of the lake and gently lifted Wu Yueling, who was still asleep, then walked back and put her onto the bed.


    Once lain on the bed, Wu Yueling didn''t wake up but unconsciously curled up her body.


    Lin Qiao picked up a large cloth, shook off the dust, and then covered her with it. She then turned around and took the other few clothes over to the lake in order to wash them. After washing them, she directly spread them onto the grasses to dry.


    Once she had finally finished up with all the cleaning, she then began watering the strawberry plants with a bucket.


    She had been so busy that she didn''t notice her movements becoming much more flexible, and her body much less stiff than before.


    After watering the strawberry plants, she sat on the broken couch to rest.


    She truly didn''t feel tired. On the contrary, the longer she worked, the more energetic she seemed to feel. She only sat down because there was nothing more for her to do.


    Sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, she closed her eyes to get a sense of the situation outside. After finding nothing unusual, she directly exited her space from the couch.


    ...


    It was already very bright outside, which meant that she had spent the whole night cleaning the furniture and other things.


    She didn''t know if those strawberry plants that she dug up and planted in her space would survive. She was actually not that confident about it.


    After leaving her space, Lin Qiao bypassed the area that Wu Chengyue was stationed in. She planned to go into the city first to look for bookstores or supermarkets where she could try and find a map to read.


    She casually put on a loose fitting shirt. It was unwashed, but as a zombie, she actually didn''t mind this too much.


    After getting out of her space, Lin Qiao noticed that her body seemed to be much more relaxed and flexible than before. She was now free to make any movement she wanted. It appeared that the effects of the lightning strike had faded by now.


    Clenching her fists, she caught a faint weird feeling for some reason. It was as though her strength had improved quite a lot after being struck by the lightning. Was it true?


    With this thought, she immediately stopped moving and glanced at a tree by the roadside, then walked over to it with some hesitation.


    Standing under the tree, she popped out her claws. Her pure dark claws were sharp, shining with a metallic luster. She glanced at an arm-thick, three-meters-tall branch on the tree, then suddenly leaped up and slashed at it fiercely.


    A cracking sound was heard when the branch fell on the ground, followed by a series of rustling noises caused by the shaking leaves.


    Lin Qiao observed the branch that she had cut off, and found the cut to be neat and smooth. It looked like it had been cut by a very sharp blade instead of her fingernails, and that too very quickly.


    However, as she observed her claws, she found that they couldn''t be considered very long, only around ten centimeters in length. However, the cut edge of the branch had a diameter of about four decimeters. How could her claws create such a smooth cut?


    Her claws weren''t even long enough to do this! Besides, when she cut the branch with these claws, she didn''t feel them coming in contact with anything, even though the branch had indeed been cleanly cut off.


    Lin Qiao stared at her claws for quite a while, but couldn''t figure out how this could have happened.


    She stood up, placed a foot on the tree, then reached out her claws to swing at the branches behind the tree.


    This time, she did feel something.


    It seemed that a few beams of light flashed inside her claws, and before they even touched the branches, the latter were slide by some kind of air blade.


    ''So handy!'' Lin Qiao looked at her claws as her eyes suddenly glowed with excitement.


    She looked at the tree trunk, which was about as thick as a slim woman''s waist. After thinking briefly, she raised her hand to swing her claws at it hard.


    Snap!


    Hearing a clear snapping sound, Lin Qiao looked at the four deep scratches on the tree trunk, causing her eyes to shine even brighter. She moved closer and observed the depth of these scratches, finding that among the four scratches, the one created by her forefinger was the deepest. Two-thirds of the tree trunk had been cut by it.


    She then raised her hand and pressed it against the upper tree trunk to push it hard. She had a great strength, and with her touch, the entire tree slowly fell backward along with a prolonged cracking noise.


    She withdrew her hand, then turned around in satisfaction and walked toward the city. It seemed that the power of her claws had been upgraded again.


    However, before she had gotten far, she suddenly sensed a few different vibes around her. Those vibes belonged to a couple of human beings and a very strong zombie! Based on the vibes that she had sensed so keenly, she estimated the zombie to be at the peak of level-four or above!


    Moreover, she was somewhat familiar with the vibes of the few human beings. Weren''t they the few superpowered men who had tried to block her way yesterday?

 33 The Betrayal of Teammates

    A stream of fire rose into the sky. The fire wasn''t so eye-catching during the day, but it went quite high nevertheless. On the ground, scorch marks could be seen all over the place.


    Xie Dong and the other four stood in a group, trying their best to defend against the zombies in front of them with their superpowers. At that moment, the five of them looked miserable, their eyes revealing their despair.


    This team with one level-four, one-level three, and three level-two superpowered human beings was already a remarkable team. Outside the bases, this team would even have a chance against a level-four superpowered zombie.


    However, they weren''t facing a level-four zombie right now, but a level-five one!


    The five of them had already been surrounded by a great number of ordinary zombies. Under the control of the level-five zombie, they pounced on this group of people like crazy.


    They opened their mouths wide, their eyes filled with a greedy appetite for food. Stretching out their arms, they curled their hands into claws and attempted to approach and rip those human beings apart.


    Xie Dong and the other four stood back to back in a circle, releasing their powers to attack the zombies which had jumped on them.


    Being supported by Huang Xiao''s wind power, Xie Dong built a round fire wall, keeping his teammates and himself inside. The zombies which dared to come near them would be set ablaze by the fire immediately.


    In front of the zombie group was a scrawny figure, its eyes sparkling with a wild sharpness and a frosty lust for killing.


    It looked like a man in his forties or fifties, but its body had changed too much already. One could roughly tell its age before death, but could no longer see how he would have had looked originally.


    At this moment, its pitch black eyes were sparkling with a distinct red light. The light was vertical and looked like the pupils of a wild beast. This creature bent its spine and stood there with its legs straightened, its deformed hands dropping by its sides. Those hands had become huge, with fingers which were twice as long as those of normal human beings. Its sharp fingernails were three whole decimeters long, and looked incredibly hard.


    Other than its dark eyes with their red glow, this zombie had a mouth that had cracked open from ear to ear. As this mouth wasn''t open at the moment, it showed up only as a rough crack which was stained with fresh blood.


    It calmly looked at the five human beings inside the encirclement of the ordinary zombies. Its eyes didn''t contain the desperate appetite for food that the other zombies had been showing.


    This was a level-five zombie leader. A zombie of this level could not only control hundreds of ordinary zombies and make them follow its directions, but also control a small number of intelligent zombies.


    An example of that was the two by its side right now.


    The level-five zombie had a very strong vibe, for which reason, the intelligent zombies beside it dared not to go against its will. Otherwise, they would end up being torn into pieces, and their zombie nuclei would be devoured.


    At this moment, Xie Dong and the other few had seen the calm zombie in front of them and recognized that it was a level-five zombie leader. With despair in their eyes, they were still unwilling to give up and kept on fighting. While crazily attacking the ordinary zombies around the fire wall, they had been trying to think of a way to escape.


    However, they all understood that there was no escape from this level-five zombie.


    There were over ten people in this team, but by this time, only the five strongest had survived. The rest of the team had already been torn into pieces and eaten by the group of zombies.


    At this point, Xie Dong regretted leaving with his teammates the day before instead of strictly leading them to follow the army. Now, his presentiment had actually come true. That dangerous feeling of being targeted turned out to have originated from this level-five zombie.


    None of the five said anything, because any words would be useless right now.


    At this moment, a dark expression flashed across Huang Xiao''s eyes. He glanced at Xie Dong, who was by his side, then winked at the other few people. The other three people immediately showed their understanding in the eyes.


    By this time, Xie Dong was barely hanging on. He had used too much of his superpower, and his energy nucleus was already showing signs of exhaustion right now. However, he dared not to stop, because once he did, the other people wouldn''t even last for thirty seconds before they were torn apart by the zombies that had pounced on them.


    Besides, the zombie leader hadn''t even made a move, and neither did the intelligent zombies by its side. They had all been standing over there quietly, watching and waiting for Xie Dong and his teammates to die of exhaustion.


    "I can''t hold on any longer! My energy is running out. We need to think of a way to survive!" Even though the expression on Xie Dong''s chiseled face could still be considered calm, his face was a little pale. The sweat oozed out of his forehead and dripped down his face drop by drop.


    At this moment, Huang Xiao''s eyes suddenly shone. He gave a slight nod at the other three, then turned his head and said to Xie Dong, "I have an idea that might buy us some time, but¡­"


    Hearing him, Xie Dong was delighted. He was truly convinced that Huang Xiao had a good idea.


    "What idea?" He asked hurriedly.


    A faint sneer flashed across Huang Xiao''s face as he laughed, "The idea is¡­ using you as a shield!"


    While speaking, he suddenly restrained his power, then turned around and kicked out, directly smashing the unprepared Xie Dong away. Next, the four of them suddenly clasped hands and disappeared from where they were.


    Seeing Xie Dong being kicked out with no defense, all the surrounding zombies paused briefly, then pounced on him violently. On the other side, Huang Xiao and the others took the opportunity to enter the space which belonged to one of them within a blink of an eye.


    Xie Dong''s face turned extremely dark when he was kicked away. He had never expected to be betrayed by his teammates. But fortunately, he had a top-grade capacity for reaction. After all, he had spent his time in the special forces.


    The moment he was kicked out, he hurriedly flipped through the air and the fire on his hands shrank, swiftly wrapping him within a fireball.


    The zombies that were pouncing on him got in contact with his fire and started to burn.


    "Huang-Xiao!" Xie Dong called out Huang Xiao''s name through clenched teeth, his voice containing a strong hatred and disbelief.


    He knew that Huang Xiao had never liked him, but he didn''t think that he would actually go so far as to betray him. Huang Xiao actually wanted him to be eaten by these zombies.


    Besides, someone with space power actually existed among them, having a space that had air, so people could stay inside without being suffocated. Xie Dong knew nothing about this! Those few people had always been on Huang Xiao''s side, and had ganged up with him. They kept the space power a secret from Xie Dong, and actually joined hands to kick him out.


    Earlier on, he had tried so hard to protect those people, but every single one of them turned out to be ungrateful, brutal, and cold-blooded!


    Xie Dong figured that Huang Xiao and the others must have been waiting for him to use up his energy before making their move. After all, only in this way would he die for sure!


    It turned out that they had been plotting against him the whole time. No wonder when he fought together with Huang Xiao earlier on, he felt that the latter hadn''t put in his greatest efforts. Back then, he thought that Huang Xiao''s superpower was running out as well, but as he reconsidered things now, he found how wrong he had been.

 34 Level-five zombies

    Lin Qiao had arrived onto a tree which was at some distance from the battleground. She directly flashed into her space, then closed her eyes to sense the situation outside. She knew that the level-five zombie had sensed her existence, so she entered her space as soon as she arrived there.


    The level-five zombie leader merely glanced in her direction and then paid no more attention to her, instead keeping its eyes fixed on Xie Dong.


    It wanted this human being''s energy nuclei, as well as his delicious blood and flesh. It had had its eyes on this group of human beings for a couple of days before finally making a move and forcing them into this area.


    It was going to make its move the day before, but a great human army had suddenly shown up back then. Some superpowered human beings in the army were stronger than itself, so it didn''t dare to move, choosing instead to wait until now.


    Fortunately, the two powerful human beings didn''t discover it.


    At the moment, Xie Dong was trying to figure out a way to break out of this zombie encirclement He didn''t know what to do right now. Even if he managed to break out of the zombie crowd, there would be two intelligent zombies to deal with. To make matters worse, even if he killed the two intelligent zombies, there would still be the zombie leader to face.


    What could he do to escape these zombies'' lethal attacks?


    He only had fire power, but couldn''t fly or move underground. Yet, even if his power had been used up, he still had his combat skills. Hence, he might still be able to defend himself against the two intelligent zombies by punching and kicking. However, against the zombie leader which had a superpower of its own and was capable of controlling other zombies, he was totally powerless.


    At this very moment, the zombie leader seemed to have finally gotten tired of waiting as it growled at the two intelligent zombies by its sides.


    "Roar!"


    Hearing it, the two intelligent zombies immediately darted out and rushed straight at Xie Dong.


    They were extremely fast and nimble as they rushed into the crowd of zombies, leaping directly over their heads, and using the heads as stepping stones to rush over to Xie Dong, who was inside the encirclement.


    Seeing these two finally make a move, Xie Dong was shocked.


    The zombie leader didn''t seem to want to keep waiting.


    The two intelligent zombies seemed not to fear Xie Dong''s fire as they fiercely charged at him, who hurriedly threw out two fireballs at them in order to defend.


    However, they dodged the fireballs by moving nimbly to the side. At the same time, they rushed up to Xie Dong, brandishing their sharp claws and clawing at his body which was wrapped in a thin layer of flame.


    The flames wrapped around Xie Dong''s body were greatly weakened by now because of using some of the little energy left in him to create the fireballs. So, if he were clawed by these two intelligent zombies now, his flames would be crushed and extinguished easily.


    However, the zombie leader felt that it was not enough. It suddenly reached out its hand, spreading its fingers to make a claw which was waved at Xie Dong. A wave of coldness surged all around the place, and then hailstones fell from the sky one after another, striking the latter''s body.


    These hailstones were melted by Xie Dong''s fire when they landed on him, but at the same time, they had weakened it as well. The surrounding temperature dropped and actually pressed down the fire on Xie Dong''s body.


    "Pah!" Xie Dong felt a pressure on his chest, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. However, before he could react, the two intelligent zombies were already clawing at him again.


    He hurriedly rolled on the ground, then violently shoved at the surrounding zombies regardless of being scratched by them. With that, he managed to create a gap in the zombie crowd and rushed out through it.


    There was a building nearby, and it happened to be a supermarket. The supermarket would have a warehouse, which could serve as his temporary shelter.


    He would rather die than become a meal for zombies, and he refused to allow the level-five zombie to dig out his energy nucleus and absorb it to turn his power into its.


    While running, Xie Dong made sure to track the level-five zombie leader''s actions.


    After pouncing and missing their target, the two intelligent zombies immediately turned around and chased after him at a high speed.


    When these two arrived behind him, Xie Dong suddenly threw out two fireballs and hit them squarely. After that, he took out the rifle which had been carried on his back the whole time and fired two shots at the two.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    He aimed the rifle and shot at the surrounding zombies swiftly, accurately, and fiercely with non-stop bullets. His shots were extremely precise, with every bullet blowing off a zombie''s head.


    The two intelligent zombies paused briefly when they were hit by the fireballs. By the time they realized what was happening, Xie Dong''s bullets had taken off their heads.


    Anyhow, he had once been an elite special force soldier. If he didn''t fear that level-five zombie, he wouldn''t have saved the rifle till the end. But now, his power had run out, and the rifle was his last resort.


    The level-five zombie saw Xie Dong break out of the zombie crowd and kill its two underlings, so it finally moved again.


    Seeing it move, Xie Dong immediately fired two shots at it, then quickly ran into the building and rushed toward the warehouse.


    The moving speed of a level-five zombie couldn''t be measured by the human eye. Therefore, the two shots that Xie Dong fired at this zombie leader couldn''t possibly hit it. It turned into an animal-like shadow and flashed across the air, rushing toward the building in front of Xie Dong.


    It patiently watched Xie Dong run into the building. The latter''s speed was very slow in its eyes, so it was in no rush to pounce on him and bite him to death. Instead, it suddenly darted before him, blocking his way like a cat teasing a rat.


    Seeing that his way was blocked, Xie Dong remained calm and immediately raised the gun to shoot at the zombie leader. However, it dodged the shots again, crawling and darting all over the wall like a spider. It clearly wasn''t afraid of the bullets at all.


    During the fight, neither of them noticed a transparent figure which had suddenly appeared nearby. That figure dashed toward Xie Dong and grasped his arm, followed by the latter vanishing from his spot.


    The zombie leader paused, its facial expression freezing briefly. It blinked a few times in confusion as it finally realized what had happened, opening its mouth wide and bursting into a raging growl.


    "Roarrrr!"


    It thrust toward where Xie Dong had disappeared and circled around in agitation, but failed to sense his vibe. All that it sensed was the smell that he had left behind.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!"


    The zombie leader couldn''t have imagined that the meat which was about to fall into its mouth would disappear just like that. It angrily jumped up and down, bumping its head against the wall and leaving holes in it.


    His power rose along with his anger, making the temperature drop sharply. As a result, the ground was quickly crusted with a layer of ice.


    If this zombie were a human being, it would certainly have cursed like, ''Damn it! Where''s my meat? Damn it! Who stole my meat?''


    However, it couldn''t talk or think like a human being. It''s instinctive ferocity and acquired intelligence didn''t allow it to figure out what had just happened.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!"


    After a few frenzied moments, the zombie leader finally calmed down. However, it didn''t stop uttering deep growls from its throat, its voice sounding very angry and confused.


    It just couldn''t understand how that human being had disappeared into thin air. It had observed him for a long time, and was assured that he didn''t have the space power. If he did, why hadn''t he used it earlier? Why did he wait until now?


    Despite all of this, he had clearly and certainly disappeared!

 35 Successful rescue

    While Xie Dong was holding the gun and firing at the level-five zombie which had been crawling all over the wall, his eyes were suddenly dazzled, and then the scene before him changed completely.


    The wall and the insides of the dilapidated building were gone! The level-five zombie was gone! Where did these green grasses and this lake come from?


    Before he figured out what exactly he was looking at, he suddenly turned and pointed his gun at a figure standing not far away from him.


    ''A zombie?''


    Xie Dong paused for a second before automatically firing a shot at the zombie.


    Bang!


    Facing the bullet that flew at her, Lin Qiao moved slightly and clenched her hand, grasping the bullet in her hand. In her eyes, the movement of the bullet had been too slow. Therefore, she caught it easily without even needing to look at it.


    Xie Dong was shocked into silence.


    This zombie had actually caught his bullet. He now knew that this zombie was very powerful, but he couldn''t tell which level it had reached.


    His heart sank when he saw Lin Qiao catch the bullet so easily. Looking around at this strange environment, he had guessed that this was a separate space.


    ''A space zombie!''


    Before he could confirm the facts, he saw the zombie in front of him throw the bullet at him, its face filled with dislike!


    The bullet landed gently on his head.


    ''Eh? What do the disgust and the scorn in the zombie''s eyes mean? Since when can a zombie have such a human expression?''


    Because of Lin Qiao''s reaction, Xie Dong looked at her with nothing but a look of confusion on his face. However, he never relaxed his vigilance still. Tightening his body, he gripped the gun as he stared at Lin Qiao without moving.


    Then, he watched this zombie make a gesture, one that left him dumbfounded again.


    The zombie''s gesture told him, ''Stop! The situation has changed.''


    It wasn''t important that he could understand what the zombie meant. What was important was that this zombie''s gesture was a hand signal from the special forces training camps.


    Even some ordinary soldiers wouldn''t know about this hand signal, so how could a zombie know? Was this zombie a special forces soldier before death? Did she still retain her lifetime memories after she died and became a zombie?


    However, that was impossible! The virus infection would hit the brain first. Basically, zombies'' brain neurons were eroded by the virus, which was the reason why they became ''zombies''. Zombies were not conscious beings, and they only had the instinct of eating human beings. Even if they upgraded, their old memories wouldn''t be regained.


    When Xie Dong was measuring Lin Qiao with his eyes, a pebble flew over from the side and hit his body.


    Next, a small figure suddenly ran over and stopped before Lin Qiao, spreading her arms to shield her. Her little face was filled with vigilance as she stared at Xie Dong.


    ''Are my eyes going bonkers or what? How can I see Chief Wu''s precious daughter in this place?'' Xie Dong thought.


    Wu Yueling panicked when she saw a strange man show up and point a gun at the zombie.


    She knew that that thing was called a gun, which could blow off a zombie''s head. She couldn''t let this zombie''s head be blown off!


    "Aren''t you¡­ You are¡­ Come over here! Eh¡­" Xie Dong''s widened his eyes as he looked at Wu Yueling and said to her, his face filled with confusion.


    He was anxious to call Wu Yueling over, because he now realized that the creature standing behind this child was a man-eating zombie!


    However, before he could finish, a light-headed feeling nearly made him kneel.


    He glanced at his scratched wounds which were inflicted by other zombies earlier and realized that the virus inside his body had begun attacking.


    He had been concentrating intensely on himself the whole time, but just now, he was too distracted by the appearance of the little girl. Once he slightly unstrung his spirit, his body started responding to the virus infection.


    While pointing the gun at Lin Qiao with difficulty, he said to Wu Yueling, "You¡­ You come here now¡­ That''s a zombie¡­ It''s gonna eat you¡­"


    He had no time now to think about why this zombie would know the signals of special forces soldiers. He just wanted the child to stay away from that dangerous zombie.


    He didn''t know why this child was in this zombie''s space without the latter having eaten her. There were too many questions that Xie Dong didn''t have the time to think about.


    Unexpectedly, after hearing what he said, Wu Yueling shook her head and remained standing motionlessly before the zombie.


    Noticing the change in Xie Dong''s expression, Lin Qiao''s eyes sparkled. She knew that it was the virus inside his body attacking.


    Earlier on, when she saw Xie Dong rush out of the zombie crowd, she knew that it was already too late to save him. However, she had no other way. She couldn''t just go out there and fight the level-five zombie leader, as she felt that she had no chance of winning.


    At that time, she was also feeling anxious, wondering how she could make herself invisible and get Xie Dong inside her space without attracting the zombie leader''s attention.


    In the next moment, she suddenly entered a very strange state. She felt dizzy as though she was falling asleep, but then saw some blurred images that felt like a dream, but also like an imagination.


    After that, when she finally was clear-headed again, she saw a bullet flying toward her. Fortunately, her eyesight was different from that of ordinary human beings. She clearly saw the track of the bullet, feeling that it wasn''t moving fast enough.


    Before she realized what was happening, her hand reacted before her brain could and caught the bullet.


    He had actually shot at her! At that moment, Lin Qiao was a bit angry. She then disdainfully threw the bullet back and showed him a hand signal that only special forces soldiers knew.


    Based on the battles that Xie Dong had fought earlier, she figured at first glance that he was a special forces soldier.


    Therefore, she used a hand signal to make him stop. However, she couldn''t have known that right at that moment, the little one would run out and shield her, seemingly trying to protect her.


    Lin Qiao was slightly surprised. She truly hadn''t expected that the little thing would worry about her. The child was tiny in size, but her courage was not! Did she recklessly run out to shield her like that simply because she didn''t want her to die? Wasn''t she afraid of death herself?


    Lin Qiao felt slightly gratified. At least, this child had thought to protect her now! This child actually thought to protect her! What kind of a normal child would think of protecting a zombie?


    She gently reached out a hand and pressed it on Wu Yueling''s tiny arm, then walked out from behind her and slightly turned her body in order to shield the latter.


    Lin Qiao could clearly tell that Xie Dong was turning into a zombie.


    "Hmm¡­ Eh? Ahhhhhh!" Xie Dong''s brain was attacked by a horribly severe pain, which immediately made him stop worrying about Wu Yueling''s safety as he could barely be concerned about himself now.


    The intense pain in his head made him stoop. The rifle fell from his hands to the ground. To a former soldier, the gun was his life. However, the gun now lay forgotten on the ground as Xie Dong was already in too much pain to stay conscious at this moment.


    He held his head tightly with both hands, pressing hard while bending downward. He then fell onto the ground, his whole body twitching and curling up.

 36 Attack of the Virus

    Seeing the state that Xie Dong was in, Wu Yueling started feeling confused. She blankly watched him curl up and twitch on the ground, then raised her head to look at Lin Qiao in confusion. Her eyes were filled with a thirst for knowledge and understanding.


    Lin Qiao first pointed at Xie Dong, then at herself. After that, she flicked her fingernails in the air and made a gesture exclusive to zombies.


    Wu Yueling immediately understood Lin Qiao''s meaning. She stepped back a little and hid behind the latter, showing only half of her head and a pair of eyes.


    ''Is that man turning into a zombie? Will he become a man-eating one as well?'' With this thought, Wu Yueling was suddenly afraid.


    Lin Qiao was both amused and speechless as she looked at Wu Yueling''s rabbit eyes.


    This child''s mind was so hard to understand! A moment ago, she had acted fearlessly by standing before Lin Qiao, but now, she hid behind her with fear.


    "Ah!!Ah!!" At this moment, Xie Dong''s face began to twist. He couldn''t stop screaming hoarsely, and his voice sounded severely pained and miserable. By this time, no one could stop his transformation.


    "Ah! K-kill¡­ Kill¡­ Kill¡­ Me¡­ Ah¡­ Ah¡­ Ah!" Somehow, he managed to recover some consciousness and shout a few words while screaming painfully. Those were no more than three words, yet he was unable to squeeze them out of his mouth coherently. However, he eventually finished saying them.


    He didn''t know if this zombie in front of him could understand him, neither did he know if Wu Yueling had heard him. At this very moment, he just desired a quick death and for the pain to stop.


    After he screamed out that short sentence, his expression became even more twisted. His body wasn''t curled up and twitching anymore, but suddenly popped straight. After that, his limbs twisted and he began struggling and rolling around on the ground. As he crazily tossed and turned on the ground, his body distorted weirdly into some impossible shapes.


    Lin Qiao took a few steps backward and pushed Wu Yueling along with her. All the while, her eyes were fixed on this man who was turning into a zombie.


    By this time, Xie Dong''s face was filled with protruding veins and his mouth was opened wide. His white teeth were exposed in the air, looking very scary. However, even at this moment, one last bit of emotion still remained in his eyes.


    He was begging...


    He looked at Lin Qiao beseechingly. By now, he had felt that this zombie wouldn''t harm people. Otherwise, it wouldn''t have saved him from that level-five zombie leader, and Wu Yueling wouldn''t be standing perfectly unharmed next to her.


    The last thought he had right now was a wish for this zombie to kill him.


    Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong''s wide open eyes which were almost bulging out of his eye sockets. Those eyes had been rolling up bit by bit, and the pupils had been turning gray.


    She suddenly popped out her sharp claws and darted out from before Wu Yueling. In a moment, she rushed up to Xie Dong who was already distorted into a weird shape, preparing to insert her claws into his skull.


    But right at this moment, a sudden change occurred.


    Xie Dong''s eyes suddenly flashed and then turned entirely gray while he was writhing on the ground. In the next moment, he swiftly bounced and tilted his head, miraculously dodging Lin Qiao''s claws. Then, he propped up his body on all fours like a spider and crawled toward the lake at an incredible speed. He quickly arrived at the lake, thrust himself against the ground, and jumped to the lakeside.


    Plop! He actually jumped into the lake!


    Lin Qiao was dumbfounded, rooted to the spot with her claw continuing to stretch out. She was utterly shocked as she watched the zombie Xie Dong dodge her attack within a blink of an eye and jump into the lake.


    Once she realized what had happened, she rushed to the lakeside and stared at the widening circles of ripples on the water surface. However, zombie Xie Dong had disappeared without a trace.


    To be honest, Lin Qiao hadn''t gone down to the middle of the lake. She had been bathing and washing things by the lakeside all this time, but hadn''t had the time to go down and take a look. She didn''t know how deep the water was or what was in there.


    But just now, this newborn zombie had made that journey even before her.


    Furthermore, this zombie Xie Dong was weird, obviously not an ordinary zombie. Judging by the looks of it, it had directly entered level-one or two, which was the only explanation for his swift reactions and movements.


    Lin Qiao stood by the lake, her brows knitted.


    The situation was troublesome now. She had let a low-level zombie hide in her space. Things would have been fine if no one was in her space, but there was a child to think of! However, Lin Qiao now dared not to go down the lake to find the zombie, as she was afraid that it would crawl back up from the other side once she went down. If that happened, they would be in for some serious trouble.


    Lin Qiao felt that this space was not yet fully under her control. If only she could sense the situation deep down in the lake¡­ As of now, she could only sense the space above the lake surface, but nothing below the water.


    For now, all she could do was stay in the space and wait for zombie Xie Dong to come out of the water. She couldn''t send Wu Yueling out of the space, as the outside world wasn''t any safer while there were zombies all over the place.


    She went back to Wu Yueling''s side and pointed at the area where the furniture was placed, signaling for her to go and stay there.


    Wu Yueling was also staring at the water curiously, wondering what had happened underwater to the man who had turned into a zombie. Would he drown? Was he able to swim in the water like a fish?


    Seeing Lin Qiao''s hand signal, she understood that she couldn''t linger here. She didn''t dare to stay here anyway.


    Therefore, when Lin Qiao raised a hand and pointed at the area with the bed and couch, she immediately turned around and walked toward it. While walking, she turned back to confirm whether Lin Qiao was following her.


    Obviously, Lin Qiao followed behind Wu Yueling. As she walked, she turned around to glance at the lake surface which was gradually becoming calm.


    She thought that the zombie Xie Dong would stay underwater for a long time. However, after she had walked only a few steps behind Wu Yueling, her ears moved suddenly and she stopped, turning her head and staring at the surface of the lake without blinking


    As she had suspected, the gradually calming water surface now rippled slightly again, as though something was coming out of it. In fact, something did come out of the water, and it was the zombie Xie Dong who had leaped into the lake not too long ago.


    After a series of ripples, a figure quietly surfaced, floating motionlessly on the water.


    Lin Qiao was shocked.


    ''What happened?''


    Wu Yueling sensed that Lin Qiao had stopped walking behind her, so she stopped as well. Her senses were rather keen, so once the latter had stopped following her, she had felt it almost immediately.


    She turned around as well and looked at Lin Qiao. Seeing her staring straight at the lake surface, Wu Yueling walked over curiously and stood behind her legs, sticking her head out to look as well. She then saw the motionless figure which was floating on the water.


    Lin Qiao frowned, not knowing what was going on. Why had Xie Dong become like this after he turned into a zombie and jumped into the water? She remembered that when she went down into the water for the first time, it seemed that she had slept for a long time before she woke up.


    She didn''t know if Xie Dong was going through the same situation as she had.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment thinking about this. Since Xie Dong had floated up to the surface, she surely needed to go over and take a look. He was unable to move, and therefore, posed no threat. In that case, she could directly touch him and send him out of the space.

 37 The Zombie Which Jumped into the Water

    With this thought, Lin Qiao immediately turned around, squatting down and looking straight at Wu Yueling. She pointed at her and then at the area with the furniture, signaling her to go there alone. After that, she pointed at herself and then at Xie Dong, who had turned into a zombie and was now floating on the lake surface.


    After that, she pointed at the sky.


    She made a series of gestures as she tried to tell Wu Yueling to go and stay in that area by herself and not go anywhere else, while informing that she herself would deal with the thing on the water and send it outside the space.


    Wu Yueling silently looked at her for a moment without letting her know if she had understood her meaning or not. The child didn''t go to that area as instructed, but remained standing in front of her, looking at her in the eyes.


    Lin Qiao sighed, unable sense the kid''s thoughts at the moment. Once this child had calmed down, she could barely read her mind.


    Seeing Wu Yueling looking at her without giving any response, Lin Qiao turned around and glanced at Xie Dong, who was still floating on the water surface. Then, she stood up and put her hands on the little one''s shoulders, turning her body back to the direction of the bed and pushing her a few steps forward.


    With that, Wu Yueling began to walk forward, although she would turn back to glance at Lin Qiao with every other step before continuing to walk again.


    After seeing that Wu Yueling was finally moving forward, Lin Qiao turned around and walked toward the lake surface. She carefully observed Xie Dong''s body for a moment and then sniffed at it.


    Xie Dong was floating face-down on the water. Lin Qiao couldn''t see his face, but she sensed that both his vibe and scent had changed. His scent wasn''t the same as when he was still a human being, neither was it like the scent that he had earlier on when he suddenly turned into a zombie before jumping into the water.


    She felt that Xie Dong''s scent was a little weird.


    His human scent was gone, and his zombie scent was weak. At the moment, Lin Qiao couldn''t figure out what Xie Dong had become.


    She put her feet into the water and slowly approached him. He wasn''t floating too far from the lakeside, merely six or seven meters away. However, she hadn''t gone this far into the lake before, so she seemed to be extra careful.


    By the time she was three meters away from the lakeside, the water had already reached her chest. She immediately pushed her feet against the lake bottom and began swimming, so she could move faster through the lake.


    When she came to Xie Dong''s side, she still detected no change in him. After spending a moment in thinking, she suddenly felt a little silly!


    She didn''t know when she had become so timid. She was a zombie anyway. Was she afraid that this thing might bite her? Everything aside, with his current strength, he might not be able to bite her even if he wanted to!


    Once she thought of this, Lin Qiao boldly and confidently reached out a hand toward the guy. She turned him over, seized the collar at the back of his neck with one hand, and then swam to the lakeside while dragging him behind her.


    After swimming ashore, she dragged Xie Dong out of the water and threw him into a clearing by the lake. Now, she could finally see his face clearly.


    His face, which had been twisted and covered in veins, had actually become normal again. However, the color of his face was pale white and bluish, like the color of normal zombies.


    His mouth wasn''t cracked, neither was his nose crooked. With his eyes closed, he looked like a normal dead person, and his body seemed to show no sign of turning into a zombie.


    Lin Qiao squatted beside him, examining his face over and over again as she said to herself, ''Average-looking. I give him five out of ten.''


    After that, she reached out a hand and gripped his maxillary joints, squeezing them hard. His''s mouth opened, exposing his teeth. As she expected, his even teeth had already turned sharp.


    Lin Qiao sniffed him and found that he didn''t have the stench that zombies were supposed to have in his mouth. Letting go of his mouth, Lin Qiao took a look at his hands. His fingernails hadn''t grown out, but his finger bones had already mutated, and were bent like hooks.


    She then laid her eyes on his wounds. Those festering wounds now had a pale blue color, which was obviously an effect of the zombie virus.


    As she expected, he really had become a zombie!


    After checking for a while, Lin Qiao concluded that Xie Dong had indeed become a zombie. Then, she began considering how to deal with him next.


    Should she throw him out? He might wake up as a zombie and get shot in the head by human beings, or be torn up by higher level zombies. Alternatively, he might loiter by himself, evolve into a high-level zombie later on, and then be taken out by human beings!


    Should she directly stab her claws into his head and then go out, dig a hole, and bury him to let him rest in peace?


    Lin Qiao felt that burying him was the best option!


    With this thought, she closed her eyes and looked outside, then realized that this wouldn''t work. That was because she saw the level-five zombie still staying where it was before, seemingly waiting for her to come out.


    Unless she entered that ''traveling ghost'' state again, she wouldn''t be able to leave this place without leaving her space.


    She focussed on thinking about that magical state which she had entered earlier on and tried to remember how she had felt back then.


    She remembered that her eyes were closed at that time and she was focused on the outside situation the whole time. She had concentrated intensively and thought about how she could make herself invisible and dive down to save Xie Dong. Soon after that, she had somehow entered that half asleep and half awake, ''traveling ghost'' state.


    As she could remember, she had been allowed to run all the way to the strawberry field without leaving the space when she was in a dream last time. Why did she have to be dreaming to achieve that? On the other hand, why did she need to enter that ''traveling ghost'' state in order to move in the outside world without leaving her space when she wasn''t dreaming?


    Couldn''t she do that just once while she was awake? Why was this space being so difficult?


    Lin Qiao felt that she needed more time to explore the functions of this space. But for now, how could she throw Xie Dong out of her space?


    Outside, the zombie leader was waiting covetously. Perhaps, it would pounce upon her as soon as she showed up.


    She had noticed that she was able to easily throw lifeless things inside or out of her space, but couldn''t do the same with human beings or zombies. Instead, she could only bring them in or out along with herself.


    While she was squatting beside Xie Dong and struggling, his still-water-like peaceful vibe suddenly stirred up. Lin Qiao sensed the change, so she immediately stood up and took a few steps backward.


    In the next moment, she saw him lying on the ground, moving his eyelids and then opening his eyes.


    His eyeballs weren''t pale gray or as dark as Lin Qiao''s black eyes which had no white parts. Instead, they were like a pair of normal human eyes, with black pupils and a normal white sclera.


    However, his pupils weren''t of the same shape as those of normal human beings. Those pupils weren''t round, but were vertical.


    None of this mattered except the fact that after he opened his eyes, he confusedly looked at the leaden sky in Lin Qiao''s space, blinking and then sitting up while fixing his alert eyes on Lin Qiao.


    Seeing this, Lin Qiao was quite confused. ''Damn, what''s happening now? Why is this zombie staring at me so alertly?''


    Before she could figure it out, Xie Dong''s expression changed again. His eyes sparkled, then the look in his eyes actually calmed down bit by bit while the vigilance in his eyes disappeared.


    Lin Qiao confusedly looked at him. Zombie? He didn''t look like one! Human being? He didn''t look like one of those either!


    What on earth had this man become?


    While she was guessing what exactly he had turned into, Xie Dong moved his lips.


    "Eh¡­ Oh¡­"


    Lin Qiao was again confused. She couldn''t understand the meaning behind his words at all! However, she did sense his thoughts!


    He had said, ''So hungry!''

 38 Mutated Zombie

    Seeing a tall and strong man weakly shouting ''hungry'' at her, Lin Qiao found it a little unacceptable. Not to mention her, even Xie Dong was stunned after hearing himself shout ''hungry''.


    He dropped his eyes and touched his throat, feeling a little strange. Then, he narrowed his eyes which were filled with confusion, seeming to be trying quite hard to think of something.


    Lin Qiao stood aside, watching his reaction in surprise.


    Weird! It was too weird! It took time for the virus to attack, so a corpse needed at least twelve hours normally to turn into a zombie. However, from the infection to the virus attack, and then to the transformation, it took him only less than half an hour to finish the whole process. That was too damn fast!


    It was probable that the zombie virus had been strengthened, so the attack was quickened and the transformation was accelerated. However, that set aside, why did he still maintain a human face?


    The faces of the other zombies were either covered in blue or black veins, or twisted with cracked mouths and buckteeth. In any case, becoming a zombie would dramatically change one''s appearance¡­ like what happened to Lin Qiao.


    For this reason, Wu Chengyue failed to recognize the zombie Lin Qiao as Lu Tianyu when he saw her earlier on, who had threatened him with his daughter not long ago and forced him into an unspeakable act.


    Otherwise, he would have struck her directly into ashes with a thunderbolt!


    However, Xie Dong''s face remained in good condition. The black veins had stopped bulging out of his face and had even disappeared as a matter of fact. Except for his bluish pale color, nothing was unusual about his appearance by now.


    Even his eyes hadn''t changed too much. The color of his eyes remained the same, so nobody would discover the change in his pupils unless they stared at them very carefully.


    The confused Xie Dong was trying pretty hard to think when he suddenly changed his expression and his eyes began shining with the light of disbelief.


    He abruptly raised his head to stare at Lin Qiao, then got up from the ground swiftly and neatly, searching around with his eyes. As a result, he soon had his eyes fixed on Wu Yueling who was sitting on the bed, perfectly unharmed.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling was also observing him with curiosity from a distance away.


    Seeing that Wu Yueling was fine, Xie Dong sighed in relief, then turned around and looked at Lin Qiao. After he saw that Lin Qiao was also standing at a relatively safe distance, he lowered his head to observe his own condition.


    That was when he was stunned out of his mind. He looked at himself up and down, seemingly unable to believe his eyes as he touched and pinched his body here and there with both hands.


    Lin Qiao gazed at him for quite a while. After watching his latest series of actions, a thought began to emerge in her mind.


    "Roar," she growled at him calmly.


    ''Do you remember who you are?'' Lin Qiao''s voice delivered a message to his mind.


    She saw Xie Dong''s expression pause briefly, following which, he immediately raised his head and stared at her. His eyes contained uncertainty, surprise, confusion, disbelief, and a number of other emotions, all blended together.


    "Eh¡­ Ah¡­ Goro¡­" He opened his mouth but could only let out a series of weird sounds. After that, he realized something and abruptly shut his mouth.


    However, Lin Qiao understood what he had said.


    ''My name is Xie Dong,'' he said.


    Lin Qiao stared at him in shock. It turned out that this man''s name was Xie Dong. His life''s memories didn''t seem to have disappeared, as he actually remembered who he was!


    "Roar?"


    ''Do you remember how you died?''


    Lin Qiao continued to growl at him. Although her current way of speaking was a little strange, she felt that if she didn''t make a sound, the zombie Xie Dong wouldn''t understand her.


    Xie Dong paused for a second and then frowned. After that, his entire face twisted while a strong hatred was clearly seen in his eyes. His mouth opened upwards, exposing his sharp white teeth while the fierce intent of murder flashed in his eyes.


    "Roar!"


    ''So ugly!'' Lin Qiao looked and roared at him with contempt.


    The look on Xie Dong''s face paused again. Realizing that he was getting too emotional, he relaxed his expression and looked back at her helplessly.


    He really hadn''t lost his memories. He remembered everything that happened in his life before his death, including how he died! However, his memories regarding the virus attack and his transformation were a little blurry for some reason.


    But still, he did realize that he had died and become a zombie.


    He lacked body heat or a heartbeat, his entire body felt stiff and sluggish, and his skin was bluish. He couldn''t talk, but could understand the roars of this other zombie.


    All these signs seemed to tell him that he wasn''t a human being anymore!


    Furthermore...


    Xie Dong sniffed in Wu Yueling''s direction.


    ''She smells so good! I''m so hungry! I want to eat her so much!''


    Once his eyes swiveled in Wu Yueling''s direction, a figure flashed across his eyes and blocked his line of sight.


    "Roar?"


    ''Are you gonna eat a human?'' Lin Qiao asked.


    Lin Qiao stared at him with cold eyes. She stayed vigilant in case he lost control of his zombie instincts and followed Wu Yueling''s aroma to pounce upon her. If that happened, things wouldn''t stay all hunky dory anymore.


    Xie Dong was surprised when he heard Lin Qiao''s warning growl. It was then that he realized what had just happened to him.


    The delectable smelling Wu Yueling had caused he instinctive hunger inside his body to nearly control his mind. Just now, he really had this impulse to follow her smell and rush over to her.


    He didn''t know what he would have done if this female zombie hadn''t growled out timely.


    He also felt that this female zombie''s vibe was absolutely suppressive to him. He couldn''t generate even the slightest intention to resist her, and was even very scared of her vibe, even though the latter was acting very kindly.


    Looking at her pitch-black eyes, Xie Dong couldn''t tell which level this zombie was at, but it was definitely beyond level-four. Furthermore, the message she had delivered just now did not sound like any question that a zombie would ask.


    No wonder she could stay peacefully with Chief Wu''s daughter. Was this zombie somehow special? Was she like him? Did she have her memories from before her death as well? Could she also have been a special forces soldier?


    He was thinking so much that he even showed his emotions from his eyes. Furthermore, since he had become a zombie, Lin Qiao could read his thoughts more clearly than before.


    "Roar-woo-roro¡­"


    ''I have my memories. I was indeed a special forces soldier before my death,'' she said to him.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s mumbles, Xie Dong found it rather unacceptable.


    "Roar?"


    ''Did you read my mind?'' he asked, shocked and horrified because this female zombie actually read his mind!


    ''What happened just now?'' His eyes popped open in surprise as he gawked at Lin Qiao while asking the question in his head.


    "Roar..." Lin Qiao glanced at him, then nodded slightly and responded.


    ''You can''t go out yet,'' she said.


    Suddenly, she felt that this conversation happening between the two of them was truly getting weird! They roared at each other, unable to talk normally at all. So strange! This felt so infuriating, making her heart so tired!


    At that moment, Lin Qiao swept across Xie Dong with her eyes and suddenly saw the pen in the pocket of his camouflage uniform. Her eyes instantly shone and then she pointed her finger at his pocket immediately.

 39 Strange Communication

    Xie Dong lowered his head and saw the cap of the pen pinned on the edge of his pocket. He paused briefly, then quickly understood Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    Then he took out the pen along with the small notepad in his pocket, but found that all the pages were wet and stuck together.


    "Roar?" Looking at the wet note pages, Lin Qiao roared at him.


    ''What about your power?'' she asked


    She knew that Xie Dong had the fire power, but since he was a zombie now, she didn''t know if his power still remained the same.


    Xie Dong understood Lin Qiao''s meaning once he heard her. Meanwhile, he realized that he didn''t know what had happened to his power yet. He hadn''t thought of it until she reminded him.


    Thinking that, he slightly raised a hand and supinated his palm. On the other side, Lin Qiao also watched him with curiosity as he raised his hand with his eyes closed, seeming to be sensing something.


    Puff!


    They didn''t see any red flame, but a spark blasted from his palm, turning into a wisp of smoke and quickly dissipating in the air.


    Lin Qiao and Xie Dong both were a little speechless on seeing that. Judging by what had happened, the situation wasn''t too bad. A spark had burst out at least, which meant that his power wasn''t gone completely.


    However, right after the smoke disappeared from Xie Dong''s palm, Lin Qiao saw the tips of his fingernails turn fiery red, although the redness faded away soon. After that, his clothes were quickly dried by his body temperature.


    His body was icy-cold just a while ago, but right now, it was burning hot, and yet he didn''t feel uncomfortable at all.


    Lin Qiao quickly walked up to him, took the notepad from his hand, and put it on his other palm which was still smoky. Then, she raised a hand toward him, signaling him to try it again.


    Xie Dong hesitated a little. He couldn''t control the heat of his body anymore or even start a fire. He didn''t know if this would work or not.


    "Roar!" Lin Qiao sensed his hesitation, so she impatiently gave him a roar. ''Hurry up!'' she said.


    Xie Dong couldn''t resist her order, so he immediately tried to concentrate the heat of his entire body onto his hand.


    In less than two seconds, Lin Qiao abruptly reached out and grabbed away the notepad from his palm. After that, another puffing noise could be heard, followed by another wisp of smoke rising up.


    By that moment, the notepad in Lin Qiao''s hand had already dried up.


    If she hadn''t seen so clearly and moved so swiftly, this notepad would have started burning in his palm within the next second.


    Xie Dong looked at his own hand sullenly without knowing what to say. His power had actually been reduced to this. He was used to having a strong power, so he found this current state extremely frustrating.


    Lin Qiao didn''t care how he felt for the time being. She took the pen which had also been soaked by the water, and drew a few lines on a piece of paper. After trying and finding that the pen was still usable, she immediately wrote down a few lines and showed them to him.


    ''My name is Lin Qiao. You''re in my space now. That zombie leader is still waiting outside, so neither of us can go out yet. Is there something you want to do?''


    Reading her handwriting, he found it to be sharp and strong, with every character seeming to contain a blade or sword. He gazed at his hands in a daze for a moment, and after she handed the paper to him, he finally gave a response.


    A trace of murderous hate flashed across Xie Dong''s eyes. He wanted to kill those who had betrayed him.


    Lin Qiao sensed his thoughts and quickly wrote down some more lines.


    ''Go out and kill them if that''s what you want. You now look just like a human being anyway. As long as you don''t speak, the others won''t know that you''re already dead. The level-five zombie outside may have lost interest in you by now.''


    Reading the last sentence, Xie Dong felt speechless. Before he could react, Lin Qiao wrote down another sentence.


    ''But of course, we don''t know if it will kill you and snack on your zombie nucleus, as it''s clearly angry.''


    Xie Dong really didn''t know what to say after reading that.


    At this moment, Lin Qiao suddenly pressed her hand onto his shoulder, then both of them disappeared from her space. In the next moment, she reappeared in the same spot without the latter.


    And at that very same moment, Xie Dong was stunned to find himself alone in a different place within the blink of an eye.


    Damn! He had been thrown out by the female zombie! She had left him here alone¡­ to face a terrifying level-five zombie!


    Looking at the familiar red-eyed zombie which flashed out from not too far away, Xie Dong even wanted to go back and give Lin Qiao a bite.


    ''Damn it! Why did she throw me out alone? To feed the zombie leader? The zombie leader doesn''t even want to eat me anymore! She threw me out for the zombie leader to torture, didn''t she?''


    Even though he wanted to go out of her space to find the traitorous b*stards and take revenge, he absolutely didn''t want to be out here right now! Looking at the zombie leader who was already flying at him, Xie Dong even began to scream in his heart.


    The zombie leader rushed over at him but stopped a short distance away. It stared at him with a confused expression, its pair of eyes sparkling with an evil and wild red light.


    Xie Dong was frightened when the zombie leader approached him, He took a few steps backward but dared not to turn and run. Because its vibe was even stronger than Lin Qiao''s and had been oppressing him firmly, he couldn''t even generate the slightest urge to resist and run.


    This was a suppression of power from a higher-level existence to a lower-level one.


    If Xie Dong had known that he was being thrown out by Lin Qiao as a bait, he might really have given her a bite.


    At that same moment, Lin Qiao was squatting by the lake, her eyes closed to observe the situation outside. Seeing the zombie leader rush to Xie Dong but stop at a short distance away, she sighed slightly in relief.


    It seemed that the zombie leader had rushed out just now only because it smelled her. However, when it saw that it was Xie Dong and noted that he no longer had the aroma of edible human beings, having become a zombie just like itself, it paused with a slight confusion. Even its aggression had been tempered considerably.


    It also knew that any human being who was bitten or scratched by zombies but wasn''t eaten immediately would become one of their kind in half a day.


    However, this former human being in front of it seemed to have transformed too quickly! Not long ago, he smelled delicious like human flesh, unlike the current him that smelled just like any other zombie. He was at a very low-level, so the zombie leader wasn''t even interested in his zombie nucleus.


    The zombie leader slowly walked over and circled around Xie Dong. It found his vibe to be a little weird and couldn''t tell why, but it didn''t care about that at the moment.


    It was looking for that particular strange vibe which belonged to the one who had snatched its food. Of course, it didn''t know that the one it was looking for had been watching its every move with her eyes closed.


    After making a few circles and finding no trace of Lin Qiao or her vibe, the zombie leader was irritated. It abruptly turned around and slapped Xie Dong with its claw, sending him flying through the air.


    Bang!


    Xie Dong had no time to react before he found himself flying in the air. As he thudded against the ground, he heard the zombie leader burst into a series of furious roars.


    "Roarrrr!"


    After that, the zombie leader turned around and suddenly jumped very high, stepping on the wall in front of it and leaping upward. Soon, it jumped on top of the twenty story building which was next to the one it had climbed just now and disappeared.

 40 An Act of Vengeance

    Xie Dong lay on the ground as he moved his hands and feet for a while, trying to get up. However, he failed in the end, so he just kept lying on the floor.


    On the other side, it seemed that the zombie leader had lost its patience to keep waiting here.


    After lying on the ground for a while, Xie Dong finally felt that he had regained control of his limbs, so he slowly sat up and took a breath of relief. He was apparently safe now.


    He had to worry about being attacked by zombies when he was human. Unexpectedly,, he actually still needed to worry about the same problem even after becoming a zombie himself!


    How difficult life was in the post-apocalyptic world!


    At that moment, a figure appeared at the same spot where he showed up earlier.


    It was Lin Qiao who had appeared out of thin air. She walked over to Xie Dong with the notepad and showed him what was written on it.


    ''Do you have a map? A car?''


    Xie Dong stood up from the ground and read her note, then raised his head to look at her in confusion, his eyes asking a question.


    ''What do you need a map and a car for?''


    The communication between Xie Dong and Lin Qiao was more than a little strange. He could deliver any thought to her by simply looking at her, but he had to read the words she wrote on the paper to find out what she was thinking!


    He had a feeling that he was at quite a disadvantage!


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, ignoring his thoughts as she started to write on the paper again.


    ''To go to the bases in the South and look for somebody.''


    Xie Dong nodded, understanding her goal. He didn''t have a map with him at the moment, but he could borrow one from others. He remembered that Huang Xiao and his men all had maps. As for the man with space power, Xie Dong didn''t know what all he had in his space.


    Furthermore, he happened to have a car that must be currently in those people''s hands.


    Thinking all this, he nodded at Lin Qiao.


    The two of them had a short discussion, after which, they decided to go to find Xie Dong ''s teammates who had betrayed him and take revenge first. They were zombies now, so it was much easier for them to find someone.


    In fact, Lin Qiao had located those people long ago. Back when the level-five zombie leader was still chasing after Xie Dong, who hadn''t turned into a zombie yet, those people had sneakily come out of that man''s space and then left quickly.


    Xie Dong didn''t notice any of this back then because he was too busy dealing with the zombie leader. However, Lin Qiao, who was observing the situation from inside her space at the time, had seen them and memorized the direction they were moving in.


    Xie Dong saw her walk to an alley without hesitation, wondering why she was so sure that it was the right way. So, he reached out a hand behind her and patted on her shoulder.


    Lin Qiao turned back to look at him, her eyes revealing a questioning look.


    ''How do you know they went this way?'' Xie Dong was also asking her a question silently with his eyes.


    Lin Qiao lowered her head and began writing on a piece of paper.


    ''I saw them go this way earlier on. If you want to find them soon, cut the crap and move along with me now!''


    Once she finished writing, she directly threw the paper at Xie Dong''s chest, then gave him a disdainful glance with her pure black eyes which lacked any hint of white, leaving him feeling despised without knowing what to say.


    Xie Dong saw her continue moving forward and had no choice but to follow her silently. He suddenly thought of one other thing, so he again walked up and patted her on the shoulder.


    Lin Qiao stopped walking and turned back. ''Why hadn''t I found this man so garrulous before?''


    This time, Xie Dong didn''t manage to figure out the meaning in Lin Qiao''s eyes. He could only point at his thigh''s level with his hand and ask her a question in his mind.


    ''Aren''t you gonna send Chief Wu''s daughter back? He must be going crazy by now!''


    Lin Qiao sneered. The expression on her face was quite weird.


    ''Send her back? Hehe¡­ I plan to take the little one away! I won''t give her back to that man! It would be even better if he does go crazy! He shouldn''t have struck me indiscriminately with lightning!'' she thought.


    She wrote on the paper, ''Stay out of this. Anyhow, the little girl won''t die or be eaten by me.''


    Having finished writing, she gave Xie Dong a threatening glance, then turned around and kept walking.


    Xie Dong didn''t dare to ask her any more questions this time as he received a pressure that made him feel being warned by her last glance.


    ...


    As two zombies, Xie Dong and Lin Qiao walked casually in the alley. The shambling zombies around them either ignored or avoided them because of Lin Qiao''s vibe.


    Xie Dong had never walked so calmly in a crowd of zombies. Before, he was always nervously on guard against zombie attacks, but now, it was the other zombies that avoided him on sight. This sharp contrast gave him a novel and strange feeling.


    After proceeding along the road for a while, Lin Qiao suddenly stopped before a fork road, then raised her nose to sniff the air, seemingly confirming the direction. Xie Dong watched her do this and tried to do the same, but smelled nothing.


    Lin Qiao sniffed for only a few times before she pointed to the left and began heading that way.


    She knew that she had been able to smell all human beings within one kilometer around her earlier on. When Wu Chengyue arrived with his army, she had grasped a strong human smell from a long distance away.


    However, she now felt that the scope of her sense of smell had grown, although she still needed to confirm that.


    The geographical condition of this region wasn''t ideal. The surrounding area was blocked by buildings, as a result of which, a considerable number of odors which she could have smelled might have been blocked out by the buildings.


    Ling Qiao took Xie Dong to somewhere behind a wall after taking a few turns. Then, she stopped and kept looking forward while giving a hint to Xie Dong by making a hand gesture behind her back.


    Xie Dong''s eyes glowed with an intense focus on receiving Lin Qiao''s hint. What Lin Qiao''s gesture meant was that the target had shown up and he should get ready to move.


    After that, Xie Dong saw her raise a hand and make a few gestures in a row with her body remaining motionless. He immediately relaxed his facial expression when saw her gestures and began acting like a normal person, only with his eyes slightly narrowed. When he was ready to move, Lin Qiao suddenly swung her arm and threw a black rifle into his hands.


    It was his gun that had been left in her space.


    When he received his gun, he had a strange feeling in his heart.


    When he lost his gun earlier on, he had also lost his life. However, his life was back now, and so was his gun. Although it had only been a few hours, his life had changed into another form irreversibly.


    While he was protecting the others, all that he got in return was their betrayal. He had used up his power and energy to defend them against the zombies, but they kicked him into the zombie crowd in the end as a ''repayment''. He had thought that the zombies would eat him or dig out his energy nucleus, but he was ironically saved by a zombie, and then became a zombie himself.


    It was weird that he had become a zombie with his intact old memories and an unchanged body.


    With a complicated feeling in his heart, he looked at his hands which were holding the gun and wondered if his claws were also carrying the virus or not.


    When Lin Qiao saw him still being in a daze, she suddenly raised a foot and kicked him directly on his butt, sending him staggering forward.


    Kicked by Lin Qiao, Xie Dong leaped forward and finally realized what had happened. In the next instant, he changed his expression and quietly moved toward another building not far ahead with an aura of brutal ferocity.


    Lin Qiao had shown him the precise location of his teammates by making the gestures earlier.


    At this moment, the people in the building had no idea that the man they believed to have died in the hands of the zombies was approaching them with a monstrous killing intent.

 41 The Reason of Betrayal

    "Brother Xiao, we got Xie Dong killed this time, so no one will shield us from the zombies next time!" At the moment, the four were hiding in a room in this small building; sitting almost equally spaced from each other and talking.


    Huang Xiao smiled carelessly and said, "What are you afraid of? Xie Dong''s fire wall is gone, but have you forgotten my tornado? Besides, my power is going to upgrade soon. Without Xie Dong, the position of Captain will just be mine."


    "Hehe¡­ You''re right. Our Brother Xiao is no worse than Xie Dong. We let Xie Dong be the Captain, but he took the best of our earnings every time. What we got was always ridiculously little."


    "Yeah, yeah! He got all the good things each time. And that woman in the base, she should have belonged to our Brother Xiao, but he seduced her with food. Without him, she would have been in our Brother Xiao''s bed long ago!"


    Speaking of that woman, Huang Xiao had his face darkened, followed by a strong jealousy flashing across his eyes.


    But soon, he began laughing as he said with pride, "Women¡­ As long as I have the resources, isn''t it easy to get them into my bed? Besides, as Xie Dong is no longer with us, who will stop me when I''m back? She doesn''t want to be with me, but so what? I can do whatever I want to her, can''t I? I can sleep with her whenever I want, ah-hum¡­Haha¡­"


    At the end of his speech, he began laughing with a creepy look that any man could understand.


    "Haha¡­You''re right!" The others glanced at each other and laughed together. Their laughter contained the same special meaning.


    "Brother Xiao, when you return to the base and absorb all the zombie and energy nuclei we now have, you should be able to break into level four, right? Level-four wind power is much more useful than fire power. One wind blade can cut off a zombie''s head, which''ll be much more effective than Xie Dong''s fireballs," said a level-two superpowered one flatteringly.


    Hearing this, Huang Xiao laughed and responded proudly, "I would have finished him off long ago if his level-four fire wall hadn''t been holding off quite some zombies and saving us a lot of efforts. But fortunately, we had him with us that time, so we could stall the zombie leader with him. Otherwise, we wouldn''t even have had the time to enter the space!"


    The other three people nodded quickly with a lingering fear. Their faces involuntarily paled when they thought of that zombie leader.


    "Exactly! I had never thought we could be so unlucky. We actually ran into a zombie leader which could hardly be encountered by the others. It''s a shame that the zombie leader was at its peak of power, and we were no match for it, or we would have made a great fortune with its nucleus!"


    "You''re right!"


    Speaking of the zombie leader''s nucleus, the others showed a greedy look in their eyes as well.


    Holding a bottle of water, Huang Xiao took a sip and said regretfully, "Unfortunately, we didn''t get Xie Dong''s energy nucleus either¡­Such a loss! A level-four energy nucleus is enough for me to break into level-four."


    At that moment, none of the men in the room managed to discover that Xie Dong was grinding his teeth while listening to their conversation behind the closed door. His eyes bulged, veins standing out on each side of his forehead while his fists were clenched tightly.


    He couldn''t have imagined that in addition to the betrayal, Huang Xiao also wanted his energy nucleus, and had been casting greedy eyes on his woman!


    ''Very well! A bunch of damnable ungrateful souls!'' He cursed silently.


    In the room, Huang Xiao and the others were feeling pity for not getting Xie Dong''s energy when they got him killed.


    Bang¡ªClang!


    A sudden noise was heard from the door as it was kicked open by someone with an incredible force, which was great enough to send the iron door flying into the room and make it fall on the ground loudly.


    The four in the room immediately leaped up, alertly pointing their weapons at the door as quickly as possible. However, they didn''t fire their guns right away, because they saw a familiar figure standing by the door.


    "Xie Dong! You''re not dead!" One of them shouted out loud in astonishment once he clearly saw that it was Xie Dong standing by the door.


    Bang!


    All that responded him was a bullet.


    That man stared at his own chest as he failed to immediately realize what was happening. In confusion, he watched his own blood gushing out of the bullet hole in his chest, and seeping into his clothes.


    Xie Dong closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The aroma of blood immediately boosted the sense of hunger in his stomach; meanwhile, a voice sounded in his mind.


    ''Eat him! Eat him! Eat him!''


    Right at this moment, an air blade sliced through the air and flew at him. Xie Dong slightly turned his head and dodged that air blade without even opening his eyes.


    Puff!


    The air blade left a deep cut on the wall behind him.


    "Xie Dong? Haha¡­ Aren''t you dead? Great! I was feeling a little pity for letting that zombie leader have your energy nucleus, but I didn''t expect that you''d actually survive! However, that''s not the point! The point is¡­you brought yourself back to die¡­Hahaha!"


    He wasn''t showing any look of guilt. On the contrary, he seemed relaxed, because he didn''t need to try so hard pretending anymore. This had turned into an open fight, an encounter of enemies.


    Xie Dong blocked the voice in his head with an effort, struggling to make himself ignore that tempting sweet aroma. Enduring the sense of hunger, he stared at Huang Xiao with a dark face when his hands moved suddenly, firing his gun at another person.


    Bang!


    "Em¡­ Xie Dong, you¡­" That person didn''t think that Xie Dong would actually divert his attention and launch a lethal attack on him while staring at Huang Xiao. And the worst part was, he wasn''t preparing for Xie Dong''s attack at all. Before he could dodge, a bullet hit him in the heart; his teammate who got shot the first was shot in the heart as well.


    Xie Dong didn''t even glance at him, but continued staring at Huang Xiao coldly. He didn''t react too much to Huang Xiao''s pretentious words, and he surely wouldn''t say a word to wrangle with him.


    After all, he could not talk at that moment in the slightest bit!


    After shooting the second man dead, Xie Dong turned the gun on Huang Xiao.


    Huang Xiao ignored his gun and laughed coldly, "As a level-four superpowered man, you''re holding a gun? Let me guess¡­Is it because your superpower has run out and not recovered yet? Haha¡­Do you think you can defeat me with a shitty gun?"


    He didn''t say ''us'', as he had left the other three out of his side by now. Two of them had died anyway, and the last one was completely ignorable.


    While speaking, Huang Xiao raised both hands and started a wild wind around his body. The one who hadn''t been shot by Xie Dong was standing aside all this time.


    This man who wasn''t killed immediately by Xie Dong originally didn''t have a superpower. At least, he wasn''t a superpowered one in the eyes of the rest of the team. But earlier on, he had disappeared along with Huang Xiao and the others.

 42 Sudden Attack

    Xie Dong merely glanced at him before concluding that he was the one with the space power. He recalled from before and realized that Huang Xiao and the others had always been protecting this man, intentionally or not. He never noticed anything abnormal at that time, and just thought that they were close.


    Now, as he rethought everything, he figured out that it was actually because those few people had known about this man''s space power since long ago.


    This man drew back to a corner, intending to avoid the battlezone created by Xie Dong and Huang Xiao.


    However, right at this moment, he saw something flash across the air with the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see a figure flash into the window behind Huang Xiao. It reached behind Huang Xiao''s back within a blink while completely ignoring the wild wind around his body, then directly reached out a hand and inserted its sharp claws into the back of Huang Xiao''s head.


    This figure then nimbly waved its arm, sending Huang Xiao flying out along with his wind without even letting him moan in pain. With that, half of his skull remained in this creature''s hand.


    The space-powered man widely opened his eyes and watched this unexpected scene. Meanwhile, he clearly saw this figure which shot in through the window, and found that it was a female zombie.


    Right after the female zombie threw Huang Xiao out, the space-powered man raised his gun and fired at her almost reflexively. But, the zombie caught the bullet with her palm by merely clenching her fingers.


    Seeing this, the space-powered man was dumbfounded. And before he realized what happened, the zombie moved again.


    It flashed across the air and disappeared; but in the following half a second, it appeared right next to him and grasped his arm with a claw. Next, he felt that he was flying in the air with his eyes dazzled.


    When he came back to himself, the scenery before his eyes had changed.


    He was standing by a small lake.


    After that, he felt his arm being loosened, and then noticed that a zombie was standing by his side!


    He subconsciously drew back and raised his gun. However, a hand suddenly gripped his gun before he fired. Then, the gun was gone as he felt his hands being shaken!


    He immediately turned his head toward the hand, and saw Xie Dong standing a meter away from him, holding his gun and swinging it in circles.


    "Xie Dong! What are you doing! Why don''t you deal with this zombie? Why did you seize my gun?" The space-powered man blew a fuse once he found out that Xie Dong was the one who had taken away his gun.


    He believed that even though internal contradictions now existed between them, he and Xie Dong should still fight against the female zombie together. After all, when facing a zombie, people should always deal with it first and only then settle their internal problems.


    This had gradually become a rule since the post-apocalyptic era started. As for things like Huang Xiao sending his teammate into zombies'' mouths, it could only be explained as the most common dark stuff in this post-apocalyptic world. Of course, this kind of thing was an exception.


    This space-powered man just hadn''t gotten a clear understanding of his situation yet. He subconsciously wanted Xie Dong''s protection like before once he encountered a danger, but forgot about the fact that he had betrayed Xie Dong not long ago, and that he had joined hands with the others to push him into a crowd of zombies.


    Hearing his words, Xie Dong said nothing but coldly turned up his mouth corners, standing where he was while looking at him with a sneer.


    Seeing the sneer on Xie Dong''s face, the space-powered man finally recalled that he had betrayed Xie Dong earlier on, and paused shortly.


    So, no one would protect him now! He was just a space-powered man, and before the old world ended, he was no more than an office worker; he was never a strong fighter. He managed to survive in this post-apocalyptic world only by relying on others'' protection. Fortunately, he activated the highly useful space power later on, and that earned him the protection of Huang Xiao and his people.


    However, Huang Xiao died seconds ago, so he had fallen into a situation with no protector by now.


    At this moment, Lin Qiao threw a crystal piece which was in her hand to Xie Dong. When Xie Dong caught it, she flashed before the space-powered man''s face and gripped his throat.


    "Eh¡­ Eh¡­ Aw¡­" As his throat was squeezed, the space-powered man was immediately disabled from breathing, and instantly realized what was happening. Once he saw the pair of black eyes staring straight at him, he began shaking right away because of fear, even forgetting to struggle. His entire face was reddened while he couldn''t breathe, his eyes filled with despair and fright when looking at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao gazed into his eyes, clearly sensing his thoughts.


    ''I-I-I''m gonna die¡­ I''m gonna be eaten by this zombie¡­ She''ll bite off my face¡­ My stomach will be ripped open, and my heart and guts will be dug out to be eaten¡­ This is so terrible¡­ This is just so terrifying¡­''


    Reading this man''s mind, Lin Qiao was amused. This man had been giving himself scary thoughts. She had no intention to do anything to him, yet he had been making himself picture these horrible scenes. He was scaring himself to death, wasn''t he?


    At this point, she picked up a small piece of paper, with one single word written on it.


    ''Space.''


    Next, she put the piece of paper before the space-powered man''s eyes for him to read. She planned to make him hand out everything in his space and then let him go.


    But as a result, when this man, who was under fear and panic, suddenly saw the word ''space'', Lin Qiao immediately sensed the energy nucleus in his head, which seemed to have an opening in it.


    Unexpectedly, she directly saw everything inside that energy nucleus.


    ''En? Eh? Damn! What is going on?''


    Lin Qiao was dumbfounded right now, having no idea why this would happen. How could she possibly see inside another person''s space? Wasn''t the owner of a space the only one who was able to peer inside it?


    She closed her eyes shortly with confusion, feeling that the opening of the space-powered man''s space had grown larger after she did. The enlarged opening allowed her to see more clearly than before, but when she reopened her eyes, the opening began shrinking.


    She then looked at this space-powered man''s face and found that he was already showing the whites of his eyes, seeming to have fainted.


    Seeing this, Lin Qiao was left a little speechless.


    She really hadn''t done this on purpose!


    In the next instant, she relaxed her grip in shock, then watched the space-powered man fell softly to the ground. Meanwhile, she felt that the opening of his space had been closed.


    She turned her head confusedly and glanced at Xie Dong, finding him looking at her also with confusion.


    However, Xie Dong had more puzzles in his eyes.


    Why did Lin Qiao suddenly rush into the room and kill Huang Xiao? Didn''t she say that she would let him take revenge for himself? And why did she bring him and this space-powered man inside her space? What had she done to him? Was this man scared senseless by her?


    These sudden changes weren''t in conformance with what she had told him earlier, causing him to feel seriously perplexed.


    After looking into his eyes and learning his thoughts, Lin Qiao took out a piece of paper and quickly wrote down a sentence.


    ''Level-five zombie showed up outside.''


    This single sentence explained the sudden move that she made just now.


    Outside her space, a figure swiftly leaped over from a distance like a fierce beast right after Lin Qiao dragged the two inside.

 43 Space-Powered Man

    The reason Lin Qiao suddenly rushed in and quickly finished Huang Xiao, then brought the two into her space, was because she had sensed a level-five zombie leader with a familiar vibe approaching.


    Apparently, this was the same zombie leader they had encountered earlier on. And clearly, this zombie leader had caught Lin Qiao''s smell and followed it to this area.


    As the level-five zombie leader had much sharper senses than Lin Qiao did, it sensed her not long after she exited her space.


    Looking at the space-powered man who was lying on the ground, Lin Qiao wondered what exactly had happened just now. Why was she able to see inside this man''s space? Was this another ability of hers?


    Suddenly, she found that after she became a zombie, she had acquired so many abilities that she didn''t have before!


    Telepathy, space, space invisibility¡­ Apart from these, the strength of her body had grown over five times greater than before. And now, she had developed one more ability, that allowed her to sense the spaces of other people!


    However, all these abilities weren''t practiced, and couldn''t yet be used with great facility.


    This space of hers was too mystical. She could bring people in, and the lake water in this space appeared to have numerous effects. Aside from that, this space seemed to have other uses as well that she had yet to discover.


    Regarding telepathy, she found that she was able to quickly learn the thoughts of the zombies at lower levels than herself; but when facing higher level zombies, it was quite difficult for her to do the same. As for the thoughts of human beings, it seemed that she needed to approach quite close to sense them.


    As for space invisibility, she honestly didn''t know how to use that skill.


    And now, she didn''t know how her new ability to sense others'' spaces worked either. She needed to do more experiments!


    With this thought, Lin Qiao grabbed the space-powered man''s collar, directly dragged him to the lake, and then pressed his head into the water.


    In a minute, the space-powered man began struggling.


    Seeing that he was awake, Lin Qiao seized his collar and lifted him up, then threw him to the lakeside.


    "Em¡­ Eh-hem-hem-hem¡­ Pah¡­" The space-power man had inhaled quite a lot of water, so he now lay on the ground while coughing in an awful shape.


    Lin Qiao didn''t give him any time to process what had just happened, but squatted in front of him, reached out a hand and spread out her fingers, gripping his forehead.


    Choking on the water, the space-powered man suddenly felt a hand pressing on his forehead before his mind got clear again. Next, a sudden dizziness overpowered him, and he started feeling drowsy.


    Lin Qiao sensed something once her hand touched the space-powered man''s head. She closed her eyes and saw a white fog, as well as a round opening in it, about as big as a window.


    As she tried to get a little closer to the opening, it brought itself toward her as well.


    She clearly saw plenty of daily supplies and some food in it. She and Xie Dong didn''t need the food, but Wu Yueling did.


    She pulled out and opened her eyes, finding that the space-powered man who was grabbed in her hand had again rolled his eyes back in his head. This time, he suffered so much worse than before that was even foaming at the mouth.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly loosened her hand, her eyes glimmering. It seemed that by looking into his space, she had imposed a great stress on his body or his mind.


    At this point, Xie Dong walked over while looking at the space-powered man with icy cold eyes. He even had a desire to take a bite of this man''s flesh, but he suppressed it.


    He held the crystal nucleus and concentrated the heat of his entire body in his palm like how he did when he absorbed a zombie nucleus, sensing how it started melting. Next, he clenched his fingers, and the crystal nucleus instantly transformed into a wave of energy that seeped into his body through his palm, merging with the heat which was concentrated in his palm and then returning into his body along with it.


    Having finished absorbing the crystal nucleus, he saw Lin Qiao relax her grip on the space-powered man. But this time, the space-power man seemed to be in a much worse condition, foaming at the mouth.


    Seeing Xie Dong walk over, Lin Qiao picked up a piece of paper and wrote down a few words.


    ''Did the crystal nucleus bring any change to you?''


    Xie Dong spent a moment in feeling his body and then shook his head. He felt nothing; it was like the energy contained in Huang Xiao''s crystal nucleus had disappeared inside his body. He didn''t feel his power increasing like the way he felt back when he absorbed the zombie nuclei.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him with surprise. Nothing seemed to change when she absorbed the zombie nuclei either. She thought that it was due to her constitution, but how come Xie Dong was the same as her?


    After getting closer by now, Xie Dong looked at the space-powered man who had fainted again. He stared straight at him, swallowing his saliva all the time.


    He sensed the sweet aroma once he approached the other. The sense of hunger then surged crazily, making him so eager to take a bite. However, his sanity had been telling him that it was the scent of human flesh. Thinking of feeding on human flesh, he felt sick mentally.


    On the one hand, his body had been suffering the physical hunger, and on the other hand, his mind had been bearing the feeling of disgust. This difficult situation made him terribly uncomfortable.


    Seeing him like this, Lin Qiao knew that he was tempted by his instinctive hunger. She thought about it and then wrote down a few sentences on the paper.


    ''If you want to eat him, I won''t stop you. After all, eating human beings is a normal and instinctive reaction of zombies. And human flesh can provide the energy that zombies need.''


    Reading this, Xie Dong paused for a while to understand the meaning. Once he got the meaning of those words, he immediately and confirmedly shook his head, then turned around and walked far away.


    Looking at him from behind, Lin Qiao suddenly felt bleak and lonely.


    These days, she had gradually gotten used to being a zombie, but this man hadn''t yet accepted the truth that he was a zombie, had he? Many things had changed, but he didn''t realize them yet.


    Lin Qiao was an optimistic and receptive person with strong adaptability.


    She had become a zombie, so be it. She was still who she was, and she was still going to find her family and friends. Even if she couldn''t show up right in front of them, she needed to see that they were doing well even from a long distance away, so that she could at least stop worrying about them.


    She was a special forces soldier before, and often carried out dangerous missions which could cost her life at any time. Her family had accepted that and prepared themselves mentally since long ago. Therefore, she now saw herself as dead in a mission, but was still able to live around the ones she loved with another identity, and that was just enough.


    For this reason, she still needed to go back to find her family.


    However, Xie Dong wasn''t the same. He wasn''t as open-minded as her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t care about him though. The two of them would soon go on their separate ways anyway. As for what would happen to Xie Dong, that was his own business, and she couldn''t say a thing about it. After all, they had nothing to do with each other, and no affection existed between them either.


    She saved him only because she didn''t want to watch him, who was also a special forces soldier, be killed by his own teammates just like that.


    In the army, soldiers trained every single day, and the team spirit had always been highly essential. The trust of a soldier in their comrades was important, and vice versa. Therefore, all special forces soldiers hated and rejected the betrayal between teammates just the same.


    However, Lin Qiao was hindered by the lack of strength, so the rescue from her came a little too late.


    If she were able to defeat that level-five zombie leader, she wouldn''t have failed to save a person before he was harmed.


    Hence, she increasingly wanted to grow stronger!

 44 Played Him to Death

    The first priority now was to make this space-powered man surrender all he had in his space.


    Lin Qiao didn''t think what she was going to do was wrong, as taking over the weapons and other useful belongings of the enemies was what she and her soldier friends were required to do back in the army. She did such kind of things quite often before, not to mention in this post-apocalyptic world.


    Perhaps, bullying the weak was a little shameless, but this man had hurt someone else, hadn''t he? Besides, Lin Qiao didn''t plan on killing him.


    Looking at this man who had fallen unconscious again, Lin Qiao had no other choice but to press his head down into the water once again.


    After passing out and waking back up for several times, this space-powered man was exhausted. His breath had become feeble, and his mind wasn''t clear anymore.


    Neither she nor Xie Dong could talk, but she kept showing the space-powered man one sentence written on the paper.


    ''Bring out everything in your space!''


    However, maybe because this space-powered man was terrified, or because he was muddleheaded for some other reason, he made absolutely no reaction to this sentence.


    Lin Qiao could clearly sense his space every single time, but wasn''t able to enter it no matter how hard she tried. When her mind got close to the opening of his space, she would feel an invisible screen blocking her way. Therefore, she could only see into it, but couldn''t touch the things inside.


    At last, the space-powered man was accidentally killed by her¡­


    Lin Qiao spent a while staring at the space-powered man who suddenly lost his breath and heartbeat, then turned to Xie Dong with an innocent look. At that moment, Xie Dong had just come back to see what happened.


    ''Sorry, I made a mistake.''


    Xie Dong didn''t know how to respond.


    Lin Qiao never expected this man to die suddenly. She thought that he was just fainted like the last couple of times, and would wake back up if she soaked his head into the water again. But unexpectedly, he never woke up again.


    Once he died, she could no longer sense the opening of his space.


    She glanced at Xie Dong awkwardly. After all, this man was his enemy instead of hers.


    Xie Dong was cool with it though, because Lin Qiao could be counted as his lifesaver anyhow. It didn''t matter that Lin Qiao accidentally killed this man, but it was a pity indeed that the items were no longer accessible.


    As of now, when a space-powered person died, no one would ever be able to obtain the things in his or her space. Therefore, all space-powered people had a reason to survive for now.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the dead space-powered man, then looked at Wu Yueling, who had been watching her and Xie Dong from a distance.


    Wu Yueling had been standing at a distance instead of getting close ever since Lin Qiao and the other two showed up. She seemed to be quite afraid of Xie Dong, who was standing beside Lin Qiao. It was not because he was a zombie, but because Wu Yueling was never used to being close to people. Even back in the base, she would only let Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue near her, but wouldn''t even talk to Xiao Yunlong.


    Being close with Lin Qiao was an exception to her, and it didn''t mean that she could also be close with the others around Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao could still sense the space-powered man''s space. Even though he had died, his space didn''t disappear, but seemed to remain inside his crystal nucleus.


    She now had an urge to dig out his crystal nucleus directly and study it. However, as she realized that that would be a little savage, she remembered that she had this little person in her space.


    She certainly couldn''t let a child witness her digging into someone''s skull!


    However, she couldn''t exit her space at the time; once she closed her eyes, she could see the level-five zombie wandering in the room where Huang Xiao and the others were hiding earlier, looking for something.


    Apart from the level-five zombie, two level-three zombies were standing in the corners obediently as well.


    The mouths and teeth of these three zombies were all covered in blood, and the three bloody corpses in the room were now lying on the ground with emptied stomachs and skulls.


    The zombies in this post-apocalyptic world did not only like to eat human flesh and drink human blood, but also especially enjoyed feeding on human brains. High-level zombies liked to eat human internal organs, and of course, brains as well.


    Therefore, corpses with emptied stomachs and skulls were often discovered since the apocalyptic era began. People would know at first sight that those corpses were chewed by zombies.


    At a glance, Lin Qiao knew that the level-five zombie had been looking for her, because this zombie spent a relatively long time lingering around the window that she showed up at.


    This zombie was really persistent! It actually kept chasing her.


    Lin Qiao was even a little speechless about that.


    Since she couldn''t go outside, she had no choice but to do it inside her space. As she couldn''t let the little one witness this, she decided to let Xie Dong block Wu Yueling''s line of sight.


    She wrote down a sentence on the paper, then handed it to Xie Dong.


    After reading the sentence, Xie Dong immediately walked up behind Lin Qiao and covered her. He faced Wu Yueling, letting her see only himself and not what Lin Qiao was doing behind him.


    Lin Qiao cast a glance backward, but didn''t see Wu Yueling. After that, she reached out her claw and neatly cut open the space-powered man''s head.


    Earlier on, she had sensed a strong aroma when she cut off Huang Xiao''s head. But back then, she needed to take out the crystal nucleus very quickly and bring Xie Dong and the space-powered man into her space right after that. So, she didn''t get the time to sense that aroma carefully.


    But now, once she cut open his head, she sensed the same aroma. No wonder the other zombies liked to eat brains. The scent of human brains wasn''t the same as the scent of human flesh.


    The aroma of human flesh was sweet, but the scent of human brains was refreshing. However, human brains seemed to be more delicious than flesh. Nobody could question it, because it was her instinctual ability to tell.


    Therefore, the brain was more tempting to her than flesh.


    Not only did Lin Qiao inhale deeply and felt that her mind had turned a bit slow because of the aroma, even Xie Dong, who was standing behind her, couldn''t help but turn around to give a few deep sniffs.


    Lin Qiao immediately realized what was happening. In that instant, she reached out a hand and pushed Xie Dong away, then held her breath. Even though she didn''t know if she still had breath or not, she managed to hold it anyway.


    After quickly digging out the crystal nucleus, Lin Qiao spent a moment in sensing the level-five zombie outside. It seemed to be planning to leave as she saw it leaping out of the window.


    After the zombie left, Lin Qiao immediately grabbed the space-powered man''s corpse and then swiftly flashed out to throw it.


    Xie Dong saw nothing more than Lin Qiao shaking her body swiftly. The moment she shimmied, the corpse in her hands disappeared from where it was.


    In his eyes, Lin Qiao didn''t seem to have gone out. Only she herself knew that she had already gone out for once. Her moves were continuous and way too fast; so, in Xie Dong''s eyes, she had merely shaken her body.


    The two level-three zombies outside hadn''t left yet, but they caught only a hint of Lin Qiao''s vibe without seeing even a trace of her when they saw a corpse being thrown out of thin air.


    In the eyes of zombies, corpses equaled food. Having their eyes on the corpse, these zombies pounced on it immediately.


    As for Lin Qiao, she didn''t even unveil herself outside before going straight back into her space.


    After throwing out the corpse, she and Xie Dong finally sighed with relief. They couldn''t help but inhale the tempting, refreshing aroma for one last time, then it quickly dissipated in her space.


    Without being distracted by the aroma, Lin Qiao now settled her mind to study the crystal nucleus in her hand. She dared not to pinch it with her nails, but just put it in her palm, as she was afraid that it might melt down suddenly like the last couple of times.


    However, the crystal nucleus immediately emitted a wave of heat once it was put in her palm. Next, it directly turned into a stream of energy like the level-three zombie nucleus that she had absorbed the last time!

 45 The Change of Space

    A wave of warmth flew into Lin Qiao''s body from her palm, then got concentrated in her brain. She didn''t know how to explain this to Xie Dong.


    It seemed that she had made this crystal nucleus, which belonged to him, disappear.


    Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong; although the nucleus was dug out by her, she didn''t think of it as hers. This whole time, she believed that it should belong to the latter.


    She was just curious, and wanted to figure out why she was able to see into someone else''s space. She just wanted to know how on earth did that happen; but now, the space-powered man was dead because of what she had done, and the crystal nucleus was absorbed by her.


    So now came the question, where was the space?


    She once again looked at Xie Dong awkwardly, and saw him still sniffing the air with his eyes closed and head raised. Clearly, he hadn''t yet come back to himself from that refreshing aroma of the brain.


    As Lin Qiao prepared to tell him that she had absorbed the space-power man''s nucleus, she suddenly felt something. The feeling climbed up to her forehead, and after that, she sensed something in her forehead that wasn''t there before.


    She suddenly turned her eyes to look in another direction.


    That area was occupied by a white fog; but all of a sudden, the edge of the white fog moved like a roller blind, slowly rolling up and showing a door-like entrance.


    Lin Qiao stood up and dragged over Xie Dong, who had just woken up from the aroma, then walked toward the entrance.


    Being dragged by Lin Qiao suddenly, Xie Dong''s mind was cleared as well. As he prepared to ask her about what was happening, he raised his head and saw the suddenly appeared entrance as well.


    A dark, over two meters tall, doorway appeared in the white fog, looking a little weird. But, this was Lin Qiao''s space, and there should be no danger here.


    Lin Qiao dragged Xie Dong with her because she was worried that he might lose control and rush to the other side of the lake to eat Wu Yueling while she was scouting the entrance.


    In fact, Lin Qiao''s space wasn''t huge in size. It seemed to be composed of two parts: the lake and the grassland. At a glance, she knew that the land area of her space was around one-thousand meters squared, and the surface of the lake accounted for sixty percent.


    The rest of her space was blocked by a white fog.


    As a matter of fact, Lin Qiao hadn''t discovered that her space was even smaller back when she entered it the first time. She had yet to find out that her space had already expanded quite a lot, or, the fog had dissipated partially.


    Therefore, this suddenly appearing entrance really made her feel weird.


    Dragging Xie Dong, Lin Qiao walked to the edge of her space. Standing before that new entrance, she looked inside and was dumbfounded again.


    Wasn''t it the space of that space-powered man? How could it be inside her space?


    She paused with surprise, then turned around and looked at Xie Dong confusedly.


    Xie Dong stared at her expressionlessly without knowing her meaning. He saw this space too and was also feeling surprised. However, he didn''t know that it was the space-powered man''s space, and just thought it as a part of Lin Qiao''s.


    What he had been wondering was, why didn''t this strange entrance appear earlier on, but suddenly appeared just now?


    It was now that he noticed Lin Qiao also having a bewildered look on her face. Unfortunately, her face was way too ugly, and her expression was a little twisted. So, Xie Dong failed to understand her meaning.


    Seeing his face while reading his mind, Lin Qiao learned that he still didn''t know what had happened. Hence, she wrote down a sentence on the paper and showed him.


    ''This is the space-powered man''s space.''


    Xie Dong quickly read the note, then the expression on his face paused shortly. Next, he widened his eyes and turned his head to look at Lin Qiao with shock, who nodded back in confirmation.


    And now, he was dumbfounded as well. Was Lin Qiao capable of this? Had she just turned someone else''s space into hers?


    Lin Qiao waved at him, then both of them set foot in the entrance.


    On entering, they found that this space was rather small. It couldn''t be compared with Lin Qiao''s space, as it was only as big as a seventy or eighty meters squared room. However, it contained oxygen, which was why living human beings could stay here safely.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the pile of things in a corner.


    Apart from some clothes and weapons, some sundries and tools were also stored here. As for food and drink, Lin Qiao found a few packets of biscuits and instant noodles, and a boxful of mineral water. A couple of bottles had already been taken from the box.


    Lin Qiao walked over, picked up those biscuits, and checked the expiration date. As expected, those were all expired already. However, even expired food was precious in this post-apocalyptic era. People weren''t as picky about food these days as they used to be. How dare they? After all, they would have nothing to eat at all if they got picky!


    Water was precious as well, because almost all water sources in the mainland had been contaminated.


    For this reason, the domestic water in the bases was mostly created by people with ice-power and water power.


    This space-powered man didn''t seem to be capable, because even as a space power holder, he didn''t manage to build a rich collection. The most precious thing he had was a few tankfuls of gas. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if he brought the gas in by himself or some other people asked him to do it.


    Perhaps, these few tankfuls of gas was the reason he survived till he was killed by Lin Qiao.


    Earlier on downstairs, Lin Qiao had seen the car which was parked beside the building. She knew that the car belonged to Xie Dong, as he had told her so with hand gestures at that time.


    It was a military off-road car, driven over and parked here by Huang Xiao.


    Lin Qiao rummaged in the pile of sundries to try and find a map or something like that. Surprisingly, she did find a map. She took it out and gave it a close look, finding that it was a map of Sea City.


    She and Xie Dong were now located in HP District. To head South and enter Ze Province, they needed to go through Xuhui District, Mingxing District, and JS District.


    Anyhow, with this map, she at least knew how to get to her hometown.


    She then found a notebook in the size of A4 paper from those sundries. Writing on it was much more comfortable than writing on Xie Dong''s palm-size notepad.


    She then directly sat down, crossed her legs, and waved at Xie Dong. She planned to have a good talk with him about his future plans.


    She planned to go South to find her family, so she needed Xie Dong''s car and the few tankfuls of gas here. But, she didn''t know if he was willing to give these to her. They had talked about this earlier, but back at that time, he had only informed her that he had a car without promising to give it to her.


    By now, the people he wanted to kill were dead, and his car had been found. Although the level-five zombie could still be nearby, Lin Qiao should be able to figure out a way to leave this place if she wanted to. Therefore, she was now going to ask Xie Dong about his plan.


    Xie Dong sat down casually and looked at Lin Qiao. In fact, he was more curious about his zombie level at this point. Was he a level-three zombie? He assumed so, because he had intelligence and memories.


    However, he didn''t seem to be as agile and nimble as level-three zombies. He felt that he was only a little nimbler than ordinary zombies.


    Lin Qiao took out the pen and started writing on a paper¡ª''The people you wanted to kill have died. Where do you plan to go next? Wherever you''re going, I want to borrow your car and the gas here.''


    Reading these words, Xie Dong paused, his face filled with confusion.

 46 Come With Me

    Xie Dong knew that Lin Qiao was going toward the southern bases. Only two bases were built in the South, the Earth Dragon Base and Hades Base.


    The Earth Dragon Base was built by the survivors from Fujian, Jiangxi, and Hunan provinces, while the Hades Base was built by the survivors from Guangxi, Guangdong, and Hainan Provinces.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know which base her families were in, but at the moment, she was going south anyway.


    Xie Dong didn''t have a family. The only one who was relatively close to him was a woman, but she couldn''t be counted as his lover. He couldn''t go back like this, and he was even more unlikely to meet that woman. Even if she saw him, she might never want to get close to him again anyway.


    The base wouldn''t have him back either. Even if he returned, the people in the base might find out that he had become a zombie even though he now looked just like a normal human being. At that time, they would kill him straight away. After all, the base had devices running for detecting the zombie virus. So, once he approached, all alarms in the base would go off.


    However, he didn''t know what should he do out here. He no longer needed to form a team with others to hunt zombies for food and for survival, because he just didn''t need human food anymore.


    He had no friends to protect and no families who relied on him. Suddenly, he didn''t know what to do next.


    Looking at his confused face, Lin Qiao understood that he didn''t know where to go. Abruptly, she wrote down on the paper¡ª''Or, you can go South with me.''


    She felt quite lonely and bored when she was alone. Although she had a little one in her space, she wouldn''t say no to another companion.


    Reading the note that she handed over, Xie Dong paused slightly, then his eyes twinkled.


    She was right! He had no idea how to survive like this. Looking at this strange female zombie in front of him, Xie Dong felt it was better to stay with her for the time being, as he had no place to go at the moment anyway.


    Xie Dong didn''t need to nod, because Lin Qiao had already received his thought. She raised her head to glance at this space, then wrote a few words on the paper.


    ''We can''t go out for now. You stay in this space.''


    She meant that this place could serve as his room. Lin Qiao wanted him to stay here because she was worried that he might drool over Wu Yueling if he went out, and might someday fail to restrain himself and pounce upon her.


    Xie Dong nodded. He didn''t care where Lin Qiao let him stay. But, thinking of Wu Yueling, he still felt curious about why this female zombie stole someone''s daughter. However, as she had shown no intentions to hurt the kid, he stopped worrying so much.


    Besides, that little princess seemed to have a not-so-bad relationship with this female zombie.


    He recalled that earlier on, Wu Yueling had tried to protect Lin Qiao and stop him from shooting. That made him feel a little surprised.


    All people in the Sea City Base knew that the little princess wouldn''t get close to anyone. It was not because she was too proud, but because she had autism. She was a solitary kid, and she never wanted to be close with people. No matter how familiar a person was to her, she wouldn''t talk to him or her. In the entire base, she would only communicate with her father and a superpowered woman.


    But now, he had seen that this solitary little princess was actually willing to get close to a¡­ female zombie, who was ugly and had been behaving weirdly!


    Xie Dong looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao threw a glance back at him.


    Xie Dong rubbed his nose as he knew that she heard him calling her ugly just now.


    Lin Qiao stood up and walked out with some biscuits, the notebook, map, pen, and a bottle of water.


    Xie Dong didn''t follow her out, but stayed in the small space.


    After coming out, Lin Qiao spent a moment in sensing the situation out of her space. She found that the two level-three zombies had disappeared, leaving nothing but a few chewed corpses in the room. However, she could still sense the zombie leader''s vibe near this area.


    The zombie leader was still waiting, and didn''t seem to want to leave.


    Since it was waiting outside, Lin Qiao decided just to let it wait. Nothing would happen as long as she didn''t go out.


    ¡­


    At this moment, in an office in the administration building of Sea City Base, a handsome young man in his early twenties was looking down, reading some documents. He was wearing a slim cut white shirt, with a thin black blazer draped over his shoulders. He looked clean and tidy, with a calm personality, seeming like a top tiered person.


    Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of his office.


    "Come in." This handsome man responded without raising his head.


    The door was immediately pushed open, and another young man in a white shirt stood by the door. His shirt was clean, but was hanging loosely instead of being tucked in. The three buttons in his chest area were unbuttoned, revealing his collarbones and a half of his chest.


    This man had a unisex face, which was strangely beautiful, but not feminine.


    He kept one hand in his trouser pocket while holding a sheet of paper with the other. Lazily leaning against the door frame, he began talking, "Tianyi, I have news here. It''s about your evil sister. I wonder if you''re interested."


    Hearing him, the man who had been reading documents in the office raised his head while knitting his long and slim brows. His face was filled with disgust and impatience as he looked at the man at the door.


    "I have nothing to do with her since a long time ago. How many times have I told you to not mention her to me? Can''t you see that I''m in the middle of something?" He responded discontentedly.


    The man at the door slightly raised his hands to make a pose of surrender, but meanwhile, he continued talking with a careless look, "Alright, alright, alright! I get it¡­ But, are you sure that you don''t want to hear this? Since you''re not interested, I''ll leave with this letter. But, I''m telling you that you might regret if you never get to know about this."


    Although he had talked about leaving, this man continued to lean against the doorframe instead of moving. He didn''t seem like he wanted to leave at all.


    Lu Tianyi continued reading the documents in his hands. Three seconds later, he threw the documents on the desk and then raised his head, asking impatiently and helplessly, "Say it¡­ What has she done this time?"


    Since the news was delivered by this man himself, Lu Tianyi assumed that the woman must have done something serious and bad again. Otherwise, he could have let someone else bring the message.


    This man delivered the message himself also because he didn''t want other people to know its contents.


    Hearing Lu Tianyi, this man named Kong Qingming stood straight and walked in with the letter. After closing and locking the door, he walked up to Lu Tianyi''s desk.


    He put the letter on the desk and pushed it toward Lu Tianyi, then said, "She has indeed done something, but that''s not what I''m gonna say. What I''m going to tell you is¡­ She''s dead."


    The expression on Lu Tianyi''s face paused briefly. Even though he still looked quite calm, Kong Qingming noticed his pupils shrinking slightly.


    Kong Qingming took a small step backward and then put both of his hands in his trouser pockets. He stood still, looking at Lu Tianyi while showing an idle manner with his whole body.


    After pausing for a moment, Lu Tianyi picked up the letter with a frown while asking, "What happened? How could she die suddenly? Wasn''t she with Lin Yong and the other few?"

 47 She’s Dead, No Big Deal

    In the base, everyone knew that Lu Tianyu was one of Yang Chao''s women, so no one dared to offend her. People would try to avoid her when they saw her, and even if they couldn''t, they wouldn''t get close to her. When Lu Tianyu went out of the base, Yang Chao would always send three superpowered people with her to keep her safe.


    He wouldn''t let her die so easily.


    Kong Qingming shrugged and said, "I don''t know what happened. I only know that she''s dead, and she kidnapped Wu Chengyue''s little princess before she died. That girl is still missing. That woman, I think¡­ Something happened to her."


    Lu Tianyi raised his head to look at Kong Qingming, and asked with a calm look, "What do you mean?"


    He knew that no matter how bold and reckless that woman was, she wouldn''t dare to do anything to Wu Chengyue''s daughter.


    Kong Qingming said, "There''s another thing that I''ve just found out. Having kidnapped Wu Chengyue''s daughter before she died, she threatened him with his daughter. As everyone knows, she had been coveting him for long. So this time, she finally got him, but died not long after that because Lin Yong and the other two threw her into a crowd of zombie."


    "But, she didn''t bring the little prince back before she died, and Lin Yong and the other two have failed to find her. As far as I know, it seems that Yang Chao has told Lin Yong and the other two to do something. As for the truth, that depends on whether you want to find it out or not." He looked at Lu Tianyi''s unchanging face and continued.


    What Kong Qingming meant was, if Lu Tianyi wanted to figure out what exactly had happened, he would help him.


    Lu Tianyi waved a hand to him and shook his head while saying "Forget it! She''s dead, no big deal. She died, but it''s none of my business. She and I have nothing to do with each other anymore."


    While speaking, he put the letter in his palm, with a breeze rising and wrapping around the letter to form a tiny tornado Being wrapped in the tiny tornado, the letter was immediately shredded into scraps of paper and drifting ashes.


    Next, the tiny tornado rose from his palm and flew out of the window aside, dissipating along with those paper scraps.


    Hearing him, Kong Qingming nodded and said, "Alright, it''s up to you. I''ll leave then."


    While speaking, he turned and walked to the door, then opened it and left.


    After watching him shut the door, Lu Tianyi began to let his emotion surge slowly in his eyes.


    He was shocked. He found his sister''s death kind of unacceptable, also feeling hatred and some other complicated emotions.


    That woman never saw him as her brother or family, because they weren''t given birth by the same mother, and were just half-siblings. They never liked each other since they were little; they would wrangle and laugh at each other every time they met. Behind his back, she had framed and humiliated him in all kinds of ways; he had been enduring all this because she was his sister and he couldn''t do anything to her.


    That woman did not care about him, neither did she ever try to find him after the apocalyptic era began. Instead, she ignored him and ran away with someone powerful.


    Back then, he was having a serious fever. If Kong Qingming hadn''t made it to him in time, he might have been eaten by zombies before his superpower was activated.


    Since then, Lu Tianyi''s dislike of his sister had turned into hatred. However, deep down, he still had a trace of expectation, as he hoped that she could treat him like a family. After all, she was the only family he had left, the rest having died after the apocalyptic era began.


    Later on, the two of them met each other in the base, yet she pretended not to know him. Relying on that man, she had done all manners of evils, and had ridden roughshod over all the others in the base.


    In fact, no one in the base knew about his relationship with Lu Tianyu except Kong Qingming.


    Every time he saw her bully, rob, and insult the others, he would remain silent and turn a blind eye, only minding his own business. Anyway, she never talked to him either.


    Lu Tianyi knew that he had a conflicting attitude. He detested her, even hated her, but he could never ignore any news about her. He watched her bully the others, yet she never looked him in the eye; he wanted to get close to her, but couldn''t live with what she did. However, even though he couldn''t accept her behavior, he always stealthily cleaned up her mess behind her back.


    But now, she was actually dead. His only family in this post-apocalyptic world had died.


    He always knew that she would suffer the consequences one day and become the victim of her own evil deeds, but when this day really came, he couldn''t accept it fully.


    He had been silently dealing with the aftermath of what she had done because he didn''t want her to be taken revenge against by others. He saw that Yang Chao did dote on her, letting her do whatever she wanted as he fixed all her problems. So, he felt that she would at least be safe by staying around that man.


    But, since she cast her eyes on another leader of the base, Lu Tianyi began worrying about her. That was the reason why he asked Kong Qingming to keep an eye on her moves.


    However, she died anyway, and she died in the hands of the man she trusted.


    Earlier on, Kong Qingming had indeed mentioned to him that Yang Chao had lost his interest in his sister.


    Lu Tianyi stood up behind his desk and walked to the window. As he raised his head to look at the dark sky of this post-apocalyptic world, he suddenly felt an emptiness in his heart.


    After looking at the sky for a while, he abruptly turned around and put on the blazer which was draped around his shoulders, then walked toward the door. Once he opened the door, he saw a man leaning against the wall by the door, eyes closed and head lowered, seeming to be drowsy.


    Lu Tianyu paused briefly, then said with a bland tone, "Didn''t you say that you''ll leave?"


    Kong Qingming opened his eyes and looked at Lu Tianyi absently. After pausing for a second, he seemed to understand Lu Tianyi''s meaning finally, then responded, "I said I''m out, not that I''m leaving."


    Lu Tianyi sighed, but said no more as he turned and walked toward the outside.


    Kong Qingming caught up and asked, "If you''re going out of the base, why don''t you ask me to go with you? I haven''t been out for a long time."


    While speaking, he raised a hand and patted his yawning mouth.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t say anything, just walking down the stairs without pausing.


    They weren''t inseparable, but they would always go out of the base together. No matter which one of them wanted to go, the other would follow.


    In the base, some other people thought that they were a couple. The others could accept them being together as both of them were good-looking, even though neither of them had an interest in men.


    In this post-apocalyptic world, pretty men with white skin and slim body shapes were quite popular, as the number of women had decreased sharply. For this reason, some people called the post-apocalyptic era ''an era of being gay''!


    Sadly, these two men who seemed to be suitable for being gay in the others'' eyes, only liked women''s bodies, and had absolutely no interest in men!


    A lot of men had their eyes on them, but none of those was stronger than them. Otherwise, male rape, as one of the most common events in the post-apocalyptic era, would have happened to them as well.


    Similar incidents did happen, but the results¡­ weren''t the same as some people had expected.


    In the end, those men were either cut into skeletons by Lu Tianyi or thrown out of the base with broken limbs to feed zombies by Kong Qingming.

 48 The Zombie Which Is Afraid of Stink

    On the other side, Lin Qiao stayed in her space with Xie Dong and the little one for a couple of days before she finally let him and herself out while Wu Yueling stayed inside.


    The little girl had already gotten used to staying in her space, and was less afraid by now. She could even chase the rabbit all over, even though she still wouldn''t talk too much.


    Maybe because of Lin Qiao''s space or the lake water, Wu Yueling didn''t feel much of hunger. Even if she did feel hungry, the hunger wouldn''t cause her body functions to decline.


    As for Lin Qiao herself, it seemed that as long as she continued to stay in her space, her sense of hunger would be less strong. Basically, even Wu Yueling''s smell couldn''t bother her in there. Unlike her, Xie Dong still seemed to be unable to control himself, because as soon as he smelled Wu Yueling, he wouldn''t be able to stop himself from staring straight at her and slowly losing his sanity.


    For this reason, Lin Qiao told Xie Dong not to come out of the small space unless he had to. After all, he would look really like a pervert if he kept staring at a five-year-old girl and drooling.


    Xie Dong told Lin Qiao that she would be hunted by Wu Yueling''s father for taking the little princess away. In response, Lin Qiao told him that Wu Chengyue could try to find her if he had the ability! She had a space, so who would she be afraid of? No matter how powerful that man was, he couldn''t possibly enter her space, could he?


    Xie Dong was curious why she took away the child; but every time he asked her this question, she would bare her teeth to him without giving him an answer. Even though her reaction made him even more curious, he wouldn''t ask it again.


    After staying in her space for a couple of Days, Lin Qiao felt that the level-five zombie wouldn''t show up again, so she went outside with Xie Dong.


    The room was suffused with an awful stench. The corpses which had their brains eaten wouldn''t become zombies even if they were affected by the virus, because only the corpses with more than fifty percent of their brains remaining unharmed would turn into zombies.


    The corpses which didn''t turn into zombies would rot quickly because of the high temperature during the daytime. The night temperature was low, but wouldn''t slow down the decay process.


    Lin Qiao''s sense of smell was as sharp as that of dogs. Therefore, she was nearly knocked out by the stink in the room once she came out.


    She had no idea how Lu Tianyu''s brain remained untouched when she died. If her brain was eaten too, Lin Qiao wouldn''t have woken up in her body as a zombie even if her soul managed to enter this body, would she?


    What Lin Qiao didn''t know was that her soul had entered this body back then, right after Lu Tianyu died and before her brain was eaten. Her soul stayed in Lu Tianyu''s brain and guarded it with a spurt of energy, because of which, those zombies merely bit Lu Tianyu''s face but didn''t touch her brain.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao had directly become a high-level zombie when she woke up.


    But of course, Lin Qiao knew none of that; nobody did. If anyone knew about what had happened back then, they would have been utterly confused, without knowing how to explain that.


    The stink in the room made Lin Qiao cover her nose and jump out of the window in a flurry. Xie Dong suffered less than she had. He was only sensitive to the smell of human beings, but could sense absolutely no other odors.


    He looked at Lin Qiao, who was sitting on top of his car, and felt like laughing. It seemed that having a sharp sense of smell wasn''t always a good thing.


    ''But anyhow, you''re a zombie, aren''t you? Yet you''re actually afraid of the smell of rotting corpses? Which zombie can be afraid of this smell?'' Xie Dong thought.


    With the map, Lin Qiao didn''t need to go into the city anymore. Instead, the two directly drove toward the South.


    A couple of hours after they left, another military off-road car showed up under the building they were in earlier. A man and a woman got off the car and walked straight into the building without paying any attention to the zombies in the surrounding area.


    The surrounding zombies intended to approach the two, but had no way to do that as they would be hit by lightning once they tried!


    The man wearing camouflage clothes had no expression on his face, but a hint of somberness in his eyes. He blankly looked at the woman in front of him, asked, "Are they really here?"


    While speaking, he quickly waved a hand. A few thin lightning bolts descended from the sky and struck on the heads of the couple of zombies which had been slowly shambling toward the woman and himself. The man didn''t even need to take a glance at those zombies.


    Along with a series of thuds, the few zombies shivered immediately and then fell to the ground. The attack made the stop moving, their bodies emitting smoke.


    Meng Yue closed her eyes to feel carefully. She looked upward and said uncertainly, "The sense is faint, and I''m not so sure. However, a little clue is better than our pointless searching."


    While speaking, she walked upstairs ahead of that man.


    The two of them searched through every floor on their way up, but found nothing until they walked into that room with a few rotting corpses. In that room, they finally had some discovery.


    Both of them were struck by the stink in the room, needing to cover their noses when walking in.


    In this place, Meng Yue stopped being able to feel Wu Yueling. The two of them observed the four corpses in the room and found that all of them were bitten by zombies.


    "The vibes of these people¡­ seem to be a little familiar. Have we met them before?" Meng Yue covered her nose and scanned the few corpses with her calm eyes as she asked with confusion.


    Wu Chengyue spent a moment feeling with focus, then took a close look at the few corpses'' faces. Afterward, he shook his head and said, "They''ve been dead for days, and their vibes have dissipated. My senses aren''t as sharp as yours, so I can''t recognize them."


    Meng Yue looked at the few corpses, failing to recognize them as well. After that, she turned around and walked out of the room to breathe some fresh air.


    Wu Chengyue followed her out and asked, "Are you sure that Ling Ling''s vibe was detected from this room? Could it be wrong?"


    Meng Yue unhappily glanced at him and responded, "Why did you follow me here if you don''t believe me? Go find her yourself!"


    Wu Chengyue immediately gave her a fawning smile. The smile on his handsome face could make people feel warm and gentle, like touching a clean and soft stream of water. "No! It''s not that I don''t believe you. I''m just worrying that what if you''re really wrong? I know you''re worrying about Ling Ling as much as I am!


    Meng Yue was slightly shocked by his smile. Facing this handsome man''s smile, she could no longer remain calm, but still snorted coldly and said, "Em¡­ See, even you doubted me. Have I ever been wrong? Why don''t you think about that? I know you''re too concerned about Ling Ling to even think straight, but you know that I am worried about her as well. How could I lead you around aimlessly?"


    While speaking, she turned her face and walked downstairs.


    Wu Chengyue turned back and glanced at the few unrecognizable corpses in the room, then followed her down.


    "If you believe that Ling Ling has been here, then she must have been brought here by that female zombie. But, who ate those few people in there? Did that female zombie eat them? Then, why didn''t she eat Ling Ling?"


    Meng Yue shook her head and said, "Not necessarily. The smell in that room is too strong, but I sensed that more than one zombie had been there. It should be other zombies which ate those people. Didn''t Yunlong say that the female zombie has no hostility? It really hasn''t eaten human beings. I agree with him on this point. So, don''t scare yourself. Ling Ling is fine."

 49 Where Did this Alien Come From?

    While talking, the two of them walked quickly down the stairs, where Meng Yue stood in front of the building and again closed her eyes to sense.


    Suddenly, she opened her eyes as a faint joyful look flashed across them. She raised her right hand with palm facing upward. Next, a glowing green little grass sprouted from her palm.


    Both of them immediately fixed their eyes on the grass. The grass hadn''t grown tall, just about two centimeters in height. It swayed in Meng Yue''s palm, swinging left then right.


    Catching their scents, the surrounding zombies instantly turned back and stumbled toward them again. At a short distance, three figures had been running swiftly on all fours in the direction where Lin Qiao was moving to.


    Those were the level-five zombie and its two underlings. To chase after Lin Qiao or to avoid being targeted by Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue, the three of them were running incredibly fast.


    Wu Chengyue quickly glanced at the direction where they were moving to, then stopped paying attention to them as he kept staring at the little grass in Meng Yue''s palm. Meanwhile, a hand of his never stopped swinging left and right from time to time.


    Thin purple lightning bolts flashed from the sky, clearing out all the zombies that had been approaching the two of them. The lightning bolts surrounded them in a circle and gathered into a giant beam of light that covered them.


    Both of them concentratedly gazed at the grass, which slowly became still after swaying for a while. One of its two blades bent down while the other one rose slantingly, pointing in a direction like a pointer.


    Then, the two of them found out that the direction which the grass was pointing at was exactly where the level-five zombie went to, which Wu Chengyue had sensed just now.


    "That way." Said Meng Yue with certainty.


    Wu Chengyue slightly frowned and asked, "Are you sure? A few high-level zombies went that way just now."


    Meng Yue paused briefly and then turned around to look at him as she asked, "How many? High-level zombies? Was the female zombie one of them?"


    She had concentrated on the grass just now, so her sensation toward the surrounding environment had weakened by seventy percent. Therefore, she hadn''t noticed anything suspicious around her.


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "I didn''t sense her vibe. But, those few zombies seem to be chasing after something. They were running really fast."


    "Chase after what? Can it be that female zombie?" asked Meng Yue.


    People had to admit that women had sharp intuition sometimes, especially those like Meng Yue who had a special superpower.


    Hearing her, Wu Chengyue felt it to be a real possibility. Earlier on, he didn''t think of it because he hadn''t found out that Ling Ling was also moving in this direction. But now, as these two factors were linked together, this possibility turned to be high.


    With this thought, he couldn''t stay still anymore. He turned back and dimmed the surrounding lightning bolts, then walked toward the dark-green off-road car that he drove over. Meanwhile, he waved a hand and swept across the zombies that had been trying to climb up his car with a few lightning bolts, which were slightly thicker than those he used for his own protection earlier.


    Following a series of thunderclaps, the zombies which had gathered around or on top of his car were immediately struck into piles of dark ash.


    When the two of them quickly walked to the car door, it opened up for them.


    "Chief..." A soldier sitting in the driver''s seat turned his head and greeted them.


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then bent down and sat into the car. He pointed at the direction that the grass blade pointed out just now and said, "Go that way¡­ Drive fast! "


    Meng Yue got into the back seat of the car. The little grass in her palm had already disappeared.


    "Understood!" The soldier immediately nodded and pressed the accelerator while neatly turning the steering wheel. With that, the car backed quickly, then steadily turned around and rushed onto the road.


    Lin Qiao, who was sitting in the back seat of another car, hadn''t yet known that two groups of pursuers were coming after her. And, she wasn''t a match for either of those groups.


    She was studying the map, trying to find out which way to go while Xie Dong was driving. However, after she spent quite a while reading the map, he told her that she didn''t need to study about the roads in this area, because as long as they drove on the highway, he would know where to go.


    Xie Dong was more familiar with this area than Lin Qiao. Therefore, he didn''t need her to show him the way for the time being. He already knew the road from which he could access the highway that led toward Zhe Province.


    Lin Qiao glared at him with dissatisfaction. Why didn''t he tell her earlier on that he knew the way, but let her read the map alone pointlessly? She wasn''t familiar with this area, so she wanted to figure out the route.


    To find out if the car could take her space along while she was in, Lin Qiao entered her space from within the car, leaving Xie Dong driving alone.


    As a result, she wasn''t in the car anymore when she came back out, remaining at the exact spot where she had entered the space from; the car was already a hundred meters away. As the experiment had failed, Lin Qiao had no choice but to sit in the car bored.


    She was going to water the strawberry plants in her space which she had randomly planted and had actually survived. After a few days of observation, she found that the putrid smell of those strawberries had been slowly weakening, maybe because of the soil or because she had watered them with the lake water. Anyway, the area with strawberry plants was no longer as smelly as it used to be.


    Before, Lin Qiao thought that the strawberries she transplanted to her space would have a low survival rate. But unexpectedly, all of them survived; not a single plant died. Therefore, during the past few days when she stayed in her space with nothing more to do, she cleared the strawberry field of weeds with her claws, and picked the ripe strawberries, washing them up and serving to Wu Yueling in a bowl.


    She remembered the utterly confused expression which was shown on Xie Dong''s face when he saw the cluttered strawberry field of hers. She didn''t even know what that expression was supposed to mean.


    ''What kind of strawberries are these? They don''t even look normal? They''re mutant and poisonous, aren''t they? She''s a zombie, but why is she planting strawberries? Do zombies eat strawberries?'' This was what Xie Dong was thinking back then.


    He even had walked over and picked a strawberry. As a normal zombie, he wasn''t able to smell anything but human beings. Therefore, he couldn''t detect the suffocating odor of the strawberry. He took a bite, but as he tasted no flavor, it felt like biting wax. Hence, he disliked this strawberry field very much deep down.


    Consequently, his confusion about the reason why Lin Qiao planted strawberries deepened. But, when he saw her wash them and then put them in a bowl for Wu Yueling, he understood why.


    There was a rabbit in Lin Qiao''s space, and Xie Dong had seen it as well. However, he had absolutely no interest in it. Therefore, when she asked him if he had smelled the aroma of the rabbit, he looked at her confusedly.


    Everyone in this post-apocalyptic world knew that zombies ate no other living things except human beings.


    At last, Lin Qiao told him that she are rabbits and mice, and that those animals tasted not that bad. Hearing that, he stared at her with his eyes again filled with puzzlement.


    ''What kind of a zombie is she? Where did this alien come from?'' He wondered.


    She had memories and an exceptionally sharp sense of smell; she could control herself from eating human beings; grew strawberries; and had such a large, precious space. If these were still acceptable, she was also able to absorb the spaces of others and turn them into hers, which was a little terrifying indeed.


    What was even scarier, not only did she have memories, but also human-level intelligence!

 50 Man-Eating Society

    Xie Dong''s off-road car was running on the highway, passing many abandoned vehicles that lay along the highway. Before, many roads and highways were jammed by abandoned vehicles; but as people often drove out of bases to hunt zombies during these years, some paths were slowly cleared in the areas where they had been.


    People all panicked when the apocalyptic era began. No one remembered any traffic rules, and everyone wanted to drive and leave. As more and more cars squeezed into the roads and highways, one could imagine the result. Car accidents happened one after another, and every accident was a pileup. The corpses of the people who didn''t manage to run were still lying in their cars, while the ones who survived had abandoned their vehicles.


    Therefore, since the post-apocalyptic era started, many places started looking the same. Only after the bases of survivors were built up did people slowly realize what had happened, and gradually found a way to keep living amidst zombie crowds.


    Lin Qiao and Xie Dong kept driving southward day and night. When the car ran out of gas, they would take out the gas from her space to refuel. When they encountered zombie-hunting squads, they normally would avoid them; but if they couldn''t, Xie Dong would have no choice but to deal with those people alone.


    Like now¡­


    "You alone? Where''re your teammates?" A group of burly guys barred the road, standing in front of Xie Dong''s car.


    Xie Dong stopped the car and sat still in the driver''s seat. With his eyes, he quietly measured the seven men who had surrounded his car.


    These people fiercely blocked his way once they showed up. All seven of them were wearing thick bullet-proof jackets and black combat uniforms, holding rifles in their hands. More guns were worn on their waists, backs, and legs. These people were armed to the teeth. As soon as Xie Dong stopped the car, they rushed up and surrounded it.


    All seven of them showed a really surprised look in their eyes when they found that Xie Dong was in the car alone. They greedily scanned across his car over and over again, but after finding nothing good in there, began talking to him in a cold and rude tone.


    At the sight of these people''s looks and gears, Xie Dong knew that he had encountered with the post-apocalyptic world version of robbers.


    There were one kind of people who were capable of fighting but weren''t willing to make the efforts and guard their bases, nor come out to hunt zombies and trade their harvests for food. They only liked to stay in the bases and sneakily rob the others, or steal and gain things by cheating. They were a bunch of rascals and rogues.


    Over time, these people were reported by the others and kicked out by the administrators of their bases. They lived a vagabond life out here, holding a grudge against the people in the bases. Therefore, they would often attack zombie-hunting squads, committing robberies and murders. No one was restraining them out here, which made them even more savage.


    Most people who encountered them or were targeted by them wouldn''t be able to make it back to their bases alive.


    Judging by these people''s behavior and the look in their eyes, Xie Dong knew who they were. He remained sitting still without answering their question.


    A man thumped at the car window by Xie Dong''s side and yelled at him fiercely, "You, get out!"


    Xie Dong knew that if he got out of the car, these people would tip the car over. After all, these people weren''t ordinary, all having superpowers.


    He silently opened the car door and got off.


    All these men had impressive appearances. Some of them were tall, some were short; some were fat, and some were slim. Seeing Xie Dong get off the car, they immediately jumped in and searched every corner, but failed to find any food.


    "Damn it, this kid got nothing in his car." A fierce-looking, tall and muscular man impatiently rummaged through the car and found nothing, then cursed in anger at once.


    Hearing him, the others started showing sulky expressions as well.


    They had been searching in this area for nearly a month, and this was the first car they had found. These starving people rushed up at the sight of Xie Dong''s car to see if they could find some food in his car. But after forcing the car to stop, they found nothing but a man in it, and their hearts sank.


    There was only one man in the car, which meant that this man wouldn''t have much food. But, the seven robbers had been starving for days. Unexpectedly, they found nothing from the car. Not to mention food for one man, there was no food at all.


    After knowing that there was no food in the car, they immediately glared at Xie Dong and asked, "Tell us, where is the food? Did you hide it?"


    While speaking, one of the robbers approached him and attempted to search him for food.


    As he came nearby, Xie Dong took a step backward.


    ''Speaking of food, the only food here is your flesh,'' he really wanted to tell them that.


    But at the moment, he couldn''t speak at all. And of course, he wouldn''t really eat human beings. Even though he had become a zombie, the humanity that he had been having for more than twenty years hadn''t disappeared, and his mind was still righteous.


    Even though the smell of these people was very tempting, and it made him want very much to pounce upon them and bite their throats, he restrained himself from doing that.


    Seeing Xie Dong stepping back, the one who was approaching him was immediately infuriated. He raised the gunstock to hit Xie Dong''s face while growling, "Damn you! Why did you move? Stand still if you don''t want to die miserably! Otherwise, we''ll slice off your flesh and eat you later."


    Eating human flesh was no longer something new in these people''s eyes; they could be even scarier than ghosts when they were starving. How could they possibly survive out here while the world was filled with crowds of zombies if they didn''t eat other people?


    This was the reason that most of the people who had encountered them didn''t manage to survive; those people were eaten! Food was severely scarce in this apocalyptic world. Therefore, some people had become crazy in order to survive. For the first, second, or even third time, people might find that it was hard to accept things like eating other people mentally. But, after the first few times, they would slowly accept it and get used to it. After all, suffering from hunger would make people lose their minds and drive them crazy.


    This was the post-apocalyptic world.


    This man said this to frighten Xie Dong, to scare him, and make him panic. They wouldn''t let Xie Dong leave in the end either, because human flesh was also food.


    All the survivors in this apocalyptic world would rather encounter zombies when they came out of their bases than run into these man-eating human beings.


    After all, man-eating people were more horrible than unintelligent zombies!


    Watching that man swing the gunstock at his face, Xie Dong tilted his head to dodge and raised his arm to defend himself.


    Seeing that Xie Dong actually dared to defend, that man was enraged instantly. He raised a foot to kick him instead.


    Xie Dong dodged immediately. He didn''t fight this robber who was actually shorter than himself; but instead, turned around and slammed out a heavy punch at another man who was behind him.


    The man behind Xie Dong was a fat one. As the human shield, he was supposed to prevent the latter from running away. But to his surprise, Xie Dong suddenly turned around to punch his face instead of fighting the short one who had attacked him. The fat man didn''t manage to react timely; as a result, he suffered a severe blow in the nose, which immediately squeezed his tears and snot out of his face.


    "Ou-ch" The fat man screamed, then covered his nose and squatted down.


    Xie Dong knew that this would happen when he struck out this punch. Therefore, he didn''t even take back his hand before swiftly leaping over the fat man.

 51 The Apocalyptic World Robbers

    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Seeing Xie Dong make a move, the other robbers immediately raised their guns and fired at him while swearing furiously.


    "Damn you! You wanna die? Then die!"


    But next, they were dumbfounded to see him not even trying to dodge the bullets. After leaping over the fat man, he suddenly turned back. Standing behind the fat man, he completely ignored the bullets which had hit him, then directly bent down and stuck his claws into the fat man''s back.


    Puff!


    A beating heart was dug out in the next second.


    The fat man''s eyes bulged and his mouth was wide open. However, his screams were stuck in his throat as he fell to the side slowly before thudding against the ground.


    At this moment, Xie Dong saw only this fresh, beating heart in his hand, but had no spared attention for those robbers.


    What these hungry robbers didn''t know was that Xie Dong was even more starving than they were! Since he woke up as a zombie, he hadn''t eaten anything for days. He was a relatively lower level zombie; therefore, he had been suffering from the hunger all day. If not for Lin Qiao''s suppression and the lake water''s effect, he might have lost his mind already and become a crazy zombie which had memories.


    If that happened, he would be likely to bite every living human being he saw, and might not be able to tell the good people from the bad ones.


    Xie Dong had been struggling with himself while he was holding the heart and smelling its tempting smell. The fat man was an evil person, but still, he was a human being. If Xie Dong ate this heart, he would become a man-eating creature, wouldn''t he? But, he was really hungry now, and his empty stomach made him feel so uneasy.


    Another voice from his heart had been telling him that he was no longer a human being, that he was a zombie, and eating human beings was a normal physiological response of zombies; and that he didn''t need to care about those viewpoints based on humanity.


    Hearing that voice, Xie Dong gazed at the heart, hesitating over sinking his teeth into it.


    The six robbers who were still alive all stood stupefied when they saw Xie Dong staring straight at the human heart in his hand without glancing at them, and seeming to feel absolutely nothing when the bullets hit his body.


    ''This, th-this¡­ What is this? Why could this man cut out someone''s heart bare-handedly? Why didn''t he respond to the bullets that hit him? Why does he seem so hungry when staring at the heart?''


    ''What on earth is going on!''


    To them, Xie Dong still looked like a human being, and was able to drive like a normal person. So, these robbers all thought that he was a human being. However, what he just did had gone beyond the limitations of human beings.


    Right at this moment, they saw this man suddenly put the heart into his mouth and take a large bite. The blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, and soon, his entire mouth was red with blood.


    Seeing the satisfaction in Xie Dong''s eyes, the robbers were stunned. Their brains even stopped working for a moment.


    They too ate human beings, but they would at least cook the human flesh before eating it. As for eating raw human flesh, not even these brutal evil robbers could do that.


    Therefore, these robbers were frightened when they saw Xie Dong bite the fresh heart directly. This man turned out to be even fiercer than they were!


    A man who seemed to the leader of these robbers soon realized what had happened. He calmed down and fixed his eyes on Xie Dong, then began observing him.


    He found that Xie Dong''s gunshot wounds had been bleeding, but that blood was dark-purple instead of red.


    When he saw Xie Dong eat the human heart, he thought that the latter was like himself; but now as he had calmed down, he found something unusual about Xie Dong.


    When Xie Dong stuck his claws into the fat man''s back and ripped out the heart, his moves were neat and quick like an instinctive action. He ignored the bullets that hit him, and made completely no reaction to the gunshots; his blood wasn''t red, but was dark-purple, like the blood which had pooled for a long time without flowing.


    Suddenly, a thought flashed across this robber leader''s head, causing his face to pale. He instantly drew back while shouting, "Get back! He''s a high-level zombie!"


    He fired at Xie Dong''s head while retreating. Hearing him, the others were all shocked, and then they hurriedly fell back.


    As for Xie Dong, he impatiently popped the rest of the heart into his mouth and wolfed it down after taking the first bite.


    Xie Dong seemed to be a little slow in reaction as he was eating. It seemed that he hadn''t sensed the bullets which were flying at his head. If those bullets hit him in the head, the result wouldn''t be too good.


    However, just when the bullets were about to hit him, a figure suddenly flashed out from the side to shield him. It raised its arms and swiftly clawed in the air, then some bullets fell from its hands one after another.


    ''Where did this zombie come from?'' The robbers couldn''t figure it out.


    Lin Qiao threw the bullets in her hands to the ground, then glanced at the robbers disdainfully. Suddenly, she turned back and gave Xie Dong a kick.


    Xie Dong was immersed in the satisfaction of eating the fresh heart. But after being kicked suddenly, he turned back and looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    "Roar!" Lin Qiao bared her teeth to him, then curled her lips and gave him a roar. ''Don''t just eat! Do you want the bullets to go through your head?'' she said.


    Hearing her roar, Xie Dong finally came back to himself and realized what he had eaten. His face paled as he suddenly rushed to the side, then bent down and retched. He even put his fingers into his throat to try and make himself vomit what was eaten.


    Lin Qiao was just speechless at this point, figuratively of course, as she couldn''t speak anyway, ''You''ve already eaten it, so why do you have to force yourself to throw up now?''


    But soon, she couldn''t pay attention to Xie Dong anymore because the robbers had already started attacking her.


    The six spread out and fired at her crazily.


    Following the flight tracks of the bullets, Lin Qiao felt that this was like playing a game. She moved swiftly and dodged a series of bullets which were flying toward her. Meanwhile, she rushed at the nearest robber.


    This robber was the slowest in reaction. He merely managed to climb over the highway guardrail when Lin Qiao came up behind him. She swung her claw at him before she could even touch this robber.


    Puff!


    A human head was cut off and sent flying up, then fell on the asphalt highway, with blood splashing all over the ground.


    Lin Qiao didn''t stop after making the claw attack. Instead, she made a backflip and dodged a large fireball that was striking at her. But, that wasn''t the end as a rain of ice daggers came along with the fireball.


    The superpowered robber who threw out the fireball wasn''t at a high level, merely a level-three one. But, the one who sent out the ice daggers was a level-four. He was the one who had told the others to get back.


    The two robbers moved suddenly, and their attacks were rapid and fierce.


    However, they still weren''t as fast as her. When the fireball fell on the ground, Lin Qiao had already dodged aside, and when the ice daggers flew at her, she flashed across the air and disappeared without a trace.


    By the time she reappeared, she had already moved to the side of the robber who had thrown out the fireball.

 52 Missed A Few

    "Watch out!" The robber leader automatically shouted out when he saw Lin Qiao cover more than a hundred meters within a blink of an eye and come up to the fire-power robber.


    But, his shouting changed nothing, because once he finished the two words, he saw her swing her claws again, followed by the fire-power robber''s head flying up as well.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    In panic, the other robbers fired another wave of bullets at Lin Qiao. However, as she was too fast, they had no way to locate her. By the time they fired the bullets, she had already moved to another location.


    Seeing this situation, the robbers immediately gave up on attacking and turned around to run right away. The ice-powered robber leader ran the fastest, feeling that Lin Qiao was so terrifyingly dangerous. After warning the fire-powered robber and then watching her cut off his head, this ice-powered robber promptly decided to run.


    He swiftly darted into the woods and disappeared at once. The other robbers each ran in a different direction, and none of them thought about the others when they ran. They fled in any path they could without heeding which they chose.


    Lin Qiao picked the slowest one, suddenly increasing her running speed to chase after him. In a few seconds, a scream was heard from a short distance away.


    Lin Qiao returned a while later, holding some clothes and weapons. Clearly, she had taken the robber''s clothes and weapons after killing him. When she walked out of the woods, the clothes in her hands suddenly disappeared.


    She walked to the fire-powered robber, quickly glanced at Xie Dong, who was still retching, then left him alone. Afterward, she lowered her head and began stripping the robber.


    Smelling the blood, Lin Qiao felt something in her stomach. The feeling was surging, seeming about to break out of her body; but, she strictly suppressed it.


    Xie Dong wasn''t able to suppress hunger, but she was. She wouldn''t let herself eat human beings so easily.


    After retching for quite a while and throwing up nothing, Xie Dong finally gave up. After that, he stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve, then turned around and walked back.


    He checked the battle situation and found that besides the fat man that he killed at the start, two naked head-less corpses were also lying around. Right now, Lin Qiao was stripping the fat man. Because of the strong blood scent in the air, the hunger that he had just suppressed immediately arose again.


    Xie Dong paused for a moment in shock. ''What happened just now? Is this over already?''


    After ripping off the fat man''s clothes with some efforts and putting those into her space, Lin Qiao stood up and looked at him. His face was still blue, his eyes contained a deep gloominess, and his expression was dark as well.


    He had eaten a human heart, but mentally, he couldn''t accept this fact. It seemed that he was disgusted with himself, which was why he showed such a dark expression.


    There was no psychological burden for Lin Qiao and Xie Dong in killing those robbers at all. After all, killing used to be their job before the old world ended.


    Therefore, she saw herself as getting rid of the evil for the other people. Those robbers had brought themselves to Xie Dong anyway, and she surely wouldn''t show any mercy. But, a few of those robbers had run away.


    The few who had run would continue hurting others.


    Lin Qiao walked to the car, opened the door, and sat into the driver''s seat, then quietly waited for Xie Dong to come in.


    Seeing her get into the car, Xie Dong understood that he couldn''t stay in this place any longer. He followed her to the car and sat into the backseat. His mind was filled with the feeling from earlier on when he ate the heart. On one hand, he was submerged in the incredible taste of the human heart which had given him a physical pleasure; but on the other hand, he trapped himself in the sense of guilt for eating a fresh human heart.


    Lin Qiao knew that his mind was now unclear, and his emotions could be unstable. Therefore, she replaced him as the driver for the time being.


    She started the car and continued driving forward. The further away from the city they got, the more desolate the environment became. But still, many cars with corpses in them could be seen along the highway.


    Not long after Lin Qiao drove the car away, three figures came up fleetingly. These three creatures were incredibly fast, such that they could cover more than tens of meters with one leap. The one in the front was even able to cover a hundred meters with one jump.


    Soon, the three figures arrived at the place where Lin Qiao and Xie Dong were stopped by the robbers earlier on, then stopped moving.


    It was none other than that level-five ice-powered zombie leader, which had been catching up with its two underlings.


    It stopped, standing in the middle of the highway and sniffing around, seeming to be confirming something. The two behind it didn''t have as much worry as it did, directly rushing at the few warm corpses once they arrived on the scene.


    However, they didn''t begin feeding right again, but found the two heads which were cut off by Lin Qiao and served them to the level-five zombie.


    After confirming that Lin Qiao''s vibe had once appeared in this place, the level-five zombie glanced at the direction that Xie Dong''s car was moving in, then turned back and looked at the human heads that its underlings handed it.


    It seemed to feel that since Lin Qiao and Xie Dong hadn''t gone far, it was alright for it to spend a short while in eating here, as it would catch up with them again anyway later on.


    It took over a human head and cut it open with its claws like cutting a melon. Then, it held the head with one claw and inserted its other claw into the broken head, digging out some white brain matter and putting that into its mouth to chew with relish.


    It finished one head soon, then cut another one open and continued eating.


    Seeing that the level-five zombie leader had eaten two heads, the two level-five zombies turned to the third head which belonged to the fat man simultaneously. In the next second, they pounced at it together.


    With that, they started a fight before the fat man''s body. They scratched each other for a while, but never fought with their real strength.


    "Roar!" Maybe because the zombie leader was annoyed by this pointless fight, it suddenly turned its head and roared at the two level-three zombies.


    The two immediately quieted down, standing by the fat man''s body without moving.


    The zombie leader threw away the emptied head in its hand and then walked over. It neatly cut off the fat man''s head and picked it up, then cut it into two and threw at the two level-three zombies.


    The two zombies each caught half of the head, holding it with both their hands as they squatted and buried their faces in it to begin wolfing. They didn''t have the ''elegant table manners'' as the zombie leader did. The zombie leader dug the brain out with claws, but they directly bit into it.


    At that moment, the zombie leader turned the fat man''s body over and found that his heart was gone. Then, it straightened its body and glanced at the other two headless heads, then walked over. Next, it dug out the heart of the fire-powered robber with a claw, put it near its nose to sniff, but then gave an expression of dislike.


    It bared its teeth, but didn''t throw the heart away. Instead, it put the heart into its mouth and took a bite, then its expression became complicated. Face filled with dislike, it forced itself to eat the heart.


    That heart had stopped beating long ago, so its scent and taste couldn''t be compared with the heart that Xie Dong had dug out earlier.

 53 Chapter53 - Hot Pursui

    Zombies fed on human beings. Many survivors didn''t know yet that zombies could die without food, although their death would only happen slowly. The lower level zombies could live longer without eating than the higher level ones because they were sluggish and didn''t need much energy. They loitered slowly and lazily because they had nothing to eat.


    The higher level zombies had intelligence, nimble bodies, and superpowers, but all these needed to be supported by energy. Without eating human beings, high-leveled zombies would gradually degenerate into low-leveled zombies, and then the zombie virus in their bodies would begin to lose activity. When the virus in their bodies was completely dead, these zombies would become ordinary corpses and rot.


    As low-level zombies had great resistance to hunger, they could live for three to five years without food, but would become slower and slower. High-level zombies didn''t have such great resistance to starvation. Normally, a high-level zombie could only live for a year without food. Without eating human beings, they needed to find other energy resources, such as zombie nuclei.


    However, zombie nuclei were merely temporary substitutes.


    Among all human organs, the heart contained the nutrition which was the best for high-level zombies, and tasted much better than the other parts of human bodies. The blood in human hearts had a richer flavor than the blood from the other parts.


    Therefore, high-level zombies would always eat the heart first, because that was their staple food.


    The zombie leader finished two heads and two hearts, leaving the rest to the level-three zombies.


    When they had almost finished, the zombie leader cast a roar for summoning them to continue chasing Lin Qiao. The three zombies seemed like swiftly running beasts as they darted in the direction which Lin Qiao was driving in.


    After half an hour, Lin Qiao found that she had driven onto a bridge. The bridge wasn''t long, only about eighty meters; but the problem was¡­ it had already collapsed.


    She parked the car at the end of the road and then stuck her head out of the car window to get a clearer look at the front. Looking at the broken bridge, she sighed and turned back to glance at Xie Dong, finding some change in his face. His face seemed to be paler than before, but the lifeless bluish color was gone.


    Xie Dong had seen the road condition too, and learned that they couldn''t proceed along this road.


    At the moment, he was a lot calmer than before. He still felt very uncomfortable, but had been learning to endure it slowly.


    Besides, his body had changed a little as well. He felt that he was nimbler, and his muscles were less stiff and senseless compared to before; moving had become much easier for him. He even felt that his control over his power that he had before turning into a zombie had started to come back.


    He also had a faint feeling that his mind was much clearer than before. He had felt confused and unreal earlier on, but that feeling was gone now.


    He looked at the front, then raised a hand to point behind, and then crooked his finger.


    Lin Qiao knew what he meant. He wanted Lin Qiao to drive back because there was another road about ten kilometers away, and that detour was the only available path now.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then started the car and turned it around, driving back.


    However, she suddenly braked hard after a few kilometers. Xie Dong''s eyes were dazzled before he realized what was happening, and then he found that both he and the car were already in Lin Qiao''s space.


    As for Lin Qiao, she was standing on the grassland outside the car at the moment.


    Less than three seconds after Lin Qiao''s car disappeared on the highway, a figure darted to where it was.


    "Roar!" The figure circled around, then suddenly raised its head to let out an angry roar which sounded like that of beasts.


    In her space, Lin Qiao had her eyes closed to check the situation outside, and couldn''t help but frown.


    This zombie leader had actually been chasing after her all this time. Lin Qiao assumed that this zombie had to absorb the nucleus in her head to vent its anger. How could it be so vengeful? It was such a misfortune for her to encounter this zombie.


    Xie Dong opened the car door and got off the car with confusion. He had no idea why Lin Qiao suddenly bought both of them and the car into her space, but judging by her hasty look, she might have sensed some danger.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes when she heard the noise that Xie Dong made, then saw the confused look in his eyes. So, she took out the pen and a piece of paper, and started writing¡ª''That level-five zombie has caught up.''


    Having finished writing, the look in her eyes darkened, and fierceness surged in those black eyes.


    She needed to figure out a way to take out that level-five zombie! But, she felt that she wasn''t strong enough to defeat it at the moment, not to mention that it had two level-three underlings.


    As for Xie Dong, he looked like a level-three intelligent zombie; but in fact, his actual combat capacity wasn''t even as good as that of an ordinary level-two zombie. That was because he hadn''t eaten a human being, and hadn''t been getting energy from human flesh and blood.


    The two level-three zombies had both eaten human beings, which was why they reached level-three. Undoubtedly, they were strong and brutal.


    Therefore, Xie Dong couldn''t even rival one of them.


    On the other hand, the pressure that Lin Qiao sensed from the level-five zombie seemed to be a little lighter than before. This meant that she had grown stronger than before, but she didn''t know how that happened. All she knew was that this improvement started since she was struck by Wu Chengyue''s lightning.


    Thinking about that, Lin Qiao was confused a little. The other zombies needed to eat human flesh or absorb zombie nuclei to improve their strength. But for her, absorbing the energies contained in zombie nuclei and crystal nuclei were both ineffective, but being struck by lightning worked. Why was that?


    What the hell was going on? Did she need to find that man and ask him to strike her with lighting when she wanted to improve her strength again?


    Was this a joke?


    Reading her note, Xie Dong paused slightly and then knitted his brows as well. He looked at Lin Qiao, his eyes asking a question.


    Lin Qiao ran away every time she saw that level-five zombie, but to keep running wasn''t a solution. All this while, Xie Dong believed that she should be no weaker than that level-five zombie. As for why she ran away at the sight of that zombie every time, Xie Dong guessed that it might because she didn''t want to fight. After all, once a fight was started, both of them would suffer, and maybe pay a serious price.


    Lin Qiao sensed his thoughts when looking him in the eyes, so she wrote on the paper¡ª''I am no match for it. I''ll be the one defeated if we fight. I don''t want extra troubles for now.''


    She didn''t want to fight the level-five zombie here, as the only thing she wanted was to find her family. After all, some unpredictable results could be caused if she started the fight. For example, if she lost the fight, or were disabled from moving, she would have to spend more time to recover.


    She hadn''t heard a thing about her family yet. She didn''t even know if they were alive or not. So, she had, in fact, been quite anxious; but had rationally restrained her emotions so that she could calmly accept the fact that she was a zombie, then find the path to South.

 54 The little Follower

    After reading her note, Xie Dong stopped feeling confused. He glanced at Wu Yueling, who was standing on the grassland at a distance, staring at him and Lin Qiao with the little rabbit held in her arms.


    In the next instant, he turned and walked toward the small space.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment sensing the situation outside. She saw the level-five zombie circling the highway where the two disappeared from, not seeming to give up. So, she planned to not go out for the time being.


    Having understood the situation, she walked toward Wu Yueling.


    Since no one knew when, the little rabbit had become quite close with Wu Yueling. However, it was only willing to come near her, and would leap away once Lin Qiao approached.


    ¡­Like right now.


    Wu Yueling watched the rabbit jump away, not seeming to mind that. She was shy and really quiet. She had been staying in Lin Qiao''s space so quietly all the time, without crying or screaming.


    She didn''t even ask Lin Qiao to let her out.


    She was terrified of Lin Qiao at first, but not anymore. She was actually staying quite comfortably in this place by now.


    ''Doesn''t she miss her dad?'' Lin Qiao wondered, ''I heard her calling her dad in her mind quite a lot at first.''


    Lin Qiao felt that this kid did have a big heart, and wondered if she worried that she might not be able to see her dad ever again, as she didn''t look anxious at all. The other kids would have wanted to go out to find their families long ago if they were in the same situation.


    Seeing Lin Qiao walk over, Wu Yueling stared at her with her big watery eyes, looking very adorable. Her eyes were black and round, and her cheeks were pinky and chubby.


    Lin Qiao walked to her, saw that she had finished all the strawberries in the bowl. So, she picked up the bowl and turned to walk toward the strawberry field. After making two steps forward, she felt that the little one was following her.


    She turned back to glance at the little one, then continued walking forward without saying anything.


    After walking into the strawberry field, she checked all the plants which had been growing healthily for ripe strawberries. She had picked almost all the ripe fruits these days, but many strawberries left on the plants were almost ripe.


    The little one didn''t eat much, and these strawberries were large. So, two or three strawberries could fill her stomach.


    Lin Qiao felt that the child needed to eat something other than strawberries as well. She had finished the cookies which were found in the small space earlier, but she hadn''t eaten the instant noodles. That was because Xie Dong hadn''t regained the control of his power yet.


    He would either boil the water dry suddenly, or fail to boil it at all. One time, he almost burned a hole in the bottom of a pot which was brought in by Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao wondered if she could find some mice or other animals in this mountain area. She decided to try finding some when she got out the next time, so that the little one''s diet could be improved.


    But before that, she needed to create fire. She had no lighter in her space. Xie Dong didn''t have a lighter either, because he had been using his own fingers as matches. He used to be a giant lighter himself.


    When Lin Qiao was picking strawberries, Wu Yueling followed behind her without doing anything else. Lin Qiao couldn''t sense her thoughts or read her mind, so she had completely no idea what this kid was thinking about.


    Lin Qiao picked seven or eight strawberries to fill the bowl, then brought them to the lakeside to wash them. Wu Yueling followed her to the lakeside and silently watched her wash the strawberries, then took over the bowl from her hands.


    After handing the strawberries to the kid, Lin Qiao turned and prepared to water the strawberry plants. When she came back to the lakeside with a bucket, she found that Wu Yueling was still following behind her silently.


    She stopped and looked at Wu Yueling, who was looking at her as well, her bright eyes widely opened.


    Lin Qiao found no emotion from the child''s eyes, and couldn''t sense her thoughts either, so she didn''t know what the kid wanted.


    Therefore, she turned around to continue fetching water while Wu Yueling following behind her. When she got back to water the strawberry plants, Wu Yueling still followed her. After that, she again went to the lakeside to fetch more water, and Wu Yueling was still following her. She moved between the lakeside and the strawberry field many times, and the child followed her the whole while.


    Seeing this, Lin Qiao felt speechless.


    Having finished watering the strawberry plants, she turned around and lowered her head to look at Wu Yueling. The latter kept her head raised, staring at Lin Qiao with an adorable look.


    ''What on earth is this kid thinking? Why can''t I read anything from her eyes or sense any thoughts from her mind?'' She wondered.


    She was almost driven crazy, and hoped that someone could come to save her. She didn''t know how to communicate with an introverted kid!


    ''What''s wrong?'' Lin Qiao asked the kid with her eyes.


    However, the latter calmly looked at her without answering the question or making any response in her mind.


    ''Why are you following me? Do you need me to do something? Or do you want to tell me anything?'' Lin Qiao tried to ask again by using sign language.


    Still, Wu Yueling made no response but kept staring at her.


    After she tried a few times, the little one remained silent and kept gazing at her without saying even one word. She didn''t'' hear anything from the child''s mind either.


    ''There''s no way of communication. As people said, autistic children rarely let the others know about their thoughts. So, what should I do now? Why has she been tailing me? What does she want?'' Lin Qiao just didn''t know the answer.


    The two of them silently gazed at each other for a couple of seconds. When Lin Qiao scratched her head and was prepared to give up, Wu Yueling finally made a move.


    Before Lin Qiao turned around, she reached out her little hand and dragged Lin Qiao''s pants. Lin Qiao had found this pair of loose-fitting pants from the abandoned house near the strawberry field outside, and she needed to roll up the bottoms of the pant legs so that she wouldn''t step on them and fall.


    Lin Qiao stopped after Wu Yueling pulled her pants, looking at the child with confusion. Next, she saw the kid pull her own clothes. Although her little face still showed no expression, a clear dislike was detected from her eyes by Lin Qiao.


    ''I need to change clothes! These are dirty!'' Lin Qiao heard her saying in her mind.


    ''Alright! You can just tell me that! I wouldn''t know what you want if you just silently follow me everywhere!'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Thinking that the little one''s clothes were dirty, Lin Qiao also realized that the kid hadn''t showered for many days, so her body should be dirty as well. She must have felt uncomfortable, but didn''t know how to describe it; so, she told Lin Qiao that her clothes were dirty.


    Lin Qiao didn''t expect this kid to be a neat freak. Most of the other kids wouldn''t mind that!


    Since the kid wanted to change clothes, Lin Qiao decided to give her a bath first, and then let her wear some of those adult clothes which had been washed earlier. Wearing those adult clothes was convenient for her, as a top would become a little dress on her. How simple was that!


    Lin Qiao also planned to wash those clothes which were ripped off those robbers, so that she could wear them herself after drying.


    With that, she jumped into action once organizing these thoughts. She led Wu Yueling to the lakeside and told her to stay put while she went to find a cotton top and a tattered coat herself. After returning to the lakeside, she put these clothes on the clean ground.


    She then squatted before Wu Yueling and looked at her while saying in her mind, ''I''ll also give you a bath. Don''t move.''


    Meanwhile, she unbuttoned Wu Yueling''s top with both hands. Wu Yueling didn''t know what was going on, but she stood still to cooperate with Lin Qiao''s moves.

 55 She Has Become A Nanny

    Lin Qiao took off the little one''s clothes and threw them on the ground. Then, she picked up the tattered coat, tore it into strips, and wetted them in the lake.


    After that, she wrung a strip of cloth and used it as a towel to wipe Wu Yueling''s slightly dirty face. She had to wipe that little face three times to make it clean.


    Wu Yueling closed her eyes expressionlessly, quietly letting Lin Qiao wipe her face.


    Lin Qiao found her little face to be much cuter when it was clean. Then, Lin she glanced at the kid''s long greasy hair and knitted her brows.


    How could she wash the child''s hair? She didn''t have shampoo or anything like that in her space. Probably, soaking those hair in the water for a longer while would work.


    She pushed Wu Yueling toward the lake and made her stand in the shallow water, then began wiping her body with cloth strips.


    The temperature in Lin Qiao''s space was constant, neither hot nor cold; and so was the temperature of the lake water. As a zombie, Lin Qiao couldn''t sense the water temperature, but Wu Yueling wasn''t like her.


    Stepping into the water, Wu Yueling found that it was a little warm, and not cold at all. In fact, her skin was colder than the water. Maybe because she had taken off her clothes, she felt comfortable and interested in the warm water. However, as an introverted child, she wouldn''t show her feelings.


    The other kids might have begun to frolic in the water already.


    Lin Qiao also stood in the water. After wiping Wu Yueling''s little body, she began showering her with the lake water.


    She felt that this child had brought her a lot of extra work. She needed to find her food, make her bed, and now she needed to bathe her; after this she needed to wash her clothes¡­


    She suddenly realized that she has become a zombie nanny!


    She should have sent the little one back to her father as soon as she could, because life would have been much easier that way. But now, she had taken the kid away, so she needed to be responsible for her! Even though this made the kid''s dad anxious, it wasn''t easy for herself either!


    Furthermore, Wu Yueling didn''t like to talk or communicate with her. She felt that this child was quite boring; but in fact, she disliked naughty and noisy kids so much that once she got near those kids, she would feel perturbed, and her head would even ache.


    If Wu Yueling hadn''t been so quiet that sometimes Lin Qiao even forgot that the former was there, the latter wouldn''t have really taken this kid with her. She would definitely throw her back to that man who looked nice but wasn''t at all.


    To be honest, Lin Qiao didn''t know why she really kept the little one¡­


    Wu Yueling was standing quite still when Lin Qiao bathed her. But suddenly, she raised a foot and quickly ran up behind the latter, hiding behind her legs and sticking her head out to look at the lakeside.


    Seeing her strange behavior, Lin Qiao raised her head to look at the same direction, then saw Xie Dong standing a short distance, staring at the naked Wu Yueling with his eyes glowing.


    It might be the obvious desire in his eyes which frightened Wu Yueling and made the kid hide behind Lin Qiao.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao even wanted to call the police and tell them that she had found a pervert.


    She straightened her body and gave Xie Dong a warning glare.


    Receiving the glare, Xie Dong woke up immediately, then began to wonder why she stared at him in such a strange way as if he was a pervert.


    And then, he finally recalled what he was trying to do by coming here in the first place. He wanted to tell Lin Qiao something, but he was again tempted by Wu Yueling''s nice aroma when he saw Lin Qiao bathing her; so, his mind stopped working for a moment.


    However, the glare and the strong pressure from Lin Qiao cleared his mind instantly.


    He looked at Lin Qiao while walking toward her. He didn''t get too close, stopping about five meters away from the lakeside. Then, he raised a hand with his palm turned up. Next, a small flame which looked like a flame on a lighter rose from his palm, swaying gently.


    Lin Qiao''s eyes glowed when she saw the flame, but she then told him to wait by using a hand signal. After that, she turned back and continued bathing Wu Yueling. The kid''s long hair took her about ten minutes to clean up.


    The little kid had really thick hair that were waist long. Her hair were greasy, tied in a ponytail at first; but later on, the ponytail loosened.


    Lin Qiao asked her to bend her waist and face the lake water so that her hair could be soaked. She rubbed the kid''s hair with her fingers for quite a while before they got less greasy, then brought the kid ashore with wet hair.


    After giving her wet hair a wring, Lin Qiao put the adult top on her. It covered Wu Yueling up till her knees, and its sleeves looked especially long on her.


    Then, Lin Qiao lifted her up and walked to the bedside, putting her down on it and letting her sit there.


    She found a coat and draped it around the kid''s shoulders as her hair were still wet. She didn''t know how to dry the kid''s hair now, but she was worried that the latter might get sick with the wet hair. So, she put the coat on her to try and keep her warm.


    After settling Wu Yueling down, Lin Qiao walked to Xie Dong. At that moment, he seemed to be practicing to control the flame in his palm, trying to prevent it from dying too fast.


    Lin Qiao walked up to him, took out the pen and paper, and wrote a few words.


    ''Can you use your power now?'' She asked.


    Xie Dong glanced at her and nodded, but then shook his head.


    Lin Qiao knew what he meant, that even though he was able to create flame now, he couldn''t control it yet. Besides, the flame was too small, and he didn''t know how to make it grow.


    He had eaten a human heart earlier. Before that, he couldn''t release his fire power, but now he could. Even though the flame wasn''t strong, it was still an obvious improvement. It seemed that eating human beings was indeed the best way for zombies to evolve.


    However, Lin Qiao wondered exactly which level Xie Dong was at. Level-three? He was much weaker than level three zombies. But then again, he could now release his fire power, and might be able to use it more skillfully before long. After all, he remembered how he used to control his power.


    Lin Qiao assumed that he needed to eat human beings to gain energy and boost his power. Even though eating human hearts was very unacceptable for him, he should change his attitude if he wanted to grow stronger.


    Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong for a while and then abruptly wrote on the paper, ''When we''re out, let''s battle if we have the time. I want to know where''s the limit of your strength.''


    Xie Dong nodded in agreement after reading the note. He too wanted to know that. However, looking at her dark eyes, he felt that his a*s would be kicked thoroughly in this process.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Xie Dong from head to toe, then turned back to wash Wu Yueling''s clothes.

 56 The Reunion After Death

    At this moment, Lin Yu walked into the Sea City Base. He looked glazed, his eyes were filled with a deep confusion.


    He got in. He really got in! The virus checking devices failed to detect anything abnormal from his body.


    Before getting in, he had been worrying about himself. He looked like a normal human being, but he couldn''t tell if it was because the virus was resting inside his body, and he didn''t know if he would start turning into a zombie once he was checked by the devices.


    However, he cleared his own doubts when he saw those zombies which hungrily pounced on him. If he truly harbored the zombie virus, why would those zombies charge at him?


    Therefore, he finally decided to try entering the base first. If he couldn''t, he would have to wait outside.


    But fortunately, he got in safely.


    After getting in, he headed to the registration department right away. After finding out that his Captain and teammates had indeed returned to the base, he went to find them.


    His Captain was a level-five ice-powered man. As a superpowered member, he was temporarily accommodated in a not-so-bad flat by the base administrators in an old residence community. Every building in this area merely had six or seven floors, and the people living here were mostly superpowered members and their families.


    In this base, it was pretty lucky to be able to live in a place like that. It was like a high-end apartment for the people in the old world.


    Lin Yu''s Captain, Li Zheng, and all his teammates were accommodated in that area temporarily.


    He asked around and finally found the location of that residence community. After locating the building where Li Zheng and his teammates lived in, he rushed up to the sixth floor and stopped before a door. He checked the room number, then raised a hand to knock the door.


    "Who is it?" The door was soon answered. An average-looking young man who was about twenty years old opened the door to look outside. When he saw Lin Yu''s face clearly, he suddenly widened his eyes, looking stunned.


    "Brother Lin Yu! You''re alive!" Three seconds later, a scream was heard.


    The others in the room were doing their own work, silently wondering who was at the door. However, they paused simultaneously when they heard the scream as if someone had pressed the pause button for all of them.


    In the next second, they rushed up to the door together.


    Lin Yu stood by the door, looked at the suddenly opened door. Li Zheng and the other few of his teammates all crowded near the door, staring at him in disbelief.


    "Lin Yu¡­ You¡­ Didn''t you¡­?" Li Zheng stuttered to ask, eyes filled with shock, delight, confusion, and all the other complicated emotions which disabled him from speaking fluently.


    The young man who had opened the door was named Feng Yuming. He widely opened his small eyes as he gazed at Lin Yu while saying, "Brother Lin Yu, aren''t you affected by the zombie virus? You¡­ How did you¡­"


    The others all had a bewildered look in their eyes.


    Lin Yu smiled, then looked around alertly. After confirming that no other people had noticed him and his teammates, he said, "Let me in first."


    Hearing him, the others quickly woke up from shock and stepped back to let him into the room. Feng Yuming shut the door after Lin Yu walked in. If anyone heard what Feng Mingyu said just now, Lin Yu and all his teammates might fall into trouble.


    After entering the room, Lin Yu found that it was a studio, tens of meters squared in area. Two bunk beds stood against the wall for the four men in the room to rest.


    Behind the beds was the kitchen and the bathroom. The kitchen was connected with the balcony.


    This type of accommodation was like a very simple and often-seen kind of shared home for workmates in the old world. The rent for a studio like this might cost hundreds of yuan per month. The living condition here couldn''t be counted as good; but fortunately, the four men who lived here all liked to tidy it.


    Aside from the two iron bunk beds was a square table and a few plastic stools in the room.


    Lin Yu grabbed a stool to sit down, then leaned against the wall and waited for the others to sit.


    While staring at Lin Yu, Li Zheng, Feng Yuming, Fei Chonglin, and Lei Yao each found a seat. Their sharp gazes seemed even to tear him apart to examine every inch of him and then put all the pieces back together.


    Lin Yu faced their gazes with a complicated feeling. He knew that they were all very curious about what happened to him. Even he wanted to know what exactly had happened.


    He remembered that he had locked himself in an empty warehouse, then fell unconscious. When he woke up, he found that he didn''t become a zombie. But before falling unconscious, he had sensed some strange changes in his body indeed.


    Back then, he couldn''t move, and his limbs were slowly turning stiff. His head ached so badly that he had slowly fainted. But when he woke back up, he found that he was perfectly fine. He could run and jump like a healthy human being, and even his blood continued to be red.


    But later on, he found something¡ªa pair of tooth marks on his chest, seeming to be left by sharp canines which had pierced into his skin. He thought he was bitten by some kind of animal, because those tooth marks didn''t look like they were left by zombie teeth.


    Lin Yu organized his thoughts, then began talking while four pairs of eyes filled with curiosity were fixed on him. "In fact, I don''t know what happened either. I locked myself in a warehouse. I wanted to kill myself at that time, but I couldn''t raise my gun because my head ached too badly. So, I fell unconscious. I didn''t know how long I slept, but then I woke up to find that I was still in the warehouse, perfectly fine," he said.


    The others stared at him with disbelief on hearing what he said. Li Zheng frowned slightly and asked, "Did you find anything strange around you? Or, has any part of your body mutated?"


    "Yes," Lin Yu nodded and responded.


    "What was it?" Asked Li Zheng immediately.


    "I checked the door of the warehouse which I locked, but it was pried open. I felt that something had entered the warehouse while I was unconscious!" said Lin Yu.


    He trusted his teammates very much. After all, they had been acting together as a group ever since the apocalyptic era began, helping each other to survive in this dangerous world. This time, his teammates never thought about giving up on him even when he was scratched by a zombie, but he asked to stay behind to cover them retreat himself.


    Therefore, he wouldn''t keep secrets from these people.


    A concerned look was shown in the eyes of the others when they heard Lin Yu say that something had entered the warehouse while he was there alone and unconscious.


    "What was it?" Li Zheng asked.


    Lin Yu shook his head and said, "I don''t know. When I woke up, there was nothing in the warehouse. The door was open, but the zombies nearby didn''t come in."

 57 Come Out Alive From A Hopeless Spo

    The others in the room looked at each other after hearing what Lin Yu said.


    Having finished speaking, Lin Yu abruptly rolled up his sleeves, raised his left hand, and pulled out the dagger from the sheath tied around his thigh with his other hand.


    "Brother Lin Yu, what are you doing?" Feng Yuming hurriedly asked as he was startled by Lin Yu''s sudden move.


    "Look," While speaking, he cut his own skin with the sharp dagger and left a bleeding wound on his hand. The red blood which looked exactly like that of healthy human beings immediately gushed out of the wound, dripping to the ground.


    "The blood is red, this means your body is alright at the moment," looking at Lin Yu''s blood, Li Zheng made a judgment. Lin Yu didn''t say anything but glanced at the four, maintaining his posture.


    "The wound¡­" Among the two who hadn''t talked all this time, a tall man suddenly let out a word with a muffled voice.


    Lin Yu looked at him and smiled. As he expected, this man, Lei Yao, who seemed to have strong muscles and a simple brain, looked a little dull, but was actually the most observant one in the room.


    Reminded by Lei Yao, the others immediately focused their eyes on Lin Yu''s wound, then found that it was healing itself! His self-healing was happening very slowly, but was real!


    Seeing this, all four of them widened their eyes in shock.


    They all clearly knew that Lin Yu was an ordinary man without a super power. He didn''t have a healing power, so his body wouldn''t possibly be able to heal itself.


    The pair of eyes on Lei Yao''s expressionless face slightly narrowed as he asked, "Is that¡­ healing power?"


    Lei Yao''s sentence was short, but the others understood his meaning. They immediately fixed their eyes on Lin Yu''s face again, waiting for him to give an answer.


    Lin Yu shook his head and responded, "It''s not a superpower. It''s because my body condition has changed."


    That wasn''t his superpower. Instead, his body had somehow gained this self-healing ability, and it was only effective on himself.


    The others had slight traces of disappointment flash across their eyes when they heard what Lin Yu said; but, what was more obvious in their eyes was a relief. Soon, they began to feel delighted for Lin Yu.


    "Great! Now, we don''t have to worry that you might die because of slight carelessness!" Li Zheng sighed in relief and said.


    Li Zheng said this because Lin Yu was the weakest in the team. He didn''t have any superpower, so his teammates needed to worry about his safety in every action.


    But at that moment, Lin Yu gave a meaningful smile and said, "That''s not all¡­ See this!"


    While speaking, he put the dagger back into the sheath, then raised his right hand slightly with his palm up. After that, he concentratedly gazed at it.


    As the others were wondering what he was doing, a black flame suddenly rose from his palm. The flame was small, only about an inch tall, standing on his palm, perfectly still without swaying at all.


    At the sight of this small black flame, the others leaped backward simultaneously, running away in panic like startled cats with bristled fur.


    Within a blink, the four had run as far away from Lin Yu as they could. They stood in the furthest corner that they could find from Lin Yu, staring at him with faces filled with a frightened look.


    "The netherworld fire!" Lei Yao, who reacted the fastest and hid in the bathroom, stuck his head out from behind the door and shouted at Lin Yu''s palm. The typical expressionless look in his face was gone, replaced by fear and shock.


    Fei Linchong reacted slightly slower than Lei Yao. Half of his head was stuck out below the latter''s, so that he could see Lin Yu.


    Li Zheng and Feng Mingyu had hidden in the corners in front of Lin Yu.


    Lin Yu was amused. He looked at them and said, "You don''t need to be you nervous. My netherworld fire is not even one percent as powerful as our chief leader''s! And, my fire has to touch a man to hurt him."


    While speaking, he put the fire out, then rereleased it; then, repeated over and over again, seemed to be having fun.


    The other four were a little speechless at this point.


    They hadn''t overreacted. Lin Yu''s fire was exactly the same as the fire of one of their Hades Base''s leaders. The Hades Base was very famous, for no other reason but that base leader''s mysterious fire power.


    "Really? Oi, stop playing with it! Just put it out!" Fei Chonglin said with doubts when he saw that Lin Yu was playing with the fire quite joyfully. He felt terrified at the sight of that fire, and only wished that the latter could put it out as soon as possible and stop scaring the others.


    Lin Hao clenched his fingers and put his right hand down, then said, "That is my superpower. You guessed it right, as it is the same kind of fire as our leader''s. But, my fire needs to touch its target to harm it. It won''t deliver any effect without direct contact, because it won''t release the toxic gas that way."


    Seeing him put the fire out, the four slowly and carefully walked out from where they were hiding. However, they no longer dared to get near him, staying about one and a half meters away from him.


    "Brother Lin Yu, is that the superpower you triggered after you fell unconscious and woke back up? You were scratched by zombies, yet you survived¡­ And in addition to that, you triggered a superpower! I never thought that could happen! That is too¡­ magical!" Feng Mingyu said with curiosity.


    He automatically turned back to glance the others after saying this, who all looked at Lin Yu and nodded.


    They never heard that healthy human beings could survive after being wounded by zombies, and trigger superpowers on top of that. As far as they knew, all humans injured by zombies would be affected by the zombie virus, then slowly become zombies themselves. The zombie virus was seriously horrifying!


    Almost all who were affected by the zombie virus died. No one in the few large bases had ever heard anything about the virus being able to trigger superpowers.


    The powers of the current superpowered people in this post-apocalyptic world were either triggered when the old world ended, or by all other kinds of factors; but, the zombie virus wasn''t included.


    Lin Yu didn''t become a zombie, which was already miraculous. And to everyone''s surprise, he actually triggered a superpower. That was just plain unbelievable!


    Li Zheng stared at Lin Yu from head to toe, then asked with a confused look, "How did this happen? What exactly happened to your body?"


    "I have no idea either. I became like this when I woke up," said Lin Yu, shaking his head.


    The others didn''t know what to say. Lin Yu was so lucky that even that could happen to him!


    He was lucky enough to survive after being wounded by zombies and gained a self-healing ability; and upon that, he triggered a superpower!


    He came out alive from a hopeless situation! And, merely his self-healing ability was enough to make the others jealous!

 58 Because of The Tooth Mark

    "Brother Lin Yu, your self-healing ability is awesome, and so is your power!" said Feng Mingyu excitedly.


    Speaking of Lin Yu''s power, the others again felt curious. "We never thought that you''d trigger the poisonous fire power. How powerful is your fire now?" One of them asked.


    Lin Yu didn''t say anything but stood up and looked around the room. At last, he spotted the trash in the trash can. He walked over, took out the trash along with the trash bag, then put it on the floor.


    After that, he turned his palm and threw out the black flame. The flame lightly landed on the trash bag, and in the next moment, the bagful of trash quickly melted and disappeared without leaving even ashes on the ground.


    After the trash disappeared, the flame continued standing straight on the ground. Soon, the floor underneath it dented.


    It looked like the flame had devoured the things that it touched, but in fact, those things just melted too fast. It was truly a little horrible that the flame could even melt floor tiles.


    Seeing that the floor tile had begun melting, Lin Yu hurriedly waved his hand, and the small flame flew back into his palm.


    The others looked at the flame which had flown back into Lin Yu''s palm in surprise, then at the spot where it had lingered. A small dent was left on the floor.


    "This is just the same as our chief leader''s fire power when it was at the elementary level. The effects are about the same," said Feng Mingyu.


    Lin Yu shook his head and responded, "Not exactly the same. My fire has no scent, so the surrounding people wouldn''t be poisoned when I release it. It''s still different from our leader''s fire."


    "But, it has the same look and delivers the same melting effect as our leader''s fire," said Feng Mingyu.


    "That''s true." Lin Yu nodded and agreed to that.


    Li Zheng calmed down and said in a deep voice, "Let''s not tell anyone about this for the time being. You should all mind what you say from now on. Do you get it?"


    The other three nodded knowingly. After all, what happened to Lin Yu was way too miraculous. If the people in the Sea City Base knew about that and informed their leaders, those base leaders might lock him up to run all kinds of experiments on him.


    It was a great deal that he could resist the zombie virus, and apart from that, he had gained the self-healing ability and superpower. Therefore, anyone who had even a little ambition would want to know how to achieve that.


    "Lin Yu, just now you said that someone had entered the warehouse while you were unconscious, but didn''t it do anything to you, eh?" Asked Lei Yao.


    Lin Yu shook his head confusedly and replied, "Something did come in at that time, but I don''t know if it did anything to me or not¡­ I was unconscious."


    The others glanced at each other as they all felt regretful. If they knew what had entered the warehouse, they might be able to figure out what exactly had happened to Lin Yu.


    "But¡­" Lin Yu looked at them, his eyes containing hesitation.


    "What it is?" The others stared at him with confusion.


    Then, Lin Yu lifted his cloth to expose his chest. They had surely seen each other naked. They were even familiar with each other''s naked body, so they had discovered two tiny holes on Lin Yu''s smooth and muscular chest.


    "What are those?" Asked Feng Mingyu. Everyone''s eyes immediately focused on the pair of holes on Lin Yu''s chest.


    "They look like¡­ tooth marks? And it seems to be left by some kind of animal''s canines¡­" said Lei Yao while pondering.


    "Lin Yu, have you been molested by some kind of beast?" Li Zheng stared at him and asked with a strange look.


    "Can''t you be serious?" Lin Yu rolled his eyes and said.


    Hearing him, all the others showed a smile in their eyes. "So how did that happen?" Asked Fei Chonglin.


    "I found these tooth marks the next morning after I woke up in the warehouse," Lin Yu responded questioningly, "I don''t even know when these were left on my body. If I have to explain it, I''d say that these were left by the thing which entered the warehouse while I was unconscious."


    "These two tooth marks are very deep. Even though your body has healed itself, it failed to erase these scars. So, I wonder if the changes of your body are related to these tooth marks," said Lei Yao with a muffled voice.


    Lin Yu nodded and said, "I think so too. Otherwise, why didn''t I turn into a zombie, but had these tooth marks left on me? And, these don''t look like a zombie''s bite marks."


    The others all nodded. "It sounds like that, but it can''t explain your current condition. However, whatever has happened to you, you came back safely, and that''s enough. None of the other things matters," Said Li Zheng.


    While speaking, he stepped forward to pat Lin Yu on the shoulder. Recalling how he and his teammates had abandoned Lin Yu, he felt exceptionally guilty, and so did the others.


    Hearing Li Zheng, the other three fell silent. These days, the fact that they abandoned Lin Yu had been stuck in their minds making them extremely uncomfortable. However, as they were on a mission, they had to keep their grief bottled up and make themselves forget that they had lost a brother.


    But now, the brother whom they thought that they had lost was back, perfectly unharmed. And, he was even stronger than before!


    Lin Yu laughed out loud when he saw the sorrowful look in his teammates'' faces. "Yeah, you see, I''m really hard to kill. I''m back, so you don''t need to look after Yan for me when return to our base," he said.


    "Have you seen the Purple Thunder Leader of the Sea City Base?" He then changed the topic suddenly.


    Their mission this time was to talk to one of the three leaders of the Sea City Base. They had heard that the leader was a kind and decent man.


    Hearing him mention the mission, the others stopped looking sorrowful. Li Zheng shook his head and said, "Not yet. He went out of the base with his soldiers, and hasn''t returned yet. So, we couldn''t see him."


    Lin Yu paused shortly and asked, "Out of the base? For what? Collecting resources? We came at a bad time then! So, are we waiting for him to come back now?"


    Li Zheng nodded and responded, "I''ve asked some people, who said that he has been out for about a month. I think he''ll be back soon, so we''re now waiting for him."


    "We still have some time. The Chief Leader will be free to act once she has sent her family and Chief Captain out," said Lei Yao.


    At that point, all five men in the room had their faces darkened, covered in coldness and hatred.


    "We''ll be able to do whatever we want to deal with those people once Chief Leader has sent her family away!" Said Feng Mingyu angrily, "A bunch of ambitious scums! Do they think they can take out our Chief and make the base their own just like this? I think Chief will definitely destroy the base instead."


    "Chief does intend to do so if she has to," Li Zheng agreed with him, "Otherwise, why would she let the Chief Caption and her family retreat secretly?"


    "¡­And send us here to talk to the Sea City Base''s Chief Leader about cooperation," Fei Chonglin added.

 59 Confirmed News

    As Fei Chonglin said, their mission this time was to come to Sea City ahead of time and talk to the Base''s Chief Leader. In fact, they had traveled for nearly a month before arriving at the Sea City Base. If they hadn''t encountered a group of fierce post-apocalyptic world robbers and lost their car to them halfway, they might have arrived long ago.


    Post-apocalyptic world robbers were all psychos who would die for food. They would even eat human beings if they got too hungry. Therefore, in order to accomplish their mission, Lin Yu and his teammates ended their battle against the robbers as soon as they could, but let the latter take their car.


    However, the five of them didn''t know yet that their chief leader had died in a battle not long ago. She had felt that her enemies would soon take action, but had never thought that there was a mole amongst her people. Not only did the mole find out her plan and betray her, but also helped her enemies poison her.


    Chief Netherworld Fire of the Hades Base had an incredible fire power, but she wasn''t immune to all kinds of poisons.


    Her enemies knew her well enough to swat at her weaknesses. By collaborating from within with the forces from outside, five level-seven powerful people laid siege to her, who was also at level-seven. As a result, a few of the five were injured severely, and she died together with one of them.


    Her brothers and sisters managed to escape from the base, but they were all being hunted by now.


    In this post-apocalyptic world, communication networks didn''t exist. Therefore, Lin Yu and his teammates had no way of receiving a message and finding out what had happened in their base. All that they knew was their Chief Leader had given them a mission, and they now needed to accomplish it.


    They stayed in the Sea City Base to wait for the Chief Purple Thunder to return, but they had no idea that the man they had been waiting for was chasing a zombie which had abducted his daughter, and the ones who came back were only his deputy commanders and leaders.


    ¡­


    In a rest station near the base, Xiao Yunlong sat in the only leather double couch in the room. A few of the soldiers were scattered around him, a couple of them standing on his both sides and two behind him, while two guarded by the door.


    Three meters away, three people were standing in front of him with their hands tied behind their backs.


    Those were two men and a woman, none other than Lin Yong, Liu Hongshi and Liang Caiyan.


    The tall and strong Xiao Yunlong leaned against the back of the couch, putting one arm on the couch''s back while the other hand fiddled with a pistol.


    "Do you mean that the woman has become a zombie already?" While speaking, he looked at the pistol which was spinning in his hand instead of the three people.


    The three glanced at the soldiers who were standing aside while pointing rifles at them, not daring to move.


    "That''s right! We were going to let her lead us to Chief Purple Thunder''s daughter. We don''t know where the little girl is, as only she knew that. We wanted her to take us there so that we could save the girl from that woman and send her back to Chief Purple Thunder. But, we didn''t think that she¡­" said Lin Yong calmly.


    "Send her back? Can you be so nice? Hilarious¡­" Xiao Yunlong interrupted him coldly. He sneered and continued, "Of course you wanted to send her back! Or, Yang Hao would kill you even if we let you live, wouldn''t he? In order to get rid of that boring woman, he involved our little Yueling and made her missing. You have to give our chief an explanation about that, don''t you?"


    Lin Yong and the other two lowered their heads, not daring to face Xiao Yunlong''s sharp gaze. Sweat oozed out of their foreheads immediately.


    Xiao Yunlong had already seen the truth, so whatever they said now would be useless.


    Xiao Yunlong''s face darkened as he stared at the three fiercely and said, "So¡­what now? You get that woman killed and make ur little Yueling missing. Do you think your lives are enough to compensate for our little Yueling?"


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Before his voice faded, the pistol which was spinning quickly in his hand was suddenly gripped by him, and then three gunshots were heard.


    He didn''t even warn them. Before the three could realize what had happened, a bullet sank into each of their heads, leaving a thumb-sized hole with blood gushing out.


    They widely opened their eyes and softly fell on the ground, faces filled with confusion.


    "Toss them out," Xiao Yunlong put the gun back into the holster, then stood up and said, walking out of the room.


    "Yes, sir." The few soldiers in the room responded immediately, then quickly began moving the bodies.


    After walking out, Xiao Yunlong said to the deputy commander by his side, "Send the message to Chief and tell him that the woman is dead. And, send some people out to check the surrounding area¡­ See if we can find the zombie turned from that woman, or her chewed body."


    "Yes, sir. I''ll do it now." The deputy commander nodded and responded instantly.


    Looking at the back of his deputy commander, Xiao Yunlong wanted to laugh, but instead, he sighed and hoped that the little girl would be fine.


    ¡­


    As Xiao Yunlong sent his people out to verify Lu Tianyu''s death, Lin Qiao was looking for mice in the grass.


    She was hungry; sensing Wu Yueling''s scent every day made her hungrier and hungrier. But, she couldn''t go out of her space to find food, because the level-five zombie was waiting of her outside.


    Therefore, she thought of the baby rabbit in her space. But, she then remembered that the rabbit seemed to have become a friend of Wu Yueling. Would the little one be sad if she ate the rabbit? Lin Qiao didn''t want to take the risk, so she had no choice but to give up. Then, she suddenly recalled that before she threw the rabbit in her space, she had also put in a few furless baby mice.


    She didn''t know if the few little mice died or not. She assumed that they were dead, because there was no adult mouse to feed them, and so many days had passed.


    However, another voice in her heart had been telling her that those baby mice were still alive. Therefore, she bent her waist to search for those tiny things among the grasses which were taller than her knees.


    As she began searching, she really confirmed that those baby mice didn''t die, although she had no idea where they were. The grass nest she made for them earlier was empty by now.


    She and Xie Dong were two zombies, Wu Yueling was a human kid; except for them, the only other visible living being in her space was the little rabbit.


    Rabbits didn''t eat meat, so if anyone had eaten those baby mice, that would be one of the other three. As the little girl had been eating strawberries and couldn''t possibly eat raw mice, it would be either Xie Dong or herself. However, after observing, she found that Xie Dong was only interested in human flesh, and disliked all other kinds of animals.


    Earlier on, Xie Dong refused to even look at the little rabbit when Lin Qiao handed it to him.


    Therefore, after ruling out all kinds of possibilities, Lin Qiao concluded that no one in the space had eaten those mice. She didn''t know if other creatures existed in her space, but she had been living here for so long without seeing any, unless it was something in the lake¡­


    She thought about this over and over again, and still felt that those baby mice were still alive.


    Therefore, she crawled into the grasses to look for them, but failed after trying for quite a while. She had excellent eyesight and hearing now, and her sense of smell was even sharper than that of dogs. Yet, she still couldn''t find those baby mice.

 60 Fight the Level-Five Zombie

    Xie Dong stayed in the small space, trying to gain better control of his fire power. Wu Yueling had stopped following Lin Qiao around after the latter gave her a bath. Instead, she sat on the bed which the latter had prepared for her with the rabbit in her arms. From time to time, she would raise her head to look at her.


    Lin Qiao gave up on finding those baby mice after failing a few times. She couldn''t find them, which was so unexplainable. Those baby mice couldn''t fly into the sky, could they?


    She walked to a flat area by the lake to sit down, then closed her eyes to sense the outside situation. She found that the three high-level zombies were still circling the highway, showing no sign of leaving.


    It seemed that this time, the level-five zombie wouldn''t leave until it had found something. Lin Qiao couldn''t help but feel a little headache on thinking about that.


    ''As a zombie, why are you so vengeful? I did nothing more than snatch your prey, but you can just find another one. Do you really need to keep chasing me like this?'' Lin Qiao complained silently. She felt that the zombie leader had a higher IQ than the other zombies, and would hold a grudge for a much longer time as well.


    She couldn''t let this level-five zombie keep interfering with her journey back home. And, it felt really awful to hide every time she saw it. She thought for a moment and then decided to go out and fight it!


    She could always run if she failed to defeat that zombie leader! She could run pretty fast now! She couldn''t yet leap really high and move forward very fast by thrusting all fours against the ground like the other high-level zombies. She didn''t want to do that either, because that set of movements looked way too ugly. However, she could still run at a considerable speed with her two legs.


    Besides, she hadn''t had a chance to find out what the limit of her speed was.


    As for the level-three zombies, Xie Dong might not be able to defeat them with bare hands at this moment, but using a gun was quite a convenient way. Even though a gun could barely hurt higher level zombies, it could still manage to threaten the level-three ones. As long as he could react faster than the two level-three zombies and seize the opportunity to fire the gun before they could launch an effective attack, he would be able to take them out easily.


    After forming a plan in her heart, Lin Qiao stood up immediately and walked toward the dark entrance of the small space. Sensing her coming toward the entrance, Xie Dong stopped playing with the fire in his hand and turned back to look at her.


    Lin Qiao handed him a piece of paper which had a few lines written on it.


    ''I''m going out to fight that level-five zombie. I want you to go with me. We can''t keep staying in my space.''


    Xie Dong nodded, then quickly armed himself. His power wasn''t working very well yet, but he had a gun. As a former special forces soldier, he was fearless!


    In fact, he had been expecting Lin Qiao to let him out and have some fun¡­ or, to get some fresh air.


    ''Run if you can''t defeat them. You don''t need to worry about me. If we get separated, you can head straight for South. We''ll see each other again at some point.'' Lin Qiao then wrote on the paper, reading which, Xie Dong nodded in agreement.


    After all, they might not be able to defeat that level-five zombie even by joining forces; but, as they didn''t want to keep waiting, they had no other choice but to fight as hard as they could.


    When Xie Dong was ready, Lin Qiao dragged his arm, and then, both of them disappeared from the small space.


    Once they were out, both of them struck first to gain some advantages, especially Lin Qiao. She had scanned the two level-three zombies before coming out, and had told Xie Dong about their location and the distance between the enemies and themselves. Therefore, they fired the guns held in their hands the moment they came out, sending bullets flying toward the foreheads of the two level-three zombies who weren''t far away from them.


    A series of machine gun fire could be heard as two figures flashed out of thin air.


    All the three zombies paused briefly when Lin Qiao and Xie Dong showed up. The mere one-tenth of a second''s pause was long enough for the two experienced former special forces soldiers to hit their targets.


    The level-five zombie leader reacted the fastest. It roared out loud then flew at Lin Qiao swiftly.


    The two level-three zombies moved slower than their leader. By the time they realized what had happened, the bullets had already sunken into their heads.


    Lin Qiao and Xie Dong neatly finished off the two underlings of the zombie leader once they showed up.


    The level-five zombie turned back to glance at its two underlings which had fallen to the ground when it rushed at Lin Qiao. However, it only conveniently cast a glance, but didn''t pay too much attention. It had a clear target, which was Lin Qiao.


    After shooting the two level-three zombies, Lin Qiao immediately turned her gun to fire at the level-five zombie. However, the level-five zombie was so fast that she couldn''t manage to hit it with the bullets.


    She was aware of that, because she herself was also able to see the flight path of bullets, which weren''t flying too fast even in her eyes.


    Seeing that the level-five zombie didn''t take the bullets seriously and just flew ferociously at her, Lin Qiao threw away the gun and then flicked her dark nails.


    When the zombie leaped high and dove down at her from the air, she suddenly bent her legs and then rolled backward, dodging the zombie''s claws which slashed at her.


    While she was rolling backward, a claw of hers swung at the level-five zombie''s chest.


    The two of them separated after the first strike. Lin Qiao rolled on the ground again then sprung back up immediately, alertly staring at the zombie leader which had rolled backward as well. And then, she noticed that four very deep wounds were left on its chest, looking like the wounds caused by swords.


    ''Eh? Those¡­'' Lin Qiao murmured in her head while gazing at those wounds.


    The expression in the zombie leader''s face froze as it curiously lowered its head to check its chest, and found that its bulletproof skin was actually wounded by another zombie which was weaker than itself.


    It watched its own black and sticky blood flowing out of the four uneven sized wounds. It couldn''t feel pain, but it did feel rage.


    It raised its head and widened its eyes, cocked its brows and bared its teeth to utter deep and weird roars at Lin Qiao. She heard it and understood what it meant, so she couldn''t help but to want to laugh.


    She heard the zombie leader say¡ª''How dare you scratch me! I''ll bite you to death!''


    It was a zombie leader, but it actually had such childish thoughts.


    ''So, NOW you want to bite me to death? Then what have you been doing earlier?'' Said Lin Qiao silently.


    She didn''t let out any sound, but had a smile on her face. The mocking smile in her eyes was pretty obvious, and the zombie leader was smart enough to understand it. Therefore, it became even angrier, and roared resonantly at Lin Qiao.


    After that, it again pounced on Lin Qiao fleetingly, and wiped its own chest with a claw in the meanwhile. With that, the few wounds immediately stopped bleeding, and were covered by a thin layer of frost.


    ''It knows how to stop the wounds from bleeding with its power,'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Next, the zombie leader charged at her at an incredible speed, with a fierce murderous intent, a strong vibe, and a series of flying ice daggers.


    ''This is bad!'' Lin Qiao said in her head once she saw the ice daggers which were flying toward her from all directions. She immediately gave a hand signal to Xie Dong, who had been silently watching the fight, then turned back to dart into the woods aside.

 61 The Intense Fight In the Woods

    As Lin Qiao thought, this level-five zombie wasn''t only strong physically, but also had a super power. No wonder level-five superpowered human beings were no match for the zombies at this level, because average physical attacks could hardly harm them!


    This time, Lin Qiao wouldn''t have been able to do any harm to the level-five zombie leader if her fingernails hadn''t upgraded to release the sharp air blades.


    After telling Xie Dong to retreat by using a hand signal, Lin Qiao turned and leaped away. In the next moment, a palm-wide ice blade pierced into the ground along with waves of cold air, but didn''t melt right away.


    The ice blades created by level-five superpowered human beings couldn''t pierce into the ground, but would only shatter into pieces against the ground. However, this level-five zombie''s ice blade managed to cut into the ground; although it did not go too deep, it had shown its powerfulness nevertheless.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao turned and ran immediately. She also tried to draw the zombie leader away and allow Xie Dong to run by himself, in case it lost its temper and decided to vent its anger on him.


    The zombie leader speeded up to chase after her right away on seeing its ice blade miss her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t panic under the great pressure given by the zombie leader. Instead, she raised her speed and calmly ran toward the woods. She seemed to be a little unreliable normally, but every time in a serious action, her mind would become very clear and rational, without giving her any chance to be flustered.


    Lin Qiao obtained this good mental quality through her training in the army, and it had become a part of her instincts. The more dangerous the situation was, the calmer she would be.


    Sensing the zombie leader chasing after her like a cheetah, she ran toward the area with more obstacles on purpose. The woods, as well as places with tall grasses and stone riprap could be included in her escape route. Even though she had been choosing these difficult areas particularly, nothing had impeded her at all. On the contrary, she was running as swiftly and briskly as a mouse, and even seemed to be quite enjoying it.


    The zombie leader following behind Lin Qiao had its eyesight blocked by the surrounding woods and grasses. And because it was really angry at the moment, it hadn''t been concentrating to sense her moves.


    Once it entered the woods area, it generated a wave of freezing wind and ice blades to sweep across the surrounding plants.


    Ordinary human beings wouldn''t dare to enter any woods area, but zombies weren''t afraid of the potential dangers in there, because those could barely harm them.


    Before entering the woods, the zombie leader was moving at a very high speed, but it slowed down by thirty percent once it did, as the surrounding obstacles blocked its eyesight. Then, it sensed that Lin Qiao was running further and further away, so it turned anxious.


    However, it had its own solution, which was leaping high up. It directly leaped to the top of a tall tree, then stood high and found the direction which Lin Qiao was moving in. After that, it nimbly jumped to the top of another tree like a monkey.


    Lin Qiao sensed the zombie leader''s vibe, so she turned back to glance at it. Then, she found that the zombie leader had climbed onto a tree, which meant that the situation had started turning against her.


    She didn''t stop, but continued running forward. When she ran past a large rock, she suddenly paused, turned around, and twisted her body, then rolled to one side.


    Following a series of puffing noises, a small wave of ice thorns fiercely landed where Lin Qiao was a moment ago. The finger-thick ice thorns fell on the ground and the rock. The ones that hit the rock shattered it into pieces, and the rest pierced straight into the ground.


    Lin Qiao quickly glanced at those ice thorns before she turned and continued running. Those ice thorns wouldn''t cause any pain of they hit her, but would pierce very deep into her body. She didn''t want tens of deep holes in her already-broken body, because she would look intolerably ugly that way! Furthermore, those holes wouldn''t be able to heal! She was already ugly enough, and if she got even uglier¡­ In fact, she couldn''t think of any bad effects of being uglier.


    Since she was now a horrible-looking zombie, she couldn''t possibly find anyone to marry her, could she? Who would dare to marry her? Should she get a zombie husband? She didn''t think so! She had way better taste than that!


    Even at such a dangerous moment, Lin Qiao could think of the boring questions such as marrying someone. If the zombie leader that had been chasing behind her knew what she was thinking, it would definitely have been infuriated.


    She rolled on the ground again to dodge another attack. Once she stood up, she heard a series of swishing noise from above her head. So, she squatted back down without even taking a glance where the noise came from.


    Right after she bent her waist, the zombie leader leaped across her head, but was a little too high above her. Its claws failed to touch Lin Qiao''s head, only grabbing the air.


    "Roar!" Failing to hit the target again, the zombie leader flipped in the air before landing on the ground, then let out a wave of raging roar toward her.


    Lin Qiao looked at its chest and found that the few wounds caused by her had already been frozen by a white layer of ice.


    ''Damn! It even knows how to dress its wounds!''


    At that point, the zombie leader realized that its roars were ineffective on Lin Qiao, and this wasn''t the first time for that to happen. The zombie leader was able to control other lower level zombies, but it couldn''t figure out why this one could always ignore it.


    Based on her vibe that the zombie leader had sensed, it always believed that she was merely at level-three, and hadn''t even reached level-four. Therefore, the situation of being able to control the other level-three zombies except her had irritated it quite badly.


    For this reason, it had been chasing her and trying to defeat her with violence. But to its surprise, she was way too good at running.


    In fact, it no longer cared that she had snatched its prey. It kept chasing her mainly because it wanted this lower-level zombie to be under its control. It just felt so uncomfortable when it couldn''t do that.


    Meanwhile, being targeted by this zombie leader, Lin Qiao had been trying to figure out a way to escape from it.


    As expected, she was lower than the zombie leader in levels, as it could climb trees and leap between treetops across long distances. Lin Qiao didn''t think that she could do the same, because her jumping ability wasn''t as good as her running ability.


    Therefore, when she saw the zombie leader nimbly leaping between treetops, she knew that she couldn''t escape from it.


    Level-five zombie leaders were truly hard to deal with!


    Right at that moment, the zombie leader flashed across the air and charged at her.


    She had been staring at it the whole time. Seeing it pounce on her suddenly, she stepped back immediately while crossing her arms before her face to defend herself. Then, she felt a strong impact force from her arms, along with a fierce vibe.


    The zombie leader directly clawed at her hand.


    The moment the zombie leader''s claw slapped on her hand, she stopped stepping backward, then immediately twisted her waist and turned her upper body to drag it aside. After that, she raised a foot to kick its stomach.


    The zombie leader didn''t take her kick seriously, so she managed to kick heavily into its stomach. In the next second, it was sent flying backward.

 62 She Did Something Stupid

    "Roar?" The zombie leader flew back confusedly. Lin Qiao looked skinny, and could only run on the ground even when escaping, So, the zombie leader assumed that her kick wouldn''t be as strong as its own kicks. Therefore, it took her kick carelessly, but then found that it wasn''t like what it thought


    As a result, it was sent flying away.


    Lin Qiao always knew that she had a great strength, but she didn''t think that she could kick the zombie leader to such a long distance away; so, she paused shortly in shock as well. But in the next second, she rushed toward the flying zombie leader at a higher speed while raising both hands to slice its head.


    "Roar!" The zombie leader had sensed the danger as it hurriedly flipped backward in the air, dodging her claws. After landing on the ground, it roared at her angrily, then thrust its legs against the ground and pounced on her, who was still in midair. A series of ice blades were released from its palms, flying at Lin Qiao from all directions.


    Seeing those ice blades, Lin Qiao knew that the zombie leader was truly infuriated right now. Hundreds of ice blades were falling from above her head, leaving her no way to dodge. So, she had no choice but to return to her space.


    The next second, Lin Qiao vanished into thin air before the ice blades could pierce into her body, even before she landed back on the ground. The rain of ice blades fell onto the ground, leaving hundreds of holes on the plants in this area.


    "Roar!" As Lin Qiao disappeared again, the zombie leader bared its teeth and uttered an angry roar toward the sky. Then, it turned back to scratch the surrounding plants and rocks ferociously, creating another scene of devastation.


    Lin Qiao showed up in the flat area by the lake after entering her space. She stood there and closed her eyes to sense the situation outside. Seeing the angry zombie leader, she couldn''t help but want to laugh.


    The zombie leader couldn''t enter her space no matter how pissed off it was. She had a space, so who would she be afraid of?


    But soon, she began feeling upset. She managed to flee into her space, but how was she supposed to go back out? She now realized that she had done something stupid, which was getting out of her space. The zombie leader seemed to have learned that she would reappear in the exact same spot where she disappeared from. If not, why did it wait on the highway for so long? Earlier on, Lin Qiao showed up again on the highway. Didn''t she prove the zombie leader''s guess by doing that?


    Thinking of that, Lin Qiao even wanted to punch herself. What had she done? She pushed herself into a troublesome situation. She was too worried about her family, so she ignored some details. But, now that she came back to her senses and found that she was wrong, it was already too late.


    She watched the zombie leader vent its anger, then leap onto a very tall tree aside and squatting on top quietly. It silently waited there like a predator which had been patiently waiting for its prey to show up.


    It was apparently waiting for her to come out! It seemed that she had really underestimated the zombie leader''s IQ.


    With that, she opened her eyes.


    She hoped that she could enter that ''traveling ghost'' state again or dream another ''moving dream'' to leave this place.


    Recalling what happened the last few times when she changed her locations without leaving her space, she eagerly wanted to do it again, but didn''t know how. She had no idea how to cast that skill! What kind of a moment should she be waiting for that?


    While she was trying to figure out how to put that skill in use, she suddenly felt her head turn heavy. Then, as she felt that something was summoning her, she began falling unconscious. This was the exact state that she had entered the last time. However, she didn''t show up on the outside as a transparent figure this time, and instead, her body directly turned transparent in the space.


    Wu Yueling had been looking at Lin Qiao from a short distance away. She began to feel strange since Lin Qiao suddenly showed up by the lakeside and stood there motionlessly. Soon, she saw that the latter''s body slowly turned transparent, but didn''t disappear completely.


    At least, she could still see Lin Qiao''s transparent body.


    She widened her eyes to stare at Lin Qiao, her face filled with curiosity. She wasn''t worried or scared, because many strange things had happened since she met that zombie. She had learned that she shouldn''t see the latter as an ordinary zombie.


    Wu Yueling didn''t know how to describe the fact about ''shouldn''t be seeing Lin Qiao as an ordinary zombie''. Yet, her simple mind understood that the latter wasn''t the same as the other zombies, and that she was the only zombie which wouldn''t show the horrible ''I-want-to-eat-you'' look to her.


    So, she curiously looked at the transparent Lin Qiao and watched her slowly walking into the lake. As she kept walking deeper and deeper into the lake, the water went over her knees, thighs, then waist; but, she didn''t seem to want to stop. She kept moving, and the water reached her chest, neck, mouth, nose, and then her eyes.


    Soon, Lin Qiao disappeared into the lake.


    ''What is it doing down there?'' Wu Yueling wondered.


    At first, Wu Yueling was only curious about what Lin Qiao went down into the lake to do. She guessed that maybe the zombie went down to catch fish, and wondered would it come back up with a large fish and make grilled fish for her.


    While waiting for Lin Qiao to come out of the water, she quietly looked where she had disappeared, with all those thoughts flashing across her mind.


    However, she started feeling uneasy as she didn''t see Lin Qiao come out of the water after waiting for a long while. As time passed slowly, Wu Yueling felt that she couldn''t sit still anymore. So, she got off the bed, held the rabbit, and walked toward the lake.


    ''Why doesn''t it come out? Why doesn''t it come out yet? Why? Come out!'' Wu Yueling shouted in her heart.


    ¡­


    After walking into the water in a muddleheaded state, Lin Qiao realized what she was doing. However, she suddenly found that she couldn''t control her body, even though her mind was clear again. She had no choice but to watch herself walk deeper into the lake, and watch the water go over her head. She didn''t stop after that, but kept moving toward the center of the lake.


    ''What''s happening? Why did this happen? What''s going on?'' She wondered.


    Lin Qiao felt like an outsider who was watching Lu Tianyu''s body going deeper and deeper. Meanwhile, she saw the world under the water. She was a zombie, so she wouldn''t be suffocated, and could move freely underwater.


    When her body went deeper, and the water went over her eyes, she saw a green light underwater!


    The water surface looked deep and dark, but a green light was glowing underneath it. As a zombie, Lin Qiao was color blind, so she was really shocked when she recognized the green color of the light.


    After she became a zombie, everything she saw was black and white, boring and dull. However, why could she see this mysterious green light now? And more importantly, what was it?

 63 The Strange Thing That Happened At The Bottom Of The Lake

    Before she could figure out what that green light was, she felt her feet get squeezed, and then something coiled on her lower legs. She realized that she had regained the control of her body.


    However, before she could react, she felt that the thing coiled around her legs were climbing up quickly on her body.


    She lowered her head to look at it, and was startled.


    She saw countless glowing green vines climbing up her legs like snakes, and soon wrapped her legs and waist.


    ''Damn! What the hell are these!'' She screamed in her head.


    Her scalp was numbed when she looked at these things. She tried to struggle, but failed. She found that these vines weren''t wrapping her too tightly even though they looked terrifying; but strangely, she wasn''t able to free herself from them.


    She tried to pull them off. These vines were soft and slippery, and quite elastic. She couldn''t unwrap them or pull them apart, and couldn''t even cut them off with her sharp nails!


    She didn''t feel uncomfortable being wrapped by these vines, only weird. She felt that her clothes were melted, because the vines seemed to be sticking to her skin directly.


    She felt her skin was slightly numb and itchy.


    She actually had feelings! As a zombie, she now actually felt numb and itchy! Why did that happen? What on earth were these vines?


    Before she had an answer, these vines had reached her chest and neck, then soon wrapped her head, only leaving her pair of dark eyes unwrapped.


    After being wrapped in the vines, she felt that she was again in that ''traveling ghost'' state; but this time, her mind continued to be clear.


    Sensing that slight numbness and itch, she slowly relaxed her limbs. And then, the numbness and itch gradually seeped into her muscles from her skin.


    She now caught a very odd feeling. She felt that her mind was drifting, seeming to float up; she felt like she was lying on a soft cloud, feeling quite comfortable.


    However, before she could enjoy that feeling, she suddenly sensed a slight pain from her brain. The first wave of pain wasn''t so bad, but every following wave was worse than the previous one. Soon, she knitted her brows and woke up from that comfortable feeling.


    She felt that her brain was shaken after every wave of pain. The pain got worse and worse, and she felt more and more uncomfortable. However, she couldn''t do anything as she wasn''t able to move. With no other choice, she endured the strange pain.


    She had no fear in her head, and she couldn''t manage to think too much at that point, because her mind was occupied by the pain and disabled from generating any other thought.


    Unlike the last few times when she suffered a piercing headache, this time, the pain occurred slowly, wave by wave, as if it was giving her a time to adapt, so that she wouldn''t pass out directly like the last few times.


    As time went by, she started to feel that her head was exploding. Her face was twisted and mouth agape, exposing her sharp teeth and canines.


    She wanted to scream to ease the pain in her brain, but she couldn''t utter a sound. So, she could only shout silently.


    ''It hurts! It hurts so much! Ou! I want to die!''


    Later on, her entire body began twitching. However, she couldn''t move or struggle because those vines wrapped her up tightly.


    She felt like passing out due to pain, but didn''t. She couldn''t tell for how long she had suffered the pain, but she never passed out, not even when her eyes lost focus and turned muted.


    When she was about to be driven crazy by the pain and even forget her own name, the horrible pain suddenly disappeared, and her tense nerves loosened.


    She opened her eyes in confusion before realizing what had happened. Suddenly, a green light flashed across her eyes and disappeared. It was like a naughty little snake which was playing hide and seek with her.


    At that moment, the vines wrapped around her body loosened slowly, and began to draw back.


    Now, she finally came back to her senses. She blinked and saw that the green light had turned brighter than before, but then disappeared for good.


    The twisted expression disappeared in her face as she let out a long sigh of relief. She automatically lowered her head to look at her feet, seeing her naked legs. She was standing in a dark greenness, stepping on a ground of mysterious black soil.


    Those glowing red vines were all gone by now. They seemed to have come out of the ground earlier on and drawn back in right now.


    She glanced around, but didn''t found those vines. Then, she raised her head to look upward.


    However, she saw nothing but a greenness.


    She moved her hands and suddenly felt that something was bringing her hands upward. She was familiar with that feeling, which was caused by the buoyancy of the water.


    After moving her limbs and finding nothing strange, she turned back to swim toward the water surface.


    Soon, she stuck her head out of the water, then looked around and found that she was right in the middle of the lake.


    She also found that Wu Yueling was standing by the lakeside, staring at her with her eyes turned a little red.


    ''Great! She came out! Why is she still there? Why isn''t she swimming back now?'' Lin Qiao sensed Wu Yueling''s thoughts from a distance away, feeling surprised. Then, she swam toward the girl.


    She didn''t think that the little girl would worry so much about her.


    Seeing that Lin Qiao had begun to swimming toward the lakeside, Wu Yueling gave a long sigh of relief in her heart, then finally stopped worrying.


    While swimming, Lin Qiao suddenly felt something strange.


    She seemed to able to sense everything in her space clearly but the lake water¡­


    She didn''t know how to describe that feeling. It was like she had a space in her mind and it allowed her to see and sense everything in her space, along with every change that happened here.


    Therefore, she could clearly sense Wu Yueling''s location now even when her eyes were closed. She could also sense the grasses, the strawberry plants, and the randomly placed furniture pieces. She discovered that the rabbit and the few mice which she couldn''t find earlier had all gone underground!


    However, she felt a strange vibe from the lake, but she didn''t know what it was.


    When she finally swam ashore and walked out of the water, she realized that she was naked.


    She lowered her head to look at her body, and then she was dumbfounded again.


    ''Damn! What is this? What on earth happened to me down in the water just now!'' She screeched in her mind.

 64 The Recovery Of Her Body

    Lin Qiao lowered her head, stared at her own legs in disbelief. The skin of her legs was as pale and bluish as before. Even though the skin color looked a little scary, her skin was smooth and tight, and her legs were long and straight.


    However, the few bone-deep wounds caused by zombie claws and teeth on her thighs and lower legs, were all gone!


    In the wound areas, her flesh and skin which was bitten off by zombies had grown back. But, the skin in these areas wasn''t the same as the rest of her skin. Her old skin was bluish pale, yet the new skin was pink, looking like the skin of a normal human being''s healed wound after its scab fell off.


    The wounds on her thighs didn''t heal as well as those on her lower legs did, but had changed quite obviously as well. The black and dead tissues in those wounds had all fallen off, and white muscle fibers had grown out of the broken muscles.


    She turned her eyes to her stomach and found that the hole in her stomach was still there, with her intestines still torn. The wounds on her chest didn''t seem to change either.


    She raised a hand to touch her face, and found that it was still filled with bumps and hollows.


    Then, she lowered her head again to check her legs, and confirmed that those wounds on her legs were truly gone.


    She really wanted to study the changes in her body now, but standing here and letting the little girl watch her naked body didn''t seem to be appropriate. She wasn''t a pervert after all!


    Therefore, she walked to the lakeside and gestured for Wu Yueling to not look.


    Wu Yueling was curiously looking at her body, and wasn''t scared by it. Knowing that Lin Qiao didn''t want her to keep staring at her, she obediently raised a little hand to cover her eyes.


    However, as her hand was only big enough to cover one eye, she kept staring at Lin Qiao with the uncovered eye.


    Lin Qiao sighed, then moved swiftly. She picked some clothes which were ripped off from robbers, then fled into the small space as fast as she could.


    Lin Qiao was incredibly fast, so Wu Yueling saw nothing but a figure flash across the air before finding that she had disappeared without a trace.


    Lin Qiao was now able to sense her space and almost everything in it, but she couldn''t control the things here.


    After quickly putting those clothes on, she walked out of the small space to the furniture area to check on Wu Yueling, and saw that she had gone to chase the little rabbit after she disappeared. She didn''t try to catch the girl''s attention again.


    She sat on the couch and rolled up her pants to carefully check her lower legs.


    She touched her skin and found that her calf muscles had actually regained the tonicity. Before, her calf muscles were so dead that the wouldn''t rebound when she pressed them, which was a normal body condition of zombies.


    Zombies wouldn''t die when they suffered physical injuries, but those injuries would never heal. Only the zombies at level-six or above could have a little self-healing power, but they needed to eat a giant amount of human hearts, blood, and flesh to gain that power.


    However, new flesh had grown out in Lin Qiao''s old wounds, and that wasn''t something a simple self-healing power could do. Although the recovery began with her lower legs, it seemed to have happened to her thighs too. So, would it happen to the rest of her body as well?


    She pulled down her pants, then turned her head to look at the center of the lake.


    She knew that the changes happened to her body were caused by the glowing green vines in the water. But, she didn''t know if that healing energy belonged to the lake water itself or something in the lake.


    What exactly was the lake water? And, where did this space come from?


    She had no idea if the recovery of her body was a good thing or not, or what would she become in the end. Would she become a living human being again? Or, would she become some strange creature?


    She thought that was way too unbelievable, but judging by the current condition of her lower legs, she felt that wasn''t impossible.


    Even though her lower legs now had new muscles, she still had no feelings, not even when she rubbed her legs or poked her skin with her sharp nails.


    The energy in the lake had altered her body. She always felt that the lake water had magical effects, but never had she thought that it could turn dead muscles alive, and the recovery could happen this scarily fast.


    Lin Qiao had experienced a lot, but she was really shocked by that.


    ''Damn! I''m not living in a fantasy novel where I can find magical herbs to heal my wounds, am I? I''m in a post-apocalyptic world!'' She said to herself.


    Even though some of her wounds had healed, Lin Qiao couldn''t tell for sure if the zombie virus in her body was killed, or it remained existing inside her.


    And, if the energy in the lake could turn her back into what Lu Tianyu looked like before she died¡­


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes.


    If that happened, the people from the Sea City Base would definitely recognize her, and she would fall in trouble! Even if she avoided offending the others, the others would find her and try to kill her, wouldn''t they? After all, that woman had done so many evil things when she was alive!


    Thinking of this, Lin Qiao suddenly felt that her head was aching! She should really stay away from Sea City as she had planned!


    If the little one''s dad recognized her, awful things would definitely happen!


    Recalling what Lu Tianyu had done to Wu Chengyue before she died, Lin Qiao wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. ''Damn, why do I have to come back to life in this suicidal woman''s body?'' She wondered.


    Earlier on, she walked down to the center of the lake unwittingly, as if she was summoned to there. So, she wondered if that lake had a soul.


    Anyhow, the changes that had happened to her body were good so far. Would her entire body be healed if she stayed longer in the water? But, she didn''t want to try it again, because her heart was still fluttering with fear caused by that horrible pain she suffered down there,. Therefore, she decided to wait for a while instead of torturing herself.


    Besides, she didn''t go into the lake on her own initiative, but was summoned to the lake this time. So, she didn''t know if the energy in the lake would react when she went down there on her own. That needed to be verified.


    She thought for a while, then decided to give up on studying the source of energy in the lake. Then, she closed her eyes to see the outside world and sense the location of the level-five zombie.


    Once she started doing that, she found that her sensations had grown stronger. Before, she could only see the area where she entered her space from; but now, her view seemed to become higher and broader.


    She could even sense the level-five zombie''s vibe and the vibes of some other creatures.


    She began to wonder how she could go out invisibly and sneak away from under that level-five zombie''s eyes.


    Right at that moment, she heard a voice from her heart telling her that she was able to go out, as long as she kept her eyes closed.


    After that, she somehow followed the voice and said ''out'' in her heart while keeping her eyes closed.

 65 Successfully Turn Invisible

    Once she said that word silently, Lin Qiao''s eyes were dazzled.


    She was out!


    She stood in the woods, a little stunned. It was the same place where she had entered her space from. The whole area was devastated by the level-five zombie leader.


    She automatically glanced at the level-five zombie, and then immediately entered a state of alertness, preparing to defend herself and waiting for the zombie leader to dive down from the treetop.


    However, she heard no noise when she looked upward.


    The level-five zombie was still squatting on top of the tree quietly without making any move. It was as if it didn''t see her at all.


    ''Damn! What''s going on? Is that thing blind? I''m standing right here, but why didn''t it pounce on me? It chased me so hard before!'' She wondered.


    Seeing that the zombie leader made no reaction, Lin Qiao lowered her head to look at her own body. When she saw herself clearly, she paused in shock.


    ''Eh? What the hell? How did I become like this?''


    She was dumbfounded when she saw that her body had become like a transparent plastic bag. She raised a hand in confusion and disbelief, then popped her claws.


    Her sharp claws popped out, even whooshing slightly through the air.


    The zombie leader which squatted on the treetop lowered its head to glance where Lin Qiao was standing, seeming to sense something from the air. However, it saw nothing. Hence, it glanced around in confusion, then forgot about that slight noise.


    Lin Qiao sensed its small moves, then raised her head to look at it. But, the zombie leader still didn''t discover her.


    She was very pleasantly surprised as she realized what was happening now. She couldn''t believe that she had truly done it: she had successfully made herself invisible and then came out of her space.


    Seeing this situation, she gently raised a foot to move to the side.


    Crack!


    She stepped on a dead branch. As the branch broke and made a slight sound, she froze immediately.


    She looked up, and as she expected, the slight sound caught the zombie leader''s attention instantly. It widened its dark eyes which were sparkling with a weird red-light from time to time, staring at the spot under Lin Qiao''s feet.


    It looked quite curious and confused.


    Seeing that the zombie leader didn''t dive down immediately, Lin Qiao sighed in relief. It seemed that she should be careful not to make a noise, because she couldn''t tell if the zombie leader would swoop down directly to see what exactly was down here.


    She gently took her foot back, then carefully observed the landform of this area. After that, she stepped on the thick grass without making any other sound. She turned back to see the Zombie leader, and after finding that it didn''t notice her movement, she kept moving to the side.


    After making a few steps soundlessly, she glanced back and found that the zombie leader was still gazing at the spot where she broke the branch, so she sighed slightly in relief and turned back, leaving quietly.


    After walking out on the highway alarmedly, she quietly ran further away for one or two miles, and then finally breathed a long sigh of relief.


    After that, she began worrying again. She had managed to make herself invisible and escape indeed, but the zombie leader was still waiting there for her to come out of her space again.


    And as a matter of fact, how should she make herself visible again?


    Lin Qiao tried touching her arm and found that she was able to touch herself. But, why was she looking like a transparent plastic bag?


    Did she need to re-enter her space and come out again?


    She flashed into her space once she had this idea. The moment she got in, she found that her body was no longer transparent. She saw her black battle bruises, black gun, and her pale, bluish skin.


    As her body had turned back the way it was before, Lin Qiao exited her space again.


    And this time, she was visible as she had expected; her body was no longer transparent. It turned out that she had found the way to make herself visible again.


    She decided to retry the invisible state, so that she could use that skill whenever she wanted in the future. After all, that was an advanced skill, and she needed to master it.


    She re-entered her space and closed her eyes to sense the outside world. She kept her eyes closed and said ''out'' silently; with that, she was out again.


    After that, she lowered her head to find that she was again transparent.


    Then, she came back into her space once again and opened her eyes to check herself. After trying for a few times, she finally figured the whole process out.


    If she wanted to make herself invisible, she needed first to close her eyes in her space and sense the outside world, then bring herself out of her space by using her willpower while her eyes stayed closed. After that, she would become invisible to other creatures and would see her as a transparent figure. Furthermore, she would be released from the invisible state directly when she re-entered her space.


    So, her eyes turned out to be the key!


    Later on, she exited her space once again and brought out Xie Dong''s car. Then, she went back and showed up right beside Wu Yueling.


    Earlier on, she had discovered another skill, which was being able to appear in any spot inside her space. That was the reason why she could directly show up by Wu Yueling''s side.


    Seeing that she showed up suddenly, Wu Yueling widely opened her eyes, staring at her with curiosity.


    Lin Qiao lowered her head to look at the girl, then gently held a hand of hers. After that, she pointed at the sky with her other hand, and then brought Wu Yueling and the rabbit in her arms out of the space.


    They showed up in the car. After coming out, Lin Qiao put the kid on the front seat.


    Wu Yueling felt that her eyes were suddenly dazzled. When she saw again, she found that she was in a strange place. She tightened her face nervously and looked around. After realizing that she was sitting in a car, she looked out of the window and saw the strange woods and the broad road outside the car.


    Facing a strange environment, the little girl became nervous right away.


    She straightened her waist and held the rabbit tightly while glancing around. Meanwhile, she began wriggling on her seat, and at last, fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao who sat beside her.


    Seeing her like this, Lin Qiao understood that this kid needed some sense of security, so she bent slightly and buckled her up.


    After that, she looked at Wu Yueling while trying to communicate with her by using sign language and speaking in her heart at the same time. ''I brought you out to play, so you won''t feel bored in there. It''s alright, you''re safe here.'' Lin Qiao said to the kid.


    Lin Qiao thought that she wouldn''t encounter as many zombies as she had in the city while driving here on this road, so it was relatively safer for the little one. Therefore, she decided to bring the girl out and let her see the outside world.


    However, she didn''t expect the little one to react.


    Seeing the little one''s tightened body, Lin Qiao gently rubbed her head, then sat back into the driver''s seat and started the car, preparing to drive.


    The girl had autism, so the environment influenced her greatly. It was inevitable for her to feel nervous in a strange place. However, Lin Qiao couldn''t let the little one stay in her space all the time. More or less, the kid needed to come out to see some fresh things.

 66 Passing by A Small Town

    Lin Qiao didn''t know if Xie Dong was nearby, but she had no time to look for him even if she did. However, she wasn''t worried, because she had told him to go straight South earlier on, so they might run into each other at some point.


    She drove the car in the direction that Xie Dong had mentioned before.


    Earlier on, she had turned the car around on the broken bridge to take another path under Xie Dong''s guidance. But, now that Xie Dong wasn''t with her, she had no choice but to take out the map and study it.


    There was a small town nearby, so she needed to take a detour of at least thirty miles to get on the highway which led to the South through another entrance.


    Guided by the road sign, she drove toward the small town.


    Half an hour later, she finally found the entrance to the town. The closer they got to the town, the more zombies she saw walking on the road. Those zombies were all attracted by the car once they heard the noise it made; they could even sense Wu Yueling''s aroma from the car.


    However, they didn''t dare to approach, because the car was surrounded by Lin Qiao''s vibe.


    After half an hour of driving, Wu Yueling had calmed down. Her body was no longer straightened, but was huddled in the seat as she gazed at the scenery which was moving backward outside the window.


    The little gray rabbit curled up on her lap quietly, letting her brush the fur on its back slowly with her fingers.


    Lin Qiao drove into the small town. While driving, she was also reading the road signs and the map which was spread on the steering wheel by her.


    After a few turns, she arrived at the central area of the town, which used to be the busiest part of this small town. The streets, buildings, and parks in this area all remained recognizable.


    According to the map, after passing through this area, she would see another road in the front; after driving seven or eight miles on that road, she would be able to enter the highway which she was on before through a branch nearby.


    While driving, Lin Qiao''s ears twitched suddenly as she seemed to hear something from the housing estate not far ahead. When the car was getting closer and closer to that area, Lin Qiao began to sense some thoughts brokenly.


    ''So hungry¡­Hungry¡­Food¡­There''s food¡­''


    ''In here¡­Food¡­So hungry¡­''


    ''So hungry¡­So hungry¡­Hungry¡­Delicious¡­So delicious¡­''


    Lin Qiao knew that these simple and repetitive pieces of information were coming from some zombies'' instinctive thoughts the moment she heard them. But, what made her feel strange was that she had sensed a lot of similar thoughts from that direction. However, these thoughts seemed to come from a large number of zombies instead of just one.


    ''Hungry¡­Eat¡­Want to eat¡­Hungry¡­''


    ''Food¡­Here¡­Here¡­Food¡­Hungry¡­''


    As Lin Qiao was trying to figure something out, she suddenly sensed a different thought which was mixed among the zombie thoughts.


    "Roar!"


    ''Piss off! Get away from me! Piss off!''


    An angry roar was heard from a distance away, made Lin Qiao stop out of curiosity.


    She could sense the emotion contained in that voice, which was that of extreme anger and anxiousness. The anger she could understand, but why was the voice''s owner so anxious? And, that voice seemed to come from a zombie as well, but it was meant for the other zombies.


    Lin Qiao felt more and more curious. Apart from the voice, she also sensed a strange vibe.


    She turned to look at Wu Yueling, then decided to go and take a look¡­ because that vibe she sensed belonged to a human being.


    She turned the car around, then drove toward where those thoughts and that voice came from.


    Once she drove into the gate of the housing estate, she saw a large group of ordinary zombies. They had crowded around the entrance of a small building, seeming to want to swarm in, but were stopped by something.


    ''Eat¡­Eat¡­Eat¡­''


    ''Want to eat¡­Want¡­Food¡­Smells good¡­''


    ''Smells nice¡­Hungry¡­Eat¡­''


    ''Food¡­in there¡­Food¡­Food¡­''


    Once near here, Lin Qiao began to receive more information which gave her a headache.


    She parked the car aside, then turned to Wu Yueling. Wu Yueling had already begun to feel nervous as she saw so many zombies. Seeing that Lin Qiao had turned to her, she stared at her as well.


    Lin Qiao wanted to unfasten the seatbelt for her, but this move startled the kid.


    She grabbed Lin Qiao''s hands tightly, trying to stop her from unfastening the seat belt. Meanwhile, she pressed her lips together and raised her head to look at Lin Qiao with a pair of slightly red, widely opened begging eyes. She was afraid that Lin Qiao might throw her into that crowd of zombies after unfastening the seat belt.


    Lin Qiao gave the kid a hand signal while looking at her in the eyes and talking to her in mind.


    ''I''ll bring you into the space. Don''t be afraid,'' She said to the child.


    Maybe Wu Yueling heard what Lin Qiao said or she understood the meaning of the hand signal, or received the message delivered through Lin Qiao''s eyes, she tamely loosened her hands and let Lin Qiao unfasten her seat belt.


    After that, Lin Qiao held her, and then they both disappeared from the car.


    "Roar!"


    ''Go away!'' That voice was heard again.


    Maybe because the angry zombie had sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe, it now seemed to be even more irritated than before.


    After sending the little one into the space, Lin Qiao came back out immediately.


    Then, she opened the car door and came out of the car, turning to walk toward the zombie crowd.


    The ones in the outer circle were some ordinary zombies which were wearing ragged clothes and covered in rotten wounds. They stepped away automatically and slowly when they sensed Lin Qiao approaching.


    Lin Qiao sensed the aroma of a living human being once she got off the car. As she had thought, a living human being was in this place!


    In the post-apocalyptic world, some human survivors would be forced into a room or corner by a giant zombie crowd sometimes, hiding behind a mere door. These people could either wait for the zombies to break in and kill them, or luckily expect a zombie-hunting troop. In the latter case, they might have a chance to survive.


    This world had suffered five years of misery since the apocalyptic era began. In the first year, every large base would send out search and rescue teams to save people, but they had stopped doing that now.


    To the people who were stuck in a hopeless situation, a regular army from a base would be the best thing to expect. If it were a zombie-hunting troop which showed up, the situation could still be under control; but if it were those post-apocalyptic robbers, the ones waiting for help should better just kill themselves.


    But this time, what made Lin Qiao curious was the owner of that furious voice. She wondered what kind of zombie had uttered those thoughts and roars.


    She didn''t only sense the anger and anxiousness in that voice, but also felt that it was trying to protect something, and that was the reason why it had been preventing this crowd of ordinary zombies from rushing up.


    As Lin Qiao got closer and closer, those ordinary zombies moved away and gradually made a path for her. However, they weren''t willing to just leave; they stayed aside, roaring toward the building, reaching out their arms and seeming to grab something.


    "Roar!" The strange zombie roared at the same time, its voice sounding highly alert.


    It was already very angry before, but didn''t seem to be so vigilant. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell why, but she knew that those ordinary zombies weren''t the reason.


    So, she was even more curious.


    She walked past those ordinary zombies, then headed toward the stairs. After that, she found that there was an iron gate before the stairway. No wonder those ordinary zombies couldn''t get in! It turned out that the iron gate was blocking their way!

 67 The Zombie Which Had Lost Its Memory

    When all the ordinary zombies stepped away from the iron gate under the suppression given by her vibe, Lin Qiao saw what was behind it clearly.


    She saw a female zombie with disheveled hair standing behind the gate. Its face was undamaged but ghastly pale; the rims of its eyes had turned dark-purple, and its lips had a deep purple color as well. It was baring its sharp teeth, staring at Lin Qiao alertly with its pale gray eyes.


    The female zombie looked about twenty-seven. Judging by its undamaged face, it used to be a beautiful woman, but was so skinny that its cheeks were sunken. It wasn''t tall, around five feet and six inches; it was wearing a skirt suit which was simple but fashionable styled, and seemed to be not cheap. It might have been worth one or two thousand bucks in the old world.


    It stood behind the gate with bare feet. Seeing Lin Qiao approach, it alertly took a step backward, but didn''t turn and leave immediately.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to sniff at the air, then sensed the human scent from a room on the left side on the second floor. That living human being should be on the second floor. However, the female zombie behind the iron gate didn''t rush up to the source of that scent, but seemed to want to come out!


    Lin Qiao looked at the female zombie up and down, then found that even though it had turned into a zombie, its clothing wasn''t messy. Except for the blood stain on its white shirt in the shoulder area, its clothes continued to be quite neat. It looked a little dusty, but wasn''t covered in blood like the other zombies were.


    And judging by its expression, it seemed to be intelligent.


    Based on its vibe, Lin Qiao figured that it was a level-two intelligent zombie, and was about to reach level-three.


    "Roar!" The level-two female zombie uttered deep roars from its throat as it saw that Lin Qiao was getting closer. Its voice was filled with an intense fear toward her, but it was still trying to warn her not to come any closer.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but admire this female zombie. It was so frightened, but refused to leave, and even roared out to warn her.


    It seemed that it didn''t want Lin Qiao to go upstairs and get near to that living human being. It was afraid that she would eat that human, wasn''t it?


    She had clearly sensed the female zombie''s desire to protect that human being. She was surprised by the fact that a zombie who wanted to protect a human actually existed. She also wondered how that zombie controlled its instinctive desire and prevented itself from eating that human.


    While pondering, Lin Qiao ignored the female zombie''s roar and walked to the iron gate, then raised her claw to swing at the lock of the gate. Next, the lock broke along with a clang, and then she pushed the gate open to walk in.


    "Roar?" The female zombie stared at the gate lock which was suddenly broken by Lin Qiao, its face filled with confusion. It had tried for a long time but failed to break this lock, yet Lin Qiao did it so quickly and easily.


    "Roar!" However, it turned extremely anxious when it saw her walking in. Step by step, it began to draw back upstairs.


    It wanted to stop Lin Qiao, but didn''t dare to make any reckless moves. It was suppressed by Lin Qiao''s powerful vibe which had been giving it a great sense of danger. It worried that she might destroy it for good once it attacked.


    However, it could never let Lin Qiao go upstairs, because something that it wanted to protect was there.


    It stepped back as Lin Qiao approached. Gradually, both of them were closer and closer to the second floor.


    A large group of ordinary zombies followed behind them. However, these zombies had difficulty in moving, let alone climbing stairs. They shambled toward upstairs, but fell after making a few steps and pushed down the ones around them. Before they all fell to the ground, they merely managed to climb two or three steps.


    "Roar!"


    ''Stay away!'' The female zombie roared at Lin Qiao while drawing back.


    Lin Qiao looked at it in surprise, because she had sensed its thoughts clearly. The fact that it was able to deliver clear thoughts proved that it was really quite smart.


    Lin Qiao wondered if she could communicate with it.


    She stopped, trying to let it know that she had no hostility. Then, she roared at the female zombie.


    "Roar?"


    ''Can you understand me?'' She asked.


    The female zombie didn''t relax its vigilance when Lin Qiao stopped moving, but paused after hearing Lin Qiao''s question.


    "Roar?"


    ''Understand what?'' It responded.


    Lin Qiao stared at it with surprise. She didn''t expect her to really understand what she said.


    "Roar?"


    ''Do you remember who you are?'' She continued to ask.


    This question made the female zombie show a confused look. Then, it began mumbling as its voice came from its throat.


    "Hrr¡­ loo¡­"


    ''Who am I? Who am I? Who am I¡­''


    While hearing her repeating this question, Lin Qiao also sensed the confusion in her heart. It seemed that this zombie had lost its memories before death, and forgotten who it used to be.


    "Roar?" Lin Qiao spent a while gazing at this female zombie which was repeating that question over and over again, then gave it another roar.


    "Roar?"


    ''Do you know what you are now?'' She asked.


    Hearing her, the female zombie came back to its senses, understanding Lin Qiao''s question.


    "Roar, roar¡­"


    ''I know, I have become a zombie. I''m dead,'' she said.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly turned back to roar at those ordinary zombies which attempted to approach. Her voice contained anger and threat.


    Those zombies began shambling backward when they heard her roar, but because of the stair steps under their feet, they again fell, even creating a zombie pyramid.


    Looking at these silly zombies, Lin Qiao felt a little speechless.


    After watching the ordinary zombies fall down, she turned back to roar at the female zombie again.


    "Roar?"


    ''Have you lost your memories?'' She asked.


    The female zombie stared at Lin Qiao confusedly, then nodded with a complicated expression.


    In fact, it was aware that it had become a zombie since it woke up a couple of days ago. It knew that it was the post-apocalyptic era now, and also had general knowledge that normal human beings should possess. However, it had forgotten its own name, and didn''t know who it was. No one was there to tell it about that either.


    This place as surrounded by a group of ordinary zombies, and it couldn''t communicate with them.


    This female zombie also knew that a human being was on the second floor. That was a child, a little child. The moment it saw that child, a strong sense of familiarity emerged from its heart. So, it immediately realized that it could be its child, because it wouldn''t feel that way if the child wasn''t related to it.


    Most importantly, that child called it ''Mom''!


    The child''s scent made it feel starving, but every time it thought about eating the child, it would hear a voice tell her¡ª''You can''t eat him! You can''t! You won''t eat him, and you will keep him safe! You will protect him from the other zombies.''


    However, that child wasn''t in good condition. He had no water or food, and had already fainted from hunger. The female zombie was anxious about it. It wanted to go out to find some food for the child, but didn''t dare to leave him here alone.


    What was more important was that it couldn''t open the iron gate downstairs.


    Therefore, it had been trying to get out of the iron gate these days, but never succeeded. It had only become a low-level zombie. Even though its mind was still clear, its limbs weren''t flexible enough. It was just a little nimbler than those ordinary zombies, but it didn''t shamble when it walked at least.

 68 A Zombie’s Protection

    Lin Qiao could sense the female zombie''s complicated thoughts, and had learned of her situation. It turned out that she was a newborn zombie. For a zombie who had completed her transformation only days ago, the flexibility of her body was already not bad. Another good thing was that her mind continued to be clear, even though her memories were lost.


    Furthermore, she was trying to protect the human being upstairs. So, Lin Qiao thought that she could somehow save this female zombie from becoming a real monster.


    "Roar!"


    ''You''re protecting the human upstairs,'' Lin Qiao looked at her and said affirmatively.


    "Roar!"


    ''You can''t eat him! He''s my child!''


    Hearing Lin Qiao mention the human being on the second floor, the female zombie immediately become anxious again and roared at Lin Qiao.


    To her, Lin Qiao was a zombie that she could communicate with, but she didn''t know if encountering her was a good thing or not. If the latter were a human being who wasn''t a robber, she could stay silent and let her take the child. However, Lin Qiao was a higher level zombie; so even though the latter had shown no hostility, she didn''t dare to be careless.


    As of now, the female zombie believed that Lin Qiao was here for the child as she had expected, and that zombies had only one reason to approach human beings.


    She stared at Lin Qiao nervously. At that point, she was actually no longer afraid of the latter, as she thought that the child might be eaten by her. The only thing she could think at the moment was how to keep the child away from her.


    Lin Qiao nodded while observing the female zombie. Her body was in good shape, and a powerful maternal love had been radiating from her, creating a magical vibe. The woman who had never given birth would never have such a vibe.


    "Roar!"


    ''Relax, I don''t eat human beings. But, your child is barely breathing¡­'' Lin Qiao roared at the female zombie.


    She sensed that the child''s breath was becoming faint. Wu Yueling was in the same condition back when she found her.


    Hearing Lin Qiao say that the child was barely breathing, the female zombie immediately showed a concerned look. However, she still couldn''t let herself believe Lin Qiao, and kept staring at her alertly.


    Lin Qiao understood her concern. So, she thought for a moment and then gave the female zombie another roar.


    "Roar!"


    ''I''ll be back in a second,'' she said.


    Next, she disappeared right in front of the female zombie.


    ''Eh?'' The female zombie was stunned.


    After entering her space, Lin Qiao saw that Wu Yueling was sitting on the couch. She glanced at the girl but didn''t say anything to her. Instead, she found a clean small bowl, walked to the lakeside to wash it, then fetched a bowlful of water and exited her space.


    When the female zombie paused because of Lin Qiao''s sudden disappearance, the zombie crowd downstairs began rushing up again as the suppression given by Lin Qiao was gone.


    "Roar!" The female zombie immediately came back to her senses, and roared at those ordinary zombies. However, before her voice faded, Lin Qiao came out of thin air.


    Seeing Lin Qiao, the female zombie and those ordinary zombies were all stupefied.


    ''Is this high-level zombie playing some kind of game with us?'' The female zombie wondered.


    Then, Lin Qiao showed the female zombie a piece of paper with words written on it¡ª''This is clean water. You can feed it to your child. If you want to save him, you had better let me see him. Otherwise, you can wait for him to die.''


    The look on the female zombie''s face changed when she read that.


    She understood what was written on the paper, but didn''t know if she should trust Lin Qiao. However, she knew that Lin Qiao was right about the fact that the child was barely breathing, and that if she didn''t do something now, the child might die.


    Lin Qiao offered her a chance to save the child at this critical moment, and let her choose to believe it or not. She didn''t rush her, holding that bowl of water while quietly looking at her and waiting calmly.


    The female zombie struggled for a short while, then chose to believe her. After all, she couldn''t think of a better idea than that. She couldn''t go out to find food and water for the child, or take him out.


    She took over the bowl from Lin Qiao''s hands, then gave her a roar.


    "Roar!"


    ''You can''t get too close!'' She said.


    After that, she worriedly walked upstairs. While walking, she kept turning back to look at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao nodded to her. As she requested, Lin Qiao kept the distance of three or four meters between herself and the female zombie while following her up.


    She came here to save the child, so she surely couldn''t stimulate the female zombie.


    The female zombie was relieved slightly when she saw that Lin Qiao had distanced herself from her. After getting on the second floor, she kept walking toward the end of the corridor.


    Lin Qiao followed behind her and saw that she stopped before the door at the end of the corridor. She raised a hand to open the door, and then walked in.


    Lin Qiao walked to the door, but didn''t go in directly. Instead, she stayed by the door and waited while looking inside. She saw a living room and two bedroom doors. The female zombie had walked into one of the two bedrooms.


    She waited by the door for a while, and sensed the human scent from the bedroom which the female zombie walked inside. She didn''t know how the female zombie fed the water to the child, but soon, the latter came out with an empty bowl. She stood by the bedroom door, staring straight at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the group of ordinary zombies which had been coming onto the second floor, then walked into the flat and locked the door.


    After that, she disappeared from the living room, leaving the female zombie standing there, dumbfounded. However, before the female zombie recovered from the shock, two figures showed up suddenly.


    Those were Lin Qiao and a little human girl standing by her side. The female zombie looked at them and widened her eyes, which looked a little scary.


    Wu Yueling felt a little uncomfortable after being brought out from the Lin Qiao''s space. Seeing the female zombie in front of her, she automatically hid behind Lin Qiao''s legs.


    The female zombie couldn''t have imagined that Lin Qiao was with a human being as well. She had the urge to rush up to bite Wu Yueling the moment she sensed her strange scent, but her judgment suppressed that urge. As Wu Yueling was just an unknown little girl to her, she didn''t feel the strong resistance from her heart when she wanted to bite her.


    "Em-hem," Lin Qiao coughed when she noticed the expression on the female zombie''s face.


    Woken up by Lin Qiao''s voice, the female zombie widely opened her eyes to look at her, then at Wu Yueling who was hiding behind her trustingly; with that, she felt confused again.


    ''What is going on? Why is this zombie taking a human child with her? Is she her daughter? And the girl seems very dependent on her!'' She wondered.


    Lin Qiao sensed all her thoughts, and felt speechless about the fact that the female zombie thought of her as the little one''s mother. She wondered how the female zombie would regard her if she knew that Wu Yueling was abducted by her, and that the previous owner of her body had raped the girl''s father¡­


    She took out a pen then began writing on the paper¡ª''As you can see, I have a space. This little girl has been in my space all the time. You should put your child in my space, then follow me. Who do you plan to give your child to? Is his daddy still alive?''


    After reading her note, the female zombie''s eyes dimmed as she shook her head.


    She couldn''t answer Lin Qiao''s questions. She didn''t remember anyone. She didn''t remember who she was, or who her family and friends were. Neither did she know who the child''s father was. Therefore, she had no idea whom she should give the child to. She wanted to take the child with her, but she was worried that she might lose control and bite him.

 69 Strange Energy

    Lin Qiao glanced at the female zombie, then wrote on the paper¡ª''Since you don''t remember anything, you can take the child with you for now. You won''t hurt him as long as I''m here.''


    The female zombie looked at Lin Qiao in surprise. She didn''t think that the latter could see what she was thinking. She thought that the latter had guessed it, but what she didn''t know was that Lin Qiao knew her every thought clearly.


    ''Maybe I can help you send your child to a base. The bases are where the human survivors should be living in. Living with two zombies won''t be safe enough for your child.'' Lin Qiao wrote on the paper.


    The female zombie nodded. She understood that sending the child to a base was the best solution, but loathed to do that. She felt that the child was his son, and couldn''t convince herself to give him to other people.


    Even though her current condition didn''t allow her to raise the child, she truly wasn''t willing to send him away.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her. She understood how the female zombie felt as a mother, so she thought briefly and then wrote on the paper¡ª''You might be able to keep him if you don''t want to send him away. But, that will be very dangerous. And, if you''re going to protect him, you need to grow stronger.''


    For both human beings and zombies, they couldn''t protect anyone or even themselves in this post-apocalyptic world without strength.


    The female zombie looked at Lin Qiao confusedly. She didn''t know how to strengthen herself. Although she had become a zombie, she had no idea about how a zombie should upgrade itself.


    Lin Qiao looked at the room behind the female zombie. She didn''t write anything this time, but asked the female zombie a question with her eyes, about whether she could get in to check on the child, and also about her next decision.


    If the female zombie let her in, that would mean that she was willing to take her son and follow her.


    The female zombie stared at Lin Qiao for a second while struggling inside. Then, she took two steps to the side and moved away from before the door.


    Seeing this, Lin Qiao walked passed the female zombie with Wu Yueling, into the bedroom. This bedroom was quite neat and tidy, probably because it had never been looted by the other human survivors. Many living goods and pieces of furniture were left in this room, all in good conditions.


    After walking into the room, she saw a little boy lying on the bed.


    She walked closer to see him more clearly. The boy was in a deep sleep, and looked one or two years younger than Wu Yueling, about three years old. His face was sallow, cheeks sunken, and the rims of his eyes were dark. Apart from all these, he looked as small as a two-year-old kid, albeit very skinny. At a glance, Lin Qiao knew that it was because of chronic malnutrition.


    The female zombie walked to the other side of the bed, also looking at the boy. She started becoming nervous when she saw Lin Qiao reaching her hand toward the child in bed. But soon, she found that Lin Qiao''s fingers were clean, without the dark, sharp black claws. So, she relaxed a little.


    Lin Qiao put her fingers on the boy''s neck side to feel his pulse, then found that it was already very weak, seeming about to disappear at any time.


    She took her hand back, prepared to exam the boy''s body condition further. But suddenly, she saw something strange.


    She tried not to look too surprised when she fixed her pure black eyes on the little boy''s stomach. Her eyes were sparkling with a cold light and filled with confusion.


    The female zombie had been observing Lin Qiao nervously, as she was afraid that Lin Qiao might suddenly hurt the boy. As she noticed that strange expression on her face, she immediately turned more nervous.


    Lin Qiao felt her panic, so she slightly raised a hand to signal for the female zombie to calm down while her eyes were continued fixing on the boy''s stomach.


    When she stared at the little boy''s stomach, she was looking at a very faint greenness which was flowing inside the boys'' stomach.


    She didn''t know what it was, but it looked familiar. In order to confirm, she slightly bent down, lifted the boy''s blanket, and then put her palm on his stomach.


    As she expected, she sensed a familiar energy through her palm. That was the energy she had felt down in the center of the lake in her space when she was tortured nearly to death.


    She closed her eyes to feel it carefully, and after about ten seconds, she finally confirmed one thing: this weak energy had been restoring the boy''s nearly dried up life-force. It seemed that the bowlful of water which she gave to the female zombie earlier was the source of this energy.


    She opened her eyes and took back her hand.


    Then, she took out the paper and started writing¡ª''The water I gave you earlier has healing power. It''s slowly restoring this boy''s vitality. I think he''ll wake up in three or four hours. You take him and come with me. I need to head South and can''t spend too long in here.''


    The female zombie''s pale gray eyes glowed as she read Lin Qiao''s note and learned that the water had healing power.


    She looked at Lin Qiao with surprise and expectation, hardly able to believe this.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then spread her hands and signaled for the female zombie to choose if she would leave with her now or not.


    Earlier on, she didn''t know that the lake water contained that energy. But, after the water altered her body condition, she could actually see the energy, which surprised her a lot.


    ''Why''s that? What exactly has happened to me?'' She wondered.


    Seeing the surprised look on the female zombie''s face, she shrugged and then wrote¡ª''I will bring everything in this room into my space. They''re all useful.''


    The female zombie nodded. It was the post-apocalyptic world, and who cared whom the things in this room belonged to? No one would come for these things even if they left them here.


    After getting her permission, Lin Qiao turned away from the bed and began emptying the room.


    Wu Yueling followed Lin Qiao closely the whole time. She saw the little boy lying in bed once she came in, and was looking at him curiously. A mysterious attraction seemed to always exist between children of the same age. Therefore, the moment Wu Yueling saw the boy who was only slightly younger than herself, her attention shifted to him from the female zombie.


    Now, as she saw that Lin Qiao walked away to collect the things in the room, she hurriedly reached out to drag Lin Qiao''s pants and followed her tightly. But, while walking behind Lin Qiao, she kept turning back to look at the boy in the bed.


    Lin Qiao rummaged in the room. She collected the kettle and all the cups and glasses on the table. Everything touched by her would vanish into thin air.


    It would be more understandable if it were a human being who had been collecting these things, but it was a little weird for a zombie to do so.


    She opened the closet and found quite some clothes in it; some were adult wear, and some were children''s. Those children''s clothes seemed to suit the little boy in the bed perfectly.


    After seeing these clothes, Lin Qiao put all of them into her space along with the closet itself.

 70 The Boy Wakes Up

    After collecting the table, chair, and other furniture pieces in the room, Lin Qiao glanced at the bed. Then, she turned back and walked out, collecting the things in the living room and the other bedroom.


    She didn''t miss the kitchen, sending it into her space.


    If Xie Dong were here, he could at least help her to start a fire. But, he wasn''t around at the moment, and the fire was the only thing she was lacking as of now.


    After emptying the entire flat, Lin Qiao went back into the bedroom. The female zombie was still standing by the bed, staring straight at the boy in the bed.


    Lin Qiao walked to the bed to check the little boy''s body condition, and found that the green energy was nearly consumed up. She now sensed much less lifelessness from the boy, and instead, a life-force which didn''t exist before was now radiating from his internal organs.


    ''I''ll bring him into my space now. You can follow me in to take a look first if you''re still worried.'' She wrote on the paper and showed it to the female zombie.


    The female zombie nodded in agreement after reading it.


    Lin Qiao walked to her and pressed a hand on her shoulder, then both of them disappeared from the bedroom.


    The female zombie couldn''t see colors; everything she saw was black and white. For a moment, her eyes were dazzled, and after that, she reopened them to see a grassland, which was gray in her eyes.


    She turned to look around in surprise, then found that this was such a large space, which contained not only a grassland, but also a lake.


    She also saw some furniture pieces placed in an area; some came from the flat that she lived in, and the rest she had never seen.


    ''You wait here. I''ll go bring the boy in along with the bed.'' Lin Qiao wrote on the paper. Before the female zombie could respond, Lin Qiao and Wu Yueling disappeared again.


    As Lin Qiao vanished suddenly, the female zombie instantly showed a nervous look. She took a circle but failed to find her, so she could only try to control her emotions while silently praying for the former to not lie to her.


    Fortunately, she only waited for a few seconds before a bed showed up on the grass right before her. However, no one was on the bed. However, right after that, Lin Qiao showed up as well; one arm of hers held the boy, and the other held the little girl.


    Lin Qiao let go of Wu Yueling''s hand and let her run away, then turned around to put the boy in the bed.


    Seeing that Lin Qiao had brought the boy in as she had promised, the female zombie let out a long sigh of relief.


    Hearing her sigh, Lin Qiao took out the paper and the pen after setting the boy, and wrote¡ª''My name is Lin Qiao. Give yourself a name, if you can''t remember your old one.''


    The female zombie shook her head. Judging by her expression, she really couldn''t remember her own name. But as for naming herself, she had one flashing across her mind just now when she read Lin Qiao''s note.


    Lin Qiao sensed her thoughts, so she wrote ''Junjun'' on the paper, then showed it to the female zombie.


    The female zombie nodded after reading it, and then suddenly gazed at the other with surprise.


    She had that name in mind only for a moment, but why would Lin Qiao know about that? She had this strange feeling since before, but didn''t realize it until she saw Lin Qiao write ''Junjun'' on the paper.


    After sensing her current thoughts, Lin Qiao wrote to explain¡ª''I can sense the thoughts of all lower-level zombies, including yours.''


    She felt that she didn''t need to keep that secret from Junjun, as nothing bad would happen if the latter knew. But, she didn''t tell Jujun that she could sense the thoughts of human beings too. And, even she herself couldn''t tell if that was her superpower or a just regular ability of zombies.


    Junjun stared at her, her face filled with shock.


    She wondered if all higher level zombies could do that or if that was exclusive to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao didn''t tell her anything more about that, but turned back to look at the bed. Abruptly, she held the boy up again, then walked to Junjun as the latter stared at her confusedly. After that, she put the boy in Junjun''s arms, then crooked her fingers to signal for her to follow her.


    Next, she dragged the bed quite easily and walked toward the small space.


    Junjun carefully held the boy and followed behind Lin Qiao. She looked ahead and saw a black hole¡­


    It wasn''t exactly a hole, because its both sides were occupied by a white fog. It looked like a two-meters-tall, square-shaped hole in the middle of the fog, like a door.


    Seeing Lin Qiao easily lift the bed and drag it into the hole, Jujun had the words ''tough girl'' emerge in her head. She pondered upon it then felt that she should replace ''girl'' with ''female zombie'', so she should call Lin Qiao ''tough female zombie''!


    Lin Qiao regretted after dragging the bed in.


    She had realized that she should have taken out the things in the small space first. The room inside wasn''t large, so once the bed was put in, there was no room left for anything else. And now, the entrance had been blocked by the bed, behind which were a few tanks of gas and a pile of sundries. She now needed to move out the tanks!


    The problem was that the bed was stuck!


    She stood on the bed, silently looking at the few tanks behind it. Now, she could only carry them out by going over the bed.


    Junjun stood outside the entrance and stuck her head in to see that Lin Qiao seemed not to know what to do. However, she couldn''t help her as she was holding the boy, and could only curiously observe the small space.


    Meanwhile, she wondered why Lin Qiao had a small space inside her space. Was it a double space?


    Lin Qiao carried out the things inside the small space, and went over the bed to put them outside. Then, she moved the bed further in and piled those sundries under it.


    After being done with it, she waved at Junjun, then pointed at the bed, signaling her to put the boy on it.


    Junjun immediately walked in and held the boy to the bed, bending over to put him on it gently.


    Right at that moment, the eyelids of the little boy who was just laid on the bed moved slightly, and then he opened his eyes slowly.


    That was a pair of dim and expressionless eyes. However, these eyes didn''t show any fear when the boy saw Junjun''s zombie face, but glowed slightly. And then, the boy opened his mouth to utter a sound.


    "Uh¡­ Mommy!" The boy''s voice was weak, but he sounded to be relying heavily on Junjun.


    Junjun''s heart melted when she heard his voice. Even though she didn''t remember anyone, she would never forget that feeling. It was like that this boy was the most important thing to her.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the little boy in surprise as well when she noticed that he had woken up.


    She saw that his eyes were dim and unfocused, but couldn''t detect any fear from those eyes when he looked at Junjun, whose appearance had changed.


    She then took out the paper and wrote a line. However, instead of showing that to Junjun, she directly put the piece of paper in her hand. After that, she picked up the small bowl which she gave to Junjun before, then turned and walked out of the small space.

 71 Eat or Not Ea

    Junjun unfolded the paper to read the few lines written on it.


    ''I have some strawberries in my space which edible for human beings. I''ll go pick some now. And, the water that the boy drank earlier on came from the lake. It has a healing effect for the boy, as well as for zombies. You can go to the lake to fetch some water to drink. It''ll improve your body condition a lot.''


    As Lin Qiao went to the strawberry field and picked a few large strawberries, Wu Yueling started following her again, with the rabbit held in her arms. She didn''t know why Lin Qiao let another strange zombie in, but she saw that they had brought the little boy in as well.


    Maybe because some strangers had come to this space which used to belong to only Lin Qiao and herself, Wu Yueling felt insecure again, so she wanted to follow the former around.


    Therefore, she ran to Lin Qiao when she saw her come out of the small space and walk toward the strawberry field.


    After picking a few large strawberries and putting them in the bowl, Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Yueling, who had run up behind her, then headed to the lakeside.


    A while later, she sent the washed strawberries to the small space.


    Junjun was sitting on the bed. She fixed her eyes on the bowl which was held in Lin Qiao''s hand when she walked in. The strawberries in the bowl were exceptionally large. She couldn''t see the color of these strawberries, but she knew that they were mutant at a first glance due to their abnormally large size.


    She looked at Lin Qiao with hesitation, as she didn''t know if she should feed the boy these weird-looking fruits.


    Seeing the look in her eyes, Lin Qiao knew how she felt without needing to sense her thoughts. She pointed at Wu Yueling, who was on the outside, then wrote on the paper¡ª''That child has been eating these the whole time. You don''t need to worry. You can also go out to see if she''s eating or not.''


    Junjun glanced at the bowl of strawberries in Lin Qiao''s hand and thought for a moment, then carried the little boy and stood up to walk out of the small space and see Wu Yueling. As Lin Qiao said, she saw that Wu Yueling was eating a strawberry.


    After that, she turned back relievedly and walked up to Lin Qiao.


    The little boy hadn''t left Junjun''s arms since he woke up. He put his arms around her neck, not seeming to mind her dirty clothes and the blood stain on her shirt at all.


    However, he was scared when he turned his head and saw Lin Qiao''s damaged face. He immediately turned back to cradle his head on Junjun''s shoulder.


    "Em¡­" While doing that, he began weeping, but didn''t dare to cry loudly.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say as she accidentally scared the boy.


    ''Why''re you crying? I don''t want to look like this! This body belonged to someone else! I found myself like this when I woke up! That''s not my fault!'' She complained silently.


    Junjun felt a heartache once she heard the boy weep. However, she didn''t know what to do to comfort him other than simply pat him on his back.


    Lin Qiao had no other choice but to hand Junjun the bowl and walk out. But before leaving, she left Junjun another note¡ª''You stay here for now. I''ll go out to drive. If you need me, just roar. I''ll hear you.''


    After reading the note, Junjun glanced at the strawberries in her hand, then at the little boy in her arms.


    She hesitated for a while, then decided to let the boy eat these strawberries. After all, she had seen the little girl eating it just now, and nothing seemed to happen to her at all.


    She gently touched the little boy, then held the bowl up to his face.


    The little boy sneakily glanced back. After finding out that Lin Qiao was no longer here, he raised his head and was attracted by the sweet aroma of the strawberries.


    Lin Qiao exited her space with Wu Yueling, then went downstairs. Those ordinary zombies hadn''t gone far, and all turned back when they smelled the kid''s scent.


    "Roar!" Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and gave them a deep roar, her voice containing a strong warning.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, those zombies automatically drew back. The timider ones turned and left instantly, but some still stayed there, eyes fixed on Wu Yueling as they seemed unwilling to give up on eating her.


    Lin Qiao walked down the stairs, and those zombies followed while surrounding her and Wu Yueling, reluctant to leave.


    She came down to the first floor and walked out of the iron gate toward the car which she had parked by the entrance of the building. Then, she opened the door of the front seat, prepared to put the little one into the car.


    Suddenly, a figure leaped down from the second floor of another building, swiftly darting toward her on all fours like an animal.


    She quickly turned and shielded Wu Yueling behind her legs. Right when the figure pounced on her, she swung her arm and popped her claws.


    Puff! She gripped that creature''s face with her fingers spread, and her sharp claws had sunken deep into its temples.


    "Roar!" A weird raging roar was heard from that creature in her hand. Lin Qiao grasped its head and even lifted up it up, so its toes were barely touching the ground. However, it didn''t surrender, fiercely waving its limbs and trying to scratch Lin Qiao.


    Before its roar faded, a clear puffing noise could be heard as Lin Qiao clenched her fingers and crushed the head of this zombie, which seemed to have entered level-three not long ago.


    In fact, Lin Qiao had no idea that she had such a great grip strength. She was disgusted by the stench that came from that zombie''s mouth, so she unwittingly put forth her strength through her fingers. Yet unexpectedly, she crushed its head directly.


    Thud! She dug out the nucleus in that zombie''s head with the other hand while having a look of disgust in her face, then swung her arm and threw the zombie head far away.


    Witnessing this, the other zombies which surrounded her closely all stepped back, not daring to approach again. They were probably scared by the indescribably fierce vibe that Lin Qiao generated when she crushed the zombie''s head just now.


    Lin Qiao had no idea that she just had generated a strong and dangerous vibe just now. She put the zombie nucleus on her palm, which turned into powders in the next second and drifted away.


    A faint warmth flew across her body, then returning to her brain. Nothing happened after that. Simply speaking, the energy contained in that zombie nucleus was too little for her to even sense it!


    After she finished off the zombie neatly and quickly, Lin Qiao wiped her hand on the back of her own cloth, then turned to put Wu Yueling into the car and rub her back conveniently. The girl''s body was a little stiff already.


    Judging by her glazed expression and stiff body, she was frightened by what had happened just now.


    Lin Qiao put her on the front seat, fastened the safety belt for her, then closed the car door. After that, she walked to the other side of the car, opened the door of the driver''s seat, and sat inside.


    Then she started the car, turned it around, and drove out of this housing estate. But as she prepared to leave this area, she suddenly spotted a convenience store. So, she stopped again, took Wu Yueling into the store, and collected all useful things in it before driving on.

 72 It’s Heading South

    While Lin Qiao was driving forward, a military off-road vehicle drove onto the highway which was still guarded by the level-five zombie, then stopped before the bodies of the few robbers. Meng Yue and Wu Chengyue got off the car, looking at the three bodies; two of the three bodies were headless.


    Wu Chengyue frowned slightly, then walked to the bodies expressionlessly and began examining them one after another.


    "These people were all robbers. Judging by the stage of decomposition, they''ve been dead for three days. The heads of these two were cut off quite neatly, which doesn''t look like something zombies would do. The other one seems to have been killed by a zombie though, as his heart was dug out by claws," he said.


    He stood before the fat man''s body with one hand before his chest and the other supporting his chin. While speaking, he pointed at the three bodies, also turning the fat man''s body over with his foot.


    At the sight of these bodies, Wu Chengyue learned what had happened to these robbers. Like the other two, the fat man had his brain eaten and stomach emptied; but the large hole on his back proved that he died when a zombie dug his heart out.


    Wu Chengyue then turned to the two headless bodies. He also saw the two heads which were thrown to the side, with no brain matter left in them.


    "They may have encountered a higher level zombie. It was probably that level-five zombie leader. But¡­ why were they stripped?" Meng Yue looked at the three bodies which were wearing nothing but underwear and wondered.


    Did that zombie leader have a weird hobby of stripping corpses? What did that a zombie need those clothes for? None of these clothes were left on the scene.


    Wu Chengyue carefully observed the surrounded environment, then shook his head and responded, "I don''t know."


    Then, he turned to Meng Yue and asked, "Didn''t you feel anything? Have you felt Ling Ling?"


    Meng Yue closed her eyes, then slightly raised her right hand, palm up. A tiny grass grew out of her palm and swayed slightly as if it was blown by a wind. After that, it pointed at one side of the road.


    "Didn''t it go straight? Did it take a detour?" Wu Chengyue asked, sounding a little surprised.


    Meng Yue nodded and said, "This highway is probably blocked somewhere in the front, so it took a detour. I think there''s a bridge up ahead."


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Bridge? Is that female zombie afraid of water? Why did it take a detour?"


    Meng Yue glanced at the three bodies, then turned to walk back to the vehicle and said, "I don''t know. We should just hurry up and try to catch up Ling Ling. If I''m right, that female zombie should have gone through that small town over there."


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then turned around immediately and followed her back into the car. After sitting inside, he ordered one of his soldiers to turn the car around and head to the branch road beside the highway.


    "That female zombie seems to be moving South the whole time, as if it has a purpose," said Meng Yue while feeling strange about it.


    After chasing that female zombie for quite some days, the two of them had discovered that it had been moving in the same direction the whole time. They found that it was heading straight south without making any turns, and had been taking the shortest ways.


    Wu Chengyue dropped his eyelids, pondering over Meng Rue''s words. "For whatever reason, it''s heading South¡­ But, why did it take my Ling Ling with her?" He said.


    "Doesn''t matter why it took Ling Ling. We can only try our best to find it as soon as possible. After all, we don''t know what it might do to Ling Ling during this time. And, I''m afraid that she might be in a bad condition. She''s an introverted kid, and has autism¡­ Her mental state may affect her physical condition. I''m really worried about that," said Meng Yue.


    Hearing her, Wu Chengyue''s face darkened immediately. He had the same worry as Meng Yue the whole time. He knew his daughter well enough; he knew that she wouldn''t even let the familiar people near her. But now, she was kidnapped by an ugly female zombie. He could imagine how scared she must be right now, and was also worried that her mental state might fail to bear what was happening and cause some severe problems.


    Food was his another concern. Meng Yue could sense that the seed inside Wu Yueling''s body was still alive, meaning that Wu Yueling was still alive. But, what he worried about the most was that she might have fallen into a coma already.


    He just couldn''t imagine that that female zombie would try finding human food for his daughter. He even doubted if the zombie''s space had oxygen in it, and thought that maybe living people would stay in a coma once they entered its space.


    Wu Chengyue had been keeping these thoughts to himself and telling himself that his daughter was fine. But now, he felt depressed on hearing Meng Yue say it out, even though he had always been a calm and confident person.


    But fortunately, he had a strong mind as one of the leaders of a base. So, he soon restrained the negative thoughts in his mind.


    At least, his daughter was still alive at the moment, and that was enough!


    Seeing the depressed look in his face, Meng Yue realized that she had said the wrong words. So, she corrected herself, "It''s alright though. My grass has sensed that Ling Ling is very close to us now, so we should be able to catch up with her very soon."


    At that moment, the soldier who was driving stopped the car suddenly, then turned back to report to Wu Chengyue, "Chief, I found something in the front."


    "What is it?" Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue look ahead together and asked.


    The soldier pointed at the ground and said, "There''re some new wheel ruts on the road."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue opened the car door and got off the car immediately.


    The car had driven off the highway and was moving toward the small town through the branch road. They felt strange when they heard the soldier mention new wheel ruts, so they got off the car to check the road.


    The road was covered in sands and dust, and two wheel ruts were on the middle of it. Judging by these wheel ruts, that car had only left not long ago.


    "Some people drove a car into this town. Were they zombie hunters? Or robbers?" Meng Yue stared at the wheel ruts on the road while saying.


    "We''ll find out what happened when we get there. Let''s go," Wu Chengyue glanced at the road calmly, then turned and got back in the car, Meng Yue following him inside.


    The wheel ruts they found were left by Lin Qiao''s car. No one had been in this small town since the old world ended, so the road was covered by accumulated dust and sand already.


    Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue couldn''t have figured out at all that the one who had driven a car into the town was a zombie named Lin Qiao, because they believed that only human beings could drive. Therefore, they guessed that the ones who drove into the town were either zombie hunters or robbers.


    It couldn''t be an army from a base, because they only found the traces left by one car. With that new puzzle, they continued driving toward the town.

 73 Pass By A Farm

    Lin Qiao hadn''t driven far before a farm came in her sight and attracted her attention.


    Maybe because of the remote location of the town, almost nobody had ever come here since the old world ended. Most of the people who lived in the town had turned into zombies, and the surviving ones had all run away. Therefore, this place was left empty.


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao had found many useful things in the store.


    The road she was driving on was located behind the town. She didn''t expect to pass by a farm; or to be precise, she didn''t think that there would be a seemingly large farm behind the town.


    She parked the car by the roadside, then stuck her head out to look at the vast expanse of green plants, even though the whole world was black and white in her eyes.


    Many vegetable plastic greenhouses were still present on the farm. They were abandoned long ago, so most of the plastic clothes on these greenhouses were gone, leaving the frames standing there.


    However, many vegetables were still growing under these frames disorderedly. The vegetables in each greenhouse were of one variety, and a total of about two acres of land in the farm was used for growing vegetables.


    At a glance, Lin Qiao found the plants of all kinds of beans, potatoes, peanuts, and all sorts of melons; but sadly, over ninety percent of them seemed to have mutated.


    She couldn''t see colors, but could feel the virus inside these plants. She was now not only able to sense the energy of the lake water, but was also able to sensitively feel many other things. That might have something to do with what happened to her down in the lake, but she couldn''t tell for sure.


    She got off the car and sent the Wu Yueling into her space, then brought Junjun out of the small space.


    She had made a rule for Junjun¡ªshe needed to come out of the space while Wu Yueling was in there, and if she wanted to get in, Lin Qiao would bring the little girl out.


    At that point, Junjun trusted Lin Qiao more than before, so she left the little boy in the space without worrying too much, and came out along with the latter.


    Once out, she found that they were standing by a roadside, facing a farm. In her eyes, the world was still colorless


    She glanced at Lin Qiao in confusion, then the latter gave her a note.


    ''Stay here. I''ll go down to take a look. You be careful in here. If any human being shows up, you should hide or find me.''


    After that, Lin Qiao leaped into the vegetable field. The field hadn''t been taken care of for long, so it was overgrown with weeds, looking very waste.


    When Lin Qiao arrived here, the thing she caught the first with her sharp eyes was the orchard on a hill on the other side. Only after that did she find the vegetable field down here.


    She was attracted by these vegetables because she suddenly wanted to see if there were still some edible vegetables which hadn''t mutated yet.


    She now had two living human beings in her space, and not just a single one. She couldn''t feed them both with nothing but strawberries, could she?


    Most importantly, she sensed the scent of something edible for her from the orchard, meaning some kind of animal was in there!


    After eating a mouse and a rabbit the last time, she hadn''t eaten anything for a long time. Even though the lack of food wouldn''t do much harm to her body, she always felt her teeth itchy, throat dry, and stomach grumbling, because she was staying with Wu Yueling all day.


    She wanted to eat meat!


    She glanced at the vegetables and weeds under her feet after stepping into the field. Walking for a while, she found some tangled vines covering the ground, but most of them carried the virus.


    She squatted to look at the pumpkins on the vines. The melons were gray in her eyes. Then, she turned back and glanced at the vines and leaves. The leaves were gray as well, but the vines were black, tinged with a weird purple color.


    She knew that the strange purple color she saw was the virus itself.


    She couldn''t see the virus before, but now she could.


    Except for the bright green color of the energy contained in the lake water, she could now see another color which living human beings couldn''t see.


    What made her feel strange was that both the pumpkins and the leaves were free from the virus, and the virus was concentrated in the vines.


    Why did that happen?


    Looking at the weird-looking large pumpkin in front of her, Lin Qiao scratched it with her claws.


    The size of the pumpkin was the same as that of normal pumpkins in the old world. What made it different from the normal pumpkins was the awfully twisted stripes on its skin.


    Lin Qiao touched the pumpkin with both hands, then confirmed that it was free from the virus. It just looked weird because of the stripes on its skin, seeming to form a twisted human face! No human being would dare to touch this pumpkin, because ''don''t touch strange mutant plants'' had become a common sense since the old world ended.


    The survivors in the post-apocalyptic world wouldn''t touch any plant unless they wanted to be affected by the zombie virus.


    Lin Qiao too felt that the plants in this post-apocalyptic world were strange. The ones which looked completely abnormal and mutant-like were actually non-poisonous, such as the strawberries in her space. And this pumpkin in front of her was mutant indeed, but the virus was contained in its vines instead of its fruits; which meant it was safe for healthy human beings as long as they didn''t touch its vines.


    At the same time, some plants looked normal, but weren''t.


    Lin Qiao looked at the hairy gourd plant next to her and found that it looked quite normal. She couldn''t see its color, but it was of a normal shape at least. However, Lin Qiao had sensed a metallic scent from its fruits.


    She didn''t know how would that metallic scent affect human beings, but she saw that it was emitted from the virus inside the plant.


    After glancing at the surrounding plants, Lin Qiao stood up and gently raised a foot, walking toward the orchard quietly. She had decided to fill her stomach first, then come back to study these vegetables and fruits.


    Two types of trees were planted in the orchard: peaches and pears. The orchard was large, but most of the trees in it were mutant, rich in the virus.


    Lin Qiao sniffed at these trees. Their scent wasn''t pleasant, but wasn''t repulsive to her either, probably because she too had the virus inside her body.


    Apart from the scent of the trees, she had also sensed something else from deep in the orchard. It was a sweet aroma which boosted her sense of hunger.


    She followed the aroma which attracted her, quietly walking toward its source. She might have automatically begun to prepare for the hunting, as she instinctively restrained her vibe and gently moved toward the source of the aroma like a cat, without making any sound.

 74 The Giant Snake

    When Lin Qiao moved closer and closer toward the source of the aroma, she suddenly sensed a strange scent which was like a strong smell of fish. She turned to look around, and just as she did that, she realized that the aroma she had been following was gone.


    She narrowed her eyes and stopped moving, because she felt that she was targeted by something. She couldn''t tell if the thing with the fishy smell had scared her prey away, or if the aroma was only a bait for luring her.


    She stayed where she was, silently sensing the surrounding environment.


    It was the noon as she stood in the middle of the pear orchard, surrounded by thriving pear trees. The ground was covered by grasses; a breeze blew across, rustling the leaves.


    At that moment, her feet sensed a very slight vibration. Human beings wouldn''t be able to sense that vibration, but she was no longer a human being.


    She didn''t turn back, but remained calm while looking at the front. She even casually glanced around, as if she was confused and was looking for something in front of her. However, her attention was concentrated on the area behind her.


    She felt that the slight vibration was coming closer and closer to her, and was quite strange. It wasn''t coming in waves, but seemed to be caused by constant friction; as if someone was towing a long rope forward by holding one of its ends.


    Thinking of that fishy smell, Lin Qiao felt that she knew what was coming at her.


    When that vibration stopped, Lin Qiao suddenly turned back her head and popped her claws. She swung her shiny claws backward and turned her body around in the meanwhile, then swiftly leaped backward.


    Apparently, she had made the right move. When she turned around and drew back, she saw a snake coiling on the pear tree which she swung her claws toward.


    That snake was huge, even thicker than the thighs of an adult human being. It coiled on the pear tree, nearly wrapping the entire tree with its body. Fortunately, the mutant pear tree was tall and strong, not as fragile as the normal ones. So, it managed to support this giant snake without breaking.


    Hiss!


    The snake had been reaching its head toward Lin Qiao. As she suddenly turned back and attacked, it didn''t manage to dodge, but let her sharp claws leave three slashes on its head.


    However, its skin was incredibly strong! Lin Qiao was able to cut off trees and zombie heads easily, but the harm that her claws did to the snake on its head wasn''t so bad.


    Being clawed on the head, the snake immediately screeched in pain. Then, it suddenly tightened its body which was coiled on the pear tree and began twisting intensively.


    ''Damn! What has this snake been fed?'' Lin Qiao thought as she focused on the danger ahead of her. She couldn''t tell exactly how long this snake was, because it had wrapped countless coils around the tree; but its tail still reached the ground.


    She couldn''t tell what kind of snake it was either. It was entirely black, looking a little like a cobra, and its scales had a metallic luster. However, cobras were very rare in Sea City, and the commonly seen snakes in this area were vipers and rat snakes.


    ''What kind of snake is it?'' Lin Qiao wondered.


    Anyway, whatever snake it was, it was one pissed off snake at that moment.


    One of its eyelids were cut by Lin Qiao''s claws and was bleeding, but its eyes weren''t hurt. Right now, its eyes were fixed with coldness and anger, fixed squarely on Lin Qiao.


    It was the king of this region. Because of its giant size, great strength, fast speed, and strong skin, the other animals weren''t able to hurt it. But now, it was wounded by Lin Qiao, who was just a prey in its eyes. And the prey had actually hurt it so badly! No wonder it got so infuriated!


    Lin Qiao paused briefly after sensing the scent of the snake''s blood. She raised her head to carefully sniff it, and then was cheered up.


    It smelled nice! Just now, she merely caught a strong fishy smell, but after sensing the smell of the snake''s blood, she felt eager to drink it!


    Looking at the extra long snake, Lin Qiao''s lips curved into a happy smile. She gazed at the snake as if it were a huge meal. She even felt like drooling, like the zombies which had spotted living human beings.


    The snake became even more furious as its prey suddenly began to stare at it like it was some kind of food. It tightened its body on the pear tree and raised its head high to look down at Lin Qiao in anger, then widely opened its jaws and let out its fork tongue, exposing its pair of large and sharp fangs.


    After that, it suddenly dove down from the tree and pounced on Lin Qiao who was four or five meters away. It nimbly slid off the tree as it widened its mouth to bite Lin Qiao''s head.


    Despite its giant size, this snake was incredibly fast. Within a blink, it had darted up to Lin Qiao from the tree.


    Lin Qiao felt that her eyes were dazzled. Before she could see what happened clearly, she sensed a strong wind blowing in her face along with a strong scent of blood.


    She instinctively leaped aside, agilely turned around. Meanwhile, she swung her claws toward the snake''s head as hard as she could.


    Squeak!


    An ear-piercing noise was heard.


    Next, she felt that her claws had hit against an aluminum-alloy-like surface and went numb.


    Hiss!


    The snaked hissed in pain again. Apparently, it had suffered even worse this time.


    Lin Qiao quickly stepped back. When she fixed her eyes on the snake again, she saw that it had fallen on the ground, coiled up and twisting intensively. She gave a closer look at the snake and found that she had managed to wound its head once again, on the same side which she had attacked the last time.


    While watching the snake struggling on the ground, Lin Qiao took another step backward silently. She did that for no other reason but to avoid being hit by its tail.


    The snake twitched intensely. Its tail even whipped at quite a few surrounding trees and broke them, also leaving a series of traces on the grass.


    The snake seemed to be in a real pain! Lin Qiao said ''sorry'' in her head, and then wondered if she had lost her mind. ''Why the hell should I be sorry?''


    At that point, the giant snake gradually quieted down. Its body, which was about ten-meters-long, slowly coiled up. It buried its head in its coiled body without daring to raise it high, only showing its pair of cold and sharp eyes to stare at Lin Qiao angrily and carefully.


    Lin Qiao sensed the strong murderous intent and vigilance in its eyes. She knew that just now, the snake believed that it was definitely able to bite her. However, it didn''t expect her to be so fast, or to hurt its head.


    Therefore, the snake didn''t dare to be careless again.


    Lin Qiao flicked her claws which were still numb, then flexed her fingers. She didn''t think that the snake''s head would be so tough. Judging by the noise caused when her claws hit against the snake''s head, she estimated that even a normal shotgun wouldn''t be able to shoot bullets into its head.

 75 The Car By the Roadside

    While Lin Qiao was fighting the giant snake, the ears of Junjun, who was waiting by the roadside, suddenly moved. She heard a faint sound of a car, so she turned her head to look at the other side of the road.


    She didn''t forget that she had already become a zombie, and hence was instinctively vigilant against human beings.


    Soon afterward, she went down to the vegetable field from behind Lin Qiao''s car, then ran away with large steps in the direction which Lin Qiao took earlier on. She couldn''t run smoothly, stumbling all the way because her legs weren''t flexible enough. But fortunately, she was still able to run, just not as fast as she wanted.


    A few minutes later, a military off-road car showed up at the end of the road behind, and soon came to where Lin Qiao''s car was parked.


    The car was parked next to Lin Qiao''s car. Then, Wu Chengyue, Meng Yue, and the soldier who had been driving the car came out of it. They surrounded Lin Qiao''s car and spent a short while observing it, then turned to the farm by the roadside.


    "So, there are some crops and an orchard. Hasn''t anyone come to this area before?" Meng Yue looked at the disordered vegetables in the filed in surprise and said. While speaking, she let out the tiny grass in her palm again, then reached her hand toward the field and closed her eyes to feel something.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Lin Qiao''s car, then looked at the vegetable field and the orchard on the hill at a distance, remaining silent.


    The soldier beside him gazed at the orchard and said, "Why did the owner of this car park here? To search for food in this farm? But, the crops here are clearly infected and inedible. And, that orchard is a very dangerous place. How dare they go in there? Aren''t they afraid that they may not have a chance to come back alive?"


    Wu Chengyue stared at the orchard for a while as well, then said, "Some things are fighting in there¡­ Should be mutant animals."


    Speaking of mutant animals, all three of them wore a serious look.


    Meng Yue nodded and said, "I felt it. A Level-four mutant beast, highly dangerous. But, it''s no match for you. And, it''s normal for mutant beasts to exist here, as this place is near a mountain area."


    They were currently located on the edge of Sea City. If they kept moving for a short distance, they would enter Zhe Province. Therefore, this area was surrounded by mountains, and so was the small town that they passed by earlier.


    Wu Chengyue nodded in response. Mutant beasts weren''t the only dangerous creatures in mountain areas. The most dangerous things in mountains and woods areas were those unpredictable mutant plants.


    Meng Yue glanced at the grass in her palm and then said, "All plants in this area are infected already, and none is edible. If the people who own this car have entered that orchard, I doubt they can find any food. And, apart from mutant beasts, I think a high-level zombie is also in the orchard."


    She knitted her brows, as the orchard had been giving her a strong sense of danger, making her feel a little uneasy.


    She understood that that feeling was given to her by the mutant plants and animals in that area.


    She possessed botanical power, but her power couldn''t be used for launching fierce attacks. Instead, her power enabled her to be extra sensitive to the plants around her, and grow plants fast. She was also an excellent tracker.


    Fortunately, she herself had some fighting capacity; adding her sensitiveness to her surrounding environments, she wasn''t weak at all. Otherwise, she wouldn''t be carrying missions together with Wu Chengyue and the other soldiers all the time.


    Suddenly, she fixed her eyes on the grass in her palm, and then the look in her face turned serious. After that, she raised her head to stare at the part of the orchard which had been giving her that strong sense of danger, trying to feel something very carefully.


    Discovering her move, Wu Chengyue focused his attention on her face.


    "What? Is anything happening in there?" He asked.


    Wu Chengyue wasn''t going to enter that orchard, because that place was way too dangerous. As he needed to catch up with his daughter as quickly as possible, he didn''t want to waste his time in this place. However, when he saw Lin Qiao''s car, his judgment made him stop.


    He believed that if the people who owned the car had entered the orchard not long ago, they should have run out in a panic by now. Otherwise, the two creatures in the orchard wouldn''t be so concentrating on fighting each other, and would try catching the preys first.


    Meng Yue opened her eyes and said with a serious look, "I felt it! Ling Ling is in the orchard! If I guessed right, the weird female zombie should be there as well."


    While speaking, she raised her hand to point at where Lin Qiao was.


    Hearing her words, the look in Wu Chengyue''s face changed slightly. He stared at that direction expressionlessly and asked, "Are you sure?"


    Meng Yue nodded affirmatively and responded with, "My feelings can''t be wrong! Let''s go in and take a look first. I think it might be the one which is fighting that mutant beast now!"


    Wu Chengyue darted out from beside Mengyue and went down into the field without waiting for her to finish her words. Within a blink, he had crossed the field and rushed into the orchard.


    "Licheng, you wait here," Meng Yue hurriedly gave an order to the soldier, then nimbly leaped into the vegetable field and followed Wu Chengyue into the orchard.


    "Yue, be careful!" The soldier whose name was Xiao Licheng shouted at Meng Yue, as he was a little worried about her.


    Wu Chengyue was powerful, but unlike him, Meng Yue wasn''t a strong fighter. So, it was still too dangerous for her to run into the orchard now. But fortunately, because of her botanical power, the mutant plants wouldn''t attack her.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao watched the giant snake coil up and felt that it looked like a giant pile of poo¡­ or, like an iron tower. It was posing for both offense and defense, as it was now able to defend itself easily, or reach out its head to attack the enemy.


    Lin Qiao stood about five meters away from the snake in a lunge position, legs bent slightly and claws before her chest, preparing to attack.


    After watching the snake recover quickly from the pain, she understood that she now needed to focus all her attention in dealing with it.


    The snake had its head buried in its coiled body for a while, then slowly raised it, staring at Lin Qiao coldly. The wounds on its head had stopped bleeding already.


    Lin Qiao again sensed the scent of the snake''s blood. It was a mixture of a fishy smell and a thick sweet aroma, and was making her feel more and more hungry.


    When the snake slowly raised its head, Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes. She fixed those pitch-dark eyes on the triangular snakehead which was as big as the head of a human baby.


    Suddenly, the snake lunged its head at Lin Qiao and uncoiled its body momentarily. It moved incredibly fast, pouncing on her along with a gust of fishy-smelled wind.


    Lin Qiao squatted immediately. She didn''t step back, but rushed directly at the snake.


    Snakes weren''t able to move in a straight line, but could only wriggle. Therefore, the prey might have relatively larger chance of survival if they fled in a straight route.

 76 Fierce Battle Against The Giant Snake

    Seeing Lin Qiao charge at it, the snake immediately felt provoked. It gave a start, then showed ferocity in its eyes as it suddenly turned to the side and took a half circle. Right when it turned its head around, Lin Qiao darted up to it.


    Lin Qiao was going to attack the snake on the head, but to her surprise, the latter was quite smart. It actually came around and reached its mouth to her back.


    Under the urgent situation, she only had the time to swing her claws at the snake''s strong body before leaping away as soon as possible.


    Clang!


    Another sharp metallic sound was heard.


    Lin Qiao''s claws were sharp and strong, but the snake''s scales on its body were even thicker and stronger than that on its head. Therefore, she only managed to leave a few white marks on its body without even breaking its skin!


    On the contrary, her hands were numbed because of the collision.


    ''Damn! Why is it so tough? How should I fight it then?'' As her attack failed to deliver any effect to the snake, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but complain silently.


    Her only choice was to attack the snakehead now. However, after suffering two strikes, the snake had smartly learned to protect its head already. It kept its head away from Lin Qiao while using its body as a weapon.


    As she had expected, the snake fiercely charged at her once it found that her attack failed to harm it, and that she was drawing back.


    Now, the snake intended to coil around Lin Qiao and then tighten its body as hard as possible!


    Lin Qiao caught a sense of danger which sent shivers down her spine once she began drawing back. So, she immediately said ''in'' silently, and then vanished into thin air.


    Hiss?


    The snake missed its target and threw itself to the ground. It paused shortly in confusion, then quickly raised its head and took a few circles around the spot where Lin Qiao disappeared from.


    It looked around for a few times, but still couldn''t find a trace of its prey.


    If it hadn''t watched her disappear right in front of it, it would have thought that something was wrong with its eyes.


    While the snake was looking around to search for Lin Qiao, a transparent figure came out of thin air. However, the snake didn''t sense the vibe of the figure, neither did see it.


    The snake could not see the transparent Lin Qiao, as if it had gone blind.


    In fact, this snake didn''t feed on zombies. It chased a coyote to this area, and that was why it showed up here; the coyote was mutant as well. It was turned into a coyote-like creature, which liked to live in mountain areas, from a Chinese rural dog.


    The snake had been starved for days. After spotting the coyote, the snake had been following it the whole time, waiting for an opportunity to swallow it. But today, when it chased the coyote to this orchard, a zombie suddenly showed up.


    The scent of this zombie was a little different from that of the others. This zombie smelled nice to the snake, like something edible! Therefore, the snake forgot about that small coyote right way and cast its eyes on Lin Qiao.


    However, eating Lin Qiao was harder than the snake had imagined!


    Not only was it wounded by her claws, but it also watched her vanish before its eyes. After suffering two claw strikes and witnessing the disappearance of its prey, the giant snake was furious.


    While the snake reacted with fury to what happened, the transparent figure silently walked up behind its head.


    Lin Qiao quietly stood behind the giant snake. At that moment, she seemed to be weightless, so the snake failed to sense her approach through the ground.


    She stood behind the snake, then quickly entered her space and came back out within a blink. Meanwhile, she swung both claws strongly toward the snake''s head.


    Hiss!


    The giant snake suddenly sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe behind its head. Before it could react, it felt a sharp pain from its head. It didn''t see anything when it turned its head around, but the pain from its head was real.


    Lin Qiao re-entered her space after she launched the claw attack. So, the snake didn''t see her when it turned back to see what had happened after suffering the pain.


    Failing to find even a trace of hers, the snake began struggling on the ground once again because of the pain as the wounds on its head had worsened.


    After all, Lin Qiao had aimed precisely at the wounds which she had caused on the snake''s head earlier on. As she had learned how to turn herself invisible by using her space, she aimed at the snake''s head and then happily launched the attack.


    So now, the giant snake was madly twisting its body in the orchard, wriggling all over the ground and breaking the surrounding plants and rocks, sending them flying away. Sand and dust were stirred up in clouds, with rock pieces flying all over the sky. The snake''s head was covered in blood as the transparent figure had been showing up from time to time, cutting at its head with sharp claws nimbly, swiftly, and fiercely.


    In a couple of minutes, the giant snake gradually slowed down.


    It was dying actually. Soon, it lay weakly on the ground, unable to move. Its body was twisted, stomach facing the sky; but, it couldn''t do anything about it. Its head was badly mutilated, and eyes blinded. Blood gushed out of its body, covering the ground, grasses, trees, and rocks around it.


    The invisible Lin Qiao stayed around the snake. Sensing its vibe fading quickly, she knew that it was dying.


    She didn''t show her face. Instead, she remained invisible and kept observing the snake. Only when the snake''s vibe disappeared completely did she make herself visible and then came out of her space.


    She kicked the snake on its head and found that its body was already soft, and could no longer make any response. After that, she squatted and wiped her claws on her cloth, then dipped her fingers into the snake blood on its head and put them in her mouth.


    A sweet and salty flavor spread in her mouth, mixed with a faint fishy taste. Lin Qiao smacked her lips as she felt that the snake''s blood tasted not bad. It wasn''t delicious, but in comparison with fruit juices, it was already good enough.


    After tasting the snake blood, she immediately wanted to take a bucket out of her space to hold it. However, as she prepared to bleed the snake, she slowly turned around and stared at front with cold eyes.


    Two people were standing at a short distance, looking at her curiously.


    Lin Qiao wanted to scold these two people once she saw them.


    ''Damn! Does this man have a dog''s nose?'' Lin Qiao didn''t understand how Wu Chengyue managed to chase her to this place. She knew that that level-five zombie was probably following her vibe, but couldn''t figure out how had Wu Chengyue been tracking her.


    And, these two people showed up right after she dealt with her prey; neither too late, nor too early. What a coincidence!


    While thinking, Lin Qiao suddenly moved her hand, and then the over-ten-meter long snake disappeared.


    After that, she stood up and looked at the two people expressionlessly.


    Meng Yue and Wu Chengyue had looked at her silently as well, not seeming to want to move immediately.

 77 The Writing Zombie

    In fact, Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue had just arrived. Once they got here, they saw the familiar female zombie dip her claws into the snake blood and then put into her mouth. It wasn''t a beautiful scene, but was definitely a little weird.


    Both of them were quietly observing the zombie, which soon discovered them even though they had restrained their vibes as much as they could. Wu Chengyue was powerful, so once he restrained his vibe, almost no zombies and superpowered human beings who were weaker than him could sense his presence. Unlike him, Meng Yue used a special way to hide her vibe. She merged it with the vibes of the surrounding plants, as if she was hiding her own vibes among that of plants. Therefore, it was pretty difficult for anyone to sense her vibe now.


    At that point, not even a level-six zombie or superpowered human being could sense Meng Yue''s vibe easily.


    Lin Qiao became alert the moment she saw these two people. She stared at Wu Chengyue, her eyes filled with fear, hatred, and vigilance. She was worried that this man might suddenly strike her with lightning again without saying anything.


    Even though Lin Qiao''s eyes were purely black, Wu Chengyue still felt her strong hatred toward himself hiding under her calm expression.


    Meng Yue looked at Wu Chengyue, then at Lin Qiao in confusion. After finding that Lin Qiao was merely alert toward them without showing the obvious aggressiveness and ferocity that the other high-level zombies would show at the sight of them, she started observing her with curiosity.


    Last time, this female zombie disappeared before she could see her face clearly. But now, after giving a close look, she found that this zombie was truly ugly.


    And, the zombie had actually changed her clothes. She was now wearing a training suit which looked like men''s wear. Her burnt hair were unbrushed, covering her face. Her face under the hair was barely visible, but Meng Yue still saw the large scars on her face.


    Looking at Lin Qiao''s hair and realizing that it was burnt by Wu Chengyue''s lightning, Meng Yue wanted to laugh. ''Look at her expression. She must want to hit Chief back with lightning too to vent her anger!''


    After witnessing Lin Qiao make that ridiculously large snake disappear within a blink, Meng Yue and Wu Chengyue now confirmed that she was a space-powered zombie.


    Judging by the size of that snake, Meng Yue felt that it was quite powerful. She glanced around at the traces it caused, learning how strong it truly was.


    However, the space-powered zombie had no wounds on her body. Not to mention wounds, even her clothes were perfectly undamaged, as if she hadn''t suffered any attack at all.


    Lin Qiao remained silent and moveless, and so did Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue. They simply stood seven or eight meters away from each other, quietly staring at each other.


    In fact, it was very easy for Lin Qiao to run away now. After all, it would only take her a moment to enter her space, and Wu Chengyue couldn''t be faster than her, no matter how fast he could be. However, at that moment she was thinking about the little one, Junjun, and her son.


    Since the little one''s father had found her, she thought that it would be alright for her to just give the kid back to him. That was his child anyway. She took the girl because she was angry earlier, and also because she was too lazy to send her back, as doing that would cost her time and energy. But now, her anger had calmed as she had already taken the child so far away. However, she still wanted an apology from Wu Chengyue. She couldn''t let him strike her with lightning and pay no price for it, could she? She was nicely sending his child back to him; but instead of being grateful to her, he actually struck her with lightning! He had to apologize to her!


    Wu Chengyue gazed at the zombie for a while, also feeling very strange.


    ''Does this female zombie actually know how to change clothes? Where''s the ugly and dirty dress she wore the last time? Since when have zombies learned to care about their appearances? They''re supposed to be indifferent to that!'' He thought.


    He also felt that the female zombie was still angry at him because he struck her with lightning last time!


    Wu Chengyue was a patient man, so he was observing Lin Qiao curiously at that moment. Meng Yue felt that Lin Qiao was an interesting zombie too, so she was silently observing her as well.


    However, Lin Qiao wasn''t a patient zombie. She was waiting for Wu Chenyue and Meng Yue to say something, but they didn''t. She waited for three seconds¡­ five seconds¡­ then ten seconds; yet, neither of the two said anything.


    She wondered why the two kept staring at her without saying a word or attacking. She couldn''t sense their thoughts, so she felt that the atmosphere had begun turning a little weird.


    At last, the impatient zombie suddenly raised a hand. A notebook and a pen appeared in her hand. Then, she began writing, and the two in front of her widened their eyes and gazed at her in disbelief.


    Watching Lin Qiao writing with a pen like a human being, Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue were deeply stunned. At that moment, they really needed someone to tell them if what they saw was real or not.


    Wu Chengyue unwittingly looked out of his eye corner at Meng Yue, who sensed his gaze and glanced back at him. Neither of them seemed to believe what they had seen.


    ''The zombie is writing! That zombie in front of us was writing! Since when have zombies become so smart that they can actually write?''


    While Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue were silently communicating through eyes, Lin Qiao finished writing. She ripped the piece of paper off from the notebook, then put the notebook and the pen into her pocket. After that, she slowly squatted, picked up a small piece of stone and wrapped it with the paper. Then, she wadded the paper up.


    Next, she threw the wad of paper at Wu Chengyue''s face, who caught the wad of paper thrown at his face, feeling speechless.


    Meng Yue, who watched that happen, shared the same feeling with him.


    "Open it!" From what she had observed, she learned that Lin Qiao was different from other zombies. She looked weird, but really didn''t have any intent of killing toward her or Wu Chengyue. And just now, the zombie wrote something with a pen, which was unbelievable.


    She really wanted to know what Lin Qiao had written on the paper. However, Wu Chengyue paused in astonishment after catching the wad of paper. Seeing that, Meng Yue couldn''t help but urge him out of curiosity.


    After that, he silently unwrapped the paper and threw the stone away. Meng Yue leaned over and saw a few lines on the paper written with clear handwriting.


    ''Does striking people with lightning feel nice? Apologize! Or, you won''t see the little one again! You won''t be able to do anything to me if I don''t let you see her! Apologize!''


    Wu Chengyue was again speechless.


    "Ha¡­" Meng Yue couldn''t help but laugh when she read the first line. She was holding such a deep grudge!


    Wu Chengyue fell in silence as he found that it a little difficult for him to process what was happening. Earlier on, he met a zombie which acted like a human being, and he accidentally struck her with lightning. And now, the zombie actually wanted his apology!


    ''What the hell? A zombie which can write and ask for an apology? And¡­ it''s threatening me! When did zombies become so much like human beings?'' He just couldn''t understand.


    "It''s threatening you! But, its handwriting is pretty!" Meng Yue said smilingly.


    After reading the note, Wu Chengyue looked at the zombie in front of him, which had a barely visible face, then asked Meng Yue, "Do you think she can understand what we said?"


    Hearing his words, both Meng Yue and Lin Qiao rolled their eyes. But of course, their eye-rolling wasn''t the same.


    Meng Yue rolled her eyes like any normal human being would do, while Lin Qiao simply raised her head to glance at the sky.


    Wu Chengyue went speechless once again, feeling despised.

 78 The Reunion of Father and Daughter

    Wu Chengyue couldn''t even describe the feelings he had at that moment. He was despised by a zombie which looked quite smart. Even though he couldn''t see the zombie roll her eyes, the disdainful look on her face was pretty obvious.


    Soon, he too realized that the question he asked was a little silly, as both Meng Yue and the female zombie had rolled their eyes at him. The zombie was even able to write, so how could it possibly not understand what he had said? She wasn''t deaf after all!


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t understand how this female zombie became like this. After all, except for her scary appearance and the fact that she couldn''t talk, she was exactly like a human being.


    "Can you¡­ let us see Ling Ling?" Meng Yue looked at Lin Qiao and asked suddenly; her tone was quite polite. She asked the question because she found that Wu Chengyue was already stunned by the zombie, even forgetting what he was here for.


    Hearing Meng Yue, Wu Chengyue came back to his senses. He now realized that he was in a trance just now, because the zombie had shocked him so badly. On hearing Meng Yue mention Wu Yueling, he hurriedly fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao nodded. However, she focused her eyes on Wu Chengyue after glancing at Meng Yue, without making any other move.


    Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue immediately understood her meaning¡ª''This man hasn''t apologized, so you can''t see the girl. I can let you see her, but you need to apologize first!''


    Lin Qiao glared at Wu Chengyue with a grumpy look.


    She was kindly sending the little one back to her father, but the girl''s father didn''t see her as a kind zombie. On the contrary, he struck her with lightning for no reason. Anyone would feel wronged under the same circumstances!


    Wu Chengyue now recalled that last time when he attacked Lin Qiao without thinking. His attack didn''t kill the zombie, but it must have made her suffer. No wonder the zombie looked so angry now.


    Imagining being attacked like that, he felt not good either!


    As all sorts of thoughts emerged in his mind, Wu Chengyue realized that he should apologize indeed. After all, the zombie didn''t do anything during their first encounter, even though she was a zombie.


    However, apologizing to a zombie sounded way too weird!


    Wu Chengyue and his people believed that zombies should all be destroyed. In their eyes, zombies were like beasts, and were nothing like human beings. So, what was happening now was like he had accidentally hurt an animal, and then the animal came back to ask for an apology! Wasn''t that weird?


    But, the problem was that he did do the wrong thing; and if he refused to apologize, the zombie wouldn''t let him see his daughter! So, how could he not apologize?


    Meng Yue glanced at Wu Chengyue. Seeing the struggling look in his face, she couldn''t help but giggle and say, "Just apologize! You did attack her, didn''t you? Perhaps, she was going to send Ling Ling back to you that day, yet you attacked her and made her run!"


    While finishing her words, Meng Yue couldn''t help but glance at Lin Qiao. Then, she saw the zombie nod.


    Meng Yue was stunned.


    ''No way! I was just saying! Did she really try to send Ling Ling back that day?'' She wondered.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest, quietly looking at Wu Chengyue.


    Being stared by her, Wu Chengyue somehow felt a sense of guilt. He coughed, then looked at Lin Qiao and said, "Eh-hem¡­ Um¡­ I''m sorry! That day I¡­ made a mistake! So, I''m really sorry."


    While speaking, he looked at Lin Qiao sincerely and apologetically. He thought that the female zombie wouldn''t forgive him so soon even if he said that. He felt that sometimes women could really be narrow-minded.


    However, to his surprise, the female zombie nodded once he finished talking.


    ''This¡­ Just like that?'' He turned to look at Meng Yue to confirm with her, who smilingly nodded at him.


    Then, Wu Chengyue turned his head to look at Ling Qiao. He saw the zombie had thrown a glance at him and then disappeared without a trace. ''That''s more like it,'' said the zombie with her eyes before disappearing.


    He didn''t know why he was able to read the meaning in the zombie''s eyes. The zombie''s expressions were way too human-like, and he found that a little unacceptable!


    In a few seconds, two figures came out of thin air, showing up where Lin Qiao had disappeared just now.


    "Ling Ling!" Both Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue shouted out loud at the sight of the little girl by Lin Qiao''s side.


    Wu Chengyue gave a closer look at his daughter, finding that she looked quite energetic, and her face was clean. She was still wearing the same clothes that she wore when she went missing, but those clothes weren''t dirty.


    Seeing that his daughter had been taken good care of, he finally stopped worrying.


    Wu Yueling was a little confused when Lin Qiao brought her out, but she remained expressionless as always. However, when she turned her head to see Wu Chengyue, her eyes glowed and then turned slightly red.


    ''Daddy!''


    Wu Chengyue''s heart softened when he saw the familiar look in his daughter''s widely opened eyes. He couldn''t help but make two steps forward, but stopped right after that and glanced at Lin Qiao with hesitation.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was quietly watching the reunion of the father and the daughter, her arms crossed before her chest. She made no move when Wu Chengyue suddenly looked at her.


    Unexpectedly, Wu Yueling made some reaction when she saw that her dad was looking at the zombie. She ran up to Lin Qiao, then shook her head toward Wu Chengyue.


    She didn''t say anything, but Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue both understood her meaning: she was afraid that he might attack Lin Qiao. She knew that Lin Qiao was a zombie, and she often saw him attack zombies.


    She was young and introverted, and never liked to talk; but, she was also very sensitive and smart.


    Standing behind Wu Yueling, Lin Qiao sensed that the kid wanted to protect her. She looked at girl''s little body, feeling her metaphorical heart warm up.


    She reached out a hand and gently rubbed Wu Yueling''s head, then pushed her toward Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Yueling turned back to look at Lin Qiao. Clearly, she knew what the zombie meant. She held the little gray rabbit and glanced at the latter again, then turned back to walk toward Wu Chengyue.


    However, after making two steps, she suddenly stopped and again turned back toward Lin Qiao.


    "Ling Ling, come to Daddy," Wu Chegyue squatted to look at Wu Yueling in the eyes while gently waving at her.


    Hearing her dad calling her, Wu Yueling immediately walked toward him. However, when she was halfway toward her dad, the little rabbit suddenly leaped out of her arms to the ground.


    Wu Yueling was startled, thinking that her rabbit friend was running away. However, when she turned to look at it, she found that the rabbit had run back to Lin Qiao.


    She paused briefly, then turned back to chase the rabbit.


    "Ling Ling! Come here!" Seeing that Wu Yueling seemed to run back to the female zombie, Meng Yue shouted out.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue moved swiftly. He showed up beside Wu Yueling within a blink, then scooped her up.

 79 The Potential Risk of Leaving

    "Good girl, daddy will get you another one when we''re home," After scooping Wu Yueling up, Wu Chengyue glanced at the little grey rabbit which had already bounced to Lin Qiao''s feet, then said to his daughter.


    However, Wu Yueling shook her head, and her eyes were still fixed on the little gray rabbit. She didn''t cry, but the determined look in the eyes was unignorable.


    Wu Chengyue knew his daughter well. Once she liked something, that thing would become irreplaceable to her. But, what could he do? The rabbit belonged to the female zombie. Should he ask the zombie for the rabbit?


    Besides, he felt that it was pretty strange for a zombie to keep a rabbit as a pet. She didn''t keep the rabbit as food stock, did she?


    He had no idea that he had actually guessed right. Lin Qiao did want to keep the rabbit as a food stock back when she threw it into her space.


    Just now, Lin Qiao was wondering why didn''t the rabbit run away, but came back to her feet. So, when Wu Chengyue suddenly showed up beside Wu Yueling, she just glanced at him carelessly.


    Seeing that Wu Yueling was held in Wu Chengyue''s arms, she took out the notebook and began writing again. Having finished writing, she ripped the paper off, wadded it up, and threw it at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue held his daughter with one hand and caught the wad of paper with another. Then, he unwrapped the paper and saw a line written on it.


    ''Now, I have given your daughter back to you. She''s perfectly unharmed. We''ll go our separate ways and mind our own businesses from now on. Bye!''


    When Wu Chengyue raised his head again, Lin Qiao had disappeared from where she was. He looked around but failed to see the zombie, and the little rabbit was also gone.


    "Do you think¡­ she has her life memories?" Meng Yue walked to Wu Chengyue with a frown, abruptly asking a question while thinking.


    "Eh?" Wu Chengyue turned back to look at her. His eyes glowed slightly when he heard her question, and then he nodded slightly.


    "I think so too. Otherwise, how do we explain her human-like behavior?" she said.


    Wu Chengyue had thought about that question long ago. In comparison with those irrational ordinary zombies, and those completely dehumanized high-level zombies, Lin Qiao acted exactly like a human being who looked like a zombie.


    She had shown no appetite for human beings, and she knew how to take care of a child. She never ate or hurt human beings; the way she had been acting was completely against the nature of zombies, and¡­


    "She was tasting the snake''s blood just now. Does that mean she eats animals?" Wu Chengyue guessed while recalling how Lin Qiao dipped her claw into the snake''s blood and put it into her mouth just now. His face showing confusion.


    Meng Yue''s eyes glowed as she looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "It''s highly possible. Zombies have an instinctive sense of hunger. So, if she doesn''t eat human beings, she might eat animals instead to fill her stomach. That makes sense. But, we''ve never heard about zombies eating animals. Those mutant animals don''t eat zombies either. They''re all infected by the same kind of virus, so I guess they taste flavorless to each other. But, I think that female zombie hadn''t been seeing herself as a zombie!"


    Wu Chengyue looked at his daughter. While checking if Wu Yueling was hurt, he said to Meng Yue, "That might be the truth. Otherwise, why didn''t she eat Ling Ling, who''s a living human being? What I''m curious about now, if she has her life memories, did she regain her memories after becoming a zombie, or had she never lost them when becoming a zombie?"


    Meng Yue shook her head and responded, "That I can''t tell for sure. We should have asked her about that just now! I wonder if more zombies like her have started showing up in the city. If she is hostile to the bases of human survivors, our base will face a great danger when she upgrades and learns how to control other zombies!"


    The look in Meng Yue''s face changed suddenly as she was speaking. After that, she continued regretfully, "We should have kept that zombie just now, then figured out her condition! By letting her go, we''ve let go of an invisible bomb which might go off at any time."


    Hearing her words, Wu Chengyue fell in silence.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling suddenly twisted her body in Wu Chengyue''s arms as she had heard their conversation and sensed their hostility toward Lin Qiao. Then, she shook her head quickly when Wu Chengyue turned to look at her.


    ''No, Sister Zombie won''t hurt people!'' she thought.


    Seeing the look of disapproval in his daughter''s eyes, Wu Chengyue sighed and said to Meng Yue, "I don''t think what you said will happen. At least, that female zombie restrained her zombie instincts well today and showed no bad intentions toward us human beings. And, I think she might be a Southerner. She''s been heading South the whole time, so maybe she''s trying to find her family, or go back to her hometown."


    Meng Yue glanced at him in surprise and said, "How can you be sure that she has no bad intention toward human beings? What if her zombie instincts suppress her mind someday? If that happens, she will lose her humanity while continuing to be as smart as human beings. She would become like a sharp sword pointing at all human beings."


    Wu Chengyue looked at Meng Yue, then at his daughter. Wu Yueling wore a sad look as she was worried that her father might not believe her. Seeing that look, Wu Chengyue smiled. "But, she has even earned Ling Ling''s trust. I don''t think she''s a bad zombie. Ling Ling is so sensitive that she never wants to get near to other people, yet she was willing to be close with that zombie. I think I can believe my Ling Ling," he said.


    Wu Yueling nodded quickly.


    Meng Yue looked at both of them, then sighed and said, "Alright, I''ll believe you. I hope she''ll never lay a finger on the bases of human beings, or we''ll be facing a serious trouble. Okay, let''s go. We''ve got Ling Ling back now, and we can finally return to the base."


    While talking, Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue turned to walk out of the orchard. Wu Yueling glanced at where Lin Qiao disappeared just now, seeming to be reluctant to leave.


    When they walked out of the orchard, they saw their car from a distance. However, the other vehicle was now gone.


    As they were coming back to the road from the field, Wu Chengyue saw Xiao Licheng staring at the road with confusion, seeming to be stunned. He didn''t know what the latter had seen.


    "Licheng? What happened? Eh? Where''s the other car? Did someone drive it away?" After coming up from the field, Meng Yue looked at where Lin Qiao''s car was parked, and the wheel tracks on the ground with surprise, then asked.


    Xiao Licheng now came back to himself. With a strange look in his face, he looked at Meng Yue and Wu Chengyue and said, "Yeah¡­ It has been driven away! But, I didn''t see anyone come near this place. I suddenly heard the car door bang, and before I could check what was happening, that car drove itself away!"


    After saying that, he widened his eyes as if he was looking at a ghost. Then, he suddenly saw Wu Yueling, who was in Wu Chengyue''s arms, and said in surprise, "Eh? Little Ling Ling¡­You found her?"


    Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue glanced at each other, as they shared the same thought at that moment.


    ''It wasn''t that female zombie who drove the car away, was it?''


    Ordinary zombies couldn''t possibly do that. But just now, both of them had seen how special Lin Qiao was. It wasn''t such a strange thing for a female zombie who had her original memories to be able to drive!

 80 Eat the Snake, Drink its Blood

    Meng Yue blinked, and soon felt that she had guessed right. "Yeah, Ling Ling was in that orchard just now. We followed her vibe here at the first place, so why are you so surprised?" She then said to Xiao Licheng.


    Xiao Licheng smiled and responded, "Ah, I didn''t know you could find her so quickly. You didn''t say that she was nearby just now!"


    Xiao Licheng was a stranger to Wu Yueling. Seeing him, she silently wrapped her arms around Wu Chengyue''s neck and stayed motionless. However, her eyes had been fixed on the orchard. Perhaps, she was still thinking about Lin Qiao.


    At that time, Lin Qiao had entered her space and brought the car along with her. As a matter of fact, she wasn''t far away from Wu Chengyue and his people.


    Earlier on, after entering her space in the orchard, she immediately turned herself invisible, then came out and left that area to find Junjun, who had hidden nearby for a long time.


    Lin Qiao had sensed Junjun when the latter came to find her. The smart Junjun didn''t show up right beside her, maybe because she was worried that she might hinder her. Therefore, Lin Qiao conveniently found where she was hiding on the way while leaving, and sent her into the space.


    After that, Lin Qiao walked out of the orchard immediately to get her car. She found another car parked next to hers, being guarded by a soldier.


    To avoid catching that soldier''s attention, she stayed in the invisible state and quietly walked to her car, then quickly entered her space, switched to the visible state, and came out. After that, she sat on the driver''s seat as quickly as she could and started the car before stepping on the gas. With this series of swift and continuous movements, she drove the car away.


    On seeing the stunned look on Xiao Licheng''s face from the rearview mirror, she even wanted to laugh.


    After driving to a distance away, she got off the car and sent it into her space, then entered the space herself. She didn''t drive further away because she was prepared to go back to that farm after Wu Chengyue and his people had left.


    At this moment, Lin Qiao and Junjun were squatting beside the body of that giant snake.


    Lin Qiao found a large bowl, then found an artery of the snake and cut it open with her sharp nails. When the blood spurted out, she hurriedly caught it with the bowl.


    However, as the snake had died for a while, its blood wasn''t flowing fast. After filling half of Lin Qiao''s bowl, the blood stopped gushing out.


    Lin Qiao took back the bowl and put it under her nose to sniff at it. The snake''s blood had a faint fishy smell, and smelled nice. Lin Qiao didn''t drink it instantly, but handed the bowl to Junjun instead.


    Junjun took over the bowl with curiosity, then brought it under her nose and sniffed at it. However, she caught no smell at all, so she looked back at her with confusion.


    Lin Qiao sensed her thought and learned that Junjun might have no appetite for blood or flesh of mutant animals. However, she didn''t plan to give up, but pointed at her mouth and signaled for the latter to drink the blood.


    Junjun knitted her brows. She was scared of snakes, so even though the giant snake had died, it still looked horrible to her. But now, Lin Qiao was asking her to drink its blood, and she found that rather unacceptable.


    She looked at Lin Qiao with hesitation, then saw her nodded at her determinedly. She wasn''t able to disobey Lin Qiao''s instructions, so without any other choice, she took a deep breath and prepared to drink the snake blood, even though she couldn''t actually breathe.


    While fighting against the sense of repulsion in her heart, Junjun put the bowl to her lips, and then forced herself to take a sip. After that¡­


    She tasted nothing! The snake''s blood was thick, but was completely flavorless! It didn''t taste as bad as she thought it would.


    She smacked her lips, then glanced at the blood in the bowl, and at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao could sense Junjun''s feelings. She knew that the latter felt repulsion toward the snake blood, but didn''t dislike it; so she asked her to continue drinking it.


    Junjun frowned and finished the bowl at one gulp.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know if the snake blood could suppress Junjun''s hunger, but she assumed that nothing bad would happen when she drank it, because zombies wouldn''t have diarrhea anyway.


    After Junjun finished the bowl of blood, Lin Qiao took the bowl back, then made another cut on the snake''s body and continued collecting its blood.


    Then, she raised the bowl and drank the blood herself.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t feel the cool temperature of the snake blood, but had sensed a sweet and salty flavor spread in her mouth. She quickly finished the second bowl of blood like drinking water.


    After that, she collected another bowl of blood and handed it to Junjun. However, the latter stood up and shook her head while stepping backward.


    Lin Qiao didn''t force Junjun to drink it, but finished the third bowl of blood herself.


    She didn''t get any more blood when she cut the snake''s body for the fourth time. So, she gave Junjun the bowl and asked her to wash it, then began peeling the snake.


    While peeling the snake, she tore off the snake''s flesh and put into her mouth. She wanted to invite Junjun to eat together with her, but then gave up as she saw the look of dislike on the latter''s face.


    Junjun washed the bowl, then turned back to find that Lin Qiao was eating the snake with an appetite. However, she had no interest in the snake at all, so she went back to the small space to check on the little boy.


    The little boy was sitting on the bed on his own, holding a half-eaten strawberry.


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao thought that she wouldn''t be able to finish the whole snake in one meal. She was wondering how many days could the snake flesh be stored in her space without going bad. As her space wasn''t a vacuum space, and the time wasn''t frozen in here, she assumed that the snake''s body would definitely go bad over time.


    She sat down and began wondering if she could finish the whole snake at one time while eating.


    However, her stomach¡­


    Thinking of her stomach, she automatically lowered her head to look at her belly. Well, she could only see her clothes at that moment. She wanted to touch her stomach with her hand, but as her hands were covered in the sticky fluid from the snake, she then gave up.


    Thus, she continued eating. While eating, she was also observing the situation outside. When she saw that Wu Chengyue and his people drive their car away, she sighed in relief.


    They had finally left. She still needed to go back to pick some vegetables!


    Yes, she didn''t leave because she wanted to go back to pick some vegetables; and not only pick some vegetables, she also wanted to dig up some edible vegetables and then transplant them in her space.


    With this thought, she stood up immediately. Then, she discovered that she had already eaten a half of that snake! Looking at the snake''s body which was now half-skeleton and half-untouched, she was a little stunned.


    ''Damn! How could I eat so much!''


    She was really shocked. That snake was even thicker than her thighs! It was about twelve meters long, and weighed at least two hundred and fifty kilograms.


    She had actually eaten a half of that snake at one time! Even though she didn''t eat the bones, she had still swallowed a giant amount of snake flesh. But, the problem was that where did the snake flesh go? And more importantly¡­ she still felt hungry!


    She glanced at the snake again, finding that she had eaten the lower half of the snake and left the upper half untouched. The snake''s internal organs hadn''t been removed either.


    She thought for a moment, then dug out the snake''s gallbladder. She decided to finish the gallbladder first, then go out to pick vegetables.

 81 It Was So Bitter!

    Looking at the lemon-sized, black colored snake gallbladder, Lin Qiao opened her mouth wide, prepared to swallow it. When she put it into her mouth without any hesitation, it was torn by her canine teeth immediately.


    Puff!


    The bile flushed into her mouth, and then she froze.


    ''Damn, damn!''


    "Roar!"


    She gave a weird howl, then covered her mouth with her claws. Her entire face was twisted. After that, she sprung up and rushed toward the lakeside.


    "Roar?" Being startled by Lin Qiao''s roar, Junjun hurriedly ran out of the small space to see what was going on. She saw Lin Qiao lying by the lakeside with her whole face soaking in the water, but she didn''t know what had happened!


    After soaking her face in the water and taking a few large gulps, Lin Qiao raised her head, holding a mouthful of water as she struggled up from the ground with a painful look. Then, she squatted by the lake to wash her hands.


    The snake''s bile was so awfully bitter. She now felt that the bitter taste had occupied her whole tongue. It was so, so bitter! She had once tasted goldthread roots, but even that wasn''t as bitter as the bile!


    She turned her head to spit the water held in her mouth, then finished washing her hands and scooped some more water for herself to drink. After that, she finally felt a little better; but only a little, because the bitter taste in her mouth hadn''t faded yet!


    She knitted her brows, gazed at the lake with a slightly twisted face. Suddenly, she had an idea.


    As the lake water had magical effects, she wondered what would happen if she soaked the rest of the snake in the lake. Would the lake water be able to keep the snake meat fresh?


    With this idea, she turned and ran back to the snake body, then swung her claws toward its skeleton tail.


    Crack!


    The skeleton half of the snake was disconnected from the upper body.


    After that, Lin Qiao spread the snake''s skin which she had peeled off earlier on the ground, then cut the snake meat into pieces. As the snakeskin had been removed, her claws now became very handy. She cut off the snake''s bones and meat quite easily, then divided them into small pieces to pile on the snakeskin.


    Fortunately, in order to water the strawberry plants, she had brought many buckets into her space from the outside earlier. Now, she could put the snake meat in these buckets, then pour in the lake water to soak them. Instead of soaking the entire snake in the lake, she now only had to leave the snake meat in the buckets for a while to find out if the water could keep it fresh. Otherwise, if the snake went bad in the lake, the whole lake would stink, wouldn''t it?


    She finished cutting with a bitter face, then went to wash her hands. After that, she didn''t go to get buckets herself; she took out a piece of paper and wrote a note, then walked to Junjun, who was standing at a distance to see what was happening. She gave the note to the latter, then dragged the skeleton half of the snake and its head, and disappeared.


    ''Help me putting the snake meat into the buckets, then soak it with lake water.''


    After coming out, Lin Qiao threw the snake bones and head to the grass aside, then touched her stomach. There was still a giant hole in her belly, and a half of her stomach was still missing. However, she had just swallowed half of a giant snake. Where did all that snake meat go?


    ''This is unscientific!'' She thought.


    But then, she realized that her becoming a zombie was already very unscientific! Was there anything more unscientific than that? So, she told herself that she should just get used to all that happened to her.


    However, the problem was that even though she had eaten a ton of snake meat, she was still hungry! She suddenly felt that she was more like a constantly craving hungry ghost than a zombie!


    While thinking about her current body condition, Lin Qiao entered that farm from another location.


    She felt that the crops in this farm weren''t all inedible as the others believed. Even though all the crops here were infected by the virus, Lin Qiao believed that if she transplanted them into her space and watered them with the lake water every day, the virus might be erased gradually.


    She believed so because the strawberry plants in her space were fairly healthy by now, and were almost free from the virus already. That awful smell was gone as well.


    Lin Qiao wanted to find some edible vegetables from the farm, not only because of the little boy in her space or Wu Yueling, who lived there before, but also because of her family. She believed that if foods had become scarce in the whole world, her family in the South might need some food to survive as well.


    She was thinking that if she could find some vegetables which hadn''t mutated so severely in the farm and collect some seeds, she might be able to grow them in her space.


    She couldn''t tell for sure if the vegetables like cabbages would survive after being dug out and transplanted in her space. That whole process would be a little troublesome, but she had to try, and could do it very quickly. As for beans and melons, their seeds would be easy to collect.


    With these thoughts, Lin Qiao began digging vegetables in the farm. She directly dug out some well-grown vegetables and threw them into her space along with the soil. She didn''t know if those vegetables could survive or not, but as she had successfully transplanted strawberry plants in this way, these vegetables might survive as well!


    In fact, she knew nothing about gardening or agriculture at all! Right now, she was just making every possible effort.


    She also found a lot of potatoes. The mutant potato plants looked a little weird, but Lin Qiao discovered that the potatoes which were buried underground were only slightly mutated.


    Apart from that, she had also found something in common among the mutant plants in the post-apocalyptic world¡ªThe more a plant changed in appearance, the less amount of virus it turned out to contain. Some plants obviously had mutated and carried the virus, but in fact, they were mostly edible.


    She felt that those plants might have developed these changes for self-preservation.


    Lin Qiao was in quite a haste to head to her hometown, but at that moment, she still stopped in the farm for those possibly edible vegetables. She did that because one day, what she did here might help her family. But of course, that was only if her family members were still alive.


    In consideration of time, she only spent about half a day in the farm. She picked some lightly infected vegetables, including a pile of giant pumpkins and some potatoes, even including a few uninfected plants. Apart from those, she also collected some old, half-dried beans for seeds.


    After that, she entered her space, found a clearing, and began digging. She didn''t have a hoe or any other tools, so she could only dig with her claws.


    Junjun put her son on the bed which was placed on the grass and used to belong to Wu Yueling, then went to help Lin Qiao.


    After Lin Qiao finished digging holes, Junjun planted the vegetables in the holes along with the soil from the outside, then earthed it up. After that, she carried some water from the lake to water the vegetables. They worked for quite a while. Only until the little boy sat up on the bed and called his mom did they stop.


    "Mom! I''m hungry!" The little boy widely opened his black and bright eyes, saying while looking at Junjun, who had washed her hands and was walking toward him.


    After eating the strawberries, the little boy''s eyes weren''t as dull as before. However, his face still looked sallow.


    Junjun was still worrying about her son''s physical condition, but it was already way better than before when she hadn''t met Lin Qiao. Back then, she couldn''t find any food or water for her son, and had been worried sick. So, at least the situation was turning out to be better.

 82 Make A Snake Soup with the Lake Water

    Lin Qiao glanced at the little boy''s face, then exited her space. She went to the woods beside the farm to collect a lot of dried wood, then went back in. After that, she thought for a moment, then picked a few pieces of rocks and built a small stove on a clearing by the lake with them.


    She didn''t have many things in her space by now, but had everything she needed at the moment, such as pots. Xie Dong broke a pot earlier on, but she had more of them.


    She had also collected many useful things from the flat where the little boy was found, and the store not far away from there.


    Lin Qiao glanced at all the melons that she had piled on the grass, then wrote on the paper¡ª''I''ll make him some snake soup.''


    Junjun paused briefly, then looked at Lin Qiao with hesitation. Lin Qiao read her mind and learned what she was thinking.


    She was thinking that the snake was mutant, full of viruses. She wondered if it was really edible for the child. What if the child got infected?


    Lin Qiao took out the paper and continued writing¡ª''Like I said, the water in the lake can erase the virus. The snake meat has been soaked in the water for a while. Later, I''ll blanch it and then boil it. I think the virus would be gone after that.''


    After showing the note to Junjun, she began starting a fire on the stone stove. Building a fire in the wilderness wasn''t difficult for her. After all, she had done a lot of field training before, and often needed to cook food in the wilderness. More importantly, she had found a working lighter in the store before.


    However, she didn''t have any salt, so the soup she made wouldn''t be so delicious. But anyhow, it would be better than nothing.


    After the fire was built, she filled a pot with water, then put it on the stove.


    Next, she took a piece of snake meat out of a bucket, and put on a soup plate. Then, she realized that she had no way to cut the meat into small pieces together with the bones, because she didn''t have a knife! She had been using a dagger, but it was too small. It could cut the meat, but wouldn''t be able to break the bones.


    Therefore, she had no choice but to pick the meat off the bones with that dagger. She first cut off the part which had been cut by her claws, then carefully sliced the meat off. While doing that, she had also been putting some meat into her own mouth. When all the meat was shaved off, she threw the snake bone aside.


    After that, she washed the snake meat with the lake water, then waited for the water on the stove to boil.


    Junjun stood by her side, watching her do all this. She wanted to help, but seeing that the other''s moves were so quick and smooth, she felt that the latter didn''t need her help.


    The wood collected by Lin Qiao quickly burst into flames as they were all very dry. She hadn''t put too much water in the pot, so before long, the water began steaming.


    When the water began to boil, Lin Qiao poured it into the soup plate to blanch the snake meat, then poured it away. After that, she put the snake meat into the pot along with cool water to boil.


    She broke a lot of dry branches, then put them into the stove to make the fire stronger.


    Lin Qiao and Junjun couldn''t see the color of the fire. In their eyes, the fire was transparent. They couldn''t feel the temperature of the fire either, but could sense that the fire was filled with a scorching energy.


    She blanched the snake meat again, then added more cool water to stew it. Halfway, she peeled a potato and threw it into the pot. When she felt that the soup was almost ready, she picked a few uninfected leafy vegetables, washed them, and then put in the pot.


    Sensing the scent of the snake soup, Lin Qiao lost her interest in the snake meat inside. She was only interested in raw meat!


    However, she could tell if the scent contained any virus and the soup was edible for human beings. At last, the snake soup became very thick, because the potato was cooked to a pulp.


    "Whoa¡­" When Lin Qiao put out the fire and put some soup into a bowl to send it to the little boy along with a small spoon, the boy burst into tears. Her ugly face had again scared that kid.


    Looking at the back of the boy''s head and realizing that he was crying because of her ugly face, Lin Qiao felt speechless.


    ''Damn! My kindness came to no good¡­''She thought. Junjun gave her an apologetical smile, then hurriedly took over the soup.


    Lin Qiao expressionlessly watched her take away that bowl of soup, then went out of that small space. After that, she exited her space. She glanced at the farm, then let out the car and continued driving South.


    She soon drove on the highway, heading straight South. Before long, she drove out of Sea City and entered Zhe Province.


    ¡­


    Nothing troubled her during the rest of her journey. The level-five, ice-powered zombie was no longer chasing her, and the little one was sent back to her father. Now, she was only with Junjun and her son. Two female zombies and a human child¡­ What a strange group!


    During the journey, Lin Qiao made snake soup for the little boy twice a day. With the starchy food such as potatoes, the little boy gradually became much more energetic than before.


    Lin Qiao would also make some time to observe those vegetables that she planted unskilfully with her claws.


    She figured that all the energy of her space was concentrated in the lake, because all the vegetables which were watered by the lake water survived. At first, she thought it was because of the soil, so she left a few unwatered plants; but those died very soon.


    She had also found out that the lake water could really keep food fresh, because the snake meat soaked in the bucket never showed a sign of going bad.


    In order to arrive at the South as soon as possible, Lin Qiao drove day and night. In the first few days, she would only stop when cooking for the little boy. Later on, Junjun had learned now to make snake soup, and taken over the responsibility for cooking her son''s meals.


    Junjun too made some discoveries. Sometimes, she would feel very hungry, longing to pounce on the little boy and bite him when she sensed his scent. Every time that happened, she would run to the lakeside and drink from the lake as much as she could. Gradually, she discovered that the lake water could restrain her appetite for living human beings.


    After finding that out, Junjun was quite happy. After all, with the lake water, she wouldn''t lose her mind and hurt the little boy at least.


    Soon, Lin Qiao drove across Zhe Province and entered Min Province.


    At that point, the people she was looking for had entered Min Province as well, but from the opposite direction.


    Lin Feng and his few loyal followers protected his family to escape from Yue Province, avoiding numerous pursuing forces on their way.


    In Longyan City of Zhe Province, a group of people was quietly hiding In a place which used to be a karaoke club, on the top floor of a four-story shopping mall.


    The front door of the club was shut tightly, guarded by two soldiers in camouflage clothing. A young man was sitting on the billiard table by the door, legs crossed and face darkened. He was holding a thumb-thick wooden stick with one hand and a sharp dagger with the other; he had been slowly sharpening the stick with the dagger.


    He had sharpened one end of the wooden stick well already.


    A group of people was crowded in a room in the club. Some were sitting, and some were standing, all remaining silent. Among these people was a man in his thirties. He had an angular face and a very serious vibe. His eyes were sharp, thin lips pressed into a straight line. He looked so serious that ordinary people wouldn''t dare to approach him. A smart-looking little girl was sitting on his lap.


    The little girl wasn''t tall, but had a delicate and adorable face. Her clothes were clean, and her large eyes were sparkling brightly.

 83 The Runaway Troop

    Sitting beside that man was a middle-aged woman whose entire body was giving out a sad vibe. The clothes she was wearing seemed to be cheap, but were very clean and neat. Her long hair was combed into a loose ponytail. The tips of the middle-aged woman''s brows were turning down, reflecting her sadness.


    Two women were sitting on an old couch, both looking about thirty years old; outstandingly pretty, their eyes showed an aggressive look.


    Women were rare in the post-apocalyptic world, but there were four of them in this room.


    Two men were standing by each side of the door of this room; both were young, about twenty years old.


    "Killing Qiao wasn''t enough for that animal named Yang Jianhua! Now, he wants to destroy all of us! So sick! I didn''t think that a man could be so ungrateful! We shouldn''t have let Qiao keep him back then!" The middle-aged woman said through clenched teeth. The anger and hatred in her eyes soon covered her sadness.


    "Hm! He has also cast his eyes on my sister-in-law and me. That lascivious man had coveted our eldest sister for long, and never tried to hide his desire in front of my sister-in-law and me. If our eldest sister hadn''t been restraining him, he might have done something long ago. But, Sister Lin only believed him, and never believed me!" said one of the two younger women who had long straight hair and a delicate face. Her words were full of hatred and aversion toward Yang Jianhua.


    The woman beside her had a pretty, baby face. She now had the same angry look as the other young woman did, but she was much more hot-tempered than her.


    Picturing that man sneakily gazing at her with a sick, disgusting look from the darkness, she turned around and kicked away the little chair next to her.


    She snorted, not wanting to say anything.


    "His main purpose now is to kill us. He''s worrying that if he lets us live, we might find a chance to take revenge against him one day. That''s why he has been chasing after us all this time. I''m afraid he''ll never be able to fall asleep before he has killed us with his own hands," said the man holding the little girl calmly.


    "Aunty¡­ Aunty is so strong! She won''t die!" The little girl sitting on the man''s laps pouted and said.


    The man turned to look at her. His sharp gaze softened slightly as he rubbed her head, then sighed and said, "Maybe... We can only wait for A to bring a reliable message back to us."


    "Feng, this place isn''t safe. We should leave as soon as possible. We must meet Li Zheng and his people before we plan our next step." The middle-aged woman forced herself to calm down, then said to her son.


    Lin Feng looked at his mother, then nodded and responded, "This place isn''t safe indeed. Now that we''ve had some rest and regained some energy, let''s go."


    While speaking, he lifted his daughter and stood up to walk out. The others all followed him closely out of the room.


    Among the three waiting in the lobby, the young man who had been patiently sharpening the wooden stick leaped off the billiards table once he saw them coming out.


    "Finally leaving?" He asked.


    Lin Feng looked at him and asked, "How''s the situation outside? Did you feel anything?"


    The young man named Lin Hao shook his head and said, "There''re too few plants in this city, so the range of my sensation isn''t large. But, I haven''t sensed any danger from around this building."


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Then, let''s go."


    Hearing him, the others stepped slightly backward while the two soldiers guarding by the door opened it.


    Once the door was opened, the zombies which were crowding before the door and trying to get in immediately fell to the ground.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    After a series of gunshots, the zombies which just got in were finished off by the soldiers in the club. Every bullet they shot out killed a zombie.


    One of those zombies had a wooden stick stuck in its head. That was exactly the stick sharpened by Lin Hao just now.


    The others barely made a move. Soon, a group of people exited the club.


    A few miles away, a troop was resting in a two-story building. At that moment, they were all turning to where the shopping mall was located, as if they had sensed something.


    "Did you hear a gunshot just now?" A man stood up, looking around with confusion.


    "No! Did you mishear?" Someone responded.


    "I can''t hear anything now¡­ I might have misheard¡­" he said.


    "Which direction? Let''s go take a look. We''ll then find out if you misheard or not! That might be them. Don''t miss any chance."


    "You''re right! It seemed to come from¡­ that direction," said the man.


    "Line up! Let''s go over there!"


    "Yes, Sir! Ready to go!"


    However, when they found the shopping mall, they saw nothing but dead zombies and some traces left on the ground by vehicles.


    Lin Feng and his people only shot the zombies on the top floor dead, but tried their best to avoid starting any fight after coming down. They got into their cars as quickly as they could and then drove away.


    "They drove that way. Keep chasing!"


    On the other side, Lin Qiao was going through Ning De City.


    She was still driving, and Junjun was sitting in the front seat. After leaving Sea City, they had driven across Zhe Province and entered Min Province. They hadn''t seen any human beings these few days, but had encountered a few high-level zombies. Those were merely level three or four zombies, and Lin Qiao took care of them quite easily.


    Level-three zombies were very easy to deal with for her, while level-four zombies were slightly more difficult. But anyhow, all those zombies were much easier to defeat than the level-five one which she encountered before.


    After finishing those zombies, she absorbed their zombie nuclei for fun. That was a pleasant thing to do after all.


    Lin Qiao didn''t think that she could drive through the entire Zhe Province so easily and quickly. However, she had been having a strange feeling ever since she entered Ning De City. She couldn''t tell if that was a good feeling or a bad one.


    Throughout the journey, Lin Qiao discovered that the closer she got to the downtown area, the more zombies existed there. She also found out that high-level intelligent zombies were very good at hiding.


    She had been avoiding downtown areas all the way, so that she wouldn''t encounter too many zombies. Many ordinary zombies liked to wander on the streets. When Lin Qiao drove near them, they would sense her vibe and move away, but they could only shamble very slowly¡­


    Therefore, after being jammed by zombies for a few times, Lin Qiao decided to go through the sparsely populated areas.


    Since she had entered Ning De City, that weird feeling had been occurring to her more and more frequently. That feeling wasn''t strong, but she had to pay attention to it, because she needed to know what caused her to have that feeling.


    She drove concentratively for a few hours and passed through the entire Ning De City, but nothing happened in the whole while, neither had she discovered anything.

 84 Zombies Block the Way

    Lin Qiao didn''t know that the people she was looking for weren''t far away from her. They were at a distance of two cities, but she missed them!


    When she drove into Fu Zhou City, Lin Feng and his people had entered San Ming City. Lin Qiao was heading to Pu Tian and Quan Zhou, while Lin Feng and his families were driving toward Nan Ping City.


    Therefore, they missed each other. Lin Qiao didn''t encounter Lin Feng and his family who were being chased, but entered Fu Zhou City with Junjun.


    Their way was blocked when passing through Min County.


    What jammed the road was still a large crowd of zombies. However, what happened this time was a little different than before. Lin Qiao''s way was blocked by a group of zombies which stood straight motionlessly on the ground even before she got near to the central area of this county.


    Lin Qiao stopped the car and rested her head on the wheel with confusion, looking at the group of motionless zombies which stood two or three hundred meters away.


    The zombies in this post-apocalyptic world were all unorganized, and would mostly act alone. Even if they occasionally gathered together, they would only shamble around purposelessly.


    But right now, hundreds of ordinary zombies were standing quietly on the road, staring at Lin Qiao expressionlessly; now that was a little scary!


    It seemed that all the zombies in this area had gathered in this place, because no other zombies were found except for the crowd which had jammed the road.


    While Lin Qiao was carefully observing the surrounding environment and the group of weird zombies at the front, Junjun, who was sitting in the back seat, let out a deep roar in pain.


    "Roar!"


    Lin Qiao immediately turned back to look at her. She was holding her head with both hands, and her pale face had twisted badly at that moment. She seemed to be suffering, as her eyes were closed tight, teeth clenched and bared.


    She seemed to be enduring something, or trying to suppress something.


    "Roar?"


    ''What happened?'' Lin Qiao asked.


    She had no time to write at that point, so she gave Junjun a deep roar to ask that question.


    "Roar!" Junjun struggled to open her eyes and responded with a roar.


    From her voice and thoughts, Lin Qiao confirmed one thing¡ªA strong willpower was trying to control her mind and make her obey it. However, when she sensed that willpower, she also felt a great pain in her head, as if a bomb was exploding inside her brain.


    Willpower? Control? Obey?


    Lin Qiao remained calm as some thoughts flashed across her mind. She reached out to grab Junjun''s hand, then both of them disappeared from within the car.


    After entering her space, Lin Qiao immediately began to observe Junjun''s reaction. As she had expected, Junjun relaxed her tightened face after getting in.


    As Junjun looked relieved, Lin Qiao pointed at her own head. She didn''t say a word, but asked the question with her eyes.


    Junjun understood her meaning. She took a deep breath, then nodded.


    She told Lin Qiao that she had stopped receiving that strong willpower after coming in, and her head wasn''t aching anymore. She also informed that her space was able to block the source of that pain, which had just now made her feel like her brain was exploding.


    It seemed that her space was completely isolated from the outside world, and that made things much easier. However, Lin Qiao still didn''t understand why she didn''t feel anything while Junjun did.


    At that moment, Junjun had fully recovered from the headache, and thought of the same question. So, she looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao took out a piece of paper and started writing¡ª''I felt nothing.''


    That deepened Junjun''s confusion, making her look at Lin Qiao with puzzlement.


    They were both zombies, but why did she have that feeling of pain and danger while Lin Qiao felt nothing?


    Lin Qiao closed her eyes to observe the outside situation. After finding out that the zombie crowd stayed the same as before, she decided to go out and find out what exactly was happening.


    ''You stay here, I''ll go out to take a look,'' she wrote on the paper. Junjun nodded in response, as that was the only solution at that point.


    Then, Lin Qiao turned back and exited her space, leaving Junjun in there.


    After coming out, Lin Qiao was still sitting in the driver''s seat. She stared at the zombie crowd which stood motionlessly in front of her, trying to figure out what was going on.


    She was a little far away from the zombie crowd, so she decided to drive closer to see if she could sense anything.


    She felt really strange about the fact that Junjun was affected so badly in this place while she herself sensed nothing. Based on the current condition, she couldn''t make a judgment. If she could sense something, she might be able to figure something out.


    Lin Qiao drove the car slowly toward the zombie crowd. Normally, all low-level zombies would all slowly draw away when facing her. So, she now wanted to know if these zombies which blocked her way would do the same.


    As the car moved slowly forward, the distance between Lin Qiao and the zombie crowd was shortened bit by bit. Two-hundred meters¡­ A hundred and fifty meters¡­ fifty meters¡­


    When Lin Qiao''s car was getting closer and closer, the crowd of zombies remained motionless. They just silently and expressionlessly stood there, without making any moves.


    What was strange was that even though the distance had been shortening, Lin Qiao still sensed nothing: no information, no thoughts, no voice screaming ''hungry''. She sensed absolutely nothing! Why would that happen? She couldn''t sense anything from these zombies!


    She was used to sense the simple thoughts of ordinary zombies about their simple desires to feed. But now, she was facing so many scary-looking zombies, but still could hear nothing from them. She felt that something was amiss.


    When the car was seven or eight meters away from the zombie crowd, Lin Qiao hit the brakes. She did that because she caught a sense of danger at that moment, which was causing a great suppression.


    After she stopped the car, the zombie crowd which had been remaining motionless the whole time silently started moving.


    The crowd split up slowly and showed a path in the middle, which was wide enough for only one person. After that, Lin Qiao saw a figure slowly walking out through the narrow path from behind the zombie crowd.


    Lin Qiao figured everything out at the sight of that figure.


    It turned out that a zombie at a very high-level was there controlling the crowd of ordinary zombies. Keeping hundreds of zombies so well under control and making them quietly stand there required an incredible willpower.


    Therefore, this high-level zombie which had been slowly walking out of the crowd possessed an extreme willpower! It was even stronger than the level-five zombie that Lin Qiao had encountered before.


    Lin Qiao looked at this high-level zombie, feeling a little surprised.


    This zombie had the same dark-circled eyes as Junjun did, and her face was also perfectly undamaged. Her eyes were blood-red, pupils black; her adorable lips were dark-purple, matching her pale face quite well, not bad-looking at all.


    Besides, this zombie looked very young. She was a young girl! She was about five-feet and two-inches tall, having a slim body and limbs. She had a doll face, and her long hair was tied in double ponytails, looking very cute.


    She was wearing a white dress which was perfectly clean, and a pair of red shoes which looked cute as well.


    However, this pretty young female zombie made Lin Qiao feel a great pressure and a strong sense of danger.

 85 The Red-eyed Zombie

    After walking out of the zombie crowd, the young female zombie didn''t show any anger or ferocity. She just stood before the crowd with a calm expression, looking at Lin Qiao with curiosity in her eyes.


    Lin Qiao was also looking at her from up and down. However, she hadn''t been receiving any thoughts from this female zombie, probably because the latter''s level was too high.


    Looking at those blood-red eyes, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but tighten her entire body.


    The eyes of ordinary zombies were pale gray, and the eyes of the zombies at level-three or above were pure dark. The level-five zombie that Lin Qiao encountered before also had black eyes; but occasionally, those eyes would glow with faint traces of red light.


    However, the eyes of the female zombie in front of her were completely red. Unlike the legendary red pupils of vampires, the pupils of this female zombie were black and bright, while the part of her eyes which was supposed to be white was blood-red, glowing with a faint red light.


    Lin Qiao hadn''t seen such a strange zombie ever since she woke up in the post-apocalyptic world, not even from Lu Tianyu''s memories. According to her memories, Lu Tianyu hadn''t even heard about any zombie like that!


    Looking at the female zombie''s clean white dress, Lin Qiao felt that she would look exactly like a human being if she didn''t have blood-red eyes and the dark circles underneath.


    Lin Qiao sat in the car motionlessly. The young female zombie stood in front of the car quietly, just looking at Lin Qiao. Both of them remained absolute silent, but this scene seemed to be a little weird: a car parked on one side of a broad road, with a group of dirty-looking zombies in ragged clothes standing in front of the car motionlessly; and a pretty, clean-looking, weird young female zombie standing before the zombie crowd, also motionlessly.


    If anyone could see this scene, they would freak out and wonder what the hell was happening.


    ''She''s not a¡­ level-six zombie, is she?'' Lin Qiao stared at the pretty young female zombie and thought. ''Damn! I heard that level-six zombies were rare, and not seen frequently. No one wants to see them anyway, because a level-six zombie can kill a level-six superpowered human being almost instantaneously!''


    Level-six zombies were very powerful, so human beings never wanted to encounter them. Reaching level-six was awfully difficult for zombies; hence, very few zombies managed to do that.


    As for level-seven¡­


    Lin Qiao felt that this young female zombie was even more dangerous than the level-five zombie leader. She now even regretted not drawing back and leaving just now!


    Based on the current situation, she understood that she had entered this young female zombie''s territory already!


    At that moment, the young female zombie abruptly raised her delicate nose and sniffed toward Lin Qiao. Then, she let out a scream.


    Her voice was very shrill and penetrating.


    Lin Qiao only sensed a pain from her ears before a strong willpower was sent into her brain.


    ''Who are you?'' Through her scream, the young female zombie asked a question with curiosity. Lin Qiao felt no hostility from her, even though her voice was sharp.


    ''Eh? No hostility?'' Lin Qiao was surprised, because this female zombie only showed curiosity toward her, without any other intentions.


    ''So innocent!'' Thought Lin Qiao.


    "Ah!" The young female zombie screamed again as she didn''t get Lin Qiao''s response. Her pair of little canine teeth were faintly visible.


    ''Who are you? Tell me who you are!'' She said.


    ''My ears hurt!'' Lin Qiao complained silently.


    It seemed that the young female zombie wouldn''t let Lin Qiao pass before the latter introduced herself. So, she thought for a moment and decided to get off the car and communicate with her, as she had shown no hostility so far.


    She was worried that the female zombie might lose her patience and destroy her car. If the happened, she would be in trouble.


    At this point, she had completely no intention to find out how powerful this young female zombie who looked like a level-six was.


    With that thought, she slowly opened the car door and got off the car. In order to let the female zombie know that she didn''t intend to attack, she dared not to move too fast.


    After Lin Qiao got off the car, the young female zombie tilted her head and began looking at her carefully from head to toe. It was the first time for her to see a zombie who was in clean clothes like herself!


    Lin Qiao quietly looked at the young female zombie after getting off the car without answering the latter''s question immediately. However, the young female zombie started getting impatient. She suddenly moved, as fast as a gust of wind. Within a blink, she was standing right in front of Lin Qiao, about a meter away.


    Lin Qiao tightened her every muscle instantly and automatically popped her claws.


    However, the female zombie didn''t scream at her again, but mumbled a few words that made Lin Qiao pause in shock.


    ''Do you have memories?'' She asked. Lin Qiao was stunned, staring at her with disbelief.


    ''What does she mean? A zombie asking another zombie if she has memories? What memories? The memories she had before turning into a zombie?'' Lin Qiao now had so many questions.


    Lin Qiao found that she had problems understanding this young female zombie''s words.


    Seeing Lin Qiao make no reaction, the young female zombie showed a confused look. She took a step backward, again looking at Lin Qiao from head to toe. After that, she glanced at the car next to Lin Qiao, then crossed her arms before her chest and began wondering if she had mistaken something.


    ''Isn''t this zombie the same as me?'' She wondered. ''But she can drive! Why does she know how to drive if she doesn''t have memories?''


    Seeing the confused look in her face, Lin Qiao suddenly understood the young female zombie''s meaning. So, she took a notepad and a pen out of her pocket and began writing. While writing, she was also observing the young female zombie.


    As she had expected, after she took out the notepad and the pen, the young female zombie had her eyes glowed, and actually showed a smile.


    ''Do you remember things before the apocalypse?'' Lin Qiao wrote on the notepad.


    Having finished writing, she raised the notepad to show the question to the young female zombie.


    The young female zombie was smiling in a pleasant surprise, but her smile froze after she read the words Lin Qiao wrote on the paper. A few seconds later, she suddenly closed her eyes and pounced on Lin Qiao.


    Before Lin Qiao could react, she felt that the young female zombie had embraced her, and then heard a series of howls from next to her ear.


    ''Whooah! Whooah! Whooah!!!''


    Again, Lin Qiao was stunned.


    ''Damn! Damn! Who can tell me if I''m listening to this zombie cry? Is she holding me and crying? What the hell is going on? Did anything happen? Who can tell me what on earth has happened?'' She screamed in her head.


    The young female zombie''s voice was still shrill, but Lin Qiao had sensed the strong sadness contained in it. And, her voice had sent a great amount of information into Lin Qiao''s brain.


    ''I woke up like this! Zombies everywhere! Mom and Dad have both turned into zombies! They don''t remember me anymore! And, they were so afraid of me! They tried to hide every time they saw me! I went to the other human beings, but they attacked me once they saw me! No one told me what happened! No one told me why I became like this! Why do I still have my memories? My parents became zombies, and they saw me as a strange zombie. Once I forgot to keep an eye on them and let them run away, then they were killed by human survivors! Their heads were chopped off! So scary! So scary! I''m so scared! Whoo¡­ I''m not a human being anymore, not a zombie either. I spent five years all alone. No one was there for me! I''m so scared!''


    Lin Qiao sensed the young female zombie''s fear and sadness which came from the bottom of her heart, and were so real. She was like a poor kid abandoned by the whole world, terrified, helpless, and uneasy.

 86 The Zombie Named Qiu Lili

    Lin Qiao felt that the young female zombie who was holding her while crying loudly had actually been shaking slightly.


    She sighed, and gently patted her on her shoulder.


    Lin Qiao could imagine how scared she must be when she woke up to find that she had become a cold-blooded zombie, and so had her family. Her family didn''t remember her anymore, and no one was there to care for her or look after her. The human beings she met launched lethal attacks on her, so she could only hide. She lived alone in the post-apocalyptic world. All of this might be easier to accept if she were an adult, but she was just a young girl. She might have even been a spoiled little princess who was dependent on her families. To such people, living alone was the most terrifying thing in the world, not to mention the fact that she was still underage when she became a zombie.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t move as the young female zombie was holding her so tight. She heard the zombie crying loudly next to her ear, but couldn''t see if she was shedding tears.


    She wondered if zombies could shed tears.


    Lin Qiao waited for a while, then felt a little speechless. The young female zombie had cried for a rather long while, but wasn''t showing any sign of stopping yet. After telling Lin Qiao her family background, she began talking about how she got through the last five years¡­


    She tried to seek help from some human beings, but they attacked her at the very sight of her. Even though she didn''t plan to fight back, those human beings never gave her a chance of starting a communication. She tried a few times, but the results were the same. As those superpowered human beings grew stronger and stronger, they soon became threatening to her. Therefore, she gave up on trying to communicate with human beings after that. However, she didn''t like to talk to zombies, because she felt that they were monsters.


    Besides, zombies only had instincts, without any humanity; including the high-leveled intelligent ones and the superpowered ones. The young female zombie who was used to living in the human society felt that higher level zombies were even more monster-like than the ordinary ones.


    She couldn''t bear to eat human flesh, dig out human brains, and chew human hearts like the other zombies were doing. So, she hunted animals to feed herself. She forced herself to eat those hunted animals even though they tasted awful, because she had a feeling that she would die if she didn''t eat any meat, even though she was a zombie. Even though she had become a half-human and half-zombie creature, she still wanted to live. The reason was simple, that she was afraid!


    She cried for three whole minutes, then finally let go of Lin Qiao and stepped back.


    After that, Lin Qiao looked at her face and found that her face was completely dry without any tears. However, her eyes had changed quite a lot. Those eyes were merely shining with a faint red light before, but now, that red light was shining so brightly that they even looked like a pair of red bulbs! Fortunately, it was broad daylight, so her eyes weren''t so scary. Lin Qiao couldn''t imagine how dazzling her eyes would be if it were dark now.


    Seeing that the young female zombie had calmed back down, Lin Qiao took out the notepad and the pen and started writing again. However, before she finished writing, the young female zombie uttered another scream with her shrill voice.


    ''I''ll follow you! Where''re you going? Wherever you go, I''ll go with you!'' She said.


    Lin Qiao stopped writing, then raised her head to look at the young female zombie with surprise. Next, she showed her the note in her hand.


    ''What''s your name?''


    Lin Qiao had listened to her crying for three minutes, but she hadn''t told her the latter''s name.


    The young female zombie mumbled to respond¡ª''Lili... My name is Qiu Lili. I was nearly sixteen before I became a zombie. Why don''t you talk? Why do you write on the paper? Doesn''t writing make you tired?''


    Lin Qiao felt that this zombie named Qiu Lili was like a curious baby.


    The red light in her eyes had faded, and by now, those eyes were filled with curiosity. Looking at Qiu Lili, Lin Qiao felt like facing a three-year-old baby.


    Before she finished thinking, Qiu Lili began roaring to ask her more questions.


    "Roar, roar, roar?"


    ''I was trying to control you and the zombie beside you, but I found that I can only control her, while you made no response to my power at all! You''re so strange! And, do you have a space? Just now, you disappeared, and so did your friend!'' She asked.


    Lin Qiao shook her head, then nodded and wrote on the paper¡ª''My name is Lin Qiao. I don''t like using my voice because I feel it''s strange! I didn''t feel anything just now. And, I do have a space.''


    "Roar, roar, roar¡­"


    ''But, talking like this is more convenient! Where''re you heading to?'' Asked Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao ripped off the first page of the notepad, then threw it into her space, because it was covered with her handwriting. She wouldn''t throw the paper with her handwriting in random places, because she didn''t want anyone to discover them. So, she had been throwing the used paper into her space.


    After that, she wrote down two words on a new page¡ª''The South''.


    "Roar, roar!"


    ''I''m going with you! I''ll go with you! I don''t want to be alone anymore¡­'' said Qiu Lili.


    Seeing the begging look in Qiu Lili''s eyes, Lin Qiao felt that the former wouldn''t accept ''no'' as an answer. She estimated that Qiu Lili would follow her no matter how, as she had sensed that this young female zombie was thinking exactly this way!


    She also wanted to know why Qiu Lili had blocked her way in this place, and if she often did the same thing here.


    So, she wrote on the paper¡ª''How did you know we were passing through here? Why did you control so many zombies to block our way? Did you do this frequently?''


    "Roar, roar¡­" Qiu Lili gave a few howls. However, as Lin Qiao had been writing the whole time, she suddenly felt quite strange to roar like that.


    After all, before meeting Lin Qiao, she would only roar at the other zombies to deliver simple messages, such as ''come here'', ''get over'', ''that side'' or ''this side'', which contained merely one or two words. But now, she needed to roar out long sentences to Lin Qiao. She was a little used to communicating with other creatures by roaring, but now, that made her feel a little weird. In fact, she felt very weird about that.


    Therefore, she stopped roaring without finishing it, then thought for a moment and abruptly pointed at the pen and notepad in Lin Qiao''s hands.


    Lin Qiao handed her the pen and notepad. She took over the two objects, then began writing awkwardly.


    She held the pen with one hand, the notepad with the other, and wrote with a strange gesture. Lin Qiao waited a while for her to finish writing and show her what she wrote.


    ''I sensed that you were approaching, so I sent the zombie crowd to stop you. I''ll stop all the zombies coming from other places and drive them away. If you were human beings, I wouldn''t block your way. The whole town is my territory.''


    She stopped Lin Qiao because she thought that the latter was a zombie from another place, and didn''t want her to enter her territory.


    Lin Qiao now recalled that most of the high-level zombies had their own territories. Qiu Lili liked this town, so she guarded it to drive away all the zombies from other places. She wouldn''t do the same to human beings, maybe because she knew that human survivors had their own bases and wouldn''t linger in her territory for long.


    For that reason, she didn''t need to stop the human beings who passed through this area and expose herself. Apart from this, Lin Qiao felt that she had an indescribable fear toward human beings.


    ''A zombie is afraid of human beings?'' Lin Qiao wondered without knowing what to say.


    She decided to let Qiu Lili follow her since she insisted. Qiu Lili could serve as a guide, as she might know about the location of the bases in the South.


    From Lu Tianyu''s memories, Lin Qiao had learned that two bases were in the South, but didn''t know about their specific locations.

 87 Qiu Lili Moves

    Lin Qiao was preparing for a fight, but somehow, the situation had turned into this¡­


    She wrote on the paper¡ª''Do you know about the locations of the two bases in the South? I want to go there.''


    Qiu Lili read the note, then nodded and wrote¡ª''Are you heading to the two bases? I know where they are. But, why are you going there?''


    She then looked at Lin Qiao''s face and found that the latter''s face was severely damaged, while hair were unbrushed but tied up behind her head. She stared at Lin Qiao''s eyes for a while, then began looking at Lin Qiao''s nose and mouth.


    As Lin Qiao started feeling weird under her gaze, she wrote down another few lines. ''You have beautiful eyes, nose, and lips; the shape of your face is pretty too, but the scars look too bad! You look so ugly this way¡­''


    Lin Qiao was speechless. Qiu Lili wasn''t the only creature who thought she was too ugly¡­


    Qiu Lili stared at her for a while, then wrote on the paper¡ª''Are you going to the bases in the South now? Do you want to take a rest here?''


    Lin Qiao shook her head after reading the note. She needed to find her family; the sooner, the better.


    Seeing her shaking her head, Qiu Lili thought for a moment, then continued writing¡ª''Then, please come where I live with me. You have a space, so can you put all my belongings into your space and take with us?''


    Lin Qiao nodded, as that was an easy thing for her to do.


    Seeing her nod, Qiu Lili directly dragged her arm. Lin Qiao felt that her body suddenly became weightless as a gust of wind took her away from where she was. She moved so fast that before she could see the surrounding environment clearly, the two arrived at a new place, stopping before a small western-style building.


    Once arriving there, Lin Qiao sensed the vibes of two creatures which were as powerful as herself surrounding the building.


    "Ah!" At that moment, Qiu Lili suddenly screamed out loud and startled Lin Qiao so badly that she almost sprung to her feet¡­


    ''Damn! Why did you scream so suddenly? I wasn''t preparing for that! You might scare me to death!'' She complained in her head.


    Along with Qiu Lili''s scream, two figures showed up on top of the building. They were in human shape, but didn''t look like normal human beings anymore.


    Those were one male and one female zombie; their legs were bent, backs hunched, hands on both sides of their bodies. Their clothes were all ragged, looking old and dirty. Fortunately, they both had all their limbs.


    Their faces were both scary-looking. As same as the first intelligent zombie that Lin Qiao encountered, they had black eyes and awful dark circles under those eyes; their noses were flat, mouths cracked ear to ear, and sharp teeth sticking out of their mouth, glowing with a cold light.


    These two zombies seemed to be afraid of Qiu Lili very much; Lin Qiao could sense their fear toward the other. They also seemed to be under Qiu Lili''s control, as they showed up immediately after she called for them. Clearly, they didn''t dare to go against her.


    They didn''t dare to get near to Qiu Lili, but stood seven or eight meters away from her, looking at her carefully.


    "Roar!" Qiu Lili roared at them. After that, these two zombies moved aside and guarded by the front gate of the building. Then, she dragged Lin Qiao''s sleeve and walked into the building.


    Lin Qiao looked around and found that the entire building was very tidy, as if someone would do the cleaning every day. Behind the front gate was a small yard. The concrete floor of the yard was very clean, without any fallen leaves or sands. A tree was standing in the yard.


    Lin Qiao saw that a broom was placed under the tree¡­


    Lin Qiao understood that it was normal for Qiu Lili to do the things that only human beings would do, as she was a zombie who had human memories like herself. She was just curious about whether she swept the floor herself or made the two zombies outside do it.


    Qiu Lili looked like a little princess in that clean white dress, so Lin Qiao assumed that she wouldn''t sweep the floor herself, but would make the other zombies do it for her.


    While picturing the two zombies sweeping the floor, Lin Qiao wanted to laugh. She couldn''t tell why, but she did want to laugh!


    Stepping on the clean concrete floor, Lin Qiao felt slightly more comfortable than before. The post-apocalyptic world was so dirty and disordered that almost every corner seemed to be a mess. She knew that the bases of human survivors might be much cleaner than the rest of the world, but she had never been in any base.


    Therefore, ''messy'' was her first impression of this post-apocalyptic world.


    After guiding Lin Qiao into the living room on the first floor, Qiu Lili pointed at the suede upper leather sofa set, then at the delicate crystal tea table, and the exquisite tea sets on it.


    Lin Qiao understood that Qiu Lili wanted her to take these. So, she walked over and sent the sofa set and the tea table and everything on it into her space.


    Lin Qiao found the well-organized furniture pieces in the living room quite acceptable, but felt a little speechless when she saw the strange plants in the flower pots.


    Qiu Lili was a zombie who attached importance to hygiene, and knew how to enjoy life. All surviving human beings in the town had fled, so without a doubt, she could take whatever she liked from any house.


    However, judging by an octopus-like flower, Lin Qiao felt that Qiu Lili had a strange taste.


    Under Qiu Lili''s guidance, Lin Qiao put everything in the living room into her space, including the table, chairs, cabinets, and the octopus-like flower. Then, Qiu Lili took her to the kitchen for all sorts of beautiful tableware and kitchenware.


    Qiu Lili had lived in the post-apocalyptic world alone for years. During this time, she had collected many pretty things which were very expensive in the old world.


    After finishing with the kitchen, Qiu Lili took Lin Qiao to the second floor. Without a question, the three rooms on the second floor were soon emptied by Lin Qiao. Next, they went up to the third floor.


    Only after Lin Qiao put almost every piece in the building into her space did Qiu Lili take her back downstairs. Lin Qiao felt that the empty area in her space was narrowed after she put all Qiu Lili''s belongings in.


    After coming out of the building, Qiu Lili pointed at the two zombies which were obediently standing by the gate, and roared at Lin Qiao. She asked her if she could take those two zombies as well.


    Lin Qiao didn''t mind. She thought for a moment, then took out the notepad and wrote¡ª''Up to you. But, they can''t sit in my car.''


    Qiu Lili happily nodded, then took over the notepad from Lin Qiao''s hand and wrote¡ª''Alright! I''ll let them sit on top of the car then!''


    Lin Qiao felt a little speechless, but agreed.


    After that, Qiu Lili roared at the two zombies and dragged Lin Qiao''s arm. Then, Lin Qiao was again taken away by a gust of wind and sent back to her car within a blink.


    It seemed that Qiu Lili had the wind power.


    After returning Lin Qiao''s car, Qiu Lili directly sat in the front seat. Before sitting down, she tapped the seat to make sure it was clean. After shutting the car door, she saw the zombie crowd which was still blocking the way.


    She immediately stuck her head out of the window to scream at the crowd of zombie.


    "Ah!"


    Lin Qiao was just opening the door of the driver''s seat when she heard Qiu Lili''s scream, which caused her hand to shake.


    Bang!


    The door closed itself.


    Lin Qiao was speechless once again.

 88 Ling Ling’s Current Situation

    Hearing Qiu Lili''s scream, the crowd of zombies standing motionlessly on the road suddenly began loitering about, as if someone had suddenly turned on their switch. Their neat formation was immediately disorganized.


    All the zombies began drawing away from Qiu Lili and Lin Qiao once they started moving, as if they were afraid of something and were automatically trying to find another place to stay.


    The road before Lin Qiao''s car was soon cleared. After that, she started the car. Qiu Lili looked around in her car. When she turned to the backseat, she suddenly recalled that there was another zombie.


    So, she picked up Lin Qiao''s pen and paper and wrote, ''Where''s your friend? Does she have memories too?''


    Before Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili hadn''t met any zombies with memories; so, she was curious about the other zombie.


    Lin Qiao hadn''t started driving yet, so she took over the pen and paper, wrote, ''She''s in my space. She''s afraid of you.''


    She meant that they should leave Junjun in her space alone instead of letting her out to face Qiu Lili, who was a level-six zombie.


    Level-five zombies were called zombie leaders, while level-six zombies were called zombie kings and zombie queens, because they were the highest-leveled zombies which found till now. As for level-seven zombies, even though no human survivors had seen any of them yet, they called them ''Zombie Dominators''.


    The clean-looking young female zombie sitting beside Lin Qiao was a wind-powered zombie queen. Lin Qiao didn''t know how powerful Qiu Lili was; but judging by the pressure and the sense of danger that she had been giving off, she should be strong enough to even put up a fight against Wu Yueling''s father, even though she was only a level-six zombie!


    She didn''t understand why this powerful zombie queen insisted on following her. She felt that she couldn''t understand the latter''s thoughts!


    Qiu Lili didn''t say much after reading Lin Qiao''s note. She nodded, then let out a deep roar, as if saying, ''Alright''.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then pressed on the accelerator and drove away. Not long after that, she felt that the car suddenly became heavier. She knew that it was because Qiu Lili''s two followers had jumped onto her car.


    But strangely, it seemed that the two zombies didn''t dare to make any loud sound, as if they were afraid that they might disturb Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili, who were sitting in the car. In fact, they were only afraid of Qiu Lili.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue had taken Wu Yueling back to the base. During the journey, he found that his daughter''s personality hadn''t changed much, because she was still ignoring people, and wouldn''t talk. Wu Chengyue didn''t know how to make his daughter talk, and had already gotten used to her being like that. However, it was a good thing for him to find that his daughter remained the same as before, as he was worrying that she might have been scared by the female zombie and become even more withdrawn.


    Since what he had feared didn''t happen, he had relaxed a little by now. Earlier on, when he left that orchard, he felt that his daughter seemed to be reluctant to part with that female zombie. Wu Yueling didn''t tell him anything back then, but he still felt that way because he saw her turning back to look for that zombie from time to time.


    Even though the personality of his daughter didn''t change, her body seemed to have changed.


    Since he held his daughter the first time that day, Wu Chengyue had been feeling that her daughter''s body was filled with a magical energy.


    He didn''t know what that was. That energy wasn''t like a superpower, yet was like a power which was hiding inside her body, and had yet to be triggered. At first, he was worried that that energy might bring harm to his daughter; but after asking Meng Yue to sense it, he found that energy to be very gentle, and seemed to be protective. Somehow, that energy was protecting Wu Yueling.


    After knowing that energy wouldn''t hurt his daughter, but was protecting her instead, Wu Chengyue stopped worrying, and began feeling happy for his daughter. After all, it was a good thing.


    During the journey, he had been studying the energy inside his daughter''s body. However, he couldn''t figure out what exactly did that female zombie do to Wu Yueling. She not only took good care of his daughter, but also put a protective energy inside Wu Yueling''s body.


    Wu Chengyue also had a feeling that if that energy was triggered, his daughter might have a special superpower.


    After returning to the base, Wu Yueling still wouldn''t let anyone get near her, except for her father and Meng Yue, who was very amiable.


    Therefore, when the two of them weren''t busy, they would stay with Wu Yueling in her room. Alternatively, Wu Chengyue would bring Wu Yueling to his office. The people around him were all used to that quiet little girl.


    Wu Yueling was very quiet. If her father let her stay in her room, she would sit on her bed; her father had no way to find out what she was thinking. If her father took her to the office, she would sit silently on the couch, or sleep. While she was awake, she would always be in a daze.


    Wu Chengyue worried that she might get bored, so he decided to get her a pet. When she came out of the female zombie''s space, he saw that she was holding a little rabbit. Therefore, he found some small fluffy animals for his daughter.


    Those small animals were scarce and precious in the post-apocalyptic world, which was filled with mutant beasts. However, as a base leader, Wu Chengyue could get whatever he wanted.


    However, the problem was that his daughter wouldn''t even look at those kittens and puppies he found for her. Once he put those animals in front of her, she would turn her head away.


    Well, he knew that his daughter could be single-minded sometimes¡­


    Wu Chengyue felt that the female zombie was quite special. He wondered if she had memories, and also if she was still a human being, or a half-human and half-zombie.


    He was also curious about what kind of food she lived on. Animals? He saw her drinking snake blood earlier on, so he wanted to know if she had eaten that giant snake entirely.


    While Wu Chengyue was sitting in his office, gazing at his daughter who was drawing with a pen and a paper, someone knocked on his door.


    He came back his senses and realized that he was actually distracted from work, because he was thinking about that strange female zombie.


    "Come in," he said toward the closed door.


    The door was opened right away, and the tall and sturdy Xiao Yunlong walked in with some files. He put the files on Wu Chengyue''s table, then said to him, "Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming want to see you."


    Wu Chengyue looked at him with surprise, then asked, "Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming? Aren''t they working for Zou? Why do they want to see me?"


    Xiao Yunlong shook his head and responded with, "You might have to ask them about that yourself."


    Wu Chengyue was curious about that, and he wasn''t in the mood to continue doing his work at that moment, so he nodded and said, "Send them in."


    "Send them in." Xiao Yunlong turned to say to the guards outside the door. After that, two young and handsome men walked in.

 89 Brother And Sister

    "Sorry for disturbing you," Lu Tianyi walked in and greeted Wu Chengyue smilingly.


    Wu Chengyue stood up from his seat and smilingly walked out from behind his desk while responding carelessly, "It''s alright! Take a seat. I heard that you went out of the base earlier. Have you just returned? Why are you in such a haste to see me? What happened?"


    While speaking, he pointed at the two-seater couch in his office. After that, he walked to the water filter to get a few cups of water, then turned back and put the water on the desk before the two young men.


    Next, he walked to his daughter, lifted her up and sat down, putting Wu Yueling on his knees.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming walked over and sat on the couch that he pointed at. Xiao Yunlong walked out, closing the door and then standing behind it.


    "We''re here to ask that¡­ It might be a little¡­ Well, you¡­ Where did see Lu Tianyu for the last time?" When speaking of Lu Tianyu, Lu Tianyi felt a little uneasy. However, he still managed to say it out.


    He had to. He and Kong Qingming went out of the base to search for her body, but found nothing. They couldn''t tell if she had become a zombie and ran away, but they had checked the surrounding zombies and still failed to find her.


    Therefore, they had no choice but to come here and ask Wu Changyue if he knew where Lu Tianyu''s body was. After all, she had raped him. Even if Wu Chengyue didn''t care about what Lu Tianyu had done to him, he did care about his daughter.


    To their surprise, Wu Chengyue didn''t get angry as they thought he would. Instead, he responded calmly and smilingly with, "Can I ask a question?"


    Lu Tianyi nodded.


    Wu Chengyue looked him up and down with surprise, then asked, "You''re from Zou''s side, but why are you asking about Yang Chao''s woman? Did you make the decision to come to ask me, or did Zou send you?"


    He meant that he wanted to know if Lu Tianyi asked that question for himself or for his boss.


    While speaking, Wu Chengyue continued looking at Lu Tianyi from head to toe. He had heard about Lu Tianyi; he didn''t know him well, but he had heard his name. The base was huge, with millions of people. Three level-three leaders were ruling the base together, so without a doubt, each of them had a large number of followers.


    Wu Yuecheng had heard about Lu Tianyi, but never seen him. Lu Tianyi had a different duty than he did, and lived rather far away from him; so, they didn''t have the chance to meet each other before.


    He didn''t think that Lu Tianyi would come to see him today. Now, seeing Lu Tianyi''s face, Wu Chengyue had some thoughts flashing across his mind. That was why he asked him that question,


    Lu Tianyi''s face darkened a little, but soon turned back normal. He looked at Wu Yuecheng in the eyes and said, "I know that the woman had done something¡­ some indescribable thing to you. But, I''m not gonna hide our relationship from you. She''s my half-sister. We didn''t get along well when we were little, so after the apocalypse, we lived separately. But anyhow, half of her blood was the same as mine. So, even if she''s dead¡­ I want her to rest in peace."


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face was replaced by a knowing look. With surprise, he said, "So, she had a brother! You know what, I don''t care about what she did to me. But, she left Ling Ling in a very dangerous place, and that''s why I can''t forgive her. However, I''ve heard that she''s dead. Since she''s dead, I think I can let it go. If you only want to know where I saw her for the last time, that was in the T-Mall at the Morning Lane, Southern District."


    Lu Tianyi carefully listened to him, then memorized what he said. At that point, Kong Qingming abruptly began talking, "Chief Wu, we knew that Lu Tianyi left your little Ling Ling outside, but how did you find her? You had searched for Ling Ling for a long time after Lu Tianyu died, and during that time, Ling Ling was all alone. How did she manage to survive till you found her? I''m just really curious about that. Not even I can find out what happened! I feel that''s a miracle."


    He was really curious. Kong Qingming was the leader of the intelligence department on Zou Shihui''s side, so no news could hide from him. However, he had failed to find even a clue about the missing body of Lu Tianyu, and the previously missing Wu Yueling.


    Kong Qingming looked like a lazy and carefree person, but every time he had a puzzle, he would fall into it until he had figured everything out. Otherwise, he would keep the unsolvable puzzle in mind, and wouldn''t even be able to sleep at night. Sometimes, he would even become a little neurotic.


    Wu Chengyue surely wouldn''t tell him about Lin Qiao. Not because that might affect her, but because that would definitely affect his daughter in a bad way.


    So, he smiled calmly and said, "Speaking of which, I''m also wondering what had happened to her out there. If Meng Yue didn''t have a special power, we might not have been able to find Ling Ling''s location. When we found her, she was left in a town far away from the city center. I think the ones who took her there were also human beings, so they took her with them the whole time. But, I don''t know why they didn''t show up when we arrived. I don''t even know who those people are."


    Wu Chengyue told a story which was half real and half made-up. He explained why Ling Ling didn''t die of starvation or in accidents. He pretended he didn''t see that female zombie, but told Kong Qingming that the ones who took Ling Ling to that town never showed up, so that the latter wouldn''t continue asking him about that, even though he wanted to know.


    Sometimes, the best way to keep something secret was to know nothing about it.


    Ling Ling wouldn''t talk, so Kong Qingming and Lu Tianyi would never be able to get an answer from her. Actually, if they manage to make Ling Ling talk, Wu Chengyue would feel somewhat happy about that.


    Hearing his words, Kong Qingming was lost in thoughts. Gradually, he believed in that story as he felt that Wu Chengyue''s words did make sense,


    "Chief Wu, we''ve actually been to that mall you mentioned. We''ve searched through the area ten miles around it, but found nothing. However, I do know one thing, that Lin Yong and the other two were killed by your people. I''m thinking that you must have asked those three people some questions before killing them, right?" Lu Tianyi said.


    The meaning of his words was clear. He knew that Wu Chengyue had sent his people to catch Lin Yong and the other two. As for why did he do that, that must because he wanted to ask them about where Lu Tianyu was. Therefore, he believed that those three people had told him something before their deaths.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then said, "Ah, you''re talking about the three who used to follow Lu Tianyu around to protect her, right? They were taken care of by my deputy chief, Xiao Yunlong. He hasn''t told me what exactly happened yet. I''ll tell him to come in, then you can ask him directly."


    He had been dealing with official businesses since he returned, so Xiao Yunlong had prepared to wait until he finished the most important works of his, and then report to him about that small personal matter in details. But, the latter did mention it to him earlier on.


    After saying that, he turned to shout at the door, "Cheng, go tell the deputy chief to come back."

 90 Thirty Percent Like Each Other

    "Yes, sir," Cheng''s voice was heard from outside the door, followed by a series of footsteps.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming while speaking, "He hasn''t told me the details regarding how he dealt with those three people, so I don''t know much about it yet. You''re gonna have to wait for him to come over and answer your questions."


    Fortunately, Xiao Yunlong hadn''t gone far, so he was back in two minutes. He knocked the door and walked in, then looked at the people in the office and asked, "You wanted to see me?"


    Wu Chengyue pointed at an armchair and said, "You had finished those three people off before returning to the base, right? These two have some questions to ask you." While speaking, he pointed at Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming.


    Xiao Yunlong didn''t directly sit down after coming in, but walked to the water filter to get himself a cup of water. After that, he held the cup and walked back to sit into the armchair.


    He looked at Lu Tianyi with a strange expression, then asked abruptly, "Can I ask you a question? Are you Lu Tianyu''s long lost brother?"


    Lu Tianyi felt a little speechless. Wu Chengyue and Kong Qingming couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Not long lost. I am her brother. Do we look alike?" Said Lu Tianyi.


    Xiao Yunlong took a sip of the water and nodded while saying, "Em¡­ about thirty percent."


    In fact, he had met Lu Tianyi before Lu Tianyu. Lu Tianyu''s thick makeup covered her real face, but Xiao Yunlong still felt a little strange after seeing her for a few times. Back then, he didn''t pay any attention to that or try to figure out why; but now, he had that feeling again when he was looking at Lu Tianyi closely.


    Lu Tianyi sighed and continued, "We don''t really look alike. But, Deputy Chief does have sharp eyes."


    He was actually trying to say that Lu Tianyu might have looked more like him if she removed her thick makeup.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue looked at Xiao Yunlong and said, "You dealt with Lin Yong and the other two superpowered ones yourself. Before that, did you verify any info about that wo¡­ Em, about Lu Tianyu?"


    He was going to say ''that woman'' in dislike, but changed his words on seeing Lu Tianyi''s face.


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and responded, "Those three got Lu Tianyu killed. You should have known that already, so I won''t say much about it. I''ve sent my people to the place that Lin Yong told me, and my people have found some traces indeed. However, they didn''t see her body."


    If Lu Tianyu were eaten by zombies, her body might be torn into pieces, but her skull and some bones should have remained. However, Xiao Yunlong''s people failed to find even a finger of hers.


    Kong Qingming rubbed his delicate chin as he pondered for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "Could she have become a zombie?"


    Wu Chengyue and Lu Tianyi both turned to Xiao Yunlong.


    Xiao Yunlong shook his head and denied that possibility, "That shouldn''t be possible. That could only happen when she was wounded by zombies, then hid in a zombie-free area. But, according to Lin Yong and the other two, they threw Lu Tianyu out after they killed her. So, she was very likely to be eaten by zombies."


    Lu Tianyi''s face dropped slightly as he remained silent. Kong Qingming thought for a while and said, "So where''s her body?"


    Xiao Yunlong looked at him and said, "I didn''t think that you two are really related. Is she really your sister?"


    Lu Tianyi raised his head to look at Xiao Yunlong, then nodded slightly.


    Seeing Lu Tianyi''s grim face, Kong Qingming explained for him, "She was his half-sister. Because of their complicated family relationship, they didn''t get along well in the old world. But in fact, Tianyi has been keeping an eye on her since the apocalypse. But, something went wrong this time, and we didn''t get the message timely."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and said, "That woman¡­ Em, it might be unpleasant to hear, but Yang Chao didn''t want her anymore, and other men did not want to have her either. Besides, that woman had her eyes on his enemy¡­ Hm, that was enough to make him jealous. She risked her own life to try hurting our Chief, so Yang Chao took the opportunity to kill her. He has spread the word that it was us who threw Lu Tianyu into a zombie crowd, right?"


    Xiao Yunlong sneered while speaking, his gaze was sharp.


    At that point, almost everyone in the base who knew about what happened to Lu Tianyu thought that she was killed by Chief Wu''s people, as easily as killing an ant, because she had offended Chief Wu.


    They believed that Chief Wu and his people wouldn''t get soft-hearted, even though she was a beautiful woman.


    Only a few people who saw things extra clearly knew that she was abandoned and killed by Yang Chao.


    "That''s about all we know. The rest you can only find out by yourself. I''m sorry that we can''t be more helpful. We haven''t done you much help actually," Wu Chengyue said to Lu Tianyi as an apology.


    Lu Tianyi hurriedly waved his hand and said smilingly, "You shouldn''t be sorry at all. We should apologize for disturbing you. And, Deputy Chief''s information is very useful to us. So, Chief, we should leave and stop wasting your time. We still have things to do."


    While he was speaking, he and Kong Qingming stood up, prepared to leave.


    Wu Chengyue remained sitting in his seat while holding Wu Yueling. He raised his head to smile at Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming, then said, "That''s alright. So, see you later."


    After the two young men walked out of the office and closed the door, Wu Chengyue turned to Xiao Yunlong and asked, "Did you really not see her body?"


    Xiao Yunlong looked at Wu Chengyue without answering the question. Then, he turned his eyes to Wu Yueling, who was sitting on her father''s knees, and said, "Eh? Why isn''t Lin Ling afraid of me today?"


    Wu Yueling was sitting in Wu Chengyue''s arms quietly. However, once she sensed Xiao Yunlong''s gaze, she turned to hold Wu Chengyue, with her back toward Xiao Yunlong.


    ''I just said that you''re not afraid me of today¡­'' thought Xiao Yunlong with some exasperation.


    He had noticed Wu Yueling once he came in. Before, he couldn''t even see the little girl''s face, because she didn''t dare to look at anyone other than her father!


    However, he had sat here for over a minute today, and the little girl had been staring at her hands or feet the whole while. Even though she still didn''t dare to raise her head and look at his face, it was already unusual for her.


    Besides, two strangers were also in the office, but the child still didn''t turn to hold her father tightly.


    That was unusual!


    Nevertheless, when he pointed that out, the little girl reacted immediately, as if someone had turned on her switch!


    Hearing Xiao Yunlong, Wucheng Yue''s expression changed slightly. Then, he stared at him, his eyes glowing.


    Earlier on, he hadn''t been paying attention to his daughter when talking to Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming. But now, as Xiao Yunlong mentioned it, he sensed it right away.


    Wu Chengyue looked at his daughter happily. He put his hands under her arms to drag her away from his chest, then said to her, "Ling Ling, you''re not afraid of Uncle Yunlong anymore, are you?"

 91 Believe It Or No

    Wu Yueling didn''t respond, but turned her head to an empty area.


    "Ling Ling?" Wu Chengyue didn''t give up. He shook her gently and called her name.


    Xiao Yunlong stood up and circled to before Wu Yueling''s face, then squatted and prepared to talk to her. However, before he could start, she turned again without saying a word to him.


    Xiao Yunlong felt speechless. ''Alright, the same old Ling Ling again,'' he thought.


    Seeing that his daughter had turned back into that familiar state, Wu Chengyue sighed with disappointment and said, "I wonder how she got along with that zombie. That creature was so ugly, but Ling Ling didn''t seem to be afraid of her."


    Speaking of that weird zombie, Xiao Yunlong got interested. He stood up and walked back to his seat, then sat down. "Eh? Tell me about that zombie. Earlier on, you just roughly mentioned it to me. I don''t know how that non-human-eating zombie looked like yet. How ugly is she?" He asked.


    When Wu Chengyue returned to the base, he only told Xiao Yunlong that it was a zombie who took Ling Ling away, but didn''t mention anything else.


    He held Wu Yueling back in his arm, then looked at Xiao Yunlong and said, "Her face was covered in an afro, so I couldn''t see it clearly. But, I saw the scars on his face, as large as her eyes, covering her entire face. She was wearing a clean military training suit, looking quite capable. Of course, to notice that, you need to forget about her face and afro."


    Xiao Yunlong pictured that zombie in his mind and felt a little weird.


    "You turned her hair into an afro! No wonder she took your daughter so far away! I told you that she had no bad intentions. Perhaps, she was sending Ling Ling back to you at that time." Said Xiao Yunlong.


    Wu Chengyue smiled and responded with, "Back then, I just attacked automatically. I didn''t mean to hurt her. But, I didn''t think that she''d hold the grudge. She even made me apologize."


    "What? Apologize? She made you apologize? Are you sure that you''re talking about a zombie? Not a human being?" Xiao Yunlong gave a start and asked. He thought he had misheard.


    Seeing the confused look in Xiao Yunlong''s face, Wu Chengyue nodded smilingly. Xiao Yunlong again felt speechless.


    "How did she tell you to¡­ apologize? Can you understand zombie roars?" Xiao Yunlong recovered from the shock and asked in surprise. While speaking, he was also picturing that zombie roaring at Wu Chengyue to make him apologize.


    He wanted to laugh, but couldn''t tell why, so the look on his face had become very strange. Seeing that strange look, Wu Chengyue said, "Just laugh if you want to. Why do you have to keep a straight face?"


    Xiao Yunlong made a fist before his mouth of cover his expression, then said, "Em-hem¡­ I was just picturing that zombie roaring at you. That''s a little weird. So, how did you know that she wanted you to apologize?"


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him with a smile and responded, "Who told you that she roared? She can write!"


    "Em, write? That sounds more like it¡­ Eh? Wait a moment! She can write?" Xiao Yunlong exclaimed as he registered the meaning behind the words.


    ''Damn! Write? Is that still a zombie?'' Xiao Yunlong thought.


    "Isn''t she a zombie?" Xiao Yunlong spent two seconds to process what he had heard, and then paused briefly while staring at Wu Chengyue in disbelief. He felt that it wasn''t right, so he asked, "It''s not a joke, is it?"


    Wu Chengyue gave him a mysterious smile and just shrugged. ''She is a zombie, but she still has her human memories and humanity!'' he thought.


    Xiao Yunlong''s face was still filled with disbelief. He stared at Wu Chengyue, even showing a little scorn as he said, "A zombie which can write? Do you think that I''m silly? How can a zombie write?"


    All zombies were supposed to lose their humanity, mind, and souls. They were like monsters, with only their instinctive desire to feed on human beings and wander purposelessly.


    How could that kind of creature do something that only human beings were capable of?


    If that wasn''t a joke, what was it?


    Wu Chengyue remained silent and just smiled faintly. However, Wu Yueling, who had her face buried in her father''s chest, now suddenly turned back to glance at Xiao Yunlong, then quickly buried her head back into Wu Chengyue''s arms.


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t see the look in his daughter''s face, but Xiao Yunlong, who sat in front of him, saw it and then fell silent.


    ''Little Ling Ling, please explain that disdainful look on your face!'' Xiao Yunlong paused slightly when he noticed Wu Yueling''s expression, then shouted in his head.


    The little girl never talked to him before, but just now, she suddenly threw him a cute but disdainful glance. Xiao Yunlong even began to feel that she had started becoming a little annoying! She was no longer adorable!


    Wu Chengyue looked at him smilingly and said, "You can go and find out if you don''t believe me. But, why should I lie to you? If you''re going, I need to warn you that just don''t let her scare you."


    Imagining the tall and sturdy Xiao Yunlong being scared by that zombie''s human-like behavior, Wu Chengyue''s smile grew slightly brighter.


    Xiao Yun rolled his eyes and said scornfully, "I could tell that the female zombie had no hostility toward us. But, if you''re telling me that she can write¡­ please stop joking."


    Wo Chengyue rolled his eyes and then said, "Believe it or not."


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao who had been heading South, had no idea that some people were looking for the body that she was using at the moment. Neither did she know that the people that she was looking for had brushed past her, and were moving in another direction, further and further away from her.


    Qiu Lili''s vibe was way stronger than Lin Qiao''s, and could spread widely. If she wanted to, she could let the zombies within two miles in radius sense her.


    She had been restraining her vibe and keeping the range of its influence narrow. However, the zombies within four-hundred meters around them could still feel her.


    Therefore, all the roads had been quite unobstructed for Lin Qiao, as the surrounding zombies would all move away automatically once her car approached.


    So, she had increased her driving speed. Soon, she drove past Quan Zhou and arrived at Zhang Zhou.


    Zhang Zhou was quite close to Hades Base, which was one of the two Southern bases. Therefore, she planned to go to the Hades Base first and see if she could find any useful information. Although, she understood well that finding her family wouldn''t be easy.


    Besides, because of her current appearance, she had no way of getting into the base and to simply ask around. Without a doubt, she wouldn''t be able to enter the base.


    So, she planned first look for the people who were from the Hades Base, and sneakily approach them to see if she could hear anything useful.


    Only if she could have her own body back!

 92 Energy And Energy

    While driving, Lin Qiao was thinking about how should she obtain the news about Lin Feng and her other family members. She didn''t know if they were in the Hades Base. They might be in another base, or they might have left already¡­


    The good thing was that she had as much time as she needed. Even though the final result could be bad, she still wanted a result.


    If she could restore her look¡­


    Suddenly, she had an idea and she automatically pressed on the break. The car stopped abruptly, and the inertia made both her and Qiu Lili lean forward.


    Qiu Lili reacted quickly. She immediately supported her body with her hands, then turned to look at Lin Qiao in confusion. She didn''t know why the latter had suddenly stopped the car like this.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t spare her attention for Qiu Lili at that moment, because she was recalling her experience down in the middle of the lake in her space.


    She remembered that after she came out of the lake, the wounds on her lower legs were mostly healed, and her lost flesh had regrown. If the lake water could restore her look, finding her family would become much easier for her.


    However, she didn''t make the decision herself to go down into the lake the last time, and instead was summoned down there. So, she didn''t know if those energy vines would show up again and help restore her body when she took her initiative to go down.


    After stopping the car, Lin Qiao turned back and got off the car without saying a word to Qiu Lili. In the next moment, she disappeared right beside the car.


    ''What happened? Eh?'' Qiu Lili was left in confusion.


    After entering her space, Lin Qiao stood beside the lake. She first looked at the lake, then glanced around. She didn''t see Junjun, but could sense her vibe; the latter was in still that small space.


    She turned back and took off her clothes. If those energy vines really showed up, her clothes would disappear anyway.


    Lin Qiao would bathe in the lake every day. Her body couldn''t carry out metabolism, but could still get dirty. The outside world was awfully dusty, so after spending a day out there, she would always be covered in dust.


    In the harsh post-apocalyptic world, being able to bathe every day was an extremely luxurious thing. Only the base leaders and the capable people could afford to do that.


    After taking off her clothes, Lin Qiao glanced at her lower legs. Her lower legs now looked already like that of healthy human beings, just with a different color. Her unwounded skin was bluish white, while the newly grown skin was bright white.


    The difference between her two skin colors was quite apparent.


    She then looked at the wounds on her thighs. While bathing, she had slowly ripped off the scabs there and exposed the newly grown flesh. However, the surface of her thighs was still rough.


    As for her stomach and chest¡­ She should better not look there, as her intestines would always fall out.


    Lin Qiao raised her head and took a deep breath, then walked into the lake.


    At that moment, she was recalling what had happened the last time. Back then, her mind wasn''t clear, as if she was summoned by something. She felt nothing at first, but when she reached the bottom of the lake and was wrapped up by the vines, her mind was clear again.


    Her heart sank a little when she thought about suffering that unbearable pain and brain-exploding feeling without being able to pass out. However, she still walked forward.


    At first, she was walking on hard rocks. But, she didn''t feel uncomfortable as her feet were dead, and could barely feel a thing.


    After going down to the lake, the buoyancy of water began holding her up. She thrust her feet against the lake bottom and started swimming.


    The lake was not large, so she soon swam to the center. However, after floating in the lake for a while, she suddenly didn''t know what to do.


    Earlier on, after she saw the energy flowing inside that little boy''s body, she had come back to her space to check the lake. Back then, she was able to see the large area of glowing greenness in the middle of the lake. The nearer to the center she got, the brighter it was, as if a certain amount of fluorescent liquid was gathered together. The further from the lake center she got, the fainter the color was.


    Only after what happened down in the middle of the lake was she able to see that green light.


    Lin Qiao was now floating above that greenness, but no green vines were showing up at the time. She dove down into the water, toward the center of the lake bottom; but, a strange buoyancy had been stopping her from reaching the bottom.


    Therefore, she had no choice but to float in the lake, trying to figure out a way to dive down.


    The water was very clear and glowing. However, she could see nothing but the green light.


    ''How should I go down? How to make those green vines wrap me again? Why did it happen the last time?'' Lin Qiao floated in the lake, pondering over these questions while recalling what happened the last time.


    She thought about it over and over again, yet couldn''t figure out a thing. But suddenly, she sensed some energy waves from the lake bottom. Then, she saw a finger-thick green vine wriggling out of the green light like a snake. It was so long that she couldn''t see the other end of it. The only thing she saw was it reaching up then gently coiling around her ankle.


    Suddenly, a message emerged from her mind.


    ''The energy isn''t enough, so the energy can''t be triggered!''


    Once Lin Qiao received that message, the vine uncoiled from her ankle and quickly drew back down.


    She started thinking about that message.


    ''The energy isn''t enough, so the energy can''t be triggered''¡­ What did it mean? She knew that the second ''energy'' referred to the green light underneath her, but what was the first ''energy''?


    Was that her own energy? She was a zombie without great superpowers. If she did have a superpower, it should be her space, shouldn''t it? But, she hadn''t sensed any kind of energy from herself yet, had she?


    Or¡­ As she was a zombie, should she replenish her own energy with the nuclei of other zombies?


    She then recalled that she hadn''t been fighting any other zombies for quite a while, or getting any zombie nuclei. Did that vine just tell her to first fill herself with energy, then come back to the lake?


    The more she thought that way, the more she felt that it was right. In that case, she now knew how to find the answer!


    With that thought, she immediately swam toward the lakeside.


    Junjun was standing the entrance of the small space, looking at her curiously.


    She had sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe once the latter came in, so she came out to take a look. Then, she found that the latter had taken off her clothes and jumped into the lake.


    She first thought that Lin Qiao was going for a bath, then saw the latter begin swimming. But after that, Lin Qiao strangely stopped in the middle of the lake and quietly floated there. She couldn''t figure out what Lin Qiao was doing in the lake, but was quite curious; so, she remained standing by the entrance of the small space and looking at Lin Qiao.

 93 Hunt Zombies

    After coming ashore, Lin Qiao walked toward the small space while getting dressed.


    She didn''t wear a bra, but that wasn''t important anymore. Her breasts had been eaten, so what did she need a bra for? At first, she felt very weird, like a breast cancer patient who had her breasts cut off. However, she gradually got used to it.


    Her body condition wouldn''t get worse anyway.


    When she walked to the entrance of the small space, the little boy walked out. While shambling around Junjun''s legs, the boy suddenly saw the approaching Lin Qiao. So, he immediately stopping moving forward, then turned and ran.


    He rushed to the bed, then climbed onto it with all fours and crawled into the blanket, covering his head with the blanket.


    Lin Qiao didn''t even know if the boy was afraid of her or simply didn''t like her.


    ''Damn! I''ve been providing this little thing food and a place to live, but he has turned out to be ungrateful!'' Thought Lin Qiao. She cooked snake soup and picked strawberries for him to eat, but he didn''t even dare to look at her.


    ''You little coward!'' She complained silently. ''Wu Yueling had nothing to eat but strawberries when she lived here. But after a while, that little girl stopped being afraid of me. She even tried to protect me. You''re so not like her, you little ungrateful soul!''


    Junjun glanced at the little boy, wanting to laugh. But still, she turned to Lin Qiao to ask her questions with her eyes, as she was really curious about the latter''s strange behavior in the lake.


    ''Do you wanna go out for some fresh air?'' Lin Qiao took out the notepad and wrote.


    Junjun glanced at the little boy, then thought of that young female zombie outside. After that, she shook her head decisively. After Lin Qiao told her that the young female zombie outside was a zombie queen, Junjun was even more afraid of going out.


    She was instinctively afraid of Qiu Lili.


    But in the meanwhile, she was curious about why Lin Qiao, who was also a zombie, didn''t feel anything when facing Qiu Lili. She even wondered if Lin Qiao was also at level-six.


    But then, she denied that possibility as Lin Qiao could only make her follow orders and disable her from fighting back, but had never given her a feeling of instinctive fear.


    Therefore, it wasn''t possible for Lin Qiao to be a level-six zombie, even though Junjun felt that she was very mysterious and strong.


    As Junjun refused to go out, Lin Qiao gave up on inviting her, then disappeared from where she was.


    Qiu Lili was getting bored outside, and was circling around the car. Suddenly, she paused and turned her head, seeing Lin Qiao show up right beside the car.


    "Aw-goro¡­" She still liked to make some strange sounds with her mouth to talk to Lin Qiao.


    ''What happened to you? Why did you stop the car and enter your space suddenly? Did anything happen there?'' She asked.


    Lin Qiao shook her head, then took out the notepad and wrote¡ª''I went in to confirm something.''


    Qiu Lili didn''t ask any more questions, just said ''Aw'' and then sat back inside the car.


    Lin Qiao sat back in the driver''s seat, then wrote her another sentence¡ª''I''ll postpone my journey to the Hades Base. Right now, I need to hunt zombies.''


    ''Hunt zombies?'' Qiu Lili turned to look at her in confusion.


    Lin Qiao nodded and then wrote¡ª''Can you make your vibe disappear? Or, you''ll scare away all my preys.''


    Qiu Lili looked at her with wide opened eyes, then gave her a roar.


    ''Do you need me to control some zombies for you and make them come over?'' She asked.


    Lin Qiao shook her head. She didn''t want help, because she intended to try her current fighting capacity. However, she felt that she could ask Qiu Lili to locate high-level zombies for her.


    Qiu Lili nodded, then closed her eyes and raised her head while taking a deep breath. Then, Lin Qiao felt that the former''s vibe disappeared completely. Not to mention the other surrounding zombies, not even Lin Qiao herself could sense Qiu Lili at the moment, even though the latter was sitting right next to her.


    She nodded in satisfaction, then drove toward the city center. To hunt zombies, she needed to choose the crowded city center. To get high-quality zombie nuclei, she needed to find high-level zombies.


    Actually, she had two high-level zombies right on top of her car, but she couldn''t kill them as they were Qiu Lili''s servants.


    Without Qiu Lili''s strong vibe, the road before Lin Qiao was again full of obstacles. Those ordinary zombies were like a group of cows which blocked the way. She tried to drive them away, but they moved too slowly¡­


    The closer they got to the downtown area, the more loitering zombies she saw. At last, Lin Qiao gave up driving. She parked on the road and got off, putting the car back into her space before walking toward the city center.


    "Roar?"


    ''What level of the zombies do you want?'' Qiu Lili asked, who was by her side. Lin Qiao glanced at her, then showed her four fingers.


    Qiu Lili nodded, then raised her head to sniff in the air.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t sense higher level zombies. Currently, she was only able to sense the zombies at level-three or below, and her range wasn''t large.


    After a quick sniff, Qiu Lili pointed at one direction. She had found a target already.


    Lin Qiao immediately walked that way while Qiu Lili followed behind her carelessly. She had been jumping around, looking for large stones to step on. She hadn''t changed her white dress, but that dress had been kept quite clean these days.


    After walking on a street, which was covered by stones and sands and surrounded by broken building, for a few minutes, Lin Qiao finally sensed a vibe. The owner of the vibe was slightly stronger than her, but hadn''t yet reached level-five.


    No other zombies existed in this area. This place was all clean, without even a single ordinary zombie.


    Lin Qiao walked forward slowly in the middle of the way. She moved at a very slow pace, eyes focused on her own feet, as if she were having a leisurely time. It seemed that she was here to take a walk instead of hunting zombies.


    As she expected, in less than two minutes, a figure silently leaped down from the building behind her, diving straight down toward her back. That creature''s metal-lustered claws stabbed directly at the back of her head.


    It was swift, but so was Lin Qiao. She had sensed the enemy when it was diving down from the air. As the enemy was less than two meters away from her, she suddenly disappeared from where she was.


    The figure missed its target, landed on the ground. It stood there and looked around in confusion.


    It was a female zombie; its hair were as disheveled as Lin Qiao''s, covering its head. Its face under the hair wasn''t clearly visible, but Lin Qiao saw its purely dark eyes and widely cracked mouth.


    That zombie had a stench. Its whole body had been radiating evilness, ferocity, the intent of killing, and the thirst for blood.


    It widely opened its black eyes and opened its cracked mouth to bare its sharp teeth while looking around. However, it failed to find a trace of Lin Qiao.


    It had no idea that Lin Qiao was right behind it at the moment.

 94 The Confrontation On Top of the Building

    Just now, Lin Qiao entered her space and came out in just a moment, but in her invisible state. After that, she silently circled to behind the level-four female zombie.


    In the next second, she flashed into her space again and came out immediately. Meanwhile, she cut at the back of the female zombie''s neck with her claws.


    However, the female zombie in front of her sensed her the moment she came out of her space and squatted swiftly. Right before the air blade produced by Lin Qiao''s claws touched its skin, it nimbly dodged the attack.


    While squatting, it weirdly turned its body and moved to one side of Lin Qiao, then swung its claws at Lin Qiao''s ear, attempting to cut her head off. Its claws brought up a sharp gust of wind while attacking fiercely.


    Lin Qiao reacted fast as well. However, the wind caused by her enemy''s claws had a massive attack range. She had sensed how sharp that wind was, so she knew that she''d fall in trouble if she let it touch her body.


    The wind blew very fast, so Lin Qiao had no choice but to flash into her space and come back out in the invisible state to continue staying around the female zombie safely.


    She didn''t think that the female zombie could react so fast, that it sensed her the moment she showed up. Moreover, it was swift and had wind power!


    So, how should she fight this battle? She thought for a second and realized that although she was able to do close combat and cut the enemy with her claws, she had no weapons. Should she bring out the gun? That would be useless without a doubt. Judging by how quickly the female zombie could react, Lin Qiao estimated that only hand grenades or bombs could hurt it. A gun? She was afraid that the flying bullets would be blown away by the female zombie''s wind.


    She didn''t have any highly destructive weapons at the moment, so she needed to think of another way to deal with the female zombie. If it was close combat, she felt that she had a great chance of winning, because she had mastered all sorts of combat skills, and her claws were as sharp as the enemy''s. But, the problem was that she wasn''t able to get close to that female zombie at that point.


    After launching a claw attack with the wind power, the female zombie found that Lin Qiao had disappeared again. So, it immediately gathered the wind and made it blow around its own body, making its ragged clothes flutter and rustle.


    Its skin was dry and brown, as if all the moisture of its body had been drained. Its muscles looked like loft-dried meat pieces. It did not look even like a normal zombie.


    The female zombie was very alert. It was standing still, but its eyes were rolling quickly, as if it was trying to sense Lin Qiao''s movements.


    Lin Qiao gently stepped onto a large rock nearby and stared at the female zombie, thinking about how to consume its power up.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was even able to see the zombie virus and the superpower energy inside the female zombie''s body. As the female zombie was using its power, she saw a cloudy greenness filling every corner of its body.


    Lin Qiao looked at the rock under her feet, and suddenly had an idea.


    That rock was a part of a stone wall, seeming to be from the house next to it. Lin Qiao leaped down and directly showed her face, uttering a provocative roar toward the female zombie.


    "Roar!"


    "Come and hit me!" She said.


    The female zombie turned its body and fixed its eyes on Lin Qiao. It knew that it might not be able to win in close combat against Lin Qiao, because the latter was a master of escaping, and would disappear at any moment. Therefore, it didn''t prepare to pounce on Lin Qiao.


    "Roar!" However, it still gave Lin Qiao an angry roar and hunched its back, looking like a raging beast.


    In the next moment, the wind above its head blew toward Lin Qiao. The wind grew greater and greater, sharper and sharper, even cutting off the trees by the roadside. The broken tree trunks were rolled up by the wind and shredded before falling back to the ground.


    Lin Qiao turned back. However, she didn''t enter her space this time, but rushed into a building nearby which had over ten floors and ran upstairs.


    The wind immediately blew at the building, then expanded and began to wrap the entire tall building, forming a whirlwind. It spiraled at an extremely high speed around the building, generating a strange noise.


    After running upstairs, Lin Qiao found that no wind had been blowing into the building from the doors and windows. However, she could still hear it screaming very loudly. She glanced outside and saw the drifting sand and stones. The wind had been bringing up some light-weight objects to fly around the building.


    The wind was growing stronger, and spiraling faster.


    Lin Qiao looked around and saw the same scene. It seemed that the female zombie had wrapped the entire building with her wind, as if it wanted to create a tornado and tear the building down. The female zombie believed that when the tornado shattered the building entirely, Lin Qiao would die as well.


    However, Lin Qiao didn''t worry about her own situation, but kept running up. The building only had ten floors, and Lin Qiao was running quite fast. So, within the span of a few breaths, she rushed to the top of the building.


    Once she arrived at the roof, she found that the tornado had ripped off some of the building''s outer wall. The four strong, triangular areas of the building were slowly smoothened by the wind.


    She didn''t expect this wind-powered zombie to be strong enough to create such a great tornado, and to be so full of energy. She stood near the stairs, looking at the roaring wind around her. Suddenly, a figure flew up and floated in the air, staring at her.


    Lin Qiao immediately turned her eyes toward it, and saw the female zombie treading upon a small whirlwind.


    Lin Qiao gave a start when seeing that.


    ''Damn! That looks cool! Do you have to stand on a whirlwind and look down at me?'' She thought.


    Lin Qiao hadn''t sensed the female zombie''s vibe, maybe because it was blocked by the tornado. She quietly watched the tornado tearing off the outer walls of the building bit by bit, and the stones and ashes flying in the sky.


    She stood there calmly, looking at her enemy in the eyes.


    It might be the way Lin Qiao looked which made the female zombie angrier and angrier.


    It believed that Lin Qiao was here for either her territory or her zombie nucleus, so it was already raging when it saw her. But in addition to that, Lin Qiao''s composure annoyed it in some way.


    Therefore, it stared at straight Lin Qiao, its gaze turning sharper and sharper. It opened its mouth and bared its dirty yet shiny teeth toward the latter.


    Lin Qiao made completely no reaction to its threat, only looking back at it calmly. She even gave it a sarcastic smile, as if saying, ''What can you possibly do to me? Attack me?''

 95 The Vines’ Absorption

    The level-four zombie was intelligent, but wasn''t so smart. After being challenged by Lin Qiao, its anger couldn''t help but flare up.


    It believed that Lin Qiao came into its territory to start trouble, and was actually disdaining it. She was clearly weaker than it, so how could she mock it like that?


    The female zombie felt being underestimated by Lin Qiao. That irritable feeling grew stronger and stronger, urging it to rush up and tear the latter into pieces directly. However, its mind had been telling it not to do that.


    Therefore, the female zombie reached out both her hands to release more energy for the tornado, which grew stronger and stronger. However, it had no idea that it was exactly what Lin Qiao had wanted. Seeing the wall falling off the building in small pieces, she just kept waiting.


    She was observing the female zombie''s energy consumption. She found that its energy hadn''t been consuming fast, and it was still able to float stably in the air. It seemed that it had hunted a lot of other zombies and absorbed a large amount of energy.


    The consumption rate of the female zombie''s energy was way too slow. If the situation carried on, its energy could even last until tomorrow morning.


    Lin Qiao thought briefly, then suddenly had an idea. She recalled that for some reason, Xie Dong had jumped into the lake in her space after turning into a zombie, then soon floated back up quietly.


    So, she now wondered if any effect would happen if she directly led the female zombie into the lake. After all, her space was capable of blocking the energy from the outside world. She had earth, water, and grasses in her space, but no wind.


    The female zombie had wind power, but to create a great destructive wind, it still needed to borrow the natural wind for a start, then strengthen it with its own power. Therefore, Lin Qiao estimated that the female zombie''s wind power wouldn''t be highly harmful to her in her space.


    She wanted to try and find out if her space could launch attacks or even kill zombies! If it could, all she would be needing to do for her future battles was sneakily get her enemies into the space when she failed to defeat them!


    With that thought, Lin Qiao got a little excited and jumped into action right away. Under the female zombie''s gaze, she flashed into the space, switched to the invisible state, and came back out. However, she didn''t go downstairs, but stayed where she was to observe the female zombie.


    Her invisible state disabled her from attacking, but also enabled her for ignoring the attacks of the enemy. Once she turned invisible, she couldn''t feel the tornado anymore; she didn''t even have any sense of danger.


    As she disappeared, the female zombie floating in the air paused briefly, then let out a raging roar and waved both arms.


    "Roar!"


    A thunderous roaring of wind was heard, along with a series of weird noises caused when heavy objects fell to the ground. Under the female zombie''s control, the tornado was suddenly boosted and sped up, to the point where Lin Qiao could no longer measure the wind speed with her eyes. She saw that the concrete on the surface of the entire building had been ripped off, and all the doors and windows had been blown away.


    Before long, only the twisted rebars were left of the building.


    The female zombie looked around. After failing to sense Lin Qiao''s vibe, it immediately drifted to the top of the damaged building and found a flat area to stand on.


    It lowered its head to look into the building and search for Lin Qiao''s traces, but saw and sensed nothing. It didn''t know that the invisible Lin Qiao was standing less than a meter away from it.


    Seeing the female zombie stop on top of the building, Lin Qiao quietly approached it. Next, she suddenly grabbed its hand and flashed swiftly into her space. At that moment, the two zombies on top of the building disappeared together from where they were.


    Lin Qiao was able to show up in anywhere in her space, so when she caught the female zombie, she directly brought it into the lake, down in the water.


    Once in, Lin Qiao let go of the female zombie and swam backward reflexively.


    From grabbing the female zombie to flashing into her, space then to loosening her hands and swimming backward, Lin Qiao spent no more than two seconds in this whole series of moves.


    Therefore, the female zombie didn''t manage to react when its wrist was suddenly gripped by Lin Qiao. It only felt that its eyes were dazzled, and the scene before its eyes changed. Next, it saw nothing but dark-green water, without knowing where it was.


    It realized what was happening only when Lin Qiao let go of her. It felt that its body was sinking, so it began struggling in a panic. However, it had never tried swimming, so no matter how hard it swung its limbs in the water, all its efforts were useless.


    Fortunately, as a zombie, it didn''t need to breathe. However, the feeling of being wrapped by the water without being able to put forth its strength frightened it badly.


    It tried to release its power, but found that its wind power could deliver no other effects underwater than starting waves of strange ripples.


    Lin Qiao, who had drawn back for a short distance, saw the female zombie amidst the glow of the lake water. She saw it struggling like an animal which didn''t know how to swim while sinking slowly.


    She also saw it use its power. However, in Lin Qiao''s eyes, the superpower energy released from the female zombie''s palms soon melted in the green light of the lake water.


    She watched the scene with surprise, as she didn''t expect the lake to be so powerful.


    The lake was like an invincible opponent for the female zombie, because nothing changed no matter how hard it tried to fight back!


    While Lin Qiao was excitedly watching the female zombie struggling and sinking in the water, she suddenly sensed an energy wave from the lake bottom. After that, she saw countless familiar vines reaching up toward the female zombie one after another. Before long, the vines had wrapped the female zombie entirely up. Instead of dragging it down, the vines directly wrapped the female zombie into a giant human-shaped cocoon.


    Lin Qiao looked at those vines in shock. After the vines caught the female zombie, the energy inside the zombie''s body began leaking and being absorbed by the vines.


    Lin Qiao drifted in the water, watching the vines absorb the female zombie''s energy. Half an hour later, she finally sensed that the energy contained in the female zombie''s body had been drained thoroughly.


    After that, the vines threw the zombie upward, like throwing away a bag of garbage. At that point, Lin Qiao could no longer sense the female zombie''s vibe anymore.


    The zombie''s body slowly floated up, rippling the water.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao began wondering if Xie Dong had been drained and thrown out like that as well. She remembered that when Xie Dong floated up, the water surface had rippled intensively.


    As the female zombie floated up like a dead body, Lin Qiao carefully prepared to swim over to it.


    But right at that moment, the vines suddenly wriggled toward Lin Qiao. By the time she gave a start, the vines had coiled around her ankles, then quickly reached upward.


    ''Damn! They''re not gonna drain me as well, are they?'' She screamed silently.

 96 The Second Round of Recovery

    Lin Qiao had just witnessed those vines turn a zombie into a dead body, so when she saw them suddenly wrap herself, she subconsciously felt that they would drain her own energy as well, and was taken aback.


    However, by the time she could react and try to dodge, it was already too late.


    Like the last time, she sensed a gentle power slowly coiling around her body, and her mind settled suddenly. At this moment, she couldn''t feel the vines absorbing her energy. Instead, she sensed a familiar itch and numbness from her legs. It seemed that the vines were preparing to heal her body again like they did the last time.


    As she expected, when the vines covered her entire body, only leaving her face unwrapped, her mind became unclear. But soon, she woke back up to feel the numbness and itch from the skin and muscles of her arms and legs, as well as the soreness and swelling of her body.


    Right after that, her head slowly began to ache. First, it was waves of dull headache, followed by a head-exploding pain, which was growing stronger and stronger.


    This time, Lin Qiao didn''t open her mouth and screech in her head, but clenched her teeth and closed her eyes to endure the pain silently. She knew that she wouldn''t pass out, but had to sense that pain clear-mindedly and accept it.


    Compared to the last time, she now had a different mindset. The last time, she was in panic and didn''t know what to do, so the pain was especially unbearable to her. But this time, she knew that what was happening was beneficial to her, so she endured that pain with happiness. In this way, that pain had become more bearable for her.


    Thinking that her broken body would be slowly restored, she didn''t care about the pain at all.


    Time kept on passing while she was suffering the pain. Lin Qiao felt every second being too long, and that her head was going to explode at any moment. However, she didn''t pass out, even though she wanted to. For some reason, her mind was extra clear during this process.


    Half an hour later, the pain in Lin Qiao''s head suddenly began to fade; however, she felt that she had suffered for half a century. The vines didn''t unwrap her suddenly and disappear like they did the last time, but gradually loosened. Lin Qiao let out a long sigh of relief.


    It was finally over!


    The vines soon disappeared. At that moment, Lin Qiao had no idea that a bright green light was moving in her purely black eyes. The green light circled in her eyes, then turned into a pair of faintly green, glowing pupils.


    However, the pair of green pupils soon disappeared from her purely black eyes.


    Finally, she could finally move again. She lowered her head to look at her body and found that her clothes were all gone, as expected.


    Under the green light of the lake water, she saw that the wounds on her thighs were really healed up! The muscles in the wounds had all regrown, but the skin continued to be in different colors. However, it already looked much better than before.


    She then looked at the hole in her stomach, and found something strange.


    She couldn''t see her intestines anymore. Before, some broken internal organs were left in her stomach; but now, nothing was in there, as it was emptied!


    Not a thing was left in her damaged stomach! Lin Qiao was dumbfounded as she stared at her own stomach in shock. ''What is this? What happened? God knows what happened! Damn! Don''t I need to eat anymore? Eh? But I still feel hungry!''


    She touched her stomach with her hands, but felt nothing strange save for a smooth surface. Her stomach was now empty and clean, without even a small piece of her old internal organs left in it!


    She silently glanced at the green light in the lake. She really wanted to ask the lake a question, ''What did you do to me!''


    However, she stopped worrying when she saw her healed thighs. She glanced at her stomach for the last time, then decided to leave it be, as it wouldn''t affect her life anyway. Well, she believed so at least.


    She then checked her arms and found that her arms were healed as well. Now, she had a pair of unwounded arms. Suddenly, she thought of her face and raised her hands to touch it. But in the next moment, she felt that her face was still full of hollows and bumps.


    Without a question, her face hadn''t been healed yet.


    It seemed that the energy was only enough to heal her limbs this time, as her body and face were all left unhealed.


    She put down her hands disappointedly. But in fact, she wasn''t really upset. On the contrary, she was quite happy, because at least her arms and thighs were healed. Besides, she had learned how to trigger the energy down in the lake bottom already. To do that, she only needed to find another high-level zombie.


    Thinking about that, she began swimming ashore. She had already gotten what she wanted, so it would be meaningless for her to stay in the water.


    When the reached the water surface, she saw an object floating on it. Without a doubt, that was the poor female zombie which had been drained by the lake just now.


    Lin Qiao swam to the zombie''s body nakedly, then dragged it to the lakeside.


    Junjun and the little boy weren''t around the lake. It seemed that they were in the small space, and hadn''t discovered what just happened in the lake.


    Lin Qiao slowly walked out of the water and threw the zombie body aside, then walked to Wu Yueling''s bed, which now had some clothes piled on it. She picked a training suit which was ripped off from a robber, then put it on herself.


    She didn''t go to Junjun after putting the clothes on, but went back to the lakeside, dragged the female zombie''s collar, and brought it out of the space.


    She returned to the top of the building and threw the female zombie to the ground, then squatted and cut open its head.


    Puff!


    She cut off its skull, exposing the sticky grey matter inside the zombie''s head. To be honest, it didn''t even look like brain matter anymore.


    Lin Qiao reached out her claws, prepared to look for the female zombie''s nucleus. However, she paused suddenly and turned to look around. She found a twig which was sent up by the tornado, so she picked it up immediately. After that, she stirred the grey brain matter with the twig, then found a thumb-sized, white zombie nucleus.


    The color of the nucleus had faded. It seemed that without the energy, the nucleus had turned back into the white color of ordinary zombies'' nuclei.


    Lin Qiao picked the zombie nucleus up, then sensed a warmth from her fingertips. However, the warmth faded before it could make a circle in her body.


    In the next second, the zombie nucleus in her hand turned into white powder and fell off. It seemed to be the leftovers of the vines down in the lake bottom.


    Lin Qiao patted away the powder from her hand and then stood up.

 97 Grow Further Stronger

    At that moment, a white figure showed up by Lin Qiao''s side.


    Qiu Lili came up to the roof and stood on a stone mound beside Lin Qiao. She looked at the latter from head to toe with confusion, as if she was confirming something.


    Lin Qiao was a little surprised when seeing the look in Qiu Lili''s face. It seemed that Qiu Lili had sensed the change of her body.


    "Aw?"


    ''What happened?'' Qiu Lili looked at the dead body of the female zombie which was lying on the ground, then asked curiously.


    She sensed that Lin Qiao''s vibe had changed largely in a strange way. It didn''t just grow much stronger than before, but was added with something weird, which even gave her a sense of danger. Even though that sense of danger wasn''t strong yet, she felt that if that vibe grew further stronger, Lin Qiao would become hard to deal with, even for herself.


    Even as a level-six powerful zombie, Qiu Lili felt that Lin Qiao was somehow dangerous. However, Lin Qiao didn''t know that she could make other zombies feel that way yet.


    Perhaps, Qiu Lili was able to detect the special vibe of Lin Qiao because she was a zombie queen. The zombies below level-six wouldn''t probably be able to sense it.


    Lin Qiao clasped her own hands, feeling that an energy was concentrated in her palms. She spread her fingers and popped her claws. Her black, metal-lustered claws had now turned light-silver.


    When seeing Lin Qiao''s claws, Qiu Lili sensed a coldness from her heart. Meanwhile, that sense of danger she had grew stronger.


    "Aw-Goro!"


    ''I feel that your claws are so dangerous!'' Qiu Lili uttered a strange voice from her throat to tell Lin Qiao that.


    Lin Qiao nodded and communicated with her through her eyes that she herself felt the same way. She then turned to swing her claws at the halfway-broken wall behind her. A few beams of sharp light flashed across the air, toward that wall.


    After a series of slight noises, the sounds of stones falling onto the ground could be heard.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili both felt speechless when watching the wall two meters away being cut into pieces by a random move of the former. Lin Qiao now felt that the pain she suffered in the lake was nothing!


    Before, the air blades created by her claws could only reach about ten centimeters away. But now, they were actually able to hurt things two meters away! That meant, the effective range of her attack had expanded to two meters! She was able to cut off her enemies'' heads from two meters away now!


    Besides, that strong and sharp air blade could even cut ordinary zombies into pieces.


    She raised her head to sniff around, realizing that she was now able to sense the scents from a very long distance away, meaning that range of her senses had expanded largely as well.


    She felt that all her abilities had improved a lot, but still didn''t know which level she was at.


    Was she a level-four space-powered zombie?


    She took out the notepad and wrote¡ª''What level do you think I''m currently at?''


    Qiu Lili looked at her with confusion. She didn''t understand the meaning of Lin Qiao''s question, and couldn''t sense her zombie level and energy grade.


    She shook her head, told Lin Qiao that she couldn''t sense it.


    Lin Qiao remained silent for a few seconds, then turned to go downstairs. She made a leap and covered an entire staircase, feeling that it was quite an easy thing to do. While doing that, she sensed no danger at all, as if she was jumping off merely one stair step. On landing, her feet fell back to the ground lightly and stably, and her toes felt no counterforce from the ground.


    No wonder the other high-level zombies all leaped as high and far as monkeys.


    Lin Qiao had tried that before, but when she jumped down the entire staircase, her feet went numb. She suffered no pain, but wasn''t able to control her feet for a while.


    Therefore, she was jealous of the other high-level zombies sometimes. She seemed to be at the same level as they were, but for some reason, she wasn''t able to leap around as nimbly as them. But this time, she sensed nothing after jumping off the stairs. Her feet weren''t numbed, and she could still control them.


    She also felt that she could actually jump down from higher places, that her legs were enabling her to cover a much longer distance safely than the staircase, with one leap.


    She leaped down the stairs like a rabbit, and had also become much faster than before. So, within ten seconds, she came down to the third floor from the roof. After that, she directly leaped down from the hole on the wall which was caused by the female zombie''s tornado.


    She didn''t even need to make a roll when landing, but stood straight on the ground.


    When jumping down and landing, she couldn''t even sense her own weight. She even felt that she had fallen from the air rather slowly, airily landing on the ground like a leaf¡­


    Was she really that light? She was at least forty kilograms, but how could she possibly drift down from the third floor like a leaf? She pictured that scene in her mind and found it quite weird.


    In another way, Lin Qiao felt that her reactions had become faster, and the strength of her legs had grown greater. Therefore, her body became nimbler.


    More precisely, she was like a cat.


    When Lin Qiao landed on the ground, she saw Qiu Lili standing on a pillar beside her. It seemed that the latter had been waiting for her since long ago.


    She knew that Qiu Lili had wind power, but had no idea how the latter upgraded herself to such a high level. She was rather curious about that, but now wasn''t the time for her to ask the question.


    She touched her own face. Now, she needed to find more high-level zombies, because she wanted to fix her face and make herself look like a normal human being again.


    Then, the rubbed her dry and disheveled hair, thinking that maybe she should have a haircut.


    However, she then touched her own chest. Her breasts were almost flat, and she was wearing menswear. Added with the fact that Lu Tianyu was five feet and eight inches tall, she would look just like a man if she cut her hair¡­


    She sighed silently, thinking of her tangled hair and her ghost-like face as she felt that looking like a man was better than that. Most importantly, she wouldn''t be needing to wash her long hair every single day after cutting them.


    She wanted to cut her hair since long ago, so now, she finally made the decision. She didn''t need to cover her face anyway, because even if she covered it, it could still scare the children!


    She thought for a moment, then recalled that she had seen a pair of scissors when packing Qiu Lili''s stuff! She didn''t know what Qiu Lili needed scissors for, but she wanted to borrow it now.


    She took out the notepad and wrote¡ª''I want to borrow your scissors.''


    After that, she turned and entered her space, leaving Qiu Lili in confusion.


    ''What does she want to borrow the scissors for? And, aren''t my things all in her space?'' Qiu Lili looked around bewilderedly while thinking, as she had no choice but to wait for the other to come out.

 98 Her Current Look

    After entering her space, Lin Qiao directly showed up beside the pile of furniture which belonged to Qiu Lili. The clearing next to the former''s old furniture area was now occupied by things from where Qiu Lili lived before. She hadn''t sorted them out yet, so these things were just piled here randomly.


    Lin Qiao rummaged a little and found a dressing table. She pulled open the drawer of the dressing table and took out the scissors.


    On the other side, Jujun had also heard the noise she made. In fact, she had sensed Lin Qiao earlier when the latter came out of the lake, but didn''t come out to see what happened. However, she did come out this time, and the little boy wasn''t following her.


    Once she came out of the small space, she saw Lin Qiao cutting her now entangled hair with a scissor.


    ''You should have done that long ago! Your hair are even uglier than that of a ghost. They still looked awful even when you tied them up.'' Junjun thought.


    Soon, Lin Qiao bobbed her hair and sensed a coolness from her stomach. Her head seemed to be a lot lighter than before, and she felt quite good. However, just before she put down the scissors, she turned to find that Junjun was looking at her with a weird expression from a short distance.


    Her asymmetric and messy hairstyle was so awful!


    At last, Junjun couldn''t bear looking at Lin Qiao''s hair anymore. She walked over, pointed at the scissors in Lin Qiao''s hand, then at her head.


    Lin Qiao understood her meaning. Junjun must have felt that her new hairstyle was too ugly, and wanted to help in cutting her hair.


    Lin Qiao didn''t have a mirror, so she had no idea how her hair looked at the moment. However, judging by the look in Junjun''s face, she knew that it might be quite bad.


    So, Junjun took over the scissors, then signaled for Lin Qiao to squat.


    Lin Qiao complied, then felt the other pulling and cutting her hair. A couple of minutes later, Junjun put down the scissors and patted her on the shoulder.


    Lin Qiao stood up and touched her own head, finding that her hair was much shorter and neater than before.


    At that moment, Junjun found a mirror from Qiu Lili''s belongings, then put it up to Lin Qiao''s face.


    Lin Qiao was amazed by her short hair and scarred face in the mirror. So, she automatically took over the mirror and prepared to take a closer look at herself.


    Before this, she hadn''t had the chance to look at herself in the mirror. She had learned that Lu Tianyu had a pretty face from the latter''s memories, but had never looked at that face with her own eyes. All she had was the memories in her head.


    At this moment, she saw an oval face in the mirror. The face was rather small, so it was completely damaged by the few large scars on it. She saw that her eyes were black, nose was straight, and that her lips looked normal, without being cracked like that of other zombies.


    She imagined herself with a cracked face and felt that that would be even scarier than the scars on her face.


    She then looked closer and found that her mouth was actually pretty. Her mouth wasn''t small or full, but had a beautiful shape. The upper lip was slightly thinner than the lower lip. Lin Qiao felt that her mouth was nice-looking, even though it wasn''t really hers.


    Her straight-nose was rather eye-catching, as it was the first thing she noticed on her face. Her eyes were purely black, such that she couldn''t find her own pupils. Those eyes were pretty as well, slightly rising at the ends, with long and curly eyelashes.


    Without those scars, her eyes, nose, and mouth would look stunning on her perfectly shaped face.


    However, no one else in the base had seen that face of Lu Tianyu without makeup. Of course, people could scarcely see that before the apocalypse either because she had started learning how to make up since she was sixteen. After that, she began wearing makeup every day. Not even Lu Tianyi had seen her without makeup since then, because once she removed it, she would stay in her room without coming out.


    Therefore, everyone who was now familiar with her only remembered her face covered with thick makeup. In the post-apocalyptic world, people cared about nothing more than filling their stomachs and living in nice places without being eaten by zombies. Most of the human survivors had forgotten about those cosmetics which were worthless after the apocalypse but expensive before that, but Lu Tianyu had collected tons of them!


    She traded the food given by Yang Chao for her cosmetics. Because of that, Yang Chao wanted to kill her many times. Once, she actually traded a bagful of polished rice for a lipstick! Back then, Yang Chao didn''t kill her because he still wanted her for her beautiful body and face.


    When these memories emerged in Lin Qiao''s mind, she felt that Lu Tianxu had truly lived an extravagant life. No wonder Yang Chao got tired of her so soon, and even killed her.


    Seeing that her messy hair had become short and neat, Lin Qiao suddenly felt her mood turning better.


    She didn''t expect her hair-cutting to be so successful. Her hair couldn''t cover the scars on her face anymore, but before long, those scars would all be healed. After learning that the energy in the lake was able to fix her body, Lin Qiao had stopped worrying about her face.


    She now knew that she could trigger the energy in the lake with the energy contained in the nuclei of other zombies. That didn''t even require much of efforts, as all she needed to do was to simply throw her targets into the lake. Now, she was able to turn herself invisible, so she had no fear!


    Her invisibility was the best tool to launch sneak attacks, and just couldn''t be more useful!


    She glanced at the center of the lake, then turned back to the mirror to look at her dark and cold eyes. She felt that she needed to find a pair of sunglasses to cover those eyes, so she wondered if Qiu Lili happened to have collected some.


    With that thought, she put the mirror into Junjun''s hands, then began rummaging.


    While Lin Qiao was looking for a pair of sunglasses, Qiu Lili was standing on a rock, idly waiting for her to show up. Suddenly, her eyes moved, and then she turned her face to the road in the direction they had traveled from.


    Maybe because all creatures in this area had been cleaned away by that dead level-four zombie, it was all quiet now, and a slight noise immediately caught Qiu Lili''s attention. But of course, she would still be able to sense it even if this area was noisy.


    Miles away, a commonly-seen modified car was driving toward her.


    Eight people were sitting in the car, while a strange woman was calmly sitting on the top. It was a zombie-hunting squad with nine members.


    The woman sitting on top of the car was average-looking. Her hair were tied in a high ponytail, reaching her thighs. Her legs were crossed, back straight. She was sitting very stably on top of the car, such that no matter how quickly the car turned or how intensely it bumped, she was always motionless.


    She was facing the rear of the car, looking a little slender. She was wearing a slim-fit sports suit, which had emphasized her thin and straight waist.


    Her face was average-looking, but flawless. In the post-apocalyptic world where women were scarce, a woman with such a clean face would be considered quite adorable.


    ¡­Only if the look on her face was just a little warmer.

 99 The Human Beings Who Showed Up

    The woman looked cold and expressionless. Her eyes were fixed straight on the rear of the car, without showing any emotions. She didn''t even seem to be alert or careful; she had been making completely no response to the changes in the surrounding environment.


    This cold-faced woman had been giving out a strong vibe, and a sharp katana was placed on her knees.


    In contrast, the people sitting in the car were all men.


    It didn''t seem right for a group of men to let a woman sit on the car roof alone. However, no one in the car was able to defeat that woman. So, they stayed silent and let her sit on top of the car as she wanted.


    "The tornado created by that wind-powered zombie was highly destructive. And, it''s reaching level-five. Are we really gonna get it this time? So many people died the last time, but we still failed," someone in the car said.


    "What are you afraid of? Didn''t we find a level-five metal-powered fighter this time? And, there are so many of us. How can we possibly fail to kill a level-four superpowered zombie? I''m afraid that other people would get it before us if we don''t do it as soon as possible."


    "You''re right! The secret has leaked out. The others have found out that a level-four superpowered zombie is in this area. If we don''t move faster, it won''t be our fight anymore."


    "It''s because of that b*stard. For a bag of bread, he actually told some other people about what happened the last time. If he was not following Deputy Chief every day, I''d have tortured him to death."


    "Be patient, you''ll get a chance! But, the first priority now is to get the zombie nucleus. A level-four zombie nucleus and a dozen level-three ones can get us a good deal of food and weapon, which will last a month."


    "And quilts! Damn, it''s been freezing at night lately! I can''t even have a warm bed to sleep in at home."


    "Yeah, Chief Netherworld Fire had burned a big half of the base. Who dares to get near that area now? And that son of a b*tch named Yang Jianhua, he actually stabbed our Chief in the back. Such a scum!"


    "Exactly! If our Chief didn''t take us all into the base and give us protection, how could we have possibly survived till now? I really didn''t think that Yang Jianhua would be bought by other bases and would betray us! Because of him, we can''t even live a peaceful life in the base anymore."


    "I heard that Yang Jianghua is hunting the Captain and his people. He wants to get Cheng Wangxue and Lin Wenwen back to be his women."


    "I hope Captain and his families won''t fall in his hands soon. Yang Jianhua is a level-six powerful man. Captain might have had a chance against him, but I heard that Yang Jianhua is with another level-six superpowered man, who has come from the Earth Dragon Base to help him."


    The men in the car were talking about the things that happened in their base resentfully. However, they didn''t know that when they mentioned Lin Wenwen, the woman on the car roof showed something in her eyes.


    That was a look of concern.


    Before long, the car was driving into the wind-powered female zombie''s territory. A group of zombies followed behind the car, reaching their hands out while shambling toward it. However, these zombies weren''t as fast as the car. Only a few at level one or two ran slightly faster than the others, but still didn''t have a chance to get near the car.


    Everyone in the car had a loaded gun gripped in their hands. They put the guns out of the window to prepare for an emergency. Therefore, each time a zombie tried to approach, their bullets would sink into its head.


    They looked out of the car windows in full vigilance while the car slowly moved toward Qiu Lili, getting closer and closer to her.


    Qiu Lili''s eyes sparkled, showing a trace of fear. Then, she disappeared from where she was, quietly hiding in a nearby building. She stood by a window on the top floor, looking down at the ground.


    What she had experienced before made her instinctively want to hide on seeing human beings approach. She was powerful now, but still wasn''t willing to hurt human beings. Even though human beings had hurt her before, she never thought about taking revenge.


    While driving further into the wind-powered female zombi''s territory, the people in the car suddenly found something unusual.


    "Eh? Why are those ordinary zombies able to get in? Earlier on, they didn''t dare to come near this area. But this time, they didn''t even stop, just chasing us in. Why''s that?" Du Yuanxing, who sat in the front seat, said with confusion as he saw the large group of ordinary zombies behind the car from the rearview mirror.


    The others in the car turned back and found that the group of zombie really showed no sign of stopping, but continued following behind their car.


    Some of them had been here before, while the rest were here to help. The few who were here for the first time didn''t yet know well about the situation of this area.


    In crowded places like city centers, the number of zombies was naturally proportional to the number of people before the old world ended. However, when Du Yuanxing and his teammates came here for the first time, they found not even one zombie. Therefore, they figured out that they had entered the territory of a high-level zombie.


    Last time, they came with twelve people. After being attacked by the level-four zombie with a tornado, the weak and ordinary ones died right on the spot. At last, only four or five superpowered ones managed to escape, including Du Yuanxing.


    A level-five superpowered human being was a level higher than a level-four zombie. However, the zombie they were looking for was at the top of the level-four, and was just a breath away from level-five. Therefore, Du Yuanxing''s team, which had only one level-five superpowered zombie hunter, at that time, was no match for the level-four wind-powered zombie.


    This time, they found another level-five superpowered fighter to join their team, paying a high price for that service.


    Currently, level-five superpowered people were considered very strong in the bases of human survivors, and mostly possessed high status. Normally, they had their own squads or official positions. But still, some of them preferred to stay alone and independent, such as the one on the car roof.


    The woman on the car roof was named Long Qingying. She was a woman, but was famous in the Hades Base for her strength. She was indifferent, never liking to be with others. She was always alone, and hardly ever teamed up with other people when she came out of the base.


    She had no family. The only person who was close with her was Lin Wenwen, the younger sister of Chief Netherworld Fire.


    It was said that Long Qingying had given Lin Wenwen and her family a great help, so they could escape successfully. For this reason, a lot of people from the base now wanted to bring her troubles. That was why she came out to hunt zombies; out here, she could at least hide for a while.


    Besides, being out here was not bad for Long Qingying. If the people from her base weren''t going to leave her alone, she would consider moving to the Sea City Base.


    At the moment, she was planning on collecting as much food as possible, to prepare for what was going to happen next.

 100 The Disgusting Zombie

    Cai Hongqing, who was driving the car, glanced at the rearview mirror and found that the zombies behind them really didn''t seem to stop. So, he too said in surprise, "What''s going on? Isn''t this the level-four zombie''s territory? Or, are those zombies under its control?"


    "Control? Level-four zombies aren''t able to control other zombies, are they? They''re not like level-five zombie leaders!" Sitting in the backseat, Chen Li responded confusedly.


    Du Yuanxing stuck his head out of the car window to observe the situation behind.


    They were driving fast, and had picked the roads with fewer zombies. But once they got near this area, more and more zombies began showing up.


    A large number of zombies were coming from all directions, rushing toward their car fearlessly. It seemed that this area was no longer under a high-level zombie''s control, and the lower-level zombies were now free to come and leave.


    The last time when they were here, this place was all quiet. But now, things were completely different.


    "It''s not good! There are more and more zombies coming here, and their number is rising fast!" After a short while of observing, Du Yuanxing said frowningly.


    At that moment, Long Qingying stood up on the car roof while carrying her katana. She stood on top of the car with her legs apart; the look in her face turned alert from bland.


    She carried the katana with her left hand which was behind her back, while raising her right hand toward the zombie crowd behind the car, fingers spread and palm facing forward.


    Every time some zombies were less than ten meters away from the car, she would slightly bend her fingers. Following her move, the surrounding metal objects, such as door frames, nails, and steel tubes would fly toward her from all directions.


    These metal objects would gather together in front of her, then melt into a metal ball. The metal ball would boil in the air like molten metal in a melting pot. Before long, the molten metal would solidify and become countless sharp steel thorns, then fly at the zombies behind the car one after each other.


    Puff! Put! Puff!


    A series of noises were heard when the metal thorns went through the zombies'' bodies.


    That was the reason why the others didn''t dare to offend Long Qingying. No one wanted hundreds of metal thorns piercing into their bodies!


    Watching the metal thorns penetrate the heads of the zombies which were in the front of the crowd, the men in the car silently raised their heads to glance at the car roof. After that, they continued shooting the zombies in their heads which attempted to approach.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    "Roar! Roar¡­" Because of the gunshots, more and more zombies started to gather from all directions. Soon, the road before the car was completely blocked.


    "There are zombies at the front too. The car can''t pass through."


    This car was able to knock away seven or eight zombies; but facing over ten zombies, it wouldn''t have a chance.


    "What happened? Why are there more and more zombies appearing here? Where''s the high-level one?"


    Seeing that more and more zombies were showing up, the people in the car all sensed that something was not right.


    What was happening? Why was this area suddenly crowded with zombies? Since they entered this area a few minutes ago, about three-hundred zombies had shown up, and more had been gushing out from the surrounding buildings and alleys. A level-four zombie couldn''t possibly control so many ordinary zombies.


    This block was surrounded by streets and shops and alleys. Had all these zombies been hiding in those places before they arrived?


    Did they come out after they drove into this area?


    At that moment, no one in the car had noticed that about three-hundred meters away from the zombie crowd, a figure was standing before a French window in a four-story building while looking at them.


    The window glass was broken long ago. That figure was standing right there, such that as long as Du Yuanxing and his teammates raised their heads to glance in that direction, they would see it.


    The figure wasn''t tall, only about four feet in height. It was fat, with a huge head. That head was as large as the combination of two human heads, looking very weird. In fact, it was combined with two heads indeed. Not only its head, but its body was also combined with two bodies, and that was why it looked fat.


    Its face was indescribably unpleasant to look at. Even the word ''ugly'' wasn''t enough to describe it; probably ''disgusting'' would do! One could imagine it as two smashed human faces being put together; four eyes, two noses, two cracked mouths which had been put together!


    Its entire head was weirdly out of shape, large and unsightly. The skin on its head had gone, leaving only a bloody flesh and wet hair sticking to it.


    On the other side, Qiu Lili quietly leaped down from the top of her building and came to this area after sensing that zombie. She wanted to see that level-four zombie which had shown up suddenly. As a result, she was stunned by the way it looked on seeing the zombie from the roof of another building.


    ''What the hell is that! That is way too¡­ gross!'' She thought.


    Qiu Lili took only one glance at it, then silently turned her eyes away without daring to look at it again.


    As she had restrained her vibe entirely, this level-four zombie didn''t discover her. But to her surprise, she hadn''t sensed this zombie either before when it arrived. So, she didn''t know if it just came from another place, or had been hiding here the whole time.


    Besides, she clearly sensed that all the ordinary zombies who had suddenly shown up in this area were summoned by the gross level-four zombie. Not only the ones before her eyes, but more ordinary zombies were gathering toward this area from a hundred meters away, hundreds of meters away, and even miles away.


    Soon, this place would be filled up by ordinary zombies and become a city of zombies.


    Qiu Lili sensed that the gross zombie had a very strong desire toward the people in the car. Its bloodthirsty vibe suffused the air, making her wanted to throw up.


    How could such a zombie even exist?


    Qiu Lili didn''t understand why the gross zombie was able to control so many ordinary zombies and make them all rush toward the car.


    Normally, the zombies at level-five or below couldn''t possibly control so many ordinary zombies. Even a level-five zombie could only control a limited number of ordinary zombies.


    Ordinary zombies didn''t have intelligence, but only instincts. Controlling them was like controlling puppets. To do that, one only needed to occupy their minds with its own.


    However, the zombies at level-five or below weren''t able to spare such a strong willpower to control the minds of so many ordinary zombies. At most, they could spread their own vibes to make the surrounding ordinary zombies feel suppressed and move away.


    On the other side, Du Yuanxing and his teammates had stopped their car already, as the zombies around them had gathered into a zombie wall and were charging at them.

 101 Stalemate

    Du Yuanxing looked at the zombie crowd in front of him, somehow feeling that his team had fallen into a trap. "Zu, open a path!" He shouted at another man.


    "Sure! Watch this!" A man in the backseat responded immediately. He moved to the car window and stuck his head and an arm out. Then, he raised his arm to his shoulder level, toward the zombies before the car.


    After that, the ground before the car started cracking, showed some rifts which were about one or two meters deep. Meanwhile, earth thorns and blocks began rising from under the zombies'' feet, instantly tearing the zombie group apart and throwing them to the ground. In the next instant, the rifts were closed, and countless zombies which had fallen down were buried.


    Seeing the zombie wall having fallen apart, Cai Hongqing immediately trampled the accelerator and made the car rush forward. Many zombies which were standing on the road, or hadn''t managed to struggle up from the ground, were sent flying away by the car.


    Nevertheless, the zombies they killed weren''t more than the ones that soon showed up. In two minutes, their car was surrounded again.


    Long Qingying knitted her brows, abruptly putting her katana into the leather sheath tied around her waist. Then, she raised her arms to the shoulder level, toward the zombies before and behind the car.


    Soon, the steel thorns she released flew out of the heads of the dead zombies, then gathered around her body again.


    She boosted her power, causing more metal objects to fly toward her, as if she had a giant magnetic field in her body that trapped all the surrounding metal objects.


    The metal objects formed a circle two-meters in radius around Long Qingying, then melted and reformed into countless new steel thorns that darted toward the zombie crowd.


    The attacks she launched were all with a large range. She was able to kill tens of ordinary zombies with one strike, then quickly reclaim the metal thorns and attack again. Therefore, the dead bodies of zombies soon piled up around her.


    Seeing Long Qingying easily stopping the zombie crowd which were charging fiercely at the car, the people in the car all sighed in relief.


    At that moment, she stomped her foot against the car roof and said with a cold voice, "This place is controlled either by a level-five zombie leader, or a level-four zombie with spiritual power."


    Hearing her words, the people in the car had their hearts sinking.


    Indeed, normal superpowered zombies wouldn''t possibly be able to control such a giant zombie group. They had killed one or two hundred ordinary zombies, but were still facing six or seven hundred of them. To make matters worse, more of them had been joining the crowd and charging at them.


    "That seems to be true! If she''s right, added with that wind-powered zombie, we might be in trouble this time!" Du Yuanxing scanned every corner in the surrounding with his eyes to try and spot that high-level zombie which had been controlling the zombie crowd,


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!"


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!"


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    With the roars of the zombies, the noises caused when Long Qingying''s steel thorns pierced into zombie heads, and the gunshots fired by the people in the car, this area had turned a little chaotic.


    "Find the zombie which is controlling the crowd first!" Long Qingying shouted to the people in the car.


    "We''re trying! But, it''s obviously hiding!" Du Yuanxing and his teammates had all been searching carefully for that zombie, but failed to find any zombie which was different from the ordinary ones.


    At that point, the battle had slowly been locked in a stalemate. The zombie was using a huge-crowd strategy. Long Qingying and her teammates weren''t falling at a disadvantage so soon, but were showing no sign of winning either, as they were busy dealing with the ordinary zombies. It was a little difficult for them to break out of the encirclement of zombies indeed.


    On the other side, Qiu Lili had been watching all this with cold eyes. She didn''t want to kill these human beings, but had no intention of saving them either. She used to be hunted by human beings. She considered herself as extra nice for not taking revenge against human beings, but would never save any of them.


    Therefore, she didn''t take part in this battle. As for the nucleus of that disgusting zombie, she wasn''t interested in it at all.


    She quietly stood on the tall building beside the battlefield, sensing more and more zombies coming this way. It was going to be a surging tide of zombies.


    The few human beings needed to evacuate now, because they wouldn''t be able to kill every zombie in this area, not even if they consumed their powers up.


    Du Yuanxing and his teammates couldn''t see what Qiu Lili had seen. All they could see at that moment was a giant group of zombies surrounding them. Those were more than a thousand zombies right there.


    The zombies crowded around them, such that they could only see their heads. This place was like the train station before the Spring Festival in the old world, terrifyingly crowded.


    However, as they had already come all the way here, they surely didn''t want return with empty hands. So, they needed to find the two high-level zombies and kill them as soon as possible, then leave with their nuclei.


    Long Qingying was holding off the zombie crowd at the moment, but there were too many zombies. "I can''t hold them for long."


    She didn''t tell the people in the car what to do, only informing them about her current situation so that they could prepare for what was going to happen next.


    It was the first time for Long Qingying to work with other people. If Du Yuanxing and his teammates hadn''t provided her with a good deal of food before the journey began, she wouldn''t have agreed to help them.


    Du Yuanxing and his teammates knew that she needed a large amount of food to leave the base, so they sneakily found her and asked her help.


    Looking at the expanding zombie crowd, Du Yuanxing nodded knowingly and said, "Please hold on for a little while. We''ll be able to find that zombie soon. If you''re tired, you can take a rest and we''ll do the job."


    "Okay," Long Qingying responded.


    At that point, the big-headed zombie got a little anxious, as it had been so long but the giant zombie crowd still hadn''t managed to throw the few human beings into a panic. It suddenly opened its badly cracked mouth and uttered a weird sound.


    Squeak¡­!


    The voice wasn''t loud, but it spread far and wide.


    Qiu Lili was standing in the building which wasn''t far away from the big-headed zombie. Hearing its voice, she immediately sensed a sharp pain from her brain, and then started feeling sick.


    She frowned, and her vibe was shaken, but didn''t spread.


    "Aw?" Nevertheless, the big-headed zombie immediately sensed the strong vibe of Qiu Lili, who was a level-six zombie. But, that vibe was gone before it could grasp it. It looked around in confusion, yet failed to detect that vibe.


    On the other side, Long Qingying and her teammates suffered much worse than Qiu Lili did. They weren''t just feeling sick, but had a piercing pain in their heads that made them tremble. Their whole bodies were nearly softened at this point.

 102 Spirit-Powered Zombie

    "Em!" Long Qingying moaned with a muffled voice as she kneeled on the car roof on one knee with softened legs. She supported her body with both arms, dropping her head with a twisted face and a pained look.


    In the car, except for Du Yuanxing, who was also a level-five superpowered one, the others had all begun howling in pain.


    "Ah!"


    "Ouch! My head!"


    "Eh¡­ What¡­ is¡­ going¡­ on? My head!"


    Du Yuanxing pressed his head with both hands. His whole body was twitching, but still, he took a deep breath and managed to reach out a hand toward the zombies who grasped the opportunity to pounce on the car.


    A thick bolt of lightning was released from his palm, splitting into an electric web and descending on those zombies.


    After a series of sizzling noise and an exploding sound, a dozen zombies were directly burned into smoky coke pieces by Du Yuanxing''s electric web.


    He was a rare electric-powered man. If he weren''t at a relatively high level, his electricity power wouldn''t be so harmful to the zombies, but would be effective on human beings indeed.


    Because of his power, he was one of the top-ranked people in his base whom no one dared to offend. Who would want to be struck by electricity? Even imagining that could scare people.


    The others in the car were all paralyzed at the moment. They buried their heads in their hands, teeth bared while moaning in pain. The looks on their faces revealed their misery.


    "Damn¡­ This is¡­ a spiritual attack¡­ right?" Cai Hongqing was holding the steering wheel with both hands, head pressing on it. He even wanted to hit his head against the steering wheel to ease his pain.


    "Em¡­ It hurts so much¡­ Shun, how''re you doing? Shun? Shun!" The people in the backseat suddenly found that the weakest man in the team, who was just an ordinary man, had already shown the whites of his eyes and was foaming at the mouth.


    Long Qingying, who was still on the car roof, had recovered now. She raised her head to find that the surrounding zombie crowd had already reached the car. As the people in the car were all disabled, no one was trying to stop the zombies from approaching, and soon, the ring of encirclement shrank.


    She stood up, then raised a hand to gather the surrounding metal objects again and launch another wave of steel thorns to kill the zombies which had almost laid their hands on the car.


    "Drive! There are too many zombie bodies. If we don''t move now, we''ll be buried here!" While attacking, she shouted at the people in the car.


    At that moment, Du Yuanxing had recovered as well. "Move! Stop looking for that level-four zombie. Retreat now!" He told Cai Hongqing to move the car as soon as possible.


    They hadn''t found their target, but under the current situation, they had no choice but to retreat for now. They needed to figure out something about the strange spirit-powered zombie before making a new plan.


    Besides, that wind-powered zombie hadn''t shown up the whole time, and none of them could tell where it was. Didn''t people say that two high-leveled zombies would never show up in the same area without trying to kill each other?


    Did the spirit-powered zombie banish the wind-powered zombie before they arrived?


    Right at that very moment, as they prepared to withdraw from the battleground, Lin Qiao came out of her space without sensing the outside situation before that, and showed up right on¡­


    ¡­the car roof!


    Lin Qiao stared at Long Qingying''s average-looking but cold face in shock.


    ''Damn! What''s happening here!'' That was all she could say to herself at that moment.


    Before she could react, Long Qingying, who was less than half a meter away from her, had already reacted swiftly and pulled out her katana.


    Clang! The sharp katana was pulled out of the sheath along with an echoing sound. Long Qingying pulled out the katana quickly and neatly, then swung at the zombie which suddenly showed up in front of her.


    ''Damn! Don''t attack just yet! Can''t we just have a conversation in peace?'' Lin Qiao screamed in her head.


    Lin Qiao slightly turned her body and moved her feet. She didn''t leap off the car roof, but moved slightly and automatically grasped the katana with her claws.


    Long Qingying was surprised by how nimble Lin Qiao was, but didn''t stop attacking. Instead, she raised a foot to kick at the zombie.


    Lin Qiao immediately raised a foot to defend herself, then turned her leg to lock Long Qingying''s. After that, she stomped her foot against the car roof and tilted her head to dodge Long Qingying''s metallic hand, which was coming for her head.


    She felt that she''d probably die if that metallic hand managed to pierce into her head!


    After raising her other hand to lock the metallic hand of Long Qingying, she finally disabled the latter for launching any new attack.


    Long Qingying was still holding her katana, but the edge of the katana was gripped in Lin Qiao''s hand. The sharp weapon didn''t hurt Lin Qiao''s palm. On the contrary, she felt quite comfortable holding it.


    After she disabled Long Qingying from moving, Lin Qiao finally had some time to observe the surrounding environment and figure out what was happening. She had already seen a giant crowd of zombies around the car.


    "Roar!" Without thinking, she uttered a roar at the zombie crowd, expressing a strong warning to force them to step back.


    At that point, Long Qingying''s heart had already sunk to the bottom.


    ''Is this that spirit-powered zombie?'' She asked herself.


    But still, she didn''t give up on fighting, and her moves continued to be swift. She dropped the katana immediately, and then her fingers turned into five sharp steel thorns, stabbing at Lin Qiao''s head.


    Lin Qiao knew exactly what she was going to do, because she wasn''t just holding her. She was also enabled to sense her thoughts by the physical contact between their bodies.


    Therefore, when Long Qingying dropped her weapon, she loosened her grip and leaped backward. She flipped in the air, then landed stably on the ground.


    Long Qingying failed to hurt the zombie with her steel claws. She found that within a blink, the zombie had already moved to the ground, standing not far away from the car.


    "Eh? The zombies stopped¡­" At that time, Cai Hongqing suddenly widened his eyes and stared at the surrounding zombies in confusion.


    Long Qingying leaped down from the car and stood in front of Lin Qiao with her back to the car. She held the katana with both hands, eyes fixed on Lin Qiao.


    "It showed up!"


    Her words immediately caught the attention of the others. They all knew that she was trying to tell them that the spirit-powered zombie had shown up.


    The people in the car looked at Long Qingying, seeing a weird zombie standing in front of her, three or four meters away. The zombie was looking around, and no one knew what it was looking for.


    It seemed to be a male zombie, about five feet seven tall, and short-haired. Its face was covered in large brown-colored scars. It was wearing a clean training suit, looking energetic and clean, not as dirty and stinky as the other zombies.


    Its eyes were dark, sparkling with a cold light.


    Once it showed up, the surrounding zombies all stopped moving.


    Du Yuanxing and his teammates realized what was happening, all becoming alert.


    However¡­


    ¡­a minute had passed, but the zombie didn''t even glance at them!

 103 Are You A Zombie? Or A Human?

    Lin Qiao looked around but didn''t see Qiu Lili, then recalled that the latter was a little afraid of human beings. So, she guessed that the latter should be hiding somewhere at the moment.


    ''Who summoned this giant zombie crowd then?'' she wondered.


    She didn''t move, and the people in the car didn''t dare to do anything either, as they were afraid of another wave of spiritual attack.


    So, the battle paused momentarily.


    While keeping vigilance against the people in the car, Lin Qiao had been trying to locate Qiu Lili. However, she didn''t sense where Qiu Lili was, but grasped the vibe of another zombie, which was very fierce, evil, and bloodthirsty.


    Judging by the vibe, that wasn''t a good zombie.


    She thought that the zombie crowd was summoned by Qiu Lili, but after failing to sense the latter vibe, she knew that she was wrong. She hadn''t detected any negative vibe from Qiu Lili so far since she met her. Qiu Lili''s vibe was as clean as her appearance, without any ferocity and thirst for blood.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao now believed that Qiu Lili wouldn''t try to hurt these human beings. Besides, Qiu Lili had disappeared without a trace by now.


    After sensing the evil zombie''s vibe, she roughly figured out what was going on.


    These people came here for an unknown reason, and that evil zombie had probably followed them here. After arriving this area, it discovered that the wind-powered zombie was gone, and these human beings stopped.


    Lin Qiao sensed the evil zombie''s strong desire toward these human beings.


    It wanted to eat them all!


    Lin Qiao turned back to look at Long Qingying and her teammates.


    Once she turned back, Long Qingying and her teammates sensed a weird vibe. They found that the zombie in front of them didn''t seem ready to attack or to be alert. Instead, she stood there quite carelessly, as if she didn''t take them seriously.


    They felt that they didn''t even exist in that zombie''s eyes. Du Yuanxing and his teammates glanced at each other, then looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe with confusion.


    "Isn''t it targeting at us?" Asked Du Yuanxing.


    "It''s so clean! It''s not showering a lot, is it?" The other man didn''t answer his question, but threw out another one while staring at Lin Qiao''s clothes.


    "Yeah, she''s really clean¡­ Except for those dark eyes, it doesn''t even look like a zombie!" Hearing his words, the others all diverted their attention to Lin Qiao''s appearance.


    "Eh? That''s true!"


    "And¡­ Why is she carrying a rifle? Eh? And so many pistols tied around her waist and thighs. When did zombies start learning to use guns?"


    Hearing the few men talking about her clothes and weapons, Lin Qiao couldn''t help rolling her eyes.


    Long Qingying did the same thing.


    After rolling her eyes, Long Qingying paused in shock; she saw the zombie in front of her slightly raise its head to look at the sky, as if saying ''I''m facing a few idiots''.


    She could scarcely believe what she saw.


    Even the cold Long Qingying began losing composure.


    "Em¡­ Did it just show that despising look to us?" Du Yuanxing abruptly said that because he too noticed that look on Lin Qiao''s face.


    All the others felt a little speechless at that moment.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes again.


    "It''s really despising us!" Someone said in the car.


    The people in the car who had realized that they were disdained by a zombie strangely felt wronged.


    ''Oh my! You''re a soul-less zombie! Why''re you making a human expression!'' Du Yuanxing shouted in his head.


    Long Qingying raised her katana to the eye level, as she had lost her patience to continue having a stare-off with this zombie. She then parted her feet and prepared to attack.


    Once she moved, the people in the car immediately came back to their senses. They now realized that they were all distracted just now, that they were actually paying attention only to the enemy''s clothes and weapons.


    Right at that moment, the zombie in front of them suddenly took a step backward. It raised its left hand, palm down, then raised its right hand to put a finger against the left palm.


    The zombie was apparently signaling for them to stop. They all paused subconsciously; then, Long Qingying turned back to look at the ones in the car, her eyes asking a question.


    ''Is he¡­a human or a zombie?'' She asked her teammates with her eyes.


    Earlier on, she had wrestled with the zombie on the car roof. Back then, she had realized that the zombie was using combat skills which weren''t something that zombies should master.


    And now, seeing the gesture made by the zombie, Long Qingying had even started to doubt herself. She wondered if something had happened to her brain or her eyes that made her feel that this zombie actually looked like a human being.


    The others looked back at her in confusion, then turned to Lin Qiao.


    God knew if they were looking at a zombie or a man.


    "You¡­ Are you a human or a zombie?" A fast talker among Du Yuanxing''s team suddenly yelled at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao felt speechless again.


    She believed that she looked exactly like a zombie. She wanted to cover her eyes with a pair of sunglasses, but sadly, she failed to find any.


    The man who asked the question without thinking now fell into silence. Sensing the others gazes, he quietly raised his head to look at the sky, then at the earth, and ultimately at his own feet.


    ''You just tried to talk with a zombie. Do you think it can understand you? Are you expecting its answer?'' His teammates were merely staring at him, but he could hear them asking a series of question.


    He could also hear them say ''impossible'', call him ''idiot'', and ask him if something was wrong with him. But soon, his teammates began to think that something was wrong with themselves as well.


    That was because they saw that the zombie in front of them suddenly took out a notepad and a pen, and began writing. Du Yuanxing and his teammates widened their eyes in shock, but what happened next was even more unbelievable.


    The zombie finished writing, then ripped the paper off, wadded it, and it threw at them.


    The people in the car began to wonder if they were mad or if the world had become crazier. When did zombies learn to write? What was wrong with that zombie?


    The wad of paper flew at Long Qingying. Lin Qiao was six to seven meters away from the car, so the paper wad shouldn''t be able to fly to them. However, she managed to throw it right into Long Qingying''s hands. Long Qingying caught it, her face filled with confusion.


    As she caught the paper wad, the people in the car immediately fixed their eyes on her. They were very curious about what was written on the paper.


    Long Qingying spread the paper and saw a line of clearly written words, as neat as a line of soldiers.


    ''I''m a zombie, but I don''t kill people! Your target is behind you!''


    After reading that, Long Qingying and her teammates turned back to look behind them, only to see an extremely ugly, short zombie squatting on a tree, staring at them fiercely with his dark eyes. They didn''t know when it had shown up.

 104 Sudden Attack

    "Damn! What the hell is this!" The looks in the faces of Du Yuanxing and his teammates changed the moment they saw that big-headed zombie. Some of them even shouted out loud.


    It was way too disgusting! And, they didn''t even know what it was.


    Long Qingying was the only one who managed to maintain some composure while observing the four-feet-tall zombie.


    It had a giant head, four eyes, two noses, and an awfully cracked mouth. Its head was covered in blood and wet hair.


    Its head looked like a combination of two smashed human heads.


    ''It''s so gross!'' Long Qingying complained silently.


    Before Du Yuanxing and his teammates could confirm if this big-headed zombie was the one mentioned by Lin Qiao in her note, the disgusting zombie made a movement.


    After realizing that everyone on the scene had discovered it, it impatiently opened its mouth wide and uttered a shrill scream, as if worried that Lin Qiao might seize its prey.


    "Squeak!"


    Its voice was ear-piercing, and this scream it let out was many times more powerful than the one before.


    "Pah!" Three or four among Du Yuanxing''s team directly vomited blood and fell to the ground softly. Just now after Lin Qiao showed up, Du Yuanxing and his teammates had all come out of the car, only leaving the unconscious one lying in the car.


    The rest of the team who managed to stay on their feet suffered badly as well. Their brains were shaken, and after that, they sensed a piercing pain, as if something sharp was stirring inside their heads.


    Long Qingyung supported her body with the katana and remained standing, but Du Yuanxing, Cai Hongqing, and the other few directly kneeled.


    All team members were temporarily disabled from fighting.


    The strange thing was, the sound attack which was even effective on Qiu Lili turned out to be completely useless against Lin Qiao.


    "Roar!" Seeing what happened to Long Qingying and her teammates, the big-headed zombie seized the opportunity to leap down from the tree and pounce on them.


    ''We''re dead!''


    Du Yuanxing and his teammates had sensed its movement, but couldn''t make any reaction at that time. They weren''t able to do what they hoped.


    Long Qingying, who was the strongest one in the team, was still able to raise her katana, but couldn''t manage to make any further movement. Her reaction was slowed down by the sound wave; she knew what to do, but her body parts couldn''t get the orders from her brain timely.


    Therefore, when they saw the big-headed zombie charge at her and her teammates, she only had time to grip the katana with both hands. But before she raised her weapon, the zombie was already right before her face, as it wasn''t far away before.


    When the team was about to fall in despair, a roar was suddenly heard.


    "Roar!"


    A figure flashed across the air and suddenly showed up right beside the big-headed zombie when the latter had almost jumped on Du Yuanxing who was the closest from it. Then, a sharp claw swiftly pierced into the big-headed zombie''s head.


    Puff!


    "Squeak!"


    A puffing noise was heard, along with a shrill scream.


    All the others felt that their brains were shaken again. After that, they lost their eyesights temporally, and all blanked out.


    Puff!


    Lin Qiao swung her hand, then looked at the sticky liquid and a blue zombie nucleus in her hand, her face filled with disgust.


    Following her moves, the big-headed zombie thudded against the ground like a pile of rotten meat.


    Lin Qiao glance at the zombie nucleus, then at the group of human beings who were lying on the ground. It seemed that the scream uttered by the big-headed zombie before death was quite powerful.


    But, why didn''t she feel a thing? Was it because she was a zombie?


    She thought for a moment in confusion, but soon forgot about that question. She began to wonder what she should do with this group of human beings. Since she had met them already, she couldn''t bear to leave them here. Even though she was a zombie now, she still had a soldier''s soul!


    She looked around, still failed to find a trace of Qiu Lili. She had no idea where had the latter gone to.


    The zombie crowd which had been remaining motionless the whole time now began moving toward the group of human beings. It was probably because they were affected by the big-headed zombie''s last scream.


    "Roar!"


    ''Go away!''


    Lin Qiao bared her teeth and gave them a warning growl.


    All the ordinary zombies stopped moving immediately, but still lingered in that area without leaving. Of course, they didn''t dare to get any closer either.


    Lin Qiao looked around again. At last, she decided to put the group of people inside the car.


    She put the zombie nucleus into her pocket, then glanced at her own hands. After that, she directly lifted Long Qingying to put her inside the car.


    She spent quite a while to get the whole team into the car.


    At that moment, a white figure showed up standing on the car roof; it was Qiu Lili. After Watching Lin Qiao put all these people into the car, she pointed at them and looked at Lin Qiao with questions in her eyes.


    ''What are you gonna do with these people now?'' She asked.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at Qiu Lili, wondering where she hid just now and didn''t show up until now.


    She took out the notepad and wrote¡ª''Are you afraid of human beings?''


    Qiu Lili dropped her eyes and pouted. Then, she turned her back to Lin Qiao without answering the latter''s question.


    Lin Qiao gave a helpless smile.


    She didn''t understand how Qiu Lili felt about human beings. It might be repulsion, but she felt that Qiu Lili was more like afraid of human beings. In fact, Qiu Lili wanted to be close with human beings, as she used to be one of them. Even now, she just looked like a zombie, yet never killed or ate any human. Even though she now had the zombie virus which might infect human beings, she still wanted to be close with them.


    However, human beings treated her like a monster only because she was changed in appearance.


    Lin Qiao looked at the surrounding zombies, then found that they had all begun to draw back like an ebbing tide after Qiu Lili showed up. It was because she had released her strong vibe on showing up.


    Sensing the vibe of a zombie queen, these ordinary zombies instinctively wanted to leave. It was like how ancient ordinary people saw the high-positioned ones with fear and admiration.


    As Qiu Lili refused to talk to her, Lin Qiao closed the car doors.


    She didn''t plan to drive that car. Instead, she sent the car and the people in it all into her space.


    She couldn''t tell if the nine people could survive or not. Judging by their vibes, they were still alive, but she didn''t know what conditions they were in. She planned to leave them in her space and wait to see if they could wake up or not.


    When the car disappeared, Qiu Lili lightly landed on the ground. She chose only clean and flat places to step on.


    After that, Lin Qiao wrote on the paper¡ª''Let''s go find a hotel building.''


    She wanted to try finding some beds for those people to lie on. If she couldn''t find any beds, she would have to let them rest on the ground.


    After reading the note, Qiu Lili pointed at one direction. Earlier on, she had seen a building which looked like a hotel when she was standing high up.

 105 The Purpose of Saving People

    Lin Qiao moved toward where Qiu Lili pointed at.


    After two streets and an alley, she came to another block and saw a building which used to be a large hotel. Many of the windows were broken, and the doors had disappeared. But, the good thing was that the building was still undamaged.


    She walked in through the main entrance of the hotel. The lobby was as messy and dirty as every corner in this post-apocalyptic world. Couches were overturned or scratched broken by some creatures, with the filling sponge exposed. The couches were mostly covered in dried black blood, and so were the floor and the walls.


    Lin Qiao merely made a quick glance around before walking straight toward the stairs. The zombies in this area were either driven away by the level-four wind-powered zombie, or summoned to the other side by the big-headed zombie. Due to these reasons, Lin Qiao hadn''t seen even one single zombie in this place.


    This place was quiet and wasted, without any trace of living creatures. Things were covered in a thick layer of dust, showing no sign of being touched. It seemed that before Lin Qiao, no one had visited this place in a long time.


    Lin Qiao walked onto the stairs to find that the stairsteps and walls by the stairs were also stained by dark and dried blood, which clearly explained how chaotic and terrifying it was when the apocalypse had arrived.


    She walked to the second floor. The corridor on the second floor was also in a mess, and the third floor was mostly the same. Lin Qiao checked a lot of rooms, then finally found a large suite.


    The suite contained two large beds, couches, and a living room. It was roomy and not so messy, but a little dusty.


    Lin Qiao walked in and locked the door. She walked around in the suite, checking the windows and the bathroom. Then, she walked toward the two beds in the bedrooms. After that, she brought Du Yuanxing and his teammates out of his space one after another.


    Qiu Lili stood by the entryway which was behind the door. Looking at the thick dust in the room, she didn''t want to walk in.


    Lin Qiao didn''t care how dusty the beds were. She threw the group of human beings onto the beds, then began checking their physical conditions one after another.


    First, she looked at the man who had foam on his mouth corners. She reached out a hand to pull up his eyelids and check his eyeballs, then saw that his pupils had expanded slightly.


    After that, she put a hand against his neck to feel his pulse, finding that his heart was still beating. Then, she checked the others, and the results were similar. However, the ones who possessed strong superpower energy were doing slightly better than the others. The two powerless ordinary men had already fallen in a deep coma. To wake them up, special treatment might be required.


    Lin Qiao felt that the lake water in her space might be helpful, but she wasn''t sure. Last time, the lake water cured the little boy who was weak because of malnutrition and starvation, but these people weren''t in the same condition.


    She wasn''t a doctor, so she didn''t know how to cure people, neither did she have any medicines with her. Therefore, she decided to try the lake water.


    As for whether these people could survive or not, it would have to rely on their own fate. Trying to heal them with the lake water was all she could do for them under the current situation. After all, it needed over ten hours of driving to get to the nearest human base from here.


    She planned to try waking the relative stronger ones up with the lake water first, then let them figure out a way to handle this situation.


    With that thought, she flashed into her space, then came out with a large bowl filled with lake water. After that, she fed the water to the group of people one by one, then began observing them.


    She was able to see the energy contained in the lake water. Seeing that the energy gathered in the heads of each of them, she guessed that these people were probably hurt by the big-headed zombie''s voice.


    In fact, apart from her own conscience, she had another reason to try saving these people. Her main purpose of saving them was that she wanted to ask them if they had heard about Lin Feng, Lin Wenwen, Lin Hao, Huang Mei, and Cheng Wangyue.


    She knew that these people were from the Hades Base, which was the nearest Southern base from here.


    Now, she needed to wait and see if these people could wake up,


    Qiu Lili stood by the door for a while. After watching Lin Qiao checking these people and feeding them lake water, she walked over and pulled her arm.


    Lin Qiao turned back to look at her with confusion, wondering what she wanted to say.


    Qiu Lili made a gesture of writing, and Lin Qiao immediately handed her the notepad and the pen.


    Qiu Lili took over the pen and paper, then began writing¡ª''Even if you save them, they won''t be grateful. They''ll still kill you and me.''


    Lin Qiao read the note, then spent a short while thinking about what Qiu Lili meant. She guessed that the latter too had tried helping human beings before, but those people found out that she was a zombie and were tempted to kill her.


    Maybe because the distance between her and Qiu Lili was quite close, or the latter was emotional at the moment, Lin Qiao could sense her sadness for being abandoned and harmed.


    Lin Qiao sighed, then wrote on the paper¡ª''It''s alright. I don''t expect them to accept me. I just want to ask them about a few people. I''m not helping them for nothing. If they requite my kindness with enmity, we can just leave.''


    ''Even if there will be a fight, you and I won''t lose. So, why should we worry so much?''


    Lin Qiao was thinking this way.


    Qiu Lili fell into silence after reading the note. She walked to the window side and stood behind the window to watch the scenery of the post-apocalyptic world.


    Lin Qiao looked at her, but didn''t write another word for her. Then, she turned to walk back to the beds and check the pockets of the few men. She needed a pair of sunglasses now, so she wondered if any of these people had one. If they did have ibe, she would take one from them as the reward for saving them. She wasn''t demanding a high price at all.


    So, she rummaged their pockets without any bad feelings. To her surprise, she found a pair from around Du Yuanxing''s waist.


    ''He does have a sunglasses!''


    She took Du Yuanxing''s sunglasses with surprise and then wore it.


    It was not bad! The sunglasses were purely dark, but worked just fine for the black and white world in Lin Qiao''s eyes.


    After finding the sunglasses, she leaned against the wall and looked at the people on the beds.


    A couple of minutes passed¡­half an hour¡­one hour¡­


    After waiting for two whole hours, she finally saw that Long Qingying slightly moved her eyebrows.


    ''She''s awake!''


    Long Qingying opened her eyes frowningly, then sat up with one hand pressing against her forehead. Only after that she noticed the surrounding environment and looked around alertly.


    Then, she saw Lin Qiao, who was standing less than two meters away, and the young female zombie in a white dress in the living room.


    She automatically tried to pull out her katana when seeing these two zombies. However, she touched around her waist and found nothing. After that, she realized that she had been lying there the whole time, and if the zombies wanted to hurt her, they should have done it long ago.


    She hurriedly checked her own body. After finding nothing wrong, she turned to the others while Lin Qiao kept looking at her quietly.


    Long Qingying confirmed that all her teammates were fine, then turned toward the latter again.

 106 The Trade Between Human and Zombie

    Long Qingying silently turned to glance at Du Yuanxing when she saw the sunglasses worn on Lin Qiao''s face. After that, she turned back to continue staring at Lin Qiao while trying to ask her a question, "Did you¡­save us?"


    Long Qingying remembered that before she passed out, the short big-headed zombie had already charged at her and her teammates while they were incapable of reacting. At that time, she had known that she was in danger, but couldn''t manage to fight back.


    She also saw that a claw stopped the big-headed zombie and pierced into its head swiftly, fiercely, and accurately. After that, the big-headed zombie uttered a shrill scream which knocked her and her teammates out.


    She observed the surrounding environment, then realized that she was in a hotel room. The decorations in the room continued to be the same as before the apocalypse. The room was untidy and dusty, meaning that no one had been here before.


    Long Qingying tried to talk to Lin Qiao because the latter had written her and her teammates a note before. Since she understood that Lin Qiao knew how to communicate, she decided to try building a conversation with her.


    Lin Qiao calmly nodded at her.


    Looking at the sunglasses that she was wearing, Long Qingying continued with confusion, "You''re a zombie¡­But, why can you understand our words? You can write, and you saved us. Are you really a zombie?"


    Lin Qiao directly showed her claws.


    "So why did you save us? Shouldn''t you be eating us? Don''t all zombies eat human beings?" Long Qingying asked.


    Lin Qiao picked up the notepad and began writing with patience¡ª''I''m a zombie, but I''m different from ordinary zombies. I don''t need to feed on human beings. I saved you because I need to ask you about a few people.''


    Finishing writing, she approached Long Qingying with the notepad.


    The latter automatically moved backward. Even though the zombie hadn''t shown any hostility, she didn''t dare to let it get close to her. After all, zombies were spreading the virus, and were all highly dangerous.


    Seeing Long Qingying''s move, Lin Qiao stopped moving. She had no other choice but to step back, rip the piece of paper off the notepad and wad it up, then throw it at Long Qingying.


    Long Qingying caught it, then unwrapped and read the note. After that, she raised her head to look at Lin Qiao and asked, "You¡­Are really different from the other zombies. Who do you want to know about?"


    As Lin Qiao prepared to write the names of her mother, brothers, and sisters, Du Yuanxing, who was lying on the other bed, woke up as well.


    "Em¡­ Ouch¡­" he moaned in pain, then took a deep breath. After that, he sat up from the bed with a twisted face.


    "What happened¡­ this place is¡­ Oh! My sunglasses!" He sat up and raised his head to look around, then saw Lin Qiao, who was standing by the bedside wearing his sunglasses. He recognized his sunglasses immediately. To confirm, he touched the bag around his waist and found that it was as empty as he had thought.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and curved her lips to give him a smile. As a result, her white and sharp teeth were exposed.


    After becoming a zombie, her smile had become awfully scary, and she couldn''t do anything to change that.


    Seeing her sharp teeth, Du Yuanxing somehow sensed a coldness from his heart. So, he silently turned his eyes away from Lin Qiao''s face to Long Qingying.


    Long Qingying stood up, moving toward Du Yuanxing.


    "What''s going on? Why are we here?" As Long Qingying came to him, Du Yuanxing stood up as well and asked with a low voice.


    "Didn''t you see it? He saved us," Long Qingying fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao while responding, also with a low voice.


    Du Yuanxing was confused. "Is he a zombie or a man? Why did he save us?" He asked.


    Long Qingying rolled her eyes. ''He has admitted that he''s a zombie before, so isn''t it a little dumb for you to ask this question now?'' She thought.


    "Zombie¡­He saved us, and he has requirements." Long Qingying believed that asking for information could be counted as a requirement.


    "What requirements? Does he want to eat us one by one?" Du Yuanxing asked.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and couldn''t help but click her tongue. She felt that this man was a little silly.


    Long Qingying didn''t know what to say.


    She felt that Du Yuanxing''s brain might not have started working since he just woke up. Therefore, she didn''t answer the man''s question, but looked at Lin Qiao.


    "Who do you want to know about?" She asked.


    Hearing what Long Qingying had said, Du Yuanxing learned that the zombie''s requirement was to ask about some people. So, he sighed in relief, then realized that he should check his own body condition.


    What people feared the most about leaving the bases for action was to be infected by the zombie virus. The slightest infection could cost them their lives. Therefore, they all needed to try their best and prevent any possibility of infection from happening.


    For example, they couldn''t let themselves be scratched or bitten by zombies, or eat mutant plants, or be attacked by zombie beasts or other mutant creatures.


    Du Yuanxing checked his own body over and over again, and found nothing wrong. Except for the slight dull ache in his head, he was perfectly unharmed.


    At that point, Lin Qiao was writing¡ª''Have you heard about Lin Feng, Huang Mei, Lin Wenwen, and Lin Hao?''


    Finishing writing, she wadded the paper up and threw it at Long Qingying again.


    Long Qingying caught the paper wad and unwrapped it. Du Yuanxing moved over to read the note as well. After that, he turned to Lin Qiao with confusion.


    "Do you know them? Why are you looking for them?" He asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded. Of course, she knew them. Those people were her family. Even though she had changed into a different creature, they were still her family.


    She was looking for them because she wanted to know their current situation and what kind of a life they were now living.


    From Du Yuanxing''s tone, Lin Qiao had sensitively detected his vigilance.


    She looked at Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying with confusion. The expression in Du Yuanxing''s face had apparently told her that he knew her family. But, she didn''t quite understand the vigilance in his eyes.


    That seemed to be an awareness of protection.


    Not only did Du Yuanxing and his team know Lin Feng and his family, they were also trying to protect them.


    Lin Qiao felt that the looks in the faces of Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing were a little strange. She knew well enough about her own brother, who wasn''t a weak person. Even if he didn''t become a superpowered man, surviving in the post-apocalyptic world wouldn''t be a difficult thing for him, because he used to be a battalion commander.


    He was an even more experienced soldier than herself. So, he would be strong enough to protect himself and his family.


    However, judging by the looks of Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing, Lin Qiao now felt that Lin Feng and his family weren''t in a good situation. The vigilance in the eyes of Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing was strangely strong, as if she would do something to Lin Feng and his families.


    ''No, their vigilance isn''t against me, but against many people!'' Lin Qiao then thought. ''Have my families encountered any trouble in the base?''


    Lin Qiao had sensed a lot of things from the expressions and emotions of Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing. What allowed her to do that wasn''t only her keen judgment as a soldier, but also that her mind-reading ability having grown further stronger.


    "Can you tell us what''s your relationship with Lin Feng?" Long Qingying asked frowningly.

 107 The Information In Exchange

    ''He was my friend and commander''¡ªLin Qiao wrote on the paper.


    She felt that Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing might know Lin Feng, but couldn''t tell for sure if they knew that he had a sister named Lin Qiao. Therefore, she didn''t give them her own name, but lied to them that she used to be Lin Feng''s friend and subordinate.


    It was reasonable enough for her to care about her old friend and commander.


    Long Qingying read the note, then looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "''Was''? Do you mean that before you became a zombie?"


    Lin Qiao nodded.


    "It''s hard for us to trust you at the moment," said Du Yuanxing abruptly.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest. She didn''t mind their negative attitude, but nodded in agreement with Du Yuanxing''s words. If she were them, she wouldn''t trust a strange zombie who suddenly showed up either.


    So, she continued writing¡ª''You can choose not to believe me, but I''m willing to trade for their information with this.''


    Finishing writing, Lin Qiao took out the zombie nucleus in her pocket. She was planning to do another treatment in the center of the lake in her space with this zombie nucleus, as she hoped that the third energy treatment would be able to erase the scars on her face.


    Seeing the blue zombie nucleus in her hand, both Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing had their eyes glowing.


    The blue color meant that this nucleus belonged to a level-four zombie. This zombie nucleus was enough to buy a great deal of food and water in the base, and a level-four zombie nucleus was exactly the purpose of their journey here.


    Lin Qiao wrapped the zombie nucleus in notepaper, then threw it to Long Qingying. The latter caught the paper wad easily.


    Du Yuanxing stared straight at the zombie nucleus in Long Qingying''s hand, as if he could no longer see anything else.


    However, Long Qingying immediately stopped Du Yuanxing from saying any word, but said to Lin Qiao, "How can we know if you will try hurting them or not after getting their information? If you''re going after them, we can''t sell you the information."


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile, then wrote her another note.


    ''You can choose not to tell me, but I can go ask other people. And, if you''re not telling me anything, I''m gonna take that zombie nucleus back.''


    It would be fine even if she failed to make a deal with Long Qingying and her team, because she could always ask other human beings. She had learned from the Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing'' reactions that Lin Feng and his family were rather famous in this area, so it would be much easier for her to ask around about them.


    Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing glanced at each other, then both of their hearts sank. Lin Qiao was right. As long as she found another group of human beings, she would be able to learn about the current situation of Lin Feng and his families. And, whatever the zombie''s purpose was, they couldn''t stop it from happening.


    They couldn''t stop the zombie now, as they were clearly no match for her.


    Lin Qiao was sensing the changes of Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing'' emotions. She wasn''t able to detect their thoughts precisely, but could guess some of their thoughts based on their emotions.


    Earlier on, she thought that her mind-reading ability had grown stronger; but now, she felt that it wasn''t working so well on these two human beings in front of her. She couldn''t sense their thoughts clearly, and wondered if it was because both of them were level-five superpowered ones and had very strong awareness of defense.


    Afterward, Du Yuanxing turned his eyes away from the zombie nucleus to Lin Qiao, then said, "Lin Feng and his families were nice to us. So, if you''re planning to hurt them, we can''t possibly give you the information. You need to at least give us something to prove that you won''t try harming them."


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. How should she prove that? She had no way to prove that¡­


    As even a level-four zombie nucleus had failed to make them relax their vigilance, Lin Qiao guessed that it wouldn''t be easy for her to get the information from them. In this case, she decided to use plan B.


    The wrote on the notepad¡ª''Since there''s no deal, please give the zombie nucleus back to me. I''ll go ask someone else. I saved you because it was convenient, so you''re welcome.''


    Then, she threw note to Long Qingying and spread her palm toward her.


    Long Qingying clenched the zombie nucleus, then turned back to Du Yuanxing. She couldn''t make the decision.


    She didn''t trust Lin Qiao, so she wasn''t planning to tell her about Lin Feng and his families. However, she couldn''t decide to give the zombie nucleus back to the zombie or not. After all, she had already been paid, and now, she was just doing her job. As the captain of the team, Du Yuanxing was the only one who had the right to decide.


    Du Yuanxing grabbed the zombie nucleus from Long Qingying''s hand, gripping it and staring at it. After that, he raised his head to look at Lin Qiao, then at Long Qingying. The look in his eyes was constantly changing, as he seemed to be struggling. However, he gripped the zombie nucleus tight the whole time.


    Lin Qiao didn''t rush him, but let him try convincing himself.


    Du Yuanxing hesitated for a while, then clenched his teeth and showed determination on his face. "I can only tell you that they''re no longer in the Hades Base. Except for the Chief, the others are all alive. Is that good enough?"


    "Du Yuanxing!" Seeing that Du Yuanxing had given out the information about Lin Feng and his family for the zombie nucleus, Long Qingying glared at him, her face turning cold.


    Du Yuanxing didn''t respond to her, but stared straight at Lin Qiao. He wanted very much to see Lin Qiao''s eyes, but the only thing he saw were the sunglasses which used to belong to himself.


    Lin Qiao nodded, sensing that Du Yuanxing didn''t lie. Even though the information wasn''t in detail, it was enough. She would verify it and collect more information by herself.


    While thinking, she turned and walked to Qiu Lili, gently patting her on the back, then walking toward the outside.


    Qiu Lili turned back to glance at her, then at Du Yuanxing, Long Qingying, and the people who were still lying unconsciously on the beds. After that, she directly leaped out of the window and disappeared without a trace.


    Lin Qiao glanced back as well, then kept moving. She unlocked the door, then left the room. ''People who can do Qinggong always like to fly out of windows, like the ancient martial artists¡­'' she thought while walking.


    In fact, Lin Qiao never wanted to get that zombie nucleus back when she gave it to them. She only said that so that Du Yuanxing would tell her something about her family. Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying tried to defend her family, so she was willing to give the zombie nucleus to them.


    Seeing the two zombies leave quietly and neatly, Du Yuanxing paused slightly. After that, he realized something on looking at Lin Qiao''s straight back.


    She looked like a human being instead of a zombie from the back.


    "Did you have to sell Chief''s families for this zombie nucleus?" After Lin Qiao disappeared, Long Qingying asked Du Yuanxing.


    Du Yuanxing''s face darkened as well. He responded with, "Don''t make it sound so awful. I didn''t sell Captain and his families. I just told the zombie that they''re no longer in the base. He would be able to find out about it very easily, because everyone knows that. If we refused to give him any information, he''d give the nucleus to other people. So, why can''t I take it? Do you know how much food can this zombie nucleus buy? And how many days it''ll last us for?"


    His words made a lot of sense, so Long Qingying didn''t know what to say. She just stared at him, remaining silent.

 108 Eavesdrop in the Invisible State

    Du Yuanxing sighed and said, "Why are you so nervous? I don''t think that the zombie has any bad intentions. Otherwise, he wouldn''t treat us so politely. He even gave up a zombie nucleus. He could have used this nucleus to improve his own strength quite largely. Besides, I didn''t tell him where Captain and his families are heading to. Just let him go find out himself."


    "Em," Long Qingying was still angry at him, so she only responded with a sound.


    Du Yuanxing looked at the door and sighed again, "It has only been five years since the apocalypse, but some zombies have already become so smart. Do you think those two zombies can destroy the entire base?"


    "If you''re worrying that he might destroy the base, you can go kill him now," said Long Qingying.


    Du Yuanxing shrugged and said, "I''m not strong enough to do that. Besides, why do we have to assume that he''ll destroy human bases? Perhaps, he''ll work with human beings. Just like what we did earlier."


    Long Qingying glanced at him and asked, "Do you think that''s possible?"


    Du Yuanxing pondered shortly, then responded, "Why not? Human beings are in lack of supplies, so it would be good if zombies could trade quilts and clothes with us."


    Long Qingying glanced at him again and asked, "Trade for what? Human flesh?"


    Du Yuanxing didn''t know how to continue this conversation. It seemed that they really didn''t have much to give the zombies in exchange, except for living human beings.


    So, he sighed once again and said, "I wonder how Captain Lin Feng and his people are doing now. Fortunately, Chief had planned ahead and sent Lin Yu and the others to scout Sea City. If Captain and his people manage to escape successfully, they''ll have somewhere to go in Sea City."


    Long Qingying walked to a window and looked outside. She didn''t continue Du Yuanxing''s topic, but said, "We can head back when they''re awake."


    Du Yuanxing glanced at the others who were all still unconscious. Then, he looked at the door which was closed by Lin Qiao, and walked over to lock it.


    "Since we''ve got the nucleus, we can head back indeed. We failed to get the nucleus of the wind-powered zombie, but this nucleus of the big-headed zombie is good enough too. Even though it was only a newly upgraded level-four superpowered zombie, it had the rare spirit power. So, its nucleus can also buy a satisfying amount of food." Du Yuanxing said while looking at the zombie nucleus in his hand.


    "Why isn''t the wind-powered zombie that you mentioned before here?" Long Qingying asked.


    "I don''t know. This area was the wind-powered zombie''s territory indeed, but this time, we encountered a spirit-powered level-four zombie and two strange ones of unknown levels. I guess that the wind-powered zombie has been killed already," Du Yuanxing thought for a moment, then replied, with Long Qingying nodding in agreement.


    After deciding to head back, the two of them stayed in the room with their teammates.


    Soon, Du Yuanxing noticed that the window wasn''t closed, so he immediately walked over to close it, in case some zombies at level two or three sneakily crawled in.


    However, neither Du Yuanxing nor Long Qingying knew that earlier on, Lin Qiao had quietly crawled back in through the window right after she left. Of course, she was invisible at the moment.


    So, she heard everything that Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying said after she left.


    However, even though she had heard everything they said, she didn''t quite understand some of their words. But still, she managed to learn a few things.


    She learned that her brother was now heading to Sea City. And, he wasn''t alone, but with his whole family.


    It seemed that her brother was being hunted by some people, but she was still unclear about his current situation. Du Yuanxing said that ''if they managed to escape successfully, they''d have somewhere to go in Sea City'', which meant they hadn''t escaped successfully by now. But, who were hunting her brother?


    The last thing she learned was that one of her family members seemed to have become a base leader. Was Du Yuanxing talking about the Hades Base? And, who was that person?


    Lin Qiao felt that these few pieces of information were quite important.


    If a member of her family had become a base leader, he or she must be especially powerful. After all, no one was able to become a base leader without a strong superpower and physical strength.


    But, how could a base leader be murdered? And, was her brother really running toward Sea City with her other family members? Sea City was so far away, and they needed to go through dangerous zombie crowds all the way to get there. So, how powerful were the enemies that not even a base leader was strong enough to defend against them?


    And, Lin Qiao hadn''t yet heard anything about the ''Chief'' from Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying. Who was that person who managed to lead a base?


    As the invisible Lin Qiao was thinking about all kinds of questions, Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing had stopped talking. Instead, they were patiently observing their teammates who were still in a coma. Lin Qiao guessed that they would be leaving once their teammates woke up.


    She got a little anxious, because she really wanted to know what exactly had happened to her brother, and what situation were her mother, Wenwen, Hao, Lu, and her sister-in-law in. However, Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing had been keeping an extra strong vigilance against her, so she couldn''t show up directly to ask them about what she wanted to know.


    And, the strange thing was that she came from Sea City, but didn''t meet Lin Feng and her other family members on her way. Did they miss each other? If so, she now needed to find out which exact way they had been taking. As they were on the run, they would certainly try their best to hide their traces.


    While the anxious Lin Qiao was trying to keep patience and Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying were waiting for their teammates to wake up, another motorcade was coming this way.


    Those were two heavily armored military vehicles. Each of these two vehicles were strong enough to crush a thousand ordinary zombies.


    "Captain, my intel can''t be wrong. Long Qingying came this way with Du Yuanxing and his team. I knew that a level-four wind-powered zombie exists in this area. Du Yuanxing can''t handle it on his own, so he asked Long Qingying for help."


    "My mission is to kill Long Qingying. I don''t care about any level-four wind-powered zombie or Du Yuanxing. Since Long Qingying has helped Lin Wenwen and her families, she''s our enemy. Everyone who disagreed to build the new base and has tried helping Lin Feng and his people is our target. Letting them live will only affect the establishment of the new base in a bad way."


    "Yes, yes, yes¡­ I know, I know. That''s exactly why I told you about Long Qingying''s whereabouts as soon as I could. You see how loyal am I to the new base?"


    "That''s good. You''ve shown your loyalty, so the new base won''t mistreat you, and the other survivors who chose to stay."


    "Deputy Chief Yang is going after Lin Feng this time. I wonder if he can successfully kill Lin Feng and the others. Those two women were so proud in the old base, but now, aren''t they both going to fall in Deputy Chief Yang''s hands?"


    "What do you mean by Deputy Chief? Eh?"


    "Ah-oh, it''s Chief Yang! Chief Yang!"


    "You''re smart! He''ll definitely get Lin Feng. And this time, another level-six superpowered one is helping him. I don''t think our new leader will fail to kill Lin Feng and the others."

 109 Who’s ‘Chief’?

    The two vehicles stopped about a mile away from where Du Yuanxing and his team were. No one came out of the vehicles. Instead, some people in the car were talking via interphones.


    "Go and see what they''re doing. Remember to hide. Don''t alert the enemy or let them run."


    "Copy!"


    "Let''s go!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    At that moment, Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, who were brought to the hotel room by Lin Qiao, had no idea that some enemies were coming for them quietly. They were still waiting for their seven teammates to wake up.


    Before long, a small squad of soldiers in camouflage clothes and mufflers on their guns were scouting the surrounding area while avoiding the ordinary zombies nearby. When they found some zombies that were hard to dodge, they''d blow their heads with bullets.


    Soon, following the dead bodies of zombies which piled on the road, they found the spot where Du Yuanxing and his team were saved by Lin Qiao. Next, they checked the surrounding environment and the dead zombies in that area, including the big-headed zombie which was killed by Lin Qiao with one single claw movement.


    "It was a level-four spirit-powered zombie," the squad leader pointed at the dead big-headed zombie and said.


    "Captain, how did you know that?" A soldier beside him asked out of curiosity.


    "I heard from others that high-level spirit-powered zombies are all short and big-headed. Look at its body! It seems that it was the combination of two zombies. I heard that this kind of zombies can''t move quickly, so they always disable their targets from moving with long-range attacks first, then show up, bite their targets to death, and eat them. But, this kind of spirit-powered zombies are scarce, so their nuclei are precious."


    "Did Du Yuanxing and his people kill it? Eh? Wasn''t their target the wind-powered zombie? How come it became a spirit-powered one?"


    "I think some unexpected changes have happened. It seems that they''ve already gotten the zombie nucleus. Perhaps, the wind-powered zombie has already been killed by this spirit-powered one. After all, two high-level zombies can never show up in the same place at the same time."


    "I see!"


    "Alright, cut the crap. Let''s go find out where did they go. The mission is our top priority."


    "Copy!"


    After checking around, this squad of soldiers headed to the surrounding areas to look for more leads. Since they had confirmed that Du Yuanxing and his team have been in this place not long ago, they believed that their targets were still nearby.


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying failed to discover that some people were approaching them. However, the invisible Lin Qiao, who was in the room, and Qiu Lili, who was on the roof, had both sensed the scents of another group of human beings.


    Without a doubt, only zombies could sense the scents of human beings so quickly. Some creatures were able to hide their vibes, but no creature could hide their scents.


    Besides, Lin Qiao''s sense of smell was already sharper than that of dogs by many times over. Therefore, even though the window was closed, she still sensed those newcomers.


    She raised her head and gently moved to the window side, then put her nose near the gap between window glasses to sense the scents more clearly.


    She knitted her brows, as she didn''t know who those newcomers were. Earlier on, she had put Du Yuanxing''s car downstairs for them to use after waking up; but now, she was afraid that it might be discovered soon.


    As she had thought, the scents and the vibes of the newcomers soon began getting closer.


    At that moment, Du Yuanxing still knew nothing about that. He looked at Long Qingying''s grim face and couldn''t help but say to her, "I know you''re close with Chief''s little sister. But, since you care so much about her, why didn''t you go with them? You''re not weak, so you''re able to help them on the way. Isn''t that true?"


    Hearing his words, Long Qingying only raised her head to give him a glance, then turned her eyes to a corner without saying anything.


    In fact, she did plan to go with them. However, Lin Wenwen didn''t let her go, because the journey was too dangerous, and she didn''t want her to get involved.


    Du Yuanxing thought for a moment, then continued, "It''s not because that Lin Wenwen didn''t let you go, is it? The number of enemies is huge, and all of them are pretty strong. I heard that a level-six powerful being from the Earth Dragon Base is helping them. Including Yang Jianhua, that''d be two level-six people. You two were so close, so I guess she didn''t want you to get involved in, right?"


    Hearing Lin Wenwen''s name, Lin Qiao, who was standing by the window, immediately turned her head back.


    Chief''s sister? Lin Wenwen? The name of Lin Qiao''s little sister was Lin Wenwen. If this Lin Wenwen was with Lin Feng, then she must be Lin Qiao''s sister. According to Du Yuanxing, Lin Feng was ''Captain'', but he hadn''t mentioned the name of ''Chief'' yet. So, who was this ''Chief''?


    Lin Wenwen was the third children of her family, which meant that she was the younger sister of two people¡ªLin Feng and Lin Qiao.


    And, Lin Qiao didn''t know Long Qingying, so she guessed that Lin Wenwen met her after the apocalypse and became friends with her.


    Based on what Du Yuanxing said, Lin Wenwen was Chief''s little sister, but Lin Feng wasn''t ''Chief'', which meant¡­


    Suddenly, Lin Qiao began wondering if the Hades Base used to have a person named Lin Qiao, and would she be the murdered ''Chief''.


    Du Yuanxing had mentioned before that except for ''Chief'', Lin Feng and all his family members were still alive. Lin Qiao felt that she should have asked him about who ''Chief'' was, and how did she die. And, Long Qingying had accused Du Yuanxing of selling ''Chief''s family because of a zombie nucleus. By ''family'', she was talking about Lin Feng and the others. So, who on earth was ''Chief''.


    Was the truth really what she thought it was? Was ''Chief'' another Lin Qiao? Her other self?


    The more Lin Qiao heard from Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, the more questions she had.


    She now knew that Lin Feng and her other family members were heading to Sea City. If she started moving in the same direction right now, she might be able to catch up with them soon. Even though locating Lin Feng and the others might be a little difficult for her, finding the ones who had been chasing them would be easy. After locating those people, she would be able to find her family soon.


    However, she now felt that it was important for her to figure out who ''Chief'' was. She wanted to know if ''Chief'' was another Lin Qiao, as that idea made her feel extremely strange! But at the same time, she also felt that she should start catching up with her family, who were highly important to her as well.


    She needed to make a choice as soon as possible. Perhaps, she should show her face and ask Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying about ''Chief''s name.


    But at that moment, the suspicious newcomers seemed to have found out that Long Qingying and her teammates were here, as they had started surrounding this area.


    Long Qingying didn''t give Du Yuanxing any response. Right at that time, one among the people lying on beds woke up.


    "Em¡­ My head hurts! This place? Eh, where is this place? Captain, why are we in a¡­ hotel suite?" Cai Hongqing, who had just woken up, sat up with a headache, then looked around and asked.

 110 Unknown Enemies Are Here

    Cai Hongqing woke up to find that he was lying in a room with closed door and window, surrounded by his teammates; so, he wasn''t too nervous. After shaking his head, he asked the two standing by the bed about what had happened.


    "Hey, you''re awake! How''re you feeling? Do you feel waves of a dull ache in the head?" Seeing him sit up, Du Yuanxing asked.


    Cai Hongqing felt exactly what Du Yuanxing had said. He paused slightly, the nodded and said, "Yeah. Eh? Is everyone else in a coma?" While speaking, he turned to the others lying on the beds.


    Du Yuanxing sighed with relief, then said, "Then, you''re okay. Just stand up¡­ you''ll feel better soon."


    Cai Hongqing looked around and found that he was in a large hotel suite. "Eh? Did you get us here? Didn''t you pass out?" He asked abruptly.


    When he woke up, everyone else was unconscious except for Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying; so he thought it was them who moved the whole team into this hotel suite.


    However, he also wondered how did the two of them manage to avoid so many zombies and get the whole team here.


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying shook their heads simultaneously.


    "No, I was unconscious too. She woke up before I did," while speaking, Du Yuanxing glanced at Long Qingying.


    Long Qingying glanced back at him, but didn''t say a word. Both she and Du Yuanxing knew that it was two zombies who get them here. As for how did the two zombies manage to do that, they didn''t know.


    "Eh? Even you passed out? And you didn''t pass out too, did you?" Cai Hongqing looked at Du Yuanxing with surprise, then at Long Qingying.


    He didn''t think that the scream of the spirit-powered zombie could be powerful enough to throw the whole team into unconsciousness.


    "Eh? Did the writing zombie kill the big-headed zombie? I remember that the writing zombie had stopped the big-headed zombie." While thinking about the big-headed zombie''s sound attack, Cai Hongqing recalled how it had pounced on his team. He and the rest of the team all saw that the writing zombie made a movement to stop the big-headed zombie at the last moment. That was the last thing he could remember.


    While Cai Hongqing was speaking, Long Qingying who stood beside him suddenly had her expression changed. She blinked, then turned to walk to the window side and alertly looked out through the gap between the windowpanes. After that, she put her ear near the window to hear something.


    "What''s wrong?" Du Yuanxing and Cai Hongqing were confused by her movements. Long Qingying frowned slightly and said in a serious tone, "I think some people are coming this way. There''re about¡­ twenty of them."


    Hearing her words, both Du Yuanxing and Cai Hongqing wore a serious look and were fully alert. The latter immediately got off the bed and stared at Long Qingying.


    Long Qingying spent a short while sensing clearly, then turned to nod at the two and said, "They''re coming for us indeed, and they''re not far away. Let''s just wake them up now."


    Once she said that, Du Yuanxing and Cai Hongqing began waking their teammates up by shaking their shoulders and slapping their faces.


    "Wake up! Wake up!"


    Most of the others had recovered from the spirit-powered zombie''s attack, and were soon woken up by Du Yuanxing and Cai Hongqing, except for two.


    "Eh¡­ What''s going on?"


    "This place is¡­"


    "Ah¡­ My head hurts so much!"


    "Zombie! The spirit-power zombie is attacking us!"


    The people who just woke up had yet to find out what was happening. One of them still had the scene of the big-headed zombie attacking in his head, so he began yelling and struggling once waking up.


    "What zombie! There''s no zombie now! Wake up!" Du Yuanxing pressed his hand on this man''s head and said impatiently.


    "No zombie¡­ Eh? What is this place?" Asked that man.


    "That''s not important. There''re people coming at us. I don''t think they''ll be friendly. Get up and clear your heads!" Du Yuanxing yelled at the few still confused ones.


    Hearing his words, the others instantly braced themselves up and began looking around. Soon, they had made their own judgments.


    Long Qingying had been looking out through the window. As she expected, she soon saw some people moving in the shaded areas, surrounding the hotel building from all directions.


    This place used to be dominated by the wind-powered zombie, so no other zombies existed here. The ones summoned by the big-headed zombie earlier wouldn''t loiter to this area so fast either.


    Besides, Lin Qiao had kept Du Yuanxing and his teammates in her space before putting them in this suite, so no scents of living human beings were left in the air. Therefore, the surrounding zombies wouldn''t know that a few human beings were hiding in this place.


    However, when Long Qingying saw some nimbly-moving people moving toward the hotel building, she also found a group of zombies which followed those people''s scents here.


    After seeing those people''s clothes clearly, Long Qingying''s heart sank.


    "It''s an army from the base. I think this squad is here to scout," she said.


    "Army? Why are they coming for us? We''re free to come out hunting zombies. That has nothing to do with them, right?"


    Long Qingying looked outside, remaining silent.


    "They might not be coming for us," someone said. Hearing him, the others all glanced at Long Qingying and figured out something.


    "Yeah, they should be here for you," Du Yuanxing said while walking to another window to look outside.


    At that moment, Long Qingying found that those people had stopped moving forward at the distance of twenty or thirty meters from the building and hidden themselves. It seemed that they weren''t planning to rush in and directly start a fight.


    "Eh? Why did they stop?" Du Yuanxing had noticed that too.


    "They''re here to scout. They stopped because they''ve located us. Now, they''re reporting to their commander and waiting for their next order," Long Qingying said in a flat tone.


    Du Yuanxing looked at her and said abruptly, "If they''re really coming for us, you should be their target. Why don''t you take the opportunity to leave now? You''re powerful, so they can''t stop you from leaving at the moment. If you wait longer, more powerful enemies might show up."


    Long Qingying turned back to glance at him and respond, "Are you sure about that? Aren''t these people guided here by the traitor from your team? If it is him, I don''t think these people will leave you alone even if I''m not here. Not to mention that you''re now holding a level-four zombie nucleus."


    Du Yuanxing didn''t know what to say, because Long Qingying was probably right. What she said was highly likely to be true. Besides, they hired Long Qingying as a fighter, and if they let her leave right now, they might fall in serious disadvantages.

 111 Pull Out Firs

    "Captain, Long Qingying is right. It must be that b*stard who brought those soldiers here. Otherwise, how could they be so fast? We''ve only been here for a while, but they''ve already found us."


    Reminded by Long Qingying, the rest of the team was inclined to believe in that possibility as well.


    "So, what should we do now? Perhaps, they haven''t found out that we have a level-four zombie nucleus," Du Yuanxing still had a slight hope in his heart.


    A level-four zombie nucleus could buy a large amount of food. In the post-apocalyptic era, zombie nuclei were the best kind of treasures.


    However, this chaotic era had no rules or laws; power was the only principle here. The weak were the prey of the strong, and only the strong ones could survive.


    Therefore, when one was holding a precious zombie nucleus which could buy a large pile of food, it would be normal for the others to cast their eyes on them.


    Robberies and murders happened quite often between zombie-hunting squads. Every squad which came out of the base to hunt zombies needed to watch out for the other zombie-hunting squads that might sneakily attack them.


    Between zombie-hunting squads, people might not really kill each other cruelly. As long as the one with the zombie nucleus was willing to surrender the treasure, the other squad might still let them live.


    However, if a zombie-hunting squad was robbed by an army from a base, the squad would be destroyed, and all its members would die for sure. The reason was obvious.


    More importantly, half of the leaders of Hades Base had been replaced, and now was a chaotic period in the base. Fishing in troubled water had always been what human beings were best at.


    Hearing him, Long Qingying shook her head and said, "Stop fooling yourself. The body of that level-four zombie is lying out there. Once they find it, what will they think?"


    "That we''re the only squad here, so it can only be us who killed the level-four zombie¡­" Du Yuanxing sighed.


    The others all wore a grim look, showing a trace of despair and ferocity. However, they soon accepted the situation, as they understood that they came out of the base to risk their lives for a better life, and that zombies weren''t the only dangerous beings out here.


    At the moment, the fighting capacity of this squad hadn''t recovered fully, as two team members were still in a coma. So, they needed to spare two men to look after them.


    "They haven''t started attacking yet, so we should pull out first. Perhaps, we still have a chance to run," said Long Qingying.


    "Let''s move then!" Du Yuanxing didn''t want to waste any time.


    Once he said the words, the others immediately turned and prepared to go. They asked two relatively stronger teammates to carry the unconscious two. Du Yuanxing and Cai Hongqing raised their guns which were carried on their backs, both showing serious and alert expressions.


    Long Qingying had her katana gripped in her hands the whole time. Lin Qiao didn''t leave her weapon in the place which was covered in piles of zombie bodies.


    For that reason, she felt slightly grateful toward the latter. Although she was still keeping a vigilance against the latter, her view of the zombie had changed a little.


    When the team began moving, Long Qingying walked to the door with the katana, then gently opened it and alertly looked outside. After discovering no danger, she walked out ahead of the others.


    She held the katana behind her body with one hand, and had the other hand raised, palm facing forward. Soon, some metal objects flew out of the room and melted into a metal ball in front of her. Before long, the metal ball transformed into a series of steel thorns, floating in the air. As Long Qingying moved forward, the metal thorns drifted forward along with her.


    Behind her were Cai Hongqing and the two who were carrying their unconscious teammates. Du Yuanxing was following in the rear, keeping a sharp lookout.


    None of them had noticed that an invisible figure had been quietly following them, but was keeping a distance from them.


    Lin Qiao had guessed their situation earlier when she heard their conversations. As this squad now seemed to be on guard for all possible dangers, Lin Qiao understood that those newcomers weren''t good people. She estimated that a battle would soon start. However, judging by what Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying said, there was a big difference in strength between them and the enemies.


    They didn''t seem to have a chance to win.


    Lin Qiao silently walked past them, then directly leaped out of a window nearby. After that, she leaped to the ground from the third floor. After a smooth landing, she was surer that her body was much nimbler than before.


    When leaping down, she didn''t have the scary sense of weightlessness anymore. Instead, she could even adjust her position in the air.


    She felt that her body was becoming more and more agile, and that made her happier and happier.


    After landing, while waiting for Long Qingying and her teammates to come down, she sneakily moved toward the people who were hiding in all kinds of corners about twenty meters away.


    She didn''t sense any superpower energy from these people, meaning that they were all just ordinary human beings who probably had good combat skills. These people weren''t hiding in random places. Instead, they were not far away from each other, so each one of them was all able to observe the situation of the surrounding teammates, who were in the range of each other''s weapons.


    In this way, they were able to shoot the zombies behind their surrounding teammates, and wouldn''t need to worry about zombies attacking from their backs.


    Lin Qiao quickly walked around among these people, then figured out their formation and its functions.


    She didn''t linger or do anything to these people, but moved toward the group of people behind, who had been emitting stronger scents of human beings. She wasn''t worried about the scout team, as the members of this scout team were all without superpowers. This scouting team had no choice but to stay put at the moment, because if they attacked, Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing, who were with level-five superpowers, would utterly destroy them.


    From what Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing said, Lin Qiao had learned that the ones who had been threatening them were the main force of this army, who were further behind.


    Lin Qiao wanted to know how powerful that so-called main force was, and why could he or she even make Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing feel frightened and despairing.


    She crossed a few streets and moved for less than three-hundred meters before having her eyes on the target.


    She found two heavily armored military vehicles parked in the middle of a square. Both vehicles were wrapped in steel frames and iron sheets, which made them bulletproof. The claws of ordinary zombies couldn''t possibly leave a scratch on these iron sheets.


    Both vehicles were quite large, each able contain twenty to thirty people.


    Lin Qiao sensed that not many people were in this area, only about forty of them. However, the superpowered ones in the vehicles were rather strong. One of them even made Lin Qiao feel a slight pressure. Judging by the vibe, Lin Qiao felt that this person was a level-six superpowered one.


    What was this deputy-chief-level superpowered person here for?


    Only to hunt Long Qingying? Did Long Qingying need to be handled by a level-six just because she had helped Lin Wenwen and her family?

 112 Eavesdrop On The Enemy

    While thinking about the purpose of this level-six powerful being, Lin Qiao continued approaching the two vehicles. She didn''t get too close, but stopped about ten meters away to quietly observe the area surrounding the vehicles.


    Through observation, she discovered that the surrounding zombies had been following the human scents emitting from the vehicles and slowly gathering toward this area.


    Lin Qiao sniffed at the air and found that the human scent in this area wasn''t really strong, but was actually quite faint, as a large part of it had probably been blocked by the vehicles.


    The zombies nearby were able to sense the human scents from the vehicles, but the ones who were further away couldn''t sense it at all. Therefore, all the surrounding zombies had wandered to this area by chance before detecting the scents of human beings and coming at the two vehicles. However, the shooters in the vehicles would blow their heads up before they could approach.


    The zombies from further areas were attracted by guns. Not a large number of zombies had gathered in this area, as all the zombies were moving over very slowly.


    Lin Qiao saw that the dead bodies of quite a few zombies lying in a circle around the two vehicles, about ten meters away. That was why she didn''t approach the car immediately.


    Both of the two vehicles were covered in all sorts of equipment. Lin Qiao guessed that more than one detectors were installed on each vehicle, added with some highly dangerous weapons. She believed that these vehicles were designed for defending against not only zombies, but also human beings.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if she would be detected by their detectors.


    As for the level-six superpowered being, she believed that that person wouldn''t be able to detect her. After all, she managed to run away from under the eyes of Wu Yueling''s dad last time, who was a level-seven one.


    She began moving forward meter by meter, trying to approach the two vehicles. As she got closer, she didn''t hear any alarm going off. When she was less than two meters away, the people in the two vehicles still made no reaction.


    Only after that did Lin Qiao walk up to one of the two vehicles without concern, and reached out a hand to touch it. However, she then took her hand back, as she didn''t know if the vehicle had any sensors, or if she would trigger any alarm by touching the car. But then, she realized that she was in the invisible state, and even the detectors had failed to detect her. Therefore, she believed that even if she did touch a sensor, she would need to worry nothing.


    Those people couldn''t see her anyway!


    With that thought, she gently gripped the bumper of the car. As no alarm was triggered, she climbed up on all fours and easily hopped onto the car roof.


    The car was armed from the wheels to the roof, surrounded in a thick steel frame which was covered in iron thorns, designed to prevent zombie attacks.


    After nimbly climbing onto the car roof, Lin Qiao finally found a flat spot to lie down on.


    Lin Qiao''s body was light, and her movements were gentle. So, when she was moving on the car roof, the people inside felt nothing.


    She found an air hole on the car roof, then pressed her ear on it to hear the sounds in the car.


    The sounds coming from the car weren''t loud, as they were blocked by something. However, Lin Qiao''s sense of hearing was as good as her sense of smell. Therefore, not to mention the sounds in the car, she could even hear the sounds from under the car.


    Nevertheless, the people in the car weren''t talking, but were very quiet. If she didn''t hear the sounds of breathing and some machines, she would have thought that the car was empty.


    Since no one was talking, this car wasn''t the one with the command control dial panel. Normally, the commanders would stay in the car with the command control dial panel.


    Lin Qiao waited for a while, but failed to hear anything. So, she stood up and directly leaped to the other car, which was less than two meters away. Then, she nimbly landed on the roof of that car and lied down again to try hearing the sounds inside.


    "They''re in the hotel building over there? Are you sure?" She heard a voice from the car. It seemed that this commander was trying to confirm something with his subordinates.


    "Em¡­ Since you''ve confirmed their location, keep an eye on them. We''re on our way¡­What? Level-four spirit-powered? Why didn''t you report about it just now?¡­ Alright, I get it. Did you see a wind-powered one?¡­No?¡­Alright! Keep an eye on them, but don''t alert them."


    The man ended the conversation soon, then turned to the man beside him and said, "Start the car¡­Let''s go!"


    "Yes, sir!" The man in the driver''s seat responded. Right after that, the car began moving slowly toward the hotel building.


    Then, the commander said to the driver, "They said that they''ve located them. Du Yuanxing and his team are hiding in the hotel building, about three-hundred meters in the front."


    "Hotel?" Another voice spoke up, "Ah, I remember that place! Captain Hua, just now you mentioned level-four spirit-powered¡­What is it? Zombie?"


    Huo Wu was the name of the commander who was called Captain Huo. "En...The scouting team said that they''ve found the body of a level-four spirit-powered zombie, which was killed not long ago. It should be Du Yuanxing and his people." He replied.


    "Then¡­ did you find the wind-powered zombie''s body?" Asked the second soldier. "Have they killed the wind-powered one too?"


    Huo Wu shook his head and said, "I asked, and they said no. They''ve only found a spirit-powered one. Yang Cheng, be patient. The wind-powered zombie should have run away if it weren''t killed by them. Or perhaps, it''s still nearby. It won''t be too late for us to find that wind-powered zombie after we have dealt with Du Yuanxing and his people."


    Yang Cheng had no choice but to respond smilingly, "You''re right, you''re right! Let''s do what you said, Captain. We should kill that woman first. But, why do we have to kill her? I know that she used to be close with Lin Wenwen, but Lin Feng and his people are like homeless dogs now. We don''t even know if they can escape Chief Yang. Are we worrying that this woman might join them someday?"


    "What do you know?" Said Huo Wu scornfully, "Do you know what is Long Qingying''s power?"


    "I do. Isn''t it metal power?" Yang Cheng asked.


    "Yeah, metal power it is. Do you know how destructive her power is? She''s able to control all the metal objects in the area a hundred meters around the street, and destroy the entire street within five seconds. So, what will happen when she gets to level-five or even level-seven? Do you think she''ll try to take revenge for Lin Wenwen or not? And, if Lin Wenwen and her family survived Yang Jianhua, they might find her after that, and will definitely return after they have grown stronger. By then, how great do you think Long Qingying''s metal power will have become?" Huo Wu said.


    Yang Cheng thought for a moment. He pictured Long Qingying controlling all the metal objects in the base and turning them into her weapons. That was such a scary scene that he didn''t even dare to continue imagining it.

 113 Cut Off the Detectors

    It was really hard for superpowered human beings to upgrade after level-five. A large number of lower level zombie nuclei wouldn''t be able to allow a level-five superpowered human to break into level-six. Instead, this person needed to grow his or her energy with higher-level zombie nuclei. The zombie nuclei which contained the same kind of power as the person would deliver a better effect.


    For example, Yang Cheng had wind power, and was currently at the peak of level-four. He was only a breath away from level five, but he couldn''t find enough energy to help him achieve a breakthrough.


    Therefore, he now planned to kill Du Yuanxing and his teammates for the nucleus of the level-four wind-powered zombie. With that wind-powered zombie nucleus, he would be able to step into level-five and become a captain himself. After that, what would he need Du Yuanxing for?


    "But, it''s extremely difficult to upgrade after level-five. Can Long Qingying truly reach level-six or seven? I doubt it!" Yang Cheng remarked.


    "Cut the weeds and dig up the roots, don''t you understand that? Long Qingying isn''t the only one to worry about. We need to erase all the groups that are close with Netherworld Fire and her family. But, that is none of your concern. All you need to do is collect as much information about those people as possible," Huo Wu glanced at him and said.


    Yang Cheng, who had been warned slightly, felt that he had talked too much. So, he immediately gave a smile and said, "Yes, yes, yes, I understand! I''ll tell you everything I find out about the people who''re still in contact with Chief Netherworld Fire''s family, or used to be her loyal followers."


    "Follow your Chief Yang, and you''ll have everything you need. That is the right path to take. If your old Chief Netherworld fire chose to work with us, wouldn''t everyone have had a better life? However, she rejected us, and suffered the consequences," said Huo Wu.


    Yang Cheng''s face began turning dark, but he still forced a smile while nodding and responding with, "You''re right, you''re right!"


    However, in his heart, he was cursing silently, ''Damn you! Work together? You really made that sound nice! You wanted to merge our base, didn''t you? Do you think that our Chief was stupid? If she agreed to work with you, our base would have become yours! If I was not so weak, I''d never bow before you!''


    While listening to their conversation, Lin Qiao was also paying attention to the direction that the car was moving in.


    She felt a little strange about the changes of emotions of the man named Yang Cheng. He was holding negative thoughts, but still, he was wearing a smiling face and trying quite hard to fawn on the level-six one.


    As Yang Cheng seemed to care about the wind-powered zombie nucleus, Lin Qiao guessed that he was the traitor that Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing had mentioned before.


    She also felt that the level-six one''s words did make sense to the people on his side. If they let Long Qingying live and continue growing stronger, she would become a huge trouble for them one day.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao thought that maybe she should bring Long Qingying with her while leaving. As long as the latter believed that she wouldn''t hurt her own family, she would be able to ask her any question.


    With that thought, Lin Qiao took a turn on top of this heavily armored car, then directly showed her face.


    The moment she showed up, all the alarms in the two cars went off.


    Lin Qiao ignored the alarms, popped out her claws, and began swiftly cutting all kinds of detectors and sensors on the car.


    Following a series of noises, the people in the car began shouting.


    "What is with the alarms?"


    "Great Captain¡­ According to the alarms, there''s a zombie nearby. A high-level one, level-four or above. And, it''s very close!"


    "Great Captain! The fifteen-meter virus detector is broken, so is the ten-meter detector¡­and¡­"


    "Great Captain! The head source detector is broken!"


    "Great Captain¡­"


    Hearing the reports made by his soldiers who were sitting before the control panel, Huo Wu yelled impatiently, "Alright, I know! Didn''t you hear the noise on the car roof? You''ve let a high-level zombie hop onto our car, so I wonder what you needed those detectors for."


    None of the soldiers in the car dared to many any sound.


    At that moment, the communicator rang, then the scouting team leader''s voice was heard. "Captain, I think they found us. They''re leaving, heading to the East."


    "I''m on my way," Huo Wu picked up the communicator and said.


    After that, he threw away the communicator and turned around, "Open the door, I''m getting out. Tell the combat team to move."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    Lin Qiao leaped down the car roof after breaking all the detectors and sensors. In midair, she directly switched to the invisible state.


    Once she turned herself invisible, she saw the car door open. Then, an about thirty-five years old, average-looking man jumped out of the car, wearing army-green shirt and pants.


    He conveniently threw out a dark-red stream of fire, which roared toward the surrounding zombies like a fire dragon. As the fire dragon swept across the air, those zombies were sent up flying all over the sky.


    The fire burned the zombies out at an incredibly high speed. Right in midair, many zombies were burned into ashes which then drifted away.


    Lin Qiao was standing on a tree nearby. She sensed the fire, which made her feel very uncomfortable. She couldn''t feel temperatures, but still, the bad feeling attacked her in her mouth, nose, and brain.


    So, she drew back immediately. Next, she saw that man move his feet and dart out fleetingly like a shred of shadow.


    She had found that all strong superpowered human beings were able to move swiftly. Even the ones who didn''t have wind power were able to run as fast as the wind.


    After the man left, the doors of the other car were opened as well. A squad of soldiers who were armed to the teeth rushed out with guns, then began moving in the same direction as the man at an impressive speed.


    Lin Qiao raised her running speed to follow behind the man in army green closely. She guessed that he was the so-called ''Great Captain''.


    At that moment, Du Yuanxing and his teammates had hopped onto the car which was left in front of the hotel building by Lin Qiao, and were driving toward another street. Long Qingying was still standing on the car roof, with one hand raised. Tens of steel thorns were floating before her palm.


    Once the zombies which followed behind the car got a little closer, the steel thorns before her hand would dart out to stop them; when the human enemies hiding in surrounding buildings showed their faces, Long Qingying''s attack would also land on them immediately.


    Her steel thorns would pierce into the enemies'' vital body parts accurately and mercilessly.


    Not long after they started driving, the temperature around the car was raised suddenly.


    Boom!


    A giant fire dragon suddenly rose from the roadside, pouncing straight on Du Yuanxing''s car.

 114 The Traitor By Their Side

    "It''s Huo Wu! Huo Wu from the Earth Dragon Base!" Cai Hong Qing shouted while turning the steering wheel. The car turned quickly and dodged the fire dragon''s attack.


    The fire dragon missed its target; but soon, it rose again, turning and continuing to dive down toward the car.


    Squeak!


    Before Cai Hongqing could drive the car away, he was forced to turn away by the fire dragon and nearly bumped into a wall.


    Once the car was stopped, the fire dragon stopped diving, only hovering in the air.


    "None of you are going to leave here today. Just surrender Long Qingying and the level-four spirit-powered zombie''s nucleus. If you do as I say, I''ll give you a quick death." A man''s voice was heard.


    Du Yuanxing rushed out of the car to shield the car behind. Long Qingying leaped off the car roof, then walked to his side. While staring at the talking man, she had also been killing the surrounding zombies with steel thorns.


    "Huo Wu, you''re a scum from Earth Dragon Base. Sooner or later, Lin Feng will kill you. Do you think you can unite the nation by joining hands with the other two bases and attacking our Hades Base? Stop dreaming! Your Chief is a p*ssy! He sold his a*s to the men from Sky Fire Base and Hidden Cloud Base so that they''d agree to help him." Du Yuanxing stared at Huo Wu who showed up suddenly, sneering while showing no fear toward the latter''s fire dragon.


    Huo Wu sneered at him too, then snorted and said, "If your Deputy Chief didn''t betray you, our Chief wouldn''t have succeeded. Your problem was started by your own people, and we simply helped."


    He didn''t try contradicting Du Yuanxing''s words, but mentioned another thing. What Du Yuanxing said wasn''t entirely wrong. The leader of the Earth Dragon Base was named Long Yubai. He was a beautiful and girly man, yet he possessed the precious water power.


    The people with water power were considered as the precious water sources in the post-apocalyptic world, so the others would protect them. The leaders from the Sky Fire Base and Hidden Cloud Base all fancied Long Yubai''s water power, as well as his face and body, very much.


    Few women existed in the post-apocalyptic world. Therefore, more male homosexuals emerged after the apocalypse.


    The two Southern bases were each led by one leader. Long Yubai was planning to build a large base together with Netherworld Fire, but the latter refused to work with him. Netherworld Fire was a powerful being. Even though building and maintaining a base for millions of people was a little difficult for her, she was certainly able to build a base which could contain hundreds of thousands of people.


    Therefore, the Hades Base was built by Netherworld Fire herself and her followers, while the Earth Dragon Base was built by the powerful people from other bases. Only with the help of the powerful survivors from the bases in Southwest China could Long Yubai build the Earth Dragon Base.


    However, during the past few years, Long Yubai never stopped casting his greedy eyes on the Hades Base, which wasn''t far away from him. So this time, he allied with two other bases and Yang Jianhua, who was the Deputy Chief of Hades Base, and murdered the leader of Hades Base.


    Chief Netherworld Fire was betrayed and poisoned by the one she trusted the most. Some important information about her was leaked, and by the time she realized what was happening, the enemy''s troops had arrived.


    At last, she fought as hard as she could to draw the few most powerful enemies away, then burned half of her base with her power. Only after making such a great effort did she manage to send her family away.


    She herself went to a cliff by the sea with five level-seven superpowered ones from the enemy''s side.


    As for the result of the final battle, no one knew about it for sure. People only knew that that cliff had become a forbidden area not long ago, occupied by poisonous fire. It was said that only four of the five level-seven superpowered beings had returned.


    Hearing Huo Wu say that it was all because one of their own people, Du Yuanxing clenched his teeth with anger. He believed that he would vomit blood in wrath if he was betrayed by his most trusted friend.


    Even though he wasn''t the Chief, he still felt like vomiting blood. His Deputy Chief had sold the base, meaning that that man had betrayed everyone from the Hades Base.


    And, that evil man was now going after Chief''s families, coveting Chief''s sister.


    He felt that even the words like ''brutal'' or ''cold-blooded'' weren''t enough to describe that man; he believed that that man had lost his humanity!


    "How long do you think that inhumane scum named Yang Jianhua can live? That kind of ungrateful man will be killed sooner or later. So, we can''t die before we have seen his end!" Du Yuanxing clenched his teeth and widened his eyes while yelling. His voice was filled with hatred and anger.


    The others were also showing an angry look. Long Qingying''s face had already been occupied by an intention of killing. However, her murderous intention wasn''t targeting at Huo Wu, but at Yang Jianhua.


    She didn''t say anything, but coldly looked at Huo Wu.


    Huo Wu ignored Du Yuanxing, but turned to look at Long Qingying from head to toe. After that, he said, "Since you''re a woman, why don''t you come back with me? Come to my base. I''ll talk to my Chief and ask him to spare your life. Be my woman, so you can survive."


    While speaking, he stared at Long Qingying with his eyes glowing.


    Long Qingying was average-looking, but her face was nicely shaped, and her skin was smooth and clean. She had this cool vibe, and her long ponytail was swinging behind her hip. She looked cold, but also pretty and dashing. She had an indescribable unique quality that was enough to make men''s hearts itch.


    Many men had the strong desire to pin strong-minded women like her down and torture them violently.


    Thinking of Long Qingying''s white and soft body, long and slender limbs, and her painful but restrained expressions, Huo Wu felt that his blood was even boiling.


    However, facing the greediness which had been growing more and more obvious in Huo Wu''s eyes, Long Qingying seemed to feel nothing at all.


    "Chop your own head off, then I''ll consider letting you kiss my toe." She said coldly. Having finished talking, she showed a faint scornfulness in her eyes when looking at Huo Wu, as if the latter was just a dog.


    "You ungrateful b*tch!" Huo Wu wore a vicious look while staring at Long Qingying and saying, "You''ve turned down my kindness, so you''ll be punished now. If you want to end up in the same way as your Chief did, I''ll fulfill your wish."


    After saying that, he suddenly raised both arms and made a swing.


    The fire dragon immediately dove down toward Long Qingying, the ferocious dragon head bringing a scorching hot wave of air with it. Long Qingying and all the others automatically moved sideways and dodged Huo Wu''s attack.


    Seeing them dodge, Huo Wu didn''t move his feet but swung his arm again. Following his move, the fire dragon charged straight at Long Qingying again. It widely opened its mouth, ready to swallow her up.


    Long Qingying, Du Yuanxing, and their teammates didn''t show any sign of weakness, but rushed up toughly, maybe because they knew that they had no chance of survival this time.


    They knew that they were going to die, but they wanted to die with dignity. They wanted their death to cost the scum from the Earth Dragon Base an arm or a leg at least!

 115 The Battle

    As the fire dragon dove down, Long Qingying raised both her hands and pushed forward. Following her moves, all the metal objects a hundred meters around her flew toward her from all direction, quickly forming a web and shielding Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing.


    The fire dragon swished down along with a scorching hot gust of wind, lunging toward Long Qingying''s metal web.


    Boom!


    A muffled noise was heard as the fire dragon was temporarily stopped by the metal web. However, Long Qingying moaned in pain with a muffled voice as she felt a great pressure, even bending her legs slightly.


    But soon, she stood straight again against the pressure given by the fire dragon. Her face paled a little, with her teeth clenched. A few drops of blood were squeezed out of her mouth corner.


    "You''re pretty strong. I''d like to know how long you can last," Huo Wu sneered and waved his hand. The fire dragon rose into the sky again, then flipped in the air and made another dive fiercely toward Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing.


    While diving down, the fire dragon''s fire had been gathering toward its head from its body. As a result, the dragon head instantly turned huge.


    The roar uttered from the widely opened dragon mouth sounded like a fiery hurricane.


    "No! You can''t hold it off! Move!" The look in Du Yuanxing''s face changed as he saw the suddenly expanded dragon head. While shouting, he rushed at Long Qingying, brought her down, and immediately rolled to the side together with her.


    Bang!


    Right after that, the fire dragon''s head smashed into the spot where Long Qingying stood just now. Along with the thunderous sound, her metal web shattered completely.


    Following a series of clanks and clangs, a giant number of metal objects fell to the ground.


    The fire dragon didn''t disappear after destroying the metal web, but coiled its body on the ground, then sprung back up and again and became an enormous fire dragon head.


    After rolling to the side, both Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying leaped up from the ground immediately and raised their arms.


    The metal objects which had fallen to the ground gathered toward Long Qingying once again, then soon turned into countless sharp arrows. As she swung her arms, over a hundred arrows shot at Huo Wu.


    Huo Wu reacted fast by waving a hand. The fire dragon leaped before his body, opened its mouth wide, and swallowed all the metal arrows. A few seconds later, it opened its mouth again and spat something out.


    Those were Long Qingying''s metal arrows, except all being molten.


    At the same time, Du Yuanxing, who stood by her side, waved his arms as well. An arm-thick electric current was released from his palms, sizzling toward Huo Wu like an electric snake.


    The distance between him and Huo Wu was merely about twenty meters. The electric snake directly extended to twenty meters long; its head flashed toward Huo Wu while its tail was still held in Du Yuanxing''s hands.


    The electric snake moved so swiftly that before the fire dragon swallowed Long Qingying''s arrows, it had already reached Huo Wu''s feet and opened its jaws to bite.


    Huo Wu waved his hand at that moment, after which, the fire dragon before him split into two, one of them directly biting at Du Yuanxing''s electric snake.


    Puff! Bang!


    Following an explosive sound, Du Yuanxing''s electric snake was dissipated.


    At that point, the people from both sides had shown their powers. Huo Wu''s fire dragon was gigantic, swift, and powerful. Moreover, he was able to control two fire dragons to attack at the same time.


    Long Qingying''s movements had a large range, but weren''t powerful enough. It was easy for her to deal with zombies, but when facing the level-six Huo Wu, things had become a little difficult.


    Huo Wu''s fire dragon had swallowed Long Qingying''s metal arrows and chewed Du Yuanxing''s electric snake, meaning that he was able to invalidate both of their attacks. Nevertheless, the two weren''t able to destroy his fire dragon.


    That was the difference between their powers.


    Furthermore, Huo Wu hadn''t even launched his most potent attack yet.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    At that moment, a series of gunshots were heard.


    Huo Wu swung his arm sideways. Following his move, the second fire snake hovered around his body to defend him against the bullets flying at him. He turned his head to find that Cai Hongqing and the others had moved behind and shot at him from the back.


    Can Hongqing was only at level-four, and he had just stepped into that level not long ago. His green power couldn''t be used for launching effective attacks. Only in places like parks or woods was he able to attack with his power. However, as he didn''t have a good control over his power, his superpower attack could hardly harm strong enemies.


    Therefore, he preferred to attack with guns directly!


    He wasn''t trying to do any harm to the six-level Luowu. Instead, he just wanted to distract him.


    As Huo Wu turned his head, Long Qingying instantly gritted her teeth and raised her arms toward the surrounding metal objects. Her arms attracted all the metal pieces again like two magnets. Then, she turned the metal pieces into a metal ball and threw it up, sending it toward Huo Wu.


    The metal ball had a radius of only a meter and two inches, but it was extremely heavy, about two-hundred kilograms. As it was thrown down from high up in the air, it became several times more powerful than it should be.


    The metal ball fell down toward Huo Wu quickly. When he turned back to look at Cai Hongqing and the others, he was going to swing an arm to control a fire dragon and swallow them. But, before he could do that, he sensed the large metal ball which was thrown at him by Long Qingying.


    Therefore, he immediately gave up on attacking Cai Hongqing and his teammates who were running away, but turned back to raise both arms high.


    In the next moment, a fire dragon shrank and flashed across the air, appearing above his head within a blink. Then, it expanded again and opened its mouth to swallow the falling metal ball.


    Under Huo Wu''s control, the fire dragon suddenly turned toward Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing. On its way, it opened its mouth again and spat the metal ball back out, making it fly at the two.


    Looking at the metal ball which was flying swiftly at herself, Long Qingying paused in shock. When she realized what was happening, she found that her body was no longer under her control.


    Just now, she had consumed a large amount of energy to create the metal ball and make it fly in the air. So, she was exhausted at the moment, and the exhaustion directly affected her physical coordination.


    Therefore, she couldn''t even make a roll to dodge the metal ball this time


    "It''s dangerous! Run!" Du Yuanxing had sensed that Long Qingying was in danger back when the fire dragon spat the metal ball out. However, he was a little far away from her at the moment, and it was already too late for him to try saving her.


    He only managed to utter a growl while watching the metal ball falling toward her head.

 116 The Dangerous Momen

    At the moment, Huo Wu was confidently waiting to watch Long Qingying be smashed by her own metal ball, his face wearing a look of pity.


    He did feel pity as he wouldn''t get a chance to sleep with this special woman.


    But right at that moment, an invisible figure flashed by Long Qingying''s side, grabbing her before the metal ball fell. In the next instant, Long Qingying disappeared.


    Bang!


    Along with a thunderous sound, the heavy metal ball landed on the ground, shaking the area. It sank half-way into the ground and left a few cracks in the concrete floor around the hole it created.


    Huo Wu didn''t see any blood splash or Long Qingying''s smashed body. He didn''t even see a drop of blood.


    He stared at the metal ball for a while with surprise. After confirming that there was truly no blood, he walked toward it.


    Why wasn''t there any splashing blood? Even if the blood didn''t splash, it would spray to the ground, wouldn''t it? And, the metal ball wasn''t large enough to sink an adult entirely into the ground. Even if Long Qingying''s body was buried under the metal ball, where were her head and limbs?


    Du Yuanxing was also staring at the metal ball which had sunk half-way into the ground with confusion. He had as many questions as Huo Wu did.


    But soon, he came back to his senses. He understood that he should try saving himself first Instead of worrying about Long Qingying! He believed that the survival of himself would be better than the destruction of the whole team.


    Earlier on, he wanted to risk his own life to fight, but now, he was thoroughly frightened. After a few attacks, he found that Huo Wu had been suppressing him and Long Qingying firmly, and they had no chance of winning at all.


    Now, as Huo Wu was paying attention to Long Qingying, who could be dead or alive, Du Yuanxing had a chance to run.


    Therefore, he hesitated shortly, then immediately turned to leave.


    Huo Wu was planning to walk to the metal ball to check if Long Qingying has died, but Du Yuanxing''s move caught his eyes instantly. He turned to find the running Du Yuanxing, then sneered.


    "Do you wanna run? Do you think you can run? None of you can run!"


    While speaking, the fire dragons which were hovering above his head immediately moved in two different directions, one pouncing on Du Yuanxing while the other one flying at Cai Hongqing and the others who had already ran far away.


    The armored warriors who came from another side saw Huo Wu''s flying fire dragons.


    "Over there! Follow up!"


    Meanwhile, Yang Cheng sneakily moved toward Du Yuanxing.


    Huo Wu turned his body to face Du Yuanxing, then abruptly swung his arms toward the fire dragon in the sky.


    The fire dragon suddenly shrank into a fireball, then expanded again within a blink to form a giant cover as it descended onto Du Yuanxing.


    Du Yuanxing didn''t manage to run far before Huo Wu''s fire cover fell on him.


    The temperature suddenly became scorching hot. He felt that his hair and eyebrows were even starting to burn, as if he had fallen into a giant oven.


    Before he could even think, the fire cover began shrinking.


    When he saw the quickly shrinking fire cover, his brain finally started producing thoughts.


    ''I''m dead! I''m gonna be charred this time!''


    In the next second, what he had been thinking almost happened for real, as the shrunken fire cover directly coiled on his body.


    "Ah!" He immediately began screaming and rolling on the ground. A series of sizzling noises could be heard, as electric sparks emerged from the fire wrapping around his body, trying to stop the fire from hurting him.


    However, the electric sparks could barely deliver any effect in the fire. Before long, his entire body was set on fire.


    "Ah! Huo Wu! Sooner or¡­ later¡­ you''ll¡­ end up the same¡­ as us! Ah!!!"


    Du Yuanxing rolled on the ground while cursing Huo Wu in pain, thinking that he would be dead soon. This time, he really didn''t have a chance of survival.


    Right at that moment, he felt that someone had grabbed his shoulder which was suffering the burning pain. Before he realized anything, he felt that he had suddenly fallen into the water. His entire body had sunken into the water, which surged into his ears and mouth, stopping him from breathing.


    He felt that the water was deep, as he was still sinking.


    Then, he realized something in a burst of happiness. The first word emerged in his head was ''water''. The water could save him!


    After that, he calmed himself down and looked around. He found that the fire on his body was gone, and his whole body was in the water, sinking.


    He immediately came back to his senses. His clothes rubbed against his burning wounds and caused him pain, but he ignored it while swimming toward the water surface with all fours.


    When stuck his head out of the water and clearly saw the surrounding environment, he yelled out with surprise, "You¡­ Why are you here?"


    ¡­


    Out of Lin Qiao''s space, Huo Wu was stunned. He gazed at where Du Yuanxing disappeared, then turned back to look at the metal ball which was supposed to land on Long Qingying. He found nothing around the metal ball. No broken limbs, no blood.


    Before he could figure out what happened with Long Qingying, Du Yuanxing vanished right before his face!


    Vanished!


    How on earth could a human being just vanish into thin air!


    Huo Wu rushed to where Du Yuanxing disappeared and found that not only had Du Yuanxing had vanished, but the fire which was supposed to burn him to death was gone as well. He couldn''t sense the fire anymore.


    ''What happened? How did that happen?''


    When Huo Wu was trying to figure something on the outside, Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, who were dragged into Lin Qiao''s space, had been standing by the lakeside, looking at this space in shock.


    The sky was misty, with no sun or clouds.


    Where was the bright sunlight?


    Du Yuanxing saw a dark-green lake, a grassland, some furniture pieces placed randomly on the grass, and some daily supplies for human beings.


    Then, he saw the zombie who stole his sunglasses! He felt that his brain wasn''t working so well at the moment¡­ No, in fact, he felt that his brain wasn''t working at all!


    ''What''s going on? Where is this place? Why did I get here? Did this zombie save us again? What is this place? Why am I here within a blink? What is the lake? And the furniture? Eh? Is that a kid over there?''


    All sorts of puzzles emerged in his mind, making him feel that his head was exploding. Only after he saw Junjun and the little boy by the entrance of the small space did he finally realize something.


    "This¡­ this place is¡­?" He turned to Long Qingying and asked.

 117 Inexplicable Disappearance

    Long Qingying looked at him coldly, then turned to Lin Qiao. She didn''t say a word, but directly thrust a piece of paper into Du Yuanxing''s hands.


    It wasn''t because she didn''t want to answer his question, but because she honestly didn''t know how.


    Just now, when she thought that she''d be smashed to death by the iron ball when she suddenly felt that her arm was dragged and eyes were dazzled. After that, she was standing by the lakeside.


    Before she could react, the zombie standing beside her took out the notepad, quickly wrote a few words, and put the note into his hands, then vanished right before her eyes.


    She was stunned for a while before coming back to her senses. Then, she finally realized that she was still alive. Before she read the note, she heard a flop. As she raised her head to see what happened, she saw the zombie again show up again. It seemed that the zombie had thrown something into the lake and caused a loud noise, rippling the lake surface intensively.


    After that, she saw a man struggling onto the water surface. After looking closer, she found that the man was none other than Du Yuanxing, who was fighting side by side with her just now!


    Seeing the look of confusion and relief in Du Yuanxing''s face, she figured that he must have experienced the same kind of situation as she did, and been brought to this place by the zombie.


    Lin Qiao stood by the lakeside and closed her eyes to observe the outside situation. She found that it was already too late for her to go out and save the other people.


    She tried asking Qiu Lili to help to save those people, but the latter was bearing a grudge against human beings. She had convinced herself not to hurt human beings, but wasn''t willing to save any human being. Therefore, she directly disappeared when Lin Qiao asked for her help.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t make Qiu Lili save those people; she didn''t have the capability even if she wanted to.


    Therefore, she only saved the two who were relatively nearer to her. At the moment, the rest of Du Yuanxing''s team members were either killed by Huo Wu''s people with guns or burned to death by Huo Wu''s other fire dragon.


    She glanced at Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing, who still didn''t know what had happened.


    Du Yuanxing unwrapped the paper given by Long Qingying, and read the note¡ªStay put!


    ''Stay here? Does she want me to stay here and not move?''


    Du Yuanxing didn''t understand what the note meant. He looked at Long Qingying with confusion, then at Lin Qiao.


    He didn''t know that the note was written for Long Qingying by Lin Qiao. Long Qingying hadn''t read it yet. When Du Yuanxing asked her what happened, she automatically handed the note to him, as she herself didn''t know what happened either.


    Lin Qiao looked at them, then took out the pen to write another note¡ª''I couldn''t help your other teammates.''


    Finishing writing, she wadded the paper up and handed it to Long Qingying.


    After reading the note, Long Qingying showed a sad look in her eyes and passed it on to Du Yuanxing.


    Du Yuanxing glanced at the note, then had his face darkened. The atmosphere turned bleak and mournful.


    He was sad, but soon accepted the death of his teammates. It wasn''t the first time for him to lose teammates, and of course, wouldn''t be the last time either.


    Zombie-hunting had always been a dangerous thing. Every zombie hunter had put his or her life at risk, and could lose it at any time.


    Therefore, as such things often happened, they wouldn''t feel it hard to accept, but¡­


    "I will take revenge! If Huo Wu lives, I''ll come back to kill him!" Recalling that it was Huo Wu who destroyed his team, his face twisted slightly with a ferocious look. With hatred and a strong intent of killing, he said through clenched teeth.


    "And me!" Long Qingying''s cold voice was heard, "I''ll remember what he did to us. From now on, I''ll never show mercy to anyone from the Earth Dragon Base."


    Lin Qiao looked at them. As she had followed them for quite a while, she had already learned enough from their words and the conversations between Huo Wu and Yang Cheng. Now, she didn''t need to ask them any more questions.


    She wrote¡ªAre Earth Dragon Base people the reason why Lin Feng and his family are running to Sea City?


    Finishing writing, she handed the note to Long Qingying.


    Long Qingying''s look changed after reading the note. She immediately raised her head to look at Lin Qiao, then asked with a deep voice, "How did you know?"


    Seeing her look, Du Yuanxing leaned his head and read the note as well. After that, the look in his face turned alert as well.


    ''How did this zombie find that out so soon? We didn''t mention it before! He also knew that Lin Feng and his families are running to Sea City, but we didn''t tell him that either! How did he know? Did he make the same kind of deal with Huo Wu and his people as the one he made with us?''


    Lin Qiao shrugged, showing a careless look while continue writing¡ª''I''ve figured out lots of things. I also know that Huo Wu is guided here by Yang Cheng, the traitor from your team.''


    After reading that note, Long Qingying directly slapped the note paper on Du Yuanxing''s chest.


    "You should have killed him before leaving the base!" She said.


    Du Yuanxing read the note, then looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "Is it really him?"


    Lin Qiao nodded, pushing her sunglasses slightly upward.


    "I know he has the wind power. He wanted to have the nucleus of the level-four wind-powered zombie all for himself, which is why I didn''t bring him this time. But, I didn''t think that he''d work with the scums from Earth Dragon Base to murder us!"


    "Next time when we see him, let me kill him," Long Qingying clenched the hilt of her katana and said with a strong intent of killing.


    Du Yuanxing glanced at her. He was going to say that he''d kill Yang Cheng himself, but then recalled that Yang Cheng had brought Huo Wu here, and their target was Long Qingying. Because of Huo Wu, they nearly all died.


    "Alright, you can have him. You''ll let me handle Huo Wu, okay?" Said Du Yuanxing.


    Hearing his words, Long Qingying recollected that there was someone that she wanted to kill even more badly. So, she immediately changed her mind and said, "No, I''ll leave Yang Cheng to you! I''ll kill Huo Wu. You can''t defeat him anyway!"


    Du Yuanxing didn''t know how to respond¡­


    "Ah, where is this place? That one over there¡­ He''s a human boy, right? Who let a child out of the base?" He suddenly looked around and asked Lin Qiao, then pointed at the little boy who was at a short distance and showed an angry look.


    Children were scarce in the post-apocalyptic era. The female population had dropped, so children became even rarer. For that reason, children were all under heavy protection, and no one was allowed to bring any child out of a base.


    Therefore, earlier on, almost all the people from the Sea City Base wanted to kill Lu Tianyu for getting Wu Yueling out of the base and leaving her out there.


    Hearing what Du Yuanxing said, Long Qingying noticed Junjun and the little boy as well. She looked at them for a while, then said with confusion, "How do you know that they''re not both zombies?"


    While speaking, she turned to look at Lin Qiao.


    She said that because she had seen Junjun''s face. Her pale-grey eyes and the dark circles under them meant that she was a zombie. So, could a kid in the arms of a zombie be a human being?

 118 Stick to the Topic

    "I''ve seen him. He has a human face. He''s a human being!" Said Du Yuanxing. He glanced at Lin Qiao with a strange look, then turned to Junjun.


    He was already looking at a strange zombie who could write notes, so he guessed that the zombie over there must be unusual as well. Otherwise, why would this sun-glasses-stealing zombie trust the other one with the little boy? Since this male zombie had saved him twice, he believed that he wouldn''t watch the little boy be hurt by other zombies.


    ''Are they¡­ a family? Are those two his wife and son?''


    Du Yuanxing looked at Lin Qiao and thought. He thought that Lin Qiao was a male zombie; so when he saw Junjun and the little boy, he began making guesses about their relationships.


    The short distance and the look in Du Yuanxing''s face allowed Lin Qiao to sense his thoughts faintly. She could accept to be seen as a male zombie. However, being seen as Junjun''s husband, and the father of that little boy who would cry at the sight of her¡­


    That was something she couldn''t accept!


    ''Oi, do you still have time to guess about our relationships? Aren''t you supposed to worry about your own situation?'' She thought and couldn''t help but roll her eyes.


    At that point, Long Qingying was still confused. She looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "What is this place? They are¡­"


    While speaking, she pointed at Junjun.


    Lin Qiao didn''t want to lie about her space, so she wrote on the paper¡ª''This is my space. You can see me as a space-powered zombie. That boy is a human being. I saved him on my way here. That zombie might be his mother. She won''t hurt the boy. She has lost her memories, but she still has her humanity.''


    After reading the note, Long Qingying glanced at Junjun with a strange look, then turned to Du Yuanxing. Both she and Du Yuanxing were wearing a look of disbelief.


    Du Yuanxing stared at the little boy while asking, "That female zombie¡­ Won''t she bite the boy?"


    Human beings believed that once a zombie sensed the scent of a human being, it would immediately rush up to bite the human. The two of them didn''t understand how had the female zombie been managing to hold the boy without eating him.


    Lin Qiao wrote¡ª''She only lost her memories, not her humanity. And, the boy might be his son. Her instincts aren''t allowing her to hurt him.''


    Du Yuanxing read the note, then turned to Lin Qiao and asked, "Will it bite us?"


    Long Qingying was looking at Lin Qiao as well.


    Lin Qiao bared her pair of sharp canine teeth toward them, but Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing didn''t understand her meaning.


    ''Would she stand over there so quietly if she wanted to bite you?'' Lin Qiao wrote down.


    Reading the note, Du Yuanxing asked with doubts, "Will she really not bite us? Isn''t she a zombie? If that boy is her son, it''d be reasonable for her not to bite him. But, why doesn''t she bite us? Aren''t we delicious for her?"


    Lin Qiao sniffed at him and then wrote¡ª''You''re not as delicious as women indeed. But, isn''t this a little off-topic? Shouldn''t you be thinking about what to do next? Why do you care so much about that zombie? I''m a zombie too. Would you like me to take a bite off you?''


    Du Yuanxing took over the new note from Lin Qiao. After reading it, both he and Long Qingying automatically drew back for two steps.


    "I''m surprised that you''re a space-powered zombie! Can a zombie really possess space power?" Du Yuanxing asked abruptly. There were currently a considerable number of superpowered human beings, because it was easier for human beings to trigger superpowers than it was for zombies.


    The total number of zombies was tens, or even a hundred times more than that of human beings, but only ten percent of them could manage to trigger superpowers at level-three and step into level four. Therefore, the number of high-level zombies was rather small.


    Space-powered people were rare among human beings, which meant that space-powered zombies were even scarcer among zombies.


    At that point, Long Qingying''s patience was almost worn out by Du Yuanxing''s off-topic questions. So, she couldn''t help but say to him, "He''s asking you what you are gonna do next. Why do you care so much about his space power?"


    Lin Qiao nodded in agreement.


    ''You were nearly killed by someone just now. Your teammates have all died, but you and an equally strong one survived. So, what are you going to do next? Will you go back to the base? Or stay out here? Or, do you plan to leave the South and find a new life in one of the other bases?'' These were the questions that Lin Qiao wanted to ask Du Yuanxing.


    Before he responded, Long Qingying continued, "I can''t return to my base. Both Huo Wu and Long Yubai won''t leave me alone. I prepare to leave to Sea City. On the way, I''ll also try finding Lin Feng and his people."


    While she was speaking, an idea suddenly emerged in her head, making her stare at Lin Qiao and ask, "And, I''m thinking that maybe you''ve found out the things about our Chief long ago, and you were just trying us earlier. Am I right?"


    She was thinking that maybe the zombie in front of her did know Lin Feng and his family. He might have heard about the things that happened to Lin Feng and the others before, and just wanted to verify the information he had. He happened to find Du Yuanxing and his people in trouble, so he saved them and conveniently asked them about Lin Feng.


    She believed that explained why the zombie knew that Lin Feng and his family was heading toward Sea City.


    Hearing her words, Lin Qiao nodded.


    To her surprise, Long Qingying made up an excuse for her, and she would surely like to borrow it.


    Du Yuanxing stopped staring at Junjun and the little boy curiously, then turned to Lin Qiao while carefully thinking over what Long Qingying had said.


    ''If Long Qingying is right about that this zombie knows about what has happened to Lin Feng before meeting us¡­'' he thought, ''¡­is he an enemy or a friend then? At first, he claimed to be a friend, but who knows if that''s true or not? We don''t know this zombie, so we can''t prove if his words are real.''


    ''But, since he has saved us twice, he doesn''t look like an enemy. However, I didn''t see him hurting Huo Wu and his people either.''


    Thinking that way, Du Yuanxing began doubting Lin Qiao''s purpose.


    "Why are you asking about Lin Feng and his family?" He asked.


    As Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing finally began talking about the important matter, Lin Qiao wrote on the paper¡ª''I''m going to find them now, and then I''m going to help them. That''s why I''m now asking about them.''


    Long Qingying read the note, then glanced at Du Yuanxing. After that, she turned to ask Lin Qiao, "Are you really gonna help them?"


    Lin Qiao nodded in response.


    Long Qingying looked at her with composure while continuing, "If you kill Huo Wu and his people out there earlier, we might believe you."


    Lin Qiao shrugged and wrote¡ª''I don''t kill human beings without reason. I''ll kill him when I have to. Moreover, I can''t defeat him easily. He''s a level-six."


    She could kill people, but that needed to depend on the circumstances. Her first priority now was to find Lin Feng and his family. If, after that, she felt that it was necessary to kill Huo Wu, she would come back and do it.

 119 The Other Self

    "So, are you going to Sea City to find Lin Feng?" Long Qingying asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded at her in response.


    "Are you going to find our Great Captain?" Du Yuanxing asked the same question.


    Lin Qiao nodded again and wrote¡ª''I''ve got the information I needed, so I won''t stay here.''


    "Since you''re going to look for them, can I come with you?" Asked Long Qingying.


    Finishing speaking, she glanced at Junjun and the little boy. After learning that the boy was a human being, she felt she couldn''t bear to leave the kid with two zombies.


    She wasn''t able to return to the base now, and it wasn''t safe for her to stay our here. So, she decided to go and find Lin Feng and his family too.


    Besides, she also wanted to know if what Lin Qiao said was real. For the time being, she chose to believe that the latter was really going to help Lin Feng and his family.


    Du Yuanxing looked at Long Qingying with surprise. He knew that she had been planning to find Lin Feng, but didn''t think that she would do it with a zombie. He believed that it would be very dangerous. After all, they didn''t know anything about the zombie and his zombie friends yet.


    "You''re going with him? That''s too dangerous!" While thinking, he couldn''t help but say it out loud.


    He didn''t think that the zombie''s words were believable. Perhaps, the zombie had some unknown bad intentions toward Lin Feng and his family. If so, would the zombie and his friends murder Long Qingying if she hindered them?


    Lin Qiao looked at the two with composure, remaining silent.


    Long Qingying understood what Du Yuanxing meant, and why he felt that way. She glanced at Lin Qiao; she wanted to figure out the zombie''s true purpose, which was dangerous indeed. However, it would be dangerous too if she tried finding Lin Feng by herself. If she encountered a peak-level-four or level-five zombie alone, she would be dead.


    In comparison, she preferred to follow this strange zombie. At least, this zombie seemed to be friendly.


    "I believe he won''t hurt me. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have saved us twice." She looked at Lin Qiao and said to Du Yuanxing.


    "But¡­" Du Yuanxing wanted to say something else, but seeing the look of determination in her eyes, he stopped talking.


    Long Qingying turned to him and said, "Since you''re so worried about me, why don''t you go to Sea City with me? All your teammates have been killed, and you''re all alone now. If you return to the base, you may get into trouble, let alone being able to take revenge."


    Du Yuanxing fell into silence; Long Qingying was right. At this point, he was in the same situation as Long Qingying. Earlier, he had no direct connection with Lin Feng and his family. But this time, as he was with Long Qingying and had disappeared while fighting against Huo Wu, he would definitely think of him being on Long Qingying''s side.


    Therefore, he probably should team up with Long Qingying and go find Lin Feng and his people. One day, Lin Feng would certainly bring him back to the base and take revenge.


    Moreover, both he and Long Qingying believed that Lin Feng and his brothers and sisters wouldn''t be murdered by Yang Jianhua just so easily.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao wrote on the paper¡ª''Your ''Chief'', was she Lin Feng''s sister, Lin Qiao?"


    She had been pondering over this question for long. At first, she was merely guessing, but later on, all the information she collected was leading her to that answer.


    She was struggling internally. One could only imagine waking up in a strange world and finding that there was another oneself in this world, surrounded by all of one''s family members. How could one feel in such a situation?


    Lin Qiao started doubting her own life. What was she? She woke up in a strange body. Like her body and face, everything around her didn''t really belong to her.


    So, she had to figure out about her other self.


    However, when she learned that there was another herself in this world, she was told that that person was dead!


    What was happening now?


    Lin Qiao was confused. At the moment, she could only try finding the answers for all her questions one by one.


    Long Qingying took over her note and read it, then raised her head to nod at Lin Qiao with a look of admiration. After that, she said, "You''re right. Chief Netherworld Fire''s real name was Lin Qiao. Her power produced a black poisonous fire, which was terrifying! That''s why we named her Netherworld Fire. She wasn''t the only powerful one. None of her brothers and sisters are weak. If the shameless Long Yubai didn''t collude with the Deputy Chief and made him betray her, she wouldn''t have died in the hands of those level-sevens!"


    While mentioning the death of Netherworld Fire, Long Qingying''s face was filled with anger and hatred. She was angry because of Long Yubai''s ambition, and hated Yang Jianhua for his betrayal.


    Hearing Long Qingying''s words, Lin Qiao gave a start first, as she could scarcely believe it. Things had become different as someone had confirmed her guess.


    That person was truly her other self. If Netherworld Fire was alone, she might be a different person who was also named Lin Qiao. But Lin Feng, Lin Wenwen, and all her other family members¡­ That couldn''t be explained by mere repetition of names, could it?


    And, who was Yang Jianhua?


    Lin Qiao was shocked, but still, she had questions in her head. She thought for a moment and then wrote¡ª"Are Lin Qiao''s younger brother and sister named Lin Wenwen and Lin Hao?"


    After reading the note, Long Qingying looked at her with surprise and asked, "Yeah, don''t you know that? Didn''t you say that you know Lin Feng? But, why didn''t you know the names of his younger brother and sister?"


    "I know it. I just want to confirm it,"¡ªwrote Lin Qiao. She wanted to confirm if the other her¡­ truly existed. At that moment, she truly didn''t know what to say.


    Long Qingying remained silent, looking at Lin Qiao. She felt that this zombie was turning stranger and stranger.


    Du Yuanxing, who stood beside Long Qingying, spent a moment thinking about what she said, then nodded abruptly and said, "Alright, I''ll go find Great Captain with you. There''s no place for us in the South anyway. I''d rather follow Great Captain than stay here."


    While speaking, he wistful face turned toward the direction of Hades Base. But as he raised his head, he saw nothing but the white fog.


    He had forgotten that he was in a zombie''s space.


    As Du Yuanxing agreed to come with her, Long Qingying silently sighed with relief. With him, she finally didn''t need to travel with a few strange zombies all alone.


    Lin Qiao was going to ask Long Qingying to join her, but to her surprise, both of them agreed to come with her even before she brought it up. Before, she was thinking about how to coax this cold woman to join her. However, things were going smoother than she had thought.


    But now, she still needed to figure out one thing.


    She picked up the paper and wrote¡ª''You said that Netherworld Fire was murdered by people from the Earth Dragon Base and a traitor named Yang Jianhua. Who is Yang Jianhua?''

 120 Fake Kindness

    Lin Qiao believed that if Netherworld Fire was really her, she should know the guy named Yang Jianhua as well. After all, she would never let an unfamiliar person be her right-hand man.


    However, she didn''t know anyone named Yang Jianhua. So, she wondered who that man was.


    Long Qingying read her note, then responded, "Yang Jianhua met Chief after the apocalypse. I heard that he saved Chief''s life when she was dying, so she and her family all saw him as a savior. However, I''ve also heard that Yang Jianghua was exactly the reason why Chief was trapped in a zombie city that time, but she didn''t know it!"


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao frowned slightly, thinking that there were still many things for her to figure out.


    Unlike her, Du Yuanxing''s expression changed utterly as he stared at Long Qingying in disbelief and shouted, "What? Are you saying that Yang Jianhua entrapped Chief on purpose, then went to save her? Why? Chief wasn''t strong yet back at that time, was she? Did he know that she was gonna build a base later?"


    Long Qingying glanced at him and said, "No, Yang Jianghua did that because he wanted Lin Wenwen. He needed an opportunity to get close to her family. Chief Netherworld Fire was still weak back then, so he entrapped her and saved her. Poor Chief! She was so grateful to him, and after that, she kept him by her side to protect and help him to grow stronger. But, that dark-minded scum wasn''t touched by the gratitude of Chief and her family, but had been harassing Lin Wenwen the whole time."


    Du Yuanxing widened his eyes as he couldn''t believe what he had heard. "Do you mean he entrapped Chief to get close to Lin Wenwen? How could that scum do something like that! Chief''s family don''t know about that, do they?" He said angrily, "Otherwise, why would they protect him like a family member? The entire base knows how nice Chief was to him, but what did that scum do? He betrayed the base and murdered our Chief! He''s still chasing Lin Feng and the others now!"


    Du Yuanxing thought that the people from Earth Dragon Base must have made very attractive offers, so Yang Jianghua betrayed Chief and her family who had been looking after him; he thought that Yang Jianhua was just an ungrateful person.


    However, now he learned that Yang Jianghua was not only ungrateful, but more like a poisonous snake which had stayed by Chief''s side and quietly waited for an opportunity.


    Thinking about that, he was getting more and more wrathful.


    Long Qingying gave a cold smile and said, "Poor Chief! Perhaps, till the end of her life, she still didn''t know that the scum had been taking her kindness for granted. He even used her to promote his own position in the base."


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows on hearing their conversation. She couldn''t have thought that something like that had happened to her other self. The other Lin Qiao kept an evil man by her side as her savior, and ended up being murdered by him!


    At first, she felt like hearing the story of the other person. But somehow, she sensed that something seemed to emerge in her head as she heard the word ''savior''. However, when she thought about it carefully, she got nothing.


    Why would that happen?


    "Such an a*shole! Do Great Captain and his family now know about that?" Du Yuanxing said through gritted teeth.


    Long Qingying shook her head and responded, "I don''t think so, unless Yang Jianhua told them himself. I only heard about that after I had sent them away."


    Back at that time, she knew where Lin Wenwen and her family members were heading to, and also knew that an ambush was waiting for them. Therefore, she told Lin Wenwen and the others that a large and heavily armored enemy force was waiting for them, so they better take another way to leave.


    She saved Lin Feng and the rest by telling them about the ambush.


    Soon after that, she overheard a secret conversation between Yang Jianhua and some Earth Dragon Base people. That was how she learned about Yang Jianghua''s scheme.


    Some people said that Yang Jianghua betrayed his base because Long Yubai happened to save his life; others believed that Long Yubai had seduced Yang Jianhua.


    But in fact, those weren''t true. The truth was that Yang Jianhua was just one of Long Yubai''s sexual partners. He liked Long Yubai, so he gave him his entire base.


    Long Yubai cared nothing about Yang Jianghua. However, he still fawned over the latter because he wanted the Hades Base.


    Long Qingying was the only one on Lin Feng''s side who knew about these things. She wanted to find Lin Feng and his people, because she planned to tell them about all this.


    "The most important thing for now is to find Great Captain, don''t you agree?" Long Qingying asked while turning to Lin Qiao. The latter was thinking about the whole Yang Jianhua problem and her other self, as well as her current situation¡­


    Hearing Long Qingying''s question, she stopped wondering and nodded. Long Qingying was right; the top priority now was to find Lin Feng and his family.


    She turned to walk to the furniture area. Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing didn''t know what she was doing, so they silently watched her.


    Lin Qiao found a training suit which was as same as the one she was wearing, then threw it at Du Yuanxing.


    Du Yuanxing caught the suit, then realized that his clothes were all wet. And then, he found something strange.


    "Eh?"


    Hearing his voice, Long Qingying and Lin Qiao both turned toward him.


    They saw Du Yuanxing holding the clothes and lowering his head to look at his chest, then check his hands and touch his face.


    "Oh my! My skin doesn''t hurt anymore! Why? My skin tissue isn''t burned to death, is it? Is my sense of pain gone?" he said.


    Even though his words sounded ridiculous, Long Qingying and Lin Qiao had noticed his condition as well. Before he was thrown into the lake by Lin Qiao, he was already burned by Huo Wu''s fire for a while. He knew that back then, his skin had already begun swelling and peeling.


    Huo Wu''s fire had an incredibly high temperature, and was way more harmful than ordinary flames.


    However, Du Yuanxing couldn''t sense any pain at the moment. He checked his skin and found that new skin had actually grown out under his burned skin. When he touched those wounds, he only felt itchy.


    He didn''t understand what had happened to him, but Lin Qiao did. However, even she didn''t think that the lake water could heal his wounds so fast. Du Yuanxing was soaked in the water for a short while, but all his burns were actually healed.


    That was amazing!


    Lin Qiao felt that the water of the lake in her space was almost like a magic water which could heal all sorts of injuries and diseases, for both human beings and zombies¡­


    Somehow, she suddenly felt that Du Yuanxing was very lucky.


    ''He was healed by soaking in the lake for a short while. I should have asked him to pay me. It seems that I should treat this lake well from now on!'' She thought.

 121 Inconceivable

    When Lin Qiao prepared to go and check the situation outside, then leave with Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing, Long Qingying suddenly noticed something by the lakeside and walked over with confusion.


    As she moved, Lin Qiao turned to where she was looking at, then recalled that the wind-powered zombie''s body was still in her space.


    "Is this¡­a zombie?" Long Qingying soon walked over and stood by the zombie''s body, asking a question.


    "Eh? Isn''t this that level-four wind-powered zombie?" Du Yuanxing walked over as well. He soon saw the zombie''s body clearly and spoke with surprise.


    "So, it is already killed by you." He looked at the zombie body and said regretfully. Then, he raised his head to look around and found more strange things.


    "Eh¡­ what are those? Strawberries? Vegetables? And those piled over there are mutant pumpkins and potatoes, right? Eh¡­what''s your name? No, I mean¡­do you have a name? Hmm¡­I was trying to ask why you got these into your space. Aren''t you a zombie?" He was stunned a little when he saw the fruits and vegetables piled on the grass, so he even failed to organize his language well.


    Hearing him, Long Qingying turned to those fruits and vegetables as well. She saw some strawberry plants among the grasses, and some vegetables, next to which was a hill-sized pile of giant mutant pumpkins and potatoes.


    Lin Qiao walked to them. Seeing their face showing puzzles, she wrote on the notepad¡ª''I killed that zombie not long ago, haven''t got the time to throw it out. All these vegetables and plants are edible for human beings. They''re that boy''s food."


    Long Qingying took over the note and read it, then was shocked. She stared at Lin Qiao with wide opened eyes while handing the note to Du Yuanxing.


    "You feed him those? Aren''t you killing him? These are all mutant vegetables, and could turn him into a zombie!" Long Qingying said with both anger and disbelief.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and wrote¡ª''That''s not true. These are all virus-free. That boy has been eating these for days. Doesn''t he look healthy even now?''


    After handing the note to Long Qingying, she pointed at Junjun.


    "How can it be possible!" Both Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying stared at Lin Qiao, then turned to the little boy. Due to the far distance, they couldn''t see him clearly.


    Du Yuanxing had seen the boy''s face just now. Even though he felt that the boy wasn''t a zombie, he didn''t manage to see his face color clearly.


    Lin Qiao turned to clap her hands toward Junjun, then pointed at the little boy and crooked her finger. Junjun knew her meaning, so she carried the little boy and slowly walked to Lin Qiao.


    She could restrain herself when sensing the boy''s aroma, but the scents of the two strange human beings made her feel like drooling. However, her mind had grown stronger and clearer, so she could still control her desire of feeding on human beings.


    As Junjun walked over with the little boy, Long Qingying looked at the back of the boy who had buried his face in the female zombie''s arms, feeling that the boy was very reliant on it.


    She alertly walked to behind the female zombie to see the boy''s face. While keeping vigilance against Junjun, she started observing the boy''s face.


    She found that the boy was little pale and scrawny, but his eyes were very clear and bright, and he was staring at her curiously and timidly.


    The boy seemed to be less afraid of Lin Qiao after she cut her hair and started wearing the sunglasses. He widely opened his eyes, looking around silently.


    The boy was really fine! His face was showing no sign of infection.


    "Did you really feed him these¡­?" Long Qingying started to lose her composure as she was stunned, curious, and confused. She looked at Lin the little boy with a complicated expression, then at those fruits and vegetables, and finally at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao nodded at her very patiently.


    She wanted very much to go out at the moment, but Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing kept discovering things and asking her questions. So, she couldn''t help but write¡ª''I prepare to leave now. I''m going out to take a look first, so you two stay here.''


    She handed the note to Long Qingying, then patted Junjun on her shoulder and told her to go back to the small space.


    Junjun immediately turned back and walked away from the two human beings with the boy, leaving the two with a confused look. Next, Lin Qiao turned around and vanished before their eyes.


    She exited her space in the invisible state. Once out, she found Huo Wu, his people, and Yang Cheng, who stood by their side.


    "Search carefully!" Huo Wu stood on a high stage, hands behind back and yelling at his soldiers who seemed to be searching for something.


    "Yes, sir!"


    Yang Cheng stood beside the stage, watching those soldiers searching around.


    Huo Wu''s two fire dragons were hovering in the sky, pouncing on every zombie that attempted to approach. The zombies which were attacked by the fire dragons were soon wrapped in flame and incinerated into ashes.


    "Why did they disappear? Was there any space-powered person?" Yang Cheng raised his head to talk to Huo Wu.


    "I guessed so too. But, that space-powered person can''t possibly save them right in front of me without even showing his own face, can he? I saw nothing! God knows what happened!" Huo Wu barked angrily with a dark look on his face.


    That space-powered person saved Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing from him without even showing up. But, no one had ever heard about any invisible space-powered person.


    "Since they entered the space from here, that space-powered man will certainly appear here again. As long as we wait here, we''ll be able to find him. We can always catch him," Yang Cheng smiled and said. However, neither of them noticed that an invisible figure had silently shown up and approached them.


    Lin Qiao was planning to leave right after she came out. But when she saw Yang Cheng, she had a different idea. So, she jumped directly into action.


    Yang Cheng had no idea that a hand was slowly reaching toward him. He was wondering if Huo Wu had killed Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing or not. He only knew that the two people had disappeared, but didn''t know if they were dead or just injured.


    However, as Huo Wu seemed to be so wrathful at the moment, he didn''t dare to ask him about that. If Huo Wu were infuriated, he would suffer too.


    At that point, an invisible hand reached under his arm. Next, the hand suddenly turned visible and swiftly grabbed his arm.


    In the next second, Yang Cheng disappeared right next to Huo Wu''s legs.


    "Eh?" Huo Wu immediately turned around as he found that Yang Cheng seemed to have moved. But after that, he didn''t even see a trace of the latter.

 122 Sneak Attack

    "Damn! Who''s it? Show your face! You sneaky coward! Come out and fight me face to face!" After watching someone disappear before his eyes for the third time, Huo Wu made a circle on the stage and then burst in raging yells.


    However, no one responded.


    As he was nearly losing control of himself, his fire dragons madly danced in the sky and destroyed the surrounding tall buildings and trees, leaving burning flames on them.


    Meanwhile in Lin Qiao''s space, Yang Cheng hadn''t realized what was happening. Earlier on, he felt that someone suddenly dragged his arm, and then his eyes were dazzled. When he could see again, he found that he was in a different place.


    "Eh! Em¡­" Before he could figure out a thing about this strange place, a hand suddenly clasped his throat. He gave a muffled moan and then began struggling, trying to free himself from that hand.


    The owner of the hand locked his throat from behind him, so he was supposed to shake it off easily. However, no matter how hard he tried, he wasn''t able to get rid of that hand. That hand gripped his throat even tighter and tighter.


    He even started to believe that that hand was able to directly crumble his throat, as he felt like his neck was clenched in a giant iron pincer.


    "Yang Cheng! Hah, I didn''t think that I''d see you again!" A voice was suddenly heard from next to his ear, laughing viciously. Yang Cheng felt that the man who was talking hated him so much that he even wanted to bite him.


    Yang Cheng was startled on hearing the voice. He immediately turned his head to see the owner of it. But, the voice was coming from behind him. As he couldn''t turn his head around at the moment, he had no way of seeing that man''s face.


    However, he recognized that voice.


    "Captain, if you want to talk, why don''t you come to talk face to face with me? Why''re you hiding behind?" Yang Cheng seemed to be a little panicked, but he forced himself to calm down and speak sarcastically.


    "I don''t need to, because I don''t want to see your flunky face. That''s way too disgusting." Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying stood behind Lin Qiao, watching her easily suppress Yang Cheng, who was taller than her, with one single hand.


    While locking Yang Cheng''s neck with one hand, Lin Qiao disarmed him with the other hands, then threw all of his guns at Du Yuanxing.


    "Hah, do you think you can live a better life by following that Earth Dragon Base scum named Huo Wu? You might have been able to live if you didn''t guide him here, but sadly, you''ve dug your own grave by bringing him here. I can''t kill Huo Wu now, but I can certainly kill you," Du Yuanxing sneered.


    Earlier on, when Lin Qiao exited the space, Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying thought that she was going to leave this place. But to their surprise, she returned in a couple of minutes with a man in her hand.


    The two of them were preparing to take a good look at the things in this space, but once they saw that man, they had forgotten about this strange space completely.


    After taking away all Yang Cheng''s guns, Lin Qiao pushed him away.


    Yang Cheng staggered a few steps forward and nearly fell to the ground. When he finally found his footing, he saw Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, as well as a man wearing a sunglasses, his face covered in scars.


    He recognized Du Yuanxing''s sunglasses.


    He glanced at the three, then quickly looked around. Just now, when his throat was locked, he had already seen what was before him clearly.


    After seeing Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, he figured that he was in the mysterious space-powered man''s space.


    "I didn''t think that you had found a space-powered man''s help you! This is a large space!" He turned to stare at the three and spoke.


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying looked at him blandly without responding while Lin Qiao stepped backward, prepared to watch a show.


    "What do you want? Why did you bring me into this space? Do you want to kill me? Aren''t you afraid that Huo Wu might destroy you once you go out? He and his people are guarding outside. He''s so angry about you two disappearing right in front of him. And now, you have got me in here too. You were trying to challenge him, right? Even if you manage to escape from here, can you ever survive his pursuit?" Yang Cheng said to Long Qingying and Du Yuancheng while looking at Lin Qiao out of the corners of his eyes.


    He figured that this strange man was that mysterious space-powered person. He was surprised that this man who was shorter than himself and relatively skinny actually had a great strength. Earlier on when this man locked his throat, he was even disabled from moving.


    Du Yuanxing looked at him coldly and said, "I''ve told you that you''re too greedy, and that one day, your greed will get you killed. But, I never thought that it would happen so soon."


    Yang Cheng used to be Du Yuanxing''s friend and teammate, but he betrayed the latter for his own good. Du Yuanxing wasn''t sad about it, because he had gotten used to things like that during the past five years. Right now, he had nothing but the intention of killing in his heart.


    He didn''t betray anyone, but someone wanted him dead. In this case, he didn''t think that he needed to show any mercy. In the post-apocalypse world, only the powerful ones could survive until the end. Out of the base, killing was allowed.


    Clang!


    Before Yang Cheng could respond, Long Qingying pulled out her katana and pointed it at him. Meanwhile, she said to Du Yuanxing, "Cut the crap! If you''re not gonna do it, I''ll do it for you!" Her face was cold and gaze was sharp. The strong intention of killing was radiating from her entire body.


    "No. You''ve said that you''ll let me handle him," Du Yuanxing took a step forward and raised an arm to stop Long Qingying. His eyes were fixed on Yang Cheng, with one hand sparkling with electric light.


    Seeing Du Yuanxing''s move, Yang Cheng automatically took a step backward and shouted in panic, "Wait for a second! If you kill me, you''d be dead once you''re out of this space! Huo Wu will burn all of you!"


    He was a level lower than Du Yuanxing. Even though he was already at the peak of level-four, his power still couldn''t be compared with Du Yuanxing''s, not to mention the fact that the latter''s electric power was perfect for attacking.


    "He''ll try to burn us whether we kill you or not!" Du Yuanxing curved his lips in a sarcastic smile. However, his eyes were showing no trace of joy, but only the cold, murderous intention.


    Nevertheless, as he prepared to launch a lethal attack, he paused suddenly, then turned his head to look at the electric currents on his hands with an expression of confusion.


    There were electric currents on his hands indeed, but why couldn''t he throw them out? He refused to believe this, so he swung his arm toward Yang Cheng again.


    However, nothing happened¡­

 123 He Died In The Lake

    As Du Yuanxing was attacking, Yang Cheng''s automatic reflex was to cross his arms before his face and prepare to dodge by using his wind power.


    However, his feet didn''t feel any wind¡­ That wasn''t right; he did feel a wind, but it wasn''t strong enough to support his body!


    After realizing that, he froze in shock. Without the help of the wind, he immediately felt that Du Yuanxing''s attack was going to land on his body.


    ''I''m dead!'' He thought. But then, as he prepared himself for the electric strike, nothing happened.


    He didn''t understand. He thought something was wrong with himself when failing to trigger his wind power, but why didn''t Du Yuanxing attack him? He confusedly dropped his hands to look at Du Yuanxing, then found that the latter was staring as his sparkling hands.


    Du Yuanxing too looked bewildered.


    At that point, Du Yuanxing noticed Yang Cheng''s move, so he raised his head and made eye contact with him. They saw the confusion in each other''s eyes, then both paused.


    But soon, Du Yuanxing took the initiative to attack. After realizing that he couldn''t use his electric power at the moment, he learned from Yang Cheng''s look that his power was disabled as well. So, he immediately pulled the pistol which was carried on his belt.


    Seeing Du Yuanxing pull out a gun, Yang Cheng was frightened, then turned and ran right away.


    Yang Cheng''s guns had been taken away by Lin Qiao, so by now, he had no way to fight back. When he turned around, he found a lake and a grassland. The grassland was too far away, but the lake was relatively close.


    So, he made a prompt decision and jumped into the lake.


    Bang!


    A gunshot was heard In the space, vibrating the air and echoing for a while.


    Plop!


    Following a plop, Yang Cheng jumped into the lake. But soon, the water near him turned red.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t see him, but soon sensed the scent of blood. So, she immediately figured out that Yang Cheng was shot, but couldn''t know if he was dead or not.


    "He has been shot! But, he jumped into the lake. Is there anything at the bottom of your lake?" Long Qingying ran to the lakeside and saw the blood spreading on the water surface. She stared at the water for a short while, but failed to see Yang Cheng.


    So, she asked Lin Qiao that.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. She didn''t think anything existed down there except for those vines.


    She shook her head while standing by the lake and watching the rippling water surface. Then, she began wondering what would Yang Cheng turn into.


    She was never hurt by the lake, but Xie Dong was turned into a strange zombie in the lake, and the wind-powered zombie was drained. Yang Cheng had jumped in as a living human being, so she couldn''t tell what would happen to him.


    The lake was more mysterious than she had imagined.


    Du Yuanxing walked to the lakeside with the gun. The three of them stood side by side, staring at the rippling water surface.


    "Isn''t this your space? Don''t you know what''s in there? Then, why did you throw me in earlier?" Du Yuanxing thought that Lin Qiao didn''t know what was in the lake as he saw her shaking her head.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him without responding.


    Long Qingying carried her katana, her eyes fixed on the lake surface.


    A minute later, the three of them found that the lake surface was still rippling, without showing a sign of calming down. Before, this lake had always been peaceful, but now, it just wouldn''t stop rippling.


    Those ripples clearly told the three that Yang Cheng must have encountered something down in the lake.


    Ten minutes later, they finally saw something slowly floating up from the deeper area of the lake. From the clothes, they recognized it as none other than Yang Cheng.


    Yang Cheng floated up to surface motionlessly, face down and back up. The strange thing was that he wasn''t floating on the surface like a normal corpse should. A normal corpse should be nearly soaking in the water, with only a part of its head and back exposed. But unlike that, he was floating there like a dried piece of wood. Almost his entire body was above the water surface, as if he was a plastic dummy.


    "What''s going on¡­? Is he dead?" Du Yuanxing stared at Yang Cheng''s body and asked. Lin Qiao sniffed at the air. She sensed no scent of living human beings from Yang Cheng, which meant he was dead indeed.


    But now, she was thinking about something else.


    A dead man was now soaking in the lake¡­ Earlier on, a zombie was soaked in, and now, there was a dead man¡­ So, should she drink from this lake again or not?


    She knew that the lake water was able to wash the virus away, and the lake was rather large. But, she still couldn''t accept drinking the water which had soaked a dead zombie and a dead man¡­


    ''Eh? But I''ve been taking a bath in the lake all this while. Why didn''t I feel disgusted earlier on when drinking from the lake? Haven''t I been drinking my own bath water?''


    ''Damn! I suddenly feel a little disgusted! What should I do?''


    Then, she recalled that she had been cooking for the little boy with the water in the lake as well. She comforted herself that it would be fine. She told herself that the lake was large and full of water, so she wouldn''t happen to drink her own bath water¡­


    Moreover, she had been avoiding her bathing spot!


    At that moment, Yang Cheng''s body moved toward the three of them, as if something was pushing it.


    "Is there something in the lake?" Seeing that, both Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing took a few steps backward, then pointed at Yang Cheng''s body and asked Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao came back to her senses, then found that Yang Cheng''s body was getting closer and closer to them. She immediately took off her sunglasses to look at the lake.


    She saw a long and faint figure down in the water. That thin, tentacle-like thing was pushing Yang Cheng to the lakeside.


    Lin Qiao was familiar with that thing, as it was nothing else but a green vine from the lake bottom. ''How did Yang Cheng die? He didn''t drown, did he? Did Du Yuanxing shoot him to death?'' She wondered.


    She saw the vine draw back toward the lake bottom after sending Yang Cheng''s body to the shallow area, about three meters away from her feet. After that, she bent over to roll up her pants and take off her shoes, then walked into the water.


    Yang Cheng''s body was about three meters away from the lakeside, but as the water was shallow in this area, Lin Qiao walked straight to him and dragged him back to the lakeside.


    However, after coming back ashore, she found that the bottoms of her trouser legs were still wetted.


    She didn''t care about that, but immediately squatted by the corpse to try figuring out the reason for his death, and why he looked different from normal corpses.

 124 The Drained Yang Cheng

    As Yang Cheng''s body was dragged ashore, Lin Qiao, Du Yuanxing, and Long Qingying were all confused by what they saw. But of course, Lin Qiao was still able to figure something out.


    She had sensed something strange when dragging Yang Cheng''s body out of the water. A while ago, he was a living human being, but now, it had become a completely lifeless dead body.


    However, his body wasn''t as heavy as normal corpses, but was very light.


    Lin Qiao had sensed that when dragging him in the water. He was an adult man, about five feet and eight inches tall; he wasn''t fat, but wasn''t scrawny either. He should be at least sixty kilograms in weight. However, Lin Qiao didn''t feel that she was dragging a sixty kilogram object.


    Instead, she felt that he had lost a half of his weight. His body was only about thirty kilograms in weight, and a normal corpse should be way heavier than that.


    Sometimes, a human body might be heavier after death than it was alive.


    Why was Yang Cheng''s body so light? Apart from his oddly light weight, his skin was dry, and muscles had shrunk. Not only was his blood drained, but all the moisture of his body was gone.


    "What¡­ What happened? Is he drained?" Du Yuanxing widened his eyes, staring at Yang Cheng with surprise.


    About ten minutes ago, Yang Cheng was still talking to him. But by now, he had suddenly become like this. Du Yuanxing felt that it was so scary.


    It wasn''t the first time for him to see a dead man. After all, what people saw in the post-apocalyptic era the most was nothing but dead people and zombies.


    However, he was frightened indeed as he saw Yang Cheng become like this just a couple of minutes after his death.


    Long Qingying looked at Lin Qiao, her eyes filled with confusion as well.


    "What do you have in your lake? Does it eat people?" Du Yuanxing stared at Lin Qiao, his eyes showing fear. He recalled that earlier on, he was thrown into the lake too.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the two of them, then stood up and put on the sunglasses. After that, she wrote a word on the paper¡ª''Ghost.''


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying didn''t know how to respond.


    Was there really a ghost in the lake? Or, was Lin Qiao lying to them? Anyhow, they both believed that something horrible was hiding in the lake. In their heads, they both marked the lake as extra dangerous.


    Du Yuanxing squatted, reaching out a finger to poke Yang Cheng''s face. He found that the latter''s facial muscles had become as hard as a dried tree trunk.


    "Does he still have his energy nucleus? Or, is his energy drained as well?" Asked Du Yuanxing.


    Long Qingying and Lin Qiao were looking Yang Cheng''s twisted face too. Abruptly, Lin Qiao squatted and popped the claws of her right hand.


    "Eh!" Seeing that, Du Yuanxing automatically sprung up and took a step backward. Lin Qiao glanced at him, then turned back and cut Yang Cheng''s head with her claw.


    She didn''t tell the two that she hadn''t sensed any energy from Yang Cheng''s body. Earlier on when she got him into the space, he was full of energy; but now, his energy seemed to have disappeared.


    Puff!


    Following a slight noise, Yang Cheng''s head was cut open like a watermelon. Then, the three of them saw something interesting.


    Yang Cheng''s brain had shrunk and dried as well.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but poke at the dried brain with her claw. She found that it was hard, like a piece of air-dried sponge. Then, she directly dug the brain out and tried to break it with her hands. A small piece of the brain fell off quite easily and turned into powders.


    ''What the hell! Why did his brain become like this?'' Lin Qiao wondered. She continued breaking it, and soon, the brain was crumbled, exposing a white and lusterless energy nucleus.


    The energy nucleus had a similar shape as a zombie nuclei. As Lin Qiao pinched it, it turned into powder without releasing any energy wave.


    Long Qingying and Du Yuanixng were both shocked. It seemed that not only was Yang Cheng''s body drained, so was his energy.


    Lin Qiao dusted off her hands and stood up, closing her eyes to observe the outside world. She found that Huo Wu and his people were still guarding out there. This time, those people weren''t searching around, as if they had learned that they wouldn''t be able to find anything.


    Earlier on, after Lin Qiao dragged Yang Cheng into her space, Huo Wu confirmed that the space-powered person was in that area. So, he planned to wait until Lin Qiao showed up.


    He believed that Lin Qiao would come out of her space eventually.


    As far as he knew, many space-powered people were able to bring living human beings into their space. Some of them could have people stay in their space for a longer time, and some shorter. The timespan would vary based on their levels and other factors. But, no matter how, they couldn''t stay in their space forever. They would need to come out of their space eventually.


    He had guessed right. Lin Qiao surely needed to come out, and that happened very soon.


    She came out in the invisible state again, then quietly sneaked into a building nearby. Only after running onto the roof of the seven-story building did she show her face.


    She was holding two objects on showing up. She threw the two objects down the building as fast as possible, then switched back to the invisible state.


    Thud! Thud!


    Two strange noises were heard, sounding like something falling onto the concrete floor; it was something much lighter than human bodies, more like wood.


    Before Huo Wu realized what happened, he saw two human-shaped objects being thrown to the ground before his eyes. He failed even to grasp a trace of the one who had thrown these two things down. He didn''t even sense anything.


    As two human-body-like objects were suddenly thrown down, the surrounding soldiers were stunned as well, not knowing how to react. They looked at Huo Wu''s dark face and stayed quiet, not daring to move.


    Huo Wu was now wearing an extremely wrathful look. His eyes corners were slightly twitching, eyes filled with fury, as if a burst of fire was going to erupt from them at any instant. His facial muscles had been twitching as well, with his teeth clenched.


    Everyone else had sensed the dark vibe radiating from his body.


    The two dead bodies were thrown to the empty area which was about two meters away from Huo Wu. Whoever threw these bodies down was obviously challenging him and slapping his face.


    Therefore, no one made any sound.


    Huo Wu stared at the body which was wearing Yang Cheng''s clothes. He gritted his teeth, trying to calm his anger and killing intent. Afterward, he leaped off the stage and walked to the two bodies, observing them.


    One of the two bodies was Yang Cheng, while the other one was a zombie. Both of their heads had been cut open, meaning that their nuclei were taken.


    As Huo Wu was examining the two dead bodies, Lin Qiao had already leaped onto the roof of another building.

 125 The Two Join the Team

    The invisible Lin Qiao felt that her body had become lighter and nimbler, allowing her to jump between the building roofs easily. She was now able to hop to the top of a lower building from a taller one which was seven or eight meters away.


    She felt awesome, as if she were flying!


    After a few leaps, she began to love this feeling.


    Lin Qiao covered a long distance by moving fleetingly across the roofs like a human-shaped cheetah. Ten minutes later, she was already over ten miles away from Huo Wu.


    A white figure soon caught up with her, but it wasn''t leaping around like Lin Qiao.


    That was Qiu Lili, standing elegantly in the air. From time to time, she would flash across the air to change her location. And before long, she showed up next to Lin Qiao.


    Down on the ground, two zombies were running after her.


    Seeing her, Lin Qiao stopped moving. As Qiu Lili airily landed beside her, she crooked her finger toward the latter.


    "Roar?"


    ''Where are the two human beings?''


    Qiu Lili stood beside Lin Qiao and roared to ask. Earlier on, she had seen Lin Qiao put Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing in her space.


    Lin Qiao took out the notepad and wrote¡ª''They''re going to Sea City with me to find some people.''


    "Roar?"


    ''Back to Sea City?''


    Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao with confusion. ''Didn''t you come to this place to find people?'' She wondered.


    Lin Qiao nodded and wrote¡ª''The people I''m looking for are heading to Sea City now.''


    For that reason, she needed to go back. She wondered where Lin Feng and his family were at the moment.


    "Ah-Eh¡­ Er¡­"


    ''Are you gonna take the two human beings with you?'' Qiu Lili asked grumpily. She didn''t like human beings, so she didn''t want two human beings joining their group. ''I''m unhappy! We can''t play together anymore!''


    Lin Qiao felt a little speechless as Qiu Li got emotional like a child.


    Qiu Lili was powerful, but her state of mind continued to be like that of a teenager. Lin Qiao understood that Qiu Lili hated human beings, so she guessed that she needed to spend some time to convince her.


    However, this might be an opportunity to make Qiu Lili accept human beings, and also make Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing accept the fact that there were special ones amongst zombies.


    They wouldn''t hurt human beings, and they didn''t want to be hunted by human beings either.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then wrote¡ª''They can help me. They''re providing me with lots of information.''


    After reading the note, Qiu Lili was still unhappy. She pouted and turned her face, but didn''t make another sound. Lin Qiao smiled, knowing that she had agreed.


    She leaped down the building, then entered her space and showed up right beside the two human beings. After that, she patted the two on their shoulders and took them out of the space before they could realize what had happened.


    The two of them were startled and confused.


    "Eh? Are we out? Eh¡­ Where is this place?" Du Yuanxing reacted fast. He looked around and then asked.


    Lin Qiao took out the notepad and wrote¡ª''This place is over ten miles away from Huo Wu and his people. We''re driving to Sea City now.''


    "Driving? Ah, you have got a car in your space," Reading the note, Du Yuanxing immediately recalled that he had seen a light off-road car in Lin Qiao''s space.


    A few zombies driving a car¡­


    "Are you really a zombie? You''re not a human being pretending to be a zombie, are you?" He turned to look at Lin Qiao again, as he honestly felt that Lin Qiao was no different from normal human beings, except for the scars on her face.


    However, lots of human beings had their faces scarred after the apocalypse.


    Lin Qiao ignored him, disappearing right in front of him and Long Qingying. Soon, she brought out the car and a bucket of gas.


    After filling up the car, she sat in the driver''s seat. Qiu Lili, who had been standing beside her, silently got in the front seat immediately.


    It wasn''t the first time for Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying to see this young female zombie. Her clean and pretty white dress was very eye-catching, not to mention the fact that she was actually a zombie.


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying glanced at each other. The latter was going to stay on the car roof; but before she moved, Lin Qiao handed her a note.


    ''There''re zombies on the roof, you should sit in the car.''


    Long Qingying felt a little speechless.


    ''More zombies? Isn''t the other zombie sitting in the front seat already?'' She wondered. She thought that Lin Qiao was talking about Qiu Lili, so she glanced at her, who was sitting in the front seat, with confusion.


    Boom! Boom!


    Right at that moment, two noises were heard from the car roof.


    Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing turned back to look outside, and found that two level-three or four zombies were quietly lying on the car roof, staring at them and drooling.


    Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing felt that these two were definitely normal zombies, as their eyes were dark, and mouths were cracked. The two zombies lay on the car roof on all fours and stared at them as if they were two roasted ducks!


    "Ah!" Suddenly, Qiu Lili uttered a scream, which awfully startled Lin Qiao and the two human beings. Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing felt that they nearly had a heart attack, while Lin Qiao was sort of getting used to that.


    Hearing Qiu Lili''s scream, the two zombies immediate turned their heads away and sat straight, no longer staring at the two human beings. But still, they tried to glance at them out of the corners of their eyes.


    The two human beings immediately got into the car. Sitting in the car, they felt a little less worried. But then, they began wondering if the two zombies would directly pierce their claws into the car and get them.


    Lin Qiao ignored their thoughts and started the car, driving on another way leading to Sea City. With Long Qingying, she now knew which way Lin Feng and his family took. That was exactly the reason why she wanted Long Qingying to join her.


    ¡­


    At the same time, back in the Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue returned to where he lived with his daughter, Xiao Yunlong and Mengyue.


    Even as the accommodation of a base leader, his flat wasn''t luxurious. It was located in a three-story building. He had some fancy furniture pieces, but his place still looked way humbler than that of the other two base leaders.


    The other base leaders had occupied either the best and safest house, or an entire floor of the nicest and cleanest building. Unlike them, he lived in this ordinary-looking small building with his daughter, Meng Yue, and Xiao Yunlong.


    The three of them had been living together since the apocalypse. At the moment, they looked like good friends and flatmates, but in fact, their relationships were a little complicated.


    Xiao Yunlong fancied Meng Yue, but Meng Yue liked Wu Chengyue. However, Wu Chengyue was all about his daughter, and had completely no interest in any woman. He had seen Meng Yue as his younger sister.

 126 The News

    As for the reason why these few high-positioned people lived in this small building, it was because the little one didn''t like high or large places.


    Wu Chengyue moved in this place which was fancied by his daughter, so the other two followed.


    The building of three stories was small. The first floor was the living room and kitchen, the second floor had a study room and two bedrooms, and the third floor had two bedrooms and a balcony.


    Wu Chengyue and the little one each occupied a bedroom on the second floor. He wanted very much to share a room with his daughter, but the little one didn''t like that. Therefore, the father had been banished to the next door. However, he still needed to check on his daughter five or six times a night.


    Meng Yue and Xiao Yunlong lived on the third floor.


    Except for themselves and a group of guards, no one would step in this building; no nannies or servants.


    That was because the little one didn''t like strange people. She wouldn''t even let Xiao Licheng, who often followed Wu Chengyue around as his driver and assistant, get near her.


    Walking into the living room, Wu Chengyue put the little one on a couch and told her to play by herself. Xiao Yunlong followed behind him, saying, "We''re still trying to verify the message. But, based on experience, I think it''s real. However, no one knows for sure if Netherworld Fire is really dead or not. People are all making guesses now."


    Wu Chengyue sat on the couch and poured himself a glass of water while saying, "I suppose those people haven''t gotten the message yet. You should send people to tell them about what has happened in the Hades Base first. Don''t mention about their Chief yet, as we don''t know for sure at the moment. That still needs to be verified. Let''s see what they plan to do next."


    Xiao Yunlong stood beside him as he nodded and said, "The news about the base has been confirmed. As for their Chief''s families, do we need to send some people to aid them? If they''re on the run, I think they should be arriving at the edge of Zhe Province by now."


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him and responded, "You should ask Li Zheng and his people if they plan to go and get their Chief''s family themselves. I think it''ll be easier for them than for us. We''ll simply send a squad to help them."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded in agreement.


    At that moment, Meng Yue sat down beside Wu Chengyue, holding a stack of files. While reading the files, she was also listening to the conversation between the two.


    "Tomorrow, send your people to tell them about the news, and see what they plan to do. And, have you found any trace of that zombie?" After giving his daughter a cup of water, Wu Chengyue stood up and walked toward the kitchen.


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at the little one and Meng Yue who had been reading files, then followed Wu Chengyue to the kitchen.


    "No. Are you sure that it''s heading South?" As Wu Chengyue walked into the kitchen while rolling up his sleeves, then took some vegetables out of the refrigerator and prepared to make dinner. Xiao Yunlong leaned against the door frame, crossed his arms, and asked.


    After the apocalypse, people mainly used solar power. Some had generators, but as generators needed to be powered by gas, and gas was rather precious in the post-apocalyptic era, people rarely put them to use.


    Wu Chengyue''s place was powered constantly, but most of the others could only use electricity within a fixed time slot, because the energy needed to be saved.


    After five years of construction, the life in the base had become much better. The base center was now able to maintain a sufficient water and power supply. In order to resolve the zombie virus infection, every base had built a science lab and gathered some surviving medical scientists to run all sorts of experiment.


    During the past five years, a large number of zombies were caught for experiments, and some human beings had been sacrificed. But still, no solution was found.


    However, the experiments continued.


    Wu Chengyue heated the oil in a wok while washing the vegetables. Then, he expertly cut all the washed vegetables and began to stir-fry them.


    Meanwhile, he said, "I feel that it''s heading South. It has been moving South the whole time, and it picked the shortest path. It would only take a detour when it had to."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded, then said with confusion, "But, my people haven''t found anything. I guess it''s too hard to locate."


    Wu Chengyue smiled and responded, "Of course, it has a space. If anything is wrong, it''ll immediately hide in its space. Can you possibly find it?"


    Xiao Yunlong sighed and said, "You have made it sounds magical. I''d really like to meet it myself."


    Thinking of that strange zombie, Wu Chengyue maintained the smile on his face, but also showed an interested look. Apparently, he was interested in that zombie. He wanted to see it again and know more about it.


    In fact, what made him more curious was how the zombie communicated with his daughter.


    "Ah, I''ve heard that Yang Jianhua, one of the Deputy Chiefs of the Hades Base, was hunting Netherworld Fire''s family. I wonder if he''ll succeed. I heard that he has been after Netherworld Fire''s younger sister. I don''t think he''ll let her go this time," said Xiao Yunlong abruptly.


    While making the dinner, Wu Chengyue replied, "Do you know that Yang Jianhua found a way to get close Netherworld Fire only because he wanted her sister? People said that he had saved Netherworld Fire''s life, but that''s not real."


    Hearing that, Xiao Yunlong paused slightly, then raised his brows and asked with surprise, "Hmm¡­? Do you mean that years ago, he didn''t really save Netherworld Fire?"


    "I only heard about some of it," said Wu Chengyue. "I heard from Earth Dragon Base people that Yang Jianhua has actually been one of Long Yubai''s bedmates since before the apocalypse. After the old world ended, he followed Netherworld Fire, but still kept in touch with Long Yubai, albeit very secretly. So, what do you think? I heard that it was Long Yubai''s people who made Netherworld Fire get trapped in a zombie city, and created a chance for Yang Jianhua to save her."


    Xiao Yunlong widened his eyes when he heard all that and said in astonishment, "Damn! Are you saying that they had started entrapping Netherworld Fire years ago?"


    Wu Yuecheng nodded and replied in agreement, "Exactly! I wonder if she had figured it out before she died. I guess she''d be so mad if she knew."


    "True that," sighed Xiao Yunlong, "Eh, you said that Yang Jianhua wants Netherworld Fire''s younger sister, but you also said that he''s Long Yubai''s bedmate¡­ How? Doesn''t he like men?"


    "Who said that he only likes men?" Wu Chengyue chuckled. "He''s a bisexual."


    Picturing Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai rolling in a bed together, Xiao Yunlong shivered. "Eh, he likes both men and women? Can''t imagine!"

 127 The Grievous News

    The next day, in the place where Li Zheng and his teammates were staying, someone knocked the door early in the morning.


    "Who came so early?" Lin Yu glanced at the others and asked. While speaking, he walked to the door, preparing to open it.


    "It might be Sea City Base people," said Li Zheng, referring to the officers from Sea City Base.


    Lin Yu opened the door and saw two men in service uniforms standing out there. They had seen one of the two men before, following the Deputy Chief named Xiao Yunlong.


    "Captain Huang? What brought you here? It''s so early in the morning," Lin Yu said to Xiao Yunlong''s assistant, whose name was Huang Ming.


    Huang Ming and one of his subordinates stood outside the door, carrying a few bags. Seeing Lin Yu, he smilingly handed him the bag.


    "We need to talk to you. I suppose you haven''t had breakfast. We got you something from the cafeteria. Eat them while they''re still warm."


    Lin Yu smiled and opened the door, taking over the bags as he thanked him, "Thank you! You''ve been too nice to us!"


    Huang Min walked in, leaving his subordinate waiting outside the door. As he came in, Lin Yu closed the door.


    Lin Zheng prepared Huang Ming a chair for him to sit down, then asked curiously, "What made you come so early in the morning."


    Huang Ming took a seat and then responded, "Ah, you should have breakfast first. I''ll tell you when you''re done. Have you gotten used to living here yet? Is this place too small for the five of you? How about I get you a larger place?"


    He didn''t answer Li Zheng''s question, but brought up another topic.


    Lin Yu and Li Zheng glanced at each other. Neither of them knew what Huang Ming wanted to tell them. As Huang Ming insisted on waiting until they finished the breakfast, they decided to do as he said.


    They opened the breakfast bag. The breakfast comprised of a dozen steamed breads and Baozi;1 they were all made from refined flour, and could be counted as luxurious.


    Each of the five got a steamed bread and a Baozi.


    Li Cheng took a bite of the Baozi, then replied to Huang Ming with laughter, "Ah, no need, we''re good! This place is nice for us. Lin Yu has made a bed on the floor, which is fine. Worst case scenario, we might step on him when we get up in the night to use the bathroom."


    "Haha," Huang Ming laughed, "You wouldn''t do that on purpose, would you?"


    "They don''t dare," Lin Yu said with his mouth stuffed by Baozi, " I''d crush their d*cks." While speaking, he realized that when the others stepped over him at night, he could totally make an upward kick to attack their crotch area.


    "Eh-hem!" Feng Yuming said with a smile, "Brother Lin Yu, so that''s what you thought every time when we stepped over you."


    Lin Yu rolled his eyes, then focused on the Baozi. The Baozi was small, so he finished it with two bites and started eating the steamed bread.


    "No need!" He said to Huang Ming, "We''re just a bunch of men with no special needs. We won''t stay here for long anyway. When our Chief arrives, we''ll still need to move out."


    The others all nodded.


    As they all finished the breakfast and began drinking water, Huang Ming began talking.


    He stopped smiling and said with a serious look, "I came here today to tell you something about your base. You all know that some people from the Earth Dragon Base had been coveting your base for long. This time, they were about to make a move, so your Chief Netherworld Fire sent you to our base to seek cooperation. However, our Deputy Chief got a message yesterday morning. A couple of days after you left, your Hades Base was broken."


    Hearing that, Li Zheng and his teammates all paused and turned to Huang Ming, their faces filled with disbelief.


    "That''s impossible! Didn''t they say that the Earth Dragon Base will launch the attack in five months? How can they possibly attack right after we left? Besides, our base can''t be broken so easily. Our Chief is so powerful!" Feng Yuming said with an unbelieving look. His eyes were popped in surprise, voice was filled with panic and anxiety.


    They knew that the Earth Dragon Base had already allied with some other bases and prepared to attack their base. Even their Chief thought that the Hades Base might not be able to survive. That was why she sent them to the Sea City Base to seek cooperation. Their Chief was planning to find a place in Zhe Province to build another base. As the Hades Base had a considerable population, she wanted the Sea City Base to temporarily accommodate some women, children, and other people from Hades Base who weren''t able to fight.


    Those people didn''t need any fancy place to live. They could even live in sheds. As long as they were protected by the strong wall of a base, they would be fine.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, every base had a twenty-meterd-tall fence wall that was protecting all its members from the zombies.


    Therefore, Chief Netherworld Fire was planning to send a part of the Hades Base people into the Sea City Base first, then gather some relatively stronger men to build a temporary base near the Sea City. After that, they would go to the Zhe Province to build their new base.


    About that, Netherworld Fire had sent her people to negotiate with the three leaders of the Sea City Base. This time, she sent Li Zheng and his teammates to talk to Wu Chengyue to confirm it for the last time, and also to find the place for their temporary base. When the first batch of the Hades Base people arrived, the construction of the new base would begin, and the Sea City Base would send people to help with it. But of course, the Hades Base had promised the Sea City Base a certain amount of supplies as payback.


    According to the information they got, the Earth Dragon People would only attack in five months from now. Five months was enough to send away most of the Hades Base people.


    However, Huang Ming was telling them that in just a couple of days after they left, their base has been broken!


    They had only left their base for about a month. If what Huang Ming said was true, it had already been around twenty days since their base broke. Their Chief and Deputy Chiefs were still guarding the base, so how on earth could it be broken so fast?


    The others shared the same thought as Feng Yuming. None of them believed Huang Ming.


    "Calm down!" said Huang Ming, "Things happened for a reason. I assume you don''t know about it yet. Yang Jianhua, one of your two Deputy Chiefs, is actually a mole from the Earth Dragon Base. He gave the information about your base and our base to the Earth Dragon Base people, then lied to your Chief that the Earth Dragon people will attack in five months. That''s why things became like this."


    "That''s impossible!" The five said in one voice as Huang Ming finished talking. A baozi (Chinese: °ü×Ó) or simply known as bao, bau, humbow, nunu, bakpao (Hokkien), bausak, pow, pau or pao (Hakka) is a type of steamed, filled, bun or bread-like (i.e. made with yeast) item in various Chinese cuisines, as there is much variation as to the fillings and the preparations. In its bun-like aspect it is very similar to the traditional Chinese mantou. It can be filled with meat and/or vegetarian fillings. In Japanese, the dish is known as "paozu".

 128 Aid Action

    "How can it be our Deputy Chief!" Li Zheng said heatedly, "It can''t possibly be Deputy Chief Yang! Everyone in the Hades Base knows that he has saved our Chief''s life! Chief treats him better than her own brother! How can he be a mole from the Earth Dragon Base!"


    "It can''t be, can''t be! Captain is right! How can it be Deputy Chief Yang? He''s like Chief''s brother! He''s nice to Chief Netherworld Fire as well! How can he possibly hurt Chief?" Lin Yu said while shaking his head. He wore the same look as the others.


    Looked at their stunned faces, Huang Ming sighed and said, "Did your Deputy Chief Yang tell your Chief that Long Yubai had only allied with the Sky Fire Base to attack your base? In five months? Do you know how many people attacked your base about half a month ago? Apart from the Earth Dragon Base and Sky Fire Base people, Hidden Cloud Base people showed up as well. Including long Yubai, five level-seven powerful beings joined the attack. Apart from all these, Yang Jianhua has also put some drug in Chief Netherworld Fire''s water to suppress her power."


    The five popped their eyes in shock. They didn''t dare to believe Huang Ming''s words. However, they clearly understood that as a right-hand man of a Deputy Chief, Huang Ming had no reason to lie to them. It must be his leader who sent him to say these words to them.


    As the five remained silent, Huang Ming continued patiently, "I know this is hard for you, and you all don''t want to believe it. But, this news has been verified by us. I believe you''ll get the message from your people soon. I have two other news for you, one good and one bad. Which one do you like to hear first?"


    "The good one!"


    "The bad news!"


    The five spoke out simultaneously, but made different choices.


    Li Zheng glanced at the others, making them quiet down immediately. After that, he said to Huang Ming, "Tell us the bad news first then. We''ve already known the worst anyway. What can be worse than the destruction of our base?"


    Huang Ming nodded and said, "As I mentioned before, the Earth Dragon Base had sent five level-seven superpowered people to attack your base. So, your Chief was besieged. Under that kind of situation, she failed to control her power well, and burned down a big half of your base. Many people died. After that, she was forced to Wan City by the seaside. She detonated her energy nucleus on a cliff. I heard that two of the five level-seven were injured severely, and one died. But, that information still needs to be verified. We''ve only heard that Netherworld Fire has blown herself up, but no one witnessed it. By now, we and the other bases have all sent out people to look at the spot where she did that."


    After hearing that sad news, Li Zheng and his teammates couldn''t say a word.


    Their leader was murdered by five level-seven powerful beings, dying in a siege. What did that mean? Did Long Yubai gather all the leaders of the three bases?


    Five against one...Even though Chief Netherworld Fire was strong, she couldn''t possibly win in such a scenario. Therefore, it was reasonable for her to detonate her energy nucleus and die together with one enemy.


    "Impossible! That''s impossible! Even if our Chief can''t win, she''d be able to run. Her power is so special and strong. Not even five level-seven can kill her easily! How can she possibly choose to blow herself up? If she died, what would Great Captain and her other family members do?" Lin Yu murmured expressionlessly.


    "You''re right! Chief can''t die! She wouldn''t leave her family like that!" Li Zheng''s eyes glowed as he said with hope.


    "And there''s the good news," said Huang Ming, "Because of the efforts your Chief made, her family managed to escape. But now, they''re still hunted by Yang Jianhua. As far as we know, they''ve entered the Min Province, but we haven''t figured out what happened to them next."


    "Chief''s family escaped? But, why would Deputy Chief Yang hunt them? How can he do that?" Li Zheng looked at him and asked.


    The five refused to believe that Yang Jianhua was hunting their Chief''s family, because their Chief and her family treated him like one of their own, and it would be inhumane for him to try hurting them.


    "Whether you believe it or not, our information is real," said Huang Ming, "Our Chief is preparing to send some people to aid Lin Feng and his family. He sent me here to tell you about what happened, and also to ask you if you''d like to go help Lin Feng and his people. After all, they''re in a bad situation now."


    "We''ll go!"


    "We''ll all go!"


    "Yeah, we must help them!"


    "I''ll go find out if it''s really Yang Jianhua who did it!"


    Once Huang Ming finished talking, the five responded promptly. They didn''t want to believe what Huang Ming said, so they needed to see if it was real with their own eyes.


    Huang Ming nodded and said, "Alright, we''ll leave this afternoon. I''ll be leading the team this time. Our people might be no match for Yang Jianhua, but we can deal with his soldiers. With you, our team will grow stronger."


    Huang Ming had level-five ice power. His power was strong, so Xiao Yunsong sent him to lead tens of elite soldiers to aid Lin Feng and his family.


    Li Zheng was also a level-five, so his participation would surely strengthen the team.


    "I still don''t believe that our Chief is dead. She won''t die. We''re not only going to pick up Great Captain and his people. We''re also going to the place where Chief blew herself up and take a look." said Li Zheng.


    "Yeah!" the others nodded in agreement.


    "What happened to our other Deputy Chief?" Feng Yuming asked abruptly.


    Huang Ming responded, "Do you mean your Deputy Chief Yuan? He has been missing for nearly a month. No one knows if he''s still alive. But, according to the message we''ve got, he went missing before the Earth Dragon Base people attacked, about the same time when you left."


    The others glanced at each other with surprise. "Do you mean Deputy Chief Yuan went missing when we left the base? Why?" Li Zheng asked.


    Huang Ming shook his head and replied, "We don''t know. But, since that moment, we haven''t heard anything about him. Maybe you can try to figure that out yourself. Or, the truth will naturally come to you if he shows up."


    The others had no choice but to nod in agreement. They guessed that there were still things that they didn''t know yet. Otherwise, why would their Deputy Chief disappear for no reason? Normally, he wouldn''t let anything happen to Chief even if he needed to give up his own life.


    After all, Chief Netherworld Fire was so important to him.

 129 The Man With An Unrequited Love

    At the moment, Yuan Tianxing, who had fallen love with Netherworld Fire, was in despair. He couldn''t have thought that Yang Jianhua was an ungrateful soul who had colluded with Earth Dragon Base People and betrayed Hades Base.


    Back in that day, after he secretly sent Lin Yu and his teammates away, he accidentally found that Yang Jianhua sneakily left the base alone, heading to another direction. He didn''t feel right about Yang Jianhua being outside the base alone.


    At that time, everyone knew that the Earth Dragon Base was preparing to attack the Hades Base, and was on the alert. Who would leave the base alone? No to mention the fact that Yang Jianhua was one of the Deputy Chiefs of the base.


    But of course, Yuan Tianxing was outside the base alone as well. However, he had a good reason for it, as he was out there to escort the Chief''s subordinates who were leaving for a mission. But what about Yang Jianhua?


    He never liked Yang Jianhua because he was jealous of the latter, also because of the latter''s attitude.


    Yuan Tianting was jealous of Yang Jianhua because Netherworld Fire cared so much about him. She treated him so nicely, and had always been protecting him. Yang Jianhua wasn''t her little brother, yet she treated him better than her little brother, only because he had saved her life. As a man who had secretly loved her for years, Yuan Tianxing saw Yang Jianhua as a pain in the a*s, let alone the fact that Yang Jianhua had been using the protection provided by Netherworld Fire and her family to build his own force. Netherworld Fire turned a blind eye to what he had done, and even found excuses for him.


    Therefore, on when finding Yang Jianhua outside the base alone suspiciously, Yuan Tianxing immediately decided to follow him to figure out what he had been up to.


    Unexpectedly, he saw Yang Jianhua meeting with Long Yubai, the leader of the Earth Dragon Base. As a Deputy Chief of the Hades base, why on earth would he meet with the leader of his enemies alone?


    Back at that time, Yuan Tianxing felt that things weren''t right. So, he crept up on them to try and find out what exactly was happening. As a result, he was stunned when he witnessed the intimate movements between them.


    What the hell? Why was the other Deputy Chief of his base kissing the leader of his enemies? And, both of them were men!


    Two men kissing each other was a common thing in the post-apocalyptic era, but the two of them were supposed to be enemies. When did they hook up?


    Before Yuan Tianxing could figure out a thing, Long Yubai who was at level-seven, discovered him. After that, a fight was started. Yuan Tianxing was at level-six, and so was Yang Jianhua. Facing a level-seven, a level-six, and three level-five humans, he surely had no chance of winning.


    Therefore, he got caught. He was missing, because he was kept in a secret place by his enemies.


    Fortunately, Yang Jianhua didn''t know that he had a secret weapon. After being kept for about half a month, Yuan Tianxing escaped.


    However, it was already too late for him to do anything. Once he got out, he heard that the Hades Base was broken, and his Chief blew herself up and died together with one of the enemies. Only Chief''s family managed to escape.


    Netherworld Fire''s death hit Yuan Tianxing substantially. The woman he loved was dead, so his heart was broken. However, as a mature man, he soon put himself back together after the grief. He got through it, then heard that Netherworld Fire managed to send her family away, who were still being hunted by Yang Jianhua.


    The injured Yuan Tianxing planned to help Lin Feng and his families, and take revenge on Yang Jianhua. Yang Jianhua and Bai Yulong hurt him and locked him up, also killing the women he loved. So, he had to take revenge.


    Yuan Tianxing decided to find Lin Feng and his family first, then plan for the next step.


    Therefore, after escaping from where he was kept by Yang Jianhua, he began looking for Lin Feng and his people according to the information he had collected. Days later, he arrived at the Min Province.


    At the same time, Lin Qiao, who had traveled for three days under Long Qingying''s guidance, had caught up with some people.


    She had returned to Zhe Province already. The ones she found weren''t Lin Feng and his family, but were Yang Jianhua''s troops. Both Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili were high-level zombies, especially the latter, who was a powerful level-six red-eyed zombie. Therefore, their journey had been unimpeded as always.


    Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing didn''t even know why Qiu Lili had red eyes, because they hadn''t heard anything about red-eyed zombies. In fact, all Level-six zombies had red eyes. People rarely knew about this as all who had encountered level-six zombies ended up dead. Therefore, both Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying thought that Qiu Lili''s red eyes were caused by mutation.


    Lin Qiao and the others stood on the roof of a ten-story building, looking at the place hundreds of meters away.


    "They stopped there. It seems that they have lost track of Great Captain and his people again." Du Yuanxing looked at that direction and said. In that area, a few heavy off-road vehicles were parked on a square. After the surrounding zombies were swept off by the weapons placed on the vehicles, the people in the car came out one after another.


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying stood together while Ling Qiao, Qiu Lili, and Junjun, who carried the little boy, were standing on the other side. The two human beings automatically kept a distance of two meters from the three zombies.


    These couple of days, Lin Qiao had been letting Junjun and the little boy out of her space to breathe fresh air, as it''d be boring for them to stay in the space the whole time. At first, Junjun was scared of Qiu Lili, as she knew that the latter was able to control her. But later on, she stopped worrying because she discovered that Qiu Lili was quite obedient to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao focused her ear toward the few vehicles, but failed to hear any conversations. She had caught up with these vehicles this afternoon. Finding these vehicles meant that she had chosen the right direction, and that Lin Feng and his people were also heading this way.


    However, after following these vehicles for a day, she didn''t see Yang Jianhua, who was mentioned by Du Yuanxing.


    During the past few days, as long as Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying mentioned Chief Netherworld Fire, she would listen very carefully to their conversations.


    She felt very weird about a person who shared the same name with her but had a different life and experiences. However, the names of their family members were the same, and that made her feel even more confused.


    So now, she wanted to see her family as soon as possible. She wanted to know if they were the same as she remembered. If they were truly her family, she would have to find out the truth about the other Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao turned to Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying while pointing at that direction, then put a hand on Junjun''s shoulder and sent her into the space. As she came out, she turned and leaped directly onto another building, then moved toward the few vehicles.


    Qiu Lili darted out as well, following behind Lin Qiao.

 130 The Scent Of Family

    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying silently watched Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili leaping across the building roofs. As human beings, they were only able to run down this building with their legs.


    As the two human beings ran downstairs, Lin Qiao had already approached the square. She stopped on top of a building next to the square and switched into the invisible state. After that, she leaped down the building and moved toward the few vehicles.


    After all the zombies on the square were cleaned, the people in the vehicles got out and formed small groups, moving toward the surrounding corners.


    "Eh, I just have to pee. Finally¡­"


    "Same here¡­"


    "We''ll be entering Sea City if we don''t make a move now. I wonder what Chief Yang is thinking. Why do we have to catch them alive? Why don''t simply kill them all?"


    "What do you know? In fact, he doesn''t really want Lin Feng and his family to die. Perhaps, those people are still useful."


    "For what purpose? Does he want them to live only because they treated him well before?"


    "Em, stop talking nonsense. He has a reason to do what he''s been doing. Let''s just quietly take a leak and then get back. Hurry up!"


    Hearing the conversations between these people who had formed groups to pee, Lin Qiao finally understood why Yang Jianhua had been chasing her family all this time. It turned out that he wanted to catch them alive.


    But, why?


    She couldn''t figure it out, so she silently turned back to move to the vehicles. She chose the car in the middle, then stepped on the bumper and quietly climbed onto the car roof.


    Then, she lied down and pressed her ear on the air vent to hear the sounds inside the car.


    "Have you located them?"


    "Sir, we have. They''re in a warehouse two miles ahead."


    "Don''t get too close. Lin Hao has sharp sensations. He can discover us very easily. Stay five-hundred meters away from them, and from all the trees."


    "Yes, Sir!"


    "It''s about the time to make a move. Lin Feng has been injured severely. Without him, I doubt they can run away from me again."


    The sounds from inside the car were weak, but Lin Qiao still grasped them.


    She knitted her brows. A man said that Lin Feng had been injured severely. Judging by his tone, this man should be Yang Jianhua. Somehow, Lin Qiao felt that his voice was familiar.


    She guessed that she had misheard. She didn''t know Yang Jianhua, so how could she find his voice familiar?


    By that time, the people who went out to pee had all returned to the car.


    Boom! Boom!


    The car doors were closed. Two minutes later, the car on the left was started, driving forward. Lin Qiao hurriedly stood up and ran for two steps, then nimbly leaped onto that car.


    After that, the car which she heard Yang Jianhua''s voice from was started as well.


    Next, all the other vehicles also began moving. But soon, Lin Qiao found that these cars were moving in different directions. She leaped down the car, then ran up and stepped onto a tree nearby. After that, she hopped onto the nearest building.


    She wasn''t able to jump over ten meters high, but a few meters was easy for her.


    She leaped onto the third floor of the building in front of her, then popped her claws to catch hold of the wall. Next, she climbed up quickly like a monkey through all the areas with handholds.


    She soon climbed onto the roof, then stood on the tallest spot to observe the routes of the few vehicles. A while later, she found that the car in the middle had been slowly moving forward, while all the other vehicles had taken detours. However, these cars were heading toward the same destination.


    She sniffed the air and soon sensed a few faint human scents from that direction. This meant that Lin Feng and his family were right in that area.


    Lin Qiao was sure about it because the human scents she sensed were very, very familiar to her.


    She never paid attention to the scents of her family, maybe because she had gotten used to them or her sense of smell wasn''t as sharp as today. However, she had still memorized the scents of her family.


    As she had become a zombie and her sense of smell had grown hundreds of times sharper than before, those scents were now much more obvious to her.


    She not only found those scents familiar, but had also detected some other things from them; she grasped a sense of belonging.


    ''Family!''


    Suddenly, this word emerged in her mind.


    Under her sunglasses, her eyes glowed with a green light. All of a sudden, her pupils turned green, and the green light shone out directly through the sunglasses.


    If anyone were standing right in front of her at the moment, they would be able to see her faintly green eyes through those sunglasses.


    Lin Qiao got a little excited as she immediately leaped toward the source of the human scents from the building roof.


    ¡­


    In the warehouse which was targeted by Yang Jianhua and Lin Qiao, Lin Feng was lying in a corner. The little girl and the baby-faced Cheng Wangxue squatted by his side anxiously while the others were standing aside, looking at him with grim expressions.


    Lin Hao and a few slightly injured soldiers guarded in the surroundings, with their backs toward Lin Feng. While focusing on the surrounding environment, they turned back to glance at Lin Feng from time to time with worry.


    "Daddy! Daddy! How''re you doing! Daddy! Don''t die!" The little girl put her face on Lin Feng''s chest and said to him while crying.


    Lin Feng couldn''t move, but his mind was still clear. He forced a smile on his face and comforted his daughter, "Xiaolu, it''s alright! Daddy won''t leave you¡­ Eh-hem¡­ pah!"


    However, he coughed before finishing his words; his face paled as he coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    The others were all frightened.


    "Lin Feng, stop talking!"


    "Daddy!" Lin Xiaolu couldn''t help but cry out loud.


    Cheng Wangyue had tears on her face as well, yet her eyes were showing determination. She held Lin Feng''s hand and said through clenched teeth, "I will certainly kill that b*stard. He has fooled us for so long! I''ve been lying to us all these years! I''m gonna kill him! I''m definitely gonna kill him!"


    "Wangxue, calm down! Lin Feng was too angry, which was why Yang Jianhua got a chance to hurt him. You can''t be injured as well! We''re almost arriving at Sea City, and the reinforcements will show up very soon! As long as Lin Feng makes it to the Sea City Base, he''ll be safe!" Lin Wenwen put her arms around Cheng Wangxue''s shoulders as she was worried that the latter might rush out alone.

 131 The Injured Lin Feng

    "Unacceptable! That''s unacceptable! How could he¡­How could he lie to us! What''s worse, he lied to Qiao!" Mrs. Lin was in her fifties, but was still pretty. Her eyes were red right now. While wiping her tears, she was looking at her son with sadness in her eyes and cursing Yang Jianhua through gritted teeth.


    Lin Wenwen was wearing a calm look. She sighed expressionlessly and said, "But, my sister doesn''t know about it yet! Well, that''s better though. Otherwise, I can''t imagine how sad she''d be."


    "You''re right! Thank god Qiao doesn''t know. But she''s¡­" Mrs. Lin was choked with sobs again.


    "I¡­I''m fine¡­Don''t worry about me¡­" said Lin Feng. After letting out a mouthful of blood, he actually felt much better.


    Once he finished his words, Lin Hao, who had been standing aside on full alert, had his expression changed. "They''re here!" He said vigilantly, "We can''t stay here! Let''s go, now!" While speaking, he immediately turned back and ran up to Lin Feng. Hearing his words, the others all became nervous.


    Lin Hao ran up to Lin Feng, then squatted with his back toward him. Lin Wenwen and Cheng Wangyue immediately helped Lin Feng up and put him on Lin Hao''s back.


    Mrs. Lin instantly scooped Lin Xiaolu and followed the others toward the outside. The last five soldiers raised their guns and carefully went out before the Lin Family.


    After wiping out all the ordinary zombies outside the door, they turned to signal for Lin Hao and the others to come out. After that, Lin Wenwen, Cheng Wangxue, and the others surrounded Lin Hao, who was carrying Lin Feng, and Mrs. Lin, who was holding the little girl, in order to protect them.


    Then, they left quickly.


    However, before they could have gone far, a heavily armed military vehicle blocked their way.


    As all the weapons on the car were pointed at them, they had no choice but to stop moving. Seeing that car, they didn''t show despair in their eyes, but an extremely strong anger and hatred. The intent of killing radiating from their bodies instantly grew stronger.


    They fixed their eyes on the car, hoping that they could have a bomb to blow it up.


    Bang!


    Following the noise, a man landed on the car roof, then stood straight with his hands behind his back.


    This man was in a well-ironed military uniform, hands covered in white gloves. A sword was carried on his leather belt. He had a nice body shape, over six feet tall, with long and slender legs.


    He looked sharp, with a pair of long and narrowed eyes, thick slanting brows, straight nose, and thin lips. He was a nice-looking man, around thirty years old.


    At the moment, he had raised his chin slightly and narrowed his eyes. With a faint smile, he was looking down at Lin Hao and his family who seemed to be in an awful situation.


    "Lin Feng, you don''t look good. I wonder how long you can live. I got some drugs which might be able to save your life." He looked at Lin Feng while smiling and said.


    Lin Feng was lying prone on his brother''s back, his head dropped. He didn''t see the man''s face, but gave a deep sneer.


    "No need. We won''t accept the kindness of a liar. Not to mention the fake kindness from the man who did this to us," he said.


    After Lin Feng said that, Lin Hao stared at that man with coldness and said, "Yang Jianhua, you know clearly how we treated you in the past few years. Watch out for karma."


    He didn''t raise his head, but upturned his eyes to stare at the man fiercely.


    Yang Jianhua who stood on the car roof smiled and responded with, "You''re right! See how grateful I am to you all. That''s exactly the reason why I didn''t kill you. Otherwise, do you think you could have survived until now?"


    While he was speaking, the other vehicles showed up in all directions, blocking all the possible paths for Lin Feng and his family. A series of gunshots were heard as the soldiers in the cars killed all the zombies that had been approaching.


    Soon, a zombie-free area was created around Lin Feng and his family.


    "Yang Jianhua! Liar! You won''t live for long! Do you really think that Long Yubai will give you the Hades Base? Wake up! You''re gonna suffer for what you''ve done sooner or later!" Lin Wenwen''s calm look disappeared as she stared at Yang Jianhua and yelled at him, her face twisted in anger.


    Yang Jianhua gently looked at Lin Wenwen, his face showing a tender smile. "Wenwen, stop being childish. Come back with me. From now on, I''m a base leader. Be my woman, and you''ll have a half of the base, won''t you? Why don''t you do as I say?"


    He was wearing a nice smile, but he sounded like someone who was trying to lure a misbehaved pet back to him. Hearing his words, Lin Wenwen shivered and had all her fine hairs standing straight up.


    She uttered a scream, then burst in yells, "Eh! Yang Jianhua! Don''t you dare talk to me like that! I''m telling you this, I''d rather die than be with someone as disgusting as you!"


    This time, Yang Jianhua didn''t say another word. He stopped smiling and showed a bland look. However, he still had something in his eyes as he stared at Lin Wenwen.


    After that scream, Lin Wenwen seemed to have woken up from that strangely calm and dull state.


    As same as Lin Hao, she glared at Yang Jianhua fiercely, looking like a brutal female wolf. Her eyes were popped and cheeks were bulged, meaning that she was clenching her teeth tight.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was standing on top of the three-story building which was next to Lin Hao and his family.


    As she fixed her eyes on Yang Jianhua, she felt that her brain was even twitching, as if something was coming back to her mind. However, some other things stopped that from happening.


    She looked at Yang Jianhua''s handsome face, then turned to her family.


    That was right! She saw her mother, brothers and sister, even her niece. Those were all her family indeed!


    But¡­But, why did she feel that they were all different from before?


    Soon, she figured it out. Her family had already been through five years after the apocalypse. In her memories, her niece was a two-year-old baby, but now, she had become a little girl.


    Time! That was what made them seem different than before!


    Lin Qiao was so excited on seeing her families that she almost showed her face and dove down. However, her mind stopped her from doing that, making her stay on the nearest building to watch while calming down.


    If she showed up with her zombie face, she would frighten them, and they might even attack her.


    She was also thinking that if her family were also Netherworld Fire''s family, she and Netherworld Fire would be the same person. But, why did she become a zombie? Why didn''t she remember anything that happened in the past five years? Had she forgotten it all?


    How could she possibly forget all that had happened in the past five years? What exactly had happened?

 132 Do You Even Have Sense Of Shame?

    After confirming that those people were really her family members, Lin Qiao''s head was again filled with puzzles. But soon, she temporarily forgot about all the questions she had, as the current situation was truly not good.


    She had no idea why her head ached once she saw the man named Yang Jianhua. However, he knew that this man who had been greedily staring at her sister wasn''t a good guy.


    ''How dare you hurt my family! You should die!'' Lin Qiao cleared her mind and released her vibe. A fierce intent of killing radiated from her body.


    The expressionless Yang Jianhua was going to say something to Lin Wenwen, but his head suddenly turned to where Lin Qiao was, his charming eyes glowing with a cold light.


    "Eh?"


    Lin Qiao automatically moved her feet. But after that, she realized that she didn''t need to do it. She was invisible now, so how could that man possibly see her?


    She felt silly, but also learned that Yang Jianhua had very sharp sensations. She only released her intention of killing for a moment, yet he had grasped it. It seemed that he was rather powerful.


    Yang Jianhua glanced at the roof of that building with confusion. Just now, he had suddenly sensed an intention of killing from that area, but nothing else.


    Was his feeling wrong?


    While thinking, he focused his sensations toward that building roof, but still detected nothing. After that, he gave up and turned back to Lin Wenwen and the others.


    His movements caught the attention of Lin Hao and his family as well. They didn''t know why he looked at the building next to them, but judging by his expression, he had found something which he couldn''t explain.


    However, the Lin Family didn''t notice Lin Qiao''s vibe, as they had been paying all their attention to Yang Jianhua.


    Yang Jianhua looked at Lin Wenwen and said blandly, "Wenwen, are you going to make me force you? It''s alright, I''ll¡­fulfill your wish!"


    While speaking, he suddenly raised his hands from behind his body, swinging toward Lin Feng. An ice blade was created in the air, flying fleetingly toward Lin Feng and Lin Hao.


    As Yang Jianhua launched an attack before even finishing talking, Lin Hao automatically stepped backward. Cheng Wangxue stepped up and made a side flip, followed by a neat roundhouse kick.


    Crack!


    She accurately shattered the ice blade with her foot. However, as she took her foot back, her expression started looking strange. Lin Wenwen immediately supported her, worriedly looking at her foot as she said with a low voice, "Wangxue, your foot!"


    Cheng Wangxue frowned slightly and shook her head to Lin Wenwen, remained silent. But, everyone knew that her foot was injured.


    Lin Feng raised his head and glanced at Cheng Wangxue, who was his wife, then finally looked at Yang Jianhua and said coldly, "You didn''t only lie to us, you also get Qiao killed. The whole base knows how she treated you. Anyone with a conscience wouldn''t do what you''ve done. Where''s your conscience?"


    The others all looked at Yang Jianhua coldly as well.


    After hearing Lin Feng''s words, Yang Jianhua calmly looked at him and replied, "She treated me the way I deserved because I saved her life, right?"


    He wanted the others to believe that he earned a high position in the base because he deserved it, and Lin Qiao treated him well because she needed to pay him back for saving her life.


    "Bullsh*t!" Lin Wenwen cursed wrathfully. "If you and Long Yubai didn''t entrap my sister together, how could she possibly be trapped in that zombie city for half a month without any food or water? Without your fake information, she would have been able to free herself from that city long before you were there! It was all you! You pretended to save her! You said that yourself! How dare you think that you deserve all that we had given you! Do you even have a sense of shame?"


    Her face blushed because of anger and eyes bulged. She was trembling slightly, her fists clenched.


    Yang Jianhua looked at the furious Lin Wenwen and abruptly laughed out loud, "Haha¡­Yeah, I said that. I planned the whole thing. But, so what? Have you ever thought that if it weren''t for me, Lin Qiao would have been dead over four years ago? I allowed her to live for a few extra years. I was going to convince her to join Long Yubai''s team, then build the Earth Dragon Base together, but she refused! Why? If she had listened to me, the Earth Dragon Base would be twice as large by now. Perhaps, she would become a Deputy Chief like me, and I''d be running the entire base together with Long Yubai. Wouldn''t that be nice?"


    While speaking, Yang Jianhua turned a little emotional as well. He reached his hands forward while staring at Lin Wenwen with glowing eyes.


    "Em, you do have some ambition. Under the chaotic circumstances, you were already thinking about building a base and making yourself the chief." The sadness in Mrs. Lin''s face was gone as she coldly glared at Yang Jianhua and said.


    "Fortunately, my sister was wise enough to not build the base together with you. Otherwise, you and Long Yubai would have found a way to murder my whole family, including my sister, long ago!" Said Lin Hao.


    Yang Jianhua paused slightly, then the look on his face turned cold.


    Seeing his expression, the others immediately figured out that Lin Hao was right. Yang Jianhua planned to murder Lin Qiao long ago. He changed his plan and followed Lin Qiao only because the latter refused to build a base together with Long Yubai.


    Yang Jianhua gazed at Lin Hao with a grim look and said, "I''ve been suspecting if you can sense the others'' thoughts. It''s too dangerous for me to let someone like you live. If you''re able to know everything, how can I keep any secrets?"


    While speaking, he turned his palms down and pressed in the air.


    After that, an icy white mist emerged before him in the midair, then a series of sharp icicles appeared, reflecting the eye-piercing sunshine.


    After creating a great number of icicles, Yang Jianhua didn''t say anything, but suddenly swung his arms and crossed them toward Lin Feng and his family. In the next moment, the icicles before him darted at Lin Feng and his family like shreds of bright light beams.


    At that moment, no one on Lin Feng''s side was able to stop those icicles. The icicles were moving so fast, coming at Lin Feng and the others within a blink.


    Before they could realize what was happening, these icicles were already before their eyes.

 133 Critical Momen

    At that very moment, Lin Feng, who was lying weakly on Lin Hao''s back, suddenly straightened his back and reached out his hands. Next, a strong flame emerged before him and his family.


    The flame formed a semicircle, timely shielding all of them from those icicles. However, the icicles which were stopped by the flame didn''t melt, sticking onto the flame and trying to pierce through to hurt Lin Feng and his people.


    Lin Feng''s face was paled. He clenched his teeth and kept his hands raised. He knew that he couldn''t hold off the icicles for long, but he just didn''t want to give up now. He knew that once he dropped his hands, all those icicles would pierce into his family''s bodies.


    "Step¡­ back!" He gritted his teeth and said two words to Lin Hao.


    Hearing him, Lin Hao and the others slowly drew back. Lin Feng''s flame shield didn''t move along with them, but seemed to move forward against the icicles. Gradually, the distance between them and the flame shield grew longer and longer.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was anxiously communicating with Qiu Lili, begging her to help in dealing with Yang Jianhua.


    Yang Jianhua had level-six ice power. He was not a newly promoted level-six, but was at the peak of that level, just a breath away from level-seven.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t able to defeat him with her current power. Perhaps, she could stall him for about a minute, but saving her family from Yang Jianhua and the people in the other few vehicles was way too difficult for her.


    Therefore, she asked Qiu Lili for help. Qiu Lili was a level-six zombie queen, while Yang Jianhua was a level-six superpowered human being. Regarding powers, Yang Jianhua should be no match for Qiu Lili.


    However, Yang Jianhua was more experienced than Qiu Lili, so Lin Qiao estimated that the first fight between her and Yang Jianhua would end in a draw.


    Lin Qiao wanted to bring her family into her space, but she could only bring one person at one time. Therefore, she needed time, and also needed to destroy the weapons placed on the few vehicles first.


    Only after that could she bring Lin Feng and the others away.


    At the moment, Lin Qiao was in her space, observing the outside situation while writing notes for Qiu Lili who stood beside her.


    ''The people out there are all my family. I need to save them, but I''m no match for that level-six human being. You''re the only one who can save them. You need to help me. If you don''t help me, why are you staying by my side?''


    Qiu Lili wasn''t willing to fight Yang Jianhua. However, on seeing Lin Qiao''s anxious face, she hesitated. She looked around, as it was the first time for Lin Qiao to bring her into the space.


    Once in, she began to like the way this place made her feel.


    Lin Qiao looked straight at Qiu Lili''s pretty red eyes. Maybe because she was emotional or anxious, her pupils had turned green again, and the green light of her eyes shone out through her sunglasses.


    Lin Qiao was able to see the color of Qiu Lili''s eyes, because those eyes were filled with energy. What Lin Qiao saw from Qiu Lili''s eyes was actually red energy which was emitted from her body.


    Qiu Lili couldn''t see the color which was showing up in Lin Qiao''s eyes right now. However, she saw a faintly pale pair of pupils through Lin Qiao''s sunglasses.


    Sensing that Lin Qiao was really worried, she thought for a moment and then nodded. But after that, she gave a roar.


    "Ah-er-er!"


    ''I want to stay here.'' she said.


    While roaring, she pointed at the ground and looked at Lin Qiao, who hurriedly nodded without thinking. As long as Qiu Lili helped her, she would let her do anything she wanted.


    As Qiu Lili agreed to help, she brought her out of the space immediately, because she sensed that the condition of Lin Feng has changed.


    A second before Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili came out of the space, Yang Jianhua suddenly moved his hands. Then, Lin Feng popped his eyes and couldn''t help but let out a large mouthful of blood.


    "Pah!"


    After that, he dropped his hands and tilted his head, passing out on Lin Hao''s back.


    "Brother!" Lin Hao shouted.


    The moment Lin Feng dropped his hands, the flame shield before him and his people was gone, and the icicles flew at them at once.


    Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili were out of the space right at that moment. Seeing Lin Feng vomit blood and the flame shield break, she darted straight at her family without thinking.


    At the same time, Qiu Lili moved as well. She flew at Yang Jianhua, raised her hands, and brought up a strong gust of wind which surrounded the armed vehicle that Yang Janhua was standing on.


    "Ah!" She uttered a scream, and her voice traveled a long way, heard by all the surrounding zombies. The zombies paused simultaneously, then slowly turned their heads toward Qiu Lili. Their scary-looking zombie faces were all wearing a confused look. Soon, they all moved their feet and began shambling toward her.


    All the zombies nearby seemed to be summoned by Qiu Lili as they started moving toward her.


    Lin Qiao directly leaped down the building when she saw her family in danger. However, she was still too slow. After all, she was at a rather long distance from them, while Yang Jianhua was merely about ten meters away from them.


    Seeing the sharp icicles coming at them, Lin Wenwen, Cheng Wangxue and the five soldiers automatically shielded Lin Hao, Lin Feng, Mrs. Lin and Lin Xiaolu with their bodies.


    As they were about to be hurt, Lin Qiao was so anxious. At that very moment, a few people darted out from the surrounding.


    The earth under the feet of the Lin Family people moved suddenly and then sank, turning into a deep hole. The Lin Family and the five soldiers all fell in and disappeared.


    "Ah!"


    "Ah!!" Mrs. Lin and Lin Xiaolu''s screams were heard.


    The icicles fell onto the ground and caused a series of puffing noise. A few figures showed up around that suddenly appeared hole, almost simultaneously.


    Meanwhile, Yang Jianhua was startled by Qiu Lili''s scream. Before he could realize what was happening, he saw a shadowy white figure pouncing on him and felt a weird gust of wind surrounding the vehicle under his feet.

 134 Save Them Together

    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao too came over to the giant hole, face filled with confusion. She nearly took off her sunglasses subconsciously. But fortunately, she then came back to her senses and stopped herself from doing that, only leaning her head forward to look into the hole.


    "Great Captain!¡­Eh? Deputy Chief Yuan!" Du Yuanxing, who arrived at the edge of the hole a little later than the others, glanced down into the hole and called Lin Feng. After that, he suddenly saw a man standing in front of him. He fixed his eyes on that man, and then burst in shouts with joy.


    "Wenwen!" Long Qingying also gave a shout when rushing out. Then, she looked into the hole and found that even though it was about two meters deep, the people in it were all fine. The few ladies were sitting on the ground as they didn''t manage to keep their balance when the ground suddenly sank.


    "It''s Tianxing!" The people in the bottom of the hole all raised their heads, wondering what had happened. Mrs. Lin saw a man first, then shouted with surprise.


    "Qingying! It''s you!" At that moment, Lin Wenwen saw Long Qingying.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao leaped down into the hole. Once she jumped in, the people in the hole immediately stared at her with vigilance.


    "Who''re you?" Seeing a man wearing a pair of sunglasses jumping down, Lin Wenwen asked instantly.


    "Ah, he is¡­Eh? We don''t know your name yet!" Du Yuanxing tried to explain for Lin Qiao, but suddenly realized that the zombie hadn''t introduced himself yet! Lin Qiao stood in front of her family and looked at Lin Feng with worry. After hearing Du Yuanxing''s words, she only glanced at him, but didn''t respond.


    After that, both Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing jumped into the hole, and so did the other man. Lin Qiao glanced at him; she recognized this man, even though he had changed a lot.


    He was Yuan Tianxing. Lin Qiao didn''t think that he would show up in this place.


    He was an upstanding man, about six feet and three inches tall, with an obvious military presence. He looked as strong and sharp as Lin Feng, yet he had a handsome face. His slanted eyes were rather charming, somehow attractive. His nose was straight, lips thin and beautifully shaped. His pointed chin made his face shape look relatively delicate.


    He was strong, and his long and slender legs were even more pleasant to look at than Yang Jianhua''s. His strong manly vibe perfectly neutralized the gentleness produced by his delicate face.


    He was actually close with Lin Qiao. Before the apocalypse, they were comrades in arms, serving in the same squad.


    Lin Qiao walked to Lin Feng as she wanted to check his injuries. But once she moved, Lin Wenwen and the others shouted at her and made her stop.


    "Who are you? Stay away!" They were already in a dangerous situation, so they surely couldn''t let a strange man get close to them. Both Lin Wenwen and Lin Hao fixed their eyes on Lin Qiao.


    "He isn''t a man¡­Eh¡­I mean, he isn''t a bad man¡­Eh, that''s not right either. Ah, I mean, don''t be nervous. He''s here to help you. He said that he knows you." Under the tense situation, Du Yuanxing hurriedly explained for Lin Qiao.


    Seeing her brother and sister keeping vigilance against her, Lin Qiao didn''t feel good. But, she knew that now wasn''t the time for that. It seemed that to save Lin Feng, she needed to make them let their guard down first.


    She took a step backward. Just now, she had roughly observed Lin Feng, and found that his energy was almost drained. She had also seen a faint piece of shadow gathering slowly in his chest.


    She understood that his lungs were broken, and were bleeding. Fortunately, he had coughed out some blood before, and now, his condition wasn''t too bad.


    She took out a piece of paper and wrote¡ª''I can cure him.''


    Finishing writing, she threw the note at Lin Wenwen.


    As the Lin Family had fallen into the hole, Lin Feng was no longer carried by Lin Hao. Instead, he was sitting on the ground and leaning against the wall. Mrs. Lin kept Lin Xiaolu in her arms, while all the others were standing before Lin Feng.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t catch the piece of paper, but looked at Lin Qiao with confusion, then watched the paper fall on the ground. She didn''t understand why this man with sunglasses didn''t speak but chose to write.


    Standing in the bottom of the hole, Yuan Tianxing glanced around, then found that Lin Qiao was showing no hostility, and that the others were all fine. After that, he climbed back onto the ground and saw that Yang Jianhua was trapped by a strange gust of wind.


    The wind was blowing around Yang Jianhua''s body like a tornado. Yang Jianhua was in the center of the tornado, and a white figure had been hiding in the wind. From time to time, it would dart out and attack Yang Jianhua.


    As the giant tornado was spinning swiftly, Yuan Tianxing couldn''t see Yang Jianhua clearly. He was as powerful as Yang Jianhua. However, as he had suffered some internal injuries, he couldn''t defeat the latter at the moment.


    He felt that that shadowy white figure was especially powerful. It had been giving him a pressure of energy which he had only sensed from level-seven human beings. However, the pressure he sensed from this white figure was slightly different from the one he sensed from level-seven superpowered human beings.


    He just didn''t know what exactly was the difference.


    "Tianxing, just get us out here." Mrs. Lin said. Yuan Tianxing turned back to nod at her and responded, "Yes, Madam. Be careful."


    While speaking, he made a step back, then spread his fingers toward the hole. After that, he crooked his fingers, as if holding something, then slowly raised his arms.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao felt that the earth under her feet was vibrating. For some reason, the sunken ground now began rising. The others seemed to know what would happen; they all calmly waited for the earth to rise.


    As Yuan Tianxing''s arms were raised higher and higher, the earth under their feet was raised as well.


    Since Lin Qiao and the others showed up, not even a single man had rushed out of the few vehicles, or made the slightest noise. Once the earth started rising, Lin Qiao leaped out of the hole directly.


    Her jumping ability made Lin Wenwen and the others look at her with surprise. Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying were used to that, so the two of them paid less attention to Lin Qiao.


    At that point, Yang Jianhua, who was trapped in the tornado, was already infuriated. He had found out what that white figure was. It was a young female zombie!


    It looked young, but its attack was very powerful.

 135 That’s A Zombie

    People saw that Yang Jianhua''s body was covered in an ice shield. From time to time, something would hit against the ice shield and create silvery noises.


    Only Yang Jianhua knew that what caused the noises were the wind blades which had been blowing at him from the tornado. Normal wind blades were invisible. People could only recognize them by the sounds they caused. However, the wind blades created by this young female zombie were completely visible.


    Those wind blades looked like tiny horizontal tornadoes spinning swiftly; they were able to create holes in their target''s body within a blink.


    Yang Jianhua had never seen a wind-powered human being who was able to attack with the wind like this. Even Lu Zhuofeng, the leader of the Hidden Cloud base who possessed level-seven wind power, didn''t have such a strong wind power.


    He didn''t think anyone else could spare the willpower to control a great amount of wind blades while controlling the tornado!


    While feeling surprised because of the young female zombie''s power, Yang Jianhua didn''t stop waving his hands inside the ice shield and sending ice blades shooting at the white figure.


    However, as the young female zombie was hiding in the tornado and constantly moving, Yang Jianhua couldn''t possibly hurt her. He launched a fierce wave of attack, yet all her ice blades were shattered by the wind blades.


    Lin Qiao spent a while watching the fight between Qiu Lili and Yang Jianhua after hopping back onto the ground. She found that Qiu Lili had managed to suppress Yang Jianhua completely, and that the latter didn''t seem to be able to free himself from the current situation unless he launched a massive attack.


    After bringing the people in the whole back onto the ground, Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe, then turned his eyes toward Yang Jianhua again.


    As Lin Qiao expected, Yang Jianhua soon prepared to launch a massive attack. A white light suddenly shone from his ice shield. An exceptionally strong energy was gathered in there, seeming about to explode.


    Qiu Lili, who was hiding in the tornado, suddenly stepped out of the wind and showed up outside the tornado, standing on top of a tree which wasn''t very tall.


    She lightly stood on the tree top, looking like an ancient martial artist. No one knew how she managed to do that.


    She fixed her eyes on Yang Jianhua. Her red eyes with dark circles now showed a desire for winning. She reached her both hands toward him, fingers spread and slightly crooked.


    Following her moves, the tornado surrounding Yang Jianhua''s body began shrinking.


    Crack! Puff!


    The shrinking tornado peeled the edge of the vehicle under Yang Jianhua''s feet. As Qiu Lili''s tornado was shrinking, Yang Jianhua''s ice shield was spreading. Soon, the vehicle was covered by a thick layer of ice which protected it from the tornado.


    Suddenly, Yang Jianhua''s white and thick ice shield began swelling.


    Boom!


    It exploded and broke Qiu Lili''s tornado. A large amount of ice pieces darted out, falling on the ground.


    The exploding sound caught everyone''s attention.


    "Eh! That''s¡­ That''s¡­ a zombie! It''s neck and neck with Yang Jianhua! Is it a zombie queen?" Mrs. Lin abruptly fixed her eyes on Qiu Lili and said with surprise.


    Mrs. Lin was the oldest among all, and she didn''t have a superpower. However, she was experienced and did have sharp eyes. She threw out the question that everyone wanted to ask, and gave an answer.


    Lin Hao, Lin Wenwen, and the others all turned to Qiu Lili with surprise.


    They had heard about level-six zombie queens and kings, but none of them had seen one. However, Mrs. Lin was pretty sure that Qiu Lili was at level-six. In fact, everyone could tell that Qiu Lili was incredibly strong indeed.


    "Mom¡­ are you sure that it''s a zombie queen?" Lin Hao squatted. While supporting the unconscious Lin Feng, he asked his mother with doubt.


    "I''ve heard from your elder sister that zombie kings and queens have colorful eyes. Their energies can reach their eyes and change their colors." Mrs. Lin kept staring at Qiu Lili while nodding and answering her son''s questions.


    "Really? So, is that what a zombie queen looks like? It looks just like a human being, except for its eyes, right?" Cheng Wangxue said. She seemed to have recovered from the pain in her foot already.


    "It managed to suppress Yang Jianghua''s level-six ice power at the beginning, so I think it''s a zombie queen indeed," Yuan Tianxing joined the conversation as well. He had been watching the fight all this while. After seeing Qiu Lili''s face clearly, he agreed with Mrs. Lin.


    Hearing them say that Qiu Lili was a zombie queen, Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying who stood beside them glanced at each other in shock.


    "She¡­ She''s a zombie queen?" Du Yuanxing couldn''t help but speak out loud. Recalling that they had been sitting in the same car with a zombie queen these days, both Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying somehow shivered.


    As for Qiu Lili, she suddenly got angry after Yang Jianhua broke her tornado. She pouted, staring at Yang Jianhua unhappily. ''Not happy! This man is weaker than me! But he actually broke my great tornado!''


    The unhappy Qiu Lili trod high in the air and abruptly swung her arms toward Yang Jianhua.


    A giant amount of wind blades appeared before her, darting toward Yang Jianhua at lightning speed. The latter had blown up his ice shield already. As Qiu Lili launched a new wave of attack, he immediately raised his arms and created an ice mirror to defend himself.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    The spinning wind blades pierced onto his ice mirror.


    At that moment, Mrs. Lin raised another question, "Eh? This zombie queen has red eyes, which means she''s supposed to have fire power. I think only the fire energy is red in color. But, she''s attacking with wind¡­ Is it¡­"


    Mrs. Lin knitted her brows and lost was in her thoughts. At the same time, Lin Qiao suddenly turned invisible. As everyone was paying attention to Qiu Lili, the zombie queen, she silently moved to Lin Feng''s side.


    Before anyone noticed her movements, she pressed a hand on Lin Feng''s body.


    She knew that Lin Feng was in a very dangerous situation, and needed to be healed immediately. However, it was impossible for her mother, brother, and sister to give the severely injured Lin Feng to her, who now looked like a strange and mysterious man.


    It required time for them to relax their vigilance against her, but she didn''t want to wait any longer. The longer she waited, the greater danger Lin Feng would have to face.

 136 He Has A Space

    Under dangerous situations, Lin Qiao would always act before reporting. As same as the old time, she now decided to take action first. She planned to steal Lin Feng away, then try to explain to the others after she saved him.


    Therefore, she made herself invisible and jumped into action.


    At that moment, Qiu Lili was infuriated, because she couldn''t break Yang Jianhua''s ice mirror. Her wind blades had created countless holes on the ice mirror, yet Yang Jianhua fixed it soon.


    That was reasonable though. In terms of the power type, the wind power was no match for the ice power, which allowed its possessors to create actual entities. Therefore, Qiu Lili was gradually failing to suppress Yang Jianhua.


    Yang Jianhua had figured out Qiu Lili''s power level through the last round of fighting, which lasted for less than a minute. He knew that her wind power was no threat to him. He had also learned that Qiu Lili had no strategies, as she launched a powerful attack at the beginning and never tried to defend herself. Her way of fighting was simple, even childish in his eyes.


    At the moment, Yang Jianhua was supporting the ice mirror with one hand and waving his other hand strangely. Following his movements, waves of icicles, ice blades, and ice thorns emerged before the ice mirror, flying at Qiu Lili endlessly.


    Therefore, the people on the ground saw that Yang Jianhua, who stood on the car roof, and the zombie, which trod on top of a tree, had started a competition of superpowers.


    Qiu Lili watched Yang Jianhua defend himself by using the ice mirror as a shield while throwing large amounts of ice weapons at her. Her wind blades had shattered many of the ice weapons, yet, some still flew at her.


    So, she hurriedly took a hand back to raise another tornado to surround her and defend against the ice weapons.


    As Qiu Lili began to defend herself, the look in Yang Jianhua''s eyes changed a little, and his hands moved abruptly. After that, some ice blades quietly emerged right above Qiu Lili''s head, which wasn''t covered by the wind, pointing straight at it.


    "Look! Yang Jianhua''s launching a sneak attack again!" Cheng Wangxue and the others had widened their eyes to watch the fight. Maybe because Qiu Lili was the enemy of their enemy, they somehow wanted her to win. Qiu Lili was a zombie, but she hadn''t hurt them. Unlike her, the human being Yang Jianhua had lied to them and hunted them, also murdering one of their family members.


    Therefore, they had unwittingly taken Qiu Lili''s side.


    At that point, Lin Qiao had already pressed a hand on Lin Feng''s shoulder. She raised his eyes to glance at the others, then suddenly showed her face. But in the next second, she disappeared together with Lin Feng.


    "Eh? Brother? Where''s my brother?" Lin Hao, who had been holding Lin Feng, noticed his disappearance the first. He didn''t know what happened, but only felt that the weight carried on his arms was gone before his brother vanished.


    He vanished!


    Lin Hao was startled, bursting in screams.


    Once he screamed out loud, the others immediately turned to him. The place where Lin Feng sat in was now empty. Lin Hao''s arms were still raised, face filled with confusion.


    "Brother! Where''s my brother?" The look in Lin Wenwen''s face changed as she shouted out. Mrs. Lin, Cheng Wangxue, and Lin Xiaolu all started looking around in a panic. However, none of them saw a trace of him.


    "Lin Feng! Lin Feng!"


    "Daddy! Where¡­where''s Daddy?"


    "Where''s that guy with sunglasses? Why isn''t he here?" The leader of the last five soldiers was a man at his twenties. He pointed at where Lin Qiao was and asked that question. The others turned to that direction, but saw nothing.


    Yuan Tianxing''s face turned cold. He thought that guy was a friend who wouldn''t hurt his people. But now, he guessed that he was wrong.


    He immediately turned to Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying and asked with a stern voice, "Do you know something? Didn''t you say that he''s here to help Lin Feng? What''s going on?"


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying were much calmer than the rest of them. Du Yuanixng waved his hand under the sharp gaze of his Deputy Chief and responded hurriedly, "He''s really not a bad guy! Don''t worry!"


    He knew that Lin Qiao had a space. As both the zombie and Lin Feng had disappeared, he figured that the zombie had sneakily brought Lin Feng into the space while nobody was paying attention to him. However, he didn''t know how the zombie prepared to heal his Great Captain.


    After all, he didn''t know that the water of the lake in Lin Qiao''s space had a healing power yet.


    At that moment, Long Qingying suddenly saw the note lying beside Lin Wenwen''s feet. She walked over and picked it up.


    "Don''t be nervous! Wenwen, see¡­" She spread the paper and said, then handed the paper to Lin Wenwen. "He might have a way to cure Great Captain. Great Captain''s condition isn''t too bad at the moment, so the earlier he gets some help, the earlier you can stop worrying." Long Qingying continued.


    "Make it clear first. Where did he take Lin Feng?" Asked Yuan Tianxing.


    Lin Qiao had surely frightened these people by suddenly taking Lin Feng away. Long Qingying glanced at Du Yuanxing, signaled for him to speak.


    Du Yuanxing glanced at the others who were all staring at him nervously and angrily, as if they would pounce on him and tear him into pieces if he failed to give a reasonable explanation.


    "Hem¡­um," Du Yuanxing said under pressure, "He has a space. I think he has taken Great Captain there. We''ve spent a few days with him, and we both feel that he¡­Well, he won''t hurt Great Captain. Let''s just wait. As long as his friend is still here, we don''t need to worry that he might leave with Great Captain."


    While saying the word ''friend'', he pointed at Qiu Lili, who was fighting intensely against Yang Jianhua.


    Hearing his words, the others all had their expressions changed. They immediately turned their heads toward Qiu Lili with disbelief, then looked back at Du Yuanxing.


    "What did you say? Did that man bring this zombie queen here? Isn''t he a human being? Why is he with this zombie?" Lin Qiao widened his eyes and asked.


    "He isn''t a human being," said Long Qingying blandly.


    Once she said that, the others all fell into silence while their pupils shrank. They even began to doubt their own ears.

 137 Qiu Lili Is Pissed Off

    "He¡­ he¡­ he isn''t a human being. So, he is a¡­" Mrs. Lin''s voice trembled a little. She looked at Qiu Lili, then at Du Yuanxing, seeming to be confirming something, yet wasn''t willing to say it out loud. It was as if as long as she didn''t say it out, it wouldn''t be true.


    According to Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing, the guy with the sunglasses wasn''t a human being. And, he was a friend of this level-six young female zombie¡­ Didn''t that mean that¡­ Was he a zombie too?


    Long Qingying looked at Mrs. Lin and quickly nodded, "Yes, he is a zombie. But, he is a special zombie."


    "Oh no! Is he going to eat Lin Feng? He''s a zombie¡­ so how can he possibly save human beings?" Mrs. Lin dropped her eyes and murmured in despair.


    Cheng Wangxue''s legs were softened as well. Her injured legs failed to support her body, so she almost sat on the ground. Fortunately, Lin Wenwen held her timely.


    "Wangxue!"


    Lin Wenwen, who was startled by Cheng Wangxue, immediately came back to her senses. She turned to Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing, then burst in yells, "Long Qingying! Did you bring these zombies here to hurt us? He''s a zombie! How can a zombie possibly save my brother!"


    Long Qingying kept the calm look and shook her head as she responded, "Wenwen, I didn''t lie. Believe me, he''ll show up with Great Captain later."


    Seeing the scary-looking expressions on Lin Wenwen and her family''s face, Du Yuanxing stepped aside slightly and then said carefully, "Yeah, yeah¡­ Great Captain has already been taken away by him anyway. We can only wait. There''s nothing else we can do for now."


    "You!" Lin Hao suddenly stood up, seeming to raise his hand to attack Du Yuanxing. However, Mrs. Lin stopped him.


    "Hao, don''t do it now! Let''s believe them for now. If Lin Feng doesn''t show up later, we''ll do it," she said. At the moment, Yuan Tianxing had also been fixing his eyes on Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying. His sharp gaze nearly pierced through the two.


    "Eh¡­" Du Yuanxing said with a low voice, "He''s really not a bad zombie. He''s a good zombie! He''s saved our lives a couple of times. And look, he can write. He''s different from the other zombies."


    While speaking, he pointed at the paper wad in Lin Wenwen''s hand.


    ''You bloody zombie! I want to kill you! How dare you steal Great Captain away under everyone''s eyes! How are we supposed to explain to them?'' He cursed Lin Qiao in his head.


    Lin Wenwen hadn''t read the note yet. Hearing Du Yuanxing''s words, she pushed Cheng Wangxue to Lin Hao, signaling the latter to hold her, then spread the paper and saw a few words written on it.


    ''I can cure him.''


    On the other side, Qiu Lili had still been fighting against Yang Jianhua. After creating tens of ice blades above her head, Yang Jianhua suddenly increased the number and sizes of the ice weapons before his face, and threw all of them at her.


    The larger sized icicles and ice blades were surely heavier than the smaller ones. They flew at Qiu Lili at a higher speed, immediately crushing the wind blades around her.


    She hurriedly made the tornado spin faster to protect her from Yang Jianhua''s attack. However, she failed to notice that tens of finger-thick but incredibly sharp and strong ice blades suddenly fell from the sky, stabbing straight at her head.


    Her hands paused abruptly, then she raised her head to find tens of sparkling ice blades swishing toward her head. She had no idea when he had created these ice blades right above her head. She didn''t think that Yang Jianhua would stab her in the back!


    Looking at the falling ice blades, Qiu Lili knew it was already too late for her to raise her arms to defend herself. So, she suddenly opened her mouth and uttered a scream.


    A series of cracking noises were heard after her scream. The others all felt that their brains were vibrated, then went unconscious.


    The ice blades above Qiu Lili''s heads were all shattered into pieces, falling on her head and face.


    After closing her mouth, Qiu Lili''s look changed. Her face twisted a little and eyes shone with a bright red light. Meanwhile, she began baring her shiny white teeth.


    This time, she was really pissed off!


    Qiu Lili was furious. A furious zombie queen could be extremely terrifying!


    "Roar!"


    "Ow-er!"


    "Roar!"


    "Whoo¡­"


    Waves of unpleasant and scary zombie roars could suddenly be heard from the surrounding area, following which, large groups of ordinary zombies showed up from all sorts of corners.


    These zombies rushed at the few vehicles and scratched them, crowding around the vehicles like ants. Some of them were stabbed to death by the thorns on the vehicles, but more zombies climbed up through their bodies and made the vehicles swing.


    At that point, Qiu Lili''s eyes glowed with a red light and her claws were spread out. All of a sudden, waves of light radiated from her body, and soon, the ice pieces on her hair and face disappeared.


    Those ice pieces seemed to be evaporated.


    Then, she reached her hands toward Yang Jianhua, prepared to pounce on him directly. But in the next second, she stopped abruptly and turned to scream toward Lin Hao and his family.


    "Ah!"


    The zombies which were approaching them paused simultaneously, then turned away from them reluctantly and slowly, moving toward the vehicles.


    At the moment, Yang Jianhua had woken up from the shock brought by Qiu Lili''s last scream. He glanced at the suddenly appeared zombie crowd, then raised his hand high and made a gesture toward the sky.


    After that, the few armored vehicles which hadn''t done anything till now finally began moving. The weapons placed on the vehicles all fired at the zombies, producing waves of gunshots.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    ¡­


    In the space, Lin Qiao had no spare attention for what was happening on the outside after she brought Lin Feng in.


    Seeing the shadow in Lin Feng''s chest become larger and larger, she hurriedly put him on a long couch and helped him to lie down. Then, she picked a cup from the table nearby and ran to the lake. After fetching some water from the lake, she ran back to the couch and slowly poured it into his mouth.


    Lin Feng had already passed out. However, his teeth were clenched tight. Therefore, Lin Qiao had no choice but to open his jaw with one hand and pour the water into his mouth with the other.


    As he was lying flatly, Lin Qiao easily made the water flow into his throat by slightly lifting his head.

 138 The Shadow in His Ches

    Junjun sensed Lin Qiao, so she walked out of the small space with the little boy to see what the latter was doing.


    She curiously watched Lin Qiao trying to heal Lin Feng. She guessed that Lin Feng was the one that Lin Qiao had been looking for, but she didn''t know about their relationship. Judging by Lin Qiao''s attitude toward Lin Feng, she figured that they were pretty close. No wonder Lin Qiao went all the way to the South from Sea City to find him. Fortunately, she came back timely. If she were even a little bit late, this man might have been in serious trouble.


    After pouring a cup of water into Lin Feng''s mouth, Lin Qiao took off her sunglasses to observe the shadow in Lin Feng''s chest with her bare eyes. She found that the shadow had stopped expanding.


    Junjun carried the little boy, stood beside Lin Qiao. Sensing Lin Feng''s scent, she took a deep breath. Her appetite for human flesh was no longer as strong as before.


    Then, she turned to look at the lake in Lin Qiao''s space, wondering where the water came from and where it was going to. After staying In Lin Qiao''s space for a while, she had felt that the lake wasn''t as simple as it seemed.


    Every time when she nearly lost control of herself and wanted to eat her son, she would go to the lake and drink from it. With that, her mind would become much clearer than before. That was the most noticeable effect of the lake water to her.


    Apart from that, she had eaten Lin Qiao''s snake meat as well, because she was starving. Every time she walked past the few buckets which contained snake meat and lake water, she would sense the snake scent.


    When making snake soup for the little boy, she would force herself to eat some raw snake meat. She had tried boiled snake meat too, and found that it tasted even worse than the raw meat. So, after learning how bad the snake meat tasted after being boiled, she moved on to accept the raw snake meat.


    Therefore, from time to time, she would go pick some snake meat from those buckets for herself to eat. During that process, she was quite amazed by the effect of the lake water in keeping it fresh.


    Maybe because the snake meat had been soaked in the lake water for quite some time, she felt that it tasted less awful than before.


    As the shadow in Lin Feng''s chest stopped expanding, Lin Qiao sighed slightly in relief. She waited for a few minutes, but the shadow didn''t show any sign of shrinking. So, she thought for a moment and went to get another cup of water, then poured it into Lin Feng''s mouth.


    Junjun also knew that the lake water had a healing power for human beings, because during the past few days, the little boy had become much healthier by drinking it. His body had even started to gain weight.


    Junjun felt that her son was slowly becoming more and more energetic.


    Seeing Lin Qiao giving Lin Feng the lake water, she wondered what Lin Feng''s condition was.


    After making Lin Feng drink the second cup of water, Lin Qiao saw that the shadow in his chest started changing, beginning to disappear from the edge.


    ''So, it was because the water wasn''t enough!'' As the shadow started fading, Lin Qiao immediately figured something out. Since the water wasn''t enough, the energy it contained was undoubtedly insufficient as well.


    With that thought, Lin Qiao turned to get the third cup of water, then made Lin Feng drink it.


    After the third cup of water was poured into Lin Feng''s mouth, Lin Qiao found that the shadow was fading faster than before. Soon, she saw the faintly green energy lingering in Lin Feng''s chest.


    On the outside, the people who were knocked unconscious by Qiu Lili''s scream slowly woke up. Yuan Tianxing''s face paled as a few drops of blood flowed out of his mouth corners. He abruptly covered his chest with his hand, because he felt that his internal organs were shaken badly.


    But soon, he forgot about his injuries. He looked at the surrounding zombies which showed up suddenly, then covered his chest with one hand and reached out the other to press in the air before raising them.


    Following his moves, an earth wall slowly rose around the Lin Family people to defend them. After that, Yuan Tianxing held the wall with one hand, then leaned against it and breathed quickly.


    But then, he found something strange. It seemed that the surrounding zombies didn''t even see them, all fiercely rushing at Yang Jianhua''s vehicles.


    "Eh?" He looked at those zombies bewilderedly.


    ''What the hell? Are they ignoring me? But, I''m a living human being!'' He couldn''t understand.


    Next, he saw Qiu Lili charge at Yang Jianhua with a ferocious look. Her ten claws were burning with a purple-red fire.


    Yang Jianhua''s sneak attack failed to hurt Qiu Lili, but pissed her off awfully. She would surely get angry. After all, this handsome-looking man nearly cut off her hair.


    As Qiu Lili charged at him fleetingly and showed up right before his face within a blink, Yang Jianhua hurriedly raised the ice mirror to protect himself.


    Qiu Lili ignored the ice mirror. The red light in her eyes grew stronger as she darted up to the ice mirror, raised her arm high, and swung directly down toward it.


    Crack!


    Her burning claws scratched the ice mirror and immediately cracked the mirror which seemed to be unbreakable. Right after that, a thunderous noise could be heard as the ice mirror was shattered into pieces.


    Under the explosion of the ice mirror, Yang Jianhua felt that the ice pieces were all flying at his face. He automatically turned his face away and raised his arms to shield his face, also leaping backward to try dodging Qiu Lili''s continuous attack.


    But at that point, Qiu Lili was right before him. How could she let him dodge so easily? Her other palm was swinging directly at Yang Jianhua''s face along with a streak of fire.


    Puff!


    Yang Jianhua managed to create another ice shield to defend himself against Qiu Lili''s claws, but the latter destroyed it in no time. But still, Yang Jianhua grasped an opportunity to turn and run.


    "Retreat!" He gave a shout while stepping on the zombie heads and running toward a safer area.


    ''Wanna run? Not gonna happen!'' Seeing that Yang Jianhua was preparing to run, Qiu Lili snorted and moved swiftly, followed behind him.


    The people in the car received Yang Jianhua''s order of retreat and prepared to drive away. Once the vehicles moved, the zombies on them all fell off.

 139 Yang Jianhua Retreats

    The vehicles were all strongly armored, so these ordinary zombies weren''t able to do them any harm no matter how hard they tried. Therefore, the soldiers in the cars drove the cars away very calmly, leaving the zombie crowd following behind.


    A couple of minutes later, Yang Jianhua, Qiu Lili, the zombie crowd, and Yang Jianhua''s soldiers who had been hiding in the cars all the time for some reason had left.


    Yuan Tianxing leaned against the earth wall, watching the situation unfold with confusion.


    ''That''s it?'' He thought. The sneaky Yang Jianhua showed up in full fury and threatened the Lin Family, yet ended up being scared away by a weird zombie queen.


    He guessed that not even Yang Jianhua himself had predicted that.


    Yuan Tianxing was preparing to neglect his injuries and fight another battle against Yang Jianhua. However, two zombies came out of nowhere. One of them sneakily took Lin Feng away, while the other one beat Yang Jianhua off and went to chase him. It seemed that the second zombie wouldn''t give up until Yang Jianhua was hurt!


    "This¡­ Why is there a wall? Tianxing? Are you out there?" Before Yuan Tianxing figured out a thing, Lin Wenwen''s voice was heard from behind the earth wall.


    He came back to his senses and looked around to find that those disgusting-looking ordinary zombies had all followed Yang Jianhua away, and the area around him had become a zombie-free safe zone.


    Only the stink of zombies remained in the air.


    "What is¡­ What happened just now?" Mrs. Lin asked.


    Yuan Tianxing held the wall and stood straight, raising a hand to wipe away the blood from his mouth corners. Only after that did he lower the earth wall and let the people behind it out.


    "What happened¡­ Why did you build a wall around us? Ah, why was my brain blank just now?" Asked Lin Hao confusedly.


    While speaking, he raised his head to find a large number of zombie bodies around him, and the dark-red zombie blood all over the ground. He then looked further and saw the backs of many zombies tens of meters away.


    "That¡­ What''s going on? Why are there so many zombies? And, why are they all heading that way?" Lin Wenwen didn''t understand why those zombies ignored a group of living human being but all moved that way.


    "Yang Jianhua''s people and vehicles have all left!" Long Qingying said abruptly.


    "Yang Jianhua and that zombie are gone as well! Long Qingying, are you sure that the zombie with sunglasses is still here?" Lin Hao quickly looked around, then asked Long Qingying with a loud voice.


    Once noticing that both Yang Jianhua and Qiu Lili had disappeared, the Lin Family people forgot about what happened earlier and stopped wondering why Yuan Tianxing built a wall around them.


    Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing glanced at each other. Neither of them could give an answer, because Lin Qiao and Lin Feng had disappeared for a while, and the young female zombie had left as well.


    "Lin Feng¡­ Lin Feng isn''t eaten, is he?" Mrs. Lin spoke in panic. Once she said that, the others all fixed their eyes on Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying.


    "The other day, they showed up in the South, asking around about you." Long Qingying said, "They happened to run into us and saved us for a few times. Back then, we didn''t tell them about you, yet they still found out. In the end, when we were trapped and hopeless, they saved us again."


    Hearing Long Qingying''s words, Du Yuanxing hurriedly nodded and echoed, "Yeah, yeah, yeah! At first, he told us that he was looking for you was gonna help you. We didn''t believe him either, so we didn''t tell him much. But later on, he said that he would go to Sea City to find you. Huo Wu failed to kill us, and will certainly try again. So, we left the South and followed him to you."


    Lin Hao snorted and responded, "You''re so brave that you traveled with two zombies which can destroy you within a blink of an eye. But, it''s been so long, and my brother and that zombie haven''t shown up yet. How do you explain that?"


    "We didn''t know that¡­ that little girl is a¡­ a zombie queen." Du Yuanxing muttered. If they knew that, they would never dare to follow them! Before, Du Yuanxing thought that both Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili were at level-four or five. After all, the zombie which could write to communicate with human beings couldn''t be ordinary.


    During the journey, only the zombie who had stolen his sunglasses had been communicating with him and Long Qingying. The young female zombie in a white dress didn''t even look at them. Once out of the car, she would stay far away from them.


    "You don''t even know them well enough." Lin Wenwen glared at Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing and said harshly.


    Lin Wenwen and the others didn''t know Du Yuanxing well, and had never talked to him. However, they all knew his name, as he was a level-five superpowered person. Lin Feng was the only one who had spoken to him.


    Long Qingying met Lin Wenwen after the base was built. They became close after Lin Wenwen once helped Long Qingying during a zombie-hunting mission outside the base. Therefore, it was reasonable for Lin Qiao not to know Long Qingying.


    "That''s not important! What''s important is that he didn''t do us any harm. On the contrary, he saved our lives." Long Qingying said blandly.


    She herself felt strange about that as well.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, even human beings wouldn''t help other human beings sometimes. Everyone needed to try as hard as they could to save themselves, so who would care about strangers?


    However, that zombie saved her and Du Yuanxing a few times. At first, she suspected the zombie for having other purposes. But, since the latter had saved her, she had no choice but to accept that fact. At least, the zombie seemed to be harmless to them. However, she had still been keeping vigilance toward the two zombies all the way.


    She didn''t want to believe that the zombie really wanted to help, but what else could she do? As the zombie and his friends also wanted to find Lin Feng, she decided to join them.


    "He saved you for a purpose. He''s a zombie, so why would he save you? He must be up to something!" Lin Hao joined the conversation.


    The Lin Family people stared at Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing seriously. They wanted to believe the two, but they couldn''t understand why a zombie, which knew nothing but eating human beings, would save them. Besides, how on earth could a zombie cure Lin Feng?


    Yuan Tianxing had been looking at the others silently, not because he didn''t want to talk, but because he was barely standing. After hearing Qiu Lili''s scream, his internal injuries had gotten worse, and his mind nearly broke down. He knew that he couldn''t let himself collapse at this moment; so with no other choice, he forced himself to stay clear-minded.

 140 Lin Feng Is Waking Up

    "It''s real!" Du Yuanxing said with an anxious look, "The male zombie has space power. His space is huge. We''ve been in it."


    Long Qingying nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, we''ve entered his space. It''s huge."


    "If it wants to save Lin Feng, why did it take him away sneakily?" Mrs. Lin asked, "Can you tell if it really wants to help Lin Feng or not? At least, it needs to help Lin Feng under our witness. Who would know what it''s really been up to if it keeps everything secret from us?"


    "That¡­ that¡­" Du Yuanxing didn''t know how to respond, but turned to Long Qingying to seek help. Mrs. Lin was right, so he had no idea how to explain.


    Long Qingying thought for a moment and said, "I guess he''s afraid that you may not believe him, and it might require too much time to convince you. Earlier on, I saw Lin Feng in a rather bad condition. He should be helped as early as possible, so that there can be a better chance for him to recover."


    What happened had already happened. Even though the Lin Family people were so worried, they had no other choice but to wait with the last gleam of hope. They couldn''t believe what Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing said, even though they wanted to. But still, they hoped that their words were real.


    They hoped that the zombie was truly here to help them, and that it could cure Lin Feng, and that it would show up again later on with Lin Feng. However, their minds had been reminding them how impossible that was. Why on earth would a strange zombie help them? What did it want? Perhaps, it wanted Lin Feng''s level-six energy nucleus!


    When the Lin Family people were waiting in both despair and a slight trace of hope, two figured showed up behind Lin Wenwen and Lin Hao, right where Lin Feng lay earlier on.


    As the Lin Family people had each made a few steps forward when talking to Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, Lin Qiao and Lin Feng were now behind them.


    After coming out of her space with the unconscious Lin Feng, Lin Qiao turned her head to see the backs of her family. She habitually wanted to raise a foot to kick Lin Hao''s butt when she saw it, but as she needed to hold Lin Feng for the moment, she could only remain squatting.


    She glanced at her little brother''s butt that she wanted to kick but couldn''t, then reluctantly turned her eyes. After that, she saw that Yuan Tianxing was staring at her. However, the latter didn''t say anything to remind the others.


    At the sight of him, Lin Qiao found that his face was pale and he too had a shadow in his chest. The same kind of shadow had also been gathering in his shoulders, waist, stomach, and legs.


    ''He''s injured so badly, but still on his feet. He hasn''t changed at all, always wanting to be stronger and used to endure all the pain. He just won''t let himself fall give up until the last moment.'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t wearing the sunglasses at the moment. She only glanced at Yuan Tianxing quickly before moving her eyes away. Then, she saw Lin Xiaolu who was leaning against her mother.


    She moved slightly, then reached out a hand to poke the back of Lin Xiaolu''s waist. Lin Xiaolu turned back with confusion, then widened her eyes and burst in yells, "Daddy!"


    While staring at Lin Qiao and Lin Feng and shouting, she dragged her mother''s arm as hard as she could.


    "Daddy is back here!"


    Hearing her words, the others immediately looked at her, then turned back to look behind them. After that, they saw the male zombie holding the head of Lin Feng who was lying on the ground, quietly gazing at them with a pair of black zombie eyes.


    All of them were startled and automatically stepped backward.


    In the post-apocalyptic world, any human being would be startled by a zombie which suddenly showed up behind him or her.


    "Lin Feng!" But, after seeing Lin Feng, Cheng Wangxue neglected her injured foot as well as the zombie, limping forward and rushing toward Lin Feng.


    Seeing her darting up, Lin Qiao didn''t move, but squatted there and let her come to Lin Feng''s side.


    The others hesitated for a few seconds. After confirming that Lin Qiao hadn''t shown any hostility, they stepped up alertly and surrounded Lin Feng.


    "Brother! Brother!"


    "Brother! How has he been?"


    Lin Hao too turned back and came close. Lin Qiao pushed Lin Feng toward his family, then stood up and took a step backward.


    As Lin Qiao had really brought Lin Feng back out, and no new wound was found on his body, the others all stared at Lin Feng with disbelief while checking his body.


    Lin Hao squatted to hold Lin Feng''s head, then gently pressed a hand on his chest and focused his sensations. After that, he slightly widened his eyes which was filled with disbelief, then raised his head to look at Lin Qiao.


    "My brother is¡­" He didn''t dare to say for sure, but had to say something. Before he could finish his words, the three ladies had shouted out to ask questions.


    "How is he?"


    "How is our brother? Is he healed?"


    "How''s his injury?"


    Lin Hao took back his hand which was pressed on Lin Feng''s chest, then lifted his eyelids to check his eyeballs, and then gripped his wrists.


    Only after that did he continue, "He¡­He''s fine! He''s in a much better condition than before! Now, he''s just weak, because his energy has run out. His life-force and willpower are both reacting strongly. I think he''ll wake up soon. Brother! Brother!"


    At the end of his speech, he tried to call Lin Feng.


    Lin Qiao stood up, then found that both Qiu Lili and Yang Jianhua had disappeared. Earlier on while trying to cure Lin Feng, she wasn''t paying attention to the outside situation. Only after Lin Feng was almost healed did she close her eyes to sense the outside world. At that time, she found that Mrs. Lin and her others were so worried that they seemed even to want to bite Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing, so she hurriedly brought Lin Feng out.


    The air was filled with the scent of zombies. She guessed that Qiu Lili had summoned a large number of ordinary zombies to this area earlier, and then began wondering where she was now. Did she go after Yang Jianhua?


    While raising her nose to sniff at the air, she took out the sunglasses and put them on. She had sensed Qiu Lili''s scent, and found that she followed Yang Jianhua away. Once she started thinking about Yang Jianhua''s face, her head ached again.


    She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers to try and ease that pain in her brain, but it didn''t work. She sighed, then opened her eyes to look at Yuan Tianxing, as she needed to divert her attention from Yang Jianhua.


    Yuan Tianxing seemed to be in a worse condition than Lin Feng. However, because his energy hadn''t been consumed largely, he managed to remain on his feet.


    Lin Qiao felt that she should offer him a cup of water now. Of course, it had to be the water from the lake.

 141 His Chest Has Stopped Hurting

    Lin Qiao felt that Qiu Lili wouldn''t show up soon, so she turned to look at the others. Lin Wenwen, Lin Hao, Mrs. Lin, Cheng Wangxue, Lin Xiaolu and the other few had surrounded Lin Feng, who was lying on the ground.


    Earlier on, she paid all her attention to Lin Feng''s condition, but didn''t have the time to look at the others carefully. Now, she gave them a closer look and found that each of them had changed a lot, especially Xiaolu.


    In Lin Qiao''s memories, Xiaolu was a little baby up to her knees, who had just learned to walk and was still learning how to speak. But now, she could reach Lin Qiao''s waist, and her tiny and chubby arms and legs had all become slender.


    She was wearing a purple dress and a white coat. Her chubby face had become delicate and adorable, and her eyes were bright and looked canny.


    She was squatting by Lin Feng''s legs and leaning against her grandmother, but from time to time, she had been turning to Lin Qiao to look at her confusedly and curiously.


    Lin Wenwen looked much more mature than before. Her pretty face now wore a look of determination. However, Lin Qiao could tell that she was still nice and gentle. As long as her bottom-line wasn''t touched, she would continue to be like a fair lady.


    Lin Hao had turned into a capable young man from an impatient boy. His good-looking face was now added with a manly presence, that made him look more mature than before.


    Lin Qiao''s younger brother and little sister were both kind and mild, but once they got angry, they would become scary. Not even Lin Qiao dared to piss them off.


    Lin Qiao and all her siblings had inherited the good genes of their parents. Each of them had a beautiful face; even Lin Feng, who was already thirty-five years old, looked handsome and hearty.


    Among all of Lin Qiao''s family members, the one who changed the least was her mother. Mrs. Lin was nearly sixty years old, but still looked energetic. Only her vibe had changed a little.


    She now looked much stronger than before. As always, she had been quietly standing behind her children to support them. Even though her children had all grown up, she still looked at them as children who needed caring.


    It seemed that the post-apocalyptic world had changed everyone quite a lot. Even Lin Wenwen and Lin Hao, who used to be harmless, now looked a little aggressive. Lin Qiao''s sister-in-law, Cheng Wangxue, still had a hot temper. As same as the old time, she could suffer losses quite easily.


    Lin Qiao carefully observed her family, and found that except for the injured Lin Feng, the others were all healthy. It seemed that her big brother had been protecting them quite well.


    She felt lucky for coming back. If she spent an extra couple of days on her journey, she couldn''t imagine how bad the consequences would have been.


    Thinking that Lin Feng''s energy nucleus might be damaged because of the internal injuries he had suffered, Lin Qiao raised a strong intention of killing toward Yang Jianhua.


    Maybe because her intention of killing was too obvious, Lin Hao, Lin Wenwen, Yuan Tianxing and the five soldiers suddenly turned to look at her.


    In their eyes, Lin Qiao was a skinny, medium height man, face covered in scars, wearing a pair of sunglasses, looking exactly like a gangster. Back in the old world, all the kids would be freaked out by a man like that, and even adults would avoid him.


    However, the Lin Family people now felt that the sunglasses looked better than her pair of black zombie eyes.


    At that moment, Lin Feng''s chest shivered, then he gave a cough.


    "Em-hem¡­ em-hem¡­ hem¡­"


    Hearing his voice, the others immediately turned their heads back and forgot about Lin Qiao temporarily.


    "Brother! You''re awake!" Lin Wenwen said to Lin Feng with surprise. Seeing Lin Feng slowly opening his eyes, Lin Hao reached out a hand to feel his pulse, then nodded and sighed in relief, "He has woken up. That means he''s healing. He''ll recover soon if he gets enough rest. But, because of our brother''s current condition, we can''t keep running now."


    Lin Feng opened his eyes to look at the others and muttered to ask, "What¡­What happened to me? Did I pass out?"


    The others nodded in response.


    "You were holding off Yang Jianhua''s attack, and you vomited blood. Don''t you remember that?" Said Cheng Wangxue.


    "Ah, I remembered. Where''s Yang Jianhua then? Are you all good?" Lin Feng knitted his brows to think for a moment, then recalled what happened earlier and hurriedly asked them if they were fine.


    He nervously looked at the others. After finding out that they were all beside him and perfectly unharmed, he sighed in relief. Then, he soon discovered the ones who had arrived later.


    "Eh? Tianxing! Why are you here? And Qingying¡­and Du Yuanxing? How did you guys¡­" Lin Feng greeted those people with surprise and joy.


    "Daddy! Daddy! How do you feel? Are you in any pain?" Lin Xiaolu had stopped looking at Lin Qiao with curiosity, but fixed her eyes on her dad with worry. Once she said that, the others too began asking about Lin Feng''s situation.


    "Yeah, Lin Feng, how do you feel now?" Asked Mrs. Lin nervously.


    "Lin Feng, is your chest still aching? Wasn''t your chest injured before? How do you feel now?" Cheng Wangxue asked.


    Lin Hao looked at Lin Feng, waiting for him to answer the questions. Being reminded by them, Lin Feng now started paying attention to his body. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.


    After that, he lowered his head in confusion to check his chest, then raised a hand to press on his chest which was injured before. And then, he looked at the others bewilderedly.


    "Why is¡­ I think my chest has¡­ stopped hurting. The dull pain caused by broken lungs, and the suffocating feeling caused by the blood stasis, are both gone. I''m breathing smoothly now. Before, I couldn''t even take deep breath." said Lin Feng.


    After saying that, he looked at his family with confusion and continued, "Did you give me some magical drug? Or, why is my injury healed so quickly?"


    Lin Hao and Lin Wenwen shook their heads together to let Lin Feng knew that they didn''t do anything to heal him.


    "It''s him who saved you, Great Captain!" At that moment, Du Yuanxing suddenly came to Lin Feng, then leaned his head forward from above Lin Hao''s head and said delightedly.


    Seeing that Lin Feng''s condition had gotten better, he became elated. Earlier on, he felt wronged as the others didn''t believe his words. But now, that feeling was gone. He was even a little proud at the moment.

 142 The Strange Zombie

    Seeing him, Lin Feng asked curiously, "Du Yuanxing, I was going to ask why you''re here. Didn''t you stay in the base? And, who is ''him'' that you''re talking about?"


    Du Yuanxing immediately turned back to point at Lin Qiao and responded with, "Ah, him. Do you know him? He says that he knows you¡­"


    Lin Feng slowly sat up. Lin Hao hurriedly tried to help his brother, but Lin Feng didn''t let him. Lin Feng stood up from the ground, then found that his movements were smooth and the pain in his chest was really gone.


    How did that happen? Was his internal injury healed while he was unconscious? What on earth had happened to him that he didn''t know yet?


    He looked at where Du Yuanxing was pointing at and saw a medium height man, face covered in scars and wearing a pair of sunglasses.


    He had never seen this man before, and had no idea who he was. So, he looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe, then turned his head to the others with a questioning look.


    Lin Hao and the others shook their heads and said, "We don''t know him either. We can''t possibly know him since you don''t."


    Lin Feng looked at Du Yuanxing, then at Lin Qiao. After that, he turned back to ask his family, "Then what happened earlier? Why am I healed? And, where''s Yang Jianhua?"


    He glanced around and confirmed that Yang Jianhua wasn''t here. Even his vehicles were gone.


    "Earlier, when your fire shield was broken, Tianxing sank the earth to protect us from Yang Jianhua''s ice weapons in that dangerous moment." Mrs. Lin answered the question, "Then, the other few showed up as well."


    While speaking, Mrs. Lin pointed at Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, "Yang Jianhua was beaten off, by a¡­em¡­a girl."


    She was going to say ''a female zombie'', but as she realized that Lin Qiao was standing right there, she changed her words.


    After all, Lin Qiao was really there to help them, for whatever purpose. At least till now, this strange zombie had been showing a friendly attitude. And magically, he somehow managed to heal Lin Feng''s injury within such a short time.


    "He, he, he said that he knows you, and that''s why he came to find you. Long Qingying and I followed him here from the South, also to find you. Deputy Chief Yuan showed up earlier when you were in danger, and we were just slightly later than him." Du Yuanxing said.


    Lin Feng glanced at Lin Qiao, then asked Du Yuanxing with a low voice, "He knows me? But I don''t think I know him."


    "Well, he said so," Du Yuanxing replied, also with a low voice.


    Lin Feng thought carefully and confirmed that he really didn''t know this scar-faced man. Then, he asked Lin Qiao loudly, "May I ask your name? According to them, my injury is cured by you. I can''t do much to express my gratitude to you at the moment. But in the future, if you need any help, please come to me."


    Hearing his words, Lin Qiao looked at him and nodded.


    Lin Feng felt strange about Lin Qiao''s silent response. With a low voice, he asked Du Yuanxing, "I''m sure that I don''t know such a man. Who is he? Don''t you know about that? Which base did he come from?"


    "Eh¡­He is¡­" Du Yuanxing looked at Lin Qiao, wondering if he should directly tell Lin Feng about the fact that this strange man was a zombie instead of a human being.


    "Brother, he''s not a man. He''s a zombie," Lin Wenwen said abruptly.


    Hearing her, Lin Feng widened his eyes in shock, staring at Lin Wenwen and asking, "Wenwen, what did you say? I think I didn''t hear you clearly as the wind is too loud."


    Lin Wenwen wanted to roll her eyes, while the others wanted to laugh.


    Lin Hao nodded and said, "That''s true, brother. He is indeed a¡­eh¡­a special zombie!"


    Lin Feng stared at Lin Hao as if the latter was crazy, and the latter felt a little speechless. ''Damn, I''m telling the truth! Why are you looking at me like that? I''m not crazy!'' Lin Hao complained silently.


    At that moment, Mrs. Lin put her arm around Lin Xiaolu''s shoulder and said, "You can ask him yourself if you don''t believe it."


    While speaking, she glanced at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng was so confused by his family. He didn''t believe their words, so he turned to Lin Qiao and continued asking, "Eh, how shall I address you? Why did you help us?"


    Lin Qiao took out the notepad under Lin Feng''s gaze, then thought for a moment and wrote¡ª''My name is Lu Tianyu. I am a zombie indeed. They didn''t lie to you.''


    Finishing writing, she tore off the piece of paper, wadded it up, and threw at Lin Feng.


    Lin Feng''s mind wasn''t fully cleared yet, but still, he automatically caught the wad of paper, then unwrapped it and read the note. After that, the look in his face turned strange.


    He raised his head and saw that Lin Qiao had taken off her sunglasses to show her completely dark eyes.


    Compared with Lin Feng who was dumbfounded at the moment, the others seemed to be much calmer. At that point, Yuan Tianxing suddenly fell to the ground on his back.


    "Deputy Chief Yuan!" Long Qingying saw that first and shouted out loud.


    Hearing her voice, the others immediately turned their heads and found that Yuan Tianxing was already lying on the ground.


    As no one was paying attention to her, Lin Qiao disappeared from where she was. The others went to Yuan Tianxing and helped him from the ground. They found that his energy had been randomly flowing inside his body, and his vibe was very weak. His face was ghastly pale, eyes closed tightly.


    "What happened to Deputy Chief Yuan?" Du Yuanxing followed behind the others and asked. Lin Hao felt Yuan Tianxing''s pulse, then pressed a hand on his chest to sense his body condition. After that, he checked a few other parts of Yuan Tianxing''s body, and finally began talking with a serious look.


    "Brother Tianxing is injured even more severely than my big brother. My brother''s injury got worse because his energy was consumed up, but brother Tianxing has been injured for a month. It seems that he''s been bitting the bullet the whole time, and hasn''t rested."


    "He has been missing for a month." Mrs. Lin said, "I didn''t think that he''d come here to find us. He must have been through something awful. I suppose he has been in a difficult condition this whole while."


    Lin Feng finally woke up from the shock given by the fact that he was saved by a zombie. He came over to check on Yuan Tianxing, then said, "Eh, that, that man just now¡­ He cured me just now, so he should be able to cure Yuan Tianxing as well. Where is he?"


    While speaking, he turned to look at the others, then where Lin Qiao was. However, he didn''t see the zombie. "Eh?" He murmured in confusion as he looked around but failed to find a trace of the zombie.

 143 The Energy Of The Water

    The others looked around as well and found that Lin Qiao had disappeared indeed.


    "Did he go back into his space?" Du Yuanxing wondered aloud, "Great Captain, do you have any idea what he did to you earlier?"


    Lin Feng shook his head with confusion, then asked, "Didn''t you see how he saved me? I was unconscious. How can I possibly know anything?"


    "He brought you into his space," Lin Hao said. "So, we don''t know what he did to you. He didn''t ask our permission when taking you. Instead, he just stole you away."


    Somehow, Lin Feng felt that Lin Hao made him sound like a lifeless object. So, he looked at Lin Hao with a strange expression and asked, "He stole¡­ well, he sneakily took me away. Didn''t you see it? Did you just let him take me?"


    He suddenly felt lucky that the zombie didn''t eat him or dig his brains out. If anything like that happened, he wouldn''t even have a chance to come out of that space again. Thinking these, a wave of coldness spread to his entire body from his spine.


    As the others were prepared to answer his question, a figure suddenly showed up.


    It was Lin Qiao, holding a cup of water. She walked over and handed the water to Du Yuanxing, who was the nearest to her, then pointed at Yuan Tianxing.


    "Is this for him? What kind of water is this?" Du Yuanxing took over the cup of water without knowing why. He didn''t give the water to Lin Hao, but glanced at the others and asked.


    He surely didn''t dare to give the water directly to his Deputy Chief, because he wouldn''t know what to do if anything happened to Yuan Tianxing after the latter drank the water.


    Lin Qiao stood beside Du Yuanxing, took out the notepad to write.


    Seeing her coming over, all the others except Long Qingying automatically took two steps backward to get away from her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t care. She was a zombie, so it was already very nice for these people to let her get so close, and it was completely normal for them to want to keep a distance from her. If she didn''t save Lin Feng earlier, these people might not be facing her so peacefully.


    She saw them as her family, but they saw her as a weird and dangerous zombie.


    She wrote some words, then instead of ripping off the paper, she raised the notepad to show Du Yuanxing the note.


    ''I didn''t do anything to Lin Feng but give him a few cups of water like this.''


    Both Du Yuanxing and Mrs. Lin, who stood beside him, read the note.


    "This wasn''t isn''t from your lake, is it?" Du Yuanxing knew that Lin Qiao had a lake in her space. Except for the lake, no other water source existed in her space.


    He thought of the lake and Yang Cheng''s death. The water had soaked a dead man and a dead zombie¡­


    Du Yuanxing glanced at the others and felt that he shouldn''t mention it. Earlier on, he had drunk some of the lake water too.


    ''But, can the water really cure internal injuries?'' He wondered.


    According to Lin Qiao, Lin Feng was now able to stand up and walk around only because he had drunk a few cups of lake water. However, Du Yuanxing didn''t want to believe it. He thought that maybe the zombie had added something in the water.


    Lin Qiao nodded at him, then put down the notepad. She had told them that the water had a healing power, but she didn''t know if these people would believe her. If they refused to believe her, she would have to get Yuan Tianxing into her space to help him.


    At the moment, Mrs. Lin was wearing a bewildered look. She felt that this zombie''s handwriting was so familiar, especially the name of Lin Feng that he wrote.


    Du Yuanxing thought for a moment, then handed the water to Lin Hao and said, "Take a look. I think the water is fine, if it''s from that lake."


    Lin Hao took over the water, then dipped his finger into it while asking curiously, "Does he have a lake in his space? How big if his space?"


    Du Yuanxing spent a short while thinking, then responded with, "About three kilometers square. The lake is as large as a football field."


    Lin Hao dipped some water from the cup, then rubbed it with his thumb and forefinger. After that, he showed a confused look and said, "Eh? I sensed something different from the water, but I can''t tell what."


    His words immediately caught the others'' attention and made them look at him.


    "What is it?" Asked Lin Feng.


    Lin Hao put the cup under his nose, then closed his eyes to sniff it. Afterward, he reopened his eyes and said, "It''s filled with energy...Gentle energy. I don''t know what it is."


    The others looked at him with curiosity. "You don''t know what kind of energy it is? Is it harmful?" Someone asked.


    "Energy? I''ve drunk some of the lake water earlier, but, why didn''t I feel any energy?" said Du Yuanxing with surprise.


    Lin Hao thought for a moment, then took a sip of the water. He held the water in his mouth to feel it with his tongue, then sensed a mild stream of energy flowing within his mouth. There were no wounds to be healed inside his mouth, but that energy made him feel very comfortable.


    He swallowed that energy, and felt that his esophagus and stomach seemed to have been massaged by someone. He guessed that he would be needing a toilet very soon.


    Lin Hao nodded, then said, "It''s not harmful. It''s good actually."


    Next, he poured the rest of the water slowly into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth.


    After Lin Hao gave the water to Yuan Tianxing, Lin Qiao walked over, took the cup away from Lin Hao''s hand, then stepped back and disappeared again.


    While observing Yuan Tianxing''s reaction, the others glanced at where Lin Qiao disappeared from time to time.


    "Has he entered his space again?" Asked Lin Wenwen.


    "You said that he has a large lake, so his space is even larger, right? What else does he have in there?" Cheng Wangxue asked. At the moment, Lin Feng was holding her, as he had found that his wife''s foot was injured, and that she was nearly disabled from standing.


    "Yeah! It''s the first time for me to meet a zombie with humanity. And, why did he help us?" Lin Feng asked.


    "He said that he used to be your friend and subordinate. Don''t you remember him?" Du Yuanxing said. Lin Feng looked at him confusedly and asked, "My friend and subordinate? But, I don''t remember knowing a zombie like him."


    "Eh?" Du Yuanxing looked back at Lin Feng, also confusedly, "I guess he meant before he turned into a zombie? You had so many soldiers under your command, so perhaps, you just don''t remember him."


    Lin Feng stared at Du Yuanxing while trying very hard to recall that zombie''s face. He tried to fix the zombie''s face in his head, like removing the scars on his face and turning his eyes back normal. But still, he felt that he had never met such a person.


    While doing that, Lin Feng suddenly realized that the face that he pictured in his head was a woman''s face.


    But before the woman''s face faded in his mind, the zombie showed up again, and the cup in her hand was refilled with water.

 144 Three Cups of Water

    After coming out of her space, Lin Qiao glanced at the few people squatting around Yuan Tianxing, then turned to find that her big brother was staring at her with a strange look. Lin Qiao knew that he was picturing something in his head, because that look on his face was very familiar to her.


    He was her big brother, and they grew up together. So, she clearly knew that the look in his face meant, not to mention how obvious it was.


    She looked at Lin Feng and figured that he might be imagining something about her. She didn''t mind, just turned to hand the cup of water to Du Yuanxing.


    "Should we give him more?" Du Yuanxing took over the cup and asked. Lin Qiao pointed at Lin Feng, then at the cup in his hand, then raised three clean fingers.


    Seeing that, Lin Feng asked without thinking, "Do you mean that you gave me three cups of water like this, and then I was cured?"


    Lin Qiao nodded at him.


    Du Yuanxing fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao''s hand and said, "Your hand is quite clean. Don''t all zombies have dirty hands, because of all the blood and dirt¡­"


    "Alright, just hand me the water first." Lin Hao, who had been waiting for him to pass the water, couldn''t help but say out. Du Yuanxing hurriedly gave him the water.


    Lin Hao took over the water and started pouring it into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth. While doing that, he said, "I think this water is very helpful for healing Brother Tianxing''s internal injuries. It hasn''t shown any obvious effect on the trauma, but is still effective."


    Hearing that, the others looked at Lin Hao with glowing eyes, then turned to Lin Qiao with surprise.


    Lin Qiao was looking at Lin Hao in astonishment. She was surprised that the latter was able to sense the energy in the lake water. Soon, she began wondering if her little brother had super sensations.


    Lin Hao poured the second cup of water into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth, then handed the cup to Lin Qiao without waiting for her to get it herself. Lin Qiao knowingly took two steps forward to get the cup, then stepped back and flashed into her space again.


    This time, the others didn''t step back to avoid her.


    "Granny," Lin Xiaolu raised her head to look at Mrs. Lin and asked, "can his face be fixed?"


    Mrs. Lin knew that she was talking about the zombie''s face. The little girl''s question made her begin wondering. Since the water could cure injuries, why didn''t the zombie fix his face with it? Or, was the water only effective on human beings?


    She thought for a moment, then replied to her granddaughter, "His body isn''t the same as ours. Perhaps, his face will recover in the future."


    Hearing their conversation, the others had the same question as Mrs. Lin did. They too didn''t understand why the zombie didn''t heal himself with the water. Was it because he was a zombie?


    Lin Hao looked at them, knowing what they were thinking. Abruptly, he said, "He doesn''t have life-force. I think that''s why the energy contained in the water isn''t effective on him."


    He turned to point at Yuan Tianxing, then continued, "The energy contained in the water has been restoring Brother Tianxing''s body very quickly, and stimulating his life force. Two cups of water aren''t enough for him. He needs another cup. After drinking the third cup of water, the energy in his body would be saturated, and then its effect won''t be so obvious."


    Mrs. Lin looked at him and asked, "Are you saying that Tianxing can only absorb the energy in three cups of water? Like, the fourth cup of water will be ineffective on him? Your brother recovered quite quickly, but why hasn''t Tianxing woken up yet?"


    "Do you remember how long did the zombie and my brother disappear just now?" Lin Hao spoke. "My brother was still unconscious when the zombie brought him out."


    "The most important for now is for us to find a clean place to settle down as soon as possible. It''s getting dark soon. We need to find a shelter to hide from zombies before dark. Also, we need to let Tianxing get some good rest. Tomorrow, we''ll make some plan." Lin Feng said.


    Hearing him, the others all nodded. Lin Wenwen looked at him and Cheng Wagnxue, then said, "You and Wangxue need to rest as well. I wonder if the zombie''s water can heal Wangxue''s foot."


    While speaking, she fixed her eyes on Cheng Wangxue''s legs, who shook her head while smiling and said, "I''m fine."


    "Yeah, it''s afternoon already." Du Yuanxing agreed, "We should find a place to rest. We don''t need to worry about zombies though. As long as he and that young female zombie are with us, the others zombies won''t dare to approach."


    He said that based on what he had experienced during the past few days. The other zombies all avoided them once seeing them.


    "Alright! Let''s wait for him to come out the. After Tianxing has taken the third cup of water, we''ll start looking for a place to get over this night¡­ hem¡­" Lin Feng coughed while speaking.


    "Alright, Lin Feng, stop talking! We''ll do what you said. We''ll find a place to get over the night." Maybe because he was talking too much, Lin Feng''s body seemed to be a little stressed. Noticing that, Mrs. Lin immediately interrupted him.


    At that point, Lin Qiao showed up and handed Lin Hao the cup of water. After Lin Hao poured the water into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth, she took the cup back. Then, she flicked his hand, and the cup disappeared.


    "Eh¡­ Lu Tianyu, right?" Du Yuanxing said to Lin Qiao, "We prepare to find a place to rest. I wonder if you have any recommendation."


    Lin Qiao was stepping back. Hearing Du Yuanxing''s words, she glanced at the group of people, then turned her head to sniff at the air. She didn''t catch any useful scent, so she turned around and walked to the tree nearby. From four or five meters away, she suddenly ran up and hopped onto the tree. After that, she stepped on the tree and leaped onto the building next to the tree.


    Watching her climbing onto the tall building like a nimble monkey, the others were amazed, feeling that it was so convenient for her to do that.


    Among the group of human beings, only Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were capable of that. As level-six superpowered human beings, they were able to support their bodies with their powers and make themselves faster and nimbler; the others couldn''t do the same.


    After climbing onto the roof, Lin Qiao stood on the highest spot to look around at the surrounding buildings. They were at the edge of the city. This area wasn''t busy in the old world, but still had some large malls, supermarkets, and hotels.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while looking, then found a tall building two miles away. The signboard on that building was partially blown away by the wind, but was still recognizable as the signboard of a hotel.


    She glanced at the hotel, then immediately turned back to leap down from the top of the ten-story building, and landed on the ground like an agile cheetah.

 145 Leave Temporarily

    After leaping off the building, Lin Qiao took out the notepad and wrote a few words, then raised a hand to point at the hotel. The others then read her note¡ª''There''s a hotel building.''


    "Hotel building? That will do. How far is it?" Asked Mrs. Lin. Lin Qiao showed her two fingers in response.


    The others glanced in that direction. They didn''t see any hotel building in a few hundreds of meters around them, so they guessed that it was two miles away from where they were.


    "Two miles?" Lin Hao tried confirming.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then habitually gave him a thumbs up. Lin Hao glanced at her thumb with a weird look, then turned to look at Lin Feng and Mrs. Lin and said, "It''s only two miles away. We can walk there."


    "Jingchen, please carry Brother Tianxing." Then, he suddenly shouted to one of the few soldiers who had been silently standing beside him. The tall and strong soldier named Wei Jingchen immediately wore his rifle to his chest, then rolled up his sleeves and walked over, squatting before Yuan Tianxing.


    After that, the others helped Yuan Tianxing up and put him on Wei Jingchen''s back.


    Lin Qiao began moving toward the hotel building ahead of the others. In fact, she wanted to bring all of these people into her space, but it wasn''t the time to do that. These people weren''t familiar with her yet, so they definitely wouldn''t be willing to enter her space.


    Lin Wenwen walked to Cheng Wangxue, then said to Lin Feng, "Brother, I''ll hold my sister-in-law. You don''t look good. Are you feeling unwell?"


    Lin Feng didn''t reject her, but delightedly pushed his wife to his younger sister. After that, he slowly walked to the side. "I''m fine, don''t worry!" He said.


    "Is it fine for us to follow him?" At that moment, the leader of the group of soldiers came to Lin Hao''s side and asked, his hands holding his gun. Lin Hao looked at Lin Qiao''s back and responded, "I''m not sure either."


    "It''s alright! He won''t hurt us," Du Yuanxing came over and joined the conversation.


    "Why are you so sure?" Lin Hao looked at him and asked. Du Yuanxing chuckled, then narrowed his small eyes and replied, "Do you know what he eats?"


    Hearing that, Lin Hao immediately stared at him with a weird look and said, "He''s a zombie. Doesn''t he eat human beings?"


    Du Yuanxing shook his head and said, "No. He only eats animals, not human beings."


    The other few people all looked at Du Yuanxing confusedly.


    "Isn''t he a zombie? I thought zombies only eat human beings. Can higher level zombies live on animals now?" Lin Hao asked with surprise.


    During the past few years, he and his families believed that zombies could upgrade only after eating human beings. They had never seen any zombie attack and eat animals.


    The scientists in their base had run experiments about that. They locked some ordinary zombies with living animals, but after days, those animals continued to be alive as those zombies ignored them. However, once human beings approached, those zombies would immediately burst in roars and try to pounce on them.


    All the bases had been trying during the past few years, but still, no one managed to figure out a way to resolve the zombie virus infection. People didn''t even know how the virus evolved, and how could it trigger superpowers.


    "That is something I don''t know for sure. But earlier on, I saw him hunt animals," said Du Yuanxing.


    Lin Wenwen came closer and said, "How do you know he doesn''t eat human beings? Maybe he has eaten human beings but just didn''t let you see."


    Du Yuanxing paused slightly, then replied with confusion, "Yeah, that''s possible. But, I still believe that he won''t hurt human beings. At least, he has saved my life. He''s a good zombie!"


    The others felt a little speechless. ''A good zombie? Really? Who knows what he got close to you for?'' Lin Wenwen thought.


    Du Yuanxing had no idea that the others felt that he was silly. He glanced at Yuan Tianxing who was carried on Wei Jingchen''s back and said, "So, why did Deputy Chief Yuan show up here? He was missing for a month, right? He was gone when the base was attacked."


    Lin Hao glanced at Yuan Tianxing and thought of his condition. "Brother Tianxing has been injured for about a month," he said, "and some of his injuries are new. I guess something happened to him while he was missing. He''s lucky that he''s still alive. He''s injured so badly, yet he still came for us. I wonder what he has been through."


    "No wonder we couldn''t find him when the base was attacked," said Long Qingying. "I guess he was attacked. After all, he has been at Chief''s side, and is keenly observant. He could have caused some hindrance for the enemies'' plan."


    She was just making a guess, but little did she think that what she said had really happened.


    Lin Qiao was walking at the front while listening to their conversation. She was surprised that Yuan Tianxing had survived after the apocalypse, and had been with the other Lin Qiao, possessing a level-six superpower now. In Lin Qiao''s memories, he was never an ordinary man.


    She guessed that Yuan Tianxing''s earth power would be very useful when reconstructing buildings. Du Yuanxing''s power was rare as well. She didn''t understand why the base didn''t hire them as public officers. After all, their powers could be highly helpful for the base.


    While walking, the group of human beings suddenly discovered that all the surrounding ordinary zombies would automatically move away from Lin Qiao.


    That weird zombie was like a human-shaped zombie expeller!


    A while later, Lin Qiao stopped abruptly, then raised her head to look in another direction.


    "What''s wrong with him?" The people who followed behind her stopped as well. They kept a distance of about two meters from her while watching her moves confusedly.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly turned back, pointed where the hotel building was located, then made a few hand gestures quickly. After that, she turned back and hopped onto the roof of the two-story building next to her, leaping toward the area that she had looked at earlier on and disappearing soon.


    "He¡­ seems to be an ex-special forces soldier." Lin Feng said with a weird expression.


    "Brother, what did he mean?" Lin Wenwen and the other few who hadn''t spent their time in the army didn''t understand Lin Qiao''s hand gestures, so they looked at Lin Feng bewilderedly.


    Only Lin Feng and the few soldiers who didn''t have superpowers understood Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    Lin Feng glanced at the area that Lin Qiao headed to, then looked at the hotel and said, "He told us to go to the hotel without him. The hotel is safe, and we can go over there without worry. He needs to leave for a second, but will meet us at the hotel very soon."


    Hearing his words, Lin Wenwen and the others nodded. "Wow! Brother, you actually know what he meant."


    Lin Feng glanced at her and replied impatiently, "Have you forgotten what kind of job your sister and I did back in the old world?"


    While speaking, he kept moving toward the hotel.

 146 The Running Carp

    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Ah, you used to be soldiers! Eh, do you mean that only soldiers use those gestures?"


    Lin Feng nodded and responded while walking, "That''s why I said he seems to be an ex-special forces soldier."


    "But, why did he make those gestures only to you?" Du Yuanxing asked. "Does he know that you''ll understand them? In this case, he doesn''t need to write anymore. If he has something to say to us, he can simply say it to you by using hand gestures."


    "I am also wondering why he knew that I could understand those gestures." Lin Feng said.


    Du Yuanxing thought for a moment and said, "No wonder he said that he used to be your subordinate. It seems that he knows about you. That''s why he made those gestures only to you."


    Lin Feng spent a while pondering, then nodded. Du Yuanxing''s words could be right.


    Then, Du Yuanxing asked another question, "But, why did he suddenly leave? What was he going to do? It seems that he has discovered something rather important just now."


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "I guess so. He''s a zombie, so his sensations are tens of times sharper than ours. I suppose that thing he discovered just now isn''t in this area, so he left temporarily."


    "He left in such a haste. What on earth did he discover?" Du Yuanxing turned to where Lin Qiao disappeared and said.


    ¡­


    After hopping on top of that building, Lin Qiao had darted in another direction. Soon, she made herself invisible and hid her vibe entirely.


    Once she turned invisible, no superpowered human being or zombie could discover her. The invisibility disabled her from attacking, but didn''t limit her from moving.


    She leaped faster across building tops. The buildings in this area weren''t tall; most of them had six to seven stories, while some small factory buildings only had three to five stories. Only the residential buildings were relatively taller, a few having over ten stories.


    Anyway, none of these building could slow Lin Qiao down. About twenty minutes later, she leaped across all the buildings and arrived at a large park. This park was about ten miles away from the hotel where Lin Feng and his people were heading to.


    Just now, she sensed something special from this park. That thing was very attractive to her.


    It was edible!


    When she arrived at this park, she found that all the plants in this place were thriving. The trees were incredibly huge, many reaching thirty or forty meters in height; some were even fifty to sixty meters tall.


    Lin Qiao walked around the park and found its entrance. The building which had the name of this park carved on it was already wrapped in red fire vines, and the park name was no longer visible. Lin Qiao glanced at the building; in her eyes, these red vines were dark-grey, and all the other things were white or light-grey.


    She peered into the park and sniffed at it; then, she walked in.


    The small square behind the entrance was occupied by all sorts of strange mutant vines. Lin Qiao walked straight in, then took a side path. She needed to bend over to get through. If she didn''t, she would run into branches and vines.


    She kept moving forward. When she found the path blocked completely, she would pop her claws to cut off those branches and vines. After about ten minutes of walking and cutting, she finally walked out of the woods area and arrived at a lawn.


    The lawn was a tangle of overgrown weeds. In fact, there were many bugs in the weeds, and Lin Qiao could feel them. When she came through the woods just now, she had sensed some bugs as well. But, for an unknown reason, these bugs wouldn''t land on her body. A spider accidentally fell on her shoulder, but soon hopped away from her without lingering.


    ''Are these bugs afraid of zombies?'' She wondered. She didn''t pay too much attention to those bugs, but walked to the lawn. She stood by the side of the woods to look at the other end of the lawn. A lake was located in that area, and the lake water was dark-green. Lin Qiao saw a strong virus energy in the lake, meaning that the lake was full of virus.


    Some creatures lived in that lake. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell what kind of monsters they were, but she guessed that those were some mutant aquatic animals.


    She sniffed at the air and sensed a strong fishy smell from the lake. But at the same time, she sensed something edible, and it was moving.


    Was it a fish? A mutant fish?


    She walked toward the lake. But on her way, she stopped abruptly, because she saw many fish skeletons among the grasses nearby. The flesh of those fishes had been eaten; only the spines and rotten fish heads remained, emitting a putrefactive odor.


    Many fish bodies had been dried by the sun, and the half-rotten fish heads had become dry as well. The lawn looked messy, and the grasses were pressed to the ground, as if something often crawled around.


    Before Lin Qiao figured out anything, her expression changed suddenly, and she immediately turned toward the lake.


    That was because something had come ashore.


    Looking at that creature which had come out of the water, Lin Qiao instantly felt speechless. Except for the four oddly shaped legs, the rest of its body looked exactly like a fish; it was a large carp. Normally, a carp could be one or two feet wide, but this one was seven or eight feet wide.


    Lin Qiao wondered how the four short and sturdy fish legs grew out of it.


    To answer that question, Lin Qiao even wanted to dissect this mutant fish.


    Before she saw that fish clearly, seven or eight footed fishes suddenly crawled out of the water and darted at her fleetingly. They were incredibly fast.


    Lin Qiao was about ten meters away from these fishes, but they only took a few seconds to run past Lin Qiao''s feet.


    Lin Qiao automatically jumped to the side, as she was worried that those fishes might bump into her feet. However, the fishes didn''t touch her feet. Maybe because they were sensitive, they even avoided her feet.


    These fishes brought up a wave of fishy smell that made Lin Qiao cover her nose with a hand. That smell was just too awful.


    Right at that moment, some other noises were heard from the lake surface, followed by a series of water sloshing sounds. Lin Qiao turned back to the lake and saw a group of turtles rushing up.


    Indeed, they rushed up! Their shells looked heavy and thick, yet they swiftly chased after those running fishes. They were much faster than those weird fishes.

 147 Caught Large Turtles

    Lin Qiao immediately raised a hand to take off her sunglasses, then watched the thirty or forty turtles, which were even faster than rabbits, run past her feet.


    Each of these turtles was as large as a washbowl. While running, they pressed the thirty to forty centimeters tall grasses to the ground. The edible thing which attracted her here were precisely these fleetingly running turtles.


    Those fishes were outnumbered by these swift turtles. Before they reached the woods, these turtles had caught up with them and pounced on them. Each fish was targeted by a few turtles. The turtles widely opened their mouths and pierced their weird-looking sharp teeth into those fishes'' bodies.


    Those fishes had thick scales. Lin Qiao could tell that their scales were especially hard, maybe because they often ran on the ground. However, under these turtles'' teeth, these scales seemed to be totally useless. The fish scales were crushed by the turtles, and the fish blood splashed everywhere. Soon, the turtles tore the fishes into pieces.


    Seeing those footed fishes struggle under the turtle teeth, Lin Qiao even felt their pain!


    The fishes were large in size, yet not a single fish managed to survive the group attack from a couple of turtles. Besides, these fishes weren''t much different from the fishes back in the old world, except for their legs. On the other hand, the turtles had shiny sharp teeth which would make anyone afraid. Being bitten by these turtles must hurt like hell.


    Lin Qiao watched the turtles tear the fishes. They were like a bunch of starving wild dogs which had finally found something to eat. They were so fierce that they fought each other even while eating. From time to time, they would turn their heads to bite the other turtles.


    Before long, the few fishes were eaten up, with only their heads and bloody spines remaining. Even their feet were dragged away and chewed up by some turtles.


    Lin Qiao witnessed the whole thing from the beginning to the end, which only took nearly five minutes. ''Oh well, now I know why there''re so many fish bones. It just happened right in front of me!'' She thought.


    She looked at those turtles which had still been lingering around the fish bones. The eight large footed fishes weighed twenty kilograms each at the very least, yet they were swallowed by these ferocious and crazy turtles so quickly. Moreover, the scent of these scary turtles was actually attracting her.


    Should she kill and eat these turtles?


    Seeing that some turtles began drawing back toward the lake, Lin Qiao immediately showed her face and stepped on the shell of the turtle which was moving past her feet.


    The turtle which was trampled by her was startled, and automatically began struggling hard.


    The turtle had an incredible strength. Lin Qiao felt that she was stepping on a large dog. However, the turtle shell helped her. She pressed her foot down and pressed the turtle to the ground. The turtle struggled to stand up but couldn''t, no matter how hard it tried.


    Lin Qiao''s strength was greater than that of a bull, and the turtle was just a turtle.


    While struggling, the turtle turned its head back to try and bite the foot which was stepping on its shell. However, as its neck wasn''t long enough, its teeth couldn''t even touch Lin Qiao''s feet.


    Lin Qiao bent over and gripped the edge of its shell. Then, she suddenly lifted her foot and upturned the turtle, making it fall down on its back with legs pointing up.


    As this turtle was swinging its limbs to try and turn itself over, Lin Qiao glanced at the other turtles and found that they were all drawing back into the water.


    The turtle she caught might have released some kind of danger signal that made the other turtles run. The other turtles swiftly darted back to the lake, and soon jumped into the water.


    Lin Qiao immediately caught up with the turtle which was left behind. Just like how she caught the first one, she stepped on its shell and then quickly turned it over. After that, she went for the third one.


    These turtles weren''t as fast as she was, but still, most of them managed to escape. Lin Qiao moved as quickly as she could and managed to turn seven turtles over.


    Looking at the seven turtles which were rocking on the ground without being able to turn over, Lin Qiao walked toward the relatively larger one. She squatted beside the wash-basin-sized turtle, watching it struggle.


    As Lin Qiao approached, that turtle glared at her fiercely. It bared its teeth and reached its head toward her, seeming ready to attack her. ''Do you still want to attack me? Wait to see how I kill you!'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Lin Qiao stared at this feral turtle and abruptly gave a smile. Then, she reached out a hand, popped her sharp claws, and swung at the turtle''s head.


    Crack!


    The teeth-baring turtle''s head was cut off cleanly by her.


    Lin Qiao took in a deep breath when sensing the refreshing scent of the turtle''s blood and flesh and bones, then began chopping it up. Her claws could even cut stone walls, let alone a turtle. She reached out her forefinger, put her fingernail on one side of the turtle''s body, then cut directly toward the tail.


    Squeak!


    Her fingernail brushed against the turtle shell and produced a shrill noise.


    She drew a line on the turtle''s body. In fact, the turtle shell had already been cut open by her. At the moment, as long as she split the turtle shell, the turtle''s flesh would be exposed.


    When she tore the turtle shell into two, a white figure suddenly showed up on the lawn.


    Lin Qiao quickly glanced at Qiu Lili who appeared abruptly, then dropped her head to look at the turtle which was already split in two. After that, she began digging its internal organs and chewing its flesh.


    Qiu Lili''s red eyes were wide open. She was pouting and wearing an angry look, but at the sight of the few large turtles which were lying on their back and struggling, she immediately came over with curiosity.


    She was chasing after Yang Jianhua, but failed to catch him. The latter had hidden in a certain way, and she couldn''t find him any longer. She wasn''t willing to give up, but still, she decided to come back and find Lin Qiao.


    She found that Lin Qiao was in this lakeside park alone, so she came as well. After arriving, she saw a few turtles lying on their backs while Lin Qiao was cutting up one of them.


    At last, Qiu Lili squatted by the smallest turtle to spin it with her hand. While making the turtle spin like a top, she watched Lin Qiao take out a sharp and exquisite dagger to cut the turtle meat for eating.

 148 Kick The Turtle Like A Ball

    Lin Qiao cut the turtle meat into small pieces with the dagger, then sent it into her mouth with the dagger tip to eat. While eating, she considered what to do with the other turtles that she had caught. She didn''t want to release them, neither was she able to eat them all.


    She wondered if she could keep them in the lake in her space. Would the vines in the lake catch and drain these turtles? The energy in the lake should be harmless to these turtles, so the vines were the only thing to worry about.


    However, the vines seemed to want nothing but energy. These mutant turtles were large, but hadn''t been releasing any energy waves. So, Lin Qiao guessed that these turtles didn''t have energy nuclei. But still, she couldn''t tell if the vines would be interested in them or not.


    While eating, she saw the small spinning turtle before Qiu Lili and suddenly had an idea.


    ''Maybe I should put one of these turtles in the lake first, and see what''ll happen,'' she thought.


    While thinking, she glanced at the other turtles, then continued eating.


    Watching her eating with appetite, Qiu Lili stood up and curiously walked over. Qiu Lili also fed on animals, but she never liked the taste. For this reason, she would only eat animals once in a blue moon to replenish the energy of her body, or, she would kill a few level four or five zombies and absorb their zombie nuclei. She didn''t want to eat human beings, even though they smelled delicious.


    As Qiu Lili came over, Lin Qiao cut off a piece of turtle meat and handed it to her with the dagger.


    Qiu Lili squatted behind her, arms crossed before her chest. She leaned her head forward to sniff at the turtle meat, then slightly twisted her delicate eyebrows. But still, she opened her mouth to bite the piece of meat.


    After biting the meat, she frowned even harder. As she chewed the meat, it made her pause and knit her brows. Looking at her struggling expression, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but smile.


    Qiu Lili glanced at her frowningly. She wanted to spit the turtle meat out, but as Lin Qiao was laughing at her, she chewed it for a few more times, then forced herself to swallow it.


    Lin Qiao looked at her with a smile. ''Is it really so bad? Look at your face¡­'' she said to Qiu Lili with her eyes.


    After swallowing the meat, Qiu Lili left the other half of the piece of meat on Lin Qiao''s dagger tip and stood up. She then turned and walked back to that relatively smaller turtle which had just stopped spinning, and began playing with it again.


    Lin Qiao watched her go away, then looked at the half piece of meat on her dagger tip. She put the meat into her own mouth, as she didn''t want to waste it. It might be a little gross as it had Qiu Lili''s saliva on it, but Lin Qiao didn''t mind. Back in the old world, she and her soldier friends often shared foods like this during missions. None of them would feel disgusted.


    She was a zombie now, so she didn''t need to be afraid of the virus contained in Qiu Lili''s saliva.


    She quickly finished this turtle, then threw away the shell. After that, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and stood up, putting the dagger away.


    She walked to another turtle and grabbed its tail. Then, both she and the turtle disappeared. Qiu Lili glanced at where she disappeared, then continued spinning her turtle.


    After bringing the turtle into her space, Lin Qiao directly threw it into the lake.


    Plop!


    The turtle fell into the water, then immediately began swimming toward the deeper area.


    Lin Qiao was able to sense the turtle and its movements. However, she couldn''t sense those vines. Only when she vines showed up could she see them.


    Soon, she found the turtle swimming happily in the lake.


    She waited for a while, but nothing happened in the lake. ''Are those vines really not interested in the turtle?'' She began wondering with hesitation, ''No vine is showing up. Maybe they''ll come out later.''


    As she was thinking if the vines would leave the turtle alone, something was suddenly sensed from the bottom of the lake.


    Lin Qiao thought that what she had been worrying about was now happening. Then, she sensed that the turtle had stopped moving, as if it was wrapped up by something. She knew that the vines had made their move.


    Before she began wondering if the vines would absorb the turtle, she saw a thing being thrown out of the lake.


    The turtle was thrown out of the middle of the lake, and was flying toward Lin Qiao speedily.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao honestly didn''t know what to say.


    She glanced at the vine which had stuck out of the water surface while throwing out the turtle. But soon, the vine drew back into the lake.


    She guessed that the vines didn''t like the turtle.


    The turtle thudded against the ground next to Lin Qiao''s feet. It had nearly fainted, and didn''t realize what was happening. In order to confirm her thought, Lin Qiao suddenly raised a foot and kicked the turtle back into the lake like a ball.


    Plop!


    The turtle drew an arc in the sky, then fell back into the lake. As Lin Qiao expected, the turtle was thrown back out within a minute.


    ''Damn! Is the vine conscious!'' Lin Qiao thought.


    She looked at the turtle which had flown back to her and thought for a moment, then once again kicked the poor turtle back into the lake.


    Ten seconds later, the turtle flew back to her. Lin Qiao wanted to laugh at this point. She turned to look at the center of the lake and saw the vines which had stuck out of the water. This time, they didn''t draw back into the water, but were hitting the water surface, generating a series of clattering sound of water.


    ''They''re mad! Haha!''


    As the vines were finally pissed off by what she had done, Lin Qiao laughed out loud. At the same time, she sensed a strong discontentment from the vines.


    Then, she turned to the turtle which was already too weak to make any reaction, and after that, she looked around. On doing that, she saw Junjun standing by the entrance of the small space, looking at her bewilderedly.


    Lin Qiao lowered her head and turned her eyes back to the turtle which was disliked by the vines. As the vines refused to let this turtle be in the lake, they definitely wouldn''t let the other turtles go down into the lake either.


    Should she put those turtles on the grassland? Lin Qiao looked at those strawberry plants and vegetables while thinking. Junjun had been taking good care of those plants, but these fast-running turtles would certainly destroy them.


    What could she do with those turtles? These turtles weren''t as harmless as those baby mice and the rabbit which were hiding among the grasses now. They weighed tens of kilograms, and could destroy those vegetables by simply stepping on them; not to mention the fact that these turtles had sharp teeth.

 149 Wild Giant Vine

    As Lin Qiao finally stopped kicking the turtle back into the lake, the vines slowly calmed down, then drew back in and sank down. Lin Qiao looked at the turtle, thinking about how to keep it in the space alive. She shouldn''t kill all those turtles and keep the meat in buckets like she did with the snake, should she?


    Before she could figure out a solution for the turtles, she suddenly sensed a wave of energy from the outside, and then heard Qiu Lili''s scream.


    "Ah!"


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao left the nearly unconscious turtle and directly flashed out of her space.


    Once out, she saw tens of human-arm-thick vines reaching out of the woods. She couldn''t see the color of the vines, but as they were dark gray in her eyes, she figured that they were all deeply-colored. These huge vines were covered in small and sharp thorns and many leaves.


    About twenty or thirty vines had reached out of the woods toward the lake. These vines danced in the air while wriggling toward the few large turtles which were turned over by Lin Qiao earlier.


    At that time, Qiu Lili was angrily staring at those vines which came for the turtles. She cut off every single vine which had approached her.


    Sticky liquid flowed out of the vines which were cut off. The broken vines soon drew back, but more and more of them had been darting out of the woods, toward the turtles.


    ''What the hell is this? Another conscious vine?'' Lin Qiao thought. Looking at the vines before her, she compared them with the vines inside the lake in her space and felt the latter to be much prettier.


    "Ah!"


    ''They''re coming for the turtles!'' As Lin Qiao showed up, Qiu Lili immediately roared at her.


    Lin Qiao fixed her eyes on these fiercely wriggling vines and suddenly sensed waves of energy from them. It was a strange kind of energy, which wasn''t like the energy of zombies or the energy of superpowered human beings. It was a special type of energy.


    Was it the energy of mutant plants? It seemed that this vine already had a nucleus!


    With that thought, Lin Qiao gave Qiu Lili a roar. ''Wait here, I''ll go take a look,'' she said.


    After that, she made herself invisible, bypassed these vines, and walked toward the woods.


    The vines ignored the invisible Lin Qiao and rushed toward Qiu Lili. Qiu Lili was incredibly fast, so dealing with these vines was a piece of cake for her.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s roar, she understood that Lin Qiao was probably going to deal with the main body of these vines. So, she waited there while playing with the vines which just wouldn''t give up on approaching those turtles.


    Lin Qiao walked into the woods along with these vines and soon found their main body. It was only about ten meters away from the lawn by the lakeside. That area was covered by nothing but vines.


    In the middle of the vines, was a large, fruit-like thing, which was surrounded by a few strange plants.


    These plants didn''t look like parts of the vine plant. They were another kind of plant, growing on the vine. They looked a little like pitcher plants, because they had large bags covered by leaves.


    Their leaves had thick and hard thorns on the edges. At the moment, the few bags of the pitcher plant had been uncovered, exposing their interiors.


    There were three bags, each guarding a side of the fruit. The openings of the bags were facing the outside, as if the pitcher plants were protecting the fruit.


    Lin Qiao sensed that the energy was coming from the fruit. It seemed that there was a nucleus inside it.


    Apart from the energy, Lin Qiao had also sensed a tempting aroma from the pitcher plants'' bags. However, she didn''t like the aroma, because it felt unreal.


    Before the apocalypse, these kinds of plants would emit a certain type of scent to attract some insects or small animals into their bags. Then, they''d cover the bags to trap their preys and secrete a digestive juice to digest them.


    Lin Qiao gently stepped onto the thick vines and leaped toward the center.


    The vines under her feet all paused for a few seconds, maybe cause they had sensed Lin Qiao''s weight, but didn''t sense her vibe.


    The vines in this area were as thick as Lin Qiao''s thighs, and their thorns were very sharp and large. Lin Qiao needed to put her foot between the thorns while walking on the vines.


    While walking, she popped both her claws. She didn''t bring any powerful fire source, so she figured that she should conveniently cut the vine with her claws.


    When she sneakily approached the center of the vines, the aroma became stronger.


    She leaned her head forward to look into the pitcher plant''s bags, and saw the bodies of many rats, some birds, and bugs.


    The bags weren''t large, and were swinging. She didn''t understand why these two types of plants would be together, and how they could benefit each other.


    However, as the openings of the bags were only as big as the screen of a regular sized laptop, those turtles wouldn''t fit in; not to mention the fact that these pitcher plants could never digest the turtle shells.


    In this case, why would the vine want those turtles?


    Lin Qiao looked around, then fixed her eyes on the ends of the vines. Surprisingly, she found the bodies of some other animals, mostly cats and dogs. Those dead animals were pressed under the vines, so she didn''t see them earlier. But now, she found that there were quite a lot of dead animals. Afterward, she checked the other two bags of the pitcher plants and found some dead kittens.


    The strange thing was that the dead animals under the vines and in the bags were all drained. Lin Qiao didn''t even sense the stink of corpses from them.


    The animals in the pitcher plants'' bags were digested to a greater extent. Except for the bones, all other parts of these animals had been absorbed. Unlike them, the dead animals under the vines were simply drained of blood and moisture, turning twisted and dry.


    Lin Qiao gently walked over to a pitcher plant and observed the fruit. The fruit wasn''t large, only at the size of a man''s fist. It looked a little like a persimmon, with a short stem.


    Lin Qiao popped her claws. She didn''t know if these pitcher plants were fierce or not. But, judging from the dead animals in their bags, they should be quite hard to deal with.


    She reached out her pair of claws, flashed into her space, and came out immediately. Then, she swiftly cut at the joints of the pitcher plants'' bags and the fruit.

 150 The Fruit Of The Vines

    Following a series of swishing noise, Lin Qiao cut off the three large bags and the fruit. As the fruit was falling to the ground, she hurriedly bent over and caught it with her hand, then quickly entered her space.


    The pitcher plants'' bags automatically covered their openings while falling on the ground.


    All the vines paused when the fruit was cut off, and then began wriggling intensely. A loud rustling noise could be heard from the surrounding plants as the plants which had reached out all drew back, brandishing on this area and whipping at the surrounding plants over and over again.


    Stirred by these vines, the grass pieces and dust rose in clouds, and the earth shook fiercely.


    The movements of the vines startled all the birds on the surrounding trees, making them flap their wings and fly up into the sky as they left this area as quickly as possible.


    But soon, the vines slowed down and fell softly to the ground, as if they had lost their strength. A couple minutes later, they stopped moving completely.


    Lin Qiao didn''t care what happened out there. After entering the space with the strange fruit, she sat down on a chair beside the lake. Next to the chair was the stone stove that she built to cook for the little boy.


    The chair that she was sitting on was carried here by Junjun. Junjun sometimes put the little boy on this chair while she was cooking for him.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know the little boy''s name yet, because not even Junjun remembered it. Hence, Junjun gave the little boy a new name¡ªTongtong.


    Lin Qiao put the fruit before her eyes to look at it. She found some sticky liquid flowing out of the broken stem of the fruit, the same as the liquid from the vines.


    She looked at the fruit carefully, then pinched it. It was hard, not looking edible at all. However, it was indeed filled with a great amount of energy. However, Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if it contained a crystal-like nucleus,


    She popped a fingernail to cut the fruit from top to bottom, then from bottom to top. After that, she gripped both sides of the fruit and forced it apart.


    Crack!


    Once the fruit was broken, a strong wave of energy flushed out, right toward Lin Qiao''s face.


    She automatically turned her head to dodge it.


    Then, she looked into the fruit and found a thumb-sized white kernel, having a smooth, hard skin. What wrapped that kernel wasn''t pulp, but a thick, very hard shell. Lin Qiao believed that not even a hammer could open this fruit.


    Lin Qiao picked the kernel out with the top of her fingernail, not noticing that a long and dark figure in the lake had swum toward her, and that a small green vine had stuck out of the water at the shoreside.


    The vine reached to Lin Qiao''s feet. Right when she picked out the white kernel, the vine poked her foot with its end.


    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao felt that something was poking her foot as she prepared to try figuring out how to absorb the energy inside the kernel. She lowered her head and found that a familiar-looking vine had crawled to her feet.


    ''The vine plant here is really conscious!'' She thought.


    As Lin Qiao noticed it, the vine immediately rose and pointed at the kernel in her hand.


    Lin Qiao naughtily moved her hand away. As she thought, the vine paused slightly, then followed her hand to the side. After that, she moved her hand back, and so did the vine. As she kept moving her hand, the vine never gave up on following, as if it had to touch the kernel.


    ''Do you want it so much?'' Lin Qiao suddenly felt that the vine was like a child asking for candies. She stared at it, wanting to laugh.


    The vine stopped moving abruptly, maybe because it had sensed Lin Qiao''s thought. It stood straight before her eyes for a while, then reached to her hand and slowly coiled around her wrist.


    ''I want energy! Upgrade!''


    By touching the vine, Lin Qiao received a message.


    ''Eh? Can this help you upgrade?'' Lin Qiao thought. ''I can''t absorb the energy in this kernel, but if I offer it to this vine plant, it might be happy. Perhaps, it''ll give me another treatment.''


    With that thought, Lin Qiao handed the white kernel to the vine, which immediately wrapped the kernel up and quickly dragged it into the water.


    Seeing the vine draw back into the lake with the kernel, Lin Qiao stood up and walked to the lakeside to try sensing something. As she had expected, she soon sensed a wave of energy vibration from the lake bottom.


    After waiting for another while, she suddenly recalled that turtle which she had brought in earlier.


    She turned to where she had left the turtle, but found that it was gone.


    ''Eh? Where did it go?''


    ¡­


    Outside, Qiu Lili was having fun with those vines. But suddenly, she saw those vines pause, then all draw back, leaving her with the turtles. She guessed that Lin Qiao had done something to the vine plant to make all the vines draw back.


    Not long after the vines drew back into the woods, she heard a loud series of noise from that area.


    She didn''t know what happened, but she heard the vines whipping at the ground and the surrounding plants, also the startled birds flying and animals running.


    The noises lasted for a short while, then slowly faded. Soon, that area quieted down again.


    Qiu Lili waited for a while, but the vines never came out again. So, she squatted to continue playing with the turtles, because Lin Qiao hadn''t come back.


    Later on, she raised her head to look at the sky. The sun was setting, but she didn''t know when Lin Qiao would come back. Without any other choice, she stayed here and kept guarding these turtles.


    The bored Qiu Lili spun one turtle, then went to spin another one before the first one stopped spinning, and then the third and the fourth one.


    As the first one was about to stop, she went back to spin it again.


    Soon, she began enjoying this turtle-spinning game alone. This time, she wasn''t spinning only one turtle, but all of them.


    Lin Qiao had caught and turned over seven turtles, but only five were left on the lawn now, as one was eaten by her and another one was taken into her space.

 151 The Space Is Upgrading

    Lin Qiao was looking for the turtle in her space. It couldn''t be in the water, so she looked around and figured that it was hiding among the grasses.


    She closed her eyes to listen to the sounds in her space carefully, then sniffed at the air. After that, she walked to the grass.


    She hadn''t been taking care of the strawberry plants and vegetables in her space for a while. It was Junjun who had been doing the job.


    While walking toward the strawberry filed, she suddenly began wondering how those baby mice had been. She guessed that those mice would often come to eat her strawberries. That gray rabbit loved the strawberries as well.


    Lin Qiao knew that Junjun would come to this area frequently to drive away the few mice and the rabbit. She kept those small animals in her space as stored food, but now, they were living here quite happily.


    That rabbit had somehow become Wu Yueling''s friend, so Lin Qiao decided not to eat it. As for the few mice, she planned to wait for them to grow up and then eat them.


    Following the scent of the turtle, Lin Qiao gently walked into the grasses.


    She walked toward the turtle with light footsteps, then found that it had moved to the edge between the grassland and the white fog.


    Was the turtle trying to get out of her space?


    Lin Qiao silently walked over, looking at the turtle which had been circling by the white fog, seemingly trying to find an exit.


    The turtle sensed her immediately. As it turned back and saw Lin Qiao standing behind it, it immediately hid its head and limbs in its shell.


    Lin Qiao looked at the turtle which was already freaked out by the vine plant in her lake and felt like laughing. She instantly squatted and turned the turtle over.


    As she was thinking about how to deal with this turtle and the few outside, she suddenly sensed that something was summoning her to the center of the lake. It was similar to when she was summoned down to the lake for the first time.


    But this time, her mind continued to be clear.


    She stood up and walked toward the lake. She didn''t notice that as she turned to leave, the white fog behind her was moving backward slowly, exposing some tall and dark shadows.


    Those were like the shadows of trees that people might see in dark nights.


    As the white fog faded, some trees really appeared. These trees were all dark in color, with luxuriant foliage, about ten meters in height. The white fog on this side kept moving backward, and so did it on the other side, by the side of the lake.


    The small space that Junjun and the little boy stayed in didn''t disappear, but began moving backward.


    While playing with Tongtong in the small space, Junjun suddenly sensed a light above her head. Then, she raised her head to find that she was out of the small space. However, she didn''t remember coming outside.


    After that, she looked around and found something even stranger. Not only her, but the bed and other things were all out here as well.


    She turned back and realized that the small space was moving itself away.


    She didn''t move her feet, and suddenly felt that this space had become much larger than before.


    She then carefully looked at the small space and found that it was still moving!


    With surprise, she glanced at the surrounding white fog. She saw that the wall of the white fog was expanding, and also noticed those newly appeared trees by the edge of the grassland.


    ''What¡­ What''s going on? Did Lin Qiao do something to her space?'' She wondered.


    She turned to Lin Qiao, who was by the lakeside, and saw that the latter was taking off her clothes. So, she hurriedly covered the little boy''s eyes.


    ''Don''t look!''


    At that moment, Lin Qiao had walked to the lakeside and taken off her jacket. Then, she turned back to glance at Junjun. Only after finding that the latter had covered Tongtong''s eyes did she take off all her clothes without worry.


    Afterward, Lin Qiao walked into the lake naked. Once she got into the water, something quickly coiled around her feet to gently drag her down.


    She lowered her head and found that it was a vine.


    Being dragged by the vine, she walked slowly into the lake. When the water reached her chest, she dove into the water and moved toward the bottom of the lake.


    Once she was submerged into the water, she found that the energy down in the lake was stronger than before by many times; the glowing green energy had become much darker in color.


    She was a little surprised. Looking at the dark green energy, she wondered if it were the kernel which had strengthened it.


    Before she arrived at the lake center, a few more vines reached to her and coiled around her waist and limbs. Then, the vines dragged her quickly down to the lake bottom. During that process, more vines had reached to her and coiled around her.


    By the time her feet touched the lake bottom, she was already wrapped into a green cocoon. She sensed that familiar numb and itchy feeling from her entire body again.


    ''Can you remove the scar on my face? I hope my face can be fixed this time! Please fix my face first!''


    While enduring that awful headache, Lin Qiao murmured in her heart. She couldn''t tell for sure if the vine plant was able to sense her thoughts or not.


    When she started to sense waves of dull pain from her brain, she took a deep breath to make herself ready.


    As she had expected, the dull pain soon exploded in her brain.


    ''It hurts!'' She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, hands clenched into fists and whole body tightened. The vines were as strong as always. They wrapped her tightly without letting her move even an inch.


    The pain in her head grew greater and greater. She clenched her teeth so tightly that she even felt that her teeth were going to be crushed. But still, she didn''t open her mouth to scream.


    ''Deep breath! Deep breath!''


    At that moment, her brain received a message, and she automatically took in a deep breath.


    Suddenly, she felt a large amount of energy flushing into her brain through her nose. However, that energy didn''t ease her pain, but caused something to burst.


    The head-blowing pain that she had been suffering was upgraded, turning into a horribly hot and swelling feeling in her head. She felt that her head wasn''t exploding anymore, and instead, it was forced to expand by something. She now felt that her head was larger than before by a few times.


    That painful feeling lingered in her head. Her mind was clear, but she would rather pass out and then wake up to find that it was over.


    However, once her mind became a little bit blur, she was woken up by that immense pain.

 152 Heal Again

    The same thing happened over and over again; Lin Qiao didn''t know how long did it take for her to feel numb again.


    All of a sudden, her whole body began shaking. Next, a scorching hot feeling attacked her brain.


    As a zombie, she couldn''t sense temperatures. But this time, she felt that her brain was burning hot, as if her head had become a stove, and was baking her entire brain.


    Her body was almost occupied by numbness, so she was prepared for this. Her face twisted as she couldn''t help but scream out loud.


    "Roar!" Her voice arose from the bottom of the lake, rippling the water.


    After that roar, she felt that her head had truly exploded this time. The explosive pain threw her into unconsciousness.


    She finally passed out.


    Junjun, who was curiously watching the space expanding, didn''t hear Lin Qiao''s roar, but sensed it clearly. She turned to look at the lake and found that the water surface was rippling quietly.


    She didn''t know what Lin Qiao went down in the lake to do. The lake made her feel dangerous, so she didn''t dare to go down there.


    At that moment, the body of the unconscious Lin Qiao had been changing slowly as she had wished. The dark green energy contained in the lake water had been drilling into her body, especially the scarred parts.


    The wounds on her arms and legs had all been healed. Except for the odd skin color and the stiff muscles, her limbs now looked exactly like those of normal people.


    A great amount of energy flowed into her stomach, circled in her body, and then gathered in her brain. The energy quickly activated the dead cells of her body, then filled them up. However, the growth of the cells was a very slow process, especially in her hollowed stomach.


    While activating Lin Qiao''s dead cells, the energy had also been removing the scars on her face as quickly as possible.


    And of course, her breasts were being fixed as well.


    Down at the bottom of the lake, under the roots of the vine plant, a dark light spot had been sparkling. Every time it sparkled, a wave of dark green energy would be released. Most of the energy had been sent into Lin Qiao''s body through those vines, gathering in her brain.


    Nobody knew about that, and the unconscious Lin Qiao surely had no way of finding out about it.


    The scars on her face had been changing bit by bit. A new layer of flesh was growing under her scars, while a strange membrane grew out on her stomach and covered the gaping wound there.


    While the energy was fixing Lin Qiao''s body, Qiu Lili was waiting by the lake outside, feeling very bored. She waited for quite a while, but Lin Qiao never showed up. She didn''t plan on leaving without Lin Qiao, so she kept squatting by the lake and spinning turtles.


    The five turtles had been dizzied by her, and were all hiding in their shells.


    On the other side, Lin Feng and his people arrived at the hotel building, which had forty or fifty stories, after a short walk. As Lin Qiao wasn''t with them, the zombies in the hotel building sensed their scents and all rushed out, pouncing on them while roaring.


    The two level-six superpowered ones in the team weren''t able to fight, so the others needed to deal with those zombies.


    The four female members were shielded by the others. Among the four, Cheng Wangxue was the strongest one. However, her leg was broken by Yang Jianhua''s ice blade earlier on, so she had difficulty moving now.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t have much fighting capacity. Same as Lin Qiao, she had space power. Before the apocalypse, she was just a college student, so she didn''t know how to fight at all. After the apocalypse, she had learned how to use guns under the dangerous circumstances, and her reaction capacity was improved largely. But still, she wasn''t a fighter.


    Mrs. Lin and the little girl were both ordinary human beings. Lin Hao wasn''t a strong fighter either, but his sensations were very sharp.


    Therefore, except for Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying, the others were all holding their guns to blow the head of any zombie that crossed their eyes.


    They had all mastered marksmanship, which allowed them to shoot the enemies quickly and accurately. In the post-apocalyptic era, they were forced to learn some skills.


    However, the few soldiers who had been protecting Lin Feng and his family all the way were all real soldiers. Otherwise, they wouldn''t follow the Lin Family all the way here from the Zhe Province. During the journey, many of their friends had died. Those people weren''t killed by zombies, but by Yang Jianhua and his people.


    The hotel building was located in the middle of the city. Therefore, it was filled and surrounded by zombies. As a group of living human beings had shown up, those slow-moving zombies all gathered toward this area excitedly, baring their teeth and waving their claws, trying to pounce on Lin Feng and his people and bite them.


    However, before they could approach those human beings, their heads were blown up.


    Du Yuanxing released electricity from both his hands to strike the zombies, making them shake and then freeze. Those zombies weren''t dead, but were temporarily disabled from moving. Soon, the electricity faded and they started moving again.


    As usual, Long Qingying gathered the metal objects around her to forge small weapons like metal thorns, then sent them out to penetrate the heads of the zombies which were approaching.


    After that, she would reclaim those metal weapons to prepare for the next round of attack.


    With Long Qingying and Du Yuanxing'' large-scale attack, the group entered the hotel building quite quickly and conveniently. They even had the time to chat during this.


    "Where did that zombie go? It has been so long."


    "Who knows! This hotel looks huge. Look at the lobby¡­ it seems that no other human beings have come here. Later on, we should try finding freezers and other storages. Let''s see if we can find some expired food here."


    "Yes, sir."


    Even though five years had passed since the apocalypse, people could still find some packaged foods which were produced before the old world ended. Many vacuumed or sealed food such as canned food or dried food could be preserved for more than five years.


    Places like grand hotels, large restaurants, or fancy clubs were likely to store sealed foods. As for whether those foods had gone bad or not, that would depend on their luck.


    Some cold storages could maintain a low temperature for a long time even after the power outage. After the apocalypse, the daytime was hot, but the nighttime was cold. Without being exposed to direct sunlight, the ice wouldn''t melt easily. Therefore, some sealed cold storage houses still had lots of ice in them.

 153 Become Bald

    The group of people entered the hotel through the lobby and found that the zombies in the building hadn''t been cleared out. The furnishing in the building was a little messy, but not damaged. Many things remained, albeit covered in a thick layer of dust.


    "This hotel is huge. I can''t believe nobody has come to collect these useful things. The Sea City Base isn''t far away. Hadn''t those people discovered this place? Hadn''t they searched this area yet?" Du Yuanxing asked. They were located in a town at the border of Hang Zhou, the capital city of Zhe Province. This building might be the tallest hotel building in the entire town.


    The hotel was decorated luxuriously. The few crystal chandeliers in the lobby were each worth tens of thousands of yuan, and the furniture pieces which had been scratched broken by zombies were all first-class goods originally.


    Soon, the group of people wiped out the zombies in the corridor and started looking for a place to settle down temporarily.


    ¡­


    At the same time, Lin Qiao''s body was changing in a strange way. A stream of dark smoke came out of her head, looking like the black smoke produced by a burning object. It didn''t spread in the water, but went down through her head slowly.


    The dark green energy seemed to be afraid of the black smoke, because once it appeared, the dark green energy moved away. In the meantime, the vines which wrapped Lin Qiao''s body quickly drew away.


    Soon, the smoke which was released from the top of Lin Qiao''s head covered her entire head. It didn''t stop there, but kept flowing out of her head and slowly moving toward her neck, chest, arm, waist, and the rest of her body. Soon, it wrapped her up entirely.


    After the smoke covered Lin Qiao''s entire body, the vines unwrapped her and all drew back to the bottom of the lake.


    The black smoke didn''t linger on her skin for long, just less than three minutes. After that, it started going back to her head, exposing her body slowly, starting from her feet.


    Her exposed feet and lower legs weren''t the same as before.


    Both her original bluish pale skin and newly grown skin had turned glowing white, like a piece of white jade.


    Her skin tissue had become entirely different from before, but she hadn''t found out about that. The black smoke kept drawing back to her head, exposing her thighs and upper body.


    She still had a large wound in her stomach, which was now covered by a strange membrane. Except for that, her other body parts had all been restored, turned glowing white. Right now, she was looking like a giant piece of jade in the water, and her skin was covered in faint shadows of the rippling water.


    Sensing that the black smoke was fading, the vines which had drawn back to the bottom of the lake reached up and wrapped her body once again.


    Soon, the black smoke disappeared, exposing Lu Tianyu''s perfectly pretty face, which had been restored completely. All the scars on that face were gone.


    However, what had disappeared along with those scars were Lin Qiao''s hair. God knew how Lin Qiao would react when she woke up and touched her bald head.


    This time, the vines didn''t wrap her up entirely, but only coiled on her soft and slim waist, then poked her skin and happily slid over her hairless head.


    She didn''t wake up until the next day.


    When she opened her eyes again, her pupils had become glowing green. The black parts of her eyes only accentuated the greenness.


    However, the greenness in her eyes soon dimmed and faded.


    Lin Qiao blinked, then turned to look at her own body and found that it had already changed.


    She saw her white and perfectly undamaged skin. The membrane on her stomach was strange, but the rest of her body looked normal¡­


    ¡­Not normal as a zombie, but as a true human being.


    A few vines had wrapped her waist to keep her from sinking down or floating up. She moved her hand and touched the membrane on her stomach with it. Her finger felt the membrane, but her stomach felt nothing.


    As she pressed, the membrane was hollowed.


    ''It seems that it''ll still take a long while for my stomach to be healed fully. I''ve suffered so much pain this time, but only a membrane grew out here. When can my internal organs regrow?'' She wondered.


    She suddenly thought of her face. So, she hurriedly raised her hands to touch it. She felt a rough surface, as if the dead skin of the wounds was still on her face.


    She rubbed her face and found the edges of the dead skin as she had expected. After that, she immediately started to peel the dead skin off her face.


    The dead skin was surprisingly easy to peel. Once she tore it slightly, a large piece of it fell off. As she was enjoying the peeling, she suddenly found that there was no more dead skin on her face.


    She touched her face and felt that it was very smooth, without any dead skin. But while touching her face, she had a strong feeling.


    ''Eh?''


    Suddenly, she moved her hand upward and sensed her smooth scalp, feeling stunned right away. She spent a while rubbing her head, wondering if her feeling was wrong.


    ''Eh? Damn! My hair? Where¡­ Where are my hair!''


    She didn''t mind having short hair like a man, but why the hell did she feel that her scalp was cold? Why on earth was she bald?


    ''How am I supposed to face anybody if I have no hair? Even though my face has been fixed, but my hair¡­''


    After complaining in her head and feeling her scalp with her hands a few times, she reluctantly accepted the fact that she was bald.


    ''Whatever¡­ I can be bald! I look cool this way! Hah!'' While sighing, she lowered her head to look at the vine wrapping around her waist.


    ''Tell me, where did my hair go?''


    The vine plant seemed to sense her thoughts, so it reached out a vine to rub her soft breasts.


    ''Eh? Have my breasts grown out?'' At that time, she finally noticed her full bosoms.


    Moreover, those breasts seemed to be rather large, albeit covered by a thick layer of dead skin. Seeing that dead skin, Lin Qiao immediately forgot about the vines and raised her hands to peel it.


    At that point, the vines had quietly unwrapped from around her waist and drawn away.


    When Lin Qiao thought of the vines, they were gone already. The water was still filled with a great amount of dark green energy, thicker than before by a few times.


    She looked around and touched her head again, then swam toward the water surface with complicated feelings.

 154 Big B*obs Are A Problem

    Junjun carried Tongtong as she waited by the lakeside for quite a while. Finally, she saw the rippling lake surface calm down, and then saw a figure coming out of the water, swimming toward the lakeside.


    ''Eh¡­ eh?''


    When she saw the bald head bob up, she doubted her own eyes. As Lin Qiao came closer and closer to the lakeside, Junjun finally confirmed that what she just saw was a head.


    The bald figure had a pretty face which was wearing a grumpy look. It slowly swam to the lakeside from the center of the lake.


    Junjun stared at Lin Qiao''s head while thinking, ''She''s so bald!''


    Seeing the unhappy look in the latter''s face, she couldn''t help but cover her mouth with her hand and laugh. Lin Qiao glanced at Junjun and found that Tongtong had fallen asleep in her arms. After that, she walked out of the water and showed her clean and smooth body.


    Then, she walked to the lakeside, picked up her clothes, and quickly put them on.


    Having laughed for a while, Junjun turned back to look at Lin Qiao. Her appearance had changed, but her vibe remained the same as before. Not exactly the same though, as it was now much stronger than before, giving Junjun a greater pressure.


    While looking at Lin Qiao carefully, Junjun found that her face was delicate and beautiful. However, her oval face and bald head made her look really like an egg.


    Looking at Lin Qiao, Junjun burst out into laughter again.


    Lin Qiao rolled her a cold stare. ''Can''t you tell that I''m quite unhappy right now? Yet you''re laughing!''


    Suddenly, Tongtong woke up, maybe because he had sensed Junjun''s emotion. He rubbed his eyes, then looked around confusedly.


    When he saw Lin Qiao''s bald head, he paused. ''Em¡­ Who''s this person? Why doesn''t she have hair? Where''s her hair?'' He stared at Lin Qiao, his face filled with confusion.


    After getting dressed, Lin Qiao touched her bald head, feeling a little strange. Then, she paused briefly and lowered her head to look at her chest.


    Before, when she didn''t have b*obs, she used to wear sleeveless shirts directly. Just now, she did the same habitually. However, her breasts had grown back out in a considerable size, and her new skins and nipples were rather sensitive.


    Once she put the sleeveless shirt on, the chest area became a little too snug, pressing against her skin. When she moved her body, she sensed a tingling and itchy feeling that made her extremely uncomfortable.


    ''Should I try finding a bra for myself right now?''


    Seeing Lin Qiao stare at her own chest confusedly, Junjun, who stood beside her, immediately figured out her problem and felt like laughing again. ''Can she still feel things?'' Junjun wondered.


    She was right! Lin Qiao had gotten all her sensations back. Her eyes were still black, but the world in those eyes was no longer black and white. She was now able to see all the colors that healthy human beings could see.


    Her skin could feel things too. Otherwise, why would she feel so uncomfortable because of her sensitive nipples now?


    However, Lin Qiao hadn''t noticed that her sensations were restored yet. At the moment, the only thing she could think of was to look in Qiu Lili''s closet for a bra which fit her b*obs!


    However, thinking of Qiu Lili''s immature body, she felt a little hopeless.


    She also needed to find a hat!


    Once she thought of her own current appearance, she felt grim again.


    ''Will my hair grow back out? I think they will! I won''t stay this way, will I? Bald? No way!'' Thinking of that possibility, she paused again. ''Damn! My face has been fixed, but why am I bald! Why do I feel that my destiny has been joking around with me? Does it want me to constantly suffer?''


    Feeling depressed for a little while, Lin Qiao soon adjusted her mindset and began angrily wondering if she had somehow offended a God or Goddess, which gave her all sorts of troubles. While thinking, she turned to walk toward Qiu Lili''s belongings.


    She glanced down and measured her b*obs with her eyes, then guessed that she had D-cup.


    She felt so strange having a pair of big b*obs out of nowhere!


    Junjun carried Tongtong and followed behind Lin Qiao. Tongtong''s eyes had been fixed on the back of Lin Qiao''s head.


    He wasn''t afraid of Lin Qiao anymore, and instead was very curious about Lin Qiao''s bald head, wanting rather badly to touch it¡­


    While walking, Lin Qiao suddenly turned back to glance at Junjun''s chest. After that, she expressionlessly turned her head around and walked to Qiu Lili''s large closet.


    She measured Junjun''s bra size with her eyes and found that it was no larger than B.


    Seeing this, Junjun felt a little speechless.


    As she had thought, Lin Qiao only found small sized bras from Qiu Lili''s closet, but none of her size.


    She glanced at Junjun again, whose bra wasn''t wearable to her either. So, she had no choice but to look outside. She just didn''t know if she could still find any bra out there.


    Big boobs were a problem, because she couldn''t find a suitable bra! However, she did find a suitable hat.


    She found a headband to wrap her head up, then put on the black baseball hat and her sunglasses.


    Now, she looked suspicious again.


    Enduring the strange feeling coming from her chest, Lin Qiao brought Junjun and Tongtong out of her space.


    Once they were out, Qiu Lili instantly sensed them. She had waited for the whole night. At last, she turned over the largest turtle back to sit on its back.


    But of course, she ordered her zombie servants to find a piece of cloth to put on the turtle shell before she sat on it.


    As Lin Qiao and the other two showed up, she immediately stood up from the turtle shell. However, she paused when she prepared to walk to Lin Qiao.


    Next, she looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe with confusion.


    Lin Qiao had changed thoroughly. Her face was different, and her vibe was stronger than before.


    This time, Qiu Lili sensed Lin Qiao''s level, but still couldn''t sense her power.


    ''Eh? Still level-four? Newly promoted level-four?'' She felt strange.


    Lin Qiao had given her a much greater sense of danger, judging by which, she should be at the same level as her. Did Lin Qiao trigger her superpower just now? But, why had she been able to use her space this whole time?


    With her large red eyes, Qiu Lili stared at Lin Qiao''s head which was covered by the headband and the hat while slowly getting closer to her. After that, she made a few circles around the latter out of curiosity, then turned to Junjun confusedly.


    ''Why? What happened to her? Why did she become like this over a single night?''

 155 Speech And The Black Mis

    Lin Qiao saw Qiu Lili''s eyes. Before, she was only able to see the red energy in her eyes, but now, she could see the color of her eyes as well. She found that the latter had beautiful eyes that were red in color, with black pupils.


    She raised her eyes to look around and saw the familiar green plants and brown earth. After that, she turned to the lake and found it to be very dark. The water in that lake was dark green.


    Then, she raised her head to look at the sky. The blueness of the sky was long-lost to her. In her eyes, the morning sunlight had colors too.


    "Roar!"


    ''Did you trigger a superpower?'' At that moment, Qiu Lili asked abruptly. Hearing that, Lin Qiao turned back to her. Junjun was looking at her curiously as well.


    ''Isn''t that space my superpower?'' Lin Qiao thought. She opened her mouth as she wanted to give a roar to answer Qiu Lili''s question. However, once she did that, she got a strange feeling from her tongue and throat.


    She raised her hand to pinch her throat with confusion, then her eyes showed an uncertain look.


    Seeing her touch her throat suddenly, Qiu Lili and Junjun both felt a little strange about it. Then, they noticed her look, and were confused.


    Lin Qiao''s throat squirmed slightly. After that, she opened her mouth and looked at Junjun and Qiu Lili while trying to say, "Ah¡­ eh¡­ I¡­ I¡­"


    After saying ''I'' twice, she paused, staring at Qiu Lili and Junjun with disbelief, her eyes popped open.


    At that moment, Qiu Lili and Junjun were staring back at her with shock, as if she were a ghost.


    They both doubted their ears¡­


    The disbelief on Lin Qiao''s face slowly turned into surprise. Next, she raised a hand and took off her sunglasses abruptly.


    With the hand which was holding the sunglasses, she pointed at Qiu Lili and said, "You¡­"


    Then, she turned toward Junjun and continued, "Her¡­"


    After that, she looked at Tongtong, who was eying her with curiosity, and said, "Tong¡­ tong¡­


    Her voice was little dry and shrill, but undeniably, she had indeed said ''you'', ''I'', ''her'', and ''Tongtong''.


    Qiu Lili widened her eyes as well. She turned to look at Junjun in shock, and found that the latter was doing exactly the same. With the look in their eyes, they told each other that they weren''t in a dream.


    Lin Qiao was actually able to talk! Even though she had become very much like a human being, Junjun and Qiu Lili hadn''t forgotten about that fact that she was a zombie. But just now, this zombie had talked!


    "What¡­ superpower?" At that moment, Lin Qiao asked slowly.


    Qiu Lili opened her mouth to try and move her throat and tongue. However, what she uttered was still a roar.


    ''Your zombie superpower¡­'' she said.


    After finding out that her own voice hadn''t changed at all, Qiu Lili immediately pulled a long face.


    Hearing Qiu Lili''s words, Lin Qiao thought that if she had triggered a superpower, she should have energy inside her body. Even though she didn''t know why Qiu Lili suddenly asked that question, she sensed something after hearing it.


    She closed her eyes to feel if she had energy inside her body. Before today, she was able to sense others'' energies, but had never sensed her own.


    Once she closed her eyes, she found that she could still see everything before her eyes, albeit in black and white. It was just like how she saw the outside world when closing her eyes in her space.


    The things she was seeing now were colorless. After her eyes were closed, she could only see the shapes of things, in the colors of black, grey, and white.


    But of course, she could see the colors of energies.


    Qiu Lili didn''t only have red eyes, but also had two energies inside her body, one red and one blue. She then turned to Junjun and found no energy inside her body, only the dark virus.


    Tongtong''s little body contained a faint glowing green energy. Lin Qiao knew that it was the energy of the lake water.


    At that point, a strange wave of energy from her brain caught her attention. She forced herself to block the things before her eyes, then sensed a warmth from her head.


    It made her feel warm and comfortable.


    She wanted to get close to that warmth and figure out what it was. Once she had this idea, that warmth entered her mind and slowly spread in her entire body, as if it had been waiting to be summoned.


    As Lin Qiao sank into her mind to feel that strange warm energy, her body began changing.


    Qiu Lili and Junjun, who were standing by her sides, both felt thumps of their hearts. The instinctive sense of danger possessed by zombies made them automatically draw back.


    As they moved meters away from Lin Qiao, a wave of black mist suddenly rose from her body. The black mist rolled across her body surface, but didn''t spread as Junjun and Qiu Lili had imagined.


    "Ah!" Qiu Lili suddenly roared at Lin Qiao.


    Hearing her, Lin Qiao opened her eyes immediately. Though the black mist, Qiu Lili saw a pair of sparkling green eyes, which soon disappeared.


    In fact, those eyes didn''t disappear, but turned into a glowing pair of black eyes, blending into the black mist.


    Lin Qiao saw the black mist before her eyes once she opened them. She raised her hands to wave in the mist. However, no matter how hard she waved her hands, she couldn''t dissipate it.


    "Roar! Ah!"


    ''Take your mist back now! It''s poisonous!''


    Qiu Lili uttered another roar. While doing that, she dragged Junjun and moved further away from Lin Qiao.


    Junjun was curiously looking at the strange black mist which came out of Lin Qiao''s body. Hearing Qiu Lili say that it was poisonous, she hurriedly carried Tongtong and took a few steps backward.


    Lin Qiao was trying to gather all the black mist on her palm when she heard Qiu Lili''s roar.


    "Poisonous?" She asked with her dry voice. She thought that she could maybe learn to control this black mist like how she learned to use her space. So, she looked at the mist and said ''in'' in her head.


    Then, she raised her hands, picturing the black mist gathering into her palms.


    As she had expected, she saw the rolling black mist gather toward her palms, soon drilling in and disappearing.


    Then, she looked at Qiu Lili and Junjun, finding that the two were keeping vigilance against her.


    "Are you¡­ afraid?" She asked.


    ''You''re both zombies, but are you still afraid of the poisonous mist?'' She didn''t understand. Junjun remained silent and just nodded, then looked at Tongtong who was in her arms.


    Lin Qiao figured out her meaning on seeing Tongtong. Junjun was afraid that the poisonous mist might hurt him.


    Only after Lin Qiao made the black mist disappear did Qiu Lili slowly come closer.


    "Roar! Ahhh!"


    ''Your mist made me feel danger,'' she said.


    Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise. Qiu Lili was a zombie queen, so why would she be afraid of the poisonous mist?

 156 The Space Has Become Larger than Before

    ''Poisonous mist? So it has poison in it, right?'' Lin Qiao thought for a moment. After that, in order to test her newly developed mist, she quickly ran to the other side. She reached out her hands, with her palms down toward a bush of grass.


    ''Come out of my hands! Come out of my hands!'' She murmured in her head. Next, she sensed a warmth emerging from her brain and moving to her stomach, then to her shoulders, and soon reaching her arms.


    Afterward, she saw a wisp of black mist come out of her palms.


    The black mist flowed out of her palms, then slowly touched the grass down on the ground.


    What happened next made everyone''s heart sink.


    The black mist didn''t poison the grass, but made them disappear. Soon, the mist ''bit off'' the grass like the mouth of a herbivore. Looking at the small piece of the grass which was ''eaten'' by the black mist, Lin Qiao was stunned.


    She didn''t think that the mist could actually devour things.


    She took the black mist back, then squatted to look at the grass. The bush of grass now had a gap in it, as if a cow had taken a bite here.


    The grasses didn''t stop disappearing after Lin Qiao took the black mist back. Instead, the grasses which were touched by the mist kept disappearing, and the grass blades surrounding them turned black, then rotted and disappeared as well.


    The rotten circle had been expanding across this bush of grass. The further it went, the slower it spread. Lin Qiao guessed that the grasses would stop rotting when the rotten circle had reached a certain size.


    The black mist had only touched the grasses within one-meter squared, but by now, the rotten circle had spread quite farther than that.


    Lin Qiao was still squatting there. The poisonous mist didn''t seem to be able to harm her, but as for her shoes¡­


    As she received a strange feeling from the bottom of her feet, she hurriedly stood up and drew back.


    She was surprised to find out that her real superpower was the black mist. So, what level was she at? Wasn''t the space her real superpower? Or, did she have two kinds of superpowers?


    She had heard that level-five zombies were able to control ordinary zombies. She didn''t have that capability before, so she wondered if she could do it now.


    She raised her head to look at the sky, then found that it was morning already. But, was it the second day after she entered her space, or the third day?


    She abruptly turned to ask Qiu Lili, "How long have I¡­ em!"


    While speaking, she felt that her throat was itchy. So, she cleared her throat and continued asking, "How many days have I spent in there?"


    "Ah-ya!"


    ''A night.''


    Qiu Lili blinked her eyes and responded.


    Lin Qiao turned her head to look at the few large turtles which had stopped moving. She couldn''t tell if they were all thrown into unconsciousness by Qiu Lili or were too scared to reach out their heads.


    She suddenly remembered that she still had one turtle in her space. She wondered if it had managed to turn itself over.


    Thinking of the turtle, she flashed into her space.


    Once in, she felt something strange.


    ''Why is it so large!''


    The space was over three times larger than before. The grassland remained the same as before, and so did her strawberry plants and vegetables, Qiu Lili''s belongings, and the pile of furniture pieces.


    Earlier on when she came out of the lake, she was focusing on her bald head and b*obs, so she didn''t notice the change of the space. But now, she discovered the woods behind the grassland!


    Then, she found that the small space had moved backward!


    ''Why did it move backward! Where did these trees come from?''


    Lin Qiao turned to look at the lake, then grabbed a cup to drink from it. After saying a few words, her throat itched quite badly.


    The cold water flushed through her throat along with the familiar energy, instantly easing that dry and itchy feeling.


    She drank three cups of water in a row, then put the cup on the table. After that, she turned and walked toward where she had left that turtle.


    She couldn''t tell if it were that kernel of the vine plant from the outside which made the space expand. If it were, the vine plant in the lake in her space should be like the soul or heart of her space.


    She walked over and saw that the turtle was still there, lying on the ground with its head and limbs hiding in its shell.


    It seemed that this turtle wasn''t able to turn itself back straight.


    As the turtle didn''t run about in her space, Lin Qiao stopped worrying. Sensing its scent, she felt starving again.


    Had she consumed too much energy last night when her body was healed? She ate a turtle yesterday, but she was hungry already.


    However, she didn''t plan to eat the turtle right now.


    She looked at the turtle by her feet, then thought for a moment and exited her space. She came out to send the turtles outside into her space one after another, then entered the space herself to turn the turtles over and put them together.


    After that, she changed her shoes and went out again.


    "Let''s¡­ go¡­ find¡­ them," she said to Qiu Lili and Junjun. Even though she was able to talk now, she could only talk slowly, word by word, because her throat hadn''t gotten used to talking. She tried talking faster, but as a result, she wasn''t able to utter any sound.


    Talking slowly was great enough for her though, as she didn''t need to roar or write anymore. For the time being, she just needed to shorten her sentences as much as possible.


    Qiu Lili was standing beside the devoured grasses and curiously looking at them. Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, she immediately turned back.


    Lin Qiao put on the sunglasses, then sniffed at where she came from. After confirming the location of Lin Feng and his people, she slowly led Junjun out of the woods. Qiu Lili flashed across the air and directly hopped on top of a tree. Then, she leaped out and disappeared without a trace.


    Lin Qiao walked on the path which she came through, then raised her claw and swung across the air.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    All the branches and vines were cut off immediately, exposing the path. With her claws, she would never need a machete.


    Soon, Lin Qiao and Junjun walked out of the park. Qiu Lili had already been waiting for them on top of a tree. Seeing them, she instantly leaped off the tree and came over.


    As the scars on her face were gone, Lin Qiao now looked exactly like a normal human being with her glasses on. Unlike her, Qiu Lili and Junjun still had features of zombies.


    There was no one in the town though. Except for Lin Feng and his people, the escaped Yang Jianhua was the only one who might be in this place.


    Lin Qiao estimated that she was now able to pick up a fight against a level-six superpowered human being.

 157 Without Qiao

    On their way to the hotel, Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili paused suddenly. With the two of them stopping like that, Junjun looked at them confusedly.


    As Lin Qiao took off her sunglasses, her eyes shone brightly. She reached out a hand to drag Qiu Lili, who was prepared to rush out, and pushed her to Junjun.


    "I¡­go, you¡­with her!" She said a few words.


    Qiu Lili understood that Lin Qiao intended to deal with the suddenly appeared high-level zombie by herself and wanted her to stay behind to protect Junjun and Tongtong.


    Lin Qiao asked Qiu Lili to stay with Junjun, but in fact, the one who truly needed protection was Tongtong.


    Both Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili stopped moving because they suddenly sensed a level-five zombie moving toward Lin Feng and his people.


    Qiu Lili wanted to go because she had an interest in playing with that zombie. Moreover, it would be nice for her to kill it and dig out its nucleus.


    However, Lin Qiao dragged her and made her stop. She was a little unhappy to be told to stay by Lin Qiao, but as she asked her to protect Junjun and Tongtong, she had no choice but to agree.


    Even though Qiu Lili was powerful, she was rather obedient to Lin Qiao. It seemed that she would do whatever Lin Qiao told her to do. Besides, she wasn''t really interested in the zombie nucleus of level four or five zombies.


    Lin Qiao didn''t let them stay there, but pointed at the hotel and said, "You¡­ go¡­there!" After that, she flashed across the air and became invisible.


    On the other side, the group of people had spent a night in the hotel, but didn''t see Lin Qiao and the other zombie return.


    When they arrived, they cleaned a few adjoining rooms, then wiped out all the zombies on that floor. After that, they put Yuan Tianxing on a bed which was covered with dust.


    Lin Wenwen and the other few female members were staying in a room, while Lin Hao and Du Yuanxing led the others to search through all sorts of storages of the hotel.


    Lin Feng had been resting in a room as well. At the moment, he was standing by a window, looking outside.


    "I wonder if Li Zheng and his people have safely arrived at the Sea City Base or not. They were all great fighters with superpowers, but the journey would have been long and full of dangers. If they bumped into level-five zombies, they might be in some troubles," Mrs. Lin said while picking up a piece of cloth from the ground. She shook it and found that it was a towel.


    "They should be alright, as they are good at avoiding dangers. Even if they fell into dangerous situations, they wouldn''t all fall. Some people would have certainly arrived at the Sea City Base safely. What I''m worried about is the attitude of Sea City Base people. Qiao had made promises to them before, but she''s no longer with us. So, I can''t tell for sure if they''ll still help us or not." Lin Feng said expressionlessly.


    By now, they were no longer with a level-seven powerful being, neither could them afford to pay the Sea City Base with what Lin Qiao had promised before. They could join the Sea City Base, but the Sea City Base people might not be willing to help them build a new base, or head to the Hades Base to help them save the other Hades Base people who were now under the Earth Dragon Base''s control.


    The Hades Base was far away from the Sea City Base. Sending a large number of superpowered ones to the Hades Base would largely weaken the Sea City Base. More importantly, the Sea City Base wouldn''t get anything in return by doing that.


    Mrs. Lin sighed and said, "Without Qiao, it''ll be too difficult for us to build a new base even if we want to. And, even if we manage to build that base, it''ll be even harder for us to guard it."


    Lin Feng nodded in agreement. Among them, the strongest one was Yuan Tianxing, who was at the peak of level-six. Lin Feng had just stepped into level-six, and was still a lot weaker than Yuan Tianxing. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be injured so badly by Yang Jianhua.


    Yang Jianhua was at the peak of level-six as well, preparing to enter level-seven. If Long Yubai helped him, he would be able to break into level-seven in the near future.


    By then, Lin Feng and his people would be no match for him.


    So, for the time being, Lin Feng needed to try figuring out a way to save himself and his family. As for the other Hades Base people, they had to wait.


    The Hades Base had surely suffered a heavy casualty when Long Yubai and his people attacked. The enemy wasn''t in great numbers, but all of them were strong superpowered beings. Therefore, it was reasonable for the Hades Base to be broken.


    The Hades Base was only a little stronger than the Earth Dragon Base, because it had more level-five superpowered members than the latter.


    Both Hades Base and Earth Dragon Base had one level-seven leader and two level-six deputy leaders. As the leader of the Hades Base, Netherworld Fire failed to figure the true strength of her enemies because of Yang Jianhua''s fake information and what he did. Once the war began, the Hades Base had lost two level-six powerful beings very soon, so it was broken by Earth Dragon people effortlessly.


    The leader of the Hades Base was forced onto a cliff and blew herself up, while more than half of the level four and five superpowered members of the Hades Base were dead or injured. The rest were either caught or ran away, and the ordinary members were all brought under control.


    If some of them wanted to surrender, the Earth Dragon people would accept it, as long as they found a way to prove that they were no longer loyal to Netherworld Fire, or agreed to help in dealing with her subordinates who were on the run.


    The supplies owned by the Hades Base had undoubtedly fallen into Long Yubai''s hands. Even though Yang Jianhua had claimed that he would take over the Hades Base, he might not be able to become its new owner.


    Mrs. Lin''s words darkened the faces of everyone in the room.


    "If only Qiao were still alive¡­" Lin Feng said gloomily. They were shorthanded at the moment, so without a question, they weren''t able to build a new base. The Sea City Base had no reason to send people to help them either. As for joining the Sea City Base, they didn''t want that.


    The Sea City Base was a large base, its population multiple times greater than that of the Hades Base. Besides, the Sea City Base wasn''t run by one leader, but three. Plus, they had seven deputy leaders and numberless superpowered people at level four or five under their command.


    If they joined the Sea City Base, Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing as level-six superpowered men might earn them a certain standing. But after all, the Sea City Base wasn''t their home.


    Not long ago, Lin Feng was just a level-five. He unexpectedly broke into level-six during a fight, which allowed him to bring his family and soldiers all the way to Zhe Province.


    If he hadn''t upgraded, he would have been killed or caught by Yang Jianhua long ago.


    As everyone in the room was feeling depressed, a soldier abruptly ran upstairs. In fact, the squad of soldiers among them had all served their time in special forces. They were all great fighters; otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to follow Lin Feng to this place.


    This young soldier named Xing Le knocked the door before pushing it open and walking into the room. Filled with delight, he reported to Lin Feng, "Great Captain, we found solar power storage equipment in this hotel!"

 158 Found Frozen Mea

    Solar power storage equipment was important in the post-apocalyptic era. After the apocalypse, lots of places didn''t have electricity or running water. However, solar power generation equipment allowed people to use all kinds of electrical appliances. Therefore, solar power equipment had been especially precious in all bases.


    If any zombie-hunting squad brought a set of solar power equipment back and gave it to their base, they would be treated well.


    Of course, they were allowed to keep the equipment for themselves.


    Hearing Xing Le say that they had found solar power equipment, the people in the room had their eyes glowing.


    "Can it work?" Lin Feng immediately stood up from the chair and asked in surprise.


    "The others are working on it," said Xing Le.


    "Did you find any freezer or cold storage?" Lin Feng asked.


    "Not yet¡­" Xing Le shook his head and responded. Hearing that, the others were a little disappointed.


    They were running short of food. They still had some food stored in Lin Wenwen''s space, but they wouldn''t be able to last half a month with that food. During the past month, while heading to the Sea City Base and avoiding Yang Jianhua, they had consumed a large part of the food they had in reserve.


    So at the moment, they needed to arrive at the Sea City Base as quickly as possible, and also find some food.


    They didn''t dare to eat any plants as ninety percent of them had been infected by the virus. Therefore, they were mainly looking for cured, dried, and frozen food which were left from the old world.


    "Tell Lin Hao and Du Yuanxing to look carefully. This is a large hotel. It even has solar power equipment, so there''s no reason for it not to have any freezer." Lin Feng said.


    "Yes, sir!" Xing Le responded hurriedly.


    "Go!" Lin Feng said, some slight hope filling his heart. Hearing that, Xing Le closed the door and left the room.


    It took quite a while for Lin Hao to finally find the cold storage of this hotel which was used for keeping cured food, dried food, and frozen food. But, the problem was that he and his people weren''t able to open it.


    That was because the electrical equipment in the cold storage was still running.


    The manager of this hotel powered the cold storage with the solar energy equipment to prevent a sudden power outage. In addition, they had also installed electrical storage devices, so extra electricity could be stored for the cold storage to keep running during the rainy days.


    However, as the cold storage was still energized, it was protected by an encryption lock. No one among the group had the skills to unlock it, so they were now waiting by the door of the cold storage anxiously.


    At last, Du Yuanxing suddenly thought of Long Qingying. She had metal power, and the door of the cold storage was made from metal. She must know how to open it.


    As he had expected, Long Qingying directly cut off the five-centimeters-thick alloy door by simply putting her hands on it.


    Seeing her open the door so easily, the group of men fell in silence.


    Once the door was opened, a freezing stream of air came out along with white mist, making the people outside shiver.


    They walked in and found that the cold storage was large, at least a hundred meters squared. Several freezers were placed in it in a straight line, next to piles of ice blocks.


    The group of people burst into laughter when they saw the pile of boxes full of iced fishes and the pork hanging next to them.


    Clearly, no one had entered this cold storage in a long time. Many stored foods in there seemed to be untouched. They hadn''t opened the freezers to check the food in them, but they found two horizontal steel tubes in the innermost area of the cold storage, and hanging on the steel tubes were fourteen or fifteen half pigs. It meant that they had found seven, maybe eight, butchered pigs in this place, which were all still frozen!


    In the middle of the cold storage were a series of boxes containing fishes, separated by layers of ice blocks.


    A dozen boxes of frozen fishes of different kinds were found.


    Back in the old world, many restaurants had live fishes in water tanks for the guests to choose from, but they might not serve the exact same fish that they got out of the water in front of the customer.


    The people opened the freezers and found some chicken, duck, and beef.


    Du Yuanxing couldn''t help but widely open his mouth and stare at all the frozen food with shining eyes. "These will last us a long time."


    Long Qingying blandly glanced around, then turned back and asked, "Have you found rice or flour?"


    "Yes!" Lin Hao responded, "Down there in the storage. The rice in this hotel is well-packed, all good and edible."


    The group of people was surprised to find so much food from this hotel building. Even better, the solar power equipment allowed them to cook directly in the kitchen.


    Even though there was no running water, they could melt some ice from this cold storage.


    "Should we thank that zombie who told us to come here? If it weren''t for him, we''d have gone somewhere else."


    "Yeah, yeah!"


    "Is this place out of the way? Haven''t Sea City Base people searched this area?"


    "It might be. But, I didn''t think that this small town would actually have such a fancy hotel. Aren''t we lucky?"


    "Definitely! The meat in this cold storage is all good, and so is the rice!"


    They made themselves a dinner in the kitchen of the hotel, still waiting for the two zombies after that.


    The next morning, Lin Qiao came out of her space.


    However, before she could go to the hotel to check on Lin Feng and his people, she found something approaching. That zombie was still at a distance, yet she didn''t plan to let it get near to the hotel.


    She made herself invisible and moved in that direction for about a mile, then saw a swift figure leaping over the roofs of a series of small buildings.


    Every high-level zombie had their territory. Lin Feng and his people weren''t in this zombie''s territory, but as the zombie was pretty close to them, it had faintly sensed their scents.


    So, in the morning, it charged straight at the hotel. But to its surprise, it was forced to stop just as it was getting closer and closer to its prey.


    Lin Qiao was guarding on the zombie''s path after measuring its speed and route. This zombie used to be a young man at his twenties, but by now, it had become a ferocious zombie leader. Yet, Lin Qiao didn''t sense any pressure from it.


    She found two adjoining buildings, one tall and one small. The zombie was going to leap onto the roof of the small building from the tall one, so Lin Qiao squatted on the small building''s roof, waiting for it to come.


    As the zombie leader leaped down from above her head, Lin Qiao suddenly came out of her space and sprung up, then raised her claws high and swung toward the zombie which was still in mid-air.

 159 Stop It with A Surprise Attack

    The level-five zombie wasn''t prepared for that sudden attack, so it failed to react timely. However, it still sharply sensed the incoming danger.


    When Lin Qiao suddenly appeared and sprung up, it sensed her immediately. However, the swift Lin Qiao leaped to its side within a blink and swung her claws at it.


    At that moment, the zombie leader tried its best to turn its body in the air and dodge her attack, but it was a little too late. The wind blades she created by shining her claws could now reach much further than meters away.


    After all, her appearance wasn''t the only thing that had changed.


    Puff!


    "Roar!" The level-five zombie burst in roars and fell onto the roof of the building nearby. It bent its legs to squat, hands on the ground and teeth bared; its dark eyes were popped to stare at Lin Qiao fiercely, seeming ready to pounce and bite her.


    It wondered where Lin Qiao was from, and why it didn''t know that another zombie at its level was nearby.


    The level-five zombies stared at Lin Qiao alertly while trying to figure out something about her. However, it wasn''t smart enough to find out why Lin Qiao would suddenly show up in this place. It had observed this area before, and no high-level zombie was found.


    It fixed its eyes on Lin Qiao, not even noticing that her claws had left a few wounds on its thighs. It couldn''t feel pain anyway.


    Lin Qiao landed on the roof and looked at this zombie from seven or eight meters away. She had put her sunglasses back into her space just now, so at the moment, she was quietly staring at the level-five zombie with her pair of black eyes from under the brim of her hat.


    She was surprised to realize that she didn''t need to be afraid of level-five zombies anymore. Half a month ago when the ice-powered zombie leader was chasing her, she didn''t even dare to get out of her space.


    However, things had changed dramatically in just half a month.


    She didn''t know what power this level-five zombie had, but judging by its reaction speed, it was rather weak. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be wounded by her claws so easily.


    The zombie leader didn''t attack Lin Qiao immediately because it was quite confused. Just now, it felt that the suddenly appeared Lin Qiao was at the same level as itself. But now, it had sensed that she was actually a level lower, just an ordinary level-four superpowered zombie.


    However, Lin Qiao''s vibe made it feel endangered. It couldn''t understand why that was the case, as Lin Qiao was apparently at a lower level. It stared at her while thinking, its expression turning less ferocious and more confused.


    Nevertheless, its confused expression wouldn''t make Lin Qiao show any mercy. This zombie had a very strong hostility, and its entire body was radiating a thick scent of blood.


    Lin Qiao could smell the blood of lower level zombies and human beings from it, which meant that this zombie often ate human beings! Besides, judging by the strong scent of blood from it, it had eaten human flesh not long ago.


    The zombie thought for a while but failed to figure out a thing. After that, its expression changed, and it gave Lin Qiao a fierce roar.


    "Roar!"


    It warned her strongly by roaring, trying to scare her away.


    ''It actually tried to warn me and drive me away,'' Lin Qiao thought.


    She looked at the zombie, feeling like laughing. The zombie was so simple-minded that it actually believed Lin Qiao would leave after hearing its warning roar.


    In the next second, she disappeared from where she was. She didn''t know what power the zombie had, so she decided to try attacking it to see how powerful it was, then kill it carefully.


    The invisible Lin Qiao quietly came up behind the zombie.


    When she disappeared before its eyes, the zombie leader was stunned again.


    "Roar?" It popped its black eyes to look around, but didn''t see a trace of her. It had no idea that she was about to launch a lethal attack from behind it.


    A swift invisible figure flashed across the air behind it, then a pair of claws were swung at the back of its head, stirring up a gust of wind.


    The zombie leader instinctively sensed the attack and gave a start. It was already too late for it to dodge, so it had no other choice but to defend itself with its superpower.


    Clang!


    A rasping sound was heard.


    Lin Qiao saw that the zombie''s head, neck, and back were all suddenly added with a metallic luster. Her attack didn''t cause any serious harm to it, only leaving a few white traces on its metallic skin.


    As her attack didn''t work, she hurriedly leaped backward. She wasn''t disappointed, but stared at the zombie knowingly.


    It turned out that the zombie had meter power, just like Long Qingying.


    The zombie leader quickly turned around and hunched its back as it stared at Lin Qiao and uttered a growl, its eyes filled with a murderous intention.


    "Roar!"


    Before it roared out, Lin Qiao had already sensed its anger.


    It was mad¡­


    The zombie leader was really mad. After roaring at Lin Qiao, it swiftly and impatiently sprung up to pounce on her.


    When the zombie charged, Lin Qiao didn''t flash into her space. Instead, she quickly raised a claw to swing at the zombie from up to down. After that, she stepped back and turned around.


    By turning around, she nimbly dodged the zombie leader''s metal claws.


    The zombie leader''s claws had already become much longer than before. Those twenty-centimeters-long claws were perfectly straight, like five sharp steel blades.


    Puff!


    As Lin Qiao moved away, the zombie leader directly fell to the ground, its claws cutting deep into the ground. Judging by the noises it made, its claws had cut the ground as easily as cutting tofu.


    Those claws were incredibly sharp!


    It missed its target, but immediately after that, it turned back to slash its long claws at Lin Qiao while baring its teeth to roar deeply at her.


    "Roar!"


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows, sensing that the zombie''s voice was filled with anger and discontentment due to her sneak attack. It seemed that the zombie wanted to fight face to face against her.


    It had actually challenged her!


    She reached out her hands and moved her fingers. ''Fight face to face? Alright, I''ll fulfill your wish before you die!'' Lin Qiao gave the zombie leader a cold smile.


    "Roar!" The zombie leader roared again at her as it understood her meaning. It hunched its back deeper, eyes fixed straight on her. He seemed ready to dart at her and cut off her head at any time.


    As same as the zombie leader, Lin Qiao moved her right foot backward for about a meter and then raised her claws, preparing to attack.

 160 Being Chased

    Seeing that Lin Qiao was preparing to attack, the zombie leader thrust its legs against the ground, charging at her like a bolt of lightning.


    Cling! Crack!


    Lin Qiao watched the zombie rush toward her. When it attacked with its claws, she suddenly bent her knees and raised her claws, accurately and swiftly catching the pair of steel claws which were slashing toward her head.


    Her claws weren''t made of steel, yet were stronger than the zombie''s steel claws.


    After jamming the zombie''s claws, Lin Qiao pushed her feet against the ground and twisted her waist. Meanwhile, she pulled her arms sideward and dragged the zombie to the side.


    When the zombie leader was thrown to the ground, Lin Qiao raised a foot and kicked it on the stomach.


    Thud!


    The zombie thudded against the building nearby and then fell to the ground.


    After giving a kick, Lin Qiao sprung up and swiftly chased after it. Before the zombie realized what was happening, Lin Qiao had already rushed up and swung her claws at it.


    This time, her claws landed right on its body.


    Puff!


    The zombie didn''t have enough time to cover its body with metal before suffering a series of wind blades created by Lin Qiao''s claws. By the time it managed to react, a few deep wounds were already left on its body.


    The wind blades cut the zombie like sharp swords, creating straight wounds.


    The zombie fell to the ground as a few smooth slashing wounds were added to its body. Thick and black blood gushed out of those wounds along with the one on its thigh, which was caused by Lin Qiao''s first attack.


    "Roar¡­ roar!" It struggled back up from the ground while making noises with its throat. It looked at its wounds, which were soon covered by a layer of metal, and the bleeding was stopped.


    Apparently, Lin Qiao''s attack had worked on it.


    It was slower than her, which was why the latter managed to harm it quite easily.


    The zombie alertly got up on all fours and raised its head to look at Lin Qiao, who was descending from the roof.


    At the moment, this zombie leader with a relatively lower IQ was a little confused again. Lin Qiao was at a lower level, but why was she so strong? Its attacks had been completely ineffective on her; on the contrary, she managed to hurt it a few times in a row, and it wasn''t able to doge at all.


    The zombie leader was agitated after suffering Lin Qiao''s attacks for a few times in a row, uttering a series of fierce roars.


    "Roar! Roar!"


    Lin Qiao quietly looked at it, but suddenly turned her head to stare at another direction, the look on her face changed. With some uncertainty, she tried to sense something from that direction.


    As she was distracted, the zombie leader immediately charged at her.


    Once it moved, Lin Qiao turned back and swiftly took a step backward. When the zombie was about a meter away from her, she abruptly turned her body and made a spin kick. Her foot neatly hit its side waist and sent it flying out.


    Miles away in an industrial district where Lin Qiao had stared at earlier, a few figures were moving on the roof of a factory. One of them was running at the front while three were following behind it. Judging by their movements, they all had superpowers.


    Down on the ground, two vehicles were driving on the road behind them. In the first car, a few people looked at the ones on the roof while chatting. "How can the boy be so nimble?"


    "Who knows? He''s injured so badly, yet he''s still full of vigor. Look, he can still leap across roofs¡­Amazing!"


    "Em, so what? I don''t think he can hang on for long."


    "True! Boss and the others are really slow! Is this fun?"


    "Haha¡­ Don''t you know Boss well enough? He''s just bored in the journey!"


    "They''re bored indeed. How can three level-five superpowered men spend such a long while chasing after a level-four? They''ve been running for such a long time. I think it''s time for them to do something serious!"


    "You should give them a shout and tell them to finish that boy as soon as possible. We''re arriving at the center of the town. I heard that there''s a zombie leader here. Tell them to save some strength for it."


    "Alright¡­Oi, Boss! Stop playing! Finish the boy off now! We''re arriving at our destination!" A man in the first car stuck his head out of the car window and yelled at the ones on the roof.


    "Okay!" Soon, a man on the roof responded.


    The man who was on the run had an angular face, seeming to be in his twenties. His clothes were ragged, stained by dark-red blood. He looked messy and not so agile, but still, he was trying his best to run forward.


    ''Almost there! Almost there!'' Xie Dong kept telling himself that while leaping forward without pausing.


    "Stop running! You''re not gonna get away!" A man among the three behind him yelled. While speaking, he suddenly sped up and turned into a shred of shadow to leap over Xie Dong''s head. He flipped in the air and landed before the latter.


    The road was blocked, but Xie Dong didn''t stop right away. Instead, he rushed straight at the man.


    As he swung his hands, flame quickly rose from his palms. The flame was thrown at that man before Xie Dong could touch him.


    The man stood there and calmly raised a hand to bring up a tornado, which instantly blew Xie Dong''s flame away.


    "How dare you try attacking me with your tiny little fire!" The man sneered scornfully. At the moment, Xie Dong was three meters away from the man. Before he made another step forward, the man waved his hand away and sent him backward with a strong gust of wind.


    On the other side, while fighting the zombie leader, Lin Qiao had been turning to where Xie Dong was from time to time. Among the few vibes she had sensed, one was particularly familiar. ''Am I wrong, or did he really come here?'' She wondered.


    The vibes of the few superpowered people were strong and strange to Lin Qiao, while the one familiar to her was weak and unstable.


    ''What''s going on?''

 161 Bite Hard

    Lin Qiao, who was attracted by what was happening on the factory roof, had already lost her interest in the level-five zombie in front of her.


    "Roar!" It might be Lin Qiao''s careless attitude that made the zombie leader feel underestimated. Once again, it gave a roar with discontentment. Lin Qiao turned back to look at the zombie leader which was staring at her with cold eyes, then sneered in her heart.


    ''Since you want to die sooner, I''ll let you!'' With that thought, she bared her teeth and uttered a roar as well. After that, she charged at the zombie immediately.


    Sensing the scornful meaning in Lin Qiao''s roar, the zombie was infuriated again. As she rushed at it, it pounced on her as well without thinking.


    When Lin Qiao darted up to it and raised her claw to start an intense fight against it, she suddenly made a deceptive movement and turned her body.


    The zombie leader thought that Lin Qiao was going to launch an attack directly, but to its surprise, she suddenly moved to the side. Its claws failed to touch her, and the inertia brought its body forward, right before her.


    At that point, the zombie leader instinctively sensed a life-threatening danger. However, it was already too late for it to draw back. Lin Qiao grasped the opportunity and swung her claws at the zombie.


    The zombie leader figured it wouldn''t be a big deal as it had taken Lin Qiao''s claw attack for a few times. However, it didn''t understand why it had a fear of danger in its heart.


    When Lin Qiao swung her claws, a thick dark mist was released, being brought to the zombie leader by the sharp wind caused by her claws. The zombie leader immediately moved backward as the black mist touched it.


    It stared at Lin Qiao and bared its eyes. A strange noise could be heard from its throat, sounding like the breathing of an angry cat.


    But, the zombie leader soon sensed something wrong. It hurriedly lowered its head and found that a part of its waist was gone.


    Indeed, a part of its body was gone. Before it realized what was happening, it heard a crack, and then its left arm fell on the ground.


    Right at that moment, it heard a slight swishing sound from behind its head.


    Puff!


    Then, it felt something slide across its neck. After that, it couldn''t sense its body anymore.


    Lin Qiao stood behind the zombie leader and chopped its neck, cutting open its head before it fell.


    Crack!


    She quickly split its head and dug out the yellow nucleus, then immediately turned back to leap toward where Xie Dong was.


    At that moment, Xie Dong had suffered a kick and thudded against the wall next to him. He slid off the wall, his blood leaving some large dark-red marks on the wall.


    "I''ve been meaning to ask you why your blood is dark-red. It''s not like healthy blood." The three men came up to him. One of them stepped on his body and asked with his arms crossed.


    "Cut the crap! This guy is mute, don''t you know that? Have you heard any sound he made?" Another man said. "You, give us the zombie nucleus! Do you want to have the level-four zombie nucleus for yourself? In your dream!" He frowned and yelled at Xie Dong.


    Xie Dong raised a hand and gripped the foot on his chest. Meanwhile, he fiercely glared at the three men in the eyes and bared his teeth which were covered in blood, smiling silently.


    Even though he was trampled under someone''s foot, he wouldn''t make himself look weak in front of his enemies. Moreover, someone was almost here! He just needed to hang on for a little longer!


    The three men didn''t know that an enemy was charging at them.


    They saw Xie Dong smile fearlessly and wondered why he could still smile under such a situation.


    "How can you still smile? I guess you want to die sooner. I''ll help you then!" said the man who had stepped on Xie Dong''s chest. While talking, he tried to take back his foot which was clenched in the latter''s hand.


    However, before that, Xie Dong abruptly raised his head and dragged up the man''s foot, then widely opened his mouth to bite on his ankle.


    "Ah! Damn you! Let go of me! Ah!" The man burst in screams. He didn''t expect Xie Dong to bite him, immediately suffering a great pain. The other two were stunned on watching Xie Dong holding the man''s ankle tightly in his mouth with a twisted grin.


    "Damn! Is he a dog!" The two of them a step backward, then one of them raised a foot to kick Xie Dong''s head.


    Bang!


    This heavy kick tilted Xie Dong''s head, even making him feel dizzy. However, he didn''t loosen his teeth at all.


    "Ah! It hurts! Damn! Make this b*stard open his mouth!" As Xie Dong''s head was tilted, his teeth sank deeper into that man''s ankle. More blood was squeezed out of the man''s wounds, even soaking a part of his trousers'' leg.


    "Don''t you have wind power? Can''t you cut off his jaw with your wind blade?" The man who had made an unhelpful kick couldn''t help but yell at the man whose ankle was still in Xie Dong''s mouth.


    Reminded by the other man, the man who was bitten by Xie Dong suddenly remembered his wind power. He was capable of shredding Xie Dong with his power directly, but he forgot about that before as his foot hurt so much.


    He immediately raised a hand to prepare to activate his power. But all of a sudden, all three of them sensed a coldness from their backs, and a life-threading sense of danger attacked their brains within a blink.


    Thus, all three of them instinctively tried to draw back.


    "Ah!" Two of them disappeared soon, while the poor one whose ankle was still held between Xie Dong''s teeth didn''t manage to step back and fell on the ground.


    At that moment, a transparent figure flashed across the air and sent a wave of wind blades toward the man. Only after that did Lin Qiao show her face.


    Puff!


    The man''s head was cut off before he could even see her clearly. He felt his head flying up, then thud against the ground. Before his consciousness dissipated, he could see his headless body.


    As the man''s head was cut off neatly, Xie Dong loosened his teeth. Then, he relaxed his whole body and lied on the ground. After staring at the sky for a few seconds, he turned to look at the zombie beside him.


    She was a meter away from him, with her back faced toward him, still wearing the loose-fitting camouflage. However, her messy hair were gone. Now, she was wearing a hat with a headband underneath it. He had also seen the glasses frame sitting over her ears.

 162 Give Up When the Enemy is Too Strong

    Sensing Xie Dong''s gaze, Lin Qiao turned her head to glance at him, then turned back to keep staring at the two.


    Xie Dong paused on seeing her face.


    ''Where are her scars?''


    The two were stunned as well, staring at the suddenly appeared Lin Qiao, who had killed a level-five superpowered man once she showed up.


    Lin Qiao was wearing sunglasses and a hat. The two only saw her pointed jaw and tightened clothes at her chest area.


    ''A woman? A strange and powerful woman! On the enemy''s side!''


    "Who are you? What do you want?" One of the two men shouted at Lin Qiao. They had witnessed her kill the other man who was at level-five quite easily, so they figured that she might be a level-six powerful being!


    Lin Qiao quietly looked at them without answering their questions. At that point, Xie Dong finally regained some strength, allowing him to hold the wall and slowly stand up.


    Hearing the noise he made, Lin Qiao turned back again. This time, she raised a hand to lower her sunglasses a little bit, revealing her pair of dark eyes to look at Xie Dong, who was covered in wounds, with pity.


    Xie Dong could see her eyes, but the two in front of her couldn''t.


    Xie Dong was wounded seriously, yet he didn''t feel any pain. However, as he was injured and his energy had been consumed up, he couldn''t control his body so well for the time being.


    Seeing the familiar eyes of Lin Qiao, he somehow felt relieved.


    Earlier on, he didn''t know that Lin Qiao was nearby. However, as he ran to this area, he suddenly had a feeling which seemed to lead him to her.


    At first, he didn''t know what that feeling was, but as he got closer, he faintly sensed a familiar vibe which was stronger than before, and was just nearby.


    Soon, he recognized that familiar vibe.


    It was Lin Qiao!


    Therefore, he saw a gleam of hope, because of which, he tried his best to run toward this area. He believed that if he got close enough, Lin Qiao would sense him, or, he would run to her side and she would save him.


    Since he and Lin Qiao were separated by the ice-powered zombie leader, Xie Dong had been extra careful. He was just a newborn zombie. He wasn''t strong enough, so he needed to avoid both human beings and high-level zombies.


    As a weak zombie, he had no other choice but to hide around. Two days ago, he encountered two level-four zombies who were fighting over territory. One of them was injured badly, but managed to escape. The winner was injured as well, so it didn''t chase.


    Xie Dong sneakily followed behind the injured zombie and grasped an opportunity to kill it with a surprise attack.


    However, once he dug out its zombie nucleus, a group of people showed up. At the sight of the zombie nucleus, those people decided to seize it. After confirming that Xie Dong was alone, they immediately surrounded him and tried to kill him.


    Fortunately, he was a zombie. Those people''s attacks were lethal to human beings, but not to him. At last, he got a chance to run. He wasn''t able to tell if he could really escape them, but he wouldn''t miss any opportunity available to him.


    Surprisingly, he ran into Lin Qiao so soon.


    After glancing at the poor Xie Dong, Lin Qiao silently pushed the sunglasses up to cover her eyes, then turned back to look at the two. At the moment, the people in the two cars didn''t know the twists that had taken place on the roof yet. None of them was stronger than the three on the roof, so they didn''t sense Lin Qiao as she had restrained her vibe.


    After waiting for a while, they guessed that the three on the roof had finished Xie Dong off. So, one of them shouted, "Boss, have you killed the boy? We''re three miles away from the center of the town. Let''s go and see if we can find any food there!''


    Hearing that, the people on the roof stayed silent.


    "Eh? Why are they so quiet? Have they finished? Are they preparing to come down?"


    "Why didn''t they answer the question?"


    "Boss? Are you there? Oi!"


    "Alright, stop yelling. You''re attracting zombies!" Another man reminded the guy who was shouting. As he mentioned, the surrounding ordinary zombies had started to slowly gather toward them.


    "How can my voice attract them¡­ They''re coming because they smelled us." While complaining, this man raised his gun and pointed it at the approaching zombies, then fired for a few times in a row.


    The nearest few zombies were shot in the heads and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the others raised their guns to shoot zombies as well.


    "Eh, but what''s happening up there? They didn''t respond, neither have they come down. What are they doing?"


    At that moment, their Boss really wanted to yell back at them, ''Finish my ass! We''re about to be finished!''


    The two men understood that Lin Qiao was much more powerful than they were, because she was able to silently come up behind three level-five superpowered men while they sensed nothing, and were nearly killed by her.


    The man who was bitten by Xie Dong was only two seconds slower than them, but as a result, his head was cut off within a blink. Perhaps, he didn''t even know how he died.


    Facing the huge power difference, the two level-five superpowered men were frightened. They would never think about avenging their dead friend, as they believed that was meaningless.


    People could die at any moment when they teamed up to come out of their bases. They were used to that since long ago, and they believed that they didn''t need to fight a level-six powerful being for someone they didn''t know so well.


    "Well, if that boy is your friend, we didn''t really do serious harm to him. And, you''ve killed one of us. So, I guess we''re even! You can take him. We won''t try stopping him this time."


    A man said to Lin Qiao with a very different attitude. She glanced at him, then turned back to Xie Dong and gave him a special-forces'' hand signal.


    ''What''s the plan?''


    Xie Dong glanced at the headless body on the ground, then responded with a hand signal as well.


    ''Let''s go.''


    He still had the zombie nucleus, so he planned to deal with these people after he had upgraded himself. He had memorized their faces! He wouldn''t let Lin Qiao kill them for him, because he wanted to take revenge for himself.


    Receiving his hand signal, Lin Qiao didn''t say anything and just pressed a hand on his shoulder. In the next second, both of them flashed into her space.

 163 He Was Trapped

    When Lin Qiao and Xie Dong suddenly disappeared, the two men glanced at each other with surprise. However, before they recovered from the shock, Lin Qiao showed up again. She walked to the head, bent over and picked it up, then turned to enter her space again; all this while, she completely ignored the two.


    Just now, she forgot to bring the head into her space. After entering her space, she recalled that the man she killed was a level-five superpowered one. Even though his energy nucleus wouldn''t be helpful to herself, she could always feed it to the vine plant in the lake.


    ''I can''t waste it!''


    She returned to her space with the head, then cut it open with her claws to dig out the energy nucleus and threw it into the lake. After that, she threw the head aside and washed her hands in a bucket by the lakeside. Then, she thought of the zombie nucleus she had obtained just now, so she stood up to rummage her pockets. After finding the zombie nucleus, she threw it into the lake as well.


    Since Junjun had started cooking in this area, she would always put a bucket by the lakeside with lake water in it. Sometimes, she would use it to water the plants, or simply pour the used water onto the grassland.


    Lin Qiao would no longer bath in the lake. Instead, she would fetch some water with a bucket for showering, or go out of her space to find an empty room to clean herself in it.


    She turned to look at Xie Dong who was sitting in a chair by the lake, and found that he was staring straight at the head which was cut into two by her.


    Lin Qiao could tell that he wanted to eat the brain matter in that head. She turned to pick up a glass and filled it with lake water, walking over and handing it to him.


    Xie Dong took over the glass of water and drank it up. Lin Qiao watched him empty the glass, then got him another glass of water.


    After drinking the water, Xie Dong suddenly felt that his impulse to feed on that human head had been weakened. Li Qiao handed him the second glass of water and signaled for him to drink more.


    The lake water was effective for zombies. It had changed Junjun quite a lot, and Lin Qiao herself had benefited from it as well. It would be beneficial for Xie Dong to drink more of it for sure.


    Xie Dong took over the second glass of water. He had already finished one glass, so did he need to take another glass? He didn''t fully understand, but he still drank it.


    Lin Qiao took the empty glass from his hand and then spoke out loud, "Rest¡­"


    Xie Dong paused slightly at first, then raised his head to look at her with shock. But by that moment, Lin Qiao had turned to exit her space.


    Back when Lin Qiao disappeared again with that head, the two level-five superpowered men finally realized what had happened and hurriedly leaped off the roof.


    Little did they know that not long after that, Lin Qiao showed up again. She quickly glanced at the two, then turned invisible and headed to the hotel where Lin Feng and his family were staying.


    As the two level-five superpowered men leaped down, the people in the two vehicles parked the car. They stuck their heads out of the car windows to look at the two who had landed on the car roof. They waited for a short while, but the third man never showed up. So, one of them began asking questions.


    "Eh? Where''s Zhao Lide? Boss, why didn''t he come down?"


    "Yeah, boss? Is the boy dead? Did you get the zombie nucleus?"


    Hearing them, the two men''s faces darkened. The one named Shen Chengming responded crossly, "He''s dead." While speaking, he leaped off the car roof and sat in the front seat.


    His words stunned the others.


    "What happened? How did he die? Hadn''t the three of you been together this whole time?"


    "Yeah! And that boy was injured so badly. He couldn''t possibly kill Zhao Lide, could he?"


    "But the boy is a little strange. He seems to be a former special-forces soldier, as he has some skills that only special-forces soldiers can have."


    "How did he die?"


    The group of people kept asking questions. The other man on the car roof was named Lv Duyao. He leaped down and said, "Let''s go! Zhao Lide is dead, so our strength has declined by twenty percent. We need to be more careful from now on."


    He didn''t tell his teammates about how Zhao Lide died, but reminded them that the strength of the team had declined, and this journey would become more dangerous.


    After all the team members went back inside the cars and the drivers started driving again, Shen Chengming said, "The boy didn''t die. A powerful one showed up to save him. She killed Zhao Lide and cut off his head by the time we saw her. We didn''t even see her moves clearly."


    Lin Qiao was wearing a hat and a headband, but based on her snow-white skin, pointed chin, and full breasts, both Shen Chengming, and Lv Duyao could tell that she was a female.


    And judging by her chin, mouth, and nose, they figured that she was rather pretty. They just couldn''t see her eyes, and didn''t know what the pair of eyes behind her sunglasses would look like.


    Hearing his words, the few people in Shen Chengming''s car stared at him with surprise and asked, "What? Even you didn''t see how she killed Zhao Lide? Is that person really so powerful? Even you level-five guys couldn''t sense her?"


    "Who is she? If she''s really so powerful, she must be quite famous in the base. Who is she?"


    "Yeah, yeah! We didn''t hear any noise from here, but why did he suddenly die? Why are you two unharmed then? Was she here to save the boy?"


    Shen Chengming nodded and said, "None of us sensed her when she approached. By the time we sensed her, she was already behind us¡­ less than two meters away. Fortunately, Lv Duyao and I dodged quickly. Otherwise, our heads would have been chopped off as well."


    "That powerful! She actually came up behind you soundlessly? But boss, since you had sensed her, there was no reason for Zhao Lide not to sense her, was there?"


    The three of them were at the same level, so even if Zhao Lide was relatively slower, he should have ended up better than being beheaded.


    "He was trapped," said Shen Chengming, "Back then, he was stepping on the boy. The boy bit him on the ankle and never relaxed the bite. That''s why he didn''t manage to dodge."


    Zhao Lide brought death to himself. If he hadn''t trampled on Xie Dong, the latter wouldn''t have bit his ankle; and if Xie Dong didn''t bite him, he would have been able to move away quickly.


    He had wind power, so he would certainly have been able to dodge quicker than the other two. However, he trampled on Xie Dong''s chest, so the latter bit him and never relaxed the bite.


    By doing what he did, Zhao Lide got himself killed.


    "So, he was killed because the boy bit his ankle and didn''t let him dodge?" The others could scarcely believe it.


    Zhao Lide was one of the strongest three in the team, but he had died. The people in Shen Chengming''s car didn''t have many feelings about his death. Instead, they just felt pity for losing a powerful teammate.


    Shen Chengming nodded and didn''t say much.


    "Well, then¡­ How did you survive? Since she was able to show up behind you without catching your attention, she must be incredibly powerful. Who is she?"


    "A woman," said Shen Chengming. "I don''t think I''ve ever seen her in the base. We managed to escape because she let us. She didn''t attack us. I think she''s a level-six superpowered one. I just can''t tell if she has space power."


    Both him and Lv Duyao saw Lin Qiao disappear. Typically, only space-powered creatures were able to do that.

 164 One More Zombie

    Unlike the people in Shen Chengming''s car, the people in the other car were sad. Lv Duyao told the others about what happened, then knitted his brows and showed a grim look.


    Zhao Lide was their deputy captain. Their cooperation with Shen Chengming''s team was temporary. Back in the base, they often saw Shen Chengming and his people, but didn''t know them so well.


    Their deputy captain died this time, and because of his death, their team was weakened greatly. Due to this reason, their actions out of the base would be limited.


    "Who was that? If he''s really so powerful, we should have all heard his name in the base, right?" someone asked.


    Lv Duyao shook his head and responded, "A woman, wearing a hat and sunglasses¡­ looked quite strange. I never saw her in the base."


    "A woman! Among all level six and seven superpowered ones in our base, only Deputy Chief Yan is a woman. Is she here?" One of the others asked with surprise.


    Lv Duyao shook his head again and said, "It wasn''t Deputy Chief Yan. We all know Deputy Chief Yan. But that woman¡­ I don''t know her."


    The others glanced at each other, wondering who that mysterious woman was.


    On the other side, Qiu Lili and Junjun soon arrived at the entrance of the hotel building. The former sniffed at the hotel, then began walking in. After taking two steps, she stopped and turned to look at Junjun, who was standing by the entrance.


    "Ah-ya."


    ''Let''s go,'' she said.


    Junjun carried Tongtong and glanced at the broken gate of the hotel, then at the boy in her arms. There were human beings in that building. Suddenly, she didn''t want to get close to those human beings. She pictured those people surrounding her and staring at her, and felt uncomfortable.


    Only after Qiu Lili called her did she start walking into the building.


    They walked into the lobby. Qiu Lili didn''t like walking on the dusty floor, preferring to leap through roofs or treetops. But this time, in order to protect Junjun and Tongtong, she had no choice but to walk on the ground with them.


    When walking in, they found that there were no zombies in the building. When they were still hundreds of meters away, Qiu Lili had sensed that some zombies were in this area. But by now, those zombies had all hidden because they felt her vibe.


    Lin Hao and the others were all upstairs at the moment, so no one was left in the lobby. Therefore, before Qiu Lili got close, the surviving zombies in this building had again started following the scents of the group of human beings.


    However, before they located the group of living human beings, they sensed the incoming Qiu Lili, a zombie queen. After that, those zombies forgot about those human beings and left as quickly as possible.


    Some zombies went upstairs in panic and ended up being finished by Lin Feng and his people.


    Wei Jingchen, who was guarding before a door, saw a zombie coming upstairs. Once the zombie showed its face from the corner of the stairs, he fired his gun.


    As a guard, he was responsible for dealing with all the zombies that showed up on this floor. The others were either in their rooms or searching through the building for useful things.


    However, his bullet was caught by a slim hand.


    Only after that did Wei Jingchen recognize Qiu Lili, the young female zombie in a clean white dress.


    "Ah!" Qiu Lili angrily roared at Wei Jingchen then threw the bullet at him. Anyone could be pissed off by a sudden gunshot.


    Wei Jingchen was tall and sturdy, yet he was a simple and honest man. Seeing Qiu Lili, he realized that he had shot the wrong zombie. So, on hearing her angry roar, he hurriedly dropped his gun and rubbed his head while looking at Qiu Lili without knowing what to do.


    He surely knew this young female zombie. Earlier on, he and the others witnessed her drive Yang Jianhua away. He wanted to apologize to her, but then he remembered that she was a zombie. He didn''t feel right saying sorry to a zombie.


    At that point, Junjun came upstairs with Tongtong in her arms.


    Wei Jingchen fixed his eyes on Junjun once she showed up. The little boy was resting his head on her shoulder, so Wei Jingchen couldn''t see his face.


    He confusedly looked at Junjun, then turned his eyes to Tongtong. He was sure that Junjun was a zombie, but he had never seen a zombie carrying a child before. He assumed that the boy was a zombie too.


    "Ahh!" Seeing him staring at Tongtong, Qiu Lili growled at him again, then turned to the corridor on the other side with Tongtong. They picked a relatively cleaner room and walked in.


    At the moment, the door guarded by Wei Jingchen was opened from the inside. Lin Wenwen stuck her head out to look around, then asked him, "I just heard some strange noises. Did zombies come up?"


    Wei Jingchen stopped rubbing his head and dropped his hand instantly while responding, "Ah, yeah, some zombies came up. It was the young female zombie who has fought Yang Jianhua, and another female zombie who''s with a child."


    Lin Wenwen''s eyes glowed. "That young female zombie is back? What about that one with sunglasses? Why is there another female zombie?"


    Wei Jingchen shook his head and said, "I didn''t see him."


    "Where did the two zombies go?" Lin Wenwen looked around and asked.


    "That room," Wei Jingchen pointed at the door of the room which Qiu Lili and Junjun had just gotten in and replied. Lin Wenwen glanced at that area, then nodded and went back into her room.


    Back in the room, the others all looked at her.


    "What''s going on?" Asked Mrs. Lin. Lin Wenwen walked toward the couch while saying, "Ah, Jingchen says that he saw the young female zombie who fought Yang Jianhua yesterday. She was with another female zombie."


    "Eh? Another zombie?" Cheng Wangxue asked curiously, "Can she understand our words like the one with sunglasses?"


    "I don''t know," Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "I didn''t see her. I heard that she''s with a child. I wonder if the child is a zombie as well."


    Neither Lin Wenwen nor Wei Jingchen would think the child in the female zombie''s arms was a human being, because that kind of thing would never happen normally. They believed that the child would have been eaten long ago if he or she were a human being.


    They subconsciously chose to think in a normal way. But sometimes, things just wouldn''t happen in normal ways.


    Long Qingying was in the room too, but she kept silent. She surely knew that the child was a human being, and that he had been raised up quite well by the few zombies. She was rather curious about how the group of human beings would react when they found out that the child was a living human being.

 165 What’s the Plan?

    Yuan Tianxing had slept for a whole night before waking up just now. As he opened his eyes to see a strange ceiling, he automatically looked around. Only after confirming that this place was safe did he turn to the others.


    Long Qingying was listening to the conversation with her katana carried in her arms when she noticed that Yuan Tianxing was awake. She looked at him and said, "Deputy Chief is awake."


    Hearing that, the others immediately turned to Yuan Tianxing. Lin Feng, Lin Wenwen, and the other few stood up and walked toward the bed.


    "Tianxing, you''re awake! How do you feel now?" Lin Wen looked at him with concern.


    "Yeah, Brother Tianxing," said Lin Wenwen, "you are covered in injuries. How''re you feeling?" Looking at these familiar people, Yuan Tianxing relaxed his vigilance. He supported his body with his arms to sit up, then leaned against the headboard.


    "I''m fine. Are you all fine?" He turned to look around and asked, "Where is this place?"


    Lin Feng dragged a chair to the bedside, then sat down and said, "This is a room of a grand hotel, not far away from where we were yesterday. Your injuries are quite bad, so we didn''t dare to travel far. Instead, we just found a place to stay for the night."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded. He felt much better than yesterday, and he guessed that it was because he had had a good rest.


    "Thank you. I''m fine," he said. "We can leave today if you want to. We should go to the Sea City Base first, then see what we can do. What plan do you have next?"


    Lin Feng glanced at the others, then sighed and responded, "Be patient. We plan to let you heal first. As for the future¡­ we are all who managed to escape. For building a new base, we''re terribly short-handed. But, it''s not impossible. We don''t plan to join the Sea City Base, but we still need to find Li Zheng and the others. We don''t know how many of them have survived."


    Their first plan was to build a base to settle down. They needed to build a fence wall first, then find enough food and supplies. They were just a few people, so they wouldn''t consume too much food and supplies. However, it would be a little difficult for them to build an over ten-meter-tall fence wall.


    Even though Yuan Tianxing''s earth power was highly helpful, he needed to heal before the construction started.


    Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then felt that Lin Feng was right. So, he nodded and said, "There''re too many zombies outside. It''s dangerous for us, and we have a few injured ones who need help and rest. How long do you plan to stay here."


    Lin Wenwen smiled and said, "Brother Tianxing, don''t worry about zombies. Du Yuanxing, Lin Hao, and the others have cleaned the zombies in this building. We can use solar power in this place, and we have found quite some food. I think we can even stay here for one or two months. As for my brother, he''s not injured as badly as you are. He feels much better now. In just a couple of days, he''ll recover fully. We don''t know what kind of water the zombie with the sunglasses gave him, but it did have strong healing power."


    In fact, she wanted to tell Yuan Tianxing that since they didn''t want to join the Sea City Base and intended to build a new base, the new base could be located anywhere, like here.


    Last night, the group of people had discussed and decided to stay here for now, because this place with food and solar power was suitable for living.


    As long as they built the fence wall, they wouldn''t need to be afraid of zombie crowds.


    "As long as the zombie named Lu Tianyu and his friends are here, the others zombies won''t dare to get close," Long Qingying said abruptly.


    After spending a couple of days with Lin Qiao and her friends, she now clearly know what they could do to ordinary zombies.


    She believed that the zombie named Lu Tianyu wouldn''t mind staying here to scare away the other zombies, since he wanted to help Lin Feng and his people.


    Hearing her, the others had their eyes glowed.


    They had all seen how the other zombies avoided that zombie when he was with them earlier on. If he could join them to live in this place, they might really not need to worry about the other zombies.


    However, there was one problem¡ªnone of them knew about the few strange zombies. Those zombies showed up suddenly to help them, but they couldn''t tell what their real purpose was.


    Those zombies looked as smart as human beings. So, if they really had some bad intentions, it would be extremely dangerous for the group of human beings to keep them around!


    The group of human beings just didn''t understand why those zombies went all way to the South and then followed them back here. Moreover, right when they were in the worst situation, they showed up to save them. Why did they do that? What purpose did they have?


    Lin Feng and his people didn''t relax their vigilance against those zombies, and that was perfectly normal. Anyone wouldn''t trust the people who showed up suddenly to help them without any reason. After all in the apocalyptic era, kind people couldn''t live for long. People had become selfish for survival, and that was perfectly normal.


    Therefore, if they wanted to use those zombies to scare away the other zombies, they would have to figure out who they were and what they wanted.


    They didn''t want another Yang Jianhua. They couldn''t afford to be fooled again.


    This group of people understood that they needed to find out more about those zombies, just not knowing how.


    "Do you know where are they from?" Lin Wenwen looked at Long Qingying and asked. The latter thought for a moment and then said uncertainly, "I think they went South from Sea City. Since they''ve made a roundtrip, I guess they''ve heard something in Sea City, then went South to confirm it. In the South, they ran into us, so they decided to get close to us for information. It seemed that they knew we didn''t know them before."


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Perhaps, they saved you and came here along with you to find us, because they were worried that we might reject them. They brought you here so you can connect them and us. I''ve never seen a zombie which is as smart as human beings before, and one of them is a scary zombie queen. If that female zombie wants to kill us, she doesn''t need to spend so much time to get close to us. What on earth do they want?"


    "He has been claiming that he''s here to help you since the beginning. And he said that he used to be Great Captain''s subordinate," said Long Qingying.


    "They really seem to be helping us. But, why don''t I remember a subordinate like him?" Said Lin Feng.


    Long Qingying thought for a moment and continued, "Maybe you just don''t recognize him because he''s disfigured." The others glanced at each other and felt that it could be possible.


    However, Lin Feng shook his head and said, "No, he said that his name is Lu Tianyu. I don''t know anyone named Lu Tianyu."


    "Maybe your memory is declining because you''re getting old, so you don''t remember him," Mrs. Lin made a joke.

 166 The Zombie with Big Breasts Shows Up

    As the people in the room were trying to guess Lin Qiao''s purpose, Lin Qiao and Xie Dong had been heading toward the hotel building speedily. After arriving at the gate of the hotel, she looked around and carefully listened to all sorts of sounds in the building, then walked in.


    She sensed that most of the people were in a few rooms on the fourth floor, and so was Qiu Lili and Junjun. She also sensed that no other zombies existed from the fourth to the seventh floor. The zombies in the building had either run downstairs or further upstairs.


    As long as Qiu Lili, the zombie queen, released a bit of her vibe, the other zombies wouldn''t dare to get close.


    Walking to the entrance of the building, she abruptly turned to look back. Under her sunglasses, her eyes sparkled with a cold light. After that, she turned around and walked into the lobby.


    She walked upstairs and saw a man guarding by the stairway on the third floor.


    "Stop, who are you?" Su Liang, one of the five soldiers who didn''t have superpowers, stared down alertly on sensing her approach. Lin Qiao didn''t try hiding herself, but slowed down and made some noises to inform Su Liang about her coming.


    Seeing the strange person wearing a hat, sunglasses, and camouflages, Su Liang immediately shouted out to stop him from coming closer. After all, he and his people had occupied this place. According to the apocalyptic rule, the people who arrived after them couldn''t come up without their permission, in case the latecomers had some bad intentions.


    Su Ling looked at Lin Qiao and felt that her sunglasses seemed quite familiar.


    He could tell that she was a female. Even though a big half of her face was covered by the brim of her hat and her sunglasses, the loose-fitting camouflage top couldn''t hide her full breasts.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, then abruptly took off her sunglasses and raised her head to show him her eyes.


    "You¡­ You are¡­" Seeing her face and eyes, Du Liang widened his eyes to stare at her. He wanted to ask her some questions, yet he wasn''t able to.


    He and his teammates had seen those eyes yesterday. No wonder he felt that her sunglasses looked familiar. Wasn''t this the zombie who stole their Great Captain and gave a few cups of water to their Deputy Chief?


    But¡­ but¡­Wasn''t that a male zombie? Before, the zombie''s face was covered in scars, but those scars were gone now¡­ And the zombie became a female?


    Du Liang fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao''s chest. He was sure that the zombie he saw yesterday had a flat chest. How did he become a female with huge breasts over one night?


    Seeing him staring at her chest, Lin Qiao glanced down at her own chest, then said, "Have¡­ you¡­ seen¡­ enough?"


    Hearing that, Su Liang''s eyes opened even wider. He gaped his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn''t utter any sound.


    ''It''s a zombie indeed¡­ But, is it the same zombie we saw yesterday? But it''s really a zombie¡­ a zombie¡­ zombie¡­''


    "Ah!" All of a sudden, Su Liang burst in screams and turned to run upstairs.


    ''Damn it! How can it possibly talk if it''s a zombie! What the hell!''


    "Ahhhh!" While yelling, Su Liang ran up to the fourth floor and bumped into Xing Le and the other few who rushed over after hearing his screams.


    "Stop yelling!" Being startled by Su Liang who darted up as if he had seen a ghost, Xing Le raised a gun to point down at the stairs. The squad leader named Lu Junjie, who was guarding the fifth floor, rushed down as well, leaning his head forward to look down. He thought that some powerful zombie had shown up, but only saw a person wearing a baseball hat slowly coming upstairs.


    He leaped over the staircase alertly, then raised his gun to point down at that person and yelled, "Who''s down there!"


    With his eyes fixed on the one with a baseball hat, he asked Su Liang with a low voice, "What ''s going on? Is it him who frightened you?"


    Su Liang started to calm down as his friends showed up. He pointed at Lin Qiao who had walked around the corner and said, "She¡­ she, she¡­ she''s a zombie!"


    Lin Qiao was wearing the same camouflage suit that she wore yesterday, as well as the same pair of sunglasses. But today, she also wore a hat.


    Seeing her, Xing Le sighed in relief. After that, he dropped his gun and turned to complain to Su Liang, "Isn''t this the zombie who told us to come here yesterday? He''s just wearing a hat. Why did you scream?"


    Hearing his words, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but roll her eyes. She had already put the sunglasses back on, so the few people couldn''t see her doing that.


    Lu Junjie was still raising his gun, and the look on his face changed a little. "Xing Le, look carefully!" He said, "This is a woman. She has breasts. And there are no scars on her face!"


    "Eh?" Xing Le paused slightly, then turned to Lin Qiao again. As Lu Junjie had said, the zombie they saw yesterday was flat-chased, and had large scars on his face, but this one in front of them had large breasts.


    The female figure was of the same height as the zombie they saw yesterday, so Xing Le didn''t notice the differences between them just now.


    He quivered and pointed his gun at Lin Qiao as quickly as possible.


    At that moment, Su Liang finally calmed down. He waved his hands to his friends, then said, "No, no¡­ I was trying to say that she can talk! She''s a zombie but she can talk!"


    Hearing his words, the other two immediately turn to look at him as if he was crazy.


    ''Can a zombie possibly talk? Are you kidding us? How can that possibly happen?''


    Looking at the three men in front of her, Lin Qiao felt that they wouldn''t let her pass until she showed them some proof.


    As she prepared to enter her space to pick up the cup that both Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing had used, and bring it out to show them, an unhappy roar was suddenly heard.


    "Roar!"


    ''Stay out of the way!''


    Only Lin Qiao understood the meaning of that roar, while the other three just turned back to look at Qiu Lili in shock. The latter was pouting while staring at the three of them, her hands resting on her hips as if the three men had really blocked her way.


    Maybe because of Qiu Lili''s strong vibe, the three men without superpowers automatically took two steps backward on seeing the look on her face. At that point, Lin Qiao walked upstairs. She pushed Su Liang and Xing Le aside, then walked through.


    The three men who had no idea what was happening stood there stunned, watching Qiu Lili hold Lin Qiao''s hands and lead her to the room she had picked.

 167 The Talking Zombie

    After taking two steps forward, Lin Qiao abruptly stopped and turned back, then slightly lowered her sunglasses and showed her pair of black eyes.


    "Go¡­tell¡­your¡­leader, I¡­need¡­to¡­talk¡­to¡­them¡­" She said a few words slowly, then turned and walked into the room with Qiu Lili. Xing Le and the other two gazed at the two zombies for a few seconds, then realized what they had just heard and glanced at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief.


    "What did she just say?" Lu Junjie asked uncertainly.


    Xing Le responded, "I think¡­she asked us to tell our leader that she''s gonna talk to them?"


    Then, both Lu Junjie and Xing Le turned to Su Liang, as they could scarcely believe what they had heard. Su Liang nodded at them and said, "Captain, go tell them."


    Lu Junjie thought for a moment, then carried the gun on his back and said to Xing Le, "Xing Le, you go upstairs."


    Then, he turned and headed to Lin Feng''s room.


    "Yes, sir!" Xing Le responded, then ran upstairs with his gun to guard the floor. Lu Junjie walked to the door of Lin Feng''s room. Wei Jingchen, who guarded by the door, asked, "Why did Su Liang scream?"


    "He saw a ghost!" Lu Junjie replied.


    "Great Captain!" He knocked the door.


    "Come in!" Someone in the room responded. Lu Junjie pushed the door open and walked in, leaving Wei Jingchen with confusion.


    Once in, Lu Junjie walked to Lin Feng and the others, then said, "The zombie with sunglasses is here. It wants to talk to you."


    Hearing that, the others all turned to him.


    "Is it the one named Lu Tianyu? Where is he now?" Lin Feng asked.


    "Yes," Lu Junjie nodded and said, "It''s in the two female zombies'' room, but¡­"


    "What?" As Lu Junjie stuttered, Yuan Tianxing, who had gotten off the bed and was now resting on the couch, couldn''t help but ask.


    "It¡­It has become a female¡­" Lu Junjie said with hesitation. "¡­And the scars on its face are gone. Now, it looks just like a healthy human being if you ignore its eyes."


    The others stared at him with surprise, seeming to doubt their own ears. Even the composed Long Qingying had slightly widened her eyes and showed the same look as the others.


    "Female? That''s impossible! Yesterday, all of us saw that he had a flat chest. It wasn''t tall, but its chest was flat indeed. Tell me I''m not the only one who saw its flat chest!" Cheng Wangxue looked at the others and said.


    Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, Mrs. Lin, Long Qingying, Lin Wenwen, and Lin Xiaolu, who didn''t know what exactly they were talking about, all nodded at her, because they had all seen that zombie''s flat chest.


    Suddenly, Lin Wenwen turned to Long Qingying and said, "Qingying, didn''t you meet those zombies earlier than us? Did you know that it''s a female zombie?"


    Long Qingying soon calmed back down, and the surprised look in her face disappeared, as if she wasn''t shocked at all. "I didn''t know. But, it didn''t look like a female zombie at least," she said blandly.


    She spent a while thinking. That zombie''s hair were shorter than that of some men, and its face was covered in scars. It liked to wear Du Yuanxing''s sunglasses, and most importantly, its chest was flat.


    Everybody saw its flat chest!


    Mrs. Lin turned to look at Lu Junjie and ask, "Junjie, are you sure?"


    Lu Junjie nodded and said, "Yeah, Liang and Le saw it too."


    At that moment, Lin Feng suddenly thought of the woman''s figure which had emerged in his head when he was picturing that zombie''s face.


    ''It can''t be¡­'' he thought.


    The roomful of people were all shocked by the news, and didn''t manage to process it yet. Only Yuan Tianxing cooled down soon and said to Lu Junjie, "Junjie, go tell them that we can talk to them at any time they want."


    "Yes, sir¡­right away!" Lu Junjie responded immediately. While speaking, he turned to walk outside; but after taking a few steps, he turned back around, then looked at the others and said, "Eh¡­ there''s¡­another thing¡­"


    The others looked at him bewilderedly. "What is it? Just tell us."


    "Eh¡­that¡­" Lu Junjie said awkwardly, "Lu Tianyu can talk!"


    Earlier on, he had almost forgotten about this.


    The others fell in silence, wondering if they had misheard.


    "She¡­Isn''t she a zombie?" Mrs. Lin asked with confusion.


    "Her eyes are still as black as a zombie''s ¡­" Lu Junjie said to clarify. However, he couldn''t tell for sure if Lin Qiao was still a zombie or not!


    Had anyone ever seen a zombie with a clean and pretty face like some human being? No! Some zombies had their faces undamaged, but they all had large dark circles under their eyes, just like that young female zombie¡­


    Had anyone ever seen a zombie which would save human beings? No! People believed that zombies fed on human beings.


    Had anyone seen a zombie which could change its gender? No! Had that zombie evolved into some kind of higher level creature?


    Had anyone ever seen a talking zombie? Absolutely not!


    This roomful of people just wanted a quiet moment at that point. They didn''t understand what was going on with the world! Why could a zombie talk?


    "Was she pretending to be a zombie yesterday?" Lin Wenwen said. "Maybe, she''s a human being?"


    "I''ve seen her easily cut open the other zombies'' heads with her fingernails. I don''t think normal human beings can do that. And, her eyes look authentic. Not even cosmetic contact lens can make her eyes look like that," Long Qingying said calmly.


    "Grandma, what are cosmetic contact lens?" Lin Xiaolu asked Mrs. Lin with a low voice.


    "Just one type of contact lens that can change the color of your eyes," Mrs. Lin answered her question, also with a low voice.


    "Okay¡­" Lin Xiaolu responded, not seeming to understand fully.


    Yuan Tianxing, who was still wearing a composed look, turned to Lu Junjie and said, "Alright, invite them here now." He glanced at the others and felt that it was better to let everyone see the zombies themselves instead of letting them guess around here.


    "Yes, sir!" Lu Junjie replied. This time, he turned and walked out without stopping, heading over to Lin Qiao''s room immediately.


    As Yuan Tianxing sent Lu Junjie to invite the zombies, the others instantly quieted down, even somewhat expectant about seeing Lin Qiao.


    Furthermore, they couldn''t help but start imagining the zombie''s unscarred face.

 168 Ear-piercing Evil noise

    Qiu Lili guided Lin Qiao into the room she had picked. It was a double room, neither large nor small. Once in, Lin Qiao saw Junjun playing with Tongtong on the bed.


    The rooms had been roughly neatened, now looking quite clean and tidy. All blankets were aired by the window side.


    Lin Qiao knew that Qiu Lili must have done all this once she came here, because she loved things clean, and was a diligent, good zombie.


    As Lin Qiao came into the room, both Junjun and Tongtong turned to her,


    She took off her hat. For some reason, after the last treatment in the lake, her body was now able to sense temperature. It was noon time, so she actually felt a little hot wearing the hat and the headband.


    Therefore, she took off the hat and headband regardless of her bald head. Both Qiu Lili and Junjun had seen her bald head anyway.


    However, as she exposed her bald head, the others fixed their eyes on it. Junjun wanted to laugh, but felt that she shouldn''t, while Qiu Lili and Tongtong both stared curiously.


    ''I need to get used to this¡­get used to this¡­'' Lin Qiao thought repeatedly.


    Qiu Lili gazed at Lin Qiao''s head while getting closer and closer to her. Then, she silently reached a hand toward it.


    Lin Qiao flinched in response. Failing to touch her head, Qiu Liil pouted and mumbled, "Ahyayayaya¡­"


    ''Let me touch it¡­''


    Lin Qiao remained silent. Meanwhile, Qiu Lili reached her hand further toward the former''s head and finally touched it.


    After that, she shouted happily, "Ahya!"


    ''So smooth!''


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    "Mom¡­I want¡­head¡­" At that moment, Tongtong suddenly dragged Junjun''s sleeve with one hand and pointed at Lin Qiao''s bald head with the other.


    "Hah!" Junjun finally couldn''t help but laugh out.


    ''Are these two kids rising in rebellion?'' Lin Qiao thought. Without saying anything, she put the hat back on. Seeing her put on the hat and cover her bald head, Tontong was unhappy.


    "Whoo¡­ Ma¡­I want the¡­the head¡­" He mumbled to Junjun.


    Junjun looked at him helplessly while shaking her head. She wanted very much to tell him that he couldn''t touch Lin Qiao''s head, because she might get angry and eat him. However, she couldn''t talk at the moment. All she could do was shake her head at Tongtong.


    Then, something horrible happened.


    "Whoooo¡­ I want it¡­ Whaaaaa¡­." A thunderous crying was heard in the room. Lin Qiao was nearly freaked out by the scarily loud crying sound. Qiu Lili immediately covered her ears with her hands and hid in a corner.


    The boy''s crying sound was earth-shaking!


    "Whooooo¡­Ahhhh¡­I want it! I want it¡­. Whaaaaa¡­."


    Lin Qiao felt that her eardrums were actually torn by the evil noise!


    Two seconds later, Qiu Lili darted toward the window, then leaped out and disappeared without a trace.


    "Whaaaa¡­I want it! Ma! I want it¡­Whooo¡­" Tongtong didn''t care if Qiu Lili has disappeared or not. He just really wanted to touch that egg-like bald head of Lin Qiao, so he wouldn''t stop crying.


    To Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili who were both very sensitive to sounds, his crying was torturous. No wonder Qiu Lili directly leaped out of the window.


    Hearing the head-blowing, evil crying sound, Lin Qiao angrily took off her hat and threw it at the couch. Then, she walked to Tongtong and closed her eyes while bending over to reach her head to him.


    ''Touch it! Just touch it! Please stop crying!''


    On the other side, some relatively powerful human beings had heard Tongtong''s cry too, even though the sound insulation of the walls in this hotel building was quite satisfactory.


    Soon after Lu Junjie left the room, the few in the room who were at level-four or above all heard a child''s crying.


    "Eh? Am I hearing a child''s cry?" Lin Qiao looked at the others and asked. Yuan Tianxing nodded with agreement and said, "I heard it too! But, I think Xiaolu is the only kid in this place, right?"


    Lin Wenwen looked around and said with confusion, "Yeah! Where is that kid from?"


    The group of people looked at each other.


    Long Qingying knew who the child was. However, she didn''t say anything but watched the others wearing the bewildered looks. Meanwhile, she also wondered why the kid was crying so loudly.


    Lu Junjie, who had nearly walked to the door of Qiu Lili''s room, heard something as well. He paused and looked around with confusion, then felt that the crying sound was coming from the zombies'' room.


    He couldn''t hear it clearly, so he wasn''t so sure.


    Back in Qiu Lili''s room, when Lin Qiao reached her head to Tongtong, the latter immediately stopped crying.


    The little boy burped, then stared at Lin Qiao''s head for a little while. Only after that did he reached out his little hands to touch it. After that, he couldn''t keep his hands off her head.


    Feeling the pair of little hands running over her head over and over again, Lin Qiao complained internally, ''I don''t like this boy! Wu Yueling is so much more adorable than him! I miss that little one so much!''


    Junjun smilingly watched Tongtong fondling Lin Qiao''s head. As he was almost satisfied, she hurriedly carried the boy away because she had sensed that someone was outside the door.


    Lin Qiao sensed it too. She turned to walk to the door and opened it before Lu Junjie knocked on it.


    Lu Junjie, who was raising a hand to knock on the door, paused when the door was opened. Then, he saw a bald-headed zombie staring at him from behind the sunglasses.


    ''Where is this bald one from?'' He wondered.


    Seeing Lu Junjie''s confused look, Lin Qiao took off her sunglasses, then rubbed her bald head and asked awkwardly, "How¡­can¡­I¡­help¡­"


    The little boy was crying too loud just now, so she forgot to put her hat on before opening the door. Anyway, nothing too bad would happen even if she let Lu Junjie see her bald head. At the very least, her bald head looked much better than a scarred face.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, Lu Junjie finally recognized her. He stared at the latter and said, "Eh¡­Your hair¡­!"


    He was going to ask Lin Qiao where her hair went, but then he realized that it was inappropriate to ask that question, as the latter was a female.


    He gazed at Lin Qiao''s pretty face, dark eyes, and bald head. It would be a little more acceptable for a man to look like this, but for a girl¡­


    He calmed himself down, then coughed slightly and said, "So¡­ our Deputy Chief has invited you to their room to talk about the future plans. Is it¡­ convenient for you?"


    Lin Qiao nodded in response without thinking.

 170 I Help Because I Want To

    Lin Feng often followed around his sister, who was the chief, so he was rather familiar with her vibe. As clear-minded men, both he and Yuan Tianxing soon figured out that the zombie''s vibe was similar to Lin Qiao''s.


    Vibes couldn''t be copied¡­So, was this a coincidence?


    Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen hadn''t recognized Lin Qiao''s vibe yet. Lin Wenwen didn''t have sharp sensations, so she wasn''t as sensitive to vibes as Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were. Mrs. Lin was just an ordinary human being who could barely sense things. She felt familiar only because the zombie had given her a very strong feeling.


    Long Qingying wasn''t a member of Lin Family, neither did she spend much time around Chief Netherworld Fire. So, she didn''t have any special feelings.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly moved her hand. In the next second, a white clipboard appeared in her hands.


    She found this clipboard among Qiu Lili''s belongings. Earlier on, she had gone to find a bra. But instead of a suitable bra, she saw the clipboard. As it could allow her to write more conveniently, she took it.


    And now, the clipboard just came in handy. Even though she was able to talk now, she couldn''t talk fast. Once she tried to speak faster, she wouldn''t be able to pronounce clearly anymore. Therefore, she decided to write for serious conversations.


    Seeing that Lin Qiao was ready, Yuan Tianxing glanced at Lin Feng and signaled for him to start the conversation. Lin Feng thought for a moment, then asked with curiosity, "Your name is Lu Tianyu, right? May I ask why you came to save us?"


    He wanted to know if someone had asked Lin Qiao to save him and his family.


    He and his people couldn''t trust any stranger. In the apocalyptic era, trust had become a luxury. Even the people who fought side by side with him had betrayed him, let alone the fact that he was now facing not a friend or a teammate, but a zombie. Days ago, they still believed that all zombies needed to be killed.


    He put himself in Lin Qiao''s shoes and figured that as a zombie, she didn''t have a reason to come all the way from the South to save a group of human beings. So, he just had to wonder about her real purpose.


    They had nothing to offer to these zombies except for their lives. So, why on earth were these strange zombies here? Were they really here to help?


    They had only known these zombies for two days, so they didn''t believe that. However, what all happened had proven that this group of zombies had indeed been helping them the whole time. They fought Yang Jianhua, and healed him and Yuan Tianxing. Therefore, even though he suspected the zombies of having other purposes, he didn''t share his thoughts with others.


    Yuan Tianxing was prepared to go to the Sea City Base to find Li Zheng and his people in a couple of days, and also to try finding out something about Lu Tianyu. He thought that Sea City Base people might know something about her.


    However, little did Lin Feng know that Lin Qiao had sensed most of the thoughts of the roomful of people. She was no longer limited by her power level, so she even sensed some of Yuan Tianxing''s thoughts, as he was right beside her.


    She understood that these people wouldn''t trust her so easily. So, she pondered for a while, and felt that she shouldn''t try to make up an excuse. Instead, she should just¡­


    While thinking, she wrote on the clipboard with a charcoal pencil¡ª''No reason. I just want to save you.''


    The others felt that that wasn''t even an answer.


    Reading this answer, the group of people felt that they shouldn''t ask further questions about why she had helped them. After all, a zombie could do whatever it wanted.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing glanced at each other. This time, Yuan Tianxing said, "Mis-Miss. Lu, even though we don''t know why you helped us, we still want to thank you. Your water has great healing power, and it''s more effective than all our drugs."


    While calling her ''Miss. Lu'', Yuan Tianxing couldn''t help but glance at her bald head. Then, before losing control of his expression, he hurriedly smiled and began talking.


    However, how could Lin Qiao not detect his weird fake smile? After all, Yuan Tianxing used to be her Deputy Captain before the old world ended. She habitually rolled her eyes and then wrote¡ª''You''re welcome.''


    At that point, Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen, and Lin Feng had fixed their eyes on Lin Qiao''s handwriting, and were lost in thoughts.


    The longer they looked at the handwriting, the more familiar they felt it was.


    Earlier on, Lin Feng had sensed that Lin Qiao''s vibe was similar to that of his sister who had blown herself up, and now, he had recognized Lin Qiao''s handwriting.


    ''Why is this zombie so much like Lin Qiao?'' He wondered, ''Her vibe, even her handwriting?''


    The faces of Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen darkened a little when they saw Lin Qiao''s handwriting. Meanwhile, the confused look in their faces had become more and more obvious.


    Apart from Lin Family members, Yuan Tianxing had recognized her handwriting as well. However, he didn''t make any reaction to that.


    Lin Qiao silently sensed their thoughts, then glanced at her own handwriting. She had thought that they might recognize her handwriting before. She didn''t know what influence that might cause, but she didn''t care.


    They might continue doubting her, or slowly accept her, but she could only wait and see.


    Perhaps, there was a better way to protect them. But, she wanted something more than secretly protecting them while they knew nothing about her existence. She took the risk because she wanted to make direct contact with her family.


    Even though she had become a zombie, she still wanted to talk to her family and be with them.


    Yuan Tianxing blinked, then continued, "We''ve decided to stay here. In the near future, we''ll start to build our new base. We''ll be waiting for the right time to take revenge against Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai.


    While saying the names of Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai, Yuan Tianxing was still smiling, and his tone hadn''t changed at all. However, he didn''t manage to conceal the murderous intent in his eyes.


    The others wore the same look as him, but their faces were much more twisted than his. However, all of them didn''t make a single sound.


    Lin Qiao sensed their mood swings, but had no feeling toward Long Yubai and Yang Jianhua. However, she remembered the dull pain that she had in her head when she heard the words ''lifesaver'' before.


    She suddenly felt that she should make another trip to the South, to figure out the connection between her and the dead Lin Qiao.


    Did she lose her memories? Or, was there another person pretending to be her? The first guess was possible, but not the second.


    No matter how, she needed to figure the whole thing out. First of all, she had decided to start with her dead self.

 171 The Development of Human Beings

    Yuan Tianxing said that they would wait for the right moment to take revenge, but Lin Qiao knew that the moment wouldn''t come so fast. They needed to settle down and then expand their team. They needed to wait until their strength broke into a higher level before taking their revenge. It might take them three to five years, or even eight to ten years; no one could tell for sure.


    ''So?'' Lin Qiao nodded knowingly and then asked him with her eyes. Yuan Tianxing looked at her and responded seriously, "So, we want to work with you."


    Lin Qiao looked at him and pointed at herself. Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Yes, we want to work with you. Also, we want to ask you for help. You helped us yesterday. We don''t know why you did it, but we''ve felt your goodwill. I think you''ll agree to our request. What do you say?"


    He could tell that this zombie named Lu Tianyu was the leader of this small zombie group. He believed that as long as she agreed to cooperate, the other female zombies would be cool with it as well.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, her eyes glowing slightly. Then, she wrote¡ª''Work with us? What can you offer us then?''


    She was a high-level zombie now, while Qiu Lili was a zombie queen. Zombie queens and zombie kings were rather scarce in the post-apocalyptic era. Zombie queens and kings basically had nothing to be afraid of. Only level-seven superpowered human beings had any chance against zombie kings and queens, while all the others below level-seven were no match.


    The smile on Yuan Tianxing''s face changed slightly as he said, "We can offer you a shelter."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise, then turned back to make an eye-contact with Junjun. Clearly, neither of them understood Yuan Tianxing''s words.


    Yuan Tianxing fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao''s bald head and pretty face, also noticing her bewildered look. For some reason, he felt that this zombie looked a little adorable with that confused look, and familiar.


    He gave a bigger smile and continued, "As you can see, human beings have been developing rapidly during the past few years, while you zombies have barely changed. You might think that we are weak now, but once we have built our new base and recruited some homeless survivors to offer them a home to live, our base will grow quickly. You zombies need to protect yourself from all the human bases. The success rate of zombie-hunting missions has been growing higher and higher. So, in one or two decades, how many zombies do you think will survive?"


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly. In fact, she had thought about this question long ago. The situation of zombies hadn''t changed much for now, but what would happen in one or two decades?


    Human beings were able to reproduce, while zombies weren''t. Over time, zombies would become less and less, as more and more of them were being killed.


    What about a century later? Would zombies be killed out by human beings who were getting stronger and stronger?


    The potential of human beings was unlimited, especially under chaotic circumstances. Soon, another era would begin, because the most difficult time had gone by, and human beings had built their bases successfully.


    Lin Qiao had lots of thoughts, but unlike her, Junjun had only realized the fact that human beings were growing stronger and stronger indeed, while zombies weren''t because they weren''t as smart as the other party.


    As the two zombies both wore serious looks, Yuan Tianxing knew that the chance to work with them was now bigger than before. He also discovered that the pretty bald female zombie was as smart as most in this roomful of human beings. From her expression, he could tell that she had been thinking far ahead.


    "Based on the current situation, we can easily predict the world in ten years. Since you still have your human memories, I believe you know how creative human beings can be, and how strong our desire for survival is. So, if you protect us now, we''ll protect you in the future. What do you think?" He continued.


    Lin Qiao looked at him quietly, thinking that this man was rather calculative. Even if he didn''t ask, she would still protect them until they could no longer be threatened.


    She wanted very much to tell these people about who she really was. However, no normal human being would believe such an unscientific thing. If she tried telling her family the truth, Lin Feng and the others might think her as a bad one who was pretending to be Lin Qiao. If that happened, things would become troublesome.


    Even if she could find evidence to prove that she was Lin Qiao, her family might still not believe her. She knew about her family, and the fact that once they believed in something, nothing would be able to change their minds. So, she needed to find a way to make them accept her as a zombie first.


    Another reason that kept her from telling the truth was that she knew nothing about her other self, as if she had lost her memories for the past five years. In this case, how should she persuade them that she was Lin Qiao? That was the biggest problem¡ªshe truly had no way to prove her identity.


    Earlier on, she was trying to think of an excuse to stay around her family, but now, Yuan Tianxing had given her exactly one. Even though it sounded like he wanted to use her, Lin Qiao knew that this man would always keep his words. Perhaps, he wouldn''t abandon this small group of weird zombies in the future.


    No one in the room knew what Lin Qiao was thinking. As she stayed silent, they thought that she was pondering over Yuan Tanxing''s words, so they looked at her quietly.


    Looking at Lin Qiao, Lin Feng, Mrs. Lin, and Lin Wenwen all shared the same feeling.


    They wanted Lin Qiao to stay, not only because she had saved them before, also because she had been giving them a familiar feeling from time to time. Moreover, as Yuan Tianxing had said, maybe in a few decades, zombies would fall in a bad situation.


    After about ten seconds, Lin Qiao nodded under the gazes of the roomful of people and wrote¡ª''You''re right. I can see that human beings are growing fast. But, please don''t underestimate zombies. Seeing me, you should know that some smart zombies do exist in the world.''


    She wanted to tell him that if more zombies like her who had human memories existed, and if they were holding different thoughts, the future of zombies would be unpredictable.


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng both nodded on reading what she had written.


    "That''ll depend on if they''re hiding well enough." Lin Feng said while staring at Lin Qiao''s handwriting without blinking. ''This zombie''s handwriting is so much similar to that of Lin Qiao''s! Every stroke! But, why can the zombie write like this?''

 172 Go to Another Place

    ''But, if you plan to build a new base, I suggest you to find another place. This place isn''t ideal.'' Lin Qiao continued writing.


    Yuan Tianxing made eye-contact with Lin Feng and then asked, "Why?"


    This place was a remote county. Only a small number of zombies existed here, so it would only require a small effort to clean them out. This place wasn''t far away from the Sea City Base, so if anything happened, they could go to them for help.


    Lin Qiao wrote, ''You are just a small group of people, and most of you are weak. It''ll be easy for the others to attack you if you''re staying here. So, in my opinion, you should find a zombie city. As we''re working together, we can build you a fence wall made of zombies.''


    Yuan Tianxing rested his chin on his palm and spent a moment thinking. He was nearly convinced by Lin Qiao.


    Zombie cities were the places with the largest numbers of zombies. Back in the old world, these places were busy large cities, and the people who lived there had high standards of living. The tall buildings in zombie cities were very suitable for living. People had great chances of finding untouched ice storage with lots of food in them, along with some intact supplies.


    Currently, the bases would send armies when they needed to enter zombie cities to collect supplies, because they had to deal with waves of zombie crowds and all sorts of high-level zombies among them.


    In a large zombie city, the number of level-five zombie leaders could be big, and even zombie kings and queens might exist.


    Hence, while normally entering zombie cities, level-seven base leaders would lead their armies themselves to guarantee relatively lower casualties and good harvests.


    Both Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng had thought about all sorts of possibilities. But unlike them, Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen didn''t quite understand why Lin Qiao suggested them to leave this place and find another place to build their base.


    ''Go find a large city that no one has set foot in after the apocalypse. We''ll clean up the zombies. If any higher level zombie shows up, we''ll take it out. As for ordinary zombies, we''ll drive them to the outer circle. You''ll be able to find a nice place in that city to build your base''¡ªLin Qiao wrote.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Feng to ask him about his opinion through his eyes. Lin Feng glanced at him, but stayed silent.


    Lin Qiao erased the lines she wrote, then continued writing, ''In a zombie city, you can find the best-preserved supplies, and the environment is more habitable for human beings. As long as we''re with you, you don'' need to be afraid of the zombies.''


    The last sentence was the point. After reading that, Lin Feng slightly nodded to Yuan Tianxing.


    "Okay, I agree with you¡­" Yuan Tianxing said, "as long as we can deal with the zombie crowds. We can also use the zombies to defend ourselves. We''ll spend a long time building our new base, so it''ll be nice if we can put the zombies to use."


    Lin Feng nodded in agreement.


    As both Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing had agreed, Lin Qiao sighed in relief.


    At that point, Mrs. Lin looked at Tongtong and asked, "May I ask what''s the story of this kid?"


    In the post-apocalyptic era, children were considered as the future of mankind, equally precious as women. Therefore, seeing Tongtong staying with two zombies, the roomful of human beings all couldn''t help but ask about him.


    As someone mentioned Tongtong, Junjun immediately showed a nervous look. She popped her pale gray eyes and held Tongtng tighter.


    "Hm¡­em¡­Ma¡­ You''re hurting me¡­" As Junjun squeezed Tongtong unwittingly, the boy twisted his body and complained.


    Hearing that, she came back to her senses and realized that she was too nervous.


    Lin Qiao turned around to look at Junjun, then shook her head to comfort the latter. After that, she turned back and wrote, ''The boy is her son. When I found them, Junjun had just turned into a zombie, while Tongtong had been starving for days.''


    The clipboard wasn''t large enough, so Lin Qiao wrote a paragraph to show the group of people, then erased it and continued writing, ''However, Junjun kept the boy from being eaten by other zombies. I saved Tongtong with my lake water. Don''t worry, she won''t hurt Tongtong, because he''s her child.''


    She didn''t tell the group of human beings that Junjun had lost her memories, and that she didn''t know for sure if Tongtong was really her son or not.


    The others glanced at each other and felt slightly relieved.


    "But, you''re zombies, and you don''t need to eat. So how do you¡­feed the child?" Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but ask.


    ''I found some vegetables and meat. We cook for him. Don''t worry, those foods won''t hurt human beings.'' Lin Qiao wrote in response.


    The group of people looked at each other with surprise. Judging by Tongtong''s energetic look, the food he had been eating should be fine.


    "The child needs some carbohydrates to grow." Mrs. Lin said kindly, "It sounds like you''ve never fed him with rice before. We have rice gruel here. Later on at meal time, we''ll send some to you, if you don''t mind."


    As Mrs. Lin only offered to send some rice gruel but didn''t ask her to let Tongtong stay with her and her family, Junjun sighed with relief. The child did need some carbohydrates. Lin Qiao had been providing him with meat and vegetables, but staple food was also necessary, as lacking carbohydrates would cause a bad influence on a child''s development.


    Junjun slightly bent toward Mrs. Lin to show gratitude.


    ''Thank you!'' Lin Qiao wrote on the clipboard, ''In return, come and find me when you need the lake water.''


    The group of people nodded.


    Lin Qiao roughly scheduled the meeting regarding the establishment of the new base which would take place tomorrow, then returned to her room with Junjun. But before leaving, she told Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and the others to relax and rest; as long as she was there, no zombies at or under level-four would dare to come inside this building.


    ¡­


    Back in the zombies'' room, Junjun put Tongtong on the bed. Qiu Lili hadn''t come back yet; she had probably gone somewhere to play.


    Abruptly, Junjun took over the clipboard from Lin Qiao''s hands and then wrote, ''Why didn''t you tell them your real name? Isn''t your name Lin Qiao?''


    Lin Qiao''s zombie friends all knew that her name was Lin Qiao because she had told them so when she met them. They also knew why she had come to find Lin Feng and his people, as they were her family.


    Lin Qiao looked at Junjun, then took over the clipboard and wrote, ''Lu Tianyu is also a real name¡­It''s the name of this body.''


    Junjun looked at her confusedly. She didn''t know what Lin Qiao meant, neither did she know that the leader of the Hades Base was also named Lin Qiao. Perhaps, she used to know about that, but she couldn''t remember a thing now.


    Junjun had no idea that Lin Qiao was using Lu Tianyu''s body.


    Lin Qiao saw her confused look, also sensing her thoughts. So, she wrote, ''You don''t need to write. I can sense all your thoughts. This body isn''t my body, and this face isn''t my face.''


    Finishing writing, she touched her own face. Then somehow, her hand went to the top of her head.


    She felt a little speechless, as she had already touched her head more than five times today.

 174 Handwriting And Vibe

    Back then, Xie Dong had nothing inside his body except the energy provided by the zombie virus. Therefore, his body absorbed the energy of the lake water after being drained, and he woke up soon after.


    If the vine plant hadn''t removed the zombie virus from his body, and if the lake water hadn''t changed his body condition, he surely wouldn''t have become what he had¡ªa zombie who looked like a human being.


    Except for that bad-tempered vine plant, nobody knew about that; neither Lin Qiao, nor Xie Dong himself. Xie Dong didn''t even remember how he became a zombie.


    Junjun opened her mouth toward Lin Qiao, yet didn''t utter any sound. However, Lin Qiao had already heard what she wanted to say. So, she wrote on the clipboard, ''I need to talk to it about that. But, to restore your bodies and voices, it will require energy. We can use energy nuclei of human beings, zombie nuclei, or those of mutant plants.''


    Lin Qiao wasn''t sure if the lake could heal other zombies. With that thought, she continued writing, ''I need to ask it if it can fix your voices.''


    Then, she turned and flashed into her space.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Feng and the others had started talking about Lin Qiao''s handwriting after she had left. "Yesterday when she wrote on the paper, I already felt that her handwriting was familiar," said Mrs. Lin. "Now, I think her handwriting is exactly the same as Qiao''s."


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Not everyone can write with sharp and bold strokes like my sister. Even if that zombie was imitating, her handwriting should not be exactly the same as my sister''s. But, I''ve been watching her the whole time just now. She wrote pretty casually, yet her handwriting was just the same as my sister''s."


    Lin Feng pondered for a short while, then joined the conversation, "Her vibe, her sitting posture, and her little habits are all similar to Lin Qiao''s. And earlier on when I focused on her face, I found that her expressions were familiar as well. All in all, her behavior, looks, the way she talks and thinks, are all quite alike to those of Lin Qiao. What do you think, Tianxing?"


    While finishing talking, he turned to look at Yuan Tianxing, who was wearing a bland look. The latter had a faint smile on his face, but his blinking eyes had told everyone else that he was considering something.


    He had noticed all that was mentioned by Lin Feng and the others. He was secretly in love with Lin Qiao for years, so he surely knew almost everything about her, not to mention the fact that he was around her all these years.


    However, the zombie named Lu Tianyu was so strange that he couldn''t tell a thing about her.


    As a zombie, she came all the way to save Lin Feng and his people. Perhaps, she did that to serve a particular purpose. But, what purpose could a zombie possibly have? Did she want to eat their flesh? Their heart? Or their energy nuclei?


    If she wanted to eat them, why would she pretend to be a good one and save them?


    Besides, she looked like a male yesterday. But after one single night, she turned into a female, and her appearance had changed thoroughly! That was so confusing!


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao entered her space, leaving Junjun and Xie Dong in the room with the little boy. Junjun stared at Xie Dong a nervously. She had sensed something not quite good from him, something a little like the thirst for blood, and also ferocity.


    However, it wasn''t the kind of ferocity that a zombie could have after it had killed many human beings, but like¡­


    Junjun couldn''t explain her feeling, but Xie Dong did make her feel danger.


    Both Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili had made her feel the kind of pressure from higher level beings, but unlike them, Xie Dong was a predator in her eyes.


    Xie Dong knew that Junjun was nervous because of him, so he had tried his best to restrain his vibe. But, she was still afraid, and he didn''t know what to do to help her.


    He looked around, then sniffed at the air. After that, he walked to the door and sniffed through it.


    He had sensed human beings outside, a dozen of them.


    He was curious about who these people were, and why Lin Qiao and Junjun were with them. Were these people the ones that Lin Qiao had been looking for? Did they know that the ones staying in this room were all zombies? And, where did Lin Qiao find Junjun and the little boy?


    Before, Lin Qiao would only act alone. But now, she was with another female zombie and a little boy.


    Xie Dong also wondered where Wu Yueling had gone. Had Lin Qiao sent her back? Didn''t she go to the South? Did she head back to send the little girl to her father? Or, did Chief Wu catch her?


    Nothing made sense to him. If those human beings out there weren''t the ones that Lin Qiao was looking for, who were they?


    With lots of puzzles in his head, Xie Dong turned back to look at Junjun and Tongtong with confusion.


    Why did fate always bring kids to Lin Qiao?


    ¡­


    After entering the space, Lin Qiao glanced around, still not used to the changes that had happened to her space. It had become a lot bigger than before, but somehow, she felt that she wasn''t able to control it.


    Was she the owner of this place? Or, was she just an outsider who happened to borrow it? Was the vine plant in the lake the real owner of this space?


    With that thought, she walked to the lakeside to observe the water surface. In fact, she was trying to sense the vine plant in the lake, wondering if it would help her to heal her zombie friends.


    A few vines slowly showed up, as if the plant had sensed her presence, sticking out of the water while wriggling. Lin Qiao looked at them with surprise, then raised a hand to wave at them.


    But then, she began struggling, because she didn''t know how to communicate with these vines. She was able to communicate with human beings and zombies, yet she had never tried to talk to plants.


    She felt that this vine plant was rather smart, as it had thrown the large turtle back out a couple of times.


    Where was this vine plant from? Could mutant plants become conscious after the apocalypse?


    Last time, Lin Qiao had felt that the vine plant was like a wilful child as it slapped the water in protest. Recalling that, Lin Qiao even wanted to laugh. Moreover, when the vine plant asked her for the kernel, it was also like a child who was begging for candy.


    As Lin Qiao waved, a long vine reached out of the water toward her.


    ''Eh? So obedient!'' Watching the vine send itself to her, Lin Qiao was quite surprised. ''How should I tell it that I want it to heal my friends too?'' She took it as healing, but in fact, she felt that it was more like upgrading. After all, every time she was healed a little, she became stronger than before.


    ''Should I write? Can this vine read? Should I talk? Maybe. But I don''t know if it can understand my language either!''


    But then, Lin Qiao thought that the vine plant might prefer telepathy as a way of communication, because she had suddenly recalled that for the last two times, the vine coiled around her wrist or ankle to send messages to her brain.


    It seemed that in order to communicate with it, she needed to make direct physical contact with it.

 175 Call Me Viney

    Lin Qiao raised a finger, and as she expected, the vine slowly reached the lakeside as it crawled toward her. Seeing this, she squatted and reached her fingers toward it, which instantly coiled around one of her fingers, as if it knew what she wanted.


    ''Mama¡­''


    ''Eh? Who?''


    ''Mama¡­''


    ''Damn! Who''s calling me Mama! You weird vine, don''t call me Mama!'' Lin Qiao yelled in her head. She couldn''t help but stare at the vine which was coiled around her finger in shock, startled on hearing someone call her ''Mama'' in her head.


    ''Whooo¡­ You''re Mama¡­ You''re Mama!''


    Then, another message was sent into her head. The vine plant believed that Lin Qiao was its mama! At this point, she even wanted to cry. ''Even if I skipped five years and became a zombie, I can''t possibly give birth to a baby vine!''


    ''You didn''t give birth to me¡­ You planted me¡­''


    Sensing Lin Qiao''s thought, the vine plant sent a new message to her head to correct her. Lin Qiao wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. At last, she thought helplessly, ''Who planted you here in this space? I didn''t plant you.''


    ''Whoo¡­ Mama¡­ It''s you, Mama¡­''


    The vine plant sounded like a peevish child. It was worried that Lin Qiao might not admit that it was her child, so it wouldn''t stop crying in her head.


    ''Mama¡­You''re my Mama¡­You''re my Mama¡­You are my Mama¡­Mama¡­ Mama¡­Mama¡­''


    Lin Qiao wanted to cry but failed to shed any tears.


    ''Mama¡­ Mama¡­ Mama¡­'' The vine plant repeated it again and again, and Lin Qiao was soon defeated. She gave up as she closed her eyes and faced a palm toward the vine.


    ''Alright! Alright! I get it! I''m your Mama! Stop screaming! Quiet!''


    She always felt helpless when she was with children, and the vine was like a stubborn child. Right now, Lin Qiao really needed to talk to it about something else, so she decided to put aside the whole ''Mama'' thing for now. Later on when she got time, she would come in and ask it for more details.


    Fortunately, the vine was quite obedient. As Lin Qiao told it to quiet down, it quieted down immediately, but didn''t stop poking her palm as if it was having fun.


    Looking at the leafless vine, Lin Qiao thought about how to convince it to heal her zombie friends. Meanwhile, she asked the vine about its name. Since it was intelligent, it should have a name.


    ''Do you have a name?''


    Hearing that question, the vine paused for two seconds, then continued poking her.


    ''Mama, call me Viney¡­''


    ''Viney? Vine? So, you do have a name. But, that sounds like a nickname.''


    ''Of course, I have a name¡­'' Sensing that Lin Qiao was surprised, Viney got little unhappy. Lin Qiao couldn''t help but poke the vine with her other hand. She found that it was a little soft, and not as slippery as she had imagined.


    It was soft and elastic, unlike how she felt down in the lake.


    It was time for the serious talk, so she questioned in her head while poking it, ''Can you please heal my zombie friends too? Like what you did to me? Can you fix their faces and enable them to talk?''


    Hearing that, Viney soon responded, ''Sure, sure, sure, little Viney can do whatever Mama wants me to do¡­! But, little Viney doesn''t have enough energy¡­So Mama, you need to find me more sources of energy.''


    Hearing Viney agreeing to help, Lin Qiao was delighted. She didn''t expect it to be so willing to help. She knew that by sources of energy, Viney meant the nuclei of zombies, human beings, and mutant plants.


    She nodded and responded, ''Okay, I can provide you with the nuclei of zombies or other creatures.''


    Viney wriggled like a snake while sending a message into Lin Qiao''s head, ''Em¡­ It''ll be better if you can find the nuclei of my kind¡­''


    Lin Qiao didn''t quite understand, so she asked, ''Your kind? Like plants? Or just vines?''


    Viney replied, ''Eh? What''re plants? I want the ones like what you gave me the last time¡­to help me upgrade¡­''


    As Viney mentioned ''upgrade'', Lin Qiao remembered the kernel of the vine plant from the outside. She didn''t know which level that vine plant was at, but its kernel had enlarged the space by quite a lot.


    ''Which part of you has upgraded?'' She asked.


    Sensing the puzzlement in Lin Qiao''s head, Viney waved its vine, as if showing off. ''Em, I have upgraded, I have upgraded! Little Viney''s energy nucleus is growing bigger.''


    Lin Qiao looked at the vine bewilderedly. ''Alright, it''s normal for you to have an energy nucleus. But, I really can''t tell that you''ve upgraded,'' she thought.


    ''When I grow up, I''ll look different! And I''ll be able to move!'' Viney sent another message into Lin Qiao''s head, making her look at it with surprise. Thinking of being able to move, Viney happily waved the vine.


    As Viney had agreed to help, Lin Qiao nodded and prepared to get out.


    ''Alright, you go back into the lake. I still have some other things to do. When you''re able to move, I''ll take you out to play,'' she said to Viney in her head while standing up. Once she moved, the vine fell off her finger and drew back slightly, pausing for a short while and then going back into the water, seeming a bit reluctant.


    Lin Qiao stood up and turned, then abruptly saw the few large turtles lying on the other side of the grassland. ''Ah, I still have to find a way to store these food sources! I can''t put them in the water, and can''t let them run about in the space either. Shall I build a large iron cage for them?''


    Thinking of iron cage, she thought of Long Qingying as well. The latter had the metal power, so she wondered if she could make a large metal cage for these turtles.


    With this idea, she turned and exited her space.


    Once out, she saw Junjun and Xie Dong quietly sitting in the room. Junjun was sitting on the bed by the door with Tongtong in her arms, while Xie Dong was sitting on the single couch near the window. He wasn''t looking at Junjun, just facing the window.


    Junjun had been looking at him the whole time, and Tontong had fallen in sleep in her arms.


    Once Lin Qiao showed up, both Junjun and Xie Dong turned toward her. Xie Dong looked at her expectantly while Junjun sighed in relief and finally relaxed her vigilance.


    Lin Qiao turned to look at Junjun and found that she seemed to dislike Xie Dong in particular. Then, she turned toward the other.


    Xie Dong looked the same as before, covered in wounds, wearing ragged clothes, and seeming quite miserable. However, the look on his face and his vibe were no longer the same as before when he had just become a zombie.


    Lin Qiao didn''t carefully sense his vibe before, but after some observation now, she found something strange.


    "Do¡­you¡­eat¡­humans?" She asked expressionlessly.

 176 From Now On, You Follow Me

    Lin Qiao had only said three words slowly, but the other two zombies in the room had both figured out the whole sentence.


    She was asking Xie Dong about how many human beings he had eaten.


    Hearing her question, Junjun automatically turned to shield Tongtong from Xie Dong with her own body. The latter''s eyes darkened a little when he heard the question, but he didn''t respond.


    Lin Qiao sniffed at him, then glanced at him blandly and continued, "You¡­can¡­eat¡­humans¡­But¡­don''t¡­get¡­addicted¡­"


    She wasn''t against man-eating. If Xie Dong only ate bad people, she would be okay with it. However, getting addicted to man-eating was unacceptable.


    Xie Dong nodded at her in response.


    "Choose¡­the¡­targets¡­" Lin Qiao continued. She wanted to tell him that he needed to know how to choose his targets. He could eat the bad ones like the post-apocalyptic robbers, but not the good ones.


    She didn''t want him to be addicted to man-eating, then slowly lose his humanity and become a cold-blooded zombie with human memories.


    "Roar¡­em¡­" Xie Dong gave her a gentle roar.


    ''Don''t worry. I don''t eat humans unless I have to. I understand,'' he said. He wanted Lin Qiao to know that he wouldn''t eat human beings unless he was left with no other choice, and that he knew how badly man-eating could affect him.


    Lin Qiao nodded and didn''t continue this topic, but glanced at Junjun and said, "From¡­now¡­you¡­follow¡­me¡­"


    Xie Dong understood that Lin Qiao wanted him to follow her instead of getting close to the female zombie who was carrying a child, in case he lost control and hurt the little boy.


    ''But without you, can she protect the child on her own?'' He wondered. He looked at Junjun with confusion, then turned toward Lin Qiao, who sensed his thoughts and then abruptly pointed outside the window.


    Xie Dong turned to that direction confusedly, then saw a white figure quietly standing on the roof of another building, staring at him with a pair of red eyes.


    He was startled at the sight of those eyes, and his fine hair all stood straight up.


    The white figure was only about two-hundred-meters away from him, yet he hadn''t sensed it at all. Only after Lin Qiao pointed at it did he discover that it had been watching him.


    Once he saw the white figure, he somehow felt oppressed.


    Before he figured out who it was, the white figure disappeared without a trace.


    Xie Dong turned to Lin Qiao with a questioning look in his eyes. She didn''t tell him the story of Qiu Lili, but turned to walk toward the door and signaled to tell him that she needed to leave now. As she didn''t answer his question, Xie Dong glanced back at where the white figure had disappeared, then followed her to the door. Then, Lin Qiao opened the door and they walked out.


    Lin Qiao walked toward Lin Feng''s room with Xie Dong. She asked someone about where Long Qingying was, then walked to another door and knocked on it.


    Wei Jingchen, who guarded by Lin Feng''s door, turned to look at Lin Qiao and the strange man beside her. Xie Dong looked like a human being, so Wei Jingchen thought that it was a man following behind Lin Qiao. He only gave Xie Dong a quick glance before turning his eyes away.


    The door was soon answered.


    It was Lin Wenwen who opened the door. Seeing Lin Qiao, she asked with surprise, "Eh? Lu Tianyu? How can I help you?"


    When she called Lin Qiao Lu Tianyu, Xie Dong gave a start at first, then stared at Lin Qiao''s bald head from behind in shock.


    Lin Qiao was at a close distance from him, so she quickly sensed his feelings. However, she didn''t turn back, pretending like nothing had happened while asking Lin Wenwen, "Find¡­Long¡­"


    She was using Lu Tianyu''s body, so it was normal for Xie Dong to react a little on hearing that name. After all, he and Lu Tianyu were both from the Sea City Base. Lu Tianyu might not know Xie Dong, but everyone in the Sea City Base had heard her name.


    Lin Qiao was now bald, with black eyes and without any makeup. As she looked nothing like the original Lu Tianyu, it was reasonable for him to be unable to recognize her.


    Hearing someone call Lin Qiao Lu Tianyu, Xie Dong was astounded at first, then started to have all sorts of puzzles in his head.


    Lin Wenwen heard the two words from Lin Qiao. The zombie''s voice was a little unpleasant, but still, she figured out her meaning. She gazed at the latter with surprise, as it was the first time for her to hear a zombie talk! It was so interesting!


    While looking at Lin Qiao curiously, she yelled, "Qingying, Lu Tianyu wants to talk to you!" Then, she opened the door entirely while giving Xie Dong a glance, and asked Lin Qiao, "You can really talk! Don''t zombies all have broken throats and stiff tongues? I heard that when zombies eat, they''ll bite the flesh off with their teeth and then swallow it directly, so they don''t even need tongues!"


    Lin Qiao walked into the room after Lin Wenwen had opened the door. Xie Dong didn''t follow her, but stood by the door and watched her.


    He knew that he couldn''t enter girls'' room without their permission; that was a basic manners.


    Just now, on hearing Lin Wenwen call Lin Qiao Lu Tianyu, Xie Dong was utterly stunned. ''Isn''t her name Lin Qiao? Why Lu Tianyu now? Does she have the same name as the woman in our base? Or¡­is she Lu Tianyu? But that''s impossible, because they look nothing alike!''


    ''That woman always wore thick makeup, and cared so much about her hair and dressing style. How could she possibly end up like this? Bald? She would never wear these clothes¡­And¡­has she become a zombie?''


    However, when he pictured Lin Qiao''s face together with Lu Tianyu''s, he suddenly felt that they were similar indeed. Their eyes, noses, and mouths were almost the same. But still, those two faces looked way too different, so he couldn''t tell for sure.


    ''If she''s Lu Tianyu, why did she tell me that her name was Lin Qiao?''


    ''Lin Qiao¡­Lin Qiao¡­This name is a little familiar¡­'' He felt that he had heard this name before. ''And, if she''s Lu Tianyu, how did she become a zombie? How did she die before turning into a zombie? Would Chief Yang ever let her die?''


    ''Yang Chao let her do anything she wanted in the base. He really liked her, so how could he let her die?''


    ''I remember how she looked like when I saw her the first time. She was in a much worse shape than now. Her face was covered with scars, and maybe her body was too, though I couldn''t possibly see it as she was wearing clothes.''


    ''And, how could her personality change so suddenly after she turned into a zombie? She has many combat skills which are from the special forces, but Lu Tianyu was never a soldier.''

 177 Make A Large Cage

    With all kinds of questions in his head, Xie Dong was overwhelmed a little. He moved to the door side and waited for Lin Qiao to come out while thinking.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Xie Dong curiously when Lin Qiao walked in, then closed the door.


    Lin Qiao responded to Lin Wenwen with a faint, mysterious smile, and looked at Long Qingying, who was walking toward her from the window side. Then, she took out the clipboard and wrote something down.


    ''I want you to make me a large metal cage.''


    "Metal cage? What do you need that for? Do you need to lock something up?" Lin Wenwen stared at Lin Qiao''s handwriting for a couple of seconds, then asked.


    "Large metal cage?" Long Qingying also looked at Lin Qiao and asked with confusion, "What kind of metal cage do you want? How large?"


    ''Oblong, two meters tall, five meters long, three meters wide, without a bottom''¡ªLin Xiao wrote.


    Long Qingying glanced at Lin Wenwen, then continued asking, "This large? To keep what?"


    "Without a bottom? So, it''ll be like a large metal cover, right?"


    Lin Qiao erased the words on the clipboard and then continued writing¡ª''Large turtles.''


    Reading that, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying were even more confused. What kind of turtle needed to be kept in such a large cage? How big were those turtles? Why did the zombie catch those turtles? And, why did she want to keep them in cages?


    Lin Qiao didn''t answer all of their questions, but threw back one of her own¡ª''Can you help?''


    Long Qingying nodded expressionlessly and responded, "No problem! But, the cage you want is too big, so I need to go out of the building to make it for you."


    Lin Qiao nodded, then smiled at Long Qingying and Lin Wenwen. Having decided on it, Long Qingying walked toward the door right away. Lin Qiao followed behind her, and Lin Wenwen followed behind the former with curiosity.


    Once out, Long Qingying saw Xie Dong, who was standing by the wall. She glanced at him without showing any interest, then kept moving toward the stairs.


    Soon, she exited the lobby and came to the parking lot outside the hotel gate. Xie Dong followed Lin Qiao down. Ever since she came out of Lin Wenwen''s room, he had been staring at her.


    The more he looked at her, the more she seemed like Lu Tianyu. ''Is she really Lu Tianyu?'' He wondered.


    Sensing his gaze, Lin Qiao glanced back at him. ''What''s wrong?'' She asked.


    Xie Dong raised a hand to point at her and opened his mouth. He wanted to utter a sound to ask her if she was Lu Tianyu, but then he glanced at the two humans and gave up.


    On the other side, Long Qingying looked at the surrounding buildings. She chose a relatively more damaged area, then raised a hand to reach to a certain direction.


    Lin Qiao saw that a stream of energy gushed out of her head, circled in her body, and then gathered in her palm. Next, as she crooked her fingers toward the halfway broken building, all metal pieces in there flew at her.


    Those pieces melted into a giant and dark metal chunk, floating above the parking lot.


    She reached out another hand toward the metal chunk, her fingers clenched. Then, she started to pull her hands away from each other. Following her movements, the metal chunk was elongated as if a pair of giant invisible hands had been stretching it.


    As she waved her arms in the air like drawing a picture, the metal chunk slowly changed its shape and became an oblong cage. The cage was made from broomstick-thick metal sticks, about fifteen centimeters apart from each other.


    Long Qingying turned to ask Lin Qiao, "Is the space okay?"


    Lin Qiao nodded in response. Not even the smallest one among the few turtles Lin Qiao had caught could escape this cage. ''Maybe after I have finished the few turtles, I can go back to the lake and catch some more!'' She thought.


    As she nodded, Long Qingying put the huge cage on the ground. Lin Qiao walked over and gripped two metal sticks to pull them. She found that the cage was rather sturdy, so she turned to nod at Long Qingying again.


    Long Qingying crossed her arms before her chest, standing aside as she looked at Lin Qiao curiously. Lin Wenwen watched for a while and couldn''t help but ask Lin Qiao, "What exactly do you need this giant cage for?"


    Lin Qiao closed her eyes to sense her space, then swung her arm toward the ground. With that, a large turtle fell to the ground.


    Bang!


    "Wow! Such a huge turtle shell! Do you like to collect turtle shells? Strange taste!" Lin Wenwen stared at the turtle and remarked.


    Lin Qiao walked to the turtle and turned it around. Then, she squatted by the turtle and raised a hand. Suddenly, a tiny mouse appeared in her hand, its tail pinched between her fingers.


    Since she woke up in this post-apocalyptic world, about twenty days had passed. This mouse had spent over ten days in her space. It hadn''t grown up yet, but it was a lot bigger than before.


    Being dangled from Lin Qiao''s hand, the mouse struggled as hard as it could. It bent its body to try and climb up through its own tail, but as she shook her hand, it fell again.


    Squeak! Squeak!


    Lin Qiao shook the mouse for a few times and made it fall unconscious. Then, she put it before the turtle''s head and swung it slightly.


    The others watched Lin Qiao with curiosity, wondering what she was doing. They thought it was just a turtle shell, but judging by Lin Qiao''s movement, there seemed to be something in it.


    Right at that moment, a turtle head thrust out of the shell and bared its sharp teeth to bite the mouse.


    Squeak!


    The mouse sensed the danger, immediately waking up and struggling.


    Fortunately for it, Lin Qiao pulled the mouse up before the turtle could bite it.


    "Eh? It''s alive!" Lin Wenwen stared at the turtle and said with surprise.


    After missing its target, the turtle quickly reached out its limbs and turned, trying to run away. However, as Lin Qiao put a foot on its shell, the turtle could only move its limbs without being able to move an inch.


    By now, the others truly believed that the large cage was for keeping turtles. But, they still felt that the cage was a little too large for just one turtle.


    Lin Qiao looked at the others in the eyes and figured out what they were thinking. Without paying much attention to their thoughts, she nimbly kicked the turtle to turn it around, making it lie on the ground.


    After that, she pushed the turtle toward the cage with her foot. As the turtle was sent to the cage, she lifted one corner with one hand, then kicked the turtle in.


    Bang!


    Having done that, she put the cage back down.


    The turtle rolled into the cage, getting back on all fours as it stopped rolling and trying to run immediately. However, it wasn''t able to run out of the cage. Its hard shell hit against the metal cage and caused loud noises. The cage was shaken slightly, but showed no sign of breaking.

 178 Ask if You Wan

    Seeing the turtle run swiftly in the cage, the others all came closer with surprise.


    Was that really a turtle? Why was it even faster than a rabbit?


    Lin Qiao reached a hand into the cage and swung it quickly.


    Thud, thud, thud!


    The other turtles were all brought out of her space and thrown into the cage. In the next instant, the group of turtles began running about in the cage.


    Cling-clang, cling-clang¡­ The loud noises echoed across the entire parking lot. The group of people had all picked the rooms facing the parking lot. Therefore, they heard the noise and looked down through the windows.


    "Eh? What are they doing down there?"


    "Such a large cage. What are those creatures in the cage? They''re so big, looking a little like¡­turtles?"


    "Turtles? Have you ever seen the turtles that can run so fast?"


    "Em¡­ They''re really turtles! But, I guess they''re mutant. Why did Lu Tianyu cage those turtles?"


    "Who knows? She''s weird!"


    By the parking lot, Long Qingying couldn''t help but ask, "Did you go to catch these turtles last night? Are you gonna eat them?" She knew that Lin Qiao liked to eat mutant animals. So, when she saw these turtles, she guessed that they might be her food.


    Lin Qiao put on the sunglasses and smilingly nodded at her.


    "So, you eat these. No wonder you don''t eat human beings," said Lin Wenwen. "But, these turtles are mutant. I think they all carry the virus. You''re a zombie, so you won''t be infected, but if you put these turtles here, will they escape from the cage and bite us?"


    ''That would depend on whether the cage is strong enough,'' Lin Qiao thought as she turned to Long Qingying. The latter responded, "They can''t get out unless someone lets them out."


    The cage was heavy. A few large turtles tried biting the metal sticks with their sharp teeth, but only left some white marks on the cage.


    "Em," Lin Wenwen glanced at Long Qingying and nodded. Then, Lin Qiao said to both of them, "You¡­can¡­eat¡­"


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying glanced at each other, then turned toward her bewilderedly. "Do you mean we can eat these turtles? But, they''re mutant, carrying the virus. If we eat them, we''ll become like you, won''t we?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said slowly, "You¡­won''t¡­There''s¡­a¡­way¡­"


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying looked at her with confusion. "You haven''t been feeding the child with mutant animals, have you?" Lin Wenwen asked skeptically.


    Before, Lin Wenwen had wondered how the few zombies managed to take good care of a human child. Just now, she and Mr. Lin were talking about what the zombies had been feeding the child with.


    Lin Qiao nodded at her. Lin Wenwen widened her eyes as she asked, "Aren''t you afraid that the child might become a zombie?"


    Lin Qiao waved a hand and replied, "He¡­won''t¡­"


    Lin Wenwen looked at her with puzzlement in her head. She felt that it was a miracle for the boy to have survived until present. However, if Lin Qiao could tell what was edible for human beings and what wasn''t, it would be highly helpful.


    "How long has the boy been with you?" She asked. Lin Qiao showed her seven fingers in response.


    "Seven? Seven months? Or days?"


    "Days¡­" Lin Qiao said slowly.


    "Okay," Lin Wenwen nodded.


    As the cage was forged and the turtles were caged, Lin Qiao turned to walk back to the hotel. The others followed her while Lin Wenwen couldn''t stop asking all sorts of question.


    "You haven''t told us how you think we should eat those turtles. And¡­how do zombies excrete wastes? Ah, the others zombies all eat human beings, but why do you eat animals?"


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless. She talked very slowly, so without any other choice, she listened to Lin Wenwen''s endless questions silently. Fortunately, she was used to this. She decided to skip some of the questions, as the latter would always try figuring out the answers while asking the questions.


    Long Qingying seemed to be used to that as well, as she followed the others upstairs expressionlessly.


    "If¡­you¡­want¡­to¡­eat¡­use¡­my¡­water¡­" When they came to the fourth floor, Lin Qiao finally said to Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Wenwen interrupted her and said, "Ah, do you mean we should boil the turtle with the water you provided? Can the water remove the virus? Really?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t mind being interrupted, and nodded at her in affirmation.


    "Okay, I get it!" Lin Wenwen said, "Although I feel that''s quite impossible, the boy looks healthy. So, I guess I''ll just believe you. And you won''t hurt us, will you?"


    If Lin Qiao wanted to hurt them, why would she save them? Hence, she just gave a silent nod.


    ¡­


    After returning to the zombies'' room, Lin Qiao closed the door, then turned to look at Xie Dong and said, "Say¡­"


    ''Ask any question you want.''


    The confused Xie Dong had been scanning Lin Qiao from head to toe with his eyes. So now, Lin Qiao had decided to let him ask all the questions he wanted to ask.


    Meanwhile, Qiu Lili and Junjun looked at them bewilderedly. The former walked to Xie Dong and looked at him from up to down, then took a circle around him. After confirming that he was really a zombie, she went back to her favorite chair by the window and sat down.


    Lin Qiao only said a word, yet Xie Dong had figured out her whole sentence. So, he made a writing gesture.


    Lin Qiao immediately handed him the clipboard and pen, then looked around the room to find somewhere to sit down. There were two armchairs and a small stool in the room. The stool was moved to the window side and was occupied by Qiu Lili. Meanwhile, Junjun and Tongtong were both sitting on the bed. Hence, the two armchairs were empty.


    She walked to the armchairs and sat down after choosing one, then pointed at the other one while looking at Xie Dong. The latter came over and took a seat, then wrote¡ª''Are you really Lu Tianyu?''


    Reading that, Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then nodded, but soon shook her head. Without a surprise, Xie Dong looked at her confusedly. At the same time, Qiu Lili and Junjun were also looking at her curiously. Junjun leaned against the headboard while Tongtong was asleep by her side, covered by an old blanket.


    They had read Xie Dong''s questions, and too wanted to know Lin Qiao''s story.


    Junjun and Qiu Lili didn''t know that Lin Qiao was the name of a base leader. They might have heard about Chief Netherworld Fire, but they didn''t know her real name. Therefore, they didn''t pay extra attention to that name when Lin Qiao introduced herself to them.


    But earlier on, Lin Qiao told another name to the group of people she had found, and that had confused the two.


    Lin Qiao took over the clipboard, erased Xie Dong''s handwriting, and wrote¡ª''I''m Lin Qiao. But, this body belonged to Lu Tianyu. When I woke up, she was already dead. Otherwise, this body wouldn''t have become a zombie. I woke up as a zombie.''


    There were lots of words to be written, so she wrote smaller letters. Having finished writing, she raised the clipboard to show it to the others.

 179 It Should Be Memory Loss

    Xie Dong looked at Lin Qiao with silent confusion. ''What does she mean? Another individual came back to life in Lu Tianyu''s body? Reincarnation? Soul rebirth? Or what?''


    Judging by how Xie Dong felt about Lin Qiao, she was indeed different from the woman who was hated by everyone else. However, what she told him was way too unbelievable. A zombie with life memories like him still sounded reasonable, but a zombie with two people''s memories? Did that mean that the two people''s memories had merged together?


    ''Do you have Lu Tianyu''s memories?''¡ªXie Dong wrote on the clipboard, and Lin Qiao nodded in response. Lu Tianyu''s memories were still disordered, but they did exist in her mind.


    Xie Dong couldn''t understand her condition. He didn''t want to believe her, but from many aspects, she had proven it to him.


    ''But it''s absolutely unimaginable! Can such a thing really happen?''


    ''Well, the apocalypse happened, animals and plants mutated, over seventy percent of people in the world have become zombies or died, and superpowered human beings have emerged. Is anything still impossible?''


    Xie Dong thought quickly and soon accepted what Lin Qiao said.


    She was Lin Qiao, not Lu Tianyu. However, she had borrowed Lu Tianyu''s body and name.


    Soon, he wrote down another question¡ª''Since you''ve found your family, why didn''t you tell them your name?''


    Lin Qiao looked at him and blinked once before taking over the clipboard, erasing his question, and writing¡ª''Have you heard about the Hades Base?''


    Seeing the name of the Hades Base, Xie Dong nodded.


    Of course, he knew about it. It was one of the eight bases of human survivors in the country. The other seven were the Sea City Base in the East, Huaxia Base in the middle, Dark Dragon Base in Northeast, Mongols Base in Inner Mongolia, Hidden Cloud Base in Tibet, Sky Fire Base built by the people from Yunnan and Sichuan, and the Earth Dragon Base in the South.


    As Xie Dong nodded, Lin Qiao continued writing¡ª''Do you know Netherworld Fire, the leader of the Hades Base?''


    Xie Dong nodded again. Netherworld Fire was the leader of one of the two bases in South China, which was something he surely knew about. Earlier on, Lin Qiao told him that she would head South to find some people, so he now guessed that she found her family from the Hades Base.


    ''She''s pretty fast! She found her family and brought them back within just a week,'' he thought.


    ''The Hades Base was broken not long ago. There''s no Hades Base anymore. They were on the run. They heard that their leader was forced to blow herself up''¡ªLin Qiao wrote.


    Xie Dong didn''t know that the Hades Base had already been conquered by the Earth Dragon Base. Reading Lin Qiao''s words, he stared at her and paused for a few seconds in shock.


    "Roar?"


    ''Really?'' He couldn''t help but roared to ask. Lin Qiao nodded and wrote¡ª''I guess you don''t know who they are yet.''


    Then, she told him about Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and the others. She told him that Lin Feng and the others of the Lin Family were the relatives of the leader of the Hades Base, and that Yuan Tianxing was the Deputy Chief of that base.


    At last, she wrote down a few large letters to show him¡ª''Netherworld Fire''s real name was also Lin Qiao.''


    At that point, Qiu Lili and Junjun had come close to them. When they were communicating through writing, they ran over to read their notes because they were too curious. Reading the last few words written by Lin Qiao, the three of them were all stunned.


    Junjun looked at Lin Qiao while thinking, ''According to her, Chief Netherworld Fire was also named Lin Qiao, and their families are the same. This means, they are the same person?''


    ''Eh¡­? Are you Netherworld Fire? The base leader?'' Junjun pointed at Lin Qiao with surprise and asked internally. Qiu Lili and Xie Dong had been looking at her with the same look.


    However, Lin Qiao shook her head and wrote¡ª''They are my relatives, but I don''t remember anything that happened in the past five years. I only remember things before the apocalypse. I don''t know why or how I became like this.''


    The other three gazed at her with confusion. What did she mean? Did she lose her memories?


    ''I think I''ve lost my memories,'' Lin Qiao continued writing, ''I feel that the Lin Qiao from the Hades Base was a different person. So, if I have time, I want to go to the South again.''


    The three slowly processed what she had said. They now understood that Lin Qiao the zombie was from the old world. She woke up to find that she had become a zombie, and that the whole world had changed. But still, she adapted to this world and her broken body.


    She had a strong mind, because of which, she didn''t waste too much time and headed South directly to find her family. At first, she didn''t even know if her relatives were still alive or not! She woke up five years after the apocalypse and found that the whole world was different. She knew that billions of people had died, but still confirmedly tried looking for her family.


    The other three zombies didn''t understand what made her so determined. What if she couldn''t find her family? What if her family had become zombies or died in zombies'' mouths?


    Anyway, she had found her relatives now. But before that, how confused had she been?


    After a lot of thinking, the three zombies weren''t all feeling low. Xie Dong was doing better than the other two, as his experience as a special forces soldier allowed him to adjust his emotions quickly.


    Unlike him, the two female zombies became a little gloomy. They used to be sentimental when they were human beings, and that stayed in their personalities even after they became zombies.


    Sensing their mood swings, Lin Qiao suddenly wanted to laugh. ''Don''t be like this,'' she wrote. ''I''ve found my family, haven''t I?''


    Qiu Lili and Junjun looked at her. ''What if you didn''t find them? Would you keep looking?'' Qiu Lili asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded at the two of them. She had to keep looking, or she would have no meaning in her life as a zombie.


    Xie Dong rested his chin on his palm and thought for a moment.


    ''She has found her family, but also discovered her another self. And¡­the other Lin Qiao is dead. So¡­did her soul go directly into Lu Tianyu''s body after she blew herself up?''


    ''Did she lose a part of her memory?''


    ''That might be true, or why would she have the same name and family as Netherworld Fire?''


    ''No wonder she introduced herself to the group of human being as Lu Tianyu. She died, then came back to life in a zombie''s body, but has lost five years of memories. If she told those people that she was Lin Qiao, they might actually have beaten her!''


    ''After all, if someone¡­no, some zombie came to a group of people and told them that he or she is the relative of theirs who died not long ago¡­no normal person would believe that.''


    Qiu Lili didn''t think as much as Xie Dong did and only asked two questions.


    "Ahhyaya¡­"


    ''How long will we stay here? When will you go to the South?''

 180 Target: A Zombie City

    Lin Qiao wrote on the clipboard¡ª''We''ll leave this place in a few days. I''ve talked to them today. I told them to find a new place to build their base, because this place isn''t suitable.''


    She had thought about that earlier on when she was talking with Yuan Tianxing. However, she didn''t say much immediately, preparing to talk more to them tomorrow about the location of the new base.


    Xie Dong took over the clipboard and wrote¡ª''Have you decided where the new base should be located?''


    ''I want them to find a large city which used to be bustling but is now an untouched zombie city,'' she wrote in response.


    She and Qiu Lili would allow the group of human beings to build a base in a large zombie city. They would select an area and drive the zombies away to create a zombie-free zone. But, this zone would be surrounded by zombies, so the outsiders wouldn''t be able to get in very easily.


    Much more and better supplies could be found in large cities than in this remote small town. As long as the zombie crowd could be controlled, human beings would be able to live in any of the large zombie cities without worry.


    Besides, most of the large zombie cites were occupied by high-level zombies which had each taken a territory. Lin Qiao could use some zombie nuclei to upgrade Viney.


    Reading Lin Qiao''s words, Xi Dong figured out her meaning the first. Qiu Lili didn''t quite understand why she wanted to find a zombie city, but she didn''t care. She would follow her anywhere anyway.


    Junjun thought about the giant zombie crowds in zombie cities and first felt that it would be very dangerous for Lin Qiao''s family and their people. But, she soon realized that those people would be with a zombie queen, a powerful mutant zombie at an unknown level, and a mutant male zombie. With these few powerful zombies, the group of human beings wouldn''t need to be afraid of any zombie crowd, no matter how huge it might be.


    But, which city should they go? A nearer one or a farther one? This place was about a ten hours'' drive away from Sea City, which might be a little too close.


    It would be better for them to pick a city that was relatively farther away.


    Southern China had more large cities than Northern China. However, as the deadly enemies of Lin Family were in the South, they could only choose a relatively larger zombie city in Zhe Province.


    Lin Qiao thought for a while. ''Hangzhou had a large population, and it''s not far away. The center of Hangzhou City is just a short distance ahead.''


    ''Sea City Base people might have already been to Hangzhou, but I think there will still be some untouched forbidden areas there. I''ll talk to them tomorrow. We''ll head to Sea City Base first to find some people, and also to try finding some information about zombie cities,'' she wrote.


    Finding out that they would go to the Sea City Base, Qiu Lili pouted unhappily. However, she didn''t make any sound, just taking two steps sideways.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then at Xie Dong. After that, she continued writing, ''But, we won''t enter the Sea City Base. We all carry the virus, so we won''t pass their detection devices. Maybe we''ll split up.''


    Xie Dong nodded. He and Lin Qiao only looked like human beings, but their bodies still carried the virus.


    ''Is it okay for you to follow me like this?'' Lin Qiao wrote a question down abruptly. Earlier on, she had told Xie Dong to follow her because she wanted to suppress his appetite for human flesh with her lake water. She was worried that he might be controlled by his desire and become a man-eating zombie. If that happened, he would be in serious trouble.


    However, she didn''t know if Xie Dong was willing to follow her. Perhaps, he had other plans for himself.


    Junjun followed her because of consideration for her son, and also because she had nowhere to go. By now, she trusted her completely. Like the former, Qiu Lili took her own initiative to follow Lin Qiao. Lin Qiao had observed Qiu Lili these days and found that she was great at self-control. At least, she wouldn''t eat human beings.


    Xie Dong looked at Lin Qiao and shook his head to tell her that it was fine.


    He had told her that he would follow her a while ago. But later on, he and Lin Qiao were separated by the level-five ice-powered zombie.


    He was a little confused and helpless during the days without Lin Qiao. He wanted to find her, but how could he catch up with her car on foot? Besides, he was weak, not like Lin Qiao who had a space to hide from dangers.


    Therefore, he had been hiding for a few days. Every time he sensed high-level zombies or human beings, he would move away.


    He didn''t know if Lin Qiao would come back to Sea City or not, so he didn''t wait for her. A few days later, he found a zombie nucleus, which got him caught in trouble. But fortunately, he suddenly sensed that Lin Qiao was nearby. He didn''t know why he had sensed her, as it wasn''t like the sensation of zombies.


    As he didn''t say no, Lin Qiao sighed slightly in relief. She then glanced at Junjun and found that the dark circles under her eyes had faded a little. So, she wrote, ''Junjun, your dark circles seem to have shrunk a little. Have you noticed?''


    Finishing writing, she showed Junjun the question. Reading that, Junjun looked at her with both surprise and confusion, then turned toward Qiu Lili.


    She didn''t quite understand Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    As Junjun turned to her, Qiu Lili read Lin Qiao''s question out of curiosity as well. Then, she carefully looked at Junjun''s eyes and found that her dark circles had truly turned smaller compared to before. Apart from her eyes, Junjun''s skin had changed a little too.


    Junjun''s face used to be bluish pale with some livor mortis, but that was gone now.


    Xie Dong hadn''t met Junjun before, so he couldn''t tell how she looked different from earlier. However, he saw the surprised by the look on Qiu Lili''s face.


    Lin Qiao was thinking about her lake water, which had been showing more and more miraculous effects. It could not only heal living human beings, but also cure the zombies.


    She put the clipboard on the table, then abruptly stood up and walked to Junjun. She pulled her shirt slightly downward, then checked her shoulder. As she had expected, the color of the wound on Junjun''s body had become lighter.


    Junjun was bitten by a zombie on the shoulder. When Lin Qiao saw her the first time, the shirt on the shoulder area was stained by blood. Back then, she had noticed her wound, the color of which was a lot deeper than now.


    It seemed that Junjun had drunk quite some water in her space, and often showered with the lake water. However, she didn''t go down in the lake to take a bath naked like Lin Qiao, but always fetched water with a bucket to shower herself.


    Lin Qiao had noticed the changes of Junjun''s body two days ago. But back at that time, she was eager to find Lin Feng and the others, and hence, didn''t observe her body closely. However, she had sensed that the latter''s vibe was obviously improved.


    She thought for a moment, then wrote for Junjun¡ª''From today, you should soak in the lake for an hour every day. If you are too afraid to go down into the lake, you can fill the tub in the bathroom with the lake water and soak yourself in it.''


    After reading that, Junjun looked at her with confusion while Lin Qiao continued writing¡ª''I think you''ll upgrade soon. You''re thinking and reacting faster than before, haven''t you noticed that?''

 181 Going In Separate Ways

    The next day, Lin Qiao told Junjun and Qiu Lili to stay in the room and then went to Yuan Tianxing''s room with Xie Dong.


    The door was opened, and Wei Jingchen let them in. Except for the few soldiers, the whole group of people was in the room, including the Lin Family, Long Qingying, Du Yuanxing, and Yuan Tianxing. It seemed that they were expecting Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were sitting on the couch, while Mr. Lin and Cheng Wangxue were sitting on the chairs by the window.


    Lin Qiao walked in and smilingly nodded to everyone, then walked to the empty couch and sat down. Like what Junjun did the last time, Xie Dong stood behind her.


    Without a doubt, he attracted the roomful of people''s eyes. Yesterday, only Long Qingying and Lin Wenwen saw him closely, and the others only looked at him through the windows from a long distance away.


    Xie Dong''s sudden appearance didn''t surprise Lin Feng and the others. At first, Lin Qiao was with the red-eyed female zombie, and yesterday, another female zombie showed up, carrying a child. Now, she was with this man whose body was straightened, head raised, and chest puffed. Without question, this man used to be a soldier. His military presence was even stronger than that of Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing, who were both experienced soldiers.


    However, Xie Dong''s military presence didn''t attract the attention of Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing. Most human beings outside the bases were either superpowered ones or former soldiers. The superpowered ones had competitive individual combat capacity while soldiers had good mental quality and strain capacity. Apart from them, some other people also developed great abilities. Outside the bases, these kinds of people weren''t rare.


    Therefore, Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng didn''t pay too much attention to Xie Dong, waiting until Lin Qiao sat down and then started talking.


    "Yesterday, you said that we should find another place to build the new base, and that we better find a zombie city. We''ve discussed about that, and decided to go to the center of Hangzhou City. That place is definitely filled with zombies." Yuan Tianxing took out a map of China and spread it on the table, pointing at Hangzhou on the map as he spoke.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then took out the clipboard and pen to write, ''Maybe we should first figure out the condition of the forbidden area in that city, then make the decisions.''


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at her and asked, "Are you saying that we should first locate the forbidden area in the city center, then head straight to it?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and continued writing, ''Aren''t you going to the Sea City Base to find people? We can explore the city after that, or we can split up."


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng glanced at each other. "Are you trying to say that you can go and scout the city first? Do you want us to go find our people first, then wait for your message before making future plans?" Lin Feng said with surprise.


    Lin Qiao nodded in response. Yuan Tianxing pondered for a short while, then said, "That can work. We aren''t sure if we can find Li Zheng and his people or not. If they''re in the Sea City Base, we should be able to find them quickly. But, if they''re out here, we might need to spend more time to look for them. In that case, you should use that time to check out the city center."


    Having finished talking, he looked at Lin Feng to seek his opinion. The latter nodded in agreement and said, "You''re zombies, so you can''t follow us into the base. Exploring a zombie city should be the right job for you. But, we need someone to stay and guard this place. I''ll stay."


    Lin Wenwen had already put all the food they found in this place into her space. But before leaving, they still needed to disassemble the solar power equipment and bring that with them.


    In case some other people might come here for the solar power equipment, a powerful one needed to stay here, and Lin Feng felt that he should be the one to do that.


    Yuan Tianxing was capable of taking a squad to the Sea City Base, and Lu Tianyu the zombie and her friends were well placed to explore the zombie city.


    Both Yuan Tianxing and Lin Qiao were thinking about the same thing as he did.


    ''I agree,'' Lin Qiao wrote while Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Good! I''ll leave for the Sea City Base with Du Yuanxing and the other three. Lin Feng, you and Qingying stay here to protect Mrs. Lin and the others."


    Lin Qiao and Lin Feng both nodded while the former wrote on the clipboard, ''I''ll leave tomorrow.''


    As an agreement was reached, Lin Qiao left Yuan Tianxing''s room. She didn''t mind the others'' intentional or unintentional glances at her bald head, but felt that her head was a little cold.


    Back in the zombies'' room, Lin Qiao filled the tub with the lake water from her space for Junjun to bathe in it.


    Junjun put Tongtong on the bed, then went into the bathroom. However, once she walked away, the boy burst into tears. He wouldn''t let the others hold him, only wanting his mother.


    Lin Qiao tried for a while but failed, then she put Tongtong in Junjun''s arms and pushed both of them into the bathroom together.


    "Go¡­bathe¡­together¡­"


    After solved the problem, Lin Qiao went into Xie Dong''s room that was next door and filled him a tubful of water as well, telling him to bathe in it.


    After her space was upgraded, the energy in the lake water had grown much stronger than before. So, when Lin Qiao closed her eyes, she could see a tubful of green water. It was vivid green, not dark-green like the water in the lake.


    She opened her eyes, and the water in her physical eyes was still transparent.


    In the afternoon, Lin Qiao stood behind the window and saw Yuan Tianxing, Du Yuanxing, Xing Le, and Su Liang leave the hotel building. When walking past the huge metal cage, the four men spent a short while looking at those turtles.


    At night, Lin Qiao sent Junjun, Tongtong, and Qiu Lili into her space, letting them rest there while she herself stayed outside in the room. Then, she turned off the light and lied on the bed, looking at the ceiling with her dark eyes, which sparkled dimly in the darkness.


    As a zombie, she didn''t need to sleep. However, she had nothing else to do at night except lying on the bed and thinking.


    A while later, she suddenly turned her face to look outside the window. She heard no sound from the outside, but smelled some scents of human beings. Those scents didn''t belong to the ones in this building, but to some other people.


    She immediately sat up and got off the bed to walk to the window, looking at the black and white world. She could see colors during the daytime, but at night, she could only see black and white like before.


    She crossed her arms before her chest and quietly leaned against the window frame, her black eyes looking straight ahead.


    ''I had killed one of them yesterday, so how are they bringing themselves to me?''


    That was right, the human scents she sensed belonged to the ones who were chasing Xie Dong yesterday.

 182 Are You Stupid?

    In a building which was hundreds of meters away from the hotel, a man was sneakily observing the hotel building through a telescope.


    "Have you found anything?"


    "Shh, quiet! I''m trying to see¡­That building has tens of floors, but only the rooms on one floor have lights on. The power in this town has been off long ago, so they must be using the solar power."


    "Solar power? Are you sure?"


    "Or, you tell me how they generated electricity?"


    "If there''s solar power equipment, that place must have been untouched before¡­It seems that the people in that building have killed the level-five zombie leader nearby. That is a huge hotel, so there must be sealed cold storages inside. Perhaps, the cold storages are directly powered by the solar energy. Will there be large amounts of frozen food?"


    "That''s possible!"


    "Should we go over there?"


    "Be patient and observe the situation first."


    "Alright!"


    "Think about it. A level-five zombie is supposed to be nearby. However, those people have been staying in that hotel building restfully, which means that the zombie leader was already killed by them. Therefore, they have one level-six or three level-five members at the very least. We''re no match for them now, so it''ll be meaningless for us to go over there for now."


    "Are you saying that¡­"


    "You, take two men and go back to the base to report to our Deputy Chief. Tell him that we have found solar power equipment. He''ll definitely come."


    "Alright! Let''s do as you said."


    Lin Qiao had sensed these people who were hidden in the darkness, but as they were hundreds of meters away and talking in very low voices, she couldn''t make out their words, even though she had good hearing.


    She sensed their scents and saw the dimly glistening light of the telescope.


    Those people were staying motionless. Lin Qiao guessed that they were still trying to figure out the situation by observing.


    Abruptly, she stood straight and disappeared from beside the window. Then, an invisible figure flashed out of the window, quietly darting toward those people.


    Hundreds of meters wasn''t a long distance; with a few leaps, she quickly hopped onto the building that those people were staying in. She made a circle on the roof, then found two vehicles parked in the dark alley next to the building. Those were the same cars she had seen yesterday.


    At that point, a few people sneakily came out of the building and got onto one of the two cars. Soon, the car was started and driven away.


    Lin Qiao looked at the car, then turned her head to sense the vibes in the building. Most from the group of people stayed in the building, and only a few went out and drove the car away. What were they going to do?


    ''It seems that they have found out about the solar power equipment, and are observing the situation. Did the couple of people leave to make a report to someone? Or, are they heading back to their base to find powerful helpers, because they''ve realized that they can''t win against Lin Feng and his people?''


    With these guesses, Lin Qiao leaped out from the roof and followed behind the car. She moved way faster than the car, and soon landed on the roof of a small building.


    There was an overline bridge near her. She sprung onto the bridge and climbed onto the guard bar. When the car passed under the bridge, she jumped and quietly landed on the car roof.


    "Boss, do you really trust him? What if he took the solar power equipment without us?"


    "Are you stupid? A level-five zombie often appeared in this area, and now, those people are staying in that hotel building. The zombie leader should be able to sense these people from miles away, but why didn''t it come to attack them? Because they have killed it! They are much more powerful than us. Even if Lv Duyao wants to take the solar power equipment by himself, he doesn''t have the power to do it."


    "You''re right."


    Standing on the car roof, Lin Qiao listened to their conversation and told herself that she had guessed correctly. These people were planning to seize the solar power equipment. They were worried that they might fail, so the few in the car were sent to find help.


    She smiled and showed her face, then took the sunglasses out of her pocket and put them on.


    ''You saw us, and you want to rob us. Moreover, you''re going to find help?''


    Lin Qiao squatted on the car roof and slowly reached her hand to the window on the driver''s side. A wisp of dense and dark mist was released from her palm, drilling into the car through the window.


    The mist spread in the car, merging into the darkness, soon getting into their ears. The driver who was looking around to check the situation on the road suddenly froze up.


    "Eh? What''s this?" Shen Chengming, who was in the front seat, noticed a stream of black mist flowing toward his ears and dodged automatically.


    Once he turned his head, he saw the frozen driver. The driver couldn''t keep holding the steering wheel, so the car slowly moved to the roadside. Shen Chengming gave a start, then hurriedly leaned over and reached out his hand to control the steering wheel.


    "Damn! Do you know how to drive? The car is going to hit¡­" He held the steering wheel and burst in yells, his eyes focused on the road. Then, he turned back his head, prepared to say something more to the driver. However, he suddenly saw that the driver''s face slowly disappeared. It was like it had melted suddenly, and then his entire head began melting as well.


    Soon, Shen Chengming watched the driver''s head vanish entirely.


    After witnessing that scary scene, Shen Chengming was stunned. A few seconds later, he realized what had happened.


    He turned to look at the few in the backseat and found that they were all headless like the driver, sitting stiffly.


    Shivers ran down his spine. He turned around to find that the driver''s neck was gone as well, and the rest of his body was melting in a weird way as well.


    He immediately let go of the steering wheel and turned back to open the car door and jump out. After making a roll on the ground, he squatted by the roadside to look at the car.


    As he jumped out, no one was left in the car to drive. Soon, the car rubbed against the roadside and hit the flower bed.


    Squeak¡­Boom!


    Shen Chengming breathed quietly, alertly watching the car hit the flower bed and stop. He had absolutely no idea what had happened, and didn''t know why the others suddenly lost their heads. It was like a horror movie, but fortunately, he had a strong heart.

 183 Theysre Gone

    To Shen Chengming, it wasn''t just scary, but had also given him a strong sense of danger. After the car stopped, he squatted where he was and alertly looked around, then slowly stood up to move toward the car.


    Holding the flashlight with one hand, he vigilantly approached the car while glancing around. Then, he stood by the door of the front seat and shone the light inside, only to find that the people in the car were all gone.


    He only looked into the car for a few seconds before stepping away. Earlier when he jumped off, he didn''t see anyone else get off the car, meaning that the others had all disappeared inside.


    Recalling how their heads melted and vanished, he felt colder and colder.


    In the next moment, he stepped away from the car because he saw that the car was also disappearing from the inside. His friends were gone, and so were the seats; the car itself had also been vanishing slowly.


    As he moved backward step by step, his fine hair suddenly stood straight up. His heart thumped as a bad feeling occurred to him.


    However, the feeling came too late. Before he dodged, a hand with sharp claws was swung toward his neck from less than a meter behind him.


    Puff!


    Following a slight noise, he paused.


    Lin Qiao took a step forward and reached out a hand to take off Shen Chengming''s head, then cut it open and dig out the nucleus. After that, she threw the head away.


    She entered her space and threw the nucleus into the lake, then came back out and waved her hand toward the car. A stream of dark mist drifted out of the car. Maybe because it had absorbed the energy of the few people, Lin Qiao felt that it was a little denser than before.


    Then, she glanced at the car. It looked good from the outside, but was empty on the inside.


    She turned to run toward the next building. Getting closer to the building, she grabbed the edge of the wall and swung herself upward, quickly climbing onto the roof.


    If these people weren''t targeting Lin Feng and his people, Lin Qiao wouldn''t kill them so brutally. However, they had already found the hotel building, and Lin Feng''s people couldn''t disassemble the solar power equipment and leave immediately. Besides, these people had shown a murderous intention toward Lin Feng and his people, so Lin Qiao didn''t see a reason to show mercy to them.


    She would get rid of everything and everyone that might threaten Lin Feng and his people.


    She leaped across roofs to head back to the building where she had found the group of people, realizing that they were still waiting in that building.


    "Boss, you sent him back to report to Deputy Chief, but do you think he''ll really bring Deputy Chief here?"


    "I think he can. Shh¡­quiet¡­I feel that something is wrong."


    "What?"


    "Earlier on, I noticed that this area is very quiet, without any zombie. I''ve been observing the whole afternoon, and no zombie was found near the hotel. They don''t even have a guard."


    "What? No guard? Aren''t they afraid of a zombie attack?"


    "I don''t know about their situation. We need to get closer for a better vision. Pack your things! We''ll move two-hundred meters toward the hotel."


    "Yes, sir¡­"


    Lin Qiao was in a corner behind them, hiding under a layer of dark mist. In the dark room, no one noticed that a creature had come in and was listening to their conversation from a corner.


    ''You are so bad at observing. It took you a whole afternoon to notice what''s abnormal around here,'' she thought. Even though this place was a town, the hotel was located in the town center. This area shouldn''t be crowded by zombies, but it was absolutely not normal for it to be zombie-free. These people should have noticed it long ago.


    While watching these people begin moving, Lin Qiao made herself invisible. Before the last man left, she quietly showed up and covered his mouth with her hand. At the same time, the black mist gushed into his mouth and nose from her palm.


    With that, the man stopped moving instantly. Lin Qiao gently put the body on the ground, then quietly followed behind the others. Around the corner of the stairs, she dragged the second last man back and smoothly killed him with the dark mist as well. After that, she leaned against the stair railing and looked down.


    The others were still moving forward; none of them had noticed that two of their men were missing.


    One by one, Lin Qiao finished off half of these men without being noticed by the others. Finally, one man glanced back at the rest of the team, but saw nothing as a result.


    "Ali? Bao? Oi¡­Why are you guys so slow?"


    "What''s wrong? Hearing his voice, the others all stopped moving and turned back to look at him."


    "Ali and Bao and the others are missing."


    "Where did they go?"


    "I don''t know¡­"


    Even after spending a short while talking, none of them saw anyone coming down; they didn''t even hear any noise.


    "Cate, you go upstairs and check," Lv Duyao said to a man.


    At that point, Lin Qiao leaped out of the window by the stairs on the sixth floor. After landing, she walked to the entrance of the building and waited.


    Soon, the group of men came down in panic.


    Half of their team was suddenly gone, yet they hadn''t seen any enemy or anything else for that matter. Their friends just disappeared, and they didn''t even know if they were dead or alive.


    Facing the mysterious enemy, none of them could stay calm.


    Once they came down, they saw a figure standing by the entrance. Some of them pointed the flashlight toward Lin Qiao and found that she was bald and wearing sunglasses at night.


    "Who are you?" Lv Duyao shone Lin Qiao''s eyes with the flashlight and asked, but the latter ignored him. As all of these people came down, a stream of dark mist slowly rose from her palm.


    The men behind Lv Duyao pointed their guns at Lin Qiao. Lv Duyao was the only one who didn''t have a gun. He had sharp sensations, which allowed him to sense the intention of killing from Lin Qiao once he saw her.


    Soon, he thought of the people in the hotel. He thought that those people had found them and this was their strike.


    "Was it you just now?"


    However, Lin Qiao didn''t answer his question.


    "You¡­What did you do to our friends?" A man behind Lv Duyao asked.


    Meanwhile, a faint black mist spread in the darkness, approaching the group of men. However, they didn''t notice it at all.


    Slowly, the mist touched their heads and drilled into their noses and ears, but they still didn''t realize it. Like the people from before, they soon stopped moving, standing there like statues.


    Only Lv Duyao made a sudden step backward and dodged to the side when the black mist got close to him.

 184 Find Zombie Queen

    Lin Qiao moved swiftly as well and then disappeared.


    Lv Deyao dodged to the side and squatted while looking around alertly to search for Lin Qiao. However, he couldn''t find a trace of that mysterious bald figure.


    He knew that he and his teammates were in serious trouble this time. The enemy didn''t even say a word to them before attacking. He glanced at his teammates, who still made no movement, then had an awful feeling.


    He didn''t see Lin Qiao''s face. It was dark, and all he saw was a bald head and a pair of sunglasses, nothing else.


    He figured that it was an average height man.


    At that point, Lv Duyao had no idea that Lin Qiao was standing right behind him. An invisible hand reached out toward his head from behind. About half a meter away from his head, the hand flicked slightly, then turned visible.


    While showing her face, Lin Qiao inserted her claws into Lv Duyao''s head.


    Puff!


    Lv Duyao sensed a coldness from his back, then his head was pierced from behind. He popped out his eyes, looking ahead with confusion.


    Lin Qiao pulled out her hand, and between her fingers was a faintly glowing energy nucleus.


    Thud!


    As Lin Qiao took her hand back, Lv Duyao softly fell to the ground. She raised her head to look at the few men who had been disappearing slowly. Then, she waved her hand, and a few wisps of dark mist drifted back to her, coiling around her arm.


    Afterward, she pointed a finger at Lv Duyao, who was lying on the ground. Along her finger, the black mist drifted onto his body and soon swallowed him.


    At that point, no one in the world knew that this group of people had died. The man who had trampled upon Xie Dong yesterday left a body, but the others disappeared completely.


    Earlier on, Xie Dong asked Lin Qiao not to kill these people, so she let them go. But in just a day, they came back to die¡­Some people were just unlucky.


    After collecting the black mist, Lin Qiao threw the nucleus into the lake in her space, then slowly walked toward the hotel.


    Back at the hotel, she saw a man squatting before the large metal cage, playing with those turtles with a mouse dangling in his hand. She walked to the cage and looked at those turtles as she said, "Killed¡­the people¡­yesterday¡­"


    Xie Dong threw the mouse into the cage, then stood up and turned to nod at her. When she left the hotel, he had sensed her. He didn''t follow her out, but waited in the parking lot while keeping track of her vibe.


    It was the second time for his enemies to send themselves to Lin Qiao, and it was reasonable for her to kill them.


    Lin Qiao walked back toward the hotel building, directly leaping onto a window frame and climbing up the building. For some reason, she enjoyed climbing more and more after becoming a zombie.


    Xie Dong watched Lin Qiao slide into her room through the window, then silently walked into the lobby.


    After Lin Yuanting had left with a squad, Wei Jingchen and Xiao Wenxing were the only two guards left in the hotel, guarding by Lin Feng''s door.


    Next morning, Lin Qiao got up early and took off with Xie Dong, leaving Qiu Lili and Junjun in the hotel. On one hand, she wanted Junjun and Tongtong to spend some time with Mrs. Lin and Lin Xiaolu, and on the other, she wanted Qiu Lili to guard the people in the hotel. If anything happened there, she could be highly helpful. Even though Qiu Lili might not be willing to help the group of human beings, she would at least keep them safe for Lin Qiao.


    When Lin Qiao and Xie Dong left the hotel for Hangzhou, a motorcade came out of the Sea City Base.


    Xiao LiCheng was driving in the vehicle in the middle of the motorcade, with Meng Yue sitting in the front seat, Wu Chengyue, Xiao Yunlong, and the little Wu Yueling were in the backseat.


    Wu Yueling sat between Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong.


    While playing with Wu Yueling, Xiao Yunlong said, "Will we run into level-six zombies in Hangzhou this time? That''s a zombie city with millions of zombies. There''re certainly a lot of level-five zombies, but I wonder if there will be any zombie king or queen."


    Wu Chengyue smiled and responded, "What happened to your sources of information? Haven''t you heard from Zou Shihui that a zombie king is in the city?"


    "Eh? Really?" Xiao Yunlong looked at him with surprise, "Why don''t I know that? Did he tell you that?"


    Wu Chengyue gave him a meaningful smile but stayed silent. Receiving the look in his eyes, Xiao Yunlong blinked and asked, "You''re not going to¡­"


    "Don''t you know?" Meng Yue turned around and said, "He came out especially to find that zombie king this time. He paid quite a price to get that information from Chief Zou."


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Meng Yue, then back at Wu Chengyue. Suddenly, he pointed at Wu Yueling and said with discontent, "If you''re going for the zombie king, why did you bring Ling Ling? What if anything bad happens to her?"


    He thought that they were going merely to collect supplies. In that case, Wu Yueling would be perfectly safe staying with her father. But, he now found out that they were going to try killing a zombie king. That would be much, much more dangerous.


    Zombie queens and kings were legendary. Xiao Yunlong hadn''t seen one himself, but he had heard that every time with a zombie queen or king showed up, most of the people who saw it would die, not to mention killing it.


    Level-seven superpowered human beings like Wu Chengyue might be able to kill a zombie queen or king, but it still wouldn''t be easy.


    At that point, Meng Yue added, "We heard that that zombie king has lightning power."


    Finishing talking, she looked at Wu Chengyue?


    ''Lightning power?'' Hearing that, Xiao Yunlong turned to Wu Chengyue as well. Instantly, he figured out why the latter would bring them out of the base in such a haste.


    ''But¡­''


    "Then, it''s even more dangerous than I thought! No, we need to send Ling Ling back! Don''t you make such kind of joke with my god daughter''s life!" While speaking, Xiao Yunlong turned back and prepared to order Xiao Licheng to stop the car. Seeing that, Wu Chengyue hurriedly stopped him.


    "Wait for a second, hear me first. I''m going to find the zombie king alone. At that time, you two will be looking after Ling Ling. What can possibly happen as long as you''re here?" Wu Chengyue dragged him with one hand and said.


    Hearing that, Xiao Yuanlong paused for a second, then stared at him with disbelief as he said, "What! You''re going alone! That''s insanely dangerous!"


    Wu Chengyue smiled at him but didn''t say a word.


    "Or what?" Said Meng Yue coldly, "You go with him? How can you help him? By making the task even harder?''


    Xiao Yunlong was left speechless.

 184 Find Zombie King

    Lin Qiao moved swiftly as well and then disappeared.


    Lv Deyao dodged to the side and squatted while looking around alertly to search for Lin Qiao. However, he couldn''t find a trace of that mysterious bald figure.


    He knew that he and his teammates were in serious trouble this time. The enemy didn''t even say a word to them before attacking. He glanced at his teammates, who still made no movement, then had an awful feeling.


    He didn''t see Lin Qiao''s face. It was dark, and all he saw was a bald head and a pair of sunglasses, nothing else.


    He figured that it was an average height man.


    At that point, Lv Duyao had no idea that Lin Qiao was standing right behind him. An invisible hand reached out toward his head from behind. About half a meter away from his head, the hand flicked slightly, then turned visible.


    While showing her face, Lin Qiao inserted her claws into Lv Duyao''s head.


    Puff!


    Lv Duyao sensed a coldness from his back, then his head was pierced from behind. He popped out his eyes, looking ahead with confusion.


    Lin Qiao pulled out her hand, and between her fingers was a faintly glowing energy nucleus.


    Thud!


    As Lin Qiao took her hand back, Lv Duyao softly fell to the ground. She raised her head to look at the few men who had been disappearing slowly. Then, she waved her hand, and a few wisps of dark mist drifted back to her, coiling around her arm.


    Afterward, she pointed a finger at Lv Duyao, who was lying on the ground. Along her finger, the black mist drifted onto his body and soon swallowed him.


    At that point, no one in the world knew that this group of people had died. The man who had trampled upon Xie Dong yesterday left a body, but the others disappeared completely.


    Earlier on, Xie Dong asked Lin Qiao not to kill these people, so she let them go. But in just a day, they came back to die¡­Some people were just unlucky.


    After collecting the black mist, Lin Qiao threw the nucleus into the lake in her space, then slowly walked toward the hotel.


    Back at the hotel, she saw a man squatting before the large metal cage, playing with those turtles with a mouse dangling in his hand. She walked to the cage and looked at those turtles as she said, "Killed¡­the people¡­yesterday¡­"


    Xie Dong threw the mouse into the cage, then stood up and turned to nod at her. When she left the hotel, he had sensed her. He didn''t follow her out, but waited in the parking lot while keeping track of her vibe.


    It was the second time for his enemies to send themselves to Lin Qiao, and it was reasonable for her to kill them.


    Lin Qiao walked back toward the hotel building, directly leaping onto a window frame and climbing up the building. For some reason, she enjoyed climbing more and more after becoming a zombie.


    Xie Dong watched Lin Qiao slide into her room through the window, then silently walked into the lobby.


    After Lin Yuanting had left with a squad, Wei Jingchen and Xiao Wenxing were the only two guards left in the hotel, guarding by Lin Feng''s door.


    Next morning, Lin Qiao got up early and took off with Xie Dong, leaving Qiu Lili and Junjun in the hotel. On one hand, she wanted Junjun and Tongtong to spend some time with Mrs. Lin and Lin Xiaolu, and on the other, she wanted Qiu Lili to guard the people in the hotel. If anything happened there, she could be highly helpful. Even though Qiu Lili might not be willing to help the group of human beings, she would at least keep them safe for Lin Qiao.


    When Lin Qiao and Xie Dong left the hotel for Hangzhou, a motorcade came out of the Sea City Base.


    Xiao LiCheng was driving in the vehicle in the middle of the motorcade, with Meng Yue sitting in the front seat, Wu Chengyue, Xiao Yunlong, and the little Wu Yueling were in the backseat.


    Wu Yueling sat between Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong.


    While playing with Wu Yueling, Xiao Yunlong said, "Will we run into level-six zombies in Hangzhou this time? That''s a zombie city with millions of zombies. There''re certainly a lot of level-five zombies, but I wonder if there will be any zombie king or queen."


    Wu Chengyue smiled and responded, "What happened to your sources of information? Haven''t you heard from Zou Shihui that a zombie king is in the city?"


    "Eh? Really?" Xiao Yunlong looked at him with surprise, "Why don''t I know that? Did he tell you that?"


    Wu Chengyue gave him a meaningful smile but stayed silent. Receiving the look in his eyes, Xiao Yunlong blinked and asked, "You''re not going to¡­"


    "Don''t you know?" Meng Yue turned around and said, "He came out especially to find that zombie king this time. He paid quite a price to get that information from Chief Zou."


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Meng Yue, then back at Wu Chengyue. Suddenly, he pointed at Wu Yueling and said with discontent, "If you''re going for the zombie king, why did you bring Ling Ling? What if anything bad happens to her?"


    He thought that they were going merely to collect supplies. In that case, Wu Yueling would be perfectly safe staying with her father. But, he now found out that they were going to try killing a zombie king. That would be much, much more dangerous.


    Zombie queens and kings were legendary. Xiao Yunlong hadn''t seen one himself, but he had heard that every time with a zombie queen or king showed up, most of the people who saw it would die, not to mention killing it.


    Level-seven superpowered human beings like Wu Chengyue might be able to kill a zombie queen or king, but it still wouldn''t be easy.


    At that point, Meng Yue added, "We heard that that zombie king has lightning power."


    Finishing talking, she looked at Wu Chengyue?


    ''Lightning power?'' Hearing that, Xiao Yunlong turned to Wu Chengyue as well. Instantly, he figured out why the latter would bring them out of the base in such a haste.


    ''But¡­''


    "Then, it''s even more dangerous than I thought! No, we need to send Ling Ling back! Don''t you make such kind of joke with my god daughter''s life!" While speaking, Xiao Yunlong turned back and prepared to order Xiao Licheng to stop the car. Seeing that, Wu Chengyue hurriedly stopped him.


    "Wait for a second, hear me first. I''m going to find the zombie king alone. At that time, you two will be looking after Ling Ling. What can possibly happen as long as you''re here?" Wu Chengyue dragged him with one hand and said.


    Hearing that, Xiao Yuanlong paused for a second, then stared at him with disbelief as he said, "What! You''re going alone! That''s insanely dangerous!"


    Wu Chengyue smiled at him but didn''t say a word.


    "Or what?" Said Meng Yue coldly, "You go with him? How can you help him? By making the task even harder?''


    Xiao Yunlong was left speechless.

 185 Where Did The Dragonfly Come From?

    Xiao Yunlong looked at Wu Chengyue confusedly and asked, "Eh? I mean¡­if you don''t want our help, why did you bring so many people?"


    Wu Yueling raised her head to give him a glance, then climbed onto Wu Chengyue''s lap.


    People said that daughters were their fathers'' previous life''s lovers. Seeing the clingy Wu Yueling, Xiao Yunlong totally believed in it.


    Wu Yuecheng held his daughter and gave a faint smile as he said, "Are you dumb? I said I''m going to find the zombie king, but we''ll still be collecting supplies. We haven''t touched that area yet, because there were too many zombies. If we find that zombie king and kill it, we''ll be able to bag ourselves all the supplies stored in its territory. If we can''t find it, our main job will still be collecting supplies.


    Meng Yue rolled her eyes, then said to Xiao Yunlong, "I wonder how your brain works¡­But never mind! I think all the nutrition you absorbed has been put into your muscles, and your brain is undernourished."


    After saying that, she turned back to check the situation on the road.


    "Um¡­Yue, you can just say that I''m silly, I won''t mind. But undernourished brain? Can you make it simpler?" Xiao Yunlong said. Meng Yue rolled her eyes while Wu Chengyue gave a bigger smile.


    Wu Yueling widely opened her shiny black eyes as she looked at them. Xiao Yunlong touched her little nose and asked, "Do you understand your Aunt Yue''s words? She said that my brain is undernourished. She''s simply saying that I''m silly. Silly, do you understand silly? Ling Ling, do you understand?"


    Wu Chengyue rubbed his daughter''s hair as he chuckled and said to her, "Don''t talk to him. His silliness is contagious."


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling immediately curled her limbs to keep a distance from Xiao Yunlong. Seeing that, Xiao Yunlong was a little unhappy. "Eh? Eh? Why am I contagious? How am I silly? I surely know what your father is up to, how can I not?"


    While speaking, he tried to play with Wu Yueling. However, the latter refused to respond to him, turning her face away.


    At that moment, Xiao Yunlong saw something in her pocket that looked like a grass. So, he reached out a hand toward it.


    "Ling Ling, what''s this?" While speaking, he grabbed the dry grass and pulled that thing out of Wu Yueling''s pocket, as she wasn''t looking at him. After that, he found that it was a grass dragonfly, dried and dark-brown in color, but exquisitely made.


    Feeing that something was pulled out of her pocket, Wu Yueling immediately turned back and saw that Xiao Yunlong was holding her grass dragonfly and looking at it.


    She pounced on him and reached out her arms to try and take it back. She had forgotten about the contagious thing, and only wanted to take her toy back.


    However, Xiao Yunlong was an adult, so how could she possibly win against him? He raised his hand and threw the grass dragonfly up, then caught it with the other hand.


    "Ling Ling, tell your godfather, where did you get this? I don''t remember making you this." Xiao Yunlong reached the grass dragonfly to his left side to keep Wu Yueling from touching it.


    Wu Chengyue was also looking at the grass dragonfly curiously. He didn''t realize that his daughter had it either. Meng Yue turned around to look at it too. She found the grass dragonfly rather cute, just a little dry and dark-colored.


    "Eh? It''s quite delicate!" While speaking, she took it over from Xiao Yunlong''s hand and put it on her own palm.


    Wu Yueling spent a while fighting Xiao Yunlong but failed to get her precious little toy back. Now, as the grass dragonfly ended up in Meng Yue''s hand, she suddenly realized that she wouldn''t get it back soon enough.


    So, she pulled a long face and pouted, then angrily sat back between Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong.


    "Eh? Ling Ling? Are you angry?" Wu Chengyue looked at her with surprise. He found that within these couple of seconds, the expressions on his daughter''s face had been changing vividly.


    Xiao Yunlong was observing her too. "I think she is," he said with his eyes glowing. "Haven''t you noticed that ever since she came back, she has been showing many of her feelings on her face? That''s a good thing." In fact, all three of them had noticed that long ago. Wu Yueling was less afraid of people than before. At least, she wouldn''t try to hide once she saw Xiao Yunlong as she used to.


    Moreover, she was much friendlier to Xiao Licheng too, who was driving the car.


    At that moment, a tiny grass grew out of Meng Yue''s palm. The grass glowed faintly and leaned against the grass dragonfly.


    "Ling Ling, look," Meng Yue smiled to Wu Yueling and said. While she was speaking, a light greenness was slowly sent into the dried grass dragonfly from the tiny grass. Soon, the grass dragonfly turned green and lively again, as though made from fresh grass blades.


    Seeing that, Wu Yueling paused in surprise. She fixed her eyes on the grass dragonfly, even forgetting that she was angry. Meng Yue then handed her the dragonfly; judging by her reaction just now, she must be treasuring that little toy greatly.


    "Can you tell Dad who made you this pretty grass dragonfly?" Wu Chengyue smilingly asked Wu Yueling as she carefully took the dragonfly over.


    Wu Yueling glanced at him, but didn''t answer his question. She ignored the others and put the grass dragonfly back into her pocket, then covered her pocket with a hand. After that, she moved to the other side of Wu Chengyue, to get further away from Xiao Yunlong.


    In addition to that, she pushed Wu Chengyue to the middle of the backseat.


    Seeing this, both Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong felt a little speechless. Meng Yue looked at them with a grin and said, "Our Ling Ling has grown up. Don''t you bully her, or when she wants to take her revenge, you''ll end up dead."


    Wu Chengyue smiled and rubbed Wu Yueling''s head while pulling her closer to him. Xiao Yunlong looked at her and continued asking, "Where did the little girl get the grass dragonfly from? It looked days old, and it''s dried."


    Meng Yue shook her head and replied, "I didn''t make it. I don''t know how to make small things like that. And, there''s nothing strange in that grass dragonfly. I''ve checked that it''s clean."


    Xiao Yunlong immediately turned to Wu Chengyue, who smilingly asked him, "Why are you looking at me? Have you ever seen me making little things like that?"


    "Who gave it to her then?" Xiao Yunlong murmured confusedly.


    Wu Yueling hadn''t spent time with any other people but the three of them since she came back, so where did she get that little toy from?


    Xiao Yunlong was still confused, while Wu Chengyue thought of a possibility. Judging by the grass dragonfly''s condition, Ling Ling should have obtained it before returning to the base. It was just that she had been hiding it well, such that even her father didn''t find it.

 186 The Zombie In The Bookstore

    Lin Qiao and Xie Dong had also been driving toward Hangzhou City. The city wasn''t far, just hours away.


    It was the same car, and Xie Dong became the driver again. He enjoyed driving his car. He was away for only about ten days, but he missed his car already.


    Three hours later, they entered the city. As expected, more and more zombies showed up, shambling around. The closer they got to the city center, the more zombies were seen.


    Zombies could be found in every street and alley and in all sorts of buildings. The ordinary zombies which sensed Lin Qiao would all start to move away while they were still tens of meters away from her, as though they couldn''t risk getting close to her. Most of them were crowded in nearby streets or alleys.


    Xie Dong kept driving on the unimpeded road while Lin Qiao was sticking her head out of the window in the front seat to look around.


    When the car passed by a bookstore, she raised a hand to signal for Xie Dong to pull over. The latter turned toward the bookstore, then parked the car before it.


    Then, they both got off the car and glanced at the broken door of the bookstore before walking in.


    "Roar!" Once they got in, a zombie roar was heard, delivering a threatening and warning message. Hearing that, Lin Qiao and Xie Dong both realized that they had stepped into the small territory of a relatively high-level zombie, which was at about level-three.


    They turned toward where the roar came from and saw a zombie on the second floor, leaning against the stair railing while staring at them with its teeth bared.


    Lin Qiao ignored it and just calmly walked in toward the map shelf. But of course, she didn''t intend to show mercy to this level-three zombie.


    A level-three zombie nucleus wouldn''t contain a giant amount of energy, yet it would still be valuable.


    On the other side, Xie Dong didn''t move, glancing at Lin Qiao. Once she moved inward, the zombie uttered another roar while fiercely staring at her like a raging beast.


    "Roar!"


    Before coming into this bookstore, Lin Qiao had restrained her vibe, as she had sensed the level-three zombie already. That was the reason why the level-three zombie dared to roar at her like that.


    Lin Qiao ignored the zombie again and kept moving forward.


    The zombie had finally lost its patience. It climbed onto the railing, then jumped down at Lin Qiao. It didn''t wonder why she made no response to its roars, only wanting to kill this invader as fast as possible.


    However, it didn''t even manage to approach Lin Qiao. When the zombie was still about a meter away, Lin Qiao abruptly raised a hand and swung her claw at it.


    Puff! Thud! Thud!


    Following the series of noises, the zombie was cut into two and fell on the ground, its black blood splashing all over the ground. Xie Dong glanced at the dead zombie and then turned around to lean against the door with his arms crossed, looking outside.


    It was almost noontime; The sun was burning, and it was actually quite hot. But, he couldn''t feel the temperature, only Lin Qiao could. That was why she wore the hat, because she didn''t want her bald head to smoke under the sun.


    Lin Qiao kept looking for the map shelf. The bookstore wasn''t large, and there were signs, so she found it soon.


    This place had been visited by human survivors before. Lin Qiao found the map shelf and found that many maps were gone. Fortunately, the last batch of visitors still left her a couple of map books.


    She picked up one and first shook the dust off, then slapped and swung it. Finally, the thick layer of dust on the book was gone.


    She leafed through it and found that it was a map book for tourists, mainly introducing the famous scenic spots in the province. It wasn''t so useful, but could help her in recognizing places.


    She then checked another book: it was a driver''s map of this province.


    After collecting these two map books, Lin Qiao turned to check the other books. She only roughly browsed some of them, then put all of them into her space along with the shelves.


    About twenty minutes later, the bookstore was emptied by her. Then, she dug out the level-three zombie''s nucleus and left the bookstore with Xie Dong.


    Lin Qiao put the car into her space. The two of them stood by the roadside to check for directions, and then chose one direction to go.


    They were already in the city now. This place was filled with zombies, so the car became unnecessary. Driving in this area would be a waste of gas. Lin Qiao needed to restrain her vibe and hunt for higher level zombies, so they couldn''t drive fast.


    Lin Qiao walked for about ten meters, to a building which had over ten floors.


    She hopped onto an abandoned old bus in front of the building, then turned and leaped onto the building. Within a blink, she had grabbed a window frame on the sixth floor, then swung herself up to a balcony, leaping higher afterward.


    Xie Dong watched Lin Qiao nimbly climb onto the roof, then leaped into a balcony from the top of the bus. He wasn''t as agile as Lin Qiao, so he climbed much slower than she did.


    On the roof, Lin Qiao sniffed around and sensed a strong zombie stench mixed with all sorts of smells. Without waiting for Xie Dong, she leaped toward another building.


    She didn''t need to sniff around like a dog if she were only looking for higher level zombies, because she could sense any higher level zombie within the area two or three miles around her.


    She sniffed the air for the scents of human beings, as she wanted to know if any living human beings were in or had been in this area. This area was at the outskirts of the city. Many zombies existed in this place, but they weren''t scary enough to keep human beings away from here.


    Lin Qiao had sensed some faint scents left by human beings from quite some spots. However, those people weren''t there now. The scents should have been left by them yesterday or the day before that.


    Lin Qiao sensed a level-four zombie from two miles away, so she moved toward that direction.


    Xie Dong climbed up the first building, then saw that Lin Qiao was already three buildings away from him. So, he hurriedly followed up. He didn''t know why she went that way, but he didn''t care, only following behind her.


    He was at a lower level than Lin Qiao, so he wasn''t as powerful as she was, and his sensations weren''t as keen as hers. Therefore, even if he did want to know why she chose that direction, he had no way of finding out.


    He considered himself lucky for meeting Lin Qiao before turning into a zombie. If he hadn''t met her, he might have become a soulless zombie.


    He would chew human flesh and eat human brains like a beast.


    Xie Dong pictured himself like that and felt that it would have been even worse than death.

 187 Large Electronics Factory

    Two miles wasn''t a long distance in Lin Qiao''s eyes. This area was an industrial district, so many factories were to be found here, located close to each other. This allowed Lin Qiao and Xie Dong to move quickly forward by leaping across the roofs.


    In just a couple of minutes, Lin Qiao arrived at a large electronics factory that included five or six factory buildings, each having at least ten floors, and over twenty dorm buildings, each having seven stories.


    The factory sector was divided into a few parts, marked by letter A to D, and so was the dorm area.


    Lin Qiao stood at the edge of a factory roof and looked down, finding a large number of zombies wandering down on the ground.


    She looked at the zombie crowd downstairs confusedly. She was sure that a level-four zombie was in this place; but normally, ordinary zombies wouldn''t appear in the territories of level-four zombies.


    So, what was happening here? Why did the level-four zombie let these ordinary zombies stay here? Why didn''t it drive them away?


    While Lin Qiao was observing the situation down on the ground, Xie Dong slowly climbed up from another side of the building. Seeing her leaning her head forward to look down, he wondered what she was looking at. So, he walked over, put his hands on the guardrail, and looked down as well.


    He soon understood what Lin Qiao had been observing as he also saw a lot of zombies.


    He raised his head to glance at the surrounding buildings, observing that all the zombies were outside and the buildings seemed to be empty. No wonder so many zombies were crowding down there.


    At the moment, they couldn''t even see the ground from the roof. At least three-thousand zombies were gathered down there, filling up all the available space. Lin Qiao guessed that those were just a fraction of the zombie group in this place, as this factory should have had at least thirty-thousand workers before the apocalypse.


    Xie Dong knocked at the guardrail. Hearing the noise, Lin Qiao turned to look at him and saw that he had pointed at the space between a few other buildings, then at the zombies down on the ground. After that, he talked to her with sign language.


    He was conveying that he didn''t see any zombie between the other buildings, so he guessed that all the zombies nearby were gathering around this building.


    Lin Qiao nodded in response; she had noticed that already.


    She was just curious about why the level-four zombie let so many ordinary zombies stay here. Level-four zombies shouldn''t be able to control ordinary zombies unless they possessed the spirit power, like the one she saw back in the South with Du Yuanxing and his team. For that matter, even a spirit-powered zombie couldn''t control so many ordinary zombies at one time.


    She turned to one direction, then pointed at a dorm building a few buildings away and talked to Xie Dong with sign language.


    She conveyed to him that a target was located in there, a zombie leader.


    Xie Dong was puzzled at first as he turned to look in that direction. He focused his sensations, but failed to detect any target. He then thought for a moment and figured that maybe the target had been hiding too well, so he wasn''t able to sense it.


    He turned to look at Lin Qiao and pointed in that direction while asking her with sign language if she had come here for that target.


    Lin Qiao nodded at him, then looked down at the zombie crowd. After that, she raised her head and told Xie Dong with sign language that she would go find the level-four zombie first, and that he could do whatever he wanted.


    Then, she climbed onto the guardrail and leaped toward another building that was also a large factory building. It was about eight meters away, but Lin Qiao easily hopped on top of it.


    Xie Dong looked at that building and measured the distance with his eyes. He could only manage to reach a window of that building instead of directly hopping on top of it.


    After jumping over, Lin Qiao made a roll on the roof and then disappeared.


    The invisible Lin Qiao kept moving forward as she leaped across roofs and soon landed on top of the dorm building which she had marked earlier.


    The dorm building had seven floors, and it was where the workers used to live. Lin Qiao walked to the edge of the roof and leaned forward to look down at a corridor. She saw no zombies, but caught a strong scent of blood. She had sensed it earlier when she was with Xie Dong.


    It was so strong, so how could she not detect it?


    Nothing was down there, so she gripped the guardrail and flipped backward, nimbly swinging herself toward the corridor. She landed on the floor of the corridor quietly, then pressed her hat which had nearly fallen off just now.


    After that, she looked around and found that the place was as messy as most corners in the world. The wall was stained by dark blood, and the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust. She was invisible, yet she did leave footprints on the ground.


    She found the stairs and went to the lower floor.


    At the corner of the stairs, she saw large blood residues on the floors. Apparently, some bleeding bodies had been dragged up from the fifth floor.


    She followed the blood residues down, but avoided stepping on them.


    The blood scent on this floor was extra strong. Aside from it, Lin Qiao had also grasped the scents of human beings which she had sensed before near the bookstores. It appeared that those people were caught and eaten here. No wonder Lin Qiao only sensed them arriving, but couldn''t tell how they had left. Earlier on, she had found that the human scents were coming from the location of the level-four zombie.


    She saw a large puddle of fresh blood on the ground, looking vividly red. She could see colors now, so the red blood had given her quite a strong feeling. When the world was still black and white in her eyes, she would barely feel a thing at the sight of blood. But now, seeing the familiar red of blood along with sensing its scent, she felt less composed.


    Thankfully, she had gotten used to bloody scenes like this long ago. However, thinking of what she was about to see, she couldn''t help but have her face darkened.


    She followed the blood to the room at the end of the corridor. Except for the scent of fresh blood, she had also sensed an accumulated rotten smell.


    Her sharp sense of smell now made her a little comfortable, so she covered her nose with a hand.


    In fact, she found a few different layers of blood residues on the ground, each having a different color. The bottom one was brown, partially covered in fresh red blood.


    She moved closer to the room. Near the door, there was no clean spot on the ground for her to plant her foot. She had no choice but to avoid the fresh blood and step on the dried blood.


    Crack¡­!


    She heard a series of chewing and swallowing sounds from the room; the door was open. Hearing the voice, Lin Qiao could imagine the scene inside the room. She closed her eyes for a second, then walked in.

 188 Red Smoke Zombie

    She walked to the door and looked inside. As she had thought, she saw a few broken furniture pieces and piles of human body parts, with the floor covered by a thick layer of dark-red blood.


    A figure was squatted in a corner with its back toward Lin Qiao, holding something with both hands and chewing on it.


    The chewing sound was coming out of its mouth.


    Its back was hunched, hair wet and sticky. Lin Qiao saw a part of that thing held in its hand, which turned out to be a human foot. Lin Qiao clearly saw the shank and the toes.


    Clearly, the zombie was eating the thigh area.


    Next to the zombie was a corpse which had been torn into two. It was a young man, his face covered in blood. His head appeared to have been bitten, as there was a hole in it.


    The young man''s eyes were opened wide, and so was his mouth. His face was twisted and eyes bulged, seeming to even fall out of the eye sockets. His body was torn apart from the waist, and his stomach was smashed, so Lin Qiao couldn''t see his internal organs clearly. His lower body was thrown to the side, and a leg of his was missing.


    Judging by the condition of this body, Lin Qiao figured that this man died less than forty-eight hours ago. The other body parts were older; it appeared that this zombie had sorted these corpses.


    The rotten pieces and bones were piled up in a corner by the door. That area radiated a strong stench, and was surrounded by hundreds of flies.


    This pile of body parts was at least a month old. Some pieces that were less than two weeks old were randomly scattered in the room, and the corpse next to the zombie was the freshest one.


    The zombie focused on its food, its head and body moving regularly. It had no idea that Lin Qiao was standing by the door.


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds watching the zombie by the door, then took two small steps back to stand on a small, clean spot, and showed her face.


    Sensing Lin Qiao''s sudden appearance, the zombie froze. Then, it turned back abruptly, letting her see its weird-looking face. Like most zombies, its mouth was cracked from ear to ear. Its eyes were dark; its nose might have been bitten off by other zombies, as Lin Qiao only saw two holes on its face.


    "Roar!" At the sight of Lin Qiao, it bared its teeth and uttered a deep roar.


    Its voice delivered a firm intention of killing, as if saying that she must die in its hands for intruding in its territory.


    Lin Qiao sensed its hostility from its dark and cold eyes. As it was eating just now, its face and teeth were covered in blood. Lin Qiao even saw a few shreds of meat between its teeth.


    She rolled her eyes, ignoring the zombie''s roar as she crossed her arms and stepped back to lean against the guardrail of the corridor while looking at the zombie blandly. ''Can you defeat me with your voice? Can you kill me by roaring?''


    The zombie was confused by Lin Qiao''s calm attitude. As she hadn''t shown a sign of attacking, the zombie couldn''t tell what encouraged her to come to its territory. Seeing her make no move, the zombie put down the human leg and stood up while turning.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t tell how it possibly looked back when it was still a human being. Its sticky hair weren''t long enough to cover its face; its face and body were entirely covered in blood. Its clothes had been soaked by blood over and over again, such that she couldn''t even recognize their original colors.


    It looked bloody and dirty, and smelled awful.


    This zombie had shown a strong hostility. Judging what she saw in this room, Lin Qiao figured that it had been hunting and eating human beings frequently.


    The man it was eating just now died less than forty-eight hours ago, but his scent had disappeared days ago. Lin Qiao guessed that he was caught and kept here by the zombie.


    This zombie even stored food and kept it alive. It was rather smart!


    The zombie faced Lin Qiao as it hunched its back and fixed its eyes on her, slowly releasing a faintly red smoke from its body. More and more red smoke was released, growing thicker and thicker, soon filling up half of the room.


    Lin Qiao had no idea what the red smoke could do. However, she was surprised to find that the zombie had the same kind of power as she did. Zombies with such kind of power were rarely seen. Lin Qiao had learned about many types of superpowers from Lu Tianyu''s memories, including metal, green, water, fire, earth, and the relatively rarer ones such as lightning power and spirit power.


    She had killed a level-five metal-powered zombie days ago, and back in the South, she had killed a spirit-powered one.


    Lin Qiao looked at this ugly zombie. If it hadn''t eaten too many people, she might have let it live for a little longer.


    As the red smoke slowly blurred the zombie''s body, Lin Qiao waved her hand. A thick stream of black mist was released, smartly surging toward the red smoke. The red smoke didn''t seem to be flexible or under the zombie''s control. It just spread in the room and mixed with the air.


    On the other hand, Lin Qiao''s black mist quickly flowed into the room, then spread to envelope the red smoke. The part of the red smoke touched by the black mist disappeared immediately, and the black mist quickly approached the zombie.


    "Roar!" Once Lin Qiao released the black mist, the zombie sensed the danger immediately. It nervously roared at Lin Qiao as it saw the black mist erase its red smoke and come at it.


    "Whooo¡­" The red smoke zombie growled with a deep voice while slowly drawing back. At the same time, Lin Qiao moved slightly and turned invisible. She saw two windows behind the zombie, and judging by its backward movement, it was preparing to run. Lin Qiao was aware of how powerful her black mist was, but didn''t expect the zombie to be so sensitive. It felt the danger before even touching the black mist, and smartly attempted to escape.


    Only the brainless zombies would charge at any enemy they saw without showing any fear. Unlike them, this zombie soon found out that it was no match for Lin Qiao, so it wisely chose to run.


    However, Lin Qiao would give it no such chance.

 189 Sedative Gas

    Once Lin Qiao disappeared, the red smoke zombie panicked. It immediately turned back and leaped out of the window. In the next second, an invisible figure followed it out.


    The zombie had exposed its weakness by trying to run.


    As soon as the zombie turned, Lin Qiao rushed into the room, swiftly darted through the red smoke, and stepped on the window frame, leaping out behind the red smoke zombie. She showed up right after that and swung her claws toward the red smoke zombie''s neck.


    The zombie was trying to leap onto another building. This building was facing another dorm building, such that one could see the corridors and room doors of that building from the window. The dorm buildings were no more than two meters away from each other, so it was able to jump into another building easily as a zombie.


    However, before it reached the other building, Ling Qiao gave it a neat claw attack from behind in the midair.


    Bang!


    The red smoke zombie hit the guardrail of a corridor of the other building, then fell to the ground in pieces.


    "Roar!"


    The zombie crowd down there didn''t make a big reaction to that. Lin Qiao released her vibe in the air, then landed on a zombie-free flower bed.


    "Roar!"


    Her vibe stirred the zombie crowd, making all of them try to draw back. In less than ten seconds, a small clearing was created around her.


    She leaped down from the half-a-meter wide flower bed, then walked toward the red smoke zombie''s body which was cut into pieces by her. Seeing her move, the zombies near her moved away even more quickly.


    She walked to the dead red smoke zombie, whose head was cut off from its neck; its neck was connected with a shoulder and an arm, and its other shoulder and arm were also detached from its chest. Its body parts were scattered all over the ground.


    Lin Qiao walked to its head and squatted to cut open its head, then tore apart its skull and dug out its zombie nucleus. She had found something just now when she went through the red smoke.


    She sensed a refreshing sweet aroma from it, and felt like getting a bit lost in it.


    She had figured out what that feeling the red smoke gave her was: it was a sedative. She also found out that the red-smoke zombie was actually weak, because it didn''t even try to fight back before she cut it into pieces.


    Lin Qiao guessed that the red-smoke zombie kept those ordinary zombies around to defend itself. However, it didn''t think that Lin Qiao would come over from the roof while none of the ordinary zombies discovered her when she did.


    At that moment, Xie Dong walked to her side and lowered his head to look at her. Lin Qiao glanced at the zombie nucleus. Its energy was nothing special, so she threw it into the lake in her space. Then, she stood up and walked toward the outside, with Xie Dong following right behind her.


    She walked to a taller factory building that was about twenty meters away, then paused and turned back to give Xie Dong a hand signal. She told him to wait here while she went up to check for direction.


    Xie Dong glanced up at the roof, then nodded.


    Lin Qiao walked to a line of air conditioner external units, then quickly climbed up, getting onto the roof in just ten seconds. After that, she hopped onto the highest spot and sniffed around at the air.


    Quite a while later, she finally grasped some scents.


    ''Eh?''


    She fixed her eyes in one direction, as she somehow felt that there was something in that area. However, as the distance was too huge, she couldn''t sense it clearly. She didn''t really catch any useful smells, because that area was too far away. But still, she had an indescribable feeling toward that area, and she didn''t know why.


    She sniffed in other directions but didn''t detect any other high-level zombies. Then, she glanced at the area which had given her a strange feeling and decided to head there first. The downtown area was in that direction anyway.


    She leaped down to the roof, then jumped down from the building. After two flips in the air, she stably landed on the ground. Xie Dong watched her come down, then walked over to her.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at the sun. It was noontime, and she felt quite hot. While walking out of the factory area, she took off her coat, revealing her camouflage vest.


    She didn''t sweat, but felt hot. The sunlight might burn her skin if she exposed her arms and shoulders, but she would rather feel the wind than have her skin wrapped in clothes.


    Once she took off her coat, Xie Dong paused for a second and then stared straight at her. He was standing by her side, and on turning his head, he saw her¡­giant breasts! Her breasts were covered by the vest, yet the vest couldn''t hide their shape.


    Lin Qiao was going to wrap the coat around her waist and tie the sleeves together, but before that, she raised her head and saw that Xie Dong was gazing at her chest. So, she lowered her head to see her own body and realized that she had forgotten to try finding a suitable bra for herself!


    The vest she was wearing right now was tight, perfectly emphasizing the shape of her breasts and nipples¡­


    She silently put the coat on her shoulder, then tied the sleeves together. After that, she turned the sleeves to her back, and let the rest of the coat cover her chests.


    Finishing that, she found that Xie Dong was still eyeing her chest, so she kicked him. Xie Dong shambled two steps sideward, then came back to his senses.


    He felt embarrassed as he realized how weirdly he had just acted. He rubbed his nose, then looked at Lin Qiao''s face. She was wearing the sunglasses, so he couldn''t see her eyes.


    What he saw just now lingered in his head, the shape¡­the size¡­He really wanted to touch it!


    He spent some effort to stop himself from thinking about that, then gave Lin Qiao an awkward smile and a thumbs-up. Lin Qiao was pretty close to him, so she could surely sense his thoughts. As he gave her a thumbs-up while picturing rubbing her breasts, Lin Qiao silently raised a foot.


    Seeing that, Xie Dong immediately took a few steps away from her. Then, he discovered that the skin on Lin Qiao''s shoulders and arms was white and tender. It wasn''t ruddy and moisturized, but did have a beautiful luster, and looked quite smooth.


    Besides, her skin was nearly flawless.

 190 Follow the Feeling

    Xie Dong had eyed Lin Qiao''s body, but didn''t dare to try touching it. He knew that if he did, she would undoubtedly kick his ass.


    Lin Qiao turned and kept moving forward. All the surrounding zombies automatically moved away and cleared the road for her. She walked out of the factory gate, then let out the car. After that, she fully released her vibe and sat in the front seat.


    Xie Dong got in the driver''s seat and started the car, then turned to look at Lin Qiao. The latter raised a hand to point at the area which had given her a strange feeling, then waved her hand slightly forward.


    Xie Dong understood that she wanted him to drive there fast, so he nodded and pressed the accelerator. On the way, Lin Qiao had been directing him all the time, and an hour later, her expression finally changed a little.


    The factory area was near the West Lake District, and by now, they had crossed the entire West Lake District and entered the Upper City District. Both Upper City District and Down City District of Hang Zhou City were included in the city center, and had large populations.


    In this area, not only did Lin Qiao clearly sense some vibes, Xie Dong also felt quite a few strong vibes. His own vibe had been suppressed firmly here.


    He pulled over and then glanced at the large crowd of ordinary zombies before his car. Those zombies also looked at him and Lin Qiao, their broken zombie faces all showing a confused look.


    Xie Dong turned to Lin Qiao, who opened the car door and got off.


    On her way here, she had restrained her vibe and made herself like an ordinary zombie. So, the road was jammed by ordinary zombies.


    When Xie Dong got off, Lin Qiao put the car into her space.


    At first sight, she saw at least a thousand zombies shambling in this area like old people. As Lin Qiao had restrained her vibe, these zombies didn''t avoid her. Xie Dong''s vibe had caught these zombies'' attention, yet it wasn''t strong enough to make them dodge.


    She looked around, then ran up to a building nearby, leaping up and nimbly climbing onto the roof like a monkey. Xie Dong learned from her movements and followed her up to the roof, even though he didn''t know what she was going to do.


    Climbing like that was many times faster than taking the stairs.


    The buildings in this area were all tall, and the one Lin Qiao climbed had over twenty stories. Standing on the roof, she was able to see things far away clearly.


    She walked to the edge of the roof to sniff the air for the scents of high-level zombies. Meanwhile, she tried to figure out their levels and how much they could suppress her.


    The distance had been shortened a lot, so she could sense them clearly now. From the area which had been making her feel strange, she sensed the scents of human beings¡­a group of human beings to be precise.


    ''Over ten living human beings there? And¡­they''re surrounded by a few level-five zombies¡­What''s going on there?''


    That area was near downtown, so it was crowded by countless zombies. None of those people was at a super-high level: two of them were at level five, and the other few were at level four or three. So, how did they manage to enter that area? And, why didn''t the three level-five zombies around them eat them?


    Lin Qiao focused her sensations on that area, but being about ten miles away, she wasn''t able to feel everything clearly. By that time, she only knew that those people were with the few zombie leaders.


    Why would those people stay with dangerous zombie leaders?


    Lin Qiao didn''t understand why. What she had sensed wasn''t normal in the post-apocalyptic era.


    Xie Dong climbed up as well. Seeing Lin Qiao fix her eyes in that direction, he walked over and looked down. The space between the buildings was filled with zombies, and more zombies were seen inside the buildings. He glanced at Lin Qiao and found that she was quietly gazing in that direction, seemingly lost in thoughts. However, he didn''t know what she had sensed, because he didn''t detect a thing from that area.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then decided to find those people right now to figure out what exactly was going on, because the strange feeling had been bothering her the whole time. While thinking, she signaled for Xie Dong to move stealthily, then pointed at the location of those people.


    After making that hand signal, she took a step backward and leaped toward the building in front of her. In midair, she suddenly disappeared, as though she had jumped into another dimension. In fact, even Xie Dong didn''t know how Lin Qiao did it. He felt that it was a fantastic skill, perfect for launching sneak attacks.


    He had witnessed Lin Qiao disappear and reappear in different places many times. However, he never noticed that she would actually become a transparent shred of shadow and keep moving even after her disappearance.


    Lin Qiao leaped onto that building, then moved forward as fast as she could. After that, she leaped onto the next building. Xie Dong was aware of the fact that he couldn''t move as fast as Lin Qiao did, neither could he see her now, as she had turned herself invisible. So, he had no choice but to move toward the direction given by Lin Qiao earlier.


    Lin Qiao swiftly leaped across the roofs. The buildings were at different heights, and the distances between them weren''t the same. However, she kept running and leaping without pausing. If the distance turned out to be too long, she would hop onto the treetops by the roadsides, then trample on the branches to move forward.


    The closer she got to those people, she uneasier she felt. She ignored the three level-five zombies, and was only eager to find out the truth about those people. The vibes of those human beings were strange to her, but that strange feeling forbade her from neglecting those people.


    In half an hour, Lin Qiao arrived at their location.


    It was so weird! From the roof of a tall building, Lin Qiao saw the group of people moving on the road, surrounded by many ordinary zombies. Those drooling zombies had their teeth bared, following these people slowly forward.


    They surrounded this group of people, but kept a distance of about two meters from them, not daring to come closer to them.


    This group of people obediently moved forward, because three higher level zombies had their eyes on them: one at the front, one at the back, and one at the side. The one at the front was clearly leading the way, and the one beside the group swung its arms from time to time, as if herding sheep. The one behind was keeping these people from escaping.


    Lin Qiao observed the three zombie leaders, whose original looks were unrecognizable. Lin Qiao couldn''t even tell if they used to be men or women, old or young. Their faces were all covered in blood. Their mouths were huge, sharp teeth bared, and black eyes bulged. Back in the old world, these three could have scared people right to death.

 191 Find The Group Of Human Beings

    Lin Qiao took a few glances down, then moved a few meters forward and leaped off the roof. She hid among the zombie crowd, showing her face and moving toward the group of human beings.


    When she got close enough, she found that she actually knew the two at the front of this group of human beings. To be precise, it wasn''t ''she'' who knew them, but Lu Tianyu.


    Looking at the two young men whose faces were covered in dust but still looked handsome, Lin Qiao murmured to herself, "What a coincidence. Does fate bring me to them?"


    One of the two young men was very familiar to Lu Tianyu: he was her younger brother. Lin Qiao had a vague impression about her brother from her memory. Her memory was messy, but on seeing the young man''s face, she still recalled him.


    They were half-siblings. Lu Tianyu believed that her stepmother tore apart her family, so she never liked her brother who was mothered by that woman. They never got along; after the apocalypse, she didn''t want to have anything to do with her brother.


    In the base, she always pretended not to know him.


    ''Lu Tianyi, why is he here?'' Lin Qiao wondered. ''And these people¡­are they caught by zombies?''


    Lin Qiao followed the zombie crowd and moved forward along with Lu Tianyi and the others. She knew the young man beside Lu Tianyi as well. The young man''s name was Kong Qingming. He and Lu Tianyu were good friends, and he used to visit Lu Tianyi and his family, so Lu Tianyu knew him.


    ''Where are these three zombie leaders taking them?''


    Lin Qiao was sure that she could easily defeat a zombie leader now. Facing two zombie leaders¡­she believed that she could still win. If she needed to fight three of them, there would be no problem either.


    And that was because she had the black mist!


    She quietly released the black mist, controlling it with her mind. While splitting the mist into three streams and sending them into the three zombie leaders, she moved toward Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming.


    "Where are these zombies taking us?"


    "I don''t know¡­It''s weird¡­They didn''t eat us¡­"


    "You seem happy¡­They didn''t eat us now, but they''ll eat us later when they arrive at their destination. Hehe¡­We''re really unlucky this time¡­"


    Lin Qiao approached the group of human beings and heard Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingying talking with low voices. They had become two stunning-looking men. They had wounds and blood on their faces, along with dust and dirt; but still, Lin Qiao could tell how handsome they were.


    Hearing Kong Qingying''s words, Lu Tianyi immediately showed hatred in his eyes. Through clenched teeth, he said, "Damn it! If I can go back alive, I''ll definitely destroy Wu Yueyun. The dirty bastard drew these level-five zombies to us and then ran away!"


    Kong Qingming looked ahead while walking and responded with a tired voice, "Forget it¡­Do you think you can go back alive? You can dream about it before you die¡­" His eyes were lustreless and face expressionless. Every step he made forward made him feel that he was getting closer to death. But still, he didn''t understand why these zombies didn''t rush up to bite them, and made them walk instead.


    The hatred in Lu Tianyi''s eyes faded when he heard Kong Qingying''s words. Then, he lowered his head.


    Lin Qiao was mingling in the zombie crowd at the moment. The other zombies were all dirty and messy, but she was pretty clean. Actually, she looked quite different from the other zombies, yet the zombies didn''t care.


    She wasn''t able to find out what the three level-five zombies were thinking, but could sense the thoughts of the ordinary ones around her.


    ''Food¡­can''t eat¡­''


    ''Leader¡­Food¡­''


    ''Food¡­for¡­Leader¡­''


    ''Food¡­can''t eat¡­eat¡­food¡­no¡­''


    The thoughts of ordinary zombies were simple, but from them, Lin Qiao had caught an important message.


    ''Leader? What does that mean? These three zombie leaders? Are they the dominators of this area? Is that why these ordinary zombies didn''t dare to eat their food?''


    ''That''s highly possible. Zombie leaders are like lion kings or wolf kings. They are higher-positioned than the others, and they have rules for the others to follow.''


    While thinking, Lin Qiao sent the black mist toward the three zombie leaders. The three had sharp sensations, which allowed them to sense the black mist when it was still about a meter away from them.


    "Roar!" The zombie leader behind the group uttered a roar, then stopped moving. Hearing his voice, the other zombies stopped as well, all looking around alertly.


    The three zombie leaders scanned around with their sharp eyes, then immediately spotted the black mist. As the black mist was approaching them, one of them swiftly waved a hand and raised a small-scale hurricane to dissipate it.


    With the black mist being blown away, Lin Qiao lost control of it. However, she soon found out that it didn''t disappear. It was thinned out, drifting toward the surrounding zombies and soon drilling and creating countless holes in their bodies.


    The ordinary zombies didn''t care about the holes in their bodies. Some of their limbs soon fell off, yet they had no feelings. But seeing that, the three zombie leaders immediately burst in screams.


    "Roarrrr-Whooo!"


    Their screams stirred the zombie crowd right away.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar! Roar!"


    As the ordinary zombies around her began darting and bumping against each other, Lin Qiao quickly turned herself invisible and moved closer to the group of human beings.


    Those ordinary zombies were agitated and began running about, but none of them got close to the three zombie leaders.


    The group of human beings was confused by this sudden twist. They looked at those blustering ordinary zombies, then at the three zombie leaders which had them surrounded, having absolutely no idea about what was happening.


    At that point, Lin Qiao sneakily approached Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming. She wanted very much to kill the three zombie leaders now, but as the group of human beings were defenseless at the moment, she decided to pull them into her space one by one first.


    With some selfish motive, she went for Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming first.


    She wasn''t like Lu Tianyu; she had younger brother and sister too. Maybe Lu Tianyu could probably watch Lu Tianyi die without saving him, but Lin Qiao couldn''t.


    Since she had run into this group of human beings, she would certainly save them.

 192 Three To Go

    The three zombie leaders appeared to be different from the others level-five zombies. They not only gathered together peacefully without trying to tear each other into pieces, but had been working as a team!


    One of them stayed close to the group of human beings while the other two were looking around nervously and alertly. It seemed that if any enemy showed up, only the two would be fighting. The third one would stay with the group of human beings to prevent them from escaping or being saved.


    These zombies were almost as smart as human beings.


    The longer Lin Qiao observed, the smarter the three zombie leaders seemed. So, she concentrated herself.


    The invisible Lin Qiao walked up to Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming. Fortunately, they were standing by each other''s side. Lin Qiao reached out her hands and pressed on their shoulders.


    "Eh?" As they sensed something and turned their heads toward their shoulders which were touched by Lin Qiao, they saw a figure before their eyes and then their eyes were dazzled. After a blink, they found themselves in a different place.


    Seeing the lake, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were both stunned.


    "Qingming, are my eyes dazzled?"


    "I think it''s an¡­illusion?"


    "I was going to say the same. Do you think we''ll be back in where we were after a blink?"


    "We might¡­"


    Then, they turned their heads to look around confusedly.


    After pulling Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming into her space, Lin Qiao flashed out immediately, pressing her hands the two men who were behind the two boys, and then the three of them disappeared together.


    Lin Qiao moved swiftly and reacted fast. It was only by the time she had pulled the third batch of people into her space that the zombie who had been guarding the group of humans finally realized what was happening.


    "Roar!" It roared out and pounced on Lin Qiao when she showed up for the fourth time and reached her hands toward another two human beings.


    It was fast indeed, yet Lin Qiao was much faster. Before the zombie approached, she put her hands on the two people and then disappeared.


    In just a few seconds, she had thrown eight people into her space. After Viney had fixed her face and upgraded her strength, she was twice as fast than before. Therefore, none of the group of human beings or the zombie leader who was guarding them saw her face clearly.


    They only saw a dark-green figure flash across the air.


    After pulling the eight people into her space, Lin Qiao went back out and left them stunned.


    The zombie leader failed to touch Lin Qiao, so it gave another raging roar.


    "Roar!" It stood where Lin Qiao disappeared, quickly looking around for a few times. But no matter how it tried, it couldn''t find the dark-green figure.


    As it roared twice in a row, the other zombie leaders turned back and found that some of their preys had gone missing. They don''t know the exact number of their preys, but they were sure that some of them were missing.


    They were smart, but they couldn''t do math!


    Lin Qiao observed their reactions and found that all three of them were enraged. But still, they didn''t seem about to hurt the rest of human beings. Earlier on, she was worried that once she made a move, the three zombie leaders might get pissed off and decide to kill those people first.


    By now, she had saved more than half of those people, but the three zombies still showed no sign of hurting them, only gathering the rest of them and having them surrounded.


    Lin Qiao looked at the five human beings and sneakily moved toward them. She carefully stood between two zombies, then reached out a hand and grabbed a person''s cloth. After that, the person disappeared.


    She didn''t reach out both hands because she could have accidentally touched a zombie leader by doing that.


    As Lin Qiao stole another person away from them, the two zombie leaders near her reacted quickly. When she showed up, they immediately tried to claw her. But once again, they missed their targets.


    Lin Qiao threw that person into her space, then came right back out and grabbed another person, disappearing again. The two zombies hadn''t even finished their first attack by that time.


    "Roar! Roar!" As their preys kept disappearing, the three zombie leaders were infuriated. They started a hurricane, then raised a raging fire. The wind and fire mixed together, soon creating a fiery tornado that surrounded the three zombies and the last three people.


    The fiery tornado looked awesomely cool, such that Lin Qiao couldn''t help but even want to give it a thumbs-up. But in the next second, she began worrying.


    The three people in the tornado had started to yell for help. For now, she couldn''t save them with the old method.


    "Help! Don''t¡­Don''t leave us behind! Hero! Help us!"


    "Help me! I''m still here! I''m still here! Save me too!"


    "Please! Please don''t leave the three of us behind!"


    They saw their friends disappear along with a shred of shadow, so the three of them figured that someone had come to save them. However, before that mysterious figure could save them, the three zombie leaders had stopped it.


    Lin Qiao looked at the three people in the tornado, then looked around.


    Because the three zombie leaders were boiling with anger, the zombie crowd was gone. Clearly, those ordinary zombies were scared away, fleeing to the alley nearby.


    As a result, this area had become empty.


    ''They ran pretty fast,'' Lin Qiao thought as she looked around and found that Xie Dong was standing behind a wall a short distance away, looking at her.


    She immediately made a hand gesture to signal for him to stay put and not move.


    Then, she turned back and walked toward the fiery tornado. She made a circle around it but found no way in. Even though she was invisible, she could still be burned if she directly went through the fire.


    After that, she glanced at the buildings nearby. The buildings weren''t higher than the flame, so she couldn''t jump into the center of the tornado from the roofs.


    The three people spent a while yelling, then turned hopeless. They knew that no one could save them without killing the three zombie leaders.


    Who was powerful enough to kill three zombie leaders at one time? Even a level-six superpowered human being couldn''t guarantee to win against a zombie leader. Only if the mysterious figure who saved their friends was a level-seven base leader, they might still have a chance to live.


    However, they didn''t think that that kind of thing could happen. The Sea City Base had only three leaders, and important men like them wouldn''t possibly come here just to save a few nobodies.

 193 The Zombies Were Scared Away

    The people in Lin Qiao''s space were silently looking at each other at the moment, as they hadn''t figured out what was happening! A man who reacted relatively faster saw Lu Tianyi by his side and asked immediately, "Captain! Is this an independent space?"


    Lu Tianyi glanced at the lake, then at the grassland and those neatly placed fancy furniture pieces, and¡­the stove nearby. He and Kong Qingming got here first, and both of them had carefully observed the space twice. Hearing his teammate''s question, he responded with hesitation, "I think¡­so. But, did you see the one who brought you in?"


    The others shook their heads, but Kong Qingming said, "He''s way too fast. I only saw a dark green shadow at first. When he came in again with the others, I saw that he was wearing camouflage."


    The others all turned to him.


    "How did he manage to quietly send us here? The few zombie leaders barely reacted. How did he do that?"


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming glanced at each other, then the latter said, "We want to know that too." Then, he counted his teammates and continued, "Three of us are still out there."


    Reminded by him, the others looked around and confirmed that only ten people were in the space.


    One of the two who came in the last said, "I don''t think the owner of this space can save the three of them, because the three zombie leaders got nervous before we came in. They might have been stimulated when the two of us disappeared right in front of their eyes. I guess they''ve already launched some massive attacks by now."


    Lu Tianyi had his eyes fixed on the lake for a while, then he turned to look at the grass. Suddenly, he gave a start as though he had seen something strange. Then, he turned to walk toward the grassland.


    As he moved, the others followed him.


    After getting close, Lu Tianyi confirmed what he had seen.


    "Are these¡­mutant strawberries? Eh¡­broccoli? Lettuce?"


    "Look, large pumpkins! They''re all mutants, aren''t they!"


    "And potatoes, a pile of them! What are these for? They''re all mutant!"


    Looking at the thriving strawberry plants and vegetables, and those barely touched pumpkins and potatoes, the group of people was utterly confused.


    At that moment, a tiny gray figure leaped out of the strawberry field, then jumped into the grasses and disappeared without a trace.


    "Em¡­if I''m right, that should be a rabbit!"


    "You''re right, I saw it too!"


    The group of people watched the rabbit disappear in the grasses and just stood by the strawberry plants, stunned.


    On the outside, Lin Qiao stood five meters away from the fiery tornado. She felt hot near the fire, so she had no choice but to keep a distance from it. It seemed that the three zombie leaders weren''t going to kill the three people. Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then showed her face.


    "Roar!" The moment she showed up, the three zombies roared out loud at her as one of them sprung out of the fire and charged at her.


    She looked at the zombie which had its whole body wrapped in flames; it wasn''t that fast in her eyes. She calmly stood still, and when the zombie nearly touched her, she moved suddenly to its side and raised a claw to attack it.


    Boom!


    The fire zombie didn''t expect Lin Qiao to be able to easily dodge its attack, because it hadn''t sensed any threatening vibe from her. Before the zombie could turn back, Lin Qiao''s claw landed on its back.


    She didn''t stop there, but crooked her fingers and pulled her hands back. Then, her sharp claws cut into the zombie''s body.


    Puff!


    After one collision, the fire zombie thudded against the ground and its fire died off. Lin Qiao still didn''t stop; instead, she conveniently raised a hand and released a thick stream of black mist, which was no longer manifesting in mere thin wisps.


    The dark mist descended on the zombie''s body on the ground, then wrapped it up. In the next moment, the zombie''s body was gone without a trace, and only its head remained there.


    After that, Lin Qiao waved her hand toward the fiery tornado, following which, the black mist rolled it way.


    After the fire zombie died, the flame in the tornado faded away gradually as well. Soon, only the wind was left spinning.


    As the black mist gushed out of Lin Qiao''s palm, the other two zombie leaders who were guarding the three human beings showed fear for the first time. They bent lower and lower, and their roars slowly turned into deep growls.


    As the fire was gone, Lin Qiao approached them along with the black mist. The two zombie leaders'' voices contained a message of retreating. However, Lin Qiao still maintained seventy percent of vigilance toward them. She felt that the two zombies were preparing to give up on their preys and run. Hence, she decided to let them run, but still needed to prevent them from killing the three people before running.


    She strengthened the black mist that swallowed everything within the area within a radius of ten meters. The asphalt road, the stones on the ground, the broken vehicles, the plants, the streetlights¡­everything in the surrounding was quickly devoured by the black mist.


    The black mist was, in fact, an embodiment of energy. When Lin Qiao closed her eyes, she could see the mist in a purple color and with a weird luster. But with her physical eyes open, she only saw the thick blackness of it.


    She controlled the black mist by controlling the energy in it. The black mist spread slowly, going down toward the tornado created by the two zombies. As the cloud of mist which was turning huger and huger, thicker and thicker while pressing down, the two zombies finally howled and turned to run.


    "Em¡­They, ran?" Watching one of the three fierce zombies being killed within a blink and the other two scared way, the three people who were suddenly saved from the hopeless situation looked at each other, all dumbfounded.


    As the two ran away, Lin Qiao composedly took back the black mist. Earlier on when she released the mist, she had sensed that the two zombies were afraid. That was why she only sent the black mist slowly toward them to give them a greater pressure with the slow motion of the mist.


    The result was obvious. The two zombies were only as smart as six or seven years old children. Facing something that was life-threatening, they would easily get scared and run.


    For that reason, Lin Qiao expanded the black mist and sent it slowly toward the zombies. At last, the two zombies couldn''t stand the pressure anymore, leaving their preys to run.

 194 We Owe You A Life

    After Lin Qiao retrieved the black mist, the area was found to have turned into a clearing. The area swept across by the black mist had nothing left in it: the vehicles, stones, and plants were all gone, and a layer of the ground was missing as well.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the three men who were stunned at the moment, then looked around. After that, she gave Xie Dong, who was hiding in a corner, a hand gesture to tell him that it was safe, and signaled for him to come out.


    Seeing that, Xie Dong came out and walked over to Lin Qiao.


    "Eh, isn''t that Xie Dong from Block C? I think he had gone missing for long!" One of the three men recognized Xie Dong.


    Xie Dong''s ears moved slightly, so he glanced at the three while walking up to Lin Qiao and recognized one of them. They had carried a mission together, but then they never reached out to each other again, because they didn''t live in the same area of the base.


    That man''s name was Huang Shou. He was twenty-five years old, level-three with earth power. But by now, his energy should have run out.


    Xie Dong lived in Block C, which was located in the outskirts of the Sea City Base, while Huang Shou lived in Block A.


    Lin Qiao and Xie Dong walked to the three men, then quickly looked at them from head to toe. The three looked back at her with gratitude, then found out that Lin Qiao was a female.


    She was wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses. Her waist was slim, arms slender and snow-white. She had a camouflage coat wrapped on her shoulders that covered her chest, but it couldn''t hide the shape of her breasts. Her lower body was wearing loose-fitting camouflage trousers and a pair of combat boots.


    She was in a military outfit, but wasn''t carrying any weapons.


    The three guessed that she was a really mighty being, because except for heavy weapons, no regular weapons could possibly defeat the three zombie leaders.


    Huang Shou soon turned his eyes from Lin Qiao to Xie Dong, then said with a slight excitement, "It''s you, Xie Dong! What a surprise! Why are you here in this zombie city? And this is?"


    He pointed at Lin Qiao and asked. He understood that Xie Dong and Lin Qiao weren''t here to save them. They had just passed by and conveniently lent a hand.


    Xie Dong nodded at Huang Shou, then pointed at his own throat and waved a hand. Huang Shou looked at him and asked with confusion, "What happened to your throat? Can''t you talk?"


    Xie Dong shook his head.


    Lin Qiao turned and walked to the zombie head on the ground. She then squatted and released a wisp of black mist that coiled around it. The black mist wrapped around the zombie head and soon devoured it, leaving behind a sparkling zombie nucleus.


    After greeting Xie Dong, Huang Shou instantly walked toward her. Then, he glanced at Lin Qiao and asked, "Who is she? Her black mist seems to be powerful¡­Even two zombie leaders were scared away by it. I think she''s no lower than level-six, right? I don''t remember seeing her in our base. Where is she from?"


    Xie Dong looked at him, then took out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket, writing down a sentence to show him.


    ''Ask her yourself.''


    The three didn''t know that Lin Qiao was a zombie, and Xie Dong wouldn''t tell them about that. But, how should he introduce her? Xie Dong had no idea about that, so he told Huang Shou to ask her himself.


    "Ask her myself? So mysterious! Ah, where did she take our Captain and the others?" Reading Xie Dong''s note, Huang Shou paused slightly, then suddenly remembered that his other teammates were missing.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao had picked up the zombie nucleus and disappeared from where she was.


    Huang Shou was considering how to greet Lin Qiao, but before he did it, she disappeared. Then, he thought of something else, so he hurriedly turned to Xie Dong and said, "She¡­disappeared! We didn''t see her when she saved our friends, who had also disappeared. How did that happen? Does she have a space?"


    Xie Dong nodded at him, remaining silent.


    At that point, three figures showed up where Lin Qiao had vanished just now, then one of them disappeared again. Seeing the two who had suddenly shown up, Huang Shou burst in delighted yells, "Captain! Deputy Captain!"


    Then, the three immediately walked to Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming who were just brought out by Lin Qiao, and hadn''t realized what had happened yet.


    "Ah! Thank god, you''re okay!" Seeing that Huang Shou and the other two were still alive, Lu Tianyi was delighted as well. Huang Shou nodded at him, then took a deep breath as he blinked and said, "I almost thought that you were gonna die here!" He sounded like a survivor of a disaster.


    Lu Tianyi sighed with relief and said, "As long as everyone is okay¡­"


    Meanwhile, two more people were brought out of the space by Lin Qiao.


    Lu Tianyi turned to look at them and saw a slim dark-green figure bring the two people out, then disappear in the next second. She was too fast, so he didn''t manage to see her face.


    As more of their teammates were sent out, Huang Shou stopped talking. He, Lu Tianyi, and Kong Qingming watched Lin Qiao bring out the rest of the team.


    Lin Qiao had to enter her space three times to bring out all the people in there. At last, she flashed across the air and showed up in front of Lu Tianyi, looking at him from two meters away.


    Only until now did Lu Tianyi see Lin Qiao clearly. Soon, he knitted his brows and silently fixed his eyes on her face.


    Xie Dong quietly stood behind Lin Qiao. Seeing the look on Lu Tianyi''s face, he guessed that he might have recognized Lu Tianyu''s face, but wasn''t quite sure, or couldn''t believe it.


    "Oi, we''re out! Where''re the three zombie leaders?"


    "Eh? This is where we were just now, right? What happened to the ground?"


    "Boss¡­"


    The others who were dragged out of the space by Lin Qiao quickly realized what had happened. They looked around alertly to confirm their safety, and only after that did they sigh with relief.


    Then, they all saw Lin Qiao and Xie Dong.


    Huang Shou put his mouth near Kong Qingming''s ear and asked with a low voice, "Deputy Captain, it''s her who saved us. Did you enter her space just now?"


    Kong Qingming nodded at him, then glanced at Lu Tianyi and remained silent. The others had all noticed that Lu Tianyi was staring at Lin Qiao frowningly, and felt that it wasn''t so appropriate. After all, she had just saved them from the zombies.


    At that point, Lu Tianyi suddenly wore a grateful smile and said to Lin Qiao, "You saved us¡­Every member of my team owes you a life! Please let us know whenever you need our help. I am Lu Tianyi, the Captain of Class Three, Agriculture Department, Sea City Base. May I ask your name?"


    "Yeah, we all owe you a life! We''ll definitely pay you back with it if you ever need us!" Hearing Lu Tianyi''s words, the others agreed immediately.

 195 A Double-Powered Being

    Lin Qiao quietly looked at Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming, her eyes containing a calm look. She could sense their sincere gratitude, as well as their confusion.


    She thought for a moment, then slightly raised her head and showed her face. As she expected, once she exposed her face, the looks on Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming'' faces changed. Unlike them, however, the others made no reaction.


    The smile in Lu Tianyi''s face froze, then disappeared. He widened his eyes while his pupils shrank. He pointed at Lin Qiao and opened his mouth slightly, but didn''t make any sound.


    Seeing his reaction, the others were all bewildered.


    "Boss, what''s wrong? Do you know this¡­pretty lady?"


    Huang Shou glanced at Lin Qiao''s face, seeing her delicate chin and beautifully shaped lips, and figured that she was a pretty lady. He really wanted to see her eyes.


    At that moment, Kong Qingming raised a hand to press Lu Tianyi''s arm down, then whispered in his ear, "Calm down! Maybe she just looks like her."


    Watching Kong Qingming''s movements, Huang Shou and the others were even more confused. Lu Tianyi breathed deeply to calm himself, then nodded.


    "Don''t you forget that she didn''t have any powers," Kong Qingming took his hand away and reminded Lu Tianyi.


    "I know," Lu Tianyi nodded, then closed his eyes. When he reopened those eyes, he had already calmed down. However, despite what Kong Qingming said, he believed that he was right. He was so familiar with that face that he could recognize it at first sight, with or without makeup. The hat and the sunglasses couldn''t hide it at all.


    However, Kong Qingming was not wrong either. That woman didn''t have any superpowers, while this one in front of him had a space. That woman wouldn''t save him, neither would she come all the way to such a dangerous zombie city. And this one who was standing before his eyes saved him just conveniently.


    She wasn''t her! But, they grew up together, so how could he have possibly mistaken her for somebody else?


    Lu Tianyi had no idea that because of his mood swings, Lin Qiao was actually able to sense his thoughts right now.


    Kong Qingming was his best friend for years, so without question, he knew how he was feeling and thinking at the moment. He sighed, but didn''t say anything, only looking at Lin Qiao.


    At this moment, Huang Shou abruptly began talking, "That¡­Sister! Since you won''t tell us your name, I think I''m gonna call you sister. I have one question, but I don''t know if I can ask."


    Lin Qiao looked at Huang Shou''s twenty-year-old face and felt that it was appropriate for him to call her sister. So, she nodded. Then, Lu Tianyi, Kong Qingming, and all the others turned their eyes to Huang Shou.


    Huang Shou swallowed his saliva and asked carefully, "Are you a¡­double-powered being?"


    Hearing that, the group of human beings immediately changed their expressions and fixed their eyes on Lin Qiao. Lu Tianyi gave a start first, then stared straight at her. It seemed that these people would keep eyeing her until she gave them an answer.


    Except for Huang Shou and the other two, the rest of the team hadn''t seen her use the black mist. So, when Huang Shou asked that question, they were all shocked.


    After all, double-powered beings were extremely rare, and consequently legendary in the post-apocalyptic world. Over a million people were living in the Sea City Base, but among them, only one was double-powered. That person had two different types of natural powers.


    He was an elderly man. After the apocalypse, his water power and green power had revived his body to a certain degree. Therefore, even though he was in his seventies, he looked no different from the ones in their fifties.


    That was a normal thing. Almost all superpowered human beings were healthier and stronger than the ordinary ones, and aged much slower. Therefore, the superpowered human beings had gained new vibes and skills since the apocalypse, but their appearances had barely changed.


    All Sea City people were aware of how important that double-powered man was. He didn''t like the game of thrones, or there would be another leader in the base.


    He was at level-six, but he was no weaker than the three level-seven base leaders.


    That wasn''t the point. The point was that the number of double-powered people was a very small figure; only one of them existed in the Sea City Base. However, this group of human beings had heard that quite some double-powered people lived in the Huaxia Base. After all, Huaxia was a super base, which was more powerful than the Sea City Base by at least three times.


    Seeing the group of people''s glowing eyes, Lin Qiao rolled her eyes. She wondered how Huang Shou''s brain was working that made him ask such a dumb question after witnessing her using two powers.


    But before she responded, Xie Dong wrote a few words on the notebook, then tore off the piece of paper and wadded it up, throwing it at Huang Shou''s forehead.


    "Ah! It hurts!" Huang Shou wanted to dodge, but failed. While shouting in pain, he fumbled to catch the little wad of paper. Then, he unwrapped it and read Xie Dong''s note¡ª''Silly, what you just saw wasn''t an illusion.''


    "Oh!" After reading the note, Huang Shou remembered that he had indeed seen Lin Qiao use two types of powers just now. That was right, she was double-powered!


    Lin Qiao looked at this group of human beings. They all looked in a mess and with exhausted energies, but none of them had serious injuries, only some small wounds.


    Lin Qiao estimated that these people wouldn''t have a chance out of this zombie city without her. However, following her to the central area which had more higher-level zombies was also dangerous for them.


    In this case, she had no choice but to let these people stay in her space for a few days. When she had finished exploring this city, she would send them back to the Sea City Base.


    She thought for a moment, then took out the clipboard and began writing. Seeing her writing, Lu Tianyi and the others were stunned again. They looked at Lin Qiao with confusion, then glanced around.


    ''Why write? Couldn''t she talk? ''


    Xie Dong wrote on a small notebook, and now she was writing on a clipboard. It appeared that it was really not convenient for these two to talk.


    While they were trying to figure out something, Lin Qiao finished writing, raised the clipboard, and waved her hand toward them. The group of people walked to her and saw the text written there¡ª''I don''t have time to send you out of the city now. You should just rest in my space for a couple of days.''


    She wanted them to know that she still had something else to do, so she couldn''t escort them out of the city immediately. These people needed to wait for a few days. Otherwise, based on their current condition, they might not be able to leave this zombie city without getting hurt or killed, even if she gave them a bunch of weapons.

 196 I’ll Show You After You Ea

    "It''s indeed impossible for us to get out of this Upper City District through hundreds of thousands of zombies now," said Kong Qingming. He looked around and found that the area had been empty all this while, wondering why no more zombies showed up. The three zombie leaders had left, so the other zombies should have been attracted to here by their scents soon.


    But they had stood here for two or three minutes, yet the surrounding area was still quiet.


    It was weird.


    "Yeah," Huang Shou agreed, "we don''t have any superpower energy or weapons. Our strength is down by seventy percent."


    However, Lu Tianyi said, "No, we can stay outside for now. If we have guns, we can still deal with ordinary zombies. Besides, our powers will recover slowly. We just need some time." In fact, he didn''t want to stay in that space. Once he saw her face, he didn''t want himself to be protected by her. At least, he didn''t want to enter her space, because that would make him feel that he was too useless.


    Besides, if he stayed in that space, he wouldn''t have enough opportunities to spend time with her. He wanted to figure out who she was.


    He wanted to know if she was really Lu Tianyu or not!


    Kong Qingming glanced at him, staying silent while the others looked at each other. Since their boss had said so, they decided to stay outside with him as well.


    "But, where can we find guns now?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at them, then abruptly squatted and waved a hand. After a series of clings and clings, a line of guns appeared on the ground: pistols, rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles¡­All kinds of guns just appeared before their eyes.


    After letting out those guns, Lin Qiao stood up and took two steps backward, then faced Lu Tianyi and pointed at those guns.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming glanced at each other, remaining silent.


    "Whoa! Are these for us!" Seeing those guns, the others popped their eyes in shock. With these weapons, their strength would rise by fifty percent! That meant their lives would be safer by fifty percent!


    Lin Qiao stood there quietly, but in her head, she couldn''t help but complain, I''ve taken them out, so there''re surely for you. Or what? Should I set a stand here and sell them?''


    Lu Tianyi slowly walked over, standing in front of Lin Qiao as he stared at her. At last, he couldn''t help but ask, "Can I see your eyes."


    His teammates had squatted impatiently, prepared to touch those guns. But on hearing his question, they all raised their heads to look at them, then turned to Lin Qiao. Looking from down here, her chin was even prettier.


    They glanced at each other, then showed a meaningful smile in their eyes while glancing at Lu Tianyi with surprise.


    Did their boss have a crush on her? It was understandable. Not many women lived in the base, and even fewer of them would come out to hunt zombies. Facing such a powerful and mysterious woman, anyone would want to see her eyes.


    They wanted to see her eyes as well.


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile. She was surprised that Lu Tianyi remembered Lu Tianyu so clearly. ''I thought they hated each other,'' she said to herself silently. ''Does he care about her because he hates her?''


    ''Yeah, I can show you my eyes,'' she thought. ''But, you better don''t regret.''


    Both Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming noticed Lin Qiao''s weird smile, and had a not-so-good feeling. All of a sudden, Lin Qiao made a step forward, then grabbed their hands and brought them into her space.


    "Boss!" Seeing their two bosses disappear again, the others were startled at first, but then calmed back down. Their boss wanted to see the pretty lady''s eyes, but the lady didn''t seem to want to show her eyes to the others. So, these people guessed that Lin Qiao brought the two of them into her space because she wanted to show her eyes only to them.


    But, why wouldn''t she show her eyes to the rest of them? She was pretty, so why didn''t she want the others to see her eyes? Was something wrong with her eyes? Was that the reason why she didn''t want too many people to see them?


    Huang Shou picked up a rifle. While checking the bullets, he walked to Xi Dong and asked, "Is that woman your boss? Is she pretty? Are you with her now? But, where are your teammates? Huang Xiao?"


    Xie Dong took out the small notebook and wrote to respond, ''They''re dead. I don''t have a team anymore.''


    "Ah¡­eh? Is that so?" That really wasn''t good news, so Huang Shou glanced at Xie Dong embarrassedly.


    ¡­


    After bringing the two into her space, Lin Qiao stood in front of them. She didn''t immediately take off her sunglasses, but turned and walked to the strawberry plants and picked a few strawberries. Then, she walked to the stove and fetched some water with a water scoop from a bucket, and soaked the strawberries in it.


    She cleaned the strawberries, then handed them to the two.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming watched her picking the strawberries and washing them, not knowing what she was trying to do. The strawberries were mutant, so they didn''t think that Lin Qiao would eat them, neither could they guess that she washed those for them to eat.


    "What¡­does this mean? You don''t want us to eat these, do you?" Lu Tianyi looked at Lin Qiao confusedly. The two didn''t even want to touch those strawberries because they were mutated.


    Lin Qiao reached out a hand to pull Lu Tianyi''s hand, then thrust the strawberries in his hand. After that, she took one strawberry back, put into her own mouth, and took a bite.


    Then, she found out that she actually tasted a sourness. The strawberry wasn''t as flavorless as before.


    ''Eh?''


    She paused slightly, then chewed the strawberry and swallowed it. After that, she clicked her tongue and confirmed that there was indeed a sour flavor lingering in her mouth.


    Watching her take a large bite of the strawberry, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were both dumbfounded.


    At that point, Lin Qiao looked at them and said, "Eat¡­not¡­poisonous¡­"


    Hearing her speak so slowly, Lu Tianyi immediately stared at her with a bewildered look and asked, "What happened to your voice? Can''t you even talk normally now?"


    Lin Qiao''s voice was dry and hoarse, sounding like something produced by damaged vocal cords. It was nothing like Lu Tianyu''s voice.


    Lin Qiao took another bite of the strawberry, then said, "Eat¡­or¡­not? I''ll¡­show¡­you¡­after¡­you¡­eat¡­"


    Lu Tianyi watched her finish the whole strawberry and listened to her slow speech. "You¡­" he said, feeling very strange.


    Earlier on, he was sure that Lin Qiao was Lu Tianyu. But now, he had started doubting himself again. He doubted because Lu Tianyu never talked to him so peacefully, not to mention telling him to eat anything. Was she trying to poison him now? But, she ate a strawberry herself, and nothing seemed to happen to her.

 197 Confirmed Identity

    Seeing that Lu Tianyi''s reaction had become slower than usual, Kong Qingming said to Lin Qiao for him, "Are you sure? These are mutant. You''re not going to murder your brother and I, are you? You never cared about him anyway, isn''t that right?" He frankly pointed out the relationship between Lu Tianyi and the former owner of Lin Qiao''s body. Lin Qiao smiled, then turned to walk to the chair beside the stove, sitting down on it.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming clearly detected scorn from her smile.


    Lin Qiao sat down, then slightly raised her head, looking at them as she said, "¡­Dare?"


    It was just one word, but the two found it provocative. Lin Qiao doubted that they didn''t have the guts to eat those strawberries.


    Lu Tianyi picked up the strawberry and put it near his eyes to look closely. He found it to be extra large, and having a strange color. But, as he sniffed at it, he sensed a strong and refreshing aroma.


    He had no idea that he wouldn''t be able to sense this refreshing aroma and only a pungent stink if these strawberries weren''t planted in Lin Qiao''s space and watered by the lake water.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at Lin Qiao, then said, "In fact, you''ve admitted it. Whether I eat these or not, or whether you show me your eyes or not, that''s not important anymore. But you now look¡­"


    He wanted to say that she looked thoroughly different than before.


    He glanced at Lin Qiao with a complicated look, then put the strawberry into her mouth and quickly took a bite.


    "Oi! Even if you want to die, you don''t have to do it this way!" Kong Qingming was startled. He still wasn''t sure if the strawberry was poisonous or not. It had mutated, so it must be carrying the zombie virus.


    Seeing that Lu Tianyi had bit the strawberry, Kong Qingming hurriedly reached out a hand to squeeze his chin. Lu Tianyi stepped backward to dodge his hand, then covered his face with another arm and chewed the strawberry.


    In fact, he knew that if she wanted to hurt them, she wouldn''t have to save them. Why would she save them then poison them? What would the point be?


    So, he chose to believe her. Actually, he wanted more to find out what had happened to her. He wanted to know why her voice changed, and why it seemed that her throat was broken.


    Lu Tianyi quickly swallowed the strawberry in his mouth, not even having the time to taste it. After that, he said to Kong Qingming, "Don''t worry! She has no reason to hurt us."


    Then, he turned to Lin Qiao and asked, "If I finished these mutant strawberries, can you tell me what happened to you after you¡­did that thing to¡­that man?"


    By ''that thing'', he was surely talking about raping the base leader. He couldn''t bear to say that out loud. Even though everyone had known about that, for some reason, he just felt too embarrassed to say it in front of her.


    He had such a weird feeling at the moment. The person in front of him used to be familiar to him, but now, he felt that she was a total stranger.


    Lin Qiao nodded and stayed silent.


    After Lu Tianyi recognized her, his attitude toward her was better than she expected. Judging by his reaction, he was not only surprised, but also delighted and worried. His complicated feelings didn''t include hatred or other negative elements.


    Now, he wanted to see her eyes and know what happened to her voice. He also wanted to know what had happened to her after she did that bad thing.


    Wasn''t he simply concerned about her?


    And, Lin Qiao was surprised to find that the strange feeling she had been having since she was at a long distance away was actually from Lu Tianyi. Why did that happen? Was it because of the blood ties between them?


    But, she had become a zombie already, so what did it have to do with blood ties?


    As Lin Qiao nodded, Lu Tianyi continued eating strawberries. As he took another bite, he discovered something that he didn''t notice earlier. "Eh? It''s quite sweet! It''s sweet, and a little bit sour. It tastes not bad!" Lu Tianyi paused slightly, then said. After that, he handed a strawberry to Kong Qingming and continued, "Try it! If you don''t eat it, she won''t let you out anyway." While speaking, he glanced at Lin Qiao. Meanwhile, Kong Qingming was a little speechless.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands to Kong Qingming and responded with, "He¡­said¡­that¡­"


    It had nothing to do with her, because she didn''t say that.


    Kong Qingming turned back to glance at Lu Tianyi. ''So, you wanna get me killed too? You''re really my good brother!'' He complained silently.


    Lu Tianyi had already started eating his second strawberry. In fact, he and his teammates had been starving for two days. After the first bite, he began eating the rest of the strawberries carelessly. He wondered if the woman gave them these strawberries because she knew that they were really hungry.


    "Alright, I''ve eaten what you want me to eat. Can you take off your sunglasses now?" For some reason, he cared about her sunglasses a lot. Lu Tianyu would never hide her beautiful eyes behind sunglasses.


    "Don''t¡­regret¡­" said Lin Qiao blandly.


    "What can I possibly regret for?" Lu Tianyi asked confusedly.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then slightly lowered her head, took off her sunglasses, and raised her head.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming saw that she raised her head, and then, they saw a pair of purely black eyes. The eyeballs were entirely black, and were sparkling dimly. In this poorly illuminated space, those eyes looked really weird.


    Both of them automatically stepped back as they popped their eyes to look at her with shock. Those weren''t the eyes of human beings, but belonged to high-level zombies. They had just seen some eyes like that.


    "Your eyes! You¡­" Lu Tianyi stared at Lin Qiao and said with disbelief. However, he couldn''t even manage to let out a full sentence. At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly stood up and stared at them with her weird-looking, black eyes, approaching them step by step.


    As Lin Qiao came closer, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming continued stepping backward. Being stared by a pair of eyes like that, they really couldn''t remain calm. Once Lin Qiao made a step forward, they would make one backward.


    Lin Qiao took a few steps, then stopped and gave them a faint smile, putting the sunglasses back on.


    ''Boys, now you''re afraid? You did keep asking me about my eyes earlier. Why weren''t you afraid back then? You knew that I was different.''


    Seeing Lin Qiao stop, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming took a few steps back further. Only after they were over two meters away from Lin Qiao did they stop.


    "You¡­you¡­Your eyes¡­What¡­happened?" Lu Tianyi pointed at Lin Qiao''s eyes and asked with a trembling voice.


    "She''s a zombie!" Kong Qingming said to Lu Tianyi, "She has become a zombie!"


    Lu Tianyi turned to look at Kong Qingming, his face filled with disbelief. He gazed at Kong Qingming and opened his mouth, but failed to utter any sound.


    He didn''t expect to see a pair of eyes like that under those sunglasses. He believed that even a pair of blind eyes would be better.

 198 Zombie or Human

    Lin Xiao looked at the two in the eye for over ten seconds, then turned back and walked to the chair nearby. Turning the chair over, she sat down in front of the two. She understood that the two needed some time to process what they had just learned.


    Seeing that Lin Qiao took a seat, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming relaxed a little. Without the pressure from her, their minds instantly became active.


    In their eyes, Lu Tianyu looked exactly like a healthy human being, save for her eyes. Without seeing those eyes, no one would ever think that she was a zombie.


    Which zombie could be so clean and healthy-looking? Well, Qiu Lili was, but they hadn''t met her yet. In fact, even Qiu Lili had thick dark circles under their eyes. Xie Dong looked more like human than Qiu Lili, but the two didn''t know that he was a zombie too.


    ''Which zombie doesn''t eat humans? But this one saved us¡­And she can talk?''Kong Qingming''s brain worked relatively faster. He looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe and felt that she was nothing like a zombie as long as she kept the sunglasses on.


    But, if she wasn''t a zombie, why were her eyes like that?


    "What are you? Zombie? Human?" He asked.


    She looked like a human being, but had a zombie''s eyes. She had zombie eyes, but acted like a human! He had never heard about any zombie like this! While asking the question, Kong Qingming made an eye-contact with Lu Tianyi and found that the latter had the same question in his eyes. Then, they turned to look at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked and pointed a finger at them, then at her own head.


    She wanted them to try figuring it out by themselves.


    Lu Tianyi fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao while blinking. Meanwhile, he connected all the guesses he had.


    According to what he found out before, Lu Tianyu had already died. So, it was indeed reasonable that she might have become a zombie. Her space power and the other unknown power were probably triggered after she became a zombie.


    However, why did she still have her humanity and consciousness after dying and turning into a zombie? And, she just ate a strawberry. Which zombie would eat strawberries!


    If she weren''t a zombie, why were her eyes look like that? And where did she get this space?


    All these puzzles kept spinning in Lu Tianyi''s head.


    Lin Qiao clearly sensed his complicated feelings, as well as Kong Qingming''s. She wondered how Lu Tianyi would react on finding out that his sister''s body was now occupied by another soul.


    She felt that she needed to make it clear with him, in case he really saw her as his evil sister and caused her some unnecessary troubles.


    As they calmed down, Lin Qiao prepared to take out the clipboard to write to tell them that she wasn''t Lu Tianyu. But right at that moment, she sensed a strong vibe from the outside.


    The look on her face changed as she abruptly stood up and disappeared.


    The group of people outside was resting on stone stairs. Huang Shou was asking Xie Dong all sorts questions, and the latter was writing the answers down.


    While he was writing, Lin Qiao suddenly showed up by his side. However, he didn''t see Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming coming out along with her.


    Without saying a word, Lin Qiao grabbed Xie Dong and Huang Shou, then the three of them disappeared together. In the next moment, she reappeared and brought another two people into her space.


    She moved very swiftly, appearing to be a little anxious.


    "Eh? What happened?" The others saw that she suddenly showed up and disappeared without some of their friends. The ones who had entered her space before all knew that she was bringing people back into her space.


    But, why didn''t she say anything? Why did she move so fast? What was going on?


    Lin Qiao reacted fast, but her sensations to the outside world weren''t sharp enough just now, because she was in her space. After spending a few seconds to drag Xie Dong and some of the others into her space, she knew that the time wasn''t enough for her to save the remaining five of them.


    ''Damn!'' When exiting her space again, she darted to the five and threw a kick toward the nearest one.


    "Ouch! You kick¡­" Only after he was sent flying to the side did Liu Jing, who suffered the kick, pop his eyes in shock and prepare to ask her why.


    However, before he finished his sentence, he heard a series of thunder.


    Following the rumbling thunders, an arm-thick bolt of lightning descended from the sky and landed on where the five were sitting.


    After kicking Liu Jing away, Lin Qiao turned around and kicked the man next to her, and then, she turned again to kick the others. However, after witnessing her kick away two men, the rest quickly moved to avoid being kicked by her.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao made a sudden dodge aside as well.


    As everybody got away, another series of thunder was heard, and more lightning bolts landed where the group of people was sitting. Just like that, four or five lightning bolts blew up the area with a radius of about five meters.


    The ones who were thrown into Lin Qiao''s space were now looking at their two bosses with confusion. However, they found that their bosses were looking back at them in the same way.


    "What''s wrong?" Judging by Lin Qiao''s movement, Lu Tianyi sensitively felt that something bad was happening.


    "I don''t know. She just suddenly brought us here," the puzzled Huang Shou responded, then glanced at Xie Dong. Xie Dong was with Lin Qiao, so Huang Shou guessed that he might know what was going on.


    Xie Dong closed his eyes, but then found that he couldn''t sense a thing from Lin Qiao''s space. When he opened his eyes, he saw Huang Shou looking at him, so he shook his head.


    The others were all confused.


    On the outside, Lin Qiao turned back right after the dodge, then crossed her arms above her head.


    Thud!


    A giant figure showed up before her, with a palm swinging at her head. It was behind Lin Qiao, but she reacted fast enough to turn her body and defend herself when it attacked. Its claw which was aiming at the back of her head now landed on her crossed arms.


    Bang!


    Lin Qiao was sent flying backward, hitting against a wall and creating a hole in it.


    "Roar!" The giant figure landed on the middle of the road, then uttered a roar toward Lin Qiao, who was now inside the wall.

 199 Thunder-powered Zombie King

    Before the others could realize what was happening, they heard a loud thud. As they turned to that direction, they saw a newly-created hole in the wall.


    After that, they heard a zombie roar. When they clearly saw the creature which uttered that roar, they were all stunned.


    They saw a two-meters tall, strange-looking figure standing there, facing the hole. It was male, extra tall and muscular, even looking like the fictional Hulk. However, Hulk was green, and this creature was blood-red.


    Its arms were as thick as an adult''s thighs, and its thighs were as thick as utility poles; its entire body was covered in blood. Its head looked relatively normal, but was bald.


    Meanwhile, bolts of purple lightning had been sizzling across its body.


    Its eyes which were glowing with a purple light were fixed on the hole created by Lin Qiao on the wall without glancing at the others. However, the ones who saw it now didn''t dare to move.


    What the hell was that!


    Liu Jing and the others stared at the big creature with shock. They had never seen such a giant zombie with glowing purple eyes and lightning bolts all over its body before!


    Only Lin Qiao, who was walking out of the wall, knew that it was a zombie king, at Qiu Lili''s level, and that it had the rare thunder power.


    Lin Qiao slowly walked out of the wall while, staring straight at the eyes of this zombie king through the sunglasses. The others couldn''t see her eyes, but the zombie king could see those clearly.


    It watched Lin Qiao walk out as if nothing had happened, and learned that its attack didn''t manage to bring her any harm at all.


    With discontentment, the thunder zombie king roared again at Lin Qiao.


    "Roar!"


    By roaring, it threatened to kill Lin Qiao unless she yielded. The latter received the message but kept walking forward while looking at the zombie king''s purple eyes.


    She was surrounded by this zombie king''s strong vibe, yet didn''t feel much of a pressure. The pressure she sensed was too slight to be noticed.


    Lin Qiao understood that level-six zombie kings or queens could no longer suppress her now. After she upgraded, she felt that Qiu Lili''s vibe could no longer give her pressure. No wonder the latter couldn''t tell which level she was at.


    So now, she didn''t mind the minor pressure from this zombie king at all.


    She stooped about five meters away from the zombie king, then twisted her neck and stretched her shoulders. After that, she slightly raised her hands and released a stream of black mist.


    "Urrrrr¡­" As Lin Qiao refused to yield, the zombie king bared its teeth and growled with a deep voice. The black mist failed to catch the zombie king''s attention when it was just released. But soon, the mist grew thicker and thicker, spreading around Lin Qiao.


    Finally, the zombie king felt that something wasn''t right. It slightly narrowed its purple eyes, which sparkled with a weird light.


    The others now came back to their senses, quickly picking up the guns that Lin Qiao provided earlier and pointing them at the zombie king.


    A series of gunshots were then heard. Liu Jing and the others had taken covers, and were shooting at the zombie king. However, the bullets could hardly hurt the target. It turned its head suddenly and waved an arm toward the five people.


    With that, a few bolts of lightning fell from the sky along with thunders.


    "This is bad!" The few people burst in shouts while rolling away.


    When the zombie king turned its head, Lin Qiao grasped the opportunity and disappeared from where she was. The zombie king turned back to find that she was gone, so it instantly looked around with vigilance.


    At that point, Lin Qiao had turned herself invisible and hopped onto a tree nearby. Then, she leaped onto the top of the streetlight nearest to the zombie king, and jumped at its head after that.


    When the zombie king was looking around in surprise, an invisible figure flashed about three meters higher than its head, then Lin Qiao showed her face.


    Lin Qiao flipped int he air, then swung her two claws at the zombie king''s head one after another.


    "Roar!" The zombie king reacted fast as well as it suddenly turned its body and rolled to the side.


    Puff! Puff!


    Once it rolled away, a few deep cuts were left on the ground.


    After the roll, the zombie king stood back up immediately, hunching its back slightly and giving a raging roar toward the few cuts on the ground. After that, it abruptly thrusted forward.


    On landing on the ground, Lin Qiao saw the zombie king charging at her like a bull. Meanwhile, waves of lightning bolts fell from the sky, coming at her entire body.


    As the lightning bolts were about to fall on her head, Lin Qiao made a roll to dodge. While doing that, she suddenly thought of Wu Chengyue, and recalled that she got struck by his lightning while trying to kindly send his daughter back to him.


    She was still unhappy about that!


    Once Lin Qiao dodged, the lightning bolts fell on the ground and left a series of small dents. At that moment, the zombie king nimbly turned around and pounced on her again.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly made another dodge, then turned invisible.


    By then, her black mist had approached the zombie king. When pouncing on Lin Qiao, the zombie king suddenly lost its eyesight. It turned out that Lin Qiao was behind the black mist that she had released before to lead the zombie king into it.


    At the same time, she spared her willpower to control the mist and made it surround the zombie king. Therefore, the latter didn''t only miss its target, but also bumped into the black mist.


    The black mist penetrated its skin within no time.


    "Roar!" The zombie king roared thunderously; perhaps, it had felt some pain.


    "Roarrr!" While roaring, it struggled to get out of the mist. But soon, it realized that the black mist was sticking to its body. It rushed out of the cloud of mist, but its body was still wrapped in a layer of purely black mist.


    Maybe because the zombie king''s blood and flesh both contained rich energy, the black mist devoured it very slowly. However, that was enough to make this buffalo-like zombie king bleed.


    "Roar! Roar!" The zombie king slapped its body with its claws to try and sweep off the black mist on its body. But, its efforts were useless. On the contrary, more black mist wrapped around its hands.


    Soon enough, only shreds of muscles were left on its hands.

 200 Thunder vs Black Mis

    Seeing that the weird and powerful zombie was temporarily trapped, the group of human beings felt slightly relieved and began retreating toward a safer place.


    "What level is that zombie? Why is it so tall and strong? Was it this tall before turning into a zombie?"


    "I don''t think so. I''ve sensed a very strong energy from its muscles. I guess it became like this after turning into a zombie."


    "So which level it''s at? And its eyes are shining with a purple light. I''ve never seen a zombie like this."


    "I don''t know. But I can tell it''s much more powerful than the three zombie leaders we saw before. Is this¡­a level-six, zombie king?"


    "Zombie king!" Hearing that, the others had their scalps numbed.


    "Quick, quick, quick! Let''s get away before it recovered!"


    "What¡­what about that lady?"


    "What lady! Didn''t you see that she has disappeared already! Are you dumb? She has a space! If she failed to defeat that zombie, she could simply hide in her space! What can possibly happen to her? It''s dangerous for us to stay here, and we might even hinder her! Go! Let''s go!"


    While speaking, the five people immediately turned to retreat to a farther area.


    The thunder zombie king couldn''t pay any attention to them at the moment. It slapped its body to try and get rid of the black mist, but failed. Afterward, it watched its blood and muscles disappear.


    The zombie immediately released dazzling purple light and lightning bolts from its body which covered its body and soon separated the black mist from it.


    The black mist and purple lightning collided, quickly producing a wisp of black smoke. The some rose into the sky, then spread out. The zombie king speedily rushed out of the black mist, uttering a strange sound.


    "Whoo¡­hum¡­whooo¡­hum¡­"


    After the black mist was dissipated, the zombie king looked even scarier than before. Earlier on, its body was simply covered in bloodstains, but now, it was badly mutilated. After every step it took, a large amount of sticky, black blood would drip onto the ground, forming a puddle.


    However, the bleeding barely affected the zombie king as it walked out of the mist, then raised its head to give a howl.


    "Roar!"


    Two figures showed up, darting to the zombie king along with swishing noises and standing before it. At first glance, Lin Qiao recognized that those two were the two zombie leaders that she had scared away earlier.


    It turned out that these two were the zombie king''s underlings! They were here to help!


    The two zombie leaders bent toward the zombie king as Lin Qiao sensed the strong fear from them. They were afraid of the zombie king indeed.


    ''Why so afraid?''


    Before Lin Qiao figured it out, the zombie king suddenly made a step forward and inserted its claws which were shining with a purple light into the two zombie leaders'' throats.


    Puff!


    With that, the two zombie leaders'' heads were penetrated.


    After that, the zombie king pulled out its claws, each claw holding a zombie nucleus. The two zombie leaders died immediately, thudding against the ground.


    Now, Lin Qiao understood why the two zombie leaders were so frightened. They were afraid that the zombie king might kill them directly, but they didn''t dare to fight back. Therefore, without a choice, they let the zombie king take their life and dig out their zombie nuclei.


    The zombie king directly threw the two zombie nuclei which still had brain matters on them into its mouth, and swallowed. Then, it turned back while breathing loudly.


    It suddenly raised a hand to point at Lin Qiao''s black mist which hadn''t been dissipated entirely. After that, a series of rumbling thunder was heard, following which, finger-thick bolts of lightning struck on the black mist.


    The lightning landed on the ground along with thunderous sounds, and erased the black mist.


    Lin Qiao felt suffocated when losing control of the black mist. She understood that the zombie king had dispersed the energy in the black mist, meaning that it would soon collapse.


    Lin Qiao now felt that level-six zombies were indeed not easy to deal with, as even the black mist wasn''t able to devour it. It was nimbler than her, so sneak attacks wouldn''t work either.


    How could she fight it them? Should she drag it into her space and let Viney take care of it? She wasn''t sure if Viney could suppress it.


    Besides, the zombie king was covered in blood and flesh shreds. It might pollute the lake water! Would the lake water remain drinkable if she threw this zombie into the lake?


    While Lin Qiao was considering how to kill the zombie king, the latter was looking for her. It was angry, because Lin Qiao took away its ordered food. The few zombie leaders which were responsible for delivering the food were scared away by her, and the food escaped. The zombie king had been starved for days. It was expecting the batch of people, as those living human beings would be a full meal. But, to its surprise, some other zombie took them away right in its territory.


    Moreover, the zombie which took its food was at a lower level than itself. If she were at its level, it might not be so infuriated.


    How dare a lower level zombie offend it! She was clearly challenging it.


    So, it had to tear that bold zombie into pieces, then dig out its nucleus.


    When Lin Qiao was confronting the zombie king, three trucks and two off-road vehicles were coming this way from about ten miles away. At that moment, Wu Yueling was huddling in Wu Chengyue''s arms, sleeping like a kitten with the straw dragonfly clenched tight in her hand.


    Wu Chengyue held his daughter as he looked outside through the car window. Xiao Yunlong, who sat beside him, was looking at a map. Without raising his head, Xiao Yunlong asked, "Are you sure that the thunder zombie king is in Upper City District? There''re so many zombies in this area. I think you can find tens of zombie leaders here."


    Sea City Base people knew that the center of Hangzhou City had a high concentration of zombies. For that reason, independent squads wouldn''t enter that area. If tens of zombie leaders lived in that place, the existence of level-six zombie kings or queens was reasonable.


    No one would want to offend a zombie king or queen unless they had to. Whether they could kill the zombie king or queen was just one problem; if they failed to kill it, they might suffer the revenge of a zombie tide.


    Zombie kings and queens were smart, and could hold grudges.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and responded, "Level-six zombies don''t always exist where you can find many level-five."


    Xiao Yunlong raised his head to glance at him, then at Lingling, and said, "How confident are you? It''s too risky! If you can''t kill it, you know the consequences."


    Wu Chengyue smiled and nodded as he said, "I know. So, I''ll do everything I can to kill it. But, you''ll have to take care of Ling Ling for me." He surely knew that if he failed to kill the zombie king, he would be hunted by it to the end of the world, and might be needing to face a zombie tide. If that happened, he would be in serious troubles.

 201 She Has No Time to Bring Them In

    Xiao Yunlong raised a hand to pat the sleeping Wu Yueling gently, then brushed her bangs. "Sure, she''s my goddaughter. But, you have to think it thoroughly before you do it. If you''re not sure that you can kill it, you shouldn''t challenge it. Or, you''ll get us all in trouble."


    Wu Yuecheng smiled at him, but didn''t say anything. Meng Yue turned back and looked at Xiao Yunlong as she said, "Alright, stop talking. You know that the three leaders of our base have all reached the same level now. He has to break into the next level as soon as possible. If the other two upgrade first, we''ll end up in a bad situation."


    Xiao Yunlong frowned slightly and fell into silence. Meng Yue was right; if one of the three base leaders entered level-eight, the currently balanced situation would be broken. If Zou Shihui upgraded first, the situation of Wu Chengyue and his people wouldn''t be too bad, but if that man were Yang Chao, they would certainly be pushed down.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t have to take the risk if he wasn''t pushed by the current situation.


    "Hangzhou used to have a large population," said Meng Yue, "so I think large amounts of supplies can be found in this city. If we killed the zombie king, we might be able to find tons of supplies. Think about that, we need something to look forward to after all."


    The motorcade kept moving forward, toward where Lin Qiao was. Tens of miles would only take them a short while.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao was in an unpleasant situation herself. She had turned invisible, and the zombie king couldn''t find her. So, it went crazy and started attacking indiscriminately. Within the area with a radius of a hundred meters, huge lightning bolts fell from the sky.


    The lightning bolts struck on the surrounding buildings, trees, and utility poles. The shattered high-tension cables flew all over the sky; the bricks and concrete blocks fell from the buildings.


    Boom! Boom! Puff! Bang! Bang! Thunderous noises were heard without an end.


    Lin Qiao had flashed into her space. At the moment, she was standing by the lake with her eyes closed to observe the outside situation. She saw that the zombie king was rampaging, and was still looking for her.


    ''I''m hiding in my space, so what can you do? Blow whatever you want, do whatever you like. I have more energy than you anyway. You can just suit yourself,'' thought Lin Qiao. She couldn''t go out of the space for now, because once she did, she would suffer a lightning strike. The lightning would still hurt her even when she was invisible.


    The lightning bolts fell from the sky wave after wave like a rain. Lin Qiao guessed that when she exited her space again, she would only be able to see the flattened buildings and everything else in pieces.


    Lu Tianyi and the others were standing behind her, watching her face the lake with her eyes closed. They didn''t know what she was doing.


    "Why did she suddenly throw us in? Why didn''t she bring Liu Jing and the others in?"


    "Yeah? Why only us? Boss, what did you say to her?"


    Lu Tianyi glanced at them and said, "That has nothing to do with you. We''re also curious about why she brought us in here. We hadn''t finished our talking yet. She suddenly went out and threw you guys in."


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were utterly confused by Lin Qiao''s identity, and hadn''t yet processed what they had heard from her. And before their conversation ended, she abruptly went out and brought a few people in.


    "Did you discover anything out there? Why aren''t Liu Jing and the others in here?" Asked Kong Qingming.


    Huang Shou shook his head and responded confusedly, "Nothing unusual¡­ We were chatting by the roadside when she suddenly showed up and brought us in without saying anything. And then, she dragged the rest of us in. Liu Jing and the others were left behind. We have no idea why she didn''t bring them."


    At that moment, Xie Dong wrote a line on the notebook and showed it to the others¡ª''She has no time to bring them in.''


    "No time? Why?" Reading that, the others asked bewilderedly.


    Judging by Lin Qiao''s movement, Xie Dong knew that she must have sensed something before she brought them in. Otherwise, why was even he dragged in here?


    It should be some kind of danger.


    Xie Dong only responded to the group of people by shaking his head.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao opened her eyes and turned back to look at them, then said slowly, "¡­King¡­"


    Lu Tianyi and the others failed to understand her meaning immediately.


    "King? What king?" asked Kong Qingming. Huang Shou and the others were quite disappointed by Lin Qiao''s dry and hoarse voice. They imagined her voice being pleasant to hear, maybe sexy and cool like a clear spring. But to their surprise, her voice wasn''t only hoarse, but was unpleasant, even deeper than a man''s voice.


    Unlike them, Xie Dong paused slightly, then looked at Lin Qiao with surprise while writing on the notebook¡ª''Zombie king? Level six?''


    Lin Qiao nodded at him.


    The others also looked at the notebook out of curiosity. However, only Huang Shou who was right beside Xie Dong read the few words clearly.


    "Eh? Zombie king? Level six!" He popped his eyes afterward. Then, he immediately raised his head to look at Lin Qiao and the others. Hearing him, the others were stunned as well, face filled with disbelief. They couldn''t believe what they had heard.


    "Really!"


    "No way!"


    "Damn!"


    "Then Liu Jing and the others¡­" only Lu Tianyi thought of the five people. Reminded by them, the others all turned to Lin Qiao. She glanced at them, then closed her eyes and found that most of the lightning bolts out there had faded.


    So, she hurriedly gave Xie Dong a few hand gestures, then disappeared from where she was. Some of Lu Tianyi''s team understood Lin Qiao''s sign language, and some didn''t.


    Kong Qingming understood her meaning while Huang Shou understood a part of it as well because they had both served in the army. Kong Qingming''s brother used to be a scout, so every time he came home, he would teach him a lot of the military knowledge. The smart Kong Qingming learned quite some military skills from his brother since he was little, and just like his brother, he was also a talented scout. Therefore, he had been responsible for intelligence after losing his family and joining the base.


    Huang Shou hadn''t finished his first year in the army when the apocalypse happened, so he only understood half of Lin Qiao''s hand gestures. After all, he wasn''t in the special forces.


    The others were either college students or young workers. So, only Xie Dong and Kong Qingming had fully understood Lin Qiao''s meaning. Huang Shou figured out that Lin Qiao''s gestures were from a certain type of military force, but didn''t know what they meant exactly.

 202 Hopeless Situation Of The Five

    After Lin Qiao left, Lu Tinanyi immediately turned to Kong Qingming while Huang Shou looked at Xie Dong.


    "What did she mean? Is she going out to save our friends?" Huang Shou asked Xie Dong anxiously, who glanced at Kong Qingming, as he knew that the latter understood Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    "She told us to wait here, and she''ll try saving them. But, she''s not sure how many people can she save," said Kong Qingming.


    Huang Shou turned to look at Xie Dong. As Xie Dong nodded, he sighed with relief. But soon, Xie Dong found that the way Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming looked at him was a little weird, even though he couldn''t figure out why yet.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming assumed that Xie Dong was aware of the fact that Lin Qiao was a zombie, so, they wondered what made him follow her willingly, and how he had been seeing her.


    On the outside, Lin Qiao turned herself invisible once she exited the space, then leaped aside and rolled on the ground to dodge the lightning bolts which were about to land on her body.


    Once she showed up, the zombie king sensed her location. But thankfully, she reacted fast.


    The moment Lin Qiao stopped moving, a new lightning bolt flashed down right toward her, and she hurriedly rolled again to the side. She knew that the zombie king was attacking randomly, as it didn''t know where exactly she was.


    After rolling, she tightened her body and sprung up from the ground. Then, she dodged the lightning bolts falling from the sky and tried to dart out of the coverage of the zombie king''s lightning attack.


    The zombie king''s lightning bolts fell from the sky without a pattern, so Lin Qiao had no choice but to pay attention to them while choosing her way of moving. However, that wasn''t a hard thing for her. With a few turns, she moved to a few meters away. After that, she kept running forward while dodging the lightning bolts falling onto her head.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar" After a series of savage lightning attacks, the zombie king found that its attack barely had any effect. So, it suddenly roared out loud resonantly.


    Hearing that roar, Lin Qiao knew that something bad would happen.


    The zombie king was summoning more zombies. Once those zombies returned, the five people would be in danger. Thinking of that, Lin Qiao immediately darted toward Liu Jing and the others.


    On the other side, Liu Jing and the others had been fleeing away from the zombie king in panic. However, before they ran far away, they heard the rumbling thunder.


    Raising their heads to see a wave of dazzling lightning bolts descending from the sky, they were all stunned. Was the zombie king going to kill them all?


    At that moment, these few people began to curse in their heads. ''Damn! Why didn''t you give us a heads-up before launching the massive attack!''


    However, the situation didn''t allow them to complain. Instead, they burst in yells while dashing into a nearby building.


    "Take cover!"


    Fortunately, the massive lighting attack only shattered some window glasses and made some small concrete blocks fall from the building. The building itself remained sturdy.


    The five were hiding on the first floor. For the time being, they were safe from the lightning, as the building wouldn''t fall apart. However, as the five saved themselves from being struck by lightning bolts, they were trapped in the building.


    Looking at the dazzling lightning and hearing the thunderous noises, one of them said with a dark face, "Where is the lightning come from? These aren''t created by the weird zombie, are they?"


    Just now, they all saw the purple lightning bolts coiled around the tall zombie king''s body, and guessed that it had thunder power.


    "I think so! What the hell is that? I don''t think a level-five zombie can be so powerful!"


    "That¡­that lady, is she fighting the zombie now? This lightning power is so cool! Damn! Nearly as great as the power of our Chief Purple Thunder!"


    "Whatever the case might be, we should figure out a way to leave this place. I think we''re still too close to it, and it''s very dangerous!"


    "But, we can''t get out now. We don''t know how long this lightning attack will last."


    The five understood that any attack generated by superpower energies couldn''t last long. So, they planned to wait until the lightning bolts faded and then run out.


    After a few minutes, the coverage of the lightning bolts shrank, but the five were still threatened by them.


    "Look, it''s shrinking!" Liu Jing looked out of a shattered window and found that the lightning bolts on one side were disappearing while the ones on the other side were still striking.


    "We can''t get out! We''re about two meters away from the safe area," another man came over as he measured the distance with his eyes and said. In order to get to the safe area, they needed to get out of the room and move through the corridor nearby. But by doing that, they would expose themselves to the violent lightning bolts.


    "Wait!"


    At that very moment, they heard a long and resonant roar.


    "What''s that sound? Zombie roar?"


    "That sounds a little different."


    In less than a minute, one of them abruptly pointed at the boundary between the lightning area and the safe area and shouted, "Look! That¡­"


    The others turned to find a giant crowd of zombies approaching.


    "How¡­Why so many zombies!"


    "I get it. They''re summoned by the roar we heard just now."


    "There¡­are too many zombies! What should we do? Even if we made it to the safe area, we''d be torn into pieces by these zombies!" Facing the suddenly appeared zombie crowd, the five showed despair on their faces.


    One of them lowered his head as he leaned against the wall and weakly sat to the ground, his eyes unfocused. "We''re dead," he said. "We won''t survive this. I thought we''d be going home safe as we were saved from the three level-five zombies, but now¡­"


    The others fell into silence.


    That man was right. If they went out now, they would either be torn apart by the zombie crowd or be struck by lightning. There was no other choice left for them.


    "Why¡­why us¡­" another guy murmured. The others looked at him confusedly. Then, they heard him continue, "Why did she leave us out here¡­Why didn''t she drag us into her space just now?"

 203 I Don’t Know You Well

    Hearing that, the others all started to blame the fate as well. Liu Jing opened his mouth, but didn''t say anything. Under such a situation, it was understandable for these people to have negative feelings.


    But at that time, one of them said, "It''s okay. It''s better than letting the others die. If some people have to die here today, then let it be us. I''m fine with it. If we survive, I''ll take it as I''ve earned an extra life."


    "Two¡­lives¡­" Suddenly, a hoarse voice joined the conversation.


    "What two lives? Where can we find two lives?" The five didn''t recognize that voice and responded without thinking. But in three to four seconds, they quickly raised their heads to look at the door, as if they had woken up from a dream with a start.


    They saw a person standing by the door, but didn''t know when she arrived.


    She was wearing a military vest, a part of her slim waist exposed. The loose-fitting camouflage trousers and combat boots didn''t manage to hide the beautiful shape of her long and slender legs. A camouflage coat was wrapped around her shoulders; she was also wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses.


    She crossed her arms before her chest while looking at the five calmly and blandly.


    "Sis-sister!" Liu Jing recognized her the first, then rushed at Lin Qiao with excitement and joy. "Sister! You''re here! We thought we were dead this time!" He howled with a crying face.


    Lin Qiao took a small step aside to dodge him while maintaining a perfect composure.


    ''I don''t know you well, so I don''t want a passionate hug from you! And why are you crying? You''re a man!'' Lin Qiao thought.


    The others looked at her in shock. The man who was radiating a strong negative emotion just now stood up from the ground. Lin Qiao raised a hand to show them two fingers, then said, "You¡­owe¡­me¡­two¡­lives¡­"


    As she finished talking, the others all realized what had just happened. They felt that they were riding a roller coaster, being thrown up and down from time to time. The few despairing people even wanted to jump onto Lin Qiao and hug her hard, even though one of them had just tried once and failed.


    They called Lin Qiao sister because they were all young men. The eldest one among them was twenty-five; before the apocalypse, he was just a college student. The others were at high school when the old world ended, and now were only around twenty years old.


    As the powerful Lin Qiao was able to save them, they were even willing to call her Grandma. They excitedly listened to her words, then finally calmed themselves a little.


    The oldest one among the five was named Zheng Xiaonian. His name was rather cute, but he was a composed young man. He stared at Lin Qiao and said, "Two lives! I owe you two lives! I''ll follow you from now on! I''ll abandon Captain Lu!"


    Lin Qiao found his words amusing. She waved a hand to him and said, "Don''t¡­say¡­that¡­now"


    ''Your boss is in my space right now. Is it really okay for you to openly betray him like that?'' While thinking, she reached out a hand to drag Liu Jing and Zheng Xiaonian, who were the nearest to her, into her space. In the next second, she flashed out and brought the others in.


    Once in, Liu Jing saw Lu Tianyi and the others and rushed at them while yelling, "Captain!" Lu Tianyi and the others didn''t dodge, just stood still and caught him. Liu Jing was young as well. He matured quite a lot after the apocalypse, but still, he relied on his bosses.


    Lu Tianyi hugged him and patted his back to comfort him. He knew that the five were just saved from a very dangerous situation, so he understood how they must have felt.


    He turned to look at Lin Qiao. He was going to say thank you to her, but before that, he saw her walk to the bucket beside the stove.


    She opened the lid, picked up the water scoop, and handed it to them while saying, "Here¡­drink¡­"


    Xie Dong walked to her side, then turned and looked at the group of people. Huang Shou looked at him, then at Lin Qiao, and said, "Is she inviting us all to drink?"


    Lin Qiao nodded at him, then turned to Lu Tianyi, who hesitated. He and Kong Qingming glanced at each other. They both knew that Lin Qiao was a zombie, so they were worried that the water might not be safe.


    However, the others didn''t have the same doubts. Seeing the water, they all rushed up. They didn''t think as much as their bosses did. Just now, Huang Shou and a few of the others wanted to directly drink from the lake when they came in, but their bossed stopped them. They thought that drinking from the lake without the permission of its owner was impolite, so they didn''t ask a question but gave up.


    But now, as the lake owner had invited them to drink, they just ignored their bosses.


    The few people darted to Lin Qiao as Huang Shou grabbed the water scoop from her hand, got some water from the bucket, and then directly poured into his mouth.


    "Eh¡­" Seeing that, Lu Tianyi reached out a hand but didn''t manage to say a word. He watched Huang Shou pour a big half scoopful of water into his mouth, then recalled that he had eaten a mutant strawberry provided by the zombie lady. Nothing happened to him yet, but¡­


    He sighed.


    Huang Shou filled his stomach with water, then handed the scoop to one of the others. Then, he asked Liu Jing, "What happened you just now on the outside? What did you see?"


    Lin Qiao had told them that the creature out there was a level-six zombie king, but they didn''t believe it. However, they all understood that finding a zombie king in this place was just a normal thing, as lots of level-five zombie leaders were living here.


    Liu Jing glanced at Lin Qiao, then replied, "One zombie, seems to be at level-six¡­thunder power. Where we were just now, the area hundred-meters squared was nearly flattened by lightning bolts. We rushed into a building just now, or we would have been burned by now."


    Finishing talking, he fixed his eyes on the water in the bucket. Seeing the others drinking happily, he couldn''t help but push Huang Shou away and get closer to the bucket.


    Hearing him mention a level-six zombie, Huang Zhou gave a start, then looked at Lin Qiao with surprise. He had heard that people called level-six zombies kings and queens. A level-six zombie could be incredibly powerful, such that a level-six superpowered human being would either be killed or disabled by a zombie king or queen unless that human was as powerful as a base leader.


    That zombie king out there had thunder power. So, exactly how powerful was it?


    And more importantly, how did the lady save the five from the legendary zombie king?


    At that point, Zheng Xiaonian walked over and said, "A huge zombie crowd showed up in the area without lightning. We were trapped in the building. If we had gone out, we would have been attacked by the zombie crowd."


    He was trying to say that if the mysterious lady didn''t bring them into her space, they might have really died this time.

 204 Zombies Can Hold A Grudge Too

    Lu Tianyi glanced at Lin Qiao, then asked abruptly, "Are you no match for the level-six zombie out there?"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes. Lu Tianyi didn''t see her expression, but he somehow felt being despised. He thought for a moment, then felt that he had guessed right. ''If she could defeat the zombie king, she wouldn''t need to hide in here with us. But, she saved all of us, and that''s already amazing."


    However, he had another question, "So what should we do now? Stay in your space until it has left?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at the group of people who had been waiting for their turn to drink water, then walked to Xie Dong and patted him. He looked at her and saw her point at the area with the kitchenware. Some cups and bowls were placed there.


    Xie Dong nodded and walked over. He understood Lin Qiao''s meaning: she wanted him to give those people some cups for them to drink water.


    Lin Qiao walked to that area along with Xie Dong, picked up a stainless steel plate, then turned and crooked a finger toward Lu Tianyi. After that, she walked toward the strawberry field. Maybe because of her space, those strawberry plants were thriving more and more! Those plants even bore a lot of new strawberries, even though the strawberry season had passed.


    The first batch of strawberries had all been picked long ago, some of which were eaten by the rabbit and the few mice.


    Lin Qiao walked over with the plate, then bent over to pick the ripe strawberries and put them in the plate. Meanwhile, she talked to Lu Tianyi, who was two meters away behind her.


    "It¡­will¡­hold¡­a¡­grudge¡­Guard¡­here¡­" Lin Qiao talked very slowly, so Lu Tianyi had guessed her meaning even before she finished.


    Was she trying to say the level-six zombie king would stay in this area? But, why? And, what grudge would it hold?


    "What grudge? Does it know that we''re all in your space, and that you''re here too so you can''t leave? Can it understand all this?" Lu Tianyi asked confusedly.


    Lin Qiao squatted to pick a strawberry. Hearing his question, she paused, then put the strawberry in the plate and turned to look at him while saying, "It¡­is¡­as¡­smart¡­as¡­you¡­"


    The zombie king could even be smarter than Lu Tianyi. Whatever Lu Tianyi could guess out, it could too. Besides, the group of people all disappeared suddenly without showing a sign of leaving, so the zombie king would have figured that Lin Qiao had a space.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say. He turned to glance at the others who were about twenty meters away, then turned back and asked with a low voice, "How¡­did you die?"


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at him. She spent a moment reviewing Lu Tianyu''s memory before death, then said, "Knocked¡­out¡­Thrown¡­into¡­zombie¡­crowd¡­"


    While finishing this one sentence, she had picked quite a few strawberries; soon, about fifteen large strawberries were put in the plate. She stood up and walked toward Xie Dong and the others while carrying the plate while Lu Tianyi pondered over Lin Qiao''s words.


    ''She was knocked out and thrown into a zombie crowd? How? Did those people hit her from behind or directly turned against her and attacked? The three were all superpowered while she was an ordinary human being. So, they should have been able to put her down effortlessly,'' Lu Tianyi thought. ''But why knock her out and throw into a zombie crowd instead of killing her?''


    ''If she weren''t dead but only fainted, she must have woken up because of the pain while being torn and bitten by the zombies. And she woke up to find herself being chewed by a giant group of zombies.''


    ''How terrible was that!''


    With these thoughts, Lu Tianyi looked at Lin Qiao''s back with a complicated look. Meanwhile, he wondered how she became a conscious zombie.


    ''Did she eat any human beings when she just turned into a zombie?'' All sorts of questions lingered in Lu Tianyi''s head.


    Lin Qiao walked to the bucket. The ones who finished drinking had all moved to the side and sat on the ground. She took over the water scoop from a man''s hand, then filled it with water and poured all the strawberries in. After that, she handed the scoop to those people.


    "Eat¡­"


    By that time, the group of people had all discovered that Lin Qiao''s voice and way of talking was a little strange. However, they didn''t ask any questions, but looked at the extra large strawberries in the water scoop with confusion.


    Was she telling them to eat these mutant strawberries? No way!


    Lin Qiao looked at them in the eyes, then nodded to confirm. She abruptly pointed at Lu Tianyi who was slowly walking over, then said, "He¡­ate¡­"


    ''Your boss has eaten one, and he''s fine. What are you afraid of?''


    Hearing that, the group of people all turned to look at Lu Tianyi with surprise.


    "Boss, you ate these?"


    "No way! Boss, why did you eat it?"


    "Boss, are you sure that these are edible?"


    Lu Tianyi walked over as he silently looked at them, then at Lin Qiao. He wasn''t sure, and he didn''t eat that strawberry voluntarily. He was partially forced to eat it! But at least, he was fine at the time. He couldn''t tell if the strawberry was safe, or the poison was yet to attack.


    As these people were scared, Lin Qiao didn''t force them to eat, but handed the water scoop to Xie Dong. Then, she shrugged toward those people and turned to sit in the chair nearby.


    ''Eat these or not. I''m not the one who''s about to be starved to death anyway,'' she thought.


    The group of people were surprised. They didn''t understand why Lin Qiao offered them some mutant strawberries. But, as they had been starved for two days, they couldn''t help but keep glancing at the plate in Xie Dong''s hands, even though they had all been trying to tell themselves to calm down first.


    They looked at Lu Tianyi, hoping to hear from him that the strawberries were fine. But in the meanwhile, they worryingly wondered if any changes had happened to his body.


    Under the gazes of the group of people, Lu Tianyi finally started talking, "I''ve indeed eaten a few. I haven''t sensed any change in my body yet. But, I''m not sure what will happen in an hour, or a day or two."


    "According to experiments," said Kong Qingming, "A human being bitten by a zombie will turn into a zombie in three minutes after death. If this person is weak, he or she will die very soon, and if this person is relatively strong, this process will be longer. I think we all know that."


    The others nodded, as what he said was indeed a common sense.


    Kong QingmingQingming continued, "We don''t know how long it will take for a person to turn into a zombie after he or she eats some mutant plants or animals. But eventually, this person will die and turn into a zombie."


    He was trying to say that anyone who ate any mutant plants or animals would all become a zombie in the end, sooner or later. Some mutant plants and animals could kill people in three seconds, but sometimes, that process could last for three days, thirty days, or even three months.

 205 Don’t Smack Your Lips

    Lin Qiao didn''t plan to spend time explaining, and just left them alone to make the decision. She stood up abruptly and flashed out of the space, as she thought that it was time to leave this place. She wanted very much to kill the zombie king out there. However, it had a strong energy and great power, and her black mist could hardly hurt it.


    Her claws wouldn''t work either.


    She was able to sneak away safely though. Perhaps, she should leave the zombie king to Qiu Lili, or the two of them could fight it together.


    But now, she had to explore the Upper City District, to find out if there was a second zombie king in this place. At the same time, she also needed to check the Lower City District.


    Lin Qiao exited her space and showed up in the building where she had found Liu Jing and the other few. She looked outside and found that the coverage of the lightning had shrunk further. No more thunders could be heard from outside the building, and by now, the building was surrounded by zombies.


    She blinked, then quickly turned invisible and ran upstairs. Reaching the second floor, she saw a tall figure rush into the lobby on the first floor from outside.


    "Roar!"


    While running, Lin Qiao glanced back, thinking that the zombie king really had sharp sensations. She didn''t think that it would dart over here so soon.


    She had been in this building for just two seconds, yet the zombie king had shown up already.


    The zombie king stormed into the building along with a wave of lightning bolts. The lightning coiled on its body buzzed and then exploded, sweeping across the entire lobby.


    Boom!


    However, the zombie king had no idea that Lin Qiao had run upstairs.


    The zombie crowd gathered around the building. Looking down, Lin Qiao saw that the area one mile in radius was crowded with ordinary zombies. She had gotten used to flying across roofs, so in her eyes, these ordinary zombies were nothing.


    She ignored the crowd of roaring zombies and directly leaped onto another building. Then, she looked around and darted out toward one direction.


    To find the places with rich storage of supplies, she needed a map of special government departments. That kind of map could only be found in the planning bureau.


    So, where was the Planning Bureau of Hangzhou City?


    Thinking about this question, Lin Qiao paused on the roof of a building, looking confusedly at the zombie crowd which was moving toward the location of the zombie king. Later, she took out the two map books she had and began browsing.


    As she had thought, she couldn''t find it. So, where should she find this Planning Bureau and get some internal information? Thinking that she had been running about without a direction, she felt a little speechless.


    Silently, she squatted by the edge of the roof, counting the zombies down there.


    ''Maybe the group of people in my space have the answer? Eh, both my brain and memory aren''t working as well as before ever since I became a zombie.''


    ''Sigh, my brain is damaged, damaged!''


    After mourning over her brain for about two seconds, Lin Qiao stood up and glanced at the zombie crowd which was continuously gathering toward the zombie king, then turned and entered her space again.


    Once in, she saw that the group of people had moved to the furniture area. They were sitting on couches while surrounding a table, and were silently staring at the plateful of washed strawberries.


    Lin Qiao walked over and found that those strawberries hadn''t been touched. She got closer and stood beside them while looking at them.


    As she showed up, the group of people all turned to look at them. She remained silent for a few seconds, then bent over to pick up a strawberry and put in her mouth.


    The group of people watched her finish the strawberry. After that, Lin Qiao smacked her lips, tasting the faint sour flavor in her mouth. Then, she rubbed her chin and wondered if salt would taste salty in her mouth by now. The strawberry should be sweet, but she only tasted the sourness.


    The group of people gazed at her without even blinking. Lin Qiao looked them in the eyes for a few seconds, then somehow, she wore the same bewildered look as them. Xie Dong was the only expressionless one. Unlike him, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming had been eyeing her with surprise.


    Even though their looks were a little different, the three of them now shared the exact same thought¡ª''You''re a zombie! Why are you eating strawberries! And, don''t smack your lips!''


    Lin Qiao was pretty close to them, so she had surely sensed their thoughts. Silently, she glanced at Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi.


    After that, she pointed at the strawberries and asked the others, "Not¡­eat?"


    The group of people shook their heads together, but meanwhile, they couldn''t help but swallow their saliva.


    Before Lin Qiao showed up, they were silently controlling their appetite. But on seeing Lin Qiao eat the strawberry and smack her lips, their appetites were aroused again.


    Finally, Xie Dong couldn''t bear watching all this. He turned and looked around, then found Lin Qiao''s clipboard on another table. So, he walked over, picked it up and walked back to the group.


    Then, he took out a color pen and wrote¡ª''Just eat, these are really safe! Earlier on, a little girl ate these for many days, and she''s still fine.''


    In fact, he was a little not confident while writing the last sentence, because he had never seen the little princess again, and didn''t know how she was doing right now.


    However, he believed that these strawberries were safe, because Lin Qiao had said so. Besides, she didn''t have a reason to poison these people.


    As for why she saved them, Xie Dong didn''t understand.


    Reading Xie Dong''s note, the others hesitated, but Huang Shou was the first to give in. Tortured by hunger, he chose to believe Xie Dong and Lin Qiao. He had survived the zombies, but he felt that he was going to starve to death if he didn''t eat anything now.


    He sat straight and said, "I¡­I choose to die without starvation. We can''t get out or find any other food right now. If we get out, we''ll be eaten by zombies. So, I''d rather die comfortably."


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms before her chest.


    ''Who wants you to die? If I wanted you to die, why would I put in so much effort to save you?''


    Xie Dong too rolled his eyes, then wrote on the clipboard¡ª''Idiot! If she wanted you to die, why would she go through all the troubles to save you?''


    Huang Shou quickly read the note and paused briefly, then murmured, "You''re right! So, these strawberries are safe?" While speaking, he took in a deep breath and reached out a hand. Before touching the strawberries, he paused slightly, then suddenly grabbed one.


    He pinched it slightly and felt that it was like normal strawberries, just slightly larger. He looked at the strawberry, then glanced at the others and found that they were all staring at him.


    Under the gaze of the others, he slowly put the strawberry into his mouth. However, before biting, he suddenly took it out.


    A bit perturbed, he said to the others, "Why are you looking at me like that? If you want to know how it tastes, you should ask our Boss. Didn''t he eat some before?"


    While speaking, he pointed at Lu Tianyi, who didn''t know what to say.

 206 Collision Between Thunder Powers

    The group of people immediately turned their eyes from Huang Shou to Lu Tianyi.


    Lu Tianyi puzzled at first, then gave a faint smile and said, "These are delicious, sweet, and refreshing. If you don''t mind that they''re mutant, you can just eat."


    At that moment, Huang Shou had already taken a bite of the strawberry and carefully chewed it. He found that it really tasted not bad, so after finishing the first bite quickly, he took another bite.


    As Huang Shou started eating, the others each took a strawberry and put in their mouths. Seeing that, Lin Qiao walked to Xie Dong and took over the clipboard from his hands, then wrote down a line.


    ''Does any one of you know which district the Planning Bureau of Hangzhou City is located in?''


    She first showed it to Xie Dong, but the latter shook his head.


    Lin Qiao sighed, thinking if only she could still search online with a cellphone or a computer. Without internet, a detailed map, or GPS, what could she do?


    She turned to face the clipboard to the group of people who were eating strawberries, then knocked it with the pen to make some noise. Hearing the noise, the others instantly turned to her.


    "Planning Bureau? Why are you going there?"


    ''Does anyone know?''¡ªLin Qiao wrote.


    The group of people shook their heads. None of them were from Hangzhou City, so they didn''t know about the locations of the government departments.


    Lin Qiao sighed disappointedly, then threw the clipboard toward Xie Dong.


    At that point, Kong Qingming who had been staring at her the whole time said, "West Lake District¡­But, you''ll have to find out the specific location yourself."


    Lin Qiao turned and looked at him. West Lake District? Didn''t they come from that area?


    "I remember hearing that from a friend," said Kong Qingming.


    Lin Qiao rubbed her chin. So, they needed to return to the West Lake District to find the Planning Bureau. She wondered if she could still find the files she needed. Hopefully, those files weren''t damaged.


    With these thoughts, she turned to Xie Dong and nodded, who understood her meaning and wrote, ''We''re heading to West Lake District now. By the time we have found what we need, you''ll have recovered. You should wait until your powers are back before leaving.''


    Lu Tianyi glanced at Lin Qiao. In fact, he still had so many questions to ask her. However, she didn''t give him any time but turned and left. Then, she stood on the roof, looking down at the zombie crowd. She now had no choice but to make another trip to the West Lake District.


    She knew that Kong Qingming wasn''t lying, because she could sense it.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue and his people found something strange once they entered the Binjiang District from Qiaoshan District.


    The surrounding ordinary zombies were all moving toward the Upper City District. And strangely, those zombies all ignored their motorcade. Their vehicles were firmly armed, but they should still have attracted the attention of lots of zombies.


    However, this time, all those zombies neglected them, only shambling toward the Upper City District.


    Wu Chengyue was going to that area as well.


    He ordered the motorcade to stop on a road between Binjing District and Upper City Distract, then began heading to the Upper City District alone.


    Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue stayed in Binjing District, taking care of Wu Yueling while waiting for him to return. Wu Chengyue planned to kill the zombie king in the Upper City District, then come back to lead his people in and collect the supplies.


    However, after entering the Upper City District, Wu Chengyue had a very strange feeling. He climbed onto a building, then looked down at the surrounding zombie crowd and found them all moving toward one direction.


    Focusing his sensations toward that direction, Wu Chengyue sensed a faint thunder power, and noticed that the sky in that area was dark. Then, Wu Chengyue realized that it was what he was here for.


    In the next moment, his tall and slim body flashed across the air and disappeared. When he showed up again, he was less than five-hundred meters away from the zombie king. He restrained his vibe and stood on the edge of a roof while looking down.


    ''What''s going on?'' He wondered as he saw a massive crowd of zombies, and waves of thunderbolts falling from the sky five-hundred meters away.


    "Roar! Roar! Roarrrr!" Zombie roars were heard from everywhere.


    Wu Chengyue''s handsome face wore a confused look while he moved forward for about two-hundred meters. He was confused because all those ordinary zombies seemed to be summoned, and he couldn''t figure out why the zombie king would suddenly summon so many ordinary zombies.


    The closer he got, the denser the zombie crowd got, and the lower the zombie roars turned.


    He had sensed the violent vibe of the zombie king and faintly felt a great pressure. Even as a level-seven superpowered human being, he felt a little oppressed. He was sure that the zombie king was under the falling lightning bolts. However, he didn''t understand why it was so angry.


    ''I really shouldn''t be here now. I guess the zombie king is pissed off by someone or something.'' While thinking, he continued approaching the zombie king.


    At the distance of about two hundred meters, he stopped on the roof of a tall building, took out a telescope, and looked at the area with lightning bolts through it.


    At that moment, he was surprised by what he saw¡ªan over two-meters-tall figure was dashing about on that road. Its body was covered in blood, as if its skin had been peeled off. He saw its dark-purple muscles and the bones on its back.


    Its head was bloody too, such that Wu Chengyue couldn''t see its face clearly, save for a pair of purple eyes filled with ferocity. Its teeth were bared, and it was roaring ragingly.


    The zombie king seemed to be in a fury.


    Whoever offended it now would either be struck into ashes by lightning bolts or torn into pieces by it.


    Wu Chengyue watched the zombie king bump into buildings like a mad bull. It rushed into a store, then broke out of the window and darted into the building next door; after that, it leaped down from a balcony. It seemed that it was searching for something.


    Sometimes, it would leap through the roofs.


    ''Is the zombie king on drugs? Why is it so furious?'' Wu Chengyue thought.


    As he was observing the zombie king through the telescope, the zombie king suddenly paused. In the next moment, it turned back and looked at him straight in the eyes.


    ''No! He found me!''


    Wu Chengyue put down the telescope as he glanced at the zombie king with a serious look, then turned back and fled hurriedly.


    As he landed on the roof of a building twenty meters away, the first building was flattened by a few thigh-thick lightning bolts, along with a series of rumbling sound.

 207 Level-six vs Level-seven

    Wu Chengyue only had the time to take one peek before stepping back and swinging an arm down. Following his movement, a thigh-thick purple lightning bolt fell from the sky.


    Wu Chengyue only brought down one bolt of lightning, but it accurately and suddenly fell toward the head of the zombie king, which was charging at him.


    The zombie king raised its head to find the lightning bolt coming at its head, so it uttered a raging roar, flipped in the air, then magically moved toward another direction.


    Thud!


    The zombie king landed on a nearby building, its claws leaving deep scratches on the building. Then, it suddenly thrust its legs against the building and pounced on Wu Chengyue again.


    "Roar!"


    The zombie king was so swift that it darted up behind Wu Chengyue within a moment and swung its claws at him along with a wave of lightning. Following its movement, the lightning bolts released from its arms coiled into a giant claw, striking at him.


    Wu Chengyue swung his arms toward the zombie king while drawing back, and threw a lightning bolt at it. The zombie king didn''t dodge, but let his lightning land on its body as it insisted on attacking him with the lightning claw.


    A series of thunder was heard as the zombie king brought down a massive wave of thunderbolts that struck out destructively; both Wu Chengyue and the zombie king were in the coverage of this wave of thigh-thick lightning bolts.


    Wu Chengyue''s face turned dark. He hurriedly flipped in the air and landed on the zombie crowd, then stepped on zombie heads as he leaped to the side.


    The ordinary zombies under his feet sensed his vibe and raised their hands to reach at him, but before that, he was already on another spot.


    He hopped like that into a balcony and quickly hid in that building.


    The zombie king suffered Wu Chengyue''s lightning bolt, but still, it darted out of the dense smoke while seeming perfectly unharmed.


    However, its bloody body had turned black.


    That barely affected the zombie king, only making it uglier.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue suddenly showed up on the roof of another building and swung both arms. Following his moves, a few thick bolts of lightning descended toward the zombie king.


    They had the same type of power. Even as a level-seven, Wu Chengyue seemed to be falling into a disadvantage as the zombie king was chasing behind him and attacking endlessly.


    But in fact, he could always easily dodge the zombie king''s attack.


    At the moment, a series of lightning bolts fell onto the zombie king one after another. It slightly raised its head to glance at them, then carelessly charged at Wu Chengyue.


    But soon, a lightning bolt slightly turned in the air and continued striking at the zombie king. And following the first lightning bolt, the second and third turned as well.


    The zombie king which suddenly sensed danger turned back and swung its arms to send out a few lighting claws, colliding against Wu Chengyue''s lightning.


    Crack! Boom! Rumble!


    Soon enough, the lightning claws were dissipated by Wu Chengyue''s series of lightning bolts.


    Wu Chengyue now realized that the zombie king''s attacks were powerful, but were launched randomly without any plan. Fighting this way was highly energy-consuming, and this fighting style was rather easy to deal with.


    As the zombie king turned back to defend itself from Wu Chengyue''s lightning bolts, he suddenly raised both hands toward it with his fingers crooked and palms facing each other, as if holding the zombie king in his hands.


    After that, a lightning sphere slowly emerged around the zombie king and wrapped it up.


    "Roar!" The zombie king''s lightning claws only affected the first bolt of lightning, but failed to hold off the rest.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    After the zombie king suffered the series of lightning bolts, Wu Chengyue''s lightning sphere was done.


    The series of lightning bolts made the zombie king pause a little. It thought that those lightning bolts of Wu Chengyue were as powerful as the first one, and could scarcely hurt it. But to its surprise, the series of lightning bolts were more powerful than the first one by multiple times.


    Because of the zombie king''s carelessness, Wu Chengyue''s lightning bolts struck right on its head.


    Watching the smoky zombie king falling off the building, Wu Chengyue raised both hands once again. Following his move, the lightning sphere shrank and fell along with it.


    Bang!


    The zombie king smashed into the zombie crowd along with the lightning sphere and black smoke, killing a few ordinary zombies.


    "Roar¡­Roar¡­oar¡­" However, it soon struggled back up, then roared thunderously towards the sky.


    "Roarrrrrr!" Following its rumbling roars, the zombie crowd was instantly agitated, and burst in roars as well. Next, all of them began rushing toward Wu Chengyue''s building, climbing up.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!" The zombie king struggled and screamed within the lightning sphere while the surrounding ordinary zombies went crazy. They stepped on each other''s shoulders and heads, climbing up as fast as they could.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at those zombies which were climbing up like ants, then turned and disappeared. At that moment, the zombie king suddenly uttered a raging growl.


    In the next moment, the lightning sphere which had already wrapped around its body was suddenly shattered by it with pure energy, and it sprung out swiftly. This time, it wasn''t darting toward Wu Chengyue, but toward another direction and at a higher speed.


    Just like that, it disappeared within a blink of an eye.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly narrowed his eyes, then quickly followed it.


    ''Run? How can that be easy? I''m here for you.''


    The zombie king was fleeing toward the West Lake District.


    ¡­


    At that point, Lin Qiao had arrived at West Lake District, and was searching for the maps she needed in all bookstores she could find. She had to at least find a map of West Lake District. Otherwise, she wouldn''t know which way to go even though she had learned that the Planning Bureau was located in this district.

 208 Get Involved

    Lin Qiao showed up on the roof of a tall building and sat on the edge, her legs swaying in the air. A few people were standing behind her.


    Xie Dong, Lu Tianyi, Kong Qingming and Huang Shou were all let out of her space.


    She was reading a map while glancing down at the road signs. The group of people had also been searching for the Planning Bureau on a map.


    "We''ve searched this area, but didn''t find it," Kong Qingming crossed the area that they had passed just now. Then, the group of people raised their heads to look at Lin Qiao and asked, "Where do we go next?"


    Lin Qiao turned back and glanced at them, then reached out a hand to point at the area on the map which was next to the cross and near Lower City District.


    That was their next destination.


    "This way? There''s a park."


    "What park? There''re quite a few parks along this road."


    "Whatever it is, just stay away from it."


    Lin Qiao turned back to look at her own map. Some mutant creatures might exist in the West Lake, not to mention the fact that the lake was surrounded by parks.


    ''Maybe I can find some mutant plants and get Viney a few plant energy nuclei,'' she thought.


    Right at that moment, she suddenly raised her head and stood up, facing the Upper City District.


    "What happened?" Seeing that, one of the others asked with surprise.


    Lin Qiao had her back toward them. She took off her sunglasses and slightly narrowed her eyes as she kept gazing in that direction. Then, she saw two spheres of purple energy moving toward her one after another, at a rather high speed.


    Then, she opened her eyes and put on the sunglasses.


    Lu Tianyi, Kong Qingming and Huang Shou had been staring at the lower part of the back of Lin Qiao''s head, and found that the area was bald. The hat covered the top of her head, but not where they were looking.


    ''Why doesn''t she have hair?'' They wondered.


    Before noticing that bald area, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming thought that Lin Qiao''s hair was hiding in her hat. However, after some observation, they found no hair from the edge of Lin Qiao''s hat. If she had covered her hair with the hat, at least some hair would be seen from the edge.


    But now, they found that Lin Qiao seemed to be bald. Did she cut her hair short? Did she shave the lower part of her head?


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly turned back and leaped off the handrail. After that, she grabbed Lu Tianyi with a hand and Kong Qingming with the other. Next, the three of them disappeared together.


    A moment later, Lin Qiao showed up alone.


    "What happened?" Huang Shou, who was left outside, asked with confusion.


    "It''s¡­here¡­" Lin Qiao glanced back at the Upper City District and said. Then, she grabbed Huang Shou and Xie Dong, bringing them into her space as well.


    "What''s here?" In the space, Huang Shou asked. The others were looking at Lin Qiao with curiosity as well.


    Lin Qiao picked up the clipboard and wrote¡ª''The zombie king from Upper City District.''


    "No way! How did it find out that we''re in the West Lake!" Reading that, the others were all shocked. Lin Qiao continued writing¡ª''I don''t know if it''s here for us. But, it''s coming this way indeed.''


    She didn''t tell the group of people that apart from the zombie king, another creature was coming toward this area as well.


    What was that? Its energy was also purple in color, and seemed to be even stronger than the zombie king''s.


    Moreover, Lin Qiao found the slightly stronger energy a little familiar; she should have had sensed it before.


    She turned back to glance at the group of people. After she lured them to eat the strawberries, they picked some potatoes and pumpkins, and boiled them with the pot on the stove by the lake.


    Then, they all stuffed their stomachs.


    It seemed that they all intended to fill their stomachs even if they had to die. Lin Qiao believed that they were all thinking that way.


    They were afraid that they might be infected by the virus contained in the strawberry and turn into zombies, but couldn''t beat the hunger and the desire of eating.


    She closed her eyes and flashed out of the space in the invisible state. Then, she stood on the same spot on the roof and opened her eyes to look in that direction.


    Soon, she saw a dark and tall figure rushing over.


    It was the zombie king, but looked not quite the same as before. Earlier on, it was covered in sticky blood with its muscles exposed; but now, its color had become dark-red, and it had the smell of burnt food around it.


    It didn''t look good; it seemed to be running in haste, focusing on the creature behind it.


    Lin Qiao squatted on the roof and put her arms around her knees while looking at the approaching zombie king with curiosity, who was followed by a great number of ordinary zombies.


    Lin Qiao saw a few level-five zombies swiftly hop onto the nearby buildings and launch attacks with superpowers, along with a lot of level-four zombies. They were all attacking the powerful being which was chasing behind the zombie king.


    Lin Qiao had a familiar feeling from this creature, but she just couldn''t pinpoint it.


    "Roar!" The zombie king uttered a great roar, following which, the surrounding ordinary zombies immediately crowded toward that man.


    Yes, Lin Qiao had already sensed that the creature was a man, a very powerful man. She also sensed his familiar power, and the familiar lightning bolts.


    ''Isn''t that the little one''s father? No wonder I felt familiar when he was still far away. I''ve suffered his lightning, so how can I forget?'' She thought.


    No wonder the zombie king was running. There was indeed a power difference between a level-seven superpowered human being and a level-six zombie king.


    Wu Chengyue easily defended himself from the attacks of those level-four and five zombies. He wasn''t slowed down by those lower level zombies at all, and soon caught up with the zombie king.


    "Roar!" As Wu Chengyue got closer and closer, the zombie king was agitated. Meanwhile, three level-five zombies were following behind the zombie king. As their attacks had failed to harm Wu Chengyue, they suddenly climbed onto a roof and dove down toward him under the orders of the zombie king.


    Their superpowers didn''t work, so they were prepared to start a close combat against him.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao watched these zombies quickly hop onto the building and risk their own lives to charge at Wu Chengyue with great interest.


    Wu Chengyue released a series of lightning balls which each hit a zombie. However, more and more zombies emerged constantly.


    While leaping onto one roof from another, Wu Chengyue glanced down at the zombie crowd, then carelessly swung an arm toward the zombie king which was hundreds of meters away. With that, a giant bolt of lightning struck right at the zombie king.

 209 Steal the Monster

    "Roar!" The zombie king which had sensed the danger suddenly turned and charged at where Lin Qiao was.


    Boom!


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue''s lightning bolt struck down and left a hole in a two-story building. Lin Qiao looked at the hole on the roof, which was about a meter in radius, guessing that the zombie king''s lightning could strike off a corner of the building at most.


    However, seeing the zombie king rushing at her, she lost her interest in staying where she was and keep watching the fight.


    She turned and jumped off, then suddenly thrust her feet against the building and sent herself up to the roof of another building. In less than five seconds after Lin Qiao left the first building, the zombie king hopped on it, and soon leaped toward another direction.


    Soon after that, a lightning ball fell on the roof.


    Boom!


    ''So close,'' Lin Qiao sighed on another roof.


    The zombie king seemed to be infuriated as it turned and reached its arms toward Wu Chengyue. Following a series of rumbling thunder, the sky darkened, and then a faint wave of lightning bolts fell toward the latter''s head.


    Seeing that, Wu Chengyue had no choice but to stop moving. He stood on a utility pole as he raised his head to look at the lightning bolts falling from the sky, then raised both hands and created a web of lightning himself.


    Just as he finished, the wave of lightning bolts fell on the web. Waves of thunderous noise could be heard from the sky while energies collided against each other, stirring the air and generating a strong gust of wind. Sands and stones were sent into the sky, along with the surrounding ordinary zombies.


    Both Wu Chengyue and the zombie king had thunder power, yet Wu Chengyue couldn''t absorb the zombie king''s lightning, because the energy contained in those lightning bolts was controlled by the latter. The zombie king''s energy was violent, and was unable to merge with his lightning.


    If the zombie king''s lightning struck his body, some serious damage would be caused for sure.


    Superpowered creatures could only absorb energies through energy nuclei, but not by any other means. Even the creatures with the same type of power couldn''t absorb each other''s energy directly. The energy nuclei in question included crystal nuclei, zombie nuclei, and the nuclei of mutant animals and plants.


    As Wu Chengyue stopped moving, the zombie king turned and fled toward West Lake. Lin Qiao quietly followed behind the zombie king to see where it was heading to. Judging by the look of Wu Chengyue, he didn''t seem ready to let the zombie king go.


    How could he ever give up on the zombie nucleus of the level-six zombie thunder-powered king?


    ''That man doesn''t look silly,'' thought Lin Qiao. And as she had reckoned, after creating the lightning web, Wu Chengyue immediately turned into a shred of shadow and darted at the zombie king.


    As a matter of fact, he was even faster than Lin Qiao.


    He was at about ten meters away from Lin Qiao, following behind the zombie king side by side with her. However, only she could see him, but he hadn''t sensed her at all.


    All three of them were swift. They didn''t feel anything special, but if anyone saw them at the moment, they would see nothing but three blurry figures fleeting toward West Lake, without being able to tell if they were zombies or humans, male or female.


    Seeing more and more trees, Wu Chengyue suddenly had a hunch, then hurriedly waved a hand and threw out another lightning web toward the zombie king.


    The zombie king surely wouldn''t let itself be covered by the lightning web, so it turned and dodged.


    And like that, another battle between the man and the zombie started.


    Lin Qiao silently hopped onto a signal tower nearby and crossed her arms as she continued watching the fight. Both Wu Chengyue and the zombie king were powerful beings. Wherever they swept across, all the buildings and plants were shredded by lightning bolts.


    Lin Qiao followed the two of them and watched them fight for two whole days.


    The zombie king seemed to fall in a disadvantage, yet its body had a high strike-resistance, and it always reacted quickly. No matter what kind of attack Wu Chengyue launched, it could always manage to dodge. It had suffered once, so the smart zombie king wouldn''t let Wu Chengyue''s seemingly weak lightning bolts fall on itself again.


    By following them, Lin Qiao was affected by their powers from time to time. However, she managed to dodge timely every time.


    Anyway, she followed them so closely with a good reason. If she sneakily showed up and stole the harvest when Wu Chengyue had almost disabled the zombie king¡­


    ''That man will be so angry! Hah!'' She thought.


    ''What level will Viney step into if I give it a level-six zombie nucleus? Will it be able to fix my body further? Or upgrade itself? Even if I don''t need the energy, I can use it for upgrading Xie Dong and Junjun.'' She thought.


    With these thoughts, Lin Qiao had been following the two and waiting to collect the zombie nucleus. Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue had no idea that an invisible creature had her eyes on the zombie nucleus that he had been making efforts for.


    The zombie king too wasn''t aware of the fact that apart from this powerful human being before its eyes, the zombie that he had scared off earlier was staring at it covetously as well.


    "Roar!" Some of the zombie king''s muscles were burned by the lightning and fell from its body. Its muscles were filled with energy as well. So, as more and more of its muscles fell off under Wu Chengyue''s attacks, the zombie king became less nimble than before.


    Its head was still attached to its neck, but an arm of it had been lost, and a hole was left on its waist.


    It had been running toward the park beside West Lake. If it didn''t know that this area was full of mutant animals and plants, and if it wasn''t smart enough to use those mutant creatures to stall Wu Chengyue for a few times, it would have been killed long ago.


    At the moment, Wu Chengyue didn''t look good either. Many wounds were left on his body, and even his handsome face had a few tiny scratches on it.


    He gasped quickly for air, standing on a sculpture in the park. About ten meters before him, the zombie king was crawling forward on all fours.


    ''Roar¡­'' The zombie king weakly moved forward while growing. At that moment, another wave of rumbling thunder was heard. These days, thunder had been echoing across this area, even scaring off quite some animals.


    Wu Chengyue swung his arm and brought down a giant bolt of lightning that violently landed on the zombie king''s body, pressing it to the ground and disabling it from moving.


    At that same time, a puff of black smoke rose.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t dare to get close to the zombie king right now, as he wasn''t sure if it had died or not. However, even though he didn''t move, the air was stirred abruptly. After that, the zombie king''s head was suddenly cut off by some unknown creature, and then disappeared within a blink!


    The zombie king''s head disappeared right before his eyes!

 210 Give It To Me If You Don’t Want I

    The stunned Wu Chengyue stared at the headless zombie king and blinked.


    Its head was gone!


    He blinked again.


    The head was still gone!


    He raised a hand to rub his eyes, closed his eyes and pressed the root of his nose, then opened them again.


    The head was still not there!


    He darted to the zombie king and kicked its skeleton-like body, then squatted beside its neck and reached out to touch its neatly cut neck. However, seeing the dark sticky blood slowly flowing on the ground, he took back his hand.


    "Damn!" Usually, Wu Chengyue was a nice and smiling man, but now, he couldn''t help but curse with a dark face.


    He had spent two whole days to hunt the zombie king, but when it was at its last breath, someone else took its life and harvested the treasure. Anyone would be pissed off under this kind of situation!


    And, most importantly, the one who took his treasure was invisible! He didn''t even see her face!


    He didn''t even know who she was!


    Wu Chengyue stood up, took a few deep breaths to try to ease his anger.


    ''Breathe! Breathe!'' He told himself, ''Breathe¡­Breathe my a*s! Damn!''


    If there was a table before him, it would have been sent into the sky.


    ''Who the hell is it! I''ll find it and kill it!''


    Lin Qiao hid so well that even Wu Chengyue, a level-seven superpowered human being, sensed nothing!


    ''It has space power,'' thought Wu Chengyue. Just now, he saw a figure flash next to the zombie''s head, and in the next moment, the zombie head disappeared.


    The creature moved extremely fast, yet he still saw a figure.


    ''It showed up and disappeared again immediately, meaning it definitely has a space.''


    ''Who on earth is it? It must be at level-six or seven,'' he thought. Superpowered creatures at or below level-five could never hide from him.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao carried the zombie head, flashed into her space. She didn''t look at the others, but stood by the lake with her eyes closed to observe Wu Chengyue''s reaction. Soon, she curved her lips in a smile.


    As she had spent two days out there, the other all turned to her with surprise and curiosity when she suddenly showed up. Then, they noticed the black thing carried in her hand.


    As they looked closer at that thing, they realized what it was.


    "Oh my, that''s a zombie head, isn''t it?"


    "Eh? Why does it look a little familiar?"


    "Damn! Isn''t that the zombie king''s head?"


    At last, Liu Jing recognized the zombie head.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes and smilingly glanced at them, then raised the zombie head and suddenly inserted two fingers into it.


    Puff! Her fingers poked into the zombie head like steel blades.


    Then, she stirred her fingers in the zombie''s brain and pulled them out. A litchi-sized purple nucleus was held between her two fingers, glowing with a dazzling purple light.


    The nucleus was still stained by some sticky and brown matter.


    Lin Qiao threw the zombie king''s head on the ground, then walked to the bucket and fetched some water with the scoop to throw the nucleus into it.


    Plop!


    As the nucleus fell into the water, the dirty matter immediately melted.


    The group of human beings didn''t notice that a long vine had crawled out of the water, quietly reaching to Lin Qiao.


    When the zombie king was disabled from moving by Wu Chengyue, Lin Qiao had sensed that its vibe was gone for good, which meant it was already dead. That was why she dove down immediately, cut off its head, and brought it into her space.


    As Wu Chengyue didn''t approach the zombie king immediately, she understood that he wasn''t sure if it were really dead or not. So, she made the move before him.


    If she didn''t, she would never have a better opportunity.


    The washed level-six zombie nucleus was shining with a bright purple light, appearing extremely captivating. The group of people had rarely seen a zombie nucleus in this color, so they all fixed their eyes on it while quietly coming closer to Lin Qiao.


    "The light, so beautiful. How dazzling it will be if it''s under the sunlight?''


    "Is this what a level-six zombie nucleus look like? I think I''ve heard about it. The colors of level-six zombie nuclei are related to the energies it contains. I think purple is the color of thunder power."


    When they expected Lin Qiao to absorb the zombie nucleus, they saw her pour the dirty water on the ground, then drop the scoop and walk to the lakeside before throwing it into the lake.


    "What!"


    "What?"


    "Damn! What''s wrong? Sister, you can give it to me if you don''t want it! Why did you throw it into the lake!"


    The group of people were all dumbfounded. They just couldn''t understand why Lin Qiao threw the nucleus into the lake instead of absorbing it. Lu Tianyi ran to her side and stared at the faint ripples created by the zombie nucleus with disbelief.


    Then, he turned to look at Lin Qiao as if she was psycho while yelling, "Are you okay? Isn''t that a level-six zombie nucleus! Even if it''s just a level-five one, it''s still extremely precious! If you don''t want it, why didn''t you give it to us to exchange for supplies!"


    The others were all stunned. Kong Qingming raised a hand to cover his forehead.


    He didn''t understand what happened to Lu Tianyu the zombie, and began to wonder if her brain had been damaged when she turned into a zombie.


    Lin Qiao shrugged toward them with a blank face.


    Who said she didn''t want it? Giving it to Viney was as same as giving it to herself.


    Unlike the others, Xie Dong looked at the group of people with interest. He knew what existed in the lake.


    Lin Qiao turned back to look at the group of people and found that they still looked dirty. There was a lake, yet they didn''t go into the water to clean themselves. At the very most, they cooked with the water in the bucket.


    ''Well¡­as people say, men don''t care about these things¡­'' she thought. She walked to the lake nearby, picked the clipboard, and wrote¡ª''You should fetch some water with the bucket to clean yourselves. Don''t you know that you stink?''


    Lin Qiao had sensed that these people'' body conditions had turned better than before because they had drunk the lake water. However, she didn''t know if they were aware of that yet.


    Perhaps, they only knew that their powers were coming back, but hadn''t noticed that they now felt much more comfortable than before.


    Reading Lin Qiao''s handwriting, the group of people all showed embarrassed looks.


    "Sister, we wanted to bath in the lake, but Xie Dong said that the lake isn''t safe, and didn''t allow us,'' said Huang Zhou.


    ''Who said to go down into the lake? I just told you that you can fetch some water from the lake and shower''¡ªwrote Lin Qiao.


    "Eh¡­That''s right¡­Why didn''t we think of that?" Huang Shou asked aloud. While speaking, he abruptly turned to look at the others.


    At that moment, Lu Tianyi said, "Who dares to do that without your permission? What if you suddenly showed up while we were showering? Will you be responsible for us and marry us all?"

 211 Another one?

    Lin Qiao glanced at Lu Tianyi with surprise. She didn''t think that he would flirt with her!


    She didn''t believe that they were so close to each other. How could he make a joke like that?


    Besides, she didn''t mind marrying all of them. The problem was¡ªwere they brave enough to marry a zombie?


    Kong Qingming coughed slightly and said, "This is your space, so I guess whatever we do in this place, you''ll know, right?"


    Lin Qiao picked up the clipboard, then nodded and wrote¡ª''Are you afraid that I might see your bodies?''


    She now understood that this group of people were getting a little bored in her space, as they had stuffed their stomachs.


    Reading Lin Qiao''s note, Kong Qingming smiled. Seeing his handsome face wearing that evil smile, most ordinary women would lose themselves.


    With that slightly wicked smile, he said, "We''re men, and you''re a woman. Of course, we don''t mind that. That won''t hurt us anyway."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao wrote with an expressionlessly¡ª''Go shower then. Take off all your clothes and wash them as well.''


    Lu Tianyi felt that something wasn''t right, so he asked abruptly, "Wait a minute! Isn''t the zombie king dead? We can go out now, can''t we? And, what have you done these days out there?"


    Judging by her tone of speaking, he felt that she would keep them in this place.


    His question made Lin Qiao feel a little embarrassed. She couldn''t tell them that she just stole their Chief''s treasure, could she? If she let them out now, Wu Chengyue would definitely sense them, and soon after that, he would find them and ask the questions.


    If that happened, she would be exposed, wouldn''t she?


    She thought for a moment, then made up a story¡ª''There''s another zombie king out there.''


    "What! Another one! Wasn''t this the only one?" Hearing that, the group of people immediately wore bitter faces.


    No way! Another one! The first one had nearly killed them, and now there was another one!


    Liu Jing blinked and asked, "Perhaps, the two zombie kings were fighting and you suddenly showed up when the thunder-powered one was killed¡­Sister, you didn''t steal this zombie head, did you?


    Hearing that, the others immediately looked at Lin Qiao with a different expression. If that were true, they would be eaten alive by the other zombie king once they went out.


    Lin Qiao paused briefly, then quietly glanced at Liu Jing, admiring his imagination. What he imagined was almost the same as the truth, but with a different character.


    The one she stole from wasn''t a zombie, but what would happen to these people wouldn''t be any better if they left the space now.


    She raised a hand to give Liu Jing a thumbs-up.


    The others cried in one voice, "No! You just challenged a zombie king, so how can you offend another one right after that?"


    Lin Qiao silently turned her head. But soon, she carelessly shrugged and wrote¡ª''What am I afraid of? If I want to leave, no one will know.''


    Wu Chengyue was out there, but didn''t she leave without making the slightest noise?


    ¡­


    Meanwhile on the outside, Wu Chengyue sat on a branch of a tall tree with his eyes closed, waiting quietly. He believed that the thief would definitely show up again. Even though he didn''t see Lin Qiao''s face, he caught her vibe which was released within one moment, and had memorized it!


    He sharpened his sensations as much as possible. Once she showed up within the area five miles in radius around him, he would be able to sense her instantly.


    However, he didn''t know that Xiao Yunlong and the others who were waiting for him in Binjiang District were now in trouble.


    A figure was approaching them; it wasn''t tall, only about five feet, and quite skinny.


    It looked like a fourteen-year-old girl with short hair. Even though it still looked like a human being, its movements were abnormal.


    Half of her face was thickly covered in small scales, and so were her claws and bared feet.


    Her eyes were faint green, with erect pupils within.


    Those eyes were similar to the eyes of snakes, but not exactly the same. Dense black circles were under those eyes, looking like the eyes of pandas.


    She was in a clean school uniform. Her upper body was wearing a white shirt, and lower body was covered with a knee-length black skirt. Her exposed lower legs looked smooth, and the scales on her knees were sparkling faintly.


    A long tail reached out of her skirt, wagging along with her leaping movements.


    She wasn''t wearing any shoes. She couldn''t even if she wanted, because her toes were crooked and with sharp, hook-shaped nails. Any shoes would be torn by those nails.


    Despite her scary and weird look, her green eyes were filled with confusion and dullness, nothing else.


    Abruptly, she paused on a tree on the roadside, put one hand on the tree, and sniffed around. After that, the confusion and dullness in her eyes were replaced by curiosity and interest.


    She smiled as she happily leaped off the tree and began running on the road. She had sensed some nice aromas, and recognized it as the scent of human beings. The aromas told her that some human beings were nearby.


    Among those scents, she sensed two different kinds of natural and refreshing aromas which made her feel so comfortable! She liked those especially!


    The closer she got, the brighter her eyes shone.


    Not far away from her, Xiao Yunlong and his people were resting in an abandoned residential area. They had cleaned off the zombies inside one building and found some relatively clean rooms to rest in.


    At the moment, there was nothing for them to worry about, as all the zombies in the building had been killed, and the door on the first floor was closed. The ordinary zombies around the building didn''t know how to open the door, left only slapping and pushing it.


    A few soldiers were guarding by the stairs behind the door. The corridor of the second floor was guarded by two squad leaders and about ten soldiers, and so was the third floor.


    Xiao Yunlong was carrying Wu Yueling in a relatively tidy room he and Meng Yue had found. After his soldiers quickly cleaned the room, they walked in.


    He felt rather magical, as Wu Yueling was actually willing to be carried by him! Did she finally admit that he was her godfather?


    He was quite delighted these days, so he spent lots of time playing with her.


    "Just let me take a look! Don''t be so stingy! It''s just a grass dragonfly. Let your godfather see it. Your godfather will certainly make you a better one."


    Xiao Yunlong sat in a chair, watching Wu Yueling hide the little toy behind her body and pop her big eyes as she stared at him alertly.


    Meng Yue, who sat beside Xiao Yunlong, was working hard with a few green grasses. He tried but couldn''t make the same kind of grass dragonfly. A while later, she lost her interest and threw the grasses at Xiao Yunlong.


    "You try¡­take your time. I have failed¡­"

 212 Mutant Zombie

    Before Meng Yue finished talking, her entire body froze. Next, she suddenly sprung up to shield Wu Yueling behind, staring at the door alertly.


    Seeing her movement, Xiao Yunlong stood up immediately, also looking at the closed door. He knew that Meng Yue must have sensed something behind that door.


    "What happened?"


    Meng Yue didn''t answer his question, just fixing her eyes on the door. At that moment, they heard the door handle turn and both took a step backward, keeping Wu Yueling behind them.


    Wu Yueling seemed to be affected by the two of them, quickly putting the grass dragonfly into her pocket.


    Click! The door was unlocked, then slowly pushed open. In the next instant, a relatively short figure was seen standing at the door. As the door opened, the young female zombie stuck her head in to look Meng Yue and Xiao Yunlong curiously with her green eyes.


    ''What? Only two?''


    She looked around with confusion. She had sensed the scents of three people, but why did she only see two?


    Seeing the obvious black circles under those green eyes, Meng Yue and Xiao Yunlong immediately began moving. Xiao Yunlong stepped forward and reached out both hands. Following his move, all metal objects in the room fell apart, forming a metal web and blocking the entire door.


    Meng Yue reacted swiftly as well. She turned back and bent over to scoop Wu Yueling up, then jumped out of the window behind her.


    As Wu Yueling was picked up, the weird young female zombie discovered her immediately. She stared straight at the little girl when Meng Yue darted out through the window.


    Suddenly, the young female zombie was agitated. It attempted to rush into the room, but instead of that, she bumped into Xiao Yunlong''s metal web.


    She leaned against the metal web and reached a hand into the room through it, fingers clenched toward the window. But soon, she pulled out the hand and confusedly looked at the metal web which blocked her way.


    She clenched the metal web and shook it, but it didn''t move at all.


    Xiao Yunlong slowly stepped backward while staring at the young female zombie nervously but curiously. Judging by the black circles under her eyes, she was clearly a zombie. Seeing her eyes, Xiao Yunlong felt that she was powerful and very hard to deal with. Her vibe was incredibly strong, even stronger than his.


    She was a rarely seen mutant zombie! Half of her face was covered with strange scales, her eyes were green and her pupils were erect, like the pupils of snakes.


    Her claws weren''t the same as the claws of normal zombies. The hands of normal zombies still looked like human hands, but with long and sharp nails. However, this snake-eyed zombie''s claws which had clasped the metal web looked nothing like human hands, more like beast claws.


    The young female zombie tried to shake the metal web which blocked the door, but failed. After that, she took a step backward and slightly raised her claws, suddenly slapping the metal web.


    Bang!


    Just like that, a hole was left on the sturdy metal web. She raised her claws again to continue slapping the metal web, seeming to be rather anxious as her eyes turned toward the window from time to time.


    Meanwhile, Meng Yue directly leaped from the fourth floor. After landing, she turned back to find that Xiao Yunlong had jumped off as well.


    "Take Ling Ling away! I''ll handle it¡­" Xiao Yunlong turned around to look at the window once he landed on the ground, then raised both hands. Along with his move, the surrounding metal window frames all fell off and gathered around the window on the fourth floor to block it.


    Meng Yue didn''t waste any time talking to him and just carried Wu Yueling as she turned to run toward the yard before the building. She wanted to get to the car which was parked by the yard as quickly as possible, so she could drive and leave.


    She wasn''t capable of running far with her feet.


    As she rushed to the car with Wu Yueling, she heard a thunderous boom from behind. She turned back to look at the building and found that the soldiers guarding outside were all gone. She guessed that the strange zombie had killed them all.


    She only took a quick glance at the building while quickly opening the car door. Then, she put Wu Yueling on the front seat and ran to the driver''s seat. Next, she started the car and pressed on the accelerator; the car neatly moved backward, then turned and drove toward the outside.


    At that moment, Xiao Yunlong suddenly rushed out and hopped onto the car roof. Both him and Meng Yue were experienced enough to realize that the weird zombie was at level-six at least. So, they understood that they were no match for it.


    Right now, their most important job was to protect Wu Yueling.


    Just now, when confronting the zombie, both Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue had sensed that it was interested in Wu Yueling, and not in themselves.


    Soon after Meng Yue started the car, a figure flashed onto the roof of the building which they stayed in earlier, then leaped toward them. Xiao Yunlong got down on one knee and patted the car roof near the driver''s seat, then slightly bent over to say to Meng Yue, "Speed up, it''s here!"


    Meng Yue had just buckled Wu Yueling up with one hand. She glanced at the rear-view mirror, then pressed harder on the accelerator.


    ''Bad luck. How can this thing show up here? Is this Wu Chengyue''s target?'' She wondered.


    ''But, it isn''t using any thunder power.''


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Many vehicles were abandoned on the road. The driving wasn''t smooth, but thankfully, Meng Yue''s driving skill was not bad, which allowed her to keep driving forward.


    The young female zombie in school uniforms was moving much more easily than the car was. She simply leaped across car roofs, utility poles, or trees, and quickly caught up with the car.


    Fortunately, all the vehicles on the road were made of metal, perfectly providing accessories for Xiao Yunlong''s metal power. He turned back and raised both hands toward the speedily approaching zombie. Following his move, the vehicles in the surroundings all floated up, drifting toward the zombie.


    Next, Xiao Yunlong swung both arms forward and violently threw tens of cars toward the young female zombie.


    As the vehicles on the road were all lifted by Xiao Yunlong with his superpower, Meng Yue''s driving speed rose by three times. The young female zombie nimbly dodged the cars flying at her, then leaped onto the taller streetlights or utility poles nearby, with her one-meter-long tail wagging behind her body.

 213 Ling Ling Is Taken Away

    It was now that Xiao Yunlong noticed that she had a tail, and felt quite interested.


    ''Can zombies grow tails? This creature has mutated in a strange way,'' he thought. But soon, he had no time to think about that, as the zombie had nearly caught up with him.


    Xiao Yunlong fixed his eyes on her, his forehead covered in sweat drops. The vehicles on the road were lifted and thrown at the zombie one after another, generating a series of thunderous noises.


    Right at that moment, the young female zombie disappeared suddenly.


    "Eh?" Xiao Yunlong looked around alertly. ''It''s gone¡­Where did it go?''


    Hearing the noise, Meng Yue abruptly stopped the car. She confusedly glanced at the rear-view mirror, then found that the zombie was gone. The road was blocked by many abandoned vehicles, so she shouted out loud, "Xiao Yunlong, open the road!"


    Xiao Yunlong reached a hand backward without turning around. Following his move, the abandoned vehicles before his car were pushed to the side.


    The car had been driven miles away from the residential area, yet many ordinary zombies were attracted by the noises they made and showed up.


    Xiao Yunlong stayed on the car roof for a while, but still didn''t see the zombie. He surely didn''t think that it had left. Instead, he understood that the strange young female zombie was certainly preparing for some kind of sneak attack.


    While he was thinking, a figure suddenly darted out of an alley before their car, accurately stopped before their car which was still moving forward, and raised both arms to stop it.


    Meng Yue didn''t even see how the zombie showed up. Before she could slam on the brakes, the zombie had already raised her arms toward the car.


    The car was driving at a hundred and twenty kilometers an hour. An ordinary human being would be sent to about ten meters away by it. However, the one standing before the car wasn''t a human being.


    Bang! Before Meng Yue could react, the world in her eyes began spinning.


    When Xiao Yunlong realized what had happened, both he and the car had flown away. However, he reacted fast enough to flip in the air, land on the ground, and make a roll.


    Hearing the boom, the look on his face changed drastically.


    The car had landed loudly on the ground.


    "Meng Yue! Ling Ling!" Xiao Yunlong shouted out loud, standing up and rushing toward the car in panic.


    "Ling Ling! Meng Yue! Meng Yue!" He darted to the car and shouted toward a window. The car lied on the ground upside-down, and so was Meng Yue.


    "Em¡­" Meng Yue moaned in the driver''s seat. Her body was covered in wounds, and her head was bleeding. Her brows were knitted, eyes closed tightly. Hearing Xiao Yunlong''s voice, she made a little reaction.


    "Meng Yue! How do you feel! Meng Yue! Ling Ling¡­Where''s Ling Ling? Why isn''t Ling Ling here?" Looking through the car window and seeing Meng Yue''s head covered in blood, Xiao Yunlong was startled, and then found that the front seat was empty.


    Wu Yueling had disappeared.


    With his whole body soaked in cold sweat, Xiao Yunlong got Meng Yue out of the car and found that she wasn''t injured severely, having just fainted. What made him feel despairing was that Wu Yueling disappeared, and so did the zombie.


    Without a doubt, Wu Yueling was taken away by the zombie.


    What should he do? Where should he find the level-five zombie now? Meng Yue was injured, and she needed someone to take care of her.


    Ling Ling was taken away by a level-six zombie, a zombie queen. Higher level zombies loved to eat the hearts of children and women the most! Wu Yueling was taken away by the zombie, and the chance for her to survive barely existed.


    How should he explain to Wu Chengyue? Even if he found the zombie queen now, how should he take Ling Ling back from her? Not to mention the fact that he didn''t even know where the zombie had gone. How should he find Ling Ling?


    With no other choice, he needed to wait for Meng Yue to wake up and sense Ling Ling''s location. He lifted her expressionlessly and walked toward the clearing nearby.


    Bang! As he got a few meters away, the car exploded. A dense puff of smoke rose after a burst of red fire.


    On the other side, the zombie carried Wu Yueling, swiftly running toward West Lake. After a short while of running, she stopped on the roof of a building.


    The young female zombie carefully put the fainted Wu Yueling on the ground and let her lean against the wall.


    She remembered nothing, nothing at all. But still, she understood that she couldn''t eat human beings. After becoming like this, she had been traveling around. She liked travel instead of staying in one place.


    She didn''t know a lot. She had no idea what zombies were, but did know what humans were. She was also aware of the fact that she wasn''t a human being anymore.


    Who was she? That, she didn''t remember.


    She liked the scent of living human beings, because they smelled nice. She really wanted to take a bite of a living human being, so she wouldn''t feel so hungry. However, she clearly knew that she couldn''t eat human beings. She didn''t know why, but a voice in her head had been telling her that.


    She never liked to be alone, and wanted a company. However, all human beings were afraid of her. They would either attack her or run away at the sight of her.


    And those walking dead people weren''t the same as living human beings. They smelled awful, and they were ugly and dirty. Hence, she didn''t like getting close to them.


    Their limbs were broken, yet they could still walk; some of them had holes in their stomachs, but they could still move.


    Instinctively, she didn''t like them.


    So, she traveled alone. In fact, she liked to stay around human bases and observe human beings. She really wanted to go inside and be with them.


    However, she knew that all those people were afraid of her. But, why? Why were they afraid of her? She never hurt anyone.


    The young female zombie squatted before Wu Yueling and put her arms around her crooked knees, looking at Wu Yueling''s little face with confusion.


    ''A kid, so little, so cute!'' She had traveled out here for long, but this was the first time for her to see such a little kid. She observed Wu Yueling, curiously reached out her hand to try and touch the latter''s face. However, before touching Wu Yueling, she suddenly paused.


    Glancing at her sharp claws, she silently took her hand back. She knew that they might be poisonous.

 214 She Didn’t Deny

    She often saw living human beings being bitten or scratched by those walking dead. Those human beings would die, then become walking corpses themselves and wander in the world.


    She didn''t know if she would turn the others into zombies too, but she felt that she was almost the same as those walking dead.


    But now, she had company! She wanted to keep Wu Yueling, and she believed that she would take good care of her.


    She didn''t think whether the child''s family would worry, neither considered what she should feed her with. She felt that the things which were edible for herself were also edible for the child.


    She was so happy now because she didn''t need to go everywhere alone anymore. Before, she was only able to hide in the places that human beings couldn''t find, and curiously watch them. But now, with the child, she wouldn''t be bored to the point where she had nothing to do but count the ants by the road.


    While observing Wu Yueling, the look on her face changed slightly. Then, she glanced at the sky and carefully scooped Wu Yueling as she turned and left.


    It was going to rain. She knew that the rain would be so, so cold. So, she carried Wu Yueling while moving toward West Lake.


    The West Lake area was her temporary territory. She hoped that the giant creature from Upper City District wouldn''t go to her place while she wasn''t there.


    However, she had no idea that the child''s father was in that area now.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao saw a vine draw back into the lake after she threw the zombie nucleus into the water, and smiled.


    ''So impatient!'' She thought. The vine showed up silently because it sensed the energy contained in the zombie nucleus. Anyway, only she noticed the vine coming out of the lake.


    A couple of minutes after the zombie nucleus was thrown into the water, Lin Qiao sensed the change of the energy in the lake. The underwater energy waves hadn''t yet reached up to the lake surface, but she clearly sensed them. She realized that two streams of energies were merging into one.


    One of the two was the energy of the lake, which she was familiar with. It used to be gentle, but not anymore. Meanwhile, the other stream of energy was violent, belonging to the zombie king.


    Perhaps, Viney''s energy was agitated by the zombie king''s violent energy.


    The two streams of power swirled in the lake: one was devouring the other, and the other was fighting back. Some of the others had sensed the energy waved down in the lake, but not as clearly as Lin Qiao had.


    With confusion, Lu Tianyi walked to her side and asked, "Is there¡­something in your lake?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then at Kong Qingming, who followed behind him. ''These two boys are quite sensitive. They both sensed the energies, even though their powers have only restored by about thirty percent,'' she thought.


    Xie Dong walked over silently as well, looking at the lake. The dangerous feeling that he got from the lake was getting stronger and stronger.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming again. She didn''t nod, but handed Xie Dong the clipboard and said, "I¡­go¡­out, you¡­"


    While speaking, she pointed at their clothes, then at the bucket.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming glanced at each other and understood her meaning. After that, Lin Qiao closed her eyes and disappeared from the lakeside.


    Then, Lu Tianyi asked Xie Dong, "I have one question¡­"


    Xie Dong looked at him as the former smiled in a strange way and said, "Did Lu Tianyu lose her hair?"


    "Hehe¡­" Kong Qingming couldn''t help but laugh.


    Lu Tianyi threw a glance at him, then turned back to Xie Dong. Both of them had noticed that a while ago. However, as Lin Qiao wore the hat and sunglasses all the time, they thought that she might feel embarrassed if they asked her the question.


    Nevertheless, they were really curious! Picturing the bald Lu Tianyu, sometimes with her old face with thick makeup, sometimes without makeup, and sometimes with zombie eyes, Lu Tianyi felt like both crying and laughing.


    He tried to imagine the expression that she must have had on finding herself bald. He believed that she must have cursed the world with the worst language she knew.


    Xie Dong looked at them and remained silent for seven or eight seconds, then nodded. He was a little surprised while looking at Lu Tianyi, as he found that the latter seemed to care a lot about Lin Qiao¡­no, about Lu Tianyu. Lu Tianyi had yet to find out that Lu Tianyu the zombie had a different soul now.


    ''Is this handsome man in secret love with Lu Tianyu?'' Xie Dong wondered, ''That woman has a secret suitor? That''s a surprise.''


    ''Do you care about her?''¡ªXie Dong wrote on the clipboard.


    Lu Tianyi paused for a second, then dropped his eyelids and gave a helpless smile as he responded, "You noticed that?"


    Xie Dong speechlessly rolled his eyes. Kong Qingming did the same thing, then said, "I didn''t want to say this, but you''ve been paying attention to her the whole time. Haven''t you felt that she has changed a lot? To be honest, I have even started to think if you''re wrong."


    Lu Tianyi paused again, his eyes fixed on the lake surface.


    Of course, he had felt that. How could he not? He felt the difference since the day he met her. He started doubting himself long ago, but the problem was that she had admitted, hadn''t she?


    She didn''t deny that she was Lu Tianyu.


    "I know, but she didn''t deny."


    Kong Qingming remained silent for a while, then said, "Whatever! I think no one but us can recognize her at the moment." While speaking, he turned to look at the others. Xie Dong glanced at them and didn''t join their conversation, walking to the daily supply area instead and finding a few buckets.


    Because of the lake, Lin Qiao had collected quite some buckets of different sizes for future use. Before she left the hotel, she had filled all the large buckets in the hotel with the lake water for Lin Feng and his people to use. She had left about thirty bucketfuls of water in the hotel.


    ¡­


    After exiting her space, Lin Qiao calmly glanced at Wu Chengyue who was sitting on the tree without sensing anything. Giving a proud smile, she turned and left.


    It was a little unkind for her to seize his zombie nucleus, but she did that to take her revenge for striking her with a lightning bolt due to no reason. She hadn''t forgotten that! Even though she took the little one away, didn''t she give her back to him at last? And she served as a nanny for so many days!


    She saw the zombie nucleus as her payment for taking care of his child.

 215 Indescribable Connection

    Wu Chengyue had no idea that Lin Qiao had left, so he just kept waiting there. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao found a building and climbed onto the roof to observe the sky. She found that the moisture in the air had become heavier, and the dark clouds in the sky were getting denser and denser.


    It was going to rain.


    That would be her first rain after the apocalypse. From Lu Tianyu''s memories, she learned that once the rain started, the temperature would drop drastically.


    However, she was only afraid of the heat, and not the coldness.


    As she prepared to leap off the building and continue looking for the Planning Bureau, she paused suddenly and looked around with confusion.


    Then, she closed her eyes and sharpened her sensations as much as possible.


    She caught a strange feeling. It wasn''t like the feeling she had from Lu Tianyi, but was similar to the feeling that Xie Dong gave her earlier on.


    To be honest, she was yet to figure out what exactly the weird connection between her and Xie Dong was. Lu Tianyi was Lu Tianyu''s brother, so the two of them were probably connected by bloodline. However, Xie Dong and she weren''t related at all.


    She closed her eyes to carefully sense the strange feeling, then sensed a strong vibe which belonged to a zombie.


    She opened her eyes and showed a bitter look as she couldn''t help but complain in her head¡ª''Damn! Why are there so many zombie kings and queens? Who said that zombie kings and queens are extremely rare? This is my second month in this post-apocalyptic world, yet I had already met two of them¡­And now, the third one has shown up!"


    She automatically tried to turn away from that direction, but that strange feeling was also coming from that place, and she did care about that feeling.


    It was Xie Dong the last time, so who was it this time? Whoever it was, that person was with a level-six zombie. The zombie''s vibe was unfamiliar, meaning that she didn''t know that zombie.


    So, why was that person with a level-six zombie?


    Lin Qiao understood that not every zombie king or queen was as nice and kind as Qiu Lili. Normally, level-six zombies would be like that thunder-powered one.


    That person was with a level-six zombie, so, was he or she captured and kept as preserved food?


    Lin Qiao stood on the roof and frowned, then sighed silently. If she didn''t have that strange feeling, she wouldn''t try finding that level-six zombie. But now, the feeling had occurred, and if she didn''t figure it out, she would feel uneasy.


    She thought for a moment, then leaped off the building and moved toward the zombie king.


    She was invisible, so she could scarcely be harmed. Therefore, she decided to go and take a look. If it weren''t too late, she would save that person, and if it were too late¡­she needed to at least figure out what exactly was going on, who exactly that person was, and what the strange connection between that person and herself was.


    With these thoughts, Lin Qiao moved faster and faster.


    The sky was covered by dark clouds. These were natural dark clouds, not the ones created by the zombie king. At the same time, the wind grew stronger and stronger, roaring thunderously.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t sense the dropping temperature, but Wu Chengyue could. He opened his eyes to look at the sky. Even though he was still protected by his energy, he didn''t want to be soaked by the rain.


    Since it was going to rain, he couldn''t stay in the park.


    He stood up from the branch and jumped off the tree, turning to walk toward the nearby buildings.


    On the other side, Xiao Yunlong guarded by Meng Yue''s side, anxiously pacing like a trapped bear.


    He wanted to find Wu Yueling as soon as possible, but he didn''t know where to go. If he took the wrong direction, he would go further away from her and the level-six zombie. Even if he found Ling Ling and the zombie right now, he wouldn''t be able to take her back. However, he needed to know where she was at least.


    Even if the zombie killed the little Ling Ling and ate her heart, he would need to bring her body back!


    Wu Chengyue was too far away from then, so he couldn''t inform him about what had happened.


    What should he do? He really didn''t know what to do!


    Meng Yue was injured and unconscious. The longer she slept, the further away would Wu Yueling and the zombie get.


    Xiao Yunlong''s eyes turned red as he scratched his scalp again.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao raised her speed toward the level-six zombie. When she was only a few miles away from it, she suddenly paused on top of a signal tower.


    She raised her nose to sniff at the air, then her face showed both surprise and hesitation.


    That scent¡­That scent belonged to¡­


    ''The little one!''


    Once she confirmed that the scent belonged to the little one who was parted from her for over twenty days, she couldn''t help but get mad.


    How could that man bring the kid to such a dangerous place!


    Without hesitation, she sprung up from the signal tower and darted at the level-six zombie at an even higher speed.


    ''Please do not be too late!''


    Miles away before her, in a tens of stories high building by a street, all the zombies had been evicted. A powerful level-six zombie was standing on the roof, so which ordinary zombie dared to linger there?


    In a large suite on the top floor, the scaled young female zombie put Wu Yueling on the bed. The bed was large, with pillows and blankets on it. However, everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. It seemed that no one lived here before the apocalypse.


    The young female zombie didn''t clean the bed, but directly put Wu Yueling into the blanket. Then, she squatted by the bed, her head resting on her palms. She looked at the few wounds on Wu Yueling''s little face, which had stopped bleeding.


    While looking at Wu Yueling, the young female zombie had also been sniffing at her.


    ''She smells so good! So comfortable!''


    Abruptly, she reached out a hand, crooked her finger, and touched the blood on Wu Yueling''s wounds. Then, she took her hand back while gazing at the sticky blood.


    It smelled really nice and sweet.


    At that moment, the young female zombie cherishingly looked at Wu Yueling as if she were a sweet candy.


    She wanted to eat the little thing, but she couldn''t bear to.


    Lin Qiao soon arrived, looked into the window of this large suite. She saw a young female zombie in clean high-school uniform squatting by the bedside, looking at Wu Yueling who was lying on the bed, seeming to be delighted.


    Wu Yueling was unconscious, but her life-force stayed strong. It seemed that she hadn''t suffered serious harm.


    Then, Lin Qiao noticed the young female zombie''s slightly wagging tail.


    ''Damn! What kind of zombie is this?''


    When Lin Qiao was thinking with curiosity, the young female zombie suddenly turned to look at the window, as if she had sensed something.


    It was at that moment Lin Qiao found that half of the young female zombie''s face was covered in scales!

 216 Where Was The Child From

    The young female zombie confusedly looked at the window with her big eyes that had thick black circles under them. She didn''t see anything, so she turned back and kept looking at Wu Yueling.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao quietly got into the room through the window, which thankfully wasn''t closed.


    ''What type of power does this green-eyed zombie have?'' Lin Qiao looked at this zombie curiously, feeling that it was quite strange. Her vibe was strong indeed, but she didn''t show any sign of attacking. Instead, her strong vibe was natural and peaceful. More importantly, Lin Qiao didn''t detect any scent of blood from this zombie, or ferocity or hostility which normal high-level zombies would have.


    The zombie was looking at Wu Yueling in a strange way, like a child looking at a toy. It seemed like she had just attained a new and interesting toy.


    ''What''s happening? She doesn''t seem about to eat Wu Yueling,'' Lin Qiao thought as sneakily got close to Wu Yueling and observed her. She found that the child was still adorable, but with a few new wounds on her face.


    ''How did she get hurt?''


    The wounds had just stopped bleeding. It seemed that the child was injured not long ago.


    At that moment, the young female zombie looked around the room, her face filled with confusion. Then, she stood up and looked around again.


    Somehow, she felt that something had gotten into this room


    Lin Qiao glanced at her with surprise. This zombie was so sensitive that she even sensed the invisible Lin Qiao.


    But soon, Lin Qiao turned away from her, pressed a hand on Wu Yueling''s forehead, and said a word in her head.


    ''In.''


    After that, she and Wu Yueling entered her space together. Once the two disappeared, the young female zombie suddenly turned back her head. At that moment, Wu Yueling was gone.


    She blinked, then realized that Wu Yueling was truly gone. Even the nice aroma of hers had disappeared.


    "Roar?" The young female zombie popped her green eyes. Her erect pupils shrank into a pair of thin lines as she stared at the empty bed.


    On entering her space, Lin Qiao hurriedly caught the little one who fell from the air. Then, she closed her eyes to observe the young female zombie''s reaction.


    The zombie stood by the bedside stunned, gazing where Wu Yueling had been lying just now. Then, she slowly approached the bed and reached out a hand to touch the pillow.


    "Er¡­..errrrr¡­whooo¡­" Suddenly, the zombie curved her lips downward, twisted her face, and began crying. Her crying voice was very weird, yet her sadness was strong.


    ''Eh? What on earth is happening?''


    Before Lin Qiao realized what had happened, she saw the young female zombie turn and sit onto the bed, then burst in tears while waving her arms and kicking her legs.


    "Whaaaaa¡­"


    ''Why is she acting like a child whose toy is stolen?'' Lin Qiao thought. This young female zombie''s reaction quickly reminded Lin Qiao of Qiu Lili, and made her feel a little speechless.


    ''Why is this zombie like Qiu Lili so much? They aren''t sisters, are they? They look at the same age,'' she thought.


    ''No way. Did I run into the second Qiu Lili?''


    Lin Qiao lowered her head to glance at the little one who was lying in her arms, then thought with surprise. Then, she decided to put the little one on the bed and fetch some water for her to drink. However, once she turned around, she saw a group of naked men crowding together, staring at her with indescribable looks¡­


    Lin Qiao was speechless again.


    In fact, they weren''t entirely naked. At least, they were all wearing underpants.


    "Sis-sister! Didn''t you say that you won''t come in for a while!" Liu Jing said to her embarrassedly. He covered his chest with one hand and crotch area with the other, legs squeezed together and eyes widened.


    Xie Dong stood aside as he couldn''t help but snort with laughter, hurriedly covering his mouth with a hand. Lin Qiao speechlessly glanced at him, then calmly walked to the bed.


    Huang Shou kicked Liu Jing while saying, "Are you a girl? Why did you make this pose?"


    The others didn''t react so dramatically, only watching Lin Qiao with a strange look.


    Lu Tianyi stared at the little one in Lin Qiao''s arms and elbowed Kong Qingming as he said with a low voice, "Is that our little princess?"


    Kong Qingming had also widened his eyes. After watching Lin Qiao walk to the bed, he nodded and responded, "Yes, I''m not blind."


    Then, they glanced at each other.


    So, what happened?


    "Can I ask who''s she carrying? Where is that kid from?" Huang Shou moved to the two and asked.


    "If we''re right, that''s Ling Ling, the little princess of our base," said Lu Tianyi.


    Hearing that, Huang Shou popped his eyes in shock and said with disbelief, "What? Ling Ling? How can that little princess be in here? And, why did the lady bring her in? Chief Wu and Deputy Chief Xiao will be driven crazy!"


    Lu Tianyi knitted her brows and shook his head. He didn''t know what had happened either.


    As Lin Qiao walked away, the group of people relaxed a little and continued cleaning themselves with wetted clothes. But from time to time, they had still been glancing at Lin Qiao.


    After putting Wu Yueling on the bed, Lin Qiao immediately found a cup, walking to the lake and filling it with lake water. After that, she quickly walked back to the bed, slightly lifted Wu Yueling''s head, and poured the water into her mouth.


    Wu Yueling seemed to be thirsty. Feeling the water pouring into her mouth, she automatically swallowed it.


    The energy contained in the water had grown over ten times stronger than before, which was absorbed by the little one quickly. Lin Qiao found a hidden energy inside the little one''s body. As she drank the water, the hidden power was activated.


    She also found that the hidden power had been slowly healing the child''s injuries and nourishing her body. Once Wu Yueling swallowed the water, the healing speed was boosted by a couple of times.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand to touch the tiniest wound on the little one''s forehead, then found that it had scabbed within just a couple of seconds. She gently scratched it, then the scab fell off.


    After that, she carefully touched the wound. No scar was left, and the new skin was thin, pink and sensitive.


    She took back her hand, put the cup on a cabin by the bed, then walked back to the bedside and sat down as she closed her eyes to continue observing the zombie outside.

 217 Save The Little One

    The young female zombie had stopped crying, crooking her knees and putting her arms around them. She buried her face between her knees, looking very sad.


    Lin Qiao felt quite strange. She opened her eyes to look at the little one, finding no other injuries on her body save for the few scratches on her face.


    So strange! The zombie didn''t seem to want to hurt the little one. But, why was the little one with her? Why did the zombie react like a treasure of hers was stolen when Lin Qiao took the little one away?


    She reacted like an innocent kid!


    Besides, Lin Qiao hadn''t detected any evil intention from that young zombie. Even though the little one was stolen from her, she didn''t get mad, but was crying.


    Lin Qiao thought of one possibility.


    Before, she didn''t think that zombies could have humanity. However, she was forced to believe that after meeting Xie Dong, Junjun and Qiu Lili.


    ''The zombie out there might be in the same condition as Qiu Lili used to be,'' she thought.


    She sat on the bed silently while thinking, at which moment, the little one opened her eyes. Lin Qiao immediately sensed that, so she turned and looked into the little one''s confused large eyes.


    The little one stared at her for a second, then the confusion in her eyes turned into fear. The child widely opened her eyes and flinched as she sat up hurriedly and then moved backward as fast as possible.


    Seeing her reaction, Lin Qiao gave a start. But then, she hurriedly pressed a hand on the child''s shoulder, worried that the kid might fall off the bed.


    Sensing the child''s panic and helplessness, Lin Qiao understood that the kid didn''t recognize her. That was reasonable though. After all, she was now wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses, and the scars on her face had disappeared.


    Being pressed by her, the little one froze, then began quivering. She still remembered how the car turned upside down, so, she was feeling awfully uncomfortable right now.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on her feet, and found that her entire body was tightened and still trembling. The extreme fear she had was sent into Lin Qiao''s hand from her feet.


    The little one didn''t cry, but buried her head deeper into her knees. She acted as same as when Lin Qiao saved her the first time. The kid was almost having a mental breakdown.


    Lin Qiao didn''t dare to make any other move. After confirming that the kid wouldn''t try getting off the bed, Lin Qiao slowly took her hand away. She wanted to pat the kid''s head, but was worried that the kid might be frightened.


    She thought for a moment, then recalled that grey rabbit. So, she stood up instantly and turned to run toward the grass woods by the strawberry field.


    The group of people quickly showered themselves and put their pants back on. However, their upper bodies were still bared, as they had all used their tops as towels, and those shirts were still wet.


    After the shower, the group of dirty men now looked clean and refreshed.


    Seeing Lin Qiao suddenly run toward the strawberry field, seemingly looking for something, Lu Tianyi and the others walked toward Wu Yueling. After walking to the bedside, they finally confirmed that the kid was indeed the little princess from their base.


    Among all three base leaders, only Wu Yuecheng had a daughter. Therefore, Wu Yueling became the little princes of Sea City Base.


    "She''s really our little princess, but how is she¡­" Lu Tianyi carefully looked at Wu Yueling, his eyes filled with puzzles. He then raised his head and glanced at Lin Qiao, finding that the latter was searching for something among grasses.


    "What is she doing?"


    Kong Qingming looked at Lin Qiao, then thought for a while and said, "I think she''s looking for the rabbit. Didn''t we see a grey rabbit earlier?"


    Lu Tianyi was still confused. He turned to look at Kong Qingming and asked, "Rabbit? Why is she looking for the rabbit?"


    Kong Qingming shrugged and said, "How am I supposed to know? I just made a guess."


    Xie Dong walked over. He knew that Lin Qiao was looking for the rabbit because the little princess knew it. He also understood that the little one was certainly unable to recognize Lin Qiao at the moment, as her appearance had changed drastically.


    He looked at Wu Yueling, wondering what had frightened the kid, and what had happened to her outside.


    Soon, Lin Qiao returned with the grey rabbit, making Lu Tianyi glance at Kong Qingming with surprise.


    Kong Qingming had guessed right; Lin Qiao was really looking for the rabbit.


    Lin Qiao walked to the bed with the rabbit, finding the group of people standing by the bed, looking at her with curiosity. Xie Dong and Lin Qiao glanced at each other. The two of them understood each other while all the others were utterly confused.


    Lin Qiao walked over. This time, she didn''t sit on the bed, but gently put the little rabbit on the bed, then took two steps backward.


    The rabbit was able to recognize people! At first, it rolled its body into a fluffy ball on the bed. Then, its nose twitched slightly; after sniffing, it itched its way toward Wu Yueling.


    "Eh? Why didn''t it run? Why is it approaching the girl?" Huang Shou asked with a low voice on seeing the rabbit moving toward Wu Yueling.


    Lu Tianyi and the others glanced at Lin Qiao; none of them had an answer. Earlier on when they saw the rabbit, it ran into the grasses and disappeared within a blink, which meant it was still afraid of people. But now, it was getting closer to the little princes. That was strange.


    Wasn''t it afraid of the little princess? Was it because the little princess was a kid?


    Seeing the little rabbit getting near to Wu Yueling, Lin Qiao sighed with relief.


    Meanwhile, the group of people didn''t try approaching. They all understood that by getting closer, they would frighten the kid even more. The child was already in such an intense terror, so they didn''t dare to stimulate her again, or she might actually faint.


    The little grey rabbit hopped toward the little one. It couldn''t sense her emotions, but it liked her vibe. So, it gently put its head against the little one''s ankle.


    The little one gave a start and trembled again when she felt a fluffy thing touch her ankle. The rabbit rubbed its head slightly against her ankle, making her slightly itchy.


    But still, she didn''t dare to move, and kept her body tightened.


    Without receiving her response, the little rabbit hopped onto her feet and rested there.


    The group of people didn''t know what to say.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao stopped worrying. She went to the strawberry field and picked a few ripe strawberries, washing them and coming back to the bed.


    A while later, the little one slowly calmed down. She was distracted by the thing on her feet, so she was less frightened now. She slowly raised half of her head to look at the thing on her feet with one eye. As a result, she saw a grey furry ball covering her feet.


    ''Eh? This fluffy ball looks familiar!''


    Suddenly, Wu Yueling forgot how scared she was, and started to observe the fluffy ball on her feet.

 218 The Little One Wakes Up

    Wu Yueling''s attention was attracted by the grey ball of fur. She slowly raised her other eyes to look at the furry ball and soon found that it was moving, and had a pair of long ears.


    ''It looks like a rabbit. Where is this rabbit from? It''s familiar¡­'' she thought. She wanted to touch the rabbit, but she sharply sensed that some people were gazing at her. So, she didn''t dare to move, quickly burying her face back between her knees.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the group of people and tilted her head slightly to signal for them to step back. Only Kong Qingming saw her move while the others were all looking at Wu Yueling, so he stared at her with a questioning look.


    "Back¡­" Lin Qiao said one word with a low voice. Kong Qingming looked at her, then turned to Lu Tianyi and the others, and back to her again.


    Lin Qiao nodded at him, after which, Kong Qingming touched Lu Tianyi''s uncovered arm. The other turned to look at him, his eyes carrying questions.


    Kong Qingming glanced at the little one, then said, "Step back and give her some space." While speaking, he moved back for two meters.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at the little one, then turned and left, dragging the others away as well. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao didn''t move, just crossing her arms and silently feeling the changes in the little one''s emotions.


    The little one sensed that some people around her had left. So, she quietly raised her head to look around and found a weird-looking person wearing a hat and sunglasses.


    That person was at a distance away, so she wasn''t nervous, even though she did care about that person''s presence.


    At that moment, the rabbit moved on her feet. It raised its head to stare at her. Seeing it, Wu Yueling was immediately cheered up. She happily unwrapped her knees and slowly picked the rabbit up.


    ''It''s really that rabbit!''


    After confirming that the rabbit was really her friend, Wu Yueling suddenly relaxed, then raised her head to look around. The grassland and the lake were both the same as before. Some furniture pieces were new, including beds, couches and tables. Where did all those come from?


    ''Where is that ugly zombie sister?'' She wondered.


    After recognizing the space, she instantly turned to search for Lin Qiao. She ignored Lin Qiao who was wearing a hat and sunglasses, but tried to look for the zombie with scarred face and unbrushed hair.


    ''Eh? Where is the zombie sister?''


    She held the little rabbit and looked around. But instead of the zombie sister, she found a group of strange men who were baring their upper bodies.


    Lin Qiao understood that the kid was looking for her. So, she slightly raised a hand, waved at the child, and said, "Ling¡­"


    Wu Yueling turned to look at her confusedly. Lin Qiao was holding a few strawberries with her other hand. She quietly walked to the bed, then squatted before Wu Yueling and raised her head to look at the kid.


    "Eat¡­strawberries¡­" she said and handed the kid those strawberries. Meanwhile, she glanced at the others and found that they were about ten meters away. Confirming that, she pulled her sunglasses slightly down and let Wu Yueling see her dark eyes.


    The other human beings might be scared by her eyes, but not Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling widened her eyes as she stared at Lin Qiao''s eyes, surprised and confused at the same time. Without knowing how to react, she gazed straight at the other.


    Lin Qiao smiled and pushed the sunglasses upward, then reached the strawberries further toward Wu Yueling while saying, "I''m¡­here¡­"


    Wu Yueling still didn''t know how to react. She frowned slightly as she looked at Lin Qiao while struggling. She wanted to say to Lin Qiao, ''You''re not her. You don''t have long hair, or ugly scars, or¡­''


    With that thought, Wu Yueling abruptly turned her eyes to Lin Qiao''s chest. She remembered that the zombie sister had a flat chest! But, this big-breasted sister had the same kind of dark eyes as the zombie sister.


    Lin Qiao knew that the kid didn''t believe her, and understood why. It was indeed a little difficult for Wu Yueling to recognize her now.


    What could she do? ''Kids are really the most difficult creatures in the world,'' she thought.


    Suddenly, she saw something in Wu Yueling''s pocket that looked familiar. She looked closer and recognized it as the grass dragonfly that she made for Wu Yueling. Moreover, it was still green.


    ''Shouldn''t it have dried out long ago?''


    Spotting the grass dragonfly, Lin Qiao had an idea. She stood up and walked to the grass, then squatted and picked up a few grass leaves. After doing that, she came back to the bed.


    This time, she sat down on the end of the bed while facing Wu Yueling, then began making another grass dragonfly.


    Seeing Lin Qiao''s movements, Wu Yueling popped her eyes in shock. She stared straight at the former, watching her weave the grass leaves into a dragonfly. Then, she lowered her head and took her treasured old grass dragonfly out of her pocket.


    She looked at her own dragonfly, then at Lin Qiao''s. Soon, she wore a bewildered look.


    Lin Qiao put the new dragonfly by her side, then closed her eyes to see the outside world.


    The young female zombie had left the suite.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes and glanced at Wu Yueling. She just couldn''t understand why the little one was with that zombie.


    Meanwhile, the young female zombie was angry at the moment. She rushed into a zombie crowd with a strong intention of killing, smashing the heads of those zombies with her claws.


    Within a blink, the area around her was covered by the bodies of dead zombies; the heads of all of these zombies had been crushed.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Xiao Yunlong was squatting by Meng Yue''s side, waiting for her to wake up. The latter was lying on a double couch moved her eyelids slightly, then slowly opened her eyes.


    "Eh¡­" She tried to move, but then the pain that came from her entire body made her moan. Xiao Yunlong immediately raised his head and looked at her while exclaiming with surprise, "Meng Yue! You''re awake!"


    Meng Yue knitted her brows and tried to sit up. Seeing this, Xiao Yunlong hurriedly helped her. After sitting up, she looked around and asked, "Ling Ling¡­Where''s Ling Ling? Why didn''t I see Ling Ling?"


    Xiao Yunlong remained silent for a while, then said with a bitter face, "Ling Ling was¡­taken away by the zombie queen."


    Hearing that, Meng Yue immediately widened her eyes. She grabbed Xiao Yunlong''s arm and yelled, "You¡­How could you let it take Ling Ling away! Why did you let it take Ling Ling away? Eh-hem-hem-hem¡­"


    However, before she finished talking, she felt suffocated, then couldn''t help but cough.


    Xiao Yunlong gently rubbed her back and said with concern, "Calm down! Try sensing Ling Ling''s location. Let''s see if we can find her." He understood that since a long while had passed, there was not much hope for Ling Ling to survive. However, he had to do something, because the guilty feeling had been torturing him.


    ''Why didn''t the zombie kill us and eat our hearts? At least we wouldn''t need to suffer this torment then!''


    ''If Ling Ling is gone¡­''

 219 Revenge At Leas

    Meng Yue stared at Xiao Yunlong and suddenly fell in silence. Seeing that, the latter said to her, "What''s wrong? Just try to feel her!" His voice brought Meng Yue back to her senses, and she instantly closed her eyes to sense carefully.


    One second, two seconds, three seconds¡­One minute, two minutes¡­Five minutes later, Meng Yue opened her eyes and asked, "How long have I slept for?"


    Seeing the look on her face, Xiao Yunlong had a bad feeling. He had prepared himself mentally before, but Meng Yue''s expression still made him feel despairing.


    Meng Yue''s reaction meant that she didn''t feel the seed inside Ling Ling''s body.


    If Ling Ling were dead, the seed would be dead as well.


    Xiao Yunlong lowered his head and took his hands away from Meng Yue, then squatted and buried his face into his palms.


    "Three hours¡­"


    Meng Yue widened her eyes. Then, those eyes turned red, and tears gushed out.


    "What should we do now? Should we try finding Ling Ling?" Xiao Yunlong raised his head and asked. Meng Yue looked at him and responded, "Find her? Where? I can''t sense anything of hers now¡­"


    Xiao Yunlong closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened those eyes and said with determination, "Let''s go find Chief. At least¡­we should let him know about this¡­It''s all our fault. We failed to keep Ling Ling safe. Even if he kills me¡­"


    Meng Yue suddenly burst in laughter, "Hah¡­Kill you? What''ll change even if he killed both of us¡­hehe¡­"


    She was laughing, but her face wore no expression, and was covered in tears.


    Meng Yue wasn''t just thinking about Wu Chengyue''s feelings. She was awfully sad too, as she had been treating Ling Ling as her own daughter. She was taking care of Ling Ling the whole time because she hoped that Wu Chengyue would accept her one day. But now, it was over. Wu Yueling was taken away from her and Xiao Yunlong by a zombie.


    How should she face Wu Chengyue now? Poor Ling Ling, she was so little! Meng Yue believed that Ling Ling had died because of her and Xiao Yunlong.


    Xiao Yunlong took a deep breath, then said, "Whatever will happen, we should tell him. Then we''ll find that zombie together. At least¡­we need to take revenge."


    Meng Yue paused for a second, then raised her head to look at him. He was right! Even if Wu Chengyue decided to kill them both, they would accept that as a result. However, no matter what would happen, they needed to take revenge.


    After making the decision, the two of them immediately left to find Wu Chengyue. Meng Yue was injured, so the tall and sturdy Xiao Yunlong carried her on his back.


    ¡­


    Following a series of thunder, the cold raindrops fell from the sky. On the other side, Wu Chengyue was standing on the balcony of a penthouse near West Lake. In the post-apocalyptic era, people could find lots of empty, abandoned buildings.


    Wu Chengyue gazed at the dark, rainy sky, which seemed to be crying sadly for someone. The rainwater fell on the ground, roofs, and leaves, washing off the dust in the post-apocalyptic world.


    Seeing the rain, Wu Chengyue suddenly had a weird feeling, which wasn''t so good. That feeling made him feel a little suffocated. He wondered if the weather was making him feel depressed.


    Thinking of the one who stole his zombie nucleus, Wu Chengyue wore a dark face, his whole body radiating a cold vibe. If anyone was standing by his side, that person would know that even the rain was warmer than him.


    He was really mad. How dare anyone steal from him! So bold!


    He raised his head to look at the sky again. He forcibly eased the anger in his heart and calmed himself down. Then, he realized that he shouldn''t keep staying in this place. So, he decided to go back to his daughter first, then send some people here to search this area.


    He was worried about his daughter.


    Xiao Yunlong as a level-six superpowered man was protecting Ling Ling. However, if there were another level-six zombie in the city, Ling Ling would still be in danger, because Xiao Yunlong was no match for a level-six zombie.


    Looking at the rain which was growing heavier and heavier, Wu Chengyue decided to return once it abated a little. He had memorized the vibe of the one who had stolen his zombie nucleus, and he would definitely send his people to search for that creature. Perhaps, they would see each other in the future.


    By then, he would find out who exactly that bold creature was.


    ¡­


    At the moment, Wu Yueling, who was staying in Lin Qiao''s space, was less frightened than before. She stayed alert, but the fluffy rabbit in her arms made her feel much better.


    She had finished the strawberries served by Lin Qiao.


    Wu Yueling recognized Xie Dong, but not Ling Qiao. After all, her dad had told her that many powerful zombies had black eyes.


    She wasn''t sure if the one who treated her with strawberries were a person or a zombie. She looked exactly like a person from the base, not as ugly and disgusting as any of those scary zombies out there.


    And¡­this good-looking zombie knew how to make grass dragonfly as well¡­And, Wu Yueling hadn''t found her zombie sister yet.


    ''Where did she go?'' she wondered.


    Lin Qiao ignored all the puzzles in the little one''s head. As long as the kid stopped being nervous and scared, she didn''t care if the latter recognized her or not.


    Lin Qiao was now considering about how to send the kid back to her father. She had stolen the father''s treasure not long ago, and now, she was going to pay him back with such a big favor. What a coincidence!


    But this time, she didn''t need to meet him face to face to give him his daughter back, because she had helpers!


    Glancing at Lu Tianyi and the others, Lin Qiao decided to send Wu Yueling to her father along with these people. As their leader, Wu Chengyue should bring them back to the base. In that case, Lin Qiao didn''t need to send these people all the way back to the base.


    She also wondered if Wu Chengyue knew that his daughter was in danger, as he was hunting monsters just now. She wondered how he would react if he found out that his daughter was taken away by a level-six zombie.


    With these thoughts, she slowly stood up and walked to Xie Dong. Then, she took over the clipboard and waved at Lu Tianyi and the others.


    Lu Tianyi, Kong Qingming and the others walked to her with confusion.


    "What? What''s the plan?" Lu Tianyi walked over, then turned back to glance at the little one.


    He was surprised as the child was no longer frightened. That was such a quick emotional change! Didn''t people say that autistic children were sensitive to their environment? In a strange place, autistic children would feel insecure and highly nervous.


    But now, the little princess looked rather calm. She reacted the way she was supposed to once she was awake, but now she had calmed down. Why? Was it because of the rabbit? Did the rabbit divert her attention?


    Or, did this space have some kind of power to comfort children?


    Lu Tianyi wasn''t the only one who had these questions, as the others too had been making all sorts of guesses.

 220 A Wave Of Coldness

    ''This kid''s Dad is out there. Do me a favor, send her to her Dad''¡ªLin Qiao wrote. Lu Tianyi and the others glanced at each other, their eyes showing a surprised look, "Chief Wu is outside? Is his army here too?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head, looking at them as she said, "I¡­didn''t¡­see¡­"


    She couldn''t tell them that Wu Chengyue was hunting the thunder-powered zombie king alone. She had already stolen the zombie nucleus, so if she told them that, they would figure out what had exactly happened.


    If these people accidentally let Wu Chengyue know that it was her who had stolen his zombie nucleus¡­she would surely suffer!


    Kong Qingming abruptly turned to Lin Qiao in a weird way and said, "Since her father is out there, you can directly send her out, can''t you?" He looked at Lin Qiao and felt that as long as she kept her sunglasses on, no one would find out what she really was.


    "What I''m more curious about is how did the kid meet you?" Lu Tianyi asked curiously.


    Lin Qiao wrote¡ª''She was captured by the other level-six zombie.''


    She didn''t write down the whole story, but the group of people had figured it out.


    Lin Qiao felt like laughing at this point. Earlier on, she had made up another level-six zombie, but just now, one really showed up.


    "Eh? You mean the one you met earlier?"


    Xie Dong looked at Lin Qiao with surprise. He didn''t think that there was really another zombie.


    "Damn! Can zombie kings and queens be seen everywhere now?" Huang Shou popped his eyes and said. Kong Qingming rested his chin on a palm, looking at Lin Qiao as he said, "So you stole the kid from that level-six zombie? You do like stealing from level-six zombies."


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, but didn''t say anything.


    Lu Tianyi nodded and said, "We can send the kid to Chief. But, I think we should wait until our clothes dry." While speaking, he turned to the others, who had their upper bodies bared. The others didn''t notice it before, but being reminded by Lu Tianyi, they instantly felt cold.


    Lin Qiao quickly glanced at them, then carefully observed their bodies.


    ''Well, not bad. Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming are both tall and fit, with wide shoulders, slim waists, and round butts¡­''


    ''Em, their bodies should feel nice. Young people do have nice bodies!''


    Being gazed by Lin Qiao suddenly, the group of people felt even colder. After taking a few quick glances, Lin Qiao stopped looking at them and wrote¡ª''It''s raining out there, so it should be cold. I''ll try finding some clean clothes for you.''


    As she turned around and prepared to leave, someone pulled her trousers.


    She paused and lowered her head to find that the little one, who was holding the grey rabbit, was standing by her side.


    "Eh?" When did the little one get off bed? Why did she pull her trousers? Did she recognize her?


    Wu Yueling was holding the rabbit with one hand, Lin Qiao''s trousers with the other, and looking at the latter confusedly. She still didn''t recognize Lin Qiao. However, she sensitively caught the familiar feeling that the latter gave her.


    There were strangers in the space, so Wu Yueling quickly ran to Lin Qiao''s side, as she felt safer around the latter.


    The others all looked at Wu Yueling with curiosity. Lu Tianyi came over, squatting before her. With a smile, he said to Wu Yueling, "Ling Ling, do you remember me? We''ve met each other before."


    Once Lu Tianyu approached, Wu Yueling stepped back, hiding behind Lin Qiao. Hearing Lu Tianyi call her nickname, she tilted her head to look at him with one eye.


    Later on, Kong Qingming came over as well, and Huang Shou followed behind him. As more and more people got close to her, Wu Yueling hid behind Lin Qiao again, without even showing half of her eye.


    Her dad had told her to stay away from shirtless people!


    Seeing her reaction, Lu Tianyi turned to Kong Qingming and Huang Shou, complaining, "There too many of us. She''ll be frightened. And, can you topless people stop walking around in front of the little girl?"


    Kong Qingming turned to look at him and asked, "Are you wearing any top?"


    At that moment, Lin Qiao waved at them to signal them to leave while saying, "Go¡­"


    Then, she took Wu Yueling''s hand and brought her to the furniture area, putting her on a couch. After that, she squatted and said to her, "Your¡­Dad¡­is¡­outside¡­I''ll¡­let¡­them¡­"


    She paused briefly as she pointed at Lu Tianyi and the others, then continued, "¡­take¡­you¡­to¡­him¡­"


    Hearing that her Dad was outside, Wu Yueling''s eyes glowed immediately. She happily looked at Lin Qiao, hoping that she could bring her to her father sooner.


    "It''s¡­raining¡­outside¡­You''ll¡­see¡­your¡­father¡­when¡­the¡­rain¡­has¡­stopped¡­" Lin Qiao continued. She talked very slowly, but Wu Yueling patiently waited for her to finish.


    Hearing the word ''rain'', Wu Yueling was suddenly depressed. She took her hand away from Lin Qiao''s trousers, then began petting the rabbit. Sensing that the child was feeling low, Lin Qiao got a little curious. However, she didn''t ask any question, and said, "Don''t¡­be¡­afraid."


    While speaking, she reached a hand toward Wu Yueling''s head. As the kid didn''t show any repulsion, she put the hand on her head. No one noticed that a vine was quietly reaching out of the water, toward the little one.


    Lin Qiao considered if she should go out to find clothes for this group of men. They might catch a cold if she made them wear wet clothes, but letting this group of shirtless men walk about in front of the kid was inappropriate.


    However, if she left, the little one might get nervous again. The kid needed someone to rely on.


    She turned to look at the others and suddenly saw the stove by the lakeside, as well as the pile of dry wood next to it.


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao brought that dry wood in from the outside, so that Junjun could cook for Tongtong. As coal and natural gas didn''t exist, so firewood was the only choice.


    There was plenty of firewood near the stove.


    ''Yeah, they can start a fire to warm themselves and dry their clothes!'' She thought. With that idea, she suddenly whistled toward Xie Dong, which caught the attention of all.


    Ignoring the others, Lin Qiao waved at Xie Dong and signaled him to come over. In response, he promptly walked toward her and looked at her without knowing what she wanted.


    Lin Qiao took over the clipboard and wrote¡ª''See, there''s some firewood. Build a fire to dry their clothes. I won''t go out to look for clothes.''


    Xie Dong turned back and found the pile of firewood which had been ignored by them the whole time. In fact, if they started a fire, those clothes would soon be dried.


    He nodded and turned to walk to that direction while waving at Huang Shou.

 221 Two Little Friends

    As the group of people prepared to dry their clothes with fire, Lin Qiao turned back to the little one. Abruptly, something quietly coiled around her hand, so she lowered her head to find that it was a vine. The other end of the vine was still in the lake.


    ''Mama! I remember her!''


    Lin Qiao looked at the vine, feeling a little surprised. Wu Yueling had also seen the vine coiled around Lin Qiao''s hand. She didn''t know what it was, but she noticed that the latter looked calm.


    Lin Qiao turned to Wu Yueling and surprisingly found that the little one wasn''t frightened, only curiously looking at the vine as if she was wondering where it was from and how it had coiled around Lin Qiao''s hand.


    At that moment, Viney suddenly uncoiled itself from Lin Qiao''s hand and dropped to the ground, then quickly reaching to Wu Yueling. Seeing the vine suddenly move toward her, Wu Yueling was startled. She hurriedly flinched and stepped backward.


    The sensitive Viney felt that the little one was frightened, so, it paused and turned to Lin Qiao without knowing what to do. Lin Qiao looked at Viney and the little one with surprise, wondering if Viney was trying to be friends with the little one.


    As Viney stopped moving, the little one relaxed a little bit. She looked at Lin Qiao, then curiously observed Viney. In fact, she wasn''t frightened by Viney because she often saw Meng Yue''s little grasses moving around, and played with them. She wouldn''t repel moving plants, but as she didn''t know Viney before, she was still a little scared of it.


    Sensing the almost similar feelings that Viney and the little one were having, Lin Qiao smiled.


    "Its¡­name¡­is¡­Viney¡­Don''t¡­be¡­scared¡­" she said to the little one. Then, she grasped the vine and put it before the little one''s face.


    The vine coiled around Lin Qiao''s palm, then raised its head. She then turned her palm up and let Viney stand on it.


    After watching Lin Qiao''s move, the little one looked at the two leaves on the tip of the vine, then turned to Lin Qiao with hesitation. After that, she looked at the vine again.


    "Here¡­It''s¡­adorable¡­" Lin Qiao said to her patiently, "It¡­can¡­talk¡­"


    ''Eh? Talk? Really?'' Wu Yueling widened her eyes, showing a surprised look. Seeing that, Lin Qiao smilingly nodded.


    On the other side, Lu Tianyi and the others were all curiously watching Lin Qiao and the little girl. They knew that the little princess was afraid of strangers, so they didn''t approach her. From their angle of view, they weren''t able to see Viney, so they thought that Lin Qiao was saying something to the little princess, but had no idea that she was actually trying to introduce Viney to Wu Yueling.


    Three among the group had fire power. Their powers had only restored by thirty percent, so they weren''t able to launch attacks at the moment. However, starting a fire was still something they could do.


    They put some firewood together and started a large bonfire. Then, they surrounded the fire and raised their clothes to dry.


    "So weird! Little Princess isn''t afraid of that lady. Why?" Huang Shou turned his cloth over, then glanced at Lin Qiao and said curiously. The others all turned to look at Lin Qiao and the little girl. Indeed, the two of them seemed to be getting along pretty well.


    "Maybe because that lady is a good person?" Said Liu Jing.


    "Are we all bad guys?" The others rolled their eyes and one of them retorted.


    "Eh-hem¡­hehe, we''re not bad guys, but we''re weird guys¡­Because we''re topless!"


    None of the others responded this time.


    On the other side, the little one''s big eyes were filled with curiosity and disbelief.


    "I¡­didn''t¡­lie, You¡­try¡­" Lin Qiao looked at her and said. While speaking, she gently pulled up the little one''s hand which was on the rabbit''s back, then raised her forefinger to touch Viney''s head.


    ''Ahyaya! Little one! Little one!''


    The little one immediately pulled her finger back, then popped her eyes and stared at Lin Qiao in shock.


    "Am¡­I¡­right?" Lin Qiao smiled and nodded. The little one nodded with doubt. She wasn''t sure if what she heard just now was real. At that moment, Viney was wriggling in Lin Qiao''s palm, as if it was happy.


    ''Mama! Mama! Her look is interesting! I want to play with her!''


    Lin Qiao glanced at Viney, then tried to talk to the little one, "Again?"


    Wu Yueling''s curiosity was aroused. She looked at Lin Qiao, and the latter nodded at her. This time, Lin Qiao didn''t need to do anything, as the little girl slowly reached a hand toward Viney, then touched it with hesitation.


    ''Little one, don''t be afraid¡­I won''t bite you¡­''


    Wu Yueling looked at Lin Qiao, as she wasn''t sure if Viney was talking to her.


    ''Yes, yes¡­Little Ling Ling is little one¡­the little one is Ling Ling¡­''


    ''Eh? Do you know what am I thinking?''


    Wu Yueling looked at Viney with surprise, then said a few words in her head. After that, she saw Viney wagging the two tiny leaves on its head proudly.


    ''I do, I do¡­How should I talk to you if I don''t?''


    ''Why can you read my mind? What are you?'' Wu Yueling thought.


    ''I am what I am! I am Viney¡­Call me Viney¡­Call me Viney¡­''


    Sensing their conversation, Lin Qiao found that the two little things had started to get along, and felt delighted as well.


    She pulled Viney away from her hand, then put it by Wu Yueling''s side. After that, she pinched Viney''s head and said to it silently, ''I need to go out to locate the little one''s father. You play with her.''


    Viney flapped its leaves and responded with, ''Yes, Mama! I''ll take care of her!''


    Maybe because Viney was a plant, Lin Qiao sensed a unique tone of talking while receiving its message, as if it was talking like a sweet little girl.


    "You¡­play¡­here¡­I''ll¡­go¡­see¡­where¡­your¡­Dad¡­is¡­" Lin Qiao said to Wu Yueling. At that moment, Viney suddenly added, ''Mama, Mama, I can fix your body now! I have plenty of energy!''


    Lin Qiao nodded. She glanced at the group of people who were surrounding the bonfire, then nodded again and responded silently, ''Good, I''ll go down the lake after those people have left.''


    ''I''ll be expecting you!'' Viney replied.


    Lin Qiao stood up to observe Wu Yueling''s reaction. She found that the kid was only looking at her, but didn''t reach out her hand to try and grab her. Perhaps, she wanted to see her father as soon as possible.

 222 Acid Rain

    Lin Qiao turned to glance at the others, then took a step backward and disappeared.


    "Eh? That lady went out. Where did she go? Is she going to find Chief Wu?" Huang Shou raised his head to find that Lin Qiao had disappeared, so he asked. The others glanced at that area too, then turned back while one of them responded carelessly, "Perhaps...Huang Shou, add some firewood. The fire is too small."


    "Sure!"


    Zheng Xiaonian sighed abruptly and said, "If we have some sweet potatoes or cassavas, we could roast them in the live charcoals. It''d be delicious!"


    The others rolled their eyes and said, "Even if we did have some, you wouldn''t dare to eat them!" The virus was everywhere, so no one dared to eat anything that hadn''t been purified in a base.


    "But, didn''t we all eat those mutant strawberries?" Said Huang Shou, "It''s strange though! We''re really fine¡­It has been two days."


    Lu Tianyi nodded and said, "Don''t worry! Those strawberries should be safe, since two days have passed and nothing has happened to us. Besides, she has no reason to give us poisonous food. And you see, she gave some strawberries to Little Princess too, didn''t she?"


    Kong Qingming looked at him and replied, "Have you forgotten what kind of a person she used to be?"


    Once he said that, the others immediately fell into silence. Lu Tianyu and Xie Dong both had their faces darkened a little, while Huang Shou and the others wore a confused look.


    "Eh? Boss, what do you mean¡­Do you know her?"


    Seeing Lu Tianyi''s sullen face, Kong Qingming understood that the former didn''t want to hear that. However, he believed that he still needed to remind Lu Tianyi about that. Lu Tianyu had changed a lot, but based on what she had done before, Lu Tianyi should keep vigilance against her.


    "What happened?" Sensing the atmosphere which had changed because of Kong Qingming''s words, the others were more confused.


    What was wrong? Was there something going on between their boss and that lady? But, they didn''t know that lady before, so how could she suddenly be in some kind of relationship with their boss?


    However, if that lady knew their boss, it would explain why she saved them!


    These people thought that Lin Qiao was just a nice person who happened to be passing by and saved them conveniently. But now, they started to make other guesses.


    Lu Tianyi blinked and said, "We''ve already eaten those strawberries anyway, so what is the worst thing that can happen? I choose to believe her. You should have noticed that she is completely different from what she used to be. If she didn''t admit, would you recognize her as that woman?"


    Kong Qingming silently looked at him for a while, then turned to gaze at his shirt. Lu Tianyi was right! Right now, they had no choice but to believe her. What else could they do? She provided them with food and water, not to mention the fact that she had saved them.


    At that point, Huang Shou suddenly pointed at a pile of potatoes and said, "Look, aren''t those potatoes? Let''s roast some potatoes!" While speaking, he stood up, ran to the pile of potatoes. Soon, he returned back, carrying some of them.


    "Sadly, we don''t have ketchup!" said Zheng Xiaonian.


    The others spent three seconds staring at him silently, and then, they said to Huang Shou in one voice, "Huang Shou, put the potatoes down in the fire."


    "Sure!" Huang Shou grinned and responded.


    ¡­


    At the moment, Ling Qiao had no idea that Kong Qingming and Lu Tianyi were both in low spirits for a while because of her. She was standing by a window in a corridor, looking at the rain.


    Sensing the sour air coming from the outside, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but sneeze. Then, she rubbed her nose and looked at the sky. The weather in the post-apocalyptic world was awful. When the sun came out, it would be so hot, about forty or fifty degrees, even sixty at times; people would feel like burning under the sunlight. However, during night-time, it would be terribly cold.


    The rainwater was acidic, which was why Lin Qiao sensed a sourness.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest. At the moment, she wasn''t able to sense the scent of others, as the rainwater had washed all scents away and brought a sour smell which badly affected her nose.


    She wasn''t sure if Wu Chengyue was still in the same old spot or not. If he had left, she might not be able to find him. However, his army should be nearby. If she failed to locate him, she would go find his soldiers.


    As for Wu Chengyue''s soldiers, both Meng Yue and Xiao Yunlong thought that they had all been killed by the zombie queen. What they didn''t know was that not long after they left to chase the zombie queen, all the soldiers who had fallen to the ground woke up.


    The squad leaders woke up before the others. After all, they were all level-five superpowered men, and their bodies recovered quicker than the others.


    As they opened their eyes to find themselves lying on the ground defenselessly, they hurriedly sat up. Then, they saw that the others were all lying on the ground, and they didn''t know if they were still alive.


    They panicked as they struggled up from the ground to check the others. But then, they found that those people were merely fainted, with absolutely no wounds on their bodies.


    They shook those people and easily woke them up. After the last man was woken up, the group of soldiers checked each other up and found that they were just knocked out.


    No one knew what had happened.


    When they rushed up to their Deputy Chief''s room, they found the room empty, with traces left by a battle.


    What on earth had happened? They didn''t know. They only knew that someone had hit them on the back of their heads and knocked them out. They felt that because after waking up, they could still feel a dull pain from the back of their heads. However, they had no idea who had attacked them.


    There were about a thousand of them. However, the attacker knocked them all out without making any noise. That was scary!


    But soon, they started feeling lucky, because no zombies came here while they were unconscious. Otherwise, they would have all been eaten, wouldn''t they?


    But, why did no zombies come here? That was really weird! Before they fainted, they had seen quite some zombies nearby.


    Before, they would shoot any zombies that tried to approach, but as they had all fainted, no one was there shooting zombies. For that reason, there should be more and more zombies.


    About ten squad leaders gathered in Xiao Yunlong''s room, discussing.


    "What should we do now? We don''t know where did Chief Leader and Great Captain go. It seems that they were forced to leave in a haste."


    "We can''t evacuate without an order. We don''t know where Deputy Chief is, so I think we should send some people to report to Chief."


    "But, Chief is inside the zombie city. We might encounter zombie leaders there."


    "We have to go. We''ll bring more people with us. Not only Deputy Chief and Great Captain have disappeared, but Ling Ling has disappeared as well! She''ll be fine if she''s with Deputy Chief, but what if she''s in danger? Anyhow, we need to inform Chief about what happened."


    "There''s no better way."


    As a result, five level-five squad leaders led tens of soldiers toward the city.

 223 Send You Ou

    The rain lasted for two hours while Lin Qiao stayed in her space and watched the group of people roasting potatoes and talking to the little one.


    The little seemed to have believed that Lin Qiao was her zombie sister. However, she still didn''t understand why the zombie sister looked different now.


    As the little one curiously stared at Lin Qiao''s face, the latter patiently explained to her, "My face is fixed."


    Hearing that, the little one nodded dubiously.


    Lu Tianyi, who had already put on the dried shirt, found a bowl and put two perfectly roasted potatoes in the bowl before walking to Lin Qiao and standing by her side. While peeling a potato, he looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "How do you know that these mutant potatoes and pumpkins are edible? Aren''t you afraid that we might all become zombies?"


    Lin Qiao raised her head to glance at him, but remained silent. Seeing Lu Tianyi getting closer, the little one automatically moved toward Lin Qiao and hid behind her, only exposing a little foot.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at her, then asked another question, "What will you do after we leave? You''re here to find the Planning Bureau. Is there anything you need?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and nodded.


    She wanted to find all sorts of files about the resources in this city, so she would know where all the supplies were stored. She understood that those storages might have been emptied by the people who used to work in the Planning Bureau. However, under the urgent situation during the apocalyptic era, there must be some storages left untouched.


    Lu Tianyi blinked, showing an indescribable emotion. "Will you¡­go back to the base? Or, where will you settle down?" He asked. He understood that her current condition wouldn''t allow her to go back to the base. He asked the first question without thinking, and what he really wanted was the answer to the second question.


    Lin Qiao sensed his thoughts as she looked at him from head to toe with surprise. During the past few days, she had honestly felt that Lu Tianyi cared about her. She understood that the one he really cared about was Lu Tianyu, and she didn''t quite understand why. The relationship between Lu Tianyi and Lu Tianyu should be awful, so why would he care about her?


    Judging by Lu Tianyu''s attitude toward him, Lin Qiao didn''t think that the latter would actually care about her, and she just couldn''t figure out why. Since she met him, he hadn''t shown any repulsion toward her.


    She crossed her arms before her chest as she kept staring at Lu Tianyi and thinking. While reviewing Lu Tianyu''s memories and recalling the moments every time Lu Tianyu saw Lu Tianyi, she finally started to understand.


    At first, their relationship was awful indeed. When seeing each other for the first time in the base, they only glanced at each other, then pretended not to know each other and walked away.


    When Lu Tianyi was bullied by other people in the base, Lu Tianyu only looked on without offering any help.


    Later on, they would both try avoiding each other every time they met. However, the sensitive Lin Qiao discovered the changes in the look in Lu Tianyi''s eyes which happened at that time.


    His eyes were still filled with hatred and anger, but were also added with some anticipation.


    What was he looking forward to?


    Lin Qiao looked at him in the eyes.


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao looked at Lu Tianyi from head to toe and made him feel a little uncomfortable. Now, she stared at him right in the eyes, making him even more confused.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand to pull the sunglasses slightly down and exposed her dark eyes. After gazing at Lu Tianyi for three seconds, she put the sunglasses back up.


    "What? What''s wrong?" Lu Tianyi couldn''t help but ask.


    "You¡­care¡­about?" Lin Qiao said. ''You care about me? I think we weren''t so close before, were we?''


    Lu Tianyi looked at her and responded with, "You have changed, didn''t you?"


    ''Em¡­If I tell you that I''m not your evil sister, will you want to kill me?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    At that moment, the little one stuck her head out from behind Lin Qiao, looked at Lu Tianyi, who gently smiled at her. Seeing that, the little girl flinched immediately.


    Lin Qiao closed her eyes to observe the outside the world. Finding that the rain had stopped, she turned to say to the little one, "I¡­go¡­out¡­find¡­your¡­Dad¡­You¡­wait¡­here¡­"


    After saying that, she looked at the kid, waiting for her response. The little girl looked at her for a few seconds with a pair of sparkling eyes, then nodded. After that, she carried the rabbit and sat on the couch.


    Lin Qiao then turned to Lu Tianyi and said, "Send¡­you¡­out¡­" While speaking, she tilted her head toward the group of people, signaling for Lu Tianyi to tell them to get ready to leave.


    Lu Tianyi turned back and walked toward the group of people, then said to them, "Get ready, we''re leaving this place."


    Lin Qiao followed him over. As he finished talking, she pressed a hand on his shoulder, then both of them disappeared while the group of people hurriedly stood up.


    The next second, Lin Qiao showed up again, then brought two people out.


    After flashing in and out of her space for six or seven times, Lin Qiao finally got the whole group of people out.


    She sighed while complaining silently about how troublesome this was. If only she could send people in and out without touching them...


    The group of people showed up on the roof of a three-story building. The roof was wet; the rain had just stopped, so there was a lot of moisture in the air.


    Lin Qiao stood on the edge of the roof and carefully sniffed the air. Before she could locate Wu Chengyue, a series of thunder was heard from the sky. Before the group of people could react, a bolt of thunder descended toward the roof.


    Sizzling! Boom!


    "Damn!" Lin Qiao reacted fast and leaped toward the roof of another building while the others all rolled to the side on the ground.


    "I was going to leave, but you showed up so soon. Thankfully, I didn''t go far, or you''d escape!" A bland voice was heard.


    The people who had fallen to the floor because of the lightning bolt all turned to the source of the voice, then saw a smiling handsome man who was looking at the other roof.


    Lin Qiao was on that roof.


    "Chief!"


    "Chief!"


    Seeing their Chief, the group of people were quite surprised, though they didn''t understand why their Chief tried to attack them with a lightning bolt.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were doing better than the others. They didn''t react as fast as Lin Qiao did, but were still nimble enough to dodge the lightning. Anyhow, they were level-five superpowers men.


    However, they both looked as confused as their teammates. They completely had no idea about what had just happened. Why on earth did Chief attack them?


    On seeing that Wu Chengyue was smilingly staring at Lin Qiao, they turned to that direction too. Then, they found that Lin Qiao had turned around, seeming to be preparing to run.


    ''Something happened earlier between them!'' the group of people concluded immediately.

 224 Being Attacked Once She Shows Up

    Hearing Wu Chengyue''s voice, Lin Qiao glanced back at him, then disappeared. Next second, Wu Chengyue showed up in where she was standing, with an even bigger smile. Meanwhile, the group of people sensed the fierce coldness radiating in the area three meters around their Chief.


    At the moment, Lin Qiao was cursing inside her head.


    ''Damn! Why did that man show up so quickly? How on earth did he find out my location!''


    Seeing Lin Qiao enter the space, the little one thought that she was going to bring her out. So, the kid quickly ran to her and held her hand. Lin Qiao looked at the little one and couldn''t help but feel helpless.


    Before, she felt a little guilty for stealing Wu Chengyue''s zombie nucleus. But to her surprise, she got a chance to pay him back so soon, because she had saved his daughter from a zombie queen, and was going to return the child to him perfectly unharmed. For this reason, she thought that he should forgive her for stealing the zombie nucleus.


    Just now, she suffered a lightning attack from him, but she intended to take revenge for that the next time!


    Looking at the scarily smiling Wu Chengyue, the group of people were a little frightened. They didn''t know why their Chief attacked them¡­But now, they had somehow figured that their Chief was actually targeting that nice lady!


    Lu Tianyi wanted to figure out what exactly was happening now, so he hurriedly stood up and said to Wu Chengyue, "Chief Wu¡­can we quit fighting and talk instead? What¡­is happening here?"


    Hearing him, Wu Chengyue, who was standing on the other roof, turned back and glanced at the group of people. After that, he slowly walked over, stepped on the guardrail on the edge of the roof, and leaped onto this building, quietly landing before the group.


    He rested both hands in his pocket and smiled at Lu Tianyi as he asked, "Is he with you? Do you know who he is?"


    Lu Tianyi looked at him with surprise and responded, "Eh? Don''t you know who she is?"


    He thought that Wu Chengyue knew that the lady was Lu Tianyu, and that he attacked her for what she did to him before. But to his surprise, Wu Chengyue asked him who she was. It turned out that the latter didn''t recognize her.


    Wu Chengyue maintained that smile and continued, "If I knew, I wouldn''t be wasting time talking to you."


    Facing Wu Chengyue''s smiling face, Lu Tianyi''s fine hairs all stood straight up. "Then¡­how did she offend you?" He asked. He decided to figure the whole thing out before mentioning the little princess.


    Wu Chengyue''s slender eyes curved a little in that scary smile. He looked at Lu Tianyi while saying, "Aren''t you with him? Didn''t you notice that he has obtained a zombie nucleus a couple of days ago?"


    At that point, the others had all moved closer, looking at Wu Chengyue curiously. Hearing Wu Chengyue mention a zombie nucleus, they immediately thought of the nucleus which was thrown into the lake by that lady.


    Kong Qingming crossed his arms before his chest as he looked at Wu Chengyue and asked confusedly, "Eh? How do you know about it?"


    Then, the group of people heard Wu Chengyue''s meaningful laughter, "Hehe, of course I know about it, because I killed that thunder-powered zombie king! When I killed it, someone showed up suddenly and stole the zombie''s head!"


    "¡­Eh?" Lu Tianyi and the others couldn''t believe what they had heard. Kong Qingming turned to Lu Tianyi and asked, "Didn''t she say that there was another level-six zombie? Why Chief Wu?"


    "How am I supposed to know?" Lu Tianyi looked back at him and responded.


    Huang Shou turned to Zheng Xiaonian and said, "Ah, so the zombie nucleus belonged to Chief Wu! But, why did she tell us that there was another zombie?"


    Zheng Xiaonian shrugged and replied, "How am I supposed to know?"


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face now turned even weirder as he said, "Ah, so she described me as another zombie king? Alright, it''s fine, I don''t mind. But, which one of you can tell me about her identity and background? Eh?"


    Even though he was speaking with a faint smile, he had taken one hand out of his pocket, palm facing the sky with a sphere of sizzling lightning on it.


    He slowly walked to Lu Tianyi and the others while continuing, "Perhaps, you know how to make her show up. I won''t do anything to you if you help me. However, if she keeps hiding while you say nothing, I''ll be having no choice but to think of you as her friends and take care of you!"


    "No, no, no, no¡­Chief! Calm down! We can talk! I think there''s some misunderstanding¡­" The group of people was scared by the lightning in his hand as Kong Qingming hurriedly waved both hands and talked.


    Wu Chengyue smiled again, and this time, that smile of his had completely turned cold. "Hehe, misunderstanding?" He said, "You spent two days hunting a high-level zombie, but before you harvested the zombie nucleus, some thief stole it. You tell me, what kind of misunderstanding is this?"


    "Ah¡­that¡­that¡­" Kong Qingming looked at him embarrassedly. He turned to look at Lu Tianyi, thinking that the lady really liked doing suicidal things!


    Lu Tianyi was wearing an embarrassed look as well. ''Damn! Is this the zombie king you talked about? He''s even more horrible than a zombie king! Damn! If you''ve stolen from him, don''t let him find you! Now you have thrown us out and hidden back in the space, leaving us to face our Chief''s fury! That''s unfair!'' He cursed inside.


    Sizzle¡­The lightning sphere in Wu Chengyue''s hand grew larger, seeing which, Lu Tianyi and the others simultaneously took a step backward.


    They didn''t want to tell him about Lin Qiao because she had saved them and provided them with food and water. They couldn''t be ungrateful, could they?


    However¡­an infuriated base leader could be terrifying! Especially Chief Wu, who was always smiling and nice-looking.


    Right at that moment, Liu Jing abruptly started talking, "No¡­Chief, I mean, how can you still worry about the zombie nucleus? I want to know if you had left Ling Ling nearby?"


    Ling Ling?


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue frowned slightly and asked, "How do you know?"


    Ling Ling was in Binjiang District with Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue, and that area was indeed nearby. Wu Chengyue looked at Liu Jing while wondering if this group of people had met Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue.


    ''Why is he mentioning Ling Ling now? What does he mean?'' He wondered.


    Before Liu Jing and the others answered his question, a door on the roof of a nearby building was opened. Then, Xiao Yunlong came out of the door, with the fainted Meng Yue carried on his back.


    Wu Chengyue, Lu Tianyi and all the others instantly turned to them seeing that Meng Yue''s body was covered in blood. She lied on Xiao Yunlong''s shoulder, her head dropped. Xiao Yunlong''s head was slightly lowered as well, as he wasn''t looking at the group of people.


    The group of people was stunned.


    ''Damn, what now?''

 225 Are You Lying

    Seeing the two, Wu Chengyue stopped talking to Lu Tianyi and the others, but hopped onto that roof and darted to Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue.


    "Yunlong! Meng Yue! What happened to you!" Wu Chengyue came up to them and asked with a serious look; the smile on his face was gone.


    Xiao Yunlong slightly raised his head, but didn''t look at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue continued asking in an anxious tone, "Why are you here! Where''s Ling Ling? How could you leave? What if high-level zombies attacked the army?"


    On the other side, Lu Tianyi and the others glanced at each other without knowing what was happening. After that, they all leaped onto this building, but kept a distance away from Wu Chengyue.


    Judging by the look of Deputy Chief Xiao, something had definitely happened. No wonder the little princess was saved by that lady. If she didn''t save the kid, the consequences would be unimaginable.


    Lu Tianyi and the others had nearly figured out the whole story, yet Wu Yueling didn''t know a thing yet. However, at the moment, he panicked a little. Seeing the looks of Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue, he surely knew that something bad had happened. Most importantly, his daughter wasn''t with them!


    "Xiao Yunlong, talk! Where''s Ling Ling? And what happened to Meng Yue?" Wu Chengyue stared straight at Xiao Yunlong, then glanced at Meng Yue.


    "I''m sorry!" Xiao Yunlong quickly glanced at him, then apologized to him with a bitter face and a dry voice.


    Wu Chengyue''s pupils shrank as a bad feeling rose in his heart. With disbelief, he shook his head and said, "No¡­I don''t want your apology! Why did you apologize! Ling Ling¡­Where''s Ling Ling? Where''s Ling Ling!"


    Suddenly, he growled out loud. However, Xiao Yunlong responded with the same three words.


    "I''m sorry¡­I''m sorry¡­"


    Seeing that Wu Chengyue''s energy had started seeping out of his body, Lu Tianyi and the others understood that he was about to lose control of himself.


    "Wait! Chief! Calm down! Calm down! Ling Ling is¡­" Lu Tianyi hurriedly shouted out. Xiao Yunlong''s attitude confirmed Wu Chengyue''s guess. If Ling Ling was fine, Xiao Yunlong wouldn''t apologize to him! Besides, the latter didn''t dare to look at him in the eyes.


    At the moment, his face was already a little twisted. His good-looking slender eyes were now wide open, and a few veins had bulged from his forehead.


    Hearing Lu Tianyi''s words, he turned back to glared at Lu Tianyi and said with a deep voice, "Calm down? Do you know that I left Ling Ling to him before I came here? But now, he''s not with Ling Ling! Do you understand what kind of danger Ling Ling might face without the protection of his or mine? But now, he''s here with Meng Yue. Where''s my Ling Ling then!"


    "Here! Your Ling Ling is right here!" Looking at Wu Chengyue''s red eyes, the group of people hurriedly answered his question in one voice.


    "Yes, Ling Ling is fine! Please calm down!" Said Kong Qingming carefully. If Chief Wu lost control of himself in this place, this group of people would suffer like hell!


    Normally, Chief Wu was nice and smiling, but when it came to his precious little girl, this nice man would become like a violent terrorist! Not to mention the fact that he was a level-seven superpowered man¡­Once he lost control of his power, his body might explode!


    "What did you say?" Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong said in one voice as they turned to Kong Qingming simultaneously. Wu Chengyue paused briefly, and before he said anything, Xiao Yunlong said, "That''s impossible! How can Ling Ling be here? That zombie queen couldn''t possibly bring her here!"


    His words confirmed Wu Chengyue''s guess.


    Hearing Xiao Yunlong''s words, Wu Chengyue suddenly turned back as he stared at him and asked, "What? What zombie queen? Why is Ling Ling with a zombie queen?"


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Wu Chengyue, then dropped his head before the latter''s twisted face while murmuring, "I''m sorry¡­It''s my fault. I failed to protect Ling Ling. I let a weird zombie queen take her away! I''m sorry¡­sorry¡­"


    Wu Chengyue''s pupils suddenly shrank again. He took a step backward as he replied with disbelief, "That can''t happen¡­How can there be another level-six zombie¡­You lied¡­You lied, didn''t you? Xiao Yunlong, did you lie to me!"


    At the moment, Xiao Yunlong had already bent his tall and sturdy body. He didn''t say anything, but stood there quietly. Seeing the furious look on Wu Chengyue''s face, Lu Tianyi and the others were getting anxious as well.


    "Chief! Ling Ling is fine! She was with us just now! Please calm down!" Lu Tianyi shouted.


    "Sister! Stop hiding! Please come out!" Liu Jing yelled at the sky.


    Wu Chengyue wasn''t paying attention to Lu Tianyi''s words. Xiao Yunlong was still immersed in the scene of the car crash that Meng Yue and Ling Ling suffered, so he couldn''t listen to anyone at the moment either.


    However, Liu Jing''s shout attracted Wu Chengyue''s attention, making him turn around and look at Lu Tianyi confusedly.


    Lu Tianyi took a small step forward and said, "Please calm down and listen to me. Ling Ling is fine. We were with her just now. She was brought here by a zombie queen, that''s true. However, before the zombie did anything to her, she was saved by something else. So, please calm down."


    "What?" Wu Chengyue glared at him with disbelief.


    "He''s right," Kong Qingming hurriedly added, "It''s that one who disappeared just now. You''ve seen that she has a space. Ling Ling is in her space right now. So, please calm down, so she can bring Ling Ling out."


    At that point, Xiao Yunlong made some reaction as well. Also with a confused look, he turned to look at Kong Qingming.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao heard their conversation and felt that it was about time. She hopped onto the roof of another building, then showed her face, standing on the guardrail on the edge of the roof.


    Once she showed up, the group of people immediately turned to her. At the sight of her, Wu Chengyue automatically attempted to attack.


    However, Lu Tianyi''s words made him stop.


    "Wait! Chief, you better stay here. Otherwise, she''ll turn and enter her space right away."


    Wu Chengyue paused and shouted anxiously at Lin Qiao, "Where''s Ling Ling? Do you have her?"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes, even though her eyes were covered by the sunglasses.


    ''What does he mean by ''do I have her''? It''s not like I kidnapped her. Don''t make me sound like a bad person!'' She thought.

 226 Ling Ling Is Ou

    Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Chengyue and felt that he was really worried about his daughter. So, she flashed into her space.


    As Lin Qiao disappeared without warning, Wu Chengyue''s face darkened immediately, turning back to glare at Lu Tianyi and the others abruptly.


    Seeing this, the targets of his stare were instantly frightened, all carefully taking a step backward.


    However, before Wu Chengyue could make any move, Lin Qiao showed up again, with the little one carried in her arms. The kid was still holding the grey rabbit.


    The group of people sighed in relief on turning to find that Lin Qiao had shown up with Wu Yueling. Finally, they didn''t need to suffer the pressure from their Chief.


    At the moment, Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong both popped their eyes. The former moved immediately, darting at Lin Qiao.


    However, Lin Qiao reacted a little quicker than he did. Once he moved, she moved as well. They both flashed across the air and moved to new spots within a second.


    Wu Chengyue stood where Lin Qiao was while the latter moved to the side with the little one.


    "Stop! Give Ling Ling back to me!" Wu Chengyue growled frowningly. He was enraged, as he didn''t think that Lin Qiao would run. As he finished speaking, he saw Lin Qiao shaking her head at him.


    "You! What do you want!" Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes and stared at Lin Qiao with a dark face.


    He realized that she was a female mostly because of her huge breasts. She was wearing a hat and a sunglasses, so he could only see her nose, lips, and chin.


    Earlier, this woman stole his level-six zombie nucleus, and now, she kidnapped his daughter! What on earth did she want!


    Seeing that Lin Qiao didn''t intend to give Ling Ling back, Wu Chengyue was infuriated. His handsome face twisted with rage as he stared at her with a pair of icy-cold eyes. Meanwhile, a purple lightning sphere emerged in his hands.


    Lin Qiao frowned as well, wondering why this man was so bad-tempered. He was a base leader, yet he couldn''t even stay calm. Every time she saw him, he tried to start a fight. She wasn''t even sure if he was really a leader.


    Seeing Ling Ling, Xiao Yunlong hurriedly put Meng Yue down by the stairs, let her lean against the wall. After that, he flashed to the other side of Lin Qiao, seeming about to fight her together with Wu Chengyue.


    Seeing that, Lu Tianyi and the others understood that something bad was about to happen.


    "Wait a moment!" Lu Tianyi hurriedly stepped up and shouted, "Can we please talk? Chief, before we have figured out what''s really going on, I don''t think this is appropriate!"


    "Yeah," Kong Qingming added, "This lady has indeed saved Ling Ling. If it weren''t for her, Ling Ling would still be with that level-six zombie. Shouldn''t we thank her?"


    Hearing him, Xiao Yunlong hesitated. He glanced at Wu Chengyue, then opened his mouth and tried to say something. But at that time, Wu Chengyue responded coldly, "If she didn''t steal my zombie nucleus, I''d thank her sincerely."


    "Stealing from you is her fault," said Kong Qingming, "But she saved your daughter. So somehow, she has made it up to you. Just forgive her, shall we?"


    Wu Chengyue wasn''t trying to hold onto that zombie nucleus. However, he couldn''t forgive Lin Qiao for stealing from him! If she didn''t have Ling Ling, he would have sent a series of lightning bolts down to her.


    But still, he wouldn''t mix these two events. If she truly saved Ling Ling, he would thank her. However, she stole from him, and for that, she needed to pay.


    "I''ll accept any of her requirements if she gives Ling Ling to me now. But, she stole from me, and that''s another thing," he said coldly.


    "Chengyue, wait," said Xiao Yunlong, "I think he''s right. You need to calm down now. Earlier on, Ling Ling¡­was really taken away by a weird level-six zombie. I don''t know why that zombie didn''t hurt Ling Ling, but thankfully, she was saved timely. About that, this lady here has helped us."


    ''Thank God! Thank God!'' Xiao Yunlong kept saying to himself. He thought that he would spend the rest of his life with a sense of guilt because he had failed to protect his Goddaughter. But unexpectedly, Ling Ling was saved!


    Anyhow, this mysterious woman had really helped them.


    Wu Chengyue only gave him a cold glance, but stayed silent.


    At that point, Lin Qiao sighed, then squatted and put Wu Yueling down. After that, she pointed at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Yueling understood that Lin Qiao wanted her to go to her Dad, but before leaving, she pulled her cloth. Lin Qiao thought that the kid was reluctant to part with her, but to her surprise, she sensed a thought when holding her little hand.


    ''Can I come back to play with Viney¡­''


    ''So, it''s not because of me? It''s because of Viney! It seems that the two of them are getting along well,'' she thought.


    "Ling Ling, come to Daddy!" The little girl''s reaction made Wu Chengyue''s heart twitch. For some reason, he suddenly felt that his daughter was about to be taken away from him forever. Hearing his voice, Wu Yueling dropped Lin Qiao''s hand and turned to walk to Wu Chengyue while turning back from time to time.


    Same as the last time, the rabbit jumped off from her arms and glanced at Wu Yueling, then hopped to Lin Qiao.


    As the little rabbit left, the little one was immediately a little lost.


    She stopped after making two steps toward her Dad. Wu Chengyue got a little anxious, and in the next second, he flashed to his daughter''s side and scooped her up.


    Meanwhile, an arm-thick bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking at Lin Qiao.


    ''Damn!''


    Lin Qiao cursed in her head while nimbly made a backflip to dodge. At that moment, Wu Chengyue had already brought Ling Ling to Xiao Yunlong. All of the others, including Xiao Yunlong, were looking at Wu Chengyue with a stunned look.


    ''What? Why did you attack without warning? It''s really¡­eh, unkind for you to attack the person who has helped you with thunderbolts!''


    However, those people then realized that it was also unkind for Lin Qiao to steal his zombie nucleus.


    As Wu Chengyue prepared to check Ling Ling up, he unexpectedly saw that his daughter was staring at him angrily with a pair of tearful eyes.


    ''¡­Why did you hit Zombie Sister! You hit Zombie Sister again!''


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t read his daughter''s mind, but still, he understood that his daughter was upset because he attacked that strange woman.


    ''Why is she on her side now? How has she been brainwashing my daughter these few days!'' He thought.

 228 The Hat Falling Off Means Defea

    Anyone with some knowledge regarding combat skills would be able to figure out if a person knew how to fight or not based on that person''s posture.


    Judging by Lin Qiao''s posture, the group of people knew that she was a fighter.


    "Wow! She has a chance!" They got excited, staring at Lin Qiao and Wu Yueling with anticipation. Lu Tianyi looked at Lin Qiao with surprise as she made the posture, but didn''t forget to take a few more steps backward.


    Lin Qiao didn''t respond to Wu Chengyue with any words, but he didn''t care. Instead, he smiled and said, "I am really sorry! Normally, I won''t fight a woman. However, since you want to do this, I''ll do it with you. Since this is more like a competition, the one who makes the other''s hat fall off wins."


    While speaking, he pulled out the training cap which was tied around his waist and put it on.


    Lin Qiao quietly stared at him, without making any response. They both remained silent for a few seconds while facing each other. Wu Chengyue didn''t make a move, neither did Lin Qiao.


    Even though they didn''t move, the others had all become nervous.


    Their hats were in the same style. Wu Chengyue''s hat was in camouflage color, while Lin Qiao''s was black.


    The one who made the other''s hat fall would be the winner!


    Both of them were preparing for attacking and defending at the same time, so neither of them launched the first strike. However, the longer they remained motionless, the more nervous the others got.


    "Come on¡­fight, fight¡­" suddenly, someone said with a low voice, and the others immediately turned to that man.


    "Eh¡­I was getting a little anxious!" After saying what he was thinking out loud, that man regretted it a little bit. Now, as the others were all eyeing him, he couldn''t help but explain with a low voice.


    Hearing that, the others turned back to Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao moved, lunging and throwing a kick toward Wu Chengyue. Her movements were swift and powerful, such that her long leg even created a slight swishing noise while swinging across the air.


    Thud! Once Lin Qiao moved, Wu Chengyue moved as well. Lin Qiao was fast, but so was he.


    As Lin Qiao sent out the kick, Wu Chengyue made a step forward, turned his body, and raised a leg to kick the back of her lower leg. Meanwhile, he easily defended himself against Lin Qiao''s kick. In the next moment, while holding off Lin Qiao''s leg, he thrust his own leg to kick Lin her chest.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly pulled her leg back and turned her body. Meanwhile, she crossed her arms to defend against Wu Chengyue''s leg, and next, she pounced straight at Wu Chengyue''s face.


    Wu Chengyue was over six feet tall, and had long legs. However, he was nimble enough. As Lin Qiao launched the punch, he raised an arm to shield his face while making a punch as well.


    Lin Qiao fended herself against his fist. When Wu Chengyue pulled back his foot, she suddenly leaped up and kicked at his stomach.


    Within a short while, they had each made a series of attacks, yet neither of them managed to hurt each other, as none of their attacks worked. While defending themselves, they were also about to find chances to launch new attacks.


    Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao didn''t feel anything particular, but the others were all dazzled, because both of them were way too fast!


    Within a blink, they had switched to quite a few new spots.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao grasped an opportunity to clasp Wu Chengyue''s fist which was coming at her, then pull him backward. Meanwhile, she lifted her thigh to knee his lower abdomen.


    Wu Chengyue dropped his eyes while shouting ''Not good'' inside his head. Hurriedly, he bent slightly and turned his body. However, as Lin Qiao violently twisted his wrist, his body was pressed down to the ground.


    ''Damn! This woman is even stronger than a man!'' He couldn''t help but curse inside his head.


    After the knee attack failed, Lin Qiao grasped his arm with both hands and dragged him downward, then elbowed his face.


    Wu Chengyue quickly raised another hand to protect himself. At the same time, he put a foot against Lin Qiao''s foot, then pulled his arm hard to try and throw her away.


    If Lin Qiao were an ordinary human being, she might have flown out. Instead of that, she clenched Wu Chengyue''s hand and nimbly turned her body in the air, then agilely wrapped a leg around his neck. After that, she added another leg and brought his upper body down to the ground.


    Thud! Both of them fell on the concrete floor.


    "Ouch¡­That hurts!" The group of people were shocked by how they fell to the ground.


    "Em¡­" Wu Chengyue let out a muffled moan. As he realized what had happened, he found that his upper body was under Lin Qiao''s control, and that his hat was gone. His hand grabbed by her had been pulled upward, and she wasn''t loosening her grip at all. Her legs were crossed around his neck, tightly clamping his upper body.


    Then, something even worse happened. Lin Qiao suddenly pulled his arm backward, seeming about to break that arm.


    "Ah! F**k!" Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but give a howl. His face blushed because of the pain, and his veins bulged from his forehead. His blood surged up to his head, making him even stop thinking.


    He clenched his teeth so tight that even his masseter muscles swelled. However, he still clenched his fist without screaming out loud or kicking his legs to struggle. Instead, he suddenly fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao''s thigh which was right under his neck, then opened his mouth wide and made a large bite.


    "Roar!" Lin Qiao was going to let him go. She had taken off his hat, so she was already the winner. However, before she could make a move, her sensitive and tender thigh was suddenly bitten by Wu Chengyue. Being stimulated by the weird sting, Lin Qiao raised her head and gave a roar.


    As she raised her head, she unwittingly pulled Wu Chengyue''s arm further backward, which made Wu Chengyue suffer a huger pain!


    Feeling the pain, Wu Chengyue didn''t relax his bite, but bit even harder. And then, Lin Qiao suffered a greater pain.


    "F**K!" Lin Qiao who always talked slowly, couldn''t help but curse as well.


    At that point, the others had all burst into laughter.


    Wu Chengyue''s arm was about to be broken by Lin Qiao, while she was suffering from Wu Chengyue''s bite. What on earth were they doing? Couldn''t they engage in a decent fight?


    ''Chief, you have lost already! Why did you bite the lady''s thigh!''

 229 Someone Bit A Zombie

    Lin Qiao didn''t know that she could sense pain again, and the pain seemed to be even more obvious than it should be. Was that an illusion? Or, were that man''s teeth too sharp?


    Lin Qiao was so unhappy right now. Her inner thigh was bitten by a man. She wanted to accuse that man of indecent assault!


    Except for the piercing pain, she had also sensed an itchy feeling from the area of her thigh which that man was still biting.


    ''Damn! Damn! Damn!'' She cursed inside while hurriedly letting go of that man''s arm.


    "Let¡­go¡­" she clenched her teeth and uncrossed her legs, then sat up to grip his neck.


    "Em¡­" As his arm was set free, Wu Chengyue relaxed his bite, then dragged Lin Qiao''s hand away from his neck and quickly stood up.


    "Pah!" While spitting saliva, he rubbed his arm which was nearly broken by Lin Qiao while she stared at him, rubbing her thigh. The others all laughed because of the weird posture that Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue ended the fight with. None of them realized that the roar that Lin Qiao had let out because of the pain was not quite the same as the roars of healthy human beings.


    At first, it seemed to be a battle between two professionals, but unexpectedly, Wu Chengyue soon fell into Lin Qiao''s control. As a man, he might have greater strength than she did, but she was much nimbler than him.


    So at last, Lin Qiao quietly and skillfully suppressed Wu Chengyue. That was nothing abnormal, in fact; but to everyone''s surprise, the pretty decent fight suddenly turned into a wrestle between kids.


    Wu Chengyue, the strong man, bit his opponent! If it were Lin Qiao, who was a female, who made the bite, the group of people might be less shocked.


    Lin Qiao stood up; her clothes had become a little messy because of the fight. The shirt wrapped around her shoulder had turned back, and her shirt had rolled up a little bit.


    She rubbed the tooth print on her thigh, then pointed at Wu Chengyue and said through gritted teeth, "You¡­bit¡­me!"


    She couldn''t even believe it! What the hell! As a zombie, she didn''t try to bite anyone! On the contrary, that man bit her! Thankfully, he didn''t bite through her skin and drank her blood. Otherwise, he might have become a zombie!


    However, that wasn''t what she was worried about. ''Damn! I''m a zombie! I''m a zombie! Why on earth am I bitten by someone!''


    At the moment, Wu Chengyue finally realized what he had done. He blushed instantly, then made a fist with his unharmed hand and put it near his mouth as he coughed slightly. After that, he turned his face away.


    ''Damn! It''s so shameful! Why did I bite her! I''m not a dog! It''s so awkward now!''


    A series of laughter was suddenly heard. The group of people who were trying to keep themselves from laughing out loud all burst into laughter on hearing what Lin Qiao said.


    Lu Tianyi recovered from the shock, then also made a fist and put it near his mouth like Wu Chengyue did, and said, "Eh-hem, Chief, you lost! Your hat has fallen off." While speaking, he pointed at the hat which was lying next to Lin Qiao''s feet.


    Wu Chengyue turned back and walked toward the stairs while responding, "I lost. I''ll forgive her for stealing my zombie nucleus."


    Lin Qiao stared at his back, thinking that maybe she should rush up and bite his neck right now. Seeing the look on her face, Lu Tianyi suddenly figured out what she was thinking. So, he hurriedly ran up to her and picked up his Chief''s hat.


    "Haha, in fact, you''ve made him suffer enough pain by trying to break his arm. Don''t get mad! But, when did you become so good at fighting? Did you¡­" He wanted to ask Lin Qiao if she learned how to fight after becoming a zombie.


    Li Qiao glanced at him. Her speed and reactions were indeed improved a lot after she became a zombie, but all her moves were created by herself back in the army.


    Her strength, speed, reaction had all improved drastically, but still, Wu Chengyue managed to engage in quite a long fight against her. That was already impressive! However, why did he bite her? Did he bite her because he couldn''t defeat her? Was he a dog?


    And, was he leaving? Wasn''t he even going to apologize for biting her?


    Wu Chengyue might have sensed Lin Qiao''s thought, as he stopped abruptly, then slightly turned his head and said to Lin Qiao with a low voice, "Em, just now¡­I''m sorry! And¡­Thank you for saving Ling Ling."


    Having finished with that, he continued walking toward Xiao Yunlong and Wu Yueling while the others all stood up and followed him.


    "Chief, can we follow you?" Kong Qingming walked toward the stairs and said to Wu Chengyue.


    "Sure," Wu Chengyue responded with a smile. Then, he turned to Xiao Yunlong and asked, "How''s Meng Yue? Is she injured badly? We need to send her back to the base if she''s not doing good."


    "She has been starved for two days," said Xiao Yunlong, "She fainted because she''s physically down. Her injuries aren''t so bad, but she has lost quite some blood."


    Hearing the conversation between Wu Chengyue and Kong Qingming, Lu Tianyi knew that he should be leaving. But before that, he had another question for Lin Qiao.


    "Where can I find you? Will you stay in the East?"


    Hearing him, Lin Qiao stopped staring at Wu Chengyue angrily, but turned to him and responded, "We''ll¡­meet¡­if¡­fate¡­says¡­so"


    She didn''t tell him that she might stay in this area, and that she would be with Lin Feng and his people.


    Lu Tianyi continued staring at her. He waited for a few seconds, but she never said another word. After that, he sighed, turned and walked to Wu Chengyue and the others. But before leaving, the others all turned to Lin Qiao and one of them shouted, "Sister, are you going back to the base with us?"


    "Have you forgotten that she still has something to do? She stayed here because of us," said Kong Qingming to those people.


    "Eh? Ah!" The group of people had nearly forgotten about that.


    "Sister, what''s your name? We don''t know your name yet!" Shouted Zheng Xiaonian.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming both turned to Lin Qiao with a weird look.


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong also turned to Lin Qiao with curiosity. They wanted to know how Lin Qiao would introduce herself, and if they had heard her name before.


    Lin Qiao glanced at them and said one word, "Lin¡­"


    Her voice was rather low, so Zheng Xiaonian and the others didn''t hear her clearly.


    "Eh? What did sister say just now? Did you hear it?"


    "Not quite clearly¡­"


    "She said ''Lin''," said Wu Chengyue.


    "Lin?"

 231 Stingy Man

    After entering her space, Lin Qiao let go of Xie Dong, then closed her eyes, turned herself invisible, and went outside. Hearing the young female zombie''s unhappy and unruly roars, she only gave a faint smile. Then, she turned around and leaped off the building to leave.


    She needed to accomplish her task. Lu Tianyi, his people, and the little one had disrupted her plans multiple times, so she hadn''t gotten the time to look for the information about supply storages.


    On the other side, Lu Tianyi asked Xiao Yunlong while moving forward with his team, "How did you run into that zombie queen? What power does it have?"


    The others also curiously turned to Xiao Yunlong who was carrying Meng Yue. They all wanted to know how he let the zombie take away the little princess.


    Xiao Yunlong replied, "It came to us, and even Meng Yue didn''t sense it. By the time we discovered it, it was already at our door. We jumped out of the window, but it was swift and traceless. We drove the car, but before we could go far, it turned our car upside down. Meng Yue and Ling Ling were in the car. When I got there, Ling Ling had disappeared."


    Having finished talking, he lowered his head, seeming to be a little upset.


    Wu Chengyue carried his daughter as he rubbed her back. He sensed that the energy inside her daughter''s body seemed to be reaching a breakthrough. He wondered if his daughter''s power was going to be triggered.


    He turned to look at Lu Tianyi and the others, then asked, "That¡­with that woman¡­How did you meet Ling Ling and that zombie queen? And you were brave enough to take Ling Ling back from it...How did you do that?"


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming both smiled. "Not us, it was her alone," Lu Tianyi said. Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong looked at them with surprise, waiting for their explanation.


    "She has a space," said Kong Qingming, "We were in somewhere else half a month ago. We were caught by a group of level-five zombies, and were driven to Upper City District. She showed up suddenly and saved all of us. Afterward, we rested in her space. We don''t know what happened before she brought Ling Ling in the space."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong glanced at each other, then turned to look at Ling Ling. Wu Chengyue sighed in relief gratefully, then said, "Fortunately, the zombie queen didn''t hurt Ling Ling, or¡­"


    "What plan do you have right now?" Asked Xiao Yunlong, "I think your zombie nucleus is stolen, isn''t it? Should we go find another level-six zombie? Speaking of which, I think you''re too stingy. She saved Ling Ling, yet you tried to hold onto the zombie nucleus. It''s not too much at all to pay her with the zombie nucleus for your daughter''s life, is it?"


    Even though the conversations that Xiao Yunlong heard just now at the roof confused him, but from those, he still learned something important¡ªthe woman who was bitten by Wu Chengyue stole his zombie nucleus. Judging by how angry he was, she should have stolen that thunder-powered nucleus.


    The others all nodded in agreement.


    "True!" Those people didn''t know that the nice and gentle Wu Chengyue could actually be so stingy. Wu Chengyue glanced at Xiao Yunlong with a faint smile while saying, "Is this the first day you came to know me? Besides, haven''t I let her go? I''ve thanked her¡­and if she ever needs my help in the future, I''ll help her."


    Xiao Yunlong rolled his eyes and responded, "You bit her! You lost the fight, and you actually bit her! I can''t even believe that you did it!"


    Wu Chengyue gave him a sideways glance, then smiled and said, "What did you say? I didn''t hear you clearly."


    Xiao Yunlong immediately turned to a wall and said, "You''re a stingy man¡­ You''re always like that! Don''t deny!"


    At the moment, the others had all been eyeing Wu Chengyue with surprise. They somehow felt that they had known something important, and began to worry if he would kill them to keep them silent.


    Wu Chengyue smiled again and replied, "Yeah, I''m always stingy, so what? Let''s return to our campsite as soon as possible. Meng Yue isn''t doing good. Why did you bring her here?"


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Meng Yue who was lying on his back, then said, "We came here to tell you what happened to Ling Ling, but it started raining. And, I don''t know if the zombie queen will go back to the campsite or not."


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him, remaining silent. But suddenly, he recalled the rabbit which jumped out of Ling Ling''s arms earlier, and felt that it looked familiar.


    Why didn''t that woman eat the rabbit? Why did she keep it? He felt that he just couldn''t understand women.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao spent a few days in searching through the entire West Lake District, finally locating the Planning Bureau. At the same time, the young female zombie had been trying to find her. However, no one could find the invisible Lin Qiao currently.


    Lin Qiao found lots of maps in the Planning Bureau, with which, she now had a much clearer understanding of Hangzhou City geographically.


    According to the marks on some maps, she found quite some storages. Rice, flour, oil, salt, and some other food supplies were well preserved. About thirty percent of them had gone bad, but the rest were still edible.


    Lin Qiao put a good amount of rice, salt, and some other food which were packed with vacuum into her space.


    Her mission was accomplished. She had checked the city and found some nice places. However, that young female zombie could still be a trouble. So, she decided to let Qiu Lili handle her.


    She found a drivable car from a car shop, then began driving back. Next day, she returned to the hotel in Linan City, where Lin Feng and his people were staying.


    At about five meters from the hotel, she found a great number of zombies crowding on the road. As she released her vibe, the zombies immediately moved away and made a path for her. However, they didn''t seem to leave.


    After Lin Qiao passed, they jammed the road again,


    After driving through the zombie wall, Lin Qiao stuck her head out of the car window to look at those zombies. Then, she found that they were all facing the outside or walking around.


    She guessed that Qiu Lili might have given them some kind of order.


    Taking her head back, she continued driving toward the hotel. Soon, she parked by the hotel and saw the two children playing around.


    "Tongtong, this way, this way¡­Haha¡­Come and get me¡­" Lin Xiaolu''s silvery voice was heard. The two children were chasing each other on the broad parking lot.


    "Em¡­em¡­Don''t run¡­" Tong Tong shouted behind Lin Xiaolu.


    Cheng Wangxue and Junjun sat by a flower nursery nearby, watching the two kids while chatting. "You don''t remember anything, so if you saw the man who abandoned you two one day, will you remember him?" Cheng Wangxue asked.

 230 Another Invisible Zombie

    Lu Tianyi, who stood near Lin Qiao, glanced at her with surprise, then guessed that she changed her name because people now believed that Lu Tianyu had died. After glancing at her once more, he turned back to follow the others.


    Xie Dong walked to Lin Qiao with the grey rabbit, then threw it at her.


    She caught the rabbit and threw it into her space. Then, she walked to the guardrail and sat on it, turning around and putting both feet outside the building.


    While rubbing her thigh which was bitten by Wu Chengyue, she still felt shocked.


    ''Damn, isn''t it too weird for a man to bite someone else? And, as a zombie, I can actually feel pain! Is that because Viney has fixed my body?''


    She was now able to utter sounds and feel pain. And, her body seemed to be more sensitive than that of healthy human beings! Why? She was a zombie, so why on earth could she feel pain? Someone bit her, and that made her suffer like hell! So, if she ever got hurt during fights, she might die because of pain!


    She suddenly felt that being able to feel nothing was better than now!


    Xie Dong stood beside her as he took out the small notebook and wrote¡ª''You seemed to be in pain just now!''


    Finishing writing, he showed Lin Qiao the question.


    Lin Qiao turned to read the note, then took off her sunglasses and wiped them with her shirt. Meanwhile, she replied, "Very¡­painful¡­"


    ''Seem? It hurts like hell!'' She thought.


    She wiped off the dust on the sunglasses, then prepared to put it back on. But suddenly, she paused and turned her head, her sharp eyes fixed on the other side of the roof.


    Xie Dong turned to that direction as well but saw nothing. He turned back to Lin Qiao with confusion, as he didn''t know what she had seen.


    Lin Qiao stared at that area, then flipped back and jumped off the guardrail. She faced that area coldly and said two words, "Come¡­out!"


    Xie Dong wasn''t able to see it, but unlike him, Lin Qiao quickly closed her eyes and detected a green sphere of energy in that area, remaining motionless.


    She blinked before putting on the sunglasses, and within that moment, she saw the green energy out of the corners of her eyes.


    Lin Qiao''s reaction made Xie Dong alert as both of them quietly looked at that area. Xie Dong was still searching for the target, yet Lin Qiao had her eyes fixed on it.


    Soon, the owner of the green energy showed her face, maybe because she had realized that Lin Qiao had discovered her.


    A young female zombie who had half a face covered in scales slowly showed up. She angrily stared at Lin Qiao, then suddenly bared her teeth and roared out loud.


    "Roar!"


    ''It''s you! You stole my little sister!''


    Lin Qiao and Xie Dong were both surprised a little. The young female zombie was a conscious zombie queen.


    ''When did Wu Yueling become your little sister?'' Lin Qiao thought, ''She has a father! You stole her from her family, so how dare you accuse me of stealing your little sister?''


    "She¡­has¡­family¡­'' Lin Qiao said to the young female zombie. She wanted to tell her that it was wrong for her to steal the child, because the child''s family would worry about her.


    The young female zombie was puzzled at first, then continued staring at Lin Qiao with anger.


    "Roarrrrr!"


    ''But she''s adorable. I like her very much.''


    Lin Qiao raised her brows, looking at the young female zombie with confusion. She felt that the zombie was a little silly. Ling Ling was adorable indeed, but she didn''t belong to the zombie. The zombie was free to adore her, but shouldn''t steal her.


    "You¡­can¡­like¡­her, but¡­can''t¡­kidnap¡­her¡­" She explained to the young fame zombie patiently. Hearing that, the zombie snorted, then continued roaring.


    "Roar!"


    ''I like her! Why can''t I kidnap her? I''m bored alone, so I want her to play with me! I didn''t hurt her! You all think that I''ll hurt her!''


    Lin Qiao nodded. She believed the zombie because when she found the little one with this zombie, the other acted very carefully, as if Ling Ling was her cherished toy. But¡­


    "Because¡­you¡­don''t¡­look¡­like¡­a¡­good¡­person, and, you¡­are¡­a¡­zombie¡­" Lin Qiao pointed at her own face and said to the young female zombie.


    Hearing that, the zombie immediately disagreed and burst in screams.


    "Roar! Roarrrrr!"


    ''I don''t know what a zombie is! I know that I''m ugly, but I don''t know why I became so ugly! I always looked like this! I don''t even remember who I am¡­I don''t care¡­I want my little sister! I want her!''


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless, as she felt that the young female zombie was acting like a little kid who was crying for candy. She turned to make eye-contact with Xie Dong.


    At that moment, the young female zombie suddenly wore a different look as she stared at her with a dark and icy-cold face while uttering a deep growl.


    "Roarrrrrr¡­"


    ''I don''t care. I want you to take me to my little sister, or I''ll bite you to death!''


    Lin Qiao didn''t understand why the zombie abruptly began to threaten her.


    "Why¡­don''t¡­you¡­go¡­yourself?" Asked Lin Qiao.


    The young female zombie crossed her arms before her chest, then curved her lips downward as she snorted and replied, "Hem¡­Roar¡­oar¡­"


    ''Because it seems that they won''t kill you. If I go, the man who fought you will definitely kill me.''


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao immediately figured out that the young female zombie was afraid of level-seven superpowered human beings. As a zombie queen, her instincts might have been telling her to stay away from level-seven human beings. However, she was able to turn herself invisible, so she should be able to sneakily approach Wu Yueling.


    "I¡­am¡­busy¡­" Lin Qiao spread her hands and said. She didn''t have the time to care about this strange young female zombie! The zombie was able to turn herself invisible, but so was she! In the worst case, she could just hide in her space. She wasn''t afraid of the young female zombie even though she wasn''t able to defeat her in a face-to-face battle.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s worse, the young female zombie was infuriated right away. She glared at Lin Qiao, bared her teeth, and gave another roar.


    "Roar!"


    ''Aren''t you afraid that I might beat you!''


    Lin Qiao turned around, grabbed Xie Dong, then flashed into her space.


    As Lin Qiao turned around, the young female zombie moved as well. She lunged at her as fast as a bolt of lightning, but when she darted to where she was, the two were both gone.


    She paused a little, then looked around in a panic. Then, she realized that Lin Qiao had disappeared from this place. The young female zombie screamed, unwilling to give up.


    "Roar!"


    ''I''ll find you!''

 232 Maybe Abandon

    Junjun looked at her confusedly, then wrote on a notebook¡ª''How do you know that he abandoned us? Maybe he has become a zombie, or died.''


    Cheng Wangxue looked at her, then at Tong Tong. "My feeling is always right," she said, "If he didn''t abandon you, why were you in that room with Tong Tong alone? If Lu Tianyu didn''t pass by that area, you two might have still been locked in that building. You told me that the gate downstairs was locked. Do you think it was you or someone else who locked it?" While speaking, she turned back to Junjun.


    Junjun frowned slightly, then shook her head and wrote¡ª''I remember that it was locked from the outside, so I couldn''t unlock it. I don''t remember anything else.''


    She paused slightly, then continued writing¡ª''Maybe you''re right. I don''t know if I can still recognize him or not, because I don''t remember anything that happened in the past.''


    Cheng Wangxue looked at her in the eyes and said, "It''s alright, Tong Tong has you! You''re his mother, so you''ll protect him, right?"


    Junjun nodded while affectionately looking at Tong Tong, who was chasing Lin Xiaolu. After that, Cheng Wangxue pointed at her eyes and continued, "The dark circles under your eyes are becoming smaller and smaller, and your eye color is turning deeper. Are you upgrading soon?"


    Junjun touched her eye sockets, then wrote to respond¡ª''I''m not sure, but I do have a strange feeling.''


    "The water that Lu Tianyu left us is truly effective. Even my foot is recovering much quicker than before. We haven''t been taking any medicines at all," said Cheng Wangxue, and Junjun smiled at her in response.


    Recently, she bathed in the tubful of water that Lin Qiao left for her every single day. Even though the latter told her that she should run the water off after two bathes, she didn''t want to waste it. So, she bathed in it for a few days in a row.


    Of course, she would roughly clean herself before getting into the tub.


    ''In fact, you can do a foot soak with the lake water. Your foot might recover even quicker that way,'' she thought for a moment and wrote.


    Cheng Wangxue shook her head and said, "No, water is too precious in this world, so how can I soak my foot in it? We''re lucky to be here. If you go to the North or Northeast, you''ll know how precious the water is. The environment is tough over there. The world outside the bases is occupied by sandstorm and smog. People need to wear respirators or masks when getting out."


    Junjun smilingly nodded at her. At that moment, a white figure flashed down from the roof and landed beside them.


    "Ahyayaya¡­" Qiu Lili yelled at them.


    "What did she say?" Cheng Wangxue looked at Qiu Lili with confusion, then turned to Junjun and asked. The latter stood up and wrote¡ª''She''s back.''


    "Who''s she?" Cheng Wangxue asked. But then, she quickly thought of a possibility and asked another question, "Is Lu Tianyu back?"


    Junjun and Qiu Lili nodded at her. Soon, they heard the noises created by a car and saw a car driving over. The car was parked in the parking lot, then a woman wearing a hat got out of it.


    Seeing her, Qiu Lili flashed to Lin Qiao''s side.


    "Ahya? Ah? Ahh¡­"


    ''How''s it going? Have you found the place? When can we move over?''


    While walking, Lin Qiao said to her, ''I¡­found¡­a¡­great¡­place, We¡­can¡­go¡­anytime, but¡­''


    She abruptly paused, then turned to Qiu Lili and continued, "Before¡­that, I¡­have¡­a¡­favor¡­to¡­ask¡­you¡­"


    Qiu Lili paused as well, waiting for her to finish her words with a struggling look, then asked, "Yah?"


    ''What favor?''


    ''There¡­is¡­a¡­zombie¡­at¡­your¡­level¡­You¡­may¡­need¡­to¡­deal¡­with¡­her¡­''


    Qiu Lili covered her forehead with a hand. As Lin Qiao finished talking, she couldn''t help but burst in yells.


    "Ahyayayayay¡­"


    ''When can you talk at normal speed? It hurts to hear you talking!''


    Lin Qiao smiled a little embarrassedly and responded, "Soon¡­"


    Qiu Lili looked at her with a sullen pout. At that moment, Junjun and Cheng Wangxue also seemed to be struggling.


    Seriously, listening to her did require great patience!


    Lin Qiao walked toward the hotel, and the others followed behind her. She went upstairs, first returning to Qiu Lili and Junjun''s room, and also asking Cheng Wangxue to inform Lin Feng that they''d have a meeting tomorrow to talk about the serious matters.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao brought Xie Dong out of her space. After that, they each went back to their own rooms.


    Lin Qiao walked into Junjun''s room, closed the door, then observed Junjun and said to her, "You¡­upgrade¡­soon?"


    Junjun nodded. Indeed, she was going to upgrade soon.


    Lin Qiao nodded, said, "I¡­get¡­in¡­first. After¡­I¡­fix¡­my¡­voice, I''ll¡­let¡­you¡­go¡­down¡­there¡­"


    She meant letting Junjun go down the lake to receive treatment from Viney. During these days, Viney had completely absorbed the energy in the zombie nucleus and turned that energy into its own. Viney also needed to vent that energy by treating Lin Qiao and her friends.


    Both Qiu Lili and Junjun understood her. Junjun nodded, then watched Lin Qiao enter her space from the room.


    After entering, Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes to observe the color of the lake water. The color had turned much deeper than before, the dark green water waving in the lake.


    As Lin Qiao entered the space, a thick vine rose from the water. Earlier on, the vine that came out of the lake was as thick as a finger, but this time, it was at the size of an arm.


    The vine wagged above the water surface, as if it were summoning her. Lin Qiao understood that Viney was indeed summoning her.


    She stood by the lake, took off her hat and sunglasses, and untied the cloth around her shoulder. Then, she took off her vest and trousers, and then her underwear.


    After that, she took off her shoes and walked toward the water.


    Her skin was glowing white, the waist was soft and slim, her legs were long and straight, and breasts were round and full... Lu Tianyu did have a nice body, if only her breasts could be smaller¡­


    Lin Qiao silently wished. After all, the huge breasts could bring her lots of inconveniences.


    She lowered her head to find two rows of dark-purple toothmarks on the middle of her right inner thigh.


    ''That snotty man!'' She cursed silently.


    Stepping into the water, she caught a cool feeling from her feet. The sensations of her body had come back, so she was now able to feel temperatures too. She found that she liked coolness more, and couldn''t stand hotness.


    If she didn''t need to carry any missions, she wouldn''t want to endure any hotness at all. However, if she did need to fulfill a task, her mindset would be different.


    As she got into the water, Viney quickly coiled around her and gently dragged her deeper into the lake. As the water reached her chest, more vines wrapped around her.


    ''Mama, it''s not gonna hurt this time¡­It''s gonna be quick!'' She heard Viney''s voice. Lin Qiao nodded inside, then said to Viney, ''Good. Later on, I''ll go out and send Junjun in. Can you cure her?''


    ''Yes, yes, no problem!'' Viney agreed quickly.


    ''Good baby!'' Lin Qiao couldn''t help but chuckle in her head. Hearing that, Viney paused suddenly, then began wriggling.


    ''Wahhhh, Mama is praising me¡­So happy, happy¡­''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know how to respond.

 233 Her Voice Is Fixed

    The gentle energy slowly seeped into her body through her pores, gathering toward her stomach, chest, and head. Lin Qiao didn''t feel any pain this time, only some heat in the stomach and a slight dizziness. Unwittingly, she fell asleep.


    This time, she felt completely different from before. She didn''t even know what happened before waking up to find herself lying on a bed.


    It seemed that Viney had sent her up and put her on the bed.


    She sat up on the soft bed, looking at her stomach; the color of the membrane on her stomach had turned deeper. She pressed it and felt that it was soft, not quite like the stomach of a healthy human being. She had no idea what was under that membrane.


    "Viney?" She raised her eyes to look at the lake, then tried to call Viney''s name. But then, she was startled on hearing herself as she touched her throat and murmured to herself, "My voice is¡­fixed?"


    Hearing her voice, a few thick vines immediately rose from the lake, dancing above the water, as if responding to her. Lin Qiao glanced around and found her clothes at the end of the bed. After dressing up, she walked to the lakeside.


    "Thank you, Viney!"


    She didn''t know exactly what kind of creature Viney was, but she was grateful to it as it had healed her body. Viney reached a vine to the lakeside and coiled around her foot.


    ''Mama, don''t thank me! Viney exists because of Mama, so helping Mama is helping Viney!''


    Lin Qiao squatted and picked up the vine from her foot, looking at it as she asked, "Why do you have to call me Mama? Why don''t you call me Sister?"


    ''Why Sister? Mama, you told me to call you Mama,'' replied Viney confusedly.


    Lin Qiao paused slightly in response, wondering when she told Viney to call her Mama.


    "I told you to? When? How come I don''t remember it?"


    Viney stayed silent for a while, then responded, ''Em¡­em¡­em¡­I think it was a long, long time ago. I don''t remember either, but I remember some of the words that Mama said¡­''


    "Some of the words I said?" Lin Qiao was even more surprised.


    Viney nimbly pressed her palms a few times with the end of the vine. Lin Qiao spent a while looking at the vine bewilderedly, then failed to recall when she told Viney to call her Mama.


    "Alright, call me Mama if you like. Can I bring Junjun in now? I think she''s going to upgrade soon, and I guess she''ll activate a superpower."


    Viney again pressed Lin Qiao''s palm with the end of the vine, then responded, ''Sure, sure¡­Mama, bring her in!'' Viney still had a great amount of energy, but Mama''s body couldn''t contain it all.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao stood up and dropped the vine, then disappeared. After coming out, she looked outside the window and found that it was already dark. Qiu Lili and Junjun were getting a little bored waiting for her in the room. As she showed up, both of them immediately turned to her.


    Qiu Lili ran up to Lin Qiao, circling around her and looking at her from head to toe.


    "Ahyayaya¡­.Ahya¡­Ah¡­"


    ''You look the same as before. I thought your hair would grow out,'' said Qiu Lili


    Lin Qiao raised a hand to touch her bald head, then sighed and said, "Em, the hair haven''t grown, but my throat is fixed."


    She smoothly finished one sentence without pausing, even though her voice was still hoarse and unpleasant to hear. As expected, both Qiu Lili and Junjun looked at her with surprise.


    Junjun had been silent the whole time. She only watched quietly most of the time; if she wanted to say something, she would write.


    Unlike her, Qiu Lili liked to talk in zombie language, even though some of the others couldn''t understand her.


    Lin Qiao turned to Junjun and said, "Are you ready now?"


    Junjun glanced at Tong Tong who was lying on the bed asleep, then nodded. Lin Qiao too glanced at the asleep little boy, then held Junjun''s hands and disappeared together with her.


    Qiu Lili took a circle in the room, then sat back into the couch next to the bed, feeling bored again.


    "Viney." After entering the space, Lin Qiao shouted at the lake. Following her voice, a few arm-thick vines started dancing above the water. Junjun looked at those vines which looked much stronger than before, then turned to Lin Qiao without knowing what to do.


    "Junjun, take off your clothes and go down the lake." While speaking, Lin Qiao turned back and picked up a glass. Then, she walked to the lake, filled it with water, and began drinking. Meanwhile, she pointed at the lake.


    Junjun glanced at her, feeling a little shy. After that, she turned and began stripping with her back toward Lin Qiao. Looking at her, Lin Qiao knew that she was shy. So, after finishing drinking, Lin Qiao walked toward the strawberry field with the glass.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t peek. Besides, I''m a woman too. Why''re you feeling shy?"


    Junjun smiled embarrassedly, and unbuttoned her clothes slightly quicker than before. However, she had no idea that Lin Qiao was able to see her without turning around if she wanted to.


    Lin Qiao picked a strawberry and put it in the glass. The average-sized glass was only able to contain two or three strawberries, so Lin Qiao held the glass with one hand and picked three more strawberries with her other hand.


    As she turned back, Junjun and Viney had both disappeared. However, she was able to feel Junjun, who was now down in the lake.


    At the moment, Junjun was dragged to the bottom of the lake by countless vines. The vines wrapped her, making her feel a wave of numbness and stinging from every corner of her body.


    Something had entered her body. She didn''t know what it was, because she had started to feel a swelling pain from her head. The headache disabled her sensations and blurred her mind.


    But gradually, some disordered images emerged in her mind.


    At first, she saw many people, all moving toward one direction. The surrounding environment was changing constantly, so was the number of those people. At last, those people seemed to be desperate, some even having an emotional breakdown.


    They had no water, food, or weapons, so the leaders of this group of people planned to sneakily abandon some people.


    As a result, she and her son were abandoned. To protect her child from being hurt by her former teammates who had become zombies, she and a man risked their lives to escape with the child. But at last, she was still bitten by a zombie.


    Then, that man took away the water and food that she had left to her son. As she lapsed into unconsciousness, that man sneakily left her and the child.


    The images in her head weren''t coherent, but were clear. Seeing those, she slowly remembered many things.


    Cheng Wangxue was right. She and her son were abandoned indeed; they were abandoned by that man.


    With that realization, an intense hatred began spreading in her heart.

 234 Junjun Is Cured

    Lin Qiao stood by the lake to feel the changes happening down in the lake. She found that the energy contained in the lake water was moving toward the center, emerging and gathering wave after wave.


    Later on, she turned and walked into the strawberry field. She found some weeds among the plants there, so she squatted to remove them.


    She didn''t know how long it would take for Viney to cure Junjun, so she decided to weed the strawberry and vegetable fields. Junjun was responsible for that work before, but as the fields hadn''t been weeded for a couple of days, quite some weeds had grown out.


    After spending a while doing that, Lin Qiao sensed no change from Junjun. So, she exited her space. Once out, she saw Qiu Lili squatting by Tong Tong''s bedside, looking at his sleeping face. Her arms were crossed by the edge of the bed, chin rested on her arms.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come out, she immediately turned and stood up.


    "Ahyayaya¡­Ahyaya¡­"


    ''You''re out? Where''s Junjun?''


    Lin Qiao put a finger before her lips and shushed her, then said with a low voice, "Keep your voice low¡­Don''t wake him up. If he wakes up but can''t find his Mom, he''ll burst out crying."


    Qiu Lili glanced at Tong Tong with fear. Finding that the kid was showing no sign of waking up, she sighed with relief.


    If the little boy started crying, even the ceiling would fall off.


    Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili walked to the couch and sat down. "Junjun is still in the lake," Lin Qiao said with a gentle voice, "I don''t know how long it''ll take. Let''s wait! Hopefully, she''ll come out before dawn, because no one else can keep this kid quiet."


    "Ahyaah¡­" said Qiu Lili with a low voice.


    ''Please, Junjun, please come out quick."


    After murmuring in prayer, Qiu Lili suddenly recalled what Lin Qiao had mentioned earlier when she returned. So, she asked, "Ahyaya, yayayaaaayayaya¡­"


    ''You said that I need to deal with a zombie. Is it also at level-six? What kind? How does it look? Is it ugly?''


    Lin Qiao pictured that young female zombie in her head. She wasn''t ugly; at least, she was relatively good-looking among zombies.


    "She seems to be at your age, not ugly. Half of her face is covered in scales. She seems to still have some humanity, but her temper is weird. Her mood is always changing. In fact, I felt that she''s not evil, but a little self-willed. When you fight her, don''t kill her, and just drive her away," Lin Qiao said.


    Hearing that, Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise and asked, "Ahahyiaaaaa?"


    ''At my age? What do you mean she''s not evil? Should I beat her or not?"


    Lin Qiao smiled and said, "I think you still need to teach her a lesson, so she''ll know that there are some things she shouldn''t do. But, I don''t know what power she has. She can turn invisible like me. So, I can''t tell which one of you is stronger."


    Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao. She was very curious about this zombie who was as powerful as she was.


    "Ah¡­Yayaaaa?" She asked.


    ''Does she have memories like me? Have she killed anyone before?''


    Lin Qiao recalled that young female zombie''s behavior and said, "I didn''t see her killing anyone, but she seems to like doing bad things. She also seems to like children. Although she wouldn''t hurt children, it''s not right to steal children from their parents."


    Qiu Lili stared at Lin Qiao with shock, "Ah¡­Yaya? Ahh?"


    ''Steal¡­the children of the others? Is she a human trader?''


    Lin Qiao smilingly looked at her and said, "Perhaps¡­it had a childish reason for doing so."


    ¡­


    At that moment, Junjun was suffering an immense pain at the bottom of the lake. The pain from her body and from her memories both made her want to scream. However, her face and mouth were covered by something soft, which disabled her from shouting out loud even though she had opened her mouth.


    ''Ahhhhh¡­Huang Tianfei! You bas*ard! I won''t forgive you! You animals! You cruel thing!'' She roared in her heart.


    That man abandoned her and her son. She could forgive him for leaving her, but could never forgive him for abandoning Tong Tong and taking away the only food and water they had! Lots of memory pieces wove in her mind, connecting with each other and becoming coherent memories.


    She remembered; she and those people escaped from the Hades Base. Huang Feitian and five level-five superpowered people sneakily brought their families out of the base, heading to Sea City.


    The few level-five people might have heard that the Hades Base would suffer attacks. So, they gathered a group of people and quietly left the base.


    Junjun didn''t know what was going on at that time. She only knew that Huang Feitian came back in haste, quickly packed their bags, and took her and her son out of the base. He didn''t tell her anything, so she was brought out of the base without knowing why.


    But now, based on what Lin Qiao had told her, she figured out that he knew that the base would be attacked at that time.


    ''Lin Qiao¡­Lin Qiao! Chief Netherworld Fire!''


    Suddenly, Junjun thought of something. However, before she could think carefully, a wave of energy exploded inside her head, just like an exploding bomb that shattered all the memories in her head.


    After that, the energy began swelling inside her head like a balloon, as if it was going to make her head explode.


    ''Em¡­Ahhhh!''


    Suffering the great pain in her head, Junjun couldn''t help but growl silently. The energy expanded further and further. As she felt that her head was already as huge as a basketball court, the energy suddenly shrank and went back into the center of her brain.


    Junjun relaxed her body. She wanted to gasp for air, but the thing that covered her mouth and nose wouldn''t allow her to do that. At that moment, the energy slowly concentrated in the middle of her brain, and soon, it released a small stream of energy and sent it to the rest of her body through her neck.


    Before long, Lin Qiao, who was talking with Qiu Lili about that young female zombie, felt something.


    "I think Junjun is coming out. I''ll get in and check," she said. While speaking, she turned around and entered her space.


    Standing by the lake, she found that the water level was rising.


    Where did the water come from? She had been wondering why there was a lake filled with water in her space, and where that water was from.


    At the moment, the amount of water seemed to be increasing, but she didn''t know where its source was.


    Abruptly, a large wave rose from the water surface, then slowly calmed down. After that, a figure came out of the lake surface, swimming toward Lin Qiao.

 235 Do You Know Me?

    Lin Qiao picked up Junjun''s clothes from the ground as the latter came out of the water. When Junjun walked up to her, she handed her the clothes.


    "How''s it? Your power?" Lin Qiao had sensed Junjun''s power level: she was already a level-four zombie by now. At the same time, she also sensed her complicated and disordered feelings, including hatred, anger, disappointment, shock, confusion and disbelief.


    ''What happened to her?'' Lin Qiao looked at Junjun confusedly.


    Junjun slightly lowered her head as she took over the clothes and dressed herself. Having finished dressing up, she slightly raised her head to look at Lin Qiao with a complicated expression, then said with a low voice, "Chief!"


    "Eh?" Lin Qiao stared at her bewilderedly. Then, she popped her eyes in shock and responded, "You can talk? So soon! Wait a moment, what did you call me just now?"


    Lin Qiao looked at Junjun''s face and found that the dark circles under her eyes were gone. Her pale-grey eyes had turned entirely black, and her pupils were invisible.


    Junjun pulled her long wet hair to one side, wringing them while saying, "Em, I feel that a long time has passed. I remembered things, about myself, and you."


    Finishing the sentence, she turned to look at Lin Qiao.


    "Eh? Do you know me from before?" Lin Qiao looked at her with confusion as she asked, "But tell me first, why did you call me Chief? You''re not seeing me as the other Lin Qiao, are you?"


    Junjun continued to wring her long hair while replying, "Chief, you saved Lin Feng, Madam, and the others, so, you are her, aren''t you? Have you lost your memories like I did? Or, have you only forgotten the things that happened in the recent five years?"


    Lin Qiao paused briefly. She suddenly felt that Junjun''s words had triggered something in her head and caused a slight swelling pain in her brain.


    "Eh¡­" She raised a hand to cover her forehead while frowning and moaning.


    Junjun was startled. "What''s wrong? Do you remember anything?" She asked nervously.


    Lin Qiao kept the hand on her forehead while shaking her head as she responded, "No, just having a headache!"


    Junjun sighed slightly with relief, then said, "As long as you''re okay¡­I think headache can be normal. After all, you''re using a new body now, so I guess something in your mind is sealed."


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at Junjun, then asked, "How do you know that I''m Chief Netherworld Fire? I have completely no idea when I served as a Chief." While speaking, she walked to Qiu Lili''s closet, found a dry towel, and handed it to Junjun.


    Junjun took over the towel and thanked Lin Qiao, then continued, "Because I feel that you are her. You''re Lin Qiao, aren''t you? You just lost a part of your memories, just like me."


    Lin Qiao looked at her, staying silent. She thought for a moment, then decided to try figuring it out. What Junjun said was reasonable though.


    "Perhaps, you''re right," she nodded and said, "But, my memory ends before the apocalypse. I thought I died when the apocalypse happened, then woke up inside Lu Tianyu''s body."


    "Five years is such a huge time gap," said Junjun smilingly, "That''s not scientific!"


    Lin Qiao sighed and said in agreement, "You''re right! So, I''ve been feeling weird about it. Alright, enough about me. Let''s talk about you. I detected a negative vibe from you just now. Have you remembered something bad?"


    Speaking of that, Junjun''s face darkened immediately.


    "My name is Liu Jun," she said, "Tong Tong''s full name is Huang Yuetong, and Tong Tong is his nickname. He''s four years old. My ex-husband''s name is Huang Tianfei. We were living a good life in the Hades Base, but two months ago, he came back home suddenly and brought us out of the base with some other people in a hurry. We were heading to Sea City."


    While speaking, Liu Jun''s vibe began unstable again as waves of hatred and killing intent began radiating from her body.


    "But, the journey was too long, with many zombies on our way. We encountered zombie leaders a few times, and most of us were killed by the zombies. At first, the ones with powers protected us who didn''t have powers, as well as the children. But gradually, they started seeing us a burden. Later on, many of the ordinary ones were pushed out by them under dangerous situations to hold off zombies or serve as baits." While speaking, Liu Jun slowly squatted on the ground.


    Lin Qiao was able to feel her hatred, sadness, and deep regret.


    "We were abandoned at last," Liu Jun continued, "I begged Huang Feitian not to leave us. I begged him to at least take Tong Tong to Sea City safely. But, he didn''t. He heartlessly discarded us, taking away the food and water I had left for Tong Tong."


    "How did you manage to hide in that building after being bitten by a zombie?" Lin Qiao asked out of curiosity.


    Liu Jun responded, "I was pushed toward the zombies by Huang Feitian. After I was bitten, he locked me in a room. I was unconscious for a few days. When I woke up, he and the others had left. They didn''t bring Tong Tong with them, and I found my son in another room."


    Lin Qiao sighed, not knowing what to say about that man. She guessed that under desperate situations, all kinds of relationship would become fake to him, and he would do anything for survival.


    "I can''t forgive him for leaving Tong Tong¡­I can''t¡­" Liu Jun murmured as her sadness instantly turned into hatred. Lin Qiao patted her on the shoulder and said, "Alright! You see, Tong Tong is healthy right now. Cheer up!"


    "If you didn''t find us, Tong Tong would have been gone!" Liu Jun raised her head to look at Lin Qiao, her dark eyes revealing no emotions. However, Lin Qiao still felt that Junjun was honestly grateful for her.


    "Alright, let''s get out," said Lin Qiao, "I was worrying that you might stay in the lake for too long. If you''re not there when Tong Tong wakes up, Qiu Lili and I will suffer."


    Liu Jun nodded and stood up. Lin Qiao then held her hand, and both of them exited the space.


    Qiu Lili was leaning against the window, looking at the dark sky outside. Sensing the two, she immediately turned back to look at Junjun.


    "Ahyayay¡­"


    ''How''s it going? How do you feel?''


    While yelling, she flashed to Liu Jun''s side and made a circle around her, then began observing her carefully. She found that Junjun''s appearance didn''t change a lot, but her eyes and vibe had changed thoroughly. She was different than before, not drastically though. Moreover, her power level was improved largely.


    Liu Jun walked to Tong Tong and bent over to rub her son''s hair, then gently kissed his forehead.


    "It''s great to meet Chief¡­" she said with a soft voice.

 236 The Place Where You Died

    "Ah! Ahyayaya¡­Ahyaya¡­"


    ''Junjun, you can talk! So quickly! I want to be able to talk too!''


    Finding that Liu Jun was able to talk, Qiu Lili immediately got excited and turned to yell at Lin Qiao, who smiled and responded, "I need to ask Viney first. I don''t know if it has used the energy up."


    "Chief, did you discover your space recently?" Liu Jun asked curiously, "I didn''t hear you mention your space power before. And, that thing in the lake¡­What is it?"


    Lin Qiao felt weird on hearing Junjun call her ''Chief'', so she said, "Eh, don''t call me that. The others might feel strange about it."


    Liu Jun paused briefly, then asked, "Eh? What should I call you then? Calling your name is strange as well."


    Their conversation confused Qiu Lili as she looked at the two bewilderedly, asking, "Ahyayayay?"


    ''What are you talking about?''


    "Em, Junjun has remembered lots of things. I can''t explain everything to you now, but you''ll find out in the future," Lin Qiao said to her.


    Turning back, she rested her chin on her hand and continued, "You can call me Captain from now on. I''m kinda leading a zombie squad after all."


    Liu Jun nodded in agreement, "That''s true¡­I''ll call you Captain then."


    "Ahyayaya?" Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao and asked another question.


    ''Why are you the captain?''


    Lin Qiao looked at her with a meaningful smile while saying, "Do you want to be the captain? You''ll be fixing all our problems¡­Is that okay?"


    Hearing that, Qiu Lili frowned and thought for a moment, then shook her head. She didn''t know much, and her skills were limited. For many problems, she didn''t know the solutions.


    She disappeared from time to time, so, Lin Qiao knew that she was too lazy to lead a team.


    "I''ll go ask Viney if it can heal another zombie. You wait here," Lin Qiao as she entered the space. Standing by the lake, she shouted, "Viney, come out."


    A few vines rose from the water surface in response, reaching toward her. She squatted by the water, reaching out a hand and letting the vines coil around it.


    "Viney, have you used up all your energy? Can you heal another one?"


    ''Em¡­That depends on if the healing requires a large amount of energy or not¡­Earlier on, the lady needed the energy in her head to be restored, as well as her memories, so it cost quite some energy¡­I don''t have lots of energy for healing right now¡­''


    Lin Qiao nodded, as she had guessed the same. "Alright! Will you be alright as you''ve consumed the energy up?" She asked.


    Viney''s few thick vines quickly wagged upon the water. ''Lahlahlah¡­Viney is okay¡­Viney doesn''t need that energy¡­''


    Lin Qiao suddenly thought of something, so she asked, "Viney, how did you restore Junjun''s memory? Do you think that I''ve lost a part of my memory?"


    Once she asked the question, Viney gave the answer immediately.


    ''Yeah, yeah! Mama, you''ve lost some memories¡­Mama, don''t you know that? I can''t fix your memories¡­''


    "How do you know that?" Lin Qiao asked.


    ''Ah¡­I don''t know¡­But Mama, a part of your brain is wrapped by something¡­I can''t unlock it¡­'' Viney replied with confusion.


    A part of her brain was wrapped? By what? Was that the reason why she lost her memory of the past five years? She was using a different body now. Was this situation caused by her own body, or by Lu Tianyu''s body?


    "Will my memory be restored when that area in my brain is unlocked?" She asked.


    ''¡­I think so¡­But I''m not sure¡­Mama, you need to figure out a way and try¡­'' Viney nodded with the end of a vine, shaking its pair of small leaves.


    Lin Qiao supported her chin with one hand and said while thinking, "How should I try? Even you can''t restore my memory¡­"


    Viney seemed to be thinking about the same question, but it clearly didn''t have an answer.


    ''Em¡­em¡­em¡­Mama, maybe you should ask someone else¡­''


    Lin Qiao sighed, with no choice except for agreeing, "Alright¡­Thank you, Viney!"


    ''Mama¡­Don''t say thank you to Viney¡­That sounds like we''re strangers¡­'' Viney complained unhappily.


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "Alright, alright, that''s it! I''ll go out to ask the others if they can help."


    ''Okay.''


    With that, Lin Qiao flashed out and returned to the room.


    "How is it?" Liu Jun immediately turned back and asked. Qiu Lili moved to Lin Qiao''s side as well, looking at her with anticipation.


    Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili a little helplessly, "No, Viney says that the energy isn''t enough. We have to wait until next time, so be patient."


    Qiu Lili pouted with disappointment and replied, "Ahya¡­"


    ''Alright.''


    Lin Qiao crooked her finger toward the two and said, "Here, Viney says that a part of my brain is wrapped by something. That might be the reason why I lost my memory. Think, is there a way to restore my memory?"


    Liu Jun looked at her with surprise and said, "Your head? Does it mean the head of Lu Tianyu? Or the head of yours in your soul?"


    "I''m not sure," Lin Qiao shook her head confusedly.


    "And, your power¡­You used to have fire power, but why it became a mist?" Liu Jun continued.


    Speaking of her power, Lin Qiao was suddenly curious about her old power. She heard that she was able to release a poisonous black fire before.


    "Can you tell me about my old power?" She asked.


    Liu Jun put one arm before her chest, the other raised to support her chin. "Your old power was a black fire, which was why people call you Netherworld Fire. Your fire was able to melt¡­or devour things. Once you released your fire, everything within three meters would disappear. If you weren''t fighting against five level-sevens at one time, how could you possibly lose?"


    Lin Qiao imagined the fire that Liu Jun described, feeling that she had lost something.


    "You were powerful, don''t doubt that," Liu Jun continued, "I think you might be able to find anything if you go to that place and take a look."


    "What place," Lin Qiao asked.


    "It''s¡­where you died," said Liu Jun.


    Where she died? She didn''t even remember how she died! Her most recent memory was about that night before the apocalypse when she had a cold. But then, she figured out that Liu Jun was talking about the place where she was sieged by five level-sevens and died. Not many people knew about that place, so she still needed to find out where it was.


    She nodded and replied, "I was going to figure it out. Earlier, I had the same guess which wasn''t confirmed. But now, you''ve made my thoughts much clearer than before."


    Junjun nodded in response.


    "Alright," said Lin Qiao. "Although we don''t need sleep, but I think we should still get some rest. Tomorrow, I''ll talk to them about moving."

 237 Recruit Zombie Members

    Next Day, Lin Qiao brought Xie Dong to Lin Feng''s room. The door was open; in the room, Lin Feng was reading a book with Lin Xiaolu, who was sitting on his knees.


    Lin Qiao raised her hand to knock the door. The people in the room turned and saw a bald lady in camouflage suit standing by the door.


    "Ah, you''re here! Please come in." in Feng put Lin Xiaolu down and pointed the other room as he said to her, "Xiaolu, go play with your aunty."


    "Alright," Lin Xiaolu nodded and replied before hopping toward the door. While getting close to Lin Qiao, she stared at the latter''s head. Lin Qiao smiled at her in response; after the little girl had left, she walked in with Xie Dong.


    Lin Feng pointed at the empty couch, then smiled at her and said, "Please sit down! It''s a surprise that you returned before Tianxing. I thought he''d be back earlier than you."


    Lin Qiao nodded as she sat down and responded, "I guess he''s still out there because he hasn''t found the people that he''s looking for."


    Lin Feng puzzled at first, then stared at Lin Xiao with surprise and asked, "Eh? You can talk normally? If not because of your eyes, I wouldn''t believe that you''re a zombie. This is inconceivable."


    After saying that, he stared at Lin Qiao again. ''Isn''t this zombie evolving too rapidly? Which level is she at? Above level-six? But, her eyes are still black¡­No, her eyes are wearing a green color now!'' He said to himself.


    He suddenly discovered a pupil-sized green spot in the middle of each of Lin Qiao''s eyes as if she were wearing cosmetic contact lenses. The green spots were very light-colored, so he didn''t notice them before observing her eyes carefully.


    Lin Feng suspected that Lin Qiao was at above level-six because she seemed to have been playing the leading role among the group of zombies. Lin Feng believed that she was not weak. Besides, she wasn''t able to talk fluently before, but was now.


    This rate of improvement was way too amazing!


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile and said, "I''m not an ordinary zombie¡­Alright, let''s talk about something serious." While speaking, she took out a few maps from her space and spread them on the table. After that, she pointed at Upper City District, Lower City District, and West Lake District on the maps.


    "I found these maps from the Planning Bureau of Hang Zhou City," she said, "I found that many supplies in these areas haven''t been collected. Upper City District and Lower City District had the biggest population back in the old world, so these two areas are now crowded by zombies. Moreover, both these areas seemed to have been sealed. So, I guess that not too many people managed to escape from these two areas when the apocalypse happened."


    Lin Feng slightly lowered his head to look at the areas that Lin Qiao pointed at as she continued, "I''ve checked most of the bustling areas. Those places were full of zombies, but not many traces caused by fighting were found. If you want, we can make a zombie-free area for you, and will expand that area slowly in the future. West Lake District has many mutant plants, which I think can be put to use."


    Lin Feng thought for a moment, then asked, "I have a question that I wanted to ask you before. You are able to gather zombies and build zombie walls, so the outsiders will need to pass the zombie wall before entering our place. But, have you ever thought about how our own people will exit? Even if you¡­ eh, you zombies are willing to escort us, I think you''re a little shorthanded. I assume only you and the young girl in white dress are able to control ordinary zombies, right?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "Yes, her name is Qiu Lili. You all know that she''s a zombie queen. Apart from her, I can control ordinary zombies as well. Junjun has upgraded as well, so she can also do that now. But you''re right, we are shorthanded indeed! You reminded me of that. I need to recruit new zombie members."


    In fact, Lin Qiao had thought about that question already, but didn''t tell Lin Feng. Now that he mentioned it, she decided to conveniently let him know about her plan.


    Earlier on, she had that idea when she saw the young female zombie who stole Wu Yueling in West Lake District. However, that young zombie looked a little wild and weird. Therefore, to bring her into the group, Lin Qiao needed to figure out what she was thinking.


    To serve that purpose, she asked Qiu Lili to make contact with that snake-eyed young female zombie.


    Lin Feng looked at her with doubts as he said, "The ones you want to recruit aren''t all zombie kings and queens, are they? Are you sure?" Somehow, he felt that zombie kings and queens were not dangerous at all in Lin Qiao''s eyes. Well, they were not threatening to her indeed.


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile and replied, "Don''t worry, I''ll put them under control. As long as I''m here, they won''t hurt any human." She wouldn''t let any zombie or human hurt Lin Feng and his family.


    Lin Feng wasn''t in favor of Lin Qiao''s idea, yet he understood that he had no right to interfere with her. "Alright then," he said, "You have the right to make decisions for your team. But, I hope that you can make sure of the safe distance between your team and mine. If any of your zombies hurt our people, it would be bad for both of us."


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "Don''t worry! Any zombie who loses control and attempts to eat human beings, I''ll destroy it first."


    Lin Feng thought for a moment, then added, "I suggest to not let other people know about your plan when you carry it out."


    "Thank you!" Lin Qiao smiled faintly.


    Lin Feng pointed at the Upper City District while saying, "We''re going to the Upper City District then. But, we have to wait until Yuan Tianxing and the others have returned. Later on, we''ll be needing a lot of people, including technicists. None of us know how to install this solar equipment. We can only make sure that it won''t break during the disassembling."


    Lin Qiao rubbed her own chin as she said, "Yuan Tianxing should have thought about that. Other than the few people that he''s looking for, I think he might also bring some others."


    Lin Feng paused slightly, then spent a moment thinking. Indeed, Yuan Tianxing would think about those things. "How do you know that he''ll think about it? We haven''t discussed it before," Lin Feng asked.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "Isn''t he one of the Deputy Chiefs of the Hades Base? How did he make it to that position if he can''t even think of these questions?"


    Lin Feng couldn''t think of anything to say.


    They roughly selected a few potential locations for the new base, after which, Lin Qiao made reports about some other areas. Then, they decided to wait until Yuan Tianxing came back before making the final decision.


    At that point, Yuan Tianxing and the others, who were in Sea City Base, were a little frustrated, because they had learned that Li Zheng and his teammates were no longer in the base. They had gone out with an armed squad to carry out some kind of mission.


    Li Zheng and his whole team went out, none of them staying in the base. Yuan Tianxing just couldn''t figure out what they were doing.


    But soon, he made other decisions. Since Li Zheng and his people weren''t in the base, he decided to return with the others first. Furthermore, he needed to find some technicists.

 238 Have Meal Together

    The one who welcomed Yuan Tianxing was a Deputy Chief of Sea City Base, who was also the only female among all Deputy Chiefs.


    "If you want to find these people, you can create a mission in the Mission Hall. As long as you pay, I believe some people will be willing to go," Yan Fangyu sat on the couch as she looked at Yuan Tianxing and gave him a suggestion.


    She was a pretty woman, looking around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. But in fact, she was twenty-nine already. She was the only woman in the base who was at the peak of level-six, and was about to step into level-seven.


    Yuan Tianxing was here to find Wu Chengyue, but as the latter wasn''t in the base, he met Zou Shizou instead. Zou Shizou was a busy man, so after the first polite meeting, he asked Yan Fangyu to help Yuan Tianxing.


    They wouldn''t lend their army to Yuan Tianxing, but as long as he paid enough, quite some people with skills would be willing to work for him.


    Yuan Tianxing smiled and responded, "Thank you for providing me with a platform for hiring!"


    Yan Fangyu smiled elegantly, then said half-jokingly, "Even though you''re handsome, we won''t help you for free because of that. We charge for our work too."


    Yuan Tianxing responded carelessly, "Ah, I understand! I brought some, just don''t know if it''s enough." While speaking, he asked Du Yuanxing, who stood behind him, to take out a little cloth bag which was designed to contain jewelry. Then, he opened the bag and poured what was inside it on the table.


    Clang! Three zombie nuclei fell on the table.


    Yan Fangyu recognized them as three level-five zombie nuclei. That was a little too much, so she hurriedly waved a hand and said, "Ahyaya, this is too much! We didn''t do you much of a help, did we? As this is our first cooperation, I''ll give you a discount." While speaking, she stood up and walked to Yuan Tianxing, then bent her slim waist. A refreshing aroma invaded his nose immediately.


    She picked one zombie nucleus, then straightened up and turned her head to smile at Yuan Tianxing. Afterward, she went back to her seat.


    "One is enough. Normally, we''ll charge one level-five zombie nucleus and five level-four, not as much as you offered. Today, I''ll only charge you one level-five, for your sake."


    ''For my sake?'' Yuan Tianxing continued smiling while looking at her. However, the look in his eyes turned meaningful.


    Yan Fangyu sat down and crossed her long and slender legs as she smiled at him and asked, "What? Don''t you trust me?"


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and responded, "I surely believe that Miss. Yan won''t lie to me."


    Yan Fangyu looked at him straight in the eyes, then said, "Alright then, give me a list of the technicists you need, then I''ll publish it for you. You can put up the reward amount, or you can negotiate it with them later."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and replied, "Sure, I''ll have my people send the list to you tomorrow. Thank you for helping us!"


    Yan Fangyu grinned, gazing at him in a meaningful way while saying, "You''re welcome! If you really want to thank me, how about joining me for dinner? I wonder if Mr. Yuan will be willing to have a meal together with me."


    ''Here it goes!''


    Yuan Tianxing felt a little embarrassed, but still, he maintained a polite smile while responding, "Of course I am! It''s my pleasure to have dinner with such a beautiful lady."


    Standing behind Yuan Tianxing, Du Yuanxing wore no expression on his face, though he had already burst into screams internally.


    ''Wow! Deputy Chief! You do have some fortune in love affairs! As I thought, you''re able to make a living with your appearance!''


    ''Why can''t I be so lucky? Ah, I''m so jealous, so jealous.''


    Afterward, the two Deputy Chiefs went to the canteen together for dinner. Soon, Yuan Tianxing received lots of gazes containing strong hostility. Many people stared at him enviously. Most of them didn''t know who he was, so they just threatened him with their eyes.


    Yuan Tianxing smiled at Yan Fangyu and said to her, "Miss. Yan, you''re really popular! I guess if your suitors in the base lined up, the line would even extend outside the base."


    Yan Fangyu, who was sitting in front of him and eating with an elegant manner, turned to coldly glance at the surrounding people. Instantly, those people turned their eyes away from Yuan Tianxing.


    After that, she turned back and gave Yuan Tianxing a faint smile, then responded, "They just want all pretty women for themselves. I just can''t understand why you men are all so possessive. When you can''t have something that you want, you''ll tend to use violence. Moreover, these people just like my appearance."


    Having finished talking, she picked up the goblet and took a sip of the wine as Yuan Tianxing looked at her with surprise. He didn''t think that this woman could be so frank off work.


    She was right; those men looked at her with their eyes filled with desire, with no other feelings at all.


    He had been in Sea City Base for a few days, and had learned quite a lot about this base. Regarding pretty women, two of them were the most famous among everyone, and one of them was Yan Fangyu.


    Yan Fangyu managed to become a Deputy Chief, which meant she did have some capabilities. She was efficient and capable, and was at a high power level. Besides, she had a strong vibe. She was beautiful indeed, but men could only appreciate her from a safe distance away; because if they attempted to approach her, they might get burned.


    Another famous pretty woman in this base was notorious. She was beautiful too, but was only an ordinary person. She didn''t have any power, neither was she willing to work. She would get tired in just a couple of days and quit even during simple jobs.


    She was not only lazy, but also a bully and trouble maker. She bullied others recklessly only because she was the mistress of a base leader.


    People weren''t afraid of her, but were afraid of the base leader who was protecting her. Therefore, they never dared to voice out their discontentment when she bullied them.


    Yuan Tianxing forgot to ask people about that evil woman''s name. He had heard that she caused people trouble almost every day, so after she died, people even applauded for her death.


    After politely finishing the relatively luxurious meal with Yan Fangyu, Yuan Tianxing returned to his room, where he asked Du Yuanxing about the evil woman''s name.


    Du Yuanxing answered his question with a weird look, "Ah, that woman¡­I heard that her name was Lu Tianyu¡­"


    Hearing that name, Yuan Tianxing was puzzled at first. Three seconds later, he paused, then turned to Du Yuanxing and asked with confusion, "What? What''s her name?"


    Du Yuanxing coughed slightly and said with laughter, "You''re right, her name is Lu Tianyu!"


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Du Yuanxing and responded with a weird look, "What a coincidence! We recently met a zombie whose name is Lu Tianyu as well¡­"

 239 Li Zheng And His People Are Caugh

    The two of them glanced at each other, then Yuan Tianxing said, "They aren''t the same Lu Tianyu, are they?"


    Du Yuanxing looked at him embarrassedly and responded, "Eh¡­I think, I''m not sure."


    Yuan Tianxing crossed his arms before his chest and murmured, "But I heard that Lu Tianyu was thrown into a zombie crowd. She should either be dead or turned into a zombie."


    "Eh¡­isn''t the Lu Tianyu we know a zombie?" Said Du Yuanxing, "And she''s from Sea City too."


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "We can''t conclude that she''s her only because they have the same name. Besides, I heard that the Lu Tianyu in Sea City Base was an evil woman. As for the one we know, I can''t see through her."


    Du Yuanxing shrugged, as he didn''t know more than Yuan Tianxing did.


    At night, Yuan Tianxing made a long list of the technicists he needed, as well as the requirements and rewards. Next day, he asked Du Yuanxing to send the list to Yan Fangyu.


    In the afternoon, a man found Yuan Tianxing in a hurry. The latter thought that the man came for a job interview, but as he looked at him closely, he recognized that man as a friend; also someone he was looking for.


    "Lin Yu? Why are you alone? What happened to you? Where''re the others?"


    Lin Yu''s whole body was covered in dust and wounds. His face was pale, his eyes showing anxiousness. Yuan Tianxing looked at him with surprise and asked the above questions.


    "De-Deputy Chief¡­" Lin Yu bent over as he put a hand on the doorframe to support his body and sighed with relief. Right after calling Yuan Tianxing, he softly fell to the ground.


    "Eh!" Yuan Tianxing and Du Yuanxing hurriedly held him up and brought him into the room.


    It was already dark by the time Lin Yu woke up. He sat up from the bed and turned to look at Yuan Tianxing, who was sitting on a couch and reading a book.


    "Deputy Chief!"


    Hearing him, Yuan Tianxing immediately looked at him and said, "You''re awake!" Then, he stood up, picked up a glass of water from the table before him, and handed it to Lin Yu while speaking, "Drink some water first...Take your time if you need to tell me something."


    Lin Yu took over the glass and emptied it.


    Yuan Tianxing took the empty glass and put it on the table, then grabbed a chair to sit down. After that, he looked at Lin Yu and started asking questions.


    "Tell me, what happened?"


    Lin Yu looked at Yuan Tianxing and said with emotion, "I didn''t know that you''d be in Sea City Base. We¡­We heard about what happened in our base, and we didn''t want to believe it. Now, since you''re here, I guess that''s real. Great Captain and the others¡­"


    As Lin Yu was talking a little incoherently, Yuan Tianxing waved a hand at him and said, "Calm down first...Listen to my question, then answer it."


    Seeing his gesture, Lin Yu forced himself to calm down, then nodded at him.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him and asked, "Let me tell you about our situation first. You may have heard what happened in our base. In fact, all the other bases have known about it by now. Our base is gone, and our leader¡­We don''t know if she''s alive or dead yet. We heard that she blew herself up, but I didn''t see it with my own eyes, so I don''t believe it."


    Lin Yu wore a lifeless expression. He had prepared himself for this since long ago, but after hearing his Deputy Chief confirm it, he still couldn''t accept it.


    "How can it be¡­How can it be¡­!"


    "Calm down!" Yuan Tianxing comforted him, "Except for Chief, Lin Feng and his family are all fine. They''ve made it to Sea City as well. You see, I''m here to find technicists."


    "So what Yang Jianhua said is real?" Lin Yu suddenly asked a question, then raised his head to look at Yuan Tianxing, who was smiling. But on hearing Lin Yu''s words, the smile on his face faded gradually.


    "You met Yang Jianhua?" With a dark face and a frown, he asked. Lin Yu nodded, then said angrily, "Deputy Chief, didn''t you ask me why I am alone? All the others were caught by him two days ago."


    Yuan Tianxing puzzled at first, then asked in shock, "They were caught? What were you doing when you met him?"


    "It''s because Chief Purple Thunder from Sea City Base, also known as Chief Wu, received a message from our base and learned about what happened to Great Captain and his people, so he decided to send out a team to help them. We found out about it, so we joined the team, even though we didn''t want to believe it."


    "You mean Chief Wu has sent people to help Lin Feng? But, we didn''t see anyone come to our aid." Yuan Tianxing said with surprise.


    Lin Yu nodded and said, "He did send out a team, and our squad followed them out as well. However, we didn''t figure out which path and direction Great Captain was taking. We searched for a few days, but failed to find even a trace of Great Captain and his people. At last, we ran into Yang Jianhua."


    "So you know what Yang Jianhua did?" Asked Yuan Tianxing calmly.


    "We don''t need to. He didn''t see anything when he saw us, but directly attacked. The others were either killed or captured by him," said Lin Yu with a dark face. Hearing that, Yuan Tianxing bent over and put his elbows on his knees; his hands crossed, and his head rested on the back of his hands.


    "So how did you make it back alone? Did you escape? Or, did he let you go on purpose?"


    "I escaped!" said Lin Yu, "I wasn''t there, so Yang Jianhua didn''t see me, and only caught the others. I was hiding aside and watching, so he didn''t find me."


    "You''re really lucky," Yuan Tianxing looked at him and said, "So, you came back alone?"


    Lin Yu nodded and said, "After defeating the others, Yang Jianhua said something in front of them. I heard what he said."


    "What did he say?" Yuan Tianxing gave an icy-cold smile and asked. Seeing that smile, Lin Yu felt that his hair were standing on their ends. "Eh, he said that the Hades Base belongs to him now, and that he''s the Chief. He said that the ones who are willing to follow him will be able to return to the Hades Base, and that Lin Wenwen will become his, both her body and her heart. After that, he laughed wildly."


    "Hehe, he''s really ambitious¡­" said Yuan Tianxing with that cold smile, "¡­and shameless!"


    "Why did he¡­betray our Chief?" Lin Yu asked confusedly.


    "Who knows?" Yuan Tianxing responded, "But, don''t worry about Lin Feng and the others. They''re all fine now."


    "I was all alone, so I didn''t know what to do," said Lin Yu, "I couldn''t defeat him or save them, so I came back. Unexpectedly, when I got back, I heard that you''re here to find us."


    "Thankfully, you''re back! Otherwise, my trip here would be meaningless," Yuan Tianxing said.

 240 Start From The Followers

    "Deputy Chief," asked Lin Yu, "why did you come to Sea City Base to find us?"


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Em, we''re now staying in a town at the edge of Hangzhou City. We''re planning to build a new base."


    Lin Yu paused slightly, then popped his eyes as he stared at Yuan Tianxing and asked with surprise, "Build¡­build a new base? Who?"


    "Us," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "How many people¡­do we have then?" Lin Yu asked. Yuan Tianxing spent a moment counting, then answered his question, "Around ten¡­I came to Sea City Base to ask for help. Perhaps, we can hire some people from here."


    Lin Yu looked at him, stunned.


    How could ten people build a base? And where?


    On the other side, after Lin Qiao and Lin Feng had both agreed to wait for Yuan Tianxing to return before making the final decision, she began preparing to fix Qiu Lili and Xie Dong''s body.


    The energy wasn''t enough, so Lin Qiao asked Qiu Lili to find more zombie nuclei. Then, she suddenly had her eyes on Qiu Lili''s two underlings.


    "Lili, shall we upgrade these two as well?"


    "Ahya?" Qiu Lili looked at the two zombies confusedly.


    ''Them?''


    Qiu Lili had ordered the two to stay outside at a long distance away without approaching the hotel, because they had no humanity. They acted harmlessly to human beings because they were under Qiu Lili''s control. Although they were both smart, their beast-like instincts were strong.


    Without Qiu Lili, they might still attack the group of humans because of hunger.


    Lin Qiao said, "We now need a zombie squad to protect Lin Feng and his people, and to improve our strength. After all, our next target is a zombie city which is full of zombies. We might get too busy if we don''t recruit new members. Besides, more and more people will be live in the base, so we need to escort them in and out more frequently. By that time, the ordinary zombies surrounding the base will need to be controlled by higher level zombies."


    Hearing her, Qiu Lili nodded knowingly.


    Liu Jun carried Tong Tong and joined the conversation, "We should first resolve their hunger. I think you can do that by giving them the water from your lake."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Em, I have the same plan." She surely knew that the energy in her lake was able to slowly erase the hunger of zombies. Judging by the changes that had happened to Liu Jun, she wondered if the other zombies would regain some memories after being treated by Viney in the lake.


    She wanted to run a test and see if the lake water could restore zombies'' memories.


    "Let''s go out and try the two," Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili walked downstairs to the parking lot. The few mutant turtles were still sleeping in the giant cage.


    Liu Jun didn''t follow them. Her room was facing the other side, so she wasn''t able to see Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili through the window.


    Seeing Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili coming to the parking lot, Lin Xiaolu who was upstairs, looked at them by the window with curiosity. Then, she called her mother and aunty and told them to look at the two zombies.


    "Mom, Aunty, look! What are they playing down there?"


    "Who are they?" Lin Wenwen and Cheng Wangxue looked at her and asked.


    Lin Xiaolu pointed down through the window while turning back to respond, "That bald lady, and the lady who likes white dresses."


    "Lu Tianyu and Qiu Lili?" Said Lin Wenwen, "What are they doing?" While speaking, she walked toward the window curiously.


    "Eh, it''s really them! What are they doing?"


    "I heard that Lu Tianyu is going to expand her zombie squad. I guess she''s preparing to start," said Cheng Wangxue.


    Lin Wenwen turned to look at her with surprise, then asked, "Zombie squad? What zombie squad?"


    Cheng Wangxue shook her head.


    Down the building, Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili, "Lili, you go hunt three level-five zombies and collect their nuclei. I think that''ll be enough for you. And then, summon your¡­eh, your followers. I''ll get them into the space and fix them."


    As this was about her recovery and talking ability, Qiu Lili immediately did what Lin Qiao said. She nodded, then turned and screamed toward the outside.


    "Ah!"


    Hearing her shrill voice, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but have her eyebrows twitch slightly.


    About ten seconds later, two figures darted over on all fours from a long distance away, then squatted before Qiu Lili quietly. One male and one female, the two zombies squatted in front of Qiu Lili. Looking at them, Lin Qiao suddenly felt that they looked like two large dogs.


    The two level-four zombies squatted before Qiu Lili, then raised their heads to look at the latter with fear. Qiu Lili raised a hand, then pointed at Lin Qiao and said, "Ahyayayay¡­"


    ''Now you have to listen to her, or she''ll eat you!'' She said to the two zombies.


    ''I don''t eat zombies¡­''


    Lin Qiao silently glanced at Qiu Lili, then took off her sunglasses and turned to look at the two zombies with a serious look. A cold beam of light flashed across her pair of dark eyes which glowed with a faint green light.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The two level-four zombies immediately felt threatened. Their hair stood straight up as they uttered deep and warning growls toward Lin Qiao.


    Seeing their reaction, Qiu Lili immediately screamed at them, "Ahyaya!"


    ''Quiet! She won''t eat you if you follow her orders!''


    "Whoo¡­." The two level-four zombies were so afraid of Qiu Lili that once they heard her screams, they quieted down. Lin Qiao walked to them and said, "Reach out your claws."


    "Roar!" The two zombies maintained a high vigilance against her. They didn''t move, but stared at her and uttered strange growls from their throats. Lin Qiao had no choice but to release her vibe fully, then narrowed her eyes and looked at the two zombies.


    "Whooo¡­" Once Lin Qiao released her vibe, the two level-four zombies who were highly alert against her immediately dropped their heads and hunched their backs.


    "Claws," said Lin Qiao. This time, the two zombies finally reached out their claws obediently. Seeing their dirty claws, Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if they had eaten any human beings. However, she felt that no other human beings existed in this area except Lin Feng and his people.


    The two zombies didn''t look energetic at all, so Lin Qiao guessed that they hadn''t fed in a long time.


    Lin Qiao pinched a small corner of each of their sleeves which looked relatively cleaner, then disappeared with them. After that, Qiu Lili turned and hopped onto the roof, standing on the highest spot of the building.


    She closed her eyes to sense around, then flashed toward one direction and disappeared without a trace.


    Upstairs, Lin Wenwen said, "What are they doing? Lu Tianyu seemed to have brought the two level-four zombies into her space. What is she up to?"


    "Who knows?" Said Cheng Wangxue.


    Lin Wenwen rested her chin on her hand and continued, "I think the two she brought into her space are ordinary zombies, not like herself and her friends. The two are like those zombies which have lost their mind, and will bite any human they see, right?"

 241 Give The Zombies A Bath

    In the space, the two zombies were immediately agitated by the sudden change of the surrounding environment. They leaped toward a clearing, then leaned against each other as they stared at Lin Qiao while observing the surrounding area.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!"


    Lin Qiao looked at them and felt like laughing. "Come here," she said to the two zombies.


    "Roar!" Her words were barely effective on the two zombies, who only listened to Qiu Lili. The two zombies remained unmoved while giving her warning growls.


    ''They''re not following my orders¡­''


    Lin Qiao quietly looked at the two zombies whose faces were barely recognizable. Suddenly, her eyes turned cold as she bared her sharp teeth toward them.


    "Whoo¡­" seeing that, the two level-four zombies immediately quieted down. Lin Qiao stopped baring her teeth and said to them, "Come over, stand here." While speaking, she pointed at the clearing next to her.


    The two zombies moved toward that area while rubbing against each other like two large dogs. Lin Qiao sniffed at them, then found that these two dirty zombies weren''t stinky. No blood scent was detected from them at all, probably because they hadn''t eaten human beings in a long while, or Qiu Lili never let them.


    They looked dirty, but not smelly. Lin Qiao guessed that was why Qiu Lili let them follow her.


    As the two zombies obediently moved over and squatted in the area that she pointed at, Lin Qiao turned and took two large buckets which were over one-meter tall to the lakeside, and filled them with the lake water. As the two buckets were filled, she dragged them to the side.


    At that moment, a few thick vines rose from the lake, wriggling toward her.


    After filling the buckets, Lin Qiao waved her hand toward the two zombies and said, "Come here."


    The two zombies didn''t move, but looked at her nervously.


    Lin Qiao sighed, then bared her teeth toward them and repeated with a dry voice, "I said come here!"


    "Roar!"


    Since the two zombies couldn''t understand human words, she decided to use zombie language.


    "Roar!" The two zombies were immediately frightened. Lin Qiao seemed to be at the same level as they were, but somehow, her vibe was extremely strong. The pressure that she had been giving the two zombies was way too intense.


    Lin Qiao had nearly lost her patience. Abruptly, she flashed around the two zombies, then returned to the side of the two buckets.


    As she looked at the two zombies again, their clothes had already fallen onto the ground in pieces, lying around their feet.


    "Roar!" The two zombies made no reaction to their shredded clothes, but were very unhappy because of Lin Qiao''s sudden approach.


    Lin Qiao rested her head on her hand and looking at the two naked zombies. Their muscles were dry and skin was wrinkled. Then, she turned to look at the two buckets.


    Was it possible for the two zombies to bring themselves into the buckets?


    Lin Qiao shook her head. Should she put them into the buckets and bathe them?


    At that moment, she felt something climbing onto her feet. She lowered her head to find that it was Viney.


    ''Mama, can I eat them? Even though they don''t have lots of energy¡­'' Viney''s voice was heard inside Lin Qiao''s head. She shook her head and said, "No, Viney, you can''t eat them. Can you help me put them into the buckets? They won''t follow my orders."


    ''Put them into the buckets? Why?'' Viney asked.


    "Because I need to bathe them," said Lin Qiao.


    Viney didn''t quite understand Lin Qiao''s request, but it was still happy to help.


    ''Alright, I''ll do it then!''


    While speaking, she threw two vines toward the two naked zombies. Before they could react, they were wrapped up and lifted.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!"


    "Roarrrrah¡­"


    The two zombies realized what was happening after they were tied up. They struggled as hard as they could while howling in a panic. In the next second, they were thrown into the buckets and forced to squat.


    Following a series of water clattering noise, the water gushed out of the buckets.


    "Stop moving, sit tight," Lin Qiao stood beside, looking at the two. While speaking, she was thinking about how to make these two zombies follow her orders. However, she didn''t notice that the faint green light in her eyes suddenly grew deeper as she stared at the two zombies.


    Under the gaze of her green eyes, the two zombies suddenly quieted down. They sat in the buckets like two dogs, looking straight at Lin Qiao with their dark eyes.


    "En? Are you willing to follow my words now?"


    Lin Qiao looked at them with surprise. She didn''t seem to be able to control the zombies above level-four, so she didn''t plan to control the two level-four zombies. But to her surprise, these two suddenly followed her words. It seemed that she had them controlled.


    Was it the effect of her last treatment?


    Lin Qiao got close to the two zombies and looked around, then said to the male zombie, "Raise your hands."


    As she expected, the male zombie obediently reached both hands forward, then looked at Lin Qiao with confusion. She couldn''t sense its thoughts, so she didn''t know if the male zombie under her control had entered a resting state, just like hypnosis.


    "Bend your arms and get some water to wash your face with your palms," she continued to the male zombie. She wasn''t sure if it could understand her completely.


    Before she finished thinking, the male zombie bent both arms and sank its palms into the water. Then, it scooped some water with its palms and poured onto its face.


    After that, the male zombie repeated the same move.


    Lin Qiao stood up, turned to say to the female zombie, "Do what he did." Once she said that, the female zombie turned and glanced at the male zombie, then scooped some water to wash her face. Unlike the male zombie, she would also wipe her face with her palms.


    Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise.


    ''Eh, this female zombie has a better understanding of my words than the male.''


    Viney grabbed Lin Qiao''s wrist with another vine and asked her, ''Mama, why do you want to bathe them? Do you want them to be clean so I can eat them?''


    Lin Qiao explained to Viney, "They aren''t for you to eat. I want to turn and train them, so they can work for me."


    Viney responded without fully understanding, ''Ah¡­I see! Why do you want them to bathe?''


    "Because I need to remold their bodies first with the energy in the lake. After that, I''ll train their minds. In the future, I might also need you to fix them, to see if we can restore some of their memories."


    Hearing that, Viney nodded knowingly, ''Ah, sure, sure¡­But I don''t have much of energy¡­Aren''t we going to fix Lili, the zombie in white dress?''


    "I know, be patient! We''ll get you enough energy," said Lin Qiao smilingly.


    ''Okay,'' Viney responded.

 242 Stop Drinking

    "Call Lili Sister. Don''t call her zombie," said Lin Qiao to Viney.


    ''Okay,'' Viney responded.


    Lin Qiao stood beside the two buckets, narrowed her eyes to look at the energy in the water. After quite a while, she finally discovered that the energy was seeping into the bodies of the two zombies at a very slow speed.


    She thought for a moment, then turned and found a cup. She walked to the lake and filled the cup with water, then came back to the female zombie, who was still washing her face.


    "Alright, alright, you may stop," said Lin Qiao to the female zombie who had already cleaned her face. As most of the dirt on the female zombie''s face had been washed off, the scars on her face looked more obvious than before. Some skin and flesh on her forehead was missing, with the bone in that area exposed. Her eyes were sunk deeply, and the dark circles under her eyes were as dark as that of a panda.


    Lin Qiao gave the zombie a closer look and found that her face was rather delicate, and she looked quite young.


    Lin Qiao held her chin, pinched her cheeks, and opened her mouth.


    "Roar!" The female zombie uttered a deep and muffled roar, but still obediently opened her mouth. An awful smell was released from her mouth as her sharp teeth were bared.


    Lin Qiao turned her head slightly. As the smell from her mouth faded a little, Lin Qiao poured the cup of water into her mouth.


    "Gu¡­ro¡­Aw¡­Go¡­ro¡­" At first, the female zombie didn''t want to swallow the water and let out weird sound from her throat. However, Lin Qiao forced her to drink the whole cup of water.


    As she prepared to fetch the second cup of water, she suddenly detected some difference in the female zombie.


    "Whooo¡­Roar¡­"


    ''I want more¡­I want more¡­''


    She was only repeating the three words, but it still surprised Lin Qiao.


    ''Does she want more of the water? The zombie actually wants to drink the lake water? Why didn''t Qiu Lili and Junjun want to drink it?'' Lin Qiao wondered. She narrowed her eyes and saw the thick green energy rolling in the bucket.


    Was it because of the energy? This time, Viney seemed to have grown much stronger, and the energy in the lake had risen by many times.


    "Roarrr¡­" As Lin Qiao made no move, the female zombie got a little anxious and roared at her. Lin Qiao looked at her speechlessly; the bone-deep wound on her head was especially obvious.


    ''You''re getting impatient. You''re not like the kids who can''t get the candy they want¡­Well, alright, the IQ of level three and four zombies is indeed like that of human children,''


    Lin Qiao relaxed her grip, then turned to fetch more water from the lake. When she came back, she saw that the female zombie drinking the water in the bucket.


    "Oi, don''t drink that! If you drink this, how are you gonna bathe?" Lin Qiao hurriedly lifted the zombie''s face. While pouring the water in the cup into her mouth, she continued, "Drinking excessively won''t help you. You''ll drink only two cups for today. Tomorrow, when you have absorbed all the energy, you''ll drink more. You''re not allowed to drink from the bucket."


    ''This is your bathing water. Do you know how dirty you are?''


    Lin Qiao looked at the female zombie, wondering if she would wake up one day and remember this¡­


    As the zombie drank the second cup of water, Lin Qiao said to her, "Alright, no more for today! It will be a waste for you to drink more." After that, she turned to refill the cup and made the male zombie drink two cups as well. The male zombie also looked young, seeming to have been in his twenties.


    He reacted much slower than the female zombie. After drinking the first cup of water, he didn''t ask for more.


    After pouring the second cup of water into the male zombie''s mouth, Lin Qiao turned her head to find the female zombie drinking the bath water again.


    Somehow, it reminded Lin Qiao of the time when she bathed in the lake, and felt a little disgusted.


    "You''re drinking again! Stop drinking!" Even though she felt a little disgusted, she yelled at the female zombie who was still drinking.


    "Roar¡­" The female zombie stopped. She was unhappy, but she didn''t lower her head to drink from the bucket again.


    Lin Qiao took a circle around the two zombies, then reached out a hand to pinch their muscles. Their muscles were hard, but weirdly elastic, like hard rubber. Then, she turned and said to Viney, "Viney, keep an eye on them. Don''t let them run out."


    Viney waved a few vines in the water to let her know that it had received the order.


    Then, Lin Qiao turned and left the space. As she turned around, she saw the giant cage again. Earlier on, she had asked Long Qingying to make this cage for keeping those large turtles. By this time, there were still a few turtles in it.


    She had told Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying that they could all eat these turtles, but no one believed her.


    Seeing these turtles, Lin Qiao realized that she hadn''t eaten anything for days. So, she squatted by the cage, looking at the few turtles which had piled up in the cage.


    At that point, Liu Jun walked out of the hotel, with Tong Tong carried in her arms.


    "You''re not hungry, are you?" Seeing Lin Qiao squatting by the cage, Liu Jun chuckled and asked.


    "A little¡­" Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    "How long has it been since you ate last time? It has not even been a week," said Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao turned to look at her and said, "Aren''t you hungry? Before I saw them, I didn''t really feel like eating. But they''re useless here, so I decided to boil them and eat them."


    "Boil?" Liu Jun looked at her with surprise, saying, "You eat cooked food now?"


    "The cooked turtle will be for him," Lin Qiao pointed at Tong Tong and said, "Turtle soup is nourishing."


    "Ah!" Liu Jun looked at her son, then responded.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then turned back to lift the cage and got inside.


    Bang!


    She put down the cage and walked toward those large turtles. Afterward, she picked up a turtle, then disappeared from the cage.


    Liu Jun thought that she was going to cook the turtle in her space, but unexpectedly, she showed up in the next moment and got out of the cage. Lin Qiao walked toward Junjun while saying, "Let''s get back to our room first. I need to find some salt from the kitchen."


    Earlier on, Du Yuanxing and the others had found some well-preserved refined salt. The shelf life of this batch of salt was five years, so even though five years had passed since the apocalypse, the salt hadn''t expired for long.


    In this era, safe salt was precious. As for the expiration date, that wasn''t important.


    "Alright," Liu Jun nodded, then followed Lin Qiao to the hotel.


    Lin Qiao found the kitchen of the restaurant in the hotel. As the solar power was back, some kitchen equipment was functional. Therefore, Lin Feng and his people would cook in the kitchen, then bring the food upstairs to eat, or eat in the restaurant.


    Thanks to Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili, no zombie dared to come into the hotel. Even the area hundreds of meters around the hotel was zombie-free. Therefore, Lin Feng and his people had gradually relaxed their vigilance and begun doing things freely in the hotel.

 243 Make Turtle Soup

    Lin Qiao found some salt from the kitchen and put it in a jar. Then, she entered her space, looking at the turtle which was lying on its back by the lakeside.


    She squatted beside the turtle and turned it around. She planned to cut off its head first. However, the turtle wouldn''t stick its head out. So, without a choice, Lin Qiao decided to cut it into pieces directly.


    When Lin Qiao lifted it, the quiet turtle seemed to suddenly sense danger, abruptly sticking out its head and limbs to struggle.


    Lin Qiao grasped the opportunity and cut it with her claws, causing the turtle head to fall onto the ground. Afterward, she cut through the thin shell on the side of the turtle''s body and pressed her fingers on the line.


    Crack! Crack! Crack! Following the series of noise, the turtle shell was broken. Lin Qiao clasped the turtle shell with one hand and tore it with the other, easily splitting the turtle into two.


    The fishy aroma instantly grew stronger. Maybe because the turtle hadn''t touched water for a few days, Lin Qiao somehow felt that the fishy smell was lighter than before.


    Lin Qiao sliced off a piece of turtle meat with her fingernail, then put it into her mouth. It was smooth and soft, tasting sweet and fishy, not the same as before. Before, she didn''t taste such a strong flavor of the turtle.


    Finishing the first slice, she cut off another slice and put it into her mouth. After that, she couldn''t stop eating. Only until half of the turtle was eaten by her did she remember that she still needed to make turtle soup for Tong Tong.


    She hurriedly washed the rest of the turtle. As she didn''t have other seasoning, she decided to boil the turtle together with potatoes, then add some vegetables to enrich the flavor.


    Except for Tong Tong, she also wanted Lin Xiaolu to have some of the turtle meat. Then, she thought of Lin Xiaolu''s parents, aunty, uncle, grandparents, Long Qingying and the others.


    ''Alright, those adults can have some soup,'' she thought.


    As she was now cooking for more people, she decided to add some vegetables. So, she washed some cabbages and put them into the soup. Soon, a large potful of soup was ready.


    At last, she carried a large potful of turtle soup out of her space.


    Boiled food was flavorless for Lin Qiao. However, Tong Tong seemed to have detected something. Once she walked into the room with the pot, he twitched her nose and began sniffing around.


    "Mom¡­It smells nice¡­" He fixed his eyes on the pot in Lin Qiao''s hands and then dragged Liu Jun''s trousers. Liu Jun had sensed Lin Qiao when the latter walked in, but like her, she didn''t smell anything either. Hearing her son, she turned to look at Lin Qiao.


    Then, she saw Lin Qiao walk in with a large pot of steaming soup.


    "The soup is ready? So much?"


    "You go find a large bowl to get some soup for Tong Tong, then I''ll bring the rest to the others. Xiaolu has lost some weight, so I want her to absorb some nourishment."


    Liu Jun smilingly nodded, then gently pulled Tong Tong away from her leg and said, "Good Tong Tong, sit here. Mommy will get you some delicious soup."


    Hearing that he could have some delicious soup, Tong Tong quietly sat on the couch. Liu Jun then stood up and walked to the cabinet nearby, taking a large stainless steel bowl and a small one. After that, she filled the large bowl with soup, meat, and vegetables.


    "Alright, these are enough for Tong Tong. Bring the rest to the others," she said. Lin Qiao nodded, then walked out of the room with the potful of soup, toward Lin Feng''s room.


    Lin Feng''s room was empty. She didn''t know where they had gone, so she walked in, put the soup on the table, then sensed their vibes and found that they were all on the first floor.


    ''Yeah, it''s lunchtime. They''re eating downstairs!''


    Thinking for a moment, Lin Qiao left a note beside the pot to tell those people that the soup was made with one of those turtles downstairs, and was for them.


    As for whether they dared to drink it or not, that would be up to them.


    However, once she put down the note, her expression changed slightly. She turned to walk to the door, then looked at the stairs with confusion.


    A while later, some people came upstairs.


    Lin Feng, Mrs. Lin, Long Qingying and a few others came up. They all looked fine, but Lin Xiaolu, who was lying on Lin Feng''s back, seemed to be a little droopy.


    The group of people were a little surprised when finding Lin Qiao standing by the door of their room.


    "Eh? Miss. Lu, were you looking for us?"


    Lin Qiao pointed at the pot on the table and said, "I was making some soup for Tong Tong. Then, I thought of Xiaolu, so I made more and brought it here for you. But, you were downstairs for lunch." While speaking, she stepped aside, glancing at Lin Xiaolu.


    Lin Feng smiled and said, "Ah, thank you, we just had lunch! Maybe, you should bring it back for Tong Tong."


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "Tong Tong can''t finish it alone."


    Lin Feng and the others walked into the room and found the large potful of soup. Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao, then smiled and said, "It''s alright, we''re only half-full. We can still have some soup."


    Lin Qiao quickly nodded.


    The group of people sat down on the couch. Mr. Lin picked up the note and read it, then a dim light flashed across her light. However, she quickly concealed it as she turned to say to Lin Qiao smilingly, "Is this made from those mutant turtles? Is it safe for us?"


    Lin Qiao walked over and leaned against the door as she said, "It''s safe is you trust me. Besides, I''ve let Tong Tong drink it, and he has been healthy the whole time. But, I''m curious about what happened to Xiaolu now. She looks a little tired, why?"


    In fact, Lin Xiaolu was already unconscious.


    Lin Feng put Lin Xiaolu on the couch, then gently patted her face with confusion.


    "Xiaolu? Eh¡­Why did she fall asleep?" However, Lin Feng didn''t pay too much attention to his daughter. He thought that she was sleep, so he put her on the couch and let her lie down.


    "She looked a little tired during the lunch just now," said Mrs. Lin, "Maybe she played too much."


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and saw that a stream of energy slowly seeping out from deep inside Lin Xiaolu''s body. The tiny amount of energy seeped into Lin Xiaolu''s vines, seeming to gather together.


    Lin Feng turned to look at the steaming soup on the table. He sensed a nice aroma, yet didn''t seem to want to taste it. Mrs. Lin smiled and said to him, "Lin Feng, just have some. I think it''s safe."


    While speaking, she gave Lin Qiao a meaningful glance.


    Lin Qiao pretended not to sense it, but smiled and said, "It''s alright! It''s understandable if you don''t dare to taste it. After all, it''s made from a mutant turtle. I can sense if the virus existed inside mutant animals and plants, which is why I feed Tong Tong with those mutant foods. Maybe you don''t believe it, but I think that''s one of my abilities."

 244 Lin Xiaolu Has A Fever

    Lin Feng and the others glanced at each other, then turned to Lin Qiao while thinking. After that, they nodded knowingly.


    "I see...That''s wonderful! So, you''re like a detector, and you''ll know which mutant foods are edible and which aren''t?" Mrs. Lin said half-jokingly.


    Lin Qiao raised her brows and responded with a faint smile, "I don''t mind you calling me that. But, it''s not the time to talk about that. I have a feeling that something is going wrong with Xiaolu."


    Lin Feng and Mr. Lin paused slightly, then turned to look at Lin Xiaolu confusedly. Neither of them detected anything abnormal.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Feng turned back to Lin Qiao and asked. She unclasped her hands and walked over as she said, "Touch her head and see if she''s having a fever."


    Lin Feng turned back and reached out a hand to touch his daughter''s forehead. In the next instant, his face darkened slightly. Seeing her son''s reaction, Mrs. Lin began worrying. "What?" She asked with concern.


    "She''s a little hot," said Lin Feng while looking at the asleep little girl. "How did you know?" He turned and asked Lin Qiao. Hearing that, Mrs. Lin couldn''t remain sitting. She hurriedly stood up and walked to Lin Xiaolu. As she pushed away Lin Feng''s hand and touched the little girl herself, she found that Lin Xiaolu was really having a fever.


    "Xiaolu? Xiaolu, wake up, Xiaolu!" She gently patted Lin Xiaolu''s face and tried to wake her up. However, the latter made no reaction at all. She didn''t even move her eyelids.


    "What¡­What happened to her?" Mrs. Lin said anxiously with a frown.


    Long Qingying, who stood aside, now got closer and looked at Lin Qiao, then turned to Lin Xiaolu with both worry and confusion.


    Lin Feng looked at Lin Xiaolu, then bent over to try waking her up, "Xiaolu? Xiaolu? Xiaolu, wake up! Look at Daddy!"


    However, she still didn''t react.


    Seeing that, the group of people all got anxious, constantly shaking her as they tried to wake her up.


    Lin Qiao walked over and pulled Lin Feng away, "Stop shouting! She has fainted." Once she said that, both Lin Feng and Mrs. Lin turned to her with surprise and asked, "She has been healthy. How could she suddenly faint?"


    "Water¡­water¡­Can''t your water heal people?" Mrs. Lin abruptly said to Lin Qiao. The latter shook her head and said, "My water should be useless, because I think she''s triggering her power right now."


    Lin Feng and Mrs. Lin stared at her and said in one voice, "What did you say? Triggering her power?"


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to look at the energy inside Lin Xiaolu''s body, then nodded. Mrs. Lin couldn''t believe this. "How can this happen? She''s so young. Can she possibly trigger a power?" She asked.


    Some people triggered superpowers after the apocalypse, but none of them was a child. At least, no one had heard about any child who managed to trigger a superpower.


    The look on Lin Feng''s face turned serious. If a child were triggering a superpower, he or she wouldn''t be able to get through the fever. Children weren''t as strong as adults, so the fever might hurt them.


    Lin Qiao understood Lin Feng''s concern. "Lin Feng," she said, "you take her into my space. I know how to control her body temperature temporarily."


    Lin Feng''s eyes glowed as he raised his head to look at Lin Qiao. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lin asked with confusion, "Why do they have to enter your space? Can''t you bring out what you need from your space?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her, then shook her head and said, "I can''t take it out. She has to come into my space."


    Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao with hesitation, then turned to Lin Feng, waiting for him to make the decision. She wasn''t sure if the other should be trusted or not. Even though Lin Qiao had saved them, she would still worry about her son and granddaughter if they entered her space, as she wouldn''t be able to see them.


    Lin Feng glanced at Lin Qiao with a frown, then turned to Mrs. Lin and said, "Mom, I trust her. We have no other choice right now. Xiaolu won''t be able to hold on for long if the fever continues."


    Mrs. Lin stared at him nervously as she opened her mouth, but didn''t say anything.


    Lin Feng touched Lin Xiaolu''s head again, then found that during this short while, her body temperature had risen further. He hurriedly lifted his daughter, then looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "Alright, what should I do?"


    "Nothing, just hold her," Lin Qiao pressed a hand on his shoulder and said.


    After that, she disappeared from where she was along with Lin Feng and Lin Xiaolu, leaving Mrs. Lin and the others waiting in the room with anxious looks.


    At this moment, Lin Wenwen and Cheng Wangxue came upstairs as well. They first looked around the room, but didn''t find Lin Xiaolu and Lin Feng.


    "Eh? Where''s Lin Feng and Xiaolu? Mom, are you feeling unwell?" Cheng Wangxue first asked about her daughter and husband, then noticed the strange look on Mrs. Lin''s face, so she hurriedly asked the second question.


    Lin Wenwen had caught the aroma of the soup, then found the pot on the table. As she prepared to check the soup, she suddenly heard Cheng Wangxue''s words. She paused briefly, then turned to her mother and found her standing in the room with an anxious look. She didn''t know what had happened.


    Mrs. Lin put her fists before her chest as she looked at Cheng Wangxue and Lin Wenwen and said, "Ah, Xiaolu suddenly had a fever and fainted. Lu Tianyu said that she''s going to trigger a power. And then, she brought Lin Feng and Xiaolu into her space. I don''t know what''s going to happen next."


    "What? Triggering a power?" Hearing that, the two had their expressions changed and Cheng Wangxue even yelled out.


    Lin Wenwen looked at her mother with disbelief while saying, "How can Xiaolu suddenly trigger a power? She''s only seven! She''s too young! What should we do? When triggering the power, her body temperature will rise drastically. Even adults can be hurt by the fever! She¡­"


    She was right. Only ten or twenty percent of all zombies could successfully trigger superpowers. As for human beings, only seventy percent of them were able to wake up from the fever and use their powers; the rest thirty percent would fail.


    The ones who failed either had their brains damaged, or suffered a brain death and ended up in a vegetative state, or died.


    For this reason, Mrs. Lin was worried so badly after hearing that Xiaolu was triggering a power.


    Cheng Wangxue suddenly looked at Mrs. Lin with hope in her eyes as she said, "Lu Tianyu knows how to solve the problem, doesn''t she? Otherwise, why would she bring Xiao Lu and Lin Feng into her space?"


    Mrs. Lin shook her head and responded with both helplessness and concern, "I''m not sure. She said she might can help¡­but not guarantee."


    Lin Wenwen brought Cheng Wangxue to the couch and made her sit down, then made her mother sit down as well. After that, she sighed and comforted them both, "Calm down, my brother is there! He''ll figure out a way to wake Xiaolu up."


    However, she found her own words not so convincing to even herself.

 245 Being A Good Zombie Is Hard

    After entering the space, Lin Qiao and Lin Feng showed up by the lakeside.


    The latter was unconscious the last time he was in here, so this was his first time seeing Lin Qiao''s space. While observing the space, he had also been paying attention to her.


    The space was larger than he had thought, and there was an actual lake in it. On the other side of the space was a large grassland and the strange-looking forest by the edge. All kinds of furniture pieces and kitchenware were placed on one side of the grassland.


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the grassland was a pile of mutant pumpkins and potatoes. Lin Feng guessed that Lin Qiao stored those in her space because they were all edible.


    Right next to the two of them was a stone stove, a chair, some buckets, pots, and bowls. Many parts of this space were showing that it was a habitable space. The lake could provide people with water, and those pumpkins and potatoes could serve as food.


    "Viney," Lin Qiao stood by the lakeside and abruptly shouted at the lake.


    Lin Feng glanced at her with surprise, wondering what did she mean. Was she calling someone? Or what?


    Then, a few arm-thick vines rose from the peaceful lake surface. The vines swayed above the water, then actually reached toward Lin Feng and Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng automatically took a step backward, as he had a bad feeling.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and said, "What are you afraid of? This is Viney, a vine plant living in my space. I don''t know exactly what kind of creature it is, but it''s conscious. The lake water has a healing power because of its help."


    Hearing that, Lin Feng relaxed a little bit. After all, Viney wasn''t a mysterious creature to Lin Qiao, and it had something to do with healing.


    Lin Qiao watched Viney reaching the vines toward her while continuing to Lin Feng, "Viney won''t hurt people, as long as you don''t offend it¡­"


    Viney wouldn''t hurt people, but it could eat people. Lin Qiao didn''t tell that to Lin Feng, as she was afraid that he might overreact.


    Anyway, Lin Feng calmed down, putting Lin Xiaolu on the chair nearby. Then, he touched her forehead and found that she was even hotter than before. He couldn''t care about anything else, only wanting to know what he should do next to help his daughter.


    "You said you may have a way to help. What''s your idea?" He asked Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao spread her hand and said, "The idea isn''t mine. We need to ask Viney."


    At that moment, the vines avoided Lin Feng and moved toward Lin Qiao. Soon, a vine coiled onto Lin Qiao''s leg and gently wrapped around her wrist.


    ''Mama, mama, this is the man you brought here last time. Who''s this little sister?'' Asked Viney. Lin Qiao responded in her head, ''This man is my brother, and this little sister is my niece. But don''t tell him about that, because it''s our secret.''


    ''Ah¡­alright¡­Eh? Is this little sister asleep?'' Viney responded without fully understanding.


    Lin Qiao said, ''The energy inside the little sister''s body seems to be abnormal. You go check her and see if you can help order her energy. She''s triggering her power.''


    Lin Feng was confused a little on seeing Lin Qiao remain silent with a vine wrapped around her hand, only staring at his daughter. At that point, Lin Qiao said to him, "Let Viney check Xiaolu''s body condition. Her energy has started to disorder."


    As more and more energy was generated inside her body, Lin Xiaolu''s body temperature was growing higher and higher. Lin Feng looked at Lin Qiao with hesitation and asked, "Are you sure?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah, I''m sure! Your only choice is to believe me right now, isn''t it?"


    She understood that Lin Feng had no better idea, and could only believe her. Lin Feng couldn''t tell what would happen at last, and he wasn''t willing to believe that the vine was able to save Xiaolu.


    Lin Qiao looked at Viney, then pointed at Xiao Lu and said, "Viney, go and see if you can wake her up."


    Lin Feng didn''t know why Lin Qiao talked to a plant, but he didn''t say anything.


    ''Sure!''


    Vines responded, but didn''t unwrap her wrist. Instead, it sent anther vine toward Lin Xiaolu. Seeing that a vine was actually coming at him, Lin Feng couldn''t help but get a little nervous. However, he understood that he had to trust Lin Qiao, and couldn''t make any other move.


    He watched the vine, which had two tiny leaves at its head, crawl to her daughter''s feet like a snake, then coil around her ankles.


    Next, the two leaves shook slightly.


    A few seconds later, Viney said to Lin Qiao, ''Mama, I can filter her energy, but we need to get her down in the lake¡­''


    Lin Qiao nodded, then looked at Lin Feng and said, "Viney said that the energy inside Xiaolu''s body needs to be filtered. But to do that, we need to get her down in the lake."


    Lin Feng didn''t quite understand, so he asked, "What do you mean by getting her down in the lake? Are you going to take Xiaolu into the lake?"


    Lin Qiao responded, "We need to take Xiaolu down to the bottom of the lake. But don''t worry, she''s gonna be fine. Viney is able to control her respiratory system and protect her from suffocation."


    Lin Feng popped his eyes in shock, as he could scarcely believe what Lin Qiao had said.


    How could he put his daughter to the bottom of the lake! He didn''t know how deep that lake was, or what was in that lake. What if something happened to her?


    He wore a dark face and didn''t say a word in a while.


    Lin Feng honestly didn''t believe Lin Qiao. However, he couldn''t think of a thing to do to help his daughter. So now, he wasn''t sure if he should choose to trust Lin Qiao or not.


    What if an accident happened after his daughter went down into the lake?


    But soon, he chose to believe the other, because in the current situation, her daughter would be hopeless if he refused to believe. At the very least, Lin Qiao was offering hope.


    He couldn''t watch his daughter''s body temperature go higher and higher, until she got hurt, could he?


    Thus, he nodded and said, "Okay, but¡­"


    He stared at Lin Qiao, his eyes saying that if anything happened to his daughter, he would fight Lin Qiao with his life.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and nodded at him carelessly. But on the inside, she complained about the fact that she would get suspected every time she tried to save some people. Well, being a good zombie was really difficult!


    With that thought, she said to Viney, "Alright, Viney, you can begin."


    Receiving her order, Viney immediately moved over its other few vines, wrapping up Lin Xiaolu''s limbs. Then, it lifted her from the chair and moved her into the lake.


    Lin Feng maintained a calm look, his eyes fixed on Lin Xiaolu. But in fact, his pulse was throbbing in his throat, as he was so worried but couldn''t do anything.

 246 Wait Anxiously

    Viney brought Lin Xiaolu to the middle of the lake, a meter higher than the water surface. Then, more vines rose from the water and slowly wrapped her up. After that, she sunk into the lake in front of Lin Feng and Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao glanced back at Lin Feng''s clenched fist and remained silent.


    She had sensed that Viney had brought Lin Xiaolu into the lake. She wasn''t able to sense the energy inside Lin Xiaolu''s body clearly, but she felt that it had somehow quieted down a few seconds after Xiaolu was brought into the water.


    At that moment, she and Lin Feng were like family members waiting outside the operating room. Their hearts were filled with hope and concern, yet they couldn''t do anything except anxiously wait by the lake.


    Nevertheless, Lin Qiao wasn''t as nervous as Lin Feng was, because she was able to sense the things down in the lake, hazily though. Unlike her, Lin Feng was now like an ant in a burning pot. But still, he managed to remain calm and keep himself from panicking.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and couldn''t bear watching him being so anxious. So, she said, "Xiaolu''s energy was stabilized after she got down into the water. Viney knows what to do. Xiaolu should be safe, so you don''t need to worry."


    Lin Feng paused, then raised his head to look at her. Hearing her words, he somehow relaxed a little and sighed in relief, then figured that Lin Qiao might have said that only to ease his anxiety.


    "Thank you!" Lin Feng looked at Lin Qiao''s purely black eyes and said with sincere gratitude. Lin Qiao nodded at him, then turned back to the lake, closing her eyes to carefully sense the world down in the water.


    A while later, she opened her eyes and said, "Although Xiaolu is in a stable condition now, Viney still needs to filter out the excessive energy and trigger her energy nucleus, so it may take some time."


    "So, you need to be patient, and wait."


    Lin Feng nodded knowingly, then asked, "Can you sense the things down in the lake?"


    "A little, but not clearly enough," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng looked at her and didn''t say more words, but turned to stare at the lake surface as well. He understood that he needed to be patient, but after two hours, he had started getting anxious again. He glanced at Lin Qiao for a few times, and the latter told him about what was happening in the lake before he asked.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s explanation, Lin Feng calmed back down again.


    Lin Qiao and Lin Feng, who were waiting by the lake, were relatively composed; but unlike them, the group of people outside just couldn''t calm down.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t there, and neither was Qiu Lili. So, after waiting in the room for about two hours, Cheng Wangxue and the others started to be driven crazy by anxiety. At last, they couldn''t help but go to Liu Jun''s room to find her.


    Xie Dong, who stayed in that room, showed his face as well, following Liu Jun to protect her. He was worried that Cheng Wangxue and her family might get emotional and end up doing something unreasonable to Liu Jun.


    "Can she really solve Xiaolu''s problem? It has been about two hours, but why haven''t we heard anything yet? Why didn''t they come out to tell us about what''s happening now? I''m really worried," Mrs. Lin clasped her hands as she said while pacing in the room.


    Liu Jun was sitting on the couch, and Tong Tong was playing on her knees. "Madam, please calm down! Our Captain has the solution, or she wouldn''t bring Xiaolu into her space. When they''re out, Xiaolu might have become a superpowered one, the youngest among all."


    Cheng Wangxue sat beside Liu Jun and tightened her face, fists clenched on her knees. While listening to Liu Jun, she tried very hard to comfort and tell herself that Liu Jun was right.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Cheng Wangxue, then at her mother, then at Liu Jun. She was worried too; she didn''t know what to say to comfort the others, but only waited anxiously with them.


    Long Qingying, who was remaining silent the whole time, now joined the conversation, "I believe in Junjun. Xiaolu is gonna be fine."


    Lin Qiao had saved her life a few times, and she had visited her space. Added with the fact that Tong Tong, who was now in Liu Jun''s arms, had been living a good life, she somehow believed that Lin Qiao must know how to help Lin Xiaolu.


    Hearing her, the others relaxed a little bit.


    But two more hours later, people started getting nervous again. Cheng Wangxue stood up and paced before the window which was behind the couch while Mrs. Lin was sitting on the couch, sighing endlessly.


    Lin Wenwen walked to Long Qingying and asked with a low voice, "Can she really wake Xiaolu up? And, is Xiaolu really triggering a superpower? How could she suddenly begin triggering a superpower? That should be impossible!"


    Long Qingying looked at her and replied, "I don''t know for sure. But, there''s something living inside her lake. She brought Xiaolu into her space, so I guess that she went to ask that thing in the lake for help."


    Earlier on, Yang Cheng was drained after being thrown into that lake. Recalling that now still made Long Qingying shiver out of fear.


    At that moment, Liu Jun turned to say to them both, "You forgot that we''re zombies. Our Captain is very sensitive to energies. She said that Xiaolu is triggering a superpower, so it must be true. Moreover, Long Qingying is right¡­I think our Captain went to Viney for help. They''ve been in the space for so long, so I think they''re making some progress. Otherwise, they would have come out long ago."


    Once she said that, the others all saw hope.


    She was right! Since it had been so long, there should be a great chance for the problem to be solved. After all, if Lin Qiao''s plan didn''t work, she should have sent Lin Feng and Lin Xiaolu out long ago.


    "Who''s Viney?" Asked Lin Wenwen with surprise.


    Long Qingying looked at Liu Jun and asked a question too, "It''s not the one in the lake, is it?"


    "Yes it is, don''t worry!" Liu Jun nodded and responded with a smile. Ever since the dark circles under Liu Jun''s eyes disappeared, she looked much more energetic than before. Her skin was still a little pale, decorated with some blood streaks''; but aside of that, she was no different from a normal human being. But of course, her eyes were still purely dark.


    Her smile was warm, but one would have to ignore her eyes to sense the warmth of her smile¡­


    The group of comforted people patiently waited for more couple of hours, until it was dark.


    By that time, something finally happened in Lin Qiao''s space. A vibration spread from the center of the lake, and the lake surface was immediately stirred.


    "That''s it! She''s getting up," Lin Qiao stared at the lake center and said abruptly. Lin Feng was refreshed by this news. He looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "Then Xiaolu is¡­"


    Lin Qiao smilingly glanced at him, then nodded and said, "She''s fine! The vibration is caused by the formation of her energy nucleus. So now, Viney is sending her up."


    Hearing that, Lin Feng relaxed a lot, then turned to the lake with anticipation.

 247 She’s Finally Ou

    Soon, the water in the lake center began waving, and a vine raised Lin Xiaolu''s flawless body from the lake; letting her float on the water surface while facing the sky, and bringing her toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly found a towel and a dress from Qiu Lili''s closet. Meanwhile, Lin Feng took Lin Xiaolu over from the vine and carried her toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao waited by a couch; as Lin Feng carried Xiaolu over, she put her down on the couch, then began wiping her body with the towel.


    Lin Feng was holding his naked daughter. He was surprised, as his daughter''s clothes were all done; but what he was worried more about was her body condition.


    After checking, he found that Lin Xiaolu''s body temperature had dropped, and now was even a little lower than usual. Her breath was stable, and so was her heartbeat. He also lifted her eyelids and found that her pupils seemed to be normal.


    Only after that did Lin Feng finally stop worrying.


    Lin Qiao dried Lin Xiaolu''s body, then put the dress on her. Afterward, she began drying her long and wet hair.


    Before, Lin Feng didn''t pay attention to Lin Qiao''s movement. But now, after calming down, he noticed how practiced she seemed to be in taking care of Lin Xiaolu. He was puzzled at first, then was inclined to believe a guess of his even deeper than before.


    "When will Xiaolu wake up?" He asked.


    Lin Qiao responded while wiping Xiaolu''s hair, "Em, I guess it''ll take one or two more hours. Touch her forehead¡­you should be able to sense her energy nucleus right now."


    She didn''t need to touch Lin Xiaolu''s forehead, as she had already sensed the little girl''s energy nucleus. Right now, she was curious about what kind of power Lin Xiaolu had.


    Hearing her, Lin Feng immediately put a hand on his daughter''s forehead. Then, he gathered a slight amount of energy in his palm which was pressing against Lin Xiaolu''s forehead.


    As she had said, he did sense a slight energy wave from Lin Xiaolu''s head.


    "It''s real! Xiaolu does have a power now!" He murmured with surprise.


    At that moment, Viney suddenly coiled a vine on Lin Qiao''s hand and sent her a message. Soon after that, it unwrapped her, and then all the vines drew back into the lake.


    Lin Qiao paused for a second, but didn''t make other reaction. She looked at Lin Feng and said, "Alright, you carry her. I''ll send you outside. The others are worried sick."


    Lin Feng was immediately reminded of Mrs. Lin and the others, so he hurriedly lifted his daughter and stood up. After that, Lin Qiao put a hand on his shoulder and brought both of them out.


    As the group of people were waiting anxiously, the two suddenly showed up in the room. The people were shocked at first, then realized what had happened.


    "Lin Feng, how''s Xiaolu!" Cheng Wangxue immediately sprung up from the couch. She would have collapsed if she hadn''t been trying too hard to control herself.


    Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen, and the others all hurriedly came over to touch Lin Xiaolu, all afraid that they might touch a cold body.


    Lin Qiao stood aside and saw that Xie Dong standing by Liu Jun''s side. She nodded at the two of them, then turned to say to the others, "Alright, alright, Xiaolu is fine! Don''t worry, put her in bed and cover her with a blanket. She''ll wake up when her body temperature rises to the normal level."


    Mrs. Lin, Cheng Wangxue, and all the others had touched Lin Xiaolu''s body. Her body temperature was a little low, but thankfully, her body wasn''t icy-cold, and was still warm.


    Finally, the group of people stopped worrying.


    "Ah, I was worried sick! Thankfully, she''s fine!" Mrs. Lin said while patting her own chest.


    "Is she really fine? There won''t be a problem, right? Her brain isn''t damaged, is it? And her body¡­her body is unharmed, right? Will any problem occur after she wakes up?" Cheng Wangxue was still worrying about her daughter, so she followed Lin Feng and kept asking questions.


    "Is Xiaolu a superpowered one now? She''s the youngest superpowered human being. If we train her well, she''ll become powerful when she grows up, won''t she?" Lin Wenwen also followed behind Lin Feng and asked curiously.


    Lin Feng put the girl on the bed. The others helped to lift the blanket, then covered Xiaolu with it.


    "It''s alright, Xiaolu is healthy!" said Lin Qiao, "In fact, she''s healthier than any of you in this room. Let her rest for a while. She''ll wake up soon."


    At that moment, Lin Feng turned to say to Lin Qiao seriously, "Thank you! You saved our family once more! We''ve owed you too much."


    Lin Qiao had sensed his sincerity as she carelessly waved a hand at him.


    "Xiaolu is so adorable, so how can I not help her? I''ll do whatever to help you as long as I can," she said. Hearing their conversation, Mrs. Lin and the others all turned back to glance at Lin Qiao with gratitude.


    Liu Jun carried Tong Tong over and asked Lin Qiao with curiosity, "Do you know what power Xiaolu has triggered?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I don''t know! She''ll have to figure that out by herself after waking up."


    Meanwhile, Liu Jun glanced at Lin Xiaolu, who was lying in bed, with curiosity.


    "Mom, why is Sister Xiaolu asleep?" Tong Tong asked in her arms, "Isn''t she getting up to play?"


    Liu Jun smiled at him and replied, "Sister Xiaolu is sick. She''s tired right now, so she needs to rest."


    Tong Tong nodded knowingly and responded, "Ah, I see!"


    However, Lin Qiao had sensed the thoughts in his little head.


    ''So, she''s sick¡­What does sick mean? She''s sick so she needs to rest? But why rest?''


    Lin Qiao glanced at Tong Tong with a smile, then turned to look at the potful of soup. Then, she walked to the table and lifted the lid of the pot. Even though it had been covered, the soup was still a little cold by now.


    She turned to say to Lin Wenwen, "Lin Wenwen, you and Long Qingying go heat this soup up. Later when Xiaolu wakes up, you can give her some of the soup. Besides, it''s dinner time now. Don''t miss your dinner."


    "Okay," Lin Wenwen waited for her to finish speaking, then responded a little confusedly.


    After saying that, Lin Qiao turned and left the room, Liu Jun and Xie Dong following behind her.


    As the three of then left, Lin Wenwen suddenly caught a weird feeling. For some reason, when Lin Qiao said that to her just now, she felt that the one talking to her was her elder sister.


    The familiar tone of talking, and familiar words...


    Lin Wenwen tilted her head with confusion, then carried the pot out of the room with Long Qingying while thinking.


    Back in the zombies'' room, Liu Jun asked Lin Qiao who had sat down on the couch, "Eh, didn''t you say that Viney doesn''t have enough energy? How did it manage to suppress Xiaolu''s energy without using its own?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and responded slowly, as if in deep thoughts, "It''s not like that. Viney has used up the last bit of energy¡­It''s sleeping now. Only after it has absorbed enough energy will it wake up again."


    The last message that Viney sent her was to tell her about that. It had spent five or six hours to order and filter Lin Xiaolu''s energy. How could that not consume any of Viney''s own energy? Viney had used up the last bit of its own energy to fix Xiaolu''s problem.

 248 You Can Call Me Aunty

    Liu Jun nodded knowingly and said, "Ah, I see! So, we might have to wait for Lili to bring back some zombie nuclei to wake Viney up. And, when do you think Deputy Chief Yuan will come back? He''s been away for quite a few days."


    Lin Qiao glanced at Xie Dong, then said, "Yuan Tianxing went to Sea City Base. He was going to meet Wu Chengyue, but that man isn''t in the base. As the man with cooperative intentions isn''t there, he''ll look for another potential partner. Xie Dong, do you think he''ll pick Yang Chao or Zou Shihui?"


    While speaking, she took out the clipboard and handed it to Xie Dong.


    Xie Dong took over the clipboard, then picked up the pen and wrote, ''Yang Chao has no interest in cooperating with people from the outside. He''s all about strengthening the base. As for the diplomatic work, he''ll leave them to his two Deputy Chiefs.''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Which means, even if Wu Chengyue is back in the base, he won''t lend too many people to Yuan Tianxing. So, I guess Yuan Tianxing will try to hire some people in Sea City Base with food. However, we don''t know if those people are willing to work for him?"


    Liu Jun carried Tong Tong and sat on the bedside, then looked at Lin Qiao and said, "Are you saying that Deputy Chief Yuan will need to spend a long while there?"


    Lin Qiao nodded; due to the above reasons, they needed to wait, for both Qiu Lili and Yuan Tianxing.


    Two hours later, about nine o''clock in the evening, Lin Feng, Cheng Wangxue, and Lin Xiaolu¡ªwho had woken up¡ªcame to Lin Qiao''s room and asked to see her.


    Lin Qiao had cleaned the room in front of Liu Jun''s and settled down temporarily. Her room was next to Xie Dong''s.


    Hearing the knock on the door, she walked to the door and opened it, then saw Lin Feng and his family.


    "Eh? Xiaolu has woken up! Come in¡­" Lin Qiao first observed Lin Xiaolu who was raising her head to look at her, then stood aside and invited the guests in.


    Lin Feng was wearing his symbolic serious look again. He nodded at Lin Qiao, then walked into the room.


    Cheng Wangxue held Lin Xiaolu''s hand and guided her into the room. Then, she looked at her while pointing at Lin Qiao and said, "Here, Xiaolu, thank this sister! When you were having a fever and were in a coma, this sister saved you. You need to be grateful, do you know that?"


    Lin Xiaolu obediently nodded, then looked at Lin Qiao adorably and said, "Thank you, sister¡­"


    "Eh, don''t call me sister¡­Call me aunt. I''m so old, so it''s a little strange for you to call me sister¡­" Lin Qiao was a little speechless on hearing Cheng Wangxue, so she hurriedly interrupted Lin Xiaolu.


    Lin Xiaolu didn''t know that Lin Qiao was her aunty yet, but she could call her aunt. If she called her sister, it would be wrong. If Lin Qiao let Xiaolu call her sister, Lin Feng as her brother would be like her uncle, and her mother would be like her grandma¡­That was unacceptable!


    Cheng Wangxue said with surprise, "How so? You look young."


    Lin Qiao guided Cheng Wangxue and the little girl to the couch and made them sit down, then waved her hands toward Cheng Wangxue and said, "No, no, she has to call me aunt, or aunty."


    As Lin Qiao insisted, Cheng Wangxue had no other choice but to smilingly say to her daughter, "Alright, call aunt¡­"


    Before she finished, Lin Feng, who stood aside, abruptly joined the conversation, "Call her Aunty¡­Aunty sounds better."


    Lin Qiao and Cheng Wangxue looked at Lin Feng, each with a strange look. Lin Qiao felt that Aunty sounded more appropriate, but she surely wouldn''t tell that to Lin Feng. However, the reason given by him was strange as well.


    Why?


    Cheng Wangxue was also staring at Lin Feng with a weird expression. As the atmosphere suddenly turned a little awkward, Lin Qiao immediately changed the topic, "Ahyaya, you can call me anything. Come on, Xiaolu, you can decide what to call me."


    Lin Xiaolu was going to call her Aunt, but before she said a word, she received a threatening glance from her father. Therefore, she corrected herself and called Lin Qiao, "Then, I''ll call you Aunty¡­"


    Lin Qiao smilingly nodded, then asked her, "What''s your power? Can you use it?"


    Lin Xiaolu shook her head with puzzles on her face, "I don''t know yet."


    "It won''t be so soon. You may have to wait for two or three days," said Lin Feng expressionlessly.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know much about the awakening of superpowers in human beings. Lu Tianyu had no clear memories about that either, as she only cared about her appearance.


    "Yeah, people have to wait for a couple of days after waking up, before they can use their powers," said Cheng Wangxue, "So now, we don''t know what power Xiaolu has. But, we really need to thank you for helping her trigger her power."


    "You''re very welcome¡­" Lin Qiao carelessly shook her head and responded smilingly. However, before she finished talking, the smile on her face froze. She suddenly turned to look outside the window, and her dark eyes glowed with a mysterious light.


    Lin Feng and Cheng Wangxue were puzzled because of the sudden change of her expression. Then, they both looked outside the window. However, it was all dark out there, and they detected nothing unusual.


    "What''s wrong?" Cheng Wangxue couldn''t help but ask curiously. Lin Qiao stood up and moved aside as she replied, "Don''t move, I''ll go and check!"


    She flashed to the wall next to the window, then gazed outside with one eye. About a mile away, on a tall building that Lin Feng and his wife couldn''t see, a spot of light was sparkling from time to time, looking like the glistening of a mirror.


    "You go back to your room and keep an eye on the others!" Lin Qiao said to Lin Feng and Cheng Wangxue abruptly in a serious tone. After that, she disappeared from where she was.


    Lin Feng and Cheng Wangue were left in confusion, glancing at each other.


    Lin Qiao turned herself invisible, then darted out through the window. She quickly climbed onto the roof on all fours, then stood on the guardrail as she raised her head to sniff at the air.


    As she had thought, she had grasped the scents of a group of human being. The scent of one among those people was very familiar to her, as he was the next on her killing list.


    After confirming the identities of those people, Lin Qiao leaned her body and leaped off the roof. After she fell for four or five floors, she suddenly reached out a hand and accurately grasped a guardrail, then flipped in the air and jumped into a balcony.


    Afterward, she darted to the right side of the balcony from the left side, then hopped into the other balcony. After that, she jumped into the room at the front and leaped out of the balcony of that room. Next, she jumped onto the balcony below and arrived at a room on the fourth floor, on the other side of the building.


    She entered the room from the balcony, which was empty. She then quickly walked out, to the door of Liu Jun''s room.


    After knocking the door, she opened it and walked into Liu Jun''s room.


    Liu Jun was lulling Tong Tong to sleep. As Lin Qiao came in and closed the door from inside, she asked with a low voice, "What''s wrong?"

 249 Yang Jianhua Shows Up Again

    Liu Jun''s room was located in the backside of the hotel, so she couldn''t see anything in front of the hotel, and no one could look into the room from downstairs.


    The rooms with balconies that Lin Qiao came down from were all on the front side of the hotel, which meant the people she saw were about a mile away from the hotel on the front side.


    She walked to the couch and sat down while speaking, "You''ve recollected your memories, so I suppose you know what Yang Jianhua did, don''t you? Last time, when I saved Lin Feng and the others, I heard their conversation. Did that Yang Jianhua really do something to me¡­and I can''t remember it?"


    Hearing that, Liu Jun paused slightly, then glanced at Tong Tong, who was already in a deep sleep. After that, she quietly stood up from the bed, walked to the couch, and sat down next to Lin Qiao.


    Looking at her son, she said with a gentle voice, "I don''t know the details. I guess you''ve roughly found out what happened. As for if he really saved your life or faked it, you need to dig it up by yourself from your lost memories."


    Lin Qiao frowned, lowering her head slightly and falling into deep thoughts.


    Yang Jianhua was no longer a stranger to her. From Lin Feng, his people, Long Qingying, and Du Yuanxing, she had learned about what happened. In the story, she was the victim. However, she felt nothing, as if she was listening to someone else''s story.


    Liu Jun turned to look at her with surprise and asked, "Why suddenly ask about him? What do you plan to do to him?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at her and responded, "He''s showed up. He''s about a thousand meters away at the front side of the hotel, observing us."


    Hearing that, Liu Jun''s face immediately darkened. "How dare he come back! Didn''t Lili drive him away last time?" She said with a cold voice.


    Lin Qiao rested her chin on her hands while saying, "I guess he''s been lingering in this area and observing us from the darkness. Earlier on, I wasn''t here, and I didn''t notice him when I came back. He''s now relaxing his vigilance slightly, maybe because he saw Lili leave this afternoon. I think he''ll do something before Lili comes back. We''ll find out tomorrow morning."


    Liu Jun immediately knitted her brows and asked with concern, "What should we do then? Even though there''re lots of ordinary zombies hundreds of meters from here, they can''t stop the superpowered ones above level four¡­Not to mention the fact that Yang Jianhua is at the top of level-six, and is just a step away from level-seven."


    "We don''t need to worry about that," Lin Qiao said carelessly, "We might not be able to defeat him, but can''t we hide? As long as I''m here, it''s unnecessary for us to worry about that."


    While speaking, she glanced at Liu Jun, who was enlightened by her words. She nodded and said, "Ah, yeah, we can hide in your space. I forgot about that. But, that Yang Jianhua is so insistent about pursuing Lin Wenwen. It''s so disgusting. He''s a bisexual, isn''t he?"


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and replied, "How am I supposed to know? I don''t remember him."


    Liu Jun looked at her with surprise and continued, "How come you only lost the memories of the past five years? Do you remember the things that happened before the apocalypse?"


    "Me waking up in another person''s body is already strange enough," said Lin Qiao, "Losing a couple of years of memory is nothing. Earlier on, I thought I slept for five whole years, but unexpectedly, I just lost my memories."


    Liu Jun nodded with agreement and said, "You''re right. It surprised me that you actually woke up in another body. Doesn''t the previous owner of your body have any family in Sea City Base?"


    "There''s one," Lin Qiao nodded, "I met him a couple of days ago."


    "Eh?" Said Liu Jun in surprise, "No way! Weren''t you in the center of Hangzhou City days ago? Did he or she go to that area?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah, he and his team was captured as the food of a zombie king. I passed by and saved them."


    Lin Qiao spent a while chatting with Liu Jun, then told the latter to stay alert. After that, she turned and walked out of Junjun''s room, then knocked on Xie Dong''s room. She told him to raise his vigilance, also to keep an eye on Liu Jun and her son.


    Next, she went to Lin Feng''s room. Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen, and the others were all in Lin Feng''s room, including Lin Hao, who didn''t show up often. Once Lin Qiao showed up, they all turned to look at her, as if they had been waiting for her.


    "What''s the situation?" Lin Feng looked at her and directly asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded as she walked into the room, then sat down on an empty couch and started talking, "Em, it''s Yang Jianhua¡­He''s watching us."


    Hearing Yan Jianhua''s name, Lin Feng and all the others had their faces darkened.


    "How dare he come back!" said Lin Wenwen immediately, "Isn''t he afraid that Qiu Lili will beat him again?"


    Lin Hao, who was cutting a branch, swung down his hand and cut off half of the smooth, thin, and sharp tip of the branch.


    "I don''t know for sure," said Lin Qiao expressionlessly, "Maybe he never left, or he did, but has returned. I think he knows that Qiu Lili has left this afternoon, which is why he started making big moves tonight, and was noticed by me."


    "If Tianxing were here, he would be a match for Yang Jianhua," said Lin Feng, "But now, neither he nor Lili is here. I think none of us can rival him. Where did Qiu Lili go? She disappeared all the time, but never left for long."


    "She went for hunting. I don''t think she''ll be back soon," said Lin Qiao.


    "Hunting?" Said Lin Wenwen with surprise, "Eh, she''s a zombie queen, and she doesn''t eat human beings. So, what is she hunting?"


    Lin Feng glanced at Lin Wenwen, said, "She can hunt zombies." After saying that, he turned to look at Lin Qiao, who nodded and said, "You''ve seen what happened to Junjun. Lili wants to be able to talk too. However, her level is high, so fixing her requires a big amount of energy. For that purpose, she needs to find some energy sources."


    Mrs. Lin frowned and said, "So, what should we do now? Miss. Lu, are you sure that you saw Yang Jianhua nearby? Why didn''t we feel anything? Lin Hao, have you sensed anything at all?" While finishing her question, Mrs. Lin turned to look at Lin Hao, who was in a corner.


    Lin Hao put the dagger in his hand into the sheath and walked over while fiddling with the branch which was sharpened again.


    "No. My sensations can reach five or six hundred meters at most. I can only sense the zombie crowd outside, but no one else. Where''s that scum?" While speaking, Lin Hao dragged over a chair and sat down. At last, he looked at Lin Qiao and asked that question.


    "He''s in a building 1300 meters away," said Lin Qiao, "Just now, he was observing us with a telescope."


    The others all looked at Lin Qiao in surprise, "Can you sense things that far away?"


    Lin Qiao nodded at them with a bland look. Her sensations could reach further than that. If the targets didn''t try to hide their traces, she would be able to sense them from two or three miles away.


    Moreover, she was able to grasp their scents from the air.

 250 Hide If You Can’t Win

    Mrs. Lin gave a long sigh as she wore a sullen face. She felt depressed every time she thought of Yang Jianhua. "What should we do? Lin Feng is no match for Yang Jianhua," she said.


    Lin Qiao gave her a comforting smile while saying, "Don''t I have a space? We can''t defeat him, but we can always hide, can''t we? I really want to know what he''s up to."


    Lin Wenwen said coldly with a dark face, "I don''t want to see him. I''ll feel disgusted!"


    Mrs. Lin nodded and agreed, "Me neither. I''ll turn blind if I see him again!"


    Lin Qiao stood up and said, "How about this? You go stay in my space for now. I want to see what he''s trying to do. If he doesn''t leave, Lili will deal with him when she returns. Don''t worry!"


    Lin Hao gripped the sharpened branch in his hand and said through clenched teeth, "I want to kill him! I can''t do it now, but as long as he stays alive, he''ll die in my hands one day!"


    Lin Feng glanced at the others, then said, "Mom, you, Wangxue, Xiaolu and Wenwen should enter the space now. We''re staying outside to see what''ll happen. If any danger occurs, Miss. Lu will bring us into her space."


    Mrs. Lin nodded while Cheng Wangxe held Xiaolu in her arms, then glanced at Lin Feng, but remained silent. Lin Qiao walked to Mrs. Lin and gently held her arm; then, both of them disappeared. A couple of seconds later, Lin Qiao showed up again and brought Cheng Wangxue and Lin Xiaolu into her space.


    After that, Lin Wenwen and the two soldiers named Wei Jingchen and Xiao Wenxing, who didn''t have superpowers, were brought into Lin Qiao''s space as well. Lin Feng, Lin Hao, and Long Qingying, being the relatively stronger ones, stayed outside with Lin Qiao. A small number of people would make escape more convenient. At the very least, no one would slow the others down while escaping.


    Lin Qiao returned to Liu Jun''s room. At that time, Liu Jun was holding the asleep Tong Tong in her arms and waiting for the former. Xie Dong was standing in the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come in, Liu Jun asked her, "How many people will Yang Jianhua bring here?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and responded, "I''m not sure. But the few superpowered ones around him are all at about level-five, and he has quite some people under his command."


    "In fact," said Liu Jun, "apart from his power, his cars are dangerous too, all armed with powerful weapons. He didn''t use those weapons earlier when he was under Lili''s attack, so I guess he''s saving them for greater use."


    Lin Qiao nodded. After sending Liu Jun and Tong Tong into her space, she walked out of the room along with Xie Dong. Returning to Lin Feng''s room, she said to the three inside, "You stay here and see. I''ll go and try finding out what Yang Jianhua is up to. Wait for my message."


    While speaking, she walked to the area in front of the door, which couldn''t be seen from outside the window. Then, she turned herself invisible and quietly opened the window before leaping out.


    The four people who stayed in the room each found a seat. Lin Feng looked at Xie Dong and asked, "Can I ask you a question?"


    Xie Dong looked at him. After confirming that Lin Feng was talking to him, he nodded with confusion.


    "This may sound impolite," said Lin Feng, "Please don''t mind. We haven''t heard you talking, so, have you lost your voice?"


    Xie Dong frankly nodded to admit that.


    "Ah, I''m really sorry," Lin Feng continued, "But, both you and Lu Tianyu are from Sea City Base, right? Why are you with her? Aren''t you afraid of her?"


    Lin Feng wanted to know why wasn''t Xie Dong afraid of the zombie Lu Tianyu, but had the courage to follow her.


    Xie Dong took out a notebook from the bag tied around his waist, then wrote on it, ''She''s not a bad zombie. If she wanted to hurt me, she wouldn''t have saved me.''


    "She saved you?" Lin Feng said with surprise. Then, he glanced at Long Qingying and continued, "I think she likes saving people."


    ''She likes saving people?'' Xie Dong thought for a moment. The people who had been saved by Lin Qiao included himself; Tong Tong and his mother; Lu Tianyi and his team; the little princess; Long Qingying, and Du Yuanxing. Except for her own family, the others she rescued weren''t related to her.


    Thinking so, Xie Dong felt that Lin Qiao did like saving people. As same as himself, she used to be a soldier, and soldiers'' duty was to serve the people. So, Xie Dong figured that Lin Qiao considered saving people as what she should do.


    However, in the post-apocalyptic era, if one helped all whom one found needing help, one might discover some ungrateful ones. In order to survive, the people living in this era had given up on many moral senses. That was why man-eating robbers emerged. In a team, betrayals and internal fights would happen all the time.


    Even some former soldiers had gradually lost their military spirit. In this world, people now followed the law of the jungle, and the strong ones earned respect.


    "Was she like that before?" Asked Lin Feng.


    That question puzzled Xie Dong slightly. He looked at Lin Feng confusedly, then shook his head. Lin Feng didn''t ask more questions, but turned to look outside the window.


    "Did she really see that scum? Could she be wrong?" said Lin Hao. He had sensed nothing at all, so he didn''t believe Lin Qiao''s words completely.


    Lin Feng glanced at him and said seriously, "I''m not sure either, but trusting her for now is no wrong. Even for the slightest possibility, we need to stay alert, and can''t be careless."


    Lin Hao quietly looked at the window. It was all dark outside, and he could see nothing.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was quietly leaping across the roofs. In the darkness, no creature was able to sense a trace of hers.


    One-thousand and three-hundred meters only took her a few blinks.


    She squatted on top of a streetlight, looking at the top floor of the tall building about ten meters away. It was a residential area, with seven or eight buildings, each having twenty or thirty floors.


    Yang Jianhua and his people were in the building which was located in the middle of this area. From this building, they were able to see the hotel that Lin Feng and his people were stationed in.


    Lin Qiao slightly raised her head to look at Yang Jianhua and his people, who were standing on the top floor. She then lowered her head to look around and found no cars that belonged to them. However, she noticed the underground parking in this area, and figured that they had parked their vehicles underground.


    Lin Qiao used her sensations and found that except for Yang Jianhua himself, a few level-five superpowered people, and quite some level three or four ones were all on the top floor of that building. Those people should all be under his command.


    Those people were gathering in a room.


    Lin Qiao leaped off the street light, quietly approaching the residential area. She didn''t enter Yang Jianhua''s building immediately, but headed to the underground parking. It was pitch-dark in there, yet she was able to see everything clearly.


    She walked down and looked around. As she expected, the few heavily armed vehicles which belonged to Yang Jianhua were parked by the wall.


    She stretched her fingers, then walked toward them.

 251 Why Did You Hit Me?

    A couple of minutes later, Lin Qiao quietly walked out. Down in the underground parking, the vehicles which belonged to Yang Jianhua were gone, and only a few fainted soldiers were left there.


    To avoid being detected by Yang Jianhua, she had restrained her vibe as much as possible. Therefore, the surrounding ordinary zombies didn''t sense her, but slowly followed the scents of those soldiers to this area.


    Lin Qiao left the underground parking and found Yang Jianhua''s building through his scent. After that, she swiftly and nimbly climbed up through the external units of the air conditioner.


    Soon, she easily arrived at the top floor and got into the building from a corridor window. She moved inside along the wall; around a corner, she looked around and found a door guarded by four or five soldiers.


    She then turned to look at the stairs. As she had thought, that area was guarded as well. She moved to the door as quietly as an invisible ghost, avoiding the few soldiers and standing beside the door.


    She looked at the closed door before her face. Even though she was as invisible as a ghost, she couldn''t move through the door like a ghost¡­


    She crossed her arms before her chest, then turned to look at the soldiers by her sides, who were holding flashlights. Then, she put an ear against the door to try and hear the sounds inside.


    She only heard the sounds of breathing. There were lots of people in the room, but why was none of them talking?


    Her arms remained crossed as he turned again to look at the few soldiers guarding by the door. Abruptly, she raised both hands and slapped the faces of the two soldiers by her sides, then flashing to an empty area.


    "Eh? Why did you hit me?" The two soldiers who each suffered a slap from Lin Qiao turned to each other and yelled angrily.


    "You hit me first! When did I hit you?"


    "Damn, did you see me hit you? If you didn''t hit me, who did? You''re the only one in front of me."


    "Are you an idiot? I''m standing in front of you, but does that mean that I was the one who hit you? You''re standing in front of me, so you''re the one who hit me, didn''t you?"


    The two soldiers started arguing without knowing what exactly had happened while the others all looked at them with confusion.


    "Oi, oi, what happened? Why''re you yelling? Be careful, Chief might come out to punish you!" Another soldier who was carrying a rifle said.


    The two who were slapped by Lin Qiao pointed at each other and said, "Someone hit me just now. It must be him!"


    "Eh? Wait a moment! Don''t you feel weird?" The third soldier looked at the two with puzzlement in his eyes.


    "What?"


    "You were slapped at the same time, but neither of you saw each other doing it. I kinda feel that you were hit by someone else¡­"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Yeah, there''s no one here but us, right? You''re over there, so you can''t possibly hit us without letting us see you doing it, right?"


    "That makes sense too, but¡­is someone else here with us?"


    "Oi! Shut up! Why do I feel that you''re telling a ghost story? It''s spooky!" said a soldier who was a little scared.


    The others were all speechless.


    Lin Qiao looked at the scared one and wanted to laugh. It was the post-apocalyptic era; if ghosts existed, all the zombies could be considered as ghosts. In that case, would anyone still be afraid of ghosts?


    ''Alright, I''m that ghost. This is hilarious¡­'' While thinking, she quietly moved behind another soldier, then crooked her finger and knocked the back of his head hard twice.


    "Ouch!" That soldier shouted out loud and the others immediately turned to look at him.


    "Why are you yelling?"


    "Some-someone hit my head!" Once he said that, the others pointed their flashlight behind him, but saw nothing.


    "You¡­" the others turned back to him. That soldier looked at the others with fear, and couldn''t help but say, "There¡­isn''t really a ghost¡­is there?"


    The others stared at him silently for a few seconds, then one of them asked, "Did you lie to us just now?"


    That soldier immediately responded with discontentment, "Damn you! Why would I make that up and lie to you? Weren''t you two slapped by someone just now?"


    He looked at the two who were slapped by Lin Qiao, who nodded simultaneously. They were slapped by someone indeed! However, they both blamed each other.


    The group of soldiers fell in silence. All of a sudden, they all shone their flashlights around. After scanning the area for a few times, they found nothing.


    Then, they all became nervous, quickly gathering together and leaning against each other with their backs toward the door.


    Crack!


    Suddenly, the door behind them was opened. The group of soldiers were startled, and immediately turned back to look at the door.


    A man with a flashlight was standing behind the door. He shone the flashlight onto the faces of those soldiers while asking confusedly, "What are you doing?"


    "Ca-captain!" The few soldiers opened their mouth and glanced at each other, but none of them said anything more.


    What could they say? Should they tell their Captain that a ghost seemed to be in this place? If they did, their Captain might directly throw his flashlight onto their heads!


    As the group of soldiers minced their words, the Captain opened the door, walked out with confusion. Those soldiers immediately went back to their positions and straightened their bodies, looking ahead.


    The Captain looked at them curiously while walking in the corridor. He looked around, but found nothing abnormal.


    "What were they doing?" The Captain turned to the soldiers who were guarding the stairs and found that they were confusedly looking at the group of soldiers guarding by the door too.


    "What happened here?" He shouted at the soldiers by the stairs. Those soldiers shook their heads, then spread their hands. Then, one of them pointed at the ones by the doors and signaled for the Captain to ask them.


    The captain turned around and looked at the soldiers by the door confusedly as he asked, "What on earth were you doing just now?"


    They shook their heads and replied in one voice, "Nothing!"


    The Captain glanced at them again bewilderedly, then turned and went back into the room before closing the door. He had no idea that earlier on when he opened the door and walked out, an invisible figure had quietly avoided the others and flashed into the room.


    After the Captain walked back into the room and closed the door, the group of soldiers looked at each other and looked around, as if searching for something.


    The soldiers by the stairs noticed their weird behavior. "What are they doing over there?" One of them asked, "They''ve been acting strangely since earlier. I think they''re looking for something."


    "I don''t know! But just now, I think I heard one of them shouting like he got hit."


    "Em, I heard that too."


    "Weirdos¡­"


    "Indeed!"

 252 Captain! Something Is Wrong!

    Lin Qiao, who had sneaked into the flat, gave a start on seeing the people in the living room.


    There were quite some people in the living room, but not all of them were on the same side. Yang Jianhua wasn''t in the living room, because the window of the living room didn''t allow people to see the hotel that Lin Feng and his people were staying in.


    Hence, he was in one of the bedrooms.


    Lin Qiao turned to look at the bedroom. She had to move for a few steps to see Yang Jianhua, who was standing before the window, carefully observing the hotel through a telescope.


    Lin Qiao turned back and looked at the two groups of people in the living room. One group was under Yang Jianhua''s command, while the other few were silently sitting on the ground, all tied up.


    The five men who had their limbs tied up sat in a corner, leaning against the wall. Around them, seven or eight soldiers were pointing guns at them.


    The five had their heads dropped, so Lin Qiao couldn''t see their faces.


    However, she felt that their scents were a little familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before!


    Earlier on, she didn''t sense their scents so clearly from the outside. Plus, their scents were mixed together with that of Yang Jianhua''s people. But now, as she was in the living room with them, she found their scents somehow familiar.


    Since these people had been tied up, they must be Yang Jianhua''s captives. Lin Qiao considered all of Yang Jianhua''s enemies as her friends. Therefore, no matter who they were, she decided to save the five first.


    However, she was only able to bring two people into her space at one time. Therefore, to save the five men, she needed to enter and exit her space three times.


    Yang Jianhua''s guards might not be able to react after the first two people disappeared, but when the third and fourth people vanished, they would definitely make a move. So, the last person might be shot down directly.


    Lin Qiao quietly avoided the others in the living room and slowly walked to the five. While wondering if she had seen them before, she tried to figure out a way to send all of them into her space in two moves.


    She wasn''t able to bring a group of people into her space in one time. And now, she found this shortcoming a little troublesome.


    The invisible Lin Qiao stood in front of the five, resting her head on a palm as she looked around while thinking.


    When Junjun carried Tong Tong, she was able to send both of them into her space at one time. So, would she be able to send all these five people into her space together if they held hands? Or, maybe she should tie them together with a rope?


    With these thoughts, Lin Qiao approached the five and glanced at their backs. Surprisingly, she found that their hands were tied up by one rope, which meant they were tied into a string.


    Lin Qiao smiled, as what she was thinking had come true.


    Without hesitation, she pressed her hands on the shoulders of the two people in the middle, then entered her space.


    In the next second, the five people who were quietly sitting against the wall suddenly vanished. The seven or eight soldiers who had been staring at the gave a start simultaneously, then couldn''t help but raise a hand to rub their eyes, and look at the corner again.


    No one was there!


    "Ca-captain!" A less calm one of them shouted tremblingly.


    "What?" A level-five superpowered man responded on hearing that, automatically turned back to look at the soldier.


    "Captain! Something is wrong!"


    "Yeah, Captain, come over and see!"


    The others started talking as well, and their voices were all trembling, filled with disbelief. Hearing them, the other people in the living room all turned toward that direction. In the next instant, the few Captains immediately discovered the problem.


    They rushed over; the first Captain who responded to these few soldiers grabbed a soldier with each hand and popped his eyes to stare at the empty corner.


    "Where did they go? Where?" He growled.


    The two soldiers in his hands responded helplessly, "We¡­We don''t know! They suddenly¡­suddenly disappeared!"


    All the others on the scene fell into silence, fixing their eyes on the area where the five disappeared from.


    The Captain who went outside earlier on now wore a dark face as he said, "Did anyone sneak in?"


    The others looked at him confusedly.


    Someone sneaked in? How? There was no electricity in this flat, but they had lighting facilities. There were a few battery type lamp tubes here, so the living room was well-illuminated.


    The people in the living room weren''t blind. So, if anyone had sneaked in, how could they not see him or her?


    The Captain glanced at the others and said, "I mean, someone with a superpower, space power or invisibility."


    At that moment, Yang Jianhua had come out of the bedroom. While handing his telescope to his assistant, he looked at the group of people and said, "Why are you yelling? What happened?"


    The group of people immediately shut their mouth and moved away to show him the empty corner.


    Seeing that, Yang Jianhua''s cold face turned even colder as he asked blandly, "Where did they go?"


    "Chief, they disappeared!" The Captain who was responsible for the captives stood out and replied.


    Yang Jianhua didn''t look at him, but continued looking at the corner. "What do you mean by disappearing? I told you to keep an eye on them, yet you let them disappear?" He said with a frosty voice.


    ¡­


    A couple of minutes later, the five suddenly leaned backward as the wall behind their backs disappeared. When they realized what was happening, the world before their eyes had changed.


    "Damn, where is this place?" Li Zheng raised his head to find that they were no longer in that living room. He then looked at his friends, and saw that they were looking around confusedly as well.


    "Eh¡­The people over there, I think that''s Madam and Wenwen¡­"


    "And Xiaolu!"


    "Is that Great Captain''s wife?"


    They looked around and saw Lin Wenwen and the others, who were sitting on a couch. Lin Wenwen, Mrs. Lin and Cheng Wagnxue had all stood up, confusedly looking at the five men who were suddenly thrown into the grass by Lin Qiao.


    As they came closer to the five, they were shocked.


    "Eh! That''s Li Zheng, Feng Yuming, and the others!"


    "Yes, and Lei Yao, Fei Chonglin, and¡­Who''s that?"


    As Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen came closer and closer, Li Zheng and his people saw their faces clearly and became excited.


    "Madam! Mrs. Lin! We finally found you! And Wenwen, Xiaolu! You''re all here! Great! You''re all unharmed!"


    "Perfect!"


    The five excitedly stood up from the ground, ignoring the surrounding environment as they paid all of their attention to Mrs. Lin and the others, who were walking toward them.


    Li Zheng and his people were relatively capable and strong among all who used to be under Li Qiao''s command. Therefore, they were familiar with Lin Qiao''s family. Lin Wenwen and the others all knew Li Zheng and his people.


    The Lin Family people got close enough and found that Li Zheng and his people had their limbs tied together.


    "Eh? What happened to you? Why are you tied up? Hurry, hurry, Wenwen, Wangxue, untie them!" Mrs. Lin was surprised at first, then she asked Lin Wenwen and Cheng Wangxue to untie Li Zheng and his people.

 253 This Is Not Real

    When Lin Wenwen and Cheng Wangxue quickly walked up to untie the five, they saw Lin Qiao standing behind the group of men.


    "Eh? Miss. Lu, where did you find them?" Asked Lin Wenwen.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was surprised by the fact that she had actually brought all five of them into her space at one time. ''So, I just need to tie them up together with a rope? Or, will I be able to do it as long as they''re connected physically? Will it work if they simply hold each other''s hands?'' She thought.


    Hearing Lin Wenwen''s words, Li Zheng and the others immediately turned back. As a result, they saw a bald lady in a camouflage suit standing behind them, gazing at them with glowing eyes; with one arm before her chest and the other supporting her chin.


    Seeing her eyes, Lin Zheng and his people all shivered out of fear, then automatically took two steps backward, widening their eyes on full alert.


    Without a doubt, the pair of eyes they saw should belong to a high-level zombie. They saw a pair of zombie eyes, but their limbs were still tied, and they had zero fighting capacity at the moment.


    Hearing Lin Wenwen''s words, Lin Qiao woke up from her thoughts. The reaction made by Li Zheng and his people made her a little unhappy. "Why are you staring at me? I''m saving your asses now, yet it seems that you want to kill me with a machete. I don''t think that''s necessary!"


    Li Zheng and his people were puzzled when she talked. Subconsciously, they thought that they might be wrong.


    The bald lady might not be a zombie. Otherwise, why was she able to talk?


    However, on looking at her eyes, they started doubting themselves again.


    "Are you¡­a human?" As the Captain, Li Zheng managed to stay calm. Judging by the Lin Family people'' reaction, they didn''t seem to be afraid of the bald lady. Therefore, he cooled down and asked.


    Before Lin Qiao responded, Mrs. Lin answered his question while untying him, "Ah, you mean her? She''s not human...She''s a zombie."


    Once Mrs. Lin said that, Li Zheng and his people all turned to look at her, their faces showing disbelief. They didn''t know if they should doubt themselves or Mrs. Lin.


    "Wait a minute¡­You said she''s a¡­what?"


    Seeing the looks in their faces, Lin Wenwen gave a smile and said, "That''s right, this bald lady isn''t a human being. As you''ve seen, she''s a talking zombie. Isn''t this magical?"


    Cheng Wangxue stood aside with Lin Xiaolu. She didn''t help to untie the five, as Wei Jingchen and Xiao Wenxing were doing it. Soon, Lin Zheng and his people were all untied.


    While stepping away from Lin Qiao, Li Zheng rubbed his numbed hands and said to Lin Wenwen confusedly, "Wenwen, you''re not joking, are you?"


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest as she looked at the five and said, "Why? Don''t you believe her? Then why did you move away from me?"


    Feng Yuming, who had paused for a while in shock, abruptly grabbed Xiao Wenxing and asked, "Brother Xiao, is what she said true?"


    Xiao Wenxing had been laughing on the inside, as Li Zheng and his people reacted exactly the same as how he and his teammates did when they first met Lin Qiao. He was glad to see other people get as confused and shocked as he was at that time.


    He laughed and responded, "Yuming, look at her eyes. Those eyes can''t be fake. No superpowered human beings have that kind of eyes. Only the eyes of zombies can look like that."


    Hearing that, Feng Yuming was even more confused. "So, why are you¡­with a zombie? She¡­She won''t eat us, will she? A talking zombie¡­Oh my, so scary!"


    While speaking, he hid behind Xiao Wenxing with a crying face, who patted on his shoulder and said smilingly, "What to be afraid of? Have you seen us being nervous at all? As she said, she just saved you!"


    On the other side, Mrs. Lin suddenly joined the conversation, "What happened to you? Why were you tied up? Where were you before you were brought in?"


    Lin Qiao''s space was constantly illuminated, even during night time. The dim light in the space allowed the people to see things.


    Hearing Mrs. Lin''s question, Li Zheng now noticed that no lights existed in this place. "Madam, where is this place? It was all dark just now, but why is it seeming to be daytime here¡­?" While speaking, he had a chance to think. Abruptly, he changed his words and asked another question, "Is this a space? A space of someone with a superpower?"


    Mrs. Lin smilingly nodded and replied, "You''re right. This is her space." While speaking, Mrs. Lin pointed at Lin Qiao.


    The others gaped their mouths with surprise.


    "Such a huge space!"


    Lin Qiao looked at them with a smile while saying, "What? Aren''t you afraid of me anymore?"


    Li Zheng and his people were still on alert against Lin Qiao. But at this moment, they weren''t afraid of her anymore, maybe because the Lin Family people acted very calmly when facing her, and she looked rather friendly and nice.


    "We have no hostility against you, neither do we want to attack you," said Lei Yao.


    Lin Qiao looked at the five men, having a familiar feeling again. She couldn''t help but ask, "Have we met somewhere before? Your scents are so familiar!"


    Hearing her words, Li Zheng and his people all thought of dogs. "We don''t know you. Maybe you''ve mixed us up with some other people," Feng Yuming hid behind Xiao Wenxing and yelled at Lin Qiao.


    He even had doubts about his entire life right now. He was looking at a zombie, a real zombie. This zombie was able to talk and was clean, wearing clothes like his friends and himself! Moreover, the zombie had saved them! The zombie had such a huge space, and there were some other people in her space!


    And those people were just whom he and his people had been looking for!


    This must be an illusion! Illusion!


    With these thoughts, Feng Yuming suddenly closed his eyes and murmured to himself, "It''s an illusion¡­It must be¡­I saw illusion¡­This isn''t real¡­"


    Watching him, Xiao Wenxing wanted to laugh. "Are you stupid?" He slapped Feng Yuming on the back of his head and said, "Open your eyes and see if this is real! Do you need me to give you a few punches so you can figure out if this is real or not?"


    Feng Yuming immediately shook his head to refuse, "No, no¡­I believe that this is real, I believe it!" He had a superpower, but regarding combat skills, he often got tortured by Xiao Wenxing.


    "Have you done catching up? If you''re done, go over there and sit down," said Lin Qiao. While speaking, she pointed at the couch where the Lin Family people were sitting on just now.


    Then, she said to Lin Wenwen, "Wenwen, get them some water from the lake. Remember, three cups of water for them each will be enough. And, the food here is safe, so get them something to eat. I''ll go out to check the situation."


    "Yeah," Lin Wenwen nodded without thinking as Lin Qiao called her name.


    Having finished talking, Lin Qiao turned and left the space while Li Zheng and his people continued to talk with the Lin Family people. Some of them still felt that they were in a dream.

 254 You’re Amazing

    As Lin Qiao left, Li Zheng and his people finally relaxed. They still couldn''t believe what they had just seen, so they began asking questions to the Lin Family people.


    "Is she really a zombie? How can that be possible? How can a zombie talk? Besides, she looks as smart as we are! If all zombies became like her in the future, it would be horrible!"


    "She''s not like normal zombies," said Mrs. Lin, "She doesn''t eat human beings, or hurt any."


    There were quite some people in Lin Qiao''s space at the moment. Qiu Lili had brought in a couple of sets of couches, which were enough for these people to sit down. The only inconvenience was that these couches were a little far away from each other.


    "How did she rescue you?" Asked Cheng Wangxue, "And, why were you tied up?"


    "We met Yang Jianhua yesterday," said Li Zheng, "He didn''t say anything to us and just captured us. Only Lin Yu escaped."


    Mrs. Lin widened her eyes with surprise and asked, "How did you encounter him? And, where''re the rest of your teammates? Only Lin Yu escaped?"


    Li Zheng''s face darkened as he nodded at Mrs. Lin, then lowered his eyes and said, "We left our base about a month ago and came here. On our journey to Sea City Base, the others died, and we''re the only one who survived. In Sea City Base, we heard that our base was destroyed, and that you managed to escape. That''s why we came out with a squad sent out by Chief Purple Thunder of Sea City Base to find you."


    "We spent half a mouth out here, searching for you. However, instead of you, we met Yang Jianhua¡­And this is the result," said Lei Yao.


    Lin Wenwen found five cups and poured the five some water. "Is this a friend from Sea City Base?" She pointed at the stranger among the five, then asked.


    That man politely nodded and replied, "Good to meet you¡­My name is Huang Ming!" Then, Huang Ming pointed at the few armed vehicles before the forest that the others hadn''t noticed, and asked, "Those¡­cars, did she bring them in here?"


    Mrs. Lin and the others turned to glance at the cars, then turned back and responded carelessly, "Ah, she threw those in earlier. This is her space, so who else can put things in here?"


    Outside, Lin Qiao saw Yang Jianhua sitting on a couch with his head lowered; elbows on his knees, and fingers crossed to support his forehead.


    "Very good! There''re so many of you, yet you let someone sneak in and rescue all of them...You''re amazing!"


    The others in the living room weren''t able to see his face, but hearing his voice, they all sensed a sharp coldness rising in their hearts and bodies.


    The air temperature in the room dropped drastically, and everyone on the scene understood that their boss was being mad.


    Suddenly, a layer of ice emerged under Yang Jianhua''s feet, then quickly reached toward the group of soldiers who were responsible for guarding Li Zheng and his people.


    The few panicked soldiers attempted to draw back, but only managed to make half a step before they were frozen from the feet to the heads. Within a blink, they turned into ice statues standing in the room.


    Seeing those ice statues, the others didn''t dare to move or even breathe. Some of them already had cold sweat oozing out of their skins.


    Lin Qiao stood in an empty corner. The nighttime temperature was about ten degrees lower than the daytime temperature, so the night should be pleasantly cool. However, standing in this living room right now, Lin Qiao felt a little cold.


    At that moment, Yang Jianhua unclasped his hands and said, "The enemy is powerful, such that even I felt nothing."


    He then stood up and slowly walked toward the ice statues.


    "But, since you can''t even guard the captives well, why would I let you live?"


    While speaking, he raised a hand to knock the nearest ice statues. In the next second, a slight cracking noise was heard from the ice statues; and soon, the noises grew louder and louder, quicker and quicker.


    Then, following a series of clattering noise, the ice statues shattered and fell into pieces, but no blood splashed out.


    Yang Jianhua''s face wore no expression, and his eyes were especially cold. He walked to the other ice statues and knocked them one after another. As he turned around, a loud wave of clattering noises was heard.


    "I was going to stimulate Lin Feng with those captives so that he and his people will panic and show some weaknesses. However, you''ve ruined my plan."


    The others in the living room gazed at the piles of ice pieces, stunned. None of them dared to make any sound.


    Lin Qiao stood behind those people and sensed some of their thoughts.


    ''So cold-blooded¡­''


    ''Why didn''t I know that this is Yang Jianhua''s true face before?''


    ''Damn, if you didn''t have my families, I''d never come out and hunt Great Captain for you!''


    With surprise, Lin Qiao found out that these people weren''t following Yang Jianhua willingly. It turned out that Yang Jianhua had threatened these soldiers with their families.


    Not only were those ordinary soldiers thinking that way, even the few level-five superpowered ones also had similar thoughts.


    ''Damn, why was Chief so nice to this b*stard? She was trying to protect him the whole time, yet he''s just a scum!''


    ''You trash! What are we to you? You kill our people when you want to, and you treat us like dogs.''


    Lin Qiao looked at Yang Jianhua. She honestly didn''t remember anything about him. He had hurt her, but why wasn''t she feeling anything when facing him?


    According to what Lin Qiao had learned by now, Yang Jianhua had schemed against her years ago because of Lin Wenwen. Later on, he pretended to save her, after which, he stayed around her as her life-saver. While he was pursuing Lin Wenwen, Lin Qiao built a base with her great power. As Lin Qiao''s base was established, Yang Jianhua joined hands with a man called Long something to attack her, and then forcibly occupied the base.


    He planned to kill two birds with one stone, and reap where he hadn''t sown.


    Yang Jianhua''s handsome face was now showing a cold and vicious look. The pretty face had failed to neutralize his evil vibe. If he had his pinkies up, he would look like a shemale.


    ''I wasn''t captivated by his good look before, was I?'' Lin Qiao asked herself silently.


    Yang Jianhua walked back. But instead of sitting back into the couch, he walked toward the bedroom that he was in before. His assistant followed in and handed him the telescope.


    He took over the telescope and put it before his eyes while saying, "Never mind! They''re rescued, but that''s fine. Since we can''t threaten them with the captives, we can only launch a surprise attack."


    After taking a few glances at the hotel, he put down the telescope, then walked out of the bedroom and said to his people, "We''ll leave now¡­Prepare for an attack! We''re launching a night raid!"


    While speaking, he walked toward the door ahead of the others.


    As Yang Jianhua jumped into action, Lin Qiao immediately approached a level-five Captain, then reached out a hand to grab him. In the next instant, the man disappeared.

 255 I Don’t Want To Scare You

    Lin Qiao dragged that man slightly forward, then made him disappear. Once she entered her space, she directly inserted her claw into this man''s skull and twisted her wrist.


    This man felt like he was being dragged suddenly, then his eyes were dazzled. Before he realized what happened, he suffered a sharp pain from his head, after which, he fell asleep forever.


    Just now, he was calling the few soldiers who had been turned into ice pieces by Yang Jianhua useless in his head. Because of those soldiers, his position in Yang Jianhua''s heart was lowered largely. If Yang Jianhua didn''t kill those soldiers, he would kill them himself. He had no idea that because of these thoughts he had, Lin Qiao decided to kill him first.


    Since he had had a murderous intention toward his soldiers, he would certainly push them out to hold off zombies and buy himself time in the future.


    As Lin Xiaolu was in her space, Lin Qiao chose to kill that man by the forest. In addition to that, she made the killing quick and neat, and didn''t cause any noise.


    After digging out that man''s energy nucleus, she carried the body and flashed out of her space.


    Outside, Yang Jianhua hadn''t noticed that one of his soldiers was missing. Abruptly, he heard a thud, and that made him turn back to find a body on the ground.


    He knew he hadn''t killed that man.


    "What''s this?" His face darkened immediately, and a sharp coldness began radiating from his body. Because of that, the people around him couldn''t help but draw back.


    The others all looked at him with confusion.


    "Chief¡­He just disappeared for a few seconds, then became like this," someone said.


    Yang Jianhua gazed at the dead man who was lying face down. His head was cut open, but except for that, his body was intact.


    "Come out! You''ve quietly killed a level-five superpowered man within a few seconds, so I assume you''re not too afraid to show your face. Or, are you afraid of me?" Yang Jianhua raised his head and glanced around the others, then said with a frosty voice.


    "I''m afraid that I might scare you," Lin Qiao stood behind him and said in a bland tone.


    The people in the living room immediately turned back and pointed their guns behind Yang Jianhua. They saw a bald person with a pair of sunglasses standing behind Yang Jianhua. No one knew when did she show up.


    Yang Jianhua maintained a perfect composure. He calmly turned back, then found that the person behind him was only at half a meter away. He detected Lin Qiao once her vibe emerged. He turned her head to look at her so calmly and unhurriedly because he didn''t sense any intention of killing from her.


    Of course, if Lin Qiao made a move once she showed up, Yang Jianhua would be able to sense it and dodge it.


    The first thing Yang Jianhua saw when he turned around wasn''t Lin Qiao''s bald head, but her chest. He saw a bald lady with big breasts, D-cup at least. Her waist was slim, and legs were long; she was about five feet and eight inches tall.


    He moved his eyes upward and saw her slender neck. Her skin was snow-white, seeming to be glowing with a faint white light. She had a delicate chin, and an oval-face. Even though her eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses, her nose, lips, chin, and face shape still told Yang Jianhua that she was a pretty lady.


    Even her hairless head was round and cute.


    Lin Qiao looked at Yang Jianhua with disdain because she had clearly sensed his thoughts. At the moment, he was actually rating her appearance.


    ''He''s a lecher, as I thought,'' Lin Qiao concluded.


    After measuring Lin Qiao with his eyes, Yang Jianhua abruptly gave a smile and said, "I thought I''d be scared by an ugly creature. What? Do you think you can scare me with your bald head?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t say a word to him, but slightly lowered her head and took off her sunglasses. After that, she raised her eyes to look at him.


    Yang Jianhua was curious about how her eyes looked like. However, when he saw those cold, purely black eyes of her, he was seriously startled, such that he even forgot to utter a sound.


    He paused for two seconds, then took a few steps backward as he pointed at Lin Qiao and said, "You''re not human!"


    As Yang Jianhua drew back, the others on the scene all clearly saw Lin Qiao''s weird black eyes. As same as Yang Jianhua, they all automatically stepped backward.


    Bang! Someone overreacted and shot Lin Qiao.


    When the gunshot was heard, Lin Qiao raised a hand and grasped the bullet, then spread her fingers.


    Ting!


    The bullet fell on the ceramic tile and caused a silvery sound.


    Lin Qiao didn''t turn back to look at the soldier who shot her, but released a faint wisp of dark mist from her palm and let it drift toward the soldier.


    Then, she looked at Yang Jianhua and said, "You''re right! Don''t you know that this area is my territory? You''ve been here for quite long, and my tolerance is limited. I didn''t want to hurt you, but I think you''re aiming at my preys. That¡­I can''t tolerate."


    Yang Jianhua hadn''t processed all this yet. He popped his eyes to stare at Lin Qiao as he asked with disbelief, "Are you¡­really a zombie!"


    He heard Lin Qiao''s words clearly. She mentioned territory and preys. So, was this area the territory of this talking zombie? By preys, did she mean Lin Feng and his people? After all, Yang Jianhua was going to attack Lin Feng and his people.


    "Your preys¡­do you mean Lin Feng and his people?"


    Lin Qiao nodded. While wiping her sunglasses with a corner of her shirt, she slowly lowered her head to look at the sunglasses and said, "Or whom? You? If you want to send yourself into my mouth, I won''t mind. As for the ones I''m targeting, I won''t give them to anyone else. I''ve let you stay here for so long, and I''ve shown you enough respect."


    Suddenly, Yang Jianhua calmed down. This female zombie was so smart, and was able to talk. In addition to that, she was able to come and go like a ghost. All these meant that she was at least a zombie queen.


    She was very likely a second-grade zombie queen.


    At the moment, she hadn''t shown any hostility to Yang Jianhua, so the latter believed that he still had a chance to persuade the former to not hurt him and his people.


    He swallowed his saliva, then said, "We¡­I mean, we haven''t been here for long. We''ve only been here for two days, and that''s not a long time! Besides, we didn''t know that you were hunting Lin Feng and his people. Now that we know, we''ll give up for sure. You can do whatever you want! We won''t interfere!"


    He knew he might be facing a level-seven zombie, also known as a second-grade zombie queen. So, he had no choice but to throw in the sponge. He didn''t dare to overestimate himself and risk his life by challenging a second-grade zombie queen. After all, he couldn''t even win against a level-six zombie queen!


    However, he had no idea that he was fooled by Lin Qiao.

 256 I failed

    Lin Qiao detected Yang Jianhua''s thoughts from his expression. Apart from that, she had also sensed some of his mental activity as she was pretty close to him at the moment. Based on these, Lin Qiao knew that he had believed her words completely!


    "Isn''t two days a long time? How do you define ''a long time'' then? You don''t look like a good man. Are my preys your enemies?" She said. While speaking, she walked toward the group of man and raised her head to sniff at them while showing an expression of intoxication.


    It did smell good, the scents of living human beings.


    Seeing the look on Lin Qiao''s face, Yang Jianhua and his people surely understood her meaning: she was seeing them as food. However, no one saw the wisp of dark mist that Lin Qiao released earlier drill into the soldier''s ear, after which, the soldier froze.


    His eyes dimmed, and pupils expanded.


    Thud!


    People turned to the source of this noise and saw another dead body on the floor. The head of that body was disappearing.


    These people glanced at each other, then carefully turned to Lin Qiao.


    That dead soldier had just shot her!


    Lin Qiao nodded and said frankly, "Yeah, this man attacked me just now. For the ones who attack me, of course, I''ll eat them."


    While speaking, she looked at those people in the eyes. As she had expected, those people lowered their heads to avoid making eye-contact, or stepped backward with fear, worrying that Lin Qiao might fix her eyes on them.


    Then, Lin Qiao looked at Yang Jianhua in the eyes and said, "You haven''t answered my question yet. Do you think I have lots of time to chat with you?"


    Being stared at by her, Yang Jianhua felt a coldness from his entire body. He came back to his senses and responded, "Eh, not exactly enemies. It''s just¡­they betrayed our base, and escaped. To prevent them from leaking the secrets about our base, I want to bring them all back to the base or kill them."


    Lin Qiao sneered at him and said, "You think I know nothing about the things happening out there? Those people ran all the way here from the Hades Base in the South. Many of them might have died or got injured in the journey. As for Hades Base, I know it was attacked and broken by other bases. Now, I guess it''s either destroyed or under new ownership."


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, a thin layer of sweat oozed out of Yang Jianhua''s forehead. He smiled and said, "Eh, I didn''t know that you cared about this stuff. Yeah, they''re from Hades Base."


    "They escaped, no big deal!" said Lin Qiao, "They''re just the remnants of a defeated army. Alright, you can go now. Do you need me to give you a lift?"


    When finishing her speech, she glanced at the door and slightly turned her finger. Following her move, a stream of black mist was released toward a few soldiers who were loyal to Yang Jianhua.


    "Ah¡­eh¡­" the few soldiers saw the dark mist that Lin Qiao released. However, before they could react, the thin streams of mist flew at them and disappeared before their eyes.


    After that, they all suffered a great pain from their ears and brains.


    Before long, they fell to the ground, without being able to even utter a scream. After watching these soldiers fall, the rest of the people found that the one who was killed by the dark mist earlier now only had his feet remaining; the rest of his body was gone.


    "Alright, we''ll leave now!" Yang Jianhua walked outside right away, and the others followed behind him. Lin Qiao remained standing, watching the few corpses on the ground slowly disappear.


    As Yang Jianhua left, she sighed with relief.


    ''Damn, I''ve performed a great show!'' She said to herself. She was going to get some useful information from Yang Jianhua, yet that sneaky man didn''t let her.


    Lin Qiao understood that if she ever started a fight against Yang Jianhua, merely his ice would give her a hard time.


    With a sullen look in her eyes, she watched her dark mist cover the few piles of ice pieces. The mist had lingered on the ice pieces for quite a while, yet the ice melted very slowly.


    Right at that moment, she suddenly sensed a sharp coldness from behind her. She swiftly turned and nimbly flipped toward the wall nearby. Next, she thrust her legs against the wall and leaped onto the guardrail before the window of the living room. As she turned around, she saw that the door which Yang Jianhua and his people walked out of before was covered in a thick layer of ice. A frosty mist had been releasing from the ice.


    "You almost got me! You''re not a zombie!" Yang Jianhua''s cold voice was heard from the door. Following the voice, he walked in from behind the door. His charming eyes were filled with coldness, squinting at Lin Qiao who was by the window.


    Lin Qiao chuckled and said, "Well, I failed."


    She leaped off the guardrail, looked at Yang Jianhua and said, "You''ve seen through me, yet you pretended to believe me. I see that you have lots of free time."


    Yang Jianhua smiled faintly and responded, "I was just trying to find out what purpose do you have. Unexpectedly, you only wanted me to go. If you''re really a zombie, how would you let us go just like that?" While speaking, he suddenly raised an arm and swung at Lin Qiao.


    A wave of ice swords emerged from the air, flying at Lin Qiao swiftly while covering a wide area. Lin Qiao jumped out of the window, then stepped on the windowsill and climbed up to the roof.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    Most of the ice swords stuck on the windowsill and window frame while some flew out of the window and fell to the ground.


    Yang Jianhua flashed out of the window as well. As he waved a hand, an ice staircase reached up to the roof from the window. He stepped on the ice stairs, leaping toward the roof.


    It was all dark on the roof. Lin Qiao stood on a corner as she said to Yang Jianhua, "As you refuse to just leave, don''t regret."


    Before Yang Jianhua''s ice reached under her feet through the floor, she leaped upward and disappeared. Following a series of cracking noise, the roof was frozen by Yang Jianhua. If Lin Qiao hadn''t leaped up, she would have been frozen as well.


    After Lin Qiao vanished, Yang Jianhua stood on the edge of the roof and looked around. Then, he closed his eyes to try to sense her, but detected not even a trace of her vibe.


    After opening his eyes, he suddenly moved sideways and raised an arm to release a strong wave of icy mist toward where he was standing. A hazy figure flashed across that area, leaving a large cloud of black mist that was frozen in the air.


    Crack¡­crack¡­!


    The ice which froze the mist fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

 257 Great Imagination

    The invisible Lin Qiao looked at Yang Jianhua from a corner and couldn''t help but sigh. Her attack was ineffective on him as he was very sensitive.


    She had no choice but to wait and see.


    Meanwhile, Yang Jianhua was staring at the black ice pieces which were melting slowly. His ice was unexpectedly melted by the strange mist. The mist seemed to be highly corrosive. Was the zombie-eyed superpowered lady a possessor of poisonous mist?


    Defending against such kind of superpowered people wasn''t an easy thing.


    However, it wasn''t really difficult for Yang Jianhua.


    He glanced around, then laughed with a cold voice. "I don''t know who you are, but you seem to be on Lin Feng''s side. You''re sent here as a spearhead, which means you''ve discovered us. Lin Feng and his people aren''t going to leave the hotel, are they?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t show her face, but quietly stood beside him, looking at him.


    Yang Jianhua paused slightly. As Lin Qiao didn''t show up, he continued, "I know you''re here. Weren''t you captured by the level-six zombie? There''re zombie crowds five-hundred meters away around your hotel, so you can''t leave even if you want to. Besides, I noticed that some of you have gone on a mission. I guess they were eaten one after another, weren''t they?"


    ''Eh? This man really has a great imagination! He actually thinks that way,'' Lin Qiao looked at him and wanted to laugh.


    Based on what Yang Jianhua said, Lin Qiao guessed that he did arrive here two days ago. After spending two days observing Lin Feng and his people, he found that Du Yuanxing, Yuan Xianting, and the others weren''t in the hotel. Added with the fact that he was attacked by Qiu Lili before, he actually thought that those absent people were eaten by Qiu Lili.


    The zombie crowd had blocked every entrance of the hotel, and Yang Jianhua thought that they were preventing Lin Feng and his people from getting out.


    ''So imaginative!'' Lin Qiao thought. But then, she thought from another angle and felt that it was reasonable for the people who didn''t know the truth to think that way. Qiu Lili often walked about on the roof and disappeared frequently. Indeed, she was a little like a master herder who was keeping an eye on her herd.


    ''So, this is the result of his observation from the past two days?'' Lin Qiao squatted on the guardrail while Yang Jianhua was still talking to air.


    "What? Don''t you dare to come out? I know that you''re still here. You showed up earlier, so what happened to you now?"


    Right at that moment, a soldier who was covered in wounds shambled upstairs. He got close to the group of squad leaders who were standing by the stairs and said a few words to them. Next thing, those squad leaders had their expressions changed dramatically.


    "Chief! Our vehicles are missing!" One squad leader turned to Yang Jianhua and yelled at him. Yang Jianhua immediately turned his head to look at them, sending a frosty vibe straight to their faces.


    He narrowed his eyes, then slowly approached them.


    "What did you say?"


    The group of squad leader instantly stepped aside and let the soldier face Yang Jianhua. The soldier was covered in bleeding wounds, which were caused by claws and teeth.


    He breathed quickly and weakly as he said, "We¡­we got knocked out suddenly¡­When we woke up, the vehicles were¡­all gone. We were¡­surrounded by zombies¡­"


    Hearing his words and seeing his wounds and pale face, the others knew that this soldier was going to die soon.


    "You were bitten by zombies," said Yang Jianhua.


    Before the others figured out his meaning, that soldier was frozen into an ice statue.


    Yang Jianhua turned around to glance at the empty roof, then said with a dark face, "So, this was your purpose."


    Lin Qiao raised her brows, then quietly leaned backward and fell off the roof.


    When she returned to the hotel, Lin Feng and the other three were waiting in the room. Seeing her, they immediately stood up from their seats.


    "How''s it going? Is it really Yang Jianhua?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at them and responded, "He''s coming here soon. I''ll bring you into my space to hide, also to let you meet some people." While speaking, she walked up and dragged Lin Feng and Lin Hao into the space. Once in, they saw a group of people sitting on couches, chatting.


    Lin Qiao left the two of them in her space, then flashed out and brought Long Qingying and Xie Dong in. After that, she saw Lin Feng and Li Zheng staring at each other.


    "Li Zheng! You¡­Why are you here!"


    Seeing Li Zheng, Feng Yuming, Lei Yao, and Fei Chonglin; Lin Feng could scarcely believe his eyes.


    "Great Captain! Thank God you''re okay!" Li Zheng and his people looked at Lin Feng excitedly.


    Mrs. Lin chuckled and said, "I''ve told you that we''re all fine. But your team¡­You''re the only ones left."


    Lin Qiao glanced around for a few times, but didn''t see Liu Jun and Tong Tong. She used her sensations and found that they were hiding in the small space.


    They were hiding in there the whole time, so Mrs. Lin and the others didn''t know that they were there, neither did they notice that small space.


    "Mom¡­why are they here?" Lin Feng asked in shock.


    "Why are you asking me?" Mrs. Lin responded smilingly, "Shouldn''t you be asking Miss. Lu about that?"


    Reminded by Mrs. Lin, Lin Feng turned back to ask Lin Qiao. However, Lin Qiao wasn''t there. He looked around and only saw Long Qingying walking toward him, as well as Xie Dong heading to the lakeside.


    "Eh? Where did she go?" He murmured.


    "Great Captain," said Li Zheng, "Come here and sit down. I''ll tell you what happened." Then, he pointed at Huang Ming and continued, "This is Captain Huang Ming, under the command of Deputy Chief Xiao from Sea City Base."


    Lin Feng didn''t know that someone from Sea City Base was here, so he looked at Huang Ming with surprise. The latter smilingly waved a hand and said shyly, "Ah, just call me Huang Ming. Don''t mention the Captain thing."


    Lin Feng nodded, and the look in his face turned less serious. With a faint smile, he said, "You and Li Zheng are both at level-five. It''s normal for you to be a Captain in a base. No need to be humble."


    Afterward, some of them sat down on the couches and some remained standing.


    "We met Yang Jianhua two days ago," said Li Zheng, "He captured us without saying anything, then brought us here. He proudly told us a lot about Chief and our base."


    Speaking of that, Li Zheng and his people all wore a sullen look. Lin Feng could roughly guess what Yang Jianhua had said to them, and knew that he wouldn''t want to hear those words.


    "They tied us up and brought us to this area. Earlier on, at the top floor of a residential building, we were sitting against a wall and being guarded. However, someone dragged us suddenly and we got in here."

 258 Walking Corpses Are Afraid Of Sunligh

    Hearing him, Lin Feng could guess what had happened. It wasn''t the first time for the zombie lady to steal people away. But this time, he had to admit that the zombie lady had done a great job!


    "Yeah, they were all tied up when they first came here," said Mrs. Lin, "We didn''t know what happened."


    "Is Miss. Lu really a zombie?" Asked Li Zheng, "Why did she save us? She didn''t know us. You didn''t know that we were captured by Yang Jianhua, did you?"


    "Yeah, I''m curious about that too," said Mrs. Lin.


    Lin Feng looked around and asked, "Eh, where is she? She threw us here, but where did she go?"


    Lin Qiao had sensed that they were looking for her since long ago. So, she came out of the small space, then walked over.


    "Are you looking for me?"


    The group of people turned to her and saw the bald lady wearing a pair of sunglasses. If she didn''t have such huge breasts, they wouldn''t be able to tell if she were a man or a woman.


    Lin Feng looked at where she came from and saw the entrance of the small space, getting distracted immediately.


    "Eh? You don''t have another space over there, do you?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "Yeah, what''s the problem?"


    Lin Feng had never heard about any space within another space before.


    He shook his head, then said to Lin Qiao, "Nothing. Um¡­we just want to know why you decided to save Li Zheng and his people once you saw them. Do you know that they know us?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I don''t. I just thought that Yang Jianhua''s enemies should be our friends. So, in order to make trouble for him, I saved these people. I didn''t know that you knew each other."


    Hearing her, Lin Feng turned back to say to Li Zheng, "Do you know that Tianxing and a few others went to Sea City Base? They went to find you, also to look for some helpers. However, you were captured by Yang Jianhua."


    "We left Sea City Base half a month ago," said Li Zheng, "So, even if we didn''t run into Yang Jianhua the scum, Deputy Chief wouldn''t have found us."


    Lin Feng nodded and replied, "That''s true. But, why weren''t you in the base? What did you come out for?"


    "Ah, I''ll answer that question for them," said Mrs. Lin, "They came out to find us. They didn''t know our route, so they went to the city nearby. They searched for half a month, but didn''t find us. Instead, they met Yang Jianhua and his troops."


    Lin Feng sighed while saying, "Then, we have to wait for Tianxing to come back. How many people do you have in your team by now?"


    After saying that, he turned to Li Zheng again. The latter lowered his head with depression as he sighed and replied, "Except for the four of us, Lin Yu is also alive. We don''t know if he returned to Sea City Base, or if he''s surviving out here alone. When Yang Jianhua found us, he wasn''t there. He might have hidden somewhere, so Yang Jianhua didn''t see him."


    "Lin Yu¡­He doesn''t have a power, does he?" Lin Feng thought for a moment, then asked with uncertainty, "I remember that you''re the only ones in your team who have powers. You had over twenty people, but now you are the only ones left."


    "Em, that''s him," said Li Zheng. "The others have all died. We tried our best, but there were too many zombies during the journey. We also encountered a zombie leader. The others gave up their own lives to create a chance of survival for us."


    Li Zheng''s voice turned lower and lower, and his eyes dropped slowly.


    Feng Yuming and the other two all wore the same sad look. As the atmosphere was getting sorrowful, Lin Feng made eye-contact with the others, then hurriedly changed the topic, "Ah, I almost forgot to introduce Miss. Lu to you. Do you know who she is yet?"


    Li Zheng raised his head to look at Lin Qiao, who was standing aside and watching them. He nodded and said, "Yeah, she''s a zombie, although I don''t really believe that¡­"


    Lin Qiao bared her teeth toward him and asked, "Do you need me to bite you?"


    Looking at her four sharp canine teeth, Li Zheng asked her, "Aren''t you a walking corpse?"


    "What''s the difference between a zombie and a walking corpse?" asked Feng Yuming, hearing which, the others all turned to him.


    "Of course, they''re different?" Someone said.


    "How?" Feng Yuming was confused.


    "Walking corpses¡­Eh, well¡­walking corpses¡­"


    The group of people suddenly found it a little hard to point out the specific differences. Walking corpses carried ptomaine, so the people who got bitten by them would turn into walking dead too. On the other hand, the zombies carried the virus, so the people got bitten by them would become zombies as well. They sounded really similar¡­


    "Silly, walking corpses are afraid of the sun, and zombies aren''t. Zombies eat human flesh and chew human bones, but have you heard any walking corpse do the same? Eh, I mean, are you nuts? Is a walking corpse a real thing? Have you ever seen one?" said Lin Qiao.


    The others couldn''t think of a word to say.


    Looking at Lin Qiao who just called him silly, Feng Yuming sneakily poked Lei Yao, who was beside him, and said with a low voice, "Why do I feel that she sounds like our Chief? If Chief were here, she''d certainly say the same to me."


    Lei Yao glanced at him, then at Lin Qiao. He blinked, but didn''t say anything.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the group of people, then continued, "You''re really into this topic. Don''t you want to know what Yang Jianhua is doing right now?"


    Hearing that, the people turned to her immediately.


    "We surely do! How did he react when you brought Li Zheng and the others away?" asked Lin Feng.


    "He turned seven or eight guards into ice statues, then shattered them into ice pieces," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    "What?" Mrs. Lin popped her eyes and said, "He killed them just like that? Those were his own people! How could he be so cruel?"


    Cheng Wangxue joined the conversation, "Mom, he''s just too good at pretending. He was never a good guy."


    "He was planning to attack you tonight," said Lin Qiao, "and he was going to threaten you with these few people. But, I''ve saved them and ruined his plan." While speaking, she turned to Li Zheng and his people.


    "So despicable!" Said Mrs. Lin with a cold face.


    Cheng Wagnxue gave a sigh and said, "Alright, Mom, you''ve learned what kind of man he really is. Someone will punish that scum."


    "He thought that you were kept in the hotel by Lili as her food, and he believes that Yuan Tianxing and the others have already been eaten," added Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng and the others were surprised on hearing her, while Li Zheng and his people were confused.


    ''Who''s Lili? Does this Lili eat people? Is she a zombie too?'' Wondered Li Zheng.


    Seeing the confused look on Li Zheng''s face, Lin Hao, who had been staying silent till now, began talking, "Yes, just like what you thought. Lili is a zombie, a zombie queen, and she can eat people!"


    The others just didn''t know how to respond to that.

 259 Ling Ling Is Having A Fever

    Lin Feng looked at her and asked, "Then what?"


    "I tried fighting him, but couldn''t win, so I came back. Let me see¡­" while speaking, Lin Qiao closed her eyes to sense the outside situation. She saw that Yang Jianhua was already in the hotel. He seemed to be really mad, maybe because he had found that Lin Feng and the others had all disappeared. From the first floor to the sixth floor, the hotel had been turned into a cold storage.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes and said, "It''s very cold out there now!"


    The group of people looked at her confusedly and didn''t manage to understand her meaning immediately. It was the middle of the night, so it was surely a little cold. After the apocalypse, the nights had always been cold, and they had gotten used to that since long ago.


    Lin Qiao sensed their thoughts, so she shrugged and said, "I mean, Yang Jianhua froze a part of the hotel. I think he has found the solar equipment, and is preparing to take it away."


    Hearing that, Lin Feng slapped his thigh and said, "Ah, damn! The scum is gonna get the solar equipment."


    Mr. Lin looked at Lin Qiao and said to her, "What? We can''t let him take the solar equipment away! Miss. Lu, can you bring the solar equipment in here?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "It''s installed on the floor, and hasn''t been dismantled. It''s connected with the roof, so I can''t get it in here, unless it''s taken apart from the building."


    "Why don''t we let them disassemble the equipment? You can steal it after that," said Lin Hao. Hearing that, the others puzzled at first, then turned to Lin Qiao with surprise.


    Lin Qiao gave Lin Hao a thumbs-up, then said, "Smart! Even I didn''t think of that."


    Cheng Wangxue had been looking around for quite a while, and she finally couldn''t help but ask, "I didn''t see you bring Junjun and Tong Tong in. Where are they?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then turned around and pointed at the small space behind her.


    Lin Xiaolu was sitting on the couch, feeling a little bored. Hearing her mother mention Tong Tong''s name, she immediately looked at Cheng Wangxue and asked, "Mom, can I go play with Tong Tong?"


    She was really bored. The conversation between those adults made her sleepy, yet her mother wouldn''t let her sleep.


    Cheng Wangxue looked at Xiaolu, then turned to Lin Qiao, who nodded and said, "Sure, it''s alright! She can sleep there if she''s tired. There''s bed."


    When Lin Qiao''s space expanded, the small space moved to the edge. The bed didn''t move along with it, but was left outside. Later on, Junjun carried it back into the small space. Therefore, every time when Lin Qiao sent Junjun and Tong Tong into her space, she would directly put them into the small space.


    Cheng Wangxue nodded, then stood up and walked toward the small space with Lin Xiaolu.


    Lin Qiao then looked at the others and said, "I''ll go out and take a look first."


    Then, she disappeared.


    "Is she¡­really a zombie? At what level? She''s so smart, and she can talk! So, is she a zombie queen?" Li Zheng asked Lin Feng.


    Lin Feng shook his head and responded, "We don''t know about her level either. But, one of her friends is a zombie queen."


    Feng Yuming and the others immediately popped their eyes. They automatically scanned around with their eyes, then said, "Is a zombie queen here? Where?"


    They were talking about a zombie queen, a rarely seen legendary creature. Li Zheng and his people were all curious about the zombie queen. They really wanted to know what she looked like, as they had only heard about zombie kings and queens before.


    Lin Feng shook his head with a faint smile while saying, "Don''t look around. She''s not here. She went out a couple of days ago. Otherwise, Yang Jianhua wouldn''t dare to get close to us openly. If she were here, that scum might not even have the courage to approach us."


    Hearing that the zombie queen wasn''t here, Li Zheng and his people all showed disappointment in their eyes.


    "What''s a level-six zombie like?" Asked Feng Yuming, "Does she have three heads and six arms? Is she powerful?"


    Mrs. Lin smiled as she answered his question, "She doesn''t have three heads and six arms. As for if she''s powerful, well, at least, Yang Jianhua is no match for her. But, we don''t know if she can defeat a level-seven superpowered human."


    Lin Wenwen showed up with a large plate of mutant strawberries. She was going to wash them in the lake. While passing by, she said, "She''s a pretty little girl, but doesn''t like spending time with others."


    While speaking, she walked toward the lakeside.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Lin Qiao had already climbed up to the roof of the hotel. She stood aside, watching Yang Jianhua and his people take down the solar equipment.


    "They actually found solar equipment¡­What a surprise!" Yang Jianhua said the word surprise, yet he was still wearing a sullen look.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue returned to Sea City Base with his daughter and the injured Meng Yue. Once they arrived at the base, the little one started to have a fever. Wu Chengyue hurriedly sent her and Meng Yue to see the doctor.


    As Wu Yueling was the little princess of Sea City Base, the doctors nervously ran all sorts of check-ups on her. Then, a problem occurred.


    The problem was that no doctor or device was able to tell why the little princess was having a fever. At that time, Wu Yueling''s mind continued to be clear, even though she was having a fever.


    She confusedly looked at the doctors who were bustling about around her. When the doctors tried to touch her, she flinched to avoid them, then looked at Wu Chengyue with her watery eyes, wishing that her Daddy would bring her away.


    ''I don''t want to be here! Daddy¡­''


    As Wu Yueling was about to cry, Wu Chengyue walked to her and held her hands, then squatted by her side and said, "Good girl, let the doctors check your body. Or, you''ll get very uncomfortable."


    Wu Yueling was shaking her head the whole time.


    ''No, no, I''m not sick! Why am I seeing the doctors?''


    Wu Chengyue touched her forehead and found that she was still burning. With concern, she asked, "Lingling, are you feeling unwell?"


    Wu Yueling shook her head again.


    "Doctor, how is she? Why is Ling Ling''s body so hot?" Wu Chengyue looked at the doctor beside him and asked. The doctor looked at Wu Yueling with confusion, then responded hesitantly, "Ling Ling is healthy. As for the cause of her fever, I''ve thought of one possibility, but I''m not sure."


    "What cause? Why not sure?" Wu Chengyue asked anxiously.


    The doctor glanced at Wu Yueling, then turned back to Wu Chengyue and said, "It seems like her superpower is awakening. But, she''s so young, so it shouldn''t be possible for her to trigger a superpower."


    Wu Chengyue and the others all looked at this doctor with surprise. Xiao Yunlong couldn''t help but ask, "What a minute, how can she possibly trigger a superpower? She doesn''t have an energy source inside her body, does she?"

 310 Is What You Said Real?

    Lin Qiao silently followed behind them and saw them go downstairs and get into the car which was parked before the building. Xiao Yunlong sent Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing into the backseat, then sat into the front seat himself. After that, the car was driven toward the middle area of the base.


    Lin Qiao leaped up and gently landed on the car roof.


    "I wonder if Chief Wu sent you here to find us because you guys have heard something from Ling Ling?" Yuan Tianxing, who was relatively familiar with Xiao Yunlong, started a conversation.


    "Not yet," Xiao Yunlong responded, "Actually, we just want to have a meal together with you two. It has been three days, but we don''t how Ling Ling has been doing. Ah, I hope nothing bad is happening to her."


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing glanced at each other. "Who took Ling Ling away?" asked Lin Feng, "Haven''t Chief Wu found anything yet?"


    Xiao Yunlong glanced back at him and said, "We did find some clues. But, the problem is that we can''t find that person, not even a trace of hers."


    "If that person you mentioned is really the one we know, Ling Ling will certainly be fine," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "Can I ask you¡­ was there something wrong with Ling Ling before she was missing?" asked Lin Feng.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to worry about what the person who took his daughter away would do to her, but instead, he appeared to be afraid that something might go wrong with her daughter herself. Lin Feng always felt strange about that.


    Yuan Tianxing and Xiao Yunlong made an eye-contact. They hadn''t told anything that Ling Ling''s power awakening, so Lin Feng didn''t know about it.


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Yuan Tianxing again, then said to Lin Feng, "Days ago, Ling Ling''s power started waking up. She drank some special water that Mr. Yuan gave us, which temporarily stopped her power from waking up. But that day, after you arrived, Ling Ling went missing. There was a note left in her room though¡­"


    "Note?" Lin Feng asked with surprise, "What note?"


    Yuan Tianxing also looked at Xiao Yunlong confusedly, as he hadn''t heard about the note either.


    Xiao Yunlong took out his phone and showed the two of them a picture of the note.


    All the satellites were dead after the apocalypse, so signals had ceased to exist in the world. For this reason, cellphones had lost their communication functions.


    However, people could still play some offline games with their phones, and watch the movies which had been downloaded. Apart from those, a lot of other functions that came with the cellphones were still useful.


    For example, many cellphones could serve as cameras.


    "Can you recognize her handwriting," Xiao Yunlong asked after showing the two the picture.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing leaned their heads forward to look at the picture, then found the handwriting on the screen to be very familiar.


    "Was it really her?"


    Xiao Yunlong immediately turned back as he stared at them and asked, "Are you sure? Is she with you?"


    "If you had shown me this earlier, you wouldn''t need to try finding anything out. It''s her indeed," said Lin Feng.


    "Who is she?" asked Xiao Yunlong.


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at Lin Feng, then turned to say to Xiao Yunlong, "She''s not a human."


    Xiao Yunlong puzzled at first, looking at the two confusedly. Then, he suddenly recalled the young female zombie with long twin-tails who showed up before their cars three days ago.


    He slightly widened his eyes and looked at Yuan Tianxing with surprise.


    "No way¡­ Are you saying that she''s¡­ that too?"


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at the driver and stayed silent. Meanwhile, Lin Feng looked at the two of them with confusion.


    "He has met Qiu Lili," Yuan Tianxing said to him. Hearing that, Lin Feng immediately understood. "I see," he nodded and responded.


    Seeing Lin Feng''s reaction, Xiao Yunlong instantly figured out that Lin Feng knew it all as well.


    "You¡­ Wait a minute! You and those¡­ eh¡­ What''s your relationship with them? Also, you brought them into our base¡­"


    "No one can stop them if they want to come in," said Lin Feng, "Even the three leaders of your base won''t be able to find her, not even by joining hands. Besides, they''re not bad."


    After saying that, he and Yuan Tianxing knowingly glanced at each other.


    Since it was Lin Qiao who took Ling Ling away, and the problem was about the awakening of her superpower, the little girl would definitely be fine.


    "Ugh! Didn''t you say that Ling Ling''s power was waking up? In that case, you don''t need to worry. That lady truly knows how to solve that problem," said Lin Feng abruptly.


    Xiao Yunlong now had many tangled thoughts in his head. Hearing Lin Feng''s words, he asked bewilderedly, "What do you mean?"


    "If it''s about her power waking up, I think that lady''ll help her get through it safely," said Lin Feng. Hearing that, Yuan Tianxing and Xiao Yunlong both looked at him with a confused look.


    "You know my daughter?" said Lin Feng, "In fact, her power woke up as well not long ago." As he said that, the other two gazed at him with their mouths gaping. Yuan Tianxing then said with disbelief, "Is that real? Why didn''t I know about that?


    "I asked the others to not tell anyone about it, so you didn''t know," said Lin Feng.


    The expression on Xiao Yunlong''s face turned from astonished to shocked, then to delightfully surprised, also mixed with disbelief as he gazed at Lin Feng.


    "Is what you said real? Is your daughter''s power really awake?"


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Deputy Chief Yuan, I hope that you can keep it a secret. That lady helped my daughter¡­ Only she can do that. So, if she took Ling Ling away and left you a note saying that she was going to help, I can promise that she really is trying to help."


    As Lin Feng sounded so sure, Xiao Yunlong happily turned around and said, "Great! So, I can finally stop worrying. But ugh, who is this lady that you''re talking about?"


    While speaking, he turned back to look at the two. Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing glanced at each other, then said in one voice, "You''ll find out."


    Xiao Yunlong looked at them confusedly.


    About ten minutes later, the car drove into Special Region A, then to Wu Chengyue''s place. As they got off the car, Xiao Licheng was already seen waiting for them by the gate.


    "The meal is ready. We''re expecting you guys," he walked up with a smile.


    Xiao Yunlong quickly brought Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing in, heading straight to the dining room.


    Wu Chengyue was serving the dishes with his sleeves rolled up while Meng Yue was busying in the kitchen.


    "Welcome, you two! You came at the perfect time. This is our last dish. Please have a seat," Wu Chengyue placed a large bowl of soup on the table and said. Then, he and Xiao Yunlong each grabbed a seat for Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing made eye-contact, then sat down and said politely, "Thank you!"


    "Make yourselves at home," Wu Chengyue smiled and responded, "I had said that we''re going to invite you for a meal earlier. I was just too busy these days." After saying that, he sat down in the host''s seat. At the same time, Xiao Yunlong grabbed another chair and sat beside him, then glanced at the kitchen.

 260 No Way To Alleviate

    Hearing the words ''energy source'', Wu Chengyue paused slightly, then glanced at his daughter.


    There was a strange energy inside his daughter''s body which he had sensed on their way back. The energy inside Ling Ling''s body seemed to have started awakening since long ago, and Wu Chengyue felt that it was growing stronger and stronger.


    Did that energy awake Ling Ling''s power in advance?


    "No! Yunlong, haven''t you sensed that the energy inside her body is getting stronger and stronger?"


    Xiao Yunlong walked over and held Ling Ling''s hands, then closed his eyes to sense the energy.


    "Eh? It''s true," he said.


    The doctor frowned and continued, "It looks like Ling Ling is going to trigger her superpower. However, she''s only five, so triggering a superpower now isn''t a good thing for her.


    Reminded by the doctor, Wu Chengyue''s face darkened immediately. He felt that someone had poured a bucket of cold water on his heart.


    The doctor was right. At present, people hadn''t figured out a way to help with the fever which would manifest during the awakening of superpowers. The ones who triggered superpowers would have to get through it by themselves with their willpower.


    Generally speaking, younger people had weaker willpower than the older ones. Therefore, among the young people who had started to trigger their superpowers, the failure rate was relatively high. Only the ones with strong minds could successfully awake their superpowers.


    Wu Chengyue anxiously looked at the doctor and said, "Doctor, do you know how to stop the awakening of Ling Ling''s power? She won''t make it if she starts triggering her power now!"


    The doctor knitted his brows and said helplessly, "Currently, we don''t have any effective way to stop the awakening of superpowers. The main source of the energy which will trigger the superpower is transformed from a tiny amount of zombie virus. The virus slowly becomes the energy that can be absorbed by human body. When the energy accumulates to a certain degree, it will explode, and then trigger the superpower. Chief, you brought Ling Ling out this time. I just want to know if you''ve encountered any special situations out there?"


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong glanced at each other. "Ling Ling was kidnaped by a zombie king. But then, she was saved by someone else. As for what happened during that period of time, we don''t know," said Wu Chengyue.


    The doctor pushed his glasses upward, then looked at the number showing on the screen of the device beside him. While thinking, he frowned slightly and said, "Last month, her health examination data was normal. No change should have happened to her within a year. So, I guess it''s something that happened during your journey caused the awakening of her power."


    "So, what should we do now?" Said Xiao Yunlong anxiously, "You have to find out a way to stop it. If it continues, she''ll fall into a coma. What can we do if that happens? She''s so young! She won''t get through it!"


    The doctor raised his head to look at Xiao Yunlong, then turned to Wu Chengyue. After that, he sighed and said, "I am sorry! We don''t know how to stop it."


    "Doctor!" Xiao Yunlong nearly lost his mind. He popped his eyes and stepped up, attempting to grab the doctor and ask him for help again. Wu Chenyue stopped him while staring at the doctor and said, "Doctor, is there really no way? We can do whatever you want!"


    The doctor was a little anxious too. "No, I mean, we really don''t know what to do. Currently, there are no results regarding how to suppress the zombie virus at all. Therefore, we can''t do anything to interfere with the super-power-awakening-process which is caused by the zombie virus after transformation."


    Wu Chengyue stared straight at the doctor, looking more and more gloomy.


    He understood that the current medical research hadn''t been making any progress regarding the zombie virus. Therefore, people weren''t able to stop the ones who got bitten by zombies from turning into zombies, nor fix the awakening of superpowers.


    However, he couldn''t just give up on his daughter.


    "Doctor, just think! Is there really no way? As long as you stop the awakening of her power, Ling Ling will be safe, isn''t that right?" Xiao Yunlong said to the doctor, seeming like an ant on a hot pan.


    The doctor helplessly shook his head and said, "I''m sorry, I''m really sorry! We don''t know what to do."


    Wu Chengyue opened his mouth. He wanted to say something, but couldn''t. At that moment, Wu Yueling leaped off the bed and pulled Wu Chengyue''s trouser leg.


    Wu Chengyue lowered his head to look at Wu Yueling, then squatted and embraced her. "Ling Ling, don''t be afraid. Daddy won''t let anything happen to you!"


    Leaving the consultation room, Wu Chengyue carried Ling Ling and came downstairs with Xiao Yunlong. In the lobby of the hospital, they saw a few people coming from the outside.


    "That''s Chief Wu! He''s back!" Yang Fangyu, who had escorted Yuan Tianxing and the others to the hospital, looked at Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong with surprise.


    With a smile, she walked to Wu Chengyue and said, "Eh, isn''t this Chief Wu and our little princess? When did you come back? Why are you here? Are you feeling unwell?"


    Wu Chengyue was feeling depressed. However, facing the pretty lady''s warm smile, he still gave a faint smile and responded, "Deputy Chief Yan, good to see you!"


    Yan Fangyu looked at him, then turned around to point at Yuan Tianxing and the others as she said, "Great! Here, let me introduce you. This is Deputy Chief Yuan from Hades Base."


    Then, she pointed at Wu Chengyue and said to Yuan Tianxing, who had walked to her side, "This is Chief Purple Thunder, the man you were looking for."


    Yuan Tianxing reached out a hand toward Wu Chengyue and said, "Hi, I finally get to meet you in person."


    Wu Chengyue put Wu Yueling into Xiao Yuanlong''s arms, then shook hands with Yuan Tianixng and said, "Nice to meet you."


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him, then turned to Xiao Yunlong and Wu Yueling. Abruptly, he said, "Is this our little princess? She''s adorable! But, you don''t look so well. Is anything wrong?"


    Yan Fangyu nodded and said with concern, "Yeah, you look upset since we first saw you. Did you suffer a great loss out there this time?"


    Yuan Tianxing now looked at Wu Yueling and continued, "I guess our little princes isn''t feeling well. Her face is red. Did she catch a cold? Is she having a fever?"


    Wu Chengyue turned to his daughter and hurriedly touched her face. He found that her face was already burning, and her face had turned red. Her bright eyes now seemed to be unfocused.


    He let out a long sigh, then said, "Ling Ling is¡­Her power is awakening. We don''t know how to stop it. We don''t know what to do now."


    Yan Fangyu widened her beautiful eyes and slightly opened her mouth as she murmured, "What¡­! No way! She''s so young! How can that happen?"


    Wu Chengyue''s eyes wore a sad look.


    "She''s such a little kid! How can her power suddenly awake? Did you encounter something out there?" asked Yuan Tianxing abruptly.


    He thought for a moment, then suddenly dragged Xiao Yunlong toward an empty corner while saying, "Come here."


    In that quiet and empty corner, he turned to say to Du Yuanixng who had been ignored the whole time, "Yuanxing, give the kid some of the water in the bottle¡­See if it can help."

 311 Are You Talking About Me?

    None of the four discovered that Lin Qiao had quietly walked to the table, bent over, and sniffed at the dishes. She sensed no scent from those cooked foods.


    "Chief Wu, you didn''t invite us here to just have a meal, did you?" said Yuan Tianxing. Meanwhile, Xiao Yunlong picked up his bowl and started filling it with soup.


    Hearing Yuan Tianxing''s words, Wu Chengyue responded while Xiao Yunlong served the soup to the guests, "I do have some questions to ask you. But, we can talk while eating. Here, have some soup first! It won''t taste good once it''s cold."


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng each took a sip of the soup. "The soup is nice," Lin Feng commented.


    Lin Qiao wanted to get some useful information from them, but as they had started eating, she didn''t think that would happen soon. So, she turned and entered the space, only to see that Wu Yueling was put on a bed by Liu Jun.


    She was still asleep, lying flat, covered by a blanket.


    Tong Tong was lying asleep on a couch, probably because he was tired.


    Lin Qiao walked to the bed and touched Wu Yueling''s hair, finding that they were already dry. She guessed that it was Xie Dong who dried the little girl''s hair.


    Xie Dong had been having a weak sense of presence. In fact, he was in the space the whole time. Earlier when Lin Qiao stripped herself, he silently ran into the woods.


    Lin Qiao scooped up the little one. Seeing her move, Liu Jun asked, "Are you going out?"


    Lin Qiao nodded.


    At this moment, Wu Chengyue and his guests were eating lukewarmly. Wu Chengyue didn''t start a conversation. Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing stayed silent for a while, and couldn''t help but break the ice. If they didn''t do it, they would feel uneasy during the whole meal.


    "Chief Wu, we''ll start talking if you don''t. Earlier on, Deputy Chief has already shown us the note. We did recognize that handwriting," Lin Feng said.


    Wu Chengyue''s hand paused above a dish. He turned to glance at Xiao Yunlong and saw the latter nod.


    "Is she with you? I''ve checked the entry records, but didn''t find her name," Wu Chengyue turned to Lin Feng and said with confusion. He had checked all the name lists of suspicious people and found each one of them. However, the name of that woman never showed up. Didn''t she register while entering the base?


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then recalled that Lin Qiao was able to turn herself invisible. Well, if she came in invisibly, she didn''t need to register.


    However, being invisible didn''t mean that she had disappeared into thin air. She should still have been detected by all sorts of facilities in the entrance. Her body temperature, heartbeat, and breath could all be grasped by the detectors.


    How did she get in then? Did she climb over the fence wall which was seven or eight meters tall?


    "You can say that she''s with us," said Yuan Tianxing, "But, she''s invisible. Usually, she just mysteriously appears in the places she wants to be in, and disappear when she wants to leave."


    The faint smile on Wu Chengyue''s face faded when he said worriedly, "But, why did she steal my daughter? Does she really know how to help Ling Ling get through this?"


    Yuan Tianxing turned to Lin Feng.


    Lin Feng glanced at him, then said to Wu Chengyue, "She does. My daughter, Lin Xiaolu, had triggered her power not long ago. That lady helped my daughter do it successfully. I only saw her do that once, and I don''t know if Ling Ling is going through the same situation as my daughter was. But, believing in hope is always better than being disappointed."


    Wu Chengyue looked at him with surprise while saying, "Wait a minute! Did you say that your daughter''s power has woken up as well? Is that real?"


    He surely knew that Lin Feng''s daughter, Lin Xiaolu, was a seven-year-old little girl, only two years older than Ling Ling.


    Why did she trigger her power at such a young age?


    As far as he knew, Ling Ling was the second kid who had triggered a superpower. What was going on? Why had their powers started waking up when they were so young?


    Lin Xiaolu nodded and said, "I can''t tell the exact reason. We noticed it when Xiaolu''s power just began to wake up, and then, the one who left you this note helped her to get through it."


    "So, you can stop worrying now," Yuan Tianxing said to Wu Chengyue. "She''s confident about it, or she wouldn''t take Ling Ling away."


    Wu Chengyue calmed himself down, then couldn''t help but ask out of curiosity, "That person you''re talking about, who is she?"


    At that point, Lin Feng looked at him with a strange expression and said, "In fact, you know her already. Last time, didn''t you ask us if we had seen a short-haired woman with a hat and sunglasses? That''s her. It''s just that the name you told us isn''t the name we know. That''s why we weren''t sure if you were talking about her."


    "Isn''t her name Lin? She told me that herself. You''ve seen the note. Isn''t that her signature?" asked Wu Chengyue.


    Thinking about the name ''Lin'' on the note, both Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing had a strange feeling.


    "Are you talking about me?" Suddenly, a dry voice joined the conversation. Everyone on the scene paused for a second, then turned to the source of the voice. They saw a woman standing about three meters from them, carrying a child. She was wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses, so they couldn''t see her face clearly.


    Bang!


    Wu Chengyue immediately stood up. Because of his movement, his chair was sent backward and caused a noise.


    "Ling Ling!" He recognized his precious little girl at a glance.


    As Wu Chengyue seemed to charge at her, Lin Qiao immediately made two steps backward and said, "Eh, wait, wait, let''s make this clear fist. I am now returning your daughter to you, and she''s perfectly healthy now. She''s just asleep. In one or two hours, she''ll wake up. If you dare to attack me again, I''ll come back and take her away again!"


    Wu Chengyue paused upon hearing her words. Her speech sounded normal at first, but why did she then start to threaten him?


    "Eh? When did you come back? How''s Ling Ling?"


    "Yeah, how''s the little Ling Ling?"


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng hurriedly stood up to speak to Lin Qiao with surprise, and also to ease the tense situation.


    "I never left. I was outside the base." While speaking, Lin Qiao slowly moved toward Wu Chengyue and handed him the child. Meanwhile, she had also been preparing for a sudden lightning bolt that might be landing on her head.


    He had done that before after all!


    Wu Chengyue hurriedly took over the child and touched her forehead and neck. He felt her pulse and body temperature back to normal. At the moment, her chest was heaving slightly.


    Knowing that his daughter was fine, Wu Chengyue finally felt relieved.


    Then, he noticed that Lin Qiao hadn''t answered the questions yet.


    "How is Ling Ling''s current condition?" He raised his head to look at Lin Qiao and asked. The latter rolled her eyes and responded, "You''ll know when she wakes up."


    After saying that, she disappeared from where she was.


    At that point, Meng Yue walked to Wu Chengyue and held Wu Yueling''s hands while focusing her sensations on her. She found that Wu Yueling was healthy indeed.


    "It seems that Ling Ling really is fine," she looked at Wu Chengyue and said, a clear relief reflecting in her voice.

 312 What is She Looking For?

    At that moment, Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing glanced at each other. "Why do I feel that Miss. Lu has been here for long?" Lin Feng asked.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "When did she come back?"


    Wu Chengyue was carrying Ling Ling to the living room. Hearing their conversation, he stopped, then turned back and asked, "Is her last name Lu?"


    Lin Feng nodded and responded, "Yeah, her name is Lu¡­"


    Abruptly and weirdly, Yuan Tianxing interrupted him and said, "Ah, that''s right! Her last name is Lu. That is correct!"


    Lin Feng looked at him confusedly. He had known Yuan Tianxing for long, so he understood that there must be some reasons why the latter interrupted him.


    Wu Chengyue gave Yuan Tianxing a suspicious glance and saw the latter wearing a smiling face, as if he said what he said unintentionally.


    At that moment, Ling Ling slightly moved her eyelids, then slowly opened her eyes.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t see that as he was looking at Yuan Tianxing. However, Meng Yue, who was beside him, noticed that.


    "Look, Ling Ling is awake!"


    The others immediately turned their eyes to the kid carried in Wu Chengyue''s arms.


    As Meng Yue had said, Wu Chengyue had opened her eyes, and was confusedly looking around. As all the others looked at her, she immediately turned her head around and buried her face in Wu Chengyue''s arms.


    "Ling Ling? Ling Ling! Here, look at Daddy. Tell Daddy, is there any discomfort?" Wu Chengyue looked at her and spoke with a delightful surprise. Meanwhile, he hurriedly put her on a couch.


    Wu Yueling sneakily raised one sparkling eye to look at him, then hid her face back in his arms.


    As his daughter seemed to be clear-minded and reacted normally, Wu Chengyue finally gave a long sigh of relief.


    At that point, Wu Yueling suddenly began groping around her own body with her tiny hands, but failed to find anything. After that, she abruptly sat up from Wu Chengyue''s arms on his lap, then lowered her head to look at the clothes that she was wearing confusedly.


    ''Eh? These aren''t my clothes¡­ They are so large¡­''


    But soon, she forgot about the clothes. She searched around her but didn''t find her treasure, so she began looking around Wu Chengyue.


    She still didn''t see it.


    As she failed to find her treasure in the living room, Wu Chengyue curved her lips downward, then raised her face to look at Wu Chengyue in the eyes tearfully.


    "What is she looking for?" Lin Feng knew about children. After all, he had a daughter too.


    "She should be looking for her grass dragonfly," Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, then saw Wu Yueling nod heavily.


    "Don''t worry, your treasure is in your room," Wu Chengyue smiled and said, "Are you hungry? Shall we go upstairs to change clothes, then come back down to eat?"


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling nodded quickly and happily, as she would be able to see her grass dragonfly back in her room.


    Wu Chengyue affectionately put a hand on her hair. Stroking his daughter''s smooth hair, he felt that his heart was filled with something.


    "I''ll take Ling Ling upstairs to change. Yunlong, please invite Mr. Lin and Mr. Yuan back to the dining table."


    Seeing Wu Chengyue stand up with Wu Yueling carried in his arms, Xiao Yunlong finally recovered from the shock and nodded.


    "Mr. Lin, Mr. Yuan, please come back and have a seat. We haven''t finished our meal yet." After saying this, Xiao Yunlong pointed a hand at the table.


    As Wu Chengyue had been sent back to her father perfectly unharmed, Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were relieved as well. They smiled while walking toward the dining table after hearing Yuan Tianxing''s words.


    "Ugh, why did Miss. Lu leave so soon?" Yuan Tianxing asked curiously.


    "Are you sure that she has left?" Lin Feng glanced at him with a weird look.


    At that moment, Xiao Yunlong joined the conversation, "Yeah, that Miss. Lu has really managed to wake Ling Ling up. Also, has the little Ling Ling truly triggered a superpower?"


    "About that, you need to ask Ling Ling herself," said Lin Feng, "Maybe, we can also ask Miss. Lu when we get back."


    "I think Chief Wu needs to strengthen the guards of his place! Is it appropriate to let her just come and go whenever she wants?" Yuan Tianxing said.


    Hearing that, Meng Yue, who had silently followed them to the dining table, responded, "If even Chengyue and I can''t discover her, there would be no use of adding more guards."


    The three men paused slightly. Recalling how that lady showed up silently beside them without being noticed by anyone on the scene, they felt that Meng Yue was right.


    "If someone had sent her to do intelligence works or assassinations, who would be able to stop her except for the super powerful ones?"


    When the few people were guessing about the success rate of an assassinate mission carried by Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue carried Ling Ling upstairs.


    "Ling Ling, do you remember anything?" Wu Chengyue went up to the third floor and asked his daughter while heading toward her room. Wu Yueling sat in his arms, looking at him with confusion. Judging by the look on her face, Wu Chengyue figured that she didn''t remember anything.


    He opened the door of Wu Yueling''s room and walked in, then put her on the bed. After that, he turned to find her clothes in the closet.


    Wu Yueling turned and crawled to the nightstand once she was put on the bed. A yellow-green grass dragonfly was placed there.


    She reached out her little hands to pick up the dragonfly, then grinned happily.


    Upon returning with clean clothes, Wu Chengyue saw his daughter sitting on the bed while holding the grass dragonfly with both hands. Her cute little face was wearing a bright smile.


    He hadn''t seen his daughter showing such a sweet grin for a long time. His heart was even melted by that grin. Holding the clothes, he couldn''t bear walking over to interrupt her.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao entered her space. Before she walked to the furniture area where Liu Jun was staying, she suddenly felt that one of her feet was heavy, and that something was pulling her trouser leg.


    "Eh?" She lowered her head to find a large sphere of gray fur curling on her foot, biting her trouser leg.


    ''Ah, it''s the gray rabbit.''


    As Lin Qiao lowered her head to look at it, the rabbit immediately relaxed its bite, then jumped off her foot and hopped around her feet.


    "What are you doing?" Lin Qiao looked at the rabbit bewilderedly, as she didn''t know what it wanted. She was able to read the minds of some zombies and people, but couldn''t hear the thoughts of animals¡­


    At that moment, a little person excitedly rushed at the rabbit.


    Liu Jun found that it was Tong Tong. And then, she saw Liu Jun follow behind him.


    The rabbit was probably startled by the running Tong Tong. It turned a little anxious, then suddenly bit Lin Qiao''s trouser leg again and tried to drag her to the side. This time, it was doing it many times harder than before.


    "Does it want you to bring it out? It was with that little girl the whole time. Once you left, it began running about. I don''t know what he was doing."

 261 Miracle Potion

    Hearing Yuan Tianxing''s words, the others looked at him with surprise. They were all curious about the water he had mentioned.


    Du Yuanxing quickly walked and took out a vacuum bottle from his bag, twisting off its cap and pouring some water into it. After that, he handed the cap to Yuan Tianxing.


    Yuan Tianxing took it over, then said to Wu Chengyue, "This water has some special effects. Let the kid drink it¡­see if it helps. The awakening of superpower is a big deal. I can''t guarantee if this water can help."


    Wu Chengyue took over the water and looked at Yuan Tianxing with surprise. He glanced at Yan Fangyu, then turned back to Yuan Tianxing and asked, "Deputy Chief Yuan, can this water¡­really slow down the awakening of her power?"


    He shouldn''t reject Yuan Tianxing''s kindness straightforwardly. However, it was the first time he had met Yuan Tianxing. Even though he believed that the other had no reason to hurt his daughter, he still needed to be careful.


    He had heard Yuan Tianxing''s name. They never met in person before, but he knew that the latter wasn''t a bad guy.


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and replied, "That I can''t guarantee. To be honest, I can''t tell the exact effects of this water. But, it''s really good for human bodies. You can choose to believe me or not."


    Wu Chengyue gazed at him in the eyes. He thought for a moment, then took a sip of the water himself and sensed a coolness from the tip of his tongue. After that, he put the water near Ling Ling''s mouth without hesitation while saying, "Ling Ling, Ling Ling? Come on, have some water, here¡­Open your mouth."


    He wasn''t sure if he should believe Yuan Tianxing or not. However, as long as there was a gleam of hope, he would try. He knew that Yuan Tianxing wouldn''t try to hurt his daughter, because that would do him no good.


    Wu Yueling now seemed to be a little muddleheaded. She glanced at her father, then obediently opened her little mouth, waiting for Wu Chengyue to pour the water into it.


    Xiao Yunlong couldn''t stop touching the little girl''s hands and forehead. "She''s getting hotter and hotter. What should we do?"


    After making Wu Yueling drink the water, Wu Chengyue gave the cap back to Yuan Tianxing, then touched the kid''s forehead as well.


    Then, his heart sank deeper.


    Yuan Tianxing took over the cap and asked Du Yuanxing to refill it, then handed it back to Wu Chengyue and said, "Here, give her another cup. Normally, three cups will not work. But, she''s just a kid, so I think they will be enough for her."


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him, then gave the water to Wu Yueling without saying anything.


    At that moment, a voice was heard from beside them, "Eh? Deputy Chief, why are you standing here? Chief Wu and Deputy Chief Xiao, you''re back! Nice to see you!"


    The group of people turned around to find Lin Yu looking at them with surprise, holding a bagful of meds.


    "Ah, we were here to pick you up," said Xiao Yunlong, "Then we met Chief Wu. We needed to talk, so we came here."


    Lin Yu walked to beside Du Yuanxing and confusedly watched Wu Chengyue give the lid back to him. After that, Du Yuanxing filled the lid with water for the third time, then handed it back to Wu Chengyue.


    Yan Fangyu smiled and said, "I didn''t know that Mr. Yuan has such nice staff. Is this some kind of miracle potion?"


    Yuan Tianxing gave her a faint smile, then responded, "Kind of."


    Wu Chengyue doubtfully made his daughter drink the third cup of water, then gave it back to Du Yuanxing and said, "Thank you! If Ling Ling does get better, come to me if you need any help."


    Lin Yu didn''t know what happened, and could only watch them confusedly.


    Yuan Tianxing smiled and replied, "Sure! Chief Wu, you will be able to help us a lot. Actually, Chief, and two Deputy Chiefs, I have a favor to ask right now. Don''t tell anyone about the effect of this water."


    "We won''t, don''t worry!" said Yan Fangyu smilingly.


    Wu Chengyue nodded, but his eyes were fixed on his daughter.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him and said, "You should take the kid back to get some rest, and we should leave too. I think the water won''t show its effects immediately, so be patient."


    Wu Chengyue smiled and nodded at him again as he said, "Sorry that I didn''t welcome you today. When I''m not busy, I''ll invite you to dinner."


    Yuan Tianxing carelessly shook his head and responded, "Eh, don''t mention it! I do want to help the kid."


    After saying goodbye to each other, Yan Fangyu, Yuan Tianxing, and Du Yuanxing went back to their own places.


    After Yan Fangyu had left, Lin Yu asked Du Yuanxing, "What water did Deputy Chief give the little princess?"


    Hearing him, Du Yuanixng glanced at the medicines held in Lin Yu''s hand and said to Yuan Tianxing, "Boss, in fact, we don''t need these meds. It''s a little wasteful to trade these with food."


    With the water in Lu Tianyu''s space, they really didn''t need these normal medicines.


    "We did it to show the others that we have enough food," said Yuan Tianxing, "This might attract some people to work for us."


    "Ah¡­" Du Yuanxing blinked and responded without fully understanding. Why did they want the others to know that they had food? What if some people decided to rob them?


    However, as long as his boss was here, no one would be able to actually rob them, unless that person was at level-six or seven.


    "You''ve had some of the water that I gave the little princess just now," said Yuan Tianxing to Lin Yu. "Aren''t you feeling that you''re recovering too quickly? That''s our secret weapon, so don''t tell anyone."


    "Then why did you let Wu Chengyue and the two Deputy Chiefs know?" Lin Yu asked.


    Yuan Tianxing smiled and continued, "Firstly, I want to know if the water can do something to the awakening of superpowers¡­Secondly, if we help him this time, he''ll owe us a big favor. So in the future, there would be no unpleasantness between us if we cooperate. As for Miss. Yan, she''s not a bad person, so it''s fine for her to know."


    Hearing that, Du Yuanxing wore an evil smile and asked, "Boss, do you have a crush on the dream girl of their whole base? Be careful, you might get murdered!"


    Yuan Tianxing gave him a bland glance while saying, "What are you talking about? I have someone in my heart. But, Miss. Yan has been so friendly to me, so I can''t keep showing her a cold face, can I? Besides, she has helped us a lot. Be gentle to ladies, don''t you know that? No wonder you''ve been single the whole time!"


    Du Yuanxing looked at him, feeling a little speechless. "Like you''re not single¡­" he said.


    And it was Yuan Tianxing who didn''t know how to respond this time.


    Lin Yu glanced at the two of them and said, "Our Deputy Chief is so handsome and nice, so it''s normal for ladies to like him. He has always been popular among ladies."


    Du Yuanxing rubbed his jaw and said to Yuan Tianxing, "Em, you''re right! I nearly forgot that quite some women fancied you before. I just don''t understand who on earth do you like? If you like someone, you have to tell her!"

 313 Where is the Rabbit From

    Lin Qiao glanced at the fluffy gray rabbit, then raised her head to look at Liu Jun and say to her, "That can''t be true, can it?"


    Liu Jun shrugged and replied, "I''m just guessing."


    Lin Qiao glanced at the rabbit again, then picked it up.


    At that point, Tong Tong came to her side and raised his head to look at her while saying, "I want to hold the rabbit."


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then bent over and put the rabbit in his arms. However, the rabbit didn''t seem to like him, as it started struggling once it was put in his arms. Tong Tong couldn''t hold it tight, so he soon let it jump out of his arms.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then closed her eyes to look outside. After that, she flashed out.


    She turned invisible and stood between Wu Chengyue''s living room and dining room, which was exactly where she had returned Ling Ling to Wu Chengyue. She sniffed at the air and found that Wu Chengyue and the little one were both upstairs. So, she turned and walked to the stairs, then glanced back at the people who were having a meal in the dining room.


    Next, she re-entered her space, picked up the rabbit which was being chased around by Tong Tong, and flashed back out.


    She put the gray ball of fur on the stairs, then turned and left Wu Chengyue''s place, heading to where Lin Feng and the others stayed.


    After he got Wu Yueling dressed, Wu Chengyue saw the large fluffy ball on the stairs while carrying his daughter down.


    "Eh? What is this¡­"


    Hearing Wu Chengyue''s voice, Wu Yueling turned back and took a look. She paused slightly at first, but then quickly recognized the rabbit. After that, she reached her hands out and leaned toward the rabbit.


    Her face wasn''t showing any expression, but her reaction and sparkling eyes were telling Wu Chengyue that she wanted that ball of fur.


    "Do you know what it is?"


    Once Wu Chengyue said that, that ball of fur moved slightly, then turned around, looking at Wu Yueling with long lopped ears.


    "Ugh, isn''t this the rabbit that we saw the last time? Eh, why is it a little like that female zombie''s rabbit?"


    Wu Chengyue gave it a closer look and recognized it as a rabbit, a familiar one. That was just that rabbit which Ling Ling had in her arms when she came out of that female zombie''s space back in Hangzhou.


    Back then, Wu Chengyue didn''t pay much attention to the rabbit and only gave it a quick glance, as he was focusing on his daughter. But now, he looked at it carefully and felt that it seemed very much like the rabbit which belonged to the female zombie who had suffered a thunder strike of hers.


    While speaking, he put Wu Yueling down, who rushed at that ball of fur once she got on her feet. At the same time, the rabbit even hopped toward her.


    She happily scooped up the rabbit, then followed Wu Chengyue downstairs.


    "Ling Ling, you won''t be able to eat while holding it. Why don''t you put it on the chair next to you?" As Wu Chengyue sat on a chair, everyone else curiously looked at the rabbit in her arms. Wu Chengyue put an empty chair beside her while talking to her.


    "Eh? Isn''t this the rabbit in Miss. Lu''s space? Why is it here?" said Lin Feng with surprise.


    After watching his daughter obediently put the rabbit on the empty chair, Wu Chengyue said, "Eh, we saw it just now on the stairs when we were getting down. It''s her rabbit, isn''t it? Why did she leave it for Ling Ling then? Ling Ling seems to like the rabbit very much though."


    "I''ve seen this rabbit in her space," said Lin Feng, "I think it was living quite a life in there."


    Wu Chengyue sat beside Wu Yueling, then took over her small bowl from Meng Yue''s hands, and put some food into it for her to eat.


    Wu Yueling fed herself with a fork and a pair of chopsticks while looking at the rabbit.


    "I have one question that only came to me after I saw this rabbit. Meng Yue, have you seen this rabbit before?" said Wu Chengyue abruptly. Afterward, he turned to look at Meng Yue, who was sitting in front of the rabbit.


    Meng Yue spent a while staring at the rabbit with a frown, then replied, "Have I ever seen it? I don''t remember."


    "Two months ago," Wu Chengyue reminded her, "Ling Ling was kidnapped by that woman. We found her in a farm, inside an orchard. Back then, Ling Ling came out with a rabbit in her arms. The rabbit was smaller at that time. Think about it."


    Hearing his words, Meng Yue was puzzled at first, then had her eyes glowed. She nodded and responded, "Ah, yes! There was with a rabbit back then, and Ling Ling was reluctant to part with it."


    After saying that, she started observing that fluffy gray rabbit.


    "It does look a little like that rabbit."


    Wu Chengyue turned to Yuan Tianxing and the other two, who were both confused at that moment, then asked Lin Feng, "May I ask you something? That lady we saw just now, she isn''t human, is she?"


    Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, Xiao Yunlong, and Meng Yue were all stunned.


    Yuan Tianxing and the other two knew about the truth, but Meng Yue wasn''t prepared for that. So, she gazed at Wu Chengyue in shock.


    She was also thinking about that female zombie, but didn''t think that Wu Chengyue would say it out loud right in front of the two guests.


    Seeing the surprised look on the faces of Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing, Wu Chengyue gave a faint smile and said, "No wonder she has been wearing those sunglasses, and her voice is hoarse and dry. Back then, I felt that she wasn''t like a zombie at all except for her appearance. And now, I''m surprised to find that she''s actually able to talk. It has only been two months, but she evolved so quickly."


    Hearing that, Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng were surprised as well, "Eh? Have you met before?"


    Xiao Yunlong recalled that female zombie as well. "Where are her hair?" he asked abruptly, "Did she cut her hair? Ah, I know, she cut her hair because you turned her hair into an afro, which was quite ugly."


    Hearing what Xiao Yunlong said, Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing immediately turned to Wu Chengyue with a weird look, then glanced at each other. From each other''s eyes, they learned that they were now sharing the same opinion.


    ''There''s a story!''


    Wu Chengyue looked at them with curiosity and said smilingly, "So it is her. I didn''t think that she would be with you. Aren''t you afraid?"


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "We were a little frightened at first indeed, but she saved all of us. It is really weird when a zombie saves your life, but we gradually were no longer afraid of her."


    "She doesn''t scare us because we believe that she won''t hurt us. She''s powerful though. I guess that except for you, no one in this room is a match for her," Yuan Tianxing nodded and said. Then, he glanced at Wu Chengyue, implying that he should have a chance of winning against Lin Qiao.


    At that moment, Xiao Yunlong said two words, "He lost¡­" After saying that, he silently glanced at Wu Chengyue. Without using his power, he failed to take off that female zombie''s hat. On the contrary, he let her win, and rudely bit her thigh.


    Wu Chengyue felt that he was despised for some reason¡­


    "¡­ What?" Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing didn''t manage to understand Xiao Yunlong''s words immediately.

 314 Excuses

    After leaving Wu Chengyue''s place, Lin Qiao climbed onto a tree outside, then leaped out. Stepping on utility poles and building roofs, he moved fleetingly toward Lin Feng''s place.


    She stopped near an administration building in Region D, then jumped down.


    At this moment in an alley near the building, some people were surrounded.


    Chen Yuting, a vice-captain of his squad, and a few squad members of his were stuck in the alley by another group of people.


    The one who barred their road was a deputy chief and his subordinates.


    This deputy chief was exactly the one who had talked to Tang He earlier, also Yang Chao''s right-hand man. At that moment, he was standing in a clean spot, leaning against the wall and smoking. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses, and wasn''t looking at Chen Yuting and his people.


    Chen Yuting and his people were staring at him, their faces showing anger, resentment, and fear.


    "Lu Ting was killed by zombies," he said, "I had said that you shouldn''t have let that woman follow the squad out of the base. Now she''s dead, but what made you think that you can blame us for not keeping her safe? Besides, people should be responsible for their own safety outside the base. She has died, but what can we do about it? If you didn''t want her to die, you shouldn''t have let her go out of the base."


    The deputy chief''s name was Piao Gechang. He faced Chen Yuting and his people sideways as he put the cigarette between his lips and took a deep inhalation, then let out the smoke from his nostrils.


    "I don''t need so many excuses," he said blandly. "You should be aware that she was a space-powered person, and how rare space-powered people are. Why did she and her brother both die? He was a level-six water-powered man. How could he not even have a chance to run if you didn''t encounter a level-six or seven zombie?"


    While speaking, he put the cigarette back between his lips and took another inhalation, then let out the smoke.


    "You think level-six or seven zombies are so easy to find? Do you think that we''re idiots? If you had really run into a zombie king or queen, how could the rest of you survive? How can you still stand here and talk to me like this? You wouldn''t even have had a chance of coming back to the base if that were real."


    "No¡­ That''s not true! There were also robbers! Strong post-apocalyptic robbers!" As Piao Gecang refused to believe them, the vice-captain behind Chen Yuting said anxiously.


    Piao Gecang paused slightly, then abruptly turned to say to them with a grin, "Eh? You met robbers? Then tell me, who are they? What levels they''re at?"


    Chen Yuting stared at him and said certainly, "Yes, we met robbers. They kidnaped Lu Ting and two young men from our squad. They brought our people toward Hangzhou, and we chased them. When we finally caught up with them, they were already killed by zombies."


    The people around Chen Yuting all nodded to try and make his words sound more credible.


    "Yes, that''s right!"


    "When we got in, those robbers were all dead. But, I think their leader had escaped. Lu Ting was killed there!"


    "No matter how, you''ve let her die. I had told you that you can''t let her die. Since you said that she was killed by zombies, I''ll believe you. I won''t kill you, as we aren''t allowed to kill inside the base. I''ll just take an arm from each of you." Finishing talking, Piao Gecang put the cigarette back between his lips to take his last inhalation, then flicked the butt away.


    Once he said that, his people began approaching Chen Yuting and his squad members.


    As seven or eight superpowered people who were at level four or five walked toward them, Chen Yuting and his people panicked, immediately making defensive postures.


    Among them, one was at level-six, one level-five, and the rest were all at level-three. Chen Yuting had a chance against Piao Gecang, but his squad members were no matches for Piao Gecang''s subordinates.


    Lin Qiao looked at Chen Yuting confusedly. She killed Lu Ting and her brother, but why did Chen Yuting lie about it?


    Also, the man with sunglasses actually claimed their arms as if there was no one to rule him in this base. He seemed to be in quite a high position in the base. Also, he was a level-six superpowered man.


    "Deputy Chief Piao, I will fight you if you insist! But, if you are using Lu Ting''s death as an excuse, I won''t accept it!"


    Piao Gecang sneered and said, "You might be right, but so what? Lu Ting was my woman after all. I wasn''t tired of her yet, but you got her killed. Can you get me another woman who''s as pretty as she was?"


    After saying that, he suddenly swung an arm. Following his move, a streak of fire burst out from above Chen Yuting and his people'' heads, then quickly expanded and descended. The high temperature of the fire made Chen Yuting and his people feel their hair get burned.


    Chen Yuting reacted swiftly. He raised an arm, and along with his movement, the mixture of cement and earth came out of the walls nearby and shielded them against the fire.


    The fire landed on the layer of mixture but didn''t disappear. Instead, it moved downward through the gaps between the mixture and the walls.


    Piao Gecang''s people didn''t join the fight, but stood aside and watched.


    The air temperature turned high as the fire came down, as if the air itself was set on fire. The few lower-leveled members on Chen Yuting''s side instantly felt hard to breathe, like they were getting suffocated.


    They were surrounded by walls. Before they could find a way out, they started feeling dizzy because of oxygen deficiency.


    The attack from a level-six superpower man wasn''t something that these level-three people could survive.


    Piao Gecang''s fire didn''t only have a high temperature, but was also poisonous. Therefore, even though Chen Yuting managed to protect his people and himself from the actual fire timely with his earth power, the toxins contained in the fire still spread in the air.


    As Chen Yuting raised both arms, the cement ground split. A wall rose from the ground, quickly blocking the gaps between the mixture and the wall and stopping the fire from coming closer to his people and himself.


    Meanwhile, the earth under their feet began sinking. As the ground sank two meters deep, he created a tunnel underground.


    "Go into the tunnel¡­ Hurry up!"


    The vice-captain, who was doing better than the others, immediately helped the weakest squad member up from the ground, then walked into the tunnel. The other two squad members struggled up and moved into the tunnel as well while holding the wall.


    "You think you can leave by getting underground?" said Piao Gecang coldly. "Release the snakes," He then turned to one of his men and continued.


    Next, one of his men suddenly leaped up and threw a heavy kick at Chen Yuting''s earth wall.


    Bang! He easily created a hole on the earth wall, which was over ten-centimeters thick.


    After that, another man waved a hand and released a finger-thick snake. When landing on the ground, the snake quickly split into countless snakes, all crawling toward the tunnel.


    At the same time, these snakes were growing larger and splitting again.

 262 Liang Dashu The Doctor

    "It''s alright!" said Yuan Tianxing. "They don''t know that the water belongs to Lu Tianyu. If they found that the¡­eh-hem, that Lu Tianyu has become a zombie who''s willing to save people, things will be fun."


    While speaking, he grinned meaningfully.


    Du Yuanxing popped his eyes as he stared at Yuan Tianxing while saying, "That''s awful! It''ll bring her troubles, won''t it?"


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at him and said carelessly, "Are you silly? Don''t you know what kind of a zombie she is? I guess not even a level-seven superpowered human being can get her. You think she''s as silly as you? No, she''s smart! Besides, did you forget what skills she has?"


    Lin Yu joined the conversation curiously, "I''ve been hearing you mention Lu Tianyu, zombie, and space¡­Are you talking about the one that I''m thinking about? She isn''t the famous Lu Tianyu in this base, is she?"


    Du Yuanxing and Yuan Tianxing looked at him and nodded together.


    "No way!" Said Lin Yu with disbelief, "She really became a zombie? I heard that she was knocked out and thrown into a zombie crowd. Wasn''t she torn into pieces?"


    "No, she''s fine," Yuan Tianxing shook his head and replied.


    "She has become a zombie, that''s true!" Du Yuanxing continued, "Moreover, she won''t remind you of that Lu Tianyu who was hated by pretty much everyone in this base. She turned into a zombie who likes doing good deeds."


    "What¡­?" Lin Yu was utterly confused. This sounded more and more ridiculous. ''She became a zombie, alright,'' he thought, ''but what does doing good deeds mean? She must be chewed by zombies when she died, so no one should be able to recognize her by now, right?''


    ''And, does that water have something to do with Lu Tianyu?''


    According to the conversation between Du Yuanting and Yuan Tianxing, it seemed that only Lu Tianyu had that water.


    However¡­


    "Can that water really help with the awakening of superpowers? If it turned out to be ineffective for the little princess, will Wu Chengyue have an opinion against us?"


    "What opinion can he possibly have?" Said Yuan Tianxing, "I just helped him kindly. The water might be ineffective, but it defiantly wouldn''t hurt his little princess. Besides, I''ve told him that I can''t guarantee it."


    "Judging by how he behaved in this base, Chief Wu isn''t a narrow-minded and unreasonable man," said Du Yuanxing, "I think he won''t blame us."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded at him.


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue brought Ling Ling back to the small building where they lived and put her in her bedroom. Then, he asked Xiao Yunlong to find another doctor. This doctor was a weirdo in the base. He barely listened to the others, and he treated the patients only when he wanted to. If he didn''t want to help a patient, no one could make him.


    However, he was always happy to help Wu Chengyue. Whenever Wu Chengyue sent his people to ask him for help, he would agree.


    This doctor''s name was Liang Dashu. He wasn''t a doctor before, but was the owner of a bookstore. He loved reading books; he read all sorts of books, especially fiction, comic books, and online novels.


    Of course, he also read lots of professional books, which he couldn''t fully understand. When he discovered something interesting in a book, he would dig deep.


    He never studied medicine; people called him doctor because of his superpower.


    He had a healing power that allowed him to easily cure some small injuries and diseases. His power wasn''t at a high level, so for serious diseases and incurable illnesses, what he could do best was to slow them down.


    Currently, he wasn''t working in a bookstore, neither as a doctor. Instead, he was a researcher in the Zombie Virus Research Institution. He had read a lot of books. With the knowledge he learned, he had purposed a series of assumptions regarding how the zombie virus was formed after the apocalypse. His assumptions were partially proven, so with Wu Chengyue''s recommendation, he became a zombie virus researcher.


    Because of his healing power, he had also learned some medical knowledge.


    ¡­


    In a small laboratory which was filled with all sorts of complicated devices, an unshaven, long-haired man was studying and comparing all kinds of data.


    The door was knocked on twice, but the man made no response to it.


    The one who knocked on the door didn''t seem to wait for his response. Instead, she knocked the door again, then pushed it open and walked straight in.


    It was a bland-faced young lady. "Uncle Liang, Chief Wu sent someone here. He wants you to go to his place."


    Liang Dashu didn''t move his eyes away from the data, but still replied, "Chief is back? He wants to see me, so he must be feeling unwell. Alright, I get it. Go prepare my medicine cabinet. I just need a few more minutes here."


    The woman expressionlessly nodded, then turned and left.


    ¡­


    In Wu Yuecheng''s small building, Xiao Yunlong touched the little one''s forehead. The girl looked tired, but she surprisingly didn''t faint.


    Xiao Yunlong touched the girl''s forehead, then touched his own. After that, he said to Wu Chengyue with doubt, "Has Ling Ling''s fever stopped? She didn''t turn hotter. Her body temperature is about the same as three minutes ago."


    Wu Chengyue was looking at a clinical thermometer. With concern, he said, "Em, fifty-eight degrees earlier, fifty-seven point eight now. I think her fever was brought down by a little bit."


    Even though the fever had been brought down slightly, the number was still scary.


    "What? Fifty-eight degrees!" Xiao Yunlong popped his eyes in shock. He hurriedly turned to Wu Yueling and asked her, "Ling Ling, do you still know your Godfather? Blink if you do, will you?"


    However, Ling Ling only looked at him confusedly without making any response.


    Wu Chengyue put down the thermometer and walked over, sitting on the bedside. Then, he bent over to say to Ling Ling, "Ling Ling, can you see Daddy?"


    Ling Ling slowly moved her eyes from Xiao Yunlong''s face to Wu Chengyue''s. A trace of confusion flashed across her eyes, but she still nodded slightly.


    "Do you have any strength? Are you feeling uncomfortable?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Ling Ling shook her head toward him, then kept shaking her head. Her movement range was small, which made her look very weak.


    "Her mind is still clear, but I guess she''s feeling weak," said Wu Chengyue to Xiao Yunlong.


    "We''ve been back for about an hour. Now, her body temperature isn''t going higher or lower. However, she didn''t fall into a coma. Is this good or bad? Her body temperature is way too high¡­It''s so dangerous for her!"


    "I''ve wiped her body with alcohol a few times," said Wu Chengyue, "I don''t think her body temperature is going anywhere higher now. Let''s wait for Doctor Liang to give her a check-up."


    "Doctor Liang has read a lot of books, and he''s focusing on the virus research now. I wonder if he knows how to help Ling Ling," said Xiao Yunlong.


    "I don''t know. I hope he can figure something out," Wu Chengyue had hope in his eyes.

 315 You Play Firs

    Chen Yuting soon fixed the hole that Piao Gecang had created, after which, his skin quickly became like the surface of stones in the darkness. Meanwhile, more stone walls rose from the ground to block the other exit of the tunnel.


    The black snakes that were released by one of Piao Gecang''s men were instantly trapped around Chen Yuting.


    Chen Yuting was a level-six powerful being, so Piao Gecang couldn''t do any harm to him within a short while. To protect the others, Chen Yuting was fighting alone. But, Piao Gecang guessed that he would sneak underground and leave before long as well.


    Anyway, Piao Gecang didn''t seem to care about that either. He abruptly raised a hand to take back his fire and said, "Chen Yuting, you might be able to run this time, but I''m telling you¡­ you will come back to me. By then, you''ll need to break your arm off yourself and send it to me."


    Having finished talking, he turned around and waved at his people. After that, they left the alley together.


    Seeing the confident look on Piao Gecang''s face, Lin Qiao, who was standing on the wall, felt that there must be something else that he didn''t mention, or he wouldn''t have said that.


    She then glanced at where Chen Yuting was, and saw the earth walls around him slowly sink, exposing a statue-like man. She gave a closer look at the statue''s face and found that it was none other than Chen Yuting himself.


    Soon, Chen Yutings stone-like skin turned back to normal. Afterward, the earth not far away suddenly split up, and the vice-captain and three members of the Feng Ting Squad rose from the underground.


    The vice-captain was the only clear-minded one while the others were all lying on the ground in a coma.


    "Captain, they''re poisoned by the fire!" The vice-captain said to Chen Yuting anxiously. The latter immediately ran to his people, and he and the vice-captain helped the three up from the ground.


    "We''ll get them to the hospital first," he said.


    Lin Qiao glanced at them and thought for a moment, then turned and left.


    ¡­


    Half an hour later, Piao Gecang and his people arrived at a place in Region F which was similar to a refugee zone. The houses in this area were all old and shabby, one or two-story. Even the doors and windows were broken. Many windows were sealed with planks or battens, to prevent the wind from blowing into the houses.


    This whole area was very old and crude.


    Many people lived here. Most of them were wearing ragged or dirty clothes, looking unkempt and sallow.


    They were all commoners without powers.


    From the outside, one could see that many houses didn''t have any furniture pieces in them. Only one or two beds were seen, as many people slept on the floor.


    When Piao Gecang and his people passed through this area, the people who sat by the doors or leaned against the walls saw that they were all wearing clean clothes, armed with guns or rifles. So, these people all quieted down as they silently watched them pass by with their heads held high.


    The residents in this area could tell that this group of people was from the base center or the middle-class area. They understood that they shouldn''t mess with these people, because once they did, they would die without even knowing how. And after they died, no one would come to investigate their death.


    After about twenty minutes of walking, Piao Gecang and his people stopped before a small, two-story building.


    They walked into the building and went upstairs. The stairs were dark and dirty; garbage, stones, and sands piled up on both sides of the stairs, only leaving the narrow middle part clean. And that part was clean only because people had been walking through it.


    In the corridor on the second floor, they saw three men standing by the door of a room. Seeing Piao Gecang and his people, the three men immediately greeted him with politeness.


    "Deputy Chief!"


    Piao Gecang took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and pulled out one while walking to the door of that room. As he stopped before the door and put the cigarette between his lips, someone beside him quickly lighted the cigarette up for him with a lighter.


    He took one inhalation, then let out the smoke and asked, "Have you brought her?"


    The three people who guarded by the door immediately wore a fawning smile while replying, "Yes! We were going to get her in Chen Yuting''s home, but it would be a little difficult. But later on, this woman came out herself. I think she was heading to the market. So, we captured her on her way there. We knocked out her two bodyguards and threw them in somewhere quiet."


    Piao Gecang nodded and said, "Alright, open the door. You haven''t touched her yet, have you?"


    The three men by the door hurriedly shook their heads and waved their hands while saying, "No, no! Deputy Chief, you''ve said that you want to play first. How dare we touch her without your permission? That woman really has great body shape!"


    While speaking and opening the door, these three men all showed a greedy look in their eyes.


    Piao Gecang laughed and responded, "Great! Don''t worry, you''ll get to play with her when I''m done! But by then, you should all be careful. Don''t kill her so soon. This woman can keep you company for a long time."


    Watching him walk into the room, the others all looked excited. Once in, Piao Gecang closed the door.


    He had kidnapped someone important for Chen Yuting. Judging by the conversation between him and Chen Yuting, he was going to use this person to hurt Chen Yuting.


    Lu Ting was probably one of his women, and her life shouldn''t mean a lot to him.


    The room was dark; it was a single room, without even a toilet. There was just one window, and that too was sealed.


    The room was empty, with just one bed. On the bed was an old and scruffy blanket, and a woman sitting in a corner, with her limbs tied up and mouth taped.


    As the door was opened and a strange man walked in, the woman looked at that man with fear, and couldn''t help but move backward.


    "Hm¡­ Hm! Whoo¡­" She quickly shook her head, her eyes showing nothing but fear and panic.


    She had heard what those men said outside the door, and knew what this man was going to do to her.


    Piao Gecang stood by the door. While smoking, he observed the woman on the bed under the light which came in through the cracks of the window.


    This woman wasn''t pretty. Her face wasn''t delicate enough, but were well-featured. However, her legs which had curled before her chest were long.


    Piao Gecang held the cigarette between his lips, then walked to the bedside.


    "Whoo¡­" The woman flinched and drew backward out of fear, even wanting to hide into the wall behind her. But soon, the man bent over and grabbed her feet, then violently pulled her toward him.


    "Whoo¡­" The woman was so frightened by the hands which had clasped her ankles, but her screams were sealed in her mouth.


    "Ah, you do have slim ankles. You say, If I squeeze then really hard, will they break?" Piao Gecang said with curiosity after pulling her out.


    "Hmm¡­ Hm¡­" The woman struggled as hard as she could. She tried to pull her feet out of Piao Gecang''s hands, but her strength was nothing in Piao Gecang''s eyes.


    He grabbed the woman''s ankle with one hand and took the cigarette out of his mouth with the other. Then, he suddenly pulled her under his crotch and bent over to let out a cloud of smoke toward her face which was filled with fear and despair.

 263 Semi-coma

    Before long, the gatekeeper informed Wu Chengyue that Doctor Liang had arrived. Wu Chengyue hurriedly walked out of the bedroom and saw two people walking into the gate while carrying a medicine cabinet.


    "Doctor Liang!" Wu Chengyue went downstairs while greeting the other.


    "Chief, does anyone need treatment?" Liang Dashu now seemed to be tidier than he was in his lab. However, his randomly tied hair and beard still made him look messy, even though he was wearing a clean white coat.


    "Doctor Liang, Miss. Moli, please come to Ling Ling''s bedroom," Wu Chengyue looked at them and said.


    "What happened to the little princess?" Hearing that, Doctor Liang and Moli, his assistant, both looked at Wu Chengyue with surprise.


    "Ling Ling¡­Her power is awakening¡­" Wu Chengyue responded with a sullen look.


    "What! Let me see her!" The doctor and his assistant were both shocked when they heard Wu Chengyue''s words, and Liang Dashu quickly ran upstairs.


    In the bedroom, he first checked Ling Ling''s body temperature, her pupils, and tongue. After that, he gently put a hand on her forehead.


    Normally, when there were strangers, Ling Ling would have hidden herself away since long ago, not to mention letting any stranger touch her. But today, she only confusedly looked at the people in the room. Her eyes lingered longer on Wu Chengyue than on the others, but she made no response to Liang Dashu''s moves.


    Liang Dashu was surprised by how hot Ling Ling''s forehead was. He didn''t take his hand away, but kept pressing it against the little girl''s forehead. Then, a strange wave of energy was released from his palm, slowly flowing into her head.


    The other three quietly stood aside as they stared at the doctor.


    After fifteen minutes, Liang Dashu''s expression turned gloomier and gloomier. Seeing the look in his face, the others all understood what happened.


    Wu Chengyue''s legs were softened. He made a step backward, then turned, slowly to walk to the couch and sit down. He supported his dropped head with one hand without letting the others see his face.


    He didn''t know why Ling Ling experienced all these awful things in these two months.


    First, she was kidnapped and hidden out of the base by Lu Tianyu, and he made a great effort to finally find her. Days ago, she was taken away by a zombie queen and was nearby eaten. And now, she was back unharmed, but her power suddenly started awakening.


    If she were an adult, Wu Chengyue wouldn''t be so worried about her when she triggered her superpower. However, she was only a five-year-old child.


    Ten more minutes later, Liang Dashu reluctantly took his hand away from Ling Ling, then shook his head toward Ciao Yunlong and Moli with a serious look.


    "I can''t help her. My power won''t do anything to the energy inside her body," said Liang Dashu upsettingly. "But, it''s weird that she''s still awake," he looked at Wu Chengyue and continued, "Her body temperature is very high. Normally, she should have fallen into a coma long ago. Why is she still awake? Well, not exactly awake¡­I think she''s in a semi-coma." While speaking, he bent over and lowered his head to carefully observe Ling Ling''s eyes.


    Wu Chengyue immediately raised his head. Looking at the doctor with bloodshot eyes, he asked, "Doctor Liang¡­what do you mean?"


    Liang Dashu straightened his body and crossed his arms before his chest. He thought for a moment, then said, "I feel that the awakening of Ling Ling''s power has been paused by something. It''s like someone pressed the pause button for her. The energy inside her body is temporarily trapped by something, so it can''t go back or erupt. Simply speaking, the awakening of her power is forcibly suspended!"


    Hearing his words, the other three widened their eyes with disbelief.


    "Doctor Liang, is that real!" asked Wu Chengyue.


    Liang Dashu nodded and said, "Yes. I''m not sure how long this suspension will last, but it''s happening now. Normally, this won''t happen¡­Has anything strange about the kid happened? Or, did Ling Ling experience something not quite normal?"


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong glanced at each other. "Ling Ling has had some water," said Wu Chengyue.


    Once he said that, Ling Dashu immediately turned to him and asked, "What water? Where did she have it? Where is the water from? How could you make her drink unsafe water? What if it delivered the opposite effects?"


    "Who gave us the water said that it''s good for the kid," said Wu Chengyue, "He has no reason to hurt Ling Ling. Besides, I took a sip myself first. I gave it to Ling Ling because I felt nothing wrong after drinking it."


    Xiao Yunlong abruptly raised a hand and said, "Wait a minute, is Ling Ling''s current situation good or bad? Doctor Liang, I don''t quite understand what you said. She''s not in danger right now, is she?"


    "Didn''t I say that the awakening of her power has been suspended for some unknown reason? She''s safe for now, but I don''t know how long this situation can last. She hasn''t passed the crisis, so we should keep her under observation. Do you understand now?" Said the doctor.


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and responded, "I see. So, Yuan Tianxing''s water worked? If we find him and get Ling Ling more of that water, will her situation turn better?" While speaking, he turned and walked outside. "I''m going to find them now.".


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him, but didn''t stop him, only turning to look at Ling Ling. If this were really because of Yuan Tianxing''s water, Wu Chengyue would have no choice but to keep asking him for help.


    "Wait, I''m going with you!" Liang Dashu abruptly said out loud, then immediately followed Xiao Yunlong out.


    The expressionless Moli stayed in the room as she looked at Wu Chengyue and then at Ling Ling. She walked to the bed and bent over to touch Ling Ling''s forehead, then slightly frowned.


    "Her body temperature is so high, yet she''s only in a semi-coma. How amazing!"


    Wu Yueling''s clothes had been taken off by her father, because her body temperature was too high. At the moment, she was only covered in a sheet, with her hands and feet exposed in the air.


    Moli pressed her hand on Ling Ling''s forehead for a few seconds, then took her hand away.


    "Ling Ling''s mental state is stable, and no unusual change has happened. So, for now, she won''t suffer any mental breakdown. So amazing! What''s that water?"


    While speaking, she looked at Wu Chengyue. Her face still wore no expression, but her eyes showed some curiosity.


    Wu Chengyue stood up and walked to the bedside. While gently stroking Ling Ling''s long hair, he shook his head and said, "I don''t know! I just gave it to Ling Ling and hoped that it''d help."

 316 Please Let Me Go

    Piao Gecang pulled the woman over and breathed out the smoke upon her face. After that, he threw away the cigarette butt and reached his hand to grasp the woman''s collar before ripping it.


    "Em¡­ Hmm¡­"


    The woman tried her best to struggle. She kicked her legs, which were tied together, like a fish, trying to free herself from that man''s control.


    However, Piao Gecang just grasped her clothes and pulled them violently. Soon, her clothes were all torn into pieces. The man really enjoyed the feeling of tearing the woman''s clothes.


    "Hmm¡­" The despairing woman had her face covered in tears while muffled screams escaped her taped mouth.


    Piao Gecang heavily grabbed her snow-white breasts. The soft and elastic feeling came from his palm, which was so great that it made him excited.


    "Hmmm¡­"


    Piao Gecang had one hand next to the woman''s neck to support his own body. Seeing the look on her face, he suddenly raised the hand beside the woman''s neck and tore off the tape from her mouth.


    "Ah! No! No, no, please, please let me go¡­ No¡­" The woman burst in cries and screams once the tape on her mouth was taken off. While screeching, she struggled as hard as possible to try and get away from this man.


    Piao Gecang laughed dirtily and said to her, "Scream, just scream! I love raping women the most. Only the women who fight back can bring me pleasure! Hah¡­"


    While speaking, he lied heavily upon the woman.


    "No¡­ Stop! Stop! Help! Help! Someone help me! No¡­"


    At that moment, Piao Gecang lowered his head and impatiently blocked the woman''s mouth with his lips, which had a strong, unpleasant smell of cigarette. Meanwhile, both his hands were busy.


    "No¡­ No¡­" The woman felt a disgusting stink flowing into her mouth, following which, a slippery tongue broke into her mouth through her teeth.


    At that moment, the few men outside had pressed their ears against the door to hear the sounds in the room, all looking exciting.


    "Wow, it is intense! That woman''s screams sound great!"


    "Listen, her voice is muffled. I bet Deputy Chief couldn''t help but kiss her."


    No one noticed the rape which was happening in the room and those people who were eavesdropping outside the door. Even if some people passed by this building and heard the woman''s cries, they wouldn''t get involved in this. Instead, they would pretend to hear nothing and keep walking.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao went to Lin Feng''s accommodation but didn''t take the stairs up. Instead, she climbed up the wall to get in through the window; she did that because the door was guarded!


    After locating Lin Feng''s window, she quickly climbed up there, then quietly got in through the window. Mrs. Lin and the others were all in the living room, sitting on couches and talking.


    "Will Lin Feng have a meal in Chief Wu'' place before coming back? It has been nearly half an hour," said Cheng Wangxue. She was sitting on a couch, with Lin Xiaolu on her knees.


    Mrs. Lin was leaning against the back of the couch with her arms crossed before her chest. She shook her head and responded, "I think he will. Chief Wu invited Lin Feng at this time, so I guess he must have prepared the meal. I think they''ll talk while eating."


    Lin Wenwen brushed her long hair while saying, "About what? Miss. Lu?"


    Mrs. Lin nodded and said, "I guess so¡­ or what else can they be talking about? Besides, Chief Wu hasn''t found his daughter yet. Does he have the mood to talk about anything else?"


    The others nodded in agreement.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao walked to an empty chair and sat down, also nodding. She was still invisible, so of course no one was able to see her.


    At that point, Lin Wenwen checked her watch and said, "I think it''s time for us to go to the Mission Hall and see if anyone came to apply for the job today." While speaking, she stood up.


    Once she moved, Lin Hao and Long Qingying followed her, all three of them walking toward the door.


    Mrs. Lin, Cheng Wangxue, Lu Junjie, Xing Le and Wei Jingchen, who were also arranged to stay in this flat, came out as well.


    Lin Qiao quickly stood up and followed them. Once she came out, she saw that Lin Wenwen had gone to knock on the door across the hallway.


    "It''s time to go to the Mission Hall."


    Soon, someone opened the door, then Du Yuanxing and Li Zheng walked out.


    "We were expecting you," said Du Yuanxing.


    Lin Wenwen turned and walked away without even glancing at the soldiers who were guarding by the door. While walking, she said, "Let''s go. I want to go to the market this afternoon, to see if there''s anything we can trade."


    Lin Hao looked at her with confusion and asked, "Again? You went there yesterday and the day before that. We''ve pretty much done all the trades that we should have done, haven''t we?"


    The market was a place where people could trade for food or other things they needed with their own valuable belongings. Most people went there to trade for food. Of course, one could trade things with zombie nuclei in that place.


    Some people would set up stalls in the market.


    These days, Lin Wenwen had dragged Long Qingying to the market three times. So, Lin Hao thought that she had gotten all she needed.


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes and said, "What do you know? It''s like digging for treasures. Maybe I missed something before."


    Usually, men wouldn''t understand women'' desire for shopping. So obviously, Lin Hao and the other men on the scene all looked at her confusedly.


    The group of people then went downstairs. The soldiers guarded by the door didn''t try to stop them, but two of them followed them down.


    Not long after they left the neighborhood, Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were sent back by Xiao Yunlong. When leaving, he brought all the soldiers with him.


    When Lin Wenwen and the others arrived at the Mission Hall, a few people were expecting them in their spot.


    There was a large LED screen in the hall, showing all the available tasks. Many people also had set up stands in the open space nearby and hung up signs to release tasks or hire people.


    Lin Wenwen and the others walked to their stand and saw a few plainly dressed men standing there stiffly. As they arrived, those people all nervously looked at them, pushing each other. None of them dared to walk up and ask a question.


    "Hi, are you here to apply for a job? What skills and requirements do you have?" Lin Wenwen smilingly stepped forward and asked. At that point, the man at the front was pushed out by his friends. He turned to glance back at the others in a flurry. As all his friends nodded at him, he turned around to look at Lin Wenwen.


    "We want to know if¡­ if commoners can apply for the job or not," the man stuttered.


    Lin Wenwen and the others knew that these people were commoners as soon as they arrived. If these men had superpowers, they wouldn''t be so shy, and wouldn''t wear these old dirty clothes while standing here with an unpleasant smell.


    Around them, the people with powers had all stepped away, intentionally or not.

 264 This One Is A Little Silly

    Moli looked at him and said, "Chief, you''re so careless that you even made the kid drink an unidentified liquid given by some other people. Have you thought about the consequences?"


    Wu Chengyue sighed and responded, "What else could I do? The awakening of a superpower is life-threatening for anyone. To save Ling Ling, I have to think of it as a cure, even if it might be a poison. What if it''s really helpful? You see, hasn''t a good result shown up?"


    Moli nodded, "You''re right! Having hope is better than being hopeless and unable to do anything."


    Yuan Tianxing and Du Yuanxing were in their room, reading the files of the applicants. Many people were attracted by the good deal of food that Yuan Tianxing offered, but most of them gave up on hearing that they would be heading to a zombie city.


    After all, zombie cities were all forbidden areas. Ordinary people who managed to go to a zombie city and come back alive would be considered really lucky. Even for level three and four superpowered human beings, the chance of survival in a zombie city would be very small.


    Therefore, ninety-nine percent of applicants gave up, and the rest were either starving, or had no other choice.


    Yuan Tianxing repeatedly emphasized that he and his people would guarantee that no zombie attack would happen. However, they didn''t ensure the applicants'' life safety.


    Since their mission was published, only three people decided to work for them.


    "Boss, this one is a level-four with earth power, same as you. I think he''s good."


    "Ah, him¡­I''ve sent someone to check his background. He has a level-four superpower indeed, but he''s a little silly. Every time he went out for a mission with the others, he came back covered in wounds. However, the food he earned is always the least among all. And, he eats like a horse. The food he earned can never last more than three days. The food that can last anyone else for a week, he''ll finish within two days."


    "No way! That''s¡­The others are all trying to save as much as they can, so why does he eat so much?"


    "That''s why I said he''s a little silly. He just doesn''t know that he should save food. He''s quite famous now. Because he isn''t smart enough, people think that he might become a burden during a mission, so many teams refused him."


    "That can be possible though. After all, there''re too many dangers outside. Should we accept him? He won''t cause us any trouble, will he?"


    Yuan Tianxing sighed and responded, "For now, we have too few people that can lead the charge, so we have to accept him. He might be a little dim-witted, but I think he''ll be fine as long as we pay more attention to him."


    Du Yuanxing nodded. They were too short-handed at the moment, so they couldn''t be picky.


    At that moment, Lu Junjie, who guarded by the door, abruptly knocked on the door and reported, "Boss, Deputy Chief Xiao is here."


    Yuan Tianxing paused for a second, then turned to look at the door while saying, "Chief Xiao? Ah, let him in."


    Lu Junjie immediately opened the door, then stepped aside and made a sweeping motion toward the people outside. Please come in," he said.


    Xiao Yunlong walked in, and a bearded man followed behind him.


    Yuan Tianxing pointed at the couch and said politely, "Please take a seat. Is this about Ling Ling? What happened?"


    Xiao Yunlong pointed at Liang Dashu who was behind him while saying, "This is Doctor Liang from our base. We''re here for that water of yours." After saying that, he sat on the couch.


    Lu Junjie closed the door after they walked in.


    Hearing Xiao Yunlong''s words, Yuan Tianxing nodded at Doctor Liang and greeted him, "Good to see you, Doctor Liang!"


    "Good to see you too," Liang Dashu nodded at him as well. Then, Xiao Yunlong pointed at Yuan Tainxing and said to Liang Dashu, "This is Deputy Yuan from Hades Base."


    "Mr. Yuan," said Liang Dashu, "Can you please show us the water that you brought?"


    Hearing Liang Dashu''s question, Yuan Tianxing''s face darkened slightly. Then, he turned to Xiao Yunlong.


    Earlier, he had mentioned that he didn''t want anyone else to know about the water. But now, this Doctor Liang showed up.


    Seeing the look on his face, Xiao Yunlong understood his meaning. So, he hurriedly explained, "Ah, please don''t worry. Doctor Liang is different from the other doctors. He won''t tell the others about this. And, he''s a solitary person. He rarely contacts with the others, so you really don''t need to worry."


    Liang Dashu knew what they both meant. So, he nodded at Yuan Tianxing and said, "I promise, except for my assistant and me, no one will know about this."


    "Ling Ling''s current situation is a little special," said Xiao Yunlong, "Doctor Liang and we all think that it might be caused by the water you gave us. So, we came here to talk to you."


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at Liang Dashu with a serious look, then said to Xiao Yunlong, "How''s Ling Ling now?"


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Liang Dashu.


    "Her situation is quite special," said Liang Dashu, "The awakening of her power seems to be suspended by something. It has paused now. She''s still having a high fever, but she hasn''t fallen in a coma yet. I''m not sure if this is temporary, or if she''ll keep being like this. And we don''t know if her power will continue to awaken or stop."


    Yuan Tianxing widened his eyes with surprise, then glanced at Du Yuanxing, who was behind him. After that, he turned back and said to Xiao Yunlong and Liang Dashu, "Suspended? Really?"


    The two nodded. "It''s the first time for such kind of situation to happen, so we don''t know what''ll happen next," said Liang Dashu, "So, we want to know if some kind of special elements exist in that water, or some other thing that suspended the awakening of Ling Ling''s power."


    Yuan Tianxing gave Du Yuanxing a hand sign, then asked, "How long has Ling Ling''s situation lasted? When did it start to change?"


    Du Yuanxing poured a cup of the water from Lin Qiao''s space, then put it on the tea table before Liang Dashu and Yuan Tianxing.


    Liang Dashu impatiently took the water over and put it near his eyes as he looked at it carefully. At the same time, he answered Yuan Tianxing''s questions, "She was like that when I arrived. She has her eyes opened now, but her mind isn''t clear."


    Xiao Yunlong had also been curiously looking at the cup of water in Liang Dashu''s hands. It was transparent water that looked nothing special. "About half an hour ago," he said, "Her body temperature stopped rising at fifty-eight degrees. Before Doctor Liang arrived, her body temperature dropped a little bit."


    Yuan Tianxing crossed his arms before his chest and said while thinking, "Fifty-eight degrees, that''s a normal body temperature during the awakening of superpowers. Sometimes, it''ll even reach seventy degrees. Normally, people would lapse into unconsciousness with such a high fever, but Ling Ling is still awake. It''s really a miracle!"


    "Yeah," said Xiao Yunlong, "So we came to you. We want to give Ling Ling more of this water, to see if we can stop the awakening of her power for good."


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "That won''t happen. Its effects are limited. Drinking more of it won''t heighten its effects."

 317 Only Deceiving Honest People

    Lin Wenwen didn''t show dislike toward these people, but smiled at them and asked, "Do you have the strength? Can you carry bricks?"


    Hearing her questions, the few men quickly nodded.


    Lin Wenwen gave a grin and responded, "As long as you have the strength, superpowers aren''t necessary. However, there''s one thing¡­ you''ll get this job only if you have the courage to come with us. Don''t worry, we won''t try to harm you at least."


    Hearing her words, the few men hesitated for a while, then said, "May I ask, do you provide food? We''re not demanding much. We''ll work for you only if you give us one full meal per day!"


    They had been starved for days, with nothing to eat. They were working on a farm in Special Region C, but half a month ago, they were replaced. Someone pulled the strings to take their jobs, and they became jobless.


    They were ordinary people, without any superpowers; they weren''t fighters, as they had no knowledge of martial arts. No zombie hunting squad would recruit commoners like them, so even if they risked to go out of the base, they would probably be bitten to death by zombies very soon.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at the others.


    Then, Du Yuanxing said, "Ah, that''s for sure! If you have the guts to come with us, you won''t only get one meal per day. You''ll be provided with three meals a day¡­ And if you do your jobs well, we''ll also give you some rice or flour."


    The few men slightly widened their eyes as they looked at Du Yuanxing with disbelief, then at Lin Wenwen. "Re-really?" they asked, "Can we really get rice and flour?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "That is true. But, we can''t tell you where the working place will be yet. You''ll find out when we get there. Now, I''m asking you if you''re brave enough to come with us?"


    Those men looked at each other, hesitating.


    At that point, one of those people who had been watching them since long ago chipped in, "You wouldn''t even tell them about the location. Three meals a day? Rice and Flour? Are you sure what you said is real? You don''t believe it yourself, do you?"


    "Haha, yeah! I''ve been paying attention to this mission for long. Your offer seems to be tempting, but do you really have rice and flour for the people who''ll come with you? You said that you need people to carry bricks, but you wouldn''t tell which kind of bricks, and where. You''re just deceiving those honest people who have nothing to eat, right?"


    "He''s right! You said that you have rice and flour. Aren''t you going to show us what you have? Only that way people can believe what you have said."


    "I just want to know who are you people, and why do you have those expensive foods. Where did you get those foods? Except for those high-positioned people in the base center, who else can have so much rice to share with the others?"


    "I think carrying bricks might be real, but as for if there''ll really be food or not, and if they''ll really pay with rice¡­ that needs to be proved."


    The voices of doubt could be heard from all directions. Most of those people were just trying to stir up trouble, so they talked extra loudly.


    Hearing their words, some other people around turned their eyes to this area, expecting to watch a show.


    Lin Wenwen and her friends only gave those people a bland glance.


    Du Yuanxing was relatively hot-tempered. He couldn''t help but angrily yell at those people who were making sarcastic comments, "What are you talking about? You can believe it or not, but you shouldn''t make it sound like we''re all liars, okay?"


    Lin Hao said coldly, "As for people like you, we won''t hire them even they want to come."


    Those people laughed scornfully. "Ahya, like it''s real! Come on people, look! They don''t want to hire us. How ridiculous! Like we want to work for them!" One of them laughed.


    "Haha¡­ You''re right!"


    "Hehe¡­"


    "Hah¡­"


    The laughter came from every direction. Some of the few men who came to talk to Lin Wenwen at first now hesitated as well.


    "Um, we should¡­ look for other opportunities¡­"


    "Ugh, I¡­ I''ll listen to you."


    Only the man who was pushed out to talk to Lin Wenwen wasn''t affected by the others.


    He shook his head and said, "No, I believe what they said is true."


    "Oi, don''t be silly¡­ What if¡­" Seeing that he still wanted the job, a man behind him anxiously held his arm. He tried to say something, but paused after glancing at Lin Wenwen.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen shook her head with a faint smile, then said, "Are you idiots? Or, are you really stupid? What place do you think this is? Is this an underground market? Isn''t the reward content of every mission verified? Or, did the system of this place and the people who''re in charge here allow us in here knowing that we''re cheaters? Do you think that the people who''re working here are all useless ones who know nothing?"


    Her words successfully shut those troublemakers up and froze their proud smiles.


    She was right. This place was an important part of the base, meaning that the people who worked in this place were all subordinates of the three base leaders. Therefore, doubting the people who worked in this place equaled doubting the leaders'' subordinates, which could also equal to questioning the leaders themselves.


    That was a serious accusation!


    Just now, those people made irresponsible speeches only to feel good. They didn''t expect this pretty young woman to be such a fierce talker.


    "That¡­ We didn''t say that! You said that!" Those perky people immediately drew back.


    Some people who had been silently watching whispered ''idiots''. Of course, they referred to the few people who had tried to kick up a fuss.


    "Get out!" Lin Hao coldly stared at them and said, "I''ll remember you¡­ We won''t hire you."


    After that, Lin Wenwen said to the few commoners who intended to take the job, "You''re free to make your own decisions. We won''t force you. If you''re willing to take the job, please fill this form."


    While speaking, she pointed at the stack of files on the stand.


    The few men glanced at each other again. Then, the man who firmly believed Lin Wenwen said, "I''ll do it." While speaking, he walked to the stand, picked up the pen on it, and started writing.


    Seeing that he didn''t hesitate at all, the others all paused slightly. After that, they slowly followed him, waiting for him to finish the form.


    "Ugh, may I ask¡­ when do we leave?" After filling the form, the man stepped aside to let the others do the forms. Meanwhile, he couldn''t help but asked Lin Wenwen.


    "That depends," said Lin Wenwen, "We need to recruit enough people before starting."


    "Eh¡­ When will it be? Are you going to hire many people?"


    Lin Wenwen gave him a faint smile and responded, "We''re going to hire a hundred people. Judging by the current situation, we don''t know how long it''ll take for us to recruit a hundred people. By now, we have about fifty people, including you guys. We''ll leave the space when we have hired a hundred. After sending the first batch of people over there, we''ll come back to continue hiring."

 318 Three-hundred People

    At that point, a man standing behind this man asked, "Can we come back whenever we want?"


    Lin Wenwen smiled faintly, then nodded and replied, "Yes, but you need to ask for leave."


    The man looked at Lin Wenwen with hesitation, seemingly wanting to say something, but stopped on second thought.


    "What other question do you have?" Lin Wenwen asked him.


    Hearing that, the man responded with an embarrassed look, "Ugh¡­ Can we leave early? Because we¡­ we need food."


    Lin Wenwen paused slightly, then turned back to glance at the others.


    Du Yuanxing said, "But we only have fifty people now. There''re not enough workers yet. Besides, the trip won''t be easy. It''ll take at least five hours to make a round trip. It''ll consume a large amount of gas to make this trip."


    Lin Hao and Lin Wenwen both nodded. They couldn''t possibly give these people food before the work started, so they would have to wait.


    "How'' bout this?" said Lin Wenwen, "You can go back and ask other people if they want to join us. For every person you recruit, you''ll be paid with half a pound of flour¡­ white flour. What do you say?"


    Hearing her words, the five men had their eyes glowed brightly.


    "Re-really?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded, still carrying that faint smile.


    Most of the superpowered people in the hall were standing aside and watching them dubiously.


    After hearing Lin Wenwen''s positive answer, the few men who had filled the form left excitedly. Apparently, they had gone to find the other job-seekers.


    Lin Wenwen and the others stayed in the Mission Hall for two hours. Except for the group of commoners, no one else came to them to apply for a job. Some people read the information on their signboard when passing by, then left with doubts.


    On the other side, not long after Xiao Yunlong had sent Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing away, another visitor came to Wu Chengyue''s place.


    "Chief, Chen Yuting is here to see you," Xiao Licheng came in and reported.


    Wu Chengyue was sitting on the couch, reading some files. Meng Yue was sitting on another couch, brushing Wu Yueling''s hair. The little girl was sitting on Meng Yue''s knees, with the gray rabbit in her arms. At that moment, she was feeding the rabbit a vegetable leaf.


    However, the gray ball of fur refused to eat the leaf.


    "Let him in."


    Within the recent three days, Wu Chengyue was actually pretty sure that Wu Yueling wasn''t taken away by bad people, because he had found Chen Yuting and learned about Lin Feng and his people, including that lady with sunglasses, who had disappeared after entering the base.


    Soon, Chen Yuting walked in alone.


    Wu Chengyue raised his head to look at him, then asked with surprise, "Why are you alone?" While speaking, he pointed at the armchair beside him.


    Chen Yuting walked to the armchair, then sat down while replying, "Ran into Piao Gecang on my way here. We had a fight. My squad members are poisoned by his fire, so I dropped them in the hospital."


    Wu Chengyue was picking up an empty glass on the table to get Chen Yuting some water. Hearing the latter''s words, he frowned, then turned to look at him and asked, "Piao Gecang? Why did you and him become enemies?"


    Chen Yuting thought for a moment, then said, "I guess he has found out about our relationship long ago. So, he has been bothering us with some small things."


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then handed him the glass of water and said, "Em, I remember he''s close with a woman in your squad. This time, you let her die outside. He can use that as an excuse indeed."


    Chen Yuting nodded knowingly and replied, "I''ve seen this coming. That woman could have come back safely, but she got herself killed. There''s no one else to blame for that."


    While speaking, he glanced at Wu Yueling and asked, "Did the lady with sunglasses send Ling Ling back?"


    Wu Chengyue turned to look at Ling Ling while responded smilingly, "She showed up in my home when we were having lunch, and gave Ling Ling back to me."


    "That day, we didn''t see her while entering the base, so I thought she didn''t come in," said Chen Yuting, "But to my surprise, she avoided all the detectors in the entrance and sneaked in. Why didn''t she just walk straight in with Lin Feng and the others?"


    He didn''t know that Ling Qiao took Wu Yueling away because the little girl''s power was waking up, but he understood that she wouldn''t have taken Wu Yueling away for no reason.


    Two days ago, Wu Chengyue suddenly found him and asked if he came back to the base with a short-haired, large-breasted lady who was wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses.


    He did come back with a lady like that, but didn''t enter the base with her.


    After learning that Chen Yuting and his squad was going to work for that lady, Wu Chengyue asked him to tell whatever he knew about her. After that, Chen Yuting was told that his Chief''s little princess was kidnapped again. But this time, the one who took her away didn''t seem to want to harm her.


    Chen Yuting knew that because Wu Chengyue seemed to worry less after hearing his description of that lady.


    Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue both glanced at Chen Yuting with curiosity. "Eh? So, that woman in your squad must have done something that she shouldn''t be doing, right?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Chen Yuting nodded and replied, "The armed vehicle that we drove back to the base was lent to us by that lady with sunglasses. On our way back, Lu Ting got greedy. She asked one of our squad members who has spirit power to put us asleep, then tried to steal that vehicle. As a result, Miss. Lu killed her and her brother, Lu Changfeng."


    Wu Chengyue responded knowingly, "That Miss. Lu you''re talking about, she''s a tough one. You better not to offend her, or don''t blame me for being unable to help you."


    Chen Yuting quickly nodded. He had only spent one day or two with Miss. Lu, but already learned about her strong vibe, and how decisive she was. She was truly a dangerous being, and he didn''t even know exactly how powerful she was.


    He asked Wu Chengyue curiously, "Chief, you seem to know Miss. Lu pretty well. How did you meet? Why did she take Ling Ling away without telling you?"


    Wu Chengyue recalled that when meeting the female zombie for the first time, he gave her a thunder strike without thinking and pissed her off. As a consequence, she took his daughter far away, and he spent a long time chasing her.


    Nothing bad happened when they saw each other the second time. She gave Ling Ling back to him unharmed, and taught him one thing¡ªnot all zombies in this world had lost their humanity and sanity.


    The last time they met, he didn''t recognize her, as she had changed too much. Without using his superpower, he actually lost the fight with her, and bit her on a pretty private area of her body¡­


    Thinking of that, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but cover his forehead with his hand, feeling both amused and annoyed.


    Then, he waved his hand and said to Chen Yuting, "Ah, no, she left a note to tell me, but I was too worried to think of it. Besides, I don''t know her well. I''ve only seen her a few times."


    Chen Yuting nodded, then said, "Ah, our squad is going to carry bricks for them this time. Chief, don''t you think that you should send more people to go with us? I''ve observed them, and I have found that they have plenty of food. They''ve been making great offers as well. I don''t know where they found all that food though."


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then picked up the two pages of the file he was reading earlier as he said, "You should know that they''re from the old Hades Base. The job they released in the Mission Hall is real. However, about the food you mentioned, Miss. Lu is in charge of that. She has plenty of ways to get great amounts of food. I plan to let her borrow these people from me. The winter is coming, so we should store as much food as possible. Otherwise, many more people in civilian areas will be starved to death, as they can''t get rich harvests out there during wintertime."


    Chen Yuting took over the pages from him, then glanced at him with surprise and said, "Where did she get so much food?"


    Wu Chengyue smiled and answered his question, "She is able to collect food in zombie cities. And, she has a space, doesn''t she? Even I don''t have the courage to go to the center of Hangzhou city, but she can go there with no problems at all. Apart from that, I think she used to be an elite special-forces soldier, which means she has rich military knowledge. So, she knows where the government used to store food back in the old world. This time, they came to our base because they want to hire people to build a new base for them. We don''t know the location of their new base yet, but I think it will be nearby."


    Chen Yuting was shocked. He widened his eyes and asked, "Base? They''re going to build a new base? There were just a few of them! No wonder she said that we''re going to be construction workers. I guess they need us to build the fence wall, right?"


    "That''s right," said Wu Chengyue, "We thought Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng are their leaders, but Miss. Lu seems to have a greater right of making decisions than them."


    Chen Yuting nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, and Miss. Lu is a strange person. She disappears all the time.


    Wu Chengyue pointed at the two pages in his hands and responded, "Good! If you''re going, you should take these people with you, and manage them."


    Chen Yuting read the list on the pages. The names, powers, levels, genders, and home addresses of the three-hundred people were all listed.


    Seeing that about thirty of those people had superpowers, Chen Yuting said with surprise, "Are you sending so many superpowered people? Aren''t you preparing to go out of the base again to collect supplies?"


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "I don''t need so many people. In fact, I''m doing this mostly because I want to lend them a hand. After all, Miss. Lu has indeed done me a great favor this time."


    While speaking, he turned and glanced at Ling Ling.


    Seeing his movement, Chen Yuting understood his meaning.


    "I''ll go tell them about it this afternoon," he said.


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then stood up and said, "Let''s go together. I need to go to the Administration Hall in Region D."


    Then, he walked to Wu Yueling, bent over, and scooped her up while saying, "Ling Ling, let''s go out and take a walk."


    Meng Yue held the gray rabbit which had hopped out of Wu Yueling''s arms.


    Wu Yueling put her arms around Wu Chengyue''s neck and simply glanced at him without making another response.


    After that, they walked out of the building together.

 265 Dragonfly Is Importan

    Liang Dashu spent a while staring at the water in the cup, then sniffed at it and took a sip. Then, he turned to say to Yuan Tianxing, "The water does contain a special type of energy. I feel that it shares the same origin as my power, and also has a healing effect. But, the energy contained in the water is not exactly the same as my power¡­There is more to it. Mr. Yuan is right. The effects of this power are limited."


    He sighed, then put the cup on the table.


    "In fact, it depends on how much energy the people who drank it can absorb. After reaching a saturation, human bodies won''t be able to absorb any more of the energy in this water, and the extra energy would be excreted, or simply fade away," he continued.


    Xiao Yunlong looked at him, slowly showed a look of disappointment.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "That''s right! But, the effects of the water have just started showing up. We need to wait and see. Can I go to Chief Wu''s place?"


    "Of course!" Xiao Yunlong immediately nodded.


    ¡­


    Wu Chengyue stayed at the bedside, looking at Ling Ling. Moli took out the clinical thermometer and checked the number on it, then said, "Her body temperature dropped again! It''s fifty-seven point one degrees now."


    Wu Chengyue touched Ling Ling''s forehead. Feeling her hot skin, he said, "But her mind isn''t clear."


    Moli still wore no expression as she responded, "Chief, her body temperature has dropped a little. As long as it doesn''t keep rising, Ling Ling''s condition might take a turn for the better. Even staying in a semi-coma is better than her power continuing to awaken. Cheer up, Doctor Liang may figure out a way to help Ling Ling."


    Wu Chengyue understood that she was trying to comfort him, and also knew that Ling Ling''s current situation was already not bad. It had been quite long since her power started to awaken. If this magical suspension didn''t happen, she would have fallen into unconsciousness long ago, and no one would know if she would ever wake up.


    Right now, Wu Chengyue was very scared. He was worried that Ling Ling''s situation might change again. If the energy inside her body continued erupting to trigger her power, she would have no chance of survival.


    Wu Chengyue sat on the chair beside the bed, holding Ling Ling''s little hand with one hand and brushing her bang with another.


    "Ling Ling, look at Daddy. Are you hungry? Would you like to eat anything?" He talked to Ling Ling and tried to wake her up with his voice.


    The little one glanced at him confusedly without nodding or shaking her head. Then, she turned her large eyes to the ceiling, and those eyes were unfocused.


    Wu Chengyue turned his head to see the grass dragonfly that she had put on the table. He paused for a second, then picked it up.


    "Ling Ling, look, the dragonfly you like. If you don''t get us, Daddy will hide it," he dangled the dragonfly before Ling Ling''s eyes, then made a joke.


    He didn''t expect Ling Ling to make any response, but to his surprise, the little girl moved her eyes to the grass dragonfly from the ceiling.


    Seeing that, Wu Chengyue gave a start at first, then looked at her with surprise while saying, "Ling Ling, do you recognize this?"


    Ling Ling gazed at the grass dragonfly without giving any response.


    Wu Chengyue moved the grass dragonfly. As he expected, Ling Ling''s eyes moved along with it.


    "Ling Ling, do you want this?" He asked, "If you do, just nod. Then Daddy will give it to you, alright?"


    Wu Chengyue wanted to know if Ling Ling''s brain would receive his words.


    Ling Ling didn''t nod as he wished, but kept staring at the grass dragonfly in his hand.


    Moli, who stood aside, was surprised, even though she didn''t show a surprised look. "This grass dragonfly must be really important to Ling Ling, or she wouldn''t be able to recognize it. After all, her mind isn''t clear at the moment."


    Wu Chengyue put the grass dragonfly on Ling Ling''s hand and said, "She loves it. She has been seeing it as her treasure all the time."


    Soon, Xiao Yunlong returned with Liang Dashu and Yuan Tianxing.


    "How''s Ling Ling doing? Is she getting any better?" They asked about Ling Ling''s condition the moment they entered the room.


    "Good to see you, Chief Wu. Sorry for coming without an invitation. I hope you don''t mind," Yuan Tianxng greeted Wu Chengyue.


    To be polite, Yuan Tianxing only brought Du Yuanxing into the room, and left the others outside.


    Seeing him, Wu Chengyue immediately stood up and said, "It''s alright! I haven''t thanked you yet. Your water seems to have helped Ling Ling. I just want to ask you for more help."


    "Can I see Ling Ling now? To be honest, I''m not so sure about the effects of that water. It''ll be wonderful if it''s really helpful," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "Yeah," responded Wu Chengyue, "But, Ling Ling''s current condition might be¡­"


    "Thank you," Yuan Tianxing nodded. While speaking, he walked to the bedside with curiosity and saw that Doctor Liang checking Ling Ling''s pulse and pupils.


    "How is she?" He asked. Doctor Liang was looking at Ling Ling''s hand which was clutching the grass dragonfly. He found that once he tried to touch the grass dragonfly, the look in Ling Ling''s eyes would change a little.


    He took a step backward, then said, "Her body temperature has dropped a lot since we left. However, she''s still in a semi-coma. She seems to care a lot about this little thing in her hand. Where did this from?"


    "Ah, it''s from a¡­Eh, someone gave it to her," said Xiao Yunlong, "Ling Ling does love it. Normally, she won''t let go of her hold on it."


    Doctor Liang thought for a moment, then continued, "I can''t see any obvious change now, but based on the fact that her body temperature is dropping slowly, she''s getting better. The problem now is that if she can wake up completely. Judging by the reaction she made for this little toy, she cared a lot about it. But, that''s only a subliminal reaction."


    Hearing the doctor''s words, Wu Chengyue didn''t relax his tightened face, but he didn''t look as upset as he was before at least.


    Xiao Yunlong looked at the doctor and asked anxiously, "What you do mean? Should we keep observing her?"


    Doctor Liang nodded in response.


    On the other side, in Ling Qiao''s space¡­


    Lin Qiao wasn''t in there, and some of the others were still sitting on the couches. However, a few energetic ones just couldn''t keep sitting.


    Ling Wenwen picked some strawberries, then washed them in a bucket by the lakeside. She saw two large buckets by the other side of the lake, but didn''t dare to go near that area because she found that two living zombies were soaking in the buckets!


    After washing the strawberries, she went back to the couch area. Putting the strawberries on the table, she said, "These are from Miss. Lu''s space. Eat, they''re safe."


    While speaking, she picked one and began eating.


    She and the others had had some of these strawberries before, so they didn''t worry that they might turn them into zombies.

 319 Being Troubled by A Scum

    In the afternoon, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying left Lin Hao and Du Yuanxing in the Mission Hall and went to the market.


    Every region had its own market. Of course, when the market in one''s region failed to satisfy oneself, they were allowed to visit the markets in other regions.


    Administration centers were usually located in commercial buildings, and the Mission Hall occupied a floor in the administration building. The office of public security and other offices were all located in the administration buildings.


    So, without a doubt, the market was also located in the administration building, usually on floor one to three. As the base was densely-populated, even the old factory buildings and business streets had now become living spaces.


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying went down to the market on the first floor. Many people had set up stalls there, waiting for people to trade with them. From furniture pieces to cleaning supplies, one could find all sorts of useful things that were selling well there. Apart from those, clothes, shoes, jewelry, beddings could also be seen there.


    Many of the merchandises here were collected by superpowered squads from the outside by taking risks. The people who weren''t willing to hand their harvests into the base were allowed to do free trades here.


    Clothes, shoes and accessories were mostly what girls were interested in. Normally, not many people would buy accessories like jewels.


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying were mainly looking for clothes and shoes.


    People could find both brand-new clothes and old ones here. The new ones were surely very expensive; the older, the cheaper.


    Following behind Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying, were three men wearing camouflage suits and carrying rifles. They were both pretty. Most of the people in the market were extra polite to them, but there were still exceptions.


    "This pair of shoes is in my size. I want them." On the second floor, Lin Wenwen stopped before a stall and pointed at a pair of canvas shoes.


    The stall owner was an about thirty years old man. He was lazily sitting in a chair, but when the two young ladies stopped before his stall, the look in his eyes changed a little. After all, Lin Wenwen was good-looking, seeming to be gentle and quiet.


    He immediately stood up, looking at Lin Wenwen''s young face obsessively while chuckling with a slightly wicked look in his eyes, "Ahyaya, pretty lady, you''re so beautiful! I wonder if you have a boyfriend or not."


    As this man rudely asked her if she had a boyfriend, Lin Wenwen erased that faint smile on her face. She glanced at that man expressionlessly. The look in the man''s eyes made her uncomfortable, so she no longer wanted to purchase that pair of shoes.


    "Qingying, let''s go look in other places," she turned and held Long Qingying''s hands, prepared to leave.


    "Oi¡­ Don''t leave. Let''s chat. What''s the matter?" As the two girls prepared to leave, the man behind the stall quickly walked up to them, raising his arms to block their way.


    "Get out of the way!" Long Qingying said unreservedly with icy-cold voice.


    The man lewdly looked at Long Qingying from head to toe, then shook his head and showed dislike. "You have a good body shape, but this face of yours is too sour." He clicked his tongue and said, "You''re not pretty, so why are you pretending to be so proud? No matter how proud you are, you''ll still be crying underneath men, won''t you?"


    Lin Wenwen frowned slightly. Long Qingying directly raised a hand and pulled out half of the katana which was carried on her back while the frosty vibe from her charged at the man.


    The man took two steps backward with surprise, but didn''t seem to panic. Instead, he said in amazement, "Ouch, don''t always pull out your blade, okay? You''re not allowed to kill in the base, and you have to be aware of that."


    As he stepped backward, Lin Wenwen immediately prepared to avoid him and leave.


    "Oi, pretty lady, don''t leave! You have to know that I already have my eyes on you, so you need to tell me if you have a man or not. If you do, break up with him now," The man instantly stepped over and stopped Lin Wenwen.


    Seeing that, Wei Jingchen, who had been following behind Lin Wenwen, quickly walked up and pulled the man away.


    "Sorry, please step aside¡­" The tall and sturdy Wei Jingchen would make any ordinary man feel pressure. However, that man didn''t take him seriously. He slightly raised his chin and said scornfully, "What? A commoner? You think you''re amazing because you''re tall? You think I''m gonna be afraid of you because you have a gun?"


    While speaking, he abruptly raised a hand to push Wei Jingchen.


    Wei Jingchen nimbly dodged his hand, then quickly turned his body and neatly pointed his gun at that man while cocking it.


    Lin Wenwen wanted no trouble. She took a step backward, then turned around and walked in the opposite direction. They could always leave from the other side.


    As Wei Jingchen stepped in and Lin Wenwen prepared to leave, that man had a sharp beam of light flashing across his eyes. Abruptly, he reached out a hand and grasped Wei Jingchen''s gun which was pointing at him, then twisted it before Wei Jingchen could react. He was many times faster than the latter.


    Next, the gun slipped out of Wei Jingchen''s hands and dropped onto the ground. In the moment when Wei Jingchen lost his gun and was panicked, the man lunged forward and threw a spin kick directly at his stomach.


    Thud! Wei Jingchen, who was over six feet tall, was sent flying three or four meters away, thudding against a pillar.


    It happened too fast that no one else could react. They just watched the tall and strong Wei Jingchen being easily kicked away by that man. The people around didn''t say anything, but stood at a distance and watched quietly.


    Long Qingying immediately pulled her out her blade.


    So, after kicking Wei Jingchen away, when the man steadied himself and turned back, he found the tip of a blade against his throat.


    He stopped moving, but was wearing a careless grin. "Ouch! Do you dare to cut my throat? Do you know who I am? I''m telling you, if you dare to do any harm to me, you''ll die soon."


    Long Qingying narrowed her eyes and prepared to move her hand. However, someone suddenly clasped her hand to stop her from cutting through this obviously nasty man.


    Lin Wenwen stopped her while saying, "Qingying, calm down!"


    At that point, that man grinned at Lin Wenwen and said, "Ahyaya, I won''t ask you if you have a boyfriend again. You sleep with me tonight, then I''ll give you this pair of shoes for free. I''ll even give you clothes. You can choose any one of these. How about that?"


    Lin Wenwen didn''t say anything, but held Long Qingying''s hand and walked toward Wei Jingchen. This time, that man didn''t try to stop her again, but stared at her back with an aggressive look.

 320 Teach the Bad Boy A Lesson

    "How''re you doing? Are you hurt?" Lin Wenwen helped Wei Jingchen up while Long Qingying stood beside her, gazing at that man. Xing Le and the soldier who followed them here shielded her behind.


    "Eh-hem¡­ I''m okay!" Wei Jingchen stood up, one hand covering his chest. After giving a cough, he shook his head and responded.


    Lin Wenwen turned to ask the soldier, "Do you know this man? Who is he?"


    That man was pretty arrogant. She believed that an ordinary superpowered man would never be so defiant.


    "He''s Chief Yang''s little brother, named Yang Hui," the soldier answered her question.


    The others immediately took a knowing glance at that man. No wonder he had the guts of harass ladies in public. It turned out that he had someone powerful to depend on.


    "Let''s go," said Lin Wenwen, "I don''t want any troubles."


    If that were just an ordinary man, she could let Long Qingying pick up a fight against him. However, he was a base leader''s little brother. If the fight ever started, it would only bring more troubles.


    After all, they couldn''t afford to offend a base leader now.


    As they prepared to leave, a seven or eight years old boy suddenly showed up, quickly running toward Lin Wenwen from Wei Jingchen''s side.


    Wei Jingchen was still suffering a muffled pain from his chest, so he didn''t notice the boy''s approach.


    Also because the boy was small in size, the people on the scene all failed to notice him. He ran up to Lin Wenwen, then bent over and grasped the edge of Lin Wenwen''s skirt before lifting it with all strength. However, before the skirt was fully lifted, a hand showed up from thin air and grasped the boy''s wrist.


    "Ah!" Lin Wenwen who found that the boy was lifting her skirt couldn''t help but utter a slight scream.


    "Ah! Let go of me! Let go!" However, the boy''s screech could be heard right after Lin Wenwen''s voice.


    It was then that the people on the scene finally discovered that a boy suddenly had run out to lift Lin Wenwen''s skirt. However, before he finished, a man¡­ Eh, no, a woman suddenly showed up and grabbed his hand to stop him.


    Lin Wenwen pressed her skirt and took a few steps away from the boy. She was already irritated because of the man, and now, she glared at the boy with both shame and anger.


    "Where is this kid from? Who are his parents?"


    Once she shouted that aloud, the crowd that gathered around to watch the show split up and made a path. A woman about thirty years old walked out with her head held high, holding the hand of a cute little girl.


    The woman raised her free hand and pointed at Lin Qiao who had the boy''s wrist grasped in her hand, then yelled, "Who are you? Let go of my boy!"


    By saying that, the woman had told the others that the boy was her son. However, she didn''t apologize to Lin Wenwen. On the contrary, she yelled at Lin Qiao, who had stopped her son.


    "Apologize first!" Before Lin Qiao responded, Long Qingying said what she had to say with a cold voice. Neither the boy nor his mother seemed to think that they were wrong, and that made Lin Wenwen and her friends even angrier.


    "Apologize? Why? My boy was playing with you, and it should be a pleasure of yours. Don''t be stupid!" The woman only gave a bland smile.


    "You!" Lin Wenwen popped her eyes in anger. She was too angry to say anything.


    If Lin Qiao didn''t suddenly show up to stop the boy, her skirt should have been lifted by the time she realized what had happened. If that really happened, all these people here would see her underpants! How would she face the others then?


    And now, the boy''s mother was even conniving him. She didn''t look guilty at all. On the contrary, she believed that what happened was reasonable.


    Lin Wenwen grabbed the boy''s wrist and read his mind. She knitted her brows and said to Lin Wenwen, "He was told to do so by some adult."


    Hearing her words, Lin Wenwen paused in shock.


    Then, Lin Qiao pointed at boy''s mother and continued, "That woman told him to do so."


    "What!" Lin Wenwen widened her eyes as she couldn''t believe what she heard. She looked at Lin Qiao, then turned to that woman.


    "Let me go! Let me go! You''re hurting me!" The naughty boy who had been twisting his wrist abruptly yelled at Lin Qiao with a crying face. Then, he turned to his mother and shouted, "Mom! She''s breaking my wrist! It really hurts!"


    "You tomboy, let go of my son! Haven''t you heard me?" Seeing her son''s painful face, the woman turned anxious as well.


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "Alright." Then, she abruptly raised her arm and threw the boy away.


    "Ah!" The boy was thrown at the window over ten meters away.


    "My boy!" The woman was scared to death as she didn''t expect Lin Qiao to throw the kid toward the window. She screamed out loud, then dropped the little girl''s hand and darted at the window.


    It was the second floor. If the kid was thrown out of the window and fell to the ground, he would either die or be disabled.


    Everyone on the scene was shocked by Lin Qiao''s movement, without being able to react. Also, the window was far away. How did the lady with sunglasses manage to do that?


    The moment the boy was thrown out, Lin Qiao moved as well. She flashed to the window within a blink, then reached out a hand and grasped the boy''s collar. By that time, the naughty boy had already flown out of the window.


    Right then, the boy was dangling outside the window.


    "Ahhhhhh! Mom! Uncle! Help me!" Realizing what was happening, the boy immediately burst in cries. Hanging outside the window, he didn''t dare to move at all.


    "My boy!" The woman ran over while screaming. Who also rushed to the window was the man who had harassed Lin Wenwen just now.


    "Don''t move! If you come closer, I''ll drop him!" Before they approached the window, Lin Qiao abruptly raised an arm to stop them.


    "You¡­ Give me my son back! Give my boy back!" The woman and the guy named Yang Hui both stopped. The woman was looking at the boy who was dangling outside the window by Lin Qiao, her face filled with fright. Unlike her, Yang Hui was staring at Lin Qiao with anger.


    "How dare you! Do you know who this kid is? If anything happens to him, even your lives won''t be enough!" Yang Hui didn''t think that Lin Qiao would actually be even more aggressive and bolder than he was.


    In this base, no one dared to do anything to him and this woman, because their big brother was a Chief. So, they had always been playing the bully in the base.


    However, Lin Qiao actually dared to threaten Chief Yang''s nephew.


    As everyone else expected, once that man''s voice faded, a series of footsteps could be heard. Then, people turned back to find about twenty soldiers in the uniforms of the base rush up. They surrounded Lin Wenwen and her friends, pointing their guns at them.

 321 Too Far to be Heard

    Long Qingying was already angry, and on seeing these soldiers pointing guns at her, she immediately exploded.


    As she raised a hand, those guns twisted, then flew out of their owners'' hands and gathered above the heads of Long Qingying and her friends before disintegrating. Soon, the guns turned into countless finger-thick metal thorns, pointing at those soldiers.


    However, Long Qingxing stopped herself from launching those metal thorns.


    "What? Encouraging your kid to harass strangers? Is that how people educate their children in your family?" Lin Qiao said to that woman with her hoarse voice.


    After saying that, she abruptly turned to Yang Hui, then continued knowingly, "Ah, that makes sense. The adults from your family are like this, so we can''t count on you to teach your children well. After all, the family has a great influence on a child. The children of dragons are still dragons, the children of phoenixes are still phoenixes, and the mouse cubs only know how to dig holes. Have you heard about that saying?"


    "Whoaaaa¡­ Mama! Mama!" Outside the window, the boy was still calling his mom with fright, but Lin Qiao was showing no intention of pulling him back in.


    "I am telling you¡­ if you dare to hurt my son, I''ll let every one of you suffer! Put my son back in now!" The woman growled at Lin Qiao with anger.


    Lin Qiao looked at the other, her eyes shining with a cold light. "Are you saying that I should loosen my grip right now?" she asked, "I can do that. And you can tell the Chief in your family to take revenge on us. We''ll be expecting that."


    While speaking, she shook his head.


    "Whaaaaa¡­." Once she did that, the boy outside was scared out of his pants. The crotch of his trousers was wet, with light-yellow liquid dripping down.


    "No! Stop it!" The woman''s face turned pale with fear as well.


    Lin Qiao pointed at Lin Wenwen, then said to Yang Hui and the woman who looked like brother and sister, "Apologize to her¡­ or, you won''t get your son back."


    Yang Hui and his sister glanced at each other, then both turned to Lin Wenwen reluctantly and said ''sorry'' through clenched teeth.


    "What did you say? You''re too far away, so I can''t hear you!" At this moment, Lin Wenwen had calmed herself down and erased the expression on her face. She responded to the two only with a bland look.


    "Louder! Didn''t you eat anything?" Lin Qiao immediately gave a cold shout.


    Then, she saw the two pop their eyes with anger, with veins standing out on their foreheads, under their skin. They clenched their fists and took a few deep breaths, then said loudly to Lin Wenwen, "Sorry!"


    Only after hearing that did Lin Qiao put the boy who had peed his pants back in, and dropped him on the ground.


    "My baby!" As Lin Qiao finally carried her son in, that woman immediately rushed over and squatted to hold the boy tight.


    "Whoaaa¡­ Mama! Mama¡­"


    At that point, Lin Qiao glanced at the woman and his brother, who both had hatred in their eyes, and said blandly, "Don''t say that I didn''t warn you. If anything bad happens to any of us, I''ll find you. By then, I''d like to know how you will keep your two children safe. You need to know that Yang Chao is nothing in my eyes."


    Having finished talking, she disappeared from where she was without leaving a trace, like a ghost. Watching that, the people around were all frightened, including Yang Hui and his sister.


    Earlier on, no one noticed how Lin Qiao showed up, and just now, she vanished right in front of everyone else. Quite some green-powered people were on the scene, but none of them manage to sense where she went.


    Also, judging by what she said before leaving, she didn''t seem to be afraid of Yang Chao the Chief at all.


    Suddenly, the woman raised her head as she pointed at Lin Wenwen and her friends while shouting at Yang Hui, "Brother, arrest them! I want them to know about the consequences of hurting my son!"


    Seeing her son trembling in her arms and emitting a urine smell, the hatred in her heart overpowered her sanity. Right now, she wanted nothing but revenge. As Lin Qiao had already disappeared, she immediately decided to take her revenge on Lin Wenwen and her friends.


    "Have you had enough?" At that point, a bland voice was suddenly heard from behind the crowd. The people on the scene glanced back at the source of the voice, then immediately stepped aside and made a way. After that, Wu Chengyue smilingly walked out of the crowd, with Wu Yueling carried in his arms.


    "Yang Hui, Yang Yan, these are all my guests. If you want to stir up trouble, you need to select your targets carefully."


    Wu Chengyue smilingly walked to Lin Wenwen and her friends, the said to Lin Wenwen, "Miss. Lin, you can leave now. I''ll handle these people. But from now on, you should be more careful. After all, some people might try to stab you from the back."


    "Thank you," Lin Wenwen nodded at him and replied. She gave Yang Yan and Yang Hui a cold glance, then left with the others.


    Long Qingying waved a hand and sent the metal thorns above her head fleetingly toward those soldiers who had pointed guns at her earlier. Following a series of puffing noise, the thorns all stuck in the ground, centimeters away from those soldiers'' feet.


    After that, the soldiers who followed Lin Wenwen and her friends here walked to Wu Chengyue and whispered a few words in his ear.


    "Wu Chengyue! You can''t protect them! They''ve messed up with people that they shouldn''t! And I''ll let them know about that!" Yang Yan wasn''t willing to give up after hearing Wu Chengyue''s words. Instead, she angrily yelled at him. However, she let Lin Wenwen and her friends leave without chasing after them.


    After yelling at Wu Chengyue, she quickly scooped up her son and walked toward her daughter, who had been stunned the whole time.


    "Yunyun, let''s go back."


    Yang Hui followed behind her and held her daughter''s hand before leaving together with them. He didn''t even pack the merchandises on his stall, as no one dared to touch them anyway.


    Looking at the two groups of people who were leaving, Wu Chengyue sighed helplessly.


    He was going to take a detour through the passageway nearby, but then got attracted by the screams from this area. As he came over, he saw people crowded in this place, so he figured that something must have happened here.


    As he got closer, he saw the female zombie dangling Yang Chao''s nephew outside the window, threatening to throw him down.


    At that time, Yang Yan and Yang Hui were both wearing a frightened look. Based on how those two usually behaved, Wu Chengyue guessed that they must have offended the zombie lady first, which made the latter threaten them like this.


    He watched for a while, then heard the zombie lady demand the two to apologize to Lin Wenwen. That proved his guess.


    He felt that the zombie lady was giving tit for tat.


    Didn''t the woman encourage her son to play practical jokes on the other? So, the zombie lady played an awful joke on the boy.


    However, the zombie lady didn''t seem to have considered the possible consequences. Yang Chao might want revenge on Lin Wenwen and her friends after this.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then said to Meng Yue, "Send a few people to secretly protect those people. If anything happens to them, let me know as fast as possible."


    Meng Yue nodded, then turned and left.


    Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling and left with his other few subordinates.

 266 Recycle Solar Energy

    Unlike Lin Family people, Li Zheng and the others stared at those strawberries in surprise without touching them. Feng Yuming, who had already relaxed, noticed the two large buckets tens of meters away. He pointed at them curiously and asked, "Eh? Are people sitting in the two buckets? I think two people are sitting in them. What are they doing?"


    "Ah, those aren''t people. Those are zombies. I think we should all stay away from that area," said Lin Wenwen.


    "Zom-zombie? Eh? There''re other zombies here?" Feng Yuming asked, horrified.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "You think the bald lady is the only zombie? She''s just the head of the zombie squad."


    Li Zheng asked confusedly, "What a minute, Great Captain! Who is the zombie squad?"


    Lin Feng smiled and responded, "Um, why do you think we can stay in this area safely? That''s all because we have some special allies."


    "Oh! Also, I want to know how you escaped from Yang Jianhua," Li Zheng asked another question.


    Lin Feng told him and his teammates about what happened, then said, "So now, we''re staying here temporarily, waiting for Yuan Tianxing and the others. We just didn''t think that Yang Jianhua would have the guts to come back. He''s smart though. He observed us from far away and waited until Qiu Lili wasn''t here to launch a sneak attack."


    ¡­


    Outside, Lin Qiao watched Yang Jianhua''s people remove the solar equipment from the building. The solar panel, storage battery, controller, inverter, and other parts were placed aside, waiting to be carried downstairs.


    As those people prepared to bring the equipment downstairs, Lin Qiao made her move.


    "Be careful, don''t break it!" Yang Jianhua said to his people loudly.


    Lin Qiao went downstairs ahead of them and waited before the stairs for them to come down.


    When a man came down, she first collected the things that he carried, then knocked him out and threw him aside. Then, she waited for the next one.


    As the solar equipment contained many parts, Yang Jianhua had arranged about twenty people to carry them down.


    When Ling Qiao knocked out the third man, she was caught.


    "Someone is stealing the solar equipment!"


    Hearing this shout, Lin Qiao moved quicker. She swiftly flashed across those people and touched the components in their hands, then knocked them on the heads.


    By the time Yang Jianhua heard the noise and ran downstairs, he saw a group of people lying on stairs, and the components they carried were all gone. Then, he remembered that some other components were still on the roof, so he rushed back up. However, when he got there, nothing was left.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly showed up from a corner which was far away from him and gave him a cold smile as she said, "The solar equipment belongs to us. Thank you for disassembling it."


    Yang Jianhua''s face was extremely dark now. His handsome face was even a little twisted as he said through gritted teeth, "You''re still here!"


    Ling Qiao shrugged and said, "Why can''t I be here? This is my territory. Stay here if you dare. I''ll welcome you."


    She was never worried that Yang Jianhua would go too far, because she had noticed that no one among his people had space power. Therefore, he needed to transport everything manually, and his vehicles were stolen by Lin Qiao.


    Even if he didn''t need to carry the solar equipment, he still wouldn''t be able to go too far too soon.


    "You don''t even have a space-powered person around you," Lin Qiao continued, "As a leader, you''re such a failure."


    Hearing her, Yang Jianhua''s face turned even darker. It was late at night, so no one noticed his dark face. However, his vibe had turned very dark as well. Wave after wave, the depressing vibe radiated from his body. "Whether I''m a failure or not, that''s not for you to say. Stop hiding and fight me face to face if you can!"


    Lin Qiao laughed on hearing his words. "I don''t like what you said," she said, "If I could, why would I be hiding? I can''t defeat you, that''s true. But, I didn''t offend you. You offended me! If I could beat you up, I would have disabled you!"


    Yang Jianhua just couldn''t think of a word to say. She was right! He came here to bring troubles to Lin Feng and his people.


    "They''re just a bunch of homeless dogs," he snorted and said, "Sooner or later, I''ll kill them all. I guess they''re in your space, right?" Based on what happened before, he had figured out that Lin Qiao had space power. As for the dark mist, he didn''t know that it was her other superpower. Instead, he thought that was just some kind of poisonous mist that she had collected.


    Lin Qiao''s face suddenly turned cold. She stared at Yang Jianhua quietly with a pair of dark eyes which glistened with a strange light while saying, "You won''t have a chance. You aren''t powerful enough. For what you did to Lin Qiao, you''ll pay with your life one day."


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s name, Yang Jianhua paused for a second. Then, the dark look in his face disappeared, being replaced by a proud grin. "Ah, so you know Lin Qiao," he said, "You''re not trying to avenge her, are you? Before you do that, I think you should collect her body first."


    A gleam of light flashed across Lin Qiao''s eyes as she said, "So, you did trap her in a zombie city and pretend to save her, then got close to her as her life-saver? All this real?"


    Yang Jianhua nodded and replied, "Yes. Don''t the Lin Family people know that? Do you still need me to confirm it? Don''t bother. I entrapped her, so what? What can you do to me?"


    Lin Qiao suddenly burst in laughter, sounding a little weird. "For what you just said, please live longer. Don''t die too soon, or I''ll really feel sorry," she said.


    She had decided to kill Yang Jianhua after finding back her memories. If she killed him before remembering anything about him, his death might become meaningless. Perhaps, when she finally remembered everything, she might even feel that killing him was just not enough.


    If he did do what he said, she wouldn''t let him die without suffering.


    Yang Jianhua sneered coldly and carelessly while saying, "You want me to die? Well, let''s see if you have the ability to kill me."


    "Hehe," Lin Qiao gave a snort and replied, "Even if I have the ability now, I won''t kill you."


    "What do you mean?" Yang Jianhua didn''t quite understand, so he asked confusedly, "Will you show mercy to me?"


    Lin Qiao laughed grimly and responded, "I just don''t want you to die like this. You''re overthinking it."


    After saying that, she turned and entered her space without saying anything else.

 322 Being Targeted

    "I told you not to wear dresses, but you wouldn''t listen to me. See, now we''re in trouble," Long Qingying looked at the angry Lin Wenwen and said.


    "How am I supposed to know? I thought we don''t need to travel around in this base like outside. But, we actually ran into such a disgusting family, ugh!" Lin Wenwen said unhappily. Then, she thought of something, and stopped abruptly to look around.


    "Miss. Lu, are you here? I know you are. Thank you for helping me just now!"


    Lin Qiao showed up beside her and said, "You need to be more careful in crowded places. You''re a girl, and you''re pretty. This isn''t your Hades Base, so the people here won''t be afraid of you. Also, Wu Chengyue was right. From now on, you all need to stay on alert against Yang Chao. He''ll definitely try to take revenge on us."


    Lin Wenwen quickly nodded and responded, "Em, I get it."


    At that moment, Long Qingying suddenly asked, "Where have you been these days? Didn''t you go after Deputy Chief Yuan that day? But, he told us it was Lili who found him, and not you."


    Lin Qiao turned to walk forward while answering her question, "I was in my space, handling some things. It was done today, so I came out. Unexpectedly, I found you in trouble once I got out. You''re both girls, so can you not always run about?"


    While talking to Lin Wenwen, she couldn''t help but always use the instructive tone that she used to employ on her before.


    "Alright," Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying both nodded, then followed behind Lin Qiao.


    After arriving at the Mission Hall, they saw Chen Yuting standing by their stand, talking to Lin Hao and Du Yuanxing.


    "Eh? Why are you here? Have you found more people for us?" Lin Wenwen walked over and asked curiously. The few people who were having a conversation turned to look at them. Upon seeing Lin Qiao who hadn''t shown up for days, they all paused slightly.


    Chen Yuting reacted pretty quickly as he nodded and smiled, "Ah, you guessed right. I''ve indeed brought you some people."


    "How many?" Lin Wenwen asked with glowing eyes, and Chen Yuting showed her three fingers.


    "Thirty?" said Lin Wenwen.


    "Three hundred," said Lin Hao.


    "Really! That''s great! But¡­ Captain Chen, where did you find so many people?" Lin Wenwen was thrilled the moment she heard the number. But right afterward, she asked with confusion.


    "I didn''t find them," said Chen Yuting, "Chief Wu sent them to you."


    Lin Wenwen, Lin Qiao, and the others were all puzzled.


    "Chief Wu? He sent three-hundred people to help us?"


    Chen Yuting nodded.


    "That''s wonderful. So, we can start working very soon, right?" Lin Wenwen said excitedly, looking at the others with sparkling eyes. Lin Hao and the others all nodded in agreement.


    "Ah, but we need to wait for the five who came here for interviews today," said Du Yuanxing, "Or, maybe we can send someone where they live to tell them about the news. They all live in the same place anyway."


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Tonight when we get back, we''ll tell our brother and Tianxing to decide on the time of departure, then we''ll send someone to tell them."


    The others nodded.


    In a room on the other side of the Mission Hall, Piao Gecang stood by the window, his eyes fixed on Long Qingying.


    "Who''re they?" He asked the man behind him.


    That man who had been drinking tea was no one else but Yang Hui, who was in the market downstairs just now. Hearing the question, he stood up and walked to Piao Gecang''s side, then glanced where the latter was looking.


    "Ah, those people are from the destroyed Hades Base. Just now, they had a fight with my little sister and humiliated us! Which one do you like? The one with a katana? I have my eyes on the one in a dress. She''s mine," said Yang Hui.


    Piao Gecang licked his dry lips, his eyes showing the lust for possession. "No, I like the one with a katana. Look at how straight her back is. The cold vibe of hers¡­ I wonder if she''ll act differently when she''s screwed by a man," he clicked his tongue and continued, "Even thinking about that turns me on."


    "Wu Chengyue has said that these Hades Base people are under his protection," said Yang Hui worriedly, "So, if you want to do something, better not let him find out. Or, you''ll be dealing with the consequences alone."


    Piao Gecang responded scornfully, "Under his protection? So what? Isn''t that Chen Yuting under his protection too? I''ve already slept with that man''s wife today. But, that was just an ordinary woman, nothing fun. If she didn''t have those large breasts, I''d get tired of her very soon."


    Yang Hui looked at him with surprise and asked, "You had Chen Yuting''s woman? Where''s she now?"


    "Still in Region F," said Piao Gecang, "I gave her to my brothers as a reward."


    Yang Hui''s expression turned slightly serious as he said, "You better not let anyone else find out about it, or not even my boss can protect you. You need to know what results raping women in the base can lead to."


    "No, they won''t find her," said Piao Gecang carelessly.


    At night, Lin Wenwen and her friends went back and gave Lin Feng Chen Yuting''s name list, as well as the names of the people who were newly recruited today.


    While reading the list, Lin Feng nodded and said, "Eh, this afternoon when we were in his place, Chief Wu had told us that he would send some people to help us. We''ll pay them with food according to the grades of their jobs."


    Yuan Tianxing sat beside him and said, "Now, we have about three hundred and fifty people in total. We still need a few trucks to bring these people there."


    After saying that, he glanced at Lin Qiao who was playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with Lin Xiaolu, then continued, "But for the sake of Miss. Lu, Chief Wu solved the truck problem for us."


    Lin Qiao glanced back at Yuan Tianxing, then responded with her dry voice, "Em, he does know how to return favors."


    Lin Xiaolu looked at her and asked with curiosity, "Last time when Xiaolu triggered her power, you only spent a night to wake her up. But, why did you spend three days to help Chief Wu''s daughter this time? Is that because Chief Wu''s daughter was too young?"


    Lin Qiao responded, "No, it was because when I found her, her power has been waking up for days. Yuan Tianxing had suspended the progress with my lake water, but too much energy had accumulated inside her body. We had to spend more time to channel that energy, as we were worried that his daughter''s body might not be able to take it."


    "When will we leave then?" Yuan Tianxing asked, "We''ll bring this batch of people there."


    Lin Feng glanced at him, then at Lin Qiao. "What do you think?" he asked Lin Qiao, "You picked the location, so you can also arrange the time."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded to agree.


    Lin Qiao continued the game with Lin Xiaolu while replying, "Tomorrow afternoon¡­ We''ll leave at two o''clock."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Good! Tomorrow morning, I''ll send someone to inform the people we interviewed today, as well as Chen Yuting."

 267 Timid

    After entering her space, Lin Qiao showed up next to the pile of solar equipment parts. The others had already gathered in that area. At the moment, they were talking about how to put these parts back together.


    Lin Qiao walked over and asked, "Can anyone assemble it?"


    Hearing her voice, the others all turned to her.


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "None of us can do it. Li Zheng, you and your people don''t know how to install it either, do you?" While speaking, he turned to Li Zheng and his teammates who were standing in front of him.


    Li Zheng shook his head and replied, "Nope. I think we should wait for Deputy Yuan to bring some help back."


    Li Qiao abruptly turned to Li Zheng and his people as he said, "Why do I feel that I''ve seen you somewhere before? Your scents are familiar to me as well." While speaking, he leaned toward them to sniff.


    "Yee¡­" Seeing that, Li Zheng and his people automatically stepped back. Feng Yuming hurriedly waved his hands and said to her, "No, no! We never met before. At least, I''ve never seen you."


    Looking at Lin Qiao''s shiny bald head and scary dark eyes, he couldn''t help but shiver out of fear.


    Lin Qiao approached him and said wickedly, "Why are you so afraid of me? Do you fear that I might eat you? Don''t worry, I don''t eat lazy boys."


    As she came close to him, Feng Yuming was truly frightened. However, he felt that she was just teasing him.


    "You¡­ You¡­ Stay away from me!"


    Lin Qiao moved backward smilingly, then carefully looked at Li Zheng and his people up and down. While thinking, she said, "I really feel that I''ve seen you somewhere before. How strange!"


    Li Zheng shook his head and smiled at her as he responded, "I''m not sure why you feel that way. But, I haven''t seen you before." While speaking, he turned to Fei Chonglin, Lei Yao, and Huang Ming.


    Few Chonglin and Lei Yao shook their heads together, as they had never seen Lin Qiao before she saved them either. Unlike them, Huang Ming fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao''s face with confusion, seeming to be struggling.


    "You look familiar to me too. Are you from Sea City Base?" He asked.


    Lin Qiao looked at him. There was a distance between the two of them, so she couldn''t sense his thoughts. However, the look in his eyes told her that he had thought of something.


    "You mean before I became a zombie? Yes," she responded.


    Huang Ming looked at her face and said, "I feel that I''ve seen you before, but I can''t remember where and when. May I ask your name?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and replied with a meaningful tone, "I think you better not know my real name."


    She knew that Huang Ming wasn''t from the Hades Base, meaning that he wasn''t one of Li Zheng''s team members. He was from Sea City Base, and Lin Qiao guessed that all Sea City Base people had some impression of her face.


    She looked drastically different now compared to before, as she wasn''t wearing any makeup, was bald, and had zombie eyes. However, Huang Ming still recognized her a little.


    "Why not? Isn''t your name Lu¡­" Lin Hao, who stood aside, suddenly began saying her name out loud.


    "Ahyayayahoho¡­ Shut up!" Lin Qiao uttered a series of weird sounds to interrupt him, then sourly glanced at him.


    ''Because you''re not from Sea City Base!'' She wanted to shout at Lin Hao. After glancing at him, she asked Li Zheng another question, "Were you all under Chief Netherworld Fire''s command before?"


    She had learned that she had a title and identity which were completely strange to her, and saying those out loud made her feel weird.


    Li Zheng nodded while asking, "Yeah, why?"


    Mrs. Lin and Lin Feng were also looking at Lin Qiao; both of them had been making some guesses.


    Lin Qiao noticed the gazes from Mrs. Lin and Lin Feng, so she didn''t continue the topic. "Ah, nothing, I''m just curious."


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen abruptly came close to her and pointed at the two zombies which were quietly sitting in the two large buckets while asked, "Those two are zombies, are they? What did you do to them?"


    Lin Qiao turned to that area and found that Lin Wenwen was talking about Qiu Lili''s two underlings.


    "Nothing¡­ I just want them to bathe for a few days," she said.


    While speaking, she walked to the two zombies. She found that the energy in the water inside the buckets was nearly drained, and the two zombies were facing the group of living human beings while staring at them.


    For some reason, she wanted to laugh. Why did the two zombies look more and more like two large dogs?


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying followed her over curiously. Behind them were Lin Hao and Feng Yuming. Feng Yuming didn''t want to come, but ended up being dragged over by Lin Hao. The four of them followed Lin Qiao while maintaining a distance of two meters behind her, trying to figure out what she was doing.


    As they got close enough, they found that the two zombies were hungrily gazing at them with wide-open, creepy-looking black eyes.


    "Oh my! They won''t jump out of the buckets to eat us, will they?" Feng Yuming was startled.


    Lin Qiao looked at them and said, "Come here¡­ Stand right in front of them and see if they''ll jump out."


    ''Why is this kid so timid?'' She wondered.


    Feng Yuming quickly shook his head. If Lin Hao hadn''t been grabbing his arm tightly, he would have sneaked back long ago.


    Lin Wenwen took a small step forward, curiously looked at the two zombies in the buckets while asking, "What are you doing?"


    It was the first time for her to see such quiet zombies. Their faces had been washed clean, but their pale skin, deeply sunken eye sockets, dark circles under their eyes, sharp teeth, and black eyes still made them look terribly scary.


    "Transform," Lin Qiao only said one word.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come close, the two zombies both uttered deep growls toward her. Lin Qiao glanced at the water in the female zombie''s bucket, then said to her with a cold face, "You see, you''ve drunk so much of the water in your bucket. Why aren''t you stuffed to death?"


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless, as the water in the female zombie''s bucket was now only waist-deep.


    "Roar¡­" the female zombie gave her an unconfident roar, then was attracted by the scents of Lin Wenwen and the others again.


    ''They smell so nice¡­ I want to eat them so badly¡­ I''m so hungry!''


    Lin Wenwen turned to Lin Wenwen and the others and said to them, "Your scents are tempting these two zombies."


    Once she said that, Feng Yuming freed himself from Lin Hao''s grip and turned to run away fleetingly.


    "Oh? Why''re you running? Damn, are you even a man? How can you be such a chicken!" Lin Hao shouted at his back.


    "I am a man! But, no one said that men can''t be afraid of zombie!" Feng Yuming shouted back from a distance away.


    Lin Hao pointed at Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying, then continued, "Look, even the girls aren''t frightened! What the hell are you afraid of!"


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying were curious about why the two zombies sat motionlessly in the two buckets. The two zombies were alive, and the look in their eyes clearly showed that they wanted to bite the group of human beings very much. However, they didn''t make a single move.


    Were they tied up?

 323 You Survived

    After Yuan Tianxing said that he would send someone to inform Chen Yuting and his people tomorrow morning, Lin Qiao added, "Lili, Mengmeng, and I will go with the first batch of people to suppress the zombies in that area. After that, I''ll leave the two of them there, and come back with you to bring more people there."


    Next morning, people left the accommodation early. Lin Wenwen stayed in the base while the other members of Lin Family left with the first batch of workers.


    Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, and Yuan Tianxing stayed in the base to hire more people. After recruiting enough people for the second batch, they would head to the new base.


    After arriving at the administration building, Lin Feng asked Li Zheng and his people to inform the others.


    Lin Qiao had been staring at Lin Yu since they left the accommodation early in the morning. Lin Yu sneakily told Lin Hao about it when all his fine hair started to stand straight up under Lin Qiao''s gaze.


    "Why do I feel that Miss. Lu''s eyes which are hiding behind her sunglasses have been fixed on me the whole time?"


    Lin Hao glanced at Lin Qiao and saw that she was looking at Lin Yu. So, he turned back to Lin Yu and asked him, "Did you do something to her?"


    Lin Yu quickly shook his head and said, "I didn''t do anything! This is the first time I have seen her. I''ve only been hearing about her from you guys before¡­"


    While speaking, he saw Lin Qiao walking toward him. Out of fear, he immediately shut his mouth. Afterward, both he and Lin Hao confusedly watched Lin Qiao walk up to the former.


    Lin Qiao walked over and stood in front of Lin Yu. It was the first time that she saw this man. As he had been staying with Li Zheng and his people, she guessed that he was one of them.


    She rested one hand on her waist and rubbed her chin with the other. After looking at Lin Yu from head to toe, she abruptly leaned toward him and sniffed at him.


    Once she got closer, Lin Yu was frightened so badly that he didn''t even dare to move.


    Lin Hao watched Lin Qiao''s moves with curiosity and couldn''t help but ask, "What''s wrong? Does he have a problem?"


    Lin Qiao straightened her body, then looked at Lin Yu and said, "I know you. But I remember that¡­ were you dying two months ago? Why''re you alive again? You didn''t become a zombie, but a superpowered man."


    As she got close to Lin Yu and detected his smell, she recalled where she had seen him before.


    Wasn''t he the dying man whom she saved in a warehouse not long after she woke up as a zombie? That was before she rescued Wu Yueling. She also remembered that she had accidentally bitten him.


    Wasn''t this guy at his last breath back then? Why was he standing right in front of her pretty energetically right now?


    She didn''t remember making him drink the lake water, nor getting him into the lake. Reasonably speaking, the virus should have been spread in his body and turned him into a zombie.


    ''What happened instead of that? Damn! What brought him back to life? Did his power wake up when he was dying? Or what else¡­''


    Lin Qiao spent some time thinking while rubbing her chin, then showed a confused look, gazing at Lin Yu. Her fingers just couldn''t stop gently scratching her chin.


    Lin Yu was already stunned by what she had said. Why did she know that he was dying, and that he was supposed to turn into a zombie?


    Li Zheng had given his teammates strict orders not to tell anyone about that. Therefore, not even Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing knew about what had happened to Lin Yuan Tianxing.


    Lin Qiao and Lin Yu were both shocked. At that moment, they couldn''t make any other reaction except staring at each other.


    The others were all puzzled upon hearing what Lin Qiao said. Lin Hao didn''t know what had happened to Lin Yu, so he was confused too. But still, he managed to dig out some information from Lin Qiao''s words.


    "Eh? Why would Lin Yu turn into a zombie? Have you met him before? Ah, you were heading South from Sea City two months ago. At that time, Lin Yu and his teammates were coming this way as well. I guess you met each other on the way," he said to Lin Qiao. Afterward, he turned to ask Lin Yu, "Were you bitten by zombies?"


    Lin Qiao was still staring at Lin Yu when she responded to Lin Hao, "Yeah, I met him on my way to South."


    Lin Yu''s face was filled with shock and confusion. He didn''t know how to answer Lin Hao''s question.


    "I remember that you were bitten by me back then," she said to Lin Yu with curiosity, "My teeth have the virus on them!"


    After saying that, he pointed at Lin Yu''s chest.


    Hearing her words, Lin Yu suddenly came back to his senses. The look on his face changed slightly, then he looked at Lin Qiao with surprise, confusion, and a series of complicated feelings.


    Lin Qiao was very close to him, and his feelings were very obvious. So, she immediately sensed his thoughts.


    At that time, the confusion and helplessness that Lin Yu had when he woke up in that warehouse were replaying in his head.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said knowingly, "Ah, I understand! You woke up that night and found that you had survived. You even cut yourself to see if your blood was still red."


    "I¡­ I have been wondering where did this bite mark come from," Lin Yu started talking, "But, if you ask me why I survived, I believe it must have something to do with this bite mark. Knowing that it was you back then, I''m really relieved!"


    Lin Qiao was puzzled at first, then said with disbelief, "What? Can my teeth do that? Are you saying that as long as I bite the people who are bitten by zombies before they die, I can save them from the virus? That is an invalid assumption."


    "But, I didn''t know anything back at that time¡­" said Lin Yu, "I don''t even know what happened to me. Except for that bite mark, every part of my body is still the same. If you didn''t save me, who did?"


    Lin Qiao spent a moment thinking while scratching her chin, then said, "Do you remember what time you woke up?"


    "It should be one or two am," Lin Yu answered that question without hesitation.


    Lin Qiao thought for another moment, then responded, "I think I had left at that time as well. I remember bringing you into my space, but I didn''t do anything to you¡­ well, apart from falling upon you and accidentally biting you."


    She combined Lin Yu''s words with her memories and pondered over it, then felt that it could really be her teeth which had saved Lin Yu. ''No way!'' she thought.


    After hearing their conversation, the others looked at them dumbfounded.


    "You¡­ Miss. Lu, don''t your teeth have the virus on them? Or¡­ can they only deliver the opposite effect to the people who are already infected by the virus?" Lin Hao looked at Lin Qiao and asked with a frown while thinking.


    As a former medical school student, he was more sensitive to this kind of a question than the others.


    "I don''t think so¡­" Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Lin Hao looked at her and said with curiosity, "Maybe¡­ you should give it a try. Go find an animal which was bitten by zombies but is not dead yet and bite it, then see what''ll happen."


    Lin Qiao gazed at him with a weird look while saying, "I think I''ll just eat it."


    Hearing that, Lin Hao didn''t know what to say.

 324 Ready to Go

    Early in the morning, Wu Chengyue, Meng Yue, Xiao Yunlong, and Chen Yuting were all in the living room of Wu Chengyue''s place. Chen Yuting was very pallid and anxious, pacing before the tea table with bloodshot eyes. The others were also wearing a grim look.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and asked, "Are you so sure that Piao Gecang kidnapped your wife? Can you prove that?"


    Chen Yuting shook his head and responded angrily, "Yesterday morning, he blocked my way and gave me a hard time. Before leaving, he said that I''ll certainly go find him again. I don''t think anyone else would do it but him. Everyone in the base knows that he''s sick, and he likes to abuse women. None of the women who were raped by him survived! And now, my Jen is missing¡­ It must be him!"


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Wu Chengyue, then said in agreement, "It might really be him."


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then replied with a frown, "But, we don''t have any proof. He''s a Deputy Chief of this base after all. And for now, the most important things is that we need to find her first."


    Then, he turned to Chen Yuting and asked, "Do you have any leads? Do you know where she was kidnapped?"


    "My teammates who were responsible for her safety told me that they were knocked out in an empty place. Quite some people attacked them. When they woke up, Jen was already missing. My people have searched that area, but found nothing," said Chen Yuting.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then looked at Meng Yue and said, "Meng Yue will go to that place with you. Maybe she can find something."


    Meng Yue nodded.


    Chen Yuting knew that Meng Yue had green power, so he nodded and said, "Alright. Sorry to trouble you, Miss. Meng."


    "It''s okay," Meng Yue gave a smile.


    At that moment, Xiao Licheng walked in and said, "Chief, a man from Hades Base is here."


    The people in the living room all turned to Xiao Licheng. "I think he''s here to inform them to get ready to leave. Let him in."


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Morning, everyone," Li Zheng walked in. He was here to borrow vehicles from Wu Chengyue. Seeing Chen Yuting, he was slightly surprised.


    "Eh? Captain Chen? You came to Chief Wu''s place so early?" he said.


    Li Zheng had sent Lei Yao to Chen Yuting''s place to inform him, and the others to find the people who had applied for the job by themselves.


    Xiao Yunlong quickly stood up and said, "Ah, you''re here to borrow vehicles, right? The vehicles are all prepared for you. Where will you gather? When will you leave?"


    Li Zheng confusedly glanced at Chen Yuting. Hearing Xiao Yunlong''s questions, he turned back and replied, "Two o''clock this afternoon. We''ll gather on the square before the administration building in Region D."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and said, "Alright, I''ll tell the drivers to drive the vehicles to that spot by two. The three-hundred people from our side will be there along with the vehicles."


    Li Zheng smilingly nodded and said, "Great! Chief Wu, thank you for sending those people and lending us the vehicles!"


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said politely, "You''re welcome. We''re collaborating, and you''ll be paying them with food. With this job, many people won''t need to worry about being starved to death during the coming winter."


    Li Zheng nodded, then turned to Chen Yuting and said, "Captain Chen, there should be no problem on your side, right? Can your people all get ready at noontime? You don''t look good now. Did something bad happen?"


    Chen Yuting responded with a glum look, "I¡­ I might not be able to go with you for now." While speaking, he turned to glance at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then said to Xiao Yunlong, "Yunlong, maybe you should go with them and lead the group. I''ll help to deal with Chen Yuting''s problem."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded, then walked to Chen Yuting and patted him on the shoulder. "Don''t worry, you''ll find your wife." After saying that, he walked to the door.


    Li Zheng looked at Chen Yuting with confusion, but felt inappropriate to ask him about what had happened. So, with no better choice, he decided to leave. "I''ll be going then. You guys carry on."


    He turned and made two steps forward, but then suddenly paused and turned around to say to Chen Yuting, "Ugh, if you need any help, just tell us."


    Chen Yuting nodded slightly at him and replied, "Em, thank you!"


    When Li Zheng was leaving, Wu Chengyue looked at his back and thought of that zombie lady.


    Wasn''t she a zombie? She must be very sensitive to the scents of human beings. If she helped, Chen Yuting''s wife might be located within a shorter time.


    With that thought, he abruptly reached out a hand toward Li Zheng who was walking out and said, "Please wait!"


    Li Zheng and Xiao Yunlong stopped together, then turned back to look at him confusedly.


    "Eh, what''s up?" said Li Zheng.


    "Where''s Miss. Lu?" asked Wu Chengyue, "I wonder if we can invite her here?"


    Li Zheng looked at him with confusion while answering his question, "You want to see Miss. Lu? I need to go back and ask her."


    "Then please go back and tell her that I need to ask her a favor," said Wu Chengyue, "I wonder what she''ll want us to pay her in return."


    Li Zheng nodded and said, "Okay, I''ll tell her what you said."


    As Li Zheng left, Wu Chengyue looked at Chen Yuting and said, "I have an idea. If Miss. Lu agrees to help, we should be able to find your Jen very quickly."


    "Really?" Chen Yuting asked eagerly, his face brightening up.


    Wu Chengyue gave a confident smile and said, "She isn''t an ordinary being. In terms of finding people, I think she''s even better than Meng Yue." While speaking, he turned to glance at her.


    Meng Yue looked at him with a weird look and said, "You want to use her as an army dog, don''t you?"


    She had learned that Miss. Lu was the female zombie who had suffered a lightning strike from Wu Chengyue. Without a question, she also understood how sensitive zombies were to the scents of human beings. Zombies had a sharper sense of smell than even dogs, especially the high-level ones.


    Hearing her, the smile on Wu Chengyue''s face turned mysterious. "Hah, you can''t say that in front of her, or you''ll fall in trouble¡­ I''m telling you."


    Meng Yue rolled her eyes toward him.


    Chen Yuting didn''t know who Lin Qiao was, so he couldn''t understand the meaning of this short conversation between Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue.


    At that point, a gray rabbit hopped downstairs. Following behind it, Wu Yueling came down step by step, her hands holding the guardrail.


    Wu Chengyue immediately turned around and said, "Ling Ling is up!"


    Seeing him walk over, Wu Yueling stopped walking and just reached out her arms, waiting for him to scoop her up. Wu Chengyue walked to her and carried her in his arms, then rubbed her disheveled soft hair.


    "Are you hungry? Shall we go wash your face and brush your teeth?" he asked.


    Wu Yueling glanced at the two people in the living room, then looked at the gray rabbit which had hopped downstairs, and ultimately nodded.

 268 Scary Power

    "If you come a little closer, these two will spring up," said Lin Qiao as she felt that the two zombies were already preparing to make a move. Lin Wenwen took a step back and said confusedly, "Are you trying to change their constitutions by soaking them in the water? Can zombies'' constitution be changed?"


    "Why not?" said Lin Qiao, "Didn''t I change?"


    Lin Wenwen didn''t know what else to say.


    Lin Qiao then turned to say to the two zombies, "Get out! Stand aside, and don''t move!"


    The two zombies obediently got out of the buckets, exposing their naked bodies in front of the group of human beings. The zombies didn''t care, but Lin Wenwen and the others turned their eyes slightly away. But soon, they turned back to carefully observe the bodies of the two zombies, and began giving comments.


    "This female zombie has a pretty good body shape. Looks, b*obs, slim waist, long and straight legs¡­"


    "¡­ Yeah!" Long Qingying responded.


    "The male zombie is not bad either. I wonder if he can still get erect after becoming a zombie," Lin Wenwen continued.


    "Eh-hem¡­" Long Qingying didn''t know what to say.


    "Oi," Lin Hao joined the conversation, "You''re a girl! Can you stop staring at a male creature''s private parts and talking about if he can get erect or not?"


    Lin Wenwen turned to find a group of men beside Lin Hao all staring at her and Long Qingying with a weird look.


    Long Qingying turned her face away with a slightly embarrassed look. She looked at Lin Qiao and saw the latter drag the two large buckets to the grassland. She poured the water into the grass, then dragged the buckets to the lakeside.


    After refilling the two buckets, she easily dragged them back to the two zombies.


    "Get in, sit tight," she said.


    Watching the two zombies obediently sit inside the two buckets, Lin Qiao abruptly reached out a hand and pressed on the female zombie''s head while saying, "Don''t drink it! If you drink it, I''ll kill you!"


    "Roar¡­" The female zombie gave her an unhappy roar, but didn''t dare to drink the water. Instead, she stared straight at the group of living human beings. Lin Hao, Li Zheng, and the others were curiously watching the two zombies at the moment.


    "What is she doing?" Li Zheng asked, "These two zombies seem to be at level three or four, but they''re as obedient as puppies in front of her. What level is she at?"


    Lin Hao shook his head and replied, "We don''t know that. I guess she''s at level-six."


    "Level-six?" Li Zheng asked with surprise, "So, she''s a zombie queen? Can zombie kings and queens evolve to such a high grade now!"


    Lin Feng walked over from behind while saying, "That''s not for sure. I''ve only met two talking zombies like her so far. The other one wasn''t able to talk before. She transformed her and enabled her to talk."


    Hearing that, Li Zheng and a few others popped their eyes in shock and gazed at Lin Feng.


    "She transformed the other zombie? She can enable the other zombies to talk? That''s such a scary power!"


    "Relax!" Lin Feng said, "At least, she won''t let her zombies hurt humans."


    Li Zheng looked at Lin Feng and asked confusedly, "Great Captain, are you really so sure about that. Have you known her for long?"


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "No. I''ve known her for about half a month. But, she saved us, and she''s preparing to help us in building the new base."


    Li Zheng stared at Lin Feng for a while, then continued, "Why did she save you? And why has she decided to help us build the new base?"


    Lin Feng looked at him, then turned to Lin Qiao and said, "I don''t know¡­ Perhaps, she has some reasons that we don''t know yet."


    Lin Qiao raised her head to glance at Li Feng, then turned to walk toward the small space. Before leaving, she said to Lin Wenwen and the others, "Stay away from them. Their minds aren''t clear right now. They might still attack people."


    Maybe because they were now familiar with Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, and Liu Jun, Lin Wenwen and her family wouldn''t be alert toward the other zombies around the three talking zombies. In their eyes, the zombies around them were all like Lin Qiao.


    However, as Lin Qiao had kindly reminded them, Lin Wenwen and the others backed off to show respect to her.


    The others went back to sit on the couches, looking at the strawberries that Lin Wenwen had picked earlier. Unlike the Lin Family people, Li Zheng and his teammates still didn''t dare to touch those strawberries.


    As Lin Qiao walked toward the small space, Cheng Wangxue and Lin Xiaolu walked out.


    "Xiaolu, there''re strawberries in the couch area," Lin Qiao said to Lin Xiaolu. Hearing the word ''strawberries'', the latter ran toward the couch area. Then, Lin Qiao looked at Cheng Wangxue and asked, "Do you know what''s her power yet?"


    Cheng Wangxue nodded and said, "I think she has spirit power. She''s a mind reader. But, she needs to touch people to read their minds."


    "Eh? Spirit power?" Lin Qiao looked at Cheng Wangxue with surprise, "That''s a rare power. Can she read the minds of other creatures? Such as zombies?"


    Cheng Wangxue shook her head and responded, "We haven''t tried that, so we don''t know."


    Lin Qiao smilingly nodded and said as she kept walking toward the small space, "It''s impossible to defend against spirit power effectively."


    In the small space, she saw Liu Jun sitting by the entrance in an armchair, reading a book.


    Sensing Lin Qiao coming, she raised her head to look at her.


    Lin Qiao looked inside the small space and asked, "Is the little thing asleep?"


    Liu Jun glanced back at Tong Tong, who was sleeping tight on the bed, then nodded. "Do you remember them?" She abruptly asked Lin Qiao a question.


    "Them? Who?" Lin Qiao failed to understand the question immediately.


    Liu Jun pointed at the couch area with her chin, then said, "You saved them. Didn''t you save them because you know them?"


    Lin Qiao confusedly shook her head while saying, "Am I supposed to know them? But, I don''t remember them. You know that I don''t remember anything that happened after the apocalypse. I saved them because I believe that the enemies of our enemy are our friends. I saved them to bring troubles to that man named Yang Jianhua. I didn''t recognize them. Do you know who they are?"


    Liu Jun nodded and said, "How can you bring the people you don''t know into your space? Aren''t you afraid that someone might have evil intentions? What if someone tried to use your space and figure out a way to threaten you?"


    Hearing her, Lin Qiao smiled carelessly and said, "I wouldn''t do it a month ago, but now, the bad guys would have to be strong enough to threaten me."


    By now, if she wanted to know what intentions a person had been holding toward her, she only needed to get close to that person to read his or her mind. Even if that person was holding evil intentions toward her, she would know that ahead of time. Besides, she was powerful now. Even a Chief from Sea City Base couldn''t win against her, so who else was able to threaten her?


    No scheme could hide from her telepathic ability, and no tricks would be able to harm her. That was unless she wasn''t able to sense that person''s thoughts.

 325 Use Her As An Army Dog

    Li Zheng and Xiao Yunlong split up. Xiao Yunlong needed to inform the three-hundred people, and tell Chen Yuting''s vice-captain to gather his people on the square.


    When Li Zheng returned to the square, Lei Yao came back ahead of the others.


    Seeing Li Zheng, Lei Yao said, "Chen Yuting isn''t there. I heard from his neighbors that he didn''t come home last night. It seems that his wife is missing."


    Hearing that, Li Zheng recalled that Chen Yuting did look very not good earlier in Wu Chengyue''s place. So, he nodded and said, "I saw him in Chief Wu''s place. He''s very anxious indeed."


    "Will he still come with us then?" said Lei Yao.


    Li Zheng shook his head, then walked to Lin Qiao and Lin Feng, "Wu Chengyue''s motorcade will arrive with his three-hundred people by two. And, he wants to see you in his place. I think he''s going to ask you for a favor, and he said you can ask for a payback."


    Lin Qiao looked at him with confusion, saying, "I heard what you said just now. I guess Chen Yuting couldn''t find his wife last night, so he went to Wu Chengyue this morning to ask him for help. But, what does Wu Chengyue want me to do?"


    Li Zheng shook his head as well and said, "I have no idea. He only told me that he''s wondering what you''d like in return."


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. ''Did that man find out that I''m a zombie? Does he want me to find Chen Yuting''s wife? But, I don''t think I''ve ever taken off my sunglasses in front of him. How did he find out?'' she wondered.


    With that thought, she believed that she was wrong.


    If Wu Chengyue did know that she was a zombie, wouldn''t he kick her out of the base? Didn''t he worry that she might lose control in the base?


    Also, why did he want to see her? Did he want her to help in finding the missing woman? Did he see her as a police dog?


    She rolled her eyes, then glanced at her watch and found that it was not yet ten o''clock. It was still four hours till departure, so she decided to visit Wu Chengyue and see what was going on there.


    If what Li Zheng said was true, she would help as long as Wu Chengyue send another hundred people to work for her.


    "Alright, I''ll go," she said to Li Zheng. After that, she told Lin Feng about it, then headed to Wu Chengyue''s place.


    The woman who had been kidnapped by Piao Gecang''s people, and was now kept in a room in Region F, was named Shen Yujen. She was Chen Yuting''s wife.


    By now, she looked way worse than she yesterday. At the moment, she was lying on the bed like a broken doll. Her clothes were ragged, her snow-white skin covered in bruises; her private part was messy and blood-stained.


    There were wounds on her face too. Her eyes were half closed and unfocused, fixed on the ceiling.


    After Piao Gecang raped her yesterday, the other men came into this room one after another to rape her violently. She didn''t even know how many men had come in and left, and how many times she was rapped since yesterday noon.


    It lasted the whole night. The darkness of the night wasn''t as scary as those men who had lain upon her, and whom she couldn''t see clearly.


    In the morning, she was already falling unconscious, and her breath became weak.


    At that point, the few men outside the door said with regret, "We did it too hard. I think that woman will die in a couple of hours."


    "Damn! It''s all your fault. I''ve told you to keep it easy. We should keep her alive for future use. But, you all acted like you had never touched a woman! Say it, how many times did you get into this room?"


    "Three times¡­"


    "Four¡­"


    "Twice¡­"


    "Twice¡­"


    "See? She''s just a commoner? How could you play with her like that? Could her weak body ever survive?"


    "Eh, it won''t be a big deal if she dies. Now, we should think about how to deal with the body."


    "Just secretly throw it out of the base."


    "How? The fence wall is guarded. We''ll be spotted once we go up."


    The few men were talking about how to dump Shen Yujen''s body. She wasn''t dead yet, but at this moment, those men had already been seeing her as a dead person.


    "Wait, I have an idea. Don''t they need zombies in the research institute? We can simply turn that woman into a zombie, then send her over there." A man suddenly came up with this idea, then said it out loud, his eyes glowing.


    The others looked at him and asked confusedly, "Turn her into a zombie? How? First of all, where can we find the zombie virus?"


    The man who brought up this idea gave a wicked grin and said, "We don''t need to worry about that. I can get the zombie virus right now. You need to destroy her face, so people won''t recognize her. Wait for me to come back."


    While speaking, he quickly turned and left, leaving the others glancing at each other.


    "What a shame! I haven''t had enough of that woman."


    "Yeah, she''s too easy to break!"


    "Hah, she''s dying anyway. Why don''t we get in now and do it again while she''s still breathing? We won''t have another chance if we miss this one. We don''t know when such a nice thing will happen to us again."


    "I like this idea."


    "Let''s get in."


    Then, the few men immediately turned and walked into that dark room and started another round of abuse on the woman who was lying motionlessly on the bed.


    On the other side, Chen Yuting had been restlessly waiting to hear from Li Zheng, so was Wu Chengyue. About half an hour later, Xiao Licheng ran into the living room and said, "Chief, Miss. Lu is here."


    Wu Chengyue was having breakfast with Wu Yueling in the dining room. Hearing Xiao Licheng''s words, he immediately nodded and said, "Let her in."


    In the living room, Chen Yuting hurriedly stood up from the couch.


    Xiao Licheng turned and left; soon, Lin Qiao walked in.


    "Tell me, what can I do for you?" Her hoarse voice was heard.


    Wu Chengyue raised his head to look at her. However, before he said anything, Wu Yueling, who was sitting in front of him, threw her fork into her bowl, then slid off the chair and happily rushed toward Lin Qiao. Her tiny flipflops slapped the floor loudly.


    "Oi, you haven''t finished your breakfast yet!" The surprised Wu Chengyue watched his daughter run excitedly toward the zombie.


    Once he said that, he saw the rabbit hop toward Lin Qiao as well. It actually hopped so high!


    Seeing the little one cheerfully running to her, Lin Qiao smilingly bent over and scooped her up.


    "Are you full?"


    While speaking, she walked to the couch and sat down, as if it were her own home.


    "Say it, what you want me to do for you? If it''s gonna be a deal, I only want more people who can work for me," she said.


    Chen Yuting hurriedly said to her, "Miss. Lu, can you help me look for my wife?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him, then nodded and responded, "I already know what happened to your wife. If you only want me to find her, you''ll have to send fifty more people to work for me¡­ if you need me to find her and bring her back, that''ll be a hundred people."

 326 That Direction

    Looking at Wu Yueling and the rabbit which had hopped over to Lin Qiao''s side, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but fix his eyes on Lin Qiao with a weird look. She was a zombie, wasn''t she? Why did the kids and animals all want to get close to her? Did her body contain something that attracted them?


    Wu Chengyue cared a lot about the fact that his daughter was almost closer to Lin Qiao than to him.


    "Only fifty people? I thought you''d ask for something else," he walked over and sat on the couch.


    Lin Qiao put Wu Yueling on her knees, then turned to look at him while responding, "You should know that what we need the most at the moment are people, and nothing else."


    Wu Chengyue nodded and replied, "Em, you''re right."


    "Tell me," Lin Qiao continued, "Do you want me to take you to her, or bring her back to you. Fifty people for the former, and a hundred for the latter."


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Chen Yuting who was extremely anxious, then said, "Take us to her. We''ll send you the people you need. And for their remuneration, we can give you a ten-percent discount. How about that?"


    Lin Qiao quickly nodded and said, "Alright."


    Then, she turned to Chen Yuting and said, "Your wife is missing. Do you have anything that belongs to her? I need to confirm her scent."


    Chen Yuting glanced at Wu Chengyue with surprise and saw that the latter was wearing a faint smile. After that, he quickly took a broken bracelet out of his pocket and handed it to Lin Qiao, "This is Jen''s bracelet. She lost it in where she was kidnapped yesterday."


    Lin Qiao took over the bracelet and put it before her nose before sniffing at it, then gave it back to Chen Yuting.


    "I understand."


    She put Wu Yueling on the couch, then said to her, "Little one, sit here for a while. I''ll be back very soon."


    While speaking, she put the fluffy rabbit which had hopped onto the couch into the little girl''s arms.


    Wu Yueling held the rabbit as she looked at Lin Qiao and nodded obediently. After that, Lin Qiao stood up and walked toward the door. Wu Chengyue and Chen Yuting both stood up as well, following her out.


    Chen Yuting followed Lin Qiao closely. However, once they were out, he saw Lin Qiao slightly bend her knees and then directly leap onto the roof of Wu Chengyue''s home, then jump on top of the utility pole nearby.


    She quietly stood on top of the utility pole and looked around.


    Wu Chengyue said to Xiao Licheng after coming out, "Gather thirty men¡­ get ready for action."


    Xiao Licheng immediately nodded, then turned and left quickly.


    Afterward, Wu Chengyue walked to Chen Yuting''s side and raised his head to look at Lin Qiao as well. Then, Lin Qiao leaped down and lightly landed before them.


    "That direction. I have to tell you that you need to move fast, because¡­" Lin Qiao pointed at Region F and paused slightly, then looked at Chen Yuting and continued, "Her vibe is already very weak. You might not be able to save her if you didn''t get there quickly enough."


    Chen Yuting slightly widened his eyes as the look on his face changed.


    Wu Chengyue''s face darkened as well. He turned and began walking toward the outside, saying, "Let''s go!"


    Behind him, Xiao Licheng soon drove out an off-road vehicle.


    Lin Qiao sat onto the front seat, then pointed at Region F and said, "Over there, the area with very mixed scents."


    Xiao Licheng glanced at her and asked uncertainly, "Is it Region F?"


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue got into the back seat and said, "It''s Region F¡­ We need to be there as soon as possible."


    "Yes, sir," Xiao Licheng immediately started the car and began driving.


    Lin Qiao glanced back at Wu Chengyue. He was always smiling, so people couldn''t figure out what he was thinking about. He wore that mysterious smile around everyone except his little princess.


    "You do understand me," said Lin Qiao.


    "I was just guessing," Wu Chengyue responded smilingly, "We can all guess that because you''re pointing at that area."


    "Why are you so sure then?" asked Lin Qiao.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t answer his question, but smilingly stared at her sunglasses. Lin Qiao confusedly glanced at him again, then stopped talking to him.


    She couldn''t understand the look in his eyes.


    At that point, Wu Chengyue abruptly talked again, "Did you cut your hair so short because I attacked you with lightning?"


    Lin Qiao immediately turned back, gazing at him through the sunglasses.


    Wu Chengyue felt being locked by her gaze. In the meantime, an invisible vibe spread in the car.


    Chen Yuting and Xiao Licheng, who was driving the car, instantly felt it hard to breathe.


    Wu Chengyue grinned as if nothing happened at all, saying, "Why are you nervous? Are you afraid that I might recognize you?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at the other two, then turned around to look ahead while responding, "You think I''m nervous? That was just my natural reaction."


    After saying that, she suddenly stuck her head out of the window to sniff around, then pulled her head back in and said to Xiao Licheng, "Hurry up¡­ turn left five-hundred meters ahead."


    About ten minutes later, they arrived at Region F, the region for refugees.


    At that moment, Shen Yujen''s chest was heaving very slightly in that dark room. A man was lying upon her, his hips moving constantly.


    A few men were squatting in a corner against the wall, chatting with surprise.


    "Eh, she''s at her last gasp for so long. This woman definitely doesn''t want to die."


    "San, do it harder. Don''t get off her until she''s dead!"


    "Haha, yeah! You said that you want her last gasp. Look at you, you''ve been doing it for half an hour, yet she''s still alive."


    Hearing them, another man joined the conversation, "Alright, don''t kill her yet. Let''s inject the zombie blood into her first, then let her die slowly."


    At that point, the man on top of Shen Yujen suddenly began moving intensely. Then, he stopped abruptly and lay upon her, spending a short while to catch his breath. Then, he got up and put on his pants.


    "Ah, what a shame! She''s barely reacting¡­" The man said while wearing his belt. Then, the man who had asked his friend not to kill her walked to the bedside. In that dark room, the syringe needle in his hand shone with a gleam of light.


    It was half a tube of dark-red blood. No one knew where that man found the zombie blood.


    He bent over and picked up Shen Yujen''s arm which was covered in wounds and bruises, then pierced the needle into her skin and began injecting the zombie blood into her body. The injection of the blood didn''t cause any reaction in Shen Yujen, who was already like a dead body.


    After pulling out the needle, the man said to the others, "Get the bag."


    They prepared to secretly send this woman to the research institute after the injection during her transformation.


    The virus required time to develop in the body of a living human being, so they still had some time to transport the woman to somewhere else.


    Right at that moment, a thunderous bang was heard. Following the sound, the door was suddenly kicked open.

 269 The Skilled Are Bold

    Liu Jun looked at her helplessly, saying, "The skilled are bold. You''re really afraid of nothing."


    "That''s called confidence," said Lin Qiao, "Besides, this is my world, and I''m the sole owner of this place! You haven''t answered my question yet. Do you know the few people?"


    Liu Jun glanced at the group of people sitting on the couches, then said, "Many Hades Base people know them. If you find back your memories, you''ll diffidently recognize them."


    "Is that so? Do they have anything to do with me?" Asked Lin Qiao curiously.


    Liu Jun rolled her eyes and responded, "Of course. They were all under your direct command!"


    Lin Qiao looked at her with disbelief, murmuring, "Eh? No way. The few people I saved conveniently are my subordinates? No wonder they seem to be quite close with Lin Feng and the others. I thought they all know each other."


    She didn''t notice all those after bringing the group of people into her space. She saw Mrs. Lin untie them with surprise, so she assumed that they all knew each other. After that, she didn''t pay more attention to them but exited her space.


    "Did you let Yang Jianhua go?"


    Hearing she mentioning Yang Jianhua, Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "Yeah. I''ve heard about many things that he did to me, but I can''t remember anything. If I revenge on him now, my revenge would be meaningless. I want to take my time to deal with him after retrieving all my memories. Besides, with my current power, I can barely hurt him. He can''t hurt me either though."


    Liu Jun looked at her and responded with, "You''re right. But, we don''t know how to restore your memory. What if you still can''t remember anything when you''re back in that place? Will you always let him live?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, said, "If I still can''t remember a thing after going to that place, I''ll have to think of another way. However, if he boldly sent himself to me again, I won''t let him go like I did this time."


    Liu Jun looked at her, without knowing how to continue. So, she changed the topic, said, "Where is this small space from? I think it''ll be more convenient if you get a few more small spaces like his. You see, this place is like your home now, and you often invite people here. Maybe you should just bring in a house from the outside, so we can place those furniture pieces well. Don''t you feel weird for them to stand in grasses?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at the group of people and the furniture area. The furniture pieces were neatly places, yet they looked a little weird indeed.


    She had thought about getting a house into her space, but there was a problem. "Em, the buildings outside are all built on the ground. I''m unable to bring anything that''s connected with the earth into this place. Look, like that solar equipment. Only after someone removed it from the building, could I bring it in."


    Liu Jun nodded with agreement. That was indeed a problem.


    "I was going to wait for Yuan Tianxing to come back and ask him for help. As for getting more small spaces like this one, I think I might need to kill some space-powered people or zombies to do it."


    After the last upgrade of her space, she had learned about some of the nature of this space. Earlier, this small space became a part of her space because she absorbed the space-powered man''s energy nucleus.


    If she attained the energy nuclei of some more space-powered people, or the zombie nuclei of space-powered zombies, she would be able to create more small spaces inside her space.


    "Are you saying that this small space is transferred to you from someone else? Can that even work?" Liu Jun looked at her with surprise.


    Lin Qiao turned to her, looking at her from head to toe while saying, "I found that you now many things. Your understanding ability is really great."


    Liu Jun grinned and said, "If you want to give me a compliment for how smart I am, you can just do it. I won''t be shy."


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    "How''s the outside now?" Liu Jun asked.


    Lin Qiao closed her eyes to observe the outside world. Soon, she reopened her eyes and said, "The entire hotel building is frozen. No one can get in or out."


    "What about¡­Yang Jianhua?" Asked Liu Jun.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao''s face suddenly darkened a little. "I''ll go out and take a look," she said.


    Finished speaking, she turned and disappeared by the entrance of the small space.


    Lin Qiao exited her space, stood by the stairs on the roof. The door of the stair room was covered in a thick layer of ice. Inside the ice, were a few soldiers. She then turned to look at the group of ice statues around her, found that they were all Yang Jianhua''s soldiers.


    Her face darkened further, radiated waves of coldness and intention of killing.


    The stairs were sealed by ice. All the space inside the building should have been filled up by Yang Jianhua with ice. From the outside, Lin Qiao saw the soldiers on the stairs, who were knocked out by her earlier.


    Yang Jianhua had frozen all the soldiers that he brought here to death, including two level-five squad leaders.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know that the two squad leaders died because they tried to beg for mercy for those dead soldiers.


    "They''re useless even if I let them live. They''ll be eaten by zombies on our way back anyway. It''ll be better for me to let them die without being torn into pieces," while speaking, Yang Jianhua waved his hands and turned the two squad leaders into ice statues.


    After watching that, the other squad leaders fell into silence.


    Lin Qiao looked at those dead soldiers, felt a pain from her heart.


    Those soldiers shouldn''t die. They were the soldiers of Hades Base. Yang Jianhua imprisoned their families to threatened them, so they followed him. None of them had ever thought that they would end up in this way.


    Their lives meant nothing to Yang Jianhua. He might let them live if he was in a better mood, but that didn''t happen. Instead, he killed them because he wasn''t happy.


    ''A man like him should die for ten-thousand times! How can such a man even think about being the leader of a base? I didn''t kill him, but I guess the others won''t let him live for long,'' Lin Qiao clenched her fists tight.


    The ice in the building wasn''t ordinary ice. Only until the energy contained in it was consumed up, would it slowly melt or break.


    Lin Qiao didn''t touch those ice statues on the roof, because she knew that once she touched them, they would fall into pieces.


    She turned and entered her space, then said to Liu Jun who was looking at her, "Yang Jianhua has frozen all the soldiers that he brought here to death."


    Liu Jun popped her eyes and said, "What? Why did he kill his own people?"


    "Those people were forced to come out with him," said Lin Qiao, "Perhaps, he knows that those people hated him, so he never planned to bring them back to the base alive."


    "That''s way too cruel," said Liu Jun with disbelief, "Did the lives of those people mean nothing to him?"


    "I guess so," Lin Qiao sighed.


    "I didn''t know that Yang Jianhua is this kind of person! A tyrant!" Liu Jun murmured with a shocked look.

 327 Shes still Breathing

    Bang!


    The door was violently kicked open, then a hoarse voice could be heard.


    "You better not move, or I''ll cut your feet."


    "Who are you!" The frightened people in the room shouted toward the outside. Then, they saw a weird person who was wearing a hat show up at the door. The voice they heard was dry and hoarse, so they couldn''t tell the gender of its owner. But now, the owner of the voice showed up in front of him. The light was coming from behind her, so they only saw a silhouette, and not her full breasts.


    They instantly figured out that the person who had broken into the room wasn''t friendly. Therefore, they all ignored Lin Qiao''s words and prepared to attack. However, right before they launched their powers, Lin Qiao suddenly spread her claws and swung he arm.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    "Ah!"


    "Ahhh!."


    After a series of flesh-cutting noise, loud and shrill screams could be heard. Then, those men thudded against the floor one after another.


    "Ou-Ouch¡­ My Foot! My foot!"


    "Ah¡­ Foot¡­"


    Lin Qiao slowly walked into the room which was filled with an indescribable smell, mixed with the strong scent of blood.


    As the door was wide open, the room became many times brighter than before, and everything in it was now clearly visible.


    At that point, quick footstep sounds were heard from the outside, then Chen Yuting came over ahead of the others.


    "Jen! Jen! J¡­" However, when he walked to the door and looked inside the room, he wasn''t able to let out even the slightest sound, as if someone had gripped his throat.


    He popped his eyes, looking at Shen Yujen with disbelief. She was lying flat on the bed, without any life-force.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue and his subordinates walked over. As he saw the scene in the room, his faint smile faded from his face. Then, he walked in expressionlessly.


    Chen Yuting walked to Shen Yujen dully, step by step, and Wu Chengyue followed behind him with a serious look.


    "She''s still breathing," said Lin Qiao. She walked to the bedside and reached out a hand to touch Shen Yujen, then continued, "But, she seems to have been waiting to see you one last time."


    Her words were like a bolt of lightning that struck Chen Yuting''s brain, freezing him and disabling him from reacting.


    Meanwhile, the few men whom each had a foot cut off by Lin Qiao had already passed out by now. Xiao Licheng brought some people in, then tied up those men and dragged them out.


    Lin Qiao took off her coat and covered Shen Yujen''s awfully wounded body with it. After that, she raised a hand, and a glass of clear water appeared in that hand.


    Seeing the water, Wu Chengyue''s eyes glowed. "Is this water from you? Or did you get it from Yuan Tianxing?" He stared at Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao forced Shen Yujen''s mouth open, then poured the glass of water in. Hearing Wu Chengyue''s question, she replied blandly, "Guess."


    Wu Chengyue watched her put the empty glass back into her space, then glanced at Shen Yujen. After that, he turned back to look at Lin Qiao, who was only wearing a military vest now.


    He saw her glowing-white arm and slim waist.


    Last time when he saw her in West Lake District, she was dressed like that as well. Her loose-fitting camouflage suit was in men''s style. Added with her height and short hair, she did look like a man.


    However, once she took off her coat, her hot body shape was exposed.


    Lin Qiao looked at Shen Yujen, then crossed her arms before her chest. By doing that, she accidentally squeezed her breasts and created a cleavage.


    She raised one hand to scratch her chin. Just now, she didn''t tell the others that this woman had already been infected by the zombie virus because she wasn''t sure if the lake water could erase the zombie virus from the bodies of living human beings. She only knew that the water was able to suppress the virus inside zombies'' bodies.


    So, she decided to give her the lake water before Chen Yuting and Wu Chengyue found out about the virus. The water would make her live longer anyway.


    Feeling that Wu Chengyue''s gaze was fixed on her, she lowered her head to glance at her own chest. Thankfully, she had found a suitable bra days ago, and was now wearing one of them. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have the courage to take off her coat just now. If the men in this room hadn''t been staring straight at the naked Shen Yuzhen, she wouldn''t take off her coat.


    She thought for a moment, then decided to divert Wu Chengyue''s attention. "Can I ask you a question?" she said.


    "Me?" Wu Chengyue raised his head to look at her in the eyes, and she nodded. Wu Chengyue glanced at Chen Yuting who was holding Shen Yujen right now, then replied, "Can we save it till we get back? There''s a life to be saved."


    Lin Qiao was puzzled at first, then asked, "Can she still be saved?"


    Apart from her lake water, she didn''t know who or what else had the ability to save Shen Yuzhen who was in such a hopeless condition.


    "One person might be able to save her," said Wu Chengyue. "Let''s head back and find Doctor Liang," he then said to Chen Yuting.


    Chen Yuting carried Shen Yujen and followed Wu Chengyue out of the room. Lin Qiao was interested in Doctor Liang, so she silently followed them.


    The group of people quickly returned to Chen Yuting''s place. Chen Yuting carefully put Shen Yujen on the bed and covered her with a quilt, then gave the coat back to Lin Qiao.


    His beloved woman had suffered so much pain, but fortunately, he had found her. "Thank you for help me finding Jen," he said to Lin Qiao sincerely.


    Lin Qiao took over the coat, then carelessly waved a hand at him and responded, "You''re welcome. I didn''t help you for free." While speaking, she glanced at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue understood her meaning. "I get it," he said. "I''ve already asked Licheng to gather the people that I''ve promised you. You''ll certainly see fifty extra people this afternoon. Don''t worry."


    "Can I ask you that question now?" said Lin Qiao.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at her with curiosity and said, "In return for letting you ask me that question, can I see your face without the sunglasses?"


    Lin Qiao stayed silent. Three seconds later, she raised a hand and took off her sunglasses without hesitation.


    Her face was pretty. However, once she opened her eyes, Chen Yuting gave a start and leaped backward.


    "You¡­ You¡­ Chief¡­ She''s¡­" Chen Yuting pointed at Lin Qiao''s dark-green eyes and looked at Wu Chengyue alarmedly.


    ''Her face has been healed. She looks quite pretty now. But, I think I''ve seen this face somewhere before¡­ Where?'' Looking at Lin Qiao''s face, Wu Chengyue said to himself silently.


    "Have we met before?" he asked.


    Lin Qiao calmly put the sunglasses back on, then said, "Answer my question first. The little one¡­ She isn''t your biological daughter, is she?"


    Once she said that, Wu Chengyue fell into silence, and his smile disappeared. His face wore no expression, so Lin Qiao couldn''t guess what he was thinking. Standing beside them, Chen Yuting looked at Lin Qiao with surprise, then at Wu Chengyue.


    Right at this moment, a series of footstep sounds were heard from the outside. Soon, Meng Yue came in along with Doctor Liang and Moli. Wu Yueling was carried in her arms.

 270 Qiu Lili is Back

    Lin Qiao glanced at her, didn''t say anything but turned and exited her space again. Then, she leaped off the roof.


    The giant cage and the few large turtles in it had all become ice statues.


    The hotel building was like an enormous ice block, standing on the ground. With no other choice, Lin Qiao could only find another place for the people who were in her space at the moment.


    She wasn''t sure if Yang Jianhua would come back, and she felt that she should be careful.


    She found another hotel, which was much humbler than the first one. It had only six floors, and not too many rooms.


    She entered her space, walked to the group of people. Seeing her, those people stopped talking but looked at her.


    "What? I think I saw you go out just now. How''re things out there?"


    "Yang Jianhua has left," said Lin Qiao, "The building where we lived before has been frozen entirely, so I found you another place."


    "Can we go out now? Yang Jianhua left?" Lin Feng looked at her and asked.


    "He left," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng nodded and responded with, "So we can go out now. We''re terribly sorry for interrupting you in your space."


    "You hold each other, let me try to send you all out at one time," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng and the others glanced at her with surprise. Then, they separated into two groups of seven, held each other''s hands or arms. The first group was the Lin Family people and Long Qingying, the second group were Lin Zheng, his teammates, Wei Jingchen and Xiao Wenxing.


    Lin Qiao pressed a hand on Long Qinging''s shoulder, then said ''out'' silently.


    Next, she disappeared with Lin Feng''s group.


    They showed up in the middle of the lobby of the new hotel.


    "I''ll go bring the others out," Lin Qiao took her hand away from Long Qingying, then said.


    While speaking, she flashed back into her space, and soon brought the others out.


    "Eh? Can you bring more than two people now?" Asked Lin Feng.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then pointed at Li Zheng and his people, said, "Thanks to them. They''re the reason I learned that I can bring people in and out like this. I didn''t think of it before."


    Li Zheng looked at Lin Qiao, said, "Thank you for saving us. We never thought that we''d be saved by a zombie."


    Lin Qiao nodded at him.


    "Where is this place?" Lin Hao looked around and asked.


    "This is a small hotel, near the large hotel that we stayed before," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Hao nodded, then looked at Lin Feng and said, "Shall we go upstairs to see the rooms."


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Sure. Go find a clean room for Mom first."


    Then, the group of people went upstairs to find rooms.


    This small hotel was only about two-hundred meters away from the last one. The zombies in this area had been driven away by Qiu Lili long ago, and now, this building was all empty. So, the group of people can go anywhere in this building without worrying.


    At last, Lin Feng and his family stayed on the third floor, while Li Zheng and his teammates went up to the fifth floor. Lin Qiao checked all the rooms on the sixth floor, then chose two.


    She brought Liu Jun and Xie Dong out of her space, so they could clean their own rooms.


    After that, she turned and went straight up to the roof.


    In fact, Liu Jun, Xie Dong and she didn''t need to sleep, so they would be fine even if they didn''t have their own rooms.


    Lin Qiao sat on the edge of the roof until daylight.


    Next day, just after dawn, she sensed Qiu Lili''s vibe from a long distance away.


    Soon later, she grasped the scents of quite a few zombies around Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao was confused. ''What happened? I told her to kill zombies and collect zombie nuclei, but why she brought a group of zombie back?''


    The clearer Lin Qiao sensed those zombie scents, the stranger she felt. She stood up, frowned slightly, facing the area where she sensed Qiu Lili from.


    Except for Qiu Lili''s scent, she recognized two different scents.


    Before long, Qiu Lili came to her from the frozen hotel.


    "Ahyayay¡­Ah¡­"


    ''What happened to you? Why is the hotel frozen?"


    Qiu Lili was still wearing a clean white dress, but her face showed a shocked and angry look.


    Lin Qiao didn''t answer her question, but looked at the few figures scattered on the roofs behind Qiu Lili.


    "I''ll explain that to you later. Now you tell me, what are these?" Said Lin Qiao.


    Right at that moment, one of the few figures suddenly pounced on Lin Qiao agitatedly.


    "Roarrrr! Roar!"


    ''You! Bad woman!''


    Looking at the young female zombie which suddenly charged at her, Lin Qiao calmly turned her body and moved her feet to dodge the zombie''s claws.


    "Why are you here?" She said.


    "Roar! Roar!"


    ''Give me my little sister back!''


    The young female zombie''s ferocious face looked even scarier when she was screaming at Lin Qiao.


    After the roar, she prepared to rush at Lin Qiao again.


    At that point, Qiu Lili suddenly uttered a growl at her.


    "Ah!"


    ''Go away!''


    The young female zombie gave a start at first, then paused, turned to look at Qiu Lili.


    "Roar? Roar?"


    ''Are you with her?''


    Qiu Lili unhappily stared at the zombie, then shouted at her, "Ahya! Ahyayaya! Ahyyeeeeah! Ahhhh!"


    ''Yeah! And that''s none of your business! If you attack her again, I''ll beat you!''


    The young female zombie flinched, then gave Lin Qiao a vicious glance. After that, she turned, swiftly hopped onto the stair room, sat on the roof, swaying her legs while staring straight down at Lin Qiao.


    Ln Qiao couldn''t help but cover her forehead with a hand. "Why did you bring her here?" She asked, "Where did you find her?"


    "Ah¡­Ah¡­." Said Qiu Lili.


    ''I didn''t find her. She showed up suddenly to challenge me.''


    "Did you recognize her?" Said Lin Qiao, "She''s the zombie who stole a kid. I''ve mentioned her to you before. Have you had a glimpse of her character now?"


    "Ah¡­yee¡­" Qiu Lili pouted and said.


    ''She''s so annoying.''


    "Did she follow you here?" Lin Qiao looked at the young female zombie and asked.


    Qiu Lili nodded and said, "Yah, ahhh¡­Ahya¡­"


    ''Yeah, she can''t win me, and she loves fighting me. I don''t want to fight her.''


    Lin Qiao then glanced at the other zombies who followed Qiu Lili here. Those were five zombie leaders, and one of them was Lin Qiao''s old friend.


    That was the ice-powered zombie who just wouldn''t give up chasing her and Xie Dong at first!


    Lin Qiao looked at that ice-powered zombie leader, and the zombie leader was also staring at her.


    "What are you looking at! I''m not afraid of you anymore! Come here if you dare! I''ll make you suffer!" Seeing the zombie gazing at her, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but yell at him.


    "Roar!" The zombie leader immediately uttered a roar at Lin Qiao, threatened to attack.


    It seemed to want to attack Lin Qiao, but didn''t move. Instead, he glanced at Qiu Lili. After that, he kept staring at Lin Qiao without making a step forward.

 328 Take Her And Come With Me

    Seeing Doctor Liang, Chen Yuting immediately rushed up to him and said, "Doctor Liang, please save my wife! Please! You have to save her!"


    Liang Dashu said to him, "Calm down! Let me have a look first." While speaking, he walked into the room and leaned against the bedside, then bent over to observe Shen Yujen''s skin color and lifted her eyelids to check her eyeballs.


    After that, he picked up her wrist to feel her pulse.


    A while later, he frowned slightly. As he prepared to drop her hand, he suddenly found a pinhole on her arm.


    He paused slightly, then the look on his face changed. Once again, he lifted her eyelids to carefully check her eyeballs, then pressed around the pinhole on her arm.


    As he put Shen Yujen''s hand back onto the bed and stood up, his face was showing a very grim look. He looked at Chen Yuting and gave a sigh.


    Hearing his sigh, Chen Yuting''s scalp was numbed, his eyes showing panic.


    "She was at her last gasp. After seeing you earlier, she has probably let out this last gasp already. Normally speaking, she should have stopped breathing by now. However, I''ve checked her and found that her body isn''t completely dead yet, but she has already lost her consciousness. In other words¡­ her body is now protected by some kind of energy, but her brain activity has stopped," Liang Dashu looked at Chen Yuting and said.


    Then, he turned to Wu Chengyue and asked, "Have you given her the same kind of water that Yuan Tianxing gave to Ling Ling earlier? The energy is the same as what I detected from Ling Ling''s body."


    Wu Chengyue turned to look at Lin Qiao while Chen Yuting was stupefied after hearing Liang Dashu''s words.


    He didn''t quite understand Liang Dashu''s meaning, but he knew that his Jen wouldn''t wake up, as the doctor said that she had already lost consciousness¡­


    As Wu Chengyue stayed silent, Doctor Liang turned to Lin Qiao who was standing aside, knowing that he had guessed right. However, he didn''t care much about that, but turned back to Chen Yuting and said, "In a better way, she''s in a vegetative state now. Only her body remains alive. Her brain is in suspended animation.


    He paused for a second, then looked at the others and continued, "There''s another thing. Someone has injected the zombie virus into her body not long ago. The virus has spread all over her blood, so judging by her current condition, she''ll definitely become a zombie."


    Except for Lin Qiao, all the others turned to him with surprise after hearing that. Meng Yue automatically carried Wu Yueling to the other side of the room, which was relatively far from the bed.


    But soon, she and Wu Chengyue both turned their eyes to Lin Qiao.


    Chen Yuting, who had gotten whacked for a couple of times, suddenly came back to his senses. He darted up to Lin Qiao and knelt before her. He lowered his head and said, "Miss. Lu¡­ can you help me? Even¡­ even if Jen turned into a zombie, I don''t want her to forget me! You know how to help her, don''t you? Because you''re a¡­"


    He raised his head to look at Lin Qiao pleadingly while finishing his words.


    The others all looked at Lin Qiao. Some of them were confused, some were thinking, and some had anticipation in their eyes.


    Lin Qiao silently looked at Chen Yuting for about ten seconds before responding to him, "You love her very much. Even if she turned into a zombie¡­"


    Chen Yuting wasn''t a handsome man, but he was a righteous person. It wasn''t hard to tell that he cared a lot about his wife. Lin Qiao clearly sensed his sadness and despair without even touching him. He had a genuine love for his wife.


    Looking at his begging eyes, Lin Qiao believed that he would satisfy any condition she named. He might even kill himself without hesitation if she asked him to.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I can save her. But, I don''t know what the final result will be. I don''t know if she''ll remember you, or anything else. If I can make her remember you, you need to promise me one thing."


    Chen Yuting''s eyes were so red that they seemed to even bleed. However, he nodded delightedly and said, "I''ll do whatever you say!"


    Lin Qiao said, "If I save her, you and her will have to join our new base."


    Chen Yuting paused shortly upon hearing her words, then looked at her in shock, asking, "Is that it? No-nothing else?"


    He thought this Miss. Lu would ask him to do something for her, and he had already decided to do whatever she said, no matter how dangerous that would be. But to his surprise, her requirement was actually so simple. She only wanted him to move!


    Chen Yuting could scarcely believe her ears.


    Lin Qiao blandly nodded and said, "No, nothing else."


    Hearing that, Chen Yuting hurriedly nodded and said, "We will! If you need more people, I''ll bring a few friends."


    "That''s up to you," Lin Qiao looked at him and replied.


    She asked him to bring his wife to the new base, not because the new base was short-handed, but for some other reason. If that woman really turned into a zombie with memories and sanity, she had to stay in the new base, because she wouldn''t be able to survive in this base.


    "She''s just worrying that your wife might not be able to survive here after becoming a zombie," Wu Chengyue abruptly joined the conversation, "But in her base, she can at least protect her, right?"


    After saying that, he looked at Lin Qiao in a meaningful way, but she stayed silent.


    This man was worthy of being a Chief. He actually guessed out her thoughts.


    Only after hearing Wu Chengyue''s words did Chen Yuting understand why. He paused slightly, then looked at Lin Qiao and said gratefully, "Thank you! Thank you!"


    Lin Qiao waved a hand and said, "Don''t thank me yet. I haven''t saved her. Besides, it''s getting late. I am going to bring your wife into my space now. Don''t forget to go to the square this afternoon and join the others."


    "Sure! I''ll do what you say!" Chen Yuting nodded, then stood up from the ground. But then, Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao and said, "You stole my man just like that?"


    Lin Qiao looked back at him, then shrugged and replied, "That was his own choice."


    At that point, Wu Yueling struggled out of Meng Yue''s arms as she felt that Lin Qiao was leaving.


    "Ling Ling, where''re you going?" Meng Yue looked at her with surprise. After that, she saw the little girl ran toward Lin Qiao.


    Having finished talking, Lin Qiao walked to the bed and touched Shen Yujen''s neck, then held her hands. Right after that, she suddenly felt some extra weight from one of her legs. And then, Shen Yujen, she, and Wu Yueling, who was hanging on her leg, disappeared together.


    Wu Chengyue''s heart broke as his daughter left with the zombie lady.


    Was he abandoned?


    He wasn''t her biological father, but had been raising her since she was born! His baby girl had abandoned him!

 271 Lets Talk About I

    Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili, pointing at the few level-five zombies behind her as she asked, "I asked you to bring back some zombie nuclei, but why did you bring back a group of living zombies?"


    Then, she sniffed at Qiu Lili and continued with surprise, "Eh? I sense many different types of energies from you. What are those?"


    Qiu Lili took off the small bag that she carried, then opened it and rummaged through it with a hand. Soon, she took out a few weirdly shaped crystal pieces and spread her fingers to show them to Lin Qiao.


    "Ahhhh¡­ Ahyayaya¡­"


    ''I wanted to kill them. But, they were afraid, so they traded these for their lives.


    Lin Qiao picked up one of those crystal pieces, then asked, "Did these belong to animals or plants?"


    She picked up those crystal pieces one after another to sense the energies inside them. She found that the energies contained in two of these crystal pieces were similar to that in the vine kernel which she had obtained before, the rest being different. Sensing that, she felt a bit strange.


    The two should be zombie nuclei, yet she couldn''t tell which level they were at.


    Qiu Lili reached out her slender finger and pointed at each of those nuclei while explaining, "Ahhhh¡­ Yahaha¡­ Yeeh¡­"


    ''These two belonged to plants, these two belonged to zombie animals, and this one is from a level-five zombie.''


    Lin Qiao glanced at the five level-five zombies who were quietly standing aside, and the young female zombie who was sitting on the roof, then asked confusedly, "Did you bring them back? Or, did they follow you here?"


    "Ahhhh¡­ Yahaha¡­."


    ''I brought them back. Didn''t you say that we''re gathering a zombie squad? So, I brought them back. Ah, this one isn''t included. She followed me here!" While speaking, she pointed at the young female zombie.


    "Roar!" Hearing Qiu Lili mention her, the young female zombie lowered her head to utter an unhappy growl at Lin Qiao.


    Again, Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    ''This one seems to be a little dangerous!''


    "Can you control her?" Lin Qiao asked Qiu Lili, who tilted her head and looked at the former while responding, "Ahyayayaya¡­.''


    ''Didn''t you say that she''s not evil? That''s why I didn''t send her away.


    Again, Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    She had said that indeed, but she didn''t know if this zombie would attack humans or not. Besides, this young female zombie was very moody, like a bomb that could go off at any time! What if she got upset and decided to attack people?


    Lin Qiao looked at the young female zombie''s face which was halfway covered in scales, asking, "Why did you follow her here? I''m telling you, you''re not allowed to attack any human being around here. I can''t kill you, but if you don''t follow my words, I''ll ask Lili to punish you!"


    While speaking, she pointed at Qiu Lili, who was standing in front of her.


    However, what Lin Qiao said about attacking human beings didn''t catch the young female zombie''s attention. Instead, she roared at Qiu Lili excitedly as if she had heard something that made her happy.


    "Roar!"


    ''Your name is Lili!''


    "Roarrrr¡­ Roar? Roar?"


    ''What''s my name then?''


    She murmured to herself, wearing a happy look as though she was making some kind of decision. But then, she paused, seeming to be confused and struggling. No one could tell what she was thinking about.


    Both Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili looked at her bewilderedly.


    Why was she so happy upon finding out Qiu Lili''s name? What happened to her?


    Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili and asked, "How was the fight between you and her? She seems to be afraid of you, but she''s not willing to leave you. What''s going on between you two?"


    Qiu Lili responded with a strange look, "Ahyayaya, Ahahahah, Ahyaya¡­"


    ''She can''t win against me. I don''t want to fight her, but I can''t send her away.''


    ''You need to keep an eye on her. If she loses her temper here, we''ll be in big trouble!''


    While she was speaking, the young female zombie raised her head to yell at Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili, "Roar! Oar! Oarrrr! Oar-whoo¡­"


    ''I know what my name should be! It''s Mengmeng! Mengmeng! Call me! Say my name!"


    "Why did you name yourself Mengmeng?" Lin Qiao looked at her confusedly.


    Qiu Lili turned her face away without looking at the young female zombie, saying, "Ahyee¡­"


    ''No, I won''t call you that name.''


    As Qiu Lili refused to say her name, Mengmeng immediately pulled a long face while shouting at her, "Roarrrr? Roar?"


    ''Why? Will calling my name kill you?''


    Lin Qiao glanced at Mengmeng, then at Qiu Lili. Abruptly, she waved her hand at Mengmeng and asked her to come down. "Here, come down here. Let''s talk."


    Mengmeng looked at Lin Qiao without doing what she asked. Instead, she glanced at Qiu Lili from time to time, seeming to be waiting for something.


    Lin Qiao looked at her, wanting to laugh. Mengmeng was so much like a child!


    "You talk to her," she thought for a moment, then said to Qiu Lili.


    Qiu Lili glanced at Lin Qiao, and as the latter nodded at her, she reluctantly turned her head to Mengmeng and roared.


    "Ahyayay, Ahyaya!"


    ''Just come down!''


    Mengmeng looked at Qiu Lili, then at Lin Qiao. Afterward, she leaped off the roof and landed beside Lin Qiao.


    "You can stay around Lili if you want, but you can''t attack the others. Do you understand that?" Lin Qiao said to her.


    "Roar? Roar?" Mengmeng didn''t understand.


    ''What does attack the others mean?''


    Lin Qiao looked at her, trying to explain, "You see, other people are staying in this building. You can''t hurt or bite them. If you can do that, I''ll let you drink this." As she was speaking, a cup of water showed up in her hand.


    Hearing her, Mengmeng first glanced at her confusedly. Next, when she saw the cup of water in Lin Qiao''s hand, her nose twitched slightly.


    ''What is it? It smells so good.'' She curiously looked at the cup and couldn''t help but raise a hand to reach it.


    Lin Qiao stepped backward, bringing the cup away from her while saying, "You need to promise to do what I said before I give you this."


    "Roar?"


    ''Promise what?''


    Mengmeng looked at Lin Qiao with confusion, then glanced at Qiu Lili. Qiu Lili kept ignoring her, so she turned back to Lin Qiao.


    "You can''t hurt people without a good reason, no matter they''re from around here or other places. Do you get it? As for the people around here, you need to protect them. Can you do that?" said Lin Qiao.


    Mengmeng thought for a moment, then nodded, still wearing a confused look. After nodding, she impatiently stared at the cup of water.


    "Remember what you promised me¡­ No backing out!" Lin Qiao re-emphasized her point as she handed Mengmeng the cup. Qui Lili looked at Lin Qiao unsurely, asking, "Ahyayaya?"


    ''Why do I feel that she can''t understand you?''

 329 Not Biological Father

    Holding the naked Shen Yujen, Lin Qiao showed a weird expression while looking at the little girl who was hanging on her leg.


    "Daddy will be sad¡­" She said to the little girl with a smile.


    As Lin Qiao suddenly showed up with a woman carried in her arms, Liu Jun, Qiu Lili, and the others looked at her with curiosity. Then, they saw the little girl whose arms were around her leg.


    "Roar!"


    ''Little girl!''


    Among all the zombies who had seen Wu Yueling, Mengmeng was the most excited one. She fleetingly darted out of the woods toward Lin Qiao. The little one immediately hid behind Lin Qiao''s legs and stuck out half a head from behind her, looking at Mengmeng with a pair of sparkling eyes.


    "Don''t scare her!" Lin Qiao said to Mengmeng.


    "Roar!"


    ''I didn''t!''


    Seeing Wu Yueling hiding from her, Mengmeng wasn''t angry, and only disagreed with what Lin Qiao said.


    Suddenly, the surface of the lake rippled, and a few jade-white vines reached out of the water, toward Lin Qiao.


    Viney had woken up. Once she showed up, Mengmeng, who just ran up to Lin Qiao, forgot about Wu Yueling. She quickly turned to glance at Viney in the lake, then turned and ran toward the woods.


    "Viney is awake?" Lin Qiao looked at the vines and reached out a hand to catch them.


    Viney said to her happily, ''Mama, Mama, Viney is hungry¡­ Eh? Is this woman my food?" While speaking to Lin Qiao, Viney pointed at Shen Yujen with her other vines.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "Be patient! She''s almost dead, with nothing but virus inside her body. You can''t eat her. Wait for a second, I''ll get you some zombie nuclei."


    ''I can bring her back to life then,'' said Viney, ''Mama, you can give me the nuclei. I can just use this human to filter my energy.''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Bring her down first. I''ll go and get you the nuclei."


    While speaking, she handed Shen Yujen to Viney. As Viney took her over, Lin Qiao bent to scoop up Wu Yueling, then turned and walked toward the second small space.


    She remembered that the bald robber had many zombie nuclei in her space.


    As Lin Qiao carried the little one there, those zombie leaders in the second small space all drooled at the little human girl. However, they didn''t dare to make any move without Lin Qiao''s permission.


    Lin Qiao walked to the entrance, then said to the group of zombies, "Zombie number four, bring me the zombie nuclei in there. You didn''t eat them, did you?"


    The group of zombie shook their heads together.


    Zombie number four quickly ran to a corner and began searching. Soon, he came out holding a pile of sparkling zombie nuclei. Lin Qiao picked the level-four and five nuclei and left the rest for the zombies. "Alright, these are your snacks," she said.


    The group of zombies didn''t know what ''snacks'' meant, but did understand that Lin Qiao had given the remaining zombie nuclei to them.


    Lin Qiao carried the little one with one hand and the zombie nuclei with the other. Under the witnesses of the group of zombie leaders, she walked to the lake and threw the nuclei into the water.


    Following a series of plops, the zombie nuclei fell into the water, being swept away by a few jade white vines.


    "Who''s that?" Liu Jun and Qiu Lili walked to her and asked in one voice with curiosity.


    Lin Qiao answered their question, "A poor woman. She should be dead, but someone injected zombie blood into her body. She might wake up as a zombie."


    "Why did you help her?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "I''m not helping her," said Lin Qiao, "Her husband truly loves her. If she died, I''d feel sorry for the pair. After all, that man said that he won''t give up on her even if she becomes a zombie. I''d like to find out if that''s true or not."


    "You do like to fulfill people''s wishes," said Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "No, it''s like lifting a finger to me. Even if I refused to help him, I think that man would figure out a way to change my mind."


    "That man?" Liu Jun and Qiu Lili looked at her with confusion, "That woman''s husband?"


    They thought that Lin Qiao was talking about the poor woman''s husband. However, Lin Qiao shook her head.


    "No, her father." She lowered her head to glance at Wu Yueling and said. Hearing that, Liu Jun and Qiu Lili looked at her bewilderedly. Lin Qiao didn''t explain more to them, but continued, "Alright, I''ll bring her out. I can''t tell how much time it will take for that woman to transform into a zombie."


    ¡­


    At that moment, the people outside were glancing at each other.


    "Yue, I guess in the near future, Ling Ling will forget about her daddy." Looking at the gray rabbit which was hopping around the room to search for Wu Yueling, Wu Chengyue silently nodded.


    "Chief?" Liang Dashu asked curiously, "Why did that weird woman ask you if Ling Ling is your biological daughter?"


    Meng Yue was looking at Wu Yueling and waiting for his answer as well. Ever since she met him, Wu Yueling had been with him. He told everyone that the girl was his daughter, so no one ever doubted if he was her biological father.


    Wu Chengyue sighed. Not many people were in the room at the moment. Except for Chen Yuting, Liang Dashu, and Moli, who had been silent the whole time, only he himself and the recently disappeared Miss. Lu were here.


    He said, "Ling Ling isn''t my biological daughter. She''s the daughter of a very good friend of mine. Not long after she was born, the apocalypse happened. My friend turned into a zombie. To protect the newly born baby, his wife dragged him and jumped down from over the tenth floor."


    The others all fell in silence as they quietly looked at him.


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face showed a trace of hidden sadness as he continued, "When I found them, the baby was almost dying. I saved her and raised her as my own daughter."


    Lin Qiao showed up at that moment, saying, "No wonder I felt that your blood isn''t the same as hers. It turns out that she isn''t your daughter, but is an adopted child."


    Seeing her show up, Chen Yuting immediately rushed to her and asked, "How is it going? Will Jen¡­ Will she wake up?"


    Lin Qiao put the little one on the ground while responding to him, "I don''t know yet. We need to wait to find out."


    The others looked at Wu Chengyue with surprise, then turned to Wu Yueling, who was put on the ground and running toward Wu Chengyue.


    "Does¡­ she know?" Meng Yue looked at Wu Chengyue and asked abruptly.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and replied, "She does. I didn''t keep it secret from her."


    "Don''t forget to leave with us this afternoon." Lin Qiao said to Chen Yuting, then turned and walked out.


    Liang Dashu kept staring at Lin Qiao''s back. As she walked out of the room and went across the living room before leaving, he finally began asking questions.


    "Does she really know how to save that woman?"


    "Perhaps!" Wu Chengyue gave an uncertain answer, then said to Wu Yueling, who was on her way to the rabbit, "Ling Ling, we''re leaving."

 272 Wesll Let You Go if You Win

    Mengmeng took over the cup and slightly turned her body as she put the cup under her nose to sniff at the water. Then, she stuck out her tongue to lick it.


    Her tongue wasn''t the same as the tongues of normal zombies. It was long and slim, quickly and nimbly dipping into the water before drawing back into Mengmeng''s mouth.


    After that, Mengmeng stuck her tongue and her green eyes glowed. Next, she started pouring the water into her mouth. After the cup was emptied, she handed it to Lin Qiao and gave a roar.


    ''I want more!''


    Lin Qiao took the cup and said, "You can only have three cups a day." After saying that, she disappeared. As she reappeared in two seconds, the cup in her hand was refilled with water.


    Mengmeng took it over and drank it up before handing it back to Lin Qiao, looking at her with eager eyes while waiting for the next cup of water.


    Lin Qiao refilled the cup again for her, then said, "Alright, that''s it for today. You''ll have more tomorrow."


    Mengmeng suddenly sensed satiety from her stomach, so she didn''t disagree with Lin Qiao this time. Instead, she swiftly climbed onto the roof of the stair room like an animal.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao turned to look at the other zombies, who were five zombie leaders. She would be able to kill one or two of them, but facing five of them, she had no chance of winning at all.


    "Lili, keep an eye on Mengmeng," Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili and then turned to walk to those zombie leaders while continuing, "I''ll deal with these level-fives one by one."


    Having finished talking, she stared at the middle-aged, ice-powered male zombie that she had acquaintance with. Qiu Lili raised her head to glance at Mengmeng, then disappeared without a trace.


    Once Qiu Lili left, Mengmeng, who was sitting on the roof, got puzzled at first, then abruptly stood up. She looked around for a while, then calmly sat back down. After that, she looked at Lin Qiao with great interest.


    At that time, Lin Qiao suddenly disappeared.


    In a few seconds, the group of zombies who were standing on the roof realized what had happened. Earlier on, Lin Qiao had disappeared shortly while refilling the cup for Mengmeng. But after that, she reappeared in just three of four seconds.


    However, this time, Lin Qiao didn''t reappear in such a short span of time. Qiu Lili was no longer around, so the group of zombies began glancing around to search for Lin Qiao.


    They had no idea that Lin Qiao had already turned invisible, and was standing right behind them.


    She stood in front of the middle-aged male zombie who had chased after her, looking at the claw wound on his chest that was left by her. The wound hadn''t healed yet, and was still sealed in ice.


    As she thought, high-level zombies weren''t able to heal themselves.


    Lin Qiao didn''t plan to bring this zombie into her space. Instead, she showed her face half a meter away from him. When showing up, her claws had already clasped his forehead. Once she moved slightly, her sharp claws would sink into his skull.


    "Roar!" The ice-powered zombie leader was startled by Lin Qiao''s sudden appearance and then shivered intensely. After giving a roar, he felt that his head was gripped by someone, which made him freeze, without daring to move even a little.


    "Last time, I took your food," Lin Qiao said to him with composure, "I stole your prey, and you chased me for a long time. Every time, it was you chasing me while I was trying to hide. Now, let''s do a fair fight. I''ll let you leave if you win, but if you lose, you''ll have to follow my words, and only my words, in the future!"


    "Roar!" The male zombie roared at her, seeming unwilling to do what she had proposed. As they were pretty close to each other, a strong stench from his mouth blew at Lin Qiao''s face.


    Lin Qiao immediately covered her nose and said coldly, "Or, do you want me to crush your head right now?"


    While speaking, she clenched her fingers and made her claws, which were even harder than steel, sink slightly into the zombie''s scalp.


    "Roarrrr!" The middle-aged male zombie didn''t feel pain but sensed a danger, a very strong danger!


    "Roarrrrr¡­" Hearing the warning from the male zombie, the other zombies were immediately on alert against Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao glanced at them, then said to the male zombie, "What do you think? Will you fight me? If you refuse, you''ll die!"


    "Roar¡­"


    ''I''ll fight! Don''t kill me!''


    "Don''t even think about running. You won''t be able to run away from me, or Qiu Lili," said Lin Qiao. Finishing talking, she loosened her grip and took a step backward. Once she took her claws away, the male zombie bent over and covered his head with both hands, moving backward step by step.


    He stared at Lin Qiao, his dark eyes showing fear. He couldn''t understand why she was so powerful now, as she was weaker than him not long ago.


    He felt the whole situation being so unfair. Lin Qiao was apparently stronger than him, yet she asked to fight him. Although she didn''t kill him directly, he wouldn''t have a chance of winning her!


    However, Lin Qiao did promise to let him go if he won. Perhaps¡­ Perhaps he could really win!


    With that thought, the male zombie suddenly had a gleam of hope in his heart.


    Qiu Lili had left, but her vibe was still suppressing this whole area. Therefore, even though she had disappeared, the group of zombies didn''t dare to make any move without permission.


    The male zombie stepped further away from Lin Qiao. The latter didn''t move, but calmly crooked her finger toward the male zombie, signaling for him to start.


    The male zombie immediately waved both hands toward Lin Qiao. With that, a wave of differently sized ice pieces suddenly fell from the sky, swiftly flying toward her. Next, the male zombie lunged forward and made a circle around Lin Qiao before diving down from her side.


    Lin Qiao found that this zombie''s attacks were very random. It was like a monkey throwing stones at its enemy without even aiming. However, the male zombie used his ice power while charging at her to start a close combat. Could the combination of these two types of attacks be considered a fighting strategy?


    She looked at the wave of stone-like ice pieces which were falling toward her, then glanced at the male zombie who was charging down at her. Suddenly, she bent her legs slightly and raised both her arms as she sprung at the male zombie without dodging.


    The male zombie didn''t think that Lin Qiao would jump at him instead of dodging. As fast as possible, he swung his claws down at her. Seeing that, Lin Qiao slightly turned her left hand to push him to the side and protect herself against the male zombie''s claws. In the meanwhile, she bent her right arm and swung it at him.


    Puff!


    The male zombie fell on the ground and staggered a little.


    He glanced down at the few deep wounds on his arm, then turned his head to look at Lin Qiao, who landed beside him, perfectly unharmed.

 330 The Furious Yang Yan

    There was a fancy apartment building in Special Region B. This apartment was well equipped with excellent facilities, including seven solar energy storage facilities, which were enough to power the entire building. There was also a large pool on top of this building. Every day, water-powered people would go up there to add clear water into it.


    Moreover, this apartment building was newly constructed.


    At this point, in the luxurious apartment on the top floor of this building, Yang Yan was angrily pacing in the living room while emotionally yelling at an about thirty-years-old man, who was sitting on a couch, "Brother, why don''t you help me? I don''t care who they are and what''s their relationship with Wu Chengyue! They scared my boy, so I want them dead! Even if that can''t happen, I want them to each lose a hand or a leg."


    The man sitting on the couch seemed to be at his thirties, but was actually over forty-years-old. He had a square face, thick brows, bright eyes, and a straight nose; he looked charming from every angle.


    His features looked forty percent similar to Yang Yan''s, but a lot gentler.


    A very young and pretty woman was softly leaning against him, as if she had no bones at all.


    "Ahyaya¡­ Chao, why are you so afraid of Wu Chengyue? You can send the robber to bring them troubles. If they find anything, you can make the robber take all the blame, can''t you? What are you worrying about?" The pretty woman rubbed Yang Chao''s arm with her soft body while speaking with a sweet voice.


    Yang Chao gave her a glance, then turned back to her little sister. "Don''t you cause me any trouble at this point. If Wu Chengyue finds out about our plan because of what you did, I''ll punish you the first."


    "But look at my boy! He''s been hiding under a blanket since yesterday! He won''t come out, and always pees in his pants! He''s your nephew! Are you gonna leave him like that?" Yang Yan shouted at Yang Chao.


    Yang Chao clicked his tongue, then said patiently, "Why did you encourage him to mess with those people? They gave him a lesson right on the spot. Wasn''t that enough?"


    Yang Yan paused briefly, then said resentfully, "I was just pretty pissed at that long-haired woman. Yang Hui liked her, and that should be a pleasure of hers. But, she just didn''t know what was good for him. So, I told my son to punish her and to take revenge for his uncle. What was wrong about that?"


    As Yang Yan finished talking, the pretty woman turned to Yang Chao and said, "Yan did what she did for Hui''s good. I don''t think she was wrong."


    As the woman supported her, Yang Yan sounded even more confident, "Yun is absolutely right. Brother, just think of a way to make those people suffer. I can let the others live, but I want that tomboy with sunglasses to die first! We should better cut off all her limbs, then throw her to Region F for those dirty and stinky refugees to rape. I want them to rape her one after another until she dies!"


    "Shut up!" Yang Chao frowned slightly and said, "Who do you think she is? She''s someone who has the courage to start a fight in public. Can she be that easy to deal with? I''ve sent people to dig into her yesterday. That woman you talked about is traceless. My people failed to find anything about her. Also, Wu Chengyue is working together with them now. If we make any move before him, he will have a full reason to launch attacks at us."


    "Ugh!" Hearing his words, Yang Yan screamed out loud with fury, then bent over and swept a teapot to the ground from the tea table, causing a loud noise.


    "We can''t do this, can''t do that! What you want me to do then? My boy is scared so badly. Don''t those people need to pay for what they did? What if it results in some kind of sequela? Who can bring justice to us?"


    Looking at his frenzied sister, Yang Chao put one hand on his forehead and said, "Alright, alright, calm down first! Your power isn''t stable. If it explodes, you''ll be the one who suffers. I''ll handle it. You should go back and keep an eye on your son now."


    "No! I''m not going back!" The emotional Yang Yan shouted out loud without thinking.


    "Go back!" As she didn''t calm down and started getting unreasonable instead, Yang Chao had no choice but to yell at her. After being yelled at, Yang Yan paused, then reluctantly turned around and walked out.


    "You should go back as well," Yang Chao then said to the woman beside him.


    "Alright!" The woman paused slightly, then obediently stood up. After taking a few steps, she turned around and asked, "Can I come back tonight?"


    "I''ll send someone to inform you," Yang Chao said blandly.


    "Alright," the woman turned and left unwillingly.


    Yang Chao glanced at his watch, then stood up and walked to the kitchen to boil a pot of water. After that, he took out some coffee powder which was very scarce in the post-apocalyptic world, and made himself a cup of instant coffee.


    He stirred the coffee with a fork, then held the cup as he walked to the balcony and stood there. Gazing afar, he drank the coffee sip by sip.


    Finishing the cup of coffee, he turned and came back inside. Right at that moment, the door was knocked on, and a soldier opened the door before walking in.


    "Chief, Mr. Tang is here."


    Yang Chao nodded and said, "Let him in."


    The soldier opened the door, then a man came in.


    Tang He walked in and watched the soldier close the door behind him, then walked to a couch in the living room.


    "Please have a seat. I''ll make you some coffee," Yang Chao said to him, then walked back to the kitchen with the empty cup and made two cups of coffee, which he carried back out.


    Tang He looked at him and said, "Those people are leaving today. Lin Feng is a new level-six, and the other few team leaders are all at level-five. Yuan Tianxing isn''t going with them. Don''t they worry that something might happen on their way?"


    Yang Chao put a cup of coffee on the tea table before him and said, "No¡­ You just haven''t seen the powerful ones who''re hiding behind them."


    Hearing that, Tang He asked with surprise, "Powerful ones? Do you mean he has more supporters?"


    Yang Chao nodded and said, "There''s one who seems to be rather remarkable. I had sent out some people yesterday, but they failed to dig up her background."


    "So¡­ that person might leave with Lin Family?" Tang He asked. "If you don''t know about her background¡­ will that affect what I''m going to do?"


    Yang Chao shook his head and responded, "No, but we will change the plan. You don''t need to go out of the base with them anymore. Instead, you''ll capture this woman in the base. I''ll handle the rest."


    While speaking, he took out a photo and put it on the table, then pushed it to Tang He. The woman in the photo was Lin Wenwen, who had long and straight black hair.


    Tang He''s eyes glowed when he looked at the photo. He licked his lips as he stared at the photo and said, "This woman is pretty. Who is she?"


    "The youngest daughter of Lin Family," said Yang Chao, "After capturing her, you can do anything you like to her. But, you have to hide her well¡­ because I have a further plan."

 273 The Cup is Chewed

    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest as she stared at the male zombie. She had controlled her strength; otherwise, based on the distance between the two of them, the middle-aged male zombie would have been cut into pieces.


    Sensing Lin Qiao''s strength and attitude, the male zombie started to feel threatened again. Slowly, his sense of crisis suppressed the slight hope in his heart.


    He took two steps backward with hesitation to move away from Lin Qiao while black and sticky blood flowed out of the wounds on his arm. As he wiped his arm with his hand, a layer of ice appeared on those wounds, freezing the black blood.


    He stared at Lin Qiao, then suddenly charged at her again, even faster than before. He flashed across the air and showed up before her, along with a wave of cold air.


    Lin Qiao sensed the cold air as the floor under her feet was frozen suddenly. Ice fixed her feet to the floor, disabling her from moving.


    ''Not a bad move!'' Lin Qiao gave a compliment silently. Then, before the male zombie darted up to her, she abruptly waved a hand and released a stream of thick dark mist that surrounded her entire body.


    The male zombie saw the dark mist just as his claws were about to land on Lin Qiao''s body. He immediately stopped moving, then quickly withdrew his hands and began moving backward.


    As a zombie, he was instinctively afraid of the dark mist.


    The male zombie got as far away from Lin Qiao as possibly, then squatted without making any other move.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and sent the black mist up, making it float above her head. Meanwhile, a few wisps of the black mist covered her feet to melt the ice slowly.


    The male zombie squatted in a corner of the stair room in front of her, not looking like he was going to attack again. Seeing that, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but shout at him.


    "Again?"


    The male zombie didn''t move, only glancing at her once before lowering his head.


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    Was the male zombie giving up?


    The ice created by the male zombie contained his energy. It wasn''t as hard as Yang Jianhua''s ice, yet Lin Qiao still noticed that the few wisps of black mist could only melt it slowly.


    Therefore, she brought the cloud of dark mist down from above her head and wrapped the ice under her feet. After a whole minute, Lin Qiao was finally able to pull her feet out of the ice.


    She raised a hand and let the black mist flow back into her palm, then walked to the male zombie. Seeing her approach, the male zombie wanted very much to run away. However, he understood that he wouldn''t be able to run far. He was afraid of Lin Qiao, who was clearly a strange zombie.


    He continued squatting; each time Lin Qiao made a step toward him, he would move slightly to the side.


    Lin Qiao walked up to him, then slowly lowered her head to look at him and asked, "Have you given up?"


    The male zombie quickly glanced up at her, then lowered his head again.


    Lin Qiao understood that he had given up. She was surprised to find that he feared her dark mist so much. While thinking that, she raised a hand, and a cup of water showed up in her hand.


    "Here, drink," Lin Qiao handed it to the male zombie.


    The zombie seemed to be attracted by some kind of scent. As he raised his head to sniff around, he saw that Lin Qiao was handing him a cup of water. He took over the cup with curiosity, then sniffed at it. After pausing slightly, he sniffed at it again, then put the cup near his mouth to lick it. Afterward, he poured the water straight into his mouth.


    After drinking the water, he spent a moment gazing at the empty cup, then suddenly opened his mouth and took a bite of the cup, caused a cracking noise.


    Lin Qiao was shocked as she hurriedly grabbed the cup back.


    Did he like the water so much that he even chewed the cup?


    Right at that moment, a voice was heard from the stair room. "I think I''ve heard something from up there¡­"


    "Miss. Lu is up there. Is Qiu Lili back?"


    "I''ve sensed energy fluctuations. Is a fight happening there?"


    Following the voices, three people soon showed up in the stair room¡ªLin Hao, Li Zheng and Lei Yao. The three of them stood by the door, confusedly looking at the male zombie who was squatted in a corner, and the few level four or five zombies standing on the nearby roofs.


    "These¡­ Why are so many high-level zombies here? They''re not all zombie leaders, are they?" Sensing the strong vibes of these zombies, Li Zheng asked alertly.


    "Eh? Where are all these strange zombies from?" Lin Hao wasn''t as nervous as the other, only observing the group of zombies curiously.


    He saw that Lin Qiao was holding a broken cup while facing the zombie in the corner. He didn''t know what she was doing.


    "Don''t move! They are all zombie leaders. Lili just brought them back. They haven''t been trained, so they might attack you. You can either go downstairs now, or stand there and not move," Lin Qiao turned to say to the three.


    Abruptly, she raised her head to say to Mengmeng, "Don''t you forget what you promised to me just now!"


    Mengmeng, who was preparing to pounce down upon the three people, immediately sat back down.


    Hearing Lin Qiao shouting at the roof of the stair room, Lin Hao and the other two raised their head to find a head sticking out of the edge of the roof. Mengmeng was staring at them with a pair of black eyes, which had green and erect pupils in it.


    "Eh!" The three people were all startled, as they had completely no idea that Mengmeng was there!


    Mengmeng had given them a very strong suppression. She wasn''t calm and mild like Qiu Lili, as her eyes were filled with aggressiveness.


    Li Zheng and his people hadn''t encountered any zombie king or queen before, but they had met zombie leaders. Now, as quite a few zombie leaders were standing right in front of them, they didn''t dare to move even if they wanted to!


    Lin Hao had seen Qiu Lili before, so he understood that Mengmeng was also a zombie queen just like Qiu Lili. But unlike Qiu Lili, Mengmeng looked wilder, seeming ready to attack people at any time.


    Once the three people showed up, all the others fixed their eyes on them, making their scalp numb.


    "We¡­ Can we go downstairs? This place is scary!"


    At that point, a white figure suddenly showed up on the middle of the roof and uttered a roar toward the four zombie leaders who were scattered on the nearby roofs.


    "Ahya!"


    Following the roar, the four zombie leaders all leaped toward the hotel building.


    Seeing that, Li Zheng and Lei immediately put themselves on full alert. But unlike them, Lin Hao was only half alert, because he believed that Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili wouldn''t let those zombies attack the three of them.


    Hearing Qiu Lili summon the zombies, the middle-aged male zombie intended to go to her. However, Lin Qiao was still standing before him. Should he move or not? If he didn''t go, would the big zombie eat him?


    In the eyes of zombie leaders, zombie queens and kings were big zombies.

 331 Shen Yujen Became A Zombie

    Yang Chao''s words sounded like he was going to give that woman to Tang He for him to have whatever fun he liked with her, as long as he captured her secretly. With surprise, Tang He looked at Yang Chao and said, "Eh? This woman is so pretty. Aren''t you gonna spend some great time with her yourself? Are you giving her to me?"


    "I can give her to you," said Yang Chao, "But, you have to leave the girl with the katana to me. I think I need a change."


    Tang He grinned wickedly and said, "Ah, so that''s the type you like now? Alright then!"


    Yang Chao glanced at him blandly, then said, "You should wait until Wu Chengyue has brought his army out of the base to collect supplies for the winter. And, you can''t kill that woman, neither should you keep her for too long. I''ll put the zombie virus into her body, then let her become a zombie in the base. After that, we''ll be able to control those people with the excuse that they carried the virus. By then, it would be too late for Wu Chengyue to come back and save them even if he wants to."


    Tang He looked at him and laughed, "That''s such an evil plan, but I like it!"


    Yang Chao drank his cup of coffee, then continued confidently, "According to the message I just received, Wu Chengyue will gather his army and leave in a couple of days too. So, you should stay patient."


    Tang He nodded and replied, "Alright. I won''t make any move until they''ve all left."


    In the square, Lin Qiao returned to the gathering place, then looked at the time and found that it was noon already. Except for Wu Chengyue''s three-hundred and fifty people, the others had all gathered in the square. As Li Zheng came back, all the others looked at her curiously. "How did it go? Did you find her?" asked Li Zheng.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "We found her, but she isn''t in a very good condition."


    "What happened?" Women''s curiosity made Mrs. Lin and Cheng Wangxue walk over.


    "She''s almost dead," said Lin Qiao.


    About two o''clock in the afternoon, Xiao Yunlong and Chen Yuting each drove an off-road vehicle to the square. Following behind the two vehicles were a few modified FAW 141, mostly filled with soldiers.


    However, one FAW 141 was empty.


    Seeing the vehicles, Lin Qiao said to Lin Hao, "The vehicles are here. Count the noses and get abroad."


    Li Hao turned around and yelled at the few others, "Li Zheng, count the noses and get onto that empty vehicle." While speaking, he pointed at the empty FAW 141 at the back of the motorcade.


    Li Zheng and his teammates quickly gathered about twenty people behind them, then told them to get onto the vehicle.


    Lin Qiao didn''t move, but casually glanced around. Quite some people had their eyes on her and her people, but she didn''t know whom they worked for.


    After everyone got aboard, the motorcade began moving toward an entrance of the base.


    In a corner of the square, Xie Dong silently watched the motorcade leave, then walked toward the administration building nearby. Lin Wenwen stayed in the base. Although Yuan Tianxing and Long Qingying were with her, it was still hard to avoid all possible dangers. Therefore, Lin Wenwen had left Xie Dong in the base.


    As long as he stayed silent, no one would find out about his true nature.


    He had regained his power, and stepped into level-four. Although his level wasn''t high, as a zombie, he was sensitive to all the movements that the others made. Therefore, he should be able to protect Lin Wenwen secretly.


    Lin Qiao walked toward a corner that no one was paying attention to, then disappeared.


    No one could sense her movements; not even Xiao Yunlong and Lin Feng were able to track her. She would always show up whenever and wherever she was needed.


    When the motorcade was miles away from the base, Lin Qiao showed up on the roof of the last vehicle. She silently followed behind the motorcade, as she had given the map to Lin Feng and told him about the location of the destination.


    At this time in her space, Liu Jun was sitting on a couch, watching Tongtong play with a grass plane that Lin Qiao made for him. Qiu Lili was lazily lying on another couch, fiddling with her long hair.


    All of a sudden, a wave of energy came from the lake, then a woman slowly walked out of the water. She was naked, shambling all the way. Her head was lowered, and her long wet hair covered her entire face.


    "She''s up," Qiu Lili immediately sat up from the couch, then leaned her head forward to sniff at the woman. After that, she said, "She has become a zombie, but her scent is a little weird. She isn''t like a normal zombie."


    Liu Jun thought for a moment, then said, "Her scent is the same as Xie Dong''s."


    Qiu Lili''s eyes glowed when she heard that. "Ah, yeah, they''re the same!"


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly showed up by the lakeside, watching the woman come out. Liu Jun stood up and walked to Qiu Lili''s large closet, then found a shirt and a pair of pants.


    By now, Qiu Lili''s large closet didn''t only contain the clothes that Qiu Lili collected before, but also had many other clothes that Lin Qiao put in it.


    A few more closets were places around the original one.


    Liu Jun walked up behind Lin Qiao with the clothes and watched the woman who looked like a female ghost come out of the lake. She staggered to Lin Qiao, then stopped, her head remaining lowered, constantly dripping water. No life-force could be detected from her.


    "Raise your head," said Lin Qiao to her.


    Shen Yujen slowly lifted her head and looked at Lin Qiao dully and confusedly. Her unfocused eyes were seen through the gaps between her hair locks.


    Sensing her vibe, Lin Qiao learned that she was exactly the same kind of zombie as Xie Dong, and was also mysteriously connected with herself. That unexplainable connection might be the reason why Shen Yujen automatically walked to her once she came out of the lake.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, Shen Yujen paused slightly, as if falling into deep thoughts. Gradually, her eyes brightened, showing hatred, anger, despair, love, surprise and all sorts of complicated and constantly changing feelings.


    Her eyes were the same as Xie Dong''s; the white parts of those eyes remained. Her appearance didn''t change much, as she didn''t have black zombie eyes or periorbital dark circles. Except for her pale skin, she looked no different from healthy human beings.


    However, Lin Qiao knew that she couldn''t talk anymore.


    As she thought, Shen Yujen opened her mouth to try to say something, but quickly stopped, her eyes showing confusion.


    "Roar¡­"


    ''I¡­''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Alright, I get it. You still have your memories, and that''s good enough. At least I did what I promised Chen Yuting."


    Hearing her mentioning Chen Yuting, Shen Yujen showed tenderness in her eyes. She nodded and thought for a moment, then opened her mouth again.


    "Roar¡­"


    ''Thank you!''


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "You don''t need to thank me. What I did was conditional. From now on, you and Chen Yuting will have to leave Sea City Base and follow me."


    Liu Jun handed the clothes to Shen Yujen, then said, "Have you found out what you are now?"


    Shen Yujen saw Liu Jun''s eyes while taking over the clothes. She was puzzled slightly, but didn''t pay too much attention to those eyes. After hearing Liu Jun''s question, she stopped dressing herself and nodded.

 332 Ism Willing to Wait for Him

    Shen Yujen remembered what had happened to her. Before the rescue arrived, she was nearly unconscious. However, when Chen Yuting and the others found her, she had woken up for a while and heard some of Doctor Liang''s words.


    She remembered the doctor say that she was infected by the zombie virus.


    She wasn''t able to talk now, and her limbs were stiff. That made her feel that she was no longer alive.


    She raised a hand and pressed it on her heart. As she expected, her heart wasn''t beating.


    "Put on the clothes first," said Lin Qiao, "Chen Yuting is right outside. If you want to see him, I''ll bring you out."


    Hearing that, Shen Yujen quickly shook her head, as if she didn''t want to see Chen Yuting ever again.


    Lin Qiao knew what she was thinking. "Your appearance didn''t change," she said to her, "You look exactly the same as before. Do you still not want to see him? If he loves you, he won''t mind your change."


    Shen Yujen lowered her head and quietly got dressed.


    "Alright then," Lin Qiao continued, "If you don''t want to see him, you can stay here for now and get used to your current state."


    Shen Yujen dressed herself and raised her head to look at Lin Qiao, then at Liu Jun. After that, she turned her head to look around. Abruptly, she paused, then raised her nose to sniff at the couch area. Afterward, her eyes were fixed on Tong Tong, who was on a couch.


    Liu Jun discovered the gradually appearing hunger in her eyes, so she said to her, "That''s my son. You can''t eat him. If you''re really hungry, go drink from the lake. The lake water will ease your hunger."


    Shen Yujen was puzzled at first, then turned to look at the lake with surprise. As she had no more questions, Lin Qiao turned around and prepared to exit her space.


    "Roar¡­"


    ''Wait!''


    Sensing that Lin Qiao was leaving, Shen Yujen suddenly told her to wait.


    Lin Qiao turned back, looked at her and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    "Roar¡­"


    ''Can I go out?''


    Shen Yujen looked at her and asked.


    "Do you want to take revenge?" Lin Qiao responded.


    She first crossed her arms before her chest, then put a hand on her chin and said, "Those people haven''t died yet, even though I''ve cut a foot each of theirs. However, Wu Chengyue has them now. I think he''s going to use them to bring troubles to Yang Chao. Em¡­ If you want to go back and kill them, I don''t think Wu Chengyue will let you do it now."


    "Roar¡­" Shen Yujen shook her head and said. ''Not them!''


    Lin Qiao looked at her and blinked while continuing, "Are you talking about the man who planned this? Isn''t that Yang Chao''s little brother, or one of his subordinates?"


    She knew about Yang Chao''s brother, Yang Hui, was one of his right-hand men, the one who fought Chen Yuting the other day. That man always liked to rape women secretly, then kill those poor women and destroy the bodies.


    Shen Yujen slightly lowered her head; her vibe a little agitated.


    "Roar¡­" ''I''ll tear him into pieces myself!''


    Lin Qiao looked at her and stayed silent for a while.


    Liu Jun, who stood beside her, didn''t know what Shen Yujen had been through. However, judging by her unstable emotions, she could guess that something awful and unfair must have happened to her.


    "Does she want to go back to take revenge? Is the enemy in a high position in Sea City Base?" asked Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "The relationship between her husband and Wu Chengyue is a little sensitive. That''s why Wu Chengyue''s opponent hurt her. He did that mainly to frustrate her husband and Wu Chengyue."


    Thinking about what could happen to a woman who fell into the hands of some high-positioned but sick men in a base, Liu Jun didn''t say anything but silently glanced at Shen Yujen.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then said to Shen Yujen, "Your condition isn''t stable yet, and you haven''t gotten familiar with your new body. Besides, even if I sent you out now, you wouldn''t be able to enter the base. How about this? I''ll bring you into the base when I go back next time. Don''t worry, I won''t make you wait too long."


    As Lin Qiao promised to bring her back, Shen Yujen nodded.


    As no other zombies on the scene disagreed with what Lin Qiao said, she silently sighed with relief.


    ¡­


    In the base, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying stood by a window in the Mission Hall, watching the motorcade leave.


    Long Qingying looked at Lin Wenwen and said with disagreement, "You should go with them. Even if Deputy Chief does need help, your little brother could stay. It''s too dangerous for you to be here."


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "I''m not afraid of dangers. Tianxing is here. He won''t let anything happen to me."


    When Lin Wenwen said Yuan Tianxing''s name, a trace of affection flashed across her eyes and soon disappeared. However, Long Qingying still managed to see that. "You should know clearly enough that Deputy Chief is in love with someone. Is it worth for you to wait like this?".


    Lin Wenwen turned to glance at Yuan Tianxing and a few others who were at a distance away, then looked at Long Qingying and responded with a smile, "Maybe he''ll forget about my sister one day and notice me, who has been by his side the whole time. It''s worth for me to wait, even if I have to wait until I die."


    Long Qingying sighed, but didn''t say anything else. Lin Wenwen was in love with Yuan Tianxing, while Yuan Tianxing was in love with her elder sister. She wasn''t able to walk into his heart, but refused to give up.


    The leader of the Hades Base had already died. Perhaps, this provided Lin Wenwen with a chance, even though she had never thought that her sister would die.


    So now, Lin Wenwen would try to get closer to Yuan Tianxing once she got a chance.


    On the other side of the base, in Wu Chengyue''s small building which was located in Special Region A, Wu Yueling was chasing behind the gray rabbit in the empty living room, seeming to be having fun. The rabbit was like a gray ball hopping on the floor. Anyway, it never hopped far away, and stayed around Wu Yueling.


    Xiao Licheng came in with a sealed box and said to Wu Chengyue, who was sitting on a couch and reading files, "I found them."


    Wu Chengyue raised his head and saw the box in his hands before nodding. "Send it to Yuan Tianxing," he said, "We''ll be leaving tomorrow, so when she gets back, we won''t be here. Just tell Yuan Tianxing to give them to her."


    Xiao Licheng nodded, then turned and left. Soon, he found Yuan Tianxing in the Mission Hall.


    "Deputy Chief Yuan," he walked over and grinned as he greeted Yuan Tianxing.


    Yuan Tianxing turned back. Seeing him, he smiled and responded, "Licheng, don''t call me Deputy Chief. I''m not a Deputy Chief anymore. Just call me Mr. Yuan."


    Xiao Licheng nodded and smiled, "Alright, Mr. Yuan¡­"


    Then, he took out the box and handed it to Yuan Tianxing, "My Chief wants you to give this to Miss. Lu, the one with sunglasses, please."


    Yuan Tianxing, Lin Wenwen, and Long Qingying all curiously looked at the box in his hands.


    "What''s in it?"


    "Cosmetic contacts," said Xiao Licheng.


    "Ah¡­" Hearing that, the others all nodded knowingly.

 274 Zombie Bodyguard

    He glanced again at Lin Qiao, who was standing in front of him. In fact, he didn''t want to go to Qiu Lili now, as he wanted more of the water that Lin Qiao gave him just now.


    Sensing his thoughts, Lin Qiao said, "No more¡­ You can only have one cup a day, under conditions.


    "Whoo¡­" the male zombie quietly looked at her, waiting for her to continue.


    "Firstly, you have to follow my words," said Lin Qiao. "Secondly¡­"


    She pointed at Lin Hao and the other two as she continued, "Them, and the other people like them in this building¡­ you can''t hurt them, and you have to protect them. Do you understand? Nod if you do."


    The male zombie wasn''t as smart as an adult human being, but had the IQ of a seven or eight years old child. Therefore, he was able to understand Lin Qiao, and he immediately nodded.


    Lin Qiao easily sensed the male zombie''s submission. If the latter lied to her, she would kill him.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand toward the male zombie while saying, "Alright¡­ Stand up and do what I said. I''ll give you a cup of water every day."


    The male zombie slowly stood up while glancing at Lin Qiao and the other two. After that, he raised his head to sniff around, then looked back at her. Lin Qiao pointed at a tall building that was around twenty meters away, then said to him, "Go stay over there, and don''t run about. Stay in that building. That building is your territory now."


    The male zombie turned to glance at that building, then looked at the broken cup in Lin Qiao''s hand. At last, he took a glance at Qiu Lili.


    He wasn''t sure if the big zombie would let him go over there or not.


    Qui Lili sensed his gaze, so she turned back to roar at him, "Ah, ahyaya!"


    ''Go, do what she said.''


    After receiving Qiu Lili''s order, the male zombie immediately relaxed. He glanced at Lin Qiao for one last time, then turned and leaped up from the roof, landing on the top floor of the building that Lin Qiao was pointing at. Then, he rested his arm on the guardrail of a corridor, looking at Lin Qiao and the others.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the Lin Hao and the other two who didn''t dare to move, and found that they were all staring at her with a strange look in their eye.


    Lei Yao, who didn''t talk much, asked Lin Hao, "Is she going to let these zombie leaders¡­ be our bodyguards?"


    Lin Hao had also been looking at Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, and the other zombies with confusion. With a low voice, he responded, "I have no idea. But, if I didn''t get what she said wrong, I guess that''s true."


    "Zombie leaders serving as bodyguards¡­ It''s honestly the first time for me to hear something like this¡­ And, we''re the lucky ones," Li Zheng joined the conversation.


    Lin Qiao glanced up at Mengmeng, then waved a hand at her and said, "You, come down!"


    However, Mengmeng just looked at her and didn''t move.


    Lin Qiao smiled at her and continued, "Alright! If you refuse to follow my words, you shouldn''t come to me for the water again."


    Hearing that, Mengmeng instantly leaped off the roof and quietly landed before Lin Qiao.


    In fact, after drinking the water, her hostility toward Lin Qiao had become weaker, and her repulsion was halfway gone. But still, she was a little uncomfortable to do what Lin Qiao said.


    Lin Qiao turned around and walked toward Qiu Lili. Mengmeng followed behind her, glancing back at Lin Hao and the other two human beings from time to time.


    Receiving that glance from Mengmeng, the three humans, who were preparing to quietly move backward and sneak away while the group of zombies weren''t paying attention to them, suddenly froze.


    Lin Qiao walked up to Qiu Lili, looking at the four zombie leaders who were at different ages, then asked her, "What are their powers?"


    Qiu Lili pointed at then one by one, saying, "Ahya, Aha, Ahyaya, Ahahah."


    ''Fire, green, earth, metal.''


    The fire-powered one was a child, who looked only around ten years old. He was a little boy, but now looked rather scary. The upper part of his face was undamaged, yet his jaw was entirely torn off his face, hanging over his neck. His bloody mouth cracked was from side to side. At the same time, his eyes were glowing with a faint red light.


    The green-powered one was a young female zombie. Her short hair were stuck to her scalp with blood. She was about five-feet and five-inches tall and slim. She had long legs flat chest, and a body that was fully covered in blood. It seemed that she used to be a neat girl before death.


    The earth-powered zombie was a male one, about thirty-years old. His head remained in shape, but his arms, chest, and stomach were all covered in bloody holes.


    The last one was a gray-haired elderly zombie, wearing a pair of glasses. Strangely, his hair were still shiny, and not dirty at all.


    The elderly zombie was wearing a traditional Chinese garment made of expensive fabric. He was the cleanest one among the four.


    While Lin Qiao was observing the four zombies, they were observing her as well. They had watched the fight between her and the ice-powered male zombie, and were all afraid of her dark mist for some reason.


    As Lin Qiao approached them, the four zombies fixed their dark eyes on her, as if they were afraid that she might suddenly attack them with the dark mist.


    "Ahyaya! Ahyayaya!" At that moment, Qiu Lili roared at the four zombie leaders.


    ''Why are you looking at her? You all need to follow her orders too!"


    The four zombie leaders immediately turned to Qiu Lili, their eyes filled with confusion.


    Lin Qiao was powerful indeed, but her vibe wasn''t strong enough to suppress the four zombie leaders. Obviously, the four zombie leaders weren''t willing to unconditionally follow the words of a zombie who was not stronger than themselves.


    Qiu Lili sensed their unwillingness, so she said, "Ahya, Ahyayayay!"


    ''If you don''t want to follow her words, you can fight her as well!''


    Hearing that, the four zombies immediately wore an aggressive look while staring at Lin Qiao.


    Seeing that, the latter gave a faint smile and turned up her palm to quickly release a stream of dark mist. From behind her, a cloud of dark mist slowly rose to above the four zombies.


    Seeing the large cloud of dark mist above their heads, the four zombie leaders became nervous.


    "Roar¡­ Whooo¡­" They each took two steps backward, alertly gazing at the dark cloud in the sky and looking like frightened animals.


    "Roar!" Even Mengmeng couldn''t stay calm as she leaped backward. But then, she found that Qiu Lili made no reaction to that dark mist. Therefore, she stepped forward, then inched her way to Qiu Lili''s side.


    "Wow! Doesn''t she have space power? Why has she suddenly released this strange black mist?" Lin Hao and the other two were going to sneak downstairs, but before they did that, they found that the sky above their heads was covered by a dark cloud.


    "Does she have two different types of power?" Li Zheng asked with surprise.


    Lei Yao was observing the reaction of the group of zombie leaders. While thinking, he said, "I think something is in the dark cloud, and those zombie leaders seem to be very afraid of it."


    Hearing him, the other two instantly turned to look at the group of zombie leaders. As Lei Yao said, the four zombies all looked nervous and alert at the moment.

 333 Arriving at the Upper City Distric

    At about four or five pm, the motorcade entered the center of Hangzhou City.


    "This¡­ Are we heading to the zombie city Hangzhou?" The people who had applied for the job by themselves were a little panicked. Seeing more and more zombies around, these people all showed fear in their eyes, especially those commoners.


    "We¡­ We don''t want to go! We don''t want to go!¡­ We want to go back! You lied, like everyone else said! Did you bring us here to use us as baits?"


    "He''s right! We won''t go there with you!"


    Chen Yuting''s teammates didn''t shout loud along with them, but they had panicked as well. Only a few of them stayed fearless.


    "Hah, calm down¡­ These are nothing but zombies. If a zombie attacked you, you only need to smash its head. If two zombies attacked you, you''ll just have to smash their heads too. This is better than being starved in the base." A muffled voice was heard.


    People turned to the source of the voice and saw a man who was at least six feet and three inches tall. He had bushy eyebrows and large eyes, square face and a Roman nose. His hair were in a flat top which wasn''t flat at all. Clearly, that hair weren''t cut by a professional barber.


    The others stared at him and one of them said loudly, "You¡­ You have a superpower! Of course, you''re not afraid of zombies! You can pick up any mission in the base, and then you''ll have food to eat. Will you ever be starved?"


    The tall man shook his head and responded honestly, "Ugh¡­ The money I earned from missions was never enough for me to feed myself¡­ I didn''t dare to come out alone, but the others wouldn''t team up with me."


    At that point, a bland voice joined the conversation, "Why are you so nervous? Look carefully, those zombies don''t dare to approach us. Haven''t you realized that?"


    The others turned to where that voice came from and saw a young man wearing an old pair of square glasses, sitting aside with his arms crossed before his chest. He was observing the road through his glasses. After he said what he did, he raised his head to glance at Lin Yu and his teammates who were quiet the whole time, then turned his eyes away.


    After hearing his words, the others all calmed down a little and also looked outside the window, as though they were influenced by this young man''s composure. While observing, they found that the zombies on the road didn''t bare their teeth or spread their claws to crazily charge at the motorcade, but all paused briefly after spotting the vehicles, then turned and quickly ran away.


    "Eh? Ugh? It''s real! They all ran away! Why?" the tall man looked around with surprise.


    "Look this way, these zombies ran away as well!"


    "No wonder the journey has been so peaceful so far. We haven''t encountered any zombies yet."


    Lin Qiao, who sat in the front, glanced at the people back there, then turned around.


    At the front, Lin Feng and Chen Yuting arrived at the government building in the Upper City District after half an hour of driving according to Lin Qiao''s map. They did spend a long time to get to this place because the roads were all jammed. Their vehicle was too large to drive through the narrow roads, so they had no choice but to get off the car and push away all the abandoned vehicles on the road, then drive through.


    Therefore, they spent a great effort to drive to the government building. Thankfully, their vehicle was loaded with people. In the jammed sections, they sent some soldiers to clear the way, or directly used their powers to do that.


    However, this place wasn''t their destination; it was the Victoria Hotel, which was further away. They were only passing by this area.


    Before arriving at the hotel, Lin Qiao suddenly stood up and leaped out. She leaped on the vehicle at the front, then continued leaping forward until she landed before Lin Feng''s vehicle.


    "Wait here!" Lin Qiao stopped the vehicle in the middle of the road and said to the people in it, then turned and walked toward the hotel which was by the roadside.


    Xiao Yunlong stuck his head out of the window and said, "What is she doing?"


    Chen Yuting shook his head.


    "Um¡­ Clear away zombies?" Lin Feng speculated.


    The others looked at him, wondering why Lin Qiao would clear away the zombies alone. Wouldn''t more people complete the work faster?


    "In fact, the zombies nearby have mostly escaped," Lin Feng continued, "I guess she''s just going to drive out the ones which are still hiding in the hotel. Think about who she is. Once she releases her vibe, those zombies would run away. She doesn''t even need to do anything else."


    Xiao Yunlong and Chen Yuting nodded. They had actually remembered what Miss. Lu was right after they had asked that question without hesitation.


    Lin Qiao walked into the hotel. The hotel building wasn''t tall, but was quite large, with over two-hundred rooms, and was quite nicely decorated. Once the solar power equipment was connected with the power supply of this building, this place would be good enough for people to live in.


    In front of the hotel was a commercial plaza. The geographic location of this place was not bad.


    This place was crowded with zombies before. However, after sensing the arrival of Lin Qiao''s motorcade, they all fled as quickly as possible.


    Lin Qiao entered the hotel building and walked around in it. When she was doing that, the people outside saw a few zombies jump down from the windows of some hotel rooms.


    About ten minutes later, they saw Lin Qiao walk out.


    She stood on the broad road before the hotel and waved at the others, "All clear, get off!"


    Xiao Yunlong and the others drove the vehicles over, then all the soldiers got off.


    After that, Lin Qiao said to Xiao Yunlong, Lin Feng, and Chen Yuting, who had walked up to her, "We''ll be staying in this hotel before the construction work is done. There are over two-hundred rooms, which should be enough to accommodate all our people. Any different thoughts?"


    The three shook their heads. She was the one who chose this place, so they had no reason to disagree with her even if they wanted to. After all, she was the one who secured the absolute safety.


    What if she decided to turn and leave if they didn''t agree with her? Once she left, the zombie crowd nearby would become a true nightmare. Those were tens of millions of zombies. Even if those zombies did not kill them directly, they would make them die from exhaustion.


    As no one objected, Lin Qiao nodded and continued, "There''s another thing¡­ Leave all the top-floor rooms for us. Tell the others to not go up there. You know why."


    The three glanced at each other, then nodded knowingly.


    After that, Lin Qiao turned around and abruptly hopped onto a treetop, then directly leaped onto the roof of the hotel building. Lin Feng and the other two turned back to gather their people, then led them into the lobby of the hotel.


    Lin Qiao stood on the roof and flashed into her space, preparing to send Qiu Lili and Mengmeng out. However, right after she steadied herself, her body was coiled by a few jade-white vines.


    Viney seemed to have been waiting for her. ''Mama, Mama, Viney wants to upgrade¡­ Please find me large energy nuclei¡­''


    Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise, saying, "Eh? Didn''t I just give you a bunch of level four and five zombie nuclei? Weren''t those enough?"


    Viney responded with discontentment, ''No, those were far from enough¡­ And I''ve given the energy to the new girl¡­''


    While speaking, Viney pulled out a vine and pointed at Shen Yujen.


    Liu Jun glanced at Shen Yujen, seeing that she was sitting in front of Liu Jun and Qiu Lili, looking a little overcautious. It seemed that she didn''t dare to move without permission.


    It was probably because she had been completely suppressed by Qiu Lili''s vibe, as the latter was too close to her.

 275 One Cup A Day

    When Qiu Lili was organizing the group of newly recruited zombie leaders, someone else came upstairs.


    Feng Yuming ran up toward the roof. As he walked up the last stair step, he saw three men standing there motionlessly while staring outside.


    "Oi, you''re really up here. What''re you looking at?" Feng Yuming came up and asked curiously.


    Li Zheng and the other two glanced back at him together, but didn''t answer his question. Instead, they turned back and continued looking outside.


    Their reaction made Feng Yuming even more curious. He stepped forward and put hands on Li Zheng''s shoulders, then stuck out his head from behind Li Zheng. As a result, he saw a group of zombies standing in the middle of the roof, mostly covered in blood.


    "Ah! Zombies!" He uttered a scream, then sprung up and turned to run.


    The three people and group of zombies on the roof were all startled by his scream. They turned to look at him, but only saw a figure running downstairs in haste. Within a blink, Feng Yuming disappeared without a trace.


    "Damn, I nearly had a heart attack! That bloody kid! The zombies didn''t frighten us, yet he''ll scare us to death sooner or later," Li Zheng was terribly startled by Feng Yuming. Lin Hao and Lei Yao both wore the same look as he did.


    "Is he always so gutless?" Lin Hao asked, "Is he always so afraid of zombies? How did you manage to get through your journey here?"


    Li Zheng sighed and responded, "Don''t even mention it¡­"


    "He basically screamed all the way," said Lei Yao.


    Lin Qiao who stood aside, turned to say to the four zombies, "Are you going to follow my words or not? Or do you want a fight?"


    The four zombies stared at Lin Qiao aggressively. However, they glanced up at the dark cloud, then hesitated. At that point, Qiu Lili became impatient and gave a series of shouts unhappily, "Ah, Ahyaya, Ahyaya¡­"


    ''Alright, stop playing. I said that you need to follow her orders, so you have to. If you disobey, I''ll rip your heads open!''


    After saying that, she bared her teeth toward the four zombie leaders, her face showing ferocity.


    "Whoo¡­" The four zombie leaders were immediately terrified. They flinched, not daring to move.


    As Qiu Lili seemed to lose her temper, Lin Qiao decided to not waste any more time. She took back the black mist and made the sky bright again. After that, she threw the broken cup at a corner, and a new one appeared in her hand, filled with water. Holding the cup of water, she waved at the boy zombie.


    "Alright, you come here first," she said.


    The boy zombie glanced at Lin Qiao but didn''t move, turning to look at Qiu Lili instead. Qiu Lili didn''t even want to talk to him. Instead, she directly showed him her claws.


    The boy zombie shivered on seeing that, then obediently walked toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at his bloody mouth and chin, then handed him the cup and said, "Drink it."


    ''This kid''s chin is nearly fallen off, so how is he supposed to drink the water?'' she wondered.


    The boy zombie carefully took over the cup while glancing at Qiu Lili from time to time. Then, he put the cup under his nose to sniff at it, after which, he was attracted by the energy contained in the water.


    After sniffing, he directly raised his head and poured the water into his throat. He gulped noisily and soon emptied the cup.


    Having finished the cup of water, he closed his eyes to feel it. As he opened his eyes again, a red light flashed across those eyes. Then, he raised his head to look at Lin Qiao with sparkling eyes.


    Lin Qiao took back the cup, then pointed at Lin Hao and the other two humans while saying, "Alright, you can only have one cup a day. And, you can''t hurt the people in this building. You also need to protect them from being harmed."


    After being startled by Feng Yuming, Lin Hao and the other two were less nervous now. At this point, they felt like they were watching a show.


    "Ahyaya! Ahayaya!" Qiu Lili hastened Lin Qiao with discontentment. ''Hurry up! I want to evolve!''


    While speaking, she spread her fingers to show Lin Qiao those energy nuclei in her hand.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then gave a cup of water to each of the remaining three zombie leaders. When it was the elderly zombie''s turn, she found that his way of drinking was different from that of the others.


    The other zombies all impatiently poured the water into their mouths; but unlike them, the elderly zombie drank the water with small sips. Moreover, before every sip, he would blow the water slightly.


    ''Oi, the water is cold, so why are you blowing? Can you drink it faster? You''re drinking with an elegant manner, but¡­'' Lin Qiao complained silently.


    Indeed, the elderly zombie had an elegant manner of drinking. Apart from that, he had looked around when taking over the cup. Lin Qiao knew that he was looking for a couch or chair!


    ''You need to sit on a couch or chair to drink water? Is your life so exquisite? You''re just a zombie!''


    Lin Qiao wasn''t the only one surprised. Even the three humans who were standing aside and watching now stared at him with a strange look.


    After all zombie leaders had some water, Lin Qiao found a spot for each of them and said something to them. Only after that did she take over the few energy nuclei from Qiu Lili''s hand.


    "Viney has been sleeping recently. I''ll wake her up first and bring you in later."


    Qiu Lili nodded at her, then watched Lin Qiao disappear in front of her.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao entered her space and sensed some human scents. Those were the scents left by Lin Feng, Li Zheng, and the others. Even the air in her space was now filled with their scents.


    Of course, those scents had faded a little already.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know where the air in her space came from, and where it would go.


    Holding the few energy nuclei, she stood by the lakeside and shouted at the lake, "Viney, Viney, wake up! We have energy nuclei!"


    She called Viney''s name a few times, but nothing happened in the lake.


    Looking at the lake surface, she didn''t know what to do. ''I can''t wake Viney up, so what should I do? Normally, Viney would sense the energy nuclei once I brought them in here. But, why isn''t it working this time?''


    ''I don''t need to go down to the lake bottom to bring these nuclei to her, do I?''


    "Viney?" Lin Qiao called Viney''s name once again and waited for a few seconds. However, Viney still didn''t respond.


    Looking at the peaceful lake, Lin Qiao sighed.


    ''Alright, I''ll go down and take a look. I haven''t observed the world down there yet.''


    She put the energy nuclei on the ground, then began taking off her clothes. After making herself naked, she picked up the energy nuclei and walked into the lake.


    The cool water contained a strong energy, which made her feel comfortable. She didn''t feel cold, so she kept walking down into the water. When the water reached her chest, she dove in.


    She didn''t need to breathe in the water. The only thing she needed to do was paddle with her limbs and swim toward the lake bottom.


    The clear water was colorless in her eyes. However, once she narrowed her eyes, she was able to see a dark-greenness.


    While sensing Viney''s vibe and location, she kept swimming downward.

 334 She Asked to Stay

    Lin Qiao turned back to say to Viney, "Alright, I''ll go out and try to catch you a big zombie, or find you some nuclei of mutant plants."


    Hearing that, Viney happily responded, ''Alright, alright, Mama, help me upgrade quickly¡­ I want to go out, go out!''


    "Do you want to go out?" Lin Qiao asked her with surprise.


    Viney waved her vines and said, ''Yes, yes!''


    Lin Qiao nodded. It seemed that Viney had gotten bored in here.


    "Alright, after I have finished my job here, I''ll take you to find energy nuclei," she said.


    ''Great, great!'' Viney excitedly swayed her vines.


    Lin Qiao asked Viney to unwrap her, then walked to Qiu Lili and said, "We have arrived at our destination. Let''s go out to arrange the works, and also choose your rooms."


    Qiu Lili and Liu Jun quickly stood up. Seeing that Lin Qiao was going to send them out, Mengmeng, who had been hiding in the woods, ran out as well. Lin Qiao sent the three of them out first, then returned to bring out zombie one to seven.


    In the end, only Shen Yujen was left in the space.


    On the roof, Lin Qiao said to the group of zombies, "I''ve told the others that the roof and the top-floor is our territory. You can pick your own rooms, but shouldn''t go down to the other floors unless you have permission from Lili or me. Do you understand?"


    After saying that to zombie one to seven, she stared at Mengmeng, who had sneaked to the edge of the roof and was now looking down, and continued, "And you, get back here and listen to me carefully."


    Mengmeng was leaning against the guardrail, curiously observing the area around the hotel building. As she finished observing this side and was prepared to go to the other side, she heard Lin Qiao call her name.


    "Roar¡­" She reluctantly walked to Lin Qiao. ''Alright.''


    Then, Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili, "After I leave, you and Mengmeng can''t leave this area together. A high-level one should always stay here¡­ Do you understand?"


    Qiu Lili nodded and said, "I understand. I''ll go downstairs to pick my room then." While speaking, she turned and went down, her long twin-tails fluttering in the air. Liu Jun carried Tongtong and silently went down as well as she wasn''t needed here.


    "Now, you need to memorize the scents of the human beings in this building, then drive all the zombies around to two miles away. After that, you need to gather them up and block all the entrances. This place is your territory, so you need to guard it. Do you understand?" she said to the eight zombies.


    "Roar¡­" The group of zombie leaders replied. ''Understood.''


    Lin Qiao then continued, "Kill all zombies above level-three and give me their nuclei. If you can''t defeat the enemies alone, don''t forget to ask the nearest friend to help. You''re a team now, and you should learn to help each other. Do you understand?"


    "Roar¡­" The group of zombie leaders who were all used to taking actions alone responded to that unwillingly. ''Alright¡­''


    "Move," Lin Qiao waved a hand at them and said. With that, the five zombie leaders and two superpowered zombies leaped off the roof in seven different directions, soon disappearing from Lin Qiao''s sight.


    Only Mengmeng stayed on the roof, looking around.


    "Get down to pick your room," Lin Qiao said and guided her down through the stairs. They followed Qiu Lili''s scent to a room. After walking in, they saw Qiu Lili standing in the middle of the room, waving her arms to gather the dust in the room into a sphere with her wind power.


    Liu Jun wasn''t here, but Lin Qiao knew that she and Tong Tong were in the room next door.


    After Qiu Lili had sent the dust out of the window and created a gust of wind to blow it away, she turned back to find Mengmeng rolling on the bed she liked.


    "Ah! That bed is mine! You got your scent on it! Get off!" Seeing Mengmeng''s movements, Qiu Lili immediately burst in screams. She flipped her long twin-tails and rushed to the bed, violently kicking Mengmeng away.


    Mengmeng swiftly rolled off the bed, then stuck her head out from behind the bed and roared, "Roar¡­ roar¡­"


    ''I want to share a room with you!''


    Qiu Lili strongly refused. She popped her eyes and said, "Why share a room with me? There''s only one bed here. Go to another room."


    However, Mengmeng quickly crawled under the bed.


    "Roar¡­"


    ''No.''


    Lin Qiao looked at them; clearly, Mengmeng wanted to stay around Qiu Lili.


    "''I''ll be leaving here for Sea City Base soon, also to find energy nuclei for Viney on my way back. You keep an eye on this place. Don''t let strangers come mess around," Lin Qiao stood before the door and said, then turned and prepared to leave.


    Qiu Lili was bending over to drag Mengmeng out from under the bed. Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, she straightened her body.


    "Eh? For Viney? Is she upgrading again?"


    Lin Qiao walked to the door while replying, "It seems that she really wants to come out." After saying that, she left the room.


    She turned and walked into Liu Jun''s room, which was next to Qiu Lili''s. Liu Jun put Tong Tong on the empty place before the door while she was cleaning the dust and garbage in the room.


    "I''m heading back to Sea City Base now. If you and Tong Tong need any help, go find Lili," Lin Qiao said to her.


    Liu Jun stopped turning the old quilt on the bed, then stood straight and asked Lin Qiao, "Is Viney trying to get out? She''s bored in there, isn''t she?"


    Lin Qiao leaned against the door frame and nodded, "Perhaps."


    "I get it," Liu Jun nodded and responded. After that, she looked at Lin Qiao as if she had suddenly thought of something, and asked, "Also, I want to know why you left Wenwen in Sea City Base. Too many people are in the base, good and evil. What if she encounters any trouble? You aren''t there at the moment."


    "I didn''t leave her there," said Lin Qiao, "She insisted on staying. She didn''t want to come with me, and I can''t make her, can I? I respect her decision. Besides, Yuan Tianxing is there too, isn''t he? He won''t let anything happen to her."


    She had recently noticed the way Lin Wenwen looked at Yuan Tianxing. Making those two a couple didn''t seem to be a bad thing at all. Lin Qiao believed that letting her little sister be together with one of her previous subordinates, whom she knew very well, was way better than handling her to one of the other men that she didn''t know. After all, men could be very dangerous in the post-apocalyptic era.


    Liu Jun shook her head and said with concern, "I doubt that. The situation in that base has already started to become unstable. If someone has his eyes on Wenwen, not even Deputy Chief Yuan can guarantee her safety."


    Lin Qiao blinked, then said, "Don''t worry! Wu Chengyue is still in that base during these couple of days, so those people won''t dare to make any move. Besides, I did plan to go back straight after arriving at this place. It''s only about two hours of driving, so even if I spend half an hour on my way to find an energy nucleus for Viney, I''ll be back in Sea City Base by tomorrow. They can''t do anything serious within such a short time. Xiao Yunlong and the others will leave later."


    Liu Jun thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "You''re right though. It''s only one night. I believe those people won''t take action so soon."

 335 A Dog Fights A Tree

    Liu Jun came out of Liu Jun''s room and walked downstairs. In the lobby, she saw that Lin Feng and the others had already cleaned all the couches there. Those couches were still not very clean, but were tidy enough for people to sit on. After all, most of the people had lowered their hygiene standards since the apocalypse arrived.


    Lin Qiao walked over and said, "Have you done some arrangement yet? I won''t take part in the construction of the fence wall, so it won''t start until Yuan Tianxing arrives. I''m heading back to the base now. I have something else to do on my way, so I won''t leave together with you. Deputy Chief Xiao, you guys are free to leave whenever you feel like."


    Lin Feng, Xiao Yunlong, and Chen Yuting all looked at her with surprise. "You''re leaving already? So soon? Alone?" asked Lin Feng.


    Lin Qiao stood in front them with her hands resting in her pockets as she nodded and responded, "Don''t worry, I''ve sent out my zombie squad to drive away the zombies nearby. I''ve also strictly ordered them to guard around the building. Qiu Lili and Liu Jun will both stay here. Only I will leave."


    Hearing her say that Qiu Lili would stay, the three who were sitting on a couch sighed in relief.


    "Alright then," said Lin Feng.


    Chen Yuting anxiously looked at her and said, "How is Jen¡­"


    "She hasn''t woken up yet," said Lin Qiao, "I''ll give her back to you when she wakes up. Don''t worry, she''ll be fine." She respected Shen Yujen''s decision, and didn''t tell Chen Yuting about her current condition.


    Chen Yuting dropped his eyes with a slight disappointment, but still nodded gratefully, "Alright!"


    Lin Qiao turned and walked out of the Hotel gate. Standing outside, she waved a hand and then an unmodified off-road vehicle appeared on the road.


    She was so rich now that she almost had whatever she wanted. She hadn''t only put furniture pieces, daily supplies, clothes, and shoes in her space, but had also collected many drivable vehicles, larges ones and small ones. Her collection even included a few electric vehicles and fuel-efficient cars.


    She sat onto the driver''s seat, then started the car and began driving back. She drove out of the Upper City District and moved toward Jiaxing City. While driving, she had been paying attention to all kinds of scents that she sensed, and the noises that she heard on the way.


    Only after arriving at Nanhu did she sense a very powerful level-five zombie which was only a breath away from level-six. She immediately turned the car back as she restrained her vibe and drove toward that area. Soon, she found a botanical garden.


    Was that zombie in the botanical garden?


    She pooled over, then got off the car and put it back into her space. She observed the botanical garden which had already become like a wild jungle, then spent a while to finally find the entrance. After that, she turned herself invisible and walked in.


    The botanical garden was huge; all the pathways in it were mostly covered by thriving plants.


    Lin Qiao didn''t sense the vibes of these mutant plants. If the mutant plants restrained their vibes intentionally, not even Lin Qiao could sense them.


    Lin Qiao moved toward the level-five zombie. Meanwhile, she had also been carefully observing the plants nearby. A high-level mutant plant might also have an energy nucleus.


    When she thought that she probably wouldn''t find a high-level mutant plant so easily, a loud noise was heard from the front.


    The trees here were all tall, so she couldn''t find the tallest tree. Therefore, she gave up on climbing on top of the tallest tree to observe the environment. Instead, she quickly but quietly headed toward the source of the noise.


    "Roar!" Suddenly, she heard waves of beast roars, and felt a little strange. It sounded like a beast, but not a normal beast.


    As Lin Qiao sneakily got closer and saw that creature clearly, she understood why it sounded like a beast but not like a normal beast.


    That was a zombie beast!


    It was as large as a male lion. The locks of fur from its neck to its back were long, and were standing straight. Its whole body was covered in wounds and blood, its dark eyes glowing with the light of ferocity and its sharp teeth bared.


    "Roar!"


    It was a giant zombie dog, with dense fur and a scary-looking face. It was even stronger than a male lion, but its skin was badly mutilated. From time to time, some thick and black liquid would drip out of its wounds, making it look very creepy.


    It was like a hellhound!


    Lin Qiao silently stared at this large zombie dog. Suddenly, she had urge to tame it and make it follow her orders like a military dog¡­


    But soon, she stopped thinking about that, as she was attracted by the zombie dog''s enemy.


    It was what she was looking for but had a hard time finding--a mutant tree!


    The tree looked quite weird. The tree trunk was extra thick¡ªa meter and half in diameter¡ªvery smooth and with no bark on it. It was dark-red in color, covered in interweaving blood vines.


    There was a groove where the tree trunk forked, and that groove had been emitting an awful stench. Lin Qiao was able to sense it from a long distance away.


    That was like the smell of a rotten corpse.


    The countless leafless branches of that tree had been dancing in the air. In fact, the entire tree had been writhing the whole time. Those long and thick branches looked like waving monster tentacles.


    The area that the tree could reach with its branches was empty


    This tree had an immense vibe, which was even stronger than that of the vine plant which Lin Qiao found by a lake last time.


    However, Lin Qiao observed for a while but failed to locate its energy nuclei.


    "Roar!" The zombie dog stood by the edge of the empty area where the tree couldn''t reach, slightly bending its limbs and growling at the tree. Suddenly, it sprung up and charged at the tree trunk. It turned into a black shred of shadow as it flashed across the air like a bolt of lightning.


    Lin Qiao felt that the dog was fast enough, but the tree reacted even faster. Before the zombie dog touched the tree trunk, all the branches suddenly gathered before it and wrapped up the trunk while a fraction of those branches swept toward the dark shred of shadow.


    Seeing that its attack had become ineffective, the zombie dog hurriedly turned and leaped away to dodge the branches. However, it didn''t give up just like that. Instead, it darted up behind the tree and charged again.


    This time, the tree didn''t swing its branches backward, but suddenly bent its trunk, as if moving away from the zombie dog. At this moment, the dog was right above it.


    ''This isn''t good!''


    Watching that, Lin Qiao knew that the zombie dog was going to suffer.


    As she had thought, the deeply bent tree suddenly bounced back up, and all the branches stuck together within a blink, becoming like a very strong broom that slapped the zombie dog away.


    "Roar!" The zombie dog gave a howl, then heavily thudded against the ground.

 276 The World Down in the Lake

    Lin Qiao spent quite a while swimming downward. She felt that at least a couple of minutes had passed, yet the lake bottom was still nowhere near. She sensed that Viney was pretty close to her, yet she swam for a while but couldn''t see the bottom of the lake.


    It was so weird!


    Holding the energy nuclei, she kept swimming downward. She couldn''t tell how long she had swum, but after one hour or two, she finally saw a shred of shadow in the water. As she went further down, the shadow grew more and more obvious.


    Soon, she saw something dark-purple.


    She didn''t think that the lake was actually so deep. It was scary!


    As she got close enough, she found that the dark-purple thing she saw was the ground. Soon, she stood on the ground and looked around, but found no bounds.


    She didn''t see Viney.


    She had a sense that Viney was here. Where exactly was Viney?


    Standing on the ground, she felt a little strange. The dark-purple ground was soft like a yoga mat. She had been taking a great water resistance down in the lake, and only a small buoyancy force. Therefore, she wasn''t floating up.


    She plodded for two steps on the lake bottom but couldn''t see Viney; so with no other choice, she decided to search around. At the same time, she was calling Viney''s name in her heard constantly, hoping that it could hear her.


    While walking, she suddenly saw a dented area. She walked over to look at it with curiosity, then found a long crack.


    It was very dark in the lake, so she didn''t notice the crack earlier. But now, as she got closer, she finally saw it.


    It was all dark in the two-meters-wide crack, and nothing could be seen.


    ''Damn, where on earth is this place!''


    Lin Qiao sensed Viney''s vibe from the crack, so she wondered if she should go down there. She hesitated, because she couldn''t see anything in there. Even when narrowing her eyes, she was only able to see a dark redness.


    She sensed no danger from down there, but being unable to see or feel anything made her feel threatened! However, she was sure that Viney was down there. For this reason, she needed to go down¡­ She had to!


    After making the decision, she put her legs down from the edge of the crack. Then, she clasped the soft ground with her claws. The strange thing was that her claws which had stuck in the soft ground were actually able to hold her body steadily.


    She slowly moved her claws to crawl downward, and soon, she could see nothing but darkness upon raising her head.


    Where in the world was she?


    She thought that she would need to crawl for long before reaching the bottom, but unexpectedly, her foot suddenly felt the ground after she had moved down for a few meters.


    ''Eh? So fast!''


    She turned around and narrowed her eyes, then saw a giant sphere which was glowing with a faint green light. She walked over and reached out a hand to gently touch the giant green sphere. As she thought, she touched some vines.


    The energy that she felt from the vines was very feeble. No wonder Viney had shrunk into herself and fallen into deep sleep.


    Lin Qiao pressed a zombie nucleus on the giant sphere. When the zombie nucleus touched the vines, the faintly glowing green vines sparkled, and then Lin Qiao''s hand sensed a vibration.


    The delighted Lin Qiao quickly pressed all the other energy nuclei on Viney''s body.


    As she expected, those energy nuclei soon disappeared. Then, the vines under her hands began moving. The dim green light grew brighter and brighter, soon illuminating this area. Before long, this entire place was turned beautifully green.


    Afterward, the large sphere began shifting shape like a monster as the frizzy vines started wagging and extending toward all directions.


    An arm-thick vine quickly coiled around Lin Qiao''s waist.


    ''Mama! Mama! Mama!''


    A happy voice was immediately heard from Lin Qiao''s mind.


    She wasn''t able to talk in the water, so instead, she said to Viney in her mind, ''Send me up.''


    ''Alright!''


    After that, Lin Qiao felt that she was lifted up by the vine around her waist, and a strong force pushed her straight upward. She was sent up much more quickly than how she came down, and before long, she went out of the water.


    Only after Lin Qiao walked out of the water to the lakeside did Viney unwrap her body.


    While walking, Lin Qiao said, "Viney, you should absorb the energy in the few nuclei now. After that, you need to help Qiu Lili activate her bodily functions."


    Viney touched Lin Qiao''s arm and sent a message to her, ''Alright¡­ But I might take a while to absorb the energy. Mama, please be patient and wait for me.''


    "Sure!" Lin Qiao walked to the lakeside while nodding and picking up her clothes. Meanwhile, Viney''s vine drew back into the lake, then sank into the water.


    After experiencing the quietness down in the lake, Lin Qiao could still sense Viney''s activity even after she went back into the water.


    Lin Qiao understood that Viney needed some time to absorb the energy. So, she put her clothes on, then turned and walked toward the woods.


    She went through the grassland to get to the woods, and as she arrived there, she found a large pile of supplies that she had collected from the Upper City District and Pinghu District earlier.


    As she had stored these supplies in the woods on purpose, the group of people who stayed in her space earlier on didn''t find them. All sorts of metal cabinets were piled in the woods along with some buckets and boxes, all filled with rice, flour, and some dried foods.


    She only visited a few nearby storages; all those storages were untouched, so she had collected a considerable amount of food.


    These foods could last a person for five years.


    Lin Qiao glanced around at the weird-looking trees. She didn''t know where they came from, or what they were here for.


    As she was walking around in the woods to observe those trees, she suddenly sensed a strong energy vibration from the lake. She stopped and turned around to look at the lake, then walked out of the woods.


    Once she came out of the woods, she saw that the waves in the lake were running high, and the water level seemed to be rising slowly.


    She hurriedly ran to the lakeside and carried the chair to the woods area, then shouted at the two zombies who were sitting in the buckets with their eyes popped while staring at the lake in fear without daring to move.


    "Stop staring at the lake! Come out! Help me move things! First, carry your buckets up!"


    Hearing her order, the two naked zombies immediately jumped out, each dragging a bucket and running toward her.


    The energy in the lake was way too strong. Therefore, the two zombies felt that they were like two tiny ants that were so weak that even a single wave from the lake could kill them.


    Lin Qiao''s words made them feel like they were suddenly saved.

 336 The Zombie Dog Loses

    Soon, the zombie dog stood up from the ground, not seeming to have been harmed at all. It shook the dirt off its fir, then continued growling at the tree.


    "Roar!"


    Abruptly, it widely opened its jaws toward the trees and bared its white and sharp teeth. Lin Qiao sensed waves of energy from its body. Before long, a stream of energy gushed out of its mouth.


    "Roar!" It let out a thunderous roar toward the tree, following which, a purple-red flake of fire burst from its mouth, toward the tree. The tree flinched once the purple-red fire showed up. It bent backward as far as possible to dodge the fire.


    A wave of energy was released from the groove on the tree trunk, as if the tree was trying to protect itself from the fire.


    Lin Qiao watched the level-five zombie dog release the raging fire to burn the curled leafless tree.


    The zombie dog was powerful. It kept releasing fire from its mouth for two or three minutes before stopping.


    Lin Qiao could sense the incredibly high temperature of that fire. The plants nearby which weren''t burned by the fire had all quickly withered.


    The zombie dog kept its fire under a good control, so it only burned the tree and not the other plants. However, the plants nearby were still dried by the fire.


    Lin Qiao automatically stepped backward. She had to, because it was too hot!


    An ordinary tree would have turned into a puff of smoke after being burned by the zombie dog''s fire for two or three minutes. However, this monster-like tree was merely shrinking to itself, looking like a giant, black fist. No matter how ragingly the fire burned, the tree remained fine.


    As the fire failed to do any severe harm to the tree, the zombie dog took it back before baring its teeth and pouncing on the tree once again. Then, it violently swung its forepaws down at the tree.


    Lin Qiao looked at the tree with surprise. How magical¡­ that tree was actually not afraid of fire!


    Swish! The zombie dog brandished its sharp claws to scratch the tree, then landed on the ground. Right after that, it sprung back up and launched another claw attack.


    Its fire was ineffective to the tree, but claws weren''t.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! A few leafless branches were neatly cut off.


    As the few branches were cut off by the zombie dog, the tree shook intensely. After that, it seemed to feel that the zombie dog wouldn''t release fire again within a short while, so it quickly unwrapped itself. Countless branches spread, then all swept toward the zombie dog which was charging at the tree again.


    This time, the zombie dog didn''t manage to react timely. It stepped on the branches, but while leaping away, it was wrapped up by another branch which reached out suddenly.


    "Aw-woo¡­" The zombie dog howled in panic, then was suddenly dragged down by the tree. Before it could react, the tree swiftly reached out other branches to coil around the dog''s hind legs, then began smashing it against the ground over and over again.


    Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!


    "Roar¡­ oar¡­ ar¡­"


    Looking at the zombie dog which now looked like a dead dog, Lin Qiao silently sweated for it. Well, of course, she couldn''t actually sweat.


    It must be so painful!


    Hearing the dog let out shrill screams while being thrown at the ground once again, Lin Qiao felt that its internal organs must have been crushed already, even though it was a zombie dog.


    As the zombie dog was dizzied, the groove on the tree trunk suddenly widened like an opening mouth. Next, Lin Qiao saw the tree wrap the zombie dog up with all its branches, especially the dog''s head, as if to prevent it from releasing fire again. Then, the branches raised the dog and threw it toward the groove.


    Right at that moment, Lin Qiao made a move and suddenly rushed at the middle of the tree trunk.


    Before, no matter how intense the battle was, the middle part of the tree trunk was wrapped tightly. Therefore, Lin Qiao had only been watching the whole time. Anyway, she didn''t think that the level-five zombie dog would be defeated by the tree so soon.


    Seeing the zombie dog being dragged toward the middle area of the tree trunk, Lin Qiao guessed that the tree was about to feed. The middle area of the tree was the source of the rotten corpse smell, so it should also be the tree''s mouth.


    Therefore, as the tree wrapped the zombie dog up and dragged it toward the middle of the tree trunk, Lin Qiao seized this opportunity to charge.


    She moved so quickly that she was above the zombie dog within a moment. She stepped on the dog, then swung her claws downward. Meanwhile, she showed her face.


    From the battle that happened just now, Lin Qiao had learned that the tree wasn''t afraid of superpower attacks. The zombie dog''s fire failed to hurt it, but its claws managed to cut off a few branches.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao decided to cut the tree with her claws.


    The tree panicked upon sensing Lin Qiao''s sudden appearance, because her vibe gave it a very dangerous feeling, and she was right before its most vital area.


    Lin Qiao launched her attack once she showed up. After swinging her claws, she disappeared from above the zombie dog.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! After she disappeared, a series of weird noise was heard from the tree, and then, the tree stopped moving.


    The zombie dog sensed danger and recovered from the dizziness once it was wrapped up by the tree. While being dragged into the tree''s mouth, it had been struggling the whole time.


    Now, the tree had stopped the moving, but the dog didn''t. Suddenly, the dog freed itself from the branches.


    The branches which had wrapped it so tightly all loosened, then softly fell to the ground, as if someone had switched them off.


    Thud! The zombie dog fell to the ground, then stood up while confusedly looking at the mutant tree. But soon, it was on the alert again. It slowly bent its forelimbs, its ears flattened back as it fiercely looked around with its pair of scary-looking beast eyes.


    Lin Qiao, turned and flipped in the air, then steadily landed on the ground.


    "Roar¡­" the zombie dog immediately fixed its eyes on her, then lowered its head and bared its teeth.


    Crack¡­ At that point, a cracking noise was suddenly heard from the tree. Following the noise, the tree really started to crack from the middle of the trunk.


    Bang! Bang! The tree trunk fell into pieces on the ground loudly while a strong stench was instantly radiated from the broken tree trunk.


    The tree trunk was hollow. As it broke into pieces, some bone pieces and sticky fluid flowed out of it. Those bone pieces and the liquid which used to be blood and flesh should be the real source of the stench.


    While walking toward the tree, Lin Qiao covered her nose as she couldn''t stand the smell. After cutting open the tree, she sensed where its energy nucleus was.

 337 Where Are You Going?

    "Roar¡­" The zombie dog didn''t grasp the opportunity to leave, but went crazy after seeing Lin Qiao walk toward the mutant tree. It gave a raging roar, then sprung up and leaped high, brandishing its claws to charge at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao turned, then raised an arm and conveniently swung it.


    Thud! The huge zombie dog which weighed about two-hundred kilograms was slapped away by Lin Qiao, as easily as slapping away a fly.


    "Stand still! Don''t move!" Lin Qiao pointed at it then yelled loudly.


    "Roar!" The zombie dog which had struggled back up from the ground refused to listen to her words at all. Instead, it rushed forward to attack her again.


    Lin Qiao turned around and raised another arm.


    Thud! Once again, she slapped the zombie dog away. This time, she didn''t stay where she was after sending the zombie dog flying away, but darted out fleetingly. Before the zombie dog landed on the ground, she suddenly leaped onto its neck and punched its head violently.


    "I told you to stand still, but you just won''t listen! Do you think you can take a beating because you''re a zombie dog? I''ll punch you stupid big dog to death!" While saying, she quickly and consecutively punched the zombie dog''s head.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    "Aw¡­ oar¡­." She punched the dog so quickly that the dog''s head was even sinking into the ground.


    Lin Qiao didn''t hit the zombie dog with a great strength, so its head wouldn''t break. In the worst case, its head would be buried in the earth.


    "Roar¡­ oar¡­ ooo¡­" The zombie dog''s voice turned weaker and weaker, and Lin Qiao finally stopped her violence. She got off the dog, then pointed at it and gave another growl. Her pants were stained by the dirt and blood on the zombie dog''s body.


    "Don''t move! Roar!" She also gave the zombie dog a roar.


    With the warning roar, she successfully made the zombie dog quiet down. After that, she turned around and covered her nose while she kept walking toward the mutant tree. Seeing the black and stinky fluid flowing all over the ground, she stopped, then looked around and picked up a branch.


    The soft and flexible branch had now become a hard and dry, regular branch.


    Lin Qiao carried the branch and stepped on the broken tree trunk as she walked over to those bone pieces, then rummaged through the pile of bones with the branch.


    She pushed aside those bones, then found an energy nucleus which was inlaid in the tree trunk. Then, she quickly waved her claws at the nucleus for a few times to cut the piece of tree trunk into smaller pieces.


    After that, she turned those wooden pieces with the branch in her hand, and soon found the one with the energy nucleus. Next, she swept the piece of wood outward with the branch.


    As Lin Qiao finally picked the piece of wood with the nucleus out of the dirty fluid, a glass of water suddenly appeared in her hand. Next thing, she poured the water on the energy nucleus.


    After washing the energy nucleus with the water, Lin Qiao bent over to pick that piece of wood up.


    The energy nucleus looked like a gnarl on the tree trunk, a little smaller than Lin Qiao''s fists. Through her hands, Lin Qiao sensed a strange type of energy inside it.


    As she prepared to enter her space and ask Viney if she wanted that nucleus, she saw the zombie dog silently get back on its feet. It kept its belly on the ground, but slowly moved its limbs to inch its way into the woods nearby like a turtle.


    "Where are you going?" Lin Qiao watched its move and asked abruptly. Her voice made the zombie dog freeze.


    "Awoo¡­" The dog turned around and gave Lin Qiao a pitiful moan.


    Lin Qiao walked to it, then bent down and gripped the sticky and dirty fur behind its back, bringing it into her space.


    In the space, Lin Qiao threw the dog aside.


    "Don''t move!" Seeing the zombie dog struggle up the moment it landed on the ground and attempted to escape, Lin Qiao immediately shouted at it. Hearing that, the zombie dog instantly stopped moving.


    Before Lin Qiao turned to the lake to call Viney''s name, a few jade-white vines had already reached toward her from the lake. Specifically, those vines were reaching toward the piece of wood in her hand.


    Lin Qiao raised her hand and directly threw the wood at those vines. Viney accurately caught the wood piece, then rolled it up and drew back into the water, only reaching out a long vine to coil around Lin Qiao''s hand.


    ''Mama, Mama¡­ This is great, this is great¡­ This energy smells wonderful!''


    Recalling those bone pieces and sticky fluid, as well as the pungent stench outside, Lin Qiao honestly didn''t know which part of those smelled wonderful.


    "Do you know which level this tree nucleus is at?" she asked.


    ''Four,'' said Viney.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then pointed at the zombie dog which was now lying by her side and said, "No wonder this level-five thing couldn''t even defeat a tree."


    Mutant animals and plants were normally stronger than same-level zombies or superpowered human beings, because their powers were unpredictable. It was difficult for people to estimate how powerful those creatures were or how much energy they had.


    They could be very powerful, or very weak.


    But reasonably speaking, zombie dogs should be more aggressive than zombies. The level-five zombie dog should be nearly as great as a zombie king in both terms of fighting capacity and reaction speed. However, it actually failed to kill a tree. What made it so weak?


    Wondering about that, Lin Qiao stared at the zombie dog curiously.


    Viney, who was coiled around her hand, sensed her thoughts and said to her, ''Mama, Mama, this zombie dog can only hurt that kind of mutant tree with its claws. The dog''s fire power is ineffective on the mutant tree. The tree was able to absorb powers.''


    Lin Qiao turned to look at Viney with surprise, asking, "How do you know the dogs has fire power? And how do you know what the tree was able do?"


    Viney responded a little proudly, ''Once a creature comes inside this space, I can tell what kind of power it has.''


    "I see," Lin Qiao responded.


    ''Mama, I may need to spend a long while to absorb the energy this time,'' said Viney, ''Mama, be ready. I''ll fix your stomach after I have absorbed all the energy.''


    Lin Qiao automatically touched her stomach. She was curious about what was inside her stomach now, but didn''t dare to cut it open and find out¡­ What if she ruined Viney''s work?


    "Alright, I''ll be waiting for you," she nodded and said.


    ''With this mutant tree nucleus, both Mama and Viney will become different,'' Viney said happily, ''Wait for Viney''s good news!''


    It sounded that some big changes would happen after Viney had absorbed the energy.


    "Great! I''ll be expecting your good news," said Lin Qiao.


    Viney unwrapped her, then drew back into the lake.


    After watching Viney disappear into the lake, Lin Qiao turned to look at the zombie dog which was huddled on the ground and shaking the whole time since Viney showed up.


    She fixed her eyes on the dog and looked at it from head to paws.


    ''So ugly! So disgusting!''

 277 Viney Breaks Into Level Three

    Lin Qiao dragged the chair which was placed by the lakeside to the clearing before the small space. Then, she moved the few pots and buckets to that area as well. Only after that did she walk over to the lake to look at the edge of the water and measure the rise of the water level.


    Then, she turned back to glance at the couches, tables, and cabinets. She didn''t know if the water would reach that area, but she still felt that she should better move those furniture pieces to farther places.


    It was same for that pile of pumpkins and potatoes.


    She looked at the two zombies who had dragged the two buckets to her. Ignoring their naked bodies, she pointed at the grassland and said to them, "Pour the water in the grass, then place the buckets over there. After that, come back to carry these furniture pieces to that area too."


    While speaking, she pointed at the clearing before the woods.


    The woods and the lake were parted by the grassland, which was about two-hundred-meters-wide. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell how much would the water-level rise, but she still decided to take some precautions and move everything away.


    Besides, after the last upgrade, two clean clearings had emerged in her space¡ªone between the grassland and the woods, and one before the small space.


    As the two zombies were piling the pumpkins and potatoes before the woods, Lin Qiao dragged the furniture pieces into the small space one by one.


    After carrying the couches, tables, and beds all into the small space by herself, Lin Qiao turned to look at the lake and found that the stone stove that she had built earlier had already been soaked. The three-meters-wide soil ground between the lake and the grass was soaked as well. By now, the water had reached the grass.


    Squeak! Squeak! The sounds of mice were heard.


    Lin Qiao turned to find two mice hiding under a bed. The grey rabbit had run out of the grass as well. At the moment, it was squatting by the lakeside, looking at the strawberry field and then at the lake water.


    The rabbit seemed to be worrying that the water might flood the strawberry field.


    When Lin Qiao turned back, she suddenly found something wrong.


    ''Eh? Damn! Why did the small space go further away?''


    Looking at the small space which was meters away from her, Lin Qiao was a little stunned. Earlier on, she was focusing on the lifting, but didn''t notice the change of her space. Now, as she had finished the work, she found that the small space had moved away.


    She raised her head to look around, then found that the space had become larger than before.


    The woods seemed to have expanded as well.


    The water in the lake was still waving, showing no sign of calming down.


    She then looked at the two zombies. They had carried all pumpkins and potatoes away from the lakeside, and were squatting far away from the lake at the moment.


    Lin Qiao watched the water submerge the grass for about a meter. After that, the lake surface gradually quieted down. Next, a few arm-thick vines reached out of the water. Viney''s vines didn''t grow thicker, but their color had turned into jade white.


    If Lin Qiao didn''t go down to the lake bottom, she wouldn''t know that Viney''s vines were actually no shorter than a thousand meters. She couldn''t tell how deep she had been, but she knew that she had spent a long time diving down.


    The tips of the jade-white vines had a few tiny green leaves on them. Through the water surface, a vine reached toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao walked to the lakeside and watched the vine coil around her hand. However, the first thing that Viney said wasn''t about her.


    ''Mama, those naked people are so ugly¡­ They butts are exposed¡­''


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    ''They are no longer human beings, so they don''t care about their butts¡­'' she said in her heart.


    ''But¡­ My eyes hurt when I look at them¡­'' said Viney.


    Lin Qiao burst out in laughter on hearing that. ''Alright, I''ll make them wear something later. How are you now? Have you upgraded?''


    Viney twisted the few vines in the water and said, ''Yes, yes, I''m a level higher¡­ I''m at level-three now¡­ When I got to level-five, I''ll be able to go out¡­ I can see the outside now! It''s so, so large¡­''


    "Eh? You can see the outside?" Lin Qiao asked with surprise, "How?"


    ''Yes, yes,'' said Viney, ''Through Mama''s body.''


    "My body?" Lin Qiao was confused.


    ''Yes, yes,'' Viney responded.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, but failed to figure it out. She guessed that Viney was able to sense the outside world through her sensations. She didn''t plan to spend too much time on this question though. Since Viney had upgraded again, she should be able to fix and activate Qiu Lili''s body.


    "Alright Viney, can you fix Lili''s body now?"


    ''Yes, yes¡­ Viney is full now,'' replied Viney.


    Lin Qiao understood Viney''s meaning. She meant that she was full of energy now, and was able to do some work.


    "Alright then!" said Lin Qiao, "I''ll bring Lili here. Wait for us."


    After saying that, she didn''t flash out immediately, but turned to walk to the closet. She took out two sets of adults'' clothes, then waved her hands toward the two zombies.


    "You two, come here."


    The two zombies looked at her and hesitated shortly, then walked toward her. Lin Qiao handed them the clothes, then asked, "Do you know how to put these on?"


    The two zombies reacted differently. The male zombie only gazed at the clothes on Lin Qiao''s hand without taking them over. But unlike him, the female zombie curiously took over the clothes, then looked at them from up to down.


    Soon, a tearing noise was heard, as the female zombie tore a shirt.


    "Ah!" Lin Qiao stared at the female zombie, then glanced at the male zombie. At last, she couldn''t help but rest one hand on her waist and the other on her forehead. As she did that, the hand on her forehead accidentally slipped to the back of her head.


    She rubbed her bald head, then sighed at the two zombies.


    "You can''t tear this. You need to wear this¡­ Do you understand?" She said to the female zombie, "I''ll help you once, then you have to memorize it."


    Then, she picked up the panty after getting down on one knee and said to the female zombie, "Here, put your foot in."


    The female zombie looked at her bewilderedly, as if she were a psychopath.


    Lin Qiao waited for a short while, but the female zombie gave her no response. So, she raised her head to find the look in the zombie''s eyes.


    ''Damn! What am I doing? I''m trying to dress a zombie, and the zombie is seeing me as nuts! Why?''


    "Why are you looking at me? Put your foot in! Left foot! Not this foot, that foot¡­ Good! Now, put the other foot in¡­ Not this side! The other side! One foot each side, not two! Alright, stand straight!"


    After putting the panty on the female zombie with some effort, Lin Qiao made her wear a pair of mini-shorts. She couldn''t find any pants in the closet, only dresses and mini-shorts. Therefore, Lin Qiao took a pair of mini-shorts and a shirt for the female zombie. But unexpectedly, the zombie tore the shirt.


    Soon, Lin Qiao noticed the giant wound on the female zombie''s head, and felt that it might frighten kids.


    To solve that problem, she picked a baseball hat as she went back to the closet for another shirt. She didn''t manage to find a new shirt, so she put the torn one on the female zombie, then covered her head with the hat.


    ''Hmm¡­ not bad!'' Lin Qiao said to herself.

 338 Scoop the Moon out of the Water

    The zombie dog honestly looked unpleasant. Its skin was cracked, and its fur was in locks, stained by the black and sticky blood. Its eye corners were chapped as well, with blood and flesh exposed; its teeth were white and long, looking very scary.


    Lin Qiao squatted by its side and said, "Look at you¡­ you''re so ugly. You''re my dog now, but I can''t take you out to meet the others. What if you scare the children?"


    "Roar¡­" The zombie dog turned its head to roar at Lin Qiao with discontentment, but didn''t dare to charge at her. On the contrary, it shrank its limbs and slowly crawled backward.


    Right at that moment, a rope-like thing was thrown up from the lake. Lin Qiao caught it and found that it was a thumb-thick vine, about five meters long and jade-white.


    Seeing the vine, Lin Qiao instantly figured out Viney''s meaning¡ªViney wanted her to use it as a dog leash!


    "Get over here," Lin Qiao looked at the zombie dog, which had moved a few meters backward, and shouted at it.


    "Bow-wow!"


    The zombie dog refused to follow her order, but sprung to its feet and turned to run.


    "If you dare to run, I''ll catch you later and throw you into the lake!" Lin Qiao yelled at the dog.


    "Awooo¡­" After making two steps forward, the zombie dog stopped abruptly.


    Lin Qiao held the vine with both hands and cracked it loudly while saying to the dog, "In here, where do you think you can run? Huh?"


    "Roar¡­" The zombie dog turned around to bark at her, then ran toward the woods.


    Lin Qiao brandished the vine toward the ground, as if it was a whip. After that, she flashed across the air and swiftly chased after the zombie dog.


    She was able to clearly sense the dog''s current location, and the direction that it was moving in. So, she took a short cut to block its way.


    Because of Lin Qiao and the zombie dogs'' movements, Shen Yujen, who was sitting on a couch, had already hidden behind the couch, looking at the woods with fright.


    She was already frightened by Lin Qiao''s vibe, but the vibe of that zombie dog scared her even more badly. After all, Lin Qiao and the other zombies had all been restraining their vibes, while the zombie dog had its vibe released fully. Apart from that, the dog''s vibe was wild and fierce, like the vibe of a ferocious predator.


    Once the zombie dog rushed into the woods, it saw Lin Qiao leap down from the tree in front of it, and then the white vine in her hand fell onto its head.


    Lin Qiao tied one end of the vine into a slipknot, then leaped off the tree as the dog got close, and conveniently lassoed the dog''s big head.


    By the time the zombie dog realized what had happened, the vine was already around its neck.


    "Roar!"


    After leaping down, Lin Qiao firmly grasped the other end of the vine and tied it on the tree next to her.


    "Stay where you are, or I''ll really throw you into the lake!"


    "Roar! Oar!" The zombie dog which was tied on the tree by her roared ragingly and struggled while pulling the vine.


    Lin Qiao warned it, then turned and walked out of the woods, leaving the dog struggling alone.


    After coming out of the woods, she saw Shen Yujen. "Do you want to go out with me now?" she stopped and asked her, "I''m already on my way back to Sea City Base. We''re about one hour of drive away from the base now."


    Shen Yujen glanced at the woods worryingly, then shook her head toward Lin Qiao and lowered her head gloomily. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell what she was thinking about.


    Lin Qiao didn''t try to persuade her, but looked at her and nodded, "Alright."


    After exiting her space, Lin Qiao looked at the time. It was already getting dark. So, she brought out the car and continued driving to Sea City.


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying were staying in their old room while Yuan Tianxing and the others lived across the hallway. Li Zheng''s squad had gone to Hangzhou with Lin Feng, and only Du Yuanxing, Lu Junjie, and the other few soldiers who didn''t have superpowers were left here.


    At this moment, Yuan Tianxing and the others were all in Lin Wenwen''s room, sitting on the couch while leisurely polishing their guns, playing cards, or reading. Some of them were sitting by the window and looking outside.


    Lin Wenwen was busy in the kitchen, and Long Qingying was serving the food she made.


    "The dinner is ready. Get over here, guys!" After carrying a bowl of soup out of the kitchen, Long Qingying raised her head expressionlessly to say to the others.


    The few men in the living room immediately walked to the kitchen. Some washed their hands, some sat around the dining table, and some filled their own bowls with rice.


    "Do you think Miss. Lu and the others are gonna be back soon?" Du Yuanxing turned to look at the dim sky and said while biting his chopsticks.


    Lin Wenwen looked outside and replied, "If they''re coming back, they should be arriving at the base soon. However, Miss. Lu has always been traceless. Maybe she has arrived long ago, but hasn''t shown up yet."


    "I agree," Long Qingying nodded and said.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Wenwen and asked her, "Why didn''t you go with them? It''s not safe for you two girls to stay here. You shouldn''t go out too often during the daytime. We can handle the recruitment work."


    Lin Wenwen raised her head to look at him, then nodded and said, "We know. I just want to help you."


    After saying that, she turned her eyes away and lowered her head to eat her rice.


    If Yuan Tianxing didn''t go missing for over a month last time, she wouldn''t so stubbornly want to stay around him. When he was missing, she was so anxious and worried that she might lose him. That was definitely torture for her, even making her feel suffocated. She didn''t want to suffer that pain again. So, even if it were dangerous, she still wanted to stay around him.


    She knew that she was being self-willed, but she could hardly control her feelings.


    Yuan Tianxing didn''t know what to say when he saw the look in Lin Wenwen''s eyes. As he turned his head, he found that all the others were silently staring at him with meaningful smiles.


    "Why are you looking at me? Just eat," Yuan Tianxing said to them smilingly. With that, those people immediately lowered their heads and began eating.


    "Deputy Chief, hurry up and get yourself a wife!" At that moment, Long Qingying, who had gone to the kitchen for rice, came back and said abruptly in a bland tone.


    "Eh-hem!" The others immediately turned to Long Qingying while Du Yuanxing nearly choked on the food.


    Yuan Tianxing confusedly looked at Long Qingying and said, "Eh¡­ getting a wife is a hard thing to do."


    Long Qingying sat down and coldly glanced at him, then pointed her chopstick at Lin Wenwen and said, "Why is it hard? There is one girl in front of you. You''re so close to her, so why don''t you try pursuing her? Don''t you know that guys are waiting in lines for her?"


    Lin Wenwen, who was pointed at by the chopsticks, embarrassedly hit Long Qingying''s hand with her own chopsticks and said, "Qingying, stop talking nonsense!"


    Long Qingying rolled her eyes toward Lin Wenwen and said, "Am I talking nonsense?"


    "What you do think?" She then turned to Du Yuanxing and the others and asked them.


    "Eh-hem-hem¡­ That, ugh¡­ Actually, Qingying is right! Deputy Chief, you can think about getting together with Wenwen!" Du Yuanxing blinked and gave his answer.


    Lu Junjie and the others only held their bowls as they quietly looked at Yuan Tianxing and nodded.


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at them, then said, "Wenwen is single now, so you all have a chance."


    Once he said that, the others instantly lowered their heads to focus on the food without saying a word.

 278 Its Qiu Lilis Turn

    After dressing the female zombie, Lin Qiao turned to dress the male zombie. She tried not to look at his body at first, but once she squatted, her eyes landed right on the male zombie''s private parts.


    "Eh-hem."


    She silently turned her face and reached out her hands to prop open the underwear for the male zombie. Before she said any word, the male zombie put a foot into the underwear.


    These two zombies were quite smart. When Lin Qiao asked them to dress themselves, they were confused, and didn''t know how to begin. However, after watching Lin Qiao do it once, they had had both learned and memorized how to do it. In fact, their learning abilities were quite impressive.


    After quickly putting some clothes on the two zombies and making them look like human beings, Lin Qiao brought them out of the space. They were soaked in the water in her space for a couple of days, so Lin Qiao thought that it was time for them to go out and breathe some fresh air.


    Once out, Lin Qiao found that only Mengmeng stayed on the roof. She sat on the roof the stair room, gazing at the cloudy sky. As Lin Qiao and the two zombies abruptly showed up, she immediately looked down at them.


    "Roar!"


    ''You''re finally out!''


    "Where''s Lili?" Lin Qiao looked at her and asked. Mengmeng leaped off the roof and darted up to her as she shouted, "Roar! Roarrrrr! Roar¡­ roar¡­ roar!"


    ''Liar! You said that you''ll give me three cups of water a day¡­ Now you owe me¡­ Three cups a day, so six cups for two days¡­ Three days, four days, five days¡­ You owe me fifteen cups!''


    Lin Qiao looked at her speechlessly. Mengmeng didn''t answer her question, but only cared about the fact that Lin Qiao didn''t provide her with the water!


    "Five days? I was in my space for five days?" Lin Qiao didn''t think that she spent so much time in her space.


    Mengmeng moved around her while yelling, "Roarrrrr¡­"


    "Water, water, water¡­"


    "Alright, alright, stop! I''ll get you the water," Lin Qiao looked at her and replied helplessly. While she was speaking, a bailer suddenly appeared in her hand, filled with lake water.


    That was more than three cups.


    Mengmeng immediately reached out her hands and took over the bailer, then turned and prepared to leave. Before Lin Qiao called her, a white figure flashed across the air and landed beside Lin Qiao.


    "Ahya!"


    ''I''m here,'' Qiu Lili shouted at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "Em, Viney is ready. She has absorbed the energy. When you get into the lake, she''ll filter the energy and give it to you, to fix your body and activate your bodily functions."


    "Ahyayaya!" Qiu Lili nodded excitedly.


    ''Hurry up!''


    "Stay around here¡­ Don''t run about," Lin Qiao turned to say to the two zombies. Then, she held Qiu Lili''s arm and disappeared with her.


    As Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili disappeared, the two zombies immediately moved to the sides, leaping off the roof from both sides and going downstairs. They did that because Mengmeng''s vibe had made them feel terribly uncomfortable, and they had sensed the vibes of many other zombies who were more powerful than them from nearby.


    They didn''t dare to move without Lin Qiao''s permission. Once she gave her order, they immediately ran away from Mengmeng.


    Mengmeng didn''t pay much attention to Qiu Lili and Lin Qiao'' disappearance, but only paused slightly. After all, at that moment, she was gulping the lake water.


    ¡­


    After being brought into the space by Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili looked at the upgraded space with surprise.


    "Whaaa¡­" Once she was in, she found that the space had changed. ''It''s bigger¡­''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes, the space seems to expand once Viney upgrades. Take off your clothes, then go down the lake."


    Then, she shouted at the lake, "Viney, bring Lili down."


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    A few jade-white vines quickly rose from the lake surface and danced while reaching toward the lakeside.


    "Ahyaya?" Qiu Lili hesitated when Lin Qiao told her to take off her clothes.


    ''Do I need to take off my clothes?''


    "Even if you keep them on, they''ll all disappear soon," said Lin Qiao, "Just go into the water. I won''t look at you. I''ll go out."


    While speaking, she turned and disappeared. In fact, even if she weren''t here, she would still be able to see things in this place.


    After Lin Qiao left, Qiu Lili looked at the white vines which had been quietly waiting for her by the lake, then pinched the hemline of her dress with hesitation. However, she only hesitated for a few seconds, then started to take off her clothes. Before stripping herself, she looked around, then ran to the furniture area and brought a chair to the lakeside.


    After that, she took off her clothes, folded them neatly, then put them on the chair.


    Then, she awkwardly covered her chest with one hand, her crotch area with the other, and walked into the lake. Viney reached a vine to her and slowly coiled around her wrist to bring her down into the water.


    ''Sister Lili, don''t be afraid¡­ Viney will be very gentle¡­''


    Qiu Lili was surprised to hear the voice which didn''t belong to her from her own mind. "Ahyaya?" she said.


    ''Viney?''


    ''Yes, yes, Viney is here¡­'' Viney replied.


    "Ahyaya?" Qiu Lili asked.


    ''Will it hurt?''


    ''A little¡­ You need to endure that¡­'' said Viney.


    As Qiu Lili went into the water, Viney''s vines wrapped around her waist and legs, gently dragging her toward the deeper area.


    Outside the space, Lin Qiao observed the sky and figured that it was afternoon time. Then, she sensed the surrounding vibes and found that the group of zombie leaders were obediently staying in their places. However, at the moment, they had all been gazing at her, their eyes showing their eagerness.


    Lin Qiao understood what they were eager for. As same as Mengmeng, they were thinking about the lake water.


    The vibes of the dozens of people in the hotel building were thriving. Yuan Tianxing wasn''t back yet; it had been quite a few days, and Lin Qiao wondered when he would come back. It might be difficult to hire people for the first time, but he still shouldn''t spend too long on that.


    Lin Qiao looked at the five zombie leaders, then waved her hands at them while saying, "You all come over."


    Once she uttered a sound, the group of zombie leaders swiftly darted to her. Even the polite elderly zombie seemed to be a little impatient now.


    The five zombie leaders came up to Lin Qiao and stood in a line, staring straight at her with their dark eyes, which were glowing with faint, colorful lights.


    Lin Qiao sensed the cups in her space. The ones used by Lin Feng and his people were placed on the table before a couch, and the rest were in the kitchen cabinets. She flashed into her space and showed up before a kitchen cabinet, then opened it and took out five glasses.


    She was able to hold five glasses, but not five glasses of water. Therefore, she turned to shout at Mengmeng.


    "Did you finish? Give that bailer to me if you have."


    With that, Mengmeng handed the bailer to her.


    Lin Qiao took it over and re-entered her space, then came back out soon. When she was out, the bailer was filled with lake water.


    She squatted and put the glasses on the ground. Then, she filled the glasses with water one after another and handed them to the group of zombies.


    Lin Qiao let each of them drink three glasses of water, then told them to take the glasses away.


    "You can''t break your glasses. If your glasses are broken, don''t come back to me for more water!"

 339 What Ling Ling Thinks

    In Wu Chengyue''s place, Meng Yue was sitting behind the dining table, eating the rice in her bowl. She hesitated for a moment, then abruptly raised her eyes to look at Wu Chengyue, who was sitting beside her and watching Wu Yueling eat.


    "You¡­ Why did you ask your people to find cosmetic contacts for that zombie?"


    Hearing that question, Wu Chengyue glanced back at her and responded with a faint smile, "What''s wrong? I just feel that she looks too suspicious wearing sunglasses all day. It''s better to get her some cosmetic contacts."


    Meng Yue paused briefly, her eyes showing an indescribable expression. She slightly dropped her eyes and moved her chopsticks.


    "Is it because she helped Ling Ling to get through the awakening of her power?" she asked.


    Wu Chengyue nodded frankly and replied, "Em, yeah! I feel that those cosmetic contacts aren''t good enough as a gift for her to thank her for help though. However, I also think that she''ll like them."


    Meng Yue''s hands stopped moving for a second. After that, she smiled and said, "Yeah, those aren''t good enough. She has saved Ling Ling more than once, and you have barely thanked her yet. Why don''t you offer her yourself?"


    Her last sentence was clearly a joke, so Wu Chengyue glanced at her smilingly and responded, "Do you want me to feed zombies with myself?"


    After saying that, he looked at Wu Yueling, who was eating by herself with chopsticks, and continued, "I want to find her a mommy, but I''m worrying that I might make the wrong choice and end up hurting her."


    Wu Yueling hadn''t mastered chopstick-using yet, but she was already able to pick up food by herself. Her moves were clumsy, but made her look adorable.


    She wasn''t paying attention to the conversation between those two adults at first, but upon hearing Wu Chengyue mention finding her a mommy, she suddenly paused, and her large eyes started glowing.


    She soon lowered her head to continue eating, yet the glow in her eyes kept growing brighter and brighter.


    After hearing what Wu Chengyue said, Meng Yue silently sighed in relief. She looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "In fact, if Ling Ling isn''t your biological daughter, so you can just have another child."


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and replied, "What does that have to do with if she''s my biological daughter or not? My blood doesn''t flow in her, but I love her, and she loves me, her daddy."


    Meng Yue looked at her, but stayed silent.


    Wu Yueling finished the food in her bowl, then put down the chopsticks and raised her head to look at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue grinned and said to her, "Did you finish? If you did, you need to wipe your mouth. Do you understand?"


    Wu Yueling picked up the napkin on the table and wiped her mouth with it, then jumped off the chair and trotted toward the living room.


    "You can''t run so fast with a full stomach, or you might get a stomach ache," Wu Chengyue said to her.


    Wu Yueling immediately stopped. She turned back to give her father a glance, then began walking toward the living room. She sat onto a couch and scooped up the gray rabbit which was huddling there, then put it on her lap and brushed its soft fur with her tiny hands.


    The rabbit squatted on her laps motionlessly, seeming to enjoy her petting.


    While stroking the rabbit, Wu Yueling looked at Wu Chengyue and began thinking about what he just said.


    ''Is Daddy finding me a mommy? But I don''t want anyone to be my mommy¡­ I only want daddy! What is a mommy actually? Can I eat a mommy?''


    ''But, well, if I can get the zombie sister and daddy together, it''ll be nice. I wonder if Viney''ll agree with that. I so want to play with Viney¡­ When will the zombie sister come to visit me?''


    Wu Yueling had many thoughts in her head, but Wu Chengyue didn''t know that his words had caught the kid''s attention.


    As Wu Yueling went to the living room to play with the rabbit, Wu Chengyue started eating his food.


    After dinner, he and Meng Yue sat on a couch to talk about some serious stuff.


    "Recently, you need to watch Yang Chao and his people closely. Also, you have to tell Dashu and Moli to pay attention to what''s happening in the research institute," said Wu Chengyue.


    Meng Yue nodded and responded, "We haven''t found anything yet about that robber who was secretly working with Yang Chao. Do you think it''s possible that he has already made his way into the base?"


    Wu Chengyue nodded in agreement, "That''s possible¡­ His targets are Lin Feng and his people, but they arrived at our base safely. So, I guess that the robber won''t give up so easily. Yang Chao might have let him in already. We just don''t know where he is now. Perhaps, he followed Lin Feng out today."


    After saying that, he paused for a second, then continued, "But, as long as that female zombie is with them, that robber won''t be able to cause them any harm, even if he''s at level-seven."


    "Why?" asked Meng Yue with confusion, "Is Miss. Lu above level-six already? But, I didn''t sense such a strong energy from her."


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "Not her. I mean the other people who are with her."


    ''Or, the other zombies?'' He didn''t say that last part out loud.


    Ever since Miss. Lu took off her sunglasses to show him her eyes last time, Wu Chengyue had been feeling that her delicate face without makeup was a little familiar.


    Where had he seen that face? Women had become rare after the apocalypse. So, he believed that he wouldn''t forget about such a pretty woman after seeing her.


    Also, her pretty face with that pair of purely black eyes would be quite scary and weird to a person who knew nothing about her.


    However, for some reason, Wu Chengyue only felt interested in her eyes. That day, he saw her black eyes and green pupils, which weren''t beautiful at all, but he just wanted to see them again and again.


    "There''re other people?" asked Meng Yue, "Or, do you mean other zombies?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at her, but didn''t nod or shake his head, only saying, "I just felt that she has a greater power in her."


    Meng Yue nodded and said, "I felt that too. That power isn''t the same as her own energy."


    "Yunlong should be back tonight," said Wu Chengyue, "Tomorrow, you two stay in the base. I''ll lead the army out alone."


    His words made Meng Yue stunned. "You''re going out alone? Why? Don''t we always go out together¡­"


    He took her with him almost every time he left the base before, but why did he want her to stay here this time?


    "Yang Chao has started to do things recently," said Wu Chengyue, "So, I need you two to stay here to guard the base. Zou Shihui is just an onlooker. I''m worrying that Yang Chao might take some actions in the base while I''m not around."


    Meng Yue raised her head looked at him while opening her mouth to speak. However, Wu Chengyue didn''t let her say anything.


    "Yue, that''s an order," Wu Chengyue looked at her with a faint smile and said. His eyes were wearing the same usual smile, but they had also clearly told Meng Yue that his command was irresistible.


    Meng Yue somehow had a grievance in her heart, but she still nodded. She felt that Wu Chengyue had never put her on equal footing with himself.

 279 Theysre Healing

    The five zombies left with their treasured glasses, and only Mengmeng stayed beside Lin Qiao, staring at the bailer in her hands.


    "¡­ Here you go!" said Lin Qiao. After throwing the red bailer to Mengmeng, she turned and went downstairs.


    On the sixth floor, she saw Tong Tong and Lin Xiaolu running about in the corridor, playing with Xie Dong. Liu Jun was sitting on a chair by the door of her room, watching the three. However, Lin Qiao didn''t see Cheng Wangxue. Normally, she was always with Lin Xiaolu.


    As Lin Qiao came down, Liu Jun dropped the book in her hands and asked Lin Qiao, "You''ve spent a few days on the roof. Have you tamed those zombie leaders? How''s Lili?"


    Lin Qiao walked to Junjun and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms before her chest. She shook her head and said, "It wasn''t hard to tame those zombie leaders that Lili brought back, but the one at the same level as Lili was a little difficult. I can''t handle her for now. But, I think Lili is able to suppress her completely. She''s in my space now. I just asked Viney to fix and activate her body. I don''t know how long it''ll take."


    Liu Jun nodded and responded, "I felt that the vibes of the two zombies you just brought out of your space are different now. Your lake water is getting more and more effective. Is it related to Viney''s upgrade?"


    "Em," Lin Qiao nodded and replied.


    At that moment, she saw that Lin Xiaolu had stopped running abruptly, turning to look at her with confusion before slowly walking toward her.


    "What''s wrong?" Seeing the little girl walking to her, Lin Qiao smiled and asked.


    Lin Xiaolu walked up to Lin Qiao and spent a short while staring at her stomach, then raised her head to look at the latter''s face with her large eyes.


    Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise. She found that she wasn''t able to sense Lin Xiaolu''s thoughts anymore, not even when they were close to each other. She guessed that it was because the latter now had spirit power. Her power might have blocked Lin Qiao''s sensation, and it should be some kind of self-protection.


    "Aren''t you in pain?" Lin Xiaolu asked. Once she said that, Liu Jun and Xie Dong both looked at Lin Qiao confusedly.


    Lin Qiao blinked, then squatted and smiled at Lin Xiaolu while answering her question, "Don''t worry, I''m not in pain. The one you sensed isn''t me. It''s someone else."


    "Not you?" Lin Xiaolu''s eyes were filled with puzzlement. She abruptly pressed a hand on Lin Qiao''s forehead, then thought for a while and asked another question, "Is it your space? There are two people in your space. Are they fighting?"


    Liu Jun and Xie Dong glanced at each other, then both turned to Lin Xiaolu with surprise.


    Lin Xiaolu''s power actually allowed her to sense the insides of Lin Qiao''s space. The little girl was unexpectedly powerful.


    "No," said Lin Qiao, "They aren''t fighting. They''re healing."


    "Okay¡­" Lin Xiaolu nodded without fulling understanding.


    Lin Qiao rubbed her head and said to her, "Go and play."


    In fact, Lin Xiaolu''s sensations were rather keen. Earlier on, she sensed Lin Qiao when the latter was still three meters away. She would become incredibly powerful in the future when her power upgraded to a certain level.


    "We''re going down. It''s almost dinner time," Lin Xiaolu shook her head and said to Lin Qiao. Then, she turned to Tong Tong and continued, "Tong Tong, let''s go downstairs for dinner."


    "Alright¡­" Hearing the word ''dinner'', Tong Tong immediately agreed and walked toward Lin Xiaolu.


    Lin Xiaolu held his hand, then they walked toward the stairs together, with Xie Dong following behind the two kids.


    Lin Qiao watched Lin Xiaolu walking before Tong Tong like a little adult. She seemed to be looking after Tong Tong carefully. After Xie Dong and the two kids left, Lin Qiao turned to look at Liu Jun, who continued sitting on the chair.


    "Is Tong Tong eating with them now?"


    Liu Jun nodded and said, "Yeah¡­ Madam said that they all eat together anyway. She also said that it was inconvenient for me to cook for Tong Tong alone, and that it''ll be better for them to prepare Tong Tong''s food. Tong Tong eats like a bird, and the two kids can eat more than usual when eating together. So, I agreed."


    "I don''t need to eat anyway," she spread her hands and continued, "It''s indeed inconvenient for me to prepare a tiny amount of food for the kid every day."


    She was pretty diligent before, but now, she was actually getting a little lazy.


    Lin Qiao sensed her thoughts and said, "You felt inconvenient because you''re getting lazy, right?"


    ¡­


    Qiu Lili stayed in the lake for three days before finally making some noise. Lin Qiao had been paying attention to the lake the whole time. On the third day, she finally sensed a strong wave of energy from the lake.


    She flashed into her space and stood by the lakeside, watching the small swirl in the middle of the lake which was caused by the energy from the center of the lake. Quite a while later, she saw countless jade-white vines reach out of the water through the swirl, dancing in the air.


    After that, a vibe from the lake suddenly made her feel repressed. The vibe slowly grew stronger, and so did the repressing feeling; so much so that she felt hard to breathe.


    ''Damn! Qiu Lili didn''t directly break into level-seven, did she?''


    Lin Qiao remained standing by the lakeside, fighting against the repressing feeling with a frown. However, she started failing in just a few seconds. An intention of running far away from this place was rising from her heart.


    Thankfully, right before she gave up and turned to exit her space, the vibe suddenly disappeared. Then, the swirl in the middle of the lake slowly faded.


    Viney''s vines calmed down as well, all drawing back into the water. Lin Qiao sighed in relief, as she knew that Qiu Lili had finally woken up.


    A while later, she saw Qiu Lili stick her head out of the water, slowly swimming toward the lakeside. As Qiu Lili got closer and closer to her, Lin Qiao found something to not be quite right.


    Qiu Lili was still in the water, but Lin Qiao had seen her over a meter long hair which were floating behind her!


    Before, Qiu Lili''s hair only reached her waist. But now, her hair could almost reach her feet! Lin Qiao''s hair had all fallen off, but Qiu Lili''s didn''t. On the contrary, her hair even grew longer!


    Lin Qiao suddenly felt that she needed to talk to Viney about life.


    Qiu Lili, who now had super long hair, slowly stood up from the water. She covered her chest with an arm while walking toward the chair beside Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao watched her approaching and asked, "You¡­ Did you upgrade?"


    Qiu Lili glanced at her confusedly, then thought for a moment before nodding.


    "I think¡­ so¡­ Eh? I can talk!" As she opened her mouth, a clear sentence escaped her lips. Hearing her own voice, she stopped walking. Then, the confused look in her face was replaced by a look of joy. She popped her blood-red eyes and stared at Lin Qiao happily.


    "Ah, I can talk! I can talk!"


    She was so happy that she even forgot to put clothes on. Lin Qiao looked at her and smiled before responding, "Alright, I get it. It was meant to happen, wasn''t it? Hurry, come up and put your clothes on."


    Only after hearing Lin Qiao''s words did Qiu Lili realize that she was still naked.

 340 The Younger Brother of Lu Family Shows Up

    It was already eight or nine o''clock at night when Lin Qiao nearly arrived at the base. She stopped the car where the guards of the base couldn''t hear its noise, then put it back into her space. After that, she walked toward the base.


    The doors of the base were already closed. She turned herself invisible, then clasped the fence wall with her claws to climb up. After climbing on top of the wall, she directly jumped into the base.


    During the nighttime, many places in the base were dark; only the central area had streetlights. In the periphery area, only some residential buildings had lights, as the power supply of the other areas was cut off.


    Therefore, the people who lived in the base wouldn''t go out at night, unless they had something important to do.


    Lin Qiao walked toward Region D through a dark road. When she was about a mile away from where Lin Wenwen lived, she sensed a few different scents which made her stop walking.


    She found a dark and empty corner, then brought Shen Yujen out of her base.


    Pointing at one direction, she said to Shen Yujen, "Over there are the people you want. Now, you can see things as clearly as in the daylight, and you need to learn to differentiate the scents of people with your nose. Control your hunger, and don''t hurt innocent people."


    Shen Yujen nodded, then looked where Lin Qiao was pointing. She sniffed at the air, then as Lin Qiao said, she sensed a familiar and disgusting scent from a long distance away.


    She immediately popped her eyes and began widening her mouth to bare her teeth.


    "Go," said Lin Qiao, "Be careful, don''t expose yourself. You look exactly like a human being now, so as long as you don''t try to speak, you''ll be fine."


    Shen Yujen nodded, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao turned invisible and followed behind her. The direction she showed to Shen Yujen was also the direction of where Lin Wenwen lived.


    She didn''t follow Shen Yujen very closely. Instead, she glanced around at the nearby buildings, then chose one and nimbly climbed up like a monkey.


    Standing on the roof, she watched Shen Yujen walk through a dark alley. When people approached, she would hide before they saw her, and when they left, she would continue moving forward quietly.


    At that moment, on a crossroad outside the neighborhood which Lin Wenwen and her friends lived in, two groups of people ran into each other.


    "Deputy Chief Piao? It''s so late! Why did you come here? Do you have something important to do?" Lu Tianyi stood on one side of the road and asked Piao Gecang, who was on the other side.


    Standing around him were Kong Qingming, Huang Shou, Liu Jing, and a few others.


    Piao Gecang, who was standing on the other side of the road, rested his hands in his pockets while looking at Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming from head to toe. While smiling, he responded, "Ah, aren''t these the two white chrysanthemums on Chief Zou''s side? I was going to ask you why you came here so late at night. Are you doing something that you can''t tell the others? Is that why you came here while it''s all dark?"


    Both Piao Gecang''s way of speaking and the smile on his face were toned with an unfriendly and sarcastic meaning, even containing some agitated, evil desire.


    By ''white chrysanthemums'', he clearly meant that Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were two proud pretty boys. That was their nickname, given by those men who coveted their beauty but couldn''t get it.


    Lu Tianyi smiled faintly; his smile was elegant, showing no anger at all.


    "Deputy Chief Piao, if you have nothing to do around here, please just go back. This is the guest area of Special Region A. I don''t think it''s appropriate for you, the Deputy Chief of Special Region B, to show up in someone else''s territory," he said.


    Kong Qingming, who stood beside him, was also wearing a smile. But unlike Lu Tianyi''s, his smile was a little wicked, looking very charming and tempting on his pretty face which didn''t have any obvious gender-based features.


    To what Piao Gecang called them, they didn''t make any specific reaction, as if they didn''t hear it. All they did was maintain that their smiles. However, the ones behind them changed the looks on their faces, grimly staring at Piao Gecang and his people.


    Piao Gecang responded to Lu Tianyi''s words, also with a faint smile, "I''d like to know what makes you think that you can talk to me like that. I''m not your direct leader, but I am a Deputy Chief. So, before you start talking, you should watch your tone of speaking."


    Lu Tianyi was completely careless about his warning. "This is Region D," he said with that smile, "Neither of us has any qualifications to demand anything from each other. I was just kindly giving you a suggestion. As the Deputy Chief in Special Region B, I wonder if you have Chief Wu''s permission to come here so late at night! There''ll probably be a misunderstanding again if he knew that you''re here, won''t there? I showed up here under Chief''s order, also with Chief Wu''s permission."


    Piao Gecang''s smile faded as he coldly looked at Lu Tianyi and said, "Why I came here is none of your business. I recommend you not to put your finger in someone else''s pie."


    Right at that moment, a series of footstep sounds were heard from the roadside. Following the sound, a figure showed up. The light from the residential buildings nearby couldn''t reach this area, so the people on the scene only saw the silhouette of a woman.


    They shone their flashlights on that figure, then saw that it was a long-haired woman who was slowly approaching them.


    Lu Tianyi and his people looked at that woman with surprise. It was late at night. Normal people rarely came out at this time, so it was very strange for a woman to show up out here all alone.


    The look on Piao Gecang''s face changed when he saw the woman''s face clearly. He quickly tilted his head to ask the man beside her, "Why is she here?"


    Wasn''t this woman locked in that room in Region F?


    The few men behind him were all staring at the woman who was walking toward them; their faces showed a serious look as well.


    Shen Yujen slowly walked over and stared at Piao Gecang. Her face under her disheveled hair was expressionless.


    "Why are you standing here? Go and take her away!" Seeing that Shen Yujen was less than three meters away from him and his people, Piao Gecang yelled at the man beside him. Hearing him, his subordinates immediately stepped forward, preparing to surround Shen Yujen and catch her.


    "Wait a minute! What are you doing?" Lu Tianyi said to Piao Gecang suddenly and loudly. Meanwhile, he quickly made a few steps forward and stood between Shen Yujen and those men to stop them.


    "Who are you? Why are you out here so late at night? Go back to where you live," Kong Qingming walked over as well to shield Shen Yujen behind him, then turned to say to her.


    When she sensed the nice scents from Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming, Shen Yujen''s empty stomach began growling. She hurriedly took two steps backward to keep a distance from them.


    Then, she shook her head and raised a hand to point at Piao Gecang. Her eyes showed a strong hatred.


    Kong Qingming sensed her agitated vibe, and also detected the hatred toward Piao Gecang in her eyes. Instantly, he figured out what this woman was here for.


    He turned to ask Piao Gecang, "Did you do something bad to her?"

 341 Shen Yujen Bites People

    "You must have done something to her. She''s apparently here to give you trouble," Kong Qingming turned to say to Piao Gecang.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at Shen Yujen, then turned back to Piao Gecang. The smile on his face was already gone. "Deputy Chief Piao," he said to Piao Gecang with a serious look, "a man who always travels at night may have a chance of see inga ghost. For all the things you''ve done stealthily, have you ever thought that your victims will find you one day and take revenge?"


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming both knew that Piao Gecang wasn''t a good man. He loved to harass people''s wives and girlfriends, and force those poor women to do what he wanted. The women who fell into his hands never managed to go back home. Many people suspected him and hated him, but couldn''t do anything to him.


    He only chose the women from commoner families or low-positioned superpowered families to hurt. If the victims'' families found out about him, he would send his people to kill them.


    Now, as a woman stood in front of him and stared at him with hatred. Lu Tianyi figured that Piao Gecang must have done something to her that caused this result. Also, he just ordered his people to capture the woman right in front of Lu Tianyi.


    Hearing Lu Tianyi''s words, Piao Gecang had a faint murderous intent flashing across his eyes. Abruptly, he laughed and said, "Mr. Lu, I don''t know what you''re talking about. This woman is dangerous. To prevent her from hurting the others in the base, you better hand her to me."


    While speaking, he raised a hand and crooked his finger toward his subordinates who were behind him. Following his move, the few men who were stopped by Lu Tianyi instantly kept moving toward Shen Yujen.


    Seeing that Piao Gecang actually ignored him and his friends, and so brazenly attempted to capture that woman right before their eyes, Lu Tianyi''s face darkened. He wanted to say something, but suddenly, a hand reached before him and stopped him.


    He turned back to see that Shen Yujen shook her head toward him gratefully, then walked past him, toward Piao Gecang.


    "Don''t go over there! It''s dangerous!"


    "What are you doing?"


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming both shouted at Shen Yujen. However, because of her current attitude, they didn''t try to stop her again.


    First, they decided to respect her, and second, they were both curious about what she was going to do to Piao Gecang. Also, they would watch him closely, and were already ready to fight him. Even though they couldn''t defeat the level-six Piao Gecang, they didn''t plan to let him take her away just so easily.


    Piao Gecang felt a little strange, as Shen Yujen didn''t run away because of fear upon seeing him. On the contrary, she directly walked toward him. Seeing her coming straight at him, he raised a hand to signal for his subordinates to stop because of curiosity.


    After that, he waited for Shen Yujen to walk up to him.


    Shen Yujen stood in front of him. A few flashlights straight on her eyes, yet she gazed at Piao Gecang without even blinking.


    "What do you want? I don''t know how you ran out, yet I''m surprised that you didn''t go home, but stupidly came to me. I wonder what is in your head¡­"


    "Roar!"


    Right when Piao Gecang was talking to her, Shen Yujen''s face suddenly twisted. She uttered a thunderous roar toward him, then violently pounced upon him.


    As a level-six superpowered man, Piao Gecang reacted quickly. However, it was still too late for him to dodge when Shen Yujen charged at him, because the distance between the two of them was too short. He only automatically raised his arm and swung it toward Shen Yujen''s widely opened mouth.


    "Roar!" As a result, Shen Yujen was pushed aside by him, but she still managed to bite off a piece of flesh from his arm. She fell to the ground, then stood back up, her mouth covered in blood.


    She chewed that piece of flesh loudly, then spat out the cloth piece in her mouth.


    After watching her pounce, bite, and chew human flesh, the others were all stunned.


    "What are you looking at! Blow her head off!" Piao Gecang burst in raging growls. His entire face was twitching and teeth were bared because of the pain, as a piece of his arm was bitten off.


    Only after hearing his voice did his subordinates realize what had happened. They automatically raised their guns and fired at Shen Yujen.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! A series of gunshots echoed through the darkness of night.


    The sudden gunshots immediately caught the attention of the people who lived in the residential area nearby. Quite some of them walked to their windows to see where the shots were heard from.


    "Roar!" The moment those people fired, Shen Yujen swiftly rushed into the garden nearby. She was as fast as a wild animal which was hunting at night.


    "Go after her! Don''t let her get away! She has become a zombie! We can''t let her run about in the base!" Piao Gecang covered the wound on his arm, looking very miserable. After saying that, he suddenly noticed the wound, and then he showed a dramatical change of expression, as his entire face began twisting.


    He couldn''t have imagined that the woman had actually turned into a zombie already. Just now when she pounced on him, her movement and her ferocious face looked made her look exactly like a zombie.


    Piao Gecang only came to this area to try to find some information about the two women from Hades Base. But unexpectedly, he ran into Zou Shihui''s people, and the woman who was kidnapped and tortured by him two days ago.


    That woman had somehow become a zombie, and crazily given him a bite. So, the wound on his arm must have been infected by the zombie virus already.


    ''No, I need to go to the hospital now¡­ No, no, I have to go to the research institute! Those useless people in the hospital have no way of solving this. Only the research institute might have a solution!''


    At this moment, Piao Gecang had already panicked knowing that he was infected by the virus. He was only thinking about one thing, which was how to save himself from becoming a zombie. As his subordinates all went to chase that woman, he hurriedly turned to run toward the research institute.


    Lu Tianyi, Kong Qingming, and their friends were left dumbfounded.


    "Damn! What just happened¡­" Huang Shou said with a shocked face, as if he had just seen a ghost.


    "Who knows!" The others were as stunned as he was. They had actually seen a zombie inside the base! What did that mean? That meant that a zombie had managed to enter the base, and that the base was no longer safe!


    "Why didn''t she¡­ attack us? And I think, she was only targeting Piao!" Lu Tianyi suddenly murmured to himself. Hearing his words, the others all paused instantly.


    "Because she''s only here to revenge. She won''t hurt innocent people." A hoarse voice was abruptly heard from nearby.


    Lu Tianyi and his friends were startled at first. Then, they quickly turned to the source of the voice while shining their flashlights on that area. Then, they saw a woman wearing a pair of sunglasses and a baseball hat standing there, looking pretty suspicious. She was looking at them, her lip corners curved in a smile.


    "Eh? It''s your sister!" At the sight of her, Kong Qingming turned to say to Lu Tianyi with surprise.

 280 I Want to Talk to You

    As Qiu Lili ran away to dress herself, Lin Qiao shouted at the lake, "Viney, come here. I want to talk to you!"


    Hearing her, a few jade-white vines immediately rose from the lake and reached to Lin Qiao before wrapping around her wrist.


    Lin Qiao squatted and said, "Let me ask you a question. Why did all my hair fall off when I upgraded, but Lili''s grew so much longer when she upgraded?"


    She glanced back at Qiu Lili''s long, black, shiny hair, then turned to look at the vine on her hand.


    ''Em¡­ I don''t know¡­ I can''t control that¡­ Maybe¡­ Mama, maybe your hair will grow too when you''re at her level¡­''


    "Level?" asked Lin Qiao, "Is it about level? Not every zombie will have their hair grow crazily when reaching level-seven, right?"


    ''I don''t know if the others are the same¡­ Maybe only Sister Lili can grow hair¡­ Or, maybe the others will also have their hair fall off, just like Mama¡­''


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "You see, Junjun''s hair didn''t fall off. No one else will become bald like me, right?"


    Viney stayed silent for a while, as if she was thinking hard. Then, she said, ''But Mama, your body was damaged badly. To activate your body, I needed to reform all of it.''


    Lin Qiao was puzzled at first, then asked with surprise, "What? You haven''t activated my body yet? But, I''m already able to talk, am I not?"


    ''That''s because I''ve fixed and reformed your throat,'' said Viney, ''Mama''s throat wasn''t damaged.''


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "Is that so? Alright!"


    ''Mama, Mama,'' Viney continued regretfully, ''I''ve used up all the energy in helping Sister Lili upgrade. I can''t upgrade Mama now¡­''


    Lin Qiao carelessly shook her head and said, "It''s alright. I''ll just get you more energy nuclei. You''re tired. Just go take some rest."


    She had felt that Viney was a little weak.


    ''Alright,'' Viney replied obediently. Then, she unwrapped Lin Qiao''s wrist and drew back into the lake.


    Lin Qiao looked at the lake. The density of the energy contained in the lake water had grown much higher than before. Lin Qiao guessed that all that energy was filtered by Viney.


    She turned back to look at Qiu Lili. The latter had dried her hair with her fire power, and was now fighting against those super long hair. The hair were too long, and she wasn''t used to them. Now, she just didn''t know how to tie her hair up.


    The hair at such a length could be tied into twin tails, but that was indeed not an easy thing to do.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t good at hair-managing either. So, she spread her hands and said to Qiu Lili, "Maybe you should go out and ask Junjun for help. I don''t know how to tie up such long hair either¡­"


    Qiu Lili paused slightly, then looked at her helplessly while pouting and said, "Why are they so long? Why did yours fall off but mine became twice as long?"


    Lin Qiao noticed that Qiu Lili''s voice was even sweeter and more silvery than it used to be, unlike her own dry and unpleasant voice.


    Was it really because Qiu Lili was at a higher level?


    Lin Qiao held Qiu Lili''s hand, then both of them flashed out of the space.


    ¡­


    Liu Jun, Xie Dong, even Mengmeng had all been waiting for them to come out. Once Qiu Lili showed up, Mengmeng, who stayed on the roof, suddenly appeared on the windowsill of Liu Jun''s room.


    "Roar?"


    ''Lili?''


    Seeing Qiu Lili who was now with draped hair, Mengmeng called her name with uncertainty.


    Liu Jun''s eyes glowed for some reason when she saw Qiu Lili''s long and straight hair reaching straight to the ground, as smooth as a waterfall.


    "Wow, your hair are so beautiful!"


    Seeing Liu Jun''s glowing eyes, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but want to laugh. Liu Jun acted like a kid who had spotted some kind of interesting toy!


    "Yeah, they grew longer. They are too long¡­ Can I cut them short?" Qiu Lili said with a clear and sweet voice.


    She wanted to cut her hair short. However, after seeing the look in Liu Jun''s eyes, she felt that it would be wrong for her to cut her hair without the latter''s permission.


    "No!" As she thought, Liu Jun shouted out loud, then hurriedly ran up to her and lifted her hair. While stroking the hair, she continued, "It''ll be such a shame to cut off these beautiful hair. Don''t cut them, I''ll tie them up for you. You can have any style you like."


    Xie Dong looked at Lin Qiao confusedly, who spread her hands toward him.


    Sometimes, guys just couldn''t understand girls'' obsession with hair.


    On seeing Qiu Lili''s super long hair, Liu Jun even ignored the level-seven vibe from her. Even though the latter had fully restrained her vibe on purpose, the pressure from a higher level being should still be strong for Liu Jun, as she was so close to Qiu Lili at the moment.


    Mengmeng stood aside, looking at Qiu Lili. After confirming the latter''s identity, she sat on the windowsill with her back to the outside, swaying her lower legs.


    Lili had become further stronger than her. She wasn''t able to defeat Lili before, and now, she had even smaller chance. She guessed that Lili was now able to send her flying away with a single slap.


    How did Lili become so powerful? Was it because of Lin Qiao? Could she grow stronger like Lili did?


    Mengmeng looked at Qiu Lili, then turned to Lin Qiao.


    She had a feeling that Lin Qiao must have something to do with Qiu Lili''s sudden upgrade. After all, the two of them disappeared together earlier on, and now showed up together. Once they were out, she found that Lili had become much stronger than before!


    However, she didn''t wonder for long, as she was soon distracted by Tong Tong, who was sleeping in the bed.


    Qiu Lili said to Liu Jun, "I want them to be like before, but they are too long now¡­" While speaking, she wore a struggling face. Liu Jun immediately made her sit on the chair, then brought the comb and hair strings out of her room while saying, "Watch me do it. I''ll teach you."


    Lin Qiao glanced at Tong Tong, who was taking a nap, then turned to Mengmeng, who was gazing at him with sparkling eyes. "This is Tong Tong," she said to Mengmeng, "You can''t take him away without permission like you did before! Also, you can''t hurt him! Do you understand?"


    She detected no evil intention from Mengmeng''s eyes, but she was worried that the latter might accidentally hurt Tong Tong.


    At that moment, Qiu Lili suddenly turned back to yell at Mengmeng fiercely, "I''ll kill you if you dare to hurt Tong Tong."


    Mengmeng looked at Qiu Lili and flinched, shaking her head quickly.


    Lin Qiao smilingly watched the two of them. Qiu Lili was like Mengmeng''s invincible opponent! As long as Lili was here, Lin Qiao wouldn''t need to worry that Mengmeng might become unruly.


    Then, Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili and couldn''t help but feel lucky for the fact that her humanity had stayed, and that she was a kind soul. She was so powerful now! If she picked the side of evil, she would become a real disaster.


    She wondered if any other zombie dominators existed in this world. There were so many zombies now, and it was possible for them to evolve into second-grade zombie kings and queens, also known as zombie dominators. Maybe zombie dominators did exist, but no one had encountered any yet.


    Lin Qiao believed that there were more zombie dominators in this world. However, she didn''t want to meet any of them except for Qiu Lili!

 342 Tang He Lef

    Lu Tianyi had a delighted look flashing across his eyes, but he didn''t let that become obvious. Instead, he turned to say to Kong Qingming, "Don''t talk nonsense in the base."


    After all, there would be a trouble if her true identity was exposed in the base.


    "I get it," Kong Qingming rolled his eyes and responded.


    Lu Tianyi then turned to Lin Qiao and said, "It''s really you. I thought Chief Wu was looking for someone else!"


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance, then asked, "Why did you come here so late?"


    "Our Chief received a message which says that Yang Chao is preparing to do something to those Hades Base people, then make Chief Wu take the blame. We''re here to inform the Hades Base people about that," said Lu Tianyi.


    Lin Qiao turned toward the way Shen Yujen had disappeared, then spent a moment sensing her current situation. She should be safe hiding in the darkness of night.


    After that, she turned back to say to Lu Tianyi, "You go and find them now. I need to leave for a while. I still have one problem to solve."


    Finishing talking, she glanced up at the residential area that Yuan Tianxing and the others stayed in, then suddenly disappeared in front of Lu Tianyi and his friends.


    "What problem?" Lu Tianyi, Kong Qingming and the others looked at each other, and one of them asked that question.


    Kong Qingming shook his head and said, "I don''t know. We should go upstairs to find them first. It''s getting late. Let''s just finish our job and go back early."


    After saying that, he abruptly stared at Lu Tianyi with disdain, continuing, "It''s you who told me to keep an eye on those people, but just now, you actually gave the credit to our Chief. You''re so shameless!"


    Lu Tianyi gave him a smile, then looked around and nodded. While walking toward the residential area, he responded, "If I didn''t do that, my motivation would become suspicious, wouldn''t it? Did she bring that zombie woman in here? That woman seems to have become a true zombie. I wonder what will happen to Piao at last."


    Kong Qingming shrugged and replied, "Who knows? I hope he becomes a zombie, so I can just blow his head off."


    At that point, Huang Shou, who was behind the two of them, asked, "Ugh¡­ Is it bad for that female zombie to stay in the base? She''ll bite people, won''t she?"


    Lu Tianyi answered that question carelessly, "No. The zombies she brought in won''t bite people randomly. You''ve seen what happened just now. That female zombie acted like normal human beings in front of us. She only targeted Piao. It''ll be fun if he turns into a zombie too."


    "Don''t we need to follow Piao to see what''s happening now?" asked Huang Shou.


    "No need," Kong Qingming smiled, "He''s definitely heading to the research institute. That''s their territory. It''ll be more fun to let him bring troubles to his own people."


    "Don''t worry!" Lu Tianyi, said "I don''t think he has a big chance of surviving even if he makes it to the research institute. Also, some people in the research institute are under Chief Wu''s command. He going there will provide Chief Wu with a great reason, won''t it?"


    Hearing that, Huang Shou and the others glanced at each other. "So, it''s none of our business now?"


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming both nodded.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao turned invisible, then entered that residential area and walked toward a residential building. As she got close enough, she hopped onto the balconies and climbed straight to the roof.


    On the roof, she stood by a corner, looking at a man on top of the stair room.


    She was a little surprised to find that this man had actually managed to enter the base. Also, she wondered who this robber leader prepared to make moves on.


    She didn''t know who was Tang He''s target, and Tang He didn''t know that someone was already staring at him from behind.


    He glanced at the area where Piao Gecang and Lu Tianyi were lingering before, then showed a grim look.


    "Douchebag!" He cursed with a frown, then turned and prepared to leave. However, he paused for a second once he turned around, then looked around. As he found nothing suspicious, he began wondering if he had been overthinking just now.


    After that, he turned back around and leaped off the building; following behind him was an invisible figure.


    Before leaping off, Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Wenwen''s room. She was very glad that she came back in time, because something terrible nearly happened in this place.


    Also¡­


    She then glanced at Lu Tianyi and his friends.


    ''That kid thinks I don''t know what he''s been thinking?'' she thought.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lu Tianyi and his friends went into the residential area, then took the stairs to Yuan Tianxing and Lin Wenwen'' rooms. After reaching there, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming each knocked on a door.


    Long Qingying opened the door and saw a pretty man. She had to glance down at his chest to confirm that the person she saw wasn''t a woman.


    "How can I help you?" she said.


    The wicked smile froze on Kong Qingming''s face as a sharp-eyed woman had just looked at his chest to confirm his gender. But soon, he forgot about that uncomfortable feeling and smiled again while asking, "I wonder if Lin Wenwen is here."


    Long Qingying motionlessly glanced at the others outside the door, then re-fixed her eyes on Kong Qingming and asked, "Who are they? Why are you looking for Wenwen?"


    Being stared at by her laser-sharp eyes, Kong Qingming got seriously nervous. He abruptly took two steps backward, then reached a hand backward and dragged over Lu Tianyi, who had just knocked on the other door.


    "Um¡­ You take this side," he said.


    Lu Tianyi, who was suddenly dragged over, didn''t know what was happening. He confusedly glanced at Long Qingying, then turned to Kong Qingming who was wearing a weird smile. After that, he looked at the others with puzzles in his eyes.


    ''What''s going on?''


    Huang Shou and the other two all spread their hands and shook their heads.


    Kong Qingming stood before Yuan Tianxing''s door and glanced back at Long Qingying. After that, he turned around with the back of his head toward the others.


    At that moment, Yuan Tianxing''s door was opened as well. Yuan Tianxing stuck his head out of the door and saw a few strangers standing outside. Not only had he opened the door, but Lin Wenwen''s door was opened as well.


    "What? Can I help you? Who are you?"


    On the other side, seeing the weird behavior of those strangers, the cold-faced Long Qingying attempted to shut the door.


    "Ugh¡­ Please wait! We, um¡­ We came here with a message about you guys. We want to tell you something. But of course, if you''re not interested, we''ll leave now," Lu Tianyi reacted fast enough to stop Long Qingying.


    "About us?" Lin Wenwen''s voice was heard. She had heard what Lu Tianyi said as she walked up behind Long Qingying and curiously looked at him and his friends. Long Qingying turned back and made an eye-contact with her, then continued to stare at Lu Tianyi and his friends disbelievingly.


    At this point, Yuan Tianxing walked out from behind Du Yuanxing. He looked at Lu Tianyi and asked, "Who are you?"


    "I am Lu Tianyi, the Captain of Class Three, Agriculture Department of this base. This is my work ID. Don''t worry, we aren''t here to bring you any troubles," Lu Tianyi showed Yuan Tianxing his work ID while speaking.

 281 The Number of Zombies

    Liu Jun quickly braided Qiu Lili''s hair and curled them slightly, then tied them up into twin-tails, hanging behind her body.


    The dark circles under Qiu Lili''s eyes had disappeared. Her eyes were still black, and her pupils were fiery-red. The skin of her face and body had become white and smooth. Wearing the white dress, she still looked very adorable.


    Qiu Lili flipped her super long twin-tail and felt not so bad. So, she became happy again.


    Liu Jun asked Lin Qiao, "Eh? Did Viney use up all the energy contained in the nuclei that Lili brought back this time? Didn''t you ask Viney to give you another treatment, to see if your hair could grow back out?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "Viney said that the energy has been consumed up. Lili is at a high level, so she required a great amount of energy to fix her body. Fortunately, she brought back enough nuclei. If there was even one less, she might not have been able to upgrade."


    ¡­


    More days passed by. These days, Lin Qiao had been training the seven zombies¡ªfive zombie leaders and two level-four superpowered zombies. In order to call them more conveniently, Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili numbered them. Now, they called them directly by the numbers.


    Zombie number one wasn''t the strongest one, but was the one who was the most obedient to Lin Qiao, and number two was the second most obedient one.


    So, reasonably, the two level-four zombies, who were the weakest ones among them all, became number one and two. The male zombie was number one, while the female zombie was number two. The male zombie had a lower IQ than the female, but he was tractable. The female zombie was smart indeed, but Lin Qiao felt that she liked to play petty tricks and considered herself to be very clever. Moreover, she was very violent¡­


    When Lin Qiao taught her how to dress herself, she tore half of the shirt off; when Lin Qiao asked her to pick up things, she picked up a pile of good and bad things. The funniest thing was that Lin Qiao could tell that she understood the order, but still decided to bring the bad things back, as she guessed that a big quantity might bring her compliments.


    Sometimes, Lin Qiao found this female zombie to be both funny and annoying.


    The middle-aged male zombie who was beaten up by Lin Qiao was zombie number three. After being beaten and having a cup of water that Lin Qiao provided, he became very obedient to her. He didn''t remember what happened before, as if the debts between him and Lin Qiao had been canceled completely.


    The boy zombie was zombie number four, the female zombie leader was zombie number five, the male zombie leader was zombie number six, and the elderly zombie was number seven.


    The elderly zombie had kept some habits that he had before death. Lin Qiao felt that he used to be someone with a very strong self-awareness. She guessed that he was a government official, or the leader of a large family¡­ or the godfather of the underworld.


    Zombie number seven had an old habit, that when drinking water, he had to find a chair to sit down. If there wasn''t a chair around him when Lin Qiao gave him the water, he would hold the glass and look around. Only after finding a chair of a couch would he sit down and drink the water sip by sip.


    Lin Qiao wondered if he thought the water was booze or tea.


    As a part of the training content, Lin Qiao made them memorize the human beings who were staying in this area. Of course, in their eyes, those humans were all preys and food.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao brainwashed them every day¡­ Yes, she brainwashed them!


    She not only made them memorize the scent of every human being who lived in the hotel building, but also demanded them to memorize their names. The zombies had no idea what names were, so Lin Qiao explained to them that people called each other by different names¡­ She felt like she was teaching a group of elementary school students.


    Thankfully, all zombie leaders were quite smart. They didn''t understand at first, but as Lin Qiao explained two or three times, they had mostly gotten her meaning.


    At last, Lin Qiao strongly demanded these zombies to not hurt people. Apart from that, she also required them to protect the people who lived in the hotel building.


    But of course, while ordering these zombies to not hurt people, she also told them to stay away from strangers. Otherwise, it would be bad if they refused to hurt people because of what she said, but ended up being killed after accidentally exposing themselves to strangers.


    At last, Lin Qiao gave them a final direction--they weren''t allowed to hurt anyone, unless someone hurt them! And of course, if anyone attacked them, they should fight back with the same level of attack.


    Then, those zombies were confused by the term ''same level of attack''. To explain, Lin Qiao gave some examples.


    In addition to the above, Lin Qiao also asked them to think of this area as their territory. No outsiders were allowed in their territory. Lin Qiao forbade them from directly making a move when an unexpected situation occurred; instead, they always needed to report to her first.


    Lin Qiao had let the group of zombies know that any zombie who didn''t follow the rules would be executed¡­ not by Qiu Lili, but by herself.


    Mengmeng was a special one. She kept a part of her humanity, but had lost all her memories. Also, she seemed to be a little mentally subnormal. She was half-good and half-evil.


    When happy, she was a good kid; but when upset, she was evil. And of course, when she lost her temper, she would turn into a monster!


    Lin Qiao hadn''t seen her going mad. No blood scent was detected from her body, judging by which, she didn''t seem to have killed any human.


    If that weren''t the case, Lin Qiao wouldn''t have let Qiu Lili show mercy to her.


    Furthermore, Lin Qiao found that Mengmeng was especially interested in children. Earlier on, she acted like she had attained some kind of treasure after seeing Wu Yueling. She was happy on seeing Tong Tong as well. At last, she started playing with Lin Xiaolu.


    She didn''t approach Lin Xiaolu. Instead, the latter came to her.


    Lin Xiaolu found that she was able to communicate with Mengmeng after getting close to her for the first time. At that time, she had to sneakily approach Mengmeng to talk to her, because Lin Qiao had told Lin Feng and the others to keep an eye on Mengmeng and stay away from her, as she was powerful and a bit unruly.


    Therefore, people were shocked that day upon finding that Lin Xiaolu had gotten close to Mengmeng when the adults weren''t noticing. Fortunately, the two of them got along well, and nothing bad happened.


    Another thing was that Lin Qiao had upgraded the appearances of each zombie. As for the boy zombie''s scary-looking wounded mouth, Lin Qiao had asked her to cover it with bandages. She only allowed him to take off the bandages while drinking his daily water. For the rest of the time, the boy zombie looked like a severely wounded child.


    Currently, those zombies would only take in the lake water that Lin Qiao provided, but not any food. The lake water was able to ease their hunger and repair their bodies from the inside, very slowly though.


    On this day, Lin Qiao was teaching the boy zombie how to write. The boy zombie overreacted each time he saw notebooks and pens, maybe because he was violently forced to study by her parents back in the old world. As he didn''t know how to hold a pen, it was difficult for him to even draw, let alone write.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao would teach him how to read and write when she had time.

 343 Kindness Came to No Good

    After spending a short while gazing at them, Yuan Tianxing invited Lu Tianyi and his friends in. He stepped aside to let them in, then said to Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying, "You two come over here too. Let''s see what it''s about."


    "Alright," Lin Wenwen glanced at Yuan Tianxing and nodded, then looked at Long Qingying and said to her, "Let''s go."


    In Yuan Tianxing''s living room, Kong Qingming and Lu Tianyi sat on the couch, and Yuan Tianxing offered seats to Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying as well. Meanwhile, the others each found a place to stand.


    "What''s the message?" Yuan Tianxing looked at Lu Tianyi and asked.


    "In fact, we just ran into some people outside this residential area," said Lu Tianyi, "They left because of us, or something else. However, we''re sure that they were here for these two girls."


    Yuan Tianxing and the other guys glanced at each other. Unlike them, Long Qingying asked coldly, "You''ve been here for a while. What is the message exactly? Can you just get to the point?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "You said that those people were here for us. Why them? Why are they targeting us? Have we ever offended them? Or, do they have any other purpose?"


    Lu Tianyi looked at her and responded, "Chief Wu asked us to bring you the message. To undermine your cooperation with Chief Wu, Yang Chao has secretly sent someone to kidnap you two girls. Tonight, his people have already been making moves. Chief Wu''s side is short-handed now, so we came here to deliver the message, as we needed to come to this area for other tasks anyway."


    Kong Qingming added, "As for if you have offended Yang Chao or not, we don''t know about that. But, we do know that you pissed his sister, Yang Yan, off. According to the message we got, Yang Chao is planning to kidnap you, and then inject the zombie virus into you, so that he can make Chief Wu take the blame. Based on his relationship with you, if a zombie problem happened on your side, he''d definitely have something to do with it."


    "Is your message true?" Yuan Tianxing looked at Lu Tianyi and said, the expression on his face turning serious.


    "I think you''ve all heard the gunshots from down there just now," said Lu Tianyi, "Earlier on, the man we met was named Piao Gecang. He''s Yang Chao''s Deputy Chief. He is a lascivious man who liked to rape women. I think he showing up here had something to do with these two girls."


    After saying that, he glanced at Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying, then continued, "Why didn''t you leave with the others? As two girls, you staying here will only bring the others more troubles."


    "It''s none of your business," Long Qingying gave Lu Tianyi a cold, threatening glance, as that stranger just criticized her right to her face. Unlike her, Lin Wenwen fell into silence, just blinking. Seeing that Long Qingying seemed to lose her temper, she hurriedly comforted her.


    "Alright Qingying, he''s right. Staying here, we''ll only bring troubles to Tianxing. Next time, we''ll leave with them," she said. She believed that Yuan Tianxing would leave by then as well.


    Long Qingying glanced at Lin Wenwen, then turned her face away.


    Hearing Long Qingying''s impolite words, Lu Tianyi had his smile faded as well. He felt that he got hated for his kindness.


    "It is none of our business, but if you bring troubles to our base and Chief Wu, it will become our business. So please, leave as soon as you can. You''re not welcome here," he said.


    Then, he stood up and continued to Yuan Tianxing, "We''ve delivered the message, and we''ve saved you from the bad guys once tonight. However, the same things will certainly happen for a second and third time. You''re free to make any decisions. If some of you go missing, you should directly go to Yang Chao instead of begging our Chief."


    Having finished talking, he turned and walked toward the door.


    Kong Qingming stood up as well. He smilingly glanced at Long Qingying and said, "Maybe our kindness came to no good. After the apocalypse, women are getting even more unreasonable."


    After saying that, he followed Lu Tianyi out.


    Yuan Tianxing leaned against the back of the couch, his arms crossed before his chest. The look in his eyes was serious as he was thinking about something.


    "Qingying, what''s wrong? Why were you so mad? Those guys meant well!" Lin Wenwen looked at Long Qingying with a confused look, as she didn''t understand why the latter reacted that way.


    Long Qingying snorted coldly, then said, "Nothing. I just didn''t like their attitude. We''ll bring troubles to the others? That''s our business too. We don''t need them to mind our business."


    "Alright. They''ve said that it''s Chief Wu who sent them. Maybe they didn''t want to come. And now, they''ve suffered your unfriendly attitude. Besides, if what they said is true, that some people have eyes on us, we really shouldn''t stay in their base," Lin Wenwen said with a soft voice.


    Long Qingying turned to stare at her and responded, "Now you''re saying this. This morning, who had asked to stay? Me?"


    Lin Wenwen immediately gave her a grin and said, "It was me, me¡­ I was wrong, alright? I was self-willed. I knew it was dangerous, but I still asked you to stay here with me. I was wrong, and I''m sorry! Please don''t be mad."


    Long Qingying snorted to her and said, "I''m glad you''re aware of it. You chose to stay, so you need to deal with the consequences."


    "I know, I know. I won''t be so self-willed again, okay?" Lin Wenwen said with a bitter face.


    "When have you two become so close?" Yuan Tianxing asked abruptly.


    The two girls turned around and saw the others staring at them with a strange look on their faces, their eyes saying¡­


    ''Is there something going on between them? Are they lesbians?''


    "What''s that look in your eyes? Shouldn''t good friends be like this? We''re just two girls, and you shouldn''t have that kind of a guess. Don''t you think that you''ve been overthinking?" Lin Wenwen said to the others.


    Yuan Tianxing turned his eyes away and said, "If what Lu Tianyi said is true, we do need to be more careful. I didn''t think that we''d become a pain in the a*s for another leader of this base. Now we have trouble at hand."


    "Was it them who caused the gunshots that we heard just now?" asked Du Yuanxing.


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "I don''t know, but it''s possible. We can assume that it was them, and we should all stay on alert."


    "In this case, I don''t think it''s safe for us to live in that flat alone," said Lin Wenwen.


    Long Qingying glanced at her and responded, "I''ll be with you. What''re you afraid of?"


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "Wenwen is right. Qingying, if you two live there alone, we might not be able to get there in time when danger arrives, and you alone won''t be able to protect the two of you from level-six attackers."


    Du Yuanxing agreed, "That''s right. So, Deputy Chief, you should live with them and protect them. Don''t worry about the other guys and me!" After saying that, he winked at the others.


    Tianxing didn''t know how to respond. Was putting him in difficult situations Du Yuanxing''s sole mission?

 282 Coming Across Man-eating Robbers Again

    Lin Qiao, who was on the roof teaching the boy zombie how to write, suddenly felt something before someone showed up by her side. That was the elderly zombie, zombie number seven.


    "Roar¡­" The elderly zombie''s deep voice was heard.


    ''People there.''


    Lin Qiao had told the group of zombies to not call humans ''preys'', but ''people'' instead. So, the elderly zombie used those two words to report what he had sensed to her.


    Lin Qiao was puzzled at first, then raised her head to find that he was holding a hand behind his body, the other hand pointing at the area that he had been guarding.


    That was the way to Sea City.


    Lin Qiao closed her eyes and tried to sense, but felt nothing. Afterward, she stood up with her eyes closed as she sniffed deeply at the air toward that direction.


    Two minutes later, she opened her eyes which glowed slightly.


    She thought that Yuan Tianxing and his people might be back, but upon sniffing carefully, she found that those people were a group of strangers. She didn''t detect the scents of Yuan Tianxing, Du Yuanxing, and the other few.


    "Grandpa, go stop them," she said to zombie number seven, "Remember, scare them off, but don''t hurt them¡­ Eh, wait!"


    She had planned to send the elderly zombie to scare those people away and make them avoid this area. For some reason, she felt it would be better to not let Lin Feng and the others meet those people.


    However, before she finished talking, she sensed another group of people behind the first group.


    ''Alright, two batches of people. In this case, we need to figure out what''s happening first.''


    "Let''s go there and take a look," Lin Qiao stood up and leaped from the roof with the elderly and the boy zombie. She wanted to know who those people were and what they were doing!


    Mengmeng watched Lin Qiao and the two zombie leaders leaving. She didn''t follow them out of curiosity, as Qiu Lili didn''t do it.


    Sensing that Lin Qiao and the two zombie leaders were leaving, Lin Feng, who was in his room, curiously glanced at their backs. Mrs. Lin noticed his expression, so she asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Lin Feng turned back and replied, "Lu Tianyu and two zombie leaders left. I don''t know what they''re going to do."


    Mrs. Lin nodded and said, "Ah, I guess they just need to do something."


    Lin Feng silently turned to look out of the window.


    Lin Qiao and the two zombie leaders swiftly leaped over the zombie crowd, then quietly approached the two groups of people.


    At that moment, a dozen people were moving forward about two miles away. They were all armed to the teeth, each of them having at least ten guns and countless bullets. They were heading toward where Lin Qiao was. On their way, they shot every zombie they saw.


    Every single bullet of theirs put down a zombie, not one going wasted.


    While getting close to those people, Lin Qiao turned herself invisible. She asked zombie number four and zombie number seven to keep an eye on those people from a distance away while she moved closer sneakily.


    When she finally saw the first group of people clearly, she couldn''t help but knit her brows into a frown. The dozen men didn''t look like good people at all. Every single one of them was radiating a strong scent of blood, their eyes filled with craziness, cruelty, and bloodlust.


    What made Lin Qiao frown wasn''t how fierce they looked, but the fact that they were with three captives.


    Those were two male captives and a female one. The two men looked very young, about eighteen or nineteen years old. The female looked a little older, around twenty.


    The first group of people didn''t seem to have been chased, as they weren''t alarmed at all. On the contrary, they all look pleased with themselves.


    Their vibes were familiar to Lin Qiao, as she had sensed that kind of vibe before.


    Yes, if she were right, the dozen men in front of her were all post-apocalyptic robbers. The three captives would probably end up as their food.


    They were in a villa area. The villas in this place weren''t high-end, but were all detached, two-story villas. Lin Qiao stood on top of a very tall tree, looking at the dozen men violently dragging the three captives into a detached villa. At this point, the three captives'' clothes had all been ragged. Lin Qiao was able to guess what they had been through.


    Women were rare in the post-apocalyptic era. Even many people in the bases weren''t able to fulfill their desires, not to mention those robbers who needed to fight their way out of zombie crowds every day.


    Therefore, men vented their desires on each other sometimes. Of course, the youngest or weakest among a group would become the target.


    However, robbers rarely did that to their own people. Normally, their objects would be the people that they robbed. They wouldn''t let go of women or young and pretty men.


    When they got tired of those captives or accidentally killed them, they would cut them into pieces and eat them.


    Lin Qiao counted the group of robbers. There were twelve of them, all at a relatively high level. No wonder they had been acting calmly and confidently.


    The invisible Lin Qiao walked straight to the front gate of the villa, then hopped onto the two-meters-tall fence wall.


    The two robbers who guarded by the door didn''t sense Lin Qiao''s entry at all. They were even chatting pretty leisurely.


    "I think that long-haired man is juicy. He''s tall and slim, with slender limbs. His skin is good too, feels so damn great! Sadly, he wore out soon. It has only been two days, but he''s already half-dead. Well, he''s dying, hm."


    "The rude one is not bad either. He''s strong and provocative. Only this kind of people can give you the sense of conquest. That''s how you can feel good. That long-haired one is too sissy. Not my type anyway."


    "Well, we just have different tastes. I like pretty boys, but you like the stronger ones. I know it, hehe¡­"


    "I sure do. The long-haired one is too skinny, and he''s too easy to break! But, Boss is so lucky this time. He actually got us a woman. I haven''t touched a woman''s soft tits in five years!"


    Lin Qiao calmly listened to their conversation, a coldness developing in her eyes. The contents of this conversation were unexpected.


    Meanwhile, she sighed silently over the current reality of this world. Power was the only principle now. The weaker ones would either end up dead or humiliated. It was like a primitive society.


    She jumped into the villa, then walked through the front yard to the door, which was guarded by two robbers as well. She walked into the villa and saw that a few men were cleaning the place roughly. The three captives were tied up and thrown into a corner.


    None of the three seemed to be in a good mental state. Their faces were all filled with despair and numbness. Judging by their body conditions, the woman seemed to have been treated slightly gently than the two men, as no obvious injuries were found on her body except for the red marks on her cheeks, which were clearly caused by heavy slaps.


    Her clothes were in a mess. Her shirt was ripped open, and the breasts were half exposed. At this time, she had lowered her head, curling in the corner.


    The two young men weren''t doing as good as she was. They were both covered in wounds, such that even the corners of their mouths were broken. Their faces were stained by blood. Their upper bodies were bared, as each one of them was only wearing a pair of pants.


    They were lying on the ground motionlessly with their eyes closed.

 344 There is No Antidote

    Downstairs, Kong Qingming gloated over what Lu Tianyi had just experienced, saying, "See, you''re suspected because you want to be kind to them. This is the result of minding other people''s business."


    Lu Tianyi turned around and rolled his eyes as he responded crossly while walking, "Am I here to mind other people''s business? I only came here to confirm if that Miss. Lu mentioned in the messages you received is her. I don''t care about those people at all."


    He came here only because he wanted to see her.


    "Ah, you don''t care about them," said Kong Qingming. "Then, why did you drag all of us out so late at night just to deliver the message to them? And yet, they didn''t thank you."


    "I don''t want those two girls to cause her any troubles," said Lu Tianyi.


    "Alright, whatever you say!" Kong Qingming shrugged, "Ugh, just now, your big sister said that she needs to solve another problem. What is that?"


    Lu Tianyi thought for a moment, then said, "I guess she has discovered someone suspicious. She has much keener sensations than we do, so she might have found some things or someone that we haven''t yet. Besides, the people whom Yang Chao sent to attack those people can''t be the brainless ones like Piao Gecang."


    Kong Qingming said with surprise, "Not Piao Gecang? But, he did come here for Lin Wenwen and the other girl, didn''t he?"


    "Maybe Piao Gecang wasn''t sent here by Yang Chao. Maybe he wanted to come," said Lu Tianyi.


    Kong Qingming looked at him and stayed silent for a while to think, then felt that it was possible.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao quietly followed behind Tang He. Soon, she found out that he was actually heading to the research institute. At that time, the research institute was empty, as all the staff had been off work. However, the door was wide open, and the lock seemed to have been molten.


    Tang He glanced at the distorted lock, then walked in, with Lin Qiao quietly following behind him.


    After a short while of walking, she saw Tang He stop before an isolation room. The door was opened as well. Through the glass wall, she saw a stairway that went down. From down there, she saw a faint light, and heard some people talking.


    Tang He looked around. Seeing that it was all quiet with no one else there, he walked into the isolation room and then went downstairs.


    Lin Qiao didn''t follow him down immediately, but spent a short while observing the things in the room. There were some glass jars in the room that contained human body parts, soaking in liquid.


    After taking a few glances at those jars, she went down the stairs as well.


    It was a spiral staircase, at the other end of which was a very large laboratory right under the isolation room. The laboratory was illuminated by a few energy saving lamps. Some sealed large glass boxes were placed there in lines.


    At first glance, Lin Qiao spotted the zombies in those glass boxes. Those zombies were chained and gagged, their eyes covered.


    She knew that those zombies weren''t dead. However, they all looked drained, as a large amount of their blood has been drawn out of their body for experiments.


    She didn''t look at those glass boxes closely, but turned to the other side, which had a laboratory with glass walls. What was happening in there didn''t seem good.


    She walked over. Apart from Tang He who just came down, Piao Gecang was also in there. At the moment, his face had paled, eyes had sunken, and lips had turned purple.


    There were two other people in the laboratory; Lin Qiao had seen both of them. One of them was a bearded man, whom Lin Qiao remembered to be a doctor. The woman was his assistant. Her neck was gripped in Piao Gecang''s hand, and she was turning back to look at him with icy-cold eyes.


    "Liang Dashu¡­ eh, I know you¡­ you have developed the serum against the zombie virus¡­ Give me¡­ give it to me¡­ Or, I''ll kill this woman!" Piao Gecang put one arm around Moli''s neck to threaten to strangle her while reaching a hand toward Liang Dashu and yelling at him.


    Liang Dashu looked at him calmly and said, "Deputy Chief Piao, do you know what your face looks like now? It''s as pale as a piece of paper, and your eyes have sunken, with dark circles under them. Also, your lips are purple. The virus inside your body is going to infect your brain soon. Do you know that?"


    Hearing his description, Piao Gecang popped his scary-looking eyes and shouted with both fright and anger, "Cut the crap! Give me the antidote¡­ Give me the antidote now¡­" He stuttered and his voice was trembling, but he couldn''t help it.


    Liang Dashu just looked at him. However, before he could say anything, Moli¡ªwhose neck was squeezed in Piao Gecang''s hand¡ªbegan talking.


    "There''s no antidote. Doctor Liang didn''t develop an antidote. The more anxious you are, the faster the virus will spread."


    Piao Gecang tightened his arm, then lowered her head and glared at her while cursing, "Shut up! B*tch¡­ Don''t, don''t expect me to believe you¡­"


    "Eh-hem¡­" Moli''s neck was strangled, which disabled her from breathing and made her cough. Right at that moment, Tang He, who had been quietly hiding behind the door, suddenly walked in.


    "I don''t know if you have an antidote or not, but I do know that you''re all gonna die."


    He didn''t believe that this bearded doctor was truly able to develop an antidote. However, he understood that Piao Gecang was going to turn into a zombie, and the other two who knew about that had to die as well.


    "Who are you?" Liang Dashu stared at him and yelled alertly.


    "You¡­ Why are you here? It''s not like that¡­ I can still be saved¡­" Seeing Tang He, the look on Piao Gecang''s face changed drastically. He shook his head with fright and tried very hard to explain.


    Tang He walked in and looked at him while speaking, "He''s right. You look no different from a zombie now. Don''t you feel that your limbs are turning stiff? Don''t you feel cold? Do you have an urge to chew flesh and drink blood?"


    Hearing that, Piao Gecang suddenly lowered his head and fixed his eyes on the veins in Moli''s neck. His eyes showed his hunger and desire.


    Right at that moment, Liang Dashu suddenly took out his hands which had been hiding in his pockets. He swung one hand forward to throw three injectors toward Piao Gecang, and the other backward to pull a gun. He pulled out the gun and pointed it at Tang He.


    But still, he had underestimated his enemies.


    Piao Gecang quickly raised his head and clenched the fingers of his hand which was reaching toward Liang Dashu, catching the three injectors. Meanwhile, when Liang Dashu prepared to fire the gun, the gun suddenly fell apart.


    ''This is bad!'' Liang Dashu said to himself upon watching that happen. He dropped the gun, but the gun didn''t fall to the ground. Instead, it floated before his face, distorting quickly.


    At the same moment, Moli abruptly took a step sideways, then turned and gripped Piao Gecang''s arm with both hands. After that, she bent her body and violently threw him away.


    Thud!


    Piao Gecang was thrown onto the ground violently. Lying on his stomach, he looked around with confusion, as he didn''t know what had happened and how he was thrown to the ground.

 283 He Felt that Something Wasnst Righ

    About five or six men were in the living room, the rest having gone upstairs to check around.


    Lin Qiao found that these robbers were only carrying weapons, but not other things: no food or living supplies. She couldn''t tell if they had finished all the food, or if one of them had space power.


    Thinking of space power, Lin Qiao was reminded of the small space in her space.


    If a space-powered man did exist among these robbers, she wouldn''t hesitate to harvest him.


    As Lin Qiao was leaning against the wall and thinking, she saw that a few bottles of water suddenly appeared in a man''s hands.


    "Boss," that man who suddenly had three bottles of water appearing in his hands shouted at the highest-leveled one, then threw a bottle of water at the latter.


    After that, he threw a bottle to another man.


    The man who was called Boss unscrewed the cap before taking a large gulp, then asked, "San, how much water do we have left?"


    The guy who threw him the water responded, "About a dozen bottles. We''ll draw those people here, then see how much water they have brought."


    "Will they come here? What if they give up on chasing us?" said another man.


    "I think they will," said Boss while putting the water bottle on a table. After that, he turned up the overturned couch and dusted it before sitting down and continuing, "This woman should be important for them. So, as long as she''s alive, I think they won''t give up. But of course, even if they did give up, we won''t lose anything, right?"


    He laughed while speaking.


    San held a bottle of water while nodding and saying, "Yeah, Boss, we need to keep this woman well, so we can have a way to channel our passion¡­ Hah!"


    While talking, the few men turned to the women in the corner. Hearing them mentioning her, the woman automatically flinched.


    Lin Qiao looked at the Boss man. He was wearing a pair of glasses and looking polite. However, the look in his eyes was nowhere near politeness. Even from meters away, she was able to sense the strong blood scent and evil hostility from him.


    San was a bald man. He was very fierce-looking, yet his vibe was the mildest among all.


    Another man called Er was incredibly handsome. He had a chiseled face and deeply sunken eyes. The calm look in his eyes was weirdly appealing.


    All three of them had strong superpowers, especially the Boss man. He had been making Lin Qiao feel a certain pressure.


    He was actually a level-seven superpowered man, while the other two were both at level-six.


    These people wouldn''t make Lin Qiao worry if she were alone. However, they were pretty close to Lin Feng and his people now, and that concerned her.


    "Boss," said Er, "Do you think Yang will keep his word?"


    "Seventy percent," Boss replied blandly, "He''s an ambitious man. Being on an equal footing with the other two has not been enough for him since long ago."


    Er nodded and said, "You''re right! But, the one named Yuan Tianxing is only at level-six. What is there to be afraid of him for?"


    "Who is he? Why does Yang want us to kill them?" San asked confusedly while rubbing his bald head.


    Boss pushed his glasses slightly upward and bent over, elbows resting on knees, fingers crossed to support his chin. "I heard that he has dated the prettiest lady in Sea City Base, which made Yang unhappy," he said carelessly, "So, Yang wants us to make him and his people disappear."


    "We can do that for him if he lets us join the Sea City Base," said Ear, "But, I want to know what Yang Chao plans to do to Wu Chengyue." ,


    Boss laughed and responded, "He surely will start with that man''s weakness. Everybody knows about Wu Chengyue''s weakness¡ªthe little princess. Well, she''s too little now. If she were twelve, or even ten, it''d be nice to play with her."


    Hearing his words, the other two reacted differently. San chuckled and said, "Boss, so you fancy young girls! I didn''t know that!"


    Unlike him, Er frowned slightly, but didn''t say anything.


    At that point, Lin Qiao, who stood beside them, had straightened her body with her eyes turning colder and colder.


    What did she hear? Such a coincidence! These people were after none other than Yuan Tianxing, who was her friend! And, the little one turned out to be living quite a risky life as well. Having a powerful Daddy was really not a good thing!


    "Are you sure that Yuan Tianxing is coming this way? Don''t get it wrong. It would be embarrassing if we missed him."


    Boss nodded and said, "Yang Chao has sent his people to confirm the information. Apart from Yuan Tianxing and his people, another group of Hades Base people is out here. Those are the family members of the Hades Base leader."


    Er stood by the couch with his arms crossed before his chest. He looked down at Boss and said, "Hades Base''s leader? Netherworld Fire? Her family escaped? Yang Jianhua is way too useless then. He can''t even catch a few fishes."


    "Because Yang Jianhua has shown up in this area, Yang Chao believes that Netherworld Fire''s family is around here. This means that Yuan Tianxing was with them earlier. Perhaps, we''ll be able to find Netherworld Fire''s family before he returns. I heard that Netherworld Fire''s younger sister and sister-in-law are both pretty," said Boss.


    "They have pretty women?" said San excitedly, "Boss, no wonder you came all the way here."


    At that moment, Er suddenly paused, then turned around and scanned the living room for a few times. After that, he looked at the three captives. Seeing the look on his face, Boss and San both looked at him with confusion. "What''s wrong?" Boss asked.


    Er responded unsurely, "I don''t know¡­ I had a bad feeling just now." While speaking, he uncrossed his arms and turned to walk toward the door.


    "Jiu, Shi, have you noticed anything?" He walked to the door and asked the two men who were guarding outside. The two turned around and looked at him confusedly before one of them replied, "Eh? Nothing! Is anything wrong? If you''re talking about zombies, you should ask Qi and Ba. They''re on the roof."


    Then, this man walked into the front yard and yelled at the roof, "Oi, Qi¡­ is there a situation?"


    A man stuck out his head from the roof, looking down at him while responding, "Situation? I didn''t see anything but zombies. What''s wrong?"


    Jiu shook his head and said, "Nothing. Er seems to have felt something, so you should be careful."


    The man on the roof gave him an OK sign, then left the roof edge.


    Er shook a hand to Jiu and said, "I''ll go out and look around. I still feel that something isn''t right." While speaking, he walked out of the house, toward the gate.


    Lin Qiao coldly watched him walk out, then turned back to stare at the Boss man.

 345 The Doctor Died

    After throwing Piao Gecang out, Moli immediately moved to Liang Dashu''s side, then turned around and shielded him.


    "We didn''t develop a cure, so we aren''t able to give you one even if you kill us," Moli stared at Tang He and said to him fearlessly, even though she knew that this man was at a much higher level than her.


    Piao Gecang struggled up from the ground, yelling with disbelief, "That''s impossible¡­ You must have a cure¡­ You''re lying¡­ I know you have¡­"


    At that moment, Tang He waved a hand. Following his movement, Liang Dashu''s gun, which had become a long and sharp needle thorn floating in the air, suddenly turned around and flew toward Piao Gecang''s head.


    Puff!


    Piao Gecang popped his eyes in shock when that metal thorn pierced into his head and sunk deep into his skull. A stream of dark-red blood flowed down his face from the middle of his eyebrows.


    Thud! Soon, he fell to the ground.


    "I hope you didn''t misunderstand this," said Tang He. "I have no interest in the cure that you were talking about. No one in the world can possibly develop something like that. Otherwise, why don''t we even have any drugs to suppress the zombie virus yet? It has been five years, and we have had nothing, not to mention a cure."


    Moli remained silent. Behind her, Liang Dashu asked with a calm look, "What do you want then? Are you gonna kill us?"


    Tang He gave a cold smile and responded, "Do you think I''ll let you tell the others that I killed this Deputy Chief?"


    Moli took a step backward to shield Liang Dashu firmly. They both knew that they might not be able to survive tonight.


    Moli had spirit power at level-five. She gazed into Tang He''s eyes, yet the latter made no response at all. Based on this fact, she figured that Tang He was at level-six or even above. Anyway, he had easily killed Piao Gecang, who was at level six.


    She and the doctor both guessed that the strange man was either at the peak of level-six, preparing to break into level-seven, or was already at level-seven.


    Because of the large level gap, Moli''s superpower attack was completely ineffective to Tang He.


    Liang Dashu had healing power, and zero fighting capacity. He had a gun, and maybe he was a good shot; but, the enemy happened to have metal power which disabled the gun. What was even worse, the metal-powered enemy was a level six or seven being.


    Killing both of them wouldn''t be too difficult for Tang He.


    "Yeah? Hehe, since you''ve said so, we don''t intend to die too easily!" At that point, Liang Dashu raised a grenade with its pin pulled out already. Meanwhile, he put his other hand on Moli''s shoulder and pushed her aside.


    Finishing talking, he threw the grenade at Tang He, then pressed Moli to the ground and shielded her with his own body.


    Tang He knew that something bad was going to happen when he watched Liang Dashu take out the grenade, so he quickly moved backward.


    This type of grenade wasn''t made from metal, so no matter how quickly he reacted, Tang He wouldn''t be able to stop it from exploding. Therefore, he had no other choice but to try and dodge.


    Lin Qiao, who had been watching this show outside the door, had stepped far away when Liang Dashu took out the grenade.


    Bang! Along with a thunderous sound, the entire underground laboratory was shaken. The small glass-walled laboratory where Liang Dashu and the other two stood was completely destroyed. The glass wall on the door''s side was shattered entirely.


    All the devices on the tables near the door broke into pieces while the ones on the other tables fell to the ground.


    A cloud of smoke rose.


    "Eh¡­ Doctor! Doctor!" Moli, who lay underneath Liang Dashu, only felt an intense vibration. The latter had protected her from the explosive force caused by the grenade.


    "Pah¡­ This¡­ remember to¡­ take¡­ this to¡­" Liang Dashu lay his head on her shoulder and coughed out a large mouthful of blood, then weakly put a flash drive into her hand while saying a few words to her. However, his head tilted before he could finish his words. After that, he never moved again or let out any other sound.


    "Doctor! Doctor!" Moli hurriedly got up from the ground and held Liang Dashu in her arms in a panic. However, the latter didn''t give her any response.


    Moli put her shaking hand on one side of his neck to check his pulse, then put a finger under his nose to see if he was still breathing.


    Upon realizing that Liang Dashu was already dead, she froze.


    "Wake up! Go! Yang Chao''s people are here!" Suddenly, a hoarse voice told her to leave.


    "Who is it?" The startled Moli immediately turned to the source of the voice, but saw no one. However, she couldn''t ignore what that mysterious voice had said. Holding the flash drive, she looked at Liang Dashu, who was in her arms, while forcing herself to calm down.


    Soon, a series of footsteps sounds was heard from the outside. Hearing that, Moli was instantly on the alert.


    She looked around, then glanced down at Liang Dashu for the last time. After that, he put him on the ground and stood up, then turned and quickly walked out of the messy laboratory. She didn''t go to the stairs, but turned around and left from the other side.


    She couldn''t let anyone else have what Liang Dashu had just given her. So now, she had to leave this place and find Wu Chengyue.


    A few seconds after she had left, a group of armed soldiers burst in. They raised their guns and quickly came to the destroyed laboratory. Except for the two dead bodies, only broken glass and devices were there.


    "Go and find the files. He must have hidden them here!" A leader-look man yelled to the other soldiers with a cold face. Meanwhile, he had been looking around; clearly, he was looking for something.


    Once in, the others all began searching through the remains of the laboratory.


    A couple of minutes later, they had nearly turned the entire laboratory upside down, but found nothing.


    "Boss, we''ve looked for it up and down. It''s not here."


    "It''s not here either."


    "Maybe he didn''t put it here."


    "He has a female assistant. She follows him everywhere. She''s not here, so maybe she has left with the files." One said soldier to the leader.


    The leader looked around, then turned and said decisively, "Go and find that woman. Keep an eye on Wu Chengyue and his people. Don''t let her get close to Wu Chengyue. You take some people to guard the entrances. Don''t let her get out of the base."


    "Yes, sir!"


    On the other side, Lin Qiao quickly followed Tang He away and found that he was heading toward Special Region B.


    ''Is he going to find Yang Chao? That bearded doctor seemed to have given something important to that woman before he died. I''m just wondering if Yang Chao has already known about that thing that she took away.''


    While thinking, Lin Qiao followed behind Tang He and also headed toward Special Region B.

 284 Inhuman

    There were two other people in the living room¡ªWu, who was leaning against the window near the three captives and smoking, and Si, who was checking the kitchen and bathrooms.


    After Er had left, San and Boss stopped talking. They both quieted down and began carefully looking around like Er just did.


    Lin Qiao glanced at each of them. Er seemed to have the sharpest sensations among them all. She couldn''t tell what power Er had yet, but was almost sure that San had space power.


    Normally speaking, space-powered people were relatively weak. Since the bald San had space power, his fighting capacity should be no good. However, he was called ''San'', meaning three. So, Lin Qiao wondered how they ranked themselves.


    "Wu, keep an eye on them," Boss said to Wu. The latter put the cigarette between his lips and nodded before turning to the three captives in the corner. Lin Qiao understood that these people wouldn''t mention anything important now. Only after Er returned and confirmed that it was all clear would they start talking again.


    She turned around and walked out of the house, then quickly leaped over the fence wall and ran to hundreds of meters away to summon the boy zombie.


    She took out a piece of paper and a pen from her space, then wrote down a few words before handing the paper to the boy zombie, "Four, go back and give this to Lili. Don''t let anyone else see you. Go."


    The boy zombie nodded and took over the piece of paper, then folded it and put it in his pocket. Then, he turned and ran fleetingly toward where Lin Feng and the others were. After that, Lin Qiao went back to the villa and began thinking about how to deal with that bald guy.


    Earlier on, she didn''t plan to make a move, as she thought that she would only be watching whatever was happening around here. However, what happened here was unexpected. Those robbers turned out to be going after Lin Feng and his people; and after finishing Lin Feng, they would try to hurt Yuan Tianxing as well.


    ''They''re coming at us, and they think that we don''t know yet,'' thought Lin Qiao. ''In this case, whoever strikes first gains the advantage!''


    Er walked out of the gate and asked the two guards outside if they had noticed anything strange. As same as the man on the roof, the two also told him that they had seen nothing but zombies.


    "What? Is there a high-level zombie?" One of the two asked.


    Er scanned around with his sharp eyes, yet found nothing.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then abruptly saw the elderly zombie who was on the other side of the road. She immediately ran to him, then showed up beside him. She restrained her vibe as much as possible, then said to the elderly zombie, "Grandpa, gather the zombies nearby¡­ the more the better. Let''s surround them!"


    "Roar?"


    ''Should I kill them?'' Grandpa looked at her and asked, seeming to be in deep thoughts.


    "Kill them," said Lin Qiao, "Leave the bald guy to me. But, you need to be careful about the one wearing glasses. He''s powerful. Don''t become his target."


    Grandpa clasped his hands behind his body and nodded, then disappeared from where he was.


    Lin Qiao then returned to the villa and stood behind the bald man. Right at that moment, a long and weird roar was heard from the outside.


    "Roar!"


    Lin Qiao knew that was Grandpa summoning ordinary zombies.


    "Eh? What happened? What''s that sound?" San asked curiously. He and the others had all heard that. The Boss blinked and said, "If I''m right, it should be a high-level zombie."


    San''s eyes glowed. "High-level? Which level? Four? Five? It''ll be even better if it''s a level-six¡­" he said.


    "We only have three level-five zombie nuclei now," said Boss, "But, we have quite some level-four nuclei. The nuclei we have can buy us quite some food from Yang Chao. So, if we get a level-six zombie nucleus, we can''t give it to him."


    San paused slightly, then nodded and responded, "Alright! Let me check how many level-four nuclei we have."


    While speaking, he closed his eyes. Three seconds later, he opened his eyes and said, "Boss, we have thirty-one level-four nuclei."


    Boss nodded in response.


    Outside, Er showed a look of knowingness after hearing Grandpa''s roar. After that, he turned and walked back.


    "It should be fine. That high-level zombie seems to be the reason why I''m nervous. I just don''t know which level it''s at," he said.


    "Alright!" The two by the gate nodded.


    Lin Qiao didn''t launch an attack, but walked to the three captives and sensed their life-force.


    The woman was fine, but the slim long-haired man was already at his last gasp. Four of his rib bones were broken, and so was his arm bone. Apart from that, his liver was slightly injured as well. The other man was in a better state. He wasn''t injured as badly as the long-haired one, but he still had a leg bone broken.


    Lin Qiao squatted and reached out a hand to touch the two men'' foreheads, then sighed.


    Those two men had almost given up on survival.


    She pressed her hand on their foreheads and asked them in her mind, ''Do you wanna live?''


    She repeated the question for a couple of times.


    She used to be a soldier. Back then, saving people was her duty. Now, she didn''t have that duty anymore, but her sense of responsibility remained. She wasn''t kind enough to be willing to save anyone, but what would be wrong if she saved some lives while fighting the bad guys?


    But at this point, she didn''t think that she could save the souls of these two men. She was able to heal their bodies with the lake water, but not their souls. She had repeated the question so many times, yet the two men gave no response at all. It seemed that they had both given up on their lives.


    Nevertheless, she had grasped some faint subconscious thoughts from the woman.


    ''Someone will certainly come to save me!''


    She repeated that over and over again to hypnotize herself, so she didn''t kill herself because of despair.


    At that moment, Wu suddenly walked over. Lin Qiao hurriedly stood up and stepped aside. Wu kicked the slim man, then turned to talk to Boss.


    "Boss, this kid will die in hours. Why don''t we cut him before he dies? He''ll taste bad after death."


    Lin Qiao noticed that the women froze upon hearing Wu''s words.


    Boss turned to glance at Wu. However, before he said anything, Er walked in.


    "I think we should listen to Wu. His vitality will be gone after he died, and his flesh will taste awful."


    Lin Qiao slightly widened her eyes and turned to stare at those people with disbelief. They wanted to cut this boy alive and eat him! These robbers had truly lost their humanity. They were no different from wild beasts.


    They talked about eating human beings like how people talked about eating animals back in the old world. Moreover, they refused to eat dead people, but wanted to eat someone alive!


    Boss nodded and said, "Then let''s build a fire to roast meat. We can cut him while roasting. He''ll taste better that way."


    Lin Qiao clenched her fist, trying to calm herself down.


    She had decided to kill them all. Man-eating people were even more disgusting and terrifying than zombies. More importantly, these people were holding evil intentions toward Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing. She wasn''t able to kill the level-seven one now, but she could kill the others!

 346 Targeting Lin Wenwen

    With the help of her keen sensations and nimble, quiet movements, Shen Yujen managed to get rid of the few level three or four superpowered men who were following behind her under the cloak of the darkness.


    She quietly hid on top of a tree, trying her best to restrain her vibe.


    "She''s gone?"


    "Maybe she ran that way. Let''s split up and keep looking."


    "Alright."


    Those people quickly left separately. As they went far away, Shen Yujen leaped off the tree and sniffed at the air to find Piao Gecang''s scent. After that, she quietly moved toward where Piao Gecang was.


    Not long after those soldiers left, Shen Yujen showed up near that destroyed laboratory. She walked to the broken laboratory, looking at the two dead bodies who hadn''t been taken away yet.


    She made her way to Piao Gecang whose face was destroyed in the explosion, eyes fixed on the metal thorn stuck in his head. Then, she squatted, gripped the metal thorn and pressed it hard down.


    Crack!


    Piao Gecang''s skull was cracked open, exposing the red blood and white brain matter. The scent of his brain which had been infected by the zombie virus wasn''t good to Shen Yujen, but not bad either. It just wasn''t tempting to her.


    What attracted her was Liang Dashu''s brain. However, she didn''t prepare to do anything to Liang Dashu''s body, but stirred Piao Gecang''s brain with the strangely-shaped metal thorn.


    Soon, an energy nucleus fell out; the level-six nucleus was glowing brightly.


    Holding the nucleus, Shen Yujen quickly stood up, then turned and left.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Tang He had no idea that someone had followed him to Special Region B. He avoided all the others and sneakily found Yang Chao''s fancy apartment building, quietly entering as no other people were around.


    At that time, Yang Chao was at home, and his brother Yang Hui was sitting on his couch.


    "Brother, have you really sent someone powerful to get those girls?" Yang Hui looked at Yang Chao, who was standing in front of the French window, and asked.


    Yang Chao looked outside and responded without turning back his head, "I have. Just wait. If you want to play with that girl, you can go and find him after he has taken those girls away."


    Yang Hui took a deep breath as he nodded excitedly and said, "Okay, I''ll wait."


    At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Soon, a guard opened the door and said to Yang Chao, "Chief, Mr. Tang is here."


    Yang Chao turned to look at him with surprise while saying, "So soon?" Then, he saw Tang He come in from the outside.


    No one in or outside the apartment noticed that when the guard opened the door to talk to Yang Chao, an invisible figure had quietly sneaked in. Lin Qiao walked to a corner with gentle steps and stood there, her arms crossed before her chest. She was waiting to hear the rest of their conversation.


    As the guard closed the door, Yang Chao looked at Tang He and asked curiously, "How''s it going? Do you have the girls?"


    Tang He walked to an empty couch and sat down, then took a glance at Yang Hui and turned back to Yang Chao as he answered his question, "No¡­ One of your useless subordinates acted rashly and alerted the targets."


    Once he said that, Yang Chao and his brother both gave a start, then looked at him with confusion. Yang Chao walked over and sat on the couch as well. "Who alerted the targets?" he asked.


    Tang He responded with discontentment, "Your Deputy Chief¡­ the one named Piao Gecang or something¡­ What a crappy name! He went near that residential area and ran into some of Zou Shihui''s people. They had some argument. In the end, a female zombie suddenly showed up. Piao Gecang was bitten by the zombie. After that, he went to your research institute and blew a laboratory up. I guess someone will soon come here to tell you about that."


    Yang Chao and Yang Hui glanced at each other. "Piao Gecang? Why did he go to that area? People will surely suspect him if he went to that place late at night. What a fool!" Yang Chao said while his face turned dark.


    At that moment, Yang Hui said, "Earlier on, he had his eyes on the woman who often showed around Lin Wenwen. I didn''t think that he''d be so impatient that he''d go there himself. Did those Hades Base people see him?"


    Tang He shook his head and said, "He didn''t enter that residential area, so I guess those Hades Base people didn''t know what happened yet. However, Zou Shihui''s people went in, and I don''t know what they were up to."


    "You just mentioned that a laboratory was blown up," said Yang Chao with a grim look, "What happened there? Tell me about that first. Is Piao Gecang dead?"


    Tang He''s face was a little pale as well. He nodded and replied, "Yes, he''s dead. He almost turned into a zombie. He went to that bearded man for a cure, and then the bearded man killed himself with a grenade."


    "What did you say? Liang Dashu died too?" Tang He''s last sentence made the look on Yang Chao''s face change.


    "Yeah, he died. What''s wrong?" Tang He looked at him confusedly.


    Yang Chao suddenly stood up from the couch and asked anxiously, "He''s dead? Did he say anything, or did he hide anything before he died?"


    Tang He was a little bewildered because of Yang Chao''s reaction. Suddenly, he recalled why Piao Gecang went to the laboratory, and then had his expression changed slightly as well, staring at Yang Chao with both surprise and doubts.


    "Do you mean that¡­ had he truly developed a cure for the zombie virus?" he asked.


    "We''ll talk about that later," said Yang Chao, "Did you see him hide something, or did you hear him say anything?"


    Tang He blinked, then said, "No, but the woman who was with him didn''t die. If you believe that he needed to hide something, I think he should have given that to the woman."


    Yang Chao immediately turned around and quickly walked to the door before opening it. He said a few words to the guards outside, then watched them leave swiftly before closing the door and walking back.


    He glanced at Yang Hui, then said to him and Tang He, "You''re right! According to the information I collected, Liang Dashu has indeed achieved amazing progress with his experiments. I guess it''s about the zombie virus. He had been focused on this area. So, I believe that his research must contain some discoveries about how to control or weaken the zombie virus."


    Then, he turned to Tang He and continued, "But he''s dead now. His research results are either hidden somewhere by him, or with that woman."


    Yang Hui and Tang He both gazed at him in shock and disbelief. Tang He quickly processed what he had heard and said, "What are you waiting for then? Send your people to catch that woman!"


    Yang Chao replied, "Didn''t you see that I''ve already done it just now?"


    "So¡­ Are we still gonna get Lin Wenwen or not?" Yang Hui asked abruptly and unsurely.


    "We will¡­ Why not?" said Yang Chao blandly, "This time, the targets have been alerted, so we''ll wait until the next opportunity. They won''t leave the base so soon anyway. Even if they decide to leave, I''ll figure out a way to make them stay. I''ll also turn them into zombies to create trouble for Wu Chengyue."


    While speaking, his mature and charming face wore a wicked and cunning look.

 285 Start Killing

    ''You''re going after my people, so don''t blame me for taking your lives!''


    Lin Qiao turned and walked toward the two guarding by the gate. The gate was closed, so she leaped over the fence wall.


    The two didn''t detect her when she stood in front of them. Instead, they were looking around, as Er had just warned them that a large number of zombies might come to this area. So, they needed to be careful.


    Lin Qiao stood between them and abruptly reached out her hands to grab them and drag them into her space. Before the two men realized what was happening, their eyes were dazzled. By the time they could see clearly, a claw had already sunk deep into their skulls.


    These two level-four superpowered men didn''t even manage to react before Lin Qiao killed them.


    When Lin Qiao suddenly showed up and brought the two men by the gate into her space, Er, who was in the living room, paused again. He suddenly turned to the door, then walked outside while wondering.


    "Jiu, go out and check on Shiyi and Shier." While walking, he spoke to Jiu, who was guarding outside the door. Jiu nodded and walked out without saying a word.


    Lin Qiao threw the two bodies to the fringe of the woods, then flashed out. She stood behind the gate, hearing Jiu''s voice coming from the inside. "Shiyi, Shier, is everything okay out there?"


    Shiyi and Shier couldn''t answer his question.


    Jiu was puzzled slightly, so he continued, "Shiyi? Shier?"


    Once he called their names again, he got a bad feeling. He hurriedly opened the gate, but saw no one out there.


    He was shocked, immediately realized that something bad had happened. He turned back to shout at the villa, but just when he had opened his mouth wide, he disappeared from where he was.


    Lin Qiao spread her fingers, then clasped his head and dragged him directly into her space. Once in, she instantly put forth her strength through her fingers and inserted those fingers into that man''s head.


    "Eh¡­ Eh¡­" Jiu popped his eyes while gazing at Lin Qiao with disbelief. His rifle dropped to the ground from his hands while a small amount of blood flowed out of his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.


    However, he didn''t die immediately. Instead, he stared at Lin Qiao, unable to believe what he had seen. At last, fear emerged in his eyes.


    "You¡­ Eh¡­"


    He raised a hand with some effort. He wanted to use his power, but found that he couldn''t. His power seemed to have disappeared. Well, it had not disappeared completely, but more like it had been weakened by ninety-nine percent.


    So, he wasn''t able to do anything with his power now.


    Lin Qiao didn''t give him a chance to talk. Seeing that he was still alive, she clenched her fingers.


    Crack!


    Just like that, she crumbled his head, following which, Jiu''s body slowly fell to the ground. Lin Qiao glanced at her fingers. She didn''t have the time to wipe those fingers clean as she exited her space right away.


    This time, the look in Er''s face changed immediately. "On full alert!" He suddenly shouted out loud, "Everyone on full alert!"


    Hearing his words, all the others quickly raised their guns and looked around alarmedly. At the same time, the Boss walked out and saw the wide open gate. No one was around the gate.


    "Where''re Jiu, Shiyi and Shier?"


    Er shook his head and said, "Gone! No scent of blood. No scents at all."


    The Boss stared at the gate while saying, "Gone? How''s it possible? Didn''t you find anything just now?"


    "I think it''s a zombie," said Er, "This time, it''s a level-six space-powered zombie!"


    Boss glanced back at Er, then put his glasses slightly upward and said, "Are you saying that it can hide from our sensations while quietly bring three living human beings into its space and eating them?"


    Er looked around and nodded silently.


    A beam of light flashed across Boss''s glasses as he turned to look around as well.


    Lin Qiao stood beside them. The dangerous feeling that she detected from Boss had grown stronger. It seemed that he had boosted his vibe.


    However, that didn''t affect Lin Qiao, but only made her feel threatened.


    She directly leaped onto the second floor from the outside, then stepped on the guardrail of the balcony and climbed onto the roof. Abruptly, Er thought of something. All of a sudden, he yelled at the two who were guarding on the roof, "Qi! Ba! Come down here!"


    When he shouted out loud, Lin Qiao was already standing behind Qi and Ba. She swiftly reached out a hand, gripped Qi''s neck, and brought him into her space.


    Just now, she discovered how pleasant it was to kill people inside her space! That was because she was able to sense how her space had been rejecting the powers of other superpowered beings. Just now, as Jiu prepared to attack with his power, Lin Qiao felt that something invisible had suddenly wrapped him up to stop him from activating his power.


    She didn''t know what that thing which wrapped Jiu up was; it wasn''t energy or air. She just had no idea!


    However, she understood that it was very helpful to her.


    This time, after dragging Qi in, she broke his neck quickly, neatly, and violently, making her killing very efficient! Ever since she became a zombie, human bones had been awfully fragile to her, as she was able to crush them with a slight effort.


    Thud!


    After throwing the fourth body to the edge of the woods, Lin Qiao went out again. At that moment, Ba was gazing at where Qi had disappeared, stunned. In the next moment, Lin Qiao showed up again on that spot.


    "Qi! Ba!" No one responded from the roof, so Er instantly had a bad feeling. He abruptly raised an arm, and a blood-red vine swished out of his palm, swinging up to the roof edge.


    He moved swiftly, and upon reaching the roof, the tip of the vine suddenly lunged at Ba and wrapped him tightly. Seeing Er''s blood vine, Ba immediately came back to his senses. Following the vine, he jumped off the roof.


    Then, the others all turned to Er, as only one man came down the roof.


    Er''s face darkened as he asked, "Ba, did you see anything?".


    Ba calmed down and responded with a pale face, "Yes, it flashed across. I saw the back of a human¡­ in a camouflage suit, bald¡­ It should be a man."


    At that moment, Er released five or six blood vines to wrap everyone else except the Boss.


    Lin Qiao looked at Er with surprise. It turned out that he had green power. His blood vines looked quite dangerous.


    No wonder he had keen sensations. Green-powered people all seemed to be quite sensitive.


    "Are you sure it''s a man, and not a zombie?" said Er.


    Ba shook his head and replied, "I only saw his back. He disappeared within a second, so I don''t know if he''s a zombie or human!"

 347 An Eye for An Eye

    Lin Qiao stood side, wearing a sullen look with beams of cold light flashing across her narrowed eyes. If she hadn''t been controlling herself, her murderous intent would have surged out of her body and charged at the three men in the room.


    Those men were actually planning to hurt her sister, Wenwen! Thankfully, she had returned to the base and followed the robber here to see what was happening. If she didn''t, these three men would continue trying to harm Lin Wenwen.


    Yang Hui didn''t say anything, but Lin Qiao had already detected the obviously strong and cruel desire from his eyes. They didn''t only want to rape her, but also planned to turn her into a zombie, a weapon to hurt Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Qiao slowly turned and walked toward the French window. A glass door in that area was open; outside the door was the balcony.


    ''Good, he''s targeting my sister. Did he forget that she has a sister too?''


    She calmly walked to the balcony and nimbly hopped onto the guardrail, then leaped upward and directly climbed onto the roof. The three men in the room still had no idea that a zombie was here just now, and it had heard what they said.


    On the roof, Lin Qiao turned to another direction, then leaped down and landed in another balcony.


    She stood on the balcony, looking at Yang Yan and the two kids in the living room. She seemed to have been making some kind of food for the two kids. A man was beside her, playing a game with a tablet.


    After spending a while observing the people in the apartment, Lin Qiao turned to look at the armed soldier next to her.


    One on the balcony, one in the living room, two by the door. Five level-five superpowered men were guarding this family.


    At that moment, the soldier on the balcony was fiddling with his rifle. He took it apart, then put it back together, and then took it apart again.


    "Come here, my son! Look, isn''t this your favorite spring onion pancake? Mommy told someone to make it for you. Come and eat!" Yang Yan put a plate of nice-smelling pancakes on the table.


    A maid-like woman carefully stood beside her, looking at her with fright and concern.


    She was scared, because if Yang Yan''s son didn''t like those pancakes, they would fly at her face along with the plate in the next moment.


    The maid already had a few bruises on her face. Some pieces of broken plates scattered around her feet, and the trash can was filled with pancakes.


    She secretly glanced at the pancakes in the trash bin. Her mouth was watering, but she didn''t dare to make any move.


    This family was wealthy. The wife didn''t know how to cook, so they hired her as a maid. However, they only paid her with two steamed buns a day.


    Except for those two steamed buns, she wasn''t allowed to take anything, not even the things in the trash can.


    The maid hated Yang Yan and her family, who wasted food because they had someone powerful to depend on. The pancakes in the trash can could make a whole meal for three or four adults.


    Lin Qiao looked at Yang Yan, her eyes showing coldness and ferocity.


    In the living room, Yang Yan was holding a small bowl with one hand. She picked up a piece of pancake with the other hand and reached it toward the little boy who was curling on the couch.


    "Here, my boy. Doesn''t it smell delicious? Do you want some?" Yang Yan gently coaxed the little body.


    The little boy was wrapped in a blanket, huddling on the couch. As Yang Yan put the pancake near his nose, he sniffed at it, then suddenly showed a look of dislike. Next, he swung a hand forward to knock the chopsticks in Yang Yan''s hand aside, along with the pancake.


    "I don''t want it¡­ It tastes bad¡­" The little boy then burst in screams. After that, he covered his head with the blanket and refused to come out of it.


    Yang Yan wasn''t angry at the boy. However, she turned and picked up the plateful of pancake, then violently threw it at the maid who was standing aside with fear.


    "Go and make some new pancakes! You''re not allowed to leave until you have made something my son likes!" She screamed at the maid with rage.


    The maid had been preparing for this. As the plate flew at her, she hurriedly raised both arms to protect her face.


    Thud! The plate hit on her arm.


    After being hit with the plate, the maid didn''t dare to argue against Yang Yan, but quickly kneeled on the ground to clean the broken plate and pancakes while responding with a trembling voice, "Yes, yes, I..I¡­ I''ll make some new, some new¡­"


    "Move! Why are you still kneeling here?" Yang Yan shouted at her. She had an anger in her heart that she couldn''t channel. Looking at her son, she even wanted to chop those Hades Base women into pieces and feed them to dogs.


    If they didn''t scare her son so badly, how would her son become like this? Now, the poor little boy couldn''t even eat anything, and could only drink water. He would just throw up everything he ate.


    She didn''t know what else to do, but told the maid to make some pancakes which used to be her son''s favorite. However, the result remained the same.


    Her brother promised to punish those people, but those people were still fine now. Nothing happened to them at all. For that reason, Yang Yan was so wrathful. She had no way to vent her anger, so she kept abusing the maid.


    The man who was playing a game in the living room completely ignored her screams, but calmly focused on the game.


    Lin Qiao slowly approached Yang Yan and coldly stood behind her. Abruptly, she reached out a hand to grasp Yang Yan''s hair.


    In the next second, Yang Yan disappeared. No one witnessed her disappearances though.


    The soldier in the living room wasn''t looking at her, and the one on the balcony was killing time with his gun.


    The little boy on the couch was still wrapped in the blanket. Only the five-year-old little girl raised her head, confusedly gazing where Yang Yan was.


    "Mom? Mom¡­ Mom¡­"


    Hearing the little girl''s voice, the man in the living room though that the kid was getting bored. So, he didn''t pay too much attention to it, neither did he turn back his head.


    However, the soldier on the balcony did glance back after hearing the little girl, but didn''t see Yang Yan. He figured that Yang Yan might have gone to the kitchen or the bedroom, so he turned back around.


    ¡­


    A second ago, Yang Yan felt that her hair were suddenly pulled by someone, and then, the couch that she was sitting on disappeared. Afterward, she fell to the ground, and then froze with shock.


    She raised her head to find that the world before her eyes had changed. Her living room was gone, so were her two children who were right in front of her.


    She was looking at a strange woods: dim, frightful, and spooky.


    She was so scared. She clearly remembered that she was at home, but why did she suddenly come to this place?


    She turned to look around with fright, but then, she despaired. She saw a zombie dog which was covered in blood, standing about a meter behind her.


    "Er¡­" A deep roar could be heard from the zombie dog''s throat. Dogs roared like that while preparing to attack.

 286 Kill Them for Me

    Lin Qiao looked at the six robbers who were all wrapped in Er''s blood vine, showing a cold look.


    Er believed that Lin Qiao wouldn''t be able to take them down one by one as long as he tied them all together. He was right though. However, Lin Qiao was able to bring them all into her space.


    Besides, she had Viney! Viney was her greatest weapon!


    At that moment, a series of roars could be heard from the outside, as a great number of zombies showed up, slowly approaching this area. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao moved to stand beside Er. Maybe because he was too vigilant or his level was too high, Lin Qiao wasn''t able to read his mind no matter how hard she tried.


    She glanced at the group of robbers, then flashed into her space.


    "Viney, come out!" She stood by the lake and called Viney''s name. Hearing her, Viney soon reached a few vines to the lakeside and wrapped around her wrist.


    ''Mama, Mama, did you miss me?''


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless. Was Viney being affectionate to her?


    "Yes, I missed you!" she said, "Here, I need to talk to you. Later, I''ll bring a few bad guys in here. Can you kill them for me?"


    ''Eh?'' said Viney with surprise, ''Mama, you''ve killed quite a few just now. Are there more to kill?''


    "Yes," said Lin Qiao, "I''m worrying that I might not be able to defeat them, as those people I''m about to bring in are too powerful."


    Hearing that Viney immediately got excited. She wagged the vines in the middle of the lake while responding, ''Mama, don''t be afraid. You just bring them in. I can directly absorb the energies at or below level-seven! Viney is powerful now!''


    "Level-seven?" Lin Qiao looked at Viney and said in surprise, "Can you kill level-seven superpowered human beings? Or even zombies?"


    "No¡­" said Viney, "I can kill all level-seven humans¡­ but not zombies¡­ Level-seven zombies aren''t at the same grade as level-seven humans."


    Lin Qiao nodded, wondering if she could bring the Boss man in here.


    She thought for a moment, then said to Viney, "Okay Viney, I''ll bring some people in here later. None of them is at level-seven, but two are at level-six. Leave the bald one for me. Don''t absorb his energy."


    She was worried that Viney might turn the bald guy into a mummy, like what she did with Yang Cheng. If Viney forgot to leave her the bald guy''s energy nucleus, she wouldn''t be able to obtain her second small space.


    ''Sure, sure,'' Viney replied.


    ''Alright, I''m going out now. Wait for me,'' Lin Qiao said to her before turning and flashing out of her space.


    ¡­


    Outside, the group of robbers were staring at the gate. Boss pushed his glasses slightly upward while saying, "They''re here."


    A giant crowd of zombies had shown up outside the gate. By now, they were rushing at those robbers while roaring.


    Back in the old world, this place was a remote villa area. This area was never densely populated, so there shouldn''t be so many zombies nearby. Boss guessed that this zombie crowd was brought here by a high-level zombie, which should be a zombie king or queen.


    "The space-powered zombie seems to be a zombie king or queen," he said, "While capturing us one by one, it summoned all these zombies from further areas."


    "Boss, I can''t feel it!" said Er, sounding a little depressed. He had always been good at sensing. But now, a zombie had been showing up around him from time to time, yet he felt nothing at all!


    That was like a slap right on his face.


    Boss glanced at him and wore a sullen look as well. "Everybody, be careful!" he said. "It''ll definitely spend a while if it tries to cut off Er''s blood vines to capture you. That span of time will be enough for you to fight back!"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    "Copy!"


    The others looked around carefully, all on full alert.


    Lin Qiao took a slight step toward Boss. However, as she was about a meter away from him, and prepared to reach out her hand, Boss suddenly turned to look where she was.


    ''This is bad!'' She said to herself while noticing the gleam of light flashing across his eyes. She hurriedly took back her hand, then moved away as quickly as possible.


    Then, she saw Boss swiftly swing his arm and sending a wave of metal blades to where she was standing a second ago.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    Over a hundred two-feet-long, inch-wide blades fell from the sky and pierced into the ground. If Lin Qiao hadn''t dodged fast enough, at least twenty of these blades would have sunken into her body.


    She was invisible, yet her body didn''t merge with the air. She still wasn''t able to go through walls. She couldn''t touch people either, because if she did, they would feel her.


    Watching the metal blades stick into the ground, the Boss showed a grim expression. Just now, he did feel that something was in that area, and was pretty close to him.


    Lin Qiao stood aside calmly while looking at him. By now, she had learned about this level-seven superpowered man''s range of sense toward her invisible state. Once the distance between him and her was shorter than a meter, he would be able to sense her. So, she wasn''t able to bring him into her space while he wasn''t noticing.


    Fighting him would be impossible. She might have a chance to win against a level-six superpowered man, but fighting a level-seven one would be suicidal for her.


    She turned to look at the others. As same as Boss, they had all been staring at those metal blades which were halfway inside the ground now.


    Then, she avoided the others and walked toward the bald guy.


    She stood before the bald guy, watched him look around in a panic. Abruptly, she curved her lips and showed a wicked smile. Next, she raised a hand to clasp San''s bald head, then whispered two words to herself.


    ''All in!''


    In the next moment, Boss''s eyes were dazzled, as everyone else on the scene disappeared all of a sudden.


    In the space, Viney, who was waiting by the lake, reached out countless vines to tie the group of robbers up even before they realized what was happening.


    "Ah¡­ Where is this place!"


    "I¡­ I can''t move!"


    "What is this place! Power¡­ I can''t use my power!"


    As the world before their eyes suddenly changed, the group of robbers panicked immediately.


    Er''s blood vines slowly fell off from their bodies. Seeing that, Er was slightly flurried as well. While looking around, he tried to control his power and rip off the white vines wrapping around his body.


    He saw a lake. He was standing by the lakeside, and those white wines were emerging from the lake. Apart from that, he knew nothing.


    However, as the vice-captain, he soon calmed down. Before long, he found that even though the vines had wrapped him tightly up, they didn''t try to drag him and his friends into the lake. Besides, there were no thorns on the white vines. So, as long as their skin wasn''t broken, the chance of being poisoned would be small.

 348 It May Cause A Stomach-ache

    "Tear her apart." When the frightened Yang Yan looked at that zombie dog which was drooling at her, she suddenly heard a hoarse and cold voice.


    "Roar!" After receiving the order, the zombie dog immediately pressed her down with its paws and opened its bloody mouth to bite her.


    "Ah¡­!" Puff!


    Yang Yan only managed to let out a screech before her skull was crushed in the zombie dog''s mouth. The zombie dog bit off half of her head, then chewed it. Even her skull was chewed up along with her scalp, brain, and hair.


    From above her nose, the upper part of Yang Yan''s head was bitten off.


    Lin Qiao walked over to drag the zombie dog away. "I told you to tear her apart, not eat it! Alright, stop eating. This kind of people might give you a stomach-ache!"


    She dragged the zombie dog aside with one hand and tried to pull Yang Yan''s body out from underneath the dog with the other.


    While chewing, the dog let out deep roars from its throat and firmly clasped Yang Yan''s body with its claws, as Lin Qiao was trying to take away its food.


    Lin Qiao tried for a few times, but the dog refused to let the body go.


    "Give her to me! You''ve bitten her face off. I don''t know if her family can still recognize her or not. It would be less fun if they can''t. Take away your claws!" Lin Qiao dragged the vine on the dog''s neck to pull it backward.


    "Roar¡­ oar¡­ oar!" The zombie dog didn''t dare to attack Lin Qiao. Seeing that its food was going to be taken away, it quickly swallowed the half head in its mouth and bit on Yang Yan''s shoulder, tearing off an arm and dragging it to the other side.


    Holding the arm in its mouth, the dog stepped far away from Lin Qiao, then got down on the ground and pressed the arm with both forepaws before beginning to eat.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Yang Yan''s body which had half a head and an arm missing, then at the zombie dog which was alertly chewing the arm on the other side. Then, she bent over, picked up the body, and flashed out of her space.


    Still, no one in that apartment found that Yang Yan had gone missing.


    Thud! A bloody corpse suddenly fell on the tea table before the couch. Half a head and an arm of the corpse were missing.


    At that moment, the little boy was lifting a corner of the blanket to look outside, and the corpse just came into his sight.


    "Ah!" The terrified boy''s scream echoed throughout the whole building.


    "Why are you¡­" Startled by the scream, the man in the living room nearly threw away the tablet in his hands. He turned back to snap at the boy, but saw a corpse lying right before his eyes.


    When the boy burst in screams, the few superpowered soldiers rushed in.


    Seeing the corpse lying askew on the tea table, they all fell into silence, feeling that they were going to suffer some real pain.


    The little girl gazed at the corpse, making completely no response.


    Soon, Yang Chao''s door, which was across the hallway, was opened as well. Yang Chao and Yang Hui rushed out.


    "Who is¡­ this?" Yang Chao stared at Yang Yan''s body. Looking at those familiar clothes, Yang Hui murmured, "Can this be¡­ Yan?"


    Yang Chao immediately raised his head to look at the others in the living room. "What happened? Who did this? Jian Feng, tell me."


    While speaking, he turned to glare at the man who had been playing a game the whole time.


    Jian Feng shook his head and waved his hands with fright and helplessness while responding, "I¡­ I¡­ don''t know, I don''t know anything¡­ She was sitting right here¡­ Why is she suddenly¡­ I don''t know what happened!"


    Yang Hui hurriedly walked to the little girl. He scooped her up and turned her head behind him, away from the corpse. Meanwhile, he yelled at Jian Feng, "Jian Feng! Why are you standing there? Go bring your son away!"


    Hearing that, Jian Feng hurriedly struggled up from the ground, as if Yang Hui''s words had saved his life. He ran to the couch area and held up the boy who was wrapped in a blanket, then stepped away to another side of the living room.


    Yang Chao looked at the few superpowered soldiers who were responsible for the safety of Yang Yan and her family, then said with a deep voice, "Do you have something to say to me?"


    Those soldiers glanced at each other. "We¡­ We didn''t sense anything. We didn''t feel a trace of any strangers! No one came here!"


    The other soldiers nodded, but didn''t add anything.


    A person had died under their protection, and that was a fact. They failed to do their job, and that wouldn''t change, no matter how hard they tried to explain to Yang Chao. The latter only cared about the fact that they didn''t manage to keep what woman safe.


    In fact, those soldiers had already been waiting for death now. They should be dead, because they had failed to protect their Chief''s family. Also, Yang Chao wasn''t a soft-hearted man. On the contrary, he was cruel and heartless.


    As they thought, Yang Chao nodded at them, then suddenly waved a hand. Following his movement, the five superpowered soldiers were sent out of the balcony by a series of tiny tornadoes.


    "Ah!"


    "Ahhh!."


    A wave of shrill howls was heard. The four superpowered men were trapped in the tornadoes; sharp wind blades circled around them and cut their bodies. Vivid red blood fell from the sky near Yang Yan''s balcony like rain.


    Lin Qiao watched those people''s reactions from the roof of the building in front of the balcony, then turned and leaped off the building and headed toward Lin Wenwen''s place.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Shen Yujen had left the research institute, grasping Lin Qiao''s scent from the air and finding that she was in the center area. Many powerful superpowered people were in that area, so she didn''t dare to go there. Therefore, she turned around and headed back to the residential area where she had attacked Piao Gecang before.


    Miss. Lu had told her that if she had nowhere to go, she could wait for her there. So, she hid in the darkness near the crossroad; soon, a figure showed up beside her.


    Lin Qiao had sensed Shen Yujen''s vibe from a long distance away. Therefore, she walked to her side and showed her face.


    "Get in. You can''t show up in the base now. You should hide there for now," she said.


    Shen Yujen understood Lin Qiao''s meaning. Some people had already found out about her. Therefore, it wasn''t safe for her to stay in the base, and her staying there might bring troubles for others.


    She nodded to let Lin Qiao know that she was willing to stay in her space.


    Lin Qiao reached out a hand, prepared to bring her into the space. However, Shen Yujen dodged and took out an energy nucleus. Judging by the energy contained in it, it was a level-six nucleus.


    She handed the nucleus to Lin Qiao.


    "Did this belong to that man?" From the nucleus, Lin Qiao detected the same scent she had sensed from the man who was bitten by Shen Yujen. Shen Yujen nodded, then extended the nucleus further toward Lin Qiao.


    "Is this for me?" Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise.


    Shen Yujen wasn''t able to absorb that energy nucleus now, but she could save it until she had reached a higher level.


    Shen Yujen nodded again, looking at Lin Qiao gratefully.


    "Do you want to pay me back with this? No need. I can get level-six nuclei if I want some. You keep it." After learning about her intention, Lin Qiao refused her smilingly.

 349 Canst Control Himself

    Shen Yujen shook her head, refusing to accept Lin Qiao''s refusal. She picked up Lin Qiao''s hand and put the nucleus in it.


    Lin Qiao held the nucleus and said to Shen Yuzhen while shaking her head, "In fact, you can choose to work for me if you really want to thank me. This nucleus can make you stronger, so you''ll be able to help me."


    Shen Yujen paused for a moment as she silently looked at Lin Qiao.


    She had become a zombie, and her power hadn''t woken up yet. She wanted to help Lin Qiao, but she didn''t think she could give her much help.


    Lin Qiao said to her, "So, if you want to work for me, keep this. After leaving this base, I''ll help you to improve your zombie level."


    While speaking, she put the nucleus back in Shen Yuzhen''s hand.


    This time, Shen Yujen didn''t insist on giving the nucleus to Lin Qiao. She thought for a moment, then put the nucleus back and nodded at the latter.


    Lin Wenwen brought her into the space, then turned invisible and came back out, heading to Lin Wenwen''s room.


    Because of the warning given by Lu Tianyi and his friends, Lin Wenwen''s room was now heavily guarded. Lu Junjie and a few others were taking turns to guard on the balcony. In the living room, Du Yuanxing was looking at Yuan Tianxing with disdain.


    "Why are you looking at me? Didn''t you say that I should come here to protect the girls? How can I protect the two of them alone? Isn''t it good for us to do it together?" Yuan Tianxing, who was sitting on a couch and reading a book, calmly glanced at Du Yuanixng and said.


    Du Yuanxing rolled his eyes and said, "You alone are strong enough to do that. Why do you want us to be here too?"


    "The more people, the better! Isn''t that right?"


    Du Yuanxing shrugged and said, "Alright, you''re the boss. Whatever you say!"


    In the bedroom, Lin Wenwen was in deep thoughts with a slight frown.


    "What are you thinking about? Your eyebrows are knitting together." Sitting on the couch, Long Qingying looked at Lin Wenwen and asked while carefully wiping her katana with a piece of cloth.


    Lin Wenwen sighed and said, "Maybe me staying here will truly cause Tianxing some unnecessary troubles. I''m thinking that I was too stubborn when I decided to stay here. But, I''m struggling. I want to stay close to him, and see him."


    Long Qingying fixed her eyes on the sharp edge of her blade while responding, "As long as you''re aware that you were self-willed¡­ As an outsider, I think if you really like him, you shouldn''t bring him any troubles. You''re a mature woman now, not a hotheaded seventeen-year-old little girl."


    While speaking, she stood her katana up before her eyes, carefully staring at its edge.


    After blowing on the blade, she continued, "You want to be around him, but you also need to think about the situation. At this time, you should leave with Lin Feng and the others. Even fighting against zombies over there is better than dealing with those complicated people here. After all, we''re outsiders. You think those people will be nice to us? Think about that kid and his mother whom we met that day, then you''ll figure it out."


    Lin Wenwen nodded. Ever since that day, she didn''t dare to wear dresses again, but always wore jeans in this base.


    She thought that the people in this base would show some respect to them, because they were working together with Wu Chengyue. However, she found that she was wrong. She and her friends were here to seek help, and weren''t invited here. So, the Sea City Base people hadn''t been putting them on their equal footing.


    Under different circumstances, they would be treated in different ways. They were in other people''s place, so they had to bow.


    She blamed herself, as she hadn''t learned to deal with her current situation yet. It might also be because her big sister protected her so well before.


    At this moment, her sanity was fighting against her feelings. She told herself that she should leave Sea City Base as soon as possible, and that it was good for everyone. However, at the same time, her feelings didn''t allow her to leave Yuan Tianxing. Although Yuan Tianxing never responded to her emotionally, she still wanted to be close to him.


    If only her big sister was here¡­ Her big sister would criticize her strictly, then directly kick her away instead of leaving her here struggling. She needed someone to make decisions for her, as she really couldn''t control herself.


    However, her big sister¡­


    Thinking of Lin Qiao, Lin Wenwen felt sad.


    But soon, she thought of that female zombie named Lu Tianyu. For some reason, the more time she spent with that zombie, the more she felt that the latter was like her big sister. Her handwriting, tone of speaking, some small movements, and the familiar presence¡­ all these made her feel that her sister was with her.


    Lin Wenwen often wondered why Lu Tianyu had been helping her family and her.


    "Qingying, do you think my big sister¡­ really died?" She abruptly asked Long Qingying with confusion.


    Long Qingying looked at Lin Wenwen, also confusedly. "What do you mean?" she asked, "I think Chief is very strong. Maybe she didn''t die. She was defeated, but still had a great chance of survival. In fact, I never believed that she''s dead. Perhaps, she''ll come back someday."


    "If she didn''t die, has she already come back¡­" said Lin Wenwen unsurely.


    "Maybe," Long Qingying responded without paying too much attention to Lin Wenwen''s words.


    ¡­


    At this moment, Xiao Yunlong''s car was driven into the yard of Wu Chengyue''s place.


    Xiao Yunlong opened the car door and got off. As he walked into the living room, he saw Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue sitting there, seeming to be talking about leaving the base to collect supplies.


    "You''re back! It''s quite late, what took you so long? Have you had dinner?" Wu Chengyue raised his head and looked at Xiao Yunlong as he asked.


    "I haven''t had dinner yet," Xiao Yunlong replied, "I lingered over there to learn about their future plans before returning."


    "Have they decided on the location? Are they ready to start the construction?" Wu Chengyue quickly asked.


    Xiao Yunlong shook his head and said, "The construction work hasn''t started yet, but the location has been determined. They plan to build the fence wall of the central area first. I guess they won''t officially start the construction until Yuan Tianxing is there."


    Wu Chengyue nodded, as if he had foreseen this. "I thought so."


    At that point, Xiao Licheng abruptly rushed in and said to the people in the living room, "Chief, something happened in the research institute. Doctor Liang was killed by a grenade."


    "What did you say?" Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong both looked at him with surprise.


    "I just received the news," said Xiao Licheng.


    Wu Chengyue immediately stood up and threw the files in his hands onto the table, then walked outside without saying anything. Xiao Licheng hurriedly picked up his coat and left with Xiao Yunlong.


    Meng Yue stood up from the couch as well. However, she didn''t follow behind the others, just watching them leave.

 287 All In

    Lin Qiao stood behind the bald guy without moving, but quietly looking at this group of people. She was shorter than the bald man, so no one saw her in the first few seconds. But soon, she was spotted by those robbers.


    "You¡­ Who are you!"


    "No! She isn''t a human! Look at her eyes! Her eyes are all black! She''s a zombie!"


    "She is¡­ Er! She must be the space-powered zombie queen that Boss mentioned!"


    Some of them were still holding their guns. The ones whose hands weren''t tied by Viney immediately fired at Lin Qiao.


    A series of gunshots was heard.


    Lin Qiao moved swiftly to dodge the bullets which were sent toward her by three people while giving Viney a shout.


    "Viney, move!"


    Following her voice, the group of people felt that the vines wrapped around their bodies suddenly tighten, even seeming to break their bones. What made them pop their eyes shock was the words they heard just now. The zombie talked! It gave an order!


    The vines tied them up so tight that they could barely breathe. At that moment, they had nothing but questions in their heads.


    Wasn''t that a zombie? Why was the zombie able to talk!


    But soon, they couldn''t continue thinking about those questions because the vines wrapped them up from the feet to their necks and squeezed them violently, causing them a pain that stopped them from breathing. They felt that all their internal organs were about to be crushed.


    "Ah¡­"


    "Ahhh¡­"


    Except for Er and San, the others all burst into screams, their faces twisted. They were all blushing because of suffocation, their eyes bulged while veins stood out under the skin of their temples.


    Er and San were in great pain as well, but they suffered less than the others. After all, even though they weren''t able to attack with their powers, their powers had still been protecting their bodies from being harmed.


    Therefore, they only had their faces turn red, but made no other reactions. But of course, they couldn''t move either.


    At that moment, a vine tip rose from each of them, reaching much higher than their heads.


    The pair of cute little leaves on each vine tip folded together, then the leaf tips turned slightly before magically forming a sharp thorn and slowly approaching the temples of everyone except the bald guy.


    Just like that, the thorns quietly pierced into their heads while they were still struggling.


    "Ah¡­"


    "Ah!"


    "Ah!"


    A series of shrill scream could be heard, filled with pain.


    Er and San were startled by those screams. They widened their eyes and turned to look at their friends, then saw the leaves on the vine tips puncturing into their friends'' temples. Immediately, the looks in their faces changed. They watched their friends'' faces twisted in pain and heard them howl. Then, as the white vine drilled into their right temples, they stopped screaming, but the expression on their faces remained.


    Before long, the vine tips pulled themselves out, having turned blood-red.


    Er abruptly turned his head to look around his head. As he had thought, a similar vine tip was pointing at his temple. Seeing that, he instantly began shaking his head in fright.


    "Ah! No! I don''t want to die! No¡­"


    But soon, Viney drilled into his temple.


    "Eh¡­"


    At that point, Lin Qiao had already raised her hand and put her sharp nails against San''s scalp.


    "You''ve been eating people. Had you thought that you''d end up being eaten as well one day?" she spoke blandly.


    San was in complete terror. He tried to turn around, but couldn''t move his body. He managed to turn around his head, yet only saw Lin Qiao''s face from the side.


    Then, he felt that something sharp had pierced into his head.


    "No, no, no¡­ wait a minute¡­ Please don''t kill me¡­ Please don''t kill me¡­ Eh¡­ Ah¡­"


    As he begged for mercy, Lin Qiao impatiently inserted her fingers into his skull.


    Crack!


    Along with the cracking noise, San stopped crying. Lin Qiao dug the space-powered nucleus out of his head and put it in her palm before gripping it. The nucleus soon turned into a scorching hot stream of energy in her palm, quickly surging into her body through her arm.


    She then turned to look at the others and found that they had all quieted down. Viney lifted all the dead bodies and sent them to the woods area.


    Looking at those dehydrated corpses, Lin Qiao said to Viney, "Viney, just put all bodies together. You don''t need to bring them to the woods area particularly."


    Viney piled these new bodies together with the four which were dropped in the woods by Lin Qiao earlier, then drew them back into the lake.


    Lin Qiao walked to those corpses and picked up Er and San before flashing out of her space.


    Thud! Thud!


    She threw the two corpses to the ground, then clapped her hands and quickly moved away to dodge the Boss'' sharp metal blades.


    Boss glanced at Er who was lying on the ground motionlessly, and San, whose head was broken. Then, he turned to look at Lin Qiao, who had shown her face. Through the glasses, he stared at her with a vicious look.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the door and found countless metal objects piling on the gate and the fence wall, making the wall over three meters tall. The ordinary zombies outside weren''t able to come in, so they were trying to climb up while roaring now.


    After seeing Er and San'' bodies, Boss understood that the others had no chance of surviving either. He looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes, and the latter looked back at his eyes, as composed as always.


    None of them moved, while all kinds of noises and zombie roars could be heard from the outside.


    Right at that moment, the Boss'' eyes moved slightly. He suddenly glanced at where Lin Feng and his people stayed, then raised a hand and clenched his fingers toward Lin Qiao.


    With that, countless metal objects immediately flew toward Lin Qiao. Within a blink, those metal objects turned into sharp thorns, darting at her from all directions.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao flashed into her space. As she closed her eyes to see outside, she found that the Boss was gone.


    She walked to the pile of corpses and picked up two, then flashed back out. She went into the villa to find ropes, but there were none. So, she ripped off the curtains and tore them into strips, then brought them into her space.


    In the space, she tied the rest of the corpses together and dragged them all out.


    Except for the bald San and the ones that Viney had absorbed, the ones Lin Qiao had killed earlier on still had energy nuclei in their heads. So, after exiting her space, Lin Qiao dug out the remaining four energy nuclei.

 350 Why Are You Here?

    Soon after walking into the building, Lin Qiao felt that someone came in behind her. She turned back and saw a man and a walking onto the stairs.


    "Miss. Yan, you could have simply sent us to bring the message to those Hades Base people. Why did you come yourself?" The young man said to the tall, slim, and pretty lady before him.


    "Because I wanted to come here," said Yan Fangyu, "I''m afraid you might not be able to make it clear."


    The young man was a little speechless. "It''s just one message. How wrong can we possibly make it? You''re lying. You''re here to see their handsome Deputy Chief," he said.


    Yan Fangyu glanced back at him and said, "You don''t have to say it out loud."


    "Lady, you can like anyone, but why did you fall for an outsider?" said the young man, "There are so many great men in our base. You''re going to make them despair!"


    While walking, Yan Fangyu turned back and rolled her eyes toward the young man, then responded, "That''s my business. Even if I didn''t fall for an outsider, I wouldn''t take a fancy to those men in our base."


    "Why?" The young man was confused.


    "No reason," said Yan Fangyu, "Maybe love hasn''t arrived yet." After saying that, she winked at the young man.


    Lin Qiao was going to turn herself visible. However, as those two walked up while chatting, she had no choice but to stay invisible. She stood aside and waited until they had gone upstairs, then followed behind them.


    ''Who''s this woman? She actually fancies our Tianxing! But, I''ve already decided to save him for my little sister,'' thought Lin Qiao as she followed the two to Lin Wenwen''s door and saw Wei Jingchen and Xing Le guarding by the door across the hallway.


    "Eh? Why are you guarding here? Are you protecting Miss. Lin?" Yan Fangyu asked with surprise.


    "Miss. Yan, good to see you! Are you here to see our Deputy Chief?" Xing Le nodded at the two and asked.


    Yan Fangyu smilingly nodded and said, "Yeah, I''m here to see him."


    "Wait a moment," Wei Jingchen responded, then turned around. He knocked on the door before opening it and shouting toward the living room, "Boss, Deputy Chief Yan is here to see you."


    Yuan Tianxing and Du Yuanxing paused for a second, then glanced at each other. "Why is she here?" asked Yuan Tianxing.


    Du Yuanxing shrugged and said, "Ask her."


    "Let her in," said Yuan Tianxing toward the door. Then, Yan Fangyu and one of her subordinates walked in.


    Yan Fangyu gave Yuan Tianxing a very warm smile while greeting him, "Good evening, Deputy Chief Yuan!"


    Yuan Tianxing and Du Yuanxing both stood up. The former pointed at a couch and replied with a polite smile, "I said, don''t call me Deputy Chief. Please take a seat. Is there anything important that made you come here so late at night?"


    Yan Fangyu sat down, her subordinate standing at a meter behind her.


    Du Yuanxing turned around and poured her a glass of water, then placed it on the tea table before her.


    "Ah, I''m here to tell you to be careful," said Yan Fangyu, "Especially the two girls among you¡­ They have been targeted by one of the three leaders of this base. I think you won''t be able to bring them out of this base easily now even if you want to. Also, you guys might get into troubles as well. So, you should better raise your vigilance."


    Yuan Tianxing gave a faint smile and responded, "Ugh, if you''re talking about Yang Chao who has eyes on Lin Wenwen, we''ve already known about that. We do plan to leave as quickly as possible."


    Yan Fangyu looked at him with surprise and said, "Eh? How did you find out about that so quickly? Not many people knew about it. Has someone else delivered the message to you?"


    Yuan Tianxing showed her a meaningful smile while answering her questions, "You''re right. Some other people visited us before you. But, I''m surprised that you came here too. It''s quite late now."


    Yan Fangyu didn''t care about what he said. Keeping that confident smile on her face, she said, "Huh, are you saying that what I''m doing now is unnecessary? I came here late at night to tip you off, and you''re not going to thank me?"


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "How can I possibly mean that? I didn''t say anything like that."


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen opened the door of the bedroom just far enough to look out, then asked a question to Long Qingying, who was behind her, with surprise.


    "Qingying, who''s that woman outside?"


    Long Qingying put the piece of cloth which she had been wiping her blade with on the table, then put the blade back into the sheath. After that, she put the blade on a chair and stood up to walk toward the door.


    She looked outside from behind Lin Wenwen, then said, "I don''t know, but I can recognize the way she looks at Deputy Chief. It seems that your rival in love has shown up."


    "Em, I felt it," Lin Wenwen nodded and said. The look in her eyes was a little inexplicable.


    The two of them closed the door but left it unlocked, then quietly listened to the conversation happening in the living room. Soon, they discovered that the pretty woman outside actually came here with the same purpose as Lu Tianyi.


    Long Qingying frowned and said, "Quite some people are minding others'' business tonight. This woman is clearly here for Deputy Chief, but who were those men here for?"


    Hearing her words, Lin Wenwen suddenly had a thought in her head. She turned to Long Qingying and said, "Eh, that man who came earlier is named Lu Tianyi, and Miss. Lu is named Lu Tianyu. After hearing what you said, I suddenly feel that there might be a connection between the two of them!"


    Long Qingying looked at her and also gave a start.


    Yan Fangyu didn''t linger for long. After learning that some other people had delivered the message before her, she had a short casual chat with Yuan Tianxing, then left with her subordinate, wearing her ten-centimeter tall heels.


    Those high heels didn''t cause any difficulty for her in walking. Among all women in this base, only she wore super high heels every single day. She walked stably and quickly with those heels, without being extra careful at all.


    Of course, anyone who attempted to bully her because she was wearing heels would suffer.


    After the beautiful Yan Fangyu had left, Lin Wenwen and Long Qignying came out of the bedroom.


    "Who''s that pretty lady?" Lin Wenwen sat on a couch and asked curiously.


    Yuan Tianxing responded, "Ah, a Deputy Chiefs of this base."


    "She''s a Deputy Chief?" said Lin Wenwen with surprise, "No wonder she has such a strong vibe. It turns out that she''s a leader. She''s so pretty. She must have so many suitors, and those shouldn''t be ordinary men."


    Du Yuanxing was immediately attracted by this topic. "Yeah, I heard that if the men in this base who are pursuing her lined up, the line would extend from here to an entrance of the base. She''s like the goddess in this base, and she''s single."


    "You''re drooling," said Long Qingying.


    Du Yuanxing gave her a wicked glance and said, "Hehe, are you jealous?"


    Long Qingying rolled her eyes and said, "Psycho! What to be jealous of? No matter how many men are pursuing her right now, she''ll eventually be with only one man."


    At that point, Lin Wenwen was thinking about another question¡ªwhat was the relationship between Lu Tianyu and Lu Tianyi? Lu Tianyu was from Sea City Base, but why didn''t she go home since she came back here? Are there people in this base who know her?

 288 Had Enough After Sniffing

    Lin Qiao understood why the Boss ran. Just now, Qiu Lili''s strong vibe had spread out from a long distance away. The Boss felt it clearly and left because of fear, while the zombie crowd outside the villa suddenly quieted down and stood transfixed to the ground.


    At that point, Grandpa flashed across the air and landed by Lin Qiao''s side, looking at the group of dead people on the ground with a mysterious look, his hands behind his back.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then said, "These people can be killed. If you want to eat, these five are still edible." While speaking, she pointed at the few who were killed by her. However, Grandpa''s face showed dislike, as he shook his head.


    "No? Why?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked curiously.


    "Roar¡­" Grandpa gave a roar. ''They''re ugly.''


    Lin Qiao was speechless again, unable to think of a word to say.


    Would a zombie actually think that some human beings were too ugly?


    She then silently walked to the three captives and squatted beside the two boys.


    She brought out a cup of water from her space, then turned the two boys around and forced their mouths open before pouring the water in. After giving each of the two boys three cups of water, she raised her head to look at that girl.


    At that moment, the girl was sneakily looking at her. As Lin Qiao raised her head, they accidentally made eye-contact. The girl then clearly saw her purely black eyes.


    "Ah!" She was frightened immediately, so she moved backward as quickly as possible while screaming.


    She woke up upon hearing the noises from the outside. She thought that someone was here to save her, so she waited with both surprise and delight. Before long, she saw someone come in, rip the curtains off, and then disappear.


    She saw a bald person that she had never met before. It was no one from her squad. Therefore, she didn''t dare to many any sound, but quietly watched Lin Qiao yank the curtains down and disappear.


    Earlier on, she didn''t see Lin Qiao''s eyes.


    And now, she saw Lin Qiao came back in to feed water to her dying friends. She didn''t know what that water was. And unexpectedly, Lin Qiao raised her head and showed her a pair of zombie eyes!


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then stood up and turned to leave. She saw that Grandpa was still standing beside those corpses and looking at them.


    "You''ve been staring at them for a while. Are you really not going to eat them?" she asked.


    "Roar." Grandpa raised his head to look at her, responded with a roar. ''No.''


    "Then, why are you looking at them?" asked Lin Qiao.


    "Roar¡­" roared Grandpa. ''I''m sniffing at them.''


    Lin Qiao was speechless again.


    ''Grandpa, do you think that you''re a ghost? Can you be full after just sniffing at them?''


    "Let''s go back," she said. After that, she sprung out of the fence wall. Grandpa turned around to glance into the living room, then left with Lin Qiao.


    After an hour of quietness, a group of people found this place with some difficulties.


    They finally got through the zombie crowd outside and carefully arrived at this area. They thought that they would be facing a bunch of extremely violent and wicked robbers, yet after approaching, they heard no sounds from them at all.


    After repeatedly confirmed the safety of this area, they climbed over the fence wall and saw those corpses that Lin Qiao had left in the front yard. Under that kind of situation, seeing dead bodies wasn''t scary, but running into living people was!


    As they got closer, they recognized those bodies as the group of robbers. Except for their leader, all the other robbers were lying there.


    "What¡­ happened? They''re all dead!"


    "The leader''s body isn''t here!"


    "These few men look a little weird. Why do they seem to have been drained?"


    "Look at these few¡­ Their heads are crushed or cut open."


    They checked the bodies and found no biting marks and tearing wounds left by zombies.


    "Did someone kill them?"


    "That''s possible¡­ There are wounds on their heads, but their hearts aren''t missing, and their brains are untouched. I don''t think it''s a high-level zombie who killed them."


    "But, these two are both at level-six. What kind of powerful being can kill them all at one time?"


    "Get in here!" At that moment, the one who went in to check the living room suddenly ran out and yelled at the people outside. The group of people immediately walked into the villa and saw the three captives in a corner.


    The girl was still curling in the corner, her arms around her knees. As the group of people came in, she raised her head to look at them. The two boys beside her still remained in the same lying posture as when Lin Qiao had left.


    The group of people immediately came up and held up the girl and the two boys up from the ground, checking their bodies with concern. After that, they even wanted to kill those dead robbers again.


    They didn''t dare to ask the girl about what happened. Seeing her dull eyes, they were worried that their questions might stimulate her. They had found them, and they were still alive. That was enough.


    Anyway, the girl didn''t say anything.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao and Grandpa went back to the small hotel, and Qiu Lili showed up by her side.


    "How''s it going? Did they run?" Qiu Lili asked with a silvery voice.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "One ran away, and I killed the rest of them.


    Qiu Lili pouted and continued unhappily, "Robbers are the worst. They''re even worse than zombies! They eat people! And, they''re sneaky!"


    Lin Qiao patted her on the shoulder and said, "You should just stay away from them." While speaking, she walked toward Lin Feng''s room. Seeing that she seemed to be in haste, Qiu Lili asked, "What''s wrong?"


    "We might need to leave this place. I''m going to explain the situation to Lin Feng," said Lin Qiao.


    Qiu Lili nodded and responded, "Alright!"


    Then, she followed behind Lin Qiao with no interest.


    Lin Qiao walked to Lin Feng''s door and asked Wei Jingchen, who was guarding outside, "Is Lin Feng in there?"


    Wei Jingchen nodded, then knocked the door before opening it and shouting, "Great Captain, Miss. Lu is here."


    "Let her in," Lin Feng''s voice was heard from the inside.


    Wei Jingchen pushed the door open, then stood aside and gave Lin Qiao a gesture to let her in.


    Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili walked in, seeing that Lin Feng, Mrs. Lin, Li Zheng, Lei Yao, and a few others were sitting around the tea table, with a map spread on it.


    "Here, here, we''re trying to find a way from here to Upper City District. There''re many gas stations on the way. We need to find some gas." As Lin Qiao came in, Lin Feng said to her without raising his head.


    Lin Qiao walked to them and glanced at the map, then said, "We don''t need to look at the map for now. I think we should change our plan and go to Sea City Base to find Yuan Tianxing first."


    Hearing her, the others were puzzled slightly, then raised their heads to look at her with confusion.


    "What? Did something happen?" Lin Feng asked.


    Lin Qiao reached out her hand which was held behind her back; her fingers and palm were covered in blood.


    "Something did happen¡­ I just killed a group of people."

 351 I Am Going to Make A Trouble

    "So that''s the woman who has been bringing troubles to you." Suddenly, a hoarse voice was heard.


    Yuan Tianxing, Du Yuanxing, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying all turned to the source of the voice and saw a woman standing there, wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses. None of them knew when she showed up.


    Lin Qiao took off her sunglasses, exposing her dark eyes and green pupils.


    Seeing her, Lin Wenwen said happily, "Ah, Miss. Lu, you''re back!"


    Lin Qiao smilingly nodded at her.


    The smile on Yuan Tianxing''s face turned much more real than before as he said, "Great, we''ll be able to leave here soon then."


    However, Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I''m afraid that we''ll have to stay here for a while."


    Her words made the others pause shortly, then look at her with confusion.


    "Why?" asked Lin Wenwen.


    "Because, a few people died tonight. A slight disorder will soon be stirred up in this base. It won''t take too long. I think some people will come to our doors tomorrow at dawn."


    Lin Wenwen and the others glanced at each other with surprise. Unlike them, Yuan Tianxing blinked and asked, "You seem to know who died."


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile and said, "Of course! A Deputy Chief, a Chief''s little sister, and a researcher who had been studying the zombie virus. What do you think?" While speaking, she walked to the window and leaned against the frame while carefully looking outside.


    Yuan Tianxing and the others all had their expressions changed slightly. After that, they stared at Lin Qiao with both shock and doubt.


    "Why did they die? And¡­ you shouldn''t show up now," Lin Wenwen said with a frown.


    Yuan Tianxing''s face darkened slightly. He hurriedly walked to the window and closed the curtain.


    "Wenwen is right. You showing up now will only make Yang Chao suspect you. Also, why did those people suddenly die? Yang Chao''s family should have been protected firmly. Who in this base can be bold enough to hurt his sister?" said Yuan Tianxing.


    "I did it. I surely have nothing to be afraid of," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    Lin Wenwen was quite delighted upon hearing about Yang Yan''s death. However, as Lin Qiao said that it was she who had killed those people, she gazed at her stunned just like the others.


    She suddenly didn''t know what to say.


    Du Yuanxing popped his eyes and yelled at Lin Qiao as if he was looking at a ghost, "Lady! You''re causing trouble!"


    "I am causing trouble!" Lin Qiao gave an evil grin, then shrugged and said carelessly, "Relax! Soon enough, someone will seize this opportunity to give Yang Chao difficulties. He won''t have the time for us anymore."


    "Who?" The others asked in one voice.


    "Who''s his enemy?" said Lin Qiao.


    "Wu Chengyue!" The people answered again with one voice.


    Lin Wenwen and Yuan Tianxing both thought quickly and immediately figured out Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    "The dead researcher was on Chief Wu''s side, wasn''t he? Is that why you said he''ll use this opportunity to hurt Yang Chao?" Lin Wenwen slightly widened her eyes and asked.


    Lin Qiao smiled and gave her a meaningful glance.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "If I were Wu Chengyue, I certainly wouldn''t miss this opportunity. Perhaps, Chief Wu had been holding some other thing over Yang Chao, and we just don''t know it yet."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "He''s a base leader after all. Even if there isn''t an opportunity, he''ll create one."


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Qiao and suddenly asked, "Just now, you mentioned about a woman bringing troubles. Were you talking about that woman who came here just now? Who does she bring troubles to?"


    Lin Qiao pointed at Yuan Tianxing and said, "Him. Or, should I say that it''s his debt of love? Do you know that because he was close with that woman, Yang Chao got jealous and intended to murder him? Earlier on, Yang Chao hired a group of robbers to ambush him on his way out of the base. I wonder where did he find that level-seven robber. Doesn''t he worry that the robber might turn against him?"


    Once she said that, the other three in the room all quietly gazed into Yuan Tianxing''s eyes.


    "¡­ What does that have to do with me? I''m innocent, alright?" Yuan Tianxing explained.


    Suddenly, he remembered something. "Ugh, I almost forgot about it. I have something for you," he looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    Lin Qiao curiously watched him walk out of this flat to the room across the hallway, then come back in a few minutes with a small box in his hand.


    "This is for you, from Wu Chengyue," Yuan Tianxing handed the box to her.


    "From him? What is it?" asked Lin Qiao.


    Yuan Tianxing put the box in her hand and said, "Cosmetic contacts? I think he said so."


    Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise and asked, "Why did he find these contacts for me?"


    Yuan Tianxing spread his hands and said, "How am I supposed to know? You should ask him yourself."


    Lin Qiao opened the box bewilderedly and found that those cosmetic contacts were very well preserved.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Yang Chao had started searching through the entire base after he buried Yang Yan.


    "Yang Yan''s wounds seemed to have been caused by the teeth of wild beasts, and they were also seriously infected by the zombie virus. If her brain weren''t eaten, she would have become a zombie by now. Go and search the base. Not only has a zombie come in, even a zombie beast has made its way in."


    Yang Chao stood in his living room, wearing a cold and grim look. His vibe spread in the room and raised the air pressure, making the group of people who were standing in front of him slow their breaths down.


    "Why are you all standing here? Go! Now! All of you!" As these people actually reacted slowly after receiving his order, Yang Chao immediately burst in shouts.


    "Yes, sir!" Most of those people shivered while responding, then turned and prepared to leave.


    "You two stay here, the others out." Yang Chao suddenly pointed at two men and demanded them to stay, then said to them, "Go and gather all people who worked in the number one virus study group in the research institute."


    "Yes, sir!"


    Soon, when Yang Chao was left alone in his living room, Tang He walked out of a bedroom.


    "Are those zombies from your research institute?" he asked.


    Yang Chao glanced at him and said, "The research institute is the only place in this base where zombies existed. If a female zombie has shown up in the base, it must be from there. Besides, Liang Dashu has died, and his assistant has gone missing. The important files that he has might have been taken away. Moreover, that woman saw you. You better hide yourself, and don''t let Wu Chengyue find you. Or, we''ll both be in troubles."


    Tang He responded carelessly, "I''d hide well even if you didn''t say so. Earlier on, you mentioned that those files are about how to cure the viral infection. Is that real?"

 289 Change the Plan

    Hearing Lin Qiao say that she had just killed a group of people, all the others wore a serious expression, looking at her confusedly.


    "Please sit down," Lin Hao stood up from beside her and offered her the chair, then sat on the windowsill. Lin Qiao sat down and looked at the others while speaking, "Just now, two groups of people showed up in the East, about three miles away. The first group was comprised of twelve robbers, and I''ve killed eleven of them. Their leader escaped, however."


    "Robbers?" This word gave the others a start.


    "Are you talking about those man-eating post-apocalyptic robbers?" Lin Feng looked at Lin Qiao seriously. He didn''t miss the part that their leader had escaped. Post-apocalyptic robbers were all vengeful. As long as even one of them survived, that person would definitely come back to this place and fight a way to take revenge for his friends.


    Moreover, they were all extremely cruel and heartless. Otherwise, how could they get used to eating people?


    Therefore, anyone who happened to offend a robber or a group of them should better stay inside a base for one or two years. Otherwise, once out, he or she would be facing the robbers'' vengeance.


    With a frown, Lin Feng asked, "Which levels are their powers at? How ''bout that leader?"


    "The weakest ones among them were at level-four. The leader, the strongest one, was at level-seven," said Lin Qiao.


    "Level-seven!"


    "Can you even force away a level-seven? Which exact level are you at now?"


    The others were all shocked upon hearing that the robber leader was at level-seven. That was the level of base leaders! More importantly, that level-seven robber leader had escaped because of Lin Qiao!


    Lin Qiao shook her head and gave and grin, exposing her white, shiny teeth while replying, "How can I be so powerful? I can only handle level-six and below. But, you may not know yet, Lili has already broken into level-seven."


    The people were shocked by her words.


    "Wait¡­ wait a moment!" Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao confusedly while saying, "Miss. Lu, are you saying that Lili is¡­ a level-seven zombie now?"


    Lin Qiao smilingly looked at her and said, "Aunty, as I said, you can call me Tianyu, or Yu. You always call me Miss. Lu, which makes me feel distanced from you."


    Mrs. Lin paused slightly, then smiled and responded, "Ah, Tianyu¡­ Eh, I''m used to calling you Miss. Lu earlier, so I always forget to change that."


    Lin Qiao smiled in response.


    Li Zheng, who was sitting next to her, asked in shock, "So Lili is a¡­ zombie dominator now?"


    Lin Qiao turned to nod at him and said, "Yeah, she''s a zombie dominator now."


    "This is bad¡­ The level-seven robber leader ran away," Lin Feng said, "He''ll bring us troubles in the future!"


    Lin Qiao waved a hand at him and responded, "Not necessarily. At least, he doesn''t know that I''m with you. Even if there will be trouble, that''ll be for us only."


    Lin Feng glanced at her and wanted to say something, but didn''t. However, he was showing a worried look.


    "Don''t we have Lili now?" said Mrs. Lin, "We shouldn''t be afraid of them."


    Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Feng. She understood what he was worried about, "Aunty, hidden arrows are difficult to guard against. We''re stronger than he is, but we do need to prevent against any possible sneaky moves of his. There''s only one Lili. We''re safe around her, but we can''t guarantee that everyone will always stay with her."


    Being reminded by Lin Qiao, Mrs. nodded with agreement, "You''re right."


    Lin Qiao continued, "And, there is some other news. That group of robbers had made some kind of deal with a leader of Sea City Base. They were going to Sea City Base to hurt Wu Chengyue. Apart from him, they also planned to attack Yuan Tianxing. So, even if I didn''t kill them, they would come for us."


    As she said that, the others all looked at her with surprise.


    "How can Tianxing have anything to do with it? The leaders of Sea City Base are Wu Chengyue, Yang Chao, and Zou Shihui. Everyone knows that Yang Chao has issues with Wu Chengyue, but what does that have to do with Tianxing? Is it because Tianxing is seeking cooperation with Wu Chengyue?" asked Lin Feng.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, then nodded and said, "Em, that''s one of the reasons."


    ''He also dated the prettiest lady in Sea City Base, so someone is jealous of him! We sent him to carry out a serious mission, yet he actually picked up a pretty lady.'' Lin Qiao said in her head.


    "Those robbers were¡­" Lin Feng looked at her and continued.


    "They were rather strong," said Lin Qiao, "I guess, Yang Chao wants them to kill Wu Chengyue for him in secret, so he wouldn''t need to do the dirty job himself. As for what he promised those robbers, I don''t know if he''s planning to keep his word or not. But, if I were him, I wouldn''t let those robbers join my base."


    If Yang Chao was smart enough, he wouldn''t let a man who might become his new enemy join his base, right after taking out his old enemy¡­ Not to mention the fact that the robber leader was at an equivalent level as him.


    Lin Feng nodded as he agreed with Lin Qiao.


    "So, you said that we need to change our plan. Are we going to find Deputy Chief first?" asked Li Zheng.


    Lin Qiao nodded and replied, "Yes, we''ll head straight to Sea City Base, then help Yuan Tianxing with the recruitment. When we have hired enough people, we need to build our base as soon as possible. Once we have built our own castle, we''ll be able to defend against level-eight enemies, let alone level-seven."


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "I agree."


    The others surely had no objection either.


    "When do we leave then?" Mrs. Lin glanced at Lin Feng, then at Lin Qiao, and asked. Lin Feng was looking at Lin Qiao as well.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao stood up and said, "Now! Everyone, pack your things! We''re leaving this place."


    Lin Feng nodded in agreement and said, "Alright, let''s pack up and get ready to leave!"


    Having finished with the discussion, Lin Qiao turned and walked out toward Liu Jun''s room.


    "We''re going to leave¡­ Pack your bags!" She said to Liu Jun and Xie Dong after entering the room. The two looked at her with surprise and asked, "Why are we suddenly leaving? Did something happen? Is it about Lili''s vibe that we sensed just now?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "We''ve changed out plan. We won''t stay here and wait for Yuan Tianxing. Instead, we''ll go to Sea City Base to find him. After that, we''ll head to Upper City District together, to build our base."


    "Eh? Why?" Liu Jun carried Tong Tong as she asked.


    "He might get into trouble on his way back, so it''s better for us to go and find him," Lin Qiao stood by the door and responded while taking over Tong Tong from Junjun''s hands.


    "Trouble? What kind of trouble?" After putting Tong Tong into Lin Qiao''s arms, Liu Jun looked at her confusedly and asked. Lin Qiao propped Tong Tong''s butt with one arm, then said to Liu Jun, "Some people have their eyes on him. I guess they''ll make a move after he has left Sea City."

 352 Someone is Creating Troubles

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 290 Leaving For Sea City

    Lin Qiao slightly tilted her head to look at Tong Tong, who was rubbing her head, and asked, "Is it fun?"


    Tong Tong was already used to Lin Qiao''s unpleasant dry voice. Hearing her question, he stopped, but his hands didn''t leave Lin Qiao''s bald head."


    "Yes." While speaking, Tong Tong glanced at Qiu Lili, who stood beside Lin Qiao. In fact, he wanted very much to touch Qiu Lili''s long and black twin-tails as well, but the latter wouldn''t let him.


    Liu Jun packed Tong Tong''s belongings and put the bag beside Lin Qiao, then raised her arms to take him over.


    "Let''s go," Lin Qiao bent over to put the bag into her space, then sent Liu Jun and Tong Tong in as well. After that, she turned around and walked out of the room with Xie Dong.


    The members of the zombie squad didn''t have much carry-on luggage. Tong Tong had relatively more of it, and most of it was stored in Lin Qiao''s space.


    After coming out of the room, Lin Qiao told the others to go downstairs without her. She let out one of Yang Jianhua''s vehicles for Lin Feng and the others to drive, then climbed up to the roof and gathered the five zombie leaders.


    "Hold this rope together." She found a hemp rope and made the five zombies hold it. Then, she brought them into her space together.


    At present, there was one extra small space next to the old small space, just as she had expected. This second small space was three times larger than the first one.


    The first space-powered man that Lin Qiao killed was only at level-three, so his space was merely as large as a small room. Unlike him, the bald robber''s space was rather large, about two-hundred-meters squared.


    After entering the space, Lin Qiao ordered zombie number one and zombie number two each too fetch a bucket of water and soak themselves. Now, she and the five zombie leaders were standing before the second small space.


    She pointed inside and said, "Get in, and stay inside. Don''t come out, and never get close to the lake. I''ve warned you. If you go to the lake and encounter a danger, don''t ask me for help."


    While speaking, she glanced at the lake.


    However, her warning turned out to be unnecessary. The five zombie leaders had already started moving toward the second small space. Right now, they were all gazing at the lake nervously. Grandpa even inched his way backward to hide behind the other zombies.


    The moment they came in, they had sensed the strong vibe from the lake, which was even scarier than Qiu Lili''s.


    Qiu Lili kept her vibe restrained, but Viney never tried to do the same.


    Feeling the strange vibes of the five zombie leaders, Viney reached a few vines out of the lake, dancing in the air. Seeing the vines, the five zombie leaders immediately darted into the second small space, hiding behind the door before sticking their heads out to look at the lake.


    Lin Qiao looked at the five zombies who acted like frightened puppies, wanting to laugh. "Alright, Viney¡­" she turned to say to Viney, "Just meet the new guys. Don''t scare them."


    Hearing her, Viney shrank back into the water, also restraining her vibe slightly. Only after that did the five zombie leaders calm down slightly.


    Lin Qiao then glanced at Liu Jun and saw that the latter had put Tong Tong on the bed and started to tidy the small space. After cleaning, she would probably go clean the strawberry field and the vegetable field.


    Lin Qiao turned and left the space, then leaped toward the direction that Lin Feng and the others were moving in; stepping on utility poles, buildings, trees, and other tall objects. Before long, she had caught up with the vehicle.


    As she landed on the car roof, two figures were already there. Qiu Lili was at the front while facing the wind, her long twin-tails fluttering in the air. Long Qingying was sitting behind with her legs crossed, her ponytail also dancing in the air.


    Lin Qiao landed between them. She looked around, then sat down and crossed her legs like Long Qingying.


    These three females stayed on the roof of an armed vehicle.


    Lin Qiao put her hat and sunglasses back on. Even though both Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili had restrained their vibes, the strong pressure that they had been giving out still kept the surrounding ordinary zombies away from the vehicle.


    The car avoided the abandoned vehicles and all other sorts of obstacles on the road, but was forced to stop after merely five miles.


    About twenty people barred the road. Looking at them, Lin Qiao wasn''t surprised at all.


    This group of was following behind those robbers. At the moment, the three captives were among them.


    Li Zheng was driving the car while Lei Yao was sitting in the front seat. After stopping the car, Lin Feng and Li Zheng got off, standing by the car.


    They looked at the group of people, but didn''t say anything.


    The strongest two among this group of people were at level-six. However, neither of them looked good. They were all sallow, seeming to be in a difficult situation.


    Except for the pretty girl whom Lin Qiao had met before, the three other girls among these people were average-looking. However, they were all young, and had good body shapes.


    The two level-six humans walked out of the crowd to stand about six-meters away from Lin Feng.


    "We mean you no harm, so please don''t worry. We just want to make a trade with you, and we want to know if you''re willing to do that," said one of them. These two should be the leaders of this group of people.


    "My name is Chen Yuting, and I''m the leader of the Fengting Hunting squad." One of the two men who looked around thirty years old introduced himself. Then, he pointed at the man beside him and continued, "This is the other leader of our squad, and his name is Lu Changfeng."


    Lin Feng looked at them expressionlessly and asked, "What do you want to trade?"


    "Weapons and food," said Chen Yuting,"We have many level-four zombie nuclei, some level-five zombie nuclei, and water."


    They didn''t plan to come to Hangzhou to hunt zombies. But unexpectedly, they encountered those robbers, who kidnapped their most important teammates. So, they followed them all the way to this area.


    Ninety percent of their weapons had been consumed on their way, and their food had been eaten up.


    "We don''t need water and zombie nuclei, and we don''t have many weapons," Lin Feng refused them calmly.


    Hearing him, Chen Yuting and Lu Changfeng paused slightly, then glanced at each other in surprise. After that, they turned back to look at Lin Feng. They thought that Lin Feng would be willing to make the trade with them because they had said that they had water.


    Water, food and weapons were the most needed supplies. Among them, water was the scarcest resource, because without it, people would die quickly.


    "You¡­ Don''t you want water?" A young man behind Lu Changfeng and Chen Yuting said abruptly, sounding a little anxious.

 353 Molis Power

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 354 She has Become Differen

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 291 I Can Do Anything You Wan

    Lin Feng looked at them blandly and said, "We do not lack water or zombie nuclei. So, please move away."


    "But¡­" The look on the young man''s face changed. He wanted to say something else, but before he did that, Chen Yuting reached out a hand to stop him. He stopped the young man from continuing, then looked at Lin Feng and said, "Alright, sorry to bother you."


    After saying that, he stood aside and slightly lowered his head as he said, "Make way for them."


    However, only Lu Changfeng moved. The others weren''t willing to do the same.


    Lu Changfeng looked at them and said, "Move!"


    "Captain Lu!" The group of people looked at their leaders, wishing to speak but stopping on second thought. Chen Yuting coldly looked at his teammates and said, "I order you to move away. What are you doing? Do you want their car to run over you?"


    Hearing that, those people slowly moved to the roadside.


    Being driven by the situation, hunting squads often needed to cooperate temporarily, or make trades outside the bases.


    After finding the three people who were captured by those robbers, Chen Yuting and his people found that their weapons and food weren''t enough. As they were trying to figure out a solution, they heard the noise of a car. The noise told them that another hunting squad was passing by this area. So, they risked rushing onto the road to stop the car, even though they might need to face a zombie crowd.


    Before they heard the noise of the car, there were many zombies in this area. But to their surprise, those zombies slowly moved away for some reason as the car got closer and closer.


    Lin Feng turned to glance at Lin Qiao who was on the car roof. Qiu Lili had disappeared before these people showed up, as she had sensed the scents of human beings long ago. So, at the moment, only Lin Qiao, who was wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses, and Long Qingying, who had her back to the engine cover, were sitting on the car roof.


    Lin Qiao only gave Lin Feng a glance, without saying anything. Her attitude made Lin Feng feel that she wouldn''t trade anything with these people. So, he turned and sat inside the car.


    Seeing that, Li Zheng followed Lin Feng into the car.


    Chen Yuting and his people looked at them, reluctantly waiting for them to drive away.


    As the car was about to drive past those people, a girl suddenly rushed out of the crowd, then ran up to the car and stopped it once again.


    "Lu Ting!" Watching the girl''s movement, Chen Yuting, Lu Changfeng, and their other teammates all shouted out loud, their expressions changing.


    Lu Ting was the girl who was kidnapped by those robbers. As she rushed over, Li Zheng slammed the brakes and stopped the car. Fortunately, the car wasn''t moving fast. Then, Li Zheng and Lin Feng got off the car for the second time, albeit impatiently this time.


    "What are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?"


    Lu Ting shook her head, then walked up to Lin Feng and raised her coquettish face, looking at him temptingly.


    "What can make you trade food and weapons with us? As long as you give me food, I can do anything you want¡­ even¡­ that thing¡­" Lu Ting''s expression didn''t change much when she finished her speech, but the look in her eyes was slightly awkward.


    However, she still said that, for food.


    Any man would understand her meaning. She was offering to trade food with her own body.This kind of a trade happened commonly in the post-apocalyptic world. It would happen both in or out of the bases.


    Lin Feng looked at her, then shook his head and said, "Sorry, my wife and child are in the car."


    Clearly, he refused her, and also tried to tell the others not to misguide the child.


    A look of embarrassment flashed across Lu Ting''s face. She never thought that her plan would actually fail. It had always worked. But soon, she managed her expression and wore a smile before saying, "I''m sorry! But, are you sure that you don''t want to make the trade with us? I can serve someone else."


    While speaking, she glanced at Li Zheng, then looked into the car. At last, she raised her head to look at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao had been sitting on the car roof with her upper body leaning forward, elbows resting on the knees, and fingers crossed under her chin. At this point, she was looking at the girl with interest.


    As Lin Qiao was leaning forward and her coat was baggy, Lu Ting couldn''t see her chest. Added with the fact that she was wearing a pair of sunglasses and a hat, and no hair could be seen around the edge of the hat, Lu Ting thought that she was a man.


    She did look like a man.


    Lu Ting was trying to seduce her while glancing at her.


    Lin Qiao looked at Lu Ting, wanting to laugh. The desperate look of hers that Lin Qiao had seen in those robbers'' place was gone, and instead, she was bravely using her beauty in the middle of the road.


    Lin Feng and Li Zheng glanced at Lu Ting for the last time, then turned back to look at Lin Qiao with a meaningful expression in their eyes. Lin Qiao glanced at Lu Ting, then at Chen Yuting and the others.


    She found that those people all seemed to be struggling. They didn''t seem to agree with Lu Ting''s behavior, especially Lu Changfeng. But at the same time, they seemed to want Lu Ting to succeed.


    They didn''t have any vehicles. Sea City Base was about three-hundred-miles away from this area, so to head back on foot, they would spend at least seven days if they sped up. During this time, they would encounter zombies and all sorts of dangers. They had water, but without food or weapons, they wouldn''t be able to make it back to Sea City.


    Therefore, to go back to the base alive, they had no choice but to wish that Lin Feng and his people were willing to trade food or weapons with them.


    Lin Feng''s car was excellently armed, so they guessed that the people in this car must have plenty of food and weapons.


    As no one responded to her, Lu Ting started to get anxious. She looked at Lin Feng eagerly, her eyes turning red as she begged helplessly, "I''m begging you¡­ Please, please help us! We can do whatever you want, as long as you give us food and weapons."


    As Lu Ting was prepared to play the ''women''s trick'', Lin Feng and Li Zheng helplessly raised their heads to glance at Lin Qiao They wouldn''t know what to do when women were being unreasonable.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao stood up abruptly. Then, Chen Yuting, Lu Changfeng, and the others finally realized that she was a woman.


    Her breasts were huge!


    She numbly leaped off the car and walked to the shocked Lu Ting. While gently raising the girl''s chin, she asked a question blandly with her hoarse voice.


    "Will you do anything I want?"


    Lu Ting immediately came back to her senses. The look on her face turned a little strange, but still, she nodded calmly while looking at Lin Qiao determinedly.


    "Yes! As long as you don''t kill me, I''ll do anything you want." Despite her words, her chin which was touched by Lin Qiao was already covered in goosebumps.


    She didn''t mind doing that thing with men¡­ but with women¡­?


    She wasn''t a lesbian. So, she couldn''t accept getting physical with women!

 355 She Has Confirmed

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 356 The Conference Hall in the Base

    Yang Chao was the only one who sat there with perfect composure, as if he had nothing to do with all this. It also seemed like he had already made some decisions, so he no longer cared what other people thought.


    Zou Shihui was neither handsome nor ugly. He wouldn''t impress one at first sight, but after talking a few more glances at him, one would find that he was rather pleasant to look at, and had a lingering charm.


    He also had a calm and settled vibe which belonged to mature men. His eyes contained a composed and peaceful look, yet seemed to be able to see through many things.


    He glanced at Yang Chao, then at Wu Chengyue.


    "We have all received the news about what happened last night. Now, my dear Chiefs, do you have something to say?" As the two powerful ones remained silent, Zou Shihui had no choice but to start a peaceful conversation.


    Wu Chengyue responded with a faint smile, "Zou, you do the talking. You have all the files."


    Zou Shihui looked at him, then took a glance at the others in the conference hall, especially casting a glance at Yang Chao. As the latter showed no change of expression, he nodded, picked up the files on the desk, and started talking, "Alright! First of all, the death of Deputy Chief Piao Gecang¡­ According to the information that we have collected, Piao Gecang was killed in revenge. The murderer is a zombie. Three days ago, Piao Gecang ordered his subordinates to kidnap a woman in our base. He raped and abused the victim, also encouraging his subordinates to gangrape her. The victim was a reserve Deputy Chief, Chen Yuting''s legal wife. Her name was Shen Yujen. When Chief Wu and his subordinates found Shen Yujen, she had fallen into unconsciousness, and been injected with zombie blood. By that time, she was already heavily infected. That, was the reason behind the revenge."


    Zou Shihui paused for a moment, then turned over the page and continued, "The second thing¡­ Last night at about nine o''clock, Piao Gecang was attacked by a zombie and infected by the virus. Afterward, he broke into a laboratory and started a quarrel with the leader of the second virus study group, Liang Dashu. After that, an explosion happened. For the record, Piao Gecang was killed by someone else before the explosion, and Liang Dashu was killed by the explosion. According to his assistant, Moli, who was on the scene, a stranger at level-six or seven showed up at that time and attempted to kill them. For that reason, Liang Dashu detonated the grenade.


    After saying that, he looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "Chief Wu, please bring them in."


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then glanced at Xiao Licheng who was behind him. The latter immediately stood up and walked out of the conference hall.


    The others quietly waited. Two minutes later, Xiao Licheng came back in with a group of people. Some of those people were dragged in, as each of them had lost a foot.


    Those were the group of criminals who were caught when Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao had found Shen Yujen yesterday morning.


    Xiao Licheng sat back into his seat, then said with a serious look, "These are the criminals who were assaulting Shen Yujen when we found her. They have confessed that they did what they did under Piao Gecang''s orders. When we arrived there, they had already injected the zombie virus into the victim''s body. Report completed."


    Wu Chengyue nodded at him as he finished talking.


    After Xiao Licheng finished his report, the others in the conference hall all stared at the group of criminals who were kneeling before their tables with sharp eyes.


    Zou Shihui blandly looked at them and asked, "Is that true? Do you have anything to say?"


    Those criminals had nothing to say. They all lowered their heads and stayed silent, seeming to be despairing. They probably knew that no matter what they said, the way it was going to end for them wouldn''t change.


    Zou Shihui waited for a short while. As they didn''t say a word, he continued, "This matter has been verified. The information given by Mr. Xiao has been confirmed to be true. The following six people, including Piao Gecang, Lin, Huang, and the other four, have violated the female protection regulations of our base, and injected the zombie virus into the victim, causing death to the victim, which is egregious. Now, according to the law of our base, the six of you will be sentenced to death. Execution: Firing squad. Time: Twelve noon today."


    "Any objections?" After reading the verdict, he glanced at the others and asked. The people stayed silent to show their agreement.


    Zou Shihui continued, "Good, the verdict is now effective. Take them out."


    "Yes, sir!" The soldiers who stood behind the group of criminals quickly stepped up and dragged out those rapists who were kneeling limply on the ground.


    Wu Chengyue was still wearing a faint smile, with his lip corners slightly turned up. That was his symbolic expression, so no one could tell what he was thinking at this moment.


    Unlike him, Yang Chao''s face darkened a little. He couldn''t think of a word to say now. He was planning to claim that the zombie which killed Piao Gecang was brought into this base by Hades Base base people, and then make Wu Chengyue take the blame. However, not only did Wu Chengyue have witnesses, but he had also caught those rapists. Also, he strictly blocked the passages of information and didn''t let Yang Chao hear anything about that.


    Yang Chao was completely unprepared!


    What Piao Gecang did had nothing to do with him, but Piao Gecang was his subordinate. He had failed to manage his subordinates properly, so now, he couldn''t say anything.


    But still, he asked one question, "I want to ask a question. Shen Yujen was found by Chief Wu at last, but why did she turn into a zombie and attack Piao Gecang after that?"


    Wu Chengyue put both elbows on the desk, his fingers crossed under his chin. He blandly glanced at Yang Chao, then responded with that smile, "Because we decided to respect the will of Chen Yuting, the victim''s husband. The remains of the victims have been handed to him. Is there a problem?"


    "Of course, there is!" said Yang Chao coldly, "If you cremated Shen Yujen''s body, she wouldn''t become a zombie and attack Piao Gecang in the base. Now, we don''t even know where she has been hiding. How many more people might she attack if this situation continues? Who will take responsibility for that?"


    Wu Chengyue grinned and said, "Who will take the responsibility? I''m going to give you an answer. Without a question, Piao Gecang will, because this was his fault. Also, the security of the base if a part of your duty. You failed to locate the target, and you''re asking who''s gonna take the responsibility? Yesterday at noontime, Chen Yuting had taken Shen Yujen''s body out of the base. She had nothing to do with the base anymore, as she was outside. The potential safety hazard had been removed. As for why she became a zombie that night and made her way in, isn''t that your problem? After all, the security system of the entire base is under your administration."


    Wu Chengyue''s words had one simple meaning¡ª''It''s your fault, all your fault. No matter how you try to explain, this is your fault! Since it''s your fault, what does it have to do with me?''


    "You¡­" Hearing that, Yang Chao choked on the words, and his face even turned bluish.

 292 I Have No Interes

    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile while looking at Lu Ting without saying anything. After four or five seconds, when Lu Ting was about to collapse under her gaze, she took her hand away and said, "Sadly, I have no interest in women, and I''m not a lesbian."


    Lu Ting sighed with relief, then asked, "Then what do you want us to do?"


    She could tell that Lin Qiao didn''t refuse her as resolutely as the two men did. Also, she noticed that the two men took a glance at Lin Qiao earlier on when making the decision.


    She was willing to do whatever Lin Qiao asked, as long as the latter gave food and weapon to her and her friends.


    Lin Qiao looked at Lu Ting, feeling that she was pretty perceptive. She turned to look at Chen Yuting and the others, then walked toward them.


    "If you really want to trade with us, I do have a job to offer you. I''m just not sure if you''re willing to take it." She said that to Chen Yuting and the others, meaning that she needed men, and not women.


    Chen Yuting and his people understood her meaning. "What job? We''re willing to do it, as long as we can," Chen Yuting quickly responded in surprise.


    "Em¡­ construction workers," said Lin Qiao.


    "Construction workers?" They were puzzled shortly upon hearing Lin Qiao''s answer, almost thinking that they had misheard her. However, Lu Changfeng soon figured something out. "May I ask what are you going to build?" he asked, "How long will it take? How much can we earn?"


    Hearing him, the others all nodded and agreed, "Yeah, you said construction workers¡­ What do you want to build? Houses?"


    "A fence wall," said Lin Qiao, "Barring accidents, it''ll take six to twelve months. Of course, I won''t force you to work. You will be paid with rice and flour daily. About the location, I can''t tell you that now, but I assure you it will be somewhere safe. What do you think?"


    People reacted differently after hearing her words.


    Chen Yuting and his people hadn''t thought that this kind of a good thing would happen to them. It was a fortune that Lin Qiao had offered them such a great job. By helping build a fence wall, they would be paid with rice and flour.


    Both rice and flour were very precious food now. In any base, only powerful people could get a slight amount of it.


    Li Zheng and Lin Feng glanced at each other, but didn''t say anything.


    They didn''t plan to hire these people, as they had no access to their background information. Besides, they needed to go to Sea City Base before returning to the Upper City District of Hang Zhou. If they hired strangers on their way, some unnecessary problems might occur.


    They didn''t think that Lin Qiao would offer them the job at this time.


    "Is that real? How can we believe you?" Lu Ting suddenly asked a question.


    Lin Qiao turned around and shrugged while saying, "Believe me or not, I don''t care. I''m not begging you now. You should be clear about your attitude. If you don''t come with us, we''ll keep looking for others. By the way, we''re heading to Sea City Base now. If you''re willing to work with us, I can send you back to your base for free."


    Having finished talking, Lin Qiao turned and walked to the car silently.


    "I''ll give you three minutes to think. After that, we won''t wait." While speaking, she hopped onto the car roof and then turned around, crossing her legs and sitting down.


    Lu Changfeng and Chen Yuting glanced at each other, then turned to look at the others.


    "What do you think? They''re not trustable, but we don''t have any better choice now," Lu Changfeng said to the others.


    "I¡­ I''ll go! We have no food or weapons now. We''ll be dead in just a couple of days, no matter how hard we try. Besides, this place is too far away from Sea City. We''ll either starve to death on our way back, or end up being eaten by zombies."


    "You''re right. I''ll go too. I''m willing to believe her!"


    "But¡­ What if she lied to us?"


    "They don''t look like robbers, but we can''t guarantee that they''re not. And¡­ that woman didn''t tell us about the work location. What if they bring us to a dangerous place, and we can''t get back?"


    "But, we have nothing that they want. Why would she lie to us?"


    "I don''t think she has a reason to lie to us. Probably, they''re really short-handed. She said that they''re going to build a fence wall. Are they planning to build a small base somewhere?"


    "Small base? These few people? I think we shouldn''t believe them!"


    "I¡­ I don''t care. I can do anything as long as I won''t starve to death¡­ I still need to take care of my mother! Wealth comes from danger, isn''t that right? How can we know if we''ll find treasures or not without taking any risk?"


    "That''s right! We all need food. We can earn food by ourselves, but the most important thing right now is that we need to go back to the base alive, isn''t it?"


    "Me too."


    "Me too."


    Most of the group of people thought that they had no choice but to risk believing Lin Qiao. Chen Yuting and Lu Changfeng glanced at each other, then made up their minds and nodded.


    They turned and took a few steps toward Lin Qiao, then looked at her and said, "We agree to work with you. As long as you help us to get back to Sea City Base safely, we''ll build your fence wall for free for a month."


    Lin Qiao clapped her hands, then nodded and said, "It''s great that you agreed! Let''s head to Sea City first. I''ll tell you about the next step there."


    While speaking, she waved a hand.


    Bang!


    A minibus-sized green-colored armored vehicle appeared and fell heavily to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.


    Seeing the vehicle which looked exactly the same as the one under Lin Qiao''s feet, Chen Yuting and the others fixed their eyes on it with shock. Later on, they turned to look at Lin Qiao with disbelief.


    "You can drive this car for now. Don''t forget to give it back to me after getting back to Sea City Base," Lin Qiao said to them blandly.


    "Re-really?" Chen Yuting looked at Lin Qiao in shock, who only gave him a faint smile.


    Li Zheng and Lin Feng turned to get into the car. Then, the car under Lin Qiao''s feet was started before being driven forward.


    As Lin Qiao''s car was driving away, Chen Yuting and the others immediately rushed toward the second car.


    "Hurry up, get into the car! We''ll talk later!"


    "This is real! Great!"


    They opened the car door and hopped in. Whether Lin Qiao was telling the truth or not, they would be able to return to their face safely with this car. In this case, the reliability of Lin Qiao''s words increased by fifty percent.


    The hunting squad was surprised to find out that the domineering woman who offered them the job was actually a space-powered one.


    In their eyes, space-powered people were the weakest.


    However, Lin Qiao looked very strong.

 357 Unknown People Have Crept In

    "Em¡­ If Shen Yujen was taken out of the base before she turned into a zombie, what happened last night had nothing to do with Chief Wu" Zou Shihui said, "As the victim''s husband, Chen Yuting had the right to bring her out instead of letting her stay in the base to hurt the others."


    Zou Shihui wasn''t trying to help Wu Chengyue. Instead, he was telling the truth. Wu Chengyue was on the right side, so Yang Chao''s question didn''t affect him.


    That was why Yang Chao''s words only embarrassed himself.


    After thinking for a moment, Yang Chao said with a grim look, "My security measures are fine. There must be someone who sneakily brought the zombie in and a zombie beast. Your people and some foreigners have been coming in and out of the base these days, so I have the right to suspect you."


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and said, "Chief Yang, you need to provide evidence when saying something like that. Or, you''re just smearing me."


    "I will find the evidence and capture that female zombie," Yang Chao snorted coldly.


    Zou Shihui glanced at the two of them. As Yang Chao had temporarily stopped talking, he said, "Now, we''ll talk the second thing. The reason why Piao Gecang went to the research institute after being bitten by the zombie is yet to be determined. However, he did come into conflict with Liang Dashu and Moli, who were both researchers. At last, an explosion happened in the laboratory. Now, one of the victims, Moli, will tell us about what happened back then."


    Wu Chengyue turned back to nod at Moli, and then the latter stood up and walked out. She walked to the empty space before the conference table, where a chair was placed.


    She sat on the chair, then straightened her waist and looked ahead as she started talking expressionlessly, "Last night, at twenty to ten, Doctor Liang and I were working in the underground laboratory. Piao Gecang suddenly rushed in. His face was pale, and he looked frenzied. Neither Doctor Liang nor I knew what had happened at that time, so we didn''t set up a defense against him. He seized an opportunity to hold me hostage and threaten Doctor Liang to give him the cure of the zombie virus. However, we haven''t developed any cure for the zombie virus, so we weren''t able to respond to Piao Gecang''s demand."


    She paused for a moment, then continued, "But, I grasped a chance to throw him away with my combat skill when he was getting emotional and paying less attention to me. That''s how I freed myself out of his control. At that very moment, a powerful metal-powered stranger showed up, quickly killing Piao Gecang, who was under the attack of the zombie virus. As he prepared to kill Doctor Liang and me, the doctor detonated the grenade which was carried with him to protect the important research data and me, then died in the explosion."


    Both Moli''s expression and tone of speaking was calm, but her eyes turned misty. However, she blinked hard and quickly stopped her tears.


    "That''s what happened last night before the explosion," she said.


    While reading the files in his hand, Zou Shihui asked her, "Do you know which level that metal-powered stranger is at?"


    "My spirit power is at the middle stage of level-five, so it''s ineffective on the ones at the middle stage of level-six and above. Last night, I tried to attack him, but then found that he made no response to my attack at all. Based on that fact, I roughly concluded that he''s at the top of level-six, or has already stepped into level-seven."


    Except for Wu Chengyue and the others who had already known about that, and Yang Chao who had been holding secrets, the others all had their expressions changed upon hearing Moli''s words, especially Zou Shihui.


    Zou Shihui paused shortly, then raised his head to look at Moli in the eyes and said, "Are you saying that person is at or nearly at level-seven?"


    That was a serious matter. Someone who was nearly as powerful as the three base leaders was hiding in their base, and had killed a researcher. Clearly, this person was here with no good intentions.


    What purpose did that person have? How did he enter the base?


    "Yes," Moli nodded and responded certainly. After hearing that, Zou Shihui turned to nod at Wu Chengyue with a grim look.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Moli and nodded at her, who quickly stood up from the chair, then walked back to her seat behind Wu Chengyue.


    Zou Shihui then looked at Yang Chao and Wu Chengyue as he said, So, that metal-powered man is responsible for the death of both the researcher, Liang Dashu, and Piao Gecang. Where is this metal-powered man now? What purpose does he have? What does he want to do in our base?"


    Wu Chengyue put his crossed fingers before his chin and said, "By far, no one knows what he is up to. We have to find him and ask him."


    "Since he''s a level-six or seven powerful being, he can easily enter the base if he wanted to. But now, he is hidden somewhere, and it''s difficult for us to find him. Now, the most important thing is to find that female zombie and that zombie beast, and the one who let them in!" said Yang Chao with a cold voice.


    With those words, he seemed to be trying to change the topic and divert people''s attention.


    "Zombie beast? Chief Yang, you''ve mentioned a zombie beast earlier too. What made you believe that there''s a zombie beast in the base?" Zou Shihui looked at Yang Chao and asked confusedly.


    "Carry it in," Yang Chao said to the Deputy Chief by his side.


    His Deputy Chief immediately stood up and uneasily glanced at Yang Chao, then turned and left.


    The people in the conference hall watched him leave. Not long after that, he came back in. A few people followed behind him, carrying an object which was covered in white cloth.


    The white cloth was heavily stained by blood. That object had the shape of the human body.


    The four people put the object on the ground, then one of them lifted the cloth.


    As people thought, they saw a bloody female corpse, with half a head and an arm missing.


    The people on the scene showed two different types of expressions when seeing the corpse. The ones who often left the base for missions stayed calmed and composed upon seeing that corpse, while those technicians who had spent five years under the base''s protection, and never went out to see corpses and zombies, had their faces paled the moment they saw the bloody corpse. They were both shocked and slightly frightened.


    Yang Chao pointed at that corpse and said, "You may not be able to recognize this victim, who has half a head and an arm missing. But I believe, many of you used to know her. She was my sister, Yang Yan. Last night, about nine o''clock, she suddenly disappeared for a few minutes. When she was found again, she had already become like this."


    Hearing Yang Chao''s words, people''s expressions changed once again, becoming a little weird this time. Some people were even silently happy about Yang Yan''s death.

 358 Professional Trouble Maker

    That woman was never a good person. She acted like a supercilious bully, all because she was a base leader''s little sister.


    She was known as a rude, unreasonable, and narrow-minded woman.


    She often took away the others'' merchandises in the markets without paying the owners anything in return, or paid with cheap stuff for valuable things.


    For anything that she had her eyes on, she would definitely find a way to get it. Usually, she would use only one method, which was violence. Thankfully, she wasn''t a man, or she would certainly hurt some female members in the base.


    Lu Tianyu was the woman whom Sea City Base people hated the most, and Yang Yan was the second most hated one.


    So now, many people were happy about her death. However, none of them showed their happiness in front of Yang Chao, only keeping that to themselves.


    Yang Chao had successfully distracted most of the people on the scene by showing them Yang Yan''s dead body. Zou Shihui, Wu Chengyue and a few others directly stood up from their seats and walked toward the corpse.


    "The wound on her head is clearly caused by beasts, and her arm was torn off. What killed her might well be a large zombie beast," Zou Shihui walked to the corpse and squatted to check the wounds, then gave a conclusion.


    Wu Chengyue stood behind him, his hands rested in his pockets. "That is correct," he nodded in agreement.


    Zou Shihui stood up, then turned around to ask Yang Chao, "Have you seen the zombie beast which did this?"


    Yang Chao shook his head with a dark face and said, "She had already become like this when I got there. Her bodyguards all said that they saw nothing,"


    Zou Shihui made an eye-contact with Wu Chengyue, then said, "Then where did the zombie beast come from?"


    "Hehe, I don''t know where the zombie beast came from, but I do know how the level-seven superpowered man got in." A hoarse voice was suddenly heard.


    The people turned to the source of the voice and saw a woman wearing a hat standing behind Wu Chengyue''s chair. No one knew when she showed up.


    Seeing her, everybody stood up.


    She wasn''t an administrator of the base, neither was a high-positioned being. However, she showed up right in their conference hall. If they were talking about something important, she would have heard it all.


    "Who are you!"


    "You!"


    "Who are you?"


    A few voices were heard simultaneously.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao wasn''t wearing her sunglasses. However, her eyes were no longer purely black like the eyes of zombies, but looked pale white with brown pupils. Those eyes didn''t make her look like a healthy human being, but definitely not made her look like a zombie.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with surprise. He was the one who said ''You!''. The two who asked who she was were Yang Chao and Zou Shihui.


    Lin Qiao walked up from behind the chairs, then introduced herself, "My last name is Lu. I came here with those Hades Base people. You don''t know about that level-seven metal-powered man, but I do. He''s a guest of our Chief Yang. But, I don''t know why Chief Yang has been acting like he knows nothing."


    While speaking, she walked toward Yang Chao.


    "What are you talking about? Who are you? Is this place somewhere that you can come in without permission? Get out! Now!" Yang Chao was surprised to hear Lin Qiao''s words as he growled at her in panic.


    However, Wu Chengyue said to him in a bland tone, "Why are you nervous? Let me introduce her to you. This is Miss. Lu, my partner from Hades Base. She is also a founder of the new Hades Base."


    After saying that, he turned around and spent a moment carefully staring at Lin Qiao''s face, his eyes showing a trace of confusion.


    But soon, he was given a headache.


    ''The female zombie is here to cause trouble! I think she''s specifically here to cause troubles,'' he thought.


    The leaders and senior administrators of Sea City had all learned that those Hades Base people were going to build a new base. However, they had rarely seen Lin Qiao, because she hardly ever showed her face. Unlike her, Lin Family people appeared on public occasions quite often.


    "I don''t care who she is. Irrelevant people should get out right now," said Yang Chao coldly and fiercely.


    Lin Qiao smiled calmly, "Why am I irrelevant? Didn''t you hear what I said? I''m a whistleblower now. I''m reporting you to the other leaders, because you''ve ganged up with a robber from the outside, and prepared to lead your base into a bloodbath."


    "Shut up! I might cut off your tongue if you keep talking nonsense!" Yang Chao immediately growled at her and raised a hand. If Lin Qiao said one more word, he would truly make a move to cut off her tongue.


    "Wait a minute. Do you have evidence?" Zou Shihui hurriedly stepped forward to stop Yang Chao, then turned and asked Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I don''t have evidence. But, you can ask him!" After saying that, she abruptly reached out a hand to point at a soldier in an army suit who was standing by the door.


    All the others turned to where she was pointing at.


    Lin Qiao had sensed that man''s scent long ago. His disguise was useless to her.


    Normally, a man who had crept into a place that he wasn''t allowed in would be afraid of being found out. So, when he was pointed out in public, running away would be his first reaction.


    However, this soldier didn''t run.


    His expression froze for a moment when Lin Qiao pointed at her, but soon turned back normal. With a faint smile, he took off his hat.


    "Oops, you found me. I''m curious though. You had never seen me, so how did you recognize me? That woman has seen me, but even she didn''t recognize me." Tang He took off his hat and showed his face. Holding the hat, he walked into the conference hall as he looked at Lin Qiao and said with curiosity. After saying that, he also pointed at Moli who was beside Wu Chengyue.


    "You! How dare you show up here!" Moli couldn''t maintain the cold expression on her face at the sight of Tang He. She pointed at him and burst into roars, her teeth clenched tightly.


    Tang He only chuckled and responded, "Why wouldn''t I dare to show up here? I am right here, so what can you do to me?"


    As Tang He showed up, the look on Yang Chao''s face changed. He pointed at Tang He and said, "Are you the unknown level-seven superpowered man? Why did you come to our base? What is your purpose?"


    Clearly, he said that to distance himself from Tang He. If Tang He told the others that they knew each other, he would have no choice but to pretend not to know him and claim that the other was lying.


    However, Tang He only gave him a meaningful glance and said, "I came here because I want to know if your secret experiment has succeeded or not."


    His words made Yang Chao''s expression change drastically/


    Before Yang Chao said anything, Wu Chengyue, who was standing on the other side, asked with composure, "Experiment? Do you mean the experiment about injecting a small amount of diluted virus into the bodies of superpowered people to create a new, parasitic type of zombie?"


    What Wu Chengyue said gave Yang Chao a very bad feeling!


    Suddenly, a coldness appeared in his eyes as he gave a vicious shout, "Move!"

 293 Bad Child Mengmeng

    After a couple of hours of driving, the two cars stopped by a gas station.


    Lin Feng and Lin Qiao stood on the clearing nearby and spread a map. Lin Feng pointed at one spot on the map and said to her, "We should be able to arrive at this town before dark. We''ll stay there for the night, then leave tomorrow morning. Tomorrow noon, we should be arriving at Sea City."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Then, we''ll find a place in this area to stay over the night."


    On the other side, Li Zheng and the others found some stones and built a stove with them. After that, they found some dry wood, also chopping all the wooden tables and chairs in the gas station into long pieces.


    Chen Yuting and his squad weren''t familiar with Li Zheng and his people yet, so they didn''t feel appropriate to interrupt them. Instead, they guarded aside awkwardly to prevent any possible sudden zombie attacks.


    "Which one of you have fire power? Come here and help us build a fire," Li Zheng shouted at them.


    "Xu, go help them," Chen Yuting instantly sent over one of his teammates.


    Except for the injured two who were still in a coma, there were twenty-one people in his squad. The vehicle that Lin Qiao lent them wasn''t large, but they could thankfully all squeeze into it. If not, a few of them would need to sit on the car roof.


    Lin Qiao spent a while watching Li Zheng and the others build a fire to prepare the food, then turned to walk toward the hill behind the gas station. This place was rather remote. Apart from the gas station and a convenience store, the staff dormitory of the gas station should be nearby.


    The area was surrounded by a series of hills, and on the hill behind the gas station was a small patch of woods.


    Lin Qiao headed toward the woods, and after stepping in, she looked around and soon found a white figure standing on top of a tree. Seeing Lin Qiao walk over, Qiu Lili pouted and said to her unhappily, "I want to stay inside the space. There''s so much dust out here!"


    No tall buildings existed on their way, so Qiu Lili had been leaping through treetops. However, she had still breathed in quite some dust.


    Lin Qiao walked to a rock and hopped onto it.


    "Come over here then," she said.


    Qiu Lili airily landed on the tock, then reached out her hands toward Lin Qiao. The latter held her hands and brought her into the space.


    Seeing the two of them, Liu Jun asked with surprise, "Why are you in?"


    Qiu Lili ran to her own couch and sat on it, then lazily lied down.


    "Ah¡­ it''s too dusty on the road. She doesn''t like it, so she asked me to bring her in," said Lin Qiao.


    "Where are we now?" Liu Jun asked.


    "We just entered Fuyang City. Right now, we''re resting in a gas station. We''ll stay here for two hours and continue driving in the afternoon. In the evening, we should be arriving at a small town in Yuhang District. We''ll stay there for the night, and we''ll enter Jiaxing City tomorrow morning," Lin Qiao said.


    "I see," Liu Jun nodded and responded.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Mengmeng was catching birds on the other side of the woods. Suddenly, she felt that Qiu Lili''s vibe had disappeared. She paused briefly, then turned back to look at where Qiu Lili''s vibe disappeared, but only managed to grasp a trace of her scent.


    Then, she flashed toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao was returning to the gas station. All of a sudden, she sensed a strong gust of wind blowing at her face. She calmly moved aside, then turned to look at Mengmeng with confusion, who was lying face down on the rock that she stood on before.


    "What?"


    "Roar!"


    ''Where''s Lili? Where''s Lili?''


    Mengmeng lied on the rock and bared her teeth to roar at Lin Qiao. The latter looked at her and joked, "I ate Lili."


    After spending a few days with Mengmeng, Lin Qiao felt that she was really like a naughty child. She was odd-tempered, willful at times, and she loved to play.


    She always stayed around Qiu Lili. She feared the latter, but also seemed to like her very much.


    If Tong Tong and Xiaolu were like her little toys, Qiu Lili could be described as her big toy. Also, Qiu Lili was like a friend that she had admitted.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t tell why Mengmeng suddenly lost her temper, but she still wanted to joke with her.


    "Roar!"


    ''You lie!''


    Mengmeng screamed, swiftly moving her limbs and pouncing on Lin Qiao.


    "You knew I lie, so why''re you nervous?" Lin Qiao leaped backward and flipped in the air before hopping onto a tree, then speaking lazily.


    "Roar!"


    ''I don''t care! Let Lili out!''


    Mengmeng ignored her words and just kept roaring at her while charging at her again.


    "I didn''t kidnap her," said Lin Qiao helplessly, "She wanted to go in." While speaking, she leaped off the tree.


    But before Lin Qiao landed, Mengmeng, who had leaped up, suddenly turned her body in the air and stepped on a tree nearby, lunging at the former.


    Lin Qiao was playing with her, and not seriously dodging her attack. As a result, she was grasped by Mengmeng from the back.


    Mengmeng jumped onto her back, her limbs wrapped tightly around her neck and waist, seeming to be desperate.


    "Roarrrr!"


    ''I don''t care! Let Lili out!''


    Lin Qiao steadied herself, then speechlessly turned to look at Mengmeng while saying, "What are you doing? Lili doesn''t like staying outside. It''s all dusty on the way. She didn''t want to stay outside. What can I do to her? Get down."


    "Roar! Roar!"


    ''No! No!''


    Mengmeng hung herself on Lin Qiao''s back, then violently shook the latter''s head.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly raised her head to stop Mengmeng, "Stop! Stop this! Get down!"


    However, Mengmeng shook her head more and more quickly. Lin Qiao tried to drag her down, but she refused, only holding Lin Qiao''s head with her claws.


    Lin Qiao found this both funny and annoying. She dragged Mengmegn''s arms and tried harder to get her down.


    "Scratching me won''t help. Lili doesn''t want to come out. What do I have to do with it?"


    Still, Mengmeng refused to let her go. As they pulled and dragged each other, Lin Qiao''s hat fell off, exposing her bald head.


    Clap! Clap! Clap!


    Mengmeng spread her fingers to slap Lin Qiao''s bald head and express her discontentment.


    As she refused to get down, Lin Qiao threatened her, "If you continue doing this, I''ll ask Lili to banish you! Will you listen to me or not!"


    Her threat immediately pissed Mengmeng off. She abruptly opened her mouth wide to bite Lin Qiao''s bald head.


    "Ah! Damn! You little devil! Your saliva is on my head!" Lin Qiao exploded, bursting in screams.


    She didn''t sense any pain from Mengmeng''s bite, but the sticky feeling on her head was pretty clear!


    She couldn''t stay calm anymore. Instead, she put forth her strength through her arm, dragged Mengmeng off, and threw her away.


    "Roar!" Mengmeng, who was violently dragged down by Lin Qiao, landed on the ground like a nimble cat. After that, she instantly bared her teeth toward the other.


    Lin Qiao was speechless.


    ''Damn! I really can''t pamper this naughty child!''

 359 Start The War Openly

    Yang Chao gave a shout and suddenly swung an arm toward Wu Chengyue to launch a superpower attack. Raging gusts of wind suddenly broke the windows and blew in, roaring across the entire conference hall and rolling back out.


    The wind that Yang Chao created was at least force ten, like a typhoon passing over. Within a blink, all the tables, chairs, and other furnishings in the hall were raised by the wind, flying in the air.


    The people weren''t able to steady themselves under this violent wind, and all the commoners began staggering.


    Wu Chengyue had prepared himself for this after saying what he said, so he reacted swiftly. Once Yang Chao made a move, he raised an arm and created a dazzling line in midair.


    Following the rumbling thunder, lightning bolts descended from the sky. It flashed into the conference hall through the broken windows and gathered toward Yang Chao.


    On the other side of the hall, Zou Shihui remained standing steadily. As he waved a hand, the cement on the wall fell into pieces and gathered toward his people, soon forming into a cement wall that shielded the people behind him against the wind.


    "Yang Chao, you''ve really been colluding with outsiders! Are you planning to occupy the base for yourself?" His face darkened slightly as he growled at Yang Chao.


    Yang Chao stepped aside to dodge Wu Chengyue''s lightning bolts. After that, he stood straight, his long, black army coat fluttering in the wind.


    He sneered and said, "Since you have all known, I don''t need to pretend anymore now. That was exhausting. I am the owner of this base, and you¡­ should all die!"


    After saying that, he pointed at Wu Chengyue and continued, "Wu Chengyue, I have had enough of you. Today, you can either get out of the base with your people or die here! Come out"


    As Yang Chao abruptly gave an order, a small part of the people behind him had their expressions changed. Their faces turned cold and twisted and their eyes popped, mouth widening and teeth bared.


    Some of the others calmly followed behind Yang Chao, and a few drew back to a corner with confusion and fright, glancing at Yang Chao and Wu Chengyue with puzzles in their eyes.


    Wu Chengyue said to Yang Chao blandly, "Yang Chao, we built the base together. It doesn''t belong to you alone. So, we won''t let you do this."


    The wind was still blowing in the conference hall. The other superpowered people shielded the commoners and guided them to the corners of walls to take shelter from the wind. Soon, only Wu Chengyue, Yang Chao, Tang He, Zou Shihui and a few other powerful ones were left in the middle of the hall.


    Xiao Yunlong, Yan Fangyu, and the other vice-leaders each took a few steps backward, standing behind their Chiefs.


    The people who sat in this conference hall had all made major contributions to the construction of this base. None of them was willing to give the base which was built up with their efforts to a man, even though he was a level-seven powerful being.


    "Yang Chao, the things that you''ve been doing behind our back are no good for the base. On the contrary, you are bringing harm to everyone else. You think injecting the diluted virus can lead to rapid growth of strength? Then, you should also know that the hosts will gradually lose their humanity!" Xiao Yunlong stood behind Wu Chengyue and pointed at Yang Chao as he yelled at him.


    Yang Chao looked at the others grimly. He had just found out that Wu Chengyue had already known about his secret experiment.


    "Was it you who kidnapped my researchers?" He waved a hand to calm the wind in the hall, then stared at Wu Chengyue and asked.


    "Yang Chao, did you get our permission to run that experiment? No wonder more and more members of this base went missing in the past few months. How dare you run experiments on the people in the base? Lunatic!" With a sullen look, Zou Shihui gazed at Yang Chao in the eyes while questioning him.


    Yang Chao gave a careless grin and responded, "You don''t understand. If my experiment succeeds, we''ll be having a powerful army, won''t we? By then, our base will expand into the largest base in this country, and the other bases will pay tribute to us with food and supplies. Won''t that be great?"


    With a sarcastic smile, Wu Chengyue said, "You have a large ambition, but too many unnecessary thoughts. Your body is healthy, but your brain isn''t."


    "Hehe," Yan Fangyu, who stood aside, was amused by Wu Chengyue''s words. She couldn''t help but cover her mouth and chuckle.


    "Be serious, there''s a fight!" The elderly man with a pair of glasses abruptly turned to say to her.


    "Eh-hem," Yan Fangyu immediately erased the smile on her face and kept telling herself not to burst into undue laughter, and to stay serious, serious!


    Hearing Wu Chengyue''s words, Yang Chao''s face darkened. With a cold voice, he said, "Then let''s see if my thoughts are unnecessary or not."


    While speaking, he swung his arm again and brought a series of tornadoes into the hall through the windows. The window frames were immediately rolled away, and even the walls were broken. Soon, the windows were all crushed by the spinning winds, creating large holes on the walls.


    At that point, Tang He quickly and sneakily controlled all the metal objects which were flying in the air. He melted those metal objects and turned them into a great number of sharp metal pieces, sending them flying toward Zou Shihui fleetingly.


    Seeing those sharp metal pieces flying at them, Zou Shihui''s people all remained standing still with composure. The cement wall quickly moved to before them and shielded them from those falling metal pieces.


    At that time, the people around the building had all stopped walking with astonishment, then raised their heads to look at the lightning bolts and hear that roaring wind on top of the administration building.


    "Eh? It''s the conference hall up there, right? What''s going on? Wind and lightning? Are Chief Wu and Chief Yang fighting?" The people who didn''t know what was happening pointed at the top floor and asked each other with confusion and curiosity.


    "This morning, many senior base administrators were summoned for a meeting. What''s happening now?"


    "Last night, they searched through the entire base. What now?"


    The people around the building began talking, and the ones from further places started gathering toward this area.


    "Look at the wind and lightning bolts. It must be our two Chiefs fighting up there."


    "It has finally started. They''ve put up with each other for long."


    "This morning, I felt that something huge was going to happen. It turns out that our Chiefs are starting a war!"


    Some people who had heard a little about it earlier whispered to each other.


    After initiating the trouble, Lin Qiao took advantage of the chaos and left this administration building. Now, she was watching the battle from the top of a smaller building which was in front of that administration building, with her arms crossed before her chest.


    Only after hearing what Wu Chengyue said did she figure out why she had been sensing a strange vibe from some of those people behind Yang Chao. Also, the scents of those people didn''t seem to be right.


    It turned out that those people were injected with the diluted zombie virus, and had been infected. That kind of infections was minor, a little similar to mutation. It was different from the infection which would happen after a healthy human being was bitten by a zombie, and those people were no longer the same as healthy human beings.


    Lin Qiao felt strange and curious just now, and now she understood why. Those people''s twisted faces did look a little like those zombies out there.


    After spending a moment sensing the intense fight which was happening in the building, Lin Qiao turned and sneakily headed toward Lin Wenwen''s place.


    ''Hah, running after stirring up a trouble¡­ That felt nice!''

 294 Come At Nigh

    Lin Qiao wiped her head with her hand and found that it was as wet as she had thought. With a dark face, she said to Mengmeng, "Biting me will change nothing. Lili won''t come out for now. Can''t you just follow me? You can go play with her when she''s out! Damn! Behave yourself, or I''ll tell Lili to beat you!"


    While speaking, she swung her hand and picked up her hat before putting it on and then turning to walk out of the woods.


    Mengmeng angrily glared at her, but didn''t dare to attack again. She was really worried that Lin Qiao would ask Lili to banish her.


    "Ah!" Mengmeng, who had no way to channel her anger, turned around and raised both arms to scratch the shank-thick tree, then violently slapped it with both hands.


    The tree was rustled by her, and many leaves fell off.


    Hearing the noise, Lin Qiao, who was walking out of the woods, gave a helpless smile, then continued walking toward the gas station.


    ¡­


    Li Zheng and the others made some lean pork congee in a large, bucket-shaped iron pot. As Lin Qiao came back, Lin Hao handed her a large bowl of congee.


    "It''s Tong Tong''s lunch," he said.


    Lin Qiao took it over and nodded, then turned to look at the hunting squad. Each of their members was now holding a bowl of congee, squatting or sitting in a corner. They gulped impatiently, seemingly wanting to pour all of the hot congee into their mouths.


    Lin Qiao carried Tong Tong''s lunch and flashed into her space, then walked to Liu Jun.


    "Here''s Tong Tong''s food."


    Liu Jun took over the bowl, then said to Tong Tong, who was playing with Viney by the lake, "Tong Tong, come here for lunch."


    Tong Tong was squatting by the lake, playing with Viney''s two vines. Hearing Liu Jun''s voice, he didn''t stand up right away, but continued talking to Viney.


    "Viney, I''m going to have lunch. Do you want some?"


    Viney put a vine on his hand and said, ''Viney has had lunch¡­ Tong Tong, you go and eat¡­"


    Viney had eaten a few human beings this morning. She had absorbed the energies of those robbers, and had been waiting for Lin Qiao to come in so her body could be fixed further. However, Lin Qiao didn''t seem to have time for that now, so Viney stored the energy.


    "Alright," Tong Tong nodded and stood up, then turned and said, "I''ll go have lunch then."


    Lin Qiao and Liu Jun watched Tong Tong walk back from the lakeside. They weren''t worried that he might fall into the water, because Viney lived there, and she wouldn''t let anything happen to him.


    Lin Qiao walked to the lakeside and looked at Viney as she asked, "Viney, how much energy have you absorbed by now?"


    Viney coiled around Lin Qiao''s hand and responded, ''Lots of it¡­ One of those people had plenty of energy¡­''


    Lin Qiao knew that she was talking about Er who happened to have green power. With curiosity, she said, "Eh? That man also had vines, like you."


    Hearing her, Viney quickly wagged her vines and replied with disagreement, ''Not the same, not the same¡­ His vines were red¡­''


    Lin Qiao looked at her with a smile, saying, "It''s just different color, calm down!"


    ''Mama, get down here,'' said Viney, ''I can give you another treatment¡­ Your hair might grow out¡­''


    Lin Qiao paused briefly, then looked at her and asked unsurely, "Can you do that? Do you have enough energy?"


    ''Yes, yes!'' Viney said excitedly.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "Alright then, but I can''t do it now. I''ll come at night. Later on, I need to go out and travel with them. I''ll come back after we have found a place to stay for the night."


    ''Alright!'' Viney responded.


    Lin Qiao turned back and walked to Qiu Lili and the others, then found a teapot on a table. After that, she went back to the lakeside to fill it with water. Next, she turned and walked toward the two small spaces.


    While walking toward the second small space, she saw the few zombies sticking their heads out of the entrance. They sensed that Lin Qiao was getting close, so they found some courage to stick out their heads and look outside.


    Before that, they were curling inside the small space without daring to move.


    While blowing the hot congee for Tong Tong, Liu Jun asked Qiu Lili, "When did she get that extra small space?"


    "I don''t know," Qiu Lili was lying on the couch, playing with her hair. Hearing Liu Jun''s question, she turned to glance at Lin Qiao.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao walked to the entrance of the second small space and saw the group of frightened zombies, so she asked them confusedly, "Are you really so afraid of her?"


    The group of zombies promptly responded with roars.


    ''Yes!''


    ''Very!''


    ''She''s terrifying!''


    Lin Qiao stood by the entrance, holding the teapot. "Take out your glasses. Don''t you want some water?"


    Hearing that, the five zombie leaders immediately took out their glasses.


    By now, they each had a bag, which was given by Lin Qiao for storing their glasses and other stuff.


    Lin Qiao filled their glasses, then left with the teapot. While walking past the first small space, she turned and looked inside. As she expected, the two level-four zombies were soaking in the water.


    These two zombies were allowed by Lin Qiao and Viney to fetch water from the lake. Every time, they would wait until the water in their bucket completely ran out of energy before slowly dragging their buckets to the lake to fetch fresh water.


    One time, because they moved too slowly, Viney directly reached up a few vines and dragged their buckets down to the lake before filling them up and then sending them back.


    Since then, they would always fetch water swiftly.


    Lin Qiao carried the teapot and passed by the first small space, walking to the couch to sit down and put the teapot on the table.


    "Your two underlings are almost ready for treatment. Tonight, send them out to find energy nuclei," she said.


    Qiu Lili glanced at the two zombies, then nodded.


    "I haven''t asked you this yet," Lin Qiao continued curiously, "Were those two related to you before death?"


    Qiu Lili shook her head and said, "Not at first. I met them a few years ago, not long after the apocalypse. Back then, they were still alive. At one time, I tried to get close to some humans, but they kicked me out. Those people were all so afraid of me. I did nothing, but they attacked me. Only those two didn''t reject me. They even tried to persuade the others to accept me."


    Lin Qiao glanced at the two zombies with surprise, then turned back to continue listening to Qiu Lili.


    Qiu Lili carried on, "After that, I sneakily followed behind them. Days later, the two of them were pushed out by the others to hold off some zombies. They were bitten by zombies, and I didn''t manage to save them. So, after they turned into zombies, I kept them."


    Liu Jun and Lin Qiao both looked at Qiu Lili. No wonder she brought those two zombies everywhere.


    Qiu Lili turned around and lay on the couch on her stomach, looking at the first small space and continued, "I wish Viney can restore some of their memories."


    Lin Qiao glanced in that direction, then turned back to Qiu Lili. She understood that the latter had affection for those two zombies as they had been following her for years, even though they were just two memory-less zombies.

 360 Protect Yourself

    In fact, the reason why Lin Qiao went to the administration building so early in the morning to start a trouble was that Tang He, who stayed around Lin Wenwen''s place for a whole night, had left in the morning.


    Not long after Lin Qiao killed Yang Yan and returned to that residential area last night, she felt that Tang He had returned. She kept an eye on him for the entire night, but he made no move at all. So, in the morning, Lin Qiao followed him to the conference hall to watch the show.


    In a couple of minutes, Lin Qiao returned to the residential area in Region D and walked to Lin Wenwen''s door, then showed her face.


    Wei Jingchen and the other guard said no words when they saw her, but turned and politely opened the door for her.


    Before the door was opened, Lin Qiao sniffed at the air and said, "Eh? When did the little one come?"


    "Do you mean Ling Ling? She just arrived," Wei Jingchen answered the question while opening the door.


    Once Lin Qiao walked in, a tiny person who was carrying a fluffy gray ball of fur rushed at her.


    The people who gathered before the window turned to her. Seeing Lin Qiao, one of them asked, "Eh? You''re back so soon. Didn''t they start a fight over there just now?"


    Lin Qiao rubbed the little one''s head while walking toward a couch and saying, "Yeah, they did. I''m worrying that some people might take advantage of the chaos to come here and mess with you, so I came back. As for the situation over there, I think Yang Chao will lose. He can''t defeat Wu Chengyue. After all, Wu Chengyue has already set a trap. Now, he''s just waiting for Yang Chao to jump in."


    She paused for a moment, then looked around and pointed at the little one who had followed her to the couch, "Who brought this kid here?"


    Lin Wenwen walked over, looked at her and said, "Ah, Captain Huang Ming and his people escorted her here, then left."


    Lin Qiao looked at the little girl with confusion while murmuring to herself, "Why did he send this child here? Is nowhere safe but here?"


    At that moment, a few explosive sounds were heard from where Yuan Tianxing and the others were looking at, then that area became quite noisy.


    "It seems that they''re fighting seriously. It''s quite intense!" Yuan Tianxing said while looking at that area. After that, he turned back to Lin Qiao and said to her, "What happened when you were there?"


    Lin Qiao looked at the little one and answered his question without raising her head, "Ah, they were arguing. I was getting impatient, so I added a few more sparks to the fight. Otherwise, they might have kept wrangling forever before starting the war."


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her, feeling a little speechless. "You weren''t there to watch the show. You were there to cause trouble, right?"


    "Of course!" said Lin Qiao blandly, "If I''m able to defeat Yang Chao now, I will not need to wait for Wu Chengyue to do it."


    Lin Wenwen stepped back to the window side and looked outside. A short while later, she glanced back at Lin Qiao. There was a strange glow in her eyes, and the smile on her face grew much bigger.


    Lin Qiao seemed to have sensed something. She turned to glance at Lin Wenwen and say to her, "Does their war make you happy? You look very happy."


    Lin Wenwen suddenly had an idea. "How do you know that I''m happy?" She asked a question while knowing the answer.


    Lin Qiao turned around, then took out her clipboard and handed it to Wu Yueling along with a pen. Then, while teaching the little one to draw, she answered Lin Wenwen''s question, "Your expression sold you out."


    Lin Wenwen laughed, "Alright, I didn''t think that you know me so well.


    Long Qingying, who stood aside, glanced at Lin Wenwen confusedly. However, her attention was soon attracted by the noises caused by the fight in the distance.


    Du Yuanxing excitedly gazed at that area and said, "I heard that another Chief in this base, whose last name is Zou, is actually on Wu Chengyue''s side. So, Yang Chao is fighting both of them now. What secret weapon does he have? He must have one, or he wouldn''t be stupid enough to challenge two same-level powerful beings at one time, right?"


    "His secret weapon is a level-seven partner of his," said Lin Qiao, "Now, it''s two-vs-two."


    Du Yuanxing turned around to look at her and asked with confusion, "Eh? Where is that one from?"


    Lin Qiao said, "He made his way in long ago. Also, that level-seven man has been watching you all the time these couple of days. You just didn''t know."


    Hearing that, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Wenwen and the others were all shocked, quickly making eye contact with each other.


    A level-seven powerful man had actually been watching them. It seemed that Lu Tianyi and Yan Fangyu weren''t exaggerating at all.


    Du Yuanxing asked with surprise, "Why was he watching us? Was he trying to find an opportunity to kidnap Wenwen? He could have directly taken action, because we wouldn''t have been able to resist at all."


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Lin Wenwen, then said, "His target is Lin Wenwen indeed. But, I guess he still has other thoughts, which is why he didn''t take action."


    She felt that robber didn''t completely believe Yang Chao''s words, and suspected that he was probably using the latter. She wondered if that crazy Yang Chao knew about that.


    Yuan Tianxing and the others looked at Lin Wenwen silently.


    Lin Wenwen''s smile didn''t fade as she responded, "It seems that I''m really attractive. Is there a way to change that?"


    Lin Qiao gave her a glance, then said without thinking, "Yeah. Cut your hair, the shorter the better. If you change your appearance, you''ll be able to reduce the probability of many crimes."


    Lin Wenwen''s expression froze for a moment. After that, she frowned slightly and stayed silent for a few seconds. Then, she said something that surprised the others, "If that''s true, I''ll do it. What do you think?"


    Lin Qiao turned to look at her in shock, saying, "Are you willing to do that?"


    She clearly remembered how much Lin Wenwen loved her long and straight hair. Before, Lin Qiao always felt that Lin Wenwen''s long hair could cause many inconveniences, so she had suggested her to cut her hair many times. However, Lin Wenwen never accepted her suggestion, even losing her temper because of that.


    Now, Lin Wenwen actually said something like that. ''She isn''t really going to cut her hair because what I said, is she?'' thought Lin Qiao.


    Long Qingying walked over and said to Lin Wenwen, "In fact, whether you cut your hair isn''t enough. You should learn to protect yourself. Before, you were under Chief''s protection, but now, you need to protect yourself."


    Lin Wenwen turned to Lin Qiao with a complicated look in her eyes.


    Lin Qiao didn''t look at her, but at the little one. "Qingying is right," she said. "After learning how to protect yourself, you need to learn how to protect the others, your family, friends. Don''t you feel that you''ve been protected by your family and friends the whole time? Have you ever thought that if they suddenly lost the abilities to protect you one day, who would you depend on?"


    She remembered these words. She had said them to Lin Wenwen before. However, Lin Wenwen refused to listen to her back then. She liked to rely on others; she even needed company every time she went out. In fact, she never went out alone.


    At that time, Lin Qiao believed that she was capable enough to protect her family and friends, so she let Lin Wenwen do whatever she wanted. However, the apocalypse suddenly happened, and the world became chaotic and despairing. Only the people who managed to adapt to the new world, who had powers, could survive till last.


    The post-apocalyptic world was truly dangerous for the people who weren''t able to protect themselves.


    Lin Wenwen stood by the window side, staring at Lin Qiao without saying anything. In a couple of seconds, she suddenly turned and walked into the bedroom, then closed the door.

 361 Thats All You Can Do

    The people who were left outside glanced at each other. Lin Qiao raised her head confusedly, then looked at the others and said, "Eh, did I say something wrong?"


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and sighed, "No, you''re right. I guess she just can''t accept what you said at the moment. After all, she was like a princess back in the Hades Base. Now, she needs to learn to grow up."


    Long Qingying expressionlessly crossed her arms and said, "She has to. Chief''s protection is gone, so she really needs to learn to protect herself."


    In the bedroom, Lin Wenwen was leaning against the door and listening to their conversation. She gently took her hands away from the door, then walked to the dressing table and sat down.


    She spent a while staring at the long-haired girl in the mirror, then lowered her head to glance at the shiny black hair before her chest. She picked up that hair with both hands and stroked them for a few seconds, then took a deep breath. After that, she abruptly took out a pair of scissors from the drawer, then picked up a lock of hair and started cutting it from near her ear.


    In the living room, Lin Qiao wasn''t interested in the fighting sounds from the outside. Instead, she was teaching the little one to draw with great interest. Uproars could be heard from around this residential area, as people were all curious about what was happening in the base center, and what caused those loud sounds.


    At that moment, the upper floors of that the administration building in the base center had already been severely damaged.


    Yang Chao was floating in the air, stepping on a tornado, while Wu Chengyue was standing on the roof with his hands behind his back. He was tall and slim, wearing an over-knee dust coat, looking serious and handsome. The lower hem of his coat fluttered in the wind, exposing his long and straight legs.


    He slightly raised her chin. His handsome face was wearing a faint smile while he coldly looked at Yang Chao, who was in the midair.


    The people around the building had all been confusedly watching the scene on the roof, and the people who were in the building had all been evacuated.


    Above Wu Chengyue''s head was a massive, dense dark cloud, which even darkened the entire area. Rumbling thunders could be heard from the dark cloud from time to time, with bolts of lightning flashing across.


    Zou Shihui was standing before a French window of a room on a middle floor of the building. The window glass before him was shattered entirely by the attacks which were launched by the other two base leaders and himself just now.


    "Yang Chao has been secretly running a dangerous virus experiment on some people from this base. For that reason, the people who went missing within the past few months have all died. The number of victims has gone beyond five-hundred. Chief Wu, I, and the other administrators have come to an agreement that Yang Chao and the people who have taken parts in the experiment under his order will be expelled from the base. The name list will be released very soon. For the peace of the base, we will punish them together," Zou Shihui''s resonant voice was heard from the tall building.


    "What? It was he who kidnapped those people! Virus experiment? What virus experiment?"


    "Have they all died?"


    The crowd which gathered around the building was immediately stirred up. Those people could scarcely believe what they had heard, and also didn''t agree with the order of expulsion.


    "Why are we letting them go? They have killed so many people! We can''t let them go! They have to pay for what they''ve done with their lives!"


    "That''s right, Chief Zou, we can''t let them go! We should kill Yang Chao, that lunatic! How dare he run an experiment with living human beings! This is unforgivable!"


    At that moment, Zou Shihui responded, "Don''t worry! Yang Chao is the chief culprit. We don''t place to let him go. Just watch what Chief Wu can do."


    Yang Chao floated in the midair and sneered, "Wanna catch me? Are you able to do that?"


    While speaking, he suddenly waved a hand toward the crowd on the ground. A roaring gust of wind was immediately sent toward those people.


    "Ah!"


    "Hold something!"


    "Hide! Hide!"


    The people on the ground instantly forgot about the show that they had been watching. Under the threat of the wind, they hurriedly looked for shelter. Some of them who reacted slowly were brought into the air, flipping in the air and then thudding against the ground. Some others were directly blown to the ground, rolling.


    Following a series of thunder, a few purple lightning bolts descended from the sky, striking at Yang Chao.


    Yang Chao quickly moved to another spot to dodge. However, before he stopped moving, the lightning almost landed on his head.


    On the roof of the administration building, Wu Chengyue reached out his hand and drew a line toward Yang Chao. Following his movement, arm-thick lightning bolts fell toward Yang Chao''s head wave after wave.


    As a possessor of wind power, Yang Chao was weaker at attacking than Wu Chengyue was, but was the best at dodging. He moved fleetingly and didn''t let Wu Chengyue''s lightning touch his body.


    "Hehe, is that all that a lightning-powered man can do?" While dodging, Yang Chao still had the mood to mock Wu Chengyue. His voice was spread to a long distance away by the energy inside him.


    Wu Chengyue pointed his long and lean fingers at Yang Chao. Wherever he pointed at, lightning bolts would fall into that area.


    After hearing what Yang Chao said, he gave a faint smile and responded, "Would you like to know what lightning power can do? I''ll fulfill your wish."


    Having finished talking, he suddenly spread his fingers, then clenched both fists and swung his arms downward. In the next moment, the sky above Yang Chao''s head was darkened, as dark clouds suddenly pressed down on his head. Waves of lightning bolts descended together, falling toward Yang Chao like a rain.


    By the time Yang Chao raised his head to find out what was happening, it was already too late. The lightning rain didn''t affect a huge area, but had the coverage of about twenty-meters squared, and was falling extremely fast. No matter how fast he could run, he wouldn''t be able to dodge this.


    "Ah¡­" Yang Chao tried his best to wrap himself up with the wind and move toward the outside as quickly as possible. But to his surprise, the horrible lightning rain actually moved with him.


    Soon, he was covered in lightning bolts and struck onto the ground.


    Seeing that Yang Chao had no chance of winning, Tang He abruptly turned and prepared to leave.


    "Freeze! Wanna run?" Zou Shihui had been keeping an eye on Tang He the whole time. As the latter started drawing back, he immediately chased.


    Yang Chao fell on the ground, but wasn''t harmed severely because he was protected by a gust of wind. Upon landing on the ground, he happened to see that Tang He was trying to leave.


    "What kind of a helper did you find? He decided the run once the situation turned bad for him. Smart!" Wu Chengyue leaped off the building and stood on a utility pole near Yang Chao as he smiled faintly.

 295 Her Hair Do Grow Ou

    Lin Qiao sat there for a short while and then exited her space, because the people outside were almost ready to continue the journey.


    The people in the hunting squad which was named Fengting Squad were starving for days. But now, they each had a full bowl of hot congee and restored some energy. At the moment, they looked much more energetic than before.


    During the break, except for Lin Qiao and Long Qingying who stayed outside, the other female members on Lin Feng''s side didn''t come out of the car. Chen Yuting and his people saw Lin Hao send food into the car, so they figured that there were some people in the car who didn''t come out.


    "Get in the car. Check the vehicles, then get ready to go," Lin Feng shouted at the others.


    After everyone got on the car, the two vehicles moved toward Sea City.


    Lin Qiao and Long Qingying were still sitting on the car roof, right under the sunlight. Lin Qiao felt hot, but she didn''t get inside the car, as she needed to sit on the car roof to scare away the zombies on the road.


    It was October already; the daytime was hot, but the nighttime had become a little chilly. After the apocalypse, the nights in autumns could be very cold.


    It was truly dusty on the way.


    ¡­


    At dusk, they entered Yuhang District. On the way, Chen Yuting and Lu Changfeng felt stranger and stranger, as they hadn''t seen even one zombie on the road! Why?


    They had noticed that this morning, but didn''t pay much attention to it, as they were driving on highways or suburban areas. But later on, they found that they were strangely safe even when passing by the center of Hangzhou, which was a crowded zombie city.


    Lin Feng zigzagged when driving through the city. The city used to be crowded with both people and buildings. Hence, many roads and streets were jammed by abandoned cars, rocks, or other large obstacles.


    To hurry on with the journey, Lin Feng didn''t especially look for a safe place to stay for the night. After all, with Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili and the other zombie friends, anywhere would be safe.


    At last, when it was getting dark, Lin Feng found a club which had hotel rooms, bars, a foot bath center, sauna rooms, billiard tables, and all other kinds of recreational facilities.


    As they stopped their cars, all the zombies in the club ran away.


    Lin Feng and his people pulled the cars before the club, then got off and raised their heads to look at the front door and the sign of the club.


    "We''ll stay here for tonight. This building is nearly sealed with high security."


    Unlike Lin Feng and his people who were relaxed, Chen Yuting and his squad got off the vehicle alertly, but then found no zombie around them.


    Seeing this, both Chen Yuting and Lu Changfeng showed a weird expression.


    Why didn''t any zombie approach them? This place was supposed to be full of zombies. However, the zombies they saw on the way even escaped at the sight of them.


    They guessed that Lin Feng and his people must have something that all zombies were scared of.


    The group of people walked into the club. It was dark, and there was no electricity in the city. So, they checked around with flashlights.


    Not a single zombie was found in the club, even though this place was all dark.


    Lin Feng and his people found the diner and the bar, then started preparing some simple food. About thirty people gathered in the diner, waiting for dinner to be ready.


    As no one was paying attention to her, Lin Qiao walked away.


    She flashed into her space, then said to Qiu Lili, "Lili, you go out to keep an eye on those people. I need to go down into the lake tonight."


    Qiu Lili sat up from the couch, then nodded and replied, "Alright!"


    After sending Qiu Lili out, Lin Qiao released the group of zombie leaders and the two level-four zombies. Following that, she walked to the lake and dragged a chair to the lakeside. Before walking into the lake, she took off her hat and sunglasses, and stripped herself.


    Tong Tong had fallen asleep in Liu Jun''s arms long ago, who sat on the couch, looking at Lin Qiao''s back as the latter was walking into the water.


    ''Her back is beautiful. Her waist is slim, hips are round, legs are long, and her skin is snow-white. She would look stunning if she had long hair hanging loosely on her back.''


    ''Sadly, she''s bald.'' Liu Jun thought.


    Lin Qiao touched her stomach which still felt weirdly soft, like cotton. As she stepped into the water, Viney''s vines coiled around her feet and dragged her deeper down.


    Countless vines wrapped on her body, slowly turning her into a jade-white cocoon.


    Lin Qiao sensed a familiar energy seeping into her body, and then, her body which could only sense warmth and not coldness started feeling hot. She didn''t know if her hair could grow out this time, but she could tell for sure that at least her stomach would recover further.


    Her stomach felt hotter and hotter, as if a fire was burning in it. She also felt that her throat and brain were on fire.


    A faint green light shone from the jade-white cocoon. A long while later, the light faded slowly, then a dark mist abruptly spread from the cocoon.


    The mist didn''t merge into the water, but moved quickly.


    The moment the black mist emerged, the jade-white vines suddenly unwrapped Lin Qiao.


    The black mist covered her entire body. Without Viney''s support, her body didn''t sink to the lake bottom, but floated in the water.


    As Lin Qiao woke up, she saw nothing but darkness. She thought that she wasn''t clear-headed yet. However, two seconds later, she suddenly realized that the darkness before her eyes was her black mist.


    As she generated a thought, the dark mist gathered toward her palm, and the darkness before her eyes disappeared.


    Right then, she found that she was still in the lake.


    As all the dark mist had drilled into Lin Qiao''s palm, Viney, who had been waiting below, reached up her vines.


    ''Mama, Mama, you''re awake!'' Viney wrapped Lin Qiao''s waist to send her up.


    ''Yeah,'' Lin Qiao responded in her mind, ''How long has it been?''


    Viney answered her question, ''Not long, just a couple of hours.''


    Sometimes, Lin Qiao was curious about where Viney came from. She was like a child, yet she knew lots of things. She was affectionate, but also had a wide range of knowledge.


    Lin Qiao came out of the water and swam toward the lakeside. After coming ashore, the first thing she did was to dress herself.


    "Eh? I think your hair grew out¡­ but short¡­" A voice was heard from beside her. Following the voice, Liu Jun showed up like a ghost.


    Lin Qiao paused briefly, then turned to look at Liu Jun. After that, she raised a hand to touch her own head.


    Then, she understood what Liu Jun was talking about.


    Her hair did grow out¡­ but¡­


    The hair she touched were very short¡­


    She guessed that even freshly shaved hair could be longer than hers.


    Then, she heard Liu Jun add, "Eh, why did Lili''s hair grow so long, but yours only grew by a tiny bit? Haha¡­ I wonder if there''s a secret relationship between Lili and Viney!"

 362 Yang Chaos Transformation

    Yang Chao started to feel bad upon seeing Tang He run. So, after hearing what Wu Chengyue said, his face darkened immediately. However, he had no spare attention for Tang He at the moment, because a huge bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking at him.


    That lightning bolt was as thick as a pillar. It went straight to Yang Chao''s head as if it were conscious.


    Yang Chao''s heart missed a beat. He felt a coldness from his spine, and a sense of crisis rose spontaneously in his heart.


    He hurriedly tried to dodge. However, when he moved, the lightning bolt moved along with him. It turned in the air and again fell toward him.


    That bolt of lightning was falling faster than the ones before by many times over. Within a blink, it caught up with Yang Chao and landed thunderously on his back.


    "Ah!" Thud!


    Yang Chao howled out loud as he was thrown to the ground by the explosion of the lightning bolts. This time, his body suffered a horrible lightning power, even though his wind power had taken a great amount of it for him.


    "Ou-ch¡­" He rolled on the ground, then tremblingly struggled up from the ground. His black coat was ragged in the explosion, and his face had turned black.


    That was the difference between his power and Wu Chengyue''s. They were at the same level, but the destructive capabilities of lightning power and wind power weren''t at the same grade.


    Right after he got up, he raised his head to see another giant bolt of lightning coming at his face.


    Boom! This time, he didn''t even manage to react before the lightning landed on him.


    Wu Chengyue''s lightning erased a big half of his energy, and the rest began surging disorderedly in his body.


    "Your life, and the lives of your subordinates. aren''t enough to pay back the people who have died because of your experiments." Wu Chengyue''s cold voice was heard. He rarely talked so coldly. Normally, he would wear a faint smile, and his voice would be gentle and warm.


    But today, although he was still wearing that smile, the look in his eyes was icy cold.


    "Hehe¡­ Haha¡­ Hahaha¡­ Do you wanna kill me? Do you think that''ll be so easy?" Yang Chao staggeringly got up from the ground, looking like a human-shaped piece of charcoal. Meanwhile, he burst into laughter, his face twisting.


    He widely opened his mouth and bared his teeth while his mouth began cracking weirdly. Soon, his bones started to make a series of creaking noises, and his body began changing shape.


    "Roar!" Streams of saliva flowed out of his widened mouth from between his teeth.


    "Let me show you the results of my experiment! Hahaha¡­" When he was roaring at Wu Chengyue, his eyes were still clear, but carrying a crazy look.


    Looking at Yang Chao who had already become half-human, half-monster, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but cover his eyes and say, "Ugh¡­ You have become so ugly. I honestly don''t want to fight you anymore! I can''t even bear looking at you!"


    After saying that, he suddenly pointed at Yang Chao and swung his arm down to summon another bolt of lightning.


    Boom! The lightning bolt fell from the sky. However, as it was about to strike on Yang Chao, he flashed aside and dodged it, then leaped onto the building nearby, quickly climbing up like a spider.


    Bang! Another purple lightning bolt fell toward Yang Chao who was climbing on the building.


    The people who were trying to find shelter around the building all looked at Yang Chao with confusion after watching him become a monster.


    "He¡­ He¡­ Why did he suddenly become like this?"


    "What kind of monster is this?"


    At the moment, Yang Chao was crawling on all fours; his spine had turned huge and bulging, which made his entire upper body hunch. His arms grew even thicker than his thighs, fingers turned into crooked claws, and legs were bent weirdly.


    He crawled quickly on the building, and soon leaped onto another wall.


    "He''s running! Aren''t you gonna do something?" Xiao Yunlong stood behind Wu Chengyue and asked him.


    Wu Chengyue waved a hand and brought a few lightning bolts down from the sky, sending them to Yang Chao who was on another wall of the building. However, the latter nimbly dodged them all.


    "You see, he''s better at dodging now. And I guess, he might also be immune to energy attacks now," Wu Chengyue stared at Yang Chao and said.


    All of a sudden, he flashed onto the other side of the building and disappeared. Wu Chengyue hurriedly leaped onto the roof of the administration building, then darted at Yang Chao''s building.


    As Wu Chengyue left swiftly, Xiao Yunlong followed behind him with curiosity.


    Normally, level-seven superpowered people weren''t able to float in the air. The wind-powered ones were special, as their winds could support their bodies and allow them to float and fly.


    Wu Chengyue jumped onto the roof of another building and launched a few lightning bolts in a row to attack Yang Chao, who was constantly dodging. However, as he just said, his attack failed to deliver any effect.


    After suffering the lightning attack, Yang Chao was still crawling all over the wall as if nothing had happened.


    Xiao Yunlong caught up with Wu Chengyue. Seeing this situation, he said with surprise, "Eh, your attack really seems to be ineffective on him."


    Then, he swung a hand toward Yang Chao. Following his movement, large amounts of metal objects turned into sharp metal pieces and surrounded Yang Chao, then flew at him.


    "Roar!" Yang Chao dodge in a flurry. But still, some sharp metal pieces pierced into his body and made him howl in pain, also causing him to pause for a few seconds and slow down.


    "I guess only physical attacks can hurt him now," Xiao Yunlong put down his hands and said.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and didn''t say anything as he kept chasing after Yang Chao.


    Yang Chao had no desire to continue fighting at the moment. Instead, he was running toward the outside as quickly as possible.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao, who had been playing with the little one, paused briefly, as if she had sensed something. Afterward, she confusedly glanced at the people who were still gathering around the window and gazing at the base center.


    But soon, she carelessly turned back around and glanced at the bedroom which Lin Wenwen had gone in earlier.


    She thought for a moment, then said, "Qingying, can you go to the bedroom and check on Wenwen? Maybe my words were too harsh for her?"


    Long Qingying silently looked at her for a few seconds, then responded, "She didn''t go to¡­ cut her hair, did she?"


    Lin Qiao looked back at Long Qingying uncertainly, saying, "That''s impossible! She treasures her hair so much. How can she possibly be willing to cut it?"


    Long Qingying slightly lowered head and thought for a short while, then said, "I don''t think so. You''re right, but I think she''s been a little weird these days." While speaking, she raised her head to look at the others, and those people all nodded to agree with her.


    "I''ll go check on her then," she said and turned and walked toward the bedroom.

 363 Ism Not Wearing Glasses

    Lin Qiao turned to Yuan Tianxing and asked, "She said that Wenwen has been weird these days. What happened?"


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head confusedly to let Lin Qiao know that he didn''t know what Lin Wenwen was thinking. He always felt that girls'' thoughts were the hardest to understand, because they changed all the time. How could he know what Wenwen had been thinking¡­?


    Du Yuanxing, who stood beside Yuan Tianxing, showed a strange look in his eyes. He hurriedly turned to the window, as he felt that he shouldn''t tell the Lin Qiao that Wenwen had asked him about her, in case the zombie sister might misunderstand something and cause some awful results.


    Long Qingying knocked on the door, then pushed it open and walked in.


    She then walked into the bedroom and saw Lin Wenwen sitting before the dresser table, cutting her hair. At that point, half of Lin Wenwen''s beautiful black hair had been cut off by herself.


    Long Qingying widened her eyes as she couldn''t believe what she had seen. "You¡­ really cut your hair? What were you thinking?" she said.


    She didn''t think that Lin Wenwen would really listen to Lin Qiao''s words.


    Lin Wenwen turned around, then sighed and said, "I don''t want to bring troubles to you guys, so I''m going to change myself as much as I can. Qingying, come over to help me. I can''t cut the hair at the back well."


    Long Qingying was still staring at Lin Wenwen with disbelief when she walked to her, filled with both surprise and confusion.


    "Why''re you looking at me like that? You said that I don''t know how to protect myself. You also said that wearing dresses might make some people want to commit a crime, so I stopped wearing them, didn''t I? Long hair causes inconveniences, so I''m cutting it, alright? I also want to learn how to fight from you. You have to teach me," Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes toward Long Qingying while handing her the scissors.


    Long Qingying took over the scissors and disagreed her with confusion, "What? Why do I have to teach you? Can''t you find other teachers?"


    Lin Wenwen raised her head to look at Long Qingying and asked, "Who do you think it should be?"


    Long Qingying looked at her and said, "You can ask Wangxue to teach you. She''s good at fighting, and she has super strength."


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes again and said, "As you said, my sister-in-law has super strength. She can destroy a wall with one kick, alright? Do you want her to disable me? Can''t I learn some basic stuff from you first, and then go ask her to teach me?"


    Long Qingying looked at her without knowing what to say, because she found Lin Wenwen''s words making sense.


    Cheng Wangxue had super strength. Her strength was greater than that of a normal human being by at least five times. Besides, she was at level-five now, and was able to easily defeat ten healthy men at one time, not to mention Lin Wenwen, who was just like a princess.


    There was no better way of learning how to fight than suffering beating. That was the best way to stimulate the ability of human bodies.


    Long Qingying looked at Lin Wenwen''s face and raised her eyebrows as she said with doubt, "Exercise first. You need to improve your physical fitness before starting to practice fighting. Are you really gonna do that? You''re not just joking, are you? Or, will you give up really quickly? I don''t have the time to play that kind of game with you."


    Lin Wenwen gave a chuckle and said, "Keep underestimating me. I''ll make you so surprised that your glasses will even fall off."


    Long Qingying said expressionlessly while cutting the air with the scissors, "Sorry, I''m not wearing glasses."


    Lin Wenwen shrugged, then turned around with her back to Long Qingying while saying, "Don''t let your jaw drop then."


    In the living room, Lin Qiao showed a strange expression as she had faintly heard the conversation between Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying. She glanced at the others and thought for a moment, but decided not to say it out loud. However, she did feel that Long Qingying was right about Lin Wenwen being a little weird.


    She cut her hair¡­ She was actually willing to cut her hair! She hadn''t cut her hair in over ten years. Lin Qiao had suggested her to cut those hair countless times before, but she refused. However, she had now thought it through and cut the hair herself.


    And why on earth did she want to learn how to fight? She was a weak little girl who couldn''t even walk five steps with a bucket of water. But now, she actually wanted to learn how to fight! Wouldn''t she be crying so loud after taking a few hits?


    Lin Qiao now wondered if her sister''s body was occupied by some other soul.


    After all, she had occupied someone else''s body!


    Hearing the continuous thunders from the base center growing louder and louder, Yuan Tianxing said, "Chief Wu''s is really powerful. He has been launching such destructive attacks, but why hasn''t he killed Yang Chao yet? Isn''t Yang Chao a possessor of wind power? He''s not good in attacking or defending, and can only dodge quickly, isn''t that right?"


    Du Yuanxing nodded and agreed with him, "Yeah, the fight has lasted for over half an hour, and they seem to have been moving. I think Yang Chao is trying to run."


    Yuan Tianxing crossed his arms before his chest and said, "I don''t Chief Wu will let him run."


    At that moment, Lin Qiao joined the conversation, "I doubt that. Right now, Yang Chao''s vibe has somehow changed entirely. If Wu Chengyue gets overconfident, he might regret it. However, he has prepared for long, so I think he won''t be careless and let Yang Chao run. If he did, that would be embarrassing."


    Yuan Tianxing turned back as he glanced at her and said, "What have you sensed?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "Just some unclear changes in his vibe."


    After saying that, she stood up and walked to the window, then closed her eyes and sniffed toward the outside.


    Then, she opened her eyes and said, "He was infected by the virus. The virus inside him should have been suppressed by his power, but he seems to have released it all now and become a half-human, half-zombie creature. If I have guessed right, even his appearance might have changed."


    That was only her guess. She wasn''t sure if it was real or not.


    Soon, Lin Wenwen''s door was opened. Lin Qiao and the others immediately turned in that direction and saw a young short-haired woman walking out.


    Lin Wenwen walked out with the roughly cut bob hair, looking completely different. She used to look gentle and quiet, but now, she suddenly became neat and dashing. Her pretty baby face was wearing a faint smile, and was added with a different type of cuteness. Apart from that, a glow of determination had appeared in her eyes.


    Behind her, Long Qingying was observing the reactions of Yuan Tianxing and the others with interests.


    Lin Qiao had foreseen this as she had overheard the conversation which happened in the bedroom earlier. So, upon seeing her little sister with the new look, she only felt novel about it.


    Besides, her sister didn''t look bad with short hair because of her baby face. However, that roughly styled hair did make her less pretty.


    Unlike Lin Qiao, Yuan Tianxing and Du Yuanxing were both stunned. They gazed at Lin Qiao with complicated expressions which contained surprise, confusion, and many other feelings.


    "You, you¡­ What stimulated you?" Du Yuanxing couldn''t help but start talking.


    Lin Wenwen hadn''t yet adapted to her new look. So after hearing Du Yuanxing''s words, she angrily glanced at him.


    "You''re stimulated! Didn''t you tell me to cut my hair?"

 296 Leave Me Alone

    Lin Qiao silently looked at Liu Jun and threatened the latter with her eyes, ''I''ll hit you if you don''t shut up.''


    Liu Jun smiled and turned to glance at the lake, then asked, "Aren''t you gonna ask Viney about your current condition?"


    Being reminded by her, Lin Qiao decided to ask about it.


    "Viney?" She put her clothes on and turned to shout at the lake. Then, she abruptly touched her stomach.


    ''Eh? It became harder!''


    Viney reached a vine out of the water to the lakeside, then coiled around Lin Qiao''s hand.


    ''Mama¡­''


    "Viney," Lin Qiao asked her, "Why is it so hard for my hair to grow? Lili''s hair have grown so long, but mine only grew a tiny bit."


    Viney responded with, ''Mama, I focused the energy on your tummy, so the recovery of your hair and throat might be slower¡­ But Mama, your hair are alive now, not as dead as before. Mama, you don''t need me to cure your hair anymore, because they''ll grow out by themselves, a little slowly though.''


    Lin Qiao looked at the vine with surprise, saying, "Eh? Can my hair grow by themselves now? Like a healthy human being?"


    Liu Jun, who stood beside Lin Qiao, looked at her in shock. Judging by Lin Qiao''s words, her hair were now able to grow like those of healthy human beings. They were no longer dead like the hair of zombies.


    ''Yes, yes, that''s true¡­ Mama, I''m a little tired,'' said Viney.


    Seeing that Viney''s vine wasn''t twisting as energetically as before, Lin Qiao said, "Alright, go get some rest. Thank you, Viney!"


    ''Mama, you thanked me again¡­'' said Viney unhappily. ''You''re making me feel like an outsider¡­''


    Sensing Viney''s discontentment, Lin Qiao hurriedly touched the vine on her wrist and said, "Sorry, my mistake! My dear Viney is so adorable, how can she be an outsider? We''re a family!"


    Hearing that, Viney was cheered up, ''Yeah, yeah, Viney is the most adorable one¡­ Mama, I''m going down to sleep. Call me if you need anything¡­''


    While speaking, she unwrapped Lin Qiao''s wrist and drew back into the lake.


    Liu Jun looked at Lin Qiao and asked curiously, "Is Viney unhappy? What''s exactly is the relationship between you two? You only thanked her, and that made her unhappy?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I''m not sure what''s her relationship with me. But, when she showed up for the first time, she called me¡­ eh¡­ Mama."


    Liu Jun popped her eyes and stared at Lin Qiao with disbelief, saying, "What? She called you Mama? She''s not your child, is she?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her with a strange expression and asked, "Do you mean my child or Lu Tianyu''s? Have I been pregnant before? I don''t remember that."


    Liu Jun lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then said, "Before our base was destroyed, I had never heard that our Chief was pregnant. Even if you were pregnant, you wouldn''t let everyone know so soon, right? And, no one saw you with pregnant belly before."


    While speaking, she glanced at Lin Qiao''s stomach.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "But, this isn''t my old body. Even if I were pregnant, the baby might have gone already. It can''t be that¡­ the baby''s soul reincarnated along with mine¡­ can it?"


    After saying that, she suddenly paused, then silently looked at Liu Jun.


    "It¡­ might be¡­ possible," Liu Jun looked back at her.


    Both of them stayed silent for seven or eight seconds.


    After that, Lin Qiao covered her forehead with a hand and said with disbelief, "Wait a minute, leave me in peace! That can''t be possible!"


    Liu Jun widely opened her eyes and responded, "Why not? Didn''t you reincarnate? Why can''t the baby reincarnate as well?"


    Then, Lin Qiao suddenly thought of another question. She put down her hand and said, "Wait, wait, you said that I was pregnant¡­ Then, who was that man?"


    Liu Jun looked at her and remained silent for three seconds, then said, "I can only tell you that before he betrayed the entire base, he was with you the whole time¡­"


    Lin Qiao gazed at her and said with a serious look, "Are you talking about¡­ Yang Jianhua?"


    Both of them fell into silence again.


    But suddenly, Lin Qiao''s face turned dark. "Are you saying that I was in a relationship with Yang Jianhua, and I was pregnant with his baby. However, before he found out about the baby, that scum betrayed me, and the baby, and the base? Am I right?" She said with an icy-cold voice.


    Liu Jun sensed that the air pressure around Lin Qiao getting lower and lower. With a frown, she said, "Calm down, calm down! That''s merely my guess. Before you restore your memories, all these can only be guesses. Perhaps, the baby isn''t brought here by you¡­ And maybe, Yang Jianhua isn''t the father, but someone else is¡­"


    Lin Qiao took a deep breath to calm herself down. She pondered over Liu Jun''s words, and found that they were reasonable indeed. She suddenly recalled the purple-red color that she saw near the bottom of the lake, and started wondering if that was¡­ the outside of her womb.


    ''No way! Viney isn''t my baby, is she?''


    "Just, just leave me alone!" Lin Qiao said with a dull face, then flashed out of the space. After coming out, she stood on the roof of the club and lowered her head while touching her stomach.


    For some reason, she became very sensitive about the whole pregnancy guess after hearing Liu Jun''s words. She even started looking forward to something in a strange way.


    Was she really in a relationship with Yang Jianhua? If that were true, she must have been blind before, as she actually fell with a man like that! So blind!


    Thinking about the Yang Jianhua that she had met recently, and that she had probably slept with him before, she felt sick.


    She pressed a hand on her lower belly, wondering how the baby had been existing in her space if its soul had truly reincarnated along with hers.


    Viney said that she would be able to come out after reaching level-five. But, in what way?


    Lin Qiao wouldn''t need to give birth to Viney, would she?


    Her stomach was empty now. Even though her womb might still remain, it must be dead after she turned into a zombie. Was she still able to create a life?


    Somehow, another possibility popped up in Lin Qiao''s mind as she suddenly recalled that the previous owner of her body had had sex with Wu Chengyue.


    ''Eh¡­ No way¡­!''


    If it were Wu Chengyue''s spermatozoon, added with Lu Tianyu''s egg, then added with the soul of her baby¡­


    Lin Qiao felt that if she were really going to give birth to a baby, she would have to do a DNA test after the baby was born.


    While she was thinking about this baby issue on the roof, the look on her face suddenly changed. Then, she walked to the edge of the roof and looked down.


    It was late at night. She saw a few people sneakily walking around the vehicle that she had lent to Feng Ting Squad.


    She frowned slightly, then put her hat on and turned herself visible before leaping off the roof.

 364 Viney Wakes Up

    Yuan Tianxing and Du Yuanxing instantly turned to Lin Qiao to try and tell Lin Wenwen that it was Lin Qiao who gave that suggestion, and not them. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Wenwen and said, "You cut your hair because I told you so? Why are you so obedient to me? Haven''t you ever thought about cutting your hair before? Someone used to give you the same suggestion, right?"


    Lin Wenwen touched the short hair near her tear awkwardly while saying, "It''s because the circumstances before weren''t as bad as now. Besides, if I refused to cut my hair, you guys might complain."


    ''We''ll still complain about you even though you have cut your hair!'' The others said in their heads.


    Lin Wenwen seemed to have sensed their gazes. "Judging by the way you''re looking at me now, you''ll think that I''m not strong enough even though I''ve already cut my hair, don''t you? That''s reasonable though. I cut my hair, but nothing else changed."


    "In fact, even if you want to change, you didn''t need to cut your hair," said Long Qingying expressionlessly.


    "I cut my hair because short hair is convenient to take care of, and easy to wash," said Lin Wenwen, "I can save some water this way. Isn''t it better?"


    Long Qingying looked at her, but didn''t say anything.


    "Whatever you like," said Lin Qiao, "However, you''ve cut your hair, and it means something in your heart has changed. Do what you think you should be doing."


    Lin Wenwen looked at her and nodded, then walked to the window as she looked at the dark cloud which rumbled from time to time, "When will the fight stop? Won''t they cause great damages by fighting like that in the base?"


    Yuan Tianxing answered her question, "There will certainly be damages. As for whether the damages will be great or not, I think no."


    Lin Qiao prepared to stand up and walk to the window to look outside as well. But suddenly, she sensed something from her space. After pausing for a second, she disappeared on the couch.


    After spending an afternoon and a night to absorb the energy, Viney finally made a move.


    Lin Qiao showed up by the lakeside, watching the roaring waves in the lake.This time, the water level didn''t rise, but the energy contained in the water had grown denser.


    She glanced back and found that Shen Yujen has already hidden in a small space, maybe because of the noise from the water.


    In the woods, the zombie dog was quietly and motionlessly lying on the ground.


    The water surface calmed down gradually. Lin Qiao thought that Viney would reach out countless vines; but even after waiting for a while, she didn''t see any familiar vine coming out of the water.


    Right at that moment, she saw something in the water moving toward her.


    The dim figure in the water was¡­ ''Eh, why does it look like an octopus?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    She widened her eyes to stare at the mysterious figure which was moving its short tentacles to swim toward Lin Qiao. As it got closer and closer, Lin Qiao started to show a strange expression. The look on her face contained shock, delight, confusion, strong curiosity, and anticipation.


    That creature which was swimming toward her was Viney indeed.


    Judging by her current look, Viney had freed herself from the bottom of the lake already. Was she able to move freely now? Was she able to come ashore? Why did she become smaller than before? It had turned larger after every upgrade previously.


    As the white creature got closer and closer to Lin Qiao and bobbed up from the water, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but give a grin.


    That jade-white color was Viney''s color, but the shape¡­


    A cluster of vines about one-meter long softly hung behind her white and chubby body.


    Viney''s body looked like a ball, so Lin Qiao couldn''t tell which part was her stomach and which part was her neck or head. She did find her face though, as Viney had a pair of large green eyes, a tiny nose, and no mouth!


    In fact, Viney''s body was shaped like a giant radish, with relatively smaller head and tail, and a large and round belly. A few strong roots were seen on her tail.


    Viney blinked her watery, large green eyes as she supported her body with those strong roots, then happily rushed toward Lin Qiao. However, after making merely two steps, her roots entangled together and then she fell to the ground, rolling back into the water.


    "Hah! Viney? Is it you?" Lin Qiao knew that it was Viney, but still, she couldn''t help but call her name with laughter.


    Viney sat up from the water after making a few rolls toward the lake center, then raised her root legs and continued running toward Lin Qiao. But as a result, she fell again.


    Looking at Viney''s pitiful large eyes, Lin Qiao walked into the lake with a grin, then bent over to scoop up the big-bellied Viney. At that moment, she found that Viney was quite heavy.


    ''Mama, Mama! Viney can come up and play! Hahahaha¡­''


    Once she held her up, Lin Qiao heard Viney''s voice and her familiar tone of talking.


    Carrying Viney, Lin Qiao found that her body wasn''t hard, but was as soft and elastic as a sponge, and was very heavy!


    "Viney, why are you so heavy?" Lin Qiao couldn''t help but ask. If she weren''t a zombie with great strength, she wouldn''t be able to scoop Viney up, as the latter weighed at least fifty kilograms now.


    Viney didn''t have hands. However, she happily swung her baby-finger-thick, hair-like vines and her toe-thick roots to deliver a message to Lin Qiao.


    ''Mama, Mama, this isn''t Viney''s original shape! Viney can become bigger! Mama, can you bring the little one in here to play with me now? I sensed her vibe. She''s outside!''


    "Why do you need her to come in?" Lin Qiao asked, "Can''t you go out with me now?"


    Viney tried to shake her head, but in the end, her entire body began shaking, and she almost fell from Lin Qiao''s arms. So, she stopped shaking, but swayed her hair and began talking.


    ''No. I can''t touch the air outside now. The air outside will kill me.''


    Lin Qiao was shocked by the answer. Just now, she almost brought Viney straight out, as she didn''t think that there''d be an air problem.


    "Eh? Why?" she asked confusedly.


    Viney answered her question, ''I can only stay in here to absorb the lake water and the clean air in this place to survive. And, Mama, I haven''t finished my evolution yet. I''ll soon enter the second phase, but I have to do it together with Mama."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Clean air? Are you saying that the air outside isn''t clean?"


    Viney twisted her hair-like vines and responded, ''Yes, the air outside will corrode my white body. I can''t get out.''


    "How can you get out then?" Lin Qiao asked, "Do you have to reach level-five to be able to go out? Haven''t you entered level-four yet?"


    Viney responded with, ''Not yet! Mama, just go and bring the little one in! Viney wants to play with her! And Mama, bring someone you like in here. It has to be a man, hurry up!''

 297 They Are Bolder than They Should Be

    The people around the car were Lu Changfeng and Lu Ting, along with other two from their squad. At that moment, Lu Changfeng''s face was showing disagreement. "Lu Ting, it''ll be too unkind for you to do it," he said with a low voice, "They helped us, but we''re stealing from them."


    Lu Ting said scornfully, "Brother, do you think that they''re really helping us? I doubt it! They said that they''ll hire us as construction workers and pay us with rice and flour. That sounds so nice, but how can such a good thing be possible right now? They must have some unspeakable secrets. Perhaps, they want us to die. Besides, I''m only going to take the vehicle. I won''t do them any harm, will I? If I wanted to kill them, they would have become defenseless by now."


    Lu Changfeng stayed silent for a short while, then continued, "But, what about Chen Yuting and the others? What should they do if we left? We''ll get them killed."


    "What does that have to do with us?" said Lu Ting who seemed to be a little angry, "You''re both squad leaders, but why does everyone only listen to him? Why don''t they take you seriously? And those two useless dying men, I had said that we should leave them, but he insisted on bringing them back. How will that help? Will they ever recover?"


    The two useless dying men that she mentioned were the two boys who were also kidnapped by those robbers.


    Lu Changfeng said with a sullen look, "Lu Ting, there is hope as long as they''re still alive. And, we''re already halfway down to the base, aren''t we? Just hold on for a little longer, and we''ll be in the base tomorrow. Why do you have to do this?"


    Lu Ting turned to look at the vehicle beside her and reached out a hand to touch it while saying greedily, "Brother, you''ve been thinking too much, that''s why you had Chen Yuting stepping on you the whole time. Brother, look at this car! Isn''t it cool? Isn''t it great? And all the weapons on it¡­ We ordinary people can''t possibly obtain these. Brother, don''t you want such an incredible car? With this, we''ll be much safer when carrying future missions, won''t we?"


    With those words, she slowly incited Lu Changfeng.


    As she expected, the look in Lu Changfeng''s eyes changed slightly when he looked at the car after hearing her words.


    No man didn''t like cars. This heavily armed military vehicle was way better than the ordinary modified cars, for both offense and defense.


    "Brother, make the decision now," Lu Ting urged Lu Changfeng anxiously, "Aliu''s hypnotizing power is going to fail soon. When they wake up, we won''t have a chance anymore!"


    Lu Changfeng was tempted, but still had hesitation.


    At that point, Lin Qiao sneakily approached Lu Ting, reached out a hand, and suddenly gripped her slim neck. Then, she pressed her on the car.


    Thud!


    "Ah!" Lu Ting wasn''t prepared for this. As Lin Qiao abruptly grabbed her neck and pressed her against the car, she burst in a scream. But then, she confusedly gazed at the air before her eyes.


    However, her neck was grabbed by a hand, and that feeling was so real.


    "Hem¡­ em¡­ hem¡­ eh¡­" The suffocation made her brain feel hot, also giving her a dull pain in the chest. She hastily put her hands around her neck, and touched an arm. Then, she moved her hands forward along the arm, and only found a shoulder.


    Lu Changfeng and the others were shocked by Lu Ting''s sudden movements. Her face seemed to have twisted in pain, as if something was grabbing her neck. However, they couldn''t see what was attacking her. They were all stunned, even forgetting to react.


    Only until they saw a figure show up before Lu Ting did they realize what was happening.


    "Woman, I could tell that you''re very ambitious. But, your courage turns out to be even bigger than your ambition." A hoarse voice was heard.


    Lu Ting stared at Lin Qiao who showed up right before her eyes with fright. She opened her mouth, but couldn''t say anything. Her face had paled because of suffocation.


    A series of metallic friction noise was heard as Lu Changfeng and the other two came back to their senses and pointed their guns at Lin Qiao.


    "Stop it! Let her go!"


    Lin Qiao turned to look at him. Her eyes were invisible, hiding under her sunglasses and the darkness of night, yet her lips were curving downwards.


    "I was going to let her live, but you don''t seem to want her to stay alive, as you''re actually pointing your guns at me." Her deep and dry voice sounded even grimmer than it originally was in the darkness.


    At the same moment, Lin Qiao slightly clenched her fingers which were squeezing Lu Ting''s neck.


    Lu Ting opened her mouth wide to breathe like a fish which had left the water. However, she couldn''t inhale any air. She felt that her chest was going to explode. She opened her eyes so wide that her eyeballs seemed to even pop out of her eye sockets.


    Lu Changfeng paused again; his hands holding the gun were shaking slightly.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao moved. She took a step backward, then let go of Lu Ting.


    Lu Ting softly fell to the ground like a piece of rag. She covered her neck with both hands while gasping for air.


    "Eh-hem-hem¡­" Sitting slumped on the ground, she coughed in pain.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "I don''t like killing people for no reason, and I will never kill people just randomly. I''ll spare your lives, as you were only trying to steal from me. Piss off."


    While speaking, she turned and walked toward the club.


    Lu Changfeng hurriedly dropped the gun and ran to Lu Ting.


    "Lu Ting! How are you? Are you alright?"


    Lu Ting had breathed in the air. The dull pain from her chest was not yet gone, but at least, she now felt better.


    She raised her head and gazed at Lin Qiao''s back. Her face was wearing a dark look, her eyes filled with strong hatred and murderous intent. As Lu Changfeng got close to her, she suddenly seized his gun and fired at Lin Qiao.


    A series of gunshots was heard.


    "Lu Ting! Stop!" Lu Changfeng was startled by her move. By the time he could react, Lu Ting had already fired the gun.


    Right when Lu Ting fired, Lin Qiao swung her arm backward and made a fist in the air, then spread her fingers. A few bullets were lying on her palm.


    Ting! Ting! Ting! She threw the bullets to the ground.


    Lu Ting and the others popped their eyes in shock. Lu Ting couldn''t see the bullets clearly, but she was able to recognize the sounds of bullets falling on the ground.


    "You did this to yourself. Since you want to die¡­ I''ll fulfill your wish," Lin Qiao said blandly.


    Then, she suddenly flicked her fingers toward Lu Ting.


    Puff!


    A slight sound of wind rose, then Lu Ting''s expression froze as she fell to the ground.


    Seeing that Lu Ting had stopped moving, Lu Changfeng squatted in a flurry and held her while shouting, "Lu Ting! Lu Ting? Lu Ting!"


    As he picked her up, he saw a stream of blood slowly gush out of her head. Then, half of her head fell off, exposing her pink brain matter.


    Lin Qiao was less than two meters away from Lu Ting, so as she flicked her sharp claws, Lu Ting''s skull was directly cut off.


    "I said that I don''t like killing people for no reason¡­ But, that doesn''t mean that I''ll let people kill me," Lin Qiao looked at Lu Changfeng and said in a bland tone.

 365 A Bad Feeling

    Lin Qiao lowered her head and looked at Viney as she asked with confusion, "What man? Why do I need to find a man? Tell me why first."


    Viney responded with, ''Em, em, just a man you like, eh¡­ He''ll also be helping Viney with the upgrade. Mama has to do it with a person of the opposite gender¡­ Or mama, you can also find someone you don''t like¡­ That''ll also work¡­''


    For some reason, Lin Qiao got a bad feeling from Viney''s words.


    "Are you saying that this time, I need to find a man and get into the lake together with him?"


    ''Yes, yes!'' Viney responded.


    "Then?" Lin Qiao asked further.


    ''Then? What then?'' Viney didn''t understand.


    "After two of us get into the lake, how will we help you with the upgrade?" Lin Qiao said.


    ''That I don''t know for sure¡­ I''ll know what to do by then¡­'' Viney didn''t give her a specific answer.


    It was really strange for Lin Qiao. Why did she need to find a man and bring him into the space? Would she and that man be going down into the water and then facing each other naked?


    ''Ugh, this is really not good. What is Viney planning to do?'' she wondered.


    ''Mama, Viney wants to see the little one! Please bring her in to play with me¡­''


    Viney really wanted Lin Qiao to bring Wu Yueling into the space to play at the moment, and didn''t seem to care about other things. Lin Qiao looked at the weird-looking Viney and said, "You''ve become like this. Will you scare the little one?"


    Viney swayed the vines on her head and responded, "No, no, I told her last time that I''ll transform¡­''


    Lin Qiao looked at Viney speechlessly. She didn''t know that Viney had told Wu Yueling about that the last time.


    "Alright, wait here then," Lin Qiao carried Viney to a small space and put her on a couch, then prepared to go out to bring Wu Yueling in. Before exiting the space, she abruptly paused, then said, "Eh, are you cold? Do you need to cover yourself with a cloth?"


    Viney sat on the couch, swinging her vines and roots while answering the question, "I''m not cold."


    "Alright then, wait here." After that, Lin Qiao stood up and turned to exit the space.


    As she came out of her space, the others all turned toward her. Then, those people saw that she carried Wu Yueling and the gray rabbit which was in the little girl''s arms, and disappeared again.


    "What happened to her?" asked Du Yuanxing.


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "How am I supposed to know?"


    "Eh, she brought the little princess into her space," said Du Yuanxing, "What should we do if Chief Wu come here later to pick up the little girl?"


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at him and laughed, "What do you want to do? Just tell him that his daughter was brought into Miss. Lu''s space."


    "Alright," said Du Yuanxing.


    Long Qingying also gave him a glance, then said, "Why are you over thinking? Miss. Lu won''t hurt the little princess. What are you worrying about?" She wondered why didn''t she find that Du Yuanxing was a little silly sometimes. He was pretty normal to her when they carried the last mission together.


    Lin Qiao brought Wu Yueling into her space, put her on the couch, then pointed at Viney and asked her, "Do you still know her?"


    Wu Yueling was used to being taken in and out of Lin Qiao''s space. After being brought in, she naturally turned to the lakeside; but after hearing Lin Qiao''s question, she turned around to look at Viney who was staring at her with a pair of large, sparkling eyes.


    Seeing Viney, her eyes glowed immediately. Then, she hurriedly slid off the couch and walked toward it.


    Viney sat still, swaying her root legs. As Wu Yueling got close enough, she put her vines on the little one''s hands. Then, the two little things looked at each other smilingly.


    Wu Yueling rarely had expressions on her face. But now, Lin Qiao found that the look on her face had been making quite some changes, like that of normal people. It was especially so when she was by herself, or with Viney or the gray rabbit.


    With Lin Qiao, Viney or the gray rabbit, Wu Yueling always radiated happy feelings.


    Lin Qiao knew that Wu Yueling liked Viney a lot, because she had already noticed the smile which was shown unwittingly on the corners of the girl''s mouth. She wondered if Wu Yueling had noticed that herself.


    "Little one, when will you talk to us?" she asked.


    She felt that Wu Yueling''s autistic symptoms had already decreased a lot. However, she didn''t know if she felt that way because the kid had accepted her and Viney.


    The little one turned back to look at Lin Qiao and slightly opened her mouth. However, she didn''t utter any sound, but turned around and continued playing with Viney.


    Viney pulled her onto the couch with her vines, then made the girl sit beside her. After that, the two little things seemed to have started a discussion.


    Lin Qiao sat beside them and felt that they were discussing something really important.


    The gray rabbit seemed to have sensed that no one would play with it. It was quite familiar with the environment and the vibe of this place, so it quickly hopped away from the little one toward the strawberry field.


    It had been eating cabbages for days. Now, it desperately wanted some vegetables from this space, because the vegetables outside tasted awful!


    Lin Qiao had no idea that the two little things were now talking about¡­


    Viney, ''I''m going to find Mama a man.''


    Wu Yueling, ''I''m going to find my Daddy a wife¡­''


    Viney looked at Wu Yueling with surprise and asked, ''Eh? What do you think about my Mama then? Do you like her?''


    Wu Yueling nodded and responded a little uncertainly, ''Zombie sister is so nice¡­ I like her, I like her¡­ But I don''t know if Daddy likes her too¡­''


    Viney narrowed her watery green eyes and said, ''Bring your Daddy here and let me see him¡­ I''ll make him like my Mama, hehe¡­'' While speaking, Viney suddenly began chuckling wickedly.


    Wu Yueling looked at her confusedly with a pair of bright black eyes, saying, ''Really? How to make Daddy like Zombie Sister?''


    Viney told her, ''You''ll be calling her Mama in the future. I have my way of doing that.''


    Wu Yueling looked at Viney with doubts, then slowly nodded.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know that not long after she brought Wu Yueling in, she was sold to the girl by Viney. On the other side, Wu Chengyue, who had been chasing Yang Chao with Xiao Yunlong,, had no idea that he was already sold to a slightly cunning little vine plant either.


    At that time, he and Xiao Yunlong had followed Yang Chao to the outskirts of the base from the base center.


    After the transformation, Yang Chao had become really fast. Also, he only chose crowded or narrow places to go to, so Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong''s attacks were highly limited.


    "Roar¡­ Haha¡­ Come on, blow this entire building off if you dare¡­ If you can''t, what can you possibly do to me?" Yang Chao crawled into a residential building while laughing at Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong.


    Soon, a series of screams from frightened people were heard from the building, and then, the screams turned into howls.

 366 Yang Chao Is Killed

    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong arrived at the building, both showed grim looks upon hearing the sounds from the building.


    "He has started eating people!" Wu Chengyue swiftly flashed into the building while speaking.


    He knew that the superpowered people who were infected by the virus would become monsters once their energies failed to suppress the virus. Their internal organs and digestive system would also change.


    They would lose interest in normal food, and start to have appetites toward flesh and blood of living human beings.


    When Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong rushed into the building, they saw quite some fresh blood splashed on the wall and corridor, as they had expected. They two had a very bad feeling as they followed the blood at an even quicker speed.


    At that moment, Yang Chao was holding the back of a woman''s neck in his widely cracked mouth, dragging her and quickly running on all fours.


    Along with his swift moves, the woman''s body was swinging in the air like a piece of cloth. When Yang Chao turned around corners, her body bumped against the walls from time to time. However, she could no longer utter screams in pain, because she had stopped breathing.


    Yang Chao was biting the back of her neck, and his mouth was filled with blood.


    After dragging the woman upstairs, he felt that Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong wouldn''t catch up with him soon. So, he brought her to an empty area and began tearing her clothes. Soon, the woman''s clothes were all ripped off.


    He stripped the woman, then violently pinched her breasts with his distorted hands. Suddenly, he clenched his fingers and tore off the woman''s breasts. He put the pair of breasts into his mouth and began chewing loudly, the blood dying his teeth and claws red.


    He quickly chewed and swallowed the breasts, then abruptly glanced back at the stairs. After that, he quickly turned around and ran.


    But, before he made it to two meters, a wall suddenly extended out from the wall next to him and blocked his way. However, he didn''t really care about that wall. He paused briefly, then swung an arm and punched at it.


    With his current strength, he was able to create a hole on a normal wall with a punch. Nevertheless, the wall before him wasn''t just an ordinary wall, because his punch failed to even leave a crack on it.


    "How dare you eat people in the base! Yang Chao, you lunatic!" Zou Shihui''s voice was heard.


    "Roar!" Yang Chao turned to try and run on the other side, but then found that the way behind him was blocked too.


    He turned and turned, laughing with a twisted voice, "Hehehe, women''s breasts taste the best¡­ You can all try¡­"


    Before he could finish talking, large amounts of steel sticks suddenly shot out of the surrounding walls straight toward him. He ran around in that narrow space like, but didn''t manage to dodge all the steel sticks and let a few finger-thick, one-meter-long sticks pierce through his body.


    "Roar!" He roared agitatedly, then stopped running and gripped a stick with both hands, trying to pull it out. Soon, the stick was pulled out along with blood.


    As he turned to reached his hands to another steel stick, another steel stick suddenly punctured his head.


    He froze, his hands on a stick which was stuck in his body. Then, he popped his eyes and slowly fell to the ground.


    The two extra walls slowly drew backward. From behind one of those walls, Wu Chengyue, Zou Shihui, and Xiao Yunlong walked toward Yang Chao who was lying on the ground with a stick stuck in its head.


    Xiao Yunlong walked up to Yang Chao the first and alertly kicked his body. After confirming the latter''s death, he turned to say to the others, "He''s dead. But, he murdered a woman before death. How are we gonna deal with him now?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at Zou Shihui and said, "Zou, you go hunt down all his accomplices, and I''ll comfort the people."


    Zou Shihui nodded. He glanced at Yang Chao and sighed in relief, then turned and left.


    "Cut off his head," said Wu Chengyue to Xiao Yunlong.


    Xiao Yunlong waved a hand. Following his move, all the steel sticks gathered together and merged into one, then melted into a sphere.


    He raised one hand in the air to control the steel sphere while drawing lines toward it with the other. Along with his movements, the steel sphere was turned into a sharp blade, with a beam of light flashing across it.


    After that, Xiao Yunlong pressed both hands downward, and next, the steel blade fell on Yang Chao''s body. With a loud ''bang'', his head was cut off, and a stream of blood gushed out of the broken neck.


    In the meanwhile, Wu Chengyue walked to the dead woman''s body and checked it, "She''s infected. We don''t know if she''ll turn into a zombie. Keep it well for now. We''ll be observing it later."


    "Yes, sir!"


    At that moment, Xiao Yunlong pointed at Yang Chao''s head and asked, "Should we take out the nucleus in it?"


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Take it out. He''s a level-seven after all."


    Hearing that, Xiao Yunlong controlled the steel blade and cut Yang Chao''s head, then picked up a steel stick to stir his brain. Soon, a nucleus fell out.


    He picked up the nucleus and wiped it on Yang Chao''s ragged coat, then stood up and turned to hand it to Wu Chengyue.


    "Keep it. You killed him, so this nucleus surely belongs to you," Wu Chengyue didn''t take it over as he spoke while turning and leaving. "Bring the two corpses down," he then added.


    "Yes, sir!" The soldiers around responded immediately.


    Before coming up, they knew that a victim was attacked and brought upstairs by Yang Chao, so they had prepared white cloth and a stretcher. They covered that female corpse with a white cloth, then tied it up with ropes. After that, they began carrying the two corpses downstairs.


    Xiao Yunlong held the nucleus and glanced at Yang Chao''s headless body, then followed behind Wu Chengyue. While walking downstairs, Wu Chengyue assigned Xiao Yunlong with some clean-up tasks, then began comforting those panicked people who had gathered around the building.


    If Lin Qiao were staying on the outside, she would certainly be able to sense Yang Chao''s death the moment it happened. However, she was still in her space at the moment, teaching Viney how to walk.


    Yes, she was teaching Viney how to walk.


    Viney had six legs, each as thick as Lin Qiao''s thumb; they were about half a meter long, white and tender, looking rather cute.


    However, once she got on her feet, she would forget how to control her little root legs. She could smoothly control every single one of the hair-like vines on her head, but not her root legs.


    When walking, she wouldn''t even know which leg to move first. Sometimes, she would move two or three legs together in different directions, and then her legs would tangle together and become a mess.


    And then¡­ she would fall again!

 298 Killed Directly

    At present, Lin Qiao wasn''t as afraid of level-six powerful people as she used to be. So, she didn''t worry that Lu Changfeng, who was a level-six water-powered man, might attack her.


    Earlier in her space, Viney had improved her power further. Judging by her green pupils behind her sunglasses, she was now at the level of zombie leaders. However, she wasn''t sure about her comprehensive strength yet. But at least, she was no weaker than zombie queens and kings.


    Therefore, she was now able to calmly face level-six people, unlike this morning. Back then, she still needed to drag her level-six enemies into her space to weaken them.


    Lin Qiao turned around again, walking toward the club.


    Right at that moment, a white figure came down from the sky and flashed across Lu Changfeng and the other two men. Then, the three men fell to the ground.


    Puff! Puff! Hearing the noises from behind, Lin Qiao glanced back and saw Qiu Lili standing there, looking at her.


    "Are you gonna let these people go? Letting them go will only bring us trouble in the future."


    Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili, then smiled and said, "I was waiting for you to do something, wasn''t I? I may have a chance to win against him, but it will take some effort. But for you, it''s just a piece of cake."


    Qiu Lili looked at her and thought of something. "So, you were waiting for me to do your dirty jobs!"


    Lin Qiao looked at the few men who were knocked out by Qiu Lili and responded, "Yeah."


    Abruptly, she walked to them and squatted by Lu Ting''s body, then put her fingers into her cut-open head and dug out an energy nucleus.


    The level-four energy nucleus was glowing with a faint blue light in the darkness.


    Earlier on, she didn''t understand why Lu Changfeng and Chen Yuting wouldn''t give up on chasing those robbers. They were clearly aware of the fact that they were no match for those robbers, but why did they keep pursuing them in a suicidal way?


    Just now, on hearing Lu Ting call Lu Changfeng brother, Lin Qiao realized that they were brother and sister. However, she always felt that the other members of Feng Ting Squad had looked at Lu Ting in a different way.


    They seemed to consider her important, but what was important to them didn''t seem to be her as an individual. Instead, it should be something that she had. Lin Qiao had observed Lu Ting, and found nothing of hers that deserved extra attention. So, she figured that the important thing was Lu Ting''s power.


    Lu Ting hadn''t used her power in front of Lin Qiao and her people yet.


    All that could mean that Feng Ting Squad people cared a lot about her power. The powers that could draw the greatest attention were none other than water power and space power.


    Lin Qiao dug out her energy nucleus and guessed that she might have water power, because earlier on, Chen Yuting had offered to trade food with water. Besides, Lu Changfeng had water power as well, so Lin Qiao thought that maybe Lu Ting had the same power as his brother.


    However, as the nucleus turned into a stream of energy and flowed into her body, then into her brain, Lin Qiao knew that she was wrong.


    That wasn''t a water-powered nucleus, but a space powered one!


    Sensing the change of her space, Lin Qiao was speechless. Why were space-powered people so easy to find now? She had met two of them within a day.


    She glanced at Lu Changfeng and the other two who had passed out, then raised her head to ask Qiu Lili, "Why didn''t you kill them? Why did you knock them out?"


    Qiu Lili turned around and snorted, "I don''t kill people for no reason!"


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao had no choice but to swing her claw at the three men.


    Puff, puff, puff. The slight sounds of wind and the noises of flesh and bones being cut were heard.


    Back in the old world, Lin Qiao definitely wouldn''t kill people randomly, because that was illegal. But now, murder was no longer a crime. The strongest ones could be the bosses and make all the rules!


    The post-apocalyptic world was chaotic. People were all trying to survive, and law meant nothing.


    Of course, they were rules in the bases. Otherwise, there would be no way to manage all those people. In the old world, there were national laws and family rules, and currently, there were strict rules in every base.


    However, outside the bases, rules didn''t exist.


    So, no one would care about the people who died outside. People were allowed to take revenge, but not in the bases. On the outside, they were allowed to kill anyone they wanted.


    Anyway, if they died, their food could be saved.


    Lin Qiao wouldn''t kill these people if they didn''t grow murderous intention toward her. However, they did want to kill her. For that reason, Lin Qiao wouldn''t let them live as future troubles.


    The ungrateful people would never thank the ones who helped them, but would only keep in mind how the others mistreated them, and try to make reprisal.


    Qiu Lili dug out the three men''s energy nuclei and wiped them clean on the corpses, then put them into her purse. Lin Qiao then turned and walked into the club.


    Walking into the diner, she saw a group of people lying motionlessly on the ground and tables.


    Lin Feng was leaning against the bar like a drunk man who had just woken up. He supported his head with his hand, not seeming able to open his eyes.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then found Mrs. Lin and the other ladies with her eyes. The ladies were all lying on the couches asleep; Lin Xiaolu was lying face down on Cheng Wangxue''s laps.


    As she turned back to look at Lin Feng, she picked up a glass on the table. The glass disappeared in her hand for two seconds, then reappeared, filled with water. After that, she squatted before Lin Xiaolu and held her up to slowly pour the water into her mouth. Then, she gave Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen, and Cheng Wangxue each a glass of water.


    Next, she walked to the bar and gave a glass of water to Lin Feng.


    She felt a strange energy from those people that didn''t originate from themselves. It should be the power of someone named Aliu that Lu Ting mentioned earlier; that should be what had put these people into unconsciousness.


    She couldn''t find how that energy made all these people fall asleep.


    After Lin Qiao made them drink the lake water, that strange energy faded slowly.


    "What¡­ what happened?" Mrs. Lin asked with both surprise and confusion on seeing that people were all lying on the ground, tables, or chairs.


    "You were immobilized by someone while I was not here. If I came out later, we''d have lost a vehicle tonight."


    But of course, she would certainly be able to get that lost vehicle back.


    "What happened?" Lin Feng looked at her confusedly as well.


    "Lu Ting tried to steal the car that I lent them today while you were sleeping," said Lin Qiao, "But, I''ve already killed them."


    "What? You killed them?" Lin Feng, Mrs. Lin, and the others looked at her with surprise.


    They weren''t blaming her, but were just shocked by the fact that Lin Qiao killed those people directly.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "I didn''t start it. For the ones who shoot at me, I''ll never be soft-hearted."


    "Alright!" Lin Feng nodded and responded.

 367 Weird Vines

    Lin Qiao and Wu Yueling quietly squatted aside, looking at Viney who was refusing to stand up.


    "Viney, why can you control your hair but not your legs?" Lin Qiao looked at her and asked with a complicated expression.


    Viney turned on the ground as she twirled the vines on her head and her little root legs to the other side, then put a vine on Lin Qiao''s hand.


    ''Because my legs are roots¡­ roots¡­ They usually only stay in the earth, and don''t move¡­''


    Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Yueling, then turned back to Viney, "Even the little one runs quicker than you. Get up, quickly!"


    Viney made a few rolls on the ground, then supported her body with the vines on her head to stand up.


    Looking at the shambling Viney, Wu Yueling wanted to give a hand, but Lin Qiao didn''t let her


    "Don''t go. She might fall upon you. She''s heavy, so she''ll probably hurt you."


    Wu Yueling looked at Viney with hesitation, then glanced at Lin Qiao, seeming to be struggling.


    Meanwhile, Viney stood quite steadily, but couldn''t walk.


    "Raise one leg first, then make a step. Move another leg after you have steadied yourself. Be patient, slow¡­ The second leg¡­ the third leg¡­ Yes, just like this¡­ Walk slowly¡­"


    Lin Qiao spent a whole hour teaching Viney how to walk. Only after that was the latter able to walk slowly. Still, she couldn''t run; once she tried, her six legs would knit together and trip her.


    In the small space, Shen Yujen hid beside the entrance, sticking her head out and curiously watching Lin Qiao teach Viney how to walk. She wanted to come out very much, but she was quite afraid of Viney''s vibe. So, with no other choice, she kept hiding there and watching.


    She was also very curious about why Princess Wu Yueling was in this space. Seeing Wu Yueling running around Viney with a faint smile on her face, she felt even stranger.


    Wasn''t Wu Yueling an autistic child? Why was she playing with someone else like a healthy child now?


    As Wu Chengyue had secretly told Viney that Wu Chengyue would come to pick the little one up soon, Viney had been expecting him while learning how to walk from Lin Qiao.


    Viney was now able to sense the vibes, scents, and noises from the outside world through Lin Qiao; her range of sensing was about a hundred meters in radius.


    She wasn''t able to see the outside world, but could differentiate the good vibes from the bad ones. She told Lin Qiao that she wasn''t able to exit the space, and that wasn''t a lie. However, there was one thing that she didn''t tell Lin Qiao: even though her body couldn''t leave the base, her vines were actually able to sneak out! To do that, she needed to touch Lin Qiao''s body.


    At this moment, Yuan Tianxing and the others who were in the living room on the outside had been staring at the few long, jade-white vines which came from an unknown source with astonishment. Those vines were wriggling all over the living room, showing no sign of attacking them though.


    Those vines looked a little familiar to some of them.


    "Where¡­ are these from?"


    Those people sat on the couches in shock as they watched those vines touch everything in the living room. Soon, those vines reached and moved around them.


    At that moment, someone suddenly pushed the door open. Xing Le walked in excitedly and said, "There''s the news¡­ Eh? What are these?"


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and responded, "I don''t know. Don''t attack them yet. Let''s see what they want. They aren''t showing any bad intentions."


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Xing Le, then turned back to stare at those jade-white vines while asking, "How are things going over there? Did Yang Chao die?"


    Xing Le carefully walked to the couches. As those vines suddenly reached toward him, he immediately stopped moving, gazing at them while answering Lin Wenwen''s question.


    "He died. I heard that he became some kind of ugly monster, and that even Chief Wu''s lightning attack couldn''t hurt him. At last, he was killed joint-handedly by another Chief in this base and Deputy Chief Xiao."


    After saying that, he curiously looked at Lin Wenwen''s short hair. He had yet to get used to her new look, but he didn''t say a word about that.


    Meanwhile, the others fixed their eyes on those vines while asking Xing Le in one voice, "He transformed?"


    Viney quietly touched everything in the living room, then drew back her vines. Before long, those vines disappeared in front of Yuan Tianxing and the others.


    After watching those vines turn transparent bit by bit and then disappear, those people finally sighed with relief.


    "Did they go away?" said Du Yuanxing.


    "I think¡­ so¡­" One of the others responded.


    Du Yuanxing thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "I think that was the vine plant in Miss. Lu''s space¡­"


    Hearing that, Lin Wenwen both recalled Viney. Yuan Tianxing hadn''t seen her, so he confusedly looked at Du Yuanxing. Xing Le looked around alertly. Only after confirming that those white vines had truly gone did he sigh and relax.


    Then, he said to the others, "I heard that Yang Chao was running some kind of secret experiment related to the zombie virus, and he used living human beings from the base for it. During the past few months, hundreds of people in this base have disappeared, all kidnapped by Yang Chao. Now, they''ve all been found."


    Yuan Tianxing and the others looked at him in shock. "He ran experiments on living human beings? What experiments? It must be something evil, as he even needed to secretly kidnap people for that!" Lin Wenwen said angrily.


    Xing Le nodded, "Yes. He extracted the zombie virus from zombie blood, then diluted and injected it into human bodies. The commoners would die immediately after the injection. Only the superpowered people were able to suppress the virus."


    Yuan Tianxing frowned while asking, "Why did he inject the diluted virus into human bodies?"


    "I think he was trying to attain some kind of power," said Xing Le, "He became a monster at last. He wasn''t even afraid of lightning strikes after that, and only physical attacks could hurt him."


    Lin Wenwen had a guess, and said, "So, people could only use weapons to attack him? A bomb would have ended him, right?"


    Xing Le nodded in agreement, "You''re right. Bombs could indeed give him some harm. However, he was way too fast. I''m afraid that he would be able to dodge the bomb before it went off. So, in the end, Deputy Chief Xiao killed him by piercing a metal stick into his head."


    Yuan Tianxing remembered that Miss. Lu had mentioned a level-seven partner of Yuan Tianxing, so he asked, "Where''s his partner? Who is that man?"


    Xing Le looked at him and answered his question, "Ah, I heard that he''s a level-seven metal-powered man. But, he ran away without Yang Chao when he saw the situation going bad."


    "He ran away?" The others exclaimed out loud with surprise.

 368 About Baby

    "Wasn''t he here to help Yang Chao? Why didn''t he help?" asked Yuan Tianxing.


    Xing Le shook his head and said, "I''m not sure. I heard that he ran away when Chief Wu and the others were attacking Yang Chao."


    Lin Wenwen showed a weird expression, as she didn''t know if she should laugh or not, "Was Yang Chao pissed off?"


    "I would be if I were him," said Xing Le.


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "That''s understandable. Isn''t Yang Chao''s ally a post-apocalyptic robber? Robbers can never be trusted. That robber definitely wouldn''t risk his own life for Yang Chao."


    "Maybe Yang Chao didn''t pay him enough for him to risk his life," said Lin Wenwen.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her and nodded, "You''re right."


    "Chief Wu is going to get busy next. What just happened in this base will greatly affect the people here. Also, the winter is coming," Du Yuanxing, who stood beside Yuan Tianxing, crossed his arms before his chest and said.


    "I found that ever since we met Miss. Lu, our situation has been turning for the better. We''ve already collected tons of supplies, so we don''t need to worry about getting through the coming winter," said Lin Wenwen.


    Hearing her, the others all realized that the preparation of the new base''s construction was going smoothly as well, and Miss. Lu had indeed found them great amounts of supplies.


    ¡­


    In the space, Lin Qiao successfully taught Viney how to walk, then sat on the couch and watched the two little things play with each other. She spent a moment sensing the outside world and heard the message that Xing Le brought back.


    "I need to get out for a while. You two stay here and play. Viney, don''t fall on the little one. If she gets hurt, I''ll spank you when I get back!" She said to Viney, then turned and disappeared.


    Lin Qiao trusted Viney, and believed that even if she fell, she wouldn''t fall on Wu Yueling.


    Viney was tossing the cluster of vines on her head from side to side. As Lin Qiao left, she held Wu Yueling''s hands and inched her way to a couch. Then, she held the couch and moved around it, as slow as a turtle.


    Wu Yueling quietly followed behind her, circling around the couch.


    Viney held Wu Yueling''s hand with a vine, then said, ''Why isn''t your Daddy here yet? We''ve been waiting forever¡­''


    Wu Yueling looked at Viney confusedly while responding in her mind, ''I don''t know when Daddy will show up. Daddy said he''ll come soon¡­''


    Viney sighed, sounding like an adult, ''I was going to find my Mama a random man. The one outside named Yuan Tianxing is not bad¡­ But, since you said that you like my Mama, I have no choice but to save her for your Daddy¡­ But, your Daddy is so low¡­"


    Wu Yueling looked at her without fully understanding her meaning. ''If your Mama left with another man¡­ she can''t be my Mama, can she?'' she asked.


    Viney answered her question, ''Of course not! If that happens, Mama will have a little baby with that man¡­ And, that will be me! Haha¡­ Don''t tell your Daddy and my Mama about this¡­ This is our secret¡­ We can''t let them know¡­''


    Wu Yueling looked at her bewilderedly, saying, ''Eh? Why will you become a little baby? Will my Daddy have a baby with your Mama after he came in?''


    Viney blinked and gave a smile. Her eyes curved like a pair of crescents as she snickered and said to Wu Yueling, ''Hehe, that''s right! If your Daddy comes in, I''ll make him have a baby together with my Mama¡­ And then, I''ll become that little baby¡­ I''ll be calling you sister¡­ In the future, I''ll be your little sister¡­''


    Wu Yueling didn''t understand every word that Viney said, but hearing Viney say that she would become her little sister, the little girl suddenly had her eyes glowed and looked at Viney with surprise.


    ''Really? Really?'' she asked.


    Viney, who was walking before her, turned her whole body around. She wanted to only turn her head but couldn''t, because she didn''t have a neck.


    She tossed her vine hair to the other side, then said to Wu Yueling, ''It''s real, it''s real!''


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling was immediately thrilled. She abruptly spread her arms to hug Viney. Thankfully, Viney was able to stand quite steadily even though she still shambled when walking. Otherwise, she would have been pressed to the ground by Wu Yueling.


    ''Ah, are you so happy about that?'' said Viney to Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling''s adorable little face was already wearing a big smile. Her black, glowing eyes had also curved like a pair of crescents when she nodded quickly at Viney.


    ''If you didn''t come here today, I might have let someone else be my Daddy. If that happened, I wouldn''t be your little sister,'' Viney suddenly thought about that.


    Once she said that, the smile on Wu Yueling''s face froze. The little girl gazed at Viney as if she was picturing Viney as some other people''s little sister.


    With that thought, she became unhappy.


    She looked at Viney, her cherry-like little lips instantly curved downward and her crescent-like eyes suddenly turning red and misty. Seeing that look on her face, Viney knew that something not good was happening. ''Ahyaya, this is bad!''


    As Wu Yueling was about to cry, the little vine plant panicked. She hurriedly began shaking the vines on her head and swinging like a roly-poly toy to cheer Wu Yueling up.


    ''Alright, alright, don''t cry, don''t cry¡­ If Mama came in and saw you cry, she''ll spank me on the butt¡­ Although, even I don''t know where my butt is¡­''


    Viney was confused for a moment when mentioning butt, but soon forgot about that, because she had a little girl to be cheered.


    ''Good little one¡­ You see, you see, you''re already here, right? So, I won''t become some other man''s little baby¡­ Don''t worry, don''t worry¡­''


    However, Wu Yueling''s lips curved even further down. She even raised a little hand to wipe her streaming tears. She cried pretty sadly, but didn''t make any sounds.


    Silent cry¡­


    Viney didn''t know what to do. ''Oh my, oh my, don''t cry, please don''t cry¡­ What should I do¡­ Mama, help!''


    Lin Qiao had gone out and had a short conversation with Yuan Tianxing and the others. However, Viney summoned her before long.


    Lin Qiao was a little confused, as she didn''t know what had happened. She flashed into the space and saw that Wu Yueling was crying while Viney was rolling on the ground before her.


    "What are you doing? I''ve been out for less than three minutes¡­ Why''s the little one crying?"


    Viney immediately stood up from the ground, then reached a vine to Lin Qiao''s hand. Then, she coiled the vine around Lin Qiao''s arm and dragged herself toward Lin Qiao, hanging on her arm.


    ''Mama, Mama, the little one suddenly cried¡­ Viney doesn''t know why she cried¡­ Maybe she''s missing her Daddy¡­'' While speaking, she turned and winked at Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling was crying, but still, she remembered what Viney said to her earlier, about keeping the secret of the little baby from Zombie Sister.


    She sobbed while looking at Lin Qiao with a pair of red eyes and nodding. She wanted to tell Lin Qiao that she did miss her Daddy, which was indeed true¡­

 299 Earned A Few Tanks of Gas

    Lin Qiao woke up the others with the lake water, then told Chen Yuting and his people about what Lu Changfeng and Lu Ting did. Upon hearing that, Chen Yuting was angry as well.


    "That woman had always been selfish! But, I didn''t think that she would cast greedy eyes on your vehicle."


    Lin Qiao sat aside silently, drinking a cup of water.


    "She wanted to abandon us. Did she want you to vent your anger on us after finding out that she stole the vehicle?" A man beside Chen Yuting said.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "If they really stole the car, we wouldn''t let you get away easily."


    Chen Yuting and his people stayed silent.


    Lin Qiao stood up and walked to them, "Actually, I knew that she didn''t really believe me this morning. Later on, after I took out the vehicle, she still didn''t believe me. So, I''ve kept an eye on her all the way."


    While speaking, she returned to the bar, then glanced at her watch. It was two o''clock in the morning.


    "Forget it! They''ve already been taken care of anyway. So now, we can have some sleep without worrying. You should go find a place to rest. We''ll continue on the way after dawn."


    She didn''t worry that Chen Yuting and the others growing evil intentions like Lu Changfeng and her sister, because she had walked past each of them and read their minds. They were shocked by what Lu Ting and Lu Changfeng did, but had no other thoughts.


    Lin Feng and the others on his side surely knew that Lin Qiao wouldn''t let those people do anything bad, so they had no worries. However, they were indeed concerned about what strange type of energy put them in sleep.


    At dawn, they got up and made some simple food. The breakfast was still a potful of congee with pork.


    Lin Wenwen''s space was airless. It was good for keeping food fresh, but didn''t allow her to bring people in.


    When Lin Qiao entered her space and saw the things stored in the third small space, she understood why Chen Yuting and his people cared so much about Lu Ting. Those people didn''t show their concern for her, but their eyes were always on her, intentionally or not.


    This time, after hearing that Lin Qiao had killed Lu Ting, they all had strong feelings. However, none of them said anything.


    After all, stored in Lu Ting''s space were a few tanks of gasoline!


    Gasoline was very scarce after the apocalypse. No wonder those people cared so much about her.


    Lin Qiao had only used one tank of the total gasoline that she had, and the rest three tanks were still untouched. But now, she had a few more tanks. That was an unexpected harvest.


    She found that both the second and the third small spaces were airless before merging into her space. But after the merger, these two small spaces were connected with her space and both filled with air.


    Lin Qiao looked around in Lu Ting''s space. Except for the gasoline, she also found some women''s supplies, but nothing else. This space was small, even smaller than the first small space. It was only a little bigger than a bathroom.


    So, the few tanks of gasoline filled it up almost completely.


    Lin Qiao walked out, prepared to exit her space. But suddenly, a fluffy creature got close to her.


    She lowered her head and found that it was the gray rabbit.


    The rabbit had grown big in her space and become fatter! That was reasonable though, as it was feeding on the grasses, strawberries, and vegetables in Lin Qiao''s space!


    The rabbit rarely approached Lin Qiao. It only ran back to her when Wu Yueling tried to take it away.


    Lin Qiao bent over, then picked the rabbit up and asked, "What? Why did you come to me? You''re not missing the little one, are you?"


    Speaking of the little one, she wondered if her father had discovered Yang Chao''s plan. As Lin Qiao thought, that man named Yang Chao was not a good guy. He wanted to hurt Wu Chengyue, and Lin Qiao was fine with that. However, he actually planned to do it by harming Wu Yueling. Because of that, Lin Qiao considered him as an evil man.


    Besides, based on the fact that he had connived with Lu Tianyu to try biting a chunk of flesh out of Wu Chengyue, Lin Qiao could tell that he liked to play dirty tricks.


    In a civilian area in the outskirt of Sea City Base, inside a room¡­


    The robber leader who escaped from Lin Qiao was wearing a grim look and saying coldly to the other man in the room, "Your leader lied! Killing Hades Base leader''s family? Killing Yuan Tianxing? Those were all lies! I lost eleven brothers! You go and tell your leader to pay me back with his life!"


    The other man was just a level-six superpowered being, yet he had no fear of the level-seven robber leader. With a faint smile, he responded, "Tang He, calm down! We didn''t think that the mission would cost all of your brothers'' lives. After all, our boss chose to work with you because he believed in your capabilities, isn''t that right? Besides, we can''t get any benefits by entrapping you, can we?"


    The robber leader who was called Tang He radiated his vibe and made the air pressure around him low. "Then, why didn''t you tell me that there was a level-six zombie in that area? And that it''s a space-powered one! If I knew that, I wouldn''t let it kill all my brothers," said Tang He, his voice revealing ferocity.


    The other man shook his head and said, "We honestly didn''t know about that! Besides, the whereabouts of level-six zombies are never certain! They''re so rarely seen. And, you''re a level-seven powerful being. Even if you encountered a zombie king, you would be able to kill it, right?"


    Tang He looked at him and stayed silent for a few seconds, then said, "It has a space. It can enter the space at any moment it wants. Go ask your leader to try and kill a zombie queen which can disappear at any time. And, it''s not just a zombie king or queen."


    If he were right, the strong pressure that he sensed before was from a zombie dominator. If that were true, he really should have sent some people to scout that area first.


    The energy contained in the nucleus of a zombie dominator was rich enough to send a level-seven superpowered human being straight to level-eight! However, zombie dominators were extremely dangerous. A raging zombie king or queen was able to gather about six-thousand ordinary zombies, but no one knew how many could a zombie dominator summon. That number was probably over ten or twenty thousand.


    If the leaders of the few large bases learned that a zombie dominator existed in that area, a stir would be caused.


    The other men clearly didn''t get the point of the latter part of Tang He''s words, but only heard the part about a space-powered zombie.


    "Space-powered zombies have always been rare. If you bring back its nucleus, you might be able to trade something even better with it," the man looked at Tang He and said with glowing eyes.


    Tang He snorted and said, "To get its nucleus, you need to be able to kill it with one move. Otherwise, it might hide in its space forever. What will you do about it then?"

 369 Viney Causes Troubles

    Lin Qiao smiled at her and said, "You''ve only parted from your Daddy for a couple of hours, and you''re still missing him? No wonder your Daddy brought you with him every time he carried a mission. He must be quite tired, as he needs to take care of you while being a Chief."


    Wu Yueling didn''t quite understand Lin Qiao''s words, but did grasp some information from what she said¡ªshe said that her Daddy was tired.


    She knew what tired meant. It meant that someone did many, many works, then ran out of strength.


    That was what her Daddy told her.


    Would Daddy be less tired if Zombie Sister helped him with all the works? She really liked Zombie Sister, and Daddy also said that he wanted to find Ling Ling a Mom¡­


    With those thoughts, Wu Yueling suddenly pounced on Lin Qiao and hugged her thigh.


    ''Zombie Sister is Daddy''s wife! I can''t let anyone have her!''


    When Wu Yueling touched her, Lin Qiao just sensed the little girl''s thoughts. And then, her face turned dark.


    ''What the hell? When did I become her Daddy''s wife? Kids shouldn''t talk nonsense!''


    She hurriedly pulled Wu Yueling away from her thigh, then squatted and looked at her in the eyes while asking, "Ling Ling, who told you that I''m your Daddy''s wife? If you said that to your Daddy, he''d definitely spank you!"


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Viney immediately froze. ''No, no, this is bad¡­ The little one is too little to keep secrets!''


    Wu Yueling only shook her head at Lin Qiao. After thinking for a moment, she nodded, then made a quick step forward and held Lin Qiao''s arm, clinging on her tightly.


    As a result, Lin Qiao now had a little one on each of her arms.


    She didn''t know what to say anymore. ''It seems that something important has just happened, am I right?'' she thought.


    As Wu Yueling was about to leak the secret, Viney got anxious. Abruptly, she said to Lin Qiao, ''Mama, Mama, I''m ready repair your body for the last time¡­ Mama, follow me down to the lake now¡­''


    Lin Qiao had no idea that Viney was trying to distract her. Hearing what the latter said, she was instantly attracted, "Eh? You''re ready? Didn''t you say that I need to find another person to do that?''


    ''You can''t find that person for now,'' said Viney, ''So Mama, you can get down there alone. It''ll also work¡­''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know that the smart little Viney was tricking her. With hesitation, she asked, "Really? Don''t we need other people?"


    In fact, she was relieved silently on hearing that. Where should she go to find a man that she liked?


    However, she felt that what Viney said just now was a little contradictory to what she said earlier. So, she asked with a good deal of suspicion, "You won''t lie to me, will you?"


    Viney felt slightly guilty, but stayed calm without showing it to Lin Qiao. ''Viney won''t lie to Mama,'' she said.


    On the inside, she responded, ''Mama, you refused to find a man yourself, so Viney has found one for you! When it starts to happen, I''ll be hiding in your belly! You won''t be able to find me!''


    Lin Qiao knew nothing about her plan. If she did, she might have vomited blood.


    "Alright then," she nodded at Viney and said. Then, she thought about something else. "Little one, your daddy is coming soon. I''ll send you out now, in case he can''t find you when he arrives."


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling was fluttered. She hurriedly turned to Viney. The latter only narrowed her eyes toward the little girl.


    Seeing that, Wu Yueling stopped worrying, then obediently let Lin Qiao send her out.


    ¡­


    Yuan Tianxing and the others witnessed Lin Qiao show up in the living room, stay for a few minutes, then disappear again. A couple of minutes later, she showed up again with the little princess.


    "I''ll be staying in my space to upgrade these days. You should be careful. Even though the hidden dangers from Yang Chao don''t exist anymore, he might still have other confederates, and that robber. So, you all need to be careful," Lin Qiao put the little one on a couch, then said to Yuan Tianxing and the others.


    Lin Wenwen nodded at her and said, "I won''t go out before you come out of the space."


    She knew that among all people on the scene, she faced the greatest danger because she wasn''t capable of protecting herself yet.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her and said, "I''m glad that you understand." Then, she looked at Wu Chengyue and continued, "I think Wu Chengyue will come here soon to pick her up. I wonder why he sent her here."


    Wu Yueling raised her head to look at Lin Qiao, then abruptly held her hand.


    ''I asked Daddy to send me here¡­ I wanted to play with Viney¡­''


    Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise, saying, "Eh? You did that? Alright, will you be a good girl and stay here to wait for your Daddy to pick you up, okay?" While speaking, she rubbed Wu Yueling''s soft hair.


    Wu Yueling nodded at her, then raised her little hands to wipe the tears off her face.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Qiao with puzzlement in his eyes, saying, "Are you going to upgrade again? Upgrading is supposed to be dangerous for zombies, but I feel that''s not true for you."


    Lin Qiao turned to him and responded, "Sure not. Do I still look like a zombie now?"


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Alright, you''re special. But, your friends aren''t like normal zombies either. That''s also because of you, right?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him in the eyes and blinked, then showed a faint smile in those green eyes while saying to him, "For some things, you should keep them in your mind instead of saying them out loud."


    Lin Wenwen had a trace of delight flashing across her face when she was observing the look in Lin Qiao''s eyes.


    That was it! That smiling, threatening look¡­ She had seen that look plenty of times before. Back then, Lin Hao was always the one being threatened. Her big sister doted on her, and never threatened her.


    She wanted to laugh every time she saw the look on Lin Hao''s face after he was threatened. Yuan Tianxing was now wearing the same not-so-happy look.


    Yuan Tianxing was a little uncomfortable now. Alright, he mentioned Lin Qiao''s secret out loud without thinking; and in return, she threatened in front of so many people and made him lose face!


    "Alright, alright, I get it." The displeased Yuan Tianxing also had a weird feeling. That familiar way of threatening¡­ He thought that he would never experience it again.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then flashed into her space. After entering her space, she found Viney happily swimming in the lake.


    Seeing Lin Qiao, the latter quickly swam toward her.


    She wasn''t able to walk quickly on the ground, but in the water, she swam as nimbly and happily as a fish.


    Lin Qiao looked around, then walked to the clearing before a little space and dragged a chair to the lakeside. She stood by the chair and began taking off her clothes. She didn''t care if Shen Yujen, who was staying in that small space, would watch her or not.


    Anyway, Shen Yujen didn''t watch her. Upon finding that Lin Qiao was actually stripping herself by the lake, she moved into the small space while feeling a little awkward. Even though she was very curious about why Lin Qiao took off her clothes, she didn''t think it was appropriate to see her naked.


    So, she suppressed her curiosity.

 300 Yan Fangyu Comes to Visi

    In the morning, when Tang He was meeting with Yang Chao''s people, Yuan Tianxing and his friends had a visitor as well.


    Du answered the door, confusedly looking at the beautiful lady standing on the threshold as he said, "Eh¡­ Deputy Chief Yan! It''s so early in the morning¡­ Good morning!"


    Du Yuanxing suddenly didn''t know what to say, as he felt flattered.


    Yan Fangyu gave him an elegant smile, then responded, "What? Aren''t you gonna let me in? Has your Deputy Chief gotten up yet? I''m really sorry for disturbing you in your sleep."


    "No, no, no¡­ It''s okay, it''s totally okay! That¡­ Eh, but you do need to wait for a moment, in case you might see something ugly in here," Du Yuanxing shook his head in a flurry, then blocked the door as he suddenly thought of something.


    After saying that to Yan Fangyu, he turned back to yell at the group of men who were walking in the flat naked or only in underwear, "Oi, hurry up! Put some clothes on! We shouldn''t keep the pretty lady waiting!"


    The others had just gotten up. At the moment, they were mostly holding their toothbrushes, with towels on their shoulders. On hearing the knocks, they sleepily turned to the door. However, after Du Yuanxing called Deputy Chief Yuan, they all woke up completely.


    So, when Du Yuanxing turned back to yell at them, they were already trying to find their clothes.


    Yuan Tianxing was wearing a white T-shirt before already. On hearing Du Yuanxing''s words, he lowered his head to check himself, but found nothing wrong. So, he directly went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.


    A couple of minutes later, Du Yuanxing opened the door to let Yan Fangyu in. "Sorry for making you wait! Please come in!"


    The faint smile on Yan Fangyu''s face didn''t change. Wearing a pair of fancy high heels, she slightly gyrated her hips while walking in.


    "Please have a seat!" Yuan Tianxing sat down on one of the two armchairs in the living room as he pointed at the other armchair while saying to Yan Fangyu, then pouring her a glass of water.


    Yan Fangyu surely didn''t come empty-handed, as she had brought a bag. After putting the bag on the tea table, she sat down.


    "I conveniently brought you some breakfast. I made it myself. Everyone should try it." While speaking, she opened the bag and let out an aroma of eggs mixing with spring onions.


    Yuan Tianxing smiled politely and said, "Don''t bring any gifts next time, or we''ll feel embarrassed."


    Looking at the warm chopped green onion omelet rolls in the bag, the people on the scene who had just gotten up and hadn''t had breakfast yet couldn''t help but swallow their saliva.


    "Come and eat! I made plenty, as I was worried that it might not be enough for you all," Yan Fangyu smiled at them and said.


    Du Yuanxing, Lin Yu, Lu Junjie and the others were all drooling at those omelet rolls, but didn''t dare to move. At last, they reluctantly turned their eyes from the omelet rolls to Yuan Tianxing.


    Yuan Tianxing decided to accept Yan Fangyu''s kindness after inhaling the aroma. "Go get your bowls and chopsticks, help yourself with it," he said to the others.


    Once he said that, the others immediately rushed into the kitchen to get their bowls and chopsticks, then crowded around the table and each took two slices.


    Yan Fangyu''s omelets were in large slices, but still, one slice wasn''t enough for a grown man. Therefore, they each took two slices, then stepped away from Yan Fangyu and Yuan Tianxing, to eat in a quiet corner.


    In fact, they all went out and squatted in a line outside the door.


    "It seems that Miss. Yan is really into our boss! She even brought us breakfast so early in the morning!" Du Yuanxing took a bite of the nice-smelling, soft and tasty omelet, then chewed with happiness while speaking.


    "Even blind people can tell that," said Lin Yu.


    "Sadly, our boss doesn''t like her," said Lu Junjie regretfully.


    "But, why did she come so early in the morning? Does she need something?"


    "Who knows?"


    "She''s a Deputy Chief after all, so I guess she''s actually busy with work. I don''t think she''ll have the time to come here if there''s nothing important."


    "You''re right!"


    The people squatted outside were chatting while eating. In the living room, Yuan Tianxing took two bites of the omelet, and Yan Fangyu didn''t touch the food.


    "You didn''t come here so early in the morning only to bring me breakfast, did you? Tell me, what''s it about?" Yuan Tianxing looked at Yan Fangyu and asked.


    Hearing that, the smile in Yan Fangyu''s face faded. She looked at him seriously and said, "I''ve received a message, which is about you, Chief Wu, and the old Hades Base''s leader, Chief Netherworld Fire''s family."


    Her words darkened Yuan Tianxing''s face. "What''s the message? Is it about so many of us?"


    "Yang Chao¡­" said Yan Fangyu, "He has always been hostile toward Chief Wu, so anyone who has worked with Chief Wu will be targeted by him. This time, he already has his eyes on you. He seems to have found out something about you and Chief Netherworld Fire''s family. Now, he''s preparing to ambush you when you leave our base. Moreover, he has sent some people to go after your friends out there."


    Yuan Tianxing''s face turned slightly cold as he asked, "Is that real?"


    Yan Fangyu nodded and said, "That message is true. But of course, you can choose to not believe, or confirm it with Chief Wu. I assume he has received the same message as well."


    Yuan Tianxing abruptly stood up as he looked at her and said, "So, are you saying that some people are already going after Lin Feng and his people out there?"


    Yan Fangyu raised her head to look at him and replied, "That''s right."


    Yuan Tianxing made a fist with his right hand and punched on his left palm, then continued anxiously, "This is bad. Are they in danger now?"


    "That''s why I came here so early to let you know," said Yan Fangyu, "You''ll be making further decisions."


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her gratefully and said, "Thank you! I get it! I owe you one."


    Seeing that Yan Fangyu was truly a little anxious, Yan Fangyu stood up and said, "I''ll leave then. If you decide to find a way to rescue them, you must be quick." While speaking, she walked toward the door.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded at her and said, "I know."


    Yan Fangyu gave him a pretty smile, then walked to the door and opened it.


    The five people who were squatted by both sides of the door raised their heads and turned back to look at her simultaneously, then stood up in the next second.


    "Eh, Deputy Chief Yan, are you leaving?"


    "Thank you for the breakfast! It''s really delicious!"


    Yan Fangyu smiled and responded, "I''m not good at cooking. This is my best work. I''m glad that you like it. See you next time!"


    After saying that, she walked away. While walking, she turned back to smile and wave at the group of men. After the pretty lady looked back at them and smiled at them, the five dazed men gazed at her back as she walked further and further away.


    A couple of seconds later, when the beautiful Yan Fangyu walked into the elevator, these people finally came back to their senses. As they turned around, they saw Yuan Tianxing''s composed face.


    "Have you seen enough? Wipe your saliva," said Yuan Tianxing.


    Hearing that, the group of men automatically wiped their mouths.

 370 Wu Chengyue Arrives

    Lin Qiao took off her clothes and hat, then walked into the water naked; her hair were still super short.


    "Viney, I need to talk to you about my hair. Can you make my hair grow slightly longer this time? Even though my hair can grow by themselves now, I''ll still have to wait for one or two months before I can show them to the others!" While speaking, she walked toward the lake.


    Viney stooped before her, then held her hand with a vine and said, ''Hmm¡­ em¡­ If there''s a man doing this together with us, Mama''s hair will grow long¡­ But, there isn''t a man now, so Mama, your hair can''t grow.''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    Why did it require a man?


    "You''re a kid. Don''t always talk about me finding a man. Aren''t you ashamed?"


    Viney rolled her big eyes toward Lin Qiao, saying, ''Viney isn''t ashamed¡­ hm¡­''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. ''Who are her parents? I just don''t have any control over this kid!''


    Lin Qiao walked into the lake while thinking. As the water reached her chest, she raised her arms and dove down. Viney swam around her like a large, jade-white octopus; her six root legs and the cluster of vine hair were paddling in the water. Meanwhile, she reached out a few vines to drag Lin Qiao down to the bottom of the lake.


    Lin Qiao had been at the bottom once, so she knew that the lake was very deep. This time, being dragged by Viney, she found that she was sinking down really quickly. More specifically, Viney was diving down quite quickly.


    Before long, they arrived at the bottom of the lake and landed on the dark-red ground.


    Viney planted her six little root legs into the ground. After that, Lin Qiao popped her eyes and watched the other''s body and the veins grow larger and larger, longer and larger.


    Lin Qiao was shocked while standing on the bottom of the lake, looking at Viney''s huge body.


    If they were on the outside, Viney''s body would have occupied about three or four hundred meters squared area.


    Seeing the countless leg-thick vines dancing in the water, Lin Qiao''s scalp was a little numb.


    At that point, Viney''s eyes weren''t of a regular size anymore. Lin Qiao raised her head and looked at those enormous green eyes that were glowing among those vines like two searchlights.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao felt she herself was just a tiny being.


    What a huge vine!


    Viney reached down a few small vines to coil around Lin Qiao''s body, then wrapped her up layer by layer. Lin Qiao had experienced that for a few times before. So, she was already used to being wrapped in Viney''s vines by now.


    She lost her eyesight temporarily while a great amount of green energy started seeping into her skin. That numb and itchy feeling made her want to give a long sigh, as it felt comfortable and nice.


    As a zombie, she was actually able to feel that. She wasn''t sure if it was good or bad.


    Recalling that last time Wu Chengyue bit her on her thigh, she felt that her current body was really sensitive. It was like her old skin had fallen off, and her new skin was still growing. Even a slight touch would stimulate her tactile nervous system.


    Soon, she sensed a warmth spiraling in her stomach and expanding from her stomach. It reached to her lower abdomen from her arm, then went up to her chest. It was circulating up and down regularly.


    While Viney was helping Lin Qiao enter the repairing mode, Wu Chengyue arrived on the outside.


    "Chief Wu is here," Wei Jingchen opened the door to inform the people in the living room as he saw Wei Jingchen show up on the stairs. Yuan Tianxing and the others weren''t surprised. It was already two o''clock in the afternoon. No matter how busy Chief Wu had been, he should have completed a phase by now.


    "Chief Wu is here to pick up little Ling Ling, right?" said Lin Wenwen.


    "I think so. Ling Ling, your daddy is here," Yuan Tianxing looked at Wu Yueling and said.


    After Lin Qiao went back into her space, Wu Yueling had been sitting on the couch and spending time alone, without talking to anyone else. Hearing Yuan Tianxing say that her Daddy was here, she immediately turned to look at the door, but didn''t get off the couch.


    Wu Chengyue was still wearing that long and formfitting military coat, along with a pair of army boots. As he walked in, the lower hem of his coat swayed gently along with the wind stirred up by his movements.


    "Ling Ling, Daddy is here to pick you up," Wu Chengyue walked in with a faint smile. He nodded at Yuan Tianxing at first, then talked to Wu Yueling. However, his precious daughter didn''t rush to him at the sight of him as he expected.


    Before, his daughter would react so every time after she spent some time alone in a strange environment.


    However, she did not do that this time.


    Following behind Wu Chengyue, were Meng Yue and Moli.


    The data that Moli had was very important. She was also a researcher, so Wu Chengyue was worried that an accident might happen to her like what happened to Liang Dashu. Therefore, he asked her to follow him after she handed him the data.


    "Congratulations, Chief Wu! You''ve successfully cleaned out all the people who were against you. From now on, this base will be ruled by only two leaders. The base was divided into three parts, but in the future, they will merge into two," Yuan Tianxing said to Wu Chengyue with a grin. After all, Wu Chengyue had prepared for long before attaining this opportunity to strike back and win. Even though Miss. Lu had been causing troubles, he still achieved a rich harvest.


    Wu Chengyue smiled and responded, "That''s nothing. Your new base will be greater than ours."


    Yuan Tianxing pointed at a couch and offered him a seat while saying, "It''s still too early to talk about that. It''ll require two or three years for us to build the base."


    Wu Chengyue sat down beside Wu Yueling and said, "Two or three years, that''s not a long time. It''ll pass real soon."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded in agreement, "You''re right."


    Wu Chengyue glanced around, then asked, "Where''s Miss. Lu? Why isn''t she here? I want to thank her for what she did this morning. Without her help, I might not have been able to find a reason to get rid of Yang Chao so fast officially."


    His words sounded friendly, but Yuan Tianxing and the others dug out some other meanings from them. As they thought, that female zombie wouldn''t just stay quiet and watch! She was a trouble-maker!


    Lin Wenwen grinned and said, "Miss. Lu is in her space. She might not be able to come out now."


    Before she continued talking, she raised her head and abruptly saw something strange. Then, she fixed her eyes on the top of Wu Chengyue''s head with astonishment.


    Noticing her reaction, the others all raised their heads to find a few white vines which were as thick as women''s lower legs, reaching down from the ceiling quickly toward Wu Yueling.


    Realizing what was happening, Wu Chengyue didn''t manage to make other reaction but pressed Wu Yueling into his arm without thinking.

 301 Miss Each Other

    About ten seconds later, Yuan Tianxing, Du Yuanxing, Lin Yu, and the others headed to Wu Chengyue''s place.


    In Wu Chengyue''s house, Meng Yue and Moli were both in Ling Ling''s room. Wu Chengyue, Xiao Yunlong, and Dashu the doctor were sitting in the living room, looking worried.


    Xiao Licheng suddenly ran into the living room and said, "Chief, Deputy Chief Yuan is here!"


    Wu Chengyue immediately raised his head and responded, "Let him in, hurry!"


    With that, Xiao Licheng ran out, and Yuan Tianxing walked in alone a few seconds later.


    Seeing him, Wu Chengyue and the others stood up. Xiao Yunlong stepped away from the armchair that he was sitting on, then pointed at it and said to Yuan Tianxing, "Please have a seat!"


    Then, he walked aside and dragged over a chair for himself.


    Yuan Tianxing sat down. Seeing the worried look in their faces, he asked with concern, "Isn''t Ling Ling getting better?"


    The three men shook their heads.


    Ever since she drank the water provided by Yuan Tianxing, her condition never changed. Currently, she was still in a semi-coma state. Her body temperature had dropped to fifty degrees, but it then stopped changing.


    No further effects were shown after that, no matter how much more lake water she drank. The awakening of her power had just paused.


    Liang Dashu tried many ways, but none of those worked.


    Meng Yue came back as soon as she could after waking up in the hospital. She recovered quickly, but felt very guilty for letting a level-six zombie take Ling Ling away when they were outside. So, she had been with Ling Ling the whole time since she came back.


    Yuan Tianxing said worriedly, "I don''t know what will happen in the end if the situation continues."


    His words made the three men wear a sullen look.


    Wu Chengyue soon managed his expression, then asked, "Sorry for not asking before, but why are you suddenly here?"


    "There''s something that I need to seek confirmation from you," said Yuan Tianxing, "I wonder if you have heard that Chief Yang from your base is secretly going after my friends out there?"


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue immediately showed a serious look. "Ah, right!" he said, "I heard about that just now. In fact, I had guessed that you were here for this. I heard that Yang Chao has secretly ganged up with a group of robbers out there, and that they''ve made some kind of a deal. Days ago, those robbers headed to where you came from."


    "I was going to send someone to let you know," said Xiao Yunlong, "But, you got the message already."


    "So, the message is true?" said Yuan Tianxing anxiously, "Then, Lin Feng and the others are in danger! And, a leader of your base is actually in league with robbers outside. Don''t you have a view about that?"


    Xiao Yunlong turned to glance at Wu Chengyue, who said, "Currently, we''re trying our best to collect evidence against him. No matter what view we have about it, without concrete evidence, we won''t be able to do anything to him."


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him speechlessly, as he had no way to disagree that. He then nodded and said, "Alright! Since you''ve confirmed that the message is true, I think I need to make a trip out of your base now. Sorry for bothering you!"


    While speaking, he stood up and prepared to leave.


    Wu Chengyue and the other two stood up as well. Wu Chengyue waved a hand at him and said, "Wait, I''ll send Yunlong with you. I heard that those robbers who''re working for Yang Chao aren''t just some ordinary robbers. I guess at least two of them are at level-six. You won''t be able to handle them alone!"


    While speaking, he glanced at Xiao Yunlong, who nodded back. Yuan Tianxing looked at Wu Chengyue with surprise. He didn''t think that Wu Chengyue would send Xiao Yunlong to accompany him.


    Seeing the look on his face, Wu Chengyue smiled and said, "Please don''t look at me like that. Because of your help, Ling Ling is in a better condition now. I can''t leave her right now, or I''d go out with you myself to find Lin Feng and your other friends. But, I can only ask Xiao Yunlong to do it for me."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded gratefully, "Thank you!"


    "No need to thank us," said Xiao Yunlong, "You''re very welcome. Plus, you''ve helped us as well. We should help each other, and we all are not ungrateful people."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said to Wu Chengyue, "We''ll be leaving then¡­ See you next time!"


    Wu Chengyue walked him to the door while saying, "If anything happens, remember to send someone back to inform me."


    "Alright, thank you!" said Yuan Tianxing.


    After watching Yuan Tianxing and Xiao Yunlong walk out, Liang Dashu said, "I wonder what Yang Chao is planning to do to you this time. Aren''t you gonna strike back?"


    Wu Chengyue''s face turned cold as he said, "I will, after I have solved Ling Ling''s problem. Does he really think that I know nothing?"


    He knew about many of Yang Chao''s small tricks. He ignored those because they wouldn''t do him any considerable harm. Normally, he only watched Yang Chao like watching a clown.


    Ling Ling''s condition was the most important thing right now. As for Yang Chao''s plan, he would react to it later.


    "He''s getting more and more blatant now. He must have found out about Ling Ling''s condition," said Liang Dashu, "I guess he wants to seize this opportunity to cause you some troubles. You need to be careful."


    Wu Chengyue''s face wore a grim expression. The elegance that he was showing just now was gone as he said, "If he dares to hurt Ling Ling, I''ll kill him!" As he said the word ''kill'', a heavy murderous intention was released from his body.


    Liang Dashu looked at him, but didn''t say anything else.


    At that point, Yuan Tianxing, Wu Chengyue, and Yang Chao all had no idea that Lin Feng and his people were arriving at Sea City Base.


    Two hours later, after entering Sea City Base, Lin Feng and his family learned that Yuan Tianxing and the others had headed out of the base to find them.


    After getting out of the registry office, Lin Feng and the others seemed to be a little confused.


    "So, have we missed them?" Cheng Wangxue asked. Lin Feng nodded as he helplessly covered his forehead with a hand. They came all the way here to find Yuan Tianxing, yet he had left. And, they took different routes, so they missed each other.


    Lin Qiao stood beside Lin Feng and said, "Don''t worry about that. I can take some people to find them. You should find a place in this base to settle down for now. By the way, you can also ask around about Yuan Tianxing''s progress here."


    People might wonder how she managed to pass all the virus detectors and enter the base. In fact, she had turned herself invisible and directly walked in. No one saw her, and she didn''t need to do any registration. So, the entire Sea City Base didn''t know that she was in the base yet.


    When Tang He the robber came in, Yang Chao''s people had disguised him.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Lin Feng somehow stopped worrying. "That''s the only way. After all, you''re better than finding people than us," he said.


    Standing next to him, Chen Yuting, who had guided them into the base, said, "They should still be nearby. If you go now, you''ll have a good chance of finding them."


    As it was the first time for Lin Feng and his people to visit Sea City Base, Chen Yuting and his teammates had shown their hospitality. They first guided their guests to the registry office, then found them temporary accommodation.

 371 This is Her Space

    Before the others could react, Wu Chengyue¡ªa level-seven superpowered man¡ªand his daughter were both wrapped up by those weird vines and disappeared within a blink.


    "Chengyue!" The look on Meng Yue''s face changed drastically. She raised her head to look at where those vines were, but saw nothing. Those vines had wrapped Wu Chengyue and his daughter and vanished into thin air.


    At that moment, a vine that was as thick as a finger suddenly reached out of a corner and quietly coiled around Meng Yue''s hand, then quickly disappeared.


    Meng Yue paused for a second, then fell into silence with a strange expression.


    "Miss. Meng, how do you feel?" Seeing the look on her face, the others were confused. They weren''t worried about Wu Chengyue though. As a level-seven lightning-powered man, how could he possibly be afraid of those mysterious vines?


    Besides, none of them had sensed any intent of attacking from that vine, not to mention the intent of killing. That was the reason why Wu Chengyue reacted slowly. If those vines had a vicious intent, they would have been turned into ashes by Wu Chengyue''s lightning strikes the moment they showed up.


    Meng Yue looked at the others confusedly and said, "That weird vine delivered a message to me. It said¡ª''I need to borrow a man''¡­ What does that mean?"


    ''I need to borrow a man?''


    The people were all bewildered, then felt that those vines had really made a great choice. They actually picked the strongest man in the room.


    "Eh¡­ They borrowed Chief to do what?"


    The others shook their heads, all feeling utterly confused. They had nothing but puzzlement in their eyes.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue who was suddenly dragged into Lin Qiao''s space, was also in confusion. Wu Yueling was held in his arms. Once they came to this place, those white vines disappeared.


    Wu Chengyue alertly looked around and found that he was standing beside a strange lake. He automatically made a few steps backward to get away from the water, then turned his head to observe the surrounding environment.


    There was a grassland and some furniture pieces, along with strange-looking woods. Apart from those, the area miles away was all foggy, and so was the sky. The sky seemed to have been covered by a thick layer of fog.


    He moved his hands, but then had his expression change. He held Wu Yueling with one hand and put the other before his face. Electric currents had been sizzling in his palm, but were much weaker than before.


    Those tiny electric currents flashed in his palm.


    He raised his head to look at the sky, but wasn''t able to sense even the slightest lightning power from it, as if the connection between him and the sky was cut off. He could still feel the sky, but couldn''t generate any lightning power anymore.


    Simply speaking, his power was suppressed in this place. At this moment, he couldn''t release ten, or even five percent of his power.


    When the alarmed Wu Chengyue was trying to figure out what was going on, Wu Yueling suddenly twisted her body and slid out of his arm.


    "Ling Ling, don''t run! This place is dangerous!" Wu Chengyue gave a start and hurriedly stopped her. However, Wu Yueling shook her head at him, then pointed at a small space.


    Wu Chengyue looked that way and saw a figure flashing across.


    "Who''s there! Come out!" He gave a shout.


    Shen Yujen carefully walked out of the small space, looking at him with confusion. There was a long distance between them, so Wu Chengyue had to give her a close look to recognize her.


    "You are¡­ Jen?"


    He knew Chen Yuting''s wife. Upon seeing Shen Yujen, he was slightly surprised.


    Shen Yujen slowly walked over and stopped three meters from him, then nodded.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her from head to toe questioningly, then asked her, "It''s really you! You''re a¡­ You''re a zombie now, right? Was it really you who bit Piao Gecang?"


    Shen Yujen looked at him timidly and nodded.


    Wu Chengyue calmed down, then looked around and said, "So this place is her space, isn''t it? "Where is she? Why did she suddenly bring us in?"


    Shen Yujen pointed at the lake, then shook her head at him.


    She had no idea why Wu Chengyue suddenly showed up in Lin Qiao''s space, but she knew that Lin Qiao had gone down into the lake earlier and hadn''t yet come up.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the lake surface, then turned back and asked her, "What do you mean? You¡­ Can''t you speak?"


    Shen Yujen shook her head at him, then nodded.


    Wu Chengyue rummaged through his pockets, then found a notepad and a pen.


    "Here, write down what you want to say."


    Shen Yujen obediently walked to him before taking over the notepad and pen, then wrote¡ª''She went down into the lake, hasn''t come up yet.''


    Wu Chengyue looked at her bewilderedly, then read the note again. After that, he turned to the lake with confusion and said, "In the lake? What is she doing in the lake?"


    Beside his legs, Wu Yueling has been turning to the lake from time to time.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Shen Yujen and asked, "You''re already awake, but why aren''t you with Chen Yuting? Does he know that you''ve woken up?"


    Shen Yujen lowered her head with a sad face. Looking at the stones on the ground, she shook her head again.


    Wu Chengyue gave her a few glances, then seemed to understand her meaning. "You don''t want him to see your current look, right? You should know that he wouldn''t mind how you look now. He doesn''t even care that you''re a zombie. Why are you still worried about it?"


    Shen Yujen raised her head to look at him, her eyes showing a strong feeling.


    Wu Chengyue continued blandly, "Your relationship with him is about both of you. You''re suffering here, and he is dealing with an even greater pain outside. You can''t only think about yourself. If you love him, I think you shouldn''t hide from him."


    The feeling showing in Shen Yujen''s eyes grew even stronger. If she were still a healthy human being, her tears would have streamed out of her eye sockets.


    Wu Chengyue was right. The relationship was about both of them. She was hiding here alone, and that was unfair for Chen Yuting.


    However, she wasn''t yet ready to go out and see him.


    "You have taken your revenge and realized your wish. Just go back and live a life with him¡­" While speaking, Wu Chengyue suddenly twitched his nose as if he sensed some kind of smell. "Have you sensed some kind of smell? It''s a little weird¡­" he asked Shen Yujen.


    Shen Yujen sniffed at the air, but then confusedly shook her head; she had detected no smell at all.


    Wu Chengyue lowered his head to look at Wu Yueling and ask her, "Ling Ling, have you sensed any smell?"


    Wu Yueling stuck her head out from behind his thigh and glanced up at him, then sniffed around in the air. After that, she nodded at her father to let him know that she had sensed that strange smell as well.


    That smell wasn''t unpleasant, but neither was it sweet or refreshing. It was just a little strange, and was quite strong.


    Shen Yujen looked at the two with surprise.


    Was there a smell? But she smelled nothing. Was it because she was a zombie?

 302 Bring Ling Ling in

    Lin Qiao said to Chen Yuting, "Please take them to the accommodation. I''ll look for you when I''m back."


    Chen Yuting nodded at her.


    Lin Qiao then turned to speak to Lin Feng, "You don''t need to arrange for my accommodation. I don''t need that. You should be careful in the base, especially the ladies. Earlier on when we came in, I had already sensed quite some eyes with no good intentions."


    While speaking, she looked around.


    The male-female ratio in the base was high, with nine males for one female. Therefore, young and pretty girls would always attract attention, especially newcomers.


    Lin Wenwen and Cheng Wangxue were both pretty. Long Qingying''s face was less delicate than theirs, but her skin was nice, and she looked good as well. Mrs. Lin was older than the three of them, yet she was still retaining her graceful bearing. No one could guarantee that the lechers in the base wouldn''t have their eyes on her.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Lin Feng and the others immediately looked around. As she had said, some people were eyeing them in an indescribable way.


    Long Qingying''s frosty vibe instantly turned even colder. She raised her hand and gripped the hilt of her katana, then scanned around with her eyes which were showing a strong intent of killing.


    Right after that, half of the people who had been staring at them turned their eyes away.


    Lin Feng turned back and nodded at Lin Qiao, "I get it."


    After parting with the others, Lin Qiao quickly walked toward a public washroom, then turned herself invisible and quietly walked out. When she was heading toward the entrance of the base, Viney''s voice was suddenly heard from her space.


    ''Mama! Mama! Mama!'' Viney sounded very anxious.


    Lin Qiao paused, then flashed into the space. Once in, she saw that Viney was swinging countless vines in the water, even stirring the entire lake.


    Liu Jun and Qiu Lili were both sitting on the couch, curiously looking at Viney who suddenly made a stir in the lake. Zombie number one to seven were hiding in the first and the second small spaces, and Mengmeng was hiding in the third small space alone.


    All the eight zombies had their heads stuck out of the entrances, and were looking at Viney with fright.


    Once she got on the road, Qiu Lili complained about the dust and asked Lin Qiao to bring her back into the space. After that, Mengmeng immediately found Lin Qiao and raised a claim as well. This time, she didn''t ask Lin Qiao to let Qiu Lili out, but demanded the latter to bring her in as well.


    Lin Qiao asked for Qiu Lili''s opinion, and as the latter didn''t reject, she brought Mengmeng into her space as well.


    As same as the other zombies, Mengmeng was frightened by Viney as well once she entered the space. Viney didn''t show up, but her vibe still scared Mengmeng.


    Earlier on, the moment Viney reached out her vines, Mengmeng darted straight into the third small space and refused to come out.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Qiao showed up by the lakeside and looked at Viney, who was suddenly flipping out, and asked.


    Viney immediately reached a vine to her and wrapped her hand, ''Mama! Take me to the little one! The little one! I have felt her! She isn''t in a good condition¡­ Mama, just bring her in here!''


    Lin Qiao looked at the jade-white vine with surprise and asked, "How are you able to feel her? She''s outside."


    ''The energy inside her body is going to explode soon,'' said Viney, ''I sensed her because she''s close. Mama, just go and bring her in here. My energy has been suppressing hers at the moment, but over time, her body will be under too much pressure!''


    While speaking, Viney anxiously waved her vines.


    Seeing the worried Viney, Lin Qiao had no choice but to agree, "Alright, let me try to find her home first."


    She could always catch up with Yuan Tianxing later. According to Viney, the little one seemed to be in a critical condition right now. She also wanted to know what was happening to her.


    Viney was instantly delighted. ''Mama, hurry up! Hurry up!''


    Lin Qiao exited her space and turned herself invisible again. She looked around, then chose the tallest building near her to climb up.


    On the roof, she leaned her head forward to sniff around, and soon grasped the scents of Wu Chengyue and his daughter. After that, she turned and leaped toward their place.


    The outskirts of the base were less than two miles away from the central area. Lin Qiao quickly entered the central area and found that Wu Chengyue wasn''t living in a fancy apartment or a villa. Instead, he lived in an unimpressive building in a civilian area.


    She landed on the roof of Wu Chengyue''s place, then sensed quite a few level-five superpowered people who were guarding this building. Wu Chengyue, Meng Yue, Wu Yueling, and two strangers were inside the building.


    While getting closer, she too had felt the strong and disordered energy inside Wu Yueling''s body. It was familiar to her, as it was just like the explosive energy which emerged inside Lin Xiaolu''s body last time.


    ''Eh? Is her power waking up? No way! She''s even younger than Xiaolu. How can she possibly get through this?''


    However, Lin Qiao found Wu Yueling''s energy a little familiar. It seemed to be the same as the energy contained in her lake water, but with something more.


    At the moment, the restless energy inside the little one''s body seemed to have been suppressed by a familiar type of energy. Wasn''t that the energy from her lake? She could totally recognize it.


    After sensing the little one''s condition, Lin Qiao directly leaped onto a balcony on the third floor, then walked into the building. Through this study room, she walked to the corridor on the third floor.


    Ling Ling''s room was on the third floor, and two people were in the room with her. Lin Qiao looked around, then walked to the door of her room.


    The door was open, and Meng Yue and another woman were in the room.


    Lin Qiao quietly walked in, over to the little one''s bedside. She saw that the little girl was covered by a sheet, with her hands and feet exposed in the air.


    Wu Yueling''s eyes were narrowed and unfocused, and a familiar-looking grass dragonfly was placed on the bedside table. Lin Qiao had made that grass dragonfly, but she didn''t think that the kid was still keeping it.


    She thought for a moment about what to do. She couldn''t explain anything to Wu Chengyue now, but neither could she sneakily bring the little one away.


    She pondered briefly, then had an idea. She flashed into her space and found a piece of paper, writing down a line on it.


    Qiu Lili and the other zombies saw that she showed up suddenly, found a piece of paper from a desk, and wrote something down, then disappeared again.


    She came out and stood by the bedside, gently holding the little one''s hand. Then, both of them disappeared. After that, a piece of paper fell on the empty bed.


    The moment Wu Yueling disappeared, Meng Yue and Moli turned to look at the bed simultaneously, but only saw an empty bed.

 372 Strip Wu Chengyue

    Wu Yueling curiously sniffed around. She felt that that smell was really strange; but somehow, the more she sensed it, the more she wanted to continue.


    While she was sensing that smell, a drowsy feeling crept over her. Thankfully, she was familiar with this place. As she felt sleepy, she walked to a bed and climbed onto it.


    After sensing that strange smell, Wu Chengyue froze.


    Shen Yujen looked at Wu Yueling, knowing that she was safe in this place. After that, she raised her head to look at Wu Chengyue and found that the look on his face was a little strange.


    She waved a hand before his face, then patted him on his arm.


    He actually made no response. His handsome face was wearing no expression, and his eyes were unfocused. The electric currents in his palms were long gone.


    ''What¡­ what happened?''


    Shen Yujen looked at Wu Chengyue in shock and patted him a little harder. But still, he remained standing motionless and dull.


    She turned to look at Wu Yueling, only to find that the latter was already lying asleep on the bed, cuddling in a quilt.


    While wondering what to do next, Shen Yujen suddenly sensed a wave of energy from the lake. She hurriedly turned to the lake, and then saw a few long vines reaching out of the water, toward Wu Chengyue.


    She was very scared of Viney''s vibe. Therefore, as Viney showed up and approached her, she immediately turned and ran, leaving Wu Chengyue standing there.


    ''This is Miss. Lu''s space anyway. I think she won''t hurt Chief¡­'' she thought.


    The three or four vines reached to Wu Chengyue, who was about twenty meters away from the lake. They circled around him for a while, poking his face, chest, his waist that had smooth lines, and even his butt.


    Shen Yujen hid in a small space, looking at Wu Chengyue with a complicated expression, as those vines seemed to have been harassing him.


    ''Hm¡­ It should be right. They are indeed harassing him!''


    Soon, her guess was proven right.


    That was because Viney started to rip Wu Chengyue''s clothes. After tearing off his belt, Viney didn''t try to undo his buttons. Her thick vines weren''t able to complete skilled works like that anyway.


    Two vines crawled into his collar, while the other two pinched the hem of his coat, and then violently pulled the coat in two different directions. Following a series of slight noise, his army coat was ripped open. The buttons fell off, bouncing on the ground.


    Then, his shirt and the slender pants were both damaged by Viney.


    Shen Yujen covered her eyes. Through the spaces between her fingers, she watched her Chief who had a dull face at the moment, being stripped by a¡­ a plant.


    Soon enough, she saw Wu Chengyue''s sturdy yet not-overly-developed, charmingly shaped muscles.


    After watching Viney tear off Wu Chengyue''s underwear, Shen Yujen hurriedly closed her eyes and turned around.


    ''Will Chief kill me to shut me up? But, Chief is in really great shape!''


    With her back to Wu Chengyue, Shen Yujen silently swallowed her saliva, as her head was now full of Wu Chengyue''s tall and slim and muscular body, and his long and straight legs.


    ''I already have Yuming¡­ Chief is pretty, but not my type!''


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue was wearing a dull face, but was actually fully awake. At that moment, he was nearly breaking down.


    ''What the hell! What on earth is happening now? Why can''t I move?''


    He was still able to see, but everything in his eyes was blurry. However, he clearly sensed what had happened to him.


    He was stripped by someone!


    No, not someone¡­ It was a few white vines which stripped him!


    ''What in the world does that female zombie have in her space? And those things are so lecherous!''


    As he started to feel chilly, he found that he was dragged, walking toward the lake.


    He was panicked and confused, not knowing what would happen next. His clothes had been taken off. Those vines wouldn''t make him do something bad, would they?


    Or¡­ Was he going to be raped again?


    Thinking of that, he was strongly unhappy.


    He felt that his naked body was automatically walking toward the lake. As he got closer to the lakeside, he suddenly saw a chair there, and a neatly folded pile of clothes on it.


    ''Whose closes are these? Is someone else in this lake? Can it be that female zombie?''


    His power had disappeared completely, maybe because he was in someone''s space. Something in this place had been limiting his superpower.


    He watched his own feet step into the lake water, then sensed a coolness against his skin. Before long, he found that he was able to make expressions again, but his body didn''t stop walking into the lake.


    That was because a few vines were wrapping around his arms and waist, dragging him down with an irresistible strength.


    ''Are these vines going to drown me in this lake? Or, why are they dragging me down?''


    However, he found that he was wrong when he went down into the lake and the water got over his head. The water didn''t disable him from breathing, as if he was able to breathe underwater.


    The water was clear, but the lake was deep and dark. He couldn''t see what was in the lake, and felt that no creature existed in the water at all, as he didn''t even see one fish or shrimp.


    Those vines kept dragging him down. Abruptly, countless more vines reached out and wrapped his entire body up.


    He wanted to struggle, but couldn''t control his body. Without being able to struggle, he watched those strange vines wrap him into a cocoon.


    He didn''t know how deep he had gone, but suddenly, he spotted a vine cocoon below him, about five feet and four inches tall. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that a person was wrapped in it.


    He couldn''t help but think about his own situation. Did he look the same as that cocoon now?


    The cold vines wrapped his body pretty tightly. The vines weren''t squeezing him, so he hadn''t been feeling uncomfortable; but those vines didn''t show any sign of letting him go either.


    He suddenly felt that he had regained the control of his body; he was able to control himself again. He tried to move his limbs, then realized that even though his body was back under his control, he wasn''t able to free himself from all these vines wrapped on him.


    Right at that moment, he sensed a refreshing stream of energy flowing into his body through his pores, gathering toward his lower abdomen.


    That refreshing energy was cool at first, but soon after entering his body, it began warming up. When reaching his lower abdomen, it had become boiling hot.

 373 The Entrapped Two

    The heat began spreading all over his body. It didn''t bring him any discomfort; on the contrary, it felt quite good. He felt as if he was bathing in a slightly warm water. After the lightly unbearable heat at first, he was quite relaxed.


    He felt that all of his pores had opened. Letting out a long breath, the heat inside him made him really comfortable.


    That feeling lasted for tens of seconds, and then, he felt light and weightless. His brain stopped working to enjoy that floating feeling.


    But before long, he couldn''t stay calm anymore, because the heat in his lower abdomen had been growing stronger and stronger. Gradually, it had nowhere to go, and accumulated in his lower belly.


    He felt dizzy and thirsty; his throat was dry. He was eager to vent the burning hotness in his lower belly, but didn''t know how.


    That unpleasant feeling made his mind slightly clearer.


    Why did he now feel as if he had taken some kind of aphrodisiac potion?


    At that moment, he no longer cared why he became like this, or why was he suddenly dragged into that female zombie''s space. He just wanted to give a vent to his pent-up desire! He even wanted to do it with his own hand.


    However, he couldn''t move!


    The heat in his lower belly made him feel like he was burning in fire. Something was trapped in his heart, and that something was scratching him from the inside. He felt so itchy, but could not be saved.


    At that point, he suddenly sensed that his body was being moved by something. And then, those vines which had been wrapping him pretty tight began squirming. They weren''t letting him go, but moved slowly for unknown reasons.


    Before he could react, a naked person was put into his arms. Her smooth, warm back pressed against his chest.


    Feeling her skin, Wu Chengyue''s heart was shaken.


    All of a sudden, he felt that he was freed by those vines; and then, he automatically held the person in his arms. He turned his head to look around, and saw nothing but darkness. So, he reached out a hand.


    He found that those vines weren''t really freeing him, but only giving him a little space to move freely.


    Who was this suddenly appearing woman?


    Wu Chengyue put an arm around her waist. Her waist was slim and strong, and above that should be soft breasts. Wu Chengyue managed to stop himself from putting a hand on those breasts.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao had an impulse to die!


    Not long ago, she was absorbing the energy that Viney delivered to her. As she felt very comfortable and forgot about the time, her back suddenly pressed on someone else''s body. Then, she felt a strong arm around her waist, and something hard against her sensitive area.


    She gave a start, and was deeply confused.


    ''Who is that! Why is another person here!''


    ''Where the hell is this man from! Damn! Viney! What on earth are you doing!''


    After that, Lin Qiao felt Viney slightly loosen the grip on her; and then, she softly fell onto that man, being held by him tightly.


    She wanted to struggle, but as she was absorbing Viney''s energy just now, her body had become powerless, and her limbs were too limp to free herself.


    Soon, she felt a hand stroking all over her body¡­ from her neck to her shoulders, then going downward¡­


    That man''s hand brought her a tingling and made her extremely uncomfortable.


    She felt that she was sold by Viney!


    Viney lied to her and let her come down alone; but in fact, she had already found her a man!


    She didn''t even know who that man was!


    While clenching her teeth with anger toward Viney and that man behind her, her mind was blurred from time to time by the movements that man''s restless hand.


    Suddenly, that hand touched her head. Lin Qiao sensitively sensed that the man seemed to have paused for a second.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue was shocked when he touched Lin Qiao''s prickly scalp. He had already figured out who this bald woman was!


    Wasn''t she that female zombie?''


    Wu Chengyue wanted to push her again, but her soft body and smooth skin made him hesitate. However, he was clearly aware that she was a zombie! A zombie! Was he going to have sex with a zombie now?


    Even thinking about that made him feel unacceptable!


    He also wondered why didn''t the female zombie make any response. She was all soft, as if he could do anything he wanted to her.


    ''Let¡­ go¡­ of¡­ me¡­ Who are you¡­''


    Suddenly, a voice was heard in Wu Chengyue''s head and startled him. ''Who is this?'' he asked silently.


    ''Hands¡­ off¡­ me.''


    That voice told him to get his hands off, so was it¡­


    Wu Chengyue held Lin Qiao''s waist tightly with both arms, then leaned his head against the back of her head. ''Are you Miss. Lu? Was it you who dragged me in? What do you want?'' He asked in his head.


    ''Not¡­ me¡­'' He heard Lin Qiao''s weak voice, ''If you can control yourself¡­ please let go of me¡­''


    ''So she can''t control herself right now.'' Wu Chengyue thought in surprise, wondering what was happening to the female zombie. However, he didn''t do what Lin Qiao asked. Instead of letting her go, he pressed his body tightly on hers, even rubbing against her hip with his crotch area, intentionally or not.


    ''Too late! You dragged in me and started a fire. Now, you have put the fire out yourself.''


    Being rubbed by him, Lin Qiao''s body was softened. She nearly vomited blood. ''Get away! I didn''t do it¡­ Viney did it¡­ You let go of me¡­''


    Wu Chengyue felt that his genitals were about to explode. But still, he controlled himself and chuckled in his mind as he said, ''I don''t know who''s Viney, but I can''t possibly back off now.''


    Lin Qiao got anxious. ''You¡­ You know that I''m a¡­ You''re going to¡­ have sex with¡­ a zombie¡­''


    ''I don''t care. I''ll do it even if you''re a sow,'' Wu Chengyue laughed.


    Lin Qiao was speechless for a moment.


    Was he calling her a sow? Was he? Was he!


    ''If you dare to touch me¡­ I''ll castrate you when I get out¡­'' she said with rage.


    ''You can try! Come on, let''s do the important thing!'' said Wu Chengyue. While speaking, he abruptly turned Lin Qiao around and made her face him.

 303 It Must be Yang Chao

    "Ling Ling! Where''s Ling Ling!" Meng Yue sprang up and darted to the bed. Looking at the empty bed, Moli''s expressionless face froze as well.


    At that moment, Meng Yue saw the piece of paper which was falling from the bed. She picked it up and read, ''I''ll handle Ling Ling''s condition for you. I don''t have the time to explain to you now, so please wait for me to come back! ¡ª Lin.''


    In a couple of seconds, the scurry of feet was heard from the outside. Wu Chengyue showed up by the door and asked, "What happened to Ling Ling? Why is her vibe suddenly gone?"


    In the next moment, he popped his eyes as he saw the empty bed, his handsome face twisting immediately.


    "Where''s Ling Ling!"


    Meng Yue turned back without knowing what to do. Confusedly, she raised the piece of paper in her hand and said, "I don''t know what happened either¡­ Ling Ling suddenly¡­ disappeared¡­ But, a piece of paper showed up¡­"


    Wu Chengyue hurriedly walked in and took over the piece of paper to read the note. After that, he forced himself to calm down and analyze the message.


    "What does this mean? Who took Ling Ling away? Lin? Who''s Lin?"


    Liang Dashu walked over and read the note, then comforted Wu Chengyue, "Calm down! Maybe this person meant no harm."


    Wu Chengyue gripped the note and closed his eyes for a moment. Then, he stared at the note and said, "It must be Yang Chao! Only a few people know about Ling Ling''s condition! He''ll handle Ling Ling''s condition for us¡­ Am I stupid? How can I possibly believe that!"


    The air pressure around him turned unstable as a strong intention of killing radiated from him.


    Unlike him, Liang Dashu, who was by his side, said with composure, "You should calm down for now. First, who is this Lin? We should figure this out before coming to a conclusion. But of course, you can start with Yang Chao and his people. Secondly, I detected no bad intention from this note. This person didn''t threaten you. And, he told us to wait for him to come back, meaning that he will come back to find you. Thirdly¡­"


    He paused for a second, then turned to Moli and Meng Yue, "Did you two feel anything the moment Ling Ling disappeared? Calm down and think."


    Hearing him, Meng Yue and Moli glanced at each other.


    Meng Yue cooled herself down and reviewed what happened just now. For a moment, she did sense a vibe, which faded very soon. After that, she raised her head to look at Ling Ling, but the little girl wasn''t there.


    "That person only showed up for a moment. I think¡­ it should be space power. If that person is merely able to be invisible, he or she can''t possibly pick Ling Ling up and turn her invisible without letting us feel anything," said Moli.


    "I didn''t sense any evil intent or negative emotion. On the contrary, I grasped a trace of anxiety, and confusion from another individual. I think they only learned about Ling Ling''s condition after arriving here. I don''t think they knew that clearly before they got here. As for why they''re anxious¡­ Chief, I think you should think about the people who''re nice to Ling Ling. Except for the ones in this house, who else will be kind to her? Maybe, we should think positively."


    As Moli finished talking blandly, Wu Chengyue calmed down for a little. While rereading the note, he suddenly had a guess.


    Lin? A space-powered being? Didn''t he run into someone like that before returning to the base?


    He immediately recalled the woman who stole his zombie king nucleus in West Lake District in Hangzhou. He had fought her and lost!


    Moreover, he had given her a bite!


    That woman was able to turn herself invisible, and had a space! Did she take Ling Ling away?


    "I''ll go find someone," said Wu Chengyue abruptly as he quickly walked toward the outside. He was going to find Lu Tianyi and ask if he knew anything about that woman!


    As he suddenly turned and left, the others immediately followed him out.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao scooped Wu Yueling up after bringing her into the space.


    "Little thing?" She lowered her head to look at the little girl''s half-narrowed eyes while calling her with a gentle voice. However, the little one didn''t give her any response.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then knelt on one knee and put the little girl on her lap. She supported the girl''s body with one hand and took off her hat and sunglasses with the other.


    Looking at the little one with her dark-green eyes, she tried to call her again, "Little thing, do you know who I am?"


    Magically, the look in the little girl''s eyes changed slightly this time. But right after the short gleam, those eyes turned dull again, and showed no other changes.


    Lin Qiao carried her up and walked to the lakeside, then said to Viney, "Viney, the little one''s power is waking up. What should we do?"


    Viney reached out a few arm-thick vines and gently wrapped up Wu Yueling''s body with three of them, then touched Lin Qiao with another.


    ''Mama, don''t worry! I''ll help her to trigger her power¡­''


    Lin Qiao nodded, then let Viney bring Wu Yueling down into the lake.


    Liu Jun and Qiu Lili walked to Lin Qiao''s side. Neither of them knew Wu Yueling, so they asked curiously, "Is that the little one that you and Viney had mentioned earlier? Whose kid is she? What''s wrong with her?"


    "She''s the little princes of Sea City Base. I don''t know why, but her power suddenly began waking up as well," said Lin Qiao.


    "Little princess? Is she the daughter of a Chief? Do you and Viney both know her?" asked Liu Jun. She understood that Lin Qiao wouldn''t bring the little princess here without a good reason and ask Viney to help her, and that Viney shouldn''t have feelings toward the people from the outside either.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "We do. We met her before meeting you two. In fact, that was a trouble caused by the previous owner of my body."


    Liu Jun and Qiu Lili looked at her with curiosity. However, Lin Qiao didn''t plan to tell them more. Instead, she said, "I''ll tell you the story when we have time. Right now, we need to leave the base to find Yuan Tianxing."


    "Eh?" Liu Jun and Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise, "Isn''t Yuan Tianxing in Sea City Base? Where did he go?"


    Lin Qiao shook his head and said, "He isn''t here. We''ve checked the exit record. They left two hours ago. Right now, we need to find them."


    Liu Jun and Qiu Lili glanced at each other without knowing what to say.


    Lin Qiao watched Viney bring Wu Yueling into the water. She was still a little worried, but thankfully, Viney had helped with the awakening of Lin Xiaolu''s power the last time. So, she guessed that it would be all right this time as well.


    Knowing that she wouldn''t be able to help here, Lin Qiao turned and left the space, heading toward the outside. She hoped that she could find Yuan Tianxing and the others as soon as possible.

 374 Renewed Body

    ''This is bad!'' Lin Qiao said to herself after she heard Wu Chengyue''s words. Her body was so limp that she wasn''t able to resist. She felt him turn her body around, and then they were face to face.


    That hard thing which was pressing on her hip was now straight against a certain area of her body.


    Next, he pressed his lips against hers. A soft, wet, and warm tongue erotically licked her lips, then forced open her mouth and broke in.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t breathing, so she didn''t feel suffocated. That tongue nimbly stirred in her mouth and brushed hard across her palate, then entangled with her tongue.


    ''¡­ Who are you?''


    She still didn''t know who he was, but he had already known who she was. Wu Chengyue paused for a moment, feeling a little surprised.


    ''She asked who I am. Was it really not her who got me in here?''


    However, the refreshing and sweet taste in her mouth soon made Wu Chengyue forget about that question. He responded to her with one word while sucking her lips.


    ''Guess!''


    Lin Qiao even wanted to give him a bite. She hoped that she could bite off his tongue which was inside her mouth right now, but she was too weak to even do that at the moment.


    Wu Chengyue was amazed. He never thought that the female zombie would actually taste quite nice. He wasn''t able to sense any smell at that moment, but did have a sweet taste in his mouth.


    Also, the female zombie had smooth skin and strong muscles.


    Lin Qiao began talking to Viney very angrily in her mind. By now, she surely had figured out who planned all this.


    ''Viney! Tell him to stop, or wait and see how I will punish you!''


    The vines around flinched a little, then a voice was heard in both of their minds.


    ''Viney is just helping you¡­ Don''t stop. Ling Ling''s Daddy, you should take care of yourself after you get out, haha¡­''


    Viney''s laughter gave both of them a weird, cold feeling. However, Wu Chengyue soon forgot about that, as the man part of his body was suffering such a swelling pain.


    Lin Qiao felt that he was quickening his movements. One of her legs was lifted and put around his strong waist.


    She gave a start, tightening her body as she said in her mind, ''Stop! Ugh¡­''


    What she felt next was a sudden penetration. She sensed no pain, but that feeling which she had when he invaded her body was very uncomfortable¡­ and weird!


    ''Damn! Such a rush!''


    All of a sudden, she felt as if her brain exploded. She lost the sensations of her body, and meanwhile, disordered images began flashing across her mind.


    She found herself sitting upon a naked man, looking down at the face of that man who was trying very hard to control his anger.


    She recognized that face. That man was Wu Chengyue!


    And then, the scene before her eyes changed. She found that she was walking in a base. She lowered herself and saw a pair of long, snow-white legs, wearing delicate heels. She also found herself lying underneath Yang Chao, moaning with a soft voice while looking at his face. His face wore no expressions, and his lower body was lunging ceaselessly.


    She knew that all these memories didn''t belong to her, but Lu Tianyu.


    At that moment, the images in her mind switched again. She was still lying on a bed, but on top of her was another man.


    Yang Jianhua!


    Her heart missed a beat. Why would that man appear in her memory?


    She saw Yang Jianhua squirming upon her with a pleasant expression; sweat dripping down his pretty face.


    "Relax, I won''t leave you¡­ I''ll always be with you¡­'' Yang Jianhua''s lips were moving. He said something that she couldn''t hear all clearly.


    Lin Qiao suddenly woke up, and then the images in her head were all gone.


    Before she could try to find those memories, the sudden thrust sent a shiver to her entire body. She felt as if something hard suddenly broke into her heart, erasing that confused and helpless feeling which she had just now.


    Wu Chengyue paused after first invading her body.


    He froze, with surprise and doubts, arms still holding her soft body tightly. Just now, he felt that his genitals suddenly broke something, which disabled him from calming down.


    ''No way! This female zombie was actually a virgin? Did she never have sex with men before?''


    That guess made him stunned.


    At that point, a voice was heard in his mind, ''This is because I repaired Mama''s body. I renewed it to its original state. You''re so lucky, Ling Ling''s Daddy!''


    Hearing those words, Wu Chengyue was astonished. With disbelief, he said in his mind, ''You¡­ Is what you said real? Who are you?''


    ''Didn''t Mama just tell you?'' That voice responded, ''I''m Viney.''


    Wu Chengyue was speechless. He had thought that the female zombie was lying!


    Viney continued, ''This is Mama''s new body. I renewed her body with my power. So now, you have her virginity¡­ You need to be responsible for her¡­''


    ''Does your Mama know about this?'' Wu Chengyue asked.


    ''Mama''s mind has fallen into the memory whirlpool, so she can''t feel what you''re doing now¡­ She can only feel it after she wakes up¡­ So, she doesn''t yet know that she just lost her virginity¡­''


    Wu Chengyue wasn''t sure if he was lucky, or if he had gotten into trouble.


    But soon, he was attracted by that feeling from his genitals which was wrapped in something soft. He surged into her body with a hard erosion, and that warm and tightly wrapped feeling made him sigh with relief. After breaking her hymen and hearing what Viney said, he now had some different thoughts generating in his heart.


    He soon made the decision and began swaying his hips, slowly but strongly bumping against her soft and rubbery body. He didn''t care if her body was repaired or renewed. At this very moment, he only wanted to relieve himself from that swelling pain.


    When Lin Qiao woke up, she sensed the violent bumps from her lower body. She felt no pain, but the quick lunges brought her a strange feeling in her chest.


    She felt that her chest was tightened. Every time when he pierced in, her heart would twitch, then cause a muffled pain.


    ''What the hell¡­ Why is my chest hurting instead of my lower part? Do I have heart diseases?'' she wondered.

 375 Finish and Go Ashore

    Lin Qiao didn''t know how long it had been, and she only knew that she had been floating up and down, taking in that strong twitching pain from her chest and the tingling from her body along with the strong mood swings.


    A long white after her mind was blurred, she suddenly felt that the man had quickened his move.


    ''Em¡­ b*stard¡­''


    She froze as a scorching hot wave of energy surged into her body from his. Then, she began trembling. Her consciousness was clouded, body floating in the water. She felt as if she was being washed away by some kind of flood that was intense and tempestuous.


    Wu Chengyue paused inside her for more than ten seconds because of the ejaculation before it finally ended.


    At that moment, the area was suddenly illuminated. Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao who was in his arms, and couldn''t help but reach out a hand to touch her hair. He didn''t know when her hair grew long enough to drift in the water.


    Her hair were soft and smooth, and should be long enough to reach her chest. Because she was in the water, her hair had spread backward, fluttering in the water.


    Her eyes were closed, face delicate. Without seeing her purely black eyes, he found her really sweet-looking and beautiful. Her eyebrows were long and thin, eyelashes thick and curly; her nose was straight and nicely shaped, lips delicate and pink.


    Wu Chengyue stared closely at her face, then began gently stroking it with a hand. Her body was in his arm, like a boneless mermaid.


    Suddenly, he felt that a part of his heart collapsed slowly, then was filled up again.


    He looked around and found that they were still in the water. The water was clear, without any vines or anything strange things.


    He put one of the female zombie''s long and slim arms around his neck, then began swimming up. The water surface seemed to be not far away, but he spent a long time in reaching there.


    He stuck his head out of the water and looked around to find his precious daughter squatting beside the chair by the lakeside. Wu Yueling had spotted him as well. She immediately fixed her sparkling eyes on him.


    Wu Chengyue dragged Lin Qiao and swam to his daughter, then carried Lin Qiao in his arms and began walking ashore. Wu Yueling stood by the lakeside, waiting for them while thoughtfully holding her father''s clothes which had been destroyed by Viney.


    "Ling Ling, don''t look at Daddy. Turn around and close your eyes. Daddy is naked," Wu Chengyue stood in the water and said to the little one when the water surface was around his waist.


    Wu Yueling obediently turned around with her back to Wu Chengyue, still holding those clothes. Only after that did Wu Chengyue carry Lin Qiao out of the water and walk toward a bed.


    He put Lin Qiao on a bed and covered her with a blanket. Then, he turned and walked to Wu Yueling before bending over behind her to take his clothes.


    "Ling Ling, Daddy is going to put on some clothes. You can''t open your eyes until Daddy tells you to, do you understand?"


    Wu Yueling nodded. After Wu Chengyue took away the clothes from her hands, she raised those hands to cover her eyes.


    Wu Chengyue searched through that pile of clothes that Wu Yueling had collected and found his ragged underwear.


    What expression should he make now to mourn over his torn underwear?


    No, he shouldn''t be mourning over his underwear now. Instead¡­ what was he supposed to wear now? Nothing?


    Well, it wouldn''t feel good with that part of his body dangling between his legs, would it?


    He thought for a moment, then raised his head to look at the furniture area. There were a few closets, so he wondered if he could find any men''s underwear in one of them. However, as this space belonged to the female zombie, he guessed that she would only collect women''s wears.


    But still, he decided to give it a try. He walked there and opened those closets.


    The first one was filled with women''s wear.


    The second closet contained nothing but children''s wear.


    The third one¡­ Men''s wear! All men''s wear!


    He delightedly found some brand-new men''s underwear from the bottom of that closet.


    After putting the underwear on, he conveniently found a shirt and pair of trousers that fit him before putting them on as well, because his army suit has already been torn into pieces by those vines.


    After that, he turned around to say to Wu Yueling, "Alright Ling Ling, come over."


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling immediately turned back and happily ran to him.


    Wu Chengyue scooped her up, then sat on a couch and looked around. Suddenly, he said to the air, "You said your name is Viney, right? Can you send us out now? This female zombie¡­ Well, this woman won''t wake up anytime soon, will she?"


    Wu Yueling sat on his lap and also raised her head to search around with her eyes. However, she was mainly looking at the lake.


    At that moment, a few large vines descended from the air. Those vines still had a jade-white color, but looked different from before. Now, they looked not quite real.


    Also, they were reaching down from the foggy sky, looking tens of thousands of feet long.


    Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling both raised their heads to look at those vines from the sky with surprise. Some vines gently coiled around their hands, then a voice was heard, ''Viney can send you out.''


    Wu Yueling raised her head and slightly opened her mouth. ''Why are you in the sky? Aren''t you in the lake anymore? Why don''t you come out?'' she looked at the vines and asked silently.


    Viney answered her questions, ''I''m going to become a little baby, so I can''t come out now. I have to wait for Mama to give birth to me.''


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling nodded excitedly and said, ''Will you be a little baby when you come out?''


    ''Yes, yes,'' said Viney, ''But, you have to wait for a long time.''


    ''Alright!,'' replied Wu Yueling.


    ''What are you? What is your relationship with¡­ her?'' asked Wu Chengyue.


    Viney said to him, ''She''s my Mama, and I''m Viney.''


    Wu Chengyue didn''t quite understand her answers, so he changed the topic, ''How long will she stay like this? When will she wake up?''


    Viney said, ''Mama has fallen into the memory whirlpool. She has to find a way out by herself. I don''t know how long it will take.''


    Wu Chengyue silently looked at Lin Qiao. ''Her body is restored to a healthy human body. Have you been doing that for her?''


    Viney responded proudly, "Yes, Yes! Viney''s power can repair zombies'' bodies and humans¡­ But, my energy isn''t so effective for humans¡­ I can only provide human beings with some healing effect¡­''

 304 Mama, Help Me

    However, not long after she exited the base, Viney''s voice was suddenly heard from her space.


    ''Mama, get in here! Mama, get in!''


    Lin Qiao had no choice but to flash back in immediately.


    "What''s wrong? Viney?" She stood by the lakeside and asked toward the lake.


    A vine reached out of the lake and coiled around her hand. Then, she heard Viney say, ''Mama, the energy inside the little one''s body has been suppressed for too long¡­ I can''t control it fully now¡­ Mama, come down and help.''


    "How can I help down there?" Lin Qiao asked with surprise. She didn''t know how to help others trigger their powers.


    "Didn''t you help Xiaolu trigger her power successfully the last time? Why can''t you do it this time?" Lin Qiao continued asking.


    Viney thought for a moment, then responded, ''Em, Sister Xiaolu''s condition only lasted for a short while, so I was able to control her energy. But this time, the little one has been in this condition for days¡­ Her power had been suppressed the whole time, but there were negative effects of that as well¡­ She has too much energy in her body right now¡­ I''m worrying that her tiny body might not be able to take it¡­''


    Hearing Viney''s explanation, Lin Qiao got a little anxious as well, "What should we do then? Do you know how to help her when I get down there?"


    ''Mama, come down¡­ I''ll transfer a part of the little one''s power into your body, so that she''ll be safer¡­''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Alright then!"


    "Wait a moment!" She thought for a moment and then suddenly added. "Lili, come over here," she turned and waved at Qiu Lili.


    Qiu Lili and Liu Jun were sitting on the couch and watching her. As Lin Qiao waved her, Qiu Lili immediately stood up and flashed to her side.


    "What?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "I''m going down in the lake to help Viney, so I can''t go find Yuan Tianxing now. You''re the fastest among us, as you have the wind power. Can you go out to find Yuan Tianxing and the others for me?"


    Qiu Lili knew Yuan Tianxing and his people, and they knew her as well. Therefore, Lin Qiao felt that it would be appropriate for the former to go instead of her, as she couldn''t make it herself.


    As a level-seven wind-powered zombie, Qiu Lili was many times faster than even a racing car now. She could directly fly to Yuan Tianxng from a treetop.


    Qiu Lili thought shortly, then nodded and said, "Alright, I''ll go!"


    "Roar!" ''I''ll go too!''


    At that moment, Mengmeng, who had been hiding in the third small space, suddenly leaped out and gave a roar. Meanwhile, she had been carefully staring at Viney in the lake.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "There''s no time to waste. I''ll send you out now."


    While speaking, she immediately reached out her hands, grabbed the two young female zombies, and flashed out of her space with them. After dropping them outside, she came back right in.


    Once out, Qiu Lili hopped onto the tallest treetop while Mengmeng looked at her on the ground. Then, Qiu Lili started moving fleetingly and Mengmeng followed her.


    Lin Qiao entered her space and prepared to take off her clothes. But before that, she thought of something and glanced back. The few zombies had stuck their heads out of a small space to look at her.


    "Get in," Lin Qiao shouted at them, "If you dare to watch me take off clothes, I''ll tell Viney to drag you all into the lake."


    Once she said that, those zombies disappeared from her sight without a trace.


    After that, Lin Qiao stripped herself and walked into the water. When she took off her clothes, Liu Jun covered Tong Tong''s eyes and carried him to a farther place.


    Lin Qiao got into the water and sensed the waving energy in the lake. When she reached to the deeper area, Viney wrapped her waist with a vine which was as thick as a baby arm to bring her down.


    Down in the water, Lin Qiao saw that Wu Yueling was entirely wrapped in Viney''s vines, encased in a tiny cocoon. The cocoon was glowing brightly; the white light shone out of the cocoon and made it look like a flaring egg.


    It looked adorable, but contained an agitated energy which made Lin Qiao feel danger. For Lin Qiao, the feeling wasn''t strong, but for Wu Yueling, it should be extremely intense.


    At that point, Viney reached five or six vines to Lin Qiao and wrapped her up into a larger cocoon. Then, she brought the large and the small cocoons together.


    After that, Lin Qiao started to sense a stream of energy slowly entering her body.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue had sent Xiao Licheng to investigate Yang Chao''s recent moves, to see if he had sent people after Ling Ling. Meanwhile, he sent someone else to check the entry and exit records for the recent couple of days, and list the names of all suspicious people for him.


    "Where''re you going?" As Wu Chengyue said that he was going to find someone, Meng Yue followed behind her and asked with confusion.


    "Special Region C," Wu Chengyue responded.


    "Special C? Are you going to find someone on Chief Zou''s side?" Meng Yue asked curiously.


    The inner area of Sea City Base was divided into three regions¡ªSpecial Region A, B, C. These were the areas where the high-ranked people lived and worked. Meanwhile, the outer area was divided into seven regions¡ªRegion A to F. Each one of these regions included living quarters, working areas, and administrative regions.


    Special Region A was under Wu Chengyue''s administration, and was also where he lived. Special Region B was administrated by Yang Chao, and Special Region C was Zou Shihui''s territory.


    Therefore, once Wu Chengyue mentioned that he was heading to Special Region C, the others understood that he was going to find someone under Zou Shihui''s command. The people who lived in Special Region C were mostly Zou Shihui''s subordinates, and some general staff who worked for him.


    In the hall of an office building in Special Region C, Wu Chengyue sent Meng Yue to ask someone if Lu Tianyi was in the office. A couple of minutes later, she came back and said, "Lu Tianyi isn''t in the office. He had gone to the greenhouse. We need to find him there."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue turned and moved to leave while saying, "Let''s go to the greenhouse."


    The greenhouse was the source of ninety percent of the food in the whole base. It contained planning areas and livestock areas.


    A large part of Special Region C was actually farmlands. However, due to the problems of natural earth and water, it required superpowered people to make the plants grow healthily. Anyway, they were greatly understaffed, and hence, the harvest wasn''t satisfactory.


    A rich harvest could be expected when green-powered people hastened the growth of plants. However, green-powered people were too rare.


    When Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were hastening the growth and watering the plants in the greenhouse, a man ran in and shouted at them, "Boos, Chief Wu is here to see you."


    The two of them turned around and recognized the man as one of their subordinates from a workshop.


    "Why''s Chief Wu here to see you?" Kong Qingming turned to look at Lu Tianyi and asked with surprise. The latter shook his head confusedly and responded, "How am I supposed to know? Let''s go out and find out."


    While speaking, he washed his hands in a sphere of water which was floating in the air and wrapping his hands. Kong Qingming got close to him and reached out his hands which had some earth and leaves on them as he said, "Give me some too."


    Lu Tianyi raised one hand with his palm down, and put a clean sphere of water upon the other''s hands. Kong Qingming washed his hands clean in the floating water, then walked out of the greenhouse with Lu Tianyi.

 376 Who should be Responsible for Whom

    Wu Chengyue stayed silent for a while, then sighed, "It''s already amazing. Don''t tell anyone else about that. Do you understand?"


    ''I understand, Daddy!'' said Viney happily. Wu Chengyue paused for a moment in shock, then immediately raised his head and asked confusedly, ''Wait a moment, what did you just call me?"


    ''Daddy?'' Viney responded, ''I''ll become a little baby of you and Mama when I got out.''


    Wu Yueling heard what Viney said to Wu Chengyue as well. She immediately patted Wu Chengyue''s hand and quickly nodded at him.


    Wu Chengyue lowered his head to look at her and found the rarely seen happiness and anticipation in her eyes. ''Ling Ling, do you understand what we''ve been talking about? Why are you so happy? Do you really want a little sister or brother? Or¡­" He was given a headache.


    He paused briefly, then turned to Lin Qiao. Pointing at her, he asked Wu Yueling, "Do you want her to be your Mom?"


    He thought Wu Yueling would shake her head; but to her surprise, she nodded.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her questioningly and asked her with a slightly weird expression, "Do you mean¡­ you want her to be your step-mother?"


    Wu Yueling just couldn''t stop nodding.


    Wu Chengyue looked at his daughter closely in the eyes. Suddenly, he had a thought. "Why do I feel that¡­ you and this Viney have been keeping a secret from us? Do you know her well?"


    Wu Chengyue confusedly looked at Wu Chengyue. Hearing his questions, she nodded. She didn''t know Viney really well, but they were good friends.


    Recalling how the female zombie reacted earlier, Wu Chengyue raised his head again and asked, "You didn''t let her know, did you? She doesn''t know who I am, right?"


    Viney remained silent for a while, then said, ''That''s because the last repairment of Mama''s body is also a critical transformation of Viney. It required a man''s sperm and male energy to complete the process. Little Ling Ling said that she likes my Mama, so I asked Ling Ling if she''d like to call her Mama as well¡­ Ling Ling said yes¡­''


    Wu Chengyue looked at the vines with a meaningful expression on his face, saying, "So, you dragged me in here! You''re so bold. You didn''t even let your Mama know. You should wait and see how she punishes you when she wakes up!"


    He had sensed the female zombie''s wonderful taste. Now, he somehow had a wave of inexplicable anger rising in his heart as he thought that Viney could have brought another man in here and let him monopolize the female zombie''s body and sweet taste.


    A part of him was suddenly glad that it was he who came in here.


    He turned back to look at the female zombie who was lying quietly on the bed. Her sleeping face was beautiful; her super short hair had grown long, spreading on the pillow.


    He stood up and carried Wu Yueling to the bed, then sat on it to look at the female zombie''s face more closely.


    "Ling Ling, good job!" He abruptly turned to Wu Yueling and gave her a compliment, then continued, "From now on, you need to call her Mama. Do you understand?"


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling smiled happily.


    Seeing the smile on Wu Yueling''s face, Wu Chengyue''s heart melted. He suddenly realized that ever since Ling Ling met the female zombie, she had become cheerful, and her smile was seen more often. That change made Wu Chengyue very happy, even though she hadn''t yet started talking.


    Also, he was quite curious about the female zombie. She always took care of his Ling Ling, and saved her life for a few times. Judging by what was happening now, Meng Yue was right.


    He needed to devote his life to her to thank her for what she had done.


    Last time, he bit her thigh; and this time, they had sex. He wondered how she would react when she woke up.


    Wu Chengyue reached out a hand to raise Lin Qiao''s chin, then carefully observed her face. The more he looked at her, the more familiar he felt, as if he had seen her somewhere.


    Earlier on, when he first time saw her with cosmetic contacts, he found her familiar in some way without seeing her zombie eyes. He just couldn''t tell why.


    After spending a while observing her delicate face, Wu Chengyue dropped his hand and said to Wu Yueling, "Since you like her so much, Daddy will marry her, alright? Daddy has already eaten her, so Daddy needs to be responsible for her in the future."


    Wu Chengyue didn''t understand what Wu Chengyue meant by ''eaten''. Neither did she fully understand the world ''marry'', but she vaguely understood that that was a good thing.


    So, she immediately nodded at Wu Chengyue.


    At that moment, Viney swayed her vines and said, ''And me, and me! You need to be responsible for me as well! You''re my Daddy from now on. I''m gonna be Ling Ling''s little sister.''


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with a meaningful expression, saying, "Then you should let me see you, the real you. I don''t even know what you are¡­ How am I supposed to be responsible for you? Besides, you dragged me in here, so shouldn''t you be responsible for me?"


    Viney was puzzled by his question, ''Eh? That seems to be right¡­ Um¡­ um¡­ I''m going to become your little baby in a while anyway¡­ By then, you''ll still have to be responsible for me!''


    Hearing her slick tone of speaking, Wu Chengyue was a little speechless. But still, he managed to grasp a keyword. "You said that you''re going to become a baby, right? You ''re¡­ You''re not in her belly right now, are you?"


    While speaking, Wu Chengyue suddenly fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao''s lower belly.


    Viney responded excitedly, ''Almost, I''m almost there¡­ Only a half of me is in there now. There''s another half.''


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say.


    Strange things happened every year after the end of the old world, but this year, there were so many!


    Some zombies didn''t eat people, but saved people; some zombies became pretty; some zombies were able to talk and build bases, and¡­ give birth to babies!


    The last one still needed to be verified though.


    Wu Chengyue noticed that since he met this female zombie, the zombies around her had all been changing, becoming different. They weren''t the same as ordinary zombies, but had humanity and memories.


    Those zombies didn''t turn into monsters like Yang Chao did, but had been turning back into human beings.


    At that point, Viney said, ''I''m going to send you out. After that, I need to continue upgrading Mama''s energy, so that Mama can give birth to the little baby.''


    While speaking, she held the hands of Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling, and sent them out of the base.


    The people who had waited in the living room for a whole night didn''t manage to react immediately upon seeing Wu Chengyue abruptly show up, wearing different clothes and carrying Wu Yueling in his arms.

 377 The Memory About Self-Exploding

    "Chief Wu, you came out! Are you¡­ okay?" Lin Wenwen reacted first as she looked at Wu Chengyue and asked delightedly. However, those different clothes that he was wearing now seemed to have proven that something had happened.


    "Chengyue!" Meng Yue walked to him gladly.


    Yuan Tianxing smiled calmly, "Were you in Miss. Lu''s space? If you didn''t show up soon, these two ladies were going to tear this place down." While speaking, he gave Meng Yue and Moli a meaningful glance.


    "We were just worrying about Chief," Moli said expressionlessly.


    "I understand," Yuan Tianxing smiled and nodded.


    Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling and showed his usual faint smile to the others while responding, "I''m fine, but I''m not sure if Miss. Lu is as well."


    He had eaten her, so she might not be okay!


    Wu Chengyue still couldn''t believe what Viney said. If that vine plant truly became a baby after he and Miss. Lu had sexual intercourse¡­ that would be something huge!


    Meng Yue looked at his clothes and said, "Chengyue, your clothes¡­"


    Wu Chengyue kept that faint smile while responding to her, "Ah, I fell into the lake. My clothes were wet, so I found some clothes in her space and got changed."


    Meng Yue didn''t detect his dishonesty and just nodded. Unlike her, Yuan Tianxing gave Wu Chengyue a meaningful glance. As a man, he sensitively felt that he was definitely lying.


    "Alright, we should be leaving. We were here to pick up Ling Ling, but it somehow took so long. We''ll show ourselves out," said the smiling Wu Chengyue. After that, he scooped Ling Ling up and walked toward the door, seeming not to have received Yuan Tianxing''s glance.


    "See you," Yuan Tianxing and the others smiled at him and walked the three of them to the door.


    After Wei Jingchen closed the door, Yuan Tianxing laughed in a meaningful way and said, "Do you all think nothing happened between Chief Wu and Miss. Lu?"


    Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying looked at him confusedly. "What could possibly happen between them?" asked Du Yuanxing, "But, why was he there for so long? Why didn''t Miss. Lu come out?"


    Only Lin Wenwen seemed to have guessed something out as she said uncertainly, "Why did Chief Wu change his clothes?"


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at her, but didn''t say anything.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was walking in darkness.


    She didn''t know where she was, neither did she understand why she kept walking. She had no idea when she would stop or where she was going either.


    While walking, she suddenly saw a light at the front. She quickened her steps, then saw a scene from the source of the light.


    The source of the light was like a round-shaped screen.


    She saw herself, wearing a black army suit, with a raging black fire blazing behind her. She sensed something familiar from that fire, as if it was supposed to be around her.


    Lin Qiao understood that that was netherworld fire which had been mentioned by Du Yuanxing and the others many times. She knew that the woman in a long, black army coat was herself, because she looked exactly the same as her.


    The Lin Qiao in a black coat looked cold and fierce, her eyes glowing with a light of madness.


    Behind her was a cliff, and in front of her were five men. Lin Qiao sensed the strong energies belonging to the five men. None of them was at a level lower than Wu Chengyue and Yang Chao.


    Lin Qiao saw that along with the five men, the one in the middle¡ªwho was pretty and feminine-looking¡ªwas saying something to her other self. The Lin Qiao on the cliff responded to him with only a few words, and after that, the man seemed to be enraged. He said some other words to her, and then her face turned grim.


    Then, Lin Qiao saw her other self burst out into crazy laughter. Her hair danced in the air without being blown by any wind. With the dark, raging fire behind her, she looked like a demoness.


    Her long army coat fluttered in the air; her pair of beautiful long legs were wrapped in the trousers and high-heeled boots. She steadily stood at the edge of the cliff and laughed wildly.


    The Lin Qiao in the darkness noticed that the black fire behind her had started shrinking quickly.


    The five men had their expressions changed suddenly when they saw the fire shrink, then hurriedly stepped back. But right at that moment, the demoness-like Lin Qiao suddenly exploded.


    The black fire blew up, covering the whole area about a mile in radius within a moment. Lin Qiao felt that the world before her eyes suddenly turned dark, and then all the images faded.


    She guessed that those images were from her memory. However, she didn''t understand why she felt that all of those had never happened to her. Had a part of her been missing?


    That black fire was very similar to her black mist, as they were both purely dark.


    She believed that she should still go to that cliff and take a look at that place, as soon as possible.


    The confused Lin Qiao decided to head to the South to find that place as soon as the construction work of the new base was started and stabled. She had a feeling that her seeing those images now definitely meant something.


    Perhaps, she was able to restore her lost memory of the past five years!


    Thinking that, she started heading back. She didn''t know why, but she felt that she should be heading back by now.


    At that moment in her space, Viney''s vines descended from the air, lifted the blanket, and then coiled around Lin Qiao''s stomach, waist, knees. They raised her and brought her toward the lake.


    Lin Qiao''s body was soaked in the water, being wrapped into a jade-white cocoon again by the vines from the water. This time, Viney didn''t only wrap Lin Qiao up with a few vines. Instead, countless vines reached to her, slowly wrapping her into an enormous sphere of vines.


    The sphere of vine nearly filled up the entire lake.


    Since Viney''s vines fell from the sky, Shen Yujen in the small space and the zombie dog in the woods had both been staying perfectly quiet, without daring to move at all.


    ¡­


    On the outside, Yuan Tianxing and the others were discussing when to leave for the new base.


    Lin Wenwen unwittingly glanced at the ceiling, then said, "But, Miss. Lu hasn''t come out yet. Aren''t we going to wait for her?"


    Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then replied, "I think we don''t need to. She''ll go there and find us if she doesn''t see us here when she comes out. We don''t know how long she''ll stay in the space, so we might as well go there first. We should start the construction and build the base as soon as we can."


    "Should we keep recruiting in here?" Du Yuanxing asked.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Sure, why not? Otherwise, it''ll take forever for the hundreds of people that we have now to build up the base."

 305 What Kind of Person

    There was a rough shed outside the greenhouse to shade people from the sunlight, and for them to rest underneath during breaks. At this moment, Wu Chengyue and the others were standing in the shed, looking around at the crops in the surroundings.


    At that moment, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming came out of the greenhouse and walked toward them.


    "Chief Wu, is there an emergency, considering you came all the way here to find me?" Lu Tianyi greeted Wu Chengyue and said. Actually, Special Region A was pretty far from Special Region C. It would take about half an hour to travel between these two regions on foot, and it was noontime now, with scorching sunlight hammering down on all existences.


    Wu Chengyue turned to look at him, then looked around again. Seeing no other people nearby, he asked, "Can you please tell me how much you know about the woman named Lin you met in Hangzhou?"


    Lu Tianyi looked at him with surprise, asking, "Eh? Why are you suddenly asking about her?" While saying that, he wondered if Chief Wu had already found out that woman was no one else but Lu Tianyu, and that if he was collecting information about her so he could go after her later.


    With these thoughts, Lu Tianyi''s heart sank slightly. However, his face showed no change of expression.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue took out a piece of paper and handed to Lu Tianyi while speaking, "I want you to confirm if this is her handwriting."


    Lu Tianyi took over the note curiously and read it, but the handwriting on it was strange to him.


    He was surely able to recognize Lu Tianyu''s handwriting. That wasn''t as sharp as the handwriting on the paper. This note was clearly written by someone else.


    "Who wrote this?" Lu Tianyi asked with confusion, "And, what does this mean? Was Ling Ling taken away again?"


    No one should blame him for using the word ''again''. After all, the whole base knew that Ling Ling was often taken away by bad people. But, she miraculously made it back every time, and was perfectly unharmed.


    Wu Chengyue''s face darkened slightly as he said, "She left this note. I want to know what''s your relationship with her, and how much you know about her¡­ Also, what kind of person she is."


    ''She is not a person!''


    Lu Tianyi said that in his head while smiling and responding to Wu Chengyue, "Are you sure this is from her? And, please tell me where Ling Ling was taken away from?"


    Wu Chengyue said, "She has a space, and is traceless. Except for the woman that I met last time, no one else can take Ling Ling away under my watch!"


    That woman had silently stolen her zombie nucleus. Judging by that, he could tell that she took Ling Ling away in the same way this time.


    On his way here, Wu Chengyue had been calmly thinking about what had happened. The more he thought about the space-powered woman that he met in Hangzhou, the deeper he believed that it was she who took his daughter away.


    If he were right, she wouldn''t harm Ling Ling this time, as she had already saved her once. However, he couldn''t figure out why she stole Ling Ling from his place just like that.


    What a weird woman!


    ''Damn! If you want to save my daughter, can''t you first tell me frankly about it? Why did you steal her? Are you trying to scare me to death?'' he thought.


    After thinking through, Wu Chengyue stopped worrying. As long as she didn''t work for Yang Chao, Ling Ling should be safe.


    So, he now wanted to make another thing clear.


    Lu Tianyi thought for a moment, then felt that Wu Chengyue''s words made sense. Abruptly, he murmured to himself, "So¡­ is she back in the base?"


    Wu Chengyue and the other looked at him, as they didn''t know what he meant.


    "You know her superpower, and you should also know why she took Ling Ling away. I want to say that no doctor or healing-powered people can help Ling Ling''s current condition. Does that woman named Lin know how to help her?" asked Wu Chengyue.


    Lu Tianyi raised his head to look at him, recalling Lin Qiao''s space and the lake.


    "She has a¡­ magical lake! Eh, in fact, I can''t tell how exactly she''s going to help Ling Ling. I''m not clear about Ling Ling''s condition either. So, I can''t tell for sure," Lu Tianyi pointed at the note, then continued, "She seems to be quite clear about what Ling Ling is going through. Even you can''t do anything about that?"


    Wu Chengyue looked around. After confirming that no suspicious people existed in the surrounding, he said, "After we returned to the base, Ling Ling''s power suddenly began awakening. We got a special kind of water from someone else, which suppressed the energy inside her body. However, it has been a few days, and Ling Ling''s condition hasn''t been getting any better. But thankfully, it was not getting worse either."


    Hearing his words, both Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming popped their eyes in shock. "What? Her power is awakening!" They exclaimed with disbelief, then glanced at each other to make sure that they hadn''t misheard. After that, Lu Tianyi asked, "How can that be possible? She''s so young! Why is her power awakening?"


    Wu Chengyue sighed and replied, "I want to know that too. But, that woman named Lin took Ling Ling away. Where can we find her now?"


    Lu Tianyi looked at him and said, "Ah¡­ Chief, if you ask me that¡­ To be honest, I don''t know. In fact, she told me earlier that she won''t come back to Sea City base, so I don''t know why she suddenly appeared here. Perhaps, we can only find out when she shows up in person."


    While speaking, he silently sighed in relief, as Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to have figured out that woman''s true identity.


    Hearing Lu Tianyi''s words, Wu Chengyue''s heart sank. However, his handsome face showed no expression.


    Right at that moment, Xiao Licheng ran over.


    "Chief, we got something!"


    The others immediately turned to him. He glanced at Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming, then hesitated for a while.


    "It''s alright, just tell me," said Wu Chengyue.


    Hearing him, Xiao Licheng took out a piece of paper, which had a name list on it.


    "A group of people came back this morning," he said, "It''s Chen Yuting and his people from the Feng Ting Squad. However, the other squad leader of theirs, Lu Changfeng, and his younger sister, Lu Ting, as well as two other squad members are missing. Another group of people came with them. The leader of those people is named Lin Feng. They''re here to find Deputy Chief Yuan."


    Wu Chengyue and Meng Yue both looked at him with surprise. "What did you say? Lin Feng? Are they from the old Hades Base too?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know about Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng. So, he glanced at Kong Qingming confusedly. Unlike him, Kong Qingming knew a little about Yuan Tianxing and the Hades Base.


    "Eh?" he said, "Are you talking about Yuan Tianxing who has released a task in the Mission Hall, which is about building a new base in the center of Hangzhou? I heard that he''s making great offers. However, he needs people to work for him in the center of a zombie city. Many people went to ask about that job, but most of them came back."


    From Kong Qingming''s words, Lu Tianyi learned about what Yuan Tianxing was doing here. However, he couldn''t understand what his sister had to do with the people from the old Hades Base.

 378 Make this Clear

    Du Yuanxing murmured, "We have around four-hundred people now. I think that''s already a lot¡­ We''re only going to build a fence wall. That doesn''t need too many people, does it?"


    Yuan Tianxing smiled faintly as he gave him a glance and said, "Don''t we need to clean up the buildings inside the fence wall? Don''t we need to tidy those rooms? Don''t we have to clear the roads?"


    Hearing that, Du Yuanxing immediately turned a little upset as he realized that a huge clean-up work was needed to be done. "Ugh¡­ You''re right! We also need to clear the road and clean the buildings for people to live in. Wow, there are so many abandoned cars on those roads. If only those zombies could remove the trash for us."


    "That''s a good idea," said Long Qingying, "But, you have to ask Miss. Lu or Qiu Lili for help."


    Hearing her say that he''d have to talk to Lin Qiao or Qiu Lili, who was also a terrifying zombie, Du Yuanxing quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, I think we can clean the road by ourselves real quick."


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes and said, "At least you don''t need to worry that some zombies might jump on you while you''re working. Don''t be ungrateful!"


    The others all nodded; she was right. Before, when building a base, half of the people needed to guard the construction site to prevent sudden zombie attacks so that the other half could focus on working.


    At that time, everyone had different feelings from what they had now. Most of the people were scared, despairing, panicked, and helpless.


    By now, all the survivors had gotten used to the environment after the apocalypse, and were even familiar with zombies. It had been five years. Anyhow, they should have adapted already.


    "Du, you stay here to continue the recruitment. I''ll leave Junjie and Wenxing here to help you," Yuan Tianxing made the decision, "The rest of us will stay for another day. If Miss. Lu doesn''t show up tomorrow, we''ll leave at four in the afternoon. We should be able to arrive there by six."


    The others all nodded in agreement.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue went back to the base center, wearing a sports suit. Wu Yueling was carried in his arms. He didn''t say anything on the way back, only maintaining that faint smile on the corners of his mouth. However, Meng Yue, who had been paying attention to him, found that he was absent-minded the whole time.


    "Chengyue, you spent there an entire night. Are you really fine?" Meng Yue asked while following him home.


    Moli also lived in the base center. Wu Chengyue had accommodated her in a nearby building, and sent two level-five superpowered people to be her bodyguard. She had a great reaction capacity, and was able to protect herself to a certain degree. So, as long as she didn''t encounter level six or seven enemies, she would be safe.


    Hearing Meng Yue''s question, Wu Chengyue walked to a couch and put Wu Yueling down.


    He made his daughter sit on the couch, then raised his head to say to Meng Yue, "Something did happen¡­ But, I''m afraid that you might not be able to accept it if I told you. Yue, in the past five years, I''ve been seeing you as a good friend or my little sister. I think you know that."


    He then erased that smile on his face and said to Meng Yue seriously, "Sit down, let''s talk."


    Looking at his face and hearing his words, Meng Yue suddenly had a very bad feeling. She even had an impulse to turn and leave. However, she still obediently sat on another couch and looked on at Wu Chengyue, waiting for him to continue.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then said to her, "You''ve been working for me all these years. You''re very capable, and I like capable people. In front of the others, we are leader and subordinate, and at home, we are friends. I''ve been taking care of you because you''re like my little sister. I wish that you can find a good man to spend the rest of your life with."


    Hearing that, Meng Yue panicked. "Chengyue, please stop¡­" she said abruptly.


    However, Wu Chengyue didn''t plan to stop. Instead, he continued, "I don''t know when you suddenly fell in love with me. That''s not your fault. It''s my fault, because I can''t respond to the special feeling of yours, just like you can''t respond to what Yunlong has toward you. I believe you can understand me."


    He believed so, because they were in about the same situation.


    Meng Yue had always been a composed woman. But at that moment, she abruptly stood up and stuttered, "Chenyue, I haven''t made the dinner¡­ I''m going to make the dinner¡­"


    "Sit down¡­ let me finish," said Wu Chengyue."


    "No, I don''t want to hear it!" Meng Yue shook her head as she looked at him and said.


    Wu Chengyue sighed, "Sit down. I need to say this to you, sooner or later¡­ Please!"


    Meng Yue stared at him and paused for a moment, then slowly sat down. Her face was wearing a bitter look, and her brain was occupied by disordered thoughts.


    Why did he suddenly say those words to her? He never gave her any chance, and had been keeping a distance from her, intentionally or not. To avoid awkward situations, the two of them and Xiao Yunlong had been living here together.


    However, she never thought about giving up. She believed that one day, Wu Chengyue would realize how much she loved him, and slowly accept her.


    But now, he was making it clear. He was saying all those words to reject her.


    Meng Yue couldn''t accept it. She didn''t want to hear Wu Chengyue reject her. She didn''t want to hear it! Nevertheless, she didn''t dare to disobey him, because she was worried that he might dislike her because of that.


    Seeing the look on her face, Wu Chengyue sighed silently. He had to tell her how he had been feeling, because if he didn''t, she would have more and more hopes, and things would become complicated.


    He rubbed Wu Yueling''s hair, then said, "Like you said last time, I should find Ling Ling a mother. I have already started to think about that. You''re not a little girl anymore. Don''t waste all your time on me. If you really don''t want to accept Yunlong, think about the others."


    Meng Yue popped her eyes to gaze at him. When she heard what he said, she couldn''t help but choke up, with her eyes turned red. The sadness suddenly rose from her heart, making her want to burst into tears.


    Once again, she abruptly stood up. This time, she didn''t say anything but turned and ran upstairs, rushing into her room.


    Looking at her back, Wu Chengyue sighed again. "Daddy made Aunty Yue cry," he said to Wu Yueling, "What should I do? We have nothing to eat for dinner."


    After the apocalypse, everyone thought that he was married, because he had Ling Ling. But in fact, he had never married. Even before the old world ended, he was still single.


    He was a good-looking base leader, so without question, a lot of women fancied him. However, as a picky man, he wouldn''t even touch the women that he didn''t like.


    Therefore, he had been fulfilling his sexual needs with his own hand.

 306 The Entry and Exit Record

    Hearing Xiao Licheng''s words, Wu Chengyue took over the list and gave it a look. As the former had mentioned, quite a few people on the list had the last name ''Lin''.


    "Eh? Why are they in our base? Didn''t people say that someone had already made moves on them out there? And, Yuan Tianxing left the base this morning, so why didn''t they meet on the road?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Except for Wu Chengyue and Liang Dashu, the others on the scene didn''t know that Yang Chao had sent people after Yuan Tianxing and his people yet. So, on hearing his words, the others immediately figured that something was happening.


    "They have probably taken different routes," said Xiao Licheng, "As for why Lin Feng and his people showed up here, we don''t know that yet. But, we are now at least sure that no one has done anything to them like you said, Chief. Or¡­ some people might have tried to hurt them, but failed."


    Wu Chengyue read the name list and tried to find the Lin woman from it. The ages of those people were also on the paper, so, after reading the name list carefully, Wu Chengyue only found a girl named Lin Wenwen who was likely to be the woman that he had met.


    "Is this Lin Wenwen in our base now?" He pointed at Lin Wenwen''s name and asked. If she were the one who took his daughter away, she shouldn''t be in the base right now. But, if she was in the base, was Ling Ling with her?


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "She is in the base. None of the people on the list have left so far."


    Wu Chengyue''s face darkened slightly as he turned to look at Xiao Licheng and said, "Are you saying that this woman is still in our base?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded, but as he suddenly thought of something, he continued, "Ah, Huang Ming is back, and he''s with Lin Feng and the others. Li Zheng and his people who left earlier with Huang Ming''s team have also come back together with them."


    "Had they found Lin Feng and his people?" Wu Chengyue asked with surprise.


    "I think so," said Xiao Licheng, "Otherwise, they wouldn''t come back to our base together."


    Wu Chengyue immediately turned around and said, "Let''s go find Lin Wenwen now, and also meet the others!"


    After saying that, he left with his people.


    So, Lu Tianyi, who was called out of the greenhouse, confusedly watched Wu Chengyue and his people quickly leave to find that woman named Lin Wenwen before he could even figure out what was going on.


    He was puzzled. What did those Hades Base people have to do with his sister? Was this because of the last name ''Lin''?


    Lu Tianyi thought that Lin Qiao addressed herself as ''Lin'' in front of Wu Chengyue, because she didn''t want him to know her real name. However, it was unexpected that Wu Chengyue connected this last name with some people from another base.


    Kong Qingming, who had been paying attention to everyone the whole time, now had his left arm before his chest and right elbow resting on his left hand while rubbing his chin with his right hand. Meanwhile, he had been curiously looking at Wu Chengyue and his people who were leaving in haste.


    "It seems that some people are starting a trouble. They''re actually targeting Chief Wu! It''s not the one from your family, is it¡­?"


    After all, she did have a space, which made Kong Qingming''s guess a very real possibility.


    "How am I supposed to know?" Lu Tianyi asked.


    Kong Qingming dropped both arms and clapped his hands, then said, "I''ll go find it out. You''ll be doing the rest of the work."


    While speaking, he patted Lu Tianyi on his shoulder, and then followed behind Wu Chengyue and the others.


    Lu Tianyi, who was left there to work alone, was a little speechless. ''I know that you''re expecting a great show, but can you not make it so obvious?'' he thought.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Lin Qiao, who was in the lake, sensed a suction force which was pumping her energy out of her brain, while feeling a strange energy flowing into her body. She believed that Viney wouldn''t harm her, so she let the force take her energy without trying to stop it.


    Viney extracted Lin Qiao''s energy, then tried to pull away the agitated energy inside Wu Yueling''s body with her own power. The little one''s energy had mostly been gathering toward her brain. A part of it was pulled out by Viney and sent into Lin Qiao''s body.


    If Lin Qiao weren''t there to serve as a transitional body, the energy inside Wu Yueling''s body would have probably exploded. Viney would have tried her best to pull that energy out, but that would have still been too dangerous. After all, once Viney failed to control that energy well, it would blow up.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Yuan Tianxing and his people drove two refitted off-road vehicles out of Sea City and entered Jiaxing City. While they were driving, a white figure suddenly descended from the sky and stopped them.


    Squeak! Du Yuanxing slammed the brakes, causing a shrill noise. His head almost hit against the steering wheel, and the others in the car all reeled right and left.


    "Ouch¡­ My neck¡­ Du, can you please warn us next time before you slam the brakes¡­" Lin Yu had his head bumped into the back of the driver''s seat. After that, he tilted his head and said through clenched teeth.


    "Damn! Do you think I wanted to do that? We''re driving at eighty miles per hour, but someone suddenly showed up in front of our car! It was already amazing that I managed to stop the car!" Du Yuanxing responded, a bit startled as well. But, after seeing the white figure before the car clearly, he continued with surprise, "Eh? Isn''t that Qiu Lili?"


    "Who''s Qiu Lili?" Lin Yu twisted his neck and asked.


    Yuan Tianxing, who was in the front seat, opened the car door and got off. As he got out of the car, Du Yuanxing and the others followed. Behind them, Xiao Yunlong parked his car two meters away, then came out of the car with his people.


    Yuan Tianxing was happy upon seeing Qiu Lili. He hurriedly walked to her and asked anxiously, "Why''re you here? Where''re Lin Feng and the others?"


    Watching him coming over excitedly, Qiu Lili took two slight steps backward. Her movement reminded Yuan Tianxing that she didn''t like to be close to humans.


    "You don''t need to go back. The people that you''ve been looking for are in Sea City Base now," Qiu Lili raised her head to look at Yuan Tianxing with her pair of pretty dark-red eyes while speaking. After saying that, she pushed off the ground and hopped onto the roof of Yuan Tianxing''s car.


    Following his move, everybody turned their eyes to the car roof.


    Yuan Tianxing was puzzled at first, then understood her meaning. He raised his head and said with surprise, "Are you saying that Lin Feng and the others are in Sea City Base now? How come I didn''t know that?"


    Qiu Lili picked up her long twin-tails, rolling them with her hands while replying, "They arrived half an hour ago. At that time, you had left the base for two hours. So, I came here to get you back."


    Hearing her words, Yuan Tianxing finally stopped worrying. "So, they''re all fine, right?" he asked.


    "They''re fine," Qiu Lili nodded.


    Yuan Tianxing sighed with relief and said, "Ah, great! I heard that some people were going after them. I was worried that something might happen to them, so I decided to make a trip back to check on them. It surprises me that they''re in the base already."


    Qiu Lili shook her head and said, "Alright, I''ve found you. You get back as soon as possible."


    Finishing talking, she abruptly turned around to stick out her tongue toward Xiao Yunlong, who was on the other side, and then disappeared without a trace.

 379 Start Background-digging

    After the apocalypse, Wu Chengyue raised Ling Ling in the drastically changed world. Some people followed him, and they build a base together. Only after that did they finally have a home.


    After becoming Ling Ling''s daddy, he devoted his off-work time to try and be a good father. At work, he was all about how to be a good leader and how to run the base, providing a safe and comfortable place to live for all the survivors.


    In the zombie-free base, people had food, clean water, and places to live. All these needed him and the other two leaders to spend efforts on.


    As more and more people joined his base, more problems occurred, and he became busier and busier. So, he had no spare time and energy to think about starting a relationship.


    It was already a little late when he discovered what Meng Yue had toward him. She was a girl, and a friend who had been staying around him the whole time. So, he surely could not send her away. With no other choice, he had been intentionally keeping a distance from her, hoping that she would give up.


    But later on, he found that she was a persistent woman!


    He planned to distance himself from her gradually, and also had created plenty of opportunities for Xiao Yunlong, as he wished the latter could earn her favor as soon as possible. However, his plan didn''t work.


    In that aspect, Xiao Yunlong wasn''t a capable teammate!


    If that female zombi''s pet vine didn''t entrap both of them, he wouldn''t make it clear to Meng Yue so straightforwardly. After all, he understood how awfully his words would hurt Meng Yue.


    However, he had decided to be with that female zombie. To avoid misunderstanding and troubles, he had to make himself clear to Meng Yue. Otherwise, the stubborn Meng Yue might do something irrational after she found out about him and the female zombie. He just couldn''t tell how she would react.


    After hearing what he said, Wu Yueling confusedly glanced at the stairs, then turned back to gaze at her father with a pair of sparkling eyes which were filled with puzzles.


    "Ling Ling, you sit here. Daddy will make dinner. Is that okay? Are you hungry?"


    Wu Yueling nodded, then quietly sat on the couch.


    Wu Chengyue stood up and walked toward the kitchen, thinking that there was no other choice than leaving Meng Yue alone for a while. Maybe she would think it through.


    Also, he decided to send out some people to do some detailed background checking about that female zombie. He didn''t even know her full name yet. People called her Miss. Lu now, and last time, she introduced herself as Lin. What Lin?


    And her face¡­ For some reasons, the more he thought about her face, the more familiar he felt. He believed that he had seen her somewhere before, but just couldn''t remember where.


    There was one other problem¡­ That female zombie seemed not yet to know that he was the one who had eaten her yesterday. He wondered how she would react when she found out.


    With those thoughts, Wu Chengyue suddenly felt better. The depression caused by Meng Yue earlier on was now eased, and that made him feel relieved.


    While he was making food, Yuan Tianxing and the others had started dinner. In the space, Lin Qiao was unconscious, wrapped in the enormous vine sphere. No one knew that the gigantic vine sphere had been disappearing bit by bit.


    That was right, it was disappearing!


    Meanwhile, a stream of vibe had been slowly seeping into Lin Qiao''s uterus.


    That was Viney''s vibe.


    Except for what was happening in the water, nothing in the space changed.


    ¡­


    That night, Wu Chengyue called Xiao Licheng to his study room and gave him a mission. The mission was to dig out the female zombie''s background in detail.


    Xiao Licheng accepted the mission and then left with confusion. He didn''t understand why his Chief had sent him to do background digging about that female zombie.


    Once Xiao Licheng accepted the mission, Kong Qingming received a message about that. Next day, at noontime, he went to Lu Tianyi''s office.


    "Chief Wu hasn''t found out that your zombie sister is the one who raped him, has he?" he said to Lu Tianyi once he walked in. The latter was reading the reports about the monthly harvests of the crops. Hearing Kong Qingming''s words, he raised his head and asked with confusion, "Who are you talking about?"


    Kong Qingming walked to the couch and took a seat, then crossed his arms before his chest and explained lazily, "Miss. Lu¡­ Chief Wu has sent his people to dig her background. So, I''m thinking maybe he is suspecting her. Otherwise, why didn''t he do the background-digging earlier? Why did he suddenly order his people to do it now?"


    Lu Tianyi wore a serious look as well. If Kong Qingming was right, he would have to prevent Chief Wu from knowing the truth!


    Kong Qingming seemed to understand his concern. "Don''t worry, I have secretly hidden the information," he said blandly, "I also discovered that those Hades Base people have also been concealing that thing. Therefore, I guess Chief Wu won''t be able to find out about Miss. Lu''s true identity so soon."


    Lu Tianyi sighed in relief and slightly relaxed his tightened handsome face. "Thank you!"


    Kong Qingming glanced at him and said, "Why thank me? Miss. Lu saved our lives. We all owe her. It''s just¡­ Why is she so different from before after she became a zombie?"


    Lu Tianyi leaned against the back of the chair as he rubbed his chin and said, "Maybe she was stimulated too badly when she died, so after turning into a zombie, she decided to amend his way and um¡­ live a new life?"


    Kong Qingming found his words amusing. "She''s your sister, so you know her better than anyone else. Do you think that''s possible?" he asked, "If she wanted to amend her ways, she would have done it long ago."


    Lu Tianyi looked at him with discontentment and said, "Why not? People always regret or wake up in the most difficult time of their lives. Why can''t I believe that she has woken up?"


    Kong Qingming looked at him helplessly. "Alright, alright, I knew you''d think that way. Perhaps you''re right. Judging by Miss. Lu''s current behavior, she has probably woken up as you said. But, why do I feel that you like your sister more and more?"


    Lu Tianyi crossed his arms before his chest and said, "I''ve been protecting her forever. Have you just realized that?"


    Kong Qingming didn''t know what to say. He felt that if they kept talking about his sister, the conversation would never end. However, Lu Tianyi soon asked him a question that made the latter unable to sit still, "The other night, you were knocking on Lin Wenwen''s door, but why did you suddenly drag me over? You acted weird that time, why?"

 380 Let Me Laugh

    However, Lu Tianyi soon asked Kong Qingming a question that made the latter unable to sit still, "The other night, you were knocking on Lin Wenwen''s door, but why did you suddenly drag me over? You acted weird that time, why?"


    The expression on Kong Qingming''s handsome froze for a moment, and his narrow eyes were a little unfocused. He remembered that cold face he saw that day. Her face wasn''t delicate, but those sharp eyes impressed him deeply. He could even still feel those dagger-like eyes.


    "Um¡­ I just felt that the look which the woman with a ponytail had in her eyes was a little scary! I couldn''t handle her, so I automatically dragged you there. In fact, I don''t know why either."


    Seeing the confused look in his face and hearing his answer, Lu Tianyi had his eye glowing. Abruptly, he uncrossed his arms and stood up, staring at Kong Qingming with great interests. Soon, he walked out from behind the desk to before Kong Qingming, and bent over to gaze at his face closely. "Qingming, have you realized that your face is a little¡­ burning right now?"


    Kong Qingming was puzzled at first, then automatically raised his hand to touch his face. Seeing that, Lu Tianyi burst in laughter. "Hahahahaha¡­"


    He laughed loudly and happily, without saying anything.


    Kong Qingming looked at him bewilderedly. As Lu Tianyi wouldn''t stop laughing, he began losing patience. "If you have something to say, just say it. Why''re you laughing like a ghost."


    While keeping laughing, Lu Tianyi covered his forehead with a hand and waved a hand at the other. Then, he walked back to his seat and sat back down.


    "Hahaha¡­ Just let me laugh. I can''t hold it back anymore!"


    Hearing his laughter, Kong Qingming''s face turned even darker. He glared at Lu Tianyi and said, "Make it clear to me!"


    Hearing that, Lu Tianyi finally stopped laughing loudly. He looked at Kong Qingming and asked, "How'' bout this, you answer me a few questions first. That day, after you saw her dagger-like eyes, did your heart flip?"


    Kong Qingming was recalling that ordinary and clean-looking face which he saw that day. Still, his attention was attracted by that pair of eyes of hers. To respond to the other''s words, he nodded.


    Lu Tianyi continued, "So at that time, were you subconsciously panicking? Did your body react before your brain and make you want to escape?"


    Back then, Kong Qingming''s reaction was indeed unwitting, as his brain wasn''t even working. So, he nodded again.


    Lu Tianyi laughed again. He put both hands on the desk, then rested his head on those hands.


    "Hehehehehe¡­"


    Kong Qingming felt extremely uncomfortable upon hearing his laughter. He couldn''t help but complain, "Can you please stop laughing? Can''t you just talk straight?"


    Hearing that, Lu Tianyi raised his head and looked at Kong Qingming with a big grin, "Qingming, you''re quite capable, but why are you so slow-minded about these things?"


    "These things? What things?" Kong Qingming looked at him, his head full of puzzles.


    Lu Tianyi gave him a few glances, then shook his head and responded, "Alright. I think you need to figure it out by yourself, so it''ll be meaningful. I won''t tell you. But, do remember one thing, that you just need to follow your feelings."


    Kong Qingming felt so annoyed. Saying something like that was the same as saying nothing, wasn''t it?


    "What on earth are you talking about? Why can''t I understand a word you said?" he asked.


    Lu Tianyi shook his head, didn''t say another word. After that, no matter how many questions Kong Qingming asked, he only smiled at him. At last, the latter left with anger.


    While leaving, that woman''s cold face had been showing up in his mind. He wondered if it was because they had been talking about her the whole time.


    Her appearance was ordinary, but she was clean-looking. Also, her vibe was strong, and it seemed like she was keeping a good distance from everyone else.


    Her body shape was not bad though!


    ¡­


    That day in the afternoon, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, Lu Junjie and the others left Sea City Base for Upper City District in Hangzhou.


    In Lin Qiao''s space, the vine sphere which she was wrapped in had still been disappearing slowly. It was way too huge, so during the past twenty-four hours, not even one percent of it had vanished.


    Lin Feng, Chen Yuting and their people first cleaned the hotel, sorting and counting the furniture pieces which were still useful. The broken ones or awfully blood-stained ones were moved out, then torn in pieces or burned. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lin and the other female members helped clean the quilts, blankets, sheets, and other things.


    These works couldn''t be finished in days. Lin Feng and his people were patient enough, as this was just a beginning. The base needed to be built up step by step.


    Qiu Lili and Mengmeng stayed on the roof, quietly watching those people clean the place without lending a helping hand. On the other side Lin Hao and his people began sweeping through the surrounding area to search for food and supplies.


    After a busy day, they heard a vehicle driving over in the evening. Without question, the people in that vehicle were friends, or the car wouldn''t be able to pass the zombie wall.


    Hearing the noise of the car, Lin Feng first thought of Yuan Tianxing and the others, "I think Tianxing and the others are back."


    Hearing him, the others all stopped working and turned to the broad road before the hotel.


    Lin Feng made eye-contact with Chen Yuting, then glanced at his watch and said, "It''s about dinner time. Tell everybody to get off work for dinner."


    Chen Yuting nodded in response.


    An SUV stopped before the hotel. Long Qingying, who liked to sit on car roofs, jumped off the first. After that, the car doors were opened, and Yuan Tianxing, Lin Wenwen, and a few others got out.


    Seeing Lin Feng and the others standing before the hotel, they sighed in relief.


    Mrs. Lin held Lin Xiaolu''s hand and gave a few more glances at the vehicle before saying to Lin Wenwen, who was meters away from her, "Wenwen, why did you cut your hair? What happened?"


    Lin Wenwen touched the hair by her ear, then gave a natural smile and said, "Nothing. I just feel that long hair can be inconvenient. So, I cut them."


    Both Mrs. Lin and Cheng Wangxue looked at her with surprise. "How can that be possible? You cut your hair because you felt it was inconvenient? I don''t believe it! What on earth has happened? Tell me!" said Mrs. Lin.


    "Mom, I want to change myself," Lin Wenwen had no other choice but explained, "Didn''t you all say that I was too self-willed? I''ll change it. To make up my mind, I cut my hair. What''s wrong about that?"


    Mrs. Lin looked at her with disbelief, saying, "How many times have we said that? You never cared much. How come you suddenly want to change yourself?"


    "Yeah!" Cheng Wangxue nodded.


    "Ugh, just believe what I said," Lin Wenwen responded helplessly, "I''ve already cut it, and I don''t regret. Is it because my hair are so ugly that you can''t get used to it yet?"


    Mrs. Lin and Cheng Wangxue both nodded. "They are a little ugly indeed. I do feel strange about it, as you mentioned it," said Mrs. Lin. Meanwhile, Lin Feng and the others all nodded in agreement.


    Looking at her roughly cut, terribly styled short hair, and thinking about how long and shiny they used to be, those people did feel odd. However, Mrs. Lin soon changed the topic. "Didn''t Miss. Lu come with you? And Yuanxing¡­" she said to Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Wenwen answered her question, "Ah, Miss. Lu hasn''t come over yet. Yuanxing stayed in Sea City Base to continue the recruitment work. We still need more people."

 307 Stop Yuan Tianxing

    Xiao Yunlong was a little confused when Qiu Lili pulled a face at him. He silently calmed his power which was preparing in his palm, then walked to Yuan Tianxing and asked with a confused look, "If I was right, her eyes¡­"


    Those were zombie eyes, with ruby-like pupils. The owner of those eyes was a zombie queen at least, or even a higher-leveled being.


    Yuan Tianxing finally noticed the nervous Xiao Yunlong. He saw that the latter''s entire body had been tightened up, probably because he was preparing to make a move ever since he saw Qiu Lili. Yuan Tianxing guessed that Xiao Yunlong had refrained from launching an attack because he saw him talking to Qiu Lili.


    "Ugh, relax, relax! Don''t worry, she''s not gonna hurt us," Yuan Tianxing hurriedly said to Xiao Yunlong with a smile. The latter still looked at him in surprise while saying, "Do you mean that¡­ she''s really a¡­"


    He wished that the truth wasn''t like what he thought. That girl could talk, so he guessed that he was wrong¡­


    Seeing the shocked and confused look on this tall and sturdy man''s face, Yuan Tianxing grinned and said, "That''s right, it''s like what you''re thinking. But, I am now relaxed after seeing her. She showed up here, which means Lin Feng and the others are truly fine."


    Yan Fangyu had told him that Yang Chao had secretly sent some people after Lin Feng and the others. Yang Chao wouldn''t just send one or two people, and the people he sent would be no weaker than level-six superpowered beings. Facing those kinds of enemies, Lin Feng and his people were truly defenseless.


    Even knowing that Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili were with them, Yuan Tianxing was still worried, because it was hard to defend against the enemies that one didn''t know. If those people had launched a surprise attack, even Qiu Lili might not have been able to protect everyone. Besides, Lin Qiao had left for the center of Hangzhou City, and Yuan Tianxing didn''t know if she had returned yet.


    So, at the moment, the strongest ones among the whole group of people were Lin Feng and Qiu Lili.


    They would be able to deal with one or two level-six superpowered people. However, the ones who were working for Yang Chao were robbers, who had plenty of ways to hurt people. They were all cruel and heartless, and considerably strong. The people who were able to survive in the open post-apocalyptic world were very dangerous.


    "Are you saying that¡­ she''s what I think she is? Are you sure?" Xiao Yunlong was still wearing that bewildered look. Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "That''s right. She''s a zombie queen. But¡­ could she always talk? I''ve only heard her roaring before."


    Xiao Yunlong popped his eyes to look at Yuan Tianxing, then glanced at his subordinates. "Why can you talking about that so calmly?" he asked, "Don''t you think that¡­ a talking zombie is¡­ ugh¡­ very strange?"


    The ones who wore the same look as Xiao Yunlong were his subordinates, and had their heads sticking out of the car windows.


    Yuan Tianxing smilingly nodded and said, "Ah, yeah, very strange indeed! But, we''ve already been shocked about half a month ago. Alright, we should head back."


    After saying that, he patted Xiao Yunlong on his shoulder, then turned and got into the car. Du Yuanxing and the others instantly came back into the car as well. Then, the car was started and turned around.


    Xiao Yunlong was left stunned, as he could scarcely believe what he had just heard.


    "I think we should go back and fix our world view¡­" He turned to look at his subordinates in the car and said, the latter all nodding in response.


    At that point, Yuan Tianxing''s car was turned around and stopped by his side.


    "Chief Xiao, I hope that you won''t tell anyone else about Lili for now. I believe that in the near future, everyone will find out about them," Yuan Tianxing stuck his head out of the car window and said to Xiao Yunlong.


    Xiao Yunlong recovered from the shock and responded confusedly, "Near future? Why?"


    Yuan Tianxing only smiled, but didn''t say a word before pulling his head back into the car. Then, the car was driven where it came from, raising a cloud of dust in its wake.


    Xiao Yunlong watched Yuan Tianxing''s car drive away, then turned back to make another eye-contact with his people. After that, he got into his car.


    "I think I need a moment of quiet!" he said.


    ¡­


    In the space, Lin Qiao didn''t know how long it had been. She felt utterly uncomfortable, as her whole body was burning. The energy inside her head had been endlessly taken away by Viney, while a strange energy was entering her body.


    Over time, she felt that a magical power was flowing into her body along with that strange energy.


    If she were right, that power was a type of life-force.


    That guess gave Lin Qiao a start. ''It''s not the little one''s life-force, is it? Why is her life-force flowing into my body? Will anything happen to her if she''s sharing her life-force with me?''


    Once she turned anxious, that life-force stopped entering her body, and so did the strange energy. Then, she sensed a sudden expansion of energy next to her, and right after that, the energy shrank.


    As everything in the surroundings calmed back down, Viney''s vines slowly unwrapped her. Only one vine was left coiling around her waist.


    She opened her eyes and saw the little person in front of her.


    The little one had her eyes closed, her long hair spreading in the water. A faintly-colored crystal piece was disappearing before her forehead. To be specific, it was sinking into her forehead.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao heard Viney''s voice, ''Mama, you bring the little one go up. I''m so tired¡­ I need to sleep¡­''


    After that, Lin Qiao felt that both her and Wu Yueling were sent upward. Soon, their heads were out of the water. Viney sent them up to the water surface, then uncoiled them. Afterward, all the vines drew back toward the lake bottom.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly put an arm around Wu Yueling, then supported her body with one arm while swimming toward the lakeside.


    By the lakeside, Liu Jun was waiting for them with two large towels. As Lin Qiao walked out of the water with the little girl, she first covered the girl''s body with one towel, then put another towel around Lin Qiao''s shoulders.


    Lin Qiao handed Wu Yueling to Liu Jun and said, "She''s fine now. Put her on a bed."


    Liu Jun took over the girl, but didn''t leave immediately. Instead, she looked at Lin Qiao with confusion. The latter was wrapping the towel around her body to dry herself. Seeing the look in Liu Jun''s face, she paused to look at her.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Liu Jun put his nose near Lin Qiao, then sniffed at her then said, "I feel¡­ a little weird. Maybe something is wrong with my nose."


    Lin Qiao was confused by him. She raised an arm and sniffed herself as well, but sensed no strange smell.


    "What is wrong? You look so puzzled."


    Liu Jun took a step backward and spent a short while staring at Lin Qiao and thinking. After that, she replied, "Um, your power has improved again! I feel that this rapid improvement isn''t really a good thing."


    Lin Qiao spent a moment to feel the energy inside her body, then nodded and agreed, "Yeah, my energy is getting a little unstable."

 381 Yuan Tianxing in Position

    The recruitment ads that they released recently were divided into two different types, one for workers who were willing to come here to do a job, and one for the residents of this new base. The people who wanted to change their environment were welcome to join the new base.


    Except for the ones who harbored evil intentions, or people like post-apocalyptic robbers, the new base would accept almost all sorts of applicants. And of course, the ones who chose to join the new base would be paid well.


    The new residents of the base would be put in the positions which fit their contributions to the base.


    That was a common rule in all bases.


    "Did anything happen to Miss. Lu?" Mrs. Lin asked with concern.


    Lin Wenwen smiled and responded, "She should be fine. Ugh, I want to tell you about what happened in Sea City Base yesterday."


    Hearing that, the others immediately turned to her with curiosity. Only Mrs. Lin showed a trace of worry on her face. However, she didn''t ask any further question, but walked into the lobby with the others.


    Yuan Tianxing said to Chen Yuting and Lin Feng, "Yesterday in Sea City Base, Yang Chao and his people were destroyed by Chief Wu and Chief Zou. Yang Chao died."


    Chen Yuting and the others who had just walked into the lobby all froze when they heard that, gazing at Yuan Tianxing in disbelief.


    "What? He died? How did that happen so suddenly? Our Chief wasn''t ready to take action, was he?" Chen Yuting asked with surprise.


    Yuan Tianxing responded while walking straight to the few clean couches in the lobby, "In fact, something happened the day you guys left. Because of that, Chief Wu quickly launched a counter strike. All that happened was also the result of some troublemaker''s deeds."


    While speaking, he laughed with a complicated expression.


    Chen Yuting and the others curiously surrounded him. "Tell us what exactly happened there!"


    Yuan Tianxing said, "That night, one of Yang Chao''s Deputy Chief died. The man named Piao Gecang was bitten by a zombie that came from nowhere. After that, he went to the research institute of Sea City Base for some reason, and started a fight against some people in the research institute. At last, some other guy killed him. One researcher died as well."


    Hearing Piao Gecang''s name, Chen Yuting paused for a second. But soon, he stared at Yuan Tianxing in shock and said, "What did you say? Piao Gecang died?"


    That man had given him a hard time not long ago. At that time, Chen Yuting didn''t know that the latter was the man who caused his Jen''s death yet. He was only surprised because that man who had troubled him not long ago was suddenly dead.


    Yuan Tianxing said, "Yeah! More than two people died that night. Yang Chao''s sister, Yang Yan also died."


    "Eh? Wasn''t she who encouraged her son to harass Wenwen? She died as well? Who killed her?" Lin Feng asked.


    The others quickly glanced at Lin Wenwen.


    Yuan Tianxing also gave Lin Wenwen a glance when answering the question, "Miss. Lu said that she did it. But, I heard that Yang Yuan''s head and arm were bitten off by some kind of beast, and that she died very miserably! None of her people saw how she died."


    Lin Feng and the others glanced at each other in shock. "Miss. Lu? How come she''s involved in it too?"


    "We''re not sure," said Yuan Tianxing, "But that''s what she said. She also found that a level-seven superpowered man on Yang Chao''s side had been hiding in Sea City Base. Next day at the meeting of all the senior base administrators, they started the war. What caused the war was that Yang Chao had run some kind of virus experiment with hundreds of people from Sea City Base, and gotten them all killed. Some of his subordinates were infected as well. At last, they all became half-zombie, half-human monsters, and ended up being killed."


    "Are you saying that he ran experiments on live human beings? My God!" Mrs. Lin exclaimed.


    After the apocalypse, the world had become sparsely populated. However, Yang Chao actually ran experiments on healthy people. That was truly insane! Also, judging by Yuan Tianxing''s words, those people didn''t volunteer, but were all forced.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and continued, "Yang Chao thought no one knew about his secret experiment. However, Chief had collected all the information about it since long ago. So on that day, he uncovered it and joined hands with the other leader of Sea City Base to banish Yang Chao."


    Chen Yuting wore an angry face. Hearing Yuan Tianxing say that Yang Chao was only banished, he asked with discontentment, "Why did they only banish him? His kind of people should be destroyed!"


    His Jen was also injected with the zombie virus, and now, he learned that Yang Chao and his people had been hurting more innocent people in that way.


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and explained, "They banished him, so he wasn''t a base leader anymore. That was only the first step. The second step was the key¡­ He was executed for murdering hundreds of people. That was an explanation to the people in the base."


    Chen Yuting calmed down slightly after hearing that. "You''re right¡­"


    "Captain Chen, you don''t need to be angry," said Lin Feng, "As Tianxing said, Yang Chao has died. All the people who deserved death are already dead."


    After comforting Chen Yuting, Lin Feng continued, "And then? What happened at last?"


    "At last, Yang Chao became a monster," said Yuan Tianxing, "Chief Wu and a few others killed him joint-handedly. But, I heard that the man who was there to help him ran away upon realizing that the situation was unfavorable."


    "Eh? He ran away? Yang Chao must be so angry about it," said Mrs. Lin with surprise.


    Yuan Tianxing smilingly nodded and said, "Perhaps. We weren''t on the scene, so we don''t know how he reacted."


    The others glanced at each other. Picturing what happened at that time, they all wanted to laugh.


    "Where did he find such an unreliable help? Who is that man?" Mrs. Lin laughed at first, then asked.


    "Miss. Lu said that he''s a post-apocalyptic robber," said Lin Wenwen.


    "Post-apocalyptic robber? Yang Chao was really insane. He not only turned himself into a monster, but also ganged up with a robber from the outside. He could really do anything," Mrs. Lin sighed.


    Yuan Tianxing suddenly thought of something. "Speaking of that post-apocalyptic robber," he said with a serious face, "we need to be careful. Miss. Lu said that he had watched us for a whole night. His target should be Wenwen. Now, Yang Chao has died, and he has escaped. But still, he''s a robber. We can''t tell for sure if he''ll keep following us."


    Hearing that a level-seven post-apocalyptic robber might be targeting them, all Lin Family people turned vigilant.


    "That''s possible! Post-apocalyptic robbers are all vengeful. They''ll do whatever they can to get whatever they want. We''ll be in serious troubles if he has his eyes on us!" Lin Feng wore a grim look as well.

 382 Viney Entrapped Her Daddy

    "Why are you afraid? If he dares to show up, I''ll make him die in this place." A silvery voice was heard suddenly. The people turned around and saw two little girls walking downstairs; one of them was pretty, and the other ugly.


    Qiu Lili swayed her long, black, and shiny twin tails. Following behind her was a scale-faced girl, and behind her was Liu Jun, with Tongtong carried in her arms.


    All the others found a strong contrast between Qiu Lili and the scale-faced girl zombie.


    Liu Jun looked at Lin Wenwen''s short hair and asked curiously, "Eh? Wenwen, what happened to your hair?"


    "Ah, nothing! I cut them myself." Lin Wenwen smiled at her.


    Liu Jun spent a few seconds staring at her hair, then couldn''t help but say, "What a pity! Your long hair were stunning."


    Lin Wenwen only smiled, but didn''t say anything.


    "Your hair need some extra work," Liu Jun continued, "Do you need my help?"


    Lin Wenwen''s eyes glowed. "Can you do that?" she asked.


    Liu Jun smiled and nodded, saying, "I used to be a stylist. After the apocalypse, people don''t care about style anymore, so I lost my job."


    Cheng Wangxue looked at her with surprise and said knowingly, "I see! No wonder I found your hairstyle always perfect for you, even when you made nothing more than a casual ponytail."


    Liu Jun gave a faint smile and said, "I haven''t practiced for years, but I think I''m still able to fix Wenwen''s hair."


    "I think you decided to help her because you can''t bear watching her hair. Her hair have been bothering me for a long time too!" Long Qingying abruptly joined the conversation.


    Lin Wenwen gave her a threatening glance and said, "Didn''t you help cut my hair? How can you say that?"


    Long Qingying shrugged as she responded expressionlessly, "I don''t know how to cut hair, but you made me do it. Is that my fault?"


    Lin Wenwen didn''t know what else to say.


    "When will¡­ Miss. Lu come back?" asked Chen Yuting uneasily.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him and answered, "We''re not sure about her plan. But, she''ll definitely come back sometime."


    Qiu Lili stood beside them as she crossed her arms and said, "I think Qiaoqiao is going to upgrade Viney. Maybe she''ll be back in a few days. Since you''ve all arrived, we can officially start the construction work tomorrow, right?"


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing both nodded. "Tomorrow morning, we''ll have a meeting in this place to talk about where to start from," said Yuan Tianxing, and the others nodded. The ladies didn''t say anything, as there would be no work for them to do tomorrow.


    "Alright, I think dinner is almost ready. Let''s head to the restaurant." Lin Feng patted his own knees and stood up. While speaking, he walked to Mrs. Lin and picked up Lin Xiaolu''s hand before heading toward the restaurant.


    The others all stood up and followed him to the restaurant.


    ¡­


    In the Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue hadn''t seen Meng Yue for an entire day. He didn''t know if she was in her room or had gone out. Perhaps, she was just avoiding him intentionally.


    Wu Chengyue understood how she had been feeling now. It was inappropriate for him to talk too much to her about her feelings, so he didn''t pay much attention to that, but finished breakfast and left home with Wu Yueling to work.


    At noon, Xiao Licheng returned to the office and reported to him with a pretty weird expression, "Chief, the information about Miss. Lu has been concealed. I couldn''t find anything about her."


    Wu Chengyue was puzzled at first, then put down the files in his hands and raised his head to look at Xiao Licheng as he asked him, "Concealed? By whom?"


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and responded, "I''m not sure. I''ve talked to those Hades Base people, but they refuse to tell me anything. I think they''re hiding Miss. Lu''s true identity on purpose. Chief, why do you suddenly want to dig out her background?"


    Wu Chengyue slightly dropped his eyelids while thinking and murmuring, "Why are Yuan Tianxing and his people hiding the information about her?"


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and said, "That¡­ I don''t know. Should I keep digging?"


    Wu Chengyue smiled and said, "Sure, why not? The harder they''re trying to conceal it, the more we want to know. That''s how things become interesting!"


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "Okay. I''ll try to find a way to make them talk."


    "Go ahead," said Wu Chengyue, "Also, tell Li Yueshan to keep an eye on their new base secretly, and the residential area that Yuan Tianxing stayed at earlier. If you found any trace of Miss. Lu, let me know as soon as possible."


    Xiao Licheng looked at him confusedly and asked, "Chief, does Miss. Lu have a problem? Why do you want Yueshan to watch those people?"


    Wu Chengyue gave him a mysterious smile while responding, "You''ll know why as soon as I have finished my recent works in the base. Another thing, don''t let Meng Yue find out that I''ve told you to do background-digging about Miss. Lu."


    "Yes, sir!"


    Xiao Licheng stood before Wu Chengyue''s desk, feeling terribly puzzled. However, as Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to tell him anything, he had no choice but to start doing his job with curiosity.


    After Xiao Licheng left, Wu Chengyue began wondering why Yuan Tianxing and his people were concealing the information about that female zombie.


    Her last name was Lu. Who could she be before death? And, why did her face look so familiar?


    He was also surprised that she had actually been repaired into a virgin after becoming a zombie!


    Thinking of that, Wu Chengyue had a strange feeling.


    Even the smile in his eyes grew more obvious along with the strange feeling he had. He didn''t notice that though.


    She came here with Yuan Tianxing and his people, so she should be a member of the old Hades Base. Wu Chengyue just didn''t understand why her identity was a secret, and why they even concealed all the information about her.


    How could he not do the background-digging? He was going to marry that female zombie, so he had to know everything about her!


    He also wondered if that vine plant''s words about it becoming a little baby were real. If that were real, how was it going to do that? Did it really make that female zombie pregnant during their sexual intercourse?


    He felt so unbelievable about that! If that were real, that vine plant would become the soul of that little baby, wouldn''t it?


    So¡­ Did that vine create a flesh body for itself with his sperm and her egg?


    Wu Chengyue lowered his head and looked at his own lower belly with a complicated expression. Was he entrapped by a highly intelligent mutant plant? Did that plant borrow a sperm from him and make himself a baby?


    Wu Chengyue wore a stunned look as he suddenly figured that out. He popped his eyes in shock while staring straight at his lower belly and feeling astonished.


    Damn! Did that plant become some kind of spirit after the apocalypse? Where was it from? It actually schemed against his children!


    Damn! What a world! Last time, he was raped by an evil woman¡­ and this time, he was entrapped by a plant!


    ''Good for you, little Viney! You entrapped your Daddy before you''re even born! Wait until you''re born and see how I''ll punish you!''


    ''However, now I need to work it out with your mother first¡­''

 308 Yousre Getting Stronger Again

    The energy inside her head now was mostly from Wu Yueling, and not much of her own energy was left inside her body. This might be the reason why the energy inside her brain was extra active, and caused some instability.


    Liu Jun turned and carried Wu Yueling to a couch, still wearing a confused look. Except for the unstable energy, there was another thing strange about Lin Qiao, but she didn''t mention it.


    Lin Qiao''s vibe had changed again. It was added with a strange scent, which was different from Lin Qiao''s zombie scent. Lin Qiao''s vibe now contained some kind of vitality, but not as fresh and alive as the vibes of humans.


    Judging by Lin Qiao''s reaction just now, she didn''t seem to realize that herself. Also, the new scent of Lin Qiao was a little like that of Wu Yueling.


    Lin Qiao was a little confused while watching Liu Jun leave. She sniffed at herself again, then began putting clothes on.


    After quickly dressing herself, she walked to Liu Jun.


    "How long have we spent down there?" she asked.


    Liu Jun told Tong Tong to go and play, as he was getting bored beside her by himself. After that, she held Wu Yueling in her arms while toweling the little girl''s hair. Hearing Lin Qiao''s question, she glanced at her watch and said, "About three days."


    Lin Qiao was surprised by that answer. "It''s been three days? So long? No wonder Viney was so exhausted that she even wanted to sleep."


    Liu Jun nodded.


    "Ugh, Lili and the others should have returned, right? I think I should send the little one back to her father first. I only left a note while bringing her in. We don''t know what that man might do," said Lin Qiao.


    She suddenly realized that Qiu Lili wouldn''t enter the space after bringing Yuan Tianxing and the others back.


    While thinking, she walked to the couch and saw that Liu Jun had dried Wu Yueling''s hair a little. Her hair weren''t completely dry yet, but they had stopped dripping water at least.


    The little one was fine now, even though she was still in sleep; she would wake up as a healthy little girl soon.


    Lin Qiao walked to the closet, found a large T-shirt, and put it on Wu Yueling.


    "I''ll go out to bring Lili in, then send this little one back," she said.


    Liu Jun looked at her and nodded.


    Lin Qiao turned and flashed out, after which, she turned herself invisible and hopped onto a building in the outskirts of the base, then stood on the roof to sense Qiu Lili and Mengmeng''s location.


    After locating them, she directly leaped toward that direction.


    Qiu Lili and Mengmeng weren''t far away, only hundreds of meters from the fence wall of the base. One of them was able to turn invisible, while the other one was at an amazingly high level. So, as they restrained their vibes, not even the three level-seven superpowered beings in the base could sense them.


    Before long, Lin Qiao showed up in front of them.


    Qiu Lili and Mengmeng were squatting on the top floor of a building, silently counting the ants in that corridor.


    "I wonder what''s happening to Qiao. It has been three days, but she''s still in there," Qiu Lili pouted and said while driving the ants that were deviating from the ant group back into the crowd with a stick.


    "Roar!" Mengmeng abruptly roared at her. ''She brought the little girl in!''


    "Yeah, we don''t know who that little kid is. Why did Qiao save her?"


    "Roar!" Mengmeng growled unhappily. ''I''ve seen that little girl before. Last time, she took her away from me.''


    Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise while saying, "Eh? When were you with that little girl?"


    This time, Mengmeng didn''t say anything, but quietly stared at the ants on the ground.


    "Eh?" Qiu Lili looked at her confusedly. As Mengmeng refused to say another word, she lowered her head to continue counting ants. Then, she found that the little ant which she had just sent back into the crowd was now running away again.


    Next, Lin Qiao showed up before the two of them and said, "She stole that little girl when I was in Hangzhou. If I hadn''t seen them, that little thing would have suffered severely while living with her."


    Once she showed up, Qiu Lili and Mengmeng both raised their heads to look at her, then sprung up from the ground.


    "Wow! You''re finally out! Eh? You''re stronger again!" Upon seeing her, Qiu Lili was happy at first. But then, she confusedly made two circles around the other, observing her from head to toe.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then raised a hand and spread her fingers while responding, "Sort of. My level remained the same, but I''m feeling that my body has indeed become stronger." While speaking, she abruptly swung an arm toward the outside.


    A shrill swishing noise was heard, after which, a corner of the building in the front suddenly tilted, then slowly fell to the ground.


    Boom! The building corner smashed into the ground from the height, falling into pieces and stirring up a cloud of dust.


    Lin Qiao measured the distance with her eyes and found that building was at least twenty meters away from her.


    Qiu Lili and Mengmeng both spent a moment staring at her with surprise, then turned toward the building which now had a corner missing. The cut surface on the building was strangely smooth, as if that corner was cut off by a giant knife as easily as cutting a piece of tofu.


    "That''s not a zombie claw anymore! Why can you cut off things so far away? Why can''t I do the same?" Qiu Lili enviously said to her, then raised her claw and swung toward the outside as well; however, nothing happened.


    Mengmeng did the same, and still nothing happened.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao turned up her palm. A stream of black mist rose from that palm, then spread into a small sphere, floating upon it. The black mist that she released was only in the form of a small sphere, but Mengmeng and Qiu Lili both automatically took two steps backward to stay away from it the moment they saw it. As a matter of fact, Mengmeng even hid behind Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t sense the threat from her black mist. Seeing the moves of the two, she asked, "Is it so scary?" After saying that, she took the mist back.


    "You should try it on a zombie king or queen. You''ll know," said Qiu Lili. As she said that, both her and Lin Qiao turned to Mengmeng, who was hiding behind her.


    "Roar!"


    ''No! Don''t hurt me!''


    Being gazed at by them, Mengmeng even had her fine hair standing straight up. She swiftly drew back and disappeared without leaving a trace.


    Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes, then saw a sphere of green energy fleetingly move out of the building. She then opened her eyes and said toward Mengmeng, "Alright, I''m going to bring Lili into the space. I''ll leave you here if you keep hiding."


    Qiu Lili knew that Mengmeng was able to turn invisible, but didn''t think that Lin Qiao could see the invisible Mengmeng.


    "Can you see her?" she asked.


    "Yeah," Lin Qiao nodded.


    Mengmeng didn''t come back immediately, but squatted on the roof of another building while looking at Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao was too lazy to tell her again to come back. She had only made a joke¡­ How could Mengmeng run so far away because of that?


    "Are Yuan Tianxing and the others in the base now?" she asked Qiu Lili.


    "Yeah, I watched them in," Qiu Lili nodded and said.

 383 Arenst You Going?

    While Wu Chengyue was still staring at his belly, the door of his office opened suddenly and Xiao Yunlong broke in, speaking angrily, "What did you say to Yue?"


    Wu Chengyue came back to himself. He raised his head to look at Xiao Yunlong and ignored the latter''s attitude as he asked blandly, "What happened to her?"


    Xiao Yunlong glared at him with anger while saying, "Tell me what you said to her first. She''s so haggard now as if she has lost her soul. She didn''t get any sleep last night. And her eyes are puffy, because she has been crying the whole time. She doesn''t even dare to come out today."


    Wu Chengyue stood up and walked out from behind the desk while saying to Xiao Yunlong, "Calm down first."


    After that, he walked to the couch that Wu Yueling was sitting on, then pointed at it.


    Xiao Yunlong walked over grumpily and sat down as he asked, "Tell me what has happened. Did you say something to her yesterday when you got back? If you didn''t, how would someone as calm as her become like this?"


    Wu Chengyue responded, "I made it clear with her. I knew that she wouldn''t be able to accept it, but it was about time for me. If I didn''t tell her, it would be too late."


    Xiao Yunlong was puzzled for a second, and the angry look on his face faded a little. "What happened to you? Why did you suddenly tell her about your real feelings?"


    "Because I''m going to find Ling Ling a mother. I need to make her give up on what she has toward me. Otherwise, she might be unhappy when I bring her back.


    Xiao Yunlong popped his eyes as he stared at Wu Chengyue in shock, saying, "Wha-what did you say? You''re getting married? What about Ling Ling? What if that woman secretly bullied my goddaughter? Who is she?"


    Wu Chengyue found his reaction amusing. "Calm down! It''s me who''s going to get married, not you. Why''re you worrying so much?" he said carelessly, "Do you think I''ll marry a woman who''ll hurt Ling Ling? Am I such an awful and stupid person?"


    Xiao Yunlong straightened his upper body and continued staring at Wu Chengyue with confusion while asking, "No, I mean¡­ are you really going to marry someone? Are you serious?"


    "What has been done cannot be undone. Shouldn''t I continue?" said Wu Chengyue.


    Xiao Yunlong popped his eyes again to gaze at Wu Chengyue, as if the latter was a ghost, "You were raped last time, and that cannot be undone either. Why didn''t you marry her?"


    Wu Chengyue paused for a second, then stared at him expressionlessly and responded, "Could I possibly marry someone like that? Why don''t you think about what kind of woman she was? If you were raped by an evil woman, would you marry her?"


    Xiao Yunlong immediately lowered his head and replied, "Forget it! I can''t handle a woman like that. So, is that the reason why you made it clear with Yue? Who is she? Where is she from?"


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "You''ll know. I haven''t dug out her background yet."


    Xiao Yunlong looked at him from head to toe while saying with a weird look, "I remember that day you went to Yuan Tianxing''s place to pick up Ling Ling¡­ You stayed there for quite a long time, and came home late. So, you were doing that. Only two women lived in that place, Lin Wenwen, and the one with a katana. You didn''t sleep with one of them, did you?"


    After saying that, he frowned as he found a problem. "Em, we''ve already known about Lin Wenwen''s background, but just now, you said that you haven''t dug out her background yet. Is that the woman with a katana? The one named¡­ Long Qing or something?"


    Wu Chengyue shook his head at him and said, "You''ve been overthinking. It''s not one of them.


    Hearing that, Xiao Yunlong looked at him, his eyes full of puzzles. "What? Not them? Who is she then? Did you run into a pretty woman and sleep with her in a woods on your way back?"


    Wu Chengyue sighed, then waved a hand at him and responded, "Ugh, just give up! You''re definitely not smart enough to guess that out. Now, I''ve made Yue sad, and it''s awkward for me to see her. So, Ling Ling and I will stay here for the time being. You should take the opportunity to talk to her."


    "Me¡­ talk to her? She has been listening to your words only," Xiao Yunlong replied helplessly after Wu Chengyue told him to talk to Meng Yue. The latter stood up from the couch and said, "Aren''t you going to? Well, I''ll send Licheng then. Licheng, come in!"


    He abruptly shouted toward the door, then walked to his desk.


    Xiao Yunlong confusedly heard him talking about letting Xiao Licheng talk to Meng Yue. Was he trying to create opportunities for Xiao Licheng and Meng Yue?


    Seeing Xiao Licheng open the door and come in, Xiao Yunlong immediately stood up and said, "I will do it. Why are you sending Licheng? He doesn''t know how to talk¡­" While speaking, he quickly turned and left.


    Xiao Licheng looked at Wu Chengyue with confusion, then turned to the tall and sturdy Xiao Yunlong who was leaving.


    After watching Xiao Yunlong leave, Wu Chengyue sat down behind his desk and said to Xiao Licheng, "Ling Ling and I will live here for now. Please go back to pack some of our clothes and bring them here."


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng nodded and responded.


    "Go," Wu Chengyue waved a hand at him.


    Wu Yueling had been spending time alone, without paying any attention to the conversation between the adults. After Xiao Licheng left, she raised her head, looking at the drawing board in her hand.


    She put down the pencil and jumped off the couch, then put on her tiny shoes before running to Wu Chengyue with her drawing board.


    Wu Chengyue was going to start reading files, but he put down the files upon noticing Ling Ling''s movements and turned to look at her.


    He saw her quickly run over, then lean against his legs and hand him the drawing board.


    "What did Ling Ling draw?" Wu Chengyue affectionately rubbed her head and asked. After that, he turned to look at Wu Yueling''s drawing.


    The drawings created by children were mostly very abstract. Wu Yueling''s drawing was composed of some rough shapes and simple colors. But still, children'' drawings could provide some information.


    Wu Yueling drew three people¡ªtwo adults with a child between them. What her father didn''t understand was why one of the two adults was bald.


    He pointed at the little person in the middle and asked Wu Yueling, "Ling Ling, is this you?"


    Wu Yueling looked at him with a pair of sparkling eyes and nodded. Then, Wu Chengyue pointed at the adult with hair and asked, "Who''s this?"


    Wu Yueling pointed at him and looked at him, without saying anything.


    Wu Chengyue then pointed at the bald adult and continued, "Who''s this then?"


    Wu Yueling seemed to be a little struggling now. She pointed at her own head, then rubbed her hands together.


    She might have felt how unclear it was, so she started to look around. Her father couldn''t figure out what she was looking for. And then, she abruptly put both hands on her chest and drew a pair of arcs.


    Wu Chengyue was stunned, as he realized that his innocent little girl had grown some gender consciousness!

 309 Entering the Base

    After confirming that Yuan Tianxing and the others had returned, Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Great! I''ll bring you into the space. Come on!"


    She held Qiu Lili''s hands and entered the space with her, then turned invisible and came back out. After that, she sneakily approached Mengmeng, grabbed her suddenly, and dragged her into the space as well.


    After bringing Mengmeng and Qiu Lili into her space, she flashed out again and turned invisible before heading toward the base. Soon, she sneaked into the base through the small door at an entrance without letting anyone know.


    The entrances of the space weren''t always closed. During the daytime, a small door would stay open at each entrance. Those doors would only close at nighttime.


    Every entrance was actually guarded by a large number of soldiers, including at least three level-five superpowered people.


    There were four entrances in total, located in the East, South, West and North.


    Upon each entrance was a tall sentry post. The ones guarding in the sentry posts were all level-four green-powered people, because green-powered people had keen sensations, which allowed them to discover anything unusual around the base timely.


    No zombie was able to hide from the eyes of level-four green-powered people, unless it was at level-five or above.


    Level-five and six zombies were all smart enough to not show around human bases randomly. After all, there were plenty of superpowered people in each base, even level-seven ones.


    So, even though a small door was open at each entrance, high-level zombies didn''t dare to approach the base, as those doors were guarded by so many superpowered people. Back when the base was newly built, and the surrounding ordinary zombies were swept off, quite some high-leveled zombies risked for the living human beings in the base. As a result, they were all killed, with their zombie nuclei dug out.


    Later on, high-leveled zombies had all learned not to get close to any human base.


    After entering the base, Lin Qiao followed the scents of Lin Feng and the others to find them.


    As she arrived, she found that Lin Feng and his people were staying in a building in Region D. The building was surrounded by a large group of soldiers. However, why would so many soldiers guard under a building in a civilian area?


    She walked through the crowd of soldiers, then went upstairs. As she arrived at Lin Feng''s floor, she found that those soldiers were all here for Lin Feng and his people.


    There were a few suites on this floor. Lin Feng and his people stayed in two suites.


    A few armed soldiers were guarding before the doors of these two suites, carrying their guns.


    What was happening?


    Lin Qiao didn''t understand the situation. Where did these soldiers come from? What were they guarding here?


    The doors were closed, so Lin Qiao walked to one door and put her ear against the wall to listen to the sounds in the suite.


    "Xiaolu¡­ Go and get a glass of water," Cheng Wangxue''s voice was heard.


    "Alright," Lin Xiaolu responded.


    "The meal is almost ready. I''ve finished the pancakes. Lin Hao, take these to next door," Mrs. Lin''s voice was heard as well.


    "Are those soldiers still guarding outside?" said Lin Hao.


    "I think so. Why does that man think that we stole his daughter? I think he''s looking for Miss. Lu," said Lin Wenwen.


    "Who knows! Miss. Lu hasn''t come back yet. No one knows if she stole that little girl," said Mrs. Lin.


    "This is his base, and he''s the boss of this place. He surely can make any decision¡­ But, who''s this ''Lin'' that he mentioned?" said Lin Hao.


    "According to Chief Wu''s description, that is Miss. Lu. She has a space, and can turn invisible. But, hadn''t she left for an emergency?" Lin Feng''s voice also came from behind the door.


    "Yuan Tianxing and the others have come back, but where are Miss. Lu and her friends?"


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao learned that all these soldiers were here under Wu Chengyue''s order.


    She turned and put her ear to the door of another suite, then heard the voices of Yuan Tianxing, Du Yuanxing, Lu Junjie, and some other people.


    At that moment, the door of Lin Family''s suite was opened, and Lin Qiao immediately stepped aside.


    Lin Hao opened the door. The soldiers guarding outside only glanced at him, without making any moves. Lin Hao glanced at them as well, then walked to another suite and knocked on the door.


    The door was soon opened; it was Lin Yu who opened the door and saw Lin Hao.


    "Wow, food!" The next second, Lin Yu''s eyes were fixed on the plate in Lin Hao''s hands.


    Lin Hao handed him the plate and said, "Take it, my Mom made these."


    Lin Yu happily took it over and said, "Thank Mrs. Lin for us! She''s always been a great cook! This smells wonderful!"


    Lin Hao waved a hand at him, then turned and left while Lin Yu carried the plate with one hand and closed the door with another.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Hao, who had walked back into the Lin Family''s suite, then at Lin Yu''s door.


    She didn''t understand why Wu Chengyue had sent his people to guard in here. Those soldiers didn''t seem to restrict the freedom of Lin Feng and his people.


    This place was way better than the accommodation of the ordinary people. The suites here weren''t as good as the apartments, but were comfortable enough. The buildings in this area all had elevators, but due to the lack of electricity, they weren''t really working, and the people who lived here had to take the stairs.


    Lin Qiao pondered for a while, then figured that Wu Chengyue had probably checked the entry list that day and saw the names of Lin Feng and the others. That should be why he suspected them.


    Wu Chengyue had guessed it right though. Lin Qiao just didn''t expect that it would take over three days for Viney and her to help Wu Yueling with the awakening of her power.


    As it had been three says, she guessed that Wu Chengyue was already driven crazy.


    At this moment, she suddenly sensed that someone was coming upstairs. She recognized that person by his scent as Wu Chengyue''s right-hand man.


    Soon, she saw Xiao Yunlong come up with a few subordinates, going toward the Lin Family''s suite.


    "Deputy Chief!" As Xiao Yunlong walked over, the few soldiers by the door immediately stood at attention and greeted him. Xiao Yunlong nodded at them, then walked up to the door and knocked on it.


    Lin Hao quickly opened the door. He was holding a piece of pancake, and the other half of it was in his mouth.


    Upon seeing Xiao Yunlong, he paused slightly.


    "Hi! Our Chief wants to invite Mr. Lin to his place. I wonder if that''s convenient for him," Xiao Yunlong stood at the door and lowered his head to look at Lin Hao while saying with a smile.


    Hearing his words, Lin Hao turned back to shout at the living room, "Brother, Chief Wu wants to see you in his place."


    The people in the suite who were preparing to eat all paused and turned to look at the door.


    Lin Feng stood up from the couch and said to Mrs. Lin and the others, "Mom, you guys eat first. I''ll go to Chief Wu''s place."


    While speaking, he walked toward the door.


    "Please wait for a second," As Lin Feng walked out, Xiao Yunlong said to him. Then, he turned to knock Yuan Tianxing''s door.


    Lin Feng silently watched the door open. Then, Yuan Tianxing was invited as well. After that, both of them were guided downstairs.

 384 Outlanders

    Wu Chengyue sent out his people to dig up Lin Qiao''s background, but that never went well. In the meantime, he sent some other people to keep an eye on her new base, but she never showed up.


    A couple of days later, two strange people suddenly entered the Sea City Base and directly found Wu Chengyue. They had a giant mutant wolf-dog; tall and strong, very fierce-looking.


    Neither of those two people was ordinary; one of them was at level-seven while the other at level-six. The mutant dog was also a rarely seen high-leveled one.


    Xiao Licheng brought the two people and the dog to Wu Chengyue''s office door, then said to them, "Wait for a second, our Chief is in there."


    Lei Cheng and the other man stopped walking and nodded without saying a word. His handsome face wore no expression.


    Xiao Licheng turned and knocked on the door, then pushed it open and took half a step forward as he said, "Chief, they''re here."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue, who was reading some files behind his desk, immediately put down the pen in his hand and conveniently covered those files with a piece of paper before standing up from his chair.


    "Please come in!" he said.


    Xiao Licheng stepped outside, then gestured for the two to come in.


    After that, the two tall and muscular men walked into the office, the large dog quietly following behind them.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the dog, then smilingly said to the two, "Nice to meet you. I am Wu Chengyue. May I ask your names?"


    The two men were at about the same height. The one who responded to Wu Chengyue was the slightly shorter and good-looking one.


    "My name is Lei Cheng, and this is Zheng Hao," he said expressionlessly.


    Wu Chengyue pointed at the couch while saying, "Please have a seat. As you can see, I have a kid here. So¡­ Can you please let your dog wait outside?"


    While speaking, he gave that extra large dog a guilty glance.


    The dog had been quietly and closely following behind Lei Cheng since it came in, without raising its head to look or sniff around.


    It didn''t have a leash, but was never even a step away from Lei Cheng. Wherever Lei Cheng went, it followed.


    Hearing Wu Chengyue''s request, Lei Cheng didn''t show any discontentment, but slightly lowered his head to say to the dog with a bland tone, "Erlei, go guard at the door."


    After hearing his words, the dog raised its head to give him a glance, then quickly turned around and walked toward the door, with its tail dropped.


    Wu Chengyue knew that mutant dogs could be very smart and intelligent. Some of them could understand simple human language. Therefore, Wu Chengyue wasn''t surprised when the dog walked out obediently after its owner told it to do so.


    Mutant animals and plants had one thing in common¡ªthey could be stung to madness easily. If something affected the dog and made it go mad, there would be a trouble.


    Seeing strangers come in, Wu Yueling quickly turned and ran to the restroom nearby.


    As Lei Cheng and Zheng Hao sat down, Xiao Licheng poured each of them a glass of water and put them on the table before them. After that, he stood in the corner beside Wu Chengyue.


    "Where are you from? What can I do for you?" said Wu Chengyue.


    Strangers always came to him for reasons. If they weren''t here to make troubles, they would surely be here to ask for help.


    Lei Cheng looked at him and said, "We''re here to ask about Tang He."


    Wu Chengyue was puzzled for a second, as he had never heard that name before. "May I ask who is Tang He?"


    Lei Cheng glanced at Zheng Hao who sat beside him. Receiving his glance, the latter knowingly took out an A4-size paper from his bag along with a photo, then handed it to Wu Chengyue.


    "Chief Wu, this is Tang He. Maybe you don''t know his name, but I think many people in your base have already seen him," Zheng Hao said after handing the file to Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue took over the file. At the sight of the photo, he recognized Tang He as no one else but Yang Chao''s helper who was pointed out that day in the conference hall by the female zombie.


    "Him? You''re looking for him?" He said with surprise.


    "This man is the traitor of our base. He committed a serious crime in our base, so he ran out. The base sent us to tackle him and bring him back," said Lei Cheng.


    Wu Chengyue looked at the two of them and said, "I see! But, Tang He seems to have level-seven metal power, and is good at attacking. I think it''ll be quite difficult for you two to catch him."


    He didn''t tell Lei Cheng and Zheng Hao that he felt that they wouldn''t be able to catch Tang He even by joining hands.


    Level-seven superpowered human beings were rarely seen, and extremely hard to defeat. Normally, not even two same-level superpowered people could win against one level-seven person, not to mention capture him or her. Besides, escaping could be really easy for level-seven superpowered people.


    Lei Cheng nodded and said, "I know what you mean. We''re not the only two who came here, so you don''t need to worry about that."


    Wu Chengyue looked at him. Abruptly, he chuckled and asked, "A mere squad from your base contains one level-seven and one level-six. May I ask where are you from? Are you from the Huaxia Base in Beijing?"


    Huaxia Base was the largest base so far. It was run by seven leaders, and all of them were level-eight beings.


    Among all bases in this country, only Huaxia Base had so many level-eight superpowered people. For that reason, Huaxia Base was the most powerful base in the country, and had no fear of any other base.


    The living conditions there were surely better than that in the second-grade bases, and it was safer to live in there than in the other bases.


    Huaxia Base was still recruiting residents. However, entering Huaxia Base required zombie nuclei. The residents in that base needed to pay the base monthly with nuclei, or they would be kicked out directly.


    As Lei Cheng was at level-seven, Wu Chengyue guessed that he and his people were from Huaxia Base, because it wasn''t far away from Sea City Base.


    Lei Cheng shook his head and said, "We can''t tell you anything about our base, but I can tell you that we have nothing to do with Huaxia Base."


    Wu Chengyue looked at him with surprise, "Ah, is that so? Alright, I shouldn''t have asked it, sorry!"


    Lei Cheng remained expressionless the whole time. "It''s okay," he said carelessly, "Don''t worry about it, Chief Wu! Now, you only need to tell us what happened before Tang He left. We''ll trade the information with this."


    While speaking, he took out a zombie nuclei and put it before Wu Chengyue''s face.


    That was a level-six zombie nucleus!

 385 Tang Hes Information

    Wu Chengyue glanced at the zombie nucleus, wondering if he could successfully step into level-eight after absorbing it. If that could happen, he would be able to fix the decline of the strength of the base caused by Yang Chao''s death.


    "Ah, I think he was here to help a traitor of our base. But for some reason, he ran away in the middle of the fight that day," he said.


    Lei Cheng stayed silent. Unlike him, Zheng Hao said with surprise, "Eh? You have a traitor as well. Two traitors got together. As the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together."


    Wu Chengyue spread his hands and said, "A former leader of our base ran a secret experiment with healthy people. So, the other leader of our base and I executed him."


    "Did you catch Tang He that day?" said Lei Cheng, seeming to only care about Tang He''s whereabouts.


    Wu Chengyue responded, "We didn''t¡­ Chief Zou was chasing him that day. He soon ran out of the base, and we didn''t follow him out. It seemed that he never planned to risk his life fighting us."


    Lei Cheng didn''t ask any further questions, but stood up and politely nodded at Wu Chengyue.


    "That information is enough for us. Thank you for your time, Chief Wu." he said.


    Wu Chengyue stood up as well. As the two prepared to leave so soon, he asked with surprise, "Eh? You''re leaving already?"


    Lei Cheng nodded and said, "We''re on a mission, so we won''t linger any longer. Thank you!"


    Wu Chengyue had no other choice but to respond while walking to the door, "Alright, goodbye! Licheng, show them out."


    Xiao Licheng walked them out of the base, then came back to report, "They left the base. Chief, do you know where they came from?"


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "I don''t know. They seem to be looking for that level-seven man named Tang He." Then, he asked the other, "Haven''t you found out about that female zombie''s background yet?"


    Xiao Licheng helplessly shook his head. He failed to find anything about that female zombie, not because he wasn''t capable enough, but because it was an impossible mission. Yuan Tianxing and his people had left the base long ago, so he could only try to find useful information from the few who were still here.


    The level-five superpowered man named Du Yuanxing usually seemed to be a little silly. But when it came to the female zombie, he just wouldn''t say even one word, no matter how the others asked.


    Wu Chengyue said while rubbing his chin, "It''s been so long, but we still didn''t find anything. Miss. Zombie is so mysterious."


    ¡­


    While Wu Chengyue was trying very hard to dig up information about Lin Qiao, the latter was still wrapped in the vine sphere. During the past few days, one-third of the enormous vine sphere had disappeared, and the rest was still slowly seeping into her body.


    Shen Yujen stayed by the lakeside and looked into the lake from time to time. She waited for days, but still didn''t see Lin Qiao come up.


    Ever since she witnessed Wu Chengyue walk into the lake nakedly, Shen Yujen had been wondering if what happened in the lake was like she had thought.


    At first, Lin Qiao went down naked, and after her, Wu Chengyue went into the lake naked as well. A man and a woman, both naked¡­ What could they possibly do down in the lake?


    Also, Wu Chengyue carried Lin Qiao up at last. If someone told Shen Yuzhen that nothing happened between them, she wouldn''t believe it for her life!


    After Wu Chengyue left, that vine plant brought Lin Qiao back into the lake. She hadn''t yet come up, and Shen Yuzhen didn''t know what she was doing down there.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was still unconscious. Viney turned into a stream of energy, seeping into her body. That energy was nourishing every muscle of hers, activating her cells and purifying her blood.


    The cells which had been activated earlier were weeded out and burned away by a wisp of black mist.


    After being repaired by Viney''s energy again and again, Lin Qiao''s dead cells had all been replaced. Only her internal organs were still growing with time.


    At that time, Viney''s great healing energy was doing the last part of the repair work¡ªLin Qiao''s intestines.


    New intestines had been slowly growing inside her body.


    Meanwhile, the other types of energies that belonged to Viney had been gathering toward Lin Qiao''s lower abdomen. What was also lingering in that area was a masculine type of energy.


    Viney''s vibe entered the territory of that masculine energy and mixed with it, then began slowly rotating and merging. However, that merger was happening much slower than the renewal of Lin Qiao''s cells.


    The growth of Lin Qiao''s intestines was also very slow. Meanwhile, her purified fresh blood started to flowing back into her heart.


    At the same time, in Hades Base¡­


    In the conference hall of the administration building, a tall and slim man was standing before the French window, looking at the base which now had much fewer people than before. That man had shoulder-length hair and a pretty face. He had narrow and upturning eyes, light eyebrows, straight nose, and thin and sexy lips.


    A faint, confident smile was seen on the corners of his mouth. His eyes had an indescribable, watery luster that looked warm and moist, also somehow tempting.


    His delicate face concealed his gender; because of his long hair, he looked a little like a girl.


    He stood there quietly, radiating an elegant and refreshing vibe.


    The door of the conference hall suddenly opened and a soldier stood at the door, speaking to him, "Chief, Deputy Chief Yang is back."


    Long Yubai turned back and gave the soldier a gentle and warm smile before responding, "He''s back? Tell him to come in then."


    Looking at his smiling face, the soldier was stunned for a second, but soon hid his feeling well and turned to leave.


    After that, Yang Jianhua walked in.


    Yang Jianhua was wearing a white suit. A beam of light flashed across his eyes when he saw Long Yubai.


    He walked to him with big steps, then put his arms around Long Yubai''s slim and straight body from behind. After that, he put his face near his ear and took a deep breath, then looked at him obsessively.


    "Did you miss me?" he said.


    Long Yubai''s pretty face was still wearing a faint smile. He turned back slightly to say to Yang Jianhua, "How are things going?"


    Yang Jianhua paused briefly, then said carelessly, "They ran away. I''ve chased them far away. I believe that they won''t come back."


    Long Yubai continued smiling, yet his eyes glowed with a cold light, "Come back? This base has become like this. What could they possibly do even if they came back? We''ve already taken away all the supplies in this base. This base is useless to us now. You should know that I want you to kill those people to prevent future problems."

 386 The One Who Was Being Used

    Yang Jianhua''s handsome face wore a faint, fawning smile. "I almost had them," he said, "but Yuan Tianxing suddenly showed up. I couldn''t kill all those people as he was there."


    Long Yubai pulled Yang Jianhua''s arm away, then took a step back to turn and walk toward his desk. Yang Jianhua was slightly displeased, but didn''t show his feelings. Instead, he turned and followed behind the other.


    "So, you were gone for so long, but returned with empty hands? Did you come back alone? Have you abandoned the ten vehicles that I gave you?" Long Yubai asked him while walking.


    Yang Jianhua walked up behind him and abruptly reached out to drag him before he was sitting into his chair. While pulling him backward, he said with some discontent, "Do you only care whether those people have died or not? And your vehicles? What about me?"


    Long Yubai wasn''t as tall and strong as Yang Jianhua, so he fell straight into the latter''s arms when he pulled him. And then, Yang Jianhua again put his arms around him.


    Hearing Yang Jianhua''s words, he sighed, "We spent quite some efforts to arm those vehicles. I gave them to you, but you left them out there. You failed to kill those people, which is okay, because they can''t possibly make any troubles now."


    "As long as you know that," said Yang Jianhua to him. "It''s my bad to lose those cars. I had no other choice. I met someone stronger than me, so I could only save my own life first. The mission wouldn''t have failed if I could upgrade to level-seven."


    Long Yubai put his head before Yang Jianhua''s chest and slightly lowered it. From Yang Jianhua''s angle, only his dropping eyelashes were seen, but not the displeased look on his eyes.


    Then, he raised his head and looked at Yang Jianhua with a pair of watery eyes, saying, "Jianhua, as I''ve said, I''ll give you that level-six zombie nucleus as long as you go back to the Earth Dragon Base with me, so you can step straight into level-seven. But, you just wouldn''t go back with me. What are you staying here for?"


    Yang Jianhua looked at those eyes and his delicate face. His eyes soon landed on Long Yubai''s lips, and then his throat somehow became dry.


    He lowered his head to kiss Long Yubai''s lips.


    His wet and slippery tongue eagerly swept across Long Yubai''s lips, then forced open his teeth, intruding his mouth and stirring aggressively.


    Long Yubai slightly narrowed his eyes, letting Yang Jianhua''s tongue churn in his mouth. He put both hands on Yang Jianhua''s strong chest and stroked it slowly and gently before putting his arms around the other''s neck.


    The passionate kiss lasted for quite a while before their lips parted.


    Yang Jianhua breathed heavily as he pressed his crotch area tightly against Long Yubai''s body.


    Long Yubai raised his slightly misty eyes and looked at Yang Jianhua as he said, "Since you''ve returned, just come to the Earth Dragon Base with me."


    Yang Jianhua spent a moment to catch his breath, then responded, "Haven''t you agreed to give me the Hades Base? Why do you still want me to go to the Earth Dragon Base with you?"


    Long Yubai said, "But, the two bases are hundreds of miles away from each other. It''s such a long distance. If you don''t go with me, you won''t be able to be with me every day, will you?"


    "Why do I have to go with you?" said Yang Jianhua, "Isn''t it good for me to stay here? This base now belongs to me alone. Wouldn''t it be a waste if I gave it up like this?"


    Long Yubai gazed into his eyes for a while, then said, "Is this destroyed base what you don''t want to give up, or something else?"


    Yang Jianhua paused for a second, then slightly loosened his embrace and asked, "What do you mean?"


    Long Yubai pushed him away, then silently turned and walked outside.


    He was already running out of patience to keep wasting his time on Yang Jianhua. If the latter wasn''t a level-six superpowered man who could still do a lot of things for him, he would have fallen out with him already.


    Long Yubai was a smart person. He wasn''t capable enough to found and manage a base, but he knew how to find people to do that for him.


    He made the people who were obsessed with him willingly work for him¡­ And Yang Jianhua was one of them.


    In fact, he didn''t put many efforts in building the Earth Dragon Base. That base was basically built by some other people and then gifted to him.


    Unlike some of Long Yubai''s other suitors, Yang Jianhua wasn''t a faithful man. He simply wanted everything that he liked. He was already on Long Yubai''s side, but still wasn''t willing to give up on Lin Wenwen. Long Yubai knew it all.


    With a dark face, Yang Jianhua watched Long Yubai walk out.


    ¡­


    After a whole week, Lin Qiao finally woke up from unconsciousness.


    She woke up to see nothing but darkness. But soon, she sensed the changes which had been happening inside her body and around her. She felt that Viney''s energy had filled up her entire body. Her every cell, and her blood now all contained that warm, healing energy.


    She also felt waves of hunger from her stomach, and that feeling made her swallow saliva unwittingly.


    She felt a little strange about it. Why did she feel hungry? She had been easing her hunger by drinking the lake water ever since she became a zombie. She hadn''t sensed hunger for quite a while.


    What was happening to her now?


    She was surrounded by Viney''s energy, but the weird thing was that she didn''t detect Viney''s vibe from it.


    ''Eh?''


    ''Viney, are you there?'' She called Viney in her head.


    She guessed that she was still in the lake, and her body was entirely wrapped in energy. That did not feel exactly the same as what happened before, but based on what she experienced before, she could still figure out her current situation.


    ''Mama! You''re finally awake!'' Viney''s voice was heard in her mind.


    ''Where are you? Why can''t I feel your vibe anymore? Are you still in the lake?'' Lin Qiao asked.


    ''Mama, I have completed my upgrade¡­ Where am I? Em¡­ Viney is in Mama''s belly!'' Viney''s voice was a little unclear.


    Lin Qiao felt even stranger.


    In her belly? How come Viney went into her belly? What did that mean?


    ''How can you be in my belly? You''re so huge. Can you get into my belly?'' She couldn''t help but ask.


    Viney responded, ''Mama, in fact, the Viney you saw before was only energy¡­ Viney doesn''t have a real body. This time, in order to upgrade Mama and repair Mama''s body, I have injected all the energy into Mama¡­ With no spare energy to rely on, Viney had no choice but to come into Mama''s belly¡­''


    Didn''t Viney have a real body?


    Lin Qiao was stunned.


    ''Viney actually has no real body. So, were those vines that I saw all formed from energy?'' Lin Qiao wondered.

 387 The Vine Entrapped Its Mama

    Lin Qiao suddenly remembered that earlier on, she was¡­ raped by a man, and that was planned by Viney!


    Did Viney bring a man into the space, made them have sexual intercourse, and then put herself into her belly?


    Lin Qiao was stunned. "Viney! You didn''t¡­ go into my uterus, did you? Are you going to become my child?''


    ''Mama guessed it out?'' Viney''s excited voice could immediately be heard from her mind, ''Yeah, Viney is already in Mama''s belly¡­ I have gotten Mama''s egg and Daddy''s sperm, and then put them together! Now, they have become Viney''s body! But, it''s still very, very tiny¡­''


    After receiving that affirmative answer from Viney, Lin Qiao was dumbfounded.


    ''Damn!''


    ''Wait a moment! Am I not a zombie? I''ve already died! Why can I still get pregnant!''


    ''Viney¡­ Are you joking with me?'' She couldn''t help but ask.


    ''Viney isn''t joking with Mama,'' Viney responded.


    Lin Qiao still couldn''t believe it. ''How can you possibly be in my belly then? I am a zombie. How can I still get pregnant?''


    Even though she was raped by a man, it wouldn''t be possible for her to get pregnant, would it? Also, getting pregnant after only one sexual intercourse also sounded not quite possible. Could the conception rate be so high?


    ''You can, because Viney has reactivated Mama''s body with all her energy. It required a man to stimulate Mama, so Mama''s body can be reactivated. That''s why I asked Mama to find a man. Now, I have used up all the energy to upgrade Mama and reactivate Mama''s body, and have no energy left to maintain my energy body. So, I ran into Mama''s belly, because Daddy''s sperm is in here¡­''


    Viney wanted to tell Lin Qiao that she had used up all her energy to repair Lin Qiao''s body, and that to repair her body, a man was actually needed because the process had to happen during the sexual intercourse.


    Lin Qiao understood that Viney did all that to help her, but somehow, she also felt that Viney had created her a huge trouble.


    She didn''t even know how to react!


    "So¡­ So you got a man in here for me? And you did it behind my back! Why didn''t you make it clear with me beforehand? Also, who was that man?" Lin Qiao was already a little confused.


    ''Because¡­ because¡­ because the little one¡­ the little one likes Mama very much,'' Viney replied, ''She said that she wants you to be her Mama too. So¡­ so¡­ that man was the little one''s Daddy¡­''


    ''Who?'' said Lin Qiao.


    ''The little one''s daddy¡­'' said Viney.


    ''Get out! I''m going to kill you!'' Lin Qiao burst in screams inside her head.


    ''God! You could have picked any man! Why on earth did you choose that one? Last time, he was raped by Lu Tianyu, and this time, he was again entrapped by me¡­ Ugh, no, by Viney!''


    ''And I was entrapped too!''


    She remembered that that man was clear-minded! He clearly knew who she was, but she didn''t know who he was!


    This time, it was she who got raped! It was her who wasn''t able to resist when it happened, not him!


    ''Ahyaya, Mama, calm down! If you got too angry and that causes a spontaneous abortion, Viney would be dead¡­'' said Viney fearfully.


    Spontaneous abortion¡­


    Lin Qiao just didn''t know what to say.


    ''I need to calm down! Calm down! Calm down! This is important, I need to calm¡­ Ugh! Calm my a*s! You awful little vine! It could be any man, but why did you choose Wu Chengyue, that fake-smile-faced fox!''


    ''You''re so powerful that you even created your own body,'' Lin Qiao said in her head with anger, ''Are you still afraid that you might be aborted? How did you manage to make a zombie and a human have a baby? Come out and tell me, just tell me!''


    She had such complicated feelings at the moment. She was angry, surprised, delighted¡­ and worried!


    She was angry because Viney actually did such an important thing without telling her about it beforehand. If any accident happened, Viney would lose all her energy and fall into danger!


    What if she didn''t get pregnant after having sexual intercourse with that man? Where would Viney go find her body?


    ''Em¡­ wait! Damn, how can I forget that¡­ that man seemed to have had quite a long ejaculation in the end?''


    ''Em¡­ em¡­ That''s because it seems that Mama doesn''t like the little one''s Daddy¡­ If I told you, you might not agree¡­ The little one would cry¡­'' said Viney carefully.


    Lin Qiao thought about it and agreed. If Viney told her that that man would be Wu Chengyue, she would definitely refuse.


    She said grumpily, ''Is that why you entrapped your Mama? You made me get raped by him! How did you get him in here? Also, if he''s a mentally healthy person, he wouldn''t do that to me. What did you do to him?''


    ''Hehe, Viney has upgraded,'' said Viney, ''I can''t go out, but I can release my energy through Mama''s body. That''s how I brought the little one''s Daddy in.''


    After saying that, Viney paused for a second, then continued, ''Em, when he came in, I didn''t do much to him¡­ I only released a scent that implies reproduction, and made him sniff it¡­ After that, he entered that kind of state¡­''


    Imply reproduction? What the hell was that? What that¡­ aphrodisiac?


    ''So, he knew what was happening. He was clear-minded, but couldn''t control himself. At that time, Viney sent the naked me into his arms! Viney just threw me on him¡­''


    ''So by now, Viney has created her own body by making us have sexual intercourse! She was going to become a real baby!''


    ''Are you really in my uterus now?'' Lin Qiao asked, ''Did you turn me back into a human being, and then put yourself into my belly? And you told me nothing about all these before you took action. Are you aware that you were being deceitful?'' The more she said, the angrier she sounded.


    Sensing that Lin Qiao was really getting angry, Viney immediately apologized with a fawning tone and a sweet voice, ''Hmmm¡­ Mama, I''m sorry¡­ Please don''t be angry¡­ I won''t do it again¡­''


    ''Now you''re saying sorry. Why didn''t you tell about all that earlier?'' said Lin Qiao crossly.


    ''Hmmm¡­ Because I was worried that Mama might not want to do it with the little one''s Daddy¡­'' said Viney, sounding almost in tears.

 388 Still Shocked

    Hearing Viney''s trembling voice, Lin Qiao couldn''t be angry anymore. She had known Viney for a long while after all. Viney could be willful sometimes, but she understood that the other did all she did just to help her.


    With that thought, Lin Qiao cooled down slowly.


    After thinking for a moment, she asked, ''What''s my current body condition like then? Is it still not repaired yet?''


    She wanted to touch her own body, but couldn''t move her limbs.


    As she changed the topic, Viney immediately sighed with relief and said, ''Mama''s body has already been activated! However, only one-third of you is activated, and the rest is not. As long as your body finishes absorbing Viney''s energy, you can go out.''


    ''Is my heart alive too?'' said Lin Qiao with surprise.


    She couldn''t have expected that Viney had actually reactivated her heart and brought her back to life. Her body, which belonged to Lu Tianyu, had been dead for months. But now, it actually came back to life! Viney had such a miraculous power!


    Viney responded, ''Yeah, yeah¡­ It required your own energy, Daddy''s energy, and Viney''s energy to activate your body¡­ Mama, you may still need to spend two more days to absorb the energy before you''re able to go out.''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, ''Alright¡­ two more days? How long have I been down here then?''


    Viney spent a moment counting, then replied, ''Em¡­ em¡­ I think it has been eight days.''


    Lin Qiao sighed. It seemed that she needed to wait two more days.


    She didn''t know how to face Wu Chengyue when she got out. The situation would be less weird if he didn''t know who she was; but the fact was, he knew it clearly.


    It would definitely be really awkward when they saw each other again, even though neither of them did it voluntarily. So, it would be better for them to never see each other again. If Wu Chengyue found out that Lin Qiao''s body actually belonged to Lu Tianyu, things would become even more complicated.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao decided to leave as soon as possible when she was freed from the lake. She planned to go to the new base and see how things were going there. If the situation was good, she would leave for the South, also to avoid Wu Chengyue.


    ''Viney, in the future, you must talk to me first before doing something so important, do you understand?'' she said in her head, ''If you''re really going to become my child, I might spank you when you misbehave!''


    As Lin Qiao seemed to have forgiven her, Viney responded happily, ''I''m sorry, I will never do it again¡­''


    ''Great then!'' said Lin Qiao, ''Also, does he know that I''m pregnant? You didn''t tell him, did you?''


    Viney stayed silent, which gave Lin Qiao a very bad feeling.


    ''You, you, you didn''t tell him, did you!''


    If Viney were standing right in front of her, she should be able to see the little vine fidgeting with her fingers, showing a guilty face. In fact, Viney had no fingers, so she would probably fidget with her vines!


    ''I¡­ I told him¡­ Viney told Daddy everything¡­''


    ''Why on earth did you tell him!'' Lin Qiao nearly exploded, ''He''ll definitely come after me! And you actually call him Daddy!''


    God! If that man knew that she was pregnant with his baby, and that baby was Viney, who had entrapped her, would he ever let Lin Qiao and Viney get out of this?


    No, he wouldn''t!


    By now, it was no longer about who was right and who was wrong. The one who raped him last time was Lu Tianyu, not Lin Qiao. However, by taking over Lu Tianyu''s body, Lin Qiao had taken over her sin as well. This time, because of Viney, she ended up being raped by him. At the moment, Lin Qiao had a feeling that her future life would be disorganized by Wu Chengyue!


    Lin Qiao felt extremely uncomfortable about what had happened, and was still deeply shocked¡­


    ''But, he is already Viney''s Daddy¡­'' said Viney.


    Lin Qiao just didn''t know what to say.


    ''Can I kill this naughty child whose name is Viney? She sold her mother, didn''t she?''


    Viney sensed her thoughts.


    ''What should I do? I can''t go out now, or Mama will spank me!'' she thought.


    Just like that, Lin Qiao and Viney spent two more days in the lake.


    On the other side, Xiao Licheng, who had been digging under Wu Chengyue''s orders, finally found some leads about the female zombie.


    "Did you say that it was a man on Chief Zou''s side who did this?" Wu Chengyue sat on the couch with Wu Yueling on his knees as he raised his head to look at Xiao Licheng with surprise.


    The other stood in the empty area before him, nodding and responding, "Yes, it''s the man named Kong Qingming. He has been secretly hindering our investigation the whole time."


    Wu Chengyue rubbed his chin while asking, "Why is he trying to stop us from finding out that female zombie''s background? Is there an inside story about her?"


    Xiao Licheng shook his head. After thinking for a moment, he made a guess, "Is he trying to protect Miss. Lu? Didn''t she save him and his friends in Hangzhou? Maybe he thinks that we''re going to do something bad to her!"


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him and said, "What bad thing can we possibly do to her? We are partners now, aren''t we? Does he think that we''re immoral people? She helped me, so why would I try to hurt her?"


    Xiao Licheng shrugged and said, "About that, I think we need to ask him directly."


    Wu Chengyue put Wu Yueling on the floor, then stood up and said, "Alright. Since he knows something, we will go straight to him and talk to him instead of spending so many efforts trying to find out. If he refuses to tell us, we''d have no choice but to ask Zou for help."


    Xiao Licheng didn''t expect him to plan to go straight to Kong Qingming. "Eh!" he looked at Wu Chengyue confusedly and exclaimed.


    Wu Chengyue gave him a glance, then picked up Wu Yueling''s hand and said while heading outside, "What? Let''s go! Where is he now?"


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng immediately followed behind him.


    On the other side, Kong Qingming was lying on the couch in Lu Tianyi''s office, saying with a frown, "I think¡­ I''m about to fail in concealing the information about your sister. Also, I think they might have noticed us. If Chief Wu finds us, how to do plan to deal with him?"


    While speaking, he looked at Lu Tianyi, who was sitting behind the desk.


    Lu Tianyi stopped writing and raised his head. He paused for a moment, then thought for a while and turned to Kong Qingming, "If he really came to us, I think we can first ask him about his purpose. Why on earth does he keep digging about my sister? What is he up to?"


    Kong Qingming paused in shock. "Ask him directly? Do you really dare to do that?" he said while giving Lu Tianyi a glance with surprise.


    At that moment, a guard knocked on the door before coming in, "Boss, Chief Wu is here."


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were both a little speechless.


    Speak of the devil!


    They glanced at each other, then hurriedly stood up. After that, they saw Wu Chengyue walk in, holding Wu Yueling''s hand. Following behind them were Xiao Licheng and two soldiers.


    "Chief, what brought you here?" Lu Tianyi greeted him.


    Wu Chengyue smiled and responded, "Why? Am I not allowed in here?"


    "Of course, you are!" said Lu Tianyi awkwardly, "We''re just a little flattered by your sudden visit. Please have a seat!"


    Both of them stepped away from the couch and offered it to Wu Chengyue, who sat down with Ling Ling, then pointed at the other couch in the office and waved at the two.


    "You two sit down as well. Let''s talk!"

 389 A Huge Misunderstanding

    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming glanced at each other, both wearing a worried look. After that, Lu Tianyi turned to get some water for Wu Chengyue while Kong Qingming sat down uneasily.


    Wu Chengyue turned around and gave Xiao Licheng a glance. Receiving the glance, the latter knowingly left with the two soldiers.


    As all the others left, and only Wu Chengyue, Lu Tianyi, Kong Qingming, and the little one were left in the office, Wu Chengyue smilingly looked at the two and started talking.


    "I heard that you''ve been hindering my people on their missions. I''d like to know what exactly is going on."


    Lu Tianyi heard Wu Chengyue''s words as he put a few glasses of water on the table and sat down. He looked at Wu Chengyue, pretending not to know anything. "Eh? What mission? Did we hamper your work, Chief Wu?"


    A strange gleam of light flashed across Wu Chengyue''s narrowed, smiling eyes. Then, he said jokingly, seemingly with discontentment, "Alright, you are pretending."


    "Kong, you tell me then¡­" He abruptly turned to Kong Qingming and said.


    "Eh?" Kong Qingming didn''t expect Wu Chengyue to turn to him while talking to Lu Tianyi suddenly, so he didn''t manage to react timely.


    "What ''eh''? Tell me, why wouldn''t you let my people find the information about Miss. Lu? Have you been protecting her? Why?" Wu Chengyue spoke directly.


    Hearing his straightforward question, Kong Qingming didn''t know how to respond, so he turned to glance at Lu Tianyi.


    "Chief, can we ask why you suddenly want the information about her?" Lu Tianyi threw a question back, "If you give us a good reason, we might tell you what we know about her."


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face turned a little mysterious as he responded, "Because I''m very interested in her now. Is that reason good enough?"


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming glanced at each other, both remaining silent.


    Wu Chengyue turned to Ling Ling as he rubbed her head and sighed, "I wasn''t going to publicize this yet, so after hearing what I''m about to say, you need to keep it secret for me."


    Both Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming had their eyes glowed.


    Was Chief Wu going to tell them about his purpose? They didn''t expect that to happen so soon.


    They were really surprised that Wu Chengyue would actually tell them about his true purpose.


    "I want her to be my Ling Ling''s mother, also my wife. So, it''s reasonable for me to want to dig out her background, isn''t it?" said Wu Chengyue.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were left open-mouthed. They stared at Wu Chengyue, their faces filled with disbelief.


    "Wait a moment, wait a moment! Chief Wu, what did you say? I didn''t hear it clearly!" Lu Tianyi hurriedly raised a hand to point at Wu Chengyue and said in shock. Kong Qingming paused in shock for a few seconds, then wore a weird expression.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Lu Tianyi''s shocked face, then laughed and responded, "I said I want her to be my wife. What''s wrong about that?"


    "No!" After hearing him repeating that, Lu Tianyi said no without thinking.


    Wu Chengyue was confused by Lu Tianyi''s attitude. With a complicated expression, he asked, "Why? You have nothing to do with her, right? Em¡­ eh, you''re not fond of her as well, are you?"


    "Pah!" Kong Qingming picked up a glass of water and took a sip after processing what he had heard earlier. However, he sprayed that water right out after hearing what Wu Chengyue said just now.


    "Pah!" Lu Tianyi also spouted the water in his mouth. After saying no, he had picked up a glass and taken a sip of water as well to ease the awkward atmosphere, because he realized that he might have said the wrong words.


    And hence, they both spouted the water in their mouths after hearing Wu Chengyue''s words.


    "Eh-hem¡­" While coughing, they embarrassedly wiped their mouths.


    "It''s not like that¡­ eh-hem¡­" Lu Tianyi said anxiously while raising a hand to try and stop Wu Chengyue from talking


    "No? Then, why were you so emotional just now? So, you like women who''re older than you¡­ Do you know about her true identity?" The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face had turned a little weird.


    "No¡­ It''s not like that! Chief, please don''t misunderstand me! It''s not like what you said," That misunderstanding which Wu Chengyue had made Lu Tianyi really uncomfortable. While trying to explain, he hurriedly waved his hands and shook his head.


    Kong Qingming, who sat beside Lu Tianyi, covered his forehead with a hand after wiping his mouth, seeming to be trying very hard to stop himself from laughing out loud.


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face faded slightly as he looked at Lu Tianyi and said with surprise, "Is it really not like that? But you reacted so strongly¡­"


    "It''s definitely not like that! It''s impossible for me to be with her! But Chief, it''s also¡­ not quite possible for you to be with her either!"


    Wu Chengyue paused for a moment at first, then looked at him confusedly and asked, "Why? Do you know her true identity?"


    Hearing that, Lu Tianyi paused briefly as well, then glanced at Kong Qingming. After that, he turned back to Wu Chengyue and asked, "Do you already know?"


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "I know that she''s not human. She''s a zombie. Isn''t that what you don''t want me to find out?"


    ''It¡­ is¡­ not! What I don''t want you to find out is that she''s my sister who had raped you!'' said Lu Tianyi in his head.


    He silently stared at Wu Chengyue for a few seconds, and Kong Qingming was stunned as well.


    That seemed to be a huge misunderstanding¡­


    Kong Qingming looked at Wu Chengyue and said with a strange expression, "Eh, Chief, so you already know that she''s not human. Then why do you¡­ still¡­"


    "As you''ve seen, even though she''s a zombie, she''s no different from normal human beings, except for her special eyes. Also, she''s nice, isn''t she? She has saved your lives, so you should know about that. I''ve spent some time with her lately, and I have a feeling that she''s a decent soul," said Wu Chengyue.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming both gazed at him silently.


    ''Chief, she has raped you. Are you sure that you wouldn''t beat her after finding out who she truly is? Although, you''ve already battled once,'' Lu Tianyi thought.


    Wu Chengyue had no clue about the complicated feelings of the two. He only thought that they were worried that he might regret after learning that Lin Qiao was a zombie. With a faint smile, he said, "In fact, I was already quite interested in her before, not so much that I wanted to marry her though. But now, things are different. I''ve already eaten her. As a man, I need to be responsible for her. What''s also very important, Ling Ling likes her a lot."


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming didn''t know what to say.


    What did they just hear? Eh¡­ It didn''t sound right!


    With hesitation, Lu Tianyi asked, "Ugh, Chief, what did you say just now? I don''t quite understand! What did you mean by you''ve already eaten her?"


    It wasn''t like what he thought, is it?


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Ling Ling, then turned back to him and replied, "Well, you''re an adult, so I think you should understand what I meant."


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming slightly opened their mouths but failed to say a word. They were both astonished. They couldn''t believe that! How on earth did those two get together! What in the world had happened!

 390 You Said You Wonst Lose Temper

    Wu Chengyue didn''t notice the complicated expressions of the two earlier. However, as a capable leader, he had now noticed that something was not quite right.


    He blinked as he glanced at Lu Tianyi, then at Kong Qingming. "Your expressions told me that¡­ This doesn''t seem to be right," he looked at both of them and said abruptly, "I slept¡­ um, did that thing with that female zombie. Why are you so surprised about that? Do you know who she really is?"


    He wanted to stay that he slept with the female zombie, but changed his words once he realized that Ling Ling was right beside him.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming glanced at each other. They know that the female zombie was Lu Tianyu, and also felt that Wu Chengyue would eventually find out about it.


    They understood that what they did earlier could only keep Wu Chengyue from digging up the truth for a while. What they didn''t think was that Kong Qingming was actually capable enough to keep the information secret from Wu Chengyue for so long.


    They both hesitated for a short while, then Lu Tianyi carefully said to Wu Chengyue, "In fact, we don''t care if you have eaten her¡­ And¡­ um, well, we''re indeed surprised by that. May I ask how did you sleep with her? When? Was there a special cause?"


    Wu Chengyue smiled, "I surely cannot tell you about the cause unless you tell me everything you know about her. As for how I slept with her, that''s not important. What is important now is that she''s already mine! I need to be responsible for her, and she also needs to be responsible for me."


    The two didn''t know what to say.


    As Wu Chengyue sounded so firm, the two wondered if he was aware that the one he was talking about was Lu Tianyu, the woman who had raped him, and used to be hated by everyone in the base. What would his face look like when he found out about that?


    Lu Tianyi suddenly started looking forward to Wu Chengyue''s reaction.


    "Eh¡­ Are you sure that you want to know who she really was? I mean the identity she had before turning into a zombie," he said.


    Kong Qingming glanced at Lu Tianyi and asked a question with his eyes¡ª''Are you really gonna tell him?''


    ''He''ll find out sooner or later,'' Lu Tianyi also responded with eyes.


    Kong Qingming thought for a moment, then replied, ''I''ll leave then!''


    ''No, you can''t leave! Let''s die together!'' said Lu Tianyi with his eyes.


    As the two were communicating with eyes, Wu Chengyue showed a complicated look in his eyes. "What''s wrong? Is her background complicated or scary?" he asked.


    Kong Qingming looked at him, said, "Um, later on when you find out about her true identity, please don''t lose your temper."


    Lu Tianyi nodded in agreement, "Ugh, Chief, if you''re going to flip out later on, please wait until we get out!"


    Wu Chengyue was confused by their words as he asked, filled with curiosity, "Why would I flip out? What on earth is going on? You two are acting weird!"


    "Chief, I won''t tell you anything until you promise us that you won''t go mad !" said Lu Tianyi.


    Wu Chengyue agreed without hesitation, "Alright, I get it! Besides, I don''t flip out easily. You both know what kind of person I am."


    ''We know exactly what kind of person you are, so we understand how terrifying you''d be when you flip out.'' The two said silently in their heads.


    As Wu Chengyue promised not to be mad, Lu Tianyi started talking, "Think about it, her last name is Lu, and she''s already dead. Now, she has unexpectedly become a zombie."


    Wu Chengyue nodded as he looked at him and asked, "Then?"


    Lu Tianyi swallowed his saliva, then continued slowly, "Um¡­ My last name is Lu as well. You know¡­ I came to you before¡­"


    Wu Chengyue was puzzled at first, then paused for a short while to think.


    Lu was their shared last name? Lu Tianyi came to him once to ask about where Lu Tianyu died, also talked about finding her body. That was a long time ago¡­


    Em¡­ Lu?


    While thinking, Wu Chengyue suddenly realized something. He fixed his eyes on Lu Tianyi and said, "You''re saying that her last name is Lu, so is yours¡­ Is that what you meant? Earlier on, you came to me because you wanted to find your sister''s body, right?"


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming didn''t even dare to breathe. They slowly nodded, and were both ready to turn and run.


    Wu Chengyue spent three seconds staring at them silently. After that, a faint smile emerged on his face again as he said, "So, you''re saying that¡­ she is Lu Tianyu, right?"


    No wonder he always found her face familiar! Now, he finally realized that it was Lu Tianyu''s face without makeup! No wonder he felt that he had seen her somewhere before!


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming paused briefly. They didn''t nod, neither did they make any sounds, but only gave him a weird smile.


    After that, the expression on Wu Chengyue''s face became quite interesting. The faint smile stayed on his face, while a strange light sparkled in his eyes. Meanwhile, two veins slowly bulged on the corners of his forehead.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming were both frozen, not daring to move at all. At that moment, Wu Chengyue''s vibe was already a little agitated, and that dangerous vibe shrouded the entire office.


    The two were crying on the inside.


    ''Liar! What happened to ''you won''t flip out''? What are you doing! This is even scarier! Please stop smiling! Your veins are even bulging! We''d rather see your expressionless face!''


    Feeling the sudden change of the atmosphere, the sensitive Wu Yueling raised her head to glance at Wu Chengyue''s face, then inched her way to his side and dragged his sleeve.


    Wu Chengyue''s vibe immediately melted. He sighed as he looked at Wu Yueling and asked her, "Ling Ling, what should I do? Daddy really wants to fight someone now! Should I find that zombie lady and fight her now? Eh?"


    Wu Yueling looked at him confusedly, without understanding his meaning.


    ''Fight? Fight whom? Didn''t Daddy say that we shouldn''t fight unless we have to?''


    "Hah, Chief¡­ Eh¡­ I mean¡­ You''ve already fought her. Have you forgotten about that? Ugh¡­ You even bit her thigh!" As Wu Chengyue''s scary vibe was eased by Wu Yueling''s one single move, Lu Tianyi immediately sighed in relief. Hearing the other''s childish words which were probably spoken to vent his anger, Lu Tianyi couldn''t help but laugh and remind him.


    Being reminded by Lu Tianyi, Wu Chengyue instantly recalled how he had fought the zombie lady on a roof at that time because she stole his zombie nucleus. As a result, he lost the fight, and rudely bit her thigh!


    ''Eh¡­ wait a minute, something is wrong!''


    He suddenly gazed at Lu Tianyi and asked, "I don''t think it''s right. That woman was a commoner when she lived in our base. She was just a powerless pretty woman. Even though she has become a zombie, she couldn''t possibly become so powerful within such a short time. Not to mention the fact that she fought like a well-trained professional soldier, her personality and working style are different from before as well! Don''t you tell me that she had hidden all these before."


    ''I don''t think they''re the same person. They shouldn''t be¡­'' Wu Chengyue suddenly had a gleam of hope. He hoped that the zombie lady and Lu Tianyu were two different souls.

 391 Call It Even

    Lu Tianyi looked at him with a slight pity, saying, "About that, Chief¡­ Um, she didn''t deny that she is Lu Tianyu. In fact, you can just ask her about that¡­ But um¡­ your current relationship is a little¡­ complicated¡­"


    At first, Lu Tianyu raped Wu Chengyue, and was killed. After she died, her death was blamed on the latter. Now, not only did she become a zombie, but also acted like a completely different person. She came back to the base and started a series of troubles, then had Wu Chengyue rape her. And after that, Wu Chengyue wanted to be responsible for her.


    Who should be responsible for whom?


    Alright, since they had both raped each other, they were even.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then said, "It is not right. Her personality now is drastically different from before. Turning into a zombie can''t possibly change her personality and habits, can it? Also, she was a¡­"


    ''She was a¡­ well, okay, I think Viney said that her body was repaired by energy into the original state, which means her body was rebuilt,'' he thought.


    "We had the same doubts at first," said Lu Tianyi, "But, we did fail to find her body back then. Besides, I was familiar with her face without makeup since before the apocalypse. I''ll always recognize that face of hers."


    "So how dare she come back! Isn''t she afraid that I might recognize her?" Wu Chengyue laughed with a cold voice.


    "Chief, aren''t you even now?" said Kong Qingming, "She raped you before, and this time, you ate her. That''s good actually. Neither of you needs to be responsible for the other now. So, this has been settled. Let bygones be bygones. Um, Chief, you don''t need to marry his sister anymore, do you?"


    Even after learning that the zombie lady was Lu Tianyu, Wu Chengyue hadn''t regretted his decision, meaning that he didn''t give up on the idea of marrying her.


    Because he didn''t give up, he felt really uncomfortable now!


    He couldn''t have imagined that the zombie lady was actually that woman, because the two of them had nothing in common. They were so different, so even though he knew that her last name was Lu, he never thought that she might be that woman.


    So now, what he learned was beyond his expectation.


    Lu Tianyu seemed to have become another person after she turned into a zombie. Not only did she save Ling Ling a few times, but she had stopped doing evil deeds. She was even leading a group of people to build a new base. The old Lu Tianyu would never do something like that.


    Wu Chengyue suddenly recalled that when he saw her for the first time, she still looked like a normal zombie. Back then, she was prepared to send Ling Ling back to him, but he gave her a lightning strike without thinking and scared her away. She also took Ling Ling with her at that time.


    Before she died, she kidnapped Ling Ling so she could rape him. But after her death, she actually tried to send Ling Ling back to him.


    Was she stung by conscience? Or, did something wake her up when she died?


    Being reminded by Kong Qingming''s words, Lu Tianyi hurriedly asked the same question, "Yeah Chief, since you''ve already known who she really was, you won''t marry her anymore, will you? After all, everybody used to hate her."


    But unexpectedly, Wu Chengyue looked at them and said, "Why don''t you want me to marry her? I didn''t say that I''ll give up. Even though I''ve now learned who she was, I should think about if she''ll turn back to her old self. I still plan to marry her and make her warm my bed. Also, this is perfect. She raped me last time, but I forced her this time. So, for what happened last time, she should be responsible for me. And for this time, I need to be responsible for her. So, to do that, I''ll just marry her."


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming both looked at Wu Chengyue with surprise, as they didn''t expect him to still want to marry Lu Tianyu.


    "So how will you¡­ face each other in the future?" Lu Tianyi asked that question uneasily.


    "What? Are you afraid that I might mistreat her?" Wu Chengyue laughed, "So that''s why you didn''t want me to dig out her background. I thought you were protecting her because you''re in love with her."


    "Chief, you were overthinking," Lu Tianyi responded with embarrassment.


    "Alright, I''ve already gotten what I wanted from you," Wu Chengyue stood up and continued, "And I have told you about my purpose. I have to go out, as I still have work to do. You''re going to become my brother-in-law, isn''t that marvelous?"


    He patted Lu Tianyi on the shoulder, then picked up Ling Ling''s hand and headed outside. Behind him, the two young men were left stunned.


    After watching Wu Chengyue leave, Kong Qingming abruptly started talking, "We haven''t seen Miss. Lu for quite a while. Do you think¡­ she has been hiding because she didn''t want Chief Wu to bother her?"


    Lu Tianyi had a very strange feeling when Wu Chengyue called him ''brother-in-law''. Only after hearing Kong Qingming''s words did he come back to himself and say, "She didn''t show up? Maybe she went to the new base?"


    Kong Qingming shook his head and responded, "I''ve sent my people over there to check, but the information they brought back is a little weird. My people said that the new base seems to have been surrounded by a giant group of zombies, and that they couldn''t get in. Also, those zombies seem to be under control, because they won''t attack people randomly. I guess your sister has been controlling them. Perhaps, she has gone there already."


    Lu Tianyi thought for a moment, then agreed, "I think so. She actually made zombies protect a base, that''s really weird."


    Kong Qingming crossed his arms before his chest, then raised a hand to rub his chin while saying with confusion, "Didn''t Chief Wu have any familiar feeling when he had sex with your sister? It was the second time after all."


    Lu Tianyu looked at him and responded, "Last time, she made it happen, and this time, I think she was forced. It must be different. Besides, Chief Wu didn''t think that she was Lu Tianyu, so he couldn''t possibly feel that they were the same person."


    Kong Qingming nodded in agreement, "You''re right!"


    Wu Chengyue, who had just walked out of Lu Tianyi''s office, now felt that he needed to go back home and have some quiet time alone.


    He had actually raped that woman back¡­ He raped her back¡­


    Also, it was actually her first time after her body was repaired. He had taken her virginity. Also, he wasn''t bound to be responsible to her, but his moral quality required him to.


    He had sex with her because he was entrapped and disabled from controlling himself. However, he still felt a little guilty afterward. But now, the guilty feeling was gone!


    This time, that woman wouldn''t be able to go anywhere! Even though she had turned into a zombie, she was now his zombie! Let alone the fact that she was now pregnant with his baby! How could he possibly let her go?

 392 Halfway Activated

    In the space, Lin Qiao, who didn''t yet know that her identity was uncovered, spent two days to finally absorb all of Viney''s energy. After that, she found the lights around her turning brighter and brighter. As she thought, she was still at the bottom of the lake.


    As she regained the control of her own body, she immediately swam upward. While swimming, she suddenly saw a few locks of black hair drifting before her eyes. She was puzzled for a moment, then touched her head with a hand while swimming.


    Her hair were no longer spiky. She put her five fingers into her soft and long hair, then put the hair before her eyes.


    They had grown out! They were her hair!


    Seeing her new hair, Lin Qiao was instantly cheered up. She swam upward at a higher speed, and for some reason, she felt quite free in the lake. She didn''t need to spend too much effort, because she was able to swim fast very easily. Moreover, the energy in her lake gave her a comfortable feeling.


    Soon, she reached the water surface. She bobbed up and looked around, her eyes showing a faint confusion. After that, she swam toward the lakeside.


    At that time, Shen Yujen, who might have sensed her vibe, slowly walked out of a small space. She looked at Lin Qiao confusedly, also with puzzlement in her eyes.


    She clearly sensed that Lin Qiao''s vibe had changed, and so had her scent. Her scent had become sweet and tempting.


    However, her vibe had become even scarier than before. She seemed to be at a higher level now, and her vibe was mixed together with that of the vine plant in the lake. Another strange vibe was also contained in the mixture.


    The pressure which was given to Shen Yuzhen by Lin Qiao''s current vibe was stronger than what her old vibe gave her many times over.


    Shen Yujen watched Lin Qiao slowly come out of the water, then pick up the clothes on the chair to dress herself.


    She was surprised to see Lin Qiao''s long hair. She had only been in the lake for about ten days. How could her hair grow so long within such a short time? Was she able to grow her hair along with her level?


    Lin Qiao put the clothes on, then looked at her hands and touched her wet hair. After that, she touched her eyes.


    She didn''t notice that her eyes had turned to black and white from purely black. Her pupils were glowing green, which made her eyes look like the eyes of western people. However, she had an oriental face.


    She put the cosmetic contacts which she took out earlier back into her eye sockets. In fact, she didn''t need those anymore, but she had yet to figure that out.


    She noticed Shen Yujen''s gaze. There was quite a distance between them, but still, she felt the latter''s emotions.


    Shen Yuzhen was confused, scared, and obedient¡­ Lin Qiao sensed her complicated feelings over the distance. She also sensed fear and desire for hiding from the woods, which was pretty far away.


    She walked to the couch area where Shen Yujen was, then asked her, "What''s wrong? What are you afraid of?" After saying that, she paused in shock.


    Her voice was fixed. It was no longer unpleasantly dry and hoarse, but silvery and sweet-sounding like a healthy female voice.


    Shen Yujen paused briefly as well upon hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, because she didn''t expect her voice to recover as well.


    She walked toward Lin Qiao and carefully looked at her.


    Lin Qiao was able to sense her thoughts. "Yeah, I think I have upgraded. And my body has been repaired, also activated. But, it''s only halfway activated. As for the other half, I might need to wait for a long while for it to be activated." She touched her stomach while speaking. Viney had told her that the day Viney was born would be the day her body got activated completely.


    Viney also said that that would be the most dangerous part of the whole activation process.


    Shen Yujen looked at her and nodded.


    "I''m ready to go out and head to the new base. Are you still unwilling to go out to see Chen Yuting?" Lin Qiao asked her.


    Hearing her mention Chen Yuting, Shen Yujen shook her head, then opened her mouth and said something silently.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her with surprise, saying, "Eh? Have you thought it through? You should have figured it out long ago. If he cared about what you look like now, he wouldn''t have begged me to turn you into a zombie. Don''t you trust your relationship?"


    Shen Yujen slowly shook her head, then nodded.


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "I''ll bring you there then. I''ll let you out when I arrive."


    Shen Yujen looked at her and nodded expectantly.


    After that, Lin Qiao flashed out of her space in her invisible state and came into the room where Lin Wenwen lived in Sea City Base. She sniffed around and found that the scents belonging to Lin Wenwen, Yuan Tianxing, and the others had almost faded. She only grasped some traces of their scents which were left there days ago.


    However, she sensed the scents of Du Yuanxing and two soldiers from the room across the hall. Only the three of them were left here.


    Based on those faint, lingering scents in that room, Lin Qiao figured that Yuan Tianxing and the others had left Sea City Base for the new base which was located in the Upper City District in Hangzhou.


    She glanced at the door and the windows, and found that they were all locked. The outside was bright, seeming to be afternoon time.


    She didn''t open the door, but headed to the door of the balcony.


    Then, she realized that she was now able to do anything in her invisible state except for using her superpower. She could even kill a person with her claws while staying invisible. So now, she could deliver perfect sneak attacks or assassinations.


    She gently unlocked the door and pushed it open, then spent a moment sensing the surrounding vibes. She found that quite a few vibes were hiding around the room for some unknown reason. The owners of those vibes should have been watching this room for the whole time.


    Therefore, she pushed the door open very slowly, as if the door was opened by a breeze. No one was able to see her anyway.


    After coming out, she closed the door form the outside, then leaped out of the balcony. In the next moment, she was on the roof of another building.


    She had no shadow, not even when she stood under the sunlight. That had been making her feel as if she was a traceless ghost. Right now, she still didn''t have a shadow even under the bright daylight!


    She thought that her special skills might be disabled after she turned back into a human being. But to her surprise, her skills weren''t affected at all.


    She landed on a tree, then popped her translucent black nails and scratched a branch.


    Crack!


    Following the slight noise, the branch broke.


    She turned and left that tree, hopping onto a utility pole before leaping toward an administration building. After that, she walked to the building from a corner.


    In the crowded first floor hall, no one discovered her presence. Anyway, she didn''t linger there, but headed straight to the Mission Hall.


    Soon, she made a tour in the Misson Hall and spent a while watching Du Yuanxing and the others doing the recruitment work. As nothing abnormal was found, she turned and left toward an area where nobody was present.

 393 Unfaithful Woman

    Lin Qiao entered an old building beside the administration building. It was a small, three-storeyed building, and the gate before the stairs wasn''t locked. She took the stairs to the third floor, which had a hallway in the middle with rooms on both sides.


    Lin Qiao walked into the hallway, then paused abruptly. A man was standing in front of her before a door, and banging on it loudly.


    ''Something is happening here!'' she thought.


    She walked over and stood at two meters behind that man to observe him.


    He was a superpowered man, only at level-four, wearing a leisure suit. The suit was nicely styled, simple, and elegant, perfectly highlighting the man''s tall and slim body.


    However, the suit looked very old.


    Standing two meters away from them, Lin Qiao had been sensing a strong foul smell, maybe because she was a zombie with a very sensitive sense of smell.


    The man looked in his thirties and was not ugly, but not handsome either. He was just an average-looking man.


    After banging the door for a few times and getting no response at all, he put a hand into his pocket and took out a key. After that, he inserted the key into the keyhole and twisted it.


    Crack!


    Following a slight noise, the door was opened by him.


    "Huang Xiaoqing, I know you''re home. I have a way to get in even though you didn''t open the door for me. You see, I''m coming in now. Are you still gonna hide?" The man didn''t walk in immediately after opening the door, but stood at the door and widely opened it. He talked with a proud grin, his eyes glowing with a light of excitement.


    However, the grin on his face froze when he looked inside the room.


    Lin Qiao, who was behind him, sensed the change of his emotion and walked up with curiosity. She looked into the room, then showed a knowing look in her eyes.


    No wonder that man froze. In the room, a woman was sitting on the couch with another man. They had their arms around each other, and were both looking at the man at the door scornfully.


    However, Lin Qiao didn''t pay attention to those people, but soon turned her eyes to the man who was tied up, sitting in a corner.


    That man''s head was slightly lowered. He sat there silently, as if he didn''t even exist. Therefore, the man at the door didn''t notice him.


    The woman on the couch looked at the man at the door displeasedly and said, "What are you doing here? I''ve told you to not come to me anymore. Yet you sneakily made a copy of my key. Are you going to do something bad?"


    The man at the door had his expression changed immediately. He angrily walked into the room with big steps and pointed at the man who was sitting beside the woman as he asked, "Who is him? You found a boy-toy so quickly? Good for you!"


    While speaking, he began sneering.


    The woman''s face reddened as she abruptly stood up and yelled at that man, "What are you talking about! He''s not a boy-toy! You think I''d agree to be together with a man like you? In your dream! There are lots of men in this base who''re more capable than you!"


    Lin Qiao followed that man into the room and looked at the woman. She found that even though the woman was a commoner, her clothes were pretty new, and of good quality at that.


    She then glanced at the room. The room was fully furnished by almost new furniture pieces. Not too many old things were seen.


    Clearly, except for this woman, a quite capable man also lived in this place. Otherwise, a female commoner could never be able to live in a building like this and have so many furniture pieces.


    This could be considered a rather good place in the post-apocalyptic world.


    That long-haired woman was quite pretty. She wasn''t stunningly beautiful, but did look young and comely. However, Lin Qiao didn''t like the vibe that she was giving.


    She was about twenty-seven or eight years old, wearing a low-cut top, a tight skirt, and a pair of seven-centimeters heels, exposing her obvious cleavage and a pair of slightly fat legs.


    In the post-apocalyptic world, dressing like this would make a woman look exactly like a prostitute.


    Lin Qiao disliked these sexy kind of clothes the most. She believed that women shouldn''t wear these unless they wanted to make some men commit certain crimes.


    Judging by the current situation, the relationships between that woman and those men seemed to be a little complicated. ''It should be like this,'' thought Lin Qiao.


    The man who was sitting on the couch was a level-five superpowered man. He wasn''t handsome either, but looked slightly younger and better than the man who just came in.


    He was wearing a clean pair of jeans and a shirt, lazily leaning against the back of the couch.


    "Oi, watch your language. From this moment on, Huang Xiaoqing is my woman. Her ex-boyfriend has given her to me. Who are you?"


    While speaking, the man in a shirt pointed at the man in the corner, who had been staying motionless with his head lowered. Only after that did the man in an old suit notice the third man in this room.


    With both surprise and doubts, he observed the man in the corner while asking, "Are you¡­ Xie Dong?"


    The man in the corner didn''t reply, neither did he make any move. He just kept sitting there.


    The man in old suit stared at him for a few seconds, then turned to the man on the couch and the woman who was standing in front of him. At last, he suddenly turned to leave.


    "Wait! Leave the key of my apartment!" Huang Xiaoqing yelled at him.


    The man swung an arm back and threw the key to the floor, then walked away quickly, leaving the door wide open.


    "He sneakily made a copy of my key! Thankfully, he came at daytime. If he showed up at night, I''d be in a trouble!" Huang Xiaoqing angrily walked to the door and closed it with while complaining.


    On her way back to the couch, she bent over to pick up the key from the floor. While doing that, her round hip was raised high enough to make the man on the couch have his blood boil.


    The man stared at her hip and swallowed his saliva. As the woman walked back to his side, he couldn''t help but put an arm around her waist and make her sit straight on his lap.


    Meanwhile, his hands were already all over her.


    "Aw, don''t do this. There''s someone else in this room!" The woman chuckled and said. Despite her words, she didn''t make any move to resist.


    The man paused briefly, then turned to Xie Dong who was sitting in the corner and said scornfully, "So what? Can''t we just let him watch a free show? Eh? Come here and let me kiss you."


    After saying that, he put his mouth to that woman''s neck and started kissing her.


    The woman tried to dodge while chuckling and saying, "What should we do now? Should we kick him out? But, this apartment is registered under his name. If he crosses my name, I won''t be able to live here anymore."


    The man responded carelessly while touching the woman''s body, "If you want, I can send him to the security department and tell the guys over there that he''s one of Yang Chao''s people. After that, he won''t be able to come out alive."

 394 Loved the Wrong Person

    Hearing that man say that he could send Xie Dong to the security department, the woman looked at him and asked confusedly, "Eh? Really? But he has nothing to do with Yang Chao, does he?"


    "What are you worrying about? I know people in that department. So, he''ll be Yang Chao''s man as long as I say so. Do you understand?" said the man.


    The woman now understood his meaning, and spoke delightfully, "Really! Then let''s send him there now. I''m really tired of seeing him. I thought he wouldn''t come back this time. He''s been out for so a couple of months. I thought he died out there¡­ But, he came back."


    While speaking, she turned to Xie Dong, her face filled with dislike.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms and watched for a while, figuring out what was going on.


    As she was rather close to the man and the woman, she could clearly sense their thoughts. She was now able to sense people''s thought without touching them. That should be a benefit of her newest upgrade.


    That woman had actually been using Xie Dong as a stepping stone. She didn''t care about him at all, but had been making use of his love for her. While living together with Xie Dong, she tried her best to get the most out of him, and make him earn more for her.


    Xie Dong gave her the best he had while they lived together for three years. Whatever that woman wanted, he would try to get it for her.


    He didn''t expect that relationship to end this way. So now, he sat in the corner downheartedly. He didn''t want to watch the woman whom he loved seducing another man right in front of him. Also, he now learned that she was with more than just one man.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Huang Xiaoqing disdainfully, then turned to Xie Dong. As the latter made no response to the conversation between those two, she couldn''t help but walk to him.


    ''They''re going to put you in jail. How much longer are you going to stay like this?'' She kicked him and said in her head.


    Xie Dong immediately raised his head and looked around but saw no one other than the two who made him clench his teeth. At that moment, the man and the woman on the couch were holding each other and kissing.


    That scene made Xie Dong close his eyes instantly.


    Lin Qiao kicked him again disappointedly.


    This time, Xie Dong understood that he didn''t have an illusion earlier. He opened his eyes and turned to where Lin Qiao was with questions in his eyes. Lin Qiao reached out a hand and dragged him into her space.


    The two people in the apartment who had already started taking off their clothes didn''t notice that Xie Dong was suddenly gone.


    "You just sat there quietly?" Lin Qiao glared at him and yelled once they were in her space.


    Seeing her, Xie Dong felt as if he had seen a savior. He looked at her with confusion, not knowing what he should do.


    Lin Qiao left him in the base to secretly protect Lin Wenwen, and he did what she asked. However, Lin Wenwen had stayed in her building without coming out even once.


    Later on, she finally came out, but she left the building to leave the base with Yuan Tianxing and the others.


    Xie Dong didn''t leave the base because he was brought into the base by Lin Qiao in her space earlier on. Last time, he had signed before leaving the base. So, if he left with Lin Wenwen and the others, he would have to explain to the people who worked at the entrance about why he was already back in the base with no record of entering.


    The second reason why he didn''t leave was that he saw a woman.


    He was going to take a glance at her from far away to know if she was living a good life or not. However, he found out that after he was gone, the woman was openly with other men. He was quite sad upon finding that.


    What made him even sadder was that the woman didn''t love him at all. She only used his love to get the things that she wanted. In fact, she had been with other men behind his back since long ago.


    When he muddleheadedly followed her and that man back to this building, the woman wouldn''t let him come back to his own home.


    He built this home bit by bit with zombie nuclei, by risking his life to kill zombies out there. When he was having a mental collapse, the man beside the woman suddenly made a move and brought him under control.


    He had weakened largely after turning into a zombie and was distracted. So, that man easily gained the upper hand over him.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes toward him and said, "Haven''t you thought about kicking them out? That is your home, and everything in that apartment belongs to you. Even if you have given all those things to that woman, she can''t have them unless she loves you."


    Xie Dong gazed at her with a very heavy heart.


    "If you don''t want to stay in this place anymore, you should at least go out and end it with that woman. Don''t continue wasting your love on that kind of a woman," said Lin Qiao.


    Xie Dong dropped his eyelids and nodded in response.


    "I''ll get that man in here. You go out to deal with that woman yourself," Lin Qiao continued. After saying that, she flashed out and came back in with a panicking man within two seconds.


    Lin Qiao gave that man a slap to knock him out, then threw him into the grass nearby. After that, she went out of her space with Xie Dong.


    Once out, they saw Huang Xiaoqing looking around the room for that man in alarm while shouting, "Tianfei? Huang Tianfei?"


    At that moment, she saw Xie Dong suddenly show up before her, untied.


    She paused in shock. After spending a few seconds staring at Xie Dong and processing what she had seen, she suddenly burst in yells, "Xie Dong, did you take him away? Where is Huang Tianfei?"


    Xie Dong only looked at him quietly; he wasn''t able to talk after all.


    Seeing him stay silent, Huang Xiaoqing cursed angrily, "Look at you! You''re such a coward. What can you do? If you couldn''t get me a place to leave and get me food to eat, I''d never spend my life with a man like you!"


    ''That''s the excuse you used when you cheated on me, right?''


    Looking at her, Xie Dong suddenly understood that he had wasted the past few years on this woman. Why on earth did he risk his life to get such a good life for this woman?


    Huang Xiaoqing said to him coldly, "You better not do anything to Huang Tianfei. He has people in the security department. If anything happens to him, you''ll be in troubles. Don''t drag me into troubles too. Bring him back now!"


    Xie Dong silently stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly raised a hand.


    Clap!


    A loud slap landed on Huang Xiaoqing''s face and turned her face to the other side.


    "You¡­ How dare you hit me!" Huang Xiaoqing popped her large eyes in disbelief and murmured while turning back to glare at Xie Dong. "You a*shole! You actually hit me!" she screamed.


    Xie Dong understood why she reacted so strongly. Before, she never talked gently to him, while he carefully fawned on her the whole time. She always yelled at him and sometimes even cursed him.


    Based on Xie Dong''s old attitude, Huang Xiaoqing never thought that he would hit her.

 395 Lin Qiao Leaves Sea City

    Lin Qiao couldn''t bear watching that, so she walked up and knocked the woman out with a slap.


    After that, she showed her face and said to Xie Dong, "Pack your things. Nothing here is worthy for you to be reluctant to leave. Let''s go to the new base and start over."


    Xie Dong glanced at her, then nodded before turning and walking into the bedroom.


    Lin Qiao stood by that woman''s side, then entered her space to bring out the guy named Huang Tianfei. After that, she squatted beside the two fainted people and rubbed her chin while thinking for a while.


    She raised her head to look around, then fixed her eyes on the old curtains. Next, she stood up and walked to the windows, then dragged the curtains off.


    She tore the curtains into pieces, then tied the two people up. At last, she dragged both of them to the door, opened it, and threw them out.


    As she turned around and prepared to walk back in, she paused abruptly, then looked back at the two while blinking. Suddenly, her lips curved in a wicked smile. She reached out a hand, spread her fingers out, and slightly clenched them toward the two.


    Along with a slight cloth-tearing noise, all the clothes of the two people who were lying on the ground turned into pieces and fell off their bodies.


    They hadn''t woken up yet, so some cloth pieces were still on them. Once they woke up and tried to move, they would both be stark naked.


    After doing that, Lin Qiao quickly went back into the apartment.


    She knew that many people lived in this building, so those two people would soon be seen.


    At that moment, Xie Dong walked out with a bag. He stood beside Lin Qiao and looked at her without noticing what she just did. Lin Qiao shut the door after he walked out.


    "Are you done packing? If you''re done, we''ll leave," said Lin Qiao.


    Xie Dong nodded at her.


    Lin Qiao brought him into her space, then came out in the invisible state, opened the door, and walked out. She went straight downstairs and headed outside, soon reaching the fence wall. She looked around for a moment, and then moved to a staircase.


    There were stairs leading to the top of the fence wall, as lookout posts were set up there.


    Lin Qiao took the stairs up, then directly leaped off the eight-meter-tall fence wall.


    Within two-hundred meters from the fence wall on the inside and five-hundred meters on the outside, the area was totally empty, with no buildings or trees. That area was kept empty to ensure a wide and clear view for the sentries. For that purpose, all the buildings around the fence wall had been torn down when the base was built.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao needed to cover a distance on foot after leaping off the fence wall.


    When she jumped down from the wall, she forgot about the fact that she now had a baby in her belly. So, as she landed on the ground and made a few steps, she froze shortly.


    ''Eh? I was running about just now. Is Viney fine?''


    As she was not feeling any discomfort, Lin Qiao was slightly relieved.


    At that moment, Viney seemed to have sensed her thoughts, as her voice was heard from the bottom of Lin Qiao''s heart.


    ''Mama, Mama, Viney is fine¡­ But Mama, please don''t fight with others. If you have to, don''t fight too intensely¡­''


    ''Do you mean that I can''t do close combat against others now?'' Lin Qiao asked.


    ''No, you cant,'' said Viney.


    ''Alright then, I get it. Using my powers should be fine, right?'' said Lin Qiao.


    ''Mama, you can use your powers as much as you want, as long as you don''t consume them up,'' Viney replied.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao sighed with relief and then kept walking.


    ¡­


    Inside her space, Xie Dong was sitting on a couch, looking a little dull and confused. Shen Yujen walked out of a small space. She had sensed that Xie Dong was a zombie like her, and wasn''t at a higher level than her.


    She walked to the other side of the couch and sat down, then curiously looked at Xie Dong''s face. She found that as same as her face, his face showed no zombie features either. If she didn''t sense his zombie scent, she might not be able to recognize him as a zombie.


    Noticing that a person had suddenly shown up beside him, Xie Dong came back to his senses and raised his head to look at Shen Yujen.


    ''Eh?''


    The two of them wore the same expression. Xie Dong wasn''t surprised, because he was used to seeing weird zombies around Lin Qiao. Even he himself was one of them.


    ¡­


    On the outside, Lin Qiao walked through the empty area and found a place where nobody was present, then brought out a car of her space. After that, she sat into the driver''s seat and started the car, then began driving toward Hangzhou.


    Two hours later, she arrived at the Upper City District. From a long distance away, she saw a large crowd of zombies wandering on the street. Only until Lin Qiao''s vehicle approached did those zombies stop moving and turn toward her simultaneously.


    Lin Qiao parked the car three meters away from then, then stuck her head out to look around.


    Bang! A loud noise was heard as a heavy thing fell on the roof of her car.


    Lin Qiao turned and glanced at the car roof, then said calmly, "Please don''t jump onto my car next time. Look, you''ve already dented my car. Are you gonna pay for that?"


    After saying that, she drew her head back into the car. At that moment, the zombie crowd before her suddenly began moving toward both sides as if they were stimulated by something.


    Meanwhile, a figure leaped down from the car roof. That was the crack-mouthed zombie boy.


    Zombie number four, who looked like a disabled kid as his chin was wrapped up in a bandage,, walked to Lin Qiao''s car window and popped his black eyes to observe Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao saw the confused look on his face and understood that he might not understand the change of her vibe. Her original zombie vibe still remained, even though she hadn''t released it entirely.


    So now, zombie number four must be wondering why her vibe was different again, and why he couldn''t tell which exact part of her vibe had changed.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then said to him, "Give me your cup."


    Hearing her mention his cup, the zombie boy immediately forgot about other things. He hurriedly pulled his backpack to his chest and opened it to take out a cup from it before handing it to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao promised to provide each of them with a cup of lake water every day. However, they hadn''t been drinking any of the water that Lin Qiao gave since they got here. So, they all felt quite agitated recently.


    After drinking the lake water for a few days, they had gradually lost their appetite for living human beings.


    A canteen appeared in Lin Qiao''s hand as she shook that hand. After that, she filled the zombie boy''s cup with lake water. As soon as his cup was filled, the zombie boy impatiently ripped off the bandage on his mouth, exposing his scary-looking bloody mouth, then poured the water in.


    ''Why do I feel that this kid is drinking some kind of life-saving drug?'' thought Lin Qiao.

 396 The Hair Are Real

    The zombie boy quickly emptied his cup, then handed it to Lin Qiao again.


    Lin Qiao directly put the stainless kettle in his hand and said, "Alright, take it, take it¡­ Drink slowly! Don''t forget to give it back to me tomorrow."


    The zombie boy took over the kettle and gave an obvious pause. After hearing what Lin Qiao said, he quickly nodded at her.


    Lin Qiao waved at him and said, "Go¡­ Guard this area well! Don''t let strangers come in."


    She prepared to tell the zombie boy to move aside and then drive into the site of the new base.


    After hearing her words, the zombie boy suddenly thought of something and gave her a roar.


    "Roar!" ''Some people came recently¡­''


    Lin Qiao paused while staring the car, then turned to the zombie boy and asked, "Who were they?"


    "Roar¡­" ''I don''t know. I didn''t let them in. They didn''t seem to want to fight, so I let them leave.''


    Lin Qiao put her elbow on the car window and scratched her chin while thinking.


    Who were those people? They might be from a zombie-hunting squad. However, this place was a zombie city, which was filled with zombies. A normal zombie-hunting squad wouldn''t visit this place, as it was dangerous and far.


    "Roar, roar¡­" ''They wandered around at first. I don''t know what they were doing.'' Said the zombie boy.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Alright, I get it."


    The zombie boy held the kettle and leaped onto a tree nearby, then disappeared into the leaves without a trace. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao drove the car into the new base site.


    As Lin Qiao drove in, a zombie roar was heard. Following that, the zombies which had run away came back out from the surrounding allies, crowding together again.


    Lin Qiao drove for another mile, then arrived at the road before Victoria Hotel.


    The creatures in the hotel had heard the noise of Lin Qiao''s car before she arrived at the hotel. So soon enough, some figures appeared beside her car, but didn''t stop her.


    Lin Qiao was driving an armed vehicle which belonged to Yang Jianhua. She was able to look outside through the windshield, but people on the outside couldn''t look inside.


    Fortunately, the people in the hotel were quite familiar with those armed vehicles that Lin Qiao stole from Yang Jianhua. Seeing that vehicle, they guessed that Lin Qiao was inside.


    Lin Qiao parked the car before the hotel, then opened the door and got out. A few people walked out from the lobby, looking at her happily.


    "Qiaoqiao!" A white figure jumped down toward her from the roof, then landed gently on the ground with her silk-like long twin-tails fluttering in the air. Lin Qiao didn''t dodge Qiu Lili''s huge hug and just stood there, letting the latter pounce on her and put her arms around her.


    "Roar!" An unhappy roar was heard from the roof.


    Lin Qiao raised her head and found Mengmeng looking at her with discontentment.


    "Qiaoqiao, you''re so slow! What took you so long?" After giving Lin Qiao a hug, Qiu Lili freed her, then held one of her arms and asked.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her confusedly and said, "Why didn''t I realize earlier that you like to stay around me so much? It has only been about ten days. That''s not a long time, is it?"


    "Hm," Qiu Lili pouted to complain, "This place is no fun without you." After that, she curiously looked at Lin Qiao''s hair and said, "Eh? Your hair grew long within just ten days, and you''ve upgraded again! Your vibe has also changed."


    After saying that, she put her face near one side of Lin Qiao''s neck to sniff at her, then narrowed her eyes and said intoxicatedly, "Em, you smell so nice!"


    Qiu Lili had been around Lin Qiao for long, so she was used to the improving rate of the latter''s power and the quick changes of her body. However, the others all looked at Lin Qiao''s hair with surprise.


    "Eh? Where did you find this wig? It''s well-made, looking exactly like real hair!" Liu Jun walked out of the hotel and stood behind Cheng Wangxue as she asked with curiosity.


    The others also wanted to ask the same question.


    "Wig? No, these are real hair," Qiu Lili said while pulling Lin Qiao''s hair.


    The others all wore a shocked face when they heard that. "Eh? Real hair? Not a wig? How can it be possible? It has only been ten days! Were you injected with a hair-growing hormone or something?" said someone.


    Lin Qiao walked into the gate of the hotel, then responded while heading toward the lobby, "I''m not injected with any hormone. I just repaired my body."


    While speaking, she unwittingly touched her belly.


    "You upgraded again! Honestly, are you already at level-six¡­ or even seven?" Lin Feng walked over and asked her.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and laughed, "About that¡­ Lili, what do you think?"


    She suddenly threw the question to Qiu Lili, who was at the highest level among all who were on the scene.


    Qiu Lili was fiddling with her own hair. Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, she looked at her from head to toe, then responded, "Well in fact, I can''t sense your level either. But, your vibe is already suppressing mine. Are you at a higher level than I am already?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "Actually, my level isn''t as high as yours. I''m not sure about my current power yet. I''ll have to give it a try to find out."


    "You''ve been upgrading crazily fast as if you''re cheating," said Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao smiled and said, "I am cheating indeed. If I didn''t cheat, would you be able to talk?"


    She had Viney, who had been helping her cheat.


    She walked to a couch, then abruptly turned to look at Chen Yuting and said, "Your wife is ready to come out. Wait a second!"


    After saying that, she suddenly disappeared in front of everyone else.


    Hearing that, Chen Yuting became a little excited. He popped his eyes and stared at where Lin Qiao disappeared.


    "See, I told you that she''ll be fine. Maybe she still remembers you," said Lin Feng to him.


    The others all knew what had his wife been though. They wanted to comfort him at that moment, but were worried that they might end up saying the wrong words.


    In less than two seconds, Lin Qiao showed up with another female.


    "Jen!" Chen Yuting shouted out loud at the sight of Shen Yujen, who was standing beside Lin Qiao, looking perfectly unharmed.


    After that, he couldn''t help but quickly walk up to her, holding her hands as he asked, "Jen, do you¡­ know who I am?"


    Shen Yujen looked at the others, then nodded at Chen Yuting.


    "Great! You remember me!" Chen Yuting held her in his arms.


    Shen Yujen was able to sense his emotions, but could do nothing except hold him silently.


    She wasn''t able to cry or talk.


    Some of the others were pretty jealous of the two love birds. "Your Jen is now¡­ a¡­" said one of them.


    They were quite curious about Shen Yujen''s current condition, especially because she looked normal. Her eyes weren''t black, and no part of her body seemed to have changed.


    Chen Yuting paused for a second, then abruptly loosened his embrace and looked at her face.


    "Don''t worry! She has indeed turned into a zombie, but she still has her memories. She remembers what happened before," said Lin Qiao.

 397 I Can See Through You

    The others immediately turned to look at Lin Qiao with surprise, and then began observing Shen Yujen with disbelief.


    Shen Yujen looked no different from a normal human being except for her slightly pale skin. Her face was clean, her eyes were clear, and her lips were clean as well.


    "Eh, your eyes¡­" Lin Wenwen, who stood beside her, found that a layer of something in Shen Yujen''s eyes seemed to be missing.


    Shen Yujen nodded at her, then sniffed at Chen Yuting and gently pushed him away.


    "Jen?" Chen Yuting didn''t understand why she did that.


    Shen Yujen ran to behind Lin Qiao after pushing Chen Yuting away.


    Lin Qiao explained for her, "She doesn''t have full control of her appetite yet, so for now, she can''t stay with you or other human beings for long."


    She meant that the scents of human beings could affect her and make her lose control.


    Chen Yuting spent a few seconds gazing at Shen Yujen''s face, then turned to Lin Qiao and asked anxiously, "What¡­ what should we do then? Will my Jen stay like this? Can''t she be like you?"


    "She needs to upgrade as quickly as possible. When her body is filled with energy, the scents of blood and flesh will become less attractive to her," said Lin Qiao.


    "So¡­ how can we help Jen upgrade as quickly as possible?" asked Chen Yuting.


    Lin Qiao grinned at him and said, "That''s easy. You go and find me a good number of zombie nuclei at level two or three."


    Some of the others grabbed seats, and some who had nowhere to sit stood around Lin Qiao while listening to her.


    Chen Yuting looked at her and asked with surprise, "Zombie nuclei? So simple?"


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance with a mysterious smile, saying, "Your job is surely simple. I''ll be doing all the difficult work. From now on, your Jen is my girl¡­ Ah, I mean, my zombie. She''ll be under my command, working for me."


    Chen Yuting looked at Shen Yujen, and the latter nodded at him.


    "But my Jen¡­ She doesn''t really have any skills except for doing housework¡­" said Chen Yuting with concern.


    "Are you silly?" said Lin Qiao, "She''s different now! Also, I''ll train her. Don''t you worry about that."


    After saying that, she abruptly turned to Lin Wenwen and said with confusion, "Your vibe has changed a little. Have you been exercising lately?"


    She observed Lin Wenwen while speaking. Her roughly cut hair had been fixed by someone, looking clean and neat and pretty.


    Lin Qiao sensed that Lin Wenwen''s vibe was much stronger than in Sea City Base. As a space-power possessor who was always under protection, Lin Wenwen had a weak vibe the whole time. But now, that vibe of hers had grown a lot stronger.


    Lin Qiao also sensed a great improvement of the other''s body condition. That improvement might be minor for the others, but for Lin Wenwen herself, it meant something.


    It seemed that she had really made up her mind when cutting her hair.


    Lin Wenwen paused for a second, then looked at her and said, "Eh? Miss. Lu, have you noticed it? But I think I didn''t feel any change."


    She had only been exercising for about ten days. By now, she was able to keep running for half an hour. However, she hadn''t felt any obvious changes yet.


    Mrs. Lin smiled at Lin Qiao, "Maybe she''s crazy. She cut her own hair earlier, and now she asked Qingying to jog with her every night and morning. Each day, she jogged for a longer time than the previous day."


    All the other members of Lin Family had noticed Lin Wenwen''s crazy actions. They didn''t say much about that, but they all felt delighted.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "The others can''t see the changes in your body, but I can. I can see through your body, spot the changes in your cells, blood, and other parts, as well as your energy. I can see all of your energies."


    While speaking, she looked around and scanned everyone else with her eyes.


    Those people didn''t know what to say. They all felt chilly from their hearts, but they didn''t know why.


    Lin Wenwen looked at her in shock, saying, "Your power is amazing!"


    Lin Qiao looked back at Lin Wenwen with surprise and said, "I didn''t expect you to keep exercising for so many days."


    She knew that Lin Wenwen never liked sports since she was little. She would be willing to do anything other than sports.


    Lin Wenwen smiled and said, "I''ve made my decision, and I''ll always keep my words. Perhaps¡­ you know that."


    Lin Qiao was stunned. The smile on her face faded as she stared at Lin Wenwen silently.


    What stunned her wasn''t Lin Wenwen''s words, but her thoughts. Lin Wenwen was about five meters away from her, but she still sensed her thoughts.


    They gazed at each other with silence in the next few seconds, then the atmosphere suddenly turned weird.


    The others looked at Lin Qiao, then turned to Lin Wenwen with confusion.


    Lin Qiao blinked, then abruptly gave a meaningful grin and said, "Do you know what you are thinking right now? Do you really believe it?"


    This time, Lin Wenwen was the one stunned. She confusedly looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "No way! Can you even read my mind?"


    "You''ve been seeing me as someone who had an accident, haven''t you? When did you find out?" said Lin Qiao.


    The look on Lin Wenwen''s face suddenly changed as she pointed at Lin Qiao and asked, "You¡­ you admitted!"


    Lin Qiao shrugged and stayed silent.


    Meanwhile, the others looked at both of them bewilderedly. No one could understand their conversation. As Lin Wenwen became excited, they got even more confused.


    However, Mrs. Lin, Liu Jun, and Qiu Lili seemed to have guessed something. They had been looking at the two quietly.


    Lin Qiao looked at Lin Wenwen and said, "It''s not strange that you have such a thought, but you actually believed it. How weird!"


    Lin Wenwen popped her eyes and said in amazement, "You¡­"


    "Alright! Wenwen, let''s continue this conversation later in my room. Now, I want to know the location of the fence wall," Lin Qiao interrupted her.


    While speaking, she turned to Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing. "Also, I want to ask you for a small favor," she continued to Yuan Tianxing.


    Yuan Tianxing didn''t think that she would suddenly change the topic and talk to him, as he and everybody else were still curious about what she and Lin Wenwen were talking about.


    "Eh¡­ favor? What favor?"


    "I want you to separate a house from the earth in whole. Can you do that?" said Lin Qiao.


    "A house? A building?" asked Yuan Tianxing.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Not a large building, just a small, three-story one. Can you do that?"


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and responded, "I can do that."


    Lin Qiao smiled at him and said, "Thank you!"


    Yuan Tianxing didn''t understand why Lin Qiao wanted him to separate a small building from the earth, but he still nodded and replied, "You''re welcome!"

 398 She Admitted That She Is Her

    Lin Qiao looked at the others and said, "Alright! Now, can I take a look at your progress?"


    Lin Feng spread a map on a table. It was clearly a map of this area, with some marks on it. Lin Qiao, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, Chen Yuting, and the others all gathered around the table.


    Lin Feng pointed at a triangle mark and said, "This is our hotel, and this area is our construction site. A few old buildings have been torn down. All the bricks from those buildings will be used to build the fence wall. All the useful things from those buildings have been moved here, and the useless things were either torn apart or burned."


    Lin Qiao looked at that area on the map. A river existed in that area, and it should be connected with the old sewerage system. If the new base was built along with the river, the river would surround the base and serve as a protection.


    "Is the fence wall behind the river?" she asked.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Yes. I''ve checked the depth of this river. The deepest area in the middle was about four meters deep. Lots of garbage had accumulated at the bottom of the lake, along with a thick layer of mud. If people want to get down into the river, they have to have water-power, or it''ll be very dangerous."


    Lin Qiao nodded as she carefully checked all the marks on the map. The center of the new base was circled up on the map by Yuan Tianxing with a red line, having an area of about five or six acres.


    Lin Feng suddenly thought of something. "We''re preparing to install the solar equipment that you collected earlier in this hotel. What do you think?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "I''m fine with it. Have you found someone who knows how to install it?"


    Yuan Tianxing said, "Yes. We''ve been waiting for the equipment."


    "Alright, I''ll go up to the roof later on to take the solar equipment out of my space, and you can bring your people up there," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Feng nodded in response.


    Yuan Tianxing and the others pointed at the map as they talked about the construction of the fence wall. Lin Wenwen and the other ladies didn''t fully understand what they said, as they didn''t take part in the construction work.


    At that time, Mrs. Lin quietly walked to Lin Wenwen and poked her. The latter turned around and saw her mother wave at her before walking toward the stairs.


    Qiu Lili and Liu Jun didn''t want to hear about the construction work, so after staying around Lin Qiao for a short while, they got bored and sneaked away.


    As same as Liu Jun, Cheng Wangxue was with a child. To prevent the child from disturbing Lin Feng and the others, she left early with her daughter as well.


    Lin Wenwen glanced back at Long Qingying. She didn''t know what Mrs. Lin was going to say to her, but still followed behind her mother.


    "What''s wrong?" In the corner behind the stairs, Lin Wenwen asked Mrs. Lin. The latter glanced at Lin Qiao and the others who were still talking about work, then reached out a hand to drag Lin Wenwen further into the corner.


    She looked at Lin Wenwen and asked, "The words you said earlier, what did they mean?"


    Lin Wenwen didn''t understand her meaning immediately. "Words? What words?" she asked.


    Mrs. Lin gave her a calm glance and said, "The weird conversation that happened between you and Miss. Lu just now. She said that she knew what you were thinking about, and that you''ve been seeing her as someone who had an accident. And then, you said that she admitted something¡­ Tell me, have you identified her?"


    Lin Wenwen gazed at her mother, saying, "Mom¡­ You''re not¡­ thinking what I''m thinking, are you?"


    Mrs. Lin sighed and said, "As I thought, you''ve guessed it."


    Lin Wenwen looked at Mrs. Lin''s face with surprise and asked, "Mom, had you figured it out long ago? How did you know?"


    Mrs. Lin gave her another glance, saying, "I''m your Mom. Don''t I know you kids? Even you suspect her, so why can''t I discover the strange things about her?"


    She turned to Lin Qiao and continued, "I recognized her handwriting when she first showed up. Didn''t you notice that too? I''ve just been guessing. I can''t say for sure, as such a thing is too¡­ unbelievable."


    Lin Wenwen looked at Mrs. Lin and said delightfully, "Mom, are you saying that you''ve recognized her as well? Mom, the apocalypse happened, and even zombies are talking. So, what is impossible? My sister is so powerful. She can''t possibly be killed by those people."


    Mrs. Lin sighed, "Ah, I had the same thoughts. But, I''m old, and I only believe in reality. I haven''t seen it with my own eyes, so how can I possibly believe it? How did you find out that she''s your¡­"


    Mrs. Lin didn''t finish the last word, but rolled her eyes and glanced at Lin Qiao again.


    Lin Wenwen said with a low voice, "I''ve been suspecting her since the beginning too. No stranger will come all the way to find and help us without doing anything for herself, right? To prove my guess, I dug into her current identity. According to the result I got, Lu Tianyu used to be an evil woman who liked doing bad things. She died a few months ago. So now, she became a zombie."


    "Evil? Liked doing bad things? How did she die?" asked Mrs. Lin with surprise.


    "I heard that before she died, she did something¡­ and that offended someone. So, she was killed and thrown into a zombie crowd. Her body was never found," said Lin Wenwen.


    Du Yuanxing said that Lu Tianyu raped Wu Chengyue before she died. Lin Wenwen decided not to tell her mother about it, as she guessed that her mother wouldn''t want to know.


    Mrs. Lin looked at her and asked with anticipation, "When she asked you what you were thinking, were you thinking about that? Did she admit?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded, her pretty face wearing her excitement. "Yes, that was what I was thinking. I just don''t know how she figured it out. Also, she admitted it in front of so many people!" she said.


    Mrs. Lin was a little stunned as she murmured, "She admitted¡­ So she really is¡­"


    When Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen were trying to confirm who Lin Qiao really was, Lin Qiao, who had been talking to Lin Feng and the others, had heard every word they said, not clearly though.


    She stayed composed and showed no change of expression, only having her eyes glow dimly.


    "It''s afternoon already. People will stop working for the day in about an hour. I want to go to the construction site and take a look. You can do your own things¡­ Don''t worry about me," said Lin Qiao.


    "I''ll go with you then," said Yuan Tianxing, "I haven''t been there today. I''ll also try to get you a small building on our way."


    "Alright," Lin Qiao nodded and replied.


    She stood up while speaking as the others also packed their things and left, with the meeting being over.


    Lin Qiao and Yuan Tianxing walked out of the lobby and headed toward the river. The river was nearby, only about one mile away, so Lin Qiao decided not to drive. By walking, she could get a better chance to observe the surrounding environment.

 399 The Old Man Who Performed A Supervisory Role

    People were working on the construction site with their upper bodies bared, sweating heavily. They had all been tanned over the past ten days.


    As Lin Qiao and Yuan Tianxing arrived, they all glanced at the two of them.


    Li Zheng and his people were managing the construction site. They walked to Qiao and Yuan Tianxing at the sight of them. Li Zheng looked at Lin Qiao as a life-saver and quickly said, "Ah, Miss. Lu is finally back! Please tell that one to go away¡­"


    While speaking, he pointed at the elderly zombie who was wandering in the construction site with his hands behind his back.


    The workers on the construction site would have their body turn stiff and limbs become inflexible when the elderly zombie approached them. But still, they had to keep working while he was nearby. They just couldn''t stop.


    Lin Qiao had sensed the old zombie''s vibe before she arrived. As she got here, she saw him strolling in the construction site without doing anything special. She looked around and found that the area on the other side of the river was assigned to the elderly zombie earlier on by her to guard.


    The zombie old man''s clothes were still clean. Lin Qiao didn''t know how long he had been wearing those clothes for. She wondered if he would take those off to wash while nobody saw him. Otherwise, how could those clothes be so clean?


    As Lin Qiao looked at him, the zombie old man immediately stopped walking, then turned and walked toward her.


    Seeing him approach, Li Zheng instantly moved to another side of Lin Qiao and said to her with a bitter face, "You have no idea! Since the day we started working here, he''s been watching us. We were scared to death that day! Thankfully, Qiu Lili came over later and made some peace. But, since that day, he comes here every day just to watch us. He has nothing else to do except walk about in the construction site with his hands behind his body. If any of us get a little lazy, he would silently stand behind him and gaze straight at him."


    Upon hearing Li Zheng''s description, Lin Qiao imagined that some workers decided to take a little rest, but suddenly felt that someone was behind them, and then turned back to find a zombie leader silently standing behind them. That was pretty scary for sure!


    She looked at the zombie old man and laughed, "You can''t do this. You''ll hinder their work."


    "Roar!" The zombie old man roared at her with discontentment.


    As Lin Qiao was here, the others were less afraid of him.


    "What did he say?" Yuan Tianxing asked curiously.


    "He''s unhappy," said Lin Qiao, "He said that he''s supervising these people. If any of them isn''t doing his work, he''ll drag him away and eat him. He''s being a supervisor."


    Lin Qiao''s words sent shivers down the spines of all who had heard them.


    After saying that, Lin Qiao looked at those people with a big smile and continued, "I was kidding. He doesn''t need a reason to attack people. Do you think zombies need reasons to attack you? I''ve given my zombies strict orders, so they won''t hurt people."


    Li Zheng and the others knew that her zombies wouldn''t hurt people. However, those people still found them very scary when they even approached.


    "So¡­ what did he say just now?"


    "He just said that I owe him ten days of water," said Lin Qiao.


    "What water?" The others looked at her confusedly.


    Meanwhile, she looked at zombie old man and said, "Give me your cup."


    Then, the others saw the zombie old man rummage under his clothes, and then noticed that there was a bag hiding under his loose-fitting clothes.


    Next, they saw the old man zombie take out a cup and hand it to Lin Qiao.


    ''Eh? It''s not the cup I gave him!''


    Lin Qiao looked at the ceramic cup with lid, then glanced at the old man zombie with surprise.


    She didn''t say anything, but took over the cup and shook her hand. In two seconds, the cup in her hand was filled with water.


    She handed the cup of water to the old man zombie, and the latter took it over.


    The others thought that he would drink it immediately, but he didn''t. Instead, he took over the cup and put on the lid, then turned and left.


    The others watched him walk up to the second floor of a half-torn-down building nearby, grab a chair there, and sit down.


    Only after that did he raise the cup and began drinking the water with an elegant manner.


    "Was he drinking that water as tea?" The others looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "Maybe."


    "Do you need to give them water everyday?" asked Yuan Tianxing, "Do zombies need water as well?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and responded, "They surely don''t need ordinary water." After saying that, she walked into the construction site and took a look at the current work. She and the others were now standing before a bridge, which would be the gate of the base center.


    She observed the surrounding environment but didn''t say anything.


    Yuan Tianxing stood behind her, telling her about the current progress. For anything she could think of, Yuan Tianxing and the others had thought that already.


    The nearby buildings had been torn down. Lin Qiao guessed that only earth-powered people like Yuan Tianxing were able to do a wide range demolition like that.


    She took a look at the surrounding small buildings. All of them looked twenty or thirty years old.


    Yuan Tianxing guessed what she wanted a small building for. "You want to put a small building in your space, right? Why don''t we go over there? The buildings here are all residential buildings, with five to seven floors. You can find some smaller, independent buildings over there," he said.


    Lin Qiao glanced where he pointed at, then turned back. The buildings in this area were all old indeed. The relatively newer ones all had five or six floors, and the smaller ones looked dangerous. Those buildings might fall down soon.


    "Alright, let''s go over there and take a look," she nodded, then followed Yuan Tianxing to that area.


    "Lin Yu, go and bring the car. We''ll drive there," Yuan Tianxing said to Lin Yu, who stood beside him.


    "Yes, sir," Lin Yu responded, then turned and ran to the side of the construction site. Soon, he drove a black off-road vehicle over. Lin Qiao and Yuan Tianxing sat into the backseat. After that, Lin Yu drove the car toward where Yuan Tianxing pointed at.


    Ten minutes later, they arrived at a residential area. All buildings there were independent and two or three stories tall, built by their previous owners.


    Lin Qiao got off the car and found that all those buildings looked less than ten years old. She guessed that these buildings were built just a couple of years before the apocalypse, and their previous owner hadn''t lived in them for long.


    "What do you think? The buildings here look nice, don''t they?" Yuan Tianxing got off the car and asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded. Those buildings weren''t fancy, yet looked sturdy enough. They were her best choice at the moment, as the villa area was a bit far from here.


    Lin Qiao found a relatively good-looking building, then pointed at it and said, "This one. Let''s take a look inside."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and followed her to the doors of the building.


    This building had double doors. The door outside was made from iron, and the one inside was wooden. The doors weren''t broken, but were wide open, with dark-brown stains. That was the most often-seen kind of stain in the buildings which still had people in them after the apocalypse.


    That dark-brown color was the color of blood which had been dried over the years.

 400 Take A Building

    Lin Qiao walked into the building and took a glance at the furniture pieces inside. This place should have had no visitors since the apocalypse, as the disordered, overturned furniture pieces were all covered in a thick layer of dust.


    Lin Qiao walked closer and found that all those furniture pieces were new, but dirty. As she waved a hand, an ink-black stream of mist was released from her palm, sweeping toward the furniture and decorations in the living room.


    Once the mist was released, Yuan Tianxing had a feeling that he could not approach it. He stood at the door and asked, "You actually have that power too? Are you double-powered?"


    Lin Qiao glanced back at him and responded, "Sort of."


    Afterward, Yuan Tianxing saw that nothing was left in the places touched by the black mist. The tables, chairs, couches, and all the other things made from different materials directly vanished.


    Even the hard alloy pieces had melted and vanished.


    The black mist melted anything it touched.


    Yuan Tianxing watched the mist take a circle in the living room and then return into Lin Qiao''s palm with fright. After that, the entire living room was emptied with not a thing left in it. Lin Qiao actually tidied the living room up in such a simple and violent way.


    After cleaning the living room, she walked up to the second floor. There were three rooms on the second floor: two bedrooms and one study room. At the end of the corridor was a bathroom. Lin Qiao made everything in those rooms disappear, then went up to the third floor.


    There were only two room on the third floor, one larger and the other smaller. A roomy balcony was located on the other side of that floor, and by the balcony was an iron ladder leading to the roof.


    Soon, Lin Qiao leaped onto the roof.


    After taking a look at the roof deck, she jumped back down.


    After roughly cleaning the last two rooms, she walked downstairs.


    "It''s ready. You only need to get the part above the foundation out of the earth for me," said Lin Qiao to Yuan Tianxing, who was leaning against the car and smoking.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded, then reached out a hand toward that building and slightly pressed down. Then, he slowly raised his hand as if he was holding something.


    Along with his moves, the earth began quaking, and the building that Lin Qiao had picked started shaking. Clouds of dust were shaken off the walls, and next, the entire building slowly sank a little, then stopped moving.


    "Done!" Yuan Tianxing dropped his hand and said.


    Lin Qiao nodded and walked in, holding the door and saying ''in'' in her head. In the next second, the building disappeared from their eyes, leaving an empty area behind.


    Lin Qiao turned and got into the car as she said, "Let''s go."


    Having finished with that, the three of them returned to the Victoria Hotel, where the others were having dinner. Lin Qiaos split up with Yuan Tianxing and went directly up to the fifth floor.


    She walked into Qiu Lili''s room and saw the latter gazing out of the window. Sensing her come in, the latter turned around.


    "Things here are mainly stable," said Lin Qiao, "This couple of days, I''ll search through the area around the zombie wall to see if I can find more human food."


    The food that could be stored for a long time should still be found from some hotels, restaurants, and chain markets, especially stuff like rice, salt, and some canned food.


    "Why do you always help them collect food and supplies?" said Qiu Lili with discontentment, "Why don''t you just let them do it themselves? Besides, how long are you gonna protect them for?"


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "They don''t have enough people now. It''ll take ages for them to build only a fence wall. How can they possibly have time to collect food? Even if they tried to do it, they wouldn''t go too far."


    "You should try and find military bases. Army provisions can be preserved for a longer time. You''ll get a greater harvest from a military base than from other places," said Liu Jun, who was sitting on the couch.


    Lin Qiao nodded and replied, "I know that an army force used to station nearby, and I think there is an air force station in Jia Xing. We can go over there and search when we have time."


    Hearing about going out, Qiu Lili nodded and said happily, "Great! We can first search through the entire Upper City District and then start looking for military bases."


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and responded, "That might take a long time¡­ about a month. Right now, no average level human being or zombie can enter this area. We are able to sense this area while we''re in the Upper City District. But once we leave, the defense of this place would decrease a lot."


    "What are you worrying about?" said Qiu Lili with confusion, "Three level-six human beings are here. They won''t encounter any troubles, will they?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "Sea City Base is the nearest human base. Apart from Wu Chengyue and Zou Shihui, the robber who showed up in that base earlier was also at level-seven. And, he has run out."


    "Are you worrying that the robber might come this way?" said Qiu Lili while thinking.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I''ve met that robber once. Before we entered Sea City Base, he was already coming after Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and the others. Even though his partner, Yang Chao has fallen, I think he''ll keep having his eyes on us."


    Hearing that, Qiu Lili wore a worried look as she said, "Ugh, should we find him first? Otherwise, we won''t be able to go out to collect supplies, will we?"


    "You''re right!" said Lin Qiao, "So, before leaving Upper City District, we need to find out that robber''s whereabouts."


    "In this case, your plan of going South will be postponed to winter, right?" said Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her as she nodded and said, "At least I need to wait for the situation here to stabilise. There is a hidden danger from that level-seven robber now, so I can''t just leave like this."


    Liu Jun nodded in agreement, "I think Lin Feng and the others are still too weak."


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "In fact, they aren''t weak. After all, level-six superpowered human beings aren''t everywhere. The problem is that they might need to face a level-seven robber. That doesn''t happen a lot. They have no way of solving this problem, but I can sense the robber''s presence. Lili, did you discover something earlier?"


    Qiu Lili responded with surprise, "Eh? You knew?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I saw you staring in that direction when I came in. In fact, I sensed it too."


    Hearing her, Qiu Lili pouted and looked at Lin Qiao unhappily, "Your sensations are even sharper than mine. I''m at a higher level than you, but had already found it while I only started to notice it?"


    Lin Qiao laughed and said, "Why are you upset about that? You should know that we''re different."

 401 They Have Had Suspicions Since Long Ago

    "You were only at level three or four when I met you. It has been less than two months, but you''ve already broken into level-six, haven''t you?" Qiu Lili said, "If every zombie upgraded as quickly as you, all the human bases would have been destroyed by thousands of high-leveled zombies long ago."


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest, then raised one hand to scratch her chin. While thinking, she said, "You''re right though! There are quite some intelligent zombies, but only a few of them managed to step into level-six and become zombie kings and queens. I''m a special case. Even my body wasn''t mine."


    Lin Wenwen glanced at her and asked abruptly, "Have Lin Wenwen¡­ guessed out your true identity? The conversation you had today down in the lobby was a little weird."


    Speaking of that, Lin Qiao laughed. "In fact, they have had suspicions about that since long ago. They just didn''t want to believe it," she said, "When I woke up in this body, I didn''t believe it either. Back then, I thought that I was dreaming."


    Liu Jun and Qiu Lili glanced at each other, understanding Lin Qiao. If they woke up in a strange place as a strange person, they would certainly be confused and unable to believe that it was real.


    However, as that didn''t really happen to them, they couldn''t feel exactly how Lin Qiao had felt.


    "But, why did they suspect you? You didn''t say it out loud, did you?" asked Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao responded, "My Mom isn''t young anymore. She only believes what she sees, but not what people say. However, as I have shown them quite some of my old habits on purpose, they''ll certainly have that kind of guesses. Perhaps, they only suspected that I was pretending to be Lin Qiao at first. But, Lin Wenwen is not like the others. If she had doubts, she would certainly try to find out the truth. So I guess she dug into Lu Tianyu''s life story back in Sea City Base."


    She paused for a second, then continued, "She should have figured out that Lu Tianyu and I are different. After that, she''d start thinking about my purpose. As a stranger, I''ve helped them so many times. She''d think that I either have some special purpose, or am a family member."


    "Back in Hades Base, Lin Wenwen was always protected. So, I guess she''s quite dependent on you. So, she''ll choose the idea which is good for her and her family to prove, and hope that it is true. I think she did that also because she just doesn''t want to believe that you''re already dead," said Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you''re right. She always relied on me. After the base and I were destroyed, she must have suffered a hard strike."


    Qiu Lili looked at her and said, "Should I call her silly or smart? Normally, people won''t believe something like that, yet she did! And it is truly real!"


    "She isn''t silly," said Lin Qiao, "But, for something that she believes in, she could be very stubborn, and will try everything she can to find out the truth. Smart people can be silly sometimes too, and silly people¡­ Well sometimes being silly is a kind of luck, and at other times, that is just a misfortune."


    At that moment, there was a knock on the door.


    "Come in, please. The door isn''t locked," Liu Jun answered the door.


    The door was gently pushed open, and standing behind it were Shen Yujen and Chen Yuting.


    Chen Yuting nodded at the three in the room, then said to Lin Qiao, "Miss. Lu, Jen says that she still wants to stay with you, so¡­ please arrange a room for her on the fifth floor."


    Lin Qiao looked at Shen Yujen and asked, "Why? Don''t you dare to live with him?"


    She thought that Shen Yujen would live with Chen Yuting, and Chen Yuting thought that too. Shen Yujen was the only one against that idea, and Chen Yuting just had to respect his wife''s wish.


    Shen Yujen nodded, then opened her mouth as she turned and pointed at Chen Yuting''s neck.


    She was worried that she might lose control of herself and bite Chen Yuting. If that happened, there would be trouble.


    Lin Qiao grinned at her and said, "You''re not a vampire. Why do you always stare at his veins?"


    After saying that, she continued to Chen Yuting, "Alright, I''ll get her a room. There''re plenty of rooms on the fifth floor anyway."


    "Thank you! I''ll¡­ get downstairs then," said Chen Yuting to Lin Qiao gratefully, who nodded at him in response


    After Chen Yuting had left, Lin Qiao said to Liu Jun, "Junjun, you go and arrange a room for her. Ah, also, get a room for Xie Dong as well."


    While speaking, Lin Qiao suddenly recalled that Xie Dong and the zombie dog were still in her space. Of course, she wouldn''t let the zombie dog out.


    Having finished talking, she stood up and flashed into her space.


    After entering her space, she looked at Xie Dong, who was sitting on a couch in a daze, and said, "Let''s go out¡­ Let bygones be bygones! Some people aren''t worth for you to love. Maybe you can switch to a new relationship and forget about her."


    Xie Dong raised his head as he looked at her with a dull, confused face. He spent a short while to process what Lin Qiao just said. He shook his head, then stood up and picked up his bag before walking up to Lin Qiao. The latter dragged his arm and flashed out.


    As Lin Qiao brought Xie Dong out of her space, Liu Jun put Tongtong down and stood up, turning and walking out to guide Xie Dong and Shen Yuzhen to their rooms.


    "You two follow me," she said.


    Soon, Liu Jun came back and asked Lin Qiao with a strange expression, "Why do I feel that Xie Dong is down? What happened to him?"


    Lin Qiao responded, "Ah, him¡­ something did happen to him. He found that the women that he had been loving doesn''t love him. And while he wasn''t home, she had been with other men. In fact, he just loved the wrong person. She doesn''t love him, and lied to him. Lying is a worse thing, so he needs some time to heal."


    Liu Jun nodded with pity, "I see."


    "Maybe I can send him to the construction site and find him some work to distract him with," said Lin Qiao.


    Liu Jun walked to the couch and sat down as she looked at Lin Qiao and said, "That''s a good idea. He seemed to be really lost just now. I''m afraid it''s gonna take a long while for him to find his way out."


    Suddenly, Lin Qiao recalled something. She raised her head and asked Liu Jun, "Earlier, you mentioned the man who abandoned you. What''s his name?"


    Liu Jun was puzzled at first, then a dim light flashed across her eyes. "Huang Tianfei," she responded.


    Lin Qiao clapped her hands and said with regret, "Ugh, no wonder I found his name familiar when Xie Dong''s woman called him. This didn''t come to my mind back then! So, he is the b*stard who abandoned you! If I knew it, I''d have done much more than just stripping that man and that woman!"

 402 Go And Find A Bucke

    Liu Jun was a little stunned. "Are you saying that you¡­ heard that name?" she looked at Lin Qiao and asked with confusion.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest, even squeezing her breasts slightly upward, as she said angrily, "I did not just hear his name¡­ He''s one of those guys that Xie Dong''s woman hooked up with. When I got there, he was in that woman''s apartment. There was another guy, and they almost fought for that woman¡­ Well, not exactly. The lower-leveled guy was kicked out by that woman."


    After saying that, she put a finger on her chin and observed Liu Jun. "That man is¡­ He looked younger than you. Is he younger than you?" she asked.


    Liu Jun first wore a surprised look, then became a little down. She glanced at Tongtong who was playing on the carpet, then had a better mood. "Yeah, he''s three years younger than me¡­ I didn''t think that you''d actually see him. What a coincidence!"


    "He attacked Xie Dong," said Lin Qiao, "Xie Dong bought that apartment for that woman. The furniture pieces there were quite new. I guess Xie Dong had dedicated all the zombie nuclei that he earned to trade for things which that woman wanted."


    She spread her hands and continued helplessly, "Judging by that woman''s attitude toward him, I think she just loved to take while he was willing to give. However, it was indeed a sad thing for him to watch the woman he loved make out with another guy right in front of him, and talk about how to get rid of him."


    "So, Qiaoqiao, did you witness Junjun''s unfaithful husband hook up with Xie Dong''s girlfriend, and hear them talk about how to get Xie Dong killed?" Qiu Lili came over and asked curiously.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand as she pointed at her and nodded, "Yeah, that''s right, you''re right!" Then, she turned to Liu Jun and continued, "I didn''t realize that he was the b*stard you had mentioned. If I did, I''d do so much more than just strip him. I would cut off his d*ck and feed it to my dog¡­ Ugh, forget it. I won''t do it, so disgusting!"


    The heavy atmosphere was instantly lightened by the last sentence that Lin Qiao said.


    "Do you have a dog?" asked Liu Jun. She was still a little angry though.


    Lin Qiao replied, "I do. I got a zombie dog when I was trying to find an energy nucleus for Viney on my way back to Sea City. It''s still tied in my space. In fact, Yang Yan was killed by that dog. I threw her into my space. It''s just that nobody knows about it yet."


    While speaking, she put a finger in the middle of her lips.


    "You did that?" Liu Jun and Qiu Lili both looked at her in shock.


    "Yeah," said Lin Qiao, "So today, I knocked that man and that woman out when I saw them in Xie Dong''s place. Then, I stripped them and threw them in the hallway."


    Liu Jun and Qiu Lili felt a little speechless. That was such a nasty move! However, those two deserved that!


    "Junjun, I''ll get you some lake water later on. You need to soak yourself in it for a longer time. The energy in my lake is denser than before by many times. You can bathe in it for a whole night. You won''t be able to absorb all the energy contained in the water in just one night," said Lin Qiao.


    Liu Jun nodded.


    "I want to take a bath too! I want it too!" Hearing about the lake water bath, Qiu Lili immediately burst in yells. For zombies like Qiu Lili and Liu Jun, Lin Qiao''s lake water was like a hot spring for human beings. Bathing in it was comfortable and enjoyable, as well as good for the growth of their powers.


    "Don''t worry, you''ll get some too," Lin Qiao nodded.


    So that night, Lin Qiao got Liu Jun, Qiu Lili, Xie Dong, Shen Yujen, and Mengmeng¡ªwho was on the roof¡ªeach a tubful of lake water for them to bathe in it for a whole night. After that, she went up to the roof and roared at the sky.


    "Roar!" She hadn''t roared like that for long. After uttering the roar, she touched her throat and felt a little weird.


    Following her voice, a few figures darted swiftly toward her.


    Lin Qiao''s roar had, of course, caught the attention of the people who lived on the lower floors. However, according to the rule, they shouldn''t mind the things happening on the fifth floor and the roof.


    The few figures from other roofs soon landed on Lin Qiao''s roof.


    Those were the five zombie leaders and the two level-four zombies, all standing in front of Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at them and said, "I know that I had disappeared for a while and wasted you quite some days. So today, I''ll let you bath for an extra hour to thank you for guarding this area."


    The seven zombies quietly looked at her. Even though they didn''t make any sound, Lin Qiao had already felt how happy they were.


    As she waved a hand, a one-meter-tall, large bucket appeared before those zombies.


    She pointed at the bucket and said, "Now, you each go and find a bucket this tall, or anything like this that can contain water and yourselves. You''ll be bathing in it. Go, now!"


    As she finished talking, the seven zombies all spent a short while staring at her with confusion. The crack-mouthed zombie boy, the zombie old man, and the two level-four zombies reacted relatively quickly, soon turning and leaving to find buckets for themselves.


    The middle-aged male zombie and the other two seemed to not understand why they needed to find buckets.


    "Go and find it," said Lin Qiao to the three of them, "Don''t you want a bath? Or, do you only need to drink water?"


    The three zombies understood that the water which Lin Qiao talked about was what they had been expecting for days. However, they only knew that that water was for drinking, but not that they could also bathe in it. So, when Lin Qiao mentioned earlier about taking a bath, they didn''t understand her. And now, as Lin Qiao asked them to find a bucket, they just didn''t know what it would be for.


    Lin Qiao sighed and said to them, "Ugh! Just go and find a bucket each. How will you take a bath if you don''t have a bucket? Go!"


    The three zombie leaders had no other choice but to leave with confusion.


    Lin Qiao knew that they wouldn''t be back so soon. So, after the seven zombies had left, she glanced at the area that Qiu Lili was gazing at earlier. Then, she abruptly turned invisible and leaped off the building.


    When she left, Qiu Lili and Mengmeng both glanced at the area where she was headed to, but didn''t make any move.


    Downstairs, Yuan Tianxing and the other few who were at level six and five all sensed that Lin Qiao''s vibe was gone. They didn''t know where she had gone.


    They thought that she went back into her space.


    The invisible Lin Qiao swiftly leaped across the roofs, utility poles, and treetops, soon crossing the zombie wall and arriving miles away from it. However, she didn''t stop, but kept going outward.


    A couple of minutes later, she landed on top of a tall building which was located ten miles away from the new base site, in Wangjiang Street. This area was close to Qian River. The vibe from the river covered most of the vibes around it, and the wind was strong.


    If Lin Qiao''s sensations weren''t much sharper than Qiu Lili''s, she wouldn''t be able to sense that a level-seven superpowered man was hiding near the river.

 403 Tang He Is Scared Away

    Lin Qiao stood on top of that building. There was another person on the roof, facing where Lin Qiao came from with his eyes closed, seeming to have been sensing something. He didn''t sense that Lin Qiao was right behind him as he kept his posture while standing there.


    Lin Qiao didn''t expect to really find out his location. What she had sensed from him was faint and unclear. She knew that what Qiu Lili had felt was the same, as the latter''s sensations were weaker than hers.


    Qiu Lili didn''t take it seriously, but Lin Qiao was on the alert.


    She began wondering how she should deal with this level-seven post-apocalyptic robber. Should she directly attack him? She wasn''t sure if she would be able to drive him away by fighting him.


    After all, she was only at level-six. If she put her superpower and physical strength together, she might be able to make the fight end in a tie, but Viney had told her to not fight too hard!


    So now, she was only able to make long-range attacks, but no close combat!


    However, the advantages she had would be cut in half if she weren''t going to start any close combat.


    She pondered for a while, then decided to launch a sneak attack first. The smart and cunning Viney should have a special skill to protect herself anyway.


    After making up her mind, Lin Qiao raised her hands and popped her claws. Her claws looked black and translucent in her invisible state, as strong as ever.


    She quietly walked up behind that robber and straightened her right hand to make her four sharp claws look like the tips of blades. After that, she suddenly lunged that hand toward the back of the robber''s head.


    Ting!


    A shrill noise was heard as Lin Qiao''s claws brushed across the back of his head and went to one side of his face.


    Tang He immediately turned around and made a step backward. He looked behind him in shock, but saw no one.


    "Who is it? Get out!"


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao watched his reaction with surprise.


    Did he sense her attack coming? He actually shielded the back of his head with his metal power.


    "Get out! Are you too afraid to show your face? But, you''re daring enough to attack me sneakily!" Tang He shouted at the cold air as he looked around, still seeing no one.


    At the same time, Lin Qiao was standing right beside him, looking at him confusedly.


    He clearly wasn''t able to sense her presence, but how did he manage to protect himself against her attack?


    Tang He was a little panicked at the moment, but he didn''t show that on his face.


    He didn''t know what hit him on the back of his head just now. If he hadn''t had his back and his skull covered in metal the whole time, his head would have been punctured.


    Just now, he didn''t sense any attempts of attacking or murderous intention.


    Lin Qiao didn''t show her face as he asked, and just stood near him to carefully observe his expressions. She wasn''t able to read his mind, but did sense some of his watchful vibe.


    Tang He shouted a few times but saw no one show up. After that, he started feeling endangered.


    Lin Qiao spent a while staring at his neck side and found that his skin was covered in a thin layer of metal. After the first attack, he was already on full alert. Therefore, further sneak attacks would be meaningless.


    Right at that moment, Tang He suddenly leaped upward, stepped on the edge of the roof, and jumped off the building at lightning speed. Within a blink, he disappeared without a trace.


    Lin Qiao hopped onto the stage by the edge of the roof and saw him fleeing speedily toward West Lake District, but didn''t chase him. Watching him leave quickly, Lin Qiao guessed that he wouldn''t come back anytime soon. So, she turned and headed back to the new base.


    Back on the roof of Victoria Hotel, Lin Qiao found no zombies come back with buckets. With nothing else to do, she flashed back into her space to play with the dog.


    The zombie dog was startled when she suddenly showed up. It was lying on the ground and sleeping; as Lin Qiao popped up before its eyes, it sprung up from the earth.


    "Roar¡­"


    ''Damn! You scared the hell out of me!''


    Lin Qiao heard its roar and silently translated it into human language.


    "Whoooo¡­"


    Seeing Lin Qiao, the zombie dog bent its limbs and lowered its head vigilantly, staring at her with sharp eyes while roaring with a deep voice.


    "What are you doing? Roaring at me? I might kick you''re a*s! I was going to offer you some water. Do you want water?"


    Lin Qiao squatted in front of the dog, picked up a branch, and pointed it at the dog while speaking.


    "Bow-wow¡­" The zombie dog didn''t like being threatened, so it barked at Lin Qiao and bared its teeth. There was only a short distance between them, yet the dog didn''t dare to pounce on her and bite.


    Lin Qiao curiously stared at the vine around the dog''s neck. Viney had disappeared, but this vine didn''t. Even its color didn''t change.


    She stood up and walked toward the lake. Passing by the strawberry field, she found that the strawberries hadn''t been picked for a long time. There were many ripe and large strawberries there now.


    She couldn''t help but pick two strawberries, wipe them with her sleeve, then put one in her mouth.


    As she made a bite, a sour flavor spread in her mouth and sent shivers to her whole body. But after that sourness, a strange and slight pleasure stimulated her brain.


    ''Eh?''


    She was puzzled for a second, then made another bite. As she expected, she again shivered because of the sourness, after which, that pleasure gushed into her brain and soon disappeared.


    While eating, she found a soup bowl and fetched some water from the lake with it, then carried it to the woods and squatted to put it before the zombie dog.


    "Here, have some water!"


    In fact, she didn''t know if the zombie dog needed water or not, even though the other zombies all desperately wanted the water.


    The zombie dog glanced at the bowl of water, then at Lin Qiao, then turned back to the water, but didn''t touch it. At that moment, Lin Qiao sensed that some zombie leaders were back. So, she stood up and said to the zombie dog, "I''ll leave it here. You can choose to drink it or not."


    After saying that, she flashed out.


    Once she was back on the roof, she saw the two level-four zombies standing there, each holding a large plastic bucket. As Lin Qiao showed up, they all looked at her with anticipation.


    Lin Qiao walked to them and checked their buckets. Those buckets were similar to the ones in her space, and weren''t broken.


    She nodded and said, "These will do. Later on, you should bring them back into your own places after the bath. Next time, you can still use them."


    Having finished talking, she took over the two buckets and flashed back to the lakeside.


    She took off her shoes and walked into the lake with bare feet. After filling the two buckets, she exited her space.


    Boom! Boom!


    She put the two buckets of water on the ground, then said to the two level-four zombies, "Take off your clothes and get in."


    Those two had already learned how to take off their clothes and put them back on, as Lin Qiao had taught them in her space. Once Lin Qiao finished talking, they quickly stripped themselves and stepped into the buckets, despite their different genders.

 404 Bathe The Zombies

    As the two started bathing themselves, Lin Qiao stood aside and kept waiting. Soon, the zombie boy came back with an iron bucket, which was even taller than himself, carried on his head.


    Clang!


    Lin Qiao watched him put that empty gasoline can loudly before her face.


    Smelling the strong scent of gasoline, Lin Qiao had a bad feeling. "You didn''t pour all the gas in it away, did you¡­"


    The crack-mouthed zombie boy looked at her confusedly, as if he was saying to her with his eyes¡ª''You didn''t tell me to keep the ''water'' in it¡­ That ''water'' was stinky and greasy¡­ Why would I keep it¡­?''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. Looking at the zombie boy''s innocent eyes, she covered her forehead with a hand.


    "Alright, alright, it''s okay¡­ Next time, don''t pour away that kind of stinky water, alright? Bring it to me. I need it," Lin Qiao sighed and said to him.


    The zombie boy had even washed that bucket, as there was still some water in it.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie boy replied. ''Understood.''


    After that, Lin Qiao reached out a hand to take over the iron bucket, then flashed into her space. After filling the bucket, she came back out.


    The zombie boy gazed at the large bucket of water, his dark eyes glowing brightly.


    "You need to take off your clothes before getting in. Do you understand?" said Lin Qiao.


    ''Take off your clothes''? What did that mean?


    The zombie boy looked at her confusedly.


    Lin Qiao sighed again and took off his clothes for him. She gave him those clothes last time before she left, and they were already dirty. She now felt that she had to teach her zombies how to wash clothes!


    After stripping the zombie boy, Lin Qiao pointed at the iron bucket and said, "Alright, get in."


    Plop!


    With that, the zombie boy immediately jumped in.


    "Thank God I dodged fast enough, or you''d get me wet," Lin Qiao, who had nimbly made a step aside, said to the zombie boy who was entirely soaked in the bucket now.


    The zombie boy was too short. He was able to stick his head out of the water by standing, but once he sat down, he was entirely soaked in the water.


    However, he didn''t care, as zombies didn''t need to breathe anyway.


    Lin Qiao waited for one hour and a half for all the zombie leaders to come back.


    Those zombie leaders brought back all sorts of buckets, but thankfully, none of them was made of iron, but only plastic and wooden. Some of the buckets were even nearly sealed, with only small openings in them.


    Lin Qiao cut them open with her claws for those zombies to sit in.


    While watching the zombie old man put a large wooden bucket in front of her, Lin Qiao asked with surprise, "Where did you find such a huge wooden bucket?


    Did people still use wooden buckets before the apocalypse?


    Lin Qiao looked closer at the bucket, then continued in shock, "I think it''s antique¡­ It looks very old."


    ''But even antiques are worthless now,'' she thought.


    She filled all the buckets, then told the zombies to take off their clothes and sit inside the buckets.


    The zombie old man started doing strange things again when it was his turn to get into the water. Lin Qiao looked at him confusedly, "Why are you looking at me? Take off your clothes!"


    The zombie old man spent a while staring at her, then looked around, as if he was trying to find something. After failing to find what he wanted, he turned and darted away.


    Lin Qiao confusedly watched him run away, then come back with a chair. She just didn''t know what to say at this moment.


    "Just tell me next time when you need a chair¡­" Lin Qiao looked at him helplessly.


    The zombie old man ignored her. As she filled up his bucket, he carried the chair to the other side of the stair room, then came back with empty hands and dragged the wooden bucket over there.


    Lin Qiao saw that he dragged the bucket behind a wall, then slowly took off his clothes, exposing his scrawny body. After that, he folded his clothes neatly and put them on the chair.


    He might have sensed that Lin Qiao was watching him. He gave her a glance, then turned around and showed her his wrinkled butt. Then, he stepped into the wooden bucket and sat down.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, feeling really speechless.


    ''You''re only taking a bath! Why did you make it so complicated? Have you forgotten that you''re a zombie? Zombie grandpa!'' she thought.


    ¡­


    Back in her space, the zombie dog spent a short while looking around after Lin Qiao left a bowl of water here, then confirmed that nobody was there. Only after that did it slowly get up from the ground and approach the water bowl.


    The scent of the water had been attracting it.


    It stuck out of its tongue and licked the water, then froze for a second. Afterward, the dog''s eyes glowed.


    ''Eh? Energy!''


    It licked again and found that the energy was real. After that, it buried its head in the bowl and started gulping.


    On the outside, Lin Qiao watched all the zombies sit into their buckets, then turned and went downstairs. There, she saw Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin standing in the hallway, seemingly waiting for her.


    Seeing the look in their eyes, Lin Qiao figured out what they came for. She walked up to them, then headed toward another room.


    Liu Jun had tidied all the rooms on the fifth floor while she had nothing else to do. So by now, all the rooms on this floor was clean.


    "Only two of you? I thought Lin Feng and the others will come too. Follow me¡­" said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin glanced at each other, then followed her into that room. As they all walked in, Lin Wenwen closed the door.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the two couches in the room, then dragged over a wooden chair for herself to sit down. Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen sat on the couches. Both of them had their bodies tightened, looking quite nervous and restless.


    Lin Qiao only casually sat on the chair while looking at the two of them.


    Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin had been staring at her without knowing what to say since they sat down. As they didn''t start a conversation, Lin Qiao had no choice but to do that herself.


    "Don''t you have questions to ask me?" she said.


    Mrs. Lin only looked at Lin Qiao with hesitation, as she wasn''t so sure yet. As she stayed silent, Lin Wenwen said, "¡­ You should know what we want to ask you."


    "I do, but I''m not sure if you''ll believe me," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Wenwen popped her eyes as she gazed at Lin Qiao eagerly and asked, ''So¡­ is it real? Are you really back?''


    She didn''t say those words out loud, but inside. She knew that Lin Qiao could hear her.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her but didn''t answer those questions immediately. Instead, she turned to Mrs. Lin and asked with a gentle voice, "Do you believe it too?"


    Mrs. Lin looked at her and suddenly found that Lin Qiao''s eyes were showing some anticipation as well. She couldn''t help but feel a slight heartache as she nodded.


    How could she forget about that? If this person standing right in front of her was really her eldest daughter, how would she be feeling? She would be in pain if her family didn''t believe her.


    Thinking about how Lin Qiao might have been feeling recently. Mrs. Lin felt sad, and her eyes turned red.

 405 Tell Her Families The Truth

    "So how¡­ how did you become like this, sister?" said Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Qiao looked at her, then at Mrs. Lin, sighing, "You can ask me that, but I don''t know how to answer. I woke up to find that I''ve become this woman. You didn''t see how I looked at first. Even my face was broken back then, and so was my stomach."


    Mrs. Lin glanced at Lin Wenwen with red eyes. She didn''t expect Lin Wenwen to directly call ''sister'' out loud, and Lin Qiao to just accept that.


    She was truly her Qiao!


    As she finally confirmed Lin Qiao''s identity, Mrs. Lin couldn''t stop her tears from streaming down her cheeks.


    "Don''t cry. Am I not back?" Lin Qiao took a piece of tissue from the table and handed it to Mrs. Lin as she said gently. Mrs. Lin only sobbed in response, but didn''t say anything.


    Lin Wenwen held Mrs. Lin''s hands and said, "Mom, shouldn''t you be laughing right now? Why are you crying!" She said that with a smile, but her eyes had turned red too.


    Lin Qiao stood in front of them and said to them, "I was in Sea City when I woke up. The previous owner of my body was from Sea City Base. She died, killed by zombies. So, when I woke up, I woke up as a zombie¡­ very ugly, and with inflexible limbs."


    Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin were slightly distracted by her words. "When did you wake up?" Both of them asked with curiosity.


    Lin Qiao sat back into the chair and said, "About three months ago. I heard that was the exact time when Hades Base was destroyed. I knew nothing about you when I woke up, so I decided to take a shot by going to the South to find you guys. And I really found you."


    Mrs. Lin found Lin Qiao''s words a little weird. She wiped her tears, then couldn''t help but ask, "What do you mean by ''you heard''? Don''t you remember that?"


    "My memory stopped at the point before the apocalypse," said Lin Qiao, "I don''t remember anything that happened in the recent few years. At first, I thought Lin Qiao from Hades Base was another person."


    Both Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin were stunned and gave each other a glance filled with confusion, What did Lin Qiao mean by her memory stopping before the apocalypse?


    Mrs. Lin popped her eyes to look at Lin Qiao with surprise, then said after a short hesitation, "Are you saying that you don''t remember the things that happened in the recent few years?"


    Lin Wenwen too had been staring at Lin Qiao with shock. Both she and her mother were waiting for Lin Qiao''s answer.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "No, I don''t remember. When I woke up, all I could remember was that I had a bad fever, so I stayed in my dorm, took some medicine, and got to bed to rest. Unexpectedly, I woke up to find my soul in someone else''s body after that. As for when the apocalypse happened, and what I did in the recent five years, I don''t remember any of it."


    Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin gazed at Lin Qiao without knowing how to react.


    Lin Qiao continued, "Fortunately, I still remembered who I was. If I had forgotten that, there would be no one to save your lives."


    Hearing that, Lin Wenwen finally recovered from the shock. "So¡­ so¡­ so¡­ Sister, you don''t remember how you died, do you? And, or¡­ Did you do something to bring yourself into Lu Tianyu''s body?" she asked, still sounding a little confused.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I''ve told you that I don''t remember."


    "Why didn''t you tell us earlier?" Mrs. Lin complained at that moment. After saying that, she almost started crying again.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly comforted her, "Mom¡­ don''t cry. I didn''t tell you because I hadn''t figured out the situation yet. Even I was confused, so how was I supposed to tell you about what happened? Besides, even if I said the truth directly to you once I saw you, would you believe me? No normal people would believe that, right? We don''t live in a fiction where people can reincarnate."


    "Didn''t you reincarnate?" said Lin Wenwen, "You reincarnated into someone else''s body and came back to life! This is really like something that happens in a fiction!"


    Mrs. Lin thought for a moment over her words, then nodded in agreement, "You''re right. If you told us at first, we wouldn''t believe you. How could such a thing possibly happen? But, now you¡­ Has your soul come back, or did something else happen there?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and responded, "I have no idea."


    Lin Wenwen suddenly thought of something, so she spoke, "Ah, thankfully that Lu Tianyu was already dead when you reincarnated into her body. You only borrowed her body which she couldn''t use anymore. If you reincarnated into a living person''s body, would you have to share the body with that person? Or, would you fight over it?"


    While speaking, she fixed her glowing eyes on Lin Qiao with excitement.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her and said, "If that was the case, what you said might happen."


    At that moment, the look in Mrs. Lin''s eyes changed as she spoke abruptly, "Perhaps, it''s a good thing for you to forget about what happened in these years."


    "It might be better if you never remember certain things."


    Lin Qiao looked at her mother, knowing what she was thinking of. However, even if she could never remember those things, she would figure them out in some other way.


    "Mom, even if I can''t remember, I''m still gonna find out exactly how the Hades Base was broken. Did I really put too much trust in that guy named Yang Jianhua? But, I had no feelings when I saw him. Why?" she asked with great confusion.


    Hearing her mention Yang Jianhua, both Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen had their expression changed as Mrs. Lin said wrathfully, "Yang Jianhua is not a good person! He is treacherous and sly! If you see him again, you better kick his a*s hard! He''s the reason why you became like this, and why we escaped here!"


    "He is a pervert! Nasty man! Scum!" Lin Wenwen added through clenched teeth.


    Lin Qiao looked at them bewilderedly, and couldn''t help but ask, "Is he really that bad? What exactly did he do? I didn''t get the full details from Du Yuanxing and Qingying. Tell me what happened."


    Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen glanced at each other. After that, the latter turned to Lin Qiao and said, "Sister, do you really not remember him at all? He lied to you, and all of us!"


    Lin Qiao frowned as she said confusedly, "This time¡­ I think I have remembered one thing. However, my memories aren''t clear. I seem to remember that I was forced to a cliff, facing five men, all at level-seven. The one in the middle was¡­ pretty? I remember that I blew myself up in that place¡­ My power was a black fire¡­ A huge black fire exploded¡­ Ouch!"


    While speaking, that picture emerged in her mind again, following which came waves of sharp pain that made her give out a muffled moan.

 406 The Hidden Problem In Earth Dragon Base

    Lin Qiao gave a muffled moan and quickly covered her forehead.


    "What''s wrong?" Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen were both startled, and they hurriedly got close to her.


    "I''m¡­ fine¡­ It''s just¡­ these memories¡­ are probably giving me a headache¡­" Lin Qiao said while enduring the sharp pain from her brain. She took a few deep breaths in a row, then forced those pictures out of her mind. Only after that did she feel better.


    Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen looked at her with surprise while Mrs. Lin asked confusedly, "Does your memory give you a headache? Don''t try to remember then."


    "Sister, do you still want to know what happened before?" said Lin Wenwen with hesitation.


    Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Wenwen and said, "Don''t tell her just yet. Look at her. Hearing about those things will also give her a headache, won''t it?"


    Lin Qiao waved a hand toward Mrs. Lin and said, "No, I¡­ I want to hear it¡­ Even if I don''t hear it from you, I''ll make another trip to the South later to find that place where I blew myself up. I think I''ll be able to find something there¡­ I''ve been having this feeling¡­"


    "But¡­" Mrs. Lin looked at her with concern.


    Lin Qiao gently made Mrs. Lin sat back into the couch and said, "If I can''t get through this, I might never restore my memory."


    Mrs. Lin didn''t say anything else, so Lin Wenwen carried on, "When the apocalypse happened, you and our big brother both came back from the army. The rest of us stayed at home fighting to survive for half a month before you and our big brother finally showed up with your squad. The next year after the apocalypse, you were entrapped during one mission. You were drawn to the zombie city and trapped in there. The one who entrapped you was Yang Jianhua. He made you get stuck there for a long time before he rescued you."


    Lin Qiao thought for a second and asked, "Why did he entrap me? Did I know him already back then?"


    If he were a stranger, she would definitely stay vigilant against him. Therefore, the one who was able to trick her into a zombie city had to be a familiar person.


    "He bribed one of your squad members. I think he asked that guy to give you false information. We don''t know exactly what happened, but we did know that you almost died there at that time," said Mrs. Lin.


    "Since that place was so dangerous, how did he rescue me?" asked Lin Qiao.


    "We don''t know," Mrs. Lin shook her head.


    Lin Wenwen thought for a short while with a frown, then said abruptly, "I think he went there with other people, but only showed up alone when they found you. You treated him very well because you wanted to thank him for saving your life. However, it turned out that he was undercover!"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "He was undercover for years. That''s impressive!"


    ¡­


    When Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin were telling Lin Qiao about the things that happened in the recent years, Yang Jianhua was trying to figure out a way to get the level-six zombie nucleus from Yang Jianhua back in the Hades Base, so that he could break into a higher level.


    For that purpose, he tried everything he could to tantalize Long Yubai when they were doing that thing on the bed that night. Only when the latter started falling unconscious did he start asking for the zombie nucleus, half threateningly and half temptingly.


    "Bai, that zombie nucleus is meant for me, isn''t it? Just give it to me. I can only manage Earth Dragon Base well for you after I step into a higher level, isn''t that true? You don''t want to always rely on those vice-leaders, do you?" He laid upon Long Yubai and said eagerly while looking at him in the eyes. He seemed to have been controlled by his sensations, but a cold gleam of light flashed across deep in his eyes.


    At that moment, Long Yubai''s eyes were misty, his pretty and clean face gorgeously red. Those eyes of his were sparkling with a watery light, and his red, moist lips were half-open.


    Yang Jianhua was strongly tempted by his charming look, but he still stayed calm.


    "Promise me that you''ll give me the zombie nucleus later when you''re done," he lowered his chest and put his lips near Long Yubai''s as he said.


    His warm and moist breath spread on Long Yubai''s face, making the latter raise his chin to kiss his lips.


    But, Yang Jianhua slightly raised his face to dodge that kiss. "If you don''t agree, this will end now."


    Long Yubai was unable to remain calm at the moment or think as he usually would. In this very moment, he had no choice but to accept any request that Yang Jianhua made.


    "I get it! I will give it to you!"


    After hearing that, Yang Jianhua began making intense movements, and both Long Yubai''s body and heart were satisfied immediately.


    After finishing, Yang Jianhua lied on the bed with his arms around Long Yubai. Meanwhile, Long Yubai, who seemed to be so enamored with him just now, had calmed down already.


    He leaned against Yang Jianhua''s strong chest and said with a cold and bland look, "Since you want that zombie nucleus so much, I''ll just give it to you. But, there is one condition. You have to destroy this base entirely. You have to tear down the fence wall and burn all the houses in this place, then kill all men, children, and old people in this base. I''ll bring all the women in this base back to Earth Dragon to fulfill the needs of my soldiers. My soldiers are all strong men with needs. They might be driven crazy if we don''t allow them to let it out once in a while."


    Hearing Long Yubai''s tone of command, Yang Jianhua didn''t say anything but lowered his head to put his mouth near Long Yubai''s ear and said, "Alright, allow me some time. I''ll sort all the useful things, then destroy the rest."


    "How much time do you need? Three days should be enough," said Long Yubai.


    Yang Jianhua laughed, "This base is so huge. How can three days be enough?"


    "I''ll give you seven days then," said Long Yubai blandly, "Only seven days. You know what to do."


    "Alright!" Yang Jianhua blinked and responded.


    Long Yubai suddenly thought of something else. "Since you''ve failed to kill Lin Qiao''s family," he said, "I''ll do it myself. Even if they''re under the protection of Sea City Base, nothing can stop me from killing them."


    Yang Jianhua paused and then asked, "Why? Do you have to make them die? They''re like homeless dogs now. They are no threat to us anymore, are they?"


    Long Yubai glanced at him and said, "I just want to prevent all future problems. Since you couldn''t do it, I''ll certainly do it myself."


    The look in Yang Jianhua''s eyes changed. He hesitated for a while, then asked, "Are you going to Sea City Base with your people?"


    Long Yubai turned around with the back of his head to Yang Jianhua and said, "Yes. I hope that you''ll be done with the work here before I return. After that, we''ll go back to the Earth Dragon Base."


    Yang Jianhua didn''t notice the murderous intention which had flashed across Long Yubai''s eyes. In fact, Long Yubai only wanted to kill Lin Wenwen.


    If that woman didn''t exist, Yang Jianhua would have listened to every single word he said.

 407 Zombies Come Out Of The Bath

    Long Yubai believed that Lin Wenwen was the reason why Yang Jianhua said so much useless words to him. If Yang Jianhua weren''t a good-looking ice-power possessor who had a great body shape and was good at sex, he would never spend so much time on him.


    So now, he had to gain better control of him. He needed Yang Jianhua to be attracted to him so strongly that he''d actually forget about Lin Wenwen.


    With that thought, he turned around and put his arms around Yang Jianhua''s neck while speaking, "Is that what you got for today? Are you losing it?"


    Yang Jianhua started to have other thoughts on hearing Long Yubai say that he would kill Lin Family people himself. So, as the latter tried to seduce him again, he didn''t want to give any response. However, the moment he saw Long Yubai''s charming eyes, his body reacted faster than his brain.


    ¡­


    After telling Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen the truth, Lin Qiao spent an hour talking to them. Her mother and sister had roughly told her about all that happened in the recent years.


    "Mom, about me¡­ don''t tell Lin Feng just yet. He''s busy now. We should let the situation stay natural. We''ll tell him later on when this place starts running stably. " Lin Qiao looked at Mrs. Lin and said.


    Mrs. Lin nodded, but then thought for a second and said, "In fact, I think Lin Feng should have guessed it just like we did. He knows you even better than we do, so how could he possibly not discover all these strange things about you?"


    "Perhaps," said Lin Qiao, "If he asks, you can tell him."


    Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen nodded.


    Abruptly, Lin Qiao looked at Lin Wenwen''s hair and said, "Wenwen, why did you cut your hair and start exercising?"


    Lin Wenwen paused briefly, then glanced at Mrs. Lin. After that, she turned back to Lin Qiao and said, "I just felt that¡­ I relied too much on you and our big brother. You were right last time. I''ve been very dependent on you guys all the time. Someday, you might also be facing dangerous situations as well. I think that even if I wouldn''t be able to help you, I should at least keep myself safe."


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said with surprise, "How exactly did I spoil you during these years? You didn''t think about that until recently? This is the post-apocalyptic era, and everyone needs to learn to protect themselves. Didn''t you know that before? The person that you''re relying on might fall someday. Relying on yourself is the correct thing to do."


    Lin Wenwen lowered her head and responded with a low voice, "Knowing it is one thing, doing it is another. You know that I''ve always been poor at sports."


    "You were born with back luck," Lin Qiao complained, "Ever since you were little, bad things never stopped happening to you. It''s already a miracle for you to survive till now, yet you actually didn''t change at all."


    "That''s because you''ve been having Tianxing stay around and protect me," said Lin Wenwen.


    "So, it''s my fault?" Lin Qiao popped her eyes.


    As the two of them seemed to start fighting, Mrs. Lin hurriedly joined the conversation, "Alright, alright, I think she has realized this time how important it is to be able to protect herself. After all, she was kicked out of the base and had to run like a stray dog without your protection."


    As her mother helped Wenwen, Lin Qiao gave the latter a glance and gave up on educating her. "Alright, it''s getting late. Mom, Wenwen, you two go downstairs and get some rest."


    The two nodded, then stood up and left.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao turned and went upstairs to the roof. The group of zombies was still bathing there. She only planned to let them bathe for an hour, but by now, it had been nearly two hours.


    "Alright, get out, all get out! Your bathing time is up!" Arriving at the roof, Lin Qiao clapped her hands and shouted at those zombies. But, those zombies only looked at her; none of them got up.


    They didn''t want to!


    Lin Qiao walked over and stood in the middle of their buckets as she shouted again, "Get up! Don''t make me use violence!"


    This time, her words were threatening, hearing which, those zombies finally reacted. The two level-four zombies quickly stood up, then slowly stepped out of the buckets.


    As they got out of the water, the other zombies all stood up.


    Lin Qiao walked to the gasoline bucket and knocked it loudly.


    Then, she leaned her head forward to look inside the bucket, and saw the crack-mouthed zombie boy staring at her with his head raised. His dark eyes and cracked mouth were all soaked in the water.


    Lin Qiao flinched as she was startled by the look on his face.


    After that, she slapped the iron bucket and said, "Get out, get out! You look so scary! Get out and I''ll wrap your face up!"


    The zombie boy stood up and stuck his head out of the water to look at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao took two steps backward, then saw the zombie boy come out of the bucket. She looked around and found his clothes thrown on the ground.


    She picked up the bandage, then shouted at the female level-four zombie who had already gotten dressed, "Zombie number two, get over here!"


    The female zombie walked to Lin Qiao and stood beside her, looking at her.


    "From now on, you''ll be responsible for tying his bandage. Watch me do it, and then you''ll know how," said Lin Qiao.


    "Roar¡­" Hearing Lin Qiao say that the level-four zombie would be tying his bandage, the zombie boy opened his mouth wide to give the female zombie a roar with discontentment.


    The female zombie was frightened by his roar and hurriedly made a few steps backward.


    Lin Qiao slapped on the back of the zombie boy''s head and said to him, "What are you doing? I told her to do so! Why did you roar at her?"


    The zombie boy turned around and raised his head to look at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    While wrapping the bandage on his face, Lin Qiao said, "Do you want me to do this for you every time? Do you know how to do this? You''ll look even worse than a ghost if I let you do it yourself!"


    "Roar¡­" The zombie boy protested again.


    Clap!


    Lin Qiao gave him another slap and said, "No rejection, or you won''t be able to take a bath again. Do you understand?"


    Hearing that, the zombie boy immediately quieted down. Only after that did the female zombie slowly came close to him.


    After wrapping the zombie boy''s face up with the bandage, Lin Qiao turned to check the other zombies'' clothes. They had all put their clothes on, but some of them got their buttons wrong.


    She walked to them one by one to redo their buttons, then said to them, "Alright, all go back to your territories and guard your places well. You don''t need to come back here until I call you again."


    "Go," She waved a hand at them.


    The group of zombies immediately turned around, leaped onto the edge of the roof, and darted out.


    Upon turning back, Lin Qiao speechlessly found the zombie boy who was holding his bucket and wasn''t willing to leave.


    "Go! Why are you holding the bucket? If you don''t guard your territory well, I won''t even let you drink the water again," She threatened him.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie boy looked at her as he reluctantly let go of the bucket, then turned and hopped onto the stage by the edge of the roof before leaping off the building and disappearing.


    Lin Qiao looked around, feeling that one of those zombies was missing.

 408 The Asleep Old Man

    She scanned the roof with her eyes, then finally remembered the zombie old man who had dragged his bucket to behind a wall. She walked over, wondering why the zombie old man hadn''t made any response to her shouts yet.


    She found the answer when she walked up to the bucket and saw the zombie old man. He was still sitting in the bucket, leaning against the bucket edge. Also, he was sleeping!


    Yes, he was asleep.


    Lin Qiao got close in shock and found that the zombie old man had closed his eyes and slightly opened his mouth. He was even snoring! His saliva almost streamed down the corners of his mouth.


    ''Are you still a zombie! You''re actually sleeping! Zombies don''t need to rest, do they? Old man, why are you sleeping during the bath? Is this lake water so powerful?'' Lin Qiao had so many questions.


    She raised a hand to remove her cosmetic contacts, then carefully observed the changes which were happening inside the zombie old man''s body.


    She found that the zombie old man''s body had been absorbing the energy in the water very quickly! She saw the dark-green energy endlessly flowing into his body, mixing together with his own energy.


    She then glanced at the other buckets. The energy contained in the water in the other buckets was only absorbed by less than five percent, but the zombie old man had already absorbed ten percent of the energy in the water in his bucket. He absorbed the energy twice as fast as the other zombies.


    Lin Qiao found the zombie old man sleeping quite tight. She looked around, picked up a small piece of iron wire from a corner nearby, and then came back to the zombie old man.


    She then poked the iron wire into one of the zombie old man''s nostrils.


    "Puff¡­ Ahhhh¡­" The zombie old man''s entire body suddenly shivered and his nose wrinkled. Next, he let out a series of weird noises.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, wanting to laugh. What happened just now? He actually sneezed!


    "Roar!" Seeing Lin Qiao abruptly, the zombie old man who had woken up gave her a roar unhappily.


    Lin Qiao stood up and said, "Get up, the bath time was over, yet you were still sleeping! Are you sure that you''re a zombie?"


    "Roar!" The zombie old man roared at her again with a frown.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him with a weird look, then nodded and said, "Alright, I''ll go, I won''t look, alright?"


    While speaking, she walked to the other side and put the cosmetic contacts back into her eyes. After that, she heard the clattering noise of the water, followed by a short quietness. And then, she heard the noises of the zombie old man dressing himself.


    Lin Qiao waited for quite a while before the area behind the wall finally quieted down.


    As she turned back, she saw the zombie old man in a clean suit which was designed in Tang Dynasty''s style. He even brushed his white hair with a hand before he slowly walked to Lin Qiao and stood beside her, seemingly waiting for her to talk.


    Lin Qiao quietly glanced at the zombie old man''s hair which were brushed neatly with water, then said to him, "Alright, this is your bath for today. You go back to your territory and stay there. I''ll call you guys back here for the next bath. Wait for my order."


    The zombie old man silently listened to her, then turned around and left swiftly without making even the slightest sound.


    After watching him leave, Lin Qiao thought for a moment while scratching her chin. She felt that the zombie old man''s vibe was going to make a breakthrough. Was he upgrading soon?


    Would he be the first zombie to restore his memory? He had lots of human habits, and understood almost everything she said. Or, was all that because he was an old man?


    Lin Qiao didn''t spend too much time thinking, but turned and went downstairs. She came to her own room, then entered her space.


    Right now, she felt that this space was almost exclusive for her. Maybe because Viney was here before, she always felt that the space didn''t really belong to her. After Viney went into her belly, she started to sense a strong connection between herself and the space.


    At present, she was not only able to sense that the space was run by her own energy, but had also been feeling that every single grass in the space contained the energies from her and the lake.


    The air in the space was actually from the woods. Those strange trees in the woods had been absorbing the energy from the lake and turning it into a type of air which contained a slight amount of energy.


    ''So that''s how the air in this space is produced.''


    She didn''t know that until now. No wonder every plant in that space contained energy.


    She walked to the small building which was put into the space by her earlier. She put the building next to the few small spaces, on a clearing which had no furniture pieces.


    She opened the front door of the building. The door on the first floor was huge, about two-meters and thirty centimeters tall, divided into four parts.


    She was able to drag the couches and some other things into the building by herself, but the beds and wooden closets might be a little tricky. She was strong enough to move those furniture pieces, but they might end up bumping into the walls or something else.


    She thought for a moment, then decided to ask Xie Dong for help.


    With that thought, she exited her space and jumped directly into action. First, she walked to Xie Dong''s door and knocked on it. She waited for two minutes, and then Xie Dong opened the door. He was wearing a loose-fitting bathrobe.


    Lin Qiao stood at the door and spent a moment observing his bathrobe, then said, "Put your pants on. I need you to help me move some furniture."


    Xie Dong paused for a second. Maybe because he had bathed in the lake water for two hours, he was feeling better now, and his vibe was not as down as before.


    He nodded, then turned and walked back into his room. In a few minutes, he showed up again with a pair of jeans, his upper body bared.


    Lin Qiao held his arm and brought him into the space.


    Once in, Xie Dong gave a glance at the small building with surprise, as it was new in this place.


    "I asked Yuan Tianxing to get this out for me today. I put it in here, and I''m gonna put some furniture pieces inside. From now on, this is kinda my home," said Lin Qiao.


    While speaking, she walked to a bed, then waved at Xie Dong and said, "Let''s carry this bed up first."


    After that, the two of them spent the whole night lifting furniture. Thankfully, they were both zombies who wouldn''t get tired.


    The next afternoon, Lin Qiao went to the lobby of the hotel, only finding Lin Wenwen and some other girls sitting on the couches. Lin Feng and the others who should be having a meeting there were absent.


    She quickly used her sensations and found that those people were in a room on the second floor.


    Seeing Lin Qiao coming downstairs, Lin Wenwen said to her, "Miss. Lu, my brother and the others are expecting you in the meeting room on the second floor."


    Lin Qiao nodded knowingly, then turned and went to the second floor, following those people''s scents to the meeting room. The soldier who was guarding the meeting room opened the door for her before she had even arrived.


    Lin Qiao walked in and saw Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting.


    She somehow felt that she was falling into disadvantages, as there were three human beings, but only one zombie in this room. Should she bring Qiu Lili next time? Qiu Lili wouldn''t want to be here, as she would not understand what they were about to say.


    Should she bring Liu Jun? Liu Jun would understand the contents of the meeting, but she was too weak to boost the vibe of zombies.


    There was a two-meters-long, large conference table in the meeting room. Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were sitting in front of each other, Chen Yuting was sitting on the other side of the table alone, and the empty seat was clearly saved for Lin Qiao.


    "Please have a seat!" Yuan Tianxing pointed at the empty seat and said.

 409 The Land for Farming

    Lin Qiao walked to the empty seat and sat down. Some files were already placed on the table before her. She conveniently opened the files and browsed, finding that those were some maps and constructional drawings.


    While reading the files, she waited for the three guys to start talking.


    Yuan Tianxing stood up and took over the map which was held in the hands of Lin Yu who stood by his side, then spread it on the table. He pointed at the construction site on the map and brought up some problems, then they started a discussion.


    The building materials used in the construction site were from the old buildings nearby. Those buildings were torn down, and the bricks were sorted for reuse. People had searched through all cement factories in the Upper City District and found some cement, but it was still not enough.


    "I''ll collect the materials," said Lin Qiao, "You only need to build up the fence wall. I''m just thinking about sweeping across the entire Upper City District for supplies. Constructional materials will be my number one target. I''ll also look for food and other daily supplies."


    "Thank you!" said Yuan Tianxing.


    Lin Qiao then asked a question, "Did any of our people major in agriculture? The food that we have now can last us for long, and we''re able to collect more. But, we can also develop our own land for farming."


    "But the soil is not good enough to grow crops," said Lin Feng, "Most of the lands in the world have been infected by the virus. How are we supposed to grow food?"


    "If we water the crops with the water from my space, the virus will be suppressed," said Lin Qiao, "It can''t purify the soil, but will purify the plants."


    "Really?" Both Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing had their eyes glowed, "In that case, we can find some people to cultivate crops. But¡­ we don''t have seeds, do we?"


    "I have some seeds," said Lin Qiao, "I have the seeds of many vegetables, but not grains. I hope I''ll be lucky enough to collect some other seeds."


    "If you''re able to solve the soil problem, we''ll learn to grow our own food," said Yuan Tianxing, "People don''t have to major in agriculture to do that. They''ll know how to do it as long as they can understand some relevant books."


    She nodded.


    The meeting lasted for two or three hours; they talked while pointing at the map the whole time.


    In Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue called a large meeting to tell the commoners who were able to work to go to the new base site in Hangzhou City to find jobs if they wanted to earn some food to get through the coming winter.


    Du Yuanxing''s stand was soon crowded. Every single day, there was a line of people waiting there to put their names on the list of workers. However, Wu Chengyue made a rule that the superpowered people at level-two and above weren''t allowed to apply for the jobs in the new base.


    After all, the superpowered people at level-two and above were already capable enough to kill zombies and harvest nuclei.


    However, some people would rather carry bricks than kill zombies.


    Killing zombies was so dangerous! Why wouldn''t they take the brick-carrying job while there was a chance?


    Before long, Wu Chengyue had sent a truck-full of people to Upper City District. Meanwhile, he left for Jiaxing City with hundreds of people. This time, he didn''t bring Meng Yue or Xiao Yunlong.


    He brought Wu Yueling, Xiao Licheng, and the other five superpowered squad leaders, who were all at level-five.


    Ever since he honestly told Meng Yue about his true feelings that day, the latter had been avoiding him even during the working time. She always asked Xiao Yunlong to deliver files or messages to him.


    Wu Chengyue understood how she felt, so he let her do what she wanted.


    It was nearly the end of October. The farming work had stopped temporarily, so Lu Tianyi, who was working in the Agriculture Department, had some free time. He heard that Wu Chengyue was going to send another batch of people to the new base in Upper City District, and decided to follow them there.


    This time, his best friend, Kong Qingming, didn''t go with him; his intelligence work had been keeping him pretty busy.


    Lu Tianyi, Huang Shou, Zheng Xiaonian, and the other few didn''t officially join those workers, but made their trip a mission. They directly exited the base, then headed toward the Upper City District.


    Chief Wu only forbade high-leveled superpowered people from working in the new base, but didn''t say that they couldn''t pay a visit to that place!


    Wu Chengyue was sitting in the car; this time, another soldier was driving. Xiao Licheng looked back at him from the front seat and said, "Miss. Lu has returned to Upper City District. Chief, aren''t you going there?"


    Wu Chengyue''s people spotted Lin Qiao not long after she left Sea City Base. The car she was driving was very eye-catching, so it was pretty hard for her to avoid being found.


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "No rush! I''ll find the air base in Jiaxing first. After achieving our goal, I''ll visit her and see how the construction work of her new base is going. We''re not going there for now."


    "Is the air base really in Jiaxing?" asked Xiao Licheng.


    Wu Chengyue responded with a smile, "There is an air base. I''ve checked long ago. I just didn''t tell anyone about it before, as Yang Chao was with us."


    Xiao Licheng turned his head back.


    Earlier on, Wu Chengyue asked him to figure out Miss. Lu''s whereabouts. Now, they knew where she was, but weren''t going to find her. He just didn''t understand what his Chief had been thinking.


    Wu Chengyue was feeling strange as well. The person that he wanted to marry turned out to be the one who had kidnapped Ling Ling and raped him. He thought about that over and over again, and couldn''t stop feeling unhappy about it.


    However, he had given his word and made his decision, so he would not regret. Since he had promised to marry her, he would do it.


    Suddenly, he wanted to know what expression she would wear when she learned that he had decided to marry her. Also, he was still very confused by how drastically that female zombie''s personality had changed.


    Without makeup, he actually failed to recognize her. How thick was her makeup before?


    Wu Chengyue tried to remember, but found that the old Lu Tianyu''s face had already faded in his mind. What had been flashing across his mind was either a scarred face with disheveled hair, or a woman wearing a hat and sunglasses.


    What he could remember the most clearly was the delicate face which was held in his arms.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t hate Lu Tianyu the zombie for her personality. Even though he didn''t love it, he was interested in it.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling who sat beside him pulled his sleeve. Wu Chengyue turned and found her holding the grass dragonfly high, looking at him with her large eyes.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Wu Yueling raised the grass dragonfly to before his eyes. Right then, Wu Chengyue noticed that the grass dragonfly had started getting loose. Some grass leaves had fallen out, looking like some extra feet of the dragonfly.


    He took it over and tried to put those grass leaves back in. After spending a while trying, he found that he wasn''t able to make the grass dragonfly look exactly the same as before. Even though he did put those leaves back in, the dragonfly still looked weird.


    Wu Yueling looked at the grass dragonfly in her father''s hands, her face filled with confusion. Wu Chengyue spent some efforts on the grass dragonfly, then handed it back to Wu her


    As a result, Wu Yueling glanced at it with dislike, then pushed it back into his hands.


    "Daddy doesn''t know how to fix this. It can only stay this way. Maybe, when you see her next time, you can ask her to make you another one. What do you think? Shall we ask her to make you a larger and prettier one?" Wu Chengyue smiled to comfort the little girl.


    Wu Yueling gave him a glance, then looked at the grass dragonfly in his hand. After a short hesitation, she finally raised a little hand to take it over.

 410 The Second Batch Of Workers

    The second batch of workers from Sea City Base were all frightened when they saw the zombie crowd around the new base site on their way driving there.


    Countless zombies crowded on the road, jamming the entire area.


    "Why¡­ Why are there so many zombies?"


    "Oh my! What if they found us? What should we do? If they all charge at us, we''d be eaten!"


    The workers stopped their vehicle about thirty meters from the zombie crowd and all panicked.


    Huang Tianfei, who was hiding among the workers, also fixed his eyes on the zombie crowd in shock.


    The zombies had turned their heads to the vehicle when they heard the noises from it. Sensing the strong human scent, the zombies all became agitated.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The zombies roared at the humans as they reached their arms and bared their teeth toward them. But strangely, they didn''t make even a step to approach those humans.


    "Drive back! We''re not going! Are you feeding us to zombies!" Huang Tianfe burst in yells.


    He pulled some strings to conceal his identity as a level-five superpowered man and made his way into the worker group.


    After confirming that those Hades Base people were really building a new base in this area, Wu Chengyu felt that this was a really good opportunity for the commoners who didn''t dare to venture to leave the base to kill zombies.


    He set a power level limit for the applicants, because he didn''t want the higher-leveled people, who were capable enough to go out of the base to hunt zombies and trade for food with zombie nuclei, to take the opportunities of survival which should belong to the commoners.


    The new base made great offers. The people who worked there would be provided with food and good payments, but only needed to do some construction work. Anyone would want a job like that.


    However, the power-level limit that Wu Chengyue set disappointed the higher-leveled people. Without a doubt, many people would follow this rule, but there were some who decided not to. For example, the ones who liked to reap what they hadn''t sown.


    Huang Tianfei was one of them. He secretly pulled strings to conceal his true power level. So now, he was one of those workers, as a level-two superpowered man.


    At this time, the hundreds of zombies which were crowding before his eyes scared him and made him want to run. He regretted, feeling that he should never have come here. He now believed that the others were all deceived.


    Huang Tianfei pointed at those soldiers who were there to protect the workers and yelled, "They lied to us! There must be some kind of experimental base in this place! This is not a survivors base! They brought us here to do experiments on us, like what Yang Chao did before!"


    Those soldiers who guarded behind and around the vehicle made no reaction to Huang Tianfei''s accusation, as if they didn''t hear him at all.


    Du Yuanxing got out of the driver''s seat and stood before the vehicle as he said to the people in it, "Everyone calm down. We are heading to a survivors base. These zombies, look at them, they won''t hurt people. Look at them closely. They are not moving."


    While speaking, he raised a hand to point at the zombie crowd.


    "How can they possibly not hurt people? All zombies eat human beings! Do you think we have never seen zombies? Do you think that we''re stupid?" Huang Tianfei shouted at Du Yuanxing as he refused to accept the latter''s explanation.


    "Yeah, how can any zombie not eat human being! Look at them! They''re brandishing their teeth and claws! They''re coming at us! Just drive away! Why are you still talking here?" Someone agreed with Huang Tianfei.


    Most of those people were commoners who had no fighting capacity. They all panicked upon seeing the zombies. They found Huang Tianfei''s words making sense, so they all decided to take his side.


    Du Yuanxing looked at those people, then abruptly crossed his arms and smiled, "Alright, I''ll let you go back. However, are you sure that you''d be able to survive the coming winter if I sent you back? If you''re willing to follow me in, get off the car right now and I''ll guide you in. I assure you that these zombies won''t even approach you. But, if you decide to stay in the truck, you will not be allowed in later."


    Many people from the slums would die every winter after the apocalypse. It was hard for the old, sick, and disabled people to survive a winter with all the starvation and coldness.


    Therefore, every spring when the weather started to get warm, each base would ship out a batch of corpses.


    Winter served as a cleaner to clean the people with low survivability out of the bases.


    As Du Yuanxing mentioned winter, some of the people in the truck quieted down. As commoners, they deeply understood how cruel and terrifying winter could be.


    Du Yuanxing continued, "Don''t you believe in your Chief? How could he ever try to harm you? Even if he wanted to get rid of you, he wouldn''t need to make this so complicated, would he? Also, only a pervert like Yang Chao can come up with the idea of that kind of an experiment. Do you think your Chief Wu and Chief Zou are men like that?"


    ''No,'' those people answered that question silently. They didn''t say any word out, but the looks on their faces spoke for them.


    "Eh¡­ You may know a person''s face but not his mind! Yang Chao seemed to be fine before we found out about what he did, isn''t that true?" As the others were swayed, Huang Tianfei couldn''t help but start talking again. In fact, he was already much less confident than before.


    Du Yuanxing glanced at him and found that he was hiding behind the others.


    He blinked, then turned and made two steps forward. After that, he turned around and stood before the car as he looked at those people.


    "I''m gonna say this one more time. All who want food and quilts get out and follow me in. For the ones who decide not to come, I won''t force you. I''ll let the soldiers send you back."


    The people started glancing at each other. Soon, some of them got off the truck.


    Those people didn''t take part in the conversation. They had all noticed that those zombies were really not moving. Even though they had all been baring their teeth and showing their claws, none of them made one single step toward this area.


    When Du Yuanxing was talking, those zombies stayed where they were.


    As some people got off the vehicle, the rest of the people who had hesitations were flustered. They didn''t want to risk their lives, but did fear the cold winter.


    "We¡­ We trust Chief Wu!" At last, these people gritted their teeth and jumped off the truck.


    Before long, they all stood by Du Yuanxing''s side, staring at the zombie crowd with fear, not even daring to talk.


    Soon, only about eight workers were left on the truck; Huang Tianfei was one of them.


    He looked around, then spent a while observing the zombie crowd and found that those zombies did really not come close to the truck.


    And then, he slowly followed the others out of the vehicle.

 411 A Group Of Fake Zombies

    Du Yuanxing was talking pretty calmly, but in fact, he wasn''t so confident.


    ''Damn! Bosses! Please show up! I''m gonna lose it!''


    Looking at those crowded zombies which had barred the road, Du Yuanxing did not know what to do. However, he couldn''t show those workers how panicked he was, or they wouldn''t believe him.


    As all the workers got off the truck, Du Yuanxing glanced at them, then made a step toward those zombies. Seeing him heading toward the most dangerous area, those workers who had the courage to get off the truck now didn''t dare to follow him forward.


    While walking, Du Yuanxing murmured silently, "Someone please come here to control these zombies. Didn''t you say that someone will walk us in once we arrive? Where is that person? No, I mean, where is that zombie?''


    The closer he got to those zombies, the more unsure he was.


    The group of workers stood before the truck, quietly watching him while waiting for the zombie crowd to respond.


    Right at that moment, a zombie roar was heard from a distance away. The owner of that voice must have used its superpower to send its voice to this far.


    Hearing that roar, Du Yuanxing finally sighed with relief. He stopped walking and stood on the middle of the road, looking at the zombie crowd with anticipation.


    Then, a little body whose face was entirely covered in bandage slowly walked out of the crowd. People couldn''t see his face, only a purely dark pair of eyes which were glowing with a weird red light. Judging by the height, he was about ten years old.


    His eyes clearly told everybody that he was not a human being.


    The zombie boy calmly walked up to the front and stared at Du Yuanxing and the others.


    Du Yuanxing hadn''t met Lin Qiao''s zombie leader squad, so he didn''t know the zombie boy. However, judging by the way he was standing before the zombie crowd, those zombies seemed to be under his control.


    Huang Tianfei was on alert when he saw that zombie boy. He recognized the zombie boy as a zombie leader, which was powerful enough to tear everyone on the scene into pieces.


    Facing a zombie leader, he had no other choice but to run. The people who were around him shared the same feeling with him.


    The people who were persuaded by Du Yuanxing earlier were all commoners. They were almost failing to survive back in the base. They had no skills, and no one wanted their labor. So, they came here and didn''t want to go back with empty hands. The desire of living made them believe that what Du Yuanxing said was true.


    The zombie boy spent about ten seconds watching them quietly, then turned to give the zombie crowd a roar.


    "Roar!"


    After that, Du Yuanxing and the others saw those zombies which hadn''t moved at all start to step aside and make a path.


    Huang Tianfei and the others watched all of that in shock; some of them couldn''t even react.


    What was happening? Why on earth were those zombies making a path for them? They had the road jammed just a minute ago; but now, they moved away as that zombie boy had given a roar. What did that mean?


    At that point, the boy zombie sprung up and hopped onto the roof of the truck which was behind those people.


    Bang! He landed heavily on the truck roof.


    The driver and the soldiers who were still on the truck all jumped out with fear, stepping as far away from the truck as possible.


    The zombie boy stood on the truck roof and sniffed around, then leaned his head toward the group of workers and made a few deep gasps. After that, he stayed on the truck roof, eying them greedily.


    Those workers raised their heads to look at the boy zombie with fright, worrying that it might suddenly pounce on them. The ones who managed to stand still all had strong minds.


    Du Yuanxing glanced at the zombie boy, then at the path, and then at the truck under the zombie boy''s feet. After that, he gave up on the idea of getting back into the vehicle.


    "Um¡­ Now there is a way. Let''s just get in, in case these zombies regret," he said while moving forward.


    The others followed behind him with hesitation. They were all reluctant, but still followed Du Yuanxing closely. He was a level-five superpowered man after all. Staying close to him made those commoners feel safe.


    Huang Tianfei and the other few silently followed behind those people. They were actually at high levels, but the others had no idea about that.


    Among all these people, Huang Tianfei''s level was the highest. The other relatively higher-leveled ones had sensed that, so they quietly followed him.


    "Roar!" The zombie boy suddenly gave them a roar from the truck roof, probably because he wasn''t happy about how slow those people were. Those people trembled with fear, then turned around to find that the zombie boy had leaped off the truck, slowly following behind them step by step.


    Huang Tianfei and the others quickly ran forward, pushed aside some commoners, and squeezed into the worker group. While following Du Yuanxing forward, they fixed their eyes on the zombie boy.


    Those commoners who were pushed to the end of the group were so afraid. However, Huang Tianfei''s clean clothes told them that they shouldn''t offend him.


    Therefore, they brought up the rear, or more specifically, served as human shields with a very strong fear.


    "Move faster! He thinks that you''re too slow," Du Yuanxing glanced back at the zombie boy while walking forward in big steps. Then, he thought for a second and said to the others.


    "Roar!" The zombie boy gave another roar, seemingly to respond to him.


    Soon, they easily passed through the area which was jammed by zombies.


    As they got through, the zombie boy again roared out loud. Following his voice, the zombie crowd gathered again in the middle of the road.


    Still, their eyes were fixed on that group of workers who had just passed through.


    As those workers entered the new base site, the zombie boy turned and hopped back onto the truck roof, then leaped on top of the building nearby and disappeared.


    After coming in, Du Yuanxing gave a sigh with relief.


    "How far do we have to walk? Will there be more zombies on our way?" Huang Tianfei moved to the front of the group and followed behind Du Yuanxing as he asked. His tone of speaking was unfriendly, as if Du Yuanxing owed him something.


    Du Yuanxing glanced at him, then responded blandly while moving, "Just a couple of more miles."


    Du Yuanxing''s cold attitude made Huang Tianfei feel annoyed. However, he didn''t say anything, but gave the former a cold glance while silently moving forward with the others.


    "Those zombies you just saw were driven out of the city by us, so this city is now zombie-free, very safe," said Du Yuanxing.


    At that point, the people who had just safely passed through a zombie crowd were doubting the entire world.


    What did they see? Those zombies didn''t eat them, but made a path for them! They made a path! Had they just encountered a group of fake zombies?

 412 The Scum Shows Up

    On the other side, Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, Xie Dong and Shen Yujen were sweeping across the Upper City District. From a roof, she suddenly sensed Du Yuanxing''s vibe from Sea City Base, along with a series of weak and disordered vibes. So, she guessed that the second batch of workers had arrived.


    Therefore, she gave the zombie boy a roar and told her to let them in.


    "Who''s here?" Qiu Lili stood by her side and looked in that direction with curiosity as she asked.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and replied, "Can''t you sense that vibe from there? It''s Du Yuanxing. He brought quite some people here. There should be a truck-full of them."


    Qiu Lili made a deep breath toward that direction, then said, "I can''t grasp the scents from that far away. The vibes that I sensed are all mixed together."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "It''s them. I think the second batch of workers have arrived. This is strange though. Why did they come so soon?"


    Before, they could only hire two or three people a day. Someone applied for the job, but eventually decided not to come.


    Qiu Lili didn''t know about that, so she looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "It''s been about ten days since the first batch of workers arrived. Is this too soon?"


    Lin Qiao nodded, then turned and jumped off the building. She had sensed the scent of food.


    She was able to sense the scent of rice from a very long distance away, so by relying on her sense of smell, she found quite a few supermarkets and large hotels, including some grocery shops in the markets.


    Lin Hao and his people had searched through the area around the hotel, so she went further away to look for more supplies.


    Her extra sharp sense of smell helped her to locate many supplies. By the time she and her zombie friends searched across half of the Upper City District, rice in bags or buckets had piled into hills inside her space.


    She was way faster than human beings. In a few days, half of all the stored food in Upper City District were found by her.


    A couple of hours later, Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, Xie Dong, and Shen Yujen returned to the hotel. Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili directly leaped into the hotel from a building nearby while Xie Dong and Shen Yujen took the stairs.


    Both looked exactly like healthy human beings, so no one in the lobby noticed them when they came in. However, Xie Dong spotted Huang Tianfei from the group of workers. He paused briefly, his eyes showing a fierce look. After that, he kept moving toward the stairs.


    Shen Yujen who followed behind Xie Dong gave him a glance with surprise, as she had sensed that his vibe somehow changed for a moment.


    "From now on, this is your dormitory. Later on, our people will arrange rooms for you. The canteen is over there. You''ll get three meals a day," Lin Feng stood by the front desk. The people who were brought here by Du Yuanxing were now standing in the lobby, facing him.


    They looked around with surprise. None of them expected that they would be able to live in a hotel!


    "Is it real that we only need to build a fence wall? Like, carry bricks and do the other constructional work?" some people asked with doubts.


    "Yes," said Lin Feng, "Tomorrow morning, eight o''clock, I''ll take you to the construction site. It''s not far away from here.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen, Cheng Wangxue, and the two kids came in from the outside. They were all surprised when they saw all those people in the lobby.


    Liu Jun came in along with them. Once in, she had her eyes fixed on Huang Tianfei, who was staring at her in shock.


    Liu Jun frowned as she held Tongtong''s hand and quickly walked toward the stairs.


    Huang Tianfei was stunned. His eyes followed Liu Jun, showing disbelief. Automatically, he came out of the crowd and followed behind her.


    "Liu Jun! It''s really you! And Tongtong!"


    Liu Jun kept walking straight forward, as if she didn''t hear his words. Only Tongtong turned back to look at Huang Tianfei with curiosity.


    Huang Tianfei caught up with them and dragged Tongtong''s arm.


    "Liu Jun, where are you going!" He yelled at her with discontentment.


    His voice attracted the attention of Lin Wenwen and the others in the lobby. They all turned to Liu Jun and him with curiosity.


    "Whaaaaa¡­" Tongtong took fright when Huang Tianfei dragged him violently and yelled, so the boy burst in tears.


    Liu Jun stopped walking as he caught Tongtong.


    She hurriedly turned around, then squatted to scoop up her son. However, Huang Tianfei suddenly pulled the boy and violently dragged him behind.


    "Huang Tianfei, give Tongtong back to me!" Liu Jun stood up, staring at Huang Tianfei with a pair of purely black eyes.


    Huang Tianfei finally noticed that she had no white parts in her eyes, nor pupils. Those eyes of hers were completely black.


    He pointed at her eyes in shock and asked, "What¡­ what happened to your eyes!"


    "Whaaa¡­" Tongtong cried out loud behind him, but Huang Tianfei ignored the boy.


    "Huang Tianfei, let go of Tongtong and then get out of here! Otherwise, don''t blame me for showing no mercy!"


    An icy-cold murderous intent sparkled in her eyes.


    The others had figured that something was wrong. They acted like a couple who were having a fight, so the others didn''t rashly step up to try and make peace between them.


    "Tongtong is crying¡­ Grandma, he''s scared," Lin Xiaolu abruptly held Mrs. Lin''s hand and said to her.


    Tongtong was crying indeed. At that moment, all the others were looking at Liu Jun and Huang Tianfei silently.


    Mrs. Lin wasn''t happy about what Huang Tianfei just did. So, she said to him, "Whatever happened between you two, it has nothing to do with the boy. Let go of Tongtong. You scared him. Are you his father?"


    Huang Tianfei turned to find that it was a middle-aged woman who accused him. Instantly, he got angry.


    "Old lady, mind your own business¡­"


    Before he finished, Liu Jun slapped him heavily on the face.


    Huang Tianfei paused for a few seconds with his head slightly tilted, then realized what just happened. With disbelief, he glared at Liu Jun and said, "You b*tch! How dare you slap me!"


    "Huang Tianfei," said Liu Jun, "Since you abandoned Tongtong and me a couple of months ago, we have nothing to do with you anymore. Why did you come to me? Tongtong is mine. He has nothing to do with you now. Let go of my Tongtong."


    In fact, Huang Tianfei was really surprised when he saw Tongtong, because in Sea City Base, every family with kids would be given with living allowance.


    For that reason, he wanted to bring Tongtong back to Sea City Base the moment he saw him.


    However, seeing Liu Jun''s eyes stunned him a little.


    He pointed at Liu Jun and yelled, "Look at what you are. Can you raise Tongtong safely? I am Tongtong''s father. I have the guardianship!"


    "Guardianship my a*s. This is the post-apocalyptic era. Do you think that you''re still living in the peaceful world before the apocalypse?" said Lin Wenwen with a cold voice.

 413 Do You Want Him Dead?

    Liu Jun stared at him coldly and said, "No matter what I have become, Tongtong is safe and healthy, and will stay safe and healthy! He is no longer your son. You abandoned him for your own safety, so how dare you demand his guardianship! Get away from us!"


    Hearing her words, all the others understood what happened. It turned out that the man had abandoned the mother and the son in a dangerous time, and ran for his own life.


    As a man who abandoned his wife and son in a dangerous situation, he was already disgusting. Now, he treated them with such a bad attitude as he saw them again.


    He didn''t seem to love his son at all. He was a total scum!


    Huang Tianfei popped his eyes with anger and cursed Liu Jun, "B*tch, you want to have our son for your own, don''t you? As long as I''m still alive, he is my son! He has my blood! How dare you hit me! We haven''t seen each other for a couple of months. Have you become so bold already?"


    While speaking, he abruptly raised an arm to slap Liu Jun on the face. But, someone swiftly gripped his wrist.


    Lin Feng stood behind him and said expressionlessly, "I don''t mind that you were rude to my mother, but I cannot allow you to bully a woman and a child in this place."


    Du Yuanxing who was standing by Lin Feng''s side added with a loud voice, "You need Miss. Lu''s permission to take Tongtong away. However, I don''t think she''ll let someone like you take that boy away."


    "Ah, you¡­ Why didn''t you stay in your base with that married woman who you''ve hooked up with? Did you come here to die? I regretted last time as I only stripped you and threw you on the hallway. It''s such a surprise that you brought yourself here, hehe¡­" Lin Qiao''s voice was heard from the stairs.


    Following a series of footsteps, Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, Xie Dong and Shen Yujen came downstairs.


    "Whooo¡­ it hurts¡­ Mom¡­" Huang Tianfei gripped Tongtong so hard that the boy felt hurt and cried even louder.


    "Who are you! It''s none of your business! And you! Be quiet!" Huang Tianfei shouted at Lin Qiao, then suddenly turned to hit Tongtong.


    However, a white figure swiftly showed up behind Tongtong and slapped away Huang Tianfei''s arm. Meanwhile, Qiu Lili gripped his other hand which was holding Tongtong, and then a beam of red light flashed across.


    "Ou¡­" Huang Tianfei suddenly burst in howls. He held his right hand with his left hand and made a few quick steps backward with a bitter face.


    Qiu Lili gave Tongtong back to Liu Jun, then shielded both of them behind her. She pointed at Huang Tianfei and said, "Tongtong is no longer your son since you abandoned him out there. Don''t be shameless. Stay away from them, or I''ll break your legs."


    Liu Jun quickly scooped Tongtong up and avoided Huang Tianfei as she ran up behind Lin Qiao.


    Huang Tianfei glanced at his wrist which now had a circle of burn mark on it, then glared at Qiu Lili and yelled, "What did you just do to me? I''m telling you that I can f**k a girl like you to death very easily!"


    Qiu Lili''s red eyes instantly turned even redder. She abruptly swung an arm and sent a small and sharp gust of wind toward Huang Tianfei''s mouth.


    Puff!


    "Ou-ch¡­"Huang Tianfei immediately covered his mouth with his hand. Blood dripped down from between his fingers as he widened his eyes, staring at Qiu Lili with disbelief.


    Qiu Lili didn''t look at him, but said to Liu Jun, "I don''t want to hear him talk, so I cut his mouth. Junjun, are you fine with it?"


    Liu Jun looked at Huang Tianfei with a frosty gaze as she responded, "I''m fine with it. Lili, if you kill him, it would be even better."


    "I don''t kill people. Go and ask Qiaoqiao to do it," said Qiu Lili. Then, she pouted and turned to stand behind Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at Liu Jun and asked her, "Do you want him dead? Do you need my help?"


    Liu Jun shook her head at Lin Qiao, then turned to say to Huang Tianfei, "You better get out of here now, as I don''t want to kill now. Don''t ever let me see you again."


    "He''ll take revenge upon you if you let him leave," said Lin Qiao.


    "This time, I''ll let him go to thank him for taking care of me back in Hades Base. From this day on, I owe him nothing," said Liu Jun. After saying that, she carried Tongtong, turned and walked upstairs.


    Lin Qiao looked at Huang Tianfei and said to him, "Go. Tongtong has nothing to do with you anymore. Go find your woman and have another child. Ugh, didn''t you steal Xie Dong''s woman? You also usurped his apartment and tried to put him in jail, right? Let me tell you something. Today, I won''t hurt you, but you should never let me see you again."


    Then, she glanced at Du Yuanxing and continued, "We can''t afford to hire this worker. Send him back to Sea City Base."


    "Yes," Du Yuanxing nodded and replied. After that, he immediately walked toward Huang Tianfei, held his arm, and dragged him toward the outside.


    Huang Tianfei''s eyes were now showing anger and hatred. He stared at Liu Jun who was leaving; his wounded lips were giving him real pain.


    At this point, as Du Yuanxing dragged him, he exploded with rage.


    "Ah!" He suddenly pushed Du Yuanxing away, then released a strong gust of wind. Soon, the wind turned as sharp as a blade and spread in the lobby.


    The blustery wind swept across the entire lobby within a blink of an eye. The others all stepped backward, but still, many commoners were injured by the wind blades.


    Du Yuanxing quickly squatted and pressed a hand on the ground. Following his moves, a wave of electric currents sizzled into Huang Tianfei''s body from the floor.


    Being struck by electricity, Huang Tianfei''s entire body twitched, and then fell to the floor stiffly.


    "Mom, are you hurt?"


    Huang Tianfei''s attack was unexpectedly sudden and fierce. When the wind started to blow, Lin Wenwen embraced Mrs. Lin and squatted, shielding her mother in her arms.


    However, a deep wound was left on her own face.


    Mrs. Lin raised her head to look at Lin Wenwen''s face, saying in shock, "I''m fine¡­ Wenwen, your face!"


    Lin Wenwen raised a hand to touch her face, then immediately bared her teeth and gasped in pain, "Ouch¡­ It hurts so much!"


    After that, she put down her hand and saw the blood on it. Nevertheless, she didn''t care much about that, but hurriedly checked on Mrs. Lin.


    Mrs. Lin shook her head and said, "I''m okay. Go and treat the wound on your face now, or it might leave a scar."


    She looked around and found that many of the others had fallen to the floor because of the wind. Some of them had blood on their shirts, as both their clothes and skins were cut broken.


    After that, Mrs. Lin helped Lin Wenwen up.

 414 Hunt In Mount Wu

    Lin Wenwen gave a few more glances at Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwe. After making sure that both of them were fine, she turned to say to Du Yuanxing, "Get him out, or I might accidentally destroy him!"


    Du Yuanxing walked to Huang Tianfei, who was still lying on the ground and twisting, and said, "He''s at level-five at least. He actually got in."


    "What do you mean?" asked Lin Qiao.


    "Well, Chief Wu gathered this batch of people. To ensure an opportunity of survival for these commoners, he forbade the superpowered people at level-two or above to apply for the jobs here. I''m surprised that this man actually got in. Maybe there''re others like him."


    While speaking, he gave Huang Tianfei a kick. The latter was twitching stiffly, yet his eyes were rolling quickly.


    "As a human being, you should have a conscience. Otherwise, you''ll die miserably," Du Yuanxing said to him. After that, he bent over, grabbed Huang Tianfei''s jacket, and dragged him outside.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Wenwen again. Her face was hurt, yet she didn''t seem to care about that. Unlike her, Mrs. Lin seemed to care a lot.


    ''That scum actually came here. What a coincidence!'' thought Lin Qiao. But soon, she started thinking about what Du Yuanxing just said.


    Chief Wu gathered this batch of people? What did that mean? What did Wu Chengyue do? And, why did he do that?


    He sent the first batch of workers as a payback to Lin Qiao for saving Ling Ling''s life. But, what about the second batch? What reason did he have to help Lin Qiao further?


    Lin Qiao couldn''t figure it out, so she turned and went back upstairs.


    Earlier on, she grasped a familiar scent from upstairs, so she came down with curiosity to see what happened. To her surprise, she saw that scum trying to take Tongtong away in front of so many people.


    Upstairs, she went to Liu Jun''s room and found that the latter was checking Tongtong''s arm. Tongtong''s wrist which was finally not scrawny anymore was now very red, even a little bruised.


    The little boy was sitting on the bed and crying.


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly and said, "That b*stard really doesn''t care about the kid''s feelings. How did you end up with a guy like that?"


    Liu Jun dropped her eyelids and sighed, "He saved my life once, and helped me a lot. I thought that he was a good guy. However, after we got together, he began to show his ugly nature. But at that time, it was already too late for me to regret."


    Lin Qiao nodded knowingly, "He lied to you? Many men do that."


    "I let him go this time to pay him back for saving my life. I have nothing to do with him from now on," said Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao gave her a glance and said, "You offered him yourself. You didn''t owe him anything. You even bore him a son. He just didn''t treasure all that."


    ¡­


    Next day, Yuan Tianxing''s people guided the second batch of workers to the construction site. With more people, the work was getting done more efficiently.


    Lin Qiao led Qiu Lili, Xie Dong, and Shen Yujen out again. This time, they weren''t looking for supplies, but for land.


    They went out to look for land suitable for farming.


    The Upper City District was mostly occupied by buildings. However, there was a scenic spot named Mount Wu. Some lands around the mountain should be good enough for growing crops.


    Lin Qiao planned to go there and take a look.


    She picked that area also because Mount Wu wasn''t far away, and was right inside the Upper City District. Moreover, she hadn''t been eating any meat for a very long time!


    Thinking of meat, she couldn''t help but lick her lips.


    "What are you thinking about?" Qiu Lili looked at her and asked while thinking.


    Lin Qiao laughed, "I''m thinking that I haven''t had any meat for a long time. Today, we''ll get into the mountain and see what food we might find."


    "You only eat animals. I don''t think they taste good," said Qiu Lili. What Lin Qiao said didn''t interest her at all. After saying that, she filled her face with dislike.


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen who were sitting in the backseat got confused by their conversation.


    "Aren''t you here to look for farming land?" Qiu Lili continued.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah. I can hunt while observing the land. Isn''t that perfect?"


    Qiu Lili gave her a weird glance and said, "Why do I feel that you look a little like a child who lives in the countryside? Did you always do such things when you were little?"


    Lin Qiao smilingly glanced at her and replied, "Can you tell?"


    Lin Qiao parked the car by the entrance of the Liangshan Road in Mount Wu area and then got off.


    A refreshing scent of the forest immediately embraced her.


    Lin Qiao leaned her head forward and sniffed around, then put the vehicle back into her space. After that, she pointed at the mountain forest and said, "I sense the smell of a mutant beast over there. Let''s go."


    Then, she led the other three and began the adventure.


    Qiu Lili gently leaped up and directly hopped on top of a tree, bringing up a soft breeze. Meanwhile, Xie Dong and Shen Yujen quietly followed behind Lin Qiao, heading into the forest.


    Lin Qiao restrained her vibe entirely while following that smell further into the forest. The stones, grasses, and thorns under her feet could not affect her at all.


    She recognized that smell. If she were right, somewhere in front of her should be lots of¡­ snakes.


    Yeah, the giant snake that she hunted the last time tasted nice.


    Except for the scents of snakes, she had also smelled mice. As some old people said, snakes and mice were family.


    Those mice smelled weird, but, Lin Qiao still had an appetite for them.


    Lin Qiao excitedly followed the smell of the snakes. The two zombies behind her had no idea why her eyes were glowing more and more brightly.


    Qiu Lili flew about seven-hundred meters forward, then silently flew back.


    When she saw those countless snakes coiling on the branches in that area, her scalp was even numbed. Without saying a word, she turned and headed back.


    Lin Qiao walked about seven-hundred meters further into the forest, then saw a finger-thick, green-colored snake slide across. As she made two more steps, two small snakes with stripes swiftly wriggled across the backs of her feet.


    She raised her head to find all sorts of snakes in different colors coiling on the branches and the ground, squirming. Some of those snakes were as thick as her wrist, and some were as thin as her finger.


    She abruptly reached out a hand and caught an arm-thick black snake.


    It was about a meter long. As its neck was gripped in Lin Qiao''s hand, it coiled its body around her arm.


    Lin Qiao popped her claws and dragged the snake off her arm, then straightened it and poked one claw into its belly. With that, she began cutting it from the neck to the tail.


    Her claw cut open the snake''s belly and generated a noise. The snake was cut open alive, yet its tail was still twitching intensely.


    After opening the snake up, Lin Qiao put two fingers into its belly and stirred for a few times. Then, she took out the snake''s gall.


    Next, she opened her mouth and threw the snake gall in, swallowing it.


    She didn''t chew it this time, so she didn''t taste any bitterness. Last time, her brain had even stopped working because of the bitterness of the snake gall.

 Chapter 415 - Crazy Snake Eater</h1><p>

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Lin Qiao swallowed the snake gall, then turned back and accidentally noticed the look of the two zombies which were behind her. She paused briefly, then asked, ¡°Eh? What¡¯s with that look on your face? Didn¡¯t you ever eat snakes? Why are you standing so far away? Get over here. They can¡¯t hurt zombies. You won¡¯t get poisoned even if they bite you.¡±


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen both shook their heads.


    Xie Dong might not react like this if there were only one snake, but this area was actually covered by snakes¡­ He somehow felt that he had trypophobia.


    Xie Dong didn¡¯t react strongly to those snakes. He was a man after all; he wasn¡¯t frightened. At least, his fine hair didn¡¯t stand up. Unlike him, Shen Yujen took a serious fright. She quickly hid herself behind Xie Dong and refused to come out.


    Neither of them expected that Lin Qiao would bring them to a forest which was filled with snakes! There were snakes everywhere!


    Also, Lin Qiao caught a snake and ate it alive right in front of them¡­


    Lin Qiao looked at them and said, ¡°You won¡¯t feel this way if you see these snakes as food.¡± While speaking, she suddenly threw two woven bags at Xie Dong and Shen Yujen.


    ¡°Being afraid won¡¯t help you. Get over here and catch some snakes. We¡¯ll bring them back for those humans to make soup.¡±


    Xie Don took over the bags and looked at Lin Qiao, then at Shen Yujen who was behind him. The look on his face was weird.


    After throwing out the two bags, Lin Qiao began peeling the dead snake in her hand. Then, she tore off a piece of snake meat, put it in her mouth, and started chewing.


    The raw meat tasted tender. After turning into a zombie, Lin Qiao found that cooked meat tasted less fresh and tender than raw meat.


    Because Lin Qiao caught a large snake and ate it, the other snakes were all startled. They darted about to run away, in case they ended up like the snake in Lin Qiao¡¯s hands. Meanwhile, the stunned Xie Dong and Shen Yujen watched Lin Qiao quickly eat up the arm-thick snake and turn it into bones.


    Lin Qiao threw away the bones, then sucked her fingers, turning to look for the next snake.


    As a result, she found that no snake existed in meters round anymore.


    With no other choice, she continued following the strong snake scent.


    Xie Dong sighed, then handed one of the bags to Shen Yujen, who took over the bag without knowing what to do.


    Did she really need to catch snakes? ¡®God! Let me die! I don¡¯t want to catch snakes!¡¯


    Lin Qiao sensed her emotions. Abruptly, she turned back to look at her and said, ¡°Go and find a forked stick, make two parts of the fork as long as each other, and then you¡¯ll be able to catch snakes with that. When you want to put a snake into the bag, you should grip its neck to pick it up.¡±


    Xie Dong glanced at Shen Yujen, then at Lin Qiao. Shen Yujen closed her eyes and took a deep breath.


    ¡°See this as a test for you. You need to get through it no matter how.¡± After saying that, she turned around and kept looking for snakes.


    Xie Dong glanced at Shen Yujen with pity. Clearly, Lin Qiao didn¡¯t want him to help her. He was planning to let Shen Yujen hold the bag while he caught the snakes and put them into it.


    But now, she was on her own.


    Lin Qiao followed the scent and moved forward by leaping and hopping. Suddenly, she grasped the tail of an arm-thick python and violently swung it off a tree.


    Clap!


    The meter-long large python which weighed over ten kilograms was thrown to the ground. The python was knocked out as a result, softly falling off her hands.


    Lin Qiao drank its blood, then cut it open and ate its internal organs. After that, she began eating its meat.


    Maybe because she hadn¡¯t had any meat for quite a long time, she just couldn¡¯t stop eating once she started. Watching her eat, the other two zombies felt creepy.


    While moving deeper into the forest, Lin Qiao had been catching and eating snakes the whole time. Xie Dong and Shen Yujen followed behind her and caught some snakes from time to time.


    At first, only Xie Dong was catching snakes while Shen Yujen didn¡¯t dare to touch them.


    However, it was already an improvement, as she actually had the courage to walk among snakes. Lin Qiao didn¡¯t rush her, but was secretly paying attention to her.


    Xie Dong picked the large snakes without being reminded by Lin Qiao. He didn¡¯t use a forked stick, but his own hands. Also, his movements were quick and neat. After all, he had done some field training when he was in the army. Back then, it was normal for him and his army brothers to eat snakes and rats and all sorts of animals.


    Earlier on, he reacted slowly because he was a little shocked upon seeing so many snakes.


    Shen Yujen spent quite a while following behind Xie Dong, then finally adjusted herself to all those snakes and forced herself to adapt.


    After all, Lin Qiao wanted her to work for her. If she couldn¡¯t even catch a snake, what could she possibly do for Lin Qiao?


    And just now, Lin Qiao said that this was a test for her, and that she must complete it by herself.


    Lin Qiao caught seven to eight arm-thick snakes in a row and ate them all. After that, she turned back to find that Xie Dong had already filled a small half of his bag with snakes, while Shen Yujen only had two.


    ¡®Good, good, she¡¯s making some progress. It¡¯s already not bad for her to catch even one snake!¡¯ thought Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao ate so many snakes in a row before she finally stopped. Both Xie Dong and Shen Yujen eyed her with a strange look.


    ¡®You finally finished. You crazy snake eater! You¡¯ve eaten all the large ones, and only left the small ones for us to catch. These aren¡¯t enough for making soup.¡¯


    An hour later, almost all the snakes in the forest were driven away by Lin Qiao.


    She sniffed around, then nimbly climbed onto a tree nearby to carefully sense the surrounding area while sniffing the air. After about seven seconds, she jumped off and said, ¡°There¡¯s a large one over there. You stay away from that area. I¡¯ll deal with it myself.¡±


    Finishing talking, she flashed across the air and disappeared, leaving Xie Dong and Shen Yujen glancing at each other.


    The invisible Lin Qiao quickly moved toward a tree. She accurately stepped on stones or trees, leaping toward the mountaintop.


    The trees that she stepped on only swayed slightly or barely moved. Soon, she quickly arrived at the mountaintop and found a giant pit.


    Standing by the seven-meter deep pit which had the diameter of about twenty meters, Lin Qiao saw about ten small holes on its edge, each having the diameter of around a meter.


    A strong, bloody, and sweet scent was coming from those holes.


    In the pit were countless snakes, coiling on each other.


    That was a snake nest!


    Lin Qiao turned her head to look around, then walked to a large stone which weighed about thirty kilograms, then raised a foot and kicked it forward.


    The stone slowly rolled to the edge of the pit, then fell straight in.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The stone fell to the bottom of the pit and killed countless snakes. The surviving snakes down there were stirred up, trying to wriggle out of the pit. However, Lin Qiao soon discovered that none of those snakes crawled into those holes. In fact, they all avoided those holes and tried to crawl out.

 415 Crazy Snake Eater

    Lin Qiao swallowed the snake gall, then turned back and accidentally noticed the look of the two zombies which were behind her. She paused briefly, then asked, "Eh? What''s with that look on your face? Didn''t you ever eat snakes? Why are you standing so far away? Get over here. They can''t hurt zombies. You won''t get poisoned even if they bite you."


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen both shook their heads.


    Xie Dong might not react like this if there were only one snake, but this area was actually covered by snakes¡­ He somehow felt that he had trypophobia.


    Xie Dong didn''t react strongly to those snakes. He was a man after all; he wasn''t frightened. At least, his fine hair didn''t stand up. Unlike him, Shen Yujen took a serious fright. She quickly hid herself behind Xie Dong and refused to come out.


    Neither of them expected that Lin Qiao would bring them to a forest which was filled with snakes! There were snakes everywhere!


    Also, Lin Qiao caught a snake and ate it alive right in front of them¡­


    Lin Qiao looked at them and said, "You won''t feel this way if you see these snakes as food." While speaking, she suddenly threw two woven bags at Xie Dong and Shen Yujen.


    "Being afraid won''t help you. Get over here and catch some snakes. We''ll bring them back for those humans to make soup."


    Xie Don took over the bags and looked at Lin Qiao, then at Shen Yujen who was behind him. The look on his face was weird.


    After throwing out the two bags, Lin Qiao began peeling the dead snake in her hand. Then, she tore off a piece of snake meat, put it in her mouth, and started chewing.


    The raw meat tasted tender. After turning into a zombie, Lin Qiao found that cooked meat tasted less fresh and tender than raw meat.


    Because Lin Qiao caught a large snake and ate it, the other snakes were all startled. They darted about to run away, in case they ended up like the snake in Lin Qiao''s hands. Meanwhile, the stunned Xie Dong and Shen Yujen watched Lin Qiao quickly eat up the arm-thick snake and turn it into bones.


    Lin Qiao threw away the bones, then sucked her fingers, turning to look for the next snake.


    As a result, she found that no snake existed in meters round anymore.


    With no other choice, she continued following the strong snake scent.


    Xie Dong sighed, then handed one of the bags to Shen Yujen, who took over the bag without knowing what to do.


    Did she really need to catch snakes? ''God! Let me die! I don''t want to catch snakes!''


    Lin Qiao sensed her emotions. Abruptly, she turned back to look at her and said, "Go and find a forked stick, make two parts of the fork as long as each other, and then you''ll be able to catch snakes with that. When you want to put a snake into the bag, you should grip its neck to pick it up."


    Xie Dong glanced at Shen Yujen, then at Lin Qiao. Shen Yujen closed her eyes and took a deep breath.


    "See this as a test for you. You need to get through it no matter how." After saying that, she turned around and kept looking for snakes.


    Xie Dong glanced at Shen Yujen with pity. Clearly, Lin Qiao didn''t want him to help her. He was planning to let Shen Yujen hold the bag while he caught the snakes and put them into it.


    But now, she was on her own.


    Lin Qiao followed the scent and moved forward by leaping and hopping. Suddenly, she grasped the tail of an arm-thick python and violently swung it off a tree.


    Clap!


    The meter-long large python which weighed over ten kilograms was thrown to the ground. The python was knocked out as a result, softly falling off her hands.


    Lin Qiao drank its blood, then cut it open and ate its internal organs. After that, she began eating its meat.


    Maybe because she hadn''t had any meat for quite a long time, she just couldn''t stop eating once she started. Watching her eat, the other two zombies felt creepy.


    While moving deeper into the forest, Lin Qiao had been catching and eating snakes the whole time. Xie Dong and Shen Yujen followed behind her and caught some snakes from time to time.


    At first, only Xie Dong was catching snakes while Shen Yujen didn''t dare to touch them.


    However, it was already an improvement, as she actually had the courage to walk among snakes. Lin Qiao didn''t rush her, but was secretly paying attention to her.


    Xie Dong picked the large snakes without being reminded by Lin Qiao. He didn''t use a forked stick, but his own hands. Also, his movements were quick and neat. After all, he had done some field training when he was in the army. Back then, it was normal for him and his army brothers to eat snakes and rats and all sorts of animals.


    Earlier on, he reacted slowly because he was a little shocked upon seeing so many snakes.


    Shen Yujen spent quite a while following behind Xie Dong, then finally adjusted herself to all those snakes and forced herself to adapt.


    After all, Lin Qiao wanted her to work for her. If she couldn''t even catch a snake, what could she possibly do for Lin Qiao?


    And just now, Lin Qiao said that this was a test for her, and that she must complete it by herself.


    Lin Qiao caught seven to eight arm-thick snakes in a row and ate them all. After that, she turned back to find that Xie Dong had already filled a small half of his bag with snakes, while Shen Yujen only had two.


    ''Good, good, she''s making some progress. It''s already not bad for her to catch even one snake!'' thought Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao ate so many snakes in a row before she finally stopped. Both Xie Dong and Shen Yujen eyed her with a strange look.


    ''You finally finished. You crazy snake eater! You''ve eaten all the large ones, and only left the small ones for us to catch. These aren''t enough for making soup.''


    An hour later, almost all the snakes in the forest were driven away by Lin Qiao.


    She sniffed around, then nimbly climbed onto a tree nearby to carefully sense the surrounding area while sniffing the air. After about seven seconds, she jumped off and said, "There''s a large one over there. You stay away from that area. I''ll deal with it myself."


    Finishing talking, she flashed across the air and disappeared, leaving Xie Dong and Shen Yujen glancing at each other.


    The invisible Lin Qiao quickly moved toward a tree. She accurately stepped on stones or trees, leaping toward the mountaintop.


    The trees that she stepped on only swayed slightly or barely moved. Soon, she quickly arrived at the mountaintop and found a giant pit.


    Standing by the seven-meter deep pit which had the diameter of about twenty meters, Lin Qiao saw about ten small holes on its edge, each having the diameter of around a meter.


    A strong, bloody, and sweet scent was coming from those holes.


    In the pit were countless snakes, coiling on each other.


    That was a snake nest!


    Lin Qiao turned her head to look around, then walked to a large stone which weighed about thirty kilograms, then raised a foot and kicked it forward.


    The stone slowly rolled to the edge of the pit, then fell straight in.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The stone fell to the bottom of the pit and killed countless snakes. The surviving snakes down there were stirred up, trying to wriggle out of the pit. However, Lin Qiao soon discovered that none of those snakes crawled into those holes. In fact, they all avoided those holes and tried to crawl out.

 416 Another Giant Snake

    Lin Qiao squatted by the pit and watched all those snakes darting about. There might not be other animals in this mountain area, but the population of snakes was enormous!


    Most of those snakes were poisonous.


    A great number of snakes were wriggling out of the pit, but many stayed at the bottom.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and released a stream of black mist from her palm. The black mist grew thicker and larger from her palm, drifting down to the bottom of the pit.


    Soon, the mist touched some snakes which all melted or vanished directly. Some snakes only had small parts of their bodies touched by the black mist, and the effect of the mist spread from those parts.


    Some snakes had their tails swallowed by the mist. After that, the rest of their bodies disappeared as well, bit by bit. Some snakes had the mist touch the middle of their bodies. As a result, their bodies vanished slowly toward both ends.


    Not a single snake survived the black mist.


    The snakes in the pit had just quieted down a little from the chaos brought by the stone, but under the effect of the black mist, they were agitated again. Lin Qiao''s black mist slowly covered all the snakes which didn''t manage to get out of the pit, then split up and drilled into those holes.


    She sent endless black mist into those holes. As the large ones refused to come out, she wouldn''t stop sending black mist into those holes.


    At that moment, a voice was suddenly heard from her head, ''Mama, Mama¡­ I smelled a delicious energy source¡­ Mama, are you hunting some kind of mutant animal?''


    Lin Qiao paused in shock. Viney had become an oosperm, yet she just couldn''t stay quiet and always talked!


    Lin Qiao made herself visible, then stood up and said, "You''re in my belly. How can you smell the energy source?"


    Viney responded well, ''Well¡­ I sensed it then¡­ I can feel it anyway¡­''


    "Alright. I''m trying to catch a snake," said Lin Qiao, "Why didn''t I sense an energy source? I only sensed a nice smell of meat."


    ''Mama, get the snake, get the snake!'' said Viney happily, ''When you get it, can you put the energy nucleus on your belly?''


    Lin Qiao was surprised. Put it on her belly? Shouldn''t she just eat it?


    She glanced down at her own belly with a strange look, then asked, "Put on my belly? Can''t I just eat it?"


    In fact, she always knew that she was able to absorb energy nuclei by eating them. Earlier, she absorbed some zombie nuclei with her hand because those used to be in zombie brains, and she didn''t want to eat them.


    As for the energy nuclei of mutant animals and plants, she had no problem eating them.


    ''Mama, you''ll get choked up if you eat it! You''re a zombie¡­ Isn''t it weird for a zombie to get choked up? Haha¡­'' said Viney.


    Lin Qiao didn''t respond.


    ''She actually laughed at me. Why is she getting bolder and bolder? Earlier on, she entrapped Wu Chengyue and me, and just now, she teased me!''


    Before Lin Qiao replied, Viney stopped laughing and continued, ''Mama, I''ll be able to absorb more of the energy if you put the nucleus on your belly. If you ate it or absorb the energy first, I''ll only get a small amount of energy. I can''t grow without energy sources¡­ Mama, do you want me to stay in your belly for years?''


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    ''You are not Nezha!''


    "Alright, alright, I get it! You have already become an embryo, so how can you still talk?"


    Viney responded, ''Yeah, I can only talk to Mama, but not for a long time. Alright, I''m tired. Mama, don''t forget to put the nucleus on your belly¡­''


    Lin Qiao suddenly realized that based on what Viney had just said, she needed a certain amount of energy to develop. So, how much energy did she need?


    "Wait a minute! How much energy do you need to absorb before you can come out of my body?" she asked hurriedly.


    Viney''s voice was heard after quite a while, ''Em¡­ I''m not sure either. It depends¡­''


    Depends? Lin Qiao was stunned a little. If she didn''t know about this, she might not give Viney any energy. If that were the case, would Viney stay in her belly for three or even five years?


    ''Oh my! What the hell? I don''t want to bear a child who''s like Nezha!''


    Thinking about that, Lin Qiao was not comfortable. Thankfully, Viney had told her about that. If she didn''t, when would Lin Qiao actually give birth to her? Lin Qiao thought that Viney had become like a normal human fetus that would come out in just nine months.


    However, she thought for a moment and then understood why. She was a zombie. Even though she now looked almost the same as human beings, she was still a zombie. Her blood had started flowing very slowly in her body, but it was flowing in the opposite direction.


    Her blood had been flowing into her heart from her left atrium, then coming out of the right atrium.


    She didn''t know how her heart worked. The only thing sure was that she was not the same as the other zombies, because the blood of normal zombies would not flow.


    Although her blood had started to flow through her heart, her heart was still not beating.


    Her body was in a weird state.


    She didn''t even know what she was now. Half-human and half-zombie?


    As Lin Qiao was feeling a little confused, a slight buzzing noise was suddenly heard from the pit.


    She immediately diverted her attention from Viney and focused on the holes down there.


    Before long, her black mist was stirred, and a giant snake swished out.


    It was an enormous snake. It wriggled swiftly under the black mist, its dark and shiny scales partially visible.


    Hiss¡­ Hiss¡­


    Lin Qiao heard the sound it made, like heavy breathing.


    She raised her hand to called back the black mist, then fixed her eyes on the snake. It was a huge king cobra!


    Hiss¡­ Hiss¡­ The king cobra was even thicker than Lin Qiao''s waist. It coiled on the bottom of the pit and looked like a tiny pyramid while its banana-leaf-shaped head was raised high.


    It glared at Lin Qiao with a pair of beady and fierce eyes. On its coiled body, many of its strong scales had been burnt.


    Those scales were corroded by Lin Qiao''s black mist.


    The snake had a very strong vibe. It stared at Lin Qiao coldly without showing any sign of escaping or attacking.


    Lin Qiao observed the snake. It was much larger than the snake that she had caught the last time.


    Lin Qiao''s mist was actually not very harmful to this king cobra. Earlier on, the mist which flowed into those holes touched its scales, but had only been melting them very slowly.


    The scales which had been touched by the mist had become like coke, but not broken or fallen off. Nezha (ÄÄ߸) is a protection deity in Chinese folk religion. His official Taoist name is ''Marshal of the Central Altar''. He was then given the title ''Third Lotus Prince'' after he became a deity. His mother was pregnant with him for three years.

 417 The Intense Fight of a Zombie, Dog, and Snake

    By the look of this king cobra, it was at least twenty meters long. It looked like a small hill, almost filling the pit up by coiling in it.


    Lin Qiao was curious about what the king cobra fed on that allowed it to grow so large. Also, she felt that mutant snakes were quite often seen after the apocalypse.


    Seeing all those smaller snakes around this place, Lin Qiao figured that it might be living on other snakes. She knew that large snakes would eat small snakes sometimes, as long as those small snakes were from different families.


    She stared at that huge snake, wondering how many snakes it had to eat for one meal to fulfill its stomach.


    Hiss! The king cobra reared up its head to gaze at Lin Qiao aggressively, with its half-meter-long forked tongue darting out from time to time.


    Lin Qiao flicked her claws. It seemed that only powerful physical attacks could hurt this snake. The black mist had failed to destroy its skin and scales, so she had to use her claws to break its scales.


    As she prepared to jump into the pit to fight the black king cobra, she suddenly recalled that Viney had warned her about not fighting too intensely.


    Thinking about that, she paused all of a sudden.


    No intense close combat? How was she supposed to fight this battle then?


    Sneak attack seemed to be the only option left.


    Thinking of sneak attack, Lin Qiao suddenly had an idea. She had a dog in her space! She decided to bring out the dog and let it fight the snake, then find an opportunity to launch a sneak attack!


    So, she immediately flashed into her space.


    As Lin Qiao suddenly disappeared and her vibe was gone, the king cobra was puzzled for a second, and then began looking all around watchfully.


    It carefully scanned the surrounding area for a couple of times, but still didn''t see a trace of Lin Qiao. By that time, the king cobra had lowered its raised head and buried it in its coiled body, only exposing its eyes and jaws.


    Lin Qiao entered her space and directly showed up next to the zombie dog.


    "Awooo¡­" The zombie dog sprung up from the ground as it was startled by the suddenly appearing Lin Qiao. It hopped to the other side and bared its teeth to Lin Qiao while uttering unhappy roars.


    "Er¡­ er¡­"


    Lin Qiao rested her hands on her waist and said, "Oi, oi, are you mad at me now? Do you want to be beaten up? I was going to let you out and have some fun, yet how dare you roar at me like that! Don''t you want to go out?"


    She glanced at that water bowl and found that it was already emptied. The water in it had been drunk up, and not even a drop splashed out.


    Hearing her words, the zombie dog paused for a second, then stared at her with glowing eyes. Next, it lowered its head and wagged its tail while approaching her.


    "Awooo¡­ Awo¡­" ''I''ve been chained in this place for a very long time. You didn''t let me go, didn''t give me any food either. You only gave me a bowl of water¡­ That is very inhuman¡­ You''re abusing a dog!''


    Lin Qiao looked at the dog and laughed, "Do you still remember that you''re a dog? Do you remember that you''ve already died, and that you''re a dead dog now?"


    "Roar¡­ bow-wow¡­" The zombie dog hopped toward her and let out strange barks.


    Being chained up was so horrible. It wasn''t able to go anywhere. All it could do was to circle around this tree. By doing that, it wrapped the vine all on the tree, and as a result, it couldn''t even move for a while. After that, it circled in the opposite direction to free itself.


    Many bite marks were left on the tree, but the tree was barely harmed. That meant that the dog couldn''t even bite into the tree!


    Just now, hearing Lin Qiao talk about letting it out, the dog was surely excited. So now, as Lin Qiao seemed to go back on her word, the zombie dog hurriedly tried to show a good attitude to her.


    "I''ll let you out and play," said Lin Qiao, "But, if you run away, I''ll catch you and beat you to death. Do you understand that? I won''t even give you the water! Do you get it?"


    "Roar¡­" Hearing about no water, the zombie dog began complaining. That water was great, and provided it energy! The water was able to boost the dog''s energy, and it also made it feel comfortable. After drinking that water, the dog felt as if its entire body was comforted. It couldn''t forget that feeling.


    "Follow me if you want more of that water," said Lin Qiao.


    "Roar!" The zombie dog nodded quickly. In fact, it was willing to follow Lin Qiao now for a few reasons.


    First, Lin Qiao had that magical water; second, she was able to communicate with it. It hadn''t really communicated with other animals or zombies before, so it was quite lonely. It was pretty miraculous that Lin Qiao and the dog were able to understand each other. And third, Lin Qiao was powerful; so the dog figured that staying with her would lead to a good life!


    As the dog agreed without hesitation, Lin Qiao walked to the tree and untied it. After that, she held the vine and brought the dog out of the space.


    Once Lin Qiao and the dog showed up, the king cobra which had been staying on alert immediately fixed its eyes on her. To the snake''s surprise, a dog was standing beside her.


    In fact, the scent of zombies was not attractive to the king cobra at all. However, the strong pressure from Lin Qiao''s powerful vibe gave it no other choice but to stay vigilant.


    Lin Qiao had no idea which level that king cobra was at. Judging by the fact that even her black mist could barely hurt it, she guessed that the snake was at level-five at least.


    "Roar!" The zombie dog raised its head and gave a howl of excitement once it came out. And then, it was immediately attracted by the scent of the king cobra.


    Normal zombies wouldn''t eat animals, but zombie beasts would. Most of them lived on raw meat before death, so after turning into zombies, they still fed on animals. They ate mutated animals as well, even though those tasted not as good as unmutated animals.


    Therefore, the zombie dog was interested in the mutated king cobra once it spotted it.


    Lin Qiao watched it slightly bend its forelimbs and gaze at the mutated snake in the pit.


    "Go, bite it!" While speaking, Lin Qiao let go of the vine in her hand, and then the zombie dog darted down into the pit.


    After that, Lin Qiao disappeared again.


    "Hiss!" The king cobra widely opened its jaws toward the zombie dog and popped its fangs as the latter rushed down. But, the zombie dog wasn''t afraid of its fangs. It pounced on the snake''s coiled body which looked like a small hill, then bared its sharp teeth and bit.


    When it bit the snake, the snake''s fangs sank into its body as well. A large amount of venom was injected into the dog''s body, yet did not manage to hurt it.


    "Errr¡­" The zombie dog growled with a deep voice while violently pulling the snake outward. The snake''s body was soon uncoiled.


    Hiss!


    The zombie dog couldn''t feel pain, yet the snake could. It didn''t expect its strong scales to break under the dog''s teeth. The sharp dog teeth pierced into the snake''s body and tore it, making the giant snake struggle in pain.


    The zombie dog tried to drag the snake out of the pit.


    Right at that moment, Lin Qiao, who had been waiting for an opportunity, swung her sharp claws at the king cobra''s stomach, which was accidentally exposed because of the pain.


    Puff!


    As she expected, the scales on the king cobra''s stomach were relatively soft. Her claws broke the skin on the snake''s stomach and left a few long wounds.

 418 The Poor Giant Snake

    "Geeee¡­" The mutated snaked suddenly gave a weird scream. Its scream wasn''t loud, but was very shrill. In the meantime, its body twisted because of the pain.


    Lin Qiao moved away from it once her attack worked.


    "Roarrrr¡­" The zombie dog didn''t let go of the king cobra. It had bitten into the snake''s body, but failed to tear off a piece. On the contrary, it got coiled by the snake pretty tightly when the latter struggled in pain.


    Lin Qiao looked at the zombie dog which was disabled from moving in just the first round.


    ''You''re a level-five zombie dog. How can you lose the fight so quickly? Don''t you know how to hide? Was your brain damaged when you turned into a zombie dog from a dead dog?'' she thought.


    Just when she thought that the zombie dog would be distorted by the king cobra, she suddenly saw a red light sparkle in the dog''s mouth. As the red light grew brighter and brighter, the king cobra quickly relaxed its grip on the dog and moved away, as if it got burned.


    Lin Qiao looked closely, then figured out what happened. Just now, the king cobra exposed its wounds to the zombie dog when it tried to coil the latter tightly. As a result, the zombie dog opened its mouth to release a fire, and gave it a greater pain that made it quickly uncoil itself from the dog.


    ''The dog is a strong fighter,'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Realizing that the dog was able to fight the snake for a while, Lin Qiao stood aside and watched without doing anything else.


    The dog had a couple of rib bones squeezed broken by the king cobra, but it didn''t really mind, as those broken ribs could hardly affect it.


    It immediately followed the king cobra and pounced on it.


    The zombie dog was aware that the king cobra could barely hurt it, so it began attacking it crazily without putting up any defense.


    Lin Qiao stood beside the pit, watching the dog chase and bite the snake. The dog was occasionally sent flying away by the snake''s tail, but it soon sprung up and charged again.


    After being bitten by a few times, the snake was frightened of the dog.


    Those bite wounds weren''t lethal to the snake, but they hurt like hell. The snake started trying to get out of the pit. It didn''t dare to go back into those holes, as Lin Qiao''s black mist still lingered in there.


    Earlier on when it wasn''t wounded, its scales were corroded by the dark mist. But now, as it was covered in wounds, the black mist would directly drill its wounds and burn its blood and flesh.


    The snake didn''t know about all that clearly, but it was subconsciously aware that going in those holes would be even more dangerous.


    Therefore, it chose to run toward the outside.


    However, the zombie dog followed closely behind. The dog bit on its tail and back to drag it down, and never gave it one chance to run. The zombie dog was swift and nimble. It hopped around to chase the king cobra without missing any chance to give it a bite.


    So, the king cobra was suffering pain, itch, panic, and helplessness. It darted all over the pit; it tried to get out, but ended up being dragged back down; it turned back to bite the zombie dog, yet the latter dodged. Its attack failed to even land on the dog''s body.


    Soon, the king cobra was exhausted. It couldn''t even crawl as quickly as it used to, and it was no longer able to dodge nimbly. However, the zombie dog was still attacking it energetically.


    After standing by the pit and watching for half an hour, Lin Qiao finally witnessed the end of this fight.


    The giant snake lay weakly in the pit, curled up. It exposed its back which was the strongest part of its body in the air, with its head and stomach buried inside. No matter how violently the zombie dog attacked, it wouldn''t fight back. It had given up on resisting.


    Lin Qiao jumped into the pit and gave the zombie dog which wouldn''t relax its bite on the snake a gentle kick.


    "Alright, get up. Don''t you see that it''s already too weak to fight back?"


    "Roar¡­" The zombie dog released the snake reluctantly, then sat down and raised its head to look at Lin Qiao.


    ''I didn''t get to eat any meat yet!''


    Its teeth were sharp enough to pierce through the snake''s scales, but it didn''t manage to tear off a single piece of snake meat. That made it a little upset.


    Lin Qiao popped her claws and said, "Do you want some?"


    The zombie dog''s claws and teeth couldn''t cut the snake open, but Lin Qiao''s claws could.


    Seeing her claws, the zombie dog''s ink-dark eyes glowed, fixed on her with anticipation.


    Lin Qiao took two small steps backward, then raised her claws and prepared to swing her arm at the giant snake. But suddenly, she saw the snake''s eyes through a small slit between its coiled body.


    Despair, sadness, fear, anger¡­ A mixed emotion was expressed from those eyes.


    Lin Qiao was stunned slightly, and her arm froze in the air.


    Those eyes told her that the snake did nothing wrong. Why would she kill it? It was staying in its underground nest without offending anyone. Why would it be killed.


    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao was surprised. Earlier, the snake confronted her calmly without showing any emotion; but now, she suddenly found out that it actually had feelings.


    It understood that it was going to die. It wasn''t frenzied by despair, but curled up to try and protect itself with its last strength.


    The snake that Lin Qiao caught the last time was frenzied in the beginning.


    Seeing the snake''s sad and despairing eyes, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but get soft-hearted.


    She dropped her arm and walked to the snake, then reached out a hand and pressed her palm on the giant snake''s broken skin.


    The snake flinched, but didn''t try to dodge.


    Once Lin Qiao touched its body, she was overwhelmed by sadness. She stayed silent for five or six seconds, then took her hand back.


    Why did she fell that she was bullying a weak being? Why was she suffering that guilt now? Was it because this snake knew how to act pitifully?


    She took two steps backward. The zombie dog looked at her confusedly.


    ''Aren''t you going to cut the meat?'' it wondered.


    Lin Qiao lowered her head and said to the zombie dog, "We''re not going to eat it. It''s already a poor thing, as we suddenly injured it so badly. If we ate it, it''d be even more pitiful."


    ''What does pitiful mean?'' The zombie dog looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Qiao felt quite speechless about the fact that she was talking to a dead dog about that. She thought for a second, then picked up the vine to drag the dog out of the pit. Meanwhile, she reached an arm backward.


    The black mist which had been lingering in those small holes was taken back by her. Streams of mist flowed out of those small holes and into Lin Qiao''s palm.


    Seeing Lin Qiao step back, the snake''s rhombic eyes showed confusion as well.


    Lin Qiao gave up on killing the snake, but the zombie dog refused to accept it as a result.


    "Awooo¡­" It quickly stood up and lowered its head while uttering deep growls toward the snake. Meanwhile, it kicked its limbs backward, sending the sand and earth behind.

 419 Why Canst You Keep Other Animals?

    The zombie dog was unhappy. It fought that snake so hard, having defeated it and getting prepared to eat it. But, why on earth was Lin Qiao letting the snake go? The dog didn''t understand!


    "Clearly, I brought you out only to let you have some fun," said Lin Qiao, "I make the decision about whether we''re going to eat it or not. If you want meat, we''ll catch some other snakes."


    "Awoo¡­ Awo¡­" The zombie dog was still pawing at the ground and letting out unhappy grows.


    Lin Qiao kicked on it''s a*s and said impatiently, "Why''re you howling? You can''t eat it, because I say so. Let''s go!"


    While speaking, she violently dragged the dog up.


    The zombie dog followed her out of the pit very reluctantly while turning back again and again to look at the snake which was still at the bottom of the pit. As Lin Qiao and the dog left, the snake slightly relaxed its tightly coiled body and raised its head to watch Lin Qiao drag the zombie dog away. It was greatly confused.


    Quite a while later, the king coil uncoiled itself and quietly crawled to the edge of the pit, sneakily sticking its head out of the pit to observe the surrounding area. After making sure that Lin Qiao was really gone, it suddenly rolled back down and darted into the nearest small hole.


    Lin Qiao came downhill and saw Xie Dong and Shen Yujen staying where they were. The bags in their hands had been squirming. Clearly, they had each caught quite some snakes.


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen both fixed their eyes on the huge zombie dog which was leashed by Lin Qiao. The dog looked entirely rotten, covered in dirty blood; and its body was weirdly distorted.


    They had both seen zombie beasts, which were like zombies. No matter how horribly their bodies were damaged, they were able to move flexibly and bite people like zombies as long as their brains were good.


    Unlike normal zombies, zombie beasts were fast and nimble. They were agile, traceless, and hard to put up a defense against. They were also strong, and their attacks were highly lethal.


    Therefore, Xie Dong and his old teammates would rather encounter zombies than zombie beasts when they left the base for missions. Even mutated animals were better than zombie beasts, as the former wouldn''t attack people actively.


    Zombie beasts would excitedly charge at all human beings they saw like dung beetles that had smelled dung.


    Looking at the awfully distorted, extremely ugly zombie dog, Xie Dong felt that Lin Qiao had such a weird hobby.


    ''I understand that you want to have a pet, but can''t you have a pretty and adorable one? Well, it''d be okay if you don''t like pretty and adorable animals, but please, at least find a normal creature, alright? Why do you have this zombie dog? Its skin is wrinkled, its chest is hollowed, it''s covered in rotten wounds, and its mouth is cracked!''


    Lin Qiao conveniently dragged a thumb-thick snake off a branch nearby and threw it at the zombie dog''s mouth.


    "Here, don''t you want a snake? Eat it."


    "Pah!" The zombie dog automatically spat the small snake out with a strong dislike. How could such an energy-less snake be compared with that giant, high-leveled one? That one smelled way better.


    Seeing the surprised look on the faces of Xie Dong and Shen Yujen, Lin Qiao said to them, "Look, isn''t it cool?"


    Shen Yujen and Xie Dong both shook their heads. They just could not understand how this terribly ugly zombie dog was cool.


    Lin Qiao laughed and continued, "You don''t understand. It''ll become gorgeous when I slowly fix its body."


    Xie Dong paused briefly, while Shen Yujen looked at him confusedly with puzzles in her eyes. Xie Dong knew about the miraculous healing power of Lin Qiao''s magical lake water. Thus, he observed the zombie dog once again. Judging by the shape of its head, it used to be a wolf dog before it turned into a zombie dog.


    He pictured how the zombie dog would look like after its skin and fur were fixed. Its sticky fur would become smooth and shiny; when the wounds on its head were healed, it would have a pair of standing ears and sharp eyes. It would be huge and healthy, with strong limbs and sharp teeth.


    Its large and fluffy tail would be wagging. Indeed, it would look much more gorgeous than now.


    However, what Lin Qiao said next broke his imagination.


    "But, don''t you think that it looks like Cerberus from the legend?If only it had three heads¡­"


    Xie Dong didn''t know how to respond.


    ''That would be a monster!''


    When Lin Qiao approached with the zombie dog, Shen Yujen had already drawn back to the side. The zombie dog was so hideous and scary.


    Watching the two''s reactions, Lin Qiao said, "What are you afraid of? You''re zombies, so it won''t attack you."


    She glanced at their bags, then continued, "Alright, we''ve gotten enough snakes. Now, let''s go and try to find some farmlands."


    After saying that, she dragged the zombie dog out of the woods.


    On the highway, she let out a vehicle.


    "Hop on," she patted the car roof and said to the zombie dog, which dog looked at her with confusion.


    "Get up, or I''ll send you back to the woods. Do you like that?" Lin Qiao continued.


    "Awooo¡­" the zombie dog didn''t want that, so it hurriedly leaped onto the car roof.


    Lin Qiao dropped the vine, then abruptly released a stream of black mist from her other palm. Next, she raised her head and said to the dog, "You stay up here by yourself. If you run, I won''t stop you, but devour you. You know what to do."


    The black mist drifted up to the car roof and surrounded the zombie dog.


    "Awooo¡­" As the dark mist was so close to it, the zombie dog immediately dropped its ears and lied on the car roof. That mist made it feel very, very afraid, and Lin Qiao had threatened it. The zombie dog knew how powerful she was, and was aware that it would never be able to run away from her.


    Also, it had sensed an even stronger vibe than Lin Qiao. It didn''t know who owned that vibe. If it took off, it might encounter the owner of that powerful vibe. Would it be killed by that mysterious being?


    The smart zombie dog was actually afraid of death like many other creatures. It would have a sense of crisis under absolute suppression. So, it now suddenly felt that staying around Lin Qiao was actually safe.


    As the dog became quiet and motionless, Lin Qiao opened the car door and sat into the driver''s seat. Meanwhile, Xie Dong and Shen Yujen tied up their bags tightly and threw them into the trunk, then got into the backseat.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while waiting for Qiu Lili, but the latter didn''t show up. She figured that Qiu Lili didn''t want to take a ride, so she started the car and drove toward Mount Wu.


    After a few turns, she saw a plain area covered in grasses. From those grasses, she surprisingly sensed a sweet smell which belonged to sweetcorn and sweet potatoes.


    She parked the car by the plain, then came out to carefully observe this piece of land. As she expected, she found some sweet potato leaves from the grasses, and some other plants, such as sweetcorn.


    That was the source of the sweet scent which she had sensed. However, the sweetcorn plants were rarely found, while lots of sweet potato plants were seen. Cerberus was the watchdog of the Underworld, the brother of Hydra and Chimaera.

 420 The Sweet Potato And Sweetcorn Field

    Lin Qiao walked into the field and was surprised to find that except for all sorts of unknown grasses, only sweet potato and sweetcorn were growing in this land. The sweet potato plants had occupied about three acres, and were incredibly thriving.


    The grasses and sweet potato plants were overgrowing while the sweetcorn plants were scattered sparsely among them.


    What surprised Lin Qiao was that the sweet potato plants were deeply infected by the zombie virus, while the sweetcorn plants were not. That was the reason why she sensed the sweet scent of the corn. However, that scent was only attractive for human beings, not for her as a zombie.


    But still, she was able to recognize that sweet scent.


    She stepped on sweet potato leaves and walked toward a sweetcorn plant. She broke off a corn cob, then peeled it and exposed the yellow corns.


    Once she did that, the sweet scent grew even stronger. She looked at it, then put it into her mouth and took a bite.


    She chewed and swallowed it, feeling like eating plastic. It was tasteless.


    She gave a glance to the corn cob which was bitten by her, then threw it away. She wouldn''t eat it if she knew that it tasted awful. And now that she had bitten it, she guessed that the corn cob was already covered in the virus.


    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao suddenly had a question.


    Last time, she and Wu Chengyue were entrapped by Viney and had sex. During that process, Wu Chengyue had kissed her for more than just one time, and even stirred in her mouth with his tongue. What a lecher!


    She wondered if Wu Chengyue was infected by the virus from her mouth. Or, was he immune to the virus because he was surrounded by Viney''s energy at that moment?


    Wu Chengyue made intimate contact with a zombie, but wasn''t harmed at all. On the contrary, the zombie was raped and got pregnant¡­ Well, although it was planned by Viney, Lin Qiao was still unhappy about that. In fact, the more she thought about that, the more upset she felt.


    ''Viney was born to bring me troubles!'' she thought.


    She had a feeling that if she ever saw Wu Chengyue again, she would fall into a deeper trap. Viney seemed to like Wu Yueling very much. Even though she liked Wu Yueling herself as well, she wouldn''t want to be with Wu Chengyue because of the little girl. Unlike her, Viney had accepted Wu Chenyue because of Wu Yueling, so she sold her mother to the little one! Lin Qiao had this bad feeling, so she decided to stay away from Wu Chengyue, far away!


    Nevertheless, she had no idea that Wu Chengyue was coming at her.


    She got rid of all those thoughts, then began observing those sweet potato leaves. She felt that those leaves were protecting those sweetcorn plants. They absorbed all the virus, so the sweet corn plants could grow like before the apocalypse.


    A small part of those sweet potato leaves around the sweetcorn plants weren''t infected either, but those were rare and hard to discover.


    Normal people would try to keep away from such a large number of mutated sweet potato plants once they spotted them.


    Lin Qiao looked closely at those dark-purple sweet potato leaves which were supposed to be green, thinking that it would cost a great effort to clean them off from this field.


    There were about three acres of them. Human beings couldn''t touch these mutated plants, so this field needed to be cleaned by zombies.


    Zombies¡­ zombies¡­


    Lin Qiao suddenly felt that her zombie squad was short-handed again!


    But fortunately, she had her superpowers that allowed her to directly vanish all those mutated sweet potato leaves.


    The sweetcorn cob which was bitten by her and thrown to the ground had entirely turned black. She couldn''t tell if it was because of her bite or because it was thrown onto those mutated sweet potato leaves.


    She stood beside that sweetcorn plant and looked at the other sweetcorn plants. Some of them had one or two corncobs each, and some hadn''t had any yet.


    She counted all sweetcorn plants and got a number less than a hundred.


    However, every sweetcorn plant was surrounded by two or three uninfected sweet potato plants, meaning that about three-hundred virus-free sweet potato plants were growing in this field. Once the mutated sweet potato plants were cleaned out, more healthy sweet potato plants might grow out.


    Sweet potato had strong vitality, and was perfectly viable. So, as long as the soil was secured from the zombie virus, this place would become a thriving sweet potato field in just a couple of months.


    At that moment, the zombie dog suddenly jumped off the car roof and rushed at Lin Qiao.


    "Stop! Don''t step on these plants! If you ruin my sweetcorn and sweet potato, I''ll kick you''re a*s! I''m telling you!" Lin Qiao turned around and yelled at the zombie dog which was darting toward her.


    "Awoo¡­" The zombie dog hurriedly stopped running and paused in a bush of mutated sweet potato leaves.


    Those mutated sweet potato plants were tall and flourishing, reaching Lin Qiao''s knees in height. Once the zombie dog came down into the field, its limbs were buried in sweet potato leaves.


    Lin Qiao walked over and stood by its side, then pointed at a sweetcorn plant and said, "Look, this tall kind of plant, don''t touch it, not even a little bit. Don''t even approach it¡­ do you understand?"


    The zombie dog curiously reached its head forward to sniff at the plant, then made two steps toward it.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly shouted at it, "Don''t move! I just told you not to get close to it! Do you want some a*s-kicking? Huh?"


    The zombie dog stopped moving, then turned to look at her confusedly.


    Lin Qiao walked to it and raised a hand to pat its head. However, she stopped upon seeing the awful wounds on its head. She sighed, then pointed at some mutated sweet potato plants and said, "Go this way, go!"


    While speaking, she gently kicked the zombie dog on an unwounded area of its body. This time, the zombie dog seemed to understand her meaning, as it quickly moved toward those mutated sweet potato plants.


    The zombie dog made a few steps, then turned back to glance at Lin Qiao. As Lin Qiao didn''t yell at it, it kept moving. Every time it got close to a sweetcorn plant, Lin Qiao would shout at it.


    So gradually, the zombie dog learned to avoid all sweetcorn plants.


    As Lin Qiao stopped paying attention to it, the zombie dog began running about wildly in the mutated sweet potato field. It leaped toward the small hill in front of the field like a giant rabbit. With one hop, it could cover two or three meters.


    Lin Qiao let the dog do whatever it wanted after it had learned to avoid the sweetcorn plants.


    She knew what it was looking for, because she had sensed the scent of large rats from that hill.


    She was surprised to find that some rats existed in this area.


    She thought for a moment, then followed behind the zombie dog.


    By the roadside, Xie Dong and Shen Yujen were both staring at the zombie dog which was happily running in the field. They wore a strange expression, as they still couldn''t accept the fact that Lin Qiao kept this dog as a pet. However, judging by the way Lin Qiao communicated with the dog, it was rather obedient.


    But of course, it would only follow Lin Qiao''s words. As for other people''s words¡­


    Well, that should be impossible. Who else could make a zombie dog obedient? Xie Dong guessed that no one but Lin Qiao had that ability.

 421 Clean The Sweet Potato Field

    Lin Qiao followed the zombie dog through the sweet potato field. There was a small hill nearby, covered in vines and thorns, with no path to take. However, in the eyes of the zombie dog, that was not a problem. It easily got through by lowering its head and darting into the woods, or leaping high. Soon, it disappeared without a trace.


    Lin Qiao followed behind it, watching it excitedly lunge into the woods. She didn''t get in, but stayed around the sweet potato field and observed.


    After spending a while watching, she hopped onto a meter-tall stone nearby, then waved a hand to release a stream of dark mist. The mist divided into a few wisps and scattered before sinking into different parts of the sweet potato field.


    Each wisp of dark mist immediately created a hole in the sweet potato field, which slowly expanded. Maybe because Lin Qiao didn''t release enough dark mist, the sweet potato plants had been vanishing quite slowly. The further those holes expanded, the slower those sweet potato plants disappeared.


    Soon, a few two-meters-wide holes appeared in the mutated sweet potato filed. The sweet potato plants in the hole areas had been devoured, and the soil was exposed.


    All this while, Lin Qiao didn''t let the smoke touch any sweetcorn plant.


    As those devoured areas were about two-meters in diameter, she started making a more detailed plan.


    At first, she cleaned out all the sweet potato plants in other parts of the sweet potato field, then cleaned the ones near the stone that she was standing on bit by bit. She did it with extra care to avoid those sweetcorn plants and healthy sweet potato plants.


    Before long, all the thriving mutated sweet potato plants were swept out by Lin Qiao, including the vines; the large, clean earth was exposed.


    However, the soil wasn''t good enough, which was something Lin Qiao could tell by smelling it.


    A while later, some noises were heard from the woods in the behind. Following the noises, the zombie dog darted out.


    It was holding something in its mouth. Seeing the bared soil, it was puzzled for a moment, and its'' dog face was filled with confusion.


    It remembered that this place had lots of plants, and it had leaped through them. Why were those plants suddenly gone?


    The zombie dog confusedly stopped by the stone that Lin Qiao was standing on. Lin Qiao lowered her head to look at it, and found that the thing in its mouth was struggling.


    Squeak!


    Lin Qiao felt a little speechless upon seeing the rabbit-sized squirrel in the dog''s mouth.


    What happened to the animals after the apocalypse? Had they been taking growth hormones? Why were they all so large?


    The squirrel was large indeed, but not too large for the zombie dog''s mouth. The dog''s teeth sank deeply into its body and held it firmly.


    No matter how hard the large squirrel struggled and how quickly its fluffy big tail wagget, it wasn''t able to free itself from the dog''s mouth.


    "Whooo¡­" The zombie dog held the squirrel in its mouththen , reared up its head to look at Lin Qiao. However, it didn''t seem to offer the squirrel to Lin Qiao, but instead, it was asking for Lin Qiao''s permission.


    "Alright, that''s your prey, you eat it alone. I won''t fight you over it," Lin Qiao glanced at it and said impatiently.


    After getting her permission, the zombie dog happily brought the squirrel to a clearing, then lied down and pressed the squirrel with its forepaws before relaxing its bite.


    After that, it gave a few glances at the squirrel which was struggling desperately under its claw, then suddenly opened its mouth and bite on its fist-sized head.


    Crack! The squirrel''s neck bone was bitten broken by the zombie dog. The dog held the squirrel''s head in its mouth and pressed the squirrel body with its paws, then pulled the head off.


    The dead squirrel''s skin and muscles were stretched long before breaking off, and then its blood gushed out.


    The zombie dog chewed up the squirrel''s head loudly.


    Its teeth were sharp and strong. Chewing that squirrel head up only took the dog a few seconds. After that, it swallowed the squirrel head and licked its teeth. Then, it lowered its head to eat the squirrel''s body.


    The cute red squirrel which had watery eyes and big fluffy tail became a meal for the zombie dog just like that.


    As the dog was enjoying its food, Lin Qiao glanced back at the woods behind and found that quite a lot rodents were living there. She guessed that those animals were all living on those mutated sweet potato plants in this area.


    She had erased the parts of those sweet potato plants which were exposed in the air with her black mist. That was as easy as wiping out foam. However, the sweet potatoes in the soil hadn''t been cleaned out. Those needed to be dug out, or some earth-powered people might be able to turn up the soil to dig out those sweet potatoes and throw them away.


    Those were mutated, not edible anyway.


    Maybe because this sweet potato field was thriving, the rodents in this area were living a good life. Most of them were as huge as that dead squirrel.


    Also, Lin Qiao felt that the rodents here were a little¡­ overpopulated.


    The zombie dog should eat more of them.


    After those sweet potato plants were cleaned out, the soil was exposed, and so were some holes on the ground. The larger holes were as wide as a human head. Lin Qiao believed that under those holes were the tunnels created by rodents.


    That was why she figured that the zombie dog should go and catch more of those rodents.


    "Bowwow, go and catch more when you are finished," Lin Qiao lowered her head to talk to the zombie dog. She was too lazy to come up with a serious name for the dog, so she just called it Bowwow.


    The dog didn''t respond to her, but kept eating the squirrel.


    ''Eh? It actually ignored me!''


    Lin Qiao felt a little annoyed, so she raised a hand and released a wisp of black mist that quickly drifted toward the dead squirrel which was in the zombie dog''s mouth.


    While eating, the zombie dog suddenly saw a wisp of black mist coming at it.


    "Owooo¡­" It sprung up with fright and hurriedly drew back, even leaving the half-eaten squirrel on the ground.


    After that, it raised its head to look at Lin Qiao with discontentment, then turned to the black mist with fear.


    "Bowwow, I called your name, but you wouldn''t answer! That''s what you''ll get when you don''t answer me. Next time, respond to me! Do you understand?" Lin Qiao pointed at the dog and said.


    The zombie dog had no idea what Bowwow meant.


    Lin Qiao squatted and kept pointing at the dog as she continued, "From now on, your name is Bowwow. Do you understand?"


    "Er?" the zombie dog was bewildered.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the remains of the squirrel, then at the woods behind her, and said, "Finish this quickly, and then catch more. I want you to catch all rats and squirrels in that hill. Do you understand me?"


    "Ow?" The zombie dog looked at Lin Qiao. ''Why do I need to catch them all?''


    Lin Qiao responded, "Cut the crap! Just eat it. Don''t leave it here. It looks so disgusting!"

 422 A Strange Way Of Thinking

    The zombie dog glanced at her, then at that motionless wisp of black mist, finally uttering very unhappy roars.


    "Owooooowooo¡­" ''I was enjoying the food! Why did you release this terrifying black smoke to scare me? Now I''ve lost my appetite, but you want me to finish it?''


    Lin Qiao took the black mist back and laughed to the dog, "That''s because you ignored me just now. I called your name but you wouldn''t answer."


    "Owooo!" ''How am I supposed to know whom you were calling?''


    Lin Qiao glared at the dog and said, "Are you going to eat it or not? You have to finish it, or I''ll kill you."


    "Ow¡­" The dog felt so benign when Lin Qiao threatened it. After giving a few sullen howls, it lowered its head and quickly finished the remains of the dead squirrel, even swallowing its fur.


    Then, it turned and darted back into the woods. And next, a series of noises were heard from the woods again.


    Lin Qiao watched the dog run into the woods, then leaped off the stone and walked toward those mutated sweet potato plants which hadn''t been cleared yet. Those sweet potato plants were surrounding those sweetcorn plants.


    She squatted to observe those healthy sweet potato plants around the sweetcorn plants. There were holes under those healthy sweet potato plants too.


    Compared with mutated sweet potatoes, those fat rodents here preferred healthy sweet potatoes.


    At that moment, a white figure descended from the sky and landed on the roof of the car which was beside Xie Dong and Shen Yujen.


    "What is she doing?" Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao and asked curiously. Xie Dong and Shen Yujen turned and shook their heads at her.


    Qiu Lili glanced at the ground under Lin Qiao''s feet and hesitated for a second because of the soil, then gave up on the idea of flying over to Lin Qiao.


    When Lin Qiao came back onto the highway, she asked, "What are you doing here?"


    Lin Qiao walked to the car, then pointed at the field which was now much emptier than before, "We can turn the soil up and grow things here. However, this place has lots of rats¡­ giant rats. I''ve sent the dog to catch them."


    "Dog? Where is a dog?" Qiu Lili asked with surprise.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the zombie dog which was just running out of the woods and responded, "Over there. Isn''t that a dog?"


    The zombie dog stopped near the rock on which Lin Qiao stood earlier, looking at Qiu Lili with fear. It didn''t dare to get close to the car.


    Held in its mouth was a rat which was even larger than a cat, with a long and thick tail. This time, the dog had caught a rat instead of a squirrel, a giant, wild rat.


    "Wow, where did you find this super ugly dog!" Qiu Lili burst in screams at the sight of the dog, her voice filled with dislike.


    "I found it on my way back to Sea City Base the last time," said Lin Qiao.


    After that, she pointed at the field and said, "We can grow things in this piece of land. But before that, we need to turn the soil up and catch all the rats."


    While observing the zombie dog, Qiu Lili decided not to get near to that thing. Meanwhile, she asked, "So, you found that to catch rats?"


    She strongly disliked the dog, but didn''t try to persuade Lin Qiao not to keep it, or even suggest her to throw it away.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No. I didn''t know that this place was filled with rats back then. I kept it because it looks cool."


    "Aren''t you afraid that it might eat people? What if it rushed into the base to eat the people there?" asked Qiu Lili.


    "I surely will keep an eye on it," said Lin Qiao, "I won''t let it leave my sight. Normally, I''ll keep it in my space, and only let it out in wild places."


    Qiu Lili nodded knowingly, then asked with curiosity, "Why didn''t you kill that mutated large snake over there? I thought you''d kill it."


    Lin Qiao was puzzled for a second before figuring out that Qiu Lili had gone to see that snake.


    "You didn''t kill it, did you?" she asked Qiu Lili.


    Qiu Lili shook her head and said, "No. I''m just curious. You were going to kill it, but why did you suddenly give up?"


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao replied, "Well, I felt it was¡­ a little special. It seemed to be very smart. It was going to be killed, but it didn''t go crazy. Snakes with such kind of temperament are rarely seen. Normally, a large snake like that could be quite dangerous when going crazy."


    "It didn''t go crazy?" Qiu Lili asked confusedly, "Is that the reason why you didn''t kill it? Why?"


    Lin Qiao explained to her, "Didn''t I tell you? It''s special. I felt that it''s like a kind-hearted girl."


    Hearing that, Qiu Lili, Xie Dong, and Shen Yujen all dropped their faces in bewilderment.


    ''What the hell! Who would compare an unmerciful cold-blood animal to a kind-hearted girl? Isn''t your way of thinking too weird? Were you like this before you became a zombie?''


    The three of them suddenly felt that the world in Lin Qiao''s eyes was too strange to be understood. Qiu Lili couldn''t help but roll her eyes, "So, that snake was so innocent. It was staying peacefully at home, but you forced it out and beat it up. It was nearly killed!"


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "Exactly! This post-apocalyptic world follows the law of the jungle. It encountered someone stronger, so it couldn''t even run. It wasn''t the hunter''s fault. And I''ve spared its life. I''m a kind person."


    "Are you kind?" said Qiu Lili, "Well, you''re not a bad person, but you''re not kind. Being kind means being silly! Kindness just sounds better than silliness."


    Lin Qiao leaned against the door and crossed her arms before her chest as she smilingly raised her head to look at Qiu Lili and said, "Aren''t you kind too?"


    Qiu Lili was puzzled for a second, then understood her meaning. "Are you saying that I''m silly?"


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and laughed, "I didn''t say that."


    Qiu Lili snorted, then pouted and turned around, deciding not to talk to Lin Qiao anymore. However, in just two seconds, she turned back and said, "How long are you going to stay in this place? Do you plan to go anywhere else?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at the zombie dog which was standing by the stone, then said, "I need to wait until it has caught all the rats in that woods."


    Qiu Lili looked at the zombie dog with confusion and asked, "When will that be? Aren''t we going back?"


    Lin Qiao said, "Maybe you can go back with these two? Or, you can go anywhere you want. I need to stay here. We need to turn up the soil, but we''re shorthanded now. I''m thinking that¡­ Should we catch a few level-three or four zombies and train them into farmers?"


    While speaking, she glanced at Xie Dong and Shen Yujen.


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen were willing to turn up the soil. However, they didn''t quite understand what Lin Qiao meant by ''catch a few level-three or four zombies and train them into farmers. She said catch¡­ and train¡­


    Well, people were underpopulated, so she decided to exploit the workforce from zombies. There were plenty of zombies in this post-apocalyptic world anyway.

 423 Hunt Level-Four Zombies

    With that idea, Lin Qiao jumped into action. She quickly put Bowwow back into her space and started hunting zombies. Also, she needed to find some tools like hoes and shovels.


    Almost all level-four and three zombies had been driven away, so Lin Qiao needed to go to farther areas to find some of them.


    Of all, only she could do something like turning zombies into coolies.


    She left Mount Wu scenic area and climbed onto the tallest building nearby, then stood on the roof and closed her eyes to sense the surrounding area. As she reopened her eyes, she flashed across the air and turned invisible, heading toward the nearest level-four zombie.


    Her invisible body had no shadows under the sunlight. She leaped across the tops of utility poles to approach that zombie. The buildings in this area were sparsely arranged, separated by lots of green belts. So, Lin Qiao found stepping on utility poles more convenient.


    A couple of minutes later, she arrived at an abandoned factory area.


    The area wasn''t large, including a three-story factory building and a five-story dormitory building. The gate was before the factory building, and the two buildings were connected, surrounded by a couple of houses.


    Those buildings were waste and dilapidated.


    The iron gate was half-open. Some curtains were fluttering noisily in the wind outside the windows, looking very creepy in this desolate area. However, that was also the most often seen scene in the post-apocalyptic era.


    Seeing a clean and tiny building out here would be a really strange thing.


    Lin Qiao walked into the half-open gate and saw a figure swiftly flash through the third floor of the factory building.


    A figure suddenly appearing in such an uninhabited could be quite a scary thing!


    However, that figure was actually Lin Qiao''s target.


    Almost all zombies in the Upper City District were under the control of zombie number one to seven. The zombies in the district had been driven out, and the ones outside had been driven inward. All those zombies were gathered together into a large circle to surround Victoria Hotel.


    Miles around the hotel, all roads and paths and been blocked.


    Meanwhile, zombie number one to seven had been keeping eyes on the areas with relatively fewer zombies; that was the mission that Lin Qiao gave them. However, it would be not easy for them to control the zombie crowd if too many level three and four zombies were in it.


    Taking the middle-aged male zombie as an example, he was only controlling two level-three zombies, but wasn''t able to control any level-four zombies. He was powerful enough to suppress the level-four zombies, but it was impossible for him to control them.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao ordered zombie number one to seven to drive away all the level-four zombies and most of the level-three ones.


    At this moment, she walked to the stairs of the factory building, then silently went up. The zombie upstairs didn''t yet know that she was coming, so it was still wandering up there.


    Lin Qiao came up and stood by the stairs, observing this level-four zombie.


    It was a female zombie. Judging by her clothing and her unwounded face, she was a middle-aged woman. She was wearing a white suit which had been worn for five years, and hence already turned brown.


    Her jacket was broken, even missing a sleeve. Underneath the jacket was a dress, and its edge was broken as well.


    Her feet were bared and very dirty.


    Her hair used to be worn in a bun, as a hairpin was still hanging loosely behind her head. Her messy hair were spread on both sides of her face.


    Based on the dark blood stains on her mouth and claws, Lin Qiao figured that she had eaten quite some flesh.


    The female zombie stopped walking as she sensed that someone was staring at her. She stood on the hallway and looked around warily, but found nothing suspicious. As a result, she was a little confused.


    Slowly, she walked to a window and looked outside. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao slowly approached her, then looked around.


    The furnishings on this floor weren''t in a mess, and were only covered in a thick layer of dust. The objects on the tables remained where they were supposed to be, and all the tables were pretty tidy.


    All the chairs were under the tables, and there was no garbage on the floor.


    It seemed that not too many people were here when the apocalypse happened. Lin Qiao guessed that most of the people who worked in this factory were in the dormitory building when it happened. Perhaps, she would see lots of dried blood on the floors, stairs, and walls in the dormitory building if she went over there now.


    She quietly walked toward the female zombie. Her invisible feet had actually left a series of faint footprints on the dusty floor. However, that female zombie didn''t notice those.


    Lin Qiao walked up to her and sniffed at her.


    Ugh¡­ she smelled awful!


    Almost every zombie had that awful smell, but that female zombie smelled especially awful. That stink of rotten flesh was coming from her mouth.


    If she opened her mouth, that smell might even knock out a person standing two meters away.


    What made Lin Qiao feel strange was that no hostility was detected from that female zombie, and there was only a weird kind of ferocity.


    Where did she get that vibe? In fact, at level-four and above, the vibe of every zombie was unique, because their vibes would vary according to their different living styles.


    The two level-four zombies who used to be under Qiu Lili''s command were ugly, but not hostile, because they never killed any human beings, and rarely fought other zombies.


    This female zombie who was standing before Lin Qiao''s eyes had a fierce vibe, meaning that she was a powerful one. However, she didn''t have that hostility that all the zombies which often ate human beings should have. How did that happen?


    Was that because she hadn''t eaten any living human beings for a long time?


    Lin Qiao stood behind her with confusion as she crossed her arms, then began scratching her pretty chin.


    Those blood stains on that female zombie''s mouth and fingers should be left from the blood and flesh that she had eaten.


    Lin Qiao spent a while observing her, then suddenly reached out a hand and grabbed the neck of the female zombie who was looking outside the window. In the next second, she flashed back into her space.


    "Roar!" The female zombie was frightened by Lin Qiao''s sudden move. She immediately raised her hand to sweep away her arm, then hunched her back and quickly jumped to a relatively safer place.


    She roared at Lin Qiao fiercely; her twisted face wore obvious anger and fear.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and nodded; she was fierce indeed.


    "Stop roaring! No matter how loud you are, you can never defeat me. I think you know that. Perhaps, you can''t even win against him," said Lin Qiao to her calmly. Finishing talking, she pointed at the zombie dog which had quietly walked up behind the female zombies.


    The female zombie turned back to find that a level-five zombie dog was at less than two-meters from her.


    Once the zombie dog pounced on her, she would be torn into two pieces. That short distance between the dog and her meant she would have no chance to run.


    "Roar!" The female zombie''s vibe was instantly suppressed. She looked at the zombie dog with fright, and couldn''t help but draw back in another direction.

 424 Suppressed By The Space

    The female zombie soon realized that this place was giving her a strange feeling, as if all her power had been suppressed.


    Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes and said to her, "Yes, your power has been suppressed, because this place is my space. In here, you''ll die if I want you to. Do you understand?"


    The female zombie turned to look at her with fright, eyes containing disbelief. Fear, panic, sadness, anger¡­ all sorts of complicated feelings were showing on her face.


    She had been really unlucky recently. She was living a good life in her own territory, but a level-five strange zombie suddenly showed up and drove her away. That zombie didn''t kill it, but only forced her away from her territory.


    She admitted defeat and left her home, as she wasn''t able to win against that zombie. Later on, she learned that many of her old neighbors had been driven away from home as well, which made her feel slightly better.


    Her territory was occupied by a group of humans, and those humans were guarded by a group of level-five zombies. She assumed that those human beings were kept as food by those level-five zombies, or that zombie queen.


    She saw Lin Feng and the others as the stored food of the group of zombie leaders or Qiu Lili, who had restrained her vibe as much as she could.


    Not long after she lost her territory, she was targeted by another zombie queen. And now, that zombie queen had brought her into a strange place and suppressed her power.


    The female zombie waved her claws, feeling that her strength had turned weak.


    Lin Qiao had recently found out that she was now able to control the air pressure in her space. She finally understood why the space was able to limit the powers of superpowered human beings. It was because the energy contained in the air in this place was under the full control of her and Viney.


    Before, Viney was controlling the energy, so Lin Qiao didn''t have a strong feeling about it. But now, as Viney had left this space and come into her belly, she felt different.


    She clearly felt how she was able to control this space.


    With merely one thought, she would be able to control the energy contained in the air to suppress the energy which was produced by the zombie virus, or the superpowers generated from mutation.


    So, she only needed a thought to suppress a zombie who was filled with the zombie virus.


    She looked at the frightened female zombie and said, "You have to follow my orders, unless you want to die. If you do not obey, you will have to die. You''ll all die in the future, because you are not supposed to exist in this world. You''ll all be erased gradually."


    "Roar¡­" ''I don''t know what you''re talking about¡­ Who are you?''


    The female zombie didn''t understand her meaning. However, she managed to calm down a little, as Lin Qiao was standing at a safe distance away and showing no sign of attacking her.


    Lin Qiao waved at the zombie dog. Following her move, the dog stopped staring at the female zombie and walked toward Lin Qiao.


    "From now on, I am the leader of this place, and the strongest one who controls you all. I am not only able to control you, but I can also provide you with a stable life, under one condition¡ªYou all must follow my order, or I''ll kill you!" As the zombie dog walked to her, Lin Qiao said to the female zombie. After that, she fully released her vibe and sent waves of killing intention toward the female zombie.


    "Roar!" The female zombie''s legs trembled. She was terrified, so she bent her knees and directly knelt to the ground. Under the suppression given by Lin Qiao''s vibe, her brain wasn''t working at all.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao hurriedly restrained her vibe. She almost forgot that her vibe could be strengthened by many times over in her space. She was worried that the female zombie might be stupefied.


    "Owooo¡­" Even the zombie dog lied on the ground, looking at her with fear.


    Lin Qiao looked around, then raised a hand and waved at the woods. Along with her move, a metal object flew out.


    Clang! A stainless steel bowl landed in Lin Qiao''s hand. That was the bowl which the zombie dog drank from.


    She walked to the lakeside and filled the bowl with water, then came back to the zombie dog. Then, she squatted and put the bowl before the dog.


    "Don''t bark! I won''t abuse you as long as you do what I say," she put down the bowl and said. Afterward, she stood up and waved a hand again. This time, a glass appeared in her hand.


    She went to the lakeside once again to fetch a glassful of water, then returned to the female zombie.


    At that moment, the female zombie''s entire body radiated fear and despair.


    "Get up, drink this," Lin Qiao stood by her side and said.


    The female zombie only trembled without making any other reactions, remaining curling on the ground.


    Lin Qiao squatted impatiently and reached out her empty hand to raise the female zombie''s head, then put the glass near her mouth.


    "Drink it! Don''t make me say it for the third time," she threatened her coldly.


    Hearing that, the female zombie gingerly looked at her as she raised her upper body but stayed kneeling.


    Lin Qiao took back her hand, then frowned and continued, "Stand up and hold the glass." After saying that, she put the glasses further near the female zombie.


    The female zombie took over the glass with both hands in terror, then carefully gave Lin Qiao a glance. Her purely dark eyes were filled with fear. Clearly, she was scared out of her wits by Lin Qiao just now.


    While looking at Lin Qiao, she slowly stood up. At the same time, the latter stood up as well and made two steps backward.


    The female zombie put the glass near her mouth, then sensed an attractive kind of energy from the water. She was puzzled for a second, then looked at the water with confusion.


    The atmosphere had been too tense, so she hadn''t noticed that energy until now.


    Once she noticed it, she couldn''t help but be attracted to it.


    ''What is this? It seems to be tasty. The energy smells good as well.''


    She raised her head to look at Lin Qiao. The latter gave her the water, meaning that she could drink it.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest, then took two steps further backward to give the female zombie enough space. She did that so the female zombie could feel safe and be less nervous.


    As she stepped back, the female zombie was finally a little relieved. She took a small sip of the water, and then her face showed a trace of joy. After that, she emptied the glass in one breath, and then took a bite of the glass.


    "Don''t¡­ eat the glass¡­" said Lin Qiao. Looking at the cracked glass, she felt very helpless.


    Why did zombies like to chew glasses and cups? That was a glass! Wasn''t she afraid that her teeth might be broken?


    The female zombie looked at her confusedly.


    "Eat the whole glass if you can!" said Lin Qiao angrily.


    Once she said that, the female zombie put the whole glass into her mouth and began chewing.


    Seeing the blood streaming down her mouth, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but feel disgusted.


    "Alright, alright! Stop eating it! Does it even taste good?" She hurriedly waved her hand in exasperation.

 425 Make Zombies Dig Holes

    After taming the female zombie, Lin Qiao put her in small space number one and forbade her from coming out. After that, she exited her space to find more zombies.


    The city used to have a lot of level-four and five zombies. However, almost all level-five zombies had been scared away by Qiu Lili, and had left the downtown area.


    Lin Qiao spent three days searching across the city and found a dozen level-four zombies, with all sorts of powers.


    One of them even had the rare spirit power.


    That was a boy who looked like a high-school student, about five-feet and seven-inches tall. His clothes were the cleanest among all, because he was smarter than the others, and seemed like a neat freak.


    He didn''t have wounds on his face. His eyes were cold and dark, and his face was clean and pale. The dark circles under his eyes were huge. His hair seemed to be often washed by water. They weren''t as clean as the hair of many healthy human beings, but were still way better than the hair of the other zombies.


    He would look great without those dark circles under his eyes.


    This spirit-powered zombie wasn''t as panicked as the other zombies when he was caught by Lin Qiao. On the contrary, he calmly negotiated with Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao found him in a school. After being suddenly dragged into Lin Qiao''s space, he spent a few seconds quietly staring at her in the eyes, then began looking around with composure.


    Soon, he noticed the special lake.


    He didn''t dare to rush directly at the lake, as his power was limited in this place, and that gave him a great sense of crisis.


    Also, he didn''t yet know why Lin Qiao brought him in.


    "Do you want to drink some of that water? Follow my orders, and I''ll give some to you," Lin Qiao said to him.


    "Roar¡­" He asked Lin Qiao cautiously, as he worried that she might be lying. ''Really?''


    Lin Qiao pointed at the three small spaces and the woods area, then said, "Work for me like them, and I''ll let you drink the water from here every day. However, you are not allowed to go near the lake without my permission. If you violate my rules, don''t blame me for having no mercy."


    Some of those level-four zombies that Lin Qiao caught these days didn''t want to follow her rules. They couldn''t resist the temptation from the lake water, so when Lin Qiao wasn''t here, they attempted to go directly into the lake.


    However, Lin Qiao sensed their movements once they made them. As a result, she flashed in and crumbled their heads.


    Such things happened two or three times. The other zombies decided to stick strictly to the rules after watching Lin Qiao savagely kill those greedy zombies.


    Also for that reason, Lin Qiao warned every level-four zombie that she brought in later on.


    "Roar!" The boy agreed without hesitation. ''Deal, as long as you let me drink the water.''


    As a possessor of spirit power, his physical strength was weaker than that of the other zombies; also, he was slower than the others. Back in the outside, he often needed to hide from the other same-level zombies. No to mention attacking other zombies for their nuclei, it was already difficult for him to keep his own nucleus safe.


    Once he was brought into this space, he had sensed that the energy contained in the lake could help him upgrade. Not only did the lake contain the energy, but so did the air. Being exposed in the air here for a long time would also make a difference.


    If he occupied this space for his own, he would be able to stay here forever to absorb the energy here¡­


    Lin Qiao quietly stared at him and said abruptly, "If you want to stay here, you should get rid of that idea which you aren''t supposed to have. What power do you think you have that can make this place your own?"


    Her words destroyed the zombie''s fantasy.


    She didn''t only say those words to warn that zombie boy, but also to let the other zombies know that she was able to read their minds.


    "Yes, I can read your mind, every one of you. When you had that idea just now, I wanted to kill you," said Lin Qiao while sending her strong vibe toward that zombie boy.


    Right now, that zombie boy felt a true terror. He realized that the zombie standing in front of him was not only at a much higher level than he was, but was also way smarter than him.


    That made him feel as if he was a clown.


    He didn''t know what a clown was, but he felt like one.


    "Owooo¡­" The zombie dog didn''t like that zombie boy who had an extra weak vibe. As Lin Qiao spent a long time talking to him, the dog walked to her with jealousy.


    "Why are you howling? Go and stay over there," Lin Qiao glanced at the dog and said.


    After catching almost all level-four zombies in the Upper City District and killing some of them, Lin Qiao brought the rest of them back to the sweet potato field and let them out.


    About a dozen level-four zombies suddenly showed up on the field, looking around confusedly.


    Lin Qiao tied a rope on a hand of each of them to limit their range of activity.


    Those ropes weren''t strong. However, she had told those zombies that anyone who broke the rope and ran would be suffering real pain. She had deals with them. If they regretted and took off, she would kill them.


    The Upper City District was her territory now, and no one was allowed to act unruly in this area.


    Those zombies needed her permission to do free activities.


    Those zombies were all very afraid of her, and all wanted to run. However, as they saw the large circle above their heads which was formed from the dark mist that Lin Qiao had released, they were aware that they would have no chance to run.


    The sense of crisis which was given by the dark mist was stronger than that from Lin Qiao herself by many times over.


    Lin Qiao stood in front of those zombies, then squatted and began digging a rat hole with her claws.


    "Watch me do it first, and do whatever I do."


    Those zombies all understood her words, so she didn''t need to spend the extra mental energy to control their minds.


    Zombies had sharp teeth and claws. So for them, digging with claws would be more efficient than with tools.


    Those zombies had no idea what she was digging. They watched her with curiosity, until she dug out a few large sweet potatoes.


    She threw away those sweet potatoes which each weighed a couple of kilograms, then said, "Here, you need to dig these out. The more you dig out, the more water you''ll get."


    Those zombies looked at her confusedly. They still didn''t understand why she wanted them to dig sweet potatoes. Were those edible?


    However, despite how confused they were, none of them dared to be disobedient as they quickly squatted and started digging. Some of them even tasted those sweet potatoes with curiosity, and as a result, their faces were filled with dislike after the very first bites.


    Lin Qiao sat by the edge of the woods and said to the zombie dog which wanted very much to go in there, "Bowwow, get in and get me a large rat. Don''t bite through its skin though, because I don''t want to eat your saliva."


    She ordered the zombie dog to catch her a rat to eat.


    Nearby, Xie Dong and Shen Yujen, who had spent the past three days digging sweet potatoes with hoes, were stunned upon seeing Lin Qiao show up with over ten level-four zombies. After that, they saw her squat to teach those zombies to dig holes!


    The expressions on their faces were just indescribable¡­

 426 Curious Troublemakers

    Lin Feng and the others all knew that Lin Qiao had searched through the Upper City District recently. She had collected all the supplies, and then began gathering zombies. They had no idea what she had gathered those level-four zombies for.


    On that day, upon seeing that Lin Qiao had let those zombies out of her space to dig sweet potatoes, Yuan Tianxing and the others could no longer remain calm. From time to time, a few people would come over to watch those level-four zombies squatting on the ground and digging sweet potatoes. They would also ask questions to Qiu Lili, who was sitting on a tree nearby.


    "So, is she going to let these zombies dig all the mutated sweet potatoes out of the ground?" Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying stood under the tree as they glanced up at Qiu Lili, then turned to those trees.


    Qiu Lili sat on the tree, swinging her legs while nodding and responding, "Yeah!"


    "How did she come up with this idea?" said Lin Wenwen with surprise, "She actually made these zombies dig sweet potatoes! Will she also make them do farm work for us?"


    Qiu Lili lowered her head to give Lin Wenwen a glance, then thought for a second and responded, "That''s¡­ possible."


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying didn''t know what to say.


    Soon, all the people from the old Hades Base learned that Lin Qiao, the zombie sister, was leading a group of zombie followers and digging sweet potatoes under a mountain on the other side of the district.


    The people from Sea City Base didn''t know about that yet. They hadn''t found out yet that Lin Qiao was a zombie, and neither did they know that Lin Qiao, who often disappeared mysteriously, had actually been in Mount Wu area.


    Currently, they spent every day tearing walls down, sorting and carrying bricks, mixing cement, or building the fence wall. The first batch of soldiers and commoners who came here from Sea City Base were provided with good food every day, and had a lot of work to do. Gradually, they started to like the fulfilling life in this place.


    The second batch of people who arrived just a couple of days ago had still been adapting this life. They still felt as if they were dreaming. Some of them even wondered if they were having such a dream because they were too starving.


    They had work which was within their capabilities. Those were hard, physical works, but were way better than fighting zombies out there. They had enough food every single day. Even though they only had two steamed buns and a bowl of soup in each meal, they were already very happy. After all, they used to be so poor back in their base that they could only have one meal in three days.


    So now, most of them were focusing on their jobs. Except for the hotel and the construction site, they weren''t allowed to go to other areas.


    The people in charge said that many zombies existed in the surrounding area, and that if they went to the forbidden areas and offended some zombies which weren''t under control, no one would save them.


    For that reason, those workers would not go to any forbidden area.


    But of course, among a group of people, there were always a few who had different thoughts, such as the ones who followed behind Huang Tianfei earlier and lied about their power levels.


    They didn''t know about the identities of Lin Qiao and the others who lived on the fifth floor. They felt that those people were mysterious, and those mysterious beings made them curious. Their curiosity urged them to find out who those people were.


    "Do you think¡­ that woman named Liu Jun is infected?" At night, these people talked about Liu Jun in their dorm.


    They guessed so because Liu Jun lived on the fifth floor. Her face looked almost the same as the faces of healthy human beings, but was ghastly pale, and her eyes looked scary. Also, they never heard her talking.


    However, the others who lived here seemed to feel nothing strange about her. They talked to her, went to places with her, and showed no fear of her at all.


    "Doesn''t her son look healthy? If she''s really infected, the other Hades Base peoplewon''t let her keep the boy, would they?" said someone.


    "That''s weird! Also, the group of zombies which blocked our way when we came here¡­ those zombies were weird too. Don''t you think so?"


    "Yeah. I think those zombies were controlled by the zombie boy who showed up the last. They actually didn''t attack us, but let us in. Something is definitely going on between those Hades Base people and those zombies!"


    "Should we sneak up to the fifth floor and take a look? The people who live there are mysterious, like Liu Jun. Maybe, we can kidnap her son and force her to tell us the truth."


    "That''s not gonna happen. She''s always with the other few girls. It''s hard to do things to her without letting others find out. Also, we don''t know if she has a superpower or not. We''d be in trouble if we got caught."


    "Then, we won''t do anything to her, but only go to the fifth floor and take a look."


    "But¡­ those people have strictly forbidden us from going there. We''d be sent out if we got caught."


    Those people discussed if they should go to the fifth floor and try to find out some truth. The more mysterious something was, the more they wanted to know.


    That night, about four o''clock in the morning, a few of them avoided the soldiers who guarded the hotel and sneakily went up to the fifth floor. Once they went up, a ghost-like figure suddenly showed up on the dark hallway, right in front of them.


    "You are not allowed to come up here. Don''t you know that?" Lin Qiao looked at the few stealthy people and said blandly.


    Those people were freaked out by her sudden appearance. They pointed at her and asked with fright, "Are you¡­ a human or a ghost!"


    No one was in the hallway just now, but within a blink, she suddenly showed up.


    Lin Qiao stood close enough to read their minds, so she couldn''t help but frown.


    "Get down!"


    Hearing that, those people stormed downstairs as quickly as possible.


    Lin Qiao turned and went back into her room, thinking that she should kick those people out tomorrow.


    Next day, early in the morning, when the few people were still in fright, someone knocked on their door.


    Lin Hao stood by the door and said, "According to our agreement, you are not allowed to go up to the fifth floor. I assume you haven''t forgotten about that."


    The eyes of those people showed a lack of confidence, but they still refused to admit what they had done. "When did you say that? We don''t know. Also, what does that have to do with us? We didn''t go up there."


    Lin Hao stood outside the door with two soldiers. He looked at those people with a bland face, as he had expected that they would deny.


    "You were caught," he said, "Aren''t you gonna admit it?"


    Those people raised their heads and said, "How can that be possible? Do you think that we''re pushovers? Are you trying to frame us? We are not pushovers!"


    Lin Hao didn''t want to waste any time arguing with them as he said with a strong tone, "Last night, about four o''clock in the morning, the night guards saw you come down from the fifth floor. Cut the crap! Pack your things now and follow me. You better do it yourselves, or we''ll make you."


    Hearing what Lin Hao said, the people from the surrounding rooms all sensed a strange atmosphere. They opened their door and stuck their heads out to see what was happening. Some people from further rooms even came out and walked over to watch. Some of them were even wiping their faces with towels.


    After the first person came over, there were the second and the third. Soon, many people came to this area and quietly looked into that room.

 427 Chief is Coming

    The few people who had sneaked up to the fifth floor didn''t plan on admitting what they had done; they wanted to stay here. They weren''t afraid of Lin Hao, and didn''t believe that he would actually make them leave.


    However, Lin Hao did make a move. He took out a rope and said, "Do you really want me to tie you up and bring you out?"


    Seeing that, those people fell into silence. They didn''t know that Lin Hao was serious until now!


    Seeing the rope in his hands, those people were agitated. One of them pointed a finger at him and cursed, "Damn you! Tie us up if you can! I''d like to know how you''ll do it!"


    Following his voice, the group of people all released their powers.


    Those commoners who were watching realized that there might be a fight. So, they hurriedly stepped away to avoid being hurt accidentally.


    "So, you lied about your power levels. We''ve said that the people at level-three or above are not allowed to apply for the job. It turns out that you broke our agreement long ago," Du Yuanxing''s voice was heard from the outside. Next, he walked into the room.


    Staring at those people, he continued, "I knew that you were as dishonest as that man named Huang Tianfei. I''ve been waiting for you to do something. Do you want a fight? Let me see if you level-fours can handle my attacks."


    While speaking, he raised a hand, with a sphere of lightning power sparkling on that hand. Seeing his lightning power, those people immediately gave up.


    Du Yuanxing was at level-five, and his power was special. They might be able to hide from his attack once, but they would eventually all be struck to death by his lightning.


    Soon, the people in the lobby saw Du Yuanxing and Lin Hao come down with those people. A vehicle was parked outside the gate of the hotel. Du Yuanxing escorted those people onto the vehicle, then drove the vehicle away. He would send those people back to Sea City Base, and also continue the recruitment work there.


    ¡­


    In a military base which was located in a mountain area in Jiaxing, Wu Chengyue was sitting on a car roof, playing with Wu Yueling while counting and sorting the foods which were found by his people from this air base.


    Xiao Licheng quickly walked to him with a piece of paper, saying, "Chief, we got a message from Yue Shan." While speaking, he walked up to the car and handed the paper to Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him, then took over the paper and said, "Let me see."


    He unfolded the paper and spent a short while reading, then began laughing.


    "Hehe¡­ This is so interesting. Lots of things are going on in her new base. The second batch of people have just arrived, but some were already kicked out."


    "Some were kicked out? Why?" Xiao Licheng asked curiously.


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face was more meaningful than usual as he said, "Some people made troubles. Those people violated their rules and put themselves in troubles. That''s why they got kicked out. I''ve forbidden the people at level-three and above from applying for the job, but still those people lied about their power levels and got in."


    Xiao Licheng looked at him with surprise and said, "Only two batches people were sent there. Have some higher leveled people already started wanting the job? They spotted the opportunity pretty quickly, but went for it in the wrong way."


    "There are more," said Wu Chengyue, "The female zombie has yanked back all the level-four zombies which were driven to the outskirts of Upper City District earlier, because she was shorthanded. Guess, what is she making those zombies do?"


    "What?" Xiao Licheng looked at him with confusion.


    Wu Chengyue looked back at him and laughed, "She made those zombies turn up the soil and dig sweet potatoes."


    Xiao Licheng slightly opened his mouth and asked bewilderedly, "What? Dig sweet potatoes? What sweet potatoes?"


    Wu Chengyue knew that he would react that way. He looked at Xiao Licheng and responded smilingly, "Mutated sweet potatoes. She also caught a lot of snakes from the mountain and made snake soup for those workers. So, those workers have steamed buns and snake soup every day. Even I want that job now."


    Xiao Licheng had just recovered from the shock which was brought by the fact that Lin Qiao made zombies dig sweet potatoes when he asked with surprise, "How dare she feed those workers wild snakes? Those snakes were mutated, weren''t they? It''s hard to find healthy snakes now."


    "I''m curious about that too," said Wu Chengyue, "But, she has told people that the soup was made from mutated snakes before asking people to drink it. She also said that the soup wasn''t poisonous. Many people were freaked out. However, Lin Feng and his family drank the soup at first, and nothing happened to them. After that, the others tried it as they could not resist the delicious soup."


    "Mutated snakes certainly carry the zombie virus, right? What did they do to remove the virus?" said Xiao Licheng.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, "I guess that female zombie did it."


    He knew that her lake water had magical powers. That lake water even suppressed the awakening superpower of his daughter, let alone the virus carried by mutated animals.


    That female zombie always surprised him.


    While observing the look on Wu Chengyue''s face, Xiao Licheng abruptly said, "Can we go to their new base and take a look when we finish our work here?"


    Wu Chengyue responded, "Of course we''ll go! It''ll take less than an hour from Jiaxing to there."


    After saying that, he hugged Wu Yueling, then pointed at the almost unwoven grass dragonfly in her hands and said, "Ling Ling, we''re going to see her, okay?"


    Wu Yueling immediately turned to look at her father, her eyes glowing.


    Seeing the expectant look in her eyes, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but gently press her nose and say, "You actually want to see Viney, don''t you? Do you know that she might have become a baby already in her mother''s belly? Perhaps, she can''t talk to you anymore, and you have to wait."


    Wu Yueling looked at him without fully understanding his words. But still, she was happy that her Daddy was going to take her to her zombie sister.


    Before long, Xiao Licheng and his people loaded all the supplies they found. After that, Wu Chengyue led his motorcade toward Upper City District.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao, who had no idea that a man was coming here for her, was standing in the sweet potato field, watching the seventeen level-four zombies working.


    She asked the zombie dog to bring her an alive large squirrel or rat every day. Normally, she would sit on the rock by the edge of the woods, watching those zombies while peeling and eating the rat or squirrel.


    To earn more lake water from Lin Qiao, those zombies had all become obedient. They worked very hard to dig holes and look for sweet potatoes.


    ¡­


    At the same times, a man quietly showed up beside the large pit in which Lin Qiao found the giant snake earlier on.


    Tang He looked around with a serious look. He didn''t directly show up by the pit, but threw a medium sized mutated boar into it.


    The boar which weighed about twenty-five kilograms rolled to the bottom while howling, immediately stirring the snakes in the pit.


    Tang He stood on a tree near the pit and closely observed the animals in the pit.


    The boar was screaming and darting about; it might have been bitten. It tried to climb up, but rolled back down before reaching the edge.


    It avoided those holes, as it smelled something dangerous from them.

 428 Tang He Shows Up Again

    When the boar was trying very hard to get out of the pit, a pair of cold eyes appeared in one of those holes down there. That rhombic pair of eyes were fixed on the boar.


    When the boar slipped down again, a dark figure suddenly darted out and bit on the boar, then quickly wrapped it up. The boar immediately let out shrill screams.


    The giant snake wrapped the boar up with its body while biting it and injecting a large amount of venom into its body. Meanwhile, it had also been slowly dragging it into the hole.


    Right at that moment, a man flashed down and reached out a hand toward one of the snake''s eyes.


    The snake sensed the danger, so it instantly relaxed its bite and tilted its head.


    Puff! A noise of a sharp object piercing into a fleshy body was heard.


    With that, the giant snake opened its jaws wide and roared in pain.


    Tang He''s hand had transformed into a sharp metal blade and sunken into the snake''s skin. The snake''s wounds which were left by Lin Qiao and the zombie dog earlier hadn''t healed yet, but now, new wounds were added.


    The snake struggled intensely as it let go of the half-dead boar and rolled to the side. After that, it quickly wriggled out of the pit. It gave up on the prey, as saving its own life was more important.


    Tang He was pushed away by the snake which was struggling crazily. He flipped in the air, then stably landed on the ground.


    Seeing that the giant snake was trying to run and leaving a bloody trace behind, he immediately chased behind it.


    The snake fled toward any path it could, moving downhill swiftly.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao had just finished a wild rabbit and was licking her fingers. Suddenly, she paused for a second, and then turned to the mountain where she had found the giant snake.


    At that moment, Qiu Lili flew to her and stood on the rock, also looking in that direction. With confusion, she asked Lin Qiao, "Eh? I think someone is over there! A level-seven superpowered person. Who is it? It''s not Chief Wu, is it?"


    Lin Qiao spent a moment sensing that person, then shook her head and said, "No, it''s that robber."


    She clapped her hands and stood up. After that, she looked at Qiu Lili and said, "You stay here and keep an eye on them. I''ll go over there and take a look."


    Finishing talking, she disappeared right in front of Qiu Lili and the zombie dog which was next to her.


    The zombie dog seemed to be very afraid of Qiu Lili. Just now when she came here, the dog silently moved away for about two meters. At this point as Lin Qiao suddenly disappeared, the dog sprung up and quickly headed toward the snake mountain.


    It understood Lin Qiao''s words, and knew that she was going there.


    Qiu Lili glanced at Lin Qiao, then at the group of level-four zombies who had suddenly stooped working because of Lin Qiao''s disappearance. With discontentment, she said, "What are you looking at? She''s not here anymore, but I am. Don''t you even think about sneaking away."


    Once her voice was sounded, the group of zombies started working again.


    Lin Qiao darted toward the snake mountain. Once she arrived at the mountain foot, she heard a series of rustling.


    The noise came closer and closer, and then, she saw a scary-looking giant snake which was as thick as her waist lunge out of the grass.


    The snake was covered in bleeding wounds which were caused by sharp weapons.


    The sweet scent of blood intruded into Lin Qiao''s nose. Thankfully, she had had a lot of meat these days.


    She quickly hopped onto a tall tree nearby and watched the giant snake storm past the tree along with the strong bloody scent, also stirring up a gust of wind. Soon after that, a metallic man caught up with it.


    Tang He''s skin was covered in a thin layer of metal, but that did not slow him down at all.


    There were no metal objects in the woods for him to control, so he had no choice but to turn himself into metal to attack the snake.


    Right at that moment, Tang He violently kicked the tree on which Lin Qiao was standing, and then pounced on the giant snake. Next, he straightened his hands and put his finger together, fiercely slashing at the snake.


    The snake''s entire body trembled, and then began turning and twisting intensely.


    When Tang He kicked the tree, Lin Qiao suddenly dove down toward him.


    When Tang He''s hands were inserted into the snake''s body, she swiftly spread her fingers and clawed at his metal neck.


    This time, she didn''t plan to hurt him. Instead, she brought both Tang He and the giant snake into her space.


    Tang He paused for a second as he found himself in a completely different place after just a blink. He hurriedly let go of the struggling giant snake, then quickly turned back.


    No one was there! He saw nothing but a lake, a grassland, a building, and a weird patch of woods.


    No scent of humans existed here.


    As Tang He was distracted, the giant snake grasped an opportunity to free itself from his hands. The awfully injured snake quickly darted to the side, and then crawled toward the woods.


    Tang He looked around, anxious and surprised. His eyes were filled with confusion and astonishment. While observing the surrounding area, his expression suddenly changed.


    He suddenly lowered his head to look at his raised hands. Next, his metal skin started becoming unstable. That skin turned back normal, and then turned metallic again.


    He felt that his power was turning weaker and weaker; he could not control it well anymore. Also, he felt as if something suppressed his power.


    At that moment, a figure suddenly showed up behind him. She raised an arm, and her fingers together, then straightened her hand and then swung the hand toward the back of Tang He''s head at a lightning speed.


    Tang He''s power was suppressed, but as a level-seven superpowered man, he still had a keen sensation toward dangers.


    Once Lin Qiao showed up, he had sensed her immediately. So, when she made a move, he swiftly turned his body and jumped backward.


    Lin Qiao missed her target, after which, she quickly disappeared.


    She understood that now was a perfect opportunity to kill Tang He.


    Tang He turned around but didn''t see a trace of Lin Qiao. He looked around hastily, and could not help but curse out loud.


    "Who are you? Come out! Let''s fight face to face! What are you, sneaky thing? Come out!" He yelled at the air to encourage himself, and also to try to make the mysterious enemy show its face.


    However, no one responded to his words.


    He moved around in circles, vigilantly looked around with his hands before his chest.


    This place had no wind or sounds. It was all quiet.


    What frightened Tang He was the fact that his power had already been weakened by ten percent, and was reducing endlessly. Soon, he might not even be able to use his power anymore.


    What on earth was this place? Who attacked him just now? That was the same kind of sneak attack launched from behind as what happened that night!


    Including what that mysterious being did to bring him into this place, similar things had happened to him three times. But still, he hadn''t even seen a shadow of his enemy.

 429 Take Action To Kill Tang He

    Lin Qiao stood on a tree with her eyes closed, trying her best to suppress Tang He who was in her space. She focused the energy of her space on him to quickly suppress all his power.


    She spent an hour to finally lower Tang He''s power to level-five. Only after that did she flash into her space and show up before Tang He''s face.


    "It''s you!" As Lin Qiao suddenly appeared, Tang He was shocked, and then instantly stepped back to create a safe distance.


    "Yes, it''s me," Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    Tang He tightened his entire body as he stared at her and asked, "You dragged me into this place. What do you want?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, " I failed to kill you last time in Sea City Base. However, you brought yourself to my territory. Do you think that I''ll let you leave my space alive?"


    Tang He paused for a second upon hearing what she said, and then suddenly popped his eyes and said, "Are you saying that this is your space?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes."


    Lin Qiao wanted to kill Tang He not only because he was a robber, but also because he was clearly going after Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng when she saw him for the first time. Not to mention the fact that he went to Sea City Base later on and ganged up with Yang Chao to hurt Lin Wenwen.


    Now, he showed up around her new base. How could she possibly let this man with evil intentions go?


    Her words made Tang He feel extremely uncomfortable. No wonder his power was lowered to level-five, and was reducing unstoppably.


    He hurriedly tried to negotiate with her, "I didn''t do anything to you or your people, neither did I kill any of your people. You have no reason to kill me! Let me go, and I''ll leave this area. I''ll be far from here, and I''ll never approach your territory again. How about that?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and sneered, "You think I''ll believe you, such an ambitious post-apocalyptic robber? You''ve eaten lots of human flesh. The people that you''ve hurt are even more than the zombies that you have killed. You are heartless. Why should you stay alive?"


    Most importantly, this terrorist now had his eyes on her new base. If she let him go, he would definitely ally with other powerful people to attack her. Lin Qiao was not an idiot. She would never set free this evil man.


    As the negotiation failed, the look on Tang He''s face immediately turned cold. As a level-seven powerful man and a post-apocalyptic robber, he was brave enough to pick a life-risking fight. So, when Lin Qiao refused to let him go, he gave up on the negotiation.


    He spread his hands as he stared at Lin Qiao fiercely and said with a deep and cold voice, "In this case, let me see how you''ll take my life."


    After that, his pair of forearms turned into metal and lengthened, his palms transforming into sharp blade tips.


    As he swung his arms, the sharp blades created a shrill noise in the air. "Come on, bring it on! Let me see what you can do!"


    Lin Qiao only looked at him blandly, without making a move. Of course, she would not fight with him closely. Instead, she reached out a hand and released a stream of dark mist from her palm.


    "I have plenty of ways to kill you," she said.


    Last time, she accidentally let him escape, so she brought him into her space this time. As long as he was trapped in her space, he would have no way of survival.


    The thick dark mist that she released was clearly not easy to deal with. Tang He didn''t have the sharp sensations that zombies had, but he could see it with his eyes.


    The dark mist around Lin Qiao grew larger and larger. It surrounded her, then spiraled up into the sky and expanded slowly, eventually forming a dark cloud.


    As the dark cloud became huger and huger, Tang He''s face turned darker and darker, and his heart sank deeper and deeper. He suddenly realized that he might not be able to survive today. He was careless enough to let himself be dragged into this space. That was already a mistake. This space suppressed his power, but strengthened hers.


    In fact, he had seen this coming as his power disappeared partially during the past hour.


    He looked at Lin Qiao before he abruptly held his breath and lunged at her. From about four meters away, he suddenly leaped up, flipped in the air, and then swung both arms down toward Lin Qiao.


    He wanted to know what the black mist could do to him! He thought that it wouldn''t be too effective to him as long as he didn''t inhale it.


    However, he soon realized that he was wrong.


    As he suddenly charged, Lin Qiao quickly took a step backward and waved a hand. Following her move, the dark mist descended from the sky and shrouded Tang He, who was trying to hack Lin Qiao.


    He automatically raised his arms to shield his head. In the meantime, his entire body turned into metal, even his hair becoming like steel wires.


    When the dark mist touched his skin, he felt that something was devouring the energy on his skin.


    ''This isn''t good!''


    With an awful feeling, he immediately rushed out of the mist. However, as Lin Qiao waved her hand again, the dark mist followed Tang He. He never got a chance to get rid of the mist.


    Lin Qiao hopped on top of the small building and reached out both hands toward Tang He with her fingers crooked, and then clenched them. It seemed like she was trying to grasp something in the air. She moved her hands along with Tang He; wherever he went, she moved her hands that way.


    On the other side, the mist enveloped Tang He. Under Lin Qiao''s control, it was slowly shrinking toward him.


    At that moment, the mist before Tang He''s eyes were turning thicker and thicker, darker and darker. He couldn''t see anything but darkness, so he darted about like a headless fly.


    And then, he unluckily bumped into the small building which Lin Qiao was standing on.


    As his entire body had turned into metal, he wasn''t injured, but only dizzied himself.


    The dizziness disabled him from controlling his power. As a result, his skin quickly turned back normal, and then was corroded by the dark mist which was surrounding him.


    "Ah¡­" A burning pain made him let out a shrill howl and suddenly woke him up. Next, he controlled his power and quickly recovered his skin with his energy.


    However, just now while screaming, he could not help but make a few breaths. What he inhaled was, of course, Lin Qiao''s dark mist.


    "Em¡­ eh!" Before long, he covered his throat with both hands, his face reddened with suffocation.


    On his forehead, blood veins bulged under his skin while he widened his eyes and mouth. His legs could no longer support his body, so he fell to the ground with his waist bent and curled.


    He popped his eyes and curled beside the building, his hands scratching his throat.


    "Er¡­ ah¡­ emmmm¡­" He opened his mouth wide like a fish which was exposed in the air as strange noises came out of his throat.

 430 How Tang He Died

    The pain from his burning throat and suffocation both made Tang He roll on the ground.


    Soon, he began hammering his chest. His throat was injured by his fingers which were still covered in metal energy. Streams of blood gushed out of those wounds.


    However, he couldn''t feel that, because the burning pain from his chest and throat and the suffocation almost put him into unconsciousness.


    The dark mist covered his face and eyes and soon began corroding them.


    "Ah¡­" His eyes were slowly devoured. His burning throat and lungs, and all other kinds of pains that he had been suffering made him want nothing but a quick death.


    He opened his mouth wide to roar, but he had already lost his voice.


    Lin Qiao understood his meaning. She leaped off the building and reached out a hand, then bent over and inserted her claws deep into Tang He''s skull.


    Puff!


    As her claws penetrated his skull, he stopped struggling. After that, he relaxed his twisted face and stopped breathing. But, his mouth stayed wide open.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand to take back the black mist. Meanwhile, she crumbled Tang He''s skull with her hand, then stirred his brain and found a level-seven energy nucleus.


    She coldly glanced at Tang He''s body. His clothes had been devoured by the dark mist, and so was his skin. At that moment, he looked like a skinned human body.


    She raised a hand and released a wisp of dark mist. After that, more and more dark mist drifted out of her palm and wrapped Tang He''s body up. Before long, the dark mist shrank.


    Without his power, the skinned Tang He was entirely devoured by the black mist in less than ten minutes.


    Only a puddle of blood was left on the ground, following which, Lin Qiao made her dark mist devour a layer of ground in that area.


    After dealing with the body, Lin Qiao glanced at her hand which was covered in blood and brain matter, and also at that energy nucleus.


    She thought for a moment. Earlier on, Viney asked her to give her the snake''s energy nucleus. But days ago, she let that snake go, and Viney never asked her for the energy nucleus again.


    So now, she planned to give Tang He''s energy nucleus to Viney.


    But before that, she needed to find that giant snake which earlier escaped into the woods in her space.


    She suddenly felt that that snake was really unlucky. Judging by the wounds on its body, she figured that Tang He had given it a really hard time.


    She walked to a bucket by the lakeside and fetched some water with a water ladle to clean her hand and the energy nucleus. Then, she poured the dirty water onto the grass, and then put the nucleus into her pocket.


    After that, she turned and headed toward the woods.


    She quietly entered the woods and walked toward the deeper area.


    In the woods, there was no grass on the ground. The soil was clean, with a few fallen leaves on it.


    She walked about a mile and then found the king cobra which was coiling by the edge of the woods. That area was also the end of this space.


    It might have tried for a long while to go through the milky fog and failed, then decided to hide there.


    It was probably exhausted from the escape and pain. So now, it coiled its body and looked like a pyramid. It had buried its head in its coiled body and stayed motionless.


    It moved slightly upon sensing Lin Qiao''s approach, but didn''t rear up its head. All it did was create a gap between its coiled body and look outside the gap


    The weird thing was that it wasn''t so afraid when it saw Lin Qiao. It seemed that nothing could make this snake feel more despairing than it did earlier when it was hunted by Tang He.


    Lin Qiao stood three meters away from the snake as she crossed her arms before her chest and asked, "Do you want to go out? I''ll send you out if you want to leave."


    The king cobra seemed to be puzzled for a second. The snake was surprised that Lin Qiao actually talked to it. Even though it didn''t understand her words, but it did wonder if this meant that the upright-walking creature would not attack it.


    With confusion, it slowly raised its head and looked at Lin Qiao with curiosity.


    "Do you want to go out?" said Lin Qiao.


    The king cobra still looked at her curiously.


    Lin Qiao understood the look in its eyes, but could not communicate with it.


    She sighed and made two steps toward the snake. As she thought, the king cobra immediately raised its head high with vigilance, its eyes showing fear.


    Looking at its eyes, Lin Qiao stopped moving, feeling speechless.


    ''Come on, you''re a snake! You should be cold-blooded, heartless, fierce, and brutal! You should be an aggressive predator! Look at you now¡­ You''re not fierce at all! The look in your eyes makes you seem like a lamb¡­''


    Obviously, the snake had suffered too much pain these days.


    At first, it was beaten by Lin Qiao and the zombie dog, and earlier today, it was tortured by Tang He. It could even be the most miserable giant snake in the world.


    "You''re the poorest snake I''ve ever seen," said Lin Qiao, "You''re so huge, but why are you so weak?"


    The king cobra looked at her confusedly. What was she talking about?


    Lin Qiao made another step toward the snake, and the snake immediately leaned its head slightly backward. The pair of eye-shaped patterns on its neck expanded, becoming like hand fans.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao immediately stopped walking.


    She knew that although the snake seemed to be preparing to attack, in fact, it was only trying to frighten her and protect itself. It was so scared of her, but was still trying to act fiercely.


    However, the look in its eyes had sold it out.


    Lin Qiao made two steps backward and said, "Alright, I won''t get anywhere close to you."


    She felt that if she went closer, the snake would either try to escape or hurt itself.


    She thought for a moment, then decided to let the snake stay in her space for now, so that it would not run around outside. After all, it might accidentally enter the construction site. Also, she wanted to communicate with it.


    After making the decision, she exited her space. In the next moment, she saw a dirty and ugly huge dog sitting under the tree where she had disappeared from earlier.


    As Lin Qiao showed up, the zombie dog immediately stood up. Maybe because of its nature, it had now learned to wag its tail to Lin Qiao. Only the tip of its tail was moving though.


    Lin Qiao carefully observed its dirty and messy fur, then said, "I''ll come out to shave you when I have absorbed this nucleus! You have to be shaved!"


    "Ow?" The zombie dog looked at her confusedly.


    Finishing talking, Lin Qiao brought the dog to the sweet potato field.


    As she arrived at the road beside the field, Qiu Lili quickly flew to her from the rock and landed by her side.


    "How''s it going? Where''s that person?" she asked.


    Lin Qiao looked at those zombies who were working in the field. After confirming that none of them was missing, she responded, "He''s dead. I brought him into my space and killed him."


    Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise and asked, "Eh? You''re able to kill a level-seven? Exactly how powerful are you? Why do I feel that you''re still a zombie queen? But, you can even kill level-seven!"


    Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili, then shook her head and said, "With my current power, I was surely not able to kill him directly. So, I needed a plan."


    While speaking, she pointed at her own head.

 431 Shave The Dog

    "How did you do it?" Qiu Lili looked at her curiously.


    Lin Qiao responded, "I''m able to control the energy in my space now. I gave him a surprise attack and brought him into my space, then suppressed his power with the space and killed him."


    Hearing that, Qiu Lili replied with surprise, "Your space can kill people! So, you can simply drag anyone who offended you into your space and kill them?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "It''s not like that. The space can only suppress his power. As he was at level-seven, I spent over an hour to suppress his power. If he were stronger, I might have failed. Also, it was not easy to bring him into the space. I did it while he was unprepared. If he was preparing for it, it''d be difficult for me to approach him."


    "But, it''s already amazing that you managed to kill someone who was at a higher level than yourself!" Qiu Lili was still surprised, "Ah, don''t you have that thing in your lake?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "Viney is no longer in the lake, so she can''t help me now."


    Qiu Lili looked at her and asked, "No in the lake? Where did she go?"


    Lin Qiao gave her a glance, then answered her question vaguely, "Somewhere else."


    Qiu Lili scanned Lin Qiao from head to toe with her ruby-like eyes, saying, "Somewhere else? Isn''t she like a special local product of your space?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her and laughed, "That''s a strange metaphor¡­ but sounds quite accurate. She is indeed not in my space now."


    "Where did she go then?" asked Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "About that¡­ I have no idea either."


    She could not tell Qiu Lili that Viney was now hiding in her uterus and that she had become a little zombie baby, could she? Also, would Viney be a human or a zombie when she was born?


    She hadn''t thought about that yet!


    Qiu Lili didn''t ask further questions about Viney''s whereabouts, but changed the topic. "Em, from now on, this place is our territory! We can''t let strangers get close without our permission!" she said with discontentment.


    Lin Qiao laughed, "Didn''t I take care of him already? We''re tough. He had sneaked into our territory, so could we possibly let him do whatever he wanted here?"


    "You''re right!" Qiu Lili nodded in agreement, "From now on, no one can enter this area without permission!"


    Lin Qiao nodded, then crooked his finger toward the zombie dog. "Come here!"


    The zombie dog looked at her confusedly while walking over. Qiu Lili too looked at her with confusion. Lin Qiao guided the zombie dog to the lawn nearby, then shook a hand. With that, a pair of scissors appeared in her hand.


    "What are you doing?" Qiu Lili asked while staring at that shiny scissors.


    "I''m going to give it a haircut," said Lin Qiao, "Maybe, it''ll look better after that."


    Qiu Lili nodded knowingly, "Ah, you should."


    "Alright, stand here and don''t move," said Lin Qiao to the zombie dog.


    After that, she bent over and started from the dog''s neck. Lock by lock, she cut off the dog''s extremely dirty hair which were soaked in blood and pus.


    The zombie dog stood motionlessly and let Lin Qiao cut its hair. Meanwhile, Qiu Lili stood aside and said, "Give it a shower when you''re done. It stinks!"


    "Em, I do have that plan," Lin Qiao nodded.


    Qiu Lili spent half an hour watching Lin Qiao cut all the dog''s hair. She didn''t even miss the dog''s tail. Except for its head, the dog was hairless now.


    It would look like a male lion if it had a shorter snout.


    Afterward, Lin Qiao took a bucket of water out of her space, then began showering the dog with a water ladle to wash off the filth. Next, she pointed at the rest half bucket of water and said to the zombie dog, "Get in and stay there. Don''t come out until I tell you to."


    "Ow!" The zombie dog gave a happy howl. It took a few steps backward, then ran over and jumped into the bucket.


    Plop! The dog jumped into the bucket, splashing the water everywhere.


    The group of zombies who were working in the field all turned back to glance at the dog, feeling that the dog was living a better life than they were. The dog was allowed to take a bath in the energy water while they could only get a glass of that water to drink after a long, hard-working day.


    Lin Qiao finished cleaning the dog, then looked at the time. After that, she shouted at those zombies who were digging sweet potatoes in the field, "Alright, it''s time to knock off. Come over here!"


    Those zombies immediately stood up and walked toward her. Xie Dong and Shen Yujen dusted off their hands and stood beside Lin Qiao as well.


    Lin Qiao threw out a rope and made those zombies hold it, then brought them all into her space. After that, she waited by a bucket which was placed near the lakeside.


    Once they entered, those zombies all ran to a cabinet near a small space to pick up their own cups.


    Lin Qiao had found that cabinet from the outside. The space in the cabinet was divided into about forty cubes, about half the size of the lockers in supermarkets.


    In that cabinet were the cups that Lin Qiao collected for those zombies.


    The zombies picked up their own cups, then lined up before Lin Qiao, waiting for her to give them the water.


    During the first couple of days, Lin Qiao gave them the water according to the number of sweet potatoes that each of them had found. Later on, they searched through the entire field and dug out all mutated sweet potatoes, only leaving those healthy sweet potatoes which were growing near the sweetcorn plants in the ground.


    But still, Lin Qiao gave them a cup of water each as their minimum wage.


    However, she told them that if there was no more work to do, she would stop giving them the water. When there were jobs that needed to be done, she would let them know. She also told them that they could only get the water after they did some work.


    At night, Lin Qiao would return to the hotel to give the water to Mengmeng and those zombie leaders. She also gave them baths every week.


    Each time, she would spend a long while to observe the zombie old man taking a bath.


    That night, Lin Qiao stayed in a room in the small building in her space and sat on a bed with her legs crossed. She rolled up her military vest, exposing her pretty waist and sexy and firm abs.


    She also pulled her pants slightly downwards to expose her flat lower abdomen.


    After that, she picked up the level-seven energy nucleus which had been cleaned and put it on her palm, then pressed it on her lower abdomen. Soon, she sensed a strong and icy-cold type of energy slowly flowing into her belly.


    It was the first time for her to absorb the energy of a metal-powered man. The metal energy turned out to be sharp and cold. She knitted her brows into a frown as she felt a little uncomfortable. However, she endured that weird feeling.


    She felt that her belly was absorbing that energy, and she knew that it wasn''t her who had been absorbing it, but Viney.


    Knowing that Viney was able to absorb the energy, she was relieved. She only wondered how much that level-seven energy nucleus could help Viney to develop.

 432 Absorb The Energy

    Viney didn''t stop absorbing the energy that night. However, after an entire night, the energy nucleus in Lin Qiao''s hand only shrank by ten percent.


    In the morning, Viney stopped absorbing.


    She also sent a message to Lin Qiao, ''Mama, Mama¡­ Viney is full for now¡­ Mama, you can absorb the rest of the nucleus. I''m going to sleep¡­ Em, Mama, if you can, please save a little bit for Viney, just a little bit¡­''


    After that, she fell into silence again. Lin Qiao guessed that she went to sleep.


    As Lin Qiao prepared to absorb the rest of the energy, Viney''s voice was heard again.


    ''Also, Mama, go to the lake bottom to absorb the energy¡­ The energy in the lake can filter out the impurities for you¡­''


    After saying that, Viney didn''t say another word.


    Lin Qiao was puzzled. Go to the lake bottom? Would that help?


    She was aware that Viney would not lie to her, and that she reminded her so because it was good for her.


    Thus, she got off the bed and pulled down her clothes, then went downstairs with the energy nucleus, headed toward the lakeside.


    When she stood by the chair which she always put her clothes on, and prepared to take off her clothes, she suddenly paused, then turned back to find that a group of zombies were hiding in a small space, sticking their heads out to watch her.


    She was speechless for a while.


    Should she design a room for her to go straight down into the water? The floor of the room should be connected to the lake, and her clothes could be stored in the room. Without a room like that, she would be watched every time she got into or came out of the lake, wouldn''t she?


    She looked at those zombies and said, "All turn back. Don''t watch. The ones who don''t turn around can choose your way of death now."


    The group of zombies paused for a second. They didn''t understand why she didn''t allow them to watch her, but still, they turned around obediently. None of them could tell what would happen if they didn''t turn around, as she had mentioned that they could choose their way of death.


    Even though those zombies seemed to be pretty obedient, Lin Qiao still released a stream of dark mist to wrap herself up before taking off her military vest and pants. She put her clothes on the chair beside her, then pulled off the rubber band on her hair and let them hang loosely.


    She glanced back at the group of zombies and found that none of them was peeking. After that, she picked up the energy nucleus and walked into the lake with bare feet.


    She got into the water and dove downward. As she was able to control the energy in the water, she felt that both the buoyancy and resistance of the water were gone. She felt as if she was floating in the air, and her body was so light that she could go anywhere she wanted.


    So, she soon arrived at the lake bottom. She stood there and held the energy nucleus, then closed her eyes to absorb the energy.


    As the cold metal energy flowed into her palm, she sensed that a warm, different type of energy gushed into her other palm. That was the energy in the lake water.


    The two streams of energies didn''t go straight into her brain, but lingered around her heart to merge. As those two different types of energies merged together, another kind of energy was generated. That new and warm energy moved toward her brain.


    Lin Qiao understood what was going on. No wonder Viney told her to come down into the lake. Why didn''t Viney ask her to come down earlier when she was absorbing the energy herself? Wouldn''t it be better?


    Perhaps, Viney was able to filter Tang He''s energy by herself, as she possessed the original energy that existed in the lake.


    That could be possible.


    While Lin Qiao was thinking, more and more energy flowed into her body. Gradually, the filtered energy started spreading all over her body.


    Lin Qiao felt that her body had started burning. Her body temperature rose slowly, then dropped; then rose again, and then dropped again.


    Sometimes, her body temperature would go up to over forty degrees, which would make her feel hot. Every time, the highest body temperature lasted for a longer while than the last time, and after that, her body temperature would drop to a very low point, which would make her feel chilly.


    That was not the same as before when Viney helped her absorb the energies.


    She did not like this drastic change in body temperature!


    ¡­


    At that time, a group of people arrived at the new base site. They parked their vehicle on the road, twenty meters away from the zombie crowd, and stared at those zombies which hadn''t been moving their feet at all. Their faces were filled with surprise.


    Spotting those living human beings, the crowd of zombies immediately turned to them, gazing at them and giving out roars. They bared their teeth and brandished their claws, looking as scary as ever; but, they never charged at those people.


    "Eh¡­ Boss, they are not coming over!" Zheng Xiaonian got off the car with curiosity and moved to Lu Tianyi''s side, his eyes fixed on the crowd of zombies which had jammed the road.


    Lu Tianyi responded with a mysterious look, "Have you forgotten whose territory this is? She knows how to control these zombies."


    Zheng Xiaonian and the others didn''t know that Lin Qiao was a zombie, but they all felt that she was very powerful and mysterious. Ever since she had saved them from zombies, they had been seeing her as an incredibly powerful being!


    "Can she do that? That''s amazing! But here is the problem. How are we supposed to get in? Should we wait?"


    Judging by the look on Lu Tianyi''s face, he and his teammates knew that he planned to wait here.


    Lu Tianyi spread his hands and said, "What other plans do you have? You can try to get close to them and see if they''ll let you pass."


    Zheng Xiaonian hurriedly shook his hands and said, "No! I''m not gonna do it! You should do it, you''re the boss!"


    Lu Tianyi crossed his arms before his chest, then shrugged and responded, "I don''t need to do it, because I know that they''ll definitely attack me."


    The others looked at him disappointedly.


    ''Then why did you tell me to try? Am I an idiot?'' thought Zheng Xiaonian.


    They waited for half an hour, but saw no one. So, they waited for another half hour; but still, no one showed up.


    "Do they know that we''re here? Do we need to wait here forever if they don''t send someone to guide us in?" One in the team asked Lu Tianyi as people were losing patience.


    Lu Tianyi shook his head and said, "How am I supposed to know?"


    The others made some suggestions, "Boss, maybe you should go over there and try to get in. Perhaps, someone will show up when you make your way in."


    Lu Tianyi glanced at them. He thought for a second, then decided to give it a try, as waiting didn''t seem like a good solution.


    "Alright, I''ll give it a try."


    At that moment, those zombies were anxious, as they had spent an hour staring at some food, but weren''t allowed to make a bite.


    Lu Tianyi slowly approached those zombies while observing their reactions. If those zombies showed any sign of attacking, he would draw back.


    When Lu Tianyi made a few meters forward, a small figure suddenly leaped down from a building nearby.


    "Roar!" The zombie boy''s face was wrapped in a bandage, but that did not stop him from making a threatening sound. If his boss didn''t forbid him from hurting human beings without permission, he would never spend such a long while staring at those people without touching them.


    But now, those people actually attempted to pass without permission. Without question, he would not let them.


    So, he jumped off the roof.


    Looking at the red pupils in the zombie boy''s purely dark eyes, Lu Tianyi felt his scalp turn a little numb.


    Who could tell him if this zombie boy was a gatekeeper of this area?

 433 Wu Chengyue Arrives

    Looking at the zombie leader who showed up so suddenly, Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to do. The zombies wouldn''t allow him in, would they? What should he do?


    Without a doubt, he should not pick up a fight with these zombies. Things would become troublesome if these zombies felt offended. Also, he and his people weren''t here to fight. It was obviously inappropriate for them to start a fight in someone else''s territory.


    So, Lu Tianyi tried to negotiate with the zombie boy, "Well, can you please tell your boss that some people want to see her?"


    He felt that talking to a zombie was a little silly, and he didn''t even know if the zombie could understand him or not. However, what else could he do? He was helpless!


    With those complicated thoughts, Lu Tianyi also found it interesting. Before he met Lu Tianyu the zombie, he had never thought about communicating with zombies. Normally, he would try to kill any zombie that crossed his sight.


    Anyway, the zombie boy didn''t respond to him.


    "I think¡­ he can only understand what that female zombie says!" Abruptly, a warm voice was heard from behind Lu Tianyi.


    Lu Tianyi turned back to find a smiling man in a camouflage suit standing three meters behind him, carrying a child.


    "Chief?" Lu Tianyi automatically looked behind that man. As a result, he saw nothing but his own vehicle and people. At that moment, the noises of vehicles were heard from a distance away, and then he saw a few large trucks approaching.


    "Why are you here?" Lu Tianyi asked with surprise.


    Wu Chengyue pointed at his daughter and responded, "I''m here to bring her to her new Mom."


    Wu Yueling looked at Wu Chengyue and suddenly gave a smile. She liked calling her that. So, she decided to call her Zombie Mom instead of Zombie Sister.


    Lu Tianyi, Zheng Xiaonian, and the others all wore a weird shocked look. Lu Tianyi felt it weird because of the way his Chief called his sister, and how quickly he acted to pursue her.


    Zheng Xiaonian and the others were shocked because that was the first time they had heard that their Chief was going to find the little princess a new Mom. They thought that Meng Yue, who had been following him everywhere, would become the little princess''s mother someday.


    But now, it seemed that they were wrong.


    Lu Tianyi pointed at the zombie boy and said, "If he can''t understand us, what should we do now? We''ve been waiting here for an hour, but no one showed up."


    Wu Chengyue responded with a faint smile, "Easy. We''ll just scare him away."


    While speaking, he walked before Lu Tianyi and released his vibe.


    "Roar!" The zombie boy was immediately agitated. He gave Wu Chengyue a roar with fear, and then quickly turned and disappeared without a trace.


    "Chief, I think this is inappropriate," Lu Tianyi was a little speechless, as his Chief released his vibe and scared away the guards of someone else''s territory.


    Wu Chengyue turned back, then smiled at him and shrugged, "This is the most effective way. We don''t need to fight. How convenient!"


    At that moment, a white figure flew over and landed on a utility pole, "Why are you here? You aren''t here with new workers, are you?"


    The people raised their heads to look at the young girl who was standing stably on the utility pole, wearing a white dress and looking at them curiously. Her long hair fluttered in the air, and her eyes were as red as ruby.


    Wu Chengyue smiled, "Didn''t we send a batch of workers a couple of days ago? We were nearby, so we came here to take a look."


    "Get in," Qiu Lili waved a hand and said. Following her move, the crowd of zombies ran away as quickly as possible. Soon, a path was made for them.


    "If you came for Qiaoqiao, she''s not here now," said Qiu Lili. After saying that, she turned and left.


    "Who''s Qiaoqiao?" Wu Chengyue and Lu Tianyi were left confused.


    "Whoever it is, let''s get in first," said Wu Chengyue to the people behind him. "Move," he waved a hand and gave a shout. After that, his motorcade drove into the new base site, followed by Lu Tianyi''s off-road car.


    As they got through, the zombie crowd quickly gathered again.


    Qiu Lili returned to the hotel and said to Chen Yuting and the other few who were reading some files in the lobby, "A Chief from Sea City Base is here. They''ve already passed the zombie wall." After that, she turned back and hopped upstairs.


    Lin Feng, Chen Yuting, and Yuan Tianxing were sitting in the lobby, trying to figure out how much more time it would talk to build up the fence wall, and how many people they needed to hire to shorten that time.


    Hearing Qiu Lili''s words, they were all puzzled for a moment. Only after Qiu Lili left did they figure out her meaning.


    "A Chief of Sea City Base? Which one? Chief Wu?" Lin Feng took a guess.


    Chen Yuting nodded and said, "I think so. Recently, he has been out there collecting supplies for the winter. I didn''t think that he''d come this way."


    "Maybe he''s passing by our place while collecting supplies near Hangzhou City, so he decided to come and say hi," said Yuan Tianxing.


    The other two nodded at him in agreement, "That''s possible."


    While talking, they heard a series of noises of vehicles from the outside. So, they immediately stood up and headed toward the entrance. They went out of the building and stood on the stage before the door, seeing a few off-road vehicles and trucks driving over.


    Wu Chengyue and a few people got off an off-road car.


    Yuan Tianxing''s handsome face wore a smile as he said to Wu Chengyue and his people, "Chief Wu, why didn''t you inform us before arriving? We should have welcomed you out there. How did you pass the zombie crowd? You didn''t beat those zombies up, did you?"


    He knew that it was probably Qiu Lili who let them in, but still, he was curious about what exactly happened earlier.


    Lin Feng stepped aside, then pointed at the lobby and said, "Please come in." After that, he guided the guests to the couch area.


    Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling in, then put her on the ground and held her hand as he walked toward a couch. Meanwhile, he said, "I was nearby, so I decided to come here and see how the construction has been going. I brought myself here without letting you know in advance, because I think it was unnecessary."


    Lu Tianyi, Xiao Licheng, and the others followed Wu Chengyue into the lobby. They first looked around, but didn''t see Lin Qiao. After that, they quietly followed behind Wu Chengyue.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying came in and saw Wu Chengyue and his people. They were surprised, but only gave them an extra glance before walking behind the front desk and entering the guest room area.


    "Why are they here?" Lin Wenwen asked.


    Both her and Long Qingying were emitting the scent of perspiration. Their T-shirts were soaked on their backs and collar areas. Their neatly cut short hair were moist, and each of them had a damp towel hanging on their necks.


    Long Qingying''s clothes were less wet than Lin Wenwen''s. Clearly, she didn''t exercise as hard as the latter did.


    They had jogged outside for over an hour. Before, Lin Wenwen was only able to jog for ten minutes. Soon, she made it to twenty minutes, and then half an hour. And now, she was able to jog for one and a half hour.

 434 Wenwens Changes

    Every day, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying would do some other exercises in their room after jogging. Lin Wenwen asked Long Qingying to supervise her every single day.


    Yuan Tianxing wouldn''t let them help in the construction site anyway. They might be able to do some construction work, but Yuan Tianxing could not let them distract the male workers.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, the male-female ratio was a thousand to one. So one could imagine how those guys who hadn''t touched any woman for years would feel if they could see two young girls every single day. They would surely not be able to stay calm.


    Therefore, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying normally stayed in their room or helped in the kitchen. When there was no work to do, they would stay in their room to reduce the chances of making troubles.


    Usually, they would go out to jog around the hotel when the workers had left to work. They jogged in the morning, exercised in the afternoon, and practiced combat skills after that.


    Even Long Qingying was surprised that Lin Wenwen had made it for so many days. She thought that the latter would give up in just a few days; but to her surprise, that didn''t happen.


    At present, Lin Wenwen was already different from before. She was no longer giving out that gentle and mild vibe, but had become a little manly. No wonder Miss. Lu could tell her difference that day.


    "I don''t know," she said, "But look at those trucks! I think they were collecting supplies nearby. I don''t think he''d make a trip here specially."


    Lin Wenwen nodded in agreement as the two of them went upstairs and walked into the hall.


    Long Qingying looked at her and asked, "Aren''t you gonna take a day off? Your wounds haven''t healed yet, have they?"


    Lin Wenwen shook her head without hesitation and said, "I''m fine! I''ve already adapted to these injuries. They''re nothing. I''m afraid that once I rest, what I''ve been working hard for would be ruined. So, I''ll continue with it."


    Her injuries were only flesh wounds. Those hurt quite much, but would heal in just a few days. Before, those wounds might have made her scream; she might have allowed herself to rest without doing anything. But now, she thought differently. Earlier on, she did not know how hard the soldiers worked in the army, so she had no idea how Lin Qiao and Lin Feng got through the toughest period when they first joined the army.


    But, she recently learned about that as she asked Wei Jingchen and some others about how they were trained in the army. After that, she suddenly realized that her big sister had worked really hard. If her big brother and sister didn''t work that hard to strengthen themselves in the army, her entire family might not have been able to survive the apocalypse, and being with families like now would be difficult.


    Among the survivors of the apocalypse, many were soldiers.


    This time, the fall of her old base, the death of Lin Qiao, and the long escape gave her a deep understanding of the jungle law in the post-apocalypse era. She didn''t blame Lin Qiao for protecting her too well during the past five years, but did blame herself for being too short-sighted.


    So now, she trained herself as hard as she could and learned how to fight. She knew that as long as she was able to protect herself, her families could worry less about her and be more relieved.


    "Alright then, I''ll try to make your bruises heal quicker tonight," said Long Qingying.


    Lin Wenwen laughed, then turned and hugged her as she said, "Thank you! Qingying, you''re the best!"


    Long Qingying pushed her away and complained, "You''re soaked in sweat. Don''t hug me¡­ I feel hot."


    Lin Wenwen chuckled and let her go. After that, the two of them walked into their room, picked up the glasses on the table, and each took a few sips, then headed to room which was at the end of the hallway before entering it.


    That was an empty room, with no furniture pieces except two chairs in the corners. They put their glasses on the chairs; Lin Wenwen also put her towel on the back of a chair.


    After that, Lin Wenwen started to practice on her horse stance.


    That was right, horse stance! It made her feel awkward at first, but as Long Qingying joined her, she felt slightly better.


    At times, it really took at least two people to make something seem less awkward.


    ¡­


    Downstairs, Wu Chengyue and the others took seats and chatted for a while, then Yuan Tianxing brought them to the construction site. After that, Wu Chengyue asked casually, "Why didn''t I see Miss. Lu? Is she mysterious in here too?"


    Yuan Tianxing smiled, "Ah, she''s been busy at training zombies to farm lately."


    Wu Chengyue smiled as well and said, "That I know. So, is she normally in that sweet potato field? Isn''t she in charge of the construction site?"


    Yuan Tianxing responded, "We have clear division of work. She''s not responsible for the construction. Chief Wu, since you know that she''s been training zombies, I assume you know about that too."


    While speaking, he looked at Wu Chengyue with a meaningful look.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "I know, but not clearly enough."


    Yuan Tianxing smiled at him and said, "In fact, you''re not just here to see our new base site, but you''re also here for her, right?"


    Wu Chengyue gave him the same smile and responded, "Ah, you figured it out! So, I''ll just be honest with you. I''m here for her."


    Yuan Tianxing laughed, "Then why didn''t you go straight to the mountain area instead of wasting your time with me?"


    Wu Chengyue laughed as well, "Don''t say that. I''ll be shy."


    Yuan Tianxing spent a few seconds gazing at him, then responded, "What you said made me speechless¡­"


    Alright, he had lost. Wu Chengyue was more thick-skinned than him!


    The people who followed behind them were even more confused. Both Wu Chengyue and Yuan Tianxing seemed a little silly right now¡­


    Wu Yueling, who hadn''t seen Lin Qiao, started to lose patience and patted her father on the shoulder. Wu Chengyue stopped walking, then turned to her and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    But, the little one only gazed at him in the eyes.


    Wu Chengyue immediately understood her meaning, so he nodded and smiled, "Alright, we''ll go and find her now."


    The little one quickly nodded at him in response.


    Yuan Tianxing said to Wu Chengyue, "You''ve been planning this since you asked us to watch Ling Ling last time, haven''t you?"


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "No, you have misunderstood! That was just a coincidence! Ling Ling does like Miss. Lu very much, but I wasn''t so interested in her before."


    "Are you interested in her now?" Yuan Tianxing asked.


    He looked at Wu Chengyue who was clearly planning to steal Lin Qiao from him and his friends. He wanted very much to send this man away, but knew that he could not do it.


    This time, Wu Chengyue only smiled. He didn''t deny or say anything else.


    Behind him, Lu Tianyi whispered to Lin Feng, "Our Chief is going to steal Miss. Lu away from you. Aren''t you going to try to stop him?"


    Lin Feng had guessed it out based on the conversation between Yuan Tianxing and Wu Chengyue. "How?" he asked.

 435 He Smiled Like A Fox

    Lu Tianyi looked at him and said, "Are you going to watch him steal her away?"


    Lin Feng looked back at him and responded with surprise, "Why do I feel that you''re not on your Chief''s side? Won''t you be happy if he stole one of our people away?"


    "That''s not true," Lu Tianyi raised his head to look at the sky. Of course, he wouldn''t be happy about that! However, he could not tell the others that he didn''t want anyone else to steal his sister who had become a completely different person, as he himself hadn''t gotten close to her yet.


    The group of people returned to the hotel. After that, Yuan Tianxing guided Wu Chengyue to Mount Wu. But, when they arrived, they saw no zombies, and only an almost empty field with the soil turned up.


    Some sweetcorn plants were standing in the field, surrounded by a series of holes. Next to each hole was a small pile of soil.


    Wu Chengyue looked at the field and asked, "What was growing here before? Why are there sweetcorn plants? Isn''t she going to remove them?"


    Yuan Tianxing looked around but didn''t see any zombie. He didn''t know where Lin Qiao was either.


    "Ah, she said that these sweetcorn plants aren''t infected, so they are edible. She plans to keep them as seeds. Mutated sweet potatoes used to be in these holes. All the mutated sweet potatoes have been dug out and devoured by her with her dark mist," he answered Wu Chengyue''s question.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said with doubts, "Are you sure you can grow crops in this field? The soil is infected. Healthy plants will be infected by the soil, won''t they?"


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "I''m not so sure either. Miss. Lu said that she''ll be dealing with these problems. We don''t know what she will do."


    Wu Chengyue put Wu Yueling down and held her little hand. Then, he looked at those holes on the ground and said, "I guess she''s planning to use that kind of water."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Probably."


    Wu Chengyue looked around again and asked, "Is she here now? Where did she go? She''s not out there catching more zombies, is she?"


    Yuan Tianxing had could only respond with, "I don''t know. But, it seems that she''s not here. Let''s head back to the hotel now. I don''t know where exactly she is, so I don''t know where to find her, unless she shows up herself."


    Wu Chengyue had no other choice but to take Wu Yueling back to the hotel.


    Wu Yueling wasn''t happy as she didn''t see Lin Qiao. She put her arms around Wu Chengyue''s neck and buried her face in his chest.


    Wu Chengyue sensed her emotions, so he laughed, "Be patient! Daddy will find her."


    Back in the hotel, Yuan Tianxing asked him, "How long do you plan to stay? Is it okay if you don''t head back to the base as soon as possible?"


    "I''ve already been out for so many days. A couple of more days won''t hurt," said Wu Chengyue.


    He needed to see the female zombie before heading back. He didn''t even know what she looked like now. His memories about her stopped that day they had sex. He clearly remembered the texture of her skin and how she closed her eyes, frowning to endure the pain.


    Now, in this place, he really wanted to see her when she was clear-minded. He wondered how she would face him. Judging by the fact that she sneakily left Sea City Base, he understood that she did not want to see him, at least not now.


    He wondered how she would react, and what the look on her face would be when she found out that he had come to her new base. Thinking of that, Wu Chengyue''s lips curved deeper in that smile, and even the smiling look in his eyes turned more obvious.


    Yuan Tianxing, who was standing aside, looked at him and couldn''t help but remind him, "Chief Wu, you look like a fox which is thinking about its prey."


    Wu Chengyue smiled at him. His narrowed eyes glowed with a bright light as he responded, "Thank you!"


    Tianxing didn''t know how what to say.


    ''So thick-skinned!'' he thought.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue had no idea that he would spend three days waiting for the female zombie, and that the latter would never show up.


    In the space, Lin Qiao hadn''t realized that she had spent three days in the water. She stopped absorbing the energy when there was only about ten percent of it left in the nucleus.


    In the water, she opened her green eyes and the bright green light shone out, dimming when she blinked.


    She glanced at the energy nucleus in her hand, then swung both arms downward to bring herself quickly upward. Soon, she popped up from the water.


    She looked around, then swam toward the lakeside.


    In the shallow area, she stood up and waved a hand. Following her move, a stream of dark mist was released. The mist surrounded her body like a screen, just like it did before she came down into the lake.


    Soon, the mist covered her beautifully shaped body.


    She walked out of the water with bare feet, then picked up the clothes on the chair and began putting them on. Sensing her appearance, the zombies in the small spaces all stuck their heads out to look at her.


    She put on the loose-fitting trousers and the tight military vest, then sat on the chair, bending over to put on the boots. Her slender, snow-white neck and arms were bared; a few drops of water dripped down from her moist hair.


    After dressing herself, she stood up, prepared to exit her space. But suddenly, a series of roars from the zombie dog was heard from a distance away.


    "Roar!"


    Along with the dog''s howls, a vibration was sensed.


    Lin Qiao and the group of zombies in the small spaces all turned to that area, but soon, those zombies quickly drew back deeply into those small spaces.


    In a few seconds, a giant snake darted out of the woods, swishing into the grassland. The grasses in that area were about a meter tall.


    Following behind the snake was the hairless zombie. It swiftly followed the black snake into the grassland.


    Next, Lin Qiao saw the grasses rustling from here to there. The zombie dog which hopped excitedly like a rabbit followed closely behind those swaying grasses.


    The zombie dog was able to cover the distance of four to five meters with one leap, and jump about three meters high.


    It enjoyed chasing the snake.


    "The dog has become a zombie dog, but is still as energetic as ever," said Lin Qiao.


    She walked over; her eyes following the two animals from left to right, then from right to left.


    The zombie dog which was happily chasing the snake suddenly spotted Lin Qiao. Thus, it immediately turned around and leaped toward her.


    "Owwo!"


    With surprise, Lin Qiao watched the dog dart to her, then hop around her.


    "I''m surprised that you didn''t eat it when I was in the lake," she said.


    The zombie dog sat on the ground before her, then raised its head to look at her, even though it didn''t know what she was talking about.


    Lin Qiao glanced at it, then walked into the grass, toward the area which had rustled earlier but quieted down just now. Soon, she saw the giant snake which was lying weakly among grasses, looked so tired that it didn''t even bother to coil its body.


    The snake lay on the ground and spread its huge body which was over ten meters long. Its forked tongue was sticking out, laying softly on grasses.


    It only lifted its eyelids to give Lin Qiao a glance when it sensed her coming. After that, it closed its eyes and kept lying there.

 436 Your Father Is A Husky

    Lin Qiao looked at the snake with surprise. Was it going to ignore her?


    She made two steps toward the snake, thinking that the snake would not react; but she was wrong. The snake suddenly turned and darted into the grass nearby.


    Lin Qiao watched the snake quickly sneak away. She only saw a blurry shadow of its tail before it disappeared without a trace.


    The grassland was only about an acre wide, so it was pretty hard for the giant snake to hide in it.


    As the snake refused to let her get close to it, Lin Qiao had no other choice but to give up on the idea of catching it and sending it out.


    Suddenly, she thought of the rabbit and those mice. Recently, she had only been seeing this newly arrived snake, those zombies, and the zombie dog in her space. The rabbit and those mice seemed to have gone. They weren''t eaten, were they?


    Zombies wouldn''t eat mutated animals, but the zombie dog would.


    She closed her eyes to focus on her sensations. A while later, she opened those eyes, then turned back to glance at the small building.


    That gray rabbit was much smarter than she thought it was. It was hiding in that building, and Lin Qiao didn''t know when it got there. Meanwhile, those mice had now been hiding together in an underground nest.


    All in all, those little things were safe.


    Lin Qiao turned and walked out of the grass as she said to the zombie dog who was lying outside, "How long have you been chasing it? It''s so exhausted, but you didn''t catch it. Did you let it run on purpose?"


    "Ow?" The zombie dog looked at her confusedly.


    ''Didn''t you say that I can''t eat it? Why do you make it sound like I''m not able to catch it?''


    Lin Qiao observed the dog while responding, "Last time, I said that you can''t eat it. Is that why you didn''t bite it? Were you having fun chasing it just now?"


    "Ow!" The zombie dog immediately gave her a bark with excitement.


    Lin Qiao looked at it and said, "Do you like to play that kind of game? I thought you wouldn''t play that¡­"


    The zombie dog wagged its hairless tail as it stared at Lin Qiao eagerly.


    Lin Qiao made eye-contact with it, then abruptly sighed and nodded, "Alright, I''ll bring you out now. But, if you''re going back to the hotel with me, you can only stay around me."


    "Owoooo!" The zombie dog howled happily.


    "You''re not a real German shepherd, are you? Tell me, was your father a Husky and mother a German shepherd?"


    The zombie dog looked at her with confusion as she mentioned its mother and father.


    Lin Qiao didn''t say more to the dog, but turned back to glance at the giant snake who was on the other side of the grassland, silently sneaking toward the woods.


    She couldn''t see it, but clearly sensed its movements.


    She turned, prepared to bring the zombie dog out of her space. However, what fell into her sight was the awfully damaged strawberry field and vegetable field.


    She stayed silent.


    She spent about ten seconds staring at that direction before slowly lowering her head to look at the zombie dog.


    The zombie dog had a very bad feeling when it found Lin Qiao staring at the strawberry field. So, it quickly took two steps backward to create a little distance between itself and Lin Qiao. Once Lin Qiao raised a foot, it ran away.


    Lin Qiao raised both hands, then crooked her ten fingers and said to the dog through gritted teeth, "Are you gonna come over here and let me give you a kick or wait for me to go over there to give you ten kicks? Tell me!"


    "Owooo¡­" Hearing that, the zombie dog obediently moved toward her, then turned her butt toward her before closing its eyes.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to kick the dog. Meanwhile, she said, "Next time, stay away from that field! Do you understand?


    The zombie dog which was kicked to the ground immediately stood up and turned back to her.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the strawberry field and said, "That area, stay away from that area, you!"


    After saying that, she turned her finger to point at the zombie dog.


    "Ow!" The zombie dog put down its pair of ears.


    After that, Lin Qiao raised a hand. The vine which was left by Viney appeared in her hand, which she threw out and coiled around the dog''s neck.


    She made a knot, then held the vine and brought the dog out of her space.


    They exited the space and showed up in the sweet potato field. She glanced at the field which was covered in holes, then dragged the zombie dog toward the road. However, she paused after making only a few steps. With a confused look, she leaned her head forward to sniff around, after which, the look on her face changed.


    Why did she sense that man''s scent? At first, she thought it was just her illusion. But then, Wu Yueling''s scent turned it into reality.


    She popped her eyes and turned to glance at the area where the hotel was located. The expression on her face became a little weird.


    ''No way! Is Wu Chengyue here? Did he come to this field? He''s not here to look for me, is he?''


    ''Why is he looking for me? He doesn''t want me to be responsible for him, does he?''


    What happened that time was a trap of Viney, and she was entrapped too! However, Viney was on her side! Also, when a child did something wrong, the guardian usually needed to hold the responsibility for that¡­


    What should she do if that were true?


    Thinking of that, Lin Qiao felt terribly uncomfortable.


    It was all Viney''s fault! If Wu Chengyue were really here to ask her to take the responsibility, what exactly should she do? Should she marry him?


    Lin Qiao suddenly felt that she had been thinking too far, as she believed that that was not likely to happen. However, she did need to come up with a solution, as Wu Chengyue was probably here to blame her.


    She felt that Wu Chengyue did not come here to do anything good, so she decided not to show up.


    Therefore, she dragged the zombie dog right back into her space after letting it out for only for a few seconds.


    "Owoo!" The zombie dog immediately complained.


    "There might be an enemy out there," Lin Qiao said, "He''d kill and grill you. I''m doing this for your good! Stay here and be quiet!"


    "Ow?" The zombie dog looked at her with confusion. ''Enemy? Where''s the enemy?''


    "I didn''t lie to you," said Lin Qiao, "He''ll grill you. He really will. Don''t you believe me? Would you like to go out and try?"


    The zombie dog shook its head.


    After that, Lin Qiao smiled, "Good boy! Alright, stay here. Remember, do not approach that field!"


    Finishing talking, she dropped the vine before turning and disappearing, leaving the zombie dog upset.


    Lin Qiao turned herself invisible, then came out of her space and sneakily moved toward the hotel.


    As she arrived at the hotel, she saw Wu Chengyue''s trucks parked by the roadside. She couldn''t tell how long he and his people had been here, as she had no sense of time while she was in the lake.


    She sneaked into the hotel while paying attention to the scents and vibes in it.


    Except for Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling, she also sensed Lu Tianyi. What was he doing here? Visiting?


    She went up to the fourth floor. Wu Chengyue, Lu Tianyi and their people stayed on this floor.


    She walked to Wu Chengyue''s door and quickly observed the two soldiers who were guarding by it. Instead of Xiao Licheng who always followed Wu Chengyue'' around, two strange soldiers were guarding his door now.


    As she prepared to put her ear on the wall and find out if Wu Chengyue was talking to Wu Yueling, she suddenly felt that someone was coming out of that door.

 437 Ling Ling Is Being Strange

    She was a little surprised. Wu Chengyue didn''t find out that she was here, did he?


    She hurriedly stepped back and quickly moved to a corner in the hallway, sticking half of her head out from behind the wall to observe the door with one eye.


    After that, she saw a soldier turn to open the door and let Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling out.


    Wu Yueling''s hand was held by her father. She was pouting, looking a little grumpy.


    Lin Qiao could tell that the little girl was very unhappy. When she got close enough, she sensed the latter''s thoughts. It turned out that the kid wanted to see her. She had been here for days, but still hadn''t seen Lin Qiao. That was why she was unhappy.


    As Wu Chengyue was coming over, Lin Qiao didn''t dare to linger there. She hurriedly moved further backward while watching him try to cheer his daughter up.


    "Alright, Ling Ling, can you please give Daddy a smile? Look at your little pouted mouth. I can even hang a cloth on it."


    "She''ll be back very soon. You really like her, don''t you? But, don''t you want Daddy anymore?"


    "Good girl! We won''t go home until we see her, alright?"


    Lin Qiao was speechless.


    ''No! You are going back! Why are you staying here?'' she thought.


    However, her heart was softened a little when she saw Wu Yueling''s little unhappy face. The kid''s autistic symptoms became more obvious when she was unhappy.


    She thought that Wu Yueling''s autism was going better. But earlier on, she sensed something strange from the bottom of the little girl''s heart. It was not obvious, but it did catch her attention.


    She crossed her arms and watched Wu Chengyue bring the little girl downstairs with all sorts of doubts. Meanwhile, she carefully thought about the faint trace of brutality which had just flashed across Wu Yueling''s mind.


    She felt as if the kid was trying to restrain something. It might also be because of the bad mood that she was having now.


    Anyhow, she had a bad feeling about the sudden trace of brutality which suddenly appeared in the little one''s mind. It made her feel that something bad was going to happen someday.


    Since the little one wanted to see her, she decided to secretly meet her¡­ as long as her father didn''t know about it.


    She thought for a moment, and then had an idea. Next, she flashed into her space.


    She glanced at the zombie dog which was still lying upsettingly on the ground, but ignored it. Instead, she walked to the grass and picked a few long grass leaves, then sat down and started weaving.


    While weaving, she kept picking more grass leaves until she had a handful of different sized ones.


    She wove some grass leaves into a tiny green person, then shredded some soft and tender leaves and wove them into the person''s head, making them look like soft, long hair.


    Soon, she had made a grass doll and drawn a pair of eyes and a mouth on its face with a pen.


    She spent a while gazing at the doll before nodding with satisfaction.


    After that, she soaked the doll in the lake water, then shook the extra water off. Next, she went into the small building to look for the rabbit.


    Before long, she dragged that gray rabbit which was already huge and fat out from under a couch. She sat on the couch and put the rabbit on her knees, then placed the doll on the table.


    "In fact, the little one would be happier if I sent you out. But, I''d expose myself too soon if I did that. So, I can''t let you out."


    Wu Chengyue didn''t close the window in their room when he took Wu Yueling downstairs for dinner. So, Lin Qiao grasped the opportunity to get in through the window and find their bed.


    They slept on the same bed, as Wu Chengyue was definitely not going to let his daughter sleep alone in a strange place. Also, Wu Yueling refused to sleep alone in a strange room. Staying alone in a strange place might lead to an attack of her illness.


    Lin Qiao felt that the little girl''s autism would attack soon anyway if she didn''t show up in front of her as soon as possible.


    Based on the conversations between some other people that she had overheard, she learned that Wu Chengyue and the little one had already been here for three days.


    She didn''t think that waiting three days without seeing her would make Wu Yueling''s autism flare up. That made her feel weird.


    Judging by what Cheng Wangxue said, Wu Yueling refused to play with Lin Xiaolu. Lin Xiaolu wanted to play with her very much, but she ran away every time. Later on, Lin Xiaolu gave up as well.


    So these days, Wu Yueling had been following Wu Chengyue everywhere.


    She didn''t see Lin Qiao, so she was unhappy; and the unhappiness led to anxiety. After being anxious for three days, she became a little depressed. That was what Lin Qiao sensed from her.


    Lin Qiao walked to the side of the bed that Wu Yueling slept in and put the grass doll under her pillow before leaving.


    She went back to the fifth floor and found Qiu Lili''s room. Then, she took out a piece of paper and a pen, writing a note and placing it on Qiu Lili''s table.


    Next, she turned and left again. She returned to the sweet potato field under Mount Wu, thinking about how to plant crops in it.


    Back in the sweet potato field, she entered her space and looked at the strawberry field which was damaged by the zombie dog while chasing the snake. She walked over and squatted helplessly to remove the broken strawberry plants.


    While she was cleaning the strawberry field, Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling went back to their room.


    Wu Chengyue felt helpless, as his daughter was unhappy. The female zombie didn''t show up, and he couldn''t find her. He was thinking that if she kept hiding, he would have to figure out a way to make her show up.


    Stepping into the room, Wu Yueling quickly dropped her father''s hand and got into the bed.


    "Ling Ling, you haven''t taken a shower yet," Wu Chengyue reminded her. However, she completely ignored him. It was like back in the worst time of her autism. Wu Chengyue knew that her autism was going to flare up again.


    On one hand, the little girl was anxious because she thought that her Daddy lied to her. On the other hand, she looked forward to see Lin Qiao so much. So, the longer she waited, the more disappointed she got.


    As her father, Wu Chengyue surely knew how his daughter was feeling right now. So, he was aware that he needed to figure out a way to find that female zombie as soon as possible.


    At that moment, the door was pushed open. Xiao Licheng walked in and said to him, "Chief, the fifth floor is the territory of those zombies. Usually, the others aren''t allowed to go there. But Miss. Liu told me that Miss. Lu hadn''t come back there in days indeed. Also, I''ve checked the Mount Wu area. Except for the field, there was also a large snake pit there."


    "Take a seat," Wu Chengyue pointed at the couch next to him.


    Xiao Licheng sat down and continued, "There was a huge mutated snake in that pit. Judging by the traces near the pit, the snake should be as thick as an average size woman''s waist. It''s missing now as it''s not in the pit. Also, a lot of evidences of a struggle were left in the pit. Those traces are new. I think some people have been there recently¡­ more than one group of people."


    "Did she go to catch the snake?" said Wu Chengyue with a strange look on his face, "She ate a thigh-thick snake last time."


    "Eh¡­ that''s possible," said Xiao Licheng.

 438 Its Zombie Mom

    While Wu Chengyue was listening to Xiao Licheng''s report, Wu Yueling climbed onto the bed before wrapping herself up with a blanket and lying down, pouting the whole time.


    She felt very, very uncomfortable, as if something was breaking out of her. She felt awful. Also, she was upset and angry, because she thought that her Daddy had been lying to her all these days, and he didn''t let her see Zombie Sister.


    When she angrily lied down, she suddenly felt that there was something under her pillow.


    So, she sat back up with confusion and glanced at the pillow, then reached out her little hands to remove it. Next, she saw a tiny green doll under that white pillow.


    It was exquisite and pretty.


    Wu Yueling''s eyes glowed. The doll was woven from grass leaves; she knew who made it.


    The sullen look on Wu Yueling''s face was gone when she delightedly picked up the grass doll. She fixed her eyes on the green doll and gently touched its green hair, unable to put it down.


    Suddenly, she thought of something and hurriedly raised her head to look around. However, she searched for a while but failed to see the person that she wanted to see.


    She lowered her head disappointedly, but soon, the doll in her hand caught her attention again.


    So, she sat on the bed and started playing with the doll. The doll smelled nice, like Zombie Sister.


    ''No, not Zombie Sister. She''s my new Mom. Last time, Daddy said that Zombie Sister will be my new Mom,'' she told herself.


    Outside, Wu Chengyue asked Xiao Licheng, "Can you ask the people from the fifth floor about how we can find her? I feel that Ling Ling is not good today. We need to see that female zombie as soon as possible."


    "Yes,sir! I''ll do it now," Xiao Licheng responded quickly.


    Hearing Wu Chengyue say that Wu Yueling was not good, Xiao Licheng figured that the problem was a little serious. For the little princess''s mental health, he needed to find the female zombie as quickly as he could.


    On the roof, Qiu Lili was sitting in a corner, swinging her legs while gazing at the sky. Abruptly, Liu Jun brought a man over.


    "Lili, he said that his Chief wants to see Lin¡­ Eh, Miss. Lu for something urgent," she said.


    Qiu Lili lowered her head to look at Xiao Licheng while responding, "I''ve told you that Qiaoqiao wasn''t here the day you arrived, but you insisted on coming here to find her. I think she''s now in her space absorbing the energy nucleus of that level-seven robber. I don''t know when she''ll come out."


    "Level-seven robber? Who?" Xiao Licheng asked.


    Qiu Lili glanced at him, then stood up from the corner of the roof edge and dusted off her dress, even though there wasn''t any actual dust. Before sitting down, she had blown away all the dust in that area.


    She leaped down and said, "The level-seven man who escaped from your base earlier."


    "Are you talking about Tang He, the metal-powered man?" Xiao Licheng asked with surprise.


    Qiu Lili tilted her head and said, "Ah, so his name was Tang He. Yeah, the metal-powered man. But he already died. Qiaoqiao killed him."


    "Did he really die?" Xiao Licheng slightly widened his eyes, and Qiu Lili nodded in response


    Xiao Licheng quickly processed this news, then thought of what he had come here for. "Um, can you please tell me when will Miss. Lu show up? Ling Ling isn''t doing good now, and only she can help. Also, who is Qiaoqiao? Is she Miss. Lu?"


    Qiu Lili gave him two glances before nodding and replying, "Yeah, her. Ling Ling? Are you talking about that kid? What''s happening to her?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded, but didn''t give out more information.


    Liu Jun joined the conversation, "I know. That kid is autistic, but she really likes Miss. Lu. Perhaps, she''s here to see Miss. Lu this time. Miss. Lu didn''t show up, so the kid''s unhappy. So, I guess her illness is about to attack."


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "You are right. Ling Ling so looked forward to seeing Miss. Lu. Sadly, we haven''t found her yet."


    Qiu Lili thought for a moment, then responded regretfully, "I''m sorry, but we really don''t know how to find her. I think we can''t help you guys."


    "Alright then, thank you for your time," While talking, he nodded at Qiu Lili and Liu Jun, then turned and went downstairs.


    Qiu Lili said to Liu Jun, "These people have been asking about Qiaoqiao all these days. It turns out that they want Qiaoqiao''s help. I thought they were up to something else, but it seems that they''re just here to ask for help. Do they want Qiaoqiao to cure that kid?"


    Liu Jun shook her head and said, "I''m not sure. However, curing an autistic child isn''t something that you can do within a short time."


    "So, that''s why the kid never wanted to play with Tongtong and Xiaolu," said Qiu Lili.


    As a mother, Liu Jun understood how much Wu Chengyue worried about his daughter. She sighed and said, "But, we don''t know when Lin Qiao will come out. The energy contained in a level-seven nucleus is enormous."


    "I don''t think it''ll take too long," said Qiu Lili, "Qiaoqiao is at level-six now. Although she''s only new at level-six, she can absorb energies quickly. Besides, Viney will help her."


    Liu Jun nodded.


    On the other side, Xiao Licheng quickly informed Wu Chengyue that Tang He was killed by Lin Qiao. Wu Chengyue looked at him with surprise, saying, "What! She killed Tang He! Are you sure? Is she already powerful enough to kill a level-seven being all alone?"


    "The lady in a white dress named Qiu Lili didn''t seem like a liar. I think what she said is true. So now, Miss. Lu should be in her space absorbing the energy. That''s why she didn''t show up these days."


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Good then. I thought she was avoiding me on purpose."


    "Why would she do that?" Xiao Licheng didn''t understand.


    "Guess," Wu Chengyue gave him a glance and a mysterious smile.


    Xiao Licheng rolled his eyes and responded, "Guess if I''ll guess or not."


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Wu Yueling who was in the bedroom, sitting on the bed alone and playing something, then said, "You''ll know."


    After saying that, he stood up and walked toward the bedroom. Before he came in, Wu Yueling abruptly lied back down and hid herself entirely in the blanket.


    Wu Chengyue walked over and sat beside her, gently patting her, "Ling Ling, I just learned that your Zombie Mom is busying on upgrading herself in her space. She doesn''t have the time to come out to see Ling Ling now. Ling Ling, can you wait longer with Daddy?"


    He was expecting no response from Wu Yueling. But to his surprise, the lump under the blanket stayed motionless for a few seconds, then suddenly moved. Wu Yueling stuck her little head out of the blanket and looked at her father with a pair of watery eyes.


    Wu Yueling nodded at him, then quickly drew back into the blanket.


    Wu Chengyue was surprised. ''Eh? Why is she suddenly in a better mood? She was so upset just now! Did the words ''Zombie Mom'' make her happy? Does she like those words?''

 439 Come Over Here And Start Working

    "Aren''t you mad at Daddy anymore?" He asked with surprise. But this time, Wu Yueling didn''t stick her head out or gave any response.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then continued, "Aren''t you gonna take a shower before going to sleep? Your Zombie Mom wouldn''t like you if you stink."


    After saying that, he sat there silently to wait for Wu Yueling''s reaction.


    As he expected, Wu Yueling stayed quiet for a few seconds, then started moving. She first crawled around under the blanket mysteriously, then lifted the blanket and sat up to look at her father expectantly.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and raised his brows. He couldn''t help but again feel that his daughter was going to abandon him.


    As Wu Chengyue didn''t move, Wu Yueling stood up from the bed and put her arms around his neck while pointing at the bathroom. Wu Chengyue had no choice but nod. "Alright, alright, we''ll give you a shower now. The water is warm enough to wash you, little piglet!"


    While speaking, he carried Wu Yueling up and headed toward the bathroom. He didn''t notice that Wu Yueling, whose head was on his shoulder, had her eyes fixed on the head of the bed, glowing brightly.


    ¡­


    In the space, Lin Qiao spent about two minutes working by herself, then abruptly shouted the group of zombies out of the three small spaces.


    "Come over here. You haven''t been working for days. Come here and do this."


    Hearing that there was work to do, those zombies had their eyes glow. Having work to do meant they would be able to drink that water again.


    They looked forward to Lin Qiao assigning tasks to them all day long, as if they were all addicted to work. Only by working for Lin Qiao they could earn some lake water to drink. They felt tortured when facing the lake every day without being allowed to drink from it.


    They didn''t dare to approach the lake. Not to mention if Lin Qiao would suddenly show up and crumble their heads, the zombie dog would definitely crush them with a claw.


    Therefore, they had been waiting obediently the whole time. And finally, Lin Qiao gave her order.


    Once Lin Qiao finished talking, those zombies rushed out of the small spaces excitedly. Lin Qiao spent a few seconds looking at them silently, then said, "You don''t look like zombies at all!"


    The seventeen level-four zombies stood in front of her in a line, waiting for her to give out the task.


    Lin Qiao pointed at a few of them and said, "You, come out!"


    Then, she taught them how to sort those strawberry plants. After that, she picked a few other zombies and guided them to the piles of potatoes, teaching them how to pick out the sprouted ones.


    Lin Feng and his people didn''t eat all the potatoes and pumpkins that she had collected before. A small pile of them was still in her space.


    Pumpkins could be stored for a long time, but potatoes could not.


    Lin Qiao asked Mrs. Lin and the others to keep the seeds when they cooked pumpkins.


    She soaked those pumpkin seeds in the lake water. Those seeds didn''t rot, but slowly absorbed the energy in the water and grew a stronger and stronger vitality.


    Some seeds had even grown out thin and long roots in the water. Lin Qiao believed that those seeds would be growing speedily once they were planted in soil.


    She didn''t put those potatoes in the water, but still, they absorbed the energy in the air and sprouted.


    Normally, sprouted potatoes were inedible, but Lin Qiao discovered that some of those potatoes in her space were still edible as long as the sprouts were shorter than ten centimeters.


    Lin Qiao told those zombies to pick out the potatoes which had long sprouts and put them in some baskets nearby. She had collected those baskets from a factory days ago when she was outside and looking for level-four zombies.


    The potatoes which were in the bottom of the pile had even grown leaves. The sprouts and leaves could not grow healthily as they were pressed down by other potatoes, and some of them were stuck out of the pile slantingly.


    Lin Qiao let the spirit-powered zombie lead the potato-picking squad because she knew that the young spirit-powered male zombie could understand her better.


    She gave those zombies many baskets; some baskets were for the sprouted potatoes, and some were for the potatoes which hadn''t sprouted.


    She planned to bring the potatoes which had grown long sprouts out of the space and plant them in the fields. To do that, she needed two people to loosen the soil in that field. During the past few days, those zombies had dug many holes to look for mutated sweet potatoes, but the soil in the untouched areas was still hard.


    She thought for a moment, then decided to let Xie Dong and Shen Yujen do it.


    The two of them wouldn''t get tired anyway. If they worked from morning to night, the job would only take them a couple of days.


    However, they were in the hotel at the moment. Should she sneak back to bring them out?


    Thinking of the hotel, she was reminded of Wu Yueling and the strange feeling that she had earlier. Lin Qiao wondered if the latter liked the grass doll that she made for her.


    While thinking about the little one, Lin Qiao started to get a little worried. She decided to go back and check on the kid again. As long as she didn''t show her face, Wu Chengyue wouldn''t be able to do anything to her anyway.


    She arranged works for all the zombies in her space and then said to them, "Go back to that small space when you''re done. I''ll give you the water when I''m back."


    The group of zombies turned and glanced at her. After that, she exited the space and sneakily headed back to the hotel.


    It was late at night, but Lin Qiao still didn''t dare to show up. After all, some people could sense her vibe without seeing her face. She had no choice but to stay invisible, because it was the only way to make her vibe disappear.


    She quickly returned to the hotel, then first knocked on Xie Dong''s door.


    Before long, Xie Dong opened the door to find no one out there. As he wondered who knocked on the door and prepared to close it, a hand suddenly pressed on his shoulder and pushed him back inside.


    Xie Dong immediately figured out who it was. He took two steps backward, then closed the door. In the next moment, Lin Qiao dragged him into the space.


    She stood in front of him and said, "Tomorrow, you and Shen Yujen need to go to the field to loosen the soil. I''m planning to plant those potatoes in that field."


    While speaking, she pointed at the pile of potatoes which was being sorted by those zombies.


    Xie Dong was puzzled for a second, then nodded.


    Lin Qiao continued, "Go and wait in the building. I''ll bring Shen Yujen in." After saying that, she prepared to flash out of the space. However, Xie Dong abruptly raised a hand and stopped her.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Qiao turned to him and asked.


    Xie Dong took out his notepad and pen, then wrote down a line and showed it to her.


    ''Wu Chengyue has been looking for you out there. He wants your help. You seem to be avoiding him. Why?"


    "You can tell?" said Lin Qiao awkwardly, "Alright, you''re right. I don''t want to face him now. But, I guess he wants me to help with the little one''s condition. Later on, I''ll secretly give her an observation."


    Xie Dong nodded knowingly, and then Lin Qiao turned and left.


    She headed to Shen Yujen''s room, but before knocking on the door, she paused with a weird expression. Then, she crossed her arms and decided not to knock the door, as she didn''t want to interrupt the two in the room.

 440 Check On Ling Ling Again

    Shen Yujen wasn''t alone in her room, as Chen Yuting was there as well. In fact, Lin Qiao was really curious about what they were doing in her room. Were they simply sitting there and chatting?


    Invading others'' privacy was wrong, so Lin Qiao didn''t press her ears on the door.


    Shen Yujen had become a zombie. She had the virus all over her body, so she would definitely not make any physical contact with Chen Yuting. He might not care, but she did.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao guessed that they were just talking. Also, Shen Yujen would keep a distance from Chen Yuting.


    ''Well, that''s a little weird,'' thought Lin Qiao.


    She waited for a short while, then heard some noises from the room. Shen Yujen opened the door, and then Chen Yuting walked out.


    "I''m going downstairs," he turned back and said to Shen Yujen, seeming reluctant to leave.


    He was talking about going downstairs, but suddenly, he reached out a hand toward Shen Yujen''s face. Shen Yujen immediately flinched to dodge.


    Seeing that, Chen Yuting sighed before turning and leaving.


    Lin Qiao walked into the room. After Shen Yujen came back in and closed the door, she grabbed the latter and brought her into the space. Shen Yujen took fright when she was abruptly brought into the space. However, she relaxed as soon as she recognized the space.


    The two of them were standing before the entrance of the small building.


    Lin Qiao said to her, "In fact, you can let him touch you. It''ll be okay as long as you don''t¡­ eh, kiss, and have sex."


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s straightforward words, Shen Yujen felt shy as she looked at Lin Qiao with embarrassment.


    Lin Qiao walked into the building and sat on a couch. Then, she waved at Shen Yuzhen and offered her another couch.


    Shen Yujen walked in and saw Xie Dong sitting on a single couch.


    "You see, Junjun is with her son every single day. She can hug and touch her son in any way she likes. You don''t need to worry. You won''t infect Chen Yuting." Lin Qiao said to Shen Yujen.


    Hearing her words, Xie Dong looked at Shen Yujen curiously.


    Meanwhile, Shen Yujen looked at Lin Qiao and opened her mouth, but didn''t utter a sound.


    Lin Qiao understood what she was worried about. "I''ll be fine, I promise. Trust me!" she said, "Alright, I suddenly brought you here because I have a job for you two. Tomorrow, you need to loosen the soil in that field. I prepare to plant some potatoes and pumpkins in that field."


    Hearing her words, both Xie Dong and Shen Yujen nodded. They were willing to do the job, as they had no other things to do. Only Lin Qiao would give them tasks, because they were under her command alone.


    Lin Qiao continued, "I''ve checked¡­ we can keep developing the area around that field. From now on, our work will mostly take place in that area. I guess we''re the only zombies in the world who farm, aren''t we?"


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen glanced at each other. It seemed that Lin Qiao was planning to turn all of the land around the mountain into farmlands, and more superpowered zombies into farmers.


    Soon, Lin Qiao exited her space again and sneaked to Wu Chengyue''s door, glancing at the two soldiers by the door who could not see her, then put her ear against the door to listen to the sounds in the room.


    Next, she heard the voices of Wu Chengyue''s and Xiao Licheng. It seemed that they had just finished a conversation.


    Not long after she pressed an ear on the door, she heard a series of footsteps coming toward the door. She hurriedly stepped back and leaned against the wall behind a soldier.


    Then, she heard the door open, after which, Xiao Licheng walked out. When he turned to close the door, Lin Qiao quickly bent over and sneaked into the room.


    She glanced at Wu Chengyue who was sitting on a couch with his legs crossed. He was leaning against the back of the couch with his arms crossed before his chest. His chiseled face wore a faint smile, and his eyes were blinking.


    Lin Qiao gave an extra glance at his crossed legs with dislike. She always felt that the guys who liked to cross their legs were a little sissy.


    She didn''t spend much time looking at Wu Chengyue, but turned and headed toward the bedroom.


    There was a bulge on one side of the bed, and the other side of the bed was empty.


    Lin Qiao walked to the bulge and squatted by the bedside, reaching out a hand to touch the blanket and feel the emotions of the tiny person underneath it.


    ''Em, she seems to be happy. I think she loves the grass doll that I made for her.''


    The faint brutality in her heart was gone.


    Wu Yueling Lin Qiao touched the blanket, Wu Yueling paused for a second. She lifted a corner of the blanket as she thought it was her father standing by the bed and touching her. However, she found no one near the bedside.


    ''Eh?''


    She looked around with curiosity, but still, no one!


    She sat up with tousled hair and looked at the couch area to see that her father was sitting there in a daze.


    Then, she was puzzled.


    ''Eh? Daddy is out there. Who just touched me then?''


    She started to look around over and over again with deep confusion, not even missing the ceiling and space under the bed.


    ''No one?''


    Wu Yueling sat back on the bed, her face filled with curiosity.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao rubbed her head with a smile, then took the grass doll out of the blanket. She then made the doll stand in a place that Wu Chengyue could not see.


    Wu Yueling paused when the other touched her. Next, she popped her eyes and stared at the grass doll which stood up on the bed. Suddenly, she figured out something, and then she was pleasantly surprised.


    ''Whoa! It''s Zombie Mom!''


    She hurriedly raised her little hands to grab the invisible hand on her head.


    Lin Qiao heard her calling her Zombie Mom in her mind, and was dumbfounded.


    ''Hold on¡­ hold on¡­ What do you mean by Zombie Mom!''


    Unexpectedly, Wu Yueling heard her thought through her hand. Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, Wu Yueling confirmed that the mysterious being was her Zombie Mom indeed.


    She laughed and happily called Lin Qiao in her mind¡ª''Mama, Mama, Mama¡­''


    Lin Qiao couldn''t stand it. She hurriedly raised a hand and gently covered the little girl''s mouth. Meanwhile, she said in her mind, ''Good girl, don''t call me that. I''m not your mother¡­''


    Once she said that, the happy Wu Yueling immediately turned upset. The kid paused for a moment, then suddenly curved her lips downward. Her eyes turned red, as if she was going to burst in cry.


    ''I want Mama, I want Zombie Mama! I want Zombie Mama¡­ I don''t want anyone else! I only want you¡­'' Wu Yueling cried silently.


    This time, Lin Qiao paused in shock. She looked at the girl with both surprise and confusion, wondering what was happening.


    ''Eh? Did the kid hear my thoughts? Why is she reacting so strongly?''


    Next, Wu Yueling quickly nodded at Lin Qiao¡ª''Yes, I can hear you! I want you to be my Mama¡­ I want you¡­''


    Lin Qiao was a little stunned.


    Was the kid communicating with her mentally? She sounded like a healthy child! Wasn''t she autistic? Why did this never happen before?

 441 Daddy Promised

    Looking at Wu Yueling''s reddened little nose, Lin Qiao hurriedly comforted her, ''Alright, alright, don''t cry, please don''t cry¡­ I''ll panic if you start to cry, even though I don''t know why. Please don''t cry!''


    Wu Yueling blinked her misty eyes and tried to look at Lin Qiao. She had no idea where she should look at, as she didn''t know where the latter was. So, with no other choice, she lowered her head.


    She heard Lin Qiao''s voice, and knew that it was Zombie Mom''s voice. She didn''t know what exactly the words ''Zombie Mom'' meant, but she did know what ''Mom'' meant. Other children had their mothers with them, but she never had one.


    Daddy had told her that she was not his biological daughter. Her real parents had died, so she could now only see them in the photo that Daddy showed her.


    However, that was only a photo. Although her Daddy told her that the people in that photo were her parents, she did not quite understand it, and neither did she know what biological parents meant.


    All she knew was that her Daddy treated her very well, and that was enough.


    Earlier on, Viney told her that her Zombie Sister, whom she liked very much, could be with her Daddy and become her Mom. After that, she heard her Daddy say the same thing.


    Since then, she firmly believed that Lin Qiao would be her mother. She panicked when Lin Qiao denied it, so at that moment, she felt helpless and wanted to cry.


    Seeing the little girl show a sign of crying, Lin Qiao panicked as well. Crying children could really terrify her. What should she do?


    She had no other choice but to explain, ''Not anyone can be your Mom. A lady can be your Mom only when you''re Daddy agrees. Also, your Daddy needs to like her, and she needs to like him back.''


    Wu Yueling lowered her head and pouted, silently shedding tears. Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, she immediately responded, ''Daddy agreed¡­ Daddy said so¡­ He agreed¡­''


    Lin Qiao again paused briefly. She took back her hand and began wondering with surprise.


    ''What? He agrees? What happened? He didn''t lie to the kid, did he?''


    Feeling that Lin Qiao had taken her hand away, Wu Yueling raised her head to look around flurriedly.


    Lin Qiao held her little hands and asked her silently, ''Did Daddy really say so? Did he agree?''


    Wu Yueling calmed down as Lin Qiao held her hands, then nodded and answered the questions, ''Yes, Daddy agreed. He also said that he''ll marry you!''


    Lin Qiao was speechless.


    ''Wait! Wait a minute! What!'' She was utterly confusedly. ''Did he really say that to you?


    Wu Yueling nodded in response, having no idea that she had already sold her father out. She grasped Lin Qiao''s hands and tried really hard to pull the latter toward her while saying in her head, ''I don''t care¡­ I want you to be my Mama¡­ I also want to be Viney''s sister¡­ I''m already Viney''s sister¡­ Has Viney become a little baby already? Em¡­ when can she come out and play?''


    Lin Qiao could no longer handle the thought in the kid''s mind, so she hurriedly said to the girl, "Alright, good girl, I need to leave now. Go to sleep. Don''t tell your Daddy that I visited you, okay? I''ll come back to you tomorrow night. Remember to secretly open the glass door at the back."


    Wu Yueling paused for a moment upon hearing that Lin Qiao needed to leave. She didn''t plan to let her go, but as the latter promised to come back tomorrow night, she nodded and agreed to let her go and do what she asked.


    Right at that moment, Wu Chengyue abruptly stood up, then turned and walked toward the bedroom. Soon, he noticed that Wu Yueling had sat up.


    "Eh? Ling Ling, aren''t you asleep yet?" Wu Chengyue walked over and asked. Wu Yueling turned to look at him, then shook her head.


    Seeing her red eyes and nose, Wu Chengyue sat down by her side and asked with surprise, "Eh? Ling Ling, why''re you crying? What happened?"


    Wu Yueling only shook her head again, then turned to a corner. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao carefully moved backward, as she didn''t want Wu Chengyue to find her.


    Wu Chengyue confusedly glanced at the area that Wu Yueling was looking at, but saw nothing in there. "Why are you crying if nothing happened?" he asked.


    Wu Yueling raised her head and looked at him with a grievance. Wu Chengyue looked at her large and tearful eyes, feeling puzzled.


    "Ling Ling, can you tell Daddy what you are crying for?" He said.


    Wu Yueling gave him a glance, then suddenly turned around and crawled into the blanket without responding to him further.


    Wu Chengyue was left bewildered, so he pulled the blanket and asked, "What on earth has happened? How is Daddy supposed to know if you refuse to tell me? How can Daddy solve your problem if I don''t know what happened?"


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling quickly got out of the blanket and held a hand of his. While swaying his hand, she looked at him expectantly.


    This time, Wu Chengyue understood her meaning. "Ah, do you miss her so much? You don''t have to cry even if you didn''t see her."


    Despite the words he said, his eyes glowed, because he found that his daughter was suddenly in a better mood. She seemed to be crying at the moment, but still, he saw something else in her eyes.


    Wu Yueling''s hope was raised again, and her negative emotions were all gone.


    But earlier when they came back from dinner, she was still very down. So, Wu Chengyue glanced around doubtfully, but saw nothing.


    He lowered his head and looked at Wu Yueling as he asked her, "Has someone been here?"


    Wu Yueling shook her head.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, "Do you want to see her and ask her to come back with us?"


    Wu Yueling quickly nodded.


    Wu Chengyue continued, "Then how about this? Ling Ling, can you tell her to come back with us? Daddy can only bring you here to see her, but might not be able to bring her home. However, Ling Ling can do that. She likes Ling Ling very much, doesn''t she?"


    Wu Yueling blinked, then immediately nodded.


    Lin Qiao, who was going to leave through the window, rolled her eyes.


    ''Oi, what are you teaching your child to do? Are you trying to use the kid to abduct me? In your dream!''


    Wu Chengyue rubbed Wu Yueling''s head and said, "Alright, just lie down and sleep. Sleep early, so you can grow up."


    Wu Chengyue lay down obediently. She cuddled her blanket and gave Wu Chengyue another glance, then closed her eyes.


    Wu Chengyue stood up and walked to the living room, then suddenly began stripping himself. He took off the camouflage coat and threw it onto the couch, then took off the T-shirt to expose his beautifully shaped muscles. After that, he walked toward the bathroom in his trousers.


    Lin Qiao silently dragged her own eyes away from his muscular back, then left through the window.


    ''I was nearly tempted by his perfect body shape! That man is really dangerous!''

 442 The Arrangements Before Leaving

    Wu Chengyue walked into the bathroom, wearing a knowing smile.


    If he were right, the female zombie had already gotten into his room. He knew her daughter so well. Judging by the weird behavior of hers, he quickly figured it out.


    It seemed that the female zombie had come out of her space. She didn''t show her face, and he guessed that was because she didn''t want to see him. However, she did care about Ling Ling. ''Why doesn''t she care about me?'' Wu Chengyue thought, ''Does she think that she can escape her responsibility toward me if she doesn''t show up? Eh?''


    ''I''d like to see how long she can hide!''


    Lin Qiao had no idea that Wu Chengyue was planning to stay here. She went to the fifth floor and knocked on Liu Jun''s door, then waited for the latter''s response. Soon, the door was opened.


    Liu Jun was puzzled for a moment when she found no one outside the door, but she figured it out soon enough.


    "Captain?" She had been calling Lin Qiao Captain now.


    Calling Lin Qiao Miss. Lu made her feel weird, because she knew that Lu Tianyu wasn''t her real name. However, she could not call her Lin Qiao, as that might arouse some people''s suspicions.


    Lin Qiao pushed her into the room, then walked further in to take a glance at Tongtong, who was sleeping in the bed.


    "It''s alright, just leave him here and let him sleep," Liu Jun figured that Lin Qiao might have noticed Tongtong.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then brought her into the space. After that, she asked her to wait in the living room in the building, and then exited the space.


    This time, she went onto the roof.


    Qiu Lili and Mengmeng were sitting on the roof. They two weren''t paying attention to the surrounding area, so Lin Qiao sneakily approached them and directly brought them into the space.


    By the time the two realized what happened, they were already in Lin Qiao''s space.


    "Roar?" Mengmeng didn''t react immediately and looked around with confusion.


    "Eh? You''re out!" Qiu Lili reacted much more quickly as she looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then brought them into the small building.


    "Get in here. I need to talk to you."


    Since she could not go out to face that man for now, she had no choice but to avoid him. Also, it was about the time for her to make a trip to the South.


    Qiu Lili and Mengmeng followed her into the living room and sat on a couch.


    Lin Qiao sat down as well, then said to the others, "I''m going to head South in a couple of days, so I need to talk to you about the works that you''re going to do when I''m not here. Lili, would you like to go with me or stay here?"


    She asked for Qiu Lili''s opinions the first because the latter was the strongest one among them all. She could either be very helpful to Lin Qiao in the South, or serve as a great protector of the new base site.


    But of course, her choice had to be made willingly.


    Qiu Lili immediately raised a hand and responded, "I''m going with you!"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Okay! When you have left, this place will have no guards. I don''t trust Yuan Tianxing''s power. If a level-seven enemy like that robber showed up, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and Chen Yuting wouldn''t possibly win, not even when combined."


    Qiu Lili paused and thought for a second. She felt that Lin Qiao was right. The new base site did need a powerful guard.


    "What should we do then? I want to go with you," she said.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "If you want to go with me, I''ll have no choice but to make the others stronger. I can bring Mengmeng up to the peak of level-six, but we need a lot of energy nuclei to do that."


    While speaking, she glanced at Mengmeng who was listening to their conversation confusedly.


    Hearing Lin Qiao talk about upgrading her, she immediately got excited. She hurriedly took out a small bag and opened it, showing Lin Qiao what was inside.


    Lin Qiao took a glance at it; it was a little cloth bag for jewelry. She didn''t know where Mengmeng found it. But, the bag was full of sparkling energy nuclei.


    Except for a large number of level three or four nuclei, there were at least three level-five nuclei in it.


    "Roar?" Mengmeng asked Lin Qiao expectantly. ''Are these enough?''


    Lin Qiao looked into the bag, then slightly shook her head, "No."


    Hearing that, Qiu Lili took a few level-five zombie nuclei out of her little purse.


    "Add these?" she asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "These are about enough. But, can you stay here to guard our home well?"


    Mengmeng didn''t answer her question, but turned to look at Qiu Lili.


    Qiu Lili looked at her and asked, "Em, why are you looking at me? Aren''t you supposed to answer Qiaoqiao''s question?"


    Lin Qiao smiled, "I think she wants to know what you think."


    Qiu Lili rolled her eyes and said, "Of course I want you to stay here, because you''re powerful too. Those three men wouldn''t be able to win against a level-seven enemy. But if you join them, you guys would have a chance. You might still not win, but I guess that the enemy would not gain much of an advantage either."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "She''s right."


    Mengmeng looked at them, seeming a bit reluctant. However, she didn''t make a sound to reject. Clearly, she had accepted the mission. Lin Qiao was going to upgrade her anyway, so she decided to see this as a trade.


    Lin Qiao figured out what she was thinking. "I''ll upgrade you, so you should at least work for me," said Lin Qiao, "Otherwise, I won''t upgrade you."


    "Roar!" Mengmeng roared at Lin Qiao with discontent, then bared her teeth. ''I get it!''


    "Good!" Lin Qiao nodded.


    After that, she turned to say to Liu Jun, "Junjun, after I leave, you need to tell Yuan Tianxing and the others about my action. And then, you''ll be a translator between them and this one. Keep an eye on her."


    "Me?" Liu Jun pointed at herself with surprise, also glancing at Mengmeng. She didn''t think she could handle Mengmeng.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and smiled, "It''ll be alright. Just tell them that I asked you to do it."


    "Alright, I''ll try," Liu Jun nodded without confidence.


    Mengmeng was at a much higher level than she was. However, she wasn''t so smart. So, Liu Jun believed that she would figure out a way to make the other listen to her.


    Lin Qiao then continued to Xie Dong and Shen Yujen, "You two will lead a few zombies to plant potatoes and pumpkins. I''ll ask Mengmeng to keep an eye on those zombies for you. If they disobey you, you can ask Mengmeng to punish them. You don''t need to kill them as long as they don''t hurt the humans in the city. If any of them hurts a human, kill it directly. You don''t need to wait for me to make that decision. Do you understand?"


    She looked at Xie Dong and Shen Yujen, then at Mengmeng. The first two both nodded. But Mengmeng only gave her a glance.


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen were fine with their mission.


    Then, as Lin Qiao waved a hand, a few books appeared on the table.


    "These are the books about how to grow crops that I had collected earlier. You can read them. I''ll leave you a few zombies with earth power and water power. As for the others, I''ll take them with me."

 443 Upgrade Mengmeng

    Only Qiu Lili and Liu Jun knew what Lin Qiao was going South for. Xie Dong and the others didn''t know about the reason, and would not ask.


    Finishing talking, she sent those pumpkin seeds which were soaked in the water and sprouted potatoes to the sweet potato field, and also gave Xie Dong another task, asking him to build a cabin near the field to serve as a duty room.


    Xie Dong was, of course, willing to do it. In fact, he was quite interested in it.


    After assigning all the tasks, Lin Qiao brought Mengmeng and the zombie nuclei to the lakeside.


    Xie Dong stayed in the building while the others curiously followed them to the lakeside. They all wanted to know why the scary vibe in the lake was gone.


    Only Qiu Lili knew that Viney had gone somewhere else.


    Lin Qiao filled a big bucket with water, then placed it by the lakeside and said to Mengmeng, "Come over here. You need to take a bath before going into the lake."


    She had been giving those zombie leaders baths, but not Mengmeng, because she wanted to upgrade her directly. So now, she asked Mengmeng to clean her body before she got down into the lake.


    She released a stream of mist and surrounded Mengmeng and herself with it, then asked the latter to take off her clothes.


    Mengmeng knew how to put on clothes and take them off. Also, her clothes were always clean.


    Mengmeng quickly took off all her clothes without feeling shy at all. After that, Lin Qiao let her stand in the bucket, and started pouring water onto her head with a water ladle.


    After doing that for a few times, she asked her to rub the filth off her body with her hands.


    As Mengmeng was clean, she took off her own clothes and prepared to go into the lake together with her. But suddenly, she stopped moving her feet and quickly touched her eyes.


    Her cosmetic contacts were gone, and she didn''t know when that happened.


    She didn''t notice that she had been looking at the others with her bare eyes until now.


    She thought for a moment, then remembered that she forgot to take those cosmetic contacts out before she started absorbing that level-seven nucleus. They should have been devoured by the energy.


    She sighed and stopped thinking about that, then dragged Mengmeng down into the water. Meanwhile, she said, "Later when you get in, you need to relax. The water won''t suffocate you."


    It was the first time Mengmeng got into the water, so she excitedly stepped in. She was also curious about the energy in the water, and she liked being surrounded by it.


    Lin Qiao guided her deeper into the water, then dragged her forward. After that, she brought her down toward the bottom of the lake. Mengmeng''s each hand was holding a handful of zombie nuclei.


    Those varicolored zombie nuclei were glowing dimly in the lake, looking beautiful and surreal.


    Lin Qiao took over all the zombie nuclei in Mengmeng''s hands, then said to the latter in her mind, ''Give me the nuclei. I''ll filter them for you.''


    Lin Qiao stood behind Mengmeng at the bottom of the lake and pressed a hand on the middle of her back.


    She let go of all the zombie nuclei, then controlled them with the energy in the lake and made them surround Mengmeng. Next, she picked up a level-three nucleus and started to absorb the energy contained in it with her heart. Meanwhile, she made the energy in the lake flow into her body through her pores and gather toward her heart.


    The energy of the lake surrounded her heart, filtering out all the impurities in the zombie nucleus. And then, the pure energy was sent into Mengmeng''s body through Lin Qiao''s other hand. Meanwhile, a dark stream of energy gushed out of Lin Qiao''s brain, absorbing those impurities.


    Soon, the level-three zombie nucleus was drained.


    Lin Qiao grasped another level-three zombie nucleus and started to filter the energy contained in it for Mengmeng. The level-three zombie nuclei soon ran out, after which, Lin Qiao started working on the level-four ones.


    Mengmeng felt streams of energy flow into her body and circle around her heart, then spread to her entire body and gathered toward her brain.


    As more and more energies were sent into her body, her body started burning, and her head began aching. She understood what was going on. That headache happened every time she was about to upgrade.


    So, she endured it.


    Mengmeng suffered a splitting headache when Lin Qiao used up all level-four zombie nuclei and started to send the energy contained in the first level-five nucleus into her body.


    Mengmeng had three level-five zombie nuclei, and Qiu Lili gave her three: there were six of them in total. With no other choice, Mengmeng endured the scary pain which was brought to her endlessly by those six zombie nuclei.


    Lin Qiao said to her in her head, ''I''m going to send a stronger stream of energy into you. Hang in there. I''ll help you to get a breakthrough directly, so you have to beat the pain. Do you understand?''


    Mengmeng nodded, getting excited upon hearing Lin Qiao say that she''d make a breakthrough.


    Lin Qiao raised the flow of the energy, causing the stream-like energy flow to suddenly become like a flood as it stormed into Mengmeng''s body.


    She understood that apart from the purified energy, Mengmeng had also been absorbing the energy contained in the lake water. The energies contained in those zombie nuclei had mixed with the energy in the lake and grown stronger. Mengmeng''s power-level was quickly boosted to the top of level-six, so now, she might break into level-seven if Lin Qiao sent stronger energy into her body.


    Lin Qiao had thought about if Mengmeng would still listen to her after breaking into level-seven. She wasn''t sure about that; but judging by the latter''s personality, she wouldn''t do awful things at least.


    Therefore, she decided to help Mengmeng to make the breakthrough. She saw it as a favor to Mengmeng, and expected the latter to do something for her as payback in the future.


    If Mengmeng turned out to be ungrateful, Lin Qiao would be fine with it. However, if she ever wanted to hurt other people, Lin Qiao believed that she would find out a way to kill her.


    Mengmeng had prepared herself, but still, the flood of energy nearly broke her. She hurriedly gritted her teeth to try to keep herself awake.


    By the lakeside, Qiu Lili tried to sense the lake bottom, but then frowned slightly. The energy in the lake blocked her sensations, so she couldn''t sense a thing. She didn''t know what was happening in the lake, and it had been over ten hours since the two had gone down.


    On the outside, Wu Yueling spent another day while looking forward to the night. From time to time, she ran to the glass door on the balcony and raised her head to look at the sky.


    She just wanted the sky to turn dark more quickly.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly watched her gazing at the sky all day. At first, he didn''t know what she was looking at; but then, he noticed her expectant look and pondered over it.


    What she now wanted the most was to meet the female zombie. If meeting the female zombie had something to do with the sky¡­ Was his Ling Ling expecting the night?


    Would the female zombie come here when it was dark?


    With that thought, the smile on Wu Chengyue''s face grew bigger. His narrowed, smiling eyes wore a meaningful look.

 444 Her Memory Is Restored

    Lin Qiao was exhausted when she finally sent Mengmeng to a higher level. As she woke up, she found herself and Mengmeng floating in the middle of the lake.


    She looked at the latter and was surprised to find that the scales on her face were gone. She saw the flawless face of Mengmeng¡ªnot as delicate and beautiful as Qiu Lili''s, but looking young and pretty nevertheless.


    Mengmeng had opened her eyes as well. Her green eyes glowed with a bright light, but soon, those eyes started to blink and show complicated looks.


    Confusion, shock, anger, pain, sadness, hatred, helplessness¡­ All sorts of emotions emerged in her mind and were expressed by her eyes.


    Soon, Mengmeng''s face wore a pained look. Her pretty face was twisted as she suddenly covered her temples with both hands and couldn''t help but curl up her body.


    "Roar!" She opened her mouth wide and let out a hoarse roar. Her sound caused a vibration that went into Lin Qiao''s ears from the water and gave her a fright.


    Her voice became a sound wave and spread in the water. The energy in the water absorbed the most of it, but still, it traveled to a long distance away.


    Lin Qiao looked at her silently, sensing the tearing pain from Mengmeng'' voice. She knew that Mengmeng''s memory had been restored. However, judging by how she reacted now, Lin Qiao felt that it would better for her to never remember those things.


    Mengmeng curled her body as she radiated a strong sadness. Clearly, she had a story. Lin Qiao didn''t interrupt her, but swam to the lakeside alone. She decided to let Mengmeng stay in the lake alone for a while to calm down.


    Lin Qiao went ashore with a stream of dark mist. As she put her clothes on, Qiu Lili and the others came to her with curiosity.


    "Eh, where''s Mengmeng?" Qiu Lili asked Lin Qiao while turning to look at the lake surface.


    Lin Qiao took over the towel that Liu Jun handed her and responded while drying her hair, "Ah, I think she has restored her memories. Apparently, that memory hit her badly. I think she''s in a bad mood. Just let her stay in the lake for a while. I guess she''ll come out later."


    Qiu Lili and the others all popped their eyes with surprise as they looked at Lin Qiao.


    "Ah, she remembers things now? Will she become less crazy?" said Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and replied, "I don''t know. We can only find out after she comes out. How long had we been down there?" She suddenly thought of her appointment with the little one.


    Qiu Lili took a glance at the exquisite watch on her slim wrist and said, "You have spent eighteen hours in the lake. It''s three o''clock in the afternoon now."


    Lin Qiao sighed in relief. ''Thank God I came up on time.''


    At that moment, Viney''s voice was suddenly heard from her head¡ª''Mama, I sensed Ling Ling''s vibe¡­ Is she with you?''


    Lin Qiao glanced at her own belly with surprise, then raised her eyes to look at the lake while answering the question, ''Can you sense that? She''s in our base with her Daddy.''


    Viney immediately responded happily, ''Mama, Mama, take me to see the little one! You only need to let her touch your belly!''


    ''Wait until night. I''ll go and see her at night,'' said Lin Qiao.


    Viney didn''t understand, ''Eh? Why do we have to wait until night? Can you do it now?''


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. She couldn''t tell Viney that she didn''t want to see Wu Chengyue, could she? ''Because I''ve made an appointment with the little one, so I''ll be there when the time comes,'' she said.


    ''Alright, we''ll wait until night then,'' said Viney, ''I''ll go have some more sleep¡­ Mama, wake me up at night.''


    ''How am I supposed to wake you up?'' Lin Qiao asked.


    ''Just put a hand on your belly and call my name,'' Viney taught her.


    ''Alright, okay then!'' Lin Qiao nodded in her head.


    At that moment, some noises were heard from the lake as Mengmeng swam to the lakeside. Her entire body was covered in thick, metallic scales, and her elbows and knees had grown out a few fish-bone-like thorns.


    She walked out of the lake, covering her chest with her hands. Then, she stood in front of Lin Qiao and glanced at her and Qiu Lili, water dripping down from all over her body.


    Suddenly, she spread her arms and lunged at Lin Qiao, holding her tight and bursting in tears.


    "Whoaaa¡­"


    Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili with confusion. ''What the hell is happening?''


    Qiu Lili was confused too. She looked at Mengmeng who suddenly hugged Lin Qiao, then made eye-contact with the other two.


    "I thought she''d hug you," Liu Jun said to Qiu Lili.


    "Why is she mimicking me? I did the same thing when I met Qiaoqiao," Qiu Lili said.


    Shen Yujen was only watching, as she had no idea what was happening.


    Lin Qiao raised both hands and said helplessly, "What''s going on here? Mengmeng, did you hug the wrong person? You should be hugging Lili, shouldn''t you?"


    After all, she usually followed Qiu Lili everywhere, and Qiu Lili liked to follow Lin Qiao.


    Mengmeng cried loudly for a while, then let go of Lin Qiao and prepared to wipe her tears. However, there were no tears on her face.


    She awkwardly put down her arms and said, "My name is Yun Meng."


    Mengmeng''s voice was clear, not as silvery and sweet as Qiu Lili''s, but sounding a little deep like a boy''s voice. However, it wasn''t unpleasant, sounding special.


    Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise, "You can talk too?"


    Yun Meng nodded, then turned to glance around. She first picked up all her clothes and put them on, then walked to Qiu Lili. "Thank you for not expelling me."


    Qiu Lili didn''t know how to react as Mengmeng''s polite manner and tone of speaking made her feel very strange. She hurriedly waved her hands and responded, "Ah¡­ You''re¡­ you''re welcome! I mean¡­ Qiaoqiao said that you have a good nature, so she let you stay with us."


    Yun Meng gave a smile. Her entire body was covered in scales which were shining with a metallic luster, yet her smile was even more eye-catching than her scales.


    Her smile looked dashing, but still had the gentleness that girls were supposed to have.


    Except for Shen Yujen who didn''t know Yun Meng well, the other three all felt that Mengmeng was now drastically different from before.


    With ear-length short hair, she was a sharp-looking girl now.


    "Since you remember what happened before, you should also remember what you promised us before you upgraded, right?" said Lin Qiao.


    Yun Meng smilingly looked at Lin Qiao, then nodded and said, "I do. Don''t worry, I''ll guard this new base well and wait for you to come back."


    Only after hearing that did Lin Qiao sighed slightly in relief. Then, she turned and headed to the small building.


    "Let''s get inside and talk."

 445 Mengmengs Memory

    "Wait!" Liu Jun abruptly called Lin Qiao''s name.


    Lin Qiao stopped walking, then turned back to her and asked, "What''s the matter?"


    "It has been over ten hours. Let me go out and check on Tongtong. He must have been freaked out," said Liu Jun.


    "Ah! I almost forgot about him! Sure, I''ll send you out," Lin Qiao patted her own head and said.


    While speaking, she hurriedly sent Liu Jun out of the space, then flashed back in and kept walking toward the small building.


    In the living room, Xie Dong paused for a second upon seeing Yun Meng. However, he didn''t make any sound, and just took an extra glance at her.


    Yun Meng''s scales had been covered by clothes, but her tail was still exposed in the air.


    Lin Qiao and the others were used to her tail, but she herself seemed to be paying extra attention to that tail after restoring her memory. She constantly turned back to look at and wag it.


    After finding herself a seat in the living room, Lin Qiao looked at Yun Meng and said, "If you want to say something to us, just say it. We can be the listeners if you don''t feel like keeping all that to yourself. It''ll be fine if you don''t want to share it, but I think it''s better for you to let it out. It''s like opening up an old wound, but you got to squeeze out the rotten blood in it."


    Qiu Lili nodded, looking at Mengmeng curiously.


    Yun Meng looked at the others and thought for a second. After that, she gave a bitter smile, which looked even worse than a crying face.


    She said, "My name is Yun Meng. Actually, I''m from the Northeast. When the apocalypse happened, I was in Beijing. Back then, I was a healthy human being. I had learned martial arts, so I survived. I tried my best to go back home to my family. I was happy when I found them all alive. However, when I sent them to a base, they pushed me into a zombie crowd."


    Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, and the others all looked at her silently.


    She went through all the difficulties to find her family, but when they finally arrived in a safe place, they betrayed her and pushed her into a zombie crowd. That was really despairing.


    Yun Meng''s eyes were a little unfocused when she continued, "They pushed me out together. They thought that I had been wasting their food."


    Lin Qiao and the others couldn''t think of a word to say.


    Qiu Lili slightly widened her eyes and said, "What? They pushed you out for that reason? Your family didn''t think you as their family member at all, did they?"


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "People have changed after the apocalypse. Many dark sides that used to be buried deep in people''s hearts are exposed now. So, in the post-apocalyptic world, zombies aren''t the scariest¡­ humans are."


    Both Yun Meng and Qiu Lili nodded in agreement while Xie Dong and Shen Yujen fell into deep thoughts.


    At that time, Lin Qiao continued, "But, there are human beings in my base too. Even though I''ve been managing human beings and zombies separately, some contacts are still unavoidable. If you don''t want to stay here, you can leave when I go back."


    Yun Meng heard what she said. She raised her head to look at Lin Qiao and responded with confusion, "Leave? No¡­ I don''t want to leave. I want to be with you guys. It''s fine that there are people in this place. Nothing will happen as long as I stay away from them. Can''t I stay?"


    She thought that Lin Qiao was trying to drive her away, so her eyes wore a faint flurried look.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and stayed silent for two seconds, then said, "I''m not trying to drive you away. I just want you to think it through before making the decision. Perhaps, you''ll regret staying here someday."


    Yun Meng quickly shook her head. She sat straight like a student, saying, "No, I''m not leaving. I won''t regret. I never regretted what I''ve done. I don''t regret sending my family to the base. I''d do it again even if I knew what would happen in the end."


    Seeing the determined look on her face, Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Alright! Since you''ve said so, I have no reason to say no."


    "What about you guys?" She asked, and the others shook their heads.


    Lin Qiao then looked at Mengmeng and asked, "So, were you bitten by zombies when they pushed you out?"


    Yun Meng nodded and said, "I was hurt. When we were arriving at the base, they suddenly pushed me out of the truck. I was almost unconscious back then. By the time I realized what happened, all I saw was the truck driving away and the zombies pouncing on me."


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "In this case, your family should be in a base in the Northeast. You came to the South, so I guess you subconsciously wanted to avoid that direction."


    Yun Meng nodded.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "Now you''ve woken up and become like a totally different person. You were a naughty child before! You even bit my head! Do you remember that?"


    "Ah¡­ that¡­ I do remember that¡­ Eh¡­" Yun Meng felt awfully embarrassed as Lin Qiao mentioned that. She looked at her awkwardly and stuttered to respond.


    Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise, "Eh? When did you bite her head?"


    "Eh-hem¡­ About that¡­ We''ll talk about it some other day! That''s some ugly history!" Yun Meng was so embarrassed, and a little speechless. She was probably brain-damaged before, as so many things that she did were strange and hard to understand.


    "What happened to you earlier was more than just memory-loss," said Lin Qiao, "I guess you were mentally impaired. Both Junjun and I have had memory loss, but we didn''t become like that."


    Qiu Lili stared at Yun Meng and said, "I think Qiaoqiao is right. You did havea terribly low IQ earlier."


    Yun Meng couldn''t be more embarrassed as she said, "You can''t blame me for that. I didn''t cause that myself. I did not only become a zombie, but I also became like that."


    Lin Qiao laughed, "You maintained that way, and that was already good enough. Also, you were lucky to meet us. If you didn''t, you might have been killed by some stronger ones and had your nucleus dug out already."


    Yun Meng thought for a moment and felt that Lin Qiao was right. "Yeah, it was such a good thing to meet you!"


    Lin Qiao looked at her and responded, "And you really like children."


    Yun Meng smilingly nodded and said, "Yeah, I cannot resist adorable children. I''ve always been a natural queen of children."


    She didn''t realize that Lin Qiao had successfully diverted her attention and pulled her out of the awful memory about how her family pushed her into a zombie crowd.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I can tell. The first time I met you, you abducted the little one. I was so worried as I thought you''d hurt her."


    Qiu Lili added, "Back then, you also tailed Qiaoqiao to our territory! If she didn''t warn me about you in advance, I''d have beaten you until you ran away."


    Hearing about the things that she did when her brain wasn''t working, Yun Meng really wanted a hole to crawl in.


    "I also want to know why were you so clinging to Lili before. Just now, I thought you were going to hug her!" said Lin Qiao.


    Yun Meng silently glanced at Qiu Lili, then said to Lin Qiao, "She''s a clean freak. She wouldn''t let me hug her for sure, so if I tried to do that, I''d end up hugging the air. That would ruin the atmosphere!"


    Lin Qiao and the others didn''t know what to say.

 446 Raise It And Mount I

    After reaching an agreement with the others, Lin Qiao walked outside, pointing at those divided potatoes as she said, "These are ready to be planted, and these can be stored for a long time, or Lin Feng and his people can eat them. The pumpkin seeds are in the little box on that cabinet over there, soaking in the water."


    "Eh? You soaked the pumpkin seeds in the water? Won''t they be spoilt?" Qiu Lili asked.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No. They''re absorbing the energy in the lake water. So, I think there''s only a small possibility for them to mutate after being planted out there. But still, we have to wait and see how the first batch of crops turns out."


    The others nodded in agreement.


    Lin Qiao then walked to the strawberry field and called out the two level-four water-powered zombies among the group, also picking an earth-powered one who was turning up the soil aside. She said to those three zombies, "From now on, you''ll be following their orders. When I''m not here, you can only stay in that field, and are not allowed to go anywhere else. If I found you leaving without permission when I got back, you''ll be dead."


    While speaking, Lin Qiao raised a hand and released a stream of dark mist to threaten those zombies.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t let them run away, unless they want me to crush their heads," said Yun Meng. Once she started talking, those zombies quickly took a few steps toward Lin Qiao, then looked at Yun Meng with fear.


    Lin Qiao turned to Yun Meng and said, "I guess they don''t dare to run. You''ve scared their courage away."


    Yun Meng shrugged and responded with a faint simile, "I didn''t mean it. I''m just at a higher level."


    That afternoon, Lin Qiao sent Xie Dong, Shen Yujen, Yun Meng, and the three level-four zombies out of her space.


    As she returned to the space, she heard a series of excited howls from the woods. That was clearly the sound of the zombie dog which had been running around in the woods.


    It seemed that the dog was playing with the snake. The weird thing was that the snake had been keeping a distance from the lake all this time, and Lin Qiao couldn''t tell why.


    The snake had stayed in her space for quite a few days. It hadn''t been eating or drinking, and only hiding in that woods, being harassed by the zombie dog from time to time.


    She knew that snakes could survive for a long time over one meal. However, she also wondered how much food this huge king cobra have to eat to fulfill its stomach.


    Not to mention the fact that it was injured¡­ Would it be tortured to death by the zombie dog?


    Qiu Lili didn''t exit the space, but went up to the roof. She spread a blanket on the stage by the edge of the roof and lied down on her stomach. She then raised her shanks and rested her chin on her palms while looking at the other zombies in Lin Qiao''s space. Hearing the noises from the woods, she asked, "You brought the snake in when you captured Tang He. Aren''t you gonna eat it? Or, are you going to keep it as stored food?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her and responded, "I might do what you said if it were a fierce dog. But, I don''t think it''s fierce, so I don''t plan to eat it. I want to send it out, but it wouldn''t let me get close."


    "Why did you send your dog to torture it every day then?" Qiu Lili was confused.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "I didn''t send the dog. Bowwow is bored in here too. I guess that''s why he went to play with the snake. I''ve told it to not kill the snake, so they''re only playing."


    Qiu Lili looked at her and said helplessly, "Look at you. You could have a normal, living pet, yet you chose a dead dog. Now, you''re finally keeping a living animal, but it turns out to be such an enormous snake! Are you gonna make it your mount?"


    Lin Qiao laughed, "Mount? It''s still too small for that. It has to be larger to be my mount. It''s only as thick as my waist now."


    Qiu Lili replied, "You can keep it for a few years and it''ll probably grow larger. It''s mutated after all. Mutated animals can grow limitlessly."


    Lin Qiao scratched her chin and thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement, "That''s a good idea! Maybe it''ll grow into a huge and fat snake in a few years, and I''ll be able to mount it."


    Qiu Lili paused for a second, then looked at Lin Qiao and responded confusedly, "Eh? Are you really gonna do that?"


    Lin Qiao looked back at her and said, "I heard what you said and I think it''ll work. But before that, I need to figure out a way to communicate with it."


    While speaking, she excitedly headed toward the woods, leaving Qiu Lili gazing at her back without knowing what to do. "Will that snake hate me when it finds out that this is my idea?" she murmured.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao entered the woods and walked further in. She piled all the rice and flour in the middle of the woods, along with many other supplies.


    Every time when she collected some new supplies, she would only give a part of them to Lin Wenwen, because the latter''s space wasn''t large enough to store it all.


    At that time, a twenty-meter-long snake and a hairless zombie dog were circling around her supplies.


    Lin Qiao flashed onto the piles of bagged rice and yelled at the zombie dog, "You two, don''t play in here! I''ll kill you if you break one of these bags!"


    She then raised a hand and sent a stream of dark mist out. The mist turned into a dark dragon, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws while flying at the dog and the snake.


    The two animals which were playing quite happily immediately turned and ran away.


    The zombie dog stopped chasing the snake and ran out of the woods while barking.


    Lin Qiao took back the dark mist as she gave the dog a glance and then followed behind the snake.


    Soon, she blocked the snake''s way, staring at it.


    Seeing her, the snake quickly turned and attempted to run in another direction. However, Lin Qiao flashed across the air and blocked its road again.


    After that, the black snake gave up on running. It coiled its body into a small hill and rested its head on it as it looked at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao stood in front of it, without saying a word. The two of them simply stared at each other.


    Gradually, the king cobra drew its head backward, and at last, it buried its head in its coiled body.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    She observed the snake''s condition and found that its injuries were still bad. Although those injuries were showing no signs of recovering, it was already good enough that they weren''t getting any worse.


    At least, the snake wouldn''t die from those injuries.


    The snake had its own energy, but earlier on, it ran out of energy when running from Tang He. By now, it hadn''t regained even one percent of its energy. Originally, it planned to take a good sleep to rest.


    However, the zombie dog hunted it almost every day since it came into this space. To run from the dog, the snake used up its regained energy. Therefore, it''s injuries never healed, and only stayed the way they were.


    At this time, Lin Qiao found it tired, starving, and injured. Undoubtedly, it would not get better this way.

 447 Catch Rats To Feed I

    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then figured that she should first fix the snake some food.


    At that moment, she heard a series of footstep sounds, which were clearly made by a four-footed animal.


    Hearing the familiar footstep sound, the snake which had buried its head into its coiled body immediately reared up its head vigilantly and stared at where the footsteps sound was coming from. Its body was twitching slightly as it was ready to start running at any moment.


    The zombie dog came back as it was too bored. It seemed to have sensed the snake''s vigilance, so it stopped a few meters away. It thought for a moment, then took a circle around the snake and ran to Lin Qiao''s side.


    As the dog seemed to give up on chasing it, the snake didn''t crawl away immediately, but didn''t stop twitching either. It wanted to run, but it was too tired to do so.


    Lin Qiao gave Bowwow a kick and said to it, "Look at you! How you can bully it when it''s covered in wounds and exhausted? You''re taking advantage of its misery, and that is wrong. Do you understand?"


    After saying that to the dog, Lin Qiao gave it a second thought and found it not exactly right. So, she added, "Well, it''s not like you can never do that. It depends on who''s your target. This one is not your enemy now, so you can''t bully it when it''s injured. Do you understand?"


    "Ow?" Bowwow looked at Lin Qiao with confusion. It knew nothing but how to attack and grasp an opportunity to end its opponents when they were weak.


    The dog just didn''t understand what Lin Qiao said.


    Lin Qiao continued to explain, "Since you want to play with it, you need to think about its condition. Imagine, if you''re as exhausted as the snake is, but someone still chases you every single day, would you feel good?"


    "Ow? Roar!" ''No! I''ll bite it to death!''


    Bowwow figured out Lin Qiao''s meaning and had its look changed. It bared its teeth and gave a fierce roar.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "Exactly! I think the snake wants to bite you to death now."


    While speaking, she pointed at the giant snake.


    "Ow¡­" Bowwow stared at the snake and fell into deep thoughts.


    Lin Qiao stood beside it and crossed her arms as she continued, "If you want the snake to play with you, you need to let it recover first. Now, I''m going to send you out. You should go and catch some large rats to feed it. Perhaps, it''ll have the energy to play with you when it''s no longer hungry."


    "Ow!" Bowwow''s eyes glowed instantly. It happily looked at Lin Qiao, clearly agreeing with her idea.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "So later on, I''ll put you into the rat woods. Try to bring back lots of rats."


    By now, she called the woods near the sweet potato field the rat woods, because the zombie dog had been catching rats in that place for many days, and there were still more in that place.


    "Ow!" Bowwow looked at Lin Qiao expectantly, waiting for the latter to let it out. So she grabbed its tail and threw it out of the space.


    After that, she turned herself invisible and hopped onto the rock by the woods. She saw that Xie Dong and the others had already started to loosen the soil.


    They were using the shovels and hoes that Lin Qiao found from a park earlier to put the small piles of soil which were dug out by the group of level-four zombies back into the ground.


    They had also been digging through the untouched area of the field to loosen the soil.


    Bowwow was good at catching rats, so most of the rats near the field had been scared far away by it. Hence, it needed to go further away to catch rats and bring them back.


    Lin Qiao didn''t spend too much time on the rock before she saw the dog come out of the woods with a yellow rat.


    This kind of rat was smaller than the normal rats, and its fur was hard.


    "Squeak!" The rat which Bowwow caught was still alive, and had been struggling energetically.


    Ever since Lin Qiao told it not to bite through the skin of its prey, Bowwow started to like it this way. It gave it a better sense of achievement.


    It came back with the yellow rat and looked around, but failed to see a trace of Lin Qiao. With confusion, it followed its own tail and made a circle.


    Lin Qiao stood on the rock and watched the dog while laughing silently. When the dog circled for a few more times, she leaped off the rock and gently gave it a kick.


    "Ow?" Bowwow took fright when the invisible Lin Qiao kicked it. It relaxed its bite and bared its teeth, roaring at the surrounding area. However, it was stunned upon seeing nobody around it. But soon enough, the dog realized that it was no one else but Lin Qiao.


    It was aware that Lin Qiao was able to turn invisible.


    After figuring out what had just happened, it immediately forgot about the fact that Lin Qiao kicked it on the butt. Instead, it hurriedly chased the rat which had just fallen from its mouth and was trying very hard to run at the moment.


    The poor rat didn''t manage to run far, as it was caught by the dog again.


    "Squeak!"


    Bowwow brought the rat back to the stone, then sat by the stone and raised its head to look at the air, as if it knew that Lin Qiao was up there.


    It had no idea that Lin Qiao was actually behind it.


    She dragged the dog''s tail and brought it back into her space.


    In the space, Bowwow quickly turned back to look at Lin Qiao. Seeing her, its lusterless eyes started glowing again.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest, then pouted her lips toward the woods and said to the dog, "Go, bring it to the snake by yourself."


    Bowwow instantly turned and happily darted to the woods while Lin Qiao slowly followed behind it.


    Bowwow followed the giant snake''s vibe and ran up to it, then found that the snake was still lying there without moving. Its head was buried in its coiled body again. Sensing the zombie dog coming, it only moved slightly to expose its flat head, then looked at the dog with it''s narrow, rhombic, dull eyes.


    However, its eyes glowed on seeing the living rat in the dog''s mouth.


    It was tiny, but could still make a meal. After all, the snake was starving already.


    Bowwow held the rat which was as big as a young cat in its mouth and stood three meters away from the snake, looking at it.


    Lin Qiao was standing on a branch behind the dog. The snake had already been attracted by the scent of the rat, but was still looking at the zombie dog with vigilance.


    Lin Qiao understood that the snake was no longer as afraid of the dog as before. The dog chased it every day, but had barely hurt it.


    It was just super annoying!


    So now, as the snake was exhausted and starving, it decided not to move. Seeing the living rat in the dog''s mouth, the sense of hunger had occupied it mind. It was only staying on alert instinctively.


    Bowwow spent a few seconds gazing at the snake, then slightly lowered its head. After that, it glanced back at Lin Qiao who was on the tree. Next, it turned back, raised a paw, and made two tiny steps toward the snake.


    The snake didn''t move, but fixed its eyes on the dog. It raised its head slightly higher and looked at the zombie dog with confusion. Clearly, it hadn''t figured out what the zombie dog was trying to do.

 448 Tempt The Snake With The Water

    Bowwow made two steps, and as the snake didn''t react strongly to it, it made two more steps.


    "Squeak!" While getting closer to the snake, the rat which was held in the dog''s mouth sensed a strong scent of its natural enemy. So, it started struggling crazily.


    "Don''t get too close," Lin Qiao said to Bowwow, "Throw the rat at it and then run away."


    "Ow?" Bowwow turned back to give her a glance, and then thought for a moment to figure out her meaning.


    It turned its body slightly, then tilted its head and suddenly threw the rat at the snake. After that, it quickly turned around and ran to the tree that Lin Qiao was standing on, then sitting under the tree with its eyes fixed on the snake.


    The snake automatically reached out its head to bite the rat when it was thrown over.


    "Squeak!" The rat let out a shrill scream when the king cobra''s fangs sank deep into its body.


    The snake confusedly glanced at the zombie dog which had run away while holding the rat in its mouth, quietly gazing at Lin Qiao and Bowwow for a few seconds. Then, it raised its head and widened its mouth to swallow the rat alive.


    "The snake ate the rat," said Lin Qiao to Bowwow, "Get back out and catch more. That tiny rat was certainly not enough."


    "Owoo!" Bowwow was delighted as the snake had eaten the food. Hearing what Lin Qiao said, it quickly wagged its tail.


    Lin Qiao leaped off the tree and glanced at the snake which had just swallowed the rat, then brought Bowwow out of the space to catch more rats.


    This time, she followed the zombie dog into the woods to search for rat nests.


    Xie Dong, Shen Yujen, and the other zombies had no idea what Lin Qiao and Bowwow had been doing, and only focused on their own work.


    When Bowwow showed up with a large rat in its mouth for the second time, the giant snake actually wore an expectant look in its eyes. But course, it was still on full alert. Meanwhile, it also felt more and more confused. Every time Bowwow showed up before it with a living prey, its face was filled with confusion.


    However, it decided not to think so much as long as there was food!


    From three o''clock in the afternoon to around eight, Lin Qiao and Bowwow had been catching rats for the snake. They were still doing it even when it was dark on the outside, because the snake had such a great appetite!


    The snake was on alert at first, but later, it started to expect food once Lin Qiao and Bowwow showed up. It gradually adapted to the situation and relaxed its vigilance against the two.


    Lin Qiao and Bowwow were both pretty tired that afternoon. They caught the snake more than thirty rats, squirrels, and even some birds, only then finally managing to feed the snake up.


    Neither of them could get tired physically, but they felt a little tired in their hearts. Lin Qiao now felt that the snake would eat her out of house and home!


    However, she had decided to keep it, and would never regret that. The snake would be able to go out and find food for itself when it healed anyway.


    Snakes were all cold-blooded, and wouldn''t likely be grateful. So, Lin Qiao didn''t expect the snake in her space to be grateful to her. She had another plan to make it stay willingly.


    Without a question, she was going to use the lake water!


    Through observance, she found that the snake actually wanted very much to drink from the lake. However, for an unknown reason, it didn''t dare to approach the lake. Viney was no longer in the lake, so at the moment, there was nothing but the energy in it.


    Was it because of the energy?


    There were some things that were good in small amounts, but might turn bad, or even harmful, when there were too much of it to cope with. It all depended on the situation.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, and couldn''t tell if it was because the energy in the lake was too strong. So, she found a bucket that was about the size of a laundry bucket. Then, she filled the bucket with lake water and brought it to the snake. She didn''t get close to the snake, but put the bucket on a clearing near it.


    The snake had now gained some energy. In order to avoid Bowwow, it climbed into a tree and refused to come down.


    Bowwow had spent so much energy to feed the snake, but the latter actually refused to play with it when its appetite was fulfilled. Bowwow didn''t know how to climb a tree, so it stood up and put its forepaws on the tree as it barked at the snake.


    "Alright, get over here," Lin Qiao said to the dog, "It doesn''t want to play with you now. It''ll come down when it feels like playing."


    Bowwow glanced up at the snake unhappily, then walked toward Lin Qiao with its head lowered.


    Lin Qiao brought Bowwow out of the woods and checked the strawberry and vegetable fields which had been tidied. After that, she went to fetch water for the group of zombies, leaving Bowwow lying in the grass and feeling bored.


    Back in the woods, after she and Bowwow had left, the snake turned its eyes onto the bucket that Lin Qiao had left. The snake spent a while observing the surrounding area. After confirming that the two would not come back, it slowly climbed down the tree and crawled toward the bucket.


    It raised its head to glance at the water in the lake, then put its head near the water and stuck out its tongue to lick it. After that, it suddenly lunged its head into the water.


    Plop!


    Two seconds later, it raised its head. Its eyes shone with a bright light, and its tail was raised too.


    Outside the woods, Lin Qiao seemed to have sensed something. When the snake put its head into the bucket, she gave a confident smile.


    That trick worked again! It seemed that the energy in her lake was helpful for humans, zombies, and mutated animals.


    After giving those zombies a cup of water each, Lin Qiao left her space. It was already dark, but Xie Dong and the others hadn''t stopped working. She didn''t pay more attention to them; they were all zombies anyway, and were able to work at night.


    She turned herself invisible and sneaked toward the hotel to visit the little one.


    In the hotel, Wu Yueling started to feel down again. The sky had turned dark, but Lin Qiao hadn''t shown up. The little girl pouted her lips and pulled a long face.


    Wu Chengyue poked her cheeks and said, "What? You were happy during the daytime. Why are you upset now?"


    Wu Yueling turned to give him a glance, then dropped her eyelids, staying silent.


    "Let''s go," Wu Chengyue said to her, "Let''s wash your hand and feet, then get you into the bed. She might come here when you''re asleep."


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling abruptly raised her head to look at her father. She clearly didn''t realize that her movements had exposed something.


    Wu Chengyue only gave a faint smile which seemed perfectly normal. But meanwhile, something subtle flashed across his eyes. Then, he brought Wu Yueling to the bathroom to wash her hand and feet.


    There was a shortage of water resources in the post-apocalyptic era. Even though there were water-powered people and ice-powered people, he still felt it was necessary to teach his daughter to save water. Therefore, he only gave the child a shower every other day. In the no-shower day, he only let the kid wash her face, hands, feet, and private area.

 449 Make it Clear Before You Go

    Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling to the bed after cleaning her hands and feet. "Good girl, lie down." He put his daughter down and covered her with a blanket, then rubbed her soft hair.


    Wu Yueling closed her eyes expectantly.


    Then, Wu Chengyue turned and walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower. After that, he came out in a pair of trousers and flip-flops, with his upper body bared.


    He sat on a couch. On the table before him was a bottle of liquor and a glass. Liquor was one of the most favorite things of most of the men in the post-apocalyptic era. Quite some of them could be found, as they could be stored for a very long time.


    He picked up the bottle and took off the plug, then poured some liquor into the glass.


    This was a bottle of vodka.


    He put down the bottle and put the plug back in, then leisurely leaned against the back of the couch and poured some vodka into his mouth.


    It tasted smooth, yet brought him a weird, fire-like stimulation when it flowed into his throat from the tip of tongue, following to burn into his stomach.


    He narrowed his pretty, slender eyes, enjoying the passionate, burning feeling. From time to time, his eyes turned to the glass door on the balcony, which was the only open door in the suite.


    Lin Qiao came in and saw Wu Chengyue drinking alone in the living room. She gave him a glance as she felt a little strange about him drinking alone. After that, she moved toward the bedroom, but stopped after she had made only two steps.


    She dropped her eyelids slightly, and then turned to look at the man on the couch.


    As she thought, that man seemed to have sensed something. He put the glass on the table and then stood up. Next, he slowly walked to the glass door and raised a hand to close and lock it.


    "Since you''re here, make it clear before you leave," he smilingly turned to look at Wu Yueling who was on the bed in the living room, then said.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    Wu Yueling heard her Daddy talking and immediately realized something. She hurriedly sat up from the bed and stared at the glass door.


    Lin Qiao sighed and showed her face.


    She ignored Wu Chengyue, but walked straight into the bedroom.


    Seeing Lin Qiao, Wu Yueling''s eyes glowed instantly. She happily watched her Zombie Mom walk into the bedroom.


    This time, Lin Qiao again looked different from what Wu Yueling remembered. Her face was the same as before, but her hair had grown long. The black and soft hair hang loosely on her shoulders.


    Her eyes were different as well. There were still no white parts in her eyes, but her pupils had become glowing green. Compared with the black parts of her eyes, those pupils looked like two stars in the dark sky.


    Those eyes of hers were weirdly beautiful.


    Wu Yueling gazed into her eyes, feeling interested.


    Lin Qiao walked to the bed and sat on the bedside, then rubbed the little girl''s head and said to her, "You see, I came to see you as I promised. You need to be happy."


    Wu Yueling looked at her with a pair of sparkling eyes and nodded.


    Lin Qiao took back her hand and continued, "Alright! Since I''m right here, can Ling Ling go to sleep now?"


    Wu Yueling didn''t lie down, but kept looking at her. Lin Qiao had no choice but to hold her little hands to read her mind.


    ''Can you stay tonight?'' she said.


    Lin Qiao looked at her, smiled helplessly and said, "Later, I need to leave for a place far, far away. There is something that I must do. I don''t know when I will be back. So Ling Ling, you have to be a sweetheart and go back home with your Daddy. I''ll go to your place to visit you when I''m back, okay?"


    Hearing Lin Qiao say that there was something that has to be done, Wu Yueling was a little unhappy. However, she didn''t try to stop her, because her Daddy had told her that doing something meant working, and that adults needed to work to earn food. Without working, people would have no food, and without food, people would starve to death!


    Only after Lin Qiao promised to go to her place to visit her when she had finished that important thing did Wu Yueling nod.Then, Lin Qiao abruptly put her mouth near the little girl''s ear and whispered, "Would you like to talk to Viney?"


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling''s eyes shone brightly and she quickly nodded at Lin Qiao. That slight unhappiness which she had just now was immediately gone.


    Lin Qiao put the girl''s hands on her lower belly. After that, Viney''s voice could be heard¡ª''Ahlalalala, the little one¡­ Do you miss me¡­''


    Wu Yueling nodded.


    Viney continued¡ª''Viney needs to sleep a lot so I can grow up. So, little one, I can''t always come out to talk to you. You have to stay happy!''


    Lin Qiao quietly listened to the conversation between the two little things.


    A while later, Viney got tired. She told Wu Yueling that she needed to go to sleep and asked the latter to do the same.


    Lin Qiao then said to Wu Yueling, "Alright, just go to sleep. Children who don''t sleep enough can''t grow tall."


    Wu Yueling didn''t understand why she had to grow tall, but she did feel that being unable to grow tall was a bad thing. So, she obediently lied down and prepared to sleep for real.


    Wu Chengyue sat back onto the couch after saying that one sentence to Lin Qiao.


    When Lin Qiao came out of the bedroom, she found an extra glass on the table, with some vodka in it.


    "Please have a seat," Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at her, then pointed at the couch and pushed the glass of vodka toward her.


    Lin Qiao sat down and picked up the glass of vodka curiously before putting it under her nose to sniff at it, "Have you seen a zombie drinking vodka?"


    Wu Chengyue smiled as he raised his eyebrows and looked at her while responding, "Haven''t I just seen it?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and said, "I haven''t drunk it yet."


    Wu Chengyue replied, "You''re holding the glass like someone who drinks a lot. Why don''t you take a sip and give it a try? Will alcohol affect zombies?"


    His words sound casual, but in fact, he was trying to prod Lin Qiao into drinking.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No zombie has tried alcohol yet. Why don''t we just start talking?"


    She understood that since this man was expecting her in this place, she wouldn''t be able to leave until their negotiation led to a result.


    Wu Chengyue lazily leaned on the back of the couch, holding the edge of the glass and gently swaying it. He stared at Lin Qiao''s green eyes and said, "Aren''t you supposed to start the conversation. I think that I''m a victim. You should apologize to me, shouldn''t you?"


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    ''Apologize? Damn! How am I supposed to continue this conversation? I didn''t entrap you! What did that have to do with me? Why would I apologize to you?''


    She calmly responded with, "Wait a minute! I''m a victim too. I don''t think either of us should apologize to the other."


    Wu Chengyue gave her a meaningful smile while saying, "What if I say that¡­ you''ve done it more than once, and I also want you to apologize and compensate me for the other time?"


    ''The other time?'' Lin Qiao looked at him with confusion. ''That thing only happened once. Did it happen twice¡­ Wait¡­''


    Lin Qiao suddenly narrowed her eyes and blinked. "I get it," she said, "If you''re talking about that thing, I think you have already forgiven me for that as I''ve saved Ling Ling''s life several times."

 450 Make It Clear And Figure Out Who Owes Whom

    Lin Qiao understood what his words meant.


    She was surprised that he had found out about her being Lu Tianyu so quickly. Even though Lu Tianyu was only the previous owner of her current body, she was using her identity now. Therefore, she needed to take responsibility for what that woman had done.


    Wu Chengyue''s smile grew bigger as he nodded and said, "You''re right. I did forgive you for kidnapping Ling Ling and threatening me with her life, because you had saved her for quite a few times. However, I haven''t forgiven you for another thing, which is taking away my virginity."


    While speaking, he stared at Lin Qiao, his eyes glowing with a weird light.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    If he were yelling, she might have believed him. However, he was wearing a cunning look. ''What did that mean?'' thought Lin Qiao, ''Does he think that I can''t tell he''s trying to entrap me now?''


    Finally, she put the glass on the table and smiled faintly as she said, "You are a grown man, so I think you should be open-minded about these things. You''re not a woman who lived in hundreds of years ago. Ancient people needed to take responsibilities for having sex, but I don''t think we should do the same. Besides, were you a virgin guy?"


    The term ''virgin guy'' nearly made Wu Chengyue grin. He quickly glanced at the ceiling and adjusted his expression, then responded, "Um¡­ I have had a girlfriend, but we broke up ten years ago. After that, I have cherished my virginity, not like some people¡­"


    He glanced at Lin Qiao while speaking.


    Lin Qiao immediately felt that Lu Tianyu''s identity had brought her to a lower position, so she cursed in her head.


    ''Damn! Why did I end up in this woman''s body! Such bad luck!''


    However, her expression didn''t change much. Her green pupils sparkled as she smiled and replied, "I was just enjoying the fun that human beings are supposed to have. That seems to be a little off-topic. Since you think saving Ling Ling''s life three times¡­ no, twice, is not enough to pay back for your so-called virginity, what do you want then? Maybe I''ll fulfill your request, as long as what you want is not too hard for me."


    They were talking things out now. She understood that Lu Tianyu''s identity would bring her some disadvantages, but she still left some room for herself to regret. However, she doubted that Wu Chengyue would fall for it easily, as he was a very shrewd man.


    To her surprise, Wu Chengyue responded, "Well about that, I''ll let you know when I have thought of something that I want you to do."


    "Do you want me to give you a long-term effective promise so you can make the request any time you want?" said Lin Qiao.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Yeah, you can think that way if you want."


    Lin Qiao looked at him, feeling a little confused.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t ask for anything. He claimed that Lin Qiao owed him, but didn''t make any request. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell what he would ask her to do in the future. Judging by his attitude, Lin Qiao clearly felt that he was offering her an invisible way to go.


    The future situation was unpredictable. Who knew what their relationship would become like? They weren''t likely to become friends anyway¡­


    Lin Qiao was happy about Wu Chengyue''s answer. It provided more possibilities than him making a clear and specific request.


    She thought for a moment, then said, "Alright! Let me know whenever you want to. I will not turn you down, no matter if our relationship is good or bad by the time."


    She sighed silently. She had a second life, yet she needed to deal with a huge trouble for the previous owner of her new body. She really couldn''t say if she was lucky or unlucky. She would have to face this trouble sooner or later, so she decided to solve it now.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and said abruptly, "You are¡­ really different from before."


    Lin Qiao looked at him in the eyes. Suddenly, she felt something. "I guess we wouldn''t be talking so peacefully if I were still the same as before, right?" she said.


    The look in Wu Chengyue''s eyes changed as Lin Qiao thought it would. He nodded and replied, "You''re right! If you were still the same as before, I wouldn''t even give you a glance."


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said without thinking, "Don''t then."


    She would really like that.


    Seeing her roll her eyes, Wu Chengyue was slightly stunned. Her expression had given him a very strange and interesting feeling.


    He didn''t hate that feeling. On the contrary, he was slightly touched by it.


    He quickly thought about the main issue that he wanted to talk to her this time and said, "About what happened earlier, neither of us started it. It can be considered as an accident. So, neither of us should hold responsibility for that. But, if I guessed right, you should be¡­ pregnant already, right?"


    After saying that, he couldn''t help but glance at Lin Qiao''s lower abdomen, his eyes showing a weird look.


    Lin Qiao automatically covered her belly. "I get it, you don''t need to say it out. I want to know when you got into the lake, and how you entered my space," she said, her tone of speaking not being friendly.


    Wu Chengyue raised his eyebrows and said, "About that, you need to ask the one in your belly. She dragged in me when I was off-guard, then let me smell some kind of aroma. After that, I went into the water muddle-headed. I was a victim. You can''t blame me for what happened."


    Lin Qiao gave him a cold glance and said, "How would you be dragged in if you didn''t send Ling Ling to my place? She was going to drag someone else in, yet you brought yourself to her."


    Hearing her last sentence, Wu Chengyue''s expression froze on his face for a second. Somehow, he was suddenly unhappy.


    Why did her words sound so unpleasant? What did she mean? Was Viney planning on letting her have sex with another man?


    How could that ever happen!


    He silently said no to that possibility the moment it emerged in his mind. He refused to let that happen!


    He stared at Lin Qiao and said, "Are you saying that¡­ you don''t care who you did it with? So¡­ you don''t mind doing it with me, do you?"


    Lin Qiao responded blandly, "It already happened once, so I do not mind for it to happen again. Although I wasn''t doing it willingly, I could not resist under that situation. I couldn''t do anything about it. If it were someone else¡­"


    She thought for a moment about that. She believed that she would feel no difference if it were someone else. No matter who that man was, it would be all the same for her. In that situation, she couldn''t resist what was going to happen, and was not allowed to choose. Therefore, she could only endure it. Some things might happen very suddenly. The more people cared about those things, the greater influence they would cause to their lives. So, they might as well accept those changes, which would make their lives much easier.


    "It can''t be anyone else!" Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes and interrupted her with discontentment, "Since you have already done it to me once, you need to be responsible for me. You have no right to choose another man now. You can only choose me."


    Hearing his bossy tone of speaking, Lin Qiao was a little stunned.

 451 We Donst Owe Each Other

    Lin Qiao looked at him with a weird expression, saying, "We had sex once, so what? That doesn''t give you the right to tell me what to do, does it? About whether I''ll choose another man or not, do I need your permission for that? Besides, if I do need a man for upgrading, I''ll surely want to choose someone whom I think is right."


    Wu Chengyue regretted after saying what he did. He didn''t understand why he suddenly got angry and said that without thinking.


    He looked at Lin Qiao without saying another word. He had discovered the difference between his attitude and hers.


    He had already been seeing Lin Qiao as his girlfriend, but the latter was not on the same page with him. In her eyes, there was nothing happening between him and herself. They did have sex, but that fact would not make her think differently.


    She had still been maintaining a distance from him and see him as a normal work-related partner. She didn''t even think of him as a friend. If it weren''t for Ling Ling, they wouldn''t have been involved so deeply in each other''s life.


    As Wu Chengyue stayed silent, Lin Qiao continued speaking, "Let''s talk about our second time. First of all, both of us were entrapped. We didn''t know that was going to happen, so we''re both innocent. Neither of us did anything wrong. Besides¡­ you didn''t lose anything, except for some sperms. You clearly enjoyed it¡­ Eh-hem, if you didn''t help me with the upgrade, I''d think that I''m the one who had suffered losses.


    While speaking, she couldn''t help but glance at the ceiling awkwardly. Only after that did she look back at him and continue.


    Wu Chengyue blinked. He didn''t say anything and only looked at her in the eyes. Somehow, he felt that she was wearing a very embarrassed look while saying the words ''you enjoyed it''.


    He wondered if she would be infuriated when she found out that he broke her hymen which was fixed. He also wondered if she had realized that yet. If she didn''t know it now, she would certainly find out about it someday. Perhaps, she would blame him for not telling her about that.


    She had the right to know. However, he was worried that if he told her about it, she might put him even further away.


    Wu Chengyue was thinking about that while Lin Qiao said, "If you want to talk about the first time, I don''t think I owe you anything for that. I''ve returned Ling Ling to you, and she''s perfectly unharmed. I might have raped you, but do you remember attacking me with lightning? I survived, but that wasn''t something fun for me! I have suffered a destructive lightning attack from you and saved Ling Ling''s life after that. Can''t all that make it even? Why are you so narrow-minded? You also bit my thigh! How are we gonna do about that? If you do the calculation, you''ll know that I''m the one who suffered losses!"


    Hearing her words, Wu Chengyue felt that he might really have been a little narrow-minded¡­


    "Didn''t you also steal my zombie king nucleus?" He said without confidence, then put the glass near his mouth and poured all the vodka in.


    He then said while smiling, "The vodka is nice. Are you really not gonna taste it?"


    Lin Qiao leaned against the back of the couch and gave him a glance before responding, "We have made this clear. We don''t owe each other a thing. For Ling Ling''s sake, I''ve been pretty nice to you."


    Finishing talking, she stood up and turned, preparing to leave. However, she came back after she had just made two steps, picked up the bottle of vodka which still had eighty percent left, then disappeared.


    Wu Chengyue silently watched her take the bottle of vodka. Next, he saw that the glass door was opened and then closed from the outside by an invisible being. He said something silently in his head.


    ''Don''t you owe me something? You still owe me a baby! Do you expect me to forget about that?''


    However, based on Lin Qiao''s attitude, Wu Chengyue understood that he should not act too aggressively. Otherwise, she might leave this new base with the baby in her belly and run to an unknown corner of the world, and he would never be able to find her.


    However, he did not know that she was planning to leave indeed even though he didn''t act aggressively.


    Lin Qiao put the bottle of vodka into her space and then left. She went to the roof of the hotel, hopped onto the highest spot, and gave a roar to the sky.


    Soon, a few zombie leaders came from all directions.


    Lin Qiao changed the water in their bathing buckets, then let them sit inside.


    While walking around their bathing buckets, she said, "Today, you can bathe until tomorrow morning, because I''ll leave this place to do something else, and will be back in one or two months. When I''m not here, Mengmeng will keep an eye on you. You can also go to her if you need anything."


    The group of zombie leaders looked at her and nodded to accept her orders. None of them was interested in where she was planning to go and what she was going to do.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, and then decided to talk to Mrs. Lin before leaving.


    Mrs. Lin heard the knocks and opened the door. She looked at Lin Qiao with surprise, as she hadn''t seen the latter for days.


    "Eh? You''re back!" She stood at the door and asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded.


    Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes. She wanted to know why they looked different again, but didn''t really care about that. Instead of asking any question, she turned and let the latter in.


    "Are you gonna come in? Do you have something to say to me?" she asked. She understood that Lin Qiao wouldn''t come to her so late at night if she didn''t have anything important to say to her.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then walked into the room and sat down on the couch as if she was very familiar with this place.


    Mrs. Lin closed the door, then walked to her and said, "Do you always come back so late at night? I heard from Lin Feng that you''re catching zombies out there and training them to farm lately. I''m surprised that you actually came up with that idea."


    While laughing, she picked up a pot and prepared to pour Lin Qiao a glass of water. But before the glass was filled, she suddenly recalled that Lin Qiao had already become a zombie, and didn''t seem to need water.


    She paused and turned to ask, "Um, do you want some water?"


    Lin Qiao smilingly shook her head and said, "My body does not need to be hydrated, because my energy and the zombie virus have been maintaining its functions."


    "Ah, I see!" Mrs. Lin nodded without fully understand.


    She sat down, then looked at Lin Qiao and said, "Since you don''t drink water, are you living on only raw meat? Zombies eat human flesh. Will you really be okay without eating any of that?"


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile, then answered her question, "You need to know that I''m not like normal zombies. Human flesh might be more delicious to me than other kinds of flesh, but I am able to live on other kinds of meat too. I''m just living in a zombie body, in a new form. It doesn''t mean that I''ll become a zombie without humanity."


    Mrs. Lin sighed with relief and then responded, "That''s not what I meant. I''m just worrying if anything bad would happen to your current body if you don''t eat human flesh."

 452 Divide The Base Into Yin And Yang

    Knowing that Mrs. Lin was worrying about her health, Lin Qiao felt warm in the heart. "I''ll be okay!" She laughed, "I''m good! Besides, as you can see, I''m getting better and better, aren''t I? I can''t possibly turn back into a human, but I didn''t become a brainless zombie either. I''m just living with a new identity, in a new way. As long as I''m alive, these aren''t problems."


    Mrs. Lin was still worried. "But¡­ but your new identity¡­ If other people found out about it, they certainly won''t be okay with it. If troubles are stirred up, what will you do?"


    "I''ve already talked to Tianxing about that," said Lu Tianyu, "He doesn''t know that I''m Lin Qiao, so he''s been seeing me only as a zombie named Lu Tianyu. In his eyes, we''re simply benefiting each other. I think I can be considered as a special partner of his."


    Mrs. Lin looked at her and said, "In that case, he won''t trust you with a whole heart."


    She was right. Yuan Tianxing was only seeing Lin Qiao as a strange zombie. He believed that Lin Qiao was protecting him and his people for some kind of purpose. Therefore, he had been keeping vigilance against her and her zombie friends, even though they were in cooperation.


    After all, he had no idea that Lu Tianyu the zombie was Lin Qiao. Like many others, he believed that one should never intend to do harm to others, but should always guard against the harm others might do to him.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "You''re right. I drew a clear line between him and me, and signed a treaty with him because he''s vigilant against me. I pictured the worst future for zombies, so he could relax his vigilance against me. I can''t let him, an unhelpful teammate who doesn''t really know what''s happening, bring me difficulties when I''m trying my best to help you guys, can I?"


    Hearing Lin Qiao call Yuan Tianxing an unhelpful teammate, Mrs. Lin spent a moment thinking about what he was really like. He was nothing like an unhelpful teammate.


    Yet, she couldn''t help but laugh. "Indeed! There wouldn''t be a big problem with that if you were not a zombie. Currently, only we know that you and your friends are zombies. The ones from Sea City Base don''t know about that yet. I''m afraid that things are gonna change when the human power of this new base grows stronger. Do you think you''ll be able to stay here when people find out that you''re zombies?"


    Lin Qiao replied smilingly, "Don''t worry about that! Yuan Tianxing and I are going to divide this base into two, like Yin and Yang. In the future, we won''t step into the human area, and human beings will stay away from our territory. Also, I will strengthen myself and raise my force. Believe me, my force will become a super army of the post-apocalyptic era. We won''t attack human beings, but we won''t let them bully us either."


    She made that decision after thinking about the situation of her and her mutated zombie friends. She had been searching and catching level-four zombies these days because she wanted to see if she could raise an army of normal zombies.


    Those zombies didn''t need to go through a mutation process, neither did them need humanity or memories.


    She would provide those zombies with limited amounts of lake water to replenish their energy, because she found that the energy in the lake water was very powerful. The transitions of Xie Dong and Shen Yujen were interfered by that energy, and both Liu Jun and Mengmeng restored their memories under its effect.


    She wanted a zombie army. She didn''t need her zombie soldiers to restore their memories; because if that happened, many unpredictable changes would happen too.


    Mrs. Lin looked at her, feeling slightly surprised. "I didn''t know that you''ve been thinking so much further ahead¡­"


    But soon, she realized that Lin Qiao was indeed a foresighted person. She nodded and said, "Alright. I guess you''re used to leading an army. Even after becoming a zombie, you planned to build a zombie army. For survival, having a powerful army is indeed highly necessary."


    "How many soldiers do you have now?" Mrs. Lin sighed and continued, "All of them that you put on the fifth floor are zombies, aren''t they it? I think you''ve sent some of them to guard outside, right?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah. Except for Tongtong, all of them are zombies. They''re all at high levels, and have humanity. As for the ones who are less human-like and not so good at self-control, I sent them out to guard the roads.


    "I see," Mrs. Lin nodded.


    Then, Lin Qiao started mentioning the reason she came here tonight. "But, I''m leaving tomorrow, and will be away for one or two months. So, don''t go to the fifth floor unless you have to, and don''t go out of the zombie wall unless it''s urgent. If anything happens, go to the fifth floor to find Mengmeng as quickly as you can. She has restored her memory, so you don''t need to be afraid of her."


    Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao with surprise, "Mengmeng? That girl who looks like a high school student, with half a face covered in scales? Did she restore her memory?"


    She was familiar with Mengmeng. Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong liked to play with her. At first, the adults were worried if that zombie would suddenly go crazy and attack the two children, but then they found that she seemed to be innocent and harmless when she was with children.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes, her."


    "You said that you''ll be away for a month or two. Where will you go?" Mrs. Lin asked.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and thought for a moment, then responded, "I''m going to Hades Base, to look for the place where I lost my memories."


    Hearing that, Mrs. Lin spent a few seconds gazing at Lin Qiao. After that, she said, "You''re¡­ going back to Hades Base? Won''t that be dangerous? Yang Jianhua and the leader of Earth Dragon Base are still there. What if you run into them?"


    "Mom, don''t worry!" Lin Qiao said, "I''ll avoid them. I don''t remember anything about them now, so even if I saw them, I''ll stay calm. Besides, they won''t recognize me. Therefore, nothing too bad will happen even if I ran into them. Besides, I have a space. It''ll be easy for me to escape."


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s confident words, Mrs. Lin nodded even if she was still a little worried. She knew her daughter. As long as Lin Qiao had made her decision, she would manage to do what she wanted by any means, and wouldn''t listen to anyone who tried to stop her.


    Mrs. Lin thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you¡­ going to try to recollect your memory? It''s strange though. You can restore others'' memories, so why can''t you fix your own?"


    "I''m not sure," Lin Qiao said, "I always feel that I''ve lost something in the South. So, I''m gonna go and try to find it. Perhaps, my memory will come back when I find that thing."


    "I get it," said Mrs. Lin knowingly.

 453 Come Across A Red-crown Crane in the Zoo

    "I''m only here to let you know, as I don''t want to worry about me when you can''t see me," said Lin Qiao.


    Mrs. Lin glanced at her, then sighed and responded, "I am worried about you, because you''re going to somewhere so far away and dangerous."


    "Relax!" Lin Qiao said, "I''m bringing Lili with me. I believe that we''ll be safe unless we encounter with over three level-seven enemies."


    Mrs. Lin had no choice but to nod, "Alright then! Just¡­ be careful! Do come back, okay? I don''t want what happened last time to happen again¡­''


    Mrs. Lin didn''t finish her sentence.


    "Mom, relax," Lin Qiao repeated, "I will be careful, for you."


    Mrs. Lin looked at her, without knowing what else to say.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao stood up and said, "I''m going to the roof."


    Mrs. Lin stood up along with her and walked her to the door, then stood there and watched her leave. Lin Qiao glanced back at her mother, then walked upstairs.


    Earlier on, she stayed invisible to avoid Wu Chengyue; but now, as she had made it all clear with him, she had no reason to hide.


    She went to the roof and hopped onto the roof of the stair room. Qiu Lili had left a mat on that place. Lin Qiao directly lied on it, gazing at the sky.


    After the apocalypse, the sky had been cloudy the whole time. The stars and moon never showed up again. They were still there, just covered by the dust and smoke in the air.


    The wind at night was cold. Lin Qiao couldn''t sense coldness like human beings, but still, she sensed a coolness which was perfect for her.


    She spent the whole night lying there and came down at dawn, yelling at the group of zombie leaders who had bathed for the whole night.


    "Get up, get up! It''s dawn¡­ Your time is up!"


    Once she said that, those zombie leaders quickly got out of their buckets. Even the zombie old man who slept through got up by himself, then unhurriedly put on his Tang-Dynasty-styled clothes, which were designed for elderly and middle-aged people.


    After putting on their clothes, those zombies leaped off the roof and headed toward their own territories. Lin Qiao didn''t need to give them any further instructions.


    She sent the dark mist into those zombies'' bath buckets, then watched the water in those buckets become streams of dark mist and rise into the air.


    As those buckets were emptied, Lin Qiao waved her hand and took the mist back. After that, she turned invisible and darted through the roofs, toward West Lake.


    After getting out of the zombie wall, she landed on a highway which was miles away from the new base site and filled with abandoned cars. She showed herself there and waved a hand to let out a regular black off-road car.


    Next, she took out her sunglasses and put them on while sitting into the driver''s seat. She didn''t ask Qiu Lili to come out, as she knew that the latter wouldn''t like the dust on the way.


    So, she had no choice but to drive alone.


    She drove along Qian River and slowed down while getting close to Hangzhou Zoo. She parked by a crossing, then got off the car and let Bowwow out of her space.


    "Owooo!" Bowwow gave a roar when it came out to find the strange environment, as if it was letting the animals in the zoo know that ''Bowwow is here''.


    Lin Qiao didn''t let the giant snake out because she hadn''t built a stable relationship with it. At least it wasn''t addicted to the lake water yet, so she couldn''t let it out.


    After all, it would definitely run away if she did.


    Following Bowwow''s howl, waves of roars could be heard from the woods nearby.


    Lin Qiao hadn''t even arrived at the zoo yet. However, judging by those roars, this whole area had clearly been occupied by animals. This place had been a forbidden area in Hangzhou the whole time.


    Lin Qiao gave Bowwow a kick and said, "Stay quiet! Do you want them to know that we''re intruding in their territories?"


    "Owooo!" Hearing the responses from so many wild beasts, Bowwow immediately got excited. It didn''t understand those animals, but those roars meant that there were preys in this area!


    Lin Qiao put the car back into her space, then walked toward the zoo. But before she had walked far, a giant bird flew at her from the sky.


    She raised her head to find that it was an enormous red-crowned crane, which looked quite fierce! Its body was white, and the tips of its wings and tail were black. It spread its wings and dove toward Lin Qiao; its wingspan was about five meters, and its claws were strong and long.


    Red-crowned cranes were supposed to be elegant, but this one looked terrifying.


    Its legs which should be long and slim were now especially strong, and its claws were sparkling with a cold light, even sharper than eagle claws. A few horns had grown out of its red crown and its beak was surrounded by some scales. Its eyes were sharp, containing a strong hostility.


    Seeing the fierce and aggressive giant red-crowned crane, Lin Qiao sighed. Things had truly changed after the apocalypse. Even red-crowned cranes had turned into such brutal creatures.


    "Caw!" The red-crowned crane opened its beaks wide and dove down while screaming. It was swift, and its giant body brought up a strong gust of wind toward Lin Qiao.


    Clearly, Lin Qiao was its target. It didn''t seem to be interested in the zombie dog at all.


    Lin Qiao calmly stood there, watching the crane dive down without dodging.


    "Roar!" The zombie dog made two steps backward.


    The red-crowned crane suddenly flapped its wings and raised its speed to another level. Within a blink, its claws came at Lin Qiao at lightning speed.


    The moment before its claw landed on her head, Lin Qiao tilted her head and turned her body. Meanwhile, she swiftly reached out both hand and accurately grasped the crane''s pair of ankles.


    She gripped the bird''s legs and easily pulled it downward, violently throwing it at the ground. Then, she conveniently swung her arms aside and sent the bird to the zombie dog, which was already ready.


    "Ow!" The zombie dog immediately rushed up and attacked the crane with its claws and teeth.


    "Caw!" The giant crane did not know that its prey was actually able to dodge the attack and grip its legs at the same time. It gave a scream before being pressed to the ground and knocked out. It didn''t even realize what was happening.


    Before it woke up, the zombie dog pounced on the bird, opened its jaws, and bit the bird''s head before suddenly shaking its head.


    Crack! The red-crowned crane''s head was neatly bitten off.


    The red blood splashed everywhere while the headless crane was still flapping its wings and twitching its legs to struggle. However, the zombie dog pressed the bird''s body firmly onto the ground.

 454 Miss the Enemy

    "Why did you bite his head off? I was going to catch it alive," Looking at the headless red-crowned crane and Bowwow who was chewing its head, Lin Qiao said with slight reproach.


    But, Bowwow simply raised its head to look at her while biting the bloody bird head.


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "Alright, forget it! It''s such a huge bird. That silly snake won''t be able to swallow it anyway. But, I don''t think it''ll eat dead animals. We''ll get it a smaller animal later. This one is too huge!"


    She glanced at the crane''s body which had slowly stopped moving, then showed her claws. "Get your paws away. I''m gonna skin the bird. Its feathers look nice¡­ I''ll keep them."


    She drove the zombie dog away, then started skinning the red-crowned crane.


    She had been feeding on living animals for quite a long time, so by now, she was able to skin a prey without making the blood splash. Soon, she skillfully, skinned the bird.


    She carefully cut open the tissue under the bird''s feather with her claw, then peeled off its skin.


    The crane was huge. After spending an hour moving around it, Lin Qiao finally peeled off its skin along with all the feathers without letting any blood flow out. In the end, the skinned bird was left lying on the ground.


    She took a large bucket out of her space, then cut the bird into two. She gave half of the bird to Bowwow, and put the other half in the bucket. Then, she glanced at the sky and found the sun to be rising.


    She spread the bird skin on the lawn by the roadside, then sat on a rock under a tree nearby before picking up the bucket and starting to eat the bird.


    She tore off the bird''s meat piece by piece, then put it into her mouth and chewed. The raw meat tasted sweet and smooth; added with the sweetness of the blood, Lin Qiao just couldn''t stop eating.


    Meanwhile, the zombie dog dragged the other half of the bird which was as big as itself into the grass and started eating with a great appetite.


    As Lin Qiao was enjoying the meat, an army bypassed West Lake and headed toward Upper City District from another road. About twenty armed vehicles which looked similar to the ones that Yang Jianhua had before were rumbling on the road in a formidable array.


    In the luxury RV in the middle of the motorcade, Long Yubai was lazily leaning on the couch. He was holding a glass of wine, looking outside the window with his legs crossed. His watery eyes were sparkling with a faint, cold light.


    Looking at the deserted scene outside the window, he was thinking about Yang Jianhua. Before leaving the base, he gave the latter that level-six zombie nucleus.


    Yang Jianhua thought that he didn''t want to give him that nucleus. In fact, he just didn''t want to give it to him so easily. He had plenty of level-six zombie nuclei, so why would he care so much about that one? He only wanted Yang Jianhua to know that it was not easy to get benefits from him, and to have a clear understanding of the price which he needed to pay.


    A cold beam of light flashed across his eyes. After that, he poured the wine in the glass into his mouth through lips that were lightly colored and thin.


    "Find a place to take a rest!" He swallowed the wine, then spoke to the driver and the man in the front seat.


    "Yes, sir!" The man in the front seat turned back and gave him a glance before responding. Soon, the motorcade stopped on a square.


    Long Yubai lazily leaned against the back of the couch and said blandly, "It''s such a long ride! My entire body is limp! Lin, come over here and give me a massage."


    "Yes, sir!" The man on the front seat glanced back at Long Yubai, his eyes wearing a delighted look. Next, he took a glance at the driver, who knowingly opened the door and got off the car.


    The man called Lin got off the car as well, but before long, he opened the door of the backseat, raised one of his long legs, and came over to Long Yubai''s side.


    He closed the door and then grinned, "What''s wrong? Bai, does the long ride make you lonely?"


    That man was very tall, over six feet in height, and was incredibly strong. His muscles made his clothes quite snug.


    While speaking, he sat down next to Long Yubai and took over the glass from his hand before putting it on the cabinet nearby. After that, he reached a hand toward the other''s waist.


    Long Yubai just had some wine, and the alcohol made his eyes and cheeks turn pink. He turned slightly back to give that man a sideways glance, then slowly moved his eyes away.


    That man was deeply tempted by that glance, so he couldn''t help but swallow his saliva and fix his glowing eyes on the latter. Next, he abruptly put a hand on his chin and turned his face back before kissing his lips heavily.


    He understood that the massage which Long Yubai just asked for actually meant sex; Long Yubai wanted some special service from him.


    Long Yubai let that man bite his lips. He narrowed his eyes, as if he had lost himself in this kiss.


    But in fact, he just didn''t want to open his eyes to see that man''s face.


    That man wasn''t ugly, but not handsome either. His face wasn''t delicate enough, yet he was in good shape. Long Yubai liked his muscles.


    That man was one of Long Yubai''s right-hand men, also one of the vice-leaders of Earth Dragon Base. He wasn''t the handsome type that Long Yubai liked, but the latter needed his abilities.


    There were plenty of capable men in the post-apocalyptic world, but not many of them had pretty faces and great body shapes.


    Long Yubai loved handsome men, which was why he had been letting Yang Jianhua do whatever he wanted.


    This time, he made a trip to East China and told Yang Jianhua that he came here to bring trouble to the Lin Family people. But in fact, he came here because he heard that Wu Chengyue, a Chief of Sea City Base, was a very handsome man. He was not only one of the leaders of Sea City Base, but was the head of all the base leaders, a possessor of the rare lightning power, and an incredibly powerful man.


    He wanted to meet a man like that since long ago.


    Soon, the RV began shaking. The soldiers who guarded outside completely ignored it, and only looked around the RV as if nothing was happening.


    "Eh¡­ eh¡­ emm¡­ be gentle!" A series of soft moans and gasps were heard from the RV. Anyway, those soldiers were used to that kind of noise.


    The RV kept shaking for the next two hours.


    After the noises from the vehicle finally stopped, Long Yubai came out and headed to the bathroom that his people had prepared for him. His face was filled with satisfaction, and clothes half torn off.


    His men found a clean room for him nearby and put a large bucket filled with steaming warm water in it. Next to the bucket was a set of neatly folded clothes.


    After Long Yubai walked in, the room was guarded by over twenty soldiers, in case someone suddenly attempted to break in during his bath time.


    Half an hour later, Long Yubai walked out, all refreshed. As he got back into the RV which had just shaken for two hours, the motorcade quickly regathered and left.

 455 Are You Fooling Me?

    Long Yubai sat in the RV and asked, "How far are we from Sea City?"


    Lin Ruifeng, the vice-leader who was sitting in the front seat, turned back to answer his question, "About sixty miles¡­ We should be arriving in less than two hours."


    If the roads were all in good condition, it surely wouldn''t need two hours. However, the road was filled with pieces of broken buildings and abandoned vehicles. On such a road full of obstacles, the driving speed would be slowed down greatly.


    "Haven''t we heard from those people yet?" Long Yubai asked blandly.


    Lin Ruifeng responded, "The people we sent to Sea City should have found something out. We''ll know when we get there."


    Lin Ruifeng nodded and said, "West Lake District, Upper City District, and Lower City District are all forbidden areas. We need to avoid those areas. West Lake District has a large area of mountains and forests, and there''s a zoo. I think all the animals there have mutated and run out. So, we should avoid that area as well."


    Two hours later, they arrived at Sea City, but didn''t enter Sea City Base. Instead, they stopped about five miles away from the base.


    "Ah, so the Sea City Base is pretty busy lately. They got rid of a leader. Can the remaining two leaders control so many people in that base?" Long Yubai asked with surprise after hearing the latest information brought back by his men.


    Lin Ruifeng responded while thinking, "There are two deputy chiefs under each leader, and tens of administrators under each deputy chief. I guess a large group of people has been taken out along with that leader. But, I heard that the Sea City Base stayed in order even when those people were erased."


    Long Yubai mentioned another thing, "What I care about more at the moment is the fact that Lin Feng and his people actually want to build a new base. Are you sure that''s not a joke?"


    He wore a sarcastic smile when he said that. Clearly, he didn''t believe it.


    "I have confirmed that news a couple of times¡­ It is real. I heard that Chief Wu from Sea City Base has been strongly supporting them, and helping them with the manpower. I also heard that they have been making tempting offers to hire," said Lin Ruifeng.


    Long Yubai''s eyes glowed. What he heard had aroused his interest. "Eh? So, how many people have they hired from Sea City Base? What do they pay with?"


    Lin Ruifeng replied, "Currently, two batches of people have followed them to their new base site, nearly eight-hundred people in total. I heard that they pay them with rice, flour, and other foods. They also cover the accommodations and meals."


    Long Yubai paused briefly, then laughed, "Rice? Um, where did they find so much rice to pay those workers? Covering accommodation and one meal per day sounds reasonable, but three meals per day? Is this a joke?"


    Lin Ruifeng thought for a moment, then said, "The payment for that job is guaranteed by Chief Wu from Sea City Base. I don''t think he''d lie to the people in his base."


    As a leader of a base which was populated over a million, he did not have reason to lie to his people.


    Long Yubai frowned slightly. His watery eyes glowed with a cold light as he stared at Lin Ruifeng and said, "Are you saying that, that is true? Did Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing ask Sea City Base for help, and borrow people from them? What did they offer in exchange?"


    Lin Ruifeng responded while reading the files in his hands, "Lin Feng and his people did make some kind of offer and start cooperation with Wu Chengyue. The weird thing is, Wu Chengyue nicely granted their requests on their very first cooperation. That is weird indeed. Also, Yuan Tianxing and his people have been posting their recruitment advertising in the Mission Hall with the other jobs. At first, nobody believed it, but after the first two batches of people left, the others were tempted too."


    Long Yubai''s pretty face wore no expression. He slightly dropped his eyelids, hid his eyes behind his long eye-lashes. No one knew what he was thinking.


    Lin Ruifeng lowered his head to read the files. He didn''t notice the look on Long Yubai''s face, but continued, "We haven''t located their new base yet. I heard that it''s located in a rather secret place. Some people who had inside information said that it''s in Hangzhou City."


    Long Yubai raised his head expressionlessly. A strange beam of light flashed across his eyes as he said, "Find it. We came all the way here to find them. No matter what they''re doing now, I''ll stop them and leave them no chance to continue."


    Lin Ruifeng nodded and replied, "Yes, Sir. What are we going to do next then? Are we going to enter Sea City Base and take a look?"


    He thought that Long Yubai would want to go into the base. After all, staying in the base was better than living in the vehicle out there.


    Long Yubai didn''t answer his question, but asked a new one, "Have you found anything about that leader of Sea City Base yet?"


    Lin Ruifeng puzzled for a moment, then understood his meaning and responded with, "Ah, yeah. He''s not in the base right now. He went out to collect supplies. It''s November already, and it''s getting cold. The winter is coming soon, so I guess he needs to do some preparations to make sure that the commoners in his base can get through the winter."


    Long Yubai nodded, then glanced at the gray sky and said blandly, "Yeah, it''s getting cold already. The daytime is still warm, but once the sun goes down, the temperature will drop drastically. Even if they don''t have enough food, they need to prepare some clothes and quilts to protect their people from the cold."


    Reasonably, the leaders of every base needed to worry about those problems. However, Long Yubai didn''t care about those things. He didn''t need to do those works, as the few deputy chiefs in his base would handle them well.


    Even if they couldn''t handle it well, he still wouldn''t care. He never cared about the lives of commoners. He believed that the people who weren''t capable enough to survive in the post-apocalyptic world would die sooner or later. The earlier they died, the earlier they would be free.


    Lin Ruifeng understood that in fact, Long Yubai didn''t care about the lives of the commoners in Earth Dragon Base, so he didn''t care about those people either. On the contrary, he had been seeing those people who weren''t able to go out of the base and hunt zombies as pure burdens.


    He said, "Yes. So Wu Chengyue left with his troop half a month ago, and hasn''t returned yet."


    "Do you know which direction he took?" Long Yubai asked curiously.


    Lin Ruifeng shook his head and said, "Their actions have always been confidential. We need to spend more time to find out."


    Long Yubai nodded and said, "Alright. I''ll give you one more day. Tomorrow at this time, I need to know the whereabouts of Yuan Tianxing and his friends, and Wu Chengyue."


    "Yes, Sir," Lin Ruifeng nodded.


    Long Yubai raised his head, gazed straight into the sky. His watery eyes sparkled. No one knew what he was really looking at.


    Lin Ruifeng turned to him and saw his delicate side face. He had a pointy chin. His neck showed a beautiful line as his head was raised.


    Lin Ruifeng swallowed his saliva. He silently watched Long Yubai for a few seconds, then forced himself to turn his head away.


    A cold light shone in his eyes.


    Long Yubai had been radiating a vibe that was tempting to all men all day long. However, Lin Ruifeng didn''t want that to happen now.

 456 Break Into The Zoo

    On the other side, Lin Qiao and Bowwow happily finished the crane, then started to look for food for the king cobra in the space.


    She put the feathers which had been dried by the sunlight into her space, then kept heading toward the zoo. The smell on the feathers was nearly gone.


    Meanwhile, Bowwow leisurely followed behind her, licking its mouth with satisfaction.


    Soon, they arrived at the territory of the amphibians. At that moment, an intense battle was happening there.


    Lin Qiao excitedly crooked a finger toward Bowwow and said, "Come over here! Don''t interrupt them¡­ We''ll just stay here and watch."


    While speaking, he hopped onto a tree nearby and then climbed on top of it. Looking down from the treetop, she saw two giant creatures attacking each other in a dried pond.


    Those were a boa and a giant crocodile.


    The boa with clear stripes was way huger than the snake which was in her space. After all, boa was the most gigantic type among all serpents. After the apocalypse, that boa had mutated and grown as thick as a bucket, and at least fifty meters long.


    The boa was dark-colored and with brown stripes. Its scales sparkled under the sunlight from time to time. At that moment, the boa was crazily twisting its body to coil the crocodile. However, the crocodile, which was about nine-meters long, was not easy to deal with.


    The crocodile''s four legs looked as strong as dinosaur legs. Its claws pressed firmly on the boa as it widely opened its jaws and bared its sharp teeth to attack the boa''s head and neck, trying to bite its head off.


    The boa was much nimbler than the crocodile. However, the latter was immensely strengthful with incredibly strong skin. It was indeed not an easy thing for the boa to strangle it to death.


    Lin Qiao took a glass of water out of her space, then leisurely watched the two giant creatures try to kill each other from the tree. She wondered if the bucket-thick boa would be able to swallow the nine-meters-long crocodile even if it managed to kill it.


    Lin Qiao understood that the serpents were greedy animals. They would try to swallow even the preys which were larger than themselves by many times over; and of course, many of them died from overeating.


    Boa were even greedier than the other types of serpents.


    Bowwow lied on a small hill nearby and watched the battle while licking its paws.


    Lin Qiao sensed the surrounding area and found no scents of other animals from the area ten miles in radius. The other animals were either scared away by the boa and the crocodile, which had crazy strong vibes, or were eaten by them.


    The strong ones ate the weaker ones¡­ That was the law of the jungle.


    The boa''s eyes were filled with ferocity and hostility. It was clearly a brainless beast which had nothing but bestial instincts.


    Lin Qiao had no interest in such highly mutated beasts. She only wanted to eat them.


    She watched for a while and compared the fighting capacity and endurance of the two animals, soon figuring out which one would win and which one would lose.


    She guessed that the boa would lose. It was nimble, but not strong enough. The crocodile obviously had greater strength than the boa, and was smarter as well. It didn''t use its full strength, but was clearly trying to lengthen this battle and exhaust its enemy.


    After figuring out the result, Lin Qiao lost her interest in that battle. She turned and jumped off the tree before calling Bowwow and leaving from the other side.


    Bowwow stood up and followed behind her. Before leaving, it turned back and gave the two creatures a glance.


    Lin Qiao found no herbivores when she walked into their lawn. That whole area was deserted.


    It seemed that the herbivores which lived in this area were either hunted by those predators or hidden somewhere.


    Lin Qiao stood by the lawn and sensed the scents in the air, then picked a direction to go.


    She grasped the scent of some kind of animal from that area. She didn''t know what those animals were, but did know that there was a giant group of them.


    When she quietly walked to a woods area, she found some huge rats.


    Yeah, she always found rats.


    The mutation strengthened rats'' already strong vitality and allowed them to survive and breed all over the world.


    Dead, living, soft, hard, rats ate everything.


    They multiplied so quickly, and lived in groups. Moreover, they feared nothing! Some people said that rats were timid, but they were clearly wrong. Nowadays, rats wouldn''t even run away when they saw human beings.


    In front of Lin Qiao was a huge group of large rats.


    Squeak!


    Squeeeek!


    Squeak!


    Near the edge of the woods areal, the shrill squeaks of rats could be heard.


    Lin Qiao looked at those rats which were even twice as large as cats scattering on the ground and trees. Suddenly, she understood why the boa and the crocodile was fighting. They were probably fighting over this rat woods. What puzzled her was why those rats stayed in the woods without leaving.


    She didn''t approach those rats immediately, but asked the zombie dog to go. "Bowwow, go over there and take a look."


    "Ow!" Bowwow was attracted by those huge rats since long ago. It ate its full just now, but as a hound dog, it still had a wild heart. Seeing so many rats in front if it, it''s wild nature was aroused in no time.


    Lin Qiao stood outside the woods, kept sensing the scents in the air. There were too many rats in this area. Their scents had almost covered all the other smells.


    But still, Lin Qiao managed to detect the scents of some other creatures.


    Tens of thousands of large rats were darting about in the woods.


    Once the zombie dog approached, the rats in the outer circle were agitated. They burst in sharp squeaks and gathered toward the dog.


    The zombie dog wouldn''t be afraid if there were only a few, or even tens of rats. However, countless rats were charging at it.


    Bowwow took a fright, nearly turned and run. But soon, it remembered its power. It took a step backward, then sprung up, turned and released a stream of fire from its mouth.


    Squeak! The countless rats burst in screams in the zombie dog''s fire.


    Many of them were set on fire. They stopped running, began rolling on the ground in pain.


    In fact, after the apocalypse, rats actually started to eat zombies. They charged at the zombie dog because it was food in their eyes.


    Those rats had absolutely no fear. As long as they spotted anything edible, they would risk their lives and rush at it.

 457 Stir The Rat Woods

    Those rats saw the zombie dog as a full meal which had brought itself to them. How could they possibly let it go?


    So, they charged at the zombie dog like a flood, startling the dog and making it hop. Fire escaped the dog''s mouth from time to time, which would kill a giant number of rats every time.


    However, more and more rats had been rushing out of the woods.


    Lin Qiao silently prayed for the zombie dog, then turned invisible and jumped off the tree.


    She started to pick relatively larger rats in the outer circle and catch them before throwing them into the woods in her space.


    She was able to sense the location of the snake in her space, so she directly threw those rats toward the snake.


    The king cobra which was coiling on a tree asleep suddenly heard a series of squeaks. That familiar noise immediately woke it up.


    Once the snake raised its head, a giant rat fell from the sky and landed on its head.


    Squeak! A corgi-sized rat fell on the snake''s head and then rolled to the ground. Once it landed on the ground, it nimbly sprung up and ran.


    The king cobra was dizzied when the rat fell on its head, but still, its instinct allowed it to react fast. Seeing something running, it swiftly darted out and caught up with it.


    As its body uncoiled from the tree, it finally woke up fully. Its eyes glowed when it found that it was a giant rat running in front of it.


    Earlier on, the zombie dog had fed the snake with some rats. It didn''t eat its full at that time, but at least regained some energy and strength. Thus, it only took the snake a couple of seconds to catch that rat like a black gust of wind.


    Squeak! The desperately running rat was bitten in the snake''s mouth, and the got swallowed quickly.


    Some people said that snakes ate slowly. However, the king cobra in Lin Qiao''s space swallowed the rat which was even larger than its head in just a few seconds. All it needed to do was to widely open its jaws.


    Once the snake finished the first rat, it saw another rat fall from the sky, darting about in the space.


    Without hesitation, it darted at the second rat.


    While throwing large rats into the space to feed the snake, Lin Qiao watched the zombie dog hop around and release fire to burn those rats.


    Gradually, some vibes which belonged to powerful mutated beasts emerged from the surrounding area, maybe because of the noises made by those rats. The ones that arrived the fastest were the boa and the crocodile which were fighting not long ago.


    They were not far away from this woods area, so they suddenly heard noises from this place while fighting and immediately made a truce. The battle was not going to end any time soon anyway, so they decided to check on their hunting ground first.


    The owners of other vibes only watched from the distance without approaching the woods, because that area had been occupied by the boa and the crocodile. If they approached, the two owners of this place would warn, or even attack them.


    The animals which lived in this area all knew that the boa and the crocodile were neighbors, and they fought pretty often.


    Lin Qiao threw a rat which weighed about eight kilograms into her space, then hopped onto a tree nearby.


    After that, she saw the boa and the crocodile crawling toward the woods one after another; the giant crocodile was surely leading the team. The boa followed behind it, attempting to bite its wagging tail from time to time, but always failing.


    Those two came to the woods and immediately spotted the zombie dog which was hopping around and burning those rats restlessly.


    As the dog kept its fire at the perfect amount which was just enough to kill those rats, Lin Qiao didn''t interfere with its battle. Those rats which were set on fire rolled on the ground and brought the fire into the grass. However, the fire soon died without burning much of it.


    Seeing another creature intrude their territory and hurt their preys, the boa and the crocodile were immediately infuriated, and quickly rushed at the zombie dog.


    Sensing the scents of the boa and the crocodile which were natural predators, the rats which were rushing out of the woods suddenly stopped. They paused for a few seconds, then all turned and ran backward.


    Lin Qiao caught a few more rats and threw them into her space, then watched the frightened ones run. Next, she showed her face and called the zombie dog''s name.


    "Bowwow, come back! You can''t win against those two."


    "Owo!" The zombie dog was aware that both the boa and the crocodile which were coming at it were stronger than itself many times over. Mutated beasts didn''t have superpowers, but both their bodies and strengths had been improved by largely.


    Bowwow was no match for the tens of meters long boa, which was way stronger than the king cobra in Lin Qiao''s space. Moreover, the crocodile was even stronger. As those two charged at the dog together, the dog figured that it should just run.


    Those rats feared nothing else but that boa, because it was huge, and also their natural enemy. The boa had strong scales, so even if it lay on the ground and let those rats bite it, those rats wouldn''t possibly be able to cause it any harm.


    Therefore, the moment the boa showed up, those rats turned and ran.


    Lin Qiao flashed to the zombie dog''s side and dragged it into her space. Next, the two of them showed up in the woods in her space and saw the king cobra, which already had its stomach full. Lin Qiao glanced at the bucket on the ground and found it to be empty.


    She refilled the bucket with lake water and then put it before the snake.


    The black king cobra was stuffed at the moment. Its stomach was full of rats and bulging, making it look like a pregnant snake.


    It lazily lay on the ground. No matter how vigilant it was against Lin Qiao and the zombie dog, it was too lazy to move at the moment!


    Lin Qiao put the water before the snake, then waved a hand to drive the zombie dog away, "Go away! It''s on a full stomach right now. Don''t chase it, or it might throw up."


    "Ow?" ''Why would it throw up?''


    Bowwow didn''t understand. The food was already in its stomach. Could it come back out easily?


    Lin Qiao said, "If you chase it right after it had a full meal, it''ll feel sick."


    Hence, Bowwow had no choice but to walk out of the woods with confusion.


    After that, Lin Qiao glanced at the snake which had coiled its body into a tiny black hill, then flashed out of her space.


    Once she was out, she heard a howl from a baby tiger.


    Owooo¡­


    Lin Qiao paused in shock.


    Eh? Where was the tiger from?


    She thought for a second and then realized that she was in a zoo. There must be tigers, probably Siberian tigers.


    It sounded like a baby tiger. Did an adult tiger bring its cubs here to hunt rats as well?

 458 She Found A Baby Tiger

    Lin Qiao was going to leave, but when she came out of her space, she heard the sound of a baby tiger. She turned to where the sound was from, and saw a tiny tiger rushing at her while howling.


    The tiger looked only a few months old, fluffy, and with a round head and a pair of tiny ears. Its pair of eyes showed anxiety, panic, and helplessness. It quickly moved its four little legs and ran past Lin Qiao from the edge of the woods.


    A weak tiger roar was heard from deep inside the woods. Perhaps, it was some other tiger responding to the baby tiger.


    Roar!


    Lin Qiao turned to the woods with surprise.


    Why was a tiger in there? That area had been occupied by those rats, hadn''t it? That adult tiger which made that roar sounded weak.


    "Awooo¡­" Hearing the adult tiger''s voice, the baby tiger roared eagerly and ran faster toward that area.


    Lin Qiao was aware that it would be swallowed by the boa or the crocodile if it ran into the woods just like that. Those rats were also dangerous to the baby tiger. After all, they seemed to fear nothing but that boa.


    She wanted to turn and leave. However, knowing that the little thing would soon be eaten like a snack, she could not bear to leave. She thought for a moment, then decided to follow behind the baby tiger and see what exactly was happening in the woods.


    That adult tiger sounded to be in a bad condition. Otherwise, its voice wouldn''t be so weak.


    The baby tiger moved fast. It nimbly darted into the grass and ran to the other side of the woods, where the boa and the crocodile had already entered.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment thinking. The adult tiger''s roar was heard from the woods as well¡­ Was there another battle happening in the woods? But weirdly, no other noises were coming out of the woods. If there was a fight, there should be voices.


    She followed behind the baby tiger. Seeing it run forward boldly, she couldn''t help but worry about it.


    ''Little guy, do you know where you''re running to?''


    "Awoooooo¡­" The baby tiger rushed toward the woods while howling.


    "Roar¡­" The adult tiger gave another roar.


    Lin Qiao followed the baby tiger and ran for twenty minutes and found that the woods were seriously huge. She and the baby tiger had run for such a long while, yet no edge of the woods was seen.


    Gradually, they were close to the group of rats again.


    It was also a weird thing that those rats had retreated to such a long distance away after taking fright from the boa.


    Lin Qiao hopped onto a tree, looking ahead and sensing the scents in the woods. The scent of rats has faded a little, so the other scents could be smelled.


    Apart from the boa and the crocodile, Lin Qiao also detected the scent that shared the origin with the baby tiger¡­ Actually, she sensed two of that kind of scent.


    At first, she thought there was only one adult tiger in the woods. But then, as she sensed the tiger''s scent more carefully, she realized that she was wrong. There were two different tiger scents mixing together.


    What was going on?


    Based on the little tiger''s anxious look, she easily guessed that the two tigers in the woods were its parents. What were the two adult tigers doing in the middle of the woods, and why did they leave their cub out here alone?


    The baby tiger rushed into the woods and saw the giant group of rats before stopping. Meanwhile, those rats spotted it as well. They all turned to it and gazed at it with green, beady eyes.


    The little tiger wasn''t silly. Under the gazes of thousands of rats, it turned and ran as quickly as possible.


    Squeak! Those rats chased behind it like a flood.


    "Roar!" The baby tiger was so scared, so it couldn''t stop screaming while fleeing.


    Lin Qiao looked at it and laughed, "You were rushing inside fearlessly just now! Why are you suddenly afraid?"


    Anyway, she knew why. This place was filled with the rat scent. How could the little tiger possibly not sense it?


    Being chased by those rats, the baby tiger fled from left to right. It was tiny, but it ran fast like it was flying. Lin Qiao had found that it was really fast when she followed it in.


    But now, as it was chased by a huge group of rats, it was even twice as fast as before.


    That rat group was enormous, but none of those rats managed to catch up with the little tiger. Lin Qiao observed the tiger for a while and found that it was rather smart. As long as it didn''t run into the boa or the crocodile, it would be fine.


    Lin Qiao was more curiously about the situation of the two adult tigers. So, she leaped up and moved deeper into the woods by stepping upon treetops.


    Soon, she found the source of the tiger scent.


    The area that was hundreds of meters in diameter was crowded with giant rats. Those rats climbed onto each other and formed tall piles. The trees in this area were occupied by rats as well, even making them rustle.


    Squeak! Squeak! The endless shrill squeals even gave Lin Qiao a headache.


    She kicked away some rats on a tree and made a space for herself.


    The rats which were kicked off the tree by her were so confused. They didn''t know why they were suddenly kicked off, because they saw nothing when they looked up.


    The rats around Lin Qiao were startled as well. As they looked at that empty spot and saw nothing either.


    Then, those rats immediately attempted to seize the empty area which Lin Qiao was standing in, but next, a stream of black mist was released from that place.


    Rats had always had sharp senses for danger, so they stopped moving at the sight of the dark mist. A few of them didn''t manage to step back, and as a result, they touched the mist and vanished while screeching.


    After that, all the rats moved away from that area.


    Lin Qiao stood there and looked at the front, only to find a huge pile of rats before her. That was like a hill made from countless rats. She couldn''t tell why those rats were all piled together.


    But soon, Lin Qiao figured it out. They did that because something was inside the pile.


    She didn''t know what was inside, but she did see some rats fall off from the top, and then some other rats climb up there.


    She managed to see a little of that thing inside the rat pile. That was something white, like a large ice block.


    She didn''t approach there, but stayed where she was and carefully observed those rats.


    She was about twenty meters away from that rat pile, but her great eyesight allowed to see everything clearly through the distance.


    She looked around, wondering why didn''t she see the boa and the crocodile. Earlier on, she sensed their scents and found them moving this way. But now, they seemed to have taken another direction.


    "Aw-aw-aw!" The baby tiger was growling outside. It couldn''t stop running, because it was tailed by a giant group of rats; it couldn''t get further into the woods either, so it got anxious again.


    "Roar¡­" At that moment, a roar of an adult tiger was suddenly heard from under that rat pile.


    Lin Qiao paused for a second, then stared at the rat pile with surprise.


    ''Are those tigers down there?''


    She looked at that grave-sized rat pile and figured out that underneath those rats were actually tigers.


    "Awoo!" Hearing the adult tiger''s sound, the baby tiger immediately responded.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t understand what they were trying to say to each other, as she only understood zombie roars.

 459 Two Large Tigers

    Right at that moment, all the rats in the pile suddenly scattered in panic. Maybe because there were too many of them, they could only crowd away slowly.


    It took a while for them to all run away. As over ten-thousand cat-sized rats all escaped, the thing which was under the rat pile was exposed.


    That was a large block of ice as Lin Qiao had thought. An orange colored animal with black stripes was faintly seen, lying inside the ice.


    It was still able to move, but only its upper body. Its lower body seemed to have been disabled. It looked like there was still some space inside the ice block, and the animal was only trapped in it.


    Then, Lin Qiao understood why those rats were running. After all in a short while, that boa wriggled over.


    It crawled to the ice block, then reared up its head and gazed straight at the adult tigers inside the ice.


    There were two tigers in the ice. Lin Qiao was only able to see one of them, as the other one was hiding behind the one she saw.


    She jumped over and got closer, then finally saw the other tiger. That tiger had stopped moving; the other tiger was trying to support its body with its forepaws and struggle up.


    As the boa approached, it immediately paused, gazing back at the boa and letting out warning roars.


    "Roar¡­"


    Lin Qiao trod on a tree which was less than two meters away from the ice block, observing the adult tigers. She didn''t feel the vibe of the tiger which was lying there motionlessly, meaning that it was already dead.


    Why was the other tiger staying with it? The tiger which was still alive didn''t seem to be in a good condition either.


    As she got closer, she saw a large puddle of blood behind the waist of the living tiger. Clearly, it was injured heavily. Earlier, it tried to stand up, but its rear legs seemed unable to move. Lin Qiao guessed that its spine was already broken.


    Lin Qiao carefully looked at the two adult tigers. They weren''t huge, compared to all the other mutated animals in the post-apocalyptic world.


    They were only half a size bigger than normal Siberian tigers, weighing about four-hundred kilograms.


    The boa quietly stared at the tiger through the ice, letting out its forked tongue from time to time.


    Lin Qiao looked around, wondering where the crocodile was.


    Right at that moment, she suddenly heard the baby tiger''s screams.


    "Owooo!"


    Hearing the baby tiger''s cry, the tiger inside the ice was agitated. It abruptly propped up its upper body and gave a weak roar toward where the baby tiger''s sound came from.


    "Roar¡­" After uttering that roar, it powerlessly fell back to the ground again. But in no time, it tried to get up again.


    Lin Qiao turned and looked back. She sensed that the baby tiger''s vibe was turning weak. It seemed to have been injured. Also, its scent was mixed together with that of the crocodile.


    ''Damn, that little fella has clearly fallen into the crocodile''s mouth. But, it hasn''t died. So, the crocodile didn''t swallow it, right?''


    Soon, she heard some noises from that area. The giant crocodile walked over step by step, its strong limbs quaking the earth from time to time. It was slowly approaching the ice block.


    "Roar¡­" The tiger in the ice gave another roar.


    The boa started moving as well, maybe because it sensed the crocodile coming. It raised its head high and suddenly opened its mouth wide to bite on the ice block.


    Crack! The boa''s sharp teeth sank into the ice block and bit off a small part of it, sending ice pieces flying everywhere. The tiger inside the ice took fright. It popped its eyes and bared its teeth before roaring at the boa, "Roar!"


    After the first bite, the boa didn''t stop. Instead, it started to sway its head and bite the ice even harder. More specifically, it was biting and bumping against the ice at the same time. At first, it raised its head high and hit the ice with its teeth, and then made a deep bite.


    Unlike any poisonous snake which only had two fangs, the boa had four layers of teeth. However, only the sharp teeth on the first and second layers could be used to launch an attack.


    Every time it made a bite, countless ice pieces would be sent flying in the air.


    Soon, the crocodile showed up. It held the dying baby tiger in its mouth, slowly getting close to this area.


    As it got closer and closer, the boa stopped hitting the ice, hurriedly crawled to the other side to keep a safe distance from the crocodile. After that, the boa and the crocodile were facing each other from both sides of the adult tiger.


    "Roar!" Seeing the baby tiger inside the crocodile''s mouth, the large tiger in the ice immediately gave a raging roar. At the same time, it suddenly struggled up from the ground, but its rear legs looked a little weird.


    Following its roar, the ice shield cracked and fell to the ground in pieces in just a few seconds, exposing both the two tigers.


    Of course, one of them had already become a dead body.


    Lin Qiao had no idea what gave the tiger the power to stand up, but the tiger opened its mouth and let out a stream of icy mist toward the crocodile.


    The icy mist was sent to the crocodile which was about five meters away from the tiger, but only hit its forepaws.


    The crocodile stopped moving. Seeing that the adult tiger''s ice shield was already broken, the crocodile suddenly swung its head upward and threw the baby tiger into the sky, then widely opened its jaws to catch the little thing.


    "Roar!" Watching that, the adult tiger gave a raging and anxious roar. However, it wasn''t able to launch another attack. After uttering the last roar, it again fell back to the ground, watching the baby tiger fall toward the crocodile''s mouth.


    When the baby tiger fell from the sky, the crocodile held its jaws shut. But after that, it paused in shock, then opened its mouth again and started looking around.


    The crocodile thought the baby tiger would fall into its mouth; but now, the little creature was gone.


    "Roar!" The adult tiger growled at the crocodile, then its entire body began turning into ice.


    Its soft, orange-colored fur stood straight up like ice thorns, and its tail turned into ice as well. Its eyes, mouth, teeth¡­ its whole body turned into ice, as if it had become an ice statue.


    Lin Qiao wondered why the ice tiger didn''t trigger this skill earlier, and why it used that power after watching its cub get killed. Was that a one-time-only skill? It was already too late. If the big tiger used its power earlier, it might be able to save the baby tiger.


    While thinking, she glanced at the baby tiger which was saved by her from the crocodile''s mouth. At that moment, the little tiger was soaking in the bucket which the king cobra drank from.


    The king cobra was now confusedly staring at the little tiger in the water. Just now, that little thing suddenly fell into the bucket.


    ''Eh? Is this for me?'' the snake wondered.


    As the snake opened its jaws and prepared to drag the little tiger out of the bucket and swallow it, Lin Qiao suddenly showed up, picked up the bucket, and said, "Wait! You can''t eat this one."

 460 The Battle Between Mutated Animals

    The snake which was ready to have a snack watched Lin Qiao carry the bucket away with confusion. Then, it got unhappy and wriggled its body before darting at Lin Qiao.


    ''You can take the food, but not the water! Leave the water!''


    While carrying the bucket away, Lin Qiao had still been paying attention to the battle which was happening outside.


    The snake rushed up to her, then turned and blocked her way. It didn''t dare attack Lin Qiao, as it couldn''t possibly win against her. It was also afraid that she might kill it if it attacked.


    So, the snake stopped Lin Qiao with an aggressive manner, but had no guts to do anything to her. It simply barred her road. When she moved to the left, it followed to the left; and when she moved to the right, it followed to the right.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what the snake wanted. As the snake refused to let her go, she took the baby tiger out of the bucket, then put the bucket on the ground. After that, she made a few steps backward and kept herself about two meters away from the bucket.


    She wanted to know if the snake was going after the bucket or the baby tiger in her hand.


    As a result, the snake crawled to the bucket. The water in the bucket had already been dyed red by the little tiger''s blood. The snake sniffed around the bucket, then suddenly lowered its head and pushed one side of the bucket.


    The bucket was overturned by the snake, and the water poured out.


    While observing the snake''s movements, Lin Qiao kept watching the battle outside.


    The ice tiger had already picked up a life-threatening fight against the crocodile. Maybe because of its ice power, it was able to move freely again.


    The tiger sprung up nimbly and pounced on the crocodile. In the air, it let out a wave of ice blades toward its enemy. Countless two-feet-wide, twenty-centimeters-long ice blades swished toward the crocodile.


    The crocodile had a strong skin. Over a hundred ice blades fell against its skin and shattered into pieces without doing any harm to it.


    Seeing its attack deliver no effect at all, the ice tiger uttered a wrathful roar.


    Roar!


    The crocodile only slightly moved its feet to free its forepaws from the thin layer of ice.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t going help any side of this battle. But earlier on, she automatically saved the baby tiger as she couldn''t bear watching it die in the crocodile''s mouth.


    She sighed silently, then found a cloth that belonged to no one. With that, she wrapped the baby tiger up and put it on a carpet in the small building. Then, she poured a cup of lake water into the tiger''s mouth.


    After that, she flashed out of her space. She knew that the snake wouldn''t enter the small building, so the baby tiger was safe there.


    After Lin Qiao left, Qiu Lili came downstairs. She came down to find out what Lin Qiao was doing here, but as a result, she saw the little tiger lying on the carpet, seeming to be on its last gasp. By that time, Lin Qiao had already disappeared again.


    Lin Qiao came out and glanced at the boa which was sneakily approaching the dead tiger when the ice tiger and the crocodile were fighting each other.


    She felt a little strange about it. Snakes never ate dead animals, so why was that boa crawling toward the dead tiger?


    The ice tiger which was attacking the crocodile sensed the boa''s movement. Thus, it immediately turned back and gave the boa a roar.


    Roar!


    While roaring, it quickly glanced at the crocodile, then jumped on the boa and successfully stopped it from getting any closer.


    Lin Qiao watched the tiger confusedly.


    She didn''t understand why the ice tiger was still guarding the dead tiger''s body, neither could she guess the relationship between those two tigers.


    The boa completely ignored the ice tiger''s attack because it had strong scales. The ice tiger''s ice blades barely did any harm to the boa.


    "Roar!" The ice tiger seemed to have been driven mad. It roared ragingly, then abruptly let out a cloud of ice mist toward the boa.


    The ice mist spread fast. The boa was close to the tiger, so a big half of its body was shrouded by it.


    Soon after that, the boa''s body began turning into ice, starting from its scales.


    The ice tiger fleetingly rushed to the boa. It jumped onto its body which was temporally frozen, and smacked the boa with both forepaws.


    Crack! A piece of the boa''s body was shattered by the tiger''s paws and fell off.


    The boa''s lower body wasn''t frozen. At that point, it was intensely wriggling its lower body and loudly slapping its tail.


    Clearly, the ice tiger hated the boa''s guts. After the first strike, the tiger kept smashing the boa, even creating a couple of holes on its body.


    The boa''s flesh and blood were seen when its body was shattered. However, no blood was shed, maybe because it was frozen.


    While slapping the frozen boa violently, the tiger also bit it from time to time. Every time, its teeth would tear off a piece of the boa and chew it into shreds.


    Right at that moment, a giant mouth suddenly reached over from the other side and swiftly attacked the ice tiger.


    The ice tiger reacted amazingly fast. It leaped to the side and dodged the crocodile. However, the crocodile didn''t go after the tiger, but quickly went to the boa.


    It crawled to the boa''s side and raised a claw to smack it. Its movement was actually the same as what the ice tiger did just now, but the effect was way different.


    Following a series of thuds, the boa''s upper body, including its neck, was broken by the crocodile. More specifically, that part of the boa''s body shattered into pieces.


    The crocodile might have no interest in the dead tiger. It broke off the boa''s upper body, then started moving toward its lower body and biting the unfrozen part.


    The crocodile made the first bite, then pressed the frozen part of the boa with both paws, trying to pull off the unfrozen half of the boa. It tried for a few times but found that was a pretty difficult job. So, the crocodile held the boa in its mouth and slowly dragged it away.


    The ice tiger which wasn''t able to defeat the crocodile was left in the woods.


    One of the three parties in this tangled battle died, and another one left. Lin Qiao silently gave a glance to the ice tiger which was still guarding the dead tiger''s body.


    The ice tiger sensed that threats were gone, but it still maintained its current look without showing a sign to turn back.


    Lin Qiao sighed. She was planning to help, but the situation had changed, and her help was no longer needed. So now, she figured that she needed to give the baby tiger back to the adult tiger.


    She flashed into her space and saw Qiu Lili squatting beside the wet baby tiger and looking at it.


    As Lin Qiao came in, she raised her head and asked, "Where is this baby tiger from? Poor little thing¡­ It''s injured so badly! Its internal organs are punctured, and a few of its ribs are broken. It would be dead if it didn''t run into you, wouldn''t it?"


    In Qiu Lili''s eyes, the baby tiger''s life was secured because Lin Qiao was here. However, its injuries might need some time to heal.


    Lin Qiao responded, "Ah, it''s from Hangzhou Zoo. We''re in the zoo now. It was bitten by a crocodile."


    While speaking, she picked up the baby tiger, prepared to bring it out.

 461 The Ice Tigers Choice

    Seeing Lin Qiao scoop up the little tiger and prepare to go, Qiu Lili hurriedly asked, "Eh? Are you still taking it out?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah, I think I need to give it back to its parents."


    Qiu Lili said, "It''s injured so badly. Won''t its parents attack you when you show up in front of them with this poor little thing?"


    "I won''t let it hurt me, don''t worry!" Lin Qiao said.


    It was the first time that she had met a superpowered mutated animal. The ones she found earlier didn''t have superpowers; superpowered mutated animals were very rarely seen after all.


    Lin Qiao held the unconscious little tiger ad showed up before the ice tiger.


    The ice tiger was startled by the suddenly appearing, human-like creature. The tiger was familiar with human beings, because it and its friends were all raised by human beings.


    Upon seeing the little tiger in Lin Qiao''s hands, the ice tiger was a little agitated.


    "Roar!" It immediately lowered its head and popped its eyes as it gave Lin Qiao a roar.


    Lin Qiao slowly put the baby tiger on the ground along with the cloth that it was wrapped in, then raised both hands and took a few steps backward. Next, she leaped up onto a tree nearby.


    Seeing Lin Qiao step back, the ice tiger raised its head and glanced at her with confusion. But still, it didn''t relax its vigilance. It moved toward the little tiger step by step, and could scarcely believe its own eyes.


    Earlier on, it witnessed its cub being swallowed by the crocodile. How come the cub appeared now? And, it was still alive!


    The ice tiger slowly approached the baby tiger, then lowered its head and sniffed around its cub. It sensed a nice scent mixed together with the familiar scent of the baby tiger.


    The ice tiger figured out that the nice smell came from some kind of healing energy.


    It raised a paw to gently pull the baby tiger''s body, then carefully sensed the cub''s scent. After that, it raised its head and again glanced at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    It was raised by human beings, so it didn''t show a strong hostility toward Lin Qiao. After confirming that its cub was still alive, its attitude toward Lin Qiao turned slightly better.


    Lin Qiao silently observed the ice tiger''s moves. Discovering that the tiger didn''t give up on its cub because the latter was injured badly, she was a little relieved.


    After all, some animals would give up the weaker cubs and leave with the stronger ones.


    The ice tiger spent a long while sniffing the baby tiger, then turned back to glance at the dead tiger. After that, it turned back to look at Lin Qiao who was on the tree.


    That process repeated for three times. The ice tiger first looked at the cub, then turned to the dead tiger, then at Lin Qiao.


    At last, it seemed to have made a decision. It held the cloth which the baby tiger was wrapped in between its teeth, then lowered its head so that the little tiger wouldn''t fall out. After that, the ice tiger began dragging the baby tiger slowly toward Lin Qiao. Only after it pulled the baby tiger under the tree that Lin Qiao was on did it relax its bite.


    After putting down the baby tiger, the ice tiger raised its head and stared at Lin Qiao for a few seconds. Next, it lowered its head before turning and walking back toward the dead tiger.


    Every after a few steps, it would turn around to glance at the little tiger. It turned back three times in total before it went back to the dead tiger.


    Lin Qiao was a little confused. She looked at the baby tiger which was dragged under the tree by the ice tiger, then at the ice tiger which had gone back to the dead tiger.


    ''Eh? What does this mean?''


    In fact, the ice tiger believed that human beings would save its cub. Before the apocalypse, the feeders that it knew had saved a critically ill tiger cub.


    The ice tiger walked back to the dead tiger, then lay down by its side. After that, it put its head down to the ground too, facing the baby tiger.


    Before long, the ice on its body spread to the dead tiger and froze it too.


    There were two ice tigers now.


    And then, there were two dead bodies.


    After laying down, the ice tiger sent its last bit of energy into the dead body. At the same time, its own life force dropped drastically, then faded.


    Lin Qiao leaped off the tree and picked up the baby tiger. She didn''t walk to the two dead tigers, but glanced at them before turning and leaving.


    It seemed that to turn into an ice tiger, the tiger needed to consume its last bit of energy, as well as its life.


    Before it died, it preserved its own body and the body of its partner.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know how long the ice energy would last, and it was not her business. The vigorous baby tiger was injured tragically. Lin Qiao had no choice but to bring it away. With her, it would at least survive.


    With that, she left the woods. Not long ago, giant rats were seen everywhere; but now, all of them were gone. Lin Qiao had no idea when they went.


    Lin Qiao had fed the king cobra and made a tour in the zoo, so now, she figured that she should keep moving. She walked out of the zoo and let out her vehicle. She first put the baby tiger on the front seat, then got into the driver''s seat before starting the car and preparing to keep driving South.


    While driving, she was also paying attention to the baby tiger''s condition.


    After a couple of hours of driving, the little tiger finally woke up.


    When it woke up, it looked around confusedly. Seeing the strange Lin Qiao, it took fright and immediately attempted to spring up. However, its wounds hurt once it moved.


    "Owo!" The little tiger screamed in pain.


    Lin Qiao turned and gave it a glance. The little thing recovered quickly. She thought that it wouldn''t wake up until the night.


    Sadly, it wouldn''t be able to see its parents again. Instead, it had no choice but to stay with Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao sighed. There was another mouth to feed now. But thankfully, she was capable enough of hunt preys for her animals.


    The baby tiger screeched in pain. It didn''t dare to move again, as every time it tried to move, a serious pain would attack. So, it quieted down, lying there without moving its body.


    But still, it turned its fluffy head and looked around. The little thing spent a long while gazing at Lin Qiao. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao glanced at the baby tiger as well. Earlier on, the little tiger seemed to be dying before it woke up, but now, it woke up so energetically. It seemed that her lake water was getting more and more effective.


    "Awooo!" The little tiger started struggling again as it found that the pain didn''t fade when it stopped moving.


    Lin Qiao looked at the little tiger. With no other better choice, she pulled over and took a cup of water out of her space to feed to the tiger.


    It was surely not an easy thing to make the baby tiger drink the water as it was awake now. The little thing refused to cooperate. Lin Qiao spent quite a while to pour the cup of water into its mouth, and a half of that water splashed on the front seat.


    The little tiger never stopped struggling. In the meantime, it had been scratching Lin Qiao with its claws. No matter how hard Lin Qiao tried, it refused to drink the water that she gave. At that very moment, she even wanted to strangle it.

 462 Its Parents Died

    Lin Qiao drove out of Hangzhou City unimpededly. She had her vibe released the whole time, and on her way, she caught a few level-five zombies and over ten level-four zombies.


    Soon, the zombie group in her space grew larger. Qiu Lili was in there, so those new zombies didn''t dare to make any trouble.


    At night, Lin Qiao entered Jiangxi Province, arriving at Yushan County in Shangrao City. She parked the car and put it into her space, then flashed in.


    After entering her space, she held the little tiger in her arms.


    "Awoo!" The little thing had regained quite some energy during the past afternoon. Its body wasn''t able to move yet, but its claws never stopped scratching Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao walked into the small building and put the little tiger on the floor. The tiger''s fur was now dried and messy, its pair of eyes glowing brightly.


    Every time Lin Qiao approached the little tiger, it immediately bared its teeth and wielded its claws to scratch her.


    Seeing the energetic little tiger, Qiu Lili said with surprise, "Eh? It recovered so quickly? When I saw it earlier at noontime, it was dying."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah. It''s already so energetic when it woke up."


    "Didn''t you give it back to its parents? Why did you bring it back here?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "Both its parents died," said Lin Qiao.


    Qiu Lili paused for a moment, then responded, "Ah, I see¡­"


    The little tiger tried to crawl around on the carpet. Lin Qiao pressed it down and said, "Don''t move! Your injuries haven''t healed yet. Stay here!"


    "Awo!" The little tiger tried to stand up, but ended up being pressed back down by Lin Qiao. Thus, it immediately started struggling.


    "You should put it in an empty room and let it do whatever it wants. You can''t keep pressing it down anyway. How did you drive out there with this naughty little thing?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "I threw it to the backseat," said Lin Qiao helplessly, "I let it do whatever it wanted. As a result, the backseat was torn apart."


    While speaking, she scooped up the little tiger and then went upstairs. She found an empty room on the second floor, then put the tiger in and closed the door before walking away.


    As Lin Qiao came back down, Qiu Lili asked her another question, "Didn''t you feed it? Why has it been howling the whole time?"


    Lin Qiao replied, "I caught a rabbit for it this afternoon. That little thing ate the whole rabbit. I didn''t even get a bite."


    After saying that, she walked out of the building because she still needed to deal with those new zombies.


    She came out of the building, then turned and headed to the other side of her space. Among the first batch of zombies, three were left in the base to help with farming, and fourteen were in the space.


    A few zombie leaders were squatting in the second small space.


    The five zombie leaders drew back with fear when Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili walked in.


    "Stop moving! Why are you drawing back? Stand up!" Lin Qiao said to them with a touchy attitude.


    The five zombie leaders immediately stood up. They carefully stood before Lin Qiao, and couldn''t help but still want to step back. As the first zombie took a small step backward, the others followed. In the end, all five of them made a couple of steps backward.


    Lin Qiao looked at them and said coldly, "What are you afraid of? If I wanted to kill you, would I ever bring you in here? But, if you don''t listen to what I say, I will kill you. Think about it."


    Those were all wild zombies. Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili were able to suppress those zombies, as both of them were at a higher level. However, they needed to show up in front of those zombies to do that. Lin Qiao had to train those zombies well so that they would learn to work for her and not create troubles.


    First of all, she needed them to understand her orders, and secondly, she needed to teach them some rules.


    Both Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili''s vibes scared those zombie leaders terribly. Therefore, those zombies instinctively wanted to run once the two of them showed up. At that point, they had no idea that because Lin Qiao chose them today, they would escape their destiny of being erased by human beings in thirty or fifty years.


    Lin Qiao didn''t force them to do anything, but only stood by the entrance and said to them, "Follow my orders! Stay here and don''t go out¡­ Otherwise, I won''t show you any mercy. Also, you are not allowed to fight each other. If I find you fighting each other, you''ll suffer."


    After saying that, she suddenly raised a hand and released a stream of black mist. The mist drifted up to above those zombie leaders'' heads, slowly expanding and turning into a dark dragon.


    All five zombie leaders were frightened by the dark mist. They quickly moved backward, then curled and leaned against the wall of the space.


    The wall of the space was actually a white fog no one could get through.


    Lin Qiao waved her hand again to take back the mist, then turned and entered the next small space.


    ¡­


    In the Sea City Base, Zou Shihui was sitting in his office. Yan Fangyu stood before his desk and said to him, "Long Yubai has already spent an entire afternoon outside our base. He didn''t come in and say hi. Should we let him stay out there like that?"


    Currently, there was a rule between all the bases. When the regular army of one base passed by another base, the local base should be informed about it in advance. Otherwise, the local base would have the right to banish the army, as the latter might be up to something not good.


    Just like before the apocalypse, no country''s military force was allowed to enter another country without permission.


    This time, Long Yubai and his army lingered about five miles away from Sea City Base. That was not a big deal, but it was a little inappropriate that he never informed Sea City Base leaders about his arrival.


    Sea City Base was indeed not a large base. But currently, the entire Sea City was its territory. Therefore, any foreign army which entered the city without permission would be considered as intruders.


    Zou Shihui was reading files composedly with his head lowered. "Be patient!" he responded, "If they still didn''t send anyone in to say hi to us till tomorrow, we''ll have no choice but to send someone out to warn them."


    Yan Fangyu snorted and said with discontentment, "His small Earth Dragon Base is nothing. How dare he came to our place! What does he want?"


    Zou Shihui smiled and raised his head to give Yan Fangyu a glance, saying, "Do you care so much about him? His base is not huge, but he''s in connection with the leaders of a few other bases. That certainly makes a difference."


    Yan Fangyu hated people like Long Yubai the most. They weren''t capable enough, so they could only lure the others into working for them. She used to despise Lu Tianyu too. However, she didn''t do anything to her, as that woman never offended her.


    She had heard about the leader of Earth Dragon Base, and knew what kind of person he was. So, she surely had no positive attitude toward him.

 463 Yang Jianhua Breaks Into A Higher Level

    At that time, Long Yubai, who was disliked by Yan Fangyu, was standing on the roof of a vehicle with Lin Ruifeng standing behind him.


    Lin Ruifeng said to him, "Yuan Tianxing and his people did head toward Hangzhou City. I also heard that they are in the city now. Also, Wu Chengyue seems to have chosen that direction this time as well. But, we''re not sure that if he''s in the city too."


    Long Yubai blinked as held one hand before his chest, the other raised to rub his chin.


    "The same direction?" he said, "We came from that direction. It looks like we''ve missed them. In this case, let''s head back."


    After saying that, he jumped off the car and headed to his RV while saying, "Bring me the map of Zhe Province."


    "Yes, sir!" a soldier responded, then hurriedly turned to find the map. Meanwhile, Lin Ruifeng jumped off the car too, and followed behind him.


    Before long, the soldier came back with a map and handed it to Long Yubai.


    Long Yubai took over the map and walked into his RV. He turned on the light, then spread the map on his lap and began observing Hangzhou and Jiaxing on it.


    "Hangzhou is such a big city¡­ It won''t be easy for us to find them. Did you find someone who''s been to their base and left afterward?" He asked a question while reading the map.


    Lin Ruifeng shook his head and replied, "Not yet! But, I heard that they were still hiring in Sea City Base, and that they''ll send the workers to their new base batch by batch. We just don''t know about their exact schedule yet."


    Long Yubai thought for a moment and then asked, "Are we just waiting here now?"


    Lin Ruifeng said, "Maybe we can move toward Hangzhou City, then send out all our intelligence squads to collect information in different areas. We''re already in Sea City Base''s territory. We can''t linger here for too long. We might as well leave a squad in this place. When Yuan Tianxing''s people come back here to pick up the next batch of workers, our people will tail them."


    Long Yubai nodded and said, "Good, let''s do what you said! Since we can''t stay here for too long, we should leave Sea City first."


    Lin Ruifeng nodded and asked, "Now?"


    Long Yubai responded, "Yeah! Didn''t you say that we can''t linger in other people''s place for too long? Are we gonna wait for them to show us out tomorrow?"


    "I''ll gather the troops right now," Lin Ruifeng turned and got out of the RV while speaking.


    ¡­


    In Hades Base after Long Yubai left, Yang Jianhua was in his own room, holding a zombie nucleus. He was sitting on the bed with his legs crossed, absorbing the nucleus. The energy contained in the nucleus was flowing endlessly into his body through his palm.


    A great amount of energy circulated in his body and gathered inside his brain at last.


    He had spent three whole days absorbing the energy, and now was his most critical moment.


    An hour later, his entire body began shaking. Veins stood out from his face, and his pretty face suddenly twisted. A wave of energy escaped his body, quaking the entire room and all the furniture pieces in it.


    Then, that energy went back into his body.


    Only after that did he relax his tightened face and opened his slender eyes. A bright light shone in those half narrowed eyes.


    He got off the bed and stood straight, then spread his fingers. After spending a moment sensing the energy inside him, he gave a faint smile.


    He raised his brows and couldn''t help but let the smile on his face grow bigger.


    He had finally entered level-seven, the realm of truly powerful beings! He was so delighted, because he never needed to bend in front of Long Yubai again!


    He took a deep breath, then walked out of his room.


    "Tell Liu Yu to come to my study room!" He ordered the soldier who guarded by his door.


    "Yes, sir!" One of the two guards immediately turned and left.


    Yang Jianhua headed toward his study room, and the other guard followed behind him. He went down to the second floor, then turned and walked into the study room. Behind him, the soldier guarded outside the door.


    Soon, a man came over along with the soldier who had left earlier. Seeing the guard before the door of the study room, the two immediately figured out that Yang Jianhua was already inside.


    Liu Yu quickly walked to the door and knocked on it.


    "Come in!" Yang Jianhua''s voice was heard from the room.


    Liu Yu turned the door handle and pushed the door open.


    Yang Jianhua was sitting behind his desk. Many files and lists were placed on the desk. At that moment, he was reading one of those files.


    Liu Yu came in and closed the door, then walked to the desk and said, "Chief, have you made it?"


    "Em," Yang Jianhua didn''t raise his head to look at Liu Yu, and only responded blandly.


    Liu Yu was his most trustworthy subordinate. Therefore, Yang Jianhua didn''t plan to lie to him about the breakthrough that he just achieved. He would let the others know that he was a level-seven powerful being soon enough anyway.


    "Have you sorted all the things? Exactly how many things did Long Yubai take away?" He raised his head and asked Liu Yu.


    Liu Yu nodded, took a step forward and rummaged through the files on his desk, then pulled out a file and handed it to Yan Jianhua while saying, "There are what he took away."


    Yang Jianhua took it over and opened it to read carefully.


    Liu Yu found a few name lists on the desk and spread them in front of Yang Jianhua as he said, "This is the name list of all the current members of this base and their families. These are the people who have been sent to Earth Dragon Base by Long Yubai. Most of them are young. There are about five thousand of them in total."


    Yang Jianhua''s face turned sullener and sullener as he said coldly, "He brought all these precious supplies to Earth Dragon Base. It seems that he wanted to destroy this place since long ago. It''s okay. When I get to Earth Dragon Base, I''ll bring back everything that belongs to me. Long Yubai can never make me work for him again."


    "Then¡­ are we really going to destroy this base? What about the people here? Even though we have been letting those old, ill, and weak people die on purpose recently, there''re still over thirty-thousand of them living in the base. Except for them, we also have about sixty-thousand of soldiers and superpowered people. What should we do with those people?"


    "Doesn''t Long Yubai want us to kill all those useless burdens? Kill them then. They should hate Long Yubai for their death. Leave the families of those soldiers for the last. Don''t kill them just yet. How are we gonna make those soldiers work for us without their families?" Yang Jianhua sneered and said while reading the name lists.


    "Will Long Yubai be unhappy about that?" Long Yubai frowned slightly and asked.


    "Of course, he will! Those soldiers will consume his food. Do you think he''ll be willing to feed them?" Yang Jianhua snorted.

 464 The Rats That Know How to Hide

    Liu Yu wore no expression when Yang Jianhua told him to kill all those old, weak, and ill people.


    Like Yang Jianhua, he had no family. The people who had families and weren''t capable enough wouldn''t end well in this base. They were unlucky, and they were wrong to choose this base to live in.


    Long Yubai had always been a stingy person. Even many people in his own base were starved to death, not to mention the people from his enemy''s base. Those people had nothing to do with him, so why would he give them food?


    "But, if we kill those people, we might arouse the dissatisfaction of most of those soldiers in the army and those superpowered ones. They won''t follow your order either," Liu Yu thought for a moment and said.


    "There''s no rush! They haven''t been eating for many days, so they won''t last long," Yang Jianhua said blandly.


    He captured those people who didn''t escape and gave them very little food. Normally, he only gave ten people two portions of food and let them fight for it. Therefore, many of those people died of starvation during the past few months. Yang Jianhua didn''t even need to send his people to kill them.


    Hearing what he said, Liu Yu nodded knowingly. He knew that Yang Jianhua would say that.


    "When will we leave for Earth Dragon Base then?" Liu Yu thought for a second and asked another question.


    Yang Jianhua didn''t respond immediately, but kept reading the name lists on the desk. After a while, he said, "There''s no rush! He''s heading to Sea City Base now, and won''t be back anytime soon. You go bring out all the soldiers'' families in Hades Base and keep them under control. Also, don''t let them die. They don''t have powers, but they''re still useful. Without them, we won''t be able to control the tens of thousands of soldiers easily."


    "Alright, I''ll be on it soon," Liu Yu responded.


    "Haven''t you cleaned those rats outside the base yet? You need to take care of them as soon as possible. Don''t give them any opportunities to show up and ruin our plan," Yang Jianhua suddenly thought of something and said to Liu Yu.


    "We''ve cleared most of them. However, there is a squad which is pretty hard to deal with. They''re all very good at hiding. They are hiding all the time, and only show up occasionally. We can''t locate them." Speaking of those people who were loyal to Lin Qiao and were still lingering around the base, Liu Yu instantly suffered a headache.


    "Really? Who are those people? Do you know who they are?" Yang Jianhua asked.


    Liu Yu responded, "Duan Juan and Li Hongsheng, and the other few who used to be Lin Qiao''s close guards. They''re leading a group of people now. They aren''t good at fighting, but they do know how to hide like rats."


    "Duan Juan? That woman is still alive? Do they still have their eyes on this broken base?" Yang Jianhua snorted coldly.


    Li Hongsheng nodded and said, "Yes. She and Li Hongsheng gathered the other superpowered people and soldiers who escaped. They kept showing up around the base, and we don''t know what they''re up to."


    Yang Jianhua looked at Liu Yu, his eyes glowing with a cold light. "You don''t know what they''re up to, but you let them stay out there?" he asked.


    Liu Yu paused for a second, then responded in panic, "No¡­ We''ve been tracking them all the time, but those people are so sneaky. Every time when we located them and got to their place, they weren''t there. They knew that we were coming, and they ran away in advance."


    "Every time? Are you sure that there isn''t a mole among your people?" Yang Jianhua asked blandly.


    "That is possible¡­" said Liu Yu.


    Yang Jianhua waved a hand and said, "Alright, get rid of them as soon as possible. They must be up to something, or they won''t stay here and keep their eyes on the base."


    "Yes," Liu Yu immediately turned and left.


    While Yang Jianhua was taking small actions behind Long Yubai''s back, Lin Qiao almost arrived Hades Base on the second day of her trip. She drove across Ganzhou and entered Heyuan. By now, she was still three hours of driving away from Hui City, where Hades Base was located.


    Hades Base was located in a seaside town named Huidong in Hui City, not in the middle of the city.


    After entering the town, Lin Qiao put her car back into her space, then climbed onto a roof and carefully sensed the scents in the air. Then, she chose a direction to go.


    She entered a primary school. The tables and chairs in the classrooms were overturned, and the books and notebooks scattered all over the floor.


    Dried blood could be found on the walls, doors, windows, and many places.


    At this moment, a strong scent of blood was spreading from one of those classrooms.


    That blood scent was the reason why Lin Qiao came here. She was far away from human bases on her way here, so she hadn''t sensed such a strong blood scent until now. The blood scent told her that a fierce zombie was in this place.


    She wouldn''t let go of any human-eating fierce zombies that crossed her sight.


    She came to the entrance of the primary school and looked around at the deserted environment, then set a foot in the school.


    She followed the road which was now covered in weed to the three-story classroom building. Soon, she got close to that building, and the stinky blood scent which was coming from the third floor of that building grew even stronger.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but cover her nose with her hand. Although she didn''t need to breathe anymore, she could still sense smells, and her sense of smell was rather sharp.


    That blood scent went straight into her brain through her nose, and she was even left a little dizzied.


    She walked upstairs toward the source of the blood scent. From the thick scent of blood, she detected the vibe of a zombie leader, which was especially fierce and hostile.


    Layers of blood stains were seen in the middle of the stairs, old and new. Clearly, some bleeding living creatures were dragged upstairs. As for whether those were human beings or animals, it was hard to tell.


    Lin Qiao didn''t need to make a guess, because her nose told her that that was human blood. The blood was all dried, but still had the scent of human blood.


    She stepped on the unstained areas while walking up. At the same time, she had also been observing those blood stains.


    Many bleeding people were dragged upstairs along the same route, so now, the accumulated blood stains had formed into a blood trail. The blood on the stairs had dried and fresh blood spread upon it countless times.


    As a result, the blood trail was already very thick.


    Lin Qiao followed the blood trail to the third floor and saw it extend into a classroom.


    She walked over and found the door half open. The rusty doorplate was still hanging on the door frame.


    Class Three, Grade Five.


    Lin Qiao didn''t go in, but walked to a window and looked inside. Then, she knitted her brows into a frown.


    All the tables and chairs in the classroom were placed in order, not overturned like those in the other classrooms. Every table and chair was exactly where it used to be.


    What made Lin Qiao frown weren''t those orderly arranged tables and chairs, but those dead bodies which were placed on those tables.

 465 Primary School Zombies

    The classroom wasn''t large. Over thirty double tables were placed in it, so Lin Qiao guessed that a class like this had about sixty students.


    Every double table had a dead body on it. The bodies near the teacher''s desk were the oldest. The closer one got to the back door, the favorite area of bad students, the newer the bodies were.


    The bodies near the teacher''s desk had already dried or turned into bones. The blood and flesh were long gone. The bodies in the middle of the classroom still had rotten flesh on them. Groups of bluebottles were buzzing around them.


    Lin Qiao looked at those bodies. The ones near the teacher''s desk were already unrecognizable, but their ages and genders could still be told from the shapes of those skeletons. The ones in the middle of the classroom still had some clothes on, and those clothes partially revealed their owners'' identities.


    The few bodies near the back door had decayed to varying degrees.


    The floor was covered in dirtiness and blood stains.


    Lin Qiao didn''t walk in. Standing by the window, she was able to see the few relatively new dead bodies clearly. Also, the odor from the classroom already made her dizzy.


    The stink of the old rotten bodies had mixed together with the blood scent from the relatively new ones. Even Lin Qiao''s nose couldn''t tell which was which.


    Therefore, she had no choice but to differentiate those bodies with her eyes.


    The heads and chests of the few newer bodies were all ripped open. Each of those bodies had two bloody holes on it.


    The time of death of those bodies did not exceed seven days. And, these people had died separately.


    The level-five zombie in that classroom was lying on a man''s dead body, biting his skull. It bit his skull off bit by bit, then spat the pieces to the ground.


    The zombie used to be a student at grade five or six, about twelve years old. Its mouth was covered in blood, and so were its claws which were holding the dead man''s head. Those claws were even died dark-red by the blood. The clothes on the zombie''s chest were also soaked in blood.


    The man whom the zombie was eating looked in his late twenties. He died less than two hours ago.


    His heart had already been ripped out.


    The zombie created a large hole on the man''s head with its teeth, then reached its claw into his head. After that, it scooped out a chunk of tofu-like, pink matter, and then opened its mouth weirdly wide and put the tofu-like thing into its mouth.


    The zombie chewed the pink brain matter quickly, then closed its mouth and swallowed it.


    Lin Qiao watched the zombie enjoying its food with a frown while a stream of dark mist had already been released from her palm. The mist drifted down along her legs, then into the classroom along the floor.


    The level-five zombie in the classroom didn''t seem to feel the dark mist from Lin Qiao as it was still eating. The zombie even put its claws which still had some brain matter on it into its mouth and sucked them.


    When Lin Qiao''s black mist nearly reached the zombie''s feet from under the table, it suddenly paused. After that, he looked around with confusion.


    The mist was around its feet, covered by those tables. Therefore, the zombie failed to see anything when it looked around for the first time. So after that, it started eating again.


    But soon, the dark mist drifted to the zombie''s feet and quietly gathered into a thin, black string that coiled on its feet.


    "Roar!" Feeing that its feet were suddenly wrapped by something, the zombie gave a roar with fright and then attempted to hop away.


    However, the dark string dragged the zombie straight to the ground. Next, Lin Qiao waved her hand, and following her move, a huge cloud of dark mist appeared abruptly, gushing into the classroom through the door and the windows.


    Seeing the thick dark mist, the zombie wore fear on its face.


    "Roar!"


    The zombie struggled up from the ground and tried to run. However, it fell back to the ground, as if a part of its legs were missing. In a panic, it lowered its head to check its feet and found that one of its feet was already gone.


    Lin Qiao''s dark mist had devoured that foot.


    When it fell back to the floor, the dark mist quickly devoured it.


    "Roar!" This level-five zombie struggled up again. The mist devoured its skin and made it look like a skinned and burned person.


    As a level-five zombie, it wasn''t devoured immediately by Lin Qiao''s dark mist.


    The zombie stood up again, then slightly bent its knees and jumped out of a window abruptly.


    Crack! The window glass was broken.


    In just a few seconds, the dark mist behind the zombie was stirred a little, and a figure darted out of it.


    Puff! A claw sank into the zombie''s back head and then swung violently.


    Thud! The primary student zombie was thrown downstairs like a dead body.


    Lin Qiao landed on the ground, holding a level-five zombie nucleus in his hand. Meanwhile, she raised her other hand toward the classroom upstairs.


    Before long, the dark mist drifted out of that classroom and gathered toward her palm. At that time, the classroom had already been emptied by the mist. All those bodies, tables, and chairs were gone.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand and sent a stream of dark mist toward the zombie''s body. The mist covered the body for three seconds, and then the body disappeared.


    Afterward, she took the mist back and brought a cup of water out of her space to wash the zombie nucleus clean before putting it into her space. Then, she walked out of the school.


    She had no idea about her current body condition. She had absorbed eighty percent of the energy contained in that level-seven man''s nucleus, but still sensed no changes of her body at all.


    Even the energy in her brain didn''t grow stronger.


    During her journey, every time she collected a higher-level zombie nucleus or mutated plant nucleus, she would make some time to take rest and let Viney absorb the energy.


    She found that there were lots of mutated plants, but the ones which had grown consciousnesses and nucleus were rare.


    From Hangzhou to Hui City, she traveled a thousand and two-hundred miles, but only met two mutated plants like that. However, she killed quite some higher-level zombies, including two zombie kings.


    She killed them because they refused to follow her orders.


    She didn''t want to spend the time and energy to communicate with those zombies, so she just killed them and took their nucleus.


    She absorbed eighty percent of the energy contained in two level-six zombie nuclei, two mutated plant nuclei, and tens of level four to five zombie nuclei, and left the rest of the energy to Viney.


    Nevertheless, not even such a giant amount of energy made her feel any improvement.

 466 Surviving Subordinates

    After finishing the man-eating primary school zombie, Lin Qiao headed toward where the scents of living human beings came from.


    Some people were gathered in that area. That was probably not a base; but as long as there were people, information could be found.


    In a mall building miles away from Hades Base, a group of people stayed quietly in a storage room which wasn''t easy to find. The underground floors of this building used to be a parking lot, supermarket, and storage place.


    It was all dark in here, as the power was off. Therefore, this sealed storage room had no source of light.


    About twenty people were squatting or lying in the room, five or six of whom were children. The youngest one was ten years old, and the relatively older ones were about twelve.


    These kids used to have families in the base. However, their parents had all died in battles when Long Yubai attacked.


    They were all boys. If they were girls, Long Yubai and Yang Jianhua might think that they were still useful. However, as boys, their lives were meaningless in those two''s eyes.


    Therefore, these kids had all become the targets of clearance.


    The rest of the people in the room were mostly young men, twenty to thirty years old. A few of them were standing in the corners of the room, slowly turning their flashlights to illuminate the room.


    There was also a woman in that room who looked around thirty years old.


    The woman was sitting by the door, one hand holding a pistol, with a few bullets being tossed in her other palm.


    "Juan, they''ve been out for a whole day. They should be back by now!" A twenty-year-old boy who was closer to the woman couldn''t help but finally ask the question.


    Duan Juan stopped tossing the bullets and turned to the kid, then nodded and responded, "I think they''ll be back soon. Be patient!"


    "Maybe they have been spotted¡­ They sneaked into the base to find food every time. This is too risky!" A slim man said worriedly.


    "Where else can we possibly find food? Do you think there is any food out here for us to find? They had searched through a hundred miles around the base countless times. What food can we possibly find? Shall we eat earth? Now, we can only wait and see if those two will bring some food from the base," said Duan Juan blandly.


    The others looked at Duan Juan while thinking. One of those people again asked the question which had been asked for countless times these days.


    "When exactly can we leave? Duan Juan, you kept saying that we should wait, but we''ve waited for so many days. Can''t we leave now?"


    Duan Juan looked at that person and said, "We need to wait for the news that Yang Jianhua brought back."


    "Yang Jianhua has been back for so many days. Can you still not find out what news he has brought back?" That person asked.


    "That''s why Li Hongsheng and the others haven''t come back yet. I think they''ll bring us some news," said Duan Juan indeterminately.


    "Juan, I''m hungry!" A little boy murmured.


    Right at that moment, Duan Juan suddenly heard some noises from the outside. She ignored the little boy and quickly put the bullets into the cartridge clip, and then the clip into the gun. Then, she turned and pressed her ear on the thick door to listen to the sounds from the outside.


    Her movements alerted the others, who all stared at her quietly.


    Hearing the familiar footsteps sounds coming closer, Duan Juan sighed in relief and said, "They''re back!"


    Even though she said so, she didn''t open the door immediately.


    "Duan Juan, it''s us." Soon, someone knocked on the door for a few times.


    Only after hearing Li Hongsheng''s voice did Duan Juan ask two young men to help open the door. Once the door was open, a few men with flashlights flashed in.


    As soon as they were all in, someone immediately shut the door.


    "How''s it going? Any news?" Duan Juan looked at those men who just came back and asked eagerly.


    Li Hongsheng was a lean man, wearing a pair of glasses. If he weren''t wearing a few holsters, he would look rather gentle.


    He put his backpack on the floor and squatted.


    "Yeah, we got some news. Here, have some food first! We found some sweet potatoes in our old farm," said Li Hongsheng while emptying his bag.


    The food they went to find was actually the crops planted in their old base.


    The base was in chaos now. For that exact reason, many of those crops hadn''t been cleaned out.


    Even though Long Yubai and Yang Jianhua had sent their people to harvest those crops, they couldn''t possibly have dug out everything. Some were still left in the farm.


    One of the few men who came back along with Li Hongsheng added excitedly, "Yeah, not only sweet potatoes, we also found some cassavas, and even taros. But, these all need to be cooked."


    Hearing that, Duan Juan hurriedly asked, "How many have you found?"


    "Three bagfuls. These will last us for three days," said Li Hongsheng.


    By bags, he was talking about backpacks. When he was speaking, the other two men put their stuffed bags down on the floor as well.


    "Boil some for the kids then," Duan Juan immediately responded, "They have been starving for two days."


    Once she said that, some other people found a stainless steel pot from a corner, and the ones with ice power and water power created some water and ice.


    At last, two fire-powered people released fire to boil the water. As the water was boiled, people put peeled sweet potatoes into the pot.


    While the others were preparing the food, Duan Juan led Li Hongsheng to the other side of the room and asked him, "What news do you have?"


    Li Hongsheng pushed his glasses slightly upward and said, "I heard that Long Yubai went to Sea City, and that he''s after Deputy Chief Yuan."


    "Deputy Chief Yuan? Did he show up?" Deputy Chief asked with surprise.


    Earlier on, Yuan Tianxing was missing for nearly a month. Some people thought that he had died, and some believed that he had betrayed Lin Qiao.


    Duan Juan and the others who worked closely for Lin Qiao knew that Yuan Tianxing would never betray her, so they only guessed that he was killed in secret.


    But now, on hearing that he had shown up, Duan Juan was surely surprised.


    Li Hongsheng nodded and said, "Yeah, and I also heard that Deputy Chief Yuan is with Great Captain Lin and the others. It seems that Yang Jianhua didn''t hurt them. So this time, Long Yubai went after them by himself."


    "Really? I''m so glad that Great Captain and the others are fine. But¡­ why is Long Yubai going after them by himself? Is that necessary?" Duan Juan was delighted to hear that Lin Feng and his people were still alive, but confused upon knowing that Long Yubai was going after them.


    Li Hongsheng thought for a moment, then replied, "I think he''s not there just to hunt Great Captain and his people."

 467 We Have To Leave

    "It''s possible. I can''t believe that Long Yubai is still chasing after Great Captain and his people. Such a scum! He has already destroyed the base. What else does he want?" Duan Juan nodded and said through clenched teeth.


    "Long Yubai has always been a very ambitious person. He looks gentle and polite, but in fact, he''s cruel and heartless. I think there''s definitely some other reason for him to go to Sea City this time," Li Hongsheng thought for a moment, then said.


    Duan Juan looked at him and paused for a second, blinking with disbelief.


    "Are you saying¡­ It''s not possible, is it? Does he have such a huge appetite? Can he swallow the Sea City Base?"


    Li Hongsheng shook his head and said, "That''s only a guess. I have no actual evidence, so I can''t make a judgment."


    Duan Juan thought for a moment, then felt that it was quite impossible.


    Yuan Tianxing and his people were surely Long Yubai''s target. Except for them, he might also attempt to scout Sea City Base or reach his fingers into it. That sounded like something he might do. After all, the Hades Base, which had only hundreds of thousands of survivors, wasn''t enough to fulfill his ambition.


    Long Yubai wasn''t capable enough, but he did know a few tricks to gain help. So, in fact, it was not impossible for him to crave the Sea City Base.


    Duan Juan had a second thought and suddenly felt that Li Hongsheng''s guess could be true.


    "About what you said¡­ I guess he''s indeed ambitious. Our Hades Base can''t satisfy him at all," she said.


    Li Hongsheng nodded and then asked her about the future plan, "What should we do next? Yang Jianhua is still in the base. Also, I''ve heard some bad news. Yang Jianhua starved those commoners to death¡­ He starved them to death."


    Mentioning the fact that Yang Jianhua locked those innocent commoners up and let them starve to death, Li Hongsheng wore a sullen look.


    Hearing that, Duan Juan paused briefly again, then stared at Li Hongsheng in shock. "What did you say? He starved those people to death? Didn''t you say that he and Long Yubai will bring them to Earth Dragon Base?" she said.


    "No. The ones under thirty were brought to Earth Dragon Base by them earlier, and the old, weak, disabled, and ill ones were left here. I heard that Long Yubai has ordered Yang Jianhua to kill all those commoners, but the latter hasn''t taken action yet. However, he has already started to cut off the food and water supplies for those captives these days," Li Hongsheng shook his head and said.


    "They¡­ They are monsters! Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai are just two animals!" Duan Juan popped her eyes and said with anger. She couldn''t even believe what she had heard.


    Li Hongsheng continued, "But, I think Yang Jianhua won''t kill the families of those soldiers. There''re not many of them though."


    He knew that Yang Jianhua would control those soldiers with their families'' lives. However, the number of those people was small. Many people died after the apocalypse, and many had lost whole of their families.


    Some people survived, but only a few of them managed to find their family in the past few years, even if their families were still alive.


    Hearing their conversation, the others in the room all fell into silence. Duan Juan clenched her teeth and said, "Is Yang Jianhua planning to purge all the survivors in Hades Base? How many people could stay alive if he did that? He''s such a¡­ brutal scum!"


    She couldn''t even think of a word to describe that cruel, tyrant-like Yang Jianhua.


    "No, he''s not going to purge Hades Base. He gave up. He has made an agreement with Long Yubai and decided to move to Earth Dragon Base with all the supplies he can found in Hades Base. Soon enough, the people in the Hades Base will be killed and the base will be destroyed."


    Li Hongsheng shook his head and said in a heavy tone.


    Duan Juan stayed silent for a short while and then murmured, "Are we really going to leave this place? Where can we go? Sea City?"


    She didn''t want to leave Hades Base even though her home was already destroyed, and she and her friends had to hide outside in the territory of zombies to survive. She had lived in that place for five years, and had been seeing the base as her home.


    This group had over twenty people, and not everyone had a superpower. Except for the few kids, seven or eight of them were commoners.


    Currently, Duan Juan and Li Hongsheng needed to protect those commoners and kids while searching for food and information. They tried so hard to stay around Hades Base because they wanted to see if there was a chance to go back.


    But now, since Yang Jianhua planned to destroy the entire base, the fence wall which was keeping all the zombies away would be the first thing broken. After that, the base would no longer be safe.


    "Juan, didn''t we agree to leave?" Hearing her murmur, a little boy held Duan Juan''s hand and asked her a question confusedly. She lowered her head and saw the expectant look in the boy''s eyes. Helplessly, she sighed and nodded.


    "Em, we will leave," she said.


    "Where will we go? Will we have food? Will we have blankets?" The boy kept asking more questions. In his eyes, having food, a bed, and a blanket would be the happiest thing in the world.


    After all, it was getting cold.


    This storage room was underground. So, this place was a little warmer than outside at night.


    In fact, the kids and those adult commoners in this room all had some old and dirty quilts, blankets, or thick sweaters. The blankets weren''t enough, so they gathered together at times to keep each other warm.


    However, those could only keep them warm temporarily. Fortunately, they were in the South, and the weather was not yet too cold.


    Still, all of them were aware that the current situation could not last long, because the air temperature would drop drastically in half a month, and by then, they wouldn''t be able to survive the coldness at night.


    Li Hongsheng looked at her and said, "Why don''t we go and find Deputy Chief Yuan and the others? I can''t think of a better way."


    They were able to survive for the short term, but what about the future? They needed a long-term plan, or the others might lose hope.


    Duan Juan stayed silent for a few seconds, then nodded.


    "If what you said is true, that Yang Jianhua plans to starve all the people in the base to death, we still need to go back and take a look. We need to collect some more food and supplies so we can travel all the way to Sea City."


    Li Hongsheng nodded. After all, going back to the base was the easiest way for them to find the supplies they needed.


    "Do you know when will Yang Jianhua and his people leave?" Duan Juan asked.


    "Not yet!" Li Hongsheng shook his head.

 468 Donst Be Too Nervous

    Lin Qiao was quietly standing beside Duan Juan, leaning against the wall. She saw Li Hongsheng and the others come back here when she was outside, so she followed them down here to see if she could find any useful information. To her surprise, she saw Duan Juan in this place.


    Based on their conversations and attitude, she knew that Duan Juan and Li Hongsheng were the leaders of this group of people.


    She knew Duan Juan. Among all those people, the latter was the only one she knew. Obviously, she was happy to see someone she knew in this place.


    However, the conversation between Duan Juan and Li Hongsheng made her heart sink.


    Yang Jianhua should die!


    But before she killed him, she might be able to make a deal with Duan Juan and her people.


    She looked different now, so she couldn''t possibly show her face and talk to Duan Juan like an old friend. She knew the latter, but the latter didn''t know her by her new look.


    "But, I think it''ll happen soon," Li Hongsheng answered Duan Juan''s question about when Yang Jianhua and his people would leave the base.


    "Are we¡­ are we gonna let that animal leave just like that? Because of him, we''re homeless now, and so many people have died! Even Netherworld Fire died because of him! Are we gonna let him leave without paying for what he did? I don''t think I can!" One of the others said with a strong hatred.


    Hearing that voice, Duan Juan paused for a second, then turned to look at that person. That was a kid, about thirteen years old. His voice was still tender, yet contained a deep and thick hatred.


    Hearing Duan Juan talk about leaving, the boy couldn''t help but let out the anger in his heart.


    The others turned their flashlights to the boy and saw the wrathful look on his face. They all shared the same feelings as him. However, what could they possibly do? They didn''t have the power to kill Yang Jianhua. Not to mention Yang Jianhua, they couldn''t even defeat his subordinates.


    Duan Juan sighed as he walked to the boy and said, "We don''t want to let him go so easily, but what can we do? We are not strong enough to kill him now. We can try, but we will die. Have you forgotten our friends who left earlier and never came back?"


    There used to be more of them. At first, over a hundred of them gathered together. Many of those people hated Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai so much that they couldn''t help but want to kill them.


    Back then, Yang Jianhua hadn''t returned yet, and Long Yubai was in the base. He had powerful subordinates, so every time those survivors launched an attack, some of them died. The same thing happened a couple of times, after which, Duan Juan and the others in this room became the only ones left.


    The boy clenched his teeth and popped his eyes, which contained such a strong hatred and intent of killing as he said, "Everyone else is dead. That''s exactly why we can''t let that scum live! Juan, please think about it! I don''t want their death to mean nothing¡­"


    While he was speaking, his widened eyes suddenly turned red.


    Duan Juan looked at him, feeling as angry as him. She too wanted to cut Yang Jianhua into pieces, but she couldn''t. Trying to kill Yang Jianhua right now was no different from trying to kill themselves. What could she possibly do?


    "No, we can''t do anything to him now. We have to wait until we''re powerful enough. We need to stay alive. As long as we''re alive, we will have an opportunity to take revenge. Listen to me, what we need to do now is survive!" He patiently comforted the others.


    "If I kill Yang Jianhua for you, can you do one thing for me?" Suddenly, a voice was heard among the group.


    The storage room wasn''t well illuminated, so when the strange voice was heard, everyone on the scene paused in shock.


    "Who is it!" Duan Juan reacted the first. She raised her gun so quickly that the others barely saw her move. In just a blink, they saw her raising the gun and alertly looking around.


    Soon, the others realized what just happened, and all quickly pulled out their guns, pointing at Lin Qiao who showed up behind Duan Juan abruptly.


    Duan Juan reacted really fast. Seeing the others staring behind her, she immediately turned and stepped away.


    Lin Qiao raised both hands and said with a faint smile, "I''m here to help. Don''t be so nervous!"


    She glanced those people who had moved as far away from her as possible, then fixed her eyes on Duan Juan''s face.


    At that moment, Duan Juan was as shocked as everyone else. She didn''t understand how Lin Qiao came in here so quietly. But soon, she gave Li Hongsheng a quick glance. Seeing that he was shocked as well, she had a guess.


    She guessed that Lin Qiao sneaked in when Li Hongsheng and his people came back.


    At that time, people had turned their flashlights to the door and watched Li Hongsheng and the other few come in one after another. No extra person was found.


    However, Duan Juan was sure that Lin Qiao was brought into this place from the outside by Li Hongsheng and the others.


    "Who are you? How did you get in?" Duan Juan stared at Lin Qiao. The look in her eyes remained extra calm, but still, her movements had shown the others that she was already preparing to attack.


    Lin Qiao flashed across the air and disappeared in front of everyone else, leaving Duan Juan and the others stunned and panicking. Soon, those people started searching throughout the storage room.


    The storage room wasn''t large or crowded. There was nowhere for that suddenly appeared strange woman to hide.


    "You don''t need to know how I got in. I only want to know if you want Yang Jianhua dead or not," Lin Qiao showed up before Duan Juan again as she looked at her and said, "Relax! If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn''t even need to show up in front of you. Can you put the gun down?"


    She believed Duan Juan''s judgment. That was why she talked to her patiently instead of directly taking away those people''s weapons.


    "Who the hell are you? Why would we believe you!" A man raised a pistol as he stared at Lin Qiao and yelled nervously.


    Duan Juan gazed at Lin Qiao for seven or eight seconds, then slowly put her gun down.


    "Duan Juan!" Seeing that, the others were all shocked. They didn''t expect Duan Juan to believe that strange woman.


    Duan Juan put the gun back into the holster, then raised her right hand which was wearing a combat glove.


    "Put your guns down," she said.


    "Duan Juan, do you believe her?" The others didn''t do what she said. Some even glared at her and spoke angrily.


    Duan Juan turned back and glanced at the others who were all nervous, then said, "She has invisibility. If she wanted to hurt us, she wouldn''t even show up. She can easily kill all of us and we wouldn''t even know. Li Hongsheng, can you sense her presence?" She looked at Li Hongsheng and asked him a question.


    Li Hongsheng quietly glanced at Lin Qiao, then put his gun down as well. "I can''t," he said.

 469 A Fair Deal

    Li Hongsheng had the green power, and hence, the keenest sensations among the whole group. So, if even he couldn''t sense her, no one could.


    Lin Qiao had come so close to them, and none of them knew about it. So, if she directly launched attacks on them, how many of those people could possibly survive?


    She had no hostility toward those people now, so she showed her face to them. With these thoughts, Li Hongsheng and Duan Juan put their guns down. They still didn''t trust Lin Qiao, but they had already relaxed a little.


    The others didn''t drop their guns like the two of them, still pointing them at Lin Qiao.


    Duan Juan looked at the strange woman in front of her. There was no vibe to be sensed from Lin Qiao, and her eyes were hiding behind a pair of sunglasses. She was wearing a camouflage suit which wasn''t a standard military uniform, and she wasn''t wearing any holsters.


    Outside the base, almost every human being was armed, whether he or she had superpowers or not. However, Lin Qiao carried no weapon.


    "How will you kill Yang Jianhua for us?" Duan Juan didn''t ask Lin Qiao what she could do, but asked what she would do.


    Lin Qiao observed Duan Juan and found that the latter looked slightly different from before, but the change wasn''t drastic. It was just like how she felt when she first saw Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and the others. They had all changed a little, but not largely. That was how people might feel when they saw someone that they hadn''t seen for a long time.


    As Duan Juan asked the question calmly, Lin Qiao responded, "You only need to know that I can do it. You don''t have to do anything. Actually, you can stand aside and watch. If you really want him dead, I can kill him for you."


    "Are you sure?" Duan Juan looked at her with doubts. She knew that Lin Qiao might have the power to kill everyone in this room. But, Yang Jianhua wasn''t like them. He wouldn''t be killed so easily.


    Anyhow, he was at the top of level-six.


    "If you don''t believe me, follow me into Hades Base and watch me do it. And, if I kill Yang Jianhua, can you promise me one thing?" Lin Qiao thought for a second and then asked. Before, she couldn''t defeat Yang Jianhua; but now, she totally had the power to kill him, as she had already broken into level-six.


    In order to earn these people''s trust, she was willing to kill Yang Jianhua first. According to what people said, Yang Jianhua might have set a giant trap for her after the apocalypse. So, she also considered killing him as her revenge.


    "Alright! If you really can kill him, I''ll do anything you want," Duan Juan nodded without hesitation.


    Lin Qiao said, "I think¡­ you should know where the leader of Hades Base¡­ disappeared, right?"


    She almost said the word ''died'', but then she realized that she shouldn''t keep talking about her own death, because that sounded like cursing herself.


    Hearing her question, Duan Juan and the others were all surprised slightly.


    "Why are you asking about that place?" Duan Juan couldn''t help but ask.


    "You don''t need to know why. You only need to tell me where it is. What do you think? I''ll kill the man for you, and you''ll give me the information. I think it''s a fair deal, isn''t it?" Lin Qiao smiled faintly.


    "Why are you so sure that we know where it is?" said Li Hongsheng.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and then laughed, "I surely know. I sense things too."


    Of course, she wouldn''t tell them that she had faintly sensed their thoughts as soon as she asked her question.


    The others might be in confusion, but both Duan Juan and Li Hongsheng had something flash across their minds at that moment. Therefore, Lin Qiao was sure that they know where that place was.


    Duan Juan didn''t hesitate. "Alright!" She responded, "After you kill that scum Yang Jianhua, I''ll take you to that place, and do whatever you want me to do."


    "Good! It''s a deal then! Tomorrow, I''ll head to Hades Base. If you would like to come along, don''t forget to keep a distance from us," Lin Qiao clapped her hands and nodded.


    Duan Juan nodded as well. Then, she watched Lin Qiao turn and open the door to leave.


    She showed up suddenly, and left quickly.


    Li Hongsheng turned to Duan Juan and said uncertainly, "Can she¡­ really kill him?"


    "We''ll find out tomorrow. Also, the place she wants to go is not really a secret. I think she wants to kill Yang Jianhua too," Duan Juan crossed her arms and rested her chin on a palm, thinking for a moment before speaking.


    Li Hongsheng looked at her silently, while the others were both confused and curious.


    Who on earth was that suddenly appearing woman?


    ¡­


    Next morning, Lin Qiao headed toward Hades Base.


    Following the scents of human beings, she walked on the cleared broad road and soon arrived at Hades Base.


    She stood on top of a tall building and looked at the fence wall which was at seven or eight hundred of meters away. There were lots of cracks on top of the ten-meters-tall fence wall; but thankfully, the lower part of the wall was still undamaged. Otherwise, zombies would have crawled their way in.


    The area outside the wall used to be a clearing, but now, it was filled with zombies.


    Those zombies didn''t surround the wall, but gathered in a few spots.


    Those spots were more than ten meters away from the entrance of the base. Thousands of zombies gathered in those areas, trying to climb up the wall.


    That was because living human beings were hanging on the wall in lines!


    Looking at those people who were hanging on the wall and whose vibes were already very weak, Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes and then glanced at the entrance of the base.


    Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai used living human beings to lure those zombies away from the entrance, so they wouldn''t be attacked by zombies when they entered or exited the base.


    Those poor people were hanging in different spots, and ordinary zombies piled in those areas. Occasionally, one or two level-two or three zombies would leap high, then grab a leg and violently pull it downward.


    When that happened, the owner of that leg would be torn into two; the blood and guts would fall from the sky, and the zombie crowd down on the ground would be stirred. After that, someone would immediately cut off the rope from the top of the wall and let the upper half of that person fall as well to feed zombies.


    Some unwounded people fell from the wall as well, screaming and struggling intensely.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t even bear watching all this. Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai actually treated those commoners from Hades Base in such a cruel way. ''They are really crazy and sick.''

 470 The Broken Base

    Lin Qiao quickly observed the wall, then leaped off the twenty-story building and moved toward the entrance of the base.


    The gate was closed, clearly sealed from the inside.


    She spent a few minutes walking across the isolation belt and came to the metal gate, which was closed tightly. She was able to create a hole on the gate with her black mist, but she didn''t do it.


    She stood by the door, then raised her head and glanced at the captives who were hanging on the wall. After that, she went under a breach on the wall, then took a few steps backward. Next, she ran forward and leaped straight over the breach.


    Seeing the scene inside the base, she frowned again.


    The buildings in the base had either collapsed or were broken; the ones which were still standing on the ground were covered in holes.


    Most of those buildings had been burned and blown up. There were ruins everywhere.


    This was the outskirt of the base. A couple of months ago, Long Yubai ordered his superpowered soldiers to break into the base with their greatest powers when he came to attack.


    Lin Qiao heard that all sorts of cannonballs were used, and even a lot of tanks had driven into this base.


    Therefore, Hades Base was devastated.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment gazing at the destroyed outer base, then sprung up and hopped onto a building which had a giant hole in the middle of it, then swiftly moved toward the central area.


    At the same time, Duan Juan, Li Hongsheng and a few others were standing on top of a building which was outside the isolation belt, quietly watching the fence wall through telescopes.


    "Will she really go in?" The man beside Duan Juan asked.


    "I don''t know. Let''s wait," Duan Juan rested the telescope on her nose and responded while observing the wall.


    Li Hongsheng also had his eyes fixed on the wall area. "Do you believe that she can kill Yang Jianhua? Although he''s only at level-six, his army has serious weapons."


    "What are you worrying about? Didn''t you see how she sneaked into our place last night? Even you didn''t sense her coming. She might really be able to kill Yang Jianhua with a surprise strike, right?" Duan Juan dropped the telescope and said, "She sounded so confident. I don''t think she has a reason to lie to us, does she?"


    Li Hongsheng nodded and agreed with her. He took over the telescope from her hands and tried to look through it. But next, he realized that he was wearing a pair of glasses, so he thought for a second and then handed the telescope to someone else.


    Duan Juan continued saying, "Keep an eye on this area. Let me know if you find anything." While speaking, she walked toward the stair room.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao leaped across those broken buildings and soon arrived at the center area. She found ninety percent of the buildings in the base center undamaged, and quite some people in this area.


    The wall of the base center wasn''t as tall as the fence wall outside, only about five meters in height. Lin Qiao stood on top of the wall, looking at the large batch of armed vehicles and trucks which were parked on the square in the base center. A lot of soldiers had been carrying all kinds of supplies onto those vehicles.


    She leaped off the wall and started following Yang Jianhua''s vibe.


    In fact, Yang Jianhua wasn''t far away from her. He was in a building located right next to the square. At that moment, he was looking downstairs, holding a cup.


    He had no idea that danger was coming near him.


    Lin Qiao climbed onto an average height building near the square, because she was able to see Yang Jianhua from here. With doubts, she observed him.


    If her sensations weren''t wrong, the scum seemed to have broken into a higher level. Currently, she sensed a pressure from him which was similar to what she had sensed from Yang Chao, Tang He, and other level-seven people.


    That kind of pressure could barely affect her now. However, it helped her estimate Yang Jianhua''s level accurately.


    What happened? The scum did nothing but come back to the base. Why did he suddenly upgrade?


    Lin Qiao blinked, trying to figure it out. At the same time, she leaped across the utility pole tops or car roofs, quickly moving toward Yang Jianhua''s building. Soon, she landed before the front door of that building.


    She didn''t walk into the lobby, neither did she plan to take the stairs up. If she were right, Yang Jianhua was on the eleventh or twelfth floor. Climbing the stairs wouldn''t make her tired, but would take her some time.


    She glanced up at the surface of the building, then leaped high while popping her claws and easily clasping the edge of the building. Next, she grasped the window frames and swung herself upward.


    With only a few swings, she arrived at Yang Jianhua''s floor. Instead of breaking straight into his office, she got in through the window next door. When she walked out of the room next door, she saw another man going into Yang Jianhua''s office.


    "Chief, the loading will be finished this afternoon," Liu Yu came in with a list in his hands, then said to Yang Jianhua who was behind the window. The latter turned around, and Liu Yu a glance, then turned back to look outside.


    "Em, are the bombs installed yet?" he asked.


    "The bombs in the center area are all in position. We''re installing the ones in the outer base and the wall now," Liu Yu responded.


    "Tell them to hurry up," said Yang Jianhua, "Get ready¡­ We''ll leave this afternoon."


    "Yes, sir!" Liu Yu nodded.


    Yang Jianhua raised his head and showed his handsome face. Gazing where the Earth Dragon Base was located, his eyes glowed brightly.


    "Long Yubai, I said that I want to stay here, but you forced me to go to Earth Dragon Base with you. I''ll fulfill your wish then. But from now on, you have to let me be the leader."


    While speaking, he curved one side of his lip corners in a wicked smile.


    "Chief, those commoners hanging on the wall have attracted quite some higher level zombies. The death rate of those people has risen largely. We need to add a dozen living human beings to the wall every hour now," Liu Yu abruptly made a report about those people on the wall.


    "How many baits do we have left?" Yang Jianhua slightly lowered his head and squinted at Liu Yu.


    "Less than thirty thousand," Liu Yu said.


    Yang Jianhua frowned, then turned and looked at him, "Thirty-thousand? That''s too many. We can''t bring so many captives with us. Take five-hundred to distract those zombies on our way, and throw the rest into zombie crowds."


    "Yes, sir!" Liu Yu nodded and then asked uncertainly, "Should I do it now?"


    "Yeah. Are you gonna wait until afternoon?" Yang Jianhua gave him a threatening glance.


    "Yes, sir," Liu Yu immediately turned and left.


    Liu Yu leaned against the door and heard their conversation. As Liu Yu walked past her, she abruptly turned and followed him to the stairs. When he walked to the corner of the stairs where no one else was present, Lin Qiao suddenly reached out a hand, grasped the back of his collar, and quietly dragged him into her space.

 471 The Frightened Liu Yu

    Being dragged by Lin Qiao suddenly, Liu Yu froze for a second, then turned around and found himself in another place instead of the staircase. He immediately tightened his entire body, as he didn''t even know how he was brought into this strange place.


    "Who are you?" Someone dragged him, so he believed it must be that person who brought him here. He hurriedly turned back, then saw a woman who had medium length hair and was wearing sunglasses.


    "Who are you?" He gave a start and automatically took a few steps backward to create a distance between them. He observed that woman who suddenly showed up and brought him into such a strange place. Meanwhile, he had also been paying attention to the surrounding environment."


    "You''re helping a tyrant to do evil!" Lin Qiao coldly stared at him and said a few words.


    Hearing her cold and clear voice, Liu Yu puzzled for a moment, then quickly figured out her meaning.


    "Hm, what? Are you here to attack our Chief?" He looked at Lin Qiao composedly and sneered.


    "Yeah! Today, Yang Jianhua will die first! Before he dies, you need to stay alive," Lin Qiao nodded and said blandly.


    "Hehe¡­ You? Kill him? Can you do that?" Liu Yu laughed scornfully and said, "You think you can kill a level-seven superpowered man so easily?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said carelessly, "Level-seven is nothing. But if he had broken into level-eight, I surely wouldn''t be able to kill him."


    After saying that, she turned and walked toward the small building.


    As Lin Qiao carelessly turned with her back to Liu Yu, the latter was delighted. ''This woman is so over-confident. She''s actually facing me with her back."


    He waved a hand toward her, prepared to release his power to attack her.


    However, something unexpected happened. As a possessor of fire power, he was going to throw a fireball at Lin Qiao. However, when he tried to gather his power, he suddenly realized that he couldn''t create a fireball.


    He looked at his own hands with surprise. The fact that he wasn''t able to release his power made him panic.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao turned back and said to him, "You can''t use your power, can you? Do you know what this is place? Follow me, if you don''t want to become zombie food."


    After saying that, she kept moving forward and soon walked into the small building.


    What did she mean? Zombies? Here?


    Liu Yu failed to understand Lin Qiao''s words immediately and looked around confusedly.


    At that point, a figure suddenly came out from behind the building. Liu Yu looked at it carefully, then had the look on his face changed drastically and automatically made a step backward.


    The face of that creature was covered in wounds. Its eyes were purely dark, with thick dark circles below them. Its mouth was closed, but its eyes were clearly telling Liu Yu that that was a zombie.


    It was a high-leveled zombie! Anyone with sharp eyes would be able to tell that it was a level-five superpowered zombie at first sight.


    What happened next made Liu Yu draw further backward.


    Another zombie walked out from behind that high-leveled zombie. The second zombie also had pure black eyes and huge dark circles; its mouth was cracked open, baring its teeth.


    Before Liu Yu could take a close look at the second zombie, the third zombie showed up, and then the fourth¡­ With fright, he watched more and more high-leveled zombies come out.


    He didn''t count carefully, but there were over ten zombies in front of him.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Those zombies eyed Liu Yu with eagerly, their dark eyes sparkling with excitement.


    "Aren''t you gonna come over here? Are you waiting for those zombies to jump on you?" Lin Qiao, who had walked into the building again, showed up by the door and said to Liu Yu.


    At that point, Liu Yu''s brain had already stopped working. Lin Qiao told him to go over to the building, but he just failed to process the message.


    Why were there so many zombies? All of them were high-leveled zombies! Over ten of them! What on earth was happening in this place? He had never seen more than two level-four zombies gather together!


    And, why were those zombies ignoring that woman? Who was she? What was this place!


    Right at that moment, another figure jumped to Liu Yu from the roof.


    "Roar!" That creature landed three meters away from Liu Yu and gave him a roar.


    This zombie''s head was wrapped in clean bandages, but was clearly dented. Its eyes were dark, but had a faint, gold luster. Same as the other zombies, it also had big dark circles under its eyes, along with the familiar ferocious look.


    That was a zombie leader!


    A zombie leader was in this place!


    Liu Yu froze after he recognized the zombie leader, and the fear of death immediately shrouded him. He was aware that he was a level-five superpowered man, and how capable he was at fighting.


    He was able to defeat one level-five zombie. However, facing two or three or two of them, he would have no chance of winning.


    At this moment, he wasn''t facing three level-four zombies, but a group of them, as well as a zombie leader. If he picked up a fight against those zombies, he would die without a question even if he could fully release his power. But now, he couldn''t even use his power.


    So, he was freaked out completely by now. He stared at the zombie leader which was only three meters away from him, and his whole body went stiff.


    If he weren''t a strong-minded person, he would have fallen to the ground already.


    At that time, Lin Qiao shouted at the zombie leader.


    "Zombie Number Eight, bring him here. He can''t move. Watch your claws, and don''t hurt him." She gave the order, then turned and went back into the building.


    "Who''s that?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "A captive. Lili, I''ll give you a mission. Come here!" When asking for Qiu Lili''s help, Lin Qiao always call it ''a mission''.


    Qiu Lili didn''t care what she said, and quickly walked to her.


    Lin Qiao pointed outside the door and said to her, "Later on, Zombie Number Eight will bring that man in here. You need to find out a way to make him do what we say. Make him tell you the locations of all the bombs in Hades Base and the triggers. And then, you need to keep him under control. Don''t let him run away. Can you do that?"


    Qiu Lili nodded; this wasn''t a hard mission.


    Before long, the zombie with bandages dragged Liu Yu in.


    Liu Yu was so frightened that he couldn''t even walk straight. The two stairs that led to the door nearly made him fall. The zombie leader had to hold his collar and lift him into the building.


    "Oh my, he''s so scared!" Qiu Lili said when she saw him.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Alright, you''ll be doing the rest of the work. I''m going out to deal with that scum."

 472 Suppress Yang Jianhua

    Lin Qiao flashed out of the space after telling Qiu Lili what to do. The latter stood in the living room and held the tips of her twin-tails while watching Zombie Number Eight drag Liu Yu to her, thinking about how to make that man talk.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao turned and headed back to Yang Jianhua''s office.


    Yang Jianhua was still standing behind the window and looking outside. He didn''t sense Liu Yu''s disappearance at all.


    Lin Qiao came in from the outside and walked to his side, stopping a meter away from him. She glanced outside while sensing the vibe from him, which was much stronger than before.


    She fixed her eyes outside the window, but slowly walked behind Yang Jianghua at the same time. She knew that she couldn''t stare at him. Last time when she stared at Tang He, he felt her coming once she approached.


    So this time, she fixed her eyes outside the window, and only looked at Yang Jianhua from the corners of her eyes. Slowly and gently, she reached a hand toward the back of Yang Jianhua''s collar.


    Yang Jianhua sensed it the moment Lin Qiao grabbed the back of his collar. However, before he could turn back, he felt being dragged slightly, and then his eyes were dazzled. When he realized what happened, he suddenly took a step backward, crooked his arm, and made an elbow strike backward. Then, he turned around and quickly drew back.


    While moving backward, he also sent waves of ice blades toward where he was a moment ago.


    Lin Qiao had flashed away long ago. She appeared on the roof of the small building before reaching out a hand and releasing a cloud of dark mist toward Yang Jianhua.


    The thick mist quickly shrouded the entire building.


    Yang Jianhua drew back to the grassland, then turned to find a giant cloud of dark mist coming at him.


    He didn''t see the building which was wrapped in the mist, and neither did he see Lin Qiao. He only saw the lake, the grassland, and the woods.


    The farther area was covered in a white fog.


    The environment of this place was rather good, as there was a lake, woods, and a grassland. Without the weird black mist, this place would be beautiful.


    He stopped moving and looked around with a grim look. The ice blades that he sent out earlier had all fallen to the ground.


    He didn''t sense anyone but himself.


    "Who are you? Show your face!" Yang Jianhua raised his head and looked at the sky. He didn''t see the sky, only the white fog drifting without any wind.


    He gave a cold growl, his sharp eyes scanning around.


    "Yang Jianhua, are you scared?" A cold woman''s voice was heard from the dark mist.


    Yang Jianhua immediately turned and stared at the dark mist, which was still expanding. He found that the mist hadn''t been touching the grasses on the ground. It would lift or turn when there were grasses or other obstacles before it.


    "Scared? Why would I be scared?" Yang Jianhua stared into the black mist. Hearing Lin Qiao call his name, he responded scornfully. Next, he saw a figure slowly walk out of the mist. She was wearing a camouflage suit and a pair of sunglasses, having shoulder-length hair.


    He made himself look calm and scornful, but in fact, he already started getting nervous.


    He was brought into a strange place by a strange woman within such a short time, and he felt nothing before it happened. Based on that fact, he could only guess that this place was a space.


    Therefore, the person who brought him in here was certainly a space-powered one. Judging by the huge size of this space, that person was definitely powerful.


    He couldn''t tell if there were traps or other kinds of dangers in this space.


    As a vice-leader of a base, he had this basic psychological endurance. Even though he was suddenly brought into a strange place, he did react with composure.


    "Aren''t you scared? Why were you yelling then?" Lin Qiao stood before the mist and curved one side of her corner in a smile while looking at him. She wasn''t moving, but the cloud of dark mist behind her grew larger and larger, slowly surrounding Yang Jianhua from both sides.


    Yang Jianhua slowly stepped back, as he clearly felt that the black mist was dangerous.


    "I just wanted to see the person who was bold enough to drag me into her space. What an ambitious person! Aren''t you afraid that I might blow your space up?" He looked at Lin Qiao and said while moving backward.


    Lin Qiao slightly turned her body, then reached out an arm toward him and crooked her fingers in the air.


    "You can try."


    She stared at Yang Jianhua and focused her own willpower on her hand, then gathered the power of the space in her hand as well. With that, the air pressure in the space immediately started rising, following Lin Qiao''s hand to Yang Jianhua.


    Yang Jianhua''s heart instantly sank. His entire body became heavier, and he felt hard to breathe. But still, he hadn''t noticed that his energy was being devoured bit by bit by some other type of energy.


    All that happened didn''t cause him any difficulties in moving. He thought Lin Qiao reached out a hand to attack him, so he quickly leaped backward. At the same time, he raised both hands toward Lin Qiao. Following his moves, different sized ice blades emerged around his body. As he waved his hands, all those sharp ice pieces darted toward Lin Qiao.


    When he launched the attack, Lin Qiao took a slight step backward and hid in the dark mist.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The ice blades pierced into the black mist, causing a series of swishing noises.


    "Yang Jianhua, you betrayed your base and killed so many people. Aren''t you hunted by your conscience?" Lin Qiao showed up from the other side of the mist and said to Yang Jianhua, her face still wearing that faint smile.


    Yang Jianhua immediately turned and waved his hands again. In the next moment, the ground around Lin Qiao''s feet was covered in ice.


    Lin Qiao dodged in no time. Before the ice touched her feet, she again stepped back and disappeared.


    "Why would I be hunted by my conscience? Long Yubai attacked the base, not me," Yang Jianhua said coldly. At the same time, he frowned. Lin Qiao kept disappearing and reappearing, so he couldn''t lock onto her and launch effective attacks.


    In fact, Lin Qiao talked to him to distract him, and also to buy time.


    She didn''t know if Yang Jianhua had noticed that his superpower was declining.


    She had plenty of ways to kill Yang Jianhua right now, but in consideration of Viney who was inside her belly now, she gave up on those violent ways. Instead, she planned to exhaust Yang Jianhua to death.


    If Qiu Lili weren''t dealing with Liu Yu right now, Yang Jianhua might not be able to run about in her space so easily right now.

 473 Stop Joking Around

    Lin Qiao was waiting for Yang Jianhua to be suppressed by the power of her space, so she could finish his life.


    "Don''t you know that the people who do lots of evils will suffer consequences? Today, you''ll die here. You brought this to yourself," She showed up on the other side of the mist and smiled at Yang Jianhua, her smile toned with coldness.


    Yang Jianhua had attacked a few times, but never managed to hit Lin Qiao. He now clearly understood that she was a strong enemy.


    "So what? After the apocalypse, the world follows the law of the jungle. The rule of nature wouldn''t change even if mankind died. They couldn''t survive, and they only had themselves to blame." He didn''t care about what Lin Qiao said, but responded without thinking.


    "But, no human should do what you''ve done. You saw yourself as an animal without humanity, so eventually, you''ll be destroyed by real human beings," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    Yang Jianhua sneered, "Those useless people couldn''t do anything. Their lives meant nothing but a waste of food. Why would I let them live?"


    He had no idea why Lin Qiao brought him into her space and how she was going to hurt him. Judging by her relaxed attitude, she didn''t seem to take him seriously. As a level-seven superpowered being, Yang Jianhua wasn''t happy about her attitude.


    He believed that as a level-seven man, he was one of the truly powerful beings in the world, so he deserved to be respected. Therefore, Lin Qiao''s careless attitude made him feel annoyed, and her words sounded like a joke.


    "Even if they weren''t capable enough to survive, you didn''t have the right to end their lives," Lin Qiao looked at him and said. After that, she abruptly reached out a hand and waved at Yang Jianhua.


    The slowly expanding dark mist suddenly gushed toward Yang Jianhua.


    Yang Jianhua easily guessed that the mist contained some kind of power when he first saw it. Now, as Lin Qiao sent the mist to him, he hurriedly raised both hands and created an ice wall which wasn''t very thick, to shield himself from the mist.


    The dark mist touched the ice wall and generated a series of sizzling noise like water touching fire. The side of the ice wall which had touched the mist immediately melted, as if corroded by strong acid.


    Yang Jianhua guessed that Lin Qiao was the reinforcement of those surviving Hades Base people, because he had never seen her before. If she were from Hades Base too, he would know about her, as she was such a powerful being.


    "Who the hell are you?" He growled out loud while stepping backward. He didn''t know where Lin Qiao came from, and guessed that she was from another base.


    Lin Qiao slowly walked to Yang Jianhua who was drawing further and further away, then blinked her eyes abruptly.


    "If I tell you that I''m Lin Qiao, would you believe me?" she said blandly. Meanwhile, she raised a hand and took back her black mist, because it was barely effective to Yang Jianhua''s ice power.


    Yang Jianhua made an obvious pause, then looked at Lin Qiao and laughed with a weird expression."Haha¡­ What did you say? Are you kidding? Do you think I''m blind? Do you think I don''t know what Lin Qiao looks like, or do you think you look really like her? Well, you''re wearing those sunglasses, so who knows how you look. But, that woman died three or four months ago. The world knows about it. If you are her, you should be a ghost. Are you a ghost? Haha¡­"


    He couldn''t stop laughing as if he just heard about something really hilarious.


    "Haha¡­ Eh, maybe you''re really stupid, or maybe I''m in a dream. You''re such an idiot! Who would pretend to be a dead person?"


    Lin Qiao spent a moment looked at him quietly and hear him laughing, then said, "Why can''t I be Lin Qiao? You betrayed me and the entire Hades Base. Why can''t I come back and take revenge on you?"


    She made it sound like real, but Yang Jianhua didn''t believe a word she said.


    "That''s impossible! That woman detonated her energy nucleus and her body was blown up. How could she possibly survive? Stop joking around!" He finished laughing and said to Lin Qiao with scorn.


    As he didn''t believe her at all, Lin Qiao shrugged and sighed, "Alright, since you didn''t buy it, I give up. You hated her because you loved her so much but couldn''t have her, right? I heard that you used to follow her so closely that the other men didn''t even have a chance to get close to her. However, she had no feelings toward you except for gratitude."


    "What? There''s such a version of the story? Do you want to know the truth? Since you''re so curious, I''ll just tell you." Lin Qiao''s words triggered something in Yang Jianhua''s mind. At that moment, he was actually less worried about his current situation.


    He said disdainfully, "That woman should thank me. As I saved her from a zombie city. But, as for what you just said? I loved her and couldn''t have her? I didn''t even know that kind of a rumor existed. Where did you hear it from? It''s such a weird rumor!"


    "That woman fell in love with me. She even pretended to be drunk to seduce me. I satisfied her once, as she was quite pretty. You have no idea how it felt to f**k a female Chief."


    The look in Yang Jianhua''s face turned creepy when he was speaking. He wore that disgusting smile which destroyed his pretty look, as he seemed to be recalling something that made him feel great.


    Lin Qiao felt terribly disgusted as she responded in a cold voice, "That''s impossible! How could she ever seduce someone like you? You drugged her, didn''t you? Otherwise, she wouldn''t be forced to that cliff to blow herself up, and neither would she let you live until present!"


    Fell in love with him? Pretended to be drunk? Impossible! For their missions, she and her army friends had all taken alcohol tolerance training. Almost every single one of them was able to drink endlessly and never get drunk. How could she possibly get drunk?


    Well, Duan Juan wasn''t one of them. She couldn''t touch alcohol, as she was allergic to it. What was even worse, she got drunk very easily. And once she was drunk, she''d suffer memory loss; in addition of that, her side of violence would be triggered as well.


    She tended to attack people when she was drunk, and remember nothing when she was sober.


    Yang Jianhua claimed that Lin Qiao the Chief pretended to be drunk and seduced him. However, Lin Qiao the zombie felt that was a lie.


    She was quite far away from him, but still, she could tell that what was in his mind wasn''t the same as what he said. He was clearly lying!

 474 Donst Talk Nonsense

    Hearing Yang Jianhua make up a lie about her, Lin Qiao was instantly enraged. "You''re lying! Stop talking nonsense, or I''ll kick you to death!"


    She hated people talk about her seducing some man the most. The previous owner of her current body had done such things indeed, but not her! How dare Yang Jianhua slander her soul! She just couldn''t bear listening to that!


    "Eh? Can you kick me? What? Did I say anything wrong? That woman did shamelessly come to me. Why would I lie about it? Would I ever fancy a woman like that? She was pretty, but she was nothing more than a tool to fulfill my needs¡­ hm," Obviously, Yang Jianhua didn''t take Lin Qiao''s threat seriously. However, before he finished talking, he felt that his heart was suddenly vibrated, and then a sharp pain emerged as if something was squeezing his heart.


    His entire body trembled, and that made him shamble, nearly falling to the ground.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao flashed across the air. In the next second, she showed up behind him as she pressed her lips together and raised a foot to give a heavy kick to the back of his leg.


    "Ouch!" Yang Jianhua didn''t see that coming. As a result, he was kicked to the ground, lying there with his face down. For a moment, he didn''t even realize what happened, only confusedly gazing at the swaying grasses before his eyes.


    Lin Qiao stood behind him and stamped a foot on his waist as she said with a cold voice, "As I said, don''t talk nonsense, or I''ll kick you!" After saying that, she raised her foot and stomped on his back again for a few more times.


    "Ou¡­" Yang Jianhua suffered a dull pain from his waist, feeling that his kidneys were about to be broken because she stomped right on his kidneys.


    He attempted to roll away from Lin Qiao, but found the pressure on his waist so incredibly heavy that he couldn''t even move, not to mention prop up.


    "Since you don''t want to tell the truth, you may stay silent forever. You deserve death anyway," said Lin Qiao with an icy-cold voice.


    Just now, she actually suppressed Yang Jianhua with the power of the space under her rage. Now, the perfect chance was right in front of her. Why would she wait any longer to kill him?


    At that point, Yang Jianhua realized that he was trodden under a woman''s foot and disabled from moving. He quickly reached out a hand to grasp Lin Qiao''s ankle, then sent a stream of coldness into her leg.


    Soon, Lin Qiao''s foot was covered in a thin layer of ice, which quickly spread to the ground.


    Lin Qiao''s heart thumped a little when Yang Jianhua grasped her ankle. Then, she automatically popped her claws and swung her arm at his hand.


    Puff! Yang Jianhua''s hand was cut off and blood splashed out.


    "Ah!" Yang Jianhua burst in howls. He popped his eyes and held his broken arm as he began struggling intensely, his face blushed in pain.


    Lin Qiao put down her foot, ignoring its frozen state as she stood there. Then, she raised her claws and again swung at Yang Jianhua.


    Puff!


    The twitching and struggling Yang Jianhua suddenly stopped moving.


    Next, his head moved slightly downward, and then a thin blood-red line slowly emerged on his neck. After that, his head fell off.


    Lin Qiao lowered her head and glanced at her own feet. The frozen part of her foot was really cold. But, that was all she felt.


    As she waved a hand, the giant cloud of dark mist immediately gathered toward her palm. She also crooked a finger of her other hand. Following that move, a faint wisp of mist drifted out of the cloud and sank to her feet, covering the ice on her foot.


    In just a few seconds, she shook her foot, then walked toward Yang Jianhua''s body.


    The shoes on her frozen foot and the trousers around her ankle had both disappeared, so she was baring one foot now.


    She walked to Yang Jianhua''s body and kicked his head with her foot which had a shoe on, then started talking coldly.


    "I had told you not to talk nonsense, but you refused to listen. If you had listened to me, you wouldn''t die so soon. I was going to let you live a couple of minutes longer, yet you brought death to yourself."


    Finishing talking, she bent over and picked up Yang Jianhua''s head, then crooked a finger and sent a wisp of dark mist to the head. The mist instantly created a hole on the head. After that, she put a finger into the hole and dug out Yang Jianhua''s energy nucleus, which had newly upgraded into level-seven.


    "Eh? He died so soon?" Qiu Lili''s voice was heard.


    "Yeah, he broke into level-seven not long ago. He wasn''t as hard to deal with as that robber leader," Lin Qiao turned and glanced at Qiu Lili, but found a large group of zombies behind her drooling at the dead body by her feet.


    She raised a hand and sent out a stream of dark mist. The mist quickly covered the body, and before long, the entire body was gone, not even leaving a drop of blood.


    Qiu Lili looked at Yang Jianhua''s head and said with dislike, "Ew¡­ Why are you keeping the head?"


    "Did that man talk?" Lin Qiao glanced at the head which was still bleeding and asked.


    "Ah, his name is Liu Yu. He''s already freaked out. He said that he''ll do whatever we want him to do, as long as we don''t kill him," Qiu Lili said while fiddling with her hair.


    Lin Qiao nodded; she wasn''t surprised. "Em, I sensed some of his mental reactions when I caught him and brought him in," she said. "He is a coward, which is why I left him to you with no worries."


    Qiu Lili glanced at her with surprise; she didn''t know that before.


    Lin Qiao held Yang Jianhua''s head and said, "Alright, let''s get out. We need to defuse the bombs in the base first, or they might go off and cause casualties when people come here in the future."


    After saying that, she turned and headed toward the small building.


    Liu Yu was standing in a corner. As Lin Qiao walked in with Yang Jianhua''s head, he immediately popped his eyes in shock.


    "Chief¡­ Chief Yang¡­ No, Yang Jianhua¡­ is¡­ dead!" Liu Yu gazed straight at the head as if he was looking at the ghost. He couldn''t even believe his own eyes.


    Lin Qiao directly put the head on the tea table. The blood from Yang Jianhua''s broken neck wasn''t dried and dripped onto the table, making Zombie Number Eight, which was standing aside, stare at the head eagerly.


    "Stop looking at it¡­ It''s not for you," Lin Qiao gave Zombie Number Eight a glance, then stood up and picked up a glass before walking into the kitchen. There, she opened the lid of a bucket and fetched a glass of water.


    "Here, this is for you¡­ Take it!" Coming out of the kitchen, she handed the glass to Zombie Number Eight.


    The tall and sturdy Zombie Number Eight trotted to her and happily reached out his hands before taking over the glass and then moving to the side.


    "Em, Zombie Number Eight, you can leave now," Lin Qiao pointed at the door and told him to go out. Receiving her order, Zombie Number Eight immediately turned and walked out.


    After that, Lin Qiao turned around and talked to Liu Yu, who was still staring at Yang Jianhua''s head with widened eyes. "Oi, you''re willing to go out and defuse those bombs, aren''t you? Let''s go then. We''ll get out now."

 475 She Sneaked Away Again

    Lin Qiao went South to take care of Yang Jianhua, and back in the Upper City Base, Wu Chengyue got the news about her leaving the day after she left.


    "You said¡­ she went South? Did she mention why?" Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling as he looked at Xiao Licheng, who brought the news to him. He was a little surprised.


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "I don''t know when she left, but based on what I heard from Lin Wenwen and the other girls, she has left already."


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and then said, "Isn''t she developing the Mount Wu area? Why is she suddenly going South? Did the farming work in the mountain area stop?"


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and said, "No. They''re still working on the farm. Chen Yuting''s wife and the other few zombies are doing the job. Eh¡­ That place is filled with zombies. Except for Shen Yujen, the male zombie who always follows behind Miss. Lu is also there. There are also a few level three and four zombies, and the short-haired young female zombie."


    "Ah, she left them there. Doesn''t she need to manage them? Isn''t she afraid that there might be an accident? And, why on earth did she go to the South? How long will she be there? Have you found out about that yet?" Wu Chengyue was surprised that Lin Qiao had actually sneaked away again, and this time, she went so far away. Why did she suddenly go South?


    "Well¡­ not yet. But, I''ve heard that her destination is the Hades Base. That short-haired young female zombie has been managing the few high-leveled zombies in Mount Wu area. I felt that her vibe has changed. I guess she has upgraded. Also, she can talk human language too now," Xiao Licheng had been paying some attention to the few zombies who were often around Miss Lu.


    Hearing his words, Wu Chengyue was puzzled, "Eh? Hasn''t that super-long-haired young female zombie been managing the other zombies? Why did it become the short-haired one?"


    He thought Lin Qiao left alone, so he was surprised to hear what Xiao Licheng said.


    "That twin-tailed girl zombie seems to have left with Miss. Lu. I don''t see her in the base now," Xiao Licheng shook his head and said. Earlier on, he noticed that the long-haired zombie, who looked like a high school girl, liked to stand on the highest spot on the roof to feel the wind. But today, she was missing the whole day.


    Thinking about Miss Lu who had already left, Xiao Licheng felt that that zombie girl might have left along with her.


    Wu Chengyue thought of something, then raised a finger and waved it slightly as he asked, "Em, you just mentioned that short-haired zombie girl¡­ that zombie queen, right? You said that she upgraded, so do you mean that¡­ she''s a zombie dominator now?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded and responded, "Yeah, that''s highly possible!"


    Wu Chengyue sighed, "The level-seven beings who have been guarding this base aren''t human beings, but zombies. The world would be shaken if the others knew about this. Don''t forget to black out the news. Don''t let suspicious people find out about it."


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng responded, then asked, "Um¡­ chief, we''ve seen her, and we''ve seen this place. Should we head home now?"


    ''We''ve been here for many days! Aren''t we leaving yet?'' he thought while he stared at Wu Chengyue with a meaningful look.


    Wu Chengyue noticed the look in Xiao Licheng''s eyes. He raised his head to glance at the ceiling, then suddenly lowered his head to look at Wu Yueling.


    "Ling Ling, your Zombie Mom has left to do something important. Let''s go home! We''ll come back to play with her when she returns, okay?"


    He thought his daughter, who was clearly preparing to betray him and choose the zombie lady, would be unhappy to hear his suggestion, as she was so looking forward to see the zombie lady. She had only seen her twice so far, so she would probably be reluctant to leave now.


    Wu Yueling was playing with the grass doll. To Wu Chengyue''s surprise, she raised her head to glance at him, then quickly nodded.


    Wu Chengyue paused for a second, then turned to Xiao Licheng and asked, "Eh? She nodded. Does it mean that she agrees to go?"


    Xiao Licheng looked at him confusedly, "Um, yeah, I think so! She nodded after all¡­ Is there a problem?"


    Wu Chengyue murmured, "I thought she wouldn''t want to go¡­"


    Wu Yueling glanced at him again, then continued playing with her doll. Wu Chengyue asked her again, "Ling Ling, you just agreed to go home with Daddy, right?"


    Wu Yueling raised her head and nodded at her Daddy, then looked at him with confusion.


    Yeah, she agreed. Why was Daddy asking the same question again?


    After confirming that his daughter had truly agreed to go, Wu Chengyue sighed with relief, "We''ll go back tomorrow morning."


    Wu Yueling quickly nodded at him again, then turned away from him.


    "Good! Tell the others to rest well and get ready. We''ll head back to Sea City Base tomorrow morning," Wu Chengyue said to Xiao Licheng.


    "Yes, sir! I will make some arrangements later," Xiao Licheng nodded.


    "Also, tell Yuan Tianxing and his people that we''ll be leaving, and ask them to find a¡­ eh, a guide to escort us out of the zombie wall. Otherwise, we might be stuck in zombie crowds again," Wu Chengyue suddenly recalled the zombie crowd that he and his people encountered when they came.


    "Alright, I''ll do it!" Xiao Licheng nodded again.


    "Go!" Wu Chengyue waved a hand at him.


    Watching Xiao Licheng turn and leave, Wu Chengyue crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the couch.


    Why did the zombie lady leave at this time? She headed to Hades Base. What was she going to do there?


    Wu Chengyue had learned about her identity from Lu Tianyi, so he didn''t understand why she worked together with the Hades Base people.


    First of all, she was from the Sea City Base. She had become a zombie, and at first, she was indeed unable to come back to Sea City Base. However, that shouldn''t be a reason for her to go to South¡­ not to mention the fact that she was clearly there to find Lin Feng and his family.


    At first, Wu Chengyue felt nothing strange about her going South. However, he started to feel confused ever since he learned that she was Lu Tianyu.


    How did a Sea City Base member know the Hades Base people? Those people she knew were the families of the leader of Hades Base. What connected her and those people?


    And, the zombie lady was actually building a new base with those Hades Base people! Wu Chengyue had been observing her and those Hades Base people recently, and now, he had a question to ask.


    The zombie lady was trying everything she could to protect the Hades Base. Why?


    He had even dug into Lu Tianyu''s background. However, he found that Lu Tianyu had nothing to do with them.


    Why was she protecting them then?


    Earlier on when the Zombie Lady rushed to South with his Ling Ling, Hades Base was already broken. However, Lu Tianyu didn''t go there sooner, but only headed there after becoming a zombie.


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t figure out why she didn''t go there earlier.


    ''She has so many secrets! It''s making me more and more curious!''

 476 He Is Really Ambitious

    He came close to the zombie lady with a strong curiosity in the first place. However, before his old questions were answered, new ones had emerged.


    And now, she had sneaked away!


    Lu Tianyu used to be a woman hated by everyone. But, since she became a zombie, she was less flamboyant, had a low sense of presence, and disappeared all the time.


    She was like a totally different person!


    Moreover, she was traceless. With a little carelessness, Wu Chengyue let her sneak away again.


    He looked at Wu Yueling and suddenly realized that that zombie lady seemed to be the only cure of his daughter''s illness. Wu Yueling''s emotion swung drastically because of her. She could easily turn upset, but once she saw her, the little girl would be happy.


    Wu Chengyue used to be nervous every time Wu Yueling was down.


    When Ling Ling''s illness was worse, she was not only down in spirit, but also would hurt herself. Sometimes, she even refused to communicate with her father. No one could get close to her, because once someone tried to approach her, she would burst in screams immediately, and even hit her head on the wall. In the worst case, she would directly fall unconscious.


    Later on, Doctor Liang found Moli, who was a possessor of spirit power, and asked her to comfort Ling Ling.


    Last time when Ling Ling was taken away by Lu Tianyu, he was so worried that the girl might be stimulated and her illness might attack. So back then, he even wanted to strike that woman straight to death with lightning, no matter who she was.


    However, when he brought Ling Ling back from the zombie lady, he was surprised to find that Ling Ling was in a very good condition.


    He also found a new, protective type of energy inside Ling Ling''s body.


    He didn''t know what the zombie lady had done to Ling Ling, so he was curious about her the whole time.


    That night, Xiao Licheng received a special message, so he immediately went to Wu Chengyue''s room. "Chief, the leader of Earth Dragon Base and a large troop of his people suddenly stationed five miles away from our base, and never talked to our people," he held a piece of paper and said to Wu Chengyue.


    Hearing Earth Dragon Base''s name, Wu Chengyue was puzzled for a second.


    "The leader of Earth Dragon Base? Long Yubai? Why did he suddenly come to East China? What did he come for? Since he''s stationed around our base without informing us, has Zou taken any action yet?"


    "Chief Zou prepares to wait for another night. If Long Yubai still doesn''t send a man to inform our people why he''s there by tomorrow, he will send someone to warn him," said Xiao Licheng.


    Wu Chengyue nodded, "Em, I think Zou is right. But, I heard that Long Yubai is a scheming person. I guess he does want something from us, and I feel that he''s up to no good."


    "What does he want? Didn''t he just conquer Hades Base? Is Sea City Base his next target?" Xiao Licheng thought for a moment and then said uncertainly.


    A bright gleam of light flashed across Wu Chengyue''s slender eyes as he said smilingly, "If he has such a great ambition, I''d like to see if he has that kind of ability too."


    Xiao Licheng responded with disbelief, "Does he really have that kind of plan? No way! That''s way too greedy! Isn''t Hades Base enough for him?"


    "An ambitious man will want to swallow the entire world. He has only swallowed one single base. It''s nothing for him," Wu Chengyue glanced at Xiao Licheng with a smile.


    "So¡­ he does want our base, doesn''t he? With his current power?" Xiao Licheng looked at Wu Chengyue with surprise, as the latter actually tended to believe his guess.


    "I don''t know him well, but judging by what he had done, I think that if I were him, I''d give it a try. If I have the ambition but not the power, I''d figure out a way to attain the power. You see, didn''t he have to join hands with other bases to destroy the Hades Base? Do you think Earth Dragon Base is strong enough to break Hades Base, which was slightly stronger?" Wu Chengyue said.


    "Also, his first step was made too successfully. That''s why he seems so confident about his next step," Xiao Licheng followed Wu Chengyue''s thoughts and added.


    "Indeed!" Wu Chengyue nodded, "But, I guess that even if he does have his eyes on our base, he won''t take action so soon. After all, he still needs to find out exactly how strong we are."


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "If what you said is true, he came to our place with no good intentions indeed."


    Wu Chengyue waved a hand and said, "Alright, let''s see what he''ll do tonight. If he keeps staying there without talking to Zou, we''ll warn him on our way back tomorrow."


    As Xiao Licheng turned and left, Wu Chengyue''s face darkened.


    He had just gotten rid of the internal enemy not long ago. Did he need to face enemies from the outside already? This was really a year of troubles for Sea City Base. The strength of the base hadn''t gone to a higher level yet. On the contrary, with Yang Chao''s death, the overall power of the base had actually declined.


    Wu Chengyue suddenly felt a storm was going to arrive at his base.


    ¡­


    Next morning, Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling got up from the bed. He watched her learn to freshen up, then carried her back to the bed to change clothes. Right at that moment, someone knocked on his door.


    Wu Yueling had already finished wearing pants. While Wu Chengyue was putting her coat on her, he turned to the door and said, "Come in."


    The door was immediately opened and Xiao Licheng walked in. He closed the door from the inside and then walked to the living room, looking at Wu Chengyue.


    "Chief, Long Yubai moved. He left last night," he said.


    "Eh? He left? Where to?" Wu Chengyue dressed his daughter, then looked at Xiao Licheng with surprise. While asking the question, he carried Wu Yueling out of the bedroom.


    "Eh¡­ Over here, to Hangzhou City. They''re in Jianggan District now, the edge of the city. They''ve stationed there." The look in Xiao Licheng''s eyes was a little strange as he responded, "According to the message I''ve received, his people had sneaked into our base last night to try to find out the whereabouts of Deputy Chief Yuan and his people. And¡­ he seems to be especially interested in you¡­"


    Xiao Licheng couldn''t even finish his words. By ''interested in'', he meant something special.


    Many people had heard that Long Yubai from the Earth Dragon Base was actually a gay, and had no interest in women at all. In his eyes, even the prettiest woman was like a piece of duster cloth. However, he was interested in all kinds of men.


    So, when Xiao Licheng heard his subordinates say that Long Yubai''s people had asked some detailed questions about Wu Chengyue, he immediately made that kind of guess. So now, he was looking at Wu Chengyue with¡­ sympathy.


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue didn''t respond.

 477 Stay And Watch The Show

    Seeing the look on Xiao Licheng''s face, Wu Chengyue immediately figured out what he meant by ''interested in'', looking at the other with a big frown.


    "But, I''m not interested in him!" He glared at Xiao Licheng, who seemed to both feel sorry and gloat over his misfortune.


    Xiao Licheng immediately nodded knowingly and said, "No, no, you''re only interested in Miss. Lu now."


    Back then, when Xiao Licheng learned that the zombie lady was Lu Tianyu, he was so shocked.


    Who could have imagined that she was that disgusting woman who liked to bully the others and help Yang Chao to do evil, and was hated by the entire base?


    She used to wear super-thick makeup which looked even like stage face-paint. But now, she was always without makeup. She had really been wasting her pretty face before.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Wu Yueling, then pointed at her and said, "I''m not interested in Miss. Lu. She is."


    Xiao Licheng rolled his eyes. He wasn''t blind, and he could totally tell Wu Chengyue''s obvious intentions. Not long ago, Wu Chengyue said that he would marry her!


    "Alright, let''s talk about the important thing," Wu Chengyue waved a hand and continued, "Is he really here to look for Yuan Tianxing and his people? How many people did he bring? What about the armed force?"


    Xiao Licheng immediately wore a serious look, saying, "About two-thousand people, five large trucks, over ten medium-sized armed vehicles, and five armed off-road cars. Long Yubai himself takes an extra luxurious RV. The armed vehicles all carry short range blaster cannons, as well as air defense artillery and long-range artillery. Those are some serious weapons!"


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face started fading. "He''s so bold that he showed up around our base with such a strong armed force!"


    Showing up around some other people''s base with such a strong armed force, the owners of that base had every reason to question him about his purpose. With that, a war could be started easily.


    Was he there to show off, or to provoke Sea City Base people?


    "You''re right! I wonder if he came to show up or challenge us," Xiao Licheng nodded in agreement.


    Wu Chengyue responded, "He''s lucky that he left last night. Only Zou would let him stay there for a night."


    Wu Chengyue wouldn''t even let Long Yubai stay around his base for over an hour with that armed force if he were in the base.


    "He''s stationing in Jianggan District now. Is he here for Yuan Tianxing and Lin Family people?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "I''m not sure yet. However, based on the fact that he sent his people into our base to look for Yuan Tianxing, I think so. As for why he is stationed in Jianggan District, I think it''s because Hangzhou City is a zombie city. I guess they haven''t found out that Yuan Tianxing and his people are in the city center," Xiao Licheng suddenly got a little excited, as there might be a great show to watch.


    He wondered how Long Yubai would react and what he would do next when he found out that Yuan Tianxing and his people were building a new base in the center of Hangzhou City.


    "It seems that he doesn''t know everything yet. Let''s see if he has the courage to enter the city. Send some people to watch them. Let''s find out what they''re up to. Also, we won''t go back today. We''ll stay here and see what Long Yubai is planning to do," said Wu Chengyue smilingly.


    "Chief, if you want to stay and watch the show, just say it," Xiao Licheng rolled his eyes again.


    "Well, you can say that indeed, but can''t you make it sound slightly better? For example, I might be worrying about Yuan Tianxing and his people, right? After all, Long Yubai is more powerful than them," Wu Chengyue smiled at him.


    Hearing that, Xiao Licheng paused briefly. That did make sense.


    The Upper City Base was guarded by a few high-leveled zombies, but was still short-handed and in lack of weapons. Also, most of the people who lived here now were from the Sea City Base.


    Xiao Licheng crossed his arms before his chest as he looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "I think you''re right! The military strength of this base is still weak. It looks like Yuan Tianxing and his people are only under those zombies'' protection! Only they have the courage to use zombies as a shield!"


    "Yeah," Wu Chengyue smiled, "They wouldn''t dare to do it if it weren''t for Lu Tianyu the zombie."


    "That''s right! She seems to be the one connecting humans and zombies," Xiao Licheng nodded.


    ¡­


    In the Jianggan District, Long Yubai and his people were stationed in a high school. All the vehicles were parked on the playground, and groups of soldiers with guns were on patrol.


    At that moment, Long Yubai was standing on top of a school building, gazing into Hangzhou with a slightly sullen look.


    "Are you sure? Are they really in that area? Both Upper City District and Lower City District were downtown areas. Those two districts were crowded before, so after the apocalypse, the city directly became a zombie city. Who dares to build a base in that place? Do those few people have that kind of power?"


    When he heard that Yuan Tianxing and his people might have been building a new base in Hangzhou City, he immediately felt that he was fooled.


    Lin Ruifeng responded, "But, the other areas have been quiet the whole time. The noises have only been heard from the city center. Don''t we need to send some people to scout that area first?"


    Long Yubai said impatiently, "Why don''t you confirm it before telling me about it? Send your people to search the area now. If they aren''t in the city, you know what to do."


    After saying that, he gave Lin Ruifeng a cold glance.


    "Yes, sir!" Lin Ruifeng lowered his head and responded, then turned and left to give orders to his people. Before long, Lin Ruifeng''s men came back with another person.


    Lin Ruifeng stood in the lobby, looking at that person who was carried over by two of his soldiers with confusion.


    "What''s going on? Who''s this?"


    That person had both his arms dragged by the soldiers, and he couldn''t stand up at all. His entire body was black, as if being burned by fire, and his lips were broken, seeming to have been cut by a knife.


    He seemed half-dead.


    The leader of that squad of soldiers looked at Lin Ruifeng and answered his question, "We heard someone crying for help miles away from here, then we found him. Then we decided to bring him back here."


    "Em¡­ Help¡­ me¡­" The man who was put on the ground weakly raised his head to look at Lin Ruifeng. He seemed to know that Lin Ruifeng was the leader of all the people on the scene.


    Lin Ruifeng observed that man and found some energy waves inside his body. Clearly, this man wasn''t one of the commoners, as he managed to survive in a zombie-crowded area in such a state.


    "Do you want us to save you? Okay, as long as you tell me what I want to know, I''ll let the doctor heal you," Lin Ruifeng looked at him and said.


    "What¡­ do you¡­ I¡­" The man''s face was dark, yet his eyes immediately glowed. He opened his broken mouth and mumbled to respond.

 478 Huang Tianfei Was Saved

    The half-dead man was rather cooperative. After all, he still wanted to live. "Who are you? What''s your name?" Lin Ruifeng asked.


    The man whose mouth was broken and entire body was burned was no one else but Huang Tianfei. Earlier on, he was thrown out of the new base by Du Yuanxing.


    He didn''t die; he was a level-five superpowered man after all. Even though he had suffered a strike from a lightning-powered one, he managed to survive, and wouldn''t die anytime soon.


    He had offended Lin Qiao. Therefore, Du Yuanxing surely wouldn''t send him back to Sea City Base. Instead, he threw him out of the zombie wall and left him there.


    He actually managed to walk out of Upper City District, all the way to Jianggan District. All the way, he had been waiting for someone to pass by and save his life.


    He was aware that the hope was slim, because the center of Hangzhou was a well-known forbidden area in the eyes of Sea City Base people. Normally, no zombie-hunting squad would come to that area.


    He was more and more despairing, but still, he didn''t want to die just like that. Before he lost hope, he suddenly saw a group of soldiers nearby, and cried for help as loudly as he could.


    He was surprised to find that those soldiers were looking for the new base of Yuan Tianxing and his people. He couldn''t tell if they were Yuan Tianxing''s friends or enemies.


    "My name¡­ Huang¡­ Huang Tianfei. I''m¡­ from¡­ Sea City¡­" Huang Tianfei answered the questions.


    "Good! Let me ask you something. Since you showed up around Hangzhou City, you should know that there''s a new base in construction nearby. Do you know where it is? As long as you give me the location, I''ll find you doctors and give you free drugs," said Lin Ruifeng.


    Huang Tianfei didn''t give the location immediately. Instead, he responded with, "I¡­ know¡­ But¡­ Heal, heal me¡­ first¡­"


    He moved his inflamed lips and talked with difficulty. While speaking, he showed a painful look.


    Lin Ruifeng spent a few seconds gazing at them in the eyes, then nodded and said, "Alright. As you claim that you know where the new base is, I''ll give you some treatment first. You''ll be able to talk when you get better, alright?"


    Huang Tianfei quickly nodded.


    He was injured heavily, but his mind remained clear. He could tell that Lin Ruifeng and his people weren''t from Sea City Base.


    He wasn''t able to sense Lin Ruifeng''s power level, meaning that the latter was definitely above level-five. As Deputy Chiefs, the few level-six people in Sea City Base were all famous in the base, and Lin Ruifeng wasn''t one of them.


    Therefore, he figured that Lin Ruifeng and his people were from another base. As they were looking for the new base, he felt that he needed to figure out their purpose before giving them the location.


    The new base side wasn''t easy to find for the people who were there for the first time. But in the future, more and more people would know about it. So now, Huang Tianfei decided to use Lin Fengrui and his people to save himself.


    He decided to buy himself some time, and also try and find out their purpose.


    Lin Ruifeng waved a hand toward the squad leader. He didn''t seem to know about the plan in Huang Tianfei''s head.


    "Go, tell the doctor to check on him and heal him as quickly as possible," he said.


    "Yes, sir!" The squad leader responded quickly, then turned and said to the two soldiers by Huang Tianfei''s side, "You two, bring him over! And you, go and find the doctor!"


    The two soldiers immediately helped Huang Tianfei up from the ground and followed behind the squad leader. After that, Lin Ruifeng said to the man beside him, "Go to Sea City Base to find out this man''s background, as soon as possible."


    "Yes, sir!" That man turned and left. Soon, he and two soldiers drove an off-road vehicle out of the school.


    Lin Ruifeng watched the car drive away, then turned and moved to the stairs. Soon, he arrived at the roof and walked toward Long Yubai, who was standing by the roof edge.


    "We found a man who''s severely injured. He seems to know where the new base is," he said.


    Long Yubai turned back and gave him a glance, then kept gazing into the distance.


    "That man is dying. Are you sure he knows the exact location?" Long Yubai said with a bland tone without looking at Lin Fengrui.


    Lin Ruifeng responded, "For now, let''s just believe that he does know. I''m going to let him guide us there. If he fails to do that, he shouldn''t blame us for having no mercy. We have made it clear enough."


    "That''ll work," Long Yubai nodded. Then, he abruptly turned around and walked to Lin Ruifeng as he said, "Give him four hours. Tell him to bring us there this afternoon. Do we know his identity yet? Is he from the Sea City Base?"


    Lin Ruifeng nodded and said, "He said so. I''ve already sent my people to Sea City to dig into his background. They''ll be back very soon."


    Long Yubai headed toward the stairs while saying, "I''m tired of standing here. Let''s go downstairs and you can give me a leg massage."


    "Yeah, sure!" Lin Ruifeng blinked and gave a wicked smile.


    At the same time, Huang Tianfei was brought to a classroom. The soldiers put some tables together, then put him on them. Soon, a man who wore a doctor''s badge on his arm walked in with a medicine case.


    He walked to the tables and observed Huang Tianfei while asking, "Are you struck by lightning?"


    The others all turned their eyes to Huang Tianfei with curiosity.


    Before he answered the question, the doctor pointed at his mouth and said, "Oh my, someone cut your mouth. Just don''t talk. Even looking at that wound makes me feel pain." After saying that, he hurriedly took out some tools to dress Huang Tianfei''s wounds.


    Huang Tianfei endured the pain and let the doctor take care of all his wounds, including the swelling and inflamed one on his mouth. Afterward, the doctor fed him some porridge-like liquid food with a tube, and then covered his mouth with gauze.


    "Alright, just rest now!" The doctor said to him and then left.


    Huang Tianfei was left lying on the table, listening to their conversations while observing those people in the classroom.


    After the doctor left, those soldiers left Huang Tianfei alone in the classroom, but stood outside. At first, they stayed quiet. But after about half an hour, they glanced at Huang Tianfei and felt that he was probably asleep, so they started whispering to each other.


    "We''re looking for Lin Family people this time, aren''t we? Are they really in Hangzhou City?"


    Those soldiers weren''t really clear about the goal of their current mission, and only had a rough idea of it.


    "We are looking for Lin Family people. Based on what we learned in Sea City Base, they''re building a new base somewhere in Hangzhou City. That''s why we headed back here."


    "What? They''re building a new base? Are you sure? There''re only a few of them left now! How can they possibly build a new base? It must be some kind of joke!"


    "Shh! Keep your voice down! Don''t wake up the patient in there¡­ I don''t know, I just heard people say it."

 479 They Have Rules

    Hearing those soldiers talking, Huang Tianfei slightly moved his eyelids. Those soldiers lowered their voices, but he was still able to hear them.


    "Last time, Yang Jianhua even followed them here, but failed to kill Lin Feng and his people. And, he was shameless enough to go back. How useless!"


    "I don''t think he was here to kill Lin Family people. I guess he came to bring Lin Qiao''s little sister back so he could play with her. But for some reason, he failed. Otherwise, how could he go back alone? He even lost our Chief''s armed vehicles."


    "You''re right! Those were ten armed vehicles, and he just lost them. I think our Chief was pretty unhappy about that."


    "Tell me about it!"


    Hearing those words, Huang Tianfei slightly opened his eyes, and a delighted look flashed across them. If his mouth weren''t injured and wrapped in gauze, he would curve his lips and give a smile delightedly.


    ''It turns out that these soldiers are here to hunt Yuan Tianxing and his people! Haha! Good! Since they''re his enemies, I''ll surely show them the way. I''ll even guide them there myself!'' He thought.


    He spent a couple of hours resting, then struggled up from those tables.


    Hearing the noises he made, those soldiers turned to find him sitting up. So, they all walked into the room.


    "How do you feel? Any better?" A soldier walked to him and asked.


    Huang Tianfei nodded, then made a gesture of writing, and then pointed at his own mouth.


    "Ah, you want a pen and paper, right? I get it. Wait a moment!" Seeing his gesture, the squad leader immediately understood his meaning. He found a notebook and a pen, then handed both to Huang Tianfei.


    Huang Tianfei took over the pen and the notebook, then quickly wrote¡ª''I know the place that your boss is looking for. I can guide you there. But, can you heal me?''


    He was aware that he was not in a good state. Back in Sea City Base, the medicines that he needed would cost him a great deal of zombie nuclei, so he decided to make a deal with those people and heal himself first.


    He tore the piece paper off from the notebook, then handed it to the squad leader. The latter read his note, then glanced at him.


    "You need to wait for a minute. I''m gonna go and ask my boss what he thinks." The squad leader turned and left with the note. Soon, he found Lin Ruifeng and Long Yubai, who were in the RV. The door of the RV wasn''t closed.


    He stood outside and said to the two, "Chief, Deputy Chief, that man said that he can guide us to that place, but on one condition." While speaking, he handed the note inside.


    The two in the RV were drinking wine. Hearing what he said, both of them looked surprised. Lin Ruifeng moved to the door and took over the note.


    "Eh? Is he so proactive? What''s the condition? Ah, he wants us to heal him. Good! He didn''t say that we need to make sure that he recovers. Alright, let him come with us. If he really can take us there, we can surely give him some more medicines. Go and tell him to write down the location. We''ll send some scouts first." Lin Ruifeng read the note while speaking to the squad leader.


    "Yes, sir!" The squad leader responded and then turned to head back to Huang Tianfei.


    Hearing the message that the squad leader brought back, Huang Tianfei shook his head and refused to write down the location. ''No need to write it down. They''re right in the center of Huang Tianfei City. Tell your boss to go straight there. But, there''s one thing that I need to make it clear with you now. To approach those people, you first need to go through a giant zombie crowd,'' he wrote on the notebook.


    "Zombie crowd? I heard that the center of Hangzhou has always been a zombie city. It''s normal to see zombie crowds there. Why did you have to point it out specifically?" The squad leader didn''t understand.


    Huang Tianfei wrote¡ª''No, well¡­ How should I describe it¡­ That zombie crowd isn''t the same as normal zombie groups in zombie cities. They''re like a zombie army. They take action together, and they follow rules.''


    Reading the note, the squad leader was very confused. He looked at Huang Tianfei and said with disbelief, "Like an army? Follow rules? I don''t think that''s possible. Is it because a zombie king or queen has been controlling them? Even if it''s a zombie crowd under a zombie king or queen''s control, it wouldn''t be like what you said¡­"


    In the territory of every zombie king or queen, the zombie crowd under its control could be seen. However, each zombie queen or king could only control a limited number of lower-leveled zombies. Only the zombies at level-seven, or even level-eight great zombies were able to turn a group of lower-level zombies into a zombie army!


    Did level-eight great zombies really exist in this world? Level-seven zombies did exist, but they were very rare.


    ''No, they are not controlled by a zombie king or queen. They''re controlled by those people in the base.'' Huang Tianfei gave the answer in his own head.


    Since that day when Du Yuanxing attacked him and threw him out, he had been carefully thinking about the situation in Upper City Base, especially the zombie crowd that he had seen in the outer base. Those zombies gave him a weird feeling.


    However, as those soldiers didn''t seem to believe him at all, he didn''t say anything else. Instead, he wrote on the notebook¡ª''I''m just trying to warn you. If anything strange happens when you get there, don''t blame me for not telling you.''


    The squad leader read the note. He didn''t believe Huang Tianfei, but still felt that he should bring his note to Lin Ruifeng.


    "Alright, I get it. Since you don''t want to write down the location, you need to show us the way yourself. Relax, we''ll change fresh dressings on your wounds."


    After that, the squad leader told Lin Ruifeng about what he said and showed his note to him.


    "Ah, he doesn''t want to write down the location, does he? Since he''s willing to guide us, we''ll start moving in a minute. Gather the troops and get ready to move."


    "Yes, sir!" The squad leader immediately turned to gather the troops.


    Holding Huang Tianfei''s note, Lin Ruifeng asked Long Yubai, "See, it says that they''re in the center of Hangzhou City. That place must be crowded with zombies. Why are they building a new base there? How are they gonna deal with all those zombies? Aren''t they afraid that those zombies might just swallow them?"


    Long Yubai lazily took over one of Huang Tianfei''s notes and gave it a look.


    "He mentioned here that those zombies follow rules and act together as an army¡­ What does this mean? Even under a zombie king or queen''s control, those zombies can''t possibly follow rules and act together like an army. Is this man joking with us?" He said scornfully while reading Huang Tianfei''s note about those zombies.


    Lin Ruifeng leaned over to read that note, then shook his head and laughed, "Who knows? We''ll find out when we get there."

 480 Sit Here And Wait For The Show To Star

    The squad leader brought his boss'' words to Huang Tianfei and told him that they would start moving soon. The latter seemed to have seen that coming. He nodded in agreement, but then started writing again.


    ''I''m having difficulties in moving now¡­ I may need your help.''


    The squad leader glanced at him, then nodded, "No problem." After that, he turned to the few soldiers and said, "Get him onto the car first."


    "Yes, sir!" Two of those soldiers immediately helped Huang Tianfei up, then carried him out of the room.


    Before long, Long Yubai''s motorcade started moving toward the city.


    In Upper City Base, Wu Chengyue was listening to Xiao Licheng''s report.


    "Huang Tianfei? Who''s that?"


    "I heard that he came earlier with the second batch of workers. He lied about his power level. He''s actually a level-five. He made some troubles since he got here. Also, he seems to be in some complicated kind of relationship with that um¡­ that lady on Miss. Lu''s side, named Liu Jun. When those two saw each other, they directly started a fight."


    Xiao Licheng told Wu Chengyue all that he had found out. He knew that Liu Jun was a zombie. While mentioning her, he almost directly called her zombie. However, he had a second thought and felt that it would sound impolite, so he changed his words.


    "Ah¡­ I guess he was here to earn the easy money. The work isn''t hard, but the workers are provided with food, accommodation, and will be paid with rice. I think he was here for the rice," Wu Chengyue nodded, thinking about why Huang Tianfei came here.


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "I think you''re right. The little boy on Miss. Lu''s side is probably his son. That day, he attempted to take the boy away once he saw him, but Miss. Lu stopped him."


    "His son? Why is the boy out there with a group of zombies if he''s his son?" Wu Chengyue''s faint smile faded from his face as he asked expressionlessly. He had looked into all the people and zombies around Lin Qiao. Therefore, he knew that Liu Jun was a zombie, and she was that boy''s mother.


    He was surprised to know that the boy had been living together with those zombies. Seeing that boy in such a good condition, he started to feel that those zombies were special, especially the one that his daughters liked.


    Indeed, it was Ling Ling who liked her, not him.


    "Ah, I''m not sure about that. To Liu Jun, that boy is even more important than her own life even though she has become a zombie. Since she met Miss. Lu, the boy had been living with them. Huang Tianfei joined our base a couple of months ago. Before that, he was a resident of Hades Base. For some reason, he suddenly ran to our base with his wife and son. However, he abandoned his wife and son out there on his way, letting them face all those zombies alone."


    While telling that story, Xiao Licheng got angry.


    What kind of man was he? He was nothing but a scum! How could he abandon his wife and son but run away alone?


    Wu Chengyue nodded.


    He had a precious girl, so he deeply understood what being a parent might feel like. He would never abandon Ling Ling unless he died¡­ He just couldn''t do it. He would even give up the whole base for that little girl.


    So, he hated the men like Huang Tianfei who abandoned their wives and children even more than Xiao Licheng, who hadn''t even married yet.


    "Then what?"


    "Ah," Xiao Licheng continued, "He tried to take the boy away right in front of Liu Jun, who surely wouldn''t let him. They argued at first, then Huang Tianfei attacked her. He was even gonna hit the boy, but Qiu Lili stopped him¡­ After that, he insulted Qiu Lili. You know Qiu Lili¡­ She''s a zombie queen. Huang Tianfei insulted her, so without a doubt, he didn''t end well. Qiu Lili cut his mouth."


    "Good job! If I were her, I''d have cut off his balls," said Wu Chengyue with a smile.


    "Chief, watch your language! There is a child!" Xiao Licheng looked at him and reminded him. After saying that, he glanced at Wu Yueling who was playing alone beside him.


    "Okay¡­" Wu Chengyue responded.


    After that, Xiao Licheng kept talking, "Then, Huang Tianfei released his power. But, he was defeated very soon. After that, Du Yuanxing threw him out of the base and left them there. I thought he wouldn''t be able to survive or even make his way back to Sea City Base so easily. Unexpectedly, Long Yubai''s people found him."


    "Long Yubai seems to be quite lucky. He actually found someone who can guide them here. Let''s see if Huang Tianfei has the guts to come back here with Long Yubai or not. If he really came back, Licheng, find a way to take care of him," said Wu Chengyue blandly while rubbing his chin.


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng nodded.


    "Have you informed Yuan Tianxing and his people about this yet?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "Yes. I have warned them."


    Wu Chengyue stood up and held Ling Ling''s hands as he walked outside. "Ling Ling, let''s go. Let''s take you to play with your little friends," he said.


    Ling Ling looked at him confusedly. Hearing her father talk about taking her to play with her little friends, she didn''t look happy. But, she wasn''t unhappy either, and only followed her father out expressionlessly. Meanwhile, Xiao Licheng followed behind them as well.


    ¡­


    In an office on the second floor, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng and Chen Yuting were sitting and talking about what Xiao Licheng had just told them.


    "Yang Jianhua has just left, and now Long Yubai has arrived. They really don''t plan to give us a break," said Lin Feng with a cold face. Yuan Tianxing didn''t say anything, but the look on his face was sullen too.


    Unlike them, Chen Yuting asked curiously, "I haven''t asked you about the situation of your old base yet. So, Long Yubai is the leader of Earth Dragon Base. Why did he come all the way here to look for you?"


    "God knows!" said Lin Feng.


    "I don''t think we''re the real reason why he came here. We''re not his main target," Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment and then said.


    As Long Yubai''s old enemies, Yuan Tianxing and Lin Qiao knew about Earth Dragon Base''s strength, and Long Yubai and his few vice-leaders.


    Long Yubai was a discontented person. What he did to Hades Base was just a start.


    Hades Base was equally strong as his Earth Dragon Base, and was close to his base. Therefore, he chose Hades Base to be his first target.


    As a result, Hades Base was broken easily. That fact made Long Yubai start casting his greedy eyes on the other bases. He was a scheming man; he wasn''t broad-minded, but was patient indeed.


    He had enough patience to get what he wanted. He was like a poisonous snake, waiting for its targets to come closer.

 481 Temporary Defense

    Lin Feng nodded and said, "That guy isn''t capable at all, but he does know whom to ask for help. The people who''re working for him willingly are all rather powerful. They just have problems controlling their own desire!"


    Hearing what he said, Chen Yuting glanced at him awkwardly, and Yuan Tianxing made no response.


    "So, what should we do now? I heard that he came with a pretty strong army. His armed vehicles are all equipped with long-range and short-range artillery and mini cannons. We have nothing but a zombie wall. Can we survive their attack?" Chen Yuting said with worry.


    Yuan Tianxing responded, "Our main job is to defend against his weapons. Long Yubai is at level-seven with water power. As long as we''re not near a river, lake, or ocean, we don''t need to be afraid of him. The earth will defeat the water. I''ll hold off his power for now. However, we have no way to fend off those weapons."


    "You''re right. Long Yubai''s armed vehicles have always been hard to deal with. According to Xiao Licheng, he brought over ten armed vehicles. If those armed vehicles fire at the zombie crowd together, even tens of thousands of zombies would be wiped out," Lin Feng nodded and agreed.


    "So, we need to figure out a way to deal with those armed vehicles, right?" Chen Yuting asked.


    "We also need to keep an eye on Long Yubai, because Upper City District is pretty close to Qian River. If he turned the water in Qian River into a flood and sent it toward us, we''d be in trouble. That''s why I said that I can only hold off his power temporarily, but not for long," Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said.


    "Also, we don''t know which one of his deputy chiefs is with him now. None of the few men around him are easy to deal with. In our base, we''re the only level-six ones. If one of us went to fight his deputy chiefs, the other two would need to combine their powers to defend against armed vehicles. Thus, no one would be left to deal with Long Yubai himself."


    "That''s not true. Chief Wu is here, isn''t he? He wouldn''t just sit aside and watch," said Chen Yuting.


    "Ah, should we go and talk to that¡­ Mengmeng? Before Miss. Lu left, she told us that Mengmeng is a powerful one too now, and that we can ask her for help if anything happened in the base," Lin Feng suddenly recalled the message that Mrs. Lin had brought him.


    Both Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting had their eyes glowed. Just now, they actually forgot that the new base didn''t only belong to them; it was also a base of zombies.


    Yuan Tianxing stood up and said, "Alright, I''ll send a man to the fifth floor and ask them."


    After saying that, he turned and walked to the door. Then, he opened the door and said to Lin Yu, who was guarding outside, "Lin Yu, go to the fifth floor to find Miss. Liu, and ask her to bring Mengmeng back from Mount. Wu area. Tell her that this is an emergency."


    Lin Yu was puzzled for a second, but soon understood his meaning. "Sure, I''ll do it now!"


    Then, he turned and left to find Liu Jun. He didn''t want to talk to those zombies, but he had no choice, as it was an order from Yuan Tianxing.


    Yuan Tianxing closed the door and turned around to continue talking with Lin Feng and Chen Yuting.


    "I''m really surprised that Huang Tianfei wasn''t eaten by zombies¡­ He actually ran into Long Yubai and his people. But still, I guess it''ll take them a while to find us," Lin Feng said with a frown, as he wasn''t so happy when thinking about Huang Tianfei, who was mentioned by Xiao Licheng earlier.


    "He''s lucky indeed. It has been so many days, and he''s even injured¡­ Doesn''t he have some complicated issue with Miss Liu on the fifth floor? We should just give him to her and her friends if we get him," said Chen Yuting.


    Right at that moment, someone knocked on the door. The three in the room paused briefly, then turned together to the door and saw it open.


    "Boss, it''s Chief Wu!" Feng Yuming pushed the door open and walked in.


    "Ah, tell him to come in!" Yuan Tianxing and the other two immediately stood up to welcome Wu Chengyue. Feng Yuming opened the door wider, then stepped outside and gestured Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng in.


    Next, Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng walked into the office. Behind him, a couple of kids stuck their heads out from behind the door. Those were Lin Xiaolu, Tongtong, and Ling Ling. They were curiously looking at those adults in the office.


    Lin Xiaolu happened to make eye contact with her father. She immediately walked in, then stood by the door and said to Lin Feng, "Daddy, can we play with Ling Ling?"


    Lin Feng paused for a second; he was surely fine with it. He glanced at Wu Yueling who stood quietly beside his daughter, then turned to Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue noticed the look in his eyes, so he smiled and responded, "Why are you looking at me? Let the kids play. Just send a man to keep an eye on them."


    Hearing that, Lin Feng said to Lin Xiaolu, "Take Ling Ling to your Mom. Don''t go anywhere else. You''re older, so you need to take care of the younger kids. Do you understand?"


    Lin Xiaolu nodded obediently, then happily held Tongtong''s hand and went out. She wanted to hold Wu Yueling''s hand too, but the latter didn''t let her. Also, Tongtong was younger than both her and Wu Yueling, so Lin Xiaolu figured that she should hold his hand.


    As Wu Yueling left with Lin Xiaolu, Wu Chengyue''s soldiers quietly followed behind those kids without waiting for Wu Chengyue''s order.


    After Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng entered and the few kids went out, Feng Yuming stepped back into the office and closed the door. Yuan Tianxing pointed at a chair and said, "Please take a seat! We were going to find you in a moment, but you brought yourself here in advance."


    Wu Chengyue sat down and responded smilingly, "Ah, you''re talking about Long Yubai, right? Tell, me, what I can do to help? I plan to stay a little longer now."


    "Yes. We were talking about his weapons and powers. Long Yubai has water power, and Upper City District is near the Qian River. If he went to the river and created a flood, we wouldn''t be able to hold on for long. So, we must keep him away from Qian River. Also, we need to figure out a way to defend against his weapons," Yuan Tianxing looked at him and said.


    Wu Chengyue nodded, "Have you come up with an idea yet?"


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at Lin Feng, who leaned his upper body forward, resting his elbows on the table, and then crossed his fingers as he said, "We plan to strike first instead of fighting back after he breaks the zombie wall."


    "Yes! To do that, we first need someone to destroy their armed vehicles. At least, we should destroy those weapons first. In fact, that''s not a difficult task. We only need to send Qingying out. She has metal power, so she has plenty of ways to destroy those metallic weapons. But, we also need some other people to act together with her and protect her," Yuan Tianxing looked at the others and told them what he thought.

 482 Strike Firs

    Lin Feng''s eyes glowed as he clapped his hands and said, "That''ll work! I almost forgot about Qingying''s metal power. Both her and Wenwen have been having a low presence lately."


    "Yes, that''ll work. Take the opportunity to strike first instead of waiting until Long Yubai arrives at our place. I guess he doesn''t know that we already know about his whereabouts yet. We need to destroy some of his weapons before he approaches the zombie wall, or those ordinary zombies won''t last for long," Wu Chengyue nodded, as he too felt that Yuan Tianxing''s plan would work.


    The other three nodded in agreement as well.


    Those weapons were indeed very destructive. A cannonball would wipe out a giant number of zombies. Despite the huge population of zombies in the city, the zombie wall would eventually collapse under his heavy fire.


    "Where did Long Yubai find all those powerful weapons," Wu Chengyue looked at Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, abruptly throwing out a question. He had heard that Long Yubai had joined hands with some other bases to attack the Hades Base. Those powerful weapons didn''t look like something the Earth Dragon Base should have.


    Wu Chengyue guessed that Long Yubai borrowed those weapons from other bases. As for why those bases lent him those weapons, there might be some secret deals to make that happen.


    "So¡­ whom should we send with Qingying?" Chen Yuting asked, "We''re already short-handed, but that mission definitely needs a capable squad."


    Hearing that question, both Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng stayed silent to think about the men under their command.


    Chen Yuting was right; they were short-handed indeed. Long Qingying was a level-five superpowered person, and her power was special. So, her safety needed to be ensured.


    Long Yubai''s armed vehicles were already very hard to deal with. Apart from those, he might have some other weapons too, which couldn''t be told for sure right now.


    They needed to send someone equally powerful with Long Qingying to protect her. Currently, Long Qingying, Du Yuanxing, Li Zheng, Cheng Wangxue and Lin Wenwen were the only level-five ones in the base. Lin Wenwen was also at level-five, but she had space-power, so she didn''t count.


    Right at that moment, the door was knocked again. Feng Yuming opened the door and let in a young lady who looked like a high school student, but with dark eyes and green pupils.


    "I can protect her. But when I leave, someone else needs to guard this place. Can you guys do that?"


    Yun Meng walked in. She was talking to Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, but her weird black-green eyes were fixed on Wu Chengyue.


    That was quite an obvious hint.


    Yuan Tianxing and the others immediately turned to Wu Chengyue as well. The look in their eyes wasn''t as straightforward as the one in Yun Meng''s, but clearly, they were almost begging him for help.


    "Alright! Since you''ve mentioned it, I''ll do it. I''m your partner anyway. Of course, I won''t just sit aside and watch when you''re having a trouble," Wu Chengyue spread his hands and responded with a smile.


    Yun Meng then turned to Yuan Tianxing and said, "No one is more suitable than me. If you go, I''d have to send a high-leveled zombie to open the gate for you. So, I might as well go by myself."


    She was very confident about her current power. Added with the fact that the area outside the base was crowded by zombies now, she was indeed the most suitable person for the mission.


    "You alone?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her with concern, "You and Qingying alone? It''ll still be too dangerous for you two girls."


    He wasn''t worried about their abilities, but about the fact that they might not be able to figure out what Long Yubai was attempting.


    "Don''t you believe in my abilities? Or, don''t you believe in my IQ?" Seeing the look on Yuan Tianxing''s face, Yun Meng actually knew what he was thinking. So, she directly threw out a question.


    To respond to her, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and the others nodded together.


    Yun Meng''s face was no longer covered in scales, and she was able to talk now. However, she had impressed Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng too deeply before when she was still that crazy Mengmeng. So now, those two men just didn''t manage to adapt the sane-looking Yun Meng for a short while.


    After all, Mengmeng used to play with Xiaolu and Tongtong, and look like a kid.


    Seeing their expressions, Yun Meng was a little unhappy. They asked her for help, but didn''t trust her. What did that mean?


    She snorted, then turned her face away and said, "Alright, since you don''t think that I can do it alone, tell me, who do you think should go with me?"


    After saying that, she pulled a chair out from under the table and casually sat down. She then crossed her arms before her chest and turned her face further away.


    As the young zombie lady got a little grumpy, Yuan Tianxing hurriedly gave her a smile and said, "It''s not like that. We''re just worrying that Long Yubai might play some unexpected tricks to hurt you. After all, he''s such a sneaky guy."


    Only after hearing his more tactful words did Yun Meng turn back to look at him.


    Lin Feng thought for a moment, then said, "Du Yuanxing is not here now. So, Lin Hao, Lin Yu and Lei Yao will go with you. What do you think?"


    "Sure!" Yun Meng nodded with a faint smile.


    Soon, Yun Meng, Long Qingying, Lin Hao, Lin Yu, and Lei Yao went out of the zombie wall and headed toward where Long Yubai was.


    Yun Meng and her team left the base at noon time while Long Yubai and his people waited until Huang Tianfei woke up that afternoon and then started moving. Therefore, when they started moving, Yun Meng and her people were already pretty close to them.


    Not long after Yun Meng and her people exited Upper City District and entered Jianggan District, she told her team members to stop moving.


    "Wait a moment!"


    The others stopped immediately. She seemed to be the youngest among the whole team, but she was the strongest. Also, she had been acting calmly the whole time today, completely different from that old crazy Mengmeng.


    So, the others in the team automatically followed her words and stopped moving.


    "What?" Long Qingying asked curiously.


    Yun Meng leaned her head forward and sniffed at the air, then turned and said, "Wait! I need to find a higher spot to confirm it."


    After saying that, she hopped onto a branch nearby, then climbed on top of that tree. After that, she came out of the crown of the tree and leaped onto the tall building aside.


    At last, she climbed on top of a taller building and stood on the tallest spot on the roof, then carefully sniffed toward Jianggan District, seeming to be sensing something. Two minutes later, she leaped off that building which had over twenty floors, quietly and nimbly landing on the ground.


    "They''re over there, about five miles away from us. They''ve started moving toward us," Yun Meng walked over and said to her team.


    Long Qingying looked at Lin Hao and said, "Five miles¡­ Should we sneak over or ambush them here?"


    Lin Hao thought for a moment. He rested both hands in his pockets, and his handsome face wore a grim look. "We''ll do both. First, we sneak over to spy on them, then ambush based on the situation!"

 483 Ambush the Enemys Motorcade

    Long Qingying and the others agreed to it.


    "Okay. We''ll go over there to observe them from a shorter distance, then take action before they know." Yun Meng said with a calm voice.


    After choosing the strategy, Yun Meng immediately led her team to move toward Long Yubai and his army.


    Soon, they approached the enemies and took covers around Long Yubai''s army, observing his vehicles and the surrounding geographical features through telescopes. Long Yubai''s motorcade was arranged in a special array. Combat vehicles were at the front, rear, and both sides of the motorcade, while the off-road vehicles were at the middle-front, and the trucks were at the middle-rear.


    That array made sure that when any situation happened, no matter at the front of the troop or at the rear, the weapons on those combat vehicles would be solving the problem.


    At last, Yun Meng and her team ambushed them under a bridge.


    Under that twenty meters wide bridge was a river, a branch of Qian River with polluted water. The river wasn''t deep, but was wide. To cross the river, Long Yubai and his people had to go over the bridge.


    Yun Meng stood on the bridge and abruptly raised her head, then widened her mouth and bared her sharp teeth as she gave a roar.


    "Roar!" Her resonant voice spread far. After that, she hopped onto a tree nearby, waiting silently.


    The others had each found a place to hide; Long Qingying was right under the bridge.


    After Yun Meng gave that roar, the zombies in that area which were scared away by her vibe had all slowly come back. They shambled to the bridge and gathered around it.


    "Roar¡­" Those zombies looked around confusedly. Their faces were covered in black blood stains and dark veins, and their noses, mouths, or eyes were mostly broken. But still, they could make confused looks.


    They were summoned to this area, but they didn''t know what should they do in this place.


    They didn''t dare to leave though. They only received the order of coming to this place. Without the order of leaving, they didn''t dare to go away.


    More and more zombies came to that area and gathered on both sides of the bridge. Soon, the bridge was full of zombies too.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Those zombies swayed around, slowly moving in circles because they sensed the scents of living human beings. That sweet and tempting scent agitated them, disabling them from quieting down.


    "Roar!" At that moment, Yun Meng gave another roar.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Hearing that roar, those zombies gradually quieted down and stopped moving. But still, more zombies were gathering to this area. All the zombies within the area three miles in radius came over here without hesitation when they heard Mengmeng''s voice.


    At that moment, Long Yubai and his people, who were driving to that bridge directly, noticed that the zombies on the road were ignoring them and moving forward.


    "What? What happened to these zombies? Why are they running before us?" Long Yubai leaned against the car window and said to Lin Ruifeng with surprise.


    Lin Ruifeng had been looking outside with a surprised look as well. Hearing Long Yubai''s question, he responded. "I think I just heard a strange noise, a bit like a zombie roar¡­ Is a high-leveled zombie summoning those ordinary zombies?"


    "It''s possible," Long Yubai nodded.


    While they were looking outside, the motorcade kept moving forward. However, the road was getting more and more difficult. All the zombies nearby had shambled to the road. They weren''t attacking anyone, but they did block the road.


    Consequently, the vehicles at the front gradually slowed down.


    At that moment, Lin Ruifeng''s walkie-talkie rang. He walked to the driver''s seat and picked up the walkie-talkie before putting it near his ear.


    "Speak."


    "Deputy Chief, a lot of zombies gathered on the road and blocked the way. Should we drive over them?" A man reported about the situation.


    "No need to slow down. Put down the crusher and run over them," said Lin Ruifeng blandly.


    "Yes, sir!" That man responded quickly on the other side. Next, the armed vehicle at the front of the motorcade suddenly let down a giant shovel, and then the vehicle suddenly accelerated, rushing at the zombie crowd.


    "Roar!"


    Those slow-moving zombies weren''t prepared for that, as the vehicle with a shovel created a path in the zombie crowd.


    The giant shovel before the vehicle violently pushed all the zombies before it forward. Those zombies which were thrown to the ground immediately got back up and jumped onto that vehicle, even though that high-leveled zombie who summoned them hadn''t given any further instructions.


    Some zombies rolled under the vehicle, being cut into pieces by the giant shovel. As a result, black blood splashed all over the vehicle.


    Those zombies didn''t die immediately. Instead, they dragged their broken bodies and kept moving on the ground. As the second vehicle ran over them, they were finally flattened into puddles of sticky flesh.


    With those shovel vehicles clearing the way at the front, the motorcade raised its speed.


    "Blow them with short-range artillery," said Long Yubai.


    Lin Ruifeng turned and gave him a glance, then nodded and said, "Alright!"


    After that, he turned back around and spoke in the walkie-talkie, "Blow the zombie crowd. Don''t waste time on those stupid things."


    "Yes, sir!" The people on the other side of the walkie-talkie responded quickly. Next, the first shovel vehicle kept moving forward and pushing away the zombies while the muzzles on top of the second and the third vehicles turned and pointed at the zombie crowd.


    Bang! Following the boom, a cannonball was sent out, exploding hundreds of miles away.


    Some zombies were blown up, and the concrete road was dented, not deep enough to affect the road safety though.


    Those zombies were blown into pieces; their body pieces fell to the ground, being pushed away by the shovel cars. Yet, the motorcade was slowed down a little. By the time the motorcade got near the bridge, the bridge was already surrounded by a giant number of zombies.


    Seeing the motorcade approach, all those zombies turned and pounced on those vehicles. Wave after wave, they popped their claws to attack the motorcade.


    "Roarrrrr!" Zombies rushed at the motorcade, but the guns and cannons on those combat vehicles fired together, putting down a batch of zombies.


    The surviving zombies landed on those vehicles, scratching and crazily banging the windows.


    "Roarrrr!" Meanwhile, more zombies rushed up like a tide.

 484 The Intense Battle On The Bridge

    The road was full of zombies that were squirming and gathering around the bridge. As the motorcade approached, those zombies suddenly charged at those vehicles crazily.


    Long Yubai was a little surprised by the huge population of zombies in this area.


    "What''s going on? Why are there so many zombies? Didn''t you send scouts here in advance?" He moved forward and looked at the front.


    "I did. My scouts said that there''s a bridge, but didn''t mention all these zombies. Also, as we could see on our way here, these zombies are still gathering. Clearly, they weren''t here before. I guess they were summoned to this place not long ago," Lin Ruifeng''s eyes wore a slightly grim look as he analyzed the situation and responded to Long Yubai.


    Long Yubai knitted his slim brows into a frown as he looked outside silently. A few seconds later, he said with a bland tone, "Fire the cannons, clear all these zombies."


    "Yes, sir!" Lin Ruifeng instantly nodded, then turned to open the car door and went out of the car. The zombies around their car were still relatively sparse. But tens of meters away, the area around the bridge was already occupied by zombies.


    Seeing so many zombies, Lin Ruifeng started thinking that maybe a level five or six zombie was here.


    He got off the RV and nimbly hopped onto the roof of a combat vehicle at the front.


    With his eyes fixed on those zombies, he trod across car roofs and moved toward the vehicles at the front of the motorcade. The vehicles were at least four meters away from each other, but still, he leaped from roof to roof very easily. At last, he landed on the roof of the second vehicle.


    He didn''t say anything, but raised an arm high and then made a gesture while swinging that arm downward.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Following his moves, all the guns and cannons on the combat vehicles behind him were fired together. Clouds of dust rose around him while the body parts of zombies flew all over the sky. Dirty blood mixed with sand, darting everywhere.


    The strong firing lasted a couple of minutes, and the group of zombies before the motorcade was soon cleaned out. However, the zombies from around the bridge had still been gushing toward those vehicles.


    "Forward! Keep firing!" Lin Ruifeng raised his arm again and gestured his people to move forward.


    With that, all the vehicles moved forward, and the firing didn''t stop. As the motorcades got closer and closer to the bridge, the bullets and cannon kept falling into the zombie crowd which was charging at the motorcade wave after wave.


    Before long, the distance between the motorcade and the bridge was shortened, and the vehicle treading under Lin Ruifeng''s feet approached the bridge.


    At that moment, Lin Ruifeng gestured the others to stop, then made a few different signs.


    The motorcade was already before the bridge. They couldn''t fire at the bridge, because if it was broken, they wouldn''t be able to cross the river.


    Following Lin Ruifeng''s gestures, a squad of people from a truck nimbly rushed to the front. Those people in high-tech helmets and modified protection suites ran straight ahead, each of them holding a rifle.


    While running forward, they raised their guns to shoot the surrounding zombies accurately. Around them, more and more zombies were shot in the head and fell to the ground.


    Before long, they arrived at the bridge. After sweeping across the zombie crowd on the bridge with bullets, one of them abruptly carried his rifle on his shoulder, then stood right before the bridge and reached both hands toward the zombies on it.


    As he reached both hands forward, a two-foot-wide ice blade emerged in the air a meter away. Once he moved his hands, that ice blade darted toward the spot about ten meters away in the front.


    Once the ice blades flew out, that man got down on one knee, took off his combat gloves, and pressed his right palm on the ground. Next, the ground under his palm was frozen, and the ice quickly spread toward the bridge. Within a blink, a large group of zombies on the bridge were disabled from moving.


    A thick layer of ice grew out under their feet, and then their bodies started freezing. At last, they all became ice sculptures.


    At that point, that man stood back up and raised both hands as he spread his fingers, seemingly holding something up.


    Following his moves, an ice ball emerged above his head. It grew larger and larger, eventually became gigantic. Then, he threw the ice ball at those frozen zombies.


    Bang! The ice ball fell onto those ice sculptures and smashed them.


    That man launched his attack very quickly, and the whole process didn''t even take ten seconds.


    Meanwhile, the rest of the squad surrounded him, holding their guns and firing at the zombies which were rushing over from all directions.


    After throwing out the ice ball, that man quickly rushed onto the bridge and waved both arms. Along with his movements, the ice pieces under his feet floated up, darting at the zombies on the other side of the river.


    Yun Meng and her people quietly watched them clear away those ordinary zombies. She had summoned all the zombies from n miles around, more than a hundred thousand in total. Therefore, Long Yubai''s people couldn''t possibly kill all the zombies here within a short time.


    As she expected, when the squad leader froze the zombies on the bridge, more zombies rushed up from behind them and pounced on those people.


    That squad was well-trained and reacted quickly. But still, they started failing to handle the zombie crowd which was growing larger and larger.


    The more zombies they killed, the more would show up. They were able to kill over a hundred ordinary zombies within a second, but still, their sights were always filled with countless zombies which never stopped charging at them.


    The bloody massacre never stopped, but the battle was going to no end.


    Long Yubai''s people didn''t dare to launch heavy firing at the bridge, so they used superpowers and light firing to create a path. However, because of the giant zombie crowd, it would clearly take them a rather long time to cross the river.


    Right at that moment, a sharp roar was heard from somewhere behind the zombie group.


    "Roar!"


    Hearing that, the members in the superpower squad immediately had a bad feeling.


    As they thought, all those ordinary zombies suddenly went crazy after hearing that roar. They madly jumped at the squad, and somehow were faster and nimbler than before.


    Countless crazy zombies charged at the squad. Even the level-five squad leader only managed to create a large ice shield on the bridge to fend against the zombie crowd.


    In all this commotion, none of Long Yubai''s people noticed the figure which flashed across under the bridge.

 485 Mengmengs Strike

    All of a sudden, a figure flashed down from the building behind the zombie crowd, diving at the squad leader''s ice shield like a bolt of lightning.


    "Damn!" Lin Ruifeng spotted that figure and darted forward as quickly as he could. But still, he was a little late. That figure swiftly came down and generated a thunderous boom.


    Following the boom and a series of cracking noise, the squad leader''s ice shield was kicked into pieces.


    Thud! The squad leader who had been supporting that ice shield was sent flying away as well. He thudded against one of those combat vehicles and then fell on the ground, vomiting blood.


    "Captain!" Seeing their leader being kicked away, the squad members at the front shouted out loud.


    At that moment, Lin Ruifeng had already landed on the ground three meters from the squad leader. About ten squad members around him were still maintaining their postures and facing the surrounding zombies alertly. Even though their Captain was already down, they still needed to continue their mission.


    The people on the scene were all surprised when they clearly saw the creature who shattered the huge ice shield and kicked the squad leader away.


    That was a zombie with the body shape of a slim high-school girl, but looking quite scary.


    Her face was covered in scales. In her purely dark eyes were a pair of green, erect pupils, looking like the pupils of a beast. Her short hair were cut neatly, and her black shorts and T-shirt were clean.


    Same as her face, the exposed skin of her body was covered in smooth scales. She also had sharp thorns on her elbows and knees. A black tail was wagging behind her body, looking like the tail of a snake or a lizard.


    What kind of zombie was that?


    Yun Meng''s appearance shocked Lin Ruifeng and his people.


    Was she even a zombie?


    "Roar!" Yun Meng suddenly bared her teeth and gave them a roar, wielding her claws as if she were answering the question in those people''s heads.


    "Roarrrrr¡­" The zombie crowd behind her immediately rushed up.


    After wielding her arms, Yun Meng charged at Lin Ruifeng, as fleetingly as a gust of wind.


    Seeing her come over, Lin Ruifeng felt that his eyes were dazzled and his back turned cold. An unprecedented sense of crisis occurred to him. Thus, he automatically clenched his fists and crossed his arms before his face.


    Thud!


    As he expected, a swift and fierce heavy kick landed accurately on his body. That scaled zombie leaped high into the air and directly swung a leg at his face.


    Lin Ruifeng managed to shield himself with his arms, but still, Yun Meng''s heavy kick sent him flying backward.


    Thud! He bumped into a pile of rocks and fell on the ground about ten meters away.


    His head hit the ground, which made him dizzy. For a moment, he didn''t even know what just happened. He shook his head to clear his mind, then realized the situation and hurriedly got up.


    Once he stood up, the scaled zombie again flashed across his eyes and then a leg covered in sparkling scales was swinging at him again. He hurriedly rolled on the ground to dodge that kick. Deep down, he was appalled.


    No normal high-leveled zombie should be able to make those movements and have that kind of strength which that scaled zombie had. He couldn''t possibly be defenseless in front of a zombie. He had super strength after all. Dealing with zombie claws had always been what he was good at.


    But this time, he suffered a kick and got stupefied.


    However, Yun Meng didn''t give him any break. As he dodged the first kick, she immediately launched another strike. Before Lin Ruifeng struggled up from the ground again, her kick landed on his chest.


    "Pah!" Suffering that kick, Lin Ruifeng''s chest immediately dented, squeezing a mouthful of blood out of his mouth.


    As Yun Meng stared at Lin Ruifeng and prepared to give him a strike on the head, a water arrow swished at her from behind. She turned her body and dodged it immediately.


    She wasn''t worried that the water arrow might hit her. Her scales weren''t just for appearances. That water arrow didn''t give her any sense of danger.


    She dodged that water arrow because she didn''t want her shirt to get wet. Also, the man on the ground was already injured severely.


    As Yun Meng moved away, Lin Ruifeng coughed some blood and struggled up from the ground.


    If he didn''t have super strength, the kick he just suffered would have crushed his chest and lungs, killing him instantly. Thanks to his super strength, he only had two rib bones broken.


    He coughed blood because his internal organs were shaken.


    Long Yubai was standing on a combat vehicle''s roof. He had just dropped his right hand, and his eyes were fixed on Yun Meng, who had hopped onto the building nearby.


    "Roar!" Yun Meng gave Long Yubai a roar, then fearlessly darted at him, turning into a dark shred of shadow.


    Long Yubai didn''t draw back. Instead, he hurriedly raised both arms and brought a huge water stream out of the river, sending it forward to bump against Yun Meng.


    Boom! The high pressured water stream bumped Yun Meng away, who flipped in the air and then stably landed on a streetlight.


    "Roar!" She glanced down at her wet clothes and then turned around, baring her teeth as she gave Long Yubai a raging roar. That sissy-looking man made her clothes wet! Damn! That water was from a polluted river on top!


    After uttering that roar, she swiftly dove at Long Yubai.


    The huge water stream didn''t collapse after sending Yun Meng away. Instead, it was hovering above Long Yubai''s head under his control.


    "Em, it''s suicidal!" Seeing Yun Meng coming back at him, he sneered. Then, he waved his arms and sent the water dragon out. The water stream turned into a sphere in no time, then transformed into a giant tiger head with a widely opened mouth.


    Yun Meng was flying at Long Yubai while the tiger''s head widened its mouth to bite her.


    The look in Yun Meng''s eyes turned cold. On getting close to the tiger''s head, she abruptly turned her body and kicked on it. Her body turned upside down in the air while one of her legs swung downward and hit accurately on the water tiger head.


    Next, a series of clattering noise was heard. The giant water tiger head exploded under Yun Meng''s kick, turning into countless splashing water drops.


    Long Yubai paused in shock. He didn''t expect that his water power to be broken by that zombie so easily with a simple kick. She didn''t even use her superpower!


    Long Yubai failed to cope with the frustration in a short while, so he didn''t even make his next move. Instead, he watched Yun Meng show up in the air right before him in just a blink.

 486 Beat Back Long Yubai

    Seeing Yun Meng suddenly show up before his face and launch a kick to him, Long Yubai was dumbfounded. He didn''t have the time to react at all. But right at that very moment, a man rushed to Long Yubai''s side even more quickly than Yun Meng before holding him and pressing him to the ground.


    Yun Meng missed her target, so she landed on the car roof and turned back to look at the two who had rolled down the car.


    "Chief¡­" Lin Ruifeng endured the pain and hurriedly helped Long Yubai up from the ground.


    Only after getting up from the ground did Long Yubai realize what just happened. He glared at Yun Meng and suddenly shouted out loud.


    "What are you all waiting for! Fire!"


    After giving the order, he instantly stepped backward. He didn''t care about the injured Lin Ruifeng, but only wanted to find a cover for himself.


    Following Long Yubai''s order, some of surrounding combat vehicles turned their guns and cannons to Yun Meng. Meanwhile, many soldiers swiftly got off the vehicles as they raised their guns and fired at Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng moved slightly, then suddenly leaped high. She swung her long tail and flipped in the air, then reached out both hands toward the ground.


    "Roar!" She opened her mouth and let out a roar.


    Along with her voice, the guns suddenly started distorting in those soldiers'' hands before exploding.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Except for those guns, all the cannons on the combat vehicles which were pointed at Yun Meng all distorted.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Explosions happened on top of a few armed vehicles, immediately disabling those vehicles.


    "It has metal power!" Watching that, Long Yubai, who was hiding in a building nearby, seemed to be a little surprised.


    "It appears so¡­" Lin Ruifeng responded with a painful look, standing beside Long Yubai with one hand pressing on his chest.


    Long Yubai turned back and glanced at him, finally asking, "How do you feel?"


    Lin Ruifeng smiled, "I''m fine. I''ll survive."


    Long Yubai turned back to Yun Meng as he blinked and said, "It''s too strong! Even I am no match for it. I guess it''s higher than level-six. Besides, it has metal power. Our weapons can barely harm it."


    While he was speaking, Yun Meng jumped onto another armed vehicle and cracked a short-range cannon with a turning kick. The combat vehicles around her had all been distorting. The soldiers in those vehicles came out in a flurry, as they didn''t want to be crushed in those cars.


    Lin Ruifeng and Long Yubai surely had no idea that Yun Meng was only pretending. The true metal-power possessor hadn''t shown her face.


    The strength that Yun Meng had shown was way greater than what Long Yubai had. And now, the metal power made her seem even stronger.


    At least, it was what Lin Ruifeng and Long Yubai believed.


    "It seems that we can''t kill it. What should we do now?" Lin Ruifeng wiped the blood on his mouth corners, then glanced at Yun Meng and asked Long Yubai.


    Long Yubai stayed silent, only watching Yun Meng destroy his combat vehicles with a grim look. Anger was surging in his eyes.


    On the other side, Yun Meng leaped into the air and flipped before throwing a heavy kick at the top of a combat vehicle.


    Bang! The vehicle was directly dented by her foot, which was thickly covered in scales.


    The guns and cannons around her couldn''t lock on her at all. All bullets and cannonballs missed her, instead blowing the surrounding area and raising clouds of smoke.


    Seeing that half of his combat vehicles had already been destroyed, Long Yubai abruptly gave his order. "Retreat!" After saying that, he turned and walked right away, leaving the injured Lin Ruifeng shouting at the soldiers in the surroundings. "Retreat! Retreat!"


    While shouting, the injured Lin Ruifeng turned and struggled to run to the combat vehicle which was the farthest away from Yun Meng. As Yun Meng wasn''t looking at that area, he hurriedly got onto the vehicle and ordered the driver to turn the car around.


    "Retreat, now¡­ Pah!" Before he could finish his words, he let out another mouthful of blood.


    "Deputy Chief¡­" The driver hurriedly turned the car around. He was frightened upon seeing Lin Ruifeng vomit blood.


    "I''m okay, just go¡­" Lin Ruifeng leaned against the back of the chair, gasped and said.


    At that moment, Yun Meng was standing on the dented roof of a car, looking at those soldiers who had been chased and attacked by zombies. Their line of defense had collapsed.


    She frowned slightly, then suddenly turned to Long Yubai, but didn''t chase him.


    Long Yubai only cared about his own safety. He left quickly, disappearing without a trace within a blink.


    "Eh¡­ eh¡­ Hurry¡­ hurry up and leave¡­" At that point, Huang Tianfei, who was in an off-road car which was relatively far away from Yun Meng, had been slapping the driver''s seat in panic, urging the latter to drive faster. He wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.


    The driver turned his head around; a piece of glass was stuck in his neck, blood flowing out of his mouth. He tilted his head as he gazed at Huang Tianfei and died.


    The two soldiers who were supposed to protect Huang Tianfei got off the car one after another. However, once they got out, two distorted rifles sank into their faces, puncturing their heads.


    Watching the two soldiers fall to the ground, Huang Tianfei was stunned. When he realized what had happened and attempted to crawl out of the car, he heard a cold voice. "We gave you a chance of living earlier, but you refused to leave. Now, you brought yourself back here to die. You''re such an idiot!"


    Hearing that voice, Huang Tianfei''s heart sank. He raised his head to find a woman with a katana and a ponytail standing outside the car, looking at him with icy-cold eyes.


    "Eh¡­ I¡­ no¡­ They¡­ made me¡­ show them the¡­ way¡­"


    With fright, he struggled and tried to explain for himself. However, before he could finish, he saw Long Qingying wield a hand.


    Puff!


    The metal part of the car door suddenly twisted and extended, directly poking into Huang Tianfei''s chest.


    "Pah!" Huang Tianfei popped his eyes, gazing at Long Qingying. A stream of blood gushed out of his mouth, being absorbed by the gauze on his mouth.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    In the next second, the car door became like a tree and created countless holes in Huang Tianfei''s body. After that, those metal branches pulled themselves out of Huang Tianfei''s body, merging together and transforming into a sharp awl before suddenly sinking into his head.


    Inside Huang Tianfei''s head, the metal piece kept changing its shape. A short while later, it came out of his head with an energy nucleus.


    Long Qingying took over the nucleus, then wiped it on a dead body on the ground.


    At that moment, a figure flashed across the air and landed by her side.


    "That man named Long Yubai and his people ran away. I think they won''t be back anytime soon," Yun Meng said to her.

 487 Returning Home In Triumph

    "I didn''t expect Long Yubai to be so weak," said Long Qingying with surprise, "Well, maybe he''s not weak. Maybe it''s because you''re too strong!" While speaking, she looked at Yun Meng with surprise in her eyes.


    Yun Meng was really strong. Judging by her fighting style, she clearly had super strength. She was swift, and the force generated by her punches and kicks was immense.


    She looked like a gentle little girl, yet she fought so wildly as if she was possessed by a beast.


    At the moment, Yun Meng was still in full combat mode. Her scales sparkled with a metallic luster under the light of the setting sun.


    She spread her hands and responded, "No, it''s not because I''m too strong. The way we cooperated made them think that I''m strong. I guess that man named Long Yubai now thinks I''m a metal-powered zombie queen, or probably, he has guessed that I''m a level-seven zombie already. He got scared, so he ran away."


    "Still, you''re strong enough to scare him away," Lin Hao came out with Lin Yu and Lei Yao, standing beside Mengmeng.


    "And those weak people made Great Captain worry?" said Long Qingying, "I guess his concern is unnecessary."


    "That''s not true. I think if Mengmeng wasn''t with us, their concern wouldn''t be unnecessary," Lin Hao looked at Yun Meng and said.


    "I thought he was a really powerful man¡­ So, was your base destroyed by a man like that?" Yun Meng shrugged.


    "No. He alone and his Earth Dragon Base surely couldn''t break our Hades Base. The force he brought here wasn''t even as one-tenth of what he used to attack our base. Back then, there were five level-seven people and over ten level-six people, more than fifty-thousand soldiers, and a large batch of superpowered warriors." Thinking about that war which happened a couple of months ago, Lin Hao wore a depressed look.


    "He''s right! Also, that scum Yang Jianhua played dirty tricks inside our base. Otherwise, how could our base possibly be broken so easily?" Long Qingying nodded in agreement.


    "Ah, I see, but that guy is just too weak. I can''t believe that he thinks he can bring us trouble. Do we need to be afraid of him at all?" With a scornful look, Yun Meng looked at where Long Yubai disappeared, and the others just looked at her silently.


    ''Please, it''s not because he''s too weak. It''s obviously because you seemed too strong just now!'' they thought.


    "Alright, let''s clear the battlefield and see if we can find something useful," said Lin Hao.


    Of course, those weapons which had been distorted by Long Qingying couldn''t possibly be fixed, so those were all garbage now. But still, there might be some functional weapons left on the battlefield.


    The five of them cleared the field and found two drivable trucks. All the combat vehicles were broken, and a couple of off-road vehicles were crushed by Yun Meng.


    Long Yubai only brought away a few trucks, a couple of combat vehicles, and one of the two off-road cars.


    The five collected all the useful weapons and discharged the gasoline from those broken vehicles. Long Qingying created a few gas tanks with her power to contain that gasoline.


    The battle didn''t last long, but it did take them a pretty long while to clean the battlefield. By the time they loaded all the harvest on the two trucks, it was already dark.


    Yun Meng didn''t order the surrounding zombies to leave, so those zombies were eating those dead soldiers'' bodies the whole time.


    But, when they prepared to drive the first truck across the river, the wheels slipped on the bridge and then bumped on the guardrail. The truck nearly fell into the river. Fortunately, they had just started the truck, and hadn''t risen the speed yet.


    They got off the truck, looking at the ice on the bridge and feeling speechless.


    The bridge was frozen. How were they supposed to drive across the river?


    At last, Long Qingying melted some broken vehicles, created a wave of nails, and nailed them on the ice surface on the bridge.


    Those nails immediately shattered the ice.


    Only after that did they drive the trucks to the other side of the river.


    As the trucks left, the surrounding zombies all rushed to the battlefield to feed on those fresh dead bodies.


    Yun Meng didn''t return to the hotel with the others, but headed toward Mount Wu.


    Yuan Tianxing had been anxiously waiting for them at the door of the hotel. At night, he saw them return unharmed, even bringing some harvests.


    "How did it go?" Yuan Tianxing quickly asked the question.


    Long Yubai gave a proud smile and said, "We beat Long Yubai off!"


    The others looked at him with surprise. Clearly, they didn''t believe him.


    "How can it be possible? You can''t possibly beat him off even if you destroyed his weapons!" Lin Feng showed no expression, but his tone of speaking was filled with disbelief.


    Long Qingying was expressionless as well. Standing beside Lin Hao, she said, "We didn''t beat him off. Of course, we don''t have that kind of power. However, we have a zombie queen."


    Hearing that, Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng glanced at each other, seeming to have guessed something.


    "Where is she? What is the current situation?" Chen Yuting couldn''t help but ask with curiosity, as he didn''t see Yun Meng return with the others.


    "Just come in first. Lin Hao, hand me a report tomorrow morning," Yuan Tianxing guided the others into the lobby.


    "Yes, sir!" Lin Hao responded and followed Yuan Tianxing into the lobby along with the others.


    Inside the lobby, Wu Chengyue was sitting on a couch, and the three children were playing in an empty area. Seeing Yuan Tianxing and the others come in, Lin Xiaolu stood up and held Tongtong''s hand while whispering a few words to Ling Ling. "Ling Ling, let''s go and play over there."


    In fact, Wu Yueling was squatting on the ground, watching Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong play with each other. As Lin Xiaolu stood up, she got up from the ground as well. Seeing all those adults coming from the door, she automatically followed Lin Xiaolu to the side.


    "Which one of Long Yubai''s deputy chiefs is with him?" Yuan Tianxing found himself a seat and then asked.


    Lin Feng and the squad all sat down as well. The others stood around them, waiting to hear how they beat off Long Yubai.


    "It''s Lin Ruifeng," Lin Hao responded.


    "Lin Ruifeng? He''s a possessor of super strength, isn''t he? It seems that he''s here as Long Yubai''s bodyguard," Lin Feng crossed his arms and said.


    "Tell us what happened. Why did Long Yubai run away?" Yuan Tianxing had already started to believe the squad.


    The squad drove back two trucks, and there were quite some weapons and weird-looking gas tanks on those trucks. If Long Yubai didn''t run away, they couldn''t have brought back these things.

 488 Familiar Name

    Even though they believed the result, they couldn''t imagine what exactly happened. So, their curiosity was aroused.


    Hearing what they said, Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Hao and the others in surprise as well.


    ''Eh? Long Yubai ran away? What happened? Wasn''t he here to start a fight?''


    Before he could figure it out, Lin Hao answered the question, "It''s thanks to Mengmeng. She''s fierce! She put down Long Yubai''s people in no time! Even Long Yubai himself was kicked flying away by her! The rest of us just cooperated with her. Qingying released her metal power on the sly and broke their weapons. After that, they were firing at themselves. Long Yubai might e thinking that Mengmeng is a metal-powered zombie queen. Those weapons could barely harm her, and his water power was broken by her. I think that''s why he got scared."


    The others were all stunned, looking at the squad in shock.


    Long Qingying said, "In fact, Long Yubai is really afraid of death. He had the courage to come here because he had those weapons and combat vehicles, as well as a bodyguard. However, Lin Ruifeng took a beating from Mengmeng and vomited blood once the fight started, and some of those combat vehicles were destroyed by us. So, he was frightened."


    "You said that Long Yubai thinks Mengmeng is a metal-powered zombie queen. Why? Didn''t he see Qingying?" Yuan Tianxing asked with confusion.


    Lin Hao nodded and responded, "I guess no. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be so scared and run away so quickly."


    Their mission was only to stop Long Yubai or destroy his weapons. Therefore, they didn''t spend the time and energy to chase him after he ran away.


    Besides, Mengmeng was the only one powerful enough to kill him. When he ran away, Mengmeng didn''t seem to want to chase him. So, Lin Hao and the others didn''t ask her to.


    "I think you''re right. Long Yubai has always been a cowardly back-stabber. He panicked and ran away because he saw the situation getting out of control." Thinking about what Long Yubai had done before, Lin Feng nodded in agreement.


    "It was because he underestimated us," Long Qingying added.


    Wu Chengyue laughed, "Ah, so I didn''t do any actual work around here."


    "That''s not true. You''re the strongest being in this room, and you being here makes the rest of us feel safe," said Yuan Tianxing smilingly. Then, he abruptly changed the topic, "Mengmeng is already at level-seven. Indeed, she shouldn''t be afraid of Long Yubai."


    Lin Hao said, "You guys have no idea how quickly Long Yubai ran. He suffered one kick from Mengmeng and then immediately turned told his people to retreat."


    "Yeah! We didn''t chase him. However, we killed Huang Tianfei, the man who guided Long Yubai and his people here. I think we should tell Liu Jun about this later on," Long Qingying continued.


    ¡­


    Long Yubai was scared away by Mengmeng. Moreover, he didn''t yet know that Yang Jianhua, who stayed in Hades Base, was already killed.


    That afternoon, Lin Qiao killed Yang Jianhua in her space and then brought Liu Yu out. After exiting her space, they showed up in Yang Jianhua''s office.


    "Where are the triggers?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Huo¡­ Huo Wu has it," Liu Yu answered her question very carefully. Looking at Lin Qiao who was wearing a pair of sunglasses, he just couldn''t conceal the fear in his eyes.


    ''Who on earth is this woman! She actually killed Yang Jianhua! He had just broken into level-seven! Yang Jianhua died! He died before he could even tell anyone about his upgrade!''


    ''This woman did not only kill Yang Jianhua, but she can also control high-leveled zombies! Even level-six zombies! She''s horrifying!''


    Liu Yu thought that Qiu Lili the zombie queen was under Lin Qiao''s control because inside the space, Qiu Lili did whatever Lin Qiao said.


    "Huo Wu? Who is that?" Lin Qiao asked.


    That name sounded quite familiar. Why?


    Liu Yu immediately responded, "A Great Captain from Earth Dragon Base. He has fire power, and he broke into level-six recently.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest and scratched her chin while thinking.


    Fire power? From Earth Dragon Base? Recently broke into level-six? Em¡­ She felt as if she had heard that name somewhere else before.


    Right at that moment, a series of footsteps were heard, and then a familiar scent could be sensed. Soon, someone shouted at the door, "They''re almost ready down there. Shall we make a move?"


    Along with that voice, a man walked in and paused briefly when he saw Lin Qiao.


    "Oh, where is this pretty lady from? Hello, lady! May I ask your name?" At the sight of Lin Qiao, that man had his eyes glowing as he excitedly walked to Lin Qiao and talked to her.


    Liu Yu pointed at him and said to Lin Qiao, "This is Huo Wu." Cold sweat had been oozing out of his forehead.


    Hearing Lin Yu''s words, Huo Wu laughed proudly, "Eh? Have you been talking about me? Yeah, I am Huo Wu! Pretty lady, what can I do for you?"


    He stared straight at Lin Qiao. The latter was wearing a pair of sunglasses, but her face was delicate, skin was flawless, and body was perfectly shaped. Especially notable was the fact that she had enormous breasts.


    Huo Wu was even more interested in her when he learned that Lin Qiao and Liu Yu were talking about him just now.


    Lin Qiao curved her lips in a smile, saying, "Ah, you! We''ve met before. I guess you don''t remember it."


    What she said made both Huo Wu and Liu Yu puzzled for a second and look at Lin Qiao with surprise.


    Huo Wu laughed and asked, "Eh? Have we met? Where? I don''t think so! How can I ever forget about meeting a pretty lady like you?"


    Huo Wu was so attracted to Lin Qiao that he even forgot why he came here. He was all about talking to the pretty lady now, so he even failed to notice that Yang Jianhua was missing. He didn''t get the meaning of Lin Qiao''s smile until she said a name.


    "Oh, don''t you remember? Then, do you remember Yang Cheng?" She said with a faint smile.


    Huo Wu paused for a second, looking at Lin Qiao with confusion. After that, his smile faded from his face.


    "Do you know Yang Cheng? What''s your relationship with him?" He stopped smiling and asked, still confused as before.


    Lin Qiao walked to Yang Jianhua''s desk with a smile, then leaned against the edge of the desk and crossed her arms before her chest.


    "Ah, I killed him," she said, "I also saved Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying from you. Have you forgotten about that?"


    Hearing that, Huo Wu paused again, then showed a sullen look and looked at Lin Qiao coldly.


    "Are you that space-powered person?"

 489 Stop Joking

    "Yeah, I''m her," Hearing Huo Wu''s words, Lin Qiao smiled and responded with composure.


    When she was in the South last time, she met Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying. At that time, Huo Wu was going after them. Yang Cheng was the one who brought Huo Wu to Du Yuanxing and his people, and that man ended up being drained by Viney in Lin Qiao''s space.


    It was then that she also saved Du Yuanxing and Long Qingying from Huo Wu.


    Back then, she wasn''t powerful enough to fight Huo Wu face to face. That was why she made her moves sneakily. But now, things were different.


    The look in Huo Wu''s face immediately turned cold as he laughed with a wicked voice, "Ah, you¡­ You ran away last time, and took away Long Qingying. How dare you show up in front of me right now? Are you here to surrender yourself? Sleep with me and see if you can make me happy, then sleep with my men. If everybody is happy, you''ll be spared."


    Hearing that, Liu Yu started stepping back slowly, his face covered in cold sweat. He only wanted to move into a further corner to lower his sense of presence.


    However, Huo Wu suddenly turned to him and yelled, "Liu Yu, you didn''t let this woman in, did you?"


    Liu Yu hurriedly turned to Lin Qiao, ignoring Huo Wu''s question.


    As Liu Yu ignored him, Huo Wu instantly felt a little strange. Then, he suddenly remembered that he was here to see Yang Jianhua, and that man was actually not here.


    "Liu Yu, what is going on? Where is Yang Jianhua?" He immediately yelled at Liu Yu.


    Liu Yu looked at Lin Qiao, seeing that she was only smiling as if all this had nothing to do with her. Abruptly, he had an idea.


    "Forget about Yang Jianhua!" He suddenly turned to Huo Wu and said, "Huo Wu, give me the bomb trigger if you want to live!"


    Huo Wu glared at him and shouted, "What do you want the bomb trigger for? I order you to capture this woman right now! Do you know who she is? Don''t stand by her side!"


    He didn''t take Liu Yu''s words seriously at all.


    "Don''t say that. Just give me the bomb trigger," said Liu Yu anxiously, "Where''s the trigger?"


    Huo Wu stared at him for two seconds, then abruptly turned to Lin Qiao and said, "Did this woman tell you to find the trigger? How can you listen to her?"


    As he refused to hand out the bomb trigger, Liu Yu didn''t want to waste more time talking to him. "Just give me the bomb trigger if you don''t want to die," he said blandly with a cold face, "Aren''t you looking for Yang Jianhua? He''s dead."


    "What? Dead? Didn''t he just break into level-seven?" Huo Wu paused in shock and said with disbelief.


    "Yes, he''s dead," Liu Yu nodded.


    "That''s impossible! You''re not trying to fool me for her, are you? Who in this room can kill Yang Jianhua? Her?" Huo Wu looked at Liu Yu disdainfully.


    Liu Yu glanced at Lin Qiao, realizing that she was still wearing that faint smile as if she was watching a show. Then, he turned back to Huo Wu and said with pity, "Yes, she killed Yang Jianhua. If you want to live, just give her the bomb trigger, so she might give you a chance to live."


    "Hahaha¡­ What kind of joke is this? Are you kidding me? She killed Yang Jianhua? She can do that? You have to know that she fought me months ago. Back then, she didn''t even dare to show her face. All she could do was to bring those captives into her space while I wasn''t paying attention, and never come back out. And now, you''re telling me that she killed Yang Jianhua, that level-seven man? This is just hilarious!" Huo Wu burst in laughter as if he had just heard a very funny joke. When talking to Liu Yu, his face was wearing a sarcastic grin.


    "Eh¡­" Liu Yu closed his eyes helplessly for a moment, then turned his head away to avoid looking at Huo Wu. At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly waved a hand.


    Thud! A football-sized thing fell to the ground and rolled to Huo Wu''s feet. Huo Wu automatically looked down at that thing and then froze.


    That was a human head facing up at him. He knew the owner of that face.


    That was Yang Jianhua''s face! There was a hole on Yang Jianhua''s head, and everyone on the scene clearly understood what that hole meant. It meant that Yang Jianhua''s energy nucleus had already been dug out.


    Just now, Huo Wu didn''t believe what Liu Yu said. Even after he recognized Yang Jianhua''s head which fell out of the air, he still didn''t believe it for a few seconds.


    He thought he had misrecognized it.


    So, he spent a few more seconds staring at Yang Jianhua''s face and popped eyes. After confirming that it was indeed Yang Jianhua''s head, he was stunned. When he finally realized what happened, he quickly took a step backward while staring at Lin Qiao in shock.


    Before he processed the shocking news, he suddenly felt a sharp pain from his fingers. He lowered his head to look at his hands, then the fear and pain immediately made him burst in screams.


    "Oh¡­ No! My fingers¡­ My fingers!"


    His fingers were wrapped in a layer of black mist. The tips of his fingers was already gone, and the mist had been devouring the rest of his hand quickly.


    During the two or three seconds when he was screaming, he watched the mist shorten his fingers a little further.


    At that point, Lin Qiao walked to him, then circled around him and asked, "Where''s the trigger?"


    The pain from his fingers made Huo Wu feel as if his heart was exploding. Some people said that fingers were connected with the heart, so that pain couldn''t just be endured so easily.


    He automatically covered that hand wrapped in black mist with his other hand and clenched his teeth. Blood veins bulged on his forehead, and his face turned red. When Lin Qiao walked to him and asked him that question, he raised his head and gazed at her.


    "Ah¡­ my hand¡­ Why is this happening to me¡­" From time to time, he lowered his head to look at his disappearing fingers in fear. At that moment, his fingers were already gone, and the mist had started to devour his palm.


    "Give me the trigger, and you might still be able to keep your arm," Lin Qiao paced around him and talked blandly.


    "Ah¡­ I¡­ I''ll give it, give it to you¡­ Just stop¡­" The pain made Huo Wu''s legs limp. He suddenly knelt on the ground, begging for mercy.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand. Following her move, the dark mist left his hand and drifted back to her, circling around her raised hand.


    Once the mist left, Huo Wu''s broken wrist was seen. His flesh, bones, and tendons were all exposed in the air, and blood gushed out in streams.


    "Ou¡­ ch¡­" Huo Wu covered that wrist with his other hand, speaking with a crying face, "The trigger is¡­ is in your mom''s p*ssy!"


    All of a sudden, he showed a ferocious look and raised that unharmed hand to release a scorching hot fire stream from his palm toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao dodged and disappeared from where she was. A second later, she showed up behind Huo Wu, looking calm as if nothing happened at all. However, one of her claws was already inside Huo Wu''s head.

 490 Give The Fake Order To Defuse The Bombs

    @@


    That ferocious look froze on Huo Wu''s face.


    Pop! Lin Qiao pulled out her fingers, and a faintly glowing energy nucleus was held between her fingers.


    Thud! Huo Wu''s body slowly fell to the ground.


    "Eh¡­ You killed him, but, what about the trigger?" Liu Yu looked at Lin Qiao with surprise.


    Lin Qiao didn''t say anything, but squatted and wiped the energy nucleus on Huo Wu''s clothes, then threw it into her space. After that, she rummaged through Huo Wu''s pockets and found a remote control from one of his trousers pockets.


    Liu Yu looked at her in shock. He couldn''t help but ask another question, "Did you know he had the trigger with him? What if he had left it somewhere else?"


    Lin Qiao stood up, holding the remote control. "You''re talkative. Will knowing too much benefit you?"


    Liu Yu immediately shut his mouth.


    Lin Qiao picked up Yang Jianhua''s head and threw it into her space, then stood up.


    "Alright! You, get down and tell your peopl@@

 491 Exciting Game

    @@


    "Don''t mind those zombies for now," Lin Qiao said, "Now, you can do what you promised me before." After saying that, she swung her arm and threw out a thing.


    Duan Juan saw a black, football-like thing fall on the floor before her and then roll to her feet.


    Ordinary people might freak out on realizing what that bloody black thing was. However, Duan Juan didn''t. She only stared at that head before her feet in shock.


    That was a human head that belonged to someone she knew. She wanted so much to kill that person, but wasn''t strong enough to do it.


    "Yang Jianhua! It''s his head?" Duan Juan popped her eyes and exclaimed with disbelief.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes. Didn''t you want me to kill him? Now he''s dead. You''re looking at his head right now. Feel free to check if it''s real."


    Duan Juan didn''t need to check. That was a real, bloody human head. She could recognize those wide opened eyes and that twisted face on that head.


    "No need to check. @@

 492 Go Out And Have Fun

    @@


    "You can decide whether you want to play that game after I kill those snipers on the wall and open the gate." After saying that, Lin Qiao suddenly ran to the edge of the building and turned around, facing Duan Juan and the others while falling off the building.


    Being startled by her move, Duan Juan and her people automatically ran over and looked down. However, she had already disappeared.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    An invisible figure swiftly flashed to the isolation area and leaped across the zombie wall which was over ten-meters-thick, then fleetingly ran toward the fence wall.


    Before the gate, she waved a hand and sent a stream of dark mist to the metallic gate, which quickly covered it. The alarm on the gate immediately went off, followed by a series of shrill whistles.


    The security people immediately checked the surveillance cameras and saw the dark mist on the gate.


    "Come over here and look! What''s on the gate?"


    They were frightened by what they saw from the surveill@@

 493 The Zombie Which Threw A Punch

    @@


    The zombies which were hit by Lin Qiao''s dark mist all paused and slowly fell to the ground.


    At the same time, the zombies near them all stepped away from those fallen ones, as if they were running away from some kind of infectious disease. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The fallen zombies were soon devoured by the mist, leaving a few zombie nuclei on the ground.


    "Who else doesn''t want to follow my words? I gave you an opportunity to survive, yet those few brought death to themselves. If any of you still want to go out to eat people, I''ll let you become like them," Lin Qiao said to the other zombies coldly.


    She didn''t need disobedient zombies. If those zombies couldn''t get rid of their wildness, she would kill them, in case they caused any unnecessary trouble.


    After watching Lin Qiao kill those zombies so quickly and neatly, the other zombies started to be afraid of her again. They didn''t understand every word she said, but roughly understood her meaning.


    Now, none of them da@@

 494 They Are Drawing Back

    @@


    "What! Are you crazy?" The others looked at her with surprise.


    "You guys stay here. I''ll get down first. If I go through safely, you come down!" Duan Juan made her mind and said determinedly. Meanwhile, she handed the telescope to a man near her.


    "No! It''s too dangerous! You can''t go alone! We do it together!"


    "Yeah! Juan, we''re all men and you''re a woman! How can we let you risk your life? You stay here! We''ll go!"


    "Yeah, we''ll go! You stay here!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The others strongly disagreed.


    Women were rare in the post-apocalyptic era, so they all had the responsibility of protecting women. How could they possibly let Duan Juan do something so dangerous alone?


    "I''m going, and none of you can stop me!" Duan Juan said with a strong tone, after which, she turned and walked straight to the stairs. The others glanced at the others, then sighed helplessly and hurriedly followed behind her.


    Soon, they walked out of the isolation area. All the sentries o@@

 495 Two Choices

    @@


    They saw her clearly; that girl was a zombie indeed. Those eyes couldn''t lie!


    "Wake up! Go and save those people!" Lin Qiao reminded them.


    As a former special forces soldier, Duan Juan had better a psychological quality than the others. She understood that observing zombies wasn''t the most important thing for now, saving people was.


    "Let''s go up to the wall top," she said to the others, then turned and headed toward the nearest ladder which led to the wall top. Her order was effective as the others all jumped into action despite how surprised they were.


    Lin Qiao didn''t move, but stayed where she was, looking at those soldiers who were injured by Qiu Lili''s wind power.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    She threw out Yang Jianhua''s head, then held her hands behind her body and said, "I know that some of you are from the Hades Base, and that you stayed under threat. I am now offering you a chance. Yang Jianhua is dead, and so is Huo Wu. Your families are no longer imprisoned. Now, you can@@

 496 Liu Yu Is Shot Dead

    Bang!


    A level-five zombie jumped onto a truck which was parked on the square, and the surrounding soldiers immediately fired at it. However, it turned and ran away before the bullets hit it.


    "Over there! It''s running that way!" Some people shouted.


    They saw it running, but didn''t dare to chase it. It was a zombie leader after all. Facing a zombie like that, those ordinary soldiers could only try to hide.


    A few superpowered men at level three and four acted more calmly than those soldiers, but still, they found places to hide as well.


    "Why¡­ Why is it running?" Those superpowered men were confused too. They thought that the zombie leader would kill every human being it saw; or, at the very least, attack one or two people before digging out their hearts and eating their brains.


    However, the zombie leader ran away not long after it showed up, without causing any casualties.


    "We couldn''t find Deputy Chief Yang and Great Captain Huo anywhere! We couldn''t find them! What should we do now?" At that point, some people who went upstairs to find Yang Jianhua and Huo Wu came down in a flurry while shouting at the others anxiously.


    "That''s impossible! They''re upstairs all the time! They never came down! How could they not be there?" Seeing the zombie leave, the two squad leaders who were responsible for loading supplies in this area immediately ran out from where they were hiding.


    "They''re really not there! We''ve searched every corner upstairs!" said their subordinates who just came downstairs.


    "Captain! Captain! Those people in the school have all run away!" Another man gave a shout.


    "What? Where are the guards in that place?" The two squad leaders looked at that man with surprise.


    "I heard¡­ I heard that the zombies drove them away! Those zombies hurt many people and ran away. Then, those hostages seized the opportunity to break the door and run. Those injured guards couldn''t stop them¡­" said the man with both confusion and surprise.


    When he revealed the fact that those hostages had already run away, some people around him had their expressions changing. They suddenly pointed their guns at those Earth Dragon Soldiers and fired without warning.


    "Brothers! The hostages have run out! Go and save them!" Those Hades Base soldiers roared out loud. They would have left this place long ago if their families and friends weren''t held hostage. They never wanted to work for Yang Jianhua, the traitor.


    So, they immediately changed their side in the war.


    Without a doubt, a chaotic gunfight was started. Soon, the whole base fell into such a situation because of Lin Qiao''s zombies.


    On the other side, Liu Yu, who was leading his people to defuse the bombs, took fright at the gunshots from all over the base.


    "What happened?" His teammates turned to the nearest source of the gunshots and asked.


    "Eh? I don''t know, but¡­ this should be only a start," Liu Yu sighed and murmured to himself as if he had guessed something.


    "Huh? Captain, what are you talking about?" His teammates looked at him confusedly.


    "Eh¡­ Nothing. Just defuse all of these bombs," said Liu Yu.


    "But Captain, aren''t these the last few bombs? We''re almost done. Also, should we be going to the basement? We haven''t had enough fun with those women! We can''t send them to Earth Dragon Base, so we should spend more time with them before leaving!" One of his teammates asked a question, then gave a lewd grin.


    "Yeah, we still have some time. Let''s get over there now!" Another team member added excitedly while his eyes glowed.


    "Ah¡­ I don''t think we can leave¡­" Hearing his words, Liu Yu turned to another direction. A new series of gunshots came that way.


    "What? Aren''t we leaving?" Once he said that, his teammates all paused.


    "No, you can''t leave. How dare you hide those woman in the basement while putting their names on the list of human baits? You wanted to have them for yourself, didn''t you?" Lin Qiao stood behind them and said blandly.


    Liu Yu immediately turned back and looked at her with fright.


    "No¡­ no¡­ I just wanted to save them!" Liu Yu''s legs went limp the moment he saw Lin Qiao.


    "Who are you?" His teammates weren''t as cowardly as he was. Instead, they pointed their guns at Lin Qiao and yelled to ask once they saw her.


    "Stop lying! I heard what you said just now, and I can read your mind," Lin Qiao walked to him. Her eyes couldn''t be seen, but a coldness could be sensed through her sunglasses.


    Liu Yu quickly shook his head and said in panic, "No¡­ it''s not like that! I didn''t lie to you! I didn''t!"


    "Captain! What''s wrong with you?" Seeing Liu Yu''s reaction, his teammates were all confused.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "You helped Yang Jianhua and killed so many people. Do you think defusing a few bombs can atone for your crime? You know what? I know every thought that you''re having right now. A few of those women who''re kept in the basement have been tortured to death by you scums, right?"


    Hearing that, Liu Yu felt extremely uncomfortable.


    He thought that he could live longer; but unexpectedly, what he did was exposed so soon.


    He took advantage of his work and secretly kept those women, hiding them in the basement for himself and his people to play with. Those women'' husbands had died, and they would become military prostitutes if they were sent to Earth Dragon Base. So, Liu Yu decided to save them for his own people instead of sending them to another base.


    He and his people hid those women in a secret basement and raped them every single night. They didn''t give them any food or water. They had tortured some of them to death and sneakily dumped the bodies outside the base.


    Today, they were planning to rape those women for the last time and then leave, letting those women die and rot in the basement.


    But now, they might not be able to leave. Actually, they might not even be able to live!


    ''If I knew this¡­ I would have run away long ago!'' Liu Yu thought.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t far away from Liu Yu and his people. At the moment, she was walking slowly to him. As she got closer, she read Liu Yu''s mind more clearly.


    "Run away? If you did that, you''d have died sooner!" she said coldly.


    Liu Yu popped his eyes and stared at Lin Qiao with fear, because she seemed to be responding to his thoughts.


    Before he could react, his people had already confirmed that Lin Qiao was an enemy, and fired at her.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    They strafed, but not a single bullet hit Lin Qiao as she suddenly disappeared into thin air.


    "Why¡­ How come she''s suddenly gone?" Liu Yu''s people widened their eyes and gazed at where Lin Qiao disappeared from.


    "I''m here¡­" Lin Qiao''s voice was heard from behind them. They turned back, but saw a few bullets flying at them.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Lin Qiao was holding two pistols. Within a blink, she killed all of Liu Yu''s teammates; every single bullet took a life.


    "You helped defuse the bombs, so I didn''t feed you to the zombies. You should thank me for that," Lin Qiao sent the last bullet into the head of Liu Yu, who was sitting on the ground limply.

 497 Victorious Counterattack

    Lin Qiao put the gun back into her space, then walked to Liu Yu''s body and dug out his energy nucleus. She wasn''t going to let that scum live anyway, because he was as sick as Yang Jianhua, and was Yang Jianhua''s loyal underling.


    Lin Qiao clearly knew how he fantasied about her when she walked close to him.


    Liu Yu had dark and sick thoughts, and was a coward. He bullied the weak and feared the strong; moreover, he liked to abuse women.


    Lin Qiao used his fear and make him defuse the bomb. He did what she asked, and naively thought that she would let him live.


    Lin Qiao put the boxes which were full of bombs into her space, then turned and left.


    On the other side, Duan Juan and her people saved all the people who were hanging on the wall as baits. A small part of those people had died, but the rest were still alive.


    The dead ones had died not long ago, because Yang Jianhua ordered his people to pay close attention to those baits. They needed to cut the ropes of the dead baits within two or three hours.


    Dead people were useless, because after death, they would slowly lose their attraction to zombies. For useless things, Yang Jianhua surely preferred to just dump them.


    "Duan Juan!" Suddenly, a surprised shout could be heard from around the ladder.


    Duan Juan turned back and found the man who had been helping them sneak into the base recently.


    The female hostage who came here the first came to find this man. His name was Ding Datong, and he was also a member of Chief Netherworld Fire''s close guards. His little sister was held hostage, so he had no choice but to stay in the base.


    The female hostage who came here to find him was his sister, Ding Ruolan.


    Duan Juan quickly walked to him as she looked at the girl behind him and asked, "Ding Datong, this is your sister, right? Did they run out?"


    Ding Datong glanced back at his sister, then delightedly nodded at Ding Datong. Then, he asked, "Are you with that weird woman? The one with sunglasses?"


    If it weren''t for that woman and the high-leveled, young female zombie, those Earth Dragon Base people and Yang Jianhua''s people wouldn''t be attacked.


    Earlier on, he saw Duan Juan and her people talk to that woman when entering the base.


    Duan Juan nodded and said, "Yes. We''re kinda like temporary partners. She said that she''d kill Yang Jianhua for us, and asked us to show her where our Chief fell."


    "Ah, I see!" Ding Datong nodded knowingly, then asked more questions, "Who is she? And¡­ she''s with a, a female zombie. It seems to be a zombie queen. Why is she with a zombie queen?"


    Duan Juan shook her head and responded, "I have no idea either. At first, she said that she''d kill Yang Jianhua, and we didn''t believe her. But just now, you saw his head too. We had to believe her."


    "When do you plan to take her to that place? What plan do you have for the future?" said Ding Datong.


    Duan Juan looked at him, then sighed and said, "That''ll be up to her. If she''s in no rush, I''d like to take care of the situation in here before showing her the place. Datong, hurry up¡­ gather our people and then sort out the supplies."


    "Alright!" Ding Datong quickly nodded. Then, he glanced around and asked, "Didn''t Hongsheng come with you?"


    "Hongsheng and the others are still outside. We need to send someone to bring them here," said Duan Juan.


    Ding Datong nodded.


    With the help of Lin Qiao''s zombies, Yang Jianhua and Huo Wu'' soldiers were soon captured by those angry Hades Base soldiers. All the hostages were rescued, and the supplies that Yang Jianhua planned to take away had been retrieved by the Hades Base people.


    After bringing all Earth Dragon Base soldiers and traitors under control, Duan Juan and her people kept them in the square in the base center. Then, they suddenly found that those zombies which were running about in the base had all disappeared.


    "This shouldn''t be right. Where''re those zombies?" someone asked.


    Hearing him, the others realized that those zombies had mysteriously disappeared just like how they mysteriously showed up.


    Before the building near the square, Duan Juan said to Ding Ruolan, "How did you get out?"


    Ding Ruolan was wearing a man''s shirt. With a strange look on her face, she looked at Ding Ruolan and answered the question, "A group of zombies came out from nowhere and knocked out the guards in the school. Then, we seized the opportunity and ran out!"


    Duan Juan was confused. "I heard you talking about zombies from the beginning. Are those zombies from the school where you were kept?"


    Ding Ruolan glanced around and responded uncertainly, "Well¡­ Maybe¡­"


    Duan Juan suddenly thought of something. She looked from left to right, up to down, seeming to be trying to find something.


    "What''s wrong?" Ding Ruolan, her brother, and the others looked at her with confusion.


    "I''m looking for¡­ Um, what''s that person''s name?" Duan Juan was trying to find that woman who killed Yang Jianhua, but she didn''t know how to call her.


    So, she changed her words and continued, "Oh, where''s that pretty lady who killed Yang Jianhua?"


    "The one with sunglasses?" Ding Datong asked.


    "Em, yeah!" Duan Juan nodded.


    Ding Datong glanced around, but didn''t see that person either.


    Earlier, everyone was busying at fighting and saving people, and now, they were sorting the supplies which were left in the base. So, none of them paid any attention to that mysterious woman.


    "Oh, are you looking for me?" Lin Qiao showed up behind them, leaning against the door frame.


    The people immediately turned to her.


    Duan Juan stared at her in shock, saying, "You¡­ you were not here the whole time, were you?"


    "No, I just arrived. I was taking care of a few scums just now. That man under Yang Jianhua''s command¡­ What''s his name again¡­? That level-five fire-powered man," Lin Qiao thought for a second and said.


    "Liu Yu!" Duan Juan immediately gave the answer, her eyes showing a trace of anger, "He is a scum indeed. He''s a pervert who likes to torture women, just like Yang Jianhua!"


    "Yeah, him. But, I have killed him just now. I came here because I want you to send someone to a basement and save a few women. He hid them there," Lin Qiao nodded, then gave those people an address.


    "I''ll go!" Ding Datong immediately volunteered.


    "Good! Datong, you take a few people and go over there to save them," Duan Juan nodded in agreement. After watching Ding Datong and his people leave, she turned back to Lin Qiao and said, "Those zombies¡­"


    Duan Juan didn''t straightforwardly ask Lin Qiao if she let those zombies in. However, recalling that female zombie with twin tails, she had already labeled Lin Qiao as someone who had special connections with zombies.


    Lin Qiao sensed her thoughts. So, she laughed to respond, "Is that what you care about now? I think you should think about how to bring the rest of your people in from the outside, or how to leave the base. After all, they is still a crowd of zombies near the entrance.

 498 What Frogs Can Do

    Being reminded by Lin Qiao, Duan Juan remembered that she hadn''t sent people out to pick Li Hongsheng and the others up. Her eyes glowed as she looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "You know how, right? Because you let us in."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Which man do you want to send out? Tell him to come over."


    Duan Juan immediately asked the few men who earlier followed her into the base to come over and stand in front of Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao stood straight and walked to those men. She stood before them, then abruptly took out a few green things and gave one to each of them.


    "Take this. It''ll work better than earlier when you got in. Don''t forget to keep the people you''re going to bring in from the outside between you," she said to them.


    People looked at what Lin Qiao handed to those men with both confusion and surprise¡­ because those were a few grass frogs.


    That was right! Those were a few frogs made from grass leaves.


    Lin Qiao smilingly looked at the expressions on their faces. On the inside, she had already burst into laughter. She was planning to directly wipe her own blood on those men, but she had a second thought¡­ A weird way like that might make some people who had extreme thoughts suspicious.


    So, she pondered shortly, then picked some grass leaves from her space and made a few frogs, hiding a drop of her blood in each of those frogs.


    She had tried. Her blood directly drove Qiu Lili away from her, not to mention those lower-leveled zombies. Those zombies ran away without leaving a trace.


    She knew that not only did her blood give out the pressure from a zombie queen, but also contained the energy from the lake.


    A small amount of that kind of energy would make zombies excited and happy, but with a great amount, it would arouse their instinctive fear. In her space, the group of high-leveled zombies and the mutated snake didn''t dare to approach the lake because too much energy was contained in the lake water. Only the silly zombie dog had the courage to get close to the lake, but not too close.


    The few men confusedly took over those grass frogs, then turned to look at Duan Juan helplessly.


    If they didn''t just come in from the outside, they wouldn''t even take over those frogs. That was just like a joke!


    Duan Juan walked over and took a frog from a man''s hands. She glanced at it, then paused for a second and blinked. Soon, she put it under her nose to sniff at it, then felt it with her superpower.


    "This thing contains a special type of energy. I think you can give it a shot." She gave the frog back to the man and said.


    "Don''t you believe me? Then you''ll have to figure out a way to go out by yourselves. But, I need to tell you that what helped you enter the base has faded away. That couldn''t last for long, so I gave you this. You should feel lucky that I didn''t make grass dolls for you," said Lin Qiao.


    "May I ask a question? Where did you learn to weave¡­ like this?" Duan Juan looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao smiled and responded calmly, "What? Can''t you tell? I guess only your Chief and her family know how to weave like this."


    She didn''t speak with a strong tone, but her words contained a huge amount of information.


    Duan Juan was stunned a little. Suddenly, she stared at Lin Qiao in the eyes and asked, "Do you know our Chief?"


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "In fact, I''m gonna make it clear with you now. I''m from East China, and I know Lin Feng and his family¡­ Ah, and Yuan Tianxing. You know him too, don''t you?"


    Lin Qiao knew what Duan Juan wanted to ask. When she was in a special forces, everyone in her squad knew that she could weave small things like those frogs, and were familiar with her weaving styles.


    Therefore, Duan Juan was surprised on seeing those frogs. She had a few guesses, but she wasn''t sure which one was right.


    Hence, Lin Qiao mentioned Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng to distract them.


    "Deputy Chief!" Hearing Yuan Tianxing''s name, Duan Juan and the others exclaimed out loud in one voice.


    "Did you see him? How is he now?" Duan Juan was a little excited.


    Lin Qiao tilted her head and replied, "He''s fine. He and Lin Feng and the others have started to build a new base somewhere in East China. If you''re planning to go to Sea City Base, you should better head to their new base."


    She didn''t give them all the details. She only said those words to guide them, because she knew that those people were trying to figure out her relationship with Yuan Tianxing.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Duan Juan suddenly sighed in relief, as if she was suddenly freed from some kind of concern.


    "That''s wonderful! As long as they''re okay! There is a new base? That''s so great! We can go to find them!" said Duan Juan happily. At the same time, the others all looked at each other delightfully.


    Lin Qiao said to the few who were still gazing at the grass frogs in their hands, "Aren''t you going out to pick up some other people? Remember, don''t lose the frogs!"


    "Alright, you go. We''ve just got in safely, so I believe going out will be even easier," Duan Juan said to them.


    Those people prepared to put the frogs into their bags.


    "Oh, wait! You should better hang these frogs on your bags with ropes. Don''t put them inside your bags or wrap them up. Otherwise, they might not work," Lin Qiao hurriedly stopped them.


    Those frogs would scare zombies because they gave out Lin Qiao''s scent. If they were put into bags, the scent that they gave out would become weak, and their effects would be weak as well.


    Those men were still confused. However, they still found ropes and hang those frogs on their belts because of what happened earlier.


    After they left, Duan Juan looked at Lin Qiao and said gratefully, "Thank you for helping us! I don''t know your name yet."


    "My last name is Lu. You don''t need to thank me. I helped you for a reason. Don''t forget what you promised me before. Also, I helped you for the sake of Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, and what I did for you was just a small thing," Lin Qiao carelessly waved a hand, then continued, "Just think about what to do with these captives."


    While speaking, she pointed at those enemies who were tied up, kneeling on the ground.


    Duan Juan turned and looked down at those people with frosty eyes.


    "They destroyed our home, killed our families and friends, and took away our food and supplies! We will kill them!" She looked at those people coldly and said word by word.


    "Kill them!" Hearing what she said, everyone around her showed a cold look.


    "Kill them!" Soon, everyone was shouting the same words while looking at those tied enemies with icy-cold eyes.

 499 Send Them Out to Feed The Zombies

    "Push them out to feed the zombies. Didn''t they attract those zombies out there? Just let them feed those zombies with themselves." Someone said with anger.


    "He''s right! These scums killed so many of our people! Let the zombies tear them into pieces!"


    "Yeah! Those animals don''t deserve a good death!"


    Hatred started to emerge from the crowd and spread fast. All the Hades Base soldiers stared at those captives with red eyes. After the battles that happened earlier, less than three-thousand enemies survived. The Earth Dragon Base soldiers in the school had almost all died.


    They were disabled by the group of zombies first. And later on, those Hades Base soldiers who went there to rescue the hostages angrily shot them to death.


    Even teenagers could poke daggers into their chest and cut their throats.


    Qiu Lili was sent to the base center by Lin Qiao from around the entrance, having fun while helping those Hades Base soldiers. She didn''t kill people, but disabled the enemies for the others to kill.


    Lin Qiao stood behind Duan Juan, staying silent. She found that the latter was the highest leveled superpowered person in her group. Only a small number of superpowered people from the Hades Base had survived after all.


    People respected power, so that group of people was basically following Duan Juan''s lead now.


    At last, Duan Juan led her people and tied those captives in strings, before dragging them out of the base center toward the entrance.


    Those Earth Dragon Base soldiers and those who followed Yang Jianhua knew that they would be fed to the zombies. They were so frightened that they tried to fight back and run. However, those who dared to run were all killed. In the end, the ones who were still alive were tied up and thrown onto trucks, then driven to the isolation area outside the gate.


    As they went out of the gate, even Duan Juan''s people were a little scared while looking at the zombie crowd which was at a distance away from the base. However, those zombies didn''t charge at them. So, they gathered their courage and quickly pushed the enemies off the trucks before hopping back onto the trucks and driving back into the base.


    Nevertheless, after they returned to the base, they found that those zombies still remained motionless! The situation turned out to be a little awkward.


    "Eh? They''re not attacking those people!"


    "Yeah, what''s going on? We sent them food but they refused?"


    Duan Juan stood on the fence wall. Seeing the situation, she couldn''t help but turn to Lin Qiao, as the latter seemed to be working together with the zombies. Earlier on, it was she who allowed them to go through the zombie crowd safely.


    "Miss. Lu, what¡­ what should we do now?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then smiled and said, "Easy." Then, she turned and yelled toward one direction, "Lili, come here and tell them to eat!"


    Duan Juan and the other people turned to that direction as well, then saw a white figure show up. Qiu Lili grumpily gave Lin Qiao a glance. She understood that Lin Qiao couldn''t reveal her real identity to those people yet, but she was not a zombie feeder, was she?


    Even though she was a little unhappy about what Lin Qiao just said, Qiu Lili still controlled the wind and flew up into the sky before giving a roar to the crowd of zombies.


    "Roar!" ''Eat, eat!''


    The zombie crowd was immediately stirred by her voice, swarming toward those enemies and traitors


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The group of people standing on the fence wall coldly watched the thousands of captives be overwhelmed by tens of thousands of zombies, their screams being mixed together with the zombie roars.


    After helping the injured ones and those hostages settle down, Duan Juan ordered her people to use some of the food which was seized back from the enemies'' hands and make a meal. After a couple of months, all those people finally had a good meal.


    That night, Duan Juan and her people talked about the future plan.


    "I''m going to lead a troop to find Deputy Chief and Great Captain. They''re building a new base. That''ll be a new home. I''ll give you one day to think about it. You can stay here or follow me to Hangzhou¡­ Either way, I won''t force you. I''ll leave for a day. When I return at night, I''ll count up the number of people who decide to follow me," Duan Juan stood on the stage on the square and said to the rest of the people. In the square, people were sitting on the ground casually. After hearing her words, they started discussing.


    Apart from Li Hongsheng, Ding Datong and a few superpowered ones were also looking at them.


    Duan Juan allowed those people to choose between staying here and going to the new base. After all, the city center could still accommodate people, even though most of the base had been destroyed. Some supplies were still stored in the base, so the people who didn''t want to go through the long journey to Hangzhou could continue their life here.


    "Now that we''ve heard from Deputy Chief, obviously we''re going to find him! Also, if there''s a new base, why don''t we go there? We can help them build it!"


    "Yeah! This place has already been destroyed. Rebuilding this base is not as good as building a new one!"


    "I want to go to Hangzhou!"


    "Me too!"


    Some of those people were willing to go to the new base, but some weren''t.


    "So many of us are going to Hangzhou together? It''s too far away, isn''t it? We don''t have many bullets left. We''re gonna face zombies during the whole journey. I don''t think the weak ones can make it to Hangzhou!"


    "Yeah, and it''s not so bad to stay here. Although many buildings have been destroyed, we can still live in the base center! Why do we have to go to somewhere so far away? The journey will be very dangerous, and we don''t know many people will die on the road!"


    Duan Juan spent a moment listening to all kinds of voices from the crowd, then said, "So, I said that I''ll give you one day to think about it, didn''t I? Go back and think about it carefully. We''ll leave the day after tomorrow. Don''t worry, I won''t bring too many supplies away. I''ll only take the amount that is enough for us to travel to Hangzhou."


    Lin Qiao stood aside, sensing those people''s thoughts.


    People were selfish nowadays. The one who wanted to leave wished the others to stay, especially the old, weak, and ill ones, so that they wouldn''t need to spend too much energy to protect them during the journey.


    The ones who didn''t want to leave were too afraid of the zombies outside the base. They didn''t dare to take the risk to leave. Meanwhile, they wished that Duan Juan and her people could stay, so that they would have protectors.


    In fact, Lin Qiao felt that the ones who were willing to take the risk to leave were lucky, because she would be with them. When she was around, those zombies wouldn''t possibly attack those people. As for those who were going to choose to stay, Lin Qiao surely wouldn''t tell them what a great chance they were about to miss.


    Finishing that speech, Duan Juan didn''t say another word, but jumped off the stage with her people. She then turned and smiled at Lin Qiao, "Great! Tomorrow, we''ll take you to that place. We have cars now!"


    "Why do you care so much about that? I have cars too," said Lin Qiao.

 500 Head To The Destination

    At night, Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili entered the space. Lin Qiao asked the latter to give water to the zombies who fought for her today, and then covered her own body with the dark mist before taking off her clothes and going down into the lake.


    She swam to the bottom of the lake with a few energy nuclei held in her hands. Those were the nuclei of Yang Jianhua, Huo Wu, Liu Yu, and the zombie nuclei of some high-leveled zombies that she killed out there.


    She pressed those nuclei on her belly one after another for Viney to absorb the energy. At dawn, Viney finally finished the absorption.


    After absorbing the energy, Viney called Mama with a sweet voice, then fell into deep sleep again.


    Lin Qiao''s energy still remained in the old state, without changing at all. Maybe because she upgraded too fast earlier on, she now felt a little strange as she had absorbed a great amount of energy but sensed no sign of a breakthrough.


    Next day, Lin Qiao, Duan Juan and a few young men drove out of the base.


    Currently, Duan Juan could be considered as the temporary leader of this place. She had the power and administrative ability, so people were all willing to follow her.


    They went out of the gate and saw large blood stains on the ground in the isolation area. Broken limbs were seen everywhere, and broken guts were rolling in the sands. Countless flies were humming all over the sky.


    At that point, those zombies seemed less crazy than yesterday. They were shambling around and picking the body pieces off the ground.


    A zombie picked up a hand and made two bites, then spat it back out and threw it away. It didn''t taste good. Then, it picked up a human head and dug into the brain, finding it to be empty. So, it threw the head away as well.


    Some zombies were still lying on the ground, digging and eating those dead bodies'' internal organs.


    When Lin Qiao and her people drove the car out of the base, the zombies before the car were startled. They were wandering leisurely in that area, but at the sight of the car, they turned and ran right away.


    The few men in the car who were holding their guns vigilantly were so confused. When the car moved straight through the zombie crowd, they popped their eyes and watched those zombies flee away.


    "Why are they running?" said a soldier. Earlier on, he was in the base fighting for Yang Jianhua under threat.


    "Hahaha, you have no idea. We have a secret weapon!" said one of Duan Juan''s people.


    "What secret weapon can possibly scare zombies? It''s so magical!" The man asked with a confused look.


    "Ah, she''s the secret weapon," Duan Juan''s man pointed at Lin Qiao.


    The others all felt a little speechless.


    Duan Juan was driving as she asked Lin Qiao, "How are Deputy Chief and the others now? How are Great Captain and Mrs. Lin? They are just a few people, so I guess building a new base can be difficult."


    Lin Qiao put an elbow on the frame of the car window on her side, then rested her head on her palm and replied, "Oh, they''re good. They have food, and they can build the base. They''re short-handed, so they borrowed people from Sea City Base. It''s getting cold now, and there are more jobless people in Sea City Base."


    Duan Juan glanced outside the window, hearing the roaring wind. The air temperature had indeed dropped greatly. Higher-leveled superpowered people were no longer afraid of coldness, because their energies would automatically adjust their body condition to adapt the weather.


    "I see. But, they need to pay a high price for that, right? After all, they need to hire many people," said Duan Juan knowingly.


    "They pay with food," said Lin Qiao, "They also provide food and accommodation. Their offer isn''t lousy at all."


    Duan Juan thought for a moment and suddenly realized that Hangzhou City used to be the most densely populated area in Zhejiang Province, meaning that that place should be a zombie city. Why did Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing choose to build the new base in that area?


    She asked curiously, "If I''m right, Hangzhou should be a zombie city, right? Why did Deputy Chief and the others choose to build the new base there?"


    "Because that place is a zombie city. Think about it¡­ That area is crowded by zombies, including quite a lot of high-leveled zombies. Normal zombie-hunting squads don''t dare to enter the city, do they? The larger-scaled troops may enter the city, but won''t reach the central area. So, a good deal of food and supplies must still be stored there," Lin Qiao looked at the front and answered her question.


    "You''re right. They did the exact opposite. So, have they collected a great amount of food and supplies," Duan Juan nodded. Suddenly, she thought of something else, so she asked, "Have you been helping them too?"


    She thought about the facts that the zombie city was certainly crowded by zombies, and that this Miss. Lu here seemed to be good at controlling zombies. Yuan Tianxing and her people had been building a new base in a zombie city safely, which could mean that Miss. Lu had been helping them.


    "Oh, I did do them a small favor," Lin Qiao nodded, but didn''t say much about that.


    "Thank you!" Duan Juan smiled.


    "Again? Why are you thanking me for Yuan Tianxing and his people? They should thank me themselves," Lin Qiao glanced at her.


    The conversation that happened between them made the few men in the car fall into silence. Earlier on, they only knew that Yuan Tianxing and Lin Family people were still alive, and had been building a new base in Hangzhou. They thought that the new base was located in a suburb area around the city, without a large population of zombies. But unexpectedly, they now heard that the new base was right in the middle of the city, which was full of zombies!


    Suddenly, they felt that their Deputy Chief must have gone out of his mind. They couldn''t believe that he chose to build the new base in a zombie city. But then, they recalled that the zombies they saw earlier ran away at the sight of their car, and felt less surprised.


    This journey finally allowed them to taste the feeling of making zombies make way for them. All the zombies they saw on the way turned and fled at the sight of their car.


    The car left the town and drove onto a highway. Not many zombies showed up on the highway, and only the abandoned vehicles jammed the road. In order to keep moving, people needed to remove those vehicles from the road.


    As a result, the two hours'' drive took them over three hours.


    Upon arriving at the seaside, Lin Qiao had a strange feeling rising from her heart. The closer she got to the ocean, the stronger that feeling became.


    She felt as if she had lost something in that place.


    When she saw a cloud of dark mist at the front, that feeling seemed to jump out of her heart and urged her to go forward.


    Duan Juan parked the car and said to her, "As you can see, the cliff is in one or two miles away. That place¡­ that fire was left by our Chief after she detonated herself. She''s gone, but the power of that fire remains. It has turned weaker by ninety percent, but still, we can''t get closer to it. You''re gonna have to complete the journey by yourself."


    She was right. The power of that flaming area had decreased by ninety percent, but it was still dangerous for her, as she was only at level-five.

 501 Come Across A Friend

    Lin Qiao gazed at that area. Hearing what Duan Juan said, she turned to her and smiled, "It''s okay. Here is fine. I can go over there alone."


    While speaking, she opened the car door and prepared to get off.


    Duan Juan held her arm and said worriedly, "Are you really going there? That place is dangerous¡­ Our Chief''s fire isn''t like an ordinary fire. Its power has declined by ninety percent, but it''s still very dangerous. It poisons people, and can corrode human bodies."


    Lin Qiao said to her, "It''s fine. I have my way to handle it. You should go back."


    Duan Juan looked at her and said, "No, we''ll wait for you. If you don''t show up until tonight, we''ll leave without you."


    Lin Qiao nodded and replied, "Good. I''m going now."


    She got off the car, then waved a hand toward the few people in the car and turned to head toward the area where the dark mist was rising from. Duan Juan and the others watched her walking that way with complicated feelings.


    That place was extremely dangerous. Many people went there and never came back. Miss. Lu had just helped them, but now, she was walking into that dangerous place. Duan Juan and her people all felt not quite right watching her walk to that area, but she insisted and they couldn''t stop her.


    When Lin Qiao walked far away, a figure suddenly darted out from behind a rock and landed on the roof of Duan Juan''s car, causing a loud thud. The people in the car immediately jumped out and pointed their guns at the person on the car roof.


    Before Duan Juan saw that person''s face clearly, that person called her name. "Duan Juan?"


    Duan Juan paused and looked at that person as she spoke with surprise, "Qian Xiaoai!"


    That name sounded like a girl''s name, but in fact, the one standing on top of the car was a tall and strong man. Qian Xiaoai was also surprised to see Duan Juan. However, hearing her call his name, he couldn''t help but feel embarrassed. "Just call me A¡­ Please don''t call me by that name!" He leaped off the car and said.


    Seeing that Duan Juan and the man knew each other, the other people slowly lowered their guns.


    Qian Xiaoai was over six feet tall and muscular. He had a pretty delicate face, but had his head shaved. That hair-less head destroyed the comeliness of his face entirely.


    "A, didn''t you leave with Great Captain and the others? Why are you here?" Duan Juan asked.


    Qian Xiaoai rubbed a hand on his head while replying, "Great Captain sent me here to observe the place where our Chief went missing. But, that place has become like this. So, I can only wander in the surrounding area.


    It turned out that he was sent here by Lin Feng. Qian Xiaoai had been Lin Feng''s subordinate since long ago.


    "So, Great Captain sent you here. How long have you been here for?" Duan Juan asked.


    Qian Xiaoai glanced at the dark mist in the sky, then answered the question dejectedly, "Over three months."


    "There months? So you¡­ Didn''t our base break three months ago? Why did you stay here for such a long time?" said Duan Juan with surprise.


    Qian Xiaoai turned back, then leaned against the car and sighed, "Great Captain said that I have to find Chief, dead or alive. I can''t approach that area, so I don''t know if Chief is really dead or not. Perhaps, she didn''t blow herself up, but has fallen into an unconscious, self-protective state."


    Duan Juan looked at him and said, "That''s only your guess, isn''t it? Is that the reason why you''ve been staying here all this long? When are you gonna leave?"


    Qian Xiaoai looked at her, then smiled and said, "Does it sound like a self-deception? I think so too. I''m preparing to leave already, but you suddenly came here. I''m so happy to see a friend."


    Duan Juan nodded and said, "What a small world! Are you going to look for Great Captain and the others? Do you know where they are?"


    Qian Xiaoai immediately got a little excited. "No, I was going to ask you. Do you know?"


    Duan Juan pointed at where Lin Qiao headed to and said, "She does. I only know that they''re in Hangzhou, but I don''t have a specific location."


    Qian Xiaoai looked that way confusedly, asking, "Oh, who''s that woman?"


    "She''s from Hangzhou, and she knows Deputy Chief and the others. She brought us the news about them. We haven''t verified the information she gave. We don''t have the time for that, so we can only believe her for now," said Duan Juan.


    "You haven''t verified the news? But it makes sense though. Deputy Chief and the others were heading to Sea City Base in the first place, so they should pass by Hangzhou. But, do you really just believe in her?" Qian Xiaoai asked.


    "What other choice do we have? We have no other means to hear from Deputy Chief and the others. Also, this Miss. Lu killed Yang Jianhua and Huo Wu for us yesterday," Duan Juan spread her hands and said.


    That was why she chose to believe Lin Qiao.


    "What! She killed that traitor!" Qian Xiaoai popped his eyes in surprise.


    Duan Juan nodded and said, "Yeah! Not only did she kill Yang Jianhua and Huo Wu, but also helped us get our base back. But now¡­ it has become a broken empty base. Long Yubai''s people had taken away almost all the supplies long ago." After saying that, she sighed.


    "As long as he''s dead¡­ As long as he''s dead. That scum! If he didn''t drug our Chief, she wouldn''t need to come to this place to blow herself up just to distract those enemies!" Qian Xiaoai murmured at first, then suddenly cursed with an angry face.


    "That''s right. He''s not the only one who deserves death. Long Yubai should die too. Everyone in his base should die!" Duan Juan clenched her teeth and responded with a cold face.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao, their object of discussion, was eagerly rushing to where the dark mist was rising from.


    ''Mama¡­''


    Viney suddenly woke up. She might have sensed Lin Qiao''s excitement or the different vibe from the surrounding area. Lin Qiao gave a start, then slowed down.


    "Are you awake? What''s wrong?" she asked.


    ''Mama, you''re having a strong mood swing¡­ And, I sensed a familiar scent. Eh? Mama, you found the source of the fire!''


    Viney woke up completely. She spent a moment sensing the area around Lin Qiao, then suddenly added with a delightful surprise.


    "Yes, I have. It''s right here. Viney¡­ When I absorb all the fire in this place, will I remember what happened before?" While speaking, Lin Qiao saw the black fire which was burning on the ground.


    It looked exactly like what she saw in her dreams. She felt that the fire belonged to her. Moreover, the fire contained the same kind of energy as her black mist.


    More specifically, her black mist shared the same origin as the fire!

 502 The Cliff With Black Fire

    Hearing Lin Qiao''s question, Viney responded uncertainly, ''I''m not sure either¡­ Mama, you have to try and find out. But Mama, this place is not dangerous for you.''


    Lin Qiao nodded and kept walking forward. The fire didn''t make her feel dangerous at all. On the contrary, she actually felt familiar with it.


    She walked closer and saw a piece of dark land. Not a blade of grass was growing there; even the rocks were half molten. The earth was purely black. The sand, dirt, and rocks in that area all contained a kind of faint, black energy.


    About thirty meters away from the barren land, black fire flakes were sparkling on the earth. The flame was filled with the energy which Lin Qiao had inside her body.


    She set a foot on that land and inhaled. A stream of energy from the air flowed into her nose, then spread in her entire body and gathered in her brain.


    That energy was lethal for other people, but for her, it was nourishment.


    Since she walked onto this piece of land, all of her pores automatically opened wide to absorb the energy in the air. As she got close to those small fire flakes, she had a strange feeling as if she wasn''t walking on the flat ground, and wasn''t surrounded by the black fire.


    She felt like she was walking on clouds. What her feet had been feeling didn''t seem to be real.


    Step by step, she walked into the fire. Her clothes vanished within a moment, and her pretty back, slim waist, round hips, and long legs were all exposed in the air.


    Fortunately, no one dared to come here. The energy in the air could invade human bodies, poison people, and melt them from the inside within a short time. The people who entered the area a mile around the black fire would all die. Even their bones would eventually turn to dust.


    Therefore, no one would come to this place.


    Otherwise, someone might see Lin Qiao''s attractive body, and she wouldn''t know about it.


    After walking into the flaming zone, Lin Qiao started releasing black mist from her palms. The mist flowed out of her palms endlessly and mixed together with the mist in this area.


    She kept moving forward. After walking for about nine-hundred meters, she finally saw the edge of the cliff.


    She stood by the cliff, searching. She felt that she had lost something that belonged to her in this place.


    Finally, she saw a transparent, glistening black energy nucleus lying on the edge of the cliff.


    She couldn''t turn her eyes away from the nucleus once she spotted it. She slowly walked there, then squatted and picked it up.


    Was that¡­ her nucleus? Did she leave it here before detonating herself?


    She held the nucleus in her hand, which sparkled suddenly. She instantly felt dizzy and fell to the ground. At that moment, the energy in her body started flooding out in huge streams.


    Her energy kept flowing out. She stayed in that state for five or six hours, until all the energy inside her body and brain was gone. Only a cool type of energy was left protecting her body.


    After the energy left Lin Qiao''s body, something strange happened with the nucleus in her hand. It suddenly merged into her palm and disappeared without a trace.


    After that, the surrounding air slowly began spinning around her. The flames on the ground were stretched, turning into a dark stream and spiraling around her.


    The first wave of flames spiraled up to Lin Qiao''s head and drilled into her forehead, and the following flames all gathered toward that area as well. Before long, Lin Qiao became the center of a swirl, as she was absorbing the black fire and the dark mist around her.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t see all this, because her consciousness was messy at the moment. Countless memory pieces flashed across her mind, and more had been emerging.


    She felt as if her head was going to explode. She endured that uncomfortable feeling, trying to see those memories clearly. But, those memories flashed like naughty kids, and never settled down.


    She spent a great effort to finally grasp some of those memory pieces. The pictures from those memories reminded her of what happened earlier like a trigger.


    She kept trying to grasp more memory pieces, looking into them and thinking. That was five years of memories. She forgot about the passage of time, as she only wanted to remember everything.


    When her body fell into that strange state, the swirl around her grew bigger and bigger. All the dark fire in that area was drawn toward her, spiraling up and slowly forming a black tornado.


    "Look over there!" Two miles away, Duan Juan and her people suddenly found a weird change happening in the cliff area after waiting for a whole morning.


    "What¡­ What''s happening there?" Duan Juan looked at that area. She was slightly surprised as well.


    In the eyes of her and her people, the dark mist in that area had become a tremendous tornado, and the wind in that area had grown strong. The leaves went blown up into the sky, and branches were broken; some small trees were even uprooted.


    "What happened over there!"


    Those people were shocked and confused. They didn''t understand why that suddenly happened.


    "That¡­ That Miss. Lu is still there. Is she in danger?" someone asked.


    "I don''t know! Even if she is in danger, we can''t go there," Duan Juan was getting worried and anxious as well. They couldn''t go there indeed, because they couldn''t even inhale the air in that area. They didn''t have gas masks, so they would die for sure if they went there.


    Even if they did have gas masks, they couldn''t stay in that area for long, because the energy in that area would melt them.


    "What should we do? Are we going to just watch her¡­ die?" Qian Xiaoai asked with confusion.


    Duan Juan stayed silent for a short while, then said, "I''ll try! I''m going alone. You guys stay here. If I don''t come back tonight, you should go back to the base without me!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Duan Juan!" Qian Xiaoai called her name with disagreement, "No! If some people are going there, it should be us! You can''t go!"


    "Juan! You can''t go!"


    "No!"


    "We''ll go!" The others all disagreed.


    "Quiet!" said Duan Juan, "You''re not even strong enough to approach the edge of the fire! I''ll go and check the situation. Don''t worry, I won''t let myself die in there. I''ll come back if anything goes wrong."


    "How do you plan to get in?" Qian Xiaoai asked.


    "Let me think¡­ Let me think¡­" Duan Juan stared at the dark swirl and said with a frown.


    She couldn''t think of a way to get close to that area, because nothing could survive the energy contained in that fire. Everything would be melted by that black fire eventually.

 503 Lin Qiaos Memory

    Lin Qiao managed to restore some important memories of the past five years, and was still working on the rest.


    She remembered how the apocalypse came, how the base was built, how it developed. At last, she remembered how Yang Jianhua betrayed her and destroyed the base.


    She regretted killing Yang Jianhua so quickly.


    When Long Yubai launched the attack, her power had already been suppressed by the drug that Yang Jianhua gave her. The drug was developed especially for her.


    Yang Jianhua didn''t give her all the drug at one time; instead, he started doing it three months before Long Yubai made the move.


    What Lin Qiao said to Yang Jianhua earlier was not wrong. Yang Jianhua put the drug in her wine. That was why her mind wasn''t clear, and how she fell under the drug''s control and ended up lying underneath Yang Jianhua.


    She hadn''t been on alert against him. She knew that Yang Jianhua made some small moves sometimes, but she turned a blind eye and didn''t dig deep. Back then, she naively believed that he wouldn''t be so cruel, and that no matter what he intended, he would always give Lin Family a chance to survive. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    But as a result, he didn''t!


    If Lin Qiao didn''t blow herself up to draw all the attention of Long Yubai and the other level-seven enemies, her family might not have been able to run out of the base.


    Also¡­


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes. She lowered her head and rubbed her stomach. That time, she got pregnant.


    That day, she woke up to find herself lying beside Yang Jianhua. Her mind wasn''t clear, so she thought that she was simply drunk and that what happened between her and him was just a drunken mistake. She felt awkward, but still immediately made it clear with Yang Jianhua that it was just an accident, and neither of them needed to be responsible for the other.


    Yang Jianhua accepted it without saying anything.


    Before Lin Qiao had any time to think about the details of that drunken mistake, her attention was diverted by the news from the Earth Dragon Base. Half a month before her base was broken, she finally had some time to think about that mistake.


    At that time, she also unexpectedly found that there was a new life inside her uterus. She couldn''t abort that child, even if it was Yang Jianhua''s child. In the post-apocalyptic era, children were the most precious gifts.


    She did want a child, because she was over thirty years old and was a normal woman. Like many other women, she also wanted her own children. She didn''t have the time to fall in love; it was added with the fact that Long Yubai had been casting his greedy eyes on Hades Base the whole time and that Earth Dragon Base had been making all sorts of moves. For these reasons, she temporarily gave up on the idea of having her own children; she didn''t even decide whom to borrow sperm from.


    The mistake that happened between her and Yang Jianhua brought her a child. She was surprised, and happy. She was going to tell Yang Jianhua about it, but the latter''s strange behavior made her give up.


    Half a month ago, she started suspect Yang Jianhua, and gradually began keeping vigilance against him. That was why she secretly sent Li Zheng and his people to Sea City.


    However, the information she got turned out to be false. Long Yubai wasn''t going to take action in a couple of months. Instead, he was going to take action very soon. Because of the false information, Lin Qiao didn''t have the time to prepare before the enemies launched the attack.


    When she died, no one but herself knew that she was going to be a mother.


    ''Viney, are you okay?'' she said in her head.


    Viney had said that she could come to this place where she died without worries, because the energy in that area wouldn''t affect her. But still, she was a little worried.


    She had restored some of her memories. If she were right, Viney should be her child. After realizing that fact, she had different feelings for the latter.


    It turned out that Viney called her Mama for a reason. She just didn''t know how Viney woke up along with her in Lu Tianyu''s body. After all, she was just a fetus.


    Also, she never understood Viney''s way of growing.


    ''Mama? Viney is fine¡­ Mama, your thoughts are disordered now¡­ Mama, have you restored your memories?'' Viney''s voice was heard at that moment.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on her flat belly and said in her head, ''Fortunately, you came back to life as well¡­ This is wonderful¡­''


    ''Mama¡­ Are you crying?''


    Viney couldn''t see Lin Qiao''s face, but could feel her complicated feelings from her emotional swings.


    She felt guilty, surprised, and happy. She felt guilty for her child, because between her child and her other family members, she had helplessly chosen her other family members.


    So, as she remembered what happened, the guiltiness that she had for Viney spread in her heart, and her dark-green eyes shed red tears.


    Gently, she said, "I''m sorry. Mama made you die once¡­"


    She didn''t know what she could possibly say to Viney now. She only knew that her child had suffered death together with her once. But thankfully, her baby also came back to life with her!


    ''Sorry¡­ Sorry¡­ Viney¡­'' Lin Qiao couldn''t help apologizing in her head.


    ''Mama, please don''t cry¡­ Viney is good¡­ Please don''t cry¡­''


    Feeing Lin Qiao''s sadness, Viney panicked. She couldn''t come out of Lin Qiao''s uterus to comfort her, so with no other choice, she talked to her anxiously.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand to touch her face. Her face was moist indeed. She dropped that hand with surprise, wondering if zombies could shed tears.


    However, as she glanced at her hand, she found it to be red.


    She didn''t have tears, but she had blood.


    She smiled faintly and said, "Mama is fine, but Viney, I''m going to start collecting the energy. If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me and I''ll stop."


    ''Mama, it''ll be fine. The energy belongs to you, so it won''t affect Viney in any bad ways¡­ It can even help Viney grow!'' Viney replied happily.


    Lin Qiao''s energy wouldn''t affect Viney indeed. In fact, that energy was able to strengthen the combination of Viney''s soul and the zygote.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief, said, "Really? Good then! I''m going to start."


    After Viney responded, she closed her eyes and raised both hands with palms up.


    The dark fire around her had been drilling into her forehead in wisps. But now, as she changed her posture, the fire suddenly rose and divided into three parts before gushing into her palms and forehead in huge streams.


    This time, the amount of energy which had entered Lin Qiao''s body was larger than the amount which drifted into her just now by a hundred times over.


    And then, the dark fire and mist in the area miles in radius around her started to shrink at a crazily high rate.

 504 Ism Back

    While Duan Juan was trying to find a way to enter the dark fire zone, an immense change was happening in that area.


    "Eh? Look, that dark smoke is going down¡­ No, I think it''s shrinking!" Qian Xiaoai exclaimed on seeing the dark tornado slowly descend.


    "I''ll go and take a look," Duan Juan abruptly gave a few words, then swiftly darted toward the cliff.


    "Juan!" The others were shocked.


    "I''m going too! You guys stay here. Don''t follow me! You going there will make the situation more complicated," Qian Xiaoai quickly followed behind her. Hearing his words, the others stopped moving and helplessly stood where they were, anxiously watching him and Duan Juan run away.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao instantly sensed that Duan Juan and a man were running toward her. Duan Juan was cautious, so she didn''t go straight to Lin Qiao but found a high spot at about a mile away. She then observed the flame area through a telescope from there.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was wrapped in the ink-black fire, so Duan Juan couldn''t see her at all. However, Duan Juan found that the small dark fire flakes which were spread all over the area were now gone, and the fire had gathered on the cliff side.


    Duan Juan knew that her Chief detonated herself in the cliff area, but didn''t know that the explosion happened right on the cliff side.


    "The fire has gathered on the cliff side. If I''m right, that should be where our Chief died. But, why did the fire gather in that area?" Duan Juan saw the area clearly, then handed the telescope to Qian Xiaoai who was by her side.


    Qian Xiaoai first closed his eyes to sense the surrounding environment, then took over the telescope and put it before his eyes. While looking through the telescope, he said, "The energy contained in the air is reducing rapidly. It seems that someone is absorbing the fire. Whoever is absorbing the fire should be right there. But¡­ why didn''t I see that woman? She''s not consumed by the fire already, is she?"


    After saying that, Qian Xiaoai moved the telescope from the left to the right to try and find that woman.


    Lin Qiao spent nearly five hours to absorb the fire which was transformed from the energy. By the time she finished, it was already dark.


    The dark flames were half a meter tall, looking the exact same shape as regular flames. However, they were formed from pure energy. They might look like flames because the energy had memorized the shape of flames.


    When Lin Qiao absorbed all the energy contained in the fire, the fire faded away. The energy entered her body and circulated inside her before gushing into her brain at last. It was as if she had a black hole in her brain that could devour the energy endlessly.


    When the energy in the fire faded gradually, the thick dark mist slowly gathered together and started to enter Lin Qiao''s body along with the fire. She raised a hand and clenched her fingers toward the mist, then drew a few lines toward herself.


    A wisp of dark mist came out of the cloud and formed clothes on her¡ªfrom the underwear to the vest, the shirts, and then to a long, black coat.


    Her long legs were wrapped in a pair of trousers, and her feet were wearing a pair of thick-soled combat boots. Her hair had grown longer. Earlier on, they were only shoulder-length; but now, they had reached her waist.


    A black army cap appeared on her head. Under the brim of the hat, her dark-green eyes looked ahead peacefully.


    Her clothes and sunglasses were devoured by the energy, so she created new clothes according to her old style with the energy.


    Duan Juan''s telescope didn''t have night vision, so she couldn''t see the familiar figure in army suit slowly walking down the cliff after the dark mist faded. It was dark after all.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on her stomach and said to Viney, "Viney, are you still with me?"


    ''Mama¡­ Viney is tired¡­ Viney needs to sleep¡­'' Viney''s voice was heard intermittently. After saying that, she fell into silence again.


    Hearing Viney''s response, Lin Qiao sighed in relief. The kid should be fine now. Lin Qiao had absorbed a great amount of energy, so Viney might have absorbed some as well. She needed to sleep in order to digest that energy.


    Lin Qiao slightly raised her head, gazing at the dark sky. There were no moon or stars, only dark clouds. In her heart, she said, ''Yang Jianhua, you''ve died such an easy death. Consider that as my reward to you for giving me a child.''


    Only when she was thinking that way did she feel slightly better. She killed Yang Jianhua before restoring her memory. He died too easily, too easily!


    Qian Xiaoai and Duan Juan both sensed that the energy contained in the air was gone. They immediately came down from the top of the hill and ran toward the cliff.


    From a distance away, they saw a black figure walking out of the darkness, the hem of her coat fluttering in the air.


    "Chi-chief¡­" Duan Juan stared at that figure and murmured with disbelief.


    Qian Xiaoai froze in shock as well. He popped his eyes and stared at that figure. He and his friends used to see that person in those familiar clothes every single day. The way she walked and her pace were still the same as always.


    "No¡­ She''s not Chief!" Qian Xiaoai suddenly interrupted Duan Juan''s murmuring.


    That person had the same vibe and energy as Lin Qiao, even having a similar body shape and gait. But, her eyes which were sparkling dimly in the darkness still woke Qian Xiaoai up.


    She walked toward them like a devil in the dark.


    "Qian Xiaoai, I have a new face and body now, but I''m still your Chief. Have you forgotten how you got your head shaved?" Lin Qiao''s laughter could be heard.


    Hearing those words made Qian Xiaoai widen his eyes and gape his mouth without being able to say a word.


    "You¡­ It''s you!" Hearing her voice, Duan Juan recognized her as Miss. Lu, the one who came here with her and her people. However, Miss. Lu''s words and her tone of speaking both sounded exactly like those of Lin Qiao! Even the teasing tone sounded so familiar!


    "Yeah, it''s me¡­ and it''s not me¡­ You should know who I am now," Lin Qiao stopped meters away from them and rested one hand in her trouser pocket while the other was raised.


    "I¡­ am back!" she said.


    A flake of flame which was even darker than the darkness of night rose from her palm, slowly forming a pattern under the light of Duan Juan and Qian Xiaoai''s flashlights. Seeing that pattern, Duan Juan wore the same look as Qian Xiaoai did. But soon, she lowered her head and covered her eyes with both hands. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.

 505 Donst Call Me Chief

    That pattern was a symbol of their army force, and had a special meaning.


    If Lin Qiao showed that pattern to Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, both of them would be able to recognize it as the symbol of their special forces.


    Except for Duan Juan, Yuan Tianxing, and Lin Feng, only Lin Qiao knew about that force.


    Duan Juan lowered her head and stayed silent for a few seconds, then raised her head to look at Lin Qiao as she said, "Captain?"


    Lin Qiao nodded with a faint smile. She looked at Duan Juan in the eyes and said, "You should know why we named our base Hades. I know that too. And so do my brother and Tianxing, right?"


    Duan Juan nodded.


    The base was named after their force.


    Their missions were all dangerous and bloody, mostly about assassinating all sorts of terrorists, gangsters, and invaders. They were efficient, and their missions had a scarily high success rate. Also, every single one in their force had their hands covered in the blood of evil people. For these reasons, soldiers from other forces gave them a nickname.


    Hades'' Executioners!


    Hades referred to the leaders of the country.


    They named their base Hades, and that name happened to match Lin Qiao''s special superpower perfectly.


    Qian Xiaoai didn''t know about that story, so he looked at Lin Qiao confusedly. He didn''t understand the conversation which was happening between Lin Qiao and Duan Juan, but what she said to him earlier did surprise him.


    He wasn''t always bald!


    One time, he followed Lin Qiao''s troop out of the base to collect supplies and got bitten by a poisonous mutated snake. Lin Qiao combated poison with poison, clearing the venom with her power. As a result, Qian Xiaoai''s hair started falling off.


    He looked at Lin Qiao and stuttered, "Are you¡­ Are you really her?"


    Lin Qiao put the pattern back into her body, then started counting with her fingers, "Qian Xiaoai, you were bitten by a poisonous snake and I saved you, so your hair fell out of your head. Xiaolu once poured water on your head from upstairs. And, you once saw Wenwen change clothes. I haven''t made you pay for that yet! Oh, and¡­"


    "Wait¡­ wait, wait, I get it, I get it! I know who you are! Please stop, Boss¡­" Hearing Lin Qiao counting his embarrassing experiences one after another, Qian Xiaoai even suffered a headache as he hurriedly begged her to stop.


    Everyone knew that his hair fell off after he was bitten by a poisonous snake. Once, Lin Xiaolu, Lin Feng''s daughter, was pouring water down from the second floor for fun, and he happened to walk past the building, so the water was poured straight on his head. A few people knew about that. However, except for himself and Lin Qiao, no one knew that he had accidentally seen Lin Wenwen change clothes. Not even Lin Wenwen herself knew that.


    Back then, he felt so awkward that he quickly turned to sneak away. However, once he turned around, he found Lin Qiao standing behind him with a meaningful smile. At that time, Qian Xiaoai''s fine hair immediately stood straight up, and he almost ran away automatically.


    No third person knew about that.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Duan Juan turned to stare at Lin Qiao''s pretty face with a weird look.


    "How dare you peek at Wenwen when she was changing clothes! Shame on you!"


    Qian Xiaoai explained with a bitter look, "Oh, it''s not like that¡­ That was an accident¡­ I didn''t see her on purpose!"


    "Do you think you could still stand here so healthily if you did peek at her on purpose?" Lin Qiao said. After saying that, she walked to Qian Xiaoai and raised a foot to kick him.


    Qian Xiaoai habitually moved sideways to dodge the kick, then showed a fawning smile and said, "No, no, no¡­ Boss, you''re such a generous person! Just let bygones be bygones! Please don''t tell my Captain about it!"


    By Captain, he meant Lin Feng. If Lin Feng knew about that, he would want to beat Qian Xiaoai to death.


    By now, Qian Xiaoai firmly believed that the lady in front of him was his Chief!


    "But¡­ didn''t you detonate yourself? Did you fail to do that? Or, did you survive the explosion?" Duan Juan calmed herself down and then stared at Lin Qiao''s face.


    Her face looked completely different, and her eyes were strange. If she didn''t show that dark fire pattern, Duan Juan would never believe that she was Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on her stomach. An even brighter green light flashed across her sparkling green eyes while a strong intention of killing was shown in those eyes.


    "I let Yang Jianhua die too easily! He had his eyes on Wenwen since the very beginning. He spent years bringing me and everyone else into his trap!" Her voice sounded calm, but gave out a bone-piercing coldness.


    "How could he possibly gain our trust without spending so much time?" Duan Juan remarked blandly.


    Lin Qiao nodded.


    She was right. If he didn''t save Lin Qiao''s life and spent years following her, how could she possibly trust him? He actually hid his true intentions so deeply.


    "I did die. My body was blown into pieces, and my energy turned into air. Only that energy nucleus remained undamaged, and I retrieved it just now," Lin Qiao touched the spot between her eyebrows and said.


    This time, after absorbing the flood of energy, Lin Qiao directly broke into level-seven. She was now a zombie dominator, a special one at that.


    "Why do you look like this now?" Duan Juan gazed at her face curiously.


    "I woke up in this woman''s body. I woke up not long after her death. Back at that time, she was turning into a zombie. You have no idea now miserable this body looked when I first woke up!" Lin Qiao rubbed her own face and said.


    Duan Juan and Qian Xiaoai popped their eyes, staring at Lin Qiao. "So¡­ have you truly become someone else now? And, you''re a zombie!"


    Lin Qiao nodded again. Her eyes revealed the truth that she was a zombie, so she didn''t need to lie about that.


    Duan Juan and Qian Xiaoai glanced at each other and couldn''t make any other reactions for a long while. They were shocked as if they just saw a ghost.


    What should they do? Their Chief had become a zombie! Would she eat them when she was hungry?


    "Alright, now I have done what I needed to do. Let''s head back to the base. Duan Juan, give me a list of the people who''re willing to go with us tomorrow. We won''t take any supplies. Leave all the vehicles, food, and other supplies to the ones who decide not to leave," Lin Qiao glanced at the two stunned people and said.


    Duan Juan came back to her senses. "All?" she asked, "How are we supposed to make the journey then? Can''t we take even some vehicles? You don''t want us to walk to Sea City, do you?"


    While speaking, she looked at Lin Qiao confusedly.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes, we''ll leave all for them. You don''t need to worry about vehicles."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Then, she waved a hand and started walking toward the parked car. A few seconds later, she abruptly stopped, then turned back and said to the two, "Also, don''t call me Chief when we return to the base. Call me Miss Lu. My current name is Lu Tianyu."


    Qian Xiaoai and Duan Juan again glanced at each other confusedly. However, what Lin Qiao said was an order. Even though they didn''t understand why, they still needed to nod and do exactly as she asked.

 506 The Beginning Of The Revenge

    @@


    They got onto the car. Duan Juan was driving and Lin Qiao sat in the front seat, while Qian Xiaoai had climbed onto the car roof.


    The others all stared at Lin Qiao with surprise.


    Her clothes had changed. Before she walked into the fire area, she was wearing a camouflage suit; but now, she was in a pure black military suit. Those people felt that they had seen those clothes somewhere else before.


    Her hair were much longer than before, and she was also wearing a black army cap.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    More importantly, did she go to that place? Did she enter that zone? Or, did she not?


    They didn''t dare to ask, but all silently and sneakily observed her.


    For some reason, since Lin Qiao had changed her clothes and came back, those people no longer dared to look straight at her.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and looked outside the window, her eyes glowing as brightly as the eyes of wolves. The light that shone from those eyes flashed across the darkness of the night. @@

 507 I Have A Zombie Army

    @@


    Lin Qiao entered her space, and her sharp vibe surprised Qiu Lili.


    "Eh? Your outfit provides such a strong vibe! Where did you get them? Eh? Your hair grew long¡­ Ah, you''re more powerful than before! You didn''t upgrade again, did you?" She spent a moment sensing Lin Qiao''s vibe, then looked at her in shock.


    She felt that Lin Qiao had changed again! She was still the same being, but the feeling that the latter gave out was different again. Her vibe was stronger and sharper than before, and her power grade was higher.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Qiu Lili even felt a slight suppression from Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her own clothes, then gave a faint smile and said, "I created these clothes with my energy. My old clothes were gone."


    After saying that, she walked into the small building and went upstairs to change into some normal clothes. It was her first time creating clothes with energy, and those fake clothes made her feel insecure.


    "You¡­ You upgraded again¡­ Why are you @@

 508 Its Not A Duty

    ''Because you were not a zombie at that time! What if you forgot to take drugs and went crazy!''


    After learning that Lin Qiao was a zombie now, they were a little scared.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said to them, "I''m telling you, I can read people''s minds now. Don''t say back things about me in your heads, because I''ll hear them. Also, me forgetting to take drugs and going crazy isn''t impossible, is it? Even healthy people can go crazy sometimes, not to mention the fact that I''m a zombie."


    She rested her chin on her palm and thought for a moment, then continued, "Maybe someday I''ll really go crazy. Most of the crazy women were driven crazy by failed relationships, so I guess I should stay away from men. Fortunately, I don''t love Yang Jianhua, or I might really lose my mind!"


    Duan Juan and the others glanced at each other, feeling that her words did make sense.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao didn''t fall in love with Yang Jianhua. Otherwise, she would hate him so much that she could even drive herself crazy. Which woman wouldn''t go crazy if the man she loved lied to her, betrayed her, and destroyed everything that she founded single-handedly, killing so many people she cared about?


    Three hours passed soon. Lin Qiao put on the sunglasses and went downstairs along with the others. When they walked out of the building, they found that some people had already left the square.


    Less than three-thousand people were willing to leave with them, including commoners and superpowered ones.


    Duan Juan stood on the stage and looked at the ones on the square, then glanced at the ones who had walked far away and decided to stay. She said loudly, "Have you made your decision? Good, don''t regret it! I''ve already given you two chances."


    After that, she waved a hand toward Li Hongsheng and Ding Datong, then took a few steps backward.


    The two made a few steps forward, and one of them said to the people on the square loudly, "Now, let''s walk out of the base. Some people will pick us up outside the gate. The ones who can walk, lend a hand to the ones who can''t."


    "People? What people?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Why are there people outside?"


    "Why didn''t we know about it? If there''re people who came to pick us up, we''ll go as well!"


    "Yeah! You didn''t even tell us that there''ll be people picking us up! You''re so selfish!"


    What Li Hongsheng said made the ones who decided to leave delighted, and the ones who decided to stay angry.


    "Why would we tell you? Listen, it''s not our duty to take you with us! We were trying to help you, on one condition. The condition was your courage! From last night to this morning, we have given you two chances to choose to come with us. You are afraid of death, of the long journey, and of all kinds of dangers. Don''t they have the same concerns? They didn''t know that there''ll be people come to pick us up either, did they?"


    Li Hongsheng said loudly, pointing at the ones who decided to leave.


    "We only gave the chance to the ones who can seize it. If you are unhappy about this, blame yourself for not grasping the opportunity. Besides, we''re going to leave all the supplies in the base to you. We''ve done what we should."


    All those people fell into silence. Li Hongsheng was right; he and his people had no responsibility to protect them. People respected the strong ones, and the opportunities were for the ones who dared to venture. Those were the natural laws of this world.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao abruptly walked out. She waved a hand and signaled for Li Hongsheng and Ding Datong to stand behind her, then held her hands behind her body and calmly looked at the people under the stage.


    About twenty seconds later, she said with a loud voice, "I''m the one who required your courage. What? Any disagreement? You don''t even have guts to leave this base, so what made you think that you deserve better treatment in this post-apocalyptic world? I''ve already offered you two chances. What else do you want?"


    Seeing that lots of people down there were still not convinced, she continued, "Alright, I''ll give you one more chance. The ones who got through the zombie crowd outside the fence wall alone, I''ll take them with me. Listen carefully, this is your last chance!"


    Lin Qiao asked Duan Juan and the others not to tell the people in the base about the truth for a reason.


    Those people were willing to stay in that broken base because they were afraid of all kinds of dangers outside the wall. If she forced them to leave or lured them to leave with the goodness of the new base, they wouldn''t be grateful. Instead, they would think that Duan Juan and her people had the responsibility to protect and help them.


    They hadn''t realized that even if Duan Juan and her people had the abilities to protect them, they didn''t have the duty to protect every coward.


    Duan Juan and her people wanted to take them to the new base because they were nice and kind. However, those people saw that as their obligation, as something that they should do. Clearly, those people were selfish and ungrateful. Letting them follow her would bring Lin Qiao no good result.


    Therefore, she decided to change those people''s way of thinking before taking them to the new base.


    "In this world, no one has the duty to protect others. So, if you want to survive, you''re gonna have to seize the opportunities," she said blandly, and her words threw everyone into silence.


    Next, she looked at those people in the middle of the square, who were determined to leave, saying, "Let''s go!"


    After that, she leaped off the stage and headed to the base gate. Duan Juan and the others leaped down as well, following her outside.


    When they nearly arrived at the gate, the people in the square started moving that way. The healthy ones helped the ones who had difficulties in moving. That large group of people moved very slowly. When they finally came out of the base, they saw a huge zombie wall. So, they couldn''t help but stop around the gate.


    How were they supposed to go through the zombie crowd!


    "Keep moving!" In the front, Lin Qiao didn''t stop walking but gave a loud shout. Behind her, Duan Juan and the others stayed silent, following her toward the zombie crowd.


    "Can we¡­ Can we go through just like this?" holding his sister, Ding Datong asked.


    He knew that Lin Qiao was a zombie, and that she was definitely able to control them. However, thinking that he was going to get close to those disgusting and scary-looking zombies without any defense, he couldn''t help but feel a little scared.


    "What are afraid of? You see, even your little sister isn''t afraid," Duan Juan turned back and looked at him disdainfully while pointing at Ding Ruolan.


    Ding Ruolan looked at the others confusedly. She was afraid of zombies too, but she sincerely believed that as long as she was with her brother and his friends, she would be fine. Typical blind dependence!


    Ding Datong glanced at Ding Ruolan and stayed silent. He was never worried about himself.

 509 Go Through The Zombie Path

    "I''m here. They won''t dare to hurt you," Lin Qiao walked in the front and said.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Only after hearing that did Ding Datong slightly sighed with relief.


    Following behind the few relatively stronger superpowered ones were the group of people who survived outside the base with Duan Juan and Li Hongsheng. Even the few boys followed up bravely.


    After all, they had gone through the zombie wall once, so they were less scared the second time.


    Lin Qiao was getting closer and closer to the zombie crowd. When the distance between those zombies was shortened to less than ten meters, the zombie crowd before her started moving.


    Those zombies started drawing back. Every time she made a step forward, they made a step backward. Gradually, they moved to the side; when Lin Qiao approached, they had already made a path for her.


    Seeing Lin Qiao walk into the zombie crowd and those zombies move away from her to create a space for her, the group of people behind her were so shocked that they didn''t even know what expression to wear.


    "Why are you all standing there? Keep up!" Duan Juan glanced back while walking to Lin Qiao''s side. She found that only about thirty people caught up with her, and those were the ones who followed her outside the base.


    The people from the base were now standing tens of meters away by the base entrance, looking at Lin Qiao and the others in astonishment.


    "I''m telling you one more time, you only have one chance," Qian Xiaoai abruptly turned and gave them a yell, then turned back and followed Lin Qiao into the path in the zombie crowd without giving another glance back.


    When Lin Qiao walked through the zombie crowd, all the zombies near her moved five meters away. So, a ten-meters-wide path was formed in the zombie crowd.


    However, when she walked further and further forward, the zombies which moved away earlier started moving back to where they were slowly. But still, a small path was left in the crowd, about one or two meters wide.


    Even though Lin Qiao didn''t say a word when walking through the zombie crowd, she sent a message to the group of ordinary zombies around her with her mind. Therefore, the path shrank after she went through, from ten meters to one or two meters. The shrinking path gave those people a greater pressure.


    After going across the zombie crowd, Lin Qiao let out the vehicles in her space one after another in the isolation area. She put all the vehicles that she collected in that empty area, including the ten combat vehicles which belonged to Yang Jianhua.


    She also put tens of tanks of gasoline before those vehicles.


    She had all sorts of vehicles: small ones, medium ones, and large ones, even a few trucks and vans, which provided enough room to bring all those Hades Base people to the new base.


    She had also collected quite some gasoline. This time, lots of that gasoline would be consumed. So, she couldn''t help but glance at those gasoline tanks with a slight heartache.


    Duan Juan and the others watched her go through the zombie crowd. Suddenly, a series of vehicles appeared in the area where she pointed her finger at. As she made a few circles in that area, lines of different sized vehicles were parked in that area. Even a car shop wouldn''t have so many cars.


    "Wow! So many!" Qian Xiaoai popped his glowing eyes. He was nearly drooling.


    "Oi, wipe your mouth!" Duan Juan glanced at him and said.


    She was wearing a shocked look as well. She didn''t expect Lin Qiao to have such a big space and tens of vehicles in it.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the tens of tanks of gasoline and said to Qian Xiaoai, "A, Hongsheng, take your people and fill up these vehicles.


    While speaking, she threw some small buckets and tools at them.


    "Yes! You, all come over here!" Qian Xiaoai and Li Hongsheng immediately said to the people around them with loud voices. Those people blinked their eyes and finally realized that they weren''t in a dream. So, they all hurriedly went up to help.


    "You guys don''t go¡­ Come, stand here!" Duan Juan waved a hand toward the few kids who intended to help as well.


    "Why? Juan, we can help too!" The few kids walked to her reluctantly. Their eyes were still fixed on those vehicles.


    Some of those vehicles were old, and some were new. All of them had high chassis. In the post-apocalyptic era, all the roads were filled with obstacles, so sports cars were no longer useful, and the vehicles like off-road cars became the best choices.


    Seeing Lin Qiao take out all those vehicles and gasoline, the people who stayed around the base entrance had their eyes glowing. They couldn''t help but make a few steps forward; but soon, they saw those zombies again and came back into reality.


    Now, they finally regretted not following closely behind Lin Qiao and the others. The path was wide just now. But this time, it had shrunk back to two-meter wide, with zombies bearing their teeth and brandishing their claws on both sides. Looking at those zombies, they even wanted to cry.


    "Let''s go! Captain Qian just said that this is our last chance! That path might disappear soon!" Someone among the crowd near the base entrance said through clenched teeth. After that, some people walked out of the crowd as they took a few deep breaths and bravely walked forward.


    As one person took the lead, the second and the third quickly followed. Soon, the others all followed behind them.


    The first man carefully walked into the zombie crowd with great fear, almost crying out loud.


    He made a few steps into the zombie group and found that none of those zombies around him were moving its feet, even though all of them were reaching claws at him. After realizing that, he shouted out loud and rushed forward as fast as possible.


    His scream and movement stimulated the people behind him, and all of them started running and growling. Even the injured ones or the ones who had difficulty moving hopped or shambled into the zombie crowd.


    Seeing those people rushing at her while shouting as if they were taking a great challenge, Lin Qiao gave a wicked, foxy smile.


    "You see, people sometimes need to be pushed. Otherwise, how could they ever experience something so exciting? Am I right?" She grinned and said to Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan rolled her eyes and responded, "You just like doing such kind of things, don''t you?"


    Lin Qiao had done such things many times before. That was why Duan Juan followed her through the zombie crowd so calmly.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands as she tilted her head and said, "People''s potential needs to be inspired!"

 510 Leave The Old Hades Base

    After running through the over ten-meters-long path in the zombie crowd, the group of people sat on the ground weakly. They couldn''t believe that they had made it.


    The path wasn''t long, but with those zombies crowded on both sides and reaching their claws forward, it was seriously scary. Some of those zombies had eyeballs missing, and some had noses missing. Those Hades Base people only wished that they could sweep them with bullets.


    However, if they did that, some unpredictable consequences might happen, and that wouldn''t be any better than the current situation.


    As most of those people had rushed through the path, the rest of the people were encouraged. They all turned excited, as if they were taking some kind of interesting challenge.


    They had nothing to be afraid of as long as their lives were secured.


    The path was narrow, so the people couldn''t rush through in groups, and only go one after another. Still, it didn''t take long for two to three thousand people to go through the path and gather in the isolation area.


    When those people ran through the path, the ones who didn''t plan to leave changed their minds. Actually, they had started to change their minds since they heard people say that there were vehicles outside. They backed out a little when they saw the zombie crowd, but then, a zombie path appeared, and the people before them got through safely.


    So, they attempted to sneakily follow those people through. But suddenly, the zombie crowd moved again, and the path started to disappear.


    "You can get through if you want, but not from the path," Lin Qiao hopped onto the roof of a truck and said to the people behind the zombie crowd.


    Duan Juan and two people started counting the people sitting on the ground and marking their names. She marked the man who rushed over the first and the few people who followed him as a squad.


    "You can join the base security force when we get to the new base," she said.


    "Re-really?" Those people paused briefly at first, then immediately showed a delighted look while staring at Duan Juan with glowing eyes.


    "Yeah, someone has given you her word. In the new base, Deputy Chief Yuan and the others will give you the authorization," Deputy Chief glanced at Lin Qiao who was on the truck roof, then said to the few people.


    Those people glanced at each other. They were so happy that they didn''t even know what to say.


    "We¡­ Can we really do that?"


    Every base had a base security force to keep the peace inside the base. The soldiers in the base security force weren''t as well-paid as the ones in the standard army, but only the soldiers in the base security force had chances to be promoted to the standard army.


    The standard army needed to face the enemies from the outside, so all the soldiers in that army needed to be elites or superpowered ones. After all, the outside world had much more dangers than the base. The soldiers in the standard army were very well-paid, and they had everyone''s respect.


    Even though they didn''t earn as much as the members of zombie-hunting squads who often went out of the base to carry independent missions, their jobs were official and glorious. To ordinary people, that glory was not easy to achieve.


    "We have to establish a new army for the new base, because all of our old files have been destroyed," Duan Juan sighed.


    If those files were still there, the people who used to serve in the army could be reinstated.


    Those few people in front of Duan Juan weren''t serving in the army. They were only some commoners in the base. They never joined the base security force or any zombie hunting squad, because no squad wanted them, and they weren''t qualified enough for the force. With no other choice, they dawdled in the base.


    But just now, Duan Juan suddenly told them that they could join the base security force in the new base. That was such a sudden happy news for them.


    With an official job, they would have food, payment, and places to live!


    Duan Juan pointed at Lin Qiao and continued, "From now on, she''s in charge!"


    After that, she continued counting people, leaving the others confused.


    Lin Qiao stood on the truck roof and looked down at those people behind the zombie crowd as she said, "If you want to follow us, you have to go through the zombie crowd by yourselves. I can promise you that they won''t attack you. If you don''t have the guts to do so, I think you should better stay where you are."


    "Why do we have to go through the zombie crowd? Since you''re able to control these zombies, why don''t you just make them move away?" Some people didn''t want to do what she said, so they pointed at her and cursed.


    Lin Qiao looked at those people and curved one side of her lips in a faint smile.


    "If you can''t even pass this test, you don''t need to come to the new base."


    The new base was surrounded by zombies. Therefore, those people might not be able to survive there if they couldn''t get used to the zombies under her control. In that base, they should better stay in the old Hades Base.


    Lin Qiao looked at them and waited for them to move. This time, no one rushed out of the crowd bravely like the first time, because there wasn''t even a path. To get through the zombie crowd, they would need to brush against the zombies. By doing that, they would be infected by the zombie virus, wouldn''t they?


    Lin Qiao waited for nearly an hour. None of those people stepped out of the crowd, not to mention trying to approach the zombie crowd.


    She sighed. She was going to make those zombies make a path as long as those people had the courage to try. However, those people had disappointed her.


    They didn''t believe her, so she had no reason to spend more time and energy on them.


    She turned and said to Duan Juan who was on her side, "We''re ready to go. Tell everybody to get on board."


    Duan Juan nodded, then said to the others, "Alright, get on board! Make sure the first vehicle is full before you start to get on the second one."


    Receiving her order, those people started to get onto the trucks. When all the trucks were full, they started to get on the vans. At last, all sorts of off-road cars were filled with people as well. When everybody was on board, many vehicles were still empty.


    Lin Qiao walked over and put those empty vehicles back into her space, then walked back to the off-road car at the front and sat in.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Let''s go!"


    Her car was driven onto the road first. Following behind her car were two combat vehicles; behind those were those off-road cars and trucks. At the end of the motorcade were a few combat vehicles.


    The people who decided to stay in the old Hades Base watched those vehicles leave. Soon, the crowd of zombies slowly left as well, and before long, the area around the fence wall was left empty.


    Lin Qiao brought the giant group of zombies away from the old Hades Base. A large zombie crowd followed behind the long motorcade. If anyone passed by and saw that, they would be surprised for sure.

 511 Hidden Power

    In the new base in Upper City District, Wu Chengyue found that he was really not helpful there after Long Yubai was beaten back. So, he took Wu Yueling and his subordinates, and sent the supplies that he found back to his base, then started distributing those supplies to the commoners in the poor areas in his base.


    With the help of Yang Chao''s energy nucleus, Xiao Yunlong had upgraded to level-seven. So now, Wu Chengyue and Zou Shihui put him in Yang Chao''s position and let him manage the part of the base which used to be under Yang Chao''s administration.


    After that, Wu Chengyue suddenly became a Chief who had no Deputy Chief under his command. He didn''t mind though, as he still had Xiao Licheng, Moli, and Li Yueshan and the others following him around.


    Those people were at level-five, but were all pretty capable.


    As for Meng Yue¡­


    "Eh¡­ You''re going to help Yunlong? Are you still mad at me?" Wu Chengyue sat in his office behind his desk as he looked at Meng Yue with surprise, who was standing before the desk.


    Meng Yue looked at him. Her eyes still contained grievance, but the obsession she had toward Wu Chengyue seemed to be mostly gone. Now, the look in her eyes was much more frank. Perhaps, she had thought things through during the past days, added with the fact that Xiao Yunlong had been trying to divert her attention through all sorts of means recently. That was probably why she wanted to help Xiao Yunlong now.


    "Yunlong has just taken over the work over there. He must need help with many things. So, I want to go there and help him," she looked at Wu Chengyue and said.


    "Um¡­ That''s good! If you want to go, I''ll surely agree." As Meng Yue applied for a job transfer willingly, Wu Chengyue sighed in relief. Meng Yue had stopped avoiding him, meaning that she might not be angry at him anymore.


    After he signed his name on Meng Yue''s job transfer application, she left. But not long after that, someone else came to visit Wu Chengyue.


    In surprise, Wu Chengyue watched the tall and slim pretty lady walk straight into his office and asked, "Miss. Yan, what brings you here?"


    The visitor was none other than Yan Fangyu, a Deputy Chief under Zou Shihui''s command. Her beautiful face was wearing a generous smile as she responded, "Chief Wu, am I not welcomed?"


    Wu Chengyue offered her a seat on the couch, then poured her a glass of water and smiled at her, "Of course you are! It''s an honor of this office that you came."


    Seeing a stranger come in, Wu Yueling immediately ran to Wu Chengyue and held his leg.


    "Is little Ling Ling still so afraid of strangers?" Yan Fangyu looked at Wu Yueling who hung herself on her father''s leg and said smilingly.


    Wu Chengyue bent over and scooped Wu Yueling up with one hand as he picked up the glass with the other. Then, he walked to Yan Fangyu and put the glass of water on the table before her.


    "She''s much better now. Before, she''d never run to me by herself. She''d only hide under the table," Wu Chengyue sat on the other couch and said.


    "I see! Have thought about finding her a mother? You''re a man. It''s more or less inconvenient for you to raise a kid alone, isn''t it?" Yan Fangyu asked a question.


    "Ah! I do have those thoughts. But about that, we need to be patient. After all, not everyone can be accepted by this kid," Wu Chengyue smiled.


    "I think Meng Yue is doing pretty good, isn''t she? In fact, all of us think that she might become the little princess''s Mom someday," said Yan Fangyu.


    "Ah, Yue¡­ Maybe it''s because we know each other too well, I''ve been seeing her as my little sister," said Wu Chengyue.


    "Ah, I get it¡­" Yan Fangyu immediately understood his meaning.


    He had been seeing Meng Yue as his sister. For that reason, he wanted her to be with someone better than himself.


    "Eh, Miss. Yan, you made time out of your busy schedule to visit me. It''s not because you want to know if I''m gonna find Ling Ling a mother, is it?" Wu Chengyue laughed and asked.


    "Well, I almost forgot why I was here. I''m here to ask you about the new base in Upper City District, as you just came back from there. How are things going over there now?" Yan Fangyu finally mentioned why she came here.


    "I see! You''re here because of that! They''re still short-handed over there. After all, the wall will be thousands of meters long, even though it''s only the wall of the base center. However, things are going well though, and they don''t seem to be in a rush," said Wu Chengyue.


    "But, I don''t think there''s a powerful one among them to guard the new base, right? Last time, Long Yubai went there. If you weren''t there, I guess they would be in serious troubles," Yan Fangyu thought for a moment and said. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Eh? You seem to care about them a lot. You''ve done them quite some help earlier as well." The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face grew bigger as he narrowed his eyes and looked at Yan Fangyu. "I heard that you''re quite interested in Yuan Tianxing, aren''t you?"


    He knew about that. Earlier on, Yang Chao sent Tang He the robber after Yuan Tianxing and his people because Yan Fangyu and Yuan Tianxing got too close. After all, he was drooling over her the whole time.


    "Um, you know it clearly, so don''t say it out aloud. Actually, I wanted to visit them recently, so I decided to come here first and see what you know about their situation," Yan Fangyu admitted frankly.


    "I''ve told you what I know. But last time, it wasn''t me who beat off Long Yubai. Their base is also guarded by powerful beings. You don''t need to worry," Wu Chengyue said to her.


    "Eh?" His words shocked Yan Fangyu slightly, "Wasn''t that you? According to the intelligence, a level-seven superpowered being stopped Long Yubai''s army and forced them back."


    "The accuracy rate of your intelligence is too low. That wasn''t me," Wu Chengyue smilingly shook his head.


    "Is that so? Didn''t you fight Long Yubai back then?" Yan Fangyu looked at him with surprise.


    "No. I was not a part of it," Wu Chengyue smiled.


    Yan Fangyu blinked, then smiled and asked, "It turns out that there''s such a powerful being among them. I guess it''s Miss. Lu, isn''t it? I think she lent a hand when we fought Yan Chao."


    "Em, I guess that''s right," Wu Chengyue didn''t give her a specific answer.


    He now understood that the pretty lady was here to try to figure out who that level-seven being that beat off Long Yubai was. He didn''t plan to let her know the truth; instead, he decided to let her to think that it was Lu Tianyu.


    Wu Chengyue wasn''t sure which exact level Lu Tianyu the zombie and Qiu Lili were at. Even the one called Mengmeng was upgraded suddenly. He felt that Lu Tianyu the zombie had the power to upgrade zombies quickly.


    Three level-seven zombies existed in a newly founded base. If the world knew about this, this new base would be targeted by all the other bases.


    "So, we really don''t need to worry about them," Yan Fangyu smiled.

 512 Same Combination

    Yan Fangyu didn''t stay for long, leaving after asking some questions about how Long Yubai was beaten off. Just when Wu Chengyue thought that he could finally focus on his work, Xiao Licheng ran into his office.


    "Chief, the two people who visited you earlier went to Upper City District."


    "What two people?" Wu Chengyue looked at him confusedly.


    Xiao Licheng replied, "The two men who visited you with a dog last time. They were wearing weird white army uniforms. This time, the two of them aren''t alone. They''re with a few other people with strong superpowers. They have arrived at the new base now."


    Wu Chengyue now recalled those two people. Last time, they came here to find Tang He the robber. They were in white army suits indeed, and acted mysteriously. No one knew where they came from.


    "Haven''t you dug out their backgrounds yet?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and responded, "We couldn''t. The people they''re with now are wearing masks, and their vibes are strange too."


    Wu Chengyue suddenly thought of Tang He''s death. "They were here to look for Tang He," he said, "I wonder how they''ll react when they find out that he''s dead.


    Xiao Licheng paused for a second, then asked, "About that¡­ Will they give those Upper City Base people a hard time?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "I don''t know. Did you get this information today?" Wu Chengyue looked at him.


    "Yes. I received the news earlier today when they just arrived at Upper City District. They hadn''t arrived at the new base at that time. According to the direction that they''re moving in, I think they were heading to the new base," said Xiao Licheng.


    It required at least one and half an hour of driving from Upper City District to Sea City Base. Therefore, when Xiao Licheng got the news, over an hour had passed.


    In an era without telephone signals and the internet, messages were delivered very slowly.


    When Wu Chengyue got the message, the two groups of people in Upper City District were already confronting each other.


    "This is our territory. You can''t come any closer," Outside the zombie wall, Yun Meng and three other zombies and three human beings stopped the group of people. She stared at those people and said.


    In fact, those weren''t all people. Judging by their vibes, only two of them were human beings, and the rest were zombies, just like her friends and herself.


    One level-six zombie and three level-five zombies were following behind the two human beings and a mutated dog. That group made Yun Meng feel familiar.


    When those intruders were still far away, Yun Meng had sensed the vibes of strange zombies and informed Yuan Tianxing and the others about it. After a short discussion, they decided to send out Yun Meng, Lin Feng, Lin Hao, and Li Zheng to see who those people were. On her way out, Yun Meng summoned Zombie Number Five and Seven. Together, they stopped the group of people hundreds of meters away from the zombie wall.


    "Roar!" ''You''re a zombie!''


    A zombie behind Lei Cheng made a step forward and roared at Yun Meng.


    Except for Lei Cheng and Zheng Hao, the rest four of that group were all wearing fabric masks. Even their eyes were covered by goggles.


    "You think I can''t know what you are because you have your faces covered?" Yun Meng slightly turned her body, then pointed at the group and said, "Please show your faces."


    Yun Meng spoke with a polite tone, but her level-seven vibe made her words an order.


    Lei Cheng frowned with discontentment over Yun Meng''s strong vibe. He prepared to step forward to shield the masked figure at the front behind him, but the latter raised a hand to stop him.


    "Her demand is too disrespectful!" Lei Cheng said to the masked figure expressionlessly.


    The masked figure didn''t say any word to him, but waved a hand toward the other masked beings behind him. After that, the four zombies took off their masks together.


    They were defenseless in front of a zombie dominator.


    Looking at their dark eyes, colorful pupils, and the dark circles under their eyes, Lin Feng and the others showed a weird look.


    They thought that they were the only human beings who were working together with zombies. But now, seeing other people doing the same things, they all became curious. They wanted to know how those people cooperated with zombies.


    "May I ask who you are and why you''re here? Upper City District is now our territory, so please explain why you''re here," Lin Feng stood beside Yun Meng and politely said to Lei Cheng and his people.


    Lin Feng looked at Yun Meng, then glanced at the zombie leaders behind her. He shared the same feeling with Lin Feng and the others on his side, as he too thought that his group was unique. Now, seeing the same kind of group, the people from both sides had the same feelings.


    Lei Cheng spent a moment staring at Yun Meng, then turned to Lin Feng to answer his question, "We followed a level-seven robber here. According to our intelligence, he disappeared after arriving at Upper City District."


    Lin Qiao, Yun Meng and the others all paused briefly. Hearing Lei Cheng''s words, they immediately thought of the robber who was killed by Lin Qiao.


    "If you''re talking about that robber leader who worked with Yang Chao, the former leader of Sea City Base, I''m sorry! We never saw him," Lin Feng responded.


    Lei Cheng''s face wore no expression, but he clearly didn''t believe Lin Feng. "Please don''t answer so quickly. Tang He is a level-seven man, so maybe he was able to hide from you guys."


    "In this case, tell us about where you''re from. Don''t you need to introduce yourselves when you come to other people''s territory to find someone?" Yun Meng stared at Lei Cheng and said expressionlessly.


    "We¡­" Lei Cheng attempted to make up something to muddle through, but before he could start, he was interrupted by the few zombies around him.


    "Roar¡­" The level-six zombie by Lei Cheng''s side responded. ''We mean no harm. That man is a traitor of our base. We need to bring him back. That''s our mission.''


    He had a shiny bald head, same as what Lin Qiao used to have. However, his face wasn''t pretty. One of his eyes was blind, covered in a blindfold. However, the blindfold couldn''t cover the scars around his eyes.


    Yun Meng glanced at him, then turned to say to Lin Feng, "He said that the robber is a traitor of their base, and that their mission is to bring him back."


    Lin Feng felt that the zombies among that group had much better attitude than the two human beings. He asked Yun Meng with surprise, "They''re all zombies. Do they have memories?"


    He asked that question because he wanted to know if those zombies had their own minds or if they were under someone else''s control.


    Yun Meng observed the few zombies, then turned back and nodded at Lin Feng, "They have their own minds. They don''t seem to be under control."

 513 They’ll Come Back

    "They surely have their own minds. We don''t discriminate them. Even for those mindless zombies, we don''t attack them unless we have to. Only if they attack us do we fight back," said Lei Cheng to Yun Meng calmly.


    "So where exactly are you from?" Yun Meng impatiently glared at him and asked. For some reason, she didn''t like the way that man talked.


    "Roar¡­" The level-six zombies seemed to want to say something to Lei Cheng. However, he then realized that the latter couldn''t understand zombie language, so he hurriedly took out a pen and a piece of paper and started writing.


    Lei Cheng read his note, then raised his head to look at Yun Meng.


    After a short hesitation, he started introducing his base and himself. "Only a small number of people are living in our base, so very few people know about our base. We are from the Green Mountain Base, which is located in the North. I am Lei Cheng, the leader of this squad. This is Zheng Hao, the vice-squad-leader."


    While speaking, he glanced at Zheng Hao who was by his side.


    Hearing that, Yun Meng snorted coldly, then turned her face away.


    "I am Lin Feng, one of the people who''re responsible for the Upper City Base. She''s Yun Meng. She''s also responsible for our base," said Lin Feng.


    "Wait a minute! I''m not responsible for the base! I''m not!" Hearing what Lin Feng said, Yun Meng immediately disagreed. Lin Qiao was responsible for the base, not her. She was only assisting her.


    Lin Feng glanced at the few zombies behind Lin Feng, then said, "We did not see that robber whom you''re looking for. Our base is still in construction, and is not ready for guests. So, I''m sorry!"


    Lei Cheng and his friends glanced at each other, then nodded and responded, "Sorry for bothering you."


    After saying that, he and his friends turned and left.


    After watching them leave, Yun Meng said to Lin Feng, "Is it okay that we let them leave just like this? Will they tell other people about us?"


    Lin Feng shook his head and replied, "I don''t know about that. But, I haven''t even heard the name of their base, so I guess they''re from a small secret base. Besides, by telling other people about us, they''d also be exposing themselves. I think those zombies have something to do with the fact that their base is unheard of."


    "What do you mean?" Yun Meng didn''t understand.


    "I mean, they''re in the same situation as us. Like us, they also need to hide the fact that they''re cooperating with zombies. I can tell that they came out to hunt that robber because they wanted to kill him, in case he might expose the secret of their base. That robber was on the run for a long time, yet he didn''t leak the slightest of information about his base. I guess it was because he didn''t want to be hunted by his base," said Lin Feng.


    Hearing his words, Yun Meng was surprised, "He kept the secret for such a long time?"


    "He was just scared of death. He was afraid that his base might get back at him," said Lin Feng.


    "Even if he wanted to tell the secret, there''s no chance for him now," Yun Meng faced the road and said.


    Lin Feng nodded and replied, "But, I think they''ll come back."


    "Really?" Yun Meng looked at him and asked.


    "Just wait and see. Let''s go back¡­" Lin Feng turned and headed back.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue received the news in Sea City Base about Lei Cheng and his people being stopped on their way.


    "Those people in the Upper City District weren''t too aggressive, but they won''t give up so easily," said Wu Chengyue, "Haven''t you heard anything from that female zombie yet? Why on earth did she go to the South?"


    "Even if there is news about her, it requires time for it to be delivered to us from the South," said Xiao Licheng.


    "Alright," Wu Chengyue nodded helplessly.


    Wu Yueling was leaning against Wu Chengyue. Hearing Wu Chengyue say the words ''female zombie'', she was instantly unhappy. She knew whom Wu Chengyue was talking about, but she didn''t like him calling her that.


    That was her Zombie Mom!


    With discontentment, she slapped Wu Chengyue''s lap with her tiny hand.


    "Eh? What''s wrong?" Wu Chengyue lowered his head and looked at the little girl confusedly. Wu Yueling slapped him two more times, then turned and showed her back to him.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her bewilderedly. "What''s wrong with her?" He turned and asked Xiao Licheng.


    "How am I supposed to know?" Xiao Licheng looked at her with confusion, saying, "She''s your daughter, not mine."


    "Did I say something just now? Oh¡­ female zombie¡­" Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then prepared to ask if she reacted that way because he said the words ''female zombie''. However, before he finished his words, Wu Yueling quickly turned back and slapped him twice again.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say.


    "I think Ling Ling doesn''t like you saying the words ''female zombie''. Am I right, Ling Ling?" Xiao Licheng crossed his arms before his chest, then raised a hand to rub his chin while speaking.


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling popped her large eyes and looked at Xiao Licheng adorably.


    "Eh! Ling Ling is looking at me!" Being looked at by her, Xiao Licheng immediately felt flattered.


    Before, Wu Yueling only glanced at him and other soldiers quickly, but never looked at them in the eyes. Also, she never made any expressions toward them.


    "What''s so strange about that? Talk to me. Doesn''t Ling Ling like me calling her female zombie? Why? She''s a zombie, isn''t she? What am I supposed to call her then?" Wu Chengyue impatiently glanced at Xiao Licheng who was excited for some reason, then turned to ask Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling looked them while pouting and shaking her head.


    "Ling Ling only looked at you, Deputy Chief, and Meng Yue before," said Xiao Licheng, "I felt that she counted the rest of us out of her world. Now, she''s looking at me, and I feel that she has dragged me into her world. Ah, Deputy Chief is no longer Deputy Chief¡­"


    "Alright, stop murmuring here. Go and do your job," Wu Chengyue impatiently waved a hand.


    "Alright," Xiao Licheng turned and walked out.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t want to interrupt the communication between him and Wu Yueling, but he had given him a lot of work to do. That was why he sent him out.


    "Here, Ling Ling, if you don''t want me to call her that, what do you want me to call her then?" Wu Chengyue looked at Wu Yueling and asked. Wu Yueling looked at him at first, then suddenly turned and took out a piece of paper from between the couch cushions. Then, she unfolded it and showed it to him.


    She had drawn three people on that paper.


    With surprise, Wu Chengyue found a few words written on the paper¡ªDaddy, Ling Ling, Mommy.


    "Ling Ling! You can write?" Wu Chengyue looked at Wu Yueling with a delightful surprise.


    His precious little girl could write!


    Normal five-year-old children might be able to write a lot of words, but Ling Ling was different. She couldn''t even communicate with people normally, not to mention writing.


    Besides, no one could force her to do the things that she didn''t like doing. Wu Chengyue once tried to teach her writing, but once he started, Ling Ling''s illness attacked.

 514 Ling Ling Starts Writing

    Teaching Ling Ling reading and writing would make her irritable, and her illness would attack easily. Therefore, Wu Chengyue didn''t dare to do that.


    Before, he didn''t know what the little girl was interested in. If Lin Qiao didn''t show up, Wu Chengyue might only be able to provide her with enough food and clothes, and keep her safe and healthy.


    Not long ago, Wu Yueling was with Lin Qiao in Upper City Base. Back then, the latter taught her how to draw. After that, she slowly grew fond of drawing. Now, she often stayed in Wu Chengyue''s office alone, drawing all sorts of things on a notebook.


    However, Lin Qiao wasn''t the one who taught her to write. In fact, it was Lin Xiaolu.


    In the last few days in Upper City Base, Wu Yueling actually got along pretty well with Lin Xiaolu. Once, she went to play with Lin Xiaolu when the latter was practicing writing, and saw her writing those few words. Lin Xiaolu couldn''t stop only because Wu Yueling came to play with her, so she smartly convinced Ling Ling to learn to write together with her.


    She taught Wu Yueling word by word. When the latter finally wrote one word on her own, she suddenly had this indescribable sense of achievement, and then was obsessed in teaching Wu Yueling how to write.


    That was how Wu Yueling learned to write those words.


    Wu Yueling didn''t understand why. Before, when Wu Chengyue tried to teach her to write, she felt very impatient. So, every time her father tried, she refused to learn. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    But this time, Lin Xiaolu aroused Wu Yueling''s interest with one single sentence.


    Back then, Lin Xiaolu said to her, "My Mom gave me this task. Ling Ling, I have to listen to my Mom''s words or she''ll punish me. Ling Ling, do you have a Mom?"


    Wu Yueling shook her head at that time. She didn''t have a mother. But later on, she thought of Lin Qiao. Her Dad said that she was Ling Ling''s mother, so the little girl was suddenly intrigued.


    She asked Lin Xiaolu how to write ''Mom''.


    The two of them didn''t need to talk to communicate with each other, because Lin Xiaolu was able to read Wu Yueling''s mind.


    After knowing that Wu Yueling was interested in the word ''Mom'', Lin Xiaolu immediately started teaching her to write. She also knew that Wu Yueling was seeing her zombie auntie as her mother, so she found a good entry point.


    She didn''t know why Wu Yueling felt that way, but she did know that the little girl now wanted to learn to write for that reason, and that was enough. As long as she wanted to learn, Lin Xiaolu could teach her. When the latter had learned how to write, Lin Xiaolu would have that sense of achievement.


    In this way, Lin Xiaolu, who was only seven or eight years old, easily fixed the problem that Wu Chengyue could not solve for a long time.


    "Ling Ling, who taught you to write? Can you tell Daddy?" Wu Chengyue was very happy, but he could not act too emotionally in front of his daughter. So, he squatted before her and asked.


    Wu Yueling sat straight and jumped off the couch, then stood in front of him and start to making signs with both hands.


    Wu Chengyue spent a long while to figure it out, "Are you saying that Xiaolu taught you to write?"


    As he expected, Wu Yueling nodded quickly at him.


    "Great! Daddy will take you to play with her more, okay?" Wu Chengyue smiled.


    Wu Yueling nodded in agreement.


    After that, Wu Chengyue looked at her treasured drawing and asked, "So Ling Ling, since you don''t want me to call her female zombie, what do you want me to call her then?"


    Wu Yueling sat on the couch and pointed at the bald figure in the drawing. The word ''Mommy'' was written above that bald figure''s head.


    Seeing the word ''Mommy'', Wu Chengyue really couldn''t describe his feeling.


    He quietly stared at the bald figure in the drawing for a while, then raised his head and looked at Wu Yueling as he asked her, "I won''t call her zombie anymore. Will that work?"


    At least, he wouldn''t call her ''female zombie'' again in front of his daughter.


    Wu Chengyue nodded. Then, she suddenly thought of something else and reached out a hand to drag Wu Chengyue''s sleeve.


    "Eh? What''s wrong?" Wu Chengyue looked at her and noticed the expectant look in her eyes. "Do you want to see her again?"


    Wu Yueling nodded immediately.


    Wu Chengyue stood up and held her as he sat on the couch while saying, "Em¡­ Actually, I want to see her too, but we have to wait until she comes back. Daddy wants to see if Viney can grow big in her belly!"


    Hearing Viney''s name, Wu Yueling''s eyes glowed again. She looked at Wu Chengyue with a slight excitement.


    "What exactly is Viney? Do you know?" Wu Chengyue asked with curiosity, "Is she a mutated plant? She actually used Lu Tianyu and me to create herself a physical body. She''s such a smart plant!"


    Someone borrowed a sperm from him. Thinking about that, he also realized that that creature would be his child. An indescribable feeling rose from his heart.


    A mysterious, smart creature borrowed a sperm from him, then became a baby inside a female zombie''s belly. Half of that baby''s genes were from him, so, that was his child indeed¡­ A female zombie was pregnant with his first child¡­


    The more he thought about that, the stronger that indescribable feeling became.


    He didn''t hate that female zombie now. On the contrary, he was pretty interested in her. However, she was traveling all over the country carrying his child!


    He wasn''t sure if the fetus had developed or not, but Viney''s affirmative tone of speaking made him believe that it had.


    Wu Chengyue shook her head, then found a pencil and started drawing on a piece of paper. She was drawing a smaller person with a round head, round body, and short limbs.


    Wu Chengyue spent a short while looking at her drawing, then asked, "Are you saying that she has already become a baby?"


    Wu Yueling nodded as she looked at him.


    "Alright, she has become a baby," Wu Chengyue had no choice but to nod with her.


    ¡­


    In the Upper City District, Yun Meng returned to the hotel with Lin Feng and the others, then left them there and headed to Mount Wu farming land.


    Xie Dong, Shen Yujen, and the other three zombies loosened the soil together, then planted the pumpkin seeds and potatoes that Lin Qiao had left.


    Liu Jun would come to help during the daytime. After all, she had no work to do in the hotel, but wanted to do something nevertheless.


    She used to take care of those vegetables and strawberry plants in Lin Qiao''s space, so she was more familiar with this kind of work than Xie Dong and Shen Yujen.


    Every single day, Xie Dong worked in the farmland and rested in the wooden cabin that he built by it. The three zombies followed him; when he rested, they rested too, and when he started working, they always did the same.


    The three girls would all return to the hotel to rest at night.

 515 Countermeasures

    Liu Jun and the other zombies found that those seeds sprouted in just a couple of days after they were planted. They were very surprised, even though those sprouts were still tiny. Normally, pumpkin seeds would sprout about a week after they were planted. However, the seeds which had been soaked in diluted lake water sprouted in less than three days.


    Seeing those seeds sprout in the soil which was loosened by themselves, Xie Dong and the others all sighed in relief. Taking care of the farmland was a mission that Lin Qiao had given them. They were happy that they didn''t let her down. Moreover, they had an indescribable sense of accomplishment.


    "I wonder when Lin Qiao will come back, and how things are going on her side," said Liu Jun while watering those pumping sprouts.


    "She''ll be back when she finishes what she needs to do," Yun Meng squatted on the ground as she stared at a potato plant while answering Liu Jun''s question.


    "Who are those people that you went out to stop from approaching earlier today ?" Liu Jun asked.


    "Ah, they said that they''re going after that robber leader named Tang He. Also, their subordinates aren''t human beings! Those were a few zombie leaders and a zombie king." Recalling what happened earlier today, Yun Meng abruptly raised her head as she looked at Liu Jun and said.


    "What?" Liu Jun was stunned a little. She paused, then turned back to look at Yun Meng. Not only her, both Xie Dong and Shen Yujen turned to Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng stood up and said to them, "Yeah, those were zombies, at rather high levels. They didn''t look like mindless zombies. Instead, they seemed to have memories."


    The others glanced at each other.


    It was the first time they heard about other zombies with clear minds. Those zombies even had memories. They didn''t have memories before meeting Lin Qiao.


    Xie Dong and Shen Yujen became zombies with memories because of Lin Qiao¡­ At least, that''s what they thought.


    And now, they suddenly heard there were other zombies with memories, clear minds, and intelligence like themselves. They had a strange feeling about it, as if they had just found their kind.


    But soon, they thought of the possible standpoints of those mysterious zombies and calmed down.


    "Since they''re even traveling with zombies, do zombies and human beings live together in their base? Like in our base? And, why do they want that robber?" Liu Jun frowned slightly and asked.


    "They said that Tang He was a traitor of their base, so they formed a squad and chased him all the way here. We haven''t heard about the name of the base that they told us, so we can''t tell if what they said is real or not. Mr. Lin said that if what they said is real, they should be hunting that robber because they don''t want him to leek the secret about their base," Yun Meng told the others about what Lin Feng said.


    Liu Jun made an eye-contact with Xie Dong, then slightly dropped her eyelids and said while thinking, "In that case, Lin Feng might be right. That robber was probably seeking protection. That might be the reason why he tried to get in Sea City Base. In fact, he didn''t dare to leak the secret of that base, because once he did, he''d leak his location as well."


    "Em, yes, yes, that''s what Mr. Lin said," Yun Meng quickly nodded.


    "So, although they''ve left now, they''ll still be back after they have confirmed that the robber disappeared here. Mengmeng, you have to pay close attention to the outskirts of the base!" The more Liu Jun thought about it, the more she felt that those people''s purpose wasn''t as simple as they claimed.


    "Em¡­ Mr. Lin said that we do need to stay alert about this. He''ll talk to Yuan Tianxing and the others about it too. I only need to show up to overawe the enemies. They''ll do the rest of the job," said Yun Meng relaxedly. She didn''t take those people seriously. She wasn''t afraid of them, even if she did need to fight them.


    Even though there was no zombie king or queen in Upper City Base now, there were three superpowered ones. Together, they wouldn''t lose to that zombie king in that group.


    Liu Jun wasn''t as relaxed as Yun Meng, because she figured that those people would have the same thoughts. If they showed up again soon, things might not be too bad; but if they didn''t come back for a long time, they might be heading back to gather an army.


    They might be a scouting squad!


    Perhaps, that robber was just an excuse.


    At the same time, Lin Feng and the others were talking about those people in an office in the hotel as well.


    "A level-seven superpowered man, a level-six superpowered man, a zombie king, and three level-five zombies¡­ This combination can compete with us," Yuan Tianxing sat behind the desk, resting both elbows on the desk while talking.


    "I''m worrying that they may be using that robber as an excuse. They may have some other purpose," said Lin Feng with a frown.


    "That''ll depend on when will they show up again. If they didn''t show up in two or three days, I think we''ll be in huge trouble," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "What¡­ should we do?" Chen Yuting sat beside him and asked.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng had made it very clear. If those people showed up again within three days, their words would be proven to be true. After they confirmed that that robber did disappear in this area, they would come back to directly ask Upper City Base people about his whereabouts.


    If they didn''t show up again in three or five days, they might be up to something bigger. If a war was started, the people in the new base might not be strong enough to stop the enemies.


    "Should we send people to Sea City Base and ask for help again?" Before Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng responded, Chen Yuting continued.


    Lin Feng turned to Yuan Tianxing. He did want to send his people to Sea City Base to ask for reinforcements.


    The latter thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I think we should. Let''s send a level-five superpowered one to Sea City Base and deliver the message. If only we can send someone to approach those people and find out about their true intention¡­"


    Lin Feng and Chen Yuting made an eye-contact, both seeming to disagree.


    "That''s a good idea, but one of them is a level-seven powerful being. Also, they have zombies and a dog! A level-five-or-six mutated dog! Which one of our people can successfully approach them without being spotted?" said Lin Feng


    Yuan Tianxing sighed. What Lin Feng mentioned was indeed an unsolvable problem. If only Miss. Lu were here¡­ She was traceless like a ghost, and a mutated dog shouldn''t be a problem in her eyes.


    Perhaps, she would even skin that dog and eat it.


    "That''s why I said ''if only''. If we''re really gonna send someone, we should either send the strongest one or the weakest one. After all, they can''t sense the creatures stronger than themselves, and they won''t be on alert against the weaker ones," Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment and then said.

 516 The Zombie Army Returned

    As the person who was the best at pursuing information wasn''t here, Yuan Tianxing and the others all felt helpless. They thought that Lin Qiao might not be back so soon. But in fact, she had already arrived at a town near Hangzhou City.


    At that moment, the people on her car were all gazing at the huge zombie crowd outside with stunned faces.


    Qian Xiaoai took his head back in from outside the window, then rubbed his bald head as he looked at Lin Qiao, who sat before him, and asked, "Boss¡­ you gathered so many zombies on our way¡­ Are you building a zombie army? Zombie army?"


    All the way, their motorcade was surrounded and escorted by zombies.


    At first, the people in those vehicles were scared and confused. But twenty-four hours later, they got used to looking at those zombies!


    Thankfully, those zombies had been keeping a distance from the motorcade even though they followed pretty closely.


    Those people adapted the situation soon. After all, they had all passed the test which took place outside the old Hades Base.


    "Yeah, the new base is surrounded by a zombie army as well," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    "No wonder you made them go through the zombie path. That was a test!" said Qian Xiaoai.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao responded, "I did it for their own good. But don''t worry, these zombies won''t enter the base. You have to know that we''re very short-handed now. These zombies are our only option."


    "But, there are so many of them. Can you control them all?" Qian Xiaoai asked.


    "Would I summon them all here if I couldn''t?"


    Qian Xiaoai didn''t know what to say.


    Two or three hours later, they arrived at the border between West Lake District and Upper City District.


    "Alright, stop for a second! I''ll go out, and you keep heading to the center of Upper City District," She asked Duan Juan to park the car, then got off the car and hopped onto the car roof.


    "You can start moving," while speaking, she leaped onto the roof of the car in behind.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    When she leaped over, the zombies in behind stopped moving and roared at her, but didn''t dare to approach.


    Lin Qiao jumped onto a residential building nearby and stood on the roof, watching those vehicles pass by one after another. In about twenty minutes, the motorcade moved past that building under Lin Qiao''s feet.


    "Roar!" She suddenly turned and bared her teeth as she gave a roar to the zombies which were crowding in the streets and allies behind her. Following her voice, some nimble and smart high-leveled zombies leaped out of the crowd and hopped over to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao moved slightly, and Qiu Lili showed up by her side in the next second.


    "Wow! So many zombies! Have you summoned all the zombies that you saw on your way?" Qiu Lili took fright when she saw the huge group of zombies once she came out.


    "I didn''t summon them. They followed the human scent here. I only controlled the range of their gathering," Lin Qiao shook her head and said.


    Qiu Lili glanced at the group of high-leveled zombies around her and Lin Qiao, then said while counting them, "All level two or three, no level four or five."


    "The ones at level four or five have all run away. How dare they approach this place? They''re not silly," Lin Qiao glanced at her and said.


    Level four or five zombies were already very smart. They sensed the pressure given out by Lin Qiao, a zombie dominator, from a long distance away, and then got scared off.


    "You''re right! Your vibe is way too intimidating now. It''s even scarier than mine. They''re surely afraid of you," Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe, then said.


    "Is that my fault? Is that my fault to be strong?" Lin Qiao shrugged.


    "It''s not your fault. Tell me, what are we gonna do next?" Qiu Lili raised her head and glanced at the tens of intelligent zombies around them. Those level two or three zombies had some intelligence, but weren''t smart enough, as their levels were still relatively low. Being tempted by the scent of living human beings, they couldn''t help but come here. But because of Lin Qiao''s vibe, they didn''t dare to come too close. Therefore, they followed behind the motorcade and kept a distance from it.


    Lin Qiao said, "I''ll bring these smarter ones into my space and train them. You bring these ordinary zombies to somewhere near the Upper City District and let them stay there. Don''t let them enter the Upper City District though."


    "Not enter the Upper City District?" Qiu Lili nodded, as she understood Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    "No¡­ Find a relatively remote area, and don''t let them be too eye-catching¡­ Go!" Lin Qiao said said to her.


    Qiu Lili turned and floated up into the air, bringing those zombies to the area between West Lake District and Upper City District. West Lake District was crowded by zombies already, so adding hundreds of thousands of them would make no difference at all.


    Lin Qiao asked her to gather those zombies near the edge of Upper City District because she wanted them to stay close to Upper City District without affecting the human beings in that district.


    After watching Qiu Lili leave, Lin Qiao waved at those zombies around her and said, "Here, all of you come over here."


    Those intelligent zombies didn''t dare to disobey. Instead, they all leaped over and gathered on the roof that Lin Qiao was standing on.


    Lin Qiao hopped on top of the stair room, looking at those zombies. She couldn''t find a rope that was long enough to bring all those zombies into her space at one time. So, she threw a few short ropes to those zombies and ordered them to hold them.


    She brought about a dozen zombies into her space each time. After repeating the process for a couple of times, she finally brought all those zombies in.


    Once entering Lin Qiao''s space, those zombies were agitated.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The space wasn''t huge, and the air in it was filled with the vibes of Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, and other high-leveled zombies. So, those zombies instantly had a sense of crisis.


    Lin Qiao''s space had grown much larger than before. After she restored her memories, her space had expanded ten times over.


    But this time, the lake didn''t grow further larger; only the land area and woods area expanded.


    There was no land on the other side of the lake before. But now, a new grassland had appeared in that area. The grasses in that area were short.


    That was an incredibly broad area, looking like a thriving prairie.


    Lin Qiao put those zombies on that new grassland. The lake stood between them and the small building.


    "Roar?" Sensing the scents of those strange zombies, the group of level four or five zombies in Lin Qiao''s space stuck their heads out of the entrances of those small space and looked at the other side of the lake.


    Seeing that Lin Qiao had brought in some lower level zombies, they were all curious and a little excited. Meanwhile, they were having some thoughts.


    ''We have new friends! But, why did she put them over there? They''re so far away¡­ We can''t go across the energy lake to bully them.''

 517 Isll Give You The Answer

    After bringing those zombies in, Lin Qiao yelled at them, "Stay right here!"


    This new grassland was perfect for keeping zombies!


    She turned and flashed to the small building''s side, then picked up a bucket and fetched some water from the lake before dragging it to the clearing before the building. After that, she waved a water ladle toward the group of level four or five zombies.


    "Come here!"


    Those zombies consciously went to the cabinet to pick their cups before going to Lin Qiao. They had done that many times, so they had memorized the process.


    "You, come here!" Lin Qiao called the level-four spirit-powered zombie.


    "Roar?" The young male spirit-powered zombie walked out, looking at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao handed him the water ladle and said, "Distribute the water to them¡­ A ladleful of water each."


    The spirit-powered zombie took over the ladle and paused for two seconds before realizing what had happened.


    "Roar?" He asked Lin Qiao. ''Me?''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah, you go."


    She knew that he understood her meaning. Then, she said to the other zombies, "The rest of you, behave yourselves. Do not disobey him."


    The spirit-power zombie had been rather obedient lately, so Lin Qiao decided to give him a job.


    "This is a job for you alone. Work hard!"


    After saying that, she turned and left the space without saying another word to the other zombies.


    Next, she showed up on the outside, chasing the motorcade.


    At that time, the motorcade had already entered Upper City District, and was getting closer and closer to the new base.


    After following the motorcade about two miles, Lin Qiao suddenly stopped moving, then turned invisible and climbed onto a tall building. She raised her head to sniff around, then carefully sensed the surrounding atmosphere. She found two strangers somewhere in Upper City District.


    That wasn''t weird. The weird thing was that they were with a few high-leveled zombies¡­ one zombie king and three zombie leaders.


    Lin Qiao was curious. Were those people able to control high-leveled zombies? How did they do that?


    As they were strangers in her territory, Lin Qiao would surely go and see who they were. At least, she needed to figure out their purpose.


    So, she sneakily approached those people.


    Before long, she arrived at the roof of the building which those people stayed in. That was a small hotel building.


    She came down from the roof and into the hallway on the third floor. Surprisingly, she found a level-six mutated dog instead of human beings or zombies!


    Looking at the mutated dog, she wiped her saliva. No wonder she had been sensing a nice aroma of food. It turned out to be the dog!


    The mutated dog was wearing a white dog coat. It didn''t sense Lin Qiao''s arrival and was sitting before a door leisurely, its tongue hanging out of its mouth.


    Lin Qiao put her ear against the closed door to listen to the sounds inside.


    "Tang He is definitely hiding in that small base."


    "But, those people said that they hadn''t seen him."


    "Who would believe them? Besides, the dog''s nose wouldn''t lie to us, would it?"


    "You''re right though. He can''t possibly hide his scent from our dog. We should have caught him when he was still in Sea City. Now, he has gotten away."


    "Be patient¡­ He can''t run away from us! He even attempted to get into Sea City Base and hide there. But in the end, he blindly chose to work with someone like Yang Chao."


    "What should we do next? We''ve searched throughout this whole area. His scent disappeared in Mount Wu area. Also, those people actually made zombies do farm work. How weird!"


    Hearing their conversation, Lin Qiao had already figured out whom those people were looking for. They were here to find that robber leader. Judging by their attitude, they seemed to have been seeing that robber leader as a criminal.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    She wondered how they would react when they found out that that robber was already killed by her.


    When Lin Qiao was having that thought, someone inside the room suddenly asked another question, as if he was affected by her thoughts.


    "Captain, you see¡­ is it possible that he''s already killed? After all, there is a zombie dominator in that new base. That''s a level-seven zombie! She''s much stronger than level-six zombies. Perhaps, Tang He somehow offended them and got killed."


    "I''ve already thought about that possibility. Earlier on when he was working with Yang Chao, he did offend those Hades Base people. Yet, he followed them here. Wasn''t that suicidal?"


    "It would fine if he had truly died. I''m just worrying that he didn''t die, but chose to run away after he realized that he had no chance against those people. In that case, we need to keep looking for them."


    "That''s why I want to confirm it with those people¡­ and zombies. But clearly, they don''t believe us. That''s a little troublesome."


    "Then we''ll see them again and make it clear with them."


    "That''s the only way."


    Lin Qiao made a few steps backward before footsteps could be heard from the room. Even though only two people had been talking, she knew that there were others in that room.


    She just didn''t know if those zombies were here to fight for the two people or play other roles.


    Before she figured out, the door was opened, and two men in white army uniforms walked out. Following behind them were four in masks and the same kind of uniforms.


    Once they came out, a woman''s voice could be heard clearly from around them.


    "Oh, you don''t need to go. I can give you the answer."


    "Bowwow!" Before the two human beings and four zombies could react to that voice, the mutated dog which just stood up from the ground burst in a roar toward the area behind the group, with its hair standing straight up.


    "Er¡­." It let out deep roars from its throat to warn Lin Qiao.


    "Oi, oi, oi, watch your dog! Or, I''ll let my dog out too!" Lin Qiao smilingly made a step backward and said hurriedly.


    "Erlei, quiet!" Lei Cheng hurriedly shouted at the dog. The mutated dog immediately had its hair lie back down, but still fixed its eyes on Lin Qiao.


    "You are?" Zheng Hao looked at Lin Qiao and asked alertly.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest and said to him, "Ah, I''m one of the leaders of the new base in Upper City Base. My name is¡­ Lu Tianyu."


    As Lin Qiao seemed to be careless and with no hostility, one of the men responded, "My name is Lei Cheng. This is my assistant, Zheng Hao."


    While speaking, he pointed at Zheng Hao, who was standing by his side.


    "You just said that you can give us the answer¡­ What''s it about?" Zheng Hao stared at Lin Qiao and asked. This strange woman in sunglasses who appeared all of a sudden made him feel threatened.


    "Aren''t you here to look for that level-seven robber who worked with Yang Chao? He''s dead. Do you believe me?" Lin Qiao said with a faint smile.


    "Please let me confirm this. You''re Miss. Lu who always appears and disappears mysteriously, right? You''re with those Hades Base people, aren''t you?" Lei Cheng''s handsome face wore no expression as he abruptly asked that question.


    "Yes, I am. But appearing and disappearing mysteriously¡­ What does that mean? I''m not a ghost," Lin Qiao nodded and admitted.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. That''s what others said about you." Lei Cheng apologized, but did not show an apologetic look at all.

 518 He Canst Take I

    "Just now, you said that Tang He is dead. What happened?" Zheng Hao asked.


    "He''s dead. He offended my people, and he brought himself to me. I had no reason not to kill him," Lin Qiao curved her mouth corners in a cold smile. Under her sunglasses, a gleam of light flashed across her green eyes.


    "You¡­ To be honest, I can''t sense how powerful you are. Are you really able to kill him?" Zheng Hao looked at Lin Qiao with doubts. He might believe her if she said that Tang He was killed by that short-haired zombie dominator whom he saw earlier.


    "I think she is," Lei Cheng raised a hand toward Zheng Hao, then looked at Lin Qiao expressionlessly as he said, "No ordinary being can show up around us without being sensed by Erlei. That kind of skill might not be able to kill the metal-powered Tang He, but I feel that she has a lethal kind of power."


    Zheng Hao looked at Lei Cheng, then at Lin Qiao. Afterward, he turned and glanced at the people in masks behind him with confusion in his eyes.


    The zombie king shook his head toward him, letting him know that he too didn''t sense that woman coming.


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "I can''t do anything to make you believe me. I''ve destroyed that robber''s body and absorbed his nucleus, so I have nothing to prove his death."


    Lei Cheng nodded, then waved a hand to her and said, "I believe what you said. But, if you pick up a battle against him and win, I''ll firmly believe that you killed Tang He."


    While speaking, he pointed at the zombie king behind him.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise, asking, "Why him? I thought only you have the ability to fight me."


    "It''s not like that. If you win against him within half an hour, I''ll know that you''re strong enough to kill Tang He," said Lei Cheng.


    "How does that work? The one behind you is only at level-six, isn''t he? Even though he''s a zombie king, there''s still a gap between him and a level-seven metal-powered man," Lin Qiao scratched her chin and said without thinking.


    Her words threw the whole group into silence, making them stare at her silently. The atmosphere suddenly became a little tense. Even the mutated dog started bared its teeth with its hairs standing up.


    "Are you surprised? Because I know what they are without needing to look at their faces and sense their vibes? Although their uniforms cover their zombie vibe, I can still sense it," Lin Qiao touched her own nose while saying.


    She didn''t need to sense it. She knew that they were zombies once she approached them.


    "Alright. Since you already know that he''s a zombie, you should know that zombies can fight higher level human beings. If you can make him defenseless within half an hour, we''ll think that you''re definitely able to kill Tang He. That, I believe," Lei Cheng blinked and responded, as expressionlessly as always.


    "Me against him? Hm¡­ I don''t need half an hour. He won''t even last three seconds!" Lin Qiao curved one side of her mouth corners in a smile, giving out a wicked feeling.


    She sounded arrogant. Those people and zombies couldn''t see her eyes, but they detected scorn from her smile.


    Zheng Hao and Lei Cheng both frowned.


    "So confident?" Lei Cheng looked at her.


    "It''s not about confidence. It''s just the truth. Right, you guys?" Lin Qiao slightly lowered her head and raised a hand to take off her sunglasses. When she raised her head, Lei Cheng and Zheng Hao were a little stunned. Meanwhile, the four behind them took a few steps backward together.


    At the same time, the three zombie leaders instantly knelt.


    "Wowooooo!" The mutated dog suddenly gave a roar and sprung up, as if it was stimulated by something. It turned and ran away with its tail between its legs, disappearing within a second.


    Lin Qiao released her vibe entirely when she raised her head. Not even zombie kings and queens could withstand the vibe of a zombie dominator, not to mention the fact that the distance between those zombies and her was very short. Therefore, the three level-five zombies directly knelt to the ground.


    "Eh? I''m not dead yet! Don''t kneel before me!" Lin Qiao quickly moved to the side and said. She restrained her vibe again, then said to that level-six zombie, "Do you still want to fight?"


    "Roar!" The zombie king hurriedly made a step backward, quickly waving hands toward her. ''No, no!''


    "You¡­ You''re a zombie!" Zheng Hao''s eyeballs nearly fell out of his eye sockets. Even Lei Cheng, who had been calm the whole time, was staring at Lin Qiao in shock now.


    Lin Qiao put her sunglasses back on and said, "I am a zombie. What? Is it weird? Aren''t you with zombies too?"


    "Roar¡­" Before Lei Cheng and Zheng Hao replied, the zombie king behind them gave a roar. ''But, we can''t talk!''


    Lei Cheng and Zheng Hao couldn''t understand zombie language, but they could guess his meaning more or less. So, they both looked at Lin Qiao and waited for her to answer.


    "What does that have to do with the death of that robber? I''ve already told you that I killed him, and you can choose to believe me or not," Lin Qiao pushed her sunglasses slightly upward and said. After saying that, she turned and disappeared from where she was, as she didn''t want to continue the conversation.


    Lei Cheng and Zheng Hao watched her disappear, then turned and ask that zombie king, "You seem to be really scared of her. Is she a zombie dominator too?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Level-six zombies were called zombie kings and queens. After breaking into level-seven, they would become zombie dominators, which were even stronger than zombie kings and queens.


    No zombie dominator had emerged from their base so far, but to their surprise, they met two of them in that new base which didn''t have many people yet.


    "Roar!" The zombie king roared at him. ''She''s even scarier than zombie dominators!


    Lei Cheng didn''t figure out his exact meaning, but understood that Lin Qiao was a zombie dominator for sure.


    "She''s strong enough to kill Tang He indeed if she''s a zombie dominator. Besides, she has no reason to lie to us, right? Tang He was her enemy, and was our enemy too." Lei Cheng looked at where Lin Qiao disappeared from and said calmly.


    "I can''t sense anything from her vibe," Zheng Hao looked a little confused as he added, "And she can talk. That young zombie girl whom we met earlier can talk too. How did they do that?"


    "About that, we need to go back to report to our base directors and see what they''ll say. We''ll talk about it by then," Lei Cheng didn''t seem to be very interested in that.


    "Can we go back?" Zheng Hao asked.


    "Em, we''ll head back," Lei Cheng nodded.

 519 Whos Big Zombie Sister

    Lin Qiao didn''t leave right after she turned invisible. Instead, she stayed around those people and zombies to observe them. They had stopped talking about that robber, and started talking about her.


    She guessed that these people and zombies would come back someday. She didn''t mind it anyway. Judging by the two human beings'' attitude toward their zombie friends, zombies were treated equally in their base.


    Also, those zombies didn''t seem to be under control. Their minds were all clear, and they followed the two human beings willingly.


    But still, Lin Qiao sensed something special from those zombies'' minds. Their base might have used some scientific technology to keep their memories and clear minds.


    That was a mysterious base indeed.


    She watched them leave, and didn''t think too deeply about the fact that they might come back in the future. If they came back, she would like to cooperate with them anyway.


    She turned to look for her motorcade, which had already arrived at the zombie wall around the new base.


    Looking at the large crowd of zombies which jammed the way but didn''t pounce on them crazily, Duan Juan and the others were very surprised, even though they had prepared themselves mentally for this.


    "Wow! There really are some zombies!" Qian Xiaoai leaned against the head of the car and said with surprise while looking at the zombie crowd at about ten meters away. Duan Juan got off the car as well, looking at those zombies who obediently stayed still.


    "Don''t run about. I won''t help you if you exasperate them."


    "Don''t worry. Am I a trouble-maker?" Qian Xiaoai grinned, "Where did Boss go? It''s been so long. She''s not here, so how are we supposed to get through?"


    Right at that moment, a figure leaped down from the roof of the tall building nearby.


    That was a high-school girl, with neatly cut, ear-length hair. She was wearing a pair of simply designed middle pants and a white T-shirt. Her face was clean, and her eyes looked familiar.


    Those eyes were purely black, with dark-green pupils.


    Their boss had the same kind of eyes, but with slightly different colored pupils. Lin Qiao''s pupils were in a different type of greenness.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Her eyes revealed her nature to everyone on the scene.


    "Stay put!" Duan Juan suddenly yelled at the people behind her. She wasn''t sure if that zombie was a friend or an enemy.


    Duan Juan and her people had a guess though. It seemed that that zombie wasn''t planning to attack them, so they guessed that she wouldn''t make any move.


    Hearing Duan Juan''s voice, the people behind her who had started to take actions stopped moving. Thankfully, they were used to being surrounded by zombies these days, so they weren''t too afraid when they saw those zombies.


    "She¡­ She''s not the zombie boss who''s been guarding this road, is she? Can she communicate with us?" Qian Xiaoai walked to Duan Juan''s side and asked with a low voice.


    "I don''t know. Let''s see what will happen. Boss is not back yet¡­ No one makes any move," said Duan Juan. While waiting for Lin Qiao, she observed the young female zombie.


    The young female zombie landed on the ground and gave them a few glances, then abruptly walked toward them at a slow pace.


    Duan Juan and Qian Xiaoai immediately looked at her with vigilance.


    The young female zombie walked to them slowly. At three meters from them, she stopped, leaned her head forward and sniffed around, and then suddenly started talking.


    "Em, you smell like her. You came back with Big Zombie Sister, right?" Yun Meng asked.


    Hearing her talk, Duan Juan and her people were all stunned. But soon, they calmed back down and answered her question while observing her with surprise.


    "Eh, we''re from Hades Base in the South. I don''t know who Big Zombie Sister is¡­" Duan Juan guessed that Big Zombie Sister was either Lin Qiao or the long-haired zombie girl. With the word ''Big'', she felt that it was more likely to be Lin Qiao.


    "The one named Lu Tianyu. She went South days ago. She''s our leader, so of course, she''s Big Zombie Sister," Yun Meng rested both hands in the pockets of her jeans and said.


    Li Hongsheng, Qian Xiaoai, Li Hongsheng, and the few others glanced at each other, all having a weird feeling.


    Their boss had become Big Zombie Sister¡­ Somehow, they felt that name matched her perfectly!


    Or, maybe they should say that it was an appropriate name?


    "Eh? Didn''t she come back with you guys?" Yun Meng leaned her head forward again, then sniffed around and continued, "I sensed a large group of strange zombies behind you. There''re so many of them."


    "Oh, those zombies followed us all the way here from the South, Just now, Boss¡­ Eh, Miss. Lu guided them to somewhere else. She told us to come here first," said Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan was used to calling Lin Qiao ''Boss''. She realized that calling her that now might make the zombie girl feel strange, so she hurriedly changed it.


    "I see¡­" Yun Meng nodded, then raised her head to look at those people in the vehicles behind Duan Juan''s while murmuring, "She brought so many people back? It''s good though. Now we can build our base faster."


    Right at that moment, a white figure descended from the air.


    "Eh? Why did you come out?" Qiu Lili landed by Yun Meng''s side and asked with surprise, "Where''s Zombie Number Three?"


    Seeing Qiu Lili, Yun Meng immediately spread her arms and jumped on her. That composure which she showed just now was immediately gone.


    "Lili! Give me a hug!"


    However, Qiu Lili stepped aside, dodging her crazy hug as she said, "Can''t you be serious?"


    Yun Meng failed to hug Qiu Lili, and nearly fell to the ground. She unhappily glanced at the latter and responded, "Am I not serious? I haven''t seen you in days, and I missed you¡­ You''re so stingy!"


    "Pah! Who''s stingy? Do you want me to beat you?" Qiu Lili didn''t like Yun Meng calling her stingy.


    "Come on, let''s fight! Am I afraid of you? If you lose, you''re going to be my cuddle bear for a whole night!" Yun Meng quickly rolled up her sleeves and said.


    Duan Juan and her people were so confused. They didn''t understand why the atmosphere turned weird once Qiu Lili showed up.


    What was happening?


    Zombie Number Three, the middle-aged level-five male zombie who had been standing aside without a strong sense of presence, now bent over and prepared to sneak into the zombie crowd.


    "Oi, Zombie Number Three, don''t go!" Yun Meng suddenly stared at him and gave a roar.


    Zombie Number Three froze, then turned around with a bitter face. His zombie face showed no expression, but a helpless look could be detected from his eyes.


    Two powerful beings were going to fight. How could he not run as far away as possible? What if they accidentally hurt him?


    Then, Yun Meng turned and pointed at Duan Juan and her people as she said, "And you guys, you''ll bear witness! If I win, she will be my cuddle bear for a whole night."


    "Beat me first! I think you become thick-skinned again as I haven''t punished you for quite long!" Qiu Lili scornfully flipped her twin tails.

 520 Fight For An Unknown Reason

    Duan Juan and the others looked at them confusedly.


    What were they doing?


    "You! You always bullied me before because you were at a higher level than me! I''m now going to take revenge!" Yun Meng stuck her tongue out toward Qiu Lili.


    "Hm, that was because you did bad things. Can''t people punish you for doing bad things? You''re at my level now, but don''t you think that you can win against me! Bring it on!" Qiu Lili snorted proudly.


    "I will! I''ve been tolerating you for too long!" Yun Meng made a step backward and slightly bent her knees, then rushed straight at Qiu Lili. In the eyes of the others, she turned into a shred of shadow. Qiu Lili didn''t dodge, but took two quick steps backward and then gave Yun Meng a turning kick.


    For some unknown reason, they had started a battle.


    By the time Duan Juan and the others realized what was happening, they had both launched a few attacks. Soon, they noticed that both Qiu Lili and Yun Meng were only fighting with physical moves, and neither of them released their superpowers. So, they figured that they wouldn''t make this a serious fight.


    However, they were both so fast that those human beings could barely catch them with their eyes.


    Yun Meng had learned martial arts, but Qiu Lili hadn''t.


    After a few rounds, Qiu Lili started falling in disadvantage.


    When Qiu Lili launched another turning kick, Yun Meng suddenly squatted, both hands beside her left foot. Meanwhile, she swiftly reached out her right leg, swinging at Qiu Lili''s leg which was supporting her body at that moment.


    Qiu Lili had no other choice but to put down her leg which was raised in the air, then jump up.


    But at that very moment, Yun Meng had changed her posture. She supported her body with both arms to spring up with her feet in the air. As her feet landed on the ground, she thrust them against the earth and lunged toward Qiu Lili while wielding her fist.


    Qiu Lili was already in the air. When Yun Meng darted at her, she had no spare strength to defend against the latter''s attack. The only thing she could do was to turn her body in the air and dodge Yun Meng''s attack.


    Neither of them used their superpowers, because of which, Yun Meng was at an advantage.


    Her martial art skills and agility were her advantages.


    Qiu Lili relied on her instinctive reaction capacity to fight Yun Meng. They both were level-seven zombies, so their body conditions were at the same level. However, there were differences between their fighting skills.


    So now, Yun Meng was chasing Qiu Lili around, and the latter was defenseless.


    "Eh? What are those two doing?" Lin Qiao returned to find the two of them in fighting an intense battle. She couldn''t help but squat on the roof of the car which was parked by Duan Juan''s side and ask her that question.


    Once her voice was heard, the others all turned to her.


    "We don''t know. They suddenly began fighting. And they asked us to bear witness," Qian Xiaoai answered the question the first.


    "Yeah!" Duan Juan and the others nodded together. They didn''t understand the zombie world!


    Thud! Boom!


    The noises caused by Qiu Lili and Yun Meng could be heard everywhere. They were only fighting hand-to-hand, but those sounds were scary enough.


    As they were fighting, the group of zombies around them had all quietly moved backward. Only the Zombie Number Three helplessly stayed by their side. Without the boss''s order, he didn''t dare to leave.


    Thud! Right at that moment, Qiu Lili reacted slightly slowly. As a result, Yun Meng''s foot sank into her belly and sent her flying toward Lin Qiao and the others. However, she nimbly turned her body in the air and instinctively landed on all fours on the ground. Her feet and claws left clear scratches on the ground.


    She stood up and found her hands covered in sand and dust, while her hair had fallen over her shoulder. She was instantly infuriated, "Ah! You ruined my hair! I''ll kill you!"


    Giving that roar, she raised a hand and released a crazy gust of wind.


    "Whoa! What about our agreement to not use superpowers?" Seeing the sharp wind, Yun Meng immediately made a lunge position, bending her knees to keep herself from being blown away.


    "Bullsh*t! You have green and animal power. Your superpower is constantly effective," Qiu Lili roared at her with discontentment.


    "Then I''m gonna forget about the rules! We''re going to play a big one, aren''t we?" Hearing that, Yun Meng was unhappy too. Next, her green eyes sparkled, and metallic scales emerged on her face. Afterward, her fingers started crooking and her nails grew longer.


    Her arms were covered in scales too, and a few sharp thorns grew out of her elbows.


    "Oi, fight somewhere else¡­ Don''t block the way! We need to go through here." At that moment, Lin Qiao shouted out. Qiu Lili and Yun Meng both paused for a second, then turned to her simultaneously.


    "Eh? You''re back!" Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise.


    "I have already been back for a minute," said Lin Qiao.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Ah, since you''re back, our game should end now," Yun Meng dropped both hands. Meanwhile, the scales on her skin and the thorns on her arms both disappeared.


    "Alright, alright, move away!" Lin Qiao released her vibe and yelled at the surrounding zombie crowd. In the next moment, Duan Juan, Qian Xiaoai, Li Hongsheng and the others saw those zombies run toward both sides ridiculously quickly.


    "Alright, bring the troop in!" Lin Qiao then turned and said to Duan Juan. While speaking, she jumped off the car roof and sat into the front seat.


    Qiu Lili brushed her long hair with her fingers. Her ponytails had loosened, so she conveniently gathered her hair together and tied them into a knot behind her neck. She then flashed onto the roof of Lin Qiao''s off-road car, standing there motionlessly.


    Meanwhile, Duan Juan sat into the driver''s seat and started the car, driving it ahead.


    Yun Meng stood aside at first, and when Lin Qiao''s car approached, she leaped forward and hopped onto the car roof.


    The people in the car raised their heads and glanced at the roof together.


    Those two zombies were fighting in a couple of minutes ago, and now, they were standing up there together. Would they start fighting again?


    Fortunately, that didn''t happen.


    Qiu Lili gave a snort, then turned and showed her back to Yun Meng while the latter squatted on the car roof. She turned to Qiu Lili and silently stuck her tongue out toward her, then made a face. After that, they stopped communicating.


    The car was soon driven into the hotel area.


    "Eh?" Hearing the noises of the motorcade, the people in the hotel all came out to see what was happening.


    "Miss Lu is back! She brought so many people back!" The people who were on patrol figured out that it was Lin Qiao coming back as they saw Qiu Lili standing on the roof of the first car.


    While discussing how to deal with Lei Cheng and his people, Lin Feng and the others heard something shouting¡ª''Miss. Lu is back.''


    All three of them immediately smiled in a delighted surprise. They thought that she wouldn''t be back so soon; but to their surprise, she was already back.

 521 Return To The New Base

    Lin Qiao came out of the car and guided Duan Juan, Qiu Lili, and the others into the lobby. At that moment, Lin Feng and the others were just coming downstairs.


    "A!" Seeing Qian Xiaoai, Lin Feng popped his eyes and called his nickname with surprise.


    "Captain! Deputy Chief!" Qian Xiaoai was excited to see Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing as well.


    "Eh? Isn''t this Duan Juan?" Yuan Tianxing looked at Duan Juan and remarked.


    "Em, it''s me! Long time no see, Deputy Chief!" Duan Juan smilingly nodded at Yuan Tianxing. She acted calmly, but her eyes still showed with slight excitement.


    "Oh, Yuan Tianxing, send someone to accommodate those people outside. Those are the survivors from the Hades Base. Find a building near the hotel for them to live in, and register their names. As for their jobs, we''ll make the arrangements tomorrow morning. Now, all the administrators of Hades Base come upstairs to the conference room with me." After giving Yuan Tianxing the instructions, Lin Qiao turned to say to the others in the lobby, then went up to the second floor.


    Duan Juan and Qian Xiaoai followed behind her. While walking, they turned and waved at Li Zheng and the others, signaling them to follow up.


    Li Zheng, Lin Hao, and the others were still a little stunned, as they didn''t expect to see their old friends here. Seeing them waving their hands, they finally came back to their senses.


    Yuan Tianxing immediately summoned Du Yuanxing and ordered him to take a few people outside to arrange accommodations for those newcomers. Du Yuanxing had been handling this kind of thing since the beginning.


    After that, he prepared to send Lin Hao to deal with those vehicles.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly stopped walking, "Send someone else to take care of those cars. Let Lin Hao stay."


    After that, she turned to Lin Hao and said to him, "Lin Hao, go and invite your mother, Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, and your sister-in-law all to the conference room. I have something important to tell you today."


    Lin Hao and Yuan Tianxing glanced at each other. They both felt that the atmosphere had suddenly become tense, as if something big was going to happen soon.


    He nodded, then turned and ran upstairs. Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen, and the others were all upstairs at that time.


    Lin Feng said, "Let Du find somewhere for those people to rest. The rest of us will all go to the conference room now."


    Lin Qiao nodded, then turned and went up to the second floor with Duan Juan, Qiu Lili, and the others, heading toward the conference room. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Chen Yuting stood aside and asked confusedly, "Eh¡­ should I come with you guys? She only asked the people from Hades Base to go."


    "You go and help Du to arrange accommodations for those people out there. I guess she''s going to say something about the South. It has nothing to do with you," Lin Feng patted him on the shoulder and said. He felt that Lin Qiao must have found something important in the South, or she wouldn''t summon all those people to the conference room. Seeing those people out there, as well as Duan Juan, Qian Xiaoai and the others, he already had a hunch about that.


    In the conference room, Lin Qiao didn''t sit down, but entered her space first. Meanwhile, the others stood on both sides of the conference table. Among them, only Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng dared to take seats.


    The other people stood behind them, looking at the empty seat of honor.


    Almost everybody was wearing a confused look. Only Duan Juan and a few others who just came back with Lin Qiao seemed to know something.


    "What''s going on?" Li Zheng moved to Duan Juan''s side and whispered to ask her. Li Zheng and Duan Juan were at about the same level back in Hades Base. One of them was the leader of the scout team and the other was the leader of Lin Qiao''s bodyguard squad.


    "You''ll know in a minute. Stop talking, quiet!" Duan Juan responded with a low voice.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing made an eye-contact with each other, then glanced at the other people. Yuan Tianxing was rather relaxed. He looked at Qian Xiaoai and asked, "What''s going on?"


    Qian Xiaoai glanced at Duan Juan. Thinking about Lin Qiao''s real identity and the situation of Hades Base, he replied with a complicated expression, "Eh¡­ it''s a little complicated. Just wait for Boss to tell you herself."


    "Who''s Boss? A, don''t forget to report what happened near the cliff to me later on," Lin Feng gave him a glance with confusion and then said.


    "Ah¡­ I don''t think that''ll be necessary," Qian Xiaoai scratched his head and said helplessly.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Feng looked at him bewilderedly.


    "Oh my! Why are you here!" At that moment, Du Yuanxing showed up; he was shocked to see Duan Juan.


    Chen Yuting had gone outside to arrange accommodations for those people, and told Du Yuanxing to come back for the meeting. He figured that the latter was also from Hades Base, so he should be here as well.


    The seat of honor was empty, but no one dared to take it. After all, the two powerful beings¡ªQiu Lili and Yun Meng¡ªwere there. Clearly, they were saving that seat for their boss.


    After coming in, the people on the scene immediately felt that the dominant right of this room was taken by Lin Qiao. What confused them was that she summoned everybody here, but then entered her space. No one knew what she was going to do.


    Yuan Tianxing pointed at the empty seats by the table and said to Duan Juan, Qian Xiaoai, and Li Zheng, "You guys sit down as well."


    The conference table was long, and five or six people could sit on one side of it together. Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng were sitting side by side, so as Li Zheng and the other two sat down, that side of the table was filled up.


    Meanwhile, Du Yuanxing silently found himself a stool and sat behind them.


    Except for them, Lin Yu, Feng Yuming, and the others from Li Zheng''s squad; Li Hongsheng, who came with Duan Juan; and Lu Junjie and the others, who came with Lin Feng, were all standing in the empty area behind the ones who had sat down.


    They automatically lined up according to their power levels. At the same time, Lu Junjie and a few others who didn''t have superpowers quietly moved to a corner.


    "There must be something important! Otherwise, why would she summon all of us here?" said Lin Feng.


    At that point, Lin Hao came in with Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, and Cheng Wangxue.


    "Oh, what''s going on here? Why are so many people here?" Seeing the roomful of people, the group of ladies was stunned a little as well.


    Also, why were they all crowding on one side of the table and leaving the other side empty? What were they doing?


    After bringing them in, Lin Hao looked around the room. He didn''t know where those ladies should sit, so he turned to Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing.


    "Mom, come here and sit down," Lin Feng stood up and walked to the other side of the table, pulling out a chair for Mrs. Lin.


    "I heard that¡­ Miss. Lu is back. Where is she?" Mrs. Lin asked eagerly. While speaking, she glanced at Qiu Lili. She knew that Qiu Lili went to the South with Lin Qiao.


    "I''m here." At that moment, Lin Qiao showed up. She pointed at the rest of the empty seats and said to Lin Wenwen and the others, "You, come and sit here."


    Seeing Lin Qiao, all the people on the scene froze in shock.

 522 Disclosing Her Identity

    What shocked them wasn''t Lin Qiao herself, was that outfit which she had changed into¡ªblack army cap, long military coat, black gloves, and army suit. At the same time, her waist-length hair were tied up behind her neck.


    To the people on the scene, that outfit was way too familiar, to the extent that they even ignored Lin Qiao''s face which didn''t fit the outfit.


    Seeing that outfit, Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen had their eyes glowed, as they suddenly figured something out. Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng and Lin Hao all frowned slightly, then their eyes turned sharp. Only Duan Juan and Qian Xiaoai seemed to be relatively calm.


    Du Yuanxing, Long Qingying, Li Zheng, and the group of people behind them were all stunned and confused.


    Standing behind the table, Lin Qiao glanced at the people in the room, then turned her eyes to the door. Receiving her signal, Qiu Lili waved a hand from behind her. Following her move, the door was shut loudly.


    Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, and Cheng Wangxue glanced at each other, then followed Mrs. Lin and sat into the empty seats on the other side of the table.


    Lin Qiao didn''t sit down, but propped her upper body with both hands on the table.


    She slightly lowered her head, her eyes fixed on the area under the table. "This outfit, you should know what it means. Although my appearance and identity have changed, I assume you guys have all guessed out who I really am."


    Maybe because of her words or the vibe that she had been giving out at the moment, or the tense atmosphere suddenly formed in the room, the people in the room quieted down. Then, Lin Qiao slightly raised her head. The white part of her eyes suddenly turned back to black.


    She stood straight and raised a finger. Following her movement, her army cap suddenly rose into the air and transformed into a cloud of dark mist. The mist gathered on her fingertip and turned into a small flake of black fire within a blink.


    Meanwhile, she said, "I lost my memory before, so I didn''t tell you who I really was. This time, I went to the South, to the cliff where I blew myself up, as I thought I might be able to recollect my memory of the past five years from that place. When I woke up in this zombie body, I had no memory about these five years at all, so I didn''t remember that I was the leader of Hades Base, or how I died. But, I did remember my family."


    While speaking, she raised her head and glanced at Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen, then turned and gave a glance to Lin Feng and Lin Hao.


    "So this time, I went to the cliff. Not only did I find my memory there, but I also found my power back." She spread her fingers, her palms turned up.


    The tiny fire flake was jumping and changing shape on her palms


    ."The previous owner of my current body was called Lu Tianyu, but from now on, that name has lost its meaning, because it has become me. It''s me, Lin Qiao," While speaking, Lin Qiao suddenly clenched her hand and grasped the dark fire.


    "I guess you don''t believe me now, but it''s fine. You have the right to not believe me. Hades Base is gone now, so we''re building a new one. Also, Yang Jianhua has died¡­ I killed him. So now, forget everything about him," Lin Qiao suddenly mentioned Yang Jianhua''s death, then glanced at the Lin Family people.


    As she expected, when she mentioned Yang Jianhua''s death, Lin Feng, Lin Hao, Lin Wenwen, and the others all popped their eyes, looking at her with surprise.


    Abruptly, Lin Qiao waved a hand.


    Bang! A human head fell on the table before her.


    She didn''t throw away Yang Jianhua''s head. On the contrary, she preserved it well in the lake water, so it hadn''t even rotten.


    Everyone on the scene took fright when Lin Qiao suddenly threw out that human head. Mrs. Lin instantly covered her own mouth with a hand, as she almost burst into screams.


    However, their expressions changed when they recognized that head as Yang Jianhua''s head. They just clenched their teeth and glared at it.


    "In fact, before I left, I had told my Mom and Wenwen about who I really was. Maybe you think that I''m lying to you, but they''re my family. I couldn''t possibly deceive them," Lin Qiao glanced at Mrs. Lin and said.


    Mrs. Lin sighed as she glanced at Yang Jianhua''s head, then quickly turned her head away before nodding.


    "Mom! Why didn''t you tell us?" Lin Feng couldn''t even remain sitting. With a grim look, she stared at Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen.


    "Why are you blaming Mom? Didn''t you find that she has so many things in common with our sister? Did you need Mom to tell you about that?" Lin Wenwen talked back to Lin Feng.


    Hearing her, Lin Feng turned to Lin Qiao silently. He opened his mouth slightly, then finally managed to something, "I thought it was my illusion."


    "I had a feeling, but I never believed it," Lin Hao looked at Lin Qiao, then at Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen.


    At that point, the other people had all come back to their senses. They glanced at each other, feeling that they had problems processing what they had heard.


    "Both Qian Xiaoai and I can prove it. She is our Boss indeed. She has changed on the outside, but not on the inside," Duan Juan suddenly gave her word. While speaking, she turned to Yuan Tianxing.


    She looked at Yuan Tianxing with a complicated expression that contained hesitation, discontentment, expectation, and other feelings.


    Yuan Tianxing was wearing no expression now, as his eyes were fixed on Lin Qiao. Abruptly, he burst in laughter and said in a relaxed tone, "I believe her."


    How could he not believe her? He suspected her since long ago. He never showed that on his face, but that didn''t mean that he didn''t believe her now.


    He was fond of her, so of course he remembered all her little habits.


    Like the family affection between Lin Qiao, Lin Feng and the other Lin Family people, he had special feelings for Lin Qiao as well.


    "Da-damn!" At that moment, Du Yuanxing finally recovered from the shock as he wore a very complicated look. Of course, the people behind him were having the same kind of expression.


    "Alright, I''ve already told you who I am. From now on, you can''t blame me for causing troubles behind your back," Lin Qiao abruptly clapped her hands and reminded those people.


    "First of all, Hades Base has been destroyed. We had nearly six-hundred-thousand residents, but ninety percent of them had died. Including the thousands of people in this new base, about a thousand who chose to stay in the old Hades Base, and the thousands who have been sent to Earth Dragon Base by Long Yubai, less than ten-thousand Hades Base people are still alive. So, this new base will not be called Hades. We''ll come up with a new name for it. Also, this base will not be built in the same way as the other human survivor bases." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.

 523 We Wonst Let Them Get Away

    Lin Qiao was speaking in a calm and cold tone, but still, the people in the room could tell how sad and regretful she felt for those fallen lives.


    It wasn''t their fault to be targeted by the enemies. But as a leader, Lin Qiao failed to evacuate the base timely and protect her people. That was her failure, and it proved her incapability.


    So now, she felt sorry for those who had died, as well as for the ones in the room.


    "Those who have become zombies, I brought them here," said Lin Qiao with a heavy tone.


    Except for Duan Juan and Qian Xiaoai, the others were all stunned. They looked at Lin Qiao with surprise.


    "You¡­ Are you saying that¡­" Lin Feng did not expect her to bring those people who had become zombies back here.


    "Yes, I brought them all the way back here. For now, I''ve let them stay near the border between Upper City District and West Lake District," said Lin Qiao.


    The others glanced at each other.


    They had gotten used to the life in the new base which was surrounded by zombies. So, they had no disagreement with the fact that Lin Qiao had brought back those Hades Base people who had become zombies. They were simply surprised.


    "Good¡­ Even though they''re dead, we need to provide them with a home to return to," Mrs. Lin gave a long sigh and broke the silence in the room.


    Lin Qiao shook her heads and said, "No, I''ll let them wake up. They will also become our powerful weapons against Earth Dragon Base, Hidden Cloud City Base, and Sky Fire Base!"


    "You''re going to fight Earth Dragon Base? Now?" Hearing her, all the people in the room raised their heads and stared at her.


    "Not now. I''ll wait until the center of this new base is built up, and then I''ll figure out a way to improve your superpowers. Only by then can I go out to fight the enemy with no worries," Lin Qiao looked at the people in the room and said blandly.


    Hearing that, those people sighed with relief.


    Lin Qiao stood behind the table, both hands rested in the pockets of her trousers, "I will make every single enemy pay for what they did to us. Yang Jianhua died first, so Long Yubai will be the next," she continued.


    "Speaking of Long Yubai, there''s one thing. I don''t know if you''ve heard about it already, but not long after you left, he came to our base with his people," Yuan Tianxing abruptly joined the conversation.


    "What? He came here?" Lin Qiao''s green eyes instantly turned cold.


    The roomful of people nodded together.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent for a few seconds, then asked with surprise, "Then what happened?"


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her and said, "They came here, but we didn''t let them approach us." While speaking, he turned to look at Yun Meng, who was standing behind Lin Qiao.


    Sensing his gaze, Yun Meng made two steps forward, then stood by Lin Qiao''s side and said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you about that. We stopped Long Yubai and his people miles from Jianggan District, then we beat them off."


    While speaking, she pointed at Lin Hao and Long Qingying.


    "Actually, they were scared off by us," Lin Hao finally got a chance to talk.


    Lin Qiao glanced at them, then suddenly turned to Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen as she said, "Mom, you, Wenwen, and sister-in-law, you go back and take some rest."


    Then, she turned to say to the group of people behind Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, "The ones at level-five and above stay here¡­ The others can leave. Lin Yu, you and your people go and see how things are going with Chen Yuting. Take over his work and tell him to come up for the meeting."


    "Yes," Lin Yu and Feng Yuming responded quickly with good manners, but in fact, their eyes still wore a stunned look. Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen and the other Lin Family people stood up and left the conference room as well.


    Long Qingying didn''t leave with them, as she knew that Lin Qiao must have something else to tell her later.


    The ladies from Lin Family understood that Lin Qiao asked them to come to the conference room only because she was going to disclose her identity under their witness. After that, she was going to talk about some serious work which needed to be done, and it would be inappropriate for them to stay here and listen.


    The others still looked shocked when they left the conference room, feeling like they were in a dream. Confusion could still be detected from their eyes.


    Lin Qiao didn''t care how those people felt. As they left, she continued talking to the people who stayed in the room.


    "Tell me, what exactly happened back then."


    Yun Meng found herself a seat where Mrs. Lin and the others were sitting before. At the same time, Qiu Lili walked over and sat down as well.


    Lin Qiao looked at Long Qingying, who stood behind Lin Wenwen earlier, then pointed at an empty seat and signaled for her to sit down. Meanwhile, Yun Meng started talking, "We ambushed them at one end of a bridge. I controlled a crowd of zombies to block their way, then pretended to be a zombie dominator to fight them. While I created the chaos, Qingying secretly distorted Long Yubai''s vehicles and weapons. After that, he had nothing to threaten us."


    Lin Qiao looked at Long Qingying, who nodded to confirm Yun Meng''s words.


    "But, that Long Yubai was so weak. I made one move, and he was kicked flying away by me. If he didn''t run that quickly, I''d have broken a leg of his," said Yun Meng blandly.


    Hearing her, Lin Qiao nodded and said, "You''re right. Among all level-seven people, Long Yubai is the weakest. Far away from water sources, not even some level-six people who can launch powerful attacks need to be afraid of him."


    "Although he''s not powerful, he has great ambition. Also, he''s very scheming. I think that we weren''t even his main target this time, because I heard that he lingered outside Sea City Base for a couple of hours without informing the people in that base. He didn''t leave until that night," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "Do you mean that he only dropped by our new base and attempted to destroy us conveniently?" Lin Qiao''s eyes glowed with a cold light.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "I think that''s right," Yuan Tianxing nodded and continued, "He brought an army. If Mengmeng, Qingying, and the zombie crowd under your control weren''t here, we wouldn''t be able to survive the attacks from his combat vehicles and weapons."


    "Thankfully I upgraded Mengmeng before leaving, or we might have been hurt by Long Yubai again," Lin Qiao sighed and said.


    ¡­


    While Lin Qiao and her people were talking about Long Yubai''s approach, the person in question had returned to his Earth Dragon Base.


    "Yang Jianhua didn''t come back? Didn''t I ask him to finish Hades Base and then come straight back here?" After returning to where he lived, Long Yubai freshened himself up, then sat in the couch in his study room with a glass of wine. When Qin Wusheng, one of the few Deputy Chiefs who stayed in the base, reported to him that Yang Jianhua didn''t come back, he immediately got angry.


    "It''s not like that. He couldn''t come back even if he wanted. I just got the news that Yang Jianhua is dead."

 524 Isll Farm the Land

    "What did you say?" Long Yubai froze in shock upon hearing Qin Wusheng''s words, staring at the latter with disbelief.


    Qin Wusheng nodded and said, "You didn''t mishear me. He''s dead, and so is Huo Wu."


    Long Yubai gazed at him for a couple of seconds before he could react. Then, his pretty face wore a grim look and his voice turned a little dry. "What on earth happened?"


    "I heard that a large number of high-leveled zombies suddenly entered Hades Base two days ago and killed lots of people. Those zombies even killed Yang Jianhua and Huo Wu. I guess it was a¡­ zombie dominator which killed them!" Qin Wusheng slightly lowered his head to look at Long Yubai who was sitting on the couch.


    "Where were those zombies from? Level-seven? Are there so many level-seven zombies now? They''re everywhere!" Long Yubai said through clenched teeth, wearing a sullen look.


    "Everywhere? Are there more than one? I thought the one in Hades Base was the only one in the South," said Qin Wusheng with confusion.


    "Maybe that''s the only one in this area, but there''s one in Hangzhou too. I''ve met it," said Long Yubai.


    "Eh? No wonder you came back in such a bad state this time!" Qin Wusheng scratched his chin and responded while thinking.


    "Yang Jianhua was such a useless idiot!" Long Yubai clicked his tongue and said, "He wasted a level-six zombie nucleus of mine!" Long Yubai didn''t care about Yang Jianhua''s death, but only about the zombie nucleus that he gave the other before leaving.


    "Chief, Hades Base is probably empty now. We can rest a little now, right?" Qin Wusheng asked.


    "Em¡­ Oh, here''s a mission for you. Send some people to Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base, informing them about those level-seven zombies," said Long Yubai.


    "Yes, sir!" Qin Wusheng nodded.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    ¡­


    In the Upper City Base, Lin Qiao learned how Yun Meng and the others beat Long Yubai off and said, "He''ll soon know about Yang Jianhua''s death when he gets back. I guess he''ll send out his people to find out what exactly happened."


    "I think he''ll also sell the information about us having level-seven zombies in our base to other bases. Before long, he''ll join hands with Hidden Cloud City Base or Sky Fire Base again to attack us," said Yuan Tianxing.


    Lin Qiao and Lin Feng both nodded. They knew Long Yubai''s working style pretty well, so they could surely guess out his plan.


    "I guess we''re not his only target. I''d like to see how he prepares to attack the Sea City Base. Does Wu Chengyue know about this?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "He knows that Long Yubai visited here, but we don''t know if he knows his purpose as well. When Long Yubai came, he was planning to leave. He only stayed here to watch the show," said Yuan Tianxing with a faint smile.


    "He stayed here to watch the show?" Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    "At least, we think so," Lin Feng made eye-contact with Yuan Tianxing and then said.


    "But, he also wanted to see if there was anything that he could help with, since he was already here," Yuan Tianxing smiled.


    "Oh," Lin Qiao responded, "But in the end, his help wasn''t needed at all, so he just watched the show."


    The others nodded in agreement.


    "Alright! Li Zheng, you and your team get ready to head to Earth Dragon Base to gather intelligence. Qian Xiaoai, you have green power, so you go and assist them. If you find something important, send some of you back to report to me immediately," Lin Qiao started to give out missions.


    "I''ll tell Xie Dong to go with you. You''ll leave the base in three days."


    "Yes, Madam," Li Zheng paused slightly, then immediately sat straight and responded.


    "Yuan Tianxing, I''ve brought back quite a lot of people this time. Speed up the construction of the wall. Keep your eyes on them, and don''t let any accidents happen," Lin Qiao said to Yuan Tianxing.


    "Sure, I got it," Yuan Tianxing gave her a few extra glances before nodding.


    Lin Qiao then pulled her hands out of the pockets and waved at the table. Next, a map appeared on the table before her. She took out a pen and drew a circle in Hangzhou City on the map.


    "Lin Feng, you, Lin Hao, and Du Yuanxing make a trip to this place. If I''m right, there is an army base, and it hasn''t had any visitors yet."


    "Where is it?" Lin Feng, Lin Hao, and Du Yuanxing all stood up, leaning their heads forward to look at the circle on the map.


    When talking about work, Lin Qiao never called Lin Feng Big Brother. She only called him that in private. Similarly, Lin Feng always called Lin Qiao ''Chief'' in front of the others, and only called her name in private.


    Yuan Tianxing was sitting by Lin Qiao''s side, so he conveniently dragged the map over and pushed it to Lin Feng with his fingers.


    "Do we have to wait for three days? Why don''t you let then go tomorrow? It''s getting colder and colder now, so I think these works should be done the earlier the better," Yuan Tianxing turned to Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and replied, "Three days is just an estimated time. I need to improve Xie Dong''s zombie level first. He needs to upgrade to level-five at least before he can go to Earth Dragon Base and carry out the mission with Li Zheng and his people."


    "Oh, I see," Yuan Tianxing nodded knowingly.


    "Alright! Qingying, there''s no task for you at the moment. You stay here with the others to guard the base," Lin Qiao clapped her hands and continued, "That''s it¡­ The meeting is over!"


    "Wait a moment! We all have missions, so what will you be doing?" Yuan Tianxing felt that something was not quite right, so he stopped Lin Qiao with a smile and asked.


    "Ah, I''ll go farm the land! I think the land in Mount Wu can be developed and grow many things. We can''t always rely on the stored food, can we? We still need an agricultural base!" Lin Qiao responded.


    "That is right, but do you plan to manage that farmland all alone? Don''t tell me that you''re going to make your zombie army do the farm work!" Thinking about Liu Jun, Shen Yujen, and the other zombies who were doing the farm work in Mount Wu area right now, Yuan Tianxing said with a complicated look.


    "Hmm, you know me pretty well!" Lin Qiao nodded blandly.


    Hearing her, the others all showed complicated expressions.


    Their Chief had become a zombie, and now, she was going to make a group of zombies farm the land. Those were zombies. Were zombies supposed to do farm work?


    Lin Qiao turned and disappeared in front of the roomful of people, leaving them looking at each other in confusion. At last, they all left to carry out their own missions.


    Yun Meng and Qiu Lili, who had no tasks at the moment, didn''t leave through the door. Instead, they leaped out of the window and disappeared as well.


    "Why don''t these zombies use the door? Are they all addicted to jumping in and out through windows?" Du Yuanxing glanced at the few widely opened windows. He remembered that the one who just gave out a series of missions liked to go through windows too.

 525 She Has Known For A Long Time

    "Big Brother, should we go and talk to Mom?" Lin Hao asked Lin Feng.


    "Let''s do that. I think Mom has known for a long time," Lin Feng nodded with a complicated look. Then, the two of them walked out of the conference room and went upstairs to Mrs. Lin''s room.


    "Deputy Chief¡­ Hit me. I suddenly feel that none of this is real, as if I''m in a dream," Du Yuanxing moved to Yuan Tianxing''s side and said with a stunned face.


    Clap! Yuan Tianxing raised a hand and slapped straight on the back of his head.


    "Ouch! It hurts!" Du Yuanxing howled in pain, "Eh, I''m really not in a dream! What I heard just now is all real¡­"


    While speaking, he looked at Yuan Tianxing, but found the latter wearing a strange expression. "Eh? Deputy Chief, you don''t look good¡­ What''s wrong?"


    Yuan Tianxing turned to him and showed a faint smile. But still, Du Yuan Tianxing detected a bitterness and something else from the smile in his eyes.


    "I''m fine."


    Du Yuanxing looked at him, then at the stairs where Lin Feng and his brother headed to, and said, "Why did you guys make no reaction to what Miss. Lu¡­ I mean, to what Chief just said?"


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him and replied with that faint smile, "No reaction? That''s not true. Stop doubting, it is her. We suspected her since long ago. She was so traceless, so we had no way of finding out. And before we had the chance to dig out her true identity, she disclosed it to us herself."


    "Eh¡­ Is that so?" Du Yuanxing looked at him with surprise.


    On the other side, Lin Hao and Lin Feng came to Mrs. Lin''s door and knocked on it. Soon, the door was opened from the inside.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Big Brother," seeing Lin Feng and Lin Hao, Lin Wenwen knowingly stepped aside to let them in. After walking into the room, Lin Feng found himself a seat while Lin Hao stood beside him.


    "You¡­ always knew, didn''t you?" Lin Feng didn''t speak. It was Lin Hao who asked the question.


    "I confirmed it with her. I guess if I didn''t ask her, we might not have known until earlier today too," said Lin Wenwen.


    "You found that too¡­" Lin Feng joined the conversation.


    "In fact, I started to feel it since we first met her. I recognized her handwriting," Mrs. Lin sighed.


    There was no reason for a stranger to come all the way to Hades Base from Sea City to save them. Hades Base was thousands of miles away from Sea City after all! So, that sole fact had already made Lin Family people suspect. At first, they even guessed that she had some untold purpose; but after spending some time with her, they found the traces of Lin Qiao from her every little habit, which changed their minds.


    "Wenwen, when did you ask her? What made you decide to verify her background?" Lin Feng turned to Lin Wenwen.


    "Hm, because I too had found that she had many things in common with our sister. So, when we were in Sea City Base, I thought I should check her background in that base. Didn''t she say that she was from Sea City Base? So, I did some research, and then found that she had become a totally different person," Lin Wenwen stood by Mrs. Lin''s side as she looked at Lin Feng and Lin Hao and continued, "I heard that she was an evil woman before she died!"


    Lin Hao and Lin Feng both looked at her silently. Back in Sea City Base, they didn''t specially dig into Lu Tianyu''s background, so they hadn''t known about that.


    "Then why didn''t you tell us anything!" Lin Hao glared at Lin Wenwen with discontentment.


    "Why do you glare at me? Our sister said that she''d find the right time to tell you when she found her memory back! Didn''t she tell you now?" Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes.


    "Yang Jianhua is dead, and revenge has officially begun! Thankfully, he died in Lin Qiao''s hands. That kind of fulfilled one of our wishes," Lin Feng was showing no expression, but his vibe became unstable.


    "That is right. We''ll certainly make them pay for what was done," said Lin Hao through gritted teeth. "It''s so good to have our sister back¡­" While speaking, he slightly lowered his head.


    Lin Qiao was standing right behind their door at the moment. She raised a hand and hesitated shortly, then knocked on the door.


    "It''s me," she said while looking at the door.


    Soon, Lin Wenwen opened the door and saw Lin Qiao, who had changed into a casual outfit. "Sister!"


    Lin Qiao nodded and then walked in.


    "Were you talking about me?" Lin Qiao looked at the people in the room and asked.


    Lin Wenwen closed the door, then turned to look at Lin Qiao''s eyes and said, "Eh? Your eyes turned white again. They were black just now."


    "Oh? My eyes turned white?" Lin Qiao was stunned a little as well. She then turned and walked to Mrs. Lin''s dressing table and bent over to look at herself in the mirror, "Eh? When did this happen?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at her with surprise, "What? Didn''t you know that?"


    Lin Qiao turned back and looked at the others confusedly.


    Lin Feng only looked at her quietly. Lin Hao raised his head at that time, and his eyes were questionably red.


    "Lin Hao, did you cry?" Noticing Lin Hao''s eyes, Lin Wenwen asked with surprise.


    "I''m fine," Lin Hao closed his eyes to force back the warmth in them and said. Then, he turned to Lin Qiao. In fact, he never wanted to believe that Lin Qiao was dead. In his eye, she was a strong, elite special forces soldier who had mastered all sorts of survival skills. How could she possibly die so easily? Not to mention the fact that she was a level-seven powerful being!


    Ever since Miss. Lu showed up, he found many strange things¡­ those similar behavior and habits, that familiar vibe¡­ He was wondering, but didn''t care as much as Lin Wenwen did.


    Lin Qiao looked at her own eyes in the mirror. She was able to see colors now, so she clearly saw the white parts of her eyes.


    She didn''t know this before, as she hadn''t looked at herself in a mirror. Now, seeing that face which didn''t really belong to her, she felt a little uncomfortable. That was the reason why she never looked herself in a mirror after she became a zombie.


    She was surprised that her eyes had changed so drastically. When did the change start?


    The biggest change in her body happened two days ago when she restored her memory. Last time when Viney entrapped her, some big changes also happened to her.


    Earlier on, Lin Wenwen said that her eyes turned white again, meaning that they had turned white before.


    So, her eyes should have turned white before she went South. Which meant, her eyes might have become like this when she made love with Wu Chengyue.


    However, Lin Wenwen also said that her eyes were black just now. Why did that happen?


    She couldn''t figure out what was happening with her eyes!


    She turned and asked the others in the room, "When did my eyes become white?"


    The four looked at her with confusion. "Since you came back from Sea City," one of them answered the question.

 526 How Zombies Stay Alive

    ''As I thought,'' Lin Qiao said to herself.


    That unexpected accident caused the second mutation of her body. She became exactly like a healthy human being on the outside, and her body was halfway activated; but in nature, she was still a zombie.


    The activation of her heart was something she felt to be a little weird.


    And this time, after restoring her memory, she found that her body had turned back into the zombie state, as her capability of controlling zombies and the pressure that she could give to the other zombies had both grown stronger than before.


    She thought she would turn back into a human being; but now, she turned into a zombie again.


    "Ever since my face changed, I don''t like looking myself in mirrors. Imagine seeing someone else''s face when you look at yourselves in a mirror. That''s pretty frustrating. Besides, my face was damaged at first. I couldn''t even look directly at myself back then." Speaking of how her body looked like at the beginning, Lin Qiao was really not happy. "So, how was I supposed to know when my eyes turned white?"


    "Is that so?" Lin Wenwen made eye-contact with her mother, then pictured what Lin Qiao said and immediately shivered.


    That was way too weird!


    "When did you wake up in woman''s body¡­ eh, I mean, dead body?" Lin Feng asked.


    Lin Qiao walked over and answered the question, "I think it should be that day when I blew myself up. I woke up with no memory of the past five years, but I remember everything before that. I didn''t even know if you survived the apocalypse or not. At first, I went to the South only to take a shot and see if you''re still alive."


    She had very complicated feelings at first, as her own memory was mixed together with Lu Tianyu''s.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "I see¡­ We didn''t believe that you detonated yourself, and we all thought that you''d be back one day. But, we didn''t expect you to come back in¡­ such a special way."


    "That''s right!" Lin Hao nodded in agreement.


    Lin Qiao nodded as well and said, "I have no idea why I woke up in someone else''s dead body, and became a zombie. And, I had indeed blown myself up."


    Her superpower was suppressed by the drug that Yang Jianhua gave her. She needed to stall those enemies to buy time for her families, but at last, she didn''t have any energy left to run. She ran to a cliff, but could not jump into the sea because Long Yubai had water power, and he could do whatever he wanted to her in the sea.


    To keep those people from obtaining her energy nucleus, she chose to detonate it.


    "I thought my energy nucleus would be blown up as well¡­ But when I got there, I saw it lying on the ground, perfectly undamaged." The look on Lin Qiao''s face turned grim when she said that.


    "It didn''t blow? Really?" Hearing her, the others all wore a surprised look.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "The nucleus stored my memory of these five years. I absorbed it, so all my memory has come back."


    "That''s perfect! So, you remember everything now. But, can you¡­ find your body back?" Mrs. Lin looked at the other, her eyes turning red. At that time, Lin Hao walked to the tea cabinet and found a few cups. While pouring water, he looked at Lin Qiao and asked, "Do you want water?"


    Looking at her face, he just could not call her sister.


    "I''m fine. There''s the virus in my mouth, so I can''t share food with you guys," Lin Qiao shook her head.


    "As long as you''re back! But your body¡­ Will there be a problem with it in the future?"


    Everyone knew that she didn''t feed on human flesh, and of course, her zombies wouldn''t eat human beings without her permit. But, what would happen to a zombie in the end if it didn''t eat human beings?


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said carelessly, "Human flesh is not the only type of food that I can eat. It''s highly attractive to me, but I know how to control my desire. Didn''t you see me eat mutated animals? Those are enough. In fact, I can live without any food. With my energy, I''m immortal."


    "So, zombies are actually living on energy?" Lin Hao was curious about that. He thought it was the virus which had been maintaining the zombies'' bodily functions.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Low-level zombies live on the virus, sunlight, air, and human blood and flesh. Their bodies won''t decay even if they don''t have human flesh to eat, because a combination reaction has been happening between their bodies, which has mutated under the effects of the virus, the sunlight, and the air. But without human blood and flesh, their bodies will gradually lose its vitality, and over time, the vitality would be gone completely, and they will die," Lin Qiao seemed to have sensed the changing process of zombie bodies after she became one of them.


    What she said was what the scientists in those large bases wanted to know the most. They just had no way of learning that information from zombies. Only Lin Qiao was able to say those things out loud in human language.


    She understood that her words would make a stir if the people from the research institutions in those large bases heard them.


    "Don''t tell the others about what I just said, or a stir might be caused," Lin Qiao reminded the four.


    "That explains everything! No wonder!" Lin Hao, who was very interested in this topic, was enlightened. He seemed to suddenly think something through and showed an excited look.


    "Why are you so excited?" Lin Feng picked up a cup and took a sip of the water, then glanced at Lin Hao.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao continued talking, "Oh, there''s something that I think I should let you know¡­ It''s¡­ that¡­ in fact, I''m pregnant!"


    "Pah!" Lin Feng, who had just taken a sip of water, spouted the water in his mouth.


    "Pah!" Mrs. Lin did the same.


    "Wait¡­ Wait a minute! What did you say?" Lin Wenwen popped her eyes and looked at Lin Qiao in shock. Lin Hao gazed straight at Lin Qiao without saying anything as well.


    "Eh-hem¡­ I didn''t want to tell you, but I felt that you might get angry if I kept it secret from you¡­" Lin Qiao looked at them awkwardly.


    "Wait¡­ wait! You said that you are¡­ pregnant. What happened? Aren''t you a zombie? Also, who''s the father?" Lin Feng hurriedly put the cup on the tea table and raised the other hand to signal for Lin Qiao to wait. He had always been a composed man, but now, he seemed to be a little flurried.


    He wiped his mouth, then turned and widened his eyes as he stared at Lin Qiao.


    "Eh¡­ about that¡­ Actually, the baby is Viney from my space. She didn''t have a real body before, so she needed to upgrade to come out of the space. The condition is¡­ eh¡­ she has to come out through my belly," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said.


    She, of course, wouldn''t tell them that there was a man. She planned to leave out the part about that man.


    As for how that baby was created, she didn''t plan to tell either.

 527 Theres Another Thing

    The others looked at her with confusion, failing to understand her words immediately.


    "The¡­ The Viney from your lake? That white vine plant?" Lin Wenwen knew a little about Viney and she processed the information fast.


    Lin Qiao nodded in response.


    At that moment, Lin Feng suddenly recalled Viney. When Lin Xiaolu''s superpower was triggered, Lin Qiao had brought him into her space, and he had seen Viney at that time.


    "Are you talking about that vine plant which helped Xiaolu trigger her power last time? Isn''t it¡­ a plant in your lake? Why is it now¡­" While speaking, Lin Feng unwittingly turned his eyes to Lin Qiao''s lower abdomen.


    Following him, the others all fixed their eyes on her belly.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on her belly, then nodded and responded, "Yes, it''s her."


    The look in her eyes had turned gentler, but she didn''t notice it.


    "She¡­ how? And you¡­" Lin Wenwen didn''t even know what to say, but looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    "Viney looked like a vine plant, but actually, she didn''t have a real body. She created those vines with her energy. She has been helping me improve my zombie level and body condition the whole time. When I upgraded, she did too. However, she needed much greater amounts of energy to upgrade than I did. So, even though I''ve already reached level-six-or-seven, she has just entered level-four," Lin Qiao explained.


    "Then how did she¡­ eh, become your baby?" Lin Hao looked at her and asked. He tried to figure out, but failed.


    "Em¡­ About how¡­ I think she combined her mind and energy, and then entered my body," said Lin Qiao.


    "So¡­ But, you''re a zombie! Not to mention whether your eggs are still alive, the egg needed to be fertilized, right? Eh¡­ Oh, who''s that man? Tell us!" Lin Hao was scratching his chin and thinking about Lin Qiao''s body condition, but suddenly, he thought of the fertilization. So, he raised his head to stared at Lin Qiao while asking that question.


    Lin Qiao glanced up at the ceiling, then smiled at him and said, "Um¡­ There''s no man! I impregnated myself!"


    After saying that, she turned and found the four staring at her with distrust.


    "Eh¡­ hehe¡­" She paused for a second, feeling embarrassed.


    "You''re lying!" Lin Wenwen pointed at her and said.


    "She''s right. You always look at the ceiling before lying! And after that, you''ll smile like this¡­ Yes, this weird smile!" Lin Hao stared at her and also raised a hand to point at her.


    The smile froze on Lin Qiao''s face when she covered her forehead with a hand.


    She dropped that hand, then grinned at her family and said, "Who said that my eggs aren''t alive? Although I''m a zombie now, many parts of my body have been activated by the energy in my lake. I am a zombie indeed, but many parts of mine aren''t zombified anymore. For example, I can talk, and my eyes look like human eyes, and my scars have all been healed. So, I think it''s not a difficult thing to activate my eggs."


    "Yeah, you have become a zombie, but you can talk. That''s pretty miraculous!" Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Qiao with surprise as she let the other change the topic pretty easily. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Lin Hao was a medical student, and had done some studies on human bodies. He was interested in the body system of zombies too, so he was easily attracted by Lin Qiao as well.


    "You said that some of your organs have been activated. So, if you keep activating your body, will you be able to activate your entire body and eventually turn back into a human being?" Lin Hao popped his eyes and asked with curiosity.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and replied, "I thought that was a possibility, but after I absorbed my old nucleus, I found that it''s impossible."


    "Eh? Why?" The others looked at her confusedly.


    "Because my body condition is limited. I''m having this faint feeling. Before I absorbed my old nucleus, I always felt that my body was in an unstable state. But afterward, that feeling is gone for good. Now, I feel that I''ve settled in the realm of death, and that my body will no longer change," Lin Qiao gently scratched her chin while speaking.


    Then, she raised her hands to show her purely black fingernails to the others.


    Her fingers didn''t carry the virus, but her nails were full of it. She could infect other living beings with her nails by creating a slight scratch on their skin.


    There was one thing that she did not understand¡ªWhy did Lin Yu come back to life after being accidentally bitten by her? She had learned about his power, which was similar to her dark fire, but weaker.


    "Is that so? Were you just in a special state? So¡­ What are you pregnant with now?" Mrs. Lin finally joined the conversation. While speaking, she stared at Lin Qiao''s belly and thought ''Please don''t give birth to a little zombie!''


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "To be honest, I don''t know!"


    "It''s very likely to be a little zombie," Lin Hao crossed his arms before his chest, his eyes also fixed on Lin Qiao''s belly. "If your genes didn''t change, everything inside your body might carry the virus," he continued, "So, since Viney is able to survive inside your body, I guess she''s a zombie too. Also, how have you been nourishing her?"


    "She can absorb zombie nuclei or the nuclei of mutated animals or plants directly. But, I can feel that her growth is very slow. Since I returned from Sea City, I haven''t felt any change in her at all," Lin Qiao said.


    "She''s a zombie now, so she can''t be pregnant with a human being," said Lin Wenwen to Lin Hao.


    "You''re right," Lin Hao glanced at Lin Wenwen and nodded.


    "I only want to know if the baby will affect you in any bad ways," Lin Feng, who hadn''t said anything yet, now started talking.


    "That¡­ I''m not sure!" Lin Qiao shook her head uncertainly.


    She remembered that Viney said when she was about to be born, both she and Lin Qiao would face a great danger. So, there was still one barrier to pass.


    "What do you mean? Will the baby put you in some kind of danger?" Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Mrs. Lin got anxious.


    "Well, Mom, I never actually understand Viney''s way of living, but she herself seems to know all the details. She has reminded me that when I give birth to her, both of us will need to face a great difficulty. If we get through that, we''ll both live healthily, and will upgrade and grow stronger. But if we don''t¡­"


    She didn''t finish her words. But still, the others had guessed out what she meant to say.

 528 Find More Medical Devices

    "What? Are you saying that you''ll be in danger?" Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao in surprise, and the latter nodded.


    "How could you do such a dangerous thing? Can you¡­ abort this baby now?" Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao with concern.


    "Mom! How can you¡­" Lin Qiao looked at Mrs. Lin with discontentment, "Viney can hear you now. How can you say that? What do you expect her to do? She and I are bonded together. If she can''t come out of my body, she''d never be able to separate herself from me or upgrade."


    "But, that''s based on your safety. Isn''t there another way?" Mrs. Lin realized that what she just said was a little cruel. However, she just couldn''t accept the fact that Lin Qiao might be in danger again.


    "Mom, calm down! Just let Lin Qiao tell you what she thinks," Lin Feng looked at Mrs. Lin and comforted her.


    "Mom, don''t worry! There might be a danger, but it''s not like I can''t get through it. That''s only one possibility. I don''t know what exactly will happen yet," Lin Qiao put one hand on her belly and said. Fortunately, Viney was in a deep sleep, and didn''t seem to have heard Mrs. Lin''s words.


    "But¡­" Mrs. Lin was still worried.


    "Mom, there''s nothing you can say to change it now. Viney has already entered her uterus. Aborting her might cause even greater danger. So, I think that we should just let Zombie Sister give birth to her naturally," Lin Hao, who had some medical experience, said. Looking at Lin Qiao''s face, he really could not say the words ''Big Sister''. Thinking about the fact that she had become a zombie, he somehow called her Zombie Sister!


    "What is Zombie Sister¡­" Lin Qiao did not like that.


    "Eh¡­ I really can''t say the words ''Big Sister'' while looking at your face!" Lin Hao smiled awkwardly.


    "Why does that matter? Sister, you are a zombie now, and everybody has started to call you that. They also call Mengmeng and Lili ''little zombie sisters!" said Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. She was a zombie indeed, so calling her that did seem to make sense. She just wasn''t used to it.


    "Anyway, when will you give birth to this baby? It doesn''t require exactly nine months of pregnancy like human beings, does it?" Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao and asked. Her face was still filled with worries.


    "Yeah, will it work like the pregnancy of human beings? I don''t think it''s possible though¡­" The others looked at Lin Qiao, all wanting to know the answer.


    "Um¡­ I have no idea! But, Viney does need a great amount of energy. Each time, she fell in deep sleep after absorbing the energy, and her sleep always lasted for a long time. I don''t know when she can grow mature and come out," Lin Qiao know nothing about Viney''s situation either.


    The others looked at her silently.


    "Perhaps, we can collect some medical devices for obstetrics!" Lin Hao murmured to himself. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "That''s right! Lin Hao, find as many medical devices as you can when you get out this time," Mrs. Lin''s eyes glowed.


    "Sister, you''re pregnant, so I think you can''t fight Earth Dragon Base now," Lin Wenwen suddenly thought of something important.


    "She''s right. I think we should wait until the baby is born. We''ll deal with the Earth Dragon Base after that. Our base hasn''t been built stably anyway. You should stay here and take care of some small things in the base," Lin Feng immediately agreed with Lin Wenwen.


    "Don''t worry, I''m not planning to leave right now. Didn''t I tell you that I''ll be farming the land? Also, I prepare to upgrade you and Yuan Tianxing both to level-seven. Now, I''m only sending Li Zheng and his people to keep an eye on the Earth Dragon Base to prepare our future moves," Lin Qiao smiled.


    She did not plan to leave for now. At the very least, she needed to wait until the base was built up and stable before she could go out and fight with no worries.


    "Good!" The four sighed in relief together.


    "Alright, I''ve told you what I needed to tell you. Now, I''m going to upgrade Xie Dong. See you!" Lin Qiao waved her hand, then turned and walked to the door.


    "Go," Mrs. Lin sighed.


    "We''ll go to work as well," Lin Feng and Lin Hao both stood up.


    Lin Qiao walked out of the room and then went upstairs. On the roof, she saw Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and zombie number one to seven, along with Xie Dong. They were standing there in a straight line.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng weren''t in a line, as they were fighting again.


    "What are you two doing again?" Lin Qiao looked at them. That was their second battle today.


    "She''s so annoying!" Qiu Lili pointed at Yun Meng and complained while raising a hand to defend herself against the latter''s kick.


    "Stingy!" Yun Meng said to Qiu Lili, then conveniently made a few steps backward. After that, they stopped fighting.


    Lin Qiao looked at them with confusion. As they had stopped fighting, she turned and waved to Xie Dong, said, "Xie Dong, come over here!"


    Xie Dong walked to her with confusion. Yun Meng summoned him back on behalf of Lin Qiao, but didn''t tell him the reason. So, he had no idea what Lin Qiao needed him to do now.


    "I have a mission for you. I''ll upgrade you to level-five, and then you''ll leave the base with Li Zheng and his people. You''re going to carry out a mission together, which is collecting all the important information from the Earth Dragon Base, including the latest moves of Long Yubai and the what''s happening in his base recently. If you guys find anything urgent and important, you should come back to let me know immediately," said Lin Qiao.


    Xie Dong had been following Lin Qiao this whole time. As she was growing stronger and stronger, he had been seeing her as a leader. Therefore, what she asked him to do was already like a mission to him. Now, as she made it so clear that it was mission, he showed an even more serious attitude, straightening his body and nodding.


    Lin Qiao filled those zombie leaders'' bath buckets with lake water. After that, those zombie leaders automatically walked to their buckets and started stripping themselves; she didn''t even need to give them the order.


    She turned to avoid looking at their nudities, but found the zombie old man acting weird again.


    He stood beside the bucket and first looked at the sky, then lowered his head to look at the water. He wasn''t taking off his clothes, but seemed to have been thinking about something.


    Lin Qiao walked over and stood before him as she asked, "Grandpa, are you waiting for me to take off your clothes?"


    "Roar!" ''No!''


    The zombie old man gave her a grumpy roar, then let out a series of roars.


    "Roar! Roar¡­" ''Next time, I want a room¡­ alone¡­ isolation¡­''


    The zombie old man''s words weren''t coherent, but Lin Qiao still understood his meaning.


    He actually asked her to find him a room for him to bath alone! ''Oi! You''re a zombie! Not a human being! Why do you care about that?'' she didn''t understand him at all.

 529 Yousre a Zombie, Arenst You?

    "You want to bathe alone? Old man, you''re a zombie, aren''t you?" Lin Qiao looked at the old man with confusion.


    "Roar!" The old man stubbornly roared at Lin Qiao, then turned his back to her. ''Then I won''t take a bath!''


    Lin Qiao popped her eyes and couldn''t help but raise her claws. She clenched her teeth and scratched the air, then dropped her arms with a complicated look.


    "Alright, alright! You''re the second zombie who dares to be so willful in front of me! The first one is Mengmeng," said Lin Qiao helplessly.


    "Roar!" The zombie old man''s eyes glowed. He actually thanked Lin Qiao. ''Thank you!''


    Lin Qiao was a little stunned. She looked at the zombie old man and felt that maybe she could upgrade him ahead of schedule. He might be able to regain his memories or humanity. However, would he still follow her after that? What Lin Qiao was worried was that he might be ungrateful after restoring his memory, and might cause her troubles. Nevertheless, she guessed that he wouldn''t be too bad, as he just thanked her for letting him bathe alone.


    Still, she felt that she needed some more time to observe him.


    While planning in her head, she reached out a hand and put the bucket back into her space.


    "Follow me downstairs." While speaking, she turned and headed downstairs.


    Meanwhile, Qiu Lili flashed onto the roof of the stair room and stood on the edge to feel the wind. Yun Meng hopped to her side and asked with curiosity, "Why did you follow Zombie Sister Lin at the beginning?"


    "Why?" Qiu Lili glanced at her.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Because you were stronger than her, but you listened to everything she said. You two weren''t friends at the beginning, were you?" Yun Meng asked.


    "About that¡­ Actually, I wanted to follow her at the very start," said Qiu Lili, "I followed her everywhere. After spending some time with her, I found that she''s pretty nice. Besides, she always let me do what I wanted. Now, I feel like she''s my big sister¡­ Why do you ask me that? Don''t you forget that if it weren''t for her, I''d have dug out your zombie nucleus long ago!"


    Qiu Lili wasn''t so happy about the question that Yun Meng asked, so she glared at the latter with her red eyes.


    "What? I''m just curious! I''m not saying bad things about her. Why are you so angry?" Yun Meng shrugged.


    "Then what do you mean? You can leave if you don''t want to follow her. But, if you dare to do evil things and hurt people in some other places, Qiaoqiao won''t let you get away¡­ and neither will I. Without Qiaoqiao''s help, you wouldn''t be able to restore your memory, not to mention be able to talk," Qiu Lili glared at her and said.


    "Am I that kind of person¡­ No, am I that kind of zombie? I have become a zombie, but I still can be grateful, alright? I''m not saying that I won''t follow her. It''s nice to follow her. We have food and¡­ Well, we don''t have food. But, we can help her fight or something! Oh, I heard that she''s going to fight the Earth Dragon Base. I''m going too. It would be fun!" said Yun Meng.


    "Good then!" As Yun Meng really showed no intention of leaving, Qiu Lili snorted and erased that angry look on her face.


    "Um, your family¡­ Are they still alive? Did she help you to restore your memory too?" Yun Meng asked.


    "No, I always had my memory. I didn''t lose my memory when I became a zombie. All my family members have¡­ become zombies," Qiu Lili gazed into the vast distance and said. After becoming a zombie, she thought she would be lonely and helpless for the rest of her life. But to her surprise, she met Lin Qiao. After spending some time with the latter, she didn''t want that lonely life ever again.


    She used to be a very dependent person. Living alone for five years as a zombie with memory already put her on the verge of collapse. She honestly didn''t know what she would do if that situation lasted three or five years longer.


    "I guess you''re just more dependent than other people. Your time alone might have scared you. You remember your human life, so you felt extremely lonely. Fortunately, I had no memory in the past few years, and my mind was damaged. Otherwise, living alone all these years would have been a terrible thing for me!" Yun Meng sighed and continued, "But thankfully, we''ve met our Zombie Sister. Now that we''re together, we''ll never be alone again."


    "Em, yeah! And from now on, we have a home!" Qiu Lili nodded, then glanced back at those large buckets which were placed in a straight line and said, "I want to take a bath too. I''m going down to ask Qiaoqiao for some water to bathe in!"


    While speaking, she suddenly turned and leaped off the roof, and then ran toward the stairs.


    "Eh? Wait! I''m going too!" As Qiu Lili disappeared within a blink, Yun Meng gave a scream and jumped off the roof as well.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao guided the zombie old man to the fifth floor, then found an empty room in a relatively desolate hall. She walked in and put the bucket in the room, then walked back out and stood by the door as she looked at the zombie old man.


    "Alright! Is this room good enough? None of the others asked for a room!" She said impatiently.


    The zombie old man walked in and stood by the door, then leaned his head forward to look at the room from up to down, and left to right. Then, he walked in and turned to close the door.


    By the door, Lin Qiao felt a little speechless.


    Why on earth did she pamper this zombie old man like this?


    But now, she had no time to think about that. She decided to leave him here to bathe for now.


    She turned and went out of the room, only to find Xie Dong waiting outside.


    "Follow me in," while speaking, she dragged him into her space.


    In the space, Xie Dong was overwhelmed by the zombie vibe in there, and had his entire body tightened. Then, he took a closer look and saw a large group of zombies in that space which had become many times larger than before.


    Lin Qiao stood by the lake and started taking off her own clothes. Xie Dong first observed the surrounding environment, then turned and found that Lin Qiao was stripping herself. With confusion, he watched Lin Qiao take off her top, and then be wrapped up by streams of black mist.


    The mist only covered her upper body and thighs. Her lower legs were still exposed in the air.


    After stripping herself, Lin Qiao started walking down into the lake with bare feet. By the time Xie Dong realized what happened, she was already in the water.


    Soon, she only had her head above the water surface as she turned and said to Xie Dong, "Take off your shirt and come down."


    Xie Dong popped his eyes, feeling a little stunned.


    Why did he have to take off clothes as well?


    "We still need to drink this water. Are you gonna come down with your clothes on? If I didn''t have to upgrade you at the bottom of the lake, I wouldn''t bother asking you to come down. Don''t just stand there. Come down, quickly!" Lin Qiao said to him a bit impatiently.


    Xie Dong didn''t dare to move, as the energy in the lake was way too strong. The sense of crisis had been striking him the whole time. Only standing by the lake had already made him uncomfortable enough, not to mention going down into the lake.


    Lin Qiao went down to the lake bottom and waited for a while, but never felt Xie Dong come down.

 530 Upgrade Xie Dong

    Lin Qiao popped her head out of the water and gathered the energy in the lake to wrap herself up with it.


    "What''s wrong?" She looked at Xie Dong and asked. The latter pointed a finger at the lake and stayed silent.


    Lin Qiao glanced back at the lake, then understood his meaning. The energy in the lake was way too strong, and was giving him a great pressure.


    "Ah¡­ I see¡­ Let me think how to let you come down!" Lin Qiao didn''t know what to do either. The energy in the lake was too strong. She couldn''t just tie Xie Dong up and throw him into the lake, could she?


    Why wasn''t Yun Meng so afraid? Was it because the energy in the lake wasn''t so thick yet back then, or because she was at a higher level than Xie Dong?


    ¡­ Or both?


    While Lin Qiao was trying to figure out a way to allow Xie Dong to come down into the lake, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng went downstairs to the zombie old man''s room. However, they didn''t sense Lin Qiao''s vibe.


    "Eh? Are they in the room?" Yun Meng looked around.


    "The old man is here. I guess she and Xie Dong have entered her space," said Qiu Lili.


    "So, we can only wait," said Yun Meng. Then, she and Qiu Lili turned and left.


    Even when the two of them and Lin Qiao were not here, the zombie old man and those zombies on the roof wouldn''t go downstairs. They all understood that downstairs was a forbidden zone. So, none of them dared to go down there without permission from Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, or Yun Meng.


    "I think that old man is a little weird. He seems to be a little like you!" While walking, Qiu Lili abruptly said to Yun Meng. The latter was puzzled at first, then glanced at her and said, "He''s a little weird indeed. But, which part of him is like me?"


    Qiu Lili stopped walking and stared at her, "You acted weirdly too before restoring your memory. You''re just like that old man. Well, you didn''t act in the exact same way as him, but you were just similar to him. Also, you liked to steal children! Are you a human dealer?"


    After saying that, she gave Yun Meng a disdainful glance, then turned and kept walking.


    "What¡­ Can you not always mention my dark history? I was sick back then¡­ Eh, I mean, I had lost my memories, and I was out of my mind. It was normal for me to act like that, wasn''t it? I love children. What''s wrong about that?" Yun Meng disagreed.


    "You were caught by Qiaoqiao because you stole a child! You even had the guts to follow her here. If she didn''t want you live, I''d have destroyed you back then, like what I did to those normal zombies!" Qiu Lili snorted proudly.


    "Alright, alright, whatever you say! You have the longest hair, so you''re always right," Yun Meng rolled her eyes. Of course, her eyes were purely black, so her eye-rolling motion wasn''t so obvious.


    In the space, Lin Qiao soaked in the water and thought for a moment. Then, she said to Xie Dong, "Wait a minute! Later on, if you can''t sense the pressure anymore, come down immediately."


    Then, she dove to the bottom of the lake and raised both hands as she started to gather all the energy in the lake. A short while later, Xie Dong, who was standing by the lakeside, suddenly felt a slight decrease in the pressure from the lake.


    Not only did he sense it; the zombies behind the small building and the ones on the grassland on the other side of the lake sensed it too.


    On the lake bottom, Lin Qiao had gathered all the energy in the lake. The dark-green energy was concentrated into a sphere above her head, twisting without a fixed shape. She held her breath and gathered the energy, then carefully compressed the twisting energy sphere with her will power until it became a large ball.


    After that, she gently moved the ball aside. She didn''t dare to let it go, but maintained the position and waited for Xie Dong to come down.


    Xie Dong found the pressure getting weaker and weaker. Only until it was completely gone did he walk into the water. He dove into the lake and found a vast expanse of gray down there.


    He couldn''t see the color of the energy. He wouldn''t be able to see the energy even if he could see colors, because at that moment, the energy had been gathered to the lake bottom by Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao''s vibe had turned lighter in the water, but Xie Dong could still sense it.


    He swam toward her, but stopped again at a few meters from her. After all, that highly compressed energy sphere was giving out an even greater pressure now.


    Lin Qiao turned and glanced at Xie Dong, who was only wearing a pair of underpants. While stabilizing the energy sphere with one hand, she gently raised the other hand and waved at him.


    Xie Dong understood her meaning. He honestly did not want to get close to that energy sphere, but he knew that he had to make his way to it before she could upgrade him.


    Lin Qiao shook her hand slightly, and then two sparkling zombie nuclei appeared in that hand. On her way back, she had hunted a few disobedient zombie leaders.


    Xie Dong carefully swam to her side, then stepped on the lake bottom and took over the two zombie nuclei. He understood that if he absorbed those two level-five zombie nuclei up there alone, the result wouldn''t be as good as what he was going to get down here with Lin Qiao''s help.


    As he took over the zombie nuclei, Lin Qiao asked him to turn around and absorb them with his back toward her. Then, she pressed her palm on his back. The energy that Xie Dong absorbed from the nuclei was drawn to his heart by Lin Qiao with the energy in the lake, before being filtered and sent to his brain. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ¡­


    When Lin Qiao was upgrading Xie Dong in her space, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng were waiting for her on the outside while keeping an eye on the group of zombie leaders on the roof.


    A couple of hours after Lin Qiao came back to the base, Wu Chengyue, in Sea City Base, received the news about her returning with a troop.


    "Oh, she''s back? So soon? I thought she''d return in ten days or half a month. But, she only left for a few days," Wu Chengyue said to Xiao Licheng smilingly.


    "She''s back. Moreover, she didn''t come back alone. She brought thousands of people back from the South. Those are all former residents of Hades Base," Xiao Licheng nodded and said.


    "Is that so? Weren''t those people captured by Long Yubai and Yang Jianhua?" Wu Chengyue asked with curiosity.


    "Oh, that''s another news. I heard that Miss. Lu didn''t only go to the South to save them all, but also killed Yang Jianhua and a level-six man from Earth Dragon Base. After that, she threw all the Earth Dragon Base people and the traitors of Hades Base out to feed the zombies," said Xiao Licheng.


    "I see. She has always been very protective of the Lin Family people. So, I guess she wouldn''t spare their enemies," Wu Chengyue nodded.


    That fact had been puzzling him the whole time. Why would Lu Tianyu protect Lin Family which had nothing to do with her?


    "There''s more. For some reason, Miss. Lu is has changed drastically after she returned from the South. I heard that she has broken into a higher level, and her vibe has become stronger and sharper. Before leaving, she was barely controlling the new base. But after she returned, she suddenly has full control of the base. Even Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng are following her orders now."

 531 Wesll Go When I Have Finished My Work Here

    Hearing Xiao Licheng''s report, Wu Chengyue was surprised, "Are you saying that she has already become a Chief? The Chief of the new base?"


    "It''s indeed like that now¡­ I''m just curious about why Yuan Tianxing suddenly let her lead. She is from our Sea City Base¡­ Well, she''s a zombie from our base. Has she grown further stronger?" Xiao Licheng crossed his arms and tried to figure it out.


    Wu Chengyue was wearing a faint smile, yet the look in his eyes was rather mysterious. "She''s a zombie, but Yuan Tianxing and the others are actually willing to be under her leadership. There must be a secret."


    He was more and more curious about that female zombie and those Hades Base people.


    "I think so too. They built a human base, yet are letting a zombie lead. I can''t understand," Xiao Licheng nodded in agreement.


    Wu Chengyue turned to Wu Yueling and said to her, "Ling Ling, your Zombie Mom is back. I will take you to her place and play with her when I finish my job here, okay?"


    Wu Yueling was drawing on the side. Hearing his words, she immediately looked at him and nodded quickly, her eyes glowing. Watching Wu Yueling''s reaction, Xiao Licheng felt it to be miraculous.


    He wondered what kind of magic Lu Tianyu the zombie had cast on the little Ling Ling to make the girl like her so much. While thinking about that, he couldn''t help but say, "What on earth did she do to Ling Ling? Ling Ling likes her so much!"


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes and responded with that faint smile, "I''m trying to find the answer to that question now¡­ Hm, if you have any discoveries, tell me."


    After Xiao Licheng left, Wu Yueling crawled to Wu Chengyue''s side and held his hand before shaking it.


    Wu Chengyue lowered his head to look at her and said, "Alright, I get it. I''ll take you to her soon. But, you have to wait until Daddy finishes his work here."


    Despite what he said, as a Chief, his work would never be finished.


    Wu Yueling had forgotten that Lin Qiao promised to come to Sea City Base to visit her when she came back. The little girl was action-oriented, so her first reaction was to want to go and see Lin Qiao.


    She couldn''t be fooled easily. Hearing Wu Chengyue''s words, she immediately pouted with discontentment and then popped her eyes to glare at her father.


    God knew when he would finish his work!


    Wu Chengyue smilingly put her on his knees and said, "Believe Daddy. It''ll be soon!"


    Wu Yueling looked at him with doubts, then nodded slowly.


    "Ling Ling, can you tell Daddy why you like her so much?" Wu Chengyue asked with curiosity.


    Wu Yueling looked at him and thought for a moment. She didn''t know how to express her feelings. Did she like Zombie Mom because she offered her delicious strawberries, and she had that large rabbit, and she made her that pretty grass dragonfly, and that grass doll?


    Hm¡­ What she liked most was that grass doll!


    Thinking about that, she immediately turned and took out the grass doll which was hidden under a couch cushion, then handed it to Wu Chengyue.


    "Oh, did she bribe you with this?" Looking at that exquisitely woven grass doll, Wu Chengyue asked smilingly. But then, Wu Yueling put down the grass doll and picked up her little drawing board, before drawing a circle on it. After that, she added a pair of long ears on the circle, with two eyes.


    "Ling Ling, did you draw a¡­ rabbit?" Wu Chengyue curiously watched her finish the drawing.


    Wu Yueling nodded heavily in response.


    Looking at that round rabbit which she drew, Wu Chengyue smiled silently.


    That afternoon, Xiao Licheng came back with the news about Long Yubai, "He sent people to Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base once he went back. I guess he has informed them about the level-seven zombies in the South, as well as near Upper City Base."


    "South?" Wu Chengyue failed to understand it immediately.


    "Miss Lu killed Yang Jianhua in the South. Long Yubai must have heard about it when he got back. He''d surely know that high-leveled zombies have shown up in Hades Base," said Xiao Licheng.


    Wu Chengyue nodded knowingly, "You''re right!" But soon, he erased the expression on his face and continued, "Level-seven zombie nuclei are highly tempting to the other bases, especially Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base, which are located in the Southwest and Northwest. Those people have always been ambitious."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "That''s right! I''ve also found out that Long Yubai has bribed some people in our base and bought quite some information about our base. We might be his next target," Xiao Licheng handed all the files in his hands to Wu Chengyue while talking.


    "Oh," hearing that, Wu Chengyue laughed. His mouth corners curved slightly, but his eyes glowed with a cold light.


    "Have you confirmed it? Does he really have that plan. He does have some ambition and courage."


    Xiao Licheng looked at him expressionlessly. He understood that the smile on Wu Chengyue''s face meant that he was a little angry.


    "What are we going to do now? I have brought the few information traders under control. What are we gonna do with them?" He asked.


    "Do they have powers?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "Yes. One level-five, three level-four," Xiao Licheng nodded.


    "Disable them and throw them out to feed zombies. Don''t you know that it''s one of our base rules?" Wu Chengyue looked at him with a faint smile.


    "I get it," Xiao Licheng nodded.


    As he left, Wu Chengyue put his elbows on the desk as he crossed his fingers and rested his chin on them. His lip corners were still curving upward, but no smile could be seen in his eyes.


    Sea City Base never invaded other bases, but that didn''t allow the other bases to invade it. The base had just lost a leader, and as the new leader, Xiao Yunlong was relatively weaker. But still, he was capable enough.


    If Long Yubai were really targeting at his base, Wu Chengyue would make sure that he would be buried here.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao spent a couple of hours to upgrade Xie Dong successfully. Only after he went ashore did she let go of that twisting, dark-green sphere of energy.


    The energy sphere expanded suddenly like an exploding bomb. It even pushed Lin Qiao to a distance away, without doing her any harm though.


    Xie Dong, who was putting on her clothes, saw the middle of the lake bulge suddenly, and then soon go back down. After that, the pressure could be sensed again.


    Maybe because he had already upgraded to level-five, or his body actually contained quite some energy from the lake at that moment, he felt that the pressure was weaker than before. However, it still affected him pretty badly.


    He hurriedly picked up his shirt and stepped backward for a few meters, then finally sighed in relief.


    A while later, he saw Lin Qiao pop her head out of the water, and then swim toward the lakeside.

 532 The Condition Of Healing

    Lin Qiao covered her own body with the black mist as she walked out of the lake. She put her clothes on, then flipped her wet hair and walked to Xie Dong''s side as she said, "I remember that you had fire power before you died. And now, you''re at level-five. There''s a difference between level-five zombies and level-five human beings. Have you sensed it yet?"


    She herself was at level-seven currently, but she was already strong enough to fight level-eight human beings. She couldn''t guarantee to win, but would certainly survive.


    But of course, her great body condition and special superpowers were necessary.


    Hearing her words, Xie Dong closed her eyes to sense his power. He tried to release his power, but found that it seemed to have been limited by something.


    "Oh, the air in this place is suppressing your powers by ninety percent. Only I can fully release my power in this place. You should get out and try again." While speaking, Lin Qiao grabbed his arm and brought him out of the space.


    She thought it would take a longer time to upgrade Xie Dong. But when she got out and looked at her watch, she found that it was only around 4 pm. Xie Dong''s upgrade took her less than six hours.


    Once out, Xie Dong sensed the growth of his power.


    His pupils were now sparkling with a faint red color, which made him look more like a zombie. The white parts of his eyes always remained white, so the others hadn''t been seeing him as a zombie.


    The two showed up outside the zombie old man''s room. Lin Qiao spent a moment to sense that old man''s whereabouts, and found that he was still bathing in the room. So, she stopped paying attention to him.


    She quickly observed Xie Dong and found that his vibe had changed because of his upgrade. He had always been an unnoticeable man. After he became a zombie and started following Lin Qiao, he turned even more unnoticeable.


    Now, as he had stepped into a higher level, he gave out a slightly stronger sense of presence, but only slightly stronger¡­


    A man like him was perfect for doing deduction and intelligence work.


    "Alright, go back and get ready. In three days, you''ll leave the base with Li Zheng and his people," Lin Qiao said to him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Xie Dong nodded, prepared to leave.


    "Eh, wait, can''t you talk?" Lin Qiao abruptly stopped him and asked.


    It wasn''t necessary for a zombie to reach level-seven to be able to talk, because Liu Jun was only at level-four, and she was able to talk since long ago.


    Xie Dong turned and looked at her. He opened his mouth and gave it a try, then shook his head disappointedly.


    He had upgraded indeed, but still couldn''t talk.


    "Alright," Lin Qiao said regretfully, "I guess you need to break into higher levels to be able to talk. Okay, just go back to your room."


    She waved a hand toward Xie Dong.


    As he turned and left, Lin Qiao stood where she was and crossed her arms before her chest, squeezing her breasts together while trying to figure out why. She spent a short while thinking, and then suddenly thought of a key factor.


    Viney!


    She remembered that Viney had the healing power, and she didn''t. She was able to control the energy in the lake, but under her control, that energy merely filtered and purified the energy source for the other zombies to absorb better.


    That meant she had no way to heal the other zombies. They had to wait until the energy in the lake activated healing systems of their own bodies, so that they would be able to self-heal.


    Their healing systems could only be activated when they entered level six or seven. For lower level zombies, the energy in the lake couldn''t deliver a strong stimulation.


    So now, even though Lin Qiao wanted to restore the other zombies'' memories and enable them to talk, that would still depend on their own luck. Not every zombie could talk when they upgraded to level-seven like Yun Meng.


    The energy in the lake still had a healing effect, but it was very slight. Even with Lin Qiao''s help, the healing effect could not be significant.


    At that moment, two figures came downstairs. Qiu Lili ran toward Lin Qiao with Yun Meng following behind her.


    "You''re out! It was done pretty quickly this time! I thought you wouldn''t come out until tomorrow," Qiu Lili came over and held Lin Qiao''s arm.


    "Em, it didn''t take so long this time. It might be because Xie Dong was at a relatively low level. He made the breakthrough pretty easily," Lin Qiao smiled at her.


    "I want to take a bath too. Fill my tub with lake water," Qiu Lili said to Lin Qiao with a sweet voice. The latter nodded and responded, "Sure! Ah, Mengmeng, you can go back to your room and take a bath as well. I''ll give the water to both of you."


    While speaking, she went to their rooms and filled their bath tubs with lake water. After that, she stood by the door of Qiu Lili''s bathroom and gestured the latter to come in while saying, "Enjoy!"


    Looking at the small amount of lake water in the tub, Qiu Lili had her eyes glowed.


    The energy contained in a small amount of lake water would not make Qiu Lili and the other zombies feel overwhelmed. On the contrary, they were able to absorb the energy from a small amount of lake water. Therefore, they all liked to bath in a limited amount of lake water.


    "You two go ahead and take a bath. I''ll head to Mount Wu area to see how''s the farm work going," Lin Qiao smiled at Qiu Lili.


    "Em, go!" Qiu Lili nodded. She had no spare attention for Lin Qiao now, as all she wanted to do was enjoy the bath.


    Lin Qiao walked out of the room and went downstairs, then crossed the lobby. In the lobby, all the people who attended the meeting earlier stopped walking and nodded at her.


    Lin Qiao nodded slightly back at them, then walked out of the hotel with big steps. Then, she got into the vehicle which was parked before the hotel gate by Duan Juan, who was sitting in the driver''s seat, waiting for her.


    "Let''s go to Mount Wu!" Lin Qiao said.


    "Sure!" Duan Juan nodded and then turned the car around. She hadn''t been to Mount. Wu before, but she roughly knew which way to go.


    Lin Qiao guided her to Mount Wu, then asked her to park by the farmland.


    "Roar!" Seeing a car approaching and bringing the scent of a human being, all the zombies except for Liu Jun and Shen Yujen roared at the car.


    Lin Qiao got off the car, looking at the well-furrowed earth. With her good eyesight, she even saw those tiny sprouts.


    She walked down into the farmland from the roadside, heading toward the wooden cabin while observing the land.


    "What? Am I not welcome?" Lin Qiao said to the three zombies who were roaring at her.


    "Owooo¡­" The three zombies flinched immediately. As Lin Qiao walked toward them, they turned and ran right away, automatically going behind Liu Jun.


    They did that because the pressure that came from Lin Qiao was way too strong. She was a level-seven zombie, but the pressure that she had been giving out was only a breath away from level-eight.


    Level-eight zombies were also called zombie emperors. None of them had been seen in the whole country yet.


    "Oi, how dare you run away! Aren''t you afraid of me anymore?" Lin Qiao looked at those zombies behind Liu Jun and said with discontentment.

 533 Its A Zombie Baby

    "Your vibe changed again. How''s it going? Have you restored your memory?" Liu Jun was squatting on the ground and working. She didn''t stand up immediately upon seeing Lin Qiao''s car park by the land, but waited until the latter walked over to her.


    "Hm, I remember," Lin Qiao walked over and nodded, "I remember everything, and I killed Yang Jianhua. But, that happened before I found my memory back. Thankfully, I ended him myself. I''d be so angry if I let someone else take his life."


    "Really! Great! Congratulations! You''ve restored your memory, so you''re still our Chief!" Liu Jun was thrilled to hear that.


    "I also brought back two or three thousand survivors from Hades Base, and¡­" Lin Qiao put a hand on her lower stomach as she continued, "You were right. Viney is my baby indeed. She was my baby before I died!"


    Hearing that, both Liu Jun and Duan Juan who stood behind Lin Qiao stared at her with a stunned look, then turned their eyes to her stomach where was covered by her hand.


    "No way! I guessed right¡­ Viney is really your baby? Did her soul follow you to this body? Oh, I think you said that yourself!" Liu Jun looked at Lin Qiao with disbelief. Back then, Liu Jun mentioned that Viney might be Lin Qiao''s baby because she called her Mama, and then the other made the guess herself.


    "I don''t know if souls are real. The term ''mind'' might be more appropriate. Before I died, I was pregnant for about three months. I owe her everything. I''m not a good mother," Lin Qiao lowered her head. Her face wore no expression, but her vibe turned low.


    "It''s such a miracle! The baby hadn''t even grown mature back then. How did she manage to come to this new body with you? Also, it seems to be growing crazily fast now!" Liu Jun looked at her stomach and said.


    "Wait¡­ wait a minute! Chief¡­ you¡­ you-you, you''re pregnant?" Duan Juan was stunned for a few seconds and then finally processed what she had heard. She interrupted the conversation between Lin Qiao and Liu Jun, the surprised look still lingering on her face.


    "Oh, you don''t seem to know yet. The baby is still in my belly now," Lin Qiao turned and smiled at Duan Juan. Duan Juan had always been a composed person, so Lin Qiao found her shocked look funny.


    "Eh? What do you mean by the baby is in your belly? Isn''t Viney in your space?" Liu Jun asked a question. "What on earth is going on?" She and Duan Juan asked in one voice.


    "Eh¡­ you two¡­ calm down!" Lin Qiao looked at them, then turned and walked to the cabin, picking up a hand-made stool to sit down.


    "Come here, let me start from the beginning. In fact, the baby didn''t wake up right after I became a zombie. She showed up a while later, and back then, she couldn''t talk. She was at the bottom of the lake, seeming like some kind of energy. It was her who has been helping me to upgrade quickly, and it was her who fixed my body," said Lin Qiao.


    Both Duan Juan and Liu Jun looked at her silently.


    "Later on, I grew some power and collected quite a lot of higher level zombie nuclei. So, I helped her to upgrade as well. After that, she was able to talk. She became really smart, and seems to be quite mature. I have no idea how she became like that. She''s at level-four now, and it''s a special period for her. So¡­ she''s¡­ um, she has entered my uterus," Lin Qiao said smilingly with a hand on her belly.


    Duan Juan and Liu Jun couldn''t help but make an eye-contact with each other. None of them know what to say. This news was way too shocking, so they could not process it right away.


    But soon, they managed to calm down a little. After all, Lin Qiao had come back to life in a dead person''s body and become a zombie. That was seriously abnormal. So, even though Viney''s existence was weird, they quickly accepted it.


    "You''re a zombie now. How did Viney enter your belly? Is your uterus still able to contain a baby? Can you still provide nutrition to the baby? Also, you''ve become a zombie, so I assume your eggs are dead. And, even if your eggs are alive, what about the sperm? Eh¡­ wait, wait, I''m a little confused now." Liu Jun suddenly had so many questions about Lin Qiao, but she couldn''t figure out the answer of any of them.


    As a mother of a child, she cared about all those questions.


    Her questions made Duan Juan wear a confused and curious look as well.


    "Ah¡­ about that¡­ You have to know that you can''t think of me or Viney as a normal creature. Anyway, she''s already in my uterus now, and she''s growing there. She''ll be able to come out when she reaches level-five. By then, you''ll know what she''s like!" Lin Qiao laughed.


    "She''s using your uterus to upgrade¡­ That is¡­ eh¡­ so magical!" said Duan Juan with a complicated expression, "So when she breaks into level-five, she would come out of your body as baby? She won''t be a baby zombie, will she?"


    "Perhaps?" Lin Qiao shook her head. She didn''t tell them that half of the baby''s genes were actually from a man. So maybe, she wouldn''t become a baby zombie. But more or less, she would have some zombie features.


    "How have you been providing energy to the baby? I mean¡­ your body¡­" Liu Jun looked at Lin Qiao confusedly.


    "Viney doesn''t need the energy from me. She only needs me to find her some energy nuclei or zombie nuclei to absorb, and then she can grow. However, neither of us know how long it will take for her to upgrade. Maybe I''ll be pregnant for three years," Lin Qiao winked and made a joke.


    Liu Jun and Duan Juan couldn''t understand, feeling that the world was such a magical place!


    "She can only absorb a limited amount of energy each time. After the absorption, she needs to sleep to digest that energy. So, I guess that the time span could be told based on how much energy she has to absorb," said Lin Qiao.


    If Lin Hao could really bring back some medical devices, they might be able to look inside her uterus.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "In this case, we can only observe Viney''s growth from a special angle. Why didn''t you find a man and try it with him? Perhaps, your zombie egg could combine with a human sperm, and then you could make a zombie-human hybrid baby!" Liu Jun suddenly came up with that idea.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao didn''t know how to response. She gave a smile and said, "Ah, that¡­ maybe I can try it with someone?"


    She would not tell Liu Jun that she had already done it with a man!

 534 Junjuns Power

    "Alright, let''s not talk about that for now. The farm work seems to be going pretty well. Is it because those seeds have good life-force? But, the soil still has some problems¡­" Lin Qiao stood up as she looked at the farmland outside.


    "It''s not like that¡­ You''ve only sensed the surface of the soil. If you get down and take a look, you''ll find that the soil here has already had some changes," Liu Jun shook her head in disagreement.


    "Eh? What changes?" Lin Qiao turned and looked at her confusedly.


    "You''ll find out when you get down," Liu Jun pointed at the potato field which was the nearest to them.


    Lin Qiao walked to where she pointed at, then squatted on the ground and looked at the soil. Once she approached, she immediately sensed a little difference, and figured out what Liu Jun was talking about.


    Liu Jun followed her into the farmland, standing behind her as she said, "Before sowing the seeds, we worried that the sprouts might be contaminated by the earth. But surprisingly, things happened the other way round. You left us a couple of buckets of energy water from the lake, so we fetched water from the nearest stream to dilute the lake water and then water the plants with it. The diluted lake water seems to have been purifying the soil."


    Lin Qiao picked up a handful of soil while murmuring, "It''s exactly like I thought. I was only guessing."


    Back then, she guessed that watering the plants with the lake water might keep the plants from being contaminated, but didn''t it expect it to purify the earth. She noticed that the soil under the potato roots had changed completely already.


    Even though only a small range of soil had changed, Lin Qiao could tell that the soil around the potato roots had been radiating the combination of the energy in the lake and the energy which belonged to the potato plant itself. That combination was what had been purifying the soil bit by bit.


    "If this goes on, maybe this whole land can be purified," Lin Qiao stood up and looked at the other sprouts. The seeds that she left for Liu Jun and Xie Dong to sow didn''t occupy the entire land. One-third of the land was still empty.


    "That is highly possible. However, these sprouts are still very new, so we''re not sure yet," Liu Jun said. "Also," she suddenly thought of something and continued, "I''ve asked the earth-powered zombie to dig a large pond between here and the stream, so we can water the plants more conveniently."


    "Great! How far is it from here?" Lin Qiao asked, eyes glowing.


    "Over there, about eight-hundred meters away," Liu Jun pointed at another direction.


    Lin Qiao stood up and headed that way. Liu Jun and Duan Juan followed her, leaving behind the three level-four zombies which had been hiding behind the cabin.


    Behind Lin Qiao, Liu Jun abruptly turned to Duan Juan and said, "Captain Duan, it''s such a surprise to see you again! My name is Liu Jun."


    Duan Juan gave a start, then looked at her as she nodded and responded, "Oh, hi! Do you¡­ know me as well?"


    Being greeted by a strange zombie made her feel a little weird.


    In fact, Liu Jun''s appearance has changed largely. After she bathed in Lin Qiao''s lake water for a few times, the dark circles under her eyes were gone. Her eyes were still purely black though.


    Her skin didn''t become smooth and delicate, but did become clean. The color of her skin remained bluish pale though.


    "In fact, almost everyone from Hades Base knows you. You''re the leader of Chief Netherworld Fire''s guards," Liu Jun smiled.


    "Oh, I see! Are you from Hades Base?" Duan Juan immediately understood her meaning.


    "Hm¡­ The base wasn''t broken yet when I left," Liu Jun nodded while walking side by side with her.


    "You left? So you are¡­" Duan Juan paused for a second. She could tell that there was lots of information contained in Liu Jun''s words. She should still be a human being when she left the base. But now, she was a zombie, and also a follower of Lin Qiao. She must have been through a lot.


    "Em¡­ My husband abandoned my son and me on the way and escaped alone. My mind wasn''t clear after I became a zombie, but I was subconsciously trying to protect my son. A couple of days after I became a zombie, Chief found me," Liu Jun gave a bitter smile, then raised her head to look at Lin Qiao.


    At that time, Lin Qiao turned back and said, "Junjun, you upgraded, didn''t you? What''s your power?"


    She had forgotten to ask Liu Jun about that.


    Liu Jun looked at her and answered the question, "Ah, I have water power."


    Her water power allowed her to be very sensitive to water molecules. She sensed that stream nearby with her power, which was how she found it.


    "Oh, water¡­" Lin Qiao nodded.


    Liu Jun glanced up at the sky and said, "I think it''s going to rain."


    Duan Juan pulled her coat as she raised her head to look at the sky. A cold gust of wind blew across. The air temperature had indeed dropped largely today.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the sky as well. The sky had been gray and cloudy today. She only sensed the low air temperature, but not the coming rain.


    "Are you sure?" Lin Qiao turned and glanced at Liu Jun.


    Liu Jun nodded at her and replied, "I can feel it."


    After a few minutes of walking, they saw a newly dug pond. The pond wasn''t large, only around a hundred meters squared in area. Only a small amount of water accumulated in the pond, and the water was muddy.


    Liu Jun said, "I can collect the rainwater and put it in this pond."


    "Rainwater is acidic. We still need to put some of my lake water in it," Lin Qiao said while scratching her chin.


    "You''re right. The air quality now is so much worse than back in the old days. The rainwater is always highly acidic now, so healthy plants can''t grow," said Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao observed the environment around the pond, then turned and headed back.


    "Junjun, your level is still too low. Without Yun Meng or Lili, you just can''t make these level-four zombies follow your orders," said Lin Qiao while walking back.


    "Eh?" Liu Jun didn''t understand Lin Qiao''s meaning and looked at her with confusion.


    "I want you to be responsible for the farmland development and the farm work. Do you agree?" Lin Qiao smiled and asked her, "I''ll put more level-three and level-four zombies under your command to share your load. All you need to do is to give them orders. What do you think?"


    "Ah, really? No problem, as long as I''m able to do it," Liu Jun paused briefly, then understood her.


    "You are. Haven''t you been doing pretty well now?" Lin Qiao smiled at her.


    She always felt that Liu Jun, who didn''t have many other works to do, was rather diligent with the farm work. So, she had been thinking about letting her be responsible for the farmland since a long time ago.

 535 The Mission Related To The Lower City Distric

    "The land in this whole area will be developed as a farmland in the future," Lin Qiao drew a circle around herself and then continued, "We''re going to grow more crops, not just these. I''ll make some time to collect more seeds."


    Except for herself, no other zombies seemed to be able to tell which plants were infected and which were healthy and edible. Therefore, only she was able to collect healthy plants and seeds.


    "Are we going to expand the farmland?" Liu Jun understood her meaning. Seeing Lin Qiao''s gesture, she had some ideas as well.


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "I''ve checked the entire Upper City District. Only this area is suitable for cultivation. Many plants are already growing in this area, and we have water here. It''s perfect, isn''t it?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Liu Jun nodded. Based on what Lin Qiao said, this area was indeed more suitable for cultivation in comparison with the deserted areas and the areas with buildings. This place would be able to make a great farm, as long as the soil problem was solved.


    Lin Qiao returned to the sweetcorn field, then glanced at the sky; it was already dark. She brought the four level-four zombies into her space, then headed back to the base with Liu Jun and Duan Juan.


    "Duan Juan, you go and find Yuan Tianxing later on, then bring me the structural drawing of the new base. I''ll talk to him about the structure of the base." Back in the base, Lin Qiao spoke to Duan Juan.


    "Sure!" Duan Juan responded, then turned and left.


    After that, Lin Qiao went up to the fifth floor with Liu Jun. She checked on Qiu Lili and Mengmeng and found that they were still bathing in their tubs, and didn''t want to get up.


    With no other choice, she went to the zombie old man.


    "Old man, get up! Come to the roof in a minute. I have a mission for you," Lin Qiao stood behind the door of the old man''s bathroom and knocked on it.


    "Roar!" The old man''s zombie roar was heard.


    Hearing his voice, Lin Qiao responded impatiently, "You''ve bathed for a whole day. Haven''t you had enough? You''d be rotten if you keep yourself soaked. Get up now!"


    After saying that, she turned and went up to the roof.


    Looking at those zombie bath buckets which were placed in a straight line, she said to those zombies, "Your bathing time is up. Get up!"


    Those zombie leaders obediently stood up from the water, then turned their backs to Lin Qiao as they jumped out of the buckets and started to put on their clothes smoothly.


    Lin Qiao glanced at their backs and butts, then silently raised her head to look at the sky.


    Zombie Number Four, the zombie boy, wasn''t dressing himself. Instead, he stood beside his own clothes, waiting. A short while later, Zombie Number Two, the female zombie, walked over neatly dressed, and started helping him to get dressed carefully.


    They could bathe twice more in the water in their buckets, so Lin Qiao didn''t touch those buckets.


    "Zombie Number Three, Zombie Number Four, you two stay here. The others, go back to your positions," Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest and yelled at the middle-aged male zombie and the zombie boy.


    As there was no special task for them, the other zombies quickly leaped away from the roof and disappeared. The middle-aged male zombie and the zombie boy stayed where they were, looking at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao waited for a while, and then the zombie old man slowly walked up to the roof.


    His traditional-styled black coat with dragon patterns was dry and clean, but the clothes of the middle-aged male zombie and the zombie boy were all wet. After all, the latter two didn''t wipe themselves dry before putting on their clothes.


    The zombie old man must have dried himself before getting dressed. As for how he did that, Lin Qiao had no idea. There was no towel or anything like that in that room.


    The old man walked over and stood before Lin Qiao, then slightly pushed up his glasses.


    "Old man, your glasses are useless now. Why are you still wearing them?" Lin Qiao stared at those glasses and asked. She didn''t like those glasses.


    She had been tolerating the zombie old man for too long! As a zombie, he needed to sit on a clean chair to drink water, and bathe in a private room. Other than that, he insisted on wearing that pair of glasses even though his zombie eyes now had great eyesight. Also, he always put those glasses lower than his black zombie eyes.


    "Roar!" The zombie old man gave her a roar with discontentment.


    "Alright, alright, I don''t care," Lin Qiao responded speechlessly. Then, she seriously gave an order to those three zombie leaders, "I''ll give the three of you a mission. Tonight, go over there, kill all level-four-and-five zombies in that area, and bring their nuclei back. You only have one night. Tomorrow, I expect to see you here with those zombie nuclei. Do you understand me?"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    The three zombies responded simultaneously, then darted toward Lower City District, where Lin Qiao was pointing at.


    She had cleaned out almost all zombies at level-four or above in Upper City District, so now, she had started to sweep the surrounding areas.


    West Lake District was, of course, untouchable now, because a zoo was located in that area, and the zombie army that she brought back from the South was also there. So now, West Lake District was a forbidden area. Without her order and guidance, no one could go there.


    She planned to clear out Lower City District, Jianggan District, and Binjiang District first, as these three areas were the nearest to Upper City District. After that, she would go further to Gongshu District, Yuhang District, and Xiaoshan District.


    Today, she ordered those three zombie leaders to carry out the mission together, because firstly, she wanted to see the result of their team-work training; and secondly, she needed to prepare a good number of zombie nuclei for Liu Jun''s upgrade.


    Liu Jun had followed her for a rather long time. However, the growth of her strength was a little slow. She didn''t plan to give her dangerous missions, but still, she needed her to be stronger.


    This time, she had brought back a large batch of level-four-and-five zombies, so she needed a few trustworthy zombie subordinates to manage them.


    Qiu Lili was definitely qualified for the job. Except for Lin Qiao herself, she was the strongest zombie in the base. Yun Meng was slightly weaker than her. Yun Meng''s temper changed all the time, and she wasn''t easy to be controlled. She had restored her memory, and now, she had a very independent mind. Therefore, Lin Qiao didn''t trust her for now.


    Then there were Xie Dong and Liu Jun. Xie Dong had already upgraded to level-five, so Liu Jun was the weakest among the group now.


    Lin Qiao planned to send a few level-four zombies to leave the base along with Xie Dong. Even though they might not be able to help, they could at least serve as flesh shields for him, Lin Qiao, and the others under dangerous situations and buy them some time.


    She glanced at the empty roof, then turned and walked downstairs, returning to her own room. She sat on the couch there to wait for Yuan Tianxing to come up with the drawing.


    She washed two cups and put them on the tea table, then filled them up with water.


    Soon, she heard the footstep sounds of Duan Juan and Yuan Tianxing.


    "Just come in." The footstep sounds stopped before her door. Lin Qiao knew that Duan Juan would knock on the door, so she told them to come in before that directly.

 536 Base Planning

    Duan Juan''s hand, which was raised in the air, paused. She didn''t knock the door, but put her hand on the doorknob and opened it.


    Lin Qiao watched the two of them walk in, then pointed at the couch on the other side of the table and said to Yuan Tianxing, "Have a seat. Have you had your meal yet?"


    Yuan Tianxing nodded, "Yes. You asked me to bring the map."


    As he sat down, Lin Qiao conveniently took over the drawing from his hands. While carefully looking at it, she asked, "Which side do you plan to put the zombie base in?"


    Yuan Tianxing reached out a hand and pulled over the map from her hand, then spread it on the tea table and pointed on it with a pen. "I want to build the human base here. As for the zombie base, I was waiting for you to come back and decide for yourself."


    Lin Qiao glanced at the area that he was pointing at, and then looked around that area. At last, she chose Mount Wu area. "Here them¡­ Build a tall wall between these two areas."


    "How tall?" Yuan Tianxing understood that the wall was meant to separate the zombies and the humans to prevent any potential accidents.


    "Twenty-five meters at least. The zombies at level-three or under can''t leap higher than twenty meters. Most of the level-four zombies can''t leap that high either unless they have wind power. A twenty-five-meters tall wall should be enough to keep them there. The fence wall of the zombie base can be shorter than that," Lin Qiao drew a circle around the zombie base.


    To build a zombie base, the danger and uncertainty of those zombies was the first thing to think about. Humans had sanity, but zombies didn''t. The zombies at level-three and under had nothing but wildness and appetite; it was above level-four that zombies tended to become a little complicated.


    Higher-level zombies had slight sanity, but their desire and appetites were as great as lower-level zombies.


    So, if conditions allowed it, the wall between the human base and the zombie base should be as tall as possible. That was important. Meanwhile, the fence wall of the zombie base didn''t need to be that tall. Both inside and outside of that wall would be zombies anyway. The zombies from the zombie base didn''t need to be kept inside that wall.


    Also, it required great amounts of materials, manpower, and a lot of time to build a huge wall like that.


    "We need to send out more people to collect sand, cement, and other materials then," Yuan Tianxing nodded. He had thought of that problem long ago, so he was not surprised.


    "Yes, but you don''t need to worry about those. I''ll ask Yun Meng to lead an army troop and collect the materials. We''re no longer short-handed," Lin Qiao looked at him and said carelessly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Alright," Yuan Tianxing gave her a glance.


    "We have already searched through the center of the Upper City District, so now, I''ll ask Lin Feng to expand the searching range from here. Before that, I''ll bring all the zombies in these areas under control, so they won''t hinder them," Lin Qiao pointed at the Gongshu District, then drew a circle around Upper City District, from the Lower City District to the Jianggan District.


    "Your zombie team is quite handy," Yuan Tianxing laughed.


    "Alright, that''s it!" After finalizing the location, Lin Qiao waved a hand at them and signaled for him to leave.


    "We''ve done talking about work. Can''t we talk a little about personal stuff?" Yuan Tianxing didn''t plan to leave, but rolled the drawing and put it aside.


    "What do you want to talk about?" Lin Qiao picked up the glass next to her hand and took a few gulps.


    "Let''s talk about how you became like this¡­ You actually kept it secret from us for such a long time. That was really enough," Yuan Tianxing also picked up his glass and took a sip.


    "Didn''t you suspect me since long ago? So, I didn''t really keep it secret from you, did I?" Lin Qiao shrugged.


    "I did suspect, but that was all. I couldn''t have really seen you as you. If you didn''t tell, we wouldn''t even dare to believe that you are Lin Qiao," Yuan Tianxing looked at her and said.


    "In fact, you still have doubts now, don''t you? You just tend to believe that I am Lin Qiao. Don''t I know you?" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes impatiently.


    "Hearing that really makes me start to believe you," Yuan Tianxing sighed with relief. He was aware that Lin Qiao knew him well, and that she could guess most of his thoughts.


    What Lin Qiao said just now was indeed what he had been thinking. Of course, he had no idea that Lin Qiao was directly reading his mind.


    "So?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    "So, why you woke up in this dead¡­ eh, body? I heard that this woman was not a good person. She had an awful reputation," Yuan Tianxing looked at her confusedly.


    "I have no idea. I woke to find that I had become her. I woke up in her body not long after her death. She was turning into a zombie at that time. I have her memories, so I know what kind of person she was," Lin Qiao nodded.


    "You said that you didn''t remember the things that happened in the past five years, but, didn''t you go to save Lin Feng and the others? How did you know where they were if you didn''t remember?" Yuan Tianxing asked another question.


    Lin Qiao slightly lowered her head and looked at the glass in her hands while answering the question, "I lost the memory of the past five years, so I didn''t know if my Mom and others were still alive. I was confused back then, and I told myself that they might have been long gone. But still, I wanted to try and look for them. It would still be good even if only one of them survived. So, I had a goal, and felt less confused."


    "Were you¡­ looking for them with that kind of mindset?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her with surprise. He imagined Lin Qiao looking for her family without knowing whether they were still alive or not. If they became zombies, she would keep looking, wouldn''t she?


    "If you couldn''t find them, you''d keep looking for the rest of your life!" He said confirmedly. That was not a question; he knew that that would happen, because he knew her.


    "Yeah, you''re right," Lin Qiao nodded, then raised her head and continued, "What else do you expect me to do? You have no idea how awfully damaged my zombie body was when I woke up. I couldn''t even look directly at it. My mind wasn''t clear back then, so if I didn''t give myself a hope, I might have become something else. I don''t know what I might turn into, or if I could even keep my humanity."


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her and stayed silent.


    The image that Lin Qiao described filled his head. He couldn''t feel it in person, but he pictured it and felt that he wouldn''t not be able to stand it.


    Lin Qiao told him about that casually, because they were actually very close friends. Lin Qiao had been seeing Yuan Tianxing as a brother, but he only did the same on the surface. Deep down, he had a special feeling toward her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know about that before.


    But now, she had become a zombie and was able to read his mind. So, she knew it all.

 537 The Strawberries In The Space

    "But fortunately, everybody is alive and well. I got there at a critical moment. We were so lucky!" Lin Qiao smiled relaxedly.


    "I remember it¡­ Yang Jianhua had caught up with them at that time," Yuan Tianxing recalled that when he got there, he saw Qiu Lili attack Yang Jianhua and make him run. He was injured severely back then.


    "Alright¡­ If you have nothing important to say, just go back and take some rest. You have lots of work to do. Don''t stay here and be slothful," Lin Qiao asked him to leave again.


    This time, Yuan Tianxing didn''t refuse. Instead, he picked up the drawing and stood up.


    He walked to the door and opened it. But before walking out, he suddenly paused and turned back to look at Lin Qiao. He seemed to want to say something to her, but seeing Duan Juan, who was standing aside silently, he only turned around and walked out.


    "I think he has something else to tell you," Duan Juan looked at the door and said.


    "Perhaps," Lin Qiao responded carelessly, then looked at her and said, "You go back and rest too. I''ll be fine here."


    "Okay," Duan Juan nodded and then left as well.


    Lin Qiao flashed into her space. Standing outside the vegetable field, she found that many vegetables had grown old. Then, she turned and headed to the strawberry filed and found that many strawberries were ripe.


    She didn''t let anyone come into her space to pick those vegetables and strawberries, so now, some vegetables had grown old, and many strawberries were ripe.


    She then turned to look at those small spaces. After she absorbed that level-seven nucleus, the space had grown larger, and the few small spaces had moved further away. Only the small building didn''t move.


    "Those behind the wall, come out!" She yelled at the small building.


    A few seconds later, she saw the few zombies stealthily come out from the other side of the building and slowly walk to her.


    Those were a few level-four zombies that she caught around Hangzhou. Seeing them, Lin Qiao waved a hand at them and said, "You, come here! I have a job for you."


    Hearing her mention job, those few zombies immediately rushed at her happily.


    They hadn''t had any job for a couple of days. They had no job to do, so they could not drink the water from the lake. Without the water, they felt so hungry and empty inside¡­Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    They could see the large lake but not approach it. That made them feel even worse!


    "Here, you, go over there and bring me two baskets," Lin Qiao said to one of those zombies, then pointed at those empty baskets which were placed beside a pile of potatoes.


    That zombie immediately ran over there.


    Then, she said to the other zombies, "You, stay here and pick these vegetables. Remember, don''t uproot the entire plant. Leave the tender leaves, and only pick these old leaves."


    She squatted and picked a few leaves to show those zombies how.


    Those intelligent zombies were like children. If one wanted them to do something well, one had to teach them for a couple of more times.


    Lin Qiao spent about ten minutes teaching them how to pick all the old leaves without harming the plant, and then she taught them to put all the picked leaves in baskets.


    After that, she stood up and walked toward the small building. Soon, she came out of the kitchen with a few clean stainless bowls and walked to the strawberry field.


    "You two, come here!" She pointed at the two nearest zombies who were picking vegetables, prepared to order them to pick strawberries.


    Those two zombies stood up, but forgot to put the vegetable leaves into the baskets.


    "Oi, wait, put the leaves in your hands in the baskets before you come over," Lin Qiao hurriedly pointed at the leaves in their hands and said.


    The two zombies hurriedly put the leaves in the baskets, then walked to Lin Qiao with empty hands.


    Lin Qiao handed them the bowls, but suddenly thought of something and took back those bowls.


    "Eh? Wait!"


    She suddenly realized that those zombies were all color-blind! How were they supposed to pick ripe strawberries? They couldn''t tell which ones were ripe!


    Thinking about that, she frowned and sighed helplessly, then waved a hand at those two zombies, "Eh, never mind! You don''t need to pick strawberries. I''ll do it. You go back to pick vegetables."


    "Roar?" The two zombies looked at her confusedly.


    "Alright, you can''t see the color of these strawberries, and you can''t smell their aroma. You can''t know which is ripe and which isn''t. So, you should just go back to pick vegetables. That''s easier," Lin Qiao looked at those zombies, wanting to laugh. She found their expressions funny.


    The two zombies quietly stared at Lin Qiao for a few seconds, then turned and left. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao squatted and started to pick the ripe but not rotten strawberries, and put them in those bowls.


    Viney was in her belly now, but she rarely sensed her existence. Lin Qiao never had a clear feeling of Viney''s presence, especially when the latter was in a deep sleep.


    An hour later, she finally filled the few bowls.


    She picked up a strawberry and put it in her mouth, making a bite without washing it. The soft pulp quickly melted in her mouth.


    Sour!


    She tasted nothing but sourness¡­


    The ripe strawberry was actually not sour anymore, but Lin Qiao had a different sense of taste. She could only taste the sourness of the strawberry.


    "Owoooo¡­" At that moment, a weird series of dog bark could be heard from the woods, and then a furless ugly dog rushed out.


    Strangely, the large king cobra followed behind the dog.


    Lin Qiao stood up with two full bowls of strawberries and saw the zombie dog run out with the king cobra chasing behind it.


    "Eh?" She looked at those two with confusion.


    The zombie dog was running at the front, but seemed to be very happy. Behind it, the king cobra was staring at it angrily with its flattened neck. Again and again, the snake tried to bite the zombie dog''s butt.


    Lin Qiao watched the hooligan-like zombie dog run over without knowing how to describe it.


    When the king cobra tried to bite it, it easily dodged. But after that, it turned back to bark at the snake, and then ran faster.


    For some reason, the king cobra kept chasing behind the dog.


    "Owoo!" The zombie dog excitedly darted at Lin Qiao and hid by her side, then stuck its head out from behind her to look at the king cobra.


    The king cobra stopped about ten meters from Lin Qiao, rearing up its upper body and looking at her vigilantly. It wanted very much to go forward and bite the dog, but it didn''t not want to get close to Lin Qiao.

 538 Manage The Zombie Team

    "What are you doing?" Lin Qiao turned and gave the zombie dog a glance.


    "Owoooo¡­" The zombie dog howled at her and then twisted its butt.


    Seeing it twist its butt, Lin Qiao felt weird. The dog probably wanted to wag its tail but forgot to do so, so its movement came out weird. Then, she turned to look at that snake and found that it had put down its hood, then turned around to draw back into the woods.


    "Did you bully it again?" Lin Qiao gave the zombie dog a glare. She figured out what happened once she saw the two creatures. The snake hadn''t healed completely, but it was energetic enough to chase the dog around. Its injuries seemed to have mostly recovered.


    "Ow¡­" The zombie dog shook its head.


    "Alright, go and play¡­ Don''t come here to step on my strawberries," Lin Qiao kicked the dog and then went back into the small building with the two bowlfuls of strawberries. She put the bowls on the table, then walked back out and carried the other two bowlfuls of strawberries into the building.


    The zombie dog lied down by the door without entering the building.


    Lin Qiao didn''t let the dog come in because there was a little thing in the building. The zombie dog was very interested in the baby tiger which was also severely injured, but it didn''t dare to make Lin Qiao angry.


    Lin Qiao put all four bowlfuls of strawberries on the table, then walked to the corner to look at the baby tiger, which was curled in a deep sleep. The baby tiger hadn''t recovered from the injuries completely, but its life was secured. Lin Qiao hadn''t been giving it food, and only put a bowl of water beside it.


    At that moment, a fluffy, gray ball of fur hopped downstairs.


    "Roar?" Outside the door, the zombie dog immediately raised its head and looked at that fluffy ball with glowing eyes. The rabbit came to around Lin Qiao''s feet from under the table and chairs near the corner.


    It glanced at the little tiger which was motionless in sleep, and then inched its way to the tiger''s water bowl, leaning its head forward to take a few sips from it. After that, it turned and ran back to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at it with confusion. In the next second, she saw the rabbit put both forepaws around her ankle and bite her trousers'' leg.


    ''What does it want?'' she wondered.


    Before she could figure out a thing, the rabbit held her trousers leg between its teeth and dragged her toward the outside. Lin Qiao curiously followed the rabbit out. Raising her eyes, she saw the zombie dog by the door gazing straight at the rabbit with bright, piercing eyes.


    "Ah, I see. I know what you want," Lin Qiao suddenly figured it out. The rabbit was using her as a shield, as the zombie dog was right by the door.


    She brought the rabbit to the door. The rabbit clung tightly to her foot while staring at the zombie dog alertly.


    "Alright, don''t stay here. You''re scaring the little rabbit. Get out, out!" Lin Qiao waved a hand at the dog and signaled for it to leave.


    "Owooo¡­" The zombie dog fixed its eyes on the rabbit as it gave Lin Qiao an unhappy roar.


    "Aren''t you leaving? If you don''t go away, I''ll find a rope and tie you up. You won''t be able to go anywhere after that!" Lin Qiao pointed at the dog and threatened it.


    "Owo!" Hearing that, the zombie dog turned and ran right away.


    As the dog ran away, Lin Qiao pushed the rabbit with her foot and said to it, "Alright, it has gone away. Stop clinging to me. I''m going out."


    While speaking, she walked downstairs toward the vegetable field.


    She glanced at those vegetables which had only a few tender leaves left, then turned to the few level-four zombies which were standing in a straight line.


    "Go over there, line up," She pointed at the clearing before the small building and said to them. After saying that, she turned and walked toward the building. The zombies in those small spaces all crowded to the entrances to look at her.


    "Alright, stop looking at me. Come out, all of you," Lin Qiao stood by the building and shouted at those zombies, then stepped onto the stairs before the door. Soon, a group of zombies rushed out of those small spaces and crowded disorderedly in the clearing before the small building.


    At that point, Lin Qiao had found a large bucket and filled it with the lake water, then dragged it back to the small building.


    "Line up. Didn''t I tell you how? Line up!" Lin Qiao yelled at them.


    Those zombies hurriedly started to move and to form lines.


    Lin Qiao waited for over a minute for those around thirty zombies to make a formation on themselves¡­ Well, that formation was still in an irregular shape.


    Meanwhile, five zombie leaders stood aside, without joining the group.


    Lin Qiao walked downstairs and pointed at a zombie in the first row who was standing out of the line as she said, "You, step back a little!"


    Then, she pointed at another zombie who was slightly behind the others and said, "You, come up a little." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The two zombies moved their feet as she said, and then the first row was finally straight.


    After that, Lin Qiao walked into the formation and kicked the zombies which weren''t in the right position.


    "Memorize your positions! Next time if you line up so disorderedly again, I''ll destroy you!" Lin Qiao made every line straight, and then went before those zombies as she said with a loud voice.


    She picked a few zombies who had wind power, ice power, and fire power, and were good at launching attacks, and ordered them to step out.


    "You, come out! Here''s a mission for you. In a couple of days, you''ll leave along with Xie Dong. During the whole journey, you need to follow his orders. Do you understand?" She made the five zombies stand aside and gave them her order.


    The five zombies looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Qiao covered her forehead, feeling a slight headache. Among all zombies in her space, only the batch that she caught from Upper City District had been trained. She hadn''t had the time to train those that she caught on her way to the South.


    "Anyway, you just follow his orders! Do you understand?" Lin Qiao had no other choice but to give them a strict order.


    "Roar!" Those zombies didn''t quite understand her, but had to accept it.


    Then, Lin Qiao pointed at the one who was standing at the left end of the line of the five, then at the bucket and said, "You, go and soak yourself in the bucket."


    "Roar?" The zombies looked at her confusedly.


    "Roar what! Just go! And get up when I tell you so," Lin Qiao expressionlessly shouted at the zombie.


    "Woo¡­" Under her threat, the zombie had no choice but to walk to the bucket. Soon, he was attracted by the sweet and refreshing aroma from it. He put both hands on the edge of the bucket, and then stuck his head into it.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao walked over and kicked him on the butt.


    "I told you to get in and take a bath! Why did you put your head in? Do you need me to put you in the bucket?"


    "Roar?" The zombie who had suffered a kick turned back and looked at her bewilderedly, then at the bucket.


    Then, he made a step backward, bent his knees, and leaped up toward the bucket.


    Lin Qiao swiftly caught him in the air.


    "Crawl in! Slowly!" Lin Qiao said through clenched teeth. Then, she couldn''t help but bare her teeth and give that zombie a roar.

 539 Xie Dongs Team

    The zombie that she roared at flinched and shivered. The other zombies flinched as well upon hearing Lin Qiao''s roar.


    "Crawl in slowly. If you jump again, I''ll kill you!" Lin Qiao dropped him beside the bucket.


    Then, the zombie slowly crawled into the bucket like what she said.


    Plop! Not too much water splashed out, and only a little spilled out.


    Lin Qiao waited by the bucket for three minutes, then turned and said to the zombie in the bucket, "Alright, get out!"


    The zombie in the bucket gave a start. Thinking about how bossy Lin Qiao was just now, he crawled out reluctantly. Then, he stood beside the bucket with dripping wet clothes as he looked at Lin Qiao, then at the bucket. He turned his head from between Lin Qiao and the bucket for a few times, seeming to miss the bucket a lot.


    "You, go back to your position. And you, come out," Lin Qiao ordered the wet zombie to go back to his position, and then pointed at the one next to him as she ordered that one to come out.


    "Get in," She pointed at the bucket and said to the second zombie.


    The second zombie crawled into the bucket obediently, maybe because the first one did so.


    Three minutes later, Lin Qiao told the second zombie to come out. When getting back into the line, the second zombie wore the same expression as the first zombie.


    They both gazed straight at that bucket.


    Lin Qiao ignored them for now and told the third one to come out, let him bath for three minutes, and then sent him back. Next, she called out the fourth zombie.


    Once all five zombies had bathed in the bucket, Lin Qiao started talking to them.


    "When you accomplish the mission and return, I''ll let you bath in that bucket until you''re satisfied!" Lin Qiao looked at the five wet zombies and said to them.


    Hearing her words, the five zombies all looked at her eagerly with glowing eyes. Seeing the look on their faces, Lin Qiao knew that she had already achieved her aim.


    She let those zombies taste the energy lake water first, so they would long for it. That way, she wouldn''t need to worry that they might run away when they left the base with Xie Dong.


    But of course, she had done some preparations to prevent them from running out as well.


    "And, if you dare to run away during the mission, I''ll let Xie Dong kill you!" She narrowed her eyes and curved one corner of her lips in a faint smile as she said.


    She was smiling, but that smile was icy cold. Also, her eyes contained an intention of killing.


    All the zombies who saw the look in her eyes instantly dropped their heads or turned away their eyes. At that moment, fear occupied their minds fully.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Do you all understand?" Lin Qiao erased that weird smile, then shouted at the five zombies expressionlessly.


    "Roar¡­" The five responded weakly.


    "Don''t worry. As long as you follow my orders, I won''t kill you. I''ll even let you bathe in the energy water. That''s great, isn''t it? However, if you don''t listen to my words, you''ll die. Even if I spare your life, you''ll soon be killed by human beings," said Lin Qiao.


    The group of zombies didn''t dare to make any sound, and just looked at her carefully.


    "Alright, I''ll bring you out later. Get ready! The others, do not move!" Lin Qiao said loudly and then turned to exit her space. She walked out of her room to Xie Dong''s door, and knocked on it.


    Xie Dong soon answered the door. Seeing Lin Qiao, he stepped aside to let her in.


    Lin Qiao came in and said, "I''ll send five level-four zombies to go with you. If they refuse to follow your orders, you can punish them based on the seriousness of the case. You can even kill them if you have to. Every disobedient zombie can be a future problem."


    Xie Dong paused briefly, then nodded.


    Next, he saw Lin Qiao disappear right in front of him. And a few seconds later, he saw her show up again with a group of dripping wet zombies.


    Xie Dong glanced at the carpet which was wet by those zombies, and then raised his head and waved at them.


    A scorching hot wind blew across those zombies and soon dried them up.


    "You need to lead these zombies. A part of your mission is to secretly protect Li Zheng and his people, and the other part is to deliver messages or come here for supplies. You''re zombies, so as long as you do not face human beings during the mission, you''ll be fine. Do you understand that?" Lin Qiao stood on one side of the room, crossing her arms as she said.


    Xie Dong nodded in response.


    After that, Lin Qiao said to the five level-four zombies, "Outside the base, you need to listen to him. Do you understand?"


    "Roar¡­" The five zombies responded.


    "Alright, you, come out and go to the room next door. Listen, without my order or his, you cannot come out of the room! Do you understand?" Lin Qiao walked to the door and opened it, then pointed at the door outside. Then, she turned back to look at the five and talk to them.


    The five zombies walked out one after another, then stood outside the room next door. They confusedly looked at the closed door without knowing what to do next.


    They didn''t know how to open that door, but did feel that they shouldn''t scratch it.


    Lin Qiao walked out and looked at the five silly zombies. She sighed, then walked over and opened the door for them.


    "Watch me. Next time, you do this yourselves."


    "Hmmm¡­" The expressions on the five zombies'' faces turned complicated. Their scary-looking faces became a little awkward because they were frowning.


    "Get in. What are you waiting for?" Lin Qiao waved a hand toward the door.


    As the five went in, she closed the door.


    She suddenly felt so exhausted. Level-four zombies were really like children, and she disliked taking care of children the most!


    Back in Xie Dong''s room, Lin Qiao stood by the door and said to him, "I''ll leave them to you."


    Xie Dong nodded.


    Lin Qiao turned and walked away. She glanced at her watch and found that it was eleven pm already. She thought for a moment, then chose to stop before Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying''s door.


    She raised a hand to knock on the door, and the door was soon answered.


    "Chief, it''s quite late¡­" Long Qingying shared a room with Lin Wenwen. Seeing Lin Qiao, she automatically turned to glance at Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Qiao followed Long Qingying''s eyes. Surprisingly, she saw her little sister who never liked sports doing the horse stance!


    That was real, she was doing the horse stance!


    With surprise, Lin Qiao walked into the room and found Lin Wenwen''s face reddened, while her legs were shaking.


    "How long had she been doing this?" Lin Qiao walked to the other side of the room and waved a hand toward the tea table. With that, a few bowlfuls of strawberries appeared on the table.


    "About forty minutes. Eh? So many ripe strawberries from your space?" Long Qingying replied.


    "Em, no one picked them for many days, so lots of them are ripe," Lin Qiao nodded.


    "Right. Seasons don''t exist in your space. It''s strange that those strawberry plants are still bearing fruits," said Long Qingying.

 540 Wenwens Mission

    "How can it be that simple? Even the air in my space contains energy, so plants will absorb the energy and grow crazily in there," Lin Qiao waved a hand, then glanced at Lin Wenwen and said, "She''s losing it, isn''t she? How long does she normally maintain the stance for?"


    "Ah," Long Qingying responded, "If no one disturbs her, she can make fifty¡­ minutes."


    Before she finished, Lin Wenwen stood straight.


    "Phew¡­ not yet fifty minutes! Wow! I want some strawberries!" Lin Wenwen stood there and rested for a short while, then dragged her limp legs over and picked up a strawberry, going to the bathroom to wash it.


    "How''re your combat skills now? How many people can you fight at one time?" Lin Qiao sat on the couch and asked Lin Wenwen.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Em¡­ I have no idea. I haven''t done actual combat yet," Lin Wenwen shook her head and replied.


    "For low-level zombies, hm, I think she can deal with two or three. More than three should be a little difficult for her. That''ll depend on her reaction capacity. As for human commoners, she can fight one or two men," Long Qingying stood beside Lin Qiao and answered the question.


    Lin Qiao looked at Lin Wenwen and said while scratching her chin, "Wenwen''s reaction capacity isn''t good¡­"


    Lin Wenwen looked at her with a sulky face, but didn''t know how to respond. The latter was right; her reaction capacity was not good indeed.


    "So, Wenwen, you need to do some actual combat to improve your reaction capacity," Lin Qiao said to Lin Wenwen with a serious tone.


    "Eh?" Lin Wenwen failed to understand her meaning immediately.


    Was she going to let her fight for real? She had never done that before? Was she planning to arrange a few training partners for her?


    "Eh? Chief, are you gonna send Wenwen out for a mission?" Long Qingying made a different guess.


    "Yes, Qingying is right," Lin Qiao smiled faintly as she pointed at Long Qingying.


    "Huh? You want me to go out with you?" Lin Wenwen was a little stunned.


    She was never sent out of the base to carry out a mission before, so she thought that Lin Qiao would never do that. So, when she heard what the latter just said, she couldn''t react for a moment


    "This time, you ran all the way here from Hades Base with Lin Feng and the others. You''ve experienced all kinds of dangers on that journey, so I guess you have nothing to be afraid of now, right?" Lin Qiao said to Lin Wenwen. After a brief pause, she continued, "If you don''t fight those real zombies, you''ll never understand them. In order to win, you have to know your enemies. Isn''t that right?"


    Lin Wenwen fell into silence and didn''t say anything. Before, she would have disagreed, because she believed that Lin Feng, Lin Hao, and the others should be handling those dangerous things, as they were all stronger than her.


    However, Lin Wenwen wasn''t thinking that way now. She was thinking about what Lin Qiao had said.


    Since she and her family ran out of Hades Base, they had encountered lots of dangers indeed. Lin Feng, Lin Hao and some soldiers had been protecting her and Mrs. Lin. Most of those soldiers had died, and only Lu Junjie and the other few survived.


    In fact, some of those soldiers would have survived too if they didn''t need to protect her, Mrs. Lin, and Lin Xiaolu, who were defenseless.


    "Nothing can improve you faster than real combat. Your potential can only be triggered under dangerous situations. Do you understand me?" Lin Qiao looked at her and said.


    "I get it," Lin Wenwen nodded. She had thought that through already.


    "I overprotected you before. I have spoiled you, and that could have cost your life. I almost forgot about that. We live in the post-apocalyptic era after all. If you don''t learn to protect yourself, you''ll die sooner or later," Lin Qiao sighed, glanced at Lin Wenwen repentantly, and then dropped her eyes.


    "No, it''s not your fault. It''s actually my fault. If I had realized that earlier, I would have done better. Sister, it has nothing to do with you," Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Qiao and said. She didn''t blame her at all.


    She continued, "I am willing to go out and fight zombies. In fact, I also want to find out where my limit lies."


    "Em, we''re short-handed right now. Lin Feng and Lin Hao will leave the base to collect supplies. They can''t bring too many people out. You have a space too, so you''ll be serving as movable storage. I''m going to let Qingying act together with you. You two can be a group. I think it''ll be fine," Lin Qiao looked at both of them and said.


    Long Qingying didn''t say a word, just nodded expressionlessly.


    "I''m fine with it!" Lin Wenwen opened her eyes wide, blinking as she seemed to be a little excited. Her neatly cut short hair curled naughtily, making her look clean and adorable.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at Lin Wenwen. In fact, she already had strong muscles now. She had been training herself for such a long time, and the results were shown since long ago. Maybe because she had gained some strength and combat skills, her vibe was completely different from before.


    She was no longer that gentle and quiet girl who had long and straight hair. Instead, she looked young and energetic now. Even though she was not a little girl anymore, she did have a young face.


    "Good! You go and tell Lin Feng yourselves. Also, take these strawberries to the kitchen and find a way to keep them fresh, then give them to the others tomorrow," Lin Qiao pointed at those strawberries on the table, then stood up and headed toward the door.


    "Alright," Lin Wenwen nodded.


    ¡­


    At noontime the next day, Lin Feng came to the sweetcorn field to look for Lin Qiao.


    "Did you let Wenwen go out to collect supplies with us?" He stood by Lin Qiao''s side and asked.


    Lin Qiao was catching the bugs on the sweet potato plant near a sweetcorn plant. Hearing his question, she responded, "Yeah, I told her to do that. What''s wrong?"


    Lin Feng frowned and replied in disagreement, "She might be a hindrance. We''ll need to spare attention for her. Also, it''s too dangerous for her. She has no experience."


    "I let Qingying form a group with her. She won''t affect you. We are short-handed now, but there''re so many works to do. You''re going out to collect supplies, so you need at least one space-powered person with you. Besides, if we don''t let her learn to protect herself, she''ll never improve. We can protect her, but it''s better for her to protect herself," Lin Qiao said to Lin Feng calmly and carelessly.


    "She herself has agreed to do it. She''s willing to do that, and, isn''t it a good thing? Our base can''t afford any idlers now."


    "Well¡­ Alright," Lin Feng couldn''t win the argument. Even though he still disagreed on the inside, he could only accept it.


    After all, Lin Qiao was right from whichever angle one looked at it.

 541 Yan Fangyu Arrives

    After talking about Lin Wenwen, Lin Feng glanced around and said, "The soil in this area seems rich, but are these crops really¡­ edible?"


    "Still doubting that?" Lin Qiao glanced at him and said, "Why would I grow them if they were inedible? Don''t worry, I''ve solved the soil problem already. Eating these won''t turn you into a zombie."


    "Em," Lin Feng nodded and didn''t say anything else.


    "Have Yuan Tianxing talked to you about the direction of this trip yet?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "I talked to him this morning. Based on your suggestion, we''ll head toward Lower City District first," Lin Feng answered the question.


    "I''ve sent a few zombie leaders to Lower City District to take care of all the high-leveled zombies in that area. You''ll need to deal with those ordinary zombies yourselves," Lin Qiao reminded him.


    This morning, the middle-aged zombie and the zombie old mand had returned. They brought Lin Qiao over ten level four and three zombie nuclei, and two zombie leader nuclei.


    With those, Junjun could surely be upgraded.


    "I get it," Lin Feng responded, and then left the sweetcorn field.


    Lin Qiao stood up, prepared to move to the next sweetcorn plant. But abruptly, she paused and turned to the base. She sniffed at that direction, then turned to yell at a tree nearby, "Lili, we have a guest from Sea City. You go and guide them in."


    "Alright!" Qiu Lili, who was sitting on the tree, replied as she leaped out.


    At that moment, a motorcade was moving toward Upper City Base about two miles away from the zombie wall. In the military off-road vehicle at the front, a pretty lady was sitting in the front seat, looking ahead curiously.


    "How far is it?" she asked.


    "About one or two miles away," the driver answered the question.


    "Is that real? Can they really turn a zombie crowd into a line of defense? I don''t think human beings can do that!" Yan Fangyu''s face was filled with disbelief.


    "Deputy Chief, you''ll see it when we get there. It won''t be long!" The driver smiled at her.


    A short while later, Yan Fangyu popped her eyes in shock and stared at the motionless zombie wall in front of her tens of meters away.


    Those zombies didn''t surprise her. What surprised her was the fact that they were all standing there so quietly, and didn''t rush eagerly at the motorcade when they saw the people in those vehicles and sensed their scents, like what normal zombies would do.


    Yan Fangyu ordered the motorcade to park before the zombie wall, then stuck her head out of the car and observed the zombie crowd while asking, "How are we supposed to get through now?"


    "Ah, be patient! Later, someone will show up to make a path for us." The driver had been here twice already, so he wasn''t nervous at all.


    "I see," Yan Fangyu nodded knowingly, then sat in the car and waited patiently.


    However, the workers in a truck behind were not as calm as her. They all gathered around the front windshield to look at the zombie crowd. Their eyes were showing confusion, fear, and all sorts of feelings.


    At that moment, the zombie wall suddenly moved.


    "Eh? They''re moving!" Yan Fangyu''s eyes glowed.


    Next, the people saw those zombies slowly move toward both sides, away from the road in the middle.


    The driver immediately drove the car forward, saying, "See, someone is here."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Where? Why didn''t I see that person?" Yan Fangyu glanced around. Except for those ordinary zombies who were moving away, she didn''t see anyone.


    The driver said, "Look at the roofs of those high buildings. You''ll see someone."


    Yan Fangyu slightly raised her head and saw a white figure flash across the roof of a tall building far away, and then disappear.


    "Eh? There really is someone?" She said with surprise.


    "There must be. These zombies are controlled by someone from that base," the driver said.


    Then, the group of confused people moved through the path which was created for them by those zombies. After that, they turned back and found that those zombies had mostly moved back to their original spots.


    "Are they really controlled by someone?" Yan Fangyu couldn''t believe that some human beings were able to control those zombies. However, she couldn''t come up with another explanation for what she just saw.


    The driver smiled and said, "I don''t know how they have been doing it. But, as long as we can get used to it¡­"


    Yan Fangyu turned her head and crossed her arms before her chest. She didn''t say anything else to the driver and just stayed silent. No one knew what she was thinking about.


    If some people in Upper City Base really knew how to control zombies, and if she could find out how, then bring the technology back to Sea City Base, it might lead to a great breakthrough of Sea City Base''s development.


    She had to find a way to figure it out!


    When Yan Fangyu''s motorcade arrived at the hotel, Lu Junjie walked to the conference room and pushed the door open, then walked in and said a few words to Yuan Tianxing, who was looking at the planning drawing. "Deputy Chief, Miss. Yan, the pretty lady from Sea City Base, is here."


    Yuan Tianxing dropped his pen and stood up, "Em, I know."


    While speaking, he rolled up the drawing on the table, then turned and put it in a cabinet which was behind him in a corner. After finishing up with things here, he finally walked out of the conference room.


    As he went downstairs to the lobby, he saw Yan Fangyu sitting on a couch, with two of her subordinates standing behind her.


    Seeing the slim Yuan Tianxing, Yan Fangyu had her eyes glowed as she greeted him happily, "Ah, Mr. Yuan, long time no see! You seem to have become even more handsome than before! You''re so pretty. I don''t even want to go back to Sea City Base after seeing you. What should I do?"


    Even though Yan Fangyu tried to flirt with him once she started the conversation, Yuan Tianxing only walked over with a faint smile and responded, "What a surprise, Deputy Chief Yan is actually paying us a visit!"


    Then, he sat in front of her.


    "What do you mean by ''surprise''? I''m just curious about your base, so I decided to come here and take a look around. Am I not welcome?" Yan Fangyu narrowed her pretty eyes as she looked at him and said smilingly.


    "How can it be possible? Deputy Chief Yan, you''re a pretty lady. Everybody will have a sunny mood when a pretty lady comes to visit us," Yuan Tianxing smiled and said to her, then meaningfully glanced at the surrounding guys, who were glancing over stealthily from time to time.


    Yan Fangyu glanced around as well, and then turned her eyes back to Yuan Tianxing as she said carelessly, "Alright! I have brought two-hundred people to you this time. How are you gonna thank me for it? But, I heard that you''ve received lots of people from Hades Base. Are my people not needed anymore?"


    "That''s not true," Yuan Tianxing smiled and said, "Even though we''ve taken in those Hades Base people, we''re still very short-handed for the construction of the fence wall. After all, we''re building a ten-miles-long wall. It won''t be as hard as building the Great Wall, but the thousands of people that we have now are still not enough."


    "That''s more like it," Yan Fangyu laughed, then pretended to sigh with relief.


    "Alright, stop pretending! You know it clearly¡­ Do you have to say it out loud?" Yuan Tianxing questioned her.

 542 I Wonst Stay for Long

    "Hahaha, you caught me, alright," Yan Fangyu laughed carelessly, seeming to be rather happy.


    At that moment, a strong gust of wind could be heard from the outside, followed by the loud noise of rain.


    "Oh, it''s raining! The air temperature will drop further after this rain. It''s getting cold," Yan Fangyu glanced outside.


    "Alright, I''ve prepared a room for you. Just go upstairs and take some rest. You can find me in the conference room if you need anything. I work there," Yuan Tianxing stood up as he said to her, and then turned and walked toward the stairs.


    "Sure! I''m not really tired, but I''ll just accept your kindness," Yan Fangyu stood up and smilingly followed behind Yuan Tianxing.


    "How many days do you plan to stay here for?" Yuan Tianxing asked her while leading the way.


    "Why? Do you want me to go? Don''t worry, I won''t stay for long. I''m only here to send you those workers and check on your construction work conveniently," Yan Fangyu''s sexy red lips curved in a charming smile.


    Yuan Tianxing guided her to her room, then pushed the door open and walked in, waiting for her by the door. Yan Fangyu walked in and glanced at the clean and tidy room. It wasn''t large, but was still nice.


    "How''s the room? Do you like it? I''ll get you another one if you don''t like it," Yuan Tianxing rested his hands in his trouser pockets and said.


    Yan Fangyu immediately turned back and waved her hands toward him as she responded, "No, you don''t need to. This room is fine. Am I a picky person?"


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and replied, "Alright then! Just take some rest."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After saying that, he prepared to walk out.


    "Oi, wait a minute!" However, Yan Fangyu didn''t plan to let him go. She called him, then walked to the door and glanced outside before pulling him aside and conveniently closing the door.


    "I have a question. I wonder if Deputy Chief Yuan can kindly answer it," She turned back and crossed her arms before her chest. Her cleavage was vaguely visible in her collar as she asked him smilingly.


    "What question?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her with curiosity.


    "I felt that you might not give me the answer if I ask you directly, but I really don''t like digging into some other people''s business behind their backs. So, I thought about it and decided to just ask you the question," Yan Fangyu fixed her eyes on him and said.


    Yuan Tianxing made no reaction to her pretty and charming eyes, just smiling faintly as he looked at her. "Just ask. I''ll surely give you the answer if I can."


    "Hm, I''m curious about how you''ve been controlling that zombie crowd around your base. I think that weird thing which is happening in your base will spread in the future. By then, not only me, other people will be interested in it as well," Yan Fangyu put her fingers on her chin and said confusedly.


    Yuan Tianxing laughed generously, then responded, "Ah, that! You can catch a few zombie leaders and train them, and then you''ll be able to do the same!"


    He didn''t tell her that a few zombie dominators were in the base, but didn''t try to hide the fact that those ordinary zombies were controlled by high-leveled zombies either.


    The more he tried to hide, the more curious she would be. So, it was better for him to tell her a part of the truth.


    "Eh¡­ catch zombie leaders and train them?" Yan Fangyu was a little stunned. She looked at Yuan Tianxing with disbelief.


    Train them? How? Catching five-level zombies would be difficult already. It was never easy to control them, not to mention training them.


    "Oh, I don''t know about the exact method, so I can''t answer that question. We''re not in charge of that," Yuan Tianxing continued.


    "Eh? You''re not? Who are in charge of it then?" Yan Fangyu was surprised.


    Was there anything that Yuan Tianxing did not know?


    "That¡­ I can''t tell you," Yuan Tianxing smiled.


    "Alright, I get it!" Yan Fangyu knew what he meant. After all, every base had its own secrets.


    "I''m going to work then," Yuan Tianxing hurriedly left.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Qiu Lili returned to Mount Wu after letting those guests in.


    "Who are they?" Lin Qiao and Shen Yujen were hiding in the wooden cabin because it was raining. Because of the rain, Lin Qiao had put the three zombies into her space and awarded each of them a cup of lake water. After that, she sat in the wooden cabin with Shen Yujen, watching the raindrops falling onto the soil.


    Liu Jun had gone to the pond to gather the rainwater.


    Qiu Lili stepped into the cabin and said, "That female Deputy Chief from Sea City Base."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao nodded knowingly and said, "Ah, that woman! Is she finally making a move?"


    "What do you mean?" Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise, "Did you know that she was coming?"


    Lin Qiao smiled, said, "She likes Yuan Tianxing, and she has been having doubts about the new base, even though she never showed it. Maybe in her eyes, Yuan Tianxing and his people would never succeed."


    Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao confusedly, saying, "She doesn''t believe them¡­ It has nothing to do with her, right?"


    "It''s not about whether it has something to do with her or not. Something that she never believed has now come true, and she''ll surely feel strange and curious about it. So, she''ll come here to try to find out the truth. That woman has always been complicated. She''s powerful and capable. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have become a Deputy Chief," Lin Qiao said.


    "Do you know her well? Can you even guess out her thoughts?" Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    "Not guess. Have you forgotten that I''m able to read other people''s minds? I''ve been close to her, so I clearly know what she was thinking. Seriously, she''s like a goddess in Sea City Base. But in fact, she''s pretty demanding. It''s just¡­" Thinking about some dark thoughts that that woman had, Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes.


    Seeing the look on Lin Qiao''s face, Qiu Lili seemed to have guessed something. She popped her eyes and asked curiously, "You seem to know some untold secrets! Tell us, has that woman done something?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Currently, the men from Sea City Base all see her as a virtuous, abstinent woman, but none of them know that in order to keep that impression, she has secretly killed quite a lot of men whom she had sex with." After saying that, Lin Qiao had a dim beam of light flash across her eyes.


    Qiu Lili popped her eyes with surprise. She looked like a high-school girl, but in fact, she had already known about all the sexual stuff.


    "She¡­ she killed people secretly?" Qiu Lili couldn''t even believe it.

 543 Shes That Kind of Person

    Lin Qiao smiled and said to her, "Human beings have desires. All men and women have desires. Once a person tastes it, he or she will keep longing for it. They may not have a strong sex drive, but they''ll still want it. Yan Fangyu is a little different from the others. She''s not very thirsty sexually, but she will not suppress her own desires. As she needs to maintain her virtuous impression, she definitely won''t let the others find out that she has slept with more than one man."


    "More than one?" Qiu Lili was confused.


    "She had secretly imprisoned some men she liked. She went to find them when she wanted it. She provided those men with food and water, but forbade them from leaving, so that they wouldn''t tell the others about what was happening between her and them. If those men disobeyed her, or if she got tired of them, she would kill them and destroy the body," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    Hearing that, not only Qiu Lili, but Shen Yujen was also stunned.


    She was from Sea City Base, and she was pretty familiar with Yan Fangyu. For that exact reason, she was very shocked right now. She couldn''t have imagined that the prettiest woman in Sea City Base would actually do something like that.


    Yan Fangyu had always been a beautiful and elegant being in the eyes of the entire Sea City Base. She was like a goddess who was beyond their reach.


    People compared her with Lu Tianyu, and liked her even more.


    "I was surprised too. If I didn''t get close to her and read her mind, I wouldn''t know that she was planning to seduce Yuan Tianxing and lock him up. She has been brewing that plan since Yuan Tianxing was in Sea City Base," Lin Qiao sneered and said.


    That woman did play her cards well. She had done something evil, but no one in the base knew about those things. Additionally, she used Lu Tianyu''s awful reputation to cover herself.


    That kind of woman was dangerous.


    "Oh my! She''s that kind of person!" Qiu Lili finally recovered from the shock. Thinking about what Lin Qiao just said, she continued, "Did you say that she''s interested in Yuan Tianxing? What should we do? She''s not here to abduct him this time, is she?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and replied, "I''m not sure, but I guess she won''t make any move this time. I guess she''s only here to find out about our real situation. She''s a woman who likes to have plans."


    "Yuan Tianxing is in danger, isn''t he? Better an open enemy than a false friend!" Qiu Lili got a little anxious, "Should we inform him about it and tell him to be careful?"


    Lin Qiao nodded, "Hm¡­ I''ll first tell Wenwen about it and ask her to tell him. After that, Lili, you go and warn him again."


    "Eh? Why do you want me to talk to him after Wenwen does it?" Qiu Lili didn''t understand.


    "Because Tianxing might not believe Wenwen''s words. Only when you show up and warn him about the same thing will he be on the alert," Lin Qiao smiled and said.


    "Since you know that he might not believe Wenwen, why will you ask her to talk to him? Why don''t you just let me do it?" Qiu Lili was still confused.


    "Ahyaya, what''s in your head? You''ve been here for so many days, but have you not found out that Lin Wenwen is fond of Yuan Tianxing? I guess Big Zombie Sister is only trying to create an opportunity for their relationship." A silvery voice was suddenly heard, carrying a scornful tone.


    Qiu Lili turned back and saw Yun Meng standing by the door with wet hair.


    "I see¡­ Can''t you talk politely? Do you want to be beaten up?" Being reminded by Yun Meng, Qiu Lili seemed to have understood Lin Qiao''s meaning. But then, she felt annoyed about Yun Meng''s words, so she glared at the latter and yelled back.


    "Blah¡­ Come over and hit me! I''m not afraid of you now!" Yun Meng stuck her tongue out toward Qiu Lili and then made a face. In front of the others, Yun Meng would act maturely and calmly. But for some reason, her nature would show itself when she was with Qiu Lili.


    Perhaps, it was because they were at the same age, and the atmosphere between them was less solemn.


    "Yun Meng is right. I do want to create a chance for them. Otherwise, our Wenwen might suddenly change her mind and stop liking him! Yuan Tianxing is such a nice guy, so we have to keep him in our family!" Lin Qiao said with a smile.


    She found that Lin Wenwen seemed to have become much less obsessed in Yuan Tianxing ever since she started exercising and learning combat skills. She still liked him, but not as passionately as before.


    They were both in that small base, but they only saw each other once every couple of days. That was so not like what Lin Wenwen would do!


    Lin Qiao had also been thinking about how to make Yuan Tianxing give up on herself. Lin Wenwen might be able to help her.


    "How can you change your heart that easily if you really like someone?" Qiu Lili pouted and said. After she said that, all three of them paused briefly, then turned to Shen Yujen together.


    She was the perfect example.


    However, Shen Yujen only gave a smile.


    The rain kept falling, and the weather was getting colder and colder. So, people went back to their own rooms after dinner once it turned dark.


    That night, when all was still, Lin Wenwen carried a bowl of herbal tea and pushed open the door of the conference room which was located on the second floor. As she expected, Yuan Tianxing was still working in that room, under the light of the energy saving lamp.


    "Tianxing, have some tea. It''s freshly made!" She came in and said to Yuan Tianxing gently.


    "Oh, thank you! Aunt Lin made it, right? Just put it aside," Yuan Tianxing raised his head and gave her a glance, then lowered his head to keep looking at the drawing.


    Lin Wenwen carried the tea bowl to his side, and put it somewhere convenient on the desk. She didn''t want to interrupt his work, but still, she stood beside him and said a few words to him.


    "Brother Tianxing, my sister asked me to tell you something."


    Hearing that, Yuan Tianxing immediately raised his head and looked at her, "Ah, what did she say?"


    Lin Wenwen responded, "My sister wants you to¡­ be careful of Yan Fangyu."


    "Eh? Does your sister know?" Yuan Tianxing paused slightly. He thought that Lin Qiao meant how Yan Fangyu was trying to figure out the truth about the zombie wall, so he subconsciously asked that question.


    "Eh? She knows what?" Lin Wenwen didn''t know what he was thinking, so she was pretty confused.


    "Didn''t your sister tell you to remind me not to let that woman find out how we''ve been controlling those zombies?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her confusedly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Eh? No¡­ She wants you to be careful, in case that woman tries to seduce you¡­" Lin Wenwen looked at him with a meaningful look.


    Yuan Tianxing didn''t respond. It turned out that they weren''t on the same page at all.

 544 She Has That Kind Of A Plan?

    "She has that kind of plan? I need to tell my sister about it!" Lin Wenwen caught up with Yuan Tianxing and said with surprise.


    "Okay. I was going to find her and tell her about it, but I''ve been working the whole while. Since you know of it, you should tell her," Yuan Tianxing nodded. "Tell your sister that Yan Fangyu is very interested in those zombies she saw while coming in," he continued. "She believes that we certainly have a way to control those zombies. I''ve told her part of the truth, that some people in this place are indeed able to control zombies, and I told her to catch a few zombie leaders and train them. I didn''t tell her about the people who can control zombies or the method."


    "She actually wants that! She wants you at first, and now she wants the secret of our base! That woman is so annoying! How could I not tell that she was that kind of person before?" Lin Wenwen pressed her lips together and said grumpily.


    She didn''t blame Yuan Tianxing for telling Yan Fangyu part of the truth. Whatever he did, she would support him.


    "I''m going back to tell my sister about it," Lin Wenwen turned and prepared to leave.


    "Eh, wait, you haven''t explained what you just said yet. What did you mean by ''in case she seduces me''? What did your sister mean?" Yuan Tianxing stopped her.


    "Oh, my sister said that that woman has bad intentions toward you. She might not make a direct move now, but you should still be careful of her. She might set a trap for you," said Lin Wenwen sulkily.


    ''It''s all your fault. You''re too handsome!'' Lin Wenwen thought, ''You''ve attracted a large butterfly.''


    "Eh¡­ Set a trap? Why will she set a trap for me?" Yuan Tianxing asked with confusion.


    "My sister said that that woman isn''t as nice as she looks. Em, you should watch out. Sooner or later, you''ll see her real face." After saying that, she turned and left, "Alright, I''ve delivered the words to you. Make what you will of it. I am now going to deliver your words to my sister."


    She walked to the door while speaking, then opened it and left.


    Yuan Tianxing was left confused, watching the door close. He wondered why Lin Qiao sent Lin Wenwen to tell him to be careful of Yan Fangyu. Was it because she cared about him?


    Yuan Tianxing was delighted for less than a second, and then turned disappointed.


    He realized that he was overthinking. He and Lin Qiao were army friends for years, so she couldn''t possibly let him face danger and say nothing about it. Also, as the leader of this base, she should care about her people. After all, that might become a factor harmful for the base.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Wenwen went up to the fifth floor, over to Lin Qiao''s room. The rooms on the fifth floor were assigned under consideration. The ones who lived near the stairs were Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, Xie Dong, Liu Jun, and Shen Yujen, who had memories and humanity. The rooms which were far away from the stairs were occasionally used for the other zombies to live in.


    Therefore, when some human beings came up to this floor, they would be able to find the people that they needed just near the stairs.


    "So, she''s planning on that. I''ve told you that she''s not a simple-minded woman. If she figured out how we have been controlling those zombies, she could certainly expect a rise of status in her base," Lin Qiao smilingly shook her head after hearing Lin Wenwen''s words, then continued, "Alright, just go back and rest!"


    After Lin Wenwen left, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, who were both in the room, started talking. "Why is that woman getting more and more annoying? She actually has that kind of plan! I bet she''ll never guess out that we''re the ones who have been controlling those zombies. There''s no method. We just suppress them naturally!"


    Lin Qiao smiled faintly and said, "You don''t understand how much can it change the world if people learned how to control zombies. Imagine, if every base mastered that skill, would people still be afraid of zombies? Without the threats that come from zombies, people would be able to live safely in the post-apocalyptic era, wouldn''t they? They might even be able to limit the upgrades of zombies. If that happened, I believe that zombies would be destroyed by human beings in a few years, and human beings would be able to rebuild their homes."


    For human beings, that would be a new era. How could that not be world-shaking?


    "Wow! If what you said is true, we''d all be destroyed by then," Qiu Lili said with fear.


    "We won''t be destroyed, but we''ll certainly face a disaster," said Yun Meng with a grim look as her eyes glowed in a cold, green light.


    "Don''t worry! I won''t let Yan Fangyu find out about us. I''m also planning to dig into those two people who showed up earlier with zombies. I want to know how they have been working together with those zombies," Lin Qiao said while scratching her chin.


    Just when she finished her words, her fingers which were scratching her chin paused abruptly, and then she turned her head.


    By the time Qiu Lili and Yun Meng noticed her motion and expression, they found her disappearing from the room. The two of them could only glance at each other at that point.


    Downstairs, people had all returned to their own rooms. No one except a few soldiers stayed outside, guarding the stairs.


    Yuan Tianxing completed a phase of his work, then put away the drawing and stood up to leave the conference room. The door of the conference room was still guarded after he left, as many files about the base were in there. That room was an admittance of administrators only.


    Not long after Yuan Tianxing left, a dark figure suddenly showed up behind the guard, then covered his mouth with one hand while the other hand gripped his throat. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The figure quickly dragged the soldier who didn''t manage to struggle toward the door. He abruptly put down the hand which was covering the soldier''s mouth, opened the door of the conference room, and then quickly and quietly dragged the soldier in.


    The door was soon closed. No one heard what happened here.


    At that moment, the soldier who was dragged into the conference room had frozen in the darkness.


    Dim sparks of light were seen in his opened mouth and nostrils, and then a dim red light glowed in his stomach and throat. Soon, the red light went down to his chest from his throat and spread all over his chest, then reached the rest of his body.


    The red light shone inside the soldier''s body for about ten minutes, then dimmed and disappeared.


    A pinch of carbon dust was left in the darkness, almost invisible.


    The dark figure moved his feet to sweep the dust away, then turned the mini flashlight in his hand on and started to rummage in the room gently and carefully. He had no idea that when he dragged the guard in and closed the door, an invisible being was leaning against the door, quietly listening to the slight noise that he made.

 545 Being Caugh

    That person spent a while in the conference room, but clearly failed to find what she was looking for.


    She searched through the room once again and then finally gave up, carefully walking back to the door and putting an ear against it. After confirming that no one was outside, she gently opened the door, prepared to leave.


    "I didn''t know that Miss. Yan likes to enter other people''s conference rooms without an invitation. How''s it going? Have you found what you were looking for yet?" A voice was heard suddenly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    That person who was preparing to leave the conference room gave a start and popped her pretty eyes, staring at Lin Qiao who was standing behind the door.


    Lin Qiao had her hands resting in the pockets of her trousers, with one leg bent. Leaning against the wall by the door, she turned and glanced at Yan Fangyu, who was wearing a black mask which couldn''t cover her entire face. A faint smile could be detected from Lin Qiao''s eyes.


    Yan Fangyu immediately turned around and rushed toward the window on the other side of the conference room. It seemed that she was trying to break the window and rush out.


    However, she wasn''t fast enough. Once she reached to the window, her slim neck was gripped by a hand. And then, she felt a great force violently drag her behind.


    Next, her body flew backward.


    Thud! Yan Fangyu was thrown onto a cabinet against the wall.


    Click! The light was turned on. The dark conference room was immediately well-illuminated.


    Lin Qiao walked back from the window as she looked at Yan Fangyu, who seemed to be a little stunned.


    "What? Do you wanna run? Do you think you can still run away? Not to mention the fact that you sneaked into my conference room to try and steal confidential files, I won''t let you get away with this easily after you have killed one of my soldiers," Lin Qiao looked down at the other, who was sitting on the ground, as she spoke coldly.


    Quick footstep sounds were heard from the outside. Before long, Duan Juan showed up by the door with her people.


    The soldiers who followed Duan Juan into the conference room immediately pointed their guns at Yan Fangyu.


    Yan Fangyu calmed back down. She didn''t take off her mask, but glared at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao''s eyes now looked like the eyes of healthy people. She was wearing a training suit, looking nothing special. Yan Fangyu only saw her as a healthy human being.


    "Don''t you have anything to say to me, Miss. Yan?" Lin Qiao looked at Yan Fangyu with composure as she stepped back to the conference table and leaned against it while asking with a smile.


    Yan Fangyu slowly stood up and raised a hand to take off her mask. Then, she smiled at Lin Qiao and said, "Are you the leader of this place now?"


    She smiled relaxedly, and didn''t seem to panic at all.


    She had seen Lin Qiao once, when the latter was fighting against Yang Chao. Back then, Lin Qiao was still wearing sunglasses.


    Lin Qiao now looked largely different from before. Yan Fangyu wouldn''t have recognized her if she didn''t remember her voice.


    "Yes, I''m the leader of this place. So, how should I punish you now?" Lin Qiao nodded and raised her eyebrows.


    "Punish? Hehe, I don''t think you''re qualified for that," Yan Fangyu laughed, her eyes filled with scorn. "Do you really think of this place as a base? You don''t even have four-thousand people in total. Don''t forget that our people are in this place too."


    Lin Qiao looked at her with a faint smile, saying, "You think I don''t dare to do anything to you, right? Your base has over a million people. Yes, our base is not as richly populated as yours at the time. But, does that allow you to steal files from our base and kill our people?"


    The smile on Lin Qiao''s face faded as she finished her speech, continuing coldly, "Not even Wu Chengyue has the right to do that."


    Yan Fangyu actually believed that Lin Qiao didn''t dare to hurt her. Lin Qiao thought for a moment, and then agreed with her. Sea City Base was large. Over a million survivors were living there, so they had at least three-hundred-thousand men in their army.


    Any troop or army group from that base would be able to destroy her thousands of people and new base that didn''t even have a fence wall yet.


    Therefore, as a Deputy Chief of Sea City Base, Yan Fangyu didn''t take Lin Qiao and her people seriously at all.


    At least, Yan Fangyu did think that way.


    "I wasn''t trying to steal your files. You didn''t see me taking anything, did you? Besides, what in this place can I possibly be interested in?"


    "Well, so tell me, why did you sneak into this room in darkness? You clearly know that my base is underpopulated, yet you killed one of my people without a reason. Don''t you know that people aren''t allowed to kill in a survivor base?" Lin Qiao asked in a bland tone.


    "I was passing by. Do you believe me? As for killing, did you witness it? Did you?" Yan Fangyu smilingly denied. She pointed at Lin Qiao, then at Duan Juan and the people around her.


    Then, she walked to the conference table and pulled out a chair to sit down, as if the other people weren''t there.


    "You! Stop denying! Our Chief has caught you! Just admit it!" Both Lin Qiao and Duan Juan stayed silent, but Li Hongsheng, who was standing beside Duan Juan, glared at Yan Fangyu and yelled out.


    The others on the scene were all staring at her with anger, as they had never seen such shameless woman.


    "Deny? Hehe, do I need to do that?" Yan Fangyu shrugged.


    The people in the room gazed at her wrathfully, but didn''t dare to do anything to her. So, they all turned their eyes to Lin Qiao, hoping that she could give an order to punish that arrogant woman.


    That woman was so pretty. Those people thought that she would be nice too, but soon realized that they were wrong.


    She was confident because she had a strong background. The people on Lin Qiao''s side didn''t dare to hurt her indeed. After all, Sea City Base had been helping them quite a lot, and had sent over seven to eight hundred people. If Yan Fangyu walked out now and gave a shout, those people would immediately follow her words and attack the people in the new base.


    More importantly, if Sea City Base people heard about this and misunderstood, they might think that the people in the new base had given Yan Fangyu a difficult time. In that way, things would become really troublesome.


    "If your Sea City Base people see you now, how will they feel?" Lin Qiao ignored Yan Fangyu''s proud face but asked blandly.


    "See me now? What''s wrong with me now? Am I not good? Is there a problem?" Seeing that the people on the scene only blocked the door without daring to approach her, Yan Fangyu was even more complacent. She didn''t take Lin Qiao''s words seriously at all.


    "You think so? Alright! Miss. Yan, please go back to your room. And please don''t come out to go through other people''s things without permission¡­ and don''t kill anyone. I''ll send someone to your Base to ask your Chief to come over and deal with this. So Miss. Yan, please cooperate with us," Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows as she turned and said to the other.

 546 A Life For A Life

    "Are you gonna put me under house arrest? How dare you! Do I need your permission to go anywhere?" Yan Fangyu sneered, then immediately stood up and walked toward the door with big steps.


    "Duan Juan, guide Miss. Yan back to her room," Lin Qiao said to Duan Juan who was remaining silent the whole time. The expressionless Duan Juan immediately moved her feet and blocked Yan Fangyu''s way.


    With no expression, she said to the other, "Miss. Yan, please don''t be stubborn. It''s better for you to follow us back to your own room. Making our Chief mad won''t do you any good."


    "You want me to go back to my room? I just want to ask you if you''re capable enough to make me do that. Tell Yuan Tianxing to come over, then I might do what you said for his sake," Yan Fangyu said to Duan Juan with a cold smile.


    "I''m sorry¡­" Duan Juan frowned. She was only at level five, so she felt quite stressed while facing the level-six Yan Fangyu. But still, she responded without wavering. "Forget about that. A woman like you who''s been hiding your ugly heart with the good appearance will never have a chance with our Deputy Chief Xiao."


    "What did you say?" Yan Fangyu stared at Duan Juan as her face darkened instantly, and the look in her eyes immediately turned cold and vicious.


    Meanwhile, Duan Juan looked back at her calmly.


    Yan Fangyu spent a few seconds staring at her, then narrowed her eyes slightly and suddenly swung a palm at the other. That palm of hers released a scorching hot flame on its way.


    She had moved swiftly, and the fiery palm of hers nearly reached Duan Juan''s chest within a blink of an eye.


    Duan Juan made a step backward timely. However, there were people behind her. She managed to react, but the people behind her didn''t, so they disabled her from moving further backward.


    Puff! An arm shielded Duan Juan from the Yan Fangyu''s attack, then turned and shoved her to the side.


    Yan Fangyu staggered. Before she could react, her hands were clasped, and then someone pushed her back and pressed her face against the wall, disabling her from moving.


    "You''re a level-six superpowered person and a Deputy Chief, but you still need to pay for that life which you just took. So, get ready to die. Don''t think that you can walk away from this base unharmed," Lin Qiao''s bland voice could be heard from behind.


    "You! Let go of me! I am telling you¡­ if you dare to hurt me, Sea City Base will make you pay! Our Chief Zou will make you pay!" Yan Fangyu struggled. She tried to turn her head back, but that person who had been pressing her on the wall was much stronger than her, so she couldn''t move at all.


    Once she finished talking, someone suddenly grabbed the back of her head and pushed her face against the wall.


    Thud! "Ouch!" Yan Fangyu''s forehead bumped against the wall, making her utter a scream in the pain while seeing stars in front of her eyes.


    "I don''t care about your Chief Zou. I let you live because Wu Chengyue has helped me quite a lot. You are coveting my base, so don''t think that I''ll let you go. I won''t kill you¡­ I''ll wait for Wu Chengyue to come here and deal with you himself," Lin Qiao violently pressed her head against the wall, then put her mouth near her ear and whispered to her.


    After that, she abruptly put both hands on Yan Fangyu''s shoulders before pinching and pressing.


    "Ah!" Yan Fangyu let out another shrill scream as she raised her head high; small drops of cold sweat oozed out of her forehead.


    Lin Qiao let go of her and took a step backward.


    After that, Yan Fangyu dropped her arms which had been disabled from moving, and then slid down against the wall until she was sitting on the ground.


    "Take her back to her room. I''ve disjointed her arms, so she won''t be able to cause troubles for now. Yet, keep an eye on her, in case she comes up with some evil plan," Lin Qiao said to Duan Juan, then turned and walked back to the conference table, leaning on it.


    Lin Qiao disjointed her arm, so she wouldn''t be able to use her superpower again.


    "Yes," Duan Juan nodded and responded, then waved a hand, signaling for Li Hongsheng to come over. After that, they directly dragged Yan Fangyu''s disjointed arms upward.


    "Hm!" Yan Fangyu clenched her teeth to endure the pain as she turned and glared at Duan Juan. Her feet were barely on the ground as she was dragged out of the room by Duan Juan and Li Hongsheng.


    Not long after they left, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and the others came over in a haste.


    "What''s happening?" Yuan Tianxing''s hair were still moist. He had just come out of a shower and didn''t even have the time to dry his hair before his subordinates told him that something had happened in the conference room.


    Meanwhile, Lin Feng was on the bed when his people informed him about that.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "The ones who are on duty, go back to your positions. The others can go and rest now," Lin Qiao gave her order to the group of people outside the door.


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng came in, each finding a seat.


    "Just now, that woman was here, trying to steal some confidential files. She killed the guard. I''ve disjointed her arms and told Duan Juan to lock her up." Lin Qiao glanced at the two of them and said with a bland tone.


    "Steal confidential files? She actually did that!" Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Qiao expressionlessly. That daily smile of his had disappeared from his eyes, replaced by a trace of coldness.


    Lin Feng sat by his side, staying silent.


    "I wonder how you would feel if you had seen his arrogant face after being caught. She thought I didn''t dare to do anything to her," Lin Qiao said with a faint smile.


    She meant that they had missed a great show.


    "No way! She got caught. How arrogant could she possibly be?" Yuan Tianxing asked with surprise.


    "Why not? She''s a Deputy Chief, and a pretty lady. Women are naturally under protection in this post-apocalyptic era. Every base will try its best to reduce the death penalty for women, so she thought she has nothing to be afraid of. So of course, she can be arrogant," Lin Qiao said.


    "You''re right though¡­ I really didn''t think that she''d be this kind of person," Yuan Tianxing knew Yan Fangyu slightly better than the others. He had a pretty good impression of her originally, so now, he couldn''t even believe that she actually had done something like that. He felt like she had suddenly become another person.


    "I thought she wouldn''t make a move so fast, but unexpectedly, she did it. That woman''s brain doesn''t work so well," Lin Qiao shook her head and clicked her tongue.


    Lin Feng looked at Lin Qiao, then at Yuan Tianxing, "What should we do with her now? She''s a Deputy Chief of Sea City Base. If we hurt her, we''ll become Sea City Base''s enemy, won''t we?"


    "We don''t need to do anything here. I''ll let Wu Chengyue do it himself. She''s one of his people anyway. He''ll be dealing with her. If he refuses to give us a satisfactory explanation, we''ll think it as returning his favor for sending so many workers to us. In the future, we''ll just stay on our own side," said Lin Qiao with a bland tone.

 547 Ignoble, In Bad Words

    "Are we gonna just let that woman go?" Lin Feng frowned as he looked at Lin Qiao with discontentment.


    "Of course, no! But right now, we can''t let her ruin our relationship with Sea City Base. That will do us no good after all. Let''s wait for Wu Chengyue to arrive and see how he''ll decide," Lin Qiao said.


    "Giving her to Wu Chengyue is no different from sending her back, isn''t it?" Lin Feng asked.


    "You''re overthinking. How can I possibly let her go? But, no matter what she wants, we should still wait for Wu Chengyue, so that they can''t blame us if anything bad happens," Lin Qiao glanced at him and said.


    "Oh, I get it. Are you saying that we can''t do anything to her now, but after she leaves our base, we can make a move secretly?" Lin Feng nodded.


    Yuan Tianxing crossed his arms before his chest, then raised a hand to prop his chin while saying, "That''s not a decent way. But, we surely can''t just let her go. However, if we just give her to Wu Chengyue, would we seem a little cowardly?"


    After all, others might see them in a different way. No matter what they might do secretly, they would seem cowardly. That woman had offended them, but they sent her back home.


    "I guess Lin Qiao will ask Wu Chengyue to exchange for her by using something equally valuable as that woman¡­" Lin Feng looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    "Yeah! As Lin Feng said, I''ll do that on condition. Do you think I''ll let Wu Chengyue take her away without a price? I''m not that nice!" Lin Qiao smiled, her eyes glowing with a sharp light.


    "She''s a woman, a pretty woman, and she''s a Deputy Chief. What do you want in exchange for her?" Yuan Tianxing paused slightly, then asked her a question.


    Lin Qiao raised five fingers as she curved her lips in a smile, saying, "Five level-six zombie nuclei. What do you think? Will that be enough?"


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing looked at her without knowing what to say. Judging by the look in their eyes, they both felt that she was demanding an exorbitant price.


    One level-six zombie nucleus was easy to get. Sea City Base might have two or three of them in stock. However, giving out five of them at one time might be a little difficult.


    It had only been five years since the apocalypse. Some zombies had evolved into level-six, but not many. So, it was indeed a little inappropriate for Lin Qiao to charge five level-six zombie nuclei for a woman.


    After getting five zombie nuclei from them, she also planned to launch a lethal move in secret¡­


    That did sound like something Lin Qiao might do! In good words, she just didn''t want to suffer losses, and in bad words, that was¡­ an ignoble thing to do!


    That woman shouldn''t have offended her. Lin Qiao was never a big-hearted person. For anyone who offended her, she normally would make them pay multiple times over.


    "Our targets are the Earth Dragon Base, Sky Fire Base, and Hidden Cloud Base. We don''t want to make our neighbors an enemy. That''ll do us no good," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "For the sake of five zombie nuclei, we''ll let that woman live. As for her power, we should just waste it."


    "I agree," Lin Feng nodded.


    "Me too. They''ll suspect us if we really get her killed," Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then nodded as well.


    "Alright! Tianxing, you send someone to deliver the news to Sea City Base tomorrow morning, "Lin Qiao gave Yuan Tianxing an order and then stood up, heading toward the door.


    "Good, I think we should call it a night!"


    Next day, Yuan Tianxing sent Du Yuanxing to Sea City in the morning.


    "What did you say? Yan Fangyu? Steal files?" With a surprised look, Wu Chengyue looked at Du Yuanxing who was sitting in front of him, his eyes containing confusion.


    "That''s right. Last night, she sneaked into our conference room while we were sleeping. I don''t know what she was looking for. She also killed our guard," Du Yuanxing nodded and said.


    "Do you keep important files in the conference room? Why did she look for things there?" Wu Chengyue looked at him confusedly.


    "There''re more residents in the hotel now, so we''ve locked all our files in a cabinet in the conference room. Usually, the room is guarded. Of course, the important files will only be kept in the rooms of our leaders. As for why your Deputy Chief Yan sneaked into our conference room to look for things, I''m afraid you''ll have to ask her that question yourself," Du Yuanxing said.


    Whatever purpose she had, the fact that she sneaked into the conference room without permission and killed a person meant that she had violated the rule.


    "So¡­" Wu Chengyue had already understood Du Yuanxing''s meaning as he looked at him and asked. He knew what Du Yuanxing was going to say next would be the real important part.


    "Our Chief wants to invite you to our place, to bring her back, and also to give us an explanation. We won''t harm Deputy Chief Yan, but you Sea City Base owe us one. After all, she broke into our conference room and killed one of our people." Du Yuanxing said with composure.


    He sometimes seemed a little silly, but when it came to the serious things, he never messed up.


    "Eh¡­ I seem to remember that Yan Fangyu only arrived at your base yesterday. She spent one single night there and made trouble?" Wu Chengyue sighed with a faint smile and then said.


    Du Yuanxing shrugged as he replied, "Believe it or not, she has already been held in custody by our Chief. So, if you have any problem, please go and talk to our Chief. See you!"


    Watching Du Yuanxing leave, Wu Chengyue sat on the couch silently with a slight frown.


    "Did Deputy Chief Yan really do that kind of thing? Why? What made her search through their files at night so impatiently?" Xiao Licheng stood beside him and asked with confusion.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and then responded, "Something in that place might have attracted her. Those Upper City Base people didn''t tell us what exactly happened. Since she sneaked into their conference room to look for some kind of files, I guess it must be about the new base that they''ve been building. But, Du Yuanxing said that she killed a soldier. That is very wrong. No matter what she wanted, she shouldn''t have killed a person!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "They want you there to give them an explanation. I don''t think it''s gonna end in a good way," Xiao Licheng frowned as well.


    "Em, stay out of it for now. Just go and tell Zou about this, and see what attitude he''ll hold. I think we''ll need to pay a good price to get that woman back," said Wu Chengyue.


    "Yes, sir," Xiao Licheng replied quickly, then turned and left.


    Wu Chengyue turned to look at Wu Yueling who was by his side, then smiled at her, "Ling Ling, you see, now we have to go there."


    Wu Yueling, who was having some fun alone, glanced at him confusedly, her sparkling eyes wearing a confused look.

 548 Wesll Know When We Get There

    Soon, Zou Shihui came over in haste.


    "What did your man say? Fangyu tried to steal the secrets of Upper City Base? How can it be possible? Why would she do something like that? For what?"


    Wu Chengyue stood up behind his desk as he pointed at the couch and said, "Have a seat, then I''ll tell you about it.


    Zou Shihui sat down, his eyes still filled with disbelief. He looked at Wu Chengyue and asked, "What on earth happened? How could Fangyu possibly do something like that? Maybe there''s some kind of misunderstanding."


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and said seriously, "It''s not about whether there''s a misunderstanding or not, neither about why did she do it. They''ve already sent a man to inform us about it, so it''s clear that they''ve already captured her. So now, what we need to think about first is how to get her back. They definitely won''t let her go easily, because she killed a man."


    "Why did she do that?" Zou Shihui asked, "We should at least figure out why before we make any decision. What made her do that? Also, do you really believe what they said? Is everything they said true?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at him blandly, saying, "I don''t. I''ve already sent out my people to dig into it. However, they have the zombie wall, so we can''t find out the truth immediately. In order to prepare for what might happen, we now need to think of it as something that has happened for real."


    "No. I still don''t believe it," Zou Shihui knitted his brows and said, "Can this be a trap that those Hades Base people have set for us?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at him confusedly, saying, "Why would they set a trap for us? Our cooperation started not long ago, so doing that will not benefit them. After all, their base isn''t far away from ours. They are no match for us, so they won''t want to turn us into an enemy."


    ''That''s what the people who can only see the surface and don''t know that that female zombie is able to control zombie crowds will think.'' Wu Chengyue didn''t say the last sentence out loud.


    Based on what he knew about the female zombie, she wouldn''t just make up a lie. So, there must be a problem.


    In fact, Wu Chengyue was inclined to believe the Upper City Base people, because he knew what kind of person Yan Fangyu really was while Zou did not.


    Zou Shihui still didn''t want to believe that Yan Fangyu would do something like that, but Wu Chengyue''s words convinced him that it could not be a trap.


    Wu Chengyue was right. Those Hades Base people had just started to build their new base, so now was not the right time to start a war. Therefore, they did not have a reason to turn against Sea City Base. Not to mention the fact that Sea City Base had been helping them. They would not requite kindness with enmity, would they?


    "We''ll know if it''s true when we get there. Now, we just can''t guess how they will deal with it. If what their man said is true, they certainly will not let her go easily. They''ll bring up a condition, or ask for something," Wu Chengyue said.


    Zou Shihui nodded; Wu Chengyue was right. When they got there and saw Yan Fangyu, they would know what exactly happened.


    "When will you leave? Do you need me to prepare anything for you?" Zou Shihui looked at him and asked.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Not for now. I''ll talk to you after I talk to them. I''ll send someone back to let you know the result by then. Just prepare yourself for what might happen. If Deputy Chief Yan really murdered someone, things will be troublesome," Wu Chengyue said.


    "Alright, I get it. But, no matter what, you need to bring her back unharmed," said Zou Shihui.


    "Of course, I will. Don''t worry. Yan Fangyu is a Deputy Chief after all. Those Upper City Base people don''t dare to do anything to her. I''ll leave in a while. If there''s a news, I''ll let you know as soon as possible," said Wu Chengyue.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue, Wu Yueling, and his people sat in a few off-road cars, leaving the base for Upper City Strict.


    He didn''t bring many people. After all, he didn''t plan to turn it into a war. Bringing too many people with him would only make Upper City Base people misunderstand; and if that happened, they might change their attitude.


    Wu Yueling had clearly realized that his father was taking her to her Zombie Mom, so she appeared to be very happy. From time to time, she turned to look outside the car window, and then turned back to look at the front.


    "Alright, sit tight! You might fall off," Wu Chengyue moved her backward, in case she might slide off her seat.


    In Upper City District, Lin Qiao was on the roof, assigning tasks to the group of zombie leaders.


    All high-leveled zombies in Lower City District had been taken out by the zombie old man and the other two, so they needed to go in three different directions now.


    Lin Qiao ordered the zombie old man and the zombie boy to lead zombie number one to four to Gongshu District, and then sent the middle-aged male zombie and the other two zombie leaders to Jianggan District. After that, she asked Yun Meng to bring the last level-four zombie to Binjiang District.


    In the same day, Lin Feng and Lin Hao had started off as well.


    Lin Qiao wove a lot of grass beads with the grass leaves from her space and a slight amount of her blood, then told Lin Feng and some of the others to wear them. In that way, the zombie crowd near the base would automatically make way for them when they went out, and the other ordinary zombies wouldn''t dare to approach them.


    She only gave those grass beads to the few trusted people, but didn''t let the others know.


    Among Lin Feng''s team, Lin Feng, Lin Hao, and Lin Wenwen had received the grass beads; on Li Zheng''s side, only Li Zheng, Lin Yu, and Feng Yuming, who was very afraid of zombies, got them.


    "I don''t think I''ve ever seen a space-powered zombie," Lin Qiao suddenly realized it. She wished that there would be a space-powered one among the zombie crowd out there. Then, she would be able to order that zombie to collect some supplies for her. Lin Feng and his people were still too inefficient after all.


    Liu Jun and Shen Yujen, who were watching a group of zombies cut trees and weed with their claws, silently turned their eyes back to Lin Qiao.


    Earlier that day, Lin Qiao abruptly released tens of level four and three zombies from her space and sent them to the uncultivated land and the hills around the sweetcorn field to destroy all the weeds and trees there.


    Liu Jun and Shen Yujen wondered how other people might react and feel if they saw that. Both of them looked pretty stunned, and did not know what to do now.


    "That''s true. The zombies with special kinds of superpowers are rare. The chance for human beings to trigger those powers is already very low, and I guess it''s even lower for zombies," Liu Jun nodded.


    She was right. Space-powered zombies did exist, but were very rare.


    Till now, not one of them was seen in the south and east China. Some had heard that one was found in the North, but no one knew how that story ended.


    Liu Jun turned to Lin Qiao with a meaningful look on her face once she finished talking. Despite the low chance, one powerful space-powered zombie was standing right in front of her!

 549 She Knows The Bottomline

    "Space-powered zombies can largely benefit space-powered people, so I guess even if there are some superpowered zombies out there. they''ll be hunted soon," Lin Qiao said, hearing which, Liu Jun nodded.


    "I heard that you''re gonna trade that woman for five level-six zombie nuclei. Is that true?" Liu Jun asked.


    Everybody had known about what happened last night. As a Deputy Chief, Yan Fangyu had actually done something like that. This kind of thing never happened before. Normally, she just appeared to be a sophisticated person, and not a scheming one.


    "Hehe¡­ Do you know why she did that? Because that''s one of her tactics. She thought that no one would find out what she did last night. When people would get up in the morning, they''d find that the guard had gone missing, but no one would suspect her," Lin Qiao said smilingly. "She looks like a good person because she only does bad things very secretly, and she knows where the bottom line is. On one hand, she won''t make it too serious, and on the other hand, people tend to turn blind eyes to the bad things that she has done due to her pretty appearance and high status. Also, many people have been willingly cleaning up the mess for her."


    She was such a beautiful woman, so there must be a few super fans of hers in her base. Those people had been protecting her like a goddess.


    "Do you mean that even though she''s been doing some bad things in her base, those things weren''t incurably awful? And, some people have been secretly cleaning up the mess for her, which is why she''s able to maintain her positive image?" Liu Jun paused briefly, then figured it out, also glancing at Shen Yujen.


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "You''re right, and she''s clearly aware of that. She smartly grasped the bottom line. Besides, imprisoning a few men can''t be as bad as imprisoning women. She''s a Deputy Chief after all. She has her power."


    Hearing that, Liu Jun thought for a moment and then laughed, "Ah, I finally know why she got caught this time. She underestimated us. On one hand, she was confident that no one would spot her, and on the other hand, she believed that we wouldn''t be able to do anything to her even if she got caught, as she''s a Deputy Chief from Sea City Base. That''s why she refused to admit what she had done when you caught her. I guess she thought that as long as Sea City People arrived at our place and gave us some pressure, the problem would be solved easily."


    "You guessed right. That''s exactly what she thought last night. I read her mind. That woman is a schemer. However, she encountered me this time, hah!" Lin Qiao chuckled.


    "So, she''s that kind of person. Thankfully, I''m not from Sea City Base, or I''d feel so disappointed¡­ Right, Jen?" Liu Jun turned to Shen Yujen and said with pity. The latter only nodded unhappily.


    She couldn''t have imagined that Yan Fangyu, the idol of all female Sea City Base members, was actually so evil in private. She suddenly felt that Yan Fangyu was even more disgusting than Lu Tianyu.


    Shen Yujen had no idea that Lin Qiao, who was right in front of her, was also Lu Tianyu whom she was thinking about. The members of the zombie group had been calling her Lin Qiao, but the others in the base had all been calling her Miss. Lu.


    That had actually been confusing her, but she never asked around about it.


    "Oh, you''re thinking about Lu Tianyu. I need to clarify that¡­ The reason why Lu Tianyu''s reputation was so awful was because Yan Fangyu had contributed quite greatly to it," Lin Qiao read Shen Yujen''s mind and then realized that the previous owner of her body had suffered quite some losses because of Yan Fangyu, but never knew about it.


    Liu Jun glanced at Lin Qiao with a weird look and then smiled.


    She understood that Lin Qiao was clearly trying to clear Lu Tianyu''s name. Lu Tianyu had indeed done a lot of annoying things, but at least, she never got people killed.


    As for being with men, she was much franker than Yan Fangyu, in a distasteful way though.


    That was her way of surviving though. She wouldn''t have survived the five years if she didn''t act that way, as she didn''t have a superpower.


    "Alright. I can''t believe she did that to a commoner like Lu Tianyu. She''s a Deputy Chief after all," Liu Jun said expressionlessly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I think Wu Chengyue will arrive this afternoon. Alright, let''s stop talking and start working¡­ Oi, you! You''re a zombie! Why are you biting the tree¡­" Lin Qiao abruptly roared at a zombie which was opening up the uncultivated land.


    Liu Jun and Shen Yujen turned that way as well and saw a level-three zombie biting a wrist-thick tree with its head tilted.


    "Hah¡­ Maybe it''s starving," Liu Jun laughed.


    "No matter how hungry they are, they can''t be interested in trees. Besides, the zombie stomachs are dead. Their appetite for human flesh is simply an instinctive reaction," Lin Qiao gave her a glance and replied.


    "Maybe it''s because you hadn''t fed meat to them for a long time," Liu Jun covered her mouth and chuckled.


    "Why would I feed meat to them? They don''t eat meat. They only eat human flesh! Do you want me to feed them with human beings?" Lin Qiao glared at Liu Jun. The latter was clearly teasing her.


    "You see, they''re ill, because you wouldn''t feed them meat!" Liu Jun pointed at that zombie who seemed to be very confused after hearing Lin Qiao''s yelling.


    "What kind of illness do they have?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Mental diseases!" Liu Jun replied.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent, and so did Shen Yujen, who had been watching the two of them.


    ¡­


    In the Agriculture Department of Sea City Base, Kong Qingming pushed open Lu Tianyi''s office while saying, "Oi, I got a piece of interesting news. Do you want to hear it?"


    In the office, Lu Tianyi was talking to Zheng Xiaonian about work. Both of them turned to Kong Qingming curiously.


    "What news?" Lu Tianyi asked.


    Kong Qingming closed the door, then walked over and threw two pieces of papers on the desk.


    "It happened in Upper City District. Miss. Yan is having some serious trouble this time," said Kong Qingming smilingly. His pretty face wore an excited look.


    "Huh?" Lu Tianyi picked up the papers and browsed. The first part of the text was about what happened as well as the newest development, and the last part was a personal file.


    "She killed a man? In Upper City Base? That woman actually killed one of their men in their base? Is her brain damaged? Did she think that she was still in Sea City Base, and that killing one or two people wouldn''t affect her at all?" After reading the text and the victim''s file, Lu Tianyi frowned and said with discontentment.


    "What? Deputy Chief Nian killed a man in Big Sister''s place? She killed one of Big Sister''s men?" Zheng Xiaonian looked at Lu Tianyi with surprise.

 550 Just Go And Watch The Show

    "Xiaonian, can''t you call her another name? Don''t always call her Big Sister. Why do I feel that sounds like a mob boss?" Kong Qingming looked at Zheng Xiaonian and laughed.


    "Not Big Sister? What should we call her then? Big Boss?" Zheng Xiaonian replied.


    "¡­ Big Sister is fine!" Kong Qingming looked at him, feeling speechless.


    "She sneaked into their conference room at night, knowing that lots of files of their base were kept there. What was she trying to find out?" Lu Tianyi remarked while thinking.


    "She was surely trying to find out the secrets of that new base. But in the end, she got caught. Do you know how ridiculously she reacted? She got caught, but claimed that she was only passing by. She also said that Upper City Base people don''t dare to do anything to her. Clearly, our Deputy Chief Yan underestimates those people," Kong Qingming crossed his arms before his chest and said smilingly.


    "Huh? Passing by? How could she even say that¡­!Who would sneak into other people''s conference room when passing by. She killed one of their soldiers and lied through her teeth?" Lu Tianyi said disdainfully.


    "She might think that Upper City Base people would be afraid of Sea City Base, as they only have thousands of people. She thought that those people wouldn''t hurt her, but unexpectedly, Zombie¡­ eh¡­ the Chief of Upper City Base disjointed her arms and locked her in a room. I guess they''re waiting for our Chief to arrive now." Kong Qingming hurriedly changed his words as he almost said ''Zombie Sister''.


    "So now, they''re waiting for the negotiation. We don''t know what those people will ask. In my opinion, our Chief can''t possibly bring Deputy Chief Yan back without giving out at least three level-six zombie nuclei," Lu Tianyi thought through the whole thing and then said.


    Yan Fangyu was a Deputy Chief of Sea City Base. With their current power, Upper City Base people would indeed be afraid of Sea City Base. However, even though they couldn''t do anything to Yan Fangyu, they wouldn''t possibly name a low price for her. At the very least, they would grasp the opportunity to find out where Sea City Base''s bottom line was, and then name a price right near that line.


    Lu Tianyi believed that the price could not be lower than three level-six zombie nuclei.


    "Have you finished your work yet? Let''s go and watch the show," Kong Qingming tilted his head toward Lu Tianyi as he said, "That''ll be a great show. It would be such a shame to miss it."


    Lu Tianyi tidied his desk and then said to Zheng Xiaonian, "Xiaonian, before we come back, tell the others to start doing the works that I gave you just now. If there''s a problem, leave it and wait until I return."


    "Yes, sir," Zheng Xiaonian was curious too, but he also understood that he could not leave for now as he had work to do. He was only a little jealous of his two bosses, who were able to go and watch the show.


    "We''ll tell you what happened when we get back," Kong Qingming noticed the look on Zheng Xiaonian''s face and then said. Hearing that, the latter left happily.


    After cleaning the table, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming drove out of the base, toward Upper City District. They didn''t bring anyone else.


    "I think your sister¡­ I mean the current her, will definitely name a huge price to Chief Wu this time," Kong Qingming said while driving.


    "Whatever exists between the two of them is¡­ a little complicated. If Lu Tianyu is smart enough, she won''t break Chief Wu''s bottom line," Lu Tianyi nodded and said.


    "I think our Chief should bring Zombie Sister a big gift this time, and it has to be a reasonable one. She''s his future wife after all. If he fails to handle this well, he would be facing so many difficulties when pursuing her, not to mention marrying her," Kong Qingming burst in laughter.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming said to each other that they were going to watch a show, but in fact, they only wickedly wanted to see Wu Chengyue''s frustrated face.


    The current Lu Tianyu was no longer incapable and brainless like she was a couple of months ago. Wu Chengyue had suffered losses a few times already because of her.


    Lu Tianyu stayed silent for a few seconds, then responded, "I think it''ll be difficult for Chief Wu to marry Lu Tianyu. Lu Tianyu''s attitude has clearly explained it. She''s obviously not interested in him."


    "That is right. For that very reason, I think Chief Wu will definitely take the opportunity to give more to Upper City Base this time. Yan Fangyu made the wrong plan. I guess her life won''t be easy even if she makes it back to Sea City Base," Kong Qingming agreed.


    ¡­


    That afternoon, Wu Chengyue''s car was driven to the zombie wall in Upper City District. At that time, he found that the zombies in that area had moved to both sides of the road and cleared the way. A young girl with long twin tails was standing on top of a utility pole nearby.


    Qiu Lili leaped off the utility pole and landed before Wu Chengyue''s car, as his vehicles parked before the path instead of going straight through.


    "Ahyaya, the little one¡­" The people in the car saw her descend, and then disappear in a blink. Next, they found her squatting outside the car window near Wu Yueling, looking at the girl with sparkling eyes.


    Wu Yueling looked back at her confusedly.


    Qiu Lili waved at the little one to greet her and then stepped away, turning to Wu Chengyue, "Big Zombie Sister said that you can just come in."


    "Thank you!" Looking at Qiu Lili''s purely dark eyes and glowing red pupils, Wu Chengyue nodded smilingly. After delivering Lin Qiao''s words, Qiu Lili stepped backward and then leaped on top of the building nearby.


    "Let''s go!" Wu Chengyue said to the driver. The motorcade started moving forward. After all the vehicles passed through the zombie path, the zombie crowd automatically gathered back together and blocked the road again.


    After watching the motorcade drive into the new base site, Qiu Lili flashed across the roof and disappeared.


    Lin Qiao was sitting on top of the stair room. As Qiu Lili returned, she looked at her and said, "They''re here, right?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Hm, they are," Qiu Lili landed by her side and nodded.


    "How many people came with him?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Em, not many. Just four or five off-road cars, and not too many people sitting in them," Qiu Lili answered the question.


    "I see¡­ I guess he''s ready to bring himself into my trap. I suddenly feel that five level-six zombie nuclei might be too little. Should we raise the price?" Lin Qiao laughed.


    "Huh? Is that so?" Qiu Lili looked at her confusedly. She didn''t understand Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    "You see, he only brought a few people, and that seems to be a little unserious¡­" Lin Qiao faced where the noises of vehicles could be heard from and blinked.


    "So, is Yan Fangyu important to him? Does it mean he''s willing to pay a huge ransom for her?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "What''s important to him is not that woman. Instead, it''s how the other people in Sea City Base, and the other bases might think of this. Therefore, he cannot let us do anything to that woman," Lin Qiao shook her head.

 551 The Meeting

    Wu Chengyue''s car parked before the hotel where Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting had already been waiting for him with their people, right by the entrance.


    As Wu Chengyue got off the car and then carried Wu Yueling out, Yuan Tianxing came up to him and greeted him with a smile, "Chief Wu, good to see you again!"


    "Yeah, so soon¡­ Alright, take me to your Boss," Wu Chengyue smiled and said.


    "Our Chief is waiting for you in the conference room¡­.After you!" Yuan Tianxing smiled and nodded, then stepped aside as he invited Wu Chengyue inside.


    Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling as he followed Xiao Licheng and the others into the hotel. Yuan Tianxing walked by his side, half a step behind him and near Wu Yueling. Wu Yueling lay on her father''s shoulder as she sneakily glanced at Yuan Tianxing with a pair of watery eyes.


    Noticing her gaze, Yuan Tianxing turned and waved a hand at her. In response, she flinched and then buried her entire face into Wu Chengyue''s neck.


    "I''d like to confirm if our Deputy Chief Yan is still alive or not," Wu Chengyue said abruptly.


    Yuan Tianxing calmly gave him a glance, then laughed, "Of course she''s still alive! Our Chief is going to give her back to you, so you can take her back home and then deal with the problem yourself. We won''t hurt her."


    "Good then! Your Chief seems to be aware of the situation," Wu Chengyue turned and gave Yuan Tianxing a glance. The faint smile remained on his face while his eyes sparkled with a cunning look. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Chief Wu, our Chief is not silly!" Yuan Tianxing gave him a glance as well.


    They were both wearing a faint smile and appeared to be relaxed. Moreover, they were both handsome. Quite some ladies in surrounding all turned to them with glowing eyes.


    They soon arrived at the conference room, where the door was wide open. Wu Chengyue looked inside and saw the long conference table with chairs places on both sides. Lin Qiao was sitting on one side of the table, wearing a black army suit with her hat on the table.


    Wu Chengyue was also wearing a formal army suit. The long, black military coat produced a solemn vibe, only broken by the adorable Wu Yueling who was carried in his arms.


    Lin Qiao heard the footsteps of Wu Chengyue and the others, then watched them come in. She didn''t stand up, but remained sitting there, looking at Wu Chengyue. She raised a hand and pointed at the other side of the table to signal for him to sit over there. "Please have a seat!"


    Hearing her voice, Wu Yueling immediately raised her head from Wu Chengyue''s neck and gazed at her. The girl''s eyes shone brightly.


    After offering Wu Chengyue a seat, Lin Qiao winked at Wu Yueling.


    At that moment, the people in the room sensed that something weird seeming to have mixed in the solemn atmosphere within the room¡­


    Wu Chengyue sat down, prepared to start talking. However, Lin Qiao talked first.


    "Ling Ling, come over here!" She put one elbow on the table, then rested her head on her palm while waving at Wu Yueling with the other hand. As expected, Wu Yueling chose her instead of her father without hesitation. She quickly slid off from Wu Chengyue''s arms and then ran to Lin Qiao.


    Wu Chengyue was left speechless.


    He opened his mouth as he watched Wu Yueling trot to Lin Qiao and smoothly climb onto her lap. The others watched all that in confusion as well.


    "Haha!" Seeing the stiff and speechless look on Wu Chengyue''s face, Yuan Tianxing couldn''t help but turn his face away and titter.


    Chen Yuting raised his head to look at the ceiling. ''Can''t we just start the serious talk?'' he thought.


    Lin Qiao put Wu Yueling on her knees, then raised her head and looked at Wu Chengyue, "Alright! Let''s get down to business."


    Wu Chengyue blinked, then immediately put on his symbolic faint smile and responded, "Okay, let''s do it! You have already told me about what happened, and I''ve sent my people here to confirm that it''s true. But, can you please bring Deputy Chief Yan here and let me see her? I just need to make sure if she''s still alive or not."


    "Sure!" Lin Qiao smilingly glanced at him, then raised a hand and crooked her fingers toward Qiu Lili, who was standing behind her. The other turned and headed toward the door.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t say another word, but quietly looked at Lin Qiao with that faint smile on his face. More specifically, he was observing the latter.


    Her vibe had grown further stronger and turned a little different. When he saw her the last few times, her vibe wasn''t as mature and stable as it was now, and was sharper.


    That sharpness wasn''t gone, but was restrained by Lin Qiao.


    Wu Chengyue was aware that ever since he stepped into this room, Lin Qiao had been controlling the atmosphere in this room. Even his vibe was affected by her as he wasn''t unprepared.


    He was planning to boost his vibe after sitting down. However, she summoned his daughter with a few simple words and destroyed his vibe for good.


    "Tell me, what is your condition?" Wu Chengyue put both hands on the table.


    When Wu Chengyue sat down, Xiao Licheng took the seat on his left side, then took out a notebook and started making notes. Lin Qiao had no other people around her, except Qiu Lili standing behind her.


    Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting came in and each took a seat while the others all stepped back to the door.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyes and looked at Wu Chengyue, "So straightforward? Aren''t you gonna wait for her? Maybe you should wait until you have asked her a few questions and figured out the whole thing."


    "I''ve looked into this, so that will be unnecessary. Just tell me about your condition. Anything within my abilities is negotiable," Wu Chengyue smilingly looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes and said.


    It seemed that Lin Qiao wasn''t wearing those cosmetic contacts that he gave her before. Her pupils were green. Was that the real color of her eyes? What about the white parts of those eyes?


    "Alright! Miss. Yan was, undoubtedly, welcomed in our base. She arrived yesterday, but last night, she sneaked into our conference room. We don''t know what she was trying to do."


    "As you can see, many files about this new base are stored in the cabinet behind me. It would be inappropriate for her to accidentally read some of them, wouldn''t it? Not only did she break in, but also killed the soldier who was guarding this room. Doesn''t she know that the people in my base are mostly survivors from Hades Base? We are already underpopulated, but she killed one of my people for no reason, like uprooting a grass. Your Deputy Chief doesn''t seem to be a decent person!" Lin Qiao stated what Yan Fangyu did and criticized her.


    Wu Chengyue quietly listened to her. She was right, every single word she said made sense. Therefore, he could not argue against her, and only nodded smilingly.


    As a guest, Yan Fangyu should have never entered that conference room without permission. Normally, the people who did that kind of thing would be arrested and punished as an information thief.


    Yan Fangyu was a Deputy Chief, so what she had done would lead to even more serious consequences.

 552 People Were Watching

    "I''m very sorry that our Deputy Chief did something like that in your place. So, what is your condition?" Wu Chengyue slightly narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lin Qiao and said. He was a little unhappy about the excessively composed look in her eyes.


    Just now, when she looked at his Ling Ling, the look in her eyes had turned so much softer. However, when she turned to him, her eyes became like a dark-green, deep pool of water, showing no emotion at all.


    That was not fair! He was trying to be nice to her! Why was she only interested in his daughter?


    Wu Chengyue was aware that everybody should stay calm and serious now, and they were talking about something important. But for some reason, he started caring a lot about Lin Qiao ever since he noticed the gentle way she looked at Wu Yueling. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    If only she could look at him in the same way.


    "Are you gonna accept any condition that I put forward?" Lin Qiao didn''t answer the question directly, but curved one side of her lip corners and threw a question back.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and responded, "As long as I''m able to."


    Lin Qiao laughed, "Alright! You seem to care much about that pretty Deputy Chief of your base. I''m surprised that you believe us so firmly. I thought that you''d at least have some doubts, and would want to hear what she''ll say first."


    Once she finished talking, footsteps sounds could be heard from the outside. Among a series of footstep sounds, one sounded feeble and disordered.


    Before long, Qiu Lili came in with silken gait. Two soldiers followed behind her, carrying Yan Fangyu. They dragged her to the chair which was prepared for her.


    "Chief¡­ Chief! Save me! I didn''t do anything! It''s her! She framed me!" Yan Fangyu fixed her glowing eyes on Wu Chengyue once she came in, then shouted at him eagerly, as if he was a savior.


    "Oi, woman, why are you so shameless! You did it and you refuse to admit it! You''ve gotten caught! How dare you still claim that you didn''t do anything! Look at this!" Hearing that Yan Fangyu was actually shameless enough to claim that she was innocent, Qiu Lili, who had just made two steps toward Lin Qiao, stopped angrily.


    While speaking, she walked to a cabinet nearby and took out a wooden box from it. Then, she walked back to Yan Fangyu with big steps, then opened the box and showed her what was inside.


    In the box was some black ash.


    Clap! After showing it to Yan Fangyu, Qiu Lili quickly closed the lid and put the box back into the cabinet.


    Everyone in the know understood that the ash was the remains of that poor guard who was murdered by Yan Fangyu with her fire power last night.


    Yan Fangyu blinked, then raised her head and said to Qiu Lili, "I don''t know what that is! That''s just some ash! Are you gonna use that as evidence? How ridiculous!"


    "Oh, that''s not just some regular ash. That''s the ash of the soldier who was guarding this room last night. You burned him," Lin Qiao put down her hand which was supporting her head, then turned and looked at Yan Fangyu as she said blandly.


    "I never burned any guard! Stop lying! Chief Wu, I really did not do what they said! I''m innocent!" Yan Fangyu first yelled at Lin Qiao, then turned to Wu Chengyue and showed him an innocent look.


    "Enough! Deputy Chief Yan, how come I didn''t realize that you were such kind of woman before? You''re scheming, and you deny what you''ve done. No matter what you say, you''ve been here last night, and that''s a fact." Yuan Tianxing knitted his brows once Yan Fangyu started talking. His daily faint smile was gone. Even though he had been struggling at the moment, he still couldn''t help but speak to her in a harsh tone.


    "Yuan Tianxing! I''ve helped you a lot when you first came to Sea City Base! Are you an ungrateful person?" Yan Fangyu immediately yelled at him. Both her shoulders had been suffering pain, but she still talked with a strong vibe.


    "If I knew that you were this kind of person, I wouldn''t let you help me. I am saying this to you for your own good because you''ve helped me. Just stop denying. Everybody is watching. Do you think all of us are blind? You''re making yourself look ugly!" Yuan Tianxing sighed and said.


    "You! Shut up! I didn''t do it! I didn''t! Why would I admit something that I didn''t do?" Being stimulated by Yuan Tianxing''s words, Yan Fangyu shouted at him. Her pale face suddenly became twisted.


    She firmly believed that as long as Wu Chengyue believed that she didn''t do it, he would certainly send out his people to solve the problem and clean up the mess. When she returned to her base, she would also ask Zou Shihui and the others to help deal with this.


    As long as she returned to Sea City Base, she would have plenty of ways to cover this up. And after that, she would find other chances to deal with Lin Qiao''s small base, which only had thousands of people.


    She had truly misstepped this time. If she had brought more people with her, she would have never gotten caught and ended up like this. Back in Sea City Base, she had thirty-thousand soldiers under her command. She would have so many excuses to destroy everyone in Lin Qiao''s base.


    Even now, Yan Fangyu didn''t stop making plans in her heart.


    She had no idea that Lin Qiao, who was less than four meters away from her, had sensed every thought of hers.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t able to read Wu Chengyue''s mind because the conference table was over five-meters long, and he was at level-seven. She couldn''t sense his thoughts unless he got emotional.


    Unlike him, Yan Fangyu was much closer to Lin Qiao, and was at a lower level than her. Therefore, her thoughts had been clearly sensed by the latter.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes as she looked at the other and abruptly clicked her tongue, "Deputy Chief Yan, you do have some great plans. If that''s only some regular ash that we found, why does it contain the same kind of fire energy as you have? Have you forgotten about that?"


    "Wha-what¡­" Yan Fangyu was stunned upon hearing Lin Qiao''s words. Her face which had paled because of the pain from her shoulders turned even paler.


    "Lili, show the box to Chief Wu," Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili, who immediately took out the box again and brought it to Wu Chengyue, putting it on the table near him.


    Wu Chengyue put his hand on the box to sense the energy inside it, then frowned slightly. Afterward, he took away his hand and looked at Yan Fangyu as he said, "She''s right! Deputy Chief Yan, I did sense your energy from the box. How are you gonna explain that? In fact, my people have investigated this whole thing and confirmed that it''s true. You can stop talking now. Just follow my arrangement."


    With some simple words, Wu Chengyue convicted Yan Fangyu, and didn''t try to help her out at all.


    "Chief¡­ Chief Wu!" Yan Fangyu was dumbfounded. She thought that Wu Chengyue wouldn''t believe Lin Qiao and her people, or at least wouldn''t admit it openly. However, he believed them and admitted it! He admitted it! He convicted her!

 553 Zombie Nuclei And Seeds

    "No! No! No¡­ Chief Wu, you can''t listen to them! I didn''t do it¡­ I did nothing wrong! Nothing!" Yan Fangyu panicked. While screaming, she unwittingly changed her words into ''I did nothing wrong''.


    "Alright. You better shut your mouth if you want to stay alive and go back with me," Wu Chengyue said to her in a bland tone. Yan Fangyu instantly fell into silence, just gazing at him.


    Wu Chengyue pushed the box to Qiu Lili, then nodded at her. The latter immediately took it back, then walked to the door and handed it to Duan Juan. Duan Juan took over the box, then turned and left.


    "Alright, I''m gonna put forward my condition directly. Last night, she entered this place without permission. So, if she leaks any intelligence about our base in the future, I''ll still put her in trouble. She broke into my conference room and killed one of my soldiers with fire power¡­ For these two crimes, I''m gonna ask you to give me five level-six zombie nuclei, or the nuclei at other levels with equivalent value, along with¡­ a batch of seeds." Lin Qiao glanced at the stunned Yan Fangyu, then turned back to Wu Chengyue and named her price.


    Everybody knew what zombie nuclei were, and what equivalent value meant. But, seeds?


    The people on the scene failed to understand her meaning immediately.


    Wu Chengyue did understand Lin Qiao though. He nodded and said, "I can give some seeds, but not many. I am able to give you the seeds of ten kinds of plants, fifty seeds of each kind. As for zombie nuclei¡­"


    He knew that Lin Qiao wanted the seeds of edible crops and vegetables. Those kinds of seeds had become very precious since the apocalypse. Sea City Base had been accumulating seeds for five years, but still, they didn''t have too many in stock. Those seeds had been consumed batch by batch. Only a slight amount of every batch was saved as backup.


    Normally, no base would lend out their seeds.


    Wu Chengyue promised to give seeds to Lin Qiao, but the zombie nuclei that she asked for were a little difficult.


    "Aren''t five nuclei too many?" Wu Chengyue turned to look at Yan Fangyu. Judging by the look in his eyes, he probably felt that she wasn''t worth five level-six zombie nuclei.


    "Five level-six zombie nuclei! Why don''t you just go out and rob people!" At that moment, Yan Fangyu came back to her senses and screamed at Lin Qiao.


    Meanwhile, she was actually glad, because she was considered worth five level-six zombie nuclei. However, she didn''t want Wu Chengyue to accept Lin Qiao''s condition.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said lazily, "Five level-six zombie nuclei. If you can get level-seven nuclei, I''ll take one!"


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say. ''Damn! Where can I find a level-seven zombie nucleus for you? Do you want me to dig yours out?'' he shouted in his head.


    "Hah¡­" Qiu Lili, who was standing by Lin Qiao''s side, abruptly turned her face away as she covered her mouth and chuckled. The others all had their mouth corners, eye corners, or eyebrows twitching, as they were trying pretty hard to keep themselves from laughing out loud.


    That was a solemn occasion, so those people didn''t dare to laugh.


    Once Qiu Lili laughed, the others all turned their heads away and raised their hands to cover their mouths.


    "Hah¡­"


    "Hehe¡­"


    "Eh-hem¡­"


    Wu Chengyue felt so weirdly awkward.


    "Oi, you guys, be serious! Why are you laughing?" Lin Qiao glanced at those people, then knocked on the table to remind them to be serious. Hearing her, those people hurriedly stopped laughing.


    "We don''t have level-seven nuclei. I''ll just give you five level-six zombie nuclei as you asked for. My people will deliver them to you." Wu Chengyue could barely maintain the smile on his face. The look on his face showed that he was suffering a serious heartburn.


    Five level-six zombie nuclei! His base had only collected less than ten of them so far!


    "No! You can''t give her! Chief Wu! Those are five level-six zombie nuclei!" Yan Fangyu got anxious. She didn''t expect him to really agree to give them five level-six zombie nuclei.


    "No? You can also give us your life," Lin Qiao said to her with a smile.


    "You! You''re so evil!" Yan Fangyu clenched her teeth and cursed. If the two soldiers hadn''t been pressing her down, she would have pounced on Lin Qiao and bitten her.


    "Deal! When the nuclei are delivered to me, you''ll be able to leave with her," Lin Qiao nodded at Wu Chengyue.


    "Deal!" Wu Chengyue sighed with a sulky face.


    Lin Qiao then said to Qiu Lili, "Take her back to her room and keep an eye on her."


    "Sure!" Qiu Lili nodded. While heading toward the door, she ordered the two soldiers who had been holding Yan Fangyu down, "Let''s go!"


    "Remember this!" Yan Fangyu glared at Lin Qiao viciously, as if she wanted to eat her.


    "Hm, I WILL remember this," Lin Qiao shrugged.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After watching the two soldiers drag Yan Fangyu away, Wu Chengyue said to Wu Yueling, who was on Lin Qiao''s knees, "Alright Ling Ling, come to Daddy!"


    But, Wu Yueling turned her body and showed her back to her father, who was left not knowing what to say.


    "Since we''ve achieved an agreement, Chief Wu, you can go to your room and get some rest. It''s the same room that you stayed at last time. I think you can just show yourself there." Lin Qiao smiled at Wu Chengyue and said.


    Wu Chengyue suddenly felt embarrassed. "Aren''t you a little impolite? Am I a stranger to you?"


    ''What an awful attitude!'' Wu Chengyue complained silently.


    He was unhappy because of Lin Qiao''s cold attitude, and the fact that she was luring his Ling Ling away!


    "Ling Ling, let''s go! I''ll take you to play with Xiaolu and Tongtong," Lin Qiao ignored him and said to Wu Yueling, who nodded at her happily.


    Lin Qiao put her down to the ground, then stood up. She held her hand and walked out of the conference room, as if the other people weren''t there.


    As she left, all Upper City Base people walked away.


    "Chief Wu, you''re familiar with this place, so make yourself home. I still have work to do, so I''m gonna take off," Yuan Tianxing stood up smilingly and said to Wu Chengyue. After saying that, he turned and left with a smiling face.


    Chen Yuting watched the others leave, then asked Wu Chengyue, "Why do I feel that Ling Ling is¡­ pretty close with Miss. Lu?"


    "Ah, that little traitor!" Wu Chengyue sighed. Then, he suddenly thought of something and asked Chen Yuting, "What happened to that female zombie? Why did her vibe grow so much stronger after her trip to the South?"


    Hearing that, Chen Yuting had his expression turn weird.


    "Eh, I heard that she has restored her memory! Those Hades Base people have changed their attitudes toward her largely. I wasn''t there that day, so I''ve only heard a little about it. It''s said that Miss. Lu is possessed by the leader of Hades Base," Chen Yuting said confusedly while wearing a frown.

 554 Its Getting A Little Spooky

    "Possessed? Like by a ghost? What the hell is it?" Wu Chengyue looked at Chen Yuting with confusion.


    "Well¡­ I heard that it''s a little complicated. I think Miss. Lu used to live in our Sea City Base. For some reason, she died and turned into a zombie, also into someone else. I heard that her personality is completely different from before. Also, it was her who traveled all the way from Sea City Base to the South and saved Lin Family people when Hades Base was under attack," Chen Yuting told the secrets that he had learned in the new base to Wu Chengyue.


    "I guess those Hades Base people had secretly observed her and investigated into her because she showed up suddenly, and had been helping them the whole time. Those people were probably confused. You''ve seen it anyway. All that Miss. Lu had done before was to help those people. If you were them, you''d be confused and get suspicious too. After all, in this post-apocalyptic era, no one will help others for no reason. There must be a reason."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "That''s right. And she has indeed turned into another soul¡­"


    He murmured the last few words with a very low voice, so Chen Yuting didn''t hear him clearly.


    "What?" Chen Yuting asked.


    "Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "Hm, nothing¡­ She has changed greatly this time. Did anything happen in the South? Why did she suddenly become the Chief of this base after she returned? And, you said that she''s possessed, and also mentioned her memory. What are those about?"


    Chen Yuting responded, "In fact, I don''t know for sure. But, I think those Hades Base people are seeing Miss. Lu as Chief Netherworld Fire, the one who detonated herself a couple of months ago. She seems to have restored Chief Netherworld Fire''s memory. That''s why she became the Chief of this place. And her power¡­ Space is not her only power. She also has that corrosive dark fire, as same as Chief Netherworld Fire had."


    Wu Chengyue raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you saying that she has a special fire power? Have you seen her use it yet?"


    "No," Chen Yuting shook his head.


    Wu Chengyue crossed his arms before his chest and asked, "Do you believe it? That she''s Netherworld Fire."


    Chen Yuting''s eyes showed confusion. He thought for a moment, then replied, "I don''t. But whoever she is, she''s the one that I''m going to follow."


    "Why did you tell me so much then? Do you think it''s gonna do her any good?" Wu Chengyue raised his brows again and laughed.


    "Do you believe me then? Besides, what I''ve told you is all baseless! Even if you told other people about it, I guess they wouldn''t believe you," Chen Yuting looked at him and smiled.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Alright. That is indeed a little¡­ well¡­ supernatural? Em, we live in the era of science, so people won''t normally buy what you said. However, if you explained it in another way¡­ things might be different. I guess no one has thought of doing experiments in that sphere yet."


    "What is it?" Chen Yuting asked with confusion.


    "Copy memory, transfer superpowers," Wu Chengyue glanced at him and said.


    Chen Yuting paused briefly, then frowned again and said, "I don''t think it can be that easy. We''re not talking about robots."


    "But, it''s still possible. From the angle of science, that might become one of the scientific research directions in tens, or a hundred years," said Wu Chengyue.


    "Who has the mood to study that now? Without solving the problems of the zombie virus and those zombies, when can human beings start a new era?" Chen Yuting thought for a moment and then remarked.


    "Oi, would that female zombie kill you if she heard what you said? Eh?" Wu Chengyue reminded him not to forget whom he was following now.


    "Eh¡­ That''s different! I was thinking from other people''s angle. It''s not like I''m really doing it," Chen Yuting paused, then guiltily glanced at the door.


    Xiao Licheng listened to their conversation with great interests.


    Then, Chen Yuting thought of one problem and asked, "Oh, Chief Wu, why did you accept Miss. Lu''s condition so easily? Is Yan Fangyu worth so much? I don''t think so! What do you think, Licheng?"


    "Huh?" Xiao Licheng first replied with confusion, and then thought for a moment before continuing, "According to you, Deputy Chief Yan did do those bad things. She has killed one of their men, so it''s reasonable for us to compensate them for their loss. Now, it''s not about whether Yan Fangyu is worth so much or not. It''s actually about if Miss. Lu wants her life or not."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Are you saying that Miss. Lu''s price is too low," Chen Yuting asked.


    "No. Her price is not low, but not high either. It''s just the right price. She knows that our Chief would accept it. If she asked for more, our Chief might give up on Yan Fangyu. After all, as a Deputy Chief, she barely made contributions to our base. We''ve done math based on the time she had served as Deputy Chief, and those rule-violating things she had done secretly. As a result, we can pay five level-six zombie nuclei for her at most. That''s the upper-limit. As for those seeds, someone just wants to give those away¡­ eh-hem." Xiao Licheng explained the connection between Yan Fangyu and those five zombie nuclei, and then glanced at Wu Chengyue with a meaningful look.


    "Ah, I get it," Chen Yuting glanced at Wu Chengyue as well, then suddenly figured out something.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao brought Wu Yueling to Mrs. Lin''s room; the door was open.


    Seeing Lin Qiao show up with Wu Yueling, Lin Xiaolu, who was in the room, burst in a happy scream, "Wow! Ling Ling!"


    She ran over delightedly. She wanted to hold Ling Ling''s hand, but didn''t do it, as she knew that Ling Ling didn''t like people touching her.


    "Ling Ling, come over, we have strawberries!" Lin Xiaolu said to Ling Ling while running to the table and waving at her. Wu Yueling raised her head and looked at Lin Qiao.


    Her Daddy said that without an eldership''s permission, she should not eat the food that other people gave her. Wu Chengyue wasn''t here, so she saw Lin Qiao as her eldership.


    "Go ahead! You haven''t had those for quite a while, right?" Lin Qiao grinned at her, then dropped her hand to let her go to the table.


    Wu Yueling nodded, then walked to Lin Xiaolu.


    "How was the negotiation? Did he accept your condition?" Mrs. Lin sat on one side of the couch and asked curiously.


    Lin Qiao put both hands together and shook. Along with her move, a large fluffy ball of fur appeared in her hands.


    She slightly bent over and threw the rabbit to the ground, then answered the question, "Yeah. I didn''t ask for much. It''s just five level-six zombie nuclei. As for the seeds, he decided the number himself, not me."

 555 Grow Crops On Hills

    "He accepted your condition so easily? Is that Deputy Chief very important to Sea City Base?" Mrs. Lin asked.


    "He should have accepted it. Yan Fangyu isn''t worth much, but she''s a Deputy Chief of Sea City Base after all, and a female Deputy Chief at that. Even though she''s not what people think she is, she did manage to get the Deputy Chief''s position. In that position, she''s certainly influential, both inside and outside. Therefore, Wu Chengyue has to save her, willingly or not, to prevent unnecessary future troubles," Lin Qiao walked to a chair and sat down.


    "Is that so?" Mrs. Lin finally understood. "I thought five level-six zombie nuclei would be too many, and that he might try to bargain,"


    "I thought so too, but he unexpectedly did not," Lin Qiao nodded, then glanced at Wu Yueling.


    After coming out of Mrs. Lin''s room, Lin Qiao asked Qiu Lili to tell Yuan Tianxing that once the things which Wu Chengyue promised her were delivered, Yan Fangyu could be released. Then, she brought Liu Jun into her space and went down to the lake with the few level five and four zombie nuclei that the zombie old man brought back earlier, to help Liu Jun upgrade.


    "The female zombie has disappeared again! Why does your new Chief always disappear?" Wu Chengyue came out of the conference room and searched around, but didn''t see Lin Qiao. So, he said to Chen Yuting with discontentment.


    "How am I supposed to know? She can go anywhere she wants, can''t she? Alright, you keep looking for her yourself. I still have work to do," Chen Yuting looked at him confusedly and said, then left quickly.


    "Where''s Ling Ling?" Wu Chengyue asked Xiao Licheng.


    "She''s playing with Lin Feng''s daughter in Mrs. Lin''s room," Xiao Licheng answered his question.


    "Let her play then. Let''s go to Mount Wu area and see what that female zombie has turned that place into," said Wu Chengyue.


    "Eh? Aren''t you gonna see the fence wall first?" Xiao Licheng looked at him and asked.


    "We''ll do that when we get back," Wu Chengyue said, then turned and left.


    Xiao Licheng felt a little speechless. He had no choice but to follow Wu Chengyue, as the latter was the boss.


    They needed to go through the zombie wall to get to Mount. Wu area, as that mountain was located outside the zombie wall.


    That was not difficult for Wu Chengyue. Soon, he brought Xiao Licheng to Mount Wu area and found that farmland.


    "Roar!"


    They walked to the roadside and saw tens of level-three-or-four zombies doing damage to the hill nearby. The soil in the farmland before them was well-furrowed. Some healthy pumpkin plants and potato plants were growing in that field. Some sweetcorn plants and sweet potatoes plants were scattered on the edges of the field as well.


    The farmland seemed to be thriving.


    As Wu Chengyue showed up, those zombies who had been exerting on the hill all stopped moving, then turned and fixed their eyes on Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng.


    Seeing the two of them, Shen Yujen quickly walked out of the wooden cabin.


    "Oh, that''s Chen Yuting''s wife," Wu Chengyue saw her, then walked down into the field, toward the cabin.


    As the two came down, Shen Yujen stood by the cabin, waiting for them.


    "Roar!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Shen Yujen was pretty calm, but the other zombies weren''t.


    That was their territory! Those two human beings had actually entered their place! Wu Chengyue was so strong, and the pressure he gave out was so great. Therefore, those zombies didn''t dare to approach him, and only growled at him from a distance.


    Wu Chengyue walked close to those plants, and found that all those potatoes, pumpkins, sweetcorns and sweet potatoes were very healthy. They were even healthier than normal plants, and their leaves were much larger.


    "I think she developed this farmland not long ago. Why are these plants growing so fast?" Wu Chengyue asked Xiao Licheng with confusion.


    "That''s¡­ These plants are indeed different from the normal ones. I think you should ask her about that. Or maybe, let''s ask Jen?" Xiao Licheng looked around to observe the plants around his feet, then nodded in agreement with Wu Chengyue. After that, he raised his head and quickly glanced at Shen Yujen who was standing by the wooden cabin.


    "This place is full of zombies. She made zombies do farm work. People would be so shocked if they found out about this. I don''t think people would believe this without seeing it with their own eyes," Wu Chengyue walked up to Shen Yujen and said.


    Shen Yujen smiled at him, then glanced at the farmland.


    "Are these zombies reclaiming those wastelands? Are they gonna grow crops on hills?" Wu Chengyue pointed at the group of zombies which had been staring at him silently.


    Those zombies scattered by the edge of the hill. Some weeds and trees near them had been cut off from the roots. Wu Chengyue didn''t see them holding tools, so he guessed that they cut those trees with their claws. A few piles of charcoals were seen in the surroundings. He figured that those zombies might have burned the cut-off weeds and trees.


    Shen Yujen looked at him, then raised a hand and drew a circle around herself.


    "Are you saying that she''s going to plow this whole area? Hmm¡­ With these zombies? Why don''t these zombies run? They''re so obedient!" Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at those zombies as he spoke.


    Shen Yujen shook her head, then lowered her head to look around. After that, she turned and walked to the wooden cabin, picking up a stick from a pile of firewood. Then, she came up to Wu Chengyue and wrote on the ground with the stick, ''There''s an order. They don''t dare to run.''


    "Order? Oh¡­ I get it. She has given them an order, right? Being a zombie leader seems to be pretty easy. Where is she?" Wu Chengyue nodded and then asked.


    Shen Yujen wiped the words on the ground with her foot, then wrote a few new ones¡ª''She''s in her space, upgrading.''


    "Upgrade? Whom? Herself?" Wu Chengyue stared at the words on the ground and asked.


    No way! Did that female zombie start upgrading after finishing the negotiations with him? Was she upgrading again? She was at level-seven! Was upgrading getting easier and easier for her? Could she upgrade whenever she wanted to?


    Clearly, Wu Chengyue was overthinking.


    Shen Yujen soon continued writing, ''No, she''s helping Liu Jun to upgrade.''


    Wu Chengyue sighed with relief. "Oh, Liu Jun is the one who''s with a little boy, right? Is she upgrading as well?"


    This time, Shen Yujen didn''t write, and just nodded at him.


    "Alright. Since she can''t come out now, we should just head back, so that those zombies can stop drooling at us." After learning that Lin Qiao was in her space helping Liu Jun with the upgrade, Wu Chengyue instantly planned to leave.


    Shen Yujen watched him and Xiao Licheng leave, then realized that he was here to look for Miss. Lu


    As Wu Chengyue left, the group of zombies finally relaxed and continued working.

 556 Theresre Rice And Whea

    On the bottom of the lake inside the space, Lin Qiao spent a few hours filtering the energy for Liu Jun, and then the latter broke straight into level-five. Maybe because she had water power and was on the lake bottom, Lin Qiao felt that upgrading her was much easier and quicker than upgrading Xie Dong.


    After getting out of the water, Lin Qiao brought Liu Jun out of the space, straight to the wooden cabin near the sweetcorn filed.


    "How do you feel? Can you sense the water molecules in a wider range now?" Lin Qiao looked at Liu Jun and asked.


    Liu Jun stood before the cabin and took a deep breath, then nodded and said, "Yes, I am more sensitive than before. I can also feel that my body is full of energy. I think I can condense the moisture from the air even if there''s no water source near me." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao sniffed around, then abruptly asked Shen Yujen, "Did Wu Chengyue just come here?"


    Shen Yujen nodded.


    "Why?" Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest.


    Shen Yujen pointed a finger at her.


    "To look for me?" Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise.


    Shen Yujen nodded.


    Lin Qiao didn''t go back to the base, but spent the afternoon near the wooden cabin. She cut trees on the hill with the other zombies, then burned some weeds, trees, and leaves with her power.


    Those zombies were working with their claws, and their claws were much sharper than any knife. They were able to cut off one wrist-thick tree with one hack, not to mention the bushes and weeds. Soon, the hill was quickly cleaned out.


    At night, Lin Qiao sent the group of zombies back into her space, then fetched a bucket of water from the lake for them to drink. She didn''t have to distribute the water to each zombie anymore, and only needed to fetch the water from the lake. The spirit-powered young male zombie would distribute the water.


    The young spirit-powered male zombie was very smart, and was fair. At least, he would give each zombie the same amount of water.


    Lin Qiao ordered those zombies not to leave, promising them two hours of bathing time in the lake water when they finished developing the surrounding land and hills.


    Last time, she let each of those zombies bathe for three minutes, after which, those zombies longed for the feeling of being surrounded by energy all the time. Therefore, they were all very obedient to Lin Qiao now.


    That night, once she returned to the lobby of the hotel, Qiu Lili leaped down the building and ran to her side.


    "They sent that woman back," Qiu Lili pulled her little purse in front of her and then took out a bag, handing to Lin Qiao. When the latter took over the bag and opened it, Qiu Lili took out five zombie nuclei.


    Lin Qiao had sensed those zombie nuclei long ago, but she didn''t care about them. What she cared about was the bagful of seeds given by Wu Chengyue. The seeds were contained in tiny vacuum bags. Lin Qiao found with surprise the seeds of precious rice and wheat, tomato, cucumber, and some other plants.


    Seeing those seeds, she started feeling strange.


    The other seeds were explainable, but she did not think that Wu Chengyue would give her the seeds of rice and wheat. Those were staple food. It was very hard to grow rice and wheat in the soil after the apocalypse, and those seeds were very precious. Lin Qiao didn''t understand why he gave her those seeds.


    It seemed like he was trying to please her!


    "Can you make these grow?" Qiu Lili asked her.


    "Yeah! With the lake water, I can make anything grow. Don''t forget that the water in my lake is not just effective on zombies and human beings," Lin Qiao nodded. She looked at the seeds in her hand. Those were only tens of seeds, but were already enough.


    "Are you going to plant these seeds in Mount Wu area?" Qiu Lili asked curiously.


    "No. I''ll plant them in my space first, then sow the second and the third batch of seeds out here," Lin Qiao shook her head.


    The air in her space contained energy, and was isolated from the world outside. In her space, plants could grow much faster than usual. The second and third batch of seeds from the base would contain enough energy to fight against the virus outside.


    "Oh!" Qiu Lili nodded.


    Lin Qiao walked up to the fifth floor with Qiu Lili, then sensed that someone was in her room.


    "Are you allowed to come into my room without an invitation?" Lin Qiao stood by the door with discontentment as she crossed her arms before her chest and looked at Wu Chengyue, who was sitting leisurely in her room. Wu Yueling was also in her room, chasing behind the rabbit.


    "I didn''t want to, but Ling Ling insisted on coming here. What could I do?" Wu Chengyue spread his hands.


    Seeing Lin Qiao, Wu Yueling immediately stopped chasing the rabbit, then turned and rushed toward the door. She jumped at Lin Qiao and hugged her thighs, then reached her little hands toward Lin Qiao''s belly.


    Speechlessly, Lin Qiao lowered her head to look at Wu Yueling who was touching her lower belly. She then raised her head to look at Wu Chengyue and found him gazing at her belly, eyes glowing with a dim light.


    Lin Qiao''s heart flipped, as she had a bad feeling.


    "It seems that Ling Ling is missing Viney. I wonder how Viney has been," Wu Chengyue abruptly curved his sexy lips in a smile, then raised his head and looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes while asking the question.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows, silently taking a step backward. Then, she held the little one''s hand which was reaching her stomach and brought the girl to the couch, making her sit down.


    "Ling Ling and Viney did get along well. Viney is sleeping now. I don''t know about her current situation either," Lin Qiao said to him.


    Wu Yueling was frowning with confusion, maybe because she felt nothing from Lin Qiao''s belly. When she heard what Lin Qiao said, the frown disappeared from her face.


    So, Viney was sleeping. No wonder she didn''t talk to Ling Ling.


    "Is that so? When she grows up, how are you gonna treat her?" Wu Chengyue looked at her and asked.


    Lin Qiao looked back at his slender eyes and responded confusedly, "What do you mean? I surely will treat her like my child."


    "What about me? How are you gonna treat me?" Wu Chengyue smilingly gazed into her eyes, saying, "We''ve cleared the debts that we owed each other before. But, half of that baby is mine. Are you gonna have her for yourself?"


    "Do you want the baby?" Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise. In fact, she understood that Wu Chengyue would care about Viney, but had no choice but to pretend to not know about it. Otherwise, the situation would become awkward, and she would fall into a disadvantage!


    Wu Chengyue''s eyebrows and mouth corners twitched slightly. He stayed silent for three seconds, then said word by word, "Of course, I want her! She''s my first biological child. Do you think that I''m that kind of man who''ll abandon his child?"


    Wu Chengyue understood that he must stay calm right now, and that he could not attack her!

 557 She Ran Away As She Couldnst Win The Argumen

    "No! I think you''re very responsible! Hm¡­ hehe¡­" Lin Qiao laughed and responded.


    "Stop laughing! Tell me, if I didn''t mention this, you wouldn''t give Viney to me, would you? Eh? Are you gonna raise her alone?" Wu Chengyue sneered as he stared at her.


    Lin Qiao sighed silently. She figured that Viney must have talked with Wu Chengyue already. When would that little thing stop setting traps for her?


    "What else do you expect me to do? I thought you wouldn''t want Viney. After all, you were entrapped by her, weren''t you? I thought you''d hate Viney for that. Am I not right?" Lin Qiao said to him.


    Hearing Lin Qiao and her father talk about Viney, Wu Yueling had her interest aroused. But soon, the sensitive girl felt that the atmosphere between her father and her Zombie Mom was a little weird.


    She anxiously glanced at Lin Qiao, then at Wu Chengyue.


    "You! When did I say that I hate Viney? You said that!" Wu Chengyue''s expression froze for a moment, and then he glared at Lin Qiao as he said angrily.


    "I''m only thinking from a normal person''s angle. After all, you didn''t know Viney before, but she drugged you and made you dedicate yourself to¡­ Well, I guess all men would hate that. Don''t you hate that? It''s pretty strange!" Lin Qiao deliberately mentioned the fact that Viney entrapped Wu Chengyue to make him dislike her.


    But soon, she was disappointed.


    "I was angry at first. However, what happened can''t be undone, and I will handle the consequences. I will take the responsibility, and I should get what I deserve. I deserve the baby, don''t I?" Wu Chengyue restrained the anger in his heart as he knew that the female zombie was trying to make him angry.


    "You''re right though¡­ Come here, Ling Ling, let me take you to see the little tiger!" Lin Qiao responded, then quickly scooped up Wu Yueling and disappeared right before Wu Chengyue''s eyes.


    Wu Chengyue was left in the room with a stiff face.


    Soon, rage was shown on his face. Damn! That female zombie ran away in front of him, and took away his Ling Ling¡­ all because she couldn''t win the argument!


    The anger exploded inside Wu Chengyue. However, he didn''t know how to vent it as she had disappeared. With no other choice, he sat there and forced himself to calm back down, with veins bulging on his temples.


    ''Good for you, female zombie. Just wait and see!''


    Lin Qiao flashed into her space with Wu Yueling, then sneakily observed Wu Chengyue''s expression from the inside. Afterward, she sighed with relief and laughed.


    "I now feel that your father is a little difficult!" she said to Wu Yueling, "Viney has got me big trouble!"


    While speaking, she guided the girl into the small building.


    ''What does difficult mean?'' Wu Yueling raised her head to look at Lin Qiao, her big eyes filled with confusion.


    "It means¡­ Like the gum that the other people spit on the ground. If you step on it, it will stick on the bottom of your shoe, and stay there for a long time!" Lin Qiao explained to her, but forgot that chewing gums had disappeared after the apocalypse.


    As a result, she heard Wu Yueling asking another question in her head.


    ''What''s gum?''


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    After a short pause, Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then explained, "It''s a type of candy that you can only chew. It''s sweet, but you can''t swallow it. When its flavor fades away, you need to spit it out. The gum that you spat out would become very sticky. If it sticks on your shoes, it''d never come off."


    Wu Yueling knitted her little brows, thinking about the few keywords.


    ''Chewed, with saliva¡­ spat out¡­ stick on shoes¡­ So disgusting!''


    Reading her mind, Lin Qiao laughed and rubbed her head. She brought the latter to the little tiger, then pointed at it and said to her, "See, that''s the little tiger."


    It was the first time that Wu Yueling saw a tiger. She was immediately attracted by the fluffy tiger which had beautiful black stripes.


    "Has your Daddy told you about the animal world?" Lin Qiao squatted and said to Wu Yueling while looking at the little tiger which was woken up by Wu Yueling''s scent.


    "Roar!" The baby tiger tried to bite Lin Qiao''s finger which was pointing at it, but failed.


    The little thing hadn''t eaten in a couple of days. Lin Qiao didn''t feed it with meat, but only let it drink water. It was so hungry that it could barely struggle up from the ground.


    Lin Qiao knew that it was hungry, but in order to heal it and improve its body condition, she couldn''t feed meat to it for now, and could only give it the lake water. With the lake water, the tiger would definitely not die of starvation.


    Wu Yueling hid behind Lin Qiao as she fixed her eyes on the tiger, feeling both scared and curious. She had never seen such an animal before. She liked the little tiger''s stripes, but seeing the teeth in its widely opened mouth, she was a little scared.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Yan Fangyu was sent out of Upper City Base. Finally, somebody fixed her disjointed shoulders, which gave her a real pain. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "That evil woman! I''ll certainly make her suffer!" Sitting in the backseat of a car, Yan Fangyu said coldly. The two people in the front seat and the driver''s seat frowned upon hearing that.


    Those were Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming, who went to watch the show but missed it, and ended up being spotted by Wu Chengyue. Wu Chengyue gave them a task, which was to send Yan Fangyu back to Sea City Base.


    They missed the show, but heard about what happened from the others who were on the scene. However, they didn''t expect that Wu Chengyue would make them drive Yan Fangyu back to their base. As for the reason, it was because they were all Zou Shihui''s subordinates.


    Both of them were pretty unhappy. The two of them and Yan Fangyu were all under Zou Shihui''s command, but they never had a good relationship with her.


    Besides, Yan Fangyu had done bad things to Lu Tianyu. She did it before, and now, she had done it again.


    Lu Tianyi wanted to see Lu Tianyu, but didn''t manage to. He heard that she had become a Chief already. He was going to see if her vibe was strong enough. But in the end, he didn''t even see a trace of Lu Tianyu, and ended up watching Yan Fangyu''s twisted face.


    At that moment, Lu Tianyi was extremely upset, so his face was especially dark. When he heard Yan Fangyu''s curse, the look on his face turned sulkier and sulkier.


    Kong Qingming wasn''t as upset as he was, but he did understand how Lu Tianyi felt. He glanced at Lu Tianyi''s grim face, then at Yan Fangyu who was in the backseat. As Yan Fangyu wasn''t paying attention to them, he sneakily poked Lu Tianyi with a finger.


    Lu Tianyi, who was driving the car, turned to look at him with confusion.


    "Slow down. Are you gonna fly?" While speaking, Kong Qingming cast a glance backward.


    Lu Tianyi immediately understood his meaning. Kong Qingming was reminding him to keep his emotions in check. Kong Qingming was right. He had been driving terribly fast because he was in a bad mood. Anyways, Yan Fangyu didn''t notice it.


    Lu Tianyi slowed the car down and said, "If only we could fly!"

 558 Being Attacked On The Way

    "Why didn''t Chief Wu head back home with us?" Abruptly, Yan Fangyu looked at the two at the front and asked. Lu Tianyi gave her a sideways glance, but didn''t make any sound. He didn''t want to talk to that woman now.


    Kong Qingming noticed the look on Lu Tianyi''s face, so he turned back and said to Yan Fangyu coldly, "He might have some other work to do there."


    "What can it possibly be? Shouldn''t he leave that place immediately to go back and send out his people to give that woman a strike back?" Yan Fangyu spoke in a very strong tone with jealousy.


    "Strike back for what? Hasn''t he solved all the problems already?" Kong Qingming responded blandly.


    "Are we giving them five level-six zombie nuclei for nothing? Those are level-six zombie nuclei! Those can improve at least three level-six superpowered people to level-seven! Of course, we can''t let them have those!" Yan Fangyu cared a lot about the five zombie nuclei, as she didn''t think that Wu Chengyue would give away five level-six zombie nuclei in one go. If she could have one of those nuclei, she might even break into level-seven. But now, Lin Qiao had all five of them.


    The more she thought about that, the angrier she got. She told herself that when she returned to the base, she would certainly ask Zou Shihui to talk to Wu Chengyue about sending out the army to destroy that new base, which only had thousands of people!


    Kong Qingming saw Yan Fangyu''s face in the rearview mirror. He admitted that her face was pretty, but that prettiness was ruined by those things she had done secretly, and that look on her face now. He even felt disgusted upon looking at her face now.


    He didn''t want to continue the conversation with her, so he replied perfunctorily, "Chief Wu has already made his decision about that, and we have no right to change it."


    After saying that, he glanced at Lu Tianyi and found the latter pulling a long face. He knew that Yan Fangyu''s voice had probably annoyed Lu Tianyi.


    At that moment, Lu Tianyi wanted very much to tell Yan Fangyu to shut up, but didn''t want to talk to her. So, he told himself that he just needed to drive back to the base and send her back home as quickly as possible.


    Therefore, he accelerated again.


    After dark, when the car entered Jiaxing City, a dark figure caught up with it.


    Lu Tianyi, who was driving, suddenly noticed that a quick and strong gust of wind was stirred up behind them. It was dark, so by the time Lu Tianyi found it, it was already too late for him to dodge.


    "Enemy!" At the same time, Yan Fangyu suddenly turned to look out of the back window with a serious look as well. She did that because she suddenly felt energy waves from behind. As she turned back, she heard a roaring gale from the darkness of night.


    Next, the three in the car felt that the car was turned upside down violently.


    Boom! Squeak¡­ Boom!


    The car was blown into the air, turning a few times and then bumping into a tree nearby.


    The three in the car had prepared themselves for that and reacted timely. Yan Fangyu suffered worse than the two at the front as she was wearing a safety belt.


    Bang! The three opened the upturned car''s doors and crawled out of.


    Yan Fangyu''s face was covered in blood. She raised a hand and touched the blood on her face, then burst in screams, "My face! My¡­ my face!"


    Broken glass pieces had left a long wound on her face, and one on her forehead. Blood gushed out of those wounds, covering her entire face.


    Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming felt so annoyed when they heard her scream. Under such a dangerous situation, she actually had the mood to worry about her face.


    They planned to drag Yan Fangyu to the side, as the car might explode soon.


    Once they reached out their hands and grabbed Yan Fangyu who had been disfigured and was stunned because of that, a fire ball descended from the sky and landed on that car.


    "Watch out!"


    Boom!


    Thankfully, the two of them dragged Yan Fangyu and jumped to the side, saving themselves from the explosion of the car.


    After the explosion, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming stood up, holding Yan Fangyu up from the ground and preparing to find a cover.


    "Get up, go!"


    The explosion woke Yan Fangyu up from the shock which was caused by the destruction of her face. She looked around, then cursed out loud, "Who are you! Who are you! I know that you''re from Upper City Base! Aren''t you?"


    What responded her was a sharp, invisible wave of wind blades.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Yan Fangyu vigilantly rolled to the side and dodged those wind blades.


    "Stop talking and run!" Kong Qingming shouted at that woman who still had the courage to curse her enemies under such a situation. The wind-powered enemy was clearly at level-seven. The wind was strong and fast, and the wind blades came in a giant wave.


    The three of them were no match for the enemy, not even in combination.


    Soon, Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming sensed the strong intention of killing from the enemy.


    Yan Fangyu had discovered that too. The look on her face turned cold and grim as a sneer was seen on her blood-covered face. "Wanna kill me? It''s not gonna be easy."


    "No! They''re not from Upper City Base!" Kong Qingming said to Lu Tianyi at that moment.


    He said that because those enemies weren''t only targeting Yan Fangyu, but all three of them.


    He sensed a wave of chillness from his spine once his voice faded. His rich experience allowed him to turn nimbly and dodge.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! A few sharp wind blades nearly brushed across him.


    He managed to dodge, but still felt a burning pain from his back. Then, he felt that the cloth on his back was soaked by a warm liquid.


    The cold air worsened the pain, but Kong Qingming didn''t really care about his injury. His current mission was to protect Yan Fangyu. If she weren''t sent back to the base safely, he and Lu Tianyi would need to take the responsibility for that.


    The enemy was way too strong. Even without showing up, his or her great wind power had made the three of them defenseless. They weren''t able to fight back, as they didn''t even know where the enemy was.


    At that moment, Lu Tianyi had already rushed to Yan Fangyu''s side. While shielding her against the enemy''s attack, he told her to move away quickly.


    "Go! Or none of us can leave!" Lu Tianyi shouted at her.


    Yan Fangyu turned around quickly, rushing toward a building nearby.


    Kong Qingming immediately rushed over as Lu Tianyi was covering for Yan Fangyu. He didn''t help Lu Tianyi defend against the enemy''s attack, but followed behind Yan Fangyu to protect her.


    He wanted to help his good friend, but he understood Lu Tianyi''s meaning. If they both stayed here to try and stop the enemy, no one would be protecting Yan Fangyu when she faced dangers again.


    If anything happened to her, fighting against the current enemy would become meaningless.


    Their mission was to escort Yan Fangyu. They didn''t like her, but they could not let any accident happen to her during the mission.

 559 A Bad Feeling

    Lu Tianyi agreed with Kong Qingming that the enemy wasn''t from Upper City District. After all, there was no level-seven superpowered person in Upper City Base, only level-seven superpowered zombies.


    All zombie dominators from that base were under Miss Lu''s command. Therefore, even if they decided to attack Yan Fangyu, they shouldn''t have tried to hurt Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming.


    However, the enemy hiding in the darkness was trying to kill all three of them.


    Lu Tianyi sensed that Kong Qingming moving toward Yan Fangyu, and then a swift wave of wind blade going that way.


    He hurriedly waved a hand. Following his move, the moisture in the air condensed into a water screen, but was easily penetrated by the wind blades. Lu Tianyi had seen that coming. The enemy was two levels higher than him, so his power could barely create any barrier for the enemy.


    But still, he could not shrink back.


    Right at that moment, a tree nearby was uprooted by a strong gust of wind, quickly flying at Lu Tianyi. He hurriedly rolled to the side and dodged the tree, but right after that, an immense wave of wind blades came at him.


    Yan Fangyu was running as fast as she could while turning back to see what was happening from time to time. Seeing that Kong Qingming was behind her and shielding her from the enemy''s attack, she was relieved slightly, but didn''t dare to relax.


    At the same time, in Upper City Base, Lin Qiao sneakily sent Wu Yueling back to Wu Chengyue''s room, while he was still waiting for her to show up in her room. When she left Wu Chengyue''s room and went up to the roof, she suddenly had a strange feeling. Automatically, she turned to Jiaxing city.


    She didn''t know how to explain that feeling, but she did know that it was bad. She felt as if something was drawing her that way, to let her know that something was happening in that place.


    It was the same as what she felt back when Lu Tianyi and his people were caught by three zombie leaders.


    Jiaxing City?


    Lin Qiao faced that way and frowned abruptly.


    Yan Fangyu had left the base about an hour ago. And now, she should have arrived at the border between Jiaxing City and Hangzhou.


    "Lili, who headed back to Sea City base with Yan Fangyu?" She turned to look at Qiu Lili who was sitting on a higher area. Qiu Lili leaped down light-footedly from the top of the stair room.


    "Ah, two level-five superpowered men from Sea City Base. I think they''re called Lu Tianyi and¡­ what Qingming¡­" Qiu Lili thought for a moment and then responded.


    She hadn''t paid much attention to Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming, and was only familiar with Lin Family people.


    "Lu Tianyi!" Lin Qiao gave a start, then stared at her and asked, "Are you sure it''s them?"


    Qiu Lili nodded, "Hm¡­ Maybe you should get down and ask Yuan Tianxing about it. I think he knows it better."


    Lin Qiao immediately turned and ran downstairs. She had always been light on her feet, so she never worried that running around might affect Viney.


    She knocked on Yuan Tianxing''s door, who soon answered the door. He was still holding a stack of files at that time.


    "Eh? What happened?" he asked.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "Let me ask you something. Who''s sending Yan Fangyu back to Sea City Base?"


    "Oh, it''s Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming. Why?" Yuan Tianxing didn''t know why she asked that question, but still gave the answer.


    Lin Qiao frowned and clicked her tongue. Then, she turned to Qiu Lili who followed her downstairs because of her weird behavior and said, "Lili, you''re the fastest among all. Go after them and see what''s happening. I felt that something bad has happened to them!"


    "Eh? How do you know? They left over an hour ago, so they''re already tens of miles away by now. Can you sense them through such a long distance?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "Just go! Don''t ask questions yet! Hurry up! My feeling can''t be wrong. You''ll know what''s happening when you get there. Hurry!" Lin Qiao pushed Qiu Lili toward the door. She was even a little anxious, which was a rare thing.


    "Alright then¡­ I''ll go and take a look!" As Lin Qiao was pretty anxious, Qiu Lili had no choice but do what she asked, despite how confused she was.


    "Wait! Leave that woman, and only check on Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming!" Lin Qiao said to her.


    "Alright, I get it," Qiu Lili nodded knowingly, then turned and leaped out of the window.


    She was a zombie dominator now. Her wind power allowed her to be a hundred times faster than a sports car when she flew at her full speed. Therefore, the distance which took Lu Tianyi one and half an hour of driving was covered by her in about ten minutes.


    She sensed the scent of blood on her way, then raised her speed as much as she could and got there quickly. She sensed them; apart from that disgusting woman and the two men who had been escorting her, she also sensed another person who was quite strong.


    By that time, Yan Fangyu had already run two miles away, leaving the green-powered Kong Qingming behind her.


    Kong Qingming''s green power managed to defend against the enemy''s wind power to a certain degree. Under the current, his power was more effective than Lu Tianyi''s water power and Yan Fangyu''s fire power, as there were some plants around him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    While moving backward, Kong Qingming was waving his hands. Under the effect of his power, the trees in surrounding grew larger to shield him against the wind attack.


    The wind rustled the leaves, and the wind blades cut the branches into pieces. But at least, those trees had blocked some of the enemy''s attacks.


    However, Kong Qingming was despairing and extremely sad at the moment.


    He didn''t know what to do. The enemy was powerful, so he couldn''t hold on for long. Lu Tianyi hadn''t caught up with him, but the enemy was still chasing behind. He had prepared himself for the worst result, and he was extremely sad because of that.


    But still, he was waiting for Lu Tianyi to catch up, and also for Yan Fangyu to run further away. As long as she ran far away, she would have a better chance of surviving. He could not give up on Yan Fangyu, because the enemy clearly chose to attack them now to frame Upper City Base.


    Their death would mean nothing, but if Yan Fangyu died, Sea City Base might have a chance to make Wu Chengyue send out the army to attack Upper City Base.


    Kong Qingming gasped for air. His breath was disordered, and his clothes were ragged. Under those clothes, his body was covered in wounds.


    The deepest wound had reached to the bones, and the shallow ones were barely bleeding. A few bloody slashes were left on his pretty face.


    ''I think Lu Tianyi and I are gonna die here this time!''


    While thinking, he took back his hand to cover his other hand, then turned and ran toward the building behind him.

 560 Emergency Rescue

    "Duan Juan, go and inform Chief Wu about this. He''s in my room."


    "Yes, madam!"


    Once Qiu Lili left, Lin Qiao told Duan Juan, who was waiting for her by the door, to inform Wu Chengyue about what happened, then started pacing in Yuan Tianxing''s room.


    "What''s wrong? Did something bad happen?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her and asked with confusion. He knew that Lin Qiao was pacing around because she was anxious. Based on the question that she had asked him earlier, he figured that she was worried about the two young men who were escorting Lin Qiao.


    Lu Tianyi? Eh? Lu Tianyu¡­


    He suddenly recalled the name of the previous owner of Lin Qiao''s body and figured it out. "Is Lu Tianyi related to your current identity?"


    Earlier on, Yuan Tianxing had asked Du Yuanxing to dig into Lu Tianyu''s background. The latter only learned that she was an evil and disgusting woman, but didn''t find out that she had a family.


    Because of her awful personality, she was always alone in the base, with no family or friends. All she had were those bodyguards under Yang Chao''s command, who were pretending to protect her.


    "He''s her half-brother," Lin Qiao said.


    "Half-brother!" Yuan Tianxing exclaimed, then asked, "Why didn''t anyone know about that?"


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "They didn''t have a good relationship. After the apocalypse, their family was broken, and they each went a separate way. However, her brother often protected her secretly. She didn''t know."


    "Is that so¡­ I thought no one in the entire Sea City Base was sincerely nice to Lu Tianyu. Unexpectedly, she had a brother. What''s going on now? Have you sensed that something is happening to them? No way! Are you able to sense them through such a long distance?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her with surprise.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "It''s not about the distance. I can sense him because my body seems to be connected with Lu Tianyi in some way. I''m feeling uneasy now. I think it''s like telepathy between twins, or something like that¡­ I''m not sure. But, as you know, since I became zombies, I''m more sensitive than normal people, even normal zombies."


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her and felt that she was telling the truth. He knitted his brows and said, "If they were attacked and Yan Fangyu died, would Wu Chengyue blame us for that? After all, we just had a problem with Yan Fangyu. We do have the motive."


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows and replied, "He needs to provide evidence before accusing us. With no proof, why would we admit that it''s our people who attacked them? Besides, Yan Fangyu should die. Even if no other people tried to kill her, I''d do it myself in a while."


    "So, you have that plan!" Yuan Tianxing said.


    Lin Qiao snorted and responded, "Does she think that she can stay alive after killing one of my men? I''m just letting her live for a couple of days more."


    "Wu Chengyue would get angry if he heard that!" Yuan Tianxing laughed. He was wearing a relaxed expression, as he had guessed that Lin Qiao had such a plan long ago.


    ¡­


    Qiu Lili followed the blood scent and found Lu Tianyi. She found him lying in ruins, covered in blood.


    "Oi! Are you dead?" Qiu Lili landed by his side and removed those stones and branches from him.


    Lu Tianyi was still alive, albeit at his last gasp.


    Qiu Lili sniffed at him, then reached out her hand to feel his heartbeat.


    She knew that Lin Qiao would certainly be able to save Lu Tianyi as long as she sent him to her timely. However, Lin Qiao asked her to bring both Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming back. So now, she still needed to look for the other one.


    She didn''t know if Lu Tianyi could hold on; she supposed that he could. He was a level-five superpowered man after all, and his energy had been protecting his heart and brain.


    Qiu Lili sighed. She knew that even if he died, she should at least bring his body back.


    She was a clean freak, but at that moment, she couldn''t care that much. She bent over and helped Lu Tianyi up, then carried him on her back.


    Her white dress was immediately dyed red.


    Carrying Lu Tianyi, she easily hopped on top of the building nearby, then swiftly moved toward Kong Qingming.


    On the other side, Kong Qingming was hiding in a dark area, holding his breath and restraining his vibe as much as possible. He couldn''t stay hiding there. As long as the enemy showed a sign of attacking Yan Fangyu, he would immediately show up to draw the enemy''s attention back.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He hid there for a while, and then as he had thought, the enemy lost the interest in finding him. The strong gale moved toward Yan Fangyu.


    At that moment, Kong Qingming immediately stepped out, making the surrounding trees grow crazily to block the way over there. He wasn''t able to block the way for real, but was able to sense the enemy''s location.


    The battle had lasted for quite a while, and he had gradually sensed the enemy''s location. It was also because the enemy clearly didn''t want to keep hiding anymore.


    Seeing those crazily growing plants, the enemy stopped and rushed again at Kong Qingming, as the latter expected.


    The enemy started a hurricane which was even stronger than a level-ten typhoon. The surrounding trees were immediately uprooted and thrown to the ground. The utility poles and window glasses from the nearby buildings were all blown into the sky.


    Down on the ground, Kong Qingming was trying his best to dodge the things descending from the sky, and those falling trees and utility poles. Meanwhile, a great wave of wind blades swished at him.


    The dark figure was standing on a roof. It was dark in the night, but some people were able to feel each other with their energies and sharp sensations.


    Kong Qingming discovered that even though the enemy was very good at controlling the wind, he or she never launched other kinds of attacks except wind blades and strong gales. He couldn''t tell if the enemy was too lazy to launch other kinds of attacks, or if he or she only wanted him to die slowly.


    However, he was pretty sure that he was going to die this time.


    He had lost too much blood, and consumed about seventy percent of his energy. With the rest of his energy, he needed to defend himself and block the enemy''s attacks.


    He became weaker and weaker, and started losing his power.


    He began praying in his heart. It had been so long. Yan Fangyu should at least have run far away. She would be on her own now, as Kong Qingming was going to collapse.


    Once again, he dodged a chair which was flying at him, then rolled on the ground. But then, a signboard which was blown off from a store nearby landed on his foot.


    "Ou¡­" Kong Qingming clenched his teeth and gave a muffled moan.

 561 Your Foot Is Broken

    Right at that moment, a gust of wind lifted the signboard on Kong Qingming''s foot.


    "What?" Kong Qingming, who had almost fainted because of the pain, turned with confusion, glancing at the signboard which was thrown to the side. His face had become very pale.


    He clenched his teeth to keep himself awake, then raised his head to look around and saw a white figure flash across the dark sky.


    Qiu Lili carried Lu Tianyi as she raised both arms toward the sky and then swung downward. In the next moment, the clouds began rolling in the sky and a few tornadoes descended. The tornadoes all gathered toward the dark figure, who was shocked upon seeing that. Qiu Lili''s wind power controlled a much wider range than his.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    As he was holding his head high in shock, the sharp tails of those tornadoes swiftly descended on him.


    He instantly turned and ran.


    While running, he waved a hand and sent up a wind shield. The tails of the tornadoes landed on the shield, but failed to penetrate it immediately.


    On top of a building, Qiu Lili put Lu Tianyi down, then swung both arms toward the dark figure. Following her move, the huge tornados fell into pieces and transformed into countless spinning whirlwinds, roaring toward the windshield.


    At the same time, fire suddenly burned inside those whirlwinds, illuminating the surrounding area.


    "Double-powered!" Said a deep voice in alarm, "This is bad! I can''t be exposed!"


    He didn''t want to expose himself, and immediately planned to run. All of a sudden, he released his power and started a crazy gale. Meanwhile, that man restrained is vibe and made himself invisible.


    "Hm, you can restrain your vibe, but your scent lingers!" Qiu Lili murmured to herself scornfully. She waved both hands, turned those whirlwinds around and made them chase behind the dark figure.


    That man gave a start. He didn''t expect Qiu Lili to still be able to keep him locked even after he had restrained his vibe.


    He hurriedly turned and raised an arm to send a thick wave of wind blade toward those whirlwinds. While doing that, he managed to run away.


    "Hm, if I didn''t have a mission to accomplish, you''d be so dead!" Qiu Lili coldly and proudly snorted toward the dark figure. Then, she sniffed at the air and sighed to herself, ''Ah, that woman has run away too. If she were still here, I''d kill her! But, the most important thing for the moment is bringing these two back to Qiaoqiao.''


    Thinking about that, she immediately turned and carried Lu Tianyi on her back, then leaped off the building and directly landed by Kong Qingming''s side.


    "Oh my, your foot is broken!" she said to Kong Qingming.


    "Are you¡­ here to save us?" Kong Qingming was so shocked when he saw Qiu Lili that he didn''t even realize what was happening.


    His foot was indeed broken by that signboard.


    "How''s¡­ Tianyi?" Soon, Kong Qingming saw Lu Tianyi who as carried on Qiu Lili''s back.


    "He''s still alive. I think we can still save him if we bring him back. But you¡­ How am I supposed to bring back two men?" Qiu Lili replied, then asked a question.


    "Leave¡­ leave me here¡­ Just bring him back!" Kong Qingming endured the pain which came from his entire body and said to her weakly.


    "No. Qiaoqiao has told me to bring both of you back," Qiu Lili shook her head. She thought for a moment, then fixed her eyes on Kong Qingming''s waist and said, "This is the only way!"


    Kong Qingming looked at her confusedly.


    Then, he saw Qiu Lili bend over slightly to drag him up from the ground, with Lu Tianyi carried on her back. Both he and Lu Tianyi weighed over fifty kilograms each.


    She held his arm and dragged him up from the ground. She did that effortlessly, and Kong Qingming felt that the hand which was holding his arm was very strong.


    ''Zombies do have a great strength¡­'' he thought.


    Before he finished thinking, his body was turned around, and then an arm was put around his waist. After that, he was lifted up.


    "Eh¡­" He was stunned when he realized what position he was in.


    Qiu Lili put an arm around his waist and carried him on one side of her body, then flew up into the sky.


    With one man carried on her back and one carried with her arm, Qiu Lili released her wind power and flew toward Upper City District.


    "No! Wait¡­ wait¡­ What about our Deputy Chief Yan¡­" Kong Qingming recovered from the shock, then suddenly realized that it wasn''t the time for him to worry about himself yet. Yan Fangyu was still on the run.


    "Just pay attention to yourselves. You nearly died. Why are you still worrying about that disgusting woman?" said Qiu Lili unhappily.


    "But¡­ it''s our¡­ mission¡­" While speaking, Kong Qingming started to lose his consciousness. If he weren''t worrying about Yan Fangyu''s safety, he would have fainted already.


    "Are you dumb? That is your mission, but you need to stay alive to accomplish it!" Qiu Lili didn''t understand why some people thought that missions were more important than their lives.


    Kong Qingming had spent his time in the army, so he had been putting great importance on missions. But now, Qiu Lili''s words woke up him up a little. She was right. It was the post-apocalyptic era now. His life should be more important¡­


    However, there was one problem. "If¡­ she died¡­ people will think that¡­ your base¡­ killed.."


    Before finishing his talk, he moaned in pain.


    "Stop talking! They might think that way, but so what? They''re gonna need evidence to frame us. Aren''t you two witnesses? Or, do you think that the level-seven wind-powered person who attacked you just now was from our base?" said Qiu Lili carelessly.


    "Besides, your Chief will find out the truth, won''t he? Why wouldn''t he wonder if we were framed?"


    Kong Qingming didn''t respond because he was too weak to say anything, also because he found her words making sense. In order to frame Upper City Base, the people who just attacked him needed to kill all three of them. If any one of them survived, people would know that the Upper City Base people didn''t do it.


    "Therefore, as long as you two stay alive, we''re gonna be fine!" Qiu Lili said relaxedly, then raised her speed to head back faster. As for that woman, she didn''t care about her at all. In fact, Qiu Lili wished that she would die, so that she and her friends wouldn''t need to kill her themselves in a couple of days!


    How dare she thought of Upper City Base as a pushover!

 562 Qiu Lili Returns

    The few leaders of Upper City Base had all gathered in the lobby because of what Lin Qiao just told them.


    "Why are you so sure?" Wu Chengyue didn''t understand why Lin Qiao told him so affirmatively that Yan Fangyu has had an accident on her way back. He wondered if Lin Qiao had sent out her people to follow them all the way back.


    "Believe it or not. In a while, we''ll see," Lin Qiao sat on the couch with her arms crossed before her chest. However, she felt that her breasts were a little heavy, so she dropped her arms.


    She liked to cross her arms before her chest, but since she became Lu Tianyu, she always felt that was a difficult posture to make¡­


    "What the hell is going on? Did they encounter a powerful zombie? Level-six?" Chen Yuting asked curiously. He was also curious about how Lin Qiao knew about that, but someone else had asked that question already.


    "That''s possible!" Lin Qiao put one hand on her lap, the other elbow against the back of the couch, then rested her head on the palm.


    "Can Qiu Lili alone bring all of them back?" Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then asked.


    He didn''t say all three of them, because back in his room, Lin Qiao had told Qiu Lili not to care about Yan Fangyu''s safety. For that reason, Qiu Lili would bring the two young men back only.


    However, thinking about Qiu Lili''s slim body, he had some doubts¡­


    "Lili is a zombie. She can carry you like carrying a chicken. Can''t she carry them back? Now, we just can''t tell if they can survive or not," Lin Qiao glanced at Yuan Tianxing and said.


    Yuan Tianxing, who was just compared to a chicken, spent a few seconds staring at her.


    After waiting for about ten minutes, Lin Qiao suddenly wore a frown.


    "They''re back!" She stood up, headed toward the door. Seeing that, the others stood up quickly as well.


    Lin Qiao sensed two different scents of blood approach. She knew that those were the scents of the blood from Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming.


    Not long after she came out of the hotel, a white figure descended from the sky.


    "Hurry up! This one is dying!" At the sight of Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili turned and pushed Lu Tianyi toward her. Seeing that all three of them were covered in the blood, the others on the scene immediately showed solemn looks.


    After Lin Qiao took over Lu Tianyi, Duan Juan and two of her subordinates took Kong Qingming over.


    "Put him down and let him drink this," Duan Juan said to her subordinates. She was already holding a cup of energy water that Lin Qiao gave her. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao and Lu Tianyi disappeared in front of the others.


    Duan Juan made Kong Qingming drink the water, then told her people to put him on a stretcher and send into a spare room.


    There was no doctor in the base, and Lin Hao had left with Lin Feng and the others. Therefore, Duan Juan had no choice but to treat Kong Qingming''s wounds herself. Thankfully, she had some experience with first aid.


    "How did he get injured so badly? Where''s the other one?" Yuan Tianxing who stayed in the lobby looked at Qiu Lili and asked.


    "I''ll come back down and tell you what happened later. I need to get changed first!" Qiu Lili frowned, looked at her dress. Then, she turned and ran upstairs.


    After that, Yuan Tianxing and Wu Chengyue spent half an hour waiting in the lobby. At last, they lost their patience and decided to check on Kong Qingming first.


    In the space, Lin Qiao paused at the moment when she brought Lu Tianyi in. Then, she sighed, because Lu Tianyi''s vibe had faded.


    She didn''t sense that earlier because the distance was long and the blood scent was strong. Only until Qiu Lili showed up in front of her did she feel that Lu Tianyi''s vibe was nearly gone.


    No wonder Qiu Lili pushed him to her in haste. However, when she took him over, the last trace of his vibe was already gone. She sensed that his life had gone away when she took him over and entered the space.


    She paused briefly, but then reacted quickly. She put Lu Tianyi''s body into the water, and then picked up his arms as she opened her mouth and bit him on the arm.


    She wanted to infect him with the virus.


    She knew that the energy in the lake was only effective on living human beings. It was magical, but it could only heal living things.


    It wasn''t able to bring the dead back to life.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    So now, the only way to save him was to infect him with the virus and then let him wake up as a zombie!


    She relaxed her bite after her teeth penetrated Lu Tianyi''s blood veins. She could see that a great amount of virus had entered Lu Tianyi''s blood vein from her teeth and spread in his body through his blood veins which hadn''t cooled down yet.


    She ripped off Lu Tianyi''s ragged clothes, then pushed him further into the lake nakedly.


    After doing that, she stood up as she rested both hands on her waist and gave a long sigh.


    Lu Tianyu felt nothing for Lu Tianyi. There wasn''t a firm bonding between Lin Qiao and Lu Tianyi either. In her eyes, only Lin Hao was qualified enough to be her brother.


    She had been seeing Lu Tianyi as a friend she had seen a few times. But at the same time, she somehow also saw him as her other brother. Also, there was an indescribable connection between Lu Tianyi and Lu Tianyu''s body. Otherwise, she wouldn''t be so worried about him.


    She paced by the lake, her eyes fixed on the area where Lu Tianyi sank.


    But soon, she suddenly realized that Viney was no longer in the lake, and that the energy in the lake wouldn''t be so effective. Thinking of that, Lin Qiao blamed herself for being anxious and careless.


    She hurriedly waved a hand and released a dark stream of fire to burn all of her clothes up. Then, she quickly dove into the lake, swimming toward Lu Tianyi.


    At that time, a series of strange changes had happened to Lu Tianyi''s body.


    The virus from Lin Qiao was strong. In just a few seconds, it had occupied Lu Tianyi''s entire body. Meanwhile, the energy from the lake entered his body as well and suppressed the virus which had been changing his cells.


    Therefore, when Lin Qiao came down, she saw that Lu Tianyi had already opened his eyes. Those eyes had become purely black!


    He was floating in the middle of the water; his body remaining straightened and motionless.


    Lin Qiao swam to his side like a fish, then reached out to hold his arm and pulled him upward. Then, she turned him around and pressed her right palm on the middle of his back.


    While swimming backward and bringing Lu Tianyi toward the lake center, she sent the energy in the lake into his body and made it gather in his heart.


    Under the effect of that energy, Lu Tianyi''s cells which had been infected by the virus immediately started changing in a mysterious way which no one knew about yet.

 563 Lu Tianyi Wakes Up

    Half an hour later, Qiu Lili came downstairs in a clean dress. She seemed to have also taken a shower!


    Yuan Tianxing and Wu Chengyue left Kong Qingming''s room after his condition stabilized.


    Kong Qingming was injured severely. However, as a possessor of green-power, his self-defense capacity and body condition were both better than that of Lu Tianyi, who had water power.


    "What on earth happened?" Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but ask Qiu Lili.


    "Oh, when I got there, I saw them being attacked by a level-seven wind-powered man. At that time, the one that Qiaoqiao brought into her space was¡­ um, dying, and the one with a leg broken was still awake. But, he fell unconscious as well on our way back. Also, the one who attacked them seemed not to want to expose himself. He couldn''t win against me, so he ran away," Qiu Lili stood in the middle of the lobby as he looked at him and answered his question.


    "What about Yan Fangyu?" Wu Chengyue frowned slightly. He didn''t make that frown because of Yan Fangyu, but because Qiu Lili said that the attacker was afraid of exposure.


    "She had run far away. I think the two injured ones stalled the enemy and bought her time to run," Qiu Lili fiddled with her own hair and said.


    "Are you saying that she''s still alive?" Yuan Tianxing added.


    "Em. She didn''t die. She ran pretty quickly," Qiu Lili nodded.


    Wu Chengyue raised a hand from around his chest and rubbed his chin as he said, "In this case, she should be able to return to our base safely."


    "Eh? Aren''t you worried that that person might go back to try and kill her? That was a level-seven man!" Qiu Lili asked curiously as she noticed that Wu Chengyue seemed to not care about Yan Fangyu''s safety at all.


    "I don''t think so. He has failed once, and his target has run away. Besides, Yan Fangyu isn''t silly. She was attacked. Doesn''t she know that she should hide after that?" Wu Chengyue looked at Qiu Lili smilingly.


    "Ah, I see! I thought that person would go after that woman again!" Qiu Lili responded without fully understanding. "What if he did go after her again?"


    "Then just let him kill her. If that woman dies, we can just promote someone else to her position. She''s not doing her job anyway. She''s just hogging that position," Wu Chengyue laughed.


    That woman was pretty close to Zou. For Zou''s sake, Wu Chengyue had been turning a blind eye on her. In fact, he firmly believed that that woman wouldn''t die so easily, as she was really sly. She was a level-six superpowered person after all. With Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming buying her time, she should be able to run.


    Hearing his words, the others all turned to look at him. ''What are you doing here then?'' some of those people wondered.


    "Eh? If you think that way, why did you accept our condition?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "Guess¡­" Wu Chengyue replied with one word.


    Qiu Lili paused for a second, then said to him grumpily, "Why would I ask you if I could guess out?"


    She, of course, didn''t know that Wu Chengyue was willing to pay the ransom for Yan Fangyu, because he didn''t want the relationship between his base and Lin Qiao''s to turn bad. Moreover, he also did that to create an opportunity to get close to that female zombie!


    "You said that the attacker is a superpowered man. Isn''t he a zombie? Where is that level-seven wind-powered man from?" Yuan Tianxing asked some questions as well.


    "Yeah, he''s a human being, but his scent was strange to me. I don''t know him," Qiu Lili nodded.


    Yuan Tianxing believed her, but didn''t know if the others believed her as well. When the two injured ones woke up, they would know for sure if the attacker was a human or a zombie.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I don''t think she can revive the one that she brought into her space. Even if she did save him, he might not be a human being anymore," Qiu Lili said abruptly. She had sensed Lu Tianyi''s death as well when she handed him to Lin Qiao.


    Hearing her words, all the others wore a somber face. If Lu Tianyi couldn''t come out as a human being, he would become a zombie like Shen Yujen.


    "Who on earth is that person? Is he from there too? A metal-powered one came here last time, and this time it''s a wind-powered man¡­" Wu Chengyue erased the smile from his face and murmured expressionlessly.


    "Are you saying that he''s from the same place as that robber?" Yuan Tianxing turned to him and asked.


    "I think that''s highly possible. Except for Yang Chao who has already died, there''s only one level-seven wind-powered man I know. His name is Lu Zhuofeng. He''s from Hidden Cloud Base in the Southwest. Can it be him?" Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said.


    "Hou Guozhong from Huaxia Base is also a level-seven wind-powered man, but he''s unlikely to come here," Yuan Tianxing was also thinking about the known level-seven wind-powered people. However, there might be some other powerful people that no one knew about.


    Wu Chengyue sent Xiao Licheng to return to the base through the night to inform Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui about what happened.


    After telling the others what she knew, Qiu Lili also stayed in the lobby and waited. She too wanted to know if the young man that Lin Qiao brought into her space would come out as a human or a zombie.


    ¡­


    In the space, darkness was rolling in Lu Tianyi''s wide opened eyes. A while later, the darkness faded slowly, turning white again.


    Although, his pupils remained black.


    He blinked, then his entire body twitched. After that, he found that he was in the water. Before he could react, a hand clasped his shoulder and dragged him upward.


    He came back to his senses, then turned to look at the owner of that hand. He saw Lu Tianyu who was wrapped in a layer of a strange thing. That thing was hazy in his eyes.


    What he saw was the greenness of the energy in the lake. He couldn''t see it clearly, because he was no longer able to see colors.


    Puff! Before long, Lu Tianyi''s head popped out of the water.


    "Get up," Lin Qiao pushed him forward, then swam to the lakeside and went ashore. Lu Tianyi automatically started swimming. His face still wore a confused look.


    While swimming, he managed to calm himself down. He organized his thoughts, then suddenly recalled that he was escorting Yan Fangyu back to the base together with Kong Qingming. He was injured, and almost died.


    This place was¡­ Lu Tianyu''s space?


    Why couldn''t he see any colors? Everything in his eyes was black, or white, or gray.


    Why did that happen?


    Also, why couldn''t he feel his injuries at all?


    By the time he swam to the lakeside, Lin Qiao had gotten out of the lake, wrapped herself up with the dark fire, and walked into the small building. When she came back out, she was fully dressed, holding a sports suit for men.


    She raised her head and found Lu Tianyi standing by the lake naked in a daze.


    "How long do you plan to stand there? If you like standing there, just put on some clothes first and then continue!" Lin Qiao stood before the building and shouted at him.


    Lu Tianyi came back to himself and glanced at her, seeing the clothes in her hands. Then, he lowered his head to look at his own body. In the next second, Lin Qiao watched him squeeze his thighs together and cover his crotch area with his hands, and felt amused.


    "You don''t need to cover yourself! I''ve seen it all!"

 564 We Ask Questions, You Write Down The Answers

    Lu Tianyi awkwardly covered his private area with a hand and raised the other hand to point at Lin Qiao. He opened his mouth to try to talk, but ended up realizing that he could not utter any sound.


    So, he was dumbfounded again.


    "You, I mean¡­ Are you gonna put on some clothes or not?" Lin Qiao felt quite helpless. Normally, Lu Tianyi seemed to be quite reliable, but why was he still in a daze without being able to react this time?


    Lu Tianyi covered his private area with one hand and moved the other hand which was pointing at Lin Qiao onto his neck.


    Lin Qiao walked to him, then pressed the clothes against his chest and said, "You''ve died. Try and figure out what happened. Look at me, and you''ll understand."


    After saying that, she flashed out of her space, leaving Lu Tianyi in there thinking. Lu Tianyi held the clothes that Lin Qiao put in his hands, then lowered his head to look at them helplessly.


    "Roar!"


    Abruptly, a weird sound was heard from behind. He recognized it as zombie roar, but the strange thing was that he seemed to be able to understand it.


    ''Newborn?'' ''Our kind?''


    ''Are they talking about me?''


    Lu Tianyi turned and found a large group of zombie staring at him with curiosity. Seeing them, he suddenly figured it out.


    He lowered his head again to look at those clothes in his hands, then quietly put them on. After that, he looked at his fingernails. As he thought, his nails had turned black.


    In fact, the nails of ordinary zombies wouldn''t be long and sharp. Only the zombies at level-two and above would have that kind of nails.


    However, the nails of ordinary zombies were purely black.


    Lu Tianyi couldn''t see colors, but he was able to tell the strong contrast between the gray tone of his hand and the dark tone of his nails.


    It turned out that he had already died and turned into a zombie! That made sense though. Before he lost consciousness, he had lost a lot of blood already. He had no idea how long after he passed out was he saved.


    He assumed that by the time he was sent to Lu Tianyu, he had already stopped breathing.


    However, he remembered that he was injured by a wind-powered man or by something heavy, but wasn''t bitten by any zombies. Why did he turn into a zombie?


    ''I think I still need to ask Lu Tianyu about what happened,'' he thought. ''Also, how have Kong Qingming and that woman been?''


    After exiting her space, Lin Qiao sighed with relief. Thankfully, Lu Tianyi had woken up. His memory and sanity both seemed intact.


    But then, the expression on her face turned grim.


    "Lili, you go to Binjiang District to look for Yun Meng right now. After that, you two go and bring that level-seven wind-powered person back to me! If you can''t bring him or her back, at least figure out where he or she came from and who it is!"


    "Eh? Now?" Qiu Lili paused for a second. She didn''t expect Lin Qiao to give her order in such a rush.


    "Now. I think that person hasn''t gone far yet. You remember that person''s scent, so it''s gonna be easy for you to locate it. If you two can''t bring that person back, just combine your powers and kill it. But before that, figure out who that person is, where he or she came from, and what purpose he or she has. Do you understand me?" Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    "I get it. I''m going now," Qiu Lili immediately understood her meaning. She turned and walked out of the lobby, jumping straight into the action. As a zombie, she didn''t need sleep anyway.


    "How''s Lu Tianyi?" Wu Chengyue and a few others stood up from the couch and asked eagerly.


    Lin Qiao glanced at them with icy-cold eyes and said, "He has woken up. He''s a zombie now."


    The others glanced at each other. They accepted that answer, as they had guessed it long ago. They weren''t surprised at all.


    The few people who had noticed the look in Lin Qiao''s eyes all felt that she must be very angry now. Even the air temperature around her was obviously low.


    Abruptly, Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "From now on, he''s one of us. You bring the other one back."


    Wu Chengyue nodded, as he understood her meaning. Lu Tianyi, who had already turned into a zombie, could no longer return to Sea City Base. He had no choice but to stay here now. Unlike him, Kong Qingming was able to go back to the hospital in Sea City Base to have further medical care after he woke up.


    Sensing that Lu Tianyi was already fully dressed, Lin Qiao flashed back into the space. Soon, she brought him out. He was wearing some casual clothes.


    He was still young and handsome, but his face was as pale as a piece of paper, without any tone of fresh blood. A deathly vibe that only zombies had could be sensed from him.


    Fortunately, his eyes didn''t turn purely black, but still looked like the eyes of healthy human beings.


    "You¡­ You can''t talk now, can you?" Wu Chengyue looked at him and asked.


    Lu Tianyi nodded, then glanced at Lin Qiao who was standing by his side.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Just write down what happened then," Wu Chengyue said.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and handed him a notebook and a pen as she said, "We ask questions, and you write down the answers."


    Lu Tianyi took over the notebook and pen, then nodded at her.


    Wu Chengyue sat on the couch and asked, "Do you know where the enemy came from?"


    Meanwhile, someone else brought a chair for Lu Tianyi to sit down.


    He wrote¡ª''The enemy was hiding in the darkness. We don''t know who it was, but it was a level-seven wind-powered being. We don''t know whether it was a human being or a zombie.''


    He thought for a moment, then added, ''The enemy was very careful. I think he or she didn''t want to expose himself. Zombies shouldn''t be worrying about that, so I guess that was a human being.''


    "Qiu Lili, who saved you, said that it was a human being," Yuan Tianxing nodded at him and said.


    Lin Qiao asked, "Was the enemy targeting all three of you or one of you?"


    She didn''t specifically point out whom that person might be, but the others all understood that it should be Yan Fangyu.


    Lu Tianyi lowered his head and wrote down one word¡ª''All.''


    The people on the scene asked a few important questions, then confirmed that the enemy was indeed a level-seven wind-powered human being. However, no one figured out his or her identity and purpose.


    As the group of people had finally asked all the questions, Lu Tianyi anxiously moved to Lin Qiao''s side. She glanced at him and figured out what he was trying to say. "Oh, that kid is fine. He won''t die."


    Lu Tianyi paused briefly, then sighed with relief.


    He had been worrying about Kong Qingming since the beginning, but he was aware what was important and what wasn''t. He could have finished the report with a short speech if he was still able to talk, but by writing down all the words, he wasted a lot of time.


    He could only wait until he finished writing all the answers before asking about Kong Qingming.


    "That woman ran pretty fast. She didn''t care about you two at all. I guess she''ll run back to Sea City Base safely. So, you don''t need to worry about her either," Lin Qiao continued to him, "From this day on, you can''t go back to Sea City Base. Just stay here."


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Lu Tianyi wore a sullen face. He understood what she meant. He was no longer a human being, so of course, he couldn''t go back to Sea City Base.

 565 I Am A Zombie, So What?

    As the others started leaving, Lin Qiao left with Lu Tianyi as well. Watching her leave, Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes. A mysterious light flashed across those dark eyes.


    Next to him, Yuan Tianxing, who was preparing to leave, noticed the look in his eyes. He paused briefly and glanced at Wu Chengyue, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao brought Lu Tianyi to the fifth floor and gave him the room opposite to Xie Dong''s room.


    After entering the room, Lin Qiao handed him a cup of water, saying, "Drink this. You know what you are, so you need to be careful. As you know, the fifth floor is isolated from the lower floors. To avoid unnecessary troubles, people won''t come up to this floor unless they have to. However, you can go down, as you don''t look like a zombie. But still, do not catch the attention of those commoners down there."


    Lu Tianyi took over the cup and sniffed at the water. He could tell that it was the water from the lake. Thinking that both he and Lin Qiao were in the lake before, he hesitated slightly.


    "What? Are you too scared to drink the lake water because we were soaked in the lake before? Why don''t you think about how huge that lake is? Besides, the energy in the lake can decompose other matter, such as the dust and the clotted blood on you. Those had been molten back when you were put down into the water. Don''t worry, the water is clean," Lin Qiao sensed his thoughts and explained to him.


    She had the same thoughts at the start, but later on, she found that the energy in the lake seemed to be able to decompose all other matter in the lake, so she stopped worrying.


    No wonder there was nothing in the lake. Nothing could survive in that lake.


    Lu Tianyi finished the cup of water, then looked at Lin Qiao with puzzlement.


    Seeing the look in his eyes, Lin Qiao immediately figured out what he wanted to ask. "Do you want to ask me why you turned into a zombie? My lakewater can only save living human beings. It can''t bring dead people back to life. Therefore, in order to save you, I had no choice but to turn you into a zombie."


    Lu Tianyi slightly lowered his head, as he understood her meaning.


    She was trying to say that he was already a dead person back when he was sent to her. That was within his expectation though, and he had prepared himself for that. After all, he nearly lost his hope back when he was injured.


    He was a zombie now, but so what? Even though the world in his eyes became black and white, he was still awake, wasn''t he? He was still able to move, run, and jump¡­ He had no idea if he would be able to talk again though. Maybe he needed to wait until he was upgraded?


    Lu Tianyi remembered that apart from Lu Tianyu, quite a few high-leveled zombies were able to talk as well.


    "Relax! I''ll figure out a way to enable you to talk as early as I can. But, you need to wait until you break into level-four at least," Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Lu Tianyi looked at her with surprise. How come she always knew what he was thinking so clearly?


    Lin Qiao laughed, "Don''t be so surprised. I''m the Chief of this place. I''m not only leading humans, but also zombies. If I can''t even read minds, how am I supposed to control those high-leveled zombies in my space?"


    Lu Tianyi nodded knowingly.


    Lin Qiao turned and said, "Alright. From now on, you''ll be staying here. I''m going back¡­ Also, you''re a newborn, so you might not be able to resist human flesh right now. Just now, I noticed that you were a little distracted down there. So, you should stay away from human beings for now."


    After saying that, Lin Qiao turned and left.


    Lu Tianyi gave a start as he didn''t think that Lu Tianyu would notice that. After watching her leave, he closed the door.


    She was right. Just now, he was a little distracted back in the lobby. After all, every scent he sensed back there aroused his hunger and desire to feed. He knew what that was, so he forced himself to restrain it. But still, it affected him a little.


    Just now when he came upstairs, that hunger was still agitating him. Only until he drank that cup of water was it eased.


    Lin Qiao left Lu Tianyi''s room and went back to her own room, only to find that Wu Chengyue was there again.


    "Oi¡­ I remember that your room is on the third floor. Why do you always show up in my room? The fifth floor is not open to the people with no duty," Lin Qiao stared at Wu Chengyue and said.


    "It''s not me who wanted to come here. It''s Ling Ling," Wu Chengyue glanced at Lin Qiao''s bed which was barely used.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao followed his eyes and found that the little one was sleeping pretty well on her bed. A gray ball of fur was curling next to her.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    She went over to the bed, then bent over and gently flipped the little girl''s tousled hair.


    Lin Qiao was never good at taking care of children. However, since she got familiar with Wu Yueling, she found that the girl was actually a very nice kid. She refused to talk, and was shy with strangers, and could be autistic occasionally. But except for that, she was all fine.


    She was smart and obedient.


    At least, Lin Qiao wouldn''t feel tired when playing with her¡­ except for those days when they first met each other.


    She understood that the little one actually wanted to talk to Viney very much. Unfortunately, Viney had been in a deep sleep all these days, so she wouldn''t be able to talk to Wu Yueling.


    "In this case, you can leave now. I''ll take care of the little one. See you!" Lin Qiao stood straight and said to Wu Chengyue who was sitting on the couch.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with a faint smile and nodded as he stood up. He then turned and walked toward the door.


    "I''ll leave Ling Ling to you then." After saying that, he walked out of the door and conveniently closed the door.


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds staring at the door, as Wu Chengyue was hardly so obedient before, and she wasn''t used to it.


    Next day, a few people arrived from Sea City Base before Qiu Lili came back.


    This time, the one who went to the zombie wall to pick them up wasn''t one of Lin Qiao''s zombie team members, but Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan drove there with a grass leaf which had been soaked in Lin Qiao''s blood. When she approached with that grass leaf, those zombies sensed the scent of Lin Qiao''s blood and automatically moved away.


    The visitors were Xiao Yunlong, Xiao Licheng, Meng Yue, and a level-six old man.


    When they entered the base, Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue, and the others were already waiting for them in the conference room.


    "Have a seat!" Wu Chengyue said to Xiao Yunlong while pointing at the two empty seats by his sides.


    Xiao Yunlong nodded at him, then sat down along with that old man. Meng Yue stood behind them while Xiao Licheng sat on Wu Chengyue''s left side, holding a notebook and preparing to take notes.


    On Lin Qiao''s side, Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting were sitting on both her sides. The others had all left the base.


    "Has Deputy Chief Yan returned to Sea City Base?" Wu Chengyue asked Xiao Yunlong.


    "Yes, injured though," Xiao Yunlong nodded.


    "As long as she''s alive," Wu Chengyue responded blandly, "Just tell us what you need to say."


    He understood that since Xiao Yunlong had brought that old man here, Zou Shihui must have given some instructions.

 566 Xiao Yunlong Arrives

    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Lin Qiao who was sitting by the other side of the table, then said to the old man next to him, "He, you have something to say, so say it."


    The old man who was called He was the other deputy chief under Zou Shihui''s command. His name was He Lukun, and he was a level-six wind-power possessor. His hair were gray, and he wore a thick pair of glasses.


    "I wonder what do you think about the surprise attack that happened last night." He said to Lin Qiao straightforwardly.


    "What do we think about it? Why don''t you ask your Chief that question? He knows it all. We were all here last night," Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows and said to He.


    He turned to Wu Chengyue and said, "Chief Wu, Deputy Chief Yan told us that the attacker might be from Upper City Base. How much do you think is that possibility?


    Wu Chengyue smiled faintly and asked him, "What else did she say?"


    He shook his head and responded, "Nothing else."


    "Oh! Didn''t she say which level that attacker is at, and what kind of power does he or she have?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "No. When Chief Zou asked her about the attacker, she repeatedly claimed that it was Upper City base. Then, she got emotional and locked herself in the room," said He.


    "According to what we have found out, the one who attacked the three of them last night was a level-seven wind-powered person. If Lu Tianyi and Kong Qingming, who were both at level-five, didn''t risk their own lives to buy her time, she wouldn''t have a chance to run back to Sea City. Also, if Upper City Base didn''t send reinforcements to stop the attacker, she''d be dead," said Wu Chengyue.


    He nodded, then looked at Lin Qiao and said, "So, we can tell that it has nothing to do with Upper City Base. We haven''t found out who the attacker is, and we heard that the other two victims are also in your base. I wonder how they have been."


    "They''re both injured severely. One of them almost died. Thankfully, he was brought back in time and managed to survive. That is it," Yuan Tianxing answered his question.


    "One of them almost died? Which one?" The old man paused briefly and then asked.


    "His name is Lu Tianyi. He almost stopped breathing when he was brought back. He''s still in a critical condition, and needs to stay for observation. The other injured one is called Kong Qingming. He''s not wounded as badly as Lu Tianyi. He''s still lying in bed now, but he''ll be able to move in a couple of days," Yuan Tianxing said to He.


    In fact, it wasn''t going to take a couple of days. After last night, Kong Qingming had already healed a little. However, in order to cover the magical effect of Lin Qiao''s lake water, Yuan Tianxing told He that it would take a couple of days for him to be able to move.


    Finishing talking, he turned and gave Wu Chengyue a glance, because what he said wasn''t true, and the latter already knew that Lu Tianyi had turned into a zombie. As Wu Chengyue made no reaction after hearing his words, Yuan Tianxing figured that he wasn''t going to expose his lie.


    "Ah, Tianyi¡­ How''s that boy doing now? We''ll come back in a few days to pick up Qingming. We''ve brought quite some medicines this time. Hopefully, those medicines can help with their injuries," Hearing that Lu Tianyi almost died, He showed a slightly sorrowful expression. After giving a sigh, he said to the others.


    Xiao Yunlong added, ''We''ll try to find the attacker as soon as we can. Miss. Lu, if you find anything, can you please let us know?"


    Lin Qiao shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, sure!"


    "She sent her people after the attacker last night. But, we haven''t heard from them yet," Wu Chengyue glanced at Lin Qiao and said to Xiao Yunlong. "


    "Oh?" Xiao Yunlong didn''t quite understand his real meaning, but did feel that his words had a hidden meaning.


    "They have their own way. They might find the attacker before us," Wu Chengyue smiled at Xiao Yunlong meaningfully.


    "Oh, I see," Xiao Yunlong immediately understood him.


    Miss. Lu and her people were zombies. Their sense of smell was much sharper than that of dogs.


    "Has Zou said anything else?" Wu Chengyue looked at He and asked.


    He glanced at him and responded with, "Nothing else for Upper City Base."


    Wu Chengyue immediately understood his meaning. Clearly, He had something to say to him in private.


    "So, let''s end it here," Lin Qiao stood up, then turned and left. She then went back to the fifth floor and walked to Lu Tianyi''s door.


    Lu Tianyi opened the door after she knocked on it.


    Lin Qiao walked in and said to him, "I told the people who came from your base today that you''re not dead, but are in a critical condition. You should lay low recently. When we''re strong enough to face the whole world, we''ll tell the world who we really are."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Hearing her words, Lu Tianyi froze. Facing the world¡­ That might sound not so difficult now, but in ten or twenty years, things might not be the same.


    After all, recently, he heard that Huaxia Base seemed to have developed some kind of method that could cause mass destruction of zombies. If that worked, the other bases would definitely head to Huaxia Base to seek that method.


    By then, large scale clearance operation would happen all over the country.


    "That''s right! Although that''s only hearsay now, it''s very likely to be real. Which means, human beings have a big hope on this," Lin Qiao knew about it as well. She wanted very much to send someone to Huaxia Base and find out if it was true or not. But, she had to postpone it, as the new base was very short-handed at the moment.


    Since they had hope, people would surely try their best to develop that method. When it was really feasible, the other bases would be willing to pay a high price for it.


    That would benefit the entire mankind. So, no matter how high the price might be, those people wouldn''t care.


    "You have accepted your new nature pretty fast. I wasn''t as calm as you are back when I just became a zombie," Lin Qiao patted Lu Tianyi on his shoulder and said, who looked at her with a bitter face.


    ''What else can I possibly do? It has already happened, and we have to think in a good way. Life needs to continue, doesn''t it?'' he thought.


    "You''re right. Life needs to continue, and we still need to survive. From this day on, you''re going to stay in my space. The energy in my base is highly beneficial for your cells. I''ll let you out when you''re ready." While speaking, she grabbed Lu Tianyi''s shoulder and dragged him into the space without giving him a chance to refuse.


    Lu Tianyi was stunned a little when Lin Qiao dragged him into the space, looking at her confusedly. He didn''t know why Lu Tianyu was so much nicer to him after she became a zombie. Before, she cared nothing about him; but now, she seemed to care about him a lot. Lu Tianyi wasn''t used to this sudden role swap, because he was usually the one who cared more about the other.


    Lin Qiao sensed his feeling, but didn''t mention it.


    She wondered how he would react when he found out that she wasn''t Lu Tianyu. He would know one day, and she was already waiting to see his shocked face.

 567 One of the Enemies

    Qiu Lili came back the next day. She looked angry, and didn''t seem to want to talk.


    "What happened?" Lin Qiao sat on the couch in her room and looked at Qiu Lili with surprise, then asked Yun Meng who was standing next to the other.


    Yun Meng glanced at Qiu Lili smilingly, then said to Lin Qiao, "You sent us after that attacker. We did find him, but couldn''t catch him, because that man seems to be very sensitive. We couldn''t approach him. Every time we got two-hundred meters away from him, he turned vigilant."


    Lin Qiao replied confusedly, "You''re both at level-seven. Couldn''t you flank him? He''s just a level-seven wind-powered man, isn''t he?"


    Yun Meng shook her head. A gleam of light flashed across her eyes as she said, "Wrong. He''s not at level-seven. He''s at level eight. He was hiding his power before. When he found us, he decided to release his full power. Therefore, even the two of us together couldn''t catch him."


    "Level-eight!" Lin Qiao was stunned a little. Then, she frowned and asked, "Where''s this level-eight superpowered man from? Which way did he go?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t expect him to be at level-eight.


    "Toward¡­ South. He was really fast, so not even I could catch him," Qiu Lili pouted and said unhappily. She was very unhappy about the enemy hiding his power. She felt as if she was fooled.


    Lin Qiao rested her chin on her palm and thought for a moment, then said with confusion, "Since he''s at level-eight, he was clearly not serious when he attacked Yan Fangyu and the two young men. If he were, you wouldn''t have a chance to save them. And, you tried to stop him when you got there, but it should be no difficulty for him to keep going after Yan Fangyu¡­ Yet, he didn''t do that¡­ I guess he''s just trying to ruin our relationship with the Sea City Base."


    For a level-eight man, killing Yan Fangyu and the other two would be as easy as crushing a few ants. However, that man let Yan Fangyu go. It meant that he wanted to use Yan Fangyu for something.


    "Did you see his face clearly? His body shape?" Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and asked Yun Meng and Qiu Lili.


    "Em¡­ Square face, fierce-looking eyes, thick eyebrows¡­ Not tall though¡­ About¡­ about¡­5 feet and eight inches tall, slim," Qiu Lili described that man.


    She and Yun Meng weren''t able to approach that guy, but their eyes could be used as telescopes. Their good eyesight allowed them to see that man clearly.


    "Five feet and eight inches? Square face, thick eyebrows¡­ That''s easy to recognize," Lin Qiao wore a grim look.


    "Do you know him?" Noticing the change of Lin Qiao''s expression, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng looked at her with surprise.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yeah. He''s Lu Zhuofeng from Hidden Cloud Base. It has only been a few months, but he unexpectedly made a breakthrough! Last time when he attacked me, he was still at level-seven. I guess he obtained a special high-level energy nucleus lately. It might be a level-seven zombie nucleus."


    She surely knew that man. He was one of her enemies. How could she not know him? He was there when she blew herself up.


    Unexpectedly, he had broken into level-eight. He might be a difficult enemy now.


    Him showing up here clearly had something to do with Long Yubai. Things seemed to be happening way faster than Lin Qiao thought, as the enemies had sneakily come to her place.


    Yun Meng handed Lin Qiao a handful of level-four-and-five zombie nuclei. Those nuclei belonged to those zombies which she and Qiu Lili killed in Binjiang District, and those they hunted on their way chasing that man.


    "You two, stay here and guard the base. From this day on, expand the range of vigilance. If you find any suspicious person, bring them under control first," Lin Qiao said to the two of them.


    "Alright!" Qiu Lili responded.


    "Is this serious? Are you going to leave again?" Yun Meng detected the other meaning in Lin Qiao''s words.


    "Eh?" Hearing that, Qiu Lili finally figured out why Lin Qiao''s words sounded a little strange.


    "This time, the enemy was here to test us. They weren''t planning to launch a full strike yet. In this case, I''m going to put it out first. It must be Long Yubai who''s behind this again. I''m going to finish him first, so we won''t have more future problems," Lin Qiao slightly lowered her face and said with a serious look. Then, she abruptly stood up.


    "I''ll leave the few level-five zombies for you. We''re really short-handed now. When I come back, I''ll just upgrade zombie number one to seven!" Lin Qiao said with a frown and then disappeared into thin air.


    After about ten seconds, she came out of her space with five zombie leaders.


    She caught those zombie leaders on her way to Hades Base, and didn''t have a chance to bring them out of her space. Now, they were finally coming in handy.


    The five zombie leaders flinched the moment they came out, without daring to move. One level-seven zombie was frightening enough, but they were facing three of them now.


    There was a lot of pressure!


    "From now on, you will listen to their orders," Lin Qiao said to the five zombie leaders.


    "Roar¡­" Those zombie leaders responded carefully.


    "Keep an eye on them. If they make any mistake, just punish them," Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, then turned back to those zombies and continued, "Remember, no one is allowed to attack the human beings in this building. If you hurt those people, I''ll dig your nuclei out!"


    "Roar!" The five zombie leaders nodded quickly. The higher level they reached, the more they cared about their nuclei. That might be an instinct.


    "I think we should let them guard the entrances for now," said Yun Meng.


    "Alright! The zombie old man and the middle-aged male zombie are all out there hunting other zombies lately. I think we need to find two more zombie kings or queens!" Lin Qiao rubbed her chin and said. Thinking about the current strength of the base, she couldn''t help but get a little worried about the future.


    Only upgrading the zombies that she knew was not enough! Not enough!


    "Before I leave, I''ll upgrade Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng. If there''s any problem, don''t forget to talk to them," Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili and Yunmeng.


    "Alright!" Qiu Lili responded reluctantly, as she knew that she wouldn''t be going out with Lin Qiao this time.


    "I get it!" On the other hand, Yun Meng was pretty happy, because Qiu Lili didn''t need to leave.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Alright, you can leave now. Oh, Lili, you go and tell Lin Feng and the others to come back. I need to re-formulate their missions," Lin Qiao first told them to leave, then thought for a second and asked Qiu Lili to find Lin Feng and the others.


    "Sure!" Qiu Lili replied quickly, then turned and left.


    Yun Meng crooked her finger toward the group of zombies, saying, "You guys, come out!"

 568 The Antidote

    He, Xiao Yunlong, Wu Chengyue, and the others didn''t continue their conversation until they returned to Wu Chengyue''s room.


    "What is it? Since Zou has sent you here, I assume there is a problem," Wu Chengyue sat on the couch as he looked at He and said. He sat on his left side while Xiao Yunlong dragged over a chair and sat down beside him as well.


    "Chief Zou didn''t say anything specific. He only told me to ask for your opinion. He said that you''re here, so you must know better than he does," said He.


    "Eh? Just that? I thought he''d have something to say to Upper City base¡­" Wu Chengyue looked at He with surprise.


    "To Upper City Base? Why?" He asked with confusion.


    "Because Deputy Chief Yan, I guess. After all, she''s been yelling that we need to destroy Upper City Base since she came back," Xiao Yunlong smilingly answered the question for Wu Chengyue.


    "Chief Wu, do you think our Chief Zou would just take her words? Before finding out the truth, Chief Zou won''t make any decision," He pushed up his glasses and said.


    "You''re right! Zou isn''t that kind of man," Wu Chengyue smilingly nodded.


    "Oh¡­ Also, about that thing, there''s an update," Xiao Yunlong abruptly added as he suddenly thought of something. Then, he took a few pieces of paper out of his bag.


    While reading the text on the papers, he said, "Huaxia Base has successfully developed the antidote for the zombie virus. We heard that the molecule is originated from a special zombie and some other mutated creatures which have special powers. The antidote needs to be burned and decomposed at a high temperature to spread in the air. According to the results of the preliminary experiments, burning ten grams of the antidote can cause a pathological change in the virus carried by all the zombies within ten meters in radius. Then, after one or two hours, those zombies will die."


    "So, the antidote¡­ can it be counted as a success?" Wu Chengyue''s eyes glowed.


    Even though the coverage of ten grams of antidote was merely ten meters in radius, it was already marvelous. If someone gathered a large number of zombies together and then released a large amount of antidote, those zombies would all die, wouldn''t they?


    "Yes. The news has already spread. I think Huaxia Base might send their people to invite the leaders of all the other bases for a grand meeting in a while," Xiao Yunlong nodded and said.


    Every grand meeting took place in Huaxia City, because Huaxia Base was the most powerful base. Every shocking discovery would be discussed in a grand meeting in Huaxia City.


    During the past five years, the grand meeting was only called for three times. The first meeting was called the year after the apocalypse when the human bases were built, and the rest two meetings happened in the four years after that.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    This time, if the antidote was truly, successfully developed, the fourth meeting was going to happen soon.


    "Did you say that the antidote is made from a special zombie? Is it made from the zombie''s blood? What kind of zombie has that power?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "I heard that it''s a very powerful zombie dominator. It was caught by a leader of Huaxia Base. As for its power, Huaxia Base people didn''t leak any information. There''re other compositions too, from a few different types of mutated plants and animals," said Xiao Yunlong.


    "So, if the antidote is made from just one zombie''s blood, how much is the success rate?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "I heard that it has been raised to 67%," Xiao Yunlong lowered his head and browed the files, then answered the question.


    "67%¡­ That''s still too low. How many antidotes can they make until they drain that zombie?" Wu Chengyue frowned slightly.


    "That''s why Huaxia Base people are not only keeping the zombie dominator, but also controlling the amount of the antidote. On the other hand, they need to figure out a way to raise the success rate further," said Xiao Yunlong.


    After talking about the antidote that Huaxia Base had developed, He and Xiao Yunlong went back to their rooms which were arranged by Xiao Yunlong.


    After they left, the smile on Wu Chengyue''s face faded. He turned and walked into the bedroom. Wu Yueling was playing alone on the bed. He scooped her up and said, "Ling Ling, let''s go and find your Zombie Mom."


    Wu Yueling''s eyes glowed. She immediately put her arms around her father''s neck and nodded.


    After Qiu Lili and Yun Meng left, Lin Qiao pondered shortly, then decided to talk to Yuan Tianxing about the future plans. Once she walked out of her room, she saw Wu Chengyue coming up with Wu Yueling in his arms.


    "Going out? Stay for a second. I have something to say to you," At the sight of her, Wu Chengyue said smilingly. Then, he walked to her and entered her room naturally, completely ignoring her reaction.


    Seeing him walk into her room so casually as if it were his room, Lin Qiao said unhappily, "We can talk downstairs in the lobby. Why did you come up here?"


    Wu Chengyue put Wu Yueling on the ground, then stood straight as he shook his head and said to her, "Oh, no, for some things, we should better talk in a room."


    ''Why didn''t you invite me to your room then? Why do you always come to my room?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    She pulled a long face and looked at him, but didn''t say anything. Instead, she said to Duan Juan who was standing by her door, "Go downstairs and tell Yuan Tianxing to come up."


    "Yes," Duan Juan turned and went downstairs.


    Lin Qiao closed the door, then turned and held a hand of Wu Yueling who had run to her, walking to the other couch before sitting down.


    "Speak. What''s it about? I have something to tell you too actually. It''s about the wind-powered attacker." Lin Qiao put Wu Yueling on her lap, then looked at Wu Chengyue and said.


    "Have you heard about the antidote that Huaxia Base developed yet?" Wu Chengyue looked at her and asked. He was still wearing a faint smile, yet the look in his eyes was serious.


    "Hm¡­ I''ve heard about it," Lin Qiao nodded, then looked at him and asked, "What? Have you received some news about it?"


    Wu Chengyue nodded, "I had sent my people to Huaxia Base to follow the development of the antidote. We do have news about it now. It''s a good thing for human beings, but might not be good for you."


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly. Her eyes were piercing as she replied, "Are you saying that they have already developed the antidote? What effect does it have? What''s it made from? Can you find out how it was developed?"


    "The current success rate is 67%. The maximum activity range of ten grams of the antidote is ten meters in radius. Burning ten grams of the antidote can kill all the zombies within ten meters radius around it. That''s its effect," Wu Chengyue paused shortly and then continued, "I heard that it''s made from a special zombie and some mutated animals and plants. That zombie is probably kept in Huaxia Base now. I think Huaxia Base people will only take a limited amount of blood from that zombie. After all, zombie bodies cannot generate new blood. If they drain that zombie, they might not be able to find another zombie-like that."

 569 Suddenly So Much Work to Do

    "Burn? Spread through the air?" Lin Qiao knitted her brows into a frown. That did not sound good.


    If the antidote could be spread through the air, she would have no way of resisting it, unless she brought all her zombies into her space. But in that way, it would be impossible for her to win the battle.


    "If you can''t avoid it, I think you might be in a very dangerous situation. So, you should prepare for it as soon as you can," Wu Chengyue said.


    "They can''t produce a huge amount of the antidote, can they?" Lin Qiao asked.


    She knew that human beings would try their best to develop the antidote, but didn''t expect them to achieve the breakthrough so quickly. She thought that it would take them one or two decades.


    However, she was wrong. She was too naive!


    "I don''t think so. The current success rate is only sixty-seven percent. And, the main ingredient is that zombie''s blood. So, I guess Huaxia Base people don''t dare to produce that kind of antidote in large batches yet," Wu Chengyue nodded as he analyzed the situation and continued, "I think you should lay low, as much as you can."


    "I don''t need you to tell me that!" Lin Qiao glanced at him. In fact, she was weighing how much the success rate would be if she headed to Huaxia Base now to steal or destroy that zombie.


    Huaxia Base was about one-thousand and two-hundred miles away from Hangzhou; it was a little further away than Hades Base. Also, Huaxia Base was much more powerful than Sea City Base and the other regular large bases.


    Huaxia Base had a good number of superpowered people, and most of them were at high levels. The base was also designed with an extra-strong defense, and armed with powerful weapons. The mere outer fence wall was armed with at least five types of cannons which had different shooting ranges and effects. Many places in that base were heavily armored.


    Lin Qiao might be able to sneak in with her invisibility, but she didn''t know if any of those superpowered people in that base had any special sensing abilities, or could directly break her invisibility.


    Not to mention the fact that that zombie was the key of the antidote. Huaxia Base people wouldn''t possibly just keep that zombie in a random place. Instead, that zombie must be guarded by lots of powerful people and heavily armed soldiers. Alternatively, it might be hidden somewhere that the others didn''t know about.


    Also, she would have to spend a couple of days on it, without knowing if she could make it or not.


    Long Yubai and his people had been fixing their greedy eyes on Upper City Base. Things would become troublesome if those people attacked the base while she wasn''t here. Qiu Lili and Yun Meng were two powerful zombies, but they weren''t as smart as the enemies. Therefore, even though the base was under their guard, Lin Qiao was still worried.


    Long Yubai was beaten last time, so he would definitely be more vigilant this time. Besides, he had a level-eight ally now. That was the biggest problem.


    However, even if she couldn''t go to Huaxia Base to kill that zombie, she at least needed to figure out how much antidote they had produced so far, and where did it all go, and which bases had already attained it.


    Lin Qiao sighed, suddenly finding that she had so much work to do.


    Noticing the serious and calm look in her eyes, Wu Chengyue felt that she really did not look like Lu Tianyu. Without the information that he got earlier and Lu Tianyi''s confirmation, he wouldn''t believe that Lu Tianyu had become a completely different soul after turning into a zombie.


    The vibe that she had was growing stronger and stronger. Although her base was pathetically underpopulated, her vibe was as strong as his. That was really impressive.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t realize that he had been staring at Lin Qiao the whole time. Lin Qiao noticed his gaze and said to him, "Why are you looking at me like that? Do I owe you any money?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Wu Chengyue''s expression froze for a second, then he said in an unfriendly tone, "Am I looking at you in that way?" He believed that he was looking at her in a normal way, yet she felt that he was like a debt collector.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with confusion and asked, "Why did you give me such valuable information? Do you want something from me?"


    She had just extorted a few level-six zombie nuclei and some seeds from him. And now, he actually gave her such important information. Lin Qiao believed that he must have a purpose. There must be something that he wanted from her.


    "Why can''t it be because I''m worried about you?" Wu Chengyue said smilingly.


    "Like I''d believe that," Lin Qiao rolled her eyes, then lowered her head and said to Wu Yueling, "Ling Ling, tell me what your Daddy wants?"


    Wu Yueling raised her head to look at Lin Qiao with her big, watery eyes. This time, she took her father''s side.


    "Eh? Why does he care about me?" Lin Qiao looked at Wu Yueling with surprise.


    Then, Wu Yueling threw herself into Lin Qiao''s arms, putting her little arms around the latter''s waist. ''Because Daddy wants you to be my Mommy!''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know how to respond.


    ''Take no offense at a child''s babble!'' she said to herself.


    "Didn''t you say that you have something to tell me too?" Wu Chengyue changed the topic.


    "Oh, Qiu Lili came back not long ago. She and Yun Meng failed to catch that wind-powered man, because he wasn''t a level-seven. He was at level eight. Also, I have confirmed his identity. I think he''s Lu Zhuofeng," Lin Qiao wore a serious expression and said.


    "Eh? Are you sure it''s Lu Zhuofeng? Why did he come to east China? And, you said that he''s at level-eight¡­ Is that real?" Wu Chengyue stopped smiling and asked expressionlessly.


    "Believe it or not. I''ve already told you anyway," Lin Qiao shrugged.


    "Can''t we have a friendly conversation?" Wu Chengyue was pretty dissatisfied, as the female zombie acted like it had nothing to do with her at all. She was serious a second ago.


    Did she want him to believe her or not?


    At that moment, a series of footsteps were heard from the outside. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao sensed Yuan Tianxing''s scent.


    Knock, knock! The door was knocked twice.


    "Come in," Lin Qiao answered the door. Then, she saw Duan Juan open the door to let Yuan Tianxing in.


    "Have a seat!" Lin Qiao pointed at the chair next to her and said to Yuan Tianxing, who sat down and silently looked at Wu Chengyue.


    Noticing his gaze, Wu Chengyue gave him a glance confusedly.


    Yuan Tianxing turned to look at Lin Qiao with confusion, who looked at both of them, feeling confused as well.


    Once again, Yuan Tianxing turned to look at Wu Chengyue.


    "Oh, you can leave now!" Lin Qiao finally realized where the problem was. So, she turned to Wu Chengyue and said to him.


    Wu Chengyue silently stood up and walked up to her. "Alright, Ling Ling, let''s head back," he said to his daughter. However, Wu Yueling ignored him and kept her arms around Lin Qiao.

 570 Yuan Tianxing Upgrades

    Wu Chengyue sullenly looked at his daughter who refused to listen to him once she saw the female zombie.


    "Good Ling Ling, just go downstairs with your Daddy. We''re about to have a serious conversation here. Children shouldn''t hear it," Lin Qiao tried to coax her to leave with her father. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    What she and Wu Chengyue had just now was also a serious conversation though.


    Once Lin Qiao gave her words, Ling Ling uncoiled her little arms from her. Then, she touched Lin Qiao''s stomach and nodded unhappily. She wanted to talk to Viney, but Viney was sleeping the whole time. That made her a little unhappy.


    Lin Qiao watched her turn and leave with Wu Chengyue, wondering when Viney would wake up. She always felt that Ling Ling was a little lonely.


    After Wu Chengyue left, she said to Yuan Tianxing, "I need to change the plan. In these couple of days, I''ll leave for the Earth Dragon Base. I''m going to find a way to kill the disgusting Long Yubai. Otherwise, he''ll keep egging Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base to attack us. The antidote has been successfully developed, so those two bases will have no spare time for us, not even after I kill Long Yubai."


    "What? Are you going to kill Long Yubai now? Didn''t you say that you''ll take some rest first? The development of the antidote hasn''t reached a final success yet, has it?" Hearing Lin Qiao''s decision, Yuan Tianxing responded anxiously.


    "I''ll upgrade you and Lin Feng before I leave. Two of the five level-six zombie nuclei are for you guys. Also, Yun Meng and Qiu Lili will stay here. They won''t leave with me. About the antidote, you should stay out of it for now. I''ll figure out what exactly is happening. And, don''t tell the others that I''m going to leave¡­ Don''t let my Mom, Wenwen, and the others know," Lin Qiao looked at him expressionlessly.


    "Alright, I get it," Yuan Tianxing looked at her and said. The look on her face told him that there was no room for him to say anything else.


    Although Lin Qiao had said that she would upgrade both Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing, she had no idea if Lin Feng could make the breakthrough or not. The only thing she did know was that one single level-six zombie nucleus wouldn''t be enough for Lin Feng, as he broke into level-six just a couple of months ago.


    Being brought into Lin Qiao''s space again, Yuan Tianxing took fright on seeing the broad space and the large group of zombies in there. Clearly, the space was much larger than before.


    As Lin Qiao had expected, he made the breakthrough pretty easily, because he was already at the top of level six. One zombie nucleus brought him into level-seven without difficulties.


    It did take a rather long while though. When they came out, it was already the next day.


    "Go down and tell Lin Feng to come up," Lin Qiao said to Yuan Tianxing when he left her room.


    "Em," Yuan Tianxing nodded.


    As Yuan Tianxing closed the door and left, Lin Qiao unwittingly touched her lower abdomen.


    Maybe because she had consumed too much energy to help Yuan Tianxing with the upgrade, she had been having a strange feeling from her stomach since she came out of the lake.


    She had no time to rest, because she needed to solve the problem caused by Long Yubai; the sooner the better.


    She sat on the couch and picked up a strawberry from her space to make a bite. It was sour, but she had nothing else to eat for now. She hadn''t eaten any meat for quite a while!


    In about twenty minutes, Lin Feng showed up at her door.


    "Come in," Lin Qiao invited him in before he even knocked on the door.


    Crack! Lin Feng opened the door and walked in.


    "What happened? Why did you call us back in such haste?" Lin Feng looked at her confusedly.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the couch beside her and said, "I need to change the plans that I made before. I also have to kill Long Yubai as soon as I can. If I let him live, he''ll cause more unnecessary troubles. I made you come back so urgently because I want to help you with the upgrade. But, I can''t say whether you can break into level-seven or not for sure."


    Lin Feng looked at her with surprise, saying, "I just entered level-six a couple of months ago. Will my power be unstable if I broke into level-seven so soon?"


    "We have to take the risk. I still want to enhance the strength of our base as much as possible, or I''ll be worried," said Lin Qiao.


    "You''re still like this. You take all the responsibilities by yourself. Occasionally, you should believe in us. We''re not so useless," Lin Feng looked at her with discontentment.


    Lin Qiao had taken all the responsibilities in the family ever since she grew up. She didn''t even share those responsibilities with her big brother. After the apocalypse, she tried even harder to protect her family.


    "It''s not that I don''t believe in you. You''ve seen what the world turned into after the apocalypse. Everybody feels insecure. There''re too many uncertain factors. I don''t want to see anything bad happen to any of you guys," Lin Qiao sighed and said.


    "You don''t need to be so worried. We''re not kids. We can protect ourselves," Lin Feng helplessly covered his forehead. He felt so tired. He felt as if he wasn''t a big brother, but a little one!


    "Alright, let''s not talk so much for now. Do you know that Huaxia Base people have already developed an antidote for the zombie virus? For that reason, we have to be more lowkey when taking an action. Also, Long Yubai will certainly try to bring our new base some troubles. I need to stop him before it gets big. So, don''t tell Mom and Wenwen about my plan. Just keep it to yourself," Lin Qiao said to him.


    "I get it," Lin Feng nodded, then asked, "What''s about the antidote?"


    "Go and talk to Tianxing when you have time. He''ll explain to you," Lin Qiao said to him, then grabbed his arm and continued, "So now, just let me upgrade your level first."


    Next, she dragged Lin Feng straight into her base.


    Like Yuan Tianxing, he was too shocked by the changes that had happened in that place, as he hadn''t come into her space for quite a while.


    "Wow, your space is so much bigger than before! Is it related to your power level? Does it grow larger each time you upgrade?" Lin Feng looked around with surprise, "Eh, so many zombies. Are you going to turn this place into a zombie base?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I do have that plan. Except for zombie, I also¡­" Before she could finish, a roar was heard from the woods.


    The two of them turned and heard more noises from that area. Soon, a furless zombie dog rushed out of the woods, chased by a giant dark snake.


    "Again! Those two never rest!" Lin Qiao looked at the two creatures helplessly.


    Lin Qiao had warned the dog not to come to the strawberry field and the vegetable field, so it darted into the grassland and hopped around very happily.


    Seeing that, Lin Feng didn''t even know what expression to wear.

 571 Keep Upgrading

    "Alright, leave them alone. Take off your clothes and get down into the water," Lin Qiao turned and said to Lin Feng.


    "All my clothes?" Lin Feng hesitated shortly, then asked with an embarrassed expression.


    "Take off all your clothes, or they''ll be scattered by the water," Lin Qiao smilingly glanced at him and replied. After that, she released a stream of dark mist and had herself wrapped in it. When she started moving toward the water, Lin Feng saw a pile of clothes left on the ground.


    "I''m going down now. You need to come down as soon as you can. Don''t worry, I won''t be able to see your body in the water," Lin Qiao walked into the lake while speaking.


    As Lin Qiao stepped into the water, Lin Feng sighed with relief, then took off his clothes and went down.


    At that moment, the zombie dog and the king cobra which had been darting around in the grassland paused simultaneously. They both reared up their heads to glance at the water before continuing their game.


    On the balcony on the second floor of the small building in Lin Qiao''s base, Lu Tianyi watched Lin Qiao get down into the lake with Yuan Tianxing, then do the same thing with Lin Feng. He felt that she had a strange vibe around her today, as if she was preparing for something.


    The more time he spent with the current Lu Tianyu, the more strongly he felt that she was different from before. Before, he always paid attention to her secretly, so now, he couldn''t help but do the same.


    But now, he felt totally different from before. Before, he always kept an eye on her because he was worried that she might do something bad. He also cleaned up all the mess that she left. But now, he realized that what Lu Tianyu had been doing was too huge, and that he had no power to clean up the mess that she might create now.


    But thankfully, she wasn''t doing anything bad!


    When Lu Tianyi was standing on the balcony and watching Lin Feng disappear into the lake, a little stone flew over.


    Thud! The stone landed on Lu Tianyi''s head.


    Looking at the level-four zombie which was hiding in a corner downstairs, the angry Lu Tianyi had veins standing up on his forehead.


    ''Damn you! I will torture you to death when my level comes up!''


    He glared at that zombie who only dared to sneakily threw stones at him.


    "Roar!" The young male zombie showed no sign of weakness, but stuck his head out and roared at Lu Tianyi.


    That had happened more than once. Ever since Lu Tianyi came into the space and moved into that small building, the level-four zombie often threw stones at him. When the zombie did that the first time, Lu Tianyi rushed out and picked up a fight against him. As a result, he found that he was pathetically weak after turning into a zombie! He couldn''t even defeat a level-four zombie!


    At last, he had no choice but to run back into the building. Then, he found that none of the other zombies in the space dared to enter the building. Those zombies seemed to be very unhappy about the fact that Lu Tianyi was able to come in and out of that building freely.


    Lu Tianyi soon realized that fact. So, when he was bored, what he liked to do the most these days was stand on the balcony and look at that high-school-boy-like young male zombie provokingly.


    The young male zombie, of course, didn''t dare to launch any lethal attack when fighting Lu Tianyi, because fighting wasn''t allowed in this place. Lu Tianyi rushed at him and started the fight, so he only put up some defense. That was just defense!


    Lu Tianyi, who had newly turned into a zombie and lost most of his power, was beaten nonetheless.


    Lin Qiao surely knew that they had a fight. She didn''t say anything about it because she detected no murderous intention. So, she simply decided to let them play in her space.


    After the first battle, Lu Tianyi had been on alert. Normally, he wouldn''t let that zombie hit his head. But this time, he was a little distracted by Lin Qiao, and the young male zombie grasped the opportunity.


    Looking at the young male zombie who was perkily baring his teeth downstairs, Lu Tianyi tried very hard to calm himself down.


    He understood that those zombies were like children. Intelligent zombies were smarter than the other zombies. The young male zombie was only at level-four currently, but he was almost as smart as a zombie leader, meaning that he was as smart as a seven or eight years old child.


    So, he was just like a naughty kid!


    ''Easy! Easy!'' Lu Tianyi told himself that.


    After getting into the water, Lin Feng was a little confused, and didn''t know what to do. He thought that he wouldn''t be able to breathe when he got into the water, but things weren''t exactly like he expected.


    He wasn''t disabled from breathing. Instead, he didn''t need to breathe anymore! He felt as if his mind had left his body!


    At that point, someone grasped his arm from behind and dragged him downward. He gave a start, as he wasn''t prepared for that.


    He turned back, but saw nothing behind him. When he went down to the lake bottom, a fire zombie nucleus was put into his hands.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Then, he felt the hand on his arm move to the middle of his back.


    ''You can start to absorb the energy. I''ll be helping you.'' Lin Qiao''s voice was heard in his mind.


    Lin Feng immediately focused his mind and started absorbing the energy.


    In the small building, Lu Tianyi held the tiger which was struggling with all its effort, then sat on the balcony, looking at the surface of the lake. On the grassland, the zombie dog and the king cobra stopped playing, then raised their heads to look at the lake as well.


    Lin Qiao might not know that each time she went down into the lake to help somebody with the upgrade, a swirl would show up on the surface of the lake, and the pressure from the lake would reduce largely.


    Every time that happened, the zombies and other creatures in the space would fix their eyes on the lake. On the other side of the lake, the group of level-three zombies had also been gazing at the lake. But still, they didn''t dare to come close.


    ¡­


    On the outside, Wu Chengyue returned to his room, then sent out one of his people to invite Xiao Yunlong over.


    "How much antidote have they produced so far? Have they sold it to any other bases yet? Haven''t we learned anything about that yet?" Wu Chengyue asked with a frown.


    "Not yet. About the amount of the existing antidote, we''re still trying to find out. As for if any other bases have attained it and how much they have gotten, we really do not know," Xiao Yunlong shook his head and said.


    "Keep an eye on the other large bases. If there''s any news, deliver the information back ASAP," said Wu Chengyue with a calm look.


    "We have had them under watch the whole time," Xiao Yunlong looked at him confusedly.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him and said, "I mean, deliver the message back here!"


    "Eh¡­" Xiao Yunlong paused briefly, then suddenly wore a weird expression, "I mean¡­ why do I feel that you''re trying to protect some outsiders?"


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes in a big smile as he said to Xiao Yunlong, "I feel that you and Meng Yue are getting too close lately. Do you want me to ask her to come back to work for me?"


    "Oi, oi, oi, wait, wait! How can you¡­ How can you¡­ Alright, I won''t mention it, okay? Damn!" Xiao Yunlong had his expression changed suddenly, and then he pulled a long face.


    "Also, how''s the construction work of her fence wall going? With the hundreds of workers she has, when can it be finished?"


    "It''s going pretty well, but they''re still shorthanded. Those workers need to take down other buildings to collect materials while building the wall. By now, the finished part is about thirty meters long," said Xiao Yunlong.

 572 Is It Because Of The Baby?

    Thirty meters¡­ It was not long, but not short either. Only a small number of workers were doing to construction work at first. Only until those former Hades Base residents joined the new base did the construction become rapid.


    A day later, that female zombie still didn''t show up. Wu Chengyue knew that she hadn''t left yet, because Lin Feng hadn''t shown up either. It meant that his upgrade wasn''t completed yet.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was facing difficulty down on the bottom of the lake. Things would develop in the opposite direction when they became extreme. When Lin Qiao handed Lin Feng the third zombie nucleus, some negative effects showed up.


    She was too anxious for success. As a result, the situation was a little out of control now.


    That was what Lin Qiao was thinking at the moment. Before Lin Feng, she had spent quite some energy to help Yuan Tianxing with the upgrade. And after that, she started upgrading Lin Feng without taking a rest, and encountered such a difficult situation. Her will power was actually reducing at the moment.


    Lin Feng had absorbed too much energy. He wasn''t able to control such a big amount of energy, so he nearly let his body explode. Lin Qiao suppressed that energy with the energy from the lake to save from being blown up by the excessive energy.


    Lin Qiao wanted to stop the energy for good, but she couldn''t do it. All she could do was to try her best to channel the energy which had accumulated inside his body into his brain. At the same time, she needed to pay attention to the limit of the amount of energy that his nucleus could accept.


    So now, Lin Qiao and Lin Feng were stuck in the situation.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    They didn''t come out the first day after they went into the space. The second day, Yuan Tianxing went upstairs to ask Duan Juan about them, and learned that they were still in there. Then, the third day and the fourth day had passed, and the two of them still didn''t show up.


    Lin Family people had all gathered in Lin Qiao''s room to wait for her anxiously.


    "She''s really been too harsh on herself. Could anything bad happen to her? It never took so long before, right?" Mrs. Lin sat on the couch, her fingers woven together, twisting.


    "Mom, it''s fine. She''s fine¡­" The short-haired Lin Wenwen squatted next to her mother and gently patted her hand while comforting her.


    "But her condition¡­ She''s not alone. Has the baby been affecting her?" Mrs. Lin looked at the other worryingly.


    Hearing that, the others fell into silence.


    Only Lin Wenwen, Lin Hao, and Cheng Wangxue were in the room. They were all family, so Mrs. Lin wasn''t trying to hide Lin Qao''s pregnancy. In fact, that was exactly what she had been worrying about.


    Lin Qiao was a zombie now, and she was pregnant. Her family was very frightened of the instability of that baby, because they didn''t know about it.


    Downstairs, Yuan Tianxing had been a little absent-minded at work these days. But still, he needed to work.


    Wu Chengyue was pacing in his room, glancing at the door from time to time. He was waiting Xiao Licheng to bring him the news.


    In Lin Qiao''s space, Lu Tianyi was still standing on the balcony, his eyes fixed on the lake. The swirl in the lake was gone, replaced by roaring waves. At the same time, an unstable pressure had been coming out of the lake wave by wave.


    It started two days ago, and hadn''t ended.


    Seeing that, Lu Tianyi figured that Lin Qiao might have encountered an unexpected situation down at the lake bottom.


    Lin Qiao clenched her teeth as she suppressed the energy inside Lin Feng''s body with all her will power. The energy had accumulated to a certain degree. If Lin Feng couldn''t upgrade, he might suffer a counterforce. Therefore, Lin Qiao could not relax at the moment, but had to grit her teeth and hold on.


    However, she was already exhausted, as she had been suppressing that energy for four days. She felt so stressed that her nerves seemed to even explode.


    At that point, Lin Feng lost consciousness. If he were still awake, he would be able to try to control the energy inside him. But, as he had passed out, things became even more difficult for Lin Qiao.


    At that time in the Earth Dragon Base, Long Yubai was arguing with a few men in the conference room.


    "No! If we let them go now, we wouldn''t know how much stronger they might become when we come back from Huaxia Base. I''ve found out that they''ve been improving fast because that woman named Lu Tianyu has some special way to upgrade superpowers within a short time span. A couple of days ago when you went to attack that Sea City Base woman, Yuan Tianxing was still at level-six. But now, he has already broken into level-seven!" Long Yubai paced around the table. His pretty brows were knitted into a big frown as he continued, "If we leave for Huaxia Base now, we''d have no time to deal with Upper City Base. But, the antidote is so important, and we have to get some. If even you can''t approach that base, who can?"


    While speaking, he looked at a dark-skinned, slim man.


    That man sat there silently. He had a square face and a thick pair of eyebrows, which made his small eyes look even smaller. However, those small eyes had been giving out a fierce vibe.


    "That Wu Chengyue has already stepped into level-eight, and he has lightning power. He''d spot me if I approached," said Lu Zhuofeng with a deep voice.


    "But, they don''t have a ton of antidote. We won''t get any if we don''t get there as soon as we can. Yubai, do you want to give up on our chance of getting the antidote?" Another man asked Long Yubai with disagreement. "


    "How can we possibly give up!" Long Yubai responded. That was the antidote of the zombie virus. With that, he would be able to clean out all the zombies around his base. Killing all the zombies in the world sounded impossible, but taking out all the zombies in a city could still be counted as a big step forward.


    However, he was also eager to destroy that newly founded small base in Upper City District, because that was a resurgence of Hades Base. If he didn''t destroy that base while it was still weak, some unexpected change might happen, as the strength of that base had been growing rapidly.


    Also¡­


    "They have zombie dominators. If we don''t catch those zombies as soon as we can, the other bases might discover them and come to get them! Besides, we haven''t figured out how those people have been controlling zombies and even zombie dominators. One zombie dominator can already be troublesome enough. What if they found more of them?"


    Those were his concerns.


    Long Yubai had been watching Upper City District since he escaped from there and returned to his base. He had learned about the zombie wall, and the fact that zombies were under the Upper City Base''s control and administration like an army.


    He had been trying to figure out why and how, but his people couldn''t get into Upper City Base.


    So, he asked Lu Zhuofeng, who had just broken into level eight, for help this time.


    Lu Zhuofeng heard about what Yan Fangyu did from Sea City Base, so he decided to kill her and create some troubles for the Upper City Base.

 573 Level Eight Wu Chengyue

    "But, Wu Chengyue is there. Even I am no match for him. Even if we send over a strong army force, we might still lose. There''s one thing for sure, that our damage won''t be small. I''m surprised that Wu Chengyue has made the breakthrough as well. He has lightning power, so his level-eight is not the same as mine," Lu Zhuofeng talked abruptly.


    "They can control zombies. Doesn''t that make the antidote even more important?" said another man to Long Yubai.


    "But, Huaxia Base hasn''t informed us about the grand meeting yet. We still need to wait. When is it gonna happen? In ten days? Half a month? One or two months? If it''s really gonna take that long, things in Upper City Base will become more and more unpredictable," Long Yubai stopped pacing and stood before the table as he crossed his arms and said with concern."


    "Don''t worry, it won''t be too long. At first, we need to prepare a good amount of supplies, or we might lose it to the other bases. If that base in Upper City District attended the meeting as well, we could probably end them there," Lu Zhuofeng thought for a moment, then gave a suggestion.


    Long Yubai didn''t respond, but frowned and pondered over it.


    Maybe because that Miss. Lu from Upper City Base was way too mysterious, Long Yubai was very scared of her. The zombie dominator that he met last time was already incredibly powerful, so he assumed that the one who had been controlling that zombie must be even stronger. Where was Miss. Lu from?


    Now, Yuan Tianxing had stepped into level-seven as well. Upper City Base was obviously underpopulated, and lacked armed force. However, it had built a close relationship with Sea City Base. How on earth did that happen?


    Since Upper City Base was in cooperation with Sea City Base, they must have something that Sea City Base cared about.


    Long Yubai wasn''t planning to use the antidote somewhere else but his own city. Also, he had heard that the antidote was only effective on ordinary zombies. For high-leveled zombies, it wasn''t so harmful.


    For that reason, he wanted Lu Zhuofeng and He Mu to destroy the Upper City Base with their greatest powers while they were at his base. However, Lu Zhuofeng came back from there and told him that Wu Chengyue had been staying in that base the whole time, and that he had already broken into level-eight.


    That made Long Yubai feel an even greater threat.


    And now, Lu Zhuofeng and He Mu didn''t agree with him. Clearly, they were more interested in the antidote in Huaxia Base.


    "Ah, why didn''t they develop an antivirus drug that can make people immune to the zombie virus? In that case, we''d be able to kill zombies without worrying about being scratched or bitten by them. That would reduce the casualties at least," He Mu sighed and said disappointedly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "The antidote is made from zombie blood, so if people drank it, they''d be directly infected by the virus. Therefore, it''s only effective on those ordinary zombies. Their cells have been changed by the virus," Lu Zhuofeng looked at him and said seriously, "However, what you just mentioned has always been a goal as well. It''s just that no progress has been made on that yet."


    "Alright¡­ Yubai, have you made the decision?" He Mu turned to ask Long Yubai.


    "I''m telling you, if you want me to go against Upper City Base for you again, you''ll have to wait until we get the antidote and Wu Chengyue has left," Lu Zhuofeng raised his thick eyebrows, then looked at Long Yubai and said.


    An impatient look flashed across Long Yubai''s eyes. But still, he responded in a soft tone, "Let me think about it. I haven''t decided yet."


    "Okay! So, this is it¡­ I''m heading back," He Mu stood up, heading toward the outside.


    He closed the door and left, and Lu Zhuofeng stood up as well, with only him and Long Yubai left in the conference room. However, he didn''t walk toward the door, but toward Long Yubai.


    "I found out about Wu Chengyue''s current power for you this time. You should give me some reward, right?" He walked up to Long Yubai as he raised a hand and clenched the latter''s delicate chin while gazing at him in the eyes.


    At that moment, his fierce-looking eyes were sparkling with a wicked smile.


    He was about the same height as Long Yubai. While holding the latter''s chin and turning his head over, he conveniently pushed forward his own face and pressed his lips against Long Yubai''s.


    Long Yubai raised a hand and gently pushed him back while saying to him smilingly, "Come to my room tonight."


    Then, he pushed Lu Zhuofeng away as he turned and walked to the door.


    Lu Zhuofeng, who was behind him, didn''t see the frown on his face and the icy-cold look in his eyes.


    Long Yubai forcibly restrained the disgust in his heart. He had no choice but to endure it; there was no other way. He had no strict requirement about his own power. In order to consolidate his status and his base, he had to rely on the other powerful beings.


    It was not that he didn''t want to strengthen himself. He just felt that it was unnecessary. By relying on the others, he could easily achieve his goals anyway. So, why would he try so hard to improve himself?


    However, he was very tired of sleeping with those men already. Also, he didn''t expect Lu Zhuofeng to break into level-eight so soon.


    Level-eight¡­ He wanted very much to make use of him. But at the same time, he was also scared of him.


    ¡­


    Another day passed, but Lin Qiao still hadn''t shown up. At that point, all the others had gotten a little anxious.


    They weren''t able to get in touch with Lin Qiao, who had entered her space, so they had no way of finding out about her current situation. All they could do was to wait outside anxiously.


    In her space, Lu Tianyi was not the only one who had gotten worried. All the zombies in that place had moved as far away from the lake as possible which had energy surging out of it, to keep themselves from being hurt by the energy from the lake which blasted from time to time.


    Lin Qiao''s vibe had already become unstable, and it burst out from time to time.


    The burst of Lin Qiao''s vibe was harmless to humans, but to zombies, it could be scarier than zombie dominators. Therefore, all the higher-leveled zombies in her base had carefully hidden in those small spaces, and those zombies on the other side of the lake had moved far away from the lake.


    They were all waiting for their boss to come out of the lake. Those sudden blasts of her vibe could really give them a heart attack, even though their hearts had already died¡­


    "It has been five days. Why is she still in there?" Wu Chengyue frowned as he murmured to himself while looking at Wu Yueling, who had fallen asleep on the couch.


    He planned to wait until the female zombie came out of her base, then return to his base with Xiao Yunlong and the heavily injured Kong Qingming. However, he had waited for a couple of days, but she hadn''t come out yet.


    Therefore, he asked Xiao Yunlong to send Kong Qingming back to the base first.

 574 Viney Wakes Up

    In fact, no one knew that Wu Chengyue had broken into level-eight. He didn''t even tell Xiao Yunlong about that.


    When Lin Qiao told him that the man who attacked Yan Fangyu was at level-eight a couple of days ago, he wasn''t surprised. He had that guess, but had no way of confirming it.


    The day he arrived at the Upper City Base, he had sensed a level-eight vibe for a moment. It disappeared very soon, and it was from outside Upper City District. Therefore, even though he noticed it at first, he never sensed it again.


    Clearly, the owner of that vibe had hidden it.


    When he heard from the female zombie that Yan Fangyu and the two young men might have had an accident on their way back to the base, he started thinking about that vibe.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    So, when Qiu Lili brought back the two severely injured young men and told the others that the attacker was a level-seven being, Wu Chengyue had made his judgment. Thereafter, when Lin Qiao told him that that man was actually at level-eight, he wasn''t surprised.


    He was planning to tell her about it before leaving. However, she found it out before he said anything.


    It was unexpected to him that she would actually try to upgrade two level-six men to level-seven at one time. Obviously, she had sensed some pressure. In fact, Wu Chengyue understood her. She herself had upgraded not long ago, so she could not upgrade again. For that reason, she had no choice but to improve the people around her, to strengthen the base as much as possible.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know how she would do it, but he believed that she was able to do it.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao, whom he believed in, heard a voice from her mind.


    ''Mama, Mama, you''re tired. Let Viney do it!''


    Then, Lin Qiao sensed a strange force coming out of her lower belly, smoothly taking her place to keep the energy inside Lin Feng''s body under control.


    The lake had always been Viney''s base. Viney easily controlled Lin Feng''s condition through Lin Qiao''s hands, then started channeling the energy which had accumulated and jammed inside his body.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief. She could finally get through this, as Viney had woken up.


    Viney gathered all the surrounding energy, and then Lin Feng''s condition started to change.


    Under Lin Qiao''s maintenance over the past few days, Lin Feng had absorbed most of the energy into the nucleus in his head. However, there were too many impurities in his body, and those had been absorbed by his nucleus as well.


    Now, Viney was going to break into his head to clear out those impurities. That job should better be done by Lin Feng himself, but as he was unconscious, someone else had to do it for him.


    Thankfully, Viney had a great will power, which allowed her to easily enter Lin Feng''s brain, as the latter wasn''t alert. Then, she started squeezing out the negative energies inside his body.


    After pushing out all the impurities, she exited Lin Feng''s head and began pushing in all the good energy inside him. Before long, Lin Feng''s entire body shook. Next, an energy shield appeared, wrapping him up and pushing Lin Qiao away.


    ''Mama, Mama, we did it! We did it!'' Viney''s happy voice was heard.


    ''Thank you, sweety," Lin Qiao said to her with a sincere smile.


    Meanwhile, she swam upward and soon popped her head out of the water. Lin Feng was left in the water alone. He would come up by himself when he woke up. For the time being, no one should touch him.


    The lake surface had already quieted down. After coming out of the lake, Lin Qiao saw Lu Tianyi, who was standing on the balcony in the small building.


    She let out a long breath. In order to suppress the energy inside Lin Feng''s body, she had really exhausted herself these days. At that point, Viney had sensed Lu Tianyi as well. With curiosity, she asked Lin Qiao, ''Eh? Mama, isn''t that one of those people who were here last time? Why did he become a zombie?''


    Lin Qiao wrapped herself up with the black mist. While bending over to pick up her clothes, she responded, ''Oh, a bad guy killed him. Viney, are you feeling alright? Is there anything wrong?''


    Viney''s voice sounded calm and stable, without any negative emotions. ''I''m fine! Ah, I sensed the little one''s vibe from the outside! The little one! The little one!''


    Lin Qiao replied helplessly, "You''re so sensitive that you can even sense her from here."


    ''Yeah, even though I''m inside Mama''s belly, I still share Mama''s sensations!'' Viney said proudly.


    "Alright," Lin Qiao touched her belly, then headed toward the small building.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come out of the water, Lu Tianyi finally stopped worrying. He saw her talking to herself by the lake, and didn''t know what she was saying.


    There was a long distance between him and Lin Qiao. However, his hearing was many times better than before, as he had turned into a zombie. So, he could still hear Lin Qiao''s murmurs.


    Lin Qiao walked into the building and said to Lu Tianyi, who was still on the balcony, "Come down, I''ll give you a mission!"


    Lu Tianyi came downstairs confusedly, carrying that unhappy little tiger.


    The little tiger was weak and injured. Although it had healed almost completely, it still couldn''t free itself from Lu Tianyi''s hands. That made it very upset.


    So now, the little creature had been angrily biting Lu Tianyi''s arm. Lu Tianyi didn''t care, and let it bite him as hard as it wanted.


    "You may not be able to go out lately. Have you seen the field in this place? You can grow things here too. So, I want you to grow these seeds for me, with the soil and water in this space," Lu Tianyi flicked her hand, then handed those seeds that Wu Chengyue gave her to Lu Tianyi.


    Lu Tianyi was in charge of the farm work in Sea City Base. And now, he could still put his skills in use.


    Hearing Lin Qiao mention the water in the base, Lu Tianyi slightly frowned, then turned to her with a puzzled look.


    "Oh, I''ll fetch the water for you. You don''t need to get close to the lake," Lin Qiao understood that he was not able to approach that lake, and clearly knew how he felt.


    ''That''ll be good.'' Lu Tianyi nodded. Meanwhile, he reached out a hand to take over the seeds.


    "Do you like it?" Lin Qiao looked at the little tiger which was carried in his arms, then asked with surprise.


    He was a man, yet he liked the fluffy little tiger.


    ''I was bored, and it''s energetic,'' he thought.


    He laughed, then raised a hand and stroked the little tiger''s round head, then smilingly sensed the intensifying anger of the little creature.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly shouted at a wall, "You! Get over here!"


    The smart zombie who had just flinched came out from behind the wall, lowering his head as he walked to Lin Qiao.


    Clap!


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and slapped the back of his head, then pointed at Lu Tianyi and said to the zombie, "Do not think that you can bully him because you''re at a higher level than him right now. He''ll upgrade faster than you. When he grows stronger, he might torture you to death!"

 575 Its Time To Go Ou

    Lu Tianyi smiled proudly and wickedly at that zombie.


    "Awoo!" The little tiger was still struggling in his arms.


    "Roar!" Seeing the look on Lu Tianyi''s face, the zombie bared its teeth and roared at him angrily.


    "Enough! He''s like an eight or nine years old boy. How can you fight him? You''re an adult!" Lin Qiao turned and gave Lu Tianyi a glance.


    The naughty boy should learn a lesson too!


    Lu Tianyi shrugged to her and turned his face away.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Also, that day, you were wrong. The man who killed you wasn''t a level-seven wind-power possessor. He''s actually at level-eight. You guys survived for so long that night because he didn''t use his full power. I guess he let Yan Fangyu go deliberately. Only you two might have been killed by him conveniently," Lin Qiao said to him with a serious look. While speaking, she waved a hand toward the level-four zombie and signaled for him to leave, then began walking into the small building.


    Lu Tianyi''s expression froze on his face. Then, he popped his eyes in shock and followed Lin Qiao into the building.


    "Do you know about Yan Fangyu?" Lin Qiao sat on the couch and asked him.


    Lu Tianyi nodded.


    She was a Deputy Chief in the base, but both him and Kong Qingming knew what kind of person she really was. She looked nice, but often did dirty things in the dark. Therefore, neither of them liked her.


    "Think about it. That woman was caught stealing by us, and was attacked on her way back. What would she think? Besides, the attacker certainly planned to kill everyone else in that car but her, then make her run back to her base. In that way, she''d hate us even more. As long as she''s in Sea City Base, the relationship between us and that base might be affected by her," Lin Qiao explained to him.


    Clearly, the attacker was targeting the Upper City Base. Lu Tianyi had thought of that too.


    Who was that person? Why was he targeting at Upper City Base?


    "Oh, you might not know who he is. Earlier on, I sent Lili and Yun Meng after him. The two of them found that he''s one of the leaders of the Hidden Cloud Base, named Lu Zhuofeng," Lin Qiao solved Lu Tianyi''s puzzle.


    Lu Zhuofeng! Wasn''t he a leader? Why would he do anything like that!


    Lu Tianyi looked at Lin Qiao with disbelief. Which base leader would waste time on insignificant people like him? What was Lu Zhuofeng thinking?


    "Hehe, you guessed right! Lu Zhuofeng is that kind of a man. He likes to get involved in such small things when he has time. And, I guess he did it to help Long Yubai. Perhaps, Long Yubai has promised him something attractive. There''s no reason for Long Yubai to give up on trying to destroy us after all," Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    ''So that''s how it is!'' Lu Tianyi finally nodded knowingly.


    At that point, Viney, who was inside Lin Qiao''s belly, had gotten inpatient¡ª''Mama, Mama, just go out! Viney wants to play with the little one!''


    Lin Qiao lowered her head as she looked at her belly and spent a moment sensing the outside. Then, she said, "Hm, it''s time to go out. There''re people waiting for us out there."


    ''What?''


    Lu Tianyi clearly felt that Lin Qiao didn''t say those words to him, but who was she talking to? There was no one else here!


    Lin Qiao raised her head and said to him, "I''ll go and get you a few buckets of water. You stay here and find a piece of land to plant these seeds."


    After saying that, she stood up and walked out of the building, then went to the lakeside with two large buckets. Soon, she filled both buckets, but didn''t drag them straight back to the small building. Instead, she brought the buckets to three meters from the lake, then turned to look at that level-four zombie who was still stealthily hiding behind the wall.


    ''This one is still unwilling to give up. Why is it so sneaky? I think I need to find him some job!'' Lin Qiao stared at that smart zombie who looked like a boy.


    The zombie gave a start and immediately shrank back like a mouse because he accidentally made eye contact with Lin Qiao.


    "Why are you hiding? Get over here!" Lin Qiao yelled at him.


    Lu Tianyi put down the little tiger, then walked out and stood by the door. He glanced backward and saw that smart zombie carefully walk out from behind the wall, toward Lin Qiao.


    Lu Tianyi followed behind him. Soon, they both walked up to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the two buckets of water and said, "Take these. I think these two buckets of water can last you for a couple of days."


    While speaking, she glanced at Lu Tianyi, who came over and picked up one bucket of water before carrying it to the vegetable field. In the past few days, he cleaned up the vegetable field and the strawberry field, as he had nothing else to do.


    The smart zombie picked up another bucket of water and followed behind Lu Tianyi. He wanted very much to kick the latter, but didn''t dare to do it.


    After all, the boss was watching him from behind.


    Abruptly, Lu Tianyi stopped moving, then turned and looked at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao was walking behind him. Sensing his gaze, she said, "Ah, you want to ask about Kong Qingming, don''t you? He''s been sent back to Sea City Base. He''s injured severely, but not dead. I''ve given him the water from my lake, so he''ll be fine."


    Hearing that, Lu Tianyi sighed with relief.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, wanting to say something else. But suddenly, she paused and twirled to look at the lake.


    She saw Lin Feng slowly walking up from the lake.


    Seeing his bared upper body, Lin Qiao quietly turned back and continued to Lu Tianyi, "You guys can''t always be together anymore."


    Lu Tianyi nodded carelessly. He didn''t care if he could be together with Kong Qingming or not. He only wanted the latter to be fine.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao abruptly crossed her arms before her chest, then raised a hand to scratch her chin while asking, "You two are such good friends. Are you in love?"


    "Pah!" Lu Tianyi immediately twirled to look at her, his eyes popped in shock.


    ''Damn! I like women, not men! Can''t you please not talk nonsense!''


    "Alright, alright! I get it, you''re not in love with him, I get it! Why are you getting so emotional? Women are rare in this post-apocalyptic era. It would be fine even if you two decided to build a family together!" Seeing his reaction, Lin Qiao wanted to laugh. Then, she sighed and continued, "But, that can''t happen now. You''ve become a zombie. You can''t be like Chen Yuting and his wife, can you? They often see each other, but don''t dare to touch each other. I think they can touch each other though. As long as they don''t kiss or have sex or do anything else like that¡­ I think they''ll be fine!"


    "Roar!" ''You may as well shut up!''


    As she was getting further and further away from the topic, Lu Tianyi couldn''t help but give her a shout. Then, he found that he had just uttered a strange roar.


    "Alright¡­" Lin Qiao responded blandly. Then, she turned to look at Lin Feng, who had put on his pants, and was walking toward her while putting on his shirt.


    "How do you feel? Do you feel anything wrong?" Lin Qiao asked Lin Feng.


    "No. It''s just that the energy in my nucleus is very unstable," Lin Feng walked over and shook his head toward her, then nodded at Lu Tianyi.

 576 Ism Here For The Little One

    "You were new at level-six, and now you''ve broken into level-seven with the help of an external force. It''s normal for your energy to be unstable. When you get out, try to channel the energy inside you with your power. It''ll stabilize gradually," Lin Qiao said to him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I get it," Lin Feng surely knew what he should do next.


    "Alright, let''s get out then! We''ve been here for four or five days. The others are getting anxious," Lin Qiao dragged Lin Feng''s clothes and disappeared in front of Lu Tianyi and that smart zombie.


    After watching them disappear, Lu Tianyi stayed where he was with a frown.


    The leader of Hidden Cloud City Base had actually upgraded to level-eight, meaning that the balance between the bases in South China and East China was already broken. He couldn''t tell for sure if Hidden Cloud City Base would invade Earth Dragon Base and Sky Fire Base which were the nearest to it, but the new base in Upper City District would very likely become a target.


    There was also a chance that Hidden Cloud City Base might give up on Upper City Base, because the latter was too weak for now. Instead, it might cooperate with Earth Dragon Base and Sky Fire Base, then target Sea City Base.


    Based on the information that Kong Qingming collected earlier, each of the bases in South China had been expecting a level-eight superpowered one. In fact, a level-eight leader was going to emerge in Sea City Base too. He heard that Wu Chengyue was preparing for the breakthrough long ago.


    ''Why hasn''t Chief Wu made any move yet?'' Lu Tianyi felt weird about it, wondering if anyone else had made the breakthrough before him.


    ¡­


    When Lin Qiao and Lin Feng showed up in the room, the people in the room were stunned at first. Then, they all quickly gathered around them.


    "What happened to you two? Why did it take so long? Were you trying to scare us to death!" Seeing the two show up in the room perfectly unharmed, Mrs. Lin was finally relieved. Then, she started complaining with both anxiety and anger.


    "Mom, it''s alright, we''re fine! It took longer than we expected, but we''re fine. Nothing bad would possibly happen to us. I''ve forcibly upgraded Lin Feng to level-seven. His energy isn''t stable yet," Lin Qiao immediately comforted Mrs. Lin.


    "It''ll certainly be unstable, as you made the breakthrough in such a rush," Lin Wenwen said.


    "Alright, Mom, we''re both fine! Aren''t we standing right in front of you now?" Lin Feng said.


    Mrs. Lin glanced at him, then replied, "Who is worrying about you? I''m worrying about Lin Qiao''s baby!"


    While speaking, she turned to look at Lin Qiao''s lower belly.


    "Viney is fine. She''s good. Alright, Mom, we''re fine! You guys have stayed here for days. You can go back and rest now." Lin Qiao pushed Mrs. Lin out of her door.


    "Are you really okay? You''re not lying to me, are you?" Mrs. Lin glanced back at her worryingly, trying to find something in her eyes. The look in Lin Qiao''s eyes was perfectly calm and peaceful.


    "I''m really not lying. She''s fine, and she has woken up. She''s pretty energetic now," Lin Qiao said.


    "Sister, since you''re okay, I''m going back to sleep!" Lin Wenwen covered her mouth with a hand and yawned, then headed downstairs. The Lin Family people had all stayed in Lin Qiao''s room, waiting for her during these days without taking any proper rest.


    "Go," Lin Qiao said to her.


    At that point, Lin Hao stared at Lin Qiao''s lower belly and said, "We''ve found some obstetrics devices last time. Those are all in my place. I''m not familiar with obstetrics¡­ But I''ve been reading relevant books recently. Come to my place when you have time, then I''ll check the baby''s condition for you."


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance, feeling that Lin Hao was indeed worrying about her and Viney. But, in the meantime, he was also curious about her body condition. That professionals'' curiosity was the reason why he cared so much about her body.


    "Alright, I get it. I''ll find you when I have time. However, according to Viney, your devices might not be able to find anything about her," Lin Qiao nodded at Lin Hao.


    "Alright," Lin Hao didn''t say anything else, but nodded and left.


    "Are you really okay?" Mrs. Lin stared at Lin Qiao and asked again.


    "I''m okay! Mom, just go down and rest. You''re not young anymore. You need rest," Lin Qiao helplessly pushed Mrs. Lin forward.


    Only after that did Mrs. Lin reluctantly follow the others downstairs.


    Sensing that Lin Qiao had come out of her space, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, who had been wandering around the base, returned quickly as well.


    "It took you so long this time!" Qiu Lili leaped down the roof and said when she saw Lin Qiao by the stairs.


    Lin Qiao nodded while heading downstairs, "It did take a pretty long while."


    She went to the third floor, over to Wu Chengyue''s room to find the little one. But, before she walked up to her door, Wu Chengyue came out with the little girl.


    "Ah, I was going to find you," Wu Chengyue smiled at her and said. At that time, the little one immediately freed her hand from her father''s hand and ran toward Lin Qiao. Every time she did that, Wu Chengyue felt as if he was abandoned.


    "I''m here for the little one. Do you have anything to say to me?" Lin Qiao let the little girl hold her thigh while looking at Wu Chengyue.


    "Nothing. Since you haven''t left, I was going to tell you that we''re preparing to head back," Wu Chengyue looked at her and replied.


    Despite what he said, he wasn''t really going to leave.


    "Ah, good. If you stayed for a longer time, I might suspect you for having some other kind of purpose!" Lin Qiao quickly turned and brought Wu Yueling downstairs.


    Wu Chengyue pulled a long face. He said what he said to see if the female zombie would ask him to stay. As a result, she almost asked him to leave sooner.


    "Eh? Aunty!" A little head stuck out from around the corner of the stairs, and then, another little head stuck out below it.


    Lin Qiao turned that way and found that they were Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong.


    Lin Xiaolu had been calling Lin Qiao Aunty now. Mrs. Lin and Cheng Wangxue asked her to call Lin Qiao that. She had no idea why she needed to call her aunty. That young lady wasn''t familiar with her family, but always helped them.


    Lin Xiaolu missed Lin Qiao though. Kids could be very sensitive. She always felt that this new Aunty of hers was very similar to her real Aunty.


    "Oh, Xiaolu, let''s go down and play together¡­ Tongtong too," Seeing the two kids, Lin Qiao walked over smilingly.


    At that moment, a ball of fur darted out from behind her.


    "Wow! The big gray rabbit!" Seeing the rabbit, both Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong had their eyes glowed. That rabbit only liked to stay with Wu Yueling. Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong wanted very much to play with it, but it hardly got close to them.


    Lin Qiao turned around and bent over, gripping the soft skin behind the rabbit''s back and lifting it up. Then, she walked to Lin Xiaolu and put the rabbit in her arms.


    "Let''s go and play in the lobby."

 577 Ling Lings Power

    Lin Xiaolu happily carried the big gray rabbit and followed Lin Qiao downstairs. In the lobby, the latter let Wu Yueling sit next to her.


    Wu Yueling lay on her lap, putting her arms around Lin Qiao''s waist.


    "Eh? Why is Ling Ling holding Aunty''s waist?" Lin Xiaolu sat beside Wu Yueling with the rabbit, looking at her confusedly. "Ling Ling, who are you talking to?"


    Lin Xiaolu''s power allowed her to sense Wu Yueling''s strange behavior. The latter was talking to someone, but that someone wasn''t Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao had also noticed that Lin Xiaolu was able to read Wu Yueling''s unguarded mind, then thought of her power. After that, she thought of Wu Yueling''s power too.


    Wu Yueling''s power had woken up before. However, the little girl seemed to have never used it yet. Lin Qiao wondered if she knew what her power was.


    "Ling Ling, do you know what kind of power you have?" Lin Qiao pulled Wu Yueling up from her lap and asked.


    Wu Yueling looked at her confusedly and shook her head. At that time, Wu Chengyue walked over and sat on the other side of the couch.


    "Hasn''t she used her power yet?" Lin Qiao raised her head and looked at Wu Chengyue. It had already been a month since the girl triggered her power. She should have used her power already.


    "No. I don''t know what her power is," Wu Chengyue shook his head. He was very curious about Ling Ling''s power, but every time he asked her about her power, the little girl seemed to be confused.


    At that time, a voice came into Lin Qiao''s mind from her belly¡ª''Mama, Mama, I know, I know¡­ It''s healing power! The little one''s energy has a healing power. It can cure injuries and illness.''


    "Eh? Healing power?" Lin Qiao slightly lowered her head and said with surprise.


    Her words confused Wu Chengyue. "What do you mean? Who has healing power?"


    "The little one," Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    "How do you know!" Wu Chengyue looked at her in shock. Even he didn''t know that! How did she know? Also, she just asked him about it.


    "Oh? Aunty, are you talking about Ling Ling''s power? She can heal wounds! She healed her own wound earlier," Lin Xiaolu looked at Lin Qiao and said. She seemed to have understood the conversation between her and Wu Chengyue.


    "Her own wound? When was she injured?" Lin Qiao looked at Lin Xiaolu, then glanced at Wu Chengyue. The kid was injured before. Didn''t he know about it?


    "I really didn''t know about it! Ling Ling, when were you injured? Come to Daddy," Wu Chengyue was very surprised. He looked at Wu Yueling with confusion, prepared to give her a check-up. The smile on his face had disappeared. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    However, Wu Yueling turned and gave him a glance, then shook her head and just kept holding Lin Qiao.


    "Now you have her, so you don''t want your Daddy anymore, right?" Wu Chengyue clicked his tongue as he looked at Wu Yueling with a sad face.


    At that time, Lin Xiaolu said, "Last time¡­ Last time when Ling Ling came here and played with us, she fell accidentally and her palm was grazed a little. But, that wound healed quickly, and she didn''t shed any blood."


    Lin Xiaolu recalled that Wu Yueling''s palm was grazed by a little stone last time. She tore off that broken skin in front of her, but the wound was healed completely within a blink, as if her skin had never broken at all.


    They should have told an adult about that, but later on, they had fun and forgot about it.


    "Is that true, Ling Ling?" Lin Qiao lowered her head and asked Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling thought for a moment, then nodded.


    ''See, I''m not wrong, am I?'' Viney said in Lin Qiao''s mind.


    "Can Ling Ling heal other people as well?" Lin Qiao asked her.


    ''She can if she wants to.'' Viney responded.


    At that moment, Xiao Licheng walked over and nodded at Lin Qiao, then said to Wu Chengyue, "We''re all ready."


    Then, Wu Chengyue said to Wu Yueling, "Alright, Ling Ling! Have you had enough hugging her? If you have, we can head back."


    Hearing him talk about heading back, Wu Yueling immediately refused. She held Lin Qiao, turned and showed the back of her head to her Daddy.


    ''I''ve just started to talk to Viney! And you want me to leave?''


    "Alright, Ling Ling, just go home with your Daddy.I also have work to do!" Lin Qiao patted Wu Yueling''s little head and said. However, Wu Yueling raised her head and looked at her with tearful eyes.


    "Eh¡­" This time, Lin Qiao didn''t know what to do.


    "Ling Ling, come over! We''ll come here and play with them next time. Daddy needs to go home and work!" Wu Chengyue coaxed Ling Ling.


    At that time, Viney whispered to Wu Yueling¡ª''Little one, just go home with Daddy. Next time, I''ll tell Mama to visit you!"


    Lin Qiao pretended not to hear that. She lifted Wu Yueling up and put her on the ground. The little girl was wearing many clothes.


    The weather had already turned very cold. After the last rain, the air temperature had dropped greatly. As a zombie, Lin Qiao was afraid of heat, but the cold weather could barely affect her.


    Unlike her, Wu Yueling, Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong were already wearing thick cotton-padded coats, especially Tongtong.


    Tongtong was the smallest among the three kids. In those thick clothes, he looked like a ball.


    Wu Yueling was rather obedient to Viney. When Viney told her that she would tell her Zombie Mother to visit her, she asked a question in her heart.


    "Really?"


    ''Yeah, yeah!''


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling let go of Lin Qiao, then turned and walked toward Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao and said, "I think your base will be very busy in the coming days. I''ll let you do your work then."


    Lin Qiao stood up and said to him politely, "Goodbye!"


    Wu Chengyue left with Wu Yueling, who wasn''t willing to go. The female zombie was so vigilant against him. Clearly, it wouldn''t be easy to win her trust. He had to be patient and do it step by step.


    For some reason, he felt that the female zombie was even further away from him this time than before. Was he wrong?


    This time, Lu Tianyu had given him a new kind of feeling of novelty, which made him wonder how she became a zombie like that.


    After Wu Chengyue left, Lin Qiao showed a thoughtful look.


    ''That man''s power level, seems¡­ or¡­ has he broken into level-eight already?'' She wondered. He had been trying his best to restrain his vibe, but still, Lin Qiao sensed some of it. After all, she was rather close to him before.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the door where Wu Chengyue left from, then said to Duan Juan who had been sitting silently beside her, "Later, you go and tell Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng and Chen Yuting to go to the conference room. I''m going to hold a meeting¡­ Oh, tell Qiu Lili and Yun Meng to come too."


    "Yes," Duan Juan nodded, then turned and left.

 578 Canst Be Happy

    Lin Qiao guessed that Wu Chengyue might have broken into level-eight already, but he didn''t plan to let the others know so soon


    She turned and took Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong upstairs, then told Lin Xiaolu to bring Tongtong back to her room to play. Then, she went to the conference room and sat in the middle of the room while waiting. Soon, Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and Chen Yuting came in one after another.


    As Yuan Tianxing came in, Lin Qiao said to him, "Tianxing, prepare the planning graph of the base. Give me a rough report later."


    "Sure," Hearing her words, Yuan Tianxing turned and walked to the cabinet behind Lin Qiao and took out a few drawing rolls.


    When everyone else got there, Lin Qiao started talking, "Today, I need to talk to you about a few things, and the changes of your jobs. First, the attacker who attacked Yan Fangyu a couple of days ago is Lu Zhuofeng, one of the leaders of Hidden Cloud City Base. His motivation is easy to guess. He wants nothing but to sow discord between Sea City Base and us. We are his main target."


    After saying that, Lin Qiao stood up as she rested her hands in her trouser pockets and carried on, "Second, Lu Zhuofeng has already broken into level-eight. Since the strength of those bases in Southwest China has improved, the situation might change soon. Let''s not talk about if Long Yubai can make Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base help him or not. By now, he is no longer able to control Lu Zhuofeng. Third, the antidote¡­"


    She paused briefly at that point, then turned to Qiu Lili and Yun Meng who seemed to have no interest in the content of this meeting, then carried on, "Earlier on, I heard that Huaxia Base has achieved some kind of breakthrough on the development of the antidote for the zombie virus. Now, there is a result. The breakthrough is huge and exciting. If I were still a living human being, I''d be very happy. But now, I''m something else, and I can''t be happy about it. After all, that antidote is made for zombies."


    "Made for zombies? What does that mean?" Finally, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng realized that Lin Qiao was talking about something serious. Yun Meng asked the first question.


    Not too many people knew about the antidote, as it was still a secret. Except for Lin Qiao, only Yuan Tianxing among the people on the scene had heard a little about it before.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I heard that Huaxia Base has already developed this kind of an antidote. When ten grams of that antidote is burned in the air, the cells of all the ordinary zombies within the area ten meters around it will lose activity and die. As a result, the zombies will die as well. For now, the antidote is only effective on ordinary zombies. We can''t say for sure if they''ll be able to develop an antidote for high-level zombies or not. This is a good thing for human beings, but for us, it means trouble."


    After saying that, Lin Qiao sighed.


    "It''s really a good thing for humans," Qiu Lili nodded, but not with a happy face. After all, she and her friends were no longer human beings.


    "One last thing¡­ Yan Fangyu. I was going to kill her in a while, but now, it seems that we should take her out as soon as possible." A sharp beam of light flashed across Lin Qiao''s eyes.


    Chen Yuting asked with confusion, "Her? Do we still need to kill her? Didn''t Sea City Base accept our terms? They also delivered what they promised us. It''ll be a little immoral for us to kill her, right?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "First of all, she entered this place and read quite some stuff. Do you think that I''d let her get away with it so easily? Not to mention if she would leak out what she had read in this place, knowing so much about our base is enough for her to die. Secondly, our base will not offend any other base, but no one can offend us either. That woman has done such a dirty thing in our base. If she continues living a good life in Sea City Base after that, the others might think of us as pushovers, won''t they? And, they might sneak into our base to scout around one after another!"


    For stealing information, Yan Fangyu needed to die. Those zombie nuclei and seeds were only the compensation for that soldier''s life, but could not atone her crime.


    Lin Qiao knew that Yan Fangyu didn''t manage to steal any information about the secrets that she wanted to know, but the other bases didn''t know it. The other people might think that Yan Fangyu swaggered back to her own base after attaining some important information about Upper City Base.


    "But, we have accepted Sea City Base''s terms as well. If we kill her, the others would still judge us, won''t they?" Chen Yuting still didn''t understand.


    "We sent her back, didn''t we? She has left our base, and will die somewhere else. If you don''t tell, who would know that we killed her?" Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "If Sea City Base can protect her well, or if she knows how to protect herself, she won''t die. So, if she died, no one but herself and her base should be blamed for her death."


    "Since the moment she left our base, the other bases have stopped caring where she''ll die and who''ll kill her. Otherwise, why would anyone sneakily attack her to try and ruin our relationship with Sea City Base?"


    "I see!" Chen Yuting finally took a tumble and understood Lin Qiao''s meaning.


    "I''ll kill Yan Fangyu!" Qiu Lili abruptly joined the topic.


    Qiu Lili really hated that woman. Last time, if it weren''t for the two seriously injured people, she would have even caught up with her and kill her directly.


    "No need. I''ll take care of her. You guys stay here¡­ Try your best to accelerate the construction work of the fence wall. I''ll deal with Yan Fangyu and Long Yubai," Lin Qiao shook her head and said.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The others glanced at each other. Did she mean that she was going to leave the base again?


    Seeing the looks on their faces, Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes, I''ll leave. And this time, I won''t take any of you with me."


    "Yuan Tianxing," she started assigning tasks, "accelerate the construction work of the fence wall. Lin Feng, your power is still unstable. Make it stable, leave no space for accidents. Chen Yuting, you and Yun Meng go out separately to collect constructional materials. Lili, you stay here and guard the base. Keep an eye on those high-leveled zombies that I brought back. Thankfully, we only have a small number of residents in our base, so we don''t need a giant amount of supplies for the winter. What we''ve collected before is enough."


    Lin Feng was one of the strongest people in the base, so no accidents could happen to him. Therefore, Lin Qiao specifically ordered him to stabilize his power, and gave the other jobs to Chen Yuting for the time being.


    For now, they didn''t need to worry about food either. After all, Lin Feng and his people had found quite a lot military provisions earlier on from the army base which Lin Qiao told him to go to.

 579 Is it Cornier?

    "Oh, there''s one other thing! The name of this base¡­ Do you guys have any suggestions?" Lin Qiao brought up the last subject.


    The base''s name could surely not be the same as the name of the place. Therefore, people needed to start thinking about the name of the new base while the fence wall was still in construction. As the wall was built up, the name would become official.


    "Name? Right! If we don''t come up with an official name, people are gonna get used to calling us Upper City Base," Yuan Tianxing paused briefly and then agreed.


    "Name¡­ How should we name the base? What should we name the base after?" Yun Meng asked.


    "Speaking of base names, most of the bases were named after the places, such as Hidden Cloud City Base, Sea City Base, Heilong Base, and Mongol base. Hidden Cloud City Base was named after an area in Tibet while Sea City Base was named after an area in Shanghai. Heilong Base was the base of the survivors from Heilongjiang and the other two Northest provinces, and Mongol Base was founded by the survivors from Inner Mongolia and Gangu province.


    Some bases were named after their leaders, such as Sky Fire Base and Earth Dragon Base. Hades Base was named after people too. Hades didn''t represent Lin Qiao, but how she and her army friends used to call their superiors.


    Huaxia was a historical concept representing the Chinese nation and civilization, and Huaxia City was named after that.


    "We don''t only have humans in our base, but also zombies. This base will be divided into two equal parts, like two poles, not an inner part and an outer part," Lin Qiao said, "Maybe we should name the base after these factors."


    "Blackfire? Because you have black fire!" Qiu Lili popped her dark eyes and said to Lin Qiao.


    "It''s¡­ a little corny!"


    "Haha¡­" The others laughed.


    "It''s not corny!" Qiu Lili yelled out angrily, "What about China! Because we''re all Chinese people! Isn''t that cornier?"


    Yun Meng tilted her head and burst out in laughter.


    The three men on the other side of the table had their mouth corners twitched slightly as well. Yuan Tianxing was already smiling. After hearing what Qiu Lili said, he upturned his mouth corners further in a bigger smile.


    "Since our base will be divided into two closely connected parts, like Yin and Yang, why don''t we call it Yin Yang Base?" Yun Meng turned and said.


    "The Poles sounds better. Or¡­ Twin City?" Lin Feng joined the conversation.


    "Promised Land? Hades Palace?" Chen Yuting added.


    "Why do I feel that you''re thinking about either becoming an immortal or entering the dark world?" Yun Meng looked at Chen Yuting confusedly.


    "That''s way too far away from the factors that I mentioned just now," Lin Qiao said.


    "What do you think we should name the base?" Yun Meng asked her.


    At that point, Yuan Tianxing said, "I think we can be counted as a rather special base. Our leader isn''t even human!" He glanced at Lin Qiao and then continued, "I think we''ll be the only base like this. Our leader has a space, and a lake which contains the energy that can heal every life. So, why don''t we call the base New Peace? A peaceful place for the new lives."


    Lin Qiao leaned against the table, then pulled one hand out of the trousers pocket to scratch her chin. "In the future, I might put lots of mutated animals and grow many plants in this base¡­ I can also turn the soil into organic soil. Why don''t we call it All Beings Base? In this place, all beings are equal, as long as they follow our rules to live."


    "All Beings Base¡­ All Beings City¡­ Eh? That sounds not bad! And it''s easy to say," Qiu Lili said.


    "I agree," Yuan Tianxing nodded.


    "I''m fine with it. Let''s call the base All Beings then," Lin Feng nodded.


    Based on Lin Qiao''s plan, there were still many developments about the base to do in the future. As the three of them all agreed with that new name, the other two surely made no objection.


    So, the name of the base was settled, and would be announced publicly tomorrow.


    After the meeting was over, Chen Yuting and Yun Meng left the base separately to search for construction materials. In fact, they were mostly looking for cement.


    Lin Qiao left as well. But of course, no one knew about that.


    She turned herself invisible and walked out of the new base, then drove toward Sea City Base through an alley. She was very careful and cautious. Every time she sensed any scent of humans from a long distance away, she put the car back into her space and then hid.


    When those people left, she took the car back out and started driving again. Thankfully, the weather was cold, and the number of the zombie-hunting squads out here had decreased obviously.


    It only took her two hours to drive to Sea City. On her way, she only met one zombie-hunting squad.


    She sneaked into Sea City Base without leaving a trace. Not even Wu Chengyue could possibly spot her. Inside, Lin Qiao sensed Wu Chengyue''s strong vibe. As she thought, he had sneakily broken into level-eight. Back in her base, he tried pretty hard to restrain his vibe. But in his own base, his vibe was fully released. Lin Qiao had no idea why he hid his power in front of her.


    Some of those scouts from the other bases might have found out about that already, but some might still not know. To sense the rise of Wu Chengyue''s power level, one needed to be at level-six at least. Lower-leveled people couldn''t sense it.


    The scouts from the other bases weren''t likely to be above level-six. Some of them might be at relatively higher levels, such as the two weird men from Green Mountain Base.


    Lin Qiao ignored Wu Chengyue''s vibe. He was at the verge of the breakthrough anyway, so it wasn''t an unexpected thing that he made the upgrade.


    She turned herself invisible and followed Yan Fangyu''s scent.


    "What do you mean? I am a deputy Chief. I was ambushed on my way back from that half-wasted base. Should I just forget about it?" At that time, Yan Fangyu was shouting in Zou Shihui''s office.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    A part of her face and her forehead were covered in bandage. Only half of her face and an eye of hers were seen.


    That half face now wore a twisted, wrathful look.


    "We can''t prove that it was them who attacked you. You didn''t even see the attacker. How can you be so sure that it was them? Besides, He and Xiao Yunlong have brought back the news. They said that the attacker isn''t one of those Hades Base people who''re now living in Upper City Base. It''s someone else," Zou Shihui sat in his office and responded while signing his name on some files. He didn''t even give Yan Fangyu a glance.


    Thud! Yan Fangyu rushed up to his desk and slapped both hands on it as she said, "Of course, they won''t admit it! How can you guys believe them! Why don''t you believe me?"


    Finally, Zou Shihui raised his head, then glanced at her and said, "Stop this! There''re wounds on your face. You need to rest."


    Hearing that, Yan Fangyu immediately exploded.


    However, she didn''t burst in yells and shouts again. She took a deep breath, then took another deep breath. After that, she suddenly turned and left, slamming the door loudly.


    Zou Shihui watched her leave, then sighed and shook his head as he continued working. He was really busy. There were endless files for him to read and sign, and all sorts of meetings for him to attend during the day. Before bed, he also needed to prepare for tomorrow''s work.


    He had no mood to deal with that woman.

 580 Yousre Nothing But Disgusting

    Yan Fangyu sullenly walked out of Zou Shihui''s office, back to her own office.


    Sitting on her chair, she said through clenched teeth, "Let it go? Let it go like this? Impossible! I won''t let you get away with it!"


    If there were children in her office, they would have been frightened into crying by her expression and the bandage on her face. The vibe which she was giving out now was way too dark and ruthless.


    However, no matter how angry she was, she could do nothing at the moment. She had returned to Sea City Base already. Even though she was attacked, she was not dead. There was no sufficient evidence, so Sea City Base people had no way of confirming that it was the people from Upper City District who attacked her.


    But, she firmly believed that it was them, whether there was evidence or not. They attacked her sneakily, so without a doubt, they would not leave any evidence behind.


    Clearly, Wu Chengyue and Zou Shihui didn''t want to ruin their relationship with those Upper City people.


    They told her that none of those people possessed level-seven wind power. How could she possibly believe it? Without level-seven beings to guard the base, could that base possibly stay safe until present? She would never believe it!


    She believed that a level-seven superpowered person was hiding among those people. Or, it might be that Miss. Lu! She might have wind power!


    The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She just had no way to channel her surging anger.


    Abruptly, she stood up and picked up her coat, then turned and walked out of her office.


    "Don''t follow me! I need to be alone," Yan Fangyu said to her subordinates by the door while leaving.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Those subordinates who were going to follow her had no other choice but to stop.


    Yan Fangyu put on the coat and left with big steps. Soon, she walked out of the administration building, then turned and headed toward the base center.


    Slowly, she avoided the crowded areas and moved into a quiet alley. From time to time, she turned around to see if there were people behind her.


    Seeing that no one was around, she quickly turned and disappeared in that alley. There was a staircase leading to underground, covered. Normally, no one would be able to find it.


    She came down and groped on the wall in the darkness, then found a switch and pressed it. With that, the underground stairs were illuminated.


    She walked down the winding stairs and came into an underground hallway, which was about seven meters long. At the end of the hallway was a thick door, which had an electronic fingerprint lock.


    Click! The door opened when she put her index finger on that lock.


    As she walked in, the door closed automatically.


    Behind the door was a clean and tidy room. The light in the room was dim. There were no other furniture pieces in that room except a bed, a table, and a wooden chair. A small door was located in a corner of that room; that was probably the bathroom.


    The man who was sitting on the chair raised his head and saw her coming.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Eh? What happened to your face? I''m surprised that whoever did this to you actually has the heart to ruin this face of yours!" He said to her smilingly. An obvious sarcastic tone was contained in his words.


    Yan Fangyu took off her coat and threw it to the bed. After that, she stood by the bed and started taking off her other clothes.


    "Come over!" She ignored what that man said and said to him blandly. Sensing her attitude, that man had an ashamed look flash across his handsome face.


    He didn''t do what she said, but sneered and said to her, "What? It has only been about a week since you came here last time, right? Are you getting horny again so soon? You''re such a sl*t! I wonder what the others might feel when they see you like this."


    "Cut the crap! Don''t you want it? You''ve been staying here all day, with nothing to do. Don''t you want me to come here and spend some time with you?" Yan Fangyu''s upper body was covered in only a bra at that moment. She turned to that man and continued, "I''m such a pretty woman. The others can''t even touch me. What are you so unhappy about?"


    "That''s because the others don''t know about your real face. You''re nothing but disgusting!" That man responded with a scornful look.


    Yan Fangyu narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, then put her hands around her waist to remove her belt and take off her pants.


    If another man were here, he would be so tempted by Yan Fangyu''s full breasts and slim and beautiful waist, as well as her snow-white, long, and straight legs.


    However, that man''s face was filled with disgust.


    Yan Fangyu walked to him and reached out a hand to grab his collar and lift him up. He was only a commoner. Yan Fangyu violently dragged him away from the chair and threw him onto the bed.


    Before he could react, an extra weight landed on him, as Yan Fangyu had already climbed on him.


    "Why fight back every time? What can it possibly change? You may as well be obedient and serve me. You''ll suffer less in that way, won''t you?" Yan Fangyu stared at him coldly with one eye, then took out a pill.


    She sat on that man''s waist, gripped his face with one hand to control his jaws, and then put that pill to his mouth. That man clenched his teeth to stop her from putting the pill into her mouth, glaring at her with hatred in his eyes.


    "This is so ugly¡­" At that moment, a voice was heard from this sealed room.


    Both Yan Fangyu and the man underneath her gave a start, then turned to where the voice came from. However, they saw nothing there.


    When Yan Fangyu was wondering if she had misheard, the back of her head was suddenly held tight, as if a hand had gripped his head.


    The man underneath Yan Fangyu suddenly had his expression change. With shock, he fixed his eyes behind her.


    In fact, Lin Qiao came in along with Yan Fangyu. She spent a short while standing asde and watching the show. As the woman was about to rape that man, she made a move.


    Yan Fangyu sensed a piercing pain from her brain. The pill dropped from her hand, and then she burst in screams. Her face became twisted.


    She tightened her body as her head was pulled backward by Lin Qiao. All of that wasn''t important. More importantly, she felt that the energy inside her head was turning unstable, as if it was going to explode soon.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t kill you. However, I can''t say for sure if your brain will be damaged or not!" A strange type of energy drilled into Yan Fangyu''s head from Lin Qiao''s palm.


    That wasn''t the energy of her poisonous fire. Instead, it was the energy from the lake. She extracted the energy from the lake water and sent it into Yan Fangyu''s brain in a strong stream.


    If Lin Qiao used the energy of her poisonous fire, Yan Fangyu would die without question.


    Even though the energy from the lake was relatively gentle, Yan Fangyu spouted out a mouthful of blood, spraying onto that man''s face.

 581 Traceless

    At that moment, that man saw a cloud of dark mist behind Yan Fangyu. He couldn''t see the person inside that mist, but could hear her voice and tell that it was a woman.


    Suddenly, Yan Fangyu froze, and a clear cracking noise was heard from her brain. Of course, that man couldn''t hear it. Only Lin Qiao, who had just taken her hand away from Yan Fangyu, heard that sound.


    As Lin Qiao relaxed her grip, Yan Fangyu slowly fell forward, then thudded against that man who hadn''t managed to make any reaction yet. Her body was still tightened.


    As she fell down, that man finally came back to his senses. He hurriedly pushed Yan Fangyu away and sprung to his feet, then drew back to a corner with fear.


    Seeing his reaction, Lin Qiao didn''t say anything, but turned and walked to the door, reaching out a hand and pressing her palm on that alloy door.


    Sizzle¡­ Before long, the alloy under her palm melted into a hole on the door. The hole expanded, soon becoming large enough for a man to get through.


    After that, Lin Qiao dropped her hand, then flashed across the air and disappeared along with that dark cloud of mist.


    The deeply frightened man who did not know what to do was left in the room with Yan Fangyu, who was lying on the bed in underwear, face down and eyes unfocused. Blood was flowing out of her mouth.


    About ten seconds later, that man finally came back to himself. While slowly moving toward the door, he turned back to observe Yan Fangyu, and found that she was still lying on the bed motionlessly.


    The man moved to the door, then hurriedly got out through the hole and ran away as quickly as he could. He didn''t know if Yan Fangyu was dead or not. She seemed to be dead though.


    If he had put a finger under Yan Fangyu''s nose to sense her breath before leaving, he would find that she was still alive. However, the energy nucleus in her head was already broken. As for whether she would wake up as a healthy person or as a brain-damaged one, only the people who found her would know.


    After coming out of the basement, Lin Qiao left Sea City Base.


    She came here to take care of that woman. She didn''t put her to death directly, so the deal that she made with Sea City Base couldn''t be counted as broken.


    No one in the base knew that a female zombie had visited their base and left. Not even Wu Chengyue, who was busy reading files, knew that.


    Two miles away from Sea City Base, Lin Qiao took the car out of her space. She also let Lu Tianyi out to have some fresh air.


    It hadn''t taken him a long time to plant the tens of seeds. Therefore, when Lin Qiao entered her base, he told her that he wanted to come out with her, because staying in the space was too boring.


    "Alright! You drive," Lin Qiao let him out. She asked Lu Tianyi to drive toward Hunan province, because the Earth Dragon Base was located in Guizhou City, which was near Hunan.


    "Owoo! Awooo¡­" The little tiger which was crawling all over the backseat howled in hunger.


    It had been starving for so many days!


    "Alright, alright, I''ll find you some food later!" Lin Qiao glanced back at it and said to it.


    The little tiger''s injuries had mostly healed, and its body condition had been improved to a satisfactory degree by the energy in the lake water. So, it could start eating.


    Lu Tianyi twirled and glanced at her. There had always been a puzzle in his head.


    Lin Qiao turned and looked at him, then thought for a moment and said, "Do you think that the relationship between Lin Family people and me is weird? There is, of course, a cause."


    Hearing his words, Lu Tianyi first glanced at her with surprise, as he thought that she would say something to solve that puzzle. But unexpectedly, the female zombie only told him that there was a cause¡­


    Weren''t those superfluous words? He surely knew that there was a cause!


    He stared at Lin Qiao unhappily.


    "Haha, you''ll know when the time comes. Right now, you may not be able to understand it!" Lin Qiao laughed, keeping him in suspense.


    Lu Tianyi wore a speechless look.


    After a couple of hours of driving, it got dark. The darkness of the night could barely affect the two of them, who had both become zombies. But still, they parked by a road near a river because Lin Qiao said that she wanted to have some meat.


    ''She wants to have some meat? Human meat?'' Lu Tianyi looked at Lin Qiao confusedly. He couldn''t even believe what he had heard.


    He thought that zombies could only eat human beings. Therefore, when Lin Qiao told him that she wanted to have some meat, he subconsciously thought that she was going to eat human beings. He was shocked, because he thought that she had already become good.


    Lin Qiao sniffed around, then turned back and looked at him, "What are you thinking about? Am I that kind of a zombie which feeds on human beings? Man-eating zombies give out fierce vibes. Haven''t you noticed that yet?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    While speaking, she noticed the confused look on Lu Tianyi''s face, then suddenly realized that he had turned into a zombie not long ago. He had stayed in her space all these days, and those zombies in her space didn''t show any strong vibes. The fierce ones were killed by Lin Qiao long ago.


    Those zombies that she kept in her space were selected by her. Over time, she had found out that the vibes that came from zombies could be divided into a few types, one for human beings, one for other zombies, and one for animals.


    The vibe that the zombie dog had mostly came from the bloody scents from mutated animals. After all, it liked to eat animals!


    The vibes of man-eating zombies usually contained a strong and fresh scent of blood. The zombies which hadn''t eaten human beings for a long time might attack other zombies, and even eat them. Those zombies were stinky, and no blood scent could be detected from them.


    Those were the differences.


    All those zombies that Lin Qiao kept in her space were stinky¡­


    Occasionally, Lin Qiao would let them bathe in the lake water for a couple of minutes. So, they were less stinky now than before.


    ''If you don''t eat humans, what do you eat?'' Lu Tianyi looked at her with disbelief.


    "Wait!" While speaking, Lin Qiao opened the door and got out of the car. Then, she started taking off her clothes under Lu Tianyi''s confused gaze. Watching her take off her clothes, Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say.


    Lin Qiao took off her coat, then released a stream of dark mist from her body and wrapped herself up.


    Lu Tianyi could only see those clothes which she threw onto the rock by the road one after another, and that cloud of dark mist which was following her to the river.


    Then, he saw her jump into the river and disappear.


    Lu Tianyi was so confused. He had completely no idea why Lu Tianyu went into the river.


    To catch fishes? No way! Would zombies eat fishes?


    Thinking about that, Lu Tianyi stuck his head out of the window to sniff at the river. As a result, he smelled nothing but a strong scent of water, which almost choked him.


    He quickly covered his nose and turned his head away.


    That area was all quiet. Maybe because it was a remote area, there were no scents of humans or vibes of other zombies.

 582 Catch A Large Crab

    Soon, Lu Tianyi heard a series of noises from the lake. He turned that way, and a large thing suddenly flew out of the water and fell to the road.


    Bang! A huge crab fell from the sky!


    Next, a figure slowly walked out of the river, still wrapped in that dark mist.


    Lu Tianyi looked at that large crab which had managed to turn over on the road and prepared to run away with its eight claws. It was as big as the bottom of a bucket. Its shell looked incredibly hard, with sawtooth on the edge. It had also been waving its pair of strong pincers, one large and one small.


    The crab looked ferocious, yet it was trying to run with fright.


    Looking at that large scary crab which was brandishing its claws and pincers, Lu Tianyi didn''t even know how to react. It was clearly a mutated crab from the river, and it was so huge! Why did Lin Qiao throw it up? Was she going to eat it?


    Lu Tianyi honestly didn''t know what to do. He had no idea why his Zombie Sister threw the crab up. She wasn''t really going to eat it, was she?


    "Ahyaya, it''s running away! Lu Tianyi, don''t just stand there! Catch it!" When Lu Tianyi was still in a daze, Lin Qiao''s voice could be heard.


    He came back to his senses and found that the crab had already moved to the other side.


    He hurriedly rushed over, prepared to use his power. However, he failed to sense his energy. Then, he realized that he had already become a zombie. Now, he was only a low-leveled ordinary zombie, with no power at all.


    As a result, he rushed up to the crab and then froze, because he didn''t have any superpower. Yet, he still reacted pretty quickly. He didn''t have superpower anymore, but he had a gun!


    He still had a¡­


    He put a hand around his waist, but found nothing there.


    He didn''t have a gun! He had nothing these days! He did nothing in Zombie Sister''s space, so how would he have a gun?


    So, Lu Tianyi, who had no weapon or superpower, had no idea what to do but block the crab''s way and stare at it.


    He didn''t dare to rush straight at that crab! Those pincers looked really strong!


    "Awoo! Awo!" At that moment, the little tiger stuck its little head out of the car window, excitedly roaring at the large crab which was before Lu Tianyi. Seeing that Lu Tianyi had blocked its way, the large crab paused immediately, then turned and attempted to run in another direction.


    So, Lu Tianyi moved from left to right to stop it.


    Right at that time, a large stone flew over from the river and landed right on that crab''s hard shell, then rolled to ground.


    Lu Tianyi gave a start while the crab stopped moving. It was probably suffering dizziness. Although its shell remained undamaged, the stone strike might have given it a concussion.


    Afterward, Lin Qiao walked over, popped her claws, and swung her arms toward the crab.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Following a series of noises, the crab''s claws and pincers had all been cut off.


    Then, she went back to the car, picked up the clothes which Lu Tianyi just fetched for her, then moved to the other side of the car to put them on.


    "Are you scared of it?" She got dressed, then walked out from behind the car and found Lu Tianyi moving away from the large crab, pinching his nose.


    ''You''re not gonna eat that thing, are you?'' Lu Tianyi looked at her, his face filled with disbelief.


    A zombie eating a crab? Even thinking about that made him shiver.


    Lin Qiao walked over and squatted, slapping the large crab pincer with her palm. Crack! That large pincer was crushed by her.


    She picked up that pincer and removed the broken shell, exposing the fresh meat inside. Then, she turned to Lu Tianyi and found him staring at her with a weird look.


    Lin Qiao got rid of the shells, then took a bite of the crab meat. It had a metallic flavor from the water, but tasted soft and smooth. It was rather delicious.


    "Em, sweet! Yummy!" After the first bite, Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows.


    She had tried snakes, rats, turtles and other animals before: they all tasted differently. Like some of those animals, that large crab from the river tasted fresh and tender.


    She finished that large pincer with a few bites, then picked up the small pincer and threw it at Lu Tianyi.


    "Take it and feed that little guy. I think it''s not gonna be picky!" she said.


    Lu Tianyi clumsily caught that crab pincer. That awful fishy smell made him sick.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He glanced at his Zombie Sister and found that she was eating crab claws.


    She ate those claws in a simple way. First, she smashed the crab claws with her palm, and then picked out the meat and put in her mouth.


    She seemed to be enjoying it even!


    Holding that crab pincer, Lu Tianyi walked to the car with confusion.


    That zombie was actually eating an animal. He had never seen anything like that before! Why wasn''t he interested in that crab at all? He even found that crab stinky! Didn''t she sense that awful smell? How did she manage to swallow it?


    Once that thought popped in his head, he threw it away.


    Stinky? No! She was clearly enjoying it!


    Lu Tianyi turned around, watched Lin Qiao chewing the crab meat loudly with a happy face while smashing more crab claws. She seemed to be having something really delicious.


    Then, he looked at that pincer in his hands. While sighing, he turned back, but then paused again, his eyes fixed on that pincer.


    How was he supposed to break the shell and get the meat out to feed that little tiger? He was certainly not able to smash that hard shell bare-handedly! He was quite a few levels away from the one who was enjoying the crab now!


    He thought for a moment, then looked around. Humans couldn''t see things in the darkness, but zombies could. Soon, he spotted a stone, so he carried the crab pincer to it.


    Lin Qiao finished all crab claws and then turned to look at that claw-less crab.


    It had suffered a stone strike, and had all its claws and pincers cut off. By now, it was already at its last gasp.


    Lin Qiao turned it over, then popped her claws and cut into that crab''s belly.


    Puff! A crack appeared on the white belly of the crab.


    Now, that large crab died for good as its stomach was cut open.


    While Lin Qiao was eating the rest of the crab, Lu Tianyi managed to open up the crab pincer. He dug out the meat and found that it smelled less fishy than the shell. But still, he was not interested in it. So, he turned and fed the meat to the little tiger.


    "Awoo!" The little tiger had smelled the meat long ago, and was quite excited. Seeing Lu Tianyi come over, it immediately gave a few roars.

 583 Sneak Into Earth Dragon Base

    In the Earth Dragon Base, Long Yubai didn''t manage to convince Lu Zhuofeng.


    Lu Zhuofeng went to the Earth Dragon Base seeking cooperation with Long Yubai and Sky Fire Base people for the trip to Huaxia Base. He didn''t care about any level-seven zombies. But, for Long Yubai''s sake, he still made a trip to Hangzhou and scouted around. He didn''t see any level-seven zombies, but had some new discovery.


    He discovered that a level-eight powerful being was in the base in Upper City District.


    Long Yubai wasn''t willing to give up, but he had no choice.


    Next afternoon, all bases received the news. Huaxia Base informed them that the grand meeting about the antidote would take place in fifteen days. Therefore, any base interested in the antidote should send people to Huaxia Base within fifteen days.


    Normally, base leaders would lead their teams to attend a meeting like that.


    Miles away from the Earth Dragon Base, Lin Qiao put the car back into her space along with Lu Tianyi and then turned invisible, heading toward the base. Near the outer fence wall of that base, she sensed a very strong vibe from the base, almost as strong as Wu Chengyue''s.


    She knew that that was Lu Zhuofeng''s vibe.


    She was surprised that Lu Zhuofeng had already entered level-eight. Not long ago, she heard that he was still at the top of level-seven, preparing for the breakthrough. It seemed that humans had been developing quickly, and many people had been hiding their powers.


    Lin Qiao easily avoided the people who were coming in or out and sneaked into the base.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    She had surely been there before, as that was her enemy''s base. She needed to know her enemy. Long Yubai knew Hades Base well, and likewise, Earth Dragon Base was not a strange place for Lin Qiao.


    She hopped onto a building and sniffed around. After that, she frowned slightly, and the look on her eyes turned cold and fierce.


    Following a scent, she moved toward the base center. She didn''t go straight to Long Yubai, or Lu Zhuofeng and He Mu who were also in that base. Instead, she headed toward a fancy residential area and followed that scent to a building.


    Most of the people living in that fancy residential area had relatively high-leveled superpowers. Those people were mostly at level three to five. But of course, a few of them were at level six.


    Lin Qiao was going for a level-six one.


    The door led to the roof was locked. Lin Qiao walked to the door of the stair room and pressed a hand on the door lock. A wisp of dark mist drilled in through the door seam and wrapped the lock up. Soon, the entire lock disappeared, being devoured by the dark mist.


    Click! The door was unlocked, causing a slight noise.


    Lin Qiao slightly pulled the door open, then flashed in and left the door unlatched.


    Downstairs, in a room, a tall man was sitting on a couch, holding a wine glass which contained some transparent liquid. He poured all of the liquid left in the glass into his mouth, then made an enjoyable face.


    "Emm! "


    "Oi, Chief and the others are going to leave tomorrow, right?" Another man''s voice was heard. Following that voice, a man walked out of the kitchen.


    "Hm, probably," Lin Ruifeng picked up the white wine bottle on the table and poured some into his glass, then nodded. The man who walked out of the kitchen was much shorter and slimmer than Lin Ruifeng, yet his face looked similar to his.


    Clearly, they were related.


    "Every time when there''s something important, those two from Sky Fire Base and Hidden Cloud City Base will come here. Why does our Chief always want to rely on other people?" said the slim man.


    He was Lin Ruifeng''s cousin, named Lin Ruihua. Lin Ruifeng wasn''t good-looking, but unlike him, Lin Ruihua was pretty handsome, and wasn''t as muscular as his cousin.


    "He''s not able to do something so big! Without those two, he wouldn''t even be able to become the Chief of this base. How powerful do you think he is?" Lin Ruifeng responded scornfully.


    "You should upgrade yourself as soon as possible while he''s not here! Don''t always warm that man''s base. Don''t you feel disgusted? He''s pretty indeed, but he''s still a man!" Lin Ruihua said disdainfully.


    Hearing that, Lin Ruifeng immediately became impatient. "Do I want to sleep with him? I do feel disgusted! But, if I refuse, he might kill me like what he did to those two people, and I wouldn''t even know how and why before I died. I''m not strong enough yet, and we are still shorthanded. Just wait!"


    "I know! That''s why I told you to upgrade yourself as soon as you can. Last time, he left you out there and came back alone, even though you were injured while trying to save him," said Lin Ruihua, "He''ll at least care more about you when you break into a higher level."


    "Yeah! But, we don''t know how long they''ll leave for this time. I think he''ll take Ye Hao with him. Let''s see what''ll happen and then make decisions," said Lin Ruifeng.


    "He''ll surely take that wolf with him, as they''re going to a very dangerous place this time," Lin Ruihua nodded. "Also, what exactly happened last time when you were in Upper City District in Hangzhou? Was there really a zombie dominator?"


    "Yeah, really! It was very weird! That group of zombies were very obedient, as if they were under someone''s control," Lin Ruifeng nodded and said.


    "I heard that Lu Zhuofeng went over there a couple of days ago, but didn''t bring back any news," Lin Ruihua sat on another couch and poured himself a glass of wine.


    "We didn''t see those Hades Base people, but the intelligence from Sea City Base should be right. Tomorrow, you take a few people and sneak over there to confirm it," Lin Ruifeng thought for a moment and then responded.


    Lin Ruihua paused briefly, then quickly nodded and said, "Ah, alright, I get it! If those Hades Base people are really building a new base. What are you gonna do?"


    Lin Ruifeng poured some wine into his mouth, then glanced at him and said, "If that''s true, we surely can''t allow them to build the base! But first of all, we need to find out their current situation. What gave them the confidence to build a new base? I thought they''d be smart and join the Sea City Base."


    "You''re right! They are just a small group of people. Aren''t they afraid that zombies might eat them all while they''re building the new base? Ah, I remembered, you said that they can control zombies!" Lin Ruihua suddenly recalled that and changed his words.

 584 Captives

    "That''s why I said that the place is weird," Lin Ruifeng gave him a glimpse with a meaningful look.


    "I get it. I''ll try my best to collect more information," Lin Ruihua nodded.


    Lin Ruifeng looked at him and said, "You guys need to be careful. You''ll know when you get there¡­ If you find anything wrong, evacuate immediately!


    "Alright!"


    While chatting, the two of them finished half a bottle of wine. "Bro, she should be in my room now, right?" Lin Ruihua abruptly added.


    Hearing him, Lin Ruifeng paused for a moment. But soon, he figured out Lin Ruihua''s meaning, then nodded and replied, "I know. Just take her."


    "Your injuries haven''t healed yet. You should get more rest," Lin Ruihua smiled. That smile of his contained some deep meanings.


    "It doesn''t matter. It''s just a woman," Lin Ruifeng said with a scornful look.


    "Great!" Lin Ruihua''s smile grew bigger with excitement. Then, he dropped his wine glass and stood up. He walked to a door nearby, then opened it and got in.


    Soon, the door was opened again. Lin Ruihua dragged a woman, whose hands were tied up, out of that room, and moved into another room.


    While shambling toward the other room, that woman slightly turned her lowered head, fiercely glaring at Lin Ruifeng, who was sitting on the couch, through her messy, long hair. But soon, she was pushed into the other room by Lin Ruihua.


    "Don''t forget her drugs. Be careful! If the drug wore off, she might jump up and bite you," Sensing her gaze, Lin Ruifeng turned and gave her a glance carelessly, then said to Lin Ruihua, who was closing the door.


    "I know! Don''t worry!" Lin Ruihua clearly didn''t take his words seriously. He walked into the room and shut the door, then pushed the woman to the bed.


    The woman had waist-long hair, wearing nothing but a loose-fitting bathrobe. Her feet were bared. When Lin Ruihua pushed her onto the bed, the lower hem of her bathrobe upturned, exposing her snow-white legs.


    The weather was already very cold. That room was unheated, and the window was open. Cold hair had been flowing in from the outside.


    The woman shivered, then drew her legs backward. The look on her face didn''t change. That cold and fierce look remained in her eyes no matter the man in front of her was Lin Ruifeng or Lin Ruihua.


    She acted very calmly though, without showing any fear to Lin Ruihua. She could guess what that handsome, gentle-looking man was going to do next, but she didn''t care. Her cold eyes gave out waves of killing intent. If she had a chance, she would kill the man in front of her without hesitation.


    "What? Are you still not willing to submit yourself? It has been months, and Hades Base is long gone. Why can''t you forget about the past and live a good life with us?" Seeing the look on her face, Lin Ruihua stood by the bed and said to her with discontentment.


    "Why? You destroyed our base. Do you expect me to be nice to you after that? How ridiculous!" That woman''s voice was cold and deep. Her body wasn''t able to put forth any strength, but her tone was strong.


    "Every time I see this face of yours, I want so much to press you down and see you cry in pain," Lin Ruihua clicked his tongue and said in a wicked tone.


    That woman gave him a sarcastic sneer and said, "You''re gonna be disappointed then. Why would I cry for getting bitten by a dog? You''re so disgusting! A man like you can never have a spouse! Not to mention if you can ever have a chance to have cubs."


    Hearing that woman''s words, Lin Ruihua immediately pulled a long face.


    She was right. Every man longed for a spouse now. Currently, women were so rare, so meeting a woman and starting a healthy relationship was impossible for many men. The female captives from other bases, like the woman on the bed, would only be given to the high-positioned men.


    As a vice-leader of the base, Lin Ruifeng was one of the high-positioned men in this place. He earned that woman for himself by making great contributions to the base. However, he didn''t mind sharing her with his cousin.


    The woman he chose never showed a sign of weakness. She was tortured by him and his cousin every single day, yet always acted so calmly, as if she was only bitten by dogs.


    She wished that she could bite the two dogs to death.


    Right at that moment, a dark shred of shadow darted in through the window.


    "Owooo!" A strange and deep roar echoed in the room.


    "Eh?" Both Lin Ruihua and the woman gave a start. Simultaneously, they turned to that window and saw a large, furless creature standing there, baring its teeth.


    They both froze in shock, staring at that zombie dog which had no fur and was covered in wounds with disbelief. Even though its fur was gone, and there were wounds all over its body, the shape of its head didn''t change much. Its widely opened mouth was extra large, and its teeth were sharper than normal dog teeth. Yet, it looked like a dog.


    The dog fixed its purely dark eyes on the two people.


    Lin Ruihua was freaked out. At first, he couldn''t believe his eyes and felt confused. But soon, a frightened look emerged on his face. He didn''t dare to move, but stayed where he was.


    The woman could scarcely believe her eyes too. She popped her eyes and gazed at the zombie dog which flew into the room through the window, as if it was a ghost.


    Lin Ruihua unwittingly opened his mouth. But before he could recover from the shock and utter a scream, his eyes were dazzled, and the zombie dog disappeared.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He blinked, wondering if something was wrong with his eyes. But, as he opened those eyes again, he saw a huge mouth right before his face.


    Puff! A slight breath was heard from that mouth. Before Lin Ruihua could see it clearly, he was pressed down under the bed without being able to make any sound.


    Thud! Puff! Puff! The blank-faced woman on the bed heard the noises from under the end of the bed and sensed the vibrations, only able to see Lin Ruihua''s legs which twitched a few times.


    Blood splashed everywhere all over the wall and the bed.


    At that time, the zombie dog abruptly raised its head and glanced at the woman on the bed. Its mouth was covered in blood. It curiously sniffed at that woman, then had its eyes glowed.


    Looking into the dog''s glowing eyes, the woman''s heart sank. Instantly, she came back to her senses, and her expression finally changed a little. She didn''t panic, neither was she frightened. Instead, she was on full alert, with her entire body tightened.


    However, as she thought that the zombie dog would jump on her in the next moment, the dog sniffed at her again, then turned and moved toward the door.

 585 Did You Eat His Face Again?

    That woman was confused. She watched the zombie dog walk to the door, then bend its hind legs and sit down.


    ''What!''


    That woman tried, but could not understand why that would happen


    Then, she abruptly turned to the window again. The corner of her eyes twitched when she saw a huge dark snake which was even thicker than her waist quietly crawl into the window.


    The snake paused for a moment and fixed its rhombic eyes on her, seemingly having sensed her gaze. But in the next second, the snake kept wriggling into the room.


    It took over ten seconds for the snake to enter that small bedroom. That tens of meters long snake occupied nearly all the spare space of the room.


    A mutated snake!


    Looking at the snake, the woman figured out what it was. She glanced at the zombie dog which was sitting by the door, then paused with a dull face, without knowing what to do.


    The mutated snake came in and sniffed the dead body by the end of the bed, then turned away its head with disgust, staring at the woman on the bed.


    At that moment, the woman didn''t even dare to breathe loudly, not to mention moving a little bit.


    At that time, the door was suddenly opened. The woman turned back to the door immediately. She thought it was Lin Ruifeng opening the door to see what happened, as he must have heard some noises.


    To her surprise, she saw no one at the door. The zombie dog quietly stood up, then bent its legs and darted out. Following behind the zombie dog, the gigantic snake crawled out of the room as well.


    For quite a while, that woman couldn''t make any reaction. She waited for tens of seconds, but still heard no sound from the outside. Abruptly, she realized something, and hurriedly got off the bed.


    Her body was still tightened, but not too stiff to move.


    She got off the bed and took a glimpse at the miserable-looking body near the end of the bed, but didn''t pay much attention to it. Afterward, she moved toward the door and carefully looked at the living room. She saw a strange woman standing before a couch in the living room, carrying a human head which had blood dripping from it.


    That woman in the living room turned to her, having sensed her existence. She made eye-contact with the woman in the room with her especially cold, green eyes.


    The woman who was leaning on the door frame shivered with fear, then even forgot how to move her legs.


    Lin Qiao glanced at that woman at the door of the bedroom, then turned back and threw Lin Ruifeng''s head forward. After that, she waved a hand and released a stream of dark mist from her palm to cover Lin Ruifeng''s head and body.


    Before long, Lin Ruifeng''s body and head both disappeared.


    In Lin Qiao''s eyes, none of the Earth Dragon Base people were good! Lin Ruifeng was one of those who attacked Hades Base months ago. Therefore, Lin Qiao had no mercy when killing him and his cousin.


    Abruptly, Lin Qiao turned and walked toward the room which that woman was in. The woman took fright. As Lin Qiao approached, she automatically began drawing back.


    One moving forward, one stepping back¡­ Before long, the two women met each other in that room.


    That woman drew back to a corner. Unexpectedly, Lin Qiao didn''t go to her, but turned to the end of the bed.


    "Ew! Bowwow, you didn''t eat his face, did you?" Lin Qiao found that a half of Lin Ruihua''s head was missing. His face was entirely gone, and only the back of his head remained.


    "Owoo¡­" The zombie dog stuck its head into the room and howled at her. Then, above the dog''s head, the snake also stuck its head in, looking at Lin Qiao curiously.


    Lin Qiao stood by the end of the bed and waved a hand, releasing another stream of dark mist to vanish Lin Ruihua''s body.


    As the dark mist finished its job and drifted back into Lin Qiao''s palm, she turned and said to that woman, "Well, this base might become chaotic these days. Take an opportunity to run."


    After saying that, she walked to the door. Near the door, both the zombie dog and the snake took their heads out of the room. Lin Qiao walked out, also conveniently closing the door of the bedroom.


    That woman froze for a long while before she could react. After watching Lin Ruihua and Lin Ruifeng die, she surely wouldn''t think that Lin Qiao was lying to her.


    After leaving the room, Lin Qiao put the zombie dog and the snake back into her space, then went for her next target.


    At that moment, no Earth Dragon Base people know that one of their Deputy Chiefs was gone without leaving a word.


    ¡­


    In Long Yubai''s room, Lu Zhuofeng was sitting on the couch while holding a glass of brandy. Half a bottle of Martel was on the table.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, Liquor was very luxurious. However, almost all men loved it. They were obsessed with that burning sensation which always gushed into their brains from their throats. Under such cold weather, it became even more attractive than usual.


    Because of its rarity, Liquor had become very expensive.


    Long Yubai didn''t like alcohol, but he did like collecting those luxurious bottles. That was one of the reasons why Lu Zhuofeng and the other guys were so infatuated with him.


    "In fact, I really want to know if we''ll run into some people from that new base in Upper City District at the grand meeting about the antidote," Lu Zhuofeng took a sip of the brandy, then said with an enjoyable face.


    After saying that, he refilled his glass.


    Long Yubai slowly walked over. He was wearing a flocky bathrobe and a pair of fluffy slippers; his hair were still moist.


    "Them? Their base doesn''t even have a name. In what name will they attend the meeting? I doubt they''ll even have a seat in that meeting," said Long Yubai carelessly.


    He glanced at Lu Zhuofeng, then abruptly turned and walked to the liquor cabinet nearby and took a bottle of wine out of it.


    Afterward, he conveniently took out a wine glass.


    "You''re right! If they dare to go, we won''t give them a chance to come back," Lu Zhuofeng nodded.


    "Let''s not talk about that for now. Do you know about the amount of the antidote which will be put on sale this time? How much will they charge for it?" Long Yubai gave up on troubling Upper City District for now, and only wanted to figure out all the details about the antidote.


    "We don''t know about that for now. Have your people brought back any news yet?" Lu Zhuofeng shook his head, then threw the question back at the other.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Long Yubai paused briefly, then shook his head as well.


    "Not even from He Mu?" Lu Zhuofeng looked at him and asked.


    "He Mu? Did he receive any news about that?" Long Yubai looked at him with a confused look. Actually, he was slightly surprised.


    Lu Zhuofeng slightly raised his dark and thick eyebrows and said, "I thought he''s better-informed than us."

 586 I Remember This Man

    Long Yubai frowned and said, "He is better-informed than us, but he never mentioned anything about the antidote to me."


    Seeing the look on Long Yubai''s face, Lu Zhuofeng blinked, then slightly lowered his face to hide the glow in his eyes. "Oh! Then let''s ask him about it tomorrow," he said.


    Long Yubai looked at him, then put the glass of wine near his lips and took a slight sip.


    At that moment, He Mu was in his room, making strenuous movements with a woman underneath him. That woman was sobbing with her teeth gritted, but didn''t burst in screams.


    She was much younger than the woman in Lin Ruifeng''s place. In fact, she was only a teenager, about fifteen years old.


    Except for her, there were two other naked young girls curling in a corner, shaking because of the coldness or the fear.


    On the bed, He Mu buried his head in that girl''s neck, then suddenly opened his mouth wide and made a large bite on the side of her neck. Meanwhile, he moved his crotch even more quickly than before.


    "Ah¡­!" That young girl who had her teeth clenched the whole time finally couldn''t help but scream out loud. Her face even twisted because of the pain.


    At that time, He Mu raised his head and laughed with blood in his mouth. "Hehe, why don''t you keep putting up with it? Screaming already, huh? There''re more to come¡­"


    "Emm¡­" After that shrill scream, the young girl started crying. But soon, she bit her lip again and lowered her voice. Hearing her scream, the two girls in the corner shivered and curled up even tighter.


    They were actually covered in all kinds of wounds, including bite marks, pinch bruises, and the whip marks caused by unknown tools. Their bodies had been washed clean, but those wounds hadn''t stopped bleeding.


    The three girls were all slim. Under such torment, they looked so miserable and pitiful.


    He Mu ignored that. On the contrary, he tortured the girl underneath him even more violently.


    These girls were surely not residents of Earth Dragon Base. They were captives that Long Yubai brought back from Hades Base. Most of the female captives from Hades Base were suffering like that.


    Those women were either used for serving guests like He Mu, or given to Long Yubai''s subordinates to bear children for them.


    Without a question, birth control did not exist. Those men wanted them to bear as many children as possible.


    ,So during the past few months, a lot of female captives from Hades Base had been raped over and over again by Earth Dragon Base men and gotten pregnant.


    Soon after getting pregnant, those women were locked up in isolation. To prevent them from hurting the babies, those women were under strict watch.


    Having three girls was one of the conditions that He Mu brought up before he agreed to come here and help Long Yubai.


    Knowing how precious women could be, he wasn''t willing to torture any woman to death, even though he was a violent man. To lighten the damage caused by his violence, he especially asked Long Yubai to give him three girls.


    Normally, he would spend hours with those three girls a day. In the end, those girls would pass out and be carried out of his room. After that, He Mu would take a good shower, and then get some sleep.


    But today, he didn''t make those girls fall into unconsciousness, neither did he send them out of the room. Instead, he finished, and then held the three girls and fell asleep.


    When Lin Qiao quietly sneaked into his room through the balcony, she saw that man lying on his bed in a deep sleep, with those girls in his arms.


    She sensed the smell in the room and frowned slightly.


    Then, she glanced at those three girls on the bed. Their vibes were weak. They weren''t dying,, but their vibes were much weaker than that of healthy human beings.


    If He Mu kept abusing them like that, they would die in a couple of months.


    He Mu was a disgusting-looking man, about fifty years old, short, fat, and bald. His eyes were tiny and droopy. Lin Qiao felt disgusted every time she saw him and sensed that vibe from him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ''Mama, Mama, I remember this man! He''s evil! He''s one of those people who killed you!'' Viney''s voice was suddenly heard. That voice of hers contained hatred toward He Mu.


    ''Em, I know.'' Lin Qiao responded in her mind, putting a hand on her lower abdomen. ''He did not only kill me, but also killed Viney. So, I won''t let him die a good death.''


    ''Mama, I''m going to drain his energy!'' Viney said angrily.


    ''Okay, Mama will help you.'' Lin Qiao nodded.


    She walked other and stood by the bed, looking at He Mu who was in a deep sleep. Maybe because the intention of killing from Lin Qiao suddenly grew stronger, He Mu woke up slightly at that moment.


    "Eh?" He opened his eyes, looked around the room.


    The light was on. He didn''t like sleeping in darkness, so he would leave a light on every night.


    He looked around and found nothing strange. In the room were only himself and the three tired girls who were sleeping.


    The three girls didn''t pass out under his torment this time, yet they were all exhausted, both physically and mentally. He Mu was still with them, so they didn''t know if he would suddenly start abusing them again. At the time, the three girls were all in a deep sleep, having nightmares.


    Lin Qiao reached out a hand as she planned to throw that man into her space and slowly torture him to death. But suddenly, she paused and turned to the door.


    Footsteps could be heard from the outside. The footsteps stopped outside the door, and then there was a knock on the door. Lin Qiao also heard people talking.


    He Mu heard those noises outside too. He sat up from the bed and got off, then put his clothes on.


    Lin Qiao expressionlessly looked at his fat body like looking at a pile of lifeless flesh.


    Soon, the door was knocked again. "Chief, Chief Long is here," said the man behind the door.


    As He Mu got dressed, the few girls on his bed woke up as well. They carefully lied on the bed, without daring to move.


    "I get it," He Mu responded and then walked out.


    In the living room, Long Yubai was sitting on the couch, wearing a purely white trench coat and a pair of white ankle boots.


    "It''s so late. Why are you here?" He Mu looked at the time and found that it was eleven in the evening. He had no idea what Long Yubai came over to do.


    "Can I be here? Did I interrupt you?" Long Yubai smiled and meaningfully glanced at the door of the bedroom which he just walked out of.


    "No. What''s it about?" He Mu shook his head and asked.

 587 Keep Them To Warm My Bed

    "Can''t I just come here to visit you?" Long Yubai raised his eyebrows.


    "I thought you''d be treating Chief Lu," Looking at Long Yubai, He Mu sat down and raised his eyebrows as well.


    By treating, he surely meant that thing. And Chief Lu was none other than Lu Zhuofeng.


    "Or, have you treated him already?" He thought for a moment and then added. It was pretty late at night, so he guessed that Long Yubai had talked to Lu Zhuofeng already.


    "Hm, he finished a bottle of Martell. He''s already drunk!" Long Yubai nodded and said.


    "Damn! A bottle! You''re so generous! Why didn''t you give me a bottle of that?" Hearing that, He Mu popped his eyes and said with discontentment. But of course, he said those words almost jokingly.


    "Do you want it? I have another bottle of it! I can give it to you if you want¡­" Long Yubai smiled and said.


    "Eh? Really?" He Mu paused briefly with a delightful surprise. However, he thought for a moment and then continued, "You''re not giving it to me with no condition, are you? Do you want anything from me?"


    "There''s no condition. I just want to talk to you about Lu Zhuofeng," Long Yubai shook his head and said.


    "Lu Zhuofeng? I thought you''re going to talk about the antidote! You came here so late at night to talk about Lu Zhuofeng?" He Mu paused again. Long Yubai changed his topic too fast, so he didn''t manage to catch up with him immediately.


    "At present, the antidote isn''t the most important thing for us. The most important thing is that Lu Zhuofeng has already broken into level-eight. As you have seen, when the three of us are running discussions, his attitude is getting more and more aggressive. I believe that in a short while, he''ll start to suppress us. It''s just not so obvious now¡­" said Long Yubai.


    "Wait!" He Mu abruptly interrupted him.


    Long Yubai stopped talking and looked at him with confusion. He Mu stood up and turned to walk back into the bedroom, and then yelled at the three girls, "Get out!"


    After that, the three scrawny girls came out, each wearing a thin blanket.


    He Mu gave a hand gesture to his subordinate who was guarding by the door. Then, that subordinate quickly opened the door and left with the three young girls.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Long Yubai was surprised a little on seeing the three girls. He then looked at He Mu and asked, "Eh? Don''t you always have your people carry them out? Why did you keep them in your room today?"


    "It''s cold these days. I kept them to warm my bed," He Mu smiled as he sat back down and said, "Okay, continue!"


    Long Yubai glanced at the closed door and then continued, "Now, the balance between the three of us has been broken. What should we do next? Are you going to let your Sky Fire Base be suppressed?"


    Once he mentioned that, He Mu showed a sullen face. "Hm, it''s indeed unexpected that he broke into level-eight so soon. I thought he''d be stuck at level-seven until next year."


    "Next year is coming soon. He also said that Wu Chengyue has made the breakthrough as well. I don''t believe him. How can anyone enter level-eight so easily? I think he''s trying to divert our attention to Sea City Base, so that we can be less vigilant against him." Clearly, Long Yubai didn''t believe what Lu Zhuofeng had said about Wu Chengyue''s upgrade.


    Hearing his words, He Mu was a little surprised.


    "Are you saying that he''s planning to divert our attention to Wu Chengyue, and then slowly suppress us behind our backs? In that way, he''ll become the leader of Southwest China, right?"


    Long Yubai nodded and said, "You''re right! Hidden Cloud City Base has three leaders and over ten level-six people. That base is already stronger than ours. If our bases hadn''t been collaborating closely, he wouldn''t possibly agree to attack Hades Base together with us."


    He Mu was thinking, without responding to Long Yubai immediately.


    Long Yubai was right though. Hidden Cloud City Base had a larger population than Sky Fire Base and Earth Dragon Base, and surely had more high-leveled superpowered people. As same as Sea City Base, that base was run by three level-seven members, six vice-leaders, and the level-six people on other positions.


    In Hidden Cloud City Base, not every level-six member could become a vice-leader.


    Sky Fire Base was weaker than Hidden Cloud City Base. They had two level-seven members and five level-six ones. In Earth Dragon Base, Long Yubai was the only level-seven member, and the number of level-six members was merely three.


    In Southwest China, Hades Base was the weakest base. However, the leader of that base was very powerful. Hades Base was outnumbered, but wasn''t easy to be defeated.


    "You''re right though," He Mu thought for a moment and then nodded.


    The two of them had no idea that when they were talking about Hades Base, the leader of that base was standing between them, listening to their conversation with her arms crossed. Not only did Lin Qiao hear their conversation, but she also heard some of their thoughts.


    However, she had known all that since long ago, so she learned nothing new from their conversation. The only thing that she was interested in was that Lu Zhuofeng''s upgrade caused Long Yubai''s fear. On one hand, he wanted to use Lu Zhuofeng, and on the other hand, he was worried that he might mess up and end up falling into Lu Zhuofeng''s trap.


    That was why he had started brainwashing He Mu.


    "So, you''re saying¡­" He Mu looked at Long Yubai, feeling slightly confused.


    "I think that we need to be careful this time. If the antidote falls into his hands, we might only be getting a slight bit of it. He''ll hold the big part for himself," Long Yubai knitted his pretty eyebrows.


    "Huaxia Base isn''t going to put a large amount of the antidote on sale this time. The raw material that they used is way too rare. Besides, the success rate is merely 67%. They won''t dare to produce it in large batches," He Mu sighed and said.


    "Oh, how can you be sure that they won''t save some for themselves?" Long Yubai asked him.


    At that moment, He Mu had completely no idea that Long Yubai was setting a trap for him. Long Yubai started the conversation from Lu Zhuofeng''s power, and then separated Lu Zhuofeng and He Mu. In that way, the relationship between himself and He Mu would surely be improved.


    In fact, while trying to earn He Mu to his side, Long Yubai was also trying to make He Mu leak the information that he knew.


    Now, he had achieved his goal. He Mu was now on alert against Lu Zhuofeng, and was less vigilant against Long Yubai. So, he did leak some information unwittingly.


    He didn''t know about the thoughts and schemes in Long Yubai''s head. However, Lin Qiao, who was standing between the two men, read Long Yubai''s mind clearly.


    That man was really scheming and manipulative!


    Lin Qiao glanced at Long Yubai with a frown. She hated him, but had to admit that he was really good at scheming.


    After all, her Hades Base was destroyed under his schemes.

 588 Ism the One Whos Going to Kill You

    Hearing Long Yubai ask if Huaxia Base would save some antidote for themselves, He Mu nodded and said, "Of course, they will save some for themselves! They''re not dumb."


    "Then how much can we get this time?" Long Yubai asked with a look of concern, "We don''t even know the exact amount of the antidote, and we''re going to compete against Sea City Base, Heilong Base, Mongol Base, and the other large bases."


    He Mu looked at him as he thought for a moment and responded, "As far as I know, Huaxia Base will put no more than two-hundred doses on sale¡­ Ten grams each dose. In fact, the number of doses that they''ll announce this time isn''t the most important thing. They only want the other bases to know that they''ll develop better antidotes in the future."


    "I see," Long Yubai nodded and said.


    ''Long Yubai''s cleverness has overreached itself,'' Lin Qiao thought while listening to their conversation, ''He actually doubts Lu Zhuofeng''s words and refuses to believe that Wu Chengyue has already broken into level-eight.''


    That was reasonable though. Wu Chengyue had lightning power; his energy was incompatible with the other types of energies. For that reason, it was surely difficult for him to upgrade.


    Long Yubai had no idea that when he doubted Lu Zhuofeng''s words and purpose, he was also doubting the truth.


    ''No matter what he thinks and wants from Huaxia City, he''s not going to be there.'' Watching Long Yubai finish talking and leave, Lin Qiao thought.


    After Long Yubai left, He Mu closed the door, then walked to the window and looked down at the crossing downstairs. Lin Qiao stood beside him, looking down as well. Soon, they saw Long Yubai and his subordinates drive away. He wasn''t heading to where he lived, but to a vice leader''s place.


    Before long, the car was driven onto the road leading to that vice leader''s home.


    Lin Qiao sniffed toward that area. She hadn''t sensed that vice leader''s scent, but she knew who he was. That was Ye Hao, the strongest vice-leader under Long Yubai''s command. He had green power, and his power was rather special.


    After knowing about Yun Meng''s superpower, Lin Qiao actually didn''t see Ye Hao''s power as a unique type of power. Their powers both belonged to a branch of green power¡ªanimal. Among all green power possessors, many had the power of plants; so of course, some owned the strength of animals.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Yun Meng was a possessor of animal power. Lin Qiao had no idea how she attained that power though¡­


    Ye Hao was much stronger than Yun Meng, and had the wolf power. He was able to turn into a wolf and do what a wolf could do.


    He was like a Chinese version of a werewolf.


    That wolf was obsessed with Long Yubai, and the latter liked him very much as well.


    After watching Long Yubai leave, He Mu started thinking about his words. He started to believe that Lu Zhuofeng was lying. Many people had predicted Lu Zhuofeng''s upgrade. After all, all the base leaders he knew had been stuck at level-seven for quite a long while. One of them would finally make the breakthrough first.


    Many people had seen that coming.


    However, Lu Zhuofeng said that Wu Chengyue from Sea City Base was also at level-eight. That was a surprising news. Breaking into level-eight was not an easy thing, after all.


    There was a reason for people to doubt what Lu Zhuofeng said about Wu Chengyue.


    "Thinking so much won''t help!" He Mu suddenly heard a strange woman''s voice while he was thinking about what Long Yubai said.


    "Who is it!" He Mu gave a start, then immediately turned back. Meanwhile, he felt that someone had dragged his collar. As he turned around, he found himself in a strange place.


    Lin Qiao talked to shock him, and also to make him relax his vigilance at that moment. By the time he came back to his senses and turned vigilant again, he was already dragged into her space.


    "Who are you?" He turned around. Instead of the living room that he was familiar with, he saw a green grassland. More weirdly, it was dark a second ago. But now, the world before his eyes was dim and misty, like at dawn.


    He was a level seven powerful being. Yet, he was stunned upon finding himself in a strange place. He managed to stay calm though. When he saw Lin Qiao, he was at least able to ask who she was with composure.


    "I''m the one who''s going to kill you," Lin Qiao looked at him with a blank face.


    "Kill me? How ridiculous!" Hearing her words, He Mu paused briefly, then gave a sarcastic grin. "Do you know who I am? Kill me? Are you even capable of that?"


    "You''re just a metal-powered pig. What capabilities does it require to kill a pig?" Lin Qiao sneered.


    He Mu was a fat guy, a lascivious and twisted-minded one. He weighed one-hundred and twenty-five kilograms, and was short. Comparing him to a pig was not wrong.


    He hated others calling him fat the most. Hearing Lin Qiao call him a pig, he exploded right away. A metallic light glowed from his body. Within a blink, the pig became a metal-armored pig.


    "Em, do you think that boiling water can''t kill you anymore when you become a metal pig? Ah¡­ that wasn''t right. I don''t have boiling water in this place, but I have fire! Let''s see if my fire can burn your metal body!" Lin Qiao said to He Mu smilingly.


    "You! Shut up!" Being called metal pig made He Mu even more infuriated. He pointed at Lin Qiao and cursed loudly. Meanwhile, he turned and reached out an arm toward the small building behind Lin Qiao, attempting to turn all the metal objects in that building into his weapons.


    However, that small building made no response to his movement.


    His expression changed drastically. He frowned, then raised his arm higher toward that building. Still, that building stayed motionless.


    "Save it! You''re not going to move any metal object in that building," Lin Qiao started talking in a cold tone. Meanwhile, a flake of dark fire popped in her palm.


    He Mu froze shortly upon hearing her words. Then, he twirled and saw the fire on Lin Qiao''s palm, stunned.


    "You! Who are you?" That fire was so familiar to him. He believed that the strange woman in front of him was not supposed to have it.


    This time, Lin Qiao didn''t answer his question, but swung her arm and sent the dark fire toward He Mu. Next, the fire suddenly disappeared from her palm.


    Once she made that movement, He Mu wore a frightened look. He automatically turned and ran; but in the next moment, a raging black fire burst from his body, causing a loud boom.


    "Ahhhh!" He Mu uttered a shrill scream when the black fire swallowed him. Then, he fell on the ground and started rolling like a black ball of fire.

 589 Its Because Yousve Grown Stronger

    "Ah!" That dark fire violently wrapped up He Mu''s fat body. Even though his skin had turned into metal, that metal skin was quickly corroded by Lin Qiao''s fire, exposing the blood-red muscles.


    Once Lin Qiao made that move, He Mu was doomed without a question. He was in her space now. His power had been suppressed while hers was boosted.


    "Ahhhhh¡­" Being burned by the fire, He Mu rolled on the ground while screaming. The dark fire created countless holes on the grassland. His voice grew weak after he made a few rolls on the ground. Next, he stopped rolling, twitching for a few times before becoming motionless.


    In a few minutes, the fire on him shrank gradually. At last, it turned into a thin wisp of flame, flying toward Lin Qiao. She clenched her fingers and took the dark fire back, then walked to He Mu. That area was empty now, with nothing but a level-seven nucleus left on the ground.


    He Mu was not weak; he was a level-seven superpowered man after all. However, Lin Qiao was so much powerful than him. Compared to the time when she killed Tang He, her power had already been improved by many levels.


    After restoring her memory, she was having full control of her space. Therefore, suppressing He Mu didn''t take her much time. She suppressed him completely within a few minutes, and all she needed to do was to focus and boost her willpower.


    Therefore, He Mu failed to tear down the small building and turn the metal objects inside it into his weapons. He had seen nothing but that one building in this place after all.


    Lin Qiao had also regained the dark fire, which made her even stronger. All Southwest base leaders were afraid of Netherworld fire. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have attacked her together and made her detonate her energy nucleus.


    When she retrieved that fire with her zombie body, her fire power went up to a higher level.


    Hence, she killed the level-seven metal-powered, He Mu, so easily. Others might not have been able to do it as easily as she did.


    The others didn''t have what all she had. Without the space that could suppress the enemy''s power and the life-taking fire, it would be rather difficult to kill someone like He Mu.


    ''Eh?''


    With surprise, Lin Qiao glanced at the dark fire on her palm, then gently clenched her fist. She didn''t expect He Mu to be so weak!


    ''Mama, it''s because you''ve grown stronger.'' At that time, Viney solved her puzzle.''Mama, come on, come on, Viney wants that energy nucleus!''


    "Do you?" Lin Qiao paused briefly and asked as she walked toward that metal energy nucleus. She bent over and picked it up, but started feeling confused. She never thought that He Mu would die so soon. She was going to torture him slowly to death, like what she did with Tang He.


    However, he died in just a few minutes. That happened so quickly that Lin Qiao couldn''t accept it for a while. After all, she was nervous and on full alert. However, it had already happened, so she soon accepted it.


    She held the nucleus and said to Viney, "Be patient! I''ll let you absorb it when I finish my work here. You''ve absorbed quite some energy last time. Why are you in need again so soon?"


    ''What I''ve had isn''t enough¡­ Viney needs a lot more!'' Viney sighed.


    "Don''t worry! Apart from this level-seven one, I have some level-six nuclei. Later, I''ll let you have as much as you need. How'' bout that?" Lin Qiao lowered her head and smiled.


    "Awo! Awo!" At that moment, the baby tiger''s voice was heard.


    Lin Qiao turned and found Lu Tianyi looking at her with a strange expression.


    He heard the noise created by Lin Qiao when he was in the small buildings. He didn''t dare to come out at first, as he felt that Lin Qiao was frenzied. So, he stayed in the building and watched for a while. To his surprise, he watched Lin Qiao burn a fatso out. Moreover, that man seemed to be a rather high-leveled metal-power possessor.


    When Lin Qiao finished the enemy, he moved out of the building toward her and heard her talking to herself.


    Seeing the look on Lu Tianyi''s face, Lin Qiao put the nucleus into her pocket, then said to him, "Stay indoors¡­ My job isn''t done yet."


    After saying that, she turned and flashed out of the space.


    As for the confusion that Lu Tianyi had, Lin Qiao, of course, wouldn''t tell him that she wasn''t talking to herself, but to Viney. After all, she couldn''t imagine what Lu Tianyi might do when he found out that she was now a pregnant zombie!


    She had collected the nuclei of He Mu and Lin Ruifeng. As for that level-five Lin Ruihua, the zombie dog ate his nucleus along with his face.


    One of the five level-six nuclei that Wu Chengyue gave her still hadn''t been used. Added with those level four and five nuclei that Yun Meng and her zombie squad brought to her earlier, she had quite some energy nuclei in store.


    She exited her space and showed up in He Mu''s room, then turned and walked to the balcony, leaping up and disappearing in the darkness.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    On the other side of the base, Lu Zhuofeng was lying asleep in a bedroom, wearing pajamas.


    He dreamily turned and swung an arm to the other side of the bed. A few seconds later, he moved that arm slightly, then his hand began wandering on the bed.


    "Eh? Bai?" He groped for a while but failed to find a thing. After that, he opened his eyes with a frown and looked around, but saw no one. Then, he moved his eyes to the corners of the room.


    That person was not on the bed, or in the room. Where was he?


    Long Yubai thought that Lu Zhuofeng was drunk. But in fact, he was only slightly drunk before; he was mostly sober now.


    Long Yubai wasn''t there. Lu Zhuofeng relaxed his frown, then sat up and got off the bed. He walked to the window and looked outside. Afterward, he walked to the door and opened it.


    Long Yubai wasn''t in the living room either. Lu Zhuofeng looked at the time and found that it was one in the morning. Where did Long Yubai go?


    Lu Zhuofeng searched around the flat and confirmed that Long Yubai had already left. He thought for a moment, then returned to the bedroom and went back to the bed. Clearly, the fact that Long Yubai left while he was sleeping didn''t affect him.


    He lay down and soon fell asleep again.

 590 Someone Came In

    In another neighborhood, Long Yubai and another man were sitting in the living room of a flat.


    Long Yubai was wearing a bathrobe, sitting on a couch. His feet were on a lap of that man who was kneeling on one knee.


    That man looked very strong. At that moment, he was stroking Long Yubai''s shanks obsessively.


    "Did He Mu buy what you said?" While rubbing Long Yubai''s shanks, he asked in a strangely dry and deep voice.


    "Seventy percent, I guess! I wasn''t lying¡­ Believing me will do good to both of us. Why wouldn''t he believe me?" Long Yubai leaned on the back of the couch, his arms crossed before his chest.


    At that moment, that man stood up and sat down by his side, then leaned his head forward and sniffed at Long Yubai''s neck. Only after that did he move slightly backward.


    "I think things are not quite right with Lin Ruifeng recently. Are you gonna just let him do what he wants?" That man looked at Long Yubai and asked.


    The latter paused briefly, then turned and said, "Lin Ruifeng? What''s wrong with him?"


    "I''ve been feeling that the look in his eyes is a little strange lately. You should be careful!" That man said blandly.


    "Be careful of what? Is he planning on something?" Long Yubai narrowed his eyes, looking at that man and saying, "You never liked him. Are you jealous of him?"


    The man gave him a glance, then turned his head to the window. A short while later, he turned back and said, "It''s late. Let''s get in and sleep."


    "Alright!" Long Yubai responded, then stood up from the couch as he turned and headed toward that man''s bedroom.


    That man walked to the balcony and looked around. As he prepared to close the door of the balcony, his hand shook abruptly, and then he looked around again with a confused look. After confirming that nothing was unusual, that man shut the door.


    He turned off the light in the living room and then walked into the room that Long Yubai just walked in.


    They did nothing in that room, and just slept. Also¡­ they slept on two beds!


    By the window, Lin Qiao observed Ye Hao''s bedroom with surprise. Based on how close Ye Hao and Long Yubai were, she thought that they would at least sleep in the same bed!


    Seeing them each lying on separate beds, Lin Qiao felt quite strange about how distant they looked. However, no matter how they acted, she didn''t plan to let them live.


    Ye Hao was Long Yubai''s strongest muscle, and the person that Long Yubai trusted the most. He had, of course, done more evil deeds than Lin Ruifeng. That was why Lin Qiao decided to kill him.


    However, as the two of them were both in that room, it seemed to be impossible for her to kill them both at one time. So, she decided to take out one of them first.


    She thought for a moment, then moved backward and climbed back to the balcony along the wall. On the balcony, she did nothing more than show her face, raising a palm and letting the dark fire flicker in her hand.


    In the bedroom, Ye Hao had just lied down and closed his eyes. The moment she showed up, Ye Hao suddenly opened his eyes, then quickly sat up from the bed and turned to look at the door.


    "What''s wrong?" Seeing his movement, Long Yubai, who was on the other bed, asked with confusion.


    "It''s okay¡­ Just sleep!" Ye Hao stood up and waved a hand at him, then moved to the door. He opened it and walked out of the bedroom, fixing his sharp eyes on the balcony. He saw no one there, but soon noticed that the balcony door was open.


    He frowned and stopped moving, gazing straight at that glass door. The door was open, and a part of the lock was missing, seemingly cut off by something.


    Ye Hao instantly crooked his fingers into claws and hunched his back. His face went twisted as well. He tightened his lips and bared the four fangs in his mouth.


    "Who is it? Come out!" He scanned every corner of the living room with his eyes, then growled with a deep voice.


    In the bedroom, Long Yubai got up from the bed once he heard Ye Hao''s voice, then put on his shoes and walked toward the door, gently opening it. Seeing the look of Ye Hao, he realized that the former was already on alert. He didn''t say anything but walked to him silently.


    "Someone has gotten in," Ye Hao said with a deep voice, without any change in his expression.


    "Who is it?" Long Yubai moved closer to Ye Hao, his expression changing slightly.


    "I don''t know! I can''t sense it!" Ye Hao automatically shielded Long Yubai with his body. His pupils shrank, and the hair on the back of his head stood up slightly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    If it weren''t for that opened door, he really would not have found out that someone had gotten in his flat.


    Long Yubai stood behind him. He wasn''t worried about his own safety, as Ye Hao was there. But still, he looked around vigilantly. As Ye Hao said, he sensed nothing.


    "Is that person still here?" He asked with a low voice.


    "Look at the balcony door," Ye Hao reminded him with simple words. Hearing him, Long Yubai noticed the broken lock on the balcony door.


    "That''s¡­" Seeing the lock, Long Yubai froze. That mark was way too familiar to him! That missing part of the lock wasn''t broken or cut off. Instead, it was corroded, or¡­ melted!


    "Have you seen it? That''s indeed like¡­" Ye Hao said with a serious look. He had too noticed that broken lock.


    "What? Are you two afraid?" At that moment, a strange woman''s voice was heard.


    They simultaneously turned to where the voice came from. The light was off, yet as two high-leveled humans, they could still see things clearly. They saw a strange woman sitting in an armchair in a corner, looking at them with her legs crossed.


    "Who are you?" Long Yubai suddenly reached out a hand and turned on the light in the living room; the room was instantly illuminated. Once the light turned on, he gave a shout toward that woman.


    At the same time, the water pipes in the kitchen and the bathroom suddenly exploded. The water that burst from the pipes didn''t spread, but gathered together.


    "Er¡­." Meanwhile, Ye Hao lowered his body and uttered deep growl from his throat, which sounded like the roar of a beast. His fingernails grew into sharp claws, and his body shape started changing. The hair on the back of his head began growing, quickly spreading to his back through his neck.


    It seemed that he was turning into a beast, preparing to launch an attack.


    "Do you want to know who I am? Look at this!" Lin Qiao sat on the couch with a bland smile and looked at the two who were on full alert. Next, both Ye Hao and Long Yubai''s eyes were attracted by the flicking dark fire on her fingertip.

 591 You Didnst Die

    "You! You are¡­" Seeing the dark fire, both Long Yubai and Ye Hao couldn''s stay calm, subconsciously thinking of that woman. However, they then felt confused when they saw this woman''s strange face.


    "Who the hell are you? Do not think that holding a black fire can make you Netherworld Fire from Hades Base?" Long Yubai showed a cold look and said to Lin Qiao with a cold voice.


    That black fire reminded both him and Ye Hao of that woman who had blown herself up. However, the woman sitting in front of them looked completely different from that woman. Therefore, Long Yubai quickly wiped that idea out of his mind. After all, he had watched that woman explode.


    The woman in front of them almost made them think that that woman was still alive! But soon, they saw her face clearly and told themselves that it was impossible.


    Lin Qiao ignored their words but stood up, walking to the balcony door with composure. Then, she leaned against the opened door and looked outside.


    "Your place hasn''t changed much. What happened to all those supplies and weapons that you looted from Hades Base? Have you given them all to Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base?" While speaking, she abruptly glanced back at Long Yubai and Ye Hao.


    "You talk too much!" Long Yubai didn''t answer her question, but suddenly launched an attack. He gave a loud shout while wielding his arm toward the water from the kitchen and the bathroom. After that, he pointed a finger at Lin Qiao.


    Following his move, the water immediately transformed into water arrows, darting at Lin Qiao.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The water arrows arrived swiftly. Within a blink, they flew to Lin Qiao and created countless little holes on the glass door and the surrounding walls.


    However, Lin Qiao had disappeared.


    "She''s gone!" Ye Hao knitted his eyebrows.


    Right at that moment, he turned around with a drastic change of expression while shouting, "Watch out!"


    He swiftly pushed Long Yubai backward, then moved to where the latter was and shielded him behind. But soon, he regretted it.


    Puff¡­ A wisp of dark flame landed on him and then exploded into a raging fire, as if someone had poured a bucket of gasoline on it.


    "Er¡­ Owoooooo¡­." Ye Hao burst in a shrill screech when the dark fire wrapped him up. He didn''t sound like a human being, but like a howling wolf.


    "Ye Hao!" Long Yubai gave a start. He stopped attacking Lin Qiao, but swung his arms and sent the water toward Ye Hao.


    Ye Hao gave a roar and then fell on the ground while struggling. As he rolled across the living room, the fire on him quickly ignited the furniture pieces in the living room and vanished them at extremely high efficiency.


    In just a couple of minutes, the dark fire was burning all over the room.


    "Erhhhhhh¡­" Ye Hao almost lost his mind because of the pain and rolled on the ground instinctively. Long Yubai poured the water on them, but failed to put out even a little bit of that fire.


    "Eh? What''s happening?"


    "What''s going on?"


    "What''s wrong?"


    Ye Hao''s screams woke up all the residents in this building. They turned on the lights and then walked to their balconies, looking around to search for the source of the screams.


    "It sounds like Deputy Chief Ye!"


    Soon, someone realized that the screams were from Ye Hao''s room. By then, Ye Hao''s voice was already growing weak.


    "Yo-you¡­" At that point, Long Yubai was so shocked that he couldn''t even say a word. As Ye Hao stopped struggling, he gawked at Lin Qiao.


    "That''s impossible! Impossible! Who are you! You''re not her¡­ Ye Hao! Ye Hao!" Long Yubai stared at Lin Qiao while stuttering.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand. Following her move, the fire which had Ye Hao wrapped up suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but an energy nucleus lying on the ground. She crooked her fingers and sent out a wisp of dark mist, which wrapped up the nucleus and brought it into her hand.


    "You¡­ you!" After watching Ye Hao disappear right in front of him, Long Yubai couldn''t react for a while.


    "What? Are you doubting this fire? Ah, I understand¡­ I''ve changed my face after all! If I told you that I''ve had plastic surgeries, would you believe me? Hehe¡­ Do you think I''d die so easily? You''re too naive, Long Yubai!" Lin Qiao said to him blandly.


    Her words woke Long Yubai up. He popped his eyes in shock and disbelief as he looked at Lin Qiao, "It''s really you! You''re still alive!"


    "Before I blew myself up, didn''t I tell you that I won''t die so easily?" Lin Qiao looked at him in the eyes with a faint smile.


    "That''s impossible! No one can survive a detonation like that! That''s impossible¡­ Impossible!" Long Yubai refused to believe her words, but deep down, he had already bought it. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be so panicked that he even forgot to defend himself.


    At last, he slightly lowered his head. Even his eyes were unfocused.


    At that point, Lin Qiao flashed across the air and disappeared.


    "You lied! You''re not her¡­ Ah!" Long Yubai suddenly raised his head to yell at Lin Qiao. However, he found that she wasn''t there anymore. In the next moment, he sensed a piercing pain from his chest and coughed out a mouthful of blood. Then, he was disabled from breathing."


    "Eh¡­ eh-hem¡­" He widened his eyes and gazed at the hand which came out of his chest, covered in blood. Before he could realize what had just happened, his body reacted first.


    Puff! Lin Qiao pulled out her hand, holding a torn heart. She watched Long Yubai slowly collapse to the floor and sensed the aroma of blood which had suffused the room.


    Knock, knock!


    Door knocks could be heard at that time. "Deputy Chief Ye, can we come in?"


    Long Yubai never allowed his subordinates to follow him into Ye Hao''s place. Ye Hao was his best bodyguard, so he didn''t need anyone else''s protection in here.


    The conversation and the killing between Lin Qiao, Long Yubai, and Ye Hao happened within only a couple of minutes. The guards by the door had left for a short while, so they didn''t hear the noise from the flat in time.


    When they came back and heard the noises, they didn''t dare to go straight into the flat, as their leaders hadn''t given them the order. But, when they heard Ye Hao''s screams, they couldn''t remain calm anymore.


    Lin Qiao threw the heart to the floor, then bent over and grabbed Long Yubai''s dead body with her blood-covered hand, disappearing from where she was. Those guards spent a short while banging the door. But, as their leaders gave no response, they broke the door and forced in. On entering the living room, they were all stunned.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    There were no dead bodies, but half of the furniture pieces were missing, and the entire living room was a mess.

 592 Jian Shengtong From Earth Dragon Base

    Lu Tianyi, who was squatting in the vegetable field and growing seedlings, abruptly sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe. He turned back and was astonished by the bloody body carried in Lin Qiao''s hand.


    ''Damn! Where is this dead man from? Lu Tianyu didn''t kill him, did she?''


    Right when he had that idea, Lin Qiao answered his question, "Ah, I killed him. Do you know who he was?"


    While speaking, she dropped the body to the ground, then walked to the bucket nearby and fetched some water from it to wash her hands. After washing the blood off her hands, she turned back and glared at the smart young male zombie, "You, stop! That''s not for you! You''re not allowed to touch it!"


    At that time, that smart zombie was drooling over the body.


    ''Why did you bring the body in here? Who is it?'' Lu Tianyi recovered from the shock and looked at her confusedly.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and responded, "This is the leader of Earth Dragon Base. I''m going to hang his body on the Administrative building of his base.


    Lu Tianyi popped his eyes. He couldn''t even believe what he had heard.


    ''Chief! A Chief of a base! He was a level-seven superpowered man, wasn''t he? Yet he was killed by her! How did she do that!''


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance. Knowing that he had been underestimating her, she smiled faintly and said, "In the morning, I''ll take you out to watch a show."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    By now, people must have already found out what happened in Ye Hao''s place. The guards would certainly search all over the base for him and Long Yubai. In the end, they would realize that not only were Long Yubai and Ye Hao missing, but He Mu and Lin Ruifeng were also gone.


    But still, it might take them the whole night to search.


    Lu Tianyi looked at Lin Qiao with disbelief. He knew that Earth Dragon Base was her destination, but didn''t know that she was there to kill their leader! She did it so easily and quickly, like killing a rabbit.


    He didn''t know that the fatso that Lin Qiao earlier killed in her space was a vice-leader yet.


    ¡­


    At dawn, the army was still searching around the base nervously. In the administrative building, the last Deputy Chief of the base, the remaining base administrators, and Lu Zhuofeng, who was the leader of Hidden Cloud City Base, were all sitting in the conference room.


    "Based on what we''ve found in Ye Hao''s place, they were definitely under attack. But, we haven''t found them or their dead bodies. No one knows whether they were dead or alive." Lu Zhuofeng sat before the conference table with his elbows on the table, his head rested on his fingers.


    "Who on earth was it? That person didn''t leave any trace. I''m surprised that he or she actually attacked Ye Hao. Ye Hao''s sensations are sharper than that of ordinary superpowered people by many times over. It''s said that the scream which people heard last time was from him. I think he''s not going to survive. He''s been missing for so long¡­" The only level-six person, who was also the last Deputy Chief of the base, started talking.


    His name was Jian Shengtong. He was thirty-years-old, average-looking; neither handsome nor ugly. He was the kind of person who could perfectly disappear in a crowd.


    He was a possessor of fire power and was at the top of level-six, only a breath away from level-seven.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao, whom he described as someone who didn''t leave a trace, was standing in a corner of the conference room and listening to their conversations.


    She didn''t kill Jian Shengtong, because his status in Earth Dragon Base was a little different and complicated.


    He was not an ambitious person. Instead, he liked peace. He was against Long Yubai back when the latter decided to attack Hades Base, because he knew that many humans would suffer harm once the war started. Hades Base was also a human survivor base, and the people who lived there were human survivors too.


    He understood that once Long Yubai attacked Hades Base, the people who lived there would suffer pain or die in the war.


    Human population had already dropped drastically since the apocalypse. He believed that under the current situation, humans should help each other for survival, and that it was really wrong to start wars among human survivors.


    However, his opinion changed nothing, because he could not stop Long Yubai''s ambition, neither stop him from coveting the supplies and weapons that Hades Base possessed.


    He had talked to Long Yubai many times about that. At last, the latter forbade him from entering the administrative building and getting close to himself.


    Many people in the base liked and respected Jian Shengtong. Otherwise, Long Yubai would have killed him long ago.


    When Long Yubai, Lin Ruifeng, Ye Hao, and people from Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base started the war against Hades Base, Jian Shengtong stayed in the Earth Dragon Base.


    Lin Qiao surely knew well enough about him, as he was on the enemy''s side. She didn''t touch him this time, but only killed Lin Ruifeng and Ye Hao who took part in that war.


    "Deputy Chief! We can''t find Deputy Chief Lin and Chief He from Sky Fire Base. They''re not in their rooms. We''ve searched around, but didn''t find them. They''re missing!" At that time, the soldier who was sent to inform Lin Ruifeng and He Mu returned and made his report.


    "What? They''re not in their rooms? Don''t you know where they went?" Jian Shengtong looked at him with surprise.


    "We''ve asked around. Their neighbors said that they never walked out of their rooms!" The soldiers responded.


    "Did you find anything strange in their rooms then?" Jian Shengtong stood up and asked.


    "We had been to Deputy Chief He''s room last night, but didn''t stay for long. People living there said that he didn''t come out after we left. Nothing strange was found in his room either¡­ As for Deputy Chief Lin''s place¡­ His cousin''s body was found in the bedroom." The soldier answered the question.


    "What! Body? Lin Ruihua?" Jian Shengtong was shocked by that news.


    He knew that Lin Ruifeng was living together with Lin Ruihua. So, by cousin, he surely knew that the soldier was talking about Lin Ruihua.


    "Yes, Lin Ruihua''s body is in the bedroom. Someone is already there doing a necropsy, but the result hasn''t come out yet¡­ However, the room is messy! Also, there''s something strange in the living room too," the soldier continued.


    "What''s strange in the living room?" Jian Shengtong couldn''t stay calm anymore.


    Ye Hao and Long Yubai were missing, which was already bad enough. And now, He Mu had disappeared as well. Now, he found that a murder had happened in Lin Ruifeng''s place, and Lin Ruifeng himself had gone missing as well.


    Within a single night, so many important people went missing. The consequences were going to be serious.


    Jian Shengtong was a mild person, but at that moment, he was a little panicked.


    "There''s one spot in the living room. It''s dark, as if something was burnt there¡­ But, that area isn''t big. It''s really weird!" The soldier answered the question with a frown.


    "What do you mean? What is weird?" Jian Shengtong asked with confusion.

 593 They Should Pay Back

    "That¡­ That¡­" The soldier didn''t know how to describe the mark in the living room. It looked a little like a burn mark, but not exactly like it. If it weren''t a burn mark, what was it?


    "Alright, let''s go over there and take a look," Lu Zhuofeng stood up from his seat and said to Jian Shengtong.


    "That''s right! Let''s go¡­" Jian Shengtong paused shortly, then immediately agreed. Afterward, he turned and walked out of the door.


    Lu Zhuofeng followed him out, while the others stayed in the conference room.


    Right when they came downstairs and walked out of the building, a scream was heard from the crowd across the road.


    "Ah¡­ Look over there!" A woman suddenly burst in screams.


    The others turned to her and found her staring at the administrative building, face filled with a frightened look. They followed her eyes and saw a bloody person hanging between the forth-floor and the fifth floor.


    "That¡­ that is¡­" Everyone popped their eyes in shock, staring at that person without being able to react.


    "Hurry up, get him down!" Jian Shengtong and Lu Zhuofeng had no time to go to Lu Zhuofeng''s place to see what happened there now. If they were right, the person hanging on the building was none other than Long Yubai. They couldn''t even tell if he were still alive.


    When that blood-covered person was put down, the others were all shocked. They were right¡­ That was really their leader, Long Yubai.


    Long Yubai was still wearing a surprised look, and his body was cold. Blood had coagulated on his chest, which had a puncture wound. There was also a hole in his head. Clearly, his energy nucleus had been dug out.


    "What¡­ What on earth happened!" Facing such an unexpected situation, Jian Shengtong panicked a little. Yet, he forced himself to calm down.


    On seeing Long Yubai''s dead body, he already had a feeling that the other missing people were definitely in no good condition. Those people might also end up as dead bodies. Without the leader and two vice-leaders, the base would certainly fall into chaos!


    "Deputy Chief! All those captives from Hades Base have been released!" At that point, a soldier rushed over and reported to Jian Shengtong.


    "What? How come!" Jian Shengtong was shocked again.


    Even though those captives were all commoners, they had been locked up for months, and the hatred in their hearts must have accumulated to a crazy level. Now that they were released, they would madly attack Earth Dragon Base people.


    "Deputy Chief! The gate¡­ gate¡­ the gate is destroyed! Zombies are coming inside our base through the gate! The guards can''t stop them! There''re too many zombies!" Another soldier came over in haste and reported the situation near the base gate.


    "Hurry up! Gather all superpowered people and tell them to go to the gate! Send out the army! Bring the situation near the gate under control!" Jian Shengtong hurriedly gave his order to the people around him.


    "I''m going to the gate area to take a look!" said Lu Zhuofeng, who stayed calm all this while. After that, he disappeared quickly.


    By now, Jian Shengtong was having a very bad feeling. The leader of the base was dead, and two level-six vice-leaders had gone missing. There were other level-six superpowered people in the base, but clearly, the base was falling into chaos.


    At that time, gunshots and the sounds of an explosion could be heard from where the captives were kept. In that area, the army had already started suppressing those captives.


    "Roar!" Right at that moment, zombie roars were heard from the top of the administrative building. The people around the building raised their heads and saw some figures leaping down.


    "Roar!" Those figures leaped off the tens of stories tall building, swiftly pressing those people to the ground. Those people didn''t even manage to react.


    Those people who were pressed to the ground didn''t end up well, because those figures which leaped off the building weren''t humans, but were zombies.


    Puff!


    "Roar!"


    "Ah!"


    Those people uttered shrill screams as zombie claws pierced through their bodies and zombie teeth sunk into their heads.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The surrounding soldiers and some superpowered people realized what happened and started attacking those zombies. However, after leaping off the building and pressing those people down, those zombies quickly moved backward and ran away, hiding and leaving the dead bodies and blood all over the ground.


    "High-leveled zombies! Catch them!" Jian Shengtong could not stay where he was. Instead, he followed behind one of those zombies.


    At that moment, the panicked commoners on the scene were all trying to find places to hide while the superpowered ones were following behind those high-leveled zombies. None of them noticed that those dead bodies left by those zombies had slowly gotten up from the ground in a twisted way and started approaching those frightened people nearby.


    Lin Qiao was watching all that from the roof. Yes, those high-leveled zombies were released from her space.


    Lu Tianyi was standing behind her, looking at the chaotic base. He turned to Lin Qiao with surprise, not understanding why she was doing that.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "I won''t destroy their base. After all, hundreds of thousands of innocent human survivors are living in this place. However, I will kill every single one who should die. They owe it to me!"


    On hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Lu Tianyi sensed the icy cold intention of killing from her eyes. However, he didn''t know who she was targeting.


    Were Long Yubai, Ye Hao, and Lin Ruifeng the people who should die? Those were leaders and vice-leaders, yet she killed them so easily¡­ But, why did she do that? She said that those people should die, but as far as Lu Tianyi knew, they never offended Lu Tianyu!


    Lu Tianyi looked at her with confusion. Soon, he thought of those Hades Base survivors who now lived in Upper City District.


    If she were avenging someone, she must be avenging them. But, what was the relationship between them and her? Why would she do so much for them? She built a new base for them, created a zombie wall to protect them, and now was killing Earth Dragon Base people for them. Why on earth did she do all those things for those people?


    With so many questions in his head, Lu Tianyi looked at Lin Qiao. Clearly, he wanted her to give him an answer.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Didn''t I tell you that it''s not yet the time for you to know. Even if I tell you the truth, you won''t understand," Lin Qiao smiled at him.


    She surely knew about the questions that Lu Tianyi had in his mind. However, she couldn''t tell him right now that she was no longer his disgusting sister.

 594 Whos Whistling?

    Gradually, screams and shouts could be heard from the surrounding, mixed with gunshots and explosions. The entire base became chaotic.


    Lin Qiao and Lu Tianyi stood on top of the administrative building of Earth Dragon Base, watching the chaotic scene. The zombies that she had released were all at level three or four. Bullets couldn''t hurt them. Also, she had ordered them not to linger in one place for too long.


    She only wanted them to show up, scare people, and then sneak away.


    Once those zombies showed up, there would certainly be casualties. When they left, the all-out panic that they created spread out.


    Lin Qiao had melted the metal gates of the base. By now, the gates had turned into four giant holes. The zombies out there were summoned by Lin Qiao last night, and their number was terrifyingly huge.


    Jian Shengtong quickly gathered the superpowered people in the base and the army. He sent some of those people to the gate areas to stop the zombie crowds, and some to hunt those higher leveled zombies that Lin Qiao had released. Meanwhile, he sent some other people to deal with those captives who had been running crazily about in the base.


    "Let''s go! You''ve watched the show. Now, you should leave. My work here isn''t done yet," Lin Qiao sniffed around, then sent Lu Tianyi into her space. Next, she turned invisible and leaped off the building.


    She followed the sounds of some captives that she heard just now, and soon found a warehouse in the outer base. That warehouse was large, used for keeping the captives from Hades Base. Most of those people were female, their ages varied. Some of them were good-looking young men as well.


    At that time, all of those people had scattered in or around the warehouse, holding weapons. Outside the warehouse, fully armed Earth Dragon Base soldiers had been firing at them.


    The power difference between those soldiers and those captives was way too huge. Those captives had suffered heavy casualties, yet many of them still weren''t willing to give up. Each one of them had the determination to die together with the enemies.


    They did want to die together with Earth Dragon Base people, because they knew that there wasn''t a good chance for them to run out of that base alive. They had been kept here for months, used as slaves and breeding tools. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao landed on top of the warehouse and abruptly whistled loudly at those Earth Dragon Base soldiers.


    "What''s that noise?" Hearing the whistling, both sides of the battle felt confused.


    "It sounds like¡­ whistling?"


    "Who''s whistling here?"


    "Yes, I heard it too. That''s whistling indeed!"


    Hearing that whistling, everyone was so confused. But soon, they realized what that whistling could summon.


    A series of level three or four zombies suddenly showed up around them one after another, then started attacking those Earth Dragon Base soldiers.


    "High-leveled zombies! Fire! Fire! Be careful!" The leader of those soldiers burst in shouts at the sight of those zombies, as if they were facing powerful enemies.


    Level-four zombies surely wouldn''t come too close, because they had superpowers! All the zombies which jumped on those soldiers to bite and scratch them were at level-three. They were swift, and they evacuated after only one move.


    Before those soldiers could point their guns all at those zombies, those zombies had hit their targets and left. Tens of zombies scattered to attack those soldiers separately.


    "What''s going on? I think they''re under attack¡­ Are those¡­ high-leveled zombies?" Near the warehouse, those captives observed those soldiers with confusion. Seeing those zombies, they were all surprised.


    "I¡­ I think so!" After looking carefully for a while, someone responded uncertainly. They didn''t have telescopes, so they couldn''t clearly see what was happening out there. However, they could roughly guess it out based on the gunshots and zombie roars coming from the outside.


    "Don''t just stand there! They''re distracted now! Let''s rush out!" Someone said loudly.


    "You''re right! Now is the time! Go!"


    Those captives grasped the opportunity. While covering each other and evacuating from the warehouse, they carefully observed the enemies.


    Lin Qiao, who was looking down from the roof, suddenly frowned, then made a step backward and moved sideways.


    A sharp wind blade descended from the sky and went through the spot that she was standing on. The roof was made from iron sheet, so the wind blade easily penetrated it.


    "I was wondering why so much trouble suddenly happened together. I guess someone is behind all these," Lu Zhuofeng showed up on top of a building nearby, looking down at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent as she coldly raised her head and looked at him in the eyes.


    Lu Zhuofeng looked around, his eyes showing a trace of confusion. Then, he turned and said to Lin Qiao, "You must have lots of confederates. You''ve actually killed Long Yubai. So, Lin Ruifeng and Ye Hao must be dead as well. I''m just wondering where you led He Mu to."


    "Guess!" Lin Qiao gave him a cold smile and said.


    With a bland tone, Lu Zhuofeng said, "He Mu isn''t as weak as Long Yubai, a possessor of water power. He has metal power. No one can just kill him silently. Even a level-eight man would need to go through an intense battle to kill him. It''s impossible to kill him without leaving any trace! Unless¡­ you''ve drawn him away. Perhaps, you took him out of the base. Am I right?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "You''re right, he''s a level-seven metal power possessor. Killing him isn''t that easy."


    She didn''t refute Lu Zhuofeng, because he was not wrong. He Mu was fat, but was also a possessor of metal power. Besides, he was at level seven. So, killing him wouldn''t be easy. He would have sensed it before anyone else launched an attack on him.


    However, Lin Qiao was different. As a zombie who possessed both a space and poisonous fire, she was a special case.


    A special case could surely not be analyzed with common sense. Lu Zhuofeng was not wrong, but he hadn''t figured out Lin Qiao''s true identity and power.


    He guessed that she had confederates, and Lin Qiao decided to let him keep guessing. That would only do her good anyway.


    "It''s not easy to kill He Mu, but it''s quite easy for me to kill you!" At that moment, Lu Zhuofeng suddenly swung an arm at Lin Qiao. Following his move, a gust of wind was started and sent toward Lin Qiao. That was not only a fierce gust of wind, but contained countless sharp wind blades.


    Lin Qiao moved backward swiftly. Before the wind blades touched her, she quickly leaped off the roof. The wind roared shrilly, and the wind blades shredded half of the iron sheet roof.

 595 Do Not Waste Time

    "Eh?" As Lin Qiao dodged his attack, Lu Zhuofeng immediately descended from the sky and found that he had lost the trace of the enemy.


    ''She hid fast!''


    He stood on the broken roof of the warehouse and glanced where Lin Qiao leaped off before looking around. Right at that moment, he suddenly sensed a stream of coldness coming from behind him. Hurriedly, he leaped away and sprung up into the sky.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He turned to where he stood and saw Lin Qiao standing there with a palm raised, smiling at him creepily.


    Looking at that wisp of dark fire on her palm, Lu Zhuofeng froze.


    "That¡­ that''s¡­"


    Lin Qiao grinned and said, "What? Do you find it familiar? Would you like to feel it? It''ll make you feel even more familiar!"


    While finishing her words, she suddenly clenched her fist and threw the fire at Lu Zhuofeng.


    Lu Zhuofeng saw nothing but that wisp of dark fire darting at him and panicked. But, as a base leader, he only panicked for a moment. After the short panic, he swiftly raised a hand to create a windshield.


    Boom! That tiny flame expanded speedily after bumping into the windshield. It actually penetrated the windshield, even growing stronger and stronger in the wind. Soon, it formed a black firewall, also seeming like a dark beast of fire that brandishing its claws while pouncing upon Lu Zhuofeng.


    Seeing that black fire, Lu Zhuofeng somehow felt fear in his heart. As the fire grew larger and larger in the wind, he automatically moved further and further backward. Meanwhile, he took another glance at Lin Qiao.


    She had disappeared again!


    Finding that Lin Qiao had disappeared again, Lu Zhuofeng''s vigilance was raised to another level. Next, he found the dark fire before him rising into the sky, then splitting up into long wisps.


    He was aware that the enemy''s power had fully suppressed his.


    Before he could react, he saw the snake-like fire streams swishing at him. He hurriedly moved backward, but then felt something strange from his back. He immediately stopped moving backward, and then turned his body and moved sideways stiffly. Thankfully, his wind power allowed him to easily make that move in the air.


    As he leaned to one side, a dark flake of fire flashed across the air right behind him.


    "What? Are you afraid? Are you afraid that this fire might land on you and make you vanish?" At that moment, Lin Qiao''s voice came from the roof of another building.


    Lu Zhuofeng waved a hand and created a hurricane to blow away the dark fire streams around him. After that, he quickly moved away from where he was.


    "Who the hell are you! Do you expect me to take you for that woman who has already blown herself up after hearing your words? She''s dead. She was blown into pieces! You can pretend to be her, but I won''t possibly believe you! Do you think that I''m stupid?" Lu Zhuofeng yelled at Lin Qiao.


    Even though Lin Qiao was using the poisonous dark fire, he didn''t think of her as Netherworld Fire, because he believed that the other had blown herself up and couldn''t possibly survive.


    He believed that the woman in front of him was only someone who happened to have triggered the same kind of power as Netherworld Fire. He thought that she was trying to scare him with that dark fire, and that she underestimated him.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, wanting to laugh. She couldn''t say for sure if Lu Zhuofeng was smart or silly. Last night, He Mu and Long Yubai believed her almost without hesitation.


    Unlike them, Lu Zhuofeng refused to believe that she was still alive. He firmly believed that she had detonated herself and died for good. He was not wrong though. She did die, and that was a truth.


    At first, even Lin Qiao herself didn''t want to believe the fact that she had woken up in another body, not to mention other people!


    Based on Lu Zhuofeng''s attitude, she figured that he was rather smart. After all, he wasn''t scared, only a little surprised.


    "You may believe me, or you may not. That''ll depend on what you do next!" While speaking, Lin Qiao suddenly reached out her arms toward him, then turned and wielded.


    Soon, countless dark fire snakes flew swiftly at Lu Zhuofeng. In the air, those dark snakes split up and became more and more numerous. They attacked Lu Zhuofeng from every direction, but ended up being blown away by Lu Zhuofeng''s hurricane.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao abruptly disappeared from where she was.


    "Eh?" Lu Zhuofeng had been keeping an eye on Lin Qiao the whole time. But all of a sudden, he realized that he was distracted by those dark fire snakes, and that she had disappeared again.


    Lu Zhuofeng got nervous. Thinking that Lin Qiao might be brewing some other moves, he was immediately alerted. He looked around vigilantly, in case she suddenly attacked from a random direction.


    The fire snakes were still growing in number, showing no sign of declining. On the contrary, the fire was boosted again around Lu Zhuofeng''s windshield.


    At that time, Lin Qiao had evacuated already, going far away.


    She did want to kill Lu Zhuofeng, but as a level-eight wind-power possessor, he was at a higher level than her, and was able to fly in the sky. Her attacks could only be launched on the ground. The other way to kill him was through close combat.


    Facing an enemy who could fly, the only long-range attack that she could launch was her fire. However, as the enemy gathered his wind power, the fire that she was able to send into the sky would become much less effective than usual.


    She could start a big fight against him, but there might be no winner in it. However, she would surely spend a lot of time on it.


    She didn''t want to waste time in fighting him. She was clearly unable to kill him this time, so she decided to wait for other chances.


    At that point, the battle happening on the ground had entered an even more chaotic state. The captives had run away in all directions. This time, they didn''t run about crazily, but acted in an organized and planned fashion.


    Added with the fact that those soldiers had been distracted by Lin Qiao''s zombies, they easily sneaked out of the warehouse. However, as they gathered around the entrances of the base, they were shocked by what they saw.


    From a long distance away, they saw that the entrances had been taken down by zombie crowds. Earth Dragon Base armies had been killing those zombies, but the zombie crowds were way too huge, and the attacks launched by the armies barely delivered any effects.


    At the very most, they stopped the zombie crowds from coming further into the base, but couldn''t force them out.


    On the clearing before each entrance, countless zombie bodies piled up. Some surviving zombies were fighting each other over the bodies of the freshly died people.


    More and more zombies came in through the entrances. The superpowered people released all kinds of powers¡ªmetal, green, water, fire and earth¡ªto kill those ordinary zombies. Those were all ordinary zombies, so it was not difficult for superpowered people to kill them. The only problem was their humongous number.

 596 Not Cabbages

    At that moment, a whistle was heard suddenly, following which, all the zombie crowds stopped moving. The people from the base kept attacking them, so many of them were soon put down.


    "What¡­ what''s going on?" Seeing all the zombies stop moving, Earth Dragon Base people were stunned. They gazed at those zombies which were crazily rushing in and attacking people with claws and teeth just now with confusion.


    "I¡­ I don''t know!"


    "Don''t just stand there! Now is a great chance! Keep attacking!"


    "Yes! Attack! Attack!"


    The zombies stopped moving, yet the people from the Earth Dragon Base didn''t. They grasped the opportunity to attack those zombies even harder.


    "But, I think I just heard a whistle¡­ What the hell!" Someone noticed that whistle, but soon forgot about it and focused on killing zombies.


    At that point, another whistle was heard.


    "Eh? Again!"


    "No¡­ Look, the zombie crowds are drawing back!"


    "I¡­ I think you''re right!"


    Following the second whistle, those zombies turned around and moved out of the base entrance.


    The Earth Dragon Base people were all dumbfounded. What on earth had happened to those zombies!


    They actually retreated! That was unscientific!


    "Can it be that whistle? I''ve noticed that those zombies stopped moving after the first whistle, and after the second one, they turned and left! Is it a¡­ smart high-leveled zombie?" Someone said uncertainly. Clearly, someone was controlling those zombies. Only top-leveled zombies could control ordinary zombies.


    Top-leveled zombies were not the same as high-leveled zombies.


    Usually, people called zombies at level three, four or five high-leveled zombies, and the ones at six or seven top-leveled ones.


    "Are you saying that there''s a zombie king or queen out there?" Someone immediately thought of that possibility.


    "It''s able to control so many zombies, so it must be at level six or seven. Leve six, or seven¡­ Can a level-six zombie control so many ordinary zombies?"


    "There''re so many ordinary zombies¡­ I don''t think it''s possible! Is it a zombie dominator?" Thinking of that possibility, people were first shocked, then started to have a sense of crisis.


    It would be terrible if there was really a zombie dominator out there!


    "Go! Go and check the other entrances! Then come back quickly to report to me!" Jian Shengtong had thought of that possibility too. Unlike the others, he was more worried about the situation at the four entrances.


    He wished that only the zombie crowd before his eyes had retreated. Because if that were the case, it would prove that only the entrance near him had a zombie dominator around. But, if each base entrance was guarded by a zombie dominator, those zombies would clearly not be their greatest threat.


    Before long, his subordinates came back to report to him, "Deputy Chief, the zombies near the other entrances retreated a couple of minutes ago as well! They left at the same time as the ones around here!"


    Clearly, Jian Shengtong didn''t hear the news that he wished to hear.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "What! This is not good! In this way, we''re about to suffer!" Jian Shengtong panicked a little. He imagined that breaking the gates was only the first step of those zombie dominators'' plan. They might do much worse next.


    However, he waited for a couple of hours, but never saw the second batch of zombie crowds breaking into the base. That made him more and more stressed, to the point where any sign could make him explode.


    Thankfully, a level-eight powerful being was still in this base, which made Jian Shengtong sigh with relief.


    "Don''t be so worried. How can there be so many zombie dominators? They''re not like cabbages that you can find everywhere. Zombie queens and kings are already rare, not to mention zombie dominators. You''ve been overthinking! That might be a special zombie king or queen trying to fool you," Lu Zhuofeng said carelessly, as he didn''t have the concern that Jian Shengtong had.


    Hearing his words, Jian Shengtong woke up.


    Lu Zhuofeng was right. Upgrading had always been hard for zombies. Zombie kings and queens were already very rare, let alone zombie dominators! Even though Long Yubai said earlier that there was one zombie dominator in Upper City District in Hangzhou, and possibly one in the old Hades Base, his words hadn''t been confirmed.


    People wouldn''t believe what he said unless they saw those zombie dominators with their own eyes.


    Therefore, Lu Zhuofeng''s words made Jian Shengtong relax. However, he was still unhappy, because Long Yubai was dead while Lin Ruifeng, Ye Hao and He Mu had gone missing.


    His base was going to face a bigger problem, which was how to survive!


    By now, the gates had been broken, and zombies could break in at any time. Besides, a lot of high-leveled zombies were still running about in the base. They had already caused quite some damage.


    As for those captives, Jian Shengtong decided not to do anything about them. They could run away if they wanted to. Those were all women and weak men anyway.


    Even if those people managed to run out of the base, only a small part of them could survive. Therefore, Jian Shengtong didn''t do anything about them. He would like to give them a chance to run.


    Right now, he needed to send some people to fix the gates as soon as possible and comfort the residents in the base. Meanwhile, he needed to count the dead and injured, as well as the losses.


    Most importantly, the base might fall into internal disorder very soon! The leader of another base was still here. He might even swallow this base!


    On the other side, Lin Qiao had left with the zombie crowds. Lu Zhuofeng was right; there weren''t so many zombie dominators.


    She was the only zombie dominator around here. She was able to control the zombies within the entire Earth Dragon Base, and her whistles could be heard from miles away.


    She didn''t plan to launch the second wave of attack, because she had already achieved her goals.


    She killed Long Yubai and He Mu, who were base leaders, and Lin Ruifeng and Ye Hao, who were vice-leaders. She had created enough chaos in the base. Long Yubai would even hurt commoners, but she wasn''t like him.


    Only those leaders were her enemies.


    Quickly, she moved to ten miles away with her zombie army, then entered her space. Under the curious gazes of Lu Tianyi and that smart level-four zombie, she wrapped herself up with the dark mist and went down into the lake again.


    She needed to let Viney absorb the energy.

 597 Absorbing Energy

    Down at the bottom of the lake, Lin Qiao pressed He Mu''s energy nucleus on her lower abdomen. Once it touched her skin, the energy contained in it started the flow into her stomach bit by bit.


    Lin Qiao sensed that Viney was absorbing that energy, and wondered what she looked like now.


    It had only been around a month since she got pregnant. It was December now, and the weather was very cold. Lin Qiao couldn''t feel the cold weather though.


    Up on the ground of the space, Lu Tianyi confusedly watched Lin Qiao go down into the lake, without knowing what she was doing. He abruptly turned around and found the young male zombie squatting in the vegetable field, catching bugs.


    Since an unknown time, bugs had started to emerge in the vegetable field. Those bugs were fat and healthy, and had been growing very quickly.


    The vegetables hadn''t been picked for a few days. Many new leaves had grown out, but some of them had started to be eaten by bugs. Not all leaves were eaten by bugs, yet those bug-eaten leaves made those vegetables so ugly.


    During the past few days, Lu Tianyi squatted in the field and caught bugs when he had time. The young male zombie might have learned that from him.


    Lu Tianyi saw him catch a fleshy bug. That bug twisted its body in his hands, and then was thrown into his mouth.


    He ate it!


    Lu Tianyi''s mouth corners twitched.


    ''He actually likes to eat bugs! What kind of zombie is he?''


    Lin Qiao had warned that young male zombie a few days ago, so he was now much better behaved. Yet, he liked to follow Lu Tianyi around and cause troubles, such as hiding the water ladle which Lu Tianyi watered the plants with, or hiding the hoe that Lu Tianyi used to loosen the soil in the grassland.


    Every time when Lu Tianyi looked everywhere for his tools, that young male zombie would feel happy.


    That zombie caught another bug. Before he put it into his mouth, he suddenly found Lu Tianyi staring at him. He glanced at the bug in his hand, and then quickly threw it into his mouth.


    After that, he popped his eyes and gazed at Lu Tianyi, as if the latter was going to take his bug away.


    Lu Tianyi was awfully confused. ''Damn¡­ Who wants your bug?''


    Then, he saw that zombie bare his teeth to him. Those teeth were stained by some suspicious green matter.


    Lu Tianyi silently turned his face away. ''I''m gonna be sick¡­''


    ''The world of zombies is so hard to understand!''


    He looked around. By now, the space seemed to be a little empty, because those high-leveled zombies that Lin Qiao released earlier hadn''t come back. The pace was suddenly so quiet. After spending a few days in the space, Lu Tianyi had gotten used to sharing the space with those zombies. So, he started feeling a little strange now.


    As he was feeling a little uncomfortable because of the quietness, a roar was heard from the woods.


    "Owoooooooo¡­" Following that roar, a furless dog rushed out and jumped into the grassland. A human-waist-thick black snake followed the dog out of the woods with anger and darted into the grass as well.


    Lu Tianyi looked at the two creatures speechlessly. They fought all day long, chasing each other from the woods to the grassland, then from the grassland back to the woods. However, they seemed to have never approached the small building, but only played in the woods and the grassland. The other zombies barely came close to the building either.


    He turned around and saw the chubby little tiger lying at the entrance of the small building.


    Ever since Lu Tianyi fed it with crab meat that day, the little tiger became much quieter. However, it might be hungry again, as it hadn''t been eating for two days.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lu Tianyi had no way to solve that problem though; he had no meat to feed it after all. They needed to wait for the Zombie Sister to come out of the lake to take them out and find food.


    Sensing Lu Tianyi''s gaze, the slouching little tiger raised its head and looked at him.


    "Awooo!"


    Hearing the little tiger, the two creatures which had been chasing each other in grass both reared up their heads and looked at the little one. They had only noticed that little friend recently. Lin Qiao had ordered them not to come close to the building, so they could only look at the baby tiger from a distance away.


    Being stared by both the zombie dog and the giant snake, the little tiger shivered, then turned and hid in the building.


    The snake gazed at the little tiger cold-eyedly, as if it were a prey. The cold look in the snake''s eyes alarmed the little guy. As the snake was way too powerful, the little tiger immediately ran away and hid.


    The little tiger had disappeared in the building. So, the two larger creatures spent a short while looking at the building and then gave up. Then, the snake suddenly turned and pounced on the zombie dog.


    "Owo!" The zombie dog reacted swiftly, howling with discontentment. Clearly, it was unhappy about the giant snake''s surprise attack.


    The snake didn''t care that much as it grasped the opportunity and rushed at the dog. The dog ran away swiftly and disappeared within a blink. With no other choice, the snake followed the noises that the dog made.


    The zombie dog had no body temperature, but snakes traced their prey by sensing their body temperatures. The snake often felt confused when chasing the zombie dog, as the latter was cold-bodied.


    In the water, Lin Qiao absorbed the rest of the nucleus after Viney stopped absorbing. This time, Viney had absorbed a huge amount of energy. She absorbed forty percent of the energy contained in that level-seven nucleus while Lin Qiao absorbed the rest sixty percent.


    But, the sixty percent of the energy contained in that nucleus delivered no effect to Lin Qiao at all. As for Viney, she felt asleep again after the absorption.


    Lin Qiao moved slightly and swam toward the lake surface like a fish, then popped her head out of the water. Once she came out of the water, the creatures on the ground sensed her vibe. They all paused and turned to her, then saw her swimming toward the lakeside.


    Seeing that she was about to come out of the lake, Lu Tianyi immediately turned his head around. But then, he found the smart young male zombie staring at Lin Qiao with a pair of large, black eyes.


    He abruptly reached out an arm to cover that zombie''s eyes.


    ''What are you looking at! She''s naked!''


    Even though Lu Tianyi was aware that Lin Qiao would certainly cover herself with dark mist when she came up from the lake, the point was not about whether the zombie would see her body or not, but that it was a very impolite thing to do.


    ''Em¡­ Talking about being polite with a zombie? It feels weird¡­ Am I having some weird thoughts?'' Lu Tianyi showed a very complicated and confused look on his face, for no other reason but himself.


    The young male zombie who was forbidden from looking at Lin Qiao by Lu Tianyi didn''t understand why he couldn''t look.


    Lu Tianyi had surely detected his thoughts from his face, but how was he supposed to explain it to the zombie?

 598 Come Over Here And Wash Your Hands

    Lin Qiao walked ashore, to her clothes which she took off earlier. The dark mist around her instantly grew larger, then moved away from her body without fading. Surrounded by the mist, she picked up her clothes and put them on, even though her body was still wet. After that, she dispersed the mist.


    "You two seem to be in a good relationship now," Lin Qiao laughed when she walked over and found Lu Tianyi and the smart young male zombie staring at each other. Hearing that, Lu Tianyi immediately turned to look at her, then shook his head with disagreement.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, then at the smart zombie. Afterward, she said to Lu Tianyi, "He''s smart, but in fact, he''s faint-hearted. He was so frightened every time I scared him, hehe¡­"


    "Roar!" Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, the young male zombie immediately gave an unhappy roar. Why would anyone scare him for no reason?


    "Time to go home. I''ll go and find the others," Lin Qiao said and then disappeared.


    Lu Tianyi and the smart zombie glanced at each other.


    "Hah¡­" the zombie abruptly bared his teeth and let out a strange sound from his throat. Lu Tianyi again noticed that suspicious green color on the zombie''s teeth. He shook his head and then walked away.


    Lin Qiao exited her space and showed up in a crowd of zombies. Before entering her space, she had ordered those zombies to stay right there.


    She put two fingers in her mouth, then whistled loudly. A bright whistle was heard for over ten seconds.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!" A series of zombie roars could immediately be heard from the zombie crowd. Then, some higher-leveled zombies leaped out of the crowd and gathered toward Lin Qiao.


    Soon, over twenty level-four zombies and around fifty level-three zombies lined up before Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao observed those zombies, then yelled at them, "Didn''t I tell you to find water and wash your hands and faces? Don''t you know that you''re supposed to wipe your mouths after sneaking a taste? Didn''t I tell you that you''re not allowed to eat humans!"


    The mouths and claws of those zombies were all stained by blood. Seeing that, Lin Qiao instantly burst in yells.


    Before letting those zombies out of her space, she had ordered them not to eat humans. She allowed them to kill humans, but not eat them!


    She was aware that it was impossible for those zombies not to bite the delicious food lying right in front of them, so she also told them that if they happened to eat humans, they needed to wipe their mouths and not let her see the blood.


    Clearly, those zombies didn''t do what she said. Not only did they eat humans, but they had blood all over their faces to show her!


    She helplessly turned around and soon she showed up again with a bucket of water.


    This time, she didn''t bring any water-powered zombies. Instead, she had left them in All Beings Base in Upper City district. Therefore, she had no other choice but to fetch a bucket of water from her lake for those zombies to wash their faces and claws!


    For humans, that was a waste, and for zombies, that was a huge waste! They wanted so badly to drink that water, yet they were going to wash their hands in it now!


    "What are you waiting for! Come over here and clean yourselves! Do you need me to teach you how to do that?" Lin Qiao shouted at those zombies, "You''re not allowed to drink the water after washing yourself in it! Do you understand me? Make yourselves clean before I come back, or I''ll kill you!"


    Once she finished talking, some zombies quickly moved over and began washing their hands in the bucket. If any human being saw that, he or she would be astonished.


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao had trained those zombies to clean themselves, as well as take off and put on clothes. Now, those zombies were all wearing clean clothes. Lin Qiao made quite some efforts to find each of them some suitable clothes to wear. Therefore, she had been warning them not to get their clothes dirty, unless they wanted to die.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Even though those zombies didn''t follow every exact word she said, her words were still effective to some degree. They at least memorized what she said, and had started to care about their clothes.


    Level-three zombies needed more time to understand her words while level-four zombies were able to understand her better. Those level-four zombies had their mouths and claws covered in blood, yet their clothes remained clean. Unlike them, all level-three zombies had their chest area and wrist bands stained in blood.


    After Lin Qiao left, all those zombies obediently went to the bucket to wash themselves. Of course, the level-four zombies did that first. Under the suppression from the higher-leveled zombies, those level-three zombies could only wait aside until all level-four zombies had finished.


    Lin Qiao walked out of the zombie crowd, then said to them, "Wait in line! Wait in line! Don''t bunch up!"


    After seeing those zombies stop pushing each other, she turned and left, headed back toward Earth Dragon Base.


    Soon, she returned to the fence wall of that base. The base gates had already been fixed temporarily by metal-powered or green-powered people. Looking at the gate before her, Lin Qiao sneered.


    She climbed onto the fence all like a spider, then spent a moment sensing the vibes from the base. The smoke of gunpowder had faded, but many broken buildings near the gate hadn''t been repaired.


    She sniffed around and found that many vibes had gathered near the Administrative Building in the base center. Ninety percent of the people in the base had gathered there, including superpowered people and commoners.


    ''I guess there''s a show to watch!''


    Lin Qiao blinked, then quickly leaped off the fence wall and landed on the ground. She swiftly ran forward and gently leaped onto a half-fallen building in front of her, then leaped higher. With only a few moves, she had hopped on top of a taller building.


    After that, she kept moving forward.


    At that moment, the people around the Administrative Building had split into a few groups, and were waiting for something. Lin Qiao stood on a roof nearby as she looked down and saw Lu Zhuofeng down on the ground. Three level-six people were there as well; one of them was, of course, Jian Shengtong, a vice-leader of the base.


    The one who stood by Lu Zhuofeng''s side was not Jian Shengtong, but the other level-six man. He wasn''t a vice leader of that base, yet Lin Qiao still knew about him.


    He was the manager of weapons; all the weapons in the base were under his management. He was called Lan Qijie, a level-six metal-power possessor.


    At that moment, Lan Qijie was standing in a rather strange spot. He was standing in front of Jian Shengtong, and Lu Zhuofeng was right behind him.


    Except for the two groups of people who were taking the sides of Jian Shengtong and Lan Qijie, there was another group, following another level-six person. That person was the leader of an independent zombie-hunting troop. Behind Long Yubai''s back, his troop had developed over ten-thousand members, but Long Yubai only knew three-thousand of them.

 599 The Internal Disorder Of Earth Dragon Base

    That man was Xia Yushen, a level-six green-power possessor. As Long Yubai died and the base fell into chaos, his people stood out and gathered together.


    On the square before the Administrative Building, the three groups of people were standing in three different directions.


    "Jian Shengtong, don''t be stubborn! This base might still have a chance to survive if we give it to Hidden Cloud City Base. Otherwise, we''ll all be in trouble. As you''ve seen, Chief Long is dead, and Lin Ruifeng and Ye Hao are missing. They might have died too. Now, we only have three level-six members. We''re no match for Hidden Cloud City Base or Sky Fire Base!" Lan Qijie said to Jian Shengtong loudly.


    "Lan Qijie, you traitor! Shut up!" Before Jian Shengtong responded, Xia Yushen had already burst in angry shouts.


    About ten-thousand people were standing behind Xia Yushen. That was not a big number, but most of them had superpowers. That force was only half as powerful as the force under Jian Shengtong''s command, yet it was a strong armed force which should not be underestimated.


    "Lan Qijie, since you''ve already chosen to follow Hidden Cloud City Base, you may as well stop talking. We will not give our base to any other base. If you disagree, you can try to kill us all, like what you did to Hades Base. Anyway, do not expect us to yield," Jian Shengtong looked at Lan Qijie coldly.


    All the three groups of people were armed to the teeth, with their weapons pointing at the others.


    Xia Yushen and his people were only an independent zombie hunting troop, but at that moment, they were on the same side as Jian Shengtong. Clearly, they would never agree to give their base to Hidden Cloud City Base.


    "In fact, I had achieved an agreement with Long Yubai about this long ago. Even if he didn''t die, he might have still given your base to us in a short while. I think you should stop fighting back. It''ll be good for all of us, right?" Lu Zhuofeng made a step forward and said to Jian Shengtong.


    What he said was not true. He only said that to disrupt Jian Shengtong''s thoughts and to find out where his mind was.


    "Even if Long Yubai had promised you that, it doesn''t mean that we all agree. Besides, he never mentioned that to us. He''d never give the base to you without our agreement. So, please stop thinking that we''re all stupid!" Jian Shengtong responded coldly.


    He clearly pointed out that Long Yubai was not able to make that kind of decision alone. It would require the agreement of all administrators of the base.


    "I was trying to be nice to you, but you refused my kindness. Now, there''re only two or three hundred thousand people left in your base. What power do you people have to keep guarding this base?" Lu Zhuofeng sneered.


    Earth Dragon Base had nearly five hundred thousand people at first. After the war against Hades Base, about a hundred thousand of them fell. The rest three hundred thousand people won nothing but some supplies and captives from Hades Base. If they didn''t need to share those supplies with Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base, it could be counted as a victory.


    However, Long Yubai didn''t care about that. All he cared was to destroy Hades Base, and nothing else.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He knew about the secret purpose of Hidden Cloud City Base. However, back when they attacked Hades Base, Hidden Cloud City Base wasn''t as strong as now, and there was a balance between it and Sky Fire Base. Therefore, Long Yubai thought that they wouldn''t make any move so soon, and that he would have enough time to cooperate with Sky Fire Base to hold Hidden Cloud City Base at bay.


    He didn''t expect a level-eight powerful being to emerge in Hidden Cloud City Base so soon. Once Lu Zhuofeng entered level-eight, the balance between the three bases was broken.


    Lan Qijie only had thousands of reliable subordinates, and the armed force under his command wasn''t strong enough. He, of course, was no match for Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen. But now, he had Lu Zhuofeng''s support. Lu Zhuofeng was a level-eight being. By simply swinging a hand, he could kill tens of soldiers.


    But even so, Jan Shengtong and Xia Yushen were still not willing to give in.


    Lin Qiao spent a while watching the show from the roof, then lost interest in it. She had one more thing to do. She decided to do that first, then come back to see how those people would solve the problem.


    Standing on the roof, she sniffed around, then finally located the three granaries in the base.


    She was going to steal the food!


    Before, she knew that Earth Dragon Base had three granaries, but never found out their exact locations. Now, with her zombie nose, she clearly sensed each granary.


    She headed toward one of them and found a building in a couple of minutes.


    That building seemed nothing special, like a normal factory building. However, it was strictly guarded. There was a signboard on the door, saying¡ª''Important area, admittance of staff only''.


    Lin Qiao landed on the square near the building, then glanced around at those people who had been guarding that place. That place was indeed thickly guarded, and many guards had superpowers.


    Of course, an important place like that needed to be guarded by the superpowered ones.


    However, none of those soldiers or superpowered guards discovered a trace of Lin Qiao.


    She sniffed around and found that the scent of food only came from the first floor. The second and third floor seemed to be empty.


    She headed toward the first floor of the building. The entrance of the building was guarded by armed soldiers, and the door was remolded with metal, added with a complicated fingerprint lock.


    She circled around the building and then found out that there was not even one window on the first floor. She had found quite a few air vents though.


    She glanced around again. At that moment, she suddenly heard some noises from that fingerprint lock. She hurriedly moved over, standing by the door and waiting.


    In about one minute, a beep was heard from the door, and then it opened. Next, a few people walked out of it. Lin Qiao grasped the opportunity and flashed into the building before the door closed automatically.


    ''What a great chance! They were actually going out!'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Behind the door was a metal path, over ten meters long. She walked to the other end of the path and found a door, which had buttons like that in an elevator.


    She walked closer to the door and looked around. Instead of reaching out her hand to press a button, she raised her head to look upward.


    The elevator lock came with a security system. When those people exited the building, that system should have been turned on. For that reason, she didn''t touch those buttons, but searched for another entrance.


    However, she saw nothing but the walls around her.

 600 It Had Everything To Do With Me

    She raised her head to look upward, then threw a flake of black fire into the air vent above her. The fire flake quickly melted the edge of the air vent and expanded it into a hole which could allow an adult to crawl in.


    Lin Qiao walked over and slightly bent her knees, then leaped up. She grasped the edge of the expanded air vent and then nimbly crawled in. She kept crawling forward in the air vent, and it took her a while to get into the elevator. She dismantled a part of the ceiling, then turned invisible and jumped into the elevator.


    Standing in the elevator, she looked at the buttons in it. As she expected, there were three floors underground.


    Lin Qiao punctured the bottom of the elevator and then disabled the surveillance camera. Then, she jumped into the hole, sliding to the first floor underground through the lift cable. Then, she vanished the elevator door on that floor with her dark fire to allow herself in.


    Once in, she saw the closed doors of many rooms. There was a label on each door, explaining what was stored in that room.


    Lin Qiao looked around and found some other labels beside those doors.


    Fresh foods were stored on the first floor underground, while frozen meats were stored on the second floor underground. Stored in the third floor underground was rice, flour, cooking oil, and some seeds.


    After taking a tour on the first floor underground, Lin Qiao went back to the elevator shaft and kept sliding downward. She stopped at the third floor underground and then crawled in.


    She quickly opened the doors on that floor. The locks on those doors were all connected with the alarm system. However, Lin Qiao didn''t touch those locks, but directly burned the door. She did the same to the elevator doors, but left the lock perfectly undamaged.


    As long as the locks stayed undamaged, the alarm wouldn''t go off.


    She sneaked into a room and put all the food stored there into her space, then came out and walked into the next room. At that time, the soldiers outside the building had still been patrolling, without finding out that their underground storage rooms had been emptied by someone one after another.


    In Lin Qiao''s space, Lu Tianyi was standing in the seedling field and observing the seedlings. All of a sudden, he heard a series of loud booms from the grassland.


    He raised his head and found quite some sacks come out of thin air and then fall on the grassland.


    Those sacks didn''t fall from high altitude, so they didn''t break.


    Lu Tianyi walked over with curiosity. At the same time, the smart young male zombie stuck his head out from behind the building to see what was happening.


    Lu Tianyi got closer and found that those were all rice bags, fifty kilograms each bagful of rice. They fell from the air and piled up on the grassland.


    He figured that Lu Tianyu was collecting those bagged rice out there. There was so much rice! Was she robbing someone else''s granary?


    Lu Tianyi wondered, having no idea that he had guessed correctly.


    With nothing better to do, he started counting those bagged rice. In one hour, he had received not only bagged rice, but also bagged flour, cooking oil, and salt. After that, a series of freezers showed up in the space.


    After the freezers, piles of dried vegetables and cured meat were thrown in.


    Looking at the hill-sized pile of bagged rice and flour, and those freezers and dried food which had occupied a large area, Lu Tianyi believed that she must have been robbing someone''s granary! He, of course, could guess out whose granary that was. That food belonged to none other than Earth Dragon Base. Lin Qiao had been doing things in that base these days, hadn''t she?


    An hour later, Lin Qiao finally emptied all the food stored on the floor one to three underground. After that, she clapped her hands and left the building.


    She was careful while coming in, but when getting out, she didn''t need to be so careful anymore. Instead, she directly burned a large hole on a wall and then sneaked out.


    From the beginning to the end, the alarm in the granary never went off.


    While heading toward the next granary, Lin Qiao heard gunshots and explosions from the center area of the base. Clearly, those people had started fighting. She ignored them and quickly found the second granary. Soon, she sneaked out of it as well.


    She quietly emptied two of the three granaries in this base, but didn''t touch the last one. She at least needed to leave some food for the residents in this base to get through the next few months.


    After putting all the food in those two granaries into her space, she moved toward the zombie crowd outside the base. Surely, some of those foods belonged to Hades Base. But still, Earth Dragon Base had stored an impressive amount of food during the past years, even though it was only a small base.


    With all the foods that she had just collected, the people in All Beings Base wouldn''t need to worry about food in the next three years.


    Lin Qiao really wanted to stay and see how Earth Dragon Base people would react when they found that two of their granaries had been robbed. However, she had no time to wait around here. No one could tell when the battle was going to end. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lu Zhuofeng was a level-eight man, and was able to kill a good number of superpowered people with one move. But still, he needed people to follow him, so he couldn''t kill everyone in Earth Dragon Base. Without people, the base would be wasted, wouldn''t it?


    Therefore, it wasn''t easy for Lu Zhuofeng to defeat Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen along with their people, as he needed to control the damage.


    Soon, Lin Qiao returned to the zombie crowd and saw half a bucket of bloody water. The groups of zombies were standing in lines near the bucket, waiting for her to check their hands and faces.


    Lin Qiao glanced at their hands and faces, finding that they were indeed much cleaner than before.


    After that, she turned around and poured the half bucket of water to the ground, then threw it back into her space. Next, she took out a long rope and ordered those zombies to hold it, and then brought them all into her space.


    She had to repeat the process three times to bring the tens of high-leveled zombies all into her space. After entering the space, she found Lu Tianyi standing stunned near the food that she had just collected.


    "How long are you gonna stand there? Come here and help." As Lu Tianyi showed no sign of coming back to his senses, Lin Qiao had no choice but to yell at him. Hearing her words, the latter woke up and saw her standing on the clearing before the small building, surrounded by a group of zombies.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was looking at him, as if she needed him to do something.


    Lu Tianyi hurriedly walked to her. While walking, he turned back and glanced at the mountain of food behind him.


    After that, he walked up to Lin Qiao with a confused look.


    Seeing the look on his face, Lin Qiao said, "Many of those foods belonged to Hades Base, not Earth Dragon Base. I only took it back with interest."


    Her words confused Lu Tianyi even more deeply. ''That''s Hades Base''s business¡­ What does it have to do with you?''


    Lin Qiao lifted two large buckets, then glanced at him and said, "It has everything to do with me!"


    Finishing talking, she headed toward the lakeside.

 601 Kindergarten Teacher

    ''Then explain it!''


    Lin Qiao answered his question unclearly, by saying that it had everything to do with her. But, Lu Tianyi still had no idea what relationship she had with Hades Base, and that made him very unhappy.


    He felt as if she was treating him like a child.


    Lin Qiao picked up two water ladles and then said to the group of zombies, "If you have cups, go and get them. If you don''t, stand there."


    There were over fifty level-three zombies. Lin Qiao didn''t have that many cups for them, so she planned to let those level-four zombies lend them theirs.


    There were about twenty level-four zombies. They hadn''t had any lake water for many days. As Lin Qiao ordered them to get their cups, they immediately ran to the cabinet, picked up their cups, and then ran back as quickly as possible. After that, they fixed their eager eyes on Lin Qiao. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao put the water ladles in Lu Tianyi''s hands and then said, "Why are you looking at me? Stop looking at me. Look at him!"


    Lu Tianyi was very confused.Then, he turned and found those zombies staring at the ladles in his hands.


    "Oi, young man, come over here!" At that point, Lin Qiao waved at the smart young male zombie, saying, "You''ve done this job before. Today, I''ll give you a new job."


    That young male zombie was now less eager toward the lake water, because he had sneakily drunk the lake water in Lu Tianyi''s buckets many times these days. So now, he wasn''t in strong need of the lake water. If he wanted anything, that would be¡­ bathing in the lake water!


    Now, Lin Qiao summoned him, but he didn''t know what she wanted.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the other bucket of water, then said, "Stand straight first."


    Then, she said to the confused Lu Tianyi, "Have you seen these zombies with cups? Give each of them a cup of water."


    Hearing her, Lu Tianyi finally woke up. It was the first time he saw something like this, and he felt very strange. Once again, he glanced at those level-four zombies who were standing in a straight line, suddenly feeling as if he was looking at some elementary school students.


    ''What the hell!''


    Lu Tianyi hurriedly shook his head to get rid of the strange thoughts in his mind.


    At that time, Lin Qiao said to those level-four zombies, "Come over here. When you have finished your water, lend your cups to them." While speaking, she pointed at those level-three zombies, but found them standing in a messy formation, slowly approaching the buckets.


    "Oi, oi, oi, stand there! Stop bunching up! Move back! Step away from each other!" She burst in yells as she pointed at those unruly level-three zombies and ordered them to move back. Being pointed at by Lin Qiao who was a zombie dominator, those level-three zombies didn''t dare to disobey, and stepped back obediently.


    But still, they were crowding together.


    Lin Qiao walked to them and kicked a zombie on the first row, then pushed the other one while shouting, "Make two steps backward¡­ Yes, and stay here¡­ You, you, step back, back¡­ Why are you clinging to him? Do you want to bite him?"


    Before long, she put those level-three zombies in a not-so-neat formation.


    "Remember your own spots! Do not stand in wrong spots next time¡­ You, stand straight, and you, put your foot back¡­ Stand to attention¡­" Lin Qiao kept correcting those zombies'' standing postures.


    With a confused look, Lu Tianyi watched Lin Qiao easily put those strange-looking level-three zombies in a formation. Those zombies stood in straight lines, as obedient as soldiers.


    Seeing him gazing at Lin Qiao, the zombie who was in front of him, waiting for the lake water, got unhappy. He opened his mouth and attempted to roar at him, but then paused to think. Abruptly, he glanced at Lin Qiao and then shut his mouth.


    As he wasn''t allowed to roar, he reached out his cup toward Lu Tianyi''s face.


    ''Eh? What the hell?''


    A cup suddenly appeared near Lu Tianyi, nearly bumping into his nose. Lu Tianyi gave a start, then realized that there were some zombies standing in front of him, waiting for him to give them the water. He was actually distracted earlier.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at the zombie''s eager eyes, then hurriedly turned and fetched some water, pouring it into the zombie''s cup.


    Upon getting the water, that superpowered zombie quickly went back into the line. Lu Tianyi glanced at him with surprise, as he thought that the zombie would move to the side.


    While fetching water for those zombies, he watched them holding their cups and going back into the line.


    "You guys, bring your cups over here when you have finished your water," Lin Qiao suddenly yelled at those level-four zombies who already had had the water.


    "Roar?" Those zombies looked at her with confusion. Instead of bringing their cups to her, they hid those cups behind their bodies, then stared at Lin Qiao vigilantly and bitterly.


    "Damn, what is that look in your eyes? I''m only asking to borrow those cups! Borrow! I''ll give them back to you!" Seeing the look in those zombies'' eyes, Lin Qiao immediately understand their meaning. They thought that she was going to take away their cups and never let them drink the lake water.


    "Come over here and bring your cups! Why are you so stingy? I''m not taking those cups away forever. I''m just asking you to lend your cups to them, so they can drink. Look, they don''t have any cups!" While persuading those zombies, Lin Qiao sighed helplessly.


    Yet, those level-four zombies refused to move. Lin Qiao got angry. She narrowed her eyes and said coldly, "Do I need to give you an order?"


    Seeing the look on her face, all those zombies shivered, then immediately rushed over and put their cups into those the hands of those level-three zombies who stood there quietly. After that, they roared at those level-three zombies.


    They tried to tell those level-three zombies that they needed to give those cups back after drinking the water.


    "Roar?" Those level-three zombies who took over those cups were a little confused.


    "Why did you roar? They''ll pass the cups to the ones behind them when they have finished their water! Why are you so impatient?" Lin Qiao kicked the zombie who was the nearest to her. After kicking that zombie away, she said to those level-three zombies who had cups, "Go over there, get your water, then come back here. After that, finish the water and pass the empty cups to the ones behind you. Do you understand?"


    "Roar?" ''No!''


    Those level-three zombies answered Lin Qiao''s question very straightforwardly.


    Lin Qiao tried pretty hard to keep herself from exploding. "Go, over there! Get the water! Come back! Drink!" Lin Qiao said to them through clenched teeth.


    Watching Lin Qiao, Lu Tianyi suddenly felt that she was like a kindergarten teacher. He found her anxious, angry, and helpless look very interesting.


    After being yelled at by Lin Qiao, those level-three zombies who had cups quickly moved toward that young male zombie that Lin Qiao was pointing at. That young male zombie who had been waiting by the bucket was already getting impatient. He bared his teeth and roared at those level-three zombies, urging them to move faster.


    "Roar!" ''The water is ready! Come on!''

 602 Dismiss When You Finish The Water

    Lin Qiao stood aside, watching those zombies fetch water batch by batch, then return to their own spots and finish the water.


    There were only about twenty level-four zombies, and it wasn''t the first time they came near the building to fetch water. Soon, Lu Tianyi gave each of them a cup of water and then started to give the water to level-three zombies.


    After lending their cups to level-three zombies, those level-four zombies didn''t go back to their own spots, but stayed near those level-three zombies and stared at them fiercely.


    "Oi, you guys, go back and line up. You can come back later to get your cups!" Lin Qiao looked at them, said helplessly.


    "Roar¡­"


    "Roar¡­" Those level-four zombies reluctantly went back to their spots. Their cups meant a lot to them, as if they wouldn''t be able to drink the lake water again without those cups.


    Before long, every zombie got a cup of water. Level-four zombies were able to absorb some power from the water, yet the water wasn''t very effective to them. Unlike them, those level-three zombies started shambling. They couldn''t even stand stably, as if they had just had some super nutritious medicine.


    Lu Tianyi looked over and found them staggering like drunk people!


    "Alright, off you go! Go!" Seeing that, Lin Qiao immediately waved a hand and told them to go away.


    Those level-four zombies found their cups back. But after that, they all stared at their cups with disgust on their faces.


    As Lin Qiao told them to go, those zombies relaxed and divided into two groups. In the first group were those level-four zombies who were staring at their cups unhappily. The smarter ones even wiped their cups with their clothes.


    Before, only their own scents could be detected from their cups. But, after those level-three zombies used their cups, their scents were left on those cups as well. That made those level-four zombies very unhappy. However, as Lin Qiao was there, they didn''t dare to give vent to their anger.


    Those drunken level-three zombies formed the second group. Together, they shambled behind the small building.


    The energy contained in the lake water was now very dense. As Lin Qiao thought, the water delivered a pretty strong effect on those level-three zombies who hadn''t triggered their superpowers yet.


    For that reason, Lin Qiao had been giving Lu Tianyi the diluted lake water. She was worried that some bad things might happen if she let him drink the lake water by itself.


    At that moment, the young male zombie was gulping a ladle of water.


    "Alright. When you have finished, put these buckets back to where they belong." Lin Qiao walked over and gave that young male zombie a kick, then headed toward the small building.


    At that point, a series of noises were heard from the woods. "Owooooo!"


    Following the noise, the furless dog rushed out, darting over to Lin Qiao. Following behind the dog was a wriggling giant snake.


    "Owooo! Owoo!" The zombie dog was actually holding a large iron bowl in its mouth. It darted up to Lin Qiao and looked at the two buckets with glowing eyes, then at the lake surface. After that, it turned back to Lin Qiao, its tail wagging crazily.


    Looking at the dog, Lin Qiao exclaimed, "Ah¡­ I almost forgot about you two! Wait a minute!" While speaking, she turned and shouted at Lu Tianyi, who was going to drag the two buckets away, "Wait, give me that bucket."


    She took the bucket from Lu Tianyi, then walked to the lake and fetched a bucketful of water. Then, she dragged the bucket of water back to the two animals. Under the confused Lu Tianyi''s gaze, she filled the dog''s bowl with the water by using a ladle.


    Then, she pointed at the rest of the water and said to the snake, "Come on, Black, this is for you."


    Black reared up its upper body and leaned its head forward to take a glance at the water. After that, it quickly sunk its head into the water.


    At that moment, the zombie dog had lowered its head and started drinking as well.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the two animals which were drinking the water happily, then turned and said to Lu Tianyi, "Alright, we''re heading to our next destination now."


    Lu Tianyi paused briefly, looking at her with confusion.


    ''Next destination? Eh? Aren''t we going back to All Beings Base?''


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance, then said, "How can we go back so soon? What we''ve done was only the first thing we needed to do. Next, we''re going to Huaxia Base, to learn about the antidote, so that we can prepare ourselves for what might happen in the future. Otherwise, if our enemies use that on us during a war, things will become troublesome."


    Lu Tianyi understood and agreed. She was right. For zombies, that antidote was indeed a big problem.


    ''But, why are we going alone? The other bases will certainly send out a large group of people each.''


    "We''re only there to seek information, not to make deals. It''s unnecessary for us to bring more people," Lin Qiao said to him and then disappeared.


    She left her space with the car, and then sat in the driver''s seat. The car was driven toward North China, leaving the chaotic Earth Dragon Base behind.


    Before long, all the other bases received the news that the leader of Earth Dragon Base had been murdered while two vice-leaders had gone missing. After that news, they heard that zombies had occupied that base, and a level-eight powerful man from Hidden Cloud City Base had defeated the remaining army force in the base.


    Wu Chengyue sighed helplessly and said, "Wherever she goes, she creates a great deal of trouble."


    Xiao Licheng, who was standing before his table, knew whom he was talking about. So, he asked with curiosity, "Did Miss Lu take revenge for Hades Base people? She actually did that by herself, but left all the Hades Base people in the new base in Upper City district. Why didn''t she take them with her?"


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him with a faint smile and said, "Does she even need to do that? I guess even all the human armies in the world combined aren''t as strong as her army now."


    "Eh¡­ You''re right though!" Xiao Licheng immediately understood his meaning. She was a zombie leader. Once she left the base, she would be able to summon a huge group of zombies anywhere she went.


    "She has put Earth Dragon Base in trouble, so is she coming back soon?" Xiao Licheng thought for a moment and then asked.


    "Come back?" Wu Chengyue glanced at them again, then shook his head and responded, "Why would she come back? There''s only a short way to go between Earth Dragon Base and Huaxia Base. Why would she come all the way back and then not travel to Huaxia Base?"


    Hearing his words, Xiao Licheng paused briefly, then said with surprise, "Eh? Is she going to Huaxia Base too? Does her base¡­ need that antidote? I don''t think so!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He knew that half of that base would become a home of special zombies, so he figured that they wouldn''t be needing that antidote for the zombie virus.


    "Why not? Even if they don''t need to use it, they still need to figure out how to keep themselves from being affected by it. So, I think she''ll definitely try to figure out all the details about the antidote." Wu Chengyue''s smiling eyes glowed with a dim light.

 603 Toward North China

    Three days later, tens of miles away from Huaxia Base in a mountainous area in Xingtai City of North China¡­


    It was snowing right now, and the sky was gray. A thick layer of snow had accumulated on the ground, and everything was white.


    It looked beautiful, but lifeless and cold at the same time.


    The weather was so cold, so most animals wouldn''t normally come out. However, there was an exception¡ªmutated flesh-eating roe deer.


    Before the apocalypse, people used to call them silly roe deer, but now, they weren''t silly at all! It might be the virus or some other reason, but those roe deer were now even fiercer than wolves. They had grown sharp teeth, which allowed them to eat meat happily; they became sneaky as well. Moreover, they liked to attack people!


    They propagated rapidly. Somehow, their number had increased several times over during the past few years. By the time Huaxia Base people realized that problem, the number of those flesh-eating roe deer was already out of control.


    Many people who came out of the base were attacked and eaten by those flesh-eating roe deer, which had changed drastically after the apocalypse.


    But this time, they weren''t attacking anyone, but were chased all over the mountain.


    As a giant black snake, Black was very eye-catching in the snow field. However, it was able to silently approach those sensitive roe deer and pounce on them. Swiftly, it lashed its tail around a calf-sized roe deer, then dragged it down the mountain.


    Compared with Black''s quick and neat surprise attack, Bowwow had been creating quite some noise. The furless zombie dog excitedly hopped across the snowfield. It even rolled in the snow from time to time while chasing behind those roe deer all over the mountain.


    Lin Qiao and Lu Tianyi sat on a snow-covered rock, wearing thin clothes. They were waiting for the two to bring food back.


    Before long, the giant snake dragged back a roe deer which was still struggling.


    "Ah-hah! Silly roe deer!" Lin Qiao had her eyes glowing. She hadn''t tasted roe deer before. She quickly jumped off the rock and walked to the snake. The waist-thick snake was coiling around the calf-sized roe deer.


    If the snake wanted to eat the roe deer, it could have slowly swallowed it. But instead, it brought it back to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao walked over and grasped the roe deer''s long neck, then twisted her wrist.


    Crack! Following the slight, muffled noise, the roe deer stopped struggling.


    Lin Qiao sniffed at it, sensing a nice and sweet aroma. Good, it smelled delicious!


    As the roe deer was killed, Black unwrapped it, then shrank to the side. It curled up and stopped moving there. The snake really didn''t like that place, as it was too cold.


    Lin Qiao squatted and popped her claw, creating a hole in the roe deer''s stomach. With that, blood gushed out of that hole. She flicked a hand and took out a stainless bowl from her space, then put it under that bleeding hole.


    After about ten minutes, the bleeding finally stopped. Then, Lin Qiao lifted the warm bowl of blood, put it near her lips, and drank it up.


    Watching all that, Lu Tianyi was dumbfounded.


    Not to mention how awfully metallic that blood smelt, there was a large bowl of it. He didn''t expect Lin Qiao to empty the bowl in one breath. Why wasn''t she worried that her stomach might explode?


    Lin Qiao finished the bowl of blood and put down the bowl. Noticing the look in Lu Tianyi''s eyes, she tilted her head and said, "What? Do you want some too? Why didn''t you tell me that earlier? I''ve already drunk all of it."


    Lu Tianyi looked at her speechlessly and hurriedly shook his head.


    He did not want that blood! Even looking at it made him feel awful. How could he possibly drink it?


    However, Lin Qiao suddenly reached the bowl to him and said, "Smell it, feel its scent."


    ''What?'' Lu Tianyi looked at her with confusion.''What does she mean? Why does she want me to smell it?''


    As he was having that thought, he suddenly sensed a strange scent. After a short pause, he couldn''t help but take a deep breath.


    ''Eh? It actually doesn''t smell bad! It did smell metallic though!''


    Seeing the look on his face, Lin Qiao blinked, then took back the bowl and quickly cut the roe deer with her claws to skin it.


    She did that speedily and smoothly. In a short while, she skinned a foreleg of the roe deer, then slightly raised a hand and swung at it. The leg was cut off, and she caught it before it fell into the snow.


    Holding that leg, Lin Qiao stood up and walked up to Lu Tianyi, handing the leg to him.


    "Try it. See if you can eat it."


    Lu Tianyi looked at her with deep confusion. But next, as he took a glance at that leg, he suddenly fixed his eyes on it while raising a hand and taking it over with hesitation. Then, he put the leg under his nose and sniffed at it.


    "You don''t hate its smell, do you? Try to take a bite then," Lin Qiao said to him.


    Just now, she suddenly realized that those zombies under her command had been drinking the lake water to maintain their body functions without eating any human flesh. She felt that that was not right.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    If their desire for feeding was overly restrained, they might grow an even stronger interest toward human flesh in the future. That would not be good. However, those zombies refused to eat animals. How was she supposed to solve this problem?


    But now, she found that Lu Tianyi seemed not to reject the scent of the roe deer''s blood. Perhaps, he could eat some roe deer meat?


    With that thought, she immediately cut off a leg of that roe deer and handed it to Lu Tianyi, hoping that he would eat it.


    Lu Tianyi sniffed at the roe deer leg and found it not as stinky as the large crab that Lin Qiao ate the last time. The roe deer smelt metallic as well, yet it also had a strangely appealing scent.


    He looked at Lin Qiao and found her staring at him expectantly. So, he opened his mouth and took a bite of the leg.


    He thought it would taste awful, so he was already preparing to turn his head around and spit it out. However, he was stunned after the first bite.


    ''Eh? It doesn''t seem bad!''


    Lu Tianyi paused briefly, then made a larger bite. After he turned into a zombie, his teeth had become very sharp. With those sharp teeth, he easily bit off a large piece of raw meat.


    "How is it?" Lin Qiao asked nervously. She noticed that Lu Tianyi paused shortly after the first bite. Once she asked that question, she saw him make a larger bite and start chewing loudly.


    Seeing that, her eyes glowed more and more brightly, as she was having a greater and greater expectation. But still, she didn''t dare to relax, as she was worried that Lu Tianyi might throw up after he swallowed the meat.


    She waited for a while, then saw Lu Tianyi finish chewing and swallow the meat. He himself was shocked as well. Looking at the leg confusedly, he made another bite.

 604 They Might Be The Same

    "Oh! There is hope!" Lin Qiao was delighted as she noticed the look on Lu Tianyi''s face. She hurriedly came up to the latter and fixed her eyes on him.


    "How is it? How is it? What does it taste like? What about the texture?"


    Only after he finished the second bite did Lu Tianyi raise his head to look at her.


    The roe deer meat was smooth and chewy. It smelt strange, but tasted good. The longer he chewed it, the sweeter it tasted.


    Lu Tianyi said that in his head, and Lin Qiao heard it all.


    "Yeah? As long as you can eat it! I wonder if other zombies can eat it¡­ It''s weird though¡­ Why can you eat it? The other zombies all refused to eat mutated animals. Perhaps, only roe deer meat is edible for them?" Knowing that Lu Tianyi could eat the roe deer, Lin Qiao relaxed, then asked a series of questions.


    While thinking, she turned and ran back to that roe deer and kept skinning it.


    Lu Tianyi made another bite. He was also wondering why he could eat that mutated animal. It tasted really good!


    While eating, he watched Lin Qiao skin that roe deer with confusion.


    Lin Qiao skinned the whole roe deer, then cut off the other foreleg and the pair of rear legs. After that, she threw the rest of the roe deer to the snake.


    "Here you go. Get us another one when you finish it."


    The snake quickly reached out its head, took over the skinned roe deer with its mouth, and then began swallowing it slowly.


    Lin Qiao put the three legs on the roe deer skin. She glanced at Lu Tianyi, who was still biting the leg in his hands, thinking that maybe she could bring out the other zombies and see if they would eat the roe deer too.


    With that thought, she immediately entered her space and brought out the young male zombie and two level-four zombies.


    Lin Qiao ordered them to stand still, then picked up a leg, tore off a small piece of meat from it, and handed it to the young male zombie. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Try and eat it," she said.


    The young male zombie confusedly took over the palm-sized piece of meat. As Lin Qiao told him to eat it, he was even more confused.


    ''What is this? Is this edible?'' The young male zombie held the meat and looked at Lin Qiao bewilderedly.


    "Why are you looking at me? Eat it! Come on, take a bite!" As the zombie was still hesitating, Lin Qiao urged him.


    Being urged by her, the young male zombie put the meat under his nose and sniffed at it. After that, he showed dislike on his face. However, as Lin Qiao had told him to eat it, he didn''t dare to throw it away. With no other choice, he opened his mouth and took a bite of the meat, despite how disgusting he felt.


    Seeing the disgusted look on his face, Lin Qiao knew what was going on. Meanwhile, she sensed the disgusting feeling that the zombie was having.


    As she expected, the young male zombie couldn''t help but turn his head and spit the meat back out before even chewing it. Then, he looked at Lin Qiao with a bitter face.


    "Roar!" ''It tasted awful!''


    Lin Qiao sighed, then took the rest of the meat away from him and handed it to the next zombie. That zombie sniffed at it, then put it back into Lin Qiao''s hands without daring to take a bite. After that, he made two steps backward, his face filled with dislike.


    "Pahhhh¡­" The young male zombie was still spitting, as if the flavor lingering in his mouth made him really uncomfortable.


    Seeing those zombies'' reaction, Lu Tianyi, who was still eating the meat, instantly stopped chewing, then confusedly glanced at the leg in his hands which now only had bones left, then at the young male zombie.


    ''They refused to eat it! They seem to hate that meat. Why can I eat it?''


    "I have the same question!" Lin Qiao turned around and glanced at Lu Tianyi, "Aren''t you all zombies? I thought they can eat it too as you can eat it. But, it turns out that I was wrong. I guess you''re as special as I am¡­"


    While saying that, Lin Qiao suddenly realized something.


    Lu Tianyi was bitten by her and then turned into a zombie, because when he died, he was not infected by the virus!


    He was infected by the virus from her mouth, so now, he was in the same state as she was, wasn''t he?


    ''No way! Really?''


    The third zombie made no reaction at all when Lin Qiao handed him the meat. While trying to figure out why, Lin Qiao took the piece of meat back.


    She glanced at the piece of meat which had been bitten by the young male zombie, then threw it away. After that, she squatted and washed her hands with the snow, then sent the three zombies back into her space.


    Soon, she came out and found that Lu Tianyi had already finished the leg. So, she turned and threw him another leg.


    "One leg isn''t enough, is it? Here you go," Lin Qiao said.


    She knew that he must have as good an appetite as she did back when she newly turned into a zombie. Back then, she was always starving, and once she started eating, she couldn''t stop.


    Hearing her words, Lu Tianyi realized that he did still feel hungry.


    Lin Qiao picked up the other foreleg, then leaned against a rock and started eating as well. The roe deer meat had a strange scent, but as Lu Tianyi had said, it was chewy. The longer one chewed it, the sweeter it would be.


    Near the rock, Lu Tianyi and his zombie sister each held a roe deer leg with both hands, wolfing it down.


    "Owoooo¡­" At that time, the zombie dog''s voice was heard. Lu Tianyi and Lin Qiao both turned and saw the dog running over, holding a roe deer in its mouth.


    Lin Qiao looked at that terribly bitten roe deer and said with dislike, "You eat it yourself!"


    "Ow?" The zombie dog glanced at her with confusion. However, since she had told it to eat the roe deer, the dog immediately dropped it on the ground and started biting it after lying down.


    Lin Qiao swallowed the meat in her mouth and sighed, "Sadly, humans can''t eat these roe deers. Otherwise, I''d catch some of these and keep them in my space."


    She had sensed that the bodies of those roe deers thickly contained the zombie virus, so human beings couldn''t eat them. She wondered if her lake water could wash the virus away.


    After finishing the leg, she washed her hands again with snow and said, "You guys wait here. I''ll go and get some of those roe deers, then put them in my space."


    Even though those roe deers weren''t edible for humans, she could keep some of them for herself, Black, and Bowwow. There were countless roe deers in this place, and she didn''t intend to waste such a good food resource.


    This place was near Huaxia Base anyway, and catching some roe deers wouldn''t take too much time.


    Lin Qiao made the job very quick and convenient. In the invisible state, she approached those roe deers very easily and caught them without even being noticed.


    Even those roe deers had no idea that some of their friends were disappearing one after another. By the time they realized that, Lin Qiao had already thrown about twenty roe deers into her space.

 605 Huaxia Base

    The mutation had allowed those roe deers to eat flesh, but when there was no flesh to eat, they would still eat grass. Therefore, Lin Qiao didn''t need to worry that they might die of starvation in her space, because she had a grassland there.


    She only wondered if the grasses in her space were enough to feed those roe deers.


    After catching about twenty roe deers, Lin Qiao returned to where she skinned the first one. The snake had caught another roe deer, which was still alive. Clearly, the snake was waiting for Lin Qiao.


    "We can leave after finishing this," Lin Qiao glanced at that roe deer which was wrapped in the snake. It opened its mouth wide to bite the snake, yet couldn''t do any harm to the latter. The teeth of those mutated roe deers were able to hurt humans, but the scales of a level-five mutated snake might break them.


    Lin Qiao turned to give Lu Tianyi a glance and asked, "Do you want some more?"


    Lu Tianyi shook his head, even though he still felt hungry. He had eaten two legs, which weighed tens of kilograms in total. He actually ate them all!


    "You can eat these animals occasionally to satisfy your sense of taste, but they can''t quench your hunger. Zombies have a distinctive desire to eat humans. The satisfaction that you now want is no longer the same as the satiety from your stomach," Lin Qiao said while skinning the second roe deer.


    "Human blood contains some kind of energy that can allow the zombies to evolve slowly. Zombie nuclei can do the same."


    While eating, Lu Tianyi watched Lin Qiao skin the second roe deer, cut off the legs, and throw the rest to the snake. Clearly, the trunk of the first roe deer didn''t satisfy Black''s stomach. That snake needed someone to skin its food!


    After feeding the second roe deer to Black, Lin Qiao waved a hand and released a stream of dark fire to burn out the two roe deer skins on the ground, also cleaning the blood-stained snow nearby.


    The zombie dog was still eating his roe deer, having opened it up to wolf its flesh. After it finished the roe deer, Lin Qiao put it back into her space along with Lu Tianyi and the snake, then turned and left.


    Down the mountain, the roads were deeply buried under snow, and it was impossible to drive. Lin Qiao turned invisible and walked on the snow field alone, leaving a series of footprints behind her.


    ''If someone saw this, would they think that there''s a ghost?''


    She knew how to vanish the snow though. As she swung a hand forward and sent out a flake of dark fire, the snow on the ground disappeared within a moment. After that, she took out the car from her space and melted all the snow ten meters wide before the car.


    Then, she got into the car and started driving forward. Meanwhile, she sent her dark fire forward as well, ahead of the car.


    One hour later, she got near to Huaxia Base. Instead of driving closer, she put her car back into her space before the Huaxia people discovered her, then turned invisible and climbed onto the fence wall.


    Standing on the fence wall, she wore a serious face. That base was really extraordinary; merely the weapons on the fence wall had given her a faint sense of crisis. The buildings in the base had all been remodeled. The base gave out a vibe of future technology, looking highly developed.


    That base had recruited almost all the best scientists in the country who survived the apocalypse. For that reason, it grew much stronger than the other bases, and became the no. 1 base in the country.


    That base owned all kinds of advanced technologies, and that was one of the reasons that the other bases were afraid of it.


    What concerned Lin Qiao weren''t those weapons, but the few strong vibes that she had sensed from the base.


    One of those vibes caught her attention, because it was very similar to her own vibe. That vibe was much weaker than hers, but was special. If she guessed right, it belonged to that zombie dominator.


    Even though that vibe was rather weak, the suppression it gave out was no weaker than what she could give.


    What kind of zombie was that?Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly, then leaped off the tens of meters tall wall. Huaxia Base''s fence wall was higher than the walls in the other bases.


    At that moment, the people from the other bases had mostly arrived. As a few people were still on their way, the ones who had arrived had been chatting relaxedly.


    "Oh, are you saying that¡­ once you''ve succeeded, we''ll be able to inject it into our bodies like vaccines, and then we won''t be spotted by zombies anymore? Are you sure?" Wu Chengyue was sitting on a couch in the room that Huaxia base had arranged for him. Apart from him, Xiao Licheng and Moli were also in that room.


    Of course, Wu Yueling was there as well.


    Moli raised her eyebrows cold-facedly, then said in a bland tone, "What? Don''t you believe in my technologies? I''ve worked with Doctor Liang for a couple of years. We started this project together, and only I am able to continue it."


    The project that she mentioned was actually those important files which Liang Dashu gave her before his death. She was the doctor''s assistant, so except for the doctor himself, she knew the project the best.


    She was not as smart and knowledgeable as Liang Dashu, but with enough time, she would be able to finish the project.


    "How much time do you need? A year? Two?" Wu Chengyue asked her smilingly.


    "A year or two¡­ As long as there''s a possibility, I''ll keep doing it. Do you disagree?" Moli looked at him and said.


    "No! As far as the virus study goes, you''re the boss. You can take as much time as you need," Wu Chengyue shrugged and responded while chuckling.


    "If we develop a drug that can make zombies lose interest in us, the antidote that Huaxia Base developed would become much less valuable, right? After all, its effects can only be delivered when you spread it in a zombie crowd," Xiao Licheng said with a frown.


    "How can that be? Of course, it''ll still be valuable! Don''t you want to kill all the zombies in the world? Think about it. Before the apocalypse, the world''s population was over seven billion. Out of them, six billion turned into zombies. How many years will it take us to destroy them all?" Wu Chengyue shook his head and said to Xiao Licheng."


    "The whole world¡­ I guess we still can''t kill them all even in hundreds of years." Xiao Licheng was scared by the term ''world''s population''. Thinking about Wu Chengyue''s question, he gave his answer.


    Five years had passed since the apocalypse, and every base had built a relatively mature environment for people to live in. So, from now on, people needed to think about how to destroy zombies, because humans wouldn''t always live under the panic that the zombie virus created.


    As intelligent creatures, the strongest power of humans was creation.


    Xiao Licheng saw things differently from Wu Chengyue, because they were at two different levels.

 606 Shesll Come Here Quietly

    "So, the antidote that Huaxia Base developed is still very valuable. But, I wonder if they can fix the problems caused by the limited amount. Otherwise, when can we kill all the billions of zombies in the world, if we have to do it by ourselves?" said Wu Chengyue with a faint smile.


    "I just want to know how long that zombie can stay alive until it is drained by those people completely. They''re trying to figure out a way to allow that zombie to produce more blood, aren''t they?" Moli only cared about the zombie which was the key to the virus research in Huaxia City.


    "Since they can''t let that zombie die, they''ll certainly try to keep it alive for as long as possible. So undoubtedly, they''ll feed it with human flesh and zombie nuclei."


    "You''ve read the files. Allowing the zombie to produce more blood? I''m impressed that you even thought of that. Zombies had dead hearts, so how can their bodies possibly generate new blood? I think that Huaxia Base people have only been improving that zombie''s energy with the energies contained in the zombie nuclei, to strengthen the genes in its blood. In that way, they''ll need a much less amount of blood to produce the antidote," said Wu Chengyue.


    "You''re right though," Moli nodded ad then asked, "What kind of zombie is it? Have you learned any details yet?"


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and responded, "They''ve hidden that zombie very well. We don''t even know where they have been keeping it, not to mention any details about it. So far, we only know that it''s a male zombie."


    "If its blood is so effective against the zombie virus, I think it''ll be helpful for my research as well! Can we get some of that zombie''s blood? Or any other kind of body fluid?" Moli abruptly raised her head and looked at Wu Chengyue with glowing eyes.


    That zombie was so special. Its blood might really be helpful for her project!


    "It''s difficult, very difficult! You know how precious that zombie is. If you owned it, would you let anyone come close to it without permission?" Wu Chengyue smilingly shook his head.


    "Eh, you''re right," Moli responded disappointedly.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue turned to say to Xiao Licheng, "Haven''t Hidden Cloud City Base people arrived yet?"


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and replied, "I think they''ll arrive at night. But, I guess Earth Dragon Base is destroyed already. From now on, it might become a subsidiary base of Hidden Cloud City Base."


    Wu Chengyue was still wearing that faint smile, but a dim light flashed across his eyes as he said, "Long Yubai opened his door to dangerous people. That''s just the consequence of that. He thought that he was cooperating with Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base, but in fact, they have been seeing his base as food on their plate since long ago."


    "Earlier on, he even targeted our base. I really don''t know how to describe that person¡­ Naive? Well, he really wanted too much." Xiao Licheng recalled that Long Yubai went to Sea City Base earlier on and lingered outside the base for a while. Thinking about his purpose, he felt that the latter had really brought the doom on himself.


    "Hidden Cloud City Base was going to make a move anyway, even if that female zombie didn''t go to Earth Dragon Base and create all the trouble. A level-eight superpowered man is strong enough to scare the Sky Fire Base," Wu Chengyue said, and then asked, "Have you still not found out what relationship she has with Hades Base? You see, she has broken Earth Dragon Base already. Why haven''t you found anything yet?"


    Hearing him complain, Xiao Licheng couldn''t react at first. He spent a second standing there with confusion, then replied, "What? I want to find it out sooner as well! But you see, even Chen Yuting doesn''t know about it. How am I supposed to know?"


    They were indeed curious about the relationship between Lu Tianyu and those Hades Base people. They had spent quite some time to try and find out the truth, yet still had no discoveries. Chen Yuting was from Sea City Base, but now, he seemed to have started hiding some important secrets for those people in Upper City District as well.


    Perhaps, he really didn''t know? How could that be possible? He must be able to learn something if he wanted to.


    "Em, haven''t those Upper City Base people arrived yet?" Wu Chengyue asked another question.


    "We haven''t heard anything from them yet. Are you sure that they''ll be here?" Xiao Licheng looked at him uncertainly.


    "They surely will! If there''s no news about them¡­ she might have sneaked in already. After all, she won''t be able to pass the virus scan at the base entrance. Or maybe, she''ll send those Lin Family people," Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said.


    "She can''t pass the virus scan? Why?" Moli looked at the two of them and asked, "Who are you talking about?"


    Xiao Licheng glanced at Wu Chengyue, and the latter said, "Hm, I think it''s better that you do not know about it."


    Moli blandly raised her eyebrows and said, "Alright. You''re keeping it secret from me, aren''t you? Whatever!"


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was moving toward the source of that weak but powerful vibe. She spent a long while to find the place where that zombie was kept in.


    Huaxia base was incredibly huge. Lin Qiao was fast, yet it still took her over half an hour to get there.


    There was a signboard at the entrance of the building, saying ''Base Institute''. The building had at least fifty floors. Was the entire building used for virus studies?Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao sensed the scents from the building. At least a thousand people were in that building, which had an underground space as well.


    That zombie was deep underground, inside the building.


    Lin Qiao, of course, couldn''t just dig a hole and break straight in the building. Instead of that, she followed some staff in.


    "I heard that the people from all the other bases have mostly arrived. I guess our antidote is really important to them."


    "Of course, it is! That is a weapon! It''s so harmful for zombies. To the entire mankind, it''s a new step forward. Sadly, our antidote is only effective on the zombies at level one and two."


    "That''s already impressive! Besides, there''re only a limited number of higher-leveled zombies!"


    "You''re right! As for the lower-leveled zombies, our antidote can destroy them all!"


    "Our base has the most advanced technologies. I bet the other bases can''t develop anything like our antidote yet! I wonder how many people are jealous of us, haha!"


    "That is true! Our base has a preferential policy for technical talents. Unlike us, the other bases take in all kinds of people, even including some commoners who have no skills at all¡­ Why did they take those people in? To feed them for nothing?"


    "Are you talking about the poor districts? We have one of that in our base too!"


    The few people walked into the building while chatting, having completely no idea that an invisible creature was following behind them.


    Lin Qiao followed them into the sensor door of the building. The door was a device for detecting heartbeats and body temperature. So, it was completely ineffective on Lin Qiao, who was a zombie with no heart heat or body temperature.


    The door was designed to detect living human beings! Lin Qiao was a zombie, so the door couldn''t even sense a trace of her.

 607 The Institute In Huaxia Base

    After entering the building, Lin Qiao stopped following those people because they were headed upstairs, and not toward the underground floors.


    She glanced at the signs in the lobby and found that there were many departments in the institute,


    Medical Department? Medical researches seemed to have been greatly valued. Architectural Department? Was that department arranged in this institute as well? Lin Qiao looked around and found a Weapon Department, Agricultural Department, Soil Study Department, Virus Study Department, and Energy Study Department, along with many others. No wonder so many people were working in this place. It turned out that Huaxia Base had been studying in many spheres.


    Lin Qiao quickly looked around and then headed toward the Virus Study Department. As she expected, that department was located underground, with strict access control and all sorts of alarm systems.


    Standing before the elevator door, she quietly looked at the smart lock on it. To unlock the door, it required both an access card and a fingerprint. Therefore, she had no choice but to stand outside and wait for the others to come.


    She looked at the time and found that it was already afternoon. She figured that some people would need to use the elevator.


    As she expected, a few people soon came that way. They each swiped their staff badges and then put a finger on the lock before entering.


    Lin Qiao followed the first person into the elevator, then quietly watched the others come in.


    "There are more guards these days."


    "No doubt! After all, so many outsiders are in our base. We have to be careful."


    "You''re right! Oh, you''ve made enough credits, haven''t you? When will you apply for surrogacy?"


    "I''ll wait until the meeting is over. What''s the rush? I have enough patience¡­ Why don''t you?"


    "Come on, you''re not young anymore! Make it hurry! You need a child, or who''ll take care of you when you''re old?"


    "What do you mean that I''m not young anymore? I''m only thirty years old, okay? I''m not old."


    Surrogacy?


    Standing in a corner behind those people, Lin Qiao scratched her chin. She knew that Huaxia Base had developed a surrogacy system. The people who had achieved high credit were able to go to the surrogacy institution to apply for a surrogate mother, so they could have children.


    The women who had been serving as surrogate mothers there were doing the job willingly, because the institution paid them very well. The institution wouldn''t force any woman to be a surrogate mother. However, because the pay was really good, many women were willing to work for the institution. Even some married women were willing to do the job, as long as they were still able to give birth. They were doing it for survival.


    However, as the percentage of male members in the base was very high, it required very high credit to apply for surrogacy. All kinds of jobs in the research institute could provide good chances of getting high credits. After all, the jobs here were all relatively difficult.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the man who was about to apply for surrogacy. His staff badge said that he was a team leader. No wonder he had gotten enough credits.


    That team leader said with an expectant look, "If only I can get a single surrogate mother."


    Hearing that, the others burst in laughter. "Stop dreaming! A single surrogate mother? Your credit isn''t enough for that, unless you double it. So, in order to have a child, just stop being picky!"


    The team leader gave out a long sigh, then nodded and said, "You''re right though! Men like us can only apply for married surrogate mothers."


    Surrogate mothers were divided into a few levels. Unmarried surrogate mothers were paid better than the married ones, so applying for an unmarried surrogate mother required higher credit.


    As an ordinary researcher, the team leader could only afford to apply for a low-leveled surrogate mother with the credit that he saved over the years. Most of those lower-level surrogate mothers had incapable husbands. They needed to survive, and raise their own children.


    While the elevator was going down, Lin Qiao was listening to the conversation about surrogacy. Soon, the elevator stopped moving and tinged. After that, the door was opened, and those people walked out.


    Three meters away from the elevator door was another door that needed an access card. Behind that door was the underground lobby of the institute.


    After entering the lobby, those people split up and went to their own departments.


    Lin Qiao looked around. She was on the first floor underground, and the zombie was on a lower floor.


    She stood by a pillar in the lobby, waiting quietly.


    An hour later, she heard some other people saying, "The tranquilizer might not be working. We need to switch to a different type of tranquilizer to keep him quiet. His body has built up a defense against the tranquilizer that we''re using now. So, when it wears off, he might wake up."


    "Can''t we increase the dosage?"


    "Absolutely not! Be careful, don''t let him smell humans, or he''ll go crazy."


    "I get it."


    Lin Qiao blinked, then followed behind those people.


    As she thought, those people were heading downward. They took the elevator to the third floor underground, then walked out and turned to the other direction.


    That floor was guarded by armed soldiers. Clearly, something important was kept here.


    Lin Qiao followed those people as they turned and turned again, finally arriving at a thick door. Those people followed to open the door and walked in. It was a research department that contained many research rooms and research material.


    After entering the department, those people walked into the changing room nearby. There, they changed into a special suit and subsequently came out. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Their suits were sealed, with zips on their head masks. They could zip the head masks to have their entire bodies covered at any time.


    Lin Qiao followed them into a research room, which was about two-hundred meters square. In the room were all kinds of advanced devices and half-finished drugs.


    Lin Qiao had no interest in those drugs. She walked to a glass wall and looked through it. On the other side of the glass was a cloud of white mist, within which was a naked creature locked on a shelf.


    The glass before her eyes was thick and bulletproof. The air temperature on the other side of the glass wall was clearly much lower than that on this side, because the white mist was actually generated by cold air.


    Icicles hung thickly on that creature''s body.


    They actually froze it to keep it quiet.


    "How''s his condition?" Someone asked.


    "The effect of the tranquilizer is fading. He hasn''t woken up yet, but once the tranquilizer wears off, it''ll soon wake up. The cold air can only buy us a couple of hours. It can''t deliver any stronger effect."


    "It''s okay. He won''t go crazy for now, as long as he can''t smell any living human being. Under extra low air temperature, his power will generate a self-protection awareness, and will put him in a shallow sleep. We still have time to develop the tranquilizer number two."


    "What are we waiting for then? Start working now!"


    While speaking, those people quickly started working.


    Lin Qiao quietly stood before the glass, observing the zombie dominator who was in deep sleep.

 608 Sleeping Zombie

    That zombie was in a deep sleep, so Lin Qiao couldn''t feel much of his condition. After spending a while observing it in the freezing chamber, she turned and to look at those devices nearby.


    Three minutes later, she realized that she couldn''t understand a thing on the screens of those devices.


    She turned quietly and walked to a table to read the files on it. Those files were about the research progress, including some special terms. Lin Qiao recognized those words, yet didn''t understand their meanings.


    She was a leader, yet she had no knowledge about science and technology. Before the apocalypse, she was merely a soldier. She knew quite a lot about carrying missions or killing people!


    She surely wouldn''t touch those files, as there were other people in the research room. She wanted to find some files about that zombie, but those seemed to have been put away.


    She raised her head and glanced at those researchers in the room. They were all doing their own jobs quietly.


    She thought for a moment, then reached her hand to the folder named ''The experimental source zombie''. The folder disappeared once she touched it.


    The people in the room didn''t notice that, as they continued to focus on their work.


    Lin Qiao then flashed into her space. Lu Tianyi was sitting on a couch in the small building. All of a sudden, a folder appeared on the tea table before him. Before he could react, Lin Qiao flashed in.


    After entering the space, she immediately walked to the table, then bent over and picked up the folder. Holding it, she sat on the other couch and started reading.


    She opened the folder and saw a series of numbers under that zombie''s photo. Above those numbers was a name. They actually gave that zombie a name¡ªMacuy. It was a male zombie, with animal power, at level-seven.


    Animal power?


    Lin Qiao was a little confused. Was he a zombie who had animal power? Like Yun Meng? Was he able to turn into a beast? Or, was it like Ye Hao from Earth Dragon Base?


    With those thoughts, Lin Qiao looked at the zombie''s photo in the file. That zombie looked fierce. His teeth were bared, eyes dark; his pupils were erect like some wild animals''.


    ''So ugly!'' Lin Qiao said to herself. That zombie looked exactly like a beast, and that picture was taken before its transformation.


    Two hours later¡­


    "Tranquilizer number two is ready!" said one of those researchers.


    "Let me test it first," another researcher walked over.


    "Here you go," The first man handed the tranquilizer to him.


    The second man took over the tranquilizer and brought it to a weird device, then picked up a tool and took a drop of the tranquilizer out of the test tube with it.


    Sensing their movements, Lin Qiao immediately flashed out of her base and came closer to that device to look at it carefully. She was curious about how they created that tranquilizer which could be used on zombies.


    A couple of minutes later, that researcher raised his head and said, "It''s good. Later, give him tranquilizer number two after feeding him."


    "It''s about time. We can take him there."


    After that, Lin Qiao noticed that a few people entered the freezing chamber.


    She looked at those researchers with confusion. Not long ago, they said that they needed to stop that zombie from waking up. But now, they seemed to be waking it up. What on earth was going on?


    Feed? What were they doing?


    Next, she saw those people who had their bodies wrapped entirely in their suits unchain that zombie from the shelf, and then carry him into another room. Once the door of that room was opened, Lin Qiao sensed a faint scent of blood. That room might have been cleaned carefully, but the bloody scent still lingered inside.


    At that moment, all the researchers in the room gathered before the monitor screen.


    Lin Qiao went there as well. On the screen, she saw that zombie in an empty room, along with the researchers who had just unchained him.


    Those researchers quickly put that motionless zombie on the ground, then evacuated speedily. They locked all the locks in the room while leaving. Once they left, protective equipment quickly descended from the ceiling.


    After that, a small door in a corner of that room suddenly opened, and then a person was pushed in from that door.


    That was a man, with his hands and feet chained together. He looked very confused. Once he was pushed in, the door behind him was locked.


    Soon, that man turned and saw the zombie who was lying on the other side of the room. In the next moment, his face was filled with fear. He rushed to the door which he came in from, banging on the door as hard as he could.


    Lin Qiao frowned while looking at the screen. She had guessed some of that.


    It seemed that those people were feeding that zombie dominator with that man.


    That man banged on the door with his greatest strength. But, as the door stayed closed, he quickly searched around the room for another exit. After searching through the whole room in vain, he became despaired. He curled up in a corner and looked at that zombie while shivering.


    About twenty minutes later, Lin Qiao sensed that the vibe inside that room was growing stronger and stronger. She knew that that zombie was going to wake up. Half an hour later, that vibe stopped rising. Although it didn''t make Lin Qiao feel under threat, it was strong, and no weaker than the vibe of any level-seven being.


    She was aware that that was not the zombie''s true power. His power might have been suppressed.


    She turned and glanced at those researchers, finding them all wearing a bland face, as if what was happening was completely normal. They all watched that man in that room with an indifferent attitude.


    At that point, the zombie slowly stood up from the ground. The ice on his body had melted into water, so his entire body was soaked.


    Seeing him stand up, the man in the corner froze. He fixed his eyes on that zombie, his pupils shrinking.


    Lin Qiao thought that the zombie would immediately pounce on that man, but what happened next stunned her. That zombie abruptly turned to look at her. He fixed his purely dark eyes straight on her, and his erect pupils shrank into thin lines.


    "Eh?"


    "What?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Ah!"


    As the zombie dominator suddenly looked into the camera, those researchers by Lin Qiao''s side each gave a start even before she herself could make any response.


    "He¡­ Why is he looking at us? Does he know that we''re here?"


    "That''s impossible!"


    "But¡­ But, he''s staring at us! It never happened before!"


    "Be careful! Security Team, you should be on high alert!"


    The look in that zombie''s eyes made those researchers panic a little. They immediately warned the security team to keep their eyes open. They had no idea that that zombie wasn''t looking at them, but at Lin Qiao, who was standing behind them.


    That zombie had actually sensed her existence!


    Lin Qiao slightly raised her brows, wondering what that zombie would do next.

 609 Why Doesnst He Eat?

    Lin Qiao felt really strange, because that zombie actually ignored the humans by her side and only stared at her. Was it because of the connection between zombies? Or, was it vigilant against her?


    The researchers in that room took fright, as the zombie dominator had raised his head to look at the surveillance camera. Lin Qiao was surprised as well. That zombie actually looked into the camera. Clearly, he was rather smart!


    The zombie dominator abruptly lowered his head and turned to the frozen man in the corner.


    What surprised Lin Qiao even more was that she didn''t detect any intention of killing from that zombie''s eyes. The zombie seemed to have gotten used to all this.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ''Eh? What does this mean? Doesn''t he eat humans?'' She thought.


    "I guess he still won''t do it himself." Said the researcher beside Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao paused briefly. As she understood that man''s meaning, she immediately sensed those researcher''s thoughts.


    ''I see! It turns out that¡­''


    From those people''s thoughts, Lin Qiao learned that that zombie would not hurt humans. They forced him to eat humans, so that he could stay alive after they took a lot of his blood.


    Apart from living human beings, they would also give him zombie nuclei to replenish his energy.


    The zombie only glanced at man in that room before turning his head away. He looked around the room, then again looked at the camera.


    Lin Qiao observed the zombie with surprise. He actually did not eat human beings before. How did he manage to grow to such a high level?


    That zombie acted very calmly. Even though Lin Qiao considered him ugly, he was actually normal-looking among zombies. His eyes were deeply sunken and weirdly black; his facial muscles had shrunk, emphasizing his cheek bones.


    There was a scar near his left cheek bone.


    "Do it. I don''t think he''ll attack this time." At that moment, a man among those researchers suddenly talked. The others nodded, as if they had foreseen that. Clearly, they were tired of waiting for that zombie to attack that man.


    Once before, they locked a man in that room for three days. The zombie never touched that man. At last, that man died of starvation.


    However, after that man died, the zombie made a move. He dug out that man''s heart and ate it. He only ate dead bodies, but refused to touch living humans.


    Hearing that researcher, the other man picked up the communicator and said, "Fire."


    Three seconds later, a gunshot was heard.


    Bang!


    Along with the gunshot, the zombie suddenly turned back. Lin Qiao clearly sensed his unhappiness, which was growing stronger. But soon, he restrained his emotion, then turned around and kept staring at the camera.


    The people in the research room were waiting for the zombie to eat that dead man''s heart. But to their surprise, he stayed motionless.


    One minute had passed¡­ Three minutes, ten minutes¡­ Half an hour later, that zombie still hadn''t made any moves.


    "What''s going on? What happened to him today? Why doesn''t he eat?" The people in the research room couldn''t stay calm. Clearly, that had never happened before. Why did that zombie even refuse to eat that dead man today? What happened?


    As the zombie didn''t eat the dead man, those researchers didn''t know what to do. If he refused to feed, his blood might lose its activity.


    "What''s going on?" The others were confused as well.


    "Put in the zombie nuclei and see how he''ll react," said another man.


    Soon, a small part of a wall in that room suddenly sank, and then something rolled out of it. Lin Qiao looked closer and found that those were a few level-five zombie nuclei.


    ''Are they feeding him with zombie nuclei now? This zombie is living a pretty good life!''


    But still, that zombie dominator stayed motionless.


    "It''s so weird! What happened to him today?" Those researchers didn''t know why this was happening. Anyways, they had no other choice but to stay patient and keep waiting.


    Only Lin Qiao knew what was going on.


    It was because of her! How could that zombie possibly be in the mood of feeding, as he had sensed that a stronger zombie was nearby? He was, of course, on full alert now. That was like an animal instinct. As a level-seven zombie, he was already very smart!


    Together with those researchers, Lin Qiao quietly observed that zombie through the screen. They kept watching for two hours, but the zombie made no move at all. The dead man''s body had become cold, and those zombie nuclei were still lying on the ground.


    The two things in the world that zombies liked the most actually failed to catch that zombie''s attention. How strange!


    "What should we do now? He isn''t eating anything. Are we going to keep him in that room for two or three days like the last time? We need to take his blood in just two days," said a researcher.


    "We don''t have time for that. It''s his choice not to eat. Release the tranquilizer," said another researcher blandly. Next, a purple stream of gas was suddenly released inside the room.


    "Roar!" Once the gas was released, the zombie was agitated. He bared his teeth and gave a roar. However, his roar wasn''t heard from the outside, because that room was not only sealed, but also soundproof. Judging merely by the look on his face, Lin Qiao felt that he was somehow stimulated.


    She sensed that zombie''s anger, as if that gas was very repulsive to him. Was he able to tell what that tranquilizer was going to do to him? Or, was the tranquilizer injected into his body before?


    Anyhow, the zombie was now frenzied. He started rampaging through the room. His claws become extra sharp, leaving a series of marks on the thick, metal walls. However, he wasn''t able to break those walls.


    He hunched his back, and the hair on his head started growing. His human ears disappeared, and black fuzz grew out of his face. Then, his disappeared ears grew back out, but moved upward and became black and fluffy, in a triangular shape.


    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao looked at that zombie who had become a large cat with surprise. Behind his body, a thick, long, black, and fluffy tail was wagging.


    ''Oh my, is that a leopard?''


    "Roar!" That man-shaped leopard was darting about the room. But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t free himself from that isolation chamber.


    Lin Qiao was curious and calm. Unlike her, the people near her all fixed their eyes on that large leopard in the screen. They knew that the zombie would soon quiet down, but didn''t dare to relax. After all, that was a zombie dominator.

 610 Who The Hell Are You?

    Lin Qiao looked at the zombie dominator in that room, feeling that he was very weak. He had become like a beast, but still lacked strength. Otherwise, how would those metal walls and bulletproof glass possibly trap him?


    How did that happen? Was his power restrained by something?


    She turned and glanced at those researchers, guessing that they had used some other drugs on that zombie.


    Two more hours later, the zombie finally shrank to a corner and stopped moving.


    A researcher walked to a device and checked the numbers showing on the screen, then nodded and said, "It''s safe now."


    After that, the metal boards on the walls rose into the ceiling. A few people in protective suits walked in as they took out syringes and started to take that zombie dominator''s blood.


    They didn''t stop until the zombie''s blood filled the three syringes up. As they were done, they quickly moved the zombie back into the freezing chamber, and then chained him back on the shelf.


    Before long, a man walked into the research room with the black blood.


    Lin Qiao sniffed at the blood and sensed a vibe that was stronger than what she had sensed from that zombie himself. She frowned the moment she smelt the blood, because it gave her a depressing sense of crisis. That was not like a pressure, but more like a depressing feeling caused by the original conflict.


    She moved closer to the blood and sensed it carefully. It was indeed repulsive for her.


    What surprised her was that the blood actually did not give out the sense of ferocity. She felt that it was pure.


    How did that happen? Only some newborn zombies had made her feel that way, because those newborns were foggy-minded, and had barely eaten humans.


    Unlike those newborns, the zombie in the freezing chamber was at level-seven already. Besides, he had eaten human hearts during his time here, although those hearts weren''t from living human beings.


    A zombie''s vibe would always turn impure after it tasted humans, and would contain its unique sense of ferocity.


    However, Lin Qiao detected nothing from the zombie blood in the research room. That was weird.


    She decided to figure out one thing first, then come back to deal with that zombie.


    She moved away silently, then stood by the door and waited until those researchers got off work. As they got off work, she followed them out.


    She wondered what kind of fuss would she cause if she made that zombie disappear now.


    She didn''t know if that zombie would be willing to follow her. If he refused to follow her, she would have to kill him, in case those people caught him again and restarted their research in the future.


    However, even if she took that zombie away, human beings would still develop other weapons against zombies. They would keep killing zombies until there were none left0 in the world.


    Lin Qiao would want to do the same if she were still a human being.


    But now, she was a zombie, so she should not think that way! Nevertheless, she could not try to stop it. She might be able to stop it once, but it would be impossible for her to succeed every single time. Human beings weren''t dumb. After their plans were ruined once or twice, they would hide away and continue their researches secretly.


    Therefore, no one could stop it for good. For that reason, Lin Qiao gave up on trying to ruin the research, but started thinking about how to avoid the future trouble. Most importantly, she needed to keep her zombie nature secret.


    She exited the research room and followed behind one of those researchers. That man had a relatively weaker vibe, and was psychologically vulnerable.


    She followed him into the canteen in the building and watched him finish dinner, then followed him out of the building. She knew that he didn''t need to work late. After dinner, he planned to head straight home.


    As a researcher of an important project, that man was paid well. He had a superpower, not at a high-level though.


    Lin Qiao followed him onto a trolleybus, heading toward the outer base.


    There were public transports like trolleybuses in the base. Without those, the people who lived far away from the center and had no cars would need to walk a long way from where they lived to the inner base.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Soon, Lin Qiao followed the researcher off the bus and walked for about ten minutes, arriving a fancy residential area. Over ten buildings in this area were all filled with residents.


    Lin Qiao followed that man all the way to his home. He lived in a bachelor pad, which had one bedroom, one living room, one bathroom, and one kitchen, along with a small balcony.


    That man threw his staff badge and his coat onto the couch in the living room, then walked into his bedroom and picked up a winter bathrobe before walking into the bathroom.


    Lin Qiao picked up his badge and looked at it.


    That man was named Leng Xuantong, thirty-two years old. Before the apocalypse, he had a wife and a child. But, the apocalypse took away everything he had. Thankfully, he specialized in microorganisms back in the old world. So, after three years of struggle, he heard that Huaxia Base was recruiting scientists, and then came to this base to work.


    He had a job in another base before that. However, Huaxia Base had greater strength and richer resources. For those, Leng Xuantong left his old base and joined the Huaxia Base.


    He needed the resources for another experiment.


    Lin Qiao learned the above information by following behind him and reading his mind.


    He wasn''t doing his job in this base whole-heartedly. That was why Lin Qiao felt that he would be psychologically vulnerable.


    About ten minutes later, Leng Xuantong came out of the bathroom. His body was still wet. Strangely, the water on his body wasn''t warm, but icy cold.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance as she sensed a very low temperature from the bathroom.


    He bathed in cold water in winter? What power did he have?


    Whatever power he had, Lin Qiao made a move directly. She lunged forward and dragged over Leng Xuantong, who was walking toward the bedroom, then flashed into her space.


    No one else knew that Leng Xuantong had disappeared in his own flat.


    Leng Xuantong felt that someone suddenly dragged him, and then his eyes were dazzled. When he could see again, he found that he was no longer in his flat.


    He gave a start, then immediately turned his head to see who dragged him, only to see a woman. She relaxed her grip on him, then took two steps backward, looking at him cold-facedly.


    "Who¡­ who are you!"


    Lin Qiao smiled as she looked at him and said, "You don''t need to know that. You''re doing that experiment secretly because you don''t want the others to know about it, right?"


    Leng Xuantong looked at Lin Qiao vigilantly, then looked around. He found that he was in a strange living room which was large but dimly illuminated, as if it were a rainy day out there.


    Hearing her words, Leng Xuantong immediately frowned and asked, "Who the hell are you!"


    That woman actually knew about his experiment! No one was supposed to know that!

 611 Because You Know

    "Really? The others might not know about it, but I do," Lin Qiao turned and sat down on a couch, then crossed her arms before her chest while looking at that man.


    "You!" Leng Xuantong looked at her with both surprise and doubt. She was reading his mind! A sense of crisis immediately rose from his heart, as he felt that she had seen through him. He was frightened.


    "You work in the institute in this base because you need the resources here to find out a way to turn zombies back into human beings. Am I right? Do you think it''s possible? The people who have turned into zombies have died. Dead people can''t come back to life. Don''t you know that?" Lin Qiao said blandly.


    She was right. This was the man''s secret. He was trying to develop a medicine to turn zombies back into human beings. He was actually inspired by some films about zombies which he watched back in the old world.


    "You¡­ How do you know so clearly?" Leng Xuantong looked at her in shock and couldn''t help but panic.


    Everybody would panic when his or her secret was suddenly exposed by someone else, not to mention the fact that this secret of his was even a little antihuman. If the base administrators knew about it, they would definitely stop him or kick him out of the base.


    "You don''t need to know how I know. If you don''t want me to tell anyone about it, you need to give me some information," Lin Qiao stopped smiling, still looking at him.


    She had known his secret, so she was able to threaten him with it. She was a complete stranger to him, so he did not understand how she found out about his secret. He was sure that he had never met her before.


    However, as she used a negotiating tone, Leng Xuantong sighed with relief.


    "What do you want to know?" he asked.


    "You only need to tell me how you caught that zombie," Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    A beam of light flashed across Leng Xuantong''s eyes. Hearing Lin Qiao''s question, he immediately guessed out something.


    ''She''s an outsider. She''s clearly here for the antidote. No, perhaps, her main target isn''t the antidote, but that special zombie from which the antidote is made,'' he thought.


    "What made you think that I know about that?" Leng Xuantong managed to calm down slightly. He looked at Lin Qiao as he threw a question back.


    "Because you know. You don''t want me to tell the others about your secret, do you?" said Lin Qiao.


    In fact, she had already known the answer. After she asked that question, Leng Xuantong unwittingly thought of the details about that zombie, and she sensed them directly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Leng Xuantong looked at her silently.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent as well, looking at him without urging him.


    After about a minute of silence, Leng Xuantong started talking, "Our Chief caught him. That zombie is fierce, fast, even nimbler than a wild beast. We weren''t able to locate him and track him, so our powerful weapons were useless on him."


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you saying that he was only trying to run away from your base, but didn''t show any intention of attacking you? How did you find him? Also, why doesn''t he eat living human beings?"


    According to Leng Xuantong, he and his colleagues weren''t able to locate that zombie. So, Lin Qiao figured that the zombie never tried to attack them; if he did, they would have been able to locate him. Also, earlier today, the zombie showed no interests toward the man back in the sealed chamber. Lin Qiao wondered why that zombie wouldn''t attack human beings.


    The emotions of that zombie and the vibe from his blood which she sensed earlier today had both given Lin Qiao a strange feeling.


    The zombie was very calm when he walked up. When the man was sent into the room, the zombie didn''t go crazy once he sensed that man''s scent like other zombies would. Instead, he just ignored that man.


    "About that, we''re not sure yet. Ever since we caught him, he never attacked living human beings. I heard from the people who were sent to catch him that he didn''t attack them until they made him desperate. Weirdly, none of those people died. The entire team returned. However, they never caught him. I also heard that it was a zombie hunting squad which discovered him. Back then, he was hunting a level-six mutated animal," Leng Xuantong said.


    Those weren''t secrets, so Leng Xuantong easily told them to Lin Qiao.


    "As I thought¡­" Lin Qiao nodded, as if she had guessed some of it.


    Did that zombie''s vibe remain pure because he didn''t eat human beings, but only mutated animals? Lin Qiao had only seen two zombies who lived on animals: Qiu Lili and Yun Meng.


    That zombie was fierce, but not evil.


    No wonder Lin Qiao had a familiar feeling earlier today when she sensed his vibe from the freezing chamber.


    "Anyway, that zombie dominator was spotted accidentally. At first, he was targeted because someone wanted his nucleus. Later on, as he was too mysterious and hard to catch, a base leader hunted him personally. After he was caught, we found that his blood is special. As for why he doesn''t eat human beings, we don''t know," said Leng Xuantong.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Alright, I get it. Don''t worry, I won''t tell anyone about your secret. But, zombies can''t possibly turn back into human beings, so you might as well give up."


    Lin Qiao was surprised by how persistent he was; he never gave up.


    Hearing his words, Leng Xuantong paused briefly, then lowered his head.


    He was aware that she was right. It was impossible to turn zombies back into humans. There was no scientific evidence for it, and clearly, the current science and technology were far behind that.


    However, he didn''t want to give up. He wanted to turn his family back into human beings.


    "If you don''t mind, you can bring your two¡­ um, family members, to my base. I will provide them with a place to stay at the very least. Do you understand me?" said Lin Qiao.


    That man chose to believe the films that he had watched, and tried everything he could to find out a way to turn his wife and daughter back into human beings. His persistence had impressed Lin Qiao.


    She tried to invite him to her own base. After all, he was a technical talent. Her base needed talents like him!


    What Lin Qiao said surprised Leng Xuantong. He looked at her with disbelief.


    Was that woman offering him a place to do his research aboveboard?

 612 Being Surrounded

    While he was thinking about Lin Qiao''s purpose, she stood up and walked to him. Seeing that, he couldn''t help but look at her vigilantly.


    "Alright, we''re done talking. Let me send you back." Lin Qiao walked up to him and said, then put a hand on his shoulder.


    Leng Xuantong looked at her with both vigilance and confusion. The moment she touched him, his eyes were dazzled again, and then he was back in his flat.


    "You can find me in the base near Sea City Base, if you need," Lin Qiao left him a few words, and then disappeared before his face.


    Leng Xuantong gave a start. He quickly looked around and even took a circle in the living room, but didn''t see a trace of that woman. At that moment, Lin Qiao had already leaped out of Leng Xuantong''s balcony and hopped onto the roof of the building.


    She glanced at the sky; it was already dark. The strong cold wind fluttered her coat.


    Even though it was already dark, the snow reflected the lights and illuminated the whole area. It looked no different in Lin Qiao''s eyes though.


    She turned and prepared to head back to the institute and get that zombie out. She didn''t care what the grand meeting would become after that. That zombie was her sole target anyway.


    Based on her observation, that zombie had already met her criterion. However, she still needed to do some further observation after getting him out of that research room.


    But, she suddenly stopped moving, then turned around and gazed outside the base where she came from.


    Those vibes¡­


    She had sensed a few vibes from that area. Instantly, she turned and flashed toward the outside.


    Earlier on when she was in Earth Dragon Base, she actually forgot about those people!


    At that moment, Li Zheng, his team, and Xie Dong and the zombie squad under his command were surrounded by a large group of teeth-baring, fierce-looking, big roe deers.


    "Damn! Since when did roe deers become so fierce! Those teeth can tear flesh, can''t they?" Lin Yu stood back to back with the others and vigilantly stared at those calf-sized roe deers.


    In his memory, roe deers were silly and curious, with large eyes. But, those scary-looking, sharp-toothed creatures which were drooling at him and his friends were nothing like that!


    Thankfully, that group of people was not weak. Most of them were at level-two or three, so they didn''t end up being eaten by those roe deers, and only fell into an embarrassing situation.


    After all, there were too many roe deers!


    "There''s too many of them! If this goes on, our energies will all be consumed up. We can''t stay like this!" said Li Zheng with a serious look.


    They were facing over ten-thousand roe deers, which were all fast. They would pounce on those people once they had a chance, and it was hard to defend against them.


    Fortunately, Li Zheng had ice power. Under the current weather condition, he only needed to consume a very small amount of energy. Therefore, his superpower lasted longer than the others. They had been stuck here for quite a long time. In fact, none of them could release their powers anymore. By now, they were only pointing their guns at those roe deers. However, their bullets were limited, so they didn''t dare to waste a single one.


    At that moment, two large roe deers suddenly dashed out of the crowd, widely opening their mouth as they pounced on them.


    Li Zheng immediately turned around. However, before he made a move, those roe deers were forced back. The ones who did that wasn''t his team, but Xie Dong and the other zombies who had surrounded them to protect them.


    Roe deers had no interest in zombies, and only targeted Li Zheng and the other few living humans. Therefore, Xie Dong and his zombie squad surrounded the human squad to guard them.


    "We''ve been stuck here for a day. I''m afraid that something bad might happen if we stay here for a longer time," Feng Yuming glanced at the giant roe deer crowd which fixed their eyes on him and his friends. That made him very anxious.


    While he was talking, seven or eight roe deers rushed out of the crowd at them, but Li Zheng and his people quickly shot them. Those injured and dead roe deers were soon eaten by the other roe deers, leaving puddles of blood and bones in the snowfield.


    "That''s so cruel! They even fight each other over the corpses of the other deers!" Feng Yuming couldn''t even bear watching that.


    "That''s what you care about now? Over there!" Lin Yu suddenly gave him a kick without even looking at him. Right after that, another fierce roe deer rushed at them.


    "I think we might have cleared the road for Lu Zhuofeng''s motorcade. If we didn''t attract these roe deers over here, they would have certainly blocked his motorcade." Lei Yao said abruptly with a deep voice.


    "We had no choice. They''re stronger, and they outnumbered us. Facing these animals is easier than facing a level-eight superpowered man. I guess these roe deers didn''t only grow strong appetites and teeth, but also grew smarter, right?" said Lin Yu.


    They had been stuck in that place for a whole day. They weren''t able to break out of the roe deer encirclement, and couldn''t kill all of them either. So, they were all heavy-hearted now.


    "What should we do now? Lu Zhuofeng might have arrived at Huaxia Base long ago. How are we supposed to free ourselves?" Looking at the giant group of roe deers which were staring straight at them, the group of people didn''t dare to relax their vigilance at all.


    It was dark now, and those animals'' movements were even more unpredictable.


    As the group of people were desperate in the encirclement, a voice was suddenly heard from the sky, "Oh my, there''re over ten-thousand roe deers, right? These mutated animals breed really fast!"


    Hearing that voice, Li Zheng and the others immediately wore a delighted look. They raised their heads to look at the source of that voice, then saw a dark and blurry figure standing on a branch of a tree.


    Lin Qiao leaped off the tree and landed before those people. Meanwhile, she threw out a rope, letting them hold it before bringing all of them into her space.


    She threw those people into the living room in that small building in her space, then said to them, "What on earth happened to you? Haven''t you asked around about the things over here? I can''t believe that you were actually surrounded by those fierce roe deers."


    "We fell into Lu Zhuofeng''s trap. He drove those roe deers to us," Feng Yuming stepped forward and said angrily.


    "We were careless," said Li Zheng as he slightly lowered his head, looking a little upset.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    They were specialized in gathering information, so they surely knew that mutated roe deers lived in this area with a surprising population. However, they never thought that Lu Zhuofeng would sneakily drive the roe deer group to them. He must have spotted some traces of them long ago, or he wouldn''t do something like that.


    By doing that, he could possibly get them killed, and keep his own troop away from those roe deers as well.

 613 Wipe Your Mouth

    "Chief! I think Earth Dragon Base is turning into the Hidden Cloud City Base''s subsidiary base! I also heard that a half of the food in the last granary has already been shipped to Hidden Cloud City Base," Lin Yu looked at Lin Yu with glowing eyes and said.


    He talked with excitement on his face, looking at Lin Qiao with admiration.


    "We''ll talk about that later," Lin Qiao nodded at him with a faint smile, then turned and left the space.


    There were still a lot of roe deers when she came out. Those roe deers had been running about from left to right as they had suddenly lost targets. At that moment, Xie Dong and the other zombies had hopped onto a tree. They didn''t leave, but waited for Lin Qiao to show up again.


    Lin Qiao also hopped onto a tree and shouted at them, "Let''s go!"


    Following her voice, a series of figures darted up from the trees, heading toward Huaxia Base.


    Soon, Lin Qiao, Xie Dong, and his zombie squad arrived at the fence wall of Huaxia City. Lin Qiao stopped moving, them put the zombie squad into her space and spent a moment looking around before the small building.


    When she brought Li Zheng and his people in, the tens of roe deers on the other side of the lake immediately gathered toward them. However, they were only able to gaze at them on the other side of the lake.


    There was no path that led to this side of the lake!


    Lin Qiao said to Xie Dong, "Tell your squad members to line up here."


    After saying that, she found a few large buckets and dragged them to the lake. She filled them up with lake water and then dragged them back to the small building. This time, she didn''t put the buckets directly before the door, but placed them against a sidewall.


    Then, she walked to Xie Dong and his squad as she pointed at those buckets and said to the five level-four zombies, "Take off your clothes, then get in and take a bath."


    Then, she glanced her watch and said to Xie Dong, "Two hours."


    Xie Dong nodded; he understood her meaning. She just gave those zombies two hours of bathing time!


    "That''s their reward for following you obediently all this time," Lin Qiao added.


    After that, she turned and glanced at those zombies who were struggling to take off their clothes, then left. But, after making two steps, she turned around and walked back.


    "Oh, you should train them how to take off and put on clothes. They are your soldiers now. You need to train them." Finishing talking, she turned and walked into the small building.


    Xie Dong silently glanced at those level-four zombies who had been following him for a while, then at Lin Qiao''s back.


    He had a strange feeling that he was going to become a nanny!


    As Lin Qiao went into the building, the people who were standing in the living room immediately turned to her. She stood in the middle of the living room and waved at them.


    Li Zheng and his people immediately gathered before her, waiting for her instructions.


    "Later on, I''ll bring you out of the space in Huaxia Base. You need to cover your traces and try to find out how many people have come to that base, and who they are," Lin Qiao looked at them and said.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Li Zheng and his people responded.


    "When you finish the job, find some places to hide. You don''t need to look for me. I''ll find you," Lin Qiao continued.


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    After giving them the mission, Lin Qiao flashed out of the space.


    Only after Lin Qiao left did Li Zheng and his people scatter slightly. But still, they stayed in the living room.


    Feng Yuming stood by the door, looking at the hill-sized pile of food outside as he said, "These are all the foods in the two granaries in Earth Dragon Base. How long do you think our base can survive on these?" He was nearly drooling.


    "We have less than five-thousand people now, so these foods will last us three years¡­ at least!" Li Zheng walked over and stood by his side as he said.


    "Can we say that we have earned more than we have lost?" Feng Yuming stared at the food and asked.


    "Even though our Chief killed Long Yubai, our base was destroyed. That was the home of hundreds of thousands of people. So many people died. Earth Dragon Base owed all those to us. They can never clear that debt!" said Li Zheng with a cold face.


    "Oh, Lin Ruifeng, Ye Hao, and He Mu have all gone missing. Did our Chief feed them to zombies? Or, did she burn them into nothingness with the netherworld fire?" Feng Yuming stopped drooling at those foods and turned to ask Li Zheng with curiosity.


    "As far as I know, there is a burning mark in Lin Ruifeng''s living room. His cousin''s body was left in the bedroom. So, I guess that Lin Ruifeng was burned," said Li Zheng.


    "That''s what I think! Sadly, Chief didn''t kill Lu Zhuofeng as well," said Feng Yuming with regret.


    "Lu Zhuofeng is already at level-eight. He is now much more powerful than before. With our Chief''s current power, I guess it''ll take her quite some effort to kill him. However, she seems to have further plans," Lin Yu walked over and joined the conversation. Meanwhile, he was also drooling at that huge pile of food.


    "Please wipe your mouth!" Feng Yuming turned as he gave him a glance and said.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "How can you say that to him? You were almost drooling as well!" Li Zheng rolled his eyes and spoke for Lin Yu.


    Right at that moment, Lin Qiao flashed out of thin air.


    "We can get out now. Everyone, come here!" Lin Qiao looked around and said.


    Li Zheng and the others quickly gathered before her and caught the rope that she threw out. Then, as she pulled the rope, their eyes were dazzled, and they were all brought outside.


    They showed up in a dark area, with a cold air shrouding them. Looking carefully, they found that they were in an unilluminated alley.


    Lin Qiao quietly walked to the entrance of the alley and looked around, then turned back and tilted her head toward the squad. Receiving her signal, Li Zheng and the others silently moved toward her, then nimbly darted out of the alley and disappeared in the base.


    The ground was covered in snow, yet they didn''t leave any traces behind. They served in the intelligence unit, so being traceless was a necessary skill for them.


    Lin Qiao turned invisible in the darkness and hopped onto a two-story building nearby, then leaped toward a higher building. After that, she turned and moved toward the research institute.


    On the other side of the base, Leng Xuantong was in his flat. Lin Qiao had left a couple of hours ago, but he sat quietly on his couch all this time.


    Lin Qiao''s showing up made him feel that the grand meeting might be chaotic. He couldn''t tell the exact purpose of that strange woman who was giving out a sense of danger. He didn''t know if she were after the antidote or that zombie. She only asked questions about the zombie, but still, Leng Xuantong couldn''t take for sure if she were there for the zombie.


    Perhaps, she was planning to take that zombie away. That was a special zombie, so undoubtedly, all the other bases were curious about it. She might want to use that zombie on some other studies. Or, like Huaxia Base, she would use the zombie to create the same kind of antidote, so that she wouldn''t need to trade for it with a large amount of supplies.


    All people could be greedy!

 614 That Woman Is Wasted

    Anyhow, Leng Xuantong was aware that Lin Qiao did not come as a friend of Huaxia Base, and that what she was going to do would be very bad for the base.


    However, when talking to him, she seemed to be quite sure that he wouldn''t tell anyone about it. That made sense though, as she had known all his secrets. So, under that kind of threat, he, of course, wouldn''t mention her to anyone.


    He had been hiding his experiment so well. How did that stranger find out about it?


    Leng Xuantong was a little curious about what she would do next. She wasn''t going to steal that zombie for real, was she? If that did happen, the situation would become interesting. The guests from all the other bases had arrived, yet the zombie, as the most important part of the grand meeting, would be gone.


    While thinking about that, he had no idea that Lin Qiao had already started taking actions.


    It was surely difficult for people to gather information at the middle of the night. Therefore, Li Zheng and his people prepared to get to know the place first, then begin gathering information in the morning, when the people in the base started doing their work.


    Lin Qiao quickly moved toward the building of the research institute, and soon landed on the roof of that building.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    On the other side of the base, Wu Chengyue and the other guests were staying in another building. Huaxia Base people had cleaned that building up especially to accommodate the guests from the other bases.


    "I really don''t understand why you brought Ling Ling here. This place is too cold. What if the kid couldn''t adapt the weather?" Xiao Licheng looked at Wu Chengyue and complained.


    He had said that for a couple of times. However, every time he saw Wu Yueling, who was wearing so many clothes that she even looked like a ball, he couldn''t help but repeat it one more time. He regretted once he said that out.


    Wu Yueling was wearing a fuzzy bottoming shirt, a sweater, and a long, feather coat, along with a thick pair of cotton-padded trousers.


    Under her clothes, her long hair were everywhere around her neck.


    "I had to bring her. I''d be worried if I left her in the base alone. What if her illness attacked when she couldn''t see me?" Wu Chengyue glanced at Wu Yueling and then said to Xiao Licheng.


    Xiao Licheng knew that he would give the same answer as he did last time. "You''re right," he sighed and replied.


    "You''ve asked me the same question so many times. Can you please stop?" This time, Wu Chengyue looked at him with discontentment.


    "Okay¡­ Oh, Lu Zhuofeng has already arrived, and so have the others. I wonder if Miss. Lu is here," Xiao Licheng changed the topic.


    "Who knows! Anyway, she can''t get in through the front door even if she wants to," Wu Chengyue laughed. The front entrance of the base was equipped with virus-detecting devices. The alarm might go off once she approached.


    On the lower floor, Lu Zhuofeng was in his room. He had a visitor not long after he entered Huaxia Base.


    "The research institute includes many departments, and the virus study department is underground. We went down there, but didn''t find that zombie. However, we can say for sure that it''s in the underground institute," Lu Zhuofeng''s subordinate said to him.


    "What about those people from the other bases?" Lu Zhuofeng asked.


    "They have all secretly sent out their people to scout around."


    As for what had they been scouting for, the subordinate didn''t need to point it out specifically. Lu Zhuofeng clearly knew that all the other bases wanted the information about that zombie.


    "What about Sea City Base? Did that woman make a scene? Are those Upper City District people here?" Lu Zhuofeng thought of Sea City Base, so he asked some further questions.


    Hearing him, the subordinate wore a confused look, "It''s strange though. That woman did make a scene when she got back to her base, but the leaders of Sea City Base barely paid attention to her. And a couple of days after she went back, she was wasted. Those Upper City District people all returned to their bases, and none of them have left the base so far."


    "Wasted? What do you mean by that?" Lu Zhuofeng looked at him and asked with surprise.


    "She was found in a secluded basement. She was still breathing when people found her, but seemed to haven''t eaten for a few days. Also, her energy nucleus was broken, so her power was wasted. She''s unconscious now, like p.v.s." The subordinate replied.


    "Eh? Who did that to her? Where?" Lu Zhuofeng was even more surprised.


    She became p.v.s, meaning that she was still alive. Did Upper City District people do that? Had she really disclosed some kind of secrets in Upper City Base? Was that why those people wasted her in secret? After all, Upper City District people didn''t dare to go against Sea City Base openly.


    "According to one version of the story, that basement is where she kept her toyboy. That man who was kept there might have attacked her and run away, as she was already injured." The subordinate paused briefly, then continued, "We don''t know if it was that man who broke her energy nucleus, but her keeping a toyboy was a real thing."


    "That woman had a good reputation. I''m surprised that she was still unable to bear the loneliness in private," said Lu Zhuofeng expressionlessly. "Didn''t those Upper City Base people come here?"


    "No," said the other.


    Lu Zhuofeng thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don''t think so. They must have sent their people here. Otherwise, that squad wouldn''t follow me all the way here."


    Since he left Earth Dragon Base, a group pf people followed him from a distance away. He knew it since the beginning. Those people were pretty brave, as they actually had the courage to stalk a level-eight man.


    Before arriving at Huaxia City, he led those people to a group of roe deers. He knew that a giant number of mutated roe deers lived tens of miles away in the South of Huaxia City, and that those animals were fierce and aggressive. Those people were mostly at level three or two, so, he believed that they would die there. There were over ten-thousands roe deers. In a couple of days, the level-five one among them would die of exhaustion, and then the rest of them would end up being eaten by roe deers.


    Xie Dong and his zombie squad didn''t go the same way as Li Zheng and his people at first; moreover, they were zombies. For those reasons, Lu Zhuofeng didn''t notice them.


    "So, I guess they left the base in secret. But, no one saw any of them enter Huaxia base." The subordinate thought for a moment and then made a guess.


    "Haven''t you seen any strange person entering the base?" Lu Zhuofeng blinked as he slightly knitted his pair of thick and dark eyebrows and asked.


    The subordinate shook his head at first, then abruptly nodded and said, "Oh, one group of people are weird. They said that they''re from Green Mountain Base, and they have a mutated dog. More strangely, Huaxia Base people let that dog in."


    Normally, mutated animals with unclear backgrounds wouldn''t be allowed in any base.

 615 The Various Powers

    "Green Mountain Base?" Lu Zhuofeng frowned slightly.


    He had never heard about that base before. That name was very strange for him indeed.


    "Is that the new name of the base in Upper City District? Are those people from Upper City District?" He asked.


    His subordinate shook his head and said with a serious look, "No, it''s not them. We don''t know where they came from, and we can''t find any background information about them. They aren''t from Upper City District, and¡­ they''re all strong. If they were from the old Hades Base, we would at least know some of them. I heard that one of those Green Mountain Base people is also at level-eight. He''s accompanied by two level-seven men."


    "What? Level eight! That''s impossible! If he''s at level-eight, how come none of the other bases know about those people? And two level-seven? Those are chief-level people!" Lu Zhuofeng slightly widened his eyes as he looked at his subordinate with disbelief.


    "Now, all the other bases have been secretly investigating those people, but no one has made any progress yet." The subordinate had foreseen Lu Zhuofeng''s reaction, so he didn''t show much expression change.


    Hearing his words, Lu Zhuofeng realized that what he said was true. He dropped his eyelids as he slightly lowered his head and fell into deep thoughts.


    At this time, Wu Chengyue was also listening to the news which Xiao Licheng brought back. It was also about Green Mountain Base.


    "Eh? Are they who I think they are? Didn''t they bring that dog to our base too last time?" said Wu Chengyue.


    "Yeah, it''s them. But this time, that man named Lei Cheng isn''t leading the team. Instead, it''s another man called Lan Lu. I heard that he''s already at level-eight. Lei Cheng and the vice-squad-leader who was with him last time only came here as that man''s subordinates this time," Xiao Licheng took a glimpse at the files in his hands, then said to Wu Chengyue.


    "Level-eight! Since when can level-eight people be found everywhere? Why are they emerging one after another?" Wu Chengyue said expressionlessly. The smile on his face was gone.


    "Green Mountain Base people have been keeping their background very secret. We couldn''t find any information about them, neither could the other bases," Xiao Licheng said.


    Last time when those people visited Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue and his people had already started feeling strange about them. A level-seven traitor from that base became a robber. Once those people showed up, all the information about the robber was gone. Some said that it was Miss. Lu from Upper City District who finished that robber. However, those two men from Green Mountain Base were both at a very high-level, so they might be the one who killed that robber. And now, a level-eight being from that base emerged, who was clearly a leader. Based on the known information about that base, it was no weaker than a medium-sized base.


    Nevertheless, a base like this had been hiding itself without making contacts with other bases at all. Their people rarely showed up in the outside world. If it weren''t for that robber named Tang He, people wouldn''t know about their existence until recently.


    Wu Chengyue wondered how Huaxia Base would treat Green Mountain Base. Perhaps, those two bases had been making secret contacts all this while.


    "They have grown such a strength secretly, which means that they have their own way. I''m only wondering why they chose to show up in public now. After all, they''re already so strong. What do they want?" Wu Chengyue leaned on the back of the couch as he crossed his hands before his chest, then raised a hand to rub his chin.


    "Their people seem to never show up in big groups. Last time, only two men and a dog visited our base, and this time, they only sent seven people along with that dog! However, the power levels of those people are scarily high. How have they been upgrading?" Xiao Licheng felt confused too, "In fact, except for the level-eight Lan Lu, the level-seven Lei Cheng, the level-six Zheng Hao, the rest of them are at high levels as well. Among the rest of their team, there''s one level-seven, one level-six, and two level-five."


    Those were only seven people, but not even three armies or more could hurt them. How many high-leveled people did they have in their base? They wouldn''t possibly send all the strongest people in their base here, would they?


    "What about the other bases? Who are those people that have come here?" Wu Chengyue abruptly asked about the other bases.


    "Oh," Xiao Licheng leafed through the files in his hands and then continued, "Lu Zhuofeng from Hidden Cloud City Base brought Lan Qijie, who used to manage weapons in Earth Dragon Base. He didn''t bring many soldiers though, only about five hundred men. He Mu from Sky Fire Base has gone missing, so the other leader of that base named Li Zhengye came here with a vice-leader called Xu Changmu. As for Mongols Base, one of their leaders, Bao Chengzhi, has arrived. He didn''t bring any army force, only about a hundred guards."


    "Among all bases, Mongols Base is the nearest to Huaxia Base, and those two bases have been very friendly to each other. So, he doesn''t need to bring an army here," Wu Chengyue nodded.


    Xiao Licheng nodded as well," You''re right. These two bases have been working closely with each other in the recent few years. Anyways, the Heilong Base has sent one of their leaders, Gao Haoyun, and two level-six men. One of those two is a vice-leader, and the other one is a leader of a zombie-hunting troop. They brought nearly three-hundred men."


    "Gao Haoyun as the ice-powered man, right?" Wu Chengyue said.


    "Yes. So, Earth Dragon Base and Hades Base are gone, and Green Mountain Base is a newly emerged base. Including you, three level-eight people have come to this base. So, I think Mongols Base, Sky Fire Base, and Heilong Base will be at a disadvantage this time," Xiao Licheng said.


    "I doubt that. Those bases are relatively weaker indeed, but perhaps they have some backup plans," Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "Besides, that mysterious Green Mountain Base must have caught all the attention now. We won''t make any move, but that doesn''t mean that Lu Zhuofeng won''t either."


    "You''re right," Xiao Licheng nodded.


    Not to mention the fact that all bases had sent their leaders to Huaxia Base, the most probable result of the meeting would be people placing orders first, then returning to their bases to prepare the supplies which they promised Huaxia Base. The price hadn''t been published yet, so no base leader would bring a certain amount of supplies.


    The people who managed to purchase the antidote successfully might encounter robbery on their way back to their bases. The final results of that would be decided by the strength difference between those bases. If Wu Chengyue didn''t make a move, Green Mountain Base and Hidden Cloud City Base would be the only two bases able to rob the other bases. They needed to figure out each other''s plans first, in case they bumped into each other while taking action.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    If Hidden Cloud City Base had that kind of plan, their neighbors, the Sky Fire Base, would certainly become their target. Which side Green Mountain Base was on? Hidden Cloud City Base would definitely be extra careful, because they weren''t able to dig out Green Mountain Base''s background.

 616 The People

    "Based on what happened before, Hidden Cloud City Base will certainly take action against Sky Fire Base. As for Earth Dragon Base, I guess they didn''t take that base seriously. But now, this mysterious Green Mountain Base has emerged suddenly, and it appears to be considerably strong. Hidden Cloud City Base will be afraid of it for sure," Xiao Licheng followed Wu Chengyue''s thoughts.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "That''s right. No one will make a rash move when there is a big tiger which scares everyone," Wu Chengyue said smilingly.


    In that building, the leaders of the other bases had been talking about the same thing.


    "If Lu Zhuofeng dares to attack us, we will confront him face to face. We can claim that he killed our leader, He Mu, while destroying Earth Dragon Base with foul means. Then, we can make his base be responsible for Hades Base''s destruction. Then, all the other bases will target Hidden Cloud City Base, because they have violated the common rules of all human survivors and deliberately broken the balance between all the bases. In that case, all bases will join hands to punish them." In the room of Sky Fire Base, leader Li Zhengye was sitting on a couch and talking with a calm look. Clearly, he didn''t care much about He Mu who was missing, and Lu Zhuofeng who had broken into level-eight. "Currently, our main mission is to fight against the zombies out there after all," he continued.


    Li Zhengye''s name sounded righteous. He was about six-feet-tall, not fat but not slim either. He looked rather young¡ªabout thirty-years-old¡ªand that was his real age.


    He had snow power, which was a special type of superpower. Snow power couldn''t be used for launching a fierce attack, but could allow its possessors to control the air temperature. After entering level-seven, Li Zhengye was able to drop the air temperature in the area a mile around him to fifty degrees below zero. If the range went smaller, he would be able to make the air temperature go even lower than that.


    Ice-powered people were able to freeze people to death. Unlike them, Li Zhengye had the power to kill people with coldness.


    When the air temperature went down to seventy to eighty degrees below zero, the functions of human bodies would be slowed down. Under such a low temperature, superpowered people wouldn''t be frozen, only being disabled from controlling their limbs, but commoners would die.


    That was why people called Li Zhengye ''the Martian''. After all, the air temperature on Mars was eighty-degrees below zero.


    Sitting next to him was Xu Changmu, a level-six man, also a vice-leader of Sky Fire Base.


    He nodded and said, "You''re right. Where are those Green Mountain Base people from? We haven''t heard anything about that base before, but they just showed up so suddenly this time. Their leader is a level-eight man. I wonder if he''s even a little stronger than Lu Zhuofeng. After all, Lu Zhuofeng has just entered that level."


    "Who knows! The two of them need to pick up a fight to find that out. I''m no match for either of them anyway," Li Zhengye glanced outside the window and said.


    "Now, Huaxia Base, Sea City Base, Hidden Cloud City Base, and Green Mountain Base all have level-eight people. We have been falling far behind them," Xu Changmu frowned.


    "What can we do about that? If we had gotten Netherworld Fire''s nucleus last time, Gu Yikang might have made the breakthrough already. I just didn''t expect He Mu to be so incapable!" Mentioning He Mu, Li Zhengye made a frown with disappointment.


    "That''s true. They both have fire power. No one''s nucleus is more suitable for Gu Yikang than Netherworld Fire''s," Xu Changmu nodded.


    "That''s what I think. However, they actually let Netherworld Fire blow herself up. Didn''t they say that she was already controlled with the drug?" Li Zhengye said with slight anger.


    "No one could have predicted that. That woman was never weak. She detonated herself and then created a poisonous area, causing trouble even after her death," Xu Changmu sighed.


    "Tell me about it," Li Zhengye nodded, but soon changed the topic, "We don''t even know where Green Mountain Base is. Are those people the strongest ones from their base? Or, are they only a part of them?"


    "I believe we''ll soon find out. They have shown up now, so I think they don''t worry that people might try to dig out their background information. When they leave Huaxia, we''ll have our people follow behind them. Maybe we''ll find some clues," Xu Changmu thought for a moment and said.


    "That''ll work if they want us to know about their base," Li Zhengye said.


    When the others were talking about them, Green Mountain Base people were talking about something else in their room.


    "Didn''t that base send anyone here?" Lan Lu was a level-eight man. No outsider knew what power he had.


    "We haven''t received any news about that, neither seen any suspicious people enter this base. According to our scouts in Upper City District, those people are all staying in their base," Zheng Hao, who was sitting on the couch beside Lan Lu, said.


    Lan Lu was wearing a pair of glasses, looking rather gentle and energetic. He was a little slim, and his skin was white. His hair were neatly cut, and his eyes were bright.


    The expressionless Lei Cheng was sitting in an armchair. "Should we visit them when our work here is done?" he said, "A bunch of people will be following us by then anyway. We can conveniently draw their attention to Upper City District."


    "That''s actually a good idea. But, I want to take some of that antidote back to our base as soon as possible, then study it. You two lead the others to Hangzhou while I will return to our base," Lan Lu thought briefly, then replied.


    "But, those people are pretty hard to deal with," Lei Cheng glanced at him and said.


    Lan Lu gave him a glance and said, "What do you mean by ''deal with?'' Who asked you to deal with them? Can''t you just visit them honestly? Bring some gifts! Their new base is still in construction, so they must be lacking stones and other constructional materials. If you bring them some strong adhesive, they''ll be much more friendly to you. You need to visit them amicably and kindly. We don''t want them to be our enemies. Make your standpoint clear. Do you understand?"


    "I get it," Lei Cheng replied.


    "Think about it," Lan Lu continued explaining, "They are able to live together with zombies peacefully like us. They must have their own way to do that. They can also make zombies talk. I think they won''t give us a hard time, as we are in the same kind of situation as them. After all, they''re living with special zombies too. We both are in the same boat. As long as we do not do them any harm, they won''t push us off the boat. After all, that might destroy both our base and theirs."


    Lei Cheng didn''t say anything, but only nodded.


    "I think they''ll certainly be here. After all, Huaxia people developed the antidote to kill zombies. It''s a big problem for us, so it must be the same for them. They won''t just ignore it, will they?" Zheng Hao abruptly joined the conversation.

 617 Early Birds Caught the Warm

    In the room, Green Mountain Base people were talking about how to get close to Lin Qiao and her people.


    "Earlier on, you said that if only we can catch a talking zombie and study it¡­ You''re not asking us to be friends with them for that purpose, are you?" Lei Cheng looked at him and said.


    "I did have that thought in my mind. But later on, I felt that it would be inappropriate, as they never offended us. Em¡­ So, about studying talking zombies, I think we should just wait," Lan Lu put a hand on his chin while saying.


    The others eyed him with a weird look.


    "Oh my! Boss, you''re not possessed by some other soul, are you? You are actually not interested in such kind of weird thing anymore! Don''t you like to study in these strange things the most?" said another man in the room.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I do want to study them, but it has to be within my reach. Do you want me to attack them while we know nothing about them? What if they launch a strong counterstrike? In that case, our future relationship would be ruined!" Lan Lu gave him a glare.


    "Not even a level-eight zombie can beat you, right? Well¡­ alright, you might still be a little weaker than a level-eight¡­" That man changed his words.


    "Hehe, not just a little! Our Boss has spirit power, so he only has a strong brain! Level-eight zombies are no joke! Actually, are there really level-eight zombies in the world? Those few zombies that we met in Hangzhou should be new in level-seven, right?" Zheng Hao laughed and said.


    "They have three level-seven zombies, and that''s already impressive. For zombies, breaking into level-seven from level-six is never easy. None of the zombies in our base have managed to enter level-seven yet. That base is powerful. We need to stay cautious," said Lei Cheng blandly. His comely face wore no expression.


    They mentioned the zombies in their base very naturally. Clearly, they hadn''t been seeing them as aliens. Perhaps, being a zombie was only another way for a human to survive in their eyes.


    "They''re surely powerful! That''s why I told you to visit them and feel their attitude first. If you can''t do that, I''ll make a trip to Hangzhou myself after I finish studying the antidote that Huaxia developed. Oh, haven''t we located the zombie in Huaxia City yet?" Lan Lu glanced at the others and asked.


    Lei Cheng shook his head and said, "No. Erlei didn''t find it either."


    "Even the dog can''t sense him. I guess we can only ask another zombie to look for this zombie. Maybe you should find a way to bring one of them in from the outside. Zombies can sense zombies. That might be how we can find him," Lan Lu thought for a moment and said.


    "Okay, I''ll be on it," Zheng Hao responded, then stood up and left.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was moving toward the research institute. Before arriving at the building, she abruptly stopped and landed on top of a building that was about a mile away from the institute, looking ahead with confusion.


    Some people were already there! Who were they?


    Lin Qiao paused shortly, then kept moving forward, flashing across the darkness. After arriving at the building, she didn''t enter the underground floors directly, but chose a spot and waited there quietly.


    Those people had managed to find the zombie, but seemed to have encountered some difficulties while coming out. Around 3 am, Lin Qiao finally saw them crawl out of a sewer on the other side of the building. She couldn''t tell how they got into that sewer.


    However, she was surprised on seeing them carry out that frozen zombie. They actually did it! It seemed that those people did have some abilities. Lin Qiao wondered where they were from.


    With curiosity, she approached that group of people.


    Once she started moving, the alarm in the building suddenly went off. The shrill alarm echoed through the darkness of night. Soon, a series of noises could be heard from the building. Soldiers darted out of the building, searching around nervously. The entire area fell into chaos.


    Before long, there came someone in charge. All the lights in the building were turned on, and the alarm never stopped.


    Lin Qiao glanced back at the building, then turned around and quietly followed the group of people who were sneaking away.


    Huaxia City people reacted speedily. Within less than one minute, all the entrances of the building had been sealed; the entire area was on its highest state of alert. A few figures flashed across the roof, and then, the entire base was sealed. All the entrances were locked; no one was allowed to leave the base.


    The invisible Lin Qiao quietly avoided those people on the roof and stood on the roof edge, seeing the group of thieves hiding in a corner which was hard to notice.


    Two people were carrying that frozen zombie. They both had ice power; while carrying the zombie, they had also been releasing their powers to keep the zombie frozen.


    In just a few minutes, all the guests from other bases had heard about the news.


    "Eh? It''s so noisy out there. What happened?" Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then guessed, "Did someone¡­ steal the antidote?"


    "It''s possible!" Xiao Licheng said.


    "So, it''s in the underground space of the institute. Someone else got it first! Go and find out where those people came from!" Lan Lu from Green Mountain Base crossed his arms before his chest while speaking.


    "Okay," Lei Cheng quickly left with Zheng Hao.


    "Who are they? Who do they work for?" Hearing about the news, Lu Zhuofeng pulled a long face.


    "We don''t know where they came from yet. Huaxia people have sealed the base, but those people haven''t been found yet," said Xu Changmu.


    "We''ll soon have visitors," said Lu Zhuofeng.


    As he said, the visitors showed up in no time. Huaxia Base people had started searching everywhere. In the building where the leaders of the other bases lived, they searched every single room. They claimed that some robbers had sneaked into the base, so they needed to search through the whole base for people''s safety.


    Facing Wu Chengyue, Lu Zhuofeng, Lan Lu, and other base leaders, those Huaxia Base people politely but stoutly asked them to cooperate.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao watched those thieves who had been hiding in that corner. She followed them closely, but couldn''t hear anything from them, because they only use eye-contact and hand gestures to communicate with each other.


    They wore camouflage suits, head masks, and hats. They were all tall and strong. Their every move gave out a sense of bravery, but also cautiousness.


    Even though the entire base was sealed off, those people weren''t panicking at all.

 618 Steal From Themselves

    Lin Qiao watched those people nimbly flash across the darkness like ghosts, perfectly dodging the people who had been searching around. Anyway, those people had no idea that someone was watching their every move. They tried to avoid the area which would be searched, while leaving.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    They roved around in the base for a couple of hours. Then, instead of trying to get out of the base, they slowly moved toward the building that all the base leaders lived in.


    Lin Qiao followed behind them, her eyes showing a surprised look.


    She saw those people avoid the guards by the main entrance and move to the other side of the building where the guards couldn''t see, then quickly and smoothly open a hidden door and get in.


    Before the last man entered the building, Lin Qiao suddenly showed up, threw him into her space, and then followed the others into the building. Without being noticed by anyone else, she actually replaced that man with herself.


    She put on a facial mask and a hat. Behind the door, the light was dim. Human eyes couldn''t see things clearly in that place, so the others had no idea that Lin Qiao had managed to mingle with the team.


    In the dim light, those people did a quick nose count. As they found nothing strange, they kept moving forward. None of them noticed that one in the team went missing while they were moving. They went down for a few floors through the stairs and entered a dark room.


    They shut the door, then turned on the lights. Next, they quickly took off their hats and masks and put them in a bag.


    After that, they finally relaxed slightly.


    At that point, Lin Qiao saw their clothes and badges clearly, and then raised her brows slightly.


    Those people were actually from Huaxia Base! Lin Qiao got close to them and read their minds. From their thoughts, she learned that they had received a secret mission¡ªSteal that zombie from their own place, then secretly send him to a new place and hide him there.


    Apart from that, they knew nothing.


    Lin Qiao understood why. From the angle of the administrators of Huaxia Base, that zombie needed to be one hundred percent safe. Therefore, merely hiding that zombie was not enough, as Huaxia Base people clearly know that many other bases had their eyes on the zombie. Therefore, they came up with an idea which allowed them to create a chaos to divert people''s attention while secretly moving the zombie to a safer place.


    People from many other bases were now in Huaxia, and they all knew about the base. So, once the zombie was stolen, those bases would immediately start suspecting each other. They would all be misguided, and within a short span of time, no one would suspect Huaxia Base.


    Also, as the zombie was stolen, Huaxia Base would release the news, saying that they might not be able to provide any more antidote for other bases. Since the most important source of the antidote was stolen, they surely wouldn''t be able to produce any more of it. In that case, Huaxia Base would have a reason to raise the price of the antidote, which would be sold at the grand meeting this time.


    They would only provide a small amount of antidote this time, but that wouldn''t change the fact that it was a very good invention. Without a doubt, the other bases weren''t planning to use it directly on zombies. They wold certainly study it as well. Perhaps, they would be able to discover something valuable from the antidote.


    That¡­ was the true value of the antidote.


    Lin Qiao nodded silently. That was indeed a good plan. A beam of light flashed across her green eyes as her lip corners curved in a wicked smile.


    Huaxia Base did her a big favor by stealing that zombie from their own place! The zombie had already been brought to her. What reason did she have not to accept it?


    With that thought, Lin Qiao released a few wisps of dark mist and sent them slowly to the group of people.


    There were less than ten people in that team, yet they were all pretty powerful. Judging by their energies, they were all at level-five or above. Their leader was a level-six.


    As Lin Qiao released the dark mist, the leader-like man suddenly frowned and turned to the door as he said, "Wait! Where''s Weishe?"


    Hearing him, the others immediately turned to the door, then looked around the room. As that man said, one team member had gone missing.


    "He was right behind me!" A team member by the door said confusedly.


    "That kid often falls behind! He might show up later," said someone else.


    "That''s not right. It''s impossible for him not to feel how important this mission is! He''ll never leave without permission during such an important mission! Erwei, go out and find him!" The leader slightly knitted his brows, his eyes glowing with a sharp light.


    "Yes, sir!" The team member near the door responded immediately, then turned and opened the door before quietly walking out.


    As the door was closed gently, the people in the room were no longer relaxed, all wearing a serious look.


    Right at that moment, Lin Qiao clenched her fist. Following her move, the dark mist which had reached up to those people''s heads from around their feet immediately drilled into their ears. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao showed up by the side of that level-six man and gripped his throat with a hand.


    "You''re right. He didn''t leave¡­ I killed him," Lin Qiao said to him with a low voice.


    "Eh¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    Except for the team leader who was in Lin Qiao''s hands, all the others suddenly froze, their eyes unfocused. Next, blood slowly flew out of their eyes and ears.


    Thud, thud, thud¡­ The group of people fell to the ground. A series of muffled thuds was heard in that room, which wasn''t large.


    "Er¡­ eh¡­" The man in Lin Qiao''s hands was still struggling. He opened his eyes so widely that those eyeballs seemed to even fall out of his eye sockets. His face reddened, mouth gaped like the mouth of a fish which was exposed in the air. A strange noise was uttered from his throat.


    He pulled Lin Qiao''s wrists with both hands, but she didn''t even move an inch.


    Lin Qiao didn''t waste more time on him, but put forth her strength through her palms.


    Crack! Following the muffled noise, the team leader tilted his head, dropped his arms, and then collapsed to the ground.


    Lin Qiao relaxed her grip, then waved a hand and released a stream of dark mist. The mist covered the dead bodies on the ground. Before long, no one but Lin Qiao and the frozen zombie were left in the room.


    The man who was thrown into Lin Qiao''s space felt being dragged by someone before entering that strange place. His eyes were dazzled, and then, he found that he had entered this strange place.


    He saw woods, with weird-looking trees. He had never seen a tree like that before. Those trees had metal leaves, black trunks, and were extra tall like ancient trees!


    As he raised his head to look at that strange woods with surprise, a strange sound was suddenly heard from behind him. He turned and saw a pair of rhombic eyes staring at him coldly.

 619 I Didnst Do I

    Before that man could react to the pair of cold, rhombic eyes, a weird roar was heard from behind.


    "Roar!"


    He shivered, then suddenly realized what he was looking at.


    A giant king cobra!


    All his fine hairs stood straight up. With fear, he turned to look at what was behind him, and then his legs went limp.


    He saw a teeth-baring, furless zombie dog staring at him. The dog''s purely black, pupil-less eyes glowed with a weird light.


    That man had a strong mind, which allowed him to react very soon. With enemies at front and rear, he instinctively turned and raised his arms, each palm facing an enemy, preparing to attack them with his superpower.


    But in the next second, he realized that he could no longer use his superpower.


    Why would that happen?


    As he paused in shock, Black and Bowwow had already pounced on him at lightning speed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao entered the space with the frozen zombie and sensed a scent of blood from the woods area.


    She dropped the frozen zombie before the small building, then disappeared. In the next second, she showed up in the woods.


    That man was already dead. His body was awfully bitten, broken, covered in blood. However, no part of that body was missing. The snake and the zombie dog stayed by the body''s side, quietly looking at Lin Qiao.


    They didn''t eat any part of that body because that was forbidden by Lin Qiao.


    She had been forbidding them from eating human beings. She needed to set a rule for them, in case they might attack or eat people in her base in the future.


    It now appeared that her plan worked.


    They were allowed to attack the enemies, but not to eat them! The two animals didn''t understand, but that was indeed a good way to restrain their wildness.


    Lin Qiao walked over and took out that man''s nucleus, then waved a hand and sent a dark flake of fire onto that body.


    "Owoo!" Once the dark fire appeared, the zombie dog and Black immediately darted away.


    The tiny fire flake expanded the moment it fell on the dead body. Within three seconds, the dead body was gone, and the fire shrank back to the size of a finger.


    As Lin Qiao crooked her finger, the fire landed on her palm and then disappeared.


    She walked out of the woods and went through the grassland, toward the small building. At that moment, Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi were squatting before the frozen zombie, observing him curiously.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know that Xie Dong was a zombie, while Xie Dong had no idea that Lu Tianyi had turned into a zombie. So this time, when they ran into each other, they gazed at each other with surprise.


    The same thought popped up in both their minds¡ª''He turned into a zombie!''


    Lu Tianyi had a second thought, and then realized that he was wrong. Xie Dong never talked. He seemed to be unable to talk. Now, Lu Tianyi himself couldn''t talk either. Thinking about that, he finally realized that Xie Dong was one of the zombie squad since long ago!


    Xie Dong was surprised as well. He wondered that happened to Lu Tianyi that turned him into a zombie.


    Neither of them could talk. They gave each other a few glances, then both chose to ignore the questions in their heads.


    Lin Qiao came over and thought for a moment, then said to Xie Dong, "Melt the ice with your power."


    Xie Dong stood up and looked at her with hesitation. The frozen zombie had been giving out a very powerful vibe. Even though he was much weaker than Zombie Sister, Xie Dong was still worried that some unexpected change might happen after he woke up.


    "It''s okay. It''ll be fine¡­ Just do it," Lin Qiao said. She knew what he was worrying about. Hearing that, Xie Dong raised his hand and threw a sphere of flame to the frozen zombie.


    Lu Tianyi stood up and moved behind Lin Qiao as he looked at the frozen zombie curiously. He wondered where his Zombie Sister found the frozen zombie.


    Suddenly, he had an idea.


    She was heading to Huaxia Base earlier. Lu Tianyi heard that the antidote that Huaxia Base recently developed was made from a special zombie. So, he started thinking if that was this frozen zombie¡­


    With that thought, he turned to Lin Qiao with a weird look in his eyes.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and nodded, "Hm, you guessed right. It is him!"


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say. He could imagine how chaotic it was on the outside now.


    ''She does like to create troubles!'' he thought.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao looked at him and shook her head, "That''s not true. I didn''t do it this time! Huaxia Base people stole from themselves to frame the other bases. I just hijacked the zombie on their way to the next hiding spot.


    Hearing that, Lu Tianyi showed a slightly surprised look. He didn''t know that Huaxia Base would have this kind of plan.


    Beside him, Xie Dong turned and glanced at Lin Qiao as well.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "I was going to steal this zombie anyway. Huaxia Base people just did it first. They brought the zombie to me, so I had no reason not to accept it, right?"


    While speaking, she looked at the two smilingly.


    The two turned and looked at the zombie on the ground, which was unfreezing. They weren''t even listening to her. The longer time they spent with Zombie Sister, the stronger they felt that she was actually sneaky and shameless sometimes!


    "Oi, why are you reacting this way? Did I do anything wrong? Think about what you are. That antidote is very dangerous for us. We need to figure out what is putting us in danger, so we can avoid it! Besides, I''m not asking you to go against human beings, am I? We just need to stop those things which are no good for us. If we can''t stop them, we''ll think of a way to avoid them," Lin Qiao looked at them and said.


    At that moment, Xie Dong had unfrozen the zombie. The wet zombie lay on the ground, showing no sign of waking up.


    Lu Tianyi and Xie Dong felt a little weird about it.


    "He was injected with a strong tranquilizer that put him into unconsciousness," Lin Qiao came closer and poked the zombie with a foot, finding that his body was still hard.


    It seemed that he wouldn''t wake up soon.


    She thought for a moment, then turned and walked into the small building. Soon, she came out with a cup, walked to the bucket near the seeding field, and fetched some water from the bucket.


    Lin Qiao put that bucket there to provide convenience for Lu Tianyi, for managing the vegetables. Normally, that bucket would be filled with water. Before the water ran out, she would refill it.


    After all, no one but Lin Qiao was able to get close to the lake. She had been paying attention to that bucket, making sure it always had water in it. So now, she directly went there and fetched a cup of water from the bucket.


    She squatted and poured the water in the cup into that zombie''s mouth.

 620 Didnst Forget Himself

    The energy in the lake didn''t erase the tranquilizer inside the frozen zombie''s body, but slowly activated his mind, suppressing the effect of the tranquilizer and waking him up.


    The frozen zombie opened his eyes, looking at little confused, like someone who just woke up from a deep sleep. He blinked dully, then looked around with confusion and found that he was lying on the ground. Before his eyes was a vast spread of white fog.


    He abruptly sat up, but felt dizzy, his eyes suddenly blurred. He didn''t dare to close his eyes but frowned as he stared at the three zombies around him.


    Those zombies were gazing at him, so he didn''t dare to relax. He sat there motionlessly, looking at Lin Qiao and the other two while waiting for the dizziness to fade.


    Maybe because of his high vigilance, or because he was at the same level as her, Lin Qiao couldn''t read that zombie''s mind.


    "You''re awake¡­ Get up. Don''t worry, I won''t attack you," Lin Qiao looked at him and said blandly. After saying that, Lin Qiao clearly noticed that the zombie slightly widened his eyes and showed a surprised look.


    Seeing that look on his face, Lin Qiao was a little stunned. Was that zombie surprised on hearing what she said? Normally, other zombies would be able to understand her meaning and follow her orders, even if they didn''t understand human language.


    No zombies had ever shown such a look upon hearing her talk. Did that zombie understand human language?


    When Lin Qiao was thinking, the zombie stood up from the ground, his eyes fixed on her.


    At that time, Lin Qiao felt that the zombie was still on full alert, but at the same time, she also felt that he had relaxed a little already.


    Was she wrong? She believed no. Ever since she became a zombie, her sensations had been extra sharp, and were rarely wrong.


    She couldn''t help but carefully observe that zombie. She suspected that he might have memories!


    While she was observing the zombie, the zombie was observing her as well. He could feel that she was at the same level as him, but didn''t understand why the pressure that she was giving out was stronger than his. Was she getting close to level-eight? Or, was he too weak?


    Without starting a fight, the zombie couldn''t tell exactly how powerful Lin Qiao was. However, he clearly felt that he would have no chance to win, not even if he was in his best condition.


    He had also been observing the two by Lin Qiao''s side, and clearly felt that those two were zombies too. But, why did the three look so much like human beings? Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Like many other zombies, that zombie was also color blind. He couldn''t see the colors, but could still see the surrounding environment and the faces of the three.


    Their faces were clean, without any wounds or scars. Even their eyes contained white parts. In his eyes, their eyes were black and white, without any other colors.


    Lin Qiao''s green pupils were light grey in his eyes, but were clearly distinct from the white parts.


    Those eyes were so different from his own purely black eyes. All three zombies had that kind of eyes, which were completely different from the eyes of normal zombies.


    "You really didn''t forget who you are. You still have your memories before turning into a zombie, don''t you?" After spending a short while observing the zombie, Lin Qiao blinked and said.


    After being surprised by what she said, the zombie had been looking at her in a weird way. Lin Qiao felt weird, because that complicated kind of look wasn''t supposed to be detected from a zombie''s eyes. If he were a normal level-seven zombie, he wouldn''t just observe her so quietly.


    After all, she would be a very big threat to him.


    As she expected, the zombie had a sharp beam of light flash across his eyes after hearing her words.


    Lin Qiao''s words didn''t only surprise the frozen zombie, but also surprised the other two. Lu Tianyi and Xie Dong glanced at each other, then turned back to the frozen zombie.


    Finishing talking, Lin Qiao turned and walked into the small building. Lu Tianyi and Xie Dong followed behind her quickly.


    They left that zombie out there alone.


    In the living room, Lin Qiao sat on the couch and said to Lu Tianyi, "That boy isn''t following you around anymore. What did you do?"


    Lu Tianyi paused briefly and glanced at her with confusion. But then, he soon figured out her meaning. It turned out that she was talking about that young male zombie who always bothered him before.


    That zombie seemed to be very interested in catching bugs lately. He caught all the bugs in the vegetable field, then moved to the strawberry field. At last, he moved into the grassland to catch the bugs there.


    Picturing that zombie''s mouth filled with dead bugs and teeth stained by the disgusting, sticky liquid, Lu Tianyi shivered. Then, he looked at Lin Qiao with a bitter look. Clearly, he blamed Lin Qiao for suddenly mentioning that zombie.


    Watching his reaction, Lin Qiao smiled.


    Seeing her smile, Lu Tianyi was a little unhappy. Right at that moment, the frozen zombie walked into the living room.


    All three of them turned to the door.


    The room wasn''t illuminated, so it was a little dark in there. But, as zombies, they were able to see things clearly.


    Seeing that zombie walk over with a calm look and bright eyes, Lin Qiao knew that he had given an affirmative answer to what she said before.


    "Please sit down," Lin Qiao pointed at another couch and said to him.


    At that point, Lu Tianyi picked up the writing tablet on a side table, which was placed on one side of the living room, then found a rollerball pen. He brought the tablet and pen to the tea table which was before the couch that Lin Qiao pointed at, then turned and walked behind Lin Qiao, standing side by side with Xie Dong. Both of them moved further away from Lin Qiao and stood against the wall.


    Looking at the tablet on the table, the zombie showed a strange look in his eyes. He walked over and sat down as Lin Qiao asked.


    "My family name is Lu. I am the leader of the All Beings Base," Lin Qiao introduced herself. Her words made all the other three wear a confused look.


    ''What is All Beings Base?'' Lu Tianyi and the zombie had the same question in their head.


    Xie Dong raised his brows and glanced at Lin Qiao with a strange look. He did not know what the All Beings Base was either.


    Lin Qiao gave the frozen zombie a glance, then turned to the two behind her. After that, she paused briefly to think and explained, "Oh, that''s the name of the new base. Earlier on, we named the new base that we recently built All Beings Base."


    Once she said that, the frozen zombie looked at her with surprise.


    ''You are a zombie lady, and you are the leader of a base. Shouldn''t your base be called Zombie Base?'' he wondered.

 621 There Is A Trap Before Me

    Seeing the surprised look on the frozen zombie''s face, Lin Qiao smiled and asked, "Do you know what day today is? Do you remember when you got caught?"


    Hearing her words, the zombie erased his expression and shook his head, then nodded.


    Lin Qiao nodded slightly as she understood his meaning. He remembered when was he caught, but didn''t know what day was today.


    That made sense though. After he got caught, he was mostly in sleep. There was no clock in the freezing chamber to show him the time, so he surely didn''t know how long he was kept in there.


    "It''s the middle of December, in the fifth year after the apocalypse. The sixth year is beginning soon. When were you caught?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    The frozen zombie didn''t answer her question, but looked around, then looked outside the window.


    Just now, he had been feeling that a strange kind of energy was entering his body. That energy was in a very, very small, even ignorable amount, but he could clearly feel that it was beneficial to his body, as his body was special. He was curious about where he was.


    He had also sensed a lot of high-leveled zombies nearby. Apart from that, he somehow felt under suppression, but didn''t understand why.


    He looked at Lin Qiao. The suppression wasn''t from her. Where was it from?


    Lin Qiao couldn''t read his mind, but managed to guess out what he was thinking about based on the look in his eyes.


    "Do you want to know where you are? You can go out and take a good look around, then you''ll find out. But before that, you need to understand your current situation. I saved you from that lab, but can''t let you go anywhere you want, because they might catch you again. We would all be in huge trouble if they caught you again. Do you know about the research that they did with you?" Lin Qiao erased the faint smile from her face and said to the zombie with a serious look.


    The frozen zombie turned around and looked at her. His eyes contained an obvious puzzled look. He knew that the female zombie hadn''t finished talking. There was more for her to say.


    Lin Qiao paused and spent a few seconds looking at the zombie quietly, then continued, "Do you want to know? If you do, you need to promise me one thing first."


    ''There''s a trap before me. Should I jump in?'' The frozen zombie thought.


    He was confused at first, then realized that Lin Qiao had set a trap for him! He found that that female zombie wasn''t easy to deal with.


    "You can think about it. In fact, it''s not a bad thing for you. I want you to come back to my base with me and live there. Maybe, we can work together! Don''t worry, I won''t force you to work for me. I''m only offering you a place to live. But of course, you need to follow the rules in my base. Also, your body is special. So, without my permission, please do not leave the base." Lin Qiao said to the zombie.


    She claimed that she wouldn''t force him to work for her, but also expressed the meaning that he would be house arrested in her base. He had no idea what would happen after he got there. Why would he believe her?


    The zombie looked at Lin Qiao with a complicated expression in his eyes.


    Lin Qiao said, "Take your time to think about it. That''s my only condition. If you accept it, you''ll be able to leave this place and know all that you want to know. However, if you don''t accept it, I''m sorry, but I''ll have to ask you to stay here for now, because your body is special."


    Her threatening words made the zombie''s eyes glow with a cold light. The glare that he gave Lin Qiao immediately turned sharp.


    Lin Qiao ignored the look in his eyes, but the two lower-leveled ones behind her tightened their bodies.


    "Relax, we won''t hurt you. However, you do need my permission to leave this place, because¡­ only I can control this place." While speaking, Lin Qiao reached out a hand toward the zombie, and gave him a faint smile.


    "Er¡­ roar!" The zombie immediately sprung up. His hair even stood up, as if he was facing a powerful enemy. He bared his mouth and knitted his brows as he stared at Lin Qiao fiercely with a ferocious look.


    The hair on the back of his head started growing quickly, extending to his back from the back of his neck. Within a blink, he became a large, fluffy panther.


    His zombie face turned round and hairy; his two pairs of fangs shone with a cold light. However, he only maintained that state for three seconds. After that, his hair became short again.


    He panicked. Vigilance, intention of killing, helplessness, confusion¡­ all sorts of complicated emotions could be detected from his eyes.


    He was vigilant against Lin Qiao, and even wanted to kill her. He was panicking and helpless because he found that he could no longer control himself. His body disarmed itself against his will. Why? How could that happen?


    That suppression which he hadn''t been paying attention to was suddenly boosted, making him feel as if his whole body was bound.


    Was that invisible, suppressive force what disarmed him?


    At that point, Lin Qiao dropped her hand. Once she did that, the zombie felt that the bounded feeling was gone. Then, his hair grew long again, and he quickly turned back into a panther. This time, he didn''t feel anything strange again, and he was able to maintain that state for more than three seconds. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He maintained that beast form as he stared straight at Lin Qiao. He had already realized something.


    ''This place should be this female zombie''s space!''


    "You seem to have guessed it already!" Lin Qiao looked at him in the eyes and smiled faintly.


    "Your blood was made into antidote to kill ordinary zombies. Currently, Huaxia Base is preparing to generalize that antidote. For human beings, that is very helpful, but for us, that''s no good. So, I''m offering you protection, and also asking you to cooperate with us. Otherwise, we''ll all die in the end!" She looked at him and said.


    The zombie paused in shock. Lin Qiao''s words had really surprised him. He couldn''t have imagined that his blood was actually made into a weapon against zombies! He knew that his body was special, but didn''t expect that to happen.


    If what Lin Qiao said was true, that antidote could indeed be counted as a big step forward for human beings. But, there were so many zombies in the world. Was his blood enough to kill them all?

 622 Zombie Or Ca

    Lin Qiao didn''t urge him, but let him sit there and think. With the two behind her, she watched the large panther''s standing hair slowly lie back down, and his long tail wag from left to right, tail tip curled.


    As he unwittingly relaxed his tightened body, his flattened ears were coked.


    He was as tall and strong as a man, but somehow, those ears made him look a little adorable.


    Lin Qiao smilingly looked at those black ears. Panther ears weren''t as big as cat ears. That black panther''s ears were thick, tiny, and triangular. That zombie''s hair weren''t as dry and withered as the hair or normal zombies. Instead, they were black and clean, albeit a little messy.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The longer the zombie thought about his current situation, the stronger he felt that it was not good. He raised his head to look at Lin Qiao, his eyes containing disbelief. He clearly remembered that those people took his blood a couple of times. He didn''t know what they did with his blood. But, without seeing it with his own eyes, he wouldn''t believe Lin Qiao''s words.


    "Do you want to confirm it? Alright, I can send you out, then you can scout around for the truth," said Lin Qiao.


    The zombie looked at her with surprise. Why was she able to guess out his every thought? She guessed way too accurately!


    He flicked his ears and swung his tail from the right to left.


    "Do you agree? If you do, I''ll let you out," Lin Qiao smiled at him.


    Hearing her, the zombie dropped his tail and flicked his ears again. After that, he disarmed himself and turned back into a zombie. Then, he nodded at her.


    Lin Qiao stood up and walked toward him.


    "Don''t move." While speaking, she pressed a hand on the zombie''s shoulder and grasped his clothes. After that, they both disappeared in front of Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi.


    The zombie''s eyes were dazzled shortly, and after that, he found that he had come into a strange room from that weird living room.


    "Let''s get out," Lin Qiao waved at him, walking to the door.


    They were in the basement where she killed that squad of Huaxia Base people. Except for the man who was sent out by the squad leader to find the missing squad member, all the others had been vanished by Lin Qiao.


    The zombie showed a strange look on his face.


    Earlier, he guessed that he was in Lin Qiao''s space. And now, it turned out to be true! She was a space-powered zombie, so she was supposed to be weak, wasn''t she? However, why had she been giving out such a strong, suppressive vibe?


    He watched Lin Qiao walk to the door, then turn and wave at him. She had really brought him out. Wasn''t she afraid that he might run away?


    Once they left the small building in Lin Qiao''s space, the zombie felt that the weird suppression was gone, and so was the bounded feeling. His started to regain his energy quickly. In not long, he would be able to fight.


    He needed to defeat her if he wanted to leave by himself, didn''t he? She was a space-powered zombie, so he figured that she wasn''t as powerful as an animal-powered zombie like himself!


    The zombie''s hair grew long again. He wagged his tail, and his pair of ears pointed backward.


    Lin Qiao, who was opening the door, paused. She turned her head slightly and smiled at the zombie, "Do you wanna fight me? Are you sure?"


    While speaking, she spread her palm, and a wisp of flame emerged in her hand.


    Seeing that black flame, the panther instantly froze. Then, he moved backward and pressed his back against the wall behind him, all his hair standing straight up. The black fire was tiny, yet the sense of danger it gave out made the zombie nervous.


    As a zombie, being too sensitive was not a good thing! He always got himself frightened!


    Seeing his reaction, Lin Qiao dropped her hand with satisfaction and made the fire disappear.


    Even before she died, her dark fire was highly threatening to zombies. After turning into a zombie, the power of her fire had grown many times more powerful than before. Now, she could easily threaten other zombies with it.


    It was the first time that zombie sensed the power of her flame. The fire was too powerful, so he reacted that way.


    "What''s your decision? Shall we get out or not?" Lin Qiao stood by the door and said to the zombie.


    "Hahhh¡­" The zombie flattened his ears and uttered a deep growl like a cat. He stood still, staring at Lin Qiao vigilantly, his tail wagging nonstop.


    "Damn, are you a zombie or a cat? Panthers don''t do that, do they?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    The zombie paused briefly, then glared at Lin Qiao with discontentment. He didn''t like being called a cat.


    He was not a cat!


    "Alright, stop looking at me. Let''s go! It''s bustling up there. Let''s get up and watch the show!" Lin Qiao ignored his reaction and waved at him again.


    "You''re a level-seven anyhow. I''m at the same level as you, the same level! You surely can''t defeat me, but you don''t need to be so afraid of me, do you?" Lin Qiao walked out of the door. In the dark underground path, she murmured while going up the stairs.


    "Roar!" ''I''m not afraid of you! Your fire is just too weird!''


    The zombie gave an unhappy roar behind her. His deep, beast-roar-like voice sounded very loud in that quiet underground path.


    Lin Qiao ignored him, and just kept moving upstairs.


    It was late at night, but the base was very busy. The alarm had stopped, but more and more soldiers showed up.


    In the secret conference room of Huaxia Base, someone was furious.


    "Why is it missing? I told you to deliver the package to Room No.7, but you lost it! Even the squad went missing! Why didn''t you disappear as well? Why are you here?" A nearly seven-feet tall man angrily glared at a man in a camouflage suit, who was down on one knee by the door.


    The man in a camouflage suit was a member of the squad which moved the zombie out of the research institution. Earlier on, he was sent by his leader out of the building where the leaders of the other bases lived to look for the missing squad member.


    At that moment, his face was covered in cold sweat. With panic, he lowered his voice and responded, "I¡­ I don''t know! Captain told me to go out and look for Weishe. I didn''t find him, and when I got back to the basement, nobody was there! I thought Captain and the others went to Room No.7 without me, so I went there. But, they weren''t there either, and the package was gone too!"


    He didn''t know what happened. He was sent out to find someone, but failed. When he got back, the entire squad was gone. Something bad must have happened. Otherwise, how could the squad possibly disappear during a mission?

 623 The Leader Of Huaxia Base

    The tall man coldly stared at that squad member, staying silent.


    The longer he stayed quiet, the more sweat did that squad member shed. A drop of sweat ran off his temple. A few sweat drops had already fallen on the ceramic floor before his knees.


    "Go!" The tall man abruptly turned and said a word, then walked back behind his desk and sat down.


    "Yes, sir!" The squad member was instantly relieved. He hurriedly responded, then stood up and left quietly.


    Behind the desk, the tall man crossed his arms before his chest and knitted his eyebrows. His bright eyes glowed while his forefinger tapped his arm slowly.


    "Chief, should we¡­ inform the other chairmen about this?" Two men in military uniforms stood by the desk. One of them glanced at the door, then turned and asked the man who was sitting behind the desk.


    The man behind the desk was the only leader of Huaxia Base, named Si Kongchen.


    Si Kongchen was a level-eight possessor of fire power, the first level-eight superpowered man in the country. A year ago when he broke into level-eight, he abolished the multi-leader policy in Huaxia Base and started a monarchy. He decided that only the strongest person could lead the base. The other base leaders who were at level-seven had no choice but to accept his decision, and formed the Board of Directors of Huaxia Base. Currently, they were like the elders of the base.


    However, that was only a change of title. Their powers and duties hadn''t changed at all. Knowing that, those chairmen slowly accepted the new policy.


    There were seven chairmen in Huaxia Base, all at level-seven. They couldn''t become the Chief of the base unless they defeated Si Kongchen. However, they weren''t willing to stay under his autocracy, so they became allies, slowly forming a force to balance the Chief.


    Below the seven chairmen were eighteen Deputy Chiefs. Some of them were at level-six, and some had recently entered level-seven. They were divided into two groups: one group followed Si Kongchen''s orders and the other was under the Board''s command.


    Huaxia Base was the top survivors'' base in the country. It was not only powerful, but controlled many advanced technologies. Nearly two million survivors lived in that base, many of whom were scientific talents. So naturally, the base had achieved rapid development in technology. Added with the fact that many residents of the base were strong superpowered beings, the base was much more advanced than the other bases in food storage, medical technology, military power, and many other aspects.


    The two men in the conference room were both Deputy Chiefs.


    "Not for now. Just go and find out what exactly has happened! Find them, alive or dead. Even if there''re no dead bodies, there''ll always be some traces. The squad leader is a level-six superpowered man after all. It''s impossible for him to be killed without realizing anything or being able to react." Si Kongchen shook his head, then raised his head and gave the two a task.


    "Yes, sir!" The two turned and left without saying anything else.


    After watching them walk out of the door, Si Kongchen turned his head, thinking about all the possibilities.


    That was an elite squad; the squad leader was at level-six. It wasn''t possible for them to be wiped out without leaving a trace, unless the enemy was at level-seven or level-eight. The other squad members were all at level-five. Together, they were no weaker than a level-six man.


    However, a squad like that just vanished. Who had the power to destroy a well-trained, quick-witted, strong squad like that without leaving any traces?


    The leader of Sea City Base had lightning power. Loud noises would certainly be caused when he launched an attack. Besides, he would leave at least some dark, burning marks behind. Lu Zhuofeng from Hidden Cloud City Base had wind power. He liked to cut people to death with wind blades; so, if it were him, there would be some blood stains to be found. Lan Lu from Green Mountain Base had a pretty special power. His spirit power allowed him to kill a person with one mere thought. Also, his background was a little strange.


    That man was the most probable suspect! Not to mention the fact that he brought two level-seven subordinates!


    "Guard!" He abruptly yelled toward the door.


    "Chief!" Someone quickly came in.


    "Tell Deputy Chief Hou to pay close attention to those Green Mountain Base people and find out what they''re going to do tonight," Si Kongchen didn''t even raise his head, looking at the desk while speaking.


    "Yes, sir!" That man accepted the order and left.


    Except for the three level-eight men who were able to directly kill people with violence, the other base leaders were all at level-seven, and their powers were not special. If Gu Yikang from Sky Fire Base were here, he might be suspected too, as he had a poisonous fire. However, he was only a level-seven man, meaning that he couldn''t possibly kill the whole squad with one move. He might kill one or two in that squad at one time. Besides, his fire was green, and wasn''t as powerful as netherworld fire of the old Hades Base leader.


    Also, his fire wasn''t able to take lives immediately, but could only poison people and kill them slowly. Level-six people could survive for ten minutes after being poisoned by his fire, while level-five people could only last three minutes. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Therefore, if it were Gu Yikang who attacked them, the squad would have at least three minutes to fight back.


    That was only a hypothesis. Gu Yikang didn''t come to Huaxia Base. Instead of him, Li Zhengye the snow-powered man was here.


    The leaders of the rest two bases who had come to Huaxia were both at level-seven as well. It was more unlikely for them to be the one who destroyed the squad.


    Si Kongchen thought about it over and over again. None of the possibilities he came up with seemed to be right, but he still believed that it was one of those powerful people who killed the squad. So, he analyzed those people in his head without missing any of them.


    Huaxia base set a trap for other people. However, as someone else discovered it and gave them a push, they fell into the trap themselves.


    At the same time, the people from the other bases had also been trying to figure out who stole the zombie. No one planned to get any sleep that night. Ordinary superpowered people could stay energetic for a couple of days without sleeping, not to mention those high-leveled ones.


    "Um¡­ It wasn''t her, was it?" In Wu Chengyue''s room, Xiao Licheng glanced at the door and then said to Wu Chengyue with a low voice.


    She had a space, and was able to turn invisible! No one was more suitable for the job than she was!


    "Stop talking nonsense! Who are you talking about? Huaxia Base is so strictly guarded. I don''t think anyone we know can do it. Even if someone did do it, it''d be impossible for him or her to leave the base. So now, he or she must have been hiding somewhere in the base," Wu Chengyue glanced at him and said meaningfully.


    "You''re right," Xiao Licheng hurriedly ended the conversation.

 624 The Meeting of Leaders

    Next morning, the leader of Huaxia Base sent his people to invite the leaders of other bases to discuss what happened last night.


    The seats in the reception room were well arranged. Every Chief had an armchair, with a tea table by the side. Behind that were two armchairs, with a tea table in the middle. Those were for the relatively high-placed people under the Chiefs, such as Deputy Chiefs.


    Si Kongchen sat in the host''s seat as he smilingly said to the other base leaders, "I assume you have all learned what happened last night. The source of material that we used for making the antidote was stolen. We haven''t even found a clue of it yet. So now, we have sealed off our base. The base will not be unsealed until we have found the source of the material. Thank you all for understanding."


    The group of base leaders nodded at him knowingly, yet no one could tell what they each had been thinking.


    "What a coincidence! It wasn''t stolen earlier or later. Instead, it went missing right when we all gathered here. I guess some among the people in this room came with plans," Lu Zhuofeng raised his eyebrows and said to Si Kongchen with a smile.


    Si Kongchen gave him a smile and responded, "Chief Lu, did you have that kind of a plan? You mentioned the people in this room, so I suppose you are included as well, right?"


    "I am curious about the source of the material you have lost. I heard that the antidote is made from the blood of a special zombie, and the parts of several kinds of mutated animals and plants. Chief Si, can you please tell us which material is missing now?" Wu Chengyue sat in front of Lu, wearing his daily smile.


    Si Kongchen didn''t plan to hide the truth. He looked at Wu Chengyue and replied, "The special zombie was stolen. It''s the source of the most important material."


    He was planning to make the zombie disappear right before the eyes of all those base leaders, then move it to the next hiding spot. In that case, people would think that Huaxia Base wouldn''t be able to produce more antidote, and then, he would have every reason to raise the price.


    Si Kongchen didn''t come up with that idea, the board did. He thought it was a good idea, so he approved the action.


    Unexpectedly, things didn''t develop in the way they wanted. They planned to tell the others that the zombie had gone missing, and now, it was missing for real.


    People had guessed that it was the zombie which had been stolen, but didn''t expect Si Kongchen to say it out so soon. After all, the zombie was stolen in their own place when some people from other bases were there. They sealed off the base and forbade people from leaving, meaning that they were suspecting the people from other bases. Now, as Si Kongchen had said it out loud in that meeting, it was clear that he didn''t plan to show the other base leaders any respect.


    Those base leaders had no idea that it was a plan of Huaxia Base, and that in the end, someone else took advantage of it.


    "Oh, I was curious about how special that zombie was, and was looking forward to Chief Si giving us an introduction. Now, it seems that I won''t even have a chance to see it," Lan Lu smiled and said.


    In a frank manner, he told Si Kongchen that he was indeed interested in that zombie. Hearing that, the others had their expressions changed. Si Kongchen even had his eyes glowing with a cold light.


    "Green Mountain Base, you''ve been hiding pretty well. Last time, your base sent out a squad which included a level-seven and a level-six to hunt a traitor, who was at level-seven too. Can you get level-seven people for free? There''re so many of them in your base!" Wu Chengyue said to Level-seven with laughter.


    "Ah, we don''t have a large population in our base, but our overall strength is not bad. Tang He wasn''t just a random traitor¡­ He was an important administrator in our base. We just don''t know why he betrayed us," Lan Lu smiled at him and responded.


    "So, even though you are a small base, you are powerful. Why haven''t you been communicating with the other bases? Your base isn''t a secret paradise, is it? You''ve been hiding somewhere without letting the others know about you," Wu Chengyue kept joking with him. Their conversation was completely off the topic.


    When it came to the mysterious Green Mountain Base which emerged in the fifth year after the apocalypse, the others had great interests as well. Therefore, none of them interrupted Wu Chengyue.


    "I share the same thought as Chief Wu. Chief Lan, you are not only a level-eight man, but also a possessor of spirit power. Upgrading is a difficult thing for the possessors of that special kind of power, right? The higher, the harder. However, you made it to level-eight without letting us hear anything about it. Were you planning to show up suddenly to scare us?" Lu Zhuofeng said smilingly as well.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Wu Chengyue had seen Lei Cheng and Zhenghao once. He talked to Lan Lu only ease the tense atmosphere, and also to be friendly with him. Without a doubt, he was holding no bad intentions.


    But, Lu Zhuofeng was not like him. He emphasized on Lu Zhuofeng''s level and power, so everyone''s attention was attracted to Lan Lu on hearing what he said.


    A level-eight possessor of spirit power was indeed a special being who was able to hurt the others with a single thought. High-leveled people wouldn''t die under his spirit power, but might have their brain damaged. But, lower-leveled people would directly go mad, or even have brain death. More seriously, a spirit-power attack might make the brain of an unprepared person explode, which would kill that person immediately.


    That kind of power wasn''t so effective on zombies, but was highly threatening to human beings.


    Sitting behind Lan Lu were two level-seven superpowered people. Except for Huaxia Base, the three of them had already made the strongest force on the scene. Inevitably, the others grew vigilant against them.


    "We are not the only new base in the country. I guess you have also heard about the new base in Hangzhou City, right? It''s weird though. Chief Si, didn''t you invite the leader of that new base?" Lan Lu smiled with composure, then changed the topic to the new base.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao, who had been listening to the meeting, wanted very much to kick Lan Lu''s chair. He was actually using her base as a shield!


    Lin Qiao was there alone, invisible, without paying attention to that black panther. The base had been sealed off anyway, so the panther couldn''t leave the base easily. She planned to let him stroll around in the base and learn about his current situation. As long as he was conscious, he couldn''t possibly ignore that.


    Besides, Lin Qiao was able to sense his vibe clearly. Therefore, she knew about his every move.


    So now, she stayed cool and came here to watch the meeting. But, someone mentioned her new base not long after the meeting was started.

 625 The Undercurrents in the Meeting

    "Ah, I''ve heard about that base. It seems that it''s still under construction. I guess that Sea City Base knows them the best as their neighbor," Si Kongchen smiled as he glanced at Wu Chengyue and said.


    "Is that why you didn''t invite them? Because their base is still under construction?" Wu Chengyue smilingly looked at him.


    "I wonder if they can build the base or not. After all, they don''t even have one level-seven member. They are just some survivors of the old Hades Base. I figured that they have no reason to waste the time to come all the way here, as that might slow down the construction work," Si Kongchen laughed to Wu Chengyue, then turned to the people from Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base while speaking.


    Hearing that, the others reacted in different ways.


    Wu Chengyue, Lan Lu, and Lu Zhuofeng learned that Si Kongchen didn''t know that new base enough. He hadn''t even paid any attention to it yet. So, in his eyes, that new base was only a gathering spot of a group of people. He believed that building a new base would be a very difficult thing for those people, not to mention expanding their force.


    He thought that that new base didn''t even have a level-seven member. Even if Sea City Base didn''t intend to touch it, any base like Earth Dragon Base would destroy it. Even if no base wanted to lay a finger on it, high-leveled zombies might attack those people. A few groups of zombies would have flattened that small, new base. Based on those thoughts, Si Kongchen figured that they couldn''t possibly have many supplies in store, so he had no interest in that base.


    Unlike him, the people from the bases which were relatively closer to that new base knew that although that base was underpopulated, it was not weak. The farther bases didn''t know much about that new base, because they hadn''t been collecting information about them. In their eyes, that was just some place those Hades Base survivors chose to stay.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    They also felt strange though. Those people did not have great powers, so why didn''t they just join another base? Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base were their enemies, but they could have joined Sky Cloud Base. Why did they insist on building a new base by themselves? Were they able to do that?


    It was reasonable that Huaxia Base had no interest in it.


    "You didn''t invite them, but it doesn''t mean that they won''t come," Li Zhengye from Sky Fire Base abruptly joined the conversation. Hearing him, both Wu Chengyue and Lan Lu glanced at him, then turned to the others silently.


    He Mu had gone missing. Therefore, Li Zhengye didn''t gather more information than Lu Zhuofeng. He said that purely to make things sound worse.


    "If they did come, we''d welcome them," Si Kongchen''s chiseled face wore a careless smile. As far as he knew, no one but the people in this room and their subordinates had entered his base recently. The people from that new base didn''t show up, or, they came in along with those from the other bases.


    "But, I don''t think they have the capability to steal from my base. Believe me, there will soon come a result," Si Kongchen brought up the original topic again and continued, "If the culprit returns the stolen object unharmed, some of our bullets and bombs might be saved. Because, if we find out who did it before that, things will become ugly for all of us."


    His words made everyone''s face darken slightly, but soon, people adjusted their expressions.


    Would Huaxia Base ever be in short of weapons? Surely not! So, when Si Kongchen said that to the other base leaders, his words contained a threatening meaning.


    He meant that no one was allowed to leave before the thief was found, and when he found out who did it, a war might begin.


    Bases on the current military power of each base, no base would want to fight Huaxia Base. After all, no other base had as strong a military strength as Huaxia Base did. Huaxia Base had the power to fight even two or even three bases at one time.


    Huaxia Base didn''t only have a large population. Almost all the two-million residents in that base had their specialties.


    Huaxia Base was built up step by step by over two-million survivors. So, without any questions, the living condition in that base was surely much better than that in some sparsely-populated base. In terms of population, Sea City Base was the second largest base in the country. However, as a base with one-million and two-hundred-thousand residents, Sea City Base wasn''t even one third as powerful as Huaxia Base. But still, it was considered the second strongest base. The third and fourth largest bases had the same size of population. The third base was Heilong Base, which had about eight-hundred-thousand survivors from Northeast China, while the fourth was the Hidden Cloud City Base, which had over seven-hundred-thousand people.


    In fact, more survivors lived in South China than in the Northeast, yet those survivors were divided into two parts by Hades Base and Earth Dragon Base. If those two bases merged into one, their population would reach the top three. However, having a large population was not a good thing for a base. Large population meant large consumption. Without good productivity, a richly populated base would eventually become overcrowded.


    Therefore, Long Yubai only wanted the supplies that belonged to Hades Base, but massacred the residents in Hades Base. He could not afford so many people.


    Huaxia Base people were confident about the strength of their base, because their base was rich enough to feed two million people. Otherwise, Si Kongchen wouldn''t threaten the other base leaders openly.


    Some of the others had their hearts sinking while others didn''t really care.


    Lan Lu stared at Si Kongchen without saying anything.


    "What''s wrong? Chief Lan, do you have something to say?" Sensing his gaze, Si Kongchen turned and asked him with a smile.


    "I''m wondering who has the guts to offend Huaxia Base. You are such a strong base after all. I think even Sea City Base wouldn''t do it," Lan smiled, then abruptly turned to Wu Chengyue.


    "Of course, we wouldn''t do that! We always treasure peace, so we''d never do such a thankless thing. Why would we? Besides, we had an important researcher who was focusing on anti-virus related research, yet that traitor from your base killed him. The relevant projects in our base have all been stopped. Even if we get that special zombie, we wouldn''t be able to study anything from it, right?" Wu Chengyue responded, also with a smile.


    "Haha, I know about that thing. Your base is too peaceful. The opposite would only be someone like Yang Chao who emerged amongst you. If it weren''t for him, that doctor would still be alive," Li Zhengye abruptly added as he smiled at Wu Chengyue while speaking.


    Wu Chengyue nodded, "Chief Li, I guess you are right. Our life was so easy that we even forgot that the zombies outside the base were our biggest enemy."


    "So, I was wondering who on earth had such confidence to steal that zombie. After all, even Sea City Base wouldn''t take a risk to do it," Lan Lu turned back to Si Kongchen and said.

 626 Lin Kui The Zombie

    The other base leaders each aired their own opinions and soon forgot about Si Kongchen''s threat.


    Listening to their conversation, Lin Qiao rolled her eyes. The atmosphere in every grand meeting was pretty much the same. Before, when she attended such meetings herself, she always stayed silent with a faint smile on her face. However, other people always had many questions to ask her.


    Right at that time, a man hurriedly ran over and whispered a few words to the guard by the door. After hearing from him, the guard quickly turned and came in, quietly walking to the Deputy Chief behind Si Kongchen. Without interrupting the others, he bent over and said a few words to that Deputy Chief with a low voice. Next, the Deputy Chief had his expression change. He immediately stood up and made two steps forward, then whispered in Si Kongchen''s ear.


    Seeing that, the others stopped talking and fixed their eyes on Si Kongchen.


    After hearing his subordinate, Si Kongchen frowned. Then, he stood up from the armchair as he looked at the others and said, "My people just reported to me that the zombie was seen in the base. I need to handle it now. My friends, you can either join me or head back to your own room to rest."


    While speaking, he nodded at the people and then walked out of the room with big steps.


    "Eh? Did the zombie run out by itself?" Wu Chengyue looked at the others with surprise.


    "Ah, how could they let it run? Shouldn''t they have hidden it well? If only there was a level-seven space possessor¡­ In that case, we''d be able to conveniently put that zombie into the space," said Lu Zhuofeng with laughter.


    Most of the space possessors had airless spaces. Their spaces couldn''t contain living creatures, but could contain zombies, because zombies didn''t need air. Without the sunlight, zombies wouldn''t die, and would only quiet down.


    However, the zombie was a special kind of creature. When a space possessor put a zombie into his or her space, the space would start shrinking. The higher was the zombie''s level, the smaller would the space become. At last, the space would fail to contain the zombie''s body.


    Therefore, only level seven or eight space possessors were able to put a level-seven zombie into their spaces. However, no one had even heard about any space possessor above level five yet.


    So, Lu Zhuofeng was only joking.


    "I''ll go and take a look. This is a great opportunity. If Huaxia Base people catch that zombie, they''ll hide it again, right?" Lan Lu stood up and headed toward the door while speaking.


    No one else wanted to stay in the room. They all wanted to see that zombie!


    "Who are those people? They stole the zombie, and then let it run? I can''t believe it." said Bao Chengzhi, the leader of Mongols Base who had been staying silent the whole time. While speaking, he was also walking out of the room.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly followed behind the others. As all the others were looking at the door, he glanced at the room before leaving.


    Standing by the door, Lin Qiao noticed his move, feeling a little strange.


    Was he suspecting something?


    On the other side of the base, the black panther had already rushed into a farm from a residential area. He flashed across the air swiftly, leaving nothing but a shred of dark shadow before disappearing within a blink.


    "Over there! It ran into the farm!" Wei Haichao, a member of the board in Huaxia Base got there timely and speedily followed the panther into the farm. He was a level-seven plant-power possessor. His sensations were sharper than that of many superpowered people, so he actually located the zombie.


    The farm in Huaxia Base was huge, occupying over a thousand acres of land. The farm was covered in all kinds of crops. At first glance, one would see thriving vegetables or cereals, and the fruit trees on the hills in the further area.


    Wei Haichao rushed into the farm ahead of the others. Being surrounded by plants, his plant power would become twice as strong.


    Following behind him was a great army. Under his direction, the soldiers quickly moved toward the black panther from all directions. The vehicles were running on the narrow soil roads in the farm, stirring up clouds of dust. Soon, they had to get off the car and keep moving on foot.


    The zombie was heading toward a hill with fruit trees, and cars couldn''t reach that area.


    However, the troop didn''t manage to catch up with that zombie. Wei Haichao got a little closer to the zombie, but only a little. After all, the zombie possessed animal power. As a plant power possessor, he was much slower than the zombie!


    Thanks to his plant power, he never lost the track of the zombie, even though he couldn''t catch up with it. With no other choice, he kept following behind the zombie while waiting for reinforcements.


    A dark figure flashed across the woods and landed on a tree. The zombie turned to glance back and saw nothing, only sensing a vibe coming straight at him.


    Lin Kui, of course, remembered everything before he turned into a zombie. He didn''t turn into a zombie when the apocalypse came. Instead, he was bitten by a zombie panther from a zoo. When he woke up, he found himself in a completely different shape.


    His palms were covered in fur, and nails were as sharp as beast claws. The world in his eyes became black and white, like the images in a black-and-white television.


    He remembered that a zombie panther bit him, but had no idea why it didn''t eat him. After waking up, he quickly checked his body and found no other wound, save for a large scratch on his face.


    Soon after that, he found the dead body of that zombie panther. He checked it and found a bullet hole on its head. Clearly, it was shot. Perhaps someone passed by before the panther ate him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He didn''t know who killed the panther and accidentally protected him. So, he dug out the bullet from the panther''s head.


    After that, he lived a very hard life. Any food tasted like mud in his mouth. The only thing that made him feel extremely hungry was the scent of living human beings. Once he smelled living humans, the desire of feeding would occupy his head, and his mind would go blur. He controlled that appetite with difficulties. To stop himself from losing his mind and attacking people madly, he ran away from all humans that he met.


    One day, another zombie attacked him. He had no idea why that zombie attacked him, but he fought back nevertheless. During the battle, he accidentally smashed the zombie''s head and found his first zombie nucleus.


    He sensed an attractive type of energy from that zombie nucleus. Unlike human flesh, that energy tempted him in a different way. He was instinctively attracted to that energy.


    He wiped that zombie nucleus with his clothing for a few times, then reluctantly swallowed it.

 627 Plant Vs Animal

    After that, Lin Kui started trying everything he could to hunt zombies for their nuclei and upgrade slowly. He didn''t know why would hair grow out all over his body every time he was in a fighting mode. His strength grew much stronger along with his hair though¡­


    He wagged his tail as he turned and darted deeper into the woods. He was a panther, so the woods were his realm too.


    The weird female zombie let him go and learn about his current situation. He went near to the research institute and heard the conversations between the people near that building. Then, he found that every entrance on the main road between the outer and base and the inner base had been blocked, guarded by heavily armored soldiers.


    A lot of squads formed by superpowered people had been searching around the base for something. The entire base in a tense atmosphere.


    Lin Kui couldn''t help but start to believe what the female zombie had said.


    Those people were really looking for him! However, before he confirmed about the so-called antidote, he didn''t fully believe that female zombie.


    He grasped an opportunity to hear some researcher talking, then learned that a batch of anti-zombie antidote had indeed been produced. However, he was spotted before he figured out where the antidote was stored.


    Normal bullets and superpowers surely couldn''t hurt him. He rarely took the initiative to hurt humans, but this time, he chose to fight back when those people attacked him.


    At that point, Lin Kui''s hands were covered in blood, his beast eyes sparkling with a cold light. A cold and sharp vibe could be detected from his eyes, and a strong intention of killing gathered on him.


    Sensing that a lot of people were chasing behind him, Lin Kui started restraining his vibe. Then, he took a detour to head back to where he came from. When he hid his vibe deliberately, not even a plant-power possessor could detect the change of his location immediately.


    The roads leading to the outer space and all been blocked, but zombies could climb walls! That was how the level-seven zombie successfully exited the inner space and entered the farm area.


    Wei Haichao abruptly stopped moving and looked around with a frown. Next, he pressed a hand on a tree and spent a few seconds sensing carefully, then kept moving toward where Lin Kui was.


    Since not long ago, the zombie''s vibe had become faint. The deeper he went into the farm, the fainter that vibe became. For that reason, Wei Haichao knitted his brows, as he was having a bad feeling.


    He glanced back and found that no one was behind him. He was there, chasing the zombie alone. He clearly understood that Si Kongchen only sealed off the base to show the people from the other bases how serious it was. However, seeing that those walls delivered no effect to that zombie which was free again, he couldn''t help but complain about how useless those guards were.


    Why wasn''t Si Kongchen there yet? Wei Haichao didn''t want to fight that zombie face-to-face. That was a zombie dominator! Even though it hadn''t recovered to its peak state, he still didn''t dare to rush straight up to it. So, he decided to wait until Si Kongchen arrived.


    Si Kongchen had sent out his own people to move that zombie to another location. But, why did that zombie run out for real? Did Si Kongchen let it out on purpose? Why? If that was true, he wouldn''t be able to frame the people from the other bases, would he? Also, the board didn''t approve that part of the action, did they?


    How dare he release the zombie? Wasn''t he afraid that it might run away? Wei Haichao decided to mind less about it. Someone had informed Si Kongchen anyway. He only needed to keep track of that zombie. If it really ran away, the blame would be Si Kongchen''s to take.


    While Wei Haichao was still following that zombie''s vibe from a long distance away and waiting for Si Kongchen to come and get the zombie himself, a dark figure flashed up behind him.


    He immediately turned around, but saw nothing there.


    He looked around alarmedly, turning his head from left to right. All of a sudden, he bent over and made a roll on the ground. After that, a dark figure descended from the air and charged at him.


    Before he could struggle up from the ground, a sharp beam of light flashed toward his face. His heart flipped as he hurriedly crossed his arms before his face to shield himself. Meanwhile, the skin on his both hands immediately turned deep brown, as coarse as the skin of a tree. Clearly, he was using his superpower.


    Puff! A clear claw scratched his withered-tree-like arms, then a leg was swung sideways toward him.


    Wei Haichao didn''t manage to dodge and the kick landed on his waist, sending him flying away.


    Thud! He bumped into a fruit tree nearby.


    He wasn''t injured though. Instead, he nimbly rolled forward, then spread his fingers as if he was trying to grasp something in the air. After that, he swung his arms toward the black panther which was pouncing on him again.


    Following his movement, the trees on his both sides fell to the ground and started growing rapidly.


    Puff! The black panther jumped into the thriving leaves. While he cut off the branches before him with his claw, Wei Haichao had already disappeared.


    Lin Kui narrowed his eyes and sniffed around, then darted out in one direction.


    A level-seven human could never be a match for a level-seven zombie. Added with the fact that animal power suppressed plant power naturally, Wei Haichao was clearly aware that he wouldn''t be able to win against that zombie.


    However, that zombie had actually given up on running, but came back to attack him. In that way, he didn''t need to keep chasing it.


    He mixed his own scent with that of the trees near him, then stuck half of his head out from behind a tree, looking at the giant panther which was rushing at him.


    Lin Kui rushed over and then stopped, looking around with a pair of piercing eyes. He knew that that person was a possessor of plant power, and that he was using the scents of the plants to hide.


    His attack failed. He looked around, then suddenly turned and quickly hopped onto a tree nearby, moving deeper into the woods.


    He would be able to locate that person if he spent a longer time. However, he didn''t want to do that, because he had sensed that a stronger vibe was approaching. He figured that he should better hide.


    On the other side, Si Kongchen flew into the farm, heading toward where Wei Haichao was.


    Wei Haichao showed up before him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Where''s Macuy?" Si Kongchen swiftly landed by his side.


    "He just ran that way!" Wei Haichao immediately pointed the way that Lin Kui chose.


    Si Kongchen instantly leaped high and flashed in that direction. Only after that did Wei Haichao sighed with relief. Then, he saw a large group of soldiers rushing over, carrying their guns. Leading those soldiers was Li Yuelong, a direct subordinate of Wei Haichao.


    "Mr. Wei, how''s it going? Where''s Macuy?" Li Yuelong asked once he got close.


    "Over there," Wei Haichao pointed that way with his chin and then started moving, "Keep up."


    "Keep up!" Li Yuelong immediately turned to yell at the troop behind him.

 628 Suddenly Disappeared

    Lin Qiao followed Si Kongchen there. Si Kongchen wasn''t a possessor of wind power, so he was no faster than Lin Qiao. When he landed by Wei Haichao''s side, Lin Qiao had already darted up to Lin Kui.


    "Don''t move¡­" While fleeing forward, Lin Kui suddenly heard a familiar voice from next to his ear. He recognized that voice: it was none other than the female zombie who was with him not long ago.


    As he paused slightly, a hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him gently. Next, his eyes were dazzled. When he could see again, he was already in another place.


    The moment Lin Qiao and Lin Kui disappeared, Si Kongchen and Wei Haichao paused simultaneously.


    "Eh? It''s so weird!" Wei Haichao stopped moving and looked ahead with both surprise and doubts, then dropped his eyelids to focus on his sensations. Soon, he confirmed that the vibe of that zombie had disappeared without a trace.


    "What''s wrong?" Li Yuelong raised an arm and signaled for the troop behind him to stop moving. After that, he landed beside Wei Haichao and asked.


    "It''s gone!" Wei Haichao opened his eyes and murmured with confusion, "How did that happen? Does Macuy have some hidden ability?"


    The zombie disappeared suddenly. Wei Haichao pondered for a moment, then thought of space possessors. A space could indeed block any kind of scents and vibes. If the zombie didn''t have a space, it must have met a space possessor.


    However, he didn''t sense anyone approaching Macuy. All he sensed was the zombie disappearing all of a sudden.


    "It''s impossible¡­ If it had a space, why didn''t it use the space earlier? We wouldn''t have been able to do anything to it once it entered its own space! It would have run straight away!" Wei Haichao said with a frown.


    At that moment, a figure flashed across the woods. Si Kongchen came back and landed beside Wei Haichao, asking with a serious look, "What''s going on? Have you sensed its location?"


    Wei Haichao looked at him and shook his head, "I can''t. It suddenly disappeared!"


    "That''s impossible! It must have hidden away! Go, bring more people! Surround this whole area and search for the zombie!" Si Kongchen frowned slightly, then said to Li Yuelong.


    "Yes, sir!" Li Yuelong responded immediately, then turned and gave his order to a squad leader behind him.


    Outside the farm, the other base leaders gathered together to watch the show.


    "Ah, look at this farmland. It''s over a thousand acres, isn''t it? I guess they''re expecting a rich harvest. Huaxia Base is rich indeed. It''s impressive that they can feed two-million people," Lu Zhuofeng looked at the endless, green farmland and smilingly said something that everyone already knew.


    "Chief Lu, you don''t need to be jealous of them. You''d be able to create large farmland like this too if you found more water-powered, earth-powered, and green-powered people, or people with special superpowers who are able to purify the polluted soil," Wu Chengyue responded with a bland smile.


    "I finally see the famous Huaxia Farm today. It is thriving indeed," Gao Haoyun from Heilong Base looked at the farmland before him, his eyes filled with thirst and admiration.


    Heilong Base was located in the Northeast, and the weather there was never good. After the apocalypse, the soil had changed, so farming had become even more difficult. Therefore, the planting had been going terribly in Heilong Base. The survival rate of the plants in that base had always been low, and even with the surviving plants, the harvest was never good.


    One other reason was that the base lacked talents. The capable people had all left the Northeast and joined Huaxia Base.


    "Oh, they stopped!" Wu Chengyue said, the smile on his face suddenly growing bigger.


    The others paused slightly, then immediately figured that he was talking about Si Kongchen and his people. Then, they used their sensations and soon found that Si Kongchen had really paused shortly. After that, he started moving again, but seeming to become aimless. He stopped from time to time, as if he was hesitating.


    "What''s happening? Em, that zombie''s vibe¡­" The group of people couldn''t sense Lin Kui''s vibe clearly as they had been far away. After all, Lin Kui had been hiding his vibe intentionally. They felt that his vibe seemed to have disappeared, but also felt that it was still there.


    "It''s gone," Lu Zhuofeng spent a short while sensing the vibe in the wind. Within five miles radius around Si Kongchen, he couldn''t sense that zombie''s vibe. This was a surprise considering he could still sense that zombie not long ago.


    "Oh my, it disappeared right under Si Kongchen''s eyes! Si Kongchen is going to be so angry, isn''t he?" Lan Lu smiled and said.


    "That''s for sure! I''d have exploded, haha!" Lu Zhuofeng laughed, as if he was taking pleasure in the other''s misfortune.


    "It''s strange though! How did the zombie disappear? Why don''t we go over there and see what''s going on? They''re too far away from here!" Lu Zhuofeng blinked and said.


    "You can go if you want. I''m not really interested. We''re all here anyway. None of us has left. In this case, Si Kongchen has no reason to blame any of us for stealing that zombie, right? Does that zombie have a space? Maybe it has been hiding it," Wu Chengyue gave Lu Zhuofeng a glance with a smile, then turned to look at Si Kongchen.


    "That''s highly possible¡­ Perhaps, it took an opportunity to hide in its space back when it was locked up. Then, when everybody thought that it was stolen, it sneakily came out and freed itself. That zombie seems to be really smart!" Lan Lu thought for a moment, then gave his own assumption with a serious face. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He might be right though. If the zombie really had a space, it might suddenly hide in its space when the tranquilizer wore off. That could really happen.


    What could also happen was that when the thieves sneakily got it out of the lab, the zombie woke up and launched a counterattack and then ran away. That could be how the current situation came about.


    Lan Lu surely wouldn''t say that the zombie might have been stolen by some people from another base. He had no evidence after all. Therefore, he made his assumption in a way that would not offend anyone.


    Wu Chengyue blinked, then nodded slightly and agreed with Lan, "I think Chief Lan is right. That zombie might have run away by itself. However, Si Kongchen insisted on making us take the blame. So shameless!"


    "Oh, you said that, not me! Wu Chengyue, you''re the only one who has the guts to call Si Kongchen shameless!" Lan Lu immediately teased him.


    "Am I wrong? Eh?" Wu Chengyue carelessly raised his eyebrows, the smile on his face unchanged.


    "Eh-hem, you''re not wrong¡­ But, if I were Si Kongchen, I''d certainly be unhappy upon hearing what you said!" Li Zhengye suddenly joined the conversation.


    "We were unhappy when he threatened us. Why would we let him be happy now?" Wu Chengyue continued smiling, "Besides, he''s not here!"

 629 Brainwashing

    Lin Qiao took Lin Kui into the small building inside her space, then sat on the couch and said, "See, I didn''t lie to you, did I? You''ve learned that except for the leader and chairmen of Huaxia Base, the other base leaders are all here for the antidote."


    While speaking, she pointed at the spot where Lin Kui sat before and offered him the seat again.


    Lin Kui hesitated for a moment, then walked over there and sat down, glancing at the clipboard on the table.


    "What do you think? Will you accept my terms? In fact, as long as you don''t get caught by them, you won''t be made into the antidote. However, I can''t make sure if you''ll be able to keep hiding. What if your brain stops working someday? If you come out and get caught again, we''d all be in danger again! Besides, we can''t tell what weapons humans will create in one or two decades to kill zombies," Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    "Based on the current development of Huaxia Base, they''ll be able to develop other weapons to kill zombies in ten years tops, with their technologies and smart brains. They''ll still be able to destroy zombies even without the antidote. It''s only a matter of time," Lin Qiao kept talking about the possibilities in the future.


    Lin Kui quietly listened to her, his eyes glowing with a dim light. He knew that all she said was true. Based on the current situation, zombies had been developing way slower than humans. Even though the population of humans was growing slowly, they had created weapons. The weapons were one of the most important inventions of human beings. In ten years, newborn human beings would still be too young to fight. However, the weapons could not be ignored.


    "Let''s take a step back. In fact, you of all are facing the biggest crisis now, because you have already been discovered. Your blood is able to deliver special effects, so, you are already a target," Lin Qiao looked at him. As he blinked, she continued.


    Lin Kui looked at her expressionlessly.


    "Actually, there are other special zombies like us. Their sanity and humanity remained after they turned into zombies. We don''t make a large group, but we are different. Man-eating zombies should die, but why should the ones like us be destroyed along with them? We never ate humans, and never took the initiative to attack them. One purpose of the base that I build is to gather all the zombies who still have humanity, and protect them. They don''t deserve death. They have become zombies, but with human hearts, they are only human beings surviving in a special way¡­" Lin Qiao started brainwashing Lin Kui.


    At last, she made Lin Kui feel that if he refused to join her base, he would die for sure.


    "What do you think? Have you made a decision yet? Alright, I''m not asking you to join us right now, but you need to stay with me for now at least¡­ Oh, what about your name? Do you still remember your name?" Lin Qiao finished a long speech, then finally asked Lin Kui''s name. Her speech was so long that after hearing it, Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi who were standing by the door almost couldn''t help but roll their eyes.


    Lin Kui too wanted to roll his eyes. However, he didn''t do that, but picked up the clipboard and wrote down two words.


    Lin Kui.


    "Mr. Lin, nice to meet you. My Family name is Lu, as I''ve told you before. Over there, the man on the left is my brother, Lu Tianyi, and the man on the right is Xie Dong," Lin Qiao glanced at the clipboard, then greeted him smilingly. After that, she introduced the two by the door.


    Hearing Lin Qiao introduce them, Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi both turned their heads around, one expressionlessly and the other with a smile, as they both nodded at Lin Kui.


    "Alright. Now that you''re settled, I still need to get a little of the antidote. I heard that you need to burn it so that it can deliver its effect. And, it seems to be effective only on the ordinary zombies. I wonder if can hurt high-leveled zombies too." While speaking, Lin Qiao stood up, preparing to flash out of the base.


    But before leaving, she paused to think for a second, then turned and said to Lin Kui, "Oh, I''ll get you a room to rest. You can go out as well, if you want to take a walk around here."


    Then, she turned and yelled at Lu Tianyi, "Lu Tianyi, get in, get in¡­ Find him a spare room."


    Having finished talking, she disappeared right away.


    Lu Tianyi walked over with a weird look on his face.


    Before, every time Lu Tianyu called his name, her tone of speaking was either cold or sarcastic. Just now, she called him in such a normal way, which made him feel very strange. But still, he walked over to the stairs and then raised a hand to politely signal for Lin Kui to go upstairs.


    Lin Kui understood that he needed to stay there for a while. So, he stood up and followed behind Lu Tianyi.


    Lu Tianyi brought up to the second floor and found him a spare room, then went back down. Before long, he returned to the room with some clothes and put them on the chair in the room, then turned and left again.


    Lin Kui walked to the chair and saw a note upon the clothes¡ª''We have water in the bathroom. You can take a shower if you want.''


    There was only one bathroom on the second floor. While coming up, Lin Kui had looked around and memorized the location of the bathroom.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He lowered his head to look at himself. He was wearing a pair of pants, with his upper body bared.


    He picked up the clothes and headed toward the bathroom.


    On the outside, Si Kongchen boosted his sensations as much as possible, but still failed to find even a trace of the zombie. Wei Haichao found nothing either.


    They were in the woods, yet not even Wei Haichao could detect a thing. Did that zombie hide in a space?


    Space!


    Si Kongchen suddenly thought of that possibility, but then told himself that that was impossible. If the zombie had a space, why didn''t it enter the space earlier? Why did it wait until all the other base leaders were on the scene? That couldn''t be possible. If the zombie had a space, it would have disappeared long ago! It would never wait until now!


    Was it taken by a space possessor? However, to put a level-seven base into his or her space, that space possessor had to be at level-seven or above. As far as he knew, no base had a space possessor above level-seven! Or¡­ had that space possessor been hiding as a secret weapon?


    He turned and glanced where the other base leaders had gathered, his eyes showing a fierce look.


    Those people must have been laughing at him!


    Si Kongchen had no idea that an invisible figure had just brushed across him and moved toward those base leaders. Neither did those base leader notice that Lin Qiao had moved past them and headed toward somewhere in the base.


    Before long, Hou Guozhong, who was a Deputy Chief under Si Kongchen''s command, received a report from his subordinate, saying that the last member of the squad, which was responsible for moving the zombie, had gone missing.

 630 The Guess About the Apocalypse

    "What! Didn''t I tell you to guard him well? How could you let him run!" Hou Guozhong''s


    "No¡­ He didn''t run! He¡­ he disappeared! There was no trace of trying to break out!" The man stuttered.


    "What did you say?" Hou Guozhong paused slightly, then asked with a frown, "What happened? Make it clear!"


    "The guards by the door never left. The airvent and the windows weren''t opened either. Some people brought food to them, but didn''t see them from the outside. They waited for half an hour, but he still didn''t pass out his bowl. They went in and then found that he was gone." The squad leader who was making the report described what happened, sweat oozing out of his nose tip.


    "Not even a trace was left in the room? Is he able to go through walls? Go and find them!" Hou Guozhong didn''t believe a word he said. He yelled at the squad leader angrily, then ordered his people to search through the entire base for that man.


    In Lin Qiao''s space, a man was tied up with the vine that Viney had left and thrown to the living room. Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi stood by a couch as they curiously looked at him.


    "Who are you guys!" The man wasn''t panicking even though he was suddenly dragged into a strange place. Instead, he coldly observed Lin Qiao and the other two.


    Lin Qiao was sitting on the couch, leaning against the back with her arms crossed before her chest. She was quietly looking at the man without answering his question.


    The man moved his shoulders. The vine wrapped him tighter and tighter, and his power seemed to have been disabled. He didn''t know what the pretty lady had done to him.


    As she stayed silent, the man stopped talking as well. He knew that the more he talked, the more mistakes he might make.


    Right at that moment, a head was suddenly stuck out from behind the door. A purely dark pair of eyes were fixed on the man in the living room with curiosity.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The man didn''t notice it, but Lin Qiao and the other two did.


    As Lin Qiao looked that way, the owner of those eyes immediately shrank and disappeared by the door.


    Except for that smart zombie who was somehow addicted to eating bugs, no one else had the courage to approach the building without her permission.


    Lu Tianyi looked that way, feeling that the smart zombie was becoming bolder and bolder.


    Xie Dong quickly glanced at the door. Instead of paying attention to the zombie out there, he stared at the man that Lin Qiao brought back.


    That man possessed a level-five superpower. However, his energy had been suppressed by the space. He was wearing a military suit; clearly, he was a soldier.


    Lin Qiao stood up and said to Xie Dong, "Tie him on a chair. Don''t let him out." Then, she turned and left.


    Xie Dong immediately walked to the man on the ground.


    As Lin Qiao disappeared suddenly, the man realized where he was.


    Lin Qiao exited the base and used her sensations to find that Si Kongchen was still in that woods, searching for Lin Kui, while the others were still gathering by the farmland.


    She immediately moved toward those people.


    Half an hour later, as Si Kongchen still found nothing, the other base leaders planned to leave.


    The sour-faced Si Kongchen kept searching in the farmland. However, in a couple of hours, he had no choice but to give up. He really couldn''t find anything, and only returned with a dark face.


    Wu Chengyue and the others didn''t go straight back to their own rooms, but stayed in the lobby on the first floor, having tea. To avoid arousing suspicion, none of them returned to their rooms.


    "Ah, the source of the main material of the antidote has run away. Will they be able to make any more of that antidote?" Lan Lu looked at the others and started talking lazily.


    Sitting in front of him, Wu Chengyue said, "In fact, instead of the anti-zombie drug, I think we should better develop the drug that can allow us to be immune to the zombie virus. In that way, we''d be able to kill zombies more efficiently. Do you agree?"


    "Be immune to the zombie virus? We don''t even know how the virus was created. How are we supposed to develop the antibody?" Lu Zhuofeng said scornfully.


    "I think what Chief Wu said is doable. If we can''t develop a drug to kill all zombies, we might as well start from ourselves. As for how the virus was created¡­ my base has been trying to find out the answer to that question. We haven''t found the source of the virus yet. The day before the apocalypse, the crust moved intensely. It happened in just a moment though, like an earthquake. I wonder if you guys noticed that," Lan Lu thought for a moment and then said.


    "Oh, I remember that. It was in September, and I was working late that night. About three or four in the morning, I did feel a quake. Also, the air seemed to curdle suddenly at that time. I passed out directly! When I woke up, it was the next norming," Li Zhengye from Sky Fire Base quickly responded.


    "Everyone knows about that, but only a few had experienced it. Most people were in sleep back then. Not even the earthquake could wake them up easily. Besides, the quake only lasted for a second. For sure, not many people noticed it. The air stopped flowing, so many people passed out in their sleep, which was weird," Lan Lu nodded and paused to think for a moment, then continued, "I''ve studied in it. I guess the earth crust had turned at that time and released some kind of gas from the underground. The gas met the air and then caused the air to stop flowing. That''s why you felt that the air curdled. Afterward, that gas merged with the air and generated the zombie virus."


    After saying that, he raised his head and emphasized, "But of course, this is only a guess of mine. After all, I haven''t found any trace of that gas yet."


    "That makes sense actually. So, the earth turned on the inside and caused an earthquake, then made a fart and killed most of the human beings," Wu Chengyue said smilingly."


    "Why was it a fart? I think the earth is upgrading, so it decided to get rid of human beings. After all, we''ve been doing no good but damaging the environment. The earth was just trying to make itself comfortable!" Lu Zhuofeng smiled and said.


    "I think that what Chief Lan said is highly possible. Perhaps, we can do some research about that. We might really have some discoveries," Bao Chengzhi, the leader of Mongols Base, said seriously.


    Lan Lu spread his hands and said, "I have studied in it. The study is going nowhere though. That''s why I said that it was only a guess. I have nothing to prove it."

 631 The Day the Apocalypse Came

    Lin Qiao was quietly listening to their conversation. The day the apocalypse came, she was lying on her bed, having a fever. Next morning, she woke up to find the air pressure strangely high. That made her feel weird, as if she couldn''t breathe smoothly. At first, she thought it was because of her illness.


    She weakly got up from the bed and drank a glass of water. Then, she suddenly heard screams from downstairs.


    Hearing the screams, she felt that things weren''t right. She hurriedly dropped the glass, walked to the window, and looked down. There, she saw some of her army friends running out of the building in panic.


    Following behind them was a strange man. He was walking in a very strange way with homolateral steps. He moved extra slowly and paused after every step; his head was weirdly tilted.


    Due to the long distance, Lin Qiao couldn''t see his face and look. She saw a soldier who wasn''t properly dressed run past him, and then he suddenly turned and pounced on that soldier. He swiftly pressed that soldier to the ground, then lowered his head to bite him.


    Lin Qiao was shocked at that time. Before she could figure out what was happening, a second scream was heard. Within a blink, she saw more weird people shambling out of the building.


    She still remembered that first soldier''s scream. Back then, she automatically rushed to her closet and took her rifle out. She then quickly loaded and fired a shot at that weird man''s head.


    She was in a special position in the army, so she had live weapons.


    After being shot, that man stopped moving and lay on the ground. The soldier who was attacked by him became motionless as well.


    Before long, disordered gunshots, alarms, screams, and yells were heard from the entire dormitory area.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao instantly forgot about her fever. She leaned against the window and carefully observed those shambling people. They were all moving very slowly with homolateral steps. However, when panicking people ran pass, those strange people would suddenly pounce on them and bite them like starving beasts.


    All the people who were pressed down to the ground by those weird ones ended up being covered in blood. Some had their throats bitten through and stopped struggling shortly.


    After a short observation, Lin Qiao differentiated those shambling people from the normal ones. Unlike the first weird guy she saw, the ones who came out of the building later were all covered in blood. Some even had their heads smashed, yet they still attacked other people swiftly.


    As Lin Qiao prepared to fire the second shot, the door behind her was suddenly bumped open. Then, a man in a military T-shirt staggered into her room. His face was covered in blood, eyes rolling up, and mouth stained by blood as well.


    She recognized that face, but at that very moment, it seemed so strange to her.


    After breaking down the door, the man paused slightly, then lunged at Lin Qiao like those weird people downstairs.


    Lin Qiao turned and swung her gun over while firing at that strange man.


    The bullet hit him in the chest, but only managed to make him pause briefly. After that, he turned around and charged at Lin Qiao again, as if he wasn''t hurt at all.


    It was already too late for Lin Qiao to fire another shot. She automatically turned the rifle around and smacked the man''s head with the gunstock. Next, she rolled to the bedside, took out her pistol, and fired at his head to stop him before he jumped onto her.


    That night, the whole world had changed. After that night, zombies were everywhere. They attacked and bit every human they saw, and the ones who were bitten became zombies not long afterward. The apocalypse had arrived.


    "What exactly is going on with that zombie?" Wu Chengyue changed the topic, "Will it gather a giant group of zombies to attack Huaxia Base when it runs out? It''s a zombie dominator. It should be very smart. It''ll surely bear a grudge!"


    "Haha¡­ I think Huaxia Base people need to be more careful when they get out of the base again!" Lu Zhuofeng laughed and agreed.


    "That''s true! The zombie was locked up for so long, and they were taking its blood all the time. It clearly won''t be friendly to Huaxia Base," Lan Lu rested his chin on his palm and nodded.


    "It has killed quite some people this morning." Earlier on when they followed Si Kongchen to the farm area, they sensed the scent of blood all the way.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao realized that she hadn''t asked Lin Kui about what he wanted to do yet. She wondered if he would want revenge.


    She thought for a moment, then flashed into her space.


    "Where is he?" Lin Qiao asked Xie Dong, who was in the living room alone. The latter pointed upstairs in response.


    "Please tell him to come down," Lin Qiao said to Xie Dong, then turned and walked out of the building while he went upstairs.


    Lin Qiao walked out and saw Lu Tianyi squatting in the seedling field, weeding. That smart zombie was squatting by his side, seemingly doing the same thing.


    Slap! Once the zombie reached out, Lu Tianyi slapped on his hand and stopped him, because he was not reaching to the weed. He was trying to pull out a seedling!


    Lu Tianyi wasn''t able to talk, neither did he like to yell at the zombie with his weird voice. So, he gave the zombie a glare.


    "Roar!" The smart zombie bared his teeth toward Lu Tianyi, then started ignoring him. Instead, he turned and reached out his hand again.


    Slap! Lu Tianyi slapped on his hand again¡­ The zombie tried again and again; Lu Tianyi slapped and slapped¡­


    The zombie was having fun, but Lin Qiao clearly sensed that Lu Tianyi was getting angrier and angrier.


    ''Those two are getting along pretty well¡­''


    Lin Qiao glanced at that seedling field and found the seedlings growing healthily. She then turned to the other side. Lu Tianyi was already preparing the soil in that area, so he could transplant those seedlings there.


    ''I''ll upgrade him when he has transplanted the seedlings. His mindset has already stabilized, so it''s time for him to upgrade,'' she thought.


    While thinking, she heard footsteps from behind her. She quickly turned and saw Lin Kui following Xie Dong downstairs. He had changed into new clothing, and his hair were still moist.


    "Before leaving, do you have anything to do to Huaxia Base?" She asked him while walking toward the couch area. Hearing her words, Lin Kui paused briefly, then had a cold light flash across his eyes.


    "What do you want to do? I can help you on one condition¡ªyou are not allowed to hurt defenseless people," Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Lin Kui gave her a glance and then nodded. He never took an initiative to hurt humans. How could he possibly hurt defenseless people? Back when he ran into the farmland of Huaxia Base, he had already killed quite some soldiers who were chasing him.


    There were a few people that he did not want to forgive. However, before he followed their scents to where they were, he was stopped by an army.


    On hearing what Lin Qiao said now, he was tempted.

 632 If I Were You

    "I wouldn''t let those researchers get away with it if I were you," Lin Qiao said with a smile, as if she could read Lin Kui''s mind.


    Lin Kui had just sat down. Hearing her words, he looked at her with surprise. The look in his eyes changed slightly.


    "It seems that you do have that kind of plan. I''ll send you out when it gets dark," Lin Qiao was still wearing that smile on her lips corners.


    Lin Kui looked at her without disagreeing; that was exactly what he wanted.


    That night, Lin Qiao sneakily brought Lin Kui out of her space on top of a building. The latter took off his shirt and his body transformed quickly. Within a blink, he became a large, fluffy beast, then flashed across the darkness of night.


    Lin Qiao turned and headed toward a flat that she had been in before.


    Leng Xuantong had been restless all these days. On one hand, he was thinking about that mysterious woman; on the other hand, he thought about that zombie which had run away from the institute. Earlier on when he heard that the zombie wasn''t caught, he instantly had a sense of crisis.


    He knew that that zombie was almost as smart as human beings, and that zombies could all bear grudges! He worried that the zombie might find him through his scent. After all, he and his colleagues had spent a lot of time with it.


    They locked it up, took its blood, and gave it drugs. It would surely hate them, and would want revenge.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    That was why Leng Xuantong had been in a panic these days.


    "Don''t worry, he won''t come for you." Suddenly, a voice was heard in Leng Xuantong''s quiet room. The latter shivered and sprung up from the couch, then noticed the tall and slim figure near the window.


    "You!" After recognizing Lin Qiao, Leng Xuantong unwittingly sighed with relief. But soon, he thought of what she had just said. With a frown, he asked, "Is he¡­ still in the base?"


    Lin Qiao shrugged as she walked straight to the other couch and sat down. She put her foot on the tea table, her arms crossed before her chest, leaning against the back of the couch. Then, she slightly raised her head to look at him while saying, "Em, yeah, he''s in the base. And, I don''t think your colleagues can survive tonight. I came here to wait for him."


    Leng Xuantong had a feeling that she was not lying. But, why was she helping him? Did she really intend to recruit him to her own base?


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao had invited him to her base, but he didn''t take that seriously. He only felt that she would show up again. Unexpectedly, earlier that day, he heard that the zombie was stolen. He was surprised, and wondered if it was her who stole it.


    "Oh, I didn''t steal that zombie. That was a plan of Huaxia Base. I saw them in my way, and conveniently picked him up," Lin Qiao read Leng Xuantong''s mind. She did not want to take the blame.


    She did want to steal the zombie. However, someone else did it first, so things had become different.


    "Wha-what do you mean?" Leng Xuantong paused briefly, then looked at her and asked with confusion.


    "On one hand, Si Kongchen wanted to move the zombie to somewhere harder to find, and on the other hand, he needed a reason to raise the price of the batch of antidote which you have now. So, he came up with this plan. In this way, he could tell the people from the other bases that the source of the most important raw material for the antidote was gone, so there would be no second batch of the antidote. That could also make those people suspect each other. After all, all of them are interested in the zombie. Everybody knows it clearly. They just didn''t write that on their faces," Lin Qiao explained in a bland tone.


    After a short pause, she continued, "Si Kongchen is never willing to suffer a loss. How would he possibly generously share the small amount of antidote with the others? There must be a scheme!"


    Leng Xuantong was a little stunned. He didn''t expect to know such a shocking truth. He was clearly aware that knowing too much would do him no good!


    If he knew what he shouldn''t be knowing, he would really not be able to stay in the base!


    "Are you¡­ Are you talking the truth? Why would I believe you?" Leng Xuantong forced himself to calm down, telling himself that the woman was lying. If that were true, anyone who knew about that would be erased by Huaxia Base in the future.


    "Believe it or not. I''ve told you all the secrets I know anyway. You can certainly choose not to believe me. But, there is one thing that you really should believe¡ªthe zombie will show up here soon," Lin Qiao lazily sat on the couch.


    On the other side of the base, a dark figure swiftly climbed onto the roof, then crawled down through the window frames and balconies. Soon, it landed on a balcony in the building.


    Lin Kui stood by the locked balcony door and abruptly reached out a claw.


    Crack!


    His claw went straight through the wooden door. After that, he crooked a finger and easily opened the lock.


    He pushed the door open and quietly walked in, then stood still in the dark living room, because he had heard some noises from the bedroom.


    The owner of the flat was one of the researchers in the antidote project. He was falling asleep when he heard the noise from the balcony. Earlier today, he went to the institute and heard that the zombie was stolen last night, and that it showed up in the morning, even running about in the base. Recalling that, he immediately woke up and alarmedly moved to the door, but didn''t open it right away.


    It was all quiet out there. He waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing could be heard.


    He thought that he was mishearing, but didn''t dare to relax his vigilance.


    A short while later, he couldn''t help but gently open the bedroom door. He looked outside and found the living room completely dark. He couldn''t see a thing.


    He turned to look at the balcony door. Right at that moment, a hand reached in sideways through the small space between the door and the frame, grasping his throat.


    "Eh¡­ Er-hem¡­" The fright, great pain from his throat, and sudden suffocation made him struggle. But in the next second, the hand from the darkness twisted with force and generated a muffled, slight crack. Following that noise, the researcher died, with broken neck bones, suffocation, and exploded veins.


    After that, the dark figure flashed out from the balcony and disappeared again.


    On the other side, Leng Xuantong was uneasily pacing in his living room, glancing at the woman who was sitting leisurely on his couch. At last, he couldn''t help but stop and ask her a question.


    "When will it be here?"


    Lin Qiao understood that he was asking when Lin Kui would come to his place. She narrowed her eyes and said, "There are over ten people in your team, and adding about twenty special security people who helped you to keep him under control, he has nearly forty targets. I think¡­ he will be here in three hours."

 633 Destroy the Entire Research Team

    Three hours later, as Leng Xuantong became more and more fretful, a dark figure quietly flashed into his balcony.


    "Look, he''s here!" Lin Qiao turned that way and said.


    Leng Xuantong gave a start and quickly raised his head to look at her, then followed her eyes and turned to the balcony. Seeing what was on the balcony, his entire body went frozen.


    A dark figure was standing there; it had a pair of triangular ears and a thick, wagging tail behind it.


    What scared him even more was that pair of beast eyes which were glowing with a cold light in the darkness.


    "Don''t be nervous," Lin Qiao put down her legs and stood up, then walked to the balcony and opened the door.


    That figure quickly came in. His entire body was covered in fur, and gave out a scent of blood. His face had turned a little round, also covered in hair, looking exactly like the face of a panther. After coming in, the panther slightly flattened his ears and fixed his cold beast eyes on Leng Xuantong.


    Leng Xuantong''s entire body became stiff. He couldn''t even control his limbs or breathe smoothly.


    After coming into the flat, Lin Kui stared at Leng Xuantong with an intention of killing. However, he didn''t make any move. He knew that Lin Qiao was here for a reason. Seeing her, he realized that he might not be able to kill that human.


    "Oi, this man is helpful¡­ You can''t kill him. Besides, he was nice to you back in the institute. If you want to punish him, you can keep an eye on him when he works for me," Lin Qiao walked over smilingly and blocked his eyes which were fixed on Leng Xuantong and contained a fierce murderous intention.


    Lin Kui blinked, then turned his eyes away. He gave Lin Qiao a glance, then his fur started fading. After that, he untied his shirt from his waist and put it on.


    Leng Xuantong''s heart nearly exploded when he was locked up by Lin Kui''s intention of killing. As Lin Qiao walked over, the zombie turned his eyes away and then disarmed himself. He even put on a shirt by himself!


    The frightened Leng Xuantong didn''t manage to react on seeing the zombie dominator put on a shirt in front of him.


    ''Eh? I think it''s not going to attack me anymore. But, why? And, how come he knows how to put on the shirt? Eh¡­ this is not right. I think he just listened to that woman! Wait, wait, what on earth is going on?''


    He was shocked at first, and then confused. As he finally figured out something, he was stunned again.


    He abruptly turned to Lin Qiao, then at the man-like zombie who had put the shirt on. After that, he turned back to Lin Qiao with disbelief.


    After hearing what that woman said, the zombie immediately disarmed himself. Why did that happen? Why did a zombie dominator listen to a human!


    Lin Kui got dressed, then crossed his arms before his chest and walked to the window, leaning against the window frame. He was watching the complicated expression on the researcher''s face with great interest.


    Lin Qiao was right. He remembered Leng Xuantong''s scent, and knew that he was one of those researchers in the institute. That man always looked at him quietly without saying anything or coming too close to him. For Lin Kui who was seeing as a laboratory rat, what Leng Xuantong did was not harmful.


    Also, he had clearly sensed that among the group of researchers, that man wasn''t really interested in him. When the others forced him to hurt and eat human beings, he walked away.


    That was why he saved Leng Xuantong to the last. However, when he saw Lin Qiao, he realized that he was not going to kill him.


    Lin Qiao wanted him to work for her, and Lin Kui didn''t plan to disagree.


    "See, this is why I said that you should really do your experiment in my place. You need to know that not all zombies deserve death. I know that you love your family deeply, so you don''t want to abandon them, even though they have become zombies. For that exact reason, I am inviting you to my base. At the very least, I won''t discriminate you," Lin Qiao said to Leng Xuantong with a smile.


    "Why¡­ Why are you helping me?" Leng Xuantong looked at Lin Qiao with both surprise and doubt, then at Lin Kui who was quietly leaning against the window frame.


    "Because my base needs scientific talent!" Lin Qiao answered his question smilingly, then turned to say to Lin Kui, "Alright, we should go. I guess the base is going to get chaotic once the sun rises."


    Then, she waved at Leng Xuantong and continued, "See ya! I''ll give you one more night to think about it. I''ll come to visit again tomorrow."


    Having finished talking, she and Lin Kui walked to the balcony together, then disappeared into the darkness.


    ''Who the hell is that woman?'' Leng Xuantong gawked at the balcony.


    Next day, the entire base was stirred again, because almost the entire research team was murdered. Even the security people were killed. Everyone who had worked with the zombie directly or indirectly was dead. They either had their hearts penetrated, had a half of their heads smashed, or had their throats broken.


    Leng Xuantong was seriously frightened when he heard the news. The other researchers had all died, yet he alone was still alive. He would be in huge trouble!


    They might not suspect him to be the murderer, but still, him being alive was way too suspicious! Therefore, before the soldiers could find him, he hid into his secret lab in haste.


    Bang! In the conference room, Si Kongchen slapped on the desk with a grim face. He didn''t scold anyone because he was aware as a base leader that scolding would be useless under the current situation.


    Over ten researchers were murdered. Every single one of those special scientific talents was under secret protection, because the base valued them very much.


    In spite of that, they were still murdered. Not even a slight noise was caused when they died. That was, of course, not something that an ordinary being could do. Their secret bodyguards shouldn''t take the blame. Clearly, the murderer was extra powerful.


    "Go and find out who did it! If you can''t find the murderer, you should kill yourselves!" Hong Yijie, a member of the board, yelled at his subordinates by the door.


    Seven board members were sitting around the table, with Si Kongchen in the seat of the host.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Everyone was wearing a depressed look while a tense atmosphere was spreading in the living room. Even the group of Deputy Chiefs who were standing behind the board members and the Chief stayed absolutely silent. They didn''t even dare to breathe loudly.


    Hong Yijie was yelling at the squad leader by the door, but in fact, he was giving his order to those Deputy Chiefs.


    "Yes, sir!" Behind him, Su Huali, who was responsible for the security, responded immediately, then quickly left the conference room to check out the scene with his subordinates.

 634 Yousll Be Handling This One

    "Did the zombie kill them all?" Wu Chengyue was surprised too when he heard the news in his room.


    "I think so, because their heads were clearly clawed off by some kind of fierce beast. Some of their chests were punctured, and the holes were just big enough to let a hand through. Zombies have super strength. They can easily snap human necks," Xiao Licheng nodded and said.


    Claw marks were found from those dead bodies. According to the zombie''s file, it had animal power and could transform into an animal. Therefore, it was reasonable for it to have claws. Beast claws were similar to the claws of high-leveled zombies anyway¡­


    "It makes sense. The zombie was locked up like a lab rat for such a long time. It must have hated those people. Hm, Huaxia Base has lost an elite research team. I guess Si Kongchen will be so angry that he might even vomit blood, hehe¡­" Wu Chengyue started laughing.


    "Could it be¡­ her? No one else can kill people without leaving a trace like her, right?" Xiao Licheng thought for a moment and then said.


    Wu Chengyue knew whom he was talking about. He paused briefly to think, then responded, "I think she''d only stand aside and watch. After all, it was the zombie''s business. If she wanted to win the zombie to her side, she would at least let the zombie kill those people by himself. You have to know that zombies are possessive. Their enemies are like preys to them, that no one else can touch."


    "Seems like you know zombies so well¡­" Xiao Licheng glanced at him.


    Wu Chengyue gave him a glance and responded, "I don''t, but she definitely knows zombies better than anyone else."


    Xiao Licheng paused slightly, and then understood his meaning.


    He was right. She was a zombie herself. Who else could know zombies better than she did?


    "But, the zombie from the lab is at level-eight as well. It''s at the same level as her. Can she really turn it into a follower of hers?" Xiao Licheng asked with curiosity.


    "I think she wouldn''t have done it unless she was confident enough. Besides, as you know, she''s no longer the same as before. Based on what she has done, she must have considered thoroughly before taking action. I''m only wondering how she would react when Huaxia Base found out that it was her who stole the zombie," Thinking about Lin Qiao''s faint yet confident smile, Wu Chengyue gave a bigger smile.


    ''Look at your silly smiling face!'' Xiao Licheng glanced at Wu Chengyue and said in his head.


    "What? I didn''t steal that guy!" Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard in the room.


    "Eh!" Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng both gave a start, then quickly turned to where the voice came from.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and walked over, then sat down on an armchair near Wu Chengyue as if it were her own room. "In fact, Si Kongchen started it himself, not me. I just hijacked them in the middle of their plan!"


    Once she finished talking, a small figure rushed out of the bedroom and jumped to Lin Qiao''s thighs like a little bear.


    "Ahyaya, little one, did you miss me?" Lin Qiao scooped up Wu Yueling who was wrapped in a lot of clothes and asked while laughing happily.


    Wu Yueling was so happy that she gave a big grin and nodded heavily.


    Her Daddy really didn''t lie to her! She had truly seen her Zombie Mommy in this place!


    The smile on Lin Qiao''s face froze for a second. Then, she pretended not to read the little girl''s mind, but raised her head and continued talking to Wu Chengyue, "Si Kongchen had a perfect plan. He felt that the zombie wasn''t hidden well enough, so he planned to move it to somewhere else. Meanwhile, he also planned to cover for himself by framing the others. I''ve never seen such a shameless person!"


    Hearing her, Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng glanced at each other with surprise, then said in one voice, "He did it himself?"


    Lin Qiao dropped the little one and stood up, walking before the tea table. Then, she flashed into her space and soon came out with a man.


    "I left one of those who did the job and took care of the rest. You''ll be handling this one." Having finished talking, she sat back into the armchair and picked the little one up.


    Wu Chengyue stayed composed when Lin Qiao threw out a man in a military suit. The smile on his face had faded though.


    Xiao Licheng was confused. "What-what do you mean?"


    "Ask your boss¡­ He knows what I mean," Lin Qiao pouted to point at Wu Chengyue with her lips.


    Xiao Licheng turned to Wu Chengyue with confusion. Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue was looking at the man who was thrown to the ground without any expression. He didn''t know what Lin Qiao had done to that man, but he was disabled from both moving and talking.


    He didn''t pass out, but had his head lowered, not looking at anyone.


    Lin Qiao didn''t want him to kill himself, so she disjointed his jaw, disabled his superpower, and also gave him a little anesthetic.


    "What did you do to him?" Wu Chengyue spent a short while observing the man, then turned and asked Lin Qiao with a smile.


    "I didn''t want him to kill himself," Lin Qiao shrugged.


    "Why¡­ Why are you giving him to us?" Xiao Licheng still didn''t understand what she wanted.


    "Because she doesn''t plan to attend the grand meeting to purchase the antidote. In other words, she isn''t going to show her face, so she can''t just bring this man to the others to accuse Si Kongchen of what he has done," Wu Chengyue said to Xiao Licheng. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Xiao Licheng looked at Lin Qiao with surprise and saw that she was smiling as well. Somehow, he felt that Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were smiling the same kind of smile.


    "He''s right. I''m so poor¡­ How can I possibly afford to buy that antidote? At the very most, I''ll borrow it from someone!" Lin Qiao laughed, then lowered her head to ask Wu Yueling, "Right? Little one, am I right?"


    Wu Yueling had no idea what were they talking about. However, when Lin Qiao asked her if she was right, she nodded instinctively.


    In her heart, her Zombie Mommy was right about everything, just like her Dad!


    Looking at her red little cheeks and innocent, sparkling eyes, Lin Qiao''s heart was even about to melt. She couldn''t help but rub the little girl''s head.


    ''You emptied two granaries of Earth Dragon Base just a few days ago! How can you shamelessly call yourself poor!'' Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Xiao Licheng stared at her in a very weird way. Then, he heard her mention borrowing. "Borrow? From whom?" He asked.


    "Someone¡­" Lin Qiao answered his question with a smile.


    Xiao Licheng didn''t know what to say.


    She had changed so, so much!


    Seeing her smile, he clearly knew that some people were going to suffer. He immediately recalled what Earth Dragon Base had been through not long ago, and the few important people who had gone missing.


    Xiao Licheng suddenly realized that Hidden Cloud City Base had had a pretty rich harvest, and that was not right!


    Reasonably speaking, if she were targeting the Earth Dragon Base, the reason must be what happened to Hades Base. In that case, Sky Fire Base and Hidden Cloud City Base, which had helped Earth Dragon Base, couldn''t possibly only lose a Chief each.

 635 No One Wants to Suffer a Loss

    "So, why us?" Xiao Licheng still didn''t understand.


    "Because we''re friends. Friends do things for each other," Lin Qiao replied smilingly.


    Xiao Licheng didn''t know what to say. He glanced at Wu Chengyue and wanted to say something, but didn''t.


    If he guessed right, a Deputy Chief from their base was wasted by her. How could she now ask his Chief for a favor? But of course, he didn''t dare to say anything, as he had no evidence. He was only wondering how his Chief would react.


    "Except for your Chief, I don''t know anyone else around here. So, I figured it''s more appropriate for your Chief to do the job," Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Chengyue, then lowered her head to look at Wu Yueling.


    The girl put her hands on her lower belly, but didn''t feel Viney''s response. At that moment, she was feeling confused.


    ''She''s sleeping, so she can''t talk to you.'' Lin Qiao held the girl''s hands and said to her in her head.


    Wu Yueling slightly raised her head to look at Lin Qiao as a trace of disappointment flashed across her eyes. However, she stayed silent.


    ''Good girl.'' Lin Qiao smilingly rubbed her head.


    Wu Yueling gave a big smile. The slight disappointment immediately faded from her heart.


    "What will I get if I do what you said?" Wu Chengyue smiled as well as he looked at Lin Qiao cunningly. Since she had brought the man here, the zombie must be in her place. If he brought the man to the others, those people would certainly ask him where the zombie was. Therefore, he still needed to figure out a way to cover for her.


    "I''ll give you thirty percent of the antidote that I borrow," Lin Qiao said with a faint smile. She wasn''t narrowing her eyes, but she turned to Wu Chengyue also with a cunning look.


    "Thirty percent? Isn''t that too low? At least, we should each get half. You''ve got the best part already, haven''t you?" Wu Chengyue shook his head, replied with discontent.


    "What do you mean? They brought the zombie right to me. That has nothing to do with you, right? Besides, I am now offering you a chance to clear your own name. That''s already good enough. Yet now, you''re trying to take advantage of me!" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and rejected him without thinking.


    "Fifty percent, or you can take this man away," Wu Chengyue looked at her smilingly. Clearly, he didn''t want to compromise.


    Lin Qiao blinked, her lip corners twitching slightly. That man really wouldn''t let himself fall in any disadvantage.


    "Thirty-five percent!"


    "Fifty percent!"


    "¡­ Forty percent!"


    "Fifty percent. I said fifty¡­"


    "Forty! Don''t go too far!"


    "Well¡­ Alright, forty-five then!"


    Lin Qiao''s eye corners twitched after her lip corners. She raised her eyebrows, trying very hard to stop herself from turning and walking away.


    What was the difference between forty-five percent and fifty percent! Well, there was a difference between forty-five and fifty, but Lin Qiao couldn''t see it.


    "Let''s go, little one! Come and live with me for a couple of days!" The angry Lin Qiao suddenly scooped Wu Yueling up and stood up from the couch. Before the two could react, she disappeared from the room.


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng were left stunned.


    Xiao Licheng glanced at Wu Chengyue''s frozen smiling face, then at the couch where Lin Qiao was sitting.


    ''Ah, neither of them are willing to suffer any loss! But boss, wasn''t that your future wife? You can''t act this way, or you''ll stay single!'' With that thought, Xiao Licheng glanced at Wu Chengyue with pity, then turned to the man who was lying on the ground.


    "So¡­ did she just agree to give us forty-five percent?" Xiao Licheng asked.


    "She didn''t reject at the end, did she?" Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes in a smile again.


    "But, she took Ling Ling away!" Xiao Licheng couldn''t help but point that out.


    "Eh-hem¡­" Wu Chengyue''s lip corners twitched.


    "And I think Ling Ling was happy to go with her!" Xiao Licheng added.


    "Alright! Send this man to Si Kongchen and also spread the news. Tell the others that this man is from Huaxia Base, and for some reason, he was trying to move the zombie, and that the zombie ran away during the action," Wu Chengyue stopped smilingly and gave an order.


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng responded immediately with a serious face.


    "Go, go!" Wu Chengyue waved at him, as if he was trying to send away a fly.


    Xiao Licheng rolled his eyes, then turned and left. Once he left, Wu Chengyue immediately wore a disappointed face. That awful female zombie took way his precious little girl again!


    She didn''t even agree to give him forty-five percent of the antidote! He could even see her giving him only forty percent of the antidote, using the fact that she didn''t say yes as an excuse!


    That woman wouldn''t suffer any losses. He was clearly aware of that.


    After entering her space, Lin Qiao sat down on the couch and put the little girl on her knees, then said to Xie Dong, "Xie Dong, go and ask Lu Tianyi to pick some strawberries for us."


    Xie Dong and Lin Kui were squatting side by side by the door, watching Lu Tianyi and that smart zombie glare at each other. They simultaneously turned around when they sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe and someone else''s scent.


    Xie Dong knew Wu Yueling. Hearing what Lin Qiao said, he quickly stood up and walked out. Unlike him, Lin Kui looked at Wu Yueling with curiosity, his eyes glowing.


    Lin Qiao noticed his reaction, said, "Oh¡­ you like kids!"


    Lin Kui stood up and walked into the room. He looked at Wu Yueling with shining eyes, and couldn''t help but curve his lips in a smile.


    Seeing a dark-eyed, scar-faced strange zombie walk in, Wu Yueling was terribly frightened. She hurriedly turned and held Lin Qiao tightly, burying her face in her neck.


    Wu Yueling''s intense reaction made Lin Kui pause for a second. He automatically stopped moving and wore a disappointed face. Then, he sighed and turned around to move back to the door. But, he still glanced at Wu Yueling from time to time.


    He knew that his face would frighten kids, but he couldn''t do anything about that. He couldn''t hire a plastic surgeon to fix his face, could he?


    "Don''t mind! This kid is a little autistic. She''s just afraid of strangers. She won''t be like this when she sees you more often." Seeing the disappointed look on his face, Lin Qiao comforted him.


    Lin Kui blinked and nodded.


    Before long, Lu Tianyi came in with a handful of strawberries. He walked into the kitchen and put those strawberries in a plate, then walked back out. Soon, he came in again and put the washed strawberries on the tea table before Lin Qiao along with the plate.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    A figure flashed across the door. Then, a head was stuck out from behind the door. The pair of purely dark eyes were fixed on the little girl who was in Lin Qiao''s arms.


    Clearly, the smart zombie was attracted here by Wu Yueling''s scent.

 636 Wave After Wave

    Noticing that the zombie was drooling at Wu Yueling, Lu Tianyi couldn''t help but walk over and give him a kick!


    ''Damn you, pesticide! Go away! Do not drool at the little princess!"


    "Roar!" The smart zombie who had suffered a kick uttered a roar with discontentment. He didn''t dare to attack Lu Tianyi. But, if the Boss weren''t in the building, he would have jumped on Lu Tianyi and bitten his head.


    ''Who is pesticide? What is pesticide?''


    The zombie loved to catch and eat the bugs in the fields recently, and was also good at weeding. But of course, he would pull out the seedlings as well if Lu Tianyi wasn''t keeping an eye on him.


    In Lu Tianyi''s eyes, he was just like a pesticide!


    Lu Tianyi glared at Pesticide, then went back to the kitchen and picked up a clean glass. After that, he fetched a glass of water and brought it to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao patted Wu Yueling''s back and said to her, "Come on, have some water. Don''t be afraid, he''s not coming to you anymore."


    Wu Yueling moved slightly and slowly turned to glance at the door. Then, she found that no stranger was in the living room. Only a few were seen on the outside.


    "Come on, we also have strawberries. Do you want some?" Lin Qiao bent over and reached to the plate, then picked up a strawberry and put it before the girl''s eyes to show her. Seeing the familiar strawberry, Wu Yueling took it over without thinking and made a bite. Meanwhile, she looked outside the door curiously.


    At that moment, a small, colorful figure darted in and uttered baby roars toward the little one, "Awooo!"


    The little girl was instantly attracted by the baby tiger.


    ¡­


    Before long, the news spread out that Huaxia Base had sent out a team to relocate the zombie, but let the zombie run away in the end.


    One event succeeded another. Before people figured out who killed the research team members, the shocking news was heard.


    The people from the other bases were angry when they learned that, but stayed composed. After all, they had all guessed that Huaxia Base would certainly play some trick this time.


    They shared one thought.


    "I thought some other base stole it! It now turned out that it was Si Kongchen himself!" Lu Zhuofeng was wearing a sullen look while his dark and thick eyebrows were knitted together. Then, he curved his lips and said sarcastically, "Hm, I think Si Kongchen is going to vomit blood once again.


    In another room, Lan Lu was standing by the window expressionlessly, with a hand on his chin. "I guess Si Kongchen was worrying that the original location of the zombie wasn''t secure enough, so he decided to move it to somewhere else, also to cause chaos to cover for himself. So, he came up with that plan. Unexpectedly, he fell into the trap that he set up for us! But, where did that zombie go? Why can''t I feel him at all?"


    "I''ve checked. The zombie''s name is Macuy. He''s a male, and a possessor of animal power. He can transform into a black panther, and is good at hiding," said Lei Cheng.


    At the same time, Li Zhengye was sneering in his room, "That''s a loud slap on Si Kongchen''s own face. I''d like to know what he''ll say next. He actually tried to frame us!"


    ¡­


    At that time, Lin Qiao put Wu Yueling in her room.


    "Good girl, you stay here and play. I still have some work to do. I''ll come back to play with you later, okay?" Lin Qiao put her on the bed that she barely slept in, then squatted and looked at the girl straight in the eyes as she said.


    Wu Yueling paused briefly, then nodded reluctantly.


    "Ling Ling is the best! If you want to use the bathroom, open the door and ask the uncle by the door to take you there, okay?" Lin Qiao rubbed her head.


    Hearing Lin Qiao say that she was the best, Wu Yueling became happy again. She looked at Lin Qiao, nodded with a smile.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After that, Lin Qiao left her space and showed up in Huaxia Base.


    She hopped on top of the building nearby and sniffed around the air to located Leng Xuantong. Then, she followed his scent to where he was.


    Soon, she found a quiet alley covered in a thick layer of snow. No one had ever cleaned the area. Upon the snow was a thin layer of ice which was melting slowly. Without looking closely, one would not find the ice on the snow.


    Lin Qiao walked into the alley. In her invisible mode, her weight would be reduced by ten percent. She intentionally made her steps gentle to avoid breaking the thin layer of ice.


    Nothing but walls stood on both sides of the alley, and there was a wall at the end of the alley as well. Normally, people wouldn''t come to this dead alley, so no one had noticed the special sewer lid at the end of the alley.


    Lin Qiao walked to the lid and looked around. No one was coming near the alley, but the searching teams would patrol to this area from time to time.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then gently opened the lid and jumped in. As she went into the sewer, the lid was gently closed.


    She took a ladder down. Under the lid was a sewer indeed, with a half-meter-wide path near the end of the ladder. In the middle of the sewer was the sewage.


    Her sense of smell was too good, so the awful smell gave her a dizziness. She covered her nose and followed the narrow path downward. There was a corner at about ten meters. She turned around the corner and found an iron door.


    She walked to the door and knocked on it, then waited for a second before saying, "It''s me. Open the door."


    After that, she waited quietly. In around ten seconds, she heard some noises from behind the door.


    The door was opened, and a wave of coldness came out of it.


    Leng Xuantong gave her a glance with a complicated look, then turned to let her in.


    Lin Qiao went in and saw two glass cabinets standing on one side of the small basement. Two zombies were frozen in the cabinets, one adult and one child.


    She walked near the cabinets and sniffed at the two zombies.


    The adult one was a female zombie. She seemed to have become a zombie not long ago. No hostility was detected from her even though she looked ferocious. Her eyes were closed tight.


    The little zombie was a boy, about eight years old. He had dark circles under his eyes; but apart from that, he looked just like a normal human child.


    "Are these your wife and son?" Lin Qiao made two steps backward as she looked at the two cabinets and asked.


    "Yeah," Leng Xuantong closed the door and walked to the experiment table on the other side of the basement. On the table were some test tubes and all kinds of complicated tools.


    The entire research team had died but him. Without a doubt, he could not stay in Huaxia Base. Lin Qiao gave him the time to think, but in fact, he had no choice.


    "Let them out. Without me, you won''t be able to get out of Huaxia Base anyway," Lin Qiao turned around and looked at him as she said.


    Huaxia Base hadn''t been allowing anyone to leave for now. Only after the antidote was sold and the people from the other bases left would the base be possibly unsealed.

 637 What Will I Be Studying?

    Leng Xuantong gave her a glance with hesitation. Suddenly, he recalled that she was able to make Macuy follow her words. So perhaps, she had a special ability to control zombies.


    He thought for a moment, then realized that he had no other choice at the moment. He opened the door of the cabinets and pressed his hands on the ice. Soon, the ice melted slowly.


    The ice had melted, but the two zombies didn''t wake up.


    Lin Qiao knew that he had also given the two zombies tranquilizer to keep them quiet.


    "You don''t need to give them tranquilizer anymore. Just let them wake up and keep them," Lin Qiao said to Leng Xuantong.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Those two were still ordinary zombies. She wondered which level they had to reach to restore their memories. Viney wasn''t in the lake anymore, so she needed to help the others with the healing now. However, she didn''t know about that as clearly as Viney did.


    Leng Xuantong glanced at her again and nodded silently. He figured that she was able to control zombies, but would never tell him so.


    He packed all the necessary tools in boxes and then stood to the side. All the boxes that Lin Qiao touched disappeared. Leng Xuantong guessed that she had a space, but couldn''t tell how large that space was, and what kind of space it was.


    He was slightly nervous when Lin Qiao disappeared together with his wife and son. However, she showed up again in just a second. Seeing that, he sighed in a slight relief.


    "Let''s go. I''ll bring you in." Lin Qiao walked up to him and reached out a hand to grasp his shoulder, dragging him into the space.


    The two of them showed up in the living room in her space.


    "To avoid accidents, I think you should better stay inside this building," Lin Qiao sat on the couch and said to him.


    "What do you want me to study in?" Once in, Leng Xuantong observed the surrounding environment. Seeing his wife and son standing by the door against the wall, he silently sighed with relief, then turned and asked Lin Qiao a question.


    "The virus, of course! You already have quite some experiments on that, don''t you?" Lin Qiao looked at him as she pointed at another couch and said.


    "What''s your purpose?" Leng Xuantong walked over and sat down.


    ''Is she seeking a way to control the spread of the virus too?'' he wondered.


    "Control the infectivity of the virus. Or, I want an antidote that can resist the virus invasion," she said.


    She couldn''t only think for the zombies. Without a question, she also needed to think for human beings. Her base was built for both. If the people in her base could resist the virus invasion, their lives would be much easier.


    Even though she was able to control all the zombies in her base, she couldn''t guarantee that no accident would happen.


    Leng Xuantong nodded; he had guessed right.


    "Where will my lab be? I won''t always stay in your space, will I?" Leng Xuantong thought of another question.


    "It''ll surely be in the base. How can it possibly be in my space? I''ll let you out when we return to the base. But, you need to stay here for a few days. Don''t worry, we have food and water here. Just think it as a vacation," Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Leng Xuantong didn''t say anything else but nodded.


    The food and water that Lin Qiao mentioned were, of course, prepared by Lu Tianyi. They had rice in her space, and a lot of vegetables growing in the fields.


    Having finished talking, Lin Qiao stood up and went upstairs to carry Wu Yueling down.


    Feeling that a strange man was in the building, Wu Yueling became quiet. She only responded to Lin Qiao.


    ¡­


    The fact that Si Kongchen tried to relocate the zombie himself had been disclosed. Knowing that, Si Kongchen''s face darkened seriously. A strong, dark vibe was radiating from his entire body. The intention of killing could be detected from his eyes from time to time, and his entire face was tightened.


    "Have you found who spread the word?" He asked through clenched teeth, word by word.


    "We didn''t even need to try. He just told us frankly. It was Wu Chengyue from Sea City Base. We don''t know where he learned about it in the first place," Han Xiao, a member of the board, spread his hands and said with a faint smile.


    "How can he prove it?" Si Kongchen''s voice sounded a little muffled, as he was trying to restrain his anger.


    "That, we don''t know yet. But, he said that the zombie has run away, and that''ll be bad for the trade of the antidote. The other base leaders are not happy about it right now. Everyone, have you come up with a solution yet?" Han Xiao changed the topic and continued.


    Si Kongchen didn''t respond, but sat on the host''s seat with a sour face. He knew that his question was necessary. The word had already been spread. Even if he didn''t admit it, the other bases could still use it as an excuse.


    Not to mention the fact that if they focused on Huaxia Base and dug deep, they would certainly be able to find some traces. Huaxia Base people had gotten rid of all the possibly evidence they knew, but couldn''t say for sure that they didn''t miss any.


    "But, how come Macuy ran away? What happened? Chief, that was an elite squad you sent to do the job, right? Are you sure you didn''t let Macuy go on purpose?" A clearly sarcastic voice was heard.


    "Hu, you can''t say that. The leader of that squad was a level-six superpowered man after all, and the other members were all at level-five. The squad that our Chief sent out wasn''t weak at all. But, how did the zombie run away¡­ How did he do it?" Said another man. At first, he disagreed with the first man; but later on, he seemed to take his side in an indirect way.


    The first man was Hu Zhiyong, a member of the board; the second man was Liu Zhinan, who was also a board member. The two of them would never hide their discontentment about Si Kongchen. Whenever they had chance, they would let out sarcastic words toward Si Kongchen.


    "Earlier on, I had said that we should drain Macuy''s blood and store it after the first batch of antidote was succeeded. We could use half of the blood to produce a larger batch of the antidote, and save the other half to develop a better antidote. What did you say at that time¡­? Ah, you said the blood of a living zombie can preserve the energy in a better way. Now what? The energy is preserved so well that the zombie has even freed himself," Hu Zhiyong said loudly with laughter.


    As he finished talking, Si Kongchen''s face turned even sourer.


    The others stayed silent, watching. The atmosphere in the conference room became tender and tender, yet the board members who were sitting before the conference table didn''t care. Unlike them, the Deputy Chiefs standing by their sides didn''t even dare to breathe loudly. They stayed absolutely quiet, without even raising their eyes.


    "We can''t admit it. We just pass the buck again. So, whoever spread the words, we make him take the blame," Si Kongchen said with a cold voice.


    "But, we still haven''t found that missing squad member. Could he have fallen into those people''s hands?" Wei Haichao said.

 638 Hot Potato

    "It''s needless to ask, Wei. I bet Wu Chengyue has him. I guess he got the information from that squad member. Or, how would he spread the word so boldly? We should have killed that squad member when we found him, shouldn''t we? He didn''t only fail his mission, but also turned into a hidden trouble. What he knows is vital!" Liu Zhinan said to Si Kongchen with a smile.


    Si Kongchen gave him a bland glance but stayed silent. He wouldn''t answer that kind of boring questions. The most important thing now was to find the zombie as soon as possible. Also, if the squad member was still alive, he needed to make him die.


    Huaxia People were thinking about how to kill the squad member, and Wu Chengyue had guessed that they would try to do so.


    "Guard him well. Huaxia Base will certainly try to kill him." Wu Chengyue said to the people in his room smilingly.


    "The question is¡­ who will they send?" Xiao Licheng frowned slightly.


    "Except for Si Kongchen himself, who has the ability to take this man''s life under our Chief''s watch?" Moli stood by the window as she leaned against the window frame and said.


    "Whoever it will be, they will certainly try," Wu Chengyue responded with a smile, "In that case, we won''t be waiting for him. Let''s send this man away now.


    "Away? Where to?" The other two didn''t understand. Moli asked a question confusedly, wearing no expression.


    "To the one who has a stronger force under his command," Wu Chengyue replied smilingly.


    "Ah, you''re going to send the hot potato to Green Mountain Base, right?" Xiao Licheng asked.


    "Why Green Mountain Base?" Moli didn''t understand.


    Green Mountain Base leader didn''t bring a lot of people.


    "He only brought a few people, but think about their power levels," said Xiao Licheng.


    Moli finally understood his meaning. "Ah¡­ You''re right. He is with two level sevens and two level sixes, while we are¡­ Alright, he does have a stronger force than us and the others."


    Half an hour later, the group of Green Mountain Base people confusedly watched Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng send a man who was disabled from moving to their place.


    "Who''s this? What are you doing?" Lan Lu observed the man who was tied up, disabled from both talking and moving.


    "This is evidence. He''ll be safer in your place," Wu Chengyue said with a smile, then walked straight to the couch and took a seat.


    Those Green Mountain Base people stared at him. ''How impolite,'' said the look in their eyes.


    "Evidence? What? Why did you send him to me? Why don''t you keep him?" Lan Lu said with discontentment. He had figured out something. Clearly, Wu Chengyue was not there to deliver good news. He was probably trying to give him a troublesome task!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "He''s the witness of that thing. This man is the only survivor among the squad which was sent to relocate the zombie. Once he dies, no one will be giving witness to that thing. Think about it¡­ Will Si Kongchen admit it easily?" Wu Chengyue sat down and crossed his arms before his chest.


    "Oh, so why did you bring him to me?" Lan Lu raised one eyebrow, his face saying ''I know what you are planning.''


    "My subordinates aren''t strong enough. What if someone killed him when I wasn''t paying attention to him?" Wu Chengyue replied.


    "So, let him die. What does that have to do with me? Why on earth did you bring him to me? You''re not expecting me to watch him for you, are you? That''s not gonna happen!" Lan Lu glared at Wu Chengyue and said.


    "How can he die! Are you silly? If he dies, Si Kongchen will never admit what he did, right? He was trying to let us take the blame earlier, and he even threatened us! Are you gonna pretend that it didn''t happen? Wouldn''t that be too good for him? How can you let that happen? Moreover, the zombie has run away. So, what if he uses that as an excuse to raise the price of the antidote?" Wu Chengyue said to Lan Lu.


    Hearing that, Lan Lu fell into silence. He knew that would happen since long ago. Now, Wu Chengyue was trying to give him the hot potato, and he was not happy about it.


    Wu Chengyue took his silence as a tacit approval. He slapped on his knees and stood up, "It''s a deal then! You have spirit power, so it''s much easier for you to guard him than it is for me."


    Having finished talking, he waved a hand, then smilingly headed toward the door.


    "Oi, wait! I didn''t say yes! Damn!" Lan Lu paused briefly and almost lost his temper.


    Wu Chengyue ignored him as he walked to the door with big steps.


    "The witness is under your guard now!" He waved at Lan Lu without turning back, then walked out.


    "You¡­" Lan Lu watched him disappear.


    "Where did he find this man?" One of the others who was silent the whole time asked with curiosity.


    Lan Lu turned and glanced at that man, then clicked his tongue and complained, "That sneaky fox! He sent this hot potato to us and ran away!"


    "Should we send him back?" Zheng Hao looked at Lan Lu and asked.


    "Eh, don''t bother. Haven''t you found a clue of that zombie yet? How could it possibly disappear?" Lan Lu shook his head and said.


    "No. There really is not even a trace of it. All the traces disappeared in the farm area. Even Huaxia Base haven''t had any discoveries."


    "That''s weird! Where did the zombie go?" Lan Lu frowned slightly and murmured.


    A couple of days later, the agreed trade date finally came.


    First of all, the effect of the antidote would be displayed.


    Tall fence walls were built up in a small square. In front of the square was a two-story factory building. The walls on the second floor which were facing the square had been removed, replaced with glass. Hence, the people on the second floor of the building were able to see the square clearly.


    In the middle of the square, a ten-meter-square area was surrounded by barbed wire. Clearly, that was where the display was going to happen.


    Huaxia Base invited all the leaders of the other bases to the second floor of the factory building. Sitting behind the glass, they would be able to see what happened down in the square clearly.


    Near the glass were some couches and tea tables, with some tea, fruits, and snacks prepared for those base leaders.


    Only Huaxia Base could be so generous. If the event took place in Sea City Base, people would only have tea.


    After being guided to the second floor of that building, those base leaders found their seats and sat down, then started observing the square and the surrounding environment with interest.

 639 The Trade Show

    As the host, Si Kongchen sat in the middle of the room. As everyone took a seat, Lu Zhuofeng started a conversation with laughter.


    "Chief Si, I''ve been thinking that the effective range of the antidote is a little too small. It''s only ten meters in radius. In fact, its effect is only about the same as that of an attack launched by a level-six superpowered man. A level-five ice-power possessor might be able to deliver the same effect."


    Apart from Si Kongchen, three board members from Huaxia Base were also on the scene.


    Hearing Lu Zhuofeng, Hu Zhiyong responded with a smile, "Be patient¡­ The antidote with an effective range of ten meters in radius is only the first generation of antidote. It''s more like a half-finished work, so we didn''t produce it in large batches. If you use ten doses of it at one time, the effective range will expand. Even though it still can''t reach a hundred meters radius, the number can be improved to seventy at least. If you gather all the zombies that you want to kill in an area with the radius of seventy meters and throw ten doses of the antidote into the crowd, the effect will be pretty good."


    With the good things about the antidote, he covered its shortcomings. Meanwhile, he said that the antidote was only a half-finished work, and his words revealed a new message.


    "Eh? Are you saying that you''ve also developed a finished antidote?" Lan Lu asked with surprise. Hearing that, all the others had their expressions changed.


    "Chief Lan, you are right," Hu Zhiyong smiled as he looked at him and continued, "The antidote with the effective range of ten meters is only the first generation of the antidote indeed. We have also developed the second generation and a third. Their effects will surely be different. We will explain to you while showing you their effects."


    "There are the second and third generations!" The others were stunned at first, then had their eyes glowing.


    It seemed that none of them were well-informed enough. Huaxia Base had really been hiding the information deeply. It was impressive indeed! Clearly, they leaked some information on purpose to divert the others'' attention, so that the really important things could be kept secret.


    "So, the show is on!" Liu Zhinan said smilingly, then clapped his hands. Following his move, a few pretty girls walked to the others and gently put a list on each of their tables.


    That was the list of prices of the antidotes. Three generations of the antidotes were on the list, followed by the names and the required number of the supplies for exchanging the antidotes.


    The people browsed the list. Soon, their intention was attracted by the noises from the square.


    A few soldiers in white exposure suits and gas masks dragged a chained, messily dressed commoner into the square.


    The commoner had both his feet and hands chained. Those soldiers hung him in the middle of the area, which was surrounded by ten-meter-tall barbed wires.


    Seeing that, the people on the scene immediately figured out what was going on. However, they didn''t say anything and just watched calmly, as that was arranged by Huaxia Base.


    After being hung up, that man started struggling. However, his struggles were completely useless.


    Most of those soldiers left after fixing that man on the middle of the barbed wire area, with only one soldier left there. He walked to the Southeast corner and lifted a square lid on the ground, exposing a hole. After that, he quickly left, locking all the doors.


    Before long, a hand reached out of that hole, and then another hand was seen. After that, a head was stuck out. A creature quickly crawled out of the hole, looking like an ordinary zombie.


    Seeing the zombie, the man who was hanging on the barbed wire started screaming with fright, struggling even harder.


    Soon, more and more zombies crawled out of the hole; all of them were ordinary zombies. They shambled around with their arms dropped. Noticing that human, they quickly, instinctively raised their arms and reached out, crowding toward that human in the meantime.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Being attracted by scent of the living human being, more and more zombies crawled out of the hole and gathered toward the man. The entrance of the barbed wire area was facing the zombie hole, so those zombies soon gushed into the area.


    "Two-hundred zombies have been released. When they all go into that ten-meter-square area, we''ll first show you the effect of one dose of the antidote, and how to use it," Hu Zhiyong stood up and walked to the glass with excitement, pointing at the square while talking to the others.


    "No wonder we heard that you only have a small amount of the antidote. It turns out that you have a plan. Impressive!" Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at Si Kongchen and said.


    Si Kongchen had been wearing no expression today. Only Hu Zhiyong and Liu Zhinan were doing the talking. Both of them were members of the board. As Wu Chengyue looked at him, Si Kongchen finally responded.


    "Sure! We only wanted to surprise you," he said blandly.


    All zombies gathered in that ten-meter-square wire area, looking at the man hanging in the air and eagerly reaching out to try and touch him. However, that man was about three meters away from the ground. So, without leaping up, those zombies weren''t able to touch him.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


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    "Help! Ah! Help! Help!" That man screamed as loudly as he could. He knew that no one would come to save him. He was only screaming to ease his fear.


    "Alright, we are ready. Now, everyone, you''ll be witnessing what the antidote can do," Hu Zhiyong laughed as he raised a hand and gave the man behind him a signal.


    Soon, a man in an exposure suit showed up on a fence wall around the square and threw a test tube into the wire area. Contained in the test tube was the antidote. Before the antidote fell on the ground, he swung an arm forward and released a fireball. The fireball hit the test tube, and then detonated the antidote.


    "I assume you have all known that the effect of the first generation antidote will show up in one and a half hour. So, you need to wait for one and a half hour to see the effect," Hu Zhiyong turned around and glanced at the others as he said with a smile.


    "Are you saying that we should wait here for one and a half hour without doing anything else?" Lu Zhuofeng snorted coldly and said with a slight discontentment.


    "You, of course, won''t be bored. We have prepared a show to entertain you," said Hu Zhiyong composedly with a faint smile.


    "Really? We have a show to watch? Great! We even get to have some fun. I''m curious about what kind of show Chairman Hu has arranged for us," Li Zhengye from Sky Fire Base laughed and said.


    "It''s just a small game," Hu Zhiyong responded with a smile.

 640 The Entertaining Show

    "Go, stage the show that we have prepared," Liu Zhinan said to Lai Chengkang, who was standing behind him.


    Lai Chengkang was a Deputy Chief; average-looking, about thirty years old; not tall, but not short either. He was the kind of man who could become perfectly invisible in a crowd of people.


    "Yes, sir!" He nodded with composure and replied. After that, he quickly turned and left.


    Soon, the others saw him show up on the fence wall around the square with two people. One man by his side reached out his hands toward the barbed wires. Following his move, the wires started extending, soon sealing the entrance and capping the whole area.


    Just like that, the wires were turned into a giant iron cage.


    The two-hundred zombies were locked up in the cage, yet they didn''t care. They were all focusing on that man who was hanging in the air.


    The fence wall around the square was only five or six-meters tall at first. But all of a sudden, it grew to about twenty meters tall, instantly darkening the light in the square.


    At that point, the door at on the bottom of the wall from where the human bait was brought was opened again. A group of people carried in two zombies, which were entirely tied up.


    Those two zombies lay there quietly with their eyes closed.


    Soon, those soldiers in exposure suits came back into the square and put the two zombies each on one side of the square, then injected something into their bodies.


    "Eh? What are they doing? They are not the show that you mentioned, are they?" Gao Haoyun from Heilong Base looked at the square with curiosity.


    "Ah, they are both at level-three. As we all know, intelligent zombies are all territorial. So, when a zombie''s territory is invaded by a same-level zombie, or when two same-leveled zombies are in the same place, they will certainly start a fight until one of them has won. So now, the first show we have prepared for you is zombie fight," Liu Zhinan smilingly introduced the show to the others.


    "Ah, I see¡­ It''s interesting!" Lu Zhuofeng''s interest was aroused.


    "The first show? Are there more shows after that?" Wu Chengyue smiled while looking down at the square without changing his expression.


    "Sure! There is, of course, more than one show. Otherwise, you won''t be having enough run. Am I right?" Liu Zhinan nodded and responded.


    After injecting something into the two zombies'' bodies, the group of soldiers quickly evacuated from the square.


    In about twenty seconds, the two zombies which were lying motionlessly on the ground opened their eyes simultaneously. Their eyes were purely dark, with no pupils to be seen.


    Five years ago, those eyes could scare people to death. But at present, no one would be frightened by those eyes anymore.


    They had all gotten familiar with it.


    The two zombies blinked, and then had their eyes glowed. Next, they both realized that they were tied up, and instantly started struggling. At the same time, they fixed their eyes on each other.


    Puff! Puff! The ropes on them weren''t strong enough, so they soon freed themselves.


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    "Roar!"


    The two level-three zombies immediately charged at each other.


    "They are both at the verge of level-four. So, if one of them eats the other, it would be able to upgrade. Therefore, in order to break into a new level, they will both try their best to kill each other," said Liu Zhinan, still with a smile.


    The two level-three zombies'' presence and the violent vibe of attacking that radiated from them instantly threw the ordinary zombies in the cage into silence. The two darted up to each other, ignoring the surrounding things. They could see nothing but the same-level opponent in their eyes.


    They would be able to break into a higher level if they dug out another level-three zombie''s nucleus and ate it.


    They were both as level-three. In both terms of strength and speed, they had gone far beyond ordinary human beings. While launching attacks, they liked to move on all fours and have their eyes fixed right on their opponents.


    They each had a mark on their necks: one red and the other blue.


    "Do you wanna bet which one will win? I bet on the red one," Hu Zhiyong said smilingly.


    "Eh? Can we do that? Good! Let''s me see¡­ The blue one looks good! I bet on the blue one with a level-five zombie nucleus! Haha!" Lu Zhuofeng threw a zombie nucleus on the table and laughed.


    "I bet on the red one!"


    "Blue!"


    "Blue!"


    The others got excited as well. As people had made a bet, they all stared at the two zombies with great interests.


    Only Lan Lu and Wu Chengyue were looking down at the square absent-mindedly. One of them was wearing a smile, and one was expressionless. No one could tell what they were thinking.


    Lin Qiao was standing on the fence wall, looking down. She glanced at the people in the building and saw them put zombie nuclei on tables. Then, she read Lai Chengkang''s mind and learned what those people had been doing at the moment.


    ''A show?''


    A beam of light flashed across Lin Qiao''s eyes as she curved her lips in a smile. She had decided to liven things up for those people.


    Having decided that, she leaped off the fence wall. The antidote had spread long ago, and she was watching since the beginning. She felt nothing from the antidote which was burned by fire. Clearly, it couldn''t affect her at all.


    She climbed onto the iron cage, then swiftly flashed to the two level-three zombies. At that point, the two were fighting intensely. But in the next moment, the two zombies suddenly froze.


    "Eh? What''s wrong?" Seeing that, people who had been watching the fight happily were all confused.


    "Eh?"


    "Why did they suddenly stop?"


    Soon, the violent vibes from the two zombies faded. They just quietly stood in the square, looking at each other.


    That was right. They stopped fighting and just stood there, looking at each other without making any move.


    "Eh? What''s going on? It''s not a part of the show that you arranged, is it?" Bao Chengzhi, a leader of Mongols Base, couldn''t help but turn to the Huaxia Base people.


    "No! We didn''t arrange that! How did that happen?" Liu Zhinan was deeply confused as well. He turned and looked at Hu Zhiyong and Si Kongchen.


    The two were also looking at him with confusion.


    "Why did they stop fighting? They''re not going to shake hands and make up, are they?" said Lu Zhuofeng.


    In a few seconds, the others all turned to him with a weird look. That was because once he finished talking, the two level-three zombies each reached out a hand and shook with each other.


    "Damn! I¡­ I was joking!" Lu Zhuofeng was stunned.

 641 Someone Is Playing A Trick

    At that point, the man who was hanging in the zombie cage had already stopped struggling and passed out.


    Watching what was happening in the square, Wu Chengyue curved his lips corners in a smile. His smiling eyes finally showed a trace of an actual smile.


    "Eh?" Lan Lu was thinking with a hand on his chin. Suddenly, he turned to Wu Chengyue and noticed the transient smile in his eyes. He knew that the smiling-faced Wu Chengyue normally had no actual smile in his narrowed eyes.


    The two level-three zombies had stopped fighting while the crowd of ordinary zombies were quietly staying in the cage. There was nothing fun to watch.


    Except for Wu Chengyue who seemed to know something that the others didn''t, the other people all wore an impatient look.


    "Get down and see what''s happening. Bring two new zombies if it''s necessary," Si Kongchen frowned and gave his order with a low voice.


    "Yes, sir!" Hou Guozhong, who was sitting behind him, nodded and stood up.


    It had only been twenty minutes since the antidote was released. There was still an hour and ten minutes to go. As an unexpected situation happened so soon, the others looked a little disappointed.


    But soon, things in the square changed again.


    After shaking hands, the two zombies abruptly raised their heads and fixed their eyes on Lai Chengkang and the others who were on the fence wall. Then, they leaped on top of the cage and pounced on those people.


    Puff! Their sharp claws penetrated the metal surface of the wall and allowed them to climb up quickly.


    "Eh? What''s happening now?" The people on the second floor were confused again.


    "Oh, this is interesting! Chairman Liu, you didn''t arrange this, did you?" Lan Lu laughed as he got out of his thinking.


    "What¡­ What''s going on?" Liu Zhinan pulled a long face at that point.


    On the fence wall, Lai Chengkang''s face was also filled with surprise and confusion as he looked down at the two zombies which were swiftly climbing up.


    "What is happening? What''s wrong with these two zombies!" He glared at the two zombies and raised a hand to release a stream of flame. The flame made a circle above his head, then suddenly descended on the two level-three zombies.


    Thud! The two zombies were sent back to the ground.


    At that moment, a gust of wind blew the two level-three zombies away, also blowing off their heads.


    Puff! Their heads were cut off and rolled to the side. Their thick blood splashed all over the ground.


    "They were useless¡­ Bring two new ones," Hou Guozhong landed before Lai Chengkang and said to the others.


    "Yes, sir!" The others immediately leaped off the wall.


    "What was wrong with those two?" Hou Guozhong asked with a frown.


    "God knows!" Lai Chengkang responded, also with a frowning, sour face.


    Soon, some people brought in the other two level-three zombies, and repeated the whole process, including the injection and evacuation.


    The two zombies woke up and reacted in the same way as the former two. Even though they were interested in the living human being in the cage, facing a same-leveled zombie, they had no choice but to forget about the tempting food for now.


    "Will they do the same as the first two?" That was the only question that the people had now.


    Among all, only Wu Chengyue was smiling a meaningful smile. He crossed his long and slender legs, tilted his shoulder, and rested his chin on his palm. Meanwhile, he glanced at the group of Huaxia people from time to time with a secret, delightful look in his eyes.


    Clearly, someone was playing a trick again! That someone¡­ Well, that female zombie always kept herself busy!


    Suddenly, Wu Chengyue wanted very much to see Lin Qiao. He wanted to see her face which was no longer covered in thick make-up, but was even prettier than before. He also wanted to see her cold and fierce eyes, and her beautiful body.


    Ever since he did it with her in the lake in her space, he could never forget that feeling. Back then, he wasn''t able to see her; but he felt her, and the feeling was real. He had seen her body. Before she died, she raped him, and at that time, she rode him wildly.


    Back then, he found that pair of snow-white, large breasts which were swaying before his eyes disgusting. But now, he somehow had an impulsion to touch them again!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Unwittingly, his mind fell into some dirty thoughts.


    Si Kongchen and the other chairmen had been looking at the square with dark faces, without answering the question.


    As some people expected, in just a few minutes, the two zombies behaved exactly the same way as the former two. They suddenly stopped fighting, then rushed at the people on the fence wall. Of course, they also ended up being cut by Hou Guozhong''s wind blades.


    Huaxia Base people weren''t willing to give up. They sent in a third group and fourth group of zombies, but the results stayed the same.


    By now, the people had realized that there was a problem.


    "What happened, Chief Si? Have your zombies been switched by someone else? It seems like someone is controlling them!" said Li Zhengye with confusion.


    At that moment, Si Kongchen''s face had turned terribly sour as he stayed silent. Sitting by his side, Liu Zhinan responded smilingly.


    "Of course not! But, I don''t know what''s happening either. I think I need to get down there and find out. I am deeply sorry for disappointing you all! Since the zombies are naughty today, let''s switch to another show!"


    At that point, some people served some bottled wine.


    "This wine is made from the grapes that we grew by ourselves. We''ve been saving it for big occasions. I wonder if you guys have an interest in tasting it?" Liu Zhinan turned and picked up a bottle of wine and a glass which were handed to him by a subordinate, then spoke while pouring the wine into the glass.


    After the apocalypse, people had stopped producing wines. They could barely feed themselves, so no one cared about wines anymore. Among all bases, only Huaxia Base had a huge farmland, which allowed them to grow fruits like grapes. They even luxuriously used the grapes to make wine!


    "Oh! You have wine! Why didn''t you serve that earlier!" Gao Haoyun, the man from Northeast, had his eyes glowing at the sight of the wine.


    The alcoholic strength of the wine was low, yet it tasted much better than the weirdly bitter tea.


    "Yeah! I can''t believe you''ve been hiding it! It''s really not easy to have some wine these days! You are actually making wine by yourselves! How luxurious! That is too luxurious!" Lu Zhuofeng''s eyes glowed as well. It was no strong liquor, but as long as it tasted like alcohol, it was good!


    "I agree with Chief Lu!" Lan Lu fixed his eyes on the wine which was served to him by a pretty girl and couldn''t help but agree with Lu Zhuofeng.


    "Thank you! I don''t even remember when I had wine the last time! I think it was before the apocalypse¡­" Wu Chengyue came back to his senses and politely thanked the girl who was serving him wine as he sighed.

 642 An Interruption

    The tense atmosphere was eased a little by the wine. However, some people started feeling that the tense atmosphere was better.


    With a meaningful smile, Li Zhengye said, "I heard that Huaxia Base was trying to relocate the zombie, but it ran the way suddenly. I wonder if that''s real. Chief Si, do you care to explain that? Earlier on, you seemed to suspect that someone stole the zombie."


    Hearing his words, Si Kongchen and the few board members of Huaxia Base had their faces darkened.


    "Ah, Chief Li, you shouldn''t say that. Perhaps, Chief Si misunderstood us. How could you call it suspect? Besides, Chief Si didn''t say it out loud, right?" Lu Zhuofeng explained for Si Kongchen.


    "Eh? Did that happen? Why didn''t I know that Chief Si had suspected us?" Lan Lu laughed.


    "Ah, about that. I only know that the zombie has run away, right? That zombie seems to be rather capable!" Wu Chengyue joined the conversation, also with laughter.


    It was exactly the right time to point fingers at Huaxia Base. The effect of the antidote would soon be shown. They mentioned that thing now, so that they would have an excuse to bargain later.


    However, they didn''t want to make the atmosphere too tense. What if Huaxia people got angry and canceled the trade? Therefore, when Li Zhengye mentioned that thing, the others hurriedly made jokes to ease the tension and evade the issue.


    Si Kongchen pulled a long face. He soon adjusted his expression, but still remained silent. Unlike him, Hu Zhiyong and Liu Zhinan handled the situation more smoothly.


    "Well, that¡­ might be a misunderstanding. We really shouldn''t reach any conclusion before finding out the truth, right?" Liu Zhinan responded, then smilingly glanced at the others and continued, "Besides, we are not sure yet whether the zombie ran out by itself or if it was taken away by someone."


    He didn''t admit it, but he didn''t deny it either. Based on his words, Huaxia Base would hold an ambiguous attitude until the truth was found out. So, in the end, Huaxia Base people didn''t dare to make a compromise.


    "I think the first generation of your antidote is not good enough. I''m actually more interested in the results of the second and the third phases of your experiment. I wonder what the later generation antidotes can do," Lan Lu said smilingly.


    "Oh, I agree with Chief Lan about that. The first generation antidote seems to deliver very little effect. I don''t think it can be helpful," Lu Zhuofeng shook the wine glass in his hand. After speaking, he poured some wine into his mouth.


    "Everyone, please be patient! Before learning about the result of the second and third phases of our experiment, you need to know the basic effects of the antidote, so that you''ll know about its real value," Hu Zhiyong said to the others with composure.


    "Could it be¡­" Lu Zhuofeng poured himself another glass of wine. He spent a short while staring at the glass, then said with hesitation, "Could it be someone from the new base in Hangzhou who played the trick?"


    "The one in Upper City District? How could that be possible? Do they have the power to do that? Hehe¡­" Si Kongchen snorted scornfully. He hadn''t been taking that small base seriously. After all, they had less than five-thousand people, and they hadn''t even built up their fence wall.


    "Chief Si, I wonder how much you know about that new base in Upper City District," Lu Zhuofeng suddenly gave a smile.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I think I know them better than you guys." The smiling Wu Chengyue abruptly joined the conversation, "I''m closer to them after all! Besides, I''m in cooperation with that new base. Chief Lu, since you are so curious about them, why didn''t you ask me?"


    He said that Lu Zhuofeng was curious, but clearly, the latter''s words didn''t contain that kind of meaning. Instead, he was only trying to deliver some kind of information to Huaxia Base. However, as Wu Chengyue interrupted the conversation, the other might think that he was really curious. So, they got curious as well.


    "Yeah. I heard that the people who built that base are the survivors from Hades Base, right?" said Gao Haoyun.


    "Hades Base is gone. Are they going to build a new Hades Base?" Li Zhengye said with a strange tone.


    "Hehe¡­ Speaking of the destruction of Hades Base, Chief Li, your base was a part of that. That is not good. We humans should unite. Otherwise, how are we supposed to destroy the zombies which are spreading all over the world?" Liu Zhinan said with a faint smile.


    "Don''t just say that to me. Hidden Cloud City Base fought a lot harder than us," Li Zhengye raised his brows and slightly widened his eyes as he laughed.


    Right now was the hardest time for the mankind; the most important thing was to develop. Under the current situation, fighting each other was clearly unwise. Therefore, that event was not a glorious thing to mention. For that exact reason, Li Zhengye brought up Hidden Cloud City Base. They did do it anyway, so he wouldn''t let himself become the only target.


    Being interrupted by Wu Chengyue, the conversation was instantly run off-topic.


    Lu Zhuofeng paused briefly, then soon changed his words. With a smile, he said to Wu Chengyue, "Ah, you are right! But, we were only helping the Earth Dragon Base. We didn''t take an initiative to offend Hades Base. Besides, we tried to talk that idiot Long Yubai out of it. He wouldn''t listen to me. What could I do?"


    After saying that, he glanced at Li Zhengye, then at Wu Chengyue as he continued, "Alright, both the destruction of Hades Base and what Earth Dragon Base suffered are bygones. Now, Hades Base survivors are building a new base. As their neighbors, Sea City Base should know them better than we do. That''s what I think."


    "That''s right! The people in the new base are indeed the survivors from Hades Base, that you know about. They were really miserable. At first, there were only about ten of them, and they came to my base to borrow people. I have lent them about a thousand people in total. Later on, the captives who were kept in the old Hades Base suddenly launched a successful counterstrike. I guess it was because the soldiers from Earth Dragon Base didn''t guard them well enough. After that, thousands of Hades Base people were brought back to Upper City Base. I also heard that those survivors divided into two groups. A small group of them are still living in that broken old Hades Base now." As Lu Zhuofeng drew the topic to him, Wu Chengyue generously shared the information he knew with the others.


    "Chief Wu, I guess you have really done them a favor by generously sending them help." Si Kongchen joined the conversation expressionlessly.

 643 Another Type Of Drug

    "Why not? Shouldn''t human beings unite? I tend to help others when they need help. It wasn''t a hard thing for me anyway, as they only needed workers," Wu Chengyue replied with a faint smile.


    "Based on what I know, the leaders of those Hades Base survivors are the former Hades Base leader, Netherworld Fire Lin Qiao''s family. Apart from herself, her entire family survived. Currently, Lin Qiao''s big brother¡ªLin Feng¡ªis managing the base, along with Deputy Chief Yuan Tianxing, who was her righthand man. However, they are both at only level six, although Yuan Tianxing is about to break into level seven. But, I heard that there''s a mysterious person among that group of people, called Miss Lu. Right, Chief Wu?" Lan Lu said and then glanced at Wu Chengyue.


    A dim light flashed across Wu Chengyue''s smiling eyes as he responded with composure, "Miss. Lu? Oh, I do know a Miss. Lu, but she''s no one mysterious. She is an¡­ Well, she is an indecent woman¡­ pretty but ugly on the inside. Her name is Lu Tianyu. I heard that she almost got killed, but somehow managed to stay alive. I have no idea why she''s with those Hades Base people now. She''s no one that I''d pay attention to anyway."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Ah, Lu Tianyu! I''ve heard about that woman. That''s one of the two goddesses in your Sea City Base¡­ Oh, no, one of them is a goddess, and the other is a female psycho! Haha, she''s indecent and evil, but I heard that she has a pretty face and a great body. It''s a shame though, as too many men had tasted that body of hers¡­" Lu Zhuofeng got a little excited when he heard Lu Tianyu''s name.


    "Oh, she''s from Sea City Base," Lan Lu smiled, but didn''t say anything else.


    At that point, Hou Guozhong and Lai Chengkang both returned. They silently walked up behind Si Kongchen and the other Huaxia people, as the others weren''t paying attention to them.


    "How''s it going?" Si Kongchen slightly turned his head and asked with a low voice, his eyes continuing to look forward.


    "We''re still trying to find out what happened," Hou Guozhong bent over behind him and responded, also with a low voice.


    Si Kongchen was already wearing a serious face. After hearing the answer, he frowned and said, "Why is it taking so long?"


    "We can''t sense anything wrong. It was those zombies'' problem," Hou Guozhong whispered.


    Si Kongchen stayed silent for a while with a frown, then waved and signaled for him to leave. Meanwhile, Lai Chengkang had a short conversation with Liu Zhinan, then stepped back and stopped talking.


    The people patiently chatted for an hour.


    "Alright everyone, the effect of the antidote is already showing," Hu Zhiyong abruptly stood up and walked to the glass, looking down at the square as he said.


    His words instantly caught everyone''s attention. Of course, most of the others had their eyes fixed on the square since long ago, and had noticed the change down there. Only a few hadn''t been paying attention to the square.


    At that moment, the two-hundred zombies in the cage started falling to the ground stiffly. Before long, the ground in the cage was covered by zombie bodies.


    Soon, those dead zombies began to corrode, instantly generating an awful smell which went up through the tall fence wall.


    "The energy of the virus has stopped maintaining their body functions. Therefore, their bodies turned into a puddle of pus once they fell to the ground," Hu Zhiyong pointed at those dead zombies and said.


    The others were sitting about three meters away from the glass. At that point, they all stood up and walked closer to the glass to look down.


    Black liquid had been flowing out from under those dead zombies. Meanwhile, those dead bodies had all become bones. Those bones which had been affected by the virus were, of course, no longer white. They had turned dark brown.


    "Don''t worry, that liquid doesn''t contain the virus anymore. So, we don''t need to be afraid of that liquid. In the worst case, it might cause some pollution," Hu Zhiyong continued.


    He glanced at the others and found them all looking down calmly, without showing any emotion. Then, he started introducing the second type of antidote. "So next, we''ll be showing you the work of the second phase of our experiment. In the second phase, we improved the antidote in multiple aspects. After being burned and thrown into the zombie crowd, this type of antidote will show its effect in ten minutes. Also, it''s not only effective on ordinary zombies, but can also hurt the zombies at level two and three. Its effect on level-two zombies will show in half an hour, and its effect on level-three zombies will show in two hours. The first generation antidote that we tested just now was only effective to ordinary zombies."


    As people expected, the result of the second phase was much better than the first generation antidote. In terms of time and effect, it was indeed very harmful for zombies, however¡­


    "What about the effective range and the number of zombies that it can kill?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "One hundred meters in radius. The number is, of course, unlimited. Within that range, all zombies under level-three will be harmed directly," Hu Zhiyong showed a very proud smile while saying that. He slightly raised his chin, his eyes glowing with excitement.


    While he was introducing the second type of antidote, some people were quickly cleaning the square. They spread a large amount of powder on the square, then removed the bones. The liquid on the ground was absorbed by the powder, leaving gray marks on the ground.


    Soon, a metal-powered man divided the square into three parts using the metal material from the cage. The fainted human being was squall hanging in the middle of the square.


    Before long, in each isolated part of the square, some people opened a lid on the ground and then evacuated, sealing off the square quickly.


    The group of base leaders could easily tell that the three isolated areas were a hundred meters squared in combination.


    This time, zombies didn''t crawl out of the holes immediately. A couple of minutes later, some zombies finally came out.


    Clearly, countless zombies were kept underground.


    After coming out from underground, the zombies immediately rushed at the fainted human being. And of course, the scenes in the three isolated areas weren''t the same.


    In the area in the middle¡ªwhere the man was hanging¡ªwere still ordinary zombies. Those zombies were simple-minded, unable to run or jump. They could do no more than reach their arms upward.


    However, things were different in the other two areas. The zombies had started fighting each other once they came out.

 644 Hold Back A Trick

    As there were too many enemies, those higher leveled zombies soon gave up on fighting each other and rushed straight at the barbed wire which separated them from the middle area, then tried to climb up. One zombie climbed up first, but the other immediately dragged it down and then climbed up itself.


    Level-two zombies were as nimble as human beings, but not smart enough. They were simply trying to climb up, holding either the barbed wire or the other zombies. Unlike them, level-three zombies were either stopping each other from reaching up or deliberately dragging down the ones who were climbing.


    At that moment, a staff member threw a dose of antidote down to the middle of the square along with a fireball.


    Boom! The fireball and the antidote hit each other and exploded.


    Hu Zhiyong picked up a glass tube from the tray carried by a waiter beside him, containing a light-blue colored liquid. "This is the result of the second phase. It can also be seen as the finished work based on the result of the first phase."


    While changes were happening in the square, he continued introducing the antidote.


    When the antidote exploded, level two and three zombies made obvious reactions. Unlike them, those ordinary zombies seemed to feel nothing.


    The level-two zombies stopped moving while the level-three ones quickly moved away and drew back to the edge of the cage like rats showered in boiling water.


    The scent of the antidote gave them a very strong sense of crisis. The antidote was spreading fast, and they didn''t manage to dodge timely. Therefore, as they moved to the edge of the cage, they all slowed down, with their heads dropped.


    Standing on top of the wall, Lin Qiao wore a grim face. The scent of the second type of antidote could still not affect her, but made her feel a slight repulsion. That was very uncomfortable.


    The technologies that Huaxia Base possessed were indeed dangerous for her! Under her encouragement, Lin Kui destroyed a whole research team this time. However, she couldn''t be sure that if where would other people to fill in their places in the future. She still needed to destroy the files about the antidotes!


    Ten minutes later, those ordinary zombies started reacting, and the higher leveled zombies had all quieted down, as if someone had pressed the pause button of them.


    The antidote couldn''t kill level-three zombies and turn them into pus, but was able to disable them from moving. That was already very appealing.


    At last, the third type of antidote was tested, which was able to affect even level-four zombies. Its effective range was much larger than the first two generations, and its onset time was a lot shorter.


    The moment the third type of antidote was released, all zombies under level-three in the square became puddles of pus. The effective range of that antidote was a thousand meters in radius.


    "The prices have been listed. This is a fair trade. You can all buy the antidotes with the prices on the list. To be fair, I need to explain to you about the amount of each type of antidotes. The amount that each base can buy is limited. The upper limit of each kind of antidote is on the list as well," After all the antidotes were tested, Liu Zhinan said to the others.


    "I''m surprised that you''re providing quite a lot of the second and third generation antidotes." Lan Lu said.


    Earlier on while reading the list, he and the others had found that the amounts of the antidotes number two and three were actually larger than the antidote number one by many times over. It meant that the information they got earlier was not true.


    "Oh, about that, we surely wouldn''t spend too many resources on the preliminary version of the antidote, so we don''t have too much of it," Hu Zhiyong laughed. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "You Huaxia Base are really greedy. You are able to produce weapons and grow food, yet you are trying to take so much from us. Aren''t these antidotes a little too expensive?" said Wu Chengyue with a smile.


    Everyone knew that those antidotes were overpriced. If Huaxia Base had successfully relocated the zombie but told the others that it was stolen, people might not say anything about the prices so frankly even if they weren''t satisfied with them. At most, they would ponder over those prices before placing orders.


    But now, people had known about Si Kongchen''s plan, and surely would grasp the opportunity.


    "Chief Wu, you have to know that we need to feed over two million people. The food we grew is not enough. Besides, you can also choose to buy the antidotes with zombie nuclei. We actually prefer zombie nuclei. It''s on the shopping guide," Liu Zhinan responded smilingly.


    "Your antidotes seem nice, but the prices are too high for us. I guess we need to think about it," Lan Lu complained about the prices as well, also with a smile.


    "It''s alright. This show is only for you to know the effects of the antidotes. The choice is absolutely yours. Also, the deal will always be open. Whenever you want to buy some of these antidotes, you''ll be welcome," Liu Zhinan responded composedly.


    "Eh? Aren''t the amounts limited? Why can the deal stay open?" Lu Zhuofeng asked with confusion.


    "The antidotes are limited for sale because we do not have a great amount in stock indeed. However, we will be producing more of it," said Liu Zhinan.


    "Produce more?" Lu Zhuofeng looked at them confusedly, "Wait! Your zombie has run away. How are you supposed to produce more antidotes?"


    Liu Zhinan glanced at them, but didn''t say anything as he turned his eyes to Hu Zhiyong.


    "Oh, we are looking for more special zombies. I believe there are more than one of that kind. In the future, we might be able to replace it with other zombies. The effects might be slightly different, and the prices will be recalculated as well. And of course, we won''t give up on looking for the zombie which has run away from our lab," Hu Zhiyong replied smilingly.


    "I see¡­" The others nodded knowingly.


    "Besides, we still have some blood that we took from that zombie, so we can produce another batch of antidotes," Hu Zhiyong continued with a confident smile.


    The others looked at him, again with surprise, "So, you''ve been holding back a trick!"


    No wonder they hosted the meeting on schedule as if nothing had happened, even though the zombie had run away.


    Not long after the antidote number two was released, Lin Qiao had moved into the building and gotten to the second floor. Hearing the conversation between the people there and seeing the composed look on those Huaxia Base leaders'' faces, she couldn''t help but show a fierce look in her eyes.


    She wondered how those people would react in a couple of days when they found that their research institute had disappeared.


    How could they find another zombie to replace Lin Kui so easily?


    That day, after the exhibition, those base leaders each sent their people back home to prepare for the purchases.

 645 Ling Lings Worry

    The group of base leaders stayed in Huaxia Base, waiting for their people to return with the supplies that would be exchanged for the antidotes.


    That night, Lin Qiao quietly showed up in Wu Chengyue''s room. She carried Wu Yueling out of her space and put her on the ground, then looked at Wu Chengyue.


    "I''m giving her back to you. It was a surprise that Huaxia Base kept the other two types of antidotes perfectly secret." After putting Wu Yueling down, Lin Qiao sat down on a couch.


    "You sent the zombie to destroy the virus research team of Huaxia Base. That''s a great loss for them. Huaxia Base people wouldn''t let you get away with it if they found out that it was you who did it," Wu Chengyue hugged Wu Yueling who just ran to her and then said to Lin Qiao smilingly.


    "I did it? That was his own decision. It was not wrong for him to take revenge," Lin Qiao glanced at him blandly.


    Even if she didn''t do anything, people would still see her as a common enemy when they found out what she really was.


    "Hidden Cloud City Base and Green Mountain Base both have eyes on your new base. You should lay low," Wu Chengyue looked at her and said.


    "I know," Lin Qiao shrugged and then stood up, waving at Wu Yueling as she said, "Alright. I''m leaving. The little one, bye."


    Wu Chengyue waved at Lin Qiao. As the latter disappeared, she turned and stared at Wu Chengyue.


    "What''s wrong?" Seeing the look in her eyes, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but ask with curiosity.


    Wu Yueling ignored her, but lowered her head. Then, she turned around and climbed onto the couch next to Wu Chengyue to take a seat. After that, she even crossed her arms before her chest. Her adorable little face wore a slight frown. Her father couldn''t tell what she was thinking.


    Wu Chengyue observed his daughter with confusion. Realizing that she was thinking about something, he sighed with relief. It would be good, as long as her illness didn''t attack.


    She had just spent some time with that female zombie, so her illness shouldn''t be attacking. Besides, she looked in a good mood.


    However, he honestly couldn''t guess what his daughter was thinking about.


    If he could read Wu Yueling''s mind, he would certainly feel speechless. Because at that very moment, the little girl was thinking about how she could make her Zombie Mom stay by her father''s side. In that case, she would be able to see her and stay with her every day. But, how to make Zombie Mom and her father be together?


    Wu Yueling raised her head and looked at Wu Chengyue with confusion. The latter curiously observed her as well. He saw her raise her head to give him a glance, then lower her head again and keep thinking. She frowned from time to time, and seemed to be trying to solve a difficult puzzle.


    Wu Yueling spent a while thinking, then suddenly came up with an idea. ''Oh, why don''t I ask Viney next time? She must have some ideas!''


    Lin Qiao entered her space and summoned Lu Tianyi by the entrance of the small building.


    Zombies barely needed sleep. So, at the moment, except for Leng Xuantong who was sleeping in the room that Lin Qiao gave him, the others were doing whatever they wanted. Meanwhile, Lin Kui was venturing in her space with curiosity¡­


    At first, he came out of the small building and took a circle around it. He looked around and felt surprised.


    He thought that the rest of the space would be empty, but it turned out that he was wrong. There was soil, a lake, grassland, and strange woods out there.


    Behind the small building were three small spaces which were filled with zombies.


    Many plants were growing on the land before the small building, including strawberries, some green vegetables, pumpkins, potatoes, rice, and wheat¡­


    That place was a small planting base!


    Before the planting base was a hill-sized pile of supplies. Those supplies could almost fill two large granaries.


    He finally started to feel that the female zombie might really be the leader of a base. Otherwise, why would she store so many supplies?


    He entered the woods and immediately sensed two different types of hostilities, as if he had set a foot in someone else''s territory.


    "Owoooo¡­ owoo!" A weird bark was heard. Following the bark, he saw a fur-less zombie dog lowering its body and staring at him alarmedly.


    He stopped moving and glanced at the zombie dog with surprise. After that, he turned his head to look at a tree. A giant black snake was coiling on the tree trunk, gazing at him with a pair of emotionless, icy-cold eyes.


    Alright, he had indeed intruded someone''s territory.


    With that thought, he slowly moved backward. Thankfully, the two didn''t dare to attack him, even though they were highly vigilant against him.


    On the other side of the base, Lin Qiao summoned Lu Tianyi and said to him, "Your mindset is stable already. I''m gonna help you improve a little. Get prepared!"


    Lu Tianyi understood what she meant. She was going to improve his zombie level. However, he had no idea which level he was at now.


    He had memories, so he was surely intelligent. Did that make him a level-three zombie? But, he didn''t seem to be as nimble as level-three zombies. He felt that he was more like a level-two.


    Also, what should he prepare?


    He looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    "Take off your clothes," Lin Qiao glanced at him with a faint smile, then turned and walked toward the lake.


    Lu Tianyi stood there, terribly confused.


    Take off his clothes? Why? That made sense though. He had seen Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng upgrade in that lake, and both of them went down into the lake nakedly.


    Picturing himself stripping before Lu Tianyu, Lu Tianyi felt awfully uncomfortable.


    That was so awkward! He so didn''t want to do it!


    Based on the relationship between him and Lu Tianyu before, it was already a miracle for them to be able to talk to each other. And now, she actually asked him to take off his clothes right in front of her. That was¡­


    "What are you waiting for? Get prepared!" Lin Qiao turned and saw the young man standing where he was motionlessly, carrying a struggling face. So, she couldn''t help but yell at him.


    ''The kid is shy, well¡­''


    Hearing her, Lu Tianyi slowly walked closer to the lake. He had to stop about three meters from the lake because he couldn''t take the pressure from the lake. His legs were so heavy that he couldn''t move them at all.


    As he stopped moving, Lin Qiao said to him, "Later on, take off your clothes and come down into the lake."


    After saying that, she turned and walked to the lakeside, then waved a hand. Following her move, a cloud of dark mist surrounded her and covered her entire body. Then, a few clothes dropped to the ground around her feet, after which, she slowly walked into the water.


    Lu Tianyi waited. Not long after Lin Qiao disappeared into the lake, the pressure from the lake was suddenly gone.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He knew that he should be going into the lake.


    He sighed with relief, then took off his clothes. He conservatively kept his underpants on and walked into the water.


    Fortunately, she got into the lake first. Otherwise, he really wouldn''t be able to strip himself in front of her. He would be seriously shy!

 646 Lu Tianyi Upgrades

    At the bottom of the lake, Lin Qiao waited for Lu Tianyi to slowly come down.


    After getting into the water, Lu Tianyi didn''t see Lin Qiao. The underwater world was like a vast expanse of greyness in his eyes, and the range of visibility was greatly restricted. He didn''t need to breathe, so he wouldn''t feel suffocated underwater. Also, it was the second time for him to be in the lake. He still remembered how he felt when he woke up in the lake.


    The buoyancy was very little, and the resistance was strong. He felt his entire body strunggling under pressure.


    At that moment, a hand suddenly reached up, grasped his ankle, and dragged him down. Lin Qiao was probably getting impatient. Lu Tianyi lowered his head and saw a hand coming out of the grayness, looking a little scary. However, he knew that the hand belonged to Lu Tianyu, so he let it hold his ankle.


    Meanwhile, he automatically covered his crotch area with his hands.


    Lin Qiao gathered the energy in the lake around her body, down at the lake bottom. She had gradually gained the power to control the energy in the lake.


    Getting closer to Lu Tianyi, she found out what the young man was thinking about.


    She had been feeling that he was very shy. Earlier on, some of the others had stripped themselves and gotten into the lake. None of them was as hesitant and reluctant as he was.


    Lin Qiao was aware that Lu Tianyi cared a lot about Lu Tianyu. He was actually delighted when he found that Lu Tianyu was no longer doing evil deeds. Moreover, he had started to have anticipations about her.


    Now, as he had become a zombie, that anticipation had turned into reliance.


    Would he be disappointed if he found out that she was not his sister? Lin Qiao assumed that he would. After all, he now believed that Lu Tianyu had given up evil and turned to good. In the end, he would find out that it was just some other soul using his sister''s body.


    Lin Qiao sighed. She felt that she was deceiving him, and she did not like how that felt. However, if she told him the truth, he might be really sad.


    Down at the lake bottom, Lin Qiao put a level-three zombie nucleus in Lu Tianyi''s hands and then said to him by using her will power¡ª''Eat it.''


    Lu Tianyi took the zombie nucleus over and felt different for the first time. He instinctively wanted the energy from the lake. On hearing Lin Qiao''s instruction, she put the zombie nucleus into his mouth without thinking.


    Only after doing that did he realize what he just did. Thinking that the zombie nucleus was dug out of a zombie''s head, he instantly wanted to throw up. But right at that moment, his stomach sensed a wave of energy, which made his feelingless body shiver slightly.


    Lin Qiao pressed a palm on his back while reaching her other hand toward the sphere of energy by her side. Then, she started to absorb the energy and send it into Lu Tianyi''s body.


    Two different types of energies were mixed together and filtered, then started to gush up toward Lu Tianyi''s head.


    Lu Tianyi was only a level-two zombie. Even though he had his memory and will, his body could not reach level-three directly after he turned into a zombie. But now, with Lin Qiao''s help, he easily broke into level-three.


    Before he could feel anything, Lin Qiao put a water-powered zombie nucleus into his mouth.


    The strong energy spread inside his body and then was channeled to his brain. Only when the energy gathered to a certain degree and generated a nucleus could Lu Tianyi be counted as a level-four zombie.


    After merely a couple of hours, Lu Tianyi had successfully broken into level four. Lin Qiao didn''t try to push him up to a higher level, as she was worried that he might fail to handle the energy from the virus and end up having his intelligence damaged.


    Thus, she dragged Lu Tianyi out of the water. He went into the water with his underpants on, but by now, those underpants were gone.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away from him, then dropped him by the lake. She first put on her own clothes, then picked up his clothes and lifted him back up.


    Xie Dong, Lin Kui, and the smart zombie watched Lin Qiao drag Lu Tianyi, who was naked and about a foot taller than herself, back toward the house from the lakeside.


    Xie Dong calmly walked over and took Lu Tianyi over from Lin Qiao''s hands along with his clothes, then brought him toward the house. Meanwhile, the young male zombie circled around Lu Tianyi with surprise, because he clearly felt that Lu Tianyi was already at his level. He wouldn''t be able to defeat him!


    Lin Kui was looking at the composed Lin Qiao with a weird look as she brought a naked man out of the water so calmly and didn''t seem to feel awkward at all.


    Also¡­


    He glanced at Lu Tianyi and Xie Dong who were moving toward the house.


    That man was only a level-two zombie at first. However, after spending a short while in the lake with that mysterious Miss. Lu, he was two levels higher than before. Currently, he had already become a level-four, superpowered zombie.


    With that thought, Lin Kui again glanced at the lake. He felt a strong repulsion, which made him want to stay away from the lake. Facing the lake, he felt suppression, and had a sense of crisis.


    What was in the lake? He could tell that none of the other creatures in the space were willing to go near the lake.


    The zombies in the building, the ones behind the building, and the two creatures in the woods, and even the tens of mutated roe deers, had all been staying away from the lake.


    Lin Qiao walked into the bathroom, picked up a towel to dry her hair. After that, she walked downstairs and flashed away from the building. In the next second, she showed up on the grassland on the other side of the lake.


    As she suddenly appeared, those roe deers who had gathered together immediately ran away.


    However, she was faster. She swiftly turned around and grasped a roe deer which attempted to run away from her.


    The mutated roe deer was quite fast, but still, it failed to react as quickly as Lin Qiao did.


    On the other side of the lake, Lin Kui stood by the entrance of the building and watched Lin Qiao flash across the lake, then catch a roe deer and bring it back. He was surprised.


    He had been wondering why the female zombie kept tens of roe deers in her space.


    Seeing Lin Qiao catch the roe deer and bring it back to this side of the lake, his curiosity was aroused. So, he fixed his eyes on her.


    In a short while, he was stunned.


    He saw her quickly and neatly cut the roe deer''s throat and let out its blood, then skin it. Then, she cut the roe deer open without breaking its internal organs. That was not the point. The point was that she then cut off a foreleg of the roe deer and made a bite at it! She ate it! Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ''What the hell! Why is the zombie eating a mutated animal? No, I mean, it tastes awful, doesn''t it?'' he thought. He too had tried to eat animals to quench his hunger, but he threw up after just the first bite. It tasted indescribably bad.


    At first, he thought that only mutated animals tasted bad, so he caught some healthy animals and tried them. The result turned out to be the same.

 647 Under the Square

    Lin Qiao skinned the roe deer and cut it open, then dug out its internal organs and put them aside. After that, she cut off a leg of the roe deer and stood up as she began eating it. While eating, she turned and saw Lin Kui staring at her with surprise.


    "Do you want some?" She asked.


    Lin Kui hurriedly shook his head.


    "You''ve tried and failed, right?" Lin Qiao glanced at him and asked while biting the leg.


    Lin Kui looked at her with a deep confusion, nodding slowly.


    Lin Qiao looked at the puzzled Lin Kui. Maybe because he was too shocked, his panther ears and tail had popped out, and he didn''t even know.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but laugh, "I think I''m different from normal zombies. I can eat humans too. Human flesh is very attractive to me as well, but I don''t hate eating animals. They taste good to me actually."


    She nodded while speaking, then made another bite.


    Lin Kui had noticed that she skinned the roe deer smoothly and skilfully. By now, he figured that she must have grown that skill through practice. As a zombie, not only could she restrain her appetite, but also feed on animals. She had really mutated in a strange way.


    At that moment, Xie Dong walked out from behind Lin Kui as he glanced at Lin Qiao and then at Lin Kui. After that, he curved his lips in a faint smile and stood by Lin Kui''s side.


    Ever since he became a zombie, Xie Dong''s expressions barely changed. After knowing that his woman never loved him, he looked even more distant than before. He was not icy cold, but looked faintly lonely and sad.


    His lips were only curved slightly, but that already made him seem to have been kissed by a spring breeze.


    Lin Qiao quickly glanced at him and then moved her eyes away.


    "I''ve found something strange. You guys don''t eat animals, but Lu Tianyi and I can. I don''t know why! This meat can''t provide me with energy, but can ease my hunger more or less. Xie Dong, would you like to try some?" Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then looked at Xie Dong.


    Xie Dong paused briefly, then shook his head. He had tried once, and found that animals tasted like mud! He would never try it again, as he clearly knew that it would taste no better than mud.


    But, she just said that Lu Tianyi could eat animals too. Why?


    Seeing the confused look in his eyes, Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "That''s right. Animal meat doesn''t repel him at all."


    Both Xie Dong and Lin Kui looked at Lin Qiao with confusion, who had started thinking.


    "About that, I think I need to catch an ordinary zombie to do an experiment first!" Lin Qiao murmured, then finished the roe deer leg in her hands with just a couple of bites. After finishing the leg, she ignored the weird look on the others'' faces and threw the bone upward, then waved a hand to release a stream of dark mist that wrapped it up.


    The bone disappeared before it could even fall to the ground.


    Following her movement, Lin Kui and Xie Dong automatically turned their eyes to the bone. As they turned back, they found that Lin Qiao had already disappeared.


    Lin Qiao exited her space, then headed straight to the square which was used for the show earlier today.


    She knew that a lot of zombies were kept in there, under the square. There should be an underground prison or something like that.


    Lin Qiao flashed across the darkness and soon arrived at the square.


    The wall around the square had been lowered to the original height, and the ground had been cleaned. The man who was used as bait had already been scared to death.


    Lin Qiao lifted a lid on the ground, then squatted and looked into it. It was all dark in there, yet she could see clearly. There was a ladder leading down to a narrow path. The underground space was deep.


    She leaped down, soon landing on the ground. She glanced up, and then walked into the path.


    Bloodstains and claw marks were all over the wall, clearly left by the zombies.


    She followed the zombie scent and walked for over ten minutes before finding a thick metal door. The door was under remote control. She raised a hand and vanished the entire door with her black fire.


    Behind the door was another path that was illuminated. Clearly, it was for human beings.


    Lin Qiao learned that apart from a great number of zombies, some keepers were also there.


    She walked into the path and reached a crossroad. Zombie scent could be sensed in every direction. Hence, she decided to choose a random way to go.


    Boom! Suddenly, a door in the path was bumped open. A man shambled out, his head dropped and hands on his chest.


    Lin Qiao took back her foot which was making a step, then turned and looked at that man who was running toward her.


    That was a soldier. The soldier rushed past her, without sensing her existence at all.


    She kept her eyes on his back and frowned slightly.


    That was a young soldier. His head was dropped, so she couldn''t see his face clearly. However, judging by his scent, he was young and tasty.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    However, that soldier was giving out a very dark, violent, and hopeless vibe.


    Hatred, the intention of killing, violence, ferocity, madness¡­ All kinds of negative emotions had been twisting in his mind. But that was not important. What caught Lin Qiao''s attention was that he carried the zombie virus!


    She quietly looked at the young soldier who was running away, then turned to the door where he came out of. She knew that a few people would come out of that door soon enough to chase the soldier.


    Seeing that weird thing, she, of course, would do something about it. But first, she wanted to find out what exactly was happening. She wasn''t in a rush to do her experiment anyway.


    "Hurry up! Don''t let the boy run!" Before long, over ten people rushed out of the door, over to the crossroad near Lin Qiao.


    Those people didn''t linger near the crossroad. They automatically divided into three groups and then moved in three different directions.


    Lin Qiao jumped down from the ceiling. Just now as those people rushed out, she hopped up to the ceiling to avoid them.


    When those people ran through below her, she heard some of their thoughts.


    ''We''ll die if we let the boy run¡­''


    ''He carries the virus¡­''


    ''Damn! How dare he fight back!''


    ''He can''t run¡­''


    All their thoughts were similar. All in all, they must not let the soldier run.


    The soldier had terribly dark and twisted emotions. Lin Qiao could easily imagine what those people had done to him, because she had grasped one thought from that soldier earlier on ¡ª''Perish together.''


    What made him so despairing? Lin Qiao guessed that it had something to do with the virus inside him, and those people were part of the reason too.

 648 Bao Xiaoguo the Soldier

    Lin Qiao followed behind the soldier who carried the virus. Meanwhile, the people who chased behind him turned and turned, soon entering another passage.


    Through the passage, they went into a large room which was filled with sealed cubicles. Lying inside those cubicles were motionless zombies. Lin Qiao guessed that those cubicles were added with tranquilizers and cold air to suppress the zombie virus.


    The room was all quiet. Except for those cubicles, nothing could be seen.


    "He''s hiding here! Puppy Bao, we know you''re in here. Just come out. Don''t be silly! Have you forgotten about your sister? Do you think that we don''t know? You''re hiding pretty well though!" Those people came into the room but didn''t seem to be panicking as they blocked the door and yelled confidently.


    "Yeah, don''t do stupid things. You may not be afraid of death, but what about your sister?" Another man yelled at the room as well.


    Lin Qiao stayed near those people as she listened to their words and read their minds expressionlessly.


    In the army, some people never fit in the group. They always looked solitary and unfriendly, so people might think that they were too proud to make friends. Some might grow discontented about them, and over time, the situation could go worse.


    So at last, the people would find excuses to bring them trouble.


    After the apocalypse, the world was no longer peaceful. More and more evil and dark things happened. Those people before Lin Qiao never liked that soldier whom they called Puppy Bao. That was the reason why they bullied him together.


    But now, it seemed that the soldier had exploded under the long-term oppression.


    "If you dare to touch my sister, I''ll kill all of you!" A deep and cold voice was heard from a corner, containing a strong hatred and intention of killing in it.


    "Ah, you''re coming out! We''ve been telling you not to run about, but you wouldn''t listen. You''re forcing us to play our trump card, aren''t you?" A man responded with a sneer, seeming to be completely clueless about the soldier''s threat and his hatred.


    "Hehe, you''re going to die anyway. Do you wanna kill us before you die? We''re not going to hell with you. You can go by yourself. Don''t worry, if you give us the grenade, your sister will stay alive." Those people were all wearing sarcastic looks, watching the soldier who was slowly walking out from a corner on the other side of the room.


    Hearing what they said, the soldier immediately lost his fierce vibe. He stared at them, eyes showing despair, hatred, sadness¡­


    Clearly, he had given up. He gave up surprisingly soon.


    Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest and expressionlessly leaned against the door behind those people.


    The young soldier who was called Puppy Bao bit his lip and slightly lowered his head as he stood on the other side of the room motionlessly. The group of people by the door glanced at each other and gave each other an eye signal. After that, they began approaching the soldier slowly.


    "Xiaoguo, calm down! We didn''t mean to get you killed. None of us knew that you were behind us, neither did we know that a level-three zombie was hiding there! You can''t blame us for that, can you?" said one of the group.


    Lin Qiao clearly knew that he was lying.


    "That''s right, that''s right. We didn''t know that you were behind us, and we didn''t know that a zombie was there. We thought you had gone up! You really shouldn''t blame us. Besides, if you blow this place up and release all these zombies, this place will be attacked by the automatic alarm system of the base. Our lives mean nothing, but what about your sister? She''s only twelve years old, right? How is she supposed to survive without your protection?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao pressed her lips together. Those scums always bullied the soldier because they felt that he was a pushover. Now, they threatened him with his weakness. Scums like that could really be found everywhere.


    Currently, those people pointed their guns at the soldier while saying those comforting words. But on the inside, they were all cursing.


    The young soldier called Bao Xiaoguo had been treated like a slave by those people. They sometimes even raped him in turn. No person could live with that kind of abuse, not to mention a young man.


    He endured that because he needed to take care of his sister. But earlier today, after the zombies kept in this place were released for the show, one level-three zombie was still hiding in an area which was supposed to be empty. Those people had known about it, so they told Bao Xiaoguo to get into that area first.


    As a result, he was attacked by that zombie. He reacted timely and fought the zombie, eventually shooting it to death. However, the zombie still left a scratch on him.


    He was clearly aware of what the scratch meant: he would die and then become a zombie. Knowing that he was going to die, the hatred that had been accumulating in his heart immediately exploded.


    He wanted to die together with the people in this place!


    If they didn''t send him into that area, how would he be attacked by the zombie and infected by the virus? Who would be taking care of his sister after he died?


    It was all their fault!


    But now, he learned that those people had known about his sister. If he failed to kill them all, his sister would be in danger.


    "Just relax and turn into a zombie. Don''t worry! As long as you do what we say, we won''t let your sister die of starvation." While trying to persuade him, those people got closer and closer to him.


    Bao Xiaoguo smiled a sarcastic smile which was toned with sadness. He still made no move, and only let those people come closer and closer.


    He surely didn''t believe that those people would be nice to his sister. However, he did believe that if he kept fighting back, his sister might be in danger.


    Seeing Bao Xiaoguo stay motionless, the few people glanced at each other. They already knew that he had given up on fighting back. Now, as long as they put a bullet into his head, he would die and then wake up as a zombie.


    As those people started to press the triggers of their guns, they suddenly lost their sights.


    "What''s going on!"


    "What¡­ is this?"


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    "I can''t see¡­" Bang! Bang!


    Hearing a series of screams and disordered gunshots, Bao Xiaoguo raised his head to look at those people with confusion. He saw nothing but a cloud of dark mist. Those people were wrapped in the dark mist, and the bullets were flying aimlessly.

 649 Why Did You Bite Me?

    Bao Xiaoguo was stunned as well. The sadness, the hatred, the despair, and all the other emotions that he had just now were gone. At that moment, he only wanted to know what was happening.


    Before he could react, those people stopped screaming, and the gunshots stopped as well. The cloud of dark mist suddenly fell into quietness.


    Bao Xiaoguo stared at the mist with both surprise and confusion, trying to see what was in there. But soon, the cloud of mist shrank and exposed a figure.


    He didn''t scream out loud with panic but fixed his eyes on her.


    She was wearing a normal camouflage suit, her long hair hanging loosely over her shoulders. The loose-fitting trousers wrapped her long legs. She slowly walked out of the mist and showed her pretty face.


    Those people who had chased behind Bao Xiaoguo had all disappeared.


    "You¡­ You¡­ who-who are you! Did you kill them?" Bao Xiaoguo failed to process the whole thing immediately, so he helplessly looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    She was clearly a high-leveled superpowered being! He and those people were only commoners. Before superpowered beings, they had to always bow down. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao didn''t look at him but pressed her hand on a glass wall next her.


    Crack! Following the slight noise, the glass under her hand disappeared. A small hole was left on the glass wall, with black fire flakes burning on its edge. The hole expanding rapidly.


    Lin Qiao squatted and reached her hand into the hole, then dragged out a zombie which was lying on the ground motionlessly as she flashed before Bao Xiaoguo. In the next second, the zombie in her hand disappeared.


    Bao Xiaoguo popped his eyes, gawking at Lin Qiao. His brain wasn''t working well at that moment.


    "Let''s go! How long do you plan to stand there? Those people are coming soon. Come with me if you don''t want to become a zombie," Lin Qiao said to him blandly, then turned and headed toward the door.


    Hearing her, Bao Xiaoguo paused briefly, then glanced at the large hole in the glass wall. Then, he automatically followed Lin Qiao out of the room. Meanwhile, he was thinking that the zombies in the cubicle would be coming out soon, and wondering if those people would discover it.


    Who was that woman? Why did she show up there? Did she kill those people? She dragged a zombie out of the cubicle, and that zombie had disappeared!


    Bao Xiaoguo was having all kinds of questions.


    He quickly followed Lin Qiao out of the underground zombie prison.


    "You¡­ Did you just say that you can stop me from turning into a zombie? Is that real?" At that moment, Bao Xiaoguo had started to feel cold. But still, his mind stayed clear. The coldness made him shiver and stiffened his body.


    Lin Qiao stopped moving, then turned and looked at him as she said, "Reach out your hands."


    Bao Xiaoguo looked around and found that they had already left the square where the show took place and were in a quiet alley. The alley was all dark, such that he couldn''t even see the woman''s face.


    "Wh-why?" Bao Xiaoguo hesitated. He didn''t even know who she was. How could he reach out his hands as she asked?


    "You are going to die in about twenty minutes. After you die, you will become a zombie in just ten seconds. Do you believe me?" Lin Qiao said to him.


    She didn''t wait for him to respond, but made a step forward and picked up his hand while he was shambling backward. Then, she lowered her head, opened her mouth, and bit his hand.


    "Ouch! Wh-why did you bite me!" Bao Xiaoguo was terribly shocked. As he raised his head, he found that they were no longer in that alley.


    Lin Qiao let go of him, then pushed him into the chair behind him and said, "Sit here, don''t move!"


    Bao Xiaoguo looked at her with confusion, then looked around at that strange place. After that, he glanced at the bite wound on his hand.


    That women even bit through his skin! However, he couldn''t feel much of the pain. He shouted out loud just now only because he was too surprised.


    "From this day on, you have no choice but to follow me. I cannot let you tell anyone else about this secret." Lin Qiao walked to the middle of the living room, then turned and looked at Bao Xiaoguo, who was sitting in the dining room.


    She remembered that she accidentally bit Lin Yu when he was dying last time. Not long after that, she met him again, and he was perfectly alive and healthy. So this time, upon seeing Bao Xiaoguo, she suddenly came up with that idea.


    She gave him no choice but to follow her if he managed to survive. Otherwise, what happened to him would be a shocking news.


    "What?" Bao Xiaoguo sat on the chair and looked at her bewilderedly.


    Xie Dong and Lin Kui walked in from the outside and leaned against the doorframe, looking at Bao Xiaoguo.


    "Carefully feel your body condition. When you feel better, tell me where your sister is. I''ll bring her here. From now on, you and your sister have to work for me. Without my permission, you can''t leave." Lin Qiao bossily announced that she would be in charge of the young soldier''s future life.


    Next, she didn''t look at Bao Xiaoguo''s reaction, but walked to the zombie which was lying on the other side of the living room.


    That was a female zombie. Her clothes had become rags, hanging on her body. Her skin was wrinkled, but judging by her face and body shape, she was young.


    "Xie Dong, bring me a cup of the lake water," Lin Qiao said to Xie Dong while observing the female zombie.


    Xie Dong quickly went into the kitchen and fetched a cup of water from the tap. The tank on top of the building was filled with the water from the lake, so he directly fetched the water from the tap.


    Lin Qiao took over the water, forced open the female zombie''s mouth, and poured the water in. Then, she handed the empty cup back to Xie Dong, and the latter took it over.


    On the other side, Bao Xiaoguo fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao while feeling his own body condition as she asked. He was curious about what Lin Qiao was doing with that zombie.


    After pouring the water into the zombie''s mouth, Lin Qiao stood up and made two steps backward, then continued observing the zombie.


    "Pah!" The female zombie who was lying motionlessly on the ground suddenly trembled, then coughed out a few drops of water.


    The zombie confusedly struggled up from the ground, only to immediately be suppressed by the few strong vibes nearby. She even ignored the human scent that she sensed.


    Lin Qiao looked at her face. Her face was stiff, with no expression; her eyes were dark without pupils. Clearly, she was one of those normal zombies.


    She picked up a hand of that zombie and spent a short while looking at it, then couldn''t help but turn to say to Xie Dong, "Get me some more water to wash her!"


    Noticing the dislike on her face, Xie Dong turned and fetched another cup of water, also bringing her a wet towel.


    Lin Qiao took over the towel and heavily rubbed the female zombie''s arm with it for a few times. As the towel even turned black, she washed the zombie''s arm with the water in the cup.


    Only after that did she open her mouth to bite the zombie.

 650 The Strong Virus

    This time, even Xie Dong had no idea what she was doing. As same as the others, he looked at Lin Qiao confusedly.


    Both Xie Dong and Lin Kui knew what Lin Qiao really was, and so did the smart zombie, Pesticide, who was sticking his head out from behind the door. All those three zombies had so many questions in their heads.


    ''What''s happening? What is she doing? Why did she bite a low-leveled zombie? Why?''


    Lu Tianyi, who had just woken up, was walking downstairs. He happened to see Lin Qiao bite an ordinary zombie''s hand, and ended up being stunned.


    Bao Xiaoguo, who was sitting on the chair, was so shocked that he didn''t even know how to react. He widened his eyes and opened his mouth with surprise.


    ''Damn! That woman bit me, and then bit a zombie! What is she doing? Is she crazy?''


    By the door, Pesticide looked at his boss curiously, wondering what she was doing. He then glanced at the other higher-leveled zombies and found that they were all confused. At that moment, he felt that his boss was so mysterious and powerful.


    After biting the female zombie, Lin Qiao stepped backward to observe her.


    The female zombie was looking at the bite mark on her arm without knowing what had happened. The others were all looking at her with confusion. Among them, only Lu Tianyi, who was heading downstairs, suddenly thought of something.


    At that very moment, the female zombie''s face suddenly twisted. "Roarrrr!" The zombie uttered a series of roar.


    Bao Xiaoguo didn''t understand why those people were looking at that zombie so calmly without any vigilance. Then, he suddenly saw Lin Kui, who was standing not far away from him, and froze in shock.


    ''Isn''t¡­ Isn''t this a zombie?''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He had been focusing his attention on Lin Qiao as he was suddenly dragged into a strange place by her. The others he saw had all been standing there quietly with normal expressions. Added with the fact that he was shocked upon watching Lin Qiao bite the zombie, he hadn''t paid any attention on anyone else before.


    Now, on seeing Lin Kui''s eyes, he froze.


    Sensing Bao Xiaoguo''s gaze, Lin Kui turned and gave him a bland glance, then turned back to keep observing the female zombie.


    The female zombie widely opened her mouth to scream while raising her head and showing a twisted, painful look.


    "Roarrrrr!" Her voice suddenly turned sharp. After letting out that screech, she thudded against the floor.


    "Er¡­ Pah!" That shrill scream from the zombie brought Bao Xiaoguo a sharp pain in his brain. He felt suffocated, and couldn''t help but cough out a mouthful of blood. Then, he fainted and fell off the chair.


    Lin Qiao and the others turned to look at him simultaneously. She hurriedly walked to him and checked his pulse and breath, then turned back to look at the female zombie which was now lying straight on the floor.


    It seemed that her own virus had started working.


    While thinking, Lin Qiao dragged Bao Xiaoguo up from the floor and yelled at Xie Dong, "Get the feet!"


    Xie Dong walked over knowingly and helped her to carry Bao Xiaoguo onto the couch. As for the female zombie, they just left her on the floor.


    After putting Bao Xiaoguo on the couch, Lin Qiao squatted by his side to observe him. She clearly saw that her own vibe had been cleaning out the grey vibe inside Bao Xiaoguo''s body. From the bite would on his wrist, her vibe was expanding inside his body bit by bit.


    The others couldn''t see what she saw. However, judging by Bao Xiaoguo''s changing vibe, they knew that the young man''s body was going through a thorough transformation. The same thing was happening to the female zombie on the floor.


    Lin Kui looked at Lin Qiao with a deep confusion, then at the others. Xie Dong had no expression on his face. Unlike him, Lu Tianyi, who was standing on the stairs, seemed to be thinking about something.


    Lin Kui had actually been very curious about the female zombie who owned this mysterious place. He didn''t know where she found all those special zombies who were just like himself, but did feel that being with her would not be boring.


    Suddenly, he felt that staying around her would actually be quite nice.


    He was also wondering what was her purpose for doing those strange things.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao was observing Bao Xiaoguo''s body. She found that the bluish tone of his skin was fading slowly. Her virus was very strong, and it spread inside his body surprisingly fast. This time, things happened way faster than what happened to Lin Yu last time. Soon, Lin Qiao''s virus devoured all the virus inside Bao Xiaoguo''s body, and then, Bao Xiaoguo''s skin slowly turned back into a healthy color.


    Of course, only she could see the viruses. Xie Dong, Lin Kui, Lu Tianyi, and the smart zombie Pesticide were only able to sense the change of Bao Xiaoguo by feeling his vibe.


    Lin Qiao blinked quickly, her eyes glowing with a bright light. She was surprised that her virus could actually deliver such an effect! No wonder Lin Yu survived and triggered a superpower which was similar to hers.


    As Bao Xiaoguo''s lips turned from purple to pink, Lin Qiao stood up and said to Xie Dong while keep looking at Bao Xiaoguo, "Xie Dong, get him a cup of water."


    Xie Dong turned and went back into the kitchen. Before long, he returned with a cup of water. After that, Lin Qiao walked to the female zombie and squatted to observe her.


    The female zombie''s condition didn''t change as drastically as Bao Xiaoguo''s. She was lying on the ground, shivering from time to time.


    It wasn''t obvious, but still, a thorough change was happening inside her body as well. Bao Xiaoguo''s cells hadn''t been devoured by the zombie virus, so Lin Qiao''s virus merely perished the zombie virus and the affected cells, but ignored the healthy cells.


    The female zombie was in a slightly different condition. After entering her body, Lin Qiao''s virus directly invaded her cells which had been infected by the zombie virus, devouring the zombie virus and taking over those mutated cells.


    It was like a turtledove taking over the nest of a magpie. Her virus devoured the original virus and then rooted itself in the cells.


    After settling down, Lin Qiao''s virus immediately started changing those cells.


    At that point, Lin Qiao found that the female zombie''s vibe started changing unpredictably. She had also sensed a clear but inexplainable connection between her and the zombie.


    She was able to suppress, restrain, and even control the zombie.


    Lin Qiao stood up and glanced at Lu Tianyi. That feeling was similar to what she had from Lu Tianyi. However, compared to what she felt about Lu Tianyi, something was still missing.


    Lin Qiao assumed that because Lu Tianyu was related with Lu Tianyi, the connection between her body to Lu Tianyi was tighter than that between her and the female zombie.

 651 Who On Earth Is It?

    Feeling the changes of Bao Xiaoguo and the female zombie, the others all came over and gathered behind Lin Qiao, curiously watching the two of them.


    Lin Qiao quietly glanced at Pesticide, who took the opportunity to sneak into the living room.


    As a result, the latter was immediately frightened. He quickly turned, prepared to run away.


    "Don''t run¡­ Get in! From now on, you''re allowed to play in here. But, you cannot go upstairs," Lin Qiao said to him blandly.


    Hearing that, Pesticide, who had sneaked to the door side, immediately paused, then turned back and looked at Lin Qiao with a delightful surprise.


    Lin Qiao had already turned back to the female zombie without responding to the look in his eyes. He gathered his courage and sneaked back, then stuck his head out from behind Lu Tianyi to look at the female zombie.


    The others had all been attracted by the change that was happening to the female zombie. They had all been quietly waiting for the final result to be shown.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ¡­


    At that moment, the leaders of Huaxia Base were having a secret meeting.


    "Only Sky Fire Base, Green Mountain Base, and Hidden Cloud City Base tried to bargain. Sky Fire Base seemed to have the same intention, but didn''t seem confident enough," Liu Zhinan said while reading the files in his hands with a bland face. The smile which he wore earlier during the show was gone.


    "That''s within our expectations. Besides, they don''t seem eager to make the deal with us," Hu Zhiyong said, also with a bland tone.


    Bang! A loud noise was heard, caused by a palm hitting against the table which was made from solid wood. In the quiet conference room, the noise sounded deafening.


    Si Kongchen banged the table and said through clenched teeth with a very sour face, "Do they think that they can force us to lower the price because they have gotten the goods on us? In their dreams! We will never lower the price!"


    "But, the squad member called Erwei is very likely to be in their hands now. If they question us about that, we won''t be able to explain what happened. Do you think that we can get them convinced by simply refusing to admit it? Let''s not talk about Lu Zhuofeng, who''s not so smart, Wu Chengyue and the mysterious Lan Lu are both not easy to deal with," Hu Zhiyong glanced at Si Kongchen as a scornful look flashed across his eyes.


    "What do you mean? Are you trying to say that we shouldn''t do that? Now you are regretting it. Didn''t you all approve it back then?" Si Kongchen noticed the scornful look in his eyes and then stared at him with a sneer.


    "Ah, I didn''t say that! Do not try to pass the buck to us, okay? You selected that elite squad. Why did something like that happen? I''m very curious about it. You didn''t send a squad of commoners to carry the mission, did you?" Hu Zhiyong didn''t care about his gaze, but responded with a faint smile.


    Si Kongchen turned his eyes away and snorted coldly, "You have checked all the squad members. Could any of you foresee what happened? I couldn''t. That squad was even able to get out of a zombie city alive. There is one thing that I can say for sure¡ªsomeone is behind all this."


    "That''s clear. We can all see that. But, who took Macuy away?" Liu Zhinan joined the conversation.


    "Reasonably, the one who planned all this should be one of the three. However, we can''t rule out the possibility that it could be someone else. Where is that squad member hiding? He''s a living human being. Why couldn''t we find any trace of him? I think they have a live space," Si Kongchen said blandly.


    "From the disappearance of the squad to Macuy''s runaway, to the death of the research team members, then to the abnormal behavior of those level-three zombies during the show¡­ These events can all be connected, yet we couldn''t even find a clue. Who on earth has been disrespecting us so terribly? Hehe¡­" Han Xiao abruptly laughed with an unknown meaning.


    At that moment, Hou Guozhong, who was outside the conference room, received a secret message, saying that the zombie prison under the square was invaded. The damage wasn''t serious though. Only a few guards and an ordinary zombie had gone missing.


    However, that sounded somehow weird.


    Hou Guozhong immediately turned and opened the door of the conference room.


    Meanwhile on the other side of the base, in the building where the other base leaders lived¡­


    It was late at night, but Wu Yueling was still sitting on the bed energetically, playing with her grass doll. Wu Chengyue was lying on the other side of the bed, leaning against the headboard and reading a book. He unwittingly glanced at his watch, then said to Wu Yueling, "Ling Ling, let''s sleep! Aren''t you tired?"


    Wu Yueling held the grass doll with both hands and turned, looking at her father with a pair of large, sparkling eyes before shaking her head.


    Wu Chengyue had gotten used to seeing his daughter play with the grass doll. But somehow, every time he saw his daughter put down her hair and hold that grass doll, he felt very weird.


    He felt that his daughter looked like a little witch! Couldn''t she get another doll?


    However, he clearly knew that Wu Yueling treasured that grass doll, because it was a gift from the female zombie.


    He was still curious about what exactly had happened between his daughter and that female zombie. Why did the female zombie change so much after turning into a zombie? And, what did she do to his daughter? She had even won over his baby girl''s heart?


    "Good girl¡­ If you don''t get enough sleep, you wouldn''t be able to grow up," Wu Chengyue coaxed the little girl while thinking.


    Wu Yueling glanced at him, then at the grass doll. At last, she went to sleep obediently. She put the grass doll next to herself, then lay down by Wu Chengyue''s side and closed her eyes.


    "Good Ling Ling!" Wu Chengyue bent over and kissed her on the forehead, then put the book aside, prepared to turn off the light and go to sleep.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling reached her hands to the other side of the bed which was empty, then suddenly came up with an idea.


    ''Ah, there is a lot of space on the bed! The wind is coming in. It''s cold at night!''


    She abruptly sat up and fixed her large, glowing eyes on Wu Chengyue.


    Before turning off the light, Wu Chengyue found the kid suddenly sit up and pop her eyes to look at him, as if she had thought of something.


    Wu Yueling patted the empty part of the bed, then looked at him expectantly.


    "What''s wrong?" Wu Chengyue looked at her confusedly, then at the empty part of the bed. Nothing was there.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Wu Chengyue patted the bed again, her eyes revealing some kind of need. However, she didn''t know how to explain herself with language. As Wu Chengyue failed to understand her meaning, she immediately got anxious.


    However, she didn''t get too emotional, but had her expression change. With disappointment, she gave Wu Chengyue a glare.


    ''Daddy is dumb!''


    "Eh? What is going on?" Being glared at in this way, Wu Chengyue scratched his head with confusion.

 652 Father and Daughter Conspire

    Wu Yueling picked up the grass doll and reached it toward Wu Chengyue, then patted the bed again. After that, she put the grass doll in that empty area, covered it with her quilt, and then turned back to Wu Chengyue.


    But still, Wu Chengyue was wearing a very confused look.


    Wu Yueling pressed her lips together and crossed her arms before her chest. Her little cheeks bulged, making her look both angry and helpless.


    ''Daddy is so silly! Daddy is so dumb!''


    Wu Chengyue clearly sensed that his daughter was disappointed with him, finding it both funny and annoying. So, he helplessly asked her, "Ling Ling, what exactly is going on?


    Wu Yueling spent a few seconds glaring him with anger, then uncrossed her arms and pointed at the grass doll. After that, she patted the bed again.


    Wu Chengyue nodded, said, "Em, do you want to sleep with it? Hasn''t it been with you the entire time? What''s wrong?"


    Wu Yueling quickly shook her head, then pointed at the grass doll again. Next, she raised both hands and drew a human figure in the air.


    At last, she seemed to think of something, then added two circles before her own chest.


    Finally, Wu Chengyue understood her meaning!


    He felt a little speechless. After spending a short while looking at his daughter in the eyes, he asked her, "So, are you actually talking about your Zombie Mommy?"


    As he expected, Wu Yueling''s eyes glowed. Then, the little girl nodded quickly.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her, then at her little hand which was patting the bed. Abruptly, he said with a weird look, "Are you saying that you want to sleep with her? Don''t you want to sleep with Daddy anymore?"


    Wu Chengyue nodded, then shook her head and patted the bed. Afterward, she pointed at herself and then at Wu Chengyue, and next to that, she patted the bed again.


    This time, Wu Chengyue figured it out. "Eh¡­ Do you want her to sleep with both of us?"


    Finally, Wu Yueling smiled and nodded happily, then looked at her Daddy expectantly.


    ''Eh?''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Wu Yueling and paused briefly, then put a hand on his chin and started thinking. He blinked and spend a good while pondering.


    Clearly, the female zombie was not thick-skulled about these things. On the contrary, she seemed to have noticed the little girl''s intentions, and had been trying to avoid him. She had a strict defense!


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Wu Yueling, then curved his lips in a smile. He scooped the latter up and let her sit on his lap, then kissed her on the forehead.


    "Ling Ling, you are amazing! With your help, I can certainly win that female zombie over! Daddy wants to sleep with her too, but she doesn''t want to sleep with Daddy. What should I do?"


    Wu Yueling looked at him confusedly, seemingly not understanding his words.


    In her eyes, her Daddy was very capable. He always gave her whatever she wanted. But just now, Daddy told her that he had no way to make Zombie Mommy sleep with them. Well¡­ did he need Ling Ling''s help?


    "Ling Ling, do you have any idea? She likes Ling Ling the most! She might say yes to Ling Ling!" Wu Chengyue said to her smilingly.


    As he expected, Wu Yueling fixed her glowing eyes on him.


    ''Really? Really?'' The little girl asked in her mind.


    Wu Chengyue nodded as he rubbed her head and said, "She''s too smart. Only Ling Ling can convince her to come to sleep with us."


    ''Yes, yes, yes!'' Wu Yueling nodded excitedly, then put her arms around Wu Chengyue''s neck.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly hugged her, then put her aside and said, "Alright, let''s go to sleep now. We need to wait until we return to our base to carry out that mission."


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling happily lay down to sleep.


    ¡­


    In the space, Lin Qiao had utterly no idea that the little girl and her father were planning to abduct her. At that moment, she was observing the changes of the female zombie''s body with great interest.


    Her virus was very strong. In merely half an hour, it devoured all of the original virus inside the female zombie''s body. The female zombie twitched for half an hour before it finally quieted down.


    The virus inside her had been replaced by the virus from Lin Qiao. However, her appearance didn''t change at all. Her skin was still wrinkled.


    In one minute, the female zombie suddenly opened her eyes, which were entirely black. There were still no pupils in her eyes, yet a weird glow flashed across those eyes. Then, those eyes showed a confused look as the zombie slowly sat up from the ground.


    The zombie still seemed to be in trance, just like before. However, her eyes were much brighter, and started showing emotions.


    She was so confused.


    Probably, she was wondering who and where she was, and what she was doing.


    Before Lin Qiao bit her, she had no emotions.


    "Are you awake? Do you remember who you are?" Lin Qiao squatted and looked straight at her as she asked in a bland tone.


    Hearing her voice, the female zombie turned to look at her curiously. Then, she looked around, still with a confused look.


    "No? Do you remember anything? What about your name?" Lin Qiao waved a hand before her eyes. The zombie was distracted a little, and her mind seemed to be a blur.


    Hearing Lin Qiao ask a question again, the female zombie blinked and then looked at her. The zombie''s eyes glowed, but the glow soon faded.


    She opened her mouth but didn''t utter any sound.


    "Xiao-Xiao? Good, you remember your name¡­ Emm, don''t you remember who you are? I guess you don''t remember anything else," Lin Qiao nodded and then stood up.


    The female zombie''s mind only reacted when Lin Qiao asked about her name. The name Xiao-Xiao flashed across her mind, with nothing else.


    The zombie raised her head to look at Lin Qiao with confusion as the latter stood up. Then, she glanced at the others. For an unknown reason, she suddenly showed a frightened look.


    Before the others could react, the female zombie swiftly sprung up from the ground and quickly hid behind Lin Qiao, grasping her clothes. She tried to hide her entire body behind Lin Qiao.


    With surprise, Lin Qiao turned to look at her.


    The others all looked at Lin Qiao confusedly, then at Xiao-Xiao, who was hiding behind her like a puppy.


    What was going on?


    They glanced at each other with confusion.


    Just now, Xiao-Xiao moved quickly and nimbly, easily flashing up behind Lin Qiao. It seemed that she had already broken into level-two. Her eyes had started showing emotions, even though she still looked dull. Compared with the other zombies, she seemed to have intelligence. Although she didn''t remember anything, her humanity appeared to have been woken up.


    She changed so drastically after being bitten by Lin Qiao. How on earth did that happen?


    They looked at Lin Qiao as a new kind of veneration was shown on their faces.

 653 Xiao-Xiao the Female Zombie

    Confusedly, Lin Qiao turned, glanced at the others and asked, "What''s going on?"


    Xie Dong, Lu Tianyi, Lin Kui, and Pesticide all rolled their eyes, then looked at her disappointedly¡ª''God knows! Didn''t you cause that? Why did you ask us? Who are we supposed to ask?''


    Lin Qiao then turned to look at Xiao-Xiao who was behind her. After a short hesitation, she called her name, "Xiao-Xiao?"


    Xiao-Xiao tightly gripped Lin Qiao''s cloth. Hearing the latter call her name, she raised her head and gave Lin Qiao a glance. Her dark eyes were filled with panic and helplessness.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Qiao asked.


    Xiao-Xiao didn''t respond, but lowered her head and showed Lin Qiao her dirty hair. Meanwhile, she was still grasping Lin Qiao''s clothes.


    ''What''s going on¡­''


    Lin Qiao didn''t understand. Why did the female zombie react that way?


    She turned back to the others and said, "You guys are frightening her, aren''t you?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Kui was at level-seven, and Xie Dong was at level-five. As the weakest two among the group, both Pesticide and Lu Tianyi were at level-four. So, Lin Qiao assumed that the suppression from those higher-leveled zombies had frightened Xiao-Xiao, who had just entered level-two.


    The four rolled their eyes again.


    ''What does it have to do with us! We didn''t do anything, did we?''


    "Uh-em¡­" At that time, Bao Xiaoguo, who was lying on the couch, let out a deep moan. Lin Qiao and the others were immediately distracted by him.


    They saw Bao Xiaoguo lying on the couch with a deep frown ? seeming to be in pain. His forehead was covered in sweat drops which were streaming down his cheeks.


    Xiao-Xiao was probably attracted by Bao Xiaoguo as well. She stuck her head out from behind Lin Qiao and curiously looked at Bao Xiaoguo. Meanwhile, she reached her nose forward, seeming to be very sensitive to his scent.


    Lin Qiao read her mind, and then turned to say to her, "You can''t eat humans."


    Hearing that, Xiao-Xiao raised her head and looked at Lin Qiao confusedly without understanding her words.


    She wasn''t thinking about why she couldn''t eat humans. Instead, she was wondering why would she eat humans. Bao Xiaoguo smelled delicious indeed, but from the beginning, she never intended to eat him.


    "Eh?" Lin Qiao gave her a glance with surprise, then suddenly blinked and asked, "Do you¡­ know what you are now?"


    Xiao-Xiao looked at her with confusion, then automatically lowered her head to look at her hands and body. After that, her expression changed drastically.


    "Roarrrrr!" A hoarse screech was heard again.


    This time, Lin Qiao was prepared. Before Xiao-Xiao uttered her voice, she quickly covered her ears.


    The four all gave a start and quickly turned back to look at Lin Qiao and Xiao-Xiao, who was behind her.


    "Urrrr¡­" Xiao-Xiao covered her arms before her chest, then hid back behind Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao uncrossed her arms and put a hand on her chin as she spent a short while thinking. After that, she took off her coat and covered Xiao-Xiao''s body with it.


    Then, she turned and said to the others, "Keep an eye on that young man. I''m taking her upstairs to take a shower."


    Having finished talking, she headed toward the stairs while Xiao-Xiao followed closely behind her.


    The others watched them walk upstairs bewilderedly. After that, they glanced at each other again, all wearing a confused look.


    Lin Qiao went upstairs and saw Leng Xuantong, who was coming out of his room. He seemed to be lacking sleep. Seeing Lin Qiao, he asked, "I heard screams just now. What''s happening?"


    He didn''t see Xiao-Xiao, who was hiding behind Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao stepped aside and let him see Xiao-Xiao. Then, she replied, with, "It was her."


    Leng Xuantong saw a scrawny figure with disheveled hair. The hallway wasn''t illuminated, so he couldn''t see her clearly.


    He didn''t see Xiao-Xiao''s eyes, as she had her head lowered.


    "Sorry that you''re awake. There won''t be more noises though. You can go back to rest," Lin Qiao smiled at him and then brought Xiao-Xiao up to the third floor. She found her some clothes, and then brought her to the bathroom on the third floor.


    Xiao-Xiao seemed to be panicking. After following Lin Qiao to the third floor, she finally realized something and suddenly grabbed Lin Qiao''s hands.


    "Roarrr¡­" ''Why¡­ why did I become like this!"


    Once she let out her voice, she was stunned again. Then, she covered her throat with her hands and popped her eyes in shock.


    "Calm down and listen¡­ just calm!" Lin Qiao hurriedly put a hand on her shoulder.


    Xiao-Xiao calmed slightly; it might be because of the comforting vibe from Lin Qiao''s palm or because her tone of speaking eased her anxiety.


    "Look at yourself. You should know that you are no longer a normal human being. Actually¡­ you are not even a human being anymore," Lin Qiao said to her, looking at her in the eyes.


    ''Not a human being? What does she mean? What am I then?'' Xiao-Xiao looked at her with confusion.


    Her mind wasn''t clear, and she hadn''t remembered anything yet. However, the moment she saw herself, she had sensed that something was wrong. After that, she suddenly realized that she was supposed to be human.


    However, human bodies shouldn''t look like that!


    "You are a¡­ zombie," Lin Qiao looked at her in the eyes and said.


    Xiao-Xiao paused briefly; her dark zombie eyes froze for seven or eight seconds. After that span of time, she slightly popped her eyes, and next, surprise and disbelief filled those eyes. She didn''t want to believe Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao dragged her up to the mirror in the bathroom, then said to her, "Look at yourself."


    Xiao-Xiao turned and saw a woman who hadn''t showered in years in that dirty mirror. Her hair were messy, and that face under the hair did not look like the face of a human being.


    At that point, she also realized that everything in her eyes had lost color!


    Lin Qiao understood that she was slowly regaining her intelligence and common sense. She needed time to process all the shocking facts that she had just learned.


    "I''m leaving these clothes here. We have water here. You take a shower and calm yourself. When you''re ready, come out and tell me what happened to you on the outside." Lin Qiao put the clothes on a basket next to Xiao-Xiao while speaking, then went out of the bathroom with gentle steps.


    Xiao-Xiao stayed motionless, her eyes fixed on the mirror.


    Lin Qiao turned and went downstairs. There, she saw that Leng Xuantong was also in the living room, seemingly attracted by Bao Xiaoguo.


    "What happened to him? He doesn''t look good," Seeing Lin Qiao come down, Leng Xuantong asked curiously. Pesticide didn''t scare him, and Lin Kui was standing right beside him. So, he would not be shocked by another zombie.


    "I think he''ll soon recover," Lin Qiao walked over as she looked at Bao Xiaoguo and responded.

 654 Bao Xiaoguo Is Waking Up

    "His power is waking up," Lin Qiao continued, and the others all looked at her with surprise.


    She crossed her arms before her chest as she looked at Bao Xiaoguo while thinking. Was her virus able to deliver such an effect? The same thing had happened to Lin Yu. Before she accidentally bit him, he was just an ordinary soldier.


    Seeing that Bao Xiaoguo was sweating, Leng Xuantong made a step forward and put a hand on his forehead. As he expected, Bao Xiaoguo''s skin was hot.


    Leng Xuantong had already accepted the fact that Miss Lu had a good relationship with the zombies in this place. However, even though he clearly knew that those zombies wouldn''t hurt him, he still tried to avoid Lin Kui and Pesticide.


    Thankfully, those two didn''t mind his small movements.


    The group quietly stood around Bao Xiaoguo, waiting for him to wake up. They couldn''t tell how long it would take for the young man to trigger his power. People had different body conditions; some people spent a couple of hours to wake up their superpowers, and some spent a day or two. Some failed, but most people succeeded.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao saw that the energy from the cup of lake water was disappearing quickly inside Bao Xiaoguo''s body. After her virus devoured the original zombie virus, the energy from the lake helped the damaged cells regrow. However, the energy from one cup of lake water wasn''t enough.


    "Xie Dong, get him another cup of water," Lin Qiao abruptly talked.


    Xie Dong quickly turned and fetched another cup of water, pouring it into Bao Xiaoguo''s mouth.


    With surprise, Leng Xuantong watched Xie Dong give Bao Xiaoguo the water, then turn to Lin Qiao.


    Did that water have some kind of effect?


    "Get two more cups," Lin Qiao was aware that a small amount of lake water energy was able to suppress the awakening of Bao Xiaoguo''s power like what was happening just now. However, once the amount of the lake water energy rose, the awakening of his power would be accelerated. Therefore, she told Xie Dong to give Bao Xiaoguo more water.


    By the time Bao Xiaoguo woke up, it was already the next morning.


    He opened his eyes and found that the light in the living room hadn''t changed much. The only thing that had changed was the time.


    He woke up to find himself lying on a couch. Confusedly, he stood up and looked around. No one else was in the living room.


    The two by the door heard the noises he made and immediately turned back to look at him.


    Seeing the two of them, Bao Xiaoguo paused briefly, then suddenly thought of something. He quickly raised his hands and looked at them. Unexpectedly, he found no change in those hands. Then, he rolled up his sleeves and checked his arms. His skin looked the same as before, without turning pale or bluish. However, there was a circle of bite mark on his arm, and on both sides of the circle were four small holes.


    How were those holes left on his arms? Did that woman bite him?


    Bao Xiaoguo thought for a moment, then forgot about it, because he looked at the time and found that it was already the next day! Why was he still conscious? Shouldn''t he have become a zombie already?


    He raised a hand and touched his face, then opened his mouth and stuttered, "I¡­ I¡­ didn''t¡­ die?"


    After that, he saw the woman who bit him walk downstairs.


    "Die? I''ve told you that I won''t let you become a zombie. Alright, now, tell me where your sister is. I''ll bring her here," Lin Qiao said to him.


    Bao Xiaoguo paused briefly, then said, "I¡­ I just can''t believe it! Was I dreaming yesterday?"


    "I suggest you bite yourself to see if that''ll hurt or not," Lin Qiao said with a faint smile. She, of course, was only joking. However, Bao Xiaoguo really made a bite on his own arm.


    "Ouch! It hurts!" Bao Xiaoguo yelled with surprise, then his face was occupied by confusion and a delightful surprise.


    He raised his head and saw a pair of zombie eyes behind Lin Qiao. After a short pause, he swiftly pulled out the pistol from around his waist and said, "Zom-zombie!"


    He didn''t care about zombies. What he cared about was that the zombie was alive, and that it was standing right behind that woman. His movement was completely automatic.


    Being pointed at by his gun, Xiao-Xiao gave a start and quickly shrank back behind Lin Qiao.


    "Oi, you can''t shoot the zombies in my place," Lin Qiao reached out a hand and smiled at him.


    Bao Xiaoguo looked at her confusedly, but still dropped his gun.


    "Don''t worry! They won''t hurt you as long as you don''t offend them," Lin Qiao said to him, then turned and walked out of the building with Xiao-Xiao.


    After last night, Xiao-Xiao was already aware that she had no choice now. She didn''t want to accept it, but as a matter of fact, she had already become a zombie. She felt lost. She didn''t know about her current situation, which frightened her and made her feel helpless.


    Somehow, she subconsciously felt that Lin Qiao wouldn''t hurt her. She had the sense of security only when staying with the latter.


    There were many scary vibes around her, so she was obviously terrified.


    "Don''t be afraid! None of them will hurt you. You don''t need to be so careful," Lin Qiao turned and looked at Xiao-Xiao as she said.


    Lin Qiao brought her out of the building, then told her to stand there, "Stay here, don''t move."


    Xiao-Xiao stood there with confusion, then saw Lin Qiao disappear right before her. But in the next second, she sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe from the other side of the space. She turned and saw a not-so-large lake, and on the other side of the lake were some weird animals.


    She saw Lin Qiao catch one of those animals, then flash back to her.


    As Lin Qiao caught a mutated roe deer, the others immediately turned to her.


    She killed the roe deer neatly and quickly, letting out the blood and skinning it. Her movements were as smooth as that of some experienced hunters. As she skinned the entire roe deer, Lu Tianyi quickly came over, picked up a leg, and went to the side to eat it. Pesticide followed behind him with a struggling face. He looked at the roe deer leg with dislike, then at Lu Tianyi who was eating it. His eyes were filled with puzzles. Clearly, he just couldn''t understand why Lu Tianyi was enjoying the roe deer meat so much.


    Lin Qiao cut off a slice of meat, then said to Xiao-Xiao, "Come on, try it."


    Xiao-Xiao looked at her with deep confusion. She had no memory, but had some general knowledge. At least, she knew that zombies only ate human flesh!


    Lin Qiao handed her a slice of animal meat, and seemed to believe that it was really edible for zombies. She hesitated shortly, then reached out to take it over.


    Like animals, she first put the meat under her nose to sniff at it. She sensed a strange scent, which was not good, but was acceptable. It was weird though.


    Was it really edible? It was raw meat!


    Xiao-Xiao didn''t want to eat it. The reason was simple¡ªshe didn''t want to eat raw meat.

 655 Subordinative Relationship

    "Just try it. Think about what you are now. You can''t eat human flesh, can you?" Lin Qiao coaxed Xiao-Xiao.


    Xiao-Xiao looked at her and understood her meaning. She held the meat, but didn''t put it into her mouth.


    She looked at Lin Qiao again and saw that the latter was smiling at her. Under her gaze, Xiao-Xiao finally put the meat into her mouth, but only after a short hesitation.


    It did not smell awful, but she completely had no appetite for it.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Look at him," at that moment, Lin Qiao pointed at Lu Tianyi, who was on the other side.


    Ever since she became a zombie Lin Qiao had gotten used to eating like a beast. She was surprised that Lu Tianyi didn''t mind eating like that either.


    Xiao-Xiao glanced at Lu Tianyi who was enjoying the roe deer meat, then made a bite as well. She thought it would be firm and hard to bite, but unexpectedly, she easily bit off a small piece of it. The meat wasn''t as soft as tofu though; it was chewy and smooth. A faint sweetness spread in her mouth.


    While chewing the meat, Xiao-Xiao showed confusion on her face. At last, she swallowed the meat.


    "See, it''s not bad actually. You have turned into a zombie, so you can''t taste the blood flavor and the rawness of the meat," Lin Qiao smiled.


    Watching Xiao-Xiao make the second bite, she knew that her guess had been proved.


    Her virus was indeed strongly effective!


    With deep confusion, Xiao-Xiao finished the slice of meat and licked her fingers. After that, she reached out to ask Lin Qiao for more, who smilingly cut her a larger slice.


    Bao Xiaoguo walked out from the living room and watched Xiao-Xiao eat the roe deer meat. All he had seen was beyond his knowledge, so he couldn''t even react.


    That female zombie was eating a slice of raw meat! It did not look like human flesh. Also, a skinned dead animal was lying nearby. The other zombies were with them peacefully. What was happening?


    Also, the female zombie seemed to be even more tremulous than him. Why? Could zombies be scared too? Was she a high-leveled zombie? She didn''t look like one. Ah, was she the ordinary zombie that the woman dragged out of the glass cubicle?


    Why was she eating the meat of an animal? That was so weird! What exactly was happening? What was wrong with that female zombie? What about those two male zombies? What was this place?


    Bao Xiaoguo felt that his brain was going to be broken by all the questions in his head.


    "You seem to be very confused. In fact, I''m also curious about everything in this place," A voice was heard from behind him.


    Bao Xiaoguo turned around and saw a man standing by his side, watching the female zombie eating with great interest. The others on the scene were wearing the same expression as him.


    All the others actually had their eyes fixed on that mysterious, pretty woman.


    "Who¡­ who is she?" Bao Xiaoguo murmured to ask.


    "I only know that she''s called Miss Lu," Leng Xuantong looked straight at Lin Qiao and answered Bao Xiaoguo''s question with a bland tone.


    "Miss Lu?" Bao Xiaoguo repeated.


    "Alright. Next, I should get out to bring your sister here," Lin Qiao let Lu Tianyi handle the rest of the roe deer, then turned to Bao Xiaoguo.


    Knowing that Lin Qiao was probably going to leave, Xiao-Xiao instantly went back to her and grasped her cloth with one hand, the other hand holding the meat. However, she didn''t stop eating.


    Lin Qiao quietly glanced at Xiao-Xiao''s hand which was holding her coat; meat juice was all over that hand.


    Seeing that, not only Bao Xiaoguo felt that the female zombie was timid, but the others also looked at her as if she was a child who was shy with strangers.


    Lin Qiao sighed, then said to Xiao-Xiao, "I need to go out to do something. It''s inconvenient to bring you with me. If you are scared, just go and stay in your room."


    Somehow, ever since Xiao-Xiao woke up, Lin Qiao had been feeling an inexplicable connection between her and herself. It was like a subordinative relationship. She couldn''t tell what exactly it was.


    Knowing that Lin Qiao had decided not to take her, Xiao-Xiao had no choice but to give up. She obediently nodded, then relaxed her grip, headed toward the building. Before entering the building, she turned back to give Lin Qiao a glance.


    Lin Qiao walked in as well. She walked past the few who were standing by the door in a line over to the couch area. She sat there and looked at Bao Xiaoguo, who was walking in.


    "Tell me, where is your sister? Or, do you have anything that belongs to her?" She leaned against the back of the couch and raised her chin to look at Bao Xiaoguo who was standing before the tea table.


    "She''s in A-2 Zone in the outer base, Number.3 commoner residential area. This jade belongs to her," Bao Xiaoguo hesitated shortly, then took a round-shaped jade pendant off his neck.


    Xie Dong stepped forward and took over the jade from his hand, then walked up behind the couch and handed it to Lin Qiao. She took it over and looked at it, then put it under her nose to sniff at it. After that, she handed it back to Xie Dong.


    Xie Dong gave it back to Bao Xiaoguo, who confusedly took it over, then looked at Lin Qiao.


    "I get it. Just wait here! Oh, I wonder if you have realized that your body is different from before," Lin Qiao stood up while speaking. Leaving one short sentence, she disappeared before the others.


    "Different? How? Did she mean that I didn''t become a zombie?" Bao Xiaoguo glanced at the others bewilderedly. He had already known about that, so she did not need to remind him specifically about that.


    Xie Dong, Lin Kui, and the other zombies weren''t able to talk, so, they didn''t answer his question.


    "Your are awake. Haven''t you realized that?" Leng Xuantong looked at him and said.


    "Awake?" Bao Xiaoguo looked at him in a daze. A few seconds later, he suddenly figured it out. "Are you talking about my¡­ superpower?"


    Leng Xuantong nodded. The others weren''t talking to Bao Xiaoguo, but had all been looking at him with curiosity. Clearly, they were all curious about his superpower.


    "Re-really? Why don''t I know about that?" Bao Xiaoguo could scarcely believe it.


    There wasn''t a big chance for people to trigger superpowers. Bao Xiaoguo strongly wished that he could trigger a superpower one day, so that he would never be bullied again. However, it had been years since the apocalypse, and not a sign of any superpower had shown on him. He had gradually lost his hope. But just now, someone suddenly told him that he had already had a superpower.


    That didn''t feel real.


    "However, I think you can''t have a strong feeling of it in this place. You need to get out to feel your energy," Leng Xuantong smiled.


    "Yeah¡­ And this place is¡­" Bao Xiaoguo had already guessed some of it, but didn''t dare to say for sure.


    This place was huge¡­


    How could any space possessor have such a huge live space?

 656 Unknown Danger

    Lin Qiao exited her space and found it was dawn on the outside. She had memorized the scents from the jade. Except for Bao Xiaoguo''s scent, the jade also carried another scent which was very weak.


    It had nearly faded, but Lin Qiao still grasped and memorized it.


    The sky was bright, yet the sun hadn''t risen.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao sneaked out from under the square. Last night, the zombie prison had been entire sealed off. But still, nothing hindered her.


    The experiments that she did with Bao Xiaoguo and Xiao-xiao had succeeded, so she did not need to do any further experiments with ordinary zombies.


    After leaving the zombie prison, she hopped onto the tallest streetlight around the square. Standing there, she carefully searched form the scent of Bao Xiaoguo''s sister with her nose.


    Huaxia Base was huge, and she didn''t have a map. She didn''t even know where A-2 Zone was, so she decided first to find the scent and follow it.


    It was not easy to find that scent. After all, Huaxia Base was super huge. She was able to sense the scents from tens of miles away, yet she still needed the air to bring the scents to her.


    After spending half an hour sniffing at the air, she finally found the scent of Bao Xiaoguo''s sister from all sorts of scents that she sensed and located her. Meanwhile, she had located Li Zheng''s squad as well. She wouldn''t go and find them for now, as it was not yet the time.


    ¡­


    While Lin Qiao was trying to find Bao Xiaoguo''s sister, something strange was happening in Xiamen, the zombie city, in Fujian Province.


    A level-five zombie was running as fast as it could. It was twice as fast as a sports car which was moving at its full speed. However, in just ten seconds, another zombie descended from the air and violently smashed it to the ground.


    Bang! Following that thunderous noise, the level-five zombie was thrown onto an abandoned car, which was flattened.


    Another zombie squatted on the level-five zombie''s back and pressed it down, then pierced its claws into the skill of the level-five zombie which was still struggling. It then stirred and dug out a zombie nucleus.


    The level-five zombie stopped moving as its skull was penetrated.


    The zombie who took its nucleus didn''t linger there, but quickly stood up and started out, disappearing without a trace within a blink.


    The same thing was happening in the entire Xiamen city. A great number of zombies at level-five or below were hunted, their zombie nuclei taken away.


    Except for the ordinary zombies, all the other zombies were facing a massacre.


    The zombies at level six and seven had become predators who were hunting all the lower-leveled zombies in the city.


    "Roar!" A roar came from a long distance away, making all level six and seven zombies stop moving. Next, all those zombies turned and moved in one direction simultaneously.


    Before long, they arrived at International Center in Xiamen¡ªthe tallest building in the city¡ªand then quickly climbed onto the roof.


    If humans saw the zombies on the roof in that building, they would certainly panic.


    Five level-seven zombies and thirteen level-six zombies¡­ Each one of them could bring humans a sense of crisis. But now, eighteen of them had gathered together.


    On the roof, those high-leveled zombie only did one thing. They took out handfuls of zombie nuclei, walked to the middle of the roof, and piled those nuclei on the ground. After that, they stepped backward to the edge of the roof and waited quietly.


    About ten seconds later, two figures walked out of the stair-room on the roof. Judging by their body shapes, they looked like a male and a female. The female followed behind the male, and the male was heading toward the pile of nuclei on the ground.


    They were not humans either. Their purely black, pupil-less zombie eyes wore a calm and composed look.


    After picking up that pile of zombie nuclei, the two zombies turned and hopped onto the edge of the roof, then darted toward Sea City and soon disappeared.


    The other zombies on the roof all followed behind them.


    That night, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng gave a start at the same time in All Beings Base in Upper City District, then leaped up to the roof and faced Sea City with hesitation.


    "What did you feel? Qiu Lili asked Yun Meng.


    She had wind power, so she was able to sense things from the winds. However, as a possessor of green power, Yun Meng had keener sensations than her.


    With a serious look, Yun Meng turned her eyes away from that direction, then slowly dropped her head to think. A short while later, she raised her eyes and looked at Qiu Lili. A sharp beam of light flashed across her eyes. "They have shown up," she said.


    Qiu Lili frowned, asked, "Really?"


    Yun Meng didn''t say anything else but nodded.


    Qiu Lili couldn''t help but put a finger into her mouth. Biting her finger, she said, "But, we don''t know when Qiaoqiao will be back."


    "It''s okay," said Yun Meng, "I think they are not targeting at us. We still have time."


    "But, even if they''re going for Sea City Base, we still can''t stand by and do nothing," Qiu Lili dropped her hand, then crossed her arms before her chest.


    "Let''s go and talk to Yuan Tianxing and the others," Yun Meng thought for a moment and then said.


    Qiu Lili nodded, replied with, "That''s our only choice."


    ¡­


    Back in Huaxia Base, Lin Qiao soon located Bao Xiaoguo''s sister. She was in a residential area of commoners. No superpowered ones lived in that area.


    The living conditions of commoners were surely awful, and so was the public security.


    The scent got closer and closer. Lin Qiao followed the scent to Bao Xiaoguo''s sister and found that she was living in a dormitory building, together with many other people.


    That was a six-story dormitory building with single rooms. Each floor had over ten single rooms; the rooms weren''t large, but each accommodated more than six people.


    It was broad daylight, yet most of those people stayed indoors. They didn''t have a job, and the weather was cold. Therefore, they all chose to stay in their rooms.


    Lin Qiao was surprised when she found the room of Bao Xiaoguo''s sister, because the people who lived in that room were all male.


    When she saw Bao Xiaoguo''s sister, she suddenly felt that the girl must have had some special ideas.


    She felt that way because the girl didn''t look like a girl at all. She was relatively shorter than the others; her skin was dark and sallow, brows were thick, and hair were super short, only slightly longer than a crew cut. She was wearing grey cotton-padded coat and trousers. Those clothes looked very old, not clean, but not very dirty either.


    She looked like an ordinary boy, her eyes showing a calm look. But, those eyes of hers glowed brightly from time to time.

 657 Pretend To Be A Boy

    "Xiaoying, time to go! We''ll get no food if we''re running late." A man who looked around thirty leaped off the bunk bed and said to Bao Xiaoguo''s sister, Bao Xiaoying.


    Bao Xiaoying stayed silent but nodded, then took an old stainless lunch box out of a bucket under her bed.


    The man who called her seemed to have gotten used to her reaction. He took out his own lunch box, then walked out of the dorm along with Bao Xiaoying.


    It was only about seven in the morning. However, they weren''t going for breakfast.


    Lin Qiao followed behind them. She found that the man didn''t know about Bao Xiaoying''s real gender.


    The two of them walked side by side, looking weird. The man was about thirty years old, tall and strong, nearly 1.9 meters tall. Unlike him, Bao Xiaoying was only around 1.55 meters in height.


    As they walked across the hallway, the others looked at them without talking to them, with colds eyes or fear. They didn''t even dare to approach the two of them.


    Lin Qiao looked at the people around and then at Bao Xiaoying. She was surprised.


    It wasn''t the tall man who scared those people, but the short Bao Xiaoying.


    Interesting!


    With that discovery, Lin Qiao smiled faintly while following behind Bao Xiaoying.


    Before long, the two of them arrived at a square. Before the square, quite some people were waiting in queue in the cold wind. The square was large; even though it was early in the morning, many people had already crowded in this place.


    At the end of those queues, were a series of long tables placed in lines. Those tables stopped those people from entering the other side of the square. On the other side of those tables was a two-story building.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao figured out what was going on.


    That square was where the base dispensed food. During the winter, many people had no work to do. Therefore, the base would provide them with some stored food, such as steamed buns and pancakes. Each person could get one or two steam buns a day.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    However, because of the huge population, the food was never enough. Therefore, to avoid being starved, many people got up early in the morning to wait in the lines for the food, which would be distributed at noontime.


    Lin Qiao had, of course, seen how the food would be distributed to the poor. She was a base leader after all. Those works were mostly done by her subordinates, but she would occasionally go to the spot to see how things were going. On one hand, she needed to see if there were any improvements to make, and on the other, she needed to know if her subordinates could do their jobs well.


    Normally, a lot of soldiers would come to the spot to maintain order during the distribution of food.


    Even though it was still very early in the morning, and the food distribution hadn''t started yet, some soldiers with real guns were already standing on the square.


    The place had to be guarded, as many people would gather there.


    "Xiaoying, put on the hood. Even looking at you makes me feel cold!" The man stood behind Bao Xiaoying and looked at her head. He couldn''t help but ask her to put on the hat.


    The hood which was attached to Bao Xiaoying''s coat was right before his eyes, yet he didn''t reach out to put it on for her, but only reminded her.


    Bao Xiaoying turned around and gave him a bland glance, then took her hands out of the pockets and pulled the hood forward to cover her head.


    "If only you were taller, you could have joined the army. You''re as fierce as a wolf. You''d certainly earn a decent future in the army. Sadly, you''re not tall enough." The man stood behind her and murmured with pity.


    Bao Xiaoying didn''t say anything, neither did she turn around again. She had no interest in joining the army, so she had nothing to complain about her height. After all, if she joined the army, people would find out that she was a girl.


    Lin Qiao fixed her eyes on the empty left sleeve of that man while thinking. ''They seem to be good friends.''


    Many people were gathering in the square, so Lin Qiao couldn''t make any direct moves. Besides, Bao Xiaoying was with that man. To avoid unnecessary troubles, she had no choice but to wait.


    She stepped out of the square and climbed onto a tree nearby, laying on a branch to wait for them to get the food and leave.


    About eleven in the morning, the square was already filled with people. The place became very noisy, as people''s sounds could be heard from every corner. The unruly ones had even started scuffles. But soon, the soldiers nearby pointed their guns at the head of those people and told them that they would not get food today. They wouldn''t be allowed to come back for three days.


    When the base staff carried out the steam buns, the crowd was immediately stirred.


    "Be patient! Be patient! We have food for everyone!" Some administrators were shouting as loud as they could behind those base staff through loudspeakers.


    Bao Xiaoying and the man who had waited on the square for a couple of hours waited for another half an hour in the line, and then each got two steam buns made from coarse grain. After that, they walked to the side. A series of large buckets were placed in that area, filled with boiled water.


    Bao Xiaoying put one of the two steam buns into her coat and held the other in one hand. With her other hand, she filled her lunch box with boiled water.


    The man behind her only had one arm. He put his lunch box in his mouth, then took over the steam buns, and then quickly put both steam buns into his coat. After that, he went to fetch the water with his lunch box.


    As they exited the square and headed back, Lin Qiao followed behind them.


    When they returned to where they lived, Lin Qiao sensed a few vibes from their room. She recognized those vibes, as she had sensed them last night in the zombie prison.


    ''They came pretty fast,'' Lin Qiao thought. She could tell that those people had arrived at dawn.


    Bao Xiaoying and the man didn''t know that some strangers were in their room. So, they walked to the door. Bao Xiaoying prepared to open the door. However, when her hand was on the doorknob, she suddenly paused.


    "What''s wrong? Just open the door! It''s freezing out here. Let''s get in so we can eat. The steam buns will become too hard to bite if they get cold." As Bao Xiaoying didn''t open the door, the man behind her instantly started hastening her.


    Once he started talking, Bao Xiaoying put her hand away from the doorknob, then suddenly turned and threw away the box of water in her hand. Next, she pushed away the tall man and ran toward the stairs.


    Boom! The man was pushed to the side. Before he could react, he saw that the door was opened from the inside, and a few armed soldiers rushed out of the room, following Bao Xiaoying to the stairs.


    They completely ignored the tall man who was sitting on the ground.


    "Stop, or we''ll shoot you!" The group of soldiers swiftly rushed out of the room and saw Bao Xiaoying flash across the stairs before disappearing in the hallway.


    Bang! Following a gunshot, those soldiers disappeared after Bao Xiaoying.


    The tall man was left stunned, gazing where they disappeared.


    He had no idea what just happened. However, he could clearly tell that Bao Xiaoying was their target.


    Thankfully, Bao Xiaoying had keener observation than the others. She felt that something was wrong when she was standing by the door.

 658 The Brother And Sister Reunite

    Lin Qiao leaped across the guardrail on the hallway. As she landed on the lower floor, Bao Xiaoying had already rushed downstairs, and those soldiers were going down behind her.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Bao Xiaoying was fast. However, as a commoner, she could not dodge bullets.


    "Stop, or we''ll shoot!" While yelling at Bao Xiaoying, those soldiers quickly ran downstairs.


    Lin Qiao leaped down again and landed before the stairs on the first floor.


    Bao Xiaoying swiftly ran down to the first floor, then rushed toward the outside. The moment she rushed out, Lin Qiao reached out an arm and clasped the other''s neck. In the next second, both of them disappeared.


    The moment they disappeared, the group of soldiers came downstairs. They paused before the stairway, as Bao Xiaoying had disappeared without a trace.


    "She''s gone! How could she run so fast? Split and find her!"


    Soon, another man ran downstairs. That was the man who was with Bao Xiaoying, coming down confusedly and helplessly.


    Why did those soldiers show up in their place? Why were they so aggressive? Had Bao Xiaoying offended some people? Did she break any rules of the base?


    He had no answer to any of those questions, so he was anxious.


    Bao Xiaoying had a very bad feeling when her neck was suddenly clasped. Then, her eyes were dazzled. When she could finally react, she found that she was no longer in her own downstairs.


    "Xiaoying!" While she was looking around vigilantly, a familiar voice was heard. Bao Xiaoying paused briefly, then turned that way with surprise.


    That was really her brother!


    Bao Xiaoguo rushed over, then grabbed her shoulders and said delightedly, "Great, you''re okay!"


    "She''s not okay. Some people were hunting her just now," Lin Qiao said blandly, then sat down on a couch.


    Bao Xiaoguo popped his eyes and turned to Lin Qiao, "Didn''t those people bring Xiaoying under control long ago?"


    "I didn''t say that," said Lin Qiao.


    "Had you met those people before?" Bao Xiaoguo turned to Bao Xiaoying and asked, but the latter shook her head. As her brother was there, she had relaxed slightly.


    But, what was happening now?


    She looked at Bao Xiaoguo, her eyes asking questions.


    Seeing the look in his sister''s eyes, Bao Xiaoguo immediately understood her meaning. He explained to her, "Those people were targeting me. There was an accident, so they went for you. But you''re safe now. From now on, we''ll be living in a new place."


    While speaking, Bao Xiaoguo glanced at Lin Qiao.


    No one else but the three of them were in the living room.


    "Bring her to your room and let her rest. This place isn''t cold, so she doesn''t need to wear so many clothes. Later on, I''ll tell someone to bring you some clothes. You two stay in the room, and don''t come out for now," Lin Qiao looked at Bao Xiaoguo, then at Bao Xiaoying.


    "Alright," Bao Xiaoguo nodded, then guided Bao Xiaoying upstairs.


    Bao Xiaoying squeezed her brother''s hand and looking at him with confusion. While walking upstairs, Bao Xiaoguo sensed her movement. He turned around and glanced at his sister, then said while walking, "There''s no place for us in Huaxia Base, so we need to leave. As for that person, I don''t know who she is either. However, she isn''t a bad person. She has saved my life, and just now, she saved yours too. Now, we each owe her a life. So, from this day on, we''ll go wherever she goes."


    Bao Xiaoying looked at her brother and blinked, then nodded and lowered her head, following her brother upstairs.


    Lin Qiao walked out of the living room. Thinking about what happened before, she turned and walked behind the building.


    As she walked over, the zombie crowd behind the building was stirred a little. She rarely went to that area. If they needed those zombies, she would directly summon them to the clearing before the building. Therefore, seeing her come to them, those zombies somehow had a strange feeling.


    Soon, Lin Qiao picked a level-three zombie, a level-four zombie, and a level-five zombie.


    "Follow me!" She turned and headed to the clearing before the building while speaking. Afterward, she summoned Lu Tianyi, who was working in the vegetable field, and asked him, "Do we have any roe deer meat left?"


    Lu Tianyi pointed at the kitchen and then nodded. He, of course, wouldn''t eat the whole roe deer. After finishing a rear leg, he already felt satisfied, so he cut the rest of the roe deer into small pieces and stored them in the kitchen.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then said, "Get in and prepare three pieces of meat for me.


    Lu Tianyi turned and walked into the house. Pesticide, who was catching bugs in the vegetable field, raised his head and looked at Lin Qiao, then at Lu Tianyi. This time, he didn''t follow him into the house. Clearly, he had no interest in what Lu Tianyi was doing.


    Looking at the three zombies who were at different levels, Pesticide squatted and put his arms around his knees, waiting to see what Lin Qiao was going to do next.


    Lin Qiao stood before the three zombies and spent a short while observing them. The level-five zombie was a female, fire-powered one; her hair were short and messy, and she was about five feet and eight inches tall. As same as Bao Xiaoying, she looked like a tough girl too. Her face wasn''t badly damaged, although the huge dark circles under her eyes and those dark-purple lips had ruined her beauty.


    A red pair of pupils were glowing in her purely dark eyes, which were fixed on Lin Qiao with both vigilance and fear.


    Lin Qiao didn''t have many level-five zombies in her space. The one before her was the only female one.


    Lin Qiao looked at the female level-five zombie. She had made the latter change her clothes long ago, so her clothes were clean. However, her skin looked dirty, as if she hadn''t showered in many days.


    She thought for a moment, then turned to Xie Dong and said, "I think we need to make her clean. I can''t bite her like this."


    Xie Dong, who was standing by the door, quietly turned and walked into the house.


    Lin Qiao glanced upstairs, where Leng Xuantong and Xiao-Xiao were in their rooms. Bao Xiaoguo and his sister were staying in their room as well.


    Except for Lin Kui, no one else was near the door.


    Leng Xuantong knew what she was doing, but didn''t know that she was a zombie. He had seen her bite a human and a zombie, so, Lin Qiao assumed that his interest had already been aroused.


    Hopefully, he wouldn''t see her as a research object.


    Perhaps, he could help her to uncover all the secrets about her.


    Lin Qiao looked at the three zombies before her, wondering what would happen to them after she replaced the virus inside their bodies with her own. Would they become like Xiao-Xiao? Would they be able to eat animals? Or, would they regain their memories?


    Based on what happened to Xiao-Xiao, Lin Qiao felt that they would most likely regain their memories and start eating animals.


    Before long, Xie Dong came back with a bowl of water and a towel. He walked up behind Lin Qiao and let her wet the towel in the bowl.


    "Come over, all three of you! Come here and wash your hands!" Lin Qiao wrung the towel, then waved at the three zombies.

 659 The Second Round Of Tests

    Under Lin Qiao''s order, the female zombie and two male zombies moved toward her, reaching their hands toward the bowl together.


    "Oi, wait, wait!" Lin Qiao hurriedly stopped them. Then, she cleaned their hands with the towel one after another; throwing the towel into the bowl, she waved at Xie Dong. The latter carried the bowl of water away, but didn''t leave.


    Lin Qiao waved at the three zombies, "Step back and stand still."


    The three zombies made a few steps backward and moved slightly away from each other. After that, Lin Qiao walked up to the level-three zombie and reached out, grasping his clean hand.


    The level-three zombie was terribly frightened. He couldn''t help but look at Lin Qiao in panic as he uttered a roar, "Roar!"


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance. She didn''t say anything, but raised the zombie''s hand, lowered her head, and gave the zombie a bite.


    "Er¡­" The level-three zombie froze, staring at Lin Qiao. His eyes were filled with fear.


    Lin Qiao''s teeth penetrated his skin. Three seconds later, she finally relaxed her bite.


    "Pah! Salty!" Lin Qiao tilted her head and spat before murmuring. In fact, she tasted no flavor at all. The salty taste was all in her mind.


    She took a few steps backward, observing the level-three zombie. The zombie froze for a second, then bent over and began twitching. Next, he fell to the ground and curled up.


    "Roarrrr¡­.errrr¡­" The zombie instinctively roared in pain, twitching on the ground.


    Seeing that, the other two zombies were all frightened. They abruptly stepped backward, then turned and attempted to run.


    "Oi," Lin Qiao turned and looked at them, her eyes glowing with a cold light. A snort escaped her throat. Hearing that, the level-four zombie and the level-five zombie didn''t dare to move anymore, but stiffly stood there.


    As those two stood still without daring to move, Lin Qiao turned and kept observing the level-three zombie.


    "Roarrrr¡­" The level-three zombie seemed to be in a great pain. After spending a while twitching on the ground, it started rolling. It wasn''t able to control its own body.


    Normally speaking, zombies could not feel pain. However, that level-three zombie seemed to be a great pain at the moment. His roars had been delivering clear emotions.


    Lin Qiao recalled that Xiao-Xiao had screamed after being bitten by her as well. It seemed that her virus would bring zombies a pain when invading their bodies.


    Apart from the two frightened zombies, Lin Kui, Xie Dong, and Lu Tianyi had all been quietly looking at the level-three zombie who was rolling on the ground.


    Pesticide was also frightened. As the level-three zombie fell to the ground, he sprung up with fear and ran straight behind the house. Hearing the level-three zombie''s screams, all the zombies behind the house had shrunk to the small spaces with fright as well.


    The level-three zombie''s screams didn''t only scare the other zombies, but also startled the people in the house.


    Leng Xuantong ran out of his room over to the balcony to look down, while Xiao-Xiao hid under her bed.


    Bao Xiaoying looked at Bao Xiaoguo with surprise. She recognized that roar as a zombie roar. How could a zombie roar be heard in here? Was there a zombie crowd nearby?


    Bao Xiaoguo didn''t have an answer either. However, thinking about the female zombie who was bitten by the mysterious lady earlier, he had a guess, without fully understanding what exactly was going on.


    As same as before, he had all sorts of questions in his head.


    After a couple of minutes of rolling and roaring, the level-three zombie''s voice started weakening. He stopped rolling, but remained in one weird position and kept twitching.


    Lin Qiao and the others quietly stood aside and watched him. As the level-three zombie finally stopped twitching, she looked at the time and found that about half an hour had passed. As same as what happened to Xiao-Xiao, it took half an hour for that zombie to quiet down.


    She couldn''t tell when the zombie would walk up. It seemed that her virus was strong enough to deliver the same effect to different level zombies.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao walked to the level-three zombie and squatted to observe him. She found that her virus had mostly occupied his entire body.


    Xiao-Xiao woke up after she stopped shaking. However, Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if this one could wake up so quickly as well.


    She had already sensed the subordinative connection from the level-three zombie, like what she had sensed from Xiao-Xiao earlier.


    At the moment, people were all staring at the level-three zombie expectantly. The zombie didn''t disappoint them, and woke up very soon.


    He opened his eyes and sat up confusedly, his eyes fixed on one spot, as if he didn''t know how to roll his eyeballs. He spent a few seconds sitting there in a daze, then suddenly started looking around, seeming to be searching for something. At last, he turned his eyes to Lin Qiao.


    ''This is exactly like I thought.'' Lin Qiao blinked.


    The moment the zombie saw Lin Qiao, his eyes started brightening. He stood up from the ground and looked around, then confusedly looked at his hands.


    Then, he raised his head and looked at Lin Qiao, then at the others. After that, he opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, "Er¡­ roar?"


    ''I didn''t die?'' He asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "No, you didn''t die.''


    He didn''t die, and he seemed to have become smarter than before. However, his level didn''t go straight up.


    The level-three zombie looked at Lin Qiao with confusion, seeming to be curious about everything.


    Lin Qiao looked at him from head to toe, asking, "Do you know who you are? Have you remembered anything?"


    The level-three zombie gawked at her for a few seconds, then shook his head.


    After that, Lin Qiao turned to Lu Tianyi and said, "Bring us the meat."


    Lu Tianyi was carrying a tray. Contained in the tray were a few pieces of roe deer meat. He walked to Lin Qiao and handed her the tray.


    Lin Qiao picked up a palm-sized piece of meat, then waved at the level-three zombie, "Come here."


    The zombie came to her, then looked at the meat with confusion.


    Lin Qiao handed the meat to him and said, "Eat it!"


    The zombie obediently took over the meat, and couldn''t help but raise his eyes to give her a glance. After that, he put the meat under his nose and sniffed at it. After confirming that the meat didn''t smell awful, he took a bite of it.


    Before putting the meat into his mouth, the zombie didn''t know why Lin Qiao told him to eat it. Instinctively, he felt that the meat wasn''t a normal food for zombie. It didn''t have a nice scent. Why did the zombie boss want him to eat it?


    However, as he took a bite of the meat, he found that it didn''t taste bad.


    Eh? Why didn''t it taste bad?


    His instinct told him that it didn''t seem right, but the zombie couldn''t figure out exactly why.


    Lin Qiao walked to Xie Dong, then picked up the towel and wiped her hand. After that, turned to the level-three zombie to observe his reaction. The zombie finished the piece of meat with a weird look on his face.

 660 Your Names

    "Was it good?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked. The level-three zombie finished the piece of meat, then sucked his fingers. Hearing Lin Qiao''s question, he nodded.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Good! Alright, you go over there and don''t move."


    Next, she turned to the other two zombies who had their hands washed, then waved at the level-four zombie and said, "It''s your turn."


    "Roar¡­" The level-four zombie made a step backward with fear. As Lin Qiao''s expression turned a little cold, he carefully moved toward her. He understood that if the zombie boss lost her temper, he would be destroyed. However, the screams that the level-three zombie let out just now sounded so scary. He was really frightened!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao waited for him to come to her, then said to him expressionlessly, "Reach out your hand."


    The level-four zombie reached out a hand.


    Lin Qiao looked at that dirty hand and said, "The other one!"


    The level-four zombie hurriedly switched to the washed hand, then closed his eyes and turned his face away. He didn''t even dare to look at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao grasped his hand, opened her mouth, and made a bite.


    "Er¡­ roar¡­" As same as the level-three zombie, the level-four burst in a loud roar. Meanwhile, he also released a cloud of cold mist. With that, the surrounding air temperature immediately dropped by twenty degrees.


    The zombie had ice power, and his superpower erupted as he was bitten.


    Lin Qiao made two steps backward, then raised a hand toward the zombie and crooked her fingers. Soon, she dispersed the cold mist before it turned into ice blocks.


    "Roarrr¡­" The ice-powered zombie didn''t even notice his exploding superpower. He bent his knees in pain and knelt on the ground, then pressed both hands on his chest and started twitching.


    Lin Qiao suppressed his superpower, then watched him kneel to the ground before rolling like the level-three zombie.


    Half an hour later, the ice-powered zombie stopped moving. Soon, he opened his eyes and stood up.


    Lin Qiao handed him a piece of meat and said, "Eat it!"


    The ice-powered zombie had watched what just happened to the level-three zombie, but he was still confused. However, he automatically followed Lin Qiao''s words.


    After making the first bite of the roe deer meat, the zombie paused slightly. Then, he wore a surprised and puzzled look, like a child who had unexpectedly found some delicious snacks.


    Lin Qiao turned and looked at the level-five female zombie, then told her to come over.


    Seeing that the two who were bitten by their boss didn''t seem to be harmed, the female zombie was slightly relieved. She was still scared, yet she was aware that she wouldn''t die at the very least.


    ''As long as I don''t need to die!'' The female zombie thought, clearly less frightened than the last two zombies. She obediently walked to Lin Qiao and reached her washed hand even before the latter asked.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then opened her mouth and made the bite. Soon, she relaxed her bite and stepped backward.


    After that, the female zombie burst in screams. As a raging fire rose from the zombie''s body, she raised a hand to suppress the zombie''s superpower.


    All three zombies had been bitten by Lin Qiao. Suddenly, she felt as if she was doing some vampire ritual, which made the three zombies different from normal zombies.


    Before long, the female zombie woke up. Lin Qiao handed her the meat and watched her eat it quickly. After that, she turned and walked into the house. She went over to the kitchen and fetched a cup of water.


    She needed to rinse her mouth! She had bitten four zombies and one human being today! She understood that no bacterial infection could happen, but she still felt very weird.


    When she came back, she saw that the three zombies were still standing there, their eyes fixed on the tray in Lu Tianyi''s hands. There was no meat left in the tray though.


    They seemed to still be hungry. Lin Qiao knew that the meat she gave them had aroused their hunger. So, she turned and said to Lu Tianyi, "Give them half of the roe deer."


    Lu Tianyi promptly turned to do what she said.


    Lin Qiao turned around, then looked at the three zombies and said to them, "You are different from the others now, so I''ll give you names. I can''t name you with numbers like how I named those back in the base. Let me think¡­"


    She looked at the level-five female zombie, then at the two male ones, thinking about what names she should give them.


    "What names do you prefer?" She thought for a moment, then found that she was too lazy to come up with three new names. So, she just asked the three zombies.


    The original virus inside their bodies had been replaced by the virus from her. However, Lin Qiao knew that she had only changed their bodies, but didn''t allow them to restore their memories or remember anything from their human lives.


    However, they could now understand her words better than before.


    "Roar?" The level-three zombie looked at Lin Qiao confusedly.


    Lin Qiao nodded, "Song? Alright, I''ll call you Song. One day, you might restore your memory and remember your real name."


    She walked to the level-four zombie, then looked at him and asked, "What about you?"


    The level-four zombie thought for a moment, then uttered a roar, "Roar¡­"


    "Zhong?" Lin Qiao looked at him with a weird expression.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie corrected her with discontentment.


    "Em¡­ Cong?" Lin Qiao''s expression became even weirder.


    "Roar¡­" The level-four zombie started losing patience. That was not the word he had said.


    "Em¡­ Chong, right? Alright, I get it, Chong," Lin Qiao nodded. Hearing her, the level-four ice-powered zombie nodded as well.


    Then, Lin Qiao walked to the level-five, female zombie and asked her, "What''s your name?"


    The fire-powered, female zombie looked at Lin Qiao and hesitated briefly, then let out a gentle roar, "Roar¡­ roar¡­"


    "Jingyan? Em, great name! Alright, remember your names. When I call your names, you need to respond or I''ll kick your asses," Lin Qiao clapped her hands as the three zombies all had gotten their names. She then looked at the others and saw that Lin Kui and Xie Dong were still watching aside.


    Abruptly, she stared at Xie Dong and asked, "Do you want to have some meat?"


    Xie Dong paused for a second, then figured out what she meant.


    "As you just saw, my virus changed their body condition. Based on what happened to the first zombie that I bit, my virus won''t bring any bad effects. You can''t always live on my lake water, can you? I bet you desperately want some flavor in your mouth, right? Didn''t you see how much he enjoyed the meat?"


    While speaking, she pointed at Lu Tianyi who was coming out of the house with a large tray of meat.


    Xie Dong didn''t know how to respond. He wanted very much to admit that he did want some flavor in his mouth. Looking at the three zombies who now had names, he spent a few seconds thinking and then nodded.


    They seriously enjoyed the meat just now. Was the meat really so good?

 661 The Result of the Tes

    Lin Qiao looked at him and thought for a moment, then said, "I can''t always bite these zombies. If only I can send my virus into their bodies in a different way."


    She crossed her arms before her chest and raised a hand to rub her chin, then spread her fingers before her eyes.


    Puff! Her sharp nails popped out.


    She carried the virus. So, she supposed that she did not have to use her teeth. She really needed to figure out another way!


    She thought for a moment, then turned and walked behind the house. Meanwhile, she said to Xie Dong, "Xie Dong, get me a few cups and a bottle of water."


    When Xie Dong walked behind the house with six empty glasses and a bottle of water, he saw that Lin Qiao had caught a zombie in a small space, her fingernails sunk deeply into the zombie''s skin.


    As Xie Dong went there, Lin Qiao relaxed her grip and watched the zombie stiffly fall to the ground. The other zombies shrank to the edge of the small building, as if they were hiding from some kind of disease. Clearly, they didn''t want to get close to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao took a few steps backward and quietly observed the zombie on the ground.


    After a couple of minutes, the zombie was still lying on the ground, not seeming to be in pain like the last few zombies had been through.


    ''Is he dead?''


    Lin Qiao squatted, observing the zombie with confusion. However, she found that the zombie didn''t die. Instead, the virus inside his body had been devoured by the virus from her, but the process happened way more slowly than what happened to those zombies who were bitten by her.


    Her virus invaded the bodies of those zombies very quickly, but for this zombie, the spread speed of the virus was much slower. Therefore, it only made the zombie freeze and lie on the ground stiffly.


    It seemed that the effects wouldn''t be shown quickly. So now, she needed to try the second method.


    She stood up and turned, taking over a glass from Xie Dong''s hands. Then, she raised the other hand and made a fist. Her fingernails didn''t shrink, but sank into her palm. With that, tick and black blood flowed out of her plam and dripped into the glass.


    "Roar!" The moment she shed blood, the zombies around all burst in roars alarmedly. They even tried to bury themselves into the edge of the small space.


    Xie Dong froze as well. He clenched his teeth, and couldn''t help but make a few steps backward.


    Lin Qiao looked around, then turned to Xie Dong and sighed, "Just wait for me outside."


    Xie Dong nodded. He thought for a second, then brought the other glasses and the bottle of water into the small space under the strong pressure, putting them behind Lin Qiao. Only after that did he turn and leave quickly.


    Not to mention the zombies in the small space where Lin Qiao was in, even the zombies in the other two small spaces and those before the house had all sensed that the dangerous vibe from Lin Qiao was spreading aggressively and growing stronger.


    What had been spreading together with that vibe was a faint aroma which was similar to the aroma of human flesh, except softer and lighter.


    Lu Tianyi and Lin Kui didn''t know what was happening. As Xie Dong ran back to the house in a flurry, they both looked at him curiously.


    Lin Kui didn''t feel as stressed as the zombie zombies did, yet he was afraid of that vibe, and was also very curious about it.


    What was that female zombie doing back there?


    After a short while of bloodshed, the wound on her palm stopped bleeding.


    She glanced at the glass in her hand. The glass was only filled by twenty percent, but that small amount of blood already frightened those level-three zombies in the small space so much that they didn''t even dare to move.


    Lin Qiao poured the blood into the other glasses, then filled those glasses with water and diluted her blood at the ratio of ninety-five to five.


    The water and her blood mixed together into a light-brown liquid.


    After her blood was diluted, the zombies in the small space finally calmed down a little. Meanwhile, the aroma from her blood faded.


    "Come here," Lin Qiao picked up a glass of diluted blood and waved at a female zombie who was the nearest to her.


    "Roar¡­" The female zombie gave a roar with fear, yet didn''t dare to make a step toward Lin Qiao.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I said come here! Aren''t you gonna follow my words?" Lin Qiao wore a cold face.


    "Roar¡­" The female zombie immediately roared weakly and walked toward Lin Qiao. She didn''t want to, but had no choice.


    As she came closer, Lin Qiao handed her the glass of diluted blood and said, "Drink it."


    The zombie took over the glass, her hand shaking slightly. She looked at the glass as if it was containing something horrible. However, she didn''t dare to disobey Lin Qiao. So, she froze with hesitation.


    Lin Qiao didn''t hasten her, but stood there and waited for her to drink it.


    She knew that her blood could affect the other zombies largely. However, she was speechless when she found that they were so scared of her blood.


    Her blood seemed to be even scarier than herself.


    At last, the female zombie closed her eyes and poured all the diluted blood in the glass into her mouth. It looked much like what a human would do. She gulped the diluted blood in just one breath.


    After that, Lin Qiao reached out a hand and took the glass back, then looked at the female zombie and waited for her to react.


    The female zombie drank the diluted blood, then covered her throat with both hands and staggered a few steps backward.


    "Go over there," Lin Qiao pointed at the space''s edge.


    The zombie shambled to that area with a painful face, then bent her knees and sat on the ground.


    "Eh-hem¡­ Eh¡­" Sitting on the ground, the zombie squeezed her throat and let out a series of strange sound. Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes. With those special eyes of hers, she saw that the zombie''s body was changing, from her esophagus to her stomach.


    Her blood which was diluted with the lake water delivered better effects than the virus from her teeth and nails, and the waiting time was shorter.


    "Roarrrr¡­" Soon, the zombie started rolling on the ground. Seeing that, the other zombies were so frightened that they all moved to the other side. Meanwhile, the zombie whose skin was broken by her nails was still lying straight on the ground.


    Different methods delivered different effects.


    "Roarrrr¡­" The female zombie was clearly in a great pain as he screams grew shriller and shriller.


    Lin Qiao watched her. In just a couple of minutes, the zombie stopped moving, then woke up not long afterward.


    Lin Qiao then ordered another two zombies to come up and made them each drink a glass of diluted blood. The results turned out to be the same.


    At last, she got to a conclusion: she was able to replace all the original zombie virus in the bodies of the other zombies by biting then, scratching them, or making them drink her diluted blood.


    Her virus would quickly spread and reproduce in their bodies to maintain their body functions and provide them with energy.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief. That was exactly the result she wanted.

 662 The Most Efficient Way

    The most efficient way was y using her blood. However, she hadn''t figured out the best dilution ratio of her blood. She felt that she had used an excessive amount of her blood just now.


    That was her blood after all! She couldn''t waste it!


    After naming the three zombies, Lin Qiao poured the remaining diluted blood into the bottle to store it.


    As she collected all the glasses and brought them back to the house, she saw that Lu Tianyi had found a table for Jingyan and the other two zombies to sit around and eat!


    They were having a meal! Their food was raw meat, but they were actually eating on a table like humans.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come over, the three zombies instinctively dropped the meat in their hands and stood up, looking at her cravenly.


    "Carry on," Lin Qiao said with a faint smile, then placed the glasses in her hands on the table. After that, she picked up a glass and poured half a glass of diluted blood, then said to Xie Dong, "Come on and drink it."


    Xie Dong walked over and took over the glass. He knew that the blood was diluted. Maybe because it was diluted, or because he was at a relatively higher level, he didn''t have a strong fear toward the diluted blood, and only felt an inexplicable repulsion.


    "Drink it and see if it''ll work," Lin Qiao said to him.


    Xie Dong endured that repulsion as he expressionlessly raised the cup and drank the diluted blood. After that, he heavily put the glass back onto the table, generating a loud bang.


    Next, he knitted his brows and covered his throat with the other hand.


    Seeing that the half glass of diluted blood was effective for Xie Dong, Lin Qiao started thinking about how she should distribute her blood to more zombies.


    Her zombie army was growing larger and larger. In order to enable her zombie soldiers to feed on animals and divert their desire for human flesh, she needed to replace the virus inside them with her own virus.


    Another benefit of that was she would be able to control them more easily.


    She found that between her and all the zombies who were infected by her virus was a subordinative connection. That connection allowed her to control them more easily.


    She could also sense those zombies more clearly.


    Xie Dong bent over with pain. He realized that he was still near Lin Qiao and the table, so he endured the pain and made a few steps away, then finally fell to the ground.


    "Em¡­" He clenched his teeth but didn''t roar out loud like the other zombies. However, judging by the bulged veins on his forehead, one could easily imagine how much pain he was suffering.


    Maybe because he as at a higher level than the three zombies in the small space or because he only drank half a glass of the diluted blood, it took a longer time for him to complete the transformation.


    Half an hour later, he finally, slowly stopped twitching.


    As Lin Qiao was observing his reaction, Pesticide abruptly stuck his head out from behind a corner of the house. He was getting curious again.


    "Come here," Lin Qiao waved at him.


    "Eh¡­" Pesticide gave a start. Seeing Lin Qiao wave at him, he immediately had a bad feeling.


    "Drink it," Lin Qiao poured half a glass of diluted blood and handed it to him.


    "Roar¡­" Pesticide was on alert. He looked at Xie Dong, then at the three zombies who were sitting around the table and eating meat. At last, he bowed under the strong pressure from Lin Qiao and moved toward her.


    He reluctantly took over the glass of diluted blood from Lin Qiao''s hand. However, he didn''t hesitate, but closed his eyes and quickly poured the diluted blood into his throat.


    As same as Xie Dong, he then fell right to the ground. But, he didn''t grit his teeth to keep himself from screaming out loud as Xie Dong did.


    "O¡­ Roarrrrrr¡­" His scream brought a headache to all the zombies on the scene. They felt as if someone had just hammered their heads violently. The dull pain even made them shiver.


    "Eh¡­" Lin Qiao gave a start. Suffering the headache, she hurriedly raised an arm and suppressed the explosion of Pesticide''s power with the power of the space.


    She almost forgot that he was a spirit-powered zombie!


    Xie Dong was struggling up from the ground. However, suffering the wave of spirit power, his legs went limp again, and he almost fell back to the ground.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao suppressed Pesticide''s erupting spirit power timely. The spirit power didn''t bring a strong effect to Lin Qiao and Lin Kui who were both at level-seven, and only gave them a slight headache. However, all the zombies at or under level-five felt as if they had taken a heavy bash on the heads.


    ¡­


    At that time in Upper City District in Hangzhou, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the others had raised their vigilance to the highest level, as if they were facing a powerful enemy. They summoned all their people back to the hotel and focused all forces to defend themselves.


    "Do we have a chance to win?" Yuan Tianxing was wearing a sullen look, yet didn''t seem to be panicking.


    "We might be facing at least ten level-six zombies and five level-seven ones. And this other one, we could not sense its level. However, we felt a great danger. If I''m right, that is the legendary level-eight zombie you human bases have been talking about." Yun Meng said seriously with a frown.


    "I never thought that they''d discover us! I thought we''d escape this!" Qiu Lili was with a big frown as well. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    They sensed the danger not long ago. Back then, they thought that those powerful zombies would go straight to Sea City Base. But unexpectedly, they paused on the way and turned around, moving toward Upper City District.


    By the time Qiu Lili and Yun Meng could react, there was already no chance to run. They were surrounded.


    The zombies which were guarding the new base, serving as a fence wall under Lin Qiao''s command, had all changed sides. They moved closer to the base and surrounded the people in it.


    Not even Qiu Lili and Yun Meng could command them.


    Hearing Yun Meng''s words, Yuan Tianxing paused briefly, then had his face darkening.


    Level-eight zombie! Qiu Lili and Yun Meng said so, and they must be right!


    A level-eight zombie had never shown up during the past five years. And now, one had emerged, coming straight for the weakest human base.


    Level-seven zombies were already extremely terrifying. And now, a level-eight one had shown up. No one had seen what a level-eight zombie could do. Were they going to witness a level-eight zombie''s power with their own eyes?


    "Huaxia Base is over a thousand miles away from here. Can you make it?" Lin Feng stood beside Yuan Tianxing, Qiu Lili, and Yun Meng, looking worried.


    "Lili can be there in less than five hours with her full speed," Yun Meng glanced at Qiu Lili and said.


    "No! If I leave, our defense will grow weaker. I promised Qiaoqiao that I''ll guard this place! You''d have a greater chance of losing if I leave!" Qiu Lili shook her head quickly.


    "I know. So, we''ll send someone else," Yuan Tianxing sighed.


    Through discussion, they sent a wind-powered zombie. The zombie sneaked out of the new base and headed toward Huaxia Base at its full speed.


    That zombie was only at level-four. However, compared with the other zombies, it was way faster.

 663 Under Siege

    "They''re not taking an action right now. What do they want?" Lin Feng stood on the roof, looking into the distance. They were under siege now. However, the enemies didn''t seem to launch an attack. No one could tell what plans the enemies had.


    The quieter the enemies were, the more worried they became.


    Not far away from the zombie wall of All Beings Base, a few figures were standing on top of the building. A tall and slim male zombie was standing on the edge of the roof. He was about six feet and three inches tall, and had a pretty, chiseled face. His slender eyes were narrowed, face bluish pale. Under his straight nose was a pair of light-purple lips. His skin wasn''t dry, and looked like the skin of a healthy person, without any luster through.


    A complicated, dark-purple net of veins was seen on the left side of his neck, extending to his left cheeks and looking like the root of a tree.


    Those blood veins made that pretty and cold male zombie look evil and spooky.


    His narrowed dark eyes were glowing with a purple light of lightning.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    That was the zombie emperor which Yun Meng had mentioned before, a level-eight, lightning-powered zombie. Standing behind the zombie emperor was a female zombie leader and two male zombie dominators.


    At that moment, two figures leaped up from the roof of a shorter building, each carrying two living human beings.


    Those were two zombie kings. They threw the four fainted people to the zombie emperor, then stepped back.


    The zombie emperor turned around and walked to the four people, looking at them. After that, he squatted beside a relatively younger man and reached out a hand. His hand was clean, but his fingernails were long and sharp.


    Puff! He spread his fingers and abruptly sank his nails into that man''s heart.


    "Em¡­" The young man was woken up by the pain. He saw nothing but the dark sky, and felt nothing but the tearing pain from his chest. Then, he lost his eyesight and fell into unconsciousness.


    Puff! Following the second slight noise, the zombie emperor pulled his hand out of the man''s heart, holding a warm heart.


    He put the heart under his nose and sniffed at it, then stood up with satisfaction. He turned and faced All Beings Base while putting the bloody heart into his mouth.


    He opened his mouth wide and made a bite. With that one bite, he ate one-third of the heart. Blood flowed out of his mouth corners, yet he didn''t mind as he kept chewing.


    He soon finished the fresh heart, then turned back and dug out another heart before standing to eat it.


    As he finished all four hearts, the female zombie nearby handed him a clean handkerchief.


    The zombie emperor took over the handkerchief and first wiped his mouth corners before wiping his hand which was covered in blood. After that, he handed the handkerchief back to the female zombie.


    His movements were so smooth that he looked even like a well-educated, posh man. After cleaning himself, he turned and clapped his hands.


    Next, the female zombie and the four level-seven zombies behind him split the four fresh human bodies and ate them in an orderly way.


    With close observation, one would find that the level-five female zombie was actually pretty. Despite the dark circles under her eyes, her face was delicate, and body shape was good. Her body remained nearly undamaged.


    She was wearing a clean black dress, which made her half-invisible in the darkness of night.


    As the zombie emperor ate the hearts of the four people, Yuan Tianxing and the other leaders of All Beings Base received the news about four people going missing.


    "That is the third batch of people! They must have caught them sneakily!" Lin Feng clenched his teeth. His face even paled with anger.


    "I''ve sensed the scent of blood from that way. I guess those people have already been eaten," Yun Meng twitched her nose and said.


    "Those people secretly left their spots, then never came back," said the soldier who came to report.


    "Didn''t I order them not to leave! Why didn''t they listen?" said Yuan Tianxing coldly.


    "They were¡­ they were from Sea City Base, so they barely followed our rules," said the soldier.


    The people in All Being Base had been kept in the hotel for a whole day. To avoid causing panic or a riot, Yuan Tianxing and the other base leaders hadn''t explained the whole thing to the people in details, and only told them not to leave the hotel.


    However, some of those people who didn''t know what was happening refused to follow the orders.


    "Keep a close eye on them!" said Yuan Tianxing loudly.


    "Yes, sir!"


    "They avoided our detections when making an action!" Yun Meng crossed her arms before her chest and frowned.


    "Could it be him?" said Qiu Lili.


    "No! He hasn''t been hiding his vibe. He''s staying over there, never moving," Yun Meng shook her head.


    "Has our place¡­ become his sheepfold? Is he keeping us deliberately? So, he can get a few people and eat them whenever he gets hungry?" Yuan Tianxing looked at the others and said uncertainly.


    The others looked at him, staying silent.


    Downstairs, Mrs. Lin, Lin Wenwen, Cheng Wangxue, Long Qingying, and the other girls were staying in the same room. They didn''t know what was going on either, but could clearly feel that everyone was nervous.


    The hotel building was surrounded by soldiers and superpowered people. Thousands of people had gathered in the hotel. People were making guesses without knowing what exactly was happening.


    Every now and then, some ran out of the hotel and never came back. As a result, the invisible panic soon spread among the people.


    When All Beings Base people became like a group of sheep which were surrounded by the wolf pack, Sea City Base received the news.


    "What''s going on? Aren''t they able to control those zombies? Why did those zombies change their sides?" Zou Shihui was confused.


    "That¡­ I don''t know. Reasonably speaking, there should be no problem with the zombie crowd. Even though Miss. Lu isn''t there, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng are," Xiao Yunlong frowned. He felt that what was happening to All Being Base was not normal.


    "Our intelligence squad has already lost three members. However, they failed to get closer to see what was going on. I''ll go there myself if it''s necessary," Kong Qingming stood beside Xiao Yunlong, his pretty face wearing a serious look.


    "I think this is not just a simple accident. We shouldn''t make any reckless move. Besides, they haven''t sent out anyone yet. If there''s really something serious, they should at least send us a message," Zou Shihui thought for a moment and then said.


    "Perhaps they can''t get out. Or, they''re somehow limited," said Xiao Yunlong.


    "That''s possible. Oh, have you prepared the supplies for the trade yet?" Zou Shihui suddenly changed the topic and said to Kong Qingming.


    "The supplies are almost ready. We''ll be ready to leave by tomorrow afternoon," Kong Qingming nodded and responded.


    After being injured severely, Kong Qingming returned to the base and recovered, breaking into level-six. Currently, he was already promoted to a Deputy Chief. He had filled Yan Fangyu''s place, and now had more work to do.

 664 The Missed Message

    Two days later, Lin Qiao came out of her space in the afternoon and found Li Zheng and his team members one after another by their scents, then brought them into her space.


    "Sky Fire Base, Hidden Cloud City Base, and Green Mountain Base have secretly bargained with Huaxia Base. The price was lowered by thirty percent," Li Zheng held a small notebook as he told everything to Lin Qiao while sorting the message recorded on it.


    Lin Qiao was sitting on a couch, elbows resting on her knees and fingers crossed to support her chin. She responded blandly, "And Huaxia Base said yes? I guess it''s because Lin Kui has run away."


    Li Zheng glanced at Lin Kui who was quietly leaning against the wall in a corner, then continued, "Sea City Base had bargained as well. However, Chief Wu only purchased a small amount of drug."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Which people have left already? Have you managed to find any information about Green Mountain Base?"


    "The people from Mongols Base and Heilong Base finished the trade and left this morning. Heilong Base purchased fifty doses of drug number three, and two-hundred doses of drug number two. Huaxia Base gave them some drug number one on the house," Li Zheng paused briefly and then carried on, "Mongols Base seemed to be short of supplies, so they didn''t purchase drug number three, and only purchased fifty doses of drug number two."


    Lin Qiao scratched her chin and asked, "How many doses have Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base get?"


    Li Zheng turned the page and read his note, then answered the question, "Hidden Cloud City Base got a hundred doses of drug number three and three-hundred doses of drug number two. Sky Fire Base got almost the same number of doses as Heilong Base."


    "I''m surprised that Huaxia Base people have made so many doses with your blood. Based on those numbers, they could have made a whole province zombie-free if they drained your blood and made it all into drugs," Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Kui and said.


    Lin Kui had his arms crossed before his chest. Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, he glanced at her while his eyes glowed dimly.


    The current drugs were only effective on the zombies at or under level-three, but could barely affect the zombies above level-three. If Huaxia Base people kept studying Lin Kui''s blood and tried to develop better drugs, they might be able to achieve a considerable result.


    "When will Hidden Cloud City Base people leave?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Tonight," Li Zheng responded. He paused briefly to think and then continued, "There is a level-eight man among them. Will our chance of winning be very low?"


    Lin Qiao smiled, "Didn''t you see those people under his command? None of his subordinates is above level-six. So, we don''t need to worry. Even if I can''t kill Lu Zhuofeng, I can at least suppress him. Besides, we are not too weak."


    Lin Qiao looked at Lin Kui while speaking. There was another level-seven zombie on her side. She didn''t need to worry about Lu Zhuofeng at all.


    She didn''t plan to let him go back home safely.


    Li Zheng didn''t say anything else.


    ¡­


    In Huaxia Base, Lan Lu was in his room, looking at a dose of drug.


    "Do you think this drug contains anything that can make human beings immune to the zombie virus?" He asked.


    "You can study it and find out," Lei Cheng said.


    "I''m not asking you," Lan Lu gave him a sideways glance.


    ''Don''t say it then,'' Lei Cheng complained silently.


    "We don''t have a lot of them. Don''t waste any!" He glared at Lan Lu and said.


    He tended to be like a machine every time he started studying something. He would forget about the amount of materials that he had and the time. Every single time, he would stop and turn back normal only when he ran out of materials.


    "Didn''t we trade for some more with those hostages? I think we have a lot of them," Lan Lu glanced at him confusedly.


    "Once you start studying, you''ll become wasteful," Lei Cheng glanced at him expressionlessly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The drug that they purchased this time was, of course, not for killing zombies. Instead, it was for study.


    "When we get back, we need to figure out a way to upgrade Daba. He''s been stuck at level-six the whole time. He can''t stay like that. But, it''s difficult for spirit-powered zombies to upgrade!" Lan Lu was already talking about another thing.


    They had a few level-six zombies in their base, but all of them were stuck at that level. On one hand, they couldn''t find level-six zombie nuclei, and on the other hand, those zombies were only able to absorb the zombie nuclei with different powers at a very low rate. They hadn''t figured out the reason yet.


    They had tried many times, but never managed to upgrade any of those zombies to level-six.


    "Even spirit-powered people are rare, not to mention spirit-powered zombies. But, there are so many zombies in the world. We''ll find some sooner or later. However, level-six spirit-powered zombies can be really hard to find," said Lei Cheng.


    The chance for a zombie to trigger spirit power was very, very low. Most of the zombies weren''t intelligent. Only one in ten-thousand of them could become smart, not to mention possessing spirit power.


    "High-leveled, smart zombies are very sneaky. It''s really hard to find them," Lan Lu nodded and said.


    The smarter a zombie was, the more sensitive it could be to dangers. So, it would hide very well. To find it, one needed to spend a great effort.


    At that moment, someone abruptly knocked on the door. Zheng Hao came in and closed the door, then walked to the others while holding a piece of paper.


    "Something happened," he said.


    Both Lan Lu and Lei Cheng turned to look at him and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    "Some powerful beings seem to have shown up in South China. I think the new base and Sea City Base are going to suffer. Look!" While speaking, Zheng Hao handed the paper to the two.


    "Has Wu Chengyue known about this yet?" After reading the message, Lan Lu wore a serious look.


    "He has, of course. The message was delivered by his people, along with his supplies. He has left the base with his people," Zheng Hao nodded.


    At that point, Wu Chengyue had sent Xiao Licheng and the others back to Sea City Base. Many people saw them leave. However, he himself stayed in Huaxia Base, waiting.


    Li Zheng stopped collecting information when people finished their deals with Huaxia Base. Therefore, he didn''t receive the new, secret message from Sea City Base¡ªAll Being Base had been surrounded.


    The message was delivered right when Lin Qiao brought Li Zheng and his people back into her base. When she was listening to Li Zheng''s report, Wu Chengyue was already waiting for her outside.


    Xiao Licheng and the others were stopped by a zombie not long after they left Huaxia Base.


    That was a level-four, wind-powered zombie. It quietly stood on the middle of the way without making any moves.


    "There''s a zombie before us," Xiao Licheng looked at the zombie which was at about ten meters away and found that it looked a little familiar.


    It was because of the zombie''s clothes. The zombie was wearing a clean camouflage suit. He often saw zombies in that kind of suits in the new base in Upper City Base.

 665 Hes Here to Deliver the Message

    "Don''t attack!" Xiao Licheng leaped off the car and carefully walked toward the zombie, who was standing there motionlessly.


    "Captain!" Xiao Licheng''s subordinate called him with concern.


    "It''s okay, don''t worry!" Xiao Licheng raised a hand and waved. He stopped three meters away from the zombie and looked at it quietly.


    Xiao Licheng had no idea if the zombie was able to understand human language because he wasn''t one of those zombies who followed Miss. Lu around often.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie roared at Xiao Licheng.


    Xiao Licheng was confused. He didn''t speak zombie language!


    As Xiao Licheng made no reaction, the wind-powered zombie roared again, "Roar¡­"


    He wanted to get into the base! He knew that he couldn''t! The base was way too dangerous for him! However, if he couldn''t get it, he wouldn''t be able to deliver the message to Zombie Sister, and wouldn''t be able to accomplish his mission!


    He had already waited for a whole day near the base. However, he never sensed the vibe that belonged to his boss.


    As Xiao Licheng and his people came out of the base, the zombie sensed their familiar scents. They had been to his territory before, so the zombie figured that they might be able to help.


    So, he stopped them.


    He wanted the food¡­ no, those humans to bring him into the dangerous base. However, he had no way of communicating with those people. The man before him seemed to fail to understand what he said, and he couldn''t understand his words either!


    "Um¡­ You''re from the new base in Upper City Base, aren''t you? Are you here for your Chief?" Xiao Licheng tried to ask the zombie some questions.


    The zombie looked at him bewilderedly.


    Level-four zombies were mostly as smart as eight-year-old human children. The wind-powered zombie confusedly looked at Xiao Licheng, as he couldn''t understand what he said.


    ¡­


    In Huaxia Base, Wu Chengyue spent about an hour waiting. However, Lin Qiao never showed up. He wasn''t surprised; he knew that finding Lin Qiao would not be easy. She had always been traceless. She could find anyone she wanted, but it was never easy for the others to find her.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then decided not to keep waiting, as he was worried that he might waste too much time. At last, he left Huaxia Base and soon found that Xiao Licheng and the others were stopped by someone.


    "What''s going on?" Wu Chengyue abruptly landed by Moli''s side, looking at Xiao Licheng and the zombie.


    "Oh, we think the zombie is from the new base in Upper City Base. We don''t know why he stopped us. Xiao Licheng is trying to communicate with him," said Moli expressionlessly.


    "That''s not one of those under Miss. Lu''s direct command. Can those two communicate?" Wu Chengyue looked at the zombie and asked.


    Xiao Licheng and the zombie didn''t understand a word that each other said. The zombie''s confused look perfectly explained his situation.


    Moli was right though. The zombie was probably there to deliver a message to Lin Qiao.


    Why did he stop them then?


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then turned back and glanced at Huaxia Base.


    "Does he want to get in? He doesn''t dare to try to enter the base, does it?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "How do you know?" Moli tilted her head and looked at him.


    "Isn''t he here to deliver a message? The message is certainly for Miss. Lu. I guess she''s still hiding in the base, so this zombie wants to get in. However, this one is only at level-four, so it''s impossible for him to sneak into Huaxia Base," said Wu Chengyue.


    Moli looked at the zombie and said curiously, "So, he came to us¡­ He isn''t trying to ask us for help, is he?"


    "That is possible!" Wu Chengyue nodded and said.


    As Wu Chengyue showed up, the wind-powered zombie became vigilant. He wasn''t worrying that the former might hurt him. Instead, the extra strong vibe from Wu Chengyue made him instinctively raise his vigilance.


    Suddenly, the zombie came up with an idea. Wu Chengyue was super strong, and often visited his territory. So, since he couldn''t find his boss, why didn''t he ask him for help?


    With that thought, the zombie abruptly lowered his head and searched through his pockets, then took out a piece of paper.


    He, of course, didn''t dare to approach Wu Chengyue. However, he was able to approach Xiao Licheng, who was right before him.


    "What on earth do you want? You¡­" Xiao Licheng was thinking about how to make the zombie move away so he and his people could keep going. But then, he saw the zombie rummage through his pockets and find a piece of paper.


    Holding the paper, the zombie carefully walked toward Xiao Licheng.


    Xiao Licheng looked at him. The zombie didn''t seem to have the intention of attacking. Besides, he was holding a piece of paper. ''Is it for me?'' Xiao Licheng wondered.


    He didn''t move, but watched the level-four zombie come closer, and then hand him the paper.


    He took over the paper and spread it to read the note on it. Next, he had his expression changed. Quickly, he turned and walked to Wu Chengyue.


    "Look."


    Wu Chengyue took over the piece of paper and read the note¡ª''A zombie emperor is sieging the base. Come back ASAP.''


    "A level-eight zombie!" Wu Chengyue wore a serious look. Then, he raised his head and said, "Get into the car. We''ll head back at our full speed!"


    Xiao Licheng pointed at the zombie and asked, "What about him?"


    Wu Chengyue prepared to say something. But, the zombie abruptly hopped onto a nearby building and then disappeared.


    "He left." Wu Chengyue turned and got into the car.


    "But¡­ I don''t think Miss. Lu has gotten the message," said Xiao Licheng with hesitation.


    "There is no time for that. Not even I can find a trace of hers. There''s no way for us to deliver the message to her. I''ll go back to deal with the zombie emperor. I''d like to know exactly how powerful a level-eight zombie can be."


    Wu Chengyue looked serious, but his eyes glowed with a trace of excitement.


    Xiao Licheng didn''t say anything else, but got into the car. He soon started the car and drove it forward.


    At that time, Lin Feng and the others seemed to be depressed in the All Beings Base.


    "What on earth does he want?" said Lin Feng with a frown.


    The zombie emperor had trapped them in the hotel, disabling them from leaving. Anyone who tried to leave would suffer attacks. Every single day, a few people would disobey the order and sneak out of the hotel. Each time that happened, a strong scent of blood would be sensed from the outside.


    The zombie emperor never showed his face, and no one knew what his plan was.


    "We don''t know if Chief can get the message. I hope she gets it in time," Lin Feng sighed. Somehow, he felt that he and his people wouldn''t be able to survive this crisis.


    Even though they had already sent out a lower-level zombie, the zombie was only at level-four, and was not so smart. It was impossible for him to sneak into Huaxia Base, so he would have no choice but to wait outside the base for Lin Qiao to find him.


    If Lin Qiao never noticed him¡­


    They hadn''t figured out the zombie emperor''s plan yet, so they couldn''t tell how much time they had.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "We''ll fight as hard as we can if there''s no other way," Yun Meng''s eyes showed ferocity. She was aware that that was the last thing they could try. The chance of winning was way too low, so they could not act impulsively, unless they had no other choice.

 666 Zombie Emperor Comes Closer

    "They have five zombie dominators while we only have two. We don''t have powerful weapons either, only guns and bullets. The weapons we have can deliver some effects to level-three or four zombies, but for the ones at level-six or seven, they''re useless," said Yuan Tianxing.


    In other words, if the battle really started, the ten zombie kings and queens under that zombie emperor''s command would be able to destroy the thousands of people in the base, not to mention the fact that they also had five level-seven zombies and countless ordinary zombies.


    Lin Qiao left those ordinary zombies to protect the base, but unexpectedly, they now became a part of the threat.


    "I''ll go and talk to him! Let''s find out what exactly he wants!" Qiu Lili abruptly began talking. Her face wore a cold look, and her eyes sparkled with a red light.


    "No! What if he attacks you?" Yun Meng immediately objected.


    "Do not take the risk!" Yuan Tianxing shook his head as well. He understood that Qiu Lili was the strongest being in the base, but still, she wasn''t capable of winning against five zombie dominators and a zombie emperor.


    "Are we gonna stay here and wait for death then? Perhaps, he has a purpose. Maybe there''ll be a chance for the situation to change if I talk to him," Qiu Lili said with a frown.


    She understood that the more time they bought, the larger would be the chance for them to hang on until Lin Qiao returned. However, she couldn''t say for sure if the zombie emperor would launch an attack in the next second.


    They needed to figure out what the enemies wanted!


    "It''s too dangerous! If one of us has to go, it''ll be me!" Yun Meng dragged her arm and stood before her, looking at her in the eyes as she spoke.


    "I''ll be fine. Although I can''t defeat them, I''m better at escaping than you are!" Qiu Lili said to Yun Meng. She was stronger than Yun Meng. Also, as a wind power possessor, she could even escape from a zombie emperor if she ran at her highest speed.


    "No! We don''t know how powerful a zombie emperor can be. No one has ever met a zombie emperor. Even though you possess two types of power, you are still a level lower than him. We can''t take the risk!" Yuan Tianxing still nodded.


    "We can''t do this, can''t do that. What should we do then!" Qiu Lili pouted and complained grumpily.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "We wait! Let''s not make any decision until the enemies take their next move," said Yuan Tianxing.


    ¡­


    In the lobby of the hotel, the people gathered there were already getting very emotional.


    "Hong long are you gonna keep us in this place? It''s been nearly three days! Why don''t you tell us what is going on?" A person questioned Duan Juan and her people, who were guarding the door.


    "Quiet, do not leave the hotel.! The outside is very dangerous now. We can''t control the situation. If you do not follow our words, we won''t be able to protect you," said Duan Juan to the people loudly.


    "We don''t need protection! We are no weak people! We can fight! Otherwise, why did we follow you to this new base?" said one of the people around her.


    Those people were the ones who followed Lin Qiao and Duan Juan to the new base from the old Hades Base. Each one of them was strong-minded. Therefore, being grounded in the hotel made them nurse a grievance.


    "It''s okay if you want us to stay here, but at least give us a fair reason," another man said loudly.


    "Yes! Give us a reason! It''ll be okay even if you want us to go out and risk our lives to fight!"


    Seeing that those people were almost losing control of their emotions, Duan Juan thought for a moment, and then responded, "Alright, let me go upstairs and talk to Deputy Chief Yuan first. I''ll ask him to explain it to you. Please wait for a minute."


    After saying that, she walked across the lobby and went upstairs.


    Duan Juan went up to the roof and walked up behind Yuan Tianxing and the others, "The people down there are in rage. They are asking for a reason. What should we do?"


    Yuan Tianxing spent a moment thinking, then said to the others, "Maybe we should tell them the truth. It''ll be better than them making random guesses and running out."


    "I agree," Lin Feng nodded.


    Yun Meng and Qiu Lili weren''t a part of that kind of decisions, so neither of them made an objection.


    Yuan Tianxing turned and followed Duan Juan downstairs.


    But right at that moment, a strong, suppressive vibe descended from the sky.


    "Roar!" Qiu Lili and Yun Meng immediately switched to their fighting mode. They bared their teeth and faced a tall male zombie that had suddenly showed up on the roof.


    Yun Meng had scales covering all her skin as she wagged her long tail and lashed on the ground loudly.


    Seeing their reactions, Lin Feng instantly tightened his entire body and stared at the male zombie, as if he was a powerful enemy.


    The zombie had a pretty face. Except for his dark eyes, the most eye-catching thing on his face was those tree-roots-like veins on his left cheek. He was tall and slim. His clothes were as clean as those worn by the others on the roof. Even his black hair were perfectly brushed.


    Yun Meng and Qiu Lili both fixed their eyes on him. Even though he was alone, yet the sense of crisis given by him through the short distance even made them feel hard to breathe.


    That was the pressure that came from a zombie emperor!


    Earlier on, they only sensed him from a long distance, but now, they were face to face with him. That felt completely different.


    The zombie emperor curiously looked at Yun Meng and Qiu Lili.


    He had been observing them for three days. Now, he finally couldn''t help but come here to meet them in person.


    He moved her purple lips, then opened her mouth and uttered a deep yet slight sound¡ª"Roar¡­"


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng both became nervous. They stared at him and said, "So what! You look the same as us!"


    Hearing the two of them talk in one voice, the zombie emperor blinked.


    "Roar¡­" ''You can talk! Why?''


    Just now, he asked them if they remembered their human lives. They answered that question, and also guessed out that he was the same as them.


    Hearing the second question, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng stayed silent.


    The zombie emperor wasn''t anxious. Instead, he continued patiently, "Roar¡­" ''I won''t hurt you. Can you tell me how you did it?''


    The zombie emperor was going for Sea City Base. But on his way, he suddenly sensed that two zombie dominators were in the small base. Therefore, he came this way. His purpose was simple.


    He wanted to bring the two of them under his command!


    He came here to ask the two zombie dominators to join his army. Weirdly, he found that their vibes were mixed together with the vibes of many other zombies, and a group of human beings.


    Why? Why were zombies and human beings in the same place? Had those two zombies been attacking those humans?


    As he got closer, he realized that he was wrong.


    He was surprised when he found that the two zombie dominators were actually getting along with some other high-leveled zombies and some human beings peacefully. At that moment, his curiosity was aroused.


    What was going on in that place? Those zombies were not attacking the humans in that base. On the contrary, through a short observation, he found that those zombies had actually been protecting those human beings.


    There was the other reason why the zombie emperor never launched an attack. Apart from the two zombie dominators, he wanted to figure out another thing.

 667 You Two Come With Me

    The zombie emperor wanted to know about another thing¡ªanother vibe existed in this place, belonging to a powerful zombie dominator. It was strong indeed, yet its owner hadn''t reached the level of zombie emperors.


    The vibe was almost as strong as the vibe of a zombie emperor, but his sensations told him that its owner was only a zombie dominator?


    The only explanation was that it was a special zombie dominator.


    The vibe was very strong, yet could not bring the zombie emperor a sense of crisis, meaning that the owner of the vibe was still much weaker than him.


    The zombie emperor was very interested in the owner of the vibe. However, that powerful being seemed not to be there. Therefore, he waited for a few days, but the owner of the vibe never showed up.


    After three days of waiting, the zombie emperor lost his patience. So, he showed up on the roof. As the mysterious being wasn''t showing herself, he decided to do something to force her. So, he came to the roof, to overawe the two zombie dominators.


    They turned out to be two pretty girls. What surprised him more was that they were able to talk in human language!


    "Roar¡­" ''Aren''t you zombies? Why are you able to speak human language?''


    The zombie emperor looked at the two girls with great interest. His light-purple lips curved in a faint smile. However, his eyes which were glowing with a purple light, and the blood veins on his face, made him look rather wicked.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng stared at him silently. They surely wouldn''t tell him that it was Lin Qiao who enabled them to talk. The zombie emperor seemed to be very interested in the fact that they were able to talk, so they were worried that he might grow an evil intention toward Lin Qiao.


    Standing beside them, Lin Feng was aware that the powerful being before them should be the zombie emperor. Except for him, no one was able to make Qiu Lili and Yun Meng so nervous.


    However, he couldn''t understand what the zombie emperor said, neither could he understand what Qiu Lili and Yun Meng just said. He stood aside vigilantly and anxiously, without knowing what else to do.


    The zombie emperor restrained his vibe. Except for Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the others on the roof, the rest of the people in the hotel didn''t know that a great danger had already descended upon them.


    "Roar¡­" ''Never mind! It''s okay if you don''t want to tell me. My name is Mo Yan¡­ What are yours?"


    Zombie emperor uttered a series of deep roars, seeming to be having a conversation with Qiu Lili and Yun Meng. However, the other two wore repulsion on their faces.


    "We don''t want to tell you our names! Why did you trap us in here? What do you want?" Yun Meng asked coldly.


    The Zombie emperor blinked, then slowly walked toward Qiu Lili and the others. While walking, he gave another roar, "Roar¡­"


    ''My purpose¡­''


    As he walked over, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng automatically made two steps backward. Suddenly, Yun Meng grasped Qiu Lili''s hand, and then they finally stopped drawing back.


    "Roar¡­" ''You seem to care a lot about the humans in this place. Why?"


    The zombie emperor stopped moving as well and asked curiously. The distance between him and Qiu Lili and the others had already been shortened largely.


    Once he asked that question, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng immediately became even more strained, also raising their vigilance.


    "What do you want!" Qiu Lili staired straight at him.


    The zombie emperor smiled, then made a step backward. He didn''t say anything else, but quietly looked at the two of them. Then, he glanced at Lin Feng, then at the other zombie leaders who were guarding on the roof.


    Under his gaze, Lin Feng and those zombie leaders were all alarmed. They were so worried that the zombie emperor would launch an attack in the very next second.


    "Roar¡­" ''My purpose is simple. In fact, I only want you two to come with me. I won''t hurt the people in this place.''


    The zombie emperor turned back and gave the two of them a slight roar. He was still wearing a wicked smile.


    As long as Qiu Lili and Yun Meng agreed to follow him, he would have plenty of opportunities to figure out why they were able to speak human language.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng paused with surprise, then glanced at each other.


    "Do you want us to follow you? Do you want us to be your subordinates? But, you seem to be against human beings. You eat humans, don''t you?" said Yun Meng to the zombie emperor coldly.


    The two of them were no match for him, but it didn''t mean that they would yield. Based on the current situation, the zombie emperor who remembered his human life was threatening Qiu Lili and Yun Meng with the people in the hotel.


    "Are you saying that you won''t hurt the people in this building as long as we leave with you?" Qiu Lili frowned, but silently sighed with relief.


    The zombie emperor had a need, meaning that negotiation was possible! As long as they could negotiated, there would be hope for saving the lives of the people in the hotel.


    Yun Meng held Qiu Lili''s hand tighter. She seemed to have sensed the latter''s thoughts.


    In fact, both of them had already been seeing the base as their home. Lin Qiao was the head of the household. Now, Lin Qiao wasn''t there, and someone else came to ruin their home. They, of course, wouldn''t let that happen.


    "Wait! No!" Lin Feng suddenly stepped forward and spread an arm to shield Qiu Lili and Yun Meng. Based on what the two of them had said, he almost guessed out what was happening.


    Not to mention the fact that the zombie emperor seemed not to hate eating humans at all, the zombies under his command certainly ate humans. If Qiu Lili and Yun Meng followed him, they would become man-eating zombies, wouldn''t they?


    That could never happen!


    Compared with All Being Base, the zombie emperor was powerful indeed. However, there was no guarantee that he could survive the attacks from the other bases! If Huaxia Base ever attacked him, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the other relatively weaker zombies would surely be used as flesh shields.


    Lin Feng did not think that the zombie emperor would protect his subordinates.


    All man-eating zombies had lost their humanity. Lin Feng could tell that he still remembered his human life, but also understood that he no longer saw himself as a human being. Therefore, Lin Feng surely would not let Qiu Lili and Yun Meng leave with him and then become man-eating zombies. They were two nice girls after all.


    The zombie emperor turned to Lin Feng, his eyes showing an intention of killing. However, he didn''t do anything, but turned back to Qiu Lili and Yun Meng with a wicked smile.


    "Roar¡­" ''We are zombies, don''t forget about that. Zombies should eat humans, of course.! If we don''t eat humans, how can our stomachs be satisfied, and how can we sense the great taste of human flesh?"


    He gave a roar to Qiu Lili and Yun Meng.


    "We won''t go with you!" Yun Meng held Qiu Lili''s hand tightly. She was worried that the latter might give up fighting back because of the people downstairs.


    "Can you let us think about it?" Qiu Lili looked at him and said honestly.


    "Lili!" Before the zombie emperor responded, Yun Meng turned and glared at Qiu Lili.


    The zombie emperor blinked, then grinned. After that, he made a few steps backward, over to the roof edge.


    "Roar." ''Sure. You have three days.''


    Next, he leaped off the roof and disappeared within a blink. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 668 Intercept Lu Zhuofeng

    The zombie emperor left quickly, which surprised Qiu Lili and the others slightly.


    "He''s¡­ gone?" Yun Meng confusedly looked at where the zombie emperor was, then turned and asked Qiu Lili. The latter sighed with relief and said, "We have three days."


    Lin Feng wasn''t relieved but relaxed his tightened body.


    Mo Yan, the zombie emperor, returned to where his subordinates were. He promised Qiu Lili and Yun Meng three days, because he wanted the two girls to draw the mysterious zombie out.


    That was the zombie emperor''s plan. However, he never thought that he would attract another powerful being instead of that mysterious zombie.


    Three days¡­


    Wu Chengyue''s motorcade spent less than ten hours to return to Sea City Base at full speed. After that. Wu Chengyue led Xiao Licheng and a ten-man squad toward Upper City District. Meanwhile, Moli returned to Sea City Base with Ling Ling, the rest of the army, and the drug.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao missed the message from her base, so she followed Hidden Cloud City Base people out of Huaxia Base. They left through a different exit, so she didn''t meet the zombie who was there to deliver the message to her, even though there was only a short distance between the two of them.


    At nearly ten miles away from Huaxia Base, a black fire wall suddenly barred the road before Lu Zhuofeng''s car. A tall and slim figure stood on the middle of the road, and behind her was a five-meter-tall, black fire wall.


    "That is¡­" Zhou Chenghao widened his eyes slightly.


    "Who are you!" Lan Qijie got off the car and looked at the woman who was standing at about ten meters away as he yelled. Before his voice faded, a dark fire snake surged out of the fire wall behind the woman, flying at him within a blink of an eye.


    The dark fire snake widely opened its jaws and even grew out fangs. In the next moment, it transformed into a dark beam of light and flashed toward him.


    Lan Qijie automatically stepped backward. However, it was already too late for him to run. He made one step back, then turned his body to dodge. Meanwhile, his whole body turned metallic like a robot.


    On the other hand, Lu Zhuofeng reacted quickly as well. He raised an arm released a giant wind blade which avoided Lan Qijie and the fire snake, flying straight at the woman. However, the wind blade also stirred up a gust of wind that made the arm-thick fire snake suddenly expand.


    Lan Qijie drew back, but the fire snake didn''t give up on attacking him as it kept moving forward. Not even the huge wind blade that Lu Zhuofeng released managed to draw it away.


    Facing the wind blade, Lin Qiao simply waved a hand. Following her move, the fire wall behind her rose and swallowed her body.


    Puff! The wind blade cut into the black fire wall, but failed to do any harm to the fire wall. It disappeared as if it had fallen into the water.


    "It''s you!" Lu Zhuofeng stared at Lin Qiao and suddenly thought of something, then continued, "I get it. You''re the one who''s been causing trouble in Huaxia Base, aren''t you?"


    The zombie was stolen, and the show was ruined. Everyone could tell that someone was playing tricks. However, Huaxia Base didn''t seem to be able to fix those problems, and never found out who did it.


    The black fire shrank back, exposing Lin Qiao again.


    On the other side, Lan Qijie reached out both arms while moving backward. All the metal objects around him flew up into the sky and gathered toward him, as if his body was magnetic. Following a series of swishing noise, those metal objects gathered into a shield before him.


    Boom! The scary black fire snake bumped into the metal shield. It didn''t fade, but covered the shield and started spreading.


    Before long, the shield became another fire wall. The metal parts quickly disappeared within the dark fire.


    Lan Qijie used the short span of time to draw back to the motorcade and then gather more metal objects around him. At the same time, Lu Zhuofeng quickly moved backward as well. He knitted his thick eyebrows and fiercely gave an order to his subordinates. "


    "Prepare the rocket launcher!"


    "Prepare the rocket launcher!" Zhou Chenghao immediately gurned and gave a shout.


    Soon, a squad came out of the truck behind him, smoothly carrying out a series of rocket launchers.


    Lu Zhuofeng attacked Lin Qiao at the same time. Along with his move, a tornado descended toward her. A spinning gale was brought up around her, rolled the sands and the leaves all to the sky.


    Being affected by the wind, the fire wall grew higher and higher, spiraling along with the wind. The fire grew stronger and stronger, and anything that touched the fire was soon devoured.


    With a frown. Lu Zhuofeng stared at Lin Qiao alarmedly. His attack failed to hurt the enemy, but actually helped her.


    Who on earth was that woman? She did have the same power as Netherworld Fire did, but she couldn''t possibly be her!


    She didn''t look like Netherworld Fire. Her face and body shape were different. Only her power and vibe were like those of hers. Lu Zhuofeng would rather believe that she was someone else. After all, he had watched Netherworld Fire, Lin Qiao, detonate herself.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    How could anyone possibly survive the explosion of their energy nuclei!


    The rocket launcher squad formed a formation in the clearing before the motorcade, two men in each group. As long as Lu Zhuofeng gave the order, they would launch the rockets immediately.


    "Who are you? What do you want?" Lu Zhuofeng didn''t give the attack order, but coldly yelled at Lin Qiao.


    "That is not important. What is important that I don''t know if you''ll leave this place alive," Lin Qiao''s voice was heard from the other side. She was no longer under the tornado.


    Lu Zhuofeng immediately turned and saw her standing on top of the building on his left side, looking down at him coldly.


    He then glanced at the tornado. The sands and stones were flying in the sky. The tornado had turned black, mixing together with the fire. Everything that flew into the tornado disappeared within a blink.


    "You want my life? Hm, let''s see if you''re capable enough to take it!" Lu Zhuofeng snorted scornfully.


    She was powerful indeed, just like Netherworld Fire. He wasn''t able to defeat her. However, it was not an easy thing to kill him either.


    "You are humans. However, you didn''t point your weapons at the zombies, but hurt some other humans for their supplies. Now, this is your karma!" Lin Qiao''s cold voice was heard. Having finished speaking, she abruptly dove at him.


    Lu Zhuofeng tightened his scalp and burst in a shout.


    "Attack!"


    The rocket launchers before him were immediately turned to Lin Qiao.


    Bang! The rocket artilleries flew out of the launchers, flying at her swiftly. But right at that moment, she disappeared into thin air.


    Boom! The rocket artilleries lost their targets and landed on a building nearby. The five-story building was instantly blown up.

 669 The Same Kind Of Power

    Right at that moment, an enormous fire dragon suddenly pounced on the motorcade.


    Zhou Chenghao was paying attention to the surrounding area while watching his Chief fight. As the fire dragon suddenly attacked, he hurriedly raised an arm.


    A loud boom was heard after a shrill swishing noise. Before the fire dragon came down, the ground before the motorcade suddenly cracked and a thick wall swiftly rose to shield the people against the fire dragon.


    On the other side, Lan Qijie had no way of defeating the black fire snake. His metal power wasn''t able to destroy the dark fire snake. What he could do was keep gathering the surrounding metal objects to protect himself. However, his metal shield always ended up being devoured by the fire snake.


    Right after the fire dragon showed up, a huge fireball flew over from another direction. This time, there was no one to stop it.


    Boom! The fire ball landed on the truck which was in the middle of the motorcade. As a result, a few soldiers who didn''t manage to dodge were set on fire.


    "Ahhhhh!" The soldiers on fire rolled on the ground while screaming shrilly.


    From where the fire dragon and the fire ball came, two figures appeared¡ªone male and one female. They were both in camouflage suits. The female was wearing a pair of sunglasses and had neatly cut short hair, looking tall and slim.


    Xie Dong and Jingyan leaped down from the tops of two buildings which were located on different sides of the motorcade. Meanwhile, they released their fire power once again.


    Lu Zhuofeng turned and glanced at them. He figured that they were the woman''s subordinates. They were only at level-five, so he didn''t pay them too much attention.


    Then, he looked around alertly and found that the woman was gone.


    In that very moment, a group of figures showed up on the surrounding roofs and released all kinds of superpowers.


    "Fight back!" Zhou Chenghao suddenly burst in a resonant roar. Next, he reached out both arms. As he swung his arms, the surrounding buildings began shaking and falling apart. Following a series of thunderous noises, those buildings were soon torn down by Zhou Chenghao with his earth power, collapsing into piles of ruins.


    As the surrounding buildings were flattened, his vision instantly became much wider.


    When the buildings fell, the figures on the roofs flashed away.


    As Zhou Chenghao gave the attack order, the soldiers in the vehicles all raised their guns and fired. Meanwhile, some people jumped out of the cars and followed behind those figures who were drawing back from the roofs, launching attacks on them.


    At that point, the dark fire was trapped in the tornado. However, the tornado wasn''t able to stop the fire from expanding and slowly reaching the motorcade.


    The dark fire devoured everything it touched¡ªthe ground, the cars, the streetlights, the trees, the ruins of those collapsed buildings¡­ Everything was devoured by the dark fire, which was growing darker and darker, stronger and stronger.


    Zhou Chenghao took a glance at the fire which had expanded for hundreds of meters. Even though the tornado had slowed it down, the fire still gave the Hidden Cloud City people a great pressure.


    "Water and ice, prepare! Attack the netherworld fire!" Zhou Chenghao growled.


    Following his order, a couple of possessors of water or ice power jumped out of the cars and released their powers toward the netherworld fire.


    Immediately, the clouds in the sky descended and the wind became cold.


    Three level-five ice-powered people squatted simultaneously and pressed their palms on the ground. Along with a sizzling noise, the ground under their palms was frozen in no time, and the ice quickly expanded toward the dark fire. The air temperature dropped by over ten degrees, and the roaring wind became bone-piercing cold.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Raindrops started falling from the sky as the water-powered people gathered the rain. Before long, a series of water dragons danced in the sky, flying at the dark fire.


    The situation of Hidden Cloud City people seemed to be reversed.


    "Who the hell is she!" Zhou Chenghao showed up beside Lu Zhuofeng and asked while looking around vigilantly.


    "I don''t know! But this power¡­" Lu Zhuofeng knitted his dark and thick brows.


    "Could it really be her? Did she survive?" Zhou Chenghao looked at him uncertainly.


    "That''s impossible! Energy nuclei are located in our brains! When she detonated her energy nucleus, she had blown up her own brain. How could she possibly survive that?" Lu Zhuofeng glanced at him, then responded with a cold voice.


    "You''re right," Zhou Chenghao nodded. Looking at the dark fire before him, which was temporarily suppressed by the tornado, he asked another question, "Is this the¡­ same kind of power as she had?"


    "Probably. So many people have triggered the powers of metal, green, water, fire and earth. She couldn''t be the only one who has this special power," Lu Zhuofeng said.


    At that moment, a large group of zombies darted out of the ruins.


    "High-leveled zombies! A lot of them!" Lan Qijie had just sighed with relief as he finally managed to disperse the black fire snake. But suddenly, he saw a great number of level three or four zombies rush at him from all directions.


    Those zombies pounced on the motorcade and the people in that area, quickly and swiftly.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roarrr!"


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Zombie roars and endless gunshots were instantly heard from that area. However, those zombies were so nimble and fast that they dodged all the bullets.


    Within a blink, a few level-three zombies jumped on a soldier and inserted their claws into his skull and chest.


    Puff!


    "Ah!"


    Lu Zhuofeng turned and swung an arm, starting a hurricane. The hurricane blew at the group of zombies along with clouds of dust.


    The countless wind blades contained in the hurricane cut into those zombies'' bodies along with a series of puffing noise. Some zombies had their skins cut open, and some even had their limbs cut off.


    The moment Lu Zhuofeng turned, an invisible figure came up behind him, and an invisible hand was swung toward his back along with the dark fire.


    His fine hairs stood straight up in that very moment, as a strong sense of crisis made him jump forward and roll on the ground. After that, he raised his head to look at the spot that he was on, yet found that nothing was there.


    But suddenly, he saw a figure flash across the corners of his eyes. He hurriedly turned and leaped up as quickly as possible.


    He didn''t stop after leaping up, but turned his body in the air, then raised a hand to block the attack. After that, he took advantage of the counterforce that was generated by the strike and stepped back to create a safe distance between himself and the enemy.


    However, right when he moved backward, a stream of fire descended from the sky and shrouded him.


    He hurriedly raised a hand and released a small tornado. The tornado immediately broke the dark fire cover, and then he leaped up and floated high in the sky.


    On the ground, Lin Qiao raised her head as she narrowed her eyes and looked at him.

 670 How Powerful Can A Level Eight Being Be

    Lu Zhuofeng raised her eyes and looked at Lu Zhuofeng who was flying in the air. Then, she turned back and glanced at the dark fire which was suppressed by the ice and water power. After that, she suddenly reached out her hands.


    Following her movement, the dark fire immediately freed itself from the ice attack and those water dragons, even bringing out the black tornado.


    The black fire quickly gathered behind Lin Qiao. Meanwhile, she raised both arms and pointed at Lu Zhuofeng.


    At that very moment, the fire behind her became a black fire dragon, dashing at Lu Zhuofeng.


    "You think you''re safe in the sky?" Lin Qiao sneered and then disappeared.


    The black fire dragon grew larger while flying up into the sky. It widely opened its jaws, brandished its claws, and wagged its fire tail as it pounced on Lu Zhuofeng.


    Lu Zhuofeng didn''t dodge, but raised both arms and released a tornado toward the fire dragon. The tornado spiraled and grew huger and huger, rapidly blowing toward the fire dragon.


    Bang! The dark fire dragon and the tornado bumped together, shattering the fire dragon.


    However, the dark fire didn''t fade, but absorbed the power of the tornado and grew even stronger. Soon, it generated five black dragons, which charged at Lu Zhuofeng one after another.


    The entire sky was occupied by the black fire dragons and the roaring tornado.


    In that very moment, a figure quietly appeared behind Zhou Chenghao. Zhou Chenghao was guarding before the motorcade, providing his people with the strongest defense with his earth power.


    He glanced at the sky, then suddenly sensed a chill from his spine. He instantly turned around and stepped backward. Meanwhile, he raised his hands and built a wall before himself.


    Bang! The wall was destroyed violently. As the fall fell into pieces, a figure flashed out. It was so fast that Zhou Chenghao didn''t even see that creature''s face clearly.


    A shrilly swishing noise was suddenly heard from the side. Zhou Chenghao nimbly turned and dodged the attack. Then, he finally saw the enemy clearly: it was a man-shaped panther.


    The panther fixed his zombie-eyes right at him.


    Zhou Chenghao tightened his entire body.


    That zombie possessed animal power, and was also at level-seven!


    Before he could react, the zombie came at him once again and swung his sharp claws at him.


    At the same time, Lan Qijie was wielding both arms. He controlled all the metal objects around him to kill the zombies in the surrounding. But suddenly, two figures showed up near him, and then a huge fireball flew at him. He hurriedly gathered all the metal objects to shield himself against the fireball.


    The invisible Lin Qiao stared at Lu Zhuofeng who was still in the sky, her eyes containing a strong intention of killing. She waved both arms and sent the dark fire dragons to attack Lu Zhuofeng over and over again.


    The dark fire danced in the sky. Every time it charged at Lu Zhuofeng, the latter would blow it away or block it with his wind power.


    In the sky, Lin Qiao''s fire wasn''t weak. But still, she couldn''t get close to Lu Zhuofeng for the moment.


    She was aware that the latter hadn''t launched his masterstroke yet.


    She turned and glanced at Lin Kui who was fighting Zhou Chenghao, then at Xie Dong and Jingyan who were attacking Lan Qijie as a group. Then, she turned back to Lu Zhuofeng who was still floating in the sky and frowned slightly.


    ''Level-eight? Let''s see how powerful a level-eight wind-powered man can be!''


    The intention of fighting and killing was growing stronger in her heart. She reached out toward Lu Zhuofeng and spread her five fingers, then made a fist. Following her move, the five dark dragons in the sky suddenly dove at Lu Zhuofeng from five different directions.


    "Eh!"


    Lu Zhuofeng made a frown. Suddenly, he disappeared from where he was, and showed up in the sky near Lin Qiao in the next second. Meanwhile, he waved both arms and started a strong gale.


    It was no longer a small-scale tornado or hurricane. Instead, a huge gale started spiraling in the area.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The gale roared resonantly and rolled up the stones, sands, and all kinds of ruins into the sky. The trees nearby were blown to the ground, as if a typhoon had slammed the area.


    "Take cover!" Zhou Chenghao, who was fighting against the traceless Lin Kui, burst in a shout. Following his voice, all the superpowered fighters and soldiers from Hidden Cloud City gave up on fighting, but started looking for cover to protect themselves from the wind power.


    At that time, Lu Zhuofeng suddenly showed up on a truck in the motorcade. The area surrounding him wasn''t affected by the wind power, but was as peaceful as the typhoon eye.


    Bang! He carried two metal suitcases out of an armed vehicle, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao immediately figured out that what was contained in the two suitcases was the drugs that he purchased from Huaxia City.


    ''Wanna run? I may not agree to it!''


    She flashed across the air and swiftly chased behind Lu Zhuofeng.


    Lu Zhuofeng was fast indeed, but his scent would not disappear. Therefore, Lin Qiao clearly knew where he went.


    Lin Qiao left with Lu Zhuofeng, but Lin Kui and the other zombies didn''t. When Hidden Cloud City people were trying to hide from the super-strong wind, Lin Kui took the opportunity and gave Zhou Chenghao a surprise attack.


    Puff! Zhou Chenghao didn''t manage to dodge and ended up being wounded. Looking at the claw wound on his arm, he froze with disbelief.


    He was scratched by a zombie! A level-seven zombie! The zombie''s claws carried the virus! He was injured by the zombie, so he would become a zombie!


    There was no cure for the zombie virus yet!


    Lin Kui quickly drew back and hid after he injured Zou Chenghao successfully.


    On the other side, Lan Qijie was having difficulty against two level-five superpowered beings at one time, although he was a level-six possessor of metal power.


    He did not know that both of the two fire-powered being were zombies.


    Jingyan launched a stronger attack, covering Xie Dong and allowing him to sneakily approach Lan Qijie. At that time, Lan Qijie thought that Xie Dong was a human.


    Lan Qijie used to be an army instructor. So, both him and Xie Dong started using their combat skills.


    He moved left and slightly forward as his right hand was made into a fist and swung downward to block Xie Dong''s sideways kick. Then, he stepped backward to create a safe distance between himself and Xie Dong.


    Xie Dong''s eyes still looked like the eyes of a healthy human being, and not like the dark zombie eyes. He turned his body slightly, each hand holding a dagger. He put the pair of daggers before his chest, one pointing forward and the other at the ground. Meanwhile, he fixed his sharp eyes on Lan Qijie like a wolf eyeing its target.


    Lan Qijie was in the same posture as him. Once the battle started, they both sensed a familiar vibe from each other.


    A proud look flashed across Lan Qijie''s eyes. He had the metal power, so he wouldn''t lose close combat easily.


    His metal skin could never feel pain! Not even bullets could hurt his skin, not to mention the other weapons like daggers or swords. It wasn''t easy to break his metal defense, unless the enemy managed to exhaust his power.


    However, he did not know that Xie Dong was a zombie, and that he was way stronger than humans.

 671 Remote Tracking

    Except for Xie Dong, a woman had also been attacking him. She was giving out a fierce vibe as well.


    One against two¡­


    As Lan Qijie paid slight attention to Jingyan, Xie Dong moved suddenly and swiftly rushed out. The daggers in his hands were swung at Lan Qijie, seeming like two beams of metallic light.


    Lan Qijie hurriedly raised his hands to stop Xie Dong. Meanwhile, he gave the latter a heavy kick.


    Puff! Right when he blocked Xie Dong''s attack and prepared to fight back, a zombie claw suddenly penetrated his chest.


    He froze and confusedly looked at his own chest. The metallic luster quickly faded from his skin; red blood dripped off his chest and the claw.


    Lan Qijie never thought that his metal defense would be broken. With disbelief, he looked at the hand which was still partially inside his chest, and the sharp nails on that hand. If he hadn''t been sensing a tearing pain from his chest, he would think that he was having an illusion. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Puff! That hand was pulled out of his body.


    The strong wind left along with Lu Zhuofeng, and the area slowly quieted down.


    Lan Qijie watched blood gushing out his chest. His strength seemed to be flowing out of his body along with the blood. Next, he fell to the ground as his legs went limp.


    Just now, he actually forgot that he wasn''t fighting against only one opponent.


    Jingyan stood behind Lan Qijie and expressionlessly swung her hand to get rid of the blood on it. Then, she raised her head and pounced on the other Hidden Cloud City People.


    Also expressionless, Xie Dong glanced at Lan Qijie''s eyes which were still open but had already lost their luster, then quickly turned and left.


    Lan Qijie''s defense was only present on his skin. Long Qingying had told her people that metal-power possessors couldn''t possibly have their power cover every corner of their bodies, unless they were focused enough.


    Therefore, Xie Dong attacked Lan Qijie face to face and diverted his attention, so that Jingyan could find an opportunity to stab him in the back.


    Xie Dong was surprised that Jingyan succeeded so soon. Even though she hadn''t restored her human memory, many of her human instincts and habits had woken up already. Based on the battle that they fought together just now, Xie Dong could tell that she was a combat master!


    On the other side, Zhou Chenghao hid in a building nearby. He soon noticed that Lan Qijie''s battle was over. As the wind stopped blowing, the male and female in camouflage suits rushed at him.


    Right at that point, a dark figure flashed up behind him. Zhou Chenghao immediately turned with vigilance, then bent down and rolled sideways.


    Puff! The dark figure swiftly jumped to where he was hiding in. The creature''s claws cut through the wall and left a series of deep slashes.


    In the meantime, Lin Qiao flashed across roofs and streetlight tops, chasing behind Lu Zhuofeng.


    Lu Zhuofeng was flying fleetingly in the air, faster than Lin Qiao who was running on the ground by many times over. Soon, the distance between the two grew longer.


    He couldn''t see Lin Qiao because she was invisible. He glanced back and found that he was already miles away from where the motorcade was. That woman didn''t catch up with him. He believed that she couldn''t follow up even if she wanted to.


    As a level-eight wind-power possessor, he was fast indeed. The distance between Lin Qiao and him had really become very long. However, Lin Qiao didn''t give up on chasing him, but had been following his scent all the time.


    She didn''t think that he would be able to fly back to Hidden Cloud City Base which was over a thousand miles away.


    At that time, the others from Hidden Cloud City who were left behind by Lu Zhuofeng were all hunted by all kinds of level three and four zombies. Without the protection from the powerful ones like Lu Zhuofeng, they fell into great disadvantages. Most of them were merely ordinary soldiers, and some were superpower possessors at level three or four. Their weapons couldn''t hurt those zombies at all.


    In addition, those zombies were like a well-trained army. They didn''t hunt those people randomly, but attacked with clear purposes, smart strategies, and plans. They intended to kill every single one of those people.


    Every time they killed a person, they would immediately turn to the next target without lingering at all.


    Half an hour later, Lu Zhuofeng stopped moving. He was at level-eight, but still, flying in the air was very exhausting for him. The energy consumption didn''t affect him largely though. He was a level-eight superpower possessor after all.


    He slowed down, mainly because he thought that the woman couldn''t catch up with him. However, he hadn''t noticed that a wisp of black mist was attached to his cloth on his back the whole time.


    He was moving fast earlier. To hold itself together, the mist was staying motionless. Now, as he had slowed down, the mist split into two streams and then quietly drilled into his ears.


    About twenty miles behind him, Lin Qiao was still moving forward at her full speed. When the dark mist drifted into Lu Zhuofeng''s ears, she curved her lips in a cold smile.


    Two hours later, Lin Qiao finally shortened the distance between herself and Lu Zhuofeng. At that time, they had both gone across Shanxi Province and entered a suburb mountain area in Shaanxi Province.


    It was already dark. Lu Zhuofeng landed on a flat area and prepared to eat something before moving.


    It was all dark. Except for the two suitcases, Lu Zhuofeng didn''t have many other supplies. He didn''t even have a flashlight. In the darkness, he took out some hardtack and some water.


    ¡­


    Near the All Beings Base, Mo Yan the zombie emperor stood on top of a building. Standing behind him were two level-seven zombies and the female zombie leader.


    He quietly stood on the edge of the roof, gazing straight at All Beings Base.


    Not far away from him on the roof of another building, the floor was covered in blood. A strong scent of blood could be sensed from the roof, mixed with waves of stench. Flies were buzzing all over the sky.


    That was where he stayed and ate before.


    Before long, two zombie dominators hopped onto the roof, each holding two living human beings. The four people were thrown to the ground together.


    Thud!


    Being thrown to the ground, one of the four fainted people frowned slightly and woke up.


    He opened his eyes with confusion and saw the dark sky. Then, he looked around. It was all dark, but he could see a few blur figures around him.


    He suddenly realized something. Popping his eyes, he abruptly struggled up from the ground, screamed with fright, "No¡­ Don''t eat me! Don''t eat me! Please, please let me go! I¡­ I can do anything you want! Please don''t eat me! Please¡­"


    He knew who he was facing. It was so dark that he couldn''t see those creatures clearly. But earlier today, Yuan Tianxing had gone downstairs and told him and the other people about the zombie emperor and his subordinates.


    Around All Being Base, a large group of zombie dominators, and about ten zombie kings and queens had surrounded the base.


    The people in the base were defenseless. They weren''t able to escape either.

 672 He Doesnst Eat Children

    Earlier today, that man heard from Yuan Tianxing that level six and seven zombies had surrounded the base. He didn''t believe it.


    He thought that Yuan Tianxing was lying.


    How could there be so many zombie dominators? And, over ten zombie kings and queens? That must be a joke.


    That man was from Sea City Base. He had spent quite a long while in All Beings Base, so he knew a lot about the new base. Almost everyone knew that the people who built the new base were the survivors of Hades Base. As Hades Base''s enemies, Earth Dragon Base, Hidden Cloud City Base, and Sky Fire Base would certainly keep hunting those survivors.


    So, some Sea City Base people guessed that the reason why they were kept in the hotel was an attack from the three bases.


    However, Yuan Tianxing told them that the base was surrounded by zombie dominators! They believed that he was lying. They knew that zombie kings and queens were already rare enough, so they refused to believe that over ten zombie dominators were gathering around the base.


    At first, they were curious. They tried to sneak out to find out what exactly was going on. They had no idea that a few batches of people had already sneaked out and never returned.


    Later on, they found that the zombie wall which was far away from the base had shrunk. Those zombies were still motionless though.


    But, before they could find out the truth, they were knocked out by someone.


    Next, that man woke up to see some figures standing in the darkness. He was aware that they weren''t human beings, because if they were human, they would need some light.


    So, he thought of what Yuan Tianxing said the moment he woke up. He didn''t believe him earlier on, but now, he realized that the latter wasn''t lying.


    He was so frightened that he even begged for mercy. Having finished talking, he froze. Could those zombies understand human language?


    Mo Yan turned around and looked at that man with surprise. He found that the man was with constantly changing expressions. At first, he looked panicked, and then seemed to be confused, thinking about something.


    Mo Yan''s interest was aroused.


    He turned and walked to the man, then squatted and looked at him with a pair of dark eyes.


    As the zombie walked up to him, the man trembled with fear. He stiffly moved backward and then sprung up from the ground, attempting to crawl away.


    However, a claw clasped the back of his collar and threw him back.


    Once again, he was lying before the zombie who was squatting before him. His eyes adapted to the darkness, and it finally allowed him to see Mo Yan''s face. That was really a zombie! He had a huge pair of dark circles under his eyes!


    "Don''t eat me¡­ Don''t eat me¡­ I don''t taste good¡­ That¡­ that base, there''re women, and¡­ and children¡­ and, they are actually very weak¡­ You can go and eat some women and children!" The man couldn''t stop shaking while murmuring those words. He didn''t even know what he was talking about.


    Puff! Before the man finished, Mo Yan expressionlessly sank his claw into his chest.


    ''He was so noisy!''


    The man immediately fell into silence. He popped his eyes and looked at his chest, without being able to say one more word.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Puff! Mo Yan pulled out his hand, holding a heart. A strong blood scent could instantly be sensed. It was not just the surrounding zombies who sensed it; the man sensed it too before his death.


    Mo Yan held the heart and stood up. Then, he put the heart into his mouth, still with no expression.


    He never ate other parts of human beings except for their hearts. He didn''t even like eating the lightly sweet human brains.


    After finishing the heart, he raised a hand and waved it slightly. Then, he took over a handkerchief from the female zombie, wiped his hand, and handed it back.


    As he waved his hand, those zombie dominators behind him quickly ate the dead man and the other three people who were still alive.


    Mo Yan walked to the roof edge and looked at All Beings Base.


    Women and children? They smelt nice indeed. However, he never wanted to eat children and women.


    Eating the hearts of men was the furthest that he could go.


    That mysterious zombie hadn''t shown up. Where on earth had it been hiding? If the two zombie girls weren''t getting along peacefully with the people in that base, he would think that the mysterious zombie might have been hiding somewhere and controlling the people in that base.


    He had no idea that the scent that he sensed was left by Lin Qiao in the base, and that she was now far away from the base, chasing behind Lu Zhuofeng.


    "Deputy Chief, another four have run out," Duan Juan walked into the conference room with a grim look and said to Yuan Tianxing who was sitting behind the conference table.


    Yuan Tianxing leaned against the back of the chair, his eyes closed; his face wore tiredness. Hearing Duan Juan''s words, he opened his eyes.


    "I''ve told them about the situation. If they insist on leaving and giving up on their lives, I can''t help them," he said blandly. His cold voice also contained a trace of helplessness.


    Duan Juan didn''t say anything.


    Some other people were sitting or standing in the conference room. None of them said anything, and the atmosphere was depressing.


    "If Qiaoqiao doesn''t come back in two days, I think we should go with him, as long as he promises us not to hurt the people here!" Qiu Lili stood by the window with her back to the others. She looked at the leaves which were rustled by the wind while saying to the others.


    "Don''t be impulsive! I don''t think we should believe him. We don''t know about him. However, based on the fact that he eats people, I think he might not keep his word," said Lin Feng.


    "If Chief really can''t make it back, Lili and Yun Meng, you should run with Mrs. Lin, Xiaolu and the others. We''ll try to stop him. Even if we can''t protect everyone, we need, at least, to keep the children and Mrs. Lin safe, as well as Wenwen and Qingying," Yuan Tianxing sighed and said.


    "I agree. We can''t let Lili and Yun Meng go. If we have no chance of winning, we will die on the battlefield. We can never let two girls protect us," Lin Feng added with a cold face.


    "He only wants us. As long as we go with him, he''ll never hurt anyone else in the base. Otherwise, I''ll turn against him!" Qiu Lili disagreed.


    "Lili, he may not hurt us in front of you, but, can you promise that he won''t do anything behind your back? Besides, Mrs. Lin and the two kids need your protection. Don''t forget that they are Chief''s family," Yuan Tianxing patiently persuaded Qiu Lili not to take the risk.


    Yun Meng quietly stood in a corner. She didn''t say anything, neither did she give any opinions.


    "But¡­" Speaking of Lin Qiao''s family, Qiu Lili suddenly woke up. But still, she hesitated for a moment and looked at the others uncertainly.


    That was right. The safety of Lin Qiao''s family was the most important thing at the moment! She could not let anything happen to them! Yuan Tianxing was right. The zombie emperor might lie to her, or hurt them behind her back!


    None of them knew that kind of zombie that zombie emperor was!

 673 Throw Him Into Her Space

    Next morning, Lin Qiao followed Lu Zhuofeng to the border of Sichuan Province and Tibet. The latter didn''t linger in Shaanxi Province for long. He quickly ate something, and then spent the entire night traveling across the province.


    Lin Qiao was tens of miles behind him. Her speed was still much lower than Lu Zhuofeng''s.


    However, she wasn''t worried, because¡­


    About six o''clock in the morning, Lu Zhuofeng stopped in a town in Sichuan Province.


    He didn''t stop to rest. Instead, he needed to relieve himself. He had traveled for a whole night, and was pretty tired. His energy had been largely consumed, and that made him feel a little tired.


    He was a high-leveled superpower possessor, but still, he was a human being. His body condition had improved, but he remained a mortal. Natural calls could still affect him. He hadn''t used the toilet since yesterday afternoon.


    Therefore, he stopped to relieve himself, and also to rest for a short while.


    Lin Qiao flashed across the treetops. She wasn''t able to fly, neither was she as fast as Lu Zhuofeng. The topographic condition had caused her a lot of difficulties. However, she didn''t stop like Lu Zhuofeng.


    Her body couldn''t feel tiredness, so she had been moving at her highest speed the whole time. She tramped over hills and dales to chase Lu Zhuofeng. Even though she was slower than him, she didn''t feel tired.


    The dark mist covered Lu Zhuofeng''s eardrums and allowed Lin Qiao to sense what he was doing.


    At the very moment, she sensed that he was peeing. ''Em, should I vanish his man part with my black mist while he''s enjoying the urination?''


    Lin Qiao quickly got rid of the weird thought in her head, then kept moving forward at her full speed.


    A bright beam of light flashed across his eyes, because she had sensed that Lu Zhuofeng seemed to plan to rest for a while.


    In just half an hour, she would be able to arrive where he was!


    After peeing, Lu Zhuofeng found a roof. He put his suitcases in the stair room, then sat on the ground and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes to rest.


    It was cold outside. The morning fog floated in the air, layer over layer. The coldness could barely affect Lu Zhuofeng though. The energy heat from his body warmed the cold air around him.


    He had no idea that the black mist inside his ears had been slowly absorbing his power. That was why he got tired sooner than usual.


    He thought that he had traveled for too long, which was the reason why his energy was consumed so largely. After all, he had flown for over a thousand miles.


    As he was resting, Lin Qiao got closer and closer. At last, she caught up with him when his break was over.


    An invisible figure quietly hopped onto the roof and approached Lu Zhuofeng like a ghost.


    Lu Zhuofeng didn''t know that Lin Qiao was coming. He planned to take a quick nap, yet he fell straight into a deep sleep.


    He thought that as a level-eight superpowered man, he was already one of those who were on the top of the post-apocalyptic world. He believed that except for the other level-eight people, such as Si Kongchen, Wu Chengyue, and Lan Lu¡ªthe leader of the mysterious Green Mountain Base¡ªno one could hurt him.


    He was arrogant, and his arrogance weakened his sense of crisis. Therefore, he didn''t know that Lin Qiao was behind him the entire time.


    Lin Qiao lowered her head and looked at the man who wasn''t tall, and had a pair of thick and dark eyebrows. Her eyes wore no expression and showed no feeling.


    Suddenly, she reached out a hand and grasped his chest, then dragged him into her space before he opened his eyes.


    Actually, she took a risk to do that. She was only at level-seven while he was at level-eight. She didn''t know if her space was able to suppress Lu Zhuofeng or not. If his power exploded in her space, her space might be blown up.


    However, he was too fast. She couldn''t attack him efficiently unless she limited his power with her space.


    He wouldn''t fight her face to face, so she had no choice!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    When Lin Qiao reached to him, Lu Zhuofeng woke up with a start, sensing a coldness from his heart. He saw a figure flash across his eyes, and then, he felt that someone had grasped his collar and thrown him away.


    When he could react, he found that he was thrown into a strange place.


    He didn''t see the person who brought him there. He found himself in strange woods, and that mysterious being had gone missing.


    He carried the two suitcases and raised his head to look around. The place was dimly illuminated. Added with the fact that those trees around him were all tall, the place was awfully dark, as if it was the night.


    He frowned and raised his vigilance. What was that place? Who was that person? Why was he brought to that place?


    That woods were weird! Which kind of trees were they? He hadn''t seen such trees before!


    Right at that point, he suddenly sensed repression, and that gave him a very bad feeling.


    He leaped onto a tree and attempted to go to the top to look around.


    That tree was about ninety meters tall. Climbing a tree-like that wasn''t difficult for him though.


    As he reached to the treetop, he paused with surprise. Above the treetop was a thick white fog. He couldn''t see anything but the extra thick white fog. He couldn''t even see his own fingers in the fog.


    He stayed up there and spent a few minutes observing. Then, he had no choice but to come down, as he wasn''t able to see anything on the treetop.


    After getting off the tree, he released his power and darted in one direction in the woods.


    One hour later, he found that he wasn''t able to fly out of the woods. He had darted in the woods with his superpower for an hour, meaning that he had covered at least a hundred miles. Were the woods really so large? All the trees looked the same.


    The size of the trees, the locations, and numbers of the branches were all the same. Every single tree in that woods was exactly the same.


    In a place like that, people could easily lose their sense of direction.


    Outside the woods, Lin Qiao was very surprised. The furless zombie dog and the giant black snake were by her sides.


    She never thought that the woods could serve as a maze!


    She was only planning to throw Lu Zhuofeng into the woods, then focus her power to suppress his power and quicken the consumption of his energy, then kill him when his power ran out.


    To her surprise, by gathering the power of the space into the woods, she disabled Lu Zhuofeng from seeing the edge of the woods. He had made a few rounds in the woods already!


    He flew about in the woods. Watching him, Lin Qiao was both surprised and confused.


    Was that another great function of her space?

 674 Wu Chengyue Arrives

    Near All Beings Base. Mo Yan, the zombie emperor, moved to a clean roof and stood there until dawn. Suddenly, he turned to Sea City Base as he raised his nose and sniffed around. He blinked, his eyes showing a fierce look.


    He had clearly sensed a strong vibe coming from that area.


    "Roar!" ''Assemble!''


    Mo Yan abruptly gave a roar. Soon afterward, over ten figures swiftly leaped onto the roof. Over ten level-six zombies and a few level-seven ones all hopped onto the roof, standing at the roof edge.


    Suddenly, thick dark clouds gathered above them, letting out muffled thunders.


    Mo Yan raised his head and looked at the dark clouds. Purple lightning bolts gradually emerged, flashing across the clouds. Seeing that, the zombie emperor wore a surprised look.


    Thunder power? What a coincidence!


    Following a series of rumbling thunder, a few dazzling, purple lightning bolts descended from the sky. Within a couple of seconds, the dark sky was illuminated.


    A loud sizzling noise was heard, followed by a boom. The lightning bolts fell toward those level six and seven zombies who were standing by the roof edge. Those zombies reacted fast though, as they swiftly flashed away to dodge the lightning.


    The lightning struck on the roof edge and left a few cracks on the building.


    Boom! Soon, another series of lightning bolts came down in a row.


    Those were aimed at Mo Yan.


    Mo Yan raised his head but didn''t dodge, raising a hand to catch those arm-thick lightning bolts.


    Along with a loud sizzling noise, those lightning bolts landed on his palm and drilled into his body, as if something inside him was attracting the lightning.


    Within a blink, those lightning bolts disappeared without a trace.


    Next, Mo Yan swung his arm and sent out those lightning bolts which were absorbed by him. Those lightning bolts turned into lightning snakes, flying at another roof which was about a hundred meters away.


    Those lightning snakes failed to hit the figure on the roof, but scattered and landed on the whole building.


    Following the thunderous sounds, a few holes were left on the twelve-story building. Fragments of glasses and bricks flew all over the sky. Meanwhile, a few lightning bolts fell from the sky, toward the figure on the roof. The figure flashed to another building within a blink.


    Wu Chengyue frowned; the zombie emperor also had lightning power. That was troublesome.


    He was at level-eight, same as the zombie. However, a level-eight zombie could be much stronger than a level-eight human. If the zombie possessed a different type of power, he might have a chance to win, but the zombie turned out to be a possessor of thunder power too. Based on that fact, the result was hard to predict.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then decided not to keep fighting. He leaped off the roof and moved fleetingly toward All Beings Base.


    The people in All Beings Base raised their vigilance as they heard a series of thunder.


    "The thunder came from that area! The zombie emperor is over there! Why the thunder?" Yun Meng stood on the roof and gazed at that area confusedly.


    "It''s Wu Chengyue. I sensed his scent!" Qiu Lili twitched her nose and said.


    Yun Meng raised her head and sniffed at the air, then nodded and said delightfully, "I sensed it too! Is he here to help us? Great! Let''s go downstairs to tell the others!"


    While speaking, she excitedly turned and ran downstairs.


    Qiu Lili kept staring at that area. The thunder faded, and then the area fell into quietness again. She was a little confused.


    At that moment, a figure suddenly showed up on the roof, behind her.


    Qiu Lili hurriedly turned back and saw Wu Chengyue standing behind her.


    "Why are you here? Where''s Qiaoqiao?" Qiu Lili asked at the sight of him.


    "Why? Am I I not welcomed?" Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at her.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "It''s not like that¡­ I mean, since you have come back, Qiaoqiao should be back as well," Qiu Lili shook her head and said.


    Wu Chengyue blinked, then looked at her and asked, "Who is Qiaoqiao?"


    "Eh? Oh¡­ No, Qiaoqiao is¡­ hh, Miss. Lu''s nickname! Yes, it''s her nickname!" Hearing Wu Chengyue''s question, Qiu Lili quickly realized something.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know about Lin Qiao''s real identity yet! So, she hurriedly explained.


    "Okay¡­ I think Lu Tianyu won''t come back soon, because she didn''t receive your message. I guess she''s chasing Hidden Cloud City People to the South now," Wu Chengyue said while heading toward the stairs.


    "Huh? She didn''t get our message?" Qiu Lili followed behind him and asked anxiously.


    "No, she didn''t," Wu Chengyue replied while heading downstairs.


    "What should we do then?" Qiu Lili said with a bitter face.


    "So, I came here to help," Wu Chengyue smiled.


    ''Why did you come to help? This has nothing to do with you, right?'' Qiu Lili looked at him as she silently followed him to the second floor.


    Before they entered the conference room on the second floor, they saw a man walking out of the room in haste. Seeing Wu Chengyue, that man smiled with a delightful surprise.


    "It''s really you! Chief Wu!" Yuan Tianxing looked at Wu Chengyue, eyes showing excitement. Then, he guided Wu Chengyue into the conference room and offered him a seat. Looking at the brightening sky, he started talking impatiently, "Um¡­ Chief Wu, have you seen the Chief of our base?"


    He didn''t ask Wu Chengyue if Lin Qiao came back along with him, although under the current situation, Wu Chengyue''s presence was largely helpful for the base.


    All Beings Base people had yet to know that Wu Chengyue was already at level-eight. Besides, they felt that it would be better for their own Chief to come back and solve their problem. Wu Chengyue might be able to help them to get through the crisis, but if that happened, they would owe him a favor, and would have to pay it back to him someday!


    "Oh, I think she didn''t get your message. Right now, she should be chasing Lu Zhuofeng to the South. Don''t worry, I''ll protect you, at least until she''s back," Wu Chengyue seemed to understand Yuan Tianxing''s meaning, so he said to the latter with a smile.


    "I just engaged in a short battle with that zombie emperor. He has lightning power as well. Also, I noticed that he isn''t planning to launch a serious attack yet. Does he have some other purpose?" Wu Chengyue sat on the couch and picked up the cup of warm tea that Yuan Tianxing had prepared for him, taking a sip.


    "He has talked with us once. Currently, he wants to bring Lili and Yun Meng away," Yuan Tianxing glanced at Qiu Lili and Yun Meng who were sitting on the other side of the table.

 675 I Have One Condition

    Wu Chengyue glanced at Qiu Lili and Yun Meng. He surely knew what they were.


    He rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, then said, "Just now, I tried to find out how powerful he is. I can''t tell exactly how powerful he is, but he is a level-eight lightning-powered zombie, so he''s definitely stronger than me. However, although I can''t defeat him, I won''t let him do anything to this place."


    The others looked at him silently. Yun Meng spent a few seconds observing him, then asked, "When did you¡­ break into level-eight?"


    Once she said that, the others all popped their eyes with surprise. They were just wondering why he was so confident. It turned out that it was because he had grown stronger.


    Wu Chengyue responded with a faint smile, "Oh, about two months ago¡­"


    He would never tell those people that his energy suddenly became unstable not long after he had sex with their Chief, which provided him with an opportunity to upgrade. That was how he broke straight into level-eight.


    "So, you''re a level-eight lightning power possessor now? Great! We don''t need to be afraid of that zombie emperor anymore!" Hearing his words, the others were all delighted. The tense atmosphere which had existed in the base for a couple of days instantly faded.


    "Even if you can''t drive him away, you can stall him until our Chief is back. She''ll certainly come up with a plan to deal with that zombie emperor!" Lin Feng sighed with relief. The look on his face was finally less depressing.


    Before Wu Chengyue arrived, the people in All Being Base weren''t despairing, but were depressed indeed.


    "In fact, I''d like to fight a serious battle against the zombie emperor and see if he''s really so powerful," said Wu Chengyue smilingly.


    As everyone knew, zombies were always stronger than human beings on the same power level. In a serious battle between a zombie and a human at the same level, although the winner could be determined easily, no side would die easily.


    Winning and killing the enemy were different concepts after all.


    "The zombie emperor remembers his human life. I think he is expanding his army and strengthening himself now. Otherwise, as a zombie emperor, he could destroy our base and forcibly suppress Lili and Yun Meng," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "He already has five level-seven zombies, as well as over ten level-six zombies under his command. We don''t know where he found them. Besides, he seems to see humans as his enemies," Lin Feng said.


    "He has human memory?" Wu Chengyue put a hand on his chin while thinking.


    Since he wasn''t a normal zombie, but had his human memory, he was certainly smarter than normal zombies. So, a great plan was needed to deal with him.


    Wu Chengyue wondered if he and Lin Qiao could defeat the lightning-powered zombie emperor with the combination of their powers. The zombie emperor''s nucleus would be enough for him to reach the peak of level-eight.


    The problem was that he didn''t know if the female zombie would be willing to help him defeat the zombie emperor. He only wanted the zombie emperor''s nucleus, and planned to leave all the other nuclei for her. Would she agree to that deal?


    Anyhow, Wu Chengyue didn''t plan to inform the other bases about the zombie emperor.


    "I''ve already informed Xiao Yunlong. He should arrive with an army by noontime. I''ll find a way to protect you against the zombie emperor, but I have one condition." Wu Chengyue smilingly said to the others.


    "What is it? We''ll do what you want, as long as it''s within our reach." Yuan Tianxing and the others weren''t ordinary people. They totally understood that it was reasonable for Wu Chengyue to bring up a condition before helping them. They would accept any terms to get through the crisis, as long as All Beings Base didn''t suffer great losses.


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng delightfully accepted what Wu Chengyue said.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng paused briefly. They thought for a moment, then understood that it was reasonable. They didn''t object, but gave one suggestion.


    "I think you might as well wait until our Big Sister came back, and then talk to her," said Yun Meng.


    "Alright, I''m fine with that," Wu Chengyue grinned.


    The others were relieved. They glanced at each other, and didn''t say anything else.


    ¡­Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was squatting in her space with the dog and the snake, looking at the woods. A few people were standing behind her.


    Lu Tianyi, Xiao--Xiao, Pesticide, Li Zheng, Leng Xuantong, and the others were all there to see what was happening.


    "Boss, you''ve squatted here for over an hour. What on earth are you doing?" Li Zheng finally couldn''t help but ask a question.


    "Yeah. Where is Lu Zhuofeng? Didn''t you go after him? Did he run away?" Lin Yu added curiously.


    Lin turned back to give them a glance, a grass leaf held between her lips. She raised an arm and pointed at the woods, "Lu Zhuofeng is in there. He can''t come out now. He has the drugs."


    "You brought him in here? Can you suppress him?" Li Zheng looked at the woods and said with surprise.


    "I was planning to give it a try and see if I can suppress him or not. Now, it seems that I have him suppressed," Lin Qiao stood up and said to Black and Bowwow, "Bowwow, Black, you two get in and distract him."


    "Can they¡­ do that?" Feng Yuming stuck his head out from behind Li Zheng and asked with doubt.


    "He''s been making rounds in my woods for an hour. By now, his energy has been consumed by eighty or ninety percent. He can''t release his power anymore. Besides, I''m right here, suppressing his power. Black and Bowwow can''t kill him, but can surely distract him," Lin Qiao said, shaking the grass between her lips.


    "Is that level-eight superpowered man going to be exhausted to death by you?" Leng Xuantong looked at Lin Qiao in a weird way and murmured. Hearing that, the others all turned to Lin Qiao with pity. Of course, they were feeling pity for Lu Zhuofeng, not for her.


    At that point, Lu Zhuofeng was standing under a tree. He was breathing quickly, with a very sullen look.


    He, of course, knew that he had fallen into someone''s trap. But still, he hadn''t figured out where he was. His power had been weakened by eighty percent, and the energy inside him had been disappearing quickly.


    The trees surrounding him were very weird. They were as hard as metal, that his wind blades couldn''t even leave a mark on those trees!


    One hour later, his face paled, and his forehead was covered in small sweat drops.


    Feeing that his energy was almost drained, he let panic emerge on his face.


    What on earth was that place? He couldn''t get out of that woods, and the place had been devouring his energy!


    Right at that moment, he suddenly felt chill. A sense of crisis attacked him, as if he was suddenly targeted by some kind of fierce beast.

 676 Kill Lu Zhuofeng

    Lu Zhuofeng quickly turned back, but found nothing behind him. He carefully looked around, but still, nothing was there. However, that feeling didn''t go away. He still felt that he had become a target.


    He held the two suitcases tighter. Even at that moment, he didn''t plan to drop the two suitcases. The things in these suitcases cost him a lot of supplies. He would keep them safe until he died.


    At that point, Lu Zhuofeng hadn''t noticed that about thirty meters away above his head, a giant snake was slowly and silently crawling down.


    Lu Zhuofeng kept moving forward. He didn''t have much energy left. To deal with any possible emergency, he had to preserve some of his power.


    ''What on earth is this place?''


    Lu Zhuofeng never thought that this place could be a space which belonged to a zombie.


    Suddenly, he stopped walking and spent a short while looking around. Then, he abruptly raised his head and looked straight into a pair of cold, rhombic eyes.


    "Eh!" He immediately leaped sideways.


    Swish! Black swiftly dove from the tree while widely opening its jaws and pouncing on Lu Zhuofeng. Its sharp fangs shone with a cold light. It missed its target, but soon turned and quickly wriggled toward Lu Zhuofeng, who had already flashed to the side.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    A mutated beast!


    Lu Zhuofeng''s face darkened. Typically, mutated animals were no threat to him. But now, his energy had been nearly consumed up completely. If he released his power again, he would soon become like a commoner who had no superpower.


    Therefore, he quickly turned and ran. He only sent a slight amount of energy to his legs to enable himself to run faster.


    However, Black was no slower than him. It caught up with him within a blink of an eye, then opened its mouth and charged at him again.


    This time, the snake attacked speedily and accurately. Before the snake''s teeth sank into Lu Zhuofeng''s body, he suddenly squatted, rolled on the ground, and dodged the snake''s sharp fangs again.


    He didn''t dare to use the last bit of his power, but his reaction speed and combat skill were as great as ever.


    As he rolled to the side, a dark figure suddenly darted out from behind a tree.


    Once again, he felt a sudden chill from his heart. He turned to find a zombie beast pouncing on him. The shiny sharp teeth in the beast''s mouth were aiming at his head.


    This time, he wasn''t able to dodge. He automatically released his power and generated a windshield to shield himself against the zombie beast.


    "Er¡­ huh¡­" Bowwow''s mouth was filled with wind. It shook its head and then turned back to its target, only to find that the man had run away. But soon, Lu Zhuofeng was stopped by the giant snake which had circled back from another direction.


    Lu Zhuofeng was enraged. The beast wouldn''t let him go. Did it know that he didn''t dare to use his power now?


    Suddenly, he swung an arm toward Black.


    A few one-meter-long wind blades were released within a blink, hitting Black at lightning speed. A few slashes were immediately left on the giant snake''s body, and blood spurted out.


    Black hissed in pain and fell off the tree, struggling and coiling its body on the ground.


    "Owooooo!" Seeing that Black was injured, Bowwow was instantly agitated. It sprung up and jumped on Lu Zhuofeng recklessly.


    Lu Zhuofeng was a level-eight wind-power possessor, and his wind blades were strong and sharp. On the other side, Black was a level-five mutated beast. Its scales were tough, but weren''t able to block the attack from a level-eight superpowered man.


    After releasing those wind blades, Lu Zhuofeng immediately turned and ran. He clearly sensed that his energy was again decreased largely.


    Outside the woods, Lin Qiao frowned slightly as she sensed that Black was injured. In the next moment, she disappeared in front of the others.


    She realized that she had been careless. Lu Zhuofeng was a level-eight superpowered man after all. Before his power ran out completely, he was still able to hurt a level-five mutated animal.


    Those wind blades wouldn''t be able to hurt Bowwow. However, Black was different. It was a living snake. It had mutated, but still, its fleshy body was alive.


    Lu Zhuofeng attacked the mutated snake with his power, but didn''t want to do the same to the zombie dog, which was already dead. So, he turned and ran away.


    But right at that moment, he suddenly paused. His head and upper body leaned backward, yet his feet couldn''t help but slide forward. As a result, he fell backward.


    When he abruptly leaned his upper body backward, a claw which was shining with a cold light flashed across before his chest, nearly touching his throat.


    He fell to the ground, then nimbly rolled to the side.


    Lin Qiao''s kick missed him. Then, she stood there and waved a hand.


    Lu Zhuofeng rolled to the side. As he stood up and prepared to keep running, he suddenly found that he was surrounded by dark fire.


    By the time he saw the fire clearly, the black fire suddenly rose high and gathered above his head within a blink, quickly shrouding his entire body.


    The darkness instantly occupied his sight, and he couldn''t see anything.


    He was nervous as he used his power once again. A tornado wrapped him up and rose from the ground, soon breaking the fire. However, the moment the darkness was broken, a claw came at his chest through the tornado.


    He instinctively made a step backward and unwittingly raised a suitcase to shield his chest.


    Puff! The claw sank into the suitcase.


    Lin Qiao violently swung her arm which was stuck in the suitcase. Bang! The suitcase was thrown away. The chains which connected Lu Zhuofeng and the suitcase were broken.


    "Ou¡­" Lu Zhuofeng sensed a sharp pain from his wrist. Meanwhile, the weight carried on his hand was gone. He had a very bad feeling at that moment. Then, he saw the metal suitcase fly away.


    Before he could react, a sharp beam of light flashed across his eyes. He hurriedly drew back to dodge, and then finally saw his enemy clearly.


    "Your-your eyes!" Lu Zhuofeng gave a start when he saw Lin Qiao''s eyes, which had become different.


    Earlier on, her eyes were like the eyes of healthy human beings, but now, those eyes were purely dark, with no white parts at all.


    Those were¡­ zombie eyes!


    Lin Qiao ignored him, but grasped the opportunity when he was distracted by her eyes and attacked him once again.


    Lu Zhuofeng never thought that the woman''s eyes could become like that. Those were zombie eyes! Was she a zombie? Did she become a zombie not long ago!


    Lu Zhuofeng was distracted and didn''t manage to block or dodge Lin Qiao''s attack.


    "Pah!" A heavy kick landed on his body. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, and then flew away, thudding against a tree.

 677 Heal Black

    Lu Zhuofeng was sent flying away by a kick from Lin Qiao, and then thudded against a tree. He let out a mouthful of blood after suffering the kick, and coughed blood again upon bumping into the tree. Instantly, he dropped his head, even feeling dizzy.


    Right at that very moment, Lin Qiao darted up to him and swung her straightened hand downward while bending over.


    Puff! Her claw cut straight into Lu Zhuofeng''s chest.


    At that point, Lu Zhuofeng suddenly realized what had happened. He popped his eyes with disbelief. Blood was flowing out of his mouth while he murmured with fright, "You¡­ you¡­ You are not human!"


    As his voice faded, he saw Lin Qiao pull out her hand: she was holding a heart. She conveniently threw it over to Bowwow.


    The zombie dog hopped up and caught the fresh and juicy heart with its mouth, chewing quickly and loudly before swallowing it.


    Lu Zhuofeng didn''t die immediately even if his heart was dug out. Lin Qiao looked at him and sank her claw into his skull, then took out a level-eight energy nucleus. By the time Lin Qiao stood up with the energy nucleus and a suitcase, Lu Zhuofeng was already dead for good.


    She threw a wisp of dark fire onto his body. The fire expanded within a blink, wrapped up his body, and made it disappear within two seconds.


    Lin Qiao put the energy nucleus into her pocket, then picked up another suitcase. After that, she went to the snake, which was on the other side.


    Black had stopped struggling. It coiled its body in pain and instinctively covered its wounds.


    It was a huge snake. Lin Qiao didn''t have a pool for it to bathe in the lake water. Currently, no one but Lin Qiao herself was able to approach the lake.


    The snake had helped her more or less. It was injured now, and she couldn''t possibly just leave it.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then walked out of the woods with the two suitcases.


    The zombie dog didn''t leave with her, but went closer to the snake and sniffed at it as it circled around it. The dog didn''t do anything to bother the snake though. On the contrary, it seemed to be worried about the snake''s injuries.


    Black was a level-five mutated beast; it was a tough creature. Those wounds were deep, but wouldn''t kill it. However, the snake wasn''t able to heal itself soon.


    Lin Qiao came out of the woods and handed to two suitcases to Li Zheng, who was waiting there with some other people to see what was happening. She didn''t need to give clear instructions, as Li Zheng knew her meaning. He took over the cases, then turned and headed toward the house.


    "Is he dead?" Leng Xuantong looked at the woods and asked curiously.


    "She has brought out the suitcases. He must be dead!" Beside him, Feng Yuming rolled his eyes and answered the question.


    "I just can''t believe it¡­ He was at level-eight! He was a level-eight superpowered man! A level-eight man was killed right before my eyes¡­" Leng Xuantong murmured. He even suspected that he was dreaming.


    Which level was Miss Lu at? Was she at level-eight too?


    Lin Qiao''s eyes had turned back to normal when she came out of the woods. Therefore, Leng Xuantong didn''t know what she really was.


    The others were all looking at Lin Qiao with surprise, their faces filled with admiration. They knew that Lin Qiao was able to kill level-seven superpowered beings easily, but never thought that she could kill a level-eight being in her space!


    Somehow, they even felt that the level-eight man was rather weak,Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    As new members of the group, Leng Xuantong and Bao Xiaoguo were both stunned. They now felt that their new boss was someone super-powerful!


    "Lu Tianyi, go and get me a few clean towels."


    While speaking, Lin Qiao flashed to the house and picked up a bowl, then went to the lake to fetch some water. After that, she flashed back into the woods with the bowl of water.


    The others wanted very much to enter the woods and see what had happened. However, Lin Qiao had told them that the woods belonged to the snake and the zombie dog, and that no one was allowed to enter that area without her permission.


    Therefore, they returned to the house to do their own things. Only Lin Yu and his squad members waited outside the woods.


    That was their habit. They waited there, in case Lin Qiao needed any help.


    A couple of days ago, Lin Qiao made Pesticide drink the diluted blood of hers. After that, he became even more clingy to Lu Tianyi. For some reason, he wasn''t clinging to Lin Qiao like the other zombies which had accepted Lin Qiao''s virus, but became like a tail of Lu Tianyi.


    Currently, he was much more obedient and less naughty than before. As Lu Tianyi went to find towels, he followed closely behind him.


    With the bowl of water, Lin Qiao walked into the woods to the snake. The zombie dog was by its side.


    She patted the snake, then watched it stick its head out from its coiled body. From its eyes, Lin Qiao could sense that it was enduring the pain. The injury seemed to be quite serious.


    "Come on, show me your wounds," Lin Qiao said to the snake.


    She knew that the snake could understand her, as it was very smart. Otherwise, it wouldn''t have shown the complicated emotion in its eyes back when it met Lin Qiao.


    The snake looked at her. After quite a while, it slowly spread its body and lay horizontally before her.


    Lin Qiao checked those wounds: the bleeding had stopped. Those wounds were deep, and the flesh was bulging out, looking rather scary.


    Lu Zhuofeng was a level-eight possessor of wind power. His wind blades were, of course, powerful.


    Those wounds were so deep that even Black''s bones were partially visible.


    Lin Qiao frowned. She carried the bowl and squatted before Black''s first wound.


    Soon, she heard the sounds of footsteps. Lu Tianyi came into the woods while holding a few towels. Pesticide was following behind him.


    Pesticide was familiar with the level-five mutated snake and the level-five zombie dog since long ago. However, it was the first time he came so close to them. Therefore, he became nervous and curious.


    As Lu Tianyi walk over, Lin Qiao raised a hand and picked up a towel, wet it in the bowl, then wrung it slightly. After that, she put the towel above Black''s wound and wrung it again, letting the water drip out.


    The lake water dripped off the towel and into the wound. In response, Black trembled intensely, and then tightened its body.


    Lin Qiao kept wringing the towel, and the water dripped into the wounds. The wounds quickly absorbed the energy contained in the water. In just a few seconds, Lin Qiao sensed that Black had relaxed its muscles.


    She slowly dripped the water into every wound. When the muscles around those wounds were relaxed, she covered those wounds with wet towels.


    "Alright, don''t move. You are not allowed to move until I come back." At last, she stood up as she looked at the few white towels on Black''s body and said to the snake.

 678 The Time Is Up

    Bowwow didn''t leave with Lin Qiao, but stayed in the woods with his friend.


    Lin Qiao came out of the woods and said to Lin Yu and the others, "Alright, just do what you need to do."


    She meant that they could leave.


    The squad scattered immediately. However, they could only stay inside the area before the house, between the lake and the woods. The area behind the house belonged to the other zombies.


    Lin Qiao exited her space and returned by the way she came. This time, she wasn''t on foot, but was driving on the highway. At noontime, she reunited with Lin Kui, Xie Dong, and the others.


    Lin Kui gave Lin Qiao Zhou Chenghao''s energy nucleus while Xie Dong gave her the nuclei of all those superpowered people from Hidden Cloud City, including Lan Qijie''s.


    They were driving three cars that Lu Zhuofeng left behind, including one combat car and two trucks. On the vehicles was the ammunition which belonged to Hidden Cloud City people. Tens of zombies at level three or four were quietly squatting in the cars as well.


    Lin Qiao send those zombies into her space, then let out Li Zheng and Lu Tianyi. Added with Xie Dong and herself, the four of them each drove a car back toward All Beings Base.


    ¡­


    The level-four zombie which sneaked out from All Beings Base to deliver the message was left around Huaxia Base. The poor zombie was still waiting for Lin Qiao to come out of the base.


    In All Beings Base, Yuan Tianxing and the others were much relaxed than before, as Wu Chengyue was there, and Xiao Yunlong had arrived with a strong force and weapons. While waiting for Lin Qiao, they were also keeping an eye on the zombie emperor.


    They heard from Wu Chengyue that Lin Qiao was going after Lu Zhuofeng. No one could tell for sure when she would be back. Lu Zhuofeng was a level-eight superpowered man. Lin Qiao could be counted as a strong one among all zombie dominators, and was very close to level-eight superpowered humans. However, she was still not at that level yet.


    They did feel that Lin Qiao was very powerful now, but still, they didn''t think that she was strong enough to kill Lu Zhuofeng. The estimated that she would be able to win a face-to-face battle against him. However, he had wind power and could easily run away. It would be hard for her to hold him in play.


    He was not silly, and wouldn''t possibly risk his life to fight her. If he couldn''t win, he would run.


    All Being people believed that Lin Qiao would need to spend some solid efforts to get the drug from him.


    Among Wu Chengyue, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, Qiu Lili, and the others, none could think that Lu Zhuofeng was easily killed after he was thrown into Lin Qiao''s space. For the exact same reason, Li Zheng and the others felt that Lu Zhuofeng was strangely weak in Lin Qiao''s space.


    The people in All Beings Base prepared to try and survive for half a month without Lin Qiao. At first, they needed to be ready for the time limit that the zombie emperor gave.


    On the third morning, All Beings Base people heard a series of zombie roars coming from a long distance away.


    This gave the people a bad feeling.


    Soon, Yuan Tianxing and the others received the news, saying that the zombie circle around the base had started shrinking, and was now gathering toward the base.


    "They have received the order from the zombie emperor. We can''t control them now," Qiu Lili looked outside the window with a serious face while talking. Those zombies only followed the orders of the highest-leveled zombie.


    A zombie emperor was able to control the zombies at or under level-five directly. All zombies at or under level-five would follow its order unconditionally.


    Therefore, the order that Lin Qiao left was erased. Currently, those zombies only listened to the zombie emperor.


    "Be ready to fight!" Yuan Tianxing immediately stood up and gave an order.


    Du Yuanxing, Lin Hao, Du Yuanxing, and the others instantly turned and left to complete preparations with their people. Meanwhile, Yuan Tianxing and the others went up to the roof to observe the enemies from the high spot.


    Hearing that zombies were going to attack the base, the survivors in the base all became nervous. Duan Juan and her people guided them to the underground storage and told them to hide there.


    Before long, quick footsteps sounds and waves of zombie roars could be heard.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    On the roof, the people saw a great group of zombies running at the hotel while baring their teeth and brandishing their claws.


    All Beings Base had three lines of defense¡ªthe first defense line was a hundred meters away from the base, formed by a large group of superpowered people. If they couldn''t stop the enemies, they would move back for fifty meters to the armed soldiers. The last line of defense were those untrained commoners.


    About a hundred meters before the first line of defense was where the long-range weapons were located. That meant that once those zombies entered that area, All Beings Base would fire their weapons.


    While Yuan Tianxing, Qiu Lili, and the others were gazing at the zombie crowd seriously, those zombies stopped before those long-range weapons. The zombie circle had shrunk to a much smaller size, meaning that the zombie crowd had grown thicker.


    Those zombies surrounded the hotel two-hundred meters away.


    Seeing those zombies stop, Yuan Tianxing and the others were surprised.


    They were surprised that the zombie emperor really kept his word. He said three days, and he had really given them three days.


    Soon, they saw a few figures flash out of the crowd, leap across the second line of defense, and land on a roof near the hotel.


    After them, about ten figures darted out; each taking a spot around the hotel.


    "Thirteen level-six zombies, five level-seven, and the zombie emperor¡­ If they all charge at us, we''d fall into a difficult situation," Yuan Tianxing said with a frown.


    Those were all the powerful ones among zombies. They couldn''t possibly let those people downstairs face them. Fortunately, Xiao Yunlong had brought a large troop and quite some weapons, so that could deal with the zombie crowd.


    However, facing those high-leveled zombies, the All Beings Base was clearly outnumbered.


    Among them, only Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and Xiao Yunlong were at level-seven. They would be able to fight one zombie dominator each, that too with difficulty. However, if they were all defending against zombie dominators, no one would be left to deal with those zombie kings and queens. Thankfully, Wu Chengyue would be able to fight the zombie emperor.


    "Roar!"


    The zombie emperor stood on top of the building which was in front of the hotel. That building was taller than the hotel by a few floors. He looked down at Qiu Lili and the others and uttered a roar.


    Qiu Lili didn''t like the zombie emperor. She snorted and turned her face away, refusing to respond to him.


    Beside her, Yun Meng raised her voice coldly and loudly, "We refuse! We are happy here. We have no reason to follow you."


    "Roar!"


    Mo Yan the zombie emperor frowned. His dark eyes, which were shining with a purple light, showed a trace of impatience. Meanwhile, he responded coldly with a roar.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    In broad daylight, the veins on his face looked even more obvious and scary.

 679 Mo Yans Pas

    Wu Chengyue had a short fight with the zombie emperor last night, but didn''t see his face carefully. Now, in broad daylight, he saw that half of Mo Yan''s undamaged pretty face was covered in blood veins.


    Abruptly, he asked the zombie with a faint smile, "You still have your memory, meaning that you didn''t forget that you used to be a human. Did you gather all these high-leveled zombies to destroy human beings?"


    Hearing the question, the zombie emperor turned his eyes to Wu Chengyue''s face. He really didn''t like that person. He had waited for three days, but the one that he wanted to see didn''t show up. Mo Yan got a little impatient.


    "Roar¡­" He bared his teeth and roared at Wu Chengyue.


    "He said that he has human memory, but that doesn''t mean anything. He is no longer a human!" Yun Meng translated his words for Wu Chengyue.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Mo Yan didn''t answer Wu Chengyue''s question, even though he guessed right.


    He gathered all those high-leveled zombies, and also worked hard to break into level-eight, all because he wanted to destroy the mankind!


    He had human memory, so he would never forget about how human beings betrayed him, and how he became a zombie.


    Five years ago¡­ Well, since January had already passed, it should be six years ago. When the apocalypse came, the others either became zombies or triggered superpowers. Unlike them, he was in a semi-coma and a high fever. His body temperature had even reached sixty degrees. Back then, he was woken up by the woman he loved. She was screaming with fright; she needed his protection.


    His head was aching, and so was his entire body; he was weak and powerless. However, to protect that woman, he tried his best to keep himself awake. He and his trustworthy subordinates protected that woman as they left his villa and temporarily moved into an apartment in a tall building.


    In a couple of days, a few among his bodyguards triggered their superpowers. His assistant, the man that he trusted the most, attained fire power, and that woman was gifted with space power.


    He was still in a fever, without any superpower and totally defenseless. So, he soon became a burden of the group.


    Most of his subordinates and bodyguards were loyal to him. He was in the gang for more than ten years; he had been through a lot, and his experiences taught him how to win hearts. His people respected him; they were loyal to him, and he trusted them.


    Among all, he trusted Weiming the most. Weiming was his assistant and best friend. He was like a brother to him. They grew up together, and survived in the underworld together. They were together for more than twenty years. He always believed that Weiming would never betray him.


    Weiming once took a bullet for him. If it weren''t for Weiming, he believed that he would have died.


    However, ten days after the apocalypse when he was still powerless, he faintly sensed that Weiming was acting strangely.


    As a gangster, he needed to stay vigilant every single day, because his enemies were always trying to kill him through all sorts of means. For that reason, he had developed keen observation.


    However, once he started to notice Weiming''s strange behavior, that woman, Lin Jingjing, would smartly divert his attention.


    He loved that woman; he loved her with all his heart. He gave her whatever she wanted, and believed everything she said.


    However, that woman never loved him. After the apocalypse, she found that he was powerless, and thought that he might be sick. She believed that he would never recover, so she started to seduce Weiming secretly.


    To her surprise, Weiming had been drooling after her since long ago! He was also a hypocrite, as he never saw Mo Yan as a brother.


    In secret, he had already devoured half of Mo Yan''s force. By threatening or bribing, he had brought a big half of Mo Yan''s subordinates under his control.


    If it weren''t for Lin Jingjing, he would have killed Mo Yan once the apocalypse started.


    He was surprised that Lin Jingjing thought through it so soon. Realizing that Mo Yan was powerless, she turned to Weiming without hesitation.


    Therefore, Weiming launched his move very soon. Unexpectedly, a few of Mo Yan''s subordinates who were especially loyal to him risked their lives and saved him. Weiming killed those people, but Mo Yan managed to run at last.


    Back then, Mo Yan couldn''t believe what happened. As he finally accepted it as a fact, he grew an anger and hatred that he never had before. He loved Lin Jingjing for a long time, and after knowing the truth, he hated her deeply.


    He escaped, and for sure, he would find a way to revenge.


    Back then, he had no strength, and his subordinates had all died. He could barely protect himself, so the plan of revenge was postponed. He needed to survive first!


    He was so weak, avoiding those zombies and trying to find food with difficulty. Before he was starved to death, he suddenly felt that his strength had come back. His head stopped aching, and all of the discomfort had gone.


    Then, he found that the zombies he saw all ignored him. He walked through a crowd of zombies like an invisible person. Finally, he stopped worrying about food.


    Soon enough, he caught up with Weiming and the others, killing Lin Jingjing with a scheme. However, Weiming ran away.


    He was a sentimental person, but he could also be brutal. For the people who had betrayed him, he was never soft-hearted. He could kill the people that failed him without hesitation.


    Weiming knew him the best, and he knew Weiming the best as well. At last, Weiming pushed Lin Jingjing out to take the bullets, and also to distract Mo Yan. At that moment, he grasped the opportunity and ran.


    Later on, Mo Yan discovered his special superpower. His blood and flesh were able to block zombies'' sensations, and make humans upgrade faster.


    He hid that well. But still, Weiming managed to find out about it. Since then, some selfish superpowered human beings started hunting him.


    Mo Yan''s power protected him from zombies, but didn''t give him a strong physical force. Specifically, he was stronger than commoners, but weaker than all the other superpowered humans. After he ran out of bullets, he had no choice but to run for his life every time he encountered other superpowered humans.


    More and more people learned about his special power, and they started sieging him. He was on the run for a year, but at the beginning of the second year after the apocalypse, he was finally caught.


    He spent a year in a lab, watching people cut off his flesh slice by slice. That pain made him long for death. He couldn''t die, just being driven crazy.


    Only the strong hatred had been supporting him¡ªthe hatred toward human beings.


    He died at last, as those people almost cut him open into pieces. But, a crowd of zombies suddenly attacked the place, because of which, he wasn''t broken into parts.


    He eventually turned into a zombie. Perhaps, his wounds had absorbed the zombie blood.


    Unexpectedly, his body condition changed once again after he became a zombie. His lost flesh all grew back, and lightning power woke up inside him.

 680 Its Not Him, Is It?

    Hearing Yun Meng''s words, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but frown. The zombie emperor had human memory, but refused to be a human. Did he really want to destroy the man-kind?


    "No matter how, we won''t leave with you. We can fight¡­ We''ll only lose on the battlefield!" Qiu Lili snorted as she tightened her face. She raised her head high, looking at Mo Yan as she said to him coldly.


    She was in a lower spot than him, but her vibe was as strong as his.


    Mo Yan looked at her and gave a wicked smile. Even the blood veins on his face twitched slightly. "Roar¡­"


    ''Do you want all the people in this place die?''


    Qiu Lili paused briefly, and then burst in angry yells, "I knew that you were not a good person! We are not afraid of you!"


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan looked at her, smilingly.


    ''I''m not a person! I''m a zombie¡­''


    Yun Meng translated his words to Wu Chengyue and the others, then sad, "He doesn''t seem to want to attack us urgently."


    He was actually having a boring conversation with Qiu Lili.


    "You¡­ You are a zombie, but not a good zombie!" Qiu Lili couldn''t help but glare at him and shout.


    "Roar¡­" ''There is no good and bad for zombies. Are you silly?''


    Mo Yan looked at her as a beam of light flashed across his eyes.


    Noticing that look in his eyes, Yun Meng had a strange and bad feeling. She frowned slightly, and then flashed up to Qiu Lili and shielded her.


    "We don''t care if you''re good or bad, but do not mess with us! We are no pushovers!" Yun Meng stared at Mo Yan coldly.


    Seeing that Qiu Lili was shielded by her, Mo Yan showed a fierce look in his eyes.


    "Roar¡­" ''Would you like to know if you can afford to offend me or not?''


    He didn''t plan to make a move so soon. Even though the short-haired girl''s movement made him pretty unhappy, he still wanted to wait. Perhaps, that mysterious being was hiding nearby, waiting for an opportunity.


    He looked around, and the purple light in his eyes grew brighter.


    At that moment, the one that he was waiting for had just arrived at West Lake District in Hangzhou.


    "Eh? So many new vibes?" Lin Qiao stood on the car roof, gazing at the upper city district with a serious look.


    She leaped off and stood before the car, then patted on the hood and said, "Get off the car. Something bad is probably happening in the base. We need to get back there as soon as possible."


    Xie Dong and the others got off the car, looking at her confusedly.


    Lin Qiao put the car into her space, then brought all three of them in. After that, she climbed onto a nearby building and darted toward Upper City District as a higher speed.


    She had sensed a very strong zombie vibe. Apart from the vibes of Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, she had also sensed the vibes of five level-seven zombies and over ten level-six zombies. Why did so many powerful zombies gather around her base?


    The strongest vibe that she sensed was even stronger than her own. Was that a zombie emperor? Wu Chengyue''s vibe was also there too. What exactly was happening?


    While thinking, Lin Qiao raised her speed.


    Back in All Beings Base, Mo Yan looked at Yun Meng. His face turned cold as he raised a hand and crooked his fingers toward a level-seven zombie behind him.


    She wanted to fight, so he was giving her a fight.


    The level-seven zombie walked up from behind him. That was a bald elderly zombie with a grey beard.


    He walked up with his back hunched, then bent his knees and jumped off the roof, toward the people on top of the building hotel.


    He was aiming at Yun Meng. Following his movement, waves of ice thorns flew at her.


    At that moment, the people on the roof moved to the side to dodge.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The ice thorns sank into the ground where Yun Meng was standing, falling into ice pieces immediately.


    As the zombie emperor sent out a level-seven zombie, the people from All Beings Base understood his meaning.


    "You wanna fight? Okay!" Yun Meng coldly glanced at the zombie emperor, then turned her head. Within a blink, her entire body was covered with scales. She wagged her tail which looked like the tail of a snake and rushed at that bald, ice-powered old zombie.


    "What''s that zombie emperor''s name? Did he mention his name?" Wu Chengyue asked Qiu Lili, who was standing beside him.


    "Em¡­ he mentioned it last time. I think it''s¡­ Mo Yan?" Qiu Lili thought for a moment, and then raised her head and answered the question.


    "Mo Yan?" Wu Chengyue abruptly knitted his brows. Then, he closed his eyes and fell into deep thoughts.


    Yun Meng armed herself and charged at the bald and old zombie, who sent sharp ice blades and giant ice blocks toward her.


    She moved swiftly, easily dodging the attacks from the old zombie.


    "Roar!" After launching a series of small-range attacks, the old zombie found that she was as nimble and fast as a loach, such that he couldn''t hit her.


    The simple-minded old zombie was immediately enraged. He wanted so much to land a block of ice on her, so his moves became quicker.


    All sorts of ice cubes, ice blades, and ice thorns were thrown at Yun Meng, wave after wave. If his boss didn''t tell him to keep the damage low, the old zombie would freeze the entire building!


    Yun Meng flashed from left to right, and then suddenly disappeared.


    Eh?


    The old zombie was confused for a moment, and then immediately raised his vigilance. But still, he didn''t manage to dodge the sharp claw that was swung at his back.


    Puff! Yun Meng showed up behind the old zombie and swung her claw quickly and accurately, leaving a few deep wounds on the old zombie''s back.


    With that, black blood spurted from those wounds. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Roar!" The old zombie didn''t feel pain, but was infuriated. He turned as quickly as he could and pounced on Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng moved sideways, and then leaped toward the roof of another building. From the roof edge, she suddenly turned and jumped on the old zombie who followed closely behind her.


    At that moment, the old zombie was still in the air. He reacted fast though, waving a hand and creating a giant ice block. As the ice block fell toward Yun Meng, he stepped on it and leaped high.


    Bang! Yun Meng crossed her arms and clawed at the ice. The two-meters squared giant ice block was crumbled by her.


    Right at that moment, by the edge of the hotel''s roof, Wu Chengyue suddenly raised his head, his eyes showing a weird look.


    "Mo Yan? It''s not him? Is it?"


    "Whom?" Qiu Lili turned to him with confusion and asked.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t respond to her, but carefully observed the zombie emperor. The longer he looked at the zombie, the stronger he felt that he looked like the person whom he was thinking about. Once again, he knitted his brows.


    If the zombie emperor was really whom Wu Chengyue thought he was, he would bring serious trouble for human beings.

 681 Lin Qiao Returns

    @@


    "You seem to know him," Qiu Lili looked at Wu Chengyue, who was frowning more and more deeply.


    "I can''t say for sure right now. I didn''t see that person''s face back at that time. It was years ago, so I can''t tell for sure if it''s him or not," Wu Chengyue shook his head as he looked at Mo Yan with both surprise and doubts. He then continued, "But, that person died three years ago. That''s for sure. As for whether he became a zombie, I don''t know. If he did become a zombie and broke into level-eight in three years, I don''t think we are capable of dealing with him."


    While speaking, he wore a serious face. He didn''t want to mention that person''s name.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Qiu Lili looked at Mo Yan confusedly. She didn''t fully understand Wu Chengyue''s meaning, and only figured that that person might be famous three years ago.


    On the other side, Yun Meng had rushed up to the old zombie, turning to dodge the latter''s ice attack. Then, she suddenly turned again in the air, climbed onto th@@

 682 Yousre Afraid

    @@


    "Roar!" ''What did you say?''


    What Lin Qiao said had enraged Mo Yan, making him glare at her ferociously.


    Meanwhile, the ice-powered old zombie and the two zombie kings returned to Mo Yan. They stood behind him and looked at Lin Qiao with fear.


    The black fire had made them feel suppressed and endangered!


    "Are you angry? Ah, you''re angry! Weren''t you arrogant just now?" Lin Qiao kept laughing.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The people surrounding her all felt that she was laughing so evilly. For some reason, the tense atmosphere was suddenly gone after she came back.


    With that, the All Being Base people instantly became confident.


    Mo Yan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ''Calm down! Calm down! Calm down! I''m not a human being anymore. My flesh can no longer provide superpowered people with energy! I''m not afraid!'' he said to himself.


    "So, you''re afraid!" The female zombie''s voice was heard again, this time from right beside his ears. He automati@@

 683 The Zombie Emperor Retreats

    @@


    "Since you are messing around in my place, I assume you have prepared to suffer a loss," Lin Qiao looked at him with no expression, said coldly, "Or, do you think that you are an invincible zombie emperor? What gave you the courage to offend us without even knowing who we are?"


    Mo Yan raised one arm and lightning sparkled in his hand. However, he didn''t release the lightning, but turned and looked at the others. He found that the five zombie dominators under his command were all involved in difficult battles, and the rest seven level-six zombies were all standing there motionlessly. He didn''t know what had happened to them!


    On the other side of the roof was a man-shaped black panther! Where did that come from?


    Ever since the female zombie showed up, his force was obviously suppressed.


    His heart sank to the bottom, and his face turned even colder. Added with his zombie eyes and those scary blood veins, he looked even more wicked.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao noticed the lo@@

 684 Isll Save I

    @@


    Lin Qiao asked them with discontentment, "Why didn''t you send me a message? If I didn''t come back timely, we''d owe Wu Chengyue another favor."


    She honestly didn''t want to have too many connections with Wu Chengyue.


    "Eh? We sent out a zombie to deliver the message to you. Didn''t you get it?" Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise.


    Lin Qiao paused briefly, then replied, "No. If I knew, I wouldn''t go all the way to Sichuan Province to kill Lu Zhuofeng."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "We had indeed sent out a level-four zombie. Is Lu Zhuofeng dead?" Yuan Tianxing said with his eyes dropped, then raised his head to look at Lin Qiao.


    "He''s dead," Lin Qiao swung an arm and threw two silver metal suitcases onto the conference table.


    "This is the anti-viral drug¡­ Leng Xuantong knows about their effects. We won''t use them, though. We''ll see if we can find any component immune to the zombie virus from these drugs." Having finished talking, she opened one suitcase and took out some drug, le@@

 685 Obey Me Or Die

    @@


    Lin Qiao showed up before one of the six zombies; that was a male zombie who looked about thirty years old, nearly six feet and eight inches tall. His eyes were dark and sunken, glowing dimly. His manly-looking face wasn''t scarred. He was strong, and his lips were purple. At that moment, he was glaring at Lin Qiao with his teeth bared.


    "Obey me¡­ or die," Lin Qiao stood before him with composure and said.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie king popped his eyes and roared at her very unhappily. But still, he didn''t dare to attack her.


    "Follow him, follow me; it''s the same thing. Perhaps, your life will be more secured if you''re with me. He might not be nicer to you than I will," Lin Qiao said, then urged that zombie impatiently, "Cut the crap! You have two choices now¡ªI dig out your nucleus, or you follow me from now on."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Roar¡­ er¡­" The zombie king gave her a roar. Then, he lowered his voice to let her know that he was willing to follow her. He didn''t want her to dig out hi@@

 686 Subsequent Response

    @@


    Probably because the six zombies were all at a high level and were smart, Lin Qiao made them recall their names or nicknames.


    The male zombie with super strength remembered his full name¡ªXia Ri.


    The other zombie remembered his name as well¡ªYe Qingxian. He even remembered that he was from the North.


    One of the remaining two female zombies always had a bland face. Her eyes, nose, and mouth looked average separately, but together, they made an impressive face. Her name was Mo, and she was a possessor of metal power. She was as tall as Nan Jin, about five-feet and eight-inches in height.


    The other one was funny. She was short and fleshy, with a chubby face and a large tail! Her beady eyes always rolled quickly.


    As same as Lin Kui, she possessed the animal power. Judging by her tail, she should be a fox.


    What was funny was that she didn''t remember her name, but remembered that her nickname was Fox.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless about that.</p@@

 687 Green Mountain Mental Institution

    Ye Yingyue carried the plate and carefully walked into the room. The room was dark, without any light. The window was closed, and so were the curtains.


    The room was simply furnished, with a hospital bed, a table, a chair, and a cabinet.


    A man was huddled on the bed. Even though he had curled his body, he still occupied a large space. It seemed that he was rather tall and strong.


    Ye Yingyue gently placed the plate on the table, then turned and looked at the man on the bed, slightly pushing up her glasses. With a soft voice, she said, "Eat the food while it''s still hot. It''ll taste bad when it gets cold. I''ll come back for the plate in an hour."


    Having finished speaking, she gently walked out of the room and closed the door.


    The man in the room was in a hospital gown. He stayed motionless, with his head buried between his knees. A couple of minutes after Ye Yingyue left, he started moving slowly. He spread his long and slim limbs and stepped on the floor with bare feet, then walked to the table. There, he sat down and began eating.


    He was the leader of the base. Before the apocalypse, he had severe autism. After the apocalypse, he was still autistic. However, he wasn''t afraid of zombies. In his eyes, human beings were even scarier than zombies.


    Before the old world ended, he liked to hide in a sealed space alone. Now, he still liked staying in his room alone. But, he also liked to walk among zombie crowds. Perhaps, it was because he could no longer see people all over the world when he walked out of his room. Now, when he left the base, he would see zombies everywhere.


    He didn''t like talking or moving. Except for the three chairmen of the base, he wouldn''t talk to anyone.


    Lan Lu and another chairman of the base both possessed spirit power. Lan Lu had his special way of observation and deduction, and was sensitive to human minds. He used to be a patient in the institution.


    Another chairman, Chang Qingqing, was a girl, about twenty years old. She used to be a nurse working in the institution. After the apocalypse, she obtained the spirit power, and was able to communicate with animals.


    In her eyes, the autistic Chief was actually a timid little animal. Through patient communication, she was able to make him open his heart and accept her.


    The other chairman of the base was also a patient from the institution. His illness was much more serious than that of Dong Xiaowei, the Chief. He had schizophrenia, and he always hurt himself. After the apocalypse, he was bitten by a zombie and turned into a zombie. After that, his schizophrenia was suddenly gone, and he even restored his memory.


    Dong Xiaowei sat there and ate the food. After finishing all the food on the plate, he stood back up and slowly walked to the bed. Next, he lay down and curled his body up again.


    An hour later, slight door knocks could be heard, followed by Ye Yingyue''s voice.


    "Chief, I''m coming in."


    Following her voice, the door was gently opened. Ye Yingyue carefully came in, picked up the plate on the table, and then turned and left.


    After coming out of the room, Ye Yingyue ran into Lan Lu, who had just returned to the base.


    "Eh, Mr. Lan, you''re back! Why are you alone? Where are the others?" Ye Yingyue stopped walking and looked at Lan Lu who was with a suitcase.


    "They have works to do. Have Chief had the meal yet?" Lan Lu said with a faint smile.


    "He just finished the food. You haven''t had a meal yet, have you? You came back right on time," Ye Yingyue nodded. She looked like an eighteen-year-old girl, but in fact, she was already twenty-five.


    "Good, I''m hungry! I''ll be in the canteen later. Right now, I need to put this in a safe place," Lan Lu glanced at the suitcase in his hand and said.


    At that moment, Lei Cheng and others who were sent to carry out a mission by Lan Lu had encountered trouble. After leaving Huaxia Base, they sensed that the Hidden Cloud City Base people were under attack. They saw those well-trained zombies and quickly figured out where they were from.


    They didn''t interfere, but watched the battle from a distance away. They were also with zombies, so they knew about the attack pretty clearly.


    They were planning to find an opportunity to lend a hand. However, the opportunity never came. At last, they watched the female zombie who was the leader of the new base chase behind Lu Zhuofeng, the level-eight man. They thought that she wouldn''t be able to catch him.


    So, they quietly followed behind the other Upper City Base people¡­ no, zombies, to observe them.


    In the end, they followed them all the way to Hangzhou. They were happy about it, as they were planning to pay them a visit. However, they ran into the zombie emperor who was forced away from the new base.


    So, Lei Cheng and his people suffered.


    The angry Mo Yan launched a violent series of lightning bolts at them and scattered Lei Cheng''s team. They didn''t know where each other went.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao exited her space and summoned Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, zombie number one to seven, and the other zombies in the base on the roof, then brought them into her space.


    "This drug will enable you to eat animals, and will improve your body condition. If you want to have some meat but not human flesh, drink this," Lin Qiao stood before the three houses, with a table before her.


    Besides the three houses was an apartment block.


    She didn''t tell them that the water would also generate a subordinative connection between them and her, because except for herself, no one else knew about that. Through that connection, she would be able to sense them when they were in danger. So, with that connection, Lin Qiao could take better care of the other zombies.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    She wouldn''t make use of that connection to hurt or control Qiu Lili and the other zombies who had human memories. She would still give them enough freedom.


    Liu Jun walked up to the table the first. Without asking any question, she picked up a glass of water and drank it up. She trusted Lin Qiao unconditionally. No matter what Lin Qiao asked her to do, she would do it.


    In fact, she was able to eat other animals as long as they were soaked in the lake water from Lin Qiao''s space for a while. They didn''t taste good to her though.


    "This drug will change some parts of your bodies. In mere terms of appetite, it will weaken your desire for human beings. It may also change your appearance, but about that, we don''t know for sure yet. After all, we have just started using this drug," Lin Qiao explained.


    "Eh!" The drug attacked once Liu Jun swallowed it. She looked at Lin Qiao while suffering a pain which made her entire body twitch, "It¡­ it hurts! Ah¡­"


    Finishing her words, she burst in screams.


    "The pain will soon go away. You will be fine," Lin Qiao glanced at her and said.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng watched Liu Jun''s intense reaction and gave a start. With both surprise and confusion, they saw the latter roll on the ground.


    After the first scream, Liu Jun gritted her teeth and stopped herself from making any other noises. Soon, when she nearly fell into unconsciousness, the pain finally faded away.

 688 Change The Blood For The Army

    "It¡­ it hurts?" Qiu Lili hesitated. She was afraid of pain!


    After becoming a zombie, she had almost forgotten what pain felt like. However, she was sensitive to pain when she was little. Even touching her skin could bring her pain.


    "You can choose to not drink it. You two can talk and have memories, so it''ll be fine if you don''t want to take the drug. That''s what I think at least. If you don''t want to eat meat¡­" Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest and said with a smile.


    Yun Meng bared her teeth and said, "I want meat!" I''ve been starving for so long!"


    Ever since she became a zombie, everything tasted awful to her. Only human flesh was nice, but she could not eat humans. Therefore, she hadn''t eaten anything except zombie nuclei or the nuclei of mutated plants.


    At that time, Liu Jun stood up from the ground as she covered her throat with one hand and said with a dry voice, "So thirsty¡­"


    Lu Tianyi handed her a cup of lake water.


    "Take the drug if you want meat. Those roe deers don''t taste too bad," Lin Qiao said to Yun Meng as she pointed at the other side of the lake.


    Liu Jun drank the lake water to moisten her throat. Then, she curiously sniffed at the other side of the lake and said, "There''s no scent."


    "You need to taste it," said Lin Qiao while waving at Xie Dong who was behind her. The latter walked into the kitchen and brought out a plate of fresh meat slices to Liu Jun.


    "Try some and you''ll know," Lin Qiao said to her.


    Liu Jun walked over and picked up a slice of meat with curiosity. She sniffed at the meat and found that it had a strange scent, which was not bad though. Then, she opened her mouth, put the meat into her mouth, and chewed it.


    "Oh, it tastes a little sweet¡­ chewy," Liu Jun''s eyes glowed as she said to the others.


    "You guys, come here," Lin Qiao said to zombie number one, zombie number two, the middle-aged male zombie, the zombie boy, and the weird zombie old man.


    Zombie number one and two were under Qiu Lili''s command the whole time. Currently, they were still at level-four. They walked over and took over the cups from Lin Qiao''s hands. Instead of drinking the drug immediately, they looked at Qiu Lili.


    "Drink it. She won''t hurt you," Qiu Lili nodded at them.


    Hearing her, they obediently drank up the drug in the cups.


    After that, the ice-powered, middle-aged male zombie took the drug, and then the zombie boy did the same. After him were the other two zombies. The zombie old man walked to the table last. He stood before the table and looked at the liquid in the cup.


    Lin Qiao''s blood had been highly diluted, but the other zombies could still tell that the vibe from the drug originated from her.


    The zombie old man held the cup and looked at it, but didn''t drink it. As zombie one to six had all gotten through the pain, he was still holding the cup and hesitating. Seeing the other zombies roll on the ground after taking the drug, the repulsion which was showing up on the old man''s face grew more and more obvious.


    "Are you gonna drink it or not?" Lin Qiao knew that the old man was a clean freak. He asked for a chair before drinking the water, and for a bathroom before taking a bath. Now, he surely wouldn''t want to roll on the ground without being able to control himself.


    ''You''re a zombie, but you''re a clean freak. Why do you always have so many requirements?'' Lin Qiao complained silently. She figured that the old man might ask her for a bed, or even a clean and sealed room!


    As she thought, the old man roared at her before she even finished thinking.


    "Roar¡­" ''I need a bed¡­ a room¡­''


    ''What a difficult old man!''


    "Xie Dong, bring him to house number two and find him a room," Lin Qiao said to Xie Dong helplessly.


    Xie Dong had already gotten used of the old man''s weird habits. He nodded and turned, then headed toward house number two. The old man was immediately relieved. He held the cup happily and followed behind Xie Dong.


    He could cope with the pain, but couldn''t accept rolling on the ground! He was old. How could he possibly roll on the ground like a child?


    Eh? Old? What did that mean?


    Sometimes, the zombie old man would think of some words, but didn''t know what many of them meant.


    Yun Meng picked up a cup of the drug and then went to her room. At last, Qiu Lili was still hesitating, because she was too afraid of the pain.


    "What? Are you scared of the pain?" Sensing Qiu Lili''s fear, Lin Qiao said to her. "Then, we''ll wait for your decision."


    She didn''t plan to force Qiu Lili.


    Except for Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, the other zombies under Lin Qiao''s command had all taken the drug. She didn''t ask Lin Kui if he wanted the drug or not. They were only cooperating with each other, and he didn''t fully trust her yet. Therefore, Lin Qiao didn''t offer him the drug.


    Besides, his body condition was special. For those reasons, Lin Qiao felt that she shouldn''t take the risk.


    Lin Kui knew how the drug was made. He didn''t feel good about drinking the blood of another zombie.


    After offering the drug to the other zombies, Lin Qiao carried out the two zombies that Leng Xuantong brought to her space.


    They were still frozen. Now, she finally had time to wake them up.


    She found an ice-powered zombie to melt the ice on them, then asked someone to put them on the ground and pour some lake water into their mouths. The energy in the water slowly woke up the virus inside them, and they soon woke up as well.


    "Roar¡­" The two ordinary zombies trembled with fear under the vibes from the surrounding high-leveled zombies before they could realize what was happening. The female zombie instinctively held the zombie child in her arms and huddled on the ground.


    Those two zombies had no intelligence, only zombie instincts. Lin Qiao walked to them with two cups of drugs.


    The closer Lin Qiao came, the tighter the female zombie held the zombie child.


    "Drink it," Lin Qiao squatted beside them and ordered with the simplest language.


    The female zombie shivered, but didn''t raise her head immediately. A while later, she carefully raised her head as she made sure that Lin Qiao had no intention to attack her and her child.


    She confusedly glanced at Lin Qiao, then at the cups in her hand.


    Lin Qiao put a cup near her mouth and gently squeezed her chin with the other hand, then poured the drug into her mouth. She didn''t do that violently, so the female zombie wouldn''t be afraid and overreact. She pinched her chin, so that the latter couldn''t draw back.


    She swallowed half of the cup of the drug and let the other half gush out of her mouth.


    "Roar¡­" After swallowing the water, the female zombie suddenly pushed the zombie child away and then curled her body as she began twitching.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Roar?" The zombie child sat by her side in a daze. His eyes were gray, filled with confusion. He didn''t understand what had happened to the female zombie. He just confusedly watched the female zombie roll on the ground.

 689 The Female Zombie And Her Son

    The virus from Lin Qiao''s blood could deliver quick effect to ordinary zombies. In just a couple of minutes, the female zombie had quieted down.


    Her eyes turned black from white. She sat up with confusion and spent a few seconds in a daze. Suddenly, she started looking around, searching for something. Seeing the zombie child, she immediately focused her eyes on her.


    She quickly crawled to the zombie child and held him in her arms, then looked around to observe the surrounding environment and people with vigilance. Her eyes were still filled with confusion. She instinctively wanted to protect the zombie child.


    "Do you remember who you are?" By her side, Lin Qiao lowered her head and asked the female zombie.


    Hearing her, the female zombie paused briefly and then started blinking. Most of the times, she was confused, but she seemed to occasionally think of something. Soon, she frowned while hesitating.


    Lin Qiao knew that she might have remembered something before her death, but that memory was too unclear, so she couldn''t tell if it were real or not.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the zombie child in her arms and asked her, "Who is he?"


    The female zombie lowered her head and saw the zombie child. Suddenly, she widened her eyes as she thought for a moment, and then turned to look at Lin Qiao with a pair of clear eyes.


    "Roar¡­" ''My son¡­''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    She responded.


    "What about yourself?" Lin Qiao blinked and asked.


    The female zombie shook her head. It seemed that she didn''t care who she was. Knowing that the little zombie in her arms was her son was enough for her. In her mind, she needed to protect her son.


    Lin Qiao nodded, and didn''t say anything else. She turned and brought another cup of the drug, then pointed at the other''s son and said, "Give him this."


    The female zombie looked at her alertly.


    She didn''t remember her own name. She didn''t remember many things. But still, she was vigilant.


    Just now, Lin Qiao made her drink the drug, which brought her pain. She simply didn''t want her son to go through the same pain.


    "This is good for him. It won''t hurt him," said Lin Qiao to the female zombie. She looked at the zombie coldly and ordered her, "Let him drink this."


    Under Lin Qiao''s gaze, the female zombie felt as if she was pressed under a mountain, and that feeling was horrible. Under the pressure, she had no choice but to hand her son to Lin Qiao.


    The little zombie was in a daze the whole time. He looked around blandly and made completely no reaction to his mother''s movements.


    Lin Qiao opened his mouth and poured the drug in.


    "Ah¡­" The little zombie swallowed the drug and then burst in a shrill scream. After that, he squatted on the ground and let out a series of strange screeches while scratching his head.


    His screams might have aroused the female zombie''s instincts. She rushed up to the little zombie and scooped him up.


    The little zombie twitched and struggled, nearly freeing himself from the female zombie''s arms.


    Lin Qiao and the others quietly watched them and waited for the little zombie to get over the pain. After that, they brought them some meat slices to comfort them.


    The little zombie screamed heart-breakingly, but as he got through the pain, he held a slice of meat with both hands and ate it happily.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but gave him another slice.


    At that point, the zombie old man came back. He held both hands behind his body and walked over leisurely. He was looking around, his eyes clear and bright.


    Lin Qiao turned to him with surprise. Abruptly, she crossed her arms before her chest and asked, "Old man, who are you?"


    The zombie old man gave her a sideways glance. Even though his eyes were purely black, Lin Qiao could clearly tell that he had just rolled his eyes.


    He rolled his eyes!


    He actually rolled his eyes at her!


    Lin Qiao stared at the old man. She was a little stunned, and so were the others.


    ''Old man, you''re a zombie, an old zombie! Don''t make a proud face like that!'' she said in her head.


    Noticing the look in her and the others'' eyes, the old mand snorted coldly, and held his head even higher. Then, he roared at Lin Qiao, "Roar¡­" ''Impolite kid!''


    Lin Qiao slightly widened her eyes.


    That old man actually called her an impolite kid! She was an adult! Yet, he called her a kid! She was so angry.


    Lin Qiao suddenly got grumpy. She wanted so much to beat the old man!


    "Roarrrrr¡­" My name is Guo Hong. Don''t call me old man. Call me Grandpa Guo!


    The zombie old man clasped his hands behind his waist as he raised his head and said to Lin Qiao.


    "That''s not gonna happen! I''m gonna call you Old Guo!" Lin Qiao glared at him and said.


    "Roar? Roar!" ''What? No, no! Old Guo? That sounds awful!''


    Hearing Lin Qiao words, Guo Hong the zombie old man popped his eyes and stared at her with discontentment.


    "Hm, I''m not gonna call you grandpa!" Lin Qiao rolled her eye and then turned and entered a house.


    "Roar¡­" ''Whatever! Also, the room where I just came from is mine now! Don''t let other people¡­ I mean, zombies¡­ Don''t let other zombies live in there!''


    Guo Hong the zombie old man followed behind her and roared.


    Lin Qiao ignored him, but turned and left the space.


    Lu Tianyi, Xie Dong, and the others looked at the old man curiously. Among all the zombies who had accepted Lin Qiao''s virus, he was the first one who restored his memory. And his character¡­


    While they were thinking, the old man had circled in the house and come back out. He walked straight to Lu Tianyi, picked up a slice of meat from the plate, and put it into his mouth.


    "Roar? Roar¡­ em¡­" ''This tastes good! I wonder what was the drug that the girl gave us. I remember everything now!''


    While eating, the zombie old man roared and mumbled. After finishing the first slice, he picked up another slice of meat. He didn''t seem to be able to stop eating. Lu Tianyi looked at him, thinking that maybe he should just give the old man the whole plate. But, before he took action, Guo Hong had grabbed the plate from his hands.


    "Roar? Roar¡­" ''No chopsticks? So unclean!''


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say.


    The old man carried the plate with one hand. As he turned and prepared to go into the kitchen to find a pair of chopsticks, he saw the little zombie eagerly eyeing the plate in his hand.


    He immediately waved at the little zombie.


    In fact, not many meat slices were left in the plate.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao talked to Leng Xuantong once she came out of her space. She asked him to culture the virus from her. There were over a hundred thousand ordinary zombies out there. It would take her a long time to feed the drug to each of them!


    Then, she checked on the construction of the fence wall. She sent a group of metal-powered people to join the construction team. They had built the structure of the wall with metal, and then covered it with sand and cement. However, only a small number of metal-powered people were found in the base. With no other choice, Lin Qiao selected some metal-powered zombies from her space, made them wear goggles and masks, and sent them to the construction site to help.


    But still, she put them at a distance away from the wall and forbade them from approaching and hurting those human workers.

 690 Mo Yans Offensive

    Then, she went to the field near Mount Wu. She planned to develop the entire area into a farmland. These days, Liu Jun, Shen Yujen, and three zombies with earth and water power were assigned there, turning the soil.


    The sweet potato field had changed thoroughly. Those healthy sweet potato plants which were growing weakly around sweetcorn plants were thriving now, and had covered a big part of the land.


    What were also healthy and thriving were those pumpkin and potato plants from Lin Qiao''s space.


    The plants that Lin Qiao asked Lu Tianyi to grow hadn''t grown the first batch of seeds, so Lin Qiao and her zombie army continued developing new lands.


    Maybe because of the lake water from her space, the soil in the sweet potato field was purified and enrichened.


    Around eighty zombies at level three or four were working on the farmland. They had all been improved by Lin Qiao''s virus. Whatever Lin Qiao and Liu Jun taught them, they were able to understand quickly.


    Specifically, they had become smarter.


    The zombie old man was slightly different from them¡­ Of course, he had become smarter too, but his character turned even stranger.


    "Oi, old man, since you remember everything now, why don''t you try and find your family?" Lin Qiao sat in the cabin leisurely as she looked at the old man who was standing by her side.


    The old man gave her a sideways glance but stayed silent. From that glance, Lin Qiao detected loneliness and coldness.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with confusion. ''Doesn''t he have a family? He doesn''t look like a childless old man. Did his family die at the apocalypse?'' she wondered.


    ¡­


    Mo Yan, who was forced away by Lin Qiao, didn''t go far. After running into Lei Cheng and his people, and venting his anger at them, he had calmed down and started thinking of a way to destroy All Beings Base.


    At first, he needed to figure out that weird female zombie''s background! So, he started to dig into Lin Qiao''s background and seek all the details about her by all means.


    He spent half a month to observe her secretly and collect information through different means. However, the information he attained was little.


    So far, he only knew that the people from All Being Bass called that female zombie Miss. Lu. The two little girls were under her command, and so was the male level-seven zombie that he had seen once, along with about ten zombie leaders and tens of level-four zombies. Apart from them, she also had about fifty level-three zombies.


    He was speechless when he saw Lin Qiao send those zombies to build the fence wall and work in the farmland. But soon, he forgot about those weird things, because he found that those zombies at level three and four all seemed to be strangely smart. Some of them were even as smart as those zombie dominators under his command!


    As far as he knew, the intelligence of zombies grew along with their grades. Level-three zombies could be as smart as six-year-old human children, and level-four zombies could be as smart as an eight-year-old child. At the level of zombie kings and queens, zombies could be as intelligent as teenagers.


    Through half a month of observation, Mo Yan found that those zombies who were working in Mount Wu farmland, and those who were pretending to be humans, helping in the construction site, were all as smart as fourteen-year-old human kids.


    Apart from the female zombie and the two girls, another female zombie who was at level-five was able to talk as well!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Some among those zombies were actually able to talk! That was not normal!


    Mo Yan also found that almost all higher-leveled zombies in All Being Base were like human beings! The two girls didn''t seem to be very afraid when they saw him. On the contrary, they could tell that he had human memory, meaning that they remembered their human lives as well. He could accept that fact though, as he himself had human memory as well.


    At first, he thought every zombie had memory, but didn''t realize that he was a special one.


    Why did those zombies all have their memories? The two who looked like high school students, and the bossy female zombie all had memories. The group of zombie leaders under her command, including one male, two female, and an old man, didn''t look like zombies either. They looked like human beings. Mo Yan guessed that they remembered the things before their deaths as well.


    They had memories, and were able to talk. Apart from that, they were getting along peacefully with the people in that small base. Mo Yan had also noticed the eyes of that female zombie and the other three zombies.


    Same as the other zombies, Mo Yan the zombie emperor couldn''t see colors either. But still, he was able to tell the difference between the purely black zombie eyes and the eyes of human beings, which had dark parts and white parts.


    Why did the eyes of those zombies look like the eyes of healthy human beings? The eyes of zombies were supposed to be entirely black!


    All those strange things puzzled Mo Yan.


    He was patient, though, getting more and more interested in the zombies from that base. And of course, he didn''t forget his subordinates who were taken away by that evil female zombie!


    Where on earth did she hide them? Why couldn''t he find them?


    Mo Yan was planning on rescuing them. However, after half a month of searching, he failed even to find a trace of those level-six zombies!


    However, there was one thing that he was happy about. The people in that small base seemed not to know that a group of zombies was living on the top floor of that hotel building. The rule of the new base forbade all human beings from entering the fifth floor, except for the base administrators.


    They were clearly hiding something. Knowing what they really were, Mo Yan easily figured out what they were hiding.


    He sneered. On his pretty face, his dark eyes sparkled with a purple light. The blood veins on his left face twitched in a creepy way as if they were alive.


    He wondered how those commoners would react when they found out that their leader was a zombie.


    Humans and zombies could never live together!


    During the half a month when Mo Yan was sneakily observing All Beings Base, Lin Qiao upgraded Liu Jun, Xie Dong, Lu Tianyi Shen Yujen, zombie number one to seven, and some other zombies.


    As Mo Yan tried to collect more useful information, he suddenly found that those zombies had all broken into higher levels!


    Liu Jun and Lu Tianyi were at level-four. But this time, Lin Qiao forcibly sent them into level-five. Meanwhile, Xie Dong went directly into level-six and became a fire-powered zombie king. Among zombie number three to seven, only four upgraded successfully. The last one failed, because Lin Qiao ran out of nuclei!


    She had collected a large number of zombie nuclei before. Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the other zombies had each collected some themselves as well. However, a huge consumption was required for upgrading so many zombies at one time, especially when a few among them were going into the level of kings and queens.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao filtered the energies from all the nuclei with the energy from the lake. That allowed those zombies to absorb the energies as much as possible when making the breakthrough. Also for that reason, their energy wouldn''t become too agitated after they reached the new levels.


    Yet, their energies could still be unstable more or less. Therefore, after the upgrade, Lin Qiao immediately sent them to develop new farmlands. By using their powers, they could channel and stabilize the energies inside them.

 691 Mass Upgrade

    Lin Qiao thought that the old man''s throat and vocal cords could be fixed when he entered level-six, but that didn''t happen.


    Xie Dong, the middle-aged male zombie, the zombie boy, and zombie number six had also become zombie kings. However, none of them could talk.


    Lin Qiao rubbed her chin, trying to figure out why. Would they be able to talk when they entered level-seven, like what happened to Yun Meng? Why was Liu Jun able to talk at level-four?


    Was it because of Viney''s power?


    Lin Qiao had saved Lu Zhuofeng''s energy nuclei. She planned to absorb that nucleus together with Viney when the latter was awake. However, Viney''s sleeping time became longer and longer. Recently, she showed no sign of waking up.


    She couldn''t absorb any energy when she was asleep.


    After upgrading a large group of high-leveled zombies, Lin Qiao felt a little tired. The result was good though; it was worth the hard work.


    Apart from the six level-six zombies that she took away from Mo Yan, she now had five zombie kings under her command. They were Xie Dong, Old Guo, the crack-mouthed boy, the middle-aged male zombie, and Zombie Number Six, who was also a male zombie.


    The zombie boy''s broken jaw was surprisingly fixed a little when he upgraded.


    "Fortunately, you still have your jaw. It might not have regrown if you had lost it. I am able to fix your jaw, but I can''t help you regrow your bones!" Lin Qiao said delightfully while checking the boy''s jaw.


    The zombie boy had been well-behaved the whole time. Like a good student, he followed every word that Lin Qiao said. His blood had been changed by Lin Qiao''s virus, and his level was raised. However, he still didn''t restore his human memory.


    But, he seemed to become even more loyal and obedient than before. He accomplished every mission that Lin Qiao gave him perfectly!


    For some reason, Old Guo always liked to joke with the boy zombie when he was doing something seriously. And then, the boy zombie would angrily attack him.


    Like just now¡­


    "Roar¡­" ''You look ugly with your jaw hanging on your face. Why don''t you just take it off!''


    The old man went behind Lin Qiao and bent over, looking at the zombie boy''s jaw before giving a roar.


    The boy zombie was happy when Lin Qiao said that he still had his jaw, as if that was a compliment. However, on hearing the old man''s words, he lost his good mood.


    "Roar!" He bared his teeth and roared at the old man. He was nearly infuriated.


    "Old man, what does it have to do with you? Go away. Don''t always joke with him because he''s young. He''s a zombie king too! He can kick you''re a*s!" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes, then turned to wave the old man off.


    "Roar¡­" Old Guo shrugged, then turned and left with his back hunched, his hands clasped behind his body.


    Lin Qiao turned back and saw the zombie boy holding his jaw with both hands, his face filled with confusion. Clearly, he took the old man''s words seriously.


    The zombie boy always carried out missions carefully, and was a sensitive child.


    "Alright, it''s okay. I''ll fix your jaw. Ignore that bad old man," Lin Qiao rubbed his hair.


    The zombie boy immediately raised his head and looked at Lin Qiao expectantly.


    In the coming days, Lin Qiao paid attention to the fence wall which was built more and more efficiently, and also spent time in the farmland in Mount Wu area. Pumpkins and potatoes had been planted, but not the other plants for the time being. The earth was washed and purified by Lin Qiao with the river water mixed with her lake water.


    Those jobs were mostly done by Lu Tianyi and Liu Jun. Lin Qiao only needed to go there every day and provide them with lake water.


    At the end of the first month in the sixth year after the apocalypse, Xie Dong went to Lin Qiao with a message.


    "Guess? I think someone released this message on purpose," Lin Qiao said. She was sitting in her office behind her desk. On the desk was a pile of files and blueprints. Holding the piece of paper that Xie Dong gave her, she sneered.


    News had started spreading among All Beings Base people, saying that the ones living on the fifth floor were all zombies.


    Anyone who heard about that were shocked. They could scarcely believe it.


    How could zombies possibly live with human beings?


    Many of those people knew that their Chief, Miss Lu, Liu Jun, her son, and Xie Dong and Shen Yujen who were from Sea City Base, were living on that floor.


    They looked a little weird, but their behavior seemed no different from that of healthy human beings!


    However, thinking about the crowd of zombies which were guarding the base, and the zombie path that they had gone through back in the old Hades Base, those people realized that they all had something to do with zombies.


    They thought that their Chief had some kind of secret ability which allowed her to protect the others from zombies, but never thought about if those zombies were controlled by higher-leveled zombies or not.


    "Let Yuan Tianxing and the others deal with this," Lin Qiao didn''t pay too much attention to the news, but handed the paper back to Xie Dong and said to him blandly.


    Yuan Tianxing or Lin Feng could easily solve that small problem.


    Xie Dong nodded as he took over the paper, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the blueprint on her desk. Some geographic features and the structure of the current base were marked on it with red and black pens. The construction of the fence wall had lasted for about three months. Recently, Lin Qiao had sent some zombies with metal power and earth power to help. So, the construction work had become more efficient than before by many times over, and the fence wall was already over ten miles long.


    Based on the current efficiency, the rest twenty miles could be finished in about a month. After that, the construction of the zombie base would start.


    The accommodations for the people in the base needed to be rearranged. Since people had started to suspect the ones living on the fifth floor, she decided to re-accommodate Hades Base survivors, and the ones from Sea City Base.


    About food, Lin Qiao had no worries. Currently, she only needed to build up the fence wall and arm the army. The base was still lacking weapons.


    On her way back from Huaxia Base, she took all the weapons that belonged to Lu Zhuofeng and his people. However, those weren''t enough to destroy the entire Hidden Cloud City Base.


    Her zombie army also needed to evolve.


    During the recent half a month, she had changed the blood of tens of thousands of ordinary zombies. That mission was carried out by Xie Dong and his zombie squad, with the help of Yun Meng. They were working efficiently; however, it still required some time for them to change the blood of over one-hundred-thousand zombies.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Except for the crowd of zombies around All Beings Base, there was another batch of ordinary zombies in West Lake District. That was an even larger crowd brought to Hangzhou by Lin Qiao from the old Hades Base.


    When those zombies accepted Lin Qiao''s virus, the order that she gave them could no longer be erased. Lin Qiao had done a test about it. She first gave them an order, then asked Qiu Lili and Yun Meng to give them another order. As a result, they made no response to the two.


    So, changing the blood of the other zombies, or, more specifically, the virus inside them, became the most though project that Lin Qiao was undertaking.

 692 Practically Sealed Their Mouths

    Xie Dong told Yuan Tianxing that some people were leaking the secret of the fifth floor. The latter immediately found those people and forcibly sealed their mouths. He forbade them from digging into the fifth floor, and brought the few who were causing a stir under control.


    Soon, he figured that he should talk to Lin Qiao about that. That had happened once, so there would probably be the second time. In the future, they needed to keep those zombies more secretly and raise their vigilance. He needed Lin Qiao''s cooperation in that.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    They also needed to think up a way to divert those people''s attention and stop them from starting trouble in the base!


    "This will certainly happen again. Besides, we haven''t found the person who leaked the information in the first place. That''s a hidden problem," Yuan Tianxing sat on the couch in Lin Qiao''s office and said.


    "We provided these people with food and accommodations. Yet, they refused to live a good life, but messed around in the base. Bring them my words. In three days, we will hold a grand meeting on the playground in the high-school nearby," Lin Qiao sat behind her desk, her eyes fixed on the blueprint on the desk. She talked with a bland face, without even raising her head.


    "What are you gonna do?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her with curiosity.


    "Kick the few troublemakers out of the base, tell the others that they violated the rules of our base, and spread the rumor. Then, kill them secretly. We can''t let them spread the secret in the base, and we can''t let them bring the secret away either," said Lin Qiao.


    "Also," she continued, "Don''t we have the anti-virus drug from Huaxia Base? Release a message, saying that we have developed a new type of drug from that drug, which allows us to control lower-level zombies."


    That would make a perfect explanation to the people in the base, and Yuan Tianxing nodded in agreement.


    "We offered them a place to live in, a chance of survival. So, they have to follow our rules. I brought them here to give them a home. If they don''t want to be here, I won''t force them. However, if they attempt to frame us and ruin the reputation of our new base, I won''t spare them." Lin Qiao drew some squares on the map of Mount Wu area, and then marked those squares with the types of food which would be planted there. Meanwhile, she said with a bland tone. Her words gave out a fierce vibe that only a leader could have.


    "Alright, we''ll do as you said," Yuan Tianxing nodded.


    Three days later, three-thousand All Beings Base members gathered together on the playground of the high school which was located beside the hotel. They were all survivors of Hades Base, and most of them were grateful for Lin Qiao. However, some among them didn''t trust her, who now looked like a stranger.


    Standing on the high stage before the playground were Lin Qiao, Lin Feng, and other base administrators. It was January, and the weather was still cold. The wind was chilly, making some people who didn''t have enough clothes shiver.


    Lu Tianyi, Shen Yujen, and Xie Dong were standing beside Lin Qiao. The three of them didn''t have any zombie features. She didn''t step up and talk, but let Yuan Tianxing make the opening speech.


    "Today, we all gather in this place because we want to reiterate the rules and laws of our base," Yuan Tianxing stood on the stage as he looked down at the thousands of people on the playground with composure.


    They didn''t invite Sea City Base people to the meeting, because what they were going to say had nothing to do with them. Those were outsiders.


    "Earlier on, some people spread the rumors saying that the people living on the fifth floor of the Victoria Hotel are all zombies. They also suspected that our Chief is a zombie too. So now, can any of you tell me, as a zombie, why did she build a base for you guys? Why did she offer you a place to live in? Also, what made you suspect that she might be a zombie? Don''t forget that if it weren''t for her, you would have been killed by Earth Dragon Base people, or Yang Jianhua the traitor long ago," Yuan Tianxing said to them loudly. His eyes scanned across every single one of them, and his voice was hard and cold.


    He wanted those people to remember how they survived, and why they came to the new base.


    Hearing that, the thousands of people fell into silence.


    "She¡­ she can control zombies! When we came here, some zombies approached us, but didn''t attack us! This base is surrounded by a lot of zombies as well! How will you explain that!" A man abruptly asked a few questions.


    Yuan Tianxing fixed his eyes on that man and responded, "If she''s a zombie, why did she build a base for humans? Why didn''t she simply not eat you all? Did she really need to make all the efforts? Besides, why do you think that she''s a zombie? Have you seen any talking zombies? Have you seen a zombie with human eyes?"


    That man didn''t know what to say, so he chose to stay silent.


    Yuan Tianxing was right. Zombies had no sanity. They attacked every human being they saw. Even high-leveled zombies weren''t sane; they were like man-shaped monsters. A zombie would never provided people with food and accommodation, not to mention building a base to protect them.


    Those people didn''t want to believe Lin Qiao, but were willing to believe Yuan Tianxing, who was their Deputy Chief back in Hades Base.


    Lin Qiao did look like a human being.


    Next, Yuan Tianxing ordered Duan Juan to bring the group of people who dedicated the most on spreading the rumor. They were all tied up.


    He said, "The construction work of our new base isn''t finished yet, and the fence wall is only done by thirty percent. But, we still need to follow the rules of our base. Every country has its laws, and every family has its rules. We, of course, have our own rules too! We do not accept people like them. They spread the rumors in the base and caused a disturbance among the people. If their names weren''t in the list of Hades Base members, I''d think that they were working for another base."


    "Now, as the Deputy Chief of All Beings Base, I will banish these people, because they have disturbed the public order and caused a threat to the base," Yuan Tianxing waved a hand while speaking and signaled for a Deputy Chief to bring those people off the stage with some armed soldiers.


    "Now, let me tell you why the zombies in this place wouldn''t attack you. This¡­ is the drug that Huaxia Base newly developed. Months ago, we received the news, saying that this drug contained one component that threatens zombies. Like mosquito repellents, it can''t kill zombies, but can make zombies run away from us," Yuan Tianxing raised the drug from Huaxia Base, and said to those people, "That is a secret of our base. You can''t talk about it to the people from other bases. So now, every one of you needs to sign a confidentiality agreement! If you are not willing to do that, I might show you no mercy. You have already known about the secret, so if you refuse to keep it secret, you''ll be seen a threat to the base. We tend to get rid of all threats as soon as possible!"


    Yuan Tianxing finished talking and released a strong intention of killing.


    He had sealed the mouths of all the base member by telling them the secret first and making them sign the agreement later. That couldn''t be done the other way around.


    Yuan Tianxing''s words made those people realize that they did not have any choice. They could either die or believe in the base.

 693 Donst Even Think About Taking it From me

    At last, people had no other choice but to sign the agreement. After that, Yuan Tianxing stepped backward while Lin Qiao walked up.


    "You want to know why I''m the leader, don''t you? Do you think that I''m an outsider, so I shouldn''t be your Chief?" Lin Qiao stood straight on the high stage, feet slightly apart and hands habitually held behind her back.


    She was wearing a black army coat that only a Chief could wear. The coat was long and perfectly tailored. She had a badge on her left chest, epaulets on her shoulders, and a belt around her waist. The knee-length coat covered half of her long legs. She wore a pair of high boots and a black army hat. Underneath the hat, her long hair were tucked behind her ears, exposing her cold and serious face.


    A strong vibe was radiated from her entire body.


    "It''s because I''m stronger than you," she said, "I saved you from the enemies, and I brought you from thousands of miles away. My people and I built this base. I offered you food, clothes, and a place to live in. I''m the reason why you survived."


    While speaking, she scanned all those people with her cold eyes, making them feel that they had nowhere to hide, as if they were all under her watch.


    "I will not indulge you in doing anything harmful for the base or the people in this place!" Lin Qiao''s cold voice echoed in everyone''s heart. Meanwhile, her mighty vibe made them feel hard to breathe.


    Suppressing thousands of people with her vibe was an easy thing for Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao''s words thrown everyone on the scene into silence. They could not retort.


    In the post-apocalyptic world, people respected the powerful ones. Not all powerful people would protect the weak ones. On the contrary, they had every right to do nothing. The weak people had no other choice but to rely on the powerful people to survive. They had no right to question the powerful ones.


    "One-third of the fence wall has been completed. Based on the current working efficiency, I believe we can finish the rest of the wall in not too long. The farmland is going well. So, in this base, you do not need to worry about food and security. But, please follow the rule of this base. We do not count on you to make major contributions for the base, but please do protect it," Lin Qiao continued with a bland voice.


    ¡­


    Soon, Mo Yan found that his sneaky moved was solved by the female zombie so easily, and had even helped her to build her prestige in front of her people. That made him so angry.


    He was never an ordinary being. As his first plan failed, he came up with another plan.


    He assumed that some people from her base would come out to collect supplies. So, he decided to kill those people.


    He made the plan and waited for another half month. However, he didn''t see even one person come out of that base! He didn''t understand. Didn''t those people need to come out to collect supplies?


    Currently, All Beings Base only had thousands of people. The supplies that those people needed for the winter had been prepared two months ago. It was January; the weather was still cold, and the wind was bone-piercing. Not to mention All Beings Base, even the other bases barely sent people out to collect supplies or hunt for zombies at that time.


    Recently, under Lin Qiao''s order, Yuan Tianxing had re-accommodated all the residents in the base. Except for the ones who lived on the fifth floor, all people in the Victoria Hotel had been moved to the dormitory in high school.


    While Mo Yan stayed near All Beings Base, waiting for a chance to start trouble, he found a few groups of strangers sneakily approaching the base. Then, he found that those people were clearly here to scout for All Beings Base''s current condition, and that they were all from other bases.


    He secretly followed behind those people to see who they were. Soon, he figured out that some of them were from Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base, and some were from Huaxia Base. Those people who earlier suffered attacks from Mo Yan and ran away had returned as well.


    Green Mountain Base? Mo Yan hadn''t heard about that base.


    Mo Yan was at level-eight, and all his subordinates were at level seven and six. As long as they restrained their vibes and kept a safe distance from people, they would not be discovered. However, once those people approached the base, Qiu Lili and the other zombies sensed them.


    As Lin Qiao and her zombies found those suspicious people, Mo Yan felt as if his prey was targeted by other people.


    So, he got angry.


    ''What are you guys looking at! This base is my target now! The people and those zombies in this base are all my targets! Are you guys here to take my targets? Go away! Don''t even think about it!''


    As a result, those people were destroyed by some level-six zombies before they could even approach the zombie defense line!


    "Eh, those annoying people are still out there!" The scouts from the other bases suffered attacks, and that immediately caught the attention of Qiu Lili and the other All Being Base zombies. They looked carefully and recognized those zombie kings and queens as the ones under Mo Yan''s command.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "He''s been out there the whole time."


    The others couldn''t sense Mo Yan, but she could. Besides, even if he was able to hide well, those level six and seven zombies under his command couldn''t possibly hide from her eyes, no matter how they restrained their vibes.


    "Eh? Did you know that he''s out there? What does he want? Is he looking for an opportunity to bring us trouble?" Qiu Lili first looked at Lin Qiao with surprise and then pouted angrily. Clearly, she really didn''t like that zombie emperor.


    Lin Qiao squatted on the sweet potato field, catching bugs while digging out sweet potatoes.


    The weather was cold, and the plants were growing slowly; some plants were even in dormancy. However, Lin Qiao''s plants were different. Being watered by her lake water, they couldn''t be affected by the changes in weather since long ago. Those plants were all thriving. The sweet potatoes from that field were actually large in size!


    Lin Qiao and the other zombies didn''t eat sweet potatoes, but the people in the base enjoyed them happily. Under the cold weather, having a soft and sweet roasted sweet potato which smelled wonderful was such a great thing!


    The sweet potatoes weren''t richly harvested yet.


    "I know. They spread the word in our base and told our people that we''re zombies, didn''t they?" Lin Qiao put a palm-sized potato into the basket by her side and said blandly.


    "Ah, it was him! I thought those people found it out by themselves!" Qiu Lili slightly widened her eyes with surprise, then her face was filled with anger.


    Mo Yan was so annoying!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "How could those people possibly think of that? They were curious about the fifth floor, but wouldn''t doubt our nature," Lin Qiao smiled and carried on, "He''s out there right now. I guess he''s waiting for our people to go out so that he can attack them. He''s planning on taking revenge on us in that way."


    "Sneaky!" Qiu Lili snorted.


    "You can''t say that. All schemes serve purposes," Lin Qiao smiled. She would use that kind of schemes too. To Earth Dragon Base or Hidden Cloud City, she might do something much eviler and crueler than what Mo Yan would do.

 694 Isve Heard About that Man

    "Alright¡­" Qiu Lili responded without fully understanding Lin Qiao''s words. Clearly, she wasn''t interested in that topic.


    "But now, he has solved some small problems for us," Lin Qiao smiled as she dug another sweet potato out of the ground.


    "That''s true!" Qiu Lili thought for a moment and understood.


    "We''ve gotten enough rest. It''s time to deal with Hidden Cloud City," Lin Qiao stood up, then turned to the Southwest as she narrowed her eyes.


    "Eh? Are you ready to do it?" Qiu Lili looked at her.


    Lin Qiao nodded and replied, "But first, I need to solve the zombie emperor problem. Oh, I haven''t asked you about his name yet. What is his name?"


    "Mo Yan," Qiu Lili said his name reluctantly.


    "Oh¡­ eh?" Lin Qiao nodded at first, and then seemed to think of something.


    "What''s wrong?" Qiu Lili looked at her curiously.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Mo Yan¡­ That name sounds familiar. Let me think about it¡­" Lin Qiao frowned and thought for a moment. Soon, her eyes glowed as she continued, "It''s him! No wonder I found him having those strange emotions¡­ He is repulsed by humans, and is also afraid of them."


    "Do you know him?" Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao with both confusion and surprise.


    "Not really. I had heard about him," Lin Qiao shook her head.


    "The second year after the apocalypse, a Northeast base caught a special superpowered man. They treated him like an experimental subject, like what people did to Lin Kui. But, I heard that he suffered a lot worse than Lin Kui did. Those people cut off his flesh while he was still alive." Lin Qiao said.


    Qiu Lili was stunned a little. She slightly widened her eyes and murmured, "Cut¡­ cut off his flesh? Superpowered man? He was a human back then, wasn''t he? Wasn''t that extremely painful? He was killed by the pain, wasn''t he?"


    She could easily imagine how painful it would be when a healthy human being was caught and turned into an experimental subject, having his body cut into pieces while he was still alive. No ordinary person could stand that kind of pain.


    "We heard about that later. At that time, we had just started to build our own base. Besides, we were in the South while they were in the Northeast. They were far away from us. Later on, I heard that he died in a zombie attack. I also heard that those people cured him while cutting off his flesh, just to keep him alive. If the zombie attack didn''t happen, he might have suffered for a much longer time," Lin Qiao recalled that what happened to the man shocked many people back then.


    "Why¡­ Why did those people cut off his flesh? Did he have a special power?" Qiu Lili asked, while picturing that pretty man being chained and locked in a lab, and people cutting off his flesh from his arms and legs, slice by slice.


    Imagining that scene, she had her hair standing on their ends. That much be so painful!


    "I heard that his blood and flesh could help superpowered people upgrade. Back at that time, zombies were everywhere, and people were weak. Under those circumstances, everybody wanted to grow stronger as soon as possible," said Lin Qiao.


    Qiu Lili fell into silence.


    Humans were horrible!


    "At times, poor people can be utterly detestable, and vice versa. Under that kind of torment, anyone would wish for death. Also, there''s one thing that you probably didn''t notice. Earlier, Mo Yan didn''t attack our base, because he is actually having a fear toward human beings," Lin Qiao said.


    "Em¡­ Are you saying that he''s actually afraid of getting close to humans? Is that why he stayed outside the base? I thought he was planning on something," Qiu Lili said, "But, he eats people! He even eats people!"


    "What''s wrong about that? He is a zombie now, and it''s reasonable for him to eat humans. After all, humans used to eat him! What''s the difference between those people who ate his flesh and those post-apocalyptic robbers out there?" said Lin Qiao carelessly.


    The zombie emperor didn''t give out a strong hostility and the scent of blood. His vibe and anger were both pure and natural. No strong evilness could be detected from him.


    That made Lin Qiao wonder.


    The zombie emperor''s vibe was a little ambivalent; it was both good and evil.


    Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao with confusion and said, "You sound like you''re speaking for him¡­"


    "Am I?" Lin Qiao brought the basket back to the wooden cabin. Hearing Qiu Lili says that she seemed to be speaking for the zombie emperor, she turned, gave Qiu Lili a glance while replying, "I feel sympathy for him, for what he has been through. I''m not speaking for him. If he refuses to leave us alone and insists on causing us trouble, I won''t let him get away with it."


    "He''s out there right now. He is quite a threat to our base, isn''t he? Why don''t you just fight him and make him leave?" Qiu Lili asked a question that she wanted to ask since long ago.


    "Because¡­ I want to see if we can work together with him," Lin Qiao put the basket on the clearing before the cabin and carried on, "Besides, if we really started a serious fight, I might not be a match for him."


    "Eh? But that day, you¡­" ''You seemed every strong,'' Qiu Lili thought.


    "And, didn''t you kill Lu Zhuofeng? He was at level-eight! Why can''t you defeat a zombie emperor?" Qiu Lili looked at her confusedly.


    "That day, I was bluffing him. He didn''t know much about us after all. I am only at level-seven. There''s still a difference between level-eight zombies and me. Plus, he is a possessor of lightning power. When he bursts in fury, do you think he''ll flatten our base with a thunderstorm? I killed Lu Zhuofeng by entrapping him in my space. That might not work for the zombie emperor. Zombies are not like humans. I might be able to trap him, but he would perhaps make my space explode," said Lin Qiao.


    She could not tell exactly how powerful Mo Yan could be.


    "Then¡­ You can just trap him in your space," said Qiu Lili.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No, I don''t have time."


    To suppress the zombie emperor in her space, she needed to focus her will power in her space all the time. Where could she find that much time?


    However, it was time for her to do something to make him leave.


    She decided to talk to the zombie emperor the next day. However, her plan was postponed because of something that happened that night.


    Viney, who had slept for over a month, finally woke up.


    ''Mama, Mama¡­''


    Lin Qiao was sitting in Mrs. Lin''s room, reading some files while listening to the others talking. Hearing Viney''s voice, she paused briefly, then immediately lowered her head to look at her own belly.


    She didn''t make any sounds, but talked to Viney in her heart, ''Viney, you''re finally awake!''


    ''Yeah, I''m awake. I feel that I''ve had a very long sleep¡­'' Viney sounded happy.


    Lin Qiao laughed in her head, ''Of course. You''ve slept for more than a month.''


    ''Oh, but I might sleep longer time in the future¡­'' Speaking of that, Viney became a little upset.

 695 The Later, The More Dangerous

    "Eh? Will you?" Lin Qiao asked with surprise.


    ''Mama, Mama, I might have a very, very long sleep before you give birth to me¡­ But, I haven''t entered the formative state yet¡­'' Viney said frustratedly.


    Sensing her feelings, Lin Qiao asked, ''How long exactly? And, what does the formative state mean?''


    She had a strange feeling about that. ''Viney is not talking about the process of a zygote developing into a fetus, is she?''


    ''It''s how I''ll become a little baby¡­'' Viney gave the answer.


    "What''s wrong? Is there any unsolved problem?" Mrs. Lin asked Lin Qiao as the latter suddenly turned a little absent-minded. Hearing her words, all the others in the room turned to the latter.


    Except for Mrs. Lin and Liu Jun, the others, including Lin Xiaolu, Tongtong, Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, and Cheng Wangxue, were all having sweet potatoes. The room was suffused with the sweet aroma of sweet potatoes.


    "Ah¡­ oh, yeah, there''s one thing that I need to deal with. It''ll be done in a couple of days," Lin Qiao didn''t tell them about Viney, neither did she let them know that the zombie emperor hadn''t left. She just gave them a vague response.


    Meanwhile, she asked Viney in her heart, ''So¡­ when can you enter the formative state?''


    Viney thought for a moment, then responded, ''Em¡­ I''m not sure about that either. But, I think it''ll be about the time when I have absorbed some more energy. I don''t know how long will I sleep this time¡­ It''ll surely be longer than the last time¡­''


    ''Longer than the last time? Viney slept for over forty days this time. Will it be two or three months the next time? And, it''ll only be the formative period¡­'' Lin Qiao thought.


    ''Normally, the formative period of healthy human babies is two months. I have been pregnant for a couple of months, yet the baby hasn''t entered the formative state yet! Alright, I''m a zombie. I can''t make judges based on the common sense of human beings¡­ I can''t¡­''


    Viney also said that she would sleep for a very long time before she was given birth.


    Thinking about that, Lin Qiao somehow wondered if she would give birth to a baby like Nezha, a mythological figure in Chinese culture. Nezha''s mother was pregnant with him for three years.


    At that time, Viney suddenly asked, ''Are Ling Ling and her father in our base? I kinda miss them.''


    Lin Qiao replied, ''They are, of course, not in our base. They are in their own base.''


    Viney said with disappointment, ''Oh, alright. When can I see them?''


    ''When you come out. When you are able to run and jump, you''ll be able to see anyone you want.'' Lin Qiao said to her.


    Viney became a little unhappy. ''But, it''s going to be a very long time until then¡­''


    Lin Qiao said helplessly, ''Then just absorb some energy and go to sleep again. I saved a level-eight energy nucleus for you. How much energy can you absorb?''


    Viney''s interest was immediately aroused by the level-eight energy nucleus. ''Eh? Level-eight? Impressive! I don''t know¡­ I can''t absorb much energy yet¡­''


    ''I''ll bring you back to absorb the nucleus now,'' Lin Qiao said.


    She stood up and said to the others in the room, "I''m going back to my room."


    "Alright, go," Mrs. Lin didn''t ask her to stay and just nodded. Her eyes lingered briefly on Lin Qiao''s stomach, but she didn''t say anything about it.


    She and the others had asked Lin Qiao about the baby earlier. She was pregnant for months, yet her stomach was still flat. All the others were curious about the baby. They told her to find Lin Hao and get a check-up when she had time.


    Recently, Lin Hao was working together with Leng Xuantong in the lab. On the one hand, they need to figure out what components the drug from Huaxia Base contained, and on the other hand, they needed to culture the virus from Lin Qiao''s blood for massive usage. Apart from those, they had still been doing tests with the blood of Lin Qiao and Lin Kui, trying to find out if their blood could deliver any other effects. With all these works, Lin Hao was so busy lately that he had forgotten about Viney long ago.


    Lin Qiao entered her space and asked Viney, ''The dangerous time will be over after the formative period, right?''


    ''Dangerous time? What dangerous time?'' Viney asked with confusion.


    ''Like, if I made a big movement, you might get hurt. Didn''t you tell me not to fight people too intensely?'' Lin Qiao said.


    ''Eh? Do you mean the future? It might be more dangerous than now,'' Viney said, After all, I need to sleep. I''ll absorb the energy in sleep, so I won''t be able to protect myself while I''m sleeping.''


    Lin Qiao was a little stunned.


    ''What? So, later pregnancy will be more dangerous than now? It''s the opposite of the pregnancy of humans, isn''t it?''


    ''In that case, I need to finish Hidden Cloud City Base right now! I don''t know when this little thing will come out! It certainly won''t happen in ten months like the pregnancy of humans!'' she thought.


    Lin Qiao walked to the lakeside and released a stream of black mist to wrap herself up. After that, she took off her clothes and folded them, putting them on the ground. Then, she walked into the lake and dived to the bottom.


    In the lake, she gathered the energy around her body and then put the energy nucleus on her stomach. Sensing the energy from the lake and the energy from the nucleus flowing into her flat belly, she crossed her legs and sat at the bottom of the lake.


    In the next two days, Mo Yan didn''t sense Lin Qiao''s vibe, but stayed vigilant the whole time. However, to his surprise, while he had his eyes on All Beings Base, the second batch of scouts from the other bases arrived.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    This time, Hidden Cloud City had sent a large troop. A three-hundred-man troop leading by fifteen level-five superpowered people and two Deputy Chiefs showed up by the border between West Lake District and Upper City District.


    "These Hades Base survivors have really built a new base in this zombie city. I am so curious about that base." On top of a building, Qi Hanhui stood beside Weiming, looking at All Beings Base.


    Weiming had a sullen face, and didn''t respond to him.


    It had been about a month, yet they still hadn''t found a trace of Lu Zhuofeng. They refused to believe that a level-eight man would die so easily.


    Where had he been?


    While searching around for Lu Zhuofeng, Weiming and Qi Hanhui scouted for the condition of the new base in Hangzhou. Unexpectedly, the squad that they sent out two days ago had disappeared. They figured that the squad might have encountered a problem.


    "Tonight, I''ll lead a squad to see what''s going on in there," Weiming looked at All Beings Base and said.


    "Okay. Among those Hades Base people, Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng are the only two at level-six. There won''t be any big problems, but do be careful," Qi Hanhui nodded.


    Once it turned dark, Weiming and a ten-man squad sneaked toward Upper City District.


    By the time Lin Qiao sensed that some people were approaching her base, Mo Yan had gotten close to those people and stopped them from moving forward.


    Following a series of rumbling thunder, lightning bolts suddenly flashed across the clouds, illuminating the entire sky. At that time, Weiming and his people were driving two off-road cars in the darkness.


    Weiming stuck his head out from the window on the side of the front seat, wondering would thunderstorms happen in winter.


    While he was still confused, a new wave of thunder was heard, and then a few purple bolts of lightning descended from the sky, falling toward the two cars.

 696 Meeting the Enemy

    Weiming slightly widened his eyes and gave a start before bursting in a shout, "Hide!"


    The driver saw the lightning too and automatically turned the steering well.


    Bang! As a result, the car bumped into the guardrail.


    Mo Yan stood on the roof as he looked at Weiming who got out of the car in haste. The look in his eyes was extremely cold.


    Sensing a strong intention of killing, Weiming immediately turned to Mo Yan. However, he saw no one but a dark patch of woods.


    "Deputy Chief, in the front!" One of Weiming''s subordinates suddenly yelled at him.


    Weiming turned and saw a figure standing in the middle of the road, about a hundred meters away. When he looked at the other, the latter moved, slowly walking toward him. Following his movements, a few figures flashed over from all directions and quietly landed behind him before approaching the cars along with him.


    Weiming''s people vigilantly raised their guns as they stared at those mysterious figures which had popped out of nowhere.


    Seeing the dark circles under those people'' eyes and the colorful glow in those eyes, Weiming''s people turned nervous.


    "Zombies!"


    Weiming looked at those zombies which were approaching him and suddenly felt a strong pressure. He was surprised.


    Those were top-leveled zombies, all of them!


    "Retreat!" Weiming made a prompt decision, then turned and prepared to run. Hearing his order, all his subordinates understood his meaning. They immediately turned to run away.


    Even their boss was running! They, of course, would run as well!


    However, as Weiming made about ten meters of distance, the leader of the group of zombie flashed across the air and showed up before him, making him stop moving.


    It was all dark. Weiming clearly sensed that zombie, but couldn''t see his face. Earlier on when the car light was on, he only had a blur vision of the zombie.


    The fierce intention of killing from that zombie was way too obvious. He couldn''t possibly ignore it. Right at that moment, facing the zombie, Weiming felt that he was the very target of that killing intention.


    With that awareness, Weiming tightened his entire body. He made a step backward as he created a large fireball with each hand. The fire illuminated the surrounding area.


    This time, Weiming finally saw the zombie''s face. Half of that pale face was covered in blood veins. His purple lips were pressed together, and his eyes glowed with a purple light. That face was entirely cold, filled with the killing intention.


    Weirdly, Weiming detected hatred from the zombie''s eyes, which he didn''t understand. Why did he see hatred? It was the first time he met that zombie. He believed that he had never offended that zombie before.


    He didn''t care about the hatred though, because that was a zombie!


    He threw out the fireballs, then swiftly moved backward.


    Mo Yan waved an arm conveniently. Following his movement, a series of thunder was heard and a wave of lightning bolts fell, striking the two fireballs simultaneously and dispersing the fire.


    Meanwhile, one lightning bolt fell toward Weiming.


    The lightning landed within a blink. Weiming didn''t manage to dodge, but only released all his power to protect himself.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Bang! The lightning still broke his energy shield and sent him flying away, making him thud against the ground.


    They were now on a hill in the suburbs. Nothing but hills and woods surrounded them.


    Weiming fell on the ground, and the pain slowed him down. At that moment, Mo Yan swung an arm and sent two thin lightning bolts to his legs.


    "Ah¡­" Weiming screamed. His legs were broken by the lightning.


    After that, Mo Yan flashed up to him. He glanced at Weiming and found that the latter looked the same as a couple of years ago.


    He squatted and started searching through Weiming''s pockets.


    As Mo Yan got close to him, Weiming could finally react. Despite the pain from his legs, he raised his arms to create another fireball and threw it at Mo Yan.


    Mo Yan turned his body to dodge. In the next second, he flashed to the other side and also launched a kick.


    Crack! Weiming''s arm was broken.


    "Eh¡­" Weiming screamed in pain once again. His face twisted and brows knitted together.


    He realized that the zombie didn''t plan to kill him immediately. Instead, the zombie wanted to torture him. Why?


    The zombie was at level-seven at least. Weiming knew that he had no chance to run. He was so close to death. He wasn''t afraid though, as death wasn''t strange to him.


    Before the apocalypse, he was a gangster. After the apocalypse, zombies ran all over the world. Death was always with him.


    However, what was the zombie looking for?


    The pain from his broken legs and arm nearly threw him into unconsciousness. He could feel that Mo Yan was still rummaging his pockets, but couldn''t figure out why.


    Soon, Mo Yan found a flashlight, paper, and pen from his pockets. He turned on the flashlight, held it in his mouth, then started writing.


    Seeing that, Weiming was stunned. He saw a zombie writing. How could that be real?


    He felt that he had seen an illusion. He thought that the pain might be the reason, so he closed his eyes. As he opened them again, he saw that the zombie had finished writing and put the note before his eyes. The zombie even took the flashlight down from his mouth and pointed it on the note.


    Reading the note on the paper, Weiming popped his eyes.


    ''Do you know how it''ll feel when people cut off your flesh slice by slice?''


    Weiming widened his eyes. He was shocked and frightened. He raised his head to look at Mo Yan''s face that he could not see clearly.


    "You¡­ you¡­" Weiming yelled at Mo Yan. However, he wasn''t able to say anything.


    Mo Yan pulled out a dagger from his boot; a cold gleam of light flashed across the dagger edge.


    "No¡­ this is impossible! You are not Mo Yan¡­ He''s dead! He is dead!" Weiming''s mind suddenly became clear. He twisted his body and tried to move backward. However, his legs had been disabled, and so was an arm.


    Mo Yan turned the dagger and pointed the tip at the ground, then swung it down at Weiming''s arm.


    "Ah¡­" A shrill scream echoed across the hill.


    Weiming''s people were soon killed by the other zombies. When Weiming died, his flesh had all been sliced off by Mo Yan, and his blood seeped into the earth. Fresh flesh slices were spread on the ground, surrounding his body.


    Mo Yan stood up and inhaled the sweet blood aroma in the air with satisfaction, then turned and left.

 697 Talk to Mo Yan

    Lin Qiao followed the blood scent to the hill and saw the body which was sliced into pieces. Only the head was left undamaged.


    The face of the dead was twisted with pain. Clearly, it was the pain that killed him.


    The heart and energy nucleus were still inside the body. That man was simply tortured to death.


    Lin Qiao sensed Mo Yan''s scent which lingered on the scene, then lowered her head and glanced at the body on the ground. Then, she swung her claw.


    Puff! She cut open the undamaged head of the dead body and collected the level-six energy nucleus.


    This time, it took two days for Viney to absorb energy. The amount of energy that Viney could absorb became larger and larger, as she absorbed thirty percent of Lu Zhuofeng''s nucleus.


    That equaled to all the energy contained in a level-five energy nucleus. Lin Qiao absorbed the rest seventy percent, yet she showed no sign of upgrading.


    It meant that she had yet to reach the level of zombie emperor.


    Anyway, Viney fell asleep again.


    After coming out of her space, Lin Qiao sensed a very strong blood scent from a distance away. She followed the scent and found flesh slices all over the ground. Seeing that bloody scene, she understood why the blood scent was so strong.


    Why did Mo Yan torture that person to death?


    Lin Qiao observed the twisted face of the dead. She was sure that she did not know that man.


    Holding the nucleus, Lin Qiao found the cars which were left on the roadside. Mo Yan had no interest in the things in the cars.


    Lin Qiao only wanted to know where those people came from.


    She found some weapons from the two cars, then emptied the oil tanks. In the post-apocalypse era, gasoline was in shortage. Not even a little bit of it could be wasted.


    The things in the cars were clean. Nothing could prove those people'' identities.


    Lin Qiao hopped on top of a car and thought for a moment, then decided to follow Mo Yan''s scent.


    At that moment, a fierce vibe was radiating from Mo Yan''s entire body. The moment he recognized Weiming, he decided not to let him die easily. He had suffered a long-lasting pain, with people cutting off his flesh bit by bit. He didn''t want to kill Weiming so quickly.


    Weiming''s painful and shrill screams made him excited; he couldn''t stop cutting him. Every time he cut off a slice, he would show it to Weiming.


    Under the physical pain and mental torment, Weiming soon passed out.


    Mo Yan immediately woke him up and continued cutting him, ignoring his cries and begging.


    He was even continuing after Weiming stopped breathing. Only until he cut off all the flesh on the body did he stop.


    He was a zombie. The scent of human blood and flesh was great for him. However, he only ate hearts, no blood or flesh.


    Nonetheless, he had no interest in Weiming''s heart. After realizing that the latter was dead, he turned and walked straight away without even digging out his energy nucleus.


    Then, Lin Qiao arrived and collected the nucleus.


    As Lin Qiao left, some carnivores, bugs, and birds came over to eat Weiming''s body.


    With a strong scent of blood and a fierce vibe, Mo Yan returned to about ten miles away from All Beings Base and then stopped moving. About ten zombies followed behind him. Because of his vibe, his subordinates had all unwittingly created space between themselves and him.


    Lin Qiao soon found them and approached the level-five, female zombie, who was the furthest away from Mo Yan.


    The area was quiet, even though a zombie emperor and over ten high-leveled zombies were there.


    When the female zombie suddenly disappeared, Mo Yan paused briefly, then quickly turned back.


    "Roar!"


    He burst in anger when he found the female zombie''s spot empty. Then, he saw a zombie dominator, who was also under his command, disappear.


    "Roar!" ''Get out!''


    Mo Yan clenched his teeth with anger. He knew that it was that evil female zombie!


    "Oh, you noticed?" Lin Qiao showed up and looked at him smilingly.


    Once she showed her face, a lightning bolt fell toward her head while a rumbling thunder was heard.


    She flashed to the other side and said, "Can we talk in peace? If we can''t, I''m gonna keep stealing your subordinates!" She threatened him straightforwardly.


    "Roar!" Mo Yan roared ferociously. He glared at Lin Qiao; his fierce vibe boosted up.


    Currently, he hadn''t figured out a way to deal with that female zombie, who was able to turn invisible and had a space. She could literally take away all his subordinates.


    She was only at level-seven, yet she was able to dodge his attack easily. Furthermore, she was very sneaky!


    "Did you have an issue with the man that you tortured to death? Where is he from?" Lin Qiao calmly stood at about ten meters away from Mo Yan and asked him.


    Mo Yan glared at her silently.


    So, she once again flashed across the air and disappeared. Once she disappeared, the zombies around her all became nervous and alert. However, they couldn''t stop her from grasping their necks from behind and throwing them into her space.


    Watching his subordinates disappear before his eyes one after another, Mo Yan clenched his teeth.


    "Roar!" ''He was from the West!''


    He gave a roar and then turned to look around alarmedly.


    "West? Hidden Cloud City? Sky Fire Base?" Lin Qiao showed up again and put a hand on her chin while speaking.


    "Roar¡­" ''Release my subordinates!''


    Mo Yan gave her another roar while his eyes sparkled with a purple light. He was so angry that he even wanted to bite Lin Qiao. However, he had no intention of killing this time.


    "Tell me, why have you been staying outside my base? You''re waiting for an opportunity to start trouble, aren''t you?" Lin Qiao didn''t release those zombies but spoke.


    She didn''t ask any further questions about the dead man. As he was from the South, he would be a member of either Hidden Cloud City Base or Sky Fire Base. She could easily find out who he was by sending her people to those two bases.


    The dead man was a level-six superpowered man. In an average-scale base, he should be rather famous.


    Mo Yan blinked as he looked at Lin Qiao coldly, staying silent. She was able to sense him. So, he figured that she could easily guess out his purpose as well.


    "Leave. We have nothing to do with each other. My people and I have never offended you. Why won''t you leave us alone? Or, do you want me to take all your subordinates away?" While speaking, Lin Qiao glanced at the other zombies.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Under her glance, all the other zombies automatically stepped away from her.


    "Roar!" ''Release my subordinates first!''


    Mo Yan bared his teeth and roared at her angrily.


    He was aware that her aggressivity was clearly much weaker than his, yet her general strength was at about the same level as his. He would not be able to kill her. Merely her space could make him feel very annoyed.

 698 Make Mo Yan Leave

    "No! Do you think that I''m stupid? Will you really leave when I release your subordinates?" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes.


    She took the three zombies only to warn Mo Yan. As for if she would give them back to him, that would depend on her mood. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "You have invaded my base once, and I let you get away with it. Are you still thinking about doing it again? I will take these five zombie dominators if you don''t leave, believe it or not," Lin Qiao looked at Mo Yan in the eyes and sneered.


    She didn''t want to suffer losses, neither did he. Last time, she took six level-six zombies from him as a trophy. If he kept sending more to her, she would not reject it.


    Lin Qiao didn''t want to piss off the zombie emperor, but neither did she plan to let him bully her and her people.


    Mo Yan stared at her while his purple lips were pressed together into a line. He stayed silent, but his eyes wore a fierce look.


    Thinking about why he showed his face this time, he hesitated.


    He planned to go straight north; Heilong Base in the Northeast was his target. He would never forget how those people tortured him years ago. Most of the people who died in the zombie attack were commoners. The ones who had eaten his flesh were still well alive.


    He was only passing by Lin Qiao''s base. He spotted Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, and intended to bring them under his command to strengthen his force. He never thought that the weird female zombie would bring him difficulties.


    However, he unexpectedly met Weiming and killed him. After that, he felt that his revenge was already half-way done.


    Now, seeing the female zombie showing an intention to take away more of his subordinates, whom he had cultivated with good efforts, Mo Yan started worrying. He stayed quiet for a while, then gave a roar¡ª''Give me all my subordinates back, then we''ll go far away from here.''


    "All? No! The few that I took last time are already my trophies. Don''t you need to pay the price for offending my base?" Lin Qiao shook her head. "I can give you the three that I took just now at most," she continued.


    Mo Yan blinked, and the intention of killing flashed across his face as he roared, ''Aren''t you afraid that I might destroy your in-construction base?''


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile. Her lips curved slightly, yet no actual smile could be detected from her eyes. Instead, those eyes were filled with killing intention as well.


    "You can try. I may not be able to kill you, but I can exhaust you to death!" she said smilingly.


    She didn''t say that because of her arrogance. She would not show any sign of weakness if there were a serious fight.


    Mo Yan gazed at her while calculating. It seemed that he wouldn''t get the six level-six zombies back.


    "Roar¡­" ''Give me the three!''


    Lin Qiao flashed into her space and soon reappeared with the three zombies. The three were confused when they were brought out. But soon, they realized what just happened, and immediately moved away from Lin Qiao.


    "Take care," Lin Qiao said to Mo Yan with a smile.


    Mo Yan spent a few seconds looking at her silently, then turned and flashed away, disappearing in the darkness. Once he left, the other zombies all left quickly, including that level-five female zombie.


    Lin Qiao stood there, sensing them going away. One hour later, she turned and returned to All Beings Base.


    She had easily made Mo Yan leave, and knew that he wouldn''t come back anytime soon. As for if he would come back in the future, that would depend on when he killed all those people in Heilong Base who had eaten his flesh and drunk his blood.


    Only after he took his revenge would he have the mood to come to her and bring trouble.


    Lin Qiao felt that she needed to upgrade herself as soon as possible. Even though she wasn''t afraid of Mo Yan now, she wouldn''t be able to hurt him if they really started a fight.


    She had absorbed seventy percent of Lu Zhuofeng''s energy nucleus, yet felt not even a sign of upgrading. Did she need to absorb more energy?


    As she returned to the base, Qiu Lili ran over and asked, "Did he leave?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "He has something more important to do. Staying here was only a waste of time. He can''t hurt us, at least for now."


    "Oh," Qiu Lili nodded and said, "As long as he''s gone¡­ He won''t come back, will he?"


    Lin Qiao shrugged and replied, "Who knows?"


    ¡­


    The next day, Lin Qiao hosted a meeting and let the others know that she would lead a team to attack the Hidden Cloud City Base in three days.


    "Tianxing will stay in the base to make sure that the fence wall will be built up as soon as possible. This is the list of the names of the people that I''ll take with me. You guys take a look and see if there is a problem," Lin Qiao showed the others the name list.


    On the list were Li Zheng, Xie Dong, Duan Juan, a few squad members under her command, Lin Kui, the six level-six zombies that Lin Qiao took from Mo Yan, and some other people.


    "You''re taking Wenwen?" Yuan Tianxing was slightly surprised when he saw Lin Wenwen''s name on the list.


    "Mm, yeah. I''ve been planning to send her out of the base to carry out a mission, but never had a chance. This is a good opportunity. I''ll take her myself," Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    "She¡­ She won''t hinder the others, will she? Also, the name list seems to be a little short," Lin Feng said with a frown.


    "This will be her first mission. I don''t count on her to make a major contribution, but at least I''ll let her learn how to protect herself. The name list is not short. Lin Kui and the six zombie kings and queens will be enough. The others will stay here to guard the base," Lin Qiao said.


    "What? Are you gonna leave us here again? No! I''m going with you! Yun Meng will stay here!" Qiu Lili read the name list but didn''t find her and Yun Meng''s names. Not just them, even zombie one to seven would be left in the base too.


    "Oi, why me? You should stay! You went the last time. It should be my turn this time!" Hearing Qiu Lili''s words, Yun Meng immediately rejected.


    "Why are you going? You''re not as strong as I am!" Qiu Lili sat on a chair and flipped her hair, turning to look at Yun Meng.


    "Since you''re so strong, you should stay and guard the base! Don''t go! Besides, we need at least one zombie dominator in the base while Big Sister is not here. What if zombie one to seven betrayed the base?" Yun Meng glared at Qiu Lili and snorted.


    All zombies who accepted Lin Qiao''s virus would not disobey her order, no matter which level they were at. Qiu Lili and Yun Meng didn''t know about that, and couldn''t feel it either.


    "Alright, you two will take turns. To be fair, I''ll take Yun Meng this time. Last time, Lili went to Hades Base with me," Lin Qiao said.


    "Yeah!" Yun Meng happily made a face toward Qiu Lili and then laughed smugly. The latter glared at her grumpily. However, since Lin Qiao had given her word, she didn''t say anything to disagree.

 699 Leave In Three Days

    Lin Qiao looked at the two girls, who were both a little childish. However, Yun Meng could be calmer than Qiu Lili when she was serious. In terms of attacking ability, Qiu Lili was better at long-range attacks. But this time, Lin Qiao decided to take Yun Meng with her because the latter was also able to turn invisible. Invisibility was a good skill for assassination.


    Lin Qiao would do the long-range attacking herself.


    "Lili, you should keep an eye on the other high-leveled zombies in the base and Mount. Wu farmland. You''ve been out there for years¡­ just stay at home this time," Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili and said.


    "Alright," Qiu Lili responded reluctantly.


    Then, Lin Qiao turned to Lin Feng and said, "Lin Feng, you can take some people out to collect supplies. Bring anything you find useful back."


    "I get it," Lin Feng nodded.


    Later that day, as Lin Wenwen received the task, she looked at Lin Qiao, who was standing at her door, and asked with surprise, "Eh? Am I going too?"


    "You''ve been training yourself for so long. It''s time to see the results. The training that you had in the base is different from actual combat. Don''t you want to know how strong you are now?" Lin Qiao said.


    Without the sense of crisis from actual combat, she would have no space for improvement. Currently, Lin Wenwen''s strength had grown, and reaction speed had raised. However, her strain capacity was limited. Her training had only lasted for a few months after all.


    "Is there a problem?" Lin Qiao looked at her and asked.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at her, then turned to look at Long Qingying, who was her tutor.


    Long Qingying looked back at her, but said nothing.


    "Good! Be ready¡­ We''ll leave in three days," Lin Qiao nodded, then turned and left with Duan Juan.


    This time, Lin Wenwen didn''t hesitate, and neither did she reject the mission, for the reason that she only wanted to stay in the same place with Yuan Tianxing.


    She needed to grow, and she needed to be strong. Her space power didn''t give her any attacking ability; which was why she needed to strengthen her body.


    "How do you think my sister will conquer Hidden Cloud City? They have hundreds of thousands of people. Can we win?" Lin Wenwen closed the door, then turned around and asked Long Qingying.


    "Those are hundreds of thousands of commoners. Don''t worry! I think Chief is only targeting those administrators of that base. Without Lu Zhuofeng, they are no match for our Chief," Long Qingying was very confident about Lin Qiao.


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "You''re right. I was overthinking."


    "You accepted the task pretty quickly this time. You''re going somewhere far away, and will stay out there for a while. You won''t be seeing your Brother Tianxing out there. Can you handle that?" Long Qingying looked at her expressionlessly and teased her.


    Lin Wenwen stayed silent. A short while later, she responded, "He likes my sister. Haven''t you found that ever since he learned that my sister was still alive, his eyes are always on her? I don''t wish for him to pay attention to me, but I want to stand by his side. I need to be qualified for that, don''t I? I want to help my sister run the base, together with him. So, I need to make it to that place with my own strength."


    "Well, it might take you a long time based on your current state," Long Qingying said.


    "It''s okay¡­ I won''t give up, no matter how long it takes," Lin Wenwen smiled as her eyes glowed filled with determination.


    Long Qingying still wore no expression. She looked at Lin Wenwen and sighed silently, but didn''t say anything.


    Duan Juan knew what Lin Wenwen was like before. With concern, she followed behind Lin Qiao and said to her, "Is it really okay for Wenwen to come with us? She has changed quite a lot, though."


    Lin Wenwen was like a princess before. Duan Juan believed that even though she had changed, she would still be stubborn sometimes. She used to carry out missions together with Lin Wenwen, as the latter''s space could be used for storing food. Back then, they always had a squad to protect her. At present, the new base was already short-handed, so Duan Juan wasn''t sure if they could still spare attention to keep Lin Wenwen safe during the mission.


    "She is much different from before now. She wants to grow strong, so I''ll give her a chance. If she can''t do this, where would she find the confidence that can impress Yuan Tianxing?" Lin Qiao gave a faint smile.


    Three days later, Lin Qiao left with a few combat cars early in the morning.


    As the intelligence squad, Li Zheng and his people left earlier, driving an off-road car. Soon after they left the base, Lin Qiao found some people near the border between West Lake District and Upper City District.


    She flashed across the air and showed up on the roof of Li Zheng''s car.


    "Stop!"


    The car was stopped. Li Zheng stuck his head out of the window and saw Lin Qiao leap down the roof.


    "Li Zheng, take some people to see who they are," Lin Qiao looked at that area and said.


    "Yes, Ma''am!" Li Zheng and his people quickly got off the car and moved into the woods nearby, then sneaked toward the area that Lin Qiao pointed at.


    Lin Qiao returned to the motorcade, where Duan Juan and Xie Dong were standing before her car, looking at her. Behind them, Lin Wenwen got out of the car while Long Qingying jumped off the car roof.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Wenwen glanced at Lin Qiao. It seemed that they needed to stop there for a while.


    "Something happened in the front. We''ll stay here for a while and wait for Li Zheng to come back," Lin Qiao looked at that area and said.


    Those people were only about three miles away. The strongest one among them was a level-six, and the rest were all at level five and four. They shouldn''t be able to sense Lin Qiao and her people.


    Before long, Li Zheng and his people returned.


    "They are from Hidden Cloud City. Over two-hundred people, led by Qi Hanhui the Deputy Chief. About ten of them are at level-five, thirty at level-four," Li Zheng told Lin Qiao about what he had roughly found out.


    "Qi Hanhui? Em, what else?" Lin Qiao scratched her chin and asked.


    "They seemed to have sent out some people to scout. Right now, I think they are waiting for them," said Li Zheng.


    Li Zheng''s squad only observed those people from a distance, and didn''t get too close. Therefore, they could only vaguely identify them and make guesses about their current situation.


    "Wait? Scout?" Lin Qiao put her left arm before her chest as her right elbow rested on the back of her left hand. While touching her chin with her right hand, she thought for a moment.


    "I think they''re here for us. A few batches of people have arrived during these couple of days, but not all of them are from Hidden Cloud Base¡­" Lin Qiao murmured.


    According to Mo Yan, the one that he tortured to death was from the West, meaning that he was from Hidden Cloud Base. Hidden Cloud Base sent two level-six men with two-hundred people. Currently, one of the two level-six had died. Clearly, they weren''t here just to scout.


    They should have also been searching for Lu Zhuofeng.

 700 Just Kill Them

    "They didn''t see you, did they?" Lin Qiao looked at Li Zheng and asked.


    "No, we didn''t get close to them," Li Zheng shook his head.


    "It''s only about two-hundred people, including one level-six. Wenwen, Qingying, you two come with me to finish them. The others, follow behind us," Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then turned and called Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying.


    By following behind, she meant that the others should move slowly behind her and the two girls, and wait for them to fix the problem.


    Having finished talking, Lin Qiao flashed into the woods nearby. Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying didn''t say anything but followed closely behind her.


    Long Qingying was wearing a black wind coat, with her katana was tied around her waist. Lin Wenwen was in a camouflage suit, with a hat and a pair of ankle boots. She followed behind Long Qingying and nimbly moved through the woods, showing no sign of impatience, even though the geographical condition was difficult.


    Qi Hanhui and his people were waiting for Weiming to return with information. They had no idea that Weiming was killed a couple of days ago, and that the people who were going to end their lives were coming right at them.


    "You two, wait here. If you see people running this way, kill them¡­ Do not show mercy!" Lin Qiao led Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying to a spot about eight-hundred meters away from Qi Hanhui and his people. They hid there, and Lin Qiao handed her telescope to Lin Wenwen.


    She glanced at Lin Wenwen and asked her seriously, "Can you do that?"


    Lin Wenwen took over the telescope as she looked at Lin Qiao, then at the enemies. She clenched her teeth and nodded. "I can do that."


    She had never killed anyone before. But, she would not shrink!


    "Good then!" Lin Qiao nodded and stood up, disappearing in front of the two girls.


    About eight-hundred meters away, Qi Hanhui and his people were hiding in a factory building. Their cars were parked on the clearing before the building.


    "It''s been four days. I wonder if Deputy Chief Wei has found out anything about that base or not," Qi Hanhui''s assistant stood beside Qi Hanhui as he handed him a bottle of water.


    "What can those Hades Base survivors possibly do? People say that they have built a new base in Hangzhou City, but I don''t believe it. There are even more zombies in that city than in West Lake," Qi Hanhui took over the bottle carelessly, then unscrewed the cap and poured some water into his mouth.


    "But, the people we sent out last time haven''t returned. Perhaps, they met Deputy Chief Wei," said the assistant.


    "I suppose so. I wonder what Chief and the others are planning on. They specifically asked us to come here to find out the truth about that new base if we have time. What is to be found out though? They are not a threat to our base anyway," Qi Hanhui clearly didn''t agree with his superiors.


    "You''re right," his assistant agreed with him.


    About ten people were guarding outside the factory building while the others were all lazily staying on the second floor of the building. The surrounding zombies had been cleaned out. They had also created a clearing before the building.


    The electric gate of the factory had been closed to keep all the ordinary zombies away. A group of clumsy ordinary zombies was on the other side of the gate. The soldiers who guarded around the building didn''t shoot them. They were guarding against the zombies at level-two, level-three, even level four and five. No one would want to waste bullets on those ordinary zombies.


    An invisible figure leaped across the janitor''s room which was located next to the gate, then landed on the clearing before the building.


    Lin Qiao walked toward the stairs calmly. Two soldiers were guarding by the stairs.


    "It''s so freaking cold! When can we go back? We''ve been out here for a month!"


    "Shh! Keep your voice down. If Deputy Chief hears you, you''ll suffer."


    "I just need to let it out."


    While the two soldiers were whispering to each other, the intruder had walked past them, onto the stairs.


    Lin Qiao went up to the second floor, straight into the office of the factory. She saw that the level-six man and a level-five man were standing by the window, looking outside. The cold wind did not seem to affect them.


    The others were all sitting on the ground while holding their guns, huddling against the wall or the table legs. The weather was so cold that they didn''t want to move at all. Even stretching their legs would make them feel cold. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Most of them were huddling together to keep each other warm.


    Lin Qiao avoided the people on the ground as she walked to the level-six man and suddenly slapped on his back.


    She showed her face the moment she touched her body.


    Puff! Black fire burst from her palm.


    "Ah¡­" Qi Hanhui uttered a shrill scream, causing everyone else to wake up. They raised their heads to look at Qi Hanhui, only to see him shrink and disappear in a black fire.


    His assistant automatically made a step backward. He was so shocked that he didn''t manage to make any other reaction.


    "Who are you?" Everyone else saw a woman standing where Qi Hanhui was. It was that strange woman who just attacked their Deputy Chief.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Realizing what just happened, those people immediately fired at Lin Qiao.


    At that moment, Qi Hanhui fell to the ground, wrapped in the black fire. After the scream, he made no other sounds.


    As he fell, the black fire spread from his body, along the wall and the floor.


    When the people fired their weapons, Lin Qiao flashed across the air to dodge the bullets. Meanwhile, she raised a hand to boost the fire. Within a blink, the entire office was swallowed by the dark fire.


    As the strongest man in the room, Qi Hanhui was killed within a blink of an eye. The people who reacted fast evacuated from the office, trying their best to run.


    "Run! Run! Run! Scatter and run!" The people who ran out of the office screamed in a panic while rushing at the cars that were parked before the building.


    Lin Qiao stood by the window and swung an arm. Following her movement, the dark fire surged out of the window and twisted in the air like a black snake, then dived at the cars.


    Under Lin Qiao''s control, the fire split into a few smaller streams and avoided the cars to land on those people.


    Puff¡­


    "Ahhhhh!"


    The fire exploded and wrapped those people up once it touched them. Except for one shrill screech, no sounds could be heard from those people.


    Before long, the factory was shrouded by the dark fire. The zombies which were crowding by the gate ran away in all directions when Lin Qiao showed up in the office.


    Lin Qiao turned and glanced at the people who were still alive. They had split into a few groups and fled in different directions. She flashed across the air, and then a few figures showed up by her sides.


    "There, there, and there¡­ split up and go. Do not miss any one of them," Lin Qiao pointed at three directions for them, then moved toward Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying.


    Three people had run toward the two girls; they were all commoners. Lin Qiao wondered what Lin Wenwen would do.

 701 First Time Killing

    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying were hiding in a house nearby. Soon, they saw three men running over in a flurry. They were all commoners, holding guns. While hiding from the surrounding zombies, they were also paying attention to whatever was behind them.


    Before Long Qingying reminded her, Lin Wenwen had already raised her rifle and aimed at one of the three men.


    She took a deep breath, but deep down, she was a little nervous. She told herself that those people were from Hidden Cloud City Base and were her enemies. If they didn''t help Earth Dragon Base, many Hades Base people would still be alive, and she and her family wouldn''t need to have run away from their home. If it weren''t for those people, her big sister wouldn''t have detonated her energy nucleus and become another person. Even her big brother got injured and nearly died!


    With those thoughts, a hatred rose from Lin Wenwen''s heart. Her eyes, which were fixed on the three men, showed a faint killing intention. She watched them come closer and closer to her.


    "Fire!" Long Qingying''s voice was suddenly heard. She knew that Lin Wenwen was ready.


    Bang! Lin Wenwen pulled the trigger and shot the bullet.


    The two of them had the grass balls that Lin Qiao made. Therefore, they were hiding there safely, and the surrounding zombies didn''t dare to approach them. Unlike them, the three men who managed to run out of the factory needed to pay attention to the zombies nearby while worrying if Lin Qiao would come after them.


    None of them noticed the killing intent of Lin Wenwen. As the gunshot was heard, one of the three fell to the ground.


    "Go on, don''t stop," Long Qingying stood behind Lin Wenwen and said rigorously.


    Lin Wenwen pointed her gun at the other two.


    As their friend got shot and fell, the rest two men panicked. One of them quickly ran to the injured man and dragged him toward a house nearby while shooting the surrounding zombies. The other man turned and ran, leaving his friend and the injured man, who was probably dead already.


    Under that kind of circumstances, the injured man was clearly a burden. He did not want to die!


    As he made a few steps forward, a bullet hit him on the leg. He fell on the ground, and a zombie suddenly darted over and pounced on him.


    "Ah¡­" His screams could be heard from a long distance away.


    The other man who was trying to hide with his injured friend was attacked by a level-two zombie which leaped down from a roof nearby. He didn''t manage to take care of his friend while staying vigilant against the surrounding zombies.


    Their screams lasted for a while. As their voices faded, Long Qingying and Lin Wenwen walked out of the house.


    Lin Wenwen pressed her lips tightly together. Yet, her eyes were bright, wearing a composed look. Her face wasn''t even pale.


    "Good shot," Lin Qiao suddenly showed up beside them.


    Just now, Lin Wenwen failed to kill her target immediately. However, in a place where zombies could be seen everywhere, any commoner would soon die once they were injured.


    They might be able to find places to hide temporarily. However, the scent of their blood would attract zombies. A big group of zombies would surround their hiding spot. So, in the end, they would either run out and end up being eaten by zombies, or die of starvation or injury.


    Before, Lin Wenwen had only shot fixed targets. It was impressive that she managed to hit moving targets with two shots in a row.


    "They deserved death!" Lin Wenwen said through clenched teeth.


    "Hm, I will bury them with the Hades Base," Lin Qiao nodded and said blandly.


    Her base was destroyed. How could she let the people who destroyed her base stay alive and healthy?


    "Let''s go!" She turned and left with the two girls.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "How do you feel?" Long Qingying walked by Lin Wenwen''s side and asked the latter.


    "I''m fine," Lin Wenwen shook her head. It was the first time she had killed people. However, she didn''t have a strong feeling about it. Perhaps, she had seen too many dead people since Hades Base was broken.


    She still remembered the war, the superpowers, the blood, the broken limbs, the dead bodies, the ruins, and the destruction of her family that Long Yubai brought to her half a year ago.


    What happened just now was nothing but killing a few people. Lin Wenwen easily accepted that.


    "Good!" Long Qingying nodded.


    The three of them soon returned to the motorcade. "Keep moving," Lin Qiao gave her order.


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue was sitting behind her desk, reading files. It was already February, and the New Year was near. After the apocalypse, people only cared about how to survive, but forgot about almost all festivals. However, New Year remained a thing.


    Every New Year, the leaders of each base would take out double amount of food and clothes from the storage of their bases. Nothing else was as important as keeping people away from hunger and coldness.


    The managers of every district in the base would re-do the calculation and distribute the supplies to the people according to their positions and their contributions to the base.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue was watching Xiao Yunlong list the supplies which would be distributed in each district. If the list was fine, he would stamp it and then go to Zou Shihui for the supplies.


    "Chief, Miss Lu and her people left her base again," Xiao Licheng came in and said. He had already broken into level-six, still looking calm.


    Wu Chengyue raised his head and asked, "Where is she going this time? Why has she left the base now? Isn''t New Year coming?" With a frown, he continued, "When will she return?"


    "According to the message we got from All Beings Base, she''s going for Hidden Cloud City Base. She''s only with a small troop. I don''t think she''ll return anytime soon," Xiao Licheng looked at him and said.


    "She just sent away the zombie emperor, and now she''s going to attack Hidden Cloud City? Although Lu Zhuofeng is dead, Hidden Cloud City still has hundreds of thousands of people, including tens of thousands of superpowered ones. How many people are with her?" Wu Chengyue thought briefly and then asked.


    "Well¡­ If you''re talking about people, that''ll be less than a hundred. As for zombies¡­ I don''t know," Xiao Licheng replied while looking at the piece of paper in his hand.


    Both he and Wu Chengyue knew that Lin Qiao had countless zombies hiding in her space.


    "Keep an eye on her then. Also, keep an eye on Hidden Cloud Base." Wu Chengyue felt that it wasn''t a good time for the female zombie to go for Hidden Cloud City, but he didn''t say anything about it.


    Both him and Xiao Licheng were aware that Hidden Cloud City people wouldn''t have a great time at New Year. They might not have a chance to celebrate New Year at all.


    "Don''t we¡­ need to help?" Xiao Licheng looked at him as he hesitated for a moment and then asked.


    "Do you think she''ll need help?" Wu Chengyue glanced at him and responded.


    "But¡­ she''s going against an entire base, and she didn''t even bring any weapons¡­" Xiao Licheng said uncertainly.


    "Weapons? Have you forgotten about her greatest weapon?" Wu Chengyue smilingly lowered his head to continue reading the files. He had known the female zombie for quite long, and was never worried about her power. Even he had suffered losses under her power. Would any of her targets possibly survive her?

 702 Ready To Attack

    Wu Yueling, who was sitting beside Wu Chengyue, heard her father mention her Zombie Mommy. So, she immediately dropped the doll in her hands, slid off the couch, and ran to Wu Chengyue.


    She put her little hands on Wu Chengyue''s lap and raised her head to look at him.


    "What''s wrong?" Wu Chengyue tilted his head and looked at her. Seeing her sparkling eyes, he couldn''t help but give a smile. The kid was sensitive to the zombie lady. She would react to any conversations about her.


    As Wu Chengyue talked to her, Wu Yueling widened her eyes and looked at him expectantly.


    "We''ll go and find her when she comes back, alright?" Wu Chengyue said to her smilingly.


    As he thought, the zombie lady would never take the initiative to come to him. So, he decided to make the first move. Should he propose to her in front of a lot of people? Or, should he wait until the two of them were alone?


    The baby in her belly was a couple of months old. As the baby''s father, Wu Chengyue believed that he was her only choice. Who else could she possibly marry?


    With that thought, Wu Chengyue smiled a bigger smile. He imagined how the zombie lady would react when he proposed, and felt that it would certainly be interesting.


    The zombie lady always seemed to be calm and decisive, with a powerful vibe. However, Wu Chengyue found that she could act rashly at times. He felt that she was actually a funny person deep down.


    Hearing his words, Wu Yueling nodded heavily. The little girl''s eyes immediately glowed.


    Wu Chengyue sighed. Currently, nothing could arouse his daughter''s interests except for the zombie lady. Only she could make the girl respond so actively.


    Xiao Licheng glanced at him and said, "I heard that¡­ Yuan Tianxing seems to care a lot about Miss Lu, and the two of them are rather close. If you waste more time, Zombie Sister might become his."


    "Eh? Him?" Wu Chengyue raised his head and paused briefly, then responded with surprise, "He liked Lin Qiao solely, didn''t he? Lin Qiao is gone. Did he pass his affection to another one so soon?"


    "I''m not sure about that. But, I heard that he always has his eyes on Zombie Sister. I think he''s going to become your rival in love. Besides, he''s closer to her than you are," Xiao Licheng shrugged and said.


    Wu Chengyue wore a strange expression. He was surprised that he suddenly had a rival in love. A while later, he said, "He likes her, but so what? He knows what she is. Do you think Yuan Tianxing can accept sleeping together with a female zombie? Isn''t he afraid that she might bite him at night?"


    Xiao Licheng looked at him confusedly and said, "Why should he be afraid of that? You''re not."


    He rolled his eyes as he thought. ''Look at Chen Yuting and Shen Yujen. Chen Yuting doesn''t mind Shen Yujen''s current look,'' he thought.


    ''I had sex with her¡­ And, she''s pregnant with my baby! Yuan Tianxing doesn''t have a chance.'' Wu Chengyue thought.


    With a meaningful smile, he looked at Xiao Licheng.


    Xiao Licheng looked at him in the eyes. He was a little confused, as he felt that Wu Chengyue looked a little smug¡­ Was he wrong?


    "Don''t worry! No one will get her. Even I haven''t gotten her, not to mention the others. At last, I think she will make her other suitors work hard for her," Wu Chengyue said carelessly with a faint smile, as if that had nothing to do with him.


    "Alright. Good Ling Ling, go and sit on the couch. Daddy has work to do." He then lowered his head and smilingly coaxed Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Yueling nodded, then turned and happily ran to the couch. ''Daddy said that he''ll take me to Zombie Mommy when she''s back,'' the girl thought happily.


    ¡­


    Facing Lin Qiao, no zombie dared to bar the road again. However, the road was still not unimpeded. Occasionally, they needed to park the cars and remove the obstacles on the road.


    In spite of that, Lin Qiao and her people arrived at the edge of Hidden Cloud City in just a few days. Hidden Cloud City Base wasn''t located in Tibet, but was in a town at the border of Tibet, Yunnan province, and Sichuan Province.


    Lin Qiao and her people arrived through Yunan Province and stopped moving miles away from the base.


    In the Southwest, the weather was cold, with chilly wind roaring about. However, the cold weather didn''t affect the zombies. They were still shambling everywhere, searching for food.


    Lin Qiao had roughly scouted the Hidden Cloud City''s defenses and found that the exit of the base had been sealed. The exit would only open when important base administrators needed to leave the base for work. The commoners weren''t allowed to go out.


    Lin Qiao put all the others into her space, then turned invisible and went through the clearing before the base, arriving at the fence wall.


    Hidden Cloud City Base''s wall was over ten meters tall. Both Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base had a lot of earth-powered people, so building walls and houses was an easy thing for those two bases. They both had built high walls to prevent zombie attacks.


    However, that tall wall couldn''t stop high-leveled zombies like Lin Qiao, who was able to easily and quickly climb on top of the wall; not to mention the fact that she was invisible.


    Lin Qiao stood on top of the wall and sniffed around, then went down through the ladder nearby. After that, she headed toward the area where most scents of human beings were gathered. Soon, she arrived at that commoner area.


    The commoner area was composed of a couple of large iron sheds. Those sheds were broken, causing loud noises in the wind.


    Each shed was filled with bunk beds, and in the middle of the area was a clearing. Many people were lying in there, upon dirty clothes or old quilts.


    Only strong men and some women were able to sleep in those sheds on bunk beds. In that place, all women were targets, even the middle-aged ones.


    No young and pretty women could be found in that place. Not even a normal young woman could be found. Little girls from that area had been taken away by other people. They wouldn''t leave them to those begger-like men who lived in that place.


    Therefore, the men in that area could only vent their desires on some relatively older women and some young men.


    It was cold, and everyone wanted a partner to keep their beds warm.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Lin Qiao didn''t enter that area, but looked into it from the outside and heard people talking.


    "I heard that we''ll have more supplies than the last few years. Perhaps, we don''t need to fight so hard to get some food and clothes this time."


    "That''s right. The three bases have divided up Hades Base''s storage. Now, our base has brought Earth Dragon Base under control. I heard that we don''t need to save food for those Earth Dragon Base people. I guess many of them have starved to death."


    "The coldness will kill them anyway."


    "Why do you guys care about them? Just worry about ourselves. Even though we have rich storage this year, those base administrators have taken about seventy percent. How much do you think we will get?"


    "You''re right, though¡­ More and more of us are starving to death. I guess the population of this area will go further lower at New Year."


    "That''s for sure. Doesn''t this happen every year?"

 703 Invade The Hidden Cloud City

    Lin Qiao spent a while listening to the conversation, then turned and left. She assumed that Hidden Cloud City people were not going to do anything for Earth Dragon Base people, and would have shipped their supplies and food to Hidden Cloud City. Earth Dragon Base was now under their control, but they had no plan to develop it.


    That had nothing to do with her though. Earth Dragon Base had fallen, and it deserved that.


    All buildings in the commoner area were filled with people, which was why people built sheds. The area was crowded, with poor security. In that place, the managers and soldiers were the bosses. They didn''t need a reason to shoot people. One rule of living there was not to go against the ones with guns. Anyone who offended them might be killed.


    Lin Qiao found a quiet area where no one was and brought Li Zheng and his squad out of her space.


    "Mingle with these commoners. When the base center becomes chaotic, take the opportunity to encourage them to rise in rebellion," Lin Qiao gave her order.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Li Zheng nodded, then turned and quickly left with his people.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao hopped onto a roof and moved toward where the managers of that area were.


    Hidden Cloud Base had three leaders and eight vice-leaders. One leader and three vice-leaders had died. So now, Lin Qiao needed to deal with two leaders and five vice-leaders, as well as the managers of each district of the base.


    Soon, she arrived at a neighborhood unit which looked normal with average-sized buildings that were seven-story tall at most. The neighborhood was guarded by a lot of armed soldiers. The people living there were some important managers and superpowered people from the area.


    Lin Qiao entered the neighborhood, found a corner, and released Keng-keng, the zombie queen.


    "Keng-keng, half an hour later, kill everyone in this place. Do not miss any superpowered one!" Lin Qiao said to the young female zombie, who looked very confused.


    "Roar¡­ roar¡­ roar¡­" ''Keng¡­ keng¡­ keng¡­''


    The zombie looked at Lin Qiao and said the word ''keng'' repeatedly, but also nodded to let the latter know that she understood her meaning.


    "Go," Lin Qiao waved at her, then turned and disappeared.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Then, she quickly moved to another district, released a zombie king, and gave him the same order. Before long, she had put six zombie kings and queens in the eight districts in the outer area of Hidden Cloud Base.


    After that, she entered the center area of the base and brought Yun Meng and Lin Kui out of her space.


    "Do what I told you before," Lin Qiao left them a few simple words, then turned and quickly left to search for her targets.


    The order that she gave the six zombie kings and queens was simple¡ªkill all managers and superpowered people. The superpowered people who lived in the outer base were at level-five at most.


    However, she gave Yun Meng and Lin Kui two different missions¡ªkill Mu Chengfeng, one of the three leaders and a possessor of green power, as well as the other level-six people in the base, including the five vice-leaders and some important base administrators.


    Hidden Cloud City had a lot of superpowered people. Apart from for the five vice-leaders, there were others at level-six as well.


    Lin Qiao sent Yun Meng to kill Mu Chengfeng and Lin Kui to deal with the five vice-leaders. Meanwhile, she herself went for Fang Xiulin, who had both wind and sand power.


    In a garden community near the base center were quite a few apartment buildings. Those were the best buildings in town; they were still new.


    All level-six people in the base lived in that area, including the leaders and vice-leaders. Lin Qiao arrived at that place and looked around. According to the information that she gathered back in Hades Base, she soon found Fang Xiulin''s building.


    Fang Xiulin lived on the seventh floor. Each floor had merely two apartments. Fang Xiulin lived in one apartment alone, and the other apartment on that floor was for his parents.


    Lin Qiao went up to the sixth floor and knocked on the door of Fang Xiulin''s sister.


    "Who is it?" Someone answered the door.


    Lin Qiao didn''t say anything, but knocked on the door again.


    "I''m coming, coming¡­ Stop knocking!" The person in the apartment soon responded, seeming about to open the door.


    As the footstep sound came to the door, the door was opened. A woman, about thirty-years-old, stood by the door and looked outside confusedly.


    "Eh? No one?" The woman murmured to herself. She looked around again to make sure that there was really no one out there, then closed the door.


    She couldn''t have noticed that when she opened the door, a wisp of black fire slid into her apartment and disappeared under the foot of the table.


    She did not lack crisis awareness. She opened the door easily, because no one could enter normally the area without permission. Besides, everyone in the base knew who she was. Who would have the guts to mess with a base leader''s sister?


    "Who is it?" A man''s voice was heard from the bedroom.


    The woman turned and responded with, "No one."


    "No one? How is that possible?" The man in the bedroom said with confusion and then walked out.


    He sat on the couch in the living room, picked up a cup, and poured himself some water. After drinking half of the water, he put down the cup and said, "I heard the knock on the door. How can there be no one? Has whoever knocked the door left? Is there anything at the door?"


    The woman shook her head and said, "Nothing was there."


    "Was that a prank?"


    "What kind of people dare to make pranks on us?"


    "Who was that then?"


    Both of them felt strange about the door knock. None of them could figure out who exactly knocked on the door. Was it a bad guy? What kind of bad guy dared to break straight into the building? Not to mention the fact that they were a base leader''s relatives, they were both at level-five and were not weak.


    The woman thought for a moment, then suddenly recalled that the food was still on the stove. So, she hurriedly turned and walked into the kitchen.


    A tiny flake of black fire rose from behind the couch. It didn''t touch anything but split into two wisps. The smaller wisp drifted to the man''s ear and soon drilled in.


    The man''s expression changed suddenly. He opened his mouth but didn''t utter any sound. Then, he froze, and the luster of his eyes quickly faded.


    The other wisp of fire flew into the kitchen. Before long, that wisp of fire flew back out and flashed across the man''s body while the first fire wisp flew out of the man''s ear. The two weird fire wisps merged into one and drifted toward the door.


    Next, a figure showed up by the door.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and took back the fire, then turned and opened the door to walk out. She closed the door from the outside, locking the two lifeless bodies inside the apartment.


    She didn''t leave immediately, but walked to the door across the hall, then stood there and turned invisible. Soon, the door was opened, and an about ten years old boy came out, heading toward the door in front of him.

 704 Kill The Superpowered Ones Only

    A wisp of black fire flew into the door behind the boy, which was still open.


    The boy walked to the door that Lin Qiao just came out of and knocked the on the door for a few times, then shouted at it, "Aunty, can I come in? My parents are fighting again!"


    Yells could be heard from the door behind him.


    "I am telling you, if you hook up with another woman, I''ll take my son and leave this base! If you want a son, go and ask those women to make one for you!" A woman scolded shrilly while a series of bangs were also heard.


    "Shut up! Bloody woman! Why don''t you look at yourself in the mirror? Do you know what you look like now? You even make me sick! If you want to go, just go! I''d like to save some food! But, don''t even think about taking my son away, or I''ll break your legs! You''d never be able to run!" A man fiercely cursed the woman.


    "Eh! You are such a scum! Come and break my legs if you can! I''m taking my son away today! What are you gonna do about it?"


    The woman screamed with anger, then rushed out of the door; her hair were disheveled.


    At that moment, the boy was wondering why didn''t his aunt and uncle open the door for him. He always hid in his aunty''s place when his parents had a fight.


    He raised his hand and knocked on the door again. All of a sudden, the woman grasped his arm and dragged him downstairs.


    "My boy, let''s go! You''ll be with Mama from now on! Do not call that scum father, or you''ll become just like him!" The woman cried while running downstairs with her son.


    An about thirty years old man was in the apartment. As his wife ran out and took his son downstairs, he attempted to rush out, even to hit his wife.


    ''That bloody woman!''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    However, before he went out of the door, a dark fire flashed into his nose. It was so fast that he couldn''t even see it.


    He froze in a running posture and popped his eyes. In the next second, blood flowed out of his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.


    Lin Qiao didn''t do anything to the woman and her son who had run downstairs, but turned and went up to the seventh floor.


    She knew that Fang Xiulin had a wife. His wife wasn''t a commoner, but was a level-six possessor of water power, and also a doctor.


    Lin Qiao smelled at the air. Judging from the scents that she had sensed, that woman was at home, and was not alone.


    She didn''t plan to hurt Fang Xiulin''s parents, because they were both commoners.


    She went upstairs to Fang Xiulin''s door. Weirdly, she found that the door was left unlocked.


    ''Was her lover too impatient to close the door?''


    While thinking, Lin Qiao gently opened the door and flashed into the apartment, then closed the door silently.


    The walls were soundproof, but still, Lin Qiao heard the noises from the bedroom through the crevice under the door. Or, she would rather say that the noises came straight into her ears.


    "Eh¡­ eh¡­ Ouch! It hurts! Slow down¡­ slow¡­ eh¡­ ah¡­ You are so rude!" A woman moaned and gasped. Normally, no one could hear them from the living room, not to mention from the outside.


    "I¡­ I missed you," said the man while breathing quickly and deeply. "We haven''t done this for days¡­ I missed you so much! Look at you, my big baby is losing her mind¡­ hehe¡­ eh¡­"


    "Ah¡­ em¡­ slow down¡­ I can''t take it! Fang Xiulin had been having a lot of spare time recently. He stayed at home when he had no work to do," the woman moaned and then said grumpily.


    Lin Qiao stood by the door, hearing the noises from the bedroom. ''This woman is pretty brave. She actually invited her lover to her home,'' she thought.


    She knew that Fang Xiulin''s wife was a very pretty, young woman. As a water-power possessor, she was good at skincare. She was about thirty years old; she had tender and snow-white skin, watery eyes, slim waist, long legs, round hip, full breasts. Any man who saw her body would drool at her.


    She was open-minded, unlike Lu Tianyu, who sold her body for survival, or Yan Fangyu who liked to have sex with men but pretended to be virtuous.


    She hooked up with men openly and had a lot of lovers. She barely tried to cover her affairs and didn''t seem to worry that Fang Xiulin might find out about her lovers.


    Fang Xiulin seemed to have been ignoring that. No matter what his wife did, he always stayed silent.


    Lin Qiao heard that the woman was forced to marry him in the first place, and that there was no love between the two of them.


    As the noises from the bedroom grew louder and louder, Lin Qiao send a wisp of fire into the door lock, then gently twisted the doorknob. The door was opened silently, and the people in the bedroom didn''t sense it.


    Lin Qiao got in and watched the live pornographic show with great interest. The woman was pretty, with snow-white skin, slim waist, and long legs. Lin Qiao couldn''t see the man''s face, but judging from his muscular back and slim body, she assumed that he was not ugly.


    A wisp of black fire quietly drifted off Lin Qiao''s palm, moving toward the bed along the floor. Then, it split into two and hid in the two people'' hair.


    The two were enjoying the sex. Their minds were blurred, and they didn''t feel that an invisible being and two wisps of black fire had entered the room.


    The energy that Lin Qiao had put in the fire was slight. Therefore, the two in the bed¡ªa level-six and a level-five¡ªfailed to sense it. Plus, they were having a very passionate sex¡­


    When they had an orgasm together and reached the extreme pleasure, the world in their eyes became dark.


    It was a happy thing to die with that kind of pleasure.


    Lin Qiao turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She had broken the door lock, but she didn''t care.


    She left through the balcony and hopped onto the roof, then moved toward the administrative building in the base center. Actually, she was only passing by the area. She was heading toward the administrative building of the base, and killing Fang Xiulin''s family was just a convenient thing to do.


    At that time, Fang Xiulin was in the conference room, without knowing that his brother, sister, and wife had all been murdered. He was reading a file with a slight frown.


    "Green Mountain Base is located in Xinjiang. I''m surprised that they survived in that kind of environment. They are capable indeed!" He said while reading the file about Green Mountain Base.


    "We have only found their rough location. Why haven''t we heard anything from Hangzhou yet? It has been so many days. We have even gotten the information of Green Mountain Base. What are those people doing?" The vice-leader by Fang Xiulin''s side asked.


    Fang Xiulin knitted his brows. He had a bad feeling.

 705 Catch Fang Xiulin

    "Chief, the food that we took from Hades Base and Earth Dragon Base this year can last us for a long time, but can''t solve the problem brought by the poor harvest. Why don''t we move to Earth Dragon Base? After all, the soil in that base is much better than ours," said the vice leader. The farming work hadn''t been going well in Hidden Cloud City Base in the recent few years. The soil in that base either grew nothing, or just grew mutated plants. There was barely edible food grown from the farm.


    However, moving was never easy. About eight hundred thousand people were living in the base. The base leaders couldn''t possibly protect everyone on their way to the new base, and the zombies would reduce the population on their way.


    Currently, the rich population was heavily increasing the burden on the base, yet the base could not reduce the population.


    From another angle, by moving the entire base, the population could be filtered. Only the people who adapted the environment would survive while the weak ones would be sifted out.


    Fang Xiulin blinked, then responded with, "We''ll discuss it when Lu Zhuofeng is back."


    Clearly, he approved that idea, but it required the approval of the other two base leaders too.


    "Give them full meals this year. They might not be able to taste the food next year." The vice-leader thought for a moment and then said.


    "Alright, go and make some arrangements," Fang Xiulin nodded.


    After the vice-leader left, Fang Xiulin started thinking carefully about his suggestion. The winter in Hidden Cloud City was freezing cold, and the summer was scorching hot. Fang Xiulin couldn''t stand the awful weather since long ago.


    However, to move the entire base, all the weapons and supplies would need to be shipped safely. No accidents were allowed to happen. Without the protection provided by the fence wall, huge groups of zombies would follow them on their way. Also, they mustn''t let Sky Fire Base people know about that, because Sky Fire Base would never give up such a perfect opportunity to break them.


    The base was large. To secure the weapons and supplies, they had first to ship them to the new base secretly, then escort the residents there.


    While Fang Xiulin was thinking about how to ship the supplies to Earth Dragon Base, Lin Qiao sneaked into the conference room. She wasn''t able to read Fang Xiulin''s mind, but could sense some thoughts from that vice-leader, who was at a lower level.


    She blinked, then figured out what Fang Xiulin and the vice-leader were thinking about.


    The geographical condition of Hidden Cloud Base had always been terrible, but their population was large. They had rich storage and great powers, but the food problem could still not be solved. Superpowered people needed food too after all!


    During the past few years, they had tried everything they could, yet the situation was never better. Therefore, they had no choice but to give up on the old base and look for a better place to live.


    Lin Qiao planned to leak the news to Sky Fire Base when Hidden Cloud Base people started to take action. Those two bases would certainly start a war.


    But, before Hidden Cloud City Base''s action, she would give them a heavy strike to ruin their plan and force them to evacuate immediately. Then, Sky Fire Base would be finishing the story for her. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    A sharp beam of light flashed across Lin Qiao''s eyes while she was thinking. Fang Xiulin had to die!


    Sitting behind the conference table, Fang Xiulin suddenly sensed a stream of coldness running down his spine. He paused briefly, then looked around with confusion.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away from him when he raised his head. He was very sensitive.


    Fang Xiulin looked around but found nothing strange. So, he lowered his head and continued his work. Right at that moment, a loud boom was heard through the window.


    "What''s going on out there?" Fang Xiulin immediately raised his head and shouted.


    One of his subordinates rushed into the conference room and said, "I don''t know. I''m going there now to see what''s happening."


    "Go," Fang Xiulin looked out of the window with a serious face; his eyes wore a fierce look.


    Lin Qiao walked to the window and looked outside. Lin Kui was in that area. He had jumped into action already.


    She quickly turned, approaching Fang Xiulin.


    Fang Xiulin was waiting for his subordinate to come back to tell him what was going on. He had no idea that a killer was in this large and empty conference room, preparing to end his life.


    As Lin Qiao was about two meters away from him, he blinked and then wore a vigilant look. He seemed to have sensed something.


    ''Someone else is here!''


    Right at that moment, Lin Qiao rushed up to him, swiftly reached out an arm, and clasped his shoulder.


    Fang Xiulin had a bad feeling when he sensed some energy from the air. He attempted to move backward, but before that, someone grabbed his shoulder. He immediately raised an arm to get rid of that invisible enemy, but unexpectedly, he found himself in a strange place in the next second.


    The chair that he was sitting on and the table that was before him were both gone. He stepped backward as soon as he could and supported his body with one leg, then raised his head to look around. Next, a sullen look emerged on his face.


    He was in a weird, dim patch of woods. The trees were tall, looking very alike. As he raised his eyes, he saw the fog coiling on the treetops.


    A second ago, he was still in the conference room, and now, he was there in this strange place. He understood that he was dragged into that place just now when the enemy clasped his shoulder.


    "Who are you? Show your face!" Fang Xiulin looked around and shouted coldly.


    If he had guessed right, he was in a space! Was the enemy a space possessor?


    After giving a shout, Fang Xiulin quickly thought of that possibility. It must be a space possessor who was able to turn invisible! What the hell was that? Could the space power develop invisibility?


    The space possessor must be at level-seven, or he would be able to make that space explode. But, how could space possessors upgrade so easily? Among all known space possessors, the strongest one was only at level-six.


    That man was a vice-leader of Huaxia Base.


    After thinking it through, Fang Xiulin instantly boosted his energy and released it as much as possible.


    Strong gales rose from around him, containing waves of sands. The gale roared in the woods, yet delivered no effects to the trees in that place.


    Soon, Fang Xiulin realized that he wasn''t able to release his powers to the largest extent!


    He was suppressed! How was that possible?


    He was shocked. He was at the peak of level-seven, a breath away from level-eight; moreover, he was dual-powered. In combination, the wind and sand power could be stronger than pure wind power. If Lu Zhuofeng didn''t break into level-eight before Fang Xiulin, he wouldn''t be a match for the latter.


    Therefore, it was beyond his imagination that he was actually suppressed in someone''s space.

 706 You Are Here For Revenge

    Right when Fang Xiulin sensed that his power was suppressed by that strange space, a figure suddenly flashed out from behind a tree and pounced straight on him. Feeling the strong killing intention, Fang Xiulin hurriedly turned to dodge.


    Bang! A wind blade hit the tree which was behind Fang Xiulin, generating a loud noise. As a result, the entire tree was shaken and rustled, while a few claw marks were left on the trunk.


    Claw marks?


    Fang Xiulin looked at those marks with surprise, then turned to look that woman who had suddenly shown up from nowhere¡­ No, it was not a woman¡­ It was a zombie! Her eyes were all black.


    She had a pretty, undamaged face. However, her eyes were purely black like the eyes of zombies, and her lips were dark purple.


    Her eyes were giving out an obvious intention of killing, which had Fang Xiulin shrouded.


    Fang Xiulin immediately figured out that she was a space-powered zombie. Based on her look, she was a zombie dominator.


    Right at that time, the female zombie started talking. "Lu Zhuofeng is dead. You''re the next!"


    "You¡­ You can talk?" Fang Xiulin was shocked, not by Lu Zhuofeng''s death, but by the fact that the female zombie was able to talk.


    Had zombie dominators developed linguistic abilities already?


    It took him a short while to process that the zombie just said.


    "What? Lu Zhuofeng is dead? That''s impossible!" Fang Xiulin stared at the zombie and said with disbelief.


    Lin Qiao sneered, "You sent out two vice-leaders to look for him. It has been so long, but nothing was heard from them yet. Do you think it''s possible or not?"


    Fang Xiulin blinked quickly. Deep down, he already had an answer. Yet, he didn''t admit it to her. "You''re trying to trick me, aren''t you? I don''t really care if he''s dead or alive! Don''t tell me that you killed him. Do you think that I''ll believe that?"


    A space-powered zombie could never kill a level-eight superpowered man.


    Fang Xiulin stayed composed. Space-powered beings had no special abilities except for their spaces. That resulted from the relative studies that all human bases had been doing during the past six years.


    "Fang Xiulin, are you dumb? Do you know what special powers mean? Who told you that I''m just a space-powered zombie? Besides¡­ have you ever seen another talking zombie? Hm?" Lin Qiao looked at him disdainfully and said with a cold smile.


    Fang Xiulin frowned slightly. Lin Qiao''s words inspired him and made him think of another possibility. She could be dual-powered, just like him!


    With that thought, Fang Xiulin suddenly reached out both hands and swung his arms. A strong wind spiraled up into the sky and raised clouds of sands, darkening the woods which were already dusky.


    Lin Qiao disappeared from where she was, and her voice was heard from every direction.


    "Fang Xiulin, you should be prepared for today after you ganged up with other bases to destroy my Hades Base. Don''t worry, I won''t blow your base up. I''m only going to kill all the superpowered ones in your base and those administrators! Look, am I not more humane than you people?"


    Hearing her words, Fang Xiulin paused briefly, then raised his head and popped his eyes as he yelled to ask, "Who are you? Come out! Are you from Hades Base? Are you here for revenge?"


    "You guessed right. I am from Hades Base. So, enjoy your death." Lin Qiao''s deep voice was heard in the woods along with the frosty killing intention.


    Fang Xiulin raised both arms. Following his movement, the wind and sands gathered toward his body, soon forming a tornado around him. The wind roared across the woods, brushing across the trees and rustling the leaves loudly. However, it hardly hurt those trees.


    "Show me what you can do then!" Fang Xiulin''s face darkened, because he had vaguely sensed the difference between her and himself.


    She was clearly a level-seven zombie while he was a level-seven human. He was dual-powered, and she could be dual-powered too. Based on the fact that zombies were usually stronger than same-leveled humans, Fang Xiulin figured that he should not waste time in that battle, because it would do him no good.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Besides, he was in the enemy''s space. He might be exhausted to death in that space unless he found a way to break out of it.


    Lin Qiao hid on a tree which was about ten meters away from Fang Xiulin. Standing on a branch, she sensed his power grow stronger and stronger. The sandstorm that he started was giving out a greater and greater pressure while the energy that he gathered grew higher and higher.


    She knew that he was going to release a heavy strike. Compared to Lu Zhuofeng, he was much better at using his powers. He was able to gather the wind and sand powers to a certain degree, and then make them explode.


    Lin Qiao stood on the branch and reached out her hands toward Fang Xiulin to control gather all the energy of the space toward him.


    As Fang Xiulin was boosting the sandstorm to see if he had a chance to blow the space up, he suddenly sensed that his powers were suppressed even more. He wasn''t able to gather the energy to the explosive point.


    Lin Qiao brought Fang Xiulin''s energy under control, then suddenly swung an arm and threw out a flake of dark fire.


    The dark fire drifted toward Fang Xiulin''s sandstorm, growing larger and larger. Before long, it became a fire dragon, diving at Fang Xiulin and coiling around his sandstorm.


    At that moment, a vice-leader ran into the conference room where Fang Xiulin was staying in, to report him about the high-leveled zombie attacks which happened in the base just now. A zombie dominator had shown up in the area where a boom was heard, and meanwhile, another base leader encountered another zombie dominator. After that, some level-six zombies were seen in a few other areas. All of those zombies purposefully attacked some important base members.


    That vice-leader had a very strong bad feeling, as so many high-leveled zombies had shown up in the base. He came over to report to his boss, yet his boss wasn''t there.


    "Where''s Chief Fang?" He quickly drew back to the door and grabbed a guard.


    "Eh? Isn''t he in there? He didn''t come out." The guard looked into the room with confusion. Fang Xiulin wasn''t there indeed.


    "Eh? This is not right. Chief was in there the whole time! He didn''t come out after you left, neither did he make any sounds."


    The vice leader''s expression changed once he heard that. With a serious look, he turned back and walked to the chair that Fang Xiulin was sitting in earlier.


    "He didn''t go out? Where is he then?" He murmured to himself. Abruptly, he knitted his brows and continued, "Did he encounter an attack as well? But, how come no sound was heard from him?"

 707 You Canst Run

    At that very moment when the dark fire emerged in Lin Qiao''s space, Fang Xiulin''s energy didn''t gather together as he wanted. Instead, it was growing weaker and weaker.


    Meanwhile, he realized that he was suffering a massive loss of energy!


    His energy was devoured! It was devoured!


    After realizing that, he was shocked, and also infuriated. What kind of power was that? She was able to devour his energy! How on earth was he supposed to fight her?


    He made the decision to quench the sandstorm right away, then turned and ran deeper into the woods.


    Lin Qiao watched him disappear in the woods and sneered. ''You wanna run? This is my space. Where can you possibly from?''


    While running, Fang Xiulin carefully paid attention to the surrounding environment. Gradually, he found that not only his superpowers were suppressed, but the energy contained in his body was also restrained.


    He hurriedly hid behind a tree, observing the surrounding area. He didn''t even dare to breathe loudly. Then, he squatted and pulled out the dagger which was hidden in his boot, as well as the pistol which was worn on his belt.


    ¡­


    At that point, Hidden Cloud City Base had already fallen into Chaos. About eight high-leveled zombies were running rampant in the base, attacking superpowered people at or above level three. No targeted people could survive.


    One of the two base leaders who were supposed to guard the base had gone missing while the other one was busying fighting a zombie dominator, an animal power possessor. Another male zombie dominator had killed thirty percent of level-six people in that base, including some vice-leaders.


    Wherever those zombies visited, all kinds of superpowers were released massively and gunshots were heard endlessly. The base became chaotic, and people panicked.


    "Run! Those are zombie kings and queens!"


    "Why are zombie kings and queens in our base¡­? That¡­ That is a zombie dominator! Help!"


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!


    The enemies had invaded the base before Hidden Cloud City people could do any preparations. The entire base was overwhelmed by the panic.


    It was already a little late by the time they prepared themselves for the war. Many important base members had died, and the weapons that the ordinary soldiers had could barely hurt those zombies.


    On the other side of the base, Mu Chengfeng controlled the surrounding plants and made them grow crazily fast. All the plants seemed to have become living creatures and covered the entire area, reaching toward the young female zombie who was covered in scales and wagging a lizard tail.


    Mu Chengfeng was moving further and further backward. While running, he controlled the surrounding plants to try and stop Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng was darting forward on all fours. She nimbly moved across those plants, wagging her tail and waving her claws from time to time to cut the branches and veins that blocked her way.


    Suddenly, she flashed across the air and disappeared.


    Mu Chengfeng spent a while running, then noticed that the zombie dominator behind him was gone. He hurriedly stopped and looked around alarmedly.


    Yun Meng landed on the ground. She didn''t approach those plants again, because they were the extensions of Mu Chengfeng''s limbs and were able to sense her. She sneakily moved behind him, away from those plants.


    Mu Chengfeng looked around with sharp eyes and a serious face. The enemy had suddenly disappeared. He, of course, would not think that she had given on up chasing him.


    Abruptly, he sensed a different power from behind him. He instinctively turned and moved backward to dodge while quickly waving his arms and drag over the nearby branches to shield his back.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    A series of noise was heard that sounded like a sharp blade cutting into leaves. The branches that were under Mu Chengfeng''s control was cut into pieces. Next, Yun Meng darted out from behind those branches and swung her arm as she charged at Mu Chengfeng.


    She got close to him!


    ''This is bad!'' Mu Chengfeng said to himself, then swiftly turned and rushed into the thick woods.


    Yun Meng was very fast. However, as she was surrounded by interweaving branches and leaves, she still let Mu Chengfeng run.


    At that point, Lin Qiao was in her space, sensing Fang Xiulin''s location. Soon, she disappeared from where she was and then reappeared on the tree near Fang Xiulin. Next, she raised a hand as she popped up her claws, and swung it at Fang Xiulin''s head.


    Her sharp claws descended toward Fang Xiulin''s head within a blink. However, before they landed on his scalp, he nimbly rolled on the ground and dodged the wind blade created by them.


    Puff! The wind blades cut into the ground and left a series of marks near the tree root.


    Fang Xiulin struggled up from the ground. At that moment, a scent of blood could already be sensed from him. He covered the wound on his shoulder with one hand, enduring the great pain as he clenched his teeth and turned to run.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The moment he turned around, a new wave of wind blades was sent toward him.


    He made a glance backward, then hurriedly leaped sideways. The wind blades landed on the ground again.


    "I''d like to see when you''ll stop running. You can never run away. You might as well give up on fighting back and embrace your death instead," Lin Qiao said coldly.


    Fang Xiulin suddenly waved the hand which was pressing on his wounds and created another sandstorm. That hand was nearly covered in blood.


    "In your dreams!" He gritted his teeth and growled ferociously.


    "No matter how hard you fight, you can''t use your powers, because they are suppressed by me. Why don''t you detonate your energy nucleus? Perhaps, you''ll be able to break this space. You forced someone else to detonate her energy nucleus back then. Now, you should try it yourself. You''ll know how the world disappears in your eyes the moment your energy nucleus explodes. It''s not painful at all," said Lin Qiao with a faint smile.


    Her eyes glistened with a cold light. Half a year had passed, yet she still remembered that feeling. When she gathered her energy to the greatest extent, her head ached so much, and her entire body seemed even to swell. But at the last moment, all those feelings were gone.


    The entire world was gone.


    She would never forget that horrible feeling.


    Fang Xiulin didn''t take her words seriously. After throwing out the sandstorm, he quickly turned and ran.


    Lin Qiao wore a fierce look in her eyes; her patience had run out. Once again, she disappeared from where she was. When she showed up again, she was right before Fang Xiulin. He attempted to dodge before he ran straight into her.


    She reached out a hand at lightning speed and penetrated his chest. He tried to dodge, so her claw didn''t touch his heart. But still, he failed to completely dodge her attack.


    He popped his eyes with disbelief. He didn''t know how the female zombie had suddenly shown up in front of him.


    "As I said, you can''t run," Lin Qiao said coldly, then gripped his throat with her other hand.

 708 Thats What She Wanted

    Lin Qiao came out of her space, only to hear explosions and heavy gunfires from everywhere and people screaming and growing.


    Lin Qiao didn''t interfere with the missions of the others, but headed straight toward the entrance.


    After spending one hour waiting on top of the fence wall near the entrance, she finally saw the first zombie who accomplished the mission and returned. That was not Lin Kui or Yun Meng, but Xia Ri, the zombie king. The tall and strong zombie hopped onto the fence wall; a strong bloody scent could be sensed from him. He looked at Lin Qiao seriously; his killing intent hadn''t been eased yet.


    He reached his bloody claws toward Lin Qiao. Held in his hands were some sparkling energy nuclei at the levels of three, four, and five.


    "Keep them. Don''t waste them. They''ll be useful in the future," Lin Qiao didn''t take over those nuclei, but said to him in a bland tone.


    Xia Ri''s fierce eyes showed confusion. But still, he obediently put those nuclei in his pockets, then buttoned up his pocket.


    Mo returned after Xia Ri. The metal-powered female zombie had an expressionless but delicate face. Her vibe was as strong and hard as her power.


    As same as Xia Ri, Mo took out a handful of energy nuclei and handed them to Lin Qiao. She was wearing a pair of combat mittens gloves.


    "You can keep your own trophies, no need to give them to me. However, without my permission, you can''t eat them or use them," Lin Qiao shook her head, then said to the two zombies.


    That was a habit that they formed when they were with Mo Yan. They felt a little weird as Lin Qiao didn''t take their nuclei.


    They felt that Lin Qiao''s behavior was unreasonable. After all, their old boss always harvested what they got from the missions. That old habit had developed into an instinct.


    Lin Kui returned the third, and put a bunch of level-six energy nuclei into Lin Qiao''s hands.


    "Why did you give them to me? Didn''t I tell you to keep them for yourself?" Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise.


    Lin Kui looked at his own clothes, then at Lin Qiao.


    "Oh¡­ Alright, I''ll keep them for you," Lin Qiao instantly understood his meaning.


    To fight the enemies, he needed to take off his clothes. Therefore, he might lose those nuclei if he put them in his pockets.


    Standing on the tall fence wall, Lin Qiao watched the smoke of gunpowder rise from every corner of Hidden Cloud Base. She even saw Yun Meng. Some thriving plants had covered the ground and buildings in that entire area.


    In another hour, Yun Meng finally killed Mu Chengfeng and returned with messy clothes and a few new wounds.


    "Damn! I hate green power the most!" Yun Meng landed before Lin Qiao and threw a level-seven nucleus at her as she complained.


    "You have green power too," Lin Qiao gave her a glance.


    "Damn! I hate plant power the most!" Yun Meng corrected herself.


    "But still, you killed him. As the surviving one, you have no right to complain," Lin Qiao turned to look at the base calmly.


    Yun Meng glanced at Lin Qiao and the seven zombies around her. The soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the fence wall were all gone. The whole area was empty, with not even one human being left.


    "How long are we gonna wait?" Yun Meng looked around and then asked.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment sensing Li Zheng and the others. Where they were, all the commoners had started a riot. As the base fell into chaos, they grasped the opportunity to attack the soldiers who always abused them; they took their guns and shot them.


    Most of the base administrators had been killed, and many superpowered peopled had died as well. The residents of the base had no idea what exactly was going on, but many of them had noticed that those high-leveled zombies were only targeting superpowered people and the ones who had been running the base. The base leaders and vice-leaders had even died. What else could possibly stop those commoners?Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    They attacked soldiers, seized the soldiers'' weapons, and killed them; they occupied territories and fought each other over food and supplies.


    Based on the current situation, the commoners and ordinary soldiers in Hidden Cloud Base would divide into a few groups.


    That was what Lin Qiao wanted. She didn''t want the supplies and food from that base, but wanted to tear it apart.


    "Not long," she said.


    That night, Li Zheng and his squad finally returned.


    "Alright, we have accomplished the mission. Let''s go back and prepare for the New Year. It''s going to be the first New Year in our new base," Lin Qiao gave a faint smile, then turned and leaped off the wall. Following behind her, the group of zombies leaped off the wall one after another.


    The coming New Year would not be easy for Hidden Cloud City Base.


    Before long, the news from Hidden Cloud City Base surprised the people from all the other bases. After Earth Dragon Base, another base was destroyed.


    As Hidden Cloud City Base''s neighbor, Sky Fire Base people got the news first, and they excitedly rushed into the base with an army and a large group of superpowered people. Facing them, those commoners, lower-leveled superpowered people, or ordinary soldiers in Hidden Cloud City had completely no chance of winning. What could they possibly do to resist a level-five superpower attack? They had good weapons, yet those basic weapons could hardly hurt their high-leveled superpowered enemies.


    The people from the other bases heard that all superpowered people at or above level-four were all murdered within one day. Who did that was a group of zombies at level six and seven.


    It was a group of zombies! Not just one!


    That was reasonable though.


    "Where on earth did those top-leveled zombies come from? Six zombie kings and queens, and two zombie dominators? And, where is Fang Xiulin? Did he just disappear into thin air?" Some chairmen of Huaxia Base felt confused.


    "There was one black panther. It must be the zombie that they stole from us! Where the hell were they from?" Liu Zhinan was a little excited.


    The entire base had heard about what happened in Hidden Cloud Base, so it was easy for them to learn some details. Huaxia Base people easily guessed that the male black panther was none other than the zombie from their lab.


    "Find out where those zombies are from!" Si Kongchen wore no expression, but his eyes glowed with a dim light.


    Earlier, the trade of the anti-virus drug was nearly ruined, which already made him so angry. Currently, what infuriated him was that he felt as if a giant hand was manipulating all that had happened, and the owner of that hand was hiding very well, leaving no clue for him and his people.


    Green Mountain Base handed over the squad member who was there when the black panther disappeared. Si Kongchen sent his people to keep a close eye on Green Mountain Base and Sea City Base. However, all of those people had disappeared without sending any message back to the base. And now, the Hidden Cloud City Base was destroyed.

 709 Subsequent Impac

    "Those zombies¡­ broke Hidden Cloud Base in an organized way, but only attacked higher-leveled people. I think something is not right," Han Xiao, one of the chairmen of Huaxia Base, crossed his arms before his chest as he thought for a moment and then said.


    "Those zombies all disappeared after turning Hidden Cloud Base into a mess. Where the hell were they from? Where are they now?" Si Kongchen spent a while thinking, yet failed to figure out a thing.


    No one saw those zombies leave, so the people from the other bases had no information about their whereabouts.


    "We must find them! Macuy and the other zombies! Our base will grow much stronger if we obtain their nuclei," Wei Haichao looked at Si Kongchen. His eyes glowed as if he was looking at a pile of sparkling zombie nuclei.


    He talked about strengthening the base, but no one could tell if he was really thinking that way.


    "We lost touch with our people who were sent to Green Mountain Base and Sea City Base. I think we need to send out more people to those two bases," Han Xiao said with a serious look.


    "Send some meticulous people. Green Mountain Base doesn''t seem weak. Sea City Base people are acting weird too. They seem to have been trying to hide something," Si Kongchen nodded in agreement with Han Xiao.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao encountered no problem on her way back from Hidden Cloud Base to All Beings Base, spending less than ten days on that trip.


    Yuan Tianxing and the others heard about the news earlier than the people from the other bases. After learning that the Hidden Cloud Base was destroyed, they sighed with relief, and also felt it to be reasonable. Earth Dragon Base was destroyed not long ago. So this time, Hidden Cloud Base''s destruction didn''t surprise them.


    "Our Chief is powerful indeed! It has only been a few days, and she has already turned Hidden Cloud Base into a mess! That is amazing!"


    "Really? Really? Is Hidden Cloud Base really destroyed?"


    Almost everyone in All Beings Base had heard the news. They were surprised that another of the three enemies that destroyed their home and killed their families was decimated. They were delighted, and also surprised.


    "They deserve that! None of them will end well!"


    "You''re right! I heard that all leaders and vice-leaders of Hidden Cloud Base have been killed, and many high-leveled superpowered people in that base are dead. So now, only some commoners and ordinary soldiers are left in the base. Those lower-leveled superpowered ones are just average! Let''s see if Sky Fire Base will kindly help them!" Someone laughed.


    Knowing that Hidden Cloud Base was destroyed by Miss Lu, their current leader, and a small troop under her command, those people developed a greater admiration for her. At the very least, they were now willing to call her ''Chief'' sincerely!


    "Great! Earth Dragon Base is dead, and Hidden Cloud Base is ruined. Will Sky Fire Base be the next? Miss Lu is really amazing! I heard that she brought less than a hundred people with her, yet she wasted the entire Hidden Cloud Base. How did she do that? Doesn''t Hidden Cloud Base have a level-eight leader and three level-seven ones? Not to mention those level-six people¡­" Some other people were curious about the details. For them, that was an unsolved puzzle.


    "No matter how she did it, she is powerful!" Some people didn''t care about the process, but only wanted the result. They wanted their enemies to become homeless and lose their families, like they did!


    Apart from the current residents of All Beings Base, some other people were also happy. Those were the ones who refused to leave with Lin Qiao, but stayed in Hades Base.


    They didn''t want to travel all the way to All Beings Base with Lin Qiao, but decided to stay in Hades Base and live on the remaining supplies there. Not long ago, they heard that the Earth Dragon Base suffered attacks from a mysterious being. At last, Long Yubai and a few vice-leaders died, and some others went missing; the base was then brought under Hidden Cloud Base''s control.


    At that time, they were thrilled! Every one of them screamed that it was the karma for Earth Dragon Base, for Long Yubai that b*stard.


    Not long after that, they heard that Hidden Cloud Base had fallen. Once again, they were so happy. Meanwhile, they started to hear from the new base in Hangzhou.


    They heard that the new base had rich supplies! The fence wall was still under construction, but the construction work had been going on very efficiently! Also, the base was guarded by zombies! Those zombies wouldn''t attack human beings, but guarded the base against all possible invaders!


    They heard that the people who had moved to the new base were all healthy and happy! They had fancy food like rice and noodles!


    They also heard that those people lived in clean and sturdy buildings, and that they had clean beds and quilts! They even had endless water!


    They also had a secret way to make zombies ignore them. They wouldn''t be attacked by zombies when they left the base to search for supplies!


    All that they had heard reminded them of the zombie path that the woman asked them to go through, back when she offered to bring them to the new base. Back then, those people could tell that she was able to control those zombies. Otherwise, why would those zombies make a path so obediently? Normally, they would crazily jump on any human being they saw; but on that day, they only stood there motionlessly.


    After thinking that through, those people in the old Hades Base started regretting not following that woman that day. Those zombies wouldn''t attack them, so what was to be afraid of? They looked ugly, but so what? It had been years since apocalypse happened, and people had gotten used to those ugly zombies long ago!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    As the supplies started running low, barely maintaining those people''s life, they finally started thinking about moving to the new base.


    "We made our own decisions to stay. If we go there now, they''d certainly laugh at us!" Some people couldn''t get over with that. If they went to the new base now, they would be a grade lower than the others. They would never be able to earn their dignity back in front of those people!


    "But¡­ But, they said that we can join them later. It''s free for us to join the base. What else matters? We just want to survive, right? Besides, we can help them build the fence wall if we go there now! The fence wall is still under construction, isn''t it? We can help too, can''t we?" Some people only cared about whether they could survive or not.


    "You''re right! We will be the second batch of people who joins the new base. There might be more who would want to join that base in the future. Think about Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base. I doubt those two bases can last for a year. I think the new base will be stronger than this old one! Where do you all plan to go when we run out of food? Earth Dragon Base? Hidden Cloud City Base? Sky Fire Base?"


    Some other people had a long-term vision.

 710 The Second Batch

    Lin Qiao had brought away the majority of Hades Base survivors. Currently, less than two-thousand people were still living in the old base. Some among them had superpowers, but none were high-leveled. The small number of superpowered people were only at level one or two.


    At that moment, the decision-makers among those people were having a meeting together.


    "There''s a long distance between Hangzhou and here. We''ll be surrounded by zombies all our way. Many of us would have died by the time we get there." Some people were still worried about the dangers that might occur during the journey. They were afraid that without effective protection, they might be killed by zombies or mutated animals.


    "What to be afraid of? We have so many vehicles and weapons. With those, we''ll get the new base safely. You can stay if you''re afraid." A younger man glanced at the man who was talking just now.


    "We missed the first chance. She gave us a chance, but we failed to take it. We have only ourselves to blame. Now, we have no choice but to create a new chance!" Said another man. He was tall and strong, without any cowardice at all. He didn''t leave with Lin Qiao because he didn''t trust strangers. He would never trust his future to a strange woman.


    He needed to observe! Through a long observation, he was finally sure that a new base had truly been established in Hangzhou City. The people who had moved to the new base were well alive.


    "Yeah. We are not starving to death, but many of us have died of illness. The new base might have medicines and healing power possessors."


    "We should leave as soon as possible if we have decided to go. Tell everybody to pack their things and get the vehicles ready. We''ll be moving!"


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao didn''t know that the people who chose to stay in the old Hades Base now wanted to join All Beings Base. There was still about ten days before the New Year came, so she slowed down, searched for energy nuclei and high-leveled zombies on her way back to the base.


    Back in the base, she had a meeting with the other base administrators.


    "Lu Zhuofeng, Mu Chengfeng, Fang Xiulin, all the vice-leaders under their commands, and all superpowered people in that base at or above level-four, have died. They paid the price for helping Earth Dragon Base to attack us. As for what will happen to that base in the future, that''ll be up to fate," Lin Qiao stood before the conference table as she crossed her arms before her chest and said to the others.


    The others glanced at each other with composure. Still, they seemed a little delighted.


    "We have cut off the head of Hidden Cloud Base, so Sky Fire Base will certainly try to seize their supplies. They have no reason to let the others to make the harvest. So, when are we going to attack Sky Fire Base?" Lin Feng asked Lin Qiao.


    "We are not going to do it¡­ for now. The force I brought to Hidden Cloud Base this time is our secret weapon. We have already caught the attention of the other bases. For the time being, we can''t go after Sky Fire Base. Just let those people live for now," Lin Qiao scratched her chin and said.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "You''re right. Most importantly, we''ve caught Huaxia Base''s attention. Ever since they learned that the zombie from their lab was among the ones under your command, they''ve been keeping a close eye on Hidden Cloud City. Heilong Base and Mongols Base were paying close attention to that base too. We''d be in trouble if they knew that those zombies are from our base."


    "Yeah. So, we''ll keep building the fence wall, collecting supplies, and establishing the farm. We don''t need to worry about weapons though. If we need, we can buy some from Wu Chengyue," Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    "We do need to keep an eye on Huaxia Base. Those people are not easy to deal with," Yuan Tianxing nodded and said.


    "Yuan Tianxing, you also need to send some people to Heilong Base. We don''t want to miss any news from there. If I have guessed right, something might happen in that base soon. And Green Mountain Base¡­ They are very interested in our base. If you meet them, be nice," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said to Yuan Tianxing, who nodded in response.


    Lin Qiao ten continued, "Are our food storage granaries ready yet?"


    She needed to move the stored food out of her space. Those foods couldn''t always stay in her space and travel around along with her.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded, "The first one is ready, right under this hotel. How much food do you have?"


    "About two-thousand tons in total," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then gave the answer.


    "The storage under the hotel isn''t large. It''s only able to contain about five-hundred tons for now. Just fill that storage up first, then give some to Wenwen. The rest will be kept in your space. You can take them out when the second granary is ready," Yuan Tianxing suggested.


    Currently, Lin Qiao and her sister were the only two in the base who had spaces.


    "Okay¡­ Make some arrangements. Give all base members some subsidy for the New Year. Chen Yuting, you will keep assisting Yuan Tianxing," Lin Qiao said to Yuan Tianxing, then turned to Chen Yuting, who was beside the former.


    "No problem! Chen Yuting nodded.


    "After the New Year, I''ll deliver a mass upgrade for all superpowered people at or above level-five. Lin Feng, count them up and give me a number," Lin Qiao turned and gave Lin Feng an order.


    It was the end of the year. She needed some data for the year-end summary and the new-year plan.


    "Oh, there''s one thing that you need to know. Those people who stayed in the old Hades Base might come here in two or three months. How are we gonna accept them?" Yuan Tianxing abruptly mentioned that.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand carelessly and said, "Just let them come. Register their names and arrange jobs for them. Do observe them and see if they have a healthy mindset or not. Offer official jobs for the good ones. For the below-average ones, give them food and supplies according to our old standard for commoners."


    "Alright," Yuan Tianxing nodded.


    As the meeting was over, Lin Qiao returned to her office before summoning Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying.


    "Wenwen, is your space still airless?" Lin Qiao sat behind her desk and asked Lin Wenwen while reading some files.


    "Em, yeah. Why?" Lin Wenwen responded with confusion.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "How big is your space now? You''re only at level-four, aren''t you?" Lin Qiao continued.


    "Big Sister, are you gonna upgrade me?" Lin Wenwen''s eyes glowed, then she replied, "My space is only around thirty meters square now. It''s not large."


    Lin Qiao nodded as she dropped the files, then raised her head to look at the two girls and speak, "I asked you to come here because I want to upgrade both of you."


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Long Qingying delightedly, and the latter was turning to her as well. Long Qingying''s eyes, which normally showed no emotions, were glowing as well.


    "Really? Great! I''ll be able to store more supplies then!" Lin Wenwen turned back to Lin Qiao and said.

 711 Upgrade The Zombie Dog

    The New Year was just a few days away. Lin Qiao upgraded Lin Wenwen to level-five by using the nuclei that she collected on her way back. With that, the latter''s space became twice as large as before. After the upgrade, Lin Qiao filled the first granary with the food in her space, and then put some food in Lin Wenwen''s space.


    Long Qingying was upgraded to level-six. Her job was to protect Lin Wenwen, who was a small, mobile warehouse. It was an official job now.


    The upgrade for other people had been scheduled after the New Year, and they accepted that arrangement willingly. After all, they were all at level four or five, and were strong enough to hunt zombies for zombie nuclei. They were able to absorb energies from nuclei by themselves, but of course, the result wouldn''t be as good as what Lin Qiao could do.


    Yuan Tianxing told them about the important facts regarding the upgrade and let them make their own decisions.


    Before the New Year''s day, at one in the morning, Lin Qiao and her people started butchering roe deers. She killed half of those roe deers in her space; the meat would last the three-thousand people in the base for one or even two days!


    "Awo¡­ Awo¡­" The little tiger held a large meat bone with both paws, chewing happily. Its little beady eyes were glowing.


    Near Mount Wu, Lin Qiao released all the zombies from her space. That area had become the territory of Lin Qiao and the other zombies.


    The little tiger, Black, and Bowwow had been released from the space as well. The larger two darted straight into the woods; that area was Black''s hometown. Many large rats were living in the hills. Bowwow hadn''t been hunting them recently, so the number of rats had grown higher.


    The timid Xiao Xiao had mostly adapted to her current look. But still, she liked to follow Lin Qiao everywhere.


    Early in the morning, Lin Qiao caught Bowwow, which was happily hunting rats on a hill.


    "Come here and sit down!" In the clearing before the cabin, Lin Qiao pointed at the ground and said to Bowwow. The latter walked over with confusion. On its furless skin, large wounds twitched along with its movements.


    "Owo?" Bowwow obediently sat before Lin Qiao and raised its head to look at her.


    Lin Qiao walked around it twice and said, "Don''t move."


    Then, she waved a hand. A large bucket appeared by her side, containing some lakewater. A strong wave of energy was radiating from the water.


    The energy from the water immediately attracted the surrounding zombies. They all turned to Lin Qiao, eagerly looking at the bucket. However, they didn''t dare to approach the bucket without her order.


    "Get in," Lin Qiao pointed at the bucket.


    "Owoo!" Bowwow excitedly stood up and wagged its tail, then happily jumped into the bucket. Lin Qiao made a step backward timely, so the water didn''t splash on her.


    As Bowwow jumped into the bucket, the water level rose largely. But, its head was still above the water.


    Bowwow excitedly rolled in the bucket. It just couldn''t be happier!


    "Sit down," Lin Qiao said to the dog.


    Bowwow immediately sat on the bottom of the bucket, waiting for Lin Qiao''s further orders. Nonetheless, it couldn''t help but wag its tail with excitement. It felt that Lin Qiao would do something else as well.


    Following a series of rustling noise, Black came out of the woods and circled around the cabin and bowwow''s bucket. Its eyes sparkled brightly. The snake even wanted to drag Bowwow out of the bucket and squeeze itself in!


    However, the bucket was too small¡­ It might be able to contain the snake''s head at most.


    Thinking about that, Black was a little unhappy. Why was the dog allowed to bathe in the lakewater? The snake wanted a bath too!


    As Bowwow finally sat down quietly, Lin Qiao walked to the bucket, put her hands into the water, and began rubbing the dog''s skin with a towel.


    The dog was furless, so it was an easy job to give it a bath. After the bath, Lin Qiao took out an energy nucleus, which was from a level-six mutated beast. She put the nucleus into the zombie dog''s mouth, then put her hands into the water to send the energy in the water into its wounds.


    Bowwow was enjoying the bath and the nucleus, but following Lin Qiao''s movement, it started shaking.


    "Put up with it!" Lin Qiao said to the dog.


    "Owoo¡­" Bowwow bared its teeth. It gritted its teeth and endured the discomfort obediently. It wasn''t suffering pain. The energy nucleus that it swallowed contained a huge amount of energy, which was released inside his body. Sensing the intense energy invading its body, the dog instinctively felt that its body was going to explode.


    On one hand, Lin Qiao was planning to upgrade the zombie dog. On the other hand, she wanted to at least heal those huge wounds on the dog''s body, or even make its fur grow back out.


    She hurriedly sent all the energy contained in the water in the bucket into the zombie dog''s body, then started observing the dog while controlling the power inside it.


    Soon, she noticed some changes in the few wounds on the dog''s head. In those wounds, the muscles twitched for a short while, then new muscle tissues started growing out. Before long, those wounds were healed, and then the skin grew back together.


    Meanwhile, the water in the bucket started bubbling.


    The lakewater was delivering a strong effect on the zombie dog as Lin Qiao controlled the energy patiently. An hour later, the dog had absorbed all the energy from the water. Next, it would be digesting the slight amount of energy which was left from the nucleus.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    The water in the bucket became normal water, but still, it was purer than regular purified water.


    Lin Qiao spent hours waiting. She stayed beside the bucket, watching the zombie dog motionlessly.


    She slightly narrowed her eyes, observing the energy flow inside the dog''s body that eventually gathered together. Where the energy gathered, a zombie nucleus was spinning. As the nucleus absorbed all the energy inside the dog''s body, its surface cracked in a weird way. It cracked quickly and then released a strong vibe. The vibe shattered the broken surface of the nucleus.


    The pieces of the nucleus surface immediately transformed into a stream of energy and gushed out of the dog''s body.


    At that point, Bowwow''s upgrade was completed. Its vibe grew stronger than before by many times over. The vibe from a level-six zombie beast was surely much more dangerous than that from a level-six human being.


    "Alright, get out!" Lin Qiao made a few steps backward, then said to Bowwow.


    Bowwow instantly jumped out of the bucket, bringing up a splash of water. It landed on the ground and slightly parted its limbs, then habitually shook its body to dry itself.


    It still had no fur though.

 712 Upgrade And Heal

    "Keng-keng, come here and pour the water in that field," Lin Qiao said to the water-powered zombie queen who was standing on a nearby tree and watching the dog.


    Keng-keng swiftly leaped off the tree and landed by Lin Qiao''s side. As he swung an arm, the water gushed out of the bucket, rose into the sky, and then drifted to the field nearby. She then raised both hands with palms held together, and then spread her arms.


    Following her movement, the water in the air spread out thin and wide, floating over the sweet potato field like a transparent cover.


    After that, she swung her arms again, as if she was trying to get rid of some water from her hands. Along with her move, the water fell from the sky and splashed to every corner of the field.


    Xiao-xiao stood behind Lin Qiao as she curiously watched Keng-keng control the water. That was so interesting to her.


    At that time, Lin Qiao put some more water into the bucket, then cut her finger. A drop of blood dripped from her finger into the bucket, merging with the water.


    The moment her blood dripped, Xiao-xiao, Keng-keng, Black, and the zombie dog turned and ran simultaneously.


    "Owooo¡­"


    "Bowwow! Get back here! Where are you going!" Lin Qiao turned and yelled at Bowwow, who was rushing straight toward the woods. Then, she murmured, "This is good for you guys. Why do you always act like it''s a monster?"


    "Owoo!" The zombie dog''s skin had been healed. Even though it was still furless, it looked much better than before. Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, the zombie dog froze. Even though it was already a level-six zombie beast, it still obediently turned around and walked toward Lin Qiao in two or three seconds, with its head and tail dropped.


    Lin Qiao stirred the water with her hand and said, "Come on. It has merged into the water."


    The zombie dog carefully moved closer to the bucket and alertly stared at the water in it. Gradually, the fear on its face was replaced with curiosity. Soon, it couldn''t help but lean its head forward to look at the water.


    Lin Qiao''s blood had merged into the water, so the dangerous vibe that it gave out had mostly faded. Currently, that vibe couldn''t threaten the zombie beasts at or above level-five.


    At that time, Xiao-xiao stuck her head out from behind the cabin and popped her black eyes as she looked at the bucket curiously and vigilantly.


    "Get in," Lin Qiao pointed at the bucket and said to the zombie dog. Meanwhile, she was ready to press the dog into the bucket.


    The zombie dog looked at her with hesitation. It wasn''t willing to get into the bucket! As a zombie beast, it was more sensitive to dangers than human beings by many times over. It was already difficult for the dog to get close to the bucket. How could it possibly get inside?


    The water in the bucket didn''t attract the dog like the first bucket of water. Instead, it contained the strong, aggressive vibe from Lin Qiao.


    "Get in," Lin Qiao hastened the dog.


    "Owooo!" The dog moaned to her, holding its tail tightly between its legs.


    "It''ll be alright! Get in. Do you want fur or not?" Lin Qiao lured the dog, even though she didn''t know if her blood could make the dog''s fur grow back out. She had never tried bathing. Before, she usually made the other zombies drink the diluted blood.


    "Owo!" ''I don''t want to!''


    The zombie dog rejected straightforwardly.


    "Get in! Do you want me to make you?" Lin Qiao finally lost her patience. She raised a hand as she popped her sharp and shiny nails.


    Seeing those, the zombie dog was frightened immediately.


    "Owo¡­" It lowered its head and uttered a sad moan, then turned and looked at the water in the bucket a it made two steps backward. After that, it slightly raised its forelegs, prepared to jump, but didn''t do it. Then, it prepared itself again, but still paused before jumping.


    That process was repeated a few times. At last, the dog finally clenched its teeth and leaped into the bucket.


    Plop! The dog fell into the bucket.


    "Owoo!" Right after that, it opened its mouth wide and uttered a scream, then turned and attempted to get out. However, Lin Qiao pressed it down in the bucket, even disabling it from moving.


    "Owooooo¡­" The zombie dog started struggling and roaring.


    Xiao-xiao was frightened by the dog''s shrill screams. She instantly shrank behind the cabin and disappeared.


    "Owooo¡­" The zombie dog struggled in the bucket, yet Lin Qiao pressed it firmly down, not letting it get out.


    Perhaps, Lin Qiao had dripped too much blood into the water, or the bathing was probably not an effective way. The zombie dog spent two whole hours roaring and struggling in the bucket. After that period, it finally floated in the bucket quietly like a dead dog.


    Lin Qiao didn''t drag it out of the bucket, but let it float in the water.


    Two figures landed by her sides. "What are you doing? Killing the dog?" Yun Meng looked at the dead-like dog in the bucket with surprise.


    Once she finished talking, the almost-dead dog in the bucket suddenly twitched and turned as it woke up. After waking up, Bowwow was much calmer than before, because the threatening vibe in the water was gone, and so was the pain. The dog floated in the water and pulled the water with its four limbs. Then, it abruptly spread its limbs and stood on the bottom of the bucket. Following that, it sat down and raised its head as it opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue, looking at Lin Qiao. It seemed to have remembered something.


    "Alright, you can come out," Lin Qiao said to the dog.


    Hearing that, the dog instantly leaped out of the water.


    "Keng-keng!" Lin Qiao turned and said to the air. Following her voice, Keng-keng showed up from nowhere.


    She understood what Lin Qiao wanted. This time, she emptied the bucket before Lin Qiao even gave an order. However, she didn''t get too close to Lin Qiao, but stood on a tree which was located in a distance away and released her power.


    "It upgraded!" Qiu Lili looked at Bowwow curiously, then nodded and continued, "It''s powerful!"


    Lin Qiao squatted beside Bowwow and touched its skin. The dog''s skin was no longer dry and rough, but was soft and smooth.


    "Oh, all the wounds have been healed. It''s not ugly anymore!" Yun Meng was also looking at the zombie dog. "Will its hair grow out?" She asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I think it will. Come and touch it."


    She turned and looked at Yun Meng. The dog''s skin had become tight, soft, and smooth, also downy, as if its hair had started to grow.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao believed that the dog''s hair would grow! Its skin had been activated. That was still not like the skin of a healthy dog, but it was no longer lifeless.


    "Really?" Yun Meng came closer with curiosity, then reached out to touch the dog. The dog''s soft and smooth skin felt very nice.


    "Oh, it feels good!" She said delightfully.


    Hearing her, Qiu Lili quickly came over to feel the dog''s skin.


    "Owooo¡­" The zombie dog wore a depressed look as the two girls were stroking its back. However, facing the three powerful beings, it did not dare to misbehave! Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

 713 Try The Mutated Animal

    After giving her virus to Bowwow, Lin Qiao turned to look at Black, who was hiding behind the cabin, sticking its head out from behind the cabin to look at her. Black was huge, so Lin Qiao spent a while thinking about how to give it a bath.


    It was such a large snake. Should she dig a pond for it?


    She glanced at her finger. The little wound on that finger had healed already. She wondered if her virus would be effective one mutated animals as well. Reasonably speaking, those animals mutated because the zombie virus had invaded their bodies. She couldn''t tell if her virus would make any differences to mutated animals if she replaced the zombie virus with hers. Unlike the lake water from her space, her virus didn''t have a purifying power.


    She thought for a moment, then refilled the bucket with clean lake water. Next, she took out the virus that Leng Xuantong developed with her blood and poured it into the water. After that, she brought a roe deer out of her space and tied its neck with the vine that Viney left in the space.


    "Lili, Yun Meng, pour some water from the bucket into the roe deer''s mouth." Holding the vine, Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, who was standing beside her and watching. Those two girls had no works to do anyway.


    "Eh? Alright," Qiu Lili paused briefly, then turned and found a water ladle, fetching half a ladle of water from the bucket. Meanwhile, Yun Meng violently pressed the roe deer down to the ground, then held it tight to stop it from struggling.


    Qiu Lili squatted before the roe deer''s head. Lin Qiao squatted as well and forced the roe deer mouth to open. Only after that did Qiu Lili pour the water into its mouth.


    The roe deer struggled at first, but soon quieted down. Most of the zombies suffered pain for fifteen minutes to half an hour when they accepted Lin Qiao''s virus, but unlike them, the roe deer''s suffering ended quickly.


    "Eh? So soon?" Yun Meng said with surprise.


    Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili were both surprised too, looking at the roe deer which was lying quietly on the ground. Lin Qiao was able to see her virus devouring the energy from the zombie virus inside the roe deer''s body. Her virus was spreading inside it from the head.


    "What will happen? Big Sister, I think you should give this work to the scientist who joined us recently," Yun Meng spent a while looking at the roe deer which was lying motionlessly on the ground, then raised her head to talk to Lin Qiao.


    "Em, this will be his work in the future. I just suddenly came up with this idea. I was going to try it on Black, but then I figured that I should first try it on some other mutated animals. After all, mutated animals aren''t the same as zombies," Lin Qiao nodded and responded.


    Apart from the zombie virus, Leng Xuantong had also been studying Lin Qiao''s and Lin Kui''s blood. Lin Qiao also asked him to study the energy from the lake.


    With the lake water, the farming work in All Beings Base would undoubtedly go much better than that in the other bases. The lake water from Lin Qiao''s space was able to purify the virus carried by mutated animals and make them edible for humans. However, it couldn''t weaken those strong mutated animals.


    Black was actually edible for humans already!


    With that thought, Lin Qiao raised her head and glanced at Black, who was coiling on the roof of the cabin.


    That glance frightened Black for some reason. The snake instantly shrank and hid its body behind the cabin, only leaving its head outside so that it could see.


    Lin Qiao planned to tell Lin Feng to hunt some mutated animals after the New Year when he and his people left the base to collect supplies. A lot of mutated animals could be found in the zoo area.


    Soon, the roe deer started moving. As same as Bowwow, it sprung up from the ground and then lay back down. Its bones bulged and then shrank, as if the roe deer was going through some kind of shapeshifting.


    "It''s happening," Qiu Lili looked at the roe deer curiously, her eyes glowing.


    The roe deer lay on the ground as it let out weird screams. Its entire body was twitching in a strange way while its bones were moving under its skin. Back in the old world, that would be a pretty scary scene; but in the post-apocalyptic era, it would scare no one. What could be even more terrifying than zombies, mutated plants, and animals?Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Some drastic changes were happening inside the roe deer''s body. The roe deer''s appearance remained the same, and it soon struggled up from the ground. Its eyes had turned purely black, and teeth seemed to become sharper than before. Its fur stayed in the same color, and no wounds could be found on its body. However, its vibe had changed thoroughly.


    It had turned into a zombie beast!


    The zombie roe deer shambled slightly before it could stand firmly. Then, it reared up its head to look at Lin Qiao. Its round, large eyes had a life-less, deep black color. But occasionally, traces of wits could be found in those eyes.


    "Eh?" Lin Qiao stood up and looked at the roe deer, which was taller than her waist. "It turned into a zombie beast, but seems to be a little different from Bowwow," she said confusedly.


    Then, she glanced at Black, who was saying on the cabin roof, as she sighed and continued, "My virus is too strong. A living animal is turned into a zombie beast just like that."


    Normally, a mutated animal would not turn into a zombie beast after being bitten by one, because the virus inside their bodies had given them immunity.


    The roe deer stood gawkily before Lin Qiao as it looked at her, then looked around itself, and then turned back to her. Its ears flapped from time to time. A short while later, as Lin Qiao made no movement, the roe deer moved close to her with curiosity, reaching its nose forward and sniffing at her.


    "Em? I think¡­ it looks so much like the silly roe deers that I saw from TV before! It seems gawky, also curious about anything!" Yun Meng put her arms before her chest as she rested her chin on one palm while curiously observing the zombie roe deer.


    Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili both nodded.


    The roe deer did seem a little silly!


    The roe deer sniffed around Lin Qiao, then turned to Qiu Lili who was standing beside the former.


    Qiu Lili took a step backward, because she didn''t want the roe deer to get close to her. However, the roe deer moved forward and followed her. Qiu Lili automatically made two more steps backward. Following her movement, the roe deer, which had become a zombie beast, also regained its silly nature, instantly making two steps forward.


    Lin Qiao and Yun Meng watched that and laughed. "Why did it become more like a silly roe deer after it turned into a zombie beast?"


    No upgrade? Could that be counted as an evolution? Maybe not. Was that a second-time mutation caused by a different kind of virus?


    Lin Qiao wasn''t sure which level that roe deer was at.


    "Roar!" All of a sudden, the zombie dog pounced on the roe deer while uttering a roar.


    The roe deer was pressed to the ground by Bowwow before it could even react. The dog pressed its paws heavily on the roe deer, which was larger than itself. Meanwhile, the roe deer''s head was already in the dog''s mouth.


    Crack! Along with the noise, the roe deer''s skull was crushed by the dog''s teeth.


    That sudden twist stunned Lin Qiao and the others. "What¡­ is this?" Lin Qiao murmured with confusion.

 714 Dig A Pool For I

    The zombie dog held the zombie roe deer''s head in its mouth and threw its own head from side to side with a ferocious look, also letting out a deep growl from its throat.


    "What are you doing?" Lin Qiao looked at the zombie dog with surprise. She hadn''t observed the roe deer to see if there were other changes of it, yet the bloody dog bit it to death already.


    The zombie roe deer was already dead, but the zombie dog still didn''t relax its bite.


    Lin Qiao looked at the dog and sighed, "Anyway, we have roughly learned about how my blood changed the roe deer. Leng Xuantong will be doing further research."


    Lin Qiao had sent both Leng Xuantong''s wife and son to him. She had given the two zombies an order to forbid them from attacking Leng Xuantong. Even though the two zombies didn''t recognize Leng Xuantong, the zombie wife learned to do some simple works that Leng Xuantong gave her, such as cleaning the floor and the table, checking the timing device, and battery replacement.


    The zombie boy followed the zombie wife everywhere like a little tail of hers.


    Lin Qiao had fulfilled the promise that she made to Leng Xuantong.


    Leng Xuantong was surprised delightfully when he learned that his zombie wife was able to be his assistant. Even though his family didn''t remember him, being with them was enough for him.


    Besides, after knowing all the zombies from Lin Qiao''s space, Leng Xuantong believed that Lin Qiao would be able to restore the memories of his wife and son. For that very reason, he decided to stay in All Being Base.


    As the roe deer experiment had failed, Lin Qiao decided not to give her virus to Black. So, to strengthen the snake, she had to use the lake water and energy nuclei.


    She spent a short while thinking, then summoned an earth-powered zombie. That zombie was among the first batch of zombies that she had recruited¡ªzombie number six. Currently, he was a zombie king.


    After the upgrade, he didn''t remember his name or nickname, or anything about himself. However, he had regained many skills and habits that he had before.


    Lin Qiao called him Six. He looked about thirty years old. He had drunk quite some lake water that Lin Qiao gave him, and had taken a few baths. After the upgrade, his body was healed to a considerable extent. He didn''t have a very handsome face, but could be counted as pretty. His eyes were sunken, dark and slender, wearing a composed look. His nose was straight, and his deep-purple thin lips were very eye-catching.


    Because of his eyes and lips, his comely face became very attractive. It was like a normal man wearing weird makeup that created a special vibe and a visual impact.


    That was Six. He didn''t stand as straight as a soldier, yet his back wasn''t hunched, and his chest was always puffed out. His vibe was not weak.


    He had a vibe that only leaders or big bosses could have.


    "Six, come here," Lin Qiao glanced at the hill behind the cabin, then at the other side of the road. The area on the other side of the road was low-lying, so she chose that area.


    Lin Qiao brought Six to that area, then pointed at one spot on the left and one on the right. The two places were about twenty meters away from each other. Then, she said to Six, "Make this area sink from there to here."


    Six squatted and pressed a palm on the ground. Next, the ground quaked a little, and the area that Lin Qiao pointed sank into a large square pit.


    Lin Qiao glanced around, then turned and asked a green-powered zombie to control the surrounding trees and pave the bottom of the pit with wood.


    As the pool was ready, Lin Qiao walked over and filled it with the lake water from her space. After that, she turned and waved at Black, who was watching curiously.


    "Come here, get down and have fun." She pointed at the pool while speaking.


    Black''s eyes glowed. It looked at the temporary pool that Lin Qiao and her zombies built and crawled over with excitement. By the side of the pool, it paused and looked at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Emm, go ahead. This is your swimming pool."


    The water in the pool was not even one-ten-thousandth of the water in the lake in Lin Qiao''s space, so the energy from the pool didn''t make Black feel repulsion. Instead, it was just the perfect amount for it.


    Black excitedly dived into the pool and made a few flips in the water, then swam from side to side. Clearly, it was thrilled.


    Lin Qiao threw a level-six energy nucleus into the pool. The nucleus was from a mutated boa, which was much fiercer than Black. That boa had a special superpower, that allowed it to eat anything.


    Black sensed the energy nucleus as Lin Qiao threw it into the water. The snake swam to the nucleus and picked it up with its mouth before swallowing it. After that, the snake coiled its body on the bottom of the pool.


    Lin Qiao squatted by the poolside and reached a hand into the pool to control the energy in the water. She sent the energy from the water into Black''s body, to filter the energy from the nucleus.


    Mutated beasts weren''t able to absorb energies as quickly as zombies did. Based on the current rate, it would take about half a month for Black to absorb the energy from the nucleus, which would gather in its brain.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao needed to squat at the poolside for half a month!


    She needed to go back to the base today to celebrate the New Year together with her family. Thinking about that, she felt troubled.


    If there were no better choices, she would have to leave temporarily and let Black absorb the energy by itself.


    ¡­Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    At noontime on New Year''s Day, all base members went to the canteen for lunch. They were all surprised to see meat on their plates.


    "Wow, what is this meat? It smells so good! I haven''t had any meat for a long time!"


    "Meat! We have meat!"


    "What kind of meat is this? It''s safe, isn''t it? Emm, it smells so good! I don''t care what it is! I don''t care if it''ll turn me into a zombie or not! I will eat it before I turn into a zombie!"


    At first, people were a little worried, because they didn''t know where the meat came from. Some of them were worried that it might be unsafe. However, they couldn''t resist the thick and tempting aroma from the meat. They hadn''t had any meat for at least half a year.


    They never suffered starvation during the time they spent in All Beings Base. Their meals contained vegetables, but no neat. Under the difficult post-apocalyptic circumstances, they wouldn''t ask for too much. So now, knowing that they really had meat to eat, they were surprised and so happy.


    They didn''t really care what kind of meat that was. As the meat was served to them, some of those seemed like hungry wolves as they couldn''t stop but drool at the aroma.


    "You guys should thank our Chief. She found a way to remove the virus from mutated animals. From now on, we will always have meat to eat!" Chen Yuting stood before the canteen and said to the people.

 715 The Sixth New Years Eve

    Chen Yuting''s words gave those people a second surprise. Did it mean that they would have endless meat to eat in the future? It was extremely difficult for people to hunt healthy animals for meat in the post-apocalyptic environment. All bases had tried very hard to find healthy animals and keep them as a source of meat. However, that kind of luxury was only for the powerful people, and they surely would not share it with the commoners.


    But just now, Chen Yuting had told those people that their Chief had found a way to remove the virus from the bodies of mutated animals and make those animals edible. A on number of strong mutated animals were out there. Now, people could just hunt them down and eat them.


    Therefore, meat wouldn''t be scarce in All Being Base, and even commoners would be able to afford it.


    ¡­


    In the afternoon, Lin Qiao left Black in the pool to continue absorbing the energy and returned to the hotel with her zombies. The farm still needed to be guarded, in case some intruders or dangerous creatures came to do damages. So, Lin Qiao left zombie number one to five in the farm.


    The humans in the base had meat to eat, and so did the zombies. Lin Qiao didn''t have a huge number of zombies under her direct command, so not too many roe deers would be consumed by them. But still, they all had a good appetite, and each ate a lot.


    Lin Qiao kept a few roe deers in her place to breed, and killed the others for meat. She even caught quite some large rats from the hills near the farm to make her zombies an extra meal.


    Before returning to the hotel, Lin Qiao caught a few big rats for some other zombies to try, and see if the rats would cause repulsion. Except for a couple of clean freaks, most of those zombies accepted it.


    Lin Kui had more rats than all the others¡­


    Lin Qiao watched him eat a lot of rats, which were even double the size of regular cats. He enjoyed the rats so much that he couldn''t even stop. The way he ate those rats reminded Lin Qiao of cats. He might have the gene of mutated cats, but he was not a real cat!


    She wanted very much to tell him, ''You''re a panther! Don''t forget about that! Are you a talking cat?''


    But of course, if she said that out loud, Lin Kui would certainly roll his eyes and tell her¡ª''Panthers eat meat, and rats have meat. What''s wrong about that?''


    By the time she returned to the base, the food was already served on the table. Apart from the Lin Family members, Yuan Tianxing, Long Qingying, and some close friends of the family were also invited to the New Year''s Eve dinner.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Lin Qiao sat down along with the others. However, she had no food, but a glass of brandy before her.


    She ate raw meat, and all the others knew about it. However, she couldn''t put a plate of raw meat on the table together with all that well-cooked food. No one wanted the children to see that.


    "What does the brandy taste like to you?" Yuan Tianxing asked Lin Qiao curiously. Right at that moment, they had become more like goods friends, just like the old days they spent in the army. They had both temporarily forgotten about their current identities and status.


    Lin Qiao took a sip of the brandy, then shook her head and said, "It''s tasteless¡­"


    Lin Feng, who sat beside her, reached out a hand and dragged her glass to his side as he said expressionlessly, "Don''t waste it then."


    "Can''t I pretend to enjoy it?" Lin Qiao said.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her as he smiled and spread his hands, "I''m fine with it. It''s Lin Feng who doesn''t want to waste the brandy."


    Lin Wenwen, who was sitting on Lin Qiao''s other side, glanced at Yuan Tianxing, but didn''t say anything as she picked a piece of meat and put it in her mouth.


    Lin Hao filled Yuan Tianxing''s glass with brandy, then poured some for Lin Hao, who was by his side. Liquor and wine could be preserved for a long time, but after the apocalypse, less and less of it could be found.


    Except for the three men, the others were having fresh strawberry juice.


    Lin Xiaolu was holding a glass of juice with both hands. While enjoying the juice, she had also been listening to the conversation between the adults with curiosity. Cheng Wangxue put some food in her bowl and said to her, "Eat something. You don''t want to fill your stomach with juice."


    At last, the three men drank up the two bottles of liquor that Lin Feng had found. They all had superpowers, so it wasn''t easy for them to get drunk.


    As the dinner was over, Mrs. Lin and the others went back to Mrs. Lin''s room to play cards. The winners were allowed to draw on the losers'' faces. They didn''t have many ways of entertainment to choose from, only cards or majiang.


    Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong were running about in the room, trying to catch the rabbit. The rabbit now liked to play with the two kids, maybe because it had become friends with them.


    Lin Qiao played cards with Mrs. Lin and the others at first, but quit after a few rounds and asked Long Qingying, who had been sitting aside and watching, to take her place.


    Mrs. Lin asked questions about her baby every now and then. Lin Qiao only told her that her pregnancy wasn''t the same as that of healthy human beings, and that it wasn''t affecting her too much recently.


    After spending a short while in Mrs. Lin''s room, Lin Qiao felt that someone was behind the door. That person wasn''t making any movements, but was standing behind the door quietly. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell what he wanted.


    "I''m going out to get you something to eat. You guys keep playing," Lin Qiao stood up as she left a few words, then walked toward the door.


    "Go." The others nodded and continued the game.


    Lin Qiao opened the door and walked out of the room. After closing the door, she turned to Yuan Tianxing, who was standing at the door side, and asked, "Do you need help?"


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her as he put out the cigarette in his hand and said, "I want to¡­ talk to you."


    Lin Qiao looked at him. The hallway wasn''t well-illuminated. Under the dim light, Yuan Tianxing slightly dropped his eyelids, with his lips pressed together. He seemed to have made some kind of important decision.


    "Em, come here," Lin Qiao had a not-so-good feeling, but didn''t reject him. Instead, she turned and headed toward the roof.


    Yuan Tianxing followed behind her, looking at her slim and straight back with infatuation.


    Her appearance had changed a lot, but the feeling that she gave people was never different. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have noticed her before she revealed her real identity.


    He had lost her once. After that, he didn''t want to keep burying his feelings deep down in his heart like he always did. He never stopped loving her, even though she had become a zombie.


    Before, he was busy every single day at building the new base. He had no time to think about that. Later on, he told himself that being with her was enough for him. However, every time she left the base for missions, he panicked for some reason.


    He was afraid that she wouldn''t come back. Meanwhile, he was aware that he could not stop her.


    On the roof, Lin Qiao crossed her arms before her chest and leaned against the guardrail, with her back to the outside. Then, she looked at Yuan Tianxing and sighed, "Tell me."


    She didn''t even need to read Yuan Tianxing''s mind to find out what he was thinking. She understood that she needed to face it one day. Therefore, she didn''t reject him.


    "You¡­" Yuan Tianxing raised his head and looked at her. His lips moved slightly, yet only one word escaped his mouth. The look in his eyes gave Lin Qiao a headache.


    The deep feelings contained in those eyes were like a whirlpool which seemed ready to even suck her in.

 716 I Am Sorry

    Yuan Tianxing swallowed. He was a little nervous. For a long time, nothing could make him feel nervous like that.


    What he was going to say to her would certainly result in some changes in their relationship, and he couldn''t tell what that change would be.


    He had prepared himself for the possibility that Lin Qiao might reject him, but he also had a glimmer of hope. No matter what, he needed to tell her about his feelings. He didn''t want to keep that to himself anymore.


    "Lin Qiao, I¡­" He looked at her as his face tightened, without the composed smile that he always had. His eyes were fixed straight on her face.


    Lin Qiao gave herself a bitter smile in her heart.


    ''This is finally happening, eh?'' She thought. She, of course, knew about the feelings that he had for her. However, she had always been seeing him as a friend, a comrade, a colleague. She never had special feelings for him.


    She didn''t say anything to interrupt him, because that would be harmful to him. Even though she would not accept his love, she did not want to hurt him. After all, they were still friends and comrades.


    She was surprised back when she learned about his feelings toward her. She was a couple of years older than him. Why was he attracted to her?


    "I want to let you know that I''ve been¡­ fond of you¡­ all this time. Please don''t say anything, and let me finish," Yuan Tianxing took a deep breath. As he finally let out those words, he sighed with relief. Then, he looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes and continued, "I liked you since before the apocalypse. Every time we carried out a mission together, I was worried about you, even though I was clearly aware that I could not disobey your order. When the apocalypse came, I made a decision the moment I found that you didn''t turn into a zombie. I decided to stay with you and protect you, no matter what the world would turn into or what you might become."


    That day, when he woke up to find that the world had changed thoroughly, Yuan Tianxing didn''t think of himself, his family, or friends. The sole person that came to his mind was Lin Qiao, his captain.


    When he found that people had turned into zombies, and those zombies were everywhere, he comforted himself that she would not become one of those. He told himself repeatedly that she was alive.


    He didn''t dare to think about what he would do if Lin Qiao became a zombie. His brain didn''t allow him to think about that possibility. He believed that she was still alive, and that belief kept him awake and sane.


    He held that belief and found Lin Qiao, after which, he decided to follow her. Later on, she met Yang Jianhua. At first, that man gave him a sense of crisis, but he was soon relieved. He learned that she only saw that man as the man who saved her life, and that was the only reason why she was so nice to him.


    "When Yang Jianhua came into your life, your attitude toward him almost drove me crazy. I was so jealous of him. However, when I learned that you might have been killed by zombies if you didn''t meet him, I wanted to thank him. I was so stupid. I didn''t realize that it was a trap. If I had found out about that earlier, you would be safe! It was all my fault," Yang Jianhua lowered his head while speaking. The regret radiated from his entire body.


    As he finished, Lin Qiao said to him, "It wasn''t your fault. Don''t bring the blame on yourself."


    "No¡­ If I had noticed it earlier, you wouldn''t¡­" Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Qiao''s eyes. In the dark, cold night, her eyes were like the only dim light.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "I was responsible for that. I was the leader of Hades Base. You don''t need to blame yourself. You don''t need to care so much about that either," Lin Qiao shook her head, then looked at him and continued, "I know that you like me, or you might be in love with me. But, I can only say that I''m sorry. You should have felt it that I''ve been seeing you as a friend, a brother. I am sorry that I¡­ really can''t respond to your feelings."


    Yuan Tianxing slightly dropped his head as he nodded bitterly and said, "Yes, I know. But anyhow, I have let it out instead of burying it in my heart and loving you in secret¡­ I feel much relaxed."


    He smiled while speaking. His handsome face was toned with sadness because of that smile. Clearly, he had foreseen that result.


    "I''m sorry¡­ I am very sorry," Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. She knew Yuan Tianxing well. She knew that he wouldn''t force her. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have followed her for so many years without saying anything about his feelings for her.


    He let it out now because he was stimulated by the destruction of Hades Base and her death.


    "No matter what, you are still my friend, my comrade, and my brother. You, Duan Juan, and I are the only ones left from our old squad. I know that rejecting you might make you feel bad, but if I can''t respond to your feeling, that feeling will become a burden for you over time. That would be harmful for you! You have to understand THAT. So, just let go¡­ Currently, you are as same as Lin Hao to me," She looked at him and said to him seriously.


    Yuan Tianxing was younger than her, so in a sentimental way, he was like a younger brother to her.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at her quietly and didn''t say anything else. However, Lin Qiao''s scalp went numb, because she saw a glistening drop of tear at a corner of his eyes.


    ''Oh my God! What should I do! He is crying! Oh my! What is contained in this tear is so heavy that I can''t take it!''


    Right at that moment, two figures flashed across the roof; they were only passing by. One of them noticed Lin Qiao and Yuan Tianxing and stopped. The atmosphere between those two attracted him.


    "Roar? Roar¡­. roar!" Old Guo stopped moving and gave Lin Qiao a quick glance, then turned to Yuan Tianxing, and then turned back to Lin Qiao. Abruptly, he moved closer to the two of them and made a circle around them, then nodded slowly.


    "Roar!" An angry roar was heard from behind him. After that, the zombie boy rushed over as he bared his teeth and pounced on the zombie old man, completely ignoring Lin Qiao and Yuan Tianxing and the weird atmosphere between them.


    Old Guo paused briefly, then hurriedly flashed away.


    The atmosphere was suddenly stirred. Both Yuan Tianxing and Lin Qiao felt a little speechless.


    Yuan Tianxing helplessly looked at the two zombies while thinking, ''What the hell? The old man and the boy are still fighting? They fought all the way from the school area to here?''


    Unlike him, Lin Qiao sighed with relief. ''Phew! Thank God! Those two saved me! Emm¡­ Why did the old man nod though?''


    She felt that the old man was having some strange thoughts.


    Lin Qiao and Yuan Tianxing looked at each other in the eyes, then both wore a slightly embarrassed look. After being disturbed by the two zombies, they both relaxed a little, and the atmosphere was less depressing than before.


    "Um¡­ You know that it''s impossible for us to be together, so¡­ eh¡­ uh¡­ I understand it''s hard for you to give up on your feelings for me within a short time, but, only when you give up on that can you have a new start. Isn''t that true?" Lin Qiao stuttered at first, then thought for a moment. At last, she looked him in the eyes and said those words.

 717 I Donst Want To Avail Myself To His Disappointmen

    Yuan Tianxing took a deep breath. He was no longer a boy. He always knew that he was only a friend and a brother to Lin Qiao. Now, he had finally let out the secret that was buried in his heart for years. She rejected him straightforwardly, and he had foreseen that result. He had prepared himself for that.


    He was still very sad though. The two zombies who interrupted his conversation with Lin Qiao made him want to both laugh and cry. As they left, his sadness was suddenly eased a little bit, and of course, the slight expectation that he had before faded as well.


    Sensing the warmth from his eye sockets, Yuan Tianxing felt embarrassed.


    ''Eh? Did I cry? I didn''t even feel it! This is so embarrassing!''


    "Eh-hem," Yuan Tianxing slightly turned his head and coughed awkwardly. Then, he turned back and looked at Lin Qiao, "I''m sorry to make you feel troubled. You''re right. If I don''t give up, I''d be trapped in my feelings toward you. Please allow me some time¡­"


    Lin Qiao sighed. She made a step forward and patted him on the shoulder, then turned and headed toward the stairs. She was a little delighted actually, because her rejection didn''t seem to hit the man strongly. He must have foreseen the result and prepared himself for it long ago.


    He was over thirty years old. For many things, he was able to think positively.


    Yuan Tianxing watched Lin Qiao''s back blur in the darkness, then disappear into the stairs. Her figure was both familiar and strange to him. As she left, he gave a long sigh, then raised his head to look at the sky. The sky was occupied by the dullish darkness. After the apocalypse, the sky was always like that at night.


    The cold wind blew across him from time to time, helping him to calm down slowly.


    Lin Qiao went downstairs and gave a long sigh of relief. She had said no to Yuan Tianxing, but couldn''t manage to ask him to pay some attention to Lin Wenwen. Lin Wenwen was a poor girl, but she still had a chance.


    Thankfully, Yuan Tianxing came to her to tell her about his feelings. If he didn''t do that, she would have no idea how to reject him and make him give up. He would never notice any other girl unless he gave up on her.


    Lin Qiao wanted to help her little sister. So, in fact, she was already waiting for Yuan Tianxing to talk to her before he made the decision.


    She went to the kitchen, picked a plate, and washed some strawberries. After that, she put some sweet potatoes on another plate and then went back to Mrs. Lin''s room.


    "What took you so long? Where did you get the food from?" Cheng Wangxue looked at her and asked.


    "Oh, there was another thing that I had to do," Lin Qiao put the plate on a tea table.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at her, wanting to say something, but she didn''t. Earlier on when Lin Qiao left the room, she saw Yuan flash across on the outside.


    "You saw him?" Lin Qiao looked at her and said. Lin Wenwen paused briefly, then dropped her eyes and nodded.


    All the others turned to her immediately.


    "Did he talk to you? Did Tianxing¡­" Lin Wenwen looked at the cards in her hands and asked in low spirits. The others instantly wore a knowing face, then turned their eyes away. They turned to Lin Qiao, asking her the same question with their eyes.


    Lin Qiao gave them a glance, then sat on the couch near the tea table as she picked up a strawberry and made a bite. Only after that did she look at the others and said, "Yes, I rejected him."


    The others looked at each other while sighing silently.


    Lin Qiao swallowed the sour fruit, then glanced at Lin Wenwen and said, "He''s still up there¡­ Perhaps, you can go and see if he''s alright?"


    That was only a suggestion.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head as she bit her lower lip, then responded, "No. I don''t want him to think that I''m trying to avail myself of the opportunity. Besides, he doesn''t need to be comforted. He is an adult. If he really wants to give up on you, he''ll do it. He just needs some time."


    "You''re right," Lin Qiao nodded.


    "You can''t force a relationship. Tianxing understands that. Since he has told you about his feelings, I assume he had prepared for the result too. Otherwise, he wouldn''t tell you about how he feels. Wouldn''t keeping it secret be better?" Mrs. Lin sighed and said. Then, she looked at Lin Qiao and continued, "Be honest with us. When are you gonna tell us about the father of your baby?"


    "What?" Lin Qiao didn''t see that coming. Why was the topic suddenly brought to her? Well¡­ Viney''s father¡­


    "The baby is growing," said Mrs. Lin with a bland face, "Isn''t the man going to do anything about that? Do you really expect us to believe in your made-yourself-pregnant lie?"


    The others all fixed their eyes on Lin Qiao''s stomach. "When exactly will the baby come out?"


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao had mentioned that the baby needed a great amount of energy to grow, and would be in a long-term, deep sleep. It had been about five months since she got pregnant, yet her lower abdomen was still flat. When would she have the pregnant belly?


    Lin Qiao''s smile froze on her face. She raised her head to look at the ceiling, then quickly glanced at the others and said, "Well¡­ I don''t know who the father is either! My mind wasn''t clear that day. I didn''t know how Viney got into my body from the space either! I really don''t know!"


    While speaking, she looked at the others seriously. The others rolled their eyes. Clearly, no one believed her.


    Lin Wenwen blinked and said, "Which day was that? Perhaps, we can guess it out." Then, she started thinking. "Emm, you said that the baby is four or five months old. Is it four months or five months? If it were four months ago, I think it happened in Sea City. We were still in Sea City Base back then, weren''t we?"


    Speaking of Sea City¡­ Lin Wenwen suddenly had a faint idea. However, that idea flashed across her mind and soon disappeared. She failed to grasp it.


    "Eh¡­ No matter who''s the father, I don''t think he''ll want Viney. She isn''t a normal child after all." Lin Qiao glanced at her own belly and then continued, "Perhaps, he doesn''t know about the baby. Or, he is probably a zombie too."


    That was not impossible, but the people on the scene were too smart to believe that.


    "You''re looking at the ceiling again! You can keep making up stories. We''ll be waiting to see which man will knock on our door and ask about the baby," Cheng Wangxue gave Lin Qiao a sideways glance.


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    That could really happen! Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to give up on her currently. He hadn''t been doing anything to her, but every time she saw him, she sensed danger from his eyes.


    Also, by reading Wu Yueling''s mind, she learned that Wu Chengyue was probably instilling some strange thoughts into his daughter''s head.

 718 Unexpected Gif

    Lin Qiao knew that he would come to find her at some point, but didn''t expect him to show up so soon. It was the second day after the New Year.


    "Chief Wu, don''t you have work to do? Are you here to wish me a happy new year?" Lin Qiao sat in the living room, looking at Wu Chengyue with a weird expression. The little girl was sitting on her knees.


    "Ling Ling wants to see you, so here we are. Why? Am I not welcome?" Wu Chengyue smilingly raised his eyebrows as he looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    "So, you brought all these¡­ Is it necessary for you to bring so many people?" Lin Qiao glanced at the group of people who were sitting behind Wu Chengyue.


    Xiao Yunlong, Xiao Licheng, Meng Yue, Kong Qingming, Li Ming, Moli, Li Yueshan, and an unacquainted girl¡­ Among those people, Xiao Yunlong was at level-seven, and was a new Chief of Sea City Base. All the others were at level-five before, but now they had all broken into level-six. A few of them had been promoted to Deputy Chiefs.


    According to Wu Chengyue, he visited Lin Qiao because Ling Ling wanted to see her. But, why did he bring all those people?


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s question, Xiao Yunlong and the others all turned to Wu Chengyue with the same look in their eyes. Some of them even twitched their eye corners toward Lin Qiao to give Wu Chengyue a signal.


    Wu Chengyue nodded at them.


    The girl that Lin Qiao hadn''t met yet stood up with a faint smile as she walked to the middle of the living room, then said to Lin Qiao, "Miss. Lu, good to meet you. My name is Luo Gefei. I am a space possessor."


    Lin Qiao nodded at her and said, "Hi."


    After that, she glanced at Wu Chengyue with confusion. The man narrowed his eyes in a smile. No clear emotion could be detected from those eyes.


    Lin Qiao turned back to Luo Gefei. She was about five-feet and six-inches tall, with waist-long hair, and a tall and slim body. She had a delicate face and snow-white skin, looking a little like a doll. Lin Qiao guessed that she looked younger than she really was.


    She was smiling, yet that smile was completely superficial. Lin Qiao couldn''t read her mind, and her smiling face looked like a mask.


    As Luo Gefei raised an arm, a pile of bags and boxes showed up on the floor next to her.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "These are gifts from our Chief, so please accept then," Luo Gefei said, then nodded at Lin Qiao smilingly. After that, she turned and returned to her own seat.


    "Eh? What are all these?" Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue bewilderedly. Why on earth did he suddenly bring her so many gifts? Did he need her help?


    "These are my new year gifts to you," said Wu Chengyue with a smile.


    "And then?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    "What ''then''? There is no ''then''," Wu Chengyue kept looking at her smilingly.


    "No ''then''?" Lin Qiao''s expression turned even weirder than before. She looked at Wu Chengyue, then at Wu Yueling who was in her arms. After that, she turned and made eye contact with Lin Feng, who was sitting beside her. She had completely no idea what Wu Chengyue was doing.


    Lin Feng and the others were all confused as well.


    She stood up as she held Wu Yueling''s hand and walked to that pile of gifts. Then, she pointed at the box on the top and asked, "What is this?"


    Wu Chengyue stayed silent while Moli answered the question for him. With no expression, she said blandly, "These are medicines. Currently, we only have limited kinds of medicines. These are all we can give."


    "And this?" Lin Qiao pointed at a smaller box.


    "Those are seeds." This time, Kong Qingming answered her question. He was lazily leaning on one arm of the chair while resting his head on a palm. His pretty face wore a charming smile as he looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes, seeming to even trying to seduce her.


    "We also brought weapons, daily necessities, kitchen and toilet supplies, and wine. A small amount for each type. I hope you like them," Wu Chengyue said smilingly.


    "Okay, let''s drop that for now. So, why did you suddenly bring me so much precious stuff? Medicines and seeds? What do you want?" Lin Qiao straightened her body and looked at Wu Chengyue. She had a feeling that if she accepted those gifts, a bigger problem would come to her. Of course, she could not accept gifts for no reason.


    Instead of answering her question, Wu Chengyue responded to her with a meaningful faint smile.


    Lin Qiao looked at the others. Some of the other people from Sea City Base were also smilingly meaningfully, and some were looking at her expressionlessly. None of them intended to answer her question.


    At that moment, the little girl pulled the lower edge of Lin Qiao''s cloth. Lin Qiao turned to her and found the girl looking at her with a pair of sparkling big eyes.


    ''We want Zombie Mommy to be with Ling Ling!'' Lin Qiao heard her thought, but didn''t understand her meaning.


    Was she trying to say that all those gifts were sent to her because of Wu Yueling? What did she mean by ''be with Ling Ling''?


    Lin Qiao brought the little girl back to her seat, then glanced at Lin Feng silently.


    Receiving her signal, Lin Feng started talking with a smile, "How can we accept these precious gifts without a reason? My guests, please make it clear with us. Do you need our help? We will do our best to help you, and you don''t need to bring us so many gifts."


    ''Yeah, who''s gonna take your stuff that came for no reason?''


    Lin Qiao agreed in her head. She didn''t say anything though, but turned and picked up a strawberry from the tea table. After watching the girl make a bite, she put the rest of the strawberry on her hand, and then picked up her teacup to take a sip.


    "Oh, a reason. Well¡­ These are betrothal gifts. Is that a good reason? I want to marry your Chief, so she can take care of Ling Ling for me," Wu Chengyue finally said the words with a smile.


    Puff!


    "Eh-hem!"


    "Eh¡­"


    "What!"


    Lin Qiao spouted the tea in her mouth. After that, she calmly wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Chen Yuting, who was sitting behind Lin Feng, had his crossed legs twitching suddenly. As a result, he almost fell off his chair. As for the others, some of them were choked on their saliva.


    Lin Feng was the most composed one among all. He made no other reactions and only looked at Wu Chengyue and his people expressionlessly.


    "Wait¡­ What did you say? I didn''t hear it clearly. The last part?" Lin Qiao wiped her mouth, then looked at Wu Chengyue and asked calmly.


    Wu Chengyue maintained that smile on his face while repeating his words, "I want you to take care of my Ling Ling for me. Can you do that?"


    "She can''t!" The composed Lin Feng answered the question before Lin Qiao did. Hearing his voice, the others all turned to him.


    Lin Qiao nodded to agree with him.


    ''What the hell? Is this a joke? Marry him? I never even thought about that!'' she said to herself.


    "Our Chief already has a man. So Chief Wu, please give up," Lin Feng threw out a bomb that shocked the others so badly.


    "Damn! Lin Feng, what are you talking about!" Lin Qiao was stunned. She hurriedly turned to Lin Feng and yelled with a small but high-pitched voice.

 719 Talk Alone

    Lin Qiao never thought that Lin Feng would say that in front of so many people. She was totally unprepared.


    Lin Feng glanced at her, then continued in a bland tone, "I think this is a good reason for her to reject you."


    ''She even has a baby with him. Isn''t that a good reason?'' If he were allowed to tell people about her baby, he might directly tell Wu Chengyue that she was already pregnant with some other man''s baby, so she was not the right person for him.


    Lin Qiao wanted very much to bury her face in her palms. She had read Lin Feng''s mind. She really wanted to tell him that the man he was thinking about was none other than the man who was smiling like a fox in front of him.


    Hearing Lin Feng''s words, Wu Chengyue smiled even more delightfully.


    "Eh-hem, eh¡­ Wait a minute! I think Chief Wu just told a nice joke, hehe. But now, can we talk seriously? Can we please stop joking?" Lin Qiao started talking to stop Wu Chengyue from saying what he wanted to say.


    Wu Chengyue blinked. He was surprised that Lin Qiao rejected by describing his purpose as a joke. Thankfully, he had foreseen that she would not accept him, so he managed to stay composed.


    He smiled and said, "No, I''m not joking. I''m serious! My Ling Ling is serious too. Right, Ling Ling?" After saying that, he looked at his daughter and even winked at her.


    Next, the others saw that Wu Yueling, who was never willing to communicate with other people in public, nodded at her father, then turned and looked at Lin Qiao expectantly.


    As Wu Yueling caught the attention of the others, Wu Chengyue took the opportunity to continue speaking, "Besides, the man that Deputy Chief Lin talked about¡­"


    "Uh! That¡­ was a story that Lin Feng made up. I, as the Chief of All Being Base, have no man. But, I do not intend to marry any man. Chief Wu, if what you said is not a joke, please take back your words." Lin Qiao interrupted Wu Chengyue before he could finish his words.


    Lin Qiao felt so troubled. She believed that Wu Chengyue was doing that for Viney!


    Lin Feng glanced at Lin Qiao, then said to agree with her, "That''s right! Chief Wu, please don''t make a joke like that. We really can''t tell how our Chief has been attracting Chief Wu."


    Wu Chengyue had known Lin Feng and his people for quite long, and had found out about almost all the background information about their base. He and she were never close. They weren''t even friends, not to mention becoming a married couple. Now, Wu Chengyue suddenly proposed to Lin Qiao. That probably meant that Wu Chengyue had his eyes on some other kind of value of her base.


    Speaking of the value of her base, that would be the ability to control zombies, and some secrets about Lin Qiao.


    She was a special zombie. She was able to affect other zombies in a special and obvious way. The water from her space had healing power, and could help superpowered people with the upgrade, as well as raising the possibility of awaking superpowers. Therefore, the lake would be a key to the growth of the entire base''s general strength.


    If Wu Chengyue married Lin Qiao, he would have access to the lake, and the other value of her base.


    As a base administrator, Lin Feng pondered over Wu Chengyue''s proposal and got the above result. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Lin Qiao had thought about those too. Except for all those, Wu Chengyue also wanted Viney. He wanted a lot.


    "How about this? You can reject me, and I can take these gifts away¡­ for now. But, can you let me talk to your Chief privately?" Wu Chengyue glanced at Luo Gefei smilingly, then said to the All Beings Base people on the scene.


    Clearly, he had foreseen the result.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and glanced at the others, then nodded, meaning that she was willing to talk to him in private.


    "Chief?" Lin Feng nodded slightly.


    Lin Qiao nodded at him and said, "Don''t worry. I know what to do."


    While speaking, she stood up as she held Wu Yueling''s hand and headed toward the outside. She didn''t really want to hold the little girl''s hand all the time. However, once she dropped the girl''s hand, the girl would jump to her and hold her thigh!


    Wu Chengyue nodded at Luo Gefei, then stood up and followed behind Lin Qiao.


    Receiving Wu Chengyue''s signal, Luo Gefei quickly stood up and put the pile of gifts back into her space, then went back to her seat with a small smile.


    Lin Qiao found an empty room and walked in. As Wu Chengyue came in and closed the door, she looked at him with a bland face and asked, "What do you want? Why you proposed to me? Did I allow you to do that?"


    "Why do I need your permission to propose to the girl that I want to marry? Have you been seeing me as one of those irresponsible men? Even if I don''t want to be responsible for you, I have to be responsible for the baby, right? Are you going to raise the baby alone without letting me see her?" Wu Chengyue smiled and looked Lin Qiao straight in the eyes.


    "Did I say that? Since you don''t mind the fact that we were both entrapped by Viney, I have nothing to say about that. There are plenty of ways for you to be responsible for the baby. Why did you choose the most complicated way to do that?" Lin Qiao looked at him and responded.


    Being responsible for the baby was simply about raising the baby. There were many ways to raise a baby, right? Even if he intended to provide the baby with a healthy family environment, it still wouldn''t be necessary for him to marry her.


    He clearly wanted something else!


    "That''s the perfect way for the baby. Giving her a healthy family is not only my responsibility, but also yours," Wu Chengyue''s smile never changed, yet his words did not give much space for negotiation.


    "A healthy family? I think you want something else. Besides, Viney isn''t a normal baby. She is able to grow normally without a normal family environment," Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and rejected him again.


    Finally, Wu Chengyue''s smile faded a little. He slightly nodded and said, "No matter what, I am the baby''s father. If you don''t want to marry me, I think it''ll be better for me to raise the child."


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows and replied, "Why?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at her as he curved his mouth corners slightly, then said smilingly, "Because you are a zombie. I''m worried that you might hurt her one day."


    "You are overthinking. She isn''t even born yet. Do you think that she''ll be a normal human being? Besides, I won''t hurt her no matter what," Lin Qiao looked at him right in the eyes.


    "So, whatever your plan is, I won''t marry you. You are a healthy human being. Why don''t you find yourself a woman? Why do you want to marry a zombie?" Lin Qiao pressed her lips together and then continued.


    "Because you are the only woman¡­ Well, no, you''re the only zombie that I had sex with after the apocalypse. Our bodies matched perfectly. Isn''t that right?" Wu Chengyue grinned as he glanced at her from head to toe.

 720 Say Yes To Daddy

    Seeing him even show a trace of lasciviousness on his face, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but roll her eyes. Staying calm, she said, "I remember that I raped you the first time, and we both didn''t want it the second time. There''s no matching. Also, we have evened out. There''s nothing to say about it anymore. Don''t use that as an excuse again. I won''t accept your proposal."


    Wu Chengyue slowly walked to Lin Qiao, then slightly dropped his eyelids to look at her in the eyes and said slowly.


    "Evened out? I don''t think so. I didn''t say that we have evened out the last time. The baby belongs to both of us. Are you gonna have her for your own? Besides, you raped me the first time. The second time was an accident, but we have done it twice, and I have left something of mine in you. You are already my woman¡­ my zombie, I mean. Are you gonna run away?" While speaking, he raised a hand and gently brushed her hair on her temples.


    Lu Tianyu''s body was about five feet and eight inches tall while Wu Chengyue was over six feet tall. As the distance between them shortened, his vibe started to suppress hers. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    As he maintained that posture, Wu Chengyue''s vibe grew slightly dangerous, seeming to thoroughly suppress Lin Qiao''s vibe like a fierce predator. When a level-eight man focused his vibe on one target, the target would have a very strong sense of crisis indeed.


    However, it might not be so certain if the target was Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao''s expression didn''t change, and the look in his eyes stayed composed. Instead of raising her head, she only slightly raised the corners of his eyes to look at Wu Chengyue calmly. Her vibe grew along with the growth of the pressure that Wu Chengyue was giving out.


    "Why would I run? We have only had feelingless sex twice, yet you are already trying to make decisions for me. Chief Wu, aren''t you a little too aggressive? We are all grownups. Don''t you think that you might be a little childish as you took the sex too seriously?" She curved the corners of her lips in a small smile. That cold smile of hers made her look inaccessible. She clearly told him that she did not agree with him.


    Wu Chengyue spent a few seconds looking at her quietly, then restrained his vibe and stepped backward.


    He smiled. His handsome face wore delight as he said, "Are you saying that if we have feelings for each other, we can get married?"


    Lin Qiao raised her brows and responded coldly, "I didn''t say that. Do not misunderstand me. Is that interesting?"


    Wu Chengyue kept smiling. His slender eyes sparkled with a charming light, curved in a big smile. "Of course, it is interesting! I think you just told me that I''m allowed to pursue you! So, you''ll marry me when you accept me as a lover. That''s reasonable! That''s what normal people do. I''m gonna take it as an opportunity that you gave me."


    Despite his pretty look, he talked like a brazen-faced man.


    "Why did I never notice your shameless nature? Don''t forget who you are!" Lin Qiao frowned and then continued, "I didn''t offer you an opportunity?"


    ''He tried to force me but failed, so is he now trying the shameless way?''


    Seeing the man''s narrowed, shining eyes, Lin Qiao had a bad feeling. It felt really not good to be targeted!


    As Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were looking at each other silently, a little person got between them. They looked down together and saw Wu Chengyue raise her head curiously, popping her big eyes while looking at Lin Qiao and then at her father.


    Seeing her daughter''s sparkling eyes, Wu Chengyue''s eyes glowed. His smile grew bigger as he said, "I also think that you''ll be the perfect mother for Ling Ling."


    Before Lin Qiao could react, she saw Wu Yueling nodding very quickly at her. The little girl fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao with an innocent and expectant look.


    ''That look in her eyes is poisonous! '' Lin Qiao said to herself.


    She had no pressure when she rejected Wu Chengyue, but she could not reject Wu Yueling''s innocent, pure eyes.Thinking about that, Lin Qiao pressed her lips together and glanced at Wu Chengyue with discontent.


    ''He uses the kid as a weapon! How shameless!''


    Lin Qiao didn''t make any response. Before Wu Chengyue said anything, Wu Yueling started losing her patience. She raised her little hands and grasped the edge of Lin Qiao''s cloth. While pulling her cloth, she pouted and looked at Lin Qiao anxiously.


    ''Say yes to Daddy! Mama, say yes to Daddy!''


    "Was it you who told her to call me Mama? How could you talk nonsense to the child?" Lin Qiao looked at Wu Yueling''s little pitiful face, even suffering a headache. She was terrible at dealing with children. Once again, she gave Wu Chengyue an unhappy glance as she said.


    He had been teaching his daughter some strange things. That was why the girl called her Zombie Mommy every time she saw her. What the hell was Zombie Mommy?


    "That is not nonsense! When we get married, you''ll be her Mama. That''s right." Wu Chengyue smiled with composure.


    As the two of them were talking, the people in the living room started talking as well.


    "What is your Chief planning? He clearly knows our Chief''s identity. Why did he propose to her? Would any normal man do that?" Lin Feng looked at Xiao Yunlong and asked with confusion.


    By identity, he surely meant Lin Qiao''s zombie nature.


    Xiao Yunlong made eye contact with Xiao Licheng, then the latter responded, "In fact, our Chief really likes Miss Lu. He has been paying attention to her for quite a while. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have come here as quickly as he could from Huaxia to help you when you were trapped by the zombie emperor. He was actually worried that your mysterious Chief might not get your message."


    He tried to let Lin Feng and the others know that Wu Chengyue did that to help Lin Qiao, so she wouldn''t be regret for being too late to save her people.


    He did that for her good, also for her base''s good.


    "Yeah? We didn''t know that Chief Wu had been paying such close attention to our Chief. On behalf of our Chief, I thank Chief Wu and all of you for your kindness," Lin Feng nodded, then thanked the people from Sea City Base sincerely.


    "You are welcome. Our Chief made the proposal himself. That is his personal affair. As for whether your Chief will accept it or not, that is also her own decision to make. We are only following orders. We didn''t help much actually," Xiao Yunlong grinned as he waved a hand.

 721 I Wonst Accept Tha

    "If your Chief got married to ours, our bases would merge into one. That doesn''t sound like a good deal for Sea City Base. We don''t have anything at present. Your Chief isn''t simply attracted to our Chief, is he?" Lin Feng looked at Xiao Yunlong straight in the eyes. Meanwhile, he paid attention fo the other Sea City Base people''s looks.


    "Of course, our Chief is attracted to your Chief. He has no other purpose. Please don''t overthink," Xiao Licheng responded with a smile. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "Why is he attracted to her now? Our Chief is from your base, isn''t she? Why didn''t your Chief propose to her earlier? Why now?" Lin Feng asked.


    "Speaking of that, I think you might want to ask your Chief about what she has done to our Chief. She raped him, so she needs to be responsible for that!" Xiao Yunlong suddenly joined the conversation.


    Lin Feng didn''t know what to say.


    About that Lu Tianyu did to Wu Chengyue¡­ She was killed because of that, and then Lin Qiao woke up in her body. It wasn''t Lin Qiao who raped Wu Chengyue. However, Lin Feng then realized that Lin Qiao was using Lu Tianyu''s identity, meaning that she needed to be responsible for what that woman had done.


    "What? Am I wrong? What do you think? The entire Sea City Base knew about that. She took advantage of our Chief, didn''t she? Now, our Chief has proposed to your Chief. If they get married, our Chief will forget about the past. It''ll also make the story less awful, and make your Chief''s reputation better. Wouldn''t that be killing two birds with one stone?" Xiao Licheng said with a grin.


    "About that¡­ That''ll depend on if our Chief will accept the proposal or not. She will if your Chief is capable enough to win her heart," Lin Feng lost the argument and gave the conversation an end.


    What could he possibly do? His sister''s soul was in an evil woman''s body.


    Lin Qiao sighed. All he could do was to pray for Lin Qiao. He believed that Lin Qiao wouldn''t accept the proposal, but was also a little worried. After all, what the previous owner of her body did indeed provided Wu Chengyue a reasonable excuse.


    ''Come on, Lin Qiao! Don''t become someone''s wife just like that!''


    All Beings Base lost the argument, but Lin Qiao didn''t lose hers with Wu Chengyue.


    "Don''t use the kid as an excuse. I won''t accept the proposal. The baby isn''t just a normal baby. Even if Viney wants to be with you, I won''t marry you. I will not chain myself in a man''s life," she said in a bland tone as she looked at him coldly. Her eyes weren''t toned with any emotion, yet he felt that she was going further and further away from him.


    "I won''t give up. I''ll wait. I''ll wait for you to say yes." Wu Chengyue was a little surprised. He made no change of expression and kept looking at her eyes.


    "Whatever! But please, do not get in the way with my work and life." After saying that, Lin Qiao slightly dropped her eyelids and looked at Wu Yueling, who was having a confused face.


    Wu Yueling heard what Lin Qiao said. At first, she was a little confused, but soon, she figured out her meaning. Her eyes instantly reddened, and her pink lips curved downward.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to do with the little girl. But at that very moment, she couldn''t allow herself to hesitate. With no other choice, she lifted the girl and put her into Wu Chengyue''s arms.


    "Good Ling Ling! When you grow a little older, you''ll have a better Mama to look after you," she said.


    Wu Yueling was put into Wu Chengyue''s arms. She turned around her upper body to look at Lin Qiao with tearful eyes, shaking her head quickly. She didn''t want a better Mama.


    Lin Qiao didn''t look at her, but turned and walked out.


    "It''s alright. We''ll take our time. Ling Ling, be patient! Daddy will marry her. Today is just a start. From now on, we can pursue her openly," Wu Chengyue smilingly swayed little girl.


    Wu Yueling turned back and looked at her father with a sad face. Her large eyes were filled with tears; a drop was hanging on each corner of her eyes, almost falling off.


    Wu Chengyue gently patted her on the back while talking to her smilingly, "Trust Daddy! When did Daddy ever lie to you? We need time. We don''t want to be too rushed. What if we scared her away?"


    Wu Yueling looked at him with doubt. A few seconds later, she suddenly put her head on his shoulder and buried her face in his neck.


    Lin Qiao left the room. However, she didn''t return to the living room, but said to Duan Juan, who was not far away from the door, "Go, tell Lin Feng to look after our guests. I''m going back to my place."


    Duan Juan looked at her with curiosity. She wanted to know what answer had Lin Qiao given Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her, then turned and left, leaving a few words, "Don''t worry! How can I possibly marry someone so easily?"


    She disappeared before her voice faded.


    Duan Juan sighed with relief, then turned and glanced at the room where Lin Qiao came out from, before heading toward the living room.


    Once Lin Qiao returned to the hotel, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng immediately came to her, saying, "Oh, oh, I''ve heard about it! Wu Chengyue brought a group of people here. It turns out that he''s here to propose to you! What happened? Did you accept it?"


    Lin Qiao looked at them bewilderedly, "Why would I accept it? So ridiculous!"


    "Eh, you rejected him?" Qiu Lili looked at her regretfully and said, "Why? He is the big Chief of Sea City Base, the strongest person in his base. Which part of him is not good enough for you?"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and replied, "Is it about if he''s good enough for me or not? I don''t even like him. How can I possibly marry a man that I have no feelings for?"


    "You can grow feelings," Yun Meng said blandly, "Wu Chengyue is handsome, and he has a nice body. He is a little sly though. But apart from that, he''s not bad, is he? His daughter likes you too, right?"


    Qiu Lili nodded in agreement.


    "Wait. Let''s not talk about if we have feelings for each other first. At the very least, I need to figure out why he suddenly came here to propose to me, right? And he made it so¡­ obvious. Did he do that on purpose so the others would all know? Or, does he want something from us? He knows that I''m a zombie. If he got married to me and then my true nature was exposed, he''d get no good result. But, why did he still propose to me?" Lin Qiao put a hand on his chin and said while thinking.


    "Are you suspecting that he has some other purpose?" Yun Meng narrowed his eyes and said.


    "He definitely has a purpose. Otherwise, he wouldn''t do it so suddenly," Lin Qiao nodded and said


    "That sounds reasonable," Qiu Lili spent a while thinking, then understood Lin Qiao''s meaning.

 722 The News Spreads

    The next day, the news that Chief Wu, the strongest man in Sea City Base, had proposed to the female Chief from All Beings Base spread among all the administrators of All Beings Base.


    So early in the morning, Lin Qiao''s office became noisy.


    "Sister¡­ Eh, Chief, I heard that Wu Chengyue came to propose to you! Is that real?" Lin Wenwen rushed in. She didn''t even knock on the door.


    Lin Qiao didn''t raise her head but focused on writing down the plans for this year on a piece of paper on her desk. While writing, she said, "Yeah."


    Lin Wenwen immediately got closer to her; Long Qingying was there too. She didn''t come inside the office, but listened to the conversation between Lin Wenwen and her sister very carefully.


    "Why? It turns out that Chief Wu likes you! Or¡­ Is he here to ask you to be responsible for him?" Lin Wenwen popped her eyes and asked with excitement.


    Lin Qiao raised a corner of her eyes and glanced at Lin Wenwen as she replied, "What did you say?"


    "About what the previous owner of your body did to him! She raped him, didn''t she? He''s definitely here to ask you to take the responsibility for that!" Lin Wenwen said with a wicked grin, "Don''t tell me that you didn''t know about it! You''ve taken her body, so you should be responsible for what she did."


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes back to the paper as she said, "Are you here to waste my time? Get out if you have nothing important to say to me. Can''t you see that I''m busy?"


    "Just tell me what you said to him," Lin Wenwen asked one last question.


    "I told him that I won''t accept it. Is that good enough for you? Can you please leave my office now?" Lin Qiao responded with discontent.


    "Ah¡­ just like that? Alright, I get it," Lin Wenwen turned and left the office.


    Not long after Lin Wenwen left, Yuan Tianxing came to the office.


    "Why did he come here to propose to you? It''s not because what the previous owner of your body did to him, is it?" Yuan Tianxing asked a straightforward question once he got in.


    "How am I supposed to know why he did that? I want the answer too," Lin Qiao gave him a glance, then responded with a bland tone.


    "What is your answer then? You didn''t say yes, did you?" Yuan Tianxing asked her. He was a little anxious.


    "Do you think that I''ll say yes?" Lin Qiao was trying to let him know that that was an unnecessary question.


    Yuan Tianxing paused briefly, then slightly relaxed his tightened face. He was a little worried. He had just told her about his feelings for her, and now someone proposed to her. That was such a coincidence.


    As Lin Qiao didn''t say yes to Wu Chengyue, Yuan Tianxing felt slightly better.


    He was actually a little delighted. He couldn''t be with her, but he didn''t want anyone else to be with her either.


    "I''ll send out my people to find out his purpose," said Yuan Tianxing. "At lease, we need to know why he did that and what he wants."


    Lin Qiao nodded, "I was going to do that. Since you have mentioned it, I''ll let you do the job then."


    After Yuan Tianxing left, Liu Jun came to Lin Qiao. While handing her the file about the current state of the farm, she asked, "Why did he suddenly propose you? Is it because of that? Does he want you to be responsible for what Lu Tianyu did? That happened so long ago. Why didn''t he propose to you earlier? Why now? What does he want?"


    Liu Jun felt that the proposal wasn''t as simple as that. She didn''t believe that Wu Chengyue did that because he liked Lin Qiao. Why didn''t he come earlier or later? Why now?


    "I''ve asked Yuan Tianxing to find out about his purpose. God knows what he''s planning," Lin Qiao took over the file and browsed it while talking. The file listed the planting areas of all kinds of plants in the farm, as well as the harvests and the acreage of the newly developed farmland.


    After Liu Jun left, Lin Qiao finally got some quiet. However, not long after that, Wu Chengyue came to her office.


    Lin Qiao put on elbow on the desk and rested her head on a palm, silently looking at Wu Chengyue who had sneaked into her office with his daughter.


    "Your office is in the hotel. I thought it was in the school," Wu Chengyue looked around, said smilingly.


    "This place is convenient for me. How can I help you?" Lin Qiao made a quick response.


    She had moved all the base members to the school area and arranged her own working area in the hotel. The conference room, reception room, as well as the offices of Qiu Lili and the others, were all in the hotel. Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and the other human administrators worked in the school area.


    They only came to the hotel when there was a meeting, or when they needed to talk to the Chief. The hotel was zombie territory now, so those human administrators would only go there occasionally. The school area wasn''t far away from the hotel anyway.


    Except for the base administrators, the other base members were forbidden from entering the hotel area.


    "I came to see if you need my help. Have you made the plans for this year yet?" Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling sat on a couch, which was located on the other side of the office, without getting close to Lin Qiao''s desk.


    "Thank you, but I don''t need help. I don''t think it''s appropriate for me to ask the strongest man in Sea City Base to deal with those small works for me," Lin Qiao refused.


    "Really? Alright then. You can do your job. I''ll just sit here. I won''t disturb you," Wu Chengyue sat there with composure. He leaned on the back of the couch and smiled at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with a slight frown, preparing to ask him to go.


    "Oh, please don''t ask us to leave. Ling Ling wanted to come here to see you. If you tell us to leave, she''d burst in tears. And if she cries too hard, her illness might attack." Wu Chengyue immediately raised a hand and said firmly.


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Yueling. As she thought, the little girl''s lips were twitching slightly, as if she would really start cry once Lin Qiao asked her and her father to leave.


    Lin Qiao was a little speechless.


    At last, she had no choice but to glance at him coldly and say, "Do whatever you want, but please don''t interfere with my work. Otherwise, I might ask you to leave, and let Ling Ling stay here alone."


    "Ok, sure," Wu Chengyue smiled like a fox while his eyes narrowed into a pair of curved lines.


    Seeing his perky smile, Lin Qiao rolled her eyes in her heart. She didn''t wear any expression, and just lowered her head to continue working.


    Wu Chengyue did what he said. He didn''t interrupt Lin Qiao, and only sat there quietly. At times, he quietly communicated with Wu Yueling with sign language, and at times, he glanced at Lin Qiao, who was working concentratedly.


    Duan Juan, who was near the door, felt very speechless.


    Before long, the entire base had heard that Chief Wu from Sea City Base was pursuing their pretty Chief, and that he wanted to marry her and let her be the mother of Ling Ling.


    Then, they found that Chief Wu had become their pretty Chief''s tail.


    When their Chief was working, Chief Wu stayed in her office. When she got off work, he looked for her everywhere, but she hid in her space.


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t get into her space. So, he stayed in her office every single day during working time. He didn''t talk or cause problems, and only looked at her quietly.


    ''Chief Wu has so much free time!'' ¡ª The All Beings Base people all thought the same thing.

 723 He Has A Purpose

    Soon, the people from the other bases had heard about that and were all surprised.


    "What? Wu Chengyue proposed to the leader of that new base? Was the leader a woman?" Huaxia Base leaders were surprised by that news.


    "Currently, we only have very limited information about that base. It''s called the All Beings Base. According to the information that we collected in Sea City Base, that base only has about three-thousand people. Their fence wall is still under construction. Their leader is a mysterious person. I did hear that she''s a woman."


    Han Xiao said, "Except for the gender, we know nothing about her. We have lost connection with the first intelligence squad that we sent to that base. The second squad left the base just now. Hopefully, they''ll bring us some useful information."


    "Can''t we find anything about that base from Sea City Base?" Si Kongchen looked at him.


    Han Xiao shook his head and said, "No useful information. We did find out about two important people in that base though."


    "Who are they?" Wei Haichao asked the question before Si Kongchen did.


    "That new base is built by some survivors from Hades Base. The family of Lin Qiao, the leader of Hades Base, and Yuan Tianxing, the vice-leader, founded the base together. Currently, the base is mainly run by Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, Lin Qiao''s brother, and that mysterious female leader. There is another man who moved to All Beings Base from Sea City Base. He''s only at level-six, but he''s also doing some administrative work in the base. We don''t know about his exact position yet," Hades Base browsed the files in his hands and answered the question as he glanced at the others from time to time.


    "Yuan Tianxing is a capable man indeed. Lin Feng also helped Lin Qiao in running the Hades Base. It''s reasonable for them to build a new base step by step. However, the new base is located in a zombie city. Why they chose that dangerous place to build their base is not important anymore. What is important now is how they managed to build the base. It is very hard for merely three-thousand people to settle down in a zombie city. Only a small part of them have superpowers," Si Kongchen leaned on the back of the chair as he crossed his arms before his chest and said with a frown.


    "I want to know about that too," Han Xiao nodded and said, "We''ll know when we get more information about that base."


    "Keep an eye on that female base leader. She is leading a base, and she''s the woman that Wu Chengyue wants to marry. I think she''s a capable one," Wei Haichao said with a great interest.


    "Are you interested in her?" Han Xiao glanced at Wei Haichao and laughed.


    "I''m curious. Wu Chengyue has never been interested in a woman before. But, he suddenly proposed to one. He proposed! He is serious¡­ I didn''t see him have frequent interaction with that mysterious female chief. Does he have some other purpose?" Wei Haichao said curiously.


    "I agree with Haichao. Wu Chengyue won''t propose to a woman without a good reason. If it''s not that woman''s problem, he must have some kind of purpose," Si Kongchen nodded.


    "Oh, we have news from Heilong Base. A few important base members were killed, and none of them were weak. They all had superpowers, at level five or six. Without them, Heilong Base is weakened by thirty percent," Han Xiao mentioned the other piece of news.


    "Heilong Base? Does the murderer have personal issues with that base? Who are those dead people?" Si Kongchen paused briefly and then asked with surprise.


    "Two level-six vice leaders, and a few level-five members. Those victims had no connections. The only thing in common was that they all benefited from Mo Yan''s experiments that happened a few years ago. Most of the people who ate Mo Yan''s flesh and drank his blood had died in the zombie massive zombie attack, but a few survived. The ones how had eaten Mo Yan''s flesh had been upgrading very easily. Their Chief had eaten Mo Yan''s flesh as well," Han Xiao said while reading the file in his hands.


    "Sadly, Mo Yan is dead. Otherwise, he might be as valuable as Macuy. We might have developed something helpful for the anti-virus project from him," Liu Zhinan and Hu Zhiyong had their interest aroused when Han Xiao mentioned Mo Yan''s name.


    "Yeah, if only he were still alive!" Hu Zhiyong nodded.


    Most of the people on the scene knew about what happened in Heilong Base a couple of years ago. Among the survivors of the massive zombie attack, some benefited from Mo Yan''s blood and flesh indeed. Those people upgraded quicker than the others, such as Gao Haoyun and Du Kunsheng, the base leaders. A few vice leaders under their commands all ate Mo Yan''s flesh.


    Among all vice leaders of Heilong Base, some had recently broken into level-seven.


    "When they were here, I sensed that Gao Haoyun''s vibe was a little strange. I think he restrained his vibe to keep us from finding out that he has already entered level eight," Si Kongchen frowned slightly and thought for a moment.


    "What? He made it already? Well¡­ that''s normal actually. Heilong Base doesn''t have rich population, but the general strength of that base isn''t weak. The base leaders have been upgrading very speedily. They would have attacked long ago if we didn''t outnumber them," Wei Haichao nodded and said.


    "Chief Si, you were from Heilong Base too. You didn''t eat Mo Yan''s flesh too, did you?" Liu Zhinan abruptly turned to Si Kongchen and asked a question with a weird look.


    Hearing that question, all the others instantly turned to Si Kongchen.


    Soon, the unnatural look in his eyes faded. He shook his head and responded, "I wasn''t so lucky."


    "Is that so? Such a pity! I was going to ask you if Mo Yan''s flesh tasted good. That was some magical flesh after all!" Liu Zhinan smiled in a strange way and then said jokingly.


    Si Kongchen denied that firmly. However, he himself clearly knew what the truth was.


    He, of course, ate the flesh too.


    He wouldn''t let anyone else know about that.


    He believed that he was the only one who knew that. However, he had no idea that Mo Yan, who was in Heilong Base now, was able to sense the connection between the people who ate his flesh and himself.


    Hearing Liu Zhinan''s joke, the others all smiled and then turned to the expressionless Si Kongchen.

 724 Who On Earth Did It?

    At that moment in Heilong Base, Gao Haoyun was having a meeting with the other leaders, vice-leaders, and base administrators.


    Gao Haoyun''s manly face wore a grim look while his eyes glowed dimly.


    "All victims took part in what happened a few years ago. They were murdered in such a creepy way. If I didn''t witness that man''s death, I''d think that he had returned to take revenge," Gao Haoyun took a deep breath and said.


    "That''s impossible! He''s dead for good! He could never come back to life. He might become a zombie, but zombies don''t remember what happened before their death. How can it be possible that it''s him taking revenge? Besides, why didn''t he come earlier? Why wait for four years?" said the only level-seven vice leader of the base.


    Gao Haoyun described the victims'' way of death with the word ''creepy'', because their bodies were found with the same features.


    Those people were all tied; their mouths were torn, and throats ripped open. Even their stomachs were dug out and thrown near their bodies. Their nuclei were removed from their brains, and their faces were twisted, with painful and scared looks.


    They seemed to have died with fright and under extreme pain. Their expressions had frozen on their faces.


    People could easily tell that those victims were tortured to death.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, most people killed their enemies using guns or superpowers, but rarely tortured their enemies to death in such a cruel way. Clearly, the one who killed those people had strong resentment toward them.


    Who hated those people so much that he even tortured them so brutally to death?


    According to the research result of Gao Haoyun''s people, the victims had no connection to each other. Some of them didn''t even know each other, and some had heard about each other. They weren''t even friends.


    However, they had one thing in common: four years ago, all of them ate Mo Yan''s flesh and absorbed his energy to improve their own body condition and superpowers. Based on that lead, those people''s death was very likely to be related to Mo Yan.


    However, Mo Yan was dead. His best friend betrayed him and sold him out. Except for that man, he had no other friends. So, who was avenging him?


    "Who on earth did it then? How ridiculous! How dare he come to our base and kill so many people! If I ever catch him, I will hang him on the fence wall and let him suffer the cold wind until he becomes an ice statue," Du Kunsheng, the other base leader, slightly dropped his head and fixed his eyes on the file on the table while saying through clenched teeth.


    Gao Haoyun was a frank man. Unlike him, Du Kunsheng, who was good-looking and much younger than the former, was much more scheming.


    "Let''s now find out who did it. We''ll decide how to punish the murderer when we catch him or her," Gao Haoyun glanced at him blandly.


    Du Kunsheng snorted coldly with discontent, without arguing with the other.


    At that time, a vice leader hesitated a little, then joined the conversation, "There is a piece of news about Wu Chengyue, the Chief of Sea City Base. I wonder if you guys are interested."


    Gao Haoyun glanced at him but stayed silent. Meanwhile, Du Kunsheng''s interest was aroused. He looked at the vice leader and asked, "About Wu Chengyue? What is it?"


    The vice leader glanced at the file in his hand, then at Gao Haoyun''s face. After that, he said, "A couple of days ago, Wu Chengyue proposed to his new neighbor, the leader of the new base."


    "Propose?" Du Kunsheng was surprised.


    Gao Haoyun stayed silent. No one knew what he was thinking about.


    The vice leader nodded and continued, "Yeah. He proposed to her during the New Year. We don''t know what his exact purpose is. He did have some interactions with the leader of the new base. At first, she cooperated with Wu Chengyue and asked him for some help. The people in All Beings Base are all survivors from Hades Base. Yuan Tianxing is the vice leader of that base. He''s running the base together with the Lin Family. I heard that the leader of that base is a woman. We don''t know what she looks like yet."


    "I don''t think it was a simple cooperation, since Wu Chengyue was willing to help that new base once he met her. Based on the information that you just gave, I guess they might be in a secret relationship since long ago," Du Kunsheng said as his eyes glowed. He had already imagined some stories between Wu Chengyue and that mysterious female leader. The woman wanted to build a new base, and Wu Chengyue helped her without hesitation. He also assumed that Wu Chengyue''s help was conditional.


    "About that base¡­ Haven''t we found out about their background yet?" Gao Haoyun abruptly asked a question.


    "The information we have about them is pretty much the same as what Sea City Base had. The base is named All Beings Base, located in the center of Hangzhou City. The people in that base are survivors from Hades Base, led by the Lin Family," said the vice-leader to Gao Haoyun.


    "By Lin Family, do you mean Lin Qiao''s family?" Du Kunsheng asked.


    "Yes, the family of Lin Qiao, the leader of Hades Base. Apart from herself, all her families are now living in the All Beings Base." The vice-leader looked at Du Kunsheng and nodded, then turned to Gao Haoyun and continued, "That''s all the information that we collected from Sea City Base about the new base."


    "Eh? What''s the deal between Wu Chengyue and the female leader then? Do we know anything about that? Didn''t people say that Wu Chengyue had no interest in women at all? And that he only loves his daughter? I thought he was raising that little girl as his future wife. I''m surprised that he''s now interested in that mysterious female leader of the new base," said Du Kunsheng.


    The vice leader shook his head and said, "We don''t know about their relationship yet. We couldn''t find any background information about that female leader either. As for Wu Chengyue, something did happen to him last year¡­"


    He paused slightly, then continued with a faint, mysterious smile, "That is a dark history for Wu Chengyue. Sea City Base had two pretty women. Now, one of them is dead, and the other is in vegetative state. Wu Chengyue''s dark history is related to the dead woman."


    "Oh, don''t stop. Just tell us," Du Kunsheng''s curiosity was aroused once he heard the key words ''pretty woman'', and ''Wu Chengyue''s dark history''. So, he urged the vice leader to continue.


    Gao Haoyun turned to the vice leader too. Clearly, he was interested in Wu Chengyue''s dark history as well.


    "He was raped by that dead woman. Emm, yes, like what you think¡­" said the vice-leader with a grin.

 725 She Said That Ism Annoying

    "Eh? No way! Really? Wu Chengyue was raped? Hahaha¡­ Who was that woman? Impressive!" Du Kunsheng burst into laughter once he heard about it, as if it were a hilarious joke.


    The expressionless Gao Haoyun pictured Wu Chengyue lying underneath a woman and also wore a meaningful look on his face.


    "Oh, that woman was rather famous. She was a commoner. She had no superpower, yet was living a very good life. With her pretty face and hot body, she found quite some men who were willing to take care of her," the vice leader carried on, "And, she wasn''t a good person. By relying on Yang Chao, a former leader of Sea City Base, she did a lot of evil things in her base. Everybody hated her. Later on, Yang Chao got tired of that troublemaker, so he got her killed. Surprisingly, she raped Wu Chengyue before she died. But of course, she was encouraged by Yang Chao when she had her eyes on Wu Chengyue."


    "So, Yang Chao ended up dead as well," Du Kunsheng narrowed his eyes and said.


    "Em, that woman died within twelve hours after he raped Wu Chengyue. I guess she had become a slutty ghost lady! Oh well, it''s the post-apocalyptic era now, so she probably became a slutty female zombie," Meng Yuxuan, the level-seven vice-leader, said jokingly.


    "Alright, we have heard the gossip now. So next, you should all be careful. Meng Yuxuan, you ate his flesh as well. You might be the next target. Stay alert," Gao Haoyun knocked on the table before him and said.


    "I guess I don''t need to worry about myself," Du Kunsheng smiled and said. He never ate a part of Mo Yan.


    "You still need to be careful. That might not be the exact reason why those people died," Gao Haoyun stood up and glanced at him, then walked out of the conference room.


    "Is it my fault? Is it my fault that I didn''t eat that man''s flesh four years ago?" Du Kunsheng didn''t understand the meaning behind Gao Haoyun''s glance. He looked at Meng Yuxuan and shrugged as he said with confusion.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue was still in Lin Qiao''s base, sauntering near her office and conference room. When Lin Qiao had a meeting, he would guard the door for her along with Duan Juan, and when she was in her office, he would sit on the couch in her office with his daughter on his knees and have tea.


    "Where''s your Chief?" Xiao Licheng asked Duan Juan who was passing by. He had a message for Wu Chengyue.


    "Why? Do have something to say to my Chief?" Duan Juan looked at him with surprise at first, then continued, "Shouldn''t you be looking for your Chief?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "Well, as things stand now, wherever your Chief is, he is there too. That''s why I asked you where your Chief is."


    Duan Juan looked at him speechlessly.


    Xiao Licheng sighed and said, "Don''t look at me like that. I don''t want things to become like this either. But, I cannot stop him from pursuing his future wife. I don''t think I should try to cause him difficulties with this, as he might do the same to me when I meet the girl that I like."


    "Your Chief doesn''t really like my Chief. He''ll never win her heart like that," Duan Juan rolled her eyes, then turned and left.


    "Oi, you haven''t told me where they are!" Xiao Licheng hurriedly shouted at her.


    "Go and find them yourself," Duan Juan responded while walking, without even turning her head back.


    "I tried!" Xiao Licheng continued helplessly. He searched through every office and meeting room in the hotel, but didn''t find either of them. That was why he asked.


    "The sweet potato field!" Duan Juan, who had walked away, gave the answer.


    "Alright," Xiao Licheng responded, then left the hotel and found a car to drive toward Mount Wu area.


    As he arrived at the farm, he saw his Chief furrowing the soil alone in a clearing near the sweet potato field, which was located by the roadside. The leader of Sea City Base was digging sweet potatoes with the little princess of his base in the sweet potato field.


    A group of zombies was gathering around those two fields. The levels of those zombies varied from three to seven.


    They fixed their eyes on Xiao Licheng once they saw him driving over.


    As Xiao Licheng parked the car, a zombie sneakily approached his car with curiosity. The zombie seemed to be afraid of Xiao Licheng. He avoided him, but moved to the end of the car as he looked and poked the off-road car curiously.


    Xiao Licheng turned and glanced at the zombie. As the zombie seemed only curious but not threatening, he left the zombie there, and walked toward Wu Chengyue, who was swinging the hoe with sweat streaming down his back.


    "Did she tell you to work here? You seem to be enjoying this!" Xiao Licheng walked up to Wu Chengyue as he looked at him with surprise and said.


    Wu Chengyue finished his movement, then stopped, resting an elbow on the stick of the hoe. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with the other hand while looking at Xiao Licheng.


    "She said that I''m annoying," he responded smilingly.


    ''You are annoying!'' Xiao Licheng thought. Looking at the silly and proud smile on Wu Chengyue''s face, he rolled his eyes silently. ''She made you do the farm work because she''s annoyed by you, not because she has accepted you. Why are you so smug?''


    "What is it?" Wu Chengyue glanced at Lin Qiao and the little girl, who were squatting among sweet potato leaves, looking for sweet potatoes, and then asked Xiao Licheng.


    "I received some messages. The news that you proposed to Miss. Lu has successfully caught the attention of the leaders of all the other bases," Xiao Licheng stood beside him, looking at Lin Qiao as well.


    "Hmm, I''m not surprised." He wasn''t trying to hide that, so it was reasonable for the other bases to hear about it.


    "Will this bring her trouble? What are you gonna do?" Xiao Licheng turned to him and asked.


    Wu Chengyue''s proposal caught the attention of the other bases. The leaders of the other bases would certainly try harder to dig out Miss Lu''s real identity and background information. The secret of her and her army might be exposed.


    "No. Their attention will soon be diverted by something else. Haven''t you received the news from Heilong Base?" Wu Chengyue smiled calmly.


    "You know that?" Xiao Licheng looked at him with surprise.


    "I just made a guess. I don''t know what exactly will happen," Wu Chengyue said while looking at Wu Yueling with a smile. She was happy because she had just dug out a sweet potato. "Did something already happen in Heilong Base?" He asked.


    Xiao Licheng nodded. "Two vice leaders and a few level-five people died, killed brutally. They were tortured to death, and the murderer hasn''t been found yet!"

 726 Who Will Win

    "He''d surely torture them. Before he died, they cut off his flesh slice by slice. If you were him, would you let your enemies die comfortably?" Wu Chengyue gave Xiao Licheng a glance while speaking.


    Xiao Licheng stayed silent for a few seconds, then shook his head quickly. After that, he frowned as he thought for a moment and said, "Are you talking about¡­ Mo Yan?"


    Wu Chengyue knew that Mo Yan the zombie was the man who was locked up and eaten by some other humans. However, he didn''t tell Xiao Licheng about that. Xiao Licheng was reminded of what happened years ago in the Northeast upon hearing Wu Chengyue mentioned that the man was cut into pieces. Connecting all these facts, he easily got the answer.


    "Yeah. Is there another Mo Yan?" Wu Chengyue nodded, then picked up the hoe and continued furrowing the soil.


    "So, he is there to take revenge. He will definitely destroy the entire Heilong Base then. Among the members of that base, most of those who have been upgrading quickly these years had eaten his flesh," Xiao Licheng understood Wu Chengyue''s meaning.


    What Mo Yan was doing in the Northeast would certainly be more eye-catching than his Chief''s proposal.


    "Not only Heilong Base¡­ Apart from Heilong Base people, a small number of people who had eaten his flesh are scattered in Huaxia Base. When Mo Yan has tortured all Heilong Base people who had hurt him to death, those in Huaxia Base will start to be frightened¡­ And by then, they will unwittingly show their weaknesses," Wu Chengyue said while doing the farm work, gasping for air from time to time.


    The people who were interested in the truth would easily notice some leads by that time.


    "You are right, but Huaxia Base is so powerful! Will Mo Yan alone make them worry? He is a zombie emperor indeed, but none of the leading group of Huaxia Base is weak. Besides, they have powerful weapons too!" Xiao Licheng put a hand on his chin, his eyes fixed on the ground.


    "Huaxia Base people don''t need to be afraid of Mo Yan indeed. However, one person in that base should be careful. He has eaten another man''s flesh after all. That precious, magical flesh is poisonous," Wu Chengyue smiled as he swung the hoe into the soil again.


    "Who?" Xiao Licheng immediately raised his head to look at him.


    "Si Kongchen. He went down from the Northeast to Huaxia Base. Why do you think he upgraded so quickly?" Wu Chengyue said.


    "So, the zombie emperor''s next stop will be Huaxia Base, right?" said Xiao Licheng.


    "Who knows? Are you so sure that the zombie emperor will win?" Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at him.


    Xiao Licheng raised his eyebrows and replied, "A zombie emperor, five zombie dominators, and some zombie kings and queens¡­ Perhaps he has recruited some new soldiers on his way to the Northeast. Such a powerful zombie army has a good chance of winning even if they have to fight the entire Heilong Base, not to mention the fact that he is a zombie emperor. He has the power to launch another massive zombie attack on Heilong Base. That simply depends on how he would like Heilong Base to be destroyed!"


    "You''re right. You said that only a couple of vice leaders and level-five people died so far. So, I guess he''s planning to do a series of assassinations first. If he happens to expose himself, he might launch the massive zombie attack," said Wu Chengyue.


    Xiao Licheng nodded, then abruptly glanced at Lin Qiao and said, "I wonder if Miss Lu has heard about the news or not. Should we tell her?"


    Wu Chengyue smilingly shook his head and said, "She has heard us."


    He was right. Lin Qiao had heard what they said, but pretended like she didn''t.


    Having finished talking, Xiao Licheng turned and walked to the road. Earlier, when he was still in the field, he saw a zombie wandering around his car. Now, as he returned to the car, the female zombie immediately hid on the other side of the vehicle.


    "What are you doing?" Xiao Licheng walked onto the road and asked the zombie. Then, he felt a little weird. Looking at the female zombie who was hiding behind the car, with only one eye visible outside, and asked another question, "Do you understand me?"


    Hearing his question, the female zombie still looked confused. Seeing that, he gave a sigh.


    The zombie was very low-leveled. She hadn''t even reached level three, and was the lowest-leveled one among all the zombies in that area. Why did Miss Lu keep such a low-leveled zombie around her? Was there a special connection between the two of them?


    Xiao Licheng curiously made some guesses.


    He didn''t know that Xiao-xiao, the low-leveled zombie who was standing before him, simply wanted to follow Lin Qiao everywhere. Lin Qiao kept her around because there was a subordinative connection between herself and her.


    Looking at the confused and scared Xiao-xiao, Lin Qiao felt that even the rabbit in her space was braver than her.


    As Xiao Licheng thought that Xiao-xiao didn''t understand human language, the zombie carefully moved toward him along the car. Her dark eyes were filled with curiosity.


    It was the first time Xiao Licheng met a zombie who was so much like a small animal. He wanted very much to tell her¡ª''You are a zombie! Please act like a zombie!'' Meanwhile, he somehow found that she was a little cute.


    Xiao-xiao carefully approached him. As Xiao Licheng was standing still without making any movement, she gathered some courage and moved closer to him.


    Xiao Licheng quietly watched her move closer to him, then lean her head forward to sniff around at him. And then, he found a rapturous expression on the zombie''s face. After that, the zombie made a couple of more steps toward him.


    "Why do you come so close? You''re not gonna bite me, are you?" As she came near him, Xiao Licheng abruptly started talking. Once his voice was heard, the zombie paused and raised her eyes to give him a glance with confusion. Next, she suddenly turned and ran away.


    Xiao Licheng speechlessly watched the female zombie run fleetingly away from him, along the field and to the cabin, before hiding away.


    ''How scary am I?'' Xiao Licheng said to himself, then shook his head as he opened the car door to get into the car and left. While driving, he asked himself, ''Did the zombie understand what I said? Did she not understand? I think she understood me, or she wouldn''t react that way¡­''


    Lin Qiao, who was in the field, noticed the interaction between Xiao Licheng and Xiao-xiao. She knew that Xiao-xiao understood simple human language, but couldn''t understand long sentences or profound words.


    Just now, Xiao-xiao went close to Xiao Licheng because she was attracted by his human scent. When she was immersed in the aroma, Xiao Licheng talked and gave her a start. That was why she ran away.


    She was very chicken-hearted indeed!


    Thinking about that, Lin Qiao felt a little helpless. Was it really alright for Xiao-xiao to be such a cowardly zombie?

 727 The Zombie With Healing Power

    "Oi, you''ve been here for so many days. Don''t you need to go back to do your work?" Lin Qiao held Wu Yueling''s hand as she walked closer to Wu Chengyue and asked.


    Wu Chengyue clearly sensed how impatient she was. It wasn''t the first time she had tried to persuade him to leave.


    "Alright, I get it. You don''t want to see me now, right? Alright, I''ll leave today," Wu Chengyue looked at her with a smile.


    ''Since you know how I feel, you should get out of my place as soon as you can.'' She looked at him expressionlessly while rolling her eyes in her head.


    Wu Chengyue left, as he said. That afternoon, he and his people left the All Beings Base. However¡­


    "Why didn''t your father take you home?" Sitting behind her desk, Lin Qiao looked at the little girl who was sitting on the couch and asked.


    ''Daddy said that he''ll be very busy back home. He told me to play with Zombie Mommy.'' The little one raised her head to look at Lin Qiao and answered the question in her head.


    "I''m busy too! Also, can you not call me that?" Lin Qiao looked at the girl helplessly, "Isn''t he worried about you? Why does he trust me so much? He wanted to kill me last year."


    ''Am I a free nanny?'' she said to herself.


    ''Daddy told me to call you that. I''m doing what Daddy says.'' Wu Yueling looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    "You listen to him, but not me? Why are you here with me then?" Lin Qiao looked at her.


    Wu Yueling looked at her bewilderedly as she responded, ''I will listen. I always listen to Daddy. But, if I can''t call you Zombie Mommy, what should I call you?"


    "Aunty Lu, without ''zombie''," Lin Qiao corrected her.


    Wu Yueling looked at her confusedly with a pair of large eyes, clearly hesitating.


    But at that moment, someone gently knocked on the door and then opened it.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at the door. Duan Juan opened the door and then stepped away. Two little people were standing by the door, sticking their head into the office. The girl called Lin Qiao ''Aunty'', then quickly turned to Wu Yueling.


    "Alright. Xiaolu is here to play with you. Ling Ling, go and play with them," Lin Qiao nodded at Lin Xiaolu, then looked at Wu Yueling and said.


    Wu Yueling turned to the door and saw Lin Xiaolu waving at her. Then, she looked at Lin Qiao and saw the latter nod. After that, she slid off the couch and walked toward the door. Seeing her come over, Lin Xiaolu showed her the rabbit that was hidden somewhere by her before. Wu Yueling''s eyes glowed the moment she saw that chubby rabbit.


    After watching Wu Yueling leave happily, Lin Qiao started working.


    Currently, her priority was the farm work. A large field near Mount Wu was ready, and the first batch of seeds from her space were ripe already. Recently, Lu Tianyi had grown the second batch of seedlings, which were strong enough to be transplanted outside.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the list of those seedlings. Rice, wheat, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and beans were included, divided into two parts. Wheat and rice were planted on one side of the field as staple food while the vegetables were planted on the other side.


    At the same time, Xie Dong brought back the news from Heilong Base¡ªMo Yan seemed to hate those people very much. He tore those people'' mouths open, then ripped apart their bodies, dug out their stomachs, and broke their throats. Those people all suffered severe pain. The level-five female zombie under Mo Yan''s command had healing power. She was the reason why those people didn''t die immediately.


    "He, of course, hates those people'' guts. Wouldn''t you hate them if they locked you, cut off your flesh every two or three days without letting you die, and only made you suffer the pain?" Lin Qiao said blandly while reading the file that Xie Dong gave her.


    Then, she gave Xie Dong a glance and continued with surprise, "Eh? That female zombie has healing power? No wonder Mo Yan brings her everywhere. Her power is effective for humans, but what about zombies?"


    Xie Dong nodded expressionlessly, then pointed at the file in her hand and signaled for her to read the next page.


    Lin Qiao turned the page. Some information about that female zombie was on the second page. Xie Dong didn''t dare to approach Mo Yan and his zombies, so he followed behind them to observe the traces they left and collect information about them.


    According to the second page, a zombie king under Mo Yan''s command was injured by the leader of Heilong Base and recovered over a single night. Based on that fact, Xie Dong assumed that the female zombie''s power was effective on zombies as well.


    Some information about Mo Yan''s other zombies was also written down on the paper. After all, Xie Dong''s mission was to follow Mo Yan and his zombies, and observe them.


    "I have to find out a way to enable you to talk. This is really inconvenient for you," Lin Qiao abruptly looked at him and then sighed helplessly, "I think I''m now able to control the energy in the lake water to heal your throat. Do you wanna try?"


    If that worked, she would fix the voices of Lu Tianyi and Shen Yujen as well, so they could work more efficiently and conveniently. The two of them looked almost the same as normal human beings anyway.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Xie Dong had her eyes glowing as he nodded without hesitation.


    "Alright then! Prepare yourself, then come to see me the day after tomorrow, in the morning. Tomorrow, I need to arrange the planting works for Liu Jun and the others," Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    Xie Dong nodded and left.


    Lin Qiao read the name list of the administrators of Heilong Base and the list of victims. Her eyes lingered briefly on the names of two leaders, and then she put the files away.


    ¡­


    The seedlings were planted successfully, and on the following day, Xie Dong came to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao went down into the lake and gathered all the energy in her palm, then waited for Xie Dong to take off his clothes and come into the lake. It wasn''t the first time, so Xie Dong felt less awkward this time.


    Down at the lake bottom, Lin Qiao didn''t move close to Xie Dong, but stayed meters away from him, controlling the energy sphere. Xie Dong wasn''t able to get close to the energy sphere, as the highly compressed energy gave out an even greater pressure.


    Thousands of tentacles reached out of the energy sphere toward Xie Dong. Soon, he was wrapped up, seeming like a human cocoon, just like how Viney wrapped people with her vines before.


    The energy tentacles didn''t give Xie Dong any pressure, and he kept a distance from the energy sphere. Lin Qiao was able to control those tentacles to fix Xie Dong''s throat with the energy in the water.


    It was the first time she controlled the energy like that to heal other zombies. Usually, she only filtered other types of energy with the energy in the lake. That was much easier than what she was doing now.


    Three hours later, Lin Qiao felt that Xie Dong''s throat was almost healed. So, she withdrew the energy tentacles, then used one of them to push him up to the water surface.


    Xie Dong woke up once his head popped out of the water. Realizing that the treatment was already over, he quickly swam toward the lakeside.

 728 Expand the Zombie Army

    Lin Qiao waited until Xie Dong went ashore, then relaxed her grip on the energy sphere and went ashore as well.


    By the time she came out, Xie Dong had put his clothes on. He stayed a couple meters away from the lake and waited for Lin Qiao. Soon, Lin Qiao came out of the water while being wrapped in dark mist. As she put her clothes on, the dark mist drilled into her palm.


    "How''s it going? Can you speak now?" Lin Qiao adjusted her clothes, then walked up and asked Xie Dong, who had turned around to avoid looking at her naked body.


    Xie Dong turned back and looked at Lin Qiao as he slightly opened his mouth. "Yes¡­" His throat moved slightly, and then a voice escaped his mouth. His voice was dry and hoarse, not like the voice of a healthy man. However, his pronunciation was clear enough. Speaking was no longer a question for him.


    "Congratulations!" Lin Qiao smilingly nodded at him.


    "Thank you, Chief! Without you, I might have become an unconscious zombie. I''d either eat humans or be hunted," Xie Dong abruptly kneeled on one knee and dropped his head. His deep and dry voice expressed his sincere gratitude.


    "What are you doing? Get up! Can''t you just talk normally? Why did you get down on your knee?" Lin Qiao hurriedly made two steps sideways and then said to him with surprise.


    "You gave me my second life. From now on, please give me any work that I can do for you. I''ll do anything for you! Please let me stay with you!" Xie Dong finished his last sentence, then slowly stood up while looking at Lin Qiao determinedly.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, feeling a little speechless. "Haven''t you been working for me the whole time? Alright, we don''t need this kind of ritual. If you want to stay, just stay¡­ if you want to leave, just let me know. It''s great that you are able to talk now. I guess can try it on the others."


    Next day, a group of zombies left the base under Lin Qiao''s leadership to collect energy nuclei. This time, Yun Meng stayed in the base. Lin Qiao brought Xie Dong, Lu Tianyi, Shen Yujen and half of her zombie followers with her. As for the other half, she left them to help Liu Jun with the farming work.


    They headed toward West Lake District, where a lot of mutated plants might be found in the lakeside park and the forest area. Lin Qiao and her zombies drove an armed off-road vehicle to West Lake District. She didn''t forget the large crowd of zombies that she brought to that area. Currently, the border between West Lake District and Upper City District was filled with zombies.


    At first, she arrived where those zombies were gathered. Standing on top of a tall building, she whistled, then saw the crowd of zombies gather toward her. Before long, the roads and streets nearby were all filled with lower-leveled zombies.


    Xie Dong and Qiu Lili stood by her sides, scanning those zombies with their eyes.


    "Quite some of them have upgraded. Currently, about three-hundred of them are at level two and three. Only a small number of them are at level-four," Qiu Lili roughly counted the ones that flashed out of the slow-moving crowd or leaped onto high places.


    Xie Dong was counting silently while making some notes on a notebook.


    "Not bad! They have only been here for a short while. Those numbers are normal," said Lin Qiao blandly. She leaped toward a smaller building which had a roof that was wider than the other roofs and empty, leaving a few words for her soldiers.


    "Get them up here and give them the drug."


    Qiu Lili, Xie Dong, Jingyan, Song, Chong, and a few other zombies instantly swooped at those lower leveled zombies. Before long, they had gathered all level two-to-three zombies and brought them to the roof where Lin Qiao stood.


    About two-hundred lower-leveled zombies crowded on that roof.


    "Stand still, don''t move!" Xie Dong was the first who failed to stand that messy crowd. He pulled a long face and shouted at those zombies with a dry voice.


    Those zombies didn''t react quickly to his instructions. The level-three ones made a little reaction while the level-two ones were completely confused.


    Qiu Lili and brought over about ten level-four zombies, then ordered them to stand aside.


    "Stand here, in two lines," she said.


    Those zombies failed to understand her. Since they became zombies, they had forgotten what ''lines'' meant.


    Xie Dong dragged and pushed the crowd of zombies to put them in a rough formation, then went to Qiu Lili''s side and made those level-four zombies stand in two lines.


    "Memorize your positions. You will stand this way from now on," Qiu Lili said to those zombies.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao took the drug out of her space, then handed it to Xie Dong, telling him and her other zombie soldiers to give it to those new zombies.


    She turned and glanced at the zombie crowd which was still expanding. A huge number of zombies had gathered in that area, such that there was no space left between the buildings already. All of the ground was taken up by zombies; some higher-leveled ones had climbed onto the buildings and even trees.


    Before, Lin Qiao left those zombies in that area without paying any attention to them, because she wanted them to upgrade themselves. That was, of course, a cruel process, but it was also how nature worked.


    She and her soldiers spent a whole night in transforming those new zombies. After that, she put them into her space. Next morning, she led her troops to the next target.


    ¡­


    Once Lin Qiao left the base, Wu Chengyue in Sea City Base received a message about that.


    While smiling, he said, "I guess she''s going to gather some nuclei and expand her zombie army. West Lake District is crowded by zombies. Quite some high-leveled ones will certainly emerge from that area. The ones that manage to break into level three or four will become a new force under her command."


    "With that zombie army, the thousands of people in her base will have nothing to worry about," Xiao Licheng stood before Wu Chengyue''s desk and said.


    "As long as she is there, those people don''t need to worry about anything. They''ll always be safe, as long as they don''t bring trouble to themselves. The second batch of Hades Base survivors are on their way to the new base, aren''t they? How many of them have died?" Wu Chengyue''s smiling eyes gave out a warmth as he asked.


    "They left the base half a month ago. For all sorts of reasons, about a hundred and fifty of them have died so far," Xiao Licheng looked at the notebook in his hands while answering the question.


    By ''all sorts of reasons'', he meant natural disasters and human factors. The weaker people would be either left in zombie crowds or used as flesh shields.


    "Apart from that, we also got some news from Earth Dragon Base. Some of Earth Dragon Base people tried to run out of their base and join All Beings Base," said Xiao Licheng.


    The news about All Beings Base had spread across all bases long ago. People didn''t know all the details, but had all heard about that base, and confirmed that it was real, not just some kind of tale.


    "Earth Dragon Base? Emm¡­ It''s about the time. Hidden Cloud City Base has fallen, and no one is managing those survivors. Also, Hidden Cloud City Base had drained all the resources that belonged to Earth Dragon Base long ago. Earth Dragon Base people would die of illness, starvation, and coldness if they didn''t try to find a way out," Wu Chengyue easily figured out the reason.


    "How dare they go to the new base? Aren''t they afraid that those Hades Base people might tear them into pieces?" Xiao Licheng said confusedly.


    "I think they would rather lick Hades Base people''s boots, because they don''t want to die. Besides, the new base has its rules. They don''t allow killing in the base. So, those Earth Dragon people would be protected to some extent if they joined the base. As for what might happen in the dark¡­ that would be hard to say," said Wu Chengyue blandly.

 729 Bring Yourself To Her

    "Sky Fire Base has taken away all of Hidden Cloud Base''s supplies. I guess that before long, Hidden Cloud Base people will start looking for a new base, because they are now short of supplies. Earth Dragon Base is not an option. They can choose from the new base in the East China or Huaxia Base in the Northeast. Which one would you choose to go to?" Wu Chengyue leaned against the back of his chair and put one hand on the desk as he looked at Xiao Licheng and asked with a smile.


    "They need to pay for their access to Huaxia Base with zombie nuclei or other equally valuable stuff. They won''t have many belongings when they leave Hidden Cloud City Base. I guess most of them will choose All Beings Base, because they don''t charge rent," Xiao Licheng dropped his head as he thought for a moment, then raised his head and continued, "I think All Beings Base is gonna have a busy year."


    "I agree. Their fence wall is still under construction. But thankfully, they don''t have a big population yet. Many buildings that the zombie lady occupied are still empty. There are quite some buildings near the school too. So, they don''t need worry about accommodation. Yuan Tianxing will do the arrangements for her, but still, she will have to spend a long time reading the name lists and files."


    Base leaders didn''t need to make arrangements for the new members of their bases, but still needed to look over the basic files and addresses of those people.


    "Aren''t we going to pick up Ling Ling?" Xiao Licheng asked.


    "No need. She has little friends over there. Back here, she''s always alone. Just let her play with her friends," Wu Chengyue shook his head.


    "You''re right. She''s getting along well with Lin Feng''s daughter and Liu Jun''s son. It''s the first time she has made friends," Xiao Licheng sighed.


    Kids needed to play with their little friends to become lively and cheerful. For an autistic child, having friends was very helpful for her illness.


    "I think that you really need to marry Miss Lu for Ling Ling''s well-being. However, judging from the current situation between you two, I think¡­ you may as well bring yourself to her! You can offer yourself to her instead of convincing her to join your family. I think that''s more likely to happen!" After saying that, Xiao Licheng turned and left.


    "What the hell? Are you saying that I should marry into her family?" Wu Chengyue said to Xiao Licheng''s back with laughter.


    "Or, you can just wait. I''d like to know how long you can wait," Xiao Licheng gave him a glance, then opened the door and went out.


    Wu Chengyue put a hand on his chin and thought for a moment. Based on the zombie lady''s current attitude, she might not accept him even if he offered to marry into her family.


    "Even if I want to marry into her family, she might not agree," he murmured.


    ¡­


    After recruiting a new batch of zombie soldiers, Lin Qiao followed her sensations to the forest by the side of West Lake.


    "Plants have become horrible after the apocalypse!" Looking at the forest which had covered the sky, Qiu Lili sighed.


    "That surprises you? Let''s wait and see how these plants will turn out in one or two decades," Lin Qiao parked the car by the end of the road near the forest, then stepped into the thick woods with Xie Dong and some others. Qiu Lili was still flying above the treetops, her white dress fluttering in the air.


    While stepping forward, Lin Qiao released her black fire to carve out a way. Xie Dong didn''t dare to use his power, in case he might set the entire forest on fire. He was hacking the surrounding branches and vines with a saber while observing the surrounding environment.


    They kept moving forward. An hour later, they finally sensed a clear energy wave.


    "We''re almost there. You guys stay out here to guard the area, and I''ll get in to deal with that thing," Lin Qiao clenched her right fist and raised it to the shoulder level as a signal for the others to stop moving.


    Xie Dong and the others had sensed an agitated energy. Hearing what Lin Qiao said, they obediently stopped moving.


    Xie Dong understood that Lin Qiao told them to stop moving because she didn''t want them to act rashly and alert the enemy, and not because she was worried that some other creatures might come over and ruin her plan.


    Lin Qiao restrained her vibe, moving further into the forest. The vibe she sensed was not too powerful, but was weird and gave out a sense of danger. She was vigilant every time she encountered high-leveled mutated plants, because she knew that some mutated plants had become conscious.


    She slowly moved toward the source of that vibe. The surrounding plants were so dense that she had no choice but to hop onto the branch and leap forward.


    Soon, she found the source of the energy. It was a large mushroom standing in the middle of a clearing, which was about four-hundred meters in radius.


    The mushroom had a colorful cap. Red, purple, blue, yellow, all these colors formed beautiful natural patterns on the mushroom cap. The mushroom cap was as large as a regular umbrella, and the stem was as thick as an adult''s thigh.


    The mushroom was nearly two meters tall, looking very creepy.


    It had beautiful colors. Anyone who knew about mushrooms understood that colorful mushrooms were mostly poisonous.


    Also, on the top of the mushroom cap was a small piece of brown matter.


    Lin Qiao was able to see the energy sphere inside the mushroom, about ten centimeters away from the top of the cap. The mutated mushroom''s energy nucleus was located there.


    She was about three-hundred meters away from the mushroom, but she still sensed a strong scent which was awful to her. She was aware that the scent would smell different for humans or mutated animals.


    Judging by the size of the clearing around the mushroom, the mushroom was very powerful.


    Every high-leveled mutated plant would create a clearing around itself. Lin Qiao had discovered that after she hunted quite some mutated mushrooms.


    ''Squak¡­'' A few mice'' sounds were heard from around her feet.


    She lowered her head and saw a huge mutated rat crawl into the clearing muddle-headedly.


    The rat was as big as a medium-sized dog. While shambling toward the mushroom, it fixed its eyes on it and leaned its nose forward to sniff at the mushroom.


    Lin Qiao quietly watched the giant rat stagger close to the mushroom''s root like a drunken man,


    The rat seemed peaceful. A pair of sharp teeth stuck out of its face, but it still did not look fierce at all.


    It lay down near the mushroom root and slightly narrowed its eyes, seemingly falling asleep.


    Soon, Lin Qiao saw a few white vines reaching down from the mushroom cap. Those baby-arm-thick vines gently reached toward the big rat and paused slightly when they were very close to it, and then suddenly pierced into its body.


    Puff!


    ''Squeak¡­'' The rat made no reaction at first, but a couple of seconds later, it started struggling intensely while uttering shrill screeches.

 730 Violent Mutated Mushroom

    The big rat screamed in pain and struggled as hard as it could. However, the vines which had pierced into its body showed no sign of relaxing, only drilling deeper and deeper.


    In a couple of minutes, the rat gradually stopped struggling.


    After that, the parts of the vines which were stuck inside the rat''s body started turning red, the redness quickly expanding upward.


    It was like a backstream of blood caused during an intravenous drip¡­ The mushroom was clearly drinking the big rat''s blood.


    Lin Qiao watched those red vines drain the big rat within a short span of time.


    She glanced around the mushroom, wondering where the dead bodies of the other animals that the mushroom had drained were. The other high-leveled mutated plants had more or less dead bodies around them, but the area around the mushroom was perfectly clean.


    While Lin Qiao was observing the area around the mushroom, the mushroom withdrew its vines, then threw the rat''s drained body near its roots. After that, the soil near the mushroom''s roots sook and cracked, and then, the large mushroom uprooted itself!


    A couple of strong roots supported the mushroom, underneath which was a hole. A stench which was the mixture of the rotten mud and decayed dead bodies gushed out of the hole, making Lin Qiao speechless.


    Obviously, the mushroom was able to move!


    The large mushroom got itself out of the soil, then rolled up the dead rat with its roots and threw it into the stinky hole. After that, it sat back onto the hole.


    After sitting back down, the mushroom''s roots stirred the soil to cover themselves, also to cover the traces that they left just now.


    What a smart mushroom!


    Lin Qiao was surprised that the mushroom did not only drain its prey, but also covered all the traces! Apart from that, it stayed on that one spot, pretending to be unable to move!


    The smart mushroom had a rich meal, then happily buried the dead rat near its roots to nourish its roots. It had no idea that its secret moves had been witnessed by the invisible Lin Qiao, who was hiding nearby in the woods.


    As the smart mushroom sat back in the middle of the clearing, Lin Qiao prepared to leap off the tree to harvest it. But suddenly, some slight noises were heard from the woods that made Lin Qiao stop.


    She stopped, because what was coming this time was not like that big rat. The rat was lured to the mushroom, but this second visitor was coming with a strong intention of killing. Clearly, it was a predator instead of a prey which was attracted by the mushroom.


    The visitor approached with a strong, fierce vibe, without making any sound.


    The smart mushroom seemed not to realize that a predator was coming at it. It was relaxing its mushroom cap leisurely and lazily.


    ''Here it goes!''


    Lin Qiao turned to the predator and soon saw a dark and large figure crawling to the edge of the clearing.


    The smart mushroom which was still relaxing its cap suddenly froze. Within a blink, it jumped out of the ground, shrank its cap, and ran toward the other side.


    It ran away!


    It ran away fleetingly! The mushroom flashed straight into the nearby woods and disappeared; Lin Qiao''s eyes only grasped a shred of shadow that it left. At the same time, the giant black figure sprung up and turned into an enormous shadow, chasing behind the smart mushroom.


    The two creatures disappeared before Lin Qiao''s eyes in no time.


    Lin Qiao was stunned for two seconds. After that, she swiftly followed behind the two creatures, following their vibes and soon catching up with the two weird beings.


    The mushroom had shrunk its cap into a triangular shape, its body supported by four or five human-leg-sized roots. It swung those roots quickly, causing swishing noises and loud claps. With those roots, it ran so fast that Lin Qiao could only saw a blurry shape of it.


    It was running as fast as a gust of wind!


    After spending a while following behind the two creatures, Lin Qiao found that the weird-looking predator was clearly slower than the smart mushroom. It was trying its best to run, gasping loudly for air. Yet, the mushroom was far ahead of it. Lin Qiao silently mourned for that creature.


    She travelled a long distance behind the two creatures, and the distance between the mushroom and the predator was getting longer and longer. As the mushroom disappeared, the mutated beast stopped reluctantly, because it was exhausted.


    Right at that time, Lin Qiao swooped at the mutated beast from a treetop and swung her claw at the beast''s neck.


    "Roar¡­" The beast was gasping for air. Suddenly, it was overwhelmed by the sense of crisis, but failed to react timely. It struggled to try to dodge Lin Qiao''s attack. However, it was already too late.


    It was a gigantic black boar. The bristles on its neck were half a meter long, thick and strong. Its face looked ferocious; its teeth stuck out of its mouth, shining with a sharp, cold light.


    It was as huge as a buffalo, covered in black bristles.


    Despite how strong the boar was, Lin Qiao managed to cut off half of its head. Dark-red blood and brain matter splashed all over the ground.


    She quickly threw the dead boar into her space, then kept chasing behind the smart mushroom.


    The mushroom was still running. The boar had stopped chasing it, but it was still running like the wind, nimbly dodging the rocks, trees, and other obstacles in its way.


    Lin Qiao hopped onto a tree and leaped forward fleetingly, soon catching up with the mushroom.


    As she was about a hundred meters away from the mushroom, she suddenly noticed that it seemed to turn its head around quickly. After that, the mushroom raised its speed again.


    ''Eh? Did it see me?'' Lin Qiao wondered. Was the mushroom able to sense her while she was in the invisible state? Why did it react so slowly to the boar just now? Or¡­ was the range of its sensations limited?"


    While thinking, Lin Qiao raised her speed to catch up with the mushroom. The mushroom wasn''t able to climb onto trees, but was able to jump! It thrust its roots against a tree trunk and leaped onto a rock which was over ten meters away, then made another leap to a further area.


    Even though it couldn''t climb trees, it was able to run very fast on the ground. Nothing seemed to be able to stop it, until a river appeared before it.


    The river was only about thirty meters wide, but the mushroom still forced itself to stop by the riverside, then turned and kept running along the river.

 731 The Mushroom Ran Away Again

    The huge mushroom fled away, seeming like a shred of shadow again. Lin Qiao realized that the mushroom was actually able to sense her. Once the distance between it and her was less than a hundred meters, the mushroom would react intensely.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t able to approach it for now.


    In that case¡­


    She abruptly disappeared from where she was. A few seconds later, she flashed out of her space with the snake and the dog.


    "Go! There is a giant running mushroom in the front! You guys go and outflank it. Don''t let it run!" Lin Qiao released the two beasts to chase the running mushroom together, her eyes glowing with interest.


    "Owooo!" The zombie dog instantly darted out with excitement. It didn''t understand what ''a giant running mushroom'' meant, but could sense a moving energy sphere where Lin Qiao was pointing at. The smart dog quickly figured out that she was talking about that moving energy sphere.


    The snake shared the same thought with Bowwow. The two beasts swiftly rushed out, stirring up two gusts of wind while chasing behind the mushroom like two bolts of lightning.


    Both Bowwow and Black had upgraded to level-six, and had their body conditions improved. Currently, they were both twice as fast as before. Before long, the giant mushroom realized that it was surrounded.


    Soon, Lin Qiao showed up with a smile. Behind the mushroom was the river. Bowwow was standing before it, while Black and herself each took aside.


    "Why don''t you keep running? Don''t forget that you are a mushroom! How can you be running so fast? That''s cheating!" Lin Qiao laughed to the mushroom which was standing by the riverside with its roots buried in the soil.


    Clearly, it was very afraid of the water. It never dared to approach the river all the time.


    "Owoo! Owo!" Bowwow excitedly wagged its furless tail and agitatedly barked at the mushroom, threatening to pounce on it. The dog fixed its glowing eyes on the mushroom while baring its teeth.


    ''Eh? This vibe belongs to a plant, doesn''t it? How come it can run?'' The dog had a question in his mind.


    Black coiled its body on the other side of the mushroom, coldly looking at the big mushroom as it let out its forked tongue from time to time. The snake wasn''t as excited as Bowwow, but it would occasionally flick its tail tip to show its curiosity toward the big mushroom.


    The mushroom stayed by the riverside perfectly still, even though Lin Qiao was talking and the zombie dog was glaring at it fiercely. If the three didn''t follow the mushroom to the river, or if it didn''t look so weird, they might think that it was supposed to be there.


    "Bowwow, go and give it a scratch. Let''s see what''ll happen," Lin Qiao said to Bowwow.


    "Owo!" Bowwow immediately gave a howl and jumped on the mushroom while swinging its forepaws at the mushroom cap.


    Sensing Bowwow''s attack, the mushroom instantly shrank its cap even more tightly than before. Unexpectedly, it didn''t try to dodge the attack.


    Cling! A high-pitched sound was heard.


    The strong mushroom cap actually survived Bowwow''s claws.


    Lin Qiao told Bowwow to give the mushroom a scratch, so the dog didn''t use a great strength. Therefore, its claws failed to do the mushroom any harm.


    Right at that moment, the mushroom suddenly relaxed its cap. A strong stream of energy gushed out of the mushroom cap and brought out a puff of colorful powder.


    The powder spread speedily in the air. Lin Qiao didn''t care about it, and neither did Bowwow. Unlike them, Black moved slightly backward, as it was having a sense of crisis. However, it was still a little late, as the snake inhaled some of that powder.


    Lin Qiao started paying attention to Black''s reaction. She suddenly recalled how the big rat was attracted to the mushroom. Unlike the rat, the boar wasn''t attracted by the mushroom. She wondered if it was the gap between power levels or between species that caused the difference.


    As she was looking at Black, the mushroom suddenly jumped up, then turned to Black and ran away again.


    Black made no response to its movement, but let the mushroom run past it.


    "Black!" Seeing that, Lin Qiao realized that something wasn''t right. She hurriedly went up to the snake to check on it. Meanwhile, she yelled at the dog, "Bowwow, go and get it!"


    "Owo?" Bowwow glanced at Black, then turned to the mushroom which had nearly disappeared. The dog hesitated briefly.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the mushroom which was running further and further away, then shouted at Bowwow, "Go! Black won''t die!"


    The snake was just poisoned.


    She quickly reached out a hand and sent Black back into her space, then turned and kept moving toward the running mushroom.


    This time, the mushroom was running extra fast. It was faster than before by many times over. Lin Qiao and Bowwow actually failed to catch up with it.


    They ran behind the mushroom for over ten miles, from the riverside park all the way to a hill.


    ''Is it really okay for a mushroom to run all over the world?'' Lin Qiao said to herself.


    "Owooooo!" Bowwow was too excited to think. While running, it barked loudly and caused a series of noises. The dog had completely no idea that it was supposed to keep quiet, or the mushroom might hear it and run even faster.


    Clearly, the dog saw the running mushroom as an interesting toy.


    Some loud noises were caused while Lin Qiao and the dog were chasing all over the hill behind the mushroom. The birds in the woods took fright and flew into the sky while some lower-leveled mutated animals darted everywhere with fear. Some higher-leveled mutated beasts only dared to stay at a distance away and watch. They had no courage to approach, but didn''t leave either.


    As Lin Qiao and the zombie dog were trying to catch the mushroom, the second batch of Hades Base survivors were entering Hangzhou.


    Those people divided into two groups. One group had relatively more superpowered members, but their moral quality didn''t improve along with their body condition. They were commoners before who hadn''t accepted any military or other kinds of training at all. After attaining superpowers, they became stronger and started to think of themselves as higher than the others, treating commoners like ants.


    The other group was led by a few men who used to serve in the army. They trained the commoners in the cruel way that was often used in the army. As for their training tools, those were undoubtedly the zombies that could be found everywhere during the journey.


    Through the training, some commoners grew the courage to pick up weapons and kill zombies. As their reaction speed rose gradually, they survived toughly. Some of them were weeded out during the trainings. Most of them died in the injuries caused by zombies.


    The people who were leading the superpowered group believed that they should give on up the commoners, so a lot of trouble and food could be saved during the journey. However, the soldiers'' group disagreed in solidarity.


    Those soldiers were strong, with good combat skills. Together, they made a force that was powerful enough to defend themselves against the zombies. Staying with them, the people in the superpowered group could save some efforts. Otherwise, they would have left without them long ago.

 732 The Two Different Groups

    "Boss, he''s dying!" In the commoners'' group, a man ran to the leader as he pointed at another man who was lying in a corner motionlessly. They were in a two-story building in a town at the time. The superpowered ones occupied the second floor, leaving the first floor for the commoners.


    "We can''t help him. There''s no healing power possessor upstairs, and we''ve run out of medicine." The leader glanced at that man, then turned his eyes away sullenly. He couldn''t tell how many people had fallen sick and died. The journey was long and difficult, and the weather was cold. The weaker people got sick, and were never healed.


    Wang Jian, the leader, turned his eyes away as he thought for a moment, then gave that sick man another glance. After that, he turned to the others and said, "Let''s stay here for a couple of days. I''ll lead a squad to visit the pharmacies in this town and see if we can find any useful drugs."


    They had just arrived at the town, without having the time to search through the buildings nearby. At first, they planned to stay a night and then leave. However, after last night, the sick man''s condition got worse. To try and save him, they had no other choice but to stay in the town and look for medicines.


    The man beside Wang Jian glanced at the sick man, then said with hesitation, "But¡­ in his current condition¡­ I''m afraid he can''t wait for us to bring back the meds."


    That man''s face was pale, lips blue, and eyes turning up. His breathing was fading. Not to mention if he could stay alive until the others brought back the medicines, even if he did manage to hang on until then, the medicine might not save him. More importantly, no one could guarantee that they would be able to find any medicine in the town.


    "How could we know if we don''t try? No matter what, we can''t give up on anyone," Wang Jian said seriously.


    Soon, he and some others carried weapons and sneaked out of the building. They went through the zombie crowd to search for pharmacies in the town.


    The town was a strange place for them. None of them know where to find a pharmacy. While avoiding zombie attacks, they tried their best to find a pharmacy.


    While Wang Jian and his people went out to look for medicines, some superpowered ones came downstairs and found that Wang Jian and some others were missing.


    "Eh? Where is Wang Jian?" The two men from upstairs made a few circles on the first floor. They didn''t see Wang Jian and the other few people, so they instantly asked a question.


    "They went out to look for medicines," one of the commoners answered the question carefully.


    The two superpowered men glanced at each other and didn''t say anything, but turned and went back upstairs.


    "Wang Jian and a few others left. Some said they went out to find medicines. Who knows what he''s really doing? They might have run away already! I don''t think we should stay here. The sooner we get to the new base, the sooner we can relax." The two men went upstairs and told the other superpowered ones about their discovery. They all wanted to leave immediately.


    About a thousand people had left Hades Base for the new base this time. Among them, only a small part had superpowers.


    "Alright! This place isn''t far away from the new base anyway. We don''t need them to shield us from the zombies anymore. Now, they''re nothing but burden to us."


    "You''re right. Even if Wang Jian didn''t leave, we''d still go without them. He can protect those people if he wants. We''ll leave by ourselves. We''ll certainly get good jobs in the new base."


    "I agree. Let''s get down and see if Wang Jian and his people have really left or not. If he comes back, he must have left some food to those people. We are running out of food now. We can''t make it to the new base without food. Maybe we should take theirs."


    "That''s a good idea! I''m going down to take a look!" A man reacted instantly. His eyes glowed as he quickly turned and left.


    ¡­


    A couple of hours later, Wang Jian and his people finally found a pharmacy that was relatively well preserved. In that pharmacy, they found some medicines which weren''t expired yet. However, the zombies nearby were so fierce that two of Wang Jian''s men were bitten to death.


    Not long after that, Wang Jian returned to see the anger and despair on the faces of his people.


    "Captain Wang! Li Honglin and his people took away all our food! What should we do?" Those people rushed up to Wang Jian and cried at him once he returned.


    "What?" Wang Jian was surprised at first, then burst in anger.


    "How dare they do that! B*stards! We''ll make them pay when we get to the new base!"


    "We have no food now! We only had a little left, but they took it away. They ate up their own food, and then took ours!" The group of people was so panicked and angry that their eyes even turned red.


    "Don''t panic¡­ Calm down! There is only a short distance from here to the new base. Just hang in there. We''ll soon arrive at the new base," Wang Jian said to the others, "We still have our cars. We''ll arrive at the new base very soon as long as we raise our speed."


    There was no better way. The food they had was from the old Hades base. That was the last bit of food they had. It was supposed to be enough for a thousand people to get through the whole journey, but those superpowered ones had been gormandizing all the way without trying to save at all.


    They always took a big part of the food, and only left a small amount for the commoners. Wang Jian and a few men under his command were in charge of the food that they had. Apart from them, the others had to wait for the superpowered ones to give them food.


    They had no right to decide the amount of food that would be given to them. Sometimes, the food they got wasn''t enough at all. They didn''t dare to fight the superpowered ones for food though, as they had no chance to win. Those people were able to end their lives with a swing of an arm, while they could barely harm them.


    They tried very hard to save some food in secret. However, those people took away the food that they saved. When that happened, they were wrathful, and also panicked.


    They had no food; they were all starving, and the weather was so cold. There was still a long way to go. They couldn''t tell if they would be able to make it to the new base or not.


    They had no choice but to try their best. At least, they had water. Those superpowered people didn''t take their water.


    "Yes! The new base is not far away anymore! Those scums took our food, but we still have water. We''ll take our revenge when we arrive at the new base!" Some of them quickly accepted their current situation and started to see their hatred as a motivation.


    "You''re right. We''ll make it to the new base, even without food. Now, the most important thing is to stabilize the patient''s condition," Wang Jian nodded and said.


    Then, he asked his people to give medicine to the sick man. Taking medicine with an empty stomach would not deliver a good effect. But at the very least, his condition would get stable instead of getting worse.


    The dying man was still breathing when Wang Jian and his people returned. After taking the medicine, he stayed unconscious but didn''t die.

 733 The Mushroom That Drills Into The Ground

    On the other side, Lin Qiao and Bowwow were chasing behind the running mushroom along the river. Even after such a long time of running, the mushroom showed no sign of fatigue. Instead, it was still rushing swiftly, seeming like a shred of shadow.


    "Owoooo¡­" Behind the mushroom, Bowwow had its mouth wide open, tongue swinging while following closely behind the mushroom.


    While running, they saw a small hill which was covered in grasses, with no trees growing on it. Then, Lin Qiao saw the mushroom quickly leap onto the hill. Right after that, the zombie dog swiftly darted onto the hill as well.


    Lin Qiao ran up to the hill behind the dog, then paused with surprise.


    She saw Bowwow circling in a clearing around a small pit on the ground. The dog was howling, scratching the ground from time to time.


    However, she didn''t see the mushroom.


    "Eh? Where''s that running mushroom?" Lin Qiao quickly ran up to Bowwow and asked.


    "Owo! Wowo!" Bowwow sat down by the small pit as it raised its head and barked at her, then turned to bark at the pit.


    Lin Qiao was a little confused. She observed the small pit and found that the soil in the pit was freshly turned, as if someone had dug into it just now. The pit was not large, only about a meter in diameter.


    She raised her head and looked around, finding the mushroom''s vibe to have disappeared.


    "It''s gone?" Lin Qiao sniffed around and asked confusedly.


    "Owowow!" Bowwow was holding a different opinion. The dog barked with excitement, then started digging that pit with its forepaws again.


    Seeing the dog''s movement, Lin Qiao paused briefly, then suddenly had a guess.


    "You''re not trying to tell me that it has drilled into the ground, are you?" Lin Qiao said that out loud with a weird expression. That sounded very strange!


    She looked at Bowwow silently, then at that pit.


    What the hell! She had run so far to chase the mushroom! The mushroom made her and Bowwow have such a long run, only to drill into the ground!


    Lin Qiao stared at the pit unhappily. She had a very strong feeling that she was fooled by a running mushroom!


    The mushroom was able to burrow into the ground, but it didn''t do that at first. Instead, it ran so far and then suddenly disappeared into the ground! It was running happily just now. Clearly, it was rather delighted!


    Lin Qiao was so angry that her veins even bulged on her forehead.


    Alright! She was fooled by a plant in the forest! She was fooled by a¡­ plant¡­


    "Bowwow, guard this area. It will come out at some point!" Lin Qiao clenched her teeth and laughed coldly, "How dare that mushroom fool me! I''ll catch it and cut it into slices, then fry it and make it into a soup!"


    After saying that, she immediately turned to search for the traces of that mushroom. It had just drilled into the ground, so she assumed that it wouldn''t come back out any time soon.


    Lin Qiao turned and entered the space, showing up inside the woods in her space. Once in, she saw Black who had coiled its body into a bowknot. Squatting on a tree, she felt a little speechless.


    "Oi, can you please tell me how you managed to tie yourself into a bowknot?" She lowered her head and asked Black, who was still twisting its body.


    At that moment, Black had twisted itself into a knot. Two parts of its body were seen on both sides of the knot, one longer and one shorter, making it look very much like a giant black bowknot. Its head was swaying in the middle of the knot.


    Lin Qiao looked at Black in a very strange way. The snake didn''t seem as cold and fierce as it usually was, but looked confused and¡­ intoxicated.


    ''So weird! Why does it look so intoxicated? It''s clearly high!''


    With a weird look on her face, Lin Qiao observed Black''s expression and its eyes, then its highly twisted body. The snake was obviously poisoned by the bloody mushroom.


    The poison did not seem to be harmful for Black though. It had only put its mind into a strange state.


    Lin Qiao recalled the big rat that she saw at first. It looked as muddle-headed as Black right now. As a result, the rat unwittingly entered the mushroom''s territory and ended up being eaten.


    Looking at Black who had now turned itself into a huge ball, Lin Qiao sighed. She didn''t know when the poison would be worn out.


    She wasn''t worried that the poison might bring some side effects. After all, both Black''s power level and body condition had been improved. However, she couldn''t let the snake keep twisting itself, could she?


    While thinking, Lin Qiao turned and leaped off the tree, then glanced at Black who was still wringing itself with its eyes narrowed. Then, she walked toward the lake. On her way to the lake, she conveniently picked a bucket to fetch water. Soon, she returned with some water and put the bucket on the clearing about three meters away from the snake.


    Black was twisting the entire time, but never moved an inch.


    How was she supposed to make the snake drink the water?


    Lin Qiao stood before Black as she put a hand on her chin while thinking. Based on the snake''s current behavior, it probably wouldn''t drink the water by itself, not even if she put the water by its mouth.


    So, she had no choice but to pour the water into the snake''s mouth. To do that, she needed to fix its head and open its mouth, or it might bite her.


    At that moment, Black was swinging its head from left to right, up and down. It first raised its head high, then lowered its head and put it under its body. It didn''t even know what it was doing.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then walked out of the woods and yelled at the few houses, "Keng-keng, Xia Ri, you guys¡­ come over here!"


    Once her voice faded, the group of zombies flashed out of the houses and showed up before her.


    "Get in!" Lin Qiao turned and guided them into the woods back to Black. Pointing at Black who was still shaking its head, she said, "You guys, go and stop it from moving, then open its mouth. I need to pour some water into its mouth."


    While speaking, she glanced at the bucket of water which was still standing aside.


    Keng-keng and the other zombies looked at each other. They didn''t understand what was going on, but followed Lin Qiao''s order. They went up promptly and pressed Black down, stopping it from struggling.


    Black wasn''t angry when it was pressed down, but couldn''t stop swaying its head.


    Xia Ri stood beside the snake and held its head as he expressionlessly watched the snake let out its forked tongue from time to time. Keng-keng stood by his side and forced open the snake''s mouth to expose its pair of sharp fangs.


    Lin Qiao immediately turned and picked up the bucket. Then, she made two steps forward and quickly poured the water into the snake''s mouth.

 734 You Need Someone To Kick Your Ass

    After pouring the water into Black''s mouth, Lin Qiao waved at the others and signaled for them to relax their grip on the snake. Then, she handed the bucket to Keng-keng and said, "Alright, go and do what you have to do."


    The group of zombies instantly let go of the snake and walked out of the woods.


    Meanwhile, Black quieted down once it drank the water. It put its head on the ground and closed its eyes. Seeing that, Lin Qiao stopped worrying about the snake and turned to exit her space.


    After exiting, she returned straight to the hilltop, but Bowwow was no longer by the small pit. Lin Qiao glanced around and found the dog about two miles away from the hill. She immediately flashed to that area.


    In that place, Lin Qiao found that Bowwow was digging the ground again.


    She easily figured out that something was going on underground. Dogs had keener sensations than humans. As a zombie dog, Bowwow''s sensations were no weaker than Lin Qiao''s.


    Bowwow spent quite a while digging but failed to achieve any result. Lin Qiao blinked, then said to the dog, "Alright, stop digging. Come here, I''ll send you back into the space."


    "Wow?" Bowwow stopped immediately and raised its head to look at Lin Qiao with confusion. Its mouth and forepaws were stained by soil.


    Lin Qiao waved at Bowwow and signaled it to come over, then threw it into the space. After that, she hid her vibe and quietly moved into the woods nearby.


    She hopped onto a tall tree and silently sensed the changes of the surrounding vibes.


    Lin Qiao was patient, but she never thought that the mushroom could be even more patient than her. After staying there for two hours, she finally noticed a small movement of the ground. The ground bulged higher and higher, and then a mushroom cap popped out.


    Puff! The big mushroom seemed to feel no danger from the surrounding environment as it quickly jumped out of the ground. It supported its body with a few roots and turned around, then slowly walked toward where it came from.


    This time, it was walking and hopping at times instead of running like a gust of wind.


    Lin Qiao silently slid off the tree, then followed behind the mushroom and slowly approached it.


    The mushroom was still wagging forward without sensing the invisible being that was coming closer to it.


    Lin Qiao tried very hard to restrain her vibe as well as block her nose and mouth before the distance between her and the mushroom was shortened to a hundred meters.


    Earlier on, the mushroom sensed her every time she was less than a hundred meters away from it. So this time, Lin Qiao was very, very careful.


    But still, she thought for a moment and stopped approaching the mushroom. It was able to drill into the ground. It would run away again unless she disabled it from hiding into the ground.


    With that idea, she flashed back into her space and brought out a few earth-powered zombies, then ordered them to scatter and surround the mushroom.


    As she gave a whistle, those earth-powered zombies immediately sealed the earth.


    The mushroom gave a start when the whistle was heard. Like a reflex, it tried to drill into the ground, but ended up realizing that the ground was as hard as a stone, and that it wasn''t able to break it at all.


    Clap! Its roots twisted to try and drill into the soil, yet the soil was too hard to be broken. As a result, the mushroom lost its balance and fell to the ground.


    It quickly got back up and ran. Without being able to hide underground, it had no choice but to run. Within a blink, it disappeared from where it was.


    Thud! However, it flew back in the next second. It was kicked back by someone.


    "Run! Keep running!" Lin Qiao blocked its way and kicked the mushroom back to where it was, then walked out of the woods and looked at it with a vicious grin on her face.


    The mushroom stood straight without daring to move. Its cap was shrunk tightly, yet its roots were still twisting slightly, trying to drill into the ground. However, the ground just wouldn''t break.


    It didn''t understand why the ground was so hard. But still, the smart mushroom didn''t give up on trying as it constantly twisted its roots to try and break the ground.


    Lin Qiao released her vibe entirely to suppress the mushroom. The mushroom stood there quietly, seeming to be frightened. However, the small movements of its roots showed that it was not really scared, and was only pretending!


    "Yeah! Keep pretending! Tell me, would you like to be stir-fried with pork or made into soup? You see, you''re so smart, so I bet you taste good as well," Lin Qiao smilingly walked to the mushroom and made a circle around it.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know if the mushroom could understand her or not, because it made no reaction to her words. However, judging by what it had done before, it was rather smart.


    Looking at the seemingly obedient mushroom, Lin Qiao blinked, then abruptly came closer and slapped its stem.


    Clap!


    Being slapped, the mushroom shivered and quickly moved a meter away. Under Lin Qiao''s vibe, it realized that it had no chance to run. That was why it didn''t try to flee just now.


    "How dare you run again! Freeze!" Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and glared at the mushroom while walking up to it and giving it another slap.


    Clap!


    The mushroom again moved away. It didn''t create a large space between itself and Lin Qiao, but still moved to about a meter away from her.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her palm. She was sure that her feeling wasn''t wrong this time. Then, she raised her head to observe the mushroom''s stem that looked like a utility pole. It had a plastic-like texture, and was even a little elastic.


    "Don''t you try to run again!" Lin Qiao rushed up to the mushroom and again slapped on its stem.


    Once again, the mushroom moved to a meter away. This time, Lin Qiao saw its movement clearly. It had actually reached out a root once she approached. As she slapped it, it quickly made that meter-long step.


    "Stop! You were able to drill into the ground and run away at the beginning, yet you made us chase you all over the forest! You fooled us! Was it fun? Huh? Damn you, bloody mushroom! You need someone to kick you''re a*s! I''ll really kick your mushroom a*s!" Lin Qiao cursed angrily while slapping the mushroom''s stem. Like how an adult would punish a naughty kid, she was so angry, but wasn''t willing to really hurt it.


    She was planning to kill the mushroom before, but after being fooled by it, she had changed her mind.


    The mushroom had actually made her run. For that reason, she decided to keep it and make it run every single day and show that to the others.


    With that thought, she threw out the vine that Viney left in the space and tied the mushroom up with it.

 735 It Will Be Useful

    After being tied up, the mushroom started hopping and struggling, as if the vine was making it very uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao held the other end of the vine leisurely and watched it hop.


    That mushroom was able to spread poisonous powder and drill into the ground; moreover, it was quite smart! It would become very useful if it were trained well.


    For that purpose, Lin Qiao didn''t dig out its energy nucleus.


    She dragged the vine and brought the mushroom to her space, then threw it into the woods.


    The mushroom looked a little confused as it was thrown into a strange place. At first, it stayed where it was motionlessly for a few seconds, then started turning its mushroom cap from left to right, seemingly observing the surrounding environment.


    Lin Qiao untied the mushroom and withdrew the vine. Once that happened, the mushroom ran away without leaving a trace. Lin Qiao didn''t move, but crossed her arms before her chest and waited patiently. In less than two minutes, she saw the mushroom run back from another direction.


    The mushroom rushed out of the woods and stopped abruptly at a distance away from Lin Qiao, then turned and ran toward the other side.


    Right at that moment, a black figure darted out from the other side of the woods, chasing behind the mushroom.


    Without needing to look at that black creature, Lin Qiao knew that it was Black who had woken up. Clearly, the snake had realized that it was poisoned by the mushroom just now. It darted over with anger at the sight of the mushroom.


    The mushroom wanted very much to hide underground. However, the soil in the space wasn''t deep enough. It was able to bury its roots, but couldn''t hide its entire body in the earth.


    The mushroom was so confused, but the others couldn''t tell how it felt. With no better choices, the mushroom ran as fast it could. But, it somehow ran back to the terrifying two-footed creature. Without hesitation, it turned and ran in another direction, but then a giant worm started chasing behind it.


    "Since you like running so much, Black will be running with you," Lin Qiao suddenly showed up on a tree in front of the mushroom, then lowered her head and said a few words to it before disappearing.


    After coming out of the space, Lin Qiao checked her own location, then moved toward Xie Dong and the others.


    She came out of the forest and stood by the roadside as she whistled. Soon, Xie Dong, Jingyan, Qiu Lili, and some others showed up around her.


    "How''s it going? What was it that you chased all over the hill? Did you capture it?" Qiu Lili floated above a small tree and asked with curiosity.


    "It was a running mushroom?" said Lin Qiao.


    "A mushroom? What? How can it be a mushroom?" Qiu Lili asked with surprise.


    Xie Dong, Lu Tianyi, and the others all wore a surprised look as well.


    "What can be normal in this post-apocalyptic era?" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes.


    The others found her words reasonable.


    Lin Qiao threw out the dead boar and said, "I only got this one. It''s not enough for all of us. Let''s try to find some more food."


    "I want to know what you did to that running mushroom," Qiu Lili moved closer to Lin Qiao, then tilted her head and asked. With that, her long ponytails dropped to the ground.


    "Oh, I didn''t kill it, but put it into the space. I plan to train it. It''ll become useful in the future," said Lin Qiao.


    "Ah, you have all sorts of creatures in your space now. Zombies, mutated beasts¡­ and now you have a mutated plant¡­ hehe," Qiu Lili tittered.


    Lin Qiao dug out the boar''s energy nucleus and then began skinning the boar. The boar was only at level-four, yet it was chasing behind the mushroom. The mushroom was clearly playing with it, yet it didn''t know.


    That mushroom was at level-six.


    Lin Qiao skinned the boar quickly and neatly, then cut off one of its trotters for herself. While slicing and eating the trotter, she spread her sensations to search for other energy sources in the surrounding. She was actually looking for other mutated animals or plants.


    A short while later, she pointed in one direction and said, "Something is on that mountain, as high-leveled as the mushroom. The mutated creatures are upgrading speedily now."


    She had seen quite some level-six mutated plants and animals recently. Zombies had reached level-eight so far. Mo Yan was the level-eight zombie discovered. A considerable number of level-seven zombies had emerged, and a few humans had entered level-eight as well.


    A new phase seemed to have begun.


    "Hm, I too have sensed faint energy from there," Qiu Lili nodded.


    They waited a short while for the others to bring back their harvests. That group of human-like zombies skinned and ate those mutated animals that they caught, then headed toward the mountain that Lin Qiao showed Qiu Lili just now.


    The mountain was actually a little far from where they were, at least thirty miles away.


    Just as Lin Qiao led her team to the mountain and killed a level-six, giant mutated goat, another group of people arrived at West Lake District, entering the area where Lin Qiao''s zombies gathered.


    Those were tens of superpowered people, at level two and three, led by Li Honglin, a level-three fire power possessor.


    Li Honglin was average-looking and scheming. He didn''t have a good observation ability, and he cared about himself very much; he only cared about himself, actually.


    Back in Hades Base, Wang Jian''s men always got the news faster than the others. Li Honglin and his people could easily attain the information they needed by paying attention to Wang Jian and his men.


    "Look! There are so many zombies in front of us! This huge crowd has blocked our way. We have no choice but to go through this zombie crowd if we want to move across this area." A man beside Li Honglin was observing the area through a telescope.


    Through the telescope, he saw nothing but zombies. The zombie crowd seemed to have no end.


    "What do you mean by so many? Give us a rough number." Li Honglin couldn''t sense the number of those zombies as they were all ordinary zombies. So, he asked the man with the telescope.


    The man handed him the telescope while saying, "It means a lot of them. See for yourself!"


    Li Honglin took over the telescope and looked through it, only to see countless zombies crowding together. He turned from left to the right, but still failed to see the edge of the zombie crowd.


    "This place isn''t a zombie city, is it? How come there''re so many zombies?" Li Honglin was a little surprised.


    "You''re right! Now, if we want to take a detour, we might need to cover a long extra distance. Besides, we don''t know how big this crowd is, and where the edge is," said the man beside him.

 736 Wait For The Baits

    "What''s the matter? Is anything wrong?" A clear and soft voice was heard from behind them.


    Li Honglin and Chen Hao turned back together and saw a good-looking man who had shoulder-length hair and a pale face.


    "Lu Tong, it''s windy up here. You should stay downstairs. Your body can''t stand the wind." Seeing the young man, both Li Honglin and Chen Hao wore a much gentler look in their eyes. Their tone of speaking showed concern as well.


    Lu Tong smilingly shook his head. He looked weak, but his smile was toned with stubbornness that could easily make people feel sorry for him or want to protect him.


    "I''m fine! This kind of wind can''t hurt me," he said.


    Looking at Li Honglin''s pretty, smiling eyes, Li Honglin and Chen Hao glanced at each other, then gave up on persuading him.


    "There''re many zombies in the front. They have blocked our way. We can''t get through, so we''re planning to take a detour," Li Honglin turned and pointed at the front.


    "That many? But, we''ll have to go a much longer way to take that detour, right? We don''t even know if there is a detour or not," Lu Tong didn''t know what was happening in the front, but wasn''t willing to take a detour, because that might be ten or even twenty miles of extra distance.


    "But those zombies¡­ Merely the ones I saw through the telescope are more than ten-thousand. We can''t tell exactly how many zombies there are. If we fall into a zombie city or stir up a massive zombie attack, we''ll all be dead," said Li Honglin to Lu Tong with patience.


    "If we knew there would be so many zombies, we''d wait for those people. They could be useful now, couldn''t they?" said Chen Hao with regret.


    Lu Tong glanced at him with hesitation, then turned to Li Honglin as he reached out a hand and said, "Let me see."


    Li Honglin didn''t say anything but handed him the telescope.


    Lu Tong made two steps forward to his side, then looked through the telescope. As same as Li Honglin and Chen Hao, he saw the huge crowd of zombies as well.


    With surprise, he turned the telescope from left to right a few times.


    "How can there be so many zombies? It''s unreasonable! This place is the border between West Lake District and Upper City District. This area shouldn''t be so crowded. It''s impossible for so many zombies to gather here," Lu Tong wore a serious look as he scanned across the area for a couple of times with confusion. Soon, he confirmed that there was no problem with his eyes, and that he did see a huge number of zombies crowding on the streets and roads.


    "There must be quite some high-leveled zombies among such a huge group. Not to mention dealing with this giant zombie crowd, one level four or five zombie could kill us all. So, I think we should take a detour," Li Honglin gave his opinion.


    This time, Lu Tong didn''t object, but thought silently. He really didn''t want the journey to become longer. He was sick of the scary environment. All he wanted was to join the new base as quickly as possible. Only the fence wall of the new base could make him relax.


    However, with their current powers, they weren''t able to get through the zombie crowd indeed. He couldn''t say for sure if the others would still try their best to protect him under extreme dangers.


    Lu Tong was a space possessor. Currently, all the supplies that this group of people had were stored in his space. As same as the other space possessors, he had no fighting capacity. His power only gave him the ability to store things.


    In fact, he was even weaker than normal human beings. His face was always pale, and his body was skinny. People were often worried that he might fall to the ground suddenly.


    The zombie crowd was immense, and those people only had low-leveled superpowers. They weren''t able to leap high into the sky, so their only choice was to drive.


    If they went straight into the zombie crowd, they might end up being bitten to death before they made their way out. Facing thousands, or even ten-thousand zombies, they might lose a few members, but would have a chance to get through. However, the zombie crowd before them was clearly way greater than that.


    If they took a detour, the journey would become longer, and they might end up wasting time and gas.


    "How about we wait for those people to arrive here, then capture them and use them to distract those zombies? We''ll be able to create a path for ourselves in that way," Lu Tong thought for a moment and then gave a suggestion.


    "Capture those people to distract the zombies? How are we supposed to do that exactly?" Hearing his idea, Li Honglin and Chen Hao both had their eyes glowing.


    "We''ll catch a few people and make them run. Their scents would attract zombies. We''ll draw the zombies to the other side so we can get through. As those zombies are lured away, Wang Jian''s group might shrink again," Lu Tong talked about his plan with a smile.


    "Using humans as baits? That''s a good idea," Li Honglin''s eyes glowed even more brightly as he nodded in agreement.


    They once saw Long Yubai hang the captives from Hades Base on the fence wall to attract zombies. A lot of zombies were attracted and had gathered under the wall like ants that had sensed sugar.


    Lu Tong''s plan was to catch a few people and make them run in the pointed directions. The zombies that sensed their scents would follow behind them and be lured away from the road that Lu Tong and his people needed to pass through.


    "Good. We''ll wait for them then. They have cars, but no food. I guess they''re now trying their best to move faster, as they want to arrive at the new base sooner. So, we don''t need to wait for long. That''s the plan," Li Honglin nodded immediately.


    Chen Hao agreed without a question.


    So, the group of people started waiting for those commoners whom they had cut loose not long ago as burdens. They planned to use them as baits for zombies.


    They had no idea that a level-five zombie that was guarding the area under Lin Qiao''s order, had noticed them and was now informing Lin Qiao about them.


    "I guess those are the people from Hades Base. How come there''re only tens of them? That''s impossible! Over two-thousands of people were still in the base when we left, and I left all the supplies for them. Yang Jianhua and Long Yubai had taken away quite some supplies, but the farm in the base wasn''t entirely damaged, so they could still find food there. Even though some of them might have died because of starvation and illness, it''s impossible that only tens of them survived, right?" Lin Qiao looked at the zombie leader who brought her the message and said with surprise.

 737 You Have Guessed

    "That''s not right. Earlier on, I received a message saying that over a thousand of them were heading toward our new base. Are those tens of people scouting? It doesn''t look like that. Did anything happen to those people? Xie Dong, you and your squad go and see what''s going on with them," Lin Qiao gave Xie Dong an order.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Xie Dong nodded, then turned and left with his subordinates who had been released from the space by Lin Qiao.


    "What? Is there a problem?" Qiu Lili looked at her and asked, "Those people should have just followed you to the new base in the first place. It has been so long, and they tried to leave now. Why don''t they keep staying there?"


    "They don''t have enough food left. I visited the farm in Hades Base that day. It was damaged by ninety-five percent, and the soil was polluted. Only a few of those people had superpowers. Some of them might have obtained superpowers after the base was broken, but it''s still hard for them to save the soil. Besides, the weather is so cold now, and the plants won''t grow. It''s already amazing that they survived until now," said Lin Qiao.


    "Had you guessed that they would eventually come to join us?" Qiu Lili asked Lin Qiao.


    "Yeah," Lin Qiao nodded.


    That day, when she saw the situation of Hades Base, she had predicted the future life of the people who decided to stay there. Back then, she had a plan for Earth Dragon Base. As Earth Dragon Base had fallen, a few batches of people might ask to join All Beings Base in the future. Those from Hades Base were only the first batch.


    "It''s understandable that they didn''t want to believe us back at that time. After all, both you and I are strange to them. Even though Duan Juan spoke for us, they had no reason to follow us without knowing anything about us," Lin Qiao said.


    Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao''s face. She was aware that the latter''s current face was completely strange to those people. Even if she told them that she was Lin Qiao, they might not believe her.


    "So¡­.you were giving them the time to find out about our new base, because they''d join us willingly after they learned that our new base truly existed, right?" Qiu Lili figured out Lin Qiao''s plan.


    "That''s right! They didn''t want to come with us at first, and we couldn''t make them, could we? So, we might as well let them figure out the truth themselves, then join us willingly," Lin Qiao nodded and said smilingly.


    "Oh, that was your plan all this time, right?" Qiu Lili looked at her knowingly.


    "You can say so. As long as they ask to join our base, I won''t shut the door on them. They''re our long time acquaintances after all. In the future, people from other bases will ask to join us. It''s about time for our base to grow," Lin Qiao said while her eyes glowed brightly.


    Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base had both fallen. A lot of survivors from those two bases would certainly try to find a new place to live. Heilong Base and Mongols Base were far away. Huaxia Base and Sea City Base were the nearest two large bases. However, both those two bases required entry fees. Therefore, their only choice would be the new base near Sea City Base.


    The new base was built near Sea City Base, meaning that there was a connection between those two bases. That was a positive connection. Otherwise, how could Sea City Base leaders possibly let a new base be founded near their own base?


    Without a question, those survivors who had limited belongings and abilities would choose the new base.


    "The other bases? Are you talking about the Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base? Are you saying that you''ll accept the people from those bases as well? Aren''t you afraid that they might start a war? They are enemies!" Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao and said with confusion.


    "They can fight if they want, but they won''t be allowed to do that in my base! I don''t care how they fight outside, but in my new base, they''ll need to follow my rules. Besides, I have already taken the revenge. I guess the hatred in the hearts of Hades Base people has faded to some extent. Now, they have a new life, and a new base to live safely in. They should be able to drop the hatred," Lin Qiao turned to the base and said blandly.


    "Oh¡­" Qiu Lili nodded without fulling understand Li Qiao''s meaning.


    "Alright, they are only the first batch. It''s not yet the time for us to worry about them. I''ll first fix their throats." While speaking, Lin Qiao glanced at Lu Tianyi and Shen Yujen who were standing by her side.


    "Oh! I''ll go and look around for other mutated animals then," Qiu Lili said and then left quickly.


    "You guys wait here. Hide if anyone else came," Lin Qiao said to Jingyan, Song, and Zhong.


    Jingyan and the other zombies who had typical zombie faces immediately flashed into the nearby woods, and then their vibes faded. After that, Lin Qiao summoned Shen Yujen and Lu Tianyi, bringing the two of them into her space.


    Once in, Lu Tianyi and Shen Yujen saw a weird scene. Led by the six zombie kings and queens, a group of zombies was gathering by the edge of the woods, looking inside the woods. The two of them didn''t know what those zombies were looking at.


    Obviously, Lin Qiao knew what they were watching. Three mutated beasts had been running in the woods. Black and Bowwow were chasing the smart mushroom all over the woods, and those bored zombies came here to watch, even making a bet about who would stop first!


    Those zombies had actually learned how to make a bet!


    In fact, the six zombie kings and queens were already as smart as healthy human beings. They just didn''t have their memories.


    According to Keng-keng, they forgot about their human lives, but often recalled some common senses that they used to have.


    "They are betting about which one will stop first. Alright, stop looking at them! Prepare yourself¡­ I''m gonna fix your voices. Lu Tianyi, you''ll be the first. Take off your clothes," Lin Qiao headed toward the lakeside while speaking. She wrapped herself up with her dark mist, then took off her clothes and put them aside.


    Lu Tianyi made eye-contact with Shen Yujen, who turned around knowingly, with her back to the lake.


    She watched Lin Qiao step into the water along with the cloud of dark mist. As Lin Qiao dived to the bottom, Lu Tianyi started taking off his clothes. Before he stripped himself, he suddenly felt something and turned to the woods.


    Once he looked that way, the group of zombies quickly turned their heads back to show him the back of their heads.


    Lu Tianyi, who was wearing briefs, didn''t know what to say. He really wanted to curse at that moment.


    Fortunately, he was a man, and he didn''t really care if those zombies saw him nude or not. However, those zombies'' curious eyes somehow turned his scalp numb.


    At that time, the pressure from the lake started to weaken. Lu Tianyi turned around and went down into the lake with his briefs on. He decided that he would switch to boxer shorts from now on!

 738 Make A Squeak

    The experiment with Xie Dong was successful. Based on that, both the throats of Lu Tianyi and Shen Yujen were fixed with no difficulties. After that, Lu Tianyi continued to be a level-four zombie, and neither did Shen Yujen upgrade. She was still between level two and three.


    "How do you feel? Make a squeak and let me hear your voice," Lin Qiao came ashore and put on her clothes before saying to Lu Tianyi.


    ''I''m not a rat!'' Lu Tianyi complained silently.


    He glanced at Lin Qiao, then slightly opened his mouth and tried to let out a few words, "He-llo¡­"


    As same as Xie Dong''s voice, his was dry and hoarse as well, but slightly higher-pitched. Their voices weren''t exactly the same, and were both different from their original voices.


    "Hm, your voices can be rather unpleasant at first. But, as long as you can talk¡­" Lin Qiao nodded. She had learned from Xie Dong that despite his unpleasant voice, his throat didn''t feel uncomfortable when he talked.


    Lu Tianyi rubbed his throat as he felt a little strange. His voice did sound not good.


    Lin Qiao turned to Shen Yujen and said, "Let me hear your voice."


    Shen Yujen looked at Lin Qiao, opened her mouth and said, "Miss Lu¡­"


    Her voice was not the same with the voices of Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi. It was dry, but not hoarse. On the contrary, her voice was quite high pitched.


    Shen Yujen called Lin Qiao with a very low voice, so her voice didn''t sound bad, but magnetic in a special way.


    "Emm, not bad! Your voice sounds better than his," Lin Qiao nodded as she glanced at both of them with satisfaction.


    Lu Tianyi felt a little speechless.


    Shen Yujen smiled delightfully. She was finally able to talk. It was much better than being mute. Being able to talk would help them to hide their true identities better.


    "Let''s go and see if that mushroom is tired or not," Lin Qiao turned and headed toward the woods.


    Lu Tianyi and Shen Yujen followed behind her with both confusion and curiosity. That was clearly not an ordinary mushroom, as it managed to make their Chief run all over the forest.


    At the edge of the woods, the group of zombies was still watching the three mutated creatures. The three were still running; none of them showed a sign of stopping.


    "They''re running inside the woods all the time. Doesn''t the mushroom know how to leave? Is it doing this on purpose?" Lin Qiao looked at the mushroom which was running in the front, seemingly happily. The zombie dog was chasing the mushroom excitedly, and Black, of course, had an angry face.


    The three mutated creatures were as fast as the wind. The zombies on the scenes were only able to locate them by tracing the sources of their energies. If they tried to capture the three with their eyes, they would see nothing but shreds of shadows that they left.


    Before she tried to stop the three, Lin Qiao sensed Xie Dong''s vibe from the outside.


    "You guys have fun!" She said to the three in the woods, then turned and exited the base with Lu Tianyi and Shen Yujen.


    Xie Dong was waiting for her where she entered the base from. Soon, he saw Lin Qiao show up from the thin air.


    "Those are tens of superpowered people who attained their superpowers not long ago. Among them, the strongest one is only at level-three," Xie Dong reported to Lin Qiao with his dry voice, "About a thousand people are following behind them, in over ten trucks. It seems that the tens of superpowered ones had separated themselves from those commoners. Our new base is nearby, so they decided not to stick with those commoners anymore. They see them as burdens. They left without those commoners, but then had their way blocked by the zombie crowd. I think they don''t want to take the detour. They''re probably waiting for those commoners to catch up, so that they can use them as baits to distract the zombies in that area."


    "That''s a convenient idea¡­ a little evil though," Lin Qiao nodded as she said expressionlessly.


    In the apocalyptic era, who would care about the lives of the others? People always tried their best to make use of others. Things like using living human beings as baits had become common since long ago.


    "Keep an eye on them, but don''t interfere. Let''s see who will win at last. Only the winner has the right to survive," Lin Qiao didn''t plan on helping those people.


    Tens of low-leveled superpowered people against over a thousand armed commoners¡­ It was hard to tell which side would win a fight like that.


    "I get it," Xie Dong nodded, then turned and left.


    Qiu Lili flew to Lin Qiao''s side as she glanced at Xie, then asked her, "I found a level-five mutated tree over there. Shall we go?"


    Lin Qiao looked at where she was pointing at, then nodded and responded with, "Yeah, why not? But, let''s get a few goats before leaving."


    "What?" Qiu Lili didn''t understand her meaning at first.


    "We can eat these mutated goats! Let''s capture a few of them and keep them in my space, so that we''ll have meat to eat in the future!" Lin Qiao pointed at the herd of mutated goats on the mountain.


    The mountain was occupied by mutated goats. Their leader was a level-six goat who was already killed by Lin Qiao.


    "Oh! That''s easy! You go over there and touch them, and then they''ll all be in the space!" Qiu Lili finally understood.


    "Yeah, that''s what I''m gonna do. You guys wait here," Lin Qiao smilingly glanced at her, then said a few words to Lu Tianyi and Shen Yujen. After that, she disappeared from where she was.


    She returned about half an hour later. By the time, tens of black goats were thrown onto the grassland in her space. Those mutated goats weren''t as fierce as those mutated roe deers, but were as strong as the latter.


    As the tens of goats showed up on the grassland, the few roe deers that Lin Qiao kept for breeding immediately launched their attacks. However, the goats outnumbered them, and were very united and strong. As a result, those roe deers were forced away by the goats with their sharp horns.


    After that fight, the goats and the roe deers each occupied one part of the grassland.


    Lin Qiao was keeping an eye on them at first. She found that they had a fight, but didn''t cause casualties. After that, she stopped paying attention to them.


    Then, she started moving toward the mutated tree that Qiu Lili had mentioned.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lu Tong and his people waited for a couple of hours until Wang Jian and the others finally arrived. Then, they quickly hid and waited for those commoners to stop moving.


    As they expected, Wang Jian ordered the motorcade to stop moving before they approached the zombie crowd. After that, he leaped off the car roof and shouted to the people behind him with both surprise and doubts, "Stay put¡­ Wait for my orders!"


    Then, he picked up his gun and shot the zombies that were scattered around him as he moved into a tall building with a squad. While staying vigilant against zombie attacks, they rushed upstairs quickly.


    After killing a few zombies on the stairs, they climbed onto the roof of that twelve-story building.


    Wang Jian looked at the front area through a telescope, then said with a serious look, "No wonder the number of zombies clearly declined on our way here. It turns out that they have all gathered here!"

 739 Disappeared Guards

    Wang Jian''s scalp went numb when he saw the countless zombies crowding on the roads, streets, and alleys.


    "What should we do? Are we going to take a detour?" asked a man by Wang Jian''s side.


    "We definitely need to¡­ There are too many zombies. Not to mention if they''ll attack us, they can easily crush us by just jumping on us," said Wang Jian with a sullen face.


    "I guess we have to take a detour, but that means we''ll spend an extra night on the journey. Let''s rest a little for now," the man sighed and said, also with a depressed look.


    Wang Jian nodded, then turned and went downstairs. He didn''t know that Lu Tong and his people who were hiding nearby had grasped his every movement.


    "Do it when it gets dark. Don''t expose yourselves," Lu Tong said to Li Honglin and the others.


    "I get it," Li Honglin nodded.


    They couldn''t just rush out and capture every commoner they saw. Starting a war would do them no good, not to mention the fact that Wang Jian and his people were armed. Therefore, Li Honglin and his people watched Wang Jian and the other commoners from a distance. Fortunately, there were no zombies nearby to cause them difficulties.


    Watching Wang Jian and his people fall back and then get stationed in a relatively safer area, Lu Tong and his people were delighted. Those commoners had created them a perfect opportunity for capturing.


    That night, Wang Jian arranged a squad of people to guard the site once it got dark. He and his people planned to spend the night in a screening room in the movie theatre which was located on the top floor of the building, and leave the next morning, to take a detour to the new base.


    The people under his leadership were all commoners. They weren''t as sensitive to the surroundings as zombies or superpowered people. Except for the few who used to serve in the army, most of them were just normal people. Back in Hades Base, they lived average lives. Most of them did simple jobs to earn a small amount of food, and lived in the poor area.


    There were a few paths leading to the screening room, each guarded by Wang Jian''s people.


    A closed passageway which was the furthest away from the screening room was guarded by four people. They were holding their guns in their arms, leaning against the wall.


    "It''s so cold! I think I''m starving and tired. I want a warm bed so much!" One of the four murmured while letting out a warm breath onto his hands.


    "I just want to eat! I would die for a warm grilled chicken!" Said another man. He put the gun before his chest and crossed his arms.


    The others nodded in agreement.


    Right at that moment, a sound was heard from behind the closed door.


    "Something is happening!" One of the four suddenly tightened his face and turned vigilant. He pressed his ear against the door to try and listen more carefully. The others instantly became alert as well.


    "What was that sound!" Another man whispered.


    "Shh!" The man who had his ear on the door immediately raised a forefinger to signal for the others to be quiet. However, he heard no sound from the outside, as if nothing had happened just now.


    After spending a while listening, the man looked at his friends and said confusedly, "How strange! There was a sound just now, right? Why can''t I hear anything now?"


    "That''s right. We all heard it, right?" Another man asked the other two, and the latter nodded.


    At that time, one of them shivered as he rubbed his arms and said, "Why is it getting colder and colder?"


    "Really? It''s always this cold! Are you having an illusion?" Another man looked at him, feeling queer.


    None of them noticed that a thin layer of ice was creeping in under the door at that very moment. Within a blink, their feet were frozen. They felt something and lowered their heads to look at their feet, then found that their feet were already iced. They opened their mouth wide, but before they could utter any sound, they were all turned into ice statues.


    Next, some noises were heard from the door lock, and the door was soon opened. A few people quickly came in and dragged the four frozen guards away, leaving the door unguarded.


    The four guards were defrosted once they were dragged out of the door.


    They gasped for air as they finally came back to their senses. At the sight of the people before them, they started to struggle intensely.


    "You b*stards!"


    Bang!


    One of the guards burst in curses, ended up suffering a gunstock strike on the head. All four of them were soon pressed down and tied up.


    "Shut up if you want to live!" Li Honglin glared at them and said coldly.


    The freezing and defrosting happened within a minute, so the short suffocation didn''t kill the four guards.


    "Li Honglin! You took our food and left! What are you doing back here now!" One of the four stared at Li Honglin and said with anger.


    "You are about to find out," Li Honglin gave a cold smile, then turned and left. "Keep an eye on them. These aren''t enough. We need to capture more!"


    "Li Honglin! Let us go! Or our boss will kill you and your people! You scums!" Another guard cursed loudly.


    Thud! A superpowered man kicked on his head while yelling, "Shut the f*ck up!"


    "What do you want?" Hearing Li Honglin mention about capturing more people, a man among the four had a bad feeling. He immediately glared at one of the superpowered men and asked wrathfully.


    "You''ll know. Now, shut up, or don''t blame us for having no mercy!" said a superpowered man.


    Soon, Li Honglin and his people returned with another few commoners. Those commoners were tied up and pushed to a corner.


    On the other side, Wang Jian had learned that some guards were missing.


    "There is ice here! Superpowered people!" Wang Jian and his people went to the exit passageway and found ice on the ground, but not on the door. Clearly, the ice had reached in through under the door.


    A few footprints were found on the ice, and some other traces. The four guards should have been dragged away from there.


    The door was open, but not broken. Clearly, it wasn''t zombies that attacked them. Zombies would leave claw marks everywhere.


    Wang Jian quickly figured out that the attackers were human.


    "Superpowered people? Was it Li Honglin and the others? Didn''t they leave?" One of Wang Jian''s men said with surprise.


    "I guess they haven''t left," Wang Jian watched the ice melt with a serious look. He was trying to figure out why Li Honglin had captured those commoners.

 740 Use The Baits

    After figuring out that it was Li Honglin who had captured those guards, Wang Jian quickly summoned everyone back to the screening room.


    "Why did those scums capture out people?" Some of the others shouted with anger.


    Wang Jian frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "They left a couple of hours before us but stopped here. Clearly, they don''t want to take a detour. Are they trying to get through this gathering spot of zombies?"


    He paused briefly to think, then wore a sullen look. "They are at level-three at tops. They can''t possibly get through the zombie crowd. I think they captured our people because they want to use them as baits!"


    Hearing his words, the others became even angrier.


    "What! How can those animals do that!"


    "They''re monsters! The human population has been decreasing all the time, yet they plan to use living human beings as baits! What''s the difference between them and those b*stards from Earth Dragon Base? They such scums!"


    "You''re right! The new base shouldn''t accept them. They won''t do good in there!"


    The people were agitated. They cursed wrathfully, and some couldn''t even believe what they had heard.


    Li Honglin and his people took their food, and now planned to use living human beings as baits to distract zombies. That was so brutal! Those people were so heartless!


    "What should we do now? Are we going to save them? But, we''re only commoners. Guns aren''t enough to defeat those superpowered people, are they?" Asked a man beside Wang Jian with concern.


    "Of course, we''ll save them! But, we are no match for them indeed. We need a plan," Wang Jian knitted his brows and dropped his eyes.


    Was there a way for them to approach those superpowered ones without being noticed?


    Superpowered people were able to sense the vibes of theirs from distance. Commoners didn''t have that ability. Even the people who had accepted special training could only sense living beings in a range of ten meters around them. Unlike them, superpowered people were all good at long-range attacks. They were able to launch attacks to their targets from much longer farther away.


    Therefore, to search for the traces of superpowered people, the commoners needed to use reconnaissance means.


    "I''ll lead a squad out to look for clues. You guys stay here and lock the door. If they only want to capture some baits, they won''t come here to start a war against all of us. Besides, If I''m right, they''ve already left," Wang Jian didn''t worry that Li Honglin and his people might come back.


    They had captured over ten people. Those should be enough for their plan.


    Wang Jian''s only choice was to make a move to try and save those captives when they were released as baits. By then, the movement of the zombie crowd would help them to locate their friends.


    Wang Jian and his people left the building quietly and followed some traces that were found earlier toward where Li Honglin and his men were.


    On the other side, Li Honglin learned that Wang Jian had already discovered what he had done. So, he and his people quickly left with those captives and moved toward the zombie crowd through an alley.


    The group of captives was in a van with their hands tied up, under control.


    The superpowered ones found an undamaged, luxurious sleeping bus. Currently, their motorcade contained a few sports utility vehicles, armed off-road cars, the luxurious sleeping bus, and a van.


    Li Honglin and his people were going closer and closer to the zombie crowd. They sealed all the windows, then threw a captive off the van. The captive''s hands were tied together, and the other end of the rope was tied on an off-road car.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie crowd was immediately stirred by the human sent, and all the zombies turned to the captive. Then, they madly rushed at the captive that was thrown off the van.


    The commoner who had his hands tied up looked with fear at those zombies that were coming at him with weird gestures. His face had turned ghastly pale. He twisted his wrists as hard as he could with fright and tried to free himself from the rope but failed. He could only watch the giant zombie crowd come closer and closer to him.


    "No¡­ Help! Help me! I don''t want to die!" He looked at those zombies with fear and screamed in panic.


    At that point, the off-road car that he was tied on started moving, dragging the captive to another direction at a low speed.


    He unwittingly screamed for help, but then realized that it was completely in vain. On the contrary, the off-road car moved faster and made him run.


    With that, the zombie crowd instantly started running behind that captive.


    On the other side, another commoner was thrown off the van, being dragged in another direction by an SUV. Soon, the zombie crowd was divided into two parts, each part chasing a captive.


    "Roar¡­"


    The zombies bared their teeth and reached out their claws as they moved forward, seeming to be starving.


    The two captives ran as quickly as they could at first, but before long, they were exhausted and started shambling, almost losing balance.


    Thankfully, the zombie crowd wasn''t moving fast enough to catch up with the two commoners anytime soon.


    It was dark. Under the coldness, starvation, and extreme fear, the two captives even started to lose their minds. Being dragged behind the vehicles, they soon had their sensations turning numb, and they began swaying.


    Li Honglin and his people stayed in the luxurious sleeping bus, watching the zombie crowd split into two parts and move in two different directions. A path soon appeared in the direction that they intended to go.


    They were in no rush to go, because the zombies in front of them were still moving away.


    In the van, Chen Hao and his people were controlling the group of captured commoners. The van was driving side by side with the two baits. When the two captives couldn''t stand it anymore, they would switch them.


    Before long, the two groups of zombies were both led to West Lake, where Lin Qiao and her zombies were present.


    Xie Dong and his five-zombie squad were standing on a tall building nearby, watching the zombie crowd be drawn away in two groups. He looked at the luxurious sleeping bus with cold eyes. If Lin Qiao didn''t tell him not to interfere for now, he would certainly rush down and rip off the heads of those superpowered people who believed that they were higher than the others.


    They thought their superpowers made them a level higher than the others. They saw commoners as cats and dogs, and didn''t care about those people''s lives. In their eyes, the commoners were no longer at the same level as they were, as if they had the right to live but the commoners did not.


    That was why they used commoners as baits to distract zombies with no pressure at all.

 741 Snipe

    On the other side, Wang Jian quickly discovered the zombie crowd''s movement.


    "Over there!" He immediately led his squad toward the front end of the zombie crowd.


    He and his men didn''t dare to get too close, so they observed those zombies from distance through telescopes. Soon, they found out that the zombie crowd was divided into two groups, meaning that two captives were released at one time.


    After figuring out the situation, Wang Jian found a van before the zombie crowd. The three vehicles were drawing the zombies toward the opposite direction while the other vehicles weren''t visible. It seemed that the three vehicles were carrying the mission alone, and the rest of the team was hiding somewhere, waiting for all the zombies to be lured away.


    It would certainly take a long while for them to lure away all the zombies on the scene. No one could say for sure how many zombies were in that area exactly.


    At last, Wang Jian and some of his men followed behind the van and also sent out two other squads after the two vehicles which had captives dragged behind.


    "Boss, why did they make us deal with the baits? Li Honglin is clearly trying to send us away so he himself can get through this area sooner. He''s gonna leave us behind, isn''t he?" At that moment, a man in the van said to Chen Hao with discontentment.


    Chen Hao was wearing a sullen face as well.


    He and Li Honglin were at the same level, and so were their forces. Reasonably speaking, he didn''t need to lead that kind of mission personally. His subordinates could simply do it for him.


    However, Li Honglin insisted that the others might not be able to do the job well, and that he had to lead the mission himself.


    Why?


    Chen Hao and his men rejected on the spot. They started an intense argument that nearly developed into a violent conflict. At that point, Lu Tong stood out and took Li Honglin''s side. For that reason, Chen Hao had to obey.


    Lu Tong, as a space possessor, was in charge of all their food.


    Chen Hao didn''t need to do it for Lu Tong, but he had to do it for the sake of the food stored in Lu Tong''s space. He could choose to give up on the food actually, but Lu Tong had some other things on him that gave him no choice but to follow his words.


    "If this mission succeeds, we''ll make them pay when we get to the new base," said Chen Hao with a cold face.


    "Boss, why do we have to do what Li Honglin says? Why don''t we just quit? Now, we''re distracting the zombies to let them go first. This isn''t good for us at all. We''ll need to take a long detour to the new base," one of Chen Hao''s subordinates asked.


    After saying that, he glanced at the group of commoners who were in the backseat with their hands tied up. He felt that he and his friends were doing something hard but not good for themselves.


    "I know. But, if we don''t do what they say, we''ll be in trouble," Chen Hao said. His face looked especially sulky under the dim light in the car.


    "What trouble?" The subordinate looked at him confusedly.


    Chen Hao glanced at him but stayed silent.


    He, of course, wouldn''t tell his men that if he didn''t follow Lu Tong''s orders, the latter might tell other people about what he had done before. After all, the new base was still under Lin Family''s leadership.


    If Lu Tong exposed that thing, the All Beings Base would have no space for him.


    Chen Hao wanted very much to kill Lu Tong, but the latter had been highly vigilant against him. He was looking for a chance to kill Lu Tong all the way, but the chance never occurred. Lu Tong was always under Li Honglin''s protection.


    "You don''t need to know," Chen Hao responded to his subordinates.


    At that time, he had no idea that Wang Jian already had his eyes on the van and had pointed his sniper rifle at a tire.


    Apart from himself, the people by his side each had a sniper rifle as well, pointing at a tire.


    Meanwhile, another group of commoners had secretly blocked the way before the van from hundreds of meters away.


    "Fire!" Wang Jian gave the order once the van went into the shooting range.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! A series of bullets were shot out through silencers.


    Bang! Squeak¡­ The van stopped moving abruptly and shook intensely.


    "What happened?" Chen Hao was nearly thrown off his seat. He held the window frame tight and yelled to ask the question.


    "Boss, the tires burst!" The driver didn''t know what exactly had happened either as he turned and answered his question.


    "What!" Chen Hao knitted his brows, then gave the order, "Keep moving! We can''t stop here. Move to the side to avoid those zombies!"


    "Yes," The driver didn''t say anything else, but responded quickly and kept driving forward.


    Driving a van with flat tires didn''t feel so good.


    Right at that moment, another ''puff'' was heard. Along with that, a bullet broke into the car window and sank into the driver''s chest.


    "Eh¡­" The driver gave a muffled moan, then fell to the side, his hands dropping from the steering wheel. As a result, the van lost control and immediately veered off.


    Chen Hao noticed that in time and instantly reached out to grasp the steering well.


    "Long! Come here and drive!" He looked straight at the road and shouted while controlling the steering wheel.


    "Yeah!" One of his subordinates quickly came over and dragged the driver''s body out of the driver''s seat, then sat in himself.


    Chen Hao opened the car door and pushed the dead body out, then shut the door.


    "Be careful! They have sniper rifles!" Chen Hao gave a shout to his men once the door was closed and looked around vigilantly in the meantime.


    It was all dark outside the window. The enemies weren''t nearby, so Chen Hao wasn''t able to sense them.


    On top of the building, Xie Dong glanced at Wang Jian and his people, then at Chen Hao''s van. He was surprised.


    Wang Jian and his people were at least a thousand meters away from where Chen Hao was. Clearly, Wang Jian and his people were all very good at shooting. Otherwise, they couldn''t possibly shoot the tires through such a long distance, that too in the darkness.


    At that point, a series of gunshots were heard from around the van, then came a loud boom and a fire.


    The people who had ambushed not far away from the van jumped into action when the driver was shot dead, throwing out grenades. As commoners, all they could rely on were weapons.


    Thankfully, the enemies weren''t at high levels. Otherwise, bullets and grenades would hardly hurt them.


    Right after Chen Hao warned his people about the snipers, a grenade went off right beside the van. The van was turned over, rolling to the side while smoking.


    Chen Hao and his men were too shocked to react immediately. As they finally came back to their senses, they hurriedly crawled out of the van through the broken windows.


    Chen Hao had a sense of danger the moment he stuck his head out of the window, so he shrank back into the van as quickly as he could.


    Puff! A bullet flew over his head and hit another window of the van.

 742 The Dangerous Vibe

    Chen Hao and the other superpowered people unexpectedly fell into a disadvantage because the enemies were at a distance and they couldn''t sense them.


    Meanwhile, the enemies'' bullets hit them accurately.


    "Fall back!" Chen Hao crawled out of the van and gave his people a shout, then turned and ran into a building nearby. He didn''t want to do that job in the first place. Now, as some people had shown up to stop him, he intended to make use of that opportunity and free himself from the mission.


    So, Chen Hao soon led his people away from the upturned van.


    Wang Jian wasn''t expecting Chen Hao and his men to retreat so soon. With hesitation, he spent a few seconds observing, then rushed down with his people.


    "Go! They have left! Let''s go and save our people!"


    At that moment, the people who were doing an ambush near the van had already rushed up, surrounding the van and rescuing the group of commoners who were tied up in the van.


    Chen Hao and his people had retreated, while the people on the other two vehicles only had level-one superpowers. They were no match for Wang Jian and his men, so they were turned into corpses by the bullets before long.


    The captives tied on those two vehicles were exhausted. They were close to the zombie crowd, so it was difficult for them to be rescued.


    The vehicles stopped moving once the drivers died, but the zombies behind them didn''t stop.


    Wang Jian''s men found a spot nearby, strafed the zombies, and stopped them from moving forward temporarily. Then, two relatively nimbler ones darted up and untied the captives to save them.


    The bullets wouldn''t hold the zombies back for long, so they needed to be very fast to save the two captives.


    Xie Dong glanced at them, then at the zombie crowd which was growing larger and larger. He abruptly flashed across the air and landed somewhere that neither Wang Jian nor Chen Hao could see, then released his zombie king vibe that spread in no time.


    Chen Hao, Wang Jian, and their people instantly sensed a dangerous vibe. Even as a commoner, Wang Jian sensed it clearly. Xie Dong''s vibe was obviously too strong.


    The zombies nearby reacted even more strongly. They paused simultaneously and stopped chasing the human scent, even though the source of that scent was right near them.


    "Move! Move!" The zombies suddenly stopped moving, and the rescue team didn''t have the time to wonder why. They only wanted to rescue their people as soon as they could. They were delighted nevertheless.


    As Wang Jian''s team completed the rescue mission, Xie Dong expressionlessly restrained his vibe. Lin Qiao told him not to interfere, and he did exactly what she said. He had merely released his vibe shortly, and that was no interference.


    On the other side, Li Honglin and his people were slightly confused as they watched the zombies being lured away like the tidewater, but never saw an end of the zombie crowd. But all of a sudden, those zombies all stopped moving.


    At the same time, Li Honglin, Lu Tong, and the other level-three superpowered ones suddenly felt an oppression from the direction that Chen Hao and his people moved in.


    "That vibe¡­" Lu Tong knitted his brows. Something flashed across his mind, but he didn''t grasp it.


    "This is bad! It might be a high-leveled zombie!" Li Honglin had his expression changed. He didn''t panic though.


    There were certainly high-leveled zombies among such a huge group. Li Honglin had thought about that long ago. He was thinking that if any high-leveled zombies showed up, he and his people only needed to avoid them. However, he didn''t think about whether those high-leveled zombies would let them go or not.


    Thankfully, the zombies that they saw were gathered by Lin Qiao. Lin Qiao had brought away all the high-leveled ones. In a regular zombie crowd, some high-leveled zombies must exist.


    The stupid Li Honglin believed that he was able to sense high-leveled zombies from distance away and then avoid them.


    Both he and Chen Hao were commoners. They lived in the base and rarely went out to deal with zombies, not to mention high-leveled zombies. Lu Tong used to rely on his family for living, who died when Long Yubai attacked the base. He had never dealt with zombies either.


    Some people tended to think too simply about the things that they hadn''t have come across in person.


    "Did Chen Hao and his men run into a high-level zombie?" Lu Tong said uncertainly.


    "It''s alright. We''re all in the bus, and this vehicle is sealed. The zombies can''t smell us," Li Honglin turned and said to Lu Tong.


    Lu Tong glanced outside the window; Li Honglin was right. The smells in the car didn''t leak out. Many zombies passed by just now, but none of them noticed the people in the bus.


    Thinking of that, Lu Tong relaxed slightly.


    On the other side, Wang Jian rescued all his people and then hid inside a building. After that, he found that the zombies out there were still frozen.


    "What happened to those zombies? It''s like someone suddenly disabled them from moving!" said one of Wang Jian''s men.


    Some other people were dressing wounds for the group of captives. Earlier on, as the van was upturned, some of those captives were injured by the shattered glasses, and some had crush injuries.


    "I don''t know! No matter what, this is good for us," Wang Jian said calmly. He stood by the window, observing the zombie crowd through a night-vision telescope.


    At last, Li Honglin''s plan was, of course, ruined.


    Wang Jian and his men rescued their people, then took a detour toward All Beings Base that night. They needed to arrive at the new base as soon as they could. They hadn''t eaten anything in two days; all they had was water. They were all starving at the moment.


    Some of them were sick, and their conditions weren''t stable. There was not a good chance for them to heal without food. The longer they waited, the worse it might get.


    So, taking a detour was like fighting the clock.


    The next day, Xie Dong went back to Lin Qiao to report to her.


    "They took the detour last night. I think they''ll enter Upper City District this morning. Those commoners aren''t in good conditions. They have been starving for a couple of days, and many of them are ill," Xie Dong said with a hoarse voice, "The group of superpowered ones didn''t suffer heavy casualties either. But, I think there''s an internal conflict among them. They have nearly split into two groups. By now, they''re following behind those commoners, taking the detour as well."


    "Did they think that they really had a chance to get through the zombie crowd?" said Lin Qiao blandly and carelessly.

 743 Zombie Number Five

    Twenty-hours later, Wang Jian and his people finally arrived at All Beings Base. They were supposed to arrive two days ago.


    But before entering the base, their road was blocked by a zombie wall.


    "Again? A zombie crowd?" Wang Jian''s men all wore sour faces. The road was jammed by zombies. Did that mean they needed to take a detour again?


    Looking at the pale-faced survivors under their leadership, Wang Jian and his men didn''t know how much longer they could make. Even Wang Jian himself and the other strong men were barely holding up. They had no food, and only water for days.


    Lu Tong and the others who were following behind the commoners at a distance discovered the situation as well.


    "Chen Hao, you were actually defeated by Wang Jian and his men! You''re such a shame of superpowered people!" On top of a building that was about eight-hundred meters away from Wang Jian and his people, Li Honglin was looking at the front through a telescope while criticizing Chen Hao who was standing by his side.


    "Why didn''t you go and do the job if you think you''re so much better?" Chen Hao gave him a cold glance and said.


    Lu Tong glanced at Chen Hao in a meaningful way, then said, "Alright, now is not the time to talk about that. Chen Hao, you can leave if you don''t want to go with us."


    "Leave? I''d like to. Give us our zombie nuclei and then we''ll get out of your eyes," Chen Hao turned to look at him while smiling meaningfully.


    "Zombie nuclei? Didn''t I give them to you long ago?" Lu Tong looked at him, also with a smile.


    "You gave them to me? Why don''t I know about that?" Chen Hao stared straight at him.


    Lu Tong showed no fear to the look in his eyes, but responded with a faint smile, "Yeah? But, I clearly remember giving them to you."


    After saying that, Lu Tong winked at Chen Hao, which explained his meaning. The latter then turned away without saying anything.


    Lu Tong was trying to tell Chen Hao that he had dirt on the latter, so the latter should do everything he wanted and follow every word he said.


    Chen Hao gazed into the distance. Waves of killing intention rose from his heart, then sank back down.


    Wang Jian and his people gave a start when they saw the zombie crowd, because they were already very close to those zombies, and the zombies would smell them soon. As they prepared for the zombies to swarm at them and attack them, a figure descended from high altitude, showed up before Wang Jian and his men.


    Wang Jian and his men froze at the sight of that figure.


    That was a female zombie, tall and slim. The weather was cold, but she was only wearing a thin suit. Her white shirt was tucked in her pants, her straight and long legs wrapped in a pair of black tight suit pants; her feet wore a pair of loafers.


    The clothing made her look even taller and slimmer.


    Her face was clean and pale, her eyes purely black, surrounded by standard zombie dark circles, with a green light in the pupils.


    She was a zombie leader.


    Based on the light in her eyes, Wang Jian and his people figured out her zombie level.


    Zombie number five glanced at Wang Jian''s car, then tilted her head and looked at the trucks behind his car. After that, she abruptly moved to the roadside, turned her body, and then waved at the zombie crowd.


    "Roar!"


    As the zombie lady raised an arm and roared at the zombie crowd, the zombies that were jamming the road started moving toward both sides.


    Watching that, Wang Jian and his people were utterly confused. They looked at the zombie lady who was standing by the roadside, then at the zombie crowd which had cleared the way.


    After spending a few seconds watching, the man beside Wang Jian started talking with disbelief, "Is she¡­ letting us through? Or¡­ will she block the way behind us? Is the new base really here? Boss, is there a chance that we made a mistake?"


    Hearing his words, Wang Jian immediately came back to his senses. He carefully observed the zombie leader and found her clothes clean and face expressionless, not as ferocious as the other zombies.


    Based on the information he had, the new base was located in that area indeed.


    Wang Jian thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "We are not in the wrong place. But now¡­ we need to do some research and find out what''s going on here."


    "Roar¡­" As Wang Jian was staring at the zombie lady and the other zombies, trying to figure out something, the zombie lady frowned slightly, then impatiently waved a hand toward the road which was now zombie-free.


    That was like a movement that normal people would make. Clearly, she wanted the group of people to move through.


    Wang Jian and his people were stunned again, and so were Li Honglin and the others.


    "Is¡­ is she telling us to get through?" A man by Wang Jian''s side asked with surprise and doubts.


    Wang Jian looked at the zombie lady, then at the zombie crowd which had moved away from the road. He wasn''t sure what he should do either. After brief thinking, he made the decision.


    "I''ll go first. Follow me if nothing happens to me when I get to the other side," he said.


    "No! It''s too dangerous! If someone has to do that, it should be me! Boss, you''re our boss now! Nothing can happen to you! Over a thousand people are under your protection now. What would they do if you die?" Huang Tiange who had been following Wang Jian the whole time immediately stopped him and said determinedly.


    "I''ll go! If something happens to me, you guys will take good care of them. I trust you!" Wang Jian pressed his hands on Huang Tiange''s shoulders as he looked at his eyes and said.


    "Let me do it! Boss!" Huang Tiange begged him with a crying face.


    "No! Stay here! That''s an order!" Wang Jian tightened his face and pushed Huang Tiange to the side. After saying that, he began walking toward the road which had no zombies now with big steps.


    Wang Jian acted bravely and fearlessly, but in fact, he wasn''t so


    "Roar!"


    The zombie lady walked up to her and waved a hand toward the road with impatience, to signal for him to move faster. Zombie number five felt really helpless at that moment. If her boss Mengmeng didn''t order her not to use violence on those people, in case they got scared, she would have driven them in with a whip!


    Sensing the zombie lady''s impatience, Wang Jian paused briefly, then walked in with a weird look. The impatient look on the zombie''s face distracted him, and somehow made him relax a little.


    He gathered his courage and walked to the middle of the road which had zombies on both sides, then found that the zombies surrounding him stayed motionless. Suddenly, he recalled that when the other Hades Base people had followed Duan Juan and that strange lady to the new base, they went through a zombie path outside the Hades Base as well!


    Thinking about that, he figured something out. He stopped moving, then turned and waved at the people who were about three-hundred meters behind him.


    "Come on! Come over here! Move!"

 744 Throw Them Over

    Huang Tiange and the others were a little confused when Wang Jian stopped walking, then turned and waved at them.


    "Is Boss telling us to go there?" Huang Tiange asked someone else.


    "Might-might be¡­" The man looked at Wang Jian and responded uncertainly.


    Zombie number five silently watched Wang Jian go through the zombie wall, then added a cross on his face in her mind.


    ''Not handsome! He has a manly face and clean skin though. His skin is a little dark, but the overall image is not bad. I''ll give him eighty out of a hundred.''


    ''Let''s look at the next one¡­''


    She turned to Huang Tiange and the others, then spent a few seconds scanning their faces.


    ''This one looks nicer, but not pretty enough. His face is just too dark! I''ll give him fifty!''


    ''This one is not handsome¡­ Dropping eyes, flat nose¡­ Forty-five!''


    ''This one is good. His eyes are a bit small though. Well, those small eyes don''t look bad, but his mouth is not pretty! Sixty-five!''


    Huang Tiange and the others had no idea that the zombie lady was grading their appearances.


    ''Eh, why isn''t there a handsome guy here? I want to see a handsome guy! I want so much to go back to look at Deputy Chief Yuan or Big Zombie Sister''s younger brother! I want to see pretty boys!''


    As Huang Tiange and the others were still hesitating, zombie number five became even more impatient.


    "Roar!" She opened her mouth and uttered a roar unhappily, then suddenly leaped up and flashed toward Huang Tiange and his people. Then, she nimbly and elegantly landed on top of one of their cars.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! "Roar!" The zombie lady jumped off the car and stood beside the car, banging the engine hood with one hand while the other was pointing at Wang Jian, roaring in the meantime.


    Huang Tiange and the other people were so afraid that they squeezed together as the zombie lady suddenly came to their faces.


    "She¡­ She''s telling us to move quickly!" said a man behind Huang Tiange. Maybe because there was someone shielding him, he was less afraid than the others, and still had the mood to guess the zombie lady''s meaning.


    Huang Tiange looked at the zombie with both fear and confusion, asking carefully, "Can-can we¡­ really get through?"


    The female zombie impatiently glanced at the small-eyed man, then nodded with a frown, also pointing at Wang Jian.


    At that moment, Wang Jian waved at his people again.


    Huang Tiange was shocked. "She¡­ she nodded!" He then immediately turned to his friends.


    The others quickly nodded as well.


    At that point, zombie number five ran out of patience. As the few human beings were still not moving, she put both hands on the engine hood to support her body, then her legs thrust against the ground. Within a blink, she leaped across the car, up to Huang Tiange and his friends.


    Before Huang Tiange and his friends could react, zombie number five grasped Huang Tiange''s collar and threw him toward Wang Jian.


    "Ah!" Thud! "Ouch¡­" Huang Tiange was thrown out without even knowing why. He was thrown about ten meters away and fell on the ground, such that he couldn''t even breathe for a moment. After making two rolls on the ground, he found that he was actually unharmed.


    Before he struggled up from the ground, another scream was heard, followed by another thud. Then, someone fell beside him, stirring up a cloud of dirt.


    As Huang Tiange got up and looked around, his friends who were near the car with him just now had all been thrown to his sides.


    "Oh! Hu! Drive the car over! Now! Now!" Huang Tiange hurriedly shouted at the driver who was the only person left in the car. He was worried that the zombie lady might lift the entire car and throw it at them.


    He pictured that scene and almost crapped his pants.


    "I-I''ll¡­ I''ll drive there! Don''t throw me!" Hu the driver was stunned when he watched Huang Tiange and the others being thrown to the other side. Hearing what Huang Tiange said, he quickly came back to his senses, then found the zombie lady standing right beside the car door on his side. He immediately raised both arms and talked to the zombie, then put his hands back onto the steering wheel, his foot pressed on the clutch while he loosened the break at the same time.


    Seeing him prepare to drive forward, zombie number five immediately made two steps backward to make space for him.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know that Wang Jian''s men had gotten thrown into the zombie wall in the outer area of the base. She laughed when she heard about that from Xie Dong.


    Zombie number five was the only one who hadn''t entered level-six among the first batch of her zombie soldiers. She used to be a normal zombie before Lin Qiao changed her blood. But after that, her personality changed thoroughly, as if something inside her mind was triggered.


    According to Yun Meng, she loved to stare at handsome men. Every time she found a pretty man, she would hide somewhere near him and peek at him as long as possible. Clearly, those Hades Base men weren''t handsome enough for her, or she wouldn''t have violently thrown them through the zombie wall.


    "Do you think that she might be a spoony girl before? She has become a zombie, yet she still likes looking at pretty boys!" Lin Qiao said to Qiu Lili.


    "Perhaps!" Qiu Lili nodded carelessly while fiddling with her long ponytails. Then, she impatiently turned and said, "Let''s go and look for the next mutated creature."


    They had searched through half of West Lake District and killed quite some mutated creatures during these days. In total, they had harvested over ten nuclei.


    The harvest was rather good. They now had three level-six nuclei, five level-five, and ten level four and three.


    "Emm, let''s go!" Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    Just as they prepared to move, she suddenly changed her expression and stopped moving, her eyes turning to the side.


    "What''s wrong?" Qiu Lili looked at her and asked.


    "Someone is here," Lin Qiao fixed her eyes in that area and said in a bland tone. That tone of hers revealed that she might know who that ''someone'' was, and that she didn''t like it.


    Sensing Lin Qiao''s strange tone, Qiu Lili asked with curiosity, "Oh, who?"


    While asking the question, she reached her own sensations toward the area where Lin Qiao was looking at.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away and said, "Someone troublesome." Then, she abruptly restrained her vibe entirely.


    Qiu Lili used her sensations, but she couldn''t sense things as far away as Lin Qiao could. She turned to Lin Qiao and made a guess, "It''s not Wu Chengyue, is it?"


    That was completely a guess. Based on the current situation, the only one that could be troublesome for Lin Qiao was Wu Chengyue, who had proposed to her.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her and stayed silent. Clearly, Qiu Lili had guessed right.


    Yes, the vibe she sensed belonged to Wu Chengyue. Why did that man come to a forest which was full of mutated creatures near West Lake?


    No one would come near that area unless they had special needs.

 745 Not Hard Enough

    On the other side, Wu Chengyue was leading Xiao Licheng, Moli, and tens of soldiers.


    They parked before an entrance of the park. Wu Chengyue''s tall and straight figure was seen before the military-green off-road vehicle, arms crossed before his chest. His pretty face wore a small smile and slender eyes were narrowed, smiling as well. The cold wind rustled the edge of his black army coat. Under the coat, his long legs were slightly parted from each other.


    He was smiling indeed, but his black army coat covered most of the mildness that came from him, and made him look serious and manly.


    "If Miss Lu gets that thunder beast first, what do you prepare to give her in exchange for it?" Moli, who was also in a black coat, stood by Wu Chengyue''s side expressionlessly. While speaking, she was holding a map and looking around.


    "If the thunder beast is at level-seven, it''s gonna be difficult for us."


    The thunder beast she talked about was a mutated animal that had attained thunder power. They didn''t know what it looked like, and had only heard that it lived in the woods near West Lake.


    They had no idea about the beast''s power level, appearance, or strength.


    "Currently, we don''t know about its level. Mutated animals need more time for upgrading than the other creatures. However, quite some level-six creatures can be found in this area. Perhaps, the thunder beast is only at level-six as well. Breaking into level-seven isn''t easy after all," Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at Moli, then continued, "If the zombie lady finds it first, I can make a deal with her using anything else. She doesn''t have a thunder power possessor under her command anyway."


    While speaking, he smiled in a meaningful way.


    Moli glanced at him and stayed silent, finding his smile not the same as usual. Xiao Licheng heard Wu Chengyue''s words, then turned and saw the latter''s smiling face. He silently rolled his eyes as well.


    Clearly, Wu Chengyue was delighted, because he might get another chance to get near Lin Qiao.


    "It''s like you intend to give her anything she wants. Your face makes me feel like you''re even willing to give away all you have for her! Boss, please don''t forget who you are. Be serious, alright?" Moli glanced at Wu Chengyue a few times, and finally couldn''t help but speak.


    "Have you forgotten that he recently proposed to her? I think he even wants to sell Ling Ling to her right now!" Xiao Licheng added.


    He clearly remembered that Princess Ling Ling was still in All Beings Base, and her father seemed ready to even sell her.


    "You two are strange! The little girl tried to sell her father earlier, and now the father is planning to sell his daughter. And, you''re both doing it for that¡­ Miss Lu," Xiao Licheng thought for a moment, then started complaining.


    "Speaking of that, she''s the only one who has earned Ling Ling''s trust like that. I wonder how she did it," Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and then said.


    For that alone, the zombie lady was good enough to be his wife. At first, he hesitated because she was a zombie. But then, he realized that she was able to control her zombie virus as long as she wanted to.


    For some reason, he felt that she would never lose control. That was why he trusted her with Ling Ling.


    He couldn''t prove what he thought, and that was a pure feeling. However, he strongly felt that the zombie lady was reliable.


    At the very least, she was a reliable babysitter.


    He didn''t even like her actually. Emotionally, he was interested in her at most. They had only met each other a few times, so of course there wouldn''t be a deep affection between them. Some deeper, physically contact did happen between them though.


    That thought reminded Wu Chengyue of the zombie lady''s sexy body and the deep, physical contact that happened twice between them. He memorized that so deeply that he never forgot any details.


    "You''re right! It''s the first time Ling Ling has liked someone so much," Moli nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, she glanced at the map, then looked around to check the surrounding environment.


    They were surrounded by mutated trees, flowers, grasses, and interweaving vines. Those plants were growing thrivingly and wildly, looking nothing like before. Even if they had a map, they might still get lost in the forest of mutated plants if they were careless.


    "I think it''s over there. My feelings should be right," Moli pointed at one direction at last. She was a mental-power possessor. Although not as sensitive as green-power possessors, her sensations worked in the same away.


    Meng Yue was helping Xiao Yunlong recently, so Wu Chengyue asked Moli to take her place and work for him.


    "Let''s go then. Didn''t you sense them?" Wu Chengyue nodded and then asked a question.


    "No," Moli responded with a bland tone. Her comely face rarely had expressions.


    Wu Chengyue''s smile faded slightly, and a clear disappointment emerged on his face. He sighed and said, "Alright, then! Let''s look for the thunder beast first."


    ''Do you mean that we''ll be looking for your future-wife after we have found the thunder beast? So, your future-wife is like the second priority¡­''


    ''Boss, are you just playing with her? You''re obviously not pursuing her hard enough.'' Xiao Licheng first thought that way, but then he pondered a little and understood how Wu Chengyue felt.


    Currently, his boss didn''t have deep feelings toward Miss Lu yet. He intended to marry her, because firstly she had earned Ling Ling''s whole-hearted trust, and secondly, she had raped him last year. Thirdly¡­ Xiao Licheng wasn''t sure, but he guessed that his boss was especially interested in Miss Lu because she had become a totally different soul after she turned into a zombie.


    He had been following Wu Chengyue for years, yet he still couldn''t figure out what the latter was thinking.


    But then again, he felt that Miss. Lu had become prettier after she turned into a zombie. He couldn''t tell if it was true or if it was just a feeling of his. Her face was still the same as before, but without thick makeup and exaggerate clothing, she looked much pleasing to the eye now.


    Her vibe had changed as well. It became cold and strong, much like something that only a powerful being could have, instead of the lowly feeling that she used to give out. She was a vulgar woman who often pretended to be proud and noble. She was pretty indeed, but her thick makeup halved her beauty; she had a perfect body, yet her slutty vibe made her look like a prostitute.


    Xiao Licheng had a very strong feeling about how different she was from before. He was one of the only few who knew that she was Lu Tianyu. None of the others could connect her with that woman.


    Wu Chengyue asked Luo Gefei to put the vehicles into her space, then led his people to enter the forest on foot.

 746 Behind The Massive Zombie Attack

    Lin Qiao restrained her vibe and led Qiu Lili, Lu Tianyi, Shen Yujen, Jingyan and the other zombies to take a detour toward another direction, in order to lower the probability of running into Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue and his people were in the outer area of the forest near West Lake while Lin Qiao and her zombies had gone through the forest and entered the inner area of the park, which was also the lakeside.


    West Lake was a large lake. Quite some creatures lived in the lake before the apocalypse. After the apocalypse, ninety-nine percent of all water sources in the world was infected. The rest one percent was hiding somewhere in a corner of the world that hadn''t been found yet.


    The entire West Lake was infected as well, and the creatures in the lake were no longer the same as before. If the mutated animals in forests scared people, the mutated creatures in the water were even more mysterious and dangerous.


    Lin Qiao and her zombies didn''t know what they might run into, but in the Northeast, things in Heilong Base weren''t going well for sure.


    The assassination had stopped, but a massive zombie attack had started.


    The fence wall that was over ten meters tall could not stop those crazy zombies from stepping on each other and climbing up.


    "Roarrrr!"


    "Roarrrr!"


    Waves of zombie roars could be heard from the other side of the wall. Countless zombies were climbing onto the wall, looking like ants that were trying to build towers with their bodies. Superpowered people and soldiers from Heilong Base were standing on top of the wall, constantly attacking those zombies to stop them from reaching the top.


    The soldiers who didn''t have superpowers never stopped shooting. Some bullets hit zombie heads, and some hit nothing.


    "We mustn''t let these zombies get across the wall! Guard the wall tightly!" Meng Yuxuan the Deputy Chief was leading at the front line. As he raised an arm, a wave of green vines grew out from under his feet, growing taller and larger speedily while reaching down along the wall and bringing down all the zombies that were climbing up.


    He was only able to guard one side of the wall. Five hundred meters around him, no zombie could pass that area. But outside that range, there were more zombies that needed to be stopped


    From the wall top, people could see the zombie crowd extending to a thousand meters away from the wall. All those zombies were crowding toward their base.


    With one single glance, people could see tens of thousands of zombies that would make their scalp numb. Those ordinary zombies were supposed to be slow, but at this moment, they were all strangely energetic. They bared their teeth and reached out their claws while rushing quickly to the wall, then climbing up with all fours.


    Gradually, the zombies came faster and faster, and the superpowered people on top of the wall couldn''t manage to stop them all. The ordinary soldiers were doing even worse. They could shoot quickly, but their bullets would run out at some point.


    Meng Yuxuan was so anxious that he had sweat streaming down his head. While paying attention to the overall situation, he also needed to release his power as much as possible to stop the zombies from coming into the base.


    Hurriedly, he dragged over a man and yelled at him, "Go, go and tell the others that there''re too many zombies out there! These average superpowered people can''t possibly keep them outside. We need to use the S Plan."


    "Yes, sir!" That man responded immediately, then turned and went down the wall, rushing toward the base center.


    In the headquarters at the center of the base, Gao Haoyun, Du Kunsheng, and the other two vice-leaders were looking at a base map. Everyone on the scene was wearing a depressed look.


    After hearing the report, Du Kunsheng agreed without hesitation, "I agree to use the S Plan!"


    Gao Haoyun stayed silent with a sullen face as he fixed his eyes on the map. No one knew what he was thinking.


    "I agree too! Chief, give the order, or it''s gonna be too late!" Another vice-leader nodded and said.


    "Are you sure? These are the strongest weapons we have. We''ll have nothing when they are used up, yet the zombie crowd can be endless. If we use the last weapons we have but fail to destroy the entire zombie crowd, our only choice will be to give up on all the base members," said Gao Haoyun in a grim tone.


    Hearing him, the others looked at each other.


    "You and I are still here, aren''t we? Can''t the two of us stop those zombies?" Du Kunsheng didn''t take his words seriously.


    "The two of us?" Gao Haoyun glanced at him and said, "You, Meng Yuxuan, and I can each take one side, and the last side can be guarded by weapons. But, can you say for sure that your superpower won''t run out in three whole days?"


    "Three days? The zombie attack won''t last three days, will it?" Du Kunsheng pressed his lips together and said.


    "If it were a natural massive zombie attack, we wouldn''t know how long it might last. It might be a day, or half a month. However, this is not a natural zombie attack. It was triggered on purpose. Do you think whoever started it will dismiss those zombies in a couple of days," Gao Haoyun raised his head and looked at Du Kunsheng with cold eyes.


    "What should we do them? Tell us!" Du Kunsheng spread his hands and said straightforwardly.


    The massive zombie attack started before the assassination ended. Therefore, Gao Haoyun had to connect those two things. However, he couldn''t figure out how the enemy started the massive zombie attack. He hadn''t even grasped a trace of that mysterious enemy yet.


    He guessed that the mysterious person might have some kind of tools that were highly attractive to zombies. He believed that was how he or she started the massive zombie attack.


    He couldn''t have imagined that the mysterious being had nothing to attract zombies. Instead, he started the zombie attack by easily giving an order to the group of zombie dominators under his command.


    He knitted his brows. It wasn''t the zombie attack that concerned him. Instead, what made him worry was the zombie dominator that attacked him and then disappeared.


    He thought about that zombie dominator all the time. It made him feel like being targeted. However, that zombie dominator showed up suddenly and disappeared quickly, not seeming to want a long fight with him.


    He wasn''t afraid of any zombie dominator, but couldn''t ignore the weird behavior of that one.


    The slayer who only killed people who had eaten Mo Yan''s flesh, the weird zombie dominator, and the massive zombie attack¡­ Connecting those three factors, Gao Haoyun felt that things weren''t as simple as they looked like.


    "We need to prepare ourselves. We might have to face a few level-six, or even level-seven zombies after the massive zombie attack. If that really happens, how long do you think we and those weapons can last?" Gao Haoyun said. He seemed ready to give up on all the survivors in the base at any time.


    "Are you saying that we should give up on all the survivors in our base? In that case, I''m fine with it. Do what you want," Du Kunsheng figured out his meaning as he said carelessly while crossing his arms and leaning against the back of his chair.

 747 Heilong Bases Crisis

    At first, Du kunsheng said that he would be fine with giving up on the base, as if he didn''t care about the base at all. But then, he continued, "We built this base with quite some efforts though. And now you''re talking about giving up on it. Aren''t you making this decision a little too easily? I won''t give the base up so easily! It''s not the first time we have dealt with a massive zombie attack. If we can''t survive it, we''ll talk about giving up at the last second. I''ll be fighting until then."


    Clearly, they didn''t achieve an agreement. Having finished talking, Du Kunsheng stood up and then said to one of his subordinates, "Give my order¡­ If the fence wall breaks, everyone should get into the underground base immediately. The supplies we stored underground can at least last tens of thousands of people for a month."


    Then, he glanced at Gao Haoyun with a grim look before turning and leaving.


    What he said had explained his determination clearly: he wouldn''t give up on the base easily. The massive zombie attack, zombie kings and queens, or even a zombie emperor, nothing would make him give up until the last second.


    That was his base. He needed to be responsible for the lives of the people who lived there. He had spent years of time and a great effort to build the base. He built an underground base because he didn''t want to give up all the base members again like he did years ago.


    Gao Haoyun watched him leave expressionlessly.


    Du Kunsheng had no idea that the people who died recently had all eaten Mo Yan''s flesh. Gao Haoyun and Meng Yuxuan were the last twoon building and were the highest-leveled among them all.


    The assassin drove a massive zombie crowd to the base because he or she was planning to destroy the entire base, then make it look like a massive zombie attack. Therefore, the underground base would be broken at some point. In that case, people might as well leave as early as possible.


    The base didn''t own a big number of helicopters. The helicopters could make a few round trips, but couldn''t possibly ship tens of thousands of people away from the base.


    "Use the S Plan." After a few minutes of silence, Gao Haoyun gave his order.


    "Yes, sir!" The two vice-leaders responded and then left quickly.


    On the other side of the base, Meng Yuxuan was looking at the countless zombies that were crowding under the wall and climbing up restlessly. As every second passed, his hope dimmed gradually.


    But, he never stopped releasing his power. A part of the fence wall was covered in thriving, green vines. The vines twisted and swung, whipping the zombies off the wall or wringing them into pieces.


    At a distance away, three figures scattered as they merged into the zombie crowd and moved swiftly toward Meng Yuxuan. They restrained their vibes so that he didn''t discover them.


    Meng Yuxuan was getting a little impatient as he hadn''t received a response from the base.


    He was a green-power possessor who could be very powerful in woods or forests. However, no plant existed on the wall, or within a thousand meters around it. Even the area outside that range was mostly occupied by buildings. Therefore, he was now trying very hard to release his power massively.


    He even wished that he had wind power at that moment. At least, high altitude could give wind power possessors some advantages.


    As Meng Yuxuan was controlling his power to stop the zombies from climbing on top of the wall while waiting for the instructions from the base center, the three figures had approached him without being noticed.


    Suddenly, Meng Yuxuan''s heart raced, and his whole body became cold. He felt an extreme danger, the feeling rising along his spine.


    He instantly turned around and saw a large number of sharp metal pieces floating in the air. The moment he looked back, those metal pieces suddenly flew at him.


    A series of shrill swishing noise was heard.


    Meng Yuxuan popped his eyes and instinctively raised an arm. A wave of vines immediately rose before him and wrapped him up tightly.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The sharp metal pieces pierced into the vines which were growing crazily fast. They broke the leaves, but couldn''t penetrate the thick vines.


    Bang! Right at that moment, a scorching hot fireball landed straight on the giant vine cocoon that Meng Yuxuan had created and caused a thunderous boom.


    Yes, to protect herself from those sharp metal pieces, Meng Yuxuan had himself wrapped up in vines and made himself look like a giant vine cocoon.


    The fireball was much hotter than the regular fire. Once it touched the vine cocoon, the green leaves withered.


    As the fire descended, a large number of metal objects quickly rose into the sky as they melted and merged together, turning liquid at last. Next, the molten metal surged and poured itself on Meng Yuxuan''s giant vine cocoon.


    Sizzle¡­ The molten metal wrapped the vine cocoon entire up and turned it into a huge metal ball once it touched the vines.


    Next, an eagle sound was heard. Following the sound, an enormous figure rose into the air from the other side, flipped in the sky, and then swooped down at the metal ball, casting a large shadow.


    A giant bird flapped its huge wings and dived. Its strong and sharp claws penetrated the metal ball, then clasped and lifted it up. Carrying the metal ball, it flew straight away!


    Boom! Boom! Boom! As the metal ball was lifted by the bird, a series of the gigantic fireballs were thrown onto the wall.


    "Ahhhhh!"


    "This is bad! They got Deputy Chief Meng!"


    "What is that! Is that a zombie beast or a superpowered man?"


    "Damn! The line of defense is broken! The zombies are coming!"


    Without Meng Yuxuan, the line of defense collapsed right away. As the vines had disappeared, countless zombies climbed up and fell into the base, then got up from the ground and rushed at the base center.


    Some zombies reached to the wall top, then turned and pounced on the soldiers and superpowered people there.


    The gigantic bird had caused some loud noises, so quite some people raised their heads to look at it. It was a huge eagle with a human face. It looked exactly like an eagle, but was larger than regular eagles by tens of times over.


    As Gao Haoyun and his people heard the news that Meng Yuxuan was taken, the latter''s dead body had been thrown back into the base.


    His mouth was torn from ear to ear, his face covered in blood. A large, bleeding hole was left in his stomach, right under his chest.


    He looked like the people who were murdered earlier. The others didn''t even need to check to know that his stomach was missing.


    "This is¡­ Deputy Chief Meng! He''s dead!"


    The surrounding people were shocked when the very dead Meng Yuxuan was thrown to the ground.

 748 Turtle And Flower

    Before Gao Haoyun, Du Kunsheng had heard that zombies had successfully broken the base, and ordered his subordinates to bring most of the survivors into the underground base which was located twenty meters under the ground.


    At that moment, he himself was moving speedily toward the broken part of the fence wall, along with a snowstorm. Icy cold, the fierce wind hit the fence wall along with heavy snow and blew off the zombies which had climbed on top of the wall.


    The snow reduced the visibility in that area. Nothing could be seen clearly except the heavy snow, and the cold wind made people''s scalps numb.


    Du Kunsheng''s wind and snow power didn''t affect zombies strongly. The best he could do was blow those zombies off the fence wall without being able to freeze them. He also made the surrounding superpowered people shiver in coldness and slow down.


    But still, the zombie invasion was stopped effectively.


    Anyway, whatever happened to Heilong Base, Lin Qiao had no idea about it. She had avoided Wu Chengyue and moved further into the forest near the lake. The floating grass near the lake was thriving, and had covered the guardrail around it long ago. The lake water was muddy and dark, giving out a disturbing vibe.


    Lin Qiao stood on a tree by the lake to observe the lake water.


    The other zombies scattered behind her and each found a spot. They didn''t dare to come too close to the lake, because the lake made them feel threatened. Lin Qiao and Qiu Lili were the only ones who were able to approach the lake without feeling uncomfortable.


    After a whole day of searching the outer area of the forest, Wu Chengyue finally found the thunder beast under Moli''s guidance and saw its real face.


    "It''s a flower, isn''t it?" Xiao Licheng curiously looked at the purple flower which was standing on the back of a mutated animal.


    The flower was beautiful and large, with five petals, each having a purple-red tail. The stamen in the middle of the flower looked like the tail of a phoenix, and at the end of the stamen was an eye-like pattern.


    The stem of the flower was grown out of the mutated animal''s shell.


    Under the flower was a gigantic turtle carrying a huge shell. The beautiful and strange flower grew straight out of its shell.


    It seemed that the flower inhabited on the mutated turtle''s shell.


    "This turtle is so huge. How heavy is it? A ton? Two?" Xiao Licheng observed the turtle with surprise. The house-sized turtle was lying on the ground motionlessly.


    "Look, there''re electric sparks in the flower!" Moli abruptly pointed at the purple flower and said.


    Both Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng fixed their eyes in the middle of the flower. As Moli said, they noticed tiny electric currents flashing across the pistil from time to time.


    "I don''t think the flower is a part of the turtle. They are just using each other. The flower seems to be able to drag itself out of the ground, but it can''t move far. I think that''s why it planted itself on the turtle, which was able to run all over the mountain. Look, that''s a snapping turtle," Wu Chengyue said after a while of observation.


    "It didn''t even stick its head out. How do you know that it''s a snapping turtle?" Moli glanced at him and asked.


    "Look at the shape of its shell and the patterns on it," said Wu Chengyue smilingly.


    Hearing that, Moli and Xiao Licheng turned their eyes to the turtle shell and tried to discover some features that made it different from regular turtle shells. After spending a short while looking at the turtle shell, they started thinking that maybe all kinds of turtles had the same kind of shell.


    "What does it eat? How did it grow this big? Are all mutated animals gigantic? Many mutated animals are larger than before by ten or even a hundred times over," Xiao Licheng said with a frown.


    "That''s why they''re called mutated animals. Isn''t that normal?" Wu Chengyue curved his faintly colored, thin lips slightly downward and then said with a smile.


    Right at that moment, the purple flower which was standing quietly on the turtle''s shell slowly move toward Wu Chengyue and his people. They had a weird feeling that the flower was looking at them.


    "This mutated flower has found us," Wu Chengyue blinked and said.


    "It''s gonna launch an attack!" The purple flower started swaying, shaking the tails of its five petals. The electric current in the middle of the flower sparkled more and more quickly than before and started growing large.


    The group of people looked at the flower vigilantly. They weren''t worried that they might be hurt by a mutated flower, but still stayed alert against it. After all, the flower was a strange being for them all.


    The world was big. After the apocalypse, all sorts of mutated animals which possessed all kinds of unexpected powers were created. Some creatures even grew self-consciousness after the apocalypse.


    The purple light turned itself to the group of people while the electric current inside it grew brighter and brighter.


    Sizzle! The sizzling of the electric current was heard from the distance. After that, a series of muffled thunders came from the sky.


    Wu Chengyue and his people looked at the sky but saw no dark clouds. However, the thunder sounded quite real.


    On the other side of the forest, Lin Qiao confusedly raised her head to look at the sky as well. The sky was blue, with light, white clouds. Where did the thunder come from? Was that actually a boom caused by some kind of weapon?


    As the thunder was heard, the turtle which was lying on the ground and looking like a motionless rock started moving as well. Its shell quaked slightly before the turtle stood up from the ground and exposed its four strong legs.


    A fierce-looking turtle head stuck out of the shell and looked around. Judging by its slow reaction, its sensations didn''t upgrade.


    The turtle looked around but found nothing strange. However, the flower on its back had caused the thunder, meaning that invaders had shown up nearby.


    After looking around but finding nothing unusual, the huge snapping turtle moved its enormous legs and turned around as it kept checking the surrounding environment. Its legs were enormous, such that it would need two people to put their arms around a leg of its.


    Following another thunder and a sizzling noise, a bolt of lightning landed near Wu Chengyue and his people, raising fire and black smoke from the woods. The giant turtle slowly turned around and fiercely stared at where Wu Chengyue and his people were; it seemed to have accepted some kind of instruction.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The turtle quickly moved toward Wu Chengyue and his people, as if the targeted had been located.


    Sizzle¡­ Bang! Two more lightning bolts descended from the sky and landed less than a hundred meters away from Wu Chengyue and the others.


    Wu Chengyue noticed that before the lightning bolts fell, the electric current in the middle of the flower had raised a little.


    It seemed that the giant snapping turtle was not the thunder beast. It was the flower!

 749 The Turtle Is Good At Bumping

    "It''s the flower! The flower is controlling the lightning power!" Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes as a gleam of light flashed across them.


    "Roar¡­" The giant snapping turtle suddenly opened its mouth wide and uttered a thunderous roar, baring its sharp teeth that were shining with a cold luster.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The enormous snapping turtle suddenly moved its four huge legs and started running toward Wu Chengyue and his people. It was running very speedily, and its gigantic body even quaked the earth. The surrounding plants were either pressed to the ground or bumped broken. Nothing could slow the turtle down.


    "Damn! Is this still a turtle? How can it run so fast!" Xiao Licheng slightly widened his eyes.


    "Move!" Wu Chengyue swung an arm forward and gave his order.


    All of a sudden, a large, brightly glowing lightning bolt struck at the snapping turtle.


    Boom!


    The thunder flower was only at level-five while the snapping turtle had already entered level-seven. As Wu Chengyue''s lightning descended from the sky, a green light screen suddenly rose from the turtle''s thick shell, enveloping both the flower and the turtle itself.


    The green light screen unexpectedly managed to shield the two creatures against the lightning power. It was like an energy shield, protecting the snapping turtle and the flower.


    The flower raised its petals, facing the sky. The tails of the petals swayed without being blown by any wind. Next, a purple light flashed across the five petals, gathered in the pistil, then flashed out of the flower up into the sky.


    Sizzle¡­ Boom¡­


    Once again, a lightning bolt fell from the sky even though no dark cloud was seen. This time, the lightning''s target was Wu Chengyue''s head.


    Wu Chengyue raised a hand and caught the lightning bolt, then conveniently threw it at the snapping turtle.


    Bang!


    The turtle''s energy shield blocked the attack once again.


    Once the battle started, Lin Qiao on the other side of the forest started feeling the energy waves with curiosity.


    "Thunder power?" She raised her head to look at the sky in that area, seeing lightning and hearing thunders. At first, she thought that it was Wu Chengyue alone who had created the lightning, but then sensed a different kind of lightning energy that was not the same as his.


    "Are they here to look for thunder beasts?" Qiu Lili looked at the sky as well. She couldn''t ignore those loud noises even if she wanted to.


    "I guess so," Lin Qiao turned her eyes away from the sky and kept observing the lake.


    On the other side, the snapping turtle realized that its friend''s attack barely caused the enemy any harm. So, it rushed toward the tree that Wu Chengyue was on at a very high speed.


    Bang! The snapping turtle was strangely fast. As it rushed over, Wu Chengyue quickly leaped off the tree. Right after that, a loud noise could be heard from the tree, and then the leaves started falling.


    "Roar¡­" The collision seemed to not affect the turtle at all. It gave a roar, then followed behind Wu Chengyue. It bumped into everything in its way; rocks, trees¡­ everything was damaged and sent into the sky.


    While running, the snapping turtle suddenly bent is legs and then leaped high.


    "Oh my! You are a turtle! Is it really okay for you to jump so high and so agilely?" Xiao Licheng gaped his mouth as he watched the turtle fly across his head, clearly shocked.


    Boom! The snapping turtle landed heavily on the ground, then charged at Xiao Licheng who was the nearest.


    Xiao Licheng turned on his side and dodged immediately, then swung an arm to release his power to defend himself in the meanwhile. With that, a thick earth wall rose from the ground and blocked the turtle''s way.


    Bang! The turtle bumped straight into the wall and violently shattered it.


    ¡­


    Back in the outer area of All Beings Base, Wang Jian and his people turned back to glance at the zombie crowd after being driven into the base side by zombie number five. They thought that the zombie crowd would jam the road again, but that didn''t really happen. The road was still open; the zombie lady didn''t move either. She stood by the roadside, facing the other side of the road, seemingly waiting for someone.


    "It looks like those zombies are expecting someone, right?" Huang Tiange looked back curiously. He thought for a moment, then continued, "Oh, I wonder if Li Honglin and the other scums have entered the base or not!"


    "Forget about that. Our top priority now is to find the base. Our people need food and medicine, also rest," Wang Jian didn''t pay attention to the zombies behind, but only looked straight ahead.


    They had arrived in the area. However, Wang Jian had no idea where exactly the new base was located. He was a little confused after entering the site, as he didn''t know if he should go left or right.


    But soon, he realized that he didn''t really need to worry about that, because an off-road car abruptly entered his sight.


    "You''re from Hades Base, aren''t you? Follow us." Five people got off the car as they looked at Wang Jian and his people and talked to them. They were wearing winter coats, hats, and snow boots, while holding rifles.


    The five men stood on the road before Wang Jian''s motorcade. The one at the front talked to Wang Jian and his people.


    "Yes, we are from Hades Base. Are you from the new base?" Wang Jian quickly stuck his head out of the car window and looked at the five in surprise.


    "We are from All Beings Base, the new base here. Follow us!" The leader of the five nodded and responded. Then, he and his people got back into the car and drove it forward.


    "Boss! Are they here to pick us up? Did they know that we were coming?" Huang Tiange leaned his head forward from the backseat to look at the off-road car while asking Wang Jian the question.


    "I think you''re right," Wang Jian nodded.


    With the guide, they moved a lot faster than before. Soon, they saw a lot of people and a tall wall.


    Earlier, they learned that a half of the fence wall in the new base was completed, and the other half was still under construction. Seeing the wall, Wang Jian figured that it was the completed half.


    Some people were already expecting them at the entrance.


    "Are they here yet? Bring them to Deputy Chief Yuan if they''re here." The man who was in charge of the entrance said to the people on the off-road car.


    "Yes, sir!" The squad leader waved a hand as he responded, then drove the car straight in. Behind them, Wang Jian and his people didn''t know what to do. They looked at the wide-open gate, but didn''t dare to drive in.


    "Are we¡­ are we supposed to drive in just like this?" The driver in Wang Jian''s car looked at the entrance, then at Wang Jian, without knowing what to do.


    Wang Jian wasn''t sure about that either. "Eh¡­ I guess so." He said uncertainly.

 750 No Detectors

    The entrance of the base was empty, without any virus detectors. Wang Jian and his people parked outside the entrance. They didn''t dare to follow the off-road car in.


    "Oi, are you gonna get in or not?" A guard at the entrance noticed that Wang Jian''s motorcade had stopped moving, so he couldn''t help but urge those people loudly.


    Wang Jian opened the car door and got off the car, with Huang Tiange following behind him.


    "Eh¡­ Can we really get in just like this? Don''t we need to pass any virus scan or something like that?" Wang Jian walked to the entrance and looked around while talking to the guard.


    The guard glanced at him, then pointed at the wall top and said, "Oh, our detectors are up there. This is the second scan. Haven''t you just passed the first scan?"


    Wang Jian looked up and saw nothing. With confusion, he turned back to the guard and asked, "What? Just now? When?"


    He didn''t know that zombie number five wouldn''t have let him and his people pass the zombie wall earlier on if they carried the zombie virus, and that another high-leveled zombie was guarding on top of the fence wall.


    The zombies who had accepted Lin Qiao''s virus were very sensitive to the normal zombie virus. Same as Lin Qiao, they were also able to sense the zombie virus and serve as mobile virus detectors.


    "If you guys were infected, those zombies wouldn''t have let you in just like this. They might still let you in, but wouldn''t allow you guys to get in by yourselves." The guard looked at Wang Jian and his people and explained to them in a bland tone.


    Wang Jian and Huang Tiange looked at each other with confusion. Then, the guard again urged them to get in.


    "Hurry, just get in! Deputy Chief is waiting to make arrangements for you guys."


    "Oh, how did Deputy Chief and the others know that we were coming here?" A question occurred to Wang Jian when he heard the guard.


    "They surely know. Our Chief is always well-informed. Now, we know about things in almost all bases in the country. Your actions were never a secret. How could we possibly not know?" said the guard with a proud face.


    "I see! In this case, we''ll get in now," Wang Jian nodded, then turned and sat into the car as he gave the driver a hand gesture to signal for him to drive into the base.


    He was worrying that some of his people might have been infected during the journey. Those people wouldn''t be able to pass the virus scan. However, just now, he learned that there would not be any actual virus scan.


    He was still worried though. He didn''t want to bring the virus into the new base and infect other people. So, he decided to bring the sick ones among his people to the medical department for an overall check-up later.


    Right at that point, a figure descended from the sky and stopped his car.


    "Wait!" A short-haired young girl showed up before the car.


    It was a cold February, yet the young girl was only wearing a thin black sports suit, without any sweater or a winter coat. Her eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses, and her pale cheeks and lips were exposed.


    Seeing her, the guards by the entrance immediately ran to her side nervously while pressing the button to close the automatic gate. Then, one of those guards asked carefully, "Is there anything wrong with these people?"


    Yun Meng turned to a vehicle in the middle of the motorcade as she pointed at it and said, "Someone in that vehicle is triggering a superpower¡­ Get him out."


    Wang Jian and the others glanced at that car confusedly. Most of the people in that car were sick. He wouldn''t be surprised if he was told that someone in that car carried the zombie virus. But instead, the young girl said that someone was triggering a superpower in that car. That was unexpected!


    "Really?" Wang Jian turned back and confirmed it with Yun Meng delightfully. At that moment, he wasn''t even curious about that strange young girl. He had just gotten through a huge zombie crowd. Therefore, he was no longer highly sensitive about zombies.


    Yun Meng nodded and said, "My feelings can''t be wrong. What are you waiting for? Go and get him out of the car. He is not in good condition. Something bad might happen if you waste more time."


    Wang Jian immediately dragged Huang Tiange out of the car, then pushed him back while saying, "Go, go, go and see what''s going on over there."


    Huang Tiange and some other people quickly ran to that car and started checking the people inside in a flurry.


    "He had some medicine yesterday. After that, he''s been unconscious all the time. We didn''t notice when his fever became so bad!" The person who was taking care of the others in the car quickly pointed at an unconscious man and said to Huang Tiange.


    That was the man whom Wang Jian tried to save that day when Li Honglin robbed his people for food. Wang Jian and some others went out to look for medicines to save him. Back then, he was worried that the man might die before they returned. Surprisingly, he was still breathing when they returned with medicine. Now, it turned out that his superpower was waking up.


    "It''s him. Get him out," Yun Meng came over and said, "He''s in a very poor condition. His body functions are almost ceasing. Send him to Lin Hao now¡­ Let Lin Hao help him." At last, Yun Meng turned and waved at the guard by the gate as she asked him to deal with the man whose power was awakening.


    "Yes, ma''am!" The guard quickly came over as he found two helpers and then carried the unconscious man off the car.


    "Can you¡­ Can you sense that someone''s power is awakening?" Wang Jian made a few steps backward to create a distance between Yun Meng and himself, then looked at her and asked curiously.


    Yun Meng turned and looked at him as she responded, "Yeah. Why?"


    "Nothing, nothing! Thank you, though!" Wang Jian waved his hands. But then, he glanced at the sky. It was a cloudy day. Why was the girl wearing sunglasses?


    "Get in," Yun Meng waved at Wang Jian. She could tell that he was the leader of the group of people.


    "Alright, we''ll get in now," Wang Jian nodded, then turned and told his people to get back into the vehicles, leading the motorcade into the base.


    Yun Meng raised a finger and pushed her sunglasses slightly upward, then turned and leaped on top of the fence wall.


    At that moment, zombie number five was baring her teeth before the zombie wall and roaring at Li Honglin and his people ferociously. Behind her, the zombie crowd had come back and blocked the road again.


    "What are these zombies doing? Why did they let Wang Jian and the others through but barred our road?" Chen Hao stared at the female zombie alertly, in case she suddenly attacked. However, he and his people didn''t dare to move, as the zombie was at level-five while they were only at level-three.


    "Roar¡­" The female zombie stood in the middle of the road while roaring at them without making any movement.

 751 They Carried The virus

    "I was wondering why these zombies gathered there. Ever since we passed by the last zombie crowd, we barely saw any zombies on our way here. Is the new base a lie? I guess Wang Jian and his people will never come out again," Lu Tong stared at the female zombie and said calmly. While talking, he was also pondering upon the current situation.


    "What do you mean?" Li Honglin turned to look at him and asked.


    "It''s impossible, isn''t it? If it''s not real, who released the information? Why did they make up a story about a new base that didn''t exist?" Chen Hao blinked and said, "Besides, why are you so sure that it''s not real?"


    "Yeah, and it''s normal for zombies to surround a base. We haven''t seen the wall of the base yet," Li Honglin looked at Lu Tong and said, agreeing with Chen Hao.


    Lu Tong glanced at the zombie crowd in front of him. He wasn''t sure about his guess either. "Should we wait for a while to see if we can find some other humans? We can ask them about the new base before going in. Or, maybe we can enter the base from another direction."


    "Why did these zombies let Wang Jian and his people in? Why not us?" Chen Hao looked at the zombie crowd and asked with confusion.


    Those zombies weren''t the same as the ones he and his people met earlier. Those zombies madly pounced on them and tried to bite and tear them once they sensed their scents. Unlike those, the zombies they were now looking at had only been standing there quietly and creepily, without moving at all.


    Only the level-five female zombie was looking at them fiercely. She was nice to Wang Jian and his people just now. She threw them to the other side of the zombie crowd, but when she did that, she only held them by their clothes or kicked them with her feet. Clearly, she avoided touching them with her nails.


    More importantly, she was calm back then. But now, she looked quite ferocious. Once the group of humans moved slightly closer, she would roar at them.


    "It''s because one of you is infected by the virus. Haven''t you found out about that?" A clear voice came from the sky.


    Li Honglin and his people slightly raised their heads to see a girl in a black sports suit standing on a utility pole. The girl had short hair. It was cold in the winter, but she didn''t seem to be afraid of the coldness. She stood high in thin clothing, letting the freezing wind blow on her face. Dark sunglasses covered her eyes.


    "Virus infection? That''s impossible! None of us is infected," Li Honglin paused briefly when the girl showed up, then realized what the girl had just said and denied immediately. If anyone among his people were infected, he would have killed him or kicked him out of the group long ago. He wouldn''t possibly let that person stay in his group.


    It turned out that Wang Jian and his people got through because they didn''t carry the virus. They couldn''t because someone among them was infected by the virus.


    "I guess you don''t know," Yun Meng flashed across the air and then showed up beside zombie number five, then continued to Li Honglin and his people, "She didn''t let you in because one of you is carrying the zombie virus. You have to find that person or none of you can get in."


    Li Honglin, Chen Hao, and Lu Tong automatically turned to look at their people.


    Lu Tong quickly glanced backward, then turned to Yun Meng and asked her, "Why do we have to believe you?"


    Yun Meng shrugged as she spread her hands and responded carelessly, "You can choose not to believe me. I don''t care whether you join our base or not. You can always join another base."


    One among Li Honglin''s people had his head lowered the whole time. His face was covered under his hood, and his hands were hiding in his sleeves. The people near him paid attention to Yun Meng and the surrounding zombies, so they didn''t notice his strange condition.


    Chen Hao first scanned his men carefully one after another with his eyes. After confirming that all his men were fine, he turned his eyes to Li Honglin and his people.


    "Who''s not feeling well? Come on, tell us!" Chen Hao said loudly.


    "If you want to get in, you can do that one by one. We''ll easily find that infected person. We can also save time that way," said Yun Meng.


    "Alright, we''ll do it first!" Chen Hao immediately agreed, then waved at his people.


    He didn''t fully trust Yun Meng, who looked like a teenager. He only felt that he had come this far and it would not be wrong. He wasn''t expecting the new base to use zombies as virus detectors. That was something new.


    There was nothing to be afraid of, as long as those zombies didn''t launch attacks.


    Chen Hao turned and gave Li Honglin and Lu Tong a glance, then waved to his men again and said, "Brothers, they don''t want to go. Let us get in first. We''ll have jobs and food and places to live inside the new base."


    After saying that, he gave Lu Tong another glance in a meaningful way as he sneered in his heart.


    It would be even better if Lu Tong never got into the new base. He told himself that he needed to think of a way to stop Lu Tong from entering the base!


    With that thought, he wore a fake smile and said to Lu Tong, "Lu Tong, I think this is the new base. I understand that you may not believe her. Maybe, you can wait here. I''ll get in to see what''s going on, then come back to let you know. What do you think?"


    Hearing that, Lu Tong had his eyes glowing. He turned to Li Honglin and said, "That''s a good idea. I think we can wait here."


    It wouldn''t be too late for them to make decisions once Chen Hao and his people got in and learned about the truth of the new base. He knew Chen Hao''s secret, so he wasn''t worried that the latter might not come back.


    "I''m cool with it," Li Honglin looked at him and nodded.


    Lu Tong then turned to Chen Hao and said, "Don''t forget what you said." His pretty, pale face wore a smile. While talking to Chen Hao, a subtle, vicious look emerged in his eyes. It lingered there for a second, and then was replaced for the normal, faint smile.


    Zombie number five was observing the group of people whose names she did not know. She quickly scanned Li Honglin, then shook her head in her heart. He was poor-looking, without an attractive vibe, and was not tall enough. She gave him fifty out of a hundred, then immediately turned her eyes to Lu Tong.


    In her eyes, Lu Tong was way too skinny, even looking like a skeleton. He had a sick look on his face, although that face of his was rather good-looking. She still didn''t like him because he looked too vulnerable. For the sake of his face, she decided to give him sixty.


    Then, she looked at Chen Hao, who was even worse-looking than the last two. He looked unfriendly, tall and strong, and muscular. Handsome muscular guys were appealing, but he was not handsome. He looked too fierce, not ugly though, but not pleasing either.


    He had a better vibe than the last two, but wasn''t as pretty as the weak man. So, zombie number five gave him fifty-eight.


    She honestly was not a fan of guys who looked like Chen Hao.

 752 Prehistoric Crocodile

    Lu Tong noticed that zombie number five had been observing the group of people one by one. For some reason, he felt as if the zombie was selecting her food. Would she eat the ones she liked and throw away the ones she didn''t?


    With that thought, Lu Tong''s heart sank slightly. As the female zombie turned to him, he slowly moved behind the others. Lin Hao, Chen Hao, and some others noticed his movement, but didn''t mind.


    Yun Meng nodded at zombie number five and said, "Let them pass one by one."


    The zombie instantly turned back and gave a roar to the zombie crowd behind her. Next, a two-meters wide path showed up in the middle of the zombie crowd.


    Chen Hao pushed a man out and said, "You go first!"


    "Ah¡­ eh? What?" The one who was pushed out of the group was an average-looking man, about twenty-years-old. He turned around and looked at Chen Hao with confusion, as if he had never thought that he would be pushed out.


    "What are you waiting for? Go! Do you want to go to the new base or not?" Chen Hao said to him.


    The young man instantly figured out that he was thrown out as a laboratory rat. He didn''t want to do it, yet he had no other choice but to yield under the pressure that Chen Hao gave.


    He carefully walked toward the zombie group. His body even became stiff when he went close to the female zombie.


    "Roar¡­" Zombie number five roared at him impatiently, then waved at him to signal for him to move faster.


    ¡­


    While the group of Hades Base people was having a little problem entering the base, Lin Qiao''s prey started showing up. The peaceful lake surface started rippling, and then a large shadow was seen in the water.


    Lin Qiao and her zombies looked down into the water from the treetops and saw the enormous shadow that was over ten meters long and thick in the middle.


    As the creature slowly showed its real face from the water, Lin Qiao and her zombies all had a few words popping up in their heads.


    A gigantic prehistorical crocodile!


    The creature''s rough and leathery skin popped out of the water, covered in plate-shaped and boney scales. On its back was a line of sharp thorns.


    The enormous crocodile soon came to the surface. Its slender, icy-cold eyes rose from the water, looking around with a strong intention of killing. Its four strong limbs supported its huge body, walking ashore step by step.


    Thud! Thud! Every step it made quaked the earth slightly.


    Its jaws looked especially strong and teeth were long, thick, and sharp. Slowly, it moved ashore and dragged its long and muscular tail out of the water.


    Lin Qiao and her zombies observed the giant crocodile from distance. It was as large as a truck, thirty meters long at least. Its tail was no less than fifteen meters long. The crocodile moved ashore step by step, spending thirty to forty seconds to leave the water.


    On the ground, the giant crocodile released its fierce vibe that spread out like a storm.


    Qiu Lili looked at Lin Qiao from the other side of the lake. Lin Qiao shook her head, then raised a hand to give her a hand signal. She signaled for the former to wait until the crocodile was further away from the lake.


    The crocodile seemed to be very insensitive to the surrounding vibes, or maybe it didn''t really care.


    It moved into the forest. It was enormous, but no loud noises were caused while it was walking. Its steps were slow and steady, still earth-shaking though.


    Lin Qiao and her zombies quietly followed behind the crocodile, although they didn''t go too close to it. Even from a long distance, they could sense the crocodile''s ferocious vibe.


    The crocodile moved straight as if it was familiar with the area. Soon, it arrived at a clear hill and climbed to the top, then lay on the ground to shower in the sunlight.


    It seemed that something heavy always lay on the hilltop, as the hilltop was already flat. Seeing the giant crocodile lay on the hill and close its eyes to bathe in the sun, Lin Qiao figured that it was something the crocodile often did.


    Lin Qiao flashed across the air and showed up under the hill, then slightly raised her head to observe the crocodile. The hill was merely about ten meters tall.


    Based on the vibe that came out from the crocodile, which looked like a prehistorical monster, it was at the peak of level-six. It hadn''t entered level-seven yet, but was much stronger than ordinary level-six creatures.


    As a fierce beast, it was excellent at both defending and attacking.


    Lin Qiao made herself invisible, then moved toward the crocodile. As she got close enough, she squatted on the grass nearby and started to slowly release her black mist. The black mist spread upon the grass, reaching toward the hilltop. Before long, the mist surrounding the crocodile and drifted before its eyes and nose, then suddenly disappeared inside.


    Puff! The crocodile shook its head and let out a breath from its nostrils like a sneeze. However, it didn''t manage to force the black mist out of its body.


    Right at that time, a gust of wind could be heard from the surrounding treetops. The crocodile immediately popped its eyes and rolled its eyeballs.


    Next, a hurricane came from all directions, sending waves of sharp wind blades toward it.


    Following a series of puffing and swishing noises, the wind pressed the grass to the ground and broke the branches. Wherever the wind blades swept across, the grass and leaves were all shredded and raised into the sky along with clouds of dust and sands.


    The wind blades, which cut grass and trees into pieces, landed on the crocodile, but failed to harm it. Not even a scale of its was cut off.


    "Roar¡­" Being agitated by the wind, the crocodile turned its body. Its huge tail swung back and forth, sending rocks that weighed over fifty kilograms down the hill.


    At that point, Lin Qiao suddenly showed her face and leaped backward onto a branch, then swung an arm forward as she sent out a streak of black fire toward the crocodile.


    The roaring wind immediately wrapped the fire up and merged with it, forming a circle around the crocodile before shrinking.


    "Roar!" Seeing the black fire, the crocodile instantly turned vigilant. It reared up its head and opened its jaws wide, exposing its sharp teeth while turning its head; its tail slapped the ground restlessly.


    The fire reached the crocodile''s body and provoked it. It suddenly rushed down the hill, making the earth shake.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Lin Qiao''s black fire was on its tail tip, reaching to the rest of its body along with the tail


    "Roar!"


    As the battle started, Wu Chengyue on the other side of the forest spared a second to give a glance to the lake area, then continued sending lightning bolts toward the giant turtle. His lightning bolts landed on the turtle''s energy shield and vibrated it violently, but failed to break it.


    The turtle began moving fleetingly toward the lake.


    Not even Xiao Licheng''s earth power could stop it from violently bumping its way out. All the earth walls that he created were bumped straight into pieces.


    He tried to dig a hole to bury the turtle, but the creature was too fast to fall into any traps. It was even able to take a sudden turn within a blink.

 753 Run into Each Other

    The snapping turtle realized that its enemy was rather powerful, and that its energy shield might not last for long. Therefore, it turned and ran.


    It ran away in a pretty straightforward way by rushing forward swiftly like a heavy bulldozer, bumping away everything that blocked its way without turning at all.


    "It''s running away! Don''t let it get into the water!" Wu Chengyue frowned and gave a shout, then quickly flashed off the tree and chased behind the turtle.


    The snapping turtle was not only huge and strong, but was also especially nimble. It was very fast; it rushed up every hill it saw and turned before every hole before it. It had been ignoring the attacks from Wu Chengyue and his people completely, as it was able to defend itself against any kind of superpower.


    Wu Chengyue''s lightning attack fell on its back and ended up being blocked by its energy shield as well.


    Wu Chengyue and his people chased behind the turtle while launching attacks from time to time, trying to keep the turtle away from West Lake. On hour later, they run into Lin Qiao and her zombies, who were following behind a gigantic crocodile.


    Reasonably speaking, the two enormous amphibians would certainly start a fight when they saw each other. But today, they didn''t do it. Instead of fighting, they were happy to see each other.


    In fact, their scents attracted them to each other.


    Boom! The snapping turtle and the crocodile bumped into each other in the heads, then immediately turned in a back-to-back position, facing the two groups of enemies.


    They used to be arch enemies. But at the moment, they had become friends. They now shared the same goal¡ªdrive away those intruders.


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were about a hundred meters away from each other. Between them were the two gigantic mutated beasts. At that moment, they all stopped moving.


    "Eh, I can''t believe we ran into them!" Lin Qiao clicked her tongue as she covered her forehead with a hand and knitted her brows, as if her teeth were aching.


    She was trying to avoid them. But unexpectedly, the crocodile led her straight to Wu Chengyue.


    She had sensed the vibes that belonged to Wu Chengyue and his people from a long distance away though. She didn''t plan to give up on the crocodile for Wu Chengyue, so she had prepared herself for this meeting actually.


    However, at the sight of Wu Chengyue''s smiling pretty face, she couldn''t help but have her teeth ache. Yes, she felt that her teeth were aching!


    "Eh? There is a flower on the turtle''s back," Qiu Lili landed by Lin Qiao''s side as she stared at the beautiful flower on the giant turtle''s back.


    "Are they host and a parasite?" Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Chengyue''s target and said, "I saw an electric current in the middle of the purple flower. I think it''s the thunder beast that Wu Chengyue was looking for. The turtle has a strong energy shield on its back, so I guess it''s good at defending. No wonder they still haven''t defeated these two creatures. His lightning seems unable to hurt the turtle''s shell."


    The snapping turtle seemed unharmed. Unlike it, the crocodile was not in good shape. The bony scales on its back seemed to have been corroded by something, and its skin was covered in slashing wounds. Those wounds weren''t lethal, but looked terrible.


    However, the crocodile''s vibe wasn''t weakened. On the contrary, it grew even fiercer than before.


    "Are the two of them forming an alliance? No, it should be¡­ the three of them," Moli stood on top of a rock while looking at the two gigantic creatures from a distance. She wasn''t a fighter, so she kept a distance away from the battlefield and watched.


    "These mutated animals are all smart. They''ll look for help once they realize that they have no chance to win," Xiao Licheng showed up by her side and nodded. Then, he glanced at her and continued, "Don''t get too close. You don''t want to get hurt accidentally."


    Moli looked at him expressionlessly and said, "I''m not that weak."


    She was a spirit power possessor, but she was not weak physically. She was strong enough to protect herself.


    "Alright. If only we have a way to break the turtle''s energy shield¡­ Our attacks are ineffective to it. Not even your spirit power can hurt it," Xiao Licheng sighed.


    While speaking, he looked at the crocodile. That creature was huge in size as well, but at the very least, Lin Qiao''s attacks had shown an effect.


    Currently, as the two beasts had joined hands, the humans and zombies had no choice but to stop attacking for now. They couldn''t continue hunting without talking to each other. Otherwise, how were they supposed to split the harvests when the targets died?


    "This turtle seems to have a special way of defense. Haven''t you found a solution yet?" Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili and the others moved slightly closer to the two creatures, and so did Wu Chengyue and his people.


    "No. Nothing can hurt it. Not even spirit power can penetrate its energy shield. I wonder if you guys know how to deal with it?" Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao with a smile. His pretty, slender eyes curved like a crescent, and his lips were in a perfect arc of a smile.


    "What can we possibly do to solve the problem that not even you can solve," Lin Qiao looked at him blandly and said, "I won''t touch your turtle. I only want my crocodile."


    The snapping turtle heard Lin Qiao, soit immediately expanded the energy shield and brought the huge crocodile into its protection. The turtle seemed to tell Lin Qiao that it was impossible to split them, and that the three of them were now a group.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly pointed at the three creatures and said, "I think that''s going to be a little difficult."


    Lin Qiao turned and saw what happened, feeling speechless.


    "I guess we have to open up the energy shield for them if we want the crocodile," Qiu Lili quietly moved behind Lin Qiao and said.


    While Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were still talking, the crocodile and the turtle had already turned around and stood side by side, eyes fixed on them. They both had huge, hideous faces, and eyes filled with ferocity.


    "Roar¡­" The turtle agitatedly raised a forefoot, stomping against the ground from time to time. It slightly raised its head and stared at the enemies, seeming about to charge at them at the next moment.


    The crocodile was the same. It wagged its huge tail restlessly, slapping on the ground. Meanwhile, it opened its mouth slightly and exposed its sharp teeth which were as large as a baby''s arms and shining with a scary cold light, telling people about its bone-crushing occlusal force.


    "Roar!" Next, the two enormous creatures launched an attack. They roared thunderously as they raised their forelimbs and rushed at Wu Chengyue and the others.


    "Oh, they''re attacking!" Seeing that, Qiu Lili immediately threw her ponytails backward and fixed her sparkling eyes on the two colossal beasts which were charging over along with a fierce and violent vibe.

 754 Cause A Flood

    "Maybe you can try and break the turtle''s shield," Qiu Lili turned to Lin Qiao and said.


    Since both Wu Chengyue''s lightning strike and Moli''s spirit power had failed to break it, normal superpowers were probably all harmless to the turtle. Qiu Lili wondered if Lin Qiao''s devouring power could make some difference.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao glanced at Qiu Lili, then turned to Wu Chengyue.


    "You can give it a try," Wu Chengyue nodded while quickly reaching out a hand to point at the two creatures which were charging at him and the others.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away from him, then raised an arm and released a stream of black fire toward the two giant creatures, which were rushing straight at her.


    Puff! The black fire immediately descended toward the two creatures.


    The crocodile had tasted the black fire before. Seeing the massive wave of fire falling down, it automatically paused and raised its head to look at the fire with fear, then turned to the giant turtle expectantly.


    As the dark fire dimmed the light, the turtle raised its head and looked at the fire as well. A gleam of light flashed across its eyes while its energy shield shone more brightly than before.


    Lin Qiao swung her arm downward. Following her movement, the black fire instantly pressed down on the two creatures'' heads. At that moment, the two creatures had rushed up to the tree near the group of people and zombies.


    Boom! Following a thunderous sound, Lin Qiao and her zombies flashed away ahead of the group of humans, scattering and landing on the surrounding trees or rocks. After making a collision together, the turtle and the crocodile quieted down. At that point, the turtle''s energy shield was covered under the Lin Qiao''s netherworld fire.


    The netherworld fire had been absorbing the energy shield rapidly. Li Qiao was indeed able to break the energy shield if she had enough time. However, the two creatures wouldn''t possibly stay there to suffer her attack. They could run.


    As she thought, after the short quiet moment, the turtle suddenly started running about, rampaging through the area aimlessly.


    Crack¡­ Boom¡­ A series of thunderbolts fell from the sky and struck on the surrounding plants.


    That was obviously not Wu Chengyue''s lighting; the flower had caused it.


    "Roarrrr!"


    "Roar!"


    The two mutated beasts burst in roars agitatedly as lightning bolts started falling endlessly in that area.


    Suddenly, Lin Qiao''s ears twitched slightly as she seemed to hear something. She turned and swiftly hopped onto the tallest tree, then carefully listened to the weird noise. The sound was coming from a long distance away. Lin Qiao turned to the source of the sound and found that it was the lake area.


    The sound grew louder and louder, getting closer and closer. The source of the sound seemed to be approaching the battlefield.


    "What is that noise?" Clearly, Qiu Lili had heard it too. She landed by Lin Qiao''s side and asked with confusion.


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds listening to the noise, then responded with a slight frown. "I think it''s the sound of¡­ water?" she said uncertainly.


    "What kind of water sounds like that?" Qiu Lili asked while raising her head to look where the sound came from. Then, she saw the trees in front of her start falling from that area, as if something was pressing the trees down to the ground while coming to her.


    "Flood!" Lin Qiao saw it too and knitted her brows tightly.


    Yes, that noise was the sound of a flood. It flushed away everything it touched; some big trees were directly uprooted.


    "What? Flood? What should we do then? We can''t let these two big guys run into water or we''d never be able to catch them," Qiu Lili popped her eyes and said with surprise.


    Lin Qiao flashed across the air, then showed up beside Wu Chengyue and said, "These two have caused a flood. We need to finish them as soon as possible."


    "Flood?" Wu Chengyue was surprised as well. He quickly looked around and then heard the noises that were coming from a distance away.


    "What idea do you have?" He turned back to Lin Qiao and asked.


    "I can only put them into my space for now, and I have to send them in together," said Lin Qiao with a frown.


    She didn''t think about putting the crocodile into her space and kill it there before she met Wu Chengyue. The crocodile was running all the time, and was very strong. She couldn''t get it into her space unless it stopped moving.


    Therefore, she planned to kill it outside. She should be able to do that as long as the crocodile didn''t run back into the lake.


    "Can you put them both into your space? The turtle is at level-seven. Can you suppress two high-leveled beasts at one time?" Wu Chengyue looked at her with doubts. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust Lin Qiao. He was just not sure if she were strong enough to do that. She was definitely able to suppress one mutated beast, but they were facing two now. In combination, the energy owned by the two beasts was no less than what a level-eight or even level-nine mutated beast had.


    He was worried that her space might explode.


    "I''ll first try to put them in one by one," said Lin Qiao blandly. Having finished talking, she swiftly moved toward the area that was showered under lightning bolts. Behind her, Wu Chengyue waved a hand and summoned all the lightning bolts that were falling from the sky, stopping them from striking in that area.


    Earlier on, the two beasts accidentally bumped into each other as they were both shrouded by the dark fire. The bump created a small, temporary space between them.


    Lin Qiao flashed onto the crocodile''s back and squatted slightly, grasping a thorn on its back and throwing it into her space.


    Bang! A thunderous sound was heard from the woods in the space, and the earth quaked.


    The smart mushroom, the zombie dog, and the snake were still running about in the woods, never feeling tired. But, all three of them gave a start and stopped moving when the giant crocodile fell from the sky.


    Within a blink of an eye, Lin Qiao made the crocodile disappear. In the next second, she flashed toward the giant turtle.


    The turtle suddenly realized that its friend''s vibe was gone. It paused slightly, turned to look around.


    Before it figured out where its friend was gone, it sensed that something had invaded into its energy shield.


    With surprise, Lin Qiao watched her own hand go through the turtle''s energy shield and touch the turtle shell directly.


    ''Eh?''


    In shock, Lin Qiao quickly sent the turtle into her space as well.


    Would the two enormous creatures cause any pressure to her space? That did not happen at all. In fact, she already had a bunch of mutated creatures in her space!


    Not to mention the group of zombies who were at varies levels, the smart mushroom, Black and Bowwow were all at level-six. If their energy could make the space explode, that would have happened long ago.


    At least, Lin Qiao felt nothing for now. She was even able to suppress a level-eight superpowered man in her space. The two beasts were nothing to her, as one of them was at level-seven while the other one was only at level-six.


    Lin Qiao felt that her space was not limited by the amount of energies and power levels. She believed that the space would never explode, as long as she stayed alive.

 755 They Are Stuck

    Another thunderous sound was heard while the four creatures in Lin Qiao''s woods were still stunned.


    Bang!


    The smart mushroom and the giant crocodile, who were staring at each other, were both woken up from the shock by the sound caused when the turtle fell into the woods.


    The mushroom reacted the first, immediately darting backward and disappearing within a blink. When the noise was heard, the crocodile that was staring at the mushroom and the black snake turned back to find that its friend had fallen into this strange place as well.


    The snapping turtle was a little dizzy as it was thrown into the woods from a high altitude. However, it soon made a reaction by raising its head to look around the strange place.


    The turtle shook its head uneasily, looking from left to right. It sensed no energy from the air that could be controlled!


    It could no longer use the energy shield!


    The turtle was a little panicked. It wanted to make a few circles, but then found that it was not able to move.


    Its body was too large, so it was stuck by the surrounding trees, and it was lying sideways¡­


    "Roar!" The crocodile gave the turtle a roar at that point. It was slimmer than the turtle, yet it was stuck as well.


    It struggled intensely and tried its best to reach out its limbs while wagging its huge and long tail. But despite all the efforts, it could not free itself from the trees.


    "Owoo?" Bowwow looked at the two strange creatures with surprise. The dog forgot about the smart mushroom temporarily because its attention was attracted by the two giant creatures who were completely new to the space.


    Black had coiled its body into a small hill with its head reared up, its slender and cold eyes fixed on the two dangerous creatures which had shown up suddenly. It sensed the vibes of the two creatures, which were clearly stronger than itself.


    It had no idea why Lin Qiao put the two giants into the space. They weren''t here to be friends with itself and the dog, were they?


    Black turned and glanced where the mushroom disappeared while wondering.


    ''Quite some new friends came here today'', the snake thought.


    "Hah, they are stuck! Great, this is easy now," Lin Qiao showed up in the space and laughed when she saw what was happening in the woods.


    The space between the trees in her woods wasn''t large, and the two mutated creatures were seriously huge. Even the relatively slim crocodile was stuck in the woods because of its wide belly. It struggled, but that didn''t help at all. Not far away from the crocodile, the turtle was in an even more miserable state.


    Looking at the large snapping turtle which was lying sideways, stuck between trees, Lin Qiao showed an even bigger smile. The turtle had also been struggling, yet as same as the crocodile, it wasn''t able to free itself from the trees.


    Sizzle¡­ The thunder flower swayed on the turtle''s back, with tiny electric sparkles flashing across the petals. It seemed to be trying to create lightning, but after a while of trying, nothing showed up in the sky.


    Lin Qiao hopped onto the upper side of the turtle''s shell and squatted to observe the thunder flower.


    On the other side, the crocodile never stopped struggling. A while later, as the struggling delivered no results, it opened its mouth wide.


    Many mutated beasts would open their mouth wide before releasing their superpowers.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao immediately leaped away from the turtle and landed on a branch behind the crocodile, reaching out a hand toward it.


    Next, she saw a huge stream of water gush out of the crocodile''s mouth. The water flowed rapidly and strongly, instantly sending Black and Bowwow to a distance away. Only after that did the two make any reactions. The snake climbed onto a tree while the dog was flushed away as it didn''t know how to climb.


    "Owooo¡­"


    Lin Qiao knitted her eyebrows, fingers clenched slightly. Following her movement, the water stream from the crocodile''s mouth instantly grew smaller.


    The crocodile had water power, but it hadn''t used it until just now.


    While trying her best to suppress the crocodile, Lin Qiao turned and glanced at the large turtle, which was still struggling.


    Then, she found with surprise that the pretty flower on the turtle''s back had moved to a new spot.


    A series of sizzling noise could be heard from the flower. The flower was in the middle of the turtle''s shell at first, but it had now moved to the upper side of the turtle shell where Lin Qiao was standing on earlier.


    A small bolt of lightning showed up and stuck to the ground aimlessly, followed by the second lightning bolt.


    Following a series of noise, a wave of lightning bolts fell around the thunder flower. The lightning bolts were as thin as little fingers, but once they hit the trees or the ground, they caused explosions.


    The lightning bolts that fell on the ground left small dents while the ones that struck the trees only raised clouds of smoke without doing any harm to them.


    The crocodile was suppressed by Lin Qiao. The water from its mouth disappeared slowly, leaving a large puddle. Meanwhile, Bowwow was still struggling in some corner away from the woods.


    Lin Qiao turned and reached the other hand toward the thunder flower, her fingers clenched slightly and palm pressing down. Soon, the lightning surrounding the flower grew weak gradually and the noises faded.


    "Black, go and bite that flower off," Lin Qiao abruptly said to Black who was coiling on another tree.


    Black blinked its cold eyes, then crawled to the tip of the branch and reached its head to another tree. It moved across a few trees over to one of the trees that had trapped the turtle. After that, it slid off the tree, opened its jaws, and swooped at the flower.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue and his people were falling back. The three mutated beasts had been sent into Lin Qiao''s space, but the flood that came from a long distance away didn''t stop as it kept roaring and flooding toward the area.


    They couldn''t stay in that area. The trees under their feet would be flushed away.


    They moved quickly though as most of Wu Chengyue''s people were at level six or five. Even the lowest-leveled one among them was at level-four. Hence, they were all energetic and nimble.


    On Lin Qiao''s side, even the weakest Shen Yujen was moving fleetingly. Running away from the flood was not a problem for those zombies at all.


    Thankfully, the water was still far away. Flooding over cost a lot of the energy, and after the two giant creatures were sent into Lin Qiao''s space, no energy was left to support it.


    Therefore, even though the flood hadn''t stopped yet, it was less fierce than before.


    The water stream had become much gentler than before when it reached the area where Lin Qiao had sent the three creatures into her space. At that time, Wu Chengyue and the others had left the woods and climbed on top of a hill.


    They didn''t leave, but stayed on top of the hill, quietly waiting for Lin Qiao to come out.


    Qiu Lili and the other zombies didn''t leave either. They stayed on the other side of the hill, also waiting.


    "Turtle and crocodile¡­ which tastes better?" Qiu Lili sat on a rock and asked a question while fiddling with her ponytails.

 756 The Follow-up Story Of Heilong Base

    In the space, Lin Qiao suppressed the superpower attacks from the crocodile and the thunder flower, then sent Black to deal with the flower, which was the lowest-leveled one among the three.


    Black coiled onto a tree above the thunder flower, then swooped at the flower which was unable to launch any more lightning attacks. The snake widely opened its jaws and bared its hook-shaped, sharp fangs, biting on the flower.


    Puff¡­ Following a slight noise, the beautiful, purple flower was bitten into pieces by Black. The snake raised its head, prepared to swallow the flower.


    "Wait a minute! Don''t eat it," Lin Qiao hurriedly stopped it.


    Black paused, then slightly dropped its head to look at Lin Qiao with confusion, the dead flower hanging in its mouth.


    "Just kill it. Don''t eat it," Lin Qiao said to the snake.


    Clap! Black opened its mouth, and the dead flower fell onto the ground.


    "Come here, bite this one," Lin Qiao pointed at the crocodile, then waved at Black.


    Black quickly crawled off the tree and flashed toward the crocodile like a shred of shadow.


    The crocodile immediately sensed the danger coming. It turned around and widely opened its mouth, attempting to bite Black, who was charging at it.


    Black, of course, wouldn''t rush straight into the crocodile''s huge mouth. Instead, it turned its head and moved sideways to behind the crocodile, then launched a series of attacks.


    As the crocodile was suppressed for the moment, Lin Qiao stopped, then leaped off the tree and landed beside the dead flower. After that, she narrowed her eyes to see what was happening on the outside. Seeing the water out there, she figured that she might fall into the water if she exited the space now.


    Therefore, she gave up on that idea and decided to first finish the two giants before going out. By that time, the water out there should be less deep than now.


    The crocodile which was stuck in the woods was really bullied by Black. However, it had a strong skin, and its belly wasn''t exposed. So, Black couldn''t manage to kill it at the moment. With no better choice, the snake moved behind the crocodile to bite its butt.


    The turtle that was lying sideways saw the purple flower die, but it made no special reaction to that. It struggled at first, but after realizing that struggling wouldn''t be able to help it, it shrank its head and limbs all into the shell.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the turtle and decided to ask Wu Chengyue for the turtle later. He could have the energy nucleus, but she wanted to keep the turtle''s body.


    As Lin Qiao was waiting for the water to ebb, Wu Chengyue and the others were waiting outside for her to come out. At the same time, Heilong Base had fallen into a miserable state.


    "Has Gao Haoyun left? Did he really give up on this place?" In the underground conference room, Du Kunsheng looked at the large screen in the front of the room with a long face.


    The screen was divided into over ten parts, each showing a different image. On the screen, were the ruins and smokes of gunpowder left after the war. Buildings were devastated, trees were broken; black smoke was drifting everywhere. Not a single human being could be found from the images.


    Countless zombies were wandering in the base.


    Apart from Du Kunsheng, some other base administrators were also in the conference room.


    "They took the helicopters and left from here just now. Chief Gao¡­ Gao Haoyun left by helicopter too," A man in army suit stood before the screen as he pointed at one small screen and said with a depressed look.


    Du Kunsheng fixed his cold eyes on that small screen. After a long silence, he said with a deep voice, "Who else wants to leave? You can leave now. This is your last chance. The underground base will soon be sealed, for a month at least."


    He said a month at least, because the food stored in the underground base was only able to last the people there for a month. After a month, if the zombies were still in the base, they would have to face the endless zombie crowd again to look for food and survive.


    "We''re not leaving! We will stay¡­ for a month at least! Maybe these zombies will soon leave!" Some people shook their heads determinedly.


    "What if they never leave?" Du Kunsheng said with a serious look, and a dry and deep voice.


    "We''ll see." Someone sighed.


    Currently, there was an underground base to keep them safe. The people there didn''t want to leave, and they would not leave until the last minute.


    Gao Haoyun and his surviving subordinates were heading toward Huaxia Base on helicopters.


    Not long after they left, Mo Yan and his zombies began falling back. The zombies that followed him were all high-leveled ones. The ordinary ones were still wandering in Heilong Base aimlessly.


    Clearing out those ordinary zombies was an easy job for Du Kunsheng. He only needed some time to create a large zombie-free zone.


    At that time, meaningful expressions could be detected from the faces of Huaxia Base leaders, because Gao Haoyun was heading toward their base. Reasonably speaking, they should welcome him to join their base, as he was a powerful being. However, this powerful being had failed to save his own base, meaning that the massive zombie attack which happened in Heilong Base this time was terrible indeed. If that was a natural massive zombie attack, nothing should be worried. But, if it was caused by Gao Haoyun and some other people, would the zombie attack follow him to Huaxia Base?


    Huaxia Base people hadn''t yet found out about whether the zombie attack was natural or caused by people.


    "If the zombie attack was started by a particular zombie, this zombie has to be a zombie emperor, or even stronger than that. Apart from that, quite some zombie dominators have also shown up during the zombie attack," Han Xiao slightly dropped his eyes and said.


    His people couldn''t find out if the zombie attack was natural or caused by people, but they found the traces of quite a few zombie dominators.


    Only zombie emperors or higher-leveled beings were able to control zombie dominators. If it were a zombie emperor who started the massive zombie attack, it would be very likely for the zombie emperor to follow Gao Haoyun to Huaxia Base.


    Huaxia Base wasn''t afraid of that zombie emperor, but a zombie emperor would be a big piece of trouble for the base indeed. If a massive zombie attack happened, the base might have to pay a considerable price to get over it.


    "If it''s a zombie emperor, we might as well ally with the other bases and ask for some other powerful people to deal with it together with us," Wei Haichao gave a suggestion.


    "I think that''s doable. If there really is a zombie emperor, we can''t just let it grow stronger and stronger, or it''ll become a big threat for mankind. But currently, only Sea City Base and Sky Fire Base have the force to do the fight. The new base, Green Mountain Base, is too far away from us. I don''t think they''ll be able to make it here in time," Han Xiao nodded and said.


    "Don''t forget about Gao Haoyun. He is at level-eight after all. It''s just one zombie emperor. Gao Haoyun, Wu Chengyue, and I, we are strong enough to defeat it together," Si Kongchen said expressionlessly.


    The others glanced at each other. Having the three strongest superpowered men to fight against one zombie emperor made it feel a little exaggerated. However, that was the only way they could guarantee victory.


    "As for those zombie dominators, the weapons we currently have can''t kill them, but can stop them for sure. We surely don''t need to worry about the massive zombie attack either," Hong Yijie, one of the chairmen who were responsible for security, said in a bland tone.

 757 The Agitated Mo Yan

    Before long, Gao Haoyun and his helicopters arrived over Huaxia Base. The base seemed to be ready to welcome him and his people, as they were allowed into Huaxia Base''s air space for landing.


    After discussion, Si Kongchen sent messages to the other bases again, asking them to join the Huaxia Base to fight against the zombie emperor, who might become a great threat for the entire mankind. Huaxia Base made such a decision so that Gao Haoyun, a powerful man, would join the base willingly.


    Of course, it was not just the Sky Fire Base and Sea City Base who received the message. This time, all the other bases had gotten the message from Huaxia, including Mongols Base, Green Mountain Base, and All Beings Base.


    Lin Qiao came out of her space and threw the giant turtle''s nucleus to Wu Chengyue along with the flower''s nucleus.


    The turtle had a super strong energy shield, but after its shield was disabled, Lin Qiao was able to cut straight into the softer shell on its side with her claws. Like that, she directly cut the giant turtle into two.


    Wu Chengyue took over those nuclei and didn''t say anything. As Lin Qiao didn''t plan to continue hunting, he followed her back to All Beings Base with a very good reason¡ªhe needed to go there to pick up his daughter.


    Back in All Beings Base, Lin Qiao heard about the news regarding Heilong Base and Mo Yan from Xie Dong. Wu Chengyue got the message as well.


    "Is Huaxia Base gathering the force of all bases to fight against Mo Yan?" In the conference room in All Beings Base, Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue and some other people were talking about that.


    "If we let the zombie emperor grow stronger and stronger, the other bases might end in the same way as Heilong Base," Yuan Tianxing lowered his head and said with a frown, then looked at Wu Chengyue and continued, "Chief Wu, what do you think about this?"


    "Huaxia Base people just want to make Gao Haoyun join them. They want us to fight the zombie emperor together with them, because they''ll probably pay a big price to deal with the massive zombie attack. I think that''s why they''re trying to drag us all into the trouble," Wu Chengyue said with a faint smile. No emotions were worn on his face.


    "Are you saying that they don''t want to spend too much effort on this, so they asked us to fight the zombie emperor and deal with the zombie attack together with them, under the guise of defending the entire mankind? Do they want us to help them for free? Si Kongchen really has a good plan for his own base," Lin Qiao sat on the couch as she crossed her legs and lazily leaned against the back of the couch, speaking with a bland face.


    "He invited all bases in the country. If any base refuses to send help to Huaxia Base, Huaxia Base will certainly accuse that base for not helping after the crisis is averted." Wu Chengyue said with a smile. No actual smile could be detected from his narrowed eyes though.


    "So, we have to help them," Lin Qiao curved her lips downward.


    "Are we going to fight for them with nothing in return?" Yuan Tianxing asked uncertainly as he looked at Wu Chengyue, and then at Lin Qiao.


    "We will send people to their base. However, about who we will send over and how our people will help them, that''s not for them to decide," Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Chengyue and said.


    Huaxia Base only wanted Wu Chengyue. Wu Chengyue might not agree to help if he were the only one who received the request. That was why Huaxia Base sent the message to every base. The others who would go to Huaxia Base to help were just subsidiary.


    "Since they have asked for our help, we''ll just send over a couple of people. It has nothing to do with us anyway," Lin Qiao said to Yuan Tianxing. After that, she stood up and said to Wu Chengyue, "Chief Wu, I guess Huaxia Base will not be happy if you didn''t go. So, you may as well return to your base and prepare yourself as soon as possible. Bye."


    "Are you so eager to send me away? That''s not good, is it?" Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao and grinned.


    Lin Qiao raised her brows and said, "I''m only reminding you that you still have a lot of work to do. I don''t want you to waste time. Since you''re not in a rush to leave, Huaxia people are going to become anxious. I have to go. Make yourself at home."


    Having finished talking, she stood up and walked out of the conference room.


    ¡­


    Mo Yan followed Gao Haoyun away from Heilong Base. After the vengeful massacre, his vibe had started becoming unstable, and the purple light in his eyes gave out a faint sense of ferocity.


    He didn''t plan on killing all Heilong Base people. He started the massive zombie attack just to cover the traces of himself and his zombies, and to make Gao Haoyun show up.


    Gao Haoyun was hiding so well that he couldn''t find him. That was why he started the massive zombie attack.


    At last, Gao Haoyun showed up as he hopped on a helicopter and left.


    Mo Yan didn''t know where the remaining survivors of Heilong Base were hiding, and neither did he care. He just wanted Gao Haoyun''s life.


    After starting the massive zombie attack, Mo Yan felt more and more agitated somehow. He couldn''t help but want to destroy things; he felt restless, and he had so much anger in his heart that he wanted to give vent to.


    As Gao Haoyun left on the helicopter, Mo Yan was infuriated, and became even more irritable than before. But still, he forced himself to calm down and followed behind those helicopters. No matter how far Gao Haoyun might run, he would never give up.


    "Roar¡­" He spent two days rushing wildly at the speed of over three hundred kilometers an hour and finally arrived near Huaxia Base. He swung both arms once he stopped running.


    With that, rumbling thunders were heard from the sky, following which, a wave of lightning bolts fell in the area five-hundred-meters around him. It blew up the rocks and raised clouds of smoke and dust.


    After launching a series of aimless lightning strikes, Mo Yan finally calmed down a little. About ten minutes after that, a dozen figures showed up behind him.


    He found a clean place to sit down, then waved to a hand and signaled for the female zombie to come over. The level-five, pretty female zombie quietly walked to Mo Yan''s side and put a hand on his shoulder, then started releasing her power.


    A dim white light escaped from between her fingers, most of which seeped into Mo Yan''s body.


    As the white light flowed into his body, the blood veins that were twitching on his face gradually eased down.


    At that moment, those veins had expanded to his other side, and his entire face was occupied by those weird blood veins.


    Every time he lost his temper, those purple blood veins would start twisting, becoming weird and scary, as if they were living creatures. By then, Mo Yan''s pretty and wicked-looking face would become like the face of a ferocious monster.


    While absorbing the female zombie''s energy, the veins on Mo Yan''s face started shrinking slowly. Two hours later, his pretty face was finally shown, and those vines had shrunk back to the left side of this neck.


    With his typical cold face, he waved a hand toward the female zombie, who instantly stopped releasing her power and quietly stepped backward.


    He needed that female zombie. That was the reason why he retreated from All Being Base as Lin Qiao asked.

 758 Something Is Wrong

    Wu Chengyue finally had a chance to stay in All Beings Base by using his daughter as an excuse. Why would he return to his own base because of a message from Huaxia Base?


    He told Xiao Licheng to reply to the message from Huaxia Base with¡ª''Wu Chengyue is too busy to deal with a zombie emperor.'' The zombie emperor was coming at Huaxia Base, not Sea City Base. So, he didn''t care if the zombie emperor would grow stronger or not.


    Xiao Licheng looked at his Chief, feeling a little speechless. "Chief, you''re gonna get retaliated!"


    Wu Chengyue smilingly waved his hand and said carelessly, "I''ll deal with all the small problems, and they don''t dare to bring us any big trouble!"


    His top priority now was to win the heart of his future zombie wife. He had no spare time for Huaxia Base and the zombie emperor! The zombie emperor wasn''t causing any damage to his base anyway.


    Xiao Licheng looked at Wu Chengyue helplessly. He was not able to stop his Chief from doing what he wanted to do.


    Lin Qiao, who was hiding in her office, looked at Xie Dong with surprise and said, "What? He''s not going? Huaxia people will be sad, won''t they? They are counting on him! I''m sure they''ll promise him a pretty good deal if he agrees to go. Why did he refuse?"


    Xie Dong looked at her and shook his head. He didn''t understand why Wu Chengyue refused to help Huaxia Base either. That man didn''t even return to his own base. Instead of that, he stayed in Lin Qiao''s base like a jobless man.


    Lin Qiao frowned, feeling a little annoyed, because Wu Chengyue was again staying in her base.


    "How''s Heilong Base now?" She leaned against the back of the chair, arms crossed before her chest while asking the question.


    "Heilong Base people have divided into two groups," said Xie Dong with a deep and dry voice, "Some of them stayed in the underground base while others escaped. Gao Haoyun didn''t bring any base members when he left, other than his subordinates. Some people escaped the base themselves, as they lost the hope in their base. We learned from those who escaped that about fifty thousand people have died in the massive zombie attack. We are not sure how many escaped successfully yet. The buildings in Heilong Base aren''t highly damaged, but many ordinary zombies are still lingering in the base now."


    Hearing about that, Lin Qiao asked, "I think the surviving people are all disappointed in Gao Haoyun. Who''s leading them now?"


    "Du Kunsheng, the other leader of that base, and his subordinates. I think a lot of people chose to stay," said Xie Dong.


    "I guess they''ll stay underground for a while. When the zombies leave, they''ll come out to rebuild the base," Lin Qiao could guess what the people who chose to stay underground were thinking.


    "Did Mo Yan let Gao Haoyun leave just like that?" she then asked.


    Mo Yan was able to strike a helicopter down from the air with his lightning. Why did he let Gao Haoyun get away so easily?


    Speaking of Mo Yan, Xie Dong showed doubts on his face. "I think something is¡­ not right with Mo Yan."


    "Oh, what''s wrong?" Lin Qiao asked with curiosity.


    "The day Gao Haoyun left, Mo Yan did launch a fierce lightning attack. However, his lightning was not aiming at Gao Haoyun''s helicopter. His lightning was unstable, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes focused, and at times scattered. A couple of helicopters were hit by the lightning, but he failed to stop Gao Haoyun in the end," Xie Dong told Lin Qiao about what happened that day. After a short thinking, he continued, "His vibe seemed to be quite strange at that time. Even those zombie dominators, zombie kings, and queens under his command stayed far away from him. None of them got close to him."


    "What happened? It sounds like he lost control," Lin Qiao was a little surprised. She raised her head and looked at Xie Dong as she made a guess.


    "I didn''t figure out what exactly happened. I didn''t dare to get too close to him, so I stayed at a distance away to sense his vibe. That vibe was unstable indeed, and was agitated," Xie Dong thought for a moment and then said.


    Lin Qiao slightly dropped her eyes, recalling how she faced Mo Yan twice. Back then, nothing was wrong with his vibe. Why was his vibe unstable now?


    "Does anyone else know about that?" Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong and asked another question.


    "I don''t think so. They don''t have the keen sensations that we do," said Xie Dong.


    Humans weren''t as sensitive toward zombies as zombies themselves. When Mo Yan''s vibe was unstable, his subordinates stayed away from him, but guarded him in every direction to stop anyone else from approaching him.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "You keep following Mo Yan¡­ Also find out who from the other bases are willing to help Huaxia Base."


    "Yes, ma''am!" Xie Dong responded, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao kept reading the statistical materials about the people who recently joined the base.


    Wang Jian, Li Honglin, and their people registered in Yuan Tianxing''s place two days ago when they arrived in the base. After that, their accommodations were arranged.


    "We have superpowers. How can we live together with these commoners?" Those superpowered people were unhappy when they were guided to their accommodations.


    They were actually arranged to live together with those commoners. The accommodation was not bad, but they believed that they deserved better than the commoners.


    The soldier who guided them to the accommodation responded impatiently, "You should thank us for giving you a place to live. If you want a better accommodation, you can pay for it with credits. With enough credits, you can even have your own flat!"


    "Credits? What credits?" Those new base members didn''t know what credits meant.


    Another soldier who was nicer than the first one explained to them, "You get credits when you make contributions to the base. In our base, commoners and superpowered people are the same¡­ We are all humans. The capable people may not have superpowers, and the superpowered people might not make a better contribution to the base than commoners."


    "Why not? We have superpowers. We can go out and hunt. Can you commoners do the same?" A superpowered man argued.


    The soldier pointed at those commoners beside him and said, "They may not be able to go hunting, but they managed to come all the way here by themselves."


    "Alright, cut the crap! If you don''t want to live here, fine. There are some sheds down there. Do you want to live there?" said the impatient soldier. He really didn''t like those arrogant superpowered people who considered themselves so much better than the others. Did they really think that commoners could not survive without them?


    Wang Jian and a couple of his men were arranged in the same flat. Li Honglin and his men were separated.


    What made Chen Hao happy was that he and Lu Tong were arranged in the same flat without Li Honglin. So, Li Honglin would not be able to protect Lu Tong anymore.


    Lu Tong became nervous once he found himself becoming flatmates with Chen Hao. He couldn''t write his feelings on his face though. What he could do was to secretly try and switch to another flat.

 759 Chen Haos Scheme

    He spent two days but failed to find anyone he knew in the base, meaning that there was no way for him to switch a flat.


    With disappointment, he returned to where he lived.


    The more than a thousand Hades Survivors lived near the school in flats. The accommodations for them were actually pretty good. All Beings Base was small currently, with a small population. Therefore, the new base members were all accommodated in or near the school.


    "What? Do you not want to live here? Isn''t it good to live with me?" Chen Hao who stayed in saw Lu Tong come back. He knew what the latter was doing earlier.


    Lu Tong glanced around the flat. As no one else was there, he wore a cold look.


    "Chen Hao, I know what you want. It''s because I know your secret, right? You are clearly aware that I''m a space possessor, and that I have registered in this place. You better not do some unnecessary thing," Lu Tong looked at Chen Hao and said coldly.


    "What unnecessary thing? Relax, I won''t do anything. Instead of being vigilant against me, you should be more careful about Wang Jian and his people. Don''t forget that it was your idea to capture them and distract zombies with them," said Chen Hao with a smile. His ferocious-looking face looked scary even with a smile.


    "It was you and your people who did it, not me. They''ll be coming after you. I''m under protection!" Lu Tong sneered. He didn''t take Chen Hao''s words seriously.


    As a space possessor, he could be counted as a rare resource. Space possessors were protected in every base, because they would send out a few space possessors every time the base sent out people to collect supplies. After all, protecting a person was easier than protecting several trucks.


    Lu Tong didn''t worry that Wang Jian and his men might hurt him. The issues from the outside weren''t allowed to cause troubles inside the base, meaning that he would be safe as long as he avoided exiting the base to carry out missions together with Wang Jian and his men.


    However, Chen Hao lived in the same flat with him. That made it so easier for the other to hurt him in the dark.


    Wang Jian and his people knew that the base didn''t allow killing. If they wanted to kill someone, they could only do it on the outside. Therefore, even though Wang Jian and his men seemed to even want to bite Li Honglin and his people to death, they couldn''t do anything but ease their anger and stand aside.


    "Don''t pass the buck to us," Chen Hao clicked his tongue and said, "That day will come sooner or later¡­ You just wait and see. At the very least, I won''t do anything to you as long as you keep my secret, which you will I believe." Chen Hao looked at him confidently.


    "Of course, I will! But, if you dare to try and hurt me, things might change," Lu Tong nodded as his pretty and pale face showed a calm look. It seemed that he had really surrendered to Chen Hao.


    Chen Hao looked at him as he blinked and grinned, but didn''t say anything else.


    Right at that moment, someone came in: it was a subordinate of Chen Hao. Earlier on, Chen Hao had sent him out to gather information.


    The man gave Lu Tong a cold glance, then turned to Chen Hao and said, "Boss, we learned something."


    Chen Hao stood up, then turned and walked into his own room while saying, "Come in."


    They lived in a flat with three bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. The flat was large, so five or six people were arranged to live there. Two people shared one room.


    "The leader of this place is a woman who is very mysterious. According to the others, she''s like the old leader of Hades Base." After entering the room, the man walked to Chen Hao''s side and said to him with a low voice.


    "Woman? Mysterious? How? Is she like Netherworld Fire? Does she look like her or something else?" Chen Hao asked with surprise.


    "It''s a woman, a pretty one, I heard. People say that she''s mysterious because she hardly shows up in the base. The base is basically being run by Deputy Chief Yuan and Lin Feng, who''s also a Deputy Chief now. The Chief is a pretty woman, but she doesn''t look like Chief Netherworld Fire. She is young, only in her twenties. I heard that she''s like Chief Netherworld Fire because of her¡­ vibe or presence. They are both strong and decisive," said the man.


    Chen Hao frowned slightly as he thought for a moment, then said, "Is Lin Feng a Deputy Chief now?"


    "Yes," the man nodded and continued, "Not only that, he has upgraded to level-seven."


    "What! Isn''t he at level-six anymore?" Chen Hao was surprised. He slightly widened his eyes and looked at his subordinate, as he couldn''t believe the fact that Lin Feng was already at level-seven.


    It had only been half a year. Lin Feng broke into level-six not long before he escaped from Hades Base. How could he enter level-seven so soon?


    "Boss, not only Lin Feng¡­ Deputy Chief Yuan has also upgraded to level-seven! I also heard that the Chief lady of this base has a group of mysterious subordinates, all at high-levels. They''re as secretive as the Chief lady," said the man with great interest.


    Chen Hao stayed silent for a short while and then said, "No wonder this base is built so near Sea City Base. I guess that Chief Lady is a capable one. Have you found out about Lin family yet?"


    "Eh¡­ a little¡­ We didn''t dare to do that openly. We just got here after all¡­" The subordinates said with hesitation. He paused briefly to think for a moment, then continued carefully, "Boss, every Lin Family member is important in this base now. Lin Feng is a Deputy Chief, Lin Hao is one of the leaders of the Science Department as well as the leader of the Medical Department. Lin Wenwen is the head of the supply-collecting group. She''s no longer that little princess who needs protection. What are you gonna¡­"


    He didn''t finish his question, but looked at Chen Hao.


    "It''s okay. We''re not gonna do anything to them. We''re only going to do something and make them suspect Lu Tong. We can''t hurt Lu Tong directly, and he will never leave the base. So, we might as well let the people who run the base deal with him," said Chen Hao with cold laughter. What came out of his eyes was the intention of killing.


    "What should we do then? Boss, what do you have in your mind? We''d be screwed if we got exposed," said the man with concern. He didn''t want to support Chen Hao, but didn''t dare to say that out loud either.


    "We don''t need to do it. We''ll let Wang Jian and his men do it. We just need to make some secret moves," Chen Hao gave a wicked grin, then crooked his finger and signaled for his subordinate to bring an ear near him. "Come here and let me tell you about it. We need to find out a way to bring Lin Feng''s daughter¡­"


    While Chen Hao was whispering to his subordinate about the plan, Lin Qiao was escorted to Lin Hao''s place for a check-up by Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen.


    Mrs. Lin was talking to her worryingly, "I didn''t want you to go all the way to Hidden Cloud City Base to attack them, but I knew that you wouldn''t listen to me. Now, you have to think about the baby. You are pregnant. You are now responsible for not only your life, but also the baby''s. If there are any heavy works to do, just let Lin Feng and Tianxing do it¡­"

 760 The Babys Heart Isnst Beating

    Lin Wenwen was also looking at her stomach concernedly. "It''s been a month, yet you still don''t look like a pregnant woman at all," she said, "Is everything alright? Sis¡­ Um, Chief, are you sure that she''s safe?"


    It had been four or five months since Lin Qiao got pregnant, but her lower stomach was still flat. As Lin Qiao was always traveling, Mrs. Lin, who had no work to do, started worrying about her, even though she knew that the baby was special.


    So, once Lin Qiao returned to the base, Mrs. Lin couldn''t help but drag her to Lin Hao''s place for a check-up this time.


    "She is fine, really! She eats and sleeps a lot. She is good!" Lin Qiao felt a little helpless. She knew about her baby the best, yet her family was still worried about her. She didn''t know how to explain to them.


    "You still need to do some regular checking to let Lin Hao know about your condition. Earlier, we didn''t have the devices, but now we do. We need to know how the baby is growing," Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    "Mom is right. You need to listen to Mom and let Lin Hao give you a check-up," Lin Wenwen agreed with Mrs. Lin.


    "Alright, I get it!" Lin Qiao sighed. She had no choice but to listen to them.


    "From now on, you should come here to let Lin Hao give you a checking every time you return from work. This is not only for you, but also for the baby," said Mrs. Lin earnestly.


    Lin Hao was ready for a while. Once Lin Qiao arrived at his place, he asked her to lift her top and expose her lower belly.


    Lin Qiao didn''t feel awkward, as she was facing her own little brother. With the serious attitude of a doctor, Lin Hao carefully observed her womb through the b-ultrasonic scanner.


    The image in the screen surprised Lin Hao. After printing the result, he pointed at a small spot on it and started talking.


    "Look, this is the baby. It seems that she has just gotten through the embryogenesis, and entered the development phase. Normally, this phase starts in the fourth month of the pregnancy. Some people call it ''the end of the critical stage''. The baby is of a normal size like any healthy baby. But, her growth is a bit too slow. Sister, you and that man¡­ Eh, you did it in October last year, right?" After explaining the baby''s condition, Lin Hao glanced at Lin Qiao and asked a question.


    Lin Qiao sat up and adjusted her clothes, then took over the paper. Looking at the tiny spot, her heart was filled with warmth that made her not help but curve her lips in a smile. However, the smile on her face faded the moment she heard Lin Hao''s question. "Emm," she nodded and responded.


    Lin Hao looked at her with a strong curiosity and asked, "Who on earth is he? When will you tell us? You''re not gonna wait until the father came to us for the baby, are you?"


    ''He is already doing that!''


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes in her heart. But still, she maintained her bland tone and said, "We''ll talk about it if he really has the courage to come to us."


    Lin Hao rolled his eyes the same way as Lin Qiao would, then responded with, "Don''t tell me that he doesn''t know about the baby yet? Aren''t you going to tell him?"


    "This baby isn''t the same as normal babies¡­" Lin Qiao put a hand on her belly while her eyes glowed with a soft light.


    Hearing her, Lin Hao wore a cold look and replied with, "Are you worrying that he might not want the baby?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at him but stayed silent. Currently, she couldn''t even tell if the baby would be a human or a zombie.


    "If that''s the case, I think you are doing the right thing," said Lin Hao with a faint, cold light in his eyes. Then, he frowned slightly and continued, "The baby''s¡­ The baby''s heart isn''t beating."


    A normal fetus would have a heartbeat at the age of fifty or sixty days. Lin Qiao was pregnant for months, so the baby''s heart should have started beating long ago. However, Lin Hao didn''t heart her heartbeat just now.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Qiao paused briefly, then fixed her eyes on Lin Hao.


    "It''s okay, relax! Even though the baby doesn''t have a heartbeat, she still seems healthy. But, we need to wait longer to see about her development. Normally, the fetal heart will form before the other parts. Your baby has already entered the development stage, so the heartbeat¡­ Maybe, it''s because of you," Lin Hao tried to explain, but he also had a confused look on his face.


    He didn''t understand why the baby didn''t have a heartbeat. He didn''t major in obstetrics. He read a lot of relevant books for Lin Qiao, but currently, he only had some basic knowledge in that sphere.


    Currently, the baby was growing slowly but endlessly. That was a good thing at the end.


    "Your condition is going for the better. We just don''t know when she will be born," Lin Hao comforted Lin Qiao while trying to change the topic.


    Lin Qiao nodded and sighed with relief. However, deep down, she felt a little lost, for the fact that the baby didn''t have a heartbeat.


    Would her heart never beat? So, Viney might be born as a child who had no heartbeat. Would she be a zombie?


    As they came out of the room, Mrs. Lin and Lin Wenwen hurriedly walked up and asked Lin Hao about the baby eagerly, "How''s it going? Is the baby okay?"


    Lin Hao glanced at Lin Qiao. As the latter nodded silently, he said to Mrs. Lin, "Mom, the baby is fine. She''s just growingly much slower than normal babies. So, we can''t tell when she will be born. Based on what we know now, she has just entered the development state. Normal babies mostly take three months to enter that stage, yet this baby took five. A normal baby would be born in six months from that stage. According to that, we''ll probably need to wait for ten months. Well of course, that is only a guess of mine. We still need to wait and see when exactly she will come to this world."


    Lin Hao didn''t tell Mrs. Lin about the heartbeat, but only mentioned the positive facts about the baby.


    "So, the pregnancy will last fifteen months in total? And, the baby is developing much slower than normal babies?" Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Qiao''s flat belly with confusion while murmuring to herself.


    "I see! Good¡­ as long as the baby will be born safely!" Mrs. Lin sighed with relief, then continued with, "Are they both okay?"


    Lin Hao nodded and said, "Chief is perfectly healthy, and so is the baby."


    "Good, good!" Mrs. Lin finally stopped worrying.


    "Alright, I''ve done the checking! Let''s head back¡­ Lin Hao needs to work. The medical department is busy now," While speaking, Lin Qiao gently put an arm around Mrs. Lin''s shoulder and brought her out of Lin Hao''s office.


    But then, she suddenly recalled that she had read from a report earlier saying that one among the second batch of commoners from Hades Base was having his superpower waking up.


    She stopped walking, then turned to asked Lin Hao, "Where is the man who is still triggering his superpower?"

 761 The Cure Of Superpower-awakening Condition

    "In the isolation ward for the people who are awakening their powers."


    "Let''s go there and take a look," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Hao nodded, then guided her toward the isolated area.


    "You guys can head back. I''ll be careful," Lin Qiao turned and said to Mrs. Lin. After leaving Lin Hao''s office, Lin Qiao stopped talking to Mrs. Lin about the baby, as some other people were around them.


    Mrs. Lin nodded as she understood Lin Qiao''s meaning. She had no idea why the latter wanted to see the man who was triggering a new superpower, but didn''t try to interfere.


    Lin Qiao gave Lin Wenwen a glance. The latter nodded knowingly, then held her mother''s hand and brought her away.


    "How''s that man doing now?" Lin Qiao looked straight as she walked side by side with Lin Hao while asking the question. Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, who were guarding by the door of Lin Hao''s office, now followed behind the two of them silently.


    "We brought down his fever slightly by using your lake water in these couple of days, but his body temperature is still high, nearly fifty degrees. It''s a lot better than before though. Can he really awake his power in this way? Will the lake water suppress his power?" Lin Hao looked at Lin Qiao and said uncertainly.


    Some people failed to awake their superpowers because the long-lasting fever damaged their body functions. Their powers might wake up after that, but the damages that had happened to their bodies were irreversible.


    When they finally attained superpowers, their bodies were already broken. Broken bodies could not withstand the energies, and would end up exploding or combusting, or ending in some other destructive states.


    Recently, no new superpowered people had emerged in All Beings Base. Lin Qiao''s lake water had helped Lin Xiaolu and Ling Ling with the awakening of their superpowers by bringing down their fever and helping them wake up their powers successfully. It hadn''t been used on adults, so Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if it would help adults in the same way.


    "Let''s first have a look," said Lin Qiao.


    They walked to the isolated area and saw the guards by the door, as well as a young man who was also a commoner.


    Seeing Lin Qiao and the others, the young man hurriedly stood up from the chair that he was sitting in.


    "Doctor Lin, ca-can he awaken his power successfully?" The young man was aware that the question he asked was actually meaningless. However, asking that question made him feel better.


    Everybody knew that whether a person could successfully awaken a superpower depended on his or her body condition. No one else could help that person with it, no matter how much they wanted to.


    "Let''s just wait for now. He is in a stable condition so far, and his body is working in a healthy way. There isn''t a big problem so far. Oh, are you his family?" Lin Hao comforted the young man.


    "No. We looked for each other on our way here¡­" The young man shook his head.


    Lin Hao nodded, but didn''t say anything else.


    As Lin Hao stopped talking, the young man noticed the three ladies by his side.


    He knew Duan Juan, but not Lin Qiao and Shen Yujen. However, as Lin Qiao was walking side by side with Lin Hao before Duan Juan, who used to be the head of the Chief''s guards in Hades Base, the young man figured that she was someone important. Therefore, he quietly stepped backward.


    Lin Qiao noticed the young man''s movement, but didn''t pay much attention to it. Instead, she directly walked toward the ward. The guards by the door opened the door for her while she was still at a distance away.


    As Lin Qiao and her people walked into the door, the young man carefully moved up to a guard and asked with curiosity, "Is the lady beside Doctor Lin our Chief?"


    The guard gave him a glance, then nodded and responded with a smile, "Yes¡­ You are lucky to actually see our Chief."


    Hearing that, the young man popped her eyes with surprise. He had just made a guess, not expecting it to be right.


    He nodded and said, "I am lucky to see our Chief indeed! She''s young¡­"


    She looked only in her twenties.


    Lin Qiao had a strong vibe. Without make-up, she now looked much younger than the old Lu Tianyu.


    The isolation wards had enhanced protective provisions to prevent energy explosion. Lin Qiao and the others looked into the ward through the glass window.


    "I heard that he was dying earlier. He had a bad flu and high fever, added with the fact that he was starved for days. Before arriving at our base, he had nothing but water for days. However, his power started awakening before he died. I wonder if he''s really lucky or if he was never meant to die," Lin Hao told Lin Qiao about that man''s condition with great interests.


    She stood behind the window as she slightly narrowed her eyes to observe that man. The others were only able to see the numbers on the devices, but she could see the energy flows inside the man''s body.


    She saw streams of blue energy flowing all over the man''s body and gathering in his brain.


    The blue energy was mixing together with a green type of energy, which was familiar to Lin Qiao. The green energy seemed to have been slowing the blue energy down. An energy nucleus hadn''t been formed in the man''s brain, but it would sooner or later. As for explosion or self-ignition, that would not happen based on the current condition of that man.


    "He''s doing fine. If I''m right, he''ll have an energy nucleus in two or three days. I think his power is ice," Lin Qiao opened her eyes and said.


    "Eh? Can you see what condition he''s in? Can you even tell what type of power he will have?" Lin Hao looked at her with surprise.


    "I can see the colors of energies inside the bodies of all superpowered people, including him. I, your Chief, am much more powerful than before." While speaking, Lin Qiao abruptly turned and smilingly patted Lin Hao on his shoulder.


    Lin Hao looked at her silently, without knowing what to say. Duan Juan also silently looked at her boss, who appeared to be very confident now.


    Shen Yujen looked at Lin Qiao with admiration in her eyes, although she didn''t really understand what her words meant.


    "Send a detailed report about his condition to my office," Lin Qiao turned and left with Duan Juan and Shen Yujen while talking.


    Now, she was sure that her lake water was highly helpful for humans, especially for the awakening of their superpowers. Thinking about that, she sighed with relief.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Lin Hao responded.


    As she had no more work to do in the medical department, Lin Qiao returned to the hotel. She smelled Wu Chengyue and his daughter from her office before she even walked inside.


    She knitted her brows and felt her teeth start aching again.


    "I understand that you don''t have a lot of work to do around here, but you don''t need always come to my office, right? Aren''t you tired?" Lin Qiao walked in and expressionlessly glanced at Wu Chengyue, who was sitting on the couch.


    Wu Yueling happily rushed to Lin Qiao like always. The chubby rabbit was held in her arms.


    Before Wu Chengyue raised his head and responded to her, Lin Qiao gave a glance to the rabbit in the little girl''s arms, then suddenly changed the topic, "Oh, this rabbit is fat enough. We can kill it for meat now!"


    Wu Yueling paused all of a sudden.


    The rabbit in her arms seemed to be shocked as well.


    Wu Chengyue, who was going to talk to her, put on a speechless look on his face¡­

 762 If You Donst Like Me

    "Look how nervous you are. I was kidding!" Lin Qiao glanced at the little girl with a smile, then moved toward her desk.


    At that point, Wu Yueling wore a struggling face. She looked at the rabbit, then at Lin Qiao. After that, she blinked and put the fat rabbit on the ground, then walked to Lin Qiao.


    "Why don''t you go to Huaxia Base? You might be able to make yourself a pretty good deal this time," Lin Qiao sat into her chair. Instead of jumping into work, she folded her arms before her chest and leaned against the back of her chair while asking Wu Chengyue a question.


    Wu Chengyue detected her strong desire for making him leave from her words. She really wanted him to leave as soon as possible. As for whether he would head to Huaxia or not, she didn''t care.


    "Am I repulsive to you?" He stopped smiling, and his eyes which were normally narrowed were now wide open. With no expression on his face, he asked Lin Qiao a question straightforwardly. His eyes did hold a meaningful look though.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t expecting a question like that. After a short and subtle change of expression, she looked straight into his eyes and responded, "Not repulsive. But, I can''t say that I like you. In fact, I want to ask you why you proposed to me. Don''t tell me that it''s because of Viney. You should know that she will not be a normal child. We don''t even know what she will be, and how she will look like. I don''t think there is a good chance for her to come out as a human being."


    She was trying to tell him that the baby was certainly a special creature. Wu Chengyue was a healthy man, and a leader of a base. Raising a special child would affect him largely.


    Would the residents of his base ever tolerate their leader raising a child who might be a zombie or something like that?


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the door. The door was closed, meaning that no one would hear their conversation.


    She looked at Lin Qiao and said, "No matter what she''ll become like, she has my genes, and she is my child. If I can''t even protect my child, what am I? Why would I want to be a base leader like that?"


    Without the smile, he looked much more serious than usual, and his handsome face radiated a sharp vibe. His eyes were toned with composure, yet were also shining with a dangerous light.


    He frowned slightly, his eyes fixed on Lin Qiao.


    "Eh¡­ Even if you want to be responsible for the baby, as I have said, you can do that in many other ways. You don''t have to marry me for that. What''s the point of marrying a woman that you don''t even like?" Lin Qiao looked at him and said blandly.


    "Who said I''m marrying a woman that I don''t like? Besides, you got to let Viney have a father, right?" Wu Chengyue''s heart leaped slightly. The smile came back onto his face as he continued.


    The sharp vibe from him quickly vanished as the cunning smile returned to his face.


    "You don''t even like me, yet you''re asking to marry me. Am I wrong? As for Viney, I didn''t say that you can''t be her father. If she wants to call you father, I''ll be fine with it," Lin Qiao said, still in a bland tone.


    Wu Chengyue fell into silence and only looked at her with a faint smile.


    Lin Qiao looked back at his smiling face and raised her eyebrows, looking at him with no expression and without saying anything.


    The eye-contact lasted for a short while. After that, Wu Chengyue abruptly stood up and slowly walked to Lin Qiao''s desk, then bent over slightly and put both hands on her desk to support his upper body. Then, he lowered his face to look down at Lin Qiao while shortening the distance between him and her.


    Lin Qiao watched his handsome face come closer without drawing back at all. Yet, her temples beat slightly.


    Earlier on when Lin Qiao said that he was asking to marry a woman that he didn''t even like, he subconsciously denied. Somehow, he didn''t want to agree with that.


    Why would he pay so much attention to her if he didn''t like her? If he had no feelings for her, why wouldn''t he mind the fact that she raped him, and that she was a zombie?


    Before, he thought that he was only interested in her, and that he just wanted to know more about her. However, some things in his heart changed after they had their second sex. Meanwhile, he longed for her. He had tasted her and he could never stop wanting more. He often recalled how they had sex twice, and the pleasure that he had sensed. That was why he had been trying to bring her to himself, by using the baby as an excuse.


    His heart flipped when Lin Qiao said what she said, and then he figured out something immediately.


    While smiling, he put his face near Lin Qiao''s. An indescribable light shone out of his crescent-like eyes, straight into Lin Qiao''s green eyes.


    He curved his pretty lips and said with a soft voice, "Perhaps I don''t know what ''like'' really means yet. But I do know that currently, this part of me is already unable to ignore your presence."


    While speaking, he raised his right hand and pointed at his heart. His eyes were still fixed on Lin Qiao''s eyes as he was trying to grasp her emotions.


    Lin Qiao slightly widened her eyes; some emotions did escape those eyes.


    At first, she looked at him with confusion. Then, she started feeling surprised. After that, she slightly narrowed her eyes and smiled.


    Without being swayed at all, she said, "No way! Chief Wu, are you saying that you''re in love with a female zombie who¡­ eh, raped you? Think about what I did before. I suppose I was hateful back then, wasn''t I?"


    Wu Chengyue stood straight and dropped his hands as he looked at her smilingly and gently. "I might be spending my entire life alone if you didn''t rape me. I think I need to thank you for that," he said, "No matter who you were, I only want you for who you are."


    Lin Qiao shivered under the gentle smile from his eyes. She couldn''t help rubbing her arms to ease the gooseflesh while responding with dislike, "Are you a masochist? I''m sorry for what I did before¡­ Well, I think my mind wasn''t clear before. I have forgotten about all that. So Chief Wu, please forget about it as well."


    Lin Qiao was talking about the fact that Lu Tianyu raped him. She didn''t do that actually! Why on earth did she have to face it after such a long time?


    "You wish! After our second time, you said that we can call it even, but I didn''t agree! So, I think it''s not bad for us to be together. Just accept my proposal, will you?" Wu Chengyue looked at her smilingly, then pointed at Wu Yueling and continued, "And Ling Ling always wants you to live with us. Right Ling Ling?"


    After saying that, he shamelessly winked at Wu Yueling right before Lin Qiao''s eyes.


    Wu Yueling immediately raised her head and nodded quickly at Lin Qiao, looking at her expectantly with a pair of large and sparkling eyes.

 763 There Is A Long Way to Go

    Lin Qiao silently looked at Wu Yueling, then gave Wu Chengyue a glance. It was not the first time he shamelessly used the little girl as an excuse. Why did he bring Ling Ling into the conversation every time he felt that he couldn''t convince her?


    What made Lin Qiao felt even more speechless was what happened next.


    ''I want Daddy to sleep together with Zombie Mommy!''


    The cute little girl looked at Lin Qiao and said a few words in her heart. Those words almost caused Lin Qiao to fail at expression management.


    "What weird thoughts have you been putting into Ling Ling''s head?" Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue with discontent.


    "What do you mean by weird thoughts? She is my daughter. Of course, I''ll only put healthy thoughts into her mind," Wu Chengyue responded smilingly. While waving at Ling Ling, he looked at Lin Qiao and continued, "You seem to be able to read her mind. Apart from me, you''re the only one who can do that."


    "Why is she thinking about me sleeping with you¡­ Eh, I mean, the three of us sleeping together? Who told her about that? Would that thought just pop up in her mind?" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and complained.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with surprise, then at Wu Yueling. Was the little girl thinking so straightforwardly?


    Wu Yueling walked to her father and pulled his trousers while looking up at him.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly scooped her up, then said to Lin Qiao, "Ling Ling only wants a mother. Besides, it''s normal or mommy and daddy to sleep together, isn''t it? Why is that a weird thought? I''m not going to give up. You should make yourself ready."


    Having finished talking, she walked to the couch and sat back down with a smile. Once again, Lin Qiao felt how shameless Wu Chengyue could be.


    Right at that moment, someone knocked on the door.


    "Get in," Lin Qiao unfolded her arms and sat straight as she started looking at the files on her desk while answering to the door in a bland tone.


    The door was opened. The man who came into the office wasn''t under Lin Qiao''s command.


    Xiao Licheng nodded at Lin Qiao, then looked at his Chief.


    Wu Chengyue gave him a glance, then stood up from the couch and said, "Alright, Chief Lu! Since you have work to do, we''ll not keep bothering you."


    Then, he held Wu Yueling''s hand and headed outside.


    Wu Yueling turned to glance at Lin Qiao. A smile abruptly emerged from her little face, but soon faded.


    Lin Qiao and Xiao Licheng both rolled their eyes. He was inside her office, yet he shamelessly talked about not bothering her.


    ''What the hell!'' Lin Qiao complained to herself, ''He came in, let out some strange words, then said that he won''t keep bothering me. I don''t know anyone else who''s as thick-skinned as him!''


    Wu Chengyue believed that he did like Lin Qiao. If he didn''t, why would he want to marry her? At first, he was attracted to her because it was suspicious that she was so different from before. However, as he started paying attention to her, he found her so charming because of her decisiveness, strong vibe, and purely dark zombie eyes, and how she calmly and firmly protected every single person or zombie on her side.


    She was cold, resolute, and protective; yet, she did not know how to deal with children. She had no fear of the enemies, yet always fell into Ling Ling''s little traps. Every time that happened, he found the zombie lady rather adorable.


    He cared about her, but didn''t know when that turned into the likeness. He had a vague feeling that it started when Viney entrapped both of them. After that time, his feelings started to change slowly.


    He often thought about Lin Qiao''s beautiful waist, her smooth and strong zombie skin, and the helpless look on her face when she was enduring the pain. Even picturing that image aroused him and warmed his blood.


    But soon, he sighed. She was not slow-minded, and was vigilant against him. When was he able to do that with her again? He kept fantasizing about her, and his hands could barely satisfy him.


    "She is so alert against me. What do I have to do to get into her heart? Helping her isn''t gonna work. I want her to like me, not thank me. With all the efforts I''ve made, I actually ended up like some guy with some kind of bad intentions," Wu Chengyue walked out of Lin Qiao''s office, then said to Xiao Licheng.


    "How am I supposed to know? I''ve never chased a girl before," Xiao Licheng shrugged.


    "I guess there''s still a long way to go for me," Wu Chengyue sighed with disappointment. Somehow, he felt that he would have to spend a lot of time and energy to finally bring her home.


    He didn''t plan to give up though. He had time, and he was willing to try and figure out a way into her heart! If there was no shortcut to go, he was willing to leave it to time.


    "Oh, why are you here?" Wu Chengyue stopped walking as he finally thought of work.


    "I heard something new from Huaxia Base," said Xiao Licheng.


    "What''s new? It''s just a zombie emperor, isn''t it? Huaxia is such a powerful base, and now they have Gao Haoyun. Can''t they deal with it?" Wu Chengyue held Wu Yueling''s hand and said while walking.


    "It''s about the zombie emperor. I received a message, saying that after the massive zombie attack, strong lightning strikes fell from time to time aimlessly. The range and time of those thunder strikes are both unpredictable. The thunder-powered zombie emperor appears to be very agitated now," said Xiao Licheng.


    "So?" Wu Chengyue turned his head and gave Xiao Licheng a glance while waiting for the rest of the speech.


    "So, based on that, a large number of zombies are now gathering toward Huaxia Base. The first batch of zombies will follow the emperor to Huaxia Base from Heilong Base, and the second batch would be from near Huaxia Base. We have also detected that more zombies have been gathering toward Huaxia Base from the surrounding cities. The number of those zombies¡­ I''m afraid¡­" Xiao Licheng wore a serious face while finishing his speech.


    "The surrounding cities?" Wu Chengyue stopped moving and looked at Xiao Licheng to confirm the information with him. If the zombies in a couple of cities gathered together, things would be a lot more complicated than just a massive zombie attack. The number of zombies would go higher than ten million.


    "Yes. The zombies in the cities near Huaxia Base seem to have been summoned. They are now all moving toward Huaxia Base. We weren''t sure about that at first, but after two days of observation, we can now say that for sure," Xiao Licheng nodded and said certainly.


    Wu Chengyue''s smile faded from his face. He blinked and said, "In that case, Huaxia Base will be in huge trouble. Does that have anything to do with the zombie emperor?"


    Xiao Licheng responded, "I think so. On the emperor''s way to Huaxia, the army behind him never stopped growing.

 764 I Have No Such Obligation

    Wu Chengyue fell into silence. A short while later, he said, "I guess there''s a problem with this zombie emperor."


    Xiao Licheng looked at him and asked, "Are we going to¡­ Huaxia Base, or not?"


    If what he said was real, the zombie emperor might really become a threat for the mankind as Huaxia Base people said. If they underestimated the zombie emperor, their base would be in danger. They couldn''t let the number of human bases reduce after all.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a second, then turned and headed back.


    "She might have more detailed information than you do," he said.


    Soon, Xiao Licheng followed Wu Chengyue back to the door of Lin Qiao''s office. The latter smilingly looked at Shen Yujen and Duan Juan, who were guarding the door, and said to them, "There''s one other thing that I forgot to ask your Chief about just now. Please?"


    Duan Juan made eye-contact with Shen Yujen, then gave a glance to Xiao Licheng, who was behind Wu Chengyue. After that, she turned and knocked on the door.


    "Come in," Lin Qiao''s bland voice was heard.


    Duan Juan opened the door for Wu Chengyue. Xiao Licheng glanced at Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, then stood beside the former.


    "Your Chief is really difficult," Duan Juan looked straight expressionlessly and abruptly said a few words with a low voice.


    "This time, it''s about something serious," After a short silence, Xiao Licheng responded, also with a low voice.


    Duan Juan gave him a sideways glance without saying anything.


    Lin Qiao stared at Wu Chengyue who left but then came back, but didn''t say a word.


    "There''s something that I think you need to know¡­ It''s about Mo Yan. He has destroyed Heilong Base, so Huaxia Base will be next. How good is the chance you think he''ll succeed?" Wu Chengyue walked to the window that was by the side of Lin Qiao''s desk and glanced outside the window while speaking. Then, he turned and leaned against the window frame as he looked at Lin Qiao.


    "He is a zombie emperor. He''s much more powerful than I am. He can easily summon and control ten million zombies. As for the chance, it''s hard to say. Huaxia Base has a very strong fence wall and shield, and so many weapons. Those aren''t just for decoration," Lin Qiao rolled the pen in her hand while responding.


    "You''re right. But, if they really have to face millions of zombies, their bullets are going to run out at some point, right? If he even breaks the Huaxia Base, will Mongols Base be the next?" said Wu Chengyue.


    If Huaxia Base fell, not to mention Mongols Base, even Sea City Base and Sky Fire Base wouldn''t be able to hold for long. All bases would fall under the threat of the zombie emperor.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "What? Are you changing your mind? Are you going to Huaxia to help?"


    "Don''t you feel that something is wrong with the zombie emperor?" Wu Chengyue asked without answering Lin Qiao''s question.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "So what? It has nothing to do with me."


    "If Huaxia Base, Mongols Base, and Sky Fire Base are all destroyed, do you think your place and mine will survive him?" said Wu Chengyue.


    "I don''t have the obligation to save the mankind. But, if he does come back here, I won''t let him do what he wants," said Lin Qiao.


    "So, you think Mo Yan has a good chance of destroying Huaxia Base, right? You seem to have seen how the other bases ended," Wu Chengyue looked at her face and made a guess. From her words, he detected that she knew about Mo Yan''s condition. It seemed that Huaxia Base would fall into a very bad situation.


    "Who knows what''ll happen in the future? Based on the present situation, I think Mo Yan is going to make a big move. I don''t know if Huaxia Base can survive it. It''s none of my business anyway. If you can''t bear watching it happen and want to help, you should go as soon as you can," Lin Qiao replied carelessly, then lowered her head and went back into her work.


    With a faint smile, Wu Chengyue spread his hands and said, "That''s none of my business, and I don''t have the obligation to save mankind either. I''ll just keep my Sea City Base safe and stable."


    After saying that, he turned and left with Wu Yueling. Duan Juan and Shen Yujen watched him leave.


    "Pay close attention to Huaxia Base''s recent situation, and also Mo Yan''s." Walking out of Lin Qiao''s office, Wu Chengyue stopped smiling and frowned slightly as he said to Xiao Licheng.


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng nodded.


    For the next few days, Lin Qiao stayed in the base to deal with all kinds of work while upgrading the zombies in her space. Yuan Tianxing had been the one managing the farm and the human base. However, the endless work was keeping him too busy.


    Ever since Lin Qiao refused him, he decided to focus on work until he died.


    Lin Wenwen often looked at him from distance away. She never got close to him to bother him while he was working, but every time when got so exhausted that he lay his head on the desk and fell asleep, she would put a blanket on him and then leave quietly.


    The other departments had been handing Lin Qiao the lists of the supplies that they needed. Lin Qiao would go through those lists, select those urgently needed supplies, then make a new list and give it to Lin Feng. After that, Lin Feng would take his people out of the base to collect those supplies. Normally, he would spend about half a month out there, and he was also getting too busy to come home.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng were sent out to carry missions too. Under their leadership, some zombie kings and queens from the base went out to collect energy nuclei. They went in different directions, each having three level-six zombies under their command.


    Gao Haoyun joined Huaxia Base, but no other bases offered help. Currently, they were fighting against the endless zombies purely with their own people and weapons. Dead zombies piled up against their fence wall. Fire-powered people burn them into ashes, but that couldn''t stop the other zombies from rushing up and try to climb up the wall.


    At first, Huaxia Base people exhibited their strong military force and launched their powerful weapons. The zombie crowd was crushed by long-range weapons even before they reached the clearing surrounding the wall.


    However, about half a month after the beginning, their defense began turning less intense. As the zombies rushed into the clearing, all kinds of machine guns were fired.


    Lin Qiao had still been building her base with all the patience. The fence wall on the human side was done by ninety-five percent. When it was completed, the other half of the wall would start to be constructed.


    As the base had some new members, the construction work grew more efficient than before.


    The other bases had all been paying attention to Huaxia Base. Except for Lin Qiao, the sense of crisis that the leaders of the other bases felt had increased with the situation of Huaxia Base going downhill.


    Some Mongols Base people had already started to run away from their base.


    At that point, a zombie dominator who lived in Lin Qiao''s space currently finally decided to tell her about something that was buried in his mind all the time, after spending such a long time observing Lin Qiao.

 765 Lin Kuis Worry

    "Eh? You have a sister? Why didn''t you tell me earlier?" Lin Qiao sat on a couch in her space house and turned to say to Lin Kui with surprise.


    Lin Kui sat on the other couch as he looked at her silently.


    Lin Qiao immediately figured it out. "Oh, alright!" she said, "You didn''t trust me, did you? Or, did you worry that I might find your sister and use her to threaten you? I understand! You didn''t know me well after all. It''s reasonable for you to be vigilant against me."


    Lin Kui did stay vigilant against her. He was grateful to her because she saved him from Huaxia Base. But in spite of that, he could not trust her completely.


    He had a family, and that was his secret. He didn''t dare tell anyone about her, because he didn''t want to bring her into trouble.


    She was his sister, three years older than him.


    Lin Kui had observed Lin Qiao and found that she was actually a nice zombie lady. She was not a very kind soul, but she had her bottom line and principles.


    Especially this time, she fixed the throats of a good number of zombies, including him.


    He was curious about her. Having two types of power at the same time was already a rare thing for, but apart from her space and the devouring power with that dark fire, she also had great healing power that allowed her to heal both humans and zombies!


    She was ridiculously powerful!


    "Before I got caught, my sister lived in Huaxia Base alone. I could only sneak into Huaxia Base to see her. One time when I got out of that base, some Huaxia Base people saw me. That''s how I became a target," said Lin Kui with a deep and dry voice.


    "Does your sister know about your condition?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    "No. She thought I died since the day I became a zombie," Lin Kui dropped his eyes slightly. His deep voice sounded even more depressed than before.


    Lin Qiao looked at him. In fact, he looked very young, only about twenty-one years old. However, he had a mature presence. Nothing but his appearance stopped growing when he died.


    "Did you become a zombie when the apocalypse came? Are you the first generation?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    Lin Kui nodded.


    "Is your sister still in Huaxia Base now?" Lin Qiao blinked and thought of Huaxia Base''s current situation.


    "I don''t know. I haven''t heard anything from her since I got caught. She''s most likely still in Huaxia Base," Lin Kui raised his head to look at Lin Qiao. His dark eyes which looked like the eyes of a cat showed a trace of confusion and helplessness.


    "Thankfully, you are telling me about this now. Do you know about the current situation of Huaxia Base?" Lin Qiao sighed as she kept looking at him. "Mo Yan is becoming very dangerous," she continued, "Not long ago, he started a massive zombie attack and destroyed Heilong Base. Now, he''s attacking Huaxia Base. Huaxia Base has asked the other bases for help, but no one will help them until the last second."


    Hearing that, Lin Kui popped his eyes and stared at Lin Qiao as he asked her, "What? Mo Yan is attacking Huaxia Base? When did that happen? Why?"


    He knew who Mo Yan was. That was the zombie emperor that he saw the last time.


    He never thought that the zombie emperor would destroy Heilong Base and then attack the biggest base in the country. He was aware of how powerful a zombie emperor could be. At the very least, he was able to summon countless zombies. Huaxia Base had a strong wall and a lot of weapons, but those weapons would run out of bullets someday; by then, Huaxia Base would be in danger.


    If Huaxia Base were in danger, so would his sister be!


    "He is just taking revenge. Many Heilong Base people owed it to him. Gao Haoyun is one of his enemies. He ran to Huaxia Base and led Mo Yan there. Also, something seems to be wrong with Mo Yan. I just don''t know what a zombie emperor might do when he loses control of himself," Lin Qiao also wore a serious face.


    She couldn''t even imagine how devastating a zombie emperor with lightning power could be when he lost control.


    Lin Qiao thought of that possibility and so did Lin Kui, which caused him to panic.


    "No, I have to find my sister right now! Miss. Lu, please let me out!" He was so nervous that he didn''t even realize that his panther ears and tail had popped out. His tail was wagging quickly, making him seem very uneasy.


    "You can''t get into Huaxia Base," Lin Qiao looked at him and reminded him, "Currently, Huaxia Base is surrounded by zombies. They are now guarding the base strictly. It''s not easy for you to sneak in."


    "What should I do?" He looked at Lin Qiao anxiously.


    "Calm down! If you want to get into that base, I can just enter the place by helicopter on behalf of the All Beings Base," Lin Qiao comforted him.


    Of course, she did not have helicopters. If she needed one, she would have to borrow it from someone else. As for whom would she borrow it from¡­ Well, that man was in her base right now, wasn''t he? Even though she really didn''t want to have too many interactions with that man, it was hard for her to avoid him, as there were always some Chief businesses that required them to communicate with each other.


    Wu Chengyue was staying in her base shamelessly. Occasionally, Xiao Yunlong would send over someone and bring him back to Sea City Base for a couple of days. When that happened, Lin Qiao would feel a little relieved. But before she was completely relaxed, Wu Chengyue would come back from Sea City Base.


    Now, almost the whole world knew that Wu Chengyue was pursuing her.


    "Are you going too?" Lin Kui looked at her with surprise". He thought that it was his own business, and he would do it alone.


    "Yeah," Lin Qiao nodded. According to what she had heard about Mo Yan recently, his condition was turning more and more dangerous. She pondered over it and decided to go and see Mo Yan in person. She would like to see where the situation would go. If it went in a bad way, she would make a move for the future safety of the All Beings Base.


    She didn''t care about the people from Heilong Base, Huaxia Base, and the other bases. However, she couldn''t let anything that might threaten her own base keep growing stronger.


    So, after so many days of consideration, Lin Qiao changed her mind again. She decided to bring a group of powerful beings to Huaxia Base and see what was happening there.


    "When will we go?" Lin Kui looked at Lin Qiao delightedly. With her help, things would be so much easier.


    "I''m going to do some preparations now," said Lin Qiao, "You stay here. It won''t be long." After saying that, she stood up and disappeared.


    After exiting her space, she immediately summoned Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, and told them to gather Yuan Tianxing and the other senior base managers for a meeting.


    In the meeting, she systematically assigned the work that would need to be done after she left to those base administrators. Yuan Tianxing, Chen Yuting, and some others had heard about the recent news, so they weren''t surprised to hear that Lin Qiao was going to leave the base.

 766 The Kids Are Missing

    Right at the time, Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong had gone missing.


    When Lin Qiao brought Duan Juan and her people back from Hades Base, she also brought back a group of kids. After settling down in the new base, those kids often played with Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong.


    But today, when they were playing in the playground of the school, Tongtong was missing. The other kids looked for him everywhere. Not long after that, Lin Xiaolu went missing as well. So, the group of kids immediately told the adults about that.


    At that moment, both Lin Feng and Lin Wenwen were outside, collecting resources. Mrs. Lin and Cheng Wangxue were looking after the children. As the two kids went missing, she immediately sent people to search across the base, also to inform Lin Qiao about it.


    Liu Jun wasn''t in the base, working on the farm in Mount Wu area. While she was catching bugs in the field, she saw a zombie king ran over from the base.


    It was the zombie boy. He quickly ran up to Liu Jun and said to her, "Chief wants you back. Tongtong¡­ is missing."


    The zombie boy''s voice sounded like two rocks rubbing against each other, very unpleasant. However, he was able to express himself clearly.


    "What? Tell me again, Four," Liu Jun stood up as she looked at him, failing to process his words.


    Lin Qiao named her zombies with numbers at first. The zombie boy was number four, so the other zombies called him Four currently. They would be calling him that before he remembered his real name.


    "Chief said that Tongtong is missing," Four looked at her and repeated the message.


    Hearing that, Liu Jun''s expression changed. She instantly rushed toward the base, leaving the other zombies looking at each other with confusion. Four followed behind her as well.


    As Lin Qiao arrived at the school, people were searching all over the school for Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong.


    Lin Qiao stood on top of the tallest building in the school with a fierce look in her eyes. No one was able to find people more quickly than she does. She sniffed around, then flashed toward one direction.


    Soon, she showed up near an abandoned, small building that was located a couple of miles away from the school. That building used to be someone''s house. It was empty, dusty, full of trash.


    At that point, someone in the school got a message, saying that a new space possessor had shown up near the playground earlier today while the kids were playing there. He and some other people were pointing at those kids and whispering to each other. Later on, he disappeared, and so did Tongtong.


    "A new space possessor? The level-three one?" Yuan Tianxing looked at the others and asked.


    Lin Qiao and Lin Wenwen were the only two space possessors in the base before. Not long ago, the second batch of Hades Base survivors arrived at the base, and one of them was a level-three space possessor.


    "Go and bring him to me!" Yuan Tianxing immediately gave an order.


    Lu Tong heard door knocks not long after he returned to his flat.


    "Lu Tong, some people want to see you," said one of his flatmates.


    Lu Tong opened his door and asked, "Who wants to see me?"


    The man by his door pointed at the door of the flat. He looked that way and saw two soldiers in the uniforms of All Being Base. For some reason, he had a bad feeling.


    With confusion, he closed his door and walked through the living room to the door of the flat, then asked the two soldiers, "How can I help you?"


    "Are you Lu Tong?" One of the two soldiers looked at him and asked.


    Lu Tong nodded.


    "Please come with us. We need your help." The other soldier said to him in a friendly tone.


    Sensing their attitudes, Lu Tong was aware that he had no choice but to go with them. They were actually being friendly to him. Lu Tong blinked, then nodded and followed the two soldiers out.


    On the other side of the base, Lin Qiao came near that building and turned invisible, then followed the scents she had sensed. Soon, she heard people talking.


    "Damn! We''ve waited for so long. Finally, Lu Tong and those kids happened to be together today. I hope he''ll die this time. The girl''s father is a Deputy Chief. He''ll certainly kill Lu Tong if he knows that it was he who killed his daughter."


    "Yeah. We''ve waited over twenty days for this opportunity. Is there a chance that they might find out that we did it? If they found out that our boss told us to kidnap the kids to frame Lu Tong, we might not have a chance to get out of the base."


    "Don''t say that! Our plan is so perfect. They can''t possibly find out the truth so soon. Even if Lu Tong denies it, the people in the base wouldn''t believe him. We should kill the girl as soon as possible, then leave the base as if nothing happened. We''ll stay in Sea City Base for a while. When our Boss gains a firm foothold in his place, we can come back."


    Some of those people planned to come back one day. Murder wasn''t allowed in human bases, but in fact, one could kill a person and easily get away with it, as long as he or she could keep it secret for a couple of years.


    "Come back? Come back to die? I''m not coming back unless our Boss can become even more powerful than Lin Feng. Otherwise, people will find out the truth one day and we''ll die!"


    "In the worst case, we''ll wait a couple of years more. What is there to be afraid of? People won''t know the truth. Lin Family won''t be able to find out that it was us who did it. Besides, Lu Tong is going to take the blame. They won''t suspect us."


    While Lin Qiao was listening to their plan, Lu Tong had been brought to Yuan Tianxing to answer questions.


    "Your name is Lu Tong, right? I heard that you showed up near here earlier today. May I ask why did you come here?" Du Yuanxing looked straight into Lu Tong''s eyes while asking the question.


    "Near here? I was passing by. That''s all. What''s wrong?" Lu Tong looked at Du Yuanxing confusedly.


    "Someone saw you talking to a few people in this area. What were you talking about?" Du Yuanxing asked another question.


    "What? Talking to a few people? No. I passed by this area alone. I didn''t talk to anyone. What is going on here? You brought me here and asked me these nonsense questions without telling me what happened. How am I supposed to answer these questions?" Lu Tong looked at Du Yuanxing and asked.


    "Tongtong! Where is my Tongtong! Have you found him? Have you found Tongtong?" Liu Jun rushed over, eagerly asking everyone she saw about Tongtong.


    People could easily tell that she was Tongtong''s mother. Liu Jun was wearing cosmetic contacts. The colors of her pupils looked a little strange, yet no one thought about the possibility that she might be a zombie. Therefore, she had been showing up among humans without worries.


    "Liu Jun, they haven''t found Tongtong yet. Xiaolu is missing too! You¡­ Can you try to locate them by tracking their scents?" At that moment, another lady showed up and dragged Liu Jun to the side as she said to her with a low voice.


    That was Cheng Wangxue, who was just as helpless and panicked as Liu Jun was. She forced herself to calm down and looked at Liu Jun expectantly.


    She knew what Liu Jun was a zombie.

 767 How Dare You!

    Liu Jun instantly hopped onto a nearby tree and sniffed at the air.


    Soon, she located her son and Lin Xiaolu by their scents. Without saying any word, she rushed straight toward that area, as she was worried that the two kids might be in danger.


    On the other side of the base, Lin Qiao moved closer to the house as she looked into a window while listening to the conversation of those people. That was a remote area indeed, far away from the base center. People would rarely come to that place, so it was unlikely for them to be found.


    The two kids were tied on a pillar, with their limbs tied up and mouths sealed. Tongtong was so frightened that he couldn''t stop crying. Unlike him, Lin Xiaolu appeared to be rather calm. She coldly looked at the few men around them with cold eyes.


    "This little girl is pretty calm! She''s good-looking. Sadly, she''s too young. I''m not interested in kids!" A man walked up to Lin Xiaolu as he laughed and reached out to touch her smooth and tender cheek.


    Lin Xiaolu turned her face away with disgust to dodge his hand.


    "Indeed. She''d grow into a pretty lady. It''s a shame though that she''s not going to grow up!" Another man leaned against the wall nearby and laughed regretfully.


    At that point, another man ran over and said delightfully, "It''s done. Lu Tong was brought to Yuan Tianxing. He won''t get himself out of this, no matter how he tries to explain."


    "Told you! Our Boss''s plan is smart. Lu Tong and Li Honglin are definitely gonna suffer. They shouldn''t have made our Boss their enemy," said the man who was guarding the two kids.


    Those people thought that Chen Hao wanted Lu Tong dead because Lu Tong made him and his men handle the baits to distract the zombies. They had no idea that the real reason why Chen Hao wanted to kill Lu Tong so much was that the latter knew his secret.


    Lin Qiao leaned against the wall, right beside the man who was talking. She read the minds of those people and learned that their boss was a man named Chen Hao, who was also a superpowered one among the second batch of Hades Base survivors.


    She had heard his name before. Earlier on, she sent Xie Dong to observe those people. Xie Dong had mentioned the names of Lu Tong, Li Honglin, Chen Hao, and Wang Jian to her.


    She wasn''t expecting Chen Hao to try and make use of her family, and even to kill the two kids. That was suicide.


    "How dare you touch the two kids?" A cold voice was suddenly heard among the people.


    "Who is this!" Except for the two kids, everyone on the scene gave a start. They stood up immediately to scan the surroundings with their eyes, becoming fully alert.


    Lin Qiao showed up beside the pillar which the two kids were tied on, looking at those people coldly.


    "Who are you? You better don''t get yourself involved in this!" Seeing her, those people sighed with relief. After all, a visible enemy was way better than an invisible one, not to mention the fact that she was only a woman.


    In front of those people, Lin Qiao swung a finger and released a thin wisp of black smoke. The smoke drifted across the ropes on the two kids'' hands and feet.


    The ropes fell off in the next second and the two kids hurriedly stood up. Lin Xiaolu dragged Tongtong behind Lin Qiao while ripping the tape off her mouth.


    The group of men immediately pulled out their guns and pointed them at Lin Qiao.


    After the apocalypse, guns and many other weapons were no longer controlled. Almost everybody had guns and knives.


    As Lin Qiao waved a hand, a few figured showed up by her sides, wearing camouflage suits and sunglasses.


    "Capture every single one of them. I want them alive," Lin Qiao gave an order, then held the hands of the two kids as she turned and left. The ones that she just brought out of her space were Jingyan, Song, Chong, Pesticide, and two zombie leaders.


    As the zombie squad suddenly showed up, Chen Hao''s men automatically fired their weapons.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! When their bullets were shot out, Lin Qiao''s zombies flashed across the air and disappeared.


    Next, those men had their eyes dazzled, each suffering a heavy strike on the back of their heads. Their guns were brought down, and those people were knocked out even before they could release their powers.


    Jingyan and the other zombies carried those men and followed Lin Qiao, jumping out of the window.


    At that moment, another figure flashed over.


    "Tongtong!" Liu Jun rushed up to Lin Qiao in a panic.


    "Mom!" Tongtong excitedly jumped at his mother once he saw her.


    "Tongtong is fine. He''s just scared." Lin Qiao didn''t say that. It was Lin Xiaolu, who was standing by her side.


    "Good, good! What about you, Xiaolu? Did they hurt you?" Liu Jun scooped Tongtong up and checked him to confirm that he was unharmed. After that, she finally relaxed. She also concernedly asked Lin Xiaolu if she was okay.


    Lin Xiaolu raised her head as she looked at Lin Qiao and laughed, "They wanted to hurt us, but you guys showed up before that!"


    Lin Qiao pointed a finger at her head and said, "Fortunately, they didn''t make a move ahead of schedule. Otherwise, you two would be in danger. Why weren''t you frightened?"


    Lin Xiaolu seemed to be composed the whole time, as if she didn''t worry that those people might hurt her at all.


    "Because I can read their minds. I knew that they wouldn''t kill Tongtong and me so soon. Since they wouldn''t do it so soon, we had time for you guys to come to rescue us!" Lin Xiaolu grinned proudly.


    "You are a smart girl!" Lin Qiao smilingly patted her head, then turned and looked at an unconscious man who as carried in Jingyan''s hand. "Alright, let''s head back. This isn''t over."


    Finishing talking, she waved a hand and brought out a car from her space. She told Liu Jun to get into the backseat with the two kids, then put herself into the driver''s seat and started the car.


    Jingyan and the other zombies each carried a man as they nimbly hopped onto the surrounding buildings, fleetingly moving toward the school.


    ¡­


    "What do you mean? I passed by that area to ask some people for a favor. I didn''t do anything else. Don''t you blame me for something I didn''t do! I didn''t do anything wrong!" Lu Tong was led to a classroom in the school. Only one table was left in the room placed on the platform, while all the other tables had been removed.


    Lu Tong sat down on a chair that was three meters away from the platform. Two soldiers were standing behind him. Du Yuanxing was sitting on the platform with his legs crossed and arms folded. "You said that you were asking some people for a favor. Who were those people? What was that favor? How am I supposed to know if it was a good favor or a bad one if you don''t tell me about it?"


    "What bad thing can I possibly do? I was trying to get my flat switched. I don''t like the one that I''m living in now. Am I not allowed to do that? Is that a bad thing?" Lu Tong whinged with a frown.

 768 Catch the Boss

    "You want to switch your flat? Why? Do you think those commoners aren''t good enough to live with you?" Du Yuanxing looked at them and asked coldly.


    "I just don''t want to live together with Chen Hao!" Lu Tong said as he turned down the corners of his mouth.


    "Chen Hao? Oh, he''s another level-three superpowered man among you. Aren''t you guys together? I thought you were worrying about those commoners. After all, you guys never get along with them," Du Yuanxing said with curiosity.


    "There is a personal issue between him and me. He wants me dead more than Wang Jian and his people do," Lu Tong dropped his eyes slightly. A fierce look was detected from those eyes.


    "Alright, let''s not talk about the others first. Let''s talk about you. Some said that you talked with a few people when you got here, and soon left. After that, Deputy Chief Lin''s daughter and a very young kid went missing. We suspect you for kidnapping them," Du Yuanxing let it out straightforwardly.


    Lu Tong paused briefly, then suddenly widened his eyes and said with surprise, "Why would I kidnap them? There is no issue between Deputy Chief Lin and me. Why would I kidnap their kids? Besides, I came here alone today, not with anyone else. I didn''t talk to anyone either!"


    The others in the classroom observed his expression and the look in his eyes. His expressions looked natural, not fake at all.


    "Yeah? I guess someone set you up then," Du Yuanxing looked at him blandly. Sitting on the chair, he continued, "It''s okay. We''ll know the truth when we find the kids."


    Soon, a soldier came over and reported to Du Yuanxing, "We found the kids!"


    The composed look on Du Yuanxing''s face was suddenly gone when he heard that. He sprung up from the chair and asked nervously, "How are they? Are they okay?"


    The soldier shook his head and said, "They''re fine. The kidnappers have been captured."


    "Who are they?" Lu Tong and Du Yuanxing asked in one voice.


    Hearing Lu Tong''s voice, Du Yuanxing turned to look at him and found him wearing a confused and angry look.


    Since he was brought here to answer questions, Lu Tong was aware that he was framed. He had a name in his mind, but he wouldn''t say it out loud before he had any solid evidence. Now, as the soldier said that the kids were found and the kidnappers were captured, he immediately wanted to know if it was Chen Hao who did it.


    The soldier said, "The kidnappers are in custody. We haven''t found the man who is behind this yet. Lu Tong has nothing to do with this indeed."


    While speaking, he glanced at Lu Tong who had already stood up, meaning that he was free to go. However, Lu Tong didn''t leave. Instead of that, he rushed up to the soldier and asked, "Is it Chen Hao?"


    The soldier glanced at him and stayed silent.


    Du Yuanxing said to Lu Tong, "Alright! Since you have nothing to do with this, you can go now." While speaking, he looked at the two soldiers behind him.


    Receiving Du Yuanxing''s eye signal, the two soldiers instantly escorted Lu Tong outside. "Let''s go."


    As Lu Tong left, Du Yuanxing immediately erased the serious look on his face and asked the soldier with great curiosity, "Who found the kids? So soon! Who''s behind all this?"


    "Chief found them. Chief said that it was the level-three guy named Chen Hao who planned this. Chief has sent Captain Duan after him! Lu Tong guessed right. Chen Hao wanted him dead, but didn''t dare to do it himself. That''s why he attempted to use Deputy Chief Lin''s daughter, " the soldier told Du Tianxing about the truth after Lu Tong had left.


    "Where are those kidnappers?" Du Yuanxing asked while walking out of the classroom.


    "In the interrogation room."


    On the other side, Chen Hao was sitting in the living room in his flat, waiting for some people to show up and ask him questions.


    He saw a group of soldiers bring Lu Tong away. Lu Tong would certainly suspect him and tell the base leaders his name. After that, the soldiers would come here to bring him to the interrogation. By then, he would pretend to know nothing about it. There was no solid evidence against him, and the base leader couldn''t make a judgement based merely on Lu Tong''s words. When the girl''s dead body was found, Lin Feng might be able to stay calm, but Cheng Wangxue might not!


    Cheng Wangxue was such a short-tempered person. She would never be able to calm down before she killed Lu Tong.


    He spent quite a while waiting. To his surprise, instead of some soldiers or base leaders, Lu Tong came back, and was perfectly unharmed at that.


    Chen Hao paused briefly, but soon gave a natural smile and said, "Hei, where have you been? I heard that you were brought away by some soldiers."


    Lu Tong wasn''t expecting to see the man that he had suspected at home. He was stunned for a moment, then immediately pulled a long, cold face. Without saying anything, he went straight back to his room and closed the door.


    He couldn''t switch his flat. So, with no other choice, he paid some price and switched rooms with another man. At least, he didn''t need to live in the same room with Chen Hao.


    He went into his room and closed the door, then put his ears against his door to listen to the sounds from the living room.


    ''B*stard! You are still sitting here as if nothing has happened. Do you think that they don''t know what you have done? Hehe, you better sit here until they come. I guess you don''t know that they''ve found out the truth already. Those kids are fine, but you won''t be!'' Lu Tong sneered and thought.


    Chen Hao was feeling surprised, as he wasn''t expecting to see Lu Tong come back. As the latter went into his room, he immediately knitted his brows. He didn''t think that his men would fail the mission. Instead, he thought that Lu Tong might have said something to the base leaders that made them let him go.


    Perhaps, Lin Feng wasn''t in the base, so Yuan Tianxing didn''t really care about the kidnapping.


    While he was wondering about the reason, a knock was heard on the door.


    With surprise, he turned to glance at the door but didn''t answer it immediately. Then, the door was knocked on again.


    Only after that did he stand up and hesitated briefly, then opened the door.


    Six people were standing outside. The one in the front was a woman, average-looking, about five feet and eight inches tall, and with a long ponytail. Behind her were four men and a woman, all in military suits and with guns.


    The woman in the front looked at Chen Hao expressionlessly and said, "You Are Chen Hao, right? Come with us!"


    Chen Hao looked at her confusedly and asked, "Who are you people?"


    Then, he suddenly thought of something. While blinking, he took a slight step backward and said, "I''m not Chen Hao. Chen Hao isn''t home. Come tomorrow if you want to see him."


    While speaking, he attempted to shut the door, but the woman reached out an arm and stopped him. Chen Hao didn''t say anything else, but abruptly turned around and rushed toward the window of the living room.


    Clearly, he planned to jump out of the window and then run away.


    At that point, Lu Tong rushed out of his room as he pointed at Chen Hao and shouted, "He is Chen Hao! Don''t let him run!"

 769 Chen Haos Silence

    Chen Hao rushed at the window and attempted to escape. However, someone reacted faster than he did, and the window was blocked by a wall.


    Bang! Chen Hao bumped into the wall. Instead of breaking out of the window, he was bounced back by the wall and fell to the ground.


    Before he got up, the wall squirmed and wrapped him up, only leaving his head in the air.


    "I''m not gonna let you run," said Duan Juan coldly. Then, she turned to Ding Datong who was behind her and said, "Take him with us."


    "Wait! There is something that you might want to know," Lu Tong abruptly said to Duan Juan with a cold look on his face.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao sent Lin Xiaolu to Cheng Wangxue and said, "Alright. Xiaolu is fine. Relax!"


    As same as Liu Jun, she gave the girl a check-up to confirm that she was really unharmed. After that, she finally relaxed.


    "Who did it?" she said angrily.


    "Go to the interrogation room. You''ll know," said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao didn''t plan to go with Cheng Wangxue. Since the kids were safe, she decided to let the others deal with the rest. She had other work to do, and she needed to leave the base in a couple of days.


    Lu Tong was brought to the interrogation room along with Chen Hao. Duan Juan left him to Du Yuanxing.


    "Didn''t I let you go? Why did you come back?" Du Yuanxing looked at him with surprise.


    "He wants to provide us some information. Ask him about it," Duan Juan left a few words and then left.


    Du Yuanxing glanced at Duan Juan''s back, then turned back to Lu Tong and said, "Sit down and tell me."


    The interrogation room wasn''t large; it used to be a laboratory. In the middle of the room was a table, and two meters behind it was a chair, fixed on the ground. Typically, the one who accepted the interrogation would sit on that chair.


    Du Yuanxing and a subordinate of his pulled out the chairs on the other side of the table and sat down, then told Lu Tong to sit on the fixed chair.


    Lu Tong sat down and said, "Deputy Chief Lin''s wife was kidnapped in the year of the apocalypse. Chen Hao was the abductor! Mrs. Lin didn''t see his face, so he got away. That is Chen Hao''s secret. I accidentally learned about it, which is why he''s been trying to kill me."


    "Is what you said real?" Du Yuanxing looked at him with surprise.


    Lu Tong nodded and said, "I think he was going force Mrs. Lin to do something. But, he failed due to some kind of accident."


    Du Yuanxing surely understood his meaning. He was trying to say that Cheng Hao attempted to rape Cheng Wangxue. Cheng Wangxue was a pretty woman, so it was reasonable that the abductor would make that kind of attempt.


    "Can you prove it?" Du Yuanxing asked Lu Tong with a serious look.


    Lu Tong shook his head and said, "He said that himself. I didn''t record his words, so I can''t prove it. You can try to find evidence though. Perhaps, you can ask Mrs. Lin to confront him. I''ve told you what I know."


    Du Yuanxing spent a few seconds looking at him silently, then picked up the notes that his subordinate had made and gave it a browse. After that, he stood up and walked out.


    At the same time, the six kidnappers that Lin Qiao brought back were all in the middle of an interrogation. However, they firmly refused to talk.


    Chen Hao had also been staying silent. He hadn''t said even a single word since he got caught.


    The six people that he sent out to carry the mission were his most loyal subordinates. They would never give him up. Even if the interrogators told him that his subordinates had told the truth, he wouldn''t believe them.


    He believed that no evidence could be found. Without solid evidence, those people wouldn''t be able to do anything to him.


    "Has he said anything?" Duan Juan stood outside that interrogation room as she looked at Chen Hao through the window.


    Li Hongsheng, who was standing beside her, shook his head and said, "No. Why is Chief so sure that it was him?"


    "Chief must know something," said Duan Juan.


    At that time, Cheng Wangxue came over. She looked at Chen Hao coldly and said with a deep voice, "Is it him who planned the whole thing?"


    Duan Juan glanced at him and said, "Chief said so, but we haven''t gotten any useful information yet. He has denied it. The ones that Chief brought back refuse to talk either. We can''t prove that it was him."


    "I believe Chief!" Cheng Wangxue made a step forward as she fixed her eyes on Chen Hao. Then, she asked a question, "Why did he kidnap Xiaolu and Tongtong?"


    "It''s not just kidnapping. They were going to kill them in order to make another man die," said Duan Juan.


    "What do you mean? Why do they have to kill my daughter to get that man killed?" Cheng Wangxue turned and asked with anger.


    "This man, Chen Hao, I think was trying to borrow a knife to kill a space possessor named Lu Tong. He kidnapped Xiaolu and Tongtong and planned to frame Lu Tong with the death of the two kids. As for why he chose Xiaolu, I guess because firstly kidnapping a child is easy, and secondly, it might also have something to do with Lin Feng''s current position."


    "How dare him! How could he even come up with such an evil plan! He was going to kill the two innocent children! Scum!" Thinking that her daughter and Tongtong, who was only four years old, were nearly killed because of Chen Hao''s scheme, Cheng Wangxue clenched her teeth wrathfully. She even wanted to rush into the interrogation room to kill that man immediately.


    She believed that Lin Qiao was right. Lin Qiao said that it was him, so it was definitely him!


    At that moment, Du Yuanxing and his subordinates came in and said, "Here, this is the information that Lu Tong provided¡­ Eh, Mrs. Lin, you''re here? Good! This is related to you."


    Once in, he handed the files in his hands to someone else and also talked to Cheng Wangxue at the sight of her.


    "Related to me?" Cheng Wangxue looked at him confusedly.


    Du Yuanxing showed her the notes while asking her, "Do you remember that you were abducted at the year of the apocalypse?"


    "Yeah. How do you know?" Cheng Wangxue took over the notes but didn''t read them immediately. She paused briefly when she heard Du Yuanxing''s question, and after that, she looked at the latter with a frown.


    Du Yuanxing pointed at the notes and said, "That man named Lu Tong said so. Read it. I think this is why Chen Hao wants him dead. Your whole family lived in this base after all. If Lu Tong leaked this to other people someday, he would be in trouble."


    Cheng Wangxue glanced at him with doubt, then dropped her eyes to read the notes.


    While reading the notes, she had her expression changing. From both shock and anger, her face was a little twisted, and her hands shivered constantly.


    She closed her eyes and clenched her fists to make herself calm down.


    "Even though Lu Tong said that, we have no evidence right now to prove what he said is true," said Du Yuanxing.


    There was no way to prove that Chen Hao was the man who abducted Cheng Wangxue and attempted to rape her five years ago.


    "Let me in," Cheng Wangxue opened her eyes abruptly. Her doll face wore an icy cold look.

 770 The Secre

    Chen Hao was sitting in the interrogation room silently. The interrogators were sitting there with him, also in silence.


    Right at that moment, the door was opened abruptly. Chen Hao and the interrogators turned to the door and saw Cheng Wangxue come in with a frosty look on her face.


    "Captain Cheng!" The interrogators stood up as they nodded and greeted Cheng Wangxue.


    Cheng Wangxue was a level-five super strength possessor. Currently, a lot of work needed to be done for the base. She and Du Yuanxing were both in charge of the supplies stored in the base, and she was mainly responsible for food. The potatoes and pumpkins that Liu Jun shipped to the base from Mount Wu were all under her management.


    Cheng Wangxue walked up to Chen Hao as she looked at him coldly and asked, "Do you know me?"


    Chen Hao blinked as she came in. But soon, he put on a confused look and responded, "Who are you?"


    Cheng Wangxue ignored his response, but made a step backward and then said to an interrogator, "Take off his shirt and let me see his left shoulder."


    "What is Captain Cheng doing?" Duan Juan asked the others who were also looking into the interrogation room with curiosity.


    The interrogator was a young man, about twenty years old. Hearing Cheng Wangxue''s request, he nodded and quickly stepped forward to take off Chen Hao''s shirt.


    Chen Hao had his expression changed when Cheng Wangxue demanded to take off his shirt. He resisted very hard, "What are you doing? Why do you want to take off my shirt? Are you gonna torture me?"


    "Don''t move. Sit tight!" The interrogator shouted at him. Chen Hao was sitting there quietly the whole time until Cheng Wangxue asked to take off his shirt. Based on that fact, the interrogator figured that something was not right.


    Chen Hao was chained on the chair and the chair was fixed on the ground. He was a level-three superpowered man, but his earth power wasn''t able to launch fierce attacks.


    As the young interrogator attempted to rip off his shirt, he immediately moved his fingers and released his power.


    Bang! Cheng Wangxue shattered the sharp earth thorn that grew out of the ground with a heavy kick, then looked at Cheng Hao and said to him coldly, "What are you afraid of if you don''t know me? Is there a secret on your back?"


    As a fight seemed to start in the interrogation room, the people outside instantly rushed in.


    "Move!" Du Yuanxing walked up behind Chen Hao and poked a finger on his back. Following a sizzling voice, an electric current went through his body.


    "Ah¡­" Chen Hao screamed in pain and leaned forward onto the table as his entire body had gone limp.


    At that moment, the interrogator quickly ripped off his shirt. A few faint scars were seen on his left shoulder.


    Cheng Wangxue walked over and saw those scars. She trembled slightly, and her eyes showed a strong hatred and killing intent.


    It was him. He hurt her before, and now he tried to hurt her daughter!


    "It''s him! He''s the one who abducted me years ago!" Cheng Wangxue made a deep breath to calm herself down, then said through clenched teeth.


    The others paused slightly with surprise, then smiled.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao made some arrangements and then headed toward Sea City Base along with Duan Juan, her squad, Shen Yujen, Lin Kui, Lu Tianyi, Jingyan, and the other zombies who lived in her space.


    In Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue sat in his office as he asked Xiao Licheng, "Hasn''t she been staying out it all this while? Why did she suddenly decide to go? What is she going to do? To watch the show?"


    Ealier on, Miss Lu, the leader of All Beings Base, cared nothing about the zombie emperor crisis, as it had nothing to do with her. But now, she suddenly changed her mind and decided to go to Huaxia Base at that point in time. Wu Chengyue didn''t understand why. She wasn''t going there just to watch the show, was she?


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and said, "I''m not sure what Chief Lu is thinking. Maybe it''s because Mo Yan''s condition is getting more and more unstable. I don''t think she''s going there for Huaxia Base."


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I agree. We don''t know what''s going on with Mo Yan right now. No one can get close to him at the moment, so there''s not much useful information about him. Based on the current situation of Huaxia Base, I''m afraid that the base is going to collapse in just one month."


    A superpowered person''s energy was always limited, and it required a long time for superpowered people to regain their consumed energies. Therefore, constantly releasing their powers was not a long-term plan when they were facing endless zombies.


    Wu Chengyue sighed and said, "Since she is going, I should go with her to see what''s happening over there."


    Hearing that, Xiao Licheng eyed him with a weird look and couldn''t help but say, "Boss, you can''t always follow her everywhere. She''ll dislike you more and more. It''ll be the opposite of what you wish, do you know that?"


    Since the New Year, Wu Chengyue had been visiting the All Beings Base frequently. The people in both his base and hers all knew that he was pursuing the Chief lady. For that reason, many Sea City Base people were very curious about the Chief lady.


    However, his visits to the All Beings Base didn''t work so well. The Chief lady was avoiding him all the time. She only showed up during work, so he stationed in her office. She tried to ask him to leave, yet he refused to go. At last, he even brought his work from Sea City Base to her office.


    Gradually, Xiao Licheng learned a little about Wu Chengyue''s hidden nature. He had been hiding that so well, but ever since he met the Chief lady, that part of him was shown step by step.


    "Of course, I have to go and see her. What else am I supposed to do? Wait for her to come to see me? I am going after her now. I''m not the one who''s being pursued. There''s an old saying that a persistent man can win a fierce lady''s heart. As long as I keep doing this, she will accept me one day," Wu Chengyue had no better solution. The zombie lady was too vigilant. He had been trying so hard for so long, yet he didn''t even have a chance.


    Before, he often used Ling Ling as an excuse, and that would work. But now, she was immune to the little girl.


    Apart from that, her belly was still flat even though she had been pregnant for a couple of months.


    After all the time that he had spent with her, he learned that this new Lu Tianyu was immune to both soft and hard tactics. He wanted very much to force her to marry him. The baby would be a strong reason that was enough to support their marriage. That was his baby after all! He had his right and responsibility to her. It didn''t matter if she were a zombie or not. Whether the baby was a zombie or a human, he didn''t care.


    However, he was worried that if he acted too agressively, she would become even more unreachable. After all, she was a Chief and not just an ordinary lady. Confronting the tough with toughness might not lead to a good result. A forced marriage couldn''t be happy. So, Wu Chengyue decided to let it happen naturally.


    But of course, he needed to make efforts for that, and he needed to keep a close eye on her. Otherwise, some other man might steal her away. If that happened, he would probably end up crying.


    Even thinking about his baby calling another man ''Daddy'' made him feel sad.


    "I''m forcing her anyway. With that one thing, I think I''m already doing great," Wu Chengyue said with a confident smile.

 771 Borrow A Helicopter

    Wu Chengyue had prepared the helicopters for Lin Qiao by the time she arrived at Sea City Base with her troops.


    "I only asked to borrow one from you. Why did you prepare so many?" Lin Qiao looked at the three armed transport helicopters on the airfield with surprise. Then, she figured out something and turned to Wu Chengyue while sneering, "No way! Are you going as well? Didn''t you say that you''re not going, that you don''t have that kind of obligation to save the mankind?"


    Wu Chengyue failed to respond to her words immediately. After the short silence, he smiled and said, "That was before. Now, things are different¡­ because you are going."


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and replied, "You are so annoying! You can follow me if you want, but please don''t let me know. Looking at your show-off face makes me uncomfortable."


    ''This man really doesn''t know what ''giving up'' means, does he?'' she thought.


    Lin Qiao had almost run out of patience as Wu Chengyue had harassed her for so long. If her base and his weren''t still in cooperation, she might have punched him already.


    "Why? You wouldn''t know how much I care for you if I didn''t tell you, would you?" Wu Chengyue said to her smilingly.


    The others on the scene were no longer surprised on hearing that. After all, Chief Wu had been pursuing Chief Lu for two months, yet no result was shown at all.


    It was already the end of March. The weather was getting warmer and warmer, and winter coats had gone back into closets.


    "What''s the difference? I won''t accept you. Aren''t you tired? I am tired. Besides, I promised you something in return when I borrowed this helicopter from you. It''s not like I''m taking advantage of you," said Lin Qiao coldly. Having finished speaking, she headed straight toward one of the three helicopters. Duan Juan, Ding Datong, Li Hongsheng, Shen Yujen, and some others followed behind her.


    The All Beings Base didn''t have pilots. Therefore, Wu Chengyue also lent them a pilot.


    Following behind Wu Chengyue were Xiao Licheng, Moli, Huang Ming, and some other people.


    Looking at the backs of Lin Qiao and her people, Xiao Licheng laughed, "See? I told you that this won''t work. It''s the opposite of what you want."


    Wu Chengyue turned and looked at him with a smile as he asked, "Do you have a better idea?"


    He was unhappy to hear what Xiao Licheng said. Apart from that, he was surprised by Lin Qiao''s words. He never thought that all the efforts he had made would only be a show-off in her eyes.


    Wu Chengyue was undoubtedly a little upset.


    "In my opinion, she must hate being restrained, as she is such a forceful being. Chief, all you have done might seem like showing off in her eyes. And deep down, she might feel that you''ll affect or limit her. I think that''s why she doesn''t like what you''ve been doing. Thankfully, you didn''t pursue her in a more aggressive way. You''re smart." Moli was wearing no expressions as she abruptly joined the conversation.


    She couldn''t bear watching her Chief go after her for so long without achieving any result and only make their relationship weirder than before.


    "Chief," she continued, "If our base wasn''t still in cooperation with hers, I think she''d have beaten you up long ago."


    "Beat me up? Why?" Wu Chengyue looked at her with confusion. He didn''t do anything to hurt her or interfere with her business!


    Moli gave him a bland glance. Even when facing her Chief, she was wearing the never-changing cold, expressionless face. "Because you are annoying like a fly. If I were her, I''d beat you until you gave up. If you asked me, I''d say that Miss Lu is too nice."


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say. He wasn''t expecting his subordinate to compare him to a fly.


    Xiao Licheng looked at his boss, also feeling speechless. ''Moli, aren''t you afraid that Chief might get angry? How dare you say that!''


    Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao''s back and stayed silent for a long time. At last, he sighed upsettingly.


    Was what he had been doing really not working? Or, were they not meant to be together?


    On the other side, Duan Juan said to Lin Qiao before getting onto the helicopter, "Chief Wu is really persistent. He knows what you really are, but doesn''t seem to care. I wonder when he will give up."


    She could tell that even though Chief Wu always wore a faint smile on his face, usually no actual smile could be detected from his crescent-like eyes. Only upon seeing Lin Qiao would those eyes of his spark like stars. That wasn''t obvious though.


    Even if he didn''t love her deeply, he did have feelings for her, more or less.


    Duan Juan was also aware that Wu Chengyue could never win Lin Qiao''s heart by doing what he had been doing. Lin Qiao was not a slow-minded person. She knew about how Yuan Tianxing felt about her all the time. She pretended not to know because she didn''t want to ruin the relationship between him and her. Wu Chengyue''s case was different. She had rejected him clearly for countless times, yet he ignored that every time.


    It seemed that he was never tired, but Duan Juan couldn''t tell how long he could keep doing it for.


    "Don''t mention him. I can''t even think about him right now. I wonder if his brain-damaged. He actually proposed to me! Can you believe that? What the hell! Do you think he really likes me? I think he did it just for Ling Ling. If he told me that directly, I could heal Ling Ling without asking anything in return, no matter how many years that might take. He doesn''t need to do that in this way. Does he think that I know nothing?" Lin Qiao suffered a headache once she heard Duan Juan mention that.


    Wu Chengyue was at a very high-level, and had a strong will power. Therefore, Lin Qiao wasn''t able to read his mind. However, she could see the whole thing from his angle and think about how it might benefit him.


    He cared about Ling Ling so much, so Lin Qiao assumed that he had found out that Ling Ling''s condition tended to be more stable when she was with her. Being with Ling Ling made the little girl happier too. So, he might think that Ling Ling would become healthy one day if she could always stay with Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao never wanted to hurt Ling Ling. She wasn''t a children lover and was never good at dealing with them. However, she liked Ling Ling and had accepted her. If Wu Chengyue asked her to help Ling Ling, she would agree to visit the little girl frequently or even keep her in the All Beings Base.


    But, why on earth did he propose to her? What did he mean by giving Viney a healthy family? Why did he insist on making Lin Qiao take responsibility for what Lu Tianyu did? She didn''t even do that!


    He also said that he wanted to be responsible for Viney.


    He wanted to marry her only for those reasons, right? Would she let him affect her life for those reasons? Would she let him interfere with her things and have half of her space?


    She didn''t plan on letting that happen. Even thinking about that made her feel exhausted.


    "What will you do if he never gives up? You might be driven crazy by him and suddenly accept him someday," Duan Juan looked at her and laughed.


    Lin Qiao gave her a glance but stayed silent. No matter how crazy she might get, she would not get married, unless that was a rational decision that she made herself.

 772 Fly Into Huaxia City

    Sitting beside Lin Qiao, Shen Yujen lit a candle for Wu Chengyue in her heart.


    ''Chief Wu, I guess there is a long way to go for you,'' she thought.


    Lin Qiao turned to look outside the window as the helicopter took off. The spiral wings and the engines were too loud, so Lin Qiao and her people all stopped talking.


    She had no idea what Wu Chengyue was thinking, but was sure that Ling Ling was part of the reason why he did what he did. She believed that Ling Ling was the key to that. After all, she would never develop such a complicated relationship with Wu Chengyue if it weren''t for that little girl.


    She didn''t like what Wu Chengyue had been doing, but didn''t hate it either.


    The day he proposed to her, he brought her a big pile of supplies as gifts. She rejected him, and after that, he didn''t try to give her anything again. Perhaps, he was aware that she didn''t like that. So, at last, he did no more than follow her everywhere.


    ''If only I came back to life in someone else''s body¡­ Why did I end up in this trouble-making Lu Tianyu''s body?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    The helicopters flew North. A couple of hours later, they arrived at the city where Huaxia Base was located. Looking down from the helicopters, zombies could be seen everywhere, crowding on every road, street, and alley. All visible space was occupied by zombies.


    The number of those zombies was no smaller than the population of a medium-sized city. Clearly, many of those zombies came from the surrounding cities.


    The closer they got to Huaxia Base, the thicker the zombie crowd became.


    Following a series of rumbling thunder, a dark area could be seen in the sky, far away. In that area, purple lightning flashed across the dark clouds, descending endlessly. The lightning bolts weren''t large, but were thick, coming down wave by wave at a high rate.


    Both Lin Qiao and Shen Yujen sensed a restrained, agitated vibe from the thunder area. That vibe was no strange for Lin Qiao.


    "Avoid the thunder area and approach the Base from the other side," Lin Qiao gave an order.


    With that, her helicopter avoided the thunder area and Wu Chengyue followed.


    "Three helicopters are approaching from the West. We don''t know who they are. Chief, are they from another base?" Hou Guozhong, a Deputy Chief of Huaxia Base, walked to Si Kongchen and reported to him about the helicopters.


    "Let them in. Let''s see which base they have come from," Si Kongchen stood behind the large screen in the command room, his hands clasped behind his body and head slightly raised as he was looking at the screen.


    On the screen was the fence wall of the base. Countless zombies piled up under the wall, climbing up constantly. Many of them fell before reaching to the top, but soon struggled back up and kept climbing up like crazy animals. They never got tired, and would never give up until they got what they wanted.


    From time to time, exploding fireballs and all the other kinds of superpower attacks fell into the zombie crowd; those were the long-range attacks. Some other superpowered people had been combating against the zombies up close which managed to climb onto the top with their powers or weapons.


    The battle had been intense. All the zombies who reached the top were destroyed within a short while.


    Everybody on the wall top was covered in blood and dirt, seeming in a very bad shape. They all looked tired and low spirited.


    They had been fighting restlessly for a month, without any break time. All this long, they had been nervously trying to stop those zombies from breaking into the base. However, there were too many zombies, and they could never die out. Even after a whole month of fighting, the zombie crowd didn''t shrink at all.


    Everyone was tired, but they needed to keep fighting.


    Besides the large screen were several smaller screens, showing the images from different angles.


    Showing up on a medium-sized screen was an area covered in lightning bolts. Countless zombies were present in that area. The lightning bolts fell aimlessly, hitting anything that was on the ground.


    Si Kongchen had sent Han Xiao, who was a level-seven water power possessor, to that thunder area to see what exactly was happening over there. Han Xiao was gone for over half a month, but hadn''t sent back any information about that area.


    That thunder area was mobile! At times it emerged in the East, and at other times it moved to the West. At times, it only appeared for a short while, and other times, it lasted for long.


    It was like a living creature!


    Hearing Hou Guozhong''s words, Si Kongchen stayed calm and told him to let those helicopters in. Gao Haoyun, who sat beside him, asked delightedly and nervously, "Are they here to help us?"


    Hou Guozhong shook his head and said, "The ones who are able to come here by helicopters are human beings for sure. But, I don''t know if they are here to help us yet."


    They might be there to take the opportunity to bring Huaxia Base down!


    "Look! The thunder zone disappeared!" At that moment, Hong Yijie pointed at the medium-sized screen and said.


    Just a second ago, the area was occupied by blasting thunders and clouds of smoke. But now, the lightning was gone, and the dark clouds had faded.


    Soon, the three helicopters entered Huaxia Base''s airspace, then landed on a clearing under the instructions from the base.


    "Chief Wu! You are here!" Hou Guozhong stood on the clearing as he watched the helicopter land, then greeted Wu Chengyue delightfully. He saw Wu Chengyue walk over smilingly, side by side with a young and pretty woman.


    Hou Guozhong blinked and silently observed that woman who had a composed, smiling face.


    She was about five feet and eight inches tall, and her body was perfectly shaped. She had full breasts, slim waist, long and straight legs. Her steps were strong and stable, giving out a mighty vibe. She was wearing a black military suit and a fluttering cape. Her clothing wasn''t exactly the same as Wu Chengyue, but that was indeed an outfit for base leaders. After the apocalypse, only base leaders dressed like that.


    There wasn''t a clear rule, but the people who didn''t lead a base normally wouldn''t dress like that.


    The woman walked side by side with Wu Chengyue and was wearing Chief''s uniform. Based on those facts, she was a base leader too. The only known female base leader in the country was the Chief of the new base in Hangzhou.


    The fact that she arrived together with Wu Chengyue further confirmed her identity.


    After all, Wu Chengyue was currently pursuing the Chief lady!


    As Wu Chengyue, Lin Qiao, and their subordinates came closer, Hou Guozhong looked at Lin Qiao smilingly and reached out a hand, "I assume this is Miss Lu, the Chief of All Beings Base. I''ve heard so much about you. You are a truly beautiful lady! I am Hou Guozhong, a Deputy Chief of Huaxia Base, to assist our Chief!"


    Lin Qiao nodded at him with a small smile and said, "Good to see you! Lu is my last name indeed."


    She responded to his greetings but didn''t shake his hand.


    Hou Guozhong blinked, then dropped his hand while keeping the smile, "Miss Lu, I knew it''s you!"

 773 The Pretty Lady Steps Into A Pack Of Wolves

    Lin Qiao responded to Hou Guozhong with a smile, but didn''t shake his hands. She was trying to let him know that she wasn''t at the same level as him. He was a level-seven superpowered man indeed, but in her eyes, he was still in a lower place than her, not to mention the fact that he was only a Deputy Chief.


    She responded to his greetings because she wanted to be polite. However, if she shook his hand, she would be lowering herself.


    "Let''s go and meet your Chief. Tell us about your current situation," Wu Chengyue stood beside Lin Qiao as he nodded at Hou Guozhong smilingly. He didn''t stop, but kept moving forward.


    Hou Guozhong stepped aside and moved slightly backward, then followed by their side.


    "The situation is bad. Our soldiers and superpowered fighters haven''t rested for a month. The number of deaths isn''t large yet, but many people are injured. The zombie attack never stopped. We don''t know when they will retreat," Hou Guozhong said with a serious look.


    "You should know what caused the zombie attack, right? Haven''t you figured out a way to solve the key problem yet?" Wu Chengyue asked curiously.


    Everybody knew that the cause was among those zombies. The massive zombie attack wouldn''t last so long unless those zombies were under instructions or controlled by someone. Without disabling the instructions or finding the controller, the massive zombie attack would never stop.


    "Our Chief thinks that the massive zombie attack has something to do with the moving thunder clouds. We have sent people out to find out the truth about the thunder zone, but most of them died. One of our level-seven chairmen went to that area too. He hasn''t come back yet," Hou Guozhong sighed.


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue glanced at each other.


    It seemed that Huaxia Base people hadn''t found out that the massive zombie attack was caused by Mo Yan.


    "How do you know that it has something to do with the thunder zone?" Wu Chengyue glanced at Hou Guozhong and asked while walking.


    While guiding them to the command room, Hou Guozhong answered that question. "Because every time the thunder zone appeared, the zombie crowd tended to become agitated and attacked even more intensely than before. When the thunder clouds disappear, those zombies slow down a little, but they never fall back. The thunder zombie disappeared just now, so I think the zombie attack will ease a little bit at the moment."


    While speaking, he guided Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue into the command building. In the building, they spent a short while walking into the command room. Only the two of them were allowed in, and they could each bring a subordinate.


    Once they entered, the people standing in front of the large screen turned to look at them.


    "You waited until now to come here on purpose, right?" The expressionless Si Kongchen said to Wu Chengyue once he saw him. The expressionless face and the mysterious eyes of his disabled the others from figuring out what he was thinking.


    He blinked slightly when he saw Lin Qiao, who was by Wu Chengyue''s side. The others were all surprised to see Lin Qiao as well.


    Gao Haoyun, who was standing beside Si Kongchen, looked at Lin Qiao with great interest while saying to her with a meaningful smile, "Oh, this is Chief Wu''s girlfriend, right?"


    Hearing him, the others all looked at Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao in a meaningful way.


    Lin Qiao smiled with composure and stayed silent. A trace of ferocity escaped her eyes when she looked at Gao Haoyun.


    Wu Chengyue frowned slightly and said with a faint smile, "I want very much to introduce her to you as my girlfriend, but she sadly didn''t accept my proposal. But, I guess you have all known who she is. I don''t really need to introduce her to you, do I?"


    Hearing that, Gao Haoyun had his eyes shining. He grinned and said to Lin Qiao, "Really? In this case, I think we all have a chance, right? Beautiful lady, you might know my name already, but please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gao Haoyun¡­ I''m a level-eight ice power possessor."


    He had heard about the Chief lady from All Being Base back when he was in Heilong Base, but he didn''t pay much attention to it. Now, as he met her in person, he changed his mind.


    He wasn''t expecting the Chief lady from the new base to be so young and pretty. She looked only twenty-two or twenty-three years old. She had a beautiful oval face, a pair of shiny, green eyes, a delicate nose, and faintly colored, moist lips. Her long, black hair reached to her waist, hanging loosely around her slim neck and full breasts.


    Underneath the black, solemn-looking military cape, she had a pair of long and straight legs. Her composed vibe made her seem cold and elegant. People couldn''t even move their eyes away from her.


    She had a stunning face, a perfect body, and a cold, inaccessible vibe. Facing such a beautiful woman, any man would want to rip off her suit and press her down to appreciate her crying, painful, pretty face.


    Women were rare in the post-apocalyptic era. Which powerful man wouldn''t want such a pretty woman who was standing as high as himself?


    All the males on the scene were leaders or vice-leaders. Even if they had some dirty thoughts when they saw Lin Qiao, they wouldn''t show it on their faces. However, through the hidden, thirsty looks in their eyes, Lin Qiao could read their minds.


    Except for Wu Chengyue and Si Kongchen, Lin Qiao was able to read the minds of everyone on the scene. The look in Gao Haoyun''s eyes was quite obvious. No one among the others was above level-seven, so Lin Qiao could sense their thoughts from their eyes with a simple eye-contact.


    ''Hehe, a bunch of horny men,'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Lu Tianyu had a much sexier body than Lin Qiao used to have. She was also prettier than Lin Qiao. But most importantly, she was younger.


    Lin Qiao was aware that her current look would attract the eyes of men. Otherwise, the previous owner of that body wouldn''t have survived for years after the apocalypse and manage to do all kinds of evil deeds in Sea City Base by relying on some man.


    For that very reason, Lin Qiao kept a very low profile when she wasn''t strong enough. Now, she had shown her face in the world of men, but that didn''t mean she planned to let herself become their target.


    With a small smile, she looked at Gao Haoyun. Before she said anything, another man''s voice was heard.


    "Chief Lu, I didn''t know that you were so young. We thought that you''d be a thirty-years-old old woman like Netherworld Fire. You are a Chief after all!" Hu Zhiyong, one of the chairmen of Hu Zhiyong, fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao and said to her with a grin.


    Lin Qiao was only thirty years old, but he called her ''an old woman''!


    "Don''t say that! Netherworld Fire was over thirty, but her body was maintained in good shape. Sadly, those people from Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base made her kill herself. She was a pretty lady no matter what," said Liu Zhinan regretfully.


    Listening to those men, the smile on Wu Chengyue''s face grew fainter and fainter. He slowly widened his crescent-like eyes, which were now glowing with a cold light.


    Those men fixed their disgusting, evil eyes on the zombie lady, and in addition to that, they compared her to a dead person.


    That aroused a trace of anger in Wu Chengyue''s heart.

 774 Move Away

    "I think you guys aren''t worried that the zombies out there might break the line of defense and break into your base. You actually still have the mood to appreciate our pretty lady here," Wu Chengyue moved slightly forward and blocked half of Lin Qiao''s body while smilingly speaking to Liu Zhinan and the others.


    Clearly, he was taunting those men for thinking something nasty under the pressing circumstances.


    Wu Chengyue smiled relaxedly, but his movement showed a strong possessiveness. He even wanted to dig those men''s eyes out when they cast their greedy eyes on Lin Qiao. He was getting angrier and angrier, but he didn''t show that on his face.


    "Oh, Chief Wu is getting unhappy! She didn''t accept your proposal, did she? We all have the right to pursue the lady here, right?" Gao Haoyun fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao''s face and laughed confidently.


    "Chief Ice Devil, your own base is destroyed, but you don''t seem to care," Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes as he looked at Gao Haoyun with a smile.


    Ice Devil was how some people addressed Gao Haoyun, just like how they called Lin Qiao Netherworld Fire. He was a level-eight ice-powered man. If he wanted to save Heilong Base, the base wouldn''t have been broken by the massive zombie attack so soon.


    Gao Haoyun paused briefly. But soon, he gave a natural smile, then put on a sad face and said, "Of course, I care! How could I not? I built that base single-handedly. Now, it was swallowed by the zombie crowd. Hundreds of thousands of people died. My heart is bleeding actually."


    "But, I heard that many problems that occurred in Heilong Base were solved by Du Kunsheng. He hasn''t given up on your base yet. Right now, he and the rest of your people are still hiding underground, trying to figure out a way to survive." Lin Qiao abruptly made a step forward and then moved sideways to walk out from behind Wu Chengyue as she said to Gao Haoyun with a smile.


    Her smile wasn''t the same as Wu Chengyue''s. Wu Chengyue''s smile was gentle and elegant like a spring breeze. Unlike that, Lin Qiao''s smile was cold and bland. It was not exactly cold, but was faint, giving out a strong vibe mixed with a trace of frankness. That smile of hers didn''t make people feel uncomfortable, but could disable people from ignoring the pressure that she gave out.


    Lin Qiao looked calm, smiling a beautiful smile. However, her words pierced into Gao Haoyun''s heart like a dagger, also like a slap on his face.


    She was right. Du Kunsheng was the one who did most of the work in Heilong Base. Du Kunsheng was a scheming person, but he always thought for himself and the base. He put a lot of effort into the base. That was how he built a safe home for the people in that base.


    However, other people could only see Gao Haoyun, a powerful man. In the post-apocalyptic world, power was everything. People admire the strong. The strongest one could naturally be seen as the leader. But, not every leader would contribute to their base as much as he or she could.


    Normally, Gao Haoyun cared nothing about the people in Heilong Base. All he cared about were his private force and his subordinates.


    He didn''t want the others to know about that. People saw him as a powerful man, and he was the current leader of Heilong Base. Those gave him the right to stand together with the people in this room, who were also leaders.


    But now, what Lin Qiao said made him feel like losing his disguise, and that he was a level lower than the others in the room.


    "Du Kunsheng is doing his job. Is anything wrong about that?" A fierce look flashed across Gao Haoyun''s eyes, but soon disappeared. He looked at Lin Qiao smilingly, and couldn''t help but look at her body up to down.


    "You''re right. Chief Ice Devil, you of all in this room are living the easiest life. Unlike you, we need to worry about every single person in our bases, even though we are the leaders," Lin Qiao looked straight at Gao Haoyun, upturning the corners of her mouth.


    The others on the scene clearly sensed that she was merely at the beginning of level-seven. However, she looked at the level-eight Gao Haoyun in the eyes without any fear. Her vibe wasn''t weaker than the vibe of anyone else in that room, and now, Gao Haoyun even seemed to fall into a disadvantage in front of her. The others even wondered if something was wrong with their senses.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue made a step forward again to shield Lin Qiao, then joined the conversation smilingly, "I just talked to one of the vice-leaders of Huaxia Base. You haven''t figured out the real cause of this massive zombie attack, have you? I thought you have at least had a clue about it, as Chief Gao is already here."


    Wu Chengyue''s words made Gao Haoyun''s expression freeze once again.


    "What do you mean?" The expressionless Si Kongchen narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Gao Haoyun, then asked Wu Chengyue with confusion.


    "Chief Si, I think you don''t need to ask. You should know about it yourself¡­ Move away! Can you please not always stand before me?" Lin Qiao sneered at Si Kongchen, then raised a hand to push Wu Chengyue aside.


    Wu Chengyue stood before her and blocked her vibe, which made her very unhappy. She had always been the protector. She never needed anyone''s protection. Being protected by him made her feel weak.


    Wu Chengyue turned and glanced at her with a grievance.


    ''I didn''t want you to get eye-raped, you ungrateful zombie!''


    Standing behind Lin Qiao, Duan Juan was wearing an icy cold face as well. She was used to all that was happening in that room. The same thing always happened to Lin Qiao before. Wherever she went, the first thing she needed to face was always the disgusting look in some men''s eyes. However, those men soon realized that they were only allowed to look at that woman from a distance. If they ever attempted to press her down and torture her for fun, their lives might be the price to pay.


    As the atmosphere in the command room became a little tense because of Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, a few figures flashed across the thunder clouds, which had recently disappeared from the sky.


    "Roar¡­" A zombie was standing on the ruins, baring his teeth and twisting his ferocious-looking face. His face was entirely covered in purple-blue blood veins. Surrounding him was smoke, fire, and collapsed houses. The land was devastated as if a thousand grenades had gone off together.


    The zombie slightly hunched his back and dropped his arms. His dark nails were five or six centimeters long, shining with a dim, cold light.


    Within the area hundreds of meters around him, all the buildings were torn down, and all the trees the crushed; ruins and burn marks were seen everywhere.


    A powerful and violent vibe radiated from that zombie''s body, sweeping across the surrounding area. Under that vibe, the group of zombie dominators who were staying hundreds of meters away from that zombie got extra careful, as if they would turn and run away once anything went wrong.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie who gave out a strong vibe slightly straightened his body as he raised his head and uttered a deep growl. His voice sounded weak and trembling.


    A female zombie in a white dress flashed to his side and pressed a hand on his shoulder. Next, a white light was seen from that hand.

 775 Killing A Subordinate Involuntarily

    While absorbing the energy of the female zombie who was wearing a white dress, the frenzied zombie slowly calmed down and raised his head. The dark-purple veins on his face squirmed weirdly, exposing his shining, purple eyes, which were covered under his hair. Those eyes were filled with anger and ferocity.


    Except for the level-five female zombie, no other zombie dared to approach him.


    Mo Yan breathed deeply as he raised his head and looked around. He found that one zombie king was missing. Only the four zombie dominators were still around him.


    "Roar¡­" ''Where is he?''


    He gave out a roar while gasping; his voice contained an irresistible pressure.


    Hearing that question, the other zombies paused briefly and remained silent. They still didn''t dare to approach him, but kept the distance and looked at him.


    Seeing their reactions, Mo Yan turned to the female zombie. His scary face made the female zombie freeze a little. But soon, she gathered some courage and answered his question, "Roar¡­"


    Mo Yan was stunned, looking at her with confusion.


    She said that the zombie had died.


    Mo Yan wondered how that zombie died, and what happened when he lost his mind.


    He had been turning fiercer and fiercer, more and more agitated. He lost control of his power more and more frequently. Each time, he woke up to find himself surrounded by ruins, remembering nothing.


    The female zombie turned to look at the other zombies, who looked at each other. Then, one of them quietly stepped backward and disappeared.


    Before long, that zombie returned, carrying a dead body. The body was burned, emitting a stink. Anyway, zombies couldn''t sense that smell.


    Mo Yan paused with surprise when he saw that dead body. What surprised him wasn''t how miserably the zombie died, but his power that was lingering on the dead body.


    It turned out that the zombie was killed by his lightning power¡­


    He killed one of his subordinates when he lost control of himself. He cultivated all his subordinates from the very beginning. They weren''t humans, but they had followed him for years. He didn''t care if they were humans or not. He himself was no longer a human being, and he hated humans.


    Knowing that one of his oldest subordinates had died, his heart ached. His heart didn''t ache as much as now back when the weird female zombie kidnapped six of his subordinates not long ago. He knew that she was a zombie, but didn''t detect any intention of killing toward him or his subordinates from her. Even though he planned to attack her base at that time, she still didn''t show a real intention of killing.


    He had a feeling that his subordinates would be fine. That was why he gave up on fighting the female zombie. He would return to her place sooner or later. By then, he would figure out a way to win his subordinates back.


    Now, seeing the lifeless body in front of him, his heart sank.


    His heavy vibe already affected the surrounding zombies. They silently restrained their own vibes, seeming to be too afraid to even breathe. But soon, Mo Yan stabilized his vibe and slowly walked to that dead body.


    The zombie who brought the dead body to him had already stepped back.


    He was sad indeed. However, as that zombie was already dead, he had no choice but to force himself to accept that fact. Thankfully, he was already much more tough-minded than before, and wouldn''t be too emotional.


    He had lost a subordinate; that poor zombie was killed by his lightning. That made him feel a little pity, a little heartburn, and a little guilt.


    It was like he had a few nice dogs and he liked them a lot. But one day, he accidentally killed one of them.


    He walked to the dead body and squatted, sighing to the dead zombie. After that, he spread his fingers and poked his nails into the dead zombie''s skull.


    Crack! As he twisted his wrist slightly, the zombie''s skull was ripped open.


    He dug out the zombie nucleus and crumbled it.


    The zombie nucleus was crushed, soon melting into energy that flowed into Mo Yan''s palm.


    Mo Yan then stood up and turned to Huaxia Base. He sensed two familiar vibes belonging to two beings who had just arrived at the base.


    That female zombie was there. Interesting!


    Once again, the blood veins on his face slowly shrank back to the left side of his neck, covering a small part of his left cheek. His eyes shone with a cunning light.


    "Roar!" He turned and gave his zombies another order. Receiving the order, the group of zombies ran fleetingly away.


    As same as before, Mo Yan ordered then to gather zombies, the more the better.


    He glanced at the zombie crowd which had already surrounded the entire Huaxia Base. It wasn''t enough¡­ It was far from enough! Those powerful superpowered people hadn''t shown up yet! Among the ones who were fighting on top of the fence wall, even the strongest one was only at level-six. No level-seven people were seen.


    It seemed that the massive zombie attack that he created wasn''t giving the base enough pressure!


    On the other side, the people in the room were sitting around the semicircle table before the large screen in the command room in Huaxia Base.


    The ones who were qualified to sit around that table were, of course, base leaders. Lin Qiao''s seat was located on the side, as if she were not important.


    Currently, she was nothing but pretty in the eyes of the other base leaders. They only saw her as a level-seven woman. How strong could a level-seven person be? Almost all the others in the room believed that it was Wu Chengyue who made her a base leader.


    "The situation is not entirely bad. At the very least, it''s not yet time to send out level-seven people," Wu Chengyue was sitting on the right side of Si Kongchen, who was sitting in the middle. He folded his arms and leaned against the back of his chair while saying with a smile. Meanwhile, he glanced at Lin Qiao from time to time.


    Si Kongchen was sitting right in front of the large screen, with Gao Haoyun on his left side.


    Wu Chengyue was going to sit beside Lin Qiao. However, someone took that seat before he did. It was Hu Zhiyong.


    He thought that no matter how horny Hu Zhiyong was, he wouldn''t dare to do anything to Lin Qiao during the important meeting. To his surprise, he actually reached out to hold Lin Qiao''s hand before she even sat down.


    While inviting Lin Qiao to sit down, he rubbed her hand with a big smile.


    Lin Qiao didn''t move, but she said to Hu Zhiyong, who wouldn''t stop rubbing her hand, with a confident smile, "Chairman Hu, don''t blame me for not reminding you that my hands are poisonous."


    Hu Zhiyong paused briefly, then responded carelessly, "Really? Your hands are so smooth. How can they be poisonous?"


    He seemed not to care what she said, but still dropped her hand.


    Lin Qiao sat down with a faint smile while saying, "You should feel lucky that you only touched me with one hand.


    Hu Zhiyong seriously looked at Lin Qiao in the eyes. He thought for a moment, then told himself that she was lying. Her hands couldn''t be poisonous. If they were poisonous, how come his hand was still fine?

 776 They Wonst Be Frozen For Long

    "Hehe¡­" Lin Qiao glanced at his hand with a smile.


    Right at that moment, Hu Zhiyong immediately sensed a heart-piercing pain from that hand that he touched Lin Qiao with just now. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "Ouch¡­ You¡­ You!" His expression changed suddenly. Then, he covered that hand with the other and glared at Lin Qiao with disbelief. Clearly, he didn''t believe that she would really poison him.


    "I suggest you chop off this hand as soon as possible or you might die soon," Lin Qiao sat down and put one elbow on the table, tilting her head and resting her chin on a palm. She erased the smile on her face and said to Hu Zhiyong in a cold tone.


    The others didn''t see that coming either. They looked at Lin Qiao with confusion and surprise, as they didn''t believe that she had the courage to poison a level-seven man at such an occasion, in front of so many base leaders.


    Wu Chengyue soon realized what happened, so he gave Hu Zhiyong a cold smile and said in his head¡ª ''You deserve it.''


    "You! When did you poison me!" Hu Zhiyong tremblingly stood up from the chair and moved away from Lin Qiao.


    He didn''t chop off his hand as Lin Qiao told him to. Instead, he gathered his energy in that hand and tried to force the poison out. Meanwhile, he glared at her and asked her that question through clenched teeth; that pain was torturing him.


    Soon, he realized that he wasn''t even able to stop the poison from spreading inside his body. While he was talking, the pain spread to his forearm from his palm, then reached the rest of his arm.


    At that moment, his face was covered in sweat, with blood veins bulging on his forehead. He tightened his pale face and looked in a great pain.


    At that moment, Gao Haoyun suddenly raised a hand and froze that arm of Hu Zhiyong. After that, he glanced at Lin Qiao while blinking.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said carelessly, "Well, leave it frozen then. It won''t be frozen for long though."


    Instead of burning Hu Zhiyong''s hands directly with the dark fire, she sent the dark mist into his body. Due to the slight amount, the mist was only able to travel through his veins. That would be very painful. Currently, the mist was frozen by Gao Haoyun, who was at level-eight, a level higher than Lin Qiao. Therefore, her power was suppressed for the time being. But once the ice melted, Hu Zhiyong would immediately suffer that burning pain again.


    Si Kongchen looked at Hu Zhiyong, then at Lin Qiao, his eyes showing a meaningful look.


    Lin Qiao looked at him right in the eyes. She thought that he would speak for Hu Zhiyong, but to her surprise, he only looked at her quietly, with no expression. Even his eyes wore a very calm and peaceful look, hiding his real feelings so well.


    Hu Zhiyong let out a long breath in relief as Gao Haoyun froze his arm. The quick switch from burning to freezing really exhausted him.


    As he recovered a little, he turned and stared at Lin Qiao as he threatened her through gritted teeth, with a very fierce look on his face, "Woman! What you did is suicidal! Don''t think that your poison power can allow you to do anything you want! Just wait and see!"


    Lin Qiao didn''t even look at him. Instead, she said to Si Kongchen, "Chief Si, I''m afraid the people in your base can''t continue fighting for long if the situation doesn''t change. How do you prepare to break the massive zombie attack?"


    She knew that Huaxia Base had run out of ammo. All kinds of bullets and bombs had sunken into the zombie crowd, but failed to stop those zombies.


    Every clean area they created would be refilled by zombies right away; every group of zombies they killed would be replaced by a new group immediately. Those zombies were endless. The edge of the zombie crowd that was surrounding the tall fence wall of the base was no longer visible.


    The zombie crowd reached over ten miles away. Surrounding Huaxia Base, there was no zombie-free area that could be found.


    The super-powerful bombs, like missiles and nuclear bombs, couldn''t be used until they decided to give up on the base. There were two million people in the base. It was impossible to transfer all of them at one time.


    Therefore, Si Kongchen would not use those destructive weapons until the last second. He had some weapons like that, but it was not yet the time to use them!


    Anyway, all other kinds of bombs had nearly been used up. The short-range ones, medium-range ones¡­ Except for the long-range ones, the other types of bombs were all gone.


    However, those bombs had barely affected that constantly growing zombie crowd.


    Surrounding the fence wall of Huaxia Base, not only had the living zombies piled up, but the piles of dead zombies had also been growing taller and taller as well.


    The less powerful bombs had been used up while the super-powerful ones couldn''t be used yet. The other types of ammo was being consumed quickly as well. So, the whole base depended on the superpowered ones as of now.


    The people who had strong superpowers hadn''t shown up yet. It was not because they didn''t want to take part in the fight. Without taking out the key factor that caused the massive zombie attack, they would be wasting their energies even if they joined the fight.


    Si Kongchen silently looked at Lin Qiao, seemingly trying to see through her. "Our people haven''t collected any useful information about the thunder zone yet."


    He was trying to say that he and his people were aware that the thunder zone was what caused the massive zombie attack, and that they also knew about the zombie emperor. But currently, they couldn''t even approach the zombie emperor, or find out any information about him. Therefore, they had no idea how to deal with him.


    But at the very least, they had discovered an obvious feature of the zombie emperor.


    Si Kongchen glanced at Wu Chengyue.


    Anyone who had eyes could tell that the zombie emperor had lightning power. No one could say for sure how big the difference between a level-eight superpowered man and a level-eight zombie could be.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Gao Haoyun, then said to Si Kongchen, "As far as I know, the zombie emperor came here from Heilong Base. Chief Ice Devil, don''t you know why he is so persistent? Some of your base members died before your base was broken, right? Doesn''t that have anything to do with what is happening here?"


    Si Kongchen looked at Lin Qiao. Once again, a gleam of cold light flashed across his eyes. After hearing what Lin Qiao said, he turned to Wu Chengyue.


    He was surprised that the two of them actually had some detailed information about the zombie attack. He felt that Chief Lu was more than what she looked, and that feeling was growing stronger and stronger.


    Facing so many powerful people, she stayed composed and fearless. Apart from that, she did not tolerate an offense, but fought back decisively and cruelty.


    "Our people haven''t made any contact with that zombie emperor. We have sent out one of our Chairmen to collect information, but haven''t heard anything back from him yet. We lost contact with that level-seven chairman," Wei Haicheng sighed and joined the conversation. Clearly, he tried to tell Lin Qiao that they were trying to figure out what the cause was, but hadn''t achieved any result yet.


    "Chief Ice Devil, don''t you know what caused the zombie attack? You''re from Heilong Base after all," Wu Chengyue said with confusion.


    "Why do you think I know that?" Gao Haoyun gave a cold smile.


    "Because the zombie emperor followed you here," Wu Chengyue glanced at him with a smile.


    Gao Haoyun paused briefly. That was not wrong¡­ But, he didn''t draw all those zombies to Huaxia Base, did he?

 777 Negotiating

    At that moment, no one was paying any attention to Hu Zhiyong, who was sitting aside with a painful face. In the eyes of the people who understood what really happened, he deserved that pain.


    But still, some people tried to defend him.


    After watching Lin Qiao attack Hu Zhiyong, and then change the topic with Si Kongchen and the others as of nothing had happened, Liu Zhinan couldn''t help but start talking with a grim face, "Woman, how dare you hurt a chairman of Huaxia Base for no reason! You are not here to help us deal with the massive zombie attack, are you?"


    He made it sound like Lin Qiao came to Huaxia Base with some other purpose.


    "For no reason? How would Chairman Hu be poisoned if he didn''t touch her hand? You need to know that not even I have the courage to touch her without permission. Chairman Hu, you are really a brave man!" Wu Chengyue responded smilingly even before Lin Qiao said anything.


    While speaking, he eyed Hu Zhiyong with an extremely cold look, and also gave out a trace of killing intent.


    "He just held her hand. Does she really need to disable his arm for that? This Miss Lu here is a little too aggressive!" Liu Zhinan snorted coldly.


    He glanced at Hu Zhiyong and found the latter leaning against the back of the chair, gasping quickly for air. His face had paled, and eyes were unfocused. Gao Haoyun had frozen his arm, but clearly, the unbearable pain broke him down just now, and he hadn''t recovered from the breakdown yet.


    "Don''t you know that it''s improper for men and women to touch each other without permission? Don''t you guys know what harassment means? This guy touched my hand without my permission while holding some nasty thoughts. I just taught him a lesson. Not every woman is touchable," Lin Qiao snorted with laughter, then supported her chin with a palm and said blandly.


    "He kindly offered you a seat, yet you arrogantly thought that he was harassing you. You are so thick-skinned! "Liu Zhinan taunted her with a cold smile.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and kept her head tilted. She blinked, then responded carelessly, "If a stranger touched your mom''s hand in an indecent way but you don''t care if that''s harassment or not, I''d be fine with it. But in my case, he was harassing me because I said so. His arm can be frozen forever or disabled. What are you gonna do about it?"


    "You! You are so unreasonable!" Liu Zhinan glared at her with wrathfully.


    "If he sat tight without touching me, he''d surely be fine. He shouldn''t have tried to take advantages of me, should he? He brought the misfortune to himself. Alright, that is not important. What is important is how we are going to deal with the zombie crowd out there, or that lightning-powered zombie emperor, right? Chief Si?" Lin Qiao smiled with composure while she threw the topic back to Si Kongchen.


    Anyone who dared to try to take advantage of her would end up like Hu Zhiyong. She did look young and pretty now, but she was not a pushover.


    Si Kongchen glanced at Hu Zhiyong, then said expressionlessly, "I think Chairman Hu won''t die for now, so let''s see how can we find some useful information about that zombie emperor."


    "As long as no one will make any more trouble," Wu Chengyue looked at Hu Zhiyong with a smile, then looked at Liu Zhinan.


    Gao Haoyun fell into silence. The way he looked at Lin Qiao became much politer than before, and the greed in his eyes was gone. He didn''t know that she had poison power. Before, he only heard that the leader of the new base which was located near Sea City Base was a woman, but had no information about her.


    Based on what happened just now, one needed to bring her superpower under control to touch her body, unless she was willing to be touched by that person. That was troublesome!


    However, she was so charming and beautiful! He was willing to go through all the troubles for a woman like her. It was not yet the time to start an open fight, so he decided to pursue her. The trouble could be saved if she was willing to lie underneath him.


    Gao Haoyun fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao with a complicated look as he was having all kinds of thoughts. Thankfully, he had his intentions hidden much better than before, so the others couldn''t tell that he was coveting that pretty Chief lady.


    However, that intention of his was very obvious to Lin Qiao.


    "Tell us about your plan. We have come here, and we won''t just watch. I wonder how many weapons you will promise us as our payback?" Wu Chengyue turned his dagger eyes away from Huaxia Base, then looked at Si Kongchen and said smilingly.


    He made it quite clear that he and Lin Qiao weren''t there to help for free. They would charge for helping. If Huaxia Base promised them a good price, they would surely help more.


    He didn''t need to give more details, as the others clearly understood his meaning.


    "As you can see, we are currently very short of weapons. Will you take other types of payment? How about energy nuclei?" Si Kongchen looked at Wu Chengyue and said expressionlessly.


    "I''m not saying now¡­ I can wait. Your base is able to produce weapons anyway. You can ship them to Sea City Base when you have them," Wu Chengyue waved a hand and said.


    "No problem! Since you want weapons, just give me a list. Miss. Lu, I wonder what you want in return?" Si Kongchen agreed to Wu Chengyue''s term, then turned to Lin Qiao and asked her.


    "Oh, I''m fine. I''m only here to watch! If you''ll really need my help at some point, I''ll tell you what I want by then. Don''t worry, your base will be able to afford it," Lin Qiao responded with a small smile.


    While they were negotiating, the other bases had received the news that Sea City Base had joined the fight.


    About forty miles away from Huaxia Base was a small town. The news from Huaxia Base could reach that area very soon.


    This time, it was not Li Zhengye who came out of the base; it was another leader. He looked about thirty, slim, medium height¡ªabout five-feet and nine. He was an average-looking man that one would never notice among a group.


    However, while looking into his eyes, one would feel cold for some reason. Added with the depressing vibe from him, he always made the people around him feel uncomfortable.


    The man by his side was Xu Changmu. "Will Sea City Base still gain any profits by joining now? Huaxia Base has consumed up almost all the ammo they have after all. Is Si Kongchen even willing to give out those nuclear weapons?" he said.


    "Nothing is certain until the last moment," Gu Yikang''s deep, dry, and cold voice was heard.


    His voice wasn''t like that of normal people. It was deep, but not hoarse, somehow attractive. It should be pleasant to hear, but that special cold tone of his made it not so pleasant.


    He continued, "The situation seems to be bad for Huaxia Base, but Si Kongchen is still saving quite some powerful weapons. I guess he''ll use those to make deals with the other bases."

 778 Mo Yans Attack

    The zombie crowd was growing constantly. Yet, Si Kongchen would not use those super weapons which were able to destroy a whole city for now. Therefore, the others assumed that he still had quite some cards held in his hand.


    "So, he found aid from other bases just to guard his base against those zombies? That''s not cost-effective, is it?" Xu Changmu was a little confused.


    Gu Yikang looked at him and explained, "He asked help from powerful people, of course, not just to deal with those ordinary zombies. They are going to fight a zombie emperor. Three level-eight superpowered people can kill a zombie emperor, I think."


    Level-seven superpowered people had no chance against a zombie emperor.


    On the other side, the people from Green Mountain Base, who had also been hiding near Huaxia Base, made some reactions as well when they heard that Wu Chengyue had entered Huaxia Base.


    "Oi, they''ve gotten in! Should we get into the base too? Or, Wu Chengyue might get the best deal! If we don''t show up now, we''ll be a step behind Sea City Base!" A doll-faced girl who had long and curly hair stood beside Lan Lu and said to him anxiously.


    "Ye, calm down! They have just entered the base. They won''t start fighting so soon. Si Kongchen still needs to talk to them about the price," Zheng Hao, who was standing by Lei Cheng''s side, glanced at Ye Yingyue with a grin.


    At that time, a note was handed to them¡ª''The Chief Lady from All Beings Base is there too.''


    After reading the note, they paused briefly with surprise, then raised their heads to look at the few people around them, whose faces were covered in masks.


    "They haven''t figured out exactly how powerful that zombie emperor is, so they won''t start the fight so soon," Lan Lu blinked, then continued with a smile, "However, if the Chief Lady from All Beings Base is helping them, I think they''ll make some progress in a short time."


    "Are we gonna keep watching?" Ye Yingyue looked at him with a pair of sparkling, large eyes, and asked. Her chubby doll face and watery, large eyes made her look like an eighteen-year-old girl, even though she was already in her twenties.


    "No," Lan Lu shook his head as he maintained the smile on his face while saying, "We''re going into the base as well. Let''s see how they are going to deal with that zombie emperor."


    "You just want to see the Chief lady, right? You''ve been waiting for her," said the good-looking, expressionless Lei Cheng.


    Lan Lu glanced at him with a smile, staying silent.


    The last group of people who have been hiding near Huaxia Base was from Mongols Base. Their base wasn''t strong enough, so they had no plan to join the fight. They were only there to watch.


    In the command room of Huaxia Base, people were looking at the screens, searching for the thunder zone.


    "The interval time between two appearances is never the same¡­ sometimes a couple of hours, and at times a couple of days," Wu Chengyue, one of the chairmen of Huaxia Base, talked to Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue about the thunder area.


    "We''ve sent out a few batches of people to track the thunder area. The strongest one among them is at level-seven. However, none of them has returned yet." Si Kongchen looked with a grim look at the zombies in the screen trying endlessly to climb onto the fence wall.


    The group of zombie dominators under the zombie emperor''s command could kill that level-seven superpowered man very easily. Could that man still come back?


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue thought so.


    "So now, our top priority is to collect some useful information about this zombie emperor, and figure out exactly how powerful he is. The problem is¡­ who can do the job?" Lin Qiao joined the conversation.


    Any plan needed to be based on sufficient information. Otherwise, the chance of winning would be reduced largely.


    "I don''t think that''s necessary. The three of us can go straight there, and then we''ll know all we want to know. Isn''t that right? Can he escape from us three?" Gao Haoyun believed that a direct charge would be better.


    He was aware that the zombie emperor might have level-six and seven helpers, but those were no match for level-eight people.


    "I agree with Chief Gao," Liu Zhinan glanced at Lin Qiao coldly and then said.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and stayed silent.


    An ordinary zombie emperor might not survive three superpowered people, but Mo Yan''s condition didn''t seem normal. He lost control more and more frequently, and that boosted his violent, agitated vibe. If he lost control of his power during the fight, killing him would no longer be easy.


    At that moment, Mo Yan had sensed the familiar vibes from Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, and learned from his subordinates that a few helicopters had flown into Huaxia Base.


    He looked at the base with frosty eyes which were showing the intention of killing.


    Were they there to help?


    "Roar¡­" At that moment, the female zombie who was beside him gave him a roar with concern.


    Mo Yan turned and glanced at her, then shook his head. After that, he turned back to look at Huaxia Base.


    He wouldn''t leave until he had killed all those people. He would never give up, even if he would lose his mind in the end.


    The female zombie was only at level-five. She wasn''t able to cure him, but could only extend his time of sanity.


    He had no time to keep waiting. Some other powerful people might come here to help Huaxia Base. He thought for a second, then turned and roared at the female zombie, and then disappeared from where he was.


    At that point, dark clouds started gathering above the North entrance of Huaxia Base. Waves of lightning bolts flashed across the dark clouds, and rumbling thunders were heard.


    In the command room, Si Kongchen abruptly stood up.


    "This isn''t good. The thunder zone appeared by an entrance of the base," Wei Haichao said loudly with anxiety. Before, the thunder zone had been moving about around the base, but barely approached the entrances. But this time, it showed up straight at one of the four gates.


    Bang! Before the others could react, they saw an enormous bolt of lightning descend and strike the wall beyond the gate in a screen.


    Right after that, the screen sizzled and went black.


    "What''s going on! Only one lightning bolt fell this time? Before, the lightning would fall wave by wave, but it was never so powerful. I''m afraid two more strikes like that would tear the wall down!" Hong Yijie frowned and said with surprise.


    As the camera above the gate was broken by the lightning, the other few cameras turned to that area, so people could see the gate from a couple of smaller screens.


    In the next moment, another bolt of lightning which was as thick as the body of an adult fell from the sky toward the smoking gate.


    In that kind of a situation, it was pointless for people to stay in the command room. Si Kongchen immediately turned and walked out, and the others quickly followed him.


    Hu Zhiyong had one arm frozen, but that didn''t disable him from walking. While walking, he glared at Lin Qiao, as if he even wanted to eat her alive.


    That woman had humiliated him so cruelly in front of so many base leaders. He told himself that he would capture her, torture her, and then kill her!

 779 His Sister Disappeared

    Even the others could sense the hatred in Hu Zhiyong''s eyes, not to mention Lin Qiao herself.


    But, before she turned back to look at him, a man stepped up behind her and blocked his sight.


    "Chairman Hu, I have to remind you that you should better stay here and rest. Don''t go to the front lines. That''s too dangerous for you. What if someone accidentally shattered your arm?" While walking behind Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue turned and said to Hu Zhiyong with his never-changing smile.


    Hu Zhiyong stared at him with a sour face but didn''t say anything. His lips had even turned bluish because of the ice power, and his pale face was covered in sweat drops.


    Soon, the group of people exited the building and disappeared within a blink of an eye.


    Hu Zhiyong came out the last. He spent a second staring where Lin Qiao was, his eyes showing a cold, murderous intention. Next, he flashed across the air and disappeared as well.


    Hundreds of meters away from the gate which was under attack, a few people showed up on top of the fence wall. At that moment, another lightning bolt descended from the sky. But, before it landed on the nearly broken gate, it turned in the air and flew to the side.


    Following a sizzling noise, Wu Chengyue raised a hand and caught the lightning with a palm, then glanced around with a bland look.


    "I can hold off the lightning. You guys do what you have to do," Wu Chengyue glanced around but failed to sense the zombie emperor''s vibe. After that, he slightly turned his head and said to the others.


    Si Kongchen made a step forward and looked at the dents on the metal wall near the gate. The lightning strikes were too intense, such that the metal wall was even cracked.


    That area was noisy. However, all the zombies there were at very low levels. Not even a level-four could be found.


    People knew that a zombie emperor was out there, but could not find even a trace of his. They needed to know where the real enemy was. But currently, they had no way of locating him.


    Lin Qiao knew where he was. But, would she ever tell the others about that? Of course, she wouldn''t!


    As she had said, she was there to watch, and¡­


    She quickly glanced back at the inner area of Huaxia base.


    When she came out of the command building, she moved as fast as she could to bring Lin Kui, Ye Qingxian and Mo out of her space to look for Lin Kui''s sister.


    Lin Kui and the two level-six zombies hid themselves after coming out of Lin Qiao''s space, then followed his memories to sneak toward where his sister lived. He arrived in that area before long.


    That was a lodging area for commoners. It used to be noisy and busy, but it was all quiet now, with very few people to be seen. All the windows were closed.


    Lin Kui and the other two zombies sensed the human scents from that area. Many scents were mixed together, but none was fresh. Most of them had been fading away.


    Based on the scents, they figured that many people had left that area.


    Most of the males had been sent to the wall to fight against the zombies. Only the weak, ill ones, and women stayed in that area.


    After arriving at the area, Lin Kui hid on a tree and carefully sniffed at the air to look for his sister''s scent. His heart slowly sank as a serious look emerged on his face.


    Next, he jumped onto a roof near the tree, then leaped toward one direction. He moved fast, the two level-six zombies following behind him.


    Soon, he arrived at a residential area. Some buildings with five or seven stories were densely standing in that area. Lin Kui quickly found his sister''s building and climbed down through window frames to the balcony of a flat on the fifth floor.


    The balcony windows in that building were all installed with guard railings.


    Lin Kui turned and looked around; the area was so quiet. No one seemed to notice that a zombie was hanging on a window on that building.


    He gave an eye signal to the level-six zombie beside him. Receiving that, Mo raised a hand to create a hole on the guard railings before Lin Kui''s eyes.


    After getting into the flat, Lin Kui wore a bigger frown.


    No one was in the flat. It was a studio for rent, with one bedroom, one bathroom and a kitchen. The kitchen was connected with the balcony. Lin Kui had been there many times, and this place was filled with the scent that he was familiar with.


    However, that lingering scent was fading. In fact, it had already become very faint. If the sense of smell that zombies had wasn''t hundreds of times better than that of dogs, Lin Kui and his zombie friends wouldn''t be able to smell that scent.


    The fading smell meant that the owner of the flat hadn''t lived there for at least half a month.


    The person who was supposed to live there was gone for over half a year. Where had she been?


    Lin Kui looked around the flat and found the furniture pieces covered in a thin layer of dust. No daily supplies or clothes could be found. It seemed that whoever lived there had moved away.


    Lin Kui had no idea where his sister moved to and why. Except for that place, he couldn''t sense his sister''s scent from anywhere in Huaxia Base.


    What he could sense was only a rough range.


    He thought for a moment, then quickly left the flat and climbed onto the roof. Once again, he sniffed around the building very carefully.


    No¡­ He still couldn''t sense his sister.


    As his sister wasn''t in that area, Lin Kui immediately led the other two zombies to the next residential area.


    Back at the entrance which was under attack, Wu Chengyue took a few lightning strikes in a row, after which, Mo Yan paused briefly.


    After arriving at that area, Si Kongchen conveniently sent out a few fire dragons toward the zombie crowd.


    The fire dragons dived into the zombie crowd along with scorching heat and swept the nearby zombies off the wall. Those zombies were burned into ashes before they even fell to the ground. The fire dragons flew around the fence wall and burned the zombies that were piling up in that area into puffs of black ash, dissipating in the air.


    Si Kongchen looked very composed, seeming to control those fire dragons quite easily. At the same time, he was carefully observing into the distance, trying to find out where the zombie emperor was hiding while he attacked the gate.


    Not only him, the others had observed the surrounding area as well, but no one discovered any trace of the zombie emperor.


    Lin Qiao was the only one who had been glancing from one spot to another from time to time.


    At that point, twisting lightning bolts flickered in the dark clouds again, and muffled, rumbling thunder came from the sky.


    "Can''t you sense the source of his power?" Si Kongchen abruptly turned to Wu Chengyue and asked.


    "I can''t," Wu Chengyue shook his head.


    He didn''t lie. He really could not locate Mo Yan by tracking the latter''s lightning power.

 780 Assassinate Hu Zhiyong

    This time, the lightning attack clearly had a target. Without a doubt, it was under control.


    As Wu Chengyue had taken a few lightning strikes, the pointless attack stopped. Although, the thunder could still be heard from the dark clouds in the sky.


    The distance was long, but Lin Qiao could still sense that Mo Yan had restrained his vibe. It seemed that his mind was still clear, and that he was still able to control himself.


    She slightly dropped her eyes and stood beside the others, as if she was nothing but pretty.


    The zombies surrounding the base were under level-two. Not even one level-three could be found. Lin Qiao assumed that Mo Yan had hunted all higher-leveled zombies that he and his subordinates summoned, because she had sensed that all his subordinates were on the verge of breakthrough.


    She wondered how much Mo Yan had improved himself, and if absorbing too many zombie nuclei had caused him to lose control.


    As Lin Qiao was making guesses about Mo Yan''s condition, a strong wave of lightning bolts suddenly fell from the dark clouds.


    Hundreds of lightning bolts covered an area hundreds of meters in radius, including where the group of base leaders stood. Seeing that, the people immediately moved to dodge.


    Wu Chengyue was able to absorb a couple of lightning bolts, but not hundreds of them at one time.


    Hu Zhiyong, who was in a poor condition, reacted more slowly than the others. But still, he leaped away quickly enough. However, he was still in the air when a lightning bolt came from nowhere and hit him.


    The lightning bolts landed on his body, as it was impossible for him to dodge in the air.


    "Ah¡­" He screamed in pain and fell to the ground.


    The others heard him once they landed on the wall top. They immediately turned and saw Hu Zhiyong lying on the ground outside, shaking. His entire body had been burned black, and was smoking.


    Wu Chengyue landed on the other side of the wall, his eyes glowing dimly.


    Lin Qiao too had landed back onto the wall top. She looked at Hu Zhiyong, then at Wu Chengyue, her mouth corners twitching slightly. After that, she slightly twitched a finger and released a tiny wisp of black fire.


    Lying on the ground, Hu Zhiyong had his disordered energy leaking from his entire body. He had suffered a bad dizziness, and couldn''t even struggle back up from the ground. Thankfully, Si Kongchen had cleared that area just now with his fire dragons. So, there were no zombie bodies on the ground, only black ashes.


    His frozen arm had fallen into pieces. The wound wasn''t bleeding, but was frozen into a bluish pale color.


    Before he woke up, the tiny black fire flake landed on him, then exploded into a raging black fire.


    He didn''t scream again, because the fire had devoured his throat. Within a blink, his head started vanishing too.


    Within a short time, Hu Zhiyong, a level-seven man, was gone. Only a glowing energy nucleus was left on the ground.


    "Hu Zhiyong!" After landing in a safe area, Liu Zhinan didn''t immediately notice that Hu Zhiyong had been brought down by the lightning. By the time he followed Hu Zhiyong''s vibe and saw him on the ground, the fire rose from his body and swallowed him.


    Liu Zhinan popped his eyes with disbelief. The others were all too shocked to react as well.


    Si Kongchen made reactions before the others. He glanced at Wu Chengyue and found the latter wearing a surprised face as well.


    "Did Chairman Hu just die like that?" Gao Haoyun landed beside Si Kongchen with surprise as he looked at the glistening energy nucleus on the ground and said.


    Right at that moment, a figure flashed off the wall over to the energy nucleus and brought it away. Hou Guozhong flew back to Si Kongchen and handed him the energy nucleus.


    He possessed level-seven wind power, so he was surely faster than the others.


    With a grim look, Si Kongchen held the energy nucleus, then looked at Hou Guozhong, who just nodded.


    After that, Si Kongchen gave Wu Chengyue a meaningful glance.


    The others had no idea why a bolt of lightning hit Hu Zhiyong. They thought that was because he didn''t react fast enough to dodge the lightning attack due to his bad condition.


    Only Si Kongchen had grasped a faint energy wave from Wu Chengyue when that happened. However, he couldn''t sense the source of the black fire.


    Si Kongchen pulled a long face, but didn''t do anything.


    Liu Zhinan and Hu Zhiyong had been going against him the whole time. They believed that they didn''t need to be afraid of the Chief anymore, and had reached level-seven. Si Kongchen would not tolerate them if they weren''t strong and useful for the base.


    Now, when their powers were really needed, one of them died so soon.


    The two of them were in charge of some science projects. However, they weren''t the best scientists in the base.


    Following a series of thunder, a new wave of lightning bolts fell.


    "I have sensed it! He''s in the Southwest!" At that time, Wu Chengyue burst in a shout and pointed at the Southwest. Hearing that, Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun immediately darted at that direction.


    Among all, Gao Haoyun and Si Kongchen wanted to kill the zombie emperor the most.


    Gao Haoyun didn''t care about the people in Heilong Base, but did care about the supplies in that base. The massive zombie attack that the zombie emperor caused had destroyed the base. How could he not hate the zombie for that?


    He wanted very much to kill the zombie emperor, but he was aware that he wasn''t able to kill it alone. In terms of superpower, his power wasn''t as effective as the zombie emperor''s lightning power; in terms of energy amount, he might be no worse than the zombie emperor, but he didn''t have the strong body that the zombie emperor had.


    He cared about the supplies in the base, but valued his own life more. Therefore, as the situation turned bad, he immediately gave up on the base and left.


    Now, he had joined Huaxia Base. As a level-eight superpowered man, he was on an equal footing with Si Kongchen. Therefore, he wanted Si Kongchen to help him kill the zombie emperor.


    However, Huaxia Base people hadn''t even located the zombie emperor, not to mention kill him.


    Therefore, once Wu Chengyue pointed out the possible location, Gao Haoyun and Si Kongchen moved together.


    While the people fought against the zombie emperor outside, the zombies in Lin Qiao''s space were already bored enough, such that they had even started playing cards.


    Yes, they were playing cards! They had no memories, but were smart enough to play cards. Lu Tianyi introduced the rule once, then they started the game quickly.


    Lu Tianyi was bored, so he made Pesticide and Jingyan play cards with him. Xiao-xiao and the other zombies were watching them.

 781 The Second Batch Of People

    The group of zombies sat on the platform before Lin Qiao''s house in a circle, playing cards.


    "Three queens and a pair!" Lu Tianyi showed the cards onto the floor and said with his hoarse voice.


    Pesticide didn''t even hesitate to let out the three kings in his hands.


    Lu Tianyi rolled his eyes. He really wanted to throw all his cards onto Pesticide''s head. The two of them were a group. Pesticide should have let him pass and saved the big cards for the enemy.


    "You and I¡­ we are a team. Why did you attack me?" Lu Tianyi glared at Pesticide.


    Jingyan didn''t say anything but pulled out three aces and a pair.


    In the game, she was the landlord while the other two were farmers. She was the target.


    Lu Tianyi buried his forehead in a palm and said, "I''m gonna pass this one, pass, pass¡­"


    Only three twos or a bomb could win three aces. In their game, two was the biggest number. He didn''t have three twos or a bomb, so how was he supposed to continue the game?


    Pesticide looked at his cards while shaking his head. He regretted letting out the three kings too soon.


    Jingyan expressionlessly let out three sevens and a pair.


    Staring at those cards, Pesticide wanted so much to pick up his three kings from the floor.


    Jingyan glanced at him with a bland face and he quietly took back his hand. Alright, she was stronger than him!


    Xiao-xiao was squatting behind Jingyan and watching the game. She was a little confused at first, but she started to get the points of that game before long.


    The chubby Fox was sitting beside them on the platform, curled up like a ball.


    With her elbows on her knees and chin resting on her palms, she murmured, "When will Chief let us out to have some fun? This place is so boring¡­"


    Something interesting seemed to be happening outside, yet she and her friends were still trapped in their boss''s place, playing cards.


    She didn''t shift her shape, but a large tail was wagging behind her body.


    Woosh! While she was complaining about the boring place, a figure flashed across the air before her face.


    She paused with surprise. Before she could react, she saw a furless zombie dog run over.


    "Owoo!"


    Seeing those two creatures, she figured that the other one must be nearby too.


    So, she raised her head to look around. As a result, she found the bucket-sized head of the snake right above her, with its long, fork-tongue flickering out from time to time. The snake was watching the mushroom and the dog run around the group of buildings, the way people looked at idiots.


    The three came out of the woods every now and then. The mushroom really liked running; it was like a kid with hyperactivity. Most of the time, it was swinging its roots and running about. Sometimes, it even followed behind the zombie dog to provoke the latter.


    The brainless zombie dog chased the mushroom without thinking every time it saw the latter. Before, the dog liked to provoke Black and make the snake chase itself, and now, the mushroom was doing what it used to do.


    At first, the mushroom would run out of the woods and damage Lu Tianyi''s crops. Lu Tianyi once spent half a day chasing behind it with a sickle. But of course, he couldn''t chase up those mutated creatures.


    The mushroom liked to have people chasing behind it¡­


    Some other zombies weren''t watching Lu Tianyi''s card game. They were either absorbing the zombie nuclei that they had collected or fighting each other.


    A huge number of level three and four zombies were now living in Lin Qiao''s space. As they all crowded together, there would surely be conflicts. As Lin Qiao had warned them not to fight for real, they could only run small battles. Normally, a couple of battles would happen every day.


    The other side of the lake was even noisier than this side. The goats and roe deers fought every single day without stopping.


    Earlier on, Lin Qiao had dug a pit a couple of meters away from the lake, then created a ditch to draw some water into the pit from the lake, so that those animals could have water to drink.


    Those roe deers had lived in the space for quite long. Some of them had already bred baby roe deers.


    While the zombies in her space were living a leisured life, Lin Qiao was also a little bored outside as she watched the group of chairmen of Huaxia Base bring the chaotic situation under control.


    Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun made few miles in the direction that Wu Chengyue pointed out, then sensed a strong vibe that was moving backward unhurriedly. Both of them were excited, and their eyes glowed.


    Wu Chengyue was right¡­ The zombie emperor was there indeed!


    They moved faster, chasing behind that vibe.


    At that very moment, a few figures leaped up from a roof toward the North entrance of Huaxia Base. From a long distance, Lin Qiao sensed them and identified them. Those were Green Mountain Base people!


    Instead of entering the base directly, the group of Green Mountain Base people stopped at the edge of the clearing around the base.


    Hou Guozhong, the Deputy Chief of Huaxia Base who had wind power, immediately flew out to find out who they were and why they came to the base.


    Soon, he guided them into the base.


    "Our Chief and Gao Haoyun, the Chief of Heilong Base, are out there hunting the zombie emperor. Chief Lan, are you going to lend them a hand?" Heilong Base asked Lan Lu with a smile.


    Lan Lu was with three people¡ªa doll-faced girl and two men. All three of them were at or above level-six.


    "I don''t think they need my help. They''ll come back very soon," Lan Lu shook his head smilingly.


    Hou Guozhong looked at him with confusion. He didn''t believe what Lan Lu had said.


    Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun were both at level-eight, but he still didn''t think the two of them would be able to kill that zombie emperor so soon.


    Hou Guozhong glanced at Wu Chengyue who wasn''t doing anything, then said, "Can our Chief and Gao Haoyun finish that zombie emperor by themselves?"


    He was actually trying to remind Wu Chengyue that he should go and help.


    People had stopped calling Gao Haoyun ''Chief'' since he came to Huaxia Base. He had abandoned Heilong Base, so without a doubt he had given up his title as well.


    "It''s too late. The zombie emperor has gotten away," Wu Chengyue glanced at Hou Guozhong with a smile, then asked Lan Lu, "You were nearby since long ago, weren''t you? You didn''t show up until you saw us arrive. Sneaky!"


    "It''s because the situation wasn''t so urgent! Chief Si might have a solution. We were afraid that we might disturb him and his people!" Lan Lu looked at Wu Chengyue, also with a smile.


    The two of them looked at each other, both wearing a warm smile. But, the others clearly sensed a weird atmosphere from between them.


    Lin Qiao had also been looking at the two of them, sensing the strange hostility in their eyes. Last time when the anti-virus drug was on sale, they seemed to be on the same side. When did that change?


    Speaking of the drug, Huaxia Base developed anti-virus drug not long ago. But, why was the base now surrounded by zombies?"


    Lan Lu asked that question with laughter, "Don''t you guys have the anti-zombie drug? Why don''t you use it?"

 782 Interested In Her

    Huaxia Base had been under zombie attack for about a month, yet the anti-zombie drug was still not in use.


    "That might be one of Chief Si''s saved weapons," said Lan Lu with a grin.


    "You''re right. We''re just here to join the party," said Wu Chengyue smilingly, "Perhaps, Chief Si wants to kill the zombie emperor before using the drug."


    Before the massive zombie attack stopped, using the drug would be a waste. After all, more zombies had been gathering toward the base constantly.


    "See, that''s why I said that Chief Si doesn''t seem anxious about the current situation," Lan Lu looked at the small clear area down the fence wall with a smile.


    Earlier, Si Kongchen cleared that area with his fire dragons. As he left, his fire dragons followed him away. After that, some of the chairmen joined the fight, and some pretended to fight. After all, they didn''t want the people from other bases to laugh at them.


    "Why did you come here so soon then? Wouldn''t it be better for you to show up when he ran out of weapons?" Wu Chengyue said to Lan Lu with a cold smile.


    Lan Lu glanced at him, then abruptly turned to Lin Qiao and responded with a meaningful smile, "Helping Si Kongchen is, of course, not my only purpose."


    Wu Chengyue blinked and asked with a smile, "Are you interested in her too? Are you gonna compete with me?"


    "Yeah, I am," Lan Lu turned to Wu Chengyue with a wicked grin and said, "I am interested in her."


    He was interested in her indeed. He even wanted to capture her, bring her back to his base, then cut her open to see exactly how she was different from the other zombies.


    Noticing the way Lan Lu stared at Lin Qiao with excitement, Wu Chengyue began considering launching another thunder strike and killing him.


    How dare that man try to steal from him right in front of him! No, that wouldn''t be right. She didn''t belong to her yet.


    He couldn''t tell when he started to see Lin Qiao as his. He was surprised that she caught so much attention when she showed up in front of the group of base leaders. He was aware of how pretty she was, but he thought that her beauty would surprise those powerful men a little bit at the most.


    He had no idea that because he was with Ling Ling all the time, he hadn''t really been paying attention to the females surrounding him. The other base leaders weren''t as abstinent as he was.


    For the high-positioned men, the women who wanted to be with them were surely young and pretty. During the past years, those men already had enough of those kinds of women who brought themselves to them. A good-looking woman like Lin Qiao, who stood equally high as themselves and looked inaccessible, could easily arouse their interests.


    The more inaccessible she looked, the tastier they believed she would be. The desire of conquering made them excited.


    The interest that Lan Lu had toward Lin Qiao made Wu Chengyue think that he was attracted by Lin Qiao''s beauty as well.


    Lin Qiao surely had sensed the obvious look in Lan Lu''s eyes too, so she flashed up to him.


    "Is this the leader of your base?" She asked Lei Cheng whom she had seen before.


    The expressionless Lei Cheng didn''t expect her to ask him that question instead of Lan Lu himself. He shook his head and responded, "No. Our Chief never leaves the base. This is a chairman of our board."


    As she came closer, Lan Lu fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao''s body, seeming to study her.


    He had heard about her from Lei Cheng and the others before. She looked really like a human being. Green Mountain Base had zombie residents as well, and zombies could always sense their own kind. If it weren''t for that reason, he wouldn''t believe that the young and pretty Chief lady was actually a zombie.


    Lin Qiao didn''t come over to talk to Lan Lu. Instead, she said to Huaxia Base people, "You seem to have a lot of saved weapons. So, I assume you don''t need our help now. I''ll leave you guys to handle the situation yourselves then. If you need me, just tell her."


    She left Shen Yujen on the wall top, then leaped off the wall and headed into the base.


    No one would stop her from leaving. People were aware that they weren''t allowed to go anywhere in other people''s bases. As a base leader, Lin Qiao surely wouldn''t touch the bottom line of Huaxia people.


    However, even if no one tried to stop Lin Qiao, quite some people had been keeping an eye on her.


    Liu Zhinan felt that something was not right with Hu Zhiyong''s death. If the thunder strike that brought him down was an accident, where did that black fire come from?


    That powerful black fire reminded people of Netherworld Fire from Hades Base. However, she had died last year, so it could not be her.


    Liu Zhinan suspected that someone else possessed the same kind of power as she did.


    She didn''t suspect Lin Qiao because what she did to Hu Zhiyong earlier showed that she had poison power instead of fire power. Yet, it didn''t mean that she had nothing to do with that accident. She might have sent someone else to launch that attack from the dark.


    Liu Zhinan sent his people after Lin Qiao once she left the fence wall, but she threw them off her tail by making a simple turn.


    Liu Zhinan''s people followed behind her and saw her turn into an alley. However, when they got there, she was gone.


    Lin Qiao turned invisible, then quickly headed toward Lin Kui. Noticing the latter run about the entire base, she figured that he might have failed to find the target.


    Soon, she found Lin Kui and the other two zombies and she showed her face. Seeing her, the three moved toward her immediately.


    "You didn''t find her, did you?" Lin Qiao looked at Lin Kui and asked.


    Lin Kui''s ears and tail had popped out. His long tail was tagging behind his body, making him seem anxious.


    "No. Her place has been empty for about half a year," Lin Kui shook his head and said grimly.


    He was worried that something bad might have happened to his sister, Lin Jing, while he was caught. However, she seemed to have packed her belongings before leaving the flat. So, he told himself that she might have moved somewhere else.


    He was still worried, though. His sister was a commoner, and not a superpowered one. She worked as a maid in the base to earn food and a place to live.


    Lin Kui had been protecting her secretly. Therefore, the people who coveted her had all disappeared. Over time, no one dared to offend her anymore.


    People felt that some mysterious, powerful people had been protecting her secretly. In order to not disappear for no reason, those people gave up on their indecent ideas.

 783 Lin Jings Whereabouts

    "Did she leave by herself?" Lin Qiao asked him.


    "It looks like that. I haven''t found out about the reason yet," Lin Kui shook his head and responded frustratedly.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then looked at him and said, "Are there still people living around her flat?"


    "Yeah," Lin Kui nodded and said.


    "Let''s go and ask them if they know anything about her," said Lin Qiao.


    Soon, Lin Kui guided Lin Qiao back to Lin Jing''s building, opened the locked door, and headed upstairs. On the fifth floor, they sensed the scents of living humans from two of the dozen studios.


    Lin Qiao walked toward one of the two studios with Duan Juan, knocked on the door rhythmically, then asked through the door, "Is anyone home?"


    She knew that some people were in there, but she asked anyway. Also, she knocked on the door neither heavily nor too lightly. She did that to let the people in the studio know that she had no bad intentions.


    She spent a short while waiting, but heard no sound through the door.


    She patiently knocked on the door again and said, "I know you''re in there. Please open the door. I have a favor to ask."


    More than one person were in that studio.


    As those people still refused to open the door, Lin Qiao had no choice but to change her tone of speaking, "We''re gonna break in unless you open the door now."


    She threatened them, but didn''t really break the door. Instead, she stayed quiet and waited for another while.


    About ten seconds later, she heard footstep sounds from the studio.


    Soon, the footstep sounds came to the door, followed by a series of unlocking noise. After that, the door was opened slightly, exposing the face of a woman who looked about thirty years old.


    The woman looked at Lin Qiao and Duan Juan alertly, asking them with a low voice, "What do you want?"


    "Don''t worry. We''re not coming in. We just want to ask you a few questions," Lin Qiao said with a warm smile, "A girl named Lin Jing used to live over there. Do you know her?"


    The woman behind the door first observed Lin Qiao''s face, then looked at where she was pointing. After a short hesitation, she said to Lin Qiao, "Who are you? Why do you want to know about her?"


    Lin Qiao looked at that woman. In fact, she had already gotten the answer she wanted from that woman''s mind. With a smile, she said, "She has a brother. They had parted years ago. Now, her brother has asked me to find her."


    Lin Qiao detected no negative intention toward Lin Jing from that woman''s mind. Lin Jing was a nice person, so she got along well with her neighbors.


    Earlier on when Lin Qiao mentioned Lin Jing''s name, that woman immediately turned vigilant. She planned to cover for Lin Jing if Lin Qiao turned out to be a bad person.


    "That''s impossible! She told me that her brother died in the Apocalypse." The woman popped her eyes and said with disbelief.


    Lin Qiao grinned, then started making up stories. "No, he didn''t die. Lin Jing didn''t watch him die, did she? He was in bad condition at that time, because his superpower was waking up. In fact, he has been protecting Lin Jing secretly all these years. I assume you know about that. A mysterious person has been protecting Lin Jing."


    "If it were her brother, why didn''t he come out to talk to her? Why did he hide?" Clearly, the woman didn''t want to believe Lin Qiao, but also found what the latter said was very likely to be true.


    "Because he was disfigured," Lin Qiao continued the story that she made up, "He thinks that he''s too ugly to see people now. That''s why he didn''t dare to see his sister."


    Lin Kui, who was hiding in a corner nearby, was a little speechless when he heard that.


    The woman blinked as she looked at Lin Qiao with doubts. "Is it really her brother? What''s his name then?"


    "Lin Kui," said Lin Qiao.


    "That''s his name!" The woman''s eyes glowed. "But, didn''t you say that he has been secretly protecting her all the time? How come he doesn''t know where she is now?"


    Lin Qiao had no choice but to keep lying, "Because he was injured badly earlier. He only recovered recently. Now, he came to find her as he heard that Huaxia Base is under a massive zombie attack. He didn''t know that her flat was empty for so long."


    "She left. Before, she was working as a maid in a family. But half a year ago, the husband was drunk, and he might have offended her in some way. Lin Jing quit the job after that. However, the wife had been seeing her as a pain in the a*s since long ago. So, when that thing happened, she firmly believed that Lin Jing had seduced her husband. She brought a group of people here to cause Lin Jing trouble a couple of times. Thankfully, Lin Jing was smart enough. She hid in her flat and didn''t give that woman any chance to harm her." After hearing Lin Qiao''s patient explanation, the woman finally sighed and told her about what happened to Lin Jing.


    In fact, Lin Qiao had learned that from her mind.


    As that woman and her people had come to her flat a couple of times, Lin Jing was aware that she couldn''t stay in Huaxia Base. Her previous employer was a superpowered man, and was an official in the base. He was afraid of his wife, as his father-in-law was more powerful than himself. He let his wife do whatever she wanted as he didn''t want to offend her family.


    Therefore, Lin Jing''s life became difficult. It was harder and harder for her to survive in Huaxia Base. At last, in order to stay alive, she hired a few superpowered people with all she had, and asked them to escort her to Mongols Base, which was the closest base from Huaxia Base.


    "What happened to her after that? Did that woman hurt her?" Lin Qiao asked the woman, then slightly turned her head to give Lin Kui a glance.


    "No, she found an opportunity to run away. Back then, that woman''s people were guarding downstairs. She begged us to find a few superpowered people for her, and then she left with them. I heard that she was heading to Mongols Base. Mongols Base isn''t as good, but it''s the nearest base from here," said that woman.


    Lin Jing was only able to afford to go to Mongols Base. The condition in Mongols Base might not be good, but at least she had no enemy in that place. She might be facing dangers in that completely strange base too, but it would always be better than the threats from that woman in this base.


    "She went to Mongols Base? Alright, I get it. Thank you! These are for you. Please take them," Lin Qiao got all the information she needed, so she took out a few level-three zombie nuclei and two level-four nuclei before giving them to the woman.


    Three was the lowest-level of all zombie nuclei she had, and she had plenty of level four and five nuclei. However, she didn''t dare to give the woman too many, as she was worried that those nuclei might bring disaster to that common woman.


    She could sense that four people were in that flat in total, including the woman in front of her. They were all commoners.


    Seeing those zombie nuclei, the woman hurriedly waved her hands and said, "No, no, I did nothing for you but talk. I can''t take these precious nuclei from you."


    "Don''t say that," Lin Qiao said, "Just take them. Come on, don''t let the others see them. Alright, we''ll go!"


    She put those nuclei on that woman''s hands while speaking, then made a step backward as she turned and left with Duan Juan.

 784 Itsll Belong to Whoever Kills Him

    After leaving that building, Lin Qiao looked at Lin Kui and said, "You heard it. Your sister should be in Mongols Base now. Can you go there by yourself?"


    Lin Kui nodded. He had heard what that woman said. However, he didn''t believe her completely.


    "Are you sure that she didn''t lie?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "It''s true. I could read her mind."


    Lin Kui sighed with relief and said, "Alright. I''ll go and find her myself."


    "Take them with you. If you need any help, send them back to me," Lin Qiao said and glanced at Mo and Ye Qingxian, who were behind Lin Kui.


    Lin Kui glanced at the two level-six zombies, then nodded in agreement. After that, the three of them left Huaxia Base.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao returned to the wall top near the base entrance to see how Si Kongchen was going to deal with the zombie emperor.


    "The zombie emperor is sneaky. He fell back once we charged at him. He''s with a few zombie dominators," Si Kongchen was standing on the wall top. He still wore no expression, yet the look in his eyes was a little grim.


    "A few? So many!" Lan Lu frowned.


    It was very difficult for zombies to enter level-seven. The strongest zombie from his base was still stuck at level-six. So, he was surprised to hear a couple of zombie dominators were seen together. How come level-seven zombies were suddenly so common?


    All Beings Base had a few zombie dominators, and then another one emerged in Huaxia Base. Now, a few more were seen around the zombie emperor!


    "Four or five at least, and some level-six zombies," Si Kongchen frowned slightly.


    He was about forty, but his superpower made him look seven or eight years younger than his real age. His serious attitude, masculine face, and composed vibe gave out a mature and manly presence.


    Gao Haoyun was standing by his side. They were both at level-eight and the same age, yet his vibe was way weaker than the latter.


    Wu Chengyue looked much younger than both of them. He always had a gentle and stable vibe, and a never-changing, mild smile. His vibe was no weaker than Si Kongchen''s. Even though he didn''t look as manly and mature as Si Kongchen, his pretty and chiseled face did challenge the latter''s masculine vibe.


    As Lin Qiao wasn''t around, Wu Chengyue said with a careless smile, "A zombie emperor sure has some level six and seven zombies under his command. Let''s not care about that for now. We need to take out the emperor first. After that, things will become easy, right?"


    It was already getting dark at that moment. Once the sun sank, the air temperature immediately dropped by about twenty degrees. Commoners couldn''t stand to stay outdoors for long.


    It was March, but North China was still snowy.


    Not only did the coldness affect humans, but also zombies. As the temperature dropped, the zombies became less energetic and nimble.


    However, the order from the zombie emperor left them no choice but to slowly, constantly climb up to the wall top.


    "It has been six hours. The thunder zone has disappeared for six hours," said Hou Guozhong, who was standing behind Si Kongchen.


    He was talking about the crazy and disordered thunder attack that happened not long ago.


    "The lightning that attacked the gate was clearly not the same as the ones that happened before. What happened before seemed to be out of control. Any electronic devices nearby would be destroyed by the magnetic field that the lightning created. But this time, the lightning power was clearly controlled by the zombie emperor. Why didn''t he do that earlier? Why now?" Lan Lu murmured with confusion, with a hand on his chin.


    "I guess you guys showing up made the zombie emperor feel threatened," said Si Kongchen with a serious look.


    "That''s highly possible," Wu Chengyue nodded with a faint smile.


    Lan Lu gave Wu Chengyue a meaningful glance.


    Lan Lu was sure that All Beings Base leaders knew about the agitated zombie emperor. Zombies were able to sense other zombies more clearly than humans could. What Lan Lu didn''t know was if Wu Chengyue had gotten that information from the zombie Chief lady.


    Also, Wu Chengyue was pursuing the Chief lady, but did he know that she was a zombie? He had been going after her for a rather long while, yet she seemed not to accept him. Lan Lu assumed that she hadn''t told him the truth about herself.


    If Wu Chengyue truly won her heart one day, Lan Lu wondered how he would feel when he found out that she was a zombie. In Lan Lu''s mind, Wu Chengyue wouldn''t be able to touch her or hold her, because she was a zombie.


    Wu Chengyue silently gave Lan Lu a glance. Somehow, he always found the expression on that level-eight spirit-power possessor''s face a little weird.


    ''Is that man picturing something strange?'' he wondered.


    "The zombie emperor was definitely in the thunder zone just now. But, we don''t know where he is now. We can''t track him, and can only wait for the thunder zone to show up again, then encircle him. By then, Chief Wu, we''re going to need your help to deal with the thunder attack," Si Kongchen thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. He also looked at Wu Chengyue to ask for his approval.


    "No problem! When the thunder zone appears again, I''ll just get in and take a look. Perhaps, I''ll be able to take out the zombie emperor alone," Wu Chengyue made a joke.


    The others laughed, "That''d be even better! We''d save a lot of efforts!"


    The expressionless Si Kongchen responded in a bland tone, "You do it if you can."


    Wu Chengyue shrugged and said smilingly, "What if I really did it? The zombie nucleus will be mine! You won''t fight me over it, will you?"


    "No!" Si Kongchen shook his head without hesitation.


    The others also shook their heads with smiles.


    "Let''s do what we can. The zombie emperor''s nucleus will belong to whoever kills him," Liu Zhinan snorted coldly and said.


    "Oh, are you guys talking about the zombie nucleus''s ownership already? Are you sure you can kill him? What if he goes straight up to level-nine under the stimulation from you guys?" A cold and clear female voice was heard along with laughter.


    The people turned to see Lin Qiao walk over with her hands resting in the pockets of her trousers. She was wearing a pair of combat boots, and her pretty face was toned with a small smile.


    "If that really happened, we''d have no choice but to unite the entire mankind to fight him," Gao Haoyun''s eyes glowed when he saw Lin Qiao as he responded to her before the others.


    Si Kongchen and the others thought she was only joking. Only Wu Chengyue and Lan Lu blinked their eyes in a meaningful way.


    "Hehe, if he really upgraded, I''m afraid not even nuclear weapons can kill him," Lin Qiao glanced at Gao Haoyun with a cold smile and said, "Perhaps, you can try to throw a nuclear bomb at him."

 785 Mo Yan Is Drawing Back

    "Will you accept me if I killed the zombie emperor, Miss. Lu?" Gao Haoyun smiled a wicked smile while looking at Lin Qiao greedily from head to toe.


    "Chief Gao Haoyun, abandoning Heilong Base seems not to affect you at all. You still have the mood to flirt with a pretty lady," Lan Lu laughed as he looked at Gao Haoyun with a weird expression.


    Gao Haoyun paused briefly, then gave a faint smile and responded, "I do care about my base, but that doesn''t change the fact that it''s already occupied by zombies, does it?"


    No matter how upset he was, he would not write that on his face to show it to the others.


    "As far as I know, even though Heilong Base was broken by the massive zombie attack, another leader saved the survivors in your base after you left. He is still fighting now. Have you thought about going back?" Lan Lu blinked and asked.


    Vaguely, he was judging Gao Haoyun for abandoning his people, and also asking him if he would go back to help them.


    "Even if I want to go back, I don''t think Du kunsheng wants me back. After all, the zombie emperor might have his eyes on me. I''d probably lead him back to Heilong Base," Gao Haoyun snorted coldly.


    The group of people needed to pay close attention to the surrounding area, so they wouldn''t miss any possible move of the zombie emperor. Therefore, none of them went to rest, and only took naps in turns.


    They were all high-leveled superpowered beings. Being supported by their energies, they could stay awake and energetic for one, or even two months.


    The buildings nearby had all been commandeered as temporary resting places for the injured soldiers and superpowered fighters to rest and heal. Si Kongchen ordered his people to clean a living room, then put in some chairs for the group of base leaders to sit and rest.


    The group of people stayed up the whole night, yet the thunder zone never showed up.


    At that moment, Mo Yan was sitting on top of a building located tens of miles away from Huaxia Base. He was in a very bad condition. He had no idea that a group of people was waiting for him to lose control again, but the presence of Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao made him alert.


    Before when he lost control of his power, he wasn''t afraid of the enemies, because anyone who tried to approach him would die under his lightning power. But now, things had changed. The leader from Sea City Base wasn''t afraid of lightning power.


    If he lost control again, the Sea City Base leader might take the opportunity to approach him and threaten his life.


    Therefore, he had to keep himself under control.


    However, he wasn''t able to do that. Not even the female zombie''s power could ease his frenzy. For that very reason, he moved far away from Huaxia Base before he lost control. In that way, Si Kongchen and his people wouldn''t spot him so quickly even if he did lose control of himself again.


    He leaned against the wall of the stair room with his legs stretched and head dropped to his chest.


    One wouldn''t be able to see his face, but could tell from his clenched fists that he was enduring some kind of pain. The blood veins on his neck had started twisting again, and had covered his entire face.


    The female zombie was squatting by his side with one hand on his shoulder. Her pretty face wore a slight frown as she was trying her best to send her power into Mo Yan''s body.


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan uttered deep growls from his throat that sounded very pained.


    At dawn, the female zombie suddenly had her expression change, then pulled back her hand and flashed away from Mo Yan.


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan raised his head and uttered a roar with a ferocious look. A series of rumbling thunder was heard.


    A disordered wave of lightning bolts immediately fell from the sky and landed on the surrounding buildings. In the next second, dark clouds started rolling in the sky. Lightning bolts flashed across the clouds, then descended like heavy rain, wave after wave. Within a blink, thousands of lightning bolts fell from the sky and devastated the entire area.


    The female zombie dodged fast. She swiftly moved to about eight hundred meters away from Mo Yan, both her hair and clothing turning messy.


    After that, she raised her purely dark eyes and expressionlessly looked at the Mo Yan. The area surrounding him became a terrifying thunder zone within a few seconds.


    All buildings and plants in that zone were shattered by the lightning, raising wisps of black smoke and flakes of fire.


    The female zombie didn''t understand why her boss lost control so frequently in the recent couple of days. Not even her power could stop his condition from worsening.


    Was she too weak? Mo Yan was a breath away from level-nine while she was still at level-five.


    Would she be able to calm Mo Yan down when she reached his level?


    The group of zombie dominators under Mo Yan''s command landed near the female zombie.


    Mo Yan had ordered them to protect the female zombie while he himself was out of control. As a level-five healing power possessor, she was too weak.


    Mo Yan didn''t want the female zombie to be killed by humans while he was out of control. If that happened, he would be doomed.


    He had given her a lot of zombie nuclei to help her with the upgrade. However, she was in a special condition. She wasn''t able to absorb the nuclei that contained other types of energies. All she could absorb was the nuclei of the zombie at level two or three who hadn''t triggered their superpowers yet. She was already at level-five, so it would take her a very, very long time to upgrade by absorbing low-leveled zombie nuclei.


    The zombies who possessed the same kind of power as she did were even rarer than the lightning-powered ones. Therefore, for a zombie-like her, upgrading was especially difficult.


    For these reasons, Mo Yan hadn''t found an efficient way to upgrade that female zombie.


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan gaped his mouth and bared his sharp teeth as he gave a resonant roar. His purple eyes were wide open, and his face was twisted. Following his roar, more and more lightning bolts descended from the sky, affecting a wider and wider area.


    Suddenly, he twitched and threw himself off the building.


    Thud! He landed on the ground, then struggled back up. In the next second, he rushed straight at the wall nearby.


    Bang! He created a hole on that wall.


    As he lost control of himself, the zombies that had been heading toward Huaxia Base instantly began running crazily. Soon, the people in Huaxia Base sensed it as well.


    "The zombie crowd is stirred!" The people who had been watching into the distance immediately shouted out loud. They saw the zombies far away charging at the base, unusually fast and ferociously.


    Receiving that message, Si Kongchen and the others immediately came onto the wall top. Through telescopes, they saw those zombies surging at the base like the tidewater.


    "Those zombies are agitated. I think it''s because the thunder zone has appeared again!" Si Kongchen looked around through the telescope, but didn''t spot the thunder zone.

 786 Ism Not Gay

    Wu Chengyue looked around and then said, "You can''t see him from here. He''s hidden away."


    Si Kongchen dropped the telescope and looked at him, "Chief Wu, can you sense where he is?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at the sky, then pointed at a darker area in the sky while saying, "Have you seen that? The clouds in that area are pressing down. It''s a bit far away, but I can feel the lightning energy coming from there."


    Si Kongchen looked at that area. It was far away from Huaxia Base indeed. "How far?" He couldn''t help but ask Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "I''m not sure. The direction is correct at least."


    "Chief Wu, are you sure?" Gao Haoyun walked to Si Kongchen''s side and glanced at Wu Chengyue scornfully, his eyes showing doubts.


    "You can choose not to go. If I got there and kill the zombie emperor, his nucleus will be mine," Wu Chengyue upturned his mouth corners while saying to Gao Haoyun. In the next second, he leaped away from the wall top.


    Seeing that, Gao Haoyun and Si Kongchen glanced at each other, then followed closely behind him.


    "Chief Wu is young and powerful. You two are a good match for each other actually. Don''t you like him?" After the three level-eight men darted out, Lan Lu moved to Lin Qiao and said to her casually.


    "Do you like him? You can be with him then," Lin Qiao glanced at him expressionlessly and said, "Also, why did you get so close to me? Do I know you well?"


    While speaking, she took two steps backward to create a space between Lan Lu and herself.


    "I''m not gay. Perhaps, this is the first time we have seen each other in person, but you are not strange for me. At least, I think I know more about you than the others do," Lan Lu smiled at Lin Qiao and said.


    Lan Lu believed that Lin Qiao''s zombie nature was the secret that she would never leak to anyone, because that would affect her situation among humans.


    Noticing the meaningful smile on Lan Lu''s face, Lin Qiao responded blandly, "How much do you know about me, Chairman Lan?"


    "I don''t think I can say it out loud here. But again, it''s dangerous for you to build a human base and lead it, isn''t it?" Lan Lu asked her curiously.


    "Why? I don''t understand what you are talking about," Lin Qiao looked at him and replied with a faint smile.


    Lan Lu didn''t ask a further question, but shrugged and said, "Alright, we''ll continue this topic when you understand me. Do you think they can find the zombie emperor and kill him this time?"


    While speaking, he turned to look at where Si Kongchen and the other two left from.


    While Huaxia Base people were fighting against the massive zombie attack, Cheng Wangxue beat Chen Hao to death in the All Beings Base. Only after knowing that did Lu Tong finally sigh with relief.


    Wang Jian had too heard that Chen Hao got himself killed. He was a commoner without any superpower, yet he was definitely able to travel safely among zombie crowds with weapons. He could be counted as a capable one, as long as no high-leveled zombies showed up in his way.


    In addition to that, he had a great reputation. After all, he was the one who brought over a thousand people all the way to All Beings Base from Hades Base through all sorts of dangers.


    Therefore, most of the second batch of Hades survivors saw Wang Jian as their leader. They had formed a group, and Wang Jian had naturally become their Captain.


    "Chen Hao was out of his mind, wasn''t he? I can''t believe he made a Deputy Chief of this base an enemy only to kill Lu Tong. That was suicidal for sure!" said Wang Jian with a cold smile.


    Huang Tiange laughed, "Exactly! Now he''s dead, so we don''t even need to kill him."


    Wang Jian nodded, and then asked, "How''s Qiao Liangting?"


    Qiao Liangting was the man whose superpower was triggered during the journey. Since arriving at the base, he had been kept in an isolated ward.


    "I heard from Hai that he should be waking up very soon," said Huang Tiange.


    Wang Jian sighed and said, "I wonder what kind of power he''ll have."


    "Oh, I heard that this base will be separated into two. This side of the base is for humans, and the other side is not. I don''t know who''ll be living on the other side of the base, but I do feel that this base isn''t the same as the others," said Huang Tiange.


    "Separated? Not into the inner area and the outer area?" Wang Jian looked at him with both surprise and confusion.


    Currently, every existing human base was divided into the inner area and outer area. The inner area had its independent fence wall, and the outer area would be built surrounding that wall. It was the first time Wang Jian heard that a base would be built in two independent parts, and one part would not be for humans.


    Huang Tiange looked around vigilantly, then put his mouth near Wang Jian''s ear and whispered to him, "I think a group of zombies will be living on the other side of this base. I''ve got secret information saying that there''s a farm near the base. I heard that the Chief lady developed the farm herself. Currently, the farm teems with sweet potatoes, sweetcorn, pumpkins, and potatoes. The ones who are working there aren''t humans. I heard that they''re all zombies!"


    Hearing that, Wang Jian first paused with surprise, then stared at Huang Tiange with disbelief. After that, he blinked, seeming to have thought of something.


    He nodded and said, "That''s possible! When we came in, a group of weird zombies barred our road, right? There was that strange female zombie! Don''t you feel that she''s a little too smart? Except for her zombie face, which part of her really looks like a zombie?"


    Huang Tiange nodded. Thinking about that female zombie, he complained with a bitter face, "She threw me into the base!"


    "Hahaha¡­ She looked so impatient back then. You guys moved really slow!" Wang Jian burst in laughter as he recalled what happened back then.


    "I¡­ I was scared! Who has ever seen such a human-like zombie! I was freaked out when she came close to me!" Huang Tiange explained embarrassedly.


    He was a young man, about twenty years old. That was the first time he saw a zombie who slapped the head of a car to urge people to move faster.


    "Alright, don''t tell anyone else about that. Also, don''t ask questions that you shouldn''t be asking, or you might draw unnecessary trouble to yourself," Wang Jian waved a hand and said to him.


    "I get it," Huang Tiange nodded.


    "Since Chen Hao is dead, we should keep close eyes on Lu Tong and Li Honglin now. Don''t offend them just yet. Our first priority is to gain a firm foothold in this place. We will have a chance to make them pay for using our people as baits to distract zombies," Wang Jian folded his arms and said with a cold face.


    "Yes, sir! I will let the others know," Huang Tiange responded.


    Right at that moment, a man ran over and said to them delightfully, "Captain, Qiao Liangting is awake!"


    Wang Jian and Huang Tiange both had their eyes shining. Wang Jian stood up immediately and said, "Let''s go and take a look at him."

 787 Metal-powered Vine

    In the isolated ward, Lin Hao was standing by the bedside with a few nurses, asking Qiao Liangting about how he felt. "How do you feel now? Are you feeling any discomfort?"


    Qiao Liangting was lying on the bed. He was a slim man, pale, but looked energetic. His eyes were bright. He shook his head as he responded with a weak and dry voice, "No, thank you!"


    Lin Hao gave him a check-up and found that he was in better condition than before when he had just arrived, full of energy. His face was ghastly pale, yet a vital force could be detected from it indeed.


    Lin Hao heard that he was dying before his power woke up. At last, he made it to All Beings Base, and had his power waking up.


    He was on death''s door, yet that misfortune brought him a good result.


    After checking his body condition, Lin Qiao said to Qiao Liangting blandly, "Your body has been healing quickly. Now, you need to rest well. You might not sense your power clearly, as it has just been triggered. Over time, you''ll be able to feel the energy flowing inside you."


    Qiao Liangting smiled. His face was almost scrawny, but well-featured. Smiling made him look better than before.


    Lin Hao nodded with a bland look, but didn''t say anything else.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Lin Feng and his people had encountered trouble out there on their way to collect supplies.


    Bang! Near a park, a gigantic fireball landed on the massive sphere of madly twitching vines, which had a metallic luster.


    Lin Feng and his people always carried the grass balls that contained Lin Qiao''s blood when they left the base for missions. Therefore, zombies would avoid them from a distance. Only powerful mutated creatures would ignore the pressure from Lin Qiao''s blood and attack them.


    Level-seven fire power could be considered very powerful. However, facing a level-seven mutated vine plant, Lin Feng''s chance of winning weren''t great.


    Plants should be afraid of fire. However, Lin Feng''s fire wasn''t able to burn the plant which had the entire park covered by its vines, and was able to move quickly and attack people.


    The vine had metal power! Of course, metal power could be conquered by fire power too. However, at the same level, humans were always weaker than mutated plants.


    The plant swung its metal-strong vines, seeming ready to kill every single living being on its way.


    Clang! Long Qingying gripped her blade with both hands and hacked on the arm-thick metal vine that was whipping at her.


    "Eh¡­" The counterforce quaked her hands and nearly made her drop the blade. She clenched her teeth as her cheeks reddened slightly.


    Her metal power was completely useless at that moment! The plant suppressed her power thoroughly, and had even been absorbing her energy.


    She was the plant''s target. Her metal energy woke up the plant, which attacked her and her people when they passed by its territory.


    Bullets were, of course, harmless for the level-seven metal-powered plant. Only superpower attacks could deliver some effects.


    "What should we do? Deputy Chief and Captain Long aren''t gonna hold it for long!" Lin Yu, who was standing beside Lin Wenwen, anxiously watched the people who were fighting hundreds of meters away.


    Lin Wenwen was anxious too. She had her eyes fixed on the battlefield through a telescope. She forced herself to calm down, as she was aware that she herself and the others were too weak to help. With no other choice, they stayed away from the front line.


    She watched Long Qingying fall deeper and deeper into danger, while Lin Feng was too busy with fighting to save her. On the other side, Li Zheng''s ice power had failed to stop those crazily whipping vines too. Lin Wenwen couldn''t even catch her breath.


    ''What should I do? What should I do? What''s the weakness of metal power? The combination of plants and metal power can be a huge piece of trouble! What''s the weakness of this giant metal vine plant?''


    Lin Wenwen wished that she had learned botany before. If she knew what exactly that vine plant was, she might know about its weakness.


    But now, thinking about that wouldn''t help. It was a mutated plant at level-seven!


    Half of Lin Feng''s team died in the surprise attack from the vine plant. Lin Feng reacted fast enough to block some attacks, yet only managed to save one-third of his people.


    Through her training, Lin Wenwen had become much nimbler than before. So, she luckily kept herself from being dragged away by those metal vines. With the help of Lin Yu and Li Zheng, she quickly retreated from the danger zone.


    Now, in the safe area, she could do no more than watch Lin Feng and Long Qingying fighting over there.


    "If they can''t hold it off until Chief comes to save us¡­" Feng Yuming looked at Lin Wenwen in panic as his face paled.


    "This place is only about a hundred miles away from the base. My sister can definitely make it here on time! I hope Lili is in the base as well! What I''m now worried about is that my sister might not be in the base!" Lin Wenwen bit her finger while speaking, her face covered in sweat.


    That was highly possible.


    Hearing that, the others had their faces paled as well.


    "If¡­ If I can bring people into my space as my sister can, we''ll all be safe!" Lin Wenwen murmured to herself. She had an idea.


    "Even if you can bring people into your space, you''re unable to get there. You still can''t save them," Lin Yu reminded her.


    Lin Wenwen paused briefly as she looked at Lin Yu with red eyes. Then, she turned back to the battlefield, her eyes unfocused. "What should we do¡­ What should we do¡­ Qingying! Brother!"


    At that moment, she hated herself for being too weak!


    Through the distance, she couldn''t see Lin Feng and Long Qingying clearly, but was able to see the enormous vine plant, which had a metallic luster.


    Her mind started blurring. Her unfocused eyes landed on that frenzied plant that was madly wielding its countless vines; her mind pictured Lin Feng and Long Qingying fighting. She told herself that her sister would come to save them before it was too late, then wondered what she should do if her sister wasn''t in the base. Meanwhile, she wished that they never came to that area.


    Countless thoughts flashed across her mind disorderedly, making her feel as if her head was exploding.


    "No! Deputy Chief!" At that moment, Lin Yu burst in a scream.


    Lin Wenwen automatically raised the telescope and looked through it. She saw a huge vine go through Lin Feng''s chest.


    "No! Brother!" Lin Wenwen''s brain went blank and her heart missed a beat. All of a sudden, she felt dizzy, and the world before her eyes became blurry.

 788 Hit Me

    As the metal vine went through Lin Feng''s chest and disabled him from struggling, Lin Qiao, who was in Huaxia Base, had her heart leap. A strange feeling suddenly rose from her heart which made her feel very uncomfortable, as if a hard piece of stone had fallen into her heart.


    But soon, that discomforting feeling was gone, as if it wasn''t even real.


    Lin Wenwen''s eyes were dazzled, and the dizziness hadn''t stopped.


    "What''s wrong?" Someone abruptly grabbed her arm. A cold, familiar female voice was heard.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head, then paused in shock. She popped her eyes and stared at Long Qingying, who was holding her arms with a confused look.


    "Are you okay?" Noticing the strange look on her face, Long Qingying couldn''t help but ask.


    Lin Wenwen spent a few seconds staring at her, then turned to look around. She found herself sitting in a room. The familiar surrounding environment stunned her. For a short while, she couldn''t even react.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Feng was sitting by a window, drinking water. He turned back when he heard Long Qingying, then found his sister sitting there with a shocked face.


    Lin Wenwen blinked, then took a deep breath. After that, she sprung up from the chair and ran to the window to look outside, then raised her arm to look at her watch.


    As she thought, the current time was half-past eleven. Just now, when she and her people were attacked by the metal vine, it was about four pm.


    The building that she was in was located about thirty miles away from the park where they ran into the metal vine. Before heading toward the park, they had taken a break in that building.


    Lin Wenwen''s heart raced. She looked around again and carefully scanned every single person in that room with her eyes. The whole team was there.


    "Brother¡­ hit me!" She turned and said to Lin Feng eagerly.


    The latter didn''t know how to react. He stared at Lin Wenwen for a few seconds, then turned to look at the others with confusion.


    At that point, Lin Wenwen''s weird behavior had caught the attention of the others as well. The whole team was as confused as Lin Feng when Lin Wenwen asked him to hit her.


    "Brother, come on, hit me! I want to see if I''m in a dream!" Lin Wenwen didn''t notice the look of the others as she urgently raised Lin Feng''s hand to her face.


    Lin Feng didn''t know how to react.


    He had always been a composed person, but at that very moment, he couldn''t help but look at Lin Wenwen the way people looked at someone with psychiatric disorders.


    "Come one¡­ just do it! Eh, never mind!" As her brother refused to do what she asked, Lin Wenwen raised her own hand and gave herself a slap.


    The loud and clear slap again made the others feel shocked.


    "It hurts!" Lin Wenwen first complained about the pain, then quickly raised both hands and grasped Lin Feng''s cloth, looking at him as she burst in tears. "Brother¡­"


    Lin Feng was dumbfounded. He dropped the cup as he helplessly looked at his sister who had suddenly cried out loud for no reason.


    "What¡­ What''s wrong? Why are you crying?" Lin Feng looked at Lin Wenwen bewilderedly, then turned to look at the others, as he honestly didn''t know what to do.


    Long Qingying came over along with the others and looked at Lin Wenwen as she asked her with concern, "What''s wrong? Just tell us! What are you crying for?"


    Lin Wenwen''s head was full of the picture of Lin Feng''s chest being penetrated by the metal vine. She couldn''t erase the fear in her heart no matter how hard she tried. Seeing Lin Feng standing in front of her unharmed, she couldn''t even believe her own eyes.


    The others looked at each other, all feeling deeply confused.


    Thankfully, Lin Wenwen soon stopped crying. While wiping her tears, she looked at the others again to make sure that they were all there.


    "What on earth happened?" Long Qingying looked at Lin Wenwen and asked with a frown.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head as she quickly wiped the tears away from her face. She managed to calm down, but still didn''t relax her grip of Lin Feng''s cloth.


    What happened? Why did she suddenly jump back to a couple of hours ago? Was that metal vine her illusion? Was she dreaming?


    That was impossible! That was too real to be a dream or an illusion! People were able to realize they were in a dream when they woke up from it, but she did not have that kind of feeling at all! What exactly happened to her then?


    Lin Wenwen couldn''t figure it out. She raised her head and asked Lin Feng, "Brother, which way will we take to go home this afternoon?"


    "This way," Lin Feng took out a map and pointed the way out for her.


    Lin Wenwen looked at it and found that it was exactly the way they took. They were attacked by the metal vine that afternoon on that way.


    Lin Qiao''s blood had been protecting them against zombies. Therefore, they were less vigilant against zombies, but more alert against mutated creatures. Normally, they would avoid going through parks or woods.


    Before running into the metal vine, they actually intended to avoid going through that park. However, the only wide road was in the park, and their trucks couldn''t get through the other paths. Their only other choice was to take a detour.


    Taking a detour would take them at least three more hours. Therefore, Lin Feng decided to raise their vigilance and go through the park at their highest speed.


    Unexpectedly, the metal vine sensed Long Qingying''s metal power and gave them a destructive attack.


    Lin Wenwen dropped her head and concealed her emotions. Then, she slowly raised her head and looked at the map in Lin Feng''s hand, pointing at another road, "Brother, let''s take this way."


    Lin Feng looked at her confusedly, then at the others. The others had also been looking at Lin Wenwen with confusion. "Why?" Lin Feng asked Lin Wenwen, "If we take this way, we won''t get back home until tomorrow noontime."


    The road he picked would lead them home by tomorrow morning.


    Lin Wenwen looked at him, then at the confused Long Qingying, and said, "Let''s take this way. I heard that a cement plant is located in this town. Maybe we can find it."


    She made up a small lie. She couldn''t tell Lin Feng that they''d be in danger if they took the way he picked, could she? Lin Feng would never believe her, neither listen to her. So, if she told him the truth, she would have to make a lot of explanations to convince him. Who would possibly believe that she was able to foresee the doom of the team that would happen in a couple of hours?


    Lin Feng was a non-superstitious soldier, so he would never believe something like that.

 789 Find The Thunder Zone

    In order to make Lin Feng agree to what she said, Lin Wenwen smartly tempted him with what he wanted the most.


    The fence wall of the base was still under construction. Cement had always been on top of Lin Feng''s collection list. Therefore, he might be easily convinced by what Lin Wenwen suggested.


    Lin Wenwen knew her brother well.


    As Lin Wenwen expected, Lin Feng had his eyes glowing once he heard what she said. "Really? Alright, we''ll take this way," he agreed without hesitation.


    Lin Wenwen secretly sighed with relief.


    "But, what happened to you just now?" Lin Feng pointed at the finger marks on her face and asked. She slapped herself, grasped his clothes, and then cried. He was so worried!


    Hearing that question, Lin Wenwen paused briefly, then turned and saw the others looking at her with puzzles in their eyes. She gave an awkward smile, then explained with laughter, "Eh¡­ no-nothing. I just thought of something bad, and my brain¡­ wasn''t working well¡­ So I ended up like that¡­ hehe¡­ hehe¡­"


    The people were still confused.


    While giving that vague explanation, Lin Wenwen was also wondering what exactly had happened to her. Was what happened before unreal? But, why did it feel so real? If it were real, how did she jump back in time?


    She pondered over and over again, but still couldn''t figure out why. Perhaps, she could tell her sister about it, or ask the latter to go to the park to see if there was really a metal-powered vine plant.


    If the vine plant was really there, what she had experienced before would most likely be real! If there was not a vine plant like that, what she saw earlier might be an illusion.


    To her very surprise, Lin Feng and her people really found a cement plant in the town that she mentioned before.


    They really found it!


    Lin Wenwen didn''t even know what to say.


    That was seriously just a lie she made up without thinking! She was going to wait until Lin Feng failed to find the cement plant, then tell him that she had made a mistake.


    But unexpectedly, Li Zheng and his squad searched around while the others were taking a break in the town, and then truly found a cement and brick factory!


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what had happened to Lin Wenwen. She only felt a brief discomfort, and then nothing else.


    "I wonder how long those Heilong Base survivors can last under Du Kunsheng''s leadership," Lan Lu stood by her side. They were both looking into the distance from the top of Huaxia Base''s fence wall.


    "Are you worried about them? Why don''t you and your people go to help them?" Lin Qiao looked straight ahead and said blandly.


    She felt that Du Kunsheng was a capable man. After all, he was running the base together with Gao Haoyun, who was too selfish to care about anything but himself. Du Kunsheng was much better at base-management than Gao Haoyun was, and had a greater reputation than the latter.


    Hundreds of thousands of people were living in the underground base at the moment. Most of the zombies had followed Mo Yan to Huaxia Base, so it wouldn''t be too difficult for those survivors to clean out the rest of the zombies. A good number of superpowered people were still among them, after all.


    Mo Yan only killed his targets, but not any innocent superpowered people. He had only killed hundreds of people in total. That was about ten percent of all superpowered people in Heilong Base.


    They didn''t need to worry about zombies anymore. As for accommodations, they could slowly move back to the ground from the underground. The only problem would be the food.


    Perhaps, Du Kunsheng would soon send his people to the other bases to purchase some food.


    Huaxia Base might not be his best option at the moment. Mongols Base was relatively close to his base, and Sea City Base was a little further away, but still possible. All Beings Base was also a choice.


    Du Kunsheng would never give up on Heilong Base as long as there was still hope.


    That was what Lin Qiao thought. Lan Lu, of course, could think that as well. Clearly, he was only trying to start a conversation with her, but she mercilessly tried to end it.


    She wasn''t able to read his mind or see through him. However, the look in his eyes clearly told her that he wanted something from her.


    His way of expression was a little weird though.


    She told herself that she should stay away from him.


    "Me? We are short-handed, and we''re are too far away from them," Lan Lu sighed and said.


    "Same here. Too far away and short-handed," Lin Qiao shrugged and repeated what he said.


    As Lin Qiao and Lan Lu were trying to sound each other out with incoherent conversations, Wu Chengyue and the other two were quickly moving toward Mo Yan. The closer they got, the more clearly could Wu Chengyue feels Mo Yan''s lightning power.


    Tens of miles of the distance only took them a couple of minutes. Soon, they had their eyes on the thunder zone.


    "Roar¡­" Sensing powerful enemies approaching, the zombies under Mo Yan''s command burst in roars and turned highly vigilant.


    The female zombie fell back as quickly as possible. She did not want to be killed by powerful humans.


    One of the five zombie dominators and two zombie kings flashed to her side and escorted her away from that area at a high speed.


    The other zombies didn''t dare to fight face to face against the three powerful men. They stepped aside and looked at them. They wanted to see if those men were able to rush into the thunder zone or not. If the lightning injured those men, they might have an opportunity to kill them.


    At that moment, Mo Yan was kneeling on the ground, his forehead against the knees and head buried in arms. Surrounding him, the lightning bolts fell like rain along with rumbling thunders, raising clouds of dust and stirring up sands and stones.


    He seemed not to sense the incoming enemies, but was curled up on the ground. Suddenly, he turned and gave a raging roar, then started rolling on the ground.


    "Roar!"


    The lightning bolts that fell from the sky were in different sizes. The tiniest ones were able to blow up stones, and the thick ones could blast trees or shatter the corners of buildings.


    As they got near the thunder zone, the three men found that it covered a wide range. Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun weren''t able to locate Mo Yan because the magnetic field caused by the lightning power disordered their sensations. So, they both turned to Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue looked at the dazzling lightning, then raised an arm and sent a lightning bolt of his own into the thunder zone. After that, he quietly waited for something.


    A couple of seconds later, he had his eyes glowing. Then, he raised both hands and clenched his fists in the air.


    Next, a few bolts of lightning flashed out of his hands into the thunder zone, and merged with the lightning rain.


    Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun looked at him confusedly and waited quietly.

 790 It Canst Affect Her

    Lan Lu seemed to be very interested in Lin Qiao, and always tried to talk to her.


    "Why did you come here? I thought you''re busy. After all, your base was newly founded about half a year ago," Lan Lu stood by Lin Qiao''s side and asked her smilingly.


    "Why would I be busy? I''ve done what I needed to do. The others will handle the rest," Lin Qiao glanced at him and said blandly, without answering his question.


    On the other side of the wall, Liu Zhinan said to Hong Yijie, "I think someone is just here to flirt."


    His voice wasn''t high, but it wasn''t low either. Having finished talking, he gave Lin Qiao a meaningful glance.


    Most people there were at level six or seven, and every single one of them had keen sensations. Their hearing was better than commoners by ten times at least.


    Lin Qiao had the best hearing among all on the scene. She had surely grasped every word Liu Zhinan said, and detected the teasing tone.


    Hong Yijie looked at Liu Zhinan''s sour face, then at Lin Qiao. He understood that Liu Zhinan was holding a grudge toward Lin Qiao because she poisoned Hu Zhiyong earlier on. Now, Hu Zhiyong had died a mysterious death, which made Liu Zhinan spiteful toward Lin Qiao.


    He looked at Lin Qiao, who stayed calm and pretended not to hear anything, and said, "Don''t say that. They''re here to help."


    While speaking, Hong Yijie swung an arm downward. The metal pieces around him rose into the sky within a blink, then quickly turned into thorns, flying at the zombie crowd down the wall like a rain of metal.


    "Roarrrr!"


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Those finger-sized metal thorns sank into the bodies of some zombies and froze them, making them fall to the ground.


    "Her power is poison," said Liu Zhinan scornfully, "How''s that gonna hurt zombies? Are zombies afraid of poison? I doubt that."


    Wei Haichao threw out a handful of seeds once again and turned them into small vine plants with his power. Then, those vines started growing thrivingly.


    "Liu Zhinan, just crack the earth to stop these zombies. Look at those in the back. They''re almost crazy! Taking them wave by wave can really be annoying," Wei Haichao shouted at Liu Zhinan impatiently.


    Liu Zhinan glanced at those zombies who were surging toward the base like waves of tidewater and frowned slightly. At last, he didn''t say anything but raised both hands toward those zombies.


    Soon, a wave of vibration was sensed from the earth. Next, a long crack was seen about a hundred meters away from the base, growing wider and wider. The zombies near it all fell in, and so did the ones that rushed over from the behind.


    Liu Zhinan''s move immediately broke the zombie crowd into two. With that, the superpowered fighters and soldiers on the wall all sighed with relief.


    The earth power could be terrifying at a high level. At level-eight, an earth-powered man might be able to create a small-range earthquake. The crack that Liu Zhinan had created extended for quite the distance, and was perfect to stop the zombie crowd.


    Lin Qiao pretended not to hear the conversation between Liu Zhinan and Hong Yijie. She turned where Wu Chengyue and the other two were headed to and narrowed her eyes. After a short while thinking, she leaped off the wall.


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, who were standing behind her the whole time, followed her to the edge of the earth crack, then leaped across it.


    After flying across the meters wide earth crack, the three of them stepped accurately on the heads of some zombies, moving toward the buildings behind the clearing around the base.


    Lin Qiao had been restraining her vibe, so that was barely affecting the surrounding zombies. Shen Yujen was a zombie too, so she was neglected by the other zombies.


    Duan Juan and her people all carried the objects that contained Lin Qiao''s blood, so the surrounding zombies didn''t attack them either.


    Lin Qiao soon brought her squad out of the clearing, onto a roof nearby. Without pausing, they headed further away from the base.


    "Where is she going? Does she regret coming here? Is she retreating?" Wei Haichao looked at the backs of Lin Qiao and her people with confusion.


    "Chief had headed there too. Perhaps she''s going to help them," Hong Yijie looked that way and said.


    "Help? How can a woman possibly help them? I guess she''s going to hinder them! If she''s really heading to the battlefield, she must be having some other purposes," Liu Zhinan snorted scornfully, then took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighted one up.


    "Aren''t you going with her?" Lei Cheng looked at Lan Lu and asked.


    Lan Lu shook his head and said, "She''ll come back."


    "Have you found anything yet?" Lei Cheng asked with a low voice.


    Lan Lu shook his head again and sighed, "She''s immune to my power. My spirit power can barely affect her. Can''t you see that?"


    Lei Cheng nodded, seeming to understand, but was still a little surprised. "I guess she''s more than what we thought she is."


    He was surprised that she was even able to ignore the hypnotizing guide from Lan Lu''s level-eight spirit power. Was it because of her special body condition?


    Earlier on, Lan Lu had been releasing his power when he said every word to Lin Qiao. The ordinary superpowered people would have lost their minds under his strong spirit power. Even if they could save themselves from falling into the full control of that power, they would be affected more or less.


    However, Lin Qiao seemed not to be affected by Lan Lu''s power which was delivered through his language at all. Besides, she looked straight at the front the whole time, and never made eye contact with him. All she did was give him a few quick glances.


    "Of course! Otherwise, how is she going to manage so many people in her base?" Lan Lu looked at him with a small smile.


    "You''re right. Without some capabilities, how could she ever build a base?" Lei Cheng nodded.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao and her squad were moving toward Wu Chengyue and the others. Her speed wasn''t too high, because she was worried that her squad might not be able to catch up with her, and also believed that Wu Chengyue and the other two wouldn''t end the fight so soon.


    Soon, they began to sense waves of agitated lightning energy. The energy that belonged to level-eight beings was enormously strong.


    Sands and stones were hovering in the sky; the energy stirred the air and caused strong gales. The whole area was occupied by a depressing, restless atmosphere.


    Thunders could be heard from a distance. Lin Qiao raised her head and saw thick layers of dark clouds. Lightning constantly fell from those clouds, illuminating a small part of the sky.

 791 The Battlefield under Lightning

    Waves of loud bangs mixed together with the thunder.


    Apart from the furious lightning energy, two different vibes were sensed¡ªone icy-cold and one scorching hot. The few different-typed energies were all agitated; they merged together and devoured each other.


    "You guys stay here," Lin Qiao said to her squad and then disappeared.


    The closer to the battlefield, the clearer she saw. As she came close enough, she sensed the two different types of lightning power from the rumbling thunder zone. One of them was ferocious, constantly bringing lightning bolts down from the sky. It was disordered, concentrated, causing frequent lightning blasts that delivered various effects.


    The lightning sparkled so brightly that she felt as if her eyes were being blinded. Judging by the constantly-falling lightning, that area had already been devastated.


    The other type of lightning power seemed to be trying to control the furious lightning. However, it was having some difficulties in doing so, as the former type of lightning power was way too strong and unbridled.


    The other two men had been hiding in the thunder zone. While attacking the target, they also needed to dodge the lightning bolts that were falling straight at themselves.


    They couldn''t focus on attacking, and the thunder zone was too dangerous for them. Therefore, the attacks that Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun launched barely delivered any effects. Most of their energies were used to defend themselves against the lightning.


    "Wu Chengyue, can''t you control all of it?" Gao Haoyun''s angry voice was heard.


    "I want to, but the lightning power here is way stronger than mine. I can''t solve the problem from here unless we kill the zombie emperor and cut the source of the energy," Wu Chengyue''s voice was also hard, but he sounded a lot calmer than Gao Haoyun.


    Bang! Another thunderous bang was heard as a fireball and a lightning bolt bumped into each other and caused an explosion.


    "Roar¡­" Zombie roars could be heard from the thunder zone from time to time.


    At that moment, Mo Yan''s eyes were shining with a bright purple light. The darkness in his eyes had been replaced by the purple light. His face was twitched and back hunched, all fours on the ground. Long, black nails had grown out of his fingers.


    He bared his teeth and pounced on every living creature that crossed his sight, looking like a man-shaped fierce beast.


    Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun didn''t dare to come too close to him. Instead, they kept a distance from him while attacking him with their powers. Once he charged at them, they would fall back immediately.


    However, Mo Yan was swift. Like a black gust of wind, he flashed to Gao Haoyun''s side without even leaving a shred of afterimage.


    His mind was blurred at that moment, yet he could still sense danger instinctively. Besides, he recognized Gao Haoyun''s vibe. That vibe agitated him and made him want to attack.


    Therefore, he had been chasing behind Gao Haoyun, attacking the latter with his claws.


    A zombie emperor''s body was much stronger than that of any mutated animal. The strength of his muscles and the toughness of his bones allowed him to create a huge dent on the ground with one single slap. Also, he did not need to dodge the attacks from the enemies.


    Gao Haoyun''s ice blades, ice thorns, and ice daggers shattered against his skin. For a few times, he managed to freeze Mo Yan, yet his ice was blasted off in less than three seconds.


    Mo Yan was so fast that Gao Haoyun didn''t have many chances to free himself.


    "We can only try to exhaust him now!" Si Kongchen flashed across Gao Haoyun and said with a deep voice.


    Wu Chengyue stayed calm. While watching the other two trying very hard to keep themselves safe, he silently sent his own lightning power into the dark clouds to cover the lightning in there.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while watching, then realized that the three of them wouldn''t be able to defeat Mo Yan anytime soon.


    She had also noticed Mo Yan''s current condition. His frenzied vibe was a little similar to that of some other zombies; his energy was stirred, escaping his body violently. The thunderclouds in the sky were natural thunderclouds, not generated by Mo Yan''s energy. The only thing Mo Yan did with his energy was to attract those natural thunderclouds to himself.


    The energy in the thunderclouds was much stronger than that of Mo Yan himself. That was why Wu Chengyue wasn''t able to control it.


    Lin Qiao stayed outside the battlefield, watching. As she figured out the situation on the battlefield, she turned to look around.


    Some of Mo Yan''s zombies were hiding nearby. They seemed to have been watching the battle as well. However, that female zombie wasn''t there; one zombie dominator and three zombie kings were missing as well.


    Lin Qiao blinked and wondered why they weren''t around.


    Soon, she frowned again, because she had sensed that the four zombie dominators nearby had all reached the peak of level-seven, and were about to enter level-eight.


    If they divided into two groups to fight against Gao Haoyun and Si Kongchen, they might still not be able to win, but they could draw it even at the very least.


    A level-seven zombie would be able to fight a level-eight superpowered human without falling into disadvantages. Currently, Si Kongchen was at the higher-grade of level-eight, and his fire power could launch very effective attacks. Therefore, a level-seven zombie might have no chance against him.


    Unlike him, Gao Haoyun and Wu Chengyue were both new to level-eight. If Wu Chengyue didn''t have the special and strong lightning power, fighting two zombie dominators at one time might be difficult for him.


    Gao Haoyun had ice power, which was relatively weaker among all power types. Therefore, Mo Yan''s subordinates didn''t need to be afraid of the three of them at all. So, why did they hide away instead of helping their leader?


    They didn''t seem to worry about Mo Yan either. Well, perhaps they didn''t know what ''worry'' meant yet.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes back to the battlefield, then looked at the thunderclouds in the sky. Suddenly, she figured it out.


    The lightning power from the thunderclouds was uncontrolled! So, Mo Yan''s zombies were probably afraid of that natural lightning!


    Lin Qiao guessed that was why they didn''t go to help Mo Yan. They didn''t want to die under the natural lightning power.


    Besides, Mo Yan looked rather ferocious and dangerous at that moment.


    Bang! While Lin Qiao was thinking, Gao Haoyun failed to dodge Mo Yan''s attack and ended up being sent flying away by a slap from the latter. He thudded against a wall nearby, collapsing it.


    Soon, a series of thunderbolts landed toward him. Wu Chengyue waved a hand and brought them a couple of meters away, saving Gao Haoyun from the thunder strike.


    "Gao Haoyun, be careful! He knows you!" Wu Chengyue''s smiling voice was heard, mostly fading in the blasting thunder.


    Gao Haoyun could guess out his meaning though. Ever since they entered the thunder zone, the crazy zombie emperor had been targeting solely at him and ignoring the other two completely.


    "Eh-hem¡­" Gao Haoyun coughed slightly, then got back up from the ground and quickly rolled aside, leaving the collapsed wall.


    Thud! Mo Yan pounced on him and caused a large dent on the ground near the broken wall.

 792 The Image In Her Head

    As Lin Wenwen and her people arrived at the base, she realized that her memory about the attack became unclear when she relived the time that the attack happened. Before, it was very real, but over time, it became more and more blurry.


    She was confused. She didn''t know if she had really experienced that or if that was just her illusion or a dream.


    Near the zombie wall, a figure was standing in the middle of the road, waiting for them to pass. The zombie crowd had already moved to both sides of the road and cleared the way for them.


    It was the zombie old man wearing a black, traditional Chinese styled robe, which had cloud patterns on it. His white hair were neatly brushed, hands held behind his body and back hunched slightly.


    Under his glasses were a pair of purely dark eyes that had silver pupils. If it weren''t for those eyes, one would think that he was a real old man.


    "Eh? Grandpa Guo, are you here to pick us up? I didn''t know that you''re back too," Lin Feng and his people got off the car when they saw the old man.


    Earlier on, the old man followed Qiu Lili and Yun Meng out of the base to carry out missions. Him showing up in the base meant that Qiu Lili and Yun Meng were back home too.


    He glanced at the motorcade behind Lin Wenwen.


    "What''s up, Grandpa Guo? Is there a problem?" Li Zheng stuck his head out of the car window and asked. He was trying to ask the old man if anyone in their team was infected.


    Old Guo shook his head and said, "Get in." His voice was as hoarse as that of the other zombies.


    Then, he stepped aside and watched Lin Wenwen walk to his side before asking her, "How''s the harvest?"


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and responded, "Not much, but good."


    The old man nodded and said, "Chief isn''t in the base these days."


    Lin Wenwen''s heart missed a beat. Suddenly, she began thinking about what might have happened to her and her people if they were really attacked by that metal vine. Lin Qiao wasn''t in the base, so the help might have never arrived.


    "Go," The old man pointed at Lin Wenwen''s car and said to her.


    Lin Wenwen nodded, then turned and got inside the car. After that, the old man disappeared. As the motorcade entered the base, the zombie crowd moved back in position.


    The old man hopped on top of a building nearby and murmured, "Where''s the bloody kid? He''s neglecting his duty!"


    That area was supposed to under the guard of Four, the zombie boy. The old man came here to play with him and ended up pissing him off and driving him away. Then, the old man sensed the vibes of Lin Feng and his people, so he stayed to see if they needed any help.


    Back in the base, people headed back home or left to do their work. After sorting and counting the harvests and putting them inside the storage, Lin Wenwen headed back to where she lived to rest. But, she ran into someone in the lobby.


    "Ouch!" That person gave a shout. Lin Wenwen saw a person come right at her as she turned at a corner, so she quickly turned her body to dodge. That person gave a start and automatically leaned backward to avoid bumping into her. As a result, he slipped and fell to the ground.


    "Are you okay!" Lin Wenwen looked at the young man with concern. He was slim, good-looking, with a medium height and a little pale complexion.


    "I''m okay," Lu Tong struggled back up from the ground and dusted off his pants, then raised his head to see Lin Wenwen''s pretty face.


    "As long as you''re okay," Lin Wenwen looked at him and smiled as she nodded mildly, then turned and left.


    Looking at her back, Lu Tong blinked. A gleam of light flashed across his eyes.


    On the other side, Lin Wenwen slowed down her pace and knitted her brows deeply.


    Earlier on when she saw that young man, a blurry image flashed across her mind. She didn''t pay much attention to it back then, but as he had walked away now, that image instantly grew clearer in her mind.


    When the young man had walked a distance away, Lin Wenwen turned to look at his back. At that very moment, the image in her head became even clearer than before.


    It was a dimly illuminated room, and she saw a man lying on his stomach on a bed. Half of his face was buried in the wrinkled quilt. Lin Wenwen focused on the exposed half of his face, which was so familiar to her. She had been looking at it, thinking about it for years.


    That was Yuan Tianxing''s face!


    After recognizing that face, the image cleared even further, especially Yuan Tianxing''s half-closed eyes and motionless body.


    What was that place? That wasn''t Yuan Tianxing''s room! Why was he lying there? The room looked small and strange. Whose room was it?


    Before Lin Wenwen figured out anything, she saw a person walk into the image from the bottom left. It was a young man. As he walked up to Yuan Tianxing and turned around, Lin Wenwen saw his face.


    It was the young man that she saw just now.


    What happened next made Lin Wenwen pop her eyes and breathe quickly as anger exploded in her mind.


    She saw the young man walk to Yuan Tianxing, bend over, and start taking off his clothes. He stripped Yuan Tianxing, then began taking off his own clothes, and then got into the bed.


    He lay on the bed beside Yuan Tianxing. While pulling the quilt, he dragged the naked Yuan Tianxing upon himself.


    Yuan Tianxing made no move the entire time. He had his eyes closed, as if he couldn''t feel anything.


    The young man put Yuan Tianxing upon himself, then covered the two of them with the quilt.


    At that time, Lin Wenwen felt dizzy. She quivered slightly, then had her mind clear up. The image had faded from her mind. Her face turned red, then pale. She gasped quickly for air and her chest heaved restlessly. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn''t ease the anger in her heart.


    She forced herself to calm down, then raised her head and ran straight toward Yuan Tianxing''s office. Meanwhile, she tried to figure out something about that image in her head.


    She ran to the door of Yuan Tianxing''s office. The door was open, so she saw him sitting behind his table at first glance, focusing on work.


    Suddenly, she lost her courage of going in. She quickly turned and made a few steps backward. Lu Junjie, who was guarding by the door, opened his mouth and looked at her with confusion. He was going to greet her.


    Seeing Yuan Tianxing sitting in his office unharmed, she instantly felt much better. However, the image that had popped up in her mind was still torturing her. She needed to find out the truth about it!


    She calmed herself and glanced at the door. Then, she waved at Lu Junjie and signaled for him to come over before asking him a question.


    "Has Tianxing been doing something strange lately? Or, how is he feeling these days?"

 793 Lu Tongs Plan

    Lu Junjie shook his head confusedly and responded, "No. Everything is good as usual."


    Lin Wenwen instantly relaxed a little. "Are you sure? Think carefully!" she confirmed it again.


    Lu Junjie looked at her bewilderedly, saying, "I''ve been with him all the time. Nothing happened. He''s in this office almost every single day. He hasn''t even been going back to his dorm. What can possibly happen?"


    "Good¡­" Lin Wenwen finally sighed with relief. While murmuring to herself, she turned and walked away, leaving Lu Junjie confused.


    On the other side, Lu Tong found Li Honglin.


    Li Honglin gave him a small bottle of liquid and said, "Here. This is made from mutated plants. It''s genuine, and it came from Sea City Base."


    Lu Tong took it over and asked, "This can put people into unconsciousness, but no more than that, right?"


    Li Honglin nodded and said confidently, "Don''t worry! This is just some strong knockout drug. The dosage depends on whom you''ll use it on. For commoners, a slight amount can deliver a very good effect, much better than sleeping pills! For superpowered people, it won''t be that effective, unless you increase the amount!"


    Lu Tong raised the bottle and said, "Is it effective on higher-leveled people? How long will the efficacy last?"


    "It''s effective on all superpowered people at or under level-seven! Even level-seven people will lose consciousness for about ten minutes after drinking this. This span of time will be longer if your target is at a lower level. Whom are you gonna use it on?" Li Honglin first explained about the efficacy, then couldn''t help but ask.


    Lu Tong shook his head and said, "It''s none of your business.


    Then, he handed his credit stamps to Li Honglin before turning and leaving.


    After arriving at the base, they weren''t in as close contact as they were before. They would only go to each other when they needed help.


    Holding the drug, Lu Tong thought of the woman that he ran into earlier. She had changed so much that he nearly failed to recognize her.


    Her hair were short; she was wearing a dirty training suit and a pair of combat boots. A strong vibe radiated from her entire body. She was thoroughly different from before, when her hair were long, her dresses were always clean, and her shoes always had high and thin heels.


    Lu Tong was a little surprised by how different Lin Wenwen was now. However, what he cared more was about her relationship with Yuan Tianxing.


    The others might not know how Lin Wenwen felt about Yuan Tianxing, but he did. He had paid a lot of attention to Yuan Tianxing himself as well. After all, Yuan Tianxing was handsome, young, and powerful.


    In Lu Tong''s eyes, Lin Wenwen was a stupid woman. Since she liked Yuan Tianxing so much, why didn''t she make a move? What was the point of supporting him constantly with her feelings buried in her heart?


    Lu Tong didn''t leave Hades Base with Duan Juan and her people because he didn''t know that Yuan Tianxing was in the new base at that time. As he learned about that, he tried very hard to encourage Wang Jian, Li Honglin, Chen Hao, and some other people to give up on the hopeless Hades Base.


    If he wanted Yuan Tianxing, he needed to have a plan.


    This new base might develop well, and Yuan Tianxing might have a chance to become a Chief. Lu Tong believed that he would never need to worry about his life again if he and Yuan Tianxing got together.


    Therefore, he paid Li Honglin with his credits and asked the latter to get the drug for him.


    In All Being Base, credit was the most precious thing. People were allowed to purchase anything or make any kind of deal with their credits.


    The credit stamps were printed and released by the administrative bureau of the base, marked by the special stamp. No one was able to fake the stamp.


    On his way back to where he lived, Lu Tong suffered heartburn over his credits. However, that heartburn faded when he started to imagine his life with Yuan Tianxing.


    Tomorrow, Yuan Tianxing would go to the construction site. During the past few days, Lu Tong had figured out the former''s schedule. He learned that the other had been focusing on the work whole-heartedly. Normally, he would either be working in his office or at the construction site, supervising the construction work. He rarely returned to his dorm. He ate and slept in his office, and only went back to his dorm when he needed a shower.


    He would have a chance to get close to Yuan Tianxing at the construction site.


    ¡­


    In Huaxia Base, it was already dark. Liu Zhinan had split the earth and stopped the zombie crowd from approaching the base. Therefore, people had some time to rest.


    In the thunder zone, the sky was dark, yet the glow of the lightning could still be seen.


    The thunders hadn''t stopped rumbling, and the lightning was still falling from the dark clouds, a lot less intense than before though. The location of the thunder zone had already changed.


    The thunderclouds in the sky had been following Mo Yan. Wherever Mo Yan and the three men went, the thunderclouds would be there as well; wherever the thunderclouds were, the ground would be covered in ruins.


    Bang!


    A figure landed on an old car, stirring up fire sparks and clouds of smoke. He nimbly got up on all fours and shook his body, then raised his head and bared his teeth while uttered a raging roar.


    Before the roar ended, he thrust his rear legs against the ground and turned into a shred of shadow, darting out swiftly.


    "What on earth is this zombie made from? Can he ever break?" Gao Haoyun was wearing a ferocious look as well. His face looked as twisted as the zombie emperor''s, but without those scary purple veins.


    "Oi, you didn''t get scratched, did you? Why do I feel that your vibe is a little strange?" The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face was gone at that moment. His handsome face was wearing a slight frown. He had one hand raised to control the lightning power in the thunderclouds, and the other hand releasing his own power to locate Mo Yan. Wherever he pointed at, thigh-sized lightning bolts fell from the sky.


    "The zombie emperor has lightning power too. Your lightning can barely hurt him," said Si Kongchen with a deep voice. Then, he suddenly moved backward and threw out a huge, scorching fireball.


    Bang! Mo Yan quickly turned his body and dodged the fireball. The fireball brushed across his body and landed on the wall behind him.


    Half of that broken building was immediately torn down, brick pieces flying everywhere.


    The three of them had spent half a day fighting against Mo Yan, so none of them was in a good shape now. Wu Chengyue''s clothing maintained a relatively good condition, and Si Kongchen looked slightly worse than he did. Unlike them, Gao Haoyun, who was Mo Yan''s target the whole time, had suffered some bad injuries. He looked miserable, as his clothes were burned and his face was covered with dust.


    He clenched his teeth, while the darkness of the night covered his pale face. "No!" He answered Wu Chengyue''s question with a weak voice.


    However, he wasn''t confident when he said that word.


    After all, he had an open wound caused by Mo Yan''s claw!

 794 The Three Retreat in Defea

    "Roar¡­" In the lightning, Mo Yan was in worse shape than Gao Haoyun. His body was covered in dust as he rolled on the ground all the time; his clothes were ragged, and some small wounds were seen on his skin, caused by the ice blades or fireballs. However, those light injuries barely affected him, as his body was especially strong.


    Lin Qiao spent the entire afternoon observing them; Mo Yan had been madly attacking Gao Haoyun the whole time. If the latter wasn''t a level-eight ice power possessor, and if Wu Chengyue and Si Kongchen hadn''t been helping him, he''d be dead long ago.


    A man had no chance to win against a zombie at the same level as himself, not to mention the fact that the zombie was out of control!


    And¡­


    Lin Qiao looked at Gao Haoyun while a gleam of light flashed across her eyes and she gave a meaningful smile.


    Wu Chengyue had engaged in the battle, but he was not so helpful. On one hand, his power was suppressed by the thunderclouds that Mo Yan had summoned. They both had lightning power, yet he was weaker because he was a human being. On the other hand, he didn''t really want to help!


    Same as Lin Qiao, he was only there to watch the show. He joined the fight because he couldn''t help but want to have some fun!


    Three superpowered men against a zombie emperor¡­ The battle lasted from morning to night. The long fight nearly wore out the patience of Gao Haoyun and Si Kongchen. They had almost consumed up their energies but couldn''t really hurt the zombie emperor. For that reason, they both felt choked with anger.


    Si Kongchen was doing better than Gao Haoyun, seeming composed and suspicious. He had always been careful and cautious, so the current situation was no big deal for him. Unlike him, Gao Haoyun seemed to be all riled up, so his reactions were slowed down a little.


    Apart from that, Mo Yan had been targeting him the whole time. So, Gao Haoyun was barely hanging on towards the end. That was how he got careless and let Mo Yan scratch his waist.


    He didn''t dare to let Si Kongchen know about that, but silently sealed the wound with his ice power.


    The effect of virus infection varied from person to person. As a person''s power level went higher, the effect would show more slowly on him and her. If Gao Haoyun were bitten by an ordinary zombie, he might not turn into a zombie in two or three years. However, the one that scratched him was a zombie emperor. The virus from an emperor was not the same as that from the normal zombies.


    Gao Haoyun had no idea how much time he had left. He had sealed the wound with his ice power, but he could feel how strong the virus was since the very beginning! That was why he had been concentrating a large amount of energy on the wound in his waist area.


    Currently, he had no heart for further fighting. All he wanted was to find a cure that could save him as quickly as possible. Perhaps, some scientists in Huaxia Base had that kind of capability!


    However, he did not want to let the zombie emperor go so easily.


    As Gao Haoyun was hesitating, the thunderclouds in the sky shook all of a sudden.


    "Eh¡­" Wu Chengyue quivered, then had his face paled as blood seeped out of his mouth corners. He immediately raised his head to look at the thunderclouds. Three seconds later, he shouted at the two, "Go! The thunderstorm is coming!"


    The thunderclouds in the sky were growing larger and larger. The lightning power inside it had been suppressed by Wu Chengyue all this long. As more and more lightning energy accumulated in the clouds, the clouds grew bigger and descended lower.


    Meanwhile, a roaring wind was heard surrounding them.


    It was dark, so the three of them didn''t notice the largening dark clouds, but only sensed the wind growing stronger and the lightning bolts from the sky becoming more frequent. The lightning energy accumulated and compressed, and there was an exponential growth of its power.


    Wu Chengyue frowned as he wiped the corners of his mouth. Without saying anything else, he swiftly exited the thunder zone.


    Once he left, the thunderclouds cracked and the lightning burst out, descending on the earth within a blink along with the deafening thunders.


    "Roar¡­" Sensing the lightning power, Mo Yan hopped onto a pile of ruins and spread his arms as he raised his head and let out a raging roar.


    Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun had their hearts leaping at the same time as a bad feeling attacked them. Hearing what Wu Chengyue said just now, they flashed out of the thunder zone together without hesitation.


    Bang! Following an earth-shaking sound, Mo Yan turned into a sphere of lightning and exploded. Not only did the explosion cause a giant pit on the ground, but destroyed everything around him, and the oppressive vibe spread like a circle surrounding him. Countless lightning bolts flashed in all directions and blew up everything they touched.


    Within a blink of an eye, an enormous pit was left on the earth.


    Thankfully, the three left fast enough. They weren''t sure if they could survive that world-destroying explosion if they were still in that area.


    "Go!" Before Wu Chengyue warned the other two, Lin Qiao had given Duan Juan and the others a shout. After that, she brought them away and found a building to hide in.


    "The zombie emperor didn''t break into level-nine, did he?" Duan Juan''s face was a little pale. Clearly, she was frightened by the explosion.


    Shen Yujen was looking at Lin Qiao confusedly. Her zombie power was too low, so she couldn''t tell if Mo Yan had just upgraded or not. She only instinctively sensed fear.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No. Mo Yan borrowed that power which belonged to nature." While speaking, she glanced at the sky. A few large drops of rain fell onto her face.


    A series of muffled thunder was heard while a few lightning bolts flashed across the dark clouds. The cloud was no longer dazzling with lightning, as Mo Yan had released the lightning power in it.


    Heavy rain started falling. It was already cold at night, and the rain only worsened the coldness.


    The air temperature dropped, so Duan Juan and the others instantly filled their bodies with energies to keep themselves warm.


    Wu Chengyue and the other three had already been heading fleetingly back toward Huaxia Base, but Lin Qiao was in no rush to go back with them. She thought for a moment, then decided to stay and observe Mo Yan.


    "You guys go back to Huaxia Base. I''ll go and take a look at him." She said to Duan Juan and the others.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Duan Juan and the others didn''t say anything else, but turned and left along with Shen Yujen.


    After watching them leave, Lin Qiao turned and disappeared from where she was.


    After the energy explosion, Mo Yan fell to the ground on his stomach and let the rain flush himself and the ground. A while later, he slowly shambled up from the muddy ground, his arms dropped and back hunched.


    The fierce vibe that he had earlier was already gone.


    Before long, a series of figures flashed over and landed by his side.

 795 Strange Patterns On His Face

    The female zombie in a white dress showed up beside Mo Yan and quickly pressed her hands on his arm, sending a gentle stream of energy into his body. Meanwhile, the other zombies didn''t get too close to Mo Yan, but stayed about ten meters away from him and just looked on.


    Mo Yan had his head dropped and eyes closed. His chiseled face was still covered in blood veins, which weren''t clearly visible in the darkness of the night.


    Lin Qiao moved past the other zombies and sneakily approached Mo Yan. While staying vigilant, she observed him curiously.


    Mo Yan currently had a peaceful vibe, and that ferocious look that he showed earlier on was gone. He was like a wild beast that was lying on the ground and resting, without falling asleep.


    At that moment, the female zombie was quietly healing him.


    Lin Qiao stood beside her, sensing her power. She could see the white light from her clearly without even narrowing her eyes.


    She had a refreshing, soothing power that gave Lin Qiao a slightly itchy and cool feeling.


    Soon, Mo Yan straightened his back slightly and stood up. He raised his head and waved a hand at the female zombie. With that, she immediately dropped her hands.


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan opened his eyes and uttered a deep roar. The purple light shining in his eyes dimmed a little.


    Lin Qiao paused briefly upon hearing that. After that, she made a few steps backward, then walked up to Mo Yan and showed her face. With surprise, she asked him, "Eh? Can you sense me now?"


    The other zombies reacted even before Mo Yan did. They all turned to Lin Qiao and bared their teeth once she showed up.


    "Roar!"


    The female zombie who was in white dress immediately hid behind Mo Yan and stuck half of her head out, looking at Lin Qiao with a pair of black eyes that were shining with white light as she roared at Lin Qiao.


    "Calm down! If I wanted to kill you guys, you''d be dead already," Lin Qiao snorted coldly.


    The female zombie reminded her of Xiao-xiao, who was still in her space.


    "Roar¡­" Those zombies didn''t listen to her, but kept growling at her with fierce looks. They were like a pack of wolves that had spotted an enemy intruding their territory. If they had animal power, their tails and ears would have popped out.


    Even though no tail or ears were seen, Lin Qiao did see a giant pair of wings!


    One of those zombies turned into a large eagle under the strong pressure that came from Lin Qiao. The giant bird stood on the ground and flapped its huge wings.


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao and gave a roar.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "Don''t worry! I''m just here to watch. I know who you are, and I won''t get into your way, as long as you don''t do anything to harm my base. Eh¡­ The patterns on your face look a little strange!"


    While speaking, she started looking at Mo Yan''s face carefully.


    Mo Yan automatically touched his face with his fingers. His skin was smooth, and he didn''t feel anything strange.


    He was aware that the blood veins on his face would expand when he lost control. He didn''t discover that himself, and the female zombie told him that. He also knew that the female zombie''s energy was able to make those veins shrink.


    He had become a zombie, yet he cared a lot about his face. After all, he was a super-handsome one, even as a zombie.


    Mo Yan touched his own face, then turned and looked inquiringly at the female zombie.


    The female zombie glanced at his face. Those blood veins on his face didn''t shrink like they normally would. She first flinched with fear, then gave a weak roar to respond to him.


    Mo Yan paused with surprise, then immediately roared at another zombie that was beside him, even ignoring Lin Qiao. Hearing that, Lin Qiao had her mouth corners twitched. She wanted to laugh, but also felt weird about it.


    That zombie swung his backpack forward, then rummaged through it and found a palm-sized mirror. He quickly handed the mirror to Mo Yan.


    Lin Qiao felt a little speechless when she saw the zombie emperor looking at himself in the mirror in the darkness of night.


    That was a weird scene¡­


    "I guess they''ll stay on your face! You have some on your neck too. Maybe your whole body is covered in those veins," Lin Qiao looked at Mo and said as the latter was still focused on the mirror.


    It was a dark night, yet she could still clearly see those veins on Mo Yan''s face. They looked beautiful, like the lightning in the sky. She couldn''t tell what color those veins had though because of the darkness.


    As those veins were dark, so she figured that they were in a very deep color.


    Currently, those veins were no longer swelling and bulging like real blood veins, but seemed like tattoos. Those veins had occupied his face, but didn''t hurt that wicked and manly charm of his. On the contrary, they added a fierce vibe to him and made his face look like a piece of artwork.


    Lin Qiao had spent quite a while observing his face, yet he was still looking at himself in the mirror. The look on his face was changing constantly. At first, he was with a frown, but then he narrowed his eyes and curved his lips in a small smile.


    He seemed to find himself super hot. Why was that happening?


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but roll his eyes and say, "Oi, are you done? Am I here to watch you look yourself in that mirror?"


    Hearing that, Mo Yan reluctantly handed the mirror to one of his subordinates.


    "Roar?" He looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe, then gave a roar with confusion.


    "I''m at the level that you think I''m at," said Lin Qiao blandly, "Is that important?"


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan''s face turned slightly cold as he continued roaring.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows and said, "Didn''t I just tell you that I''m only here to watch? I have no intent of getting into whatever is happening between you and Huaxia Base. Huaxia Base, Gao Haoyun, you can do whatever you want to them. It''s none of my business. I just want you to leave me alone! I''m like you. I''m not a human, so I, of course, won''t be on their side. But, I have to protect my family and friends. I''m not as alone as you."


    She fixed her eyes on Mo Yan while saying those words.


    "Roar?" Mo Yan''s eyes shone with a sharp light.


    Lin Qiao responded with a cold look, "I surely know who you are and what you have been through. But, so what? We were never enemies. It was some other people who hurt you, not me."


    Mo Yan looked at her and stayed silent.


    Lin Qiao then continued, "As for Gao Haoyun, you have already scratched him. I think even if you gave up on hunting him, he''d still become a zombie eventually."

 796 The Cracks On The Zombie Nucleus

    Lin Qiao showed up in front of Mo Yan so boldly to talk to him because she knew that his energy had been consumed up. She didn''t have to show her face. However, he had already sensed her, so it was pointless for her to keep hiding.


    She narrowed her eyes slightly and saw Mo Yan''s body glowing with a faint, purple light. The light was so dim that his body even looked like a dying lamp.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t worried about her own safety. Mo Yan wouldn''t be able to harm her as long as he wasn''t able to summon natural thunder clouds again. But, she had seen something more important¡ªhis zombie nucleus.


    The nucleus inside Mo Yan''s brain was not the same as before.


    Earlier during the fight, Lin Qiao was too far away to see it clearly. Now, as she came close enough to him, she found that his zombie nucleus was different from before.


    When she saw him the last time, his nucleus was a light-purple one. But now, it was dark-purple¡­ very, very dark.


    That wasn''t important. The important part was that the dark-purple nucleus of his was covered in tiny cracks! The female zombie''s energy was trying to fix those cracks. However, maybe because her level was too low, her energy was barely helpful.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and a thought popped up in her mind.


    Were those cracks the reason why he lost control? His nucleus was good when he was in Lin Qiao''s base. Why did it crack within such a short time?


    That puzzle lingered in Lin Qiao''s mind.


    "Roar¡­" Mo Yan roared at her to wake her up from her thoughts, and also ask her what she was looking at.


    Lin Qiao widened her eyes as she looked at him and said, "You didn''t kill those innocent people in Heilong Base. For that, I''m gonna warn you to not rely too much on the power of nature. It''s too strong for you to take."


    After saying that, she made a step backward, then disappeared right in front of Mo Yan and his zombies.


    Mo Yan sniffed around and showed a cold look. In fact, he didn''t know where she was hiding just now. He only had a vague feeling that a powerful zombie was nearby.


    He didn''t know that it was her, the lady zombie leader.


    By zombie leader, he surely didn''t mean like a level-five zombie. He knew that she was leading the new base.


    He was confused about that. She was a zombie, but she built a base for humans. Why?


    Just now, she had explained to him and made him understand that she did it to protect her family and friends. That was wonderful! She had become a zombie, yet she still had people to protect and things to do.


    Unlike her, he didn''t have a family. His best friend and the woman he loved both betrayed him. He honestly didn''t know what he should do. His revenge was about to be completed. What would happen next? Was he supposed to keep a low profile and be a handsome zombie?


    ¡­


    That night in All Beings Base, Long Qingying gently pushed open the door of her dorm. As she thought, Lin Wenwen was sitting on the couch, waiting for her.


    They had moved into a flat in the school area. That building used to be the teachers'' apartment. Except for Lin Family people, only Yuan Tianxing, Chen Yuting, and some other senior base administrators lived in that building.


    "How did it go? Have you found out anything?" Once Long Qingying came in, Lin Wenwen stood up and asked her a question.


    Long Qingying handed her a piece of folded paper and said expressionlessly, "He''s a space possessor who arrived at the base along with the second batch of Hades Base survivors. Why do you want to know about him?"


    Her bland, expressionless face showed a slight trace of curiosity.


    Not long after they returned to the base, Lin Wenwen dragged Long Qingying all over the base at about dinner time to look for someone, without telling her whom to look for. Two hours later, she pointed at a slim young man from a distance away and asked Long Qingying to dig out his background.


    "This man is a little weird," Lin Wenwen blinked and said while reading the file that Long Qingying gave her.


    That image lingered in her mind all the time. At first, it was so real as if it really happened.


    If she didn''t ask Lu Junjie about what Yuan Tianxing had been doing lately, she would think that it had truly happened.


    "He was nearly framed earlier by a man named Chen Hao. That man kidnapped Xiaolu and Tongtong. He planned to kill the two kids, then create some clues to lead people to this young man named Lu Tong. Chief saved the two kids soon afterward, and that Chen Hao¡­ Your sister-in-law beat him to death," Long Qingying told Lin Wenwen about Lu Tong without any expression.


    "What! How dare he touch Xiaolu! He deserved to be beaten dead by my sister-in-law!" said Lin Wenwen with both anger and surprise.


    Long Qingying nodded and said, "Even though Lu Tong was innocent, I heard that he was with Chen Hao and his people before they arrived in our base. I don''t know why they tried to kill each other once they came here. Chen Hao wasn''t a good guy, so clearly, this Lu Tong isn''t a good man either!"


    While continuing, Long Qingying''s expressionless face turned a little cold, "I heard that those people left Hades Base together. But on the way, they had disagreements and divided into two groups¡ªone with the superpowered people and one with the commoners. Lu Tong suggested Chen Hao and his people to capture some commoners and use them to distract zombies."


    "They used other people as baits? He looked so weak as if even the wind could bring him down. I didn''t know that he actually did something like that," Lin Wenwen knitted her brows as well. She hated that kind of people.


    "What relationship does he have with Tianxing? Have they had any contact with each other?" Lin Wenwen thought for a moment, then continued.


    Long Qingying shook his head and said, "He hasn''t had any contact with Deputy Chief Yuan yet. But these couple of days, he has been secretly asking around about Deputy Chief Yuan. I guess no one would notice that if you didn''t ask me to dig into his background. Is that why you told me to do it?"


    While speaking, she looked at Lin Wenwen knowingly.


    "He really is¡­" He was really targeting Yuan Tianxing!


    As Long Qingying mentioned that Lu Tong had been asking around about Yuan Tianxing, Lin Wenwen recalled meeting him earlier, and the image that she saw in her mind. Instantly, she clenched her teeth with anger.


    "I''ve had my people watching him. I''ll let you know if anything happens¡­ Oh, I also heard that he went to see someone this afternoon. That man is also one of the second batch of Hades Survivors. I think we should keep an eye on that one as well," Long Qingying thought for a short while and then added.

 797 The Fake Acciden

    The next morning, Lin Wenwen got up early and went to Mrs. Lin''s place. Every since the abduction, Mrs. Lin had always been keeping a close eye on her granddaughter. Even though Lin Feng had returned, she still watched Lin Xiaolu closely. She had also found her a couple of bodyguards.


    The bald, pretty-looking, tall and strong Qian Xiaoai was the leader of Lin Xiaolu''s bodyguards.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t go straight to Yuan Tianxing. She knew that he would go to the construction site in the afternoon and stay in his office with work in the morning. She asked Long Qingying to watch Lu Tong for her and see what he planned to do.


    Since Lu Tong was aiming at Yuan Tianxing and had asked around about him in secret, he must know that Yuan Tianxing would be at the construction site in the afternoon, and would definitely try to make contact with him there.


    Lu Tong went to the construction site early in the morning. He was a space possessor and not strong, but was still a man. Despite how hard the jobs at the construction site were, he could still do some work there.


    The workers at the construction site were provided with food, rice, and flour. More importantly, they were able to earn credits!


    Therefore, Lu Tong found a job at the construction site when he arrived at the base, even though he didn''t want to do heavy work. He was waiting for his chance to join some zombie-hunting squad or carry out a mission together with the army.


    After only one hour of work, someone with concern asked if he needed to rest. "Lu Tong, are you tired? You go and get some rest if you''re tired."


    Lu Tong had been working hard these days at the construction site. In order to leave people a good impression and arouse their sympathy, he made a great effort.


    Some of those workers were commoners, and some had superpowers. They were all impressed by Lu Tong. He was slim and not tall, but was very active in work. He was willing to do all kinds of hard work, and would often bring them water or offer them help. Some heavy works were difficult for him, yet he managed to complete them.


    They felt that he was a nice young man, too skinny though. He looked pale, so they were worried that he might not be able to cope with the constructional works.


    "Ah, I''m fine! I can do a little more," Lu Tong responded while shoveling the concrete into the bucket that was about to be lifted to a high place. His pale face was covered in sweat, but wearing a humble smile.


    "Come and have some water then. Take the work slow. You don''t want to ruin your health. Look at your little body. You''re making us worried," A middle-aged man laughed and said.


    Lu Tong felt impatient. Yet, he maintained that smile as he shook his head and responded, "It''s okay, I''m okay!"


    His face was ghastly pale. In fact, he felt very uncomfortable. He didn''t sleep the last night and came here to work early in the morning. He did that on purpose. Staying up all night added with doing heavy work the entire morning would allow him to carry out his plan.


    He wasn''t feeling well, but he had to pretend to be fine. That was why he was a little irritated. He couldn''t show that on his face though.


    In the afternoon, the managers on the construction site all turned a little nervous.


    Seeing them, Lu Tong knew that Yuan Tianxing was coming. He immediately walked to a scaffold and knocked on it. In response, a worker on the scaffold looked down at them. Lu Tong made eye contact with him, then nodded slightly, and the worker nodded back at him.


    Then, Lu Tong climbed onto the scaffold.


    Yuan Tianxing showed up together with Chen Yuting, followed by Lu Junjie and some others. wearing safety helmets. They talked to each other while observing the construction work.


    "We have more people now. I think this area will be done in about ten days. Have you confirmed the area on the other side yet?" Chen Yuting asked Yuan Tianxing.


    By the other side, he surely meant the other side of the base. Lin Qiao said that the base would be divided into two parts. The part for humans was mostly completed, and only a small section of the fence wall was still under construction.


    When this side of the wall was built up, the works on the other side would start.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "Yes. Chief has confirmed it before she left."


    While walking, they looked at the map and also asked questions to the managers near them.


    Right at that moment, a scream was heard from above them. "Hu! Be careful!"


    People gave a start and immediately looked up. They saw Lu Tong lying face down on the scaffold, holding the hand of a man who fell off the scaffold.


    The man was hanging in the air, holding Lu Tong''s hand. He looked panicked, shouting ''help''.


    That man weighed over fifty kilometers while Lu Tong was short and skinny. He was holding that man''s hand with all his strength. His veins even bulged on his forehead, making his pretty face look a little scary.


    "Dangerous! Help them!" Someone burst in a shout.


    Yuan Tianxing had his expression changed immediately. As he reached out a hand, an earth platform rose from the ground and soon held that man up.


    That man climbed back onto the scaffold in panic. Lu Tong squatted beside him, his face covered in sweat. "You''re safe now¡­" he murmured.


    Before he could finish, Lu Tong had his eyes rolled slightly upward and then shivered a little before falling down.


    That man had just calmed down slightly, but seeing Lu Tong fall gave him another start. "Oi! Lu Tong! Lu Tong!"


    At that moment, the people on the ground who took fright just now heard the man shouting, "Captain! Lu Tong passed out! Come, come up and help!"


    As people brought Lu Tong down in a flurry, Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting walked over and saw his pretty but ghastly pale face. His forehead and nose tips were all covered in tiny sweat drops.


    "How is he?" Yuan Tianxing looked at Lu Tong''s pale lips and asked with a slight frown.


    "I¡­ I don''t know! I think he''s too tired. He''s been working very hard lately, and just now he tried to drag me up there. I think he''s exhausted," said the flustered man who was saved by Yuan Tianxing with his earth power earlier.


    Yuan Tianxing silently looked at Lu Tong''s face, which was as white as a sheet. Chen Yuting, who was standing beside him, said, "Send him to the medical department. What are you waiting for?"


    "Yes, sir!" The mangers who were in charge of the area carried Lu Tong away hurriedly. Meanwhile, Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting continued their work, not seeming to be affected by what happened earlier.


    Not far away, Lin Wenwen quietly watched the whole thing from an inconspicuous corner. She narrowed her eyes when Lu Tong was carried away, then turned and left.

 798 The Reason For Failing

    Lin Wenwen was a straight girl, but she now seemed to be having a rival in love who was not a girl, but a guy. Moreover, according to what had happened so far, this guy liked to play tricks.


    Earlier on, no one else but Lin Wenwen noticed how Lu Tong and the other man-made that ''accident'' happen. She had her eyes on Lu Tong even before Yuan Tianxing showed up.


    The two of them were both standing under the scaffold. When Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting showed up, they quickly climbed up onto the scaffold, then one of them fell off while the other held his hand tightly. It seemed as if they had it planned beforehand. They made it look pretty real though. Lin Wenwen wouldn''t know that it was not real if she hadn''t been watching them since the very beginning.


    As she thought, Lu Tong passed out at last. Even though he didn''t manage to fall straight into Yuan Tianxing''s arms, he had successfully caught the latter''s attention and impressed him!


    Did he do all that just to leave Yuan Tianxing a good impression and make the latter remember him?


    While thinking, Lin Wenwen gently scratched her chin, her eyes glowing with a cold light.


    Lu Tong seemed to be patient. The first step of his plan had succeeded. Lin Wenwen would like to see what he planned to do next, and eventually, how he would get Yuan Tianxing onto that bed.


    She knew about his plan, but couldn''t tell that to Yuan Tianxing, because that would only make herself seem like a suspicious person in Yuan Tianxing''s eyes. Before having any solid evidence, she could probably end up seeming like an unreasonable girl.


    On one hand, she didn''t want Yuan Tianxing to dislike her, and on the other hand, she wanted to know what exactly Lu Tong was planning on. Therefore, she decided to keep watching him.


    Before gathering enough evidence, she wouldn''t make any reckless move. But of course, for the sake of Yuan Tianxing''s virginity, she must keep a close eye on Lu Tong.


    Because of that image that had popped up in her mind, she had already started to have some different thoughts. Even though she now knew that Lu Tong was planning to do something bad to Yuan Tianxing, she could not believe that Yuan Tianxing would let Lu Tong put himself into that strange, small room so easily.


    While keeping an eye on Lu Tong, she also needed to verify her own guess.


    Had she been triggering a new type of superpower?


    ¡­


    Back in Huaxia Base, Lin Qiao had returned and kept watching the show.


    Si Kongchen and the other two came back to the base and rested for a night. The next day, they held a meeting in the command room.


    Last night when the three of them came back, people heard that news that they failed to kill the zombie emperor. They were all surprised and confused.


    How come three level-eight superpowered men failed to kill one zombie emperor? Did an accident happen? Or, was that zombie emperor really so powerful?


    So, at the meeting the next day, people looked at Si Kongchen and the other two curiously and expectantly.


    Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun were both wearing a very sullen look. Unlike them, Wu Chengyue was having his regular, faint smile that forbade the others from figuring out what he was thinking.


    "Tell us what happened. How powerful is that zombie emperor exactly? The three of you fought for half a day but still failed to kill him?" Ahead of the others, Lan Lu looked at Si Kongchen''s cold face and asked with curiosity.


    Once his question was heard, Si Kongchen''s cold and grim face darkened even further. He pressed his lips together and stayed silent, his eyes glowing dimly. Sitting beside him, Gao Haoyun wore a sour face as well. His face and lips were both a little pale. It seemed like he was enduring some kind of pain and was trying to hide it.


    As Si Kongchen didn''t answer the question, he said, "Ask Chief Wu from Sea City Base."


    While speaking, he looked at Wu Chengyue with discontentment. He was nearly killed by the zombie emperor because Wu Chengyue wasn''t so helpful. If the latter had managed to suppress the thunderclouds in the sky, he would not fall into such a miserable state, and would never let the zombie emperor scratch him!


    He didn''t sleep last night but went to find a virus researcher in Huaxia Base in secret once he came back. He covered his identity and threatened the man with his power while asking him for the cure to the zombie virus.


    Macuy the zombie had killed a group of experienced scientists, and the current researchers were much less professional. If they were able to develop a cure to the zombie virus, they would have it long ago.


    Gao Haoyun stayed up the whole night to suppress the virus inside his body with his superpower. Not to mention last night, he wouldn''t be able to sleep ever again. He had to stay awake to suppress the zombie virus. If he fell asleep and lost a little control of his power, the aggressive zombie virus would explode right away and expand to every corner of his body in no time.


    Even though he hadn''t rested last night, he looked fine, except that his face and lips were a little pale. Apart from Lin Qiao, no one on the scene knew that he carried the zombie virus.


    Wu Chengyue made no special reaction to what Gao Haoyun said, but said smilingly and carelessly, "I couldn''t control it. Those were natural thunderclouds, not something that the zombie emperor had created. I was only able to suppress the lightning power in the clouds for a short span of time. As you had seen, the harder I tried, the more lightning power accumulated in the clouds. At last, the zombie emperor detonated it¡­ I couldn''t stop it."


    "Why didn''t you cut off the connection between the zombie emperor and the thunderclouds? If you did that, the zombie wouldn''t be able to cause the explosion," Gao Haoyun stared at Wu Chengyue grimly. Wu Chengyue''s pretty face looked very unpleasant in his eyes.


    "You can try to do that if you think you can. I really don''t have that kind of power. I do have lightning power, yet my energy is much weaker than what the zombie emperor has. Besides, you saw what he was like back then¡­ He was crazy! The crazy zombie emperor let out a crazily strong energy. If I tried to cut off the connection between him and the thunder clouds, I''d hurt myself. Also, I managed to suppress most of the natural lightning power. Was it my fault that you two couldn''t kill a zombie emperor?" Wu Chengyue''s smiling face turned slightly cold as he shrugged and spread his hands.


    Wu Chengyue, of course, wouldn''t let Gao Haoyun put the blame on him. Besides, he did do all he could to help them. Although he didn''t look so helpful, without him suppressing the natural lightning energy, the other two couldn''t possibly fight the zombie emperor so easily.

 799 Theres Always An Idio

    "I guess this zombie emperor is really hard to deal with!" Before Gao Haoyun responded, Lan Lu joined the conversation with some insignificant words, then turned to Si Kongchen and asked, "Chief Si, what do you think?"


    Si Kongchen wore no expression except a slight frown. As Lan Lu looked at him, he stayed silent for a few seconds then replied, "When the zombie emperor was out of control, his energy seemed to achieve a new level. Although we haven''t met other zombie emperors, I feel this one is going beyond the level of ordinary zombie emperors."


    He made it pretty clear that Wu Chengyue didn''t mean to be unhelpful. Instead, he was really not able to suppress the zombie emperor''s power!


    "Are you saying that the zombie emperor can be even more dangerous than he already is when he goes crazy? So, should we try to kill him while he''s sane? Is there a way to stop him from going crazy suddenly? Miss Lu, what do you think about it?" Lan Lu talked about the zombie emperor like talking about a crazy dog. Meanwhile, he dragged Lin Qiao, who was sitting aside quietly like an ordinary pretty woman, into the conversation with as mile.


    Lin Qiao gave him a cold glance. Couldn''t he just let her watch quietly? He had been looking at her in a meaningful way ever since he showed up, and now he asked for her opinion. Was he trying to make her expose her true identity?


    After giving Lan Lu a cold glance, she looked at the others. At that point, the others had all landed their eyes on her.


    Si Kongchen, Wu Chengyue and Gao Haoyun looked a little confused while the others were all looking at Lin Qiao expectantly.


    After all, Lan Lu, Liu Zhinan, and Hong Yijie had all seen her leave the top of the fence wall. They believed that she went to watch the fight.


    "Why ask me? I don''t know more about the zombie emperor than you guys do. What different opinions can I possibly have? I thought these three powerful men were able to deal with the zombie emperor. It turned out that I underestimated the zombie. Chairman Lan, maybe you should join the fight next time. Perhaps, your spirit power will be able to hurt the emperor. Why don''t you give it a shot?" Lin Qiao threw a question back to Lan Lu.


    By saying that she had underestimated the zombie emperor, she was also trying to say that she had overestimated Si Kongchen and the other two. Everyone on the scene could tell that hidden meaning of her words, yet no one pointed it out.


    As base leaders, they were smarter than that.


    Lin Qiao was merely talking about the zombie emperor, but if they pointed out the other meaning of her words, whatever they said would sound like a criticism of Si Kongchen and the other two.


    Hearing what Lin Qiao said, Si Kongchen and Gao Haoyun both blinked and turned to Lan Lu. They didn''t agree with what Lin Qiao said, but did think of her suggestion as a possible solution.


    Lan Lu''s smile froze on his face. But soon, his expression turned natural again. "If my help is needed, I will surely lend a hand," he responded with composure, "As for whether it''ll work or not, I can''t tell for sure. After all, the mental world of zombies doesn''t seem to be as complicated as that of humans."


    "How do you know if you don''t give it a try? Don''t you think that zombies might fall more easily than humans under your power, because of how simple-minded they are? Haven''t you ever tried your power on zombies? Or, do you only use your powers on humans?" Lin Qiao looked at him with cold eyes and said smilingly.


    "Emm¡­ I''m curious about it too. I think what Miss Lu said is very likely to happen. I have a newly awakened spirit power possessor under my command. I haven''t brought her out for missions yet. I wonder if her power can hurt zombies. Perhaps, I can ask her to try next time." As Lin Qiao and Lan Lu had built up a not-so-friendly conversation, Wu Chengyue hurriedly joined in because he wasn''t happy to be left out.


    Of course, what he said about that newly awakened spirit power possessor was a story that he made up. Moli was at level-six already. One thing he said about her was real though, that she rarely joined battles during missions, and mostly played a supportive role.


    Moli was Liang Dashu the doctor''s assistant, more than an assistant actually. They had worked together for years. Liang Dashu had been teaching her everything about the virus study and medical knowledge.


    Moli was a smart person, and after attaining spirit power, her brain became more active than normal people many times over. Therefore, she learned things very easily. Everything that Liang Dashu was able to do, she could do it too.


    After Liang Dashu was gone, she took over all his work, including the medical work. While she carried out missions with Wu Chengyue, she normally served as an army surgeon.


    Her superpower was effective on zombies. Wu Chengyue was on Lin Qiao''s side, so he didn''t tell the others about it. What he did was to try and embarrass Lan Lu even more based on Lin Qiao''s words.


    "Look at you. You haven''t won her heart, but you are already protecting her openly. Is this really good? We are going to be so jealous of you!" Lan Lu clicked his tongue and then laughed helplessly. By making that joke, he was clearly trying to smooth things over.


    By ''we'', he meant himself and the other single men on the scene. The people on the scene were mostly smart and scheming, so it was not that easy for him to change the topic just like that.


    However, among those people, one was sneaky but never cared about the overall situation.


    Gao Haoyun looked at Lin Qiao with a trace of greediness in his eyes. He soon concealed that look in his eyes, and then turned to Wu Chengyue with even stronger discontentment.


    He gave Wu Chengyue a cold glimpse, then abruptly said to Lin Qiao with a meaningful smile, "Yeah! Judging by Miss Lu''s attitude toward Chief Wu, I think I have a better chance. Or, maybe what Miss. Lu actually likes are those tall and strong men who can give her a sense of security. Am I right, Miss Lu?"


    He was trying to say that Wu Chengyue was not as tall and strong as he was, so he might not be able to provide Lin Qiao with a sense of security. Also, he implied that Wu Chengyue might not be able to satisfy Lin Qiao in the bedroom.


    Indeed, Wu Chengyue looked shorter and slimmer than Gao Haoyun.


    He had no idea that Lin Qiao had seen Wu Chengyue''s muscular body. As for the bedroom stuff, she honestly did not want to try that again!


    She still remembered what happened in her space when they were both entrapped by Viney. She seriously felt repulsion toward how actively Wu Chengyue did it back then.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao had only one word for Gao Haoyun¡ª''Idiot''.


    He actually picked up Lan Lu''s words and drew the topic to her! What on earth was he doing there? Not to mention the zombie emperor, why didn''t he think about how to deal with the virus inside his body? He was dying, yet still had the mood to flirt with her! Wasn''t he an idiot?

 800 Be Pleasant To The Eye But Of No Use

    Hearing Gao Haoyun''s flirting words, Wu Chengyue had a gleam of cold light flashing across his eyes. He glanced at Lin Qiao, but didn''t say anything.


    He felt that if he started talking at that point, the zombie lady might dislike him even more.


    As he expected, she responded to Gao Haoyun with a cold smile, "I don''t like the things that are pleasant to the eye but of no use either. You have failed to even save your own base, and you have to hide in someone else''s base to keep yourself safe. How can a man like you be shameless enough to say something like that here?"


    He was tall and strong indeed, yet he couldn''t even guard his own base. He possessed a level-eight superpower, but he sought protection from someone else''s base. What did his power do to help?


    Gao Haoyun had his face darkened as he eyed Lin Qiao with a cold look that contained a slight murderous intention. She taunted him in front of so many base leaders. She said that he was pleasing to the eyes but of no use. He was obviously infuriated, looking as black as thunder.


    Before he said anything, Lin Qiao continued with a sneer, "What? Am I wrong? Why don''t we ask everybody else about it? Heilong Base has a rich population and a good number of superpowered people. As the strongest man in the base, you, a level-eight ice-power possessor, hopped onto a helicopter and fled while your people were still able to fight. I did not know that Gao Haoyun, the Chief of Heilong Base, was actually such a coward."


    Hearing her words, all the others on the scene looked at her and Gao Haoyun in a meaningful way.


    Gao Haoyun was a powerful, level-eight man, indeed! Except for Si Kongchen, Wu Chengyue and Lan Lu, whose power was still a mystery, no one else on the scene could match him. Lin Qiao was right. When Heilong Base was surrounded by zombies, Gao Haoyun didn''t try to fight back. He didn''t do anything to try and save his base before he fled in a helicopter. That did make him look like a coward, and made the others despise him.


    Currently, people saw Du Kunsheng as a better man than Gao Haoyun. He was a little dark-minded and always played dirty tricks, yet he never gave up on Heilong Base. He had also managed to save the lives of so many people in that base.


    People believed that in terms of courage and wisdom, Du Kunsheng was more like a leader than Gao Haoyun was.


    "Shut up!" Gao Haoyun finally responded through clenched teeth as he glared at Lin Qiao. His eyes gave out a strong intent of killing that he just couldn''t conceal anymore.


    "What? You did it, but you''re too afraid to admit?" Lin Qiao snorted scornfully and looked back at Gao Haoyun right in the eyes with no fear.


    The others looked at Lin Qiao with surprise. They didn''t expect to see Gao Haoyun be stumped by just a few words from her. Some of them turned to Si Kongchen, as they wanted to know what he thought about that.


    Si Kongchen was sitting there with no expression, his eyes dropped. Clearly, he didn''t want to say anything at that moment.


    "Alright! Our first priority now should be dealing with the zombie emperor. It has only been six years since the end of the world, yet a zombie emperor has already emerged. I guess more emperors will be seen soon enough. By then, all human bases might be in danger," Wu Chengyue forcibly brought up the original topic.


    "What do you think a zombie emperor is? Can any zombie reach that level so easily?" Gao Haoyun glanced at Wu Chengyue with a cold smile, as he didn''t believe what the latter said at all.


    "Oh, as far as I know, a lot of level six and seven zombies exist now. They might break into a higher level at any time. So, what Chief Wu said is really possible," Lan Lu joined the conversation smilingly, "Besides, the zombie emperor has a couple of zombie dominators under his command. In combination, those zombies can cause as much damage as the emperor can."


    While speaking, he looked at Si Kongchen. Si Kongchen, Gao Haoyun and Wu Chengyue had seen the zombie emperor, so they were supposed to know about those zombie dominators under the emperor''s command.


    One zombie dominator might be easy to deal with, but if a couple of them joined hands as Lan Lu had said, defeating them would no longer be a simple job.


    Si Kongchen was thinking really, really hard at that moment. However, he could not think of a way to kill the zombie emperor. He had already fought a battle against that zombie and learned how strong it was. He now realized that the plan he had earlier was completely useless.


    If even Si Kongchen could not think of a solution, none of the others could.


    ¡­


    As the group of humans was trying to figure out a way against the zombie emperor, Mo Yan the emperor had entered a weak state as all his energy was consumed up. What was weak was not his body, but his zombie nucleus.


    He felt that his nucleus wasn''t able to store energy anymore. Ever since he caused the explosion during the battle against the three men, he couldn''t store the energy that he absorbed in his nucleus like he used to do. The energy he absorbed all ended up leaking out of his body slowly.


    As his nucleus couldn''t store energy anymore, his superpower was disabled. So, Mo Yan was currently like an ordinary zombie. He still gave out the level-eight vibe, but his power was gone.


    "Roar!" ''Get out! Stay away from me!''


    At that moment, Mo Yan locked himself in a room and roared angrily at his subordinates who were gathering outside.


    The weakening of himself gave him an immense sense of crisis. He not only sensed danger from the enemies, but also from his subordinates. If those zombies learned that he was weaker than them now, they might turn against him.


    Zombies had no feelings, no matter how long they had followed him for. If Mo Yan hadn''t been suppressing them with his power, those zombies would have run away long ago. If they knew that he wasn''t able to defeat them for the time being, they might rise in rebellion right away.


    Hearing Mo Yan''s roar, the group of zombies moved tens of meters away from the building and guarded there. They didn''t understand why their boss wanted them to stay away from him, and didn''t sense his weakening either.


    "Roar¡­" ''Go! Lead the crowd, attack! You, lead the charge!''


    Mo Yan gave them an order.


    The five zombie dominators who were over ten meters away from each other looked at each other and hesitated for a few seconds, then left quickly.


    ¡­


    In Huaxia Base, people suspended the meeting that was leading to no result and then returned to their rooms. But, someone barred Lin Qiao''s way once she came out of the command room.


    Gao Haoyun''s masculine face was clouded over. He stared at Lin Qiao in the eyes and said to her, "Woman, wait and see! I''ll let you know if I have the power or not! At least, I can f*ck you to death!"


    Having finished talking, he scanned Lin Qiao from head to toe, then turned and left with a wicked and lubricious smile.


    Lin Qiao remained calm as she watched him leave, then kept heading toward her room.


    Wu Chengyue, who had just exited the room together with Lan Lu, looked at Gao Haoyun''s back. He still had that faint smile on his face, but in his eyes was a rich coldness. He then gave Lin Qiao a glance and quickly turned his eyes away.

 801 Midnight Surprise Attack

    At that time, Lin Kui and the two level-six zombies arrived at Mongols Base. It was dark at night; he sniffed around, but still didn''t grasp any scent from Lin Jing.


    His heart sank; however, he didn''t give up as he planned to sneak into the base and keep looking.


    Mongols Base had a smaller population than Huaxia Base. In terms of land area, it was smaller than Huaxia Base as well. Lin Kui soon searched through the entire base, but still didn''t find a trace of Lin Jing. Not even a lingering scent of hers was sensed, meaning that she was never in Mongols Base.


    Did that woman lie to Lin Qiao?


    Lin Kui started to doubt if what Lin Jing''s former neighbor said was true.


    ¡­


    That night, Lin Qiao didn''t go into her space, but stayed in her room and pretended to sleep. About four in the morning, the temperature in her room dropped drastically and a stream of coldness gushed in.


    Lin Qiao was sensitive to warmth, but not to coldness. A layer of ice emerged on the floor by the door and slowly reached toward her, but she still didn''t feel cold.


    She sat up quietly. Sitting on that small bed, she watched the ice reach to the bed and then crawled upward along with the bed feet.


    At that point, she flashed to the chair nearby and sat there with her legs crossed. In the darkness, she saw the ice quickly turn the bed into a white, ice sculpture. A series of slight noise next came from the door. Along with the noise, the door was opened quietly.


    Lin Qiao sneered.


    ''He finally came.'' In order to let that happen, she had sent away Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, who were supposed to guard her door.


    The door was pushed open gently in the darkness, and a tall and strong figure flashed into her room. The man stepped on the ice and moved toward her bed, but froze once he approached the bed.


    "What? Do you think you can freeze me just like this? Maybe you really underestimated me. I''m at level-seven after all, am I not?" Lin Qiao sat on the chair as she spoke coldly and composedly.


    The man who was standing by the bed instantly turned around. "You dodged? Impressive!" His deep voice was heard from the darkness. Having finished talking, he suddenly swung an arm forward and sent a flake of ice toward Lin Qiao.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao, who was sitting tightly on the chair, disappeared.


    Puff! The ice flake landed on the chair and froze the chair within a blink.


    "This is suicidal!" Lin Qiao snorted coldly.


    Gao Haoyun would be able to live longer if he didn''t provoke Lin Qiao but focused on suppressing the virus inside his body. However, he had made her angry. As Mo Yan didn''t seem to want this man''s life anymore, Lin Qiao decided to kill him by herself.


    "Do you think your lousy poison power can do any actual harm to me?" Gao Haoyun gave a cold and scornful smile, then quickly created an ice shield for himself. Clearly, he did that to prevent sudden poison attacks that Lin Qiao might launch.


    "Oh, you''re wrong," Lin Qiao tittered and then disappeared once again.


    Gao Haoyun paused briefly with surprise when she vanished. Before he could react, he sensed a chilliness from his back, and then someone pushed him. After that, his eyes were dazzled.


    Right on the heels of that, Gao Haoyun disappeared from the room as well.


    When both of them disappeared in Lin Qiao''s room, another figure showed up by the door. Wu Chengyue gently closed the door and then leaned against the wall, waiting quietly.


    ¡­


    Gao Haoyun''s eyes were dazzled for a second. By the time he could see again, he found the dark room before his eyes transform into a dimly illuminated patch of woods. It was like a cloudy day in the woods. There was no sunlight, and the thriving leaves had blocked most of the daylight.


    Anxiously and doubtfully, Gao Haoyun looked around to observe the surrounding environment. He hadn''t realized what had happened yet.


    Suddenly, he heard a wooshing sound, followed by a slight sound of the wind. Meanwhile, a figure brushed across him from behind.


    He immediately turned back, then looked around vigilantly.


    What was that place? Why was he there?


    Every living being that had been thrown into the space by Lin Qiao would have those two questions unwittingly.


    Gao Haoyun quickly recalled what was happening earlier. He fought that woman in the room, and the woman suddenly disappeared. Then, he showed up here, and before that, someone pushed him from behind.


    Why did that woman disappear just now?


    Gao Haoyun had a vague, bad feeling when that question crossed his mind.


    He looked around once again carefully, and soon found the weirdness of the trees in his surroundings. Every single one of them look exactly the same. All those trees were so tall that he couldn''t even see the tops of them by raising his head. There was no light coming into the woods from the sky.


    Those trees which looked exactly the same as each other took away his sense of direction, making him feel depressed and agitated. His brows were knitted tightly together. He looked up, then bent his legs and hopped onto a tree nearby. After that, he kept leaping higher, trying to reach to the treetop, because a high standing might give him a better vision.


    As he hopped onto the tree, another figure flashed across on the ground. After that, a mushroom came out from behind a tree. The smart mushroom bent its stem and turned its head up, seeming to be looking at Gao Haoyun curiously.


    Gao Haoyun went high enough and found that the treetops were soaking in a white fog. Those trees were extremely tall; the higher he went, the denser the fog was. He couldn''t even see the leaves around him clearly.


    As the fog got dense to a certain degree, he found that he wasn''t able to leap higher. The fog was like a screen that pressed him down.


    He tried a few times and failed. After that, he started using his power. His ice power was supposed to freeze the fog, but when he raised an arm, he realized that his power was suppressed. He couldn''t even release twenty percent of his power.


    He was shocked. He tried a few more times, but it still didn''t work. So, he quickly leaped off the tree.


    He found the fog to be very unusual, as it had actually suppressed his superpower. He thought that he would regain his power as soon as he went back down to the earth. However, when he landed on the earth, he realized that his power was still under suppression.


    How did that happen? That woman! It must be that woman!


    He panicked a little. Being disabled from using his power gave him a strong sense of crisis. Suddenly, he thought of that woman who disappeared before he was brought to the weird woods.


    "Get out! Show your face! I know you''re here!" He turned and growled wrathfully. Clearly, he couldn''t stay calm anymore.


    He raised an arm and let out a flake of ice. The ice flake landed on a tree and froze a part of the tree trunk. He should be able to freeze the entire tree, but just now, he only managed to freeze about a five-meters long section of the tree trunk.

 802 Finishing Gao Haoyun

    Outside the woods, Lin Qiao made no response to Gao Haoyun''s shouts, but stood at the edge of the woods, gathering the energy in the space toward the woods.


    As Lin Qiao showed up and stared at the woods with a strong intent of killing, the group of zombies in her space who were feeling pretty bored immediately figured out that she had thrown another enemy into that woods and prepared to exhaust him or her to death.


    "Who is it this time?" Lu Tianyi folded his arms as he leaned against the guardrail on the balcony of the second floor of the building he lived in.


    "Awoo¡­" The young tiger was lying beside the guardrail lazily. It opened its mouth wide and bared its sharp teeth while yawning, then wagged its tail twice.


    Downstairs, the ones who were playing cards and those who were sitting on the stairs counting ants had all stopped doing their things, now looking at the woods with curiosity. However, none of them moved toward the woods area.


    They could use some snacks while watching that interesting show!


    Jingyan was sitting on the edge of the balcony on the second floor of the building that was located next to Lu Tianyi''s. She curled one of her long legs and leaned against the wall, looking at the woods area expressionlessly.


    At that moment, a stone suddenly appeared in Lu Tianyi''s hand. He threw the stone at a zombie who was bending in the vegetable field before his building.


    "Pesticide! I''ll kill you if you stole any of my cucumbers!" He stared at the zombie and cursed.


    In the field, Pesticide froze briefly, then slowly reached out a hand and caught a worm from the cucumber trellis. After that, he turned to look at Lu Tianyi while putting the worm into his mouth.


    "I''m here for the worms!"


    The others made no reaction to that, as Pesticide was always looking for worms to eat.


    Lu Tianyi gave him an unfriendly glance, then turned to continue watching whatever was happening in the woods area.


    "Owooo!" Bowwow ran under Lu Tianyi''s balcony and sat down, then raised its head and barked at the young tiger who was lying on the balcony. The young tiger glanced down at Bowwow, then turned its head away with dislike. It just put its chin on its folded paws, wagging its tail from time to time.


    At that point, the mushroom darted out of the woods. With that, Bowwow immediately turned to the mushroom and forgot about the young tiger.


    "Oh, the mushroom comes out!" Lu Tianyi said while watching the mushroom run over like a hurricane with its roots swinging quickly. The other zombies turned their eyes to the mushroom simultaneously, then quickly turned away. They knew that the mushroom would not stop in front of them!


    As they thought, the mushroom rushed over and whooshed across the clearing before the three houses. When the mushroom came over, Bowwow sprung up happily to chase behind it.


    The two of them made a large circle around the vegetable field before the house area, then dived into the grassland behind the field. Two seconds later, a bucket-sized snakehead popped up from the grass. Soon enough, the snakehead sank back into the grass and disappeared.


    The zombies in Lin Qiao''s space were used to that. They only gave the zombie a quick glance before turning their heads back to the woods.


    At that moment, the trees surrounding Gao Haoyun had all been frozen by him. He charged at a tree in front of him and kicked on its frozen trunk.


    However, the tree stayed absolutely still.


    A normal tree would have been shattered by a slight touch after being frozen by Gao Haoyun''s level-eight ice power. But now, his power was doing no harm to that tree.


    "Bloody woman! Show your face! B*tch! You damned witch!" Gao Haoyun was so angry and panicked. He yelled at the top of his lungs, but that woman never showed up. After that, he started running in one direction. However, no matter how long he ran, the woods surrounding him always remained the same, with no edge to be seen.


    The longer time he spent in that woods, the more agitated he felt. He couldn''t stay calm while thinking about his situation. He had one thought in his mind that was leaving that scary place. He believed that once he got out, his power would come back to him.


    He ran for a long time and lost more and more of his energy. At last, he even needed to gasp for air. But, he still could not get out of these mysterious woods.


    Gao Haoyun had even forgotten about his virus infection at this point. He forgot to suppress the virus in the injured area of his body, and it started spreading inside his body.


    After a while of running, he suddenly started feeling cold and his limbs became powerless. He stopped and bent over, propping both palms on his knees to rest.


    It was dark in the woods, so he didn''t notice that his fingers were turning black.


    "You can''t run. And¡­ you can''t survive," Lin Qiao''s voice was suddenly heard from every direction.


    Gao Haoyun immediately stood straight and cursed with a ferocious look on his face, "You bloody b*tch! Show your face if you dare! Do you think you can kill me by putting me into this place?"


    "I don''t have to kill you. You''re about to be killed by the zombie virus. Haven''t you realized that yet?" Lin Qiao still didn''t show her face but teased him.


    Hearing the word ''virus'', Gao Haoyun was stunned. Then, his heart sank. He finally realized that he had stopped suppressing the virus near his wound. Currently, the virus had occupied his body.


    No wonder he felt so cold! He had ice power, so how could he possibly feel cold!


    Realizing that, Gao Haoyun despaired. He lost his flexibility as if he had gotten frozen up. Slowly, he raised his hands and looked at his fingers. Under the dim light, he saw his black nails.


    As he was distracted, a flake of dark fire rose from behind him and suddenly wrapped up his head.


    "Eh¡­ Ah¡­" The strange scream that came from his throat ceased before it could be finished.


    The fire shrouded his head and immediately grew larger, quickly spreading to the rest of his body. In a couple of seconds, a blue energy nucleus fell to the ground while Gao Haoyun''s entire body vanished.


    Lin Qiao leaped down from a tree, then bent over and picked up the nucleus.


    Gao Haoyun had no power to defend himself against her netherworld fire at his last moment because the virus was eating him. Lin Qiao could have let him turn into a zombie, but in that way, she would lose a level-eight energy nucleus. For the nucleus, she chose to kill him before his transformation.


    If she didn''t kill him, his energy nucleus would lose its power and disappear when he died, and then he''d turn into an ordinary zombie.

 803 They Have Changed Their Way Of Attacking

    Lin Qiao showed up back in her room and looked at the man who was leaning against the wall near the door as she said, "What are you doing in my room?"


    Standing in the darkness, Wu Chengyue shrugged and said, "Waiting for you."


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and kept looking at him. He seemed to know that Gao Haoyun had paid her a visit.


    Seeing her exit her space unharmed, Wu Chengyue quickly turned and opened the door. Before leaving, he gave her a meaningful glance.


    She came out of her space without being injured at all, meaning that Gao Haoyun should have been killed. A level-seven zombie killed a level-eight man in an hour. Clearly, that zombie lady was no longer at the level of ordinary zombie dominators anymore. Based on how easy killing Gao Haoyun seemed to her, Wu Chengyue figured that the space was Lin Qiao''s greatest weapon.


    He needed to re-estimate her power. Even though he knew that Gao Haoyun would not be able to defeat her, he was still surprised to know that she had killed him so quickly.


    Lin Qiao watched Wu Chengyue leave and felt a little confused.


    As he showed up in her room, she figured he must know that Gao Haoyun was there. However, he only came in after she brought Gao Haoyun into her space, which meant that he was not here to help her fight Gao Haoyun. He seemed to believe in her power, but was not so confident about the result. Was that why he came to wait for her in her room?


    What a complicated man!


    Soon, dawn arrived. Si Kongchen got up from the bed and wiped his face with a wet towel. But, he heard quick door knocks right after that.


    "Chief, the zombies changed their way of attacking again!" Hou Guozhong stood at his door and said to him with a serious look.


    Not only had Si Kongchen received the news, but all the others did as well.


    In Lan Lu''s room, Lei Cheng was giving him the newest information expressionlessly, "They sent out an earth-powered zombie dominator to fix the earth crack that Liu Zhinan created, and the zombie crowd rushed to the fence wall immediately after that. This time, we''re facing not just ordinary zombies. The ones with superpowers, zombie leaders, kings and queens, and zombie dominators have all shown up."


    Xiao Licheng knocked on Wu Chengyue''s door once the latter laid on the bed and closed his eyes. He sat up on the bed and listened to Xiao Licheng''s report with his eye closed while rubbing his temples.


    "The offensive is fierce this time. Many powerful zombies have joined the fight. I think those senior superpowered people in Huaxia Base are going to have some work to do this time," said Xiao Licheng.


    "I guess the zombie emperor is making this serious this time. I wonder how he''ll feel when he finds out that someone else has already taken out his target," Wu Chengyue opened his eyes, said with a smile.


    "I think he might come after Miss Lu¡­ right?" said Xiao Licheng uncertainly.


    Gao Haoyun got himself killed. He could have messed with anyone, yet he picked that zombie lady. He tried to flirt with her because she was pretty, and he actually sneaked into her room in the middle of the night. If that was not a suicide, what was? One could look at the other chairman of Huaxia Base. That one got killed in front of the others because he touched her hand. He might not even know what caused his death!


    Miss Lu was really not a flower that anyone could pick. She was a man-eating flower!


    Even Wu Chengyue only had the guts to follow the flower around, but never the courage to try to touch her! Yet, some people recklessly reached their hands toward the flower, without knowing that the flower had teeth!


    Duan Juan knocked open Lin Qiao''s door and said, "The zombie attack is a big one this time. The earth crack was fixed. I think the emperor''s zombies are taking action."


    "Of course, he''ll make a big move this time, because something is wrong with his zombie nucleus. He doesn''t have the crazy power now, and he is feeling irritated and restless," Lin Qiao nodded calmly.


    "If¡­ If he knows that you killed Gao Haoyun, what would he do?" Duan Juan asked curiously.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "I guess he''ll try to kill me!"


    No matter what Mo Yan might do when the time came, Lin Qiao was confident that she could stop him.


    "Are we going out to watch now?" Duan Juan asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "Let''s wait a minute. I think Si Kongchen will make some arrangements."


    Duan Juan nodded knowingly.


    Soon, some Huaxia Base people came in a hurry and asked Lin Qiao to help to fight against the zombies at the west entrance of the base.


    "What about the others?" Lin Qiao asked. She had dealt with the ice in her room, so the others wouldn''t find anything strange except some water stains on the ground.


    "Our Chief is at the South Gate," said one of the people who came to ask her for help, "Chief Wu from Sea City Base went to the East Gate. Chairman Lan Lu from Green Mountain Base is heading toward the North Gate. Some of our chairmen will aid them at each gate. Gao Haoyun was supposed to go to the West Gate, but we haven''t found him yet. So Miss Lu, please help us defend the base against those zombies, together with Chairman Wei."


    "Chairman Wei? Wei Haichao?" Lin Qiao nodded as a gleam of light flashed across her eyes.


    Thankfully, she didn''t need to fight side by side with Liu Zhinan. She would not get along with that guy.


    On the other side of the base, Si Kongchen knitted his brows into a deep frown as he said, "Gao Haoyun disappeared? Where can he possibly go at this point?"


    Gao Haoyun''s sudden disappearance made him feel slightly agitated. That guy was seriously a troublemaker. His level-eight power was needed right at the moment, yet he was gone!


    "Maybe it has something to do with Miss Lu. He seems to care a lot about that woman," said Hou Guozhong uncertainly.


    "Did that woman disappear too?" Si Kongchen popped his eyes and asked.


    Hou Guozhong shook his head and said, "No. She was in her room when our people went to ask her for help."


    The look in Si Kongchen''s eyes changed subtly as he said, "Since she didn''t disappear, I guess she has nothing to do with it. Keep looking for that man."


    "Yes, sir!" Hou Guozhong nodded.


    Lin Qiao arrived at West Gate with Duan Juan and some other subordinates of hers and saw the gate blocked by all kinds of plants. The wall was covered in vines, and some tall trees had grown out on the clearing before the gate.


    The entire West Gate area was full of vibrant greenery. Without a doubt, that was a work that Chairman Wei did.


    But soon, Lin Qiao realized that she was wrong. Wei Haichao didn''t do all that by himself.


    When Lin Qiao got onto the wall top, she saw Wei Haichao and a large group of green-powered people releasing their powers together, throwing out some seeds from time to time.


    The zombie crowd was fierce down on the ground. Every now and then, a few higher leveled zombies would jump out of the crowd to launch random attacks at the humans, but all their attacks would be blocked by those plants, which were able to move.


    Suddenly, a gigantic bird flew across the sky and created a large shadow while stirring up a strong gust of wind.


    "No!" A man uttered a scream when the bird flew over. The others raised their heads to find him being brought away by the bird.

 804 She Wouldnst Betray Me

    The giant bird was so fast that it whooshed to hundreds of meters away by flapping its huge wings twice. While flying away from the wall top, it tore the poor man into two and threw his body into the zombie crowd.


    Not even Lin Qiao managed to save him.


    Lin Qiao stood on one side of the wall. Without warning Wei Haichao and the others, she waved an arm and released a stream of dark mist. The mist spread along with the wind and covered a wider area.


    She controlled the mist and sent it over the plants near the wall, then made it descend toward the zombie crowd like a giant but a thin puff of black sand.


    "Black mist? Is her power poisonous mist?" Wei Haichao turned and gave Lin Qiao a glance when the mist appeared. He still remembered how the Chief lady attacked Hu Zhiyong back in the command room mercilessly. Hu Zhiyong did make a mistake, yet the lady was way too fierce.


    "Is her poison hurtful for the zombies?" Wei Haichao had doubts.


    He fixed his eyes on the mist and watched it expand, then land on the zombie crowd. Next, he saw those zombies pause, then fall to the ground together.


    The expression on his face changed immediately as he watched the mist bring down a large group of zombies in shock, and then reach a further area. All the zombies that the mist touched fell within two minutes and never got back up.


    After that, Wei Haichao noticed that wisps of black mist had been rising from the dead zombies. Meanwhile, those dead zombies melted into puddles of black pus.


    The war had lasted for many days, and the ground was already covered in a thick layer of zombie bodies. A strong stink mixed with the smell of gun powder could be sensed even from the top of the fence wall, which was about twenty meters tall.


    However, at that very moment, within the area about a mile around West Gate, those stinky zombie bodies were all melting into pus. People could imagine how powerful that black mist was.


    Not even one zombie was able to break through Lin Qiao''s black mist. The people on the wall stopped fighting, as there were no more enemies in front of them.


    At that very moment, Mo Yan, who had himself locked in a room, calmed down a little after absorbing the female lady''s healing power. The female zombie dropped her hand, then stood by his side and looked at him quietly.


    Mo Yan sat on the bed with his head dropped and back hunched, staying motionless. That was a normal hotel room. The old building hadn''t been cleaned for six years, so the room was covered in dust.


    Before Mo Yan sat on that bed, the female zombie turned the mattress over, so he could sit on the clean side of it.


    Mo Yan raised his head and looked at the female zombie. His face was covered in those scary, twisting marks that looked like lightning bolts, and also like blood veins. His slender eyes were filled with deep darkness. The purple color in his pupils had mostly faded, as if the darkness in his eyes had devoured the color.


    "Roar¡­" ''You won''t betray me, will you?''


    He looked straight at the female zombie''s pretty face and moved his beautiful but pale lips.


    The silver light in the female zombie''s eyes blinked slightly. She stayed silent and looked at him in the eyes. She didn''t know what ''betray'' meant. She recognized him as her emperor, so he would always be her emperor. She would never leave the emperor, unless he asked her to go.


    With that thought, she slowly bent one knee and got down before Mo Yan. Then, she raised her head to look at his eyes without any expression.


    Mo Yan looked at her quietly and remained silent for a long time. The female zombie kept her knee on the ground. He didn''t respond, so she didn''t get up.


    A long while later, Mo Yan had a faint purple light flash across his eyes. "Get up," he said, "Don''t get your dress dirty."


    The female zombie immediately stood up and bent over to brush the hemline of her dress free from the dust.


    Not far away from Mo Yan''s hotel, a zombie king was on the roof of another building. He made himself disappear in the darkness, and then quickly left. Soon, he came near the East Gate to find a zombie dominator.


    "Roar¡­" ''Something is wrong with the emperor. He''s getting weaker!''


    That zombie dominator was a male who looked about thirty years old. He was good-looking, handsome, masculine, tall and robust.


    Hearing the zombie king''s report, the zombie dominator''s dagger eyes shone with a bright light. He raised his dashing eyebrows and gave the zombie king a deep growl. "Er?"


    ''Didn''t he grow stronger?''


    The zombie king nodded.


    The zombie dominator blinked and thought for a while, then gave a roar¡ª''Keep an eye on him.''


    "Roar¡­" The zombie king responded, then turned and left quietly.


    The zombie dominator turned around and looked at the gate of the base. Abruptly, he raised his head and uttered a raging roar. Following his voice, the zombie crowd was immediately stirred. All the zombies charged at the base crazily.


    After letting out the roar, the zombie dominator lowered his head and reached both hands toward the base as he started to release his power. Waves of quake gave the people on the wall a start; it was like a real earthquake.


    "This is bad! The earth-powered zombie dominator is attacking us!" Liu Zhinan widened his eyes as he immediately squatted and pressed both hands on the floor to release his power and suppress the energy under the ground.


    At that moment, a series of giant fireballs were thrown into the sky, then a man leaped out from the wall top.


    "I''m going to deal with that zombie dominator," Si Kongchen''s voice was heard from a distance away.


    The strong fighters from the zombie army finally showed their faces. Si Kongwang wanted to kill every single one of those zombie dominators. With that idea, Si Kongchen charged at the zombie dominator who was behind the crowd.


    ¡­


    As the war situation in Huaxia Base finally started to change, the people in All Beings Base were still living their peaceful life. From day to day, they worked, ate, slept, earned credits, and got food from the base.


    Unlike the others, Lu Tong had his secret little mission. Apart from normal daily work, he also needed to find out a way to get close to Yuan Tianxing. He had already made the first step, so next, he needed to arrange the second step.


    At that moment, he was lying on a bed in the medical department, thinking about the second step of his plan.


    The first step of his plan had worked well; he had impressed Yuan Tianxing. So, when he saw Yuan Tianxing the second and third time, he would slowly catch that man''s attention. Lu Tong didn''t want Yuan Tianxing''s eyes all over him. The perfect case would be the two of them becoming acquaintances who had met each other a few times, but didn''t know each other well.

 805 Hurt Himself

    In fact, Lu Tong didn''t really like Yuan Tianxing. He tried to approach him only because the latter''s high status in the base could provide him with a stable life.


    He used to be a commoner, a weak one. Currently, he was only a space possessor. He wasn''t strong enough to protect himself in the difficult post-apocalyptic world. So, in order to survive, he had no choice but to seek protection from the others.


    He left the medical department when he felt better.


    He knew that Yuan Tianxing spent most of his time working in his office, and even ate and rested in that office. He went to the construction site to supervise the constructional work occasionally, and apart from that, he barely left his office. It was hard for Lu Tong to approach him, as he couldn''t go straight to his office. Besides, not everyone was allowed in the Deputy Chief''s office.


    Lu Tong spent a short time thinking, then decided to play his old trick.


    Two days later, he finally spotted Yuan Tianxing come out of the office building that night. His dorm wasn''t far away from the office. Therefore, he usually traveled between the dorm and the office by foot, together with Lu Junjie. It would take him about ten minutes walking.


    Lu Tong followed behind him, holding a brick. He found an area that Yuan Tianxing would pass and hid in a nearby corner. He first looked at Yuan Tianxing and his people, then made his own clothes messy. After that, he looked at the brick in his hand and took a deep breath.


    A fierce look could be detected from his eyes when he hit his own head with the brick. He hit on a side of his head and not the forehead or the back. In that way, people would guess that someone else attacked him.


    "Eh¡­" He gave a muffled moan in pain. Before losing consciousness, he threw away the brick. After that, he fell to the ground and left his wound bleeding.


    The place he chose wasn''t far away from Yuan Tianxing, and wasn''t too close either. It seemed like a corner, but allowed him to be seen by other people easily. Yuan Tianxing was an observant man, so he would certainly see Lu Lang lying on the ground when he walked past that area. Even if he didn''t see Lu Tong, his subordinates who were following behind him would.


    Lu Tong had a perfect plan. He made it look like he was under attack and waited for Yuan Tianxing to spot him. Yuan Tianxing would definitely try to save him. After saving him, he would recognize him as the man who saved his friends at the construction site and then passed out.


    He believed that what he did at the construction site had left Yuan Tianxing a good impression Therefore, after saving him this time, Yuan Tianxing would definitely remember him.


    That was the second step of Lu Tong''s plan¡ªletting Yuan Tianxing save him. For the third step, he would approach Yuan Tianxing openly to thank him.


    Lu Tong had no idea that the show he created had fallen completely into the eyes of Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying, who were on a nearby roof and looking at him. When he fell into unconsciousness, Long Qingying leaped off the roof, grasped his collar to lift him up, and then carried him away.


    "He really did that! This guy is really ambitious, and he is even willing to hurt himself for what he wants," Lin Wenwen looked down at Lu Tong who was brought onto the roof by Long Qingying, and thrown to the ground. She sneered, her eyes glowing with a cold light.


    Long Qingying said expressionlessly, "Deputy Chief is going that way and has keen eyes. He would see this man even if he wasn''t paying attention to the surroundings. And, he would surely save him."


    "I thought this guy would fall straight in front of Tianxing a couple of days ago at the construction site," said Lin Wenwen, "However, he only made a show to impress Tianxing. This time, he made it serious. It turns out that he has the whole thing planned."


    That day, he saved another man at the construction site only to make Yuan Tianxing look at him and remember him. And now, he knocked himself out with a brick. Not everybody could do that.


    "He''s still too impatient though. It has only been a couple of days, yet he already planned to lie on the ground right in front of Deputy Chief. Wouldn''t Deputy Chief get suspicious?" Long Qingying said with slight confusion.


    Lin Wenwen smiled and said, "He''s confident. I think he believes that Tianxing wouldn''t get suspicious so soon."


    "Why is he trying to approach Deputy Chief like this?" Long Qingying looked at Lu Tong curiously, ignoring his bleeding wound.


    Lin Wenwen said with a scornful look, "He''s only trying to find someone powerful to rely on, so that he can live a stable life in this base. Of course, the way he chose is a bit too disgusting."


    She thought of the image that she had seen in her mind. In that image, Lu Tong stripped Yuan Tianxing and made the latter lie upon himself, who was also naked. Apart from that, he didn''t seem to do anything else. Lin Wenwen guessed that Lu Tong first planned to leave Yuan Tianxing a good impression, then he would make it look like the two of them had slept together. After that, Yuan Tianxing would feel guilty about what he thought had happened and start to protect Lu Tong.


    What Lin Wenwen had seen in her mind was not an established fact. She didn''t know for sure what it meant or what it had foreshown. It was not like what happened with the metal vine. She had seen the vine for real and then jumped back to a couple of hours ago. She couldn''t tell why though.


    She had been trying to figure that out, but hadn''t come to any result yet.


    "Disgusting?" Long Qingying didn''t know about what Lin Wenwen had seen in her own mind. She looked at Lu Tong confusedly. What Lu Tong had done was indeed not decent, but it wasn''t disgusting either. At most, it made her feel that he was a sneaky person.


    Long Qingying sensitively felt that Lin Wenwen wasn''t talking about what Lu Tong had been doing.


    Also, why did Lin Wenwen suddenly have her eyes on Lu Tong once she returned to the base? She had been out there collecting supplies before that while Lu Tong was one of the second batch of Hades survivors. The two of them shouldn''t have met each other. However, Lin Wenwen asked Long Qingying to find out Lu Tong''s background right after she came back to the base. How did she know that Lu Tong was having some bad intentions toward Yuan Tianxing?


    Did she happen to see anything the day she came back?


    Long Qingying wasn''t as smart as Lin Wenwen was, so she couldn''t think straight immediately for many things. However, she believed everything what Lin Wenwen said; she never doubted her.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Lu Tong and said, "Let''s go. You''ll understand." Having finished talking, she walked toward the stairs without Long Qingying.


    Long Qingying looked at Lu Tong, who was still unconscious, and asked, "What should we do with him?"


    While walking, Lin Wenwen waved her hand and said, "Just dump him anywhere that people can see."


    Some other people would find him and send him to the medical department.


    Long Qingying quickly lifted Lu Tong, then leaped off the roof.


    Down on the ground, Yuan Tianxing and his people walked past the area that Lu Tong was supposed to be without discovering anything abnormal. With big steps, he headed toward where he lived without pausing.

 806 The War Situation in Huaxia Base

    The war in Huaxia Base lasted for two more days. The offensive was fierce, but the group of zombies wasn''t able to defeat level-eight humans.


    Si Kongchen and Liu Zhinan combined their powers and fought against the earth-powered zombie dominator with the earth and fire power. Before the gate that they had been guarding, the earth had cracked and was covered in flames.


    Thousands of zombies were burned into ashes by Si Kongchen, but the zombie crowd never stopped charging at the base.


    On the other side of the base, Wu Chengyue raised both arms and summoned a destructive thunder strike from the sky. He was fighting side by side with a water-powered chairman from Huaxia Base against the massive zombie attack.


    The chairman flooded the whole area by bringing over all the water from the nearby rivers, flushing the area before the gate over and over again. The water stopped those zombies from moving and flushed them away. At that point, Wu Chengyue launched another thunder strike. The lightning power spread through the water and burned all the zombies.


    On Lan Lu''s side, the scene was a little brutal. The crowd of zombies near that gate were all headless. Their heads had exploded; Lan Lu did that. Before that moment, his power was a mystery.


    Hong Yijie saw Lan Lu do nothing but blink his eyes. Right after that, the heads of those zombies exploded together like watermelons. It was like a scene from a horror movie!


    So, were all spirit-powered people able to make zombie heads explode like that?


    Spirit power had always been hard to wake up. Therefore, only a small number of people possessed that kind of power. Huaxia Base did have a couple of spirit power possessors, but Hong Yijie didn''t know them, so he had no idea how they might launch an attack.


    Lin Qiao had been fighting an easy battle as well. Controlling the dark mist didn''t require much energy and will power from her. All she did was to generate a thought, and based on that, the dark mist searched for zombies automatically to devour their energies and bodies.


    Wei Haichao and the other green-powered people found themselves completely useless after Lin Qiao joined the fight. Lin Qiao had covered the entire area with her dark mist, so no zombie was able to enter that area.


    Any zombie that came close to the dark mist melted into pus and disappeared in no time. Normal mists could dissipate in the wind, but her mist would not be affected by any wind.


    Every time a gust of wind blew across, Lin Qiao would raise both hands, seemingly to control the mist. Following her move, the mist would descend to the ground and form a layer of dark matter. No matter how strong the wind was, the dark matter wouldn''t move at all.


    At that moment, if any zombie tried to run across the dark matter, its legs would melt immediately. Losing legs would not make the zombies stop moving. They would keep crawling forward by using their arms, as quickly as ever. But within a few seconds, the rest of their bodies would also melt into pus.


    Wei Haichao had told himself to stay far away from that lady! Recalling what Hu Zhiyong tried to do to her, he deeply realized that it was suicidal.


    A hurricane came across along with the sound of an eagle. Following the sound, an enormous bird flew over fleetingly.


    "The giant bird is here again! Watch out! Be careful!" People panicked at the sight of the bird.


    Wei Haichao knitted his brows into a deep frown and kept his eyes on the bird as he raised both arms slightly.


    The bird lowered its flight altitude to about two meters above the ground, then glided forward. At around twenty meters away from the wall, it rose vertically back into the sky.


    Its huge wings brought up a strong gust of winds.


    The bird''s wingspan was over ten meters wide. It wasn''t exactly a bird; its head had become like that of a bird and legs had turned into claws, but still it looked like a zombie.


    It was a zombie who possessed animal power. He had turned into a half-zombie, half-bird creature.


    That zombie bird had shown up seven times. Every single time, it took away a superpowered human at level four or five. It was like an eagle; it first chose its target, then swooped down swiftly, fiercely, and accurately. It then grabbed that person with its claws and tore him into pieces in the air.


    Seeing the zombie bird fly into the sky and hover above their heads, Wei Haichao and the others became nervous. Meanwhile, they had been waiting for the bird to dive again.


    The bird made a few circles in the air, then suddenly folded its wings and swooped down like a cannonball.


    "Here it comes!" Wei Haichao widened his eyes and uttered a loud shout to warn the others.


    This time, the bird was aiming at a level-five man. Seeing the bird coming straight at him, the man had a very strong sense crawl to the back of his head from his spine.


    He didn''t panic. Instead, he immediately rushed to Wei Haichao. As the bird was about two meters away from the man, a few strong vines suddenly rose from nearby and swung toward the bird, attempting to tie it up. The bird turned its body and tilted its head to dodge the vines easily. It turned into the air, then quickly rose back into the sky.


    Lin Qiao watched that silently. For the time being, she didn''t plan to help. All she did was to give that bird a glance with no expression.


    Right at that point, the zombie dominator at the East Gate turned and left along with two zombie kings. He was heading toward where Mo Yan was staying.


    At the same time, Mo Yan was leaving secretly. He had to leave as soon as possible, and mustn''t let his subordinates know about that.


    His power was disabled at the moment, but his sensations weren''t weakened. A zombie king had been hiding nearby, observing him these days. He could sense that zombie king all the time even though the latter had his vibe restrained completely.


    As he thought, some of his subordinates had been watching him. His power was gone, and his vibe had grown weaker. After a couple of days of careful observation, that zombie king left abruptly.


    Mo Yan immediately figured out that he was going to report to his new leader. He didn''t know which zombie dominator was going to turn on him, but he couldn''t care that much at that point. He had a strong sense of crisis, and that was causing him to leave.


    Therefore, once that zombie king went away, he quickly left with the female zombie.


    The zombie dominator arrived at the hotel building right after Mo Yan left. Soon, he realized that Mo Yan and the female zombie had gone.


    "Roar!" Knowing that Mo Yan had run away, the zombie dominator turned angry and immediately followed Mo Yan''s scent.

 807 The Zombie Dominators Have Lef

    Si Kongchen, who had just darted forward, noticed that the zombie dominator was leaving. He was a little confused about it, so he followed behind the zombie. Liu Zhinan, Hou Guozhong, and the others were left on the wall top to keep fighting.


    Soon, they found that the zombie dominator had brought away all the zombies at level five and six. Only the lower leveled zombies were left before the base gate.


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue soon received the news that Si Kongchen was going after a zombie dominator. He spent a short while observing the situation on the other areas of the base, then flashed away from the wall top.


    Lin Qiao had been watching the zombie bird going up and down. It swooped down for a few times to try to catch a person, but Wei Haichao stopped it every time. That made the bird start feeling agitated.


    "Roar!" The bird let out a strange roar, then began attacking Wei Haichao fiercely. Its offensive was so violent and brutal that it seemed as if it would never give up until it killed the man.


    The zombie bird was super strong and swift. It flew from side to side and stirred up strong wind that nearly blew people off the wall top. The wind had also weakened people''s eyesight and disabled them from attacking the bird accurately. Even if they managed to hit the bird, no harm would be done, as its feathers were hard as steel.


    Soon, Wei Haichao, who had become a target and started falling into disadvantages, seemed to freak out a little.


    "Miss. Lu! Please help our Chairman!" Li Yuelong, who was a Deputy Chief under Wei Haichao''s command, suddenly ran up to Lin Qiao and eagerly asked for help.


    Lin Qiao glanced up at the bird and said, "I can''t deal with the air attack. I don''t have wind power."


    She was only there to watch, not to fight as their main force.


    "What should we do now?" Hearing what she said, Li Yuelong became even more anxious.


    Lin Qiao blinked and looked at the area that was guarded by Si Kongchen and Wu Chengyue, then turned back to the bird. After that, she thought for a moment.


    "Go and tell your boss to hang in there for a little longer," she said, "I think the bird will soon give up."


    Once Lin Qiao''s voice faded, the bird that had crushed countless vines with its sharp claws abruptly rose high into the sky, made a circle above the fence wall, and then flew away, soon becoming a small spot in the air.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao suddenly leaped off the fence wall and darted out of the base, disappearing within a blink.


    Li Yuelong was stunned. He didn''t even see how the giant bird and the Chief lady disappeared. However, as the bird was gone, he sighed with relief.


    Lan Lu had also left the wall top to chase a zombie dominator. Those zombie dominators left at about the same time, and Si Kongchen and the others didn''t know what happened. The zombie emperor hadn''t shown up during these days, so they had only been trying to feel those zombie dominators out instead of fighting with all their powers.


    As all zombie dominators suddenly left for an unknown reason, they immediately followed behind them. They wanted to know what exactly was happening with the zombie emperor!


    Among all, Lin Qiao knew the best. She clearly sensed that the weak vibe which belonged to Mo Yan was fading away. The other zombie dominators were going after him at the moment, all with the intention of killing.


    They seemed to have found out about Mo Yan''s condition. They were going to turn against him.


    A zombie emperor was able to control the minds of the zombies at or below level-five. However, for zombie dominators, he could only suppress them with violence. Now, Mo Yan''s power was gone, so those zombie dominators who used to be under his suppression turned on him.


    ¡­


    Back in Heilong Base, the survivors cleared out all the lingering zombies gradually, then started to fix the broken fence wall. Meanwhile, they had also been sorting the farm by trying to save the plants that were still alive and getting rid of the dead ones.


    Most of the buildings in their base had collapsed. However, they could live underground while reconstructing the base.


    "Chief, Gao Haoyun has disappeared. They haven''t found him yet. Did he¡­" A subordinate of Du Kunsheng reported to him about the news from Huaxia Base.


    "Do you mean did he run away again?" Du Kunsheng sneered, "Except for Sky Fire Base and Sea City Base, where else can he possibly go? Just send your people to those two bases and see if he''ll show up."


    "I understand," the subordinate responded.


    "How''s the situation in Huaxia Base now?" Du Kunsheng asked.


    "One of their chairmen died. He died in a strange way though. Also, those zombies have changed their way of offense. Before, it was just a normal massive zombie attack, but recently, a group of kings, queens, dominators emerged, as well as a large number of level four and five zombies. The leaders of Sea City Base and Green Mountain Base have both started helping. Oh, the Lady Chief helped too. Her power is poisonous mist," said the subordinate.


    "Em, those bloody zombies can do whatever they want to Huaxia Base, as long they won''t come back to us," Du Kunsheng sighed with relief. His handsome face wore an obvious tiredness. There was a deep pair of dark circles under his eyes. Clearly, he had been exhausted recently.


    Thinking of Gao Haoyun, he showed a fierce look in his eyes.


    Gao Haoyun didn''t care about Heilong Base. He chose to leave, and he was allowed. However, he would never be welcomed back. Du Kunsheng believed that he himself owned the base. The base was like his root. He built it single-handedly, and Gao Haoyun had lost his qualification to lead the base since long ago.


    He didn''t know yet that Gao Haoyun wasn''t able to come back ever again.


    ¡­


    Not long after Mo Yan started running, he sensed that his old subordinates were coming after him. This time, they weren''t going to bow to him again. The strong intention of killing from those zombie dominators clearly told him that they were going to kill him, and that they might fight each other over the nucleus in his head afterward.


    His nucleus contained no power currently, but it was still highly helpful for the other zombies. With his nucleus, one of those zombie dominators who were only a breath away from level-eight might break into a new level and become the new emperor.


    Without the energy stored in his nucleus, Mo Yan was, of course, a lot slower than the other zombies. Even the female zombie was faster than him.


    Before he made it to ten miles, he was stopped.


    "Roar¡­" He didn''t panic but bared his teeth to warn the zombie dominator in front of him.


    The zombie dominator in front of him possessed earth power. The two zombie kings under his command scattered, and the three of them surrounded Mo Yan with a triangular formation.


    Hearing Mo Yan''s warning, they paused briefly with fear, but didn''t fall back.

 808 The Targe

    The zombie dominator fixed his eyes on Mo Yan. He was on alert, but didn''t shrink back. What was more obvious in his eyes was the greed. Without making any sound, he stared straight at Mo Yan.


    Gradually, more level-five zombies showed up, encircling Mo Yan and the female zombie.


    Mo Yan intended to scare them off. However, that might work for some level five and six zombies, but not for the zombie dominator in front of him. He turned a little anxious. He did not foresee what was happening to him. He thought he would lose his mind and become a crazy pure beast.


    Little did he think that he lost his power but kept his mind clear in the end.


    Without his power, he was an ordinary zombie. Any of the zombie leaders around him could kill him.


    He couldn''t die yet! He hadn''t killed Gao Haoyun, or that other man!


    If he didn''t chase Gao Haoyun to Huaxia Base, he wouldn''t have found that other man who also ate his flesh years ago. So now, Gao Haoyun was not his only target. He needed to kill that man too. That man was also a level-eight, powerful being.


    But currently, his power was gone, and he had become an ordinary zombie. He could be killed by any high-leveled zombie easily. He could die¡­ He still had to take revenge!


    He looked at the other zombies with a fierce look but didn''t show any sign of weakness. His vibe remained strong. Under that vibe, no zombies except the zombie dominator dared to move.


    The zombie dominator spent a long while looking at Mo Yan. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes which were shining with a yellow light.


    "Roar!" He burst in a raging roar, then swung an arm toward Mo Yan. With that, the earth under Mo Yan''s feet cracked.


    Thankfully, Mo Yan dodged fast enough to keep himself from falling into the earth crack.


    Hearing the zombie dominator''s roar, the surrounding zombies immediately charged at Mo Yan, as if they had received an order.


    "Roar!"


    Mo Yan leaped up to avoid the earth crack, but before he landed back on the ground, a fireball hit him.


    He didn''t manage to dodge this time. The fireball thudded against his back and sent him flying to the other side, then threw him to the ground. He took advantage of the pushing force from the fireball and nimbly made a roll on the ground, then sprung up and quickly leaped to the other side.


    Following a series of puffing sounds, a wave of wind blades whooshed across the area that he landed just now and left a few slashes on the ground.


    "Roar¡­" The female zombie shielded Mo Yan with her own body and roared at the zombie dominator ragingly.


    Her voice was higher-pitched than that of the others. She vigilantly stared at the zombie dominator and the other zombies near her, baring her teeth and upturning the corners of her eyes. Her pretty face wore a ferocious look at that moment, and a fierce intention of killing radiated from her entire body.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie dominator roared back at the female zombie, signaling for her to move away. However, the female zombie shielded Mo Yan determinedly and looked at the zombie dominator wrathfully.


    "Roar¡­" ''Go away!''


    The zombie dominator seemed to be hesitating. He didn''t want to hurt the female zombie, but didn''t want her to protect Mo Yan either.


    Right at that moment, Mo Yan had his expression changed. Meanwhile, the zombie dominator took a glance at Huaxia Base.


    "Roar!" He then gave the female zombie an impatient roar.


    He was warning her¡­ because he had sensed a new danger coming from Huaxia Base. It was right near them.


    The other few zombie dominators had been speedily approaching Mo Yan and the earth-powered zombie dominator. Following behind them were a group of powerful humans.


    The one who showed up the first was the giant zombie bird, who brought over a gust of roaring wind.


    "Roar¡­" ''What are you doing?''


    The bird uttered a roar from the sky, sounding surprised and confused.


    On the ground, the earth-powered zombie dominator raised his head and responded to the bird in an unfriendly tone¡ª''None of your business! Piss off!''


    At that very moment, Mo Yan suddenly dragged the female zombie and charged at a level-five zombie near them.


    "Roar¡­" Together, they gave that zombie a resonant roar and then attacked him.


    Mo Yan didn''t fight with his claws like a beast. He rushed at the zombie and made a swift turning kick. The zombie didn''t manage to dodge because he was frightened by Mo Yan''s threatening vibe. As a result, Mo Yan kicked the zombie flying away.


    He had lost his power, but still had his combat skills. Facing a zombie leader who couldn''t react timely, he could still make a battle.


    Watching Mo Yan''s movement, the zombie bird that was hovering in the sky was confused a little.


    After sending the zombie leader away, Mo Yan and the female zombie immediately darted out of the encirclement.


    The earth-powered zombie dominator ignored the zombie bird in the sky as he quickly turned and released his power toward the road before Mo Yan. A few earth thorns suddenly rose from the ground, reaching toward Mo Yan and the female zombie.


    The two of them nimbly leaped away in different directions to avoid the earth thorns, then kept running. Behind them, the earth-powered zombie dominator charged at Mo Yan.


    The zombie bird had figured out what was happening. So, he quickly folded his arms and swooped down at Mo Yan.


    "Roar!" The female zombie looked at the giant zombie bird, then at the earth-powered zombie dominator, and screamed in a flurry, because she didn''t know if she should try to stop the bird from the sky or the earth-powered zombie dominator.


    At that moment, Si Kongchen had caught up with the other zombie dominator. He stopped running at a distance away and looked at those zombies with confusion.


    He saw two zombie dominators leading the other zombies to siege the zombie emperor. The zombie emperor seemed strange, as he was trying to dodge the attack all the time. His movements were nimble and quick, but he hadn''t been using his lightning power at all.


    What was happening? Why had those zombies been fighting against each other? The other two zombie dominators came here from the battlefield in a hurry, and didn''t seem like being summoned.


    Si Kongchen spent a while watching them, then found that although the other zombies had been attaching the zombie emperor, none of them but the two zombie dominators dared to approach him.


    The two zombie dominators attacked the zombie emperor while trying to stop each other. The zombie emperor would try to run together with the female zombie who was in a white dress every time he had a chance.


    Si Kongchen found it interesting. But, before he could figure out a thing, the vibe of another zombie dominator arrived at the battlefield.


    "Roar¡­" Soon, the third zombie dominator joined the fight. The zombie emperor was still the target.


    Finally, Si Kongchen realized that those zombie dominators were trying to kill the zombie emperor for his nucleus!

 809 The Melee Continues

    "What''s going on?" Wu Chengyue landed by Si Kongchen''s side and asked.


    Si Kongchen stood there and looked at the three zombie dominators who seemed to be fighting against each other over the zombie emperor while attacking the emperor as he shook his head and said, "I don''t know. As you can see, all those three zombie dominators want the emperor now. The emperor seems to be weak. He hasn''t been using his lightning power."


    Wu Chengyue blinked and then made a guess, "Something is wrong with the emperor, so his subordinates turned on him, right?"


    Si Kongchen turned to glance backward and said, "The other two are coming here too. I guess this emperor only has five zombie dominators under his command."


    Wu Chengyue glanced backward as well, then nodded and said, "I guess so. Haven''t you guys found Gao Haoyun yet? He didn''t run away, did he?"


    Wu Chengyue knew exactly what had happened to Gao Haoyun. He just couldn''t help but want to cover for the zombie lady.


    Hearing Gao Haoyun''s name, the expressionless Si Kongchen immediately pulled a long face.


    It had been days, yet not even a trace of Gao Haoyun was found. He didn''t seem to have left. Instead, it was like he suddenly disappeared from Huaxia Base.


    With a deep and cold voice, he said, "If he has left, why are these zombies still here? Isn''t he the zombie emperor''s target?"


    Wu Chengyue shrugged and said, "I was only guessing. Perhaps, he is hiding somewhere. But, why?"


    "Who knows!" Si Kongchen responded with a deep frown.


    At that moment, Mo Yan was rolling on the ground to dodge the attacks from the three zombie dominators. If the female zombie hadn''t been protecting him, he would have died long ago.


    The female zombie''s healing power was highly helpful, and those zombie dominators were smart. They clearly knew how useful her power was for them. Therefore, they hadn''t launched any lethal attacks to her.


    The wind-powered zombie dominator had created a few large and deep wounds on Mo Yan''s body with his wind blades. Thick and black blood was all over Mo Yan''s body, mixed together with earth and dust, leaving brown traces on the ground.


    The more blood he lost, the less energy he had. Gradually, Mo Yan felt that he was growing weaker and weaker.


    "Roar¡­" ''Go away! We only want his nucleus!''


    The giant bird hovered in the sky about ten meters higher than the ground and roared at the female zombie with discontentment. The female zombie raised her head as she bared her teeth and roared at the sky to refuse like an infuriated female lion.


    Her disobedience enraged the other two zombie dominators. ''Move away!¡ªThey both roared at her.


    They warned her with their last bit of patience. If she kept fighting back, they would stop showing mercy to her. They might not kill her, but would not tolerate her again either.


    "Roar¡­" The female zombie was not swayed. The dominators'' warning only made her more vigilant than before.


    "Roarrrr!" The giant bird had clearly run out of patience. He let out a shrill sound, then folded his wings and dived at the female zombie like a shred of shadow. He wasn''t high up in the sky, so coming down to the ground from the low altitude only took him a blink.


    The female zombie was aware that she wasn''t able to dodge that. She wasn''t as fast as the bird, and the enemy was coming down from the air. No matter which way she ran, the bird could turn toward her flexibly at any time.


    As the bird attacked the female zombie for real, the other two zombie dominators hurriedly came over to shield her.


    Bang! The three bumped into each other and then quickly parted.


    "Roar¡­" The two on the ground warned the bird in the sky.


    When the two came over to protect her, the female zombie grasped the opportunity and brought Mo Yan to the other side. But soon, a few figures flashed over and barred their road.


    "Roarrrr¡­" A few zombie kings stopped them. As the three zombie dominators were fighting against each other, they hurriedly took the chance to charge at Mo Yan. They hadn''t been using their powers on Mo Yan because claws could aim more accurately. All they needed to do was to rip off his head and then run away with his nucleus.


    The situation wasn''t good. Mo Yan and the female zombie tried a few times but failed to break out of the encirclement. As a result, the female zombie started feeling agitated.


    "Roar¡­" She roared ferociously.


    She was at a lower level, but she was not afraid of those who were one or two levels higher than her. Anyway, Mo Yan didn''t give up. He glanced at Si Kongchen and Wu Chengyue, who were hiding in a corner and watching the fight. It seemed that he was waiting for something.


    At that point, the last two zombie dominators came over from two different directions. They didn''t join the fight immediately, but stayed aside and watched for a while.


    "Oh my, this looks interesting! What''s going on here?" Lan Lu''s voice was heard from behind Si Kongchen and Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him smilingly and replied with, "Guess¡­"


    Lan Lu looked at the battlefield for a couple of seconds, then immediately figured it out. "These zombie dominators are attacking their old boss, aren''t they?" he said, "Why aren''t they willing to hurt that female zombie leader over there? Clearly, there''s something special about her. She''s helpful for the other zombies¡­ Oh, that''s the zombie emperor! He''s good-looking! The mark on his face looks unique! Is he awake now? Why doesn''t he use his power?"


    "I don''t know. He hasn''t been using his power since I got here. If the female zombie wasn''t protecting him, he might have been torn into pieces by now," Si Kongchen shook his head and said.


    "He hasn''t used his power? And, those zombie dominators aren''t afraid of him¡­ Is his power disabled? Did those zombie dominators sense something about that and then turn on him?" Lan Lu thought for a moment, then said while rubbing his chin with two fingers.


    "No wonder they''ve been fighting over the emperor. I guess they all want the emperor''s nucleus. With that nucleus, one of them might be able to enter level-eight!" Wu Chengyue followed Lan Lu''s thoughts. Then, he immediately erased the smile on his face and said, "How can we let that happen!"


    After saying that, he immediately darted out. Lan Lu and Si Kongchen followed closely behind Wu Chengyue.


    "Kill the emperor first, and don''t let them get the nucleus," said Si Kongchen. While rushing at the zombie emperor, he conveniently threw a few giant fireballs at the three zombie dominators who were still fighting each other.


    Wu Chengyue raised both arms and summoned a wave of lightning bolts from the sky. Along with rumbling thunders, the lightning fell toward every single zombie on the scene.


    Mo Yan was squatting on the ground. At that very moment, an invisible figure flashed across him and brought him into a space before Si Kongchen got there.

 810 What You Have to Do Is Simple

    Right as Mo Yan disappeared, the female zombie in a white dress disappeared as well before the other zombies and the three humans could even react.


    When Wu Chengyue''s lightning faded, Si Kongchen had already lost his target. He paused and confusedly looked at the spot that Mo Yan was at.


    "Eh? Where''s the emperor?" Wu Chengyue turned to look at Si Kongchen with surprise. He was going to summon another wave of lightning from the sky.


    "Roar¡­" Not only Si Kongchen and Wu Chengyue were surprised, all the other zombies had stopped moving and stared where Mo Yan was for a few seconds, then suddenly rushed at that area.


    "Could it be¡­ space? Does the zombie emperor have a space? No wonder he wasn''t fighting back the whole time!" Lan Lu thought for a moment while blinking, then made his guess.


    After realizing that both the zombie emperor and the female zombie had vanished into thin air, Lan Lu immediately thought of space. Only space possessors could do that. He believed that the zombie emperor had a space, which had been kept as a secret.


    No wonder the zombie emperor didn''t look panicked at all! His situation was highly critical, yet he stayed composed while trying to dodge all the attacks. He must have had a backup plan!


    The space was his backup plan!


    Among all on the scene, no one else but Wu Chengyue knew that not only did the zombie lady have a space, but could also turn invisible!


    Hearing what Lan Lu said, Wu Chengyue glanced at him with a weird expression, then agreed with him, "I think you''re right. He looked very calm, and all he did was dodge!"


    As Mo Yan disappeared, the zombies on the scene suddenly lost their aim.


    "Don''t let those zombie dominators run!" Si Kongchen reacted quickly. The zombie emperor was gone, but there were still many preys right before their eyes. He immediately turned to the nearest zombie dominator.


    "You''re right!" Wu Chengyue nodded as he turned and sent a wave of lightning bolts toward another zombie dominator.


    "Roar¡­" The zombies were enraged to find that the zombie emperor and the female zombie had both gone. At that very point, the group of humans attacked them. So, they instantly vented their fury on those humans.


    Just like that, the war continued.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Mo Yan who had been thrown into the woods in Lin Qiao''s space, sighed with relief.


    "Eh? What does that look on your face mean? You seem relieved. Did you know that I was going to save you?" Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise.


    "Roar¡­" Once Lin Qiao showed up, the female zombie immediately came to stand before Mo Yan and stared at her alertly. But, Mo Yan put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.


    He walked out from behind the famale zombie and looked at Lin Qiao calmly. The dark marks on his face and his purely black eyes disabled Lin Qiao from seeing his face clearly.


    He looked at Lin Qiao silently. In fact, he was taking a risk earlier. He didn''t know if Lin Qiao would come to save him or not. He knew that she was nearby, because he sensed her faint vibe that the others couldn''t sense. He couldn''t tell for sure if she would help him, but he knew that she would not take the opportunity to kill him.


    Mo Yan was aware that Lin Qiao would not save him for nothing under the current circumstances. She must want something in return. Being kind couldn''t possibly be the only reason why she saved him.


    Before Lin Qiao started talking, a strong gust of wind could be heard, then a figure darted through the space between Lin Qiao and Mo Yan.


    Lin Qiao, who was going to say something, paused awkwardly.


    Mo Yan and the female zombie only managed to react after the figure went away. They both kitted their brows and became highly alert. They looked at Lin Qiao and found her smiling face toned with a slight trace of embarrassment.


    Half a second later, the expression on Lin Qiao''s face became natural again. As she prepared to start talking, a strange series of dog barks was heard.


    "Owowowowow!" The huge black dog rushed through the space between Lin Qiao and Mo Yan, as if they weren''t there at all.


    Lin Qiao again paused.


    Mo Yan sensed the awkward atmosphere.


    The female zombie was a little confused.


    Lin Qiao took a deep breath to calm herself down. This time, she didn''t start talking, but turned to look at where the two came from. As she expected, she turned to find an angry black snake coming over. As same as the other two, the snake ignored Lin Qiao and the other two zombies as well.


    The three of them each took two steps backward to let the angry black snake pass, then finally started their conversation.


    "I think you were hoping that I''d save you, right?" Lin Qiao looked at the snake as she said to Mo Yan.


    Mo Yan looked at her and blinked, then slowly nodded.


    Lin Qiao upturned the corners of her mouth and said, "Good! Since you''ve thought about that, you must have guessed out what I''m going to say now. Will you say yes?"


    This time, Mo Yan didn''t nod. Instead, he stared at Lin Qiao for a few seconds with his sharp eyes, then gave a roar.


    ''What do you want?''


    Lin Qiao nodded as she looked at him and said with a smile, "Alright, as long as you agree! What you have to do is simple. You only need to follow me and follow my rules."


    Mo Yan narrowed his eyes, and his vibe was stirred a little.


    "Roar¡­" Before Mo Yan responded, the female zombie glared at Lin Qiao and gave her a roar.


    ''Why will my emperor work for you! You''re only a dominator! You''re at a lower level than him!''


    Lin Qiao maintained the smile as she looked at the female zombie and said to her, "Because I saved his life. Without my help, how much longer do you think he could survive with his broken nucleus?"


    Hearing that, the female zombie immediately fell into silence.


    Mo Yan was stunned a little, then he looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao turned back to him as she looked at him in the eyes and said, "Aren''t you curious why you can''t use your power? Your nucleus can''t store energy anymore because it''s broken. The energy that you pressed into it earlier was beyond its bearing capacity, so it cracked. I assume that you didn''t know about it, right?"


    Hearing that, Mo Yan slightly widened his eyes with surprise. It took him a few seconds to process what Lin Qiao had said. After that, he wore a grim look. The dark marks on his face made him look more depressed than he already was.


    "Don''t worry! Your nucleus is only cracked, not shattered. With enough time, it''ll heal. Besides, she''s with you, and she can help you, right? If it really can''t heal by itself, I''ll find a way to fix it," Lin Qiao said to him, then headed out of the woods.


    "Owowow¡­"


    Three figures once again whooshed across the three of them, starting a gust of wind.

 811 Tell You Something

    Watching Lin Qiao leave, the female zombie still looked angry. However, she had relaxed her vigilance, because she knew that she and Mo Yan were already safe.


    She turned to look at Mo Yan. Even though he didn''t nod just now, the female zombie understood that he had already agreed to Lin Qiao''s terms. Since her emperor had yielded, the female zombie had no choice but to yield as well.


    She would only listen to her emperor though, not that strange zombie lady!


    "Oh, I have something else to tell you. I have killed Gao Haoyun. So now, I guess you have no unfinished job left, right?" Lin Qiao abruptly turned around and said to Mo Yan.


    Mo Yan had just started walking. Hearing Gao Haoyun''s name, he paused, and his vibe suddenly turned cold. He was surprised to hear about Gao Haoyun''s death. Raising his head, he looked at Lin Qiao with confusion, as he didn''t understand why she killed Gao Haoyun.


    He, of course, wouldn''t think that she killed Gao Haoyun for him.


    Lin Qiao turned around and kept walking as she said, "I surely didn''t do it for you. He messed around with me. How could I let him get away with it? I''m pretty indeed, but not everyone can drool at me."


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s narcissistic tone, Mo Yan felt a little speechless.


    How come he found it a little familiar?


    He understood her meaning. Clearly, Gao Haoyun coveted her beauty and made a move. But, did she really kill Gao Haoyun?


    Mo Yan had doubts.


    Lin Qiao continued walking and talking, "You have paid your revenge, and the people who deserved to die have died. From now on, you should stay at my place and let your nucleus heal. Don''t go out and cause trouble."


    On hearing that, Mo Yan knitted his brows into a frown while face turned cold. Then, he gave a roar, seeming to have thought of something.


    ''Do you know who I am?''


    Lin Qiao mentioned his revenge, so she clearly knew why he attacked Heilong Base and Huaxia Base. Did she also know who he was before?


    "Mo Yan¡­ A lot of people know your name actually," Lin Qiao responded blandly. By saying his name out loud, she had answered a lot of questions.


    She knew!


    Mo Yan frowned deeper.


    "In fact, following me isn''t a bad thing for you. At least, you get to stay alive for now. You can take your time to heal your nucleus. When you have regained your power, all you will need to do is to work for me. You have no plan after your revenge anyway, do you?" Lin Qiao said.


    Mo Yan stayed silent. He didn''t tell her that even if Gao Haoyun had died, there was still another man that he wanted to kill. He wasn''t capable of killing that man now, so he had to wait.


    He used to be a gangster. He knew that nothing could be more trustworthy than mutual interests. In front of mutual interests, any enemy could turn into friends. Since he needed Lin Qiao''s help, he would follow her rules. She was right, though. What he needed the most at the moment was to rest, and for his power to come back.


    Mo Yan believed that Lin Qiao was strong enough to protect him. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have accepted her terms.


    Lin Qiao saved him for two reasons. Firstly, Mo Yan would become a new strength of her base after regaining his power. With his help, her base would have a greater chance of surviving. Secondly, she had her eyes on that female zombie. The female zombie seemed to be exceptionally loyal to Mo Yan, so by helping Mo Yan, Lin Qiao had also conveniently brought her on board.


    The female zombie had the rare and precious healing power.


    Soon, the three of them walked to the edge of the woods, and the light grew brighter and brighter.


    "Owowowo!" The three creatures showed up again. The mushroom and the dog were running happily, and the snake was chasing behind them furiously. Clearly, Bowwow and the mushroom had pissed Black off again.


    Mo Yan followed Lin Qiao out of the woods, and the scenery before his eyes suddenly changed. He saw a peaceful lake and a large grassland. Turning slightly, he saw three houses and a large field before them.


    On the other side of the lake was a wider grassland. Some roe deers and goats seemed to live there.


    Mo Yan glanced at the other things quickly, then stopped paying attention to them. What caught his attention was the dangerous, oppressive vibe from the lake that made him subconsciously want to stay away from the lake area.


    "Owoo!" The mushroom and the dog once again ran across Lin Qiao''s sight, and the snake was still chasing behind them. Obviously, the snake was pretty angry this time. It seemed to be so determined to catch the two and bite them.


    Mo Yan finally had a clear vision of the two creatures. Those were one fur-less dog and a¡­ Was anything wrong with his eyes? Why did he think he had seen a running mushroom?


    In fact, Bowwow''s fur had grown slightly. It was very short, so the dog still looked fur-less.


    As Lin Qiao guided Mo Yan out of the woods, the zombies near the three houses all quieted down, especially Keng-keng, Fox, Nan Jin and Ye Qingxian.


    They weren''t happy to see Mo Yan, and only curious. Back when they followed Mo Yan, they had no memories. They worked for him because his power suppressed them. Lin Qiao changed their blood after they joined her army, and currently, they had regained some of their memories. They weren''t die-hard loyal to Lin Qiao, but in comparison to Mo Yan, they would rather follow her.


    Mo Yan had sensed their vibes. Earlier in the woods, he didn''t confirm that it was them, because their vibes were different from before. As he came to the three houses and saw them clearly, he finally recognized them.


    "Are you curious why their vibes are different now? It''s because they have restored some of their old memories. They remember some things, but not all. They have all remembered their names though," said Lin Qiao to Mo Yan.


    Xie Dong and Lu Tianyi were standing by the door of the first house as they expressionlessly watched Lin Qiao walk over with Mo Yan and the female zombie.


    Mo Yan''s vibe was still strong, so Pesticide was frightened and curious at the same time. He hid behind a corner of the house and stuck his head out to look at Mo Yan. Underneath him was another zombie who popped her eyes with curiosity just like him. Without a doubt, that was Xiao-xiao, who was as scared and curious as Pesticide.


    Jingyan, Keng-keng, and the other zombies were looking at Lin Qiao and Mo Yan from the balconies of the other two houses. Seeing their previous leader and current leader walk side by side, the four kings and queens all wore a complicated look on their faces.


    "I didn''t know those two could walk together so peacefully." Keng-keng was sitting on the guardrail while leaning against the wall with one leg curled up. She folded her arms and said with a dry voice.


    "No discord, no concord," On the other balcony, Fox rested her chubby face on her palms while responding.

 812 Steal One

    In the living room, Lin Qiao offered Mo Yan a seat on the couch. The loyal female zombie stood behind Mo Yan as she looked at Lin Qiao and also curiously observed the surrounding environment.


    Lu Tianyi fetched a few cups of water and placed them on the tea table.


    The clear water attracted the eyes of Mo Yan and the female zombie. The aroma and weak energy coming from the water made them want to drink it up.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to look at the battlefield on the outside. A few seconds later, she abruptly opened her eyes and said, "I need to go out for a second. You guys take some rest."


    After saying that, she stood up and disappeared in front of Mo Yan and the female zombie.


    Mo Yan narrowed his eyes. He suddenly realized that he was inside Lin Qiao''s space. Looking outside the door, he had a mysterious look in his eyes.


    He was surprised that she had such a big and beautiful space!


    He couldn''t see colors, but the lake and grassland could still make a beautiful ink wash painting in his eyes. He subsequently colored it in his mind.


    ¡­


    At that moment, under the leadership of the five zombie dominators, all the zombies outside had started attacking Si Kongchen, Wu Chengyue, and Lan Lu.


    All three of them were at level-eight. Except for the five zombie dominators, the other zombies'' attacks barely affected them. A lot of zombies had died in their hands.


    Lan Lu raised his head and fixed his eyes on the giant bird in the sky. Meanwhile, he lifted both hands toward the bird and suddenly clenched his fingers, as if he was grasping something.


    "Roar¡­" The bird paused, then fell straight from the sky. But in the midair, it struggled intensely, spread its wings, and rose back into the sky.


    Lan Lu frowned and gave a sigh. The distance was too large, so his spirit power wasn''t so effective on the bird. He intended to blow the bird''s brains up, but it was flying high in the sky at a very high speed, so he failed to lock it with his power.


    A lightning bolt suddenly struck the bird while the bird was rising higher, and thunder could be heard after that.


    The bird screeched and fell from the sky once again. But still, it managed to struggle back up in the midair.


    As Wu Chengyue was preparing for the second lightning strike, the earth under his feet cracked all of a sudden, so he had to stop attacking and move away.


    The earth-powered zombie dominator was attacking him.


    If each of the three was facing only one zombie dominator, they all would have a big chance of winning. But at the moment, they were fighting against five zombie dominators together. The battle was at a draw for the time being.


    "We need to split them up. The five of them joining hands will do us no good," said Lan Lu.


    He was right. The five zombie dominators weren''t stupid. They knew how powerful the three men were, so they had formed a temporary alliance to attack them. They used to follow Mo Yan, and the latter had taught them how to fight together.


    Si Kongchen threw out a highly compressed fireball which hit a zombie leader who didn''t manage to dodge, then went off and sent the zombie flying away. After that, he flashed up behind the zombie leader and pressed another fireball right onto the zombie''s head. Within a few seconds, the zombie''s head was burned into ashes. Si Kongchen grasped the zombie nucleus and put it into his pocket.


    On the other side, Lan Lu reached toward the zombie leader who was charging at him and slightly crooked his fingers. Before the zombie launched an attack, he clenched his fingers.


    Puff! The zombie leader''s head exploded and its nucleus flew out, falling right into Lan Lu''s hand.


    The zombies who had the courage to rush up to the three to attack were at level-five at least. About thirty level-five zombies were on the scene. As same as the five kings and queens, they were also controlled by the five zombie dominators. The pressure from higher-leveled beings urged them to risk their lives and attack.


    Behind those zombie leaders were the five kings and queens. Mo Yan had seven kings and queens under his command. One of them was killed by himself while he was out of control, and soon after that, another zombie king was killed by Wu Chengyue''s lightning strike. At that moment, the remaining five kings and queens had been attacking the three endlessly along with those zombie leaders.


    The five zombie dominators had moved backward to keep a relatively safe distance from the three men.


    Suddenly, an invisible figure flashed toward the zombie dominator who was behind the others.


    At that point, the wind-powered zombie dominator had completely no idea that an invisible enemy was coming at him. He was standing on top of a seven-story building, looking down at the battlefield. From time to time, he raised a hand to release a wave of wind blades to attack the three humans.


    As he again raised an arm to raise a new gust of wind, an invisible hand clasped his wrist and pulled him forward.


    Feeing that someone grabbed his hand which was preparing to launch an attack, the zombie didn''t react in time. After that, his eyes were dazzled. When he regained his eyesight, he found himself in a strange patch of woods.


    The chaotic battle was continuing on the outside, so it took a while for the others to notice that a zombie dominator was missing.


    Lin Qiao threw the wind-powered zombie dominator into her space and left him there. After that, she flashed back out and approached her next target.


    Except for the giant bird which was hovering in the sky, there were three zombie dominators left outside¡ªone earth-powered, one fire-powered and one metal-powered.


    Lin Qiao moved toward the metal-powered one because he was the nearest to her.


    Boom!


    Right at that moment, the giant bird who was dodging Wu Chengyue''s lightning attack in the sky suddenly found that one of his friends was missing. He immediately gave out a shrill roar to warn the other zombies.


    "Roar!"


    The other zombies paused and looked around, soon realizing that one zombie dominator was gone.


    Those zombies didn''t know what happened. Did that dominator sneak away?


    Noticing those zombies'' strange behavior, the three humans also paused briefly with surprise. "One zombie dominator is missing," said Lan Lu, "Keep a close eye on them. They''re going to run."


    On hearing that, Wu Chengyue immediately sent a wave of lightning bolts toward the giant bird.


    "Roarrr!" The bird swiftly dodged the lightning and rose higher. However, a new wave of lightning strike descended from the sky. That lightning strike was different from the ones before. It was super fast, and it almost popped up right beside the bird.


    Along with a series of sizzling noise, the lightning stream split up and turned into an enormous lightning net within a blink, shrouding the bird.


    Bang! The bird failed to dodge and bumped right into the net.

 813 Fight Zombie Dominators

    As Wu Chengyue caught the animal-powered zombie dominator who had been hovering in the sky all the time, the metal-powered zombie dominator was suddenly dragged slightly forward, and then it disappeared.


    However, Si Kongchen saw that. He narrowed his eyes and said with a deep voice, "They didn''t run! Someone else is here!"


    He was trying to say that someone was making moves behind everybody''s back. After witnessing the metal-powered zombie dominator''s disappearance, he figured that someone had been bringing those zombie dominators away. It might be the zombie emperor!


    Wu Chengyue blinked. His pretty face wore a warm smile as he said, "I think someone else is gonna take them down if we don''t move faster."


    Si Kongchen snorted coldly, then charged at the earth-powered zombie dominator.


    "Great! Now we can each take one," Lan Lu swiftly moved toward another zombie dominator with a smile.


    The other zombies had realized that the situation was turning for the worse. As two zombie dominators suddenly disappeared, a great sense of crisis attacked them. While the three men went after a zombie dominator each, those zombies ignored the orders that they had received and quickly turned to run.


    After throwing two zombie dominators into her space, Lin Qiao instantly restrained her vibe and hid in the darkness, then started gathering the energy in the space toward one of the two zombie dominators.


    The other zombie dominator was making circles in the woods with confusion. Of course, he would never find a way out of the woods, unless Lin Qiao let him.


    Lin Qiao prepared to kill those two zombie dominators. Because of Mo Yan, she didn''t plan to keep them and let them work for her. If she wanted Mo Yan to follow her with honesty, she should not keep the zombies who had betrayed him. Because if she did that, Mo Yan wouldn''t be happy.


    Since she couldn''t turn those two zombies into her new subordinates, she would harvest their nuclei. She wanted very much to bring the other zombies from the outside into her space, but her current power didn''t allow her to deal with so many of them at one time. Besides, Si Kongchen and the other two men were outside. If she caught their attention by bringing more zombies into her space, she would be expecting a lot of problems.


    Especially, Wu Chengyue was out there, and he knew what she was capable of.


    The one that Lin Qiao targeted was that metal-powered zombie dominator. He didn''t understand how he was suddenly brought to that strange space. He was fighting against humans just now. Where was he? Who brought him there?


    He was on full alert. No matter who brought him there, he had sensed her hostility.


    Soon, he felt that the air surrounding his body seemed to have stopped flowing. He was disabled from moving, as if he was wrapped up by something invisible.


    Under the great sense of crisis, he turned his skin into metal to protect himself, and also to free himself from that strong pressure.


    That helped actually. He immediately felt his body was relaxed, and that bound feeling was gone.


    He was about to become a zombie emperor after all; he was powerful.


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows. She wasn''t frustrated, but the look in her eyes turned fierce. She raised a hand and released a flake of dark fire, which moved swiftly toward the metal-powered zombie dominator.


    After turning his skin into metal, the zombie looked around, then raised his head and hopped onto a tree nearby. As same as Gao Haoyun, he saw a white fog, and then couldn''t go any higher.


    The metal-powered zombie dominator tried a few times and saw nothing but the white fog. Therefore, he quickly leaped off the tree.


    Before he landed on the ground, a thigh-sized, weird-looking black fire flew at him. He sensed a lethal danger from the fire that almost made him overreact. He flipped in the air, then thrust his feet against the tree trunk and sent himself away.


    The fire seemed to be targeting him. The moment he flew out, the fire rose and quickly wrapped one of his feet.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie dominator couldn''t feel pain. However, when the fire coiled around his foot, his entire body quivered just like how a person might react when a poisonous snake''s cold body coiled on his leg.


    The dark fire grew stronger on his foot and started to devour it.


    At that point, the zombie dominator landed back on the ground in a flurry. It seemed to have been freaked out. His trousers'' leg disappeared within a blink, exposing his golden shank and foot.


    The dark fire did no actual harm to the zombie dominator within a short time, but clung to his skin and kept burning.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie hopped with one leg, trying to get rid of the dark fire. He didn''t dare to touch the fire with his hands.


    He was surrounded by trees, so there was nothing metallic for him to control. He could only turn his own skin into metal to protect himself, but underneath that skin were still dead blood and flesh.


    The fire couldn''t hurt him for the time being, but never faded. On the contrary, it quickly crawled up through his thigh and reached to the rest of his body.


    The dark fire wasn''t able to burn out the zombie''s metal skin. However, it had been devouring the energy that the metal skin contained.


    The zombie gathered his energy on his leg, in case the dark fire ate up all the energy on that leg. If that happened, the fire would devour his entire leg and then the rest of him.


    That was why the zombie had been sensing a life-threatening crisis the whole time.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was standing on a tree that was not far away from the zombie. While controlling the dark fire to cling tightly on the zombie''s leg, she continued gathering the energy in the space toward the zombie.


    Before long, the bound feeling came back to the zombie. He ignored it, because all he wanted was to get rid of the dark fire.


    The zombie panicked as he rolled on the ground to try and put out the fire. However, no matter how hard he tried, the fire didn''t grow weak at all.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao dived from the tree while she popped her black, sharp nails and swung her arm at the zombie, who was still rolling on the ground.


    Clang! Her nails generated a loud clashing sound against the zombie''s metal skin but failed to do it any harm.


    Lin Qiao landed on the ground with a frown.


    As she thought, she wouldn''t be able to kill that zombie unless she broke his metallic skin.


    In that case, she had no choice but to burn the zombie with her netherworld fire using all her power.


    As she reached out both hands, the fire on the zombie dominator''s leg immediately grew darker, and the devouring power became even greater than before.

 814 He Was So Angry

    Killing the metal-powered zombie dominator was a little difficult. But still, Lin Qiao managed to devour all his energy with the dark fire and the help of her space''s suppressive power. When the zombie''s skin finally turned back normal, she cut off his head with her claw.


    After digging out the zombie''s nucleus, she burned his body out and then went after the other zombie dominator.


    The second dominator had wind power. Without a strong defense, he quickly died in Lin Qiao''s hands. She killed him just like how she killed Lu Zhuofeng.


    She harvested two level-seven nuclei, then flashed out of her space invisibly to observe the war situation. The three people had each been chasing behind a zombie dominator, and the other zombies took the opportunity to run.


    She then returned to the fence wall of Huaxia Base and found that the massive zombie attack had eased quite a lot, as the group of zombie dominators had left.


    ¡­


    In All Beings Base, Lu Tong woke up to find himself in a familiar room, then he looked around.


    As he thought, he was again lying in a ward in the medical department of the base. The ward had four beds in it. One was empty, and the other three were taken.


    It was quiet in the ward. Except for the other two patients, he didn''t see any other people. The other two patients were in sleep, and no one was there to take care of them.


    Lu Tong was delighted. He believed that it was Yuan Tianxing who sent him to the medical department. Yuan Tianxing was too busy, so he might not have time to come here and visit him.


    However, he believed that Yuan Tianxing would certainly come back.


    "Oi, you''re awake! How do you feel? Dizzy? Do you feel sick?" A man in a carer''s suit walked in and asked Lu Tong some questions smilingly, as he found that the latter was awake.


    Among all people who now lived in All Beings Base, the number of women was pathetically small. After all when Hades Base was broken, most of the women had been sent to the Earth Dragon Base. The ones who were kept in Hades Base as captives were mostly men. Some Earth Dragon Base soldiers were also forced to stay there.


    Therefore, no women could be found among the two batches of Hades Base survivors who had moved into All Beings Base.


    So currently, except for the ladies from Lin Family, Long Qingying, Duan Juan, Ding Datong''s sister, there was no other woman in the base.


    In the medical department, all carers and nurses were men.


    Lu Tong shook his head to the carer and smiled, "I''m fine. I''m just having a slight headache."


    "Good then. That headache is normal. You have a hole in your head after all. Just take some rest. You''ll recover!" The carer comforted him nicely.


    Lu Tong nodded, then eagerly asked, "Who brought me here? I¡­ I want to thank him." He firmly believed that it was Yuan Tianxing who sent him there, yet he asked anyway.


    The carer thought for a moment, then answered his question, "It was a couple of workers. They found you were lying on the ground injured, so they brought you here."


    Lu Tong was smiling as he expected to hear the words ''Deputy Chief'' from that carer. But to his surprise, the answer wasn''t what he expected. The smile froze on his face, being replaced by disbelief within a few seconds.


    "What? Workers? Not Deputy Chief Yuan?" He was so surprised that he asked that question without thinking.


    The carer looked at him confusedly and said, "What? Deputy Chief Yuan? No, you were brought here by a few men who work at the construction site. You can ask around if you want to thank them."


    Things didn''t go the way he planned, so Lu Tong was confused. How come it wasn''t Yuan Tianxing? He knocked himself out right before Yuan Tianxing came near him. He should have walked past that area and seen him. But, the carer said that it was a few workers from the construction site who sent him to the medical department. Except for Yuan Tianxing and his people, no other people were in that area back then. Where did those workers come from?


    Did Yuan Tianxing see him but didn''t want to bring him to the medical department personally? Did he ask those workers to send him there?


    Lu Tong thought about it over and over again. He didn''t believe what the carer had said. He believed that Yuan Tianxing found him, but didn''t want to bother sending him all the way to the medical department. So, he asked a few workers to do that.


    The carer saw that Lu Tong seemed to fall into a daze, so he asked, "What''s wrong? If you don''t feel well, just close your eyes and rest."


    Neither of them noticed that someone was by the door outside with her back against the wall, listening to their conversation. As the conversation ended, she silently turned and left.


    Long Qingying returned to her room and looked at Lin Wenwen, who was sitting on the couch, "He was surprised."


    Lin Wenwen snorted scornfully and said, "He''d surely be surprised. The story didn''t go the way he wanted. I guess he''s not only surprised, but also pissed off."


    Lu Tong stayed in the medical department for two days. Once he was discharged, he went to the construction site to look for the people who saved him. Those workers spotted him once he arrived.


    "Oi, Lu Tong, what are you doing here? You are injured. You should stay in bed and rest. What are you doing out here? What if you got hurt again?" They looked at Lu Tong, whose head was wrapped in gauze, and told him to rest.


    "I¡­ I came here to see the people who saved me. I want to thank them¡­" Lu Tong''s face was pale but carried a determined look.


    Seeing him so weak yet so determined, those workers were a little worried about him. So, someone answered his question immediately.


    "Oh¡­ It''s Hua and his friends. They found you near the canteen. You were lying on the ground. They ran to you and found that your head was bleeding. It gave them quite a startle. So, they sent you to the medical department hurriedly. They''re over there, go."


    "Yeah. Lu Tong, did you make some enemies? Why did you get attacked?"


    Lu Tong couldn''t help but wore a sour face when he heard what those people said. He endured the headache and went to talk to Hua and his friends, then confirmed that what the people said was true. Learning about that, he became very unhappy.


    He didn''t believe that carer, but everyone at the construction site said the same to him. Clearly, the carer wasn''t lying. Many people at the construction site had heard about what happened to him.


    Did Yuan Tianxing really not know about his injury? Did he not find him? Did Lu Tong hit his own head and get injured for nothing?


    Thinking of that possibility, Lu Tong was even going to explode with anger. Who on earth ruined his plan?

 815 Leave Huaxia Base

    Back in Huaxia Base, Si Kongchen had been trying his best to kill the rest of the zombie dominators. Mo Yan the emperor had given him and his people quite a difficult time before. Now, as the emperor was gone, Si Kongchen vented his fury on the other zombies.


    In a one on one battle, a zombie dominator had no chance of winning against a level-eight human. At last, Si Kongchen, Lan Lu, and Wu Chengyue all managed to kill the zombie dominator that they were chasing.


    Back in the base, Si Kongchen instantly ordered all his people to attack the zombie crowd with all their powers, and also released the anti-zombie drug to clean out those brainless ordinary zombies.


    However, due to the huge number of those zombies, it would take a long fight to kill all of them. But, at the very least, the crisis of Huaxia Base was over. Those ordinary zombies didn''t give the base any heavy pressure, despite their giant population.


    The only thing that had been bothering Si Kongchen was Gao Haoyun''s disappearance. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t find a trace of that man.


    Gao Haoyun was holding some indecent intent toward Lin Qiao. That was why he sneaked into her room. He had all his traces cleaned back then, so no one would know what he did. Therefore, after he was dragged into her space and killed, no clue led to Lin Qiao.


    "The zombie emperor has left, and those zombie dominators have died. There''s nothing that needs our help around here. Chief Si, don''t forget what you promised us." Si Kongchen had a meeting with Lan Lu, Wu Chengyue, and some other people. Both Lan Lu and Wu Chengyue prepared to leave, as their help was no longer needed.


    "We have signed an agreement about that. We won''t eat our words," Si Kongchen nodded and said expressionlessly.


    Earlier, Huaxia Base had signed an agreement with Green Mountain Base, Sea City Base, and All Beings Base. According to the agreement, Huaxia Base would provide the other three bases with a certain amount of supplies or weapons that they needed within three years after Huaxia Base recovered from the damages caused by the massive zombie attack.


    Huaxia Base was under attack for over a month. However, since the zombie crowd never broke into the base, the internal structure of the base was barely affected. Apart from a huge consumption of weapons, the base had also suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, Huaxia Base had a rich population, so the death of the tens of thousands of people only affected the entire base at a controllable degree. Many people had been injured, so the medical department had been fighting a rough battle lately. The medical supplies had also been consumed rapidly.


    With enough time, even Heilong Base was able to slowly come back to life. Huaxia Base had suffered lighter damages than Heilong Base did, so they would recover in a shorter time.


    Lan Lu, Lei Cheng, Ye Yingyue and the others from Green Mountain Base were the first batch to leave Huaxia Base. Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue said that he would also leave soon.


    Lin Qiao waited for days, but didn''t hear a word from Lin Kui. She figured that he must be facing some kind of problem, and might have failed to find Lin Jing. She guessed that Lin Kui wouldn''t return before he had found Lin Jing, so she decided to return to her own base first.


    She returned to Sea City Base the same way she came to Huaxia Base. Of course, Wu Chengyue headed back together with her.


    In Huaxia Base, Wu Chengyue had kept a distance from her instead of following her tightly. However, back in his own place, he couldn''t help but ask Lin Qiao to stay for a few days.


    "Since you''re already here, why don''t you go and visit Ling Ling? She must be missing you," Wu Chengyue smiled. Under the brim of his hat, his chiseled face wore a warm smile. His slender, pretty eyes narrowed slightly, but couldn''t hide the glow. His nose was perfectly shaped, and his lips curved in a beautiful arc.


    His eyes contained expectations, yet he tried to hide it with a charming smile. Lin Qiao rolled her eyes in her heart but didn''t reject him, only giving him a bland glance.


    Wu Chengyue took off his hat and handed it to Xiao Licheng, who was behind him.


    The hair near his forehead were a little too long, so he had tucked them in his hat earlier. But now, as he took off that hat, the hair fell and reached the corner of his good-looking right eye.


    Lin Qiao didn''t turn down his invitation because she did promise Ling Ling to come and visit her. She hadn''t done that yet, but he always went to her base to see her.


    So this time, Lin Qiao planned to do what she had promised the little girl.


    "Let''s go then," She nodded and said.


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face instantly grew bigger, but he didn''t notice that. Xiao Licheng noticed the silly smile on his boss''s face, so he silently turned his head away to avoid looking at the latter.


    There was a distance between Wu Chengyue''s place and where the helicopters landed. Anyway, Xiao Licheng''s people had the vehicles prepared long ago.


    To show respect to Lin Qiao, they had prepared a car exclusively for her, instead of letting her sit in the same car with Wu Chengyue.


    In a couple of minutes, they arrived at the small building that Wu Chengyue lived in. From a distance, they saw a little person sitting on the stairs before the door. Clearly, Wu Yueling knew that her Daddy was coming home. She was sitting there and waiting for him.


    A woman in a white dress was standing near the little girl.


    Only after she got off the car did Lin Qiao recognize that woman as Meng Yue, the girl who used to follow Wu Chengyue everywhere.


    Wu Yueling stood up at the sight of those cars. She was carrying a large ball of fur, even though it might be a little too heavy.


    Wu Chengyue walked up to Wu Yueling once he got off the car. Looking at her red little nose, he said to her with concern, "Ling Ling, why don''t you stay indoors? It''s cold out here."


    While speaking, he scooped the little girl up along with the fat rabbit, then rubbed the girl''s face affectionately.


    Wu Chengyue held the rabbit with both arms. The rabbit was warm, so she didn''t feel cold. She heard what Wu Chengyue said and looked at him expressionlessly, then turned to look at the people who came out of those cars.


    She abandoned her father once she spotted Lin Qiao among those people. Twisting her little body, she freed herself from her father''s embrace, then ran toward Lin Qiao, who had just gotten off the car. The rabbit was still carried in her arms.


    Lin Qiao smiled at her, then bent over and lifted her up. After that, she headed toward Wu Chengyue''s place.


    "Good Ling Ling¡­ Did you miss me?" she asked Wu Yueling while walking.


    Wu Yueling narrowed her sparkling eyes and nodded at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao carried Wu Yueling and walked past Meng Yue, who was standing by the door, entering Wu Chengyue''s place. Meng Yue glanced at her with a complicated look, but didn''t say anything and followed behind the others.


    Before, Wu Yueling wouldn''t let anyone but Meng Yue and her father come near her. Recently, the little girl was growing more and more outgoing. Meng Yue had to admit that she felt a little frustrated when she saw the girl rush at Lin Qiao.


    But thankfully, she had given up on Wu Chengyue long ago and forgotten about all the fantasies that she had in her mind. So now, she was able to see things in a more reasonable way.


    If it weren''t for that, what she just saw would make her explode with jealousy.

 816 The People From Earth Dragon Base

    Wu Yueling forgot about her father every time she saw her Zombie Mama, and Wu Chengyue had already gotten used to that. He offered Lin Qiao a seat in his living room, then looked at her pretty face and asked, "I assume the zombie emperor is in your place now."


    Lin Qiao sat down as she took off her hat and handed it to Shen Yujen, who was standing behind her. With Wu Yueling sitting on her knees, she conveniently flipped back her hair and looked at Wu Chengyue blandly.


    "Do you have a disagreement about that?" Lin Qiao didn''t deny.


    Si Kongchen and Lan Lu, who didn''t know her well, might not know what she had done, but Wu Chengyue clearly knew that it was her. She was aware of that.


    "How can I possibly disagree? I just want to warn you that even though you sort of have completed his revenge by killing Gao Haoyun, you might still want to be careful about him, if he''s so illiberal that he believes he has to take the revenge himself," said Wu Chengyue with a faint smile.


    He could tell that Lin Qiao took Mo Yan away to save him instead of hurting him, or killing him for his zombie nucleus.


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue with surprise and said, "How do you know that I wasn''t trying to kill him?"


    She wasn''t expecting Wu Chengyue to know some of her thoughts.


    Wu Chengyue shrugged and said to her, "If what you wanted was his nucleus, you wouldn''t have saved that female zombie too."


    Lin Qiao looked at him silently.


    A short while later, she said, "He already knows that I killed Gao Haoyun. It didn''t affect him much. He doesn''t care."


    The group of Sky Fire Base people had been hiding near Huaxia Base and observing the whole time, without trying to help or leaving.


    "Did you say that woman''s power is poison? Poisonous mist?" After listening to his subordinate''s report, the only thing that the scrawny Gu Yikang was interested in was the Chief lady''s power.


    "Yes. I heard that she''s powerful. Her dark mist spread and turned all the zombies it touched into a liquid," Xu Changmu the vice-leader nodded and said.


    "Did she leave?" Gu Yikang was wearing no expression, but his eyes contained a coldness.


    Xu Changmu nodded and said, "Yes. She came with Wu Chengyue, and left with him too."


    "Since she has gone home, let''s drop by her new base and take a look. The people that we sent there earlier didn''t return, did they?" Gu Yikang looked at him and asked with a bland tone.


    "No. We sent a squad to her base, but none of them has returned to us. We don''t know if they had an accident or if they''re still trying to find useful information," Xu Changmu nodded with a frown.


    Gu Yikang abruptly gave a cold smile. The vibe of his turned cold as he said, "Let''s go and take a look at them. I''d like to see what her base can do."


    "When will we leave?" Xu Changmu asked.


    "Now," said Gu Yikang.


    At that point, the people in All Beings Base didn''t know that Gu Yikang from Sky Fire Base was interested in their base. Instead, they heard some news about the Earth Dragon Base people.


    Earth Dragon Base had been destroyed. At first, the base was under the control of Hidden Cloud Base, but after the Hidden Cloud Base fell, the people in that base all prepared to run.


    There were no supplies left in the base. It was cold, and people had no food. Many of them had starved to death. Some had left long ago for Sky Fire Base, Huaxia Base, or Sea City Base.


    The people who were heading toward Huaxia Base heard the news that Huaxia Base was under a massive zombie attack not long after they took off. So, they immediately changed their destination to Sea City Base.


    The people who were heading toward Sea City Base didn''t move together. They were divided into a few groups, and they had to fight their way to Sea City.


    Jian Shengtong, who used to be a vice-leader of Earth Dragon Base, and Xia Yushen, the leader of Rain God Hunters, had half of their people killed after their base was taken over by Hidden Cloud City Base. Later on, more of their people were killed when they tried to save those women from Hades Base.


    At last, under the leadership of Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen, about five-thousand people escorted nearly nine hundred of women out of Earth Dragon Base. They fled toward Sea City Base with difficulties, as Hidden Cloud City Base people hunted them all the way for those women.


    On their way, they were forced to make a big turn. That was how they missed Sea City Base and ended up heading toward Hangzhou City. Then, they heard that a new base was in construction in that area. Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen had a short meeting, then decided to go to the new base.


    Yuan Tianxing quickly informed Lin Feng, Chen Yuting, Qiu Lili, and Yun Meng about that, then the five of them had a meeting to discuss it.


    "Some Earth Dragon People are coming here. Will Chief agree to take them in?" Lin Feng frowned slightly and looked at Yuan Tianxing inquiringly.


    With a composed look, Yuan Tianxing read the name lists of the two forces in the group, then said, "The one coming to us is Jian Shengtong. He didn''t attack Hades Base, so we can let him in. Besides, he has saved some woman from Hades Base. I think Chief won''t say no to them. After all, she had said that we''ll be having more and more people in the future. Clearly, she knew that apart from the people from Hades Base, some from other bases will also want to join us."


    Lin Feng and the others nodded. In fact, only Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng and Chen Yuting had been doing the discussion. Qiu Lili and Yun Meng were only there to listen. They didn''t have much to say. Yuan Tianxing invited them to show respect to them, because they were both strong and high-positioned.


    "In this case, we might as well send someone to pick them up. That is a large group of people after all. There''re hundreds of women among them, and I guess a lot of them are injured. Also, they had to go through West Lake District. I''m afraid they won''t be able to make it here without a guide," Lin Feng looked at Qiu Lili and Yun Meng while speaking. His meaning was pretty clear.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng glanced at each other. Yun Meng thought for a moment, then said, "What about those people behind them? Should we kill them?"


    Those people weren''t the good ones. They were from Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base. Both Qiu Lili and Yun Meng showed an intention of killing toward them, as they knew that Lin Qiao''s old base was destroyed by those people


    "I have thought about it. For now, we can''t let people know about the true power of our base, and about you guys. So, just pick up the people we want and leave the others," Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then said.


    "Alright then," Yun Meng shrugged, then got rid of the killing intent in her heart.

 817 They Gave Up

    After discussion, they decided to send Yun Meng and a few level-six zombies to the border between Anhui and Hangzhou to pick up those survivors who escaped from Earth Dragon Base.


    Jian Shengtong and his troop had entered Hangzhou. At that moment, they were resting in a factory building.


    Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen were standing on the roof while the others were hiding in the building. Everybody looked messy and exhausted. Perspiration, blood, mixed with the dust, dried out all over their faces and bodies, making them look like beggars.


    There was strength in numbers. Many of the thousands of warriors had died during the journey, but at least they managed to save the hundreds of women.


    The pursuing force behind them suffered a heavy casualty as well. The weapons that were stored in Earth Dragon Base had been shipped to Hidden Cloud City Base long ago. Not long after Hidden Cloud City Base fell, the people from Sky Fire Base arrived and swept across the base again. Therefore, neither of the two forces had much ammo left in their hands.


    To save ammo, they could only fight with their superpowers. Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen were both at level-six, but the pursuing force only had one level-six member. Therefore, in terms of superpower, they were no match for Jian Shengtong''s force.


    Jian Shengtong''s force was in short of weapons since the beginning. The was why they had been suppressed the whole time. However, defeating them was not possible.


    "We''re almost there. Tell out brothers to hang in there," Xia Yushen said to his assistant while reading the map in his hands.


    "Yes, sir!" The assistant quickly went downstairs.


    Jian Shengtong looked behind with a slight frown. "You say¡­" he said uncertainly, "Will the leader of the new base allow us in? After all, they''re all from Hades Base¡­"


    "Don''t worry about that. She''ll let us in for the sake of those ladies," Xia Yushen was less worried than he was.


    That was the exact reason why he agreed to let Jian Shengtong save those women. The Hades Base survivors who now lived in the new base certainly hated all Earth Dragon Base people. However, the bigger the population was, the stronger a base could be. People would create, so a base would develop, and become strong enough to defend its people against the difficult circumstance and zombies.


    A base leader should always give priority to the interest of the entire base.


    They saved those women to show their loyalty. So, no matter how much the Hades Base survivors hated them, their hatred would ease a little for the sake of those women. As for that might happen in the future, that would be after they joined the base.


    On hearing that, Jian Shengtong stopped frowning a little bit.


    "How far are those b*stards from here?" Xia Yushen suddenly asked as a sharp gleam of light flashed across his eyes.


    With a cold look, Jian Shengtong responded, "About five miles. They can''t afford to consume much of their ammo now, or they won''t be able to return to Sea City Base safely."


    At that time, a scout returned and soon came to the roof to find Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen.


    "Boss, they gave up!" The scout reported to them excitedly.


    "Tell us," Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen glanced at each other.


    That man said, "For some reason, they''re already moving East. I think they''re heading straight to Sea City."


    "Have they left already?" Jian Shengtong asked.


    The man nodded.


    Xia Yushen fell into thoughts. He wondered why those people gave up on pursuing those women. They seemed to want them so much before.


    What made them give up?


    They didn''t know that the enemies gave up on pursuing because they received a message, saying that Jian Shengtong''s troop would go through a zombie-gathering area on their way to the new base. That place was like a zombie city. It was impossible for people to get through there directly, and the detour would be very long.


    Both their weapons and food were running out. They couldn''t afford to keep following behind Jian Shengtong and his people. So at last, they decided to give up and head to Sea City.


    They believed that Jian Shengtong''s force would suffer hugely when they arrived at that zombie-gathering area. By that time, they would watch them cry.


    A short while later, the people who went out to scout for tracks ahead came back.


    "Boss, the further we go, the fewer zombies we saw. We don''t know why! But, that''s good for us."


    Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen both had their eyes shining. "Really? We''ve rested for a while. We should get going now."


    After all, not only the enemies were short of food, but also them.


    A large group of people were crowding in the sealed factory building. The building was large enough to contain thousands of people. They had to sit tightly together though, and there was no room for anyone to lie down.


    In a corner, which was the safest area, a group of women were sitting together. They weren''t all weak and vulnerable. Some of them had great leadership ability, and some had just attained superpowers.


    They were the group of female captives that Lin Qiao had released when she was in Earth Dragon Base, trying to kill Long Yubai.


    "Ting, when will we get to the new base?" They leaned against each other. They looked tired, but not despairing. At least, they were still alive. They had a great chance to live a new life in the new base.


    They had heard that the people in the new base were mostly from Hades Base, and the Deputy Chief was still the old one.


    Yuan Tianxing''s decency and reliability were like a light shining upon those women''s hearts.


    So, some young girls asked about when they would get there eagerly.


    "Soon! Just hang in there. We''ve survived all that has happened. One or two more days on the journey is nothing, right?" Ting was standing at the edge of the group of women. She was about thirty, well-featured, and eagle-eyed. Her face was well-shaped, hair tied up behind her head, and eyes glowing brightly. She was relatively tall, about five feet and eight inches.


    The people who didn''t know her well would always be frightened by her sharp eyes and feel reluctant to approach her. However, the people who were familiar with her found that she was a source of the sense of security.


    Her words disburdened the others.


    "Great! We''ll have food in the new base, and we''ll sleep without worry," someone said. That was the only thought that all those women had.

 818 Should We Take A Detour?

    Jian Shengtong had no idea that his scouts had actually been bought off.


    They had a smooth ride until they arrived at a zombie-gathering area. Near that area, Jian Shengtong abruptly raised a hand to signal for the driver to stop.


    "Stop!" Jian Shengtong gazed at the area about five meters away from his car and had his expression change suddenly.


    "What''s wrong, boss?" The driver looked at him confusedly.


    Jian Shengtong didn''t respond. With a frown, he opened the car door and got out, then hopped onto the car roof to look ahead through a telescope. He saw a giant crowd of zombie shambling on the road ahead. The nearest ones had already stopped moving, looking at his troop and sniffing at the air.


    Jian Shengtong looked around a few times to confirm that there was indeed a huge group of zombies before his troop. After that, he leaped off the car.


    "Dong!" Jian Shengtong gave a shout. However, no one responded or showed up.


    He glanced backward, then asked someone in the van behind, "Where are Dong and the others?"


    The people on that minivan looked at each other, then realized that a few of them were missing. "They''re gone¡­ They were here just now!" said someone.


    "What''s wrong?" Xia Yushen got off his car and walked up to Jian Shengtong.


    "There''s a thick zombie crowd before us, just hundreds of meters away. Dong and his people should have seen it earlier, but they told me that this road was clear!" said Jian Shengtong with a deep frown.


    "Where are they?" On hearing that, Xia Yushen glanced backward automatically and saw that the people in that minivan were also looking around for Dong and his friends.


    Jian Shengtong blinked, then abruptly turned around and said, "This might be a trap!"


    "What do you mean?" Xia Yushen failed to understand him immediately.


    Jian Shengtong told his assistant to search every single vehicle. As he thought, Dong and his friends weren''t in the troop.


    Seeing that, Xia Yushen figured it out. "Are you saying that they lied to us earlier to trick us to here?"


    Jian Shengtong looked around. There was only one road that led through the area. To take a detour, they needed to move back for miles. They had no choice but to fall back, because it was impossible for them to make a way through the zombie crowd.


    Xia Yushen dropped the telescope and said, "Let''s go. I think they have smelled us." He saw some zombies at the front seem to shamble toward the troop.


    "Fall back! Turn around! Chen Xian, Li Zhen, get your squads out, be ready to fight zombies!" Jian Shengtong immediately shouted toward the troop.


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Two level-five superpowered men each led a twenty-men squad toward the zombie crowd. They lined up and raised their guns, prepared to shoot any zombie that pounced on them. By doing that, they would at least buy some time for the troop to turn around.


    Right at that point, a few figured flashed over and landed behind the two armed squads. "Wait!" said one of them.


    Chen Xian, Li Zhen, and their people all gave a start. They automatically turned their guns around and pointed at those strangers.


    Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen both stared vigilantly at the five strange people who showed up suddenly and were all wearing sunglasses.


    "You are¡­" The five showed up for an unknown reason, but no hostility was detected from them. Jian Shengtong and his people were nervous and highly alert, but still, they stayed calm and polite. Jian Shengtong asked the question while observing the five.


    The one in the middle was a young girl, slim, short-haired, and wearing a black sports suit. About half a meter behind her were a man and a woman, both around twenty years old. Standing on her right side was a gray-haired old man who was wearing a traditional styled robe, and a boy, seemingly ten-years-old¡­


    The boy was wearing a mask and a pair of sunglasses, some boy''s clothing. He was exactly a boy in the eyes of Jian Shengtong and his people.


    The five of them were standing together, all wearing sunglasses, looking a little strange and slightly funny¡­


    The young girl said to the group of people expressionlessly, "You''re heading toward All Beings Base, aren''t you? It''ll take you one more day to get to the base if you decide to go back and take a detour. Are you sure about that?"


    Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen glanced at each other, then looked at the girl. They didn''t know what the strange five wanted, so they raised vigilance.


    "What do you mean? There is a zombie crowd, a huge one! We have a lot of people here who need our protection, so we can''t take the risk to go through here," Jian Shengtong looked at the girl and said.


    "We are from All Beings Base. We are here to help you get through this area. But, if you think you have the time for the detour, we won''t stop you from doing that. We are able to lead you through the zombie crowd safely, believe it or not. I do need to warn you that even if you take a detour from here, you''ll still need to go through a zombie crowd before entering All Beings Base. This isn''t the only zombie crowd between you and the base," said the girl blandly.


    She made it pretty clear. The zombie crowd before the troop wasn''t the only barrier. Avoiding this crowd of zombie wouldn''t allow them to enter the base smoothly. According to her, there might be another path jammed by zombies waiting for them.


    All Beings Base was located in a zombie city, so that was normal.


    Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen each thought for a moment. Was there a special requirement for the people who wanted to join All Beings Base? Or, did they have to make it through zombie crowds to earn the qualification to join the base?


    Clearly, the two of them were overthinking. They thought the girl was trying to tell them that all survivors who wanted to enter All Beings Base had to go through the zombie crowds.


    They still had doubts, of course. "Are you really from All Beings Base? Why should we trust you?"


    When a couple of people showed up suddenly and claimed that they were from somewhere, people normally tended to doubt what they said.


    "Who else do you think will be here to help you guys? Or, who will have the time to come all the way here to lie to you? It''s alright. You can take the detour if you want. We''ll be expecting you at the second roadblock." The five weren''t unhappy because of Jian Shengtong''s doubts. They responded casually, as they seemed to have foreseen that.


    Then, the old man, whose hands were behind his back and back slightly hunched, abruptly started talking. "You can now observe the zombie crowd with your telescopes, then decide if you want to take a detour or not." His voice was weird and hoarse.

 819 The Reaction Of The People In The Base

    Jian Shengtong looked at the old man confusedly. He couldn''t seem to turn his eyes away from the old man''s gray hair and dark sunglasses.


    Xia Yushen glanced at the five suspiciously, then couldn''t help but raise his telescope with curiosity. He was standing on the ground, so he didn''t have a good vision. Still, he saw something different from before.


    To confirm it, he turned and hopped onto the car beside him and looked around through the telescope again.


    "Jian! The zombie crowd is gone!" Xia Yushen said with surprise.


    "What?" Jian Shengtong even doubted his own ears. Just now, both of them saw a huge group of zombies jamming the road. Not only the road, the surrounding streets and alleys were all full of zombies.


    He now thought that he had misheard what Xia Yushen said.


    "Come on! Come up here and look! They''re really gone!" Xia Yushen looked around two more times to confirm that the zombies were really gone. After that, he waved at Jian Shengtong excitedly.


    Jian Shengtong hopped onto the car roof with confusion, took over Xia Yushen''s telescope, and looked ahead through it. As the latter had said, the zombie crowd was really gone.


    "What do you think now? Are you still taking that detour?" said Yun Meng.


    Jian Shengtong dropped the telescope and looked at her silently.


    "How many people do you have?" asked the old man.


    "About four-thousand and three-hundred. We have women, old people, and children¡­ A big half of our people are injured, and all of them are weak now," Xia Yushen leaped off the car roof and made a few steps forward as he said.


    The old man glanced at Yun Meng, and the latter said, "Get into your cars. We''ll bring you to the base."


    Jian Shengtong leaped off the car roof. Both he and Xia Yushen hesitated briefly.


    "Let''s go. We don''t know what we might run into if we travel for another day. I think we may as well try to believe them," said Xia Yushen. His guts told him that those people were trustworthy. Besides, the zombie crowd had truly disappeared.


    Jian Shengtong was still hesitating. It was too dangerous after all. Thousands of people were relying on the two of them now. He worried that the five might put all those people into a bad situation.


    "What are you worrying about? We are weak now, but we can still fight. If we can''t even get through this area, the city center would be impossible for us," Xia Yushen poked him gently with an elbow.


    "Alright, I''ll believe you, for now," Jian Shengtong looked at Yun Meng, then waved at Chen Xian and Li Zhen, signaling for them to return to the troop.


    "Four, go and guard the last vehicle," said Yun Meng.


    The boy swiftly leaped onto a tree, then flashed to the tail of the troop with just a few leaps.


    Jian Shengtong, Xia Yushen, and their people were all surprised by how nimble that boy was.


    Currently, most of the superpower possessors were adults. Children rarely triggered superpowers. Even if some children did wake up their powers, they would be upgrading very slowly. However, that boy was so fast that he almost turned into a shred of shadow after hopping onto the tree. What he did made Jian Shengtong and his people feel under pressure.


    "Let''s move. What are you guys waiting for?" Yun Meng flashed onto the roof of Jian Shengtong''s car.


    ¡­


    At that point, some well-informed people had heard that a group of people from Earth Dragon Base was going to enter All Beings Base. Before long, the news spread across the base.


    Most of them couldn''t accept that.


    "What? Earth Dragon Base people? Why would we let them in? They are the ones who destroyed our Hades Base!"


    "No! We can''t let Earth Dragon Base people in!"


    "He''s right! They''re our enemies! How can they even think about joining our new base? That''s not gonna happen!"


    The people who currently lived in All Being Base were all survivors from Hades Base. Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were their Deputy Chiefs, so some of them saw the new base as the second Hades Base.


    People gathered around the administrative hall, protesting. They wanted the base administrators to give up on accepting those Earth Dragon Base people.


    A small part of people didn''t care, as they felt it had nothing to do with themselves.


    They didn''t mind those Earth Dragon Base coming. It was a new base with new rules anyway. Even if they didn''t accept those Earth Dragon Base people, some other people from some other bases would certainly be joining the base in the future.


    Currently, only a few bases existed in the country, and only a small population of humans was still living in the world. If people didn''t stop killing each other, the zombies would eat all of them sooner or later.


    All Being Base was a new base, and was still shorthanded at the moment. Therefore, the base leaders wouldn''t refuse to take in more members.


    Some other people heard that a lot of women were among that group of people. They were willing to accept them for the sake of those women.


    All Being Base really needed female members. The men in that base drooled at Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying and Duan Juan every single day. They were being driven crazy by their physical needs that could not be fulfilled. If those girls weren''t so powerful and strong, they might have been harmed by some evil men long ago.


    After all, only a small part of men were willing to be with other men. Most of them still liked women.


    Because of the hundreds of women who used to live in Hades Base, those people wouldn''t say no to the group of Earth Dragon Base people.


    Lu Tong, who didn''t really care, went to the administration hall along with the others, pretending to protest. Before the hall, armed soldiers stopped people from rushing into the building.


    "Calm down, calm down! I know you don''t want to let those Earth Dragon Base in, but think about the hundreds of women, okay? They are from Hades Base too. They were sent to Earth Dragon Base as captives. Now, they are finally free. Are you gonna say no to them? Your sisters, families, friends might be among them," Lin Feng stood behind the soldiers and raised both arms to signal the people to calm down.


    Hearing what he said, some of those people quieted down. But soon, some said, "Let our people in, but not Earth Dragon Base people!"


    That was a practical suggestion, but a little heartless.


    Those Earth Dragon Base people risked their lives to escort the hundreds of women to the new base, yet those people planned to close the door and not let them in, but leave them out there together with the zombies. That was clearly not a decent way to deal with the situation.


    "Yes¡­ Let Hades Base people in, but not anyone else!" Those people would never stop hating Earth Dragon Base people for destroying their home and killing their families.


    Lu Tong stood in front of the crowd as he put his chest against the soldiers'' guns and said to Lin Feng calmly, "Deputy Chief Lin, please ask Deputy Chief Yuan to talk to us. You can''t make this decision alone. We want to know what Deputy Chief Yuan will say about this!"

 820 Each Take A Step Back

    Lu Tong was only there to see Yuan Tianxing. He didn''t care if the base would accept those people or not. One side of his head was still covered in gauze, with some brown liquid medicine on it. Clearly, his injury hadn''t healed yet.


    Currently, all he wanted was to show up in front of Yuan Tianxing and impress the latter.


    He didn''t know why Yuan Tianxing didn''t see him last time, and how he was thrown to the canteen area. He felt that someone ruined his plan on purpose.


    Who was that? Did that person know what he wanted? That was impossible!


    No matter who it was, he wouldn''t miss any chance to approach Yuan Tianxing. So this time, he mingled in the protesting group and came over.


    Lin Feng gave him a glance, then turned away and said, "This decision is made by Deputy Chief Yuan, Captain Chen Yuting, and I together. What I am saying is what Deputy Chief Yuan would say. Our base is new, and we need people to create things, to build a base that is strong enough to protect you all. You are All Beings Base people, the ones who will join us in the future will also be All Beings Base people. You will all be the same."


    "How can that happen? Why do we have to live together with the people who destroyed our old base?" Some of those people shouted wrathfully.


    "Their base was destroyed too. Someone has taken revenge for you. If you don''t want them to join our base, fine. You can leave if you don''t want to be in the same base with them. We won''t force you to stay. Instead, we will send you straight to Sea City Base," Lin Feng''s serious face grew dark as he changed his tone of speaking and responded with a strong voice.


    Those people only cared about their so-called hatred, but refused to think for the base. Lin Feng''s family was from Hades Base too, and Lin Qiao had died once. Who would hate the enemies more than she did? However, for the future of the new base, both Lin Qiao and him wanted to take in more people. Currently, All Being Base had food, water, and place to live, but was in short of manpower and creativity.


    Hearing that they might be kicked out of the base, those people gave a start. They were very satisfied with what the base had provided them with. They had enough food and nice places to live. They had rice and flour. No other base could provide their people with those.


    Since the day they arrived, they never thought about leaving. Sea City Base had over a million people, and their supplies were always short. Food like rice was a luxury for commoners in that kind of base.


    Not even a level four or five superpowered man in Sea City Base could live a life as great as the life of the commoners in All Being Base!


    Therefore, when Lin Feng firmly told them that those Earth Dragon Base people would join the base and the people who disagree could choose to leave, they panicked.


    Lu Tong looked around and found that the people had fallen into silence. He thought for a moment, then said, "Since you have insisted on taking them in, don''t make them live together with us. To prevent future troubles, just make them live far away from us."


    His voice was loud and clear. The others quickly agreed with him as they had realized that Lin Feng would not accept their original suggestion.


    "Yeah! Make them live next to the fence wall! Keep them far away from us!"


    "He''s right! We have made a step back, so you guys should do too!"


    Lin Feng glanced at Lu Tong and said, "In the future, we will not only take in the people from Earth Dragon Base, but all humans are welcome to join our base. But of course, we will keep those robbers out. If you don''t want to live together with those Earth Dragon Base people, fine, I''ll tell Deputy Chief Yuan to accommodate them in another area."


    The wall had been built up. The base was large, and the population was still small. People could live anywhere they wanted.


    As Lin Feng agreed to do what they said, those people slowly calm down and left; only Lu Tong lingered there. He paced around, looking at the entrance of the hall. He didn''t want to give up.


    He went there to make Yuan Tianxing notice him, but the latter didn''t even show up. He couldn''t tell when he would have another chance to see him.


    "Can I help you?" The guards noticed him and asked him nicely.


    "Oh¡­ no, no, thank you!" Lu Tong gave a start, then shook his head awkwardly as he turned and quickly left.


    In the administration building, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying watched Lu Tong leave in a flurry from behind a window on the second floor.


    They heard what Lu Tong said earlier. He looked as angry as the others, but asked to see Yuan Tianxing once he had a chance to talk. Lin Wenwen didn''t know if anyone else found it strange.


    She herself, of course, knew that he was trying to create himself an opportunity to get close to Yuan Tianxing. She had been watching him all this time, after all.


    "In fact, he can''t do anything actually, can he? What can possibly happen even if he managed to approach Deputy Chief? Do you have to be so nervous about it? Deputy Chief isn''t silly. Even if he had the guts to do something to him, how would Deputy Chief let him?" Long Qingying said with confusion.


    It was normal for low-leveled people to want to build a relationship with a higher-leveled one, for a better life. It wasn''t the first time for Yuan Tianxing to be Deputy Chief. He had quite some suitors back in Hade Base too.


    Lin Wenwen recalled that disturbing image that she saw in her mind. She couldn''t talk to Long Qingying about it. She had still been doubting if it would really happen. Based on the fact that Lu Tong had been trying everything he could to create a chance to see Yuan Tianxing, she felt that the image was very likely to come true.


    She knew that she was probably overthinking. But, she was fond of Yuan Tianxing for so long, even though he wasn''t aware of it. She just could not let that kind of nasty thing happen to him!


    It had become a forced habit of hers. Paying attention to anything that was related to Yuan Tianxing had become like an instinct to her.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t know to explain her feelings to Long Qingying, so she sighed and said, "Anyone can make mistakes. Lu Tong is a scheming person. I''m worried that Tianxing might get careless someday and fall into his trap."


    "Aren''t you tired? I mean, you''re always thinking about him without letting him see your efforts."


    Long Qingying, who was never in deep love with anyone, didn''t understand how Lin Wenwen felt. Merely watching Lin Wenwen do all that made her feel tired.


    "No, because I''ve gotten used to it," Lin Wenwen smiled. A trace of sadness flashed across her eyes, but soon disappeared.

 821 A Long Way to Pursue His Future Wife

    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying had been keeping an eye on Lu Tong to prevent him from doing anything harmful to Yuan Tianxing. They watched Lu Tong continue his plan like watching a show.


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, Lin Qiao spent an afternoon in Wu Chengyue''s place, then planned to head home. What made her feel strange was that Wu Chengyue spent an entire afternoon sitting in the living room, watching her play with Wu Yueling without saying or doing anything.


    It was just like how he stayed in her office for a whole day when he was in her base.


    But this time, Lin Qiao felt something slightly different. The look in Wu Chengyue''s eyes seemed to become less persistent than before.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief. That was a good thing. Had he finally realized that his goal was too difficult to achieve and decided to give up?


    She didn''t know if she had guessed right, but she was happy to see that Wu Chengyue finally started keeping a distance from her. After all, he was really too annoying before!


    However, right after she was relieved a little, Wu Chengyue said something that proved she was wrong.


    "Are you leaving so soon? Aren''t you gonna stay for the night? Are you afraid that I might do something bad to you? Don''t worry. I won''t¡­ unless you let me," Wu Chengyue looked at her smilingly and said some obvious flirting words.


    Lin Qiao was speechless.


    She did not want to talk to him!


    Seeing her silently roll her eyes, Wu Chengyue grinned and continued, "You see, it''s getting dark out there. It''s dangerous for you to go back so late at night. Why don''t you stay here for the night and leave tomorrow morning?"


    In fact, he was aware that if she wanted to leave, he wouldn''t be able to convince her to stay, no matter what he said. He just couldn''t help but ask her to stay, or he''d feel uncomfortable.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with a bland face, and didn''t seem to respond to him at all. It was as if she was pretending not to know him.


    It was dark? Would she, a base leader, a zombie dominator, ever be afraid of the darkness? It was indeed dangerous for her to go home at night, but what could possibly harm her? After all, she was so strong, and she had a huge space!


    No matter what happened, who in the world could hurt her when she was hiding in her space?


    Lin Qiao wasn''t an arrogant person. She had confirmed how invincible her space was. That space was even able to trap level-eight superpowered men, and suppress their powers. Lin Qiao was confident that not even a zombie emperor could break her space.


    She knew that the energy in her space was more effective against zombies than humans.


    As Lin Qiao stayed silent, Wu Chengyue sighed and stopped talking.


    However, Wu Yueling, who was sitting beside Lin Qiao, heard what her father said. The little girl quickly leaned on Lin Qiao''s knees and put both hands on her legs as she raised her head to look at Lin Qiao expectantly with a pair of glowing eyes.


    ''Zombie Mama, stay! Stay!''


    Seeing his daughter''s movement, Wu Chengyue''s dim eyes shone again.


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Yueling in the eyes as she smiled helplessly and said, "No, I need to go back to my base. I still have a lot of work to do. The sooner I get back, the sooner the work will be done."


    Wu Yueling pouted disappointedly. She wanted Lin Qiao to stay, but didn''t want to make the latter unhappy.


    Lin Qiao read her mind. "Good Ling Ling!" she said, "I''ll come to visit you when I''m less busy, okay? I''ll bring Xiaolu and Tongtong over to play with you."


    On hearing that, Wu Yueling had her eyes glowing again, and gave a small smile.


    "Alright?" Lin Qiao looked at her with a grin.


    Wu Yueling nodded quickly and said to Lin Qiao in her head, ''Will you really bring Xiaolu here?''


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Of course. When did I ever lie to you?"


    Wu Chengyue was a little disappointed, as his daughter lost the battle so soon. "Well, since you insist, I think you should just go."


    The smile on his handsome face faded a little.


    Lin Qiao and her people drove out of Sea City Base, heading straight back to All Beings Base.


    After Lin Qiao left, the living room seemed a little empty. Wu Chengyue put Wu Yueling on his knees and said to her helplessly, "Ling Ling, when do you think she will start to care a little bit about me?"


    Ever since he realized that he had a complicated feeling for the zombie lady, he felt enlightened. However, thinking about how Lin Qiao had been avoiding him, he felt that what he did before wasn''t honest enough, and had pushed her further away from him. Thinking about that, Wu Chengyue felt frustrated.


    In order to let the zombie lady relax her vigilance toward him, Wu Chengyue had no other choice but to stop pursuing hard and keep a distance from her. He would try to win her heart when she was less vigilant.


    Wu Yueling looked at her father confusedly.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue turned up the corners of his mouth as he lowered his head and said to his daughter, "It''s alright. Daddy got plenty of patience. We''ll take our time. All we need to do now is to prevent her from falling into some else''s hands.


    In Huaxia Base, both Hu Zhiyong and Gao Haoyun had their eyes on the zombie lady. Wu Chengyue knew that she was strong enough to protect herself, but still, the way those two men looked at her made him want to kill them.


    However, before he made any move, she destroyed both of them neatly and cruelly.


    From that, Wu Chengyue learned that the zombie lady was really fierce, and that she had zero tolerance toward that kind of things!


    Earlier, both of them fell into Viney''s trap. He had sex with her, yet he was still alive. Thinking about that, Wu Chengyue was a little delighted. Even though she had been avoiding mentioning what happened back then, she didn''t seem to hate him for it. That made him feel that he still had a big chance!


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but think of the zombie lady''s soft, smooth, and elastic skin, that tender texture, and that pleasure he felt. Once again, his entire body started burning.


    In fact, he was very good at self-control. He was a man of discipline since before the apocalypse. Occasionally, he fulfilled his physiological needs with his own hands.


    The sex he had with Lu Tianyu was awful, but the second time that happened after she became a zombie was so great that it lingered in his mind all the time.


    So currently, he had quit masturbation¡­


    It seemed that he needed to wait longer to have sex with her again. Thinking about that, he felt a little like crying.


    While thinking, Wu Chengyue gave a long sigh.


    Lin Qiao, who was on her way back to All Beings Base, had no idea that Wu Chengyue had quit masturbation for her!

 822 Back To The Base

    It was about nine pm when Lin Qiao returned to the base. She didn''t inform the others, but went straight back to the hotel. Once in, she saw Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, Liu Jun, and a group of zombies waiting for her in the lobby.


    Qiu Lili happily walked up to Lin Qiao and held her hands as she asked, "How did it go? Did the zombie emperor die?"


    Lin Qiao let herself be dragged to a couch by Qiu Lili, then sat down and said, "No, but many of his subordinates died."


    On hearing that, Qiu Lili showed a disappointed look. "What? He didn''t die? Why did you come back then? Is Huaxia Base''s crisis over yet?"


    The others had also been looking at Lin Qiao curiously. They hadn''t heard any details yet.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the others, then nodded and said, "The zombie emperor didn''t die, but his nucleus cracked. He can''t use his power for the time being."


    Qiu Lili''s eyes glowed. She was happy to know that Mo Yan''s power was disabled.


    "Really? I see. It''s still good! As long as he is suffering. Without his power, he''s just like an ordinary zombie, right?" Qiu Lili sighed with relief, then laughed happily. Hearing about the zombie emperor''s misfortune could really make her happy.


    Looking at her happy face, Lin Qiao decided not to tell her that Mo Yan was actually in her space, or she might become unhappy.


    "I heard that the third batch of people arrived at the base today, and there are a lot of them. Have you made arrangements for the injured ones yet?" She turned to the others and changed the topic.


    "Yes, but our people who are from Hades Base are very unhappy about that. Mr. Lin told Du Yuanxing to accommodate them near the southern wall. The buildings in that area still need furnishing. They are only staying there temporarily. We''ll make further arrangements in the future," Xie Dong, who was standing behind Lin Qiao, said while reading the files that he had received just now, "Four-thousand, five-hundred, and ninety-six men came here today, mostly injured and weak due to starvation. They brought here eight-hundred and eighty-seven women, and about two-hundred children."


    He, his squad, and Lu Tianyi came out of Lin Qiao''s base on their way back. They returned to the base ahead of her and gathered the files about what happened recently in the base from Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said expressionlessly, "It''s normal that Hades Base people hate those Earth Dragon Base people. They were victims. However, the people who deserved to die have been killed, and the ones who planned the whole thing are dead too. We don''t need to always make compromises for those Hades people now."


    "Yes, ma''am," Duan Juan nodded.


    "Who''s leading those people?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Jian Shengtong, a Deputy Chief from Earth Dragon Base, and Xia Yushen, the leader of Rain God Hunters, the most famous hunting group in Earth Dragon Base. The two of them were leading together. Some other people from Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud Base had pursued them on their way here." This time, Yun Meng answered the question.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I know the two of them. Spread the words to the Hades Base people in our base and tell them that neither of them supported Long Yubai when he attacked Hades Base, and that they didn''t join the attack. They are innocent."


    The others understood her meaning. Knowing about that might ease the hatred that the current All Being Base people had toward those new members. Over time, they would accept them.


    "I get it," Duan Juan nodded.


    "Apart from those Earth Dragon Base survivors, some other people came here today. They look like a scout team. I think they''re here to collect information about our base. We don''t know where they came from yet," Yun Meng added.


    "Have you sent people following them?" Lin Qiao looked at Yun Meng without changing her expression.


    Yun Meng nodded and said, "Yeah, I sent Five and Six."


    The strongest man among those people was at level-six, so Yun Meng sent zombie number five and zombie number six after them. She was with six zombies before she showed up in front of Jian Shengtong and his people. On her way to find Jian Shengtong''s troop, she saw some other people sneaking around, so she ordered Five and Six after to follow them.


    Five was the female zombie who loved to see pretty men and Six was a male zombie, recruited along with the old man and the boy. Currently, he was a zombie king. As an earth-powered zombie king and a level-five green-powered zombie leader, they should be able to get out almost any trouble that might occur.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then thought for a moment and said, "in Huaxia Base, Green Mountain Base people seem to be very interested in our base. It might be them. But, if you are sure that they''re all humans, I think it''s not them. It might be the Sky Fire Base people. They didn''t show up in Huaxia Base this time, but had lingered near the base the whole time."


    She had sensed those people back in Huaxia Base, but didn''t tell anyone.


    Based on the direction those people came from, they were either from Hidden Cloud City Base or Sky Fire Base. Hidden Cloud City Base had fallen, so they were surely from the Sky Fire Base. They weren''t planning to help at all. What did they want? Merely watching?


    Some of the others frowned slightly, especially Liu, Duan Juan and the others who were from Hades Base. They all showed a fierce look in their eyes.


    "I''ll go and take a look later. If they have seen the zombie wall already, I''ll need to deal with them." Lin Qiao decided to go and find those people, in case they dug out some secrets about her base and leaked them.


    Hearing that, the others clearly understood that she was going to kill those people to keep the base''s secret.


    As the meeting was over, people left the lobby.


    At that time, tens of miles from All Beings Base, a group of people had been observing All Beings Base.


    "Chief, this base is different from the others," Xu Changmu made a trip to Upper City District, then returned and reported to Gu Yikang with a serious look.


    Gu Yikang''s average-looking face still wore no expression, yet his vibe seemed to be very dark, matching with the darkness of the night. "Different? How?" He asked with a bland voice.


    "I think they¡­ they''re keeping zombies!" said Xu Changmu.


    Gu Yikang blinked, then stared at him with disbelief and asked, "What?"


    Xu Changmu thought for a moment, then explained with a strange look on his face, "I saw it. The base is surrounded by zombies. Those zombies have blocked every path that leads into the base. And earlier today, those zombies let the group of people in without hurting them. The large crowd of zombies just moved away from the road. They were all quiet. Not a single one of them pounced on those people like a normal zombie!"


    "What do you mean? Quiet zombies? A large crowd? How come I never saw a zombie crowd like that?" Gu Yikang sneered. He didn''t really believe Xu Changmu, but also felt a little curious about those strange zombies.


    Which zombie crowd wouldn''t swarm toward humans like a pack of wolves that had smelled flesh and blood?

 823 Theysre Here For You

    "Chief, maybe you don''t believe me, but you can go and see for yourself." Knowing that Gu Yikang didn''t believe what he said, Xu Changmu said to him.


    Gu Yikang paused briefly. Seeing that Xu Changmu didn''t seem to be joking, he asked uncertainly, "Is that real?"


    Did that kind of zombie crowd really exist? It sounded more like a crowd under the control of a higher-leveled zombie.


    Xu Changmu nodded and said, "We know what we''ve seen. As the motorcade moved in, those zombies moved back to where they were. We didn''t even see the wall of the new base."


    "Keeping zombies? They really have the courage to do that? Weren''t those Earth Dragon people scared? They just went in like that?" Gu Yikang wore a serious look and asked with a frown.


    "I think our scouts have been killed by the people from the new base. After all, they definitely don''t want other people to know about those zombies," said Xu Changmu.


    "Did anyone see you?" Gu Yikang said while a cold look suddenly emerged in his eyes.


    Xia Yushen shook his head confidently and said, "No. My people didn''t get close. I was the only one who approached them. Except for Jian Shengtong and Xia Yushen, no one could possibly see us."


    He saw Yun Meng and the other zombies who were sitting on car roofs. However, as none of them had a strong vibe, he didn''t pay much attention to them.


    What he didn''t know was that Yun Meng and her zombies all had their vibes restrained. Only the people who were much stronger than them and some other zombies could sense how powerful they really were.


    Gu Yikang gave a wicked smile and said, "Interesting! Keep searching. We must dig out the secret of this base and the weakness of that woman."


    Since he learned that the Chief Lady from the new base had poison power, he told himself that he had to get her nucleus. Poison power was special and rare. People who possessed that power and managed to reach level-seven were rarely seen. Gu Yikang needed poison-powered nuclei; the higher the level, the more helpful it could be to him.


    "My people have mingled in the group of Earth Dragon Base people. But, I think it''s gonna take them some efforts to deliver messages to us," Xu Changmu nodded and said.


    "There is no rush. We have time. She''s in the base, and she can''t run anywhere. Also¡­ keep zombies? Hehe¡­" Gu Yikang tittered in a creepy tone.


    Neither did Gu Yikang nor Xu Changmu notice that the plants surrounding them had been shaking slightly. No wind was blowing, yet the leaves shook from time to time and grasses twisted from side to side, as if those plants suddenly became conscious.


    Hundreds of meters away from them in a wooded area, two zombies were hiding on a tree in the shades, staying quiet with their vibes restrained.


    Zombie number five had her arms around a tree trunk and ear pressed against the rough tree bark to listen to the sound from the tree. Her dark eyes shone in the darkness with a green light.


    Zombie number five was looking at her speechlessly. ''Do you think that you''re holding a pillow? Can you please drop your legs and arms?'' ¡ªThat was what he wanted to say to zombie number five.


    Five seemed to have sensed Six''s thought, so she turned and gave him a glance. The world in her eyes was colorless, but she did see things very clearly. The male zombie wasn''t handsome, but had a well-featured face. After spending quite a while looking at his face, the female zombie was attracted by him unwittingly. His eyes were slender and sunken and lips pressed together, forming a serious-looking face.


    Five wondered why didn''t she notice that Six was actually pretty good-looking. Well, if only he didn''t have that look in his eyes¡­ He was looking at her like how people looked at idiots.


    Five silently dropped her limbs from the tree, then gave Six a glare with discontentment.


    Six expressionlessly turned his eyes away. In the next moment, they both had their expressions changed, then leaped off the tree and landed on the ground gently.


    A dark figure was quietly standing under the tree.


    "Chief!" The male zombie dropped his head slightly and said with a hoarse voice.


    "Roar." ''Chief.''


    The female zombie couldn''t speak yet. She hadn''t broken into level-six, so Lin Qiao didn''t fix her throat.


    "What have you found?" Lin Qiao merged into the darkness and asked with a calm tone.


    The male zombie glanced at the female zombie. She was the one who had been eavesdropping those people talking.


    "Roar¡­" ''They''re here for you.''


    Said the female zombie to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows. Why were those people here for her?


    She thought for a moment, then said, "I''ll go and take a look. You guys get into the space."


    While speaking, she brought the two into the space, then came back out and turned invisible while sneaking toward the group of people.


    She got close enough and confirmed that they were from Sky Fire Base.


    Apart from Gu Yikang and Xu Changmu, she also saw about ten level-five people, ten superpowered squads, and nearly three-hundred soldiers.


    Lin Qiao, of course, knew Gu Yikang. They had seen each other many times before. She knew that Gu Yikang coveted her Netherworld Fire all the time, and that his energy nucleus would also benefit her. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    She was planning to first sort out the work in her base, then attack Sky Fire Base. She needed to bring Sky Fire Base down before Viney grew bigger. Unexpectedly, Gu Yikang had brought himself to her place before she made a move.


    That was suicidal!


    Lin Qiao gently put a hand on her lower abdomen; her belly was no longer flat.


    Viney was right. She had indeed entered the phase of development. This time, she had slept for long, and Lin Qiao''s belly had finally started to grow. It wasn''t so obvious though. A jacket could perfectly cover it.


    The invisible figure quietly approached Gu Yikang. Lin Qiao wasn''t able to read his mind, so she turned to Xu Changmu.


    ''Find out the secrets about that base¡­ Figure out that woman''s weakness¡­ They are actually keeping zombies¡­ They are the enemies of mankind¡­''


    Lin Qiao read Xu Changmu''s mind, then gave a sneer.


    As she thought, those people believed that all zombies should die, and that the people who made contact with zombies were evil. Anyone on the same side with zombies was the enemy of mankind. However, her Hades Base was destroyed by humans from three different bases, not zombies.


    Was she an enemy of mankind? No! So, why did other human beings hurt her? Some humans were even more evil and crueler than zombies!


    With that thought, Lin Qiao slightly dropped her eyes to hide the intention of killing which almost escaped her eyes. All of a sudden, she reached out a hand, accurately grasped Gu Yikang, and threw him into her space.


    He and his people wanted to know her secrets, and she intended to tell them!

 824 He Brought Himself To Her

    After throwing the sour-faced Gu Yikang into her space, Lin Qiao let all zombies in her space out to have some fun.


    "Don''t let any of them get away," Lin Qiao dropped the rope in her hands and left those zombies a few words, then returned to her base to deal with Gu Yikang.


    Xu Changmu didn''t know what happened yet. He had turned his face away, so he didn''t see Gu Yikang disappear. When he turned back and found that the latter was gone, he automatically looked around.


    Then, he heard a strange woman''s voice. Turning to that direction, he found a group of people¡­ No, a group of zombies, standing right near him and his people!


    In the darkness, those zombies'' eyes sparkled with different colors. Seeing those eyes, Xu Changmu immediately realized what just happened.


    Before he uttered any sound, those zombies disappeared from where they were while one of them charged at him. A strong intent of killing and a pressing sense of crisis instantly attacked him. So, he automatically leaped away to dodge.


    "Be careful! Zombies!" He burst in a shout, then quickly released his power. He leaped to the side and made a roll on the ground. Next, thick black hair grew out of his skin.


    "Roar¡­" Xu Changmu the man was gone, being replaced by a strong black bear. In the darkness, only a blurry shape of his was seen.


    "What the hell¡­ Ah¡­" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!


    Waves of screams and gunshots were heard from that area, followed by explosions. The area instantly fell into chaos, and a bloody scent spread in no time.


    Lin Qiao entered her space and showed up on a tree near Gu Yikang. She merged her own vibe into the vibe of the space, so Gu Yikang would never discover her, even though she was right behind him.


    Gu Yikang was standing motionlessly on the ground; his face was dark as thunder, eyes glowing with a sharp light. He remained calm. While observing the surrounding environment, he paid close attention to the vibe that he had sensed.


    "I heard that you''re very interested in me¡­ Oh, that''s not right. I think what you''re interested in is my nucleus, right?" Lin Qiao looked down at him from the tree and said with a bland tone.


    Gu Yikang immediately turned around his head and then his body. He stared at her with that pair of cold eagle eyes.


    "You!" He didn''t know that the Chief Lady could do that. Where was he? Was he in an illusion?


    He never heard about any space possessors who had trees in their spaces. Therefore, he didn''t think of space at the moment. Instead, he figured that what he saw might be an illusion caused by Lin Qiao''s poison.


    "If you take what doesn''t belong to you, you will suffer the consequences. Have you seen how Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base ended? Your Sky Fire Base is next," Lin Qiao wore a bland look, but her eyes were frosty cold. She looked at Gu Yikang while those eyes of hers were filled with a strong intent of killing.


    Gu Yikang didn''t expect to hear that from her. He soon processed her words as he knitted his brows into a frown and said, "You''re from Hades Base? You destroyed Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base?"


    Lin Qiao tittered and said, "Yes. You guys took some things that are mine, so I''ll surely take them back from you, one by one. I wasn''t planning on doing anything to your base yet, but you have brought yourself to me. I''m surprised that my poison-power nucleus turns out to be so attractive. This is nice, though¡­ Hehe."


    Lin Qiao''s laughter gave Gu Yikang an inexplicably bad feeling. He fixed his eyes on the woman who was standing high up on a tree, and his pupils shrank slightly.


    "Since you want my poison-power nucleus so much, I think you''ll like this," Lin Qiao continued.


    While speaking, she upturned her palm and released a flake of black fire.


    It was dark in the woods, but as a level-seven superpowered man, Gu Yikang could still see things clearly. When he saw the dark fire, his heart leaped and his pupils shrank again.


    "You¡­" He tried to say something, but Lin Qiao didn''t give him a chance to talk. She suddenly threw the black fire at Gu Yikang, then disappeared from the tree.


    Gu Yikang was startled as the black fire flew at him, and he automatically released his power to defend himself. While moving backward, he raised both arms to his chest, one palm facing the fire and the other hand holding that wrist. A stream of green fire gushed out of his palm, flying toward the dark fire.


    Gu Yikang''s expression changed drastically when he saw the palm-sized green fire fly out of his palm, and he panicked.


    What happened? How did his power¡­


    He finally panicked when he found that he could only release less than ten percent of his power.


    At that moment, the green fire bumped into the black fire. The black fire suddenly expanded into a devil''s face with a wide opened mouth, which devoured the green fire.


    "Eh¡­" Gu Yikang gave a muffled moan as his power was cut off forcibly. It was like someone had cut off his hand while he was making a punch.


    The broken energy stream went back to him, and his body almost failed to cope with it. Thankfully, he had only released about ten percent of his power, so the counterforce wasn''t destructive. It still felt bad, like his head had hit something.


    The energy contained in the green power was completely devoured by the dark fire.


    Gu Yikang''s fire was poisonous. However, his poisonous fire was much weaker than Lin Qiao''s netherworld fire. Besides, his fire didn''t burn. It only killed people with the poison.


    Killing a level-seven man who had normal poisonous fire was an easy thing for Lin Qiao. After all, she was even able to kill level-seven people easily.


    A short while later, she exited her space and sensed a strong blood scent. Hundreds of dead bodies were lying on the ground.


    "Did anyone got away?" she asked.


    "No," Keng-keng and the other zombies were all standing by those corpses.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand and released a stream of dark fire. The other zombies hurriedly stepped backward.


    The dark fire landed airily on a dead body, then suddenly grew bigger, spreading toward the other bodies. Within a blink, all dead bodies were burned out. Even the grass and stones in that area had been devoured by the fire.


    "Let''s go home," Lin Qiao turned and headed back to the base with the other zombies.

 825 Predictive Power

    Lin Qiao neatly and quickly killed Gu Yikang, who brought himself to her, then returned to her room in the hotel.


    Next morning, someone came to her before she left the room.


    "Sister! I need help!" Lin Wenwen opened the door and saw Lin Wenwen looking at her delightfully. Long Qingying was following behind her.


    Currently, people weren''t allowed to go to the hotel where Lin Qiao and the other zombies lived, except for Yuan Tianxing, Chen Yuting, Lin Family people, and the others who were in special positions.


    The soldiers who were guarding the hotel weren''t humans; those were level-four zombies. Lin Qiao had asked Yuan Tianxing to give them uniforms and special sunglasses.


    Those zombie soldiers weren''t armed with guns. Under the command of Yun Meng and Qiu Lili, they had been guarding the base quietly. They all memorized the scents of Lin Wenwen, Yuan Tianxing and the other humans who were allowed to come to the hotel. Except for those people, they wouldn''t let anyone else in the hotel. If someone else tried to enter the hotel, those zombie soldiers would stop them expressionlessly without attacking them.


    Lin Qiao trained those zombie soldiers herself before she left the base for Huaxia Base. Only after they passed the training did she let them out to work. She had also asked Qiu Lili and the other high-leveled zombies to keep an eye on them, to see if any of them violated any rules.


    The base was having more and more residents. Lin Qiao decided to bring her zombies to the other side of the base after the wall of the human base was completed, and then wait for the other part of the fence wall to be built up.


    "Why so rushed? It''s still early in the morning. Why can''t you wait until I get to your side?" Lin Qiao looked at Lin Wenwen and asked her.


    "Eh¡­ I don''t want other people to know about this¡­ not yet¡­" Lin Wenwen glanced at Long Qingying, then said to Lin Qiao.


    She only wanted to talk to Lin Qiao about how she saw a metal vine go through Lin Feng''s chest and then jumped back to a couple of hours earlier. She hadn''t even told Long Qingying about that yet.


    Long Qingying felt fine, as she nodded and said, "I''ll wait for you outside."


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Lin Wenwen, then said to Duan Juan, "Go and tell the others that the meeting will be postponed for an hour."


    "Yes, ma''am!" Duan Juan nodded expressionlessly, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao let Lin Wenwen into her room, then closed the door and asked her, "What is it? It sounds so mysterious."


    Lin Wenwen sat down on the couch and watched Lin Qiao pour her a glass of water. She thought for a moment, then slowly started talking, "I¡­ Something happened to me earlier. I don''t know if it''s because of me, or some other reason."


    Lin Qiao put the glass of water on the tea table and then sat down, waiting for the rest of Lin Wenwen''s story.


    "We were out there, collecting supplies. On our way back, we ran into a powerful level-seven mutated plant. It had metal power. We didn''t know it was there, so we took that road¡­"


    Lin Wenwen told Lin Qiao that they fought a brutal and miserable battle against that vine plant, and that she was so shocked when she saw the metal vine pierce into Lin Feng''s chest. And then, she told Lin Qiao how she jumped back to a few hours ago and found that they hadn''t encountered the metal vine, and everybody was still alive.


    "At first, I thought I had triggered a new type of superpower related time, and then I found that it was not like that. Over time, the memory of the metal vine faded in my mind. It was less real than before. Now, I feel as if it was a dream, not something that really happened. Later on, when we returned to the base, I realized that I''m sometimes able to see some images about some other people¡­" said Lin Wenwen confusedly and uncertainly.


    Lin Qiao thought briefly, then asked her, "Have you been back to that place where you bumped into the metal vine? What are those images that you mentioned? Are they from the past or¡­"


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "No. I didn''t go back there. About the images I saw, my people have checked, they aren''t from the past. Also, I noticed someone lately. The image I saw from him seems to be something that he plans to do."


    "Did he do it?" Lin Qiao blinked.


    Lin Wenwen showed a strange expression. She slightly dropped her head and then said awkwardly, "What I saw hasn''t happened yet. But, I noticed that that man has been secretly trying to do something bad to someone else. I couldn''t help but stop him."


    The look in her eyes and her awkward reaction gave Lin Qiao an idea. She couldn''t help but grin wickedly while saying, "That man is not trying to hurt Yuan Tianxing, is he?"


    Lin Wenwen instantly raised her head as she looked at Lin Qiao with surprise. "How do you know?"


    "I think I guessed right. He''s the only one you care so much about. I never see you care about the rest of us like that. Tell me, what have you seen, and whom have you seem it from?" Lin Qiao wouldn''t be able to lead a base if she couldn''t even tell what her little sister was thinking.


    "It''s¡­ it''s a level-three space possessor. He seems to have his eyes on Tianxing. Recently, he has been trying to create opportunities to see Tianxing." Lin Wenwen blushed as Lin Qiao had seen right through her. She didn''t dare to raise her head, but kept her eyelids dropped and murmured to answer Lin Qiao''s question.


    "It''s normal for people to want to approach Tianxing. Tell me what have you seen from him, and how did you see it," said Lin Qiao curiously.


    "The first time I looked at him in the eyes, some images popped up in my mind. In those images, he¡­ he seemed to have drugged Tianxing. Then¡­ he then tried to make it look like Tianxing had¡­ had raped him. He''s up to something not good anyway. If he really likes Tianxing and pursues him openly, I wouldn''t mind. But, what he''s been trying to do is just disgusting. Besides, I don''t think he really likes Tianxing. He only likes him because he''s a Deputy Chief." Lin Wenwen was a little embarrassed at first, but while speaking, she wore a cold face and showed a fierce look in her eyes.


    Lin Qiao nodded knowingly. "I see¡­ I think what you have is a little like some kind of predictive power. Perhaps, your space power is changing. It can also be your second superpower. Since what you saw isn''t something that has already happened, I think you shouldn''t do anything to interfere with it. You should wait and see if the final result is truly the same as what you foresaw."


    "Oh, okay," Lin Wenwen nodded. She thought for a second, then continued with, "About how I jumped back in time¡­ How should I prove it? Should I go back to find that metal vine?" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    She couldn''t figure out how exactly what happened and why it happened.


    Lin Qiao thought briefly, then said, "Perhaps you had a dream and dreamed about what would happen in the near future. It was probably a predictive dream, like those images you saw in your mind."


    That sounded like a ghost story. But, combining dreaming with Lin Wenwen''s new skill, Lin Qiao felt that it was very likely to be true.


    "I''ll go there and try to find that metal vine when I have time. If I find it, my guess might be right. If it''s really there, I''ll just harvest its plant nucleus for Viney," Lin Qiao put a hand on her belly while thinking.

 826 She Felt Dizzy In The Conference Room

    Lin Wenwen glanced at Lin Qiao''s lower abdomen. At that very moment, her pupils expanded and lost focus. It took her a while to recover to normal. She hesitated for tens of seconds, then asked, "Sister, did Viney grow a little bit?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her own belly with a gentle look in her eyes and said, "You can see that?"


    Lin Wenwen blinked quickly while murmuring, "I saw it¡­ I saw it¡­"


    Then, she fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao''s belly which was covered under her clothes with excitement and said, "I saw it!"


    Lin Qiao looked at her confusedly, asking, "You saw what?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at her in the eyes and said to her excitedly, "I saw you give birth to the baby!"


    Just now when she looked at Lin Qiao''s stomach, an image suddenly popped up in her head and occupied her mind. Lin Qiao was lying in an operation room with hair disheveled. Her pretty face looked a little twisted; her eyes purely black, and pupils sparkling with a green light. She was biting a towel roll. Her teeth were so sharp that the towel was torn long ago.


    Lin Hao was in the operation room wearing a hazmat suit and a mask, standing by Lin Qiao''s bed. He looked agitated like an ant on a hot pan. Shen Yujen and Liu were assisting him.


    Soon, she heard a baby cry, and then the image disappeared. The baby''s cry caught her attention and woke her up at last.


    Hearing what her sister said, Lin Qiao slightly widened her eyes and said with surprise, "What? Can you even see that?"


    Lin Wenwen was still excited. She nodded quickly, then abruptly stood up as she fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao''s belly. But soon, she sighed with disappointment. Then, she sat down frustratedly and said, "But, I didn''t see the baby. I didn''t see if it''s a boy or a girl. I heard a loud baby cry though."


    Speaking of that, she laughed and looked at Lin Qiao''s belly with glowing eyes.


    Lin Qiao''s smile grew bigger when she heard that. She was slightly affected by Lin Wenwen''s excitement. Lin Wenwen''s words could be counted as a good sign. At least, those words relieved her a little from her worries.


    "I hope I can bring her to the world safely just like the way you saw," said Lin Qiao.


    She had been worrying that her zombie body might not be able to give birth to the baby safely.


    After talking to Lin Wenwen about the latter''s new ability, Lin Qiao brought her to the school for a meeting. Yuan Tianxing and the others had been waiting for her in the conference room for long.


    All kinds of files had been placed on the table before her chair. Some of those were given to her last night by Xie Dong, and she had roughly read those.


    "Those people who newly joined our base were against Long Yubai when he decided to attack Hades Base. So, in fact, they''re friends and not enemies. It was easy for us to accept them, but¡­ about the people who might come in the future, things might not be so smooth," Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    Lin Qiao nodded, as she had foreseen that. Without changing her expression, she said, "We can''t do anything to help it. Those people don''t seem to want to come to us anyway. I think the next batch won''t arrive that soon."


    The others nodded in agreement.


    All Being Base was new, immature, and underpopulated. It neither looked safe, nor reliable. Most people believed that Sea City Base and Huaxia Base were better choices. The situation in Huaxia Base was turning for the better, and they would soon clean out the zombies outside their base. Currently, the anti-zombie drug that they developed had been put to good use.


    "The wall of the human base is almost done. By the time it''s completed, we''ll move out of the hotel to the other side. Since we have stayed in the hotel, don''t put people in it. Tear that place down and rebuild it. Also, expand the underground granary," Lin Qiao looked at Yuan Tianxing and said.


    "Okay," Yuan Tianxing nodded while writing something on a notebook.


    Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and Chen Yuting had been handling all the works in the human base very well. Lin Qiao read their plans and some other filesback and gave a few suggestions. Apart from those, no problem was found. The farm under Liu Jun''s management was expecting a lot of work because Lu Tianyi had successfully brought out the first batch of seedlings and seeds that he grew in the space, and planted them near the sweet potato field.


    Lin Qiao sent the zombies back into her space, then told Yuan Tianxing to recruit people to work on the farm. Liu Jun and Lu Tianyi were still in charge of the agriculture department. They were titled as department leader number one and department leader number two.


    Lu Tianyi looked exactly like a human, and even his eyes remained to be like human eyes. Meanwhile, Liu Jun would either wear sunglasses or cosmetic contacts to cover her black eyes.


    The group of zombies who had followed Lin Qiao the longest had mostly lost their zombie features. Currently, except for their pale skin and dark eyes, they looked almost like humans in clean clothes.


    The meeting lasted for two hours. After saying what she needed to say, Lin Qiao waved a hand and said, "Alright, this is it!"


    The people immediately stood up and packed their things, then grabbed their cups and files and walked out.


    Lin Qiao was the last one to stand up. She didn''t need to pack her things, because Shen Yujen, her assistant, would do it for her.


    She stood up and made a few steps, then suddenly felt dizzy.


    "Eh¡­" Lin Qiao felt head suddenly became so heavy that it nearly threw her to the ground. She shambled slightly, then leaned against the back of the chair next to her, propping her head with a palm.


    "Chief!" Shen Yujen, who was sorting files, gave a start when she saw Lin Qiao shamble and bump into a chair. She hurriedly dropped the files and stepped up to Lin Qiao.


    "Chief, what''s wrong?" Her voice was dry but high-pitched. That voice made Lin Qiao a little uncomfortable.


    Lin Qiao buried her forehead in her palm and knitted her brows into a deep frown. After taking a long breath, she slowly stood straight.


    "I''m fine. Tell Duan Juan to inform Lin Hao that I''ll go to him for a check-up later. Tell him to be ready," Lin Qiao said to Shen Yujen when the dizziness eased a little. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "Okay," Shen Yujen responded. While looking at Lin Qiao with concern, she quickly stepped backward to the door and said a few words to Duan Juan, who was standing by the door.


    On hearing what she said, Duan Juan was slightly surprised. She stuck her head into the room to look at Lin Qiao and saw the latter standing beside the chair motionlessly with her eyes closed, brows knitted. She did look unwell.


    "Just send someone to inform Lin Hao," Shen Yujen said to Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan turned back and nodded, then left to do that.

 827 The Energy Leakage

    As Lin Qiao recovered from the dizziness, she felt her energy flowing out of the zombie nucleus which was located in her brain.


    Her energy was leaking! She tried to control it, but failed. She couldn''t bring the energy back into her nucleus.


    She sensed the energy flow downward along her spine, then move to the front and gather into her lower abdomen at last.


    That was¡­


    Lin Qiao was surprised. Her energy had flowed to Viney. It felt exactly like how Viney absorbed the energies from the energy nuclei that she put against her belly before.


    What was happening? Was Viney awake?


    Before, Viney was always awake when she absorbed energies. The absorption never happened when while she was in sleep.


    Lin Qiao was confused, worried, and scared. She didn''t know what was happening, and she was worried if it was some kind of accident that caused Viney to absorb her energy like that.


    "How do you feel? Can you walk?" Duan Juan sent one of her men to Lin Hao, then quickly turned around and walked into the conference room. She looked at Lin Qiao with concern, automatically raising her arms to help her.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes and quickly glanced at her stomach, then said, "I''m fine¡­"


    She took a deep breath and slowly raised one foot to make a step without the help of the two by her sides.


    Just now, the dizziness came so suddenly that she was unprepared. She still felt a little dizzy now, but apart from that, there was no other discomfort. Her energy was flowing into her lower stomach endlessly. That didn''t give her any bad feeling, but she couldn''t tell if it would be harmful for Viney, or if anything bad would happen when she forcibly stopped the energy flow.


    Thinking about Viney''s safety, Lin Qiao turned a little anxious. But still, she had to remain calm.


    The medical department wasn''t far away from the administration hall. When Lin Qiao walked into the medical department with worry, Lin Hao ran out to see her and hurriedly came over.


    "What''s wrong? What happened?" Lin Hao asked her with a serious look.


    "Let''s get in," Lin Qiao held her breath and headed straight into his consulting room.


    It had been a couple of minutes, but Viney was still absorbing her energy. No other part of her body felt uncomfortable though.


    Lin Hao followed Lin Qiao into the consulting room while the others waited outside. At that time, Lin Hao repeated his question.


    "What happened? Are you feeling unwell?"


    "She''s absorbing my energy¡­ I can''t control it. My energy has been flowing down to my belly from my brain. No other feelings," Lin Qiao said as she looked at her lower abdomen and put a hand on it.


    With a slight frown, Lin Hao thought for a moment, then turned and opened another door to let her in as he said, "Get in, lie on the bed. I''ll give you a check-up."


    Lin Qiao walked in and saw a small bed with all kinds of devices by the side. She lay down uneasily.


    Lin Hao walked in and put on a pair of gloves. While closing the door, he noticed that Lin Qiao was wearing a deep frown the whole time. So, he comforted her, "Sister, relax! It should be fine if you don''t feel any discomfort. Don''t be so nervous! You need to relax."


    Lin Qiao automatically took a deep breath. She didn''t even need air actually. Taking deep breaths was only a human habit that she had. It was also a way to comfort herself.


    Lin Hao walked to the bedside and lifted her cloth, then lowered her pants slightly. He first observed her slightly bulged belly, then put a palm on it and gently pressed.


    Lin Qiao''s body controlled a strong energy, so Lin Hao''s palm instantly felt a burning heat.


    He didn''t feel anything unusual with his palm, so he picked up the device to scan Lin Qiao''s uterus.


    "Did this happen before?" Lin Hao asked during the scanning.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and responded, "No, it''s the first time. It was a bit serious at first, as I nearly passed out. It''s much better now. This energy flow is making me feel very dizzy though, and my head seems to be swelling. I don''t feel anything from my belly. It''s like how she absorbs energy nuclei before. But this time, she''s absorbing my energy."


    ''She didn''t even warn me!'' she complained in her head.


    Lin Hao continued the scanning with a serious look. A while later, he stopped and dropped his head to think.


    "How is it? Is there any problem?" Lin Qiao asked nervously.


    Lin Hao raised his head as he looked at her and said, "There''s no big problem. The baby is healthy¡­"


    He paused briefly to think, then continued, "Did she absorb a large amount of your energy?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No. Only about one percent so far. It never stopped."


    Based on the current absorption rate, Lin Qiao believed that her energy would dry out in less than three months.


    "Maybe you should stay here for a couple of days for observation. I think you can try to absorb some energy nuclei. In that way, you''ll at least be able to keep nourishing the baby," Lin Hao thought for a moment and said.


    "Nourishing?" Lin Qiao looked at Lin Hao with confusion when she heard that word.


    Lin Hao explained with, "Normally, a baby would have started to absorb nourishment from the mother in this phase. Your body is special. You don''t have the normal kinds of nourishments, so the baby automatically chose to absorb your energy. I guess she won''t be absorbing anything else but your energy now."


    Lin Qiao knew that Lin Qiao used to put energy nuclei on her belly for the baby to absorb, so the baby would have the nourishment it needed.


    "Is that so?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    Lin Hao couldn''t say for sure yet. "I''m not sure," she said, "It''s only a guess. I still need to make some observations to confirm it. So, you should stay here for a few days. I''m going to arrange a room for you now."


    In spite of Lin Hao''s uncertainty, Lin Qiao relaxed a little upon seeing the look on his face. She knew her brother well. He wouldn''t be so calm if he were really unconfident.


    "Alright, I get it," she nodded.


    Soon, Lin Hao arranged a quiet and clean room for Lin Qiao.


    The news that Lin Qiao stayed in the hospital soon went out. The first one who rushed into her room nervously was Mrs. Lin.


    After her were Lin Wenwen, Yuan Tianxing, and some others. Lin Feng and his wife followed right behind them


    Knowing that Lin Qiao was only having a little problem that was waiting to be figured out, the people relaxed a little. Yuan Tianxing didn''t know that Lin Qiao was pregnant, but he was still worried about her health. Even though he had given up on pursuing her, he still couldn''t help but pay attention to her and care for her. He had loved her for so many years after all. Giving up on her was not easy.

 828 The Condition Was Stable

    "Chief, Miss. Lu is in the hospital," Xiao Licheng received the news the next day and immediately reported to Wu Chengyue about it.


    The faint smile disappeared on Wu Chengyue''s face when he heard that. "What''s wrong? Is it bad?" he asked with a calm tone. While speaking, he walked toward his office. He just had a meeting with the other base leaders. The news had stunned him a little.


    The zombie lady''s body was already different from the bodies of normal humans. If there was really a problem, the doctors might not be able to fix it. Was the baby having a problem?


    Thinking about that, Wu Chengyue had his heart leaping. Yet, he still managed to stay composed.


    "I think there''s no big problem. I heard that she needs to stay there for a few days under observation," Xiao Licheng found it strange too. Many senior managers in All Beings Base knew what their Chief really was. He suspected that they lied about why their Chief was in the hospital. Maybe their Chief wasn''t sick; maybe their Chief was doing some kind of experiment about zombies.


    Due to Lin Qiao''s special identity, the information that Xiao Licheng gathered wasn''t detailed enough. He knew that she was in the hospital, because that wasn''t a secret.


    Hearing that Miss. Lu was staying in the hospital for observation, Wu Chengyue felt that his guess was right.


    "Get ready. I''ll take Ling Ling to visit her now," Wu Chengyue frowned subtly.


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng quickly turned and left to make arrangements.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was lying on the bed. One day had passed since she first felt dizzy. By now, the energy flow had become smaller, from one percent to one-three-hundredth. The condition seemed to have been stabilizing.


    Apart from the fact that her energy had been constantly flowing to her uterus, she felt no other discomfort. And currently, she had regained control of her energy.


    Lin Hao told her not to stop Viney from absorbing her power, because that might affect the baby''s development.


    "I think it''s getting stable. I just can''t tell how long will the energy absorption last. It might be days, or months," Lin Hao said to the others in the room while writing something down for the record.


    Lin Wenwen and Mrs. Lin were also in the room.


    "Will it harm our sister?" Lin Wenwen was still worried. She had asked that same question a few times, and she didn''t even notice.


    "So far, our sister isn''t feeling any discomfort, so I think it won''t hurt her. But, I can''t tell for sure about what may happen in the future. After all, it''s the first time we have even heard about this kind of condition. The future is unpredictable," Lin Hao sighed. He had been telling his family only the good side of his guess, so they wouldn''t be too worried. But deep down, he was preparing himself for the worst. About that, he had talked to Lin Qiao. She needed to have some mental preparations at least.


    "It''s okay. Viney is so smart. She won''t let anything happen to herself or me." Seeing the worried look of her sister and mother, Lin Qiao felt warm as she comforted them with a smile.


    Lin Qiao knew that Mrs. Lin had gradually accepted her current look. At first, she did have some ill feelings when looking at her daughter, who was with someone else''s face. She never talked about it though.


    But at present, she had already accepted Lin Qiao''s current appearance and nature deep down. That was why she was so worried about her now.


    At night when she was alone in the room, Lin Qiao took out a zombie nucleus and put it on her palm to absorb it. Her own nucleus remained the same. Once it was saturated, it couldn''t absorb more energy. She hadn''t been able to break out of the saturated state.


    Without breaking through that saturated state, she would never be able to enter level-eight.


    She let out all zombies in her space, except for Mo Yan and his female zombie, as well as the three creatures.


    Mo Yan was sitting in his room. He had been in the space for a few days. There was no day or night in the space, but his watch helped him to keep a track of time.


    He had been feeling hungry these days, which might be because of his broken nucleus.


    He wanted meat!


    Every time that thought popped up in his mind, he thought of those alive human hearts that he had had before, fresh and sweet. However, only zombies and mutated animals lived in the space. He had no appetite for those at all. The only thing that was able to quench his hunger was the lake water.


    Mo Yan had also discovered that the water in the house he lived in gave out the same kind of aroma as the water in the lake. But, he had also sensed a scary pressure from the lake, which forbade him from approaching that area.


    In fact, he had sensed the same aroma from Lin Qiao.


    That zombie lady''s vibe was strange. It contained the aroma from the lake and another smell, which was unique. Her vibe was attractive, and also intimidating.


    He had nothing to do in the space, and Lin Qiao had brought all the other zombies away. Sometimes, he sat by the window, looking at the giant black snake chasing behind the zombie dog and the mushroom; at other times, he strolled near the field downstairs or stood by the lake for hours.


    The female zombie followed him everywhere, healing him with her power every day.


    Lin Qiao might have done something to improve her healing power, as her power worked much better in the space than outside. But still, it was only able to fix Mo Yan''s broken nucleus very slowly.


    "Roar¡­" ''I can absorb the water here.''


    The female zombie stood behind Mo Yan and looked at the lake that was about five meters away from her as she roared to Mo Yan abruptly.


    Mo Yan turned to look at her and nodded.


    He knew that the lake water contained a strong energy. He had drunk some of the water a couple of days ago, and had surely sensed the energy. He was able to absorb the energy. As the female zombie was also able to absorb it, he guessed that all zombies could absorb the energy from the water.


    However, he didn''t dare to go into the lake, and neither did the female zombie.


    The female zombie stayed silent. She only wanted to share her discovery with Mo Yan. Mo Yan turned and walked toward the house, and the female zombie quietly followed him.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lu Tong had started planning something else. He had been watching Yuan Tianxing lately. He found that the latter went to the hospital every afternoon, but didn''t know whom he was visiting.


    As a common resident in the base, he didn''t know that Lin Qiao was in the hospital. So, he was curious when he saw Yuan Tianxing go to the hospital every single day.


    He first followed Yuan Tianxing, but then saw a group of soldiers guarding one of the entrances of the medical department. He didn''t try to get in recklessly, but stayed around to see if anyone else could have access. After observation, he found that people weren''t allowed in the area that was guarded by those soldiers.

 829 Bumped into Him On Purpose

    Since he wasn''t allowed to enter the building, he decided to wait outside. He was not trying to visit someone in the building anyway.


    Yuan Tianxing and his people were heading toward the entrance of the medical department. Around a corner, someone suddenly came up. He wasn''t looking at Yuan Tianxing, but at the other side.


    "Oh," Yuan Tianxing didn''t manage to stop in time, and ended up bumping into that person.


    "Be careful!" Thankfully, he reacted fast enough to pull up that person, who was falling to the ground.


    "Are you okay?" He looked at him and asked.


    That was a pretty young man, slim, a little pale, wearing thin clothes. His lips were as pale as his face, which made him look unhealthy. One side of his head was covered in gauze. It seemed that he was injured.


    Yuan Tianxing found the young man''s face to be familiar. He might have seen him somewhere before.


    "Eh¡­ De-deputy Chief! Sorry¡­ I-I''m fine," Lu Tong felt a little dizzy. After realizing what had happened and seeing Yuan Tianxing''s face, he paused briefly and then spoke carefully.


    Yuan Tianxing relaxed the grip on his arm, then said to him with concern while smiling, "I''m sorry! Are you really okay? Your head seems to have been injured. Do tell us if you don''t feel well."


    Lu Tong hurriedly shook his head and said in a panic, "Ah¡­ I''m really fine! Thank you, Deputy Chief¡­ I¡­ I wasn''t looking at the road. It''s my fault! Sorry!"


    Seeing the young man act scared and panicked, Yuan Tianxing kept the smile on his face and said with a gentle voice, "It''s alright. I wasn''t looking at the road either. I think I''ve seen you before¡­ Where?"


    He wore a curious look when saying that.


    Lu Tong was happy to hear that. But still, he responded in an awkward way, "I¡­ I think I might have one of those faces¡­ Um¡­ If everything is okay, can I leave now?"


    While speaking, he glanced at the entrance of the medical department carefully.


    "Oh, sure. But, are you really okay?" Seeing the look on Lu Tong''s face, Yuan Tianxing felt that the young man might be very afraid of him. He seemed to be timid, like a little rabbit.


    "I''m fine, fine! I''ll¡­ be going. See you, Deputy Chief!" Lu Tong hurriedly shook his head, then quickly turned and moved to the side. After that, he trotted away without looking back.


    As he turned his back to Yuan Tianxing and his people, he curved his lips in a complacent smile.


    "I feel I''ve seen him before, but I don''t remember where¡­" Yuan Tianxing frowned slightly and murmured.


    "Deputy Chief, he''s the one who saved a worker when you were at the construction site the last time. He was holding the worker who nearly fell off the scaffold," Lu Junjie, who was behind Yuan Tianxing, stepped forward and said.


    Yuan Tianxing slightly widened his eyes and said knowingly, "Oh! It''s him! No wonder I found him looking so familiar¡­ Let''s go! Junjie, send someone after him to see if he''s really fine. I''m worried that I might have hurt him just now."


    That young man looked so weak and fragile, so he really worried that he might have hurt him accidentally.


    "Yes, sir!" Lu Junjie nodded and responded. He thought for a moment, then added, "Deputy Chief, he''s also a space-possessor, at level-three."


    Yuan Tianxing paused briefly, then kept walking as he asked, "Oh, space possessor? We only have two space possessors in our base currently. He''s the one who arrived along with the second batch of people from Hades Base, right? What''s his name again¡­"


    He thought briefly, then continued, "Wait, he''s a space possessor, so why was he doing heavy works at the construction site? He should have an allowance. Also, why is his head injured? Go and find out."


    Space possessors should be protected. All Being Base was a new base, but was surely able to take care of a space possessor. Why was he still doing a heavy job at the construction site?


    And his injury¡­


    Thinking about that, Yuan Tianxing frowned while his gentle vibe grew slightly cold.


    "Yes, sir!" Lu Junjie responded again.


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying watched the whole thing happen from distance. They saw Lu Tong waiting around the corner, then pretending to walk out carelessly once he heard Yuan Tianxing''s footsteps.


    After talking to Lin Qiao, Lin Wenwen decided to follow her suggestions. She would not interfere, but would like to see if Lu Tong was really able to drug Yuan Tianxing eventually.


    "Will he be able to put Tianxing down?" Lin Wenwen abruptly asked herself.


    "I don''t know. But, he has successfully caught Deputy Chief''s attention. Aren''t you gonna do anything about it?" said Long Qingying expressionlessly.


    "I need to prove one thing, so I''m gonna leave him for now. Let''s see if he can really reach to that step," Lin Wenwen said with a meaningful look in her eyes.


    "That step? Which step?" Long Qingying finally wore curiosity on her face.


    Lin Wenwen woke up from the self-talking as she shook her head and said, "Nothing. Let''s wait and see! That Lu Tong is very ambitious."


    On the other side, Lu Tong, of course, didn''t leave for real. He first pretended to be strong in front of Yuan Tianxing, but as he walked a short distance away, he suddenly put a hand on his forehead and the other against the wall to support his body. Then, he softly leaned against the wall.


    The surrounding people saw him and quickly came over. Lei Yao, who was sent after him by Lu Junjie, hurriedly ran over as well.


    Soon, Lu Tong, who had ''passed out'', was sent into the emergency clinic.


    ¡­


    In another room in the medical department, Lin Qiao was sitting on her bed, reading a file. Shen Yujen walked in not long after Lu Tong was brought into the emergency room.


    "Chief, the show you talked about is going to start," Shen Yujen closed the door, then walked to her bed smilingly. Lin Qiao lifted her eyes and gave her a glance blandly, then went back to the file while asking, "What''s going on now?"


    "The man named Lu Tong just deliberately bumped into Deputy Chief Yuan at downstairs, then passed out while walking away," said Shen Yujen with a smile.


    Lin Qiao had asked her to send someone after the person that Lin Wenwen was watching. As a result, her people found Lu Tong, and that he had his eyes on Deputy Chief Yuan.


    Except for Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying, Lin Qiao''s people had too seen Lu Tong wait for Yuan Tianxing around that corner before the latter arrived.


    That was why Shen Yujen said that he bumped into Yuan Tianxing deliberately.


    "How did Yuan Tianxing react?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "He seemed not to find anything wrong. But, he has started paying attention to Lu Tong. He has sent his people to look into Lu Tong''s background," Shen Yujen couldn''t help but admit that Lu Tong had done a good job. He looked so weak and vulnerable, and Yuan Tianxing was a nice and protective man. Indeed, it was easy for him to catch Yuan Tianxing''s attention.

 830 How Do You Feel

    Lu Tong had no idea how many people had been watching his every move. When he ''woke up'' in the ward, he saw Yuan Tianxing sitting on the couch by the bedside, just like how he expected.


    "Eh-hem¡­" Lu Tong coughed slightly. Yuan Tianxing immediately looked at him.


    "You''re awake. How do you feel? Is your head still aching?" Yuan Tianxing dropped the file in his hand and stood up to walk to the bed. His handsome face showed a look of concern.


    "I¡­ I''m fine," Lu Tong''s voice was a little dry. He made that voice on purpose.


    Yuan Tianxing poured him a cup of water, then helped him up from the bed and said, "Have some water. You are not healthy¡­ Don''t work too hard. You are a space possessor, so I assume you get an allowance from the base. You don''t need to work at the construction site."


    Lu Tong didn''t take over the cup, but directly drank from it. Then, he shook his head and said, "It''s not enough¡­ I¡­ I want to move out of my flat and live alone. I still need a lot of credits for that¡­"


    He embarrassedly lowered his head while speaking, seemingly not daring to look at Yuan Tianxing in the eyes. He tried to make Yuan Tianxing think that he didn''t mean to mention that, but only said it to answer the question.


    He knew that Yuan Tianxing would probably arrange a single flat for him, but he could not let the latter know how he really thought.


    Space possessors were seen as rare resources, like water-powered people. Therefore, they had special welfare in every base.


    "You want to live alone? That''s simple. We have plenty of rooms in the base now. You''re a space possessor. For your safety, we do need to let you have your own flat," Yuan Tianxing smiled gently as he put the empty cup aside while comforting him.


    Lu Tong had his eyes glowing, as if he was so happy to hear that. But soon, he dropped his head again and said, "No¡­ I¡­ I want to earn my own flat by myself¡­ Thank you, Deputy Chief. I really appreciate your kindness."


    He was thrilled on the inside, yet he still rejected the offer and acted like someone who had backbone.


    Hearing what he said, Yuan Tianxing made eye-contact with the other man in the ward.


    "Look at yourself¡­ You should rest now. If you''re not strong enough, how will you be able to go out and find supplies with the army in the future?" said Du Yuanxing with a serious face.


    Du Yuanxing was there to see Yuan Tianxing for work. He heard what happened, then came into the ward and saw someone he knew. So, he stayed there.


    "What happened to your head? Chen Hao and his people have all died. I think no one will want to hurt you now. Do you have any new enemies?" Du Yuanxing looked at the gauze on his head with a frown.


    "I¡­ I don''t know! That day¡­ I was walking¡­ and suddenly got hit on the head¡­ I passed out after a great pain¡­ I don''t know who attacked me¡­" Lu Tong acted very scared. He wasn''t like that when Du Yuanxing saw him the last time.


    Du Yuanxing looked at him and frowned with confusion. Lu Tong didn''t look like that earlier when he was interrogated. Why was he acting so scared now?


    He glanced at Yuan Tianxing who was on the other side of the room. He felt strange about the whole thing, but didn''t know why.


    "It''s my fault this time. I accidentally bumped into this injured man," said Yuan Tianxing to Du Yuanxing. "Rest well," he then continued to Lu Tong, "I''ll invite you for dinner as my apology when you''re discharged from the hospital. Don''t you worry about your accommodation. I''ll make some arrangements for you." After saying that, he turned back to Du Yuanxing and continued, "Yuanxing, arrange a single flat for this man."


    "Yes, sir!" Du Yuanxing nodded.


    Then, Yuan Tianxing smiled at Lu Tong mildly and said, "You should stay here and rest. I still have work to do, so I''ll head back to my office."


    "I''m deeply sorry for wasting your time. Please get back to your work, Deputy Chief," Lu Tong sat up from the bed and said to Yuan Tianxing apologetically. The humble smile on his face made him look like a very well-educated young man.


    As Yuan Tianxing and Du Yuanxing left, the smile on his face was replaced by a perky grin.


    His plan had worked well. As he expected, Yuan Tianxing easily promised him a single flat, and was going to invite him for dinner.


    That was a great surprise! He was thinking about how to make Yuan Tianxing agree to have a meal together with him, so he could use the drug on him. Yuan Tianxing normally ate in his office, so Lu Tong couldn''t think of a way to put the drug in this food.


    Of course, he didn''t get close to Yuan Tianxing only for a single flat. He needed to be able to rely on the latter. He planned to make Yuan Tianxing do something to hurt him, and then feel guilty for him. In that way, Yuan Tianxing would be willing to take extra care of him to make it up for him, and he would get whatever he wanted easily.


    While Lu Tong was imagining how great his life would be after his plan succeeded, Yuan Tianxing said to Du Yuanxing on the other side, "You said that all his enemies have died, right? So, how did he get injured this time?"


    Du Yuanxing responded a little confusedly, "He was with a group of people on his way from Hades Base to here. He knew a secret about one of those men, and the secret had something to do with Deputy Chief Lin''s wife. Therefore, after they arrived at our base, that man planned to frame Lu Tong and get him killed, so he wouldn''t leak the secret. But, that man was stupid enough to involve Xiaolu and Tongtong in his plan¡­"


    After explaining to Yuan Tianxing about the relationship between Lu Tong and Chen Hao, Du Yuanxing added, "Those people have been taken care of. If there are some other people who might want him dead, that would probably be the group of commoners who arrived together with them."


    He was talking about Wang Jian and his people.


    "However," Du Yuanxing continued, "no one saw the people who attacked him that day. No suspicious people were found nearby either."


    "That''s weird," Yuan Tianxing scratched his chin while walking.


    At that moment, a group of people arrived at the base. They parked their car before the zombie wall in the middle of the road, waiting there.


    "Do you think she''ll send a person or a zombie here?" said a doll-faced girl who was standing before the others. An expressionless, handsome young man responded with a bland tone, "I don''t know."


    Sitting beside the young man was a huge black dog. It was at about the same height as the girl, who was around one-hundred and fifty centimeters tall, when it was sitting on the ground. The dog would be taller than the girl''s waist when it stood up.


    Standing behind the two of them and the dog were a few people, who had their faces wrapped up in scarves.

 831 The Guests

    Lei Cheng and Ye Yingyue didn''t wait long before they saw an old zombie and a little zombie. The zombie crowd slowly moved to both sides of the road, then the two zombies walked out from behind the crowd. Lei Cheng turned and gave the weirdly dressed man behind him a questioning look, who nodded in response.


    "Are you from Green Mountain Base?" Old Guo pushed his sunglasses upward, as if it was a pair of presbyopic glasses. He asked the question while knowing the answer.


    "Eh? How do you know?" Ye Yingyue popped her eyes with surprise. She couldn''t tell that Old Guo was a zombie, but gave the zombie boy who was wearing a mask and a pair of sunglasses a few more glances.


    "I know it because you''re not from our base. Except for the people from our base, only you guys work with zombies. Besides, you came here so boldly," Old Guo snorted, then glanced at the few silent people with a cold smile.


    Ye Yingyue paused briefly with confusion, then looked at Lei Cheng.


    "We want to make a deal with your base, but we don''t know if your leader is interested. Can you please take us to her?" Lei Cheng said expressionlessly and coldly. The vibe that he gave out was cold as well.


    Old Guo nodded, then folded his hands upon his cane. Instead of responding immediately, he looked at the other quietly. Lei Cheng looked back at the old zombie in the eyes. He couldn''t see the latter''s eyes though. With silence, they confronted each other with their vibes.


    Ye Yingyue looked at both of them with confusion.


    At that moment, the old man nodded and said, "Get in." After saying that, he turned and walked into the base together with the zombie boy.


    Lei Cheng and Ye Yingyue glanced at each other, then quickly turned and got into the car, following the two zombies.


    At the same time, another group of people arrived at another entrance of the base. Instead of waiting outside the zombie wall, they drove straight into the base.


    The zombie automatically cleared the road for them upon seeing their cars and sensing the familiar scent. As they drove into the base, they jammed the road again. A small grass ball was hanging under each of the rear view mirrors of Wu Chengyue''s car. Contained in those small grass balls was Lin Qiao''s dried blood.


    Lin Qiao was wearing a loose-fitting hospital dress, sitting on a chair in her sick room and reading files. After she read a file, she would sign her name on it if it were good, or leave her comments if there were problems, and then put it to the side. It was as if the sickroom was her new office.


    Soon, someone knocked on the door. After that, Shen Yujen pushed the door open and walked in, "Chief, Chief Wu from Sea City Base is here."


    A series of footstep sounds was heard along with her voice. Before long, Lin Qiao saw Wu Chengyue''s smiling, handsome face, and Wu Yueling. The two of them came in hand in hand.


    Wu Yueling dropped her father''s hand at the sight of Lin Qiao, then happily ran up to her.


    Shen Yujen closed the door after they came in.


    "What''s going on? Can zombies get sick too?" Wu Chengyue walked over. As Lin Qiao didn''t show any intention of standing up, he sat down in the chair in front of hers.


    "Can I help you?" Lin Qiao stopped working and looked at Wu Yueling, who had run to her legside, then reached out to pinch her pink little cheeks. Meanwhile, she glanced at Wu Chengyue blandly.


    "Isn''t that obvious? I''m worried about you," Wu Chengyue looked at her face smilingly, glancing at her lower stomach, intentionally or not. He couldn''t tell anything from Lin Qiao''s face, which was originally pale. Her eyes looked like the eyes of normal people, sharp and bright. She didn''t seem sick and weak at all.


    He had no idea how zombies might look like when they were weak and sick, but judging by Lin Qiao''s calm look, he figured that she was fine.


    Clearly, there was no big problem.


    "You look good. If there''s no big problem, why are you still here?" He said, then turned his eyes to her stomach while thinking. That area of her body was covered under the loose fitting hospital dress, so he couldn''t see anything from it.


    With composure, Lin Qiao let Wu Chengyue stare straight at her belly while responding to his question coldly, "Chief Wu, this is none of your business."


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes with a smile. The warm look on his face cooled down a little as he said, "Don''t always say that. I''m the father of your baby after all. How can I not care about the mother of my baby?"


    Lin Qiao sneered as she looked at him and replied, "If it weren''t for this baby, you wouldn''t look at me, would you? In the end, all that you want is the baby."


    "It''s not true," Wu Chengyue denied without thinking when he heard her words and noticed the cold smile on her face. Her words made him uncomfortable, and also a little sad. He didn''t think that way, yet she said so. Was he that kind of person in her eyes?


    The smile on his face faded. He looked at her in the eyes with no expression and said, "Have you always seen me as that kind of person? Do you think that I''m pursuing you for some other purpose?"


    Lin Qiao slightly raised her chin. The cold smile was still seen on her face. "Am I wrong? You should hate me the most since the beginning, shouldn''t you?"


    She didn''t understand why Wu Chengyue suddenly proposed to her and why he had been pursuing her during the past two months. However, she would never believe that he liked her for real.


    The original owner of her body was so detestable, and she raped him before she died. How could he possibly fall in love with her if his brain were working normally?


    At first, Wu Chengyue did have a purpose. He wanted to be responsible for the baby, and he wanted the zombie lady to heal Ling Ling. That was why he made the decision to propose to her.


    But later on, as he got to know her better and better, he started feeling something else. He constantly recalled what happened that day in the lake, and that feeling was growing stronger and stronger, more and more uncontrollable.


    He couldn''t help but want to know everything about her, and what she was doing. He thought of her sharp yet charming eyes and her body all the time. Recently, he realized that he was obsessed with her.


    She had turned him down before, and he didn''t care back then. But now, when she said those kind of words again, he felt a faint bitterness and sadness.


    With those thoughts, Wu Chengyue wore a slightly sullen face as he looked at her in the eyes, said, "As you said, I did hate you at the beginning. But now, things are different. You should know that."


    Seeing Wu Chengyue''s serious face, Lin Qiao had her heart sinking. She frowned slightly and said, "Are you here to argue with me?"


    "Of course not!" Wu Chengyue paused briefly, then eased the unhappy look on his face.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling gently patted Lin Qiao''s thigh and looked at her with a pair of watery eyes.

 832 Wesll Talk About It Later

    Wu Chengyue took a deep breath and then let it out. After that, he said to her with his standard mild smile, "I''m here to see if something is wrong with your health. You seem fine, so if I have guessed right, the problem is with the baby, isn''t it?"


    Pausing briefly, he continued before Lin Qiao could respond, "As the baby''s father, I think I have every right to know about the baby''s condition."


    Lin Qiao turned and looked outside. The room was pretty soundproof, so she didn''t worry that the others might hear him.


    "She''s fine," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    As Wu Chengyue had said, he had the right to know about the baby''s condition because he was the father. The baby''s soul might belong to the other baby that Lin Qiao had with that evil man, but now, she was Wu Chengyue''s baby. That was true.


    Thankfully, the baby''s blood had changed. Lin Qiao didn''t like Wu Chengyue, but he was better than that heartless man at least.


    At that moment, someone knocked on the door.


    "Come in," Lin Qiao responded, then turned and looked at the door. Wu Chengyue did the same.


    Shen Yujen opened the door and said to Lin Qiao, "Chief, one of Deputy Chief''s men came over and said that we have guests from Green Mountain Base. They want to make a deal with you. Deputy Chief wants to know what you think about it. Are you gonna meet them?"


    "Green Mountain Base? Deal?" Lin Qiao was surprised, "What do they want from us?" After saying that, she dropped her eyes, thinking about the purpose of those people while rubbing her chin.


    "Green Mountain Base? I noticed that Lan Lu looked at you in a strange way the whole time while we were in Huaxia," Wu Chengyue had a smiling face again as he said while thinking.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him. She knew that Lan Lu had already found out the secret of All Beings Base. Although, she believed that he wouldn''t leak that secret. Wu Chengyue did not know what Lan Lu and she were thinking, so in his eyes, Lan Lu seemed to be approaching her for some indecent purpose.


    "Accommodate them. I''ll see them in a couple of days. Who exactly are they?" Lin Qiao turned and asked Shen Yujen.


    "They''re five of them, a man, a girl, and three¡­ weird people with their faces covered. There''s also a dog," Shen Yujen hesitated briefly, then answered the question.


    "Em, I get it. Go," Lin Qiao nodded.


    After Shen Yujen left, Wu Chengyue kept sitting in the chair, looking at Lin Qiao silently. Lin Qiao spent a few seconds looking at him in the eyes, then asked, "Anything else?"


    Wu Chengyue sighed and said with a helpless smile, "Tell me, what exactly is going on with your body? Why are you staying here for observation if you''re really fine?"


    "Haven''t you just guessed it out?" Lin Qiao turned her eyes away coldly.


    Wu Chengyue immediately stood up. He wanted to walk to Lin Qiao, but hesitated to do it. With an eager look, he asked, "Really? What is it? Is it bad?"


    Judging by Lin Qiao''s calm look, he guessed that things might not be too serious. Yet, he still couldn''t help but feel worried and want to know. Her body condition was special, not like that of normal people. Any small problem could lead to an unpredictable result. Therefore, Wu Chengyue couldn''t tell if the current situation was good or bad.


    "Don''t worry. She''s fine," said Lin Qiao. ''I''m the one who''s having a problem,'' she thought.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Chengyue blandly, then picked up the file and kept reading. Seeing that, Wu Chengyue realized that she wouldn''t tell more. He calmed himself down, then sat back into the chair expressionlessly.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise and asked, "Aren''t you leaving?"


    Wu Chengyue shook his head firmly and said, "Not unless you tell me what is going on." The persistent look emerged on his face again.


    Even if she refused to tell him, he would find it out himself. He had noticed that the zombie lady was close to the doctor from Lin Family. Obviously, the doctor should know about her body condition.


    Thinking about Lin Hao, Wu Chengyue immediately realized that he was still single! He was young, handsome, and a doctor!


    In the post-apocalyptic era, doctors had very high status.


    Picturing the young and handsome doctor lift the zombie lady''s cloth and put his hand on her belly, Wu Chengyue felt very uncomfortable.


    With confusion, Lin Qiao watched Wu Chengyue''s expressionless face wear a sour look. She unwittingly raised a finger to scratch her chin while looking at Wu Chengyue curiously.


    ''What is this man thinking?'' she wondered.


    ¡­


    On the other side of the base, Yuan Tianxing met with Lei Cheng and his people in the conference room. After receiving the message from Shen Yujen, he said to them smilingly, "Our Chief has agreed to talk to you about the deal. However, she''s not in convenience right now. You may have to stay here for a few days."


    "It''s okay, it''s okay! We''d like to walk around in your base. Deputy Chief Yuan, you wouldn''t mind, would you?" Ye Yingyue popped her big, watery eyes excitedly. She didn''t mind staying in the base for a couple of days more. On the contrary, she seemed to be very interested in the new base.


    "Of course not!" Yuan Tianxing smiled gently toward that pretty and lovely girl. Then, he nodded and said, "My people will escort you to your rooms." While speaking, he glanced at the three who had their faces covered.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao''s body condition never changed in the next couple of days. Lin Hao observed her closely, but didn''t notice anything strange. Therefore, he discharged her.


    "You need to maintain your energy level, and don''t cut it off," Lin Hao reminded her about that one thing, but nothing else. The baby had only been absorbing a small amount of energy currently, but that amount might increase along with her growth.


    Lin Qiao nodded in agreement. She would not cut off Viney''s source of energy even if Lin Hao didn''t remind her so.


    Holding Lin Qiao''s medical record, Lin Hao glanced at Wu Chengyue with a weird look. Then, he turned back to Lin Qiao and wanted to say something, but didn''t.


    Three days ago, Wu Chengyue suddenly showed up in his office with a cold face and asked him about Lin Qiao''s condition. Lin Qiao was a special patient. Also, Lin Hao believed that she wouldn''t tell anyone else about her baby, except for her family.


    However, Wu Chengyue asked what was wrong with Lin Qiao''s baby straightforwardly. While asking that question, he had a very cold face and strong hostility.


    Wu Chengyue had always been a mild and smiling person, but at that moment, he looked at Lin Hao in such a cold and unfriendly way. The sensitive Lin Hao sensed an obvious jealousy.


    Then, he figured out a truth!


    Wu Chengyue was the baby''s father! His sister had still been trying to conceal that fact, yet the father had shown up already!


    Looking at the hostility and sourness in Wu Chengyue''s eyes, Lin Hao somehow felt good. But then, he started feeling unhappy, as he realized that Wu Chengyue might have taken his sister''s first-time after she switched to the new body.

 833 Yousre A Fake Zombie

    So, in the next couple of days, Wu Chengyue watched Lin Hao come to Lin Qiao''s room five times a day with great concern and touch her body right in front of him! Lin Hao called that ''check-ups'', but Wu Chengyue didn''t believe him.


    Wu Chengyue felt like he was going to explode. He wasn''t able to maintain the smile on his face. Once Lin Hao showed up, his smile faded.


    Lin Hao felt great to see that grumpy look on Wu Chengyue''s face, so he smiled delightedly.


    How could Lin Qiao not notice the change of the atmosphere between those two men? She rolled her eyes in her heart a thousand times, but still cooperated with her little brother. She wanted Wu Chengyue to keep misunderstanding her and Lin Hao. She hoped that he would think of her as a sl*tty woman and give up on pursuing her!


    Mildly, she smiled at Lin Hao and said, "Thank you, Doctor Lin. You''re so nice!"


    She made the words ''Doctor Lin'' sound very soft and gentle. Lin Hao shivered when he heard that, such that his hair even stood up. But still, he acted calmly and responded with laughter, "You''re welcome! If you really want to thank me, maybe we should have dinner together tonight. You are discharged today, so let''s celebrate."


    The two of them had dinner together all the time, but Wu Chengyue didn''t know about that.


    "No!" He disagreed without thinking.


    Lin Hao wasn''t afraid of him at all. He looked at Wu Chengyue with a sneer and said, "Eh? Chief Wu, what right do you have to say no? Everyone knows that you''re pursing our Chief, but our Chief didn''t accept you, did she? She can have dinner with anyone she wants, and doesn''t need your permission for it."


    Wu Chengyue''s face darkened instantly, yet he had nothing to say. He stared at Lin Hao''s smiling face cheerlessly, then turned to the zombie lady, who was also wearing a warm smile. He felt as if something was stuck in his chest. He couldn''t press it down or let it out, and that made him feel very uncomfortable.


    "Alright, Chief Wu. Doctor Lin is right. It''s my business," Lin Qiao joined the conversation, helped her brother to give Wu Chengyue a heavy strike.


    "Chief, I''ll be expecting the dinner tonight," Lin Hao turned up his lips corners and said a few words to Lin Hao, then turned and left.


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen were both standing by the door expressionlessly. At that moment, one of them had burst in laughter on the inside while the other felt pity for Wu Chengyue.


    Neither of them could hear the conversation that happened in the room, but they had guessed something out based on the scene in the room and the looks on the faces of the three.


    Duan Juan knew who Lin Qiao really was. So, seeing the interactions between her and Lin Hao, she immediately figured out what kind of show they had been putting up. Judging by Chief Wu''s dark face, Lin Qiao and her brother were definitely doing that on purpose. Poor Chief Wu!


    Meanwhile, Shen Yujen was seriously feeling sorry for Chief Wu, her precious leader. The woman that he liked was now with another man, and they acted intimately right in front of him. He must be so frustrated!


    "You''re right! I have no right to decide who you''ll have dinner with. You can do whatever you want," Wu Chengyue eased the anger in his heart and then said coldly. After that, he turned to Wu Yueling and said, "Ling Ling, we''re going home."


    Wu Yueling looked at her father''s face and felt that he was quite angry. With a little frightened heart, she obediently walked to Wu Chengyue''s side and held his hand. Meanwhile, she helplessly turned to look at Lin Qiao. She was reluctant to part with her Zombie Mommy, but her Daddy was angry now, so she decided to follow her Daddy home.


    Lin Qiao waved goodbye to Wu Yueling with a grin.


    At dinner, Lin Hao showed up alone.


    Lin Qiao was a zombie now. She no longer ate human food, but still remembered how to cook. She wasn''t able to tell if the food she made tasted good or bad though.


    "Try this. I haven''t cooked for a long time, so I don''t know if I flavored it well," Lin Qiao put a dish of vegetable on the table and then said to Lin Hao, who had already started eating.


    "A bit too salty¡­" Lin Hao put some vegetables in his mouth and chewed before he said.


    "Have you told him about my condition?" Lin Qiao poured herself a glass of water, then sat down in front of him and asked.


    Lin Hao glanced at her, then nodded and said, "Since he''s the father of your baby, he does have the right to know. We''re not counting on him for help, but can''t risk letting him accidentally affect you and the baby either."


    Lin Qiao nodded silently.


    Lin Hao took a sip of the soup, then looked at her and continued with, "So, since you guys have¡­ slept with each other, why is he still good and healthy? Are you a fake zombie?"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and responded with, "Would you like to try it yourself with a zombie girl? I''ll help you."


    Lin Hao nearly spouted the soup. He hurriedly shook his head and said, "No, no, I don''t want that. I''m only curious! After all, you''re the least zombie-like zombie I''ve ever seen!"


    Lin Qiao said to him with a wicked smile, "Girls are rare now. I''m worried that you may never find a girlfriend!"


    She was only kidding. She didn''t have the guts to let Lin Hao be with a zombie girl for real. Shen Yujen and Chen Yuting still didn''t dare to touch each other at the moment. Life was hard for them!


    Shen Yujen was now able to hide her sharp nails, so they might be able to hold hands. However, neither of them had the courage to kiss each other.


    Lin Hao was right, though. Not every zombie had the same kind of body condition as Lin Qiao did. If it weren''t for the energy in the lake, Wu Chengyue might have died already.


    "Sister, just tell me how did you¡­ eh, how did you do it? It''s not scientifically explicable, but I can study at it, and that might become a new possibility!" Lin Hao looked at Lin Qiao with glowing eyes.


    "You can''t study everything! Isn''t my baby enough for you to study? Do you also want to study that? Or, would you like to try it yourself?" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes, then changed the topic again.


    "Oi, I''m serious! Can''t you talk seriously?" Lin Hao glared at her with discontentment.


    Lin Qiao slapped on his head and said, "Why are you so interested in your sister''s sex life? Aren''t you ashamed?"


    "Damn! I asked the question very seriously, yet you responded in a dirty way! How am I supposed to study without you telling me how it happened? If I found an answer about that, I might be able to help Chen Yuting and his wife, as well as the other zombies!" Lin Hao was a little angry as his sister slapped his head. "Why don''t you understand?" He added.


    Lin Qiao was only joking with him. As he seemed to lose his temper, she laughed, "Alright, alright, I''ll tell you. We were at the bottom of the lake in my space. I think it had something to do with the energy in the lake.


    Lin Hao held his chopsticks with one hand and his rice bowl with the other. After hearing what Lin Qiao said, he thought for a moment and then murmured, "In the water? Do you both have to be in the water to do it safely?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "That''s probably true."

 834 The Show Is On

    "When did you and he develop that kind of relationship? And, what is going on between you two now?" Lin Hao felt that there was a story between her sister and Wu Chengyue. She was already pregnant, but still didn''t seem to accept him.


    "What do you mean? There isn''t that kind of relationship between me and him. We''re only in a cooperative relationship. You know who my body originally belonged to. What she did has nothing to do with me, okay?" Lin Qiao glanced at him and said.


    "Eh? Why did you sleep with him then? Was it just a one-night thing?" Lin Hao looked at her and asked another question.


    "Just eat your food. Why do you have so many questions?" Lin Qiao gave him a glare.


    Lin Hao dropped his head and focused on the food.


    "I''m telling you, you''re not allowed to tell the others that he''s the father of my baby¡­ not even Mom and Big Bro!" Lin Qiao warned him seriously.


    "Alright," Lin Hao mumbled to respond with rice in his mouth.


    ¡­


    At that time, Lu Tong had already moved into his new flat. He didn''t have the time to organize the place yet. It was a suite, including one bedroom, one living room, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a balcony. It was small, but fully functional.


    If Lin Wenwen saw the bedroom, she would immediately recognize it as the bedroom that she had seen in her mind.


    At the moment, Lu Tong was happily preparing the food he had bought from the canteen. The common residents in the base weren''t able to cook in their own kitchens. The electricity supply in the base was still short, so not every family could have it. The people who had it could only have it for a limited amount of time every day.


    Lu Tong believed that Yuan Tianxing would show up, because he had promised him. As far as he knew, Yuan Tianxing was a faithful person.


    Lu Tong traded a few zombie nuclei that he treasured for a few great dishes.


    He didn''t know that Lin Wenwen was hiding behind a window in the building across the road, watching his every move through a telescope.


    She had been having a strong feeling that things would go as she had seen in her mind. Yuan Tianxing was going to have dinner together with Lu Tong, and she felt that something was going to happen during the dinner.


    "I thought Deputy Chief was going to invite him for dinner. How come he''s having Deputy Chief over now?" Long Qingying looked at Lin Wenwen with confusion.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head. She had no idea what Lu Tong said to convince Yuan Tianxing to go to his place for dinner. But clearly, Lu Tong had a purpose!


    "Just wait and see. The show is on!" Lin Wenwen smiled coldly.


    Lu Tong invited Yuan Tianxing to his place for dinner and asked him to bring a bottle of wine as his apology. He made it very clear that the dinner had to take place in his new flat, because he also wanted it to be a housewarming gift. If Yuan Tianxing disagreed, his apology wouldn''t be accepted.


    As Lu Tong repeatedly emphasized that he had no friends to warm his new home, Yuan Tianxing accepted his invitation without much thought.


    Yuan Tianxing served the food on the table, then put two glasses of water on the table, before the two chairs. After that, he poured the drug that he got from Li Honglin into one glass of water. He expected Yuan Tianxing to drink it after dinner.


    As a Deputy Chief, Yuan Tianxing was, of course, careful with the food he ate. However, Lu Tong acted like a kind and upright person in front of him, so Yuan Tianxing believed that he wouldn''t do such things.


    Lu Tong looked so weak and vulnerable, after all. Yuan Tianxing had no reason to stay vigilant against him.


    As everything was prepared, Lu Tong curved his lips in a faint smile. However, thinking that he needed to make Yuan Tianxing lie upon him nakedly later after he was drugged, he turned his lip corners down, his eyes showing a hidden dislike.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao told Lin Hao to go after dinner, then heard Xie Dong report to her about all that Lu Tong had done, including how he got the drug from Li Honglin.


    "This Lu Tong is really wicked," said Lin Qiao expressionlessly.


    Yuan Tianxing was straight, and had no interest in men at all. However, Lu Tong tried to take advantage of him in such way. If his plan worked, Yuan Tianxing would certainly feel awful.


    Xie Dong stood straight by her side, his masculine face wearing no expression. Ever since he became a zombie, his face seemed to have lost the function of making expressions. He was always with a poker face.


    He didn''t respond to what Lin Qiao said, but Shen Yujen did. "I don''t think Wenwen is gonna let Lu Tong do it."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "She sure won''t! Lu Tong could have targeted at anyone, yet he chose Yuan Tianxing." Then, she said the exact same words as Lin Wenwen had said, "Let''s wait and see. The show is on!"


    ¡­


    Lu Tong didn''t wait long before he heard the footstep sounds and knocks on the door.


    "You''re here!" Lu Tong put on a bright smile as he opened the door. Seeing Yuan Tianxing standing by the door with his subordinates, he immediately greeted the other.


    Yuan Tianxing walked into the flat, his handsome face wearing a mild smile. "How do you like this place? Is it okay?"


    "It''s perfect! I''m so happy to have it!" Lu Tong smiled humbly, then watched Lu Junjie come in behind Yuan Tianxing while holding a bottle of wine and two glasses. Lu Junjie put the wine and the glass on the table, then looked at the food on the table and stood aside silently.


    Lu Tong gave him a few glances. He first guided Yuan Tianxing to his seat, then glanced at Lu Junjie again. He seemed to try to say something, but hesitated.


    "What''s wrong?" Yuan Tianxing noticed the look on his face.


    Lu Tong turned his eyes away from Lu Junjie, then responded awkwardly, "I¡­ I don''t like being watched while I''m eating¡­ Perhaps, he can eat together with us. Is that okay?"


    While speaking, he stood up, seemingly to get bowl and chopsticks for Lu Junjie.


    "No need! I''ll let him wait for me outside," Yuan Tianxing hurriedly raised a hand to stop him, then glanced at Lu Junjie. After all, most people didn''t like being watched while they were eating. That would make them feel stressed.


    Lu Junjie hesitated for two seconds. As Yuan Tianxing nodded at him, he turned and left, then conveniently closed the door from the outside.


    Lu Tong sighed with relief. He was truly relieved. He had a plan to make Yuan Tianxing''s subordinate leave, but didn''t know if it would work. Now, as Lu Junjie had left, he felt better.


    "You didn''t spend all you have for these dishes, did you? You didn''t need to make the dinner so luxurious, actually," Looking at the four dishes on the table that normal people could hardly afford, Yuan Tianxing sighed.


    "It''s a must. This is my housewarming dinner. I also need to thank you for your help. We surely need some good food. There has to be something that can go with the wine, right?" Lu Tong smiled shyly.

 835 The Second Superpower

    Lu Tong smiled like a little animal. Yuan Tianxing didn''t like weak and timid people like that, but he did spot a trace of strength from the former''s eyes. That was why he didn''t feel repulsion toward the latter.


    Besides, he bumped into Lu Tong while he was already injured. For that, Yuan Tianxing did feel sorry. After knowing that he was a space possessor, Yuan Tianxing believed that he would grow into a mobile storage room if he was cultivated well. In that way, he would become a helpful member of the base. Therefore, he asked Du Yuanxing to find Lu Tong a new flat.


    He was planning on inviting Lu Tong to a relatively rich dinner at the canteen to apologize to him. However, Lu Tong said that he wanted to have a housewarming dinner to celebrate. So, he invited Yuan Tianxing to have dinner at his place.


    At first, Yuan Tianxing didn''t want to go. However, he got soft-hearted somehow when he saw the eager, careful, and nervous look in Lu Tong''s eyes. At last, he accepted the offer, and promised to bring a bottle of wine.


    So, he went to Lu Tong''s flat, a little reluctantly though.


    "Alright, the food is still warm, so let''s start eating. Congratulations for having your new flat," Yuan Tianxing forgot about the slight unhappiness in his heart, then smilingly opened the bottle of wine and poured some in a glass. After that, he handed the glass to Lu Tong.


    "Thank you!" Lu Tong nodded smilingly, then took over the glass and toasted with Yuan Tianxing. While putting the glass near his lips, he dropped his eyes to conceal the delighted look in his eyes.


    He had been hiding his other superpower. That power he had was at merely level-three as well. It wasn''t supposed to affect Yuan Tianxing, who was at level-seven already. However, if he put up some acts and played some tricks to help, things might be different.


    Lu Tong made Yuan Tianxing think that he was a weak and vulnerable person, and also made him feel slightly sorry and guilty for him. So, Yuan Tianxing relaxed his vigilance against him and gave the other a chance to release his other superpower bit by bit to make him accept the invitation.


    None of the careless Yuan Tianxing, or Lin Qiao, and Lin Wenwen, who had been keeping an eye on Lu Tong, had guessed that he possessed another superpower.


    It was the spirit power.


    After drinking the first two glasses of wine silently, Yuan Tianxing and Lu Tong slowly started a conversation.


    "I think you''re drunk. Stop drinking," Yuan Tianxing looked at Lu Tong, who had red cheeks and misty eyes, as he said with laughter.


    "How can that be¡­ possible? I only had two glasses¡­ Let me tell you something¡­ On my way here¡­ Those people tried to ditch me on the road a few times, because I''m weak¡­ I would not have survived if I didn''t have their things stored in my space¡­" Lu Tong murmured. He sat tightly on his chair, but kept talking.


    He told Yuan Tianxing about his own stories, half real and half fake. He did seem drunk.


    Yuan Tianxing was a patient person. He looked at Lu Tong smilingly, listening to him while eating. He believed that after that dinner, no one would ever dare to bring Lu Tong trouble again. He had had dinner with Deputy Chief after all. Anyone who dared to hurt Lu Tong would be considered disrespectful to Yuan Tianxing.


    One hour later, the food was gone, yet Lu Tong still hadn''t stopped talking. He was constantly asking for more wine.


    Yuan Tianxing prepared to give him some water. He looked around and saw the two glasses of water that Lu Tong had prepared earlier. So, he picked up one glass and handed it to Lu Tong.


    "Here, here¡­ the wine you want¡­ Drink it."


    Lu Tong took over the water and prepared to drink it, but suddenly stared at Yuan Tianxing for a short while and said, "I drink, you drink¡­ Cheers! Cheers¡­ cheers¡­"


    Clearly, he wouldn''t drink the water until Yuan Tianxing toasted with him.


    Talking reasonably with a drunk person would be a waste of time. So, Yuan Tianxing sighed and picked up his glass wine. However, before the two glasses clang, Lu Tong pulled back his glass.


    "That is¡­ not right. Why is mine white and your red?" Lu Tong stared at Yuan Tianxing''s glass, looking very confused.


    Yuan Tianxing had no other choices but to drop the wine glass and pick up the other glass of water to toast with him.


    "Here, we''re having the same thing now," he said, then poured the water into his mouth. All he wanted was for Lu Tong to drink the water quickly, so he could drag him to bed and then leave.


    Watching Yuan Tianxing drink the glass of water up, Lu Tong had a bright glow escape his misty eyes, but it soon faded. He then raised his head to drink the water while hiding the excitement in his eyes.


    On the other side, Lin Wenwen quietly watched Lu Tong''s move through the telescope. After they both drank the water, Lu Tong lay his arms and head on the table and stopped moving. Yuan Tianxing stood up and walked to his side, then helped him up and moved toward the bedroom.


    "Here it goes," said Lin Wenwen with a cold look as the two went into the bedroom. Long Qingying had been watching too. She understood what Lin Wenwen was talking about. Yuan Tianxing was supposed to come out of the bedroom soon, but he didn''t.


    In the bedroom, Yuan Tianxing was dragged down to the bed by Lu Tong while he was putting the latter to the bed. They both fell into the bed. Then, he started feeling dizzy. He sat on the bed and supported his body with his arms as he shook his head. But, the harder he shook his head, the heavier his head became. Before he figured out what was going on, he lost his consciousness.


    Lu Tong lied on the bed at first. But, a couple of minutes later, he got up; he no longer shambled, and his face was wearing a calm look.


    He spent a few seconds looking at Yuan Tianxing, then bent over and pushed the latter''s shoulders as he called him, "Deputy Chief, Deputy Chief?"


    As Yuan Tianxing made no response at all, he sighed with relief. His plan was working well. Tomorrow, Yuan Tianxing would wake up to find himself lying upon Lu Tong nakedly. He would think of many ways to make it up for the latter.


    While thinking about that, he started taking off Yuan Tianxing''s clothes. After stripping Yuan Tianxing, he threw him to the middle of the bed and then took off his own clothes.


    He glanced at Yuan Tianxing''s slim and muscular nude, his eyes showing a faint dislike. But, he soon got rid of the repulsion. He stripped himself, then got onto the bed, preparing to drag Yuan Tianxing onto himself.


    Bang! The door was suddenly opened.


    Lu Tong gave a start, then immediately turned to the door.

 836 Caught In Bed

    "Who are you people! How can you break into my place!" Lu Tong popped her eyes as he looked at the people outside the door with disbelief.


    Lin Wenwen stood by the door and looked at Lu Tong, who was sitting on the bed nakedly. She had prepared herself, but still felt as if her eyes were going blind. She quickly turned to Yuan Tianxing, who was lying beside Lu Tong motionlessly, scanning the white and round butt cheeks before turning away while blushing.


    "Junjie!" She called Lu Junjie while turning away, then quickly dragged the expressionless Long Qingying outside and let the wall block the eye-burning scene in the room.


    Lu Tong was first shocked, then panicked a little. However, his spirit power allowed him to calm down quickly. "Wait! How dare you break into my home!"


    He looked nothing like someone who was caught committing a crime. On the contrary, he even calmly dragged over the quilt to cover himself.


    While he was talking, Lu Junjie walked in quickly and picked up a shirt from the bedside, then covered Yuan Tianxing''s lower body with it. Wei Jingchen and Xing Le, who followed him in, picked up some other clothes and threw them onto Lu Tong''s face.


    "Get dressed!"


    As so many people had shown up, Lu Tong did feel uncomfortable being naked. He put those clothes on while trying to figure out what was going on.


    Why did those people break in? Why at that time? He had asked around and learned that Lu Junjie and the other guards wouldn''t come in unless they heard Yuan Tianxing''s order. That was why he dared to drug Yuan Tianxing after the dinner and made the latter sleep together with him. When Yuan Tianxing woke up, his plan would be completed.


    How did those people find him? Why did they pick that moment to show up? Did someone know about his plan?


    Lin Wenwen looked around in the living room, then pointed at the two glasses that contained water earlier and said, "Take these as evidence."


    "Yes, ma''am!" Xiao Wenxing nodded, then came in with ziplock bags and gloves to collect the evidence.


    If Lu Tong hadn''t stripped both Yuan Tianxing and himself naked, he could explain that Yuan Tianxing got drunk and puked on their clothes.


    But now, anyone with discerning eyes would be able to tell what had happened. Firstly, Yuan Tianxing was a level-seven superpowered man. Not to mention one bottle of wine, not even ten bottles could make him drunk! Secondly, even if he puked on his clothes, Lu Tong didn''t have to take off all his clothes. He could at least have left his underwear on! Thirdly, which was also the most important fact, the owner of the flat was naked and clear-minded, but unlike him, Yuan Tianxing was unconscious.


    That was, clearly, not a good thing! Besides, Yuan Tianxing had only known Lu Tong for a few days!


    Lu Tong put on his clothes and walked out of the living room, then yelled at the group of people angrily, "How could you break into my home without permission? Don''t you know that there''re rules in this base?"


    Lin Wenwen turned to him as she sneered and said, "Can you tell me what were you doing just now?"


    What she saw just now was exactly the same as what she had seen in her mind, back when she bumped into Lu Tong. She had known how it started and how it would end. However, she wasn''t expecting Lu Tong to be able to stay so calm even under the current situation.


    Lu Tong recognized Lin Wenwen the moment he saw her. He knew that she had a high status in the base. But still, he told himself that he could not panic.


    "Deputy Chief is drunk. He said that he wanted to throw up. I was worried that he might puke on his clothes, so I took his clothes off. What''s wrong about that?" He explained himself through clenched teeth. However, he didn''t sound so confident.


    Why did those people break in right after he took off his own clothes? Why didn''t they show up earlier? He would have been able to get away with it if they came in before he stripped himself.


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and laughed coldly, "Do you think that we''re all stupid? Deputy Chief is at level-seven. How could a bottle of wine possibly put him down? Even if he is drunk, why did you take off your own clothes and tried to lie by his side? Were you trying to make it look like he raped you when he was drunk, so he''d feel guilty and take extra care of you afterward?"


    Lu Tong widened his eyes which were filled with complicated, interweaving emotions, including disbelief, panic, and helplessness. Clearly, the secret in his heart was said out loud by someone else.


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying looked at him like looking at a bag of trash. Lu Junjie and the others were all stunned a little. They had known Lu Tong for a few days, and thought that he was a good young man. Was he actually that kind of person? They were all fooled!


    "You¡­ you¡­"


    Lu Tong glared at Lin Wenwen and stuttered. ''How did you know about my plan!'' That was what he wanted to say to her.


    "No!" He quickly shook his head, "It''s not like that! I never tried to do that!"


    He denied loudly, but his body was shaking.


    Lin Wenwen shrugged and said, "Deputy Chief Yuan will find out the truth himself when he wakes up. Someone directed a show and starred in it himself. Do you think that no one knows?"


    "Tie him up. Deputy Chief Yuan will deal with this when he wakes up." She then said to Xing Le and the other.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Xing Le and the others quickly tied up Lu Tong, who was struggling and screaming.


    "What are you doing! I didn''t do anything! How can you do this to me! This is wrong! You''ll all be punished when Deputy Chief wakes up!" He panicked completely and burst in screams when he heard what Lin Wenwen said. He couldn''t even organize his language.


    ¡­


    Yuan Tianxing woke up to find himself lying on a strange bed, covered by a quilt. He moved slightly and felt strange. Then, he lifted the quilt and found that he was naked.


    What was going on?


    Yuan Tianxing was confused. He looked around and automatically sat up, then found his clothes and put them on. Meanwhile, he looked outside the window and saw that it was all dark outside.


    His brain started working slowly. He recalled that he was having dinner together with Lu Tong not long ago. Lu Tong was drunk, so he got him into the bedroom. That was the last thing he could remember.


    He looked around and recognized the room as Lu Tong''s bedroom! However, why was he there alone? Where was Lu Tong? And¡­ why was he naked?


    With all kinds of questions in his head, Yuan Tianxing walked to the door and opened it to see a group of people in the living room.


    "Eh? What''s going on? Why are you guys here?" Yuan Tianxing asked confusedly. He turned and found Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying. "Wenwen, Qingying¡­ what are you two doing here?"


    "Ask him," Lin Wenwen looked at Yuan Tianxing and responded with an unhappy face. While speaking, she glanced at Lu Tong, who was tied up on a chair.


    Yuan Tianxing followed her eyes and saw Lu Tong, who was tied on the chair with his head dropped.

 837 Yousre This Kind Of A Person

    Lu Tong, of course, wouldn''t tell the truth himself. He stayed motionless when Lin Wenwen looked at him.


    "Deputy Chief, you were entrapped!" Lu Junjie abruptly said to Yuan Tianxing with anger.


    Lu Tong turned out to be such a scheming person! Step by step, he approached Yuan Tianxing and led the latter toward his trap!


    "What happened?" On hearing that, Yuan Tianxing had his face turn cold. Without any expression, he looked at Lu Junjie and waited for him to continue.


    "Earlier, you saw him save a man at the construction site, and a couple of days ago, you bumped into him near the medical department. Those were all planned by him. I''ve talked to the man who nearly fell off the scaffold. He said that Lu Tong asked him to pretend to fall, and offered him some credits as payback." While talking to Yuan Tianxing, Lu Junjie looked at Lu Tong with disgust in his eyes. "You didn''t bump into him accidentally near the medical department either. He was waiting for you long before you got there."


    Hearing what Lu Junjie said, Yuan Tianxing looked as black as thunder, even though he was always a very nice man. He couldn''t help but turn to stare at Lu Tong, whose head was dropped deeply.


    "Is that real?"


    Lu Tong immediately raised his head. His pale face now looked even paler than before. "No! I didn''t!" He shook his head and yelled in a panic, "I didn''t do it! I never did those things¡­ Deputy Chief, you have to believe me!"


    He begged Yuan Tianxing with his eyes. In desperation, he couldn''t help but put his spirit power in use. Then, he continued angrily, "I really have no idea what he''s talking about! I never did those things, Deputy Chief¡­"


    "Hehe¡­ Do you think that no one knows what you did? You left evidence when you did all you did, okay? I''ve never seen a shameless person like you," Lin Wenwen looked at Lu Tong and said with a sneer.


    At that very point, he was still trying to explain himself. His face really disgusted Lin Wenwen.


    "Deputy Chief, you see¡­ the water you drank was drugged." At that moment, Lu Junjie showed the glass in the ziplock bag, then continued, "You were drunk after drinking half a bottle of wine. Don''t you feel weird about it?"


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at the glass, then at the empty wine bottle that was still on the table. Earlier on, he brought the drunk Lu Tong into the bedroom. That was where his memory stopped.


    Realizing that, Yuan Tianxing looked at Lu Tong with frosty-cold eyes and asked him, "Did you drug me? What were you trying to do?"


    Lu Tong''s face was ghastly pale while cold sweat oozed out of his pores. Under Yuan Tianxing''s cold gaze, he moved his lips slightly, but couldn''t utter a sound. He didn''t know that the mild and smiling Deputy Chief Yuan could look so cold and scary too. The coldness in Yuan Tianxing''s eyes made him shiver from the inside to the outside.


    "Deputy Chief, he took off your clothes after you fell into unconsciousness, then stripped himself. He was going to lie on the bed together with you¡­ If Wenwen didn''t show up in time to stop him, you might be waking up to find yourself lying on the bedside by him," said Lu Junjie.


    If that was what happened, the result could be predicted pretty easily.


    Yuan Tianxing surely understood what Lu Junjie meant. If something like that really happened, he would definitely think that he had done something bad to Lu Tong. He was a level-seven man after all while the latter was only a level-three space possessor. He would believe that they had slept with each other.


    Thinking about those possible consequences, Yuan Tianxing''s eyes showed a freezing intention of killing. "So, you were faking all the time?"


    He couldn''t have imagined that Lu Tong was that kind of person. He had been seeing the other as a kind and upright young man. However, he turned to be someone who would do such nasty things for his purpose.


    Lu Tong was so frightened by the killing intent in Yuan Tianxing''s eyes that his entire body was shaking. With fear, he instinctively shook his head and denied, "No! It''s not like that¡­ It''s not like that¡­"


    "Also, Tianxing, the wound on his head was caused by himself actually. I guess he''s pretty brave, as he could even hurt himself so cruelly," Lin Wenwen abruptly said to Yuan Tianxing with laughter.


    "What?" Yuan Tianxing spent a few seconds to process what she had said.


    Lu Tong instantly raised his head to stare at Lin Wenwen. His entire body had gone stiff.


    It was her! It was she who ruined his plan at that time!


    "We were passing by that day. I found him hiding near the only way between your office and dorm while holding a brick. I was curious about what he was going to do, so I stayed there to watch. When you were heading that way, I saw him hit his own head with the brick, then pass out by the roadside," Lin Wenwen looked at Lu Tong in a meaningful way and continued, "We were busy at that moment, so I asked Qingying to send him somewhere where people could see. Some other people found him later on and sent him to the hospital."


    Hearing what she said, Lu Tong did not only feel stiff, but also failed to breathe smoothly.


    Yuan Tianxing could see what would happen if he found Lu Tong lying unconsciously on the roadside. He would send him to the hospital.


    Why was Lu Tong trying so hard to approach him? What did he want? Earlier on, Yuan Tianxing invited him for dinner, yet he insisted to have dinner at his own flat. Yuan Tianxing felt a little strange about that back then, but now understood that it was because Lu Tong was trying to drug him.


    If he really ended up lying on the same bed nakedly with Lu Tong, the latter would claim to be harmed by him even if he didn''t do anything while he was unconscious. Once he woke up on the same bed with Lu Tong naked, he would have no choice but to take responsibility without knowing what exactly had happened.


    "Do you have anything else to say?" Yuan Tianxing''s voice was icy-cold. At that moment, he had no spare attention to wonder why Lin Wenwen seemed to know the whole thing pretty clearly,


    "I¡­ I¡­" Lu Tong couldn''t manage to say anything at that time because Yuan Tianxing''s strong vibe had disabled his brain from working.


    "A person like you really has no right to stay in our base. Junjie, throw him out of the base. He won''t be allowed in the base ever again!" Yuan Tianxing said with a cold voice, then turned and walked out of the flat.


    Hearing that, Lu Tong leaned on the chair softly. His entire body had gone limp, and his eyes had lost focus.


    "Are you gonna let him go just like this?" Lin Wenwen followed Yuan Tianxing out of the door and asked.


    "Or what?" Yuan Tianxing responded, still with a dark face, "A weak person like him won''t survive out there for long."


    "Alright," Lin Wenwen didn''t say anything else.

 838 Deal With Lu Tong

    Lin Wenwen believed that Lu Tong deserved a heavier punishment. However, it was Yuan Tianxing''s decision to make, and not hers. Nevertheless, it would be really hard for Lu Tong to survive the world of zombies, as he was only a space possessor.


    Yuan Tianxing, of course, didn''t plan to let him live. Without the base''s protection, Lu Tong had no chance to keep himself from being torn into pieces and eaten by zombies on his own.


    His decision was like a death penalty for Lu Tong. If the latter was lucky enough, he might be saved by some zombie hunters. However, the hunters near All Beings Base were all from the base. Even if they saved him, they wouldn''t be able to bring him back into the base. The only way to save him for good was to send him to Sea City Base.


    That kind of chance was too small to be counted on.


    So, judging by that result, Lu Tong had already gotten the punishment that he deserved. After all, what he did didn''t hurt Yuan Tianxing or anyone else for real.


    Even though Yuan Tianxing nearly fell into his trap, Lu Tong was only trying to benefit himself, and not hurt Yuan Tianxing.


    While walking, Yuan Tianxing abruptly stopped, then turned to Lin Wenwen with questioning eyes and asked, "Why did you suddenly show up here? Have you known what he was up to?"


    Had Lin Wenwen been watching him walk step and step into Lu Tong''s trap? Lu Tong was pretty bold though. He had the guts to entrap him, and nearly succeeded!


    Lin Wenwen paused briefly upon making an eye-contact with Yuan Tianxing. Then, she hurriedly turned her eyes away and said, "Eh-hem¡­ um, yeah, I know what he did. I didn''t tell you because I wanted to know which step he could achieve at last."


    While speaking, she carefully glanced at Yuan Tianxing from the corners of her eyes. As the latter wore no expression, she felt a little uneasy.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t tell Yuan Tianxing about Lu Tong''s plan because Lu Tong hadn''t caused any serious results yet, and also because she wanted to follow Lin Qiao''s suggestion and see if things would go exactly the same way as she had foreseen. The result proved that what she saw was indeed what would happen in the future.


    So¡­ the metal vine was real, wasn''t it? But, what on earth triggered her new power? Was it a very realistic dream that woke up her new superpower?


    Lin Wenwen still had many other questions. However, she was now sure that she was able to see some things that would happen in the future.


    Thinking of the image that she saw of Lin Qiao giving birth, she relaxed a little.


    Yuan Tianxing spent a few seconds looking at her, then turned and kept walking without saying anything.


    Behind them, Lu Tong was dragged downstairs by Lu Junjie and the others and thrown onto a car, which drove toward the outside.


    "No¡­ You can''t throw me out¡­ I have a space! I''ll be very helpful¡­ Please don''t throw me out!" As he was put inside the car, Lu Tong finally came back to his senses and immediately started struggling and begging.


    "You are pretty bold! You actually tried to entrap our Deputy Chief. You acted so weak and vulnerable, but turned out to be such an evil person!" Xing Le sat by his side. He and Xiao Wenxing each put a hand on Lu Tong''s shoulders to disable him from moving.


    "It''s not like that¡­ I was just¡­ I was¡­" Lu Tong tried to explain, but didn''t know how. Everything that he had done was dug out, so nothing would change no matter what he said.


    "You''re quite capable though. Our Deputy Chief really believed you. I''m impressed!" Lu Junjie said coldly from the front seat, "You''re lucky that we''re only going to throw you out of the base."


    Soon, the car was driven out of the base entrance, then moved forward for two miles to reach to the zombie wall.


    The zombies sensed the scent of Lin Qiao''s blood from the car and moved away from the road when the car was still at a distance away.


    As the car went out, a zombie flashed out of the crowd and curiously followed behind it. He saw the car stop about ten miles away, then a man whose limbs were tied together being thrown out. After that, the car door was closed.


    As Lu Junjie and his people prepared to drive back, a figure suddenly descended from the sky and landed before their car.


    "Eh?" Lu Junjie and the driver both paused briefly with surprise. But then, they recognized the zombie standing before their car. That was a zombie leader under their Chief''s command. In fact, that zombie had become a zombie king recently.


    Knowing that the zombie was on their side, Lu Junjie and his people became less nervous. They got out of the car with confusion.


    They didn''t know why the zombie king suddenly showed up.


    Zombie number three folded his arms before his chest, then raised a hand and put his fingers on his chin while curiously looking at Lu Tong, who was struggling on the ground, trying to stand up. As Lu Junjie got off the car, the zombie immediately raised his head to look at him.


    The questioning look in his eyes was blocked by his sunglasses.


    Lu Junjie guessed out the zombie''s meaning, so he explained, "He has been kicked out of the base. Don''t let him into the base ever again."


    "What did he do?" The middle-aged male zombie asked a question, his voice deep and hoarse.


    That voice of his did not sound like that of a human being. It was deep, very muffled, and rather unpleasant to hear.


    "He tried to entrap Deputy Chief Yuan. Deputy Chief ordered us to throw him out," Lu Junjie endured the zombie''s unpleasant voice and said expressionlessly.


    ''He''s kicked out of the base, so the base doesn''t want him anymore. So¡­ we can eat him, right?''


    Zombie number three wondered while scratching his own chin. Then, he nodded at Lu Junjie and waved at him, signaling for them to leave.


    Lu Junjie quickly got back into the car. The driver turned the car around and headed back toward the base.


    "Help me! I''ll do anything!" At that moment, Lu Tong finally struggled up from the ground. Seeing the deserted city and streets around him, he immediately let fear occupy his heart.


    He was so frightened, feeling as if a group of zombies would show up suddenly and pounce on him from all directions. His hands and feet were still tied. He couldn''t even try to save himself.


    He didn''t know that the man in sunglasses was actually not a human being. The man''s voice sounded so strange that Lu Tong even guessed that maybe his throat was broken. However, as he was able to talk, Lu Tong believed that he was human.


    Therefore, he instinctively begged that man for help.


    Before his voice faded, he saw the man coldly turned up his pale lips. Then, he opened his mouth. He wasn''t going to talk to Lu Tong though.


    "Roar¡­" A zombie roar escaped his mouth.


    Lu Tong popped his eyes and looked at the zombie in shock. But, before he could react, a few more zombies darted swiftly at him.


    He saw those ''people''s'' purely dark, cold eyes, hunched backs, and sharp and long nails. Before he could feel despair, he lost his eyesight and then he was violently pressed down to the ground.


    "Roar!"

 839 The Drug From Green Mountain

    The middle-aged zombie glanced at Lu Tong''s body, which was torn and bitten, then turned and leaped onto a building nearby. Soon, he showed up on top of a hotel building on the other side of the base.


    That hotel was located outside the fence wall of All Beings Base, and was larger than the old hotel in the base. Lin Qiao prepared to build the zombie base in that area.


    After the meeting that took place a couple of days ago, Lin Qiao asked Liu Jun to help Qiu Lili and Yun Meng move the home of her zombies to the new hotel, because the old hotel was about to be torn down.


    She had moved there herself as well. Of course, she lived in the largest suite in the hotel. She had moved in not long before Lin Hao came for dinner.


    The zombie walked downstairs and found Lin Qiao''s door. Two zombie kings who quietly guarded by her door made no reaction when they saw the middle-aged male zombie.


    Zombie number three knocked on the door, which was soon opened from the inside. Duan Juan looked at him and nodded, then let him in.


    "Did you deal with him?" Lin Qiao was sitting on the couch and reading a map. Seeing the zombie come in, she asked casually.


    "Yes!" The zombie nodded and responded with the hoarse voice, then took out Lu Tong''s energy nucleus from his pocket and handed it Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan took it over.


    "Alright, you can leave now," Lin Qiao nodded and said expressionlessly. With that, the zombie turned and left in less than two minutes after he came in.


    "It''s only a level-three nucleus. Is there anything special about it?" Duan Juan didn''t understand why Lin Qiao sent the zombie to kill Lu Tong and dig out his nucleus.


    "It''s useful for me," Lin Qiao took over the nucleus and then crumbled it. The glowing crystalline nucleus turned into a small puff of powder in her palm. After that, she sensed that a new small space had emerged in her space. She was surprised because that level-three space was larger than she had thought.


    Normally, the space of a level-one space possessor could be two cubic meters at most, and the space of a level-two space possessor could be as big as an average-sized closet. A level-three space was normally the size of a bathroom, or slightly bigger.


    However, the space that emerged inside Lin Qiao''s space after she absorbed Lu Tong''s space energy was tens of meters squared. In fact, that small space grew larger after it merged with the energy in Lin Qiao''s space, but she didn''t know that yet.


    She, of course, would not let someone like Lu Tong live. It was difficult for him to survive outside, yet he still had a chance to live. If he ever made it to Sea City Base, he might try to hurt Lin Wenwen when he had a chance.


    After all, Lin Wenwen had ruined his plan.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao sent a zombie to kill him. Nothing could be safer than a dead man.


    The next day, Lin Qiao met the people from Green Mountain Base in the conference room. She first looked at the ones who had their faces covered and talked to them.


    "Show your faces. Everyone here knows what you are. You guys look as eye-catching as superman in his suit."


    Lei Cheng, Ye Yingyue, and the three zombies all felt speechless. Which part of them looked like superman?


    "Tell me about the deal that you want to make with us. What do you have, and what do you want from us?" Lin Qiao sat down and leaned against the back of the couch, legs folded and arms crossed before her chest. She had guessed that they wanted something about zombies, but was curious about what they were going to offer.


    Weapons and food were precious at the moment, yet her base wasn''t short of those.


    Hearing her words, Ye Yingyue quickly turned and took out a finger-long glass test tube from her bag. The test tube was half full of a light-yellow liquid.


    "This is a new type of drug that we have developed. After being injected with this, a person will be unattractive to zombies for fifteen days. In other words, this drug can make human bodies lose attraction for zombies within a short period. It can turn humans from what zombies like the most into what they hate the most. Are you interested?" Ye Yingyue introduced the drug to Lin Qiao with excitement.


    Hearing her introduction, Lin Qiao paused briefly, then looked at drug with surprise. A bright beam of light flashed across her eyes. Judging by the proud look on the girl''s face, she was not lying. Lin Qiao could also feel that she was telling the truth.


    She didn''t expect to see that drug. The duration of the drug''s effect was only fifteen days, but it was already quite impressive.


    If all humans could use that drug, zombie-hunting would be much easier than it was now, because the zombies would turn and run once they smelled the drug, especially the ordinary ones.


    "Can I take a look at it?" Lin Qiao was obviously interested in the drug.


    Ye Yingyue generously handed the drug to Shen Yujen, who had walked to her side.


    Lin Qiao took it over, then opened the lid and sniffed at it. She immediately sensed a strong odor that was very disgusting for her. She quickly put the lid back on and knitted her eyebrows into a deep frown.


    That smelled seriously awful, like rotten corpses¡­ very nasty.


    "What do you want in return for such good stuff?" Lin Qiao rubbed her own nose with one hand and put the drug far away from her body with the other. Shen Yujen quickly took it over from her hand and put it on the table behind her. She did that with a nervous look, as if what was contained in the test tube was a bomb.


    Just now when Lin Qiao opened the lid, Shen Yujen had sensed the smell as well. That was really terrible!


    "You know that they live in our base. We aren''t asking for much. We only want to know how you healed the faces of your zombies. We want to fix their faces, so they don''t need to cover their faces again at least," Ye Yingyue said with a warm smile. Her big eyes were filled with thirst for knowledge. While speaking, she pointed at the three zombies beside her, who had already taken off their masks,


    She also wanted to know why Lin Qiao''s zombies were able to talk, and why they were so smart. The zombies in Green Mountain Base weren''t as smart as the ones in All Being Base. Except for the special chairman, all the other Green Mountain zombies only had the intelligence of nine-year-old kids.


    However, Ye Yingyue was also aware that she should not ask for too much at one time. Every base had its secrets. She and her people decided to ask for one thing this time and leave the rest for the future.


    Lin Qiao blinked, then curved her lip corners in a mysterious smile. "So, are you offering to trade the drug for benefits for your zombies? I''m surprised that you''re treating them this way. Capturing them and studying them sounds more reasonable."

 840 Thats Not My Job

    Ye Yingyue didn''t mind Lin Qiao''s language as she smilingly shook her head and said, "No, Miss. Lu! You may not know, but one of our chairmen is a zombie. If it weren''t for her, our base would never have been built up. We have a lot of zombies in our base. They used to be patients. They¡­ all had mental problems before. But, after turning into zombies, they had much clearer minds."


    "As same as your base, we don''t have many humans in our base." At that time, Lei Cheng, who was staying silent the whole time, joined the conversation.


    Lin Qiao understood what he meant. Green Mountain Base had a lot of zombies, but only a small population of humans. The human beings weren''t able to survive on their own. They were far away from the other bases, and the natural environment was awful. It was impossible for them to escape from that place and seek help from other bases.


    They had no choice but to work with zombies to survive.


    With a faint smile, Lin Qiao said, "Your drug is very good, but in fact, we don''t need it here. We have our own way of keeping zombies away from us."


    Leng Xuantong made a large amount of disguising drug with a small amount of Lin Qiao''s blood, which was able to cover the scents of humans. Not to mention the ordinary zombies, even the zombies above level-six wouldn''t approach a person who was wearing the disguising drug.


    With their drug, Green Mountain Base people would be able to make great deals with any other base. However, their drug wasn''t so useful for Lin Qiao.


    Both Ye Yingyue and Lei Cheng looked stunned, their eyes showing confusion.


    They didn''t expect to hear that All Beings Base had actually developed their own drug to keep zombies away. They were so confident, but they now felt as if they were slapped right on the face. They two of them couldn''t react within a short time.


    If All Being Base wasn''t interested in the drug, the deal wouldn''t be made.


    Seeing the look on their faces, Lin Qiao smiled and said, "Even though I''m not interested in your drug, I can still fix the faces of a small part of your zombies. So, your base will owe me a big favor. When I need help in the future, you have to help me once."


    Hearing that, both Ye Yingyue and Lei Cheng had their eyes glowing immediately. That terms might put their base into a disadvantage, yet they still couldn''t say no.


    The two of them made eye-contact, then Lei Cheng did the talking. "We need to talk to our leaders about this. Miss. Lu, will you be keeping your word?"


    Lin Qiao kept the smile on her face as she said, "I''m a base leader after all! The awful things such as swallowing my own words¡­ I can''t do them. It''s alright! You can take all the time you need to discuss it with your people. If you find my offer okay, just bring the zombies whose faces need to be fixed here, because the treatment can only take place in our base, and it will take some time."


    "No problem!" Ye Yingyue and Lei Cheng nodded delightfully.


    Soon, Green Mountain Base people left, and Lin Qiao''s pace finally quieted down.


    No, that actually did not happen.


    Lin Qiao speechlessly glanced at the two men who were staring at each other in her office, then turned back to the files on her desk and said, "Are you two practicing how to stare at people? If you have something to say, just say it. If you have nothing to say, the door is over there."


    Lin Hao looked straight into Wu Chengyue''s expressionless eyes and said, "I''m here to observe Chief''s body condition. I''m a doctor, and this is my duty. Chief Wu, why are you staying in my Chief''s office and bothering her all the time?"


    His words showed an obvious hostility toward Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue did not have his standard smile at that moment. He said with an expressionless face, "I surely have something serious to say to your Chief. That has nothing to do with any doctor. Doctor Lin, you have seen and observed her. Miss. Lu seems to be fine. I think you can leave now. See you!"


    Lin Hao didn''t know how to respond at first. However, he didn''t plan to give up just like that. He gave a cold smile and said, "I can''t leave. My Chief needs to be observed closely. I''ll surely stay by her side to make sure that no accidents can happen."


    "Doctor Lin, I noticed that you were busy in the medical department," said Wu Chengyue, "Are you going to leave your work there? That''s not good, is it?"


    "Thank you! I don''t need the leader of another base telling me how to do my job. Staying with my Chief to observe her body condition is also my job." Lin Hao leaned against the back of the couch and folded his arms before his chest. With a proud smile, he looked at Wu Chengyue in the eyes as he slightly raised his chin in a provoking way.


    Wu Chengyue raised his eyebrows and prepared to say something. However, Lin Qiao didn''t let him.


    "Alright, you two! I can''t even do my work. Get out!" Lin Qiao joined the conversation with a cold voice. She couldn''t even bear watching how childishly the two men were acting at that moment!


    "I''ll leave if he leaves!" Lin Hao glanced at Wu Chengyue and said. He was a little unhappy as his sister had asked him to leave.


    Wu Chengyue''s expressionless face now wore a smile. "I''m here for something serious! Chief Lu, it''s getting warm, and our zombie hunters have started to leave the base. We need to divide our hunting fields, right?"


    Lin Hao found Wu Chengyue''s smile extremely annoying! However, that was indeed a serious affair, and he really could not get into it. He snorted coldly, then stood up and left with a sour face.


    If Wu Chengyue hadn''t been following his sister everywhere, he would not come here to argue with him!


    As Lin Hao left with anger, Wu Chengyue smiled a bigger smile. Clearly, he was getting a little complacent.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said blandly, "Do you need to handle that yourself? Talk to Lin Feng about it. It''s not my job now."


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and said with a grin, "You''re the chief, aren''t you? Why are you letting your subordinates do that kind of work? Aren''t you afraid that they might fail the job?"


    ''He is my subordinate indeed, but he is also my big brother. I know how capable my big brother is, much better than you do!'' Lin Qiao said in her head while keeping that bland look and responding, "I believe in his capabilities. It''s not a big deal."


    "Do you really not want to see me so much?" A wounded look escaped Wu Chengyue''s eyes. He soon hid it away though, yet the smile on his face turned a little bitter.


    Nevertheless, he got rid of the bitterness quickly. Then, his smile turned cold, eyes glowing dimly as he continued, "Or, do you prefer to be with Doctor Lin?" he said with a frosty voice.

 841 Wu Chengyue Leaves

    Wu Chengyue sounded full of jealousy, and he himself could feel it too. That was inappropriate indeed, but he couldn''t help it.


    "You''re really annoying," Lin Qiao clicked her tongue and said impatiently, "If you''re staying here only to say that, please leave. I have no time and mood for that."


    She was trying to use Lin Hao to make Wu Chengyue give up. That did work, but not very well. She sighed silently, as she had no idea what Wu Chengyue was thinking.


    Wu Chengyue gave her a meaningful glance, then stood up and walked out of the office. As he left, Lin Qiao asked Shen Yujen to bring Qiu Lili and Yun Meng to her office.


    "You two, make a trip to this place and see if there''s a metal-powered vine at level-seven. If you do find it, bring me its nucleus," Lin Qiao pointed out the address that Lin Wenwen gave on a map. The location was also written down in detail.


    She was going to look for the metal vine herself. However, as Viney wasn''t in a stable condition at the moment, she gave up on that idea and asked Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and some others to go instead.


    One zombie dominator could not defeat a level-seven mutated plant. Killing the metal vine might take two zombie dominators. Therefore, Lin Qiao sent Qiu Lili and Yun Meng.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng looked at Lin Qiao confusedly. Earlier, they were separated to lead two squads when Lin Qiao sent them out to collect energy nuclei. It was the first time she sent both of them somewhere together.


    However, they didn''t say anything but nodded as they took over the map and left. They took five zombie kings and queens, leaving the base for the location that Lin Qiao gave them.


    Soon, Lin Qiao heard that Wu Chengyue and his people had left All Beings Base.


    "He left? For real?" Lin Qiao asked Xie Dong, who brought her the news, with surprise.


    Xie Dong nodded and responded with a hoarse voice, "Yes."


    Lin Qiao erased that surprised look on her face, then nodded and said, "Good! I wonder who was asking to talk to me about dividing the hunting field."


    "I guess Sea City Base will send someone else to talk about that in a couple of days," said Xie Dong.


    "Em, I get it. You can leave now," Lin Qiao nodded blandly.


    Did the show that she put up together with Lin Hao work?


    While Lin Qiao was pondering upon Wu Chengyue''s sudden departure, Xie Dong turned and walked to the door. As he prepared to open the door, the door was suddenly opened from the other side, quickly and heavily.


    Thud! After that noise, Xie Dong expressionlessly covered his forehead with one hand, the other hand pushing the door.


    "Oh! Xie Dong? I''m sorry! I''m sorry! Are you okay?" Liu Jun didn''t mean to hit Xie Dong on the head, so she asked the latter with concern.


    "It''s okay!" Xie Dong shook his head without expression, then dropped his head, also conveniently pulling the door to let Liu Jun in.


    He was a zombie, and not a human. How could a door possibly hurt him?


    "I''m sorry! I didn''t know that you were behind the door!" Liu Jun did feel guilty. Even though they had both become zombies, her politeness remained. So, she apologized to Xie Dong again.


    "It''s okay. Come in!" Xie Dong shook his head again. That was just a small thing that could happen between colleagues. He was a man, and she was woman. He, of course, wouldn''t blame her for that.


    Xie Dong waved at her to signal for her to come in, then walked out of the office.


    "Why are you here? What happened?" Lin Qiao watched the small accident that happened between them, then asked Liu Jun when the latter walked up to her desk.


    "Tianyi and I have run a discussion. We want to build a few houses on the farm, so our people can live there to guard it. The base is having more and more residents. We are worried that some people might go to the farm and cause trouble in the future. This is the application, and we need your signature," Liu Jun sat down on the chair before Lin Qiao''s desk, then handed her the file.


    Each farm had dormitories for the people who worked there. That was a normal request. Mount Wu was over ten miles away from the main base. Lin Qiao had planned to build dorms over there, but she was too busy to start doing that lately.


    "Emm¡­ yeah, we do need to build some dorms near the farm. You guys will have more work to do, and will need more people to help," Lin Qiao nodded as she quickly browsed the file, then signed her name and stamped it. After that, she handed the file back to Liu Jun. All Liu Jun had to do was to hand the file to Yuan Tianxing, and the latter would make arrangements for the construction work.


    Taking over the file that Lin Qiao pushed back to her, Liu Jun didn''t leave immediately. She held the file with both hands and looked at Lin Qiao, seemingly wanting to say something.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Qiao noticed the strange look in her eyes.


    Liu Jun was currently Lin Qiao''s subordinate. But in fact, she had known her for long, and could be counted as a half a good friend. After all, she was one of those who knew about Lin Qiao''s real identity.


    "Did Wu Chengyue buy what you and Lin Hao were doing?" Liu Jun asked curiously.


    Once Wu Chengyue left, most of the people in the base had heard about it. The ones like Liu Jun, who had people under their commands, were all well-informed.


    Judging by the tense atmosphere that had been existing between Wu Chengyue and Lin Hao during the past few days, Liu Jun and the others all understood what was going on. The people who didn''t know about Lin Qiao''s relationship with Lin Hao thought that the young and handsome Doctor Lin had fallen in love with the pretty Chief Lady, and believed that there was a battle going on between him and Chief Wu from Sea City Base, who was also a suitor of their Chief.


    The ones who knew about Lin Qiao''s real identity all guessed that Lin Qiao was trying to use her brother to make Wu Chengyue give up.


    That was also the truth. During the past few days, people noticed that the smiling Chief Wu no longer smiled all day. They often saw him expressionless. He didn''t look very angry, but he was clearly not happy.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her and suddenly realized that work was not her main purpose here. She was mainly here to gossip.


    "I hope he did. I want him to give up," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    "Oi, seriously, Chief Wu is nice, isn''t he? He''s handsome, mild, strong, capable, and he has a good body. His daughter is lovely, and that little girl likes you so much. I think he really likes you now. Won''t you regret this?" Liu Jun looked at her and said.


    Liu Jun had been observing Wu Chengyue for long and found that he was actually not bad. He was leading a base at such a young age, and was invincibly strong, also having a good personality and moral quality.


    She heard that his daughter wasn''t his biological daughter, and that he was unmarried!


    The point was, he and Lin Qiao were a perfect match for each other! Also, he was three years younger than Lin Qiao''s real age!

 842 Whoever Wants Him Can Have Him

    Before leaving, Wu Chengyue looked deeply into her eyes. Lin Qiao detected something different from that look in his eyes, but she still didn''t believe that he would like her for real.


    She was not a little girl anymore, but a mature and rational person. She always considered romantic relationships less important than the affection between family members and long-term friends. She hardly trusted other people, especially a man who aggressively tried to invade her life.


    Therefore, when Wu Chengyue started pursuing her, she instinctively thought about his purposes, and couldn''t help but feel repulsion.


    Yang Jianhua wasn''t the only person who had betrayed her. She had suffered betrayal before the apocalypse too. She hated Yang Jianhua so much. Fortunately, she lost her memories for a while, and that gave her the space to accept what happened slowly. Otherwise, it would take her a lot of energy to struggle out of the frustration.


    Therefore, she rejected Wu Chengyue directly when she found that he was having some other purposes. She didn''t care if he liked her with his true heart now.


    "No." She shook her head carelessly after hearing what Liu Jun said, "He''s been annoying me the whole time. I wish he''ll never bother me again."


    Wu Chengyue had been pursuing her for months, yet she still had no special feelings for him. The look that Wu Chengyue had in his eyes before leaving actually made her feel relieved.


    She felt that he was about to give up.


    "You have stopped aging now," Liu Jun clicked her tongue and said, "Are you gonna always stay alone?" She looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    How lonely and empty would that be? Her heart might be corroded by loneliness.


    Liu Jun felt lucky as she had her son. She couldn''t imagine how dull her zombie life would be without her son.


    "Me? Who said that I''m alone? I have a family¡­ What about you? When will you find Tongtong a father? It''s hard for you to raise him alone," Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and then threw the question back to Liu Jun.


    Superpowered people could live longer than commoners, that was for sure. High-leveled zombies might be able to live even longer than them!


    "Me? I''m good now. I have a job, and everything I need. I''m able to raise my Tongtong. He doesn''t need a father!" Liu Jun instinctively felt repulsion toward that idea. Whether she could manage to raise her son alone or not, she wouldn''t be with any man right now. She would need her son''s approval for that! Tongtong was still too young to make that kind of decision.


    "Alright! If you have no other important things, just leave. I''m busy here. I have no time for this gossip," Lin Qiao urged her to leave.


    During the past few days, Lin Hao and Wu Chengyue had argued in her office all the time. She couldn''t even focus on her work, so her work had piled up already. Now, as they had both left, she finally had some time to deal with the accumulated work.


    "Alright. I was just trying to say that if you like Chief Wu a little bit, you need to make a move, before anyone else does. God knows how many women in Sea City Base have been drooling over him. I hope you won''t regret when he''s taken by someone else," Liu Jun stood up and left her a few words, then opened the door and left.


    "What the hell! Whoever wants him can have him! I won''t regret!" Lin Qiao looked at the closed door, feeling speechless.


    In the next couple of days, Wu Chengyue did not show up again. Qiu Lili and the others returned in three days, handing Lin Qiao a baby-fist-sized, green energy nucleus. The energy contained in that level-seven plan nucleus was immense.


    "You have no idea how many vines that plant had. Those thick and strong vines covered the entire park, as hard as steel. We couldn''t cut them off!" Qiu Lili and the others returned in bad shapes. She first went back to her room to take a shower and change into clean clothes, then came to Lin Qiao''s office.


    She was a little unhappy, maybe because the vine plant had dirtied her clothes.


    "So how did you guys kill it?" Lin Qiao asked curiously while observing the nucleus in her hand.


    It was as same as how Lin Wenwen described it. Lin Wenwen seemed to have really developed her second superpower, the power of predicting the future. It looked like that power needed to be triggered by extrinsic factors.


    "She did it. She turned invisible and hid her vibe, then sneaked near the plant''s heart and dug out its nucleus!" Qiu Lili pointed at Yun Meng, who was standing by her side.


    Yun Meng nodded and added, "The plant''s vines were powerful, but its main body was harmless. It wasn''t able to defend its heart actually. The nucleus was growing on a branch like a fruit, and I cut it off easily!"


    Yun Meng was pretty surprised too.


    "How did you know that it was there? Have you been there?" Qiu Lili asked.


    "No, someone told me. I asked you to go not just for this nucleus, but also prove something else," Lin Qiao shook her head and said.


    She wanted to know if what Lin Wenwen said was real.


    "Alright."


    It was the middle of April. The air temperature had raised a little, but only for the daytime. The nights were still icy-cold.


    Lin Qiao made no big move recently. One side of her base was already built up, and the other side was currently in construction.


    Lei Cheng and Ye Yingyue from Green Mountain Base had returned to their base with Lin Qiao''s message, and run a discussion with Lan Lu and two other chairmen. At last, they decided to accept her offer, and take a group of zombies to All Beings Base.


    As the zombie emperor had left, the zombie-clearing mission in Huaxia Base was running smoothly. No more zombies joined the crowd, so it only took them half a month to clear out a big half of the zombies near their base.


    The dead zombies were either burned or buried deep underground.


    At the same time, the reconstruction of Heilong Base was going stably as well. That base wouldn''t be able to regain its vitality within a short time, but they managed to clean out all the zombies in their base and save their farm. With all the people they had, the base would be able to recover from the disaster in a year or so.


    Sea City Base stayed the same with no changes happening. Unlike it, the atmosphere was a little tense in Sky Fire Base. One of their leaders had gone missing, like what happened to the leaders of Hidden Cloud City.


    Sky Fire Base had three leaders. He Mu had vanished in Earth Dragon Base, and recently, Gu Yikang, the other leader, had disappeared as well.


    As the last leader of the base, Li Zhengye had been having a constantly increasing sense of crisis. He had seen the ends of Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City, and had a feeling that the Sky Fire Base would be the next to follow that path.

 843 Mutated Rats

    Wu Chengyue, who had returned to Sea City Base, was really a little disheartened. Even though the zombie lady hadn''t responded to him, he used to believe that he still had a chance. But now, he was less confident. She was never so close to another guy before.


    Her relationship with Doctor Lin was better than Wu Chengyue imagined. She even told that doctor about her baby. She trusted the doctor so much, and that made Wu Chengyue feel uneasy.


    Wu Chengyue knew that she and the doctor weren''t friends or family. They didn''t even know each other before. However, she believed him so much that she even told him the big secret about her zombie nature and pregnancy.


    Wu Chengyue also knew that the zombie lady wouldn''t possibly tell anyone about that if she didn''t trust that person a hundred percent. She wasn''t even planning on telling Wu Chengyue about it!


    Thinking of that, Wu Chengyue was upset. There was a strange atmosphere when the zombie lady was with the doctor. He felt as if he wasn''t welcomed in their world.


    During the past few days, he felt very uncomfortable every time he sensed how familiar those two were with each other. Therefore, he decided to leave. He didn''t want to see the two of them being together anymore. He needed to rest.


    Back in Sea City Base, Wu Yueling was unhappy again. She wanted to be with her Zombie Mommy. However, the things between her Daddy and her Zombie Mommy seemed to be weird.


    Wu Yueling was too young to understand those grown-up things. However, as a sensitive, autistic child, she could detect the changes in the surrounding environment more sharply than the other kids. She had clearly sensed the strange atmosphere between Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, and how their tones of speaking had changed slightly.


    She felt those changes, but didn''t dare to do anything.


    Wu Chengyue sat on his couch, looking at Wu Yueling in the eyes. He knew that she was unhappy again. He sighed and held his daughter in his arms.


    "Ling Ling, what if Zombie Mommy doesn''t like Daddy, but likes someone else? She might be with that person, and not us," Wu Chengyue said to her frustratedly.


    On hearing that, Wu Yueling instantly popped her eyes and then quickly grasped Wu Chengyue''s sleeves while shaking his head anxiously.


    "I''m sad too. But, Daddy can''t do anything now. She already dislikes me. What if I did something wrong and made her hate me?" Wu Chengyue said.


    He came home so quickly because he had been trying to control his temper all the time. He was worried that he might lose his temper if he stayed longer. Things would be awful if he lost control and did something to hurt the zombie lady.


    "Oi, why are you back home so soon? I thought you''d stay there for half a month at least." A resonant voice was heard, following which, the tall and strong Xiao Yunlong walked in.


    "I was worried that I might kick somebody''s ass if I stayed there," Wu Chengyue responded without looking at him.


    "Ah, I heard about that¡­ haha! A young and handsome doctor recently showed up around Miss. Lu," Xiao Yunlong headed straight to the point that Wu Chengyue did not want to talk about with a naughty grin on his face.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him expressionlessly, then curved his lips in a fake smile and said, "I heard that Yue is pretty close with Kong Qingming lately. Aren''t you afraid that she might be stolen from you?"


    His fightback didn''t work this time as Xiao Yunlong responded carelessly, "Don''t you worry about that. Qingming is in love with some other girl. He won''t cast his eyes on my Yue."


    Wu Chengyue found his confident smile so annoying that he even wanted to hit him.


    "So, did you admit defeated and run back home? Are you gonna give up?" Xiao Yunlong sat on the couch and looked at him curiously.


    "That''s impossible!" ''She''s pregnant with my baby! How can I ever give up?'' he thought as he answered Xiao Yunlong''s question without thinking.


    "Why did you come back then?" Xiao Yunlong was even more curious than before.


    "I don''t want to push her too hard, in case she hates me. I need to create some space between us for now. You, make some arrangements to talk to them about how to divide our hunting field. The weather is getting warm, and the zombie hunting season is coming," said Wu Chengyue.


    While speaking, the look on his face turned grim again. "I feel that mutated animals have been evolving quickly during the past winter. There''re more and more level-seven mutated plants and animals to be seen recently."


    That was not a good thing. Those mutated creatures were even harder to deal with than zombies. If they evolved even faster than before, they would become another big problem for humans. The success rate of the zombie-hunting missions would reduce again.


    Speaking of that, Xiao Yunlong wore a serious look too. "I was going to tell you about the news that I newly received. Half a month ago, a level-three zombie-hunting group from Outer C sent out a team. Only three of them managed to make it back while the others all died."


    "A team? All died?" Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes. His face wasn''t showing a very sullen look, but a faintly detected depression did flash across his face.


    Normally, a zombie-hunting team had twenty to fifty people in three squads; each squad had ten to twelve people.


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and said, "Yes. The team leader is a level-six fire-powered man, and there were four level-five people. The other members were all at level two or three, while about ten of them were commoners. Today, only two level-five and one commoner came back to the base. The others all died."


    He looked a little depressed while saying that. "According to those three, they accidentally fell into the nest of some mutated rats. Those rats were twice the size of cats, with a huge population. Many of them were at level five or six. Those rats are able to drill into the ground, and their teeth were sharp enough to break sharp tungsten steel weapons. It was lucky for them to survive."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue knitted his brows into a deep frown. What made him worry wasn''t how fast those rats could be or how strong their teeth were. Instead, it was their number. As Xiao Yunlong just said, there was a huge population of rats.


    The fertility of rats was as great as their viability. Therefore, the large size of the rat group really made him worry.


    "What exactly happened? Have they seen how many rats there were? How big was the nest?" Wu Chengyue asked with a frown.


    "That''s what I''m here to tell you about. They said that they only saw a corner of the nest, They were scared by that huge group of rats that gushed out from underground, so they failed to react in time. Those rats were all huge, strong, and swift. Imagine it. When a huge group of rats come at you, superpower attacks won''t work. All they could do was defend. There were too many rats!" Xiao Yunlong told Wu Chengyue what he knew while thinking about the terrified look on the three survivors'' faces.

 844 Rat Infestation

    Once Xiao Yunlong finished, another person came in in haste and said, "Chief, there''s a situation!"


    Xiao Licheng walked over with a solemn look while holding a file. He paused briefly when he saw Xiao Yunlong, then kept moving toward Wu Chengyue.


    "Chief Wu, are you here because of those mutated rats too? I heard that there''s a giant population of those rats. We can''t get a specific number yet. Also, they eat zombies! They eat everything, including metal, buildings¡­ literally everything," Xiao Licheng handed the file directly to Wu Chengyue.


    "Where are they? Have you sent someone to observe the area yet?" Hearing that those rats even ate zombies, Wu Chengyue immediately thought of All Beings Base. If those rats visited that base, the zombies there would become rat food, wouldn''t they?


    He knew that rats were omnivores, and that they needed to grind their teeth. After mutation, their teeth had become much stronger than before. Those mutated rats weren''t as slow as ordinary zombies. On the contrary, they were swift.


    "In the animal park in Fuyang District. This time, they seemed to have been released suddenly. More and more rats had been gushing out of the underground nest. By now, everything on that around in that area has been eaten up," said Xiao Licheng.


    At that time, a lot of mutated animals had been running desperately in the animal park in Duyang District. The large ones, small ones, higher-leveled ones and lower-leveled ones¡­ all animals had been running in different directions, stirring up clouds of sands and dust and sending grass and broken branches up into the sky.


    Some mutated birds flew into the park from time to time, then soon come back out, claws holding one or two large, struggling, black rats.


    In that area where Lin Qiao saved the little tiger from was a huge hole, looking like a black mouth. At the time, waves of black rats with long hair had been surging out of that hole. The smaller ones among them were even larger than cats, and the largest ones were as big as pigs.


    Those rats had long and thick black hair. Their eyes were wide opened, filled with ferocity. Long and sharp teeth stuck out of their mouths. With those teeth, they chewed everything that was in their way.


    Within the area miles in radius around the hole, nothing was left except barren earth. All the plants were gone, and only the chewed ground was seen.


    Squeak!


    Squeak!


    Two pig-sized rats were standing by the hole on their feet with their forelimbs shrunk. They were squeaking all the time, seemingly directing the rat crowd.


    At first glance, one could see nothing more than the huge group of rats running out of the hole.


    Not far away, in the Southwest, was a similar hole; the same scene could be seen over there. Endless rats had been coming out of that hole as well. In fact, five or six holes like that could be found near that area.


    A series of cracking noise was heard as those rats were chewing a large tree, which would take three people to put their arms around its trunk. Soon, the tree fell to the ground. Countless rats rushed up to eat the branches and leaves.


    The cracking noises and squeaks of rats were heard from everywhere.


    From time to time, raging roars could be heard as well.


    A gigantic lion didn''t manage to escape those rats. The rats climbed onto its body and tore its skin into pieces with their teeth and claws.


    "Roar¡­" The lion struggled in pain. But, those rats didn''t fall from its body as they clung tightly on the lion. Meanwhile, more and more rats had been climbing up to the lion.


    Within a short span of time, the lion was pressed to the ground by over a thousand rats. Two minutes later, those rats left. Only a large puddle of blood was seen on the ground, even without a piece of bone!


    Before long, the animal park, which had almost become like a virgin forest, was turned into a barren land by those rats.


    More and more rats were coming out of those holes. The first batch of rats had already flattened the whole area. Apart from animals and plants, those rats also attacked the slow-moving zombies. The zombies had rotten bodies, yet those rats still had a great appetite for them.


    "Roar¡­" A few miles away from those rats, a wind-powered zombie had been leaping swiftly from trees to trees, moving toward All Being Base.


    A couple of hours later, he finally arrived at the outer circle of All Beings Base. He flew across the zombie wall and headed toward the hotel building where the zombies lived.


    The other zombies didn''t try to stop him, meaning that he was a member of the base.


    In the hotel, he quickly found Xie Dong''s office.


    "Roar¡­" ''Boss! Boss!''


    That level-four zombie was one of five that Lin Qiao had put under Xie Dong''s command.


    "What? Calm down," Seeing the zombie''s anxious face, Xie Dong responded expressionlessly.


    "Roar! Roar!" ''Rats! Rats! Rats!''


    The wind-powered zombie stood before Xie Dong''s desk fretfully. Those rats had given him a very strong sense of crisis. Even though he was already back in the base, the lingering fear was still affecting him.


    "What rats? Talk properly," Xie Dong looked at him with a slight frown.


    The zombies under his command had all accepted Lin Qiao''s virus. Therefore, they were now much smarter than before, and were able to communicate smoothly with the others. But right now, that wind-powered zombie seemed to have a problem organizing his language, and Xie Dong didn''t know why.


    "Roar¡­ Roarrrrr¡­" ''Rats! A lot of them! A lot lot!''


    The wind-powered zombie roared at Xie Dong, and seemed to have calmed down a little. While roaring, he put both hands before his chest to show Xie Dong how large those rats were.


    "Roar¡­ roar¡­" ''This big! This big!''


    He showed Xie Dong the different sizes of those rats.


    Xie Dong spent a short while thinking, and understood what that zombie was trying to say.


    The zombie had seen a lot of mutated rats. Judging by his nervous look, he should have seen a lot of rats, which were especially dangerous.


    But, merely mutated rats shouldn''t have made the zombie so nervous.


    Xie Dong couldn''t picture the scene that the zombie was trying to describe. He guessed that there was some particular factor that made the zombie so nervous.


    He stood up, as he decided to go and see for himself.


    "Let''s go. Take me there!" said Xie Dong to the wind-powered zombie.


    This time, the zombie quickly shook his head and responded with a roar. ''No! No! No! They would eat us!''

 845 Divide The Hunting field

    ''How am I supposed to know where the place is if you don''t go with me?'' Xie Dong looked at his subordinate expressionlessly and thought.


    "No, you have to take me there," Xie Dong looked at the zombie and said firmly.


    "Roar¡­" The wind-powered zombie immediately dropped his head, because Xie Dong''s words contained an order that he must obey.


    "It''ll be alright. We''ll just take a look from the distance," Xie Dong said with a low voice. His dry voice sounded attractive and less unpleasant as it was lowered. The wind-powered zombie had no choice but to go with him.


    They went on the roof and then quietly left the base. Meanwhile, Xie Dong''s other subordinates had been sent to different directions to collect information.


    Xie Dong and the wind-powered zombie drove quickly toward Fuyang District. One hour later, they arrived at somewhere miles away from the animal park.


    While approaching that area, Xie Dong started to have a not-so-good feeling. After arriving, she quickly got off the car, then found a high spot and took out his telescope.


    However, before he could use the telescope, he noticed that the earth in front of him was covered in something black. He saw a massive, waving blackness. The trees at the edges of that blackness were falling and disappearing.


    He had a very bad feeling about that, so he hurriedly raised the telescope before his eyes.


    He looked through the telescope and then gave a start. He saw countless huge rats rushing forward unstoppably, biting everything on their way. The pieces of trees and stones were left on the ground, being trodden upon by more rats.


    The size of that rat group made Xie Dong''s scalp go numb. From about eight miles away, he clearly saw the rat group expand like thick, black oil. If those zombies don''t stop moving, All Beings Base would be in trouble. That was the nearest base from the animal park.


    Looking at those giant rats, Xie Dong knitted his brows into a deep frown.


    He looked around and found that the rat crowd was growing wider and wider. It seemed that All Being Base wasn''t their sole target. The rat crowd might have been expanding in all directions from the animal park.


    Xie Dong thought for a moment, then went down the hill and drove to the other side of the animal park to continue observing. He needed to figure out where those mutated rats came from.


    Lin Qiao, who was having a meeting with the other base administrators, didn''t know about that yet.


    "I think we should start from Jiaxing City. We''ll have Zhe Province, and they''ll have Su Province. The line between Jiaxing City and Huzhou City will be the boundary." Lin Qiao was standing before a whiteboard. On the board was a map of East China. She drew a line between Zhe Province and Su Province with a stick, dividing that whole area into two.


    The way she divided the area might make some other people think that she was being arrogant. Why on earth would Sea City Base agree to that? Sea City Base was located in the South of Su Province and the North of Zhe Province. Both those two provinces were near Sea City Base, and were seen as Sea City Base''s territory. That whole area was run by Sea City Base. Apart from those two provinces, Wan Province was also nearby. If All Beings Base took away one of the two provinces, Sea City Base would obviously lose the resources from that province.


    Sea City Base shouldn''t agree to that, unless All Being Base promise them enough in return.


    "Let''s see what they''ll want in return first. We''ll try our best to satisfy them." After all, taking away thirty percent of their territory was a little outrageous. If Wu Chengyue wasn''t willing to work with Lin Qiao and her people, he wouldn''t allow them to build their base in Upper City District. If it were some other people who made that request, Wu Chengyue might have beaten them off!


    Lin Feng looked at her with a strange expression while saying, "Did you hear yourself? What if Wu Chengyue asked you to marry him? Will you do that?"


    All Being Base people weren''t expecting Wu Chengyue to propose to their Chief before. Back then, they prepared a sufficient amount of food, which was currently one of the most precious resources, for Sea City Base. Any other terms that Sea City Base brought up would be negotiable.


    But now, the whole world knew that Chief Wu from Sea City Base wanted to marry the Chief lady from All Beings Base.


    Once Lin Feng asked that question, the others wore strange looks too. The way they looked at Lin Qiao changed as well.


    Only Lin Feng had the courage to say that.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him expressionlessly, trying pretty hard to maintain her leader vibe. "Do you think I''ll do that?"


    "Eh-hem¡­ In fact, I think it won''t be a bad thing. It''ll be two bases connecting through marriage," Chen Yuting abruptly joined the conversation.


    Lin Qiao said coldly, "Since they let us built our base here, they should have thought about how to divide the hunting filed. Besides, I don''t think Wu Chengyue is the kind of man who''ll entangle his work with personal life. He won''t do that."


    Even though Wu Chengyue acted a little shamelessly when pursuing her, Lin Qiao knew where his bottom line was. She also knew that he would not take advantage of her. Therefore, she believed that what Lin Feng said wouldn''t happen.


    The others agreed with her. They all believed that Chief from Sea City Base wasn''t that kind of person.


    "Em, I see!" Lin Feng wouldn''t tell her that he was just joking. He wanted to know if there was a chance for his sister to get married. She used to be anti-marriage, and he hoped that she could change someday.


    His sisters and brother all seemed to stay single for the rest of their lives. Thinking about that, Lin Feng felt so tired. Thankfully, he himself had gotten married. Even his daughter was eight-years-old already!


    The hunting field hadn''t been divided officially, and Sea City Base still visited Zhe Province pretty often. Hangzhou was not far away from Sea City Base, so Sea City Base people would inevitably pass through the territory of All Beings Base. Therefore, to keep the secret of All Beings Base, they needed another line of defense.


    Except for the hunting filed, the construction work of the fence wall on the side of the zombie base was another work to be done. That work was going well. After all, the population of the base had now gone beyond ten-thousand, so the base was no longer short of manpower. The farm work needed to be accelerated a little. Lin Qiao had harvested the stored food in Earth Dragon Base, but in the long term, the base would depend on the farm. One other thing was that those people from Earth Dragon Base still needed to be observed.


    The meeting was soon over, so people grabbed their belongings and left the conference room.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the map behind her, thinking about Lin Feng''s question. She wasn''t a hundred percent sure about what Wu Chengyue would do actually.


    A couple of hours later, she received Xie Dong''s report about the rat problem. For her and All Beings Base, that was not good news.

 846 The Negotiation

    "How many? Don''t we have a specific number?" Lin Qiao asked Xie Dong with a frown.


    Xie Dong shook his head and said, "When I left, the entire animal park was already occupied by rats. The animal park is thousands of acres in area. I think the whole Fuyang District will be eaten up in just a few days."


    Those rats had strangely strong teeth. Where did they come from? Had mutated rats been hiding underground and breeding in secret during the past few years?


    The group of rats had covered thousands of acres. How many were they? A million? Ten million?


    Probably more!


    "They''re very close to us!" Lin Qiao knitted her brows into a deep frown. She remembered seeing those mutated rats earlier when she passed through the animal park. She understood how strong they were.


    However, she saw no more than ten-thousand rats back then. How come the rat group suddenly grew so large?


    If the rat group showed up somewhere else, even in Gan Province, she wouldn''t be so worried. However, Fuyang District was only about three miles away from her base. Without a doubt, those rats would soon visit her territory.


    Thankfully, Xie Dong had discovered them in time.


    What made Lin Qiao worry was how destructive those rats were. They could eat all the supplies stored in her base. Once they ate up everything, they would leave slowly. Wherever they swept across, nothing would be left behind.


    "I didn''t know that mutated rats could eat zombies. Rats!" Thinking about how rapidly those rats propagated, Lin Qiao had a headache. She thought for a moment, then decided to build a team that was good at long-range fights. The members of the team had to have superpowers.


    Her base did not have jets, cannons, or other strong weapons. Without powerful weapons, commoners had no chance of surviving those rats.


    "Send the files to Deputy Chiefs and the others. We''ll have a meeting this afternoon," Lin Qiao soon gave her order.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Shen Yujen responded. Xie Dong sorted all the related files for her, then she spread them to the people in charge of the other departments.


    Once they left, Duan Juan came in and said, "Chief, we have guests from Sea City Base."


    "Who?" Lin Qiao raised her head and asked.


    Duan Juan knew that she was asking about who was leading the group. "Xiao Yunlong, with Meng Yue and Kong Qingming."


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away as she nodded and said, "Em, I get it."


    Duan Juan didn''t notice the slight trace of surprised look in Lin Qiao''s eyes. Lin Qiao subconsciously thought that it should be Wu Chengyue instead of Xiao Yunlong. But soon, she realized that Wu Chengyue wouldn''t come back so soon, as he had left not long ago.


    Duan Juan was only there to deliver the news to Lin Qiao. Xiao Yunlong and his people had been welcomed by Lin Feng.


    "What? Do you want to divide the field from Jiaxing City? Don''t you think that''s too much?" In the conference room, Xiao Yunlong, Meng Yue, and even Kong Qingming, all had disbelief in their eyes.


    When they heard Lin Feng say that All Beings Base intended to divide the hunting field from Shan Town that was located at the edge of Jiaxing City, they shared the same thought¡ª''All Beings Base is way too greedy! How dare they even say that out loud!''


    Lin Feng nodded and said expressionlessly, "Yeah. That is indeed what our Chief planned. As long as you agree, we would be willing to give you anything in compensation."


    He ignored Xiao Yunlong''s question.


    Meng Yue and Kong Qingming glanced at each other, then turned to Xiao Yunlong. Xiao Yunlong was looking at them too. All three of them seemed to be a little speechless. For the sake of the fact that Sea City Base and All Being Base were on a friendly term currently, Xiao Yunlong asked nicely, "Why does Miss Lu think that we will agree to that?"


    Lin Feng stayed composed and said, "The area between this spot and our base is at about the same size as the area between it and your base. I think it''s fair."


    Xiao Yunlong was going to divide the hunting field from the border between Yuhang District and Jiaxing City, so the entire Jiaxing City would belong to Sea City Base. Hearing what Lin Feng said, Xiao Yunlong started to feel that this serious-faced man was probably not easy to deal with.


    He looked at Lin Feng silently, without responding to him.


    Meng Yue was also looking at Lin Feng, trying to find out something from his face. Kong Qingming was leaning on one arm of his char, with his slender legs folded. His narrow and pretty eyes were fixed on the expressionless woman who was sitting straight in front of him.


    Lin Wenwen had her head dropped slightly while she was recording the contents of the meeting. But meanwhile, she had been looking around quickly, scanning the faces of Kong Qingming and Long Qingying over and over again. A meaningful smile could be detected from the corners of her lips.


    Being stared at by Kong Qingming, Long Qingying felt utterly annoyed. Yet, she could not do anything at that moment. She always had a poker face. So, even though she was very unhappy right now, the people who didn''t know her well couldn''t tell.


    How could she not notice the look in Kong Qingming''s eyes? She just didn''t understand why that girly man was gazing at her in that irritating way!


    Lin Feng and Xiao Yunlong had no idea about what was happening silently around them while they had been confronting each other for the hunting field.


    "I wonder what will you offer us for this area," Xiao Yunlong looked at Lin Feng with bright eyes.


    All Beings Base was founded half a year ago. At present, they only had about ten-thousand people. Therefore, Xiao Yunlong did not think that they could provide Sea City Base with anything that was equally valuable to Jiaxing City.


    Lin Feng thought for a moment. He too felt that his base couldn''t afford that much. So, he hesitated and said, "Perhaps, we can each take a step backward and divide the hunting field from here. What do you think?"


    While speaking, he drew a line on the map which was spread on the tea table between Xiao Yunlong and himself with his finger. The new line was near the center of Jiaxing City.


    "For this, we''ll offer you ten tons of rice, twenty tons of fruits and vegetables, and three favors for free. What do you think?" Lin Feng said, "Or, we can also pay you with a sufficient number of energy nuclei."


    Rice, vegetables and fruits were precious resources. That, added with three free favors, was the upper limit that Lin Qiao had set.


    That should be enough to trade for that hunting field.


    But of course, it needed to be paid in installments. That wasn''t a bad thing for Sea City Base, though.


    Xiao Yunlong paused briefly and hesitated slightly when Lin Mention mentioned rice. The farm in All Beings Base had been developing slowly but stably. Judging by how thriving those plants looked, the harvests would be rich.


    All Being Base had a small population, so it was easy for them to feed themselves!

 847 After The Meeting

    Noticing Xiao Yunlong''s hesitation, Lin Feng thought for a moment, then decisively chose to take another step back. "Of course, if you aren''t willing to accept our offer, it''ll be fine," he said, "We will take our time to achieve an agreement. Feel free to list your terms. We won''t say no, as long as we find them reasonable."


    Lin Feng sounded humble, but his words also contained some other meanings. Sea City Base would be considered unfriendly if they rejected All Beings Base''s offer. After all, All Beings Base was only a small base, and they had made two steps backward already.


    If that were the case, the relationship between Sea City Base and All Being Base would not stay so good.


    "Your offer is attractive. I think we can accept it. But, we still need to talk to the other two leaders of our base to make the final decision." Meng Yue, who had been quietly listening, abruptly joined the conversation. She was afraid that Xiao Yunlong might say yes thoughtlessly. If he did, there would be no more space for a better deal.


    Lin Feng gave her a glance, then nodded and turned back to Xiao Yunlong as he said, "Miss Meng is right. It''s alright. We''re in no rush."


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at Meng Yue with a warm look in his eyes. After that, he nodded at Lin Feng and said, "We will bring your words back to our other two leaders."


    Lin Wenwen quickly scanned Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue with her eyes while recording the last part of the meeting. After finishing, she closed her notebooks loudly.


    It seemed that the meeting was over.


    "Oh, there''s one other thing! I wonder if you have known about it or not." As the meeting was over, the atmosphere became less intense. Something came across Xiao Yunlong''s mind, so he talked to Lin Feng again.


    "What?" Lin Feng looked at him and asked.


    "Recently, we heard that a rat nest in Fuyang District has exploded. A huge group of rats came out of that area, and they''re destructive. I think you might need to make some preparations," said Xiao Yunlong.


    "Rats?" Lin Feng paused with surprise, then frowned slightly. That could not be happy news.


    "How many?" He looked at Xiao Yunlong and asked.


    "All mutated rats, huge. We don''t have a specific number yet. According to the last message we received, what people had seen was only a corner of an iceberg. The nest is in the animal park. A couple of days ago, they killed a thirty-men hunting team from our base. You can send someone there to take a look. It has been days. We don''t know what that place has turned into," Xiao Yunlong wore a serious face.


    That area would no longer stay under Sea City Base''s management. However, if All Beings Base failed to take precautions and let an accident happen, Sea City Base would be in trouble as well. After all, those two bases had been in tight cooperation up till now.


    "It sounds serious. We''ll do something about it," Lin Feng nodded and then thanked him, "Thank you very much for letting us know. Is that information for free?"


    Xiao Yunlong laughed, "Ah, if you can''t stop those rats, we''d suffer a bad consequence too, right?"


    "That''s right," Lin Feng nodded again.


    The conversation soon ended, and they both left.


    While walking, Lin Wenwen turned to give a glance to Kong Qingming, who was following behind her. "Pretty boy, you should go that way."


    She pointed at Xiao Yunlong, Meng Yue, and the guards behind them.


    Kong Qingming smiled faintly and responded, "The work is done. I don''t need to follow behind those two and be like a gooseberry."


    "Why are you following us then?" After coming out of the conference room, Long Qingying stopped concealing the unhappiness on her face. She glared at Kong Qingming sourly and asked him.


    "I''m going to see my buddy. This is the way I go, isn''t it? If you don''t like me following you, can you please tell me if there''s another way leading to the agriculture department?" Kong Qingming''s pretty face wore an innocent look.


    That beautiful face and puppy eyes of his could soften anyone''s heart. That was what Lin Wenwen felt. However¡­


    She turned to look at Long Qingying and found the latter seeming even more impatient than before.


    ''How on earth are these two going to end up together?'' she wondered.


    Earlier today, Lin Wenwen had an image flash across her mind when she saw Kong Qingming. It was at night, and the light was dim. Kong Qingming was leaning against the guardrail of a balcony. The one who was pressing him on the guardrail was no one else but Long Qingying. Their faces were melting together in the image. Lin Wenwen figured that they should be kissing at that time.


    Lin Wenwen was curious why her cold-hearted best friend would press that beautiful man down and kiss him. Moreover, the man seemed to be enjoying that kiss!


    Lin Wenwen couldn''t stay calm after she saw that image in her head. She secretly observed those two, as she was so, so curious about what was going to happen between them. What would they go through to get to the part that she saw?


    Long Qingying had no idea why her best friend was staring at her with a thousand puzzles. She felt annoyed when she heard Kong Qingming''s words, but didn''t know how to respond.


    The agriculture department was in that way indeed. What else could she say?


    Lin Feng went to Lin Qiao to talk to her about the rat problem, but she started the conversation before he could. "Xie Dong said that the rats had covered a large range. They have eaten up the entire animal park. Nothing was left behind. That whole area has become a barren land. There''re more than tens of millions of rats¡­"


    "What? More than that?" Picturing hundreds of acres thickly covered in black rats, Lin Feng had his scalp go numb.


    That was a terrifying number!


    "You stay out this now. I''ll send Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and a team. But, you should make some preparations as well. If the girls fall back, superpowered humans will be up," said Lin Qiao.


    A lot of superpowered people were living in All Being Base, and it was about the time for them to fight.


    "Alright, I get it!" Lin Feng nodded. He knew that Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and their team would be the spearhead of the base.


    "How''s the negotiation? Did they accept our offer?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "I don''t know," said Lin Feng, "Let''s see if Wu Chengyue will say yes or not. Xiao Yunlong seems to be fine with it."


    Lin Qiao nodded, then said with a faint smile, "Good. Let them take all the time they need. That hunting field will become a desert sooner or later. By then, they''ll know that the resources we created are much more valuable than those wastes."


    Wu Chengyue had no idea how thriving the farm in All Beings Base was. With the lake in Lin Qiao''s space, All Beings Base would certainly become a base rich in natural resources.

 848 Feel The Crisis

    That night, Lin Qiao listed the names of the members of Qiu Lili''s battle group. Qiu Lili and Yun Meng would be leading the group together. Under their command were number zombie three, who was an ice-powered zombie king, the fire-powered zombie boy, earth-powered zombie number six, the metal-powered old man, the water-powered Keng-keng, and ice-powered Nan Jin. Their powers could deliver effective long-range attacks. Ten level-five zombies and twenty level-four zombies with various powers were also in the group.


    After listing those names, Lin Qiao summoned Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, giving them the details about the rat nest.


    "Tomorrow morning, you two lead the group to attack those rats with your full strength. Let''s see if your attacks will scare those rats away from our base," Lin Qiao handed Qiu Lili the name list while speaking.


    "Scare? Why don''t we destroy them all?" Qiu Lili asked. Those rats might cause big trouble for the base, so why not destroy them right now?


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "You can''t destroy them. I told you to attack with your full strength and kill as many of them as possible. Still, those rats breed rapidly. How can you guarantee that they would all die? Even if there''s only one that escaped your attacks, there would soon be a new group of rats."


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng didn''t know what exactly happened, neither did they understand how terrifying a giant rat group that covered thousands of acres could be. They thought they were just going to kill some big rats that could be destroyed by a puff of fire or some ice power.


    Lin Qiao understood that the two girls were underestimating those rats. They were young, so they couldn''t see that far ahead at times. Those rats wouldn''t die out, not even if she put all the strength of her base in use against them. Lin Qiao was going to observe the rat group closely after she sent the spearhead battle group out against them. The more information she got, the better chance she would have of winning.


    After the apocalypse, the magnetic field was disordered, so long-range missiles could no longer be launched accurately. A few missiles might not be able to destroy all the rats, but could take out about eighty percent of them.


    But of course, the biggest problem was that All Beings Base didn''t have such powerful weapons for the time being.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng glanced at each other silently.


    Lin Qiao said, "You''ll see when you get there. As I''ve said, those mutated rats are at high-levels. A level-seven rat king might show up as well. You may be able to defeat the rat king face to face, but don''t forget how sneaky it can be. A level-seven rat can be very smart. I think, if it wanted to run, you guys¡­ might not be able to catch it."


    The rat crowd would never die out unless the rat king died.


    Hearing what Lin Qiao said, Yun Meng and Qiu Lili realized that the rat problem might be a little hard to deal with, and that the task would probably be dangerous.


    "I wouldn''t send you two if I could do it myself," Lin Qiao sighed.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng both looked at her confusedly. Lin Qiao leaned gently against the back of her chair and put a hand on her belly casually.


    "Alright, go! Leave early tomorrow. Be careful, or you might get hurt!" Lin Qiao said to the two girls.


    "Alright!" Qiu Lili and Yun Meng turned and left.


    After the two of them left, Lin Qiao stayed behind the desk and kept doing her work. Suddenly, she froze and palpitated with fear. However, that feeling soon faded away.


    She stopped working and frowned with confusion. That feeling existed for a very short span of time, so she failed to grasp it to figure out how it was caused. She only sensitively felt that it was not a good sign.


    She suddenly recalled that she had a similar feeling not long ago. Back then, it was way weaker than what she had just now. Later on, she heard about Lin Wenwen''s new superpower, and figured that the strange feeling was a sign for that.


    What was it about this time? Did it mean that something else was going to happen soon?


    Last time, Lin Qiao didn''t pay much attention to that strange feeling. But this time, it was too strong to be ignored. She thought for a moment, then summoned Shen Yujen and said to her, "Go and tell Wenwen to come here."


    "Now?" Shen Yujen glanced outside the window. It was already nine pm.


    Lin Qiao nodded and replied, "Em, now."


    "Yes, ma''am," Shen Yujen turned and left Lin Qiao''s office.


    Mo Yan, who was staying in Lin Qiao''s space, had that same feeling as well. He abruptly opened his eyes, then sat up from the bed expressionlessly and pressed a hand on his heart. His beautiful face wore a serious look.


    His heart had stopped beating and died long ago. But just now, he sensed a quick palpitation. That was how his body reacted to the coming crisis.


    Was some special crisis happening?


    That was the first thought that popped up in Mo Yan''s mind when he sat up.


    Normally, zombies didn''t need sleep. Mo Yan had been in a strange condition currently though. He always closed his eyes to let his body rest when the female zombie was healing him. By doing that, he would fall in very shallow sleep.


    He was the first zombie who was able to sleep!


    Once he sat up, the female zombie opened the door from the outside and looked at him.


    Lin Qiao sensed Mo Yan''s movements, but didn''t pay attention to the look on his face. Instead, she was waiting for Lin Wenwen to come to her office, so she could ask the latter if she had sensed anything strange lately.


    After all, Lin Wenwen had a special power now.


    Except for Lin Qiao and Mo Yan, all the other creatures like them had had that strange feeling.


    The level-eight beasts in mountains or water and the few zombie emperors that were scattered across the world all opened their eyes at that very moment or froze with surprise.


    Currently, no mutated plant in the country had broken into level-eight. Level-eight human beings didn''t have the sharp sensations as zombies or mutated beasts had. Therefore, as a level-eight man, Wu Chengyue didn''t feel anything.


    In a foreign base, shrill alarms were heard from a series of geodesic measuring instruments.


    The creatures that lived on the surface of the earth had no idea that the core of the earth had been quaking slightly. The Earth was slowly cracking and turning on the inside. Countless underground creatures that humans had never seen had been running desperately.


    "Roarrrr!"


    No one knew that a second apocalypse was arriving!

 849 The Second Apocalypse

    "What happened? Why did you want to see me so late at night?" Lin Wenwen ran into Lin Qiao''s office and asked before Shen Yujen left.


    Lin Qiao watched Shen Yujen leave and close the door, then said to Lin Wenwen, "Have any strange images popped up in your mind lately?"


    "Strange image? Like what? What''s it about?" Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Qiao and said with confusion.


    "Just now, I suddenly had a very bad feeling. I can''t explain it¡­ I feel that something is going to happen. That''s why I asked you if you saw anything with your new power," said Lin Qiao to Lin Wenwen uncertainly.


    That feeling was gone already. However, it made Lin Qiao feel uneasy, although she didn''t know why.


    The less she knew, the more worried she was.


    Lin Wenwen spent a few seconds looking at Lin Qiao in the eyes, then shook her head and said, "No. Nothing¡­ I haven''t seen anything about you since the image of you giving birth."


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then said, "Did you see anything about anyone else?"


    Lin Wenwen thought briefly, then shook her head again.


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "Alright. Go back to your room."


    Lin Wenwen spent a few more seconds looking at her, then nodded as she stood up and left.


    That night, a stream of gas escaped the earth, containing all sorts of toxicities.


    All normal plants that were touched by the gas withered and died; the animals that inhaled the gas fell to the ground and twitched, then froze. Their eyes turned grey, and in a few seconds, the bodies of those animals were drained of moisture.


    The mutated plants started growing thrivingly while the mutated animals had their eyes turning red as they became insanely violent and excited.


    "Roar!"


    Human beings were affected as well.


    In a dorm room in All Beings Base, none of the four commoners who lived there had gotten up, even though the day had broken long ago.


    The entire floor was quiet too, with no sound to be heard.


    "Eh? What''s happening?" The level-three squad leader was in the guard post downstairs in that dorm building with one of his subordinates. They were on duty last night. It was already seven in the morning. Normally, many people should have left the dorm by that time.


    "Bing, wake up! The canteen has opened. Go and get us some breakfast. You have to be quick, or you''ll get nothing!" The squad leader glanced at the quiet dorm building and felt a little strange about it. Soon, he forgot about that, because the canteen should have opened at that time.


    He turned and kicked his subordinate, who was lying asleep on the table, as he said. However, his subordinate made no response to that kick.


    "Bing? Bing! Wake up!" The squad leader thought that Bing was sleeping too deeply. As the latter didn''t wake up, he called him again and kicked on his chair.


    As a result, Bing fell off the chair and thudded against the ground. After that, he lay there motionlessly, not even changing his posture.


    That weird scene made the squad leader shiver slightly. He looked at Bing as he slowly approached him, then put a finger under his nose to feel his breath.


    Right at that moment, the twenty-year-old young man suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were purely black.


    "Roar¡­" Springing up from the ground, he reached out both hands, his fingers crooked. He pressed the squad leader down before the latter could even react, then widely opened his mouth to bite the latter. His mouth cracked from ear to ear, his face looking ferocious.


    "Damn it!" The squad leader gave a start but reacted in time. Before Bing''s teeth could sink into his body, his skin turned into hard stone.


    Crack¡­ Bing''s teeth were cracked.


    The squad leader turned the skin of his entire body into stone, then quickly gripped Bing''s neck and punched his head with his stone fist.


    Thud! A half of Bing''s head was dented by the first punch.


    Thud! The second punch crushed his head.


    A level-three earth-powered man might not be super powerful, but was strong enough to kill a new zombie.


    The man pushed aside Bing''s body, then quickly got up from the ground and lay his upper body on the table while pressing a button of the interphone.


    "Oi, this is the guard post in District C. A guard here just turned into a zombie! Be careful, everyone!"


    At that moment, a scream was heard from the dorm building.


    "Ah¡­ Help! Help! Zombie!" It was a woman.


    The squad leader wore the interphone on his coat, then quickly picked up the rifle in the guardhouse and rushed toward where the scream came from.


    Bang! Soon after that, a window on the other side of the building suddenly opened and someone jumped out of that window.


    "Roar¡­" That man landed on the ground and roared at the squad leader before charging at him.


    He was fast, running like a human being. Judging by his moving speed, he was a level-two zombie.


    Bang! The squad leader immediately raised the rifle and shot at the zombie''s head.


    The zombie tilted his head to dodge the bullet, then raised his speed, running at the squad leader. From seven or eight meters away, he leaped high up into the sky, then pounced on the squad leader.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The squad leader was a little nervous as the zombie dodged his first bullet very easily. He raised his gun and shot three bullets at the zombie while it was still in the air.


    Thud! This time, the zombie fell from the air and thudded on the ground like a piece of meat.


    The squad leader spent a few seconds looking at the dead zombie, then quickly turned and kept moving toward the screaming woman.


    At that moment, the rat crowd in Fuyang District was stirred, and some rats started attacking the other rats crazily. Their eyes turned red and faces were twisted, their hair standing straight up.


    Squeak¡­ The other rats weren''t prepared for that. They were startled at first, then ended up being scared away by the violent vibe coming from those crazy rats.

 850 The Sudden Chaos

    Soon, the building fell into chaos. Screams and cries were heard from every corner, shattering the quietness. Following the screams were the noises of fighting and things breaking. People started running out in panic.


    "Zombies! They turned into zombies! Help!"


    "Ahhhhh!"


    "Roar!"


    That chaos spread in the base, and the other bases were going through the same situation as well.


    Wang Jian had just opened his eyes before he heard the screams from next door. He sprung up from the bed in his pajamas, quickly dragged out a case from under his bed, and opened it. The case was full of guns and bullets.


    He assembled a gun smoothly, then raised it and moved to the door side to listen to the sounds from the outside very carefully. He heard the noises coming from the hallways and the other rooms. People were screaming, fighting, and bumping into each other. The same kind of noises had been coming from the window, mixing together with gunshots and zombie roars.


    Wang Jian blinked, then flashed to the window and looked outside.


    Downstairs, people were desperately running away from the building. Some soldiers had been firing their weapons at different directions. He looked around and found a couple of zombies attacking people.


    Wang Jian lived in that room alone. The people were under his command.


    At that moment, only two of the six people next door got up from their beds. The other four were still lying motionlessly.


    "Roar¡­" One of the two who had gotten up was no longer a human being.


    Qiao Liangting was dumbfounded when he saw the black-eyed Huang Tiange pounce on him ferociously. He was fine last night before sleeping. How come he turned into a zombie in the morning?


    While thinking hard, Qiao Liangting made a quick roll on the ground to dodge Huang Tiange''s attack.


    "Roar!" Huang Tiange missed his target, but soon turned around and charged again.


    At that point, Qiao Liangting had already picked up a gun. He raised the gun and shot Huang Tiange in the head without hesitation.


    Bang! The bullet sank into Huang Tiange''s forehead. The zombie froze, and then fell to the ground.


    Looking at the dead zombie on the ground, Qiao Liangting wore a grim look that did not contain a strong sadness.


    They were both commoners struggling to survive in the post-apocalyptic era. They worried about virus infection every single day. Any one of them could suddenly turn into a zombie. For that very reason, they never let themselves get too close with each other, or they might not be able to react in time when something like now happened.


    After the zombie died, Qiao Liangting raised his head to look at the other four people vigilantly. He and the zombie had made such loud noises just now, yet the four were still lying still on the ground. That should not have happened.


    He slowly raised his gun and carefully approached one of the four. Half of that man''s face was covered under the blanket. His skin had withered, as if he was drained. His eyes were sunk deep, looking like two empty holes. Even his eyeballs were dry.


    His hair looked like dry straw.


    What happened?


    Qiao Liangting didn''t understand.


    He alertly checked the rest three men and found them all in the same state. In that dorm room, only two of the six woke up. He was the only one stayed alive.


    Why did they suddenly become like that? What on earth had happened?


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao had just completed one round of energy absorption. Suddenly, screams and strange zombie roars came into her ears, followed by gunshots and explosions.


    She frowned and quickly got off the bed, walking to the balcony and looking outside. She sensed the vibes that belonged to many strange zombies. The scents of living human beings had weakened by fifty percent.


    "Chief! Something happened?" Right at that moment, quick door knocks were heard.


    "What''s going on?" Lin Qiao flashed to the door and opened it as she asked Duan Juan, who was outside.


    "For some reason, forty percent of people in our base died this morning, and ten percent turned into level-two zombies. Those were all commoners. The superpowered people are fine!" Duan Juan wore a very serious look. She didn''t panic, but stayed calmed and told Lin Qiao what she knew.


    "The whole base? Only commoners? Are you sure?" Lin Qiao walked straight out of her door, toward the roof.


    "Yes. That''s what we know so far."


    A few others were already standing at the edge of the roof, facing the base.


    "It''s so weird! Why did so many people die suddenly? What turned those people into zombies? Were they infected earlier?" Yun Meng said with a deep frown.


    They were gathering on the roof, preparing to leave the base to attack those big rats. While waiting for the others, they sensed many strange zombies from the base, and the weakening of the human scent.


    At that time, Xie Dong showed up before Lin Qiao and said to her, "Chief, Mrs. Lin is¡­"


    Lin Qiao widened her eyes, then disappeared from where she was.


    On hearing what Xie Dong said, the others all had their expressions changing. Next, they rushed toward where Mrs. Lin lived together.


    By the time Lin Qiao arrived at that building, a soldier ran out of the entrance and said to Lin Qiao, "We kept her in the room¡­"


    Lin Qiao didn''t pause, but rushed straight into the building and quickly ran upstairs with a very dark face. At that moment, the door and all the windows in Mrs. Lin''s room had been sealed by metal bars. A zombie with disheveled hair was trapped in that room.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie was no one else but Mrs. Lin herself. Her eyes had turned black. She bared her teeth and roared at the people outside with a thirsty look. Her hands gripped the metal bars at the door; her fingernails having turned black as well.


    "How did this happen! How did it happen! She was fine yesterday!" Lin Wenwen stood by the door, leaning on the wall. She popped her red eyes, gazing at the zombie while murmuring. Her face was filled with disbelief.


    She had heard what happened in the base. Before she could face that disaster, she was told that her mother had turned into a zombie too.


    Why didn''t she see this in her mind in advance? Why didn''t she have a hunch about what had happened this morning? She saw none of this!


    Why!


    Lin Qiao ran over. Seeing the zombie trapped in the room, she had her heart sinking. She felt as if a rock had fallen into her chest, which made her shiver.


    As Lin Qiao and the other high-leveled zombies arrived, Mrs. Lin suddenly quieted down.

 851 Mrs. Lin Turned

    Mrs. Lin was a special member in the base. She had two sons, one of whom was a Deputy Chief while the other was a doctor. Her daughter was a space possessor, and although not an official, had a high status.


    If it weren''t for that reason, the other people would have put a bullet in her head long ago.


    Lin Qiao took a deep breath as she calmed herself down and then said, "Lili, Yun Meng, take all the level-five zombies to control those new zombies in our base. Don''t kill them unless you have to. Go!"


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng instantly turned and left. The other zombies, who came here to see what happened, quickly followed them to bring the new zombies under control.


    "Xie Dong, go and find out what exactly caused this," Lin Qiao forced herself to stay calm and started giving orders.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Xie Dong responded, then quickly left.


    After that, Lin Qiao said to Lin Wenwen and Lin Feng, "Don''t let the news spread yet. Qingying, open the door."


    While speaking, she turned to Long Qingying, who was holding Lin Wenwen''s arm tightly.


    Long Qingying waved a hand. Following her movement, the metal bars on the door shrank to the side and created a hole in the door. Lin Qiao quickly got in through the adult-sized hole while Lin Feng turned and gave Qian Xiaoai an eye signal.


    Qian Xiaoai had been under Lin Feng''s command for years. He surely understood what the later meant: he needed to seal people''s mouths.


    Lin Feng would give that order even if Lin Qiao didn''t.


    As Lin Qiao got into the room, Mrs. Lin shrank back tremblingly. She dropped her head and tightened her shoulders, not even daring to look at Lin Qiao.


    "Don''t move." Looking at Mrs. Lin, Lin Qiao knew that she had lost her memory. Currently, all she had were zombie instincts.


    What she saw gave Lin Qiao heartburn. But soon, she clenched her teeth and calmed down, slowly walking to Mrs. Lin.


    She thought her family would be safe from all kinds of dangers under her protection. But, what happened last night? There was no sign before that. Nothing strange happened, except for that suddenly strange feeling which she had last night. It was just one night. But through that night, people died or turned into zombies!


    She took a deep breath. She always had a strong mind. After spending a short while calming herself, she moved further toward Mrs. Lin.


    "Don''t be afraid¡­ I won''t hurt you. Don''t move¡­" She knew that Mrs. Lin wouldn''t understand her words at that moment, not even if she called her ''mother''. She had no other choice but to give Mrs. Lin orders with her high-level vibe.


    Mrs. Lin seemed to be very afraid of Lin Qiao. Every time Lin Qiao made a step toward her, she would automatically make a step backward. Eventually, Lin Qiao walked up to her and slowly reached toward her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t make any sudden moves, as she didn''t want to scare Mrs. Lin. She slowly reached out her hand, held Mrs. Lin''s shoulders, and brought her into the space. Mrs. Lin was trembling with fear all this while.


    She didn''t know how long had Mrs. Lin turned into zombies for. Only about ten hours had passed from last night to the present. Judging by Mrs. Lin''s current look, her memory could no longer be restored like what happened to Xie Dong, Lu Tianyi, and Shen Yujen.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao could only take a slower way.


    She brought Mrs. Lin to the living room of her house, then picked up a cup and fetched a cup of lake water. After that, she cut her own finger and dripped a drop of blood into the cup.


    The thick and black blood immediately turned the water brown.


    The look on Mrs. Lin''s face changed drastically when she saw the cup of water in Lin Qiao''s hand. She stared straight at the cup, her eyes showing strong thirst and fear.


    "Drink it," Lin Qiao felt uneasy and anxious, but she could not show that on her face.


    Mrs. Lin looked at Lin Qiao motionlessly, without doing what she said.


    Lin Qiao looked back at her and gave her that order again. She was aware that might be a little disrespectful to her mother, but that was the only way to restore her memory sooner.


    The base was in chaos. She couldn''t stay in the space for too long.


    "Drink it."


    Mrs. Lin glanced at Lin Qiao with fright, then took over the cup and put it near her lips. Then, she glanced at Lin Qiao again. As the latter kept the same expression, she had no choice but to close her eyes and pour the water in her mouth.


    Crack! Once the water was poured into Mrs. Lin''s throat, the cup dropped from her hand and shattered against the ground.


    "Roar¡­" She fell on the ground and curled up.


    That cup of water contained a whole drop of Lin Qiao''s blood. Lin Qiao''s virus mixed with the energy in the water devoured the zombie virus inside Mrs. Lin''s body. Lin Qiao stood by her side uneasily while narrowing her eyes to look at the people outside.


    People were standing quietly by the door. Lin Wenwen was leaning against the door frame, seemingly collapsed. Lin Feng looked very depressed. As a mature man, he was able to control his emotions. He couldn''t believe what happened at first, but he was already facing it now.


    As Lin Qiao arrived, he was slightly relieved. Thinking that his mother had become a zombie, he gave a sigh. There was already a zombie in his family, so he guessed that having one more wouldn''t be a big problem.


    He felt lucky that his mother didn''t turn into a dried body like some others.


    In the base, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng scattered to look for new zombies. They lay pressure on every zombie they found and ordered them not to move. Meanwhile, Yuan Tianxing and the others were leading all the superpowered people and surviving soldiers to save the people.


    Soon, Qiu Lili and the other zombies discovered that those new zombies were not only nimble and fast, but also smart.


    That was not reasonable. Currently, human beings had just adapted to the world that was full of slow-moving, brainless zombies.


    With the help of Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the other zombies, the situation in the base was soon brought under control. They stood on top of a tall building and each gave a roar. Hearing their voices, all the new zombies in the base stopped attacking people and gathered toward them.


    Without the threats from the zombies, Yuan Tianxing and his people quickly gathered all the survivors to the playground of the school.


    Everyone was frightened. Yuan Tianxing, Du Yuanxing, and the others tried their best to comfort them.


    "Why did this happen? Why? Have you seen it? Some people became mummies last night¡­ It''s horrible! The guy I shared a bunk bed died like that!"


    "Some in my dorm are the same. You''re lucky that your roommate only turned into a mummy. My roommate turned into a zombie! I was nearly bitten to death! What happened to this world? Are we going through a second apocalypse?"


    The survivors talked to each other with lingering fear. Clearly, they were all scared by what happened in the morning.

 852 Mania Appears

    Yuan Tianxing stood on the platform before the playground, looking at the thousands of survivors who were talking to each other. His face was as black as thunder.


    "Deputy Chief! We counted the noses. Four-thousand, three-hundred, and ninety-two people died and their bodies dried out¡­ Five-thousand, eight-hundred, and seventy-seven survived. All superpowered people are fine. We don''t know how many people have turned into zombies yet. Based on total number of people we had before, about seven-hundred people are missing. I think they should be the ones who turned into zombies this time," Li Zheng walked to Yuan Tianxing while holding some files. With a low voice, he reported to Yuan Tianxing about what he knew.


    "What about the cause?" Yuan Tianxing asked with a grim look.


    "We don''t know yet," Li Zheng shook his head.


    The only question that people had now was what caused the disaster.


    "Du, find a way to comfort these people first," Yuan Tianxing said to Du Yuanxing with a deep frown.


    "I get it," Du Yuanxing nodded, then left with his subordinates. To pacify those people, Du Yuanxing asked Cheng Wangxue to prepare some food. When the breakfast was ready, every survivor got a portion.


    The warm breakfast did calm them down a lot.


    After calming down, they started wanting to know why the disaster happened. Why did some people turn into zombies? Why some others turned into dried and dead bodies overnight?


    About fifty percent of the people in the base were gone through last night.


    When All Beings Base leaders were busy comforting their people and trying to figure out the cause of the disaster, the leaders of the other bases had been doing the same.


    In Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue was standing in the conference room in the administration building, also with a bitter face. Through the french window, he was looking down at the survivors who had been gathering toward the building.


    Sea City Base wasn''t as special as All Beings Base. Therefore, gunshots and explosions could still be heard from everywhere in that base.


    While killing the zombies, they also needed to save the survivors.


    In the cleared area, the soldiers wrapped the dead bodies in sheets and carried them out. Most of those people died in sleep and had their bodies dried out, so they were found on their beds. The soldiers put on gloves and wrapped them up with white cloth or body bags.


    Those dead bodies were soon counted out and burned. Zombies wouldn''t eat them!


    "I''ve checked. All of them were commoners. It didn''t happen to any superpowered ones¡­" Xiao Licheng told Wu Chengyue what he knew.


    "Are all superpowered people fine?" Wu Chengyue asked with a frown.


    Xiao Licheng nodded.


    "What happened to those who turned into zombies?" Wu Chengyue raised his head and looked at the area where a battle was being fought as he asked.


    "We don''t know yet," Xiao Licheng knitted his brows into a frown as well. It had only been about an hour since they had heard the news. It wasn''t possible for the cause to be found out so soon.


    "Do you feel that this¡­ looks very much alike the apocalypse?" Moli, who was staying silent the whole time, abruptly joined the conversation without any expression. On hearing that, all the others in the room frowned. Wu Chengyue widened his eyes and turned to say to Xiao Licheng, "Go and find out the situation in the other bases!"


    Xiao Licheng instantly turned and left.


    Once he left, a few people walked in quickly. They were Zou Shihui, an old man, and some others.


    "There was a situation on my side. Tell your people to keep an eye on the superpowered ones. They might burst into mania," said Zou Shihui to Wu Chengyue once he came in.


    "What?" Wu Chengyue was a little confused at first, then seemed to understand Zou Shihui''s meaning. He uncertainly looked at the latter and asked, "Are you saying that there might be problems with the superpowered people too?"


    Zou Shihui nodded.


    The old man with presbyopic glasses said, "You''ll know when you see them."


    While speaking, he turned and waved at the soldiers at the door. Following his move, the group of soldiers pushed in three people, whose hands were locked by metal bars,


    A level-six metal-powered man had locked their hands, following behind the three at the moment with his hands raised to control the metal, in case the three struggled themselves free.


    The three people had their eyes popped, face twisted, and teeth bared like fierce beasts. They twisted their bodies and struggled restlessly. Their energies were disordered, bursting wave by wave.


    Wu Chengyue looked at their red and unfocused eyes. Clearly, their minds weren''t clear, their eyes bloodshot. The three were only at level two or three, so they couldn''t hurt the others on the scene. But seeing them, Wu Chengyue frowned deeply.


    "They don''t know who they are, and they can''t recognize the others," the old man said while pushing up his glasses.


    "We only found these three so far. But, based on what happened this morning, I think we should be prepared," Zou Shihui walked to the window and looked outside. Because of the disaster that happened in the morning, the smoke of gunpowder was rising from many areas of the base.


    "This might be the second apocalypse¡­ But this time, people didn''t only become zombies or superpower possessors. The ones who didn''t turn into zombies became dried corpses," Zou Shihui said with a depressed tone and a deep frown.


    At that time, the group of Sea City Base people still in All Beings Base were helplessly looking at Kong Qingming, who seemed to have lost his mind.


    He was in a hallway in the building they lived in. Behind him, twisting trees had filled the hallway up. Green branches broke into all the doors and windows, then grew rapidly in the rooms and broke out of the windows, reaching outside.


    From the outside, people could see branches and leaves reaching out from every window of that building.


    "Kong Qingming! What are you doing!" Meng Yue looked at Kong Qingming with a serious and confused expression.


    Kong Qingming''s pretty eyes were red at that moment. The white parts of those eyes were covered in a light layer of redness. He looked at Meng Yue expressionlessly, without responding to her.


    "The look on his face is weird!" Xiao Yunlong shielded Meng Yue with his own body while observing Kong Qingming''s eyes with a frown. He suffered a slap on the back of his head before he could even finish his words.


    Clap!


    Meng Yue rolled her eyes and said to her, "We aren''t blind! Who else but you can''t tell that the look on his face is weird!"


    Xiao Yunlong was speechless. ''Can you please not slap me on the head? A little respect would be nice¡­'' he complained in his head.

 853 Superpowered People Go Crazy

    sKong Qingming''s pretty and charming face now wore an icy-cold look while his red eyes glowed with frosty light. The trees that were growing crazily rapid behind him showed how abnormal he was.


    "Kong Qingming, what the hell is wrong with you?" Meng Yue shouted at him, but her tone was still soft.


    Kong Qingming looked at her coldly, those eyes not containing any emotions. His beautiful face looked like a lifeless robot instead of that of a man.


    Once Meng Yue''s voice faded, a maniacal look escaped Kong Qingming''s eyes. Next, he raised both hands and sent the branches from behind him piercing at Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue.


    Meng Yue and Xiao Yunlong reacted simultaneously while the soldiers behind them raised their guns.


    "Don''t shoot!" Meng Yue yelled at the soldiers, meaning that she and Xiao Yunlong would deal with the problem themselves.


    Meng Yue had green power too, so once she made a move, Kong Qingming''s trees slowed down. Kong Qingming was at a level higher than Meng Yue, so even though she was able to control those trees for a short span of time, they would soon go back under his control.


    Thankfully, Xiao Yunlong was there to help. As he raised both hands, the surrounding metal objects flew over and quickly transformed into metal bars, locking Kong Qingming''s hands and putting his arms behind his body.


    As a result, Kong Qingming automatically started struggling. However, as Xiao Yunlong was a level higher than him, he wasn''t able to free himself from the former''s power. At last, both his hands were locked behind his body.


    Xiao Yunlong flashed up behind him, then raised a hand and knocked on the back of his neck.


    Thud! Kong Qingming fell to the ground, his eyes rolled up.


    "Bring him downstairs!" Meng Yue and Xiao Yunlong turned and headed toward the stairs. While walking, Meng Yue raised an arm. Following her move, the trees on the hallways shrank to both sides, making a path in the middle.


    Downstairs, Xiao Yunlong and his people saw some other soldiers, superpowered people, and strong male commoners carrying some dead bodies out of the building.


    "Are these the people who have turned into¡­ I mean, who have died?" With a frown, Xiao Yunlong said to Meng Yue sullenly.


    Meng Yue had a depressed look as well as she nodded and said, "Em, I heard from them that all the people who have died or turned into zombies were commoners. The superpowered ones should be all fine¡­"


    She didn''t finish her speech, but turned and glanced at the unconscious Kong Qingming, who was carried by two soldiers.


    "This¡­ looks like the apocalypse that happened six years ago," said Xiao Yunlong glumly.


    At that moment, Du Yuanxing came over with his people and said to them, "Chief Xiao, our Chief invited you to take some rest in the conference room. The base is chaotic now, so we need to do a large-range clearance now¡­ Eh? What happened to Deputy Chief Kong?"


    Du Yuanxing spotted the unconscious Kong Qingming and asked with confusion.


    "For some reason, he suddenly went crazy just now, so we knocked him out. We don''t know what caused his abnormal behavior yet," Xiao Yunlong nodded as he answered Du Yuanxing''s question.


    "Went crazy? What do you mean?" Du Yuanxing stared at Kong Qingming with confusion.


    "His mind wasn''t clear, and he attacked us. You guys should be careful too. This might¡­ have something to do with what caused their death." Xiao Yunlong looked at those dead corpses and said.


    After saying that, he turned and headed toward the administration building with his people.


    In the conference room, they saw Lin Qiao looking outside the window with a forbidding look. The atmosphere in the room was very stressful. The other people in the room all kept a distance from her, staying absolutely quiet without daring to even breathe loudly. Even the level-seven ones were suppressed by Lin Qiao''s vibe.


    Xiao Yunlong glanced at the others. Thinking about the current situation, he understood why Lin Qiao gave out such a stressful vibe.


    "Still not figured out the cause? So many people suddenly turned into zombies, and those died such a weird way..," said Xiao Yunlong.


    Lin Qiao turned back and walked to her seat unpleasantly, then pointed at two chairs and said to Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue, "Please sit down."


    After that, she continued, "We haven''t found out the cause yet. As you may know, we don''t have many experts in this field. Based on the current situation, I think this didn''t only happen in our base."


    Xiao Yunlong paused briefly. He thought for a moment, then responded, "Are you saying that¡­ Is this really the second apocalypse?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and said, "I''ve sent my people to your base. It''ll take us one or two hours to know the situation there."


    She had such a strong feeling last night. That was probably a sign.


    At that moment, a series of noises was suddenly heard from the outside. A strong gust of wind blew into the room from the door and then left through the window. The energy contained in the wind was agitated and disordered, seeming aimless.


    Lin Qiao turned and narrowed her eyes. A short while later, Duan Juan ran into the room and said, "Chief, a few superpowered ones over there just went crazy!"


    "What happened? What was the noise that we heard just now?" Lin Qiao said with a frown. Clearly, that was not good news.


    "Fang Datong went crazy as well. He was behind me and has level-three wind power," said Duan Juan with a deep frown.


    "What is going on? Tell me what do you mean by ''went crazy'' first?" Lin Qiao asked expressionlessly.


    "They suddenly lost their minds, and their powers became uncontrollable. They turned ferocious and attacked everyone they saw. All of them are the same. It happened so suddenly!" said Duan Juan.


    "A couple of them? So¡­ it''s not an individual case¡­" Xiao Yunlong looked at Duan Juan and said to her, then turned to Kong Qingming, who was thrown into a chair in a corner.


    Lin Qiao and the others followed his eyes and saw Kong Qingming.


    "What happened to him?" Lin Qiao asked. She hadn''t noticed Kong Qingming before.


    "As she said, he went crazy, so I knocked him out," Xiao Yunlong glanced at Duan Juan and said.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent, fixing her eyes on Kong Qingming. She thought nothing would happen to the people who had superpowers. Obviously, she was wrong. It just came a little late.


    At that point, a series of disordered footstep sounds were heard.


    "This is bad! This is bad!" Lin Wenwen''s voice could be heard from the room before she even came in, "Sis¡­ Chief! Tianxing has gone crazy! Go, go, go and take a look at him!" Lin Wenwen rushed into the room in a flurry. She was so anxious that she nearly called Lin Qiao ''sister'' in front of the others.

 854 Wave After Wave

    "What happened?" All the others turned their eyes to Lin Wenwen.


    "I don''t know why but¡­ At first, he suddenly shouted at us and told us to leave, to stay far away from him¡­ Before we could react, he began attacking us with his power!" said Lin Wenwen to Lin Qiao with red eyes. She was burning with anxiety, but she still tried her best to calm down.


    At that moment, everyone sensed an earthquake.


    ''This is bad!'' They all had a bad feeling as they turned to look outside the window.


    Yuan Tianxing had earth power!


    As they looked outside the window together, the earth quaked even more intensely. Rumbling noises could be heard from a distance away. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao flashed out of the conference room.


    The earthquake grew stronger and stronger, and the people outside the building panicked again.


    "What''s going on! Is this an earthquake?"


    "Earthquake! Earthquake!"


    The earthquake stirred the crowd of survivors who were gathering in the playground.


    "Everyone, calm down! This is not an earthquake! This is not an earthquake! Don''t panic!" Chen Yuting stood on the platform as he raised both arms while shouting at the people. However, his words failed to comfort those people.


    "Is this the second apocalypse? Why did so many people die suddenly? And some others turned into zombies through one single night¡­ Now there is an earthquake!"


    "I think you''re right¡­ This is terrible! Why is there a second apocalypse!"


    "What are we gonna do¡­ Are we all dying? How are we supposed to survive all this?"


    Fear instantly spread among the people.


    "Listen to me if you want to live! Don''t panic! Otherwise, you might scare yourselves to death before the zombies kill you!" Chen Yuting yelled at them harshly with a cold face as his comforting words didn''t manage to calm those people down.


    "Stop talking, or I''ll throw you out of the base!"


    That threat worked well, and the people instantly quieted down. After all, none of them wanted to die. They would be willing to obey, as long as they could stay alive.


    The quietness calmed them down gradually.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao flashed to the most chaotic area. The people in that area had fallen back to a distance away. The ground had cracked, and buildings had collapsed. The whole area was wasted, as if the earth had been stirred.


    The man who did that was standing on a pile of ruins. His energy had been gushing out of his body uncontrollably, flowing into the earth and spreading.


    Lin Qiao turned invisible and approached him, so he didn''t sense her coming.


    The energy from Yuan Tianxing was so strong that it formed a circle, stopped the others from approaching. Fortunately, as a level-seven zombie, Lin Qiao had a super-strong body. She wrapped herself up with her own energy and moved toward Yuan Tianxing step by step.


    Soon, she walked up behind Yuan Tianxing, raised an arm, and gave him a heavy strike on the back of his neck. The tense atmosphere in that area was eased instantly.


    Thud! Yuan Tianxing fell on the ruins.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief, then carefully looked around. Seeing what had been destroyed, she even wanted to give Yuan Tianxing a heavy kick.


    His power burst out of control and spread in all directions. Consequently, everything was ruined within the area five miles in radius around Yuan Tianxing''s body. All the buildings had been torn into pieces, trees broken, and roads damaged.


    It was too horrible to even look at. That area seemed to have been through a genuinely destructive earthquake. He lost control of his power for merely a couple of minutes, yet such a serious result was caused!


    Earlier on, as Yuan Tianxing''s power exploded, all the others had moved out of its effective range. Now, as he fell to the ground and the energy storm faded, another figure showed up beside Yuan Tianxing.


    The crisis was averted, so people quickly went back to Lin Qiao.


    "Bring all the people who have lost their minds to Base Number Two and give them to Yun Meng. Tell her to find a few metal-powered ones to help isolate them for observation," said Lin Qiao to Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao told Duan Juan to lock up those people''s hands with metal power, in case they woke up crazy and caused trouble again. Locking up their hands couldn''t disable them from releasing their powers, but would largely limit the amount of energy that they could release.


    Lin Qiao sent Shen Yujen to find Yun Meng and told the latter to return to Base Number Two to deal with the current problem.


    Base Number Two was the name that Lin Qiao gave to the other half of All Beings Base.


    Then, she glanced at the devastated area once again. Because of what Yuan Tianxing had unwittingly done, this area was no longer suitable for living. The earth was stirred, meaning that no buildings could be built in that area, unless the whole area was rebuilt underground.


    Watching some other people carry Yuan Tianxing away, Lin Qiao felt that she wouldn''t want to see him again in the next couple of days.


    The current situation made her feel a little agitated. Problems occurred wave after wave. From the morning till now, the new zombies had been brought under control, and the dead bodies had been removed from buildings. However, some superpowered people had started going crazy now.


    The cause of all this was still unknown. Without knowing the cause, people couldn''t possibly know how to stop or prevent further problems.


    Only Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong were able to find out the cause.


    "Gather all superpowered people to the square in B District. Isolate them and keep a close eye on them! Send some more people to keep Leng Xuantong and Lin Hao under watch, but let them keep doing their work," Lin Qiao gave Duan Juan an order with a frown, "You go too. Yujen will deal with the rest."


    She decided to isolate all superpowered people for now, in case some of them lost control and caused unnecessary damages. Before the cause was found, none of them was allowed to leave the square.


    That was the only way to keep the others safe.


    Lin Qiao turned to Shen Yujen and said, "When Yun Meng manages to stabilize the situation on her side, get all level six and seven zombies to the conference room in Base Number Two to wait for me."


    "Yes ma''am!" Shen Yujen responded, then turned and left to spread the message.


    Duan Juan delivered Lin Qiao''s words, and soon, Chen Yuting, Lin Feng, Lin Wenwen, Jian Shengtong, Xia Yushen and all the other superpowered people arrived at the square.


    The base had about ten-thousand human residents so far. Among them, only hundreds had superpowers. Therefore, their gathering spot wasn''t as crowded as that of the commoners.


    Among all the commoners, Li Jian had a good ability to lead. Chen Yuting made him a temporary squadron leader and asked him to lead the soldiers to do the post-disaster clean-up in the base. Currently, he and his men were running about in the base, doing their work.


    Lin Qiao asked Lin Feng to control and manage the group of superpowered people, then quickly returned to Base Number Two and had a short meeting with the other zombies.

 855 The Research Progress

    "Have you controlled all the new zombies yet?" Sitting behind the conference table, Lin Qiao looked at Qiu Lili and asked.


    "Yeah. What should we do with them next?" Qiu Lili nodded and asked.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while thinking. The base was in a mess currently, so she decided to put those new zombies outside for the time being. When she had time, she would bring them back into the base and change their virus. Some of them might wake up and restore their memories.


    "Put them outside Base Number Two. We''ll deal with them when we have time," she said.


    "I see," Qiu Lili nodded.


    "About those superpowered people, you take the old man and Eight to summon all metal-powered zombies, and divide them into two groups. Send one group to the ones who have already lost their minds, and the other group to the ones who are still sane," Lin Qiao turned to Yun Meng and continued.


    "Yes."


    Except for Xie Dong''s squad, all the zombies from level three to five under Lin Qiao''s command were now led by Qiu Lili and Yun Meng.


    Among all kings and queens, Old Guo, zombie number eight whose head was always wrapped in gauze, and Mo¡ªwho used to be under Mo Yan''s command¡ªall had metal power. Currently, Mo and Ye Qingxian were with Lin Kui, looking for Lin Kui''s sister. So, at the moment, Old Guo and zombie number eight were the only two metal-powered zombie kings in the base.


    "Send the old man to Lin Feng, and Eight to the unconscious ones," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then added.


    "Yujen, Junjun, Lu Tianyi, you take some level-three zombies to help Li Jian and his people."


    "Yes ma''am!"


    "Yes ma''am!"


    "Yes."


    The three of them nodded and responded together.


    Xie Dong was still responsible for gathering information. Lin Qiao had also sent Five, Six, and a group of level-four zombies to the lab to watch Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong.


    About an hour later, Xie Dong finally returned with the news from Sea City Base.


    "They''re going through the same situation as us. Sea City Base is in major chaos now. Wu Chengyue and Zou Shihui are scorched by now," Xie Dong reported to Lin Qiao in her office.


    He didn''t need to explain why those two were scorched at the moment.


    Sea City Base had a large population, meaning that a big number of new zombies had emerged in their base, and a lot had died. The new zombies woke up early in the morning when most of the people were still in sleep. The result could be imagined easily. Without a doubt, a considerable number of people had been bitten by those new zombies and turned into zombies themselves.


    All Beings Base was lucky to have a group of high-leveled zombies to bring the new zombies under control within a short span of time. Sea City Base didn''t have that kind of luck.


    "It''ll take us one or two days to hear from the other bases," said Xie Dong.


    Based on the current situation of Sea City Base, Lin Qiao figured that the other bases were going through the same. She still needed specific information though.


    "Also, we''ve noticed that many mutated creatures have gone crazy out there as well. It seems to be even worse than what happened to the superpowered people in human bases. A lot of mutated animals are running rampant, and those mutated plants on the outside are growing¡­ crazily!" Xie Dong told Lin Qiao about what he saw outside the base, "It does look like a second apocalypse."


    "I guess the human population has reduced further¡­ by forty percent at least," Lin Qiao gave a heavy sigh. Looking at Mrs. Lin who was sitting dully on a couch in the house in her space, she suddenly felt tired.


    "Hasn''t Lin Hao made a progress yet?" She got rid of the negative emotion and asked.


    "Not yet," Xie Dong shook his head and said.


    At that time, Yun Meng came in with a notebook. She sat on the chair before Lin Qiao''s desk, sighed and said, "Eighteen superpowered people went crazy within the past two hours. What the hell is going on?"


    Gathering all superpowered people together was the right decision to make. Not long after that, some of them lost control one after another. But, people had all prepared themselves for that. Once someone showed a sign of losing control, they would rush up and knock him or her out. Therefore, no big damage was caused.


    The problem was¡­ what caused all these changes? Would those superpowered people stay maniacal like that?


    "Here, here! Doctor Lin and Mr. Leng have news," Shen Yujen rushed in and said to Lin Qiao excitedly.


    Lin Qiao and Yun Meng stood up together and headed outside.


    "Let''s go!"


    "What have you found?" Lin Qiao asked impatiently once she arrived at the research department.


    Lin Hao was staring at the screen of a device, too busy to answer her question. So, Leng Xuantong turned back and said, "The new zombies, the people who died this morning, and those maniacal superpowered people¡­ their bodies all contain one type of material. We haven''t found the source of that material yet. We didn''t find that material in the blood of those surviving commoners, so I think they''re safe."


    At that moment, Lin Hao stood up and said, "We refined that material. So far, we can only see that it''s some kind of gas."


    "Gas?" Lin Qiao murmured with confusion.


    "I wonder if you have noticed the difference between the lower floors and the top floors of the dorm buildings," Leng Xuantong said while handing what was in his hand to the female zombie beside him. The female zombie smoothly took over the test tube and put it on a shelf nearby.


    She was, of course, Leng Xuantong''s wife. Behind her legs was a zombie kid, who was hiding behind his mother under Lin Qiao''s strong vibe.


    "The death rate was higher among the people who lived in the bottom floors, and so was the zombie-turning rate," Xie Dong abruptly joined the conversation.


    "So, are you saying that the gas came from underground?" That idea popped up in Lin Qiao''s mind and she let it out without thinking.


    "That is only a guess so far. We can''t prove it yet. Judging by what''s happening to the mutated plants out there, I think that guess is right. According to the saying about how the apocalypse was caused six years ago, I think our theory is highly possible to be true," said Leng Xuantong.


    How come people died this time? Their bodies were dried out. Did that mysterious material evaporate the moisture in human bodies?


    That was terrifying! If that happened a few more times, how were human beings supposed to survive? They would die out, wouldn''t they?


    "We had ourselves checked. Our blood doesn''t contain that material. I think it''s like a stronger version of the zombie virus!" said Lin Hao.

 856 Poor Green Mountain Base

    "Give everyone in the base a blood test, the superpowered ones the first. Isolate them if you find that material in their blood," Lin Qiao immediately gave her order.


    "Yes ma''am!" Shen Yujen jumped into action.


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows into a frown. This time, her lake water failed to deliver any effect on the new zombie virus. Yuan Tianxing and her mother had been drinking the lake water the whole time, so their bodies would more or less contain some energy from the water. However, that energy failed to stop that mysterious material from invading their bodies.


    "Keep working¡­ Thank you," Lin Qiao said to Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong, then turned and left the lab. At the door, she said to Pesticide, who was one of the few zombies that still followed her by her side, "Tell Lin Feng and Chen Yuting to meet me in the conference room after they pass the blood test."


    Most of the zombies under her command had been sent out on tasks. Currently, only Pesticide, Xiao-xiao, Jingyan, and a few others were still by her side.


    Pesticide was a smart one. He hadn''t restored his memory yet, but was capable and easy to communicate with. He knew almost all the important administrators of the base. Qiu Lili and Yun Meng had taught him to memorize those people''s faces.


    Pesticide wasn''t expecting Lin Qiao to give him a task, and wandered around in the base all the time. Chief never gave him a serious mission anyways. Hence, he paused briefly with surprise, then soon realized what he needed to do. So, he nodded and then left promptly.


    While All Beings Base managed to bring the situation under control, Sea City Base, Huaxia Base, Sky Fire Base, Mongols Base, and Heilong Base, that hadn''t yet recovered from the last disaster, were all in chaos. The most crowded place became the most chaotic zone. The situation in those areas was really problematic.


    However, the base that suffered the worst wasn''t one of those large bases, but Green Mountain Base.


    Green Mountain Base, which used to be a mental hospital, had been torn down. The survivors were now gathering in a building at the edge of the base, only about thirty thousand of them. The old people, children, weak, and ill ones were all surrounded by the others. A group of soldiers and superpowered people made a circle around the crowd. Guarding around the building were a group of zombies at level three to five.


    "What should we do now? Are we going to leave him in there alone?" said a woman who seemed to be in her twenties. Her hair were short and neatly cut. She was of an average height, slim, and wearing a white coat. She had a delicate face and a gentle look in her eyes.


    At that moment, her eyes contained a deep worry.


    Lan Lu sighed and responded helplessly, "What else can we do? Which one of us can possibly defeat him? None of us could beat him before, not to mention the fact that he has gone crazy now.


    "What if he stays like this? Will he ever wake up?" said the short-haired girl with a deep frown. Her name was Chang Qingqing.


    The one whom they talked about was the man who had destroyed the entire base, their leader. The poor Green Mountain Base wasn''t destroyed by zombies, but by their own leader.


    All the others in the country believed that Wu Chengyue was the strongest man among all base leaders, and among all survivors in the country. None of them knew about the powerful man in Green Mountain Base who had already broken into level-nine. That man had great power, but his brain wasn''t working so well.


    He was the leader of Green Mountain Base, yet he did no actual work. He spent every single day in his little dark room, without seeing or listening to anyone. Chang Qingqing, Lan Lu, and a zombie chairman were the only three who were able to communicate with him.


    "Qingqing, someone is sick!" A girl around twenty years old ran up to Chang Qingqing and said to her with a low voice.


    "Where?" Chang Qingqing quickly turned to her and said, "Go and tell Ba to come here."


    The girl immediately led her toward the crowd. The one who was standing behind Chang Qingqing quickly ran out of the building.


    Outside the building, a group of zombies was staying about three meters away from the base. Some of them were standing and some sitting on the ground. They were all very quiet.


    A bearded man was standing straight by the crowd with his hands behind his body, looking into the distance. He was over one-hundred and ninety centimeters tall; his vibe was as sharp as a sword.


    "Uncle Ba, Qingqing wants you upstairs. Someone is sick," Chang Qingqing''s subordinate ran up to the bearded man and said to him.


    The man''s solemn and mysterious vibe changed instantly when he heard that. He turned around and hunched his entire back, then rubbed his claws as he popped his purely black, glowing eyes and roared with excitement.


    "Roar? Roar¡­" ''Sick? Ah, small case! Take me there and let me take a look¡­''


    Chang Qingqing''s subordinate didn''t understand his roars. But, he calmly turned and guided the bearded zombie upstairs.


    At that point, Chang Qingqing was in a room in a residential area. Small buildings were built thickly in that area. About thirty people were staying in that room. A person was curling on the bed, being wrapped in dirty quilts by the others.


    "How is she?" Chang Qingqing asked the others once she came in.


    "She''s having a high fever." The few people by the bedside stepped backward and said.


    They had evacuated from the base in a flurry in the morning, so there was no time for them to pack medicines. Therefore, they had no drugs for the patient at the moment.


    Chang Qingqing walked to the bed and looked at the patient carefully. She touched the patient''s face and forehead, and found that the latter was only having a normal fever, instead of the superpower-triggering fever. Sensing that, she sighed with relief.


    On the bed was a woman, looking about thirty years old. Her pretty face was sallow and scrawny, her eyes deeply sunken.


    "Do you know her name?" Chang Qingqing asked.


    "Lin Jing," said one of those near the bedside, "I think she came from Mongols Base a few months ago."


    Chang Qingqing nodded and didn''t ask any further questions.


    Soon, the bearded zombie came in. Once he entered, the others automatically moved to the corners. Noticing their reactions, he snorted scornfully, then raised his chin and gave a roar. "Roar?"


    ''Where''s the patient?''


    Chang Qingqing pointed at the bed, then said expressionlessly, "Are you blind? Don''t you see the one lying on the bed? Would we hide her under the bed?"


    She didn''t understand why he asked the question while the answer was so obvious. Why didn''t he look around at the room before that?


    "Roar¡­" ''I was just asking. Why are you so mean¡­''


    The bearded zombie dropped his head and glanced at Chang Qingqing frustratedly.

 857 The Conflict Between Cats

    "Cut the crap! Just heal her," Chang Qingqing couldn''t help but turn intimidating every time she saw the bearded zombie. Her gentle and warm vibe was gone as she became like an angry cat.


    "Roar¡­" ''Alright¡­''


    The bearded zombie nodded obediently and walked to the patient even though he was being yelled at. When he pressed a hand on the patient''s forehead, the naughty vibe of his changed instantly.


    A gleam of white light escaped from between his fingers, most of which flowed into the patient''s head. A minute later, he took back his hand and made two steps backward, then gave a roar. ''Done,'' he said.


    Chang Qingqing felt the patient''s forehead with her hand and found that the fever had been brought out. Then, she sighed with relief.


    "Alright, let''s go! You guys, take care of him," she turned and left a few words as she disappeared at the door.


    That place was their temporary base. Green Mountain Base only had a small population, but now, half of them had died. That fact made all the base leaders heavy-hearted.


    "Look, some of those plants out there have died, and the mutated ones are thriving," Lan Lu abruptly started talking when Chang Qingqing and the bearded zombie walked to his side.


    Chang Qingqing and the bearded zombie looked outside the window, but the zombie made no reaction. Clearly, he had noticed that long ago. Unlike him, Chang Qingqing fixed her eyes on those plants with a questioning frown while sinking into thoughts.


    "If I have guessed right, a special gas seeped out of the ground last night, turning the world into this. The commoners have suffered a big influence, and a small part of superpowered people have lost their minds. However, the zombies were all fine. Even the mutated animals and plants changed so drastically, especially those plants that were rooted deep in the ground," Lan Lu pointed at those rapidly growing trees and said.


    Based on his observation, the plants were the most affected. Some of them withered, and ninety percent of mutated plants started growing crazily.


    Chang Qingqing and the bearded zombie both wore a serious look. If Lan Lu were right, their base shouldn''t be the only one that suffered the current situation.


    Their old base had already been destroyed, but many important supplies were still stored in there. They couldn''t afford to lose those supplies. They needed to build a new base, which sounded so troublesome.


    They didn''t know when their crazy leader would stop destroying things¡­


    On the other side, Lin Kui, who was looking for his sister along with Mo and Ye Qingxian, had been heading toward Green Mountain Base. They spent a few days searching for Lin Jing in Mongols Base. However, not a trace of her scent was detected. Therefore, they decided to go to the other bases to try and find her.


    First, he decided to try the few bases which were near Mongols Base. Huaxia Base wasn''t a choice. Except for Huaxia Base, Green Mountain Base seemed to be the nearest one. However, Lin Kui didn''t have the detailed location of Green Mountain Base.


    Early in the morning, Lin Kui was resting on a tree when something abruptly fell onto his body. Then, he felt that the branch underneath him seem to be moving. With confusion, he looked around and found the tree that he was sitting on was shrinking to the ground.


    Lin Kui gave a start, then quickly jumped off the tree.


    ''Damn! What the hell! Why is this tree moving! Is it mutated?''


    He had carefully chosen a non-mutated tree to rest on last night!


    Once he came down, the other two zombies leaped off from two other trees. They had no idea why that large panther always invited them to rest on trees together with himself. They weren''t panthers, so why would they rest on trees?


    After coming down, the three zombies stared at the tree that Lin Kui was sitting on and saw that ten-meter-tall, luxuriant tree die. All its leaves turned yellow and fell; even the tree trunk withered and dried out.


    Lin Kui witnessed the tree''s death with both surprise and confusion. He was so curious about the reason behind it that his panther ears had popped up and his large tail wagged behind his body.


    ''What''s going on?''


    Mo poked him with a finger.


    Lin Kui turned around and saw her pointing at the surrounding area. Some trees nearby had been growing rapidly. Right at that moment, a shrill cat scream was heard.


    "Meowooooo¡­" Following the cat''s scream was a series of whoosh.


    Lin Kui turned back and saw a figure flash across the dead tree, shake off the dead leaves on that tree and then brandish its sharp claws while pouncing on him.


    Thud! Lin Kui made half a step backward and slightly turned his upper body, then raised a hand and easily slapped away the mutated cat which had attacked him.


    "Meowo!" The cat''s voice was ear-piercing. It was as big as a large dog and had strong limbs. Its sharp claws glistened with a metallic luster, while a layer of black dirt had accumulated at the roots of those hook-shaped claws.


    The fierce mutated cat bared his teeth and lowered its ears, growling at Lin Kui ferociously. Its pupils had shrunk and turned into two vertical lines.


    "Miaowooo¡­ Miaowooo¡­" Waves of meows were heard from all directions at different distances. Clearly, a lot of mutated cats were present in that area.


    Lin Kui looked at the cat''s eyes with a frown and detected madness from its blood-red eyes. It seemed to be out of its mind.


    Normally, mutated animals wouldn''t attack zombies, especially high-leveled ones. Why did that level-four mutated cat attack Lin Kui and his friends so fiercely?


    Something wasn''t right!


    At that point, a group of cats darted out of the woods. Before long, different sized mutated cats could be seen on the ground and all over the trees nearby.


    Cats liked to fight in groups.


    "Roar¡­" Lin Kui flattened his panther ears with displeasure, then bared his teeth and gave those cats a deep roar. His green pupils shrank into erect lines as well. He laid a pressure on those cats and warned them with his predator''s vibe.


    As a result, those cats instantly stepped backward while growling back at him, their hair standing straight up.


    "Roar¡­" Lin Kui wagged his tail and gave a raging roar. This time, he made a step forward.


    "Miaowoooo¡­" Those mutated cats seemed to soon collapse. Some smaller ones had turned and run, yet the bigger ones still kept their eyes on Lin Kui.


    ''What are you doing? Do mutated animals eat zombies now?''


    Lin Kui was utterly confused. He didn''t understand why those mutated cats didn''t run away.


    The situation lasted a little longer, but Lin Kui won the confrontation at last. The proud panther slightly raised his chin and lazily wagged his tail while watching those cats fall back further and further, until they all disappeared.


    Mo and Ye Qingxian who were expecting an intense cat fight were full of disappointment.

 858 The Disaster Of Crops

    Since that day, Lin Kui''s squad was attacked by all sorts of mutated creatures. Meanwhile, each base had finally brought the chaotic situation under control three days later.


    In Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue and the others were having a meeting in the conference room. Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue had brought Kong Qingming back to Sea City Base. They told the others about what happened in All Beings Base, then learned about the damages that their own base had suffered.


    They felt like lucky survivors from a disaster, especially when this disaster happened too suddenly.


    "Was the crazy rat group a sign of this?" Kong Qingming, who had woken up by now, sat in the Deputy Chief''s seat as he said with a frown.


    "Based on the research result provided by All Beings Base, that gas delivers lethal effects to all living creatures. But, why were only half of the people affected?" Wu Chengyue asked while reading the copies of the materials in his hands.


    Clearly, that question was for Moli, who had been studying in that sphere.


    During the past few days, they had noticed the situation outside, apart from what happened in the base. Currently, all trees in the base had been chopped off. A part of the healthy trees in the base had died while the other had mutated. Mutated plants couldn''t be left in the base.


    The outside world was now like a virgin forest. The streets and roads had been devoured by parks or green belts.


    A lot of mutated animals had gone crazy like those maniacal superpowered people.


    Each day, some more superpowered people lost their minds and suddenly started attacking the others. That situation never stopped.


    Later on, Xiao Yunlong brought back the research results from All Beings Base. Based on that, they gathered all the superpowered people and gave them blood tests. According to the results, they isolated the ones who might go crazy, in case they hurt the others.


    All the isolated ones were under twenty-four hours watch. They would be sedated immediately by the automatic devices in their rooms once they showed a sign of losing control.


    In fact, All Being Base shouldn''t have shared the research result with Sea City Base. However, Lin Qiao, Lin Feng, and the others ran a discussion, then decided to share it with them for free, in order to convince Sea City Base to agree to give All Being Base a bigger hunting field.


    "I''ll find out the cause as soon as I can," Moli said blandly without any expression. In spite of what she said, finding out the truth was not as easy as it sounded like.


    Based on the current research, the gas turned into the material that All Beings Base found after entering the bodies of living creatures. That was why only half of the people were affected. That material wasn''t detected from the blood of the other half of the people. It might not exist in their bodies, or might have been hiding in their blood.


    "I''ll send more people to help you," Wu Chengyue nodded and said, and Moli nodded expressionlessly in response.


    "About the hunting field, are we going to do what they said?" Xiao Yunlong asked.


    Wu Chengyue was wearing a faint smile all the time. However, no actual smile could be seen in his eyes.


    "Zou, is the situation bad in the agriculture department?" he asked.


    Zou Shihui''s face was as black as thunder in the past few days. The word ''serious'' was not enough to describe the situation in the agriculture department. All the crops had died. Currently, the farm was a dead, barren land.


    The entire farm had died, so they needed to grow new seedlings and to start over. In the coming few months, they would need to eat the stored food in the granaries.


    That wasn''t important. The important thing was¡­


    "The soil has died. It can''t grow crops anymore," Zou Shihui closed his eyes, looking tired and irritated.


    Wu Chengyue''s expression faded as well. He sighed and said, "So, we can''t save that land?"


    "About that¡­ I think we should compromise with All Beings Base. At least Miss. Lu''s farm isn''t affected, is it?" Kong Qingming said.


    After returning his base and seeing the dead farm, Kong Qingming tried very hard to come up with a solution. Later on, he received a message, saying that the soil in the farm of All Beings Base wasn''t affected. Only the plants there were affected.


    So, in order to save the farm in Sea City Base, they needed to figure out why All Beings Base''s farm was spared from the disaster.


    The entire Sea City Base would need All Beings Base, for a while at least.


    So currently, Wu Chengyue had no spare attention for the hunting field. The zombie lady could have as much of the land as possible. His top priority now was to solve the problems in his base.


    Hearing Kong Qingming''s words, the others fell into silence. At last, they all gave a sigh.


    In All Beings Base, Lin Qiao and the others were speechlessly looking at the dead plants in the farm.


    Liu Jun squatted on the ground, holding a handful of soil. "Thankfully," she said, "we can still save the soil."


    A large group of level two and three zombies were scattered in the field on both sides of the road, each carrying a bucket of water. They sprayed the water on the soil inch by inch.


    The water was a mixture of the lake water from Lin Qiao''s space and regular water. Lin Qiao had been watering the soil with her lake water since she first started developing the farm.


    After the second explosion of the virus, the crops on the farm died. However, the soil didn''t change; it was still alive. Except for the farm, the soil in all the other areas had died. The dead soil was full of the virus, and could only grow mutated plants.


    "I still have a batch of crops in my space. The seeds will sprout soon too. It''s alright. We''ll soon grow some new crops," Lin Qiao comforted her.


    Liu Jun had been taking care of the farm since the very beginning. She must be feeling sad and frustrated, as the crops that she grew with care had all died.


    Liu Jun was upset indeed, feeling awful. But, what comforted her a little was that the soil was still fine. Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, she let out a long breath, then stood up.


    Lin Qiao stood by her side, resting her chin on her palm. At first, she thought the lake water from her space was losing its effect on the virus. It turned out that that didn''t happen.


    She ordered her zombies to remove the dead crops, then water the soil with the mixture of the lake water and regular water. After that, she brought out the seedlings that Lu Tianyi grew in her space.


    In the recent couple of days, Lin Qiao didn''t let other humans come to work in the farm, except for some soldiers from her base. Those people were still in an unstable mindset, and weren''t suitable for work yet.

 859 The Severe Situation

    Currently, the land around the three houses in Lin Qiao''s space had been developed by Lu Tianyi. The disaster hit the base severely, so Lu Tianyi felt that it would be such a waste if his sister''s space wasn''t used for farming.


    So, Lu Tianyi was in Lin Qiao''s space at present, refusing to come out.


    Lin Qiao let him do whatever he wanted. Still, she would go there to help him fetch water from the lake from time to time. She was the only one able to approach the lake after all.


    Meanwhile, the three creatures who were allowed to play happily on the grassland were driven into the woods.


    "Owooo¡­" Bowwow sat at the edge of the woods, barking at the three houses grumpily. The grassland that he and his little friends used to play on was gone. Lu Tianyi had removed all the grasses. His next step was to loosen the soil.


    Lin Qiao sent Xiao-xiao, Pesticide, and a few other zombies into the space to help Lu Tianyi.


    She returned to the base at night. The new result from the research of Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong gave her a headache.


    "So, are you saying that the people whom we thought were safe, are no longer safe? What does ''possible development'' mean? Is there a hidden problem?" Lin Hao read the materials with a frown, Lin Hao sitting in front of her.


    "I was thinking about it. If that material is from the gas that came from underground, everybody should have inhaled it." After all, all the people needed to breathe.


    Lin Hao folded his arms and thought for a moment, then said, "So, I did some experiments with my blood and Leng Xuantong''s. I found that the material is hiding in our blood indeed. It requires certain conditions to trigger it."


    He ran electricity through his blood and Leng Xuantong''s. The material that was hidden in their blood was triggered by electricity with different intensity. After that, he ran the same experiment with the blood of some other people. As a result, he found that the trigger point for each person''s blood wasn''t the same.


    Some people''s blood boiled under fifty-volt electric shock while some required over ten-thousand-volt. The trigger point varied from person to person.


    "How could this happen? So, you and the other people might lose your minds at some point, or under some kind of stimulation?" Lin Qiao furrowed her brows and looked at him.


    "That is bad news. But, we have good news too," Lin Hao nodded and said with glowing eyes, "The mania seems to be a one-time thing. Leng Xuantong has tested the blood of the ones who have been through that. Their blood no longer contains that material. We are not sure yet. But if we''re right, they won''t go crazy again."


    "Really? How can you be sure about that? Didn''t you say that there might be an incubation period?"


    It could be counted as good news indeed if it were true.


    "I just said that we''re not sure yet," Lin Hao shrugged and said.


    Lin Qiao sighed, "Alright, I get it."


    Lin Hao finished the report and then left. Lin Qiao leaned against the back of the chair, looking outside the window into the darkness of night. Her eyes glowed dimly.


    She didn''t need to breathe. But still, she could tell that the air pollution was growing more and more serious. If it kept turning worse, the air would become highly harmful for human beings.


    The living condition for humans was becoming more and more critical.


    Lin Qiao entered her space and stood before a house, watching Lu Tianyi, Xiao-xiao, Pesticide, and about twenty zombies working in the field without taking a break. Days and nights didn''t exist in her space, and those zombies didn''t need to rest.


    Mrs. Lin had been sitting in the house quietly since she drank Lin Qiao''s blood. Lin Qiao glanced at her hair and clothes. Her clothes had been changed, but her hair still looked a little messy.


    Lin Qiao grabbed a chair from the house and put it outside, then waved at Mrs. Lin, "Come and sit here. I''ll brush your hair."


    Mrs. Lin was still afraid of Lin Qiao, but was also obedient toward her. When she looked at Lin Qiao, her eyes were mostly filled with confusion.


    As her mother sat down on the chair, Lin Qiao found a comb from the house. Qiu Lili and Liu Jun had a lot of those. She quickly brushed her mother''s hair, then tied it up into a ponytail at the back of her head, making her look better than before.


    After that, she put the comb in Mrs. Lin''s hands, then walked to the lakeside while looking at the peaceful, dark-green lake. Two figures slowly walked up behind her.


    "The environment of the earth is becoming more and more difficult for humans. The earth isn''t dying though. Is it healing itself? After all, human beings have been causing damage all these years," Lin Qiao said without looking back.


    The two stood about one meter away from her. She was a couple of meters away from the lake water, so the two zombies were able to walk near her.


    The two heard what she said, but neither of them responded to her.


    Lin Qiao turned around and glanced at Mo Yan''s head, then continued with, "You''re healing slowly. At this rate, it might take you years to regain all your power, right?"


    Mo Yan''s face was still covered those weird black marks. He wore no expression, looking cold and wicked. Standing by his side was that pretty female zombie in a white dress. She had faint dark circles under her eyes.


    Those two were inseparable.


    On hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Mo Yan showed a sullen look. He could feel that he was healing very slowly. Who could tell what the world would become like in a few years? Everybody was growing stronger, yet he was turning weaker.


    However, what Lin Qiao said next cheered him up.


    "You might not know that mankind has suffered a second apocalypse during these days," Lin Qiao turned back to the lake and said blandly, "Every base has lost a large number of residents. Some of them turned into zombies. The plants died or mutated. But, it seems to have nothing to do with you."


    While speaking, she gave Mo Yan another glance.


    Mo Yan felt a little speechless. ''Why did you tell me about it then?'' he thought.


    Lin Qiao understood the look in his eyes, so she added, "I''m just telling you about the news from the outside so that you won''t be too bored in here."


    Mo Yan was bored indeed. There was nothing for him to do in the space. Only Lin Qiao would talk to him occasionally. The other people or zombies wouldn''t communicate with him at all.


    Lin Qiao soon exited the space and returned to her room to absorb energy.


    She had stopped wearing belts already, and switched her shirts to loose-fitting men''s shirts. She always put on a combat coat to cover her body, so other people didn''t notice her bulging belly.


    She put a hand on her belly. Sensing how her body changed every single day, she expected the baby increasingly. She hoped that Viney would come to the world in the shape of a human.


    She was aware that her body could not breed a healthy human baby, but still wanted her baby to at least look like a human being.

 860 The Hope Of Mankind

    Lin Qiao''s own zombie nature no longer bothered her, but deep down, she preferred to consider herself as a part of the mankind.


    The base was soon cleaned thoroughly, and all base members had been re-accommodated. Of course, those works were done by Yuan Tianxing, who was knocked out by Lin Qiao and then stayed unconscious for six hours.


    Lin Feng took a blood test, and that mysterious material wasn''t detected from his blood. Unlike him, Chen Yuting got a positive result from the blood test. He lost his mind the next day, but thankfully, people were prepared for that. They soon called Yun Meng and had her knock him out.


    Yun Meng and the other zombies had still been wearing masks or sunglasses when they needed to show up in front of the humans. The survivors in the base hadn''t discovered that they were zombies yet. They only knew that those mysterious people with sunglasses were under their Chief''s command, not led by Yuan Tianxing or Lin Feng.


    Lin Qiao had put over a hundred level three and four zombies under Liu Jun''s command. To help her manage those zombies, she had also sent Keng-keng, who currently had no work to do, and the cute Fox to the farm.


    She herself spent most of her days in the farm as well. She needed to grow food for the people in her base and prepare a sufficient amount of food for the future deals that would be made with the other bases. Therefore, she focused her entire energy on the farm work currently.


    According to the news that Xie Dong had brought back, the crops in all the other bases had died. At present, the entire mankind was facing a hopeless future. The soil was dead, so no food could be grown anymore.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao believed that her farm would be highly valuable in the next three years at least, as it was able to grow safe food.


    Over a hundred zombies worked hard for a week. After that, the farm was again kissed by a tender but thriving greenness. Some sprouts just broke the ground, and some seedlings were transplanted from the nursery.


    The farm was still short-handed. The hundred zombies worked every day and night without taking any break, but only managed to farm five acres of the land. On the other side, more zombies had been loosening the soil, developing new fields and putting down more seeds.


    Lin Qiao pondered over that situation. She had no better solution but putting all level-two zombies into the farm as well. The brains of those zombies weren''t working so well, but at least they were able to follow simple instructions.


    Keng-keng and Fox, who had no specific tasks, became the coaches of those level-two zombies. They taught them how to open up the wasteland, as well as weed and loosen the soil.


    Lin Qiao gave them lake water every three days so that they wouldn''t sneakily drink from the pool that she dug for Black earlier. The pool was filled with the water from Lin Qiao''s lake and the nearby river, currently serving as a water source for the farm.


    Those level-two zombies were all obedient. They would never be tired, and didn''t dare to disobey Lin Qiao''s orders. They were more efficient than humans many times over. As a result, the farm work had been making great progress. Meanwhile, the research had achieved a new result as well.


    Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong had roughly found the source of the mysterious material and analyzed its structure and features. The top priority now was to disable it and prevent it from delivering further effects.


    "Look, it''s devoured! It worked!" In the lab, Leng Xuantong bent his upper body, one eye on the microscope. His voice was filled with excitement.


    "Really!" Lin Hao had his eyes glowing as he hurriedly moved to the microscope, shoved Leng Xuantong to the side, and looked into the microscope lens himself. Leng Xuantong didn''t mind his movement, but turned to a half-meter-long rat that was locked in a cage in a corner. With excitement, he walked over to the rat.


    "Squeak!" the rat had been very noisy. It darted restlessly in the case, which was a meter tall and two meters long. It banged against the cage loudly, leaving quite some wounds on its own body and head.


    The rat didn''t seem to care about those wounds. It bared its teeth ferociously, its eyes red and unfocused.


    Clearly, that was a maniacal mutated rat.


    Leng Xuantong raised both hands, his palms facing the case. A stream of white mist was released from his palms, freezing the cage once it touched it. The white mist flowed into the cage and soon covered the rat.


    "Squeak¡­" The rat was instantly frozen and disabled from moving. A thin layer of ice slowly emerged on its fur. Its head wasn''t frozen, so it was still able to scream shrilly.


    As the rat was frozen, Leng Xuantong quickly opened the cage. At that point, the female zombie who was quietly standing by his side handed him a test-tube-full of lake water.


    Leng Xuantong took over the test tube and said to her, "Open its mouth. Don''t let it bite anything."


    The female zombie squatted and reached both hands into the cage. She spread her fingers and clasped the rat''s nose with one hand.


    "Squeak¡­" The big rat threw its head from side to side to try to bite her, yet no matter how hard it struggled, it wasn''t able to get rid of the hand on its nose. The female zombie quickly grasped the rat''s jaw with the other hand, then raised the rat''s head and forced its mouth open.


    Leng Xuantong poured all the lake water into the rat''s mouth, then told the female zombie to let go of the rat and close the door of the cage. After that, he melted the ice on the rat.


    "Squeak¡­" The unfrozen rat trembled intensely. It struggled to run, but failed. At that point, Lin Hao had come over and fixed his eyes on the rat as well. At the same time, a tiny figure stuck his head out from behind the female zombie''s legs. His black zombie eyes showed a trace of curiosity.


    About ten seconds later, the rat suddenly stopped shaking and quietly curled up its body. Its eyes opened wide, still unfocused.


    After a longer while, Leng Xuantong and Lin Hao both noticed that the redness in the rat''s eyes had faded. After that, a glow of wit was detected from its eyes. The rat blinked, then looked around, seeming to find himself locked up in a bad place. Before realizing what happened, it noticed the two human beings before the cage.


    "Squeak¡­" Under the strong vibes that belonged to Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong, the rat immediately turned highly vigilant. It shrank to the corner that was the furthest away from the two men while staring at the two.


    "It really worked!" Lin Hao nodded, then turned and said to his assistant, "Alright, go and prepare. We need to do the experiment again on a superpowered person to confirm this result."


    "Sure!" His assistants were none other than Bao Xiaoguo and his sister, whom Lin Qiao had brought back from Huaxia Base.


    Bao Xiaoying assisted Lin Hao in the lab, while Bao Xiaoguo guarded by the door.

 861 He Looks Weird Today

    "So, are you saying that this can wake superpowered people up from the mania?" Lin Qiao read the report that Lin Hao brought to her. She wasn''t surprised, only a little confused.


    Yuan Tianxing and Mrs. Lin drank her lake water every single day, yet the energy from the lake had obviously failed to protect them from the virus. However, according to the newest result of Lin Hao''s research, the lake water was able to suppress the virus after the mania started. Why?


    That didn''t make sense!


    "So far, it seems like that. But, they have to drink at least this amount, or it won''t work," Lin Hao nodded, then showed her a thumb-sized test tube.


    So next, Lin Qiao needed not only to provide the farm with her lake water, but also the lab.


    The lab needed to sub-package the water. So, some people needed to go out of the base to collect the packaging materials.


    Alternatively, the people who had relevant knowledge might be able to produce some of those materials in the base. However, those people weren''t easy to be found. All Beings Base only had a small population as of now. Most of the commoners who lived in the base used to be ordinary people who worked in offices or factories. No one who had knowledge or skills related to packaging materials was found among them.


    Lin Qiao nodded and sighed with relief.


    "I heard that man is coming back. Do I need to pretend to be your suitor again?" Finishing the report, Lin Hao looked around and found that no other people were on the scene. So, he abruptly brought up another topic.


    He heard that Sea City Base had already accepted the terms that Lin Feng stated. So, they would come to All Being Base to sign an official agreement this time. And the person who would sign that agreement was not Xiao Yunlong.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyes and gave him a glance, "You certainly had fun. I thought he wouldn''t come back so soon. Clearly, I was wrong."


    He did look quite angry when he left the last time. Lin Qiao thought it would take him a while to show up in her base again. But to her surprise, he was coming back in merely about ten days.


    "I don''t like him!" Lin Hao shrugged and said, "But then again, you can''t stay like this. He''s a decent man, I think. If he knew about the baby but didn''t plan to take any responsibility, I''d have killed him."


    Lin Hao rolled her eyes and responded with, "You''re strong enough to kill him."


    He felt utterly embarrassed. ''A little respect would be nice. I, your brother, need some respect¡­ Who am I worried about here?''


    Looking at Lin Hao''s face that was filled with a grievance, Lin Qiao shrugged and continued, "I don''t want to get married. If Viney wants to be with her father, I won''t say no. I''ll respect her decision."


    Lin Hao said with disagreement, "What if she wants you two to be together? Kids always want their parents to be together. Which child doesn''t?"


    ''He''s not exactly the father,'' Lin Qiao thought. However, she didn''t want to mention that scum who was Viney''s first father at all. In the future, she would only tell Viney that the other half of her gene came from Wu Chengyue.


    Based on Viney''s behavior before, Lin Qiao felt that she would cause trouble again sooner or later. With that thought, she gave a long sigh. Her future life would be difficult, she reckoned.


    ''Viney, can''t you just be a good baby? Why don''t you learn from Ling Ling?'' she said in her head.


    Imagining her life being changed by the naughty Viney thoroughly, Lin Qiao somehow started to think that giving her to Wu Chengyue might be a great idea.


    "Living in a single-parent family isn''t good for a child''s mental health," Lin Hao added. He was a little unhappy about the fact that Wu Chengyue had taken advantage of his sister, but to be objective, the other was a nice guy. At least, he seemed to be a responsible man so far. As for whether he would give up on Lin Qiao in the future, Lin Hao couldn''t tell yet.


    As a doctor, Lin Hao wanted the baby to be happy and healthy. So, as same as Wu Chengyue, he believed that Viney should be provided with a healthy family environment.


    He would kill Wu Chengyue if the latter dared to give up on Lin Qiao and her baby!


    But¡­ he didn''t seem to be capable of that. What should he do?


    "The children who live in single-parent families mature faster than the others. That''s not exactly a bad thing. Besides, I think my child won''t be as fragile as normal children," Lin Qiao said. Viney was a little monster!


    With no expression, she continued, "Are you speaking for him now? Go out if you are. I have work to do."


    "Alright," On hearing her words, Lin Hao automatically stood up and walked toward the door. After making two steps, he paused, then turned back to her and said, "No. I''m thinking for the baby."


    "This baby isn''t like other babies. We can''t treat her like a normal baby. Cut the crap and just leave!" Lin Qiao replied impatiently while reading the file in her hand and waving a hand toward Lin Hao.


    Lin Hao clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes as he left.


    Three days later, Wu Chengyue and his troop arrived at All Beings Base. Finding that All Beings Base was in a much more peaceful state than his base, he was suddenly jealous of the zombie lady''s zombie army.


    At least when facing a disaster like what happened recently, she was able to bring the situation under control in time and lower the damage to an acceptable degree.


    The moment he had his eyes on Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue recalled her intimate interactions with Doctor Lin. So, another type of jealousy was immediately aroused in his heart.


    For that very reason, he wore a cold smile when facing her.


    "Chief Lu, why do you seem so disappointed? Do you not want to see me here?" Sitting in the middle seat in the conference room, Wu Chengyue gave Lin Qiao a sideways glance with a faint smile, said jokingly.


    The others on the scene all detected a sarcastic tone from his words.


    The people from Sea City Base couldn''t bear listening to that. The jealousy was too obvious.


    The ones from All Beings Base were surprised, and a little confused. Chief Wu looked weird today. Why was he having that sour smile on his face? What happened to his standard warmly smiling face?


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said with a meaningful smile, "I thought someone is too frustrated to see me. It turns out that he has a strong mind."


    Or¡­ Was he a masochist? Was he here to see another show performed by her and her little brother? He seemed to have been hurt before. Why did he come back?


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes in a smile and responded with, "Chief Lu, did you do something to hurt that person?"


    Wu Chengyue did look weird today!


    Even Lin Qiao started to feel so.


    Yet still, she stayed calm and replied with, "What could I possibly do to hurt someone? Why don''t I have a clue about that?"


    The atmosphere was a little tense today. The others started to worry about their own safety.


    All the others in the room now wanted to stay away from Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Wenwen who sat by Lin Qiao''s side looked at Long Qingying who was beside her, with a bitter face. ''Why am I so close to her? Can I please swap seats with you?''


    Long Qingying looked ahead and sat straight, pretended not to notice Lin Wenwen''s gaze.

 862 I Think Its Fair

    As Long Qingying didn''t seem to receive her eye signal, Lin Wenwen immediately turned to Xiao Licheng, who was sitting in front of her, asking him with her eyes¡ª''What is wrong with your Chief today? Why do I sense a coldness from him?''


    Xiao Licheng shrugged and responded with his eyes¡ª''I don''t know why he suddenly became upset!''


    Lin Wenwen¡ª''Everyone said that it''s hard to guess a woman''s mood, but Chief Wu''s mood is even harder to be guessed!''


    Xiao Licheng¡ª''Do you have the guts to say that out loud?''


    Lin Wenwen shook her head¡ª''Of course not! I''m not stupid.''


    "You did something but you wouldn''t admit," Wu Chengyue clicked his tongue and continued ironically, "Women never tell what they really think and feel. That is true."


    Lin Qiao was speechless. Meanwhile as a woman, Lin Wenwenfelt like an innocent victim of Wu Chengyue''s criticism. Long Qingying shared the same feeling with her.


    ''Boss, wake up! You''re off the topic¡­ We''re here for something serious!'' Xiao Licheng thought.


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue with a small smile and said, "Chief Wu seems to have complaints about all women in the world. But in spite of that, we still need to sign that agreement."


    Lin Qiao ended the meaningless topic and led the conversation back to the business.


    Wu Chengyue responded with a cold smile on his face, "Chief Lu, don''t you think that you are asking for too much? Do you think that our Sea City Base has no power to negotiate with you?"


    All Being Base was only a small base with a population of less than ten-thousand. What gave them the courage to ask Sea City Base for such a big hunting field? That was disrespectful.


    The sarcastic tone in his words grew even more obvious than before.


    Xiao Licheng was already wearing a very complicated expression. Did his Chief somehow switch himself into a weird mode?


    "It seems that you are not happy with our offers. I thought you were here to sign the agreement. Did I receive a false message before?" Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue and smiled coldly.


    What she really meant was that Sea City Base had accepted the offer before. Was Wu Chengyue eating his own words? How was the deal supposed to be made without his honesty?


    She felt as if she was facing a fake Wu Chengyue at that moment. What happened to the look on his face? Why did he look so different from before?


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Xiao Licheng and Kong Qingming¡ª''What happened to your boss?''


    Xiao Licheng and Kong Qingming responded to her with the same look¡ª''I don''t know. Don''t look at me. I don''t even know this sour-talking man!''


    At that very moment, Wu Chengyue was looking at Lin Qiao''s face with his head full of the interactions that had happened between her and Lin Hao.


    Without thick makeup, Lu Tianyu''s face looked much younger than before. Lin Hao was handsome, and also looked younger than his real age, energetic as well. Lu Tianyu and he could make a lovely couple.


    For that reason, Wu Chengyue felt so angry, and couldn''t help but show that anger on his face. Clearly, the zombie lady was being unfriendly to him, which made him even angrier.


    Did the zombie lady really plan to let Doctor Lin be the father of his baby? Wu Chengyue would not allow that to happen!


    He, of course, didn''t care how Jiaxing City would be divided. He just didn''t want the zombie lady to get what she wanted so easily! That would make him so unhappy! Besides, as same as the farm in the other bases, the farm in Sea City Base had died as well. Therefore, they might need to make further deals with All Beings Base in the future.


    "I just feel that our base seems to be at a disadvantage. What do you think?" The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face faded a little.


    Currently, Sea City Base only had about seven-hundred-thousand commoners left. Even though the population had decreased drastically, they were still running out of food.


    Wu Chengyue was already in a bad mood before. Now, looking at Lin Qiao and thinking about her relationship with Lin Hao, he unwittingly wore a sullen look.


    So at last, his smile even turned a little vicious.


    "I think it''s fair. It hurts me to offer you such a large batch of food. Besides, we''ve all seen what''s happening out there. The food is running out. Jiaxing City isn''t so valuable actually. I think I offered you more than what it''s worth." Lin Qiao gave a cold smile.


    The hidden meaning of her words was¡ª''If you aren''t happy with our offer, we''ll give up on that hunting field. It won''t be so useful anyway.''


    She clearly knew that Wu Chengyue needed food at the moment. Not only Sea City Base, but also Huaxia Base, Sea City Base, Mongols Base and the nearly destroyed Heilong Base, as well as Hidden Cloud City Base which had recently lost their leaders, all needed food. Food was needed wherever people lived in.


    If people failed to find a way to better the current soil quality before the stored food ran out, a batch of people would be starved to death.


    On hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Wu Chengyue had his eyes glowing with a cold light. The smile on his face faded, and the look in his eyes turned colder. He was aware that he should not make an impulsive move. He had to control his temper so that the conversation could continue. His top priority now was to solve the food crisis for his base!


    "Since you think it''s fair, we''ll accept it so that our bases can cooperate happily in the future," Wu Chengyue said through clenched teeth. Even though he had accepted Lin Qiao''s terms, he couldn''t help but make it sound like he did her a favor.


    He had no idea that he was acting like a totally different person in front of All Being Base people, from what he used to be.


    Lin Qiao wanted very much to roll her eyes, but she didn''t let herself do that, as she needed to maintain her serious Chief image. The others silently sighed with relief, wiping their sweat.


    "So, we''ll sign the official agreement tomorrow."


    It was supposed to be an easy and peaceful meaning. But for some reason, the weird Wu Chengyue made it so difficult. As the meeting finally ended, everyone else felt a little exhausted.


    ¡­


    In the temporary base near Green Mountain Base, Lin Jing walked into the room weakly. Her face was still pale, eyes unfocused and lips cracked.


    She was still in a bad condition. During the past year and a half, she had been living a bitter life. Back in Huaxia Base, she was worried about her own safety all day, as she was bullied and threatened. She found a way out, but after that, she was starving all the time, and couldn''t get any proper rest. She was already suffering from severe health problems.


    She thought her life would better in Mongols Base. However, she could only live in a cold shanty for commoners in that base. With the last few level-three nuclei she had, she bought the lowest-grade meal tickets that would last her for a month. For each meal, she only had one coarse steamed bread. Even the water costed an extra meal ticket.


    As a woman who lived alone in a strange base, she became a target soon. Most of the people who lived in the shanty area were the poor who didn''t have enough to eat and to wear. Some found that she had a lot of meal tickets, so they robbed her.


    She got beaten, and then got sick. As she fell unconscious, the others thought that she was dead, so they threw her out of the base.


    She woke up to find herself in a truck.

 863 Lin Jings Situation

    After being thrown out of Mongols Base, Lin Jing was luckily saved by some other people. She had lost her hope when she realized that she was thrown out of the base actually. The people who saved her was a grade-two hunter group. Those people were leaving Mongols Base for somewhere else.


    The group had about twenty men, and were good people. They saved her and protected her, bringing her all the way to Xinjiang. Later on, she followed them to Green Mountain Base.


    The second apocalypse happened the next day. Many died, and some turned into zombies. Green Mountain Base only had a small number of people. And now, that number had decreased further.


    People got through the first ten days in panic, then started to face the problems that came one after another. They needed food and places to live. Yet, the old Green Mountain Base had been flattened by the leader of Green Mountain Base. No one could stop that crazy man.


    The weather in Northwest China was still cold and awful in April and May, while Lin Jing had difficulty in adapting to the weather. So, she always fell sick, and her condition grew worse and worse.


    She walked into the room, but none of the others in the room looked at her. She dropped her head and quietly moved to a corner, sitting down on the floor that was paved with cardboard.


    She curled and put her arms around her knees to shrink herself in her dirty and ragged cotton-padded jacket.


    The others all stayed cold-faced. They didn''t talk to each other, but quietly stayed where they were.


    Those people had been hungry for many days. Each of them was only provided with one bottle of water and one steamed bread per day. The food they had was found by Hu Ba and his people. They carefully sneaked into Green Mountain Base and avoided that crazy man to search for stored food.


    Currently, the temporary base was in an extreme shortage of food.


    The soil had died, and the stored food was running out. Lan Lu and Chang Qingqing had to figure out a solution before the stored food was gone for good. If they failed, their only choice would be leaving the place to another base and see if there was any luck


    "How many days can our food last?" Lan Lu scratched his scalp and asked with a deep frown.


    "According to the current consumption rate, a month tops," said Chang Qingqing, also with a bitter look.


    Hearing that, the others all wore a grim look.


    ¡­


    Lin Kui and his friends had been following the human scent to Green Mountain Base. They paused from time to time, and climbed onto tall buildings, trees, or mountains to sense the surrounding scents.


    Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue signed the agreement with Lin Qiao the next day after he arrived at All Beings Base. He had turned back normal. As for what he was thinking, nobody knew.


    Standing by the roadside near All Beings Base''s farm and looking at the thriving sprouts in the fields on both sides of the road, Wu Chengyue wanted so much to rob All Beings Base for that farm. He would do it if it weren''t for the zombie lady.


    He did not know that the farm was saved by the lake water from Lin Qiao''s space. He thought the soil contained some materials itself that protected it from the recent virus pollution.


    The soil had been recently turned, and those sprouts were newly planted. Clearly, the old crops on the farm were harmed as well.


    "Alright. Now that you have seen our farm, can you please leave?" Lin Qiao noticed the glow in his eyes and roughly guessed out what he was thinking. Under the current circumstances, anyone who saw that farm that was able to grow healthy crops would want to glom it. She would want the same.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at her and responded with a faint smile, "Chief Lu, don''t forget what you have promised us."


    Lin Qiao pressed her lips together and said, "Don''t worry, I won''t! Chief Wu, when do you plan to leave?"


    Since the agreement had been signed, he should leave as soon as possible!


    Wu Chengyue said smilingly, "Em, I have no plan to go back for now. I think I''ll be lingering here for a while."


    Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise, then looked at him coldly and said, "Chief Wu, don''t you have a lot of work to do back in your base? It''s inappropriate for you to leave the work behind, isn''t it?"


    Currently, each base had suffered some damages that were caused by the new zombies or maniacal superpowered people. Many areas needed to be reconstructed. Apart from that, the survivors needed to be comforted, as they had all been frightened by the sudden death of the others. Also, the superpowered members of each base had to be kept under close watch, in case they lost their minds suddenly and caused more damage.


    Not to mention the food crisis. Wu Chengyue surely had tons of work to do. However, he now clearly planned to stay in Lin Qiao''s place without solving the problems in his base.


    "I''m not in a rush, so why will you be? Besides, I''m not the only leader of Sea City Base. Since I''m out here for work, those two are handling the other works. Isn''t that normal?" Wu Chengyue mildly raised his eyebrows, looking at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao somehow felt that his smile had some hidden meanings.


    "Em, it''s normal indeed. Suit yourself then. I got to go." She shrugged one shoulder, then turned and got onto her car. After watching her leave, Wu Chengyue sat in his own car.


    As Lin Qiao returned to her office, Xie Dong came to her with the news from the rat nest. "I think those rats were scared out of the ground. Animals are more sensitive than humans after all," Lin Qiao read the brief written report and then said.


    The report explained the expansion of the rat group, their moving speed, number, and the changes in their power levels.


    "Didn''t you see any level-six rat? The strongest ones are only at level-five?" After reading the numbers in the report, Lin Qiao raised her head and glanced at Xie Dong, who was sitting on the other side of her desk.


    Xie Dong nodded expressionlessly and said, "Not yet. There''re plenty of level-five ones though."


    Lin Qiao glanced at the paper again. Over a hundred level-five rats were found.


    She blinked. It was impossible for not even one level-six rat to exist among all those rats. There might even be a level-seven one.


    "One maniacal rat can bite a couple of other same-level rats to death," said Xie Dong. He recalled what he saw during the past few days when he was observing those rats. Those red-eyed ones were highly destructive and aggressive.


    A crazy level-five rat attacked the other rats like a fierce boar.


    The level-five rats were even larger than pigs, their teeth and claws harder than steel. With one swing, the level-five rat clawed a level-four rat to death, and with one bite, it crushed the skull of another level-five rat.


    That level-five rat caused the rat group a little chaos. Later on, about twenty level-five rats bit it to death together.


    After that, those rats that were killed by that crazy level-five rat were soon eaten up by the other rats. Those rats wouldn''t waste those dead bodies. They ate them, as they were short of food as well.

 864 Darkness Comes Over Her Eyes

    In spite of all that, no level-six mutated rats were seen.


    "Because of those maniacal rats, the expansion of the rat group has slowed down. It''s still expanding though. This area is wasted," Xie Dong spread the map, picked up a pen, and drew a circle on the map. Then, he put the map on the table and pointed at the circle to show it to Lin Qiao.


    So, the threat from those rats still existed.


    So troublesome!


    Lin Qiao frowned, feeling troubled. "Keep a close eye on them. When the situation in our base gets stable, I''ll send Qiu Lili and the other zombies who''re good at long-range attacks to clear those rats out."


    Xie Dong nodded.


    "This is it," said Lin Qiao.


    Xie Dong stood up knowingly, then picked up the materials that he had brought over and turned to leave. He walked to the door and saw Liu Jun, who was coming in. This time, they didn''t run into each other.


    Liu Jun was reading a file in her hands. Once in, she sensed someone coming toward her. She immediately raised her head and saw Xie Dong''s manly and expressionless face, so she nodded to greet him with a faint smile.


    Xie Dong nodded slightly at her as a response.


    Then, Liu Jun walked straight into the office. While brushing past Xie Dong, the tip of her ponytail accidentally swept across Xie Dong''s face, but the latter didn''t say anything.


    Liu Jun had no idea that her hair swept Xie Dong''s face. She walked up to Lin Qiao, put the files on her desk, then sat down on the chair before the desk.


    "To expand the planting scale, I suggest you to buy some seeds from Sea City Base. They can''t grow anything on themselves anyway. So, they might as well give us their seeds," said Liu Jun.


    Lin Qiao read the file in her hands and signed her name on it, then closed it and put it aside. After that, she picked up Liu Jun''s file and opened it to read it. Thinking about that she may need to do another round of negotiations with Wu Chengyue, and about the latter''s ever-changing mood, she felt exhausted.


    "Em, I get it. I''ll try," she sighed and said.


    Looking at Lin Qiao''s struggling face, Liu Jun smiled and said, "He didn''t give up, did he?"


    Lin Qiao raised her eyes and gave Liu Jun a glance while responding, "I feel like he''s on his period. He''s in a constantly changing mood."


    "This will only do good for Sea City Base," said Liu Jun, "He has no reason to say no."


    All Sea City Base needed to provide was the seeds. All Beings Base would grow the crops on their farm and share the harvests with Sea City Base, three-seven or four-six. Sea City Base had no healthy soil. The seeds might go bad if they kept them, so working with All Beings Base would be a better choice.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "We''re short-handed though. How are those level-two zombies doing?"


    Liu Jun nodded and said, "They can do simple works. Fox and Keng-keng are patient."


    After a few days of training, the group of level-two zombies had developed some skills. However, to expand the planting scale, more zombies were needed.


    The conversation only lasted a short while, and Liu Jun left after that.


    Lin Qiao finished a certain amount of work, then glanced at the sky and found that it was dark again. She dropped the pen and stood up. But, the moment she got up, the darkness came over her eyes.


    She hurriedly held the desk to keep herself from falling to the ground. About three seconds later, she could finally see again.


    She furrowed her brows and made a deep breath, then stood straight. Only after confirming that the dizziness was gone for good did she start to walk outside.


    "Tell Lin Hao to come to my room." She walked out of her office and said to Shen Yujen.


    "Yes ma''am!" On hearing that, Shen Yujen glanced at her with concern and curiosity. She didn''t dare to ask any questions though. She turned and gave the order to a soldier behind her, then quickly followed Lin Qiao downstairs.


    The administration building of the base was no longer in the school area. The new administration building was twenty minutes driving away from the hotel in Base Number Two that Lin Qiao and the other zombies lived in.


    On the car, Lin Qiao leaned on the seat and closed her eyes. After that sudden dizziness, she felt a little uncomfortable. A dull pain started to expand slowly from her heart. It wasn''t so serious though.


    But still, it gave her a bad feeling. She didn''t know what caused that discomfort, so she pinned her hope on Lin Hao.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue heard that Lin Hao had gone to his Chief''s room in secret.


    "What? What time is it now? Why did he go to her room?" Wu Chengyue asked with a slight frown. The smile on his face was gone.


    "I don''t know. Maybe Chief Lu is feeling unwell. She''s a zombie. Can Doctor Lin help her?" No other people were in the room, so Xiao Licheng pointed out Lin Qiao''s true nature.


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue started to worry about Lin Qiao. The slight unhappiness caused by Lin Hao was gone. He frowned, thinking about how healthy the zombie lady looked earlier today.


    Was something wrong with the baby? Didn''t Lin Hao say that the baby was in a stable condition?


    With that thought, Wu Chengyue panicked a little. Yet, he stayed calm and said to Xiao Licheng, "Keep an eye on them. Don''t let them see you."


    Xiao Licheng nodded and left.


    Wu Chengyue turned and walked into the bedroom, looking at the little lump on the bed. He walked to the bed and pulled Wu Yueling''s blanket slightly downward to let her breath smoothly.


    Wu Yueling was in a deep sleep, so she didn''t feel what her father did.


    Wu Chengyue quietly went back to the living room. Standing by the window, he couldn''t help but think about what he had just heard about the zombie lady.


    ¡­


    On the other side of the base, Lin Qiao returned to her room. The frown on her face had grown deeper. She told the others to go out while she herself was sitting in the living room, waiting for Lin Hao. The dull pain from her chest eased her worry a little. At least, the pain wasn''t from her lower belly, meaning that Viney should be fine.


    Lin Hao soon arrived with a medical kit, sitting down on the couch by her side.


    "What is it? What''s wrong?" he asked.


    Lin Qiao pressed a hand on her chest and said, "This area is feeling uncomfortable. For a moment, I couldn''t see anything."


    Lin Hao''s medical kit was barely useful. After hearing Lin Qiao''s words, he frowned and said, "You should come to my clinic room for a check-up." Then, he stood up and continued, "Lie down and let me check the baby first."


    Lin Qiao was sitting on the long couch. She conveniently turned and lay down, putting her feet on the couch. Lin Hao put a cushion under her neck, then carefully lifted her shirt and exposed her slightly bulged lower belly.

 865 The Sharp Pain From Her Hear

    Wu Chengyue showed up on Lin Qiao''s balcony and looked inside to see her lying on the couch with her belly bared, and that Lin Hao touching her belly. The look in his eyes instantly turned cold. He didn''t make any move, but stayed on the balcony, coldly fixing his eyes on Lin Hao''s hand.


    He was nearly infuriated when he saw Lin Hao touching the zombie lady''s belly, but he had also noticed the frown on the faces of both in the room. Clearly, they were both worried.


    Lin Hao sensed a sharp coldness that made him automatically raise his head to look around. As a result, he spotted a figure on the balcony.


    "Who''s there?" He didn''t see anyone on the balcony earlier when he came in, and hence felt nervous once he saw Wu Chengyue.


    "Ignore him. How is the baby?" Lin Qiao said with her eyes closed. Then, she opened her eyes and looked at Lin Hao.


    Lin Hao glanced at Lin Qiao, then turned back to the balcony. At that point, the man on the balcony had already opened the door and entered.


    Lin Hao sighed with relief as he clearly saw Wu Chengyue''s face, which was wearing a meaningful smile. He didn''t change his expression, but glared at Wu Chengyue and said to him, "Chief Wu, this is our Chief''s residence. I don''t think you should be here."


    Lin Qiao sat up from the couch as Wu Chengyue came in, also putting down her shirt to cover her belly.


    "It''s quite late. Chief Wu, what brought you here?" She squinted at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue calmly walked to Lin Qiao''s side, then sat on the couch while looking at Lin Hao.


    "How is she?"


    Lin Hao almost failed to maintain the cold and serious look on his face. He tried very hard not to roll his eyes while responding, "The baby is fine. The mother''s condition is¡­ unclear."


    Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Chengyue who sat beside her smoothly. She wanted very much to ask him who gave him the permission to sit there, and why was he acting like he was home.


    Hearing Lin Hao''s answer, Lin Qiao was relieved. As long as the baby was fine¡­


    Wu Chengyue replied with a cold smile, "I''m not surprised. After all, Doctor Lin, you aren''t good enough to be able to diagnose for zombies, are you?"


    Lin Hao narrowed his eyes. He, of course, understood what Wu Chengyue really meant. He didn''t care though as he responded without any expression, "That probably is not true. At least, I''m the one who knows the best about her condition so far."


    He didn''t want to say anything else to Wu Chengyue, so he turned back to Lin Qiao and asked her, "How do you feel now? Come to the medical department and let me give you a check-up with my devices now¡­ if you can."


    He wasn''t able to feel the specific condition inside Lin Qiao''s womb with his hand. To confirm the result further, devices would be needed.


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao frowned slightly, then thought for a moment and said, "I''ll go tomorrow. As long as the baby is fine."


    If it weren''t the baby''s problem, the problem would be in her. The devices in the medical department couldn''t possibly find out a clue about her problem.


    "Go now," The expressionless Wu Chengyue abruptly let out two words.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with a deep frown. She tried to ignore him, but at last, she couldn''t help but say to him, "Chief Wu, are you giving me an order? Are you seeing me as one of your subordinates? Eh?"


    Wu Chengyue turned to look at her. Somehow, he had been sensing a faint but refreshing aroma. It was nice and familiar. He felt that he had sensed it before.


    He dropped the puzzles about that aroma and put on a gentle smile as he said, "It wasn''t like that."


    As Lin Qiao didn''t seem to be willing to go to the medical department now, Lin Hao took Wu Chengyue''s side. He nodded and said, "I think you should come with me now. Facing an illness, every minute can be critical."


    Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Hao and pressed her lips together. She couldn''t believe that her brother didn''t choose to help her in front of Wu Chengyue. He agreed to help her earlier, but had changed his side abruptly now.


    She was aware that both Wu Chengyue and Lin Hao were worried about her. Recently, the second apocalypse had happened. That might be affecting her in some way. During the past half a month, Lin Hao had been doing the research together with Leng Xuantong without giving Lin Qiao a proper check-up.


    Even though zombies normally wouldn''t feel tired, Lin Qiao was a special zombie in a special condition, so she needed some special treatments.


    Lin Qiao honestly felt that it was unnecessary to go all the way to the medical department so late at night. She believed that going tomorrow would be fine. She really didn''t want to leave her room again. Besides, she did feel a little tired.


    As she furrowed her eyebrows into a frown and prepared to say no again, Wu Chengyue abruptly stood up.


    Once he moved, Lin Qiao felt a piece of shade came over her eyes, and then found herself being carried in his arms.


    "What are you doing!" Lin Qiao froze at first. Realizing what was happening, she glared at Wu Chengyue and said to him, "Put me down!"


    Holding her, Wu Chengyue unexpectedly felt joyful. Feeling the stiffness of Lin Qiao''s body, he lowered his head and said to her smilingly, "Don''t move. We''re going to the medical department."


    Lin Qiao''s eyes turned cold. Through clenched teeth, she repeated her words, "Put¡­ me¡­ down!"


    ''How dare this b*stard hold me without permission!''


    Wu Chengyue ignored her words, but headed straight outside. Lin Qiao straightened her waist and shrank her legs, then raised an elbow to give Wu Chengyue a strike. Once she put forth her strength, the dull pain from her chest became sharp and piercing.


    "Eh¡­"


    Wu Chengyue was prepared for her resistance, so once she made a move, he tightened his arms to hold her firmly. To his surprise, the strength that she gathered seemed to disappear suddenly, and then he heard a small moan from her.


    "Oi! What''s wrong!" Wu Chengyue was stunned a little and immediately looked at her face. She was wearing a deep frown with her eyes shut and body curled up.


    "What''s wrong? What''s wrong?" Hearing Wu Chengyue''s panicked voice, Lin Hao, who was going to give Wu Chengyue a thumbs-up, hurriedly asked.


    Wu Chengyue quickly put Lin Qiao back onto the couch. The smile on his face was gone. He looked at her and said, "I don''t know! I didn''t do anything!"


    He was only holding her! What happened?


    "Let me see." As Wu Chengyue put Lin Qiao back onto the couch, Lin Hao pushed him aside and moved up to Lin Qiao.


    Lying on the couch, Lin Qiao relaxed her body and let out a long breath.


    That piercing pain only lasted for a second. It had faded by the time Wu Chengyue nervously put her down on the couch. She only sensed a slight twitching from her chest after that.


    Seeing Lin Qiao unwittingly press a hand on her own chest, Lin Hao immediately knitted his eyebrows. He couldn''t help but reach his hand to her chest to try and ease her discomfort by using his superpower.


    However, his hand was clasped by another hand before it could touch Lin Qiao.


    "What are you doing!"

 866 Go Back To The Lake Bottom To Heal

    "What am I doing? I''m helping her!" Lin Hao was confused for one or two seconds at first, then suddenly realized which part of his sister''s body he was going to touch.


    Well, alright, that was indeed a sensitive area¡­ But, he was a doctor! He couldn''t feel her body condition without touching it with his hands.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao gently pushed away the hands of Lin Hao and Wu Chengue, then relaxed her frown and sat up. Her eyes had turned purely black, and her green pupils glowed with a cold light.


    She raised her head and looked at Wu Chengyue with an extra cold look in her eyes as she said to him with a frosty voice, "Don''t touch me without permission."


    Her talking seemed to have triggered the pain from her chest again, and her eyebrows trembled slightly.


    Wu Chengyue held her without asking her for permission, which made her very unhappy. She didn''t feel a strong repulsion toward him, but was still unhappy about it.


    Wu Chengyue stood straight. For some reason, he panicked a little when he sensed the coldness from her eyes. He raised both hands and made a step backward as he responded, "Alright, I get it."


    Lin Qiao pressed her own chest and said to Lin Hao, "If it''s my problem, your devices won''t help me. I''m going to deal with it by myself in my space. Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng will be doing the work in the base when I''m gone. You''ll give them my words."


    "Alright," Lin Hao had no other choices but to agree.


    Then, Lin Qiao stood up and disappeared in front of him and Wu Chengyue. Lin Hao sighed, then turned to glance at the expressionless Wu Chengyue. After that, he raised his eyebrows slightly, picked up his medical kit, and left.


    Wu Chengyue looked where Lin Qiao was just now with a peaceful look. No one could tell what he was thinking.


    A short while later, he turned and walked back to the balcony, disappearing into the darkness.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao entered her space and showed up by the lake. She released a stream of dark mist to wrap herself up, then quickly took off her clothes and walked into the water with bare feet. She was still feeling a twitching pain from her chest.


    She didn''t know why, but that discomfort from her chest was growing more and more obvious. She instinctively felt that the only way to ease it was to go down to the lake and let the energy in the lake water suppress it.


    She faintly felt that the lake water would be able to help her.


    The zombies who were farming in the space abruptly sensed her vibe. They turned to the lake together and saw a cloud of dark mist moving slowly into the water.


    Lu Tianyi looked at the dark mist with confusion. He knew that Lu Tianyu was inside the mist. He watched her go down into the water, but didn''t think much about it.


    Once she dove into the water, Lin Qiao gathered the energy in the water toward herself while swimming down to the bottom of the lake like a fish. By the time she reached the bottom, a dense sphere of dark-green energy had been formed around her body. The energy entered her body, quickly gathering toward her heart, chest, and lower belly.


    As Lin Qiao gathered the energy to herself, the other zombies in the space all sensed a decrease in the pressure from the lake. Soon, the pressure was gone completely.


    The pain from Lin Qiao''s heart was eased when the energy gathered in that area. Finally, she sighed with relief.


    She felt tired as she relaxed her tightened nerves. Unwittingly, she fell into unconsciousness.


    The other zombies didn''t know that Lin Qiao was healing herself at the bottom of the lake.


    The next day, Lin Hao brought Lin Qiao''s words to Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, then continued doing his research while worrying about Lin Qiao. Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue summoned Xiao Licheng and Kong Qingming, talking to them about their next step.


    "Since All Beings Base has a way to solve the soil problem, why don''t we rent their farm? They won''t share the soil remedy with us anyway," Kong Qingming thought for a moment and then gave his suggestion.


    "I''ve checked. All the ones who are working in Lu Tianyu''s farm now are zombies. None of them is human. If they rented the farm to us, our people would be there and find out about those zombies. I don''t think she''ll agree to rent us the farm,'' Wu Chengyue sat on the couch and responded to Kong Qingming with a faint smile.


    "All zombies? You''re right then¡­ I wouldn''t rent out the farm if I were her," Kong Qingming agreed.


    "How about this? We provide them with the seeds and let them grow the crops themselves, then they share us thirty to forty percent of the harvests. That''ll be a win-win situation," Xiao Licheng thought briefly and said.


    Wu Chengyue nodded with a bigger smile and said, "I have the same idea."


    The other two looked at him and suddenly realized something. Kong Qingming blinked and said, "Chief, you had that idea long ago, didn''t you? If I guessed right, you thought about that before we came here. That''s why you told me to prepare those seeds. I thought you were going to use those seeds to make some kind of deal with them."


    Wu Chengyue didn''t say anything but gave a smile. The other two immediately understood his meaning. Clearly, he had thought about that long ago.


    "Alright, I''ll talk to Yuan Tianxing and the others," Kong Qingming nodded, then sighed with relief.


    "Em. We will have no less than thirty percent of the harvest," Wu Chengyue nodded.


    "I get it," Kong Qingming nodded.


    "I think the recent apocalypse will put the other bases into chaos, especially the few southern bases. I guess the people who are still staying in those bases will all leave this time," Xiao Licheng brought up another topic.


    Recently, a lot of people had joined Sea City Base. All of them were from the South or Southwest, mostly from Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base.


    They could have joined All Beings Base instead. However, All Beings Base was run by the survivors of Hades Base. Even if those people were thick-skinned enough to join the base, they still worried that they might not be accepted. Therefore, Sea City Base, as All Beings Base''s neighbor, became their best choice.


    Sea City Base had a big population already; it was full before the second apocalypse. However, the second explosion of the zombie virus directly cut the population by forty percent.


    So, the population issue was gone.


    Some other people still had their eyes on All Beings Base, with no good intentions though.


    It was a new base. If they killed everyone in that base, they would own the new base, wouldn''t they?

 867 The Real Purpose

    At that moment, a group of people from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base had been discussing where to go at a crossroad that could lead to Upper City District or Sea City Base.


    "Have you figured out the situation in All Beings Base yet? Will our plan work?"


    "According to the information we got from Sea City Base, that base is located in Upper City District. Only three batches on people have joined that base. They only had about ten-thousand people by now. A lot of those people must have died recently, so I guess they only have thousands of people now. Most importantly, not many of them have superpowers."


    "I heard that Chief lady has level-seven poison power. She''s probably not easy to deal with, right?"


    "There''s nothing to be afraid of. You may not need to use violence to defeat a woman. We can use our hearts, right? You can also use your kidneys. I heard that she''s pretty, hehe¡­"


    "Are you saying that you''ll seduce her, make her fall in love with you, then kill her when she relaxes her vigilance against you?"


    "Not me¡­ You''ll do it! Make your pretty face useful."


    "Yeah. Zuo Chen, you''re the prettiest one among all of us. You have a big chance to succeed."


    "I agree. You should do it, Zuo Chen."


    The group of people all looked at a handsome young man who was in his twenties. Zuo Chen paused briefly, then smiled and said, "Are you asking me to compete against Wu Chengyue from Sea City Base? Why do I feel that I have no chance?"


    One of the groups immediately responded carelessly, "He has been pursuing her for so long. Everybody knows about that. I think that woman isn''t interested in that smiling man. I think you''re good. You''re handsome. Which woman doesn''t like you? Which woman in our troop doesn''t want to get into your bed?"


    Then, he narrowed his eyes and continued, "Am I right? You have tasted all of them, haven''t you?"


    The smile on Zuo Chen''s face turned sluttish when he heard that. "There are so little of them. Not enough fun at all. After hearing what you said, I am now interested in that Chief lady. Lying upon a level-seven female leader must feel nice."


    On hearing him, the others laughed viciously.


    Soon after that, All Beings Base people heard the news that a group of people was approaching their base.


    "From the Southwest¡­ I guess it''s those people from Hidden Cloud City and Earth Dragon Base. How many are they?" Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng were both sitting in the office. Lin Feng asked Li Zheng, who brought the news to them.


    "Three or four thousand," Li Zheng answered the question, "They look like hunters and not soldiers. I think there were more of them at first. Among the leaders of this group of people, a few are at level-six. Quite some of them have superpowers."


    "Level-six? How many?" Lin Feng asked.


    "Seven," said Li Zheng.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing glanced at each other alertly.


    Seven level-six people couldn''t make a big threat to the base, but they still needed to stay vigilant against them.


    "Keep an eye on them. Figure out their real purpose if you can. If they purely want to join our base, we''ll surely welcome them. I''m just worried that they might have some other intentions," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "They are under watch," said Li Zheng. His people still had eyes on that troop.


    "Let them come. Even if they have some bad intentions, they need to be capable enough to make it come true. We''re not afraid of them," said Lin Feng blandly.


    Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then agreed with him. Their base did have a small population, yet they had a huge zombie army! Many of those zombies were powerful. Why would they be afraid of those people? If they caused any trouble, they would be thrown out of the base by the zombies.


    "Have you counted the seeds that Sea City Base provided yet? How many acres can we farm with those seeds?" Lin Feng turned to Yuan Tianxing and asked.


    "Liu Jun hasn''t given me a number yet. But she will soon, I think," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "She has talked to Chief about that, and Chief agreed on that idea. But, Sea City Base people brought it to us even before we talked to them about it," Lin Feng wore no expression, but he seemed to be delighted.


    "It''s reasonable for them to come up with that idea. If the other farms are all dead, our farm will become very valuable in the future," said Yuan Tianxing with a faint smile.


    Currently, no base had figured out a way to save the polluted soil. If that situation continued, not only Sea City Base, but the other bases would all turn their eyes to the farm in All Beings Base.


    By that time, some might be holding unfriendly intentions toward the farm.


    ¡­


    In the temporary base near Green Mountain Base, Lin Jing was walking upstairs, holding a bottle of water and a hard steamed bun.


    Some noises were suddenly heard from upstairs.


    "He went crazy! Stay away! Go! Go!"


    "Get downstairs¡­"


    "Ahhhhh!"


    Bang!


    Boom!


    Lin Jing was stunned a little. She didn''t hear the sounds that came from upstairs clearly, so she stopped with confusion, looking at the others rush down. Those people looked scared and anxious, with no other emotions.


    Some of them didn''t see Lin Jing, while some saw her but pretended not to. Some pushed her away violently as she was in their way.


    "Get out of the way!"


    "Ou¡­" Lin Jing wasn''t prepared for that. Her body bumped against the guardrail on the side. Sensing a dull pain from her waist, she knitted her brows into a deep frown.


    "Get down! Get down! A level-four man went crazy!" A woman from Lin Jing''s room saw her and reminded her, then ran away without her. Hearing that, Lin Jing figured out about what was happening. She quickly turned and ran downstairs, her waist still aching.


    She was bumped to the side a few times on her way down the stairs.


    The noises coming from the upstairs had stopped by the time Lin Jing followed the others down the stairs. It seemed that some base managers had gone upstairs and fixed the problem.


    Lin Jing gasped for air. The running made her feel weak and dizzy.


    She opened her bottled water and took a few sips, trying to catch her breath. Suddenly, someone bumped her from the side, almost throwing her water to the ground.


    "Can you not stand in the middle of the way?" A cold voice was heard from the side.


    Lin Jing turned and saw that person, who was from her room too. She had been unfriendly to the former all the time. Every time she saw Lin Jing, she would talk to her sourly.


    She was now doing it again. Lin Jing was on one side of the road, in nobody''s way. That woman bumped into her and blamed her for it.

 868 Lin Jings Crisis

    Lin Jing glared at that woman angrily, but didn''t say anything.


    "Why are you staring at me? Are you aware that you look even uglier than a ghost when you stare at me?" That woman was about twenty-seven, not pretty, but not ugly either. She looked slightly better than average, and was young.


    She wasn''t prettier than Lin Jing though. If Lin Jing wasn''t so sallow, she would look much better than that woman.


    Two men were standing beside that woman, staring at Lin Jing in an evil and greedy way.


    The look in their eyes made Lin Jing utterly uncomfortable, so she frowned slightly.


    "How can you say that? You''re jealous, aren''t you? She''s prettier than you, hehe!" One of the two men abruptly raised a hand and shoved the woman to the side, then looked at Lin Jing from head to toe while speaking with a grin.


    That woman''s face twisted a little, then she laughed sourly, "I am not as pretty as she is, but I''m young. Look at her. A gust of wind can even bring her to the ground. I wonder if she can survive until tomorrow."


    "A sick pretty woman is still a pretty woman¡­ A woman like her can arouse our protectiveness, right?" The other man laughed as well. Speaking the word ''protectiveness'', he cast his greedy eyes on Lin Jing''s chest, even licking his own lips.


    That movement of his made Lin Jing freeze slightly, and her gooseflesh stood up. She quickly took a few steps backward, trying to move away from those people.


    "Oi, where are you going? Sick pretty lady?" The two men quickly stepped to her sides and blocked her way.


    "Yeah, it''s too dangerous outside. You shouldn''t go out¡­" said another man smilingly.


    Those two were commoners, but were tall and strong, looking boorish. They hadn''t showered in many days, so both of them gave out a strong smell.


    "What do you want!" Lin Jing covered her nose. As the two men blocked her way, she glared at them with vigilance.


    That woman seemed to guess out what those men wanted. She blinked, then had her eyes glowing. She looked around, then whispered a few words to those two men.


    "Take her away. Those people aren''t here." She was talking about the soldiers and guards in the base.


    On hearing that, the two men immediately made a move. One of them covered Lin Jing''s mouth before she could react while the other grasped her arms. Then, they dragged Lin Jing toward a corner in an alley nearby.


    "Em! Emm¡­" Lin Jing popped her eyes in shock and started to struggle. However, as a sick woman, she was no match for the two strong men. No matter how hard she struggled, the two men didn''t relax their grip even a little bit.


    Some other people saw that, but turned their eyes away and pretended to not see it. It had nothing to do with them, and they didn''t want any trouble.


    At that moment, Hu Ba, who was guarding the temporary base, was squatting on a mutated tree, chewing a grass leaf. Suddenly, he changed his expression and stood upon the branch, looking at one direction alarmedly.


    "Roar¡­" ''Stay alert!''


    In two seconds, he gave a roar. Hearing his voice, the surrounding zombies immediately turned vigilant. Then, they sensed an irresistible pressure.


    Chang Qingqing was sitting upstairs in the temporary office together with Lan Lu. Suddenly, she sprung up and ran to the window to look outside, her expression changing as well.


    "What''s wrong?" Noticing her strange behavior, Lan Lu asked curiously.


    "Something is coming!" Chang Qingqing''s pretty face wore a serious look.


    Lan Lu stood up and walked to the window, looking outside too. He saw the group of zombies out there on full alert under Hu Ba''s leadership. The vibes that belonged to two level-six zombies had been approaching them from a distance.


    "Where they come from?" Lan Lu had a questioning look in his eyes, yet he wasn''t nervous.


    Those were only two level-six zombies. He had no worries about them.


    Next, he saw the two zombies stop hundreds of meters away. He couldn''t tell what they were doing.


    "They stopped!" Chang Qingqing stayed composed without turning nervous because the two zombies had stopped moving.


    "Roar¡­" ''Leave!''


    Hu Ba jumped onto a nearby building and gave the two zombies a roar to warn them and drive them away.


    At that time, Mo and Ye Qingxian were both surprised. They glanced at each other and found confusion from each other''s eyes.


    What was that? Were those people protected by zombies too?


    They thought only All Beings Base people were living together with zombies. It turned out that Green Mountain Base was in the same situation.


    They weren''t sure about it though.


    What was the relationship between those zombies and those people? The human beings in the base also had strong vibes. Clearly, one of them was even stronger than those zombies. So, those human beings surely weren''t the zombies'' captives.


    Was it really the same as what was happening in All Beings Base?


    While the two level-six zombies were catching the attention of Hu Ba, Chang Qingqing and Lan Lu, who were the strongest ones among all, a dark figure had been following Lin Jing''s scent and approaching her quietly but speedily.


    "Em¡­" Lin Jing was still struggling. At last, she opened her mouth wide and bit the hand that was covering her mouth.


    "Ouch! Damn you! How dare you bite me! F*ck!" The man shouted in pain and quickly pulled his hand out of Lin Jing''s hand.


    Lin Jing bit him with all her strength, so she actually wounded that man. As the man pulled his hand out of her mouth, a piece of his skin was torn off.


    "Ah!" He gave another shout with pain, veins throbbing in his temples. He was so angry that he raised a hand and gave Lin Jing a slap on the face.


    Clap!


    "You bloody b*tch! How dare you bite me! I''ll make you bite something bigger later!" While yelling, that man violently grasped Lin Jing''s chest, but her thick coat protected her.


    "Ah! Let me go! Let me go! Stop! Help! Help¡­ em¡­" Once that man took his hand away, Lin Jing burst in screams. But soon, that man covered her mouth again.


    The woman who lived together with Lin Jing had been carefully observing the surrounding area. Lin Jing''s scream gave her a start, so she immediately turned back and scolded the two men.


    "Keep her quiet! Idiots! Do you want to get busted?"


    The man who got bitten responded angrily, "I get it! Damn it! This woman bit me. I''ll f*ck her to death!"


    Just like that, the three people dragged Lin Jing into an abandoned building nearby.

 869 The Crisis Is Solved

    Lin Jing struggled with anger and despair. Her strength grew weaker, and her heart sank to the bottom. Her body turned colder and colder.


    What should she do? What should she do? Who could save her?


    She extravagantly wished that someone could show up and save her, but in the meanwhile, she was clearly aware that no one would save a stranger in the post-apocalyptic era.


    She had no friends in Green Mountain Base. In fact, she barely knew the others in the base. So, she believed that no one would come to save her.


    She ran to Mongols Base from Huaxia Base, then came Green Mountain Base. But at last, it turned out that she was not able to survive in the chaotic post-apocalyptic world.


    Thud! The two men dragged Lin Jing into the room. The woman followed behind them and hurriedly shut the door.


    "I''ll gag her, then you can do whatever you want with her," The woman took out a dirty towel and walked to Lin Jing with an evil grin.


    "Em¡­ Emm¡­" Lin Jing hadn''t given up on struggling. However, she was already very weak, and could barely make any big movements. She glared at that woman so fiercely that she seemed to even eat her alive.


    She had no idea when she ever displeased that woman. Ever since she moved into her room, that woman had been awful to her.


    That woman was always mean to Lin Jing. She teased and taunted her, but Lin Jing didn''t care. Lin Jing found her annoying and started to avoid her. She wouldn''t let herself be in the room alone with that woman.


    However, Lin Jing couldn''t have imagined that the woman would help the two men hurt her. She was so evil!


    At that moment, the woman stood beside Lin Jing, looking down at her with a vicious grin, "The only thing you do is pretend to be weak, so that people feel pity for you. How pretty do you think you are? You seduced men all day. Thankfully, Captain Wan had no interest in you at all. If you two really got together, you might die before you could even give him a child."


    Captain Wan was a unit leader in charge of the security where Lin Jing lived. His name was Wan Wusheng, and was a level-four water power possessor. Lin Jing had been sick and weak, so he brought her water and took care of her occasionally.


    As the head of a security unit, he was only performing his duty, without any personal feelings.


    The young woman had her eyes on Wan Wusheng since long ago. Therefore, she was super jealous of Lin Jing, as Wang Wusheng brought her water sometimes.


    Clean water was precious in the base.


    Hearing her words, Lin Jing instantly figured it out. She wanted to tell the woman loudly that nothing was happening between her and Captain Wan. However, the woman shoved the towel into her mouth before she could say anything.


    "Em¡­" The sour, salty and bitter taste gave her nausea. Meanwhile, the two men pressed her down and started ripping off her clothes.


    But at that very moment, a dark figure flashed across a window.


    Bang! The door burst open and hit the wall loudly, then somebody erupted through it.


    The loud noise gave a start to all the four in the room. The woman and the two men turned to the door simultaneously and saw nothing clearly but a shred of dark shadow, as well as a few gleams of light flashing across their eyes,


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The slight sounds of sharp weapons cutting through flesh were heard in the room, followed by a long quietness.


    The woman and the two men popped their eyes, frozen. Blood seeped out of their necks, being slowly absorbed by their clothes.


    Lin Jing soon realized what had happened. She took the opportunity to put up a fight, and unexpectedly, the two men let go of her.


    She pulled up her nearly ripped off clothes and struggled up from the ground, then got rid of the towel in her mouth. Instinctively, she shrank to a relatively safer corner. Only after she hid behind an old table did she start to gasp for air.


    Thud! Thud! Thud! A series of noises were heard.


    Lin Jing stuck her head out from behind the table with fright and saw the three lying on the ground motionlessly. Then, she saw that dark creature beside the three dead people, popping her eyes and opening her mouth in shock.


    That was a gigantic black panther! It was sitting beside the three dead bodies, looking at her quietly. Its pair of ears stood up, and tail wagged from side to side.


    The panther had black and shiny fur, beautiful muscles, as well as glowing and cold eyes.


    Being stared at by the panther, Lin Jing felt as if she had fallen into a bucket of ice. She thought the panther would pounce on her and bite through her neck in the next second.


    She looked at the panther in the eyes without daring to move.


    After the short eye-contact, the panther suddenly stood up and moved toward Lin Jing step by step. Lin Jing instantly widened her eyes; she couldn''t even breathe. The fear disabled her from moving and made her tremble intensely.


    She had one last thought left in her mind¡ªshe was going to be eaten by that huge panther right away.


    She watched the panther come closer and closer and couldn''t help but shut her eyes to wait for death. Being bitten to death by the panther was at least better than being raped to death by those men.


    The fear almost threw her into unconsciousness, yet after a while, she still didn''t feel the pain that she was waiting for. She paused for two seconds, then raised her head with confusion. As a result, she saw the panther standing half a meter away from her, quietly looking at her.


    She had puzzles in her head. She couldn''t understand why the panther didn''t eat her but kept looking at her.


    But, before she could think about it, the panther abruptly reached its head toward her. She gave a start and hurriedly closed her eyes. In the next second, she felt a warm and fluffy thing against her cheek.


    ''Eh?''


    She opened her eyes with surprise and saw the panther pressing its big, furry face against hers.


    ''What¡­ was happening?''


    Lin Jing was dumbfounded, and the fear was somehow replaced by confusion.


    The black panther rubbed her face with its forehead, then pushed her slightly with its head. After that, it took a step backward and turned, making a few steps toward the outside before looking back at her.


    Lin Jing didn''t figure out what it was trying to do.


    As Lin Jing didn''t move, the panther raised its long and huge tail and swept across her face, then hooked her hand and pulled it slightly forward.


    Sensing the panther''s gentle move, Lin Jing had a strange idea popping up in her head.


    Did the panther just save her? Was it asking her to follow it?


    With that idea, she looked at the black panther uncertainly.

 870 Go Together

    Lin Jing slowly sensed the panther''s kindness. She stood up, but suffered a severe dizziness once she got up, her sight turning blurry. As she nearly passed out, the black panther hurriedly moved backward to let her fall on its back.


    After the intense fight and struggle, Lin Jing was exhausted. Her body already had enough to cope with. She felt that the panther wouldn''t hurt her, so she relaxed and fell into unconsciousness.


    ¡­


    On the other side of the base, Lan Lu and the others had all been staring at the two level-six zombies. Those two had been keeping a safe distance from the base, so Lan Lu didn''t plan to attack them, unless they approached further.


    As Lan Lu didn''t make a move, the others didn''t do anything either.


    Soon, another figure showed up beside the two.


    "That''s¡­" Chang Qingqing found the third zombie carrying a person in his arms. He was moving toward the two level-six zombies.


    "That''s a zombie dominator," said Lan Lu.


    "He''s holding someone!" Chang Qingqing said with a frown.


    "I''ll go and take a look," Lan Lu said, then leaped out of the window and moved fleetingly toward the three zombies.


    If they weren''t with a human being, Lan Lu would ignore them. However, they clearly had brought someone out of the base. He couldn''t pretend not to see it.


    Lin Kui sensed Lan Lu''s movement right away. He didn''t make any large reaction, but paused on top of a building, then turned around and quietly watched Lan Lu come up to him. The fainted Lin Jing was carried in his arms.


    Mo and Ye Qingxian stood behind him, staring at Lan Lu alertly.


    Lan Lu landed on top of the building across the street. He stood at the edge of the roof, looking at the three quiet zombies. He narrowed his eyes and saw the three zombies'' dark eyes sparkle with a different colored light. He worked with zombies all the time, so he could clearly tell that those three zombies weren''t showing any hostility toward him, but were only instinctively vigilant against him.


    Lan Lu had no idea who the three zombies were, or if they could communicate with humans. He tried to ask them a question as a start, "Do you want to take her away?"


    The zombie dominator carried the woman with a strange posture. It was not like a zombie holding its prey. On the contrary, he seemed to be protecting her carefully. Therefore, Lan Lu immediately figured that he wouldn''t hurt that woman.


    Lin Kui nodded silently.


    Lan Lu looked at him with surprise and continued, "Do you understand me? I think you''re not a normal zombie."


    "Aren''t you guys the same? You''re not normal humans. Which normal human hangs out with zombies?" Ye Qingxian said to Lan Lu with a slightly sarcastic tone.


    Hearing Ye Qingxian''s dry and hoarse voice, Lan Lu laughed and said knowingly, "You''re from All Beings Base, aren''t you? Can you tell me about your relationship with her? I need to know if she''ll be safe with you at least."


    "She''ll be safer with us than in your base, because we''ll protect her," said Ye Qingxian. He was trying to say that Lin Jing had a rough time in Green Mountain Base. The sallow look on her face indicated that clearly.


    Lan Lu paused briefly, then thought for a moment and asked, "So, are you bringing her back to All Beings Base?"


    This time, Ye Qingxian didn''t answer his question, so Lin Kui nodded to respond instead.


    Lan Lu nodded, then thought briefly and said, "In this case, maybe you can wait for a couple of days and then go together with our people. I remember that we have made an agreement with your base recently. We can travel together. What do you think?"


    Lei Cheng and his people had returned with Lin Qiao''s offer. However, Lin Kui didn''t know about that deal, because he wasn''t in All Beings Base at that time.


    Lin Kui looked at Lan Lu bewilderedly.


    "Ah, it seems that you don''t know about it yet. How about I show you the contract?" Seeing the look on Lin Kui''s face, Lan Lu guessed out what he was thinking.


    Lin Kui thought for a moment, then nodded and finally said a word, "Please." His voice was hoarse as well.


    "Would you like to take a rest in our base?" said Lan Lu smilingly.


    Lin Kui shook his head and responded, "Thank you, but no. We''ll wait here."


    Lan Lu nodded and said, "Alright then. I''ll be back in a minute." After saying that, he turned and returned to the base.


    Lin Kui and his friends didn''t wait for long as Lan Lu soon returned with a short-haired girl.


    "This is the contract. You can check if this signature of your Chief is genuine," Lan Lu raised the contract.


    Lin Kui held Lin Jing and stayed motionless. Mo, who was staying silent the whole time, walked out from behind him. He walked up to Lan Lu, took over the contract, and then brought it back to Lin Kui.


    Lin Kui handed Lin Jing to Ye Qingxian, then took over the contract and read it. It was indeed signed by the Chief lady of All Beings Base. After confirming that, he nodded and handed the contract back to Mo, who handed it back to Lan Lu.


    "When will you leave?" He asked.


    "Tomorrow," said Lan Lu, "We have listed the names. The second explosion of the virus overset our plan."


    Lin Kui nodded and said, "Okay. We''ll be here tomorrow."


    Having finished talking, he carried Lin Jing, then turned and left together with Mo and Ye Qingxian.


    ¡­


    In All Beings Base, all the zombies outside the base had been summoned to the farm in Mount. Wu area. Therefore, Zuo Chen and his people didn''t see the zombie wall when they entered the base.


    Recently, too many people had been out there. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Yuan Tianxing, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng and the others ran a discussion, then decided to remove the zombie wall temporarily and bring all the zombies at or above level-three to Base Number Two.


    The disguise was still needed though. All the zombies were equipped with clean clothes, sunglasses, hats. The All Beings Base people started to notice the soldiers in camouflage suits, hats and sunglasses, who showed up in their base from time to time. Those soldiers'' faces couldn''t be seen clearly.


    Those soldiers normally stayed far away from the people in the base.


    Zuo Chen and his people entered All Beings Base and told the base managers that they intended to join the base. Once in, they started gathering information, soon learning about Base Number Two. They thought that All Beings Base had an inner zone and an outer zone like the other bases, and believed that Base Number Two was the inner zone, as normal people didn''t have access to that area.


    They had no idea who else were living in Base Number Two, but knew that the Chief lady was living there at the very least.

 871 Form A Scheme

    Lin Qiao stayed in the water all this long.


    Three days after she went into her space, Wu Chengyue started to worry. That night, the look on her face and what happened to her body clearly indicated that something was wrong. However, he was aware that not him nor anyone else could help her with her body condition. She had to heal herself. Wu Chengyue didn''t know if she would recover or not.


    Even though the zombie Chief lady wasn''t around, Wu Chengyue stayed in All Beings Base. He talked to Yuan Tianxing again about the seed-borrowing. Of course, he had heard that All Beings Base had removed the zombie wall superficially


    Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base had about a million survivors in total. But after the second explosion of the zombie virus, that number had shrunk by almost fifty percent. The soil problem was the most critical problem at the moment. The survivors from the Southwest had been moving to Sea City Base and Huaxia Base batch by batch.


    When Zuo Chen and his people joined All Beings Base, both Yuan Tianxing and Wu Chengyue sent out their people to dig into those people''s backgrounds.


    "Most of them are hunters from Hidden Cloud City Base. The leaders of those Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base died mysteriously, so the hunter groups carved up all the supplies in their bases. Sky Fire Base took quite some of the supplies that belonged to Hidden Cloud City Base. But still, with the supplies they got, some hunter groups managed to grow stronger," Xiao Licheng handed Wu Chengyue the files about the people who had joined All Beings Base recently.


    The new batch of people was composed of five different-sized hunter groups, carrying a good amount of supplies and strong weapons. A few among them had space power. What had been stored in their spaces were probably weapons. So, the base had to stay vigilant against them.


    Wu Chengyue read the files quietly without any expression.


    "Except for them, another few groups of people intend to join this base too," said Xiao Licheng.


    Most of the people were heading toward Sea City Base. But, some small troops had no choice but to come to All Beings Base, as they needed to avoid the large troops, in case the latter attacked them.


    "This group has about twenty men, all with superpowers; this one is half-and-half. But clearly, these people are rather capable, as they managed to bring so many commoners all the way here," Xiao Licheng handed Wu Chengyue two other files and said.


    They needed to face zombies, mutated creatures, and the shortage of food on their way to All Being Base. It was difficult for commoners to make it to the base.


    "Does Yuan Tianxing know about these people?" Wu Chengyue asked while reading the files.


    "Yes," Xiao Licheng nodded.


    "Keep an eye on these people for them."


    "Yes sir!"


    ¡­


    Zuo Chen and his people were accommodated in a residential area.


    "Haven''t you seen that Chief lady yet? Is she so mysterious?" Liu Wan, the leader of Zhongchuang Hunger Group, put his fingers on his chin and thought for a moment before talking.


    The others all nodded, as they shared the same feeling with him.


    "Base Number Two is strictly guarded. People aren''t even allowed to approach that area. I also heard that the construction of the fence wall on that side has just started. I guess it''ll take a couple of months for it to be finished," said Zuo Chen.


    "I heard that Lin Hao from the medical department is very close to the Chief lady recently. Has he gotten rid of Wu Chengyue and won her?" The other man shared what he learned with others.


    "He didn''t need to get rid of Wu Chengyue. Wu Chengyue was never with her. He''s just one step ahead¡­ If that''s real, things would be difficult. Are you sure about it? How is their relationship?" Liu Wan asked that man.


    "I heard that the Chief lady often invited Lin Hao to where she lived in Base Number Two. So, I guess they''ve slept with each other already." That man frowned and said.


    Earlier on, they heard about how proud and fierce that Chief lady was. In Huaxia Base, a chairman from Huaxia Base touched her hand and she disabled that man''s hand right on the spot. In less than one hour, the chairman died a mysterious death, probably killed by her.


    The Chief lady had level-seven poison power. That chairman was also at level seven, yet he died in her hands. Obviously, she was rather capable.


    She must like Lin Hao very much, or she wouldn''t allow him to go to her residence. In that case, Zuo Chen barely had a chance to get between them and make the Chief lady fall for him.


    Hearing that man''s words, the others fell into silence.


    "I doubt that. I heard that they only got close to each other recently. I think their relationship isn''t stable yet. Perhaps, it''s not like what we think. The Chief lady might only like to sleep with him, but doesn''t love him yet. We need more specific information. Anyhow, we need to get her," Liu Wan thought for a moment and said.


    The others had their eyes glowed on hearing that. That was possible. If things were like what Liu Wan stated, they would still have a good chance.


    "I think we should start with the people around the Chief. Duan Juan and Shen Yujen follow her everywhere, so they must know a lot. I also heard that the woman called Liu Jun from the agriculture department is also close to her, and so is Lin Wenwen. Lin Wenwen is Lin Hao''s sister, so she should know something," another man gave a name list.


    That man listed the names of the group of females who were close with the Chief lady, as he believed that women were easy to be conquered.


    "We can''t make any direct moves right now. How about we find some people who are suitable for the job from the people in this base, then train them and make them get close to those women?" Liu Wan nodded and said.


    They were new to the base. If they made an obvious move, Yuan Tianxing and the other base leaders would notice it. After all, Yuan Tianxing was the Deputy Chief of Hades Base. He was not a simple-minded person.


    By the ones suitable for the job, he meant the ones who were good-looking and capable, and knew how to deal with women. After all, all the targets were women.


    "These girls are not bad. So sad that we''re gonna give them to other people," Zuo Chen looked at Lin Wenwen''s picture and narrowed his eyes, a sluttish look being detected from them.


    Each of them shared their ideas, and a scheme was formed gradually, aiming at the most outstanding women in the base. As for whether it would work or not, no one could tell yet.


    As the targets of those people, Duan Juan and the other girls had no idea about the scheme. They were still busy doing their work in the base.

 872 Wait For The Show

    Zuo Chen, Liu Wan, and the others thought no one knew about their plan. However, someone with invisibility had heard every word they said.


    "So¡­ they want our Chief to fall in love with that man named Zuo Chen, so that the latter can figure out all of Chief''s secrets and then take our base for their own?" Qiu Lili popped her red eyes and looked at Yun Meng curiously. Yun Meng nodded with a grim face in response.


    Those people were so bold and ambitious that they even wanted to swallow the entire base.


    "Have they found out about the farm yet?" Qiu Lili asked another question. Currently, the zombie base was no longer the only secret of All Being Base. The farm should be kept as secret as possible too.


    Yun Meng shook her head and said, "Currently, they''re focusing on Base Number Two and how to seduce Chief. They didn''t have a chance to notice the farm yet."


    Those people had arrived in the base not long ago, and hadn''t had the time to notice the current situation of the farm yet. Also, there was quite a distance between Mount Wu and the base.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng had summoned all the zombies that used to form the zombie wall to the farm and ordered them to surround the farm to keep everyone else away.


    "They''re now gathering information secretly. I knew they were not good people at first glance!" said Yun Meng.


    "I wonder what happened to Lin Qiao. She''s been in the space all these days," Qiu Lili furrowed her pretty eyebrows raised with concern.


    Yun Meng sat behind the desk, then picked up a pen and a piece of paper as she said, "I''m gonna write this down and send the message to Tianxing and the others. Let''s see what they''ll plan to do."


    "Alright," Qiu Lili responded.


    Yun Meng wrote down about the plan of Zuo Chen and his people into a few copies, then turned invisible and delivered the message to Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, Lin Wenwen and the others.


    "These people should die!" Lin Wenwen stared at the note on the paper angrily. The look in her eyes was frosty, toned with an intent of killing.


    "How ambitious! Aren''t they afraid that they might want a little too much?" Long Qingying said expressionlessly.


    On the other side, Liu Jun read the note, clicking her tongue and then speaking with a cold smile, "I am so busy right now. I don''t think I''m in the mood to play the game with them."


    Duan Juan read the note and then sneered, "What a bunch of suicidal idiots! Do they think that those girls are easy to fall into their traps?"


    Lin Feng delivered the message to Chen Yuting, "Chen, someone is planning on stealing your wife. Do what you need to do."


    Up till now, Chen Yuting only dared to touch Shen Yujen''s hands. He was a poor man who could not even hug his lover. So, on hearing about that evil plan, he was, of course, infuriated.


    Yuan Tianxing said with a faint smile, "We''ve been working hard lately. Maybe we should watch this show and relax a little."


    Lin Feng gave him a glance and asked, "Are you gonna play the game with them?"


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him in a weird way and responded, "It''s your sister who''s gonna play the game, isn''t it?"


    Lin Feng didn''t know why he asked that silly question just now.


    Zuo Chen and his people had no idea that their targets had already learned every detail about their plan. They quickly started to look out for help, spending a couple of days to look through the people in All Beings Base.


    "Duan Juan is a cautious woman, and has served her time in a special force. She never liked anyone back in Hades Base. We don''t know what type she likes. As for Lin Wenwen, I heard that she likes Yuan Tianxing. I think this one is suitable for her¡­"


    They had a meeting to talk about suitable people. The men they selected were all capable, good-looking, and charming. They assigned tasks to those men according to those girls'' preferences.


    Little did they know that some All Beings Base people had been watching their every move with great interests. Those people were waiting for a great show.


    "Hah, isn''t this the leader of the Squad Six? Junjun, look¡­ here''s your man!" Lin Wenwen read the newest message and then said to Liu Jun with laughter.


    Liu Jun browsed that man''s name, then responded expressionlessly, "I wonder what they have promised the squad leader."


    "I know! A level-five zombie nucleus! I think the squad leader is preparing for an upgrade!" Shen Yujen came over and said.


    "Oi, make it real if you want to play the game. Don''t get busted. That would be awkward!" Looking at the group of excited girls, Yuan Tianxing couldn''t help but remind them.


    ¡­


    Inside the space, Lin Qiao was still at the bottom of the lake without knowing about the show that was going to be staged in her base. She had been unconscious for over ten days. Lu Tianyi started to observe the lake surface from time to time, worried about what was going on.


    His sister had been in the lake for a very long time, which wasn''t normal. He knew that the lake could heal her, so the longer she was in there, the more serious the problem could be.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao''s entire body was wrapped in the gentle energy. The energy gathered in her brain, heart, and lower abdomen, forming three spheres. Suddenly, the energy in her brain started flowing toward her heart. As it touched the energy in her heart, another stream of energy flowed toward her lower abdomen from her heart.


    At last, all the energy inside her body gathered in her womb. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao still had her eyes closed, not waking up.


    ¡­


    Lin Kui brought Lin Jing and a group of Green Mountain Base zombies back to All Beings Base, only to find with surprise that the zombie wall was gone. Lin Jing was in bad condition, so they had traveled slowly. It took them half a month from Xinjiang Province to All Beings Base.


    Xie Dong''s subordinates spotted them as they approached the base. Soon, Xie Dong received the message and delivered it to Yuan Tianxing and the others.


    "Eh? They''re here? Alright! Ask Shen Yujen to arrange them to stay in Base Number Two," Yuan Tianxing told Xie Dong, but he and his people still showed up at the western entrance of the base to welcome those Green Mountain Base zombies.


    This time, Hu Ba was leading the team. They were about fifty zombies at level four or five, without any humans. The bearded Hu Ba was wearing sunglasses, looking very much like a bad guy.


    They didn''t enter Base Number One, but headed straight into Base Number Two. Therefore, the people in the base had no idea that they were having a group of zombie guests.


    Lin Kui parted with Hu Ba after Yuan Tianxing showed up, bringing Lin Jing into Base Number One to register her name and get her an accommodation.

 873 That Door Every Time

    In a few days, a man showed up in front of Liu Jun. Liu Jun kept herself from rolling her eyes, but put on a fake smile and asked him, "Can I help you?"


    She had seen that man before; his name was Huo Antong, and he was the leader of squad six, unit three, in the Security Department. He was a level-four superpower possessor, a tall and strong man; not super handsome, but charming indeed. He had a good presence, and his smile was attractive.


    With a grin, Huo Antong said to Liu Jun, "Director Liu, I have a favor to ask. Do you have time to join me for some tea this afternoon?"


    "No, I''m busy," Liu Jun turned him down directly, "If you have something to say to me, say it here."


    Huo Antong wasn''t expecting to be rejected so straightforwardly. He was stunned for a moment, but soon smiled again and said, "It''s okay. I''ll come back to you when you have time."


    He left after saying that.


    Liu Jun watched him leave with a meaningful look in her eyes, then turned and left as well.


    On the other side of the base¡­


    Duan Juan pretended no to know that someone had been observing her in secret.


    "There''re a lot of zombies at the foot of the mountain. We didn''t dare to make any move, because we don''t want those All Beings Base people to see us. We didn''t get in. We have looked around that area, but didn''t see any farm. However, based on the information we have gathered, the farm is in Mount Wu area indeed."


    Some people wanted to know the current condition of the farm, but found that area to be surrounded by a group of zombies. Those zombies blocked every path. Not only ordinary zombies were seen, but some higher-leveled zombies had also been guarding there on the high spots. Therefore, those people didn''t even have a chance to climb on trees and look into the farm through telescopes.


    The people in the base had still been doing their jobs. Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, Lin Feng and some other people had left the base again to collect supplies. The area surrounding the base had been swept across by them, so they needed to go to a farther area now in search for useful supplies.


    Yuan Tianxing was still managing the construction work of the fence wall in Base Number Two. Meanwhile, he kept an eye on those new residents.


    Each Green Mountain Base zombie was provided with a cup of water every day by All Beings Base. That water looked like regular water, but had an aroma that was attractive to zombies. Yun Meng told them that if they wanted their faces to be fixed, they needed to keep drinking that kind of water for over three months at least, one cup per day.


    Hu Ba had all the patience. He and his zombies settled down in Base Number Two, which was still in construction.


    Wu Chengyue was still in All Beings Base, showing up where the Chief of All Beings Base lived from time to time.


    Liu Jun brought the newest report from the farm into Lin Qiao''s office, put it on the desk, then came out. At the door, she ran into Xie Dong. For the third time, they nearly bumped into each other.


    They both reacted fast though. Before bumping into each other, they paused and stared at each other for about two seconds. After that, they nodded together to greet each other, and then took a small step sideways to let each other pass.


    However, while Liu Jun made a step left, Xie Dong stepped right. After realizing what was happening, they both moved to the other side.


    The same thing happened three times in a row.


    "Oi, what are you two doing?" Qiu Lili, who was passing by, looked at them curiously.


    "Nothing," Liu Jun gave a helpless smile. While speaking, she made a step backward, then turned her body to let Xie Dong into the office. Meanwhile, Xie Dong''s expressionless face wore slight embarrassment. He didn''t say anything but walked in.


    That was the third time, wasn''t it? It happened at that door every time¡­


    Qiu Lili looked at the two, feeling that a strange atmosphere existed between them.


    "Oh, has that man talked to you yet? Qiu Lili thought for a moment but failed to figure out the weird atmosphere, so she forgot about that and moved toward Liu Jun.


    She was talking about Huo Antong.


    A strange glow appeared in Liu Jun''s eyes as she nodded and said, "Yeah. We had a short conversation. I think he''s gonna have a long haul."


    "Wenwen''s guy got into her team this time. I think he''s gonna make a move during the mission," Qiu Lili said while fiddling with her hair.


    "I bet so. I guess he''ll save Wenwen from danger. Do you believe it?" Liu Jun smiled.


    "I do," Qiu Lili nodded.


    Lin Wenwen might not encounter a danger for real, but she at least had to pretend so. The guy wanted to bite the bait, so she had to give him bait.


    Having finished talking, Qiu Lili glanced at the office, her eyes containing a trace of worry. Lin Qiao had disappeared for half a month. That span of time was long enough to make people worry.


    Liu Jun noticed the look in Qiu Lili''s eyes and understood what the latter was worrying about. She gave a sigh. Them worrying wouldn''t change anything; no one could help the other.


    Meanwhile, the look on Wu Chengyue''s face turned colder and colder. The longer the zombie lady stayed in her space, the tenser the atmosphere around him became. He was worried, but as same as the others, he could do nothing but wait. That helpless feeling made him feel uneasier and uneasier, and made his worry grow stronger and stronger.


    At that time, in a factory area that was about ten miles away from All Beings Base, a group of superpowered people had been running for their lives. The creatures that chased behind them weren''t zombies, but a few powerful mutated beasts.


    "Jiang! Be careful!" A woman''s scream was heard.


    A young girl who was about eighteen years old tripped and nearly fell to the ground because she was too tired. At that very moment, a red-eyed gigantic mutated dog widened its mouth and sprung up, jumping over ten meters high before diving toward the girl.


    The girl was falling to the ground. Her mind reacted quickly, yet she wasn''t able to control her body. She wanted to turn and dodge the dog''s attack, but couldn''t do that.


    Jiang Si popped her eyes and watched the ferocious dog pounce on her with despair.


    Bang! As Jiang Si prepared to use her special power to save herself, a huge, highly concentrated fireball hit on the dog. Next, someone flashed to Jiang Si, held her, and rolled to the side.


    "Roar¡­ Owoo¡­" The dog was hit to the ground by the fireball, still unharmed though. Shaking its body, it uttered raging roars toward the one who had launched the fireball.


    "Go! Go!" Qin Yu rolled to the side together with Jiang Si, then stood up and shielded the latter with her own body.


    "Yu!" Jiang Si sighed with relief.


    "Jiang, I''m sorry. It was my fault," Qin Yu glanced at Jiang Si guiltily.


    Jiang Si had almost used her power. For her, not using her power would be better.

 874 Qin Yu and Jiang Si

    At that moment, a strong gust of wind blew the giant dog that attempted to charge again further away.


    "You two, cut the crap and move!" A man yelled at the two girls.


    Qin Yu held Jiang Si''s hand and ran forward, swinging an arm backward and throwing another fireball at the dog. Right at that moment, a white figure flashed over and pounced on the two girls, bringing up a sharp beam of light.


    "Miaoooo¡­"


    The mutated cat screamed shrilly as it brandished its sharp claws and swiftly jumped on the two girls. It was even larger than a large dog.


    Bang!


    Qin Yu quickly raised both hands and created a firewall to defend against the cat. After that, she turned around, holding Jiang Si''s hand while running.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunshots were heard from behind. Qin Yu didn''t know if the bullets had hit the cat or not.


    "Hurry up! The Upper City District is in front of us. Hang in there," Qin Yu kept running together with Jiang Si. Jiang Si''s footsteps were weak and disordered, and her breath was shallow and uneven. Her round face was ghastly pale. While running, she pressed a hand tightly on her chest as if her heart might explode once she took that hand away.


    "Miaoooo!" The mutated cat was bounced back by the fire wall, but it immediately rushed up again. Its sky-blue eyes were now glowing with a red light. Two sharp teeth were sticking out of its mouth, making its face look ferocious. The cat chased closely behind Qin Yu and Jiang Si and attacked them madly.


    Qin Yu was a pretty girl in her twenties, at least five feet and seven inches tall. Her slightly curly long hair were tied at the back of her head in a ponytail, swinging as she was running. Her legs were slender and strong; a belt wrapped tightly around her slim waist.


    She had a pretty face that wore a fierce look, glancing at the huge cat that was chasing her with a frown.


    Noticing Jiang Si''s face that was turning paler and paler, Qin Yu abruptly stopped, then turned and bent over to carry the former, who was only about five-feet tall, in her arms.


    "Yu! Put me down! Just leave me!" Jiang Si gave a start and soon started struggling.


    "Jiang, don''t move," Qin Yu carried Jiang Si easily, running forward nimbly without slowing down even a little bit. "Don''t worry! We''ll get there safely," While running, she comforted Jiang Si.


    It required both hands to carry the girl, so Qin Yu couldn''t use her power anymore. Therefore, she jumped from side to side to dodge the crazy cat''s attacks.


    Bang! Crack¡­ The white cat clawed a broken wall nearby and tore it into small pieces.


    As the cat attempted to bite Qin Yu and Jiang Si, it paused all of a sudden, then turned its red eyes from the two girls to the other directions. It looked into that direction with curiosity, then sniffed at the air, seemingly being attracted by something.


    Then, the cat suddenly let out a shrill scream before turning and darting toward another direction. Following that cat''s scream, the other cats in the surrounding all turned and made a dive for that direction.


    A few mutated dogs at level five or six still lingered nearby, attacking the people.


    Finding that the crisis from earlier was suddenly gone, Qin Yu and Jiang Si hurriedly found a place to take cover and rest.


    "Jiang, how do you feel? Are you okay?" Qin Yu knew that Jiang Si wasn''t in good condition. The running must have caused a heavy burden on her body.


    Jiang Si''s superpower was special. She wasn''t able to absorb any energy, so every time she used her power, her own energy, that was also her life-force, would be consumed. That was why she had been growing weaker and weaker despite her young age.


    Jiang Si gasped for air. Quite a while later, the dull pain from her heart finally faded. Her face was still pale though. "I''m good," she nodded and said.


    "It''s so weird. Why did they suddenly run away?" Qin Yu turned to the direction that those mutated cats went in confusedly, her eyes beautiful and dashing.


    "Yu, let''s go," Jiang Si patted her on the shoulder and said, "There''re still a few mutated dogs."


    The danger still existed.


    Qin Yu quickly helped Jiang Si up from the ground. This time, the latter strongly refused to let Qin Yu carry her again. She was short and scrawny, weighing even less than thirty-five kilograms. But still, carrying her could cause difficulties for Qin Yu.


    Far away on top of a building, a zombie quietly watched the group of people, then turned invisible.


    In All Beings Base¡­


    "Captain Huo, if you have anything to say to me, just say it," Liu Jun looked at the man in front of her and said to him patiently.


    "Um¡­ So this is the thing. Recently, some bad people might be having their eyes on our farm. To keep our farm secret, I hope that you can cooperate with me," Huo Antong said to her smilingly, his smile seeming honest and convincing.


    "Sure, if that''s what you''re asking me to do. That''s a part of my job, and not a favor," Liu Jun nodded and said, looking at him with surprise. She wasn''t expecting him to betray those people in order to get close to her.


    Those people would be so angry if they knew. Thinking about that, Liu Jun wanted to laugh.


    "Can we talk in private then? In fact, this isn''t my responsibility. I''ve crossed the line. I don''t want my colleagues and superiors to know about this," said Huo Antong with a bitter face.


    Liu Jun spent a short while looking at him with confusion. She didn''t understand why Huo Antong was doing that. At last, she nodded with hesitation, "Eh¡­ alright."


    While walking toward an area with no one there, she asked him curiously, "I don''t know why you''re saying all this to me, but thank you. Do you know who those people are?"


    Huo Antong followed behind her. A delighted look could be seen from his eyes. Liu Jun''s attitude turned for the better, meaning that he could take a step further.


    With a grin, he said, "My job is to keep the base safe. That is only something I heard. I haven''t identified those people yet, so I want your help."


    "Is that so? What do you need me to do then?" Liu Jun nodded.


    Huo Antong replied smilingly, "You don''t need to do anything for now. When there''s something that you can do, I''ll teach you how. Is that okay?"


    He gave a very kind and nice smile, as if he was really trying to help Liu Jun.


    Liu Jun thought for a moment, then nodded and agreed, "Alright then!"


    "Good1 Oh, it''s better if no one else knows about our conversation, in case those people hear about this and get prepared," Huo Antong thought briefly and then reminded her.


    "Em, I get it," Liu Jun nodded again.


    After hearing that, Huo Antong left with a smile.

 875 Lin Qiao Wakes Up

    Huo Antong and Liu Jun had seen each other before, so they could be counted as acquaintances. They didn''t know each other well, though. At the very most, they greeted when they saw each other.


    Now, for a level-five zombie nucleus, Huo Antong was trying very hard to get close to Liu Jun. He didn''t want Liu Jun to feel strange about it, so he mentioned some moves that Zuo Chen and his people were making. He knew that even if he didn''t mention it, the base would soon find out about those people. He was purely using that as an excuse to talk to Liu Jun.


    He had done some background search. Liu Jun had a son, and was once hurt by an awful man. She was probably traumatized, so her son might be the only chance to win her heart.


    However, her son stayed with Lin Xiaolu, the little princess of the base, all day long. Those two kids were always surrounded by a group of bodyguards. It was very difficult for anyone to get close to them without permission.


    Huo Antong hadn''t paid much attention to Liu Jun before. But now that he observed her closely, he found that she was actually pretty. She had a gentle presence; many men would want to marry a woman like her.


    On the other side, Zuo Chen and his people learned that Shen Yujen was actually married. Her husband was Chen Yuting, a level-six superpower possessor. Chen Yuting wasn''t an official Deputy Chief, but did have a special status in the base. He was basically under the Deputy Chiefs and above all the others.


    Zuo Chen and his people weighed the pros and cons. They had already made moves on a Deputy Chief''s little sister, so they decided to give up on Shen Yujen at last. After all, she already had a husband.


    As for the information that planned to get from Shen Yujen at first, they now decided to get it from Duan Juan.


    At last, Zuo Chen and Liu Wan decided to kidnap Duan Juan and make her talk.


    "She served her time in a special force, so she has been trained for keeping secrets. Our plan may not work on her," someone had doubts.


    "Have you forgotten that Shan has spirit power? He''s breaking into level-six. He can handle Duan Juan," Liu Wan smiled carelessly and reminded that man that one of their team members had spirit power.


    That man paused briefly, then had his eyes glowing. "Oh! I almost forgot about that!"


    "But, she stays in the administration building every day, without going anywhere else. It''s a little hard to get her."


    "So, we can only do it in her dorm."


    In Lin Qiao''s space¡­


    After Lin Qiao stayed at the bottom of the lake for nearly a month, something was suddenly sensed from the lake.


    Lu Tianyi, Pesticide, and the other zombies were still working in the field. Lu Tianyi habitually glanced at the lake and suddenly sense the familiar pressure rising slowly from the lake. His eyes glowed as he immediately stood straight and stared at the lake.


    At the bottom of the lake, the energy sphere slowly spread out, soon exposing Lin Qiao''s body.


    She opened her eyes, confused for a few seconds before her mind became clear again. She blinked and recalled her situation.


    In the next second, she furrowed her eyebrows into a frown as she felt that something was wrong with her body. She raised both arms and swam upward until her feet felt the ground. Once she popped her head out of the water, she felt very not right.


    Em¡­


    Something was wrong indeed.


    With a frown, she raised a hand from the water, then her face turned black as thunder.


    She couldn''t feel the energy nucleus in her brain or the energy flows in her body anymore. Her power could no longer be released from her palms.


    She couldn''t even release a wisp of dark mist. What was going on?


    In the water, she touched her belly with the other hand. She didn''t know if it was real, but she felt that her belly had grown larger than before.


    It was, of course, real. She had been in the water for about a month. She just didn''t know that yet.


    She raised her head then awkwardly started to wonder how she was supposed to get ashore, as her power was gone.


    The group of zombies near the three houses had all been staring at her! She glanced at the piles of clothes that had been folded neatly by someone and felt quite speechless.


    ''Turn your faces away!''


    She was about two-hundred meters away from those zombies, so she surely wouldn''t yell at them to tell them to turn away. She only said that in her head.


    Nonetheless, Lu Tianyi and the other zombies heard that in their minds.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at Lin Qiao confusedly, then automatically turned his face away. The other zombies did the same. Only after making that movement did he feel that something wasn''t right.


    He heard her voice from his mind, not through his ears!


    What was that skill? Telepath?


    Seeing all the zombies turn their backs to her simultaneously, Lin Qiao paused with surprise. She didn''t know why.


    No matter how surprised and confused she was, she still quickly got out of the water, grabbed her clothes, and disappeared from the lakeside. In the next second, she showed up in the woods, finding that her clothes had been washed.


    Whoosh! Once she put on her clothes, a shrill swishing noise was heard from the side.


    She turned and found a huge mushroom, that was as tall as an adult, rushing at her. A strong, black dog was running side by side with the mushroom.


    "Owoooooo!" Bowwow instantly jumped at Lin Qiao, clearly thrilled to see her.


    Lin Qiao turned to dodge the gigantic dog, then glanced at the snake which was chasing behind the dog and the mushroom. After that, she turned and headed out of the woods.


    "Stop it."


    Hearing her words, Bowwow clearly sensed that she wasn''t in the mood to play. The dog was stunned a little, then quietly followed Lin Qiao out of the woods, leaving his little friends behind.


    Lin Qiao did have no mood to play with them. She tried to feel the energy inside her body, but felt nothing. Her body was empty!


    She raised both hands. No black fire nor dark mist could be released from her palms.


    What the hell was happening?


    Lin Qiao came out of the woods and looked at the grassland, which was no longer a grassland. The meter-tall grasses were gone, replaced by rice and wheat, melons, beans, and other vegetables. The crops were planted neatly in straight lines, and were thriving.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come over with a large dog, Lu Tianyi and the other zombies stopped doing their work. Meanwhile, the mushroom and the snake didn''t come out, but stayed at the edge of the woods while looking at her.


    "Just now¡­" Lu Tianyi said. His voice was dry but clear. It didn''t sound unpleasant when he talked with a low voice.


    "Why did you all turn around just now? I didn''t seem to say anything," Lin Qiao asked curiously.


    She just said a few words in her head. But, those zombies made the movement as if they had all heard her.

 876 Random Spo

    Lu Tianyi looked at her with surprise and said, "Didn''t you tell us to turn our faces away?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t respond. Instead, she looked at Lu Tianyi, then raised her head to glance at Mo Yan, who was standing behind a window in another house.


    She nodded and then went into the living room of her house.


    As she gathered all the energy in the lake to the bottom, Lu Tianyi and the other zombies were able to fetch the water from the lake by themselves during the past month. After she came out of the lake, they weren''t able to approach the lake again.


    Lin Qiao looked around and found a small pond between the lake and the new fields. It was not large, only about two-hundred meters squared. The pond was connected with the lake by a canal, which led the water from the lake into the pond.


    "Oh, we dug the pond together. We can''t get close to the lake, so it''s inconvenient for us to use the water. Now, there are more and more crops, so we''re going to need more and more water. That was my idea," Lu Tianyi explained as he noticed that Lin Qiao was looking at the pond.


    Lin Qiao nodded, but didn''t say anything. Then, she turned and exited her space.


    If she had closed her eyes to look outside before she left her space, she would find that she wasn''t able to look outside her space anymore. All she would see was thick, white fog.


    Lin Qiao exited her space and saw a heap of ruins. She was stunned, and the first thought she had was¡­


    ''Damn! Is my base destroyed again! How long have I spent at the bottom of the lake?''


    She looked around with disbelief and found that she was on an abandoned street.


    The whole area was wasted. The buildings had collapsed, covered in dust. Garbage was seen everywhere. Some tall and weird-looking trees could be seen as well. In the base, dangerous-looking trees like those would have been chopped long ago.


    Where was that place?


    Lin Qiao realized that she wasn''t in All Beings Base. She sighed with relief, also feeling utterly confused.


    What the hell had happened? Why was she in that strange place? Shouldn''t she appear right in her room?


    Where¡­ Where was she? Did she do something wrong?


    While trying to figure it out, she quickly re-entered her space. She was still able to enter and exit her space, but why did she show up in a strange place?


    After re-entering her space, she closed her eyes to look outside. As a result, she saw nothing but thick, white fog. So, she exited her space once again. But, she was dumbfounded on seeing the strange surrounding environment.


    Was she now only able to land in random spots when she came out of her space? Couldn''t she go anywhere she wanted anymore?


    With that thought, she entered her space again. As she exited her space for the third time, she was in a new place again. It turned out that her guess was right.


    She started searching around for useful information. At least, she needed to figure out where she was.


    She found some broken, color-faded signboard of stores, as well as some road signs that had fallen and been covered by dust.


    One hour later, she roughly figured out her own location. She was about ten miles away from Upper City District.


    She had no idea why she jumped ten miles away from the base. That might have something to do with her current body condition. Her power was gone, and her space was having some problems. Should she feel lucky that she was still able to go in and out of her space?


    She raised her hands and found that she was still unable to use her power. She had become a zombie with disabled power, just like Mo Yan!


    Thankfully, she still had her strength and agility. At least, she could still easily leap on top of a seven-story building.


    She leaped higher and higher, from one building to another. At last, she stopped on top of a twenty-story building and sensed the scents in the air.


    She smelt her base and the people inside, along with something else. She turned to another direction.


    She leaped off the roof and landed on a balcony, then hid in a room. She had lost her invisibility, so she had to take cover.


    Soon, a series of noises were heard from where she was looking at.


    "Roar¡­" A bear roar came from that area.


    Bang! It was a loud sound caused by a superpower attack.


    A group of superpowered people were being chased by a few mutated dogs at level five or six.


    Their vibes were unstable, energies running out. Unlike them, those mutated dogs gave out ferocious vibes while chasing tightly behind those people.


    Lin Qiao quietly observed the dozen people. The scent of blood could be sensed from every single one of them.


    The group of men had been surrounding two girls to protect them. One of the two girls was carried in a strong man''s arm, seeming to be unconscious.


    "Get into that building!" A man pointed at the building that Lin Qiao was hiding in and gave a shout. As a result, the group of people quickly rushed into that building.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away when those people arrived downstairs.


    The few mutated dogs followed them to the building, but stopped about ten meters away, staring at the building vigilantly.


    "They stopped!" The group of people rushed into the building and took cover. As they prepared to find the stairs and go to the second floor, some of them found that those dogs didn''t follow them in.


    He turned and then saw with surprise that those dogs had all paused on the outside.


    Those dogs stayed outside the building and made a few steps forward. Clearly, they weren''t willing to leave. They stared at those people ragingly, wanting to go in. But, an indescribable fear had been controlling their body, forbidding them from taking another step forward.


    ''Dangerous!''


    That thought existed in the minds of those dogs.


    At last, the most cowardly mutated dog lost it to the fear. It quietly made a few steps backward, and then ran away.


    Its departure swayed the other dogs. In fact, those mutated dogs had all fallen into mania. Their minds weren''t clear, yet the instinctive fear still controlled them. They were still sensitive to dangers.


    They agitatedly lingered near the building for a short while, then all turned and left.


    "Why¡­ Why did they leave?" The people who were hiding in that building were surprised to see those dogs leave. Those dogs had chased them for tens of miles, but they suddenly left for no reason. That fact alerted those people.


    Those mutated dogs were already crazy. They left, meaning that they had instinctively felt fear or were suppressed. Those level five or six dogs were frightened. The only explanation was that something even more terrifying than those dogs was in that building!

 877 Run Into Rats

    "Come on, we got to get out of here! Let''s go!" Seeing those mutated dogs leave, the group of people thought that something even scarier might be in the building, so they couldn''t stay there.


    From a room on the top floor, Lin Qiao watched those dogs being scared away by her vibe, then saw those people run out of the building out of fear, heading toward All Beings Base.


    She had restrained her power. So, those dogs might have sensed her scent, which was dangerous as well. Hence, they didn''t dare to approach the building.


    A short while after those people left, she leaped off the roof.


    She thought for a second, then entered her space to bring out Black, Bowwow, and the mushroom. As expected, the four of them came out of the space to another strange place. Lin Qiao took out an off-road car from her space and sat in the driver''s seat.


    Her power was disabled, and she would end up in random spots when she exited her space. However, she could still smoothly take things out of her space or put things in.


    Without her superpower, she was weakened by at least sixty percent. She was still able to defend herself with her physical strength and combat skills, but she shouldn''t be staying outside with strangers at the moment.


    Therefore, she drove away when she sensed human scents to avoid running into strangers.


    Thankfully, every time she exited her space, she would be no further than twenty miles away from where she was before.


    When she came out of her space with the three creatures, she was already in West Lake District, surrounded by thriving woods. So, she put the car back into her space after a short drive.


    After all, there was no road to drive on.


    The road was covered in grasses and vines, or the branches that belonged to the trees on both sides. Some areas were damaged by mutated beasts, so no car could drive through.


    Lin Qiao had no choice but to move on foot.


    "Owowowo!" Bowwow hadn''t come out to play for a long time. Once out, he ran about with excitement, darting from side to side happily. Even the lazy Black reared up his head excitedly and crawled through the woods and grass.


    As for the mushroom that never stopped running, it was, of course, was as thrilled as Bowwow.


    "Owowowowo¡­" Soon, Bowwow brought a black rat that was half his own size back to Lin Qiao.


    Looking at that big rat, she was a little speechless.


    Was the dog trying to tell her how long he and his little friend didn''t have any meat for?


    She also sensed the attractive aroma of the rat. She licked her lips as hunger rose from her stomach. Indeed, she hadn''t eaten anything in a long time.


    "Alright, this will be enough for me. Go and get more if you also want some," Lin Qiao told Bowwow to drop that level-three rat that was still struggling, and then keep hunting for himself.


    In fact, even before Bowwow brought the rat to Lin Qiao, the other two creatures had rushed into the rat group and started catching rats with joy.


    Yes, Lin Qiao had jumped into the zoo when she exited her space this time. She didn''t fall into the rat group though. She and the three creatures showed up not far away from the group of rats.


    The rat attempted to run once Bowwow threw it to the ground. But, Lin Qiao looked at it as she popped her sharp claw and swung her hand.


    Puff! The rat''s head immediately fell off. Without the head, it still twitched its limbs for a while.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao walked over and observed the rat. It was as large as a medium-sized dog. Its fur was shiny, smooth, and clean, containing a slight amount of energy.


    Because of that energy, the rat didn''t have parasites or anything like that.


    She dug out the rat''s nucleus and put it on her palm, which turned into dust and faded away within two seconds. After that, she brought the rat''s body to a clean area and started peeling it. While peeling the rat, she cut off the meat with her claws and threw it into her mouth.


    Em, it was fresh, tender, soft and chewy.


    As a zombie, Lin Qiao could either eat nothing or eat a lot. Maybe because of Viney, she recently had huge appetite.


    A level-three creature''s body didn''t contain a good amount of energy, but that energy could turn its meat very delicious.


    While Lin Qiao was enjoying the rat meat quietly, the three creatures were running rampant through the rat group.


    After the second explosion of the virus, many of that group of rats, which covered thousands of acres, were bitten by death by maniacal rats. So, the rat group was currently less thick than before. The rats were scattered, and their coverage had expanded.


    At present, at least five or six square kilometers around the zoo had been occupied by those rats.


    Lin Qiao had no idea about that yet. She was unconscious for nearly a month, so she didn''t know how fast that rat group had been expanding.


    She was currently at the edge of the rat group, miles away from the zoo.


    Black silently wriggled through the shades of trees, its cold eyes fixed on a level-four rat in a small group of rats.


    The level-four rat was even larger than a large dog, weighing over a hundred kilometers, with smooth and glowing fur. The rat didn''t know that it had already become a target of a snake, its natural enemy. At that moment, it was biting a mutated deer. The surrounding rats kept a distance from it, as they were all at lower levels.


    Abruptly, the rat raised its head and looked around alertly. Finding nothing unusual, it lowered its head and put a bloody piece of bone into its mouth with both forepaws.


    Crack¡­


    As the rat was enjoying the bone, a dark figure descended from the sky while a dangerous vibe suddenly locked on the rat. As a result, the level-four rat froze. It was so frightened by that vibe that it couldn''t even move. It wanted so much to run, but its limbs were too stiff to move.


    It raised its head to see a giant snake with widely opened jaws come straight at it; the snake''s pair of poisonous fangs bared and threatening.


    And just like that, the level-four rat died, its soul probably going to heaven.


    "Squeak!" The giant snake stirred the group of rats which immediately sprung up and ran in all directions. Meanwhile, Black held the struggling rat in his mouth, mercilessly injecting venom into its body. Soon, the rat''s body softened and stopped moving.


    After that, Black happily dragged the rat away, climbed onto a tree, and found a comfortable spot to slowly enjoy it.

 878 The Motorcade In Distress

    The mushroom reached out its roots, wrapping up a level-three rat and happily sucking its blood. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao finished the entire rat, leaving the internal organs and the rat skin on the ground, then turned and hopped onto a tall tree.


    She climbed to the top of the tree and looked at the rat group, slightly narrowing her eyes as she saw some big rats among the group that possessed stronger energy. Those seemed to be higher-leveled rats. The other side of the dense forest had been entirely chewed up by these rats.


    Black rats were seen everywhere.


    One half of the area was filled with tall and thriving trees, while the other side had become a wasteland, occupied by countless black rats.


    Lin Qiao jumped off the tree and started moving around the rat group while observing. Since she was already there, she decided to observe those rats closely.


    Bowwow, Black, and the mushroom all had a full meal. After that, they followed Lin Qiao in making a circle around the rat group. Of course, this huge group of destructive rats had attracted quite some predators.


    Fierce birds, snakes, cats and dogs, they were all good at hunting rats. So, Lin Qiao witnessed predation from time to time as well. She saw a lot of mutated cats and rats, and some fierce birds like eagles hovering in the sky. Every now and then, those birds swooped down and each brought a big rat up to the sky.


    Not far away before Lin Qiao, a group of people had been chased by rats.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! About ten off-road cars scattered around a few trucks. The people in the cars had been firing their weapons at the huge group of rats that was chasing tightly behind them.


    The people in the modified trucks were commoners, while some had superpowers among the ones in those off-road cars. However, most of them were commoners who were good at fighting.


    They needed to kill the zombies before them and the rats behind them. With slight carelessness, they could let zombies pounce on their cars and hurt them.


    Lin Qiao sensed their scents from adistance. Based on the direction that they were moving in, she guessed they were from Hidden Cloud City Base or Earth Dragon Base.


    "I told you not to go this way! You wouldn''t listen! Now what? We have rats behind us, and they''ll attack other mutated beasts!" In an off-road car, a man glared at the others and said grumpily.


    The others had no spare attention for him. They had their upper bodies stuck out of the windows or the sunroof to attack the rats behind.


    Those rats were as big as cats, and some were even bigger. They were swift and nimble; a rat could cover a few meters with one single leap.


    Right at that moment, a pig-sized rat that weighed at least a hundred and fifty kilograms suddenly rushed at the motorcade and leaped high, accurately landing on a car on the side.


    Bang!


    "Squak!" The giant rat had shiny black fur and a long and thick tail. It fell on the car, flattening half of the car.


    "Ah¡­" A man reached his upper body out of the sunroof to attack the rat, but the rat bit his head and dragged him directly out of the car.


    Boom! As half of the car was flattened, the driver lost control of the steering wheel. Consequently, the car bumped into a cement pillar nearby and turned upside down.


    "Squak!" the rat nimbly leaped off the car once the car turned over.


    "Eh¡­ eh-hem¡­" The people in the car were still alive, but disabled.


    Soon, the rat swung its claw and easily cut a car door opne. Then, it bit the doorknob and pulled it outward, creating a hole in the door. The people in the car realized that they would die sooner than they thought.


    "Ah¡­" The rat reached its mouth into the car, clenched one of those people with its teeth, and dragged him out of the car.


    That man was covered in blood, and his bones and internal organs were all severely damaged. All he could do was let out shrill screams.


    The other rats came over at that time, crawled into the car through the hole or the windows, and started biting the people in the car. The people in the other cars didn''t turn their cars back to save those people. Under the current circumstances, saving their own lives was already not easy.


    The people who weren''t capable of fighting were hiding in the trucks. Some armed men were standing on top of the trucks, shooting the rats that had approached them.


    "Damn you! Die!" A man in an off-road car gave a raging roar and threw out a grenade at the pig-sized rat.


    Boom!


    "Squak!" The rat didn''t manage to dodge in time and ended up being sent flying to the side. However, it bounced back up once it landed on the ground and fiercely charged at the man who threw out the grenade.


    "The grenade didn''t hurt it! It''s coming over!" Seeing the rat spring back up right after the explosion and rush toward his car, the man screamed in a panic.


    But at that very moment, the zombies before them suddenly disappeared, and the rats behind them stopped moving, before standing up and sniffing at the air.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Nevertheless, those people didn''t stop shooting. As a result, quite some of the motionless rats were killed by the bullets.


    "Squak!" The largest rat abruptly screeched before turning and running away. Hearing that rat, all the other rats quickly turned and ran.


    "They¡­ they fell back! What happened?"


    "They gave up?"


    The people on the vehicles were first stunned, then their heart went wild with joy. They all gasped with relief.


    "Good¡­ good¡­ They left! Damn! I thought I''d die here!"


    "F*ck! Those huge rats were horrible!"


    About three-hundred meters away from the motorcade, Lin Qiao stood on a tree expressionlessly. She had restrained her vibe, yet she couldn''t cover her scent. As she approached the motorcade, her scent scared those rats and the surrounding zombies away. Some zombies didn''t smell her, but sensed the pressure coming from her.


    Of course, humans couldn''t sense that.


    Lin Qiao didn''t plan to meet those people, so she turned and headed the other way. While leaving, she didn''t notice that a man in the motorcade was looking where she was with confusion. He seemed to have sensed something, but was not sure about it.


    He glanced at the group of rats that was moving away, then at where Lin Qiao was, and couldn''t help but say to the others, "I think, something even more dangerous is near us!"


    "What have you found?" On hearing that, the others immediately turned to her nervously.


    "It''s already gone¡­" The man shook his head, but didn''t relax his tightened face.

 879 A Dangerous Opportunity

    Sun Lunan looked into that direction, making guesses.


    "What''s wrong?" One of the others asked him.


    All the rats and zombies were suddenly gone, so the whole area abruptly fell into silence. The people didn''t know what to do, as they hadn''t adapted to that sudden change.


    Sun Lunan suddenly pointed at the direction that Lin Qiao took and said, "Let''s go that way!"


    "Why?" The others looked at him with confusion.


    Sun Lunan blinked and said, "Just now, I felt that something was there. That thing is the reason why those mutated rats and zombies suddenly left. But, I don''t sense danger from that thing. So, I think we''ll probably be safer if we follow it."


    Hearing that, the others instantly had their eyes glowed, "Really? Are you sure? Can you tell what it is?"


    Sun Lunan stuck his head out of the car window and sniffed around, then took his head back and replied, "I don''t know what it is. Let''s not get too close, but only move in this direction."


    He had animal power: he was a dog. Dogs had a super keen sense of smell, and were very sensitive to dangers. Therefore, people had been seeing him as a guide. They felt that the way he chose would be safer than the others.


    Sun Lunan was sitting in the first car of the motorcade. Wherever his car went, the other vehicles would follow.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao and the three creatures kept moving forward. But soon, she sensed with surprise that the motorcade had been following behind her, keeping a fixed distance from her.


    Were those people able to sense her presence?


    "Hiss¡­" Sensing those tails, Black was obviously a little unhappy. However, he was too lazy to make a move, as he just had a full meal. He let out his fork-tongued from time to time, and his eyes showed an impatient look.


    "Don''t move. Let''s hide and see what they are doing here," Lin Qiao blinked and then said to the three.


    Black always liked to hide. Once Lin Qiao gave her word, he was already gone. Meanwhile, the mushroom directly drilled its roots into the ground, then sat down motionlessly and made itself look like a normal big mushroom.


    They were in a forest park. The mutated trees in the surroundings had grown much taller than before, and many others had died.


    The roads inside the park were rough. The motorcade had been moving along the edge of the park, so the distance between them and Lin Qiao slowly grew longer. Still, they moved in the same direction as she did.


    As Lin Qiao stopped moving, Sun Lunan said to his people, "Wait, I think that thing just stopped."


    "We can''t keep following it. Besides, we''re going to the new base. That thing is not going there¡­ Should we go and find out what it is? How about we make it go to Upper City Base together with us if we can? With that thing, we won''t need to worry about those rats anymore." Someone thought for a moment and said.


    Sun Lunan glanced at that man and nodded slightly. But first, they needed to figure out what that thing was. What if it was dangerous?


    If it wasn''t dangerous, it wouldn''t scare away those zombies and rats. Besides, they had been following behind it for so long, and it didn''t seem to realize that yet.


    "I''ll take two men there to see what it is. It might be a very powerful mutated beast," Sun Lunan thought briefly and said.


    It had been moving, so it was highly possible to be a mutated animal or plant. Some mobile plants were seen in these days after all.


    "You three? Alone? That''s too dangerous! We''re in a forest!" The others disagreed.


    "It''ll be alright. I don''t sense any danger now. If there''s anything dangerous, we''ll immediately come back," said Sun Lunan firmly.


    They were tens of miles away from the Upper City District. If they got that thing, the rest of their journey would be safe. Tens of miles wasn''t a long distance, but wasn''t short either. Dangers could pop up at any moment.


    Over sixty percent of their people had died during the journey. The ones who died traded their own lives for the lives of the survivors.


    He had to bring the rest of the troop to the base in Upper City District safely! So now, he must take the risk to see what that thing was. Perhaps, it was only threatening to mutated beasts and zombies, but not to humans. It was dangerous, but might also be an opportunity. After all, dangers and opportunities could exist together at times.


    Also, Sun Lunan''s feelings had always been sharp and accurate. He wasn''t super strong, but was an escape master.


    "Bring Qiqi then. She''ll be helpful," said someone.


    Sun Lunan thought for a moment. Qiqi was an ice power possessor. She hadn''t reached level-five yet, but was almost there. So, she was able to launch effective attacks.


    They parked the car and prepared the weapons and tools.


    "Qiqi, you go with Lunan," Peng Ziyan shouted at another car. However, no one got off that car. Helplessly, Peng Ziyan turned to Sun Lunan.


    Sun Lunan smiled, then shouted at that car, "Qiqi, come here."


    Next, a young girl got off the car, wearing an undertone wind coat, a white T-shirt, light-blue jeans, and a pair of black boots. Her pretty face wore no expression, and eyes were cold; she had long and smooth black hair that reached to her hips.


    Mo Qiqi was only twenty-years-old. In the post-apocalyptic era, a girl like her could be in a very dangerous situation among a group of men. Thankfully, she was in the top-five within the troop in terms of strength, and every man who dared to offend her would be frozen.


    She wasn''t tall, but was slim, and had long and slender legs.


    "Lunan," she walked up to Sun Lunan and called him. Seeing Sun Lunan, Mo Qiqi''s cold eyes finally wore a slightly warmer look. She wouldn''t listen to anyone else but him.


    Sun Lunan nodded as he glanced at her, then said to the others, "We all know how dangerous the forest can be, so be careful."


    As those people prepared to enter the forest, Lin Qiao had restrained her vibe and slowly approached them. After she stopped moving, she found that those people stopped moving as well. Clearly, they were following her.


    She wanted to know why those people followed her. She wasn''t heading toward the base. Weren''t those people going to the base?


    Soon, she sensed a few human vibes moving toward her.


    Those people did have some courage. They even stepped in the forest that was filled with mutated plants. Also, they were obviously coming for her. Weren''t they afraid that she might get angry?

 880 Who Are You?

    Lin Qiao paused at hundreds of meters away from those people, then stood on a tree and quietly waited for them.


    How did they find her? How did they manage to track her?


    Soon, she found that those people were actually able to accurately avoid all the dangerous plants, and wriggle their way to her. They moved slowly, but didn''t run into any danger.


    She guessed that one of those people had a special power.


    She stood on a branch tens of meters away from the ground, and her camouflage suit merged into the leaves. As long as she didn''t move, no one would spot her.


    But soon, she realized that she was wrong.


    The five people slowly approached her tree. A man among them twitched his nose, then abruptly raised his head to look at her.


    The two of them made an eye-contact.


    Lin Qiao looked at that man in the eyes expressionlessly while sweeping the thoughts that she had earlier out of her mind. She thought no one would find her, but that man did. She had restrained her vibe as much as she could, yet that man spotted her easily and accurately.


    At that very moment, Sun Lunan was shocked as well. He was expecting to see a mutated animal or plant, or a high-leveled zombie. But instead, he saw a person!


    A woman!


    He had seen her, so it was pointless for her to keep hiding. Lin Qiao leaped off the tree and nimbly landed on a branch that was meters away from Sun Lunan and his people.


    "Who are you?" Lin Qiao looked down at them without any expressions and asked calmly.


    She didn''t ask those people why they followed her, because if she did, they might not tell her what they really wanted.


    Mo Qiqi stepped forward and vigilantly shielded Sun Lunan with her own body while slightly raising her head to fix her eyes on Lin Qiao''s face. At that point, Lin Qiao saw the pair of dog ears that abruptly popped up from Sun Lunan''s head. She had guessed it out.


    Alright, he was a dog man who had a sharp nose. He tracked her by her scent!


    Sun Lunan looked at Lin Qiao. He sniffed around to confirm that no scents of other people existed nearby, making sure that the woman was there alone. She was in the forest alone. Clearly, she wasn''t just an ordinary person.


    Sun Lunan didn''t say anything but observed Lin Qiao.


    "Who are you?" A man behind him looked at Lin Qiao and couldn''t help but ask. Except for Sun Lunan and Mo Qiqi, the rest of team were all stunned and attracted by Lin Qiao''s face.


    She was pretty!


    Lin Qiao glanced at that man but didn''t respond. The man was looking at her from head to toe, but she didn''t change her expression for that.


    Sun Lunan was also looking at Lin Qiao. He couldn''t sense her vibe, and was only able to smell her scent. She had a faint, strange aroma, not like the smells of the plants in the forest, neither like the sweet aroma of flowers.


    He couldn''t tell how powerful she was, but he had a feeling that being enemies with her would be highly dangerous.


    "Sorry, we''re only passing by. I apologize if we interrupted you. We''re leaving now." After a short measurement, Sun Lunan quickly made his reaction. Hearing his words, the others instantly looked at him with surprise. They opened their mouths, but Sun Lunan signaled for them not to talk.


    Lin Qiao looked at them expressionlessly. Clearly, they didn''t plan to tell her about their purpose.


    As she stayed silent, Sun Lunan immediately raised a hand to signal for the others to step backward. He himself made a few steps backward too. Seeing that Lin Qiao was staying motionless, he turned and quickly ran out of the forest.


    The other three men took another glance at Lin Qiao''s face with regret, then turned and followed Sun Lunan away.


    After getting away, one of those men asked Sun Lunan, "Why are we leaving? Is that woman dangerous?"


    Sun Lunan nodded and said, "I can''t sense her power level. She has no hostility, but doesn''t seem to want us to get close to her."


    The others weren''t stupid. Sun Lunan said that he couldn''t sense her power level, meaning that she either had no superpower, or was at a very high level, but with her vibe restrained. She was in the dangerous forest alone, so she was clearly no one ordinary.


    "She''s so pretty! And clean!" A man licked his lips, his eyes showing greed.


    Sun Lunan glanced at him and said coldly, "You don''t want to mess with her. I have a feeling that she''s not a good one."


    "Are we going back like this? What about that thing you talked about earlier? Aren''t we gonna look for it?" Another man looked at Sun Lunan and asked.


    "We''ve already found it. We can''t take it with us," Sun Lunan responded blandly while looking around, paying attention to the surrounding mutated plants or bugs.


    The moment he saw Lin Qiao, he knew that she was the thing that he was trying to find. He and his people didn''t have the power to take her away, and she surely wouldn''t follow them.


    "No? What should we do then? We''re tens of miles away from Upper City District. If we go like this, I''m afraid not many of us can make it to the base safely," said a man who wasn''t willing to give up.


    "There''s nothing we can do. She made a pretty clear point just now. She doesn''t want to be with us. She won''t go with us," said Sun Lunan.


    That was the reason why he decided to leave instantly.


    Sun Lunan and his people didn''t know that even though they were pretty far away from Lin Qiao, she could still hear every word they say clearly.


    Lin Qiao remembered the surprised look in the dog''s man''s eyes. It seemed that he wasn''t expecting to meet her, or, a person.


    Based on their conversation, they might have found something from her that was beneficial for themselves. Therefore, they followed her, and even wanted to have her, so they could make it to the base safely.


    They had found the answer to their question, but the answer frightened them, so they left quickly. If it weren''t for that, those men might attempt to do something awful to her. The look in their eyes made Lin Qiao think so.


    As the group of people left, a huge black snake slowly crawled down the tree. The snake coiled his body on the branches near Lin Qiao and glanced at Sun Lunan and his people with cold eyes.

 881 The Current Situation Of The Rat Group

    After Sun Lunan and his people left, Lin Qiao and the three creatures kept moving around the rat group, observing those rats. After a while of walking, she suddenly sensed a familiar zombie scent.


    She paused on a tree, then stood on a large branch and waited. Soon, a level-four wind-powered zombie landed near her.


    "Roar!" ''Chief!''


    That level-four zombie was a member of Xie Dong''s squad.


    She looked at the zombie as she nodded and said, "Have you been watching this area the whole time?"


    "Roar¡­" ''Yes.''


    The zombie quickly nodded, wearing a grievance on his face.


    He was afraid of rats! He was the first one who discovered the group of rats. His boss sent him back here to keep an eye on those rats. The poor zombie felt extremely uncomfortable looking at those large, black rats.


    Sensing the zombie''s feelings, Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise and asked, "You''re a zombie. Why are you afraid of rats?"


    "Roar¡­" ''Those rats eat zombies!''


    The zombie immediately responded with a weak voice.


    Lin Qiao looked at the zombie speechlessly. So, the zombie was afraid of rats. He had been observing the rat group for a month under Xie Dong''s command already. Was he still afraid of those rats?


    "Tell me about the current situation of the rat group. Since you''re here, I don''t need to keep running about," Lin Qiao sat down on the branch and said to the zombie while putting a hand on her belly.


    She asked the zombie how large the rat group was, and how long it would take to make a full circle around it, as well as some other questions. She didn''t ask about the number, as there were too many rats to be counted.


    "Are there any extra strong rats?" After learning about the rough size of the rat group, Lin Qiao asked another question.


    The zombie shook his head.


    ''Maybe you just don''t know.'' Lin Qiao looked at the zombie and thought. After all, the zombie was merely at level-four. It was only able to sense the mutated creatures below level-six.


    Lin Qiao took a level-five energy nucleus out of her space as she sat on the tree and absorbed it. Her superpower was gone, but she could still absorb energy. The energy that flowed into her body would all be absorbed by Viney. There was no zombie nucleus in her brain anymore, so Viney could no longer absorb her power.


    Thankfully, she didn''t feel any discomfort from her lower abdomen. At first, she was worried that the lack of energy would affect Viney''s growth, so she absorbed the energy nucleus. Then, she found out that Viney took all the energy she absorbed.


    That made her less worried.


    She spent a few days in that area to learn about the current development of the rat group. The rats had stopped expanding. Well, maybe not exactly, but at least they no longer ate and destroyed everything they saw.


    Black, Bowwow, and the mushroom had a very good time, as they were feeding constantly. Black and Bowwow brought Lin Qiao the energy nuclei that they harvested. Unlike them, the mushroom kept everything it got, without sharing with Lin Qiao at all.


    Black the level-six snake, was an invincible being among the rat group. It chased behind the level-three-to-six rats all day, stirring the entire rat group. The lower-leveled rats couldn''t arouse its interest.


    Those rats that used to bite everything they saw ran desperately with fear under the vibe from their natural enemies. None of them dared to attack Black, who was a level-six mutated snake after all. His vibe could scare the lower-leveled rat straight to death.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao absorbed the energy nuclei that Bowwow and Black brought her and then let Viney absorb the energy. Sadly, those mutated rats weren''t edible for humans. Otherwise, Lin Qiao would catch a bunch of them and bring them back to the base as an extra meal for the people in her base.


    Actually, if those rats were edible for humans, people would come and kill them even without Lin Qiao''s help. If that happened, the situation of the rat group might turn the other way around.


    The four of them walked out of the forest park. There was no road for a car, so Lin Qiao sat on Bowwow''s back. The zombie dog''s hair were still short, but soft. The dog was huge; after his last upgrade, he had reached Lin Qiao''s chest in height. Not including his tail, his body was nearly two meters long.


    Carrying Lin Qiao, who weighed less than fifty kilograms, was surely easy for him.


    They avoided all the zombies and mutated beasts on their way, unless the beast was at level-six or above.


    At about one mile from the base, they saw that group of people again.


    Lin Qiao sent her three pets to the surrounding forest when she sensed those people. She couldn''t send them back into her space, because in order to do that, she herself would need to enter the space too. Currently, she couldn''t bring anyone out of her space either, unless she didn''t have to stay where she was at the moment, and didn''t care if she would jump tens of miles away.


    Standing on a roof, she saw the fence wall of her base. The zombie wall was gone. Instead, the farm in Mount Wu area was surrounded by a thick crowd of zombies.


    "It''s her!" With surprise. Sun Lunan saw Lin Qiao who was standing on a roof far away.


    "I think she''s from the new base. Where we met her before was near the base," another man saw Lin Qiao as well, and said with his eyes glowing.


    "I think so," Sun Lunan glanced at Lin Qiao, then took his eyes away. At that moment, every single one in his car was injured, covered in blood and dirt. They were exhausted, and their limbs were sore. All they wanted was to enter the base, get some rest, and have a meal!


    More importantly, some severely injured people in their group needed medical help. They weren''t relaxed yet, even though they had entered the safe zone around the base.


    Every base had created a zombie-free area around their base, at least two-hundred meters in radius. Each day, the army from the base would come out to clear out the zombies and expand the zombie-free zone slowly.


    Of course, the safe zone around All Beings Base didn''t need to be maintained by the army, because it was a special base.


    Sun Lunan and his people had entered the safe zone not long ago. However, they hadn''t relaxed their vigilance, because they didn''t know that the safe zone of the new base was so large.


    From the roof, Lin Qiao glanced at the motorcade and found that the trucks were still undamaged, but a few off-road cars were missing.


    She didn''t pay much attention to those people, but turned and leaped off the building.

 882 Back In The Base

    Lin Qiao landed on the ground and took out a car from her space, then sat into the driver''s seat, driving toward the southern entrance of the base. In fact, she was following behind Sun Lunan and his people.


    After a few minutes of driving, the motorcade arrived at the isolation area and slowly drove through before stopping in front of the South Gate. Typically, people needed to pass the virus scan to enter a base. However, no such devices were seen at the gate of All Beings Base.


    "Stay here, don''t move!" A soldier at the gate said loudly. Next, Sun Lunan and his people saw a group of soldiers in camouflage suits come out of the entrance, all wearing hats and sunglasses. Their faces weren''t clearly visible.


    The group of soldiers split up and walked around each vehicle, then returned to the gate and nodded at the soldiers at the gate, signaling for them to let those people in before leaving.


    "Alright, you can come in. Follow me!" The squad leader at the gate nodded, then turned and said to Sun Lunan and his people.


    Sun Lunan and his people looked at each other with confusion.


    Could they go in just like that? No scan was needed?


    "Don''t you need to scan us for the virus?" Sun Lunan couldn''t help but get off his car, walk to the squad leader, and ask. At the same time, he thought of other possibilities. If the base didn''t scan people for the virus, how could they know if the virus was brought into the base by someone? It wasn''t safe, was it?


    "We had you scanned. Those people with sunglasses scanned you just now." The squad leader grinned. All newcomers asked the same question.


    Sun Lunan was even more confused. Those people didn''t do anything but walk around their vehicles. How could they know if they carried the virus or not?


    The squad leader seemed to guess out Sun Lunan''s question. He smiled and said, "Yes, if any of you carried the virus, they''d know. Come on, many of your people are injured badly. Don''t worry, our base is very safe."


    The squad leader urged him kindly.


    As the squad leader tried to hasten him, Sun Lunan didn''t dare to believe him. However, helping the injured people was more important. As for the other things, they could take their time to find out the truth. If the base was really not safe, they could always leave.


    The people on the trucks didn''t get off, and the trucks drove straight into the gate.


    Lin Qiao''s car was the last to be seen.


    Lin Qiao didn''t get off the car, but drove into the base expressionlessly. The zombie soldiers who came over to check those people earlier had, of course, sensed her presence. They recognized her vibe. However, as she didn''t give any special order, they stuck with their job and didn''t do anything else.


    Lin Qiao drove in and sensed the scents from the base. Many of those scents were strange to her. It seemed that some new people had joined the base while she wasn''t there.


    As Lin Qiao entered the base, many people in the base stopped doing their work and turned to the southern entrance with confusion. Yuan Tianxing looked at Chen Yuting and asked him uncertainly, "Have you sensed Chief''s vibe?"


    Chen Yuting nodded, looking as confused as he was. "I have¡­ Why is she coming back from the outside? Hasn''t she been in the base the whole time? When did she leave? Don''t you know about that? I thought you''d know¡­"


    Yuan Tianxing was a Deputy Chief. Even if the Chief needed to leave the base for some secret task, she would at least tell Yuan Tianxing before leaving. However, judging by the confused look on Yuan Tianxing''s face, he didn''t know.


    In Base Number Two, Yun Meng, Qiu Lili, Lin Kui and some others showed up in Lin Qiao''s office. Lin Qiao walked in and found that her office was already full.


    "You guys are fast¡­ Ah, Lin Kui, you''re back! Have you found your sister yet?" Lin Qiao calmly greeted the group of zombies.


    Lin Kui didn''t say anything but nodded. He had no strong feelings to the base before he brought Lin Jing back. However, after that, he started to feel responsible for the base. At least, he felt that he now belonged to it.


    His sister was living in the base now. Before, he could not stay by her side and protect her aboveboard. But, he was allowed to do that in the All Being Base. He didn''t need to hide anymore, neither worry about being caught for experiments again.


    To give Lin Jing a place to live, to stay with her, and take care of her, Lin Kui was surely willing to protect that new base.


    "Good, congratulations!" Lin Qiao nodded at him and said. This time, Lin Kui smiled at Lin Qiao. The sincere smile cast away the sullenness on his face.


    "Why were you outside? When did you leave? Why didn''t we feel anything?" Yun Meng looked at Lin Qiao confusedly. She couldn''t feel the strangeness of Lin Qiao''s body, or that her power was gone.


    In the eyes of all the zombies in her office, she still gave out a level-seven vibe that strongly suppressed their own vibes.


    Lin Qiao walked behind her desk and sat down, where files had piled up. She picked up a file and opened it as she said, "Oh, there was a small accident, so I got out. Tell me what happened in the base while I wasn''t here."


    "Is your body okay? You didn''t seem fine before," Qiu Lili looked at her and asked with concern.


    "I''m fine now," Lin Qiao smiled at her and comforted her.


    Lin Qiao had no idea what Viney was doing inside her body. However, during the past few days, she didn''t sense any strong discomfort. When her energy was running low, Viney always gave Lin Qiao a hint to let her know that she needed more energy.


    Yun Meng also observed Lin Qiao and found her face look as same as usual, and so did her vibe. After that, she started talking about what happened in the past month.


    "Everything has been fine, except that quite some new people joined our base recently. Some of them are having different thoughts. They like our base, and want to have it for their own."


    While speaking, Yun Meng gave a sneer. After telling Lin Qiao about the intention and current moves of Zuo Chen and his people, she continued, "If we didn''t want to slap them on the faces, I''d throw them directly out of the base."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao blinked and smiled, "You can''t do that. We have no reason to kick them out. Doing that would be bad for our reputation. People might not want to join us if we did that. We need evidence, so that we can throw them out in a perfect way."


    That was exactly why Yuan Tianxing let the few girls play those people''s game.

 883 She Grew Bigger

    Those people wanted her base, yet throwing them out wouldn''t be too nice. But of course, Lin Qiao and her people couldn''t kill them directly.


    In that case, they decided to let those people get themselves killed.


    After Yun Meng, Qiu Lili, and the other zombies had left, Duan Juan, Xie Dong and Shen Yujen came to her office.


    "Those people have been having their eyes on the farm. I guess they''ll use the zombie crowd against us," said Shen Yujen.


    "The farm is over ten miles away from the base. It''s outside the safe zone of the base. Just ignore them. If they don''t want to stay, they can always leave. But, don''t let them see what''s inside the farm," said Lin Qiao blandly.


    Those people didn''t make her worry. They were clearly getting themselves killed. Was she a pushover?


    Seducing her? What kind of idea was that? Was she that kind of woman who could easily fall in love?


    Lin Qiao felt disgusted thinking about that.


    As Lin Qiao didn''t seem to pay much attention to those people, Shen Yujen continued, "They couldn''t find you, so they planned on getting the information about you from Duan Juan, Wenwen, Liu Jun, and me. The people they sent to us weren''t from their side. They bought out some of the people in our base."


    "I think they''re gonna make a move on Duan Juan recently," Xie Dong, who had stayed silent the whole time, abruptly joined the conversation, "Tonight, they might sneak into your room," he reminded Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan wore a fierce look in her eyes. She nodded, then asked Lin Qiao, "Are we fighting back?"


    Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong and asked, "Who''re they? Are they strong?"


    "Only one of them had level-six earth power, while the others are all at level-five. To get Duan Juan, I think the level-six man is gonna do it himself. Two level-five men will be assisting him, one spirit-powered and one green-powered."


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. It wasn''t the time yet to ruin those people''s plan, but she couldn''t let them get Duan Juan.


    "Avoid them. Don''t alert them yet. How are Liu Jun and Wenwen doing?" She responded after pausing briefly to think.


    "Liu Jun has been making contact with Huo Antong. Wenwen has pretended to be in danger and given her man a chance to talk to her," said Xie Dong.


    "List the names of the people who are involved in this. Everyone who took a part in this or knows about this will be dealt with afterward," Lin Qiao folded her arms and said.


    "Yes ma''am!"


    "Alright, this is it!"


    As her people left, Lin Qiao started dealing with the accumulated work. She had a lot of files to read, a lot of signatures to make, and tons of plans to check.


    However, someone didn''t plan to give her the time to do those works.


    "Oi, shouldn''t you go to my place to get a check-up after you got back?" Lin Hao closed the door of her office and complained. Seeing him, Lin Qiao knew that she would have to drop her work for now.


    Spreading her hands, she said, "Look, I have tons of work to do. Besides, Viney is fine. I don''t think I need to go to your place."


    "What about you? How do you feel? You''ve been in your space for almost a month. Do you know how worried I was?" Lin Hao glared at her with strong discontent.


    "I''m fine!" ''You wouldn''t be able to help me even if I wasn''t fine,'' she thought while looking at him helplessly.


    "How come I heard that you came back from the outside? Would it kill you to let me know when you came out of your space? What is that look on your face? Do you think that I''m not helpful? How am I supposed to help you since you don''t even let me give you a check-up?" Lin Hao got a little angry, and his pretty face wore a very unhappy look.


    Lin Qiao gave a sigh and replied, "Alright, I get it. I will certainly come to you if I ever felt uncomfortable. Is that okay?"


    "You will? Aren''t you going to let me give you a check-up with my devices now?" Lin Hao frowned deeper.


    He always wanted to know about her specific body condition, so that he could think about the solutions for potential problems. However, she didn''t seem to care about her own health at all. Lin Hao felt so frustrated.


    "Alright, I get it. I''m coming with you now, okay?" Seeing the look on Lin Hao''s face, Lin Qiao had no other choice but to drop her work and follow him to the medical department.


    Using all kinds of devices, Lin Hao spent over one hour checking her body. As he was done, Lin Qiao looked outside and found that it was already dark.


    "How is it? Can you see anything?"


    The lines on the screens were all straight and still. The devices allowed Lin Hao to observe the condition inside her body, but showed no signs of life. However, after observing the fetus, Lin Hao couldn''t help but click his tongue with surprise.


    "Look, she grew a lot bigger than before. So strange! Her heart isn''t beating, yet she can grow," On one screen, a tiny baby was curling up in Lin Qiao''s womb, with her little fists clenched.


    Lin Qiao stood behind Lin Hao with her eyes fixed on that tiny baby, her eyes glowing brightly.


    After learning that the baby was fine, Lin Qiao left Lin Hao''s clinic. Back where she lived, she sensed that someone was in her room before she even opened the door.


    She paused briefly, then opened the door and walked in.


    "Can I help you?" She turned on the light and expressionlessly looked at the man on the couch.


    With a small smile, Wu Chengyue quietly looked back at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then walked to the couch next to his and sat down. She thought for a moment and said, "For what happened earlier, it wasn''t your fault. Don''t mind."


    Last time when that sudden discomfort attacked her, he was clearly frightened. Because of that, Lin Qiao felt for a moment that his feelings for her had become much purer than before.


    "I just wanted to see how the little baby is doing," Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at her lower abdomen.


    Lin Qiao''s belly was a little larger than before. Currently, she couldn''t wear her training pants anymore. So, she got changed before coming back. She never wore dresses before, but now, she was in a black dress, a pair of black stockings, and a long, brown coat.


    "She''s good," She dropped her head and touched her own belly while responding blandly.


    For some reason at that very moment, she suddenly felt that it was reasonable for Wu Chengyue to care for the baby.


    "What about you?" Wu Chengyue asked her.


    She was always in military suits before. Now, seeing her in casual clothing, Wu Chengyue found her look a lot gentler than before.


    ''This man is acting normal today,'' Lin Qiao thought.


    She raised her head to give him a glance, then said, "I''m fine too. Oh, I was going to borrow seeds from your base, but you made that offer before I asked. Thank You."

 884 I Want To Protect You

    Knowing that she was trying to change the topic, Wu Chengyue responded with the same expression, "You''re welcome. We''ve asked for payback anyway."


    Lin Qiao nodded. Yuan Tianxing had signed the contract with Wu Chengyue, according to which, All Being Base would pay Sea City Base thirty-five percent of the yearly harvests.


    The two of them fell into a short silence, looking at each other in the eyes. As Wu Chengyue seemed to have something else to say, Lin Qiao waited quietly.


    "Is¡­ something wrong with your space?" A short while later, Wu Chengyue finally asked that question with hesitation. He looked at her, his eyes containing a trace of concern.


    Lin Qiao blinked and threw a question back to him, "Why?"


    Because she came back from the outside? Everybody else thought she sneaked out before.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and said, "Before, you always showed up in exactly where you entered the space from. But this time, you were outside¡­"


    He didn''t finish his words, but Lin Qiao could guess out his meaning.


    Wu Chengyue paused briefly and then continued with, "I waited here for you every single day."


    She never showed up in that room, and he didn''t think that she had turned herself invisible.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t think that she would turn herself invisible once she got out of her space, because she never tried to avoid him. When he followed her everywhere, she only responded to him with a cold attitude, but never tried to avoid him.


    So this time, the zombie lady abruptly came back from the outside without a sign. He didn''t feel right about that. If it weren''t her space''s problem, it might be something wrong with her body.


    Lin Qiao didn''t want him to know about her current condition. She was weakened, and she was not stupid enough to let anyone know about that.


    "If you want to know, I''m fine now," Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    She couldn''t tell exactly what Wu Chengyue was thinking, and couldn''t say for sure that he wouldn''t try to do anything to hurt her after learning about her current condition. So, she still needed to keep a distance from him.


    Wu Chengyue could feel the distance between her and him, but also felt that she no longer tried to push him away as hard as she used to. Perhaps, not even she herself had realized that yet.


    "I want to protect you," Wu Chengyue said a few words, then stood up and turned to leave.


    ''I want to protect you. I won''t hurt you. That''s why I want to know about your condition, so I can protect you,'' he said in his head.


    He was aware that the zombie lady might feel being underestimated to hear the full sentence. She was a strong woman, after all. So, he only said a few words.


    The zombie lady might no longer feel a strong repulsion toward him, but the relationship between him and her was still not so close. All that connected the two of them was the cooperation between their bases.


    He wanted very much for her to take a step back and tell him about her current condition, but based on what he knew about her, she would never do that. So, with no other choice, all he could do was keep a close eye on her.


    Lin Qiao was stunned a little. She looked at the back of the tall and strong man and had a trace of confusion flash across her eyes. But soon, that confusion was gone, replaced by a composed look.


    ¡­


    The next day, Lin Qiao dove to her work. She first made a trip to the farm, then returned to work on the files. It was getting warm. Currently, the people in her base formed groups and went out of the base to collect supplies.


    They could either keep their harvests, sell them to the base for credits, or trade for something they needed with other people.


    All Being Base had a small population, and was lacking skilled people. Currently, the base had been recruiting skilled people, and had also started to produce some basic daily supplies, weapons, and communication tools.


    Unlike All Being Base, the other bases had all been trying their best to try to solve the soil problem under a tense and depressing atmosphere. They tried every possible way to grow crops, but nothing ever worked. The crops they planted either died, mutated, or never bore fruits.


    Except for All Beings Base, all the other bases had been shrouded by a despairing atmosphere, because their food was running out. Only the leaders of Sea City Base knew about All Beings Base''s farm, but the survivors in their base didn''t know about it yet.


    To keep the secret of All Beings Base and to comfort their people, Sea City Base leaders made up a lie.


    That lie was actually half true. They told their people that Sea City Base had already solved the soil problem, and that Sea City Base would never run out of food.


    Due to that lie they made up, All Beings Base people had a much better attitude toward Sea City Base people.


    Before long, the other bases had all received the news, saying that Sea City Base had solved the soil problem.


    Huaxia Base¡­


    "I''ve asked around. They don''t plan to share that technology," Hou Guozhong handed Si Kongchen the report with a sullen look.


    "No? Are they gonna watch us die of starvation?" Si Kongchen wore a deep frown, his face as black as thunder and eyes showing anger. The scientists in his base had been trying their best for months, but no progress was made. They had wasted a lot of seeds for the experiments, but failed to grow any food.


    The soil problem wasn''t solved, because of which, a tense atmosphere had been spreading among Si Kongchen and the other base leaders. Sometimes, they didn''t even think carefully before talking.


    After the apocalypse, people had abandoned the baseline of morality. No one wanted to become a saint. The ones who did have that spirit would soon collapse under the greed in human nature, as no one would appreciate their kindness. They only wanted to survive. They would consider themselves deserving of all the kindness from the others! They believed that the stronger a person was, the more responsibilities he or she should take.


    Si Kongchen took a deep breath and thought about the lives of over a million people in his base, then closed his eyes. He only managed to calm himself down when he re-opened those eyes.


    "Send people to talk to Sea City Base, Mongols Base, Heilong Base, and Green Mountain Base. Since Sea City Base doesn''t want to share the technology, we have no other choice but to buy food from them," he said while a fierce look was detected from his eyes.


    He wanted to make contact with the other bases because those bases were all in the same situation as Huaxia Base. They had all failed to solve the soil problem. So, in order to get food, their only way was to work with Sea City Base.


    Most importantly, he also wanted to join hands with the other bases to force Sea City Base to share the technology.


    "I''m making some arrangements now," Hou Guozhong nodded.


    They had no idea that Sea City Base didn''t have that technology. That was just something that the leaders of that base made up to make their people feel better.


    As Huaxia Base was preparing to ally with the other bases to get the soil remedy from Sea City Base, Zuo Chen and his people heard that the Chief was back. So, they immediately jumped into action.


    Looking at Lin Qiao''s pale but beautiful face from the distance, Zuo Chen had greediness and confidence in his eyes.

 885 The Small Things In The Base

    Lin Qiao was the highest leader of the base, so it was difficult for Zuo Chen to get close to her. To do that, the first thing he needed to do was to find himself an administrative job, and then reach the Chief.


    That night, Liu Wan and two level-five men ambushed in Duan Juan''s room. However, she didn''t come back. The next night, she still didn''t show up. Only until the third day did Liu Wan receive a message about her.


    "What? She left the base for a mission? Why didn''t you tell us earlier?" Receiving the message, Liu Wan nearly exploded. He and his men were hiding in Duan Juan''s room for three days, but it turned out that she wasn''t even in the base all this time.


    "We didn''t know until today! We don''t know why but we didn''t see her leave!" His subordinates were confused as well.


    "It''s okay!" Another man in the room comforted Liu Wan, "Although we didn''t get Duan Juan, our people are doing well with Liu Jun and Lin Wenwen."


    Hearing that, Liu Wan slightly eased the angry look on his face. "Have they found anything yet? The Chief lady shows up in the medical department every day, but I heard that she herself is fine. I think she''s not there to see the doctor for herself, but visit someone."


    The others understood that he was trying to point out the Chief lady was in a close relationship with Doctor Lin.


    "I think so. No wonder she''s been keeping a distance from Wu Chengyue," said another man.


    "In this case, why don''t we let Zuo Chen get injured on his way back from the supply-collecting trip, and then send him to the medical department. In that way, he''ll at least have a chance to talk to her."


    "You''re right. Since she likes to go to the medical department, Zuo Chen can start from there."


    The people in the room excitedly talked about their new plan, believing that it was a perfect plan. Little did they know that an invisible creature had been standing in a corner all the long.


    Only after those men left did Yun Meng sneak out of Duan Juan''s room, show her face, and head straight to Lin Qiao''s office. Her chameleon ability was so handy when it came to spying.


    Meanwhile, Xie Dong had received some messages from Huaxia Base.


    "People will always do something like this for survival. After the apocalypse, power is the only discipline. The strongest one gets the best resources," Lin Qiao said blandly after hearing from Xie Dong that Huaxia Base prepared to join hands with the other bases to force Sea City Base to make deals with them, and that Huaxia Base had also been coveting the soil remedy.


    She had foreseen that. After all, human beings would do everything to survive.


    Hopefully, the other bases would peacefully purchase food from Sea City Base. If they dared to do anything unwanted, All Beings Base would not let Sea City Base fall in a bad situation. After all, All Beings Base and Sea City Base were partners now. If anything happened to Sea City Base, All Beings Base''s secret would soon be exposed.


    Huaxia Base possessed mature technologies, and were able to produce many supplies. Sea City Base had also been making progress on technologies, but had not achieved a result that was as good as Huaxia Base.


    "When will they be in Sea City Base?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Huaxia Base leaders are still running discussions with the leaders of the other bases. There''s not a fixed time yet," said Xie Dong.


    "I get it. Keep an eye on them," Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    Xie Dong nodded and left, soon after which Yun Meng knocked on the door and came in.


    "How''s it going? How are they planning on approaching me?" Lin Qiao glanced at her, then asked while browsing a file.


    "They noticed that you go to the medical department frequently, so they think you''re close with Doctor Lin. Zuo Chen is gonna get himself hurt and get into the medical department, then find a chance to talk to you. Well, these old tricks over and over again¡­ nothing new!" Yun Meng sat down before Lin Qiao''s desk and said with disappointment.


    "You think so because we''ve seen through their plan long ago. If we didn''t know, we might still fall into their trap. Isn''t that right?" Lin Qiao smiled.


    Didn''t Yuan Tianxing fall into Lu Tong''s trap? Lu Tong wasn''t super capable, but was smart enough to make Yuan Tianxing believe that he was a vulnerable and kind person.


    He was good at pretending. If Lin Wenwen didn''t find out the truth, Yuan Tianxing would have ended up being ''slept'' by him, wouldn''t he?


    Yun Meng pondered over Lin Qiao''s words and then nodded in agreement, "You''re right. Huo has been trying to get close to Liu Jun all the time, talking to her about the farm. But in the meanwhile, he has also been asking questions about you in an indirect way. You''re too mysterious in their eyes."


    Lin Qiao shrugged and replied, "I have to be mysterious. If they found out that I''m a zombie, they''d freak out and then go out to convince the whole world to be against me."


    "But, that man is a little strange," Yun Meng added, "You see, he has already been bought out by Liu Wan and his people. In fact, he knows quite a lot about the farm, but never told a word to those people? Why? He only told them what he knows about you, and nothing else. He strictly sticks with the deal he made with Liu Wan."


    Lin Qiao looked at Yun Meng, then shook her head and said, "How am I supposed to know why? Maybe he has his own measurement."


    In the eyes of most people in All Beings Base, Wu Chengyue was again spending his time in All Beings Base. This time, he wasn''t following their pretty Chief lady everywhere, but seemed to keep a subtle distance from her. However, the Chief lady was in a close relationship with Doctor Lin. A weird love-triangle atmosphere was sensed from those three people.


    The people who knew about Lin Qiao''s true identity were very speechless about that.


    "You see, why is our Chief having her eyes on Doctor Lin instead of the handsome, gentle and powerful Chief Wu? Doctor Lin is good-looking too, but he''s far weaker than Chief Wu. I kinda feel that he''s not good enough for our Chief¡­" In the canteen, Huo Antong said to Liu Jun jokingly.


    Liu Jun gave him a sideways glance while feeding her son, then responded blandly, "That''s Chief''s business. What does it have to do with you?"


    Recently, many All Being Base people talked about the same thing in their free time. However, Liu Jun clearly knew that unlike those people, Huo Antong was deliberately bringing up a topic about Lin Qiao so that he could learn something about her.


    As she thought, Huo Antong continued with, "Our Chief is so young and pretty and powerful. I don''t think she''ll fall for someone like Doctor Lin. Is there any other type that she likes? I feel that she''s with Doctor Lin only because she wants to make Chief Wu give up."


    Liu Jun narrowed her eyes slightly. Her long and curly eyelashes covered the look in her eyes as she blinked and said, "Why do you care so much? Do you have your eyes on Chief too?"


    Huo Antong paused briefly, then hurriedly shook his head and said, "Oh, no, no¡­ Our Chief is someone that can only be appreciated from a distance but not¡­ Eh, well, I mean, she''s a powerful person who deserves all the respect. I admire her."

 886 The Stones In Lake Tai

    "Captain Huo, don''t you have work to do lately? Why do you always show up in my place? Do you want to know what''s going on in the farm too?" Liu Jun glanced at Huo Antong again while speaking, then continued feeding her son.


    "It seems that I''m not welcomed here¡­" Huo Antong smiled helplessly.


    "We don''t know each other well," Liu Jun reminded him.


    ''We''re not friends, so there''re some questions you should not ask.'' That, was what she really wanted to say.


    Huo Antong couldn''t maintain the smile on his face. As Liu Jun paid no attention to him at all but only focused on her son, he took a deep breath, then smiled and said goodbye to her. Watching him leave, Liu Jun curved her lip corners in a cold smile. Under the cosmetic contacts, her eyes glowed with a weird light.


    On the other side, Huo Antong wore a sullen face while leaving. He wasn''t expecting Liu Jun to be so vigilant. Once he mentioned the Chief lady, she would interrupt him.


    It was almost like that she had prepared for that. That was¡­ not possible! She couldn''t possibly know what he wanted, so how would she be prepared? Perhaps, it was because she was a cautious person.


    ¡­


    On the other side of the base, Xie Dong abruptly went into Lin Qiao''s office and said, "Chief, I heard that some Sea City Base people found something. If I have guessed right, that thing can cure those maniacal superpowered people!"


    "What is it?" Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise.


    "It''s some kind of stone. I heard about it from Sea City Base. Not long ago, they found a type of stone. The manical mutated animals ate that stone and turned back normal. So now, Sea City Base people are looking for it," Xie Dong stayed calm, yet his eyes glowed brightly.


    "Where did they find it?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Near Lake Tai. That''s what I heard," said Xie Dong.


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly and said, "If it''s in Lake Tai, we need to go together with Sea City Base people."


    The territory had been divided, and Lake Tai belonged to Sea City Base. To avoid conflict, Lin Qiao needed Sea City Base''s permission to go to Lake Tai. Based on the current cooperative relationship between the two bases, there wouldn''t be a problem for Sea City Base to give All Being Base that permission.


    What made Lin Qiao frown was the location that Xie Dong provided. It was near the lake, meaning that the mission could be rather dangerous. Also, Lake Tai was far away from All Being Base.


    "Let me go!" A voice was heard from the door. Lin Qiao and Xie Dong turned to the door together and saw Leng Xuantong standing there, letting him in.


    "You want to go?" Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise.


    Leng Xuantong nodded and said, "I need to go, so that we can find it accurately."


    "Is the message real?" Lin Qiao turned to Xie Dong, who nodded in response.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright, I''ll talk to Wu Chengyue. But, Director Leng, you''re the scientist of our base, so you have to put your own life in the first place no matter what the situation might be."


    "I know," Leng Xuantong grinned.


    The stone that could cure maniacal superpowered people was important. However, as a scientist, Leng Xuantong''s safety was even more important than that. Lin Qiao was aware that letting him go would be risky, but without him, the others might not be able to find that stone, and might make some mistakes that could lead to more future problems. A scientist could make the whole progress efficient.


    In the afternoon, before Lin Qiao went to talk to Wu Chengyue, the latter showed up in her office.


    "I heard that you''re sending people to Lake Tai too. Is that true?" Wu Chengyue came straight in and sat on the couch while looking at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao raised her head from the pile of files on her desk to give him a glance, then dropped her head again while saying, "Yeah. Is your message true?"


    "I''m not sure. The message was brought back by zombie hunters. They''re the first ones who found that stone, and they''re no scientists. Only experts can make sure if it''s real or not," Wu Chengyue shrugged.


    Those hunters earned quite some credits for that information.


    As same as All Beings Base, Sea City Base paid people with credits for their contributions to the base. Each base had a similar system, even though they termed it differently.


    In Huaxia Base, what people could earn was directly called ''contribution points''. As same as the ''credits'' in All Being Base and Sea City Base, they could be used as money. One could purchase anything they needed in the base with a sufficient amount of contribution points.


    Hearing what Wu Chengyue said, Lin Qiao understod that he had agreed to let her people go to Lake Tai together with his people. So, she nodded and said, "Your base has more scientists, so send them. I''ll send a few of my people to help."


    It sounded like she was taking advantage of Sea City Base, but she was being honest. After arriving at the destination, all the harvests would be shared evenly. As for which base would find the truly valuable thing, it would depend on the people''s abilities.


    Lin Qiao didn''t really want to take advantages of Sea City Base, so she planned to make it up to them with other things.


    Wu Chengyue was, of course, fine with it. He was eager to let Lin Qiao take advantage of him! But of course, the two of them didn''t know what each other was thinking.


    What Lin Qiao said next disappointed Wu Chengyue. "As compensation, I''ll give you some drug that we made," she said.


    Wu Chengyue knew that she was talking about the drug that was able to ease the superpower-awaking sickness. He didn''t know that it was actually the water from her lake.


    What he did know was that the drug could deliver much greater effects, and that it was highly helpful for both superpowered people and commoners. In the post-apocalyptic era, medicine was in shortage, so Lin Qiao''s drug could be very valuable


    Wu Chengyue stayed silent, and Lin Qiao took that as yes. His base wouldn''t suffer any loss anyway, and she had no intention of taking advantage of anyone.


    "Oh, do you have a plan for dealing with Huaxia Base this time? They''re coming for your soil remedy." Recalling what Xie Dong said earlier, Lin Qiao asked Wu Chengyue. She believed that he had heard about it too.


    If Huaxia Base people found out about Sea City Base''s lie, they would soon have their eyes on All Beings Base.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t really worried about that though. Si Kongchen was a capable man, but so was Wu Chengyue.


    They were both smart and powerful. Wu Chengyue had a stronger superpower, so he was considered slightly suppressive over Si Kongchen.


    "Don''t worry. I''ll handle it. They won''t do anything aggressive, unless they want to end up with no food. Besides, they wouldn''t get what they wanted even if they started a war," Wu Chengyue smiled blandly while looking at Lin Qiao in a meaningful way.


    Lin Qiao detected some hidden meanings from the look in his eyes. So, she dropped her head to sign her name on a file while responding with, "Em, I''m only worried that my base might become a target of Huaxia people. After all, this small base of mine is still fragile."


    As she turned her eyes away, a trace of disappointment escaped Wu Chengyue''s eyes. But soon, that disappointed look was gone, and he smiled again mildly while staying silent.

 887 The Evolution Of Mutated Insects

    In a couple of days, Lin Feng, Lin Wenwen, and their people returned to the base. They didn''t have a rich harvest, and many of them were injured.


    Lin Feng sat before Lin Qiao''s desk and expressionlessly reported to the latter, "The mutated plants out there are growing fast, and many mutated animals have gone crazy. They''re twice as destructive as before."


    In the mountain areas, most of the mutated beasts were turned from wild animals, and in the urban areas, most of them were cats, dogs, and rats.


    "Also, insects seemed to have reached another level. Many of them are poisonous now. We ran into poisonous insects a few times on our way." Speaking of mutated insects, Lin Feng furrowed his brows.


    "Mutated insects?" Lin Qiao wore a serious look as well.


    "Yeah," Lin Feng nodded and said, "Currently, many insects are able to release poisonous gas that is hurtful for humans. Besides, some of them are huge."


    Lin Qiao could imagine how large those insects might be. After all, almost all mutated animals were huge. However, the ones that could release poisonous gas could be rather dangerous.


    It seemed to be serious, or Lin Feng wouldn''t mention it.


    "Is it bad?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Before, the mutated insects never affected the environment, but now, they have affected the environment severely. They have made the air toxic. Humans and animals would be affected to different degrees if they inhale that toxic air. It is indeed not good."


    "They have affected the environment?" Lin Qiao was surprised.


    That was bad. Because of the zombie virus, the environment had already become terrible. How come even mutated insects could make the environment worse? Countless kinds of insects existed in the world. So, the world would become an even more dangerous place, wouldn''t it?


    "We met poisonous insects six times on our way. Some of those insects affected a small area, and some large. The toxic reactions are different. For now, no one has died yet. But from now on, we should be extra careful out there," Lin Feng sighed, sounding a little tired.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and said blandly, "Even if these new problems didn''t occur, we still need to be extra careful because of those zombies and mutated creatures. Now, it''s just another level of danger. As same as before, the world is a dangerous place. All in all, we''re lucky, as we only need to take precautions against natural dangers."


    Hearing what she said, Lin Feng thought briefly: she was right. Perhaps, he was excessively worried. After all, the harvest of his trip wasn''t good, and many of his men got hurt. He was heavyhearted all the time.


    "Alright, go home and rest," Lin Qiao smiled at him.


    After Lin Feng left, Lin Qiao asked Shen Yujen to bring Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying to her office.


    "This time, Leng Xuantong is going to Lake Tai. You two go with him. You need to take a long trip and learn how that feels. The main force will be Sea City Base people. But, for your safety, I''ll send people to protect you in secret," Lin Qiao looked at the two girls and said.


    She planned on sending Lin Kui and two level-six zombies to secretly follow Lin Wenwen and the others. The three zombies wouldn''t make any move unless Lin Wenwen and her people were in danger.


    Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Qiao and said, "It''s not really a long trip. The lake is only about a hundred miles from here."


    Long Qingying wore no expression.


    Lin Qiao gave Lin Wenwen a sideways glance and replied, "It won''t be a long trip if you don''t slow the others down."


    It was only about a hundred miles. However, the outside world was now full of zombies, mutated plants, and animals. Moreover, dangerous mutated insects had emerged everywhere now. With even a slight carelessness, one could die out there.


    Lin Wenwen sensed Lin Qiao''s warning tone and soon realized that she was being arrogant. Instantly, she wore a humble face and carefully nodded, "I get it."


    Lin Qiao handed them the list of the people who would join them. Except for the two of them and Leng Xuantong, about a dozen people would be in the team.


    Lin Wenwen wasn''t expecting a new task as she had returned to the base not long ago. It was good though. By leaving the base, she could efficiently avoid the man who was trying to get close to her.


    Liu Wan and his people had been waiting to hear something about the Chief lady from Huo Antong. However, Huo Antong was making no progress with Liu Jun. Lin Wenwen''s man finally got a chance to talk to her, but before he could earn her trust, she left the base again for a mission.


    "How come she left again? What mission is so urgent?" Liu Wan said through clenched teeth, wearing a sullen face.


    This time, Lin Wenwen left the base very quickly. Her mission seemed to be special and confidential, as the man that Liu Wan sent after her couldn''t follow her again.


    They thought their plan was going somewhere, yet in the end, it was going nowhere.


    "Hasn''t Huo Antong given us anything useful yet? He''s been with that woman for so long, yet failed to get any useful information. Why didn''t I know that he was so useless?" said Liu Wan angrily.


    "No. He said that that woman never talked about Chief. He didn''t push her too hard, in case she got suspicious. Liu Wan, I think he''s right. We can''t push too hard. This needs to be done slowly," said someone else.


    "Not this, not that! So now, we can only wait for Zuo Chen to come back and make contact with the Chief lady directly!" said Liu Wan grumpily with cold eyes.


    Soon, he heard that Zuo Chen had returned to the base.


    "Wan, Zuo Chen is really in the medical department." One his subordinates reported to him with a weird tone.


    "Why are you so surprised? Isn''t that the plan?" Liu Wan glanced at that subordinate bewilderedly.


    "No¡­ He¡­ He''s in there for real" The subordinate failed to organize his language in the right way. After a short pause, he continued loudly, "No, he''s poisoned for real! His subordinates sent him to the hospital. He''s still in a coma. I heard from the hospital that he''s poisoned by mutated insects. They don''t know when he''ll wake up!"


    The man finished his words in one breath, then shut his mouth and looked at Liu Wan nervously.


    "What? Poisoned?" Liu Wan was confused. He failed to understand it immediately. But in fact, his brain had already started working. If Zuo Chen was in a coma, he wouldn''t be able to make contact with the Chief lady!


    If he couldn''t do that, who could? Should he send another man? Liu Wan thought about his men, then about himself¡­


    With a bitter look, he raised a hand and rubbed his head. He was not young, so the Chief lady couldn''t possibly like him. The others were either ugly or average. The Chief lady couldn''t possibly like any of them!


    What the hell!

 888 I Didnt Do Anything Ye

    Lin Qiao looked at Yun Meng and laughed, "So, this Zuo Chen is now lying in a coma in a ward in the medical department."


    Yun Meng nodded and said, "I heard that he''s in bad condition. I don''t know if he''ll wake up or stay in a coma. Thankfully, his life isn''t in danger. I just wonder if we have enough medicine to maintain his body function."


    "Of course, we do! We only need to maintain his body functions. That won''t be a problem for the medical department," Lin Qiao smiled carelessly.


    People had found quite some functional medical devices from the outside for the medical department to use, but drugs had been running short the whole time. People weren''t able to produce new medicines, because almost all raw materials were mutated.


    This time, Leng Xuantong didn''t leave the base only to look for that stone that could cure the mania, but also search for medicines. However, the herbal medicines were no longer seen everywhere like before. In the world that was full of mutated plants, searching for the plants with medical value could be hard.


    However, thinking from another angle, not all mutated plants were harmful to humans. Some plants were poisonous, but all medicines could be poisonous. The poisonous plants could become medicine if used in the right way.


    Almost all bases were in the shortage of medicine. Luckily, Lin Qiao''s lake water eased that situation, because it was able to trigger the healing system of human body and repair body functions. Her base was only short of some special medicines.


    "I was waiting for Zuo Chen to hit on me. I haven''t done anything yet, but he has already put himself in the hospital," Lin Qiao spread her hands and said with disappointment.


    Yun Meng looked at Lin Qiao, her green eyes filled with curiosity, "It seems that you were looking forward to it."


    Lin Qiao laughed, "I got myself prepared. I was worrying that he might not come to me. Well, it turns out that he really won''t. I prepared myself for nothing."


    Yun Meng nodded and said, "Perhaps they''ll send someone else."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "That''s possible. Keep an eye on them. I''m curious about what they''ll do next."


    Liu Wan had no idea that he and his people were all under watch. As Zuo Chen was lying in the hospital in the coma, their plan had to be postponed, because they couldn''t find another person for the job. But, even though they had postponed the plan of hitting on Lin Qiao, they never lost their interest in the farm.


    "I agreed to give you only the information about our Chief and nothing else," Huo Antong looked at Liu Wan and said with a sneer.


    "Yet you didn''t provide us with anything useful. You''re running slow," Liu Wan said with a cold face.


    He attempted to learn something about the farm from Huo Antong, yet the latter refused to give him anything.


    Liu Wan had learned from some workers that the farm was located in Mount Wu area, but none of the people he sent there returned. So, he had realized that the farm was kept highly secret.


    Ever since the second explosion of the zombie virus, the base had stopped sending workers to the farm. Was the farm still working? Could it still grow food?


    Based on what he had heard from Sea City Base and the other bases, all soil had died at the moment. The crops would either die or mutate. No healthy food could be grown.


    "You didn''t say that I have to give you the information within a limited span of time, did you? When I get anything useful, I''ll surely tell you. But, I won''t give you anything that is not included in our deal," said Huo Antong with a cold smile.


    He knew what Liu Wan and his people wanted. Deep down, he laughed at those people for how over-confident they were. How dare they cast their greedy eyes on the Chief of this base? They shouldn''t overestimate themselves so much.


    Did those people think that the Chief lady was only someone who had recently started to run a base? Or, did they believe that the base couldn''t possibly be founded without Sea City''s help?


    Chief Wu from Sea City Base did help a lot, but the people in All Beings Base were all wildly aware of how strong their Chief was. If she wasn''t capable enough, Wu Chengyue wouldn''t work with her.


    In fact, Huo Antong didn''t want to accept Liu Wan''s offer at first. However, he really needed a level-five zombie nucleus. He only agreed to give them the information about the Chief Lady because they offered him a level-five nucleus. A level-five nucleus was valuable enough to be trade for the information about a Chief.


    He didn''t want to miss that chance of getting a level-five nucleus, but he wasn''t so eager for it either. If he had enough credits, he wouldn''t even talk to Liu Wan and his people.


    Apart from that, Huo Antong was also curious about what kind of person the Chief lady was.


    He didn''t even know her name! People only called her Miss. Lu.


    "Don''t you want the zombie nucleus?" On hearing what the other said, Liu Wan pulled a long face.


    Huo Antong looked at him and laughed, "Would you give me the level-five nucleus if I told you about the current condition of the farm?"


    Liu Wan looked at him silently. He, of course, would not give him the nucleus. A level-five nucleus was worth a lot more than the information about a farm.


    Based on what happened to the farm in the other bases, he figured that the farm in All Being Base wouldn''t be much better.


    Currently, most of the people in the base had been working on the construction site in Base Number Two. Some superpowered people who weren''t willing to do construction work went out of the base to hunt for zombies.


    Out there, they could earn much more than what they''d be paid by doing the jobs in the construction site.


    Currently, every base had been buying zombie nuclei and energy nuclei in large batches, because Huaxia Base had developed an energy converter that could turn the nuclei into electricity. At present, the energy converters had slowly taken the place of gasoline and diesel, being used together with the solar power system.


    Huaxia Base possessed that technology, and had no intention of selling it. However, they were willing to sell the energy converters that they produced.


    Sea City Base had been in cooperation with Huaxia Base the whole time, and had purchased quite some converters from them. All Beings Base had purchased some of those converters from Sea City Base, as the solar power wasn''t enough for the entire base.


    After all, the population had been growing.


    Leng Xuantong, Lin Wenwen, Li Zheng, and his squad headed to Sea City Base together.


    "Are you going for the mission too?" On their way, Lin Wenwen looked at Kong Qingming with a meaningful look in her eyes. He was heading back to Sea City Base together with the team from All Beings Base.


    "Em, yeah, I''m in charge!" Kong Qingming''s pretty face wore a reasonable smile.


    He glanced at Long Qingying, who was standing beside Lin Wenwen with her back toward him. He didn''t tell Lin Wenwen that after knowing about the mission, he asked Wu Chengyue to let him lead the team.


    "Oh," Lin Wenwen followed his eyes and glanced at Long Qingying, but only saw her back and a long and high ponytail. Lin Wenwen turned back and rolled her eyes to Kong Qingming, who immediately turned his eyes away.

 889 The Crazy Thunderstorm

    Nothing special happened after Leng Xuantong and his team left the base. Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue still stayed in All Being Base, as if he had no work to do in his own base.


    Lin Qiao was jealous of him for having people doing his work for him.


    Thankfully, Wu Chengyue hadn''t been doing anything particularly. She couldn''t directly ask him to leave, which would be too unfriendly.


    It was raining out there, and the air was moist. The rain water contained acid, and was harmful to humans; it could even cause diseases. That rain was hurtful for healthy plants too. As the rain started, the crops in the base seemed to grow unhealthy.


    Fortunately, Lin Qiao''s lake water was able to solve that problem. People only needed to water the plants after the rain before the plants died.


    Rumbling thunders were heard from the sky, and lightning bolts flashed across the clouds from time to time. Gradually, the thunder and lightning grew more and more frequent.


    Lin Qiao raised her head from her desk and then stood up. She was wearing a loose-fitting white dress and a black suit jacket, as well as a pair of flat shoes. It was already warm enough for her legs to be bared.


    Currently, she dressed more like a capable businesswoman from the old world and less like a fierce Chief from the post-apocalyptic era.


    She walked to the window. As she moved, her pregnant belly could be seen occasionally.


    Standing by the window, she raised her head to look at the thunderclouds in the sky. The thunderclouds grew thicker and thicker, giving out a pressure that made her feel a little uneasy.


    The rain was heavy, and the moisture made the temperature drop a lot. Healthy human beings might feel a little cold, but Lin Qiao didn''t.


    Right at that moment, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky.


    Bang!


    The lightning bolt landed on top of a building and made someone in it scream.


    Lin Qiao was in Base Number Two, but could hear the sounds from miles away. That scream helped her locating the lightning.


    Her heart leaped; she had a bad feeling.


    ''No way!'' she said to herself.


    With that thought, Lin Qiao quickly turned and walked out of the office with big steps while saying, "Prepare the car, now!"


    She told Shen Yujen to prepare her car.


    Seeing the serious look on her face, Shen Yujen realized that she might have something important in her mind, and quickly ran downstairs to prepare the vehicle.


    Lin Qiao walked quickly but with stable pace.


    Soon, she came downstairs, where Shen Yujen held an umbrella for her. As they both got into the car, the driver drove speedily toward Base Number One.


    Bang! Another thunderous sound was heard. Lin Qiao turned to look outside the window from the backseat.


    It was dark outside. The raindrops landed on the car window wave by wave, then flowed on the glass along with the wind.


    Along with a series of muffled thunder, Lin Qiao''s car was parked by a building.


    "Evacuate the building now! Stay five-hundred meters away!" Once she got off the car, Lin Qiao saw that the lightning had struck off a corner of the building, and clouds of smoke were rising from that area.


    She didn''t ask any questions, but immediately told her people to evacuate the crowd that was running outside in a panic.


    About a hundred people lived in that building. The top floor was where Wu Chengyue lived.


    She didn''t need to ask any question, because on her way approaching the building, she sensed a violent energy coming from the top of the building. She also sensed that the energy was suppresed, but the suppressive force was obviously not strong enough.


    Soon, Yun Meng and Qiu Lili showed up beside Lin Qiao.


    "What''s going on? Did he go crazy?" Qiu Lili stood on a stone beside Lin Qiao. She was standing in the rain, but the rainwater that fell on her evaporated in a faint red glow on her skin, without wetting her clothes.


    Yun Meng was also covered in an energy layer that protected her from the rain.


    Lin Qiao was still under the umbrella. She wasn''t able to keep herself dry in the rain with her energy, because she had no energy.


    "Let''s get in there and take a look first. We better draw him out of the base. If he completely loses his mind in here, things would be bad," Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue''s window and said, then flashed into the building.


    That area was full of tall buildings, with no smaller buildings or trees. Therefore, Lin Qiao couldn''t leap straight onto the top floor. She was only leap about ten meters high, yet the building was nearly sixty meters tall.


    The stairs were her only choice, as the elevator wasn''t working.


    That was one of the bad things about losing her energy. She couldn''t even leap high.


    Yun Meng and Qiu Lili did it much easier than her. Qiu Lili rose straight into the sky while Yun Meng speedily crawled up the building like a large lizard. However, she turned herself invisible, so no one could see her.


    Qiu Lili flew to Wu Chengyue''s floor and carefully landed on the balcony. She couldn''t enter the flat, not because the door was locked, but because a strong wave of energy had been surging in the flat, stopping her from approaching.


    The energy wave brought up a strong wind, making Qiu Lili''s white dress and long ponytails flutter. A strong force had been pushing her outside as she raised her arms to shield her face. She tried to walk into the room, but failed. Once she made one step forward, that force pushed her back out for two steps.


    Yun Meng soon came up too. However, she was weaker than Qiu Lili. Qiu Lili could at least approach the door while she was only able to stay outside the guardrail of the balcony without being able to move at all.


    "Damn! This is bad! How are we supposed to make him come out? What if he got mad and went straight maniacal? Is he still awake?" Yun Meng burst in screams. She wasn''t capable enough to solve that huge problem.


    Qiu Lili shielded herself against the strong wind with her arms while trying very hard to look at the person in the room. She saw that man squatting on the ground with Wu Yueling held in his arms. His face was turning blue, and his widely opened eyes had turned red, with veins standing up from his temples. He seemed to be trying so hard to fight with himself.


    "Ling Ling is still in there! I think she has passed out!" Qiu Lili shouted.


    Her words might have triggered something that boosted the energy in the room.


    Bang! The two girls were sent out of the balcony by an invisible, strong wave of energy.


    "Ouch!" Thankfully, they both reacted fast enough. One of them turned in the air and managed to float in the sky and the other nimbly flipped with a twist while falling off the building, landing airily on the ground.

 890 Instinctive Reaction

    Lin Qiao climbed thirty floors and finally went to the top floor. Once she walked into the hallway, a strong energy came straight at her face and suppressed her.


    She hurriedly focused her mind and restrained her vibe. Thankfully, her body was still strong. She spent a short while standing by the edge of the energy stream and adapted to it, soon finding it less intense than before.


    Step by step, she moved toward the flat.


    All the door and windows had been burst open by Wu Chengyue''s energy. Lin Qiao held the wall and approached the door inch by inch.


    She paused briefly with surprise when she saw Wu Chengyue squatting on the ground, holding Wu Yueling. She figured that Wu Yueling was the reason why Wu Chengyue had been trying so hard to restrain his energy. He instinctively tried to protect his daughter. Even if he had lost his mind, he still tried his best to avoid hurting his daughter.


    Wu Yueling had her eyes closed. Lin Qiao didn''t know how she was doing at the moment. Thankfully, her vibe still existed, meaning that she was still alive.


    Lin Qiao vigilantly stood by the door. She was pretty close to Wu Chengyue, yet the energy in the flat didn''t cause her any harm. It was only stopping her from entering the flat.


    She didn''t know how to save Wu Yueling from her father, who had lost control of himself. If he went totally crazy, he might do something bad.


    It turned out that the result of the test that Leng Xuantong and Lin Hao did earlier wasn''t accurate enough. The result showed that there was a risk for all superpowered people, and it happened very fast.


    Wu Chengyue did the blood test, and the result showed that he was safe.


    Perhaps, all superpowered people would have to be kept away from children. After all, any of them could lose control at any moment.


    Wu Chengyue slowly raised his head and looked at the door. He seemed to have sensed Lin Qiao''s presence. Lin Qiao looked at his eyes. The white parts around his pupils were deep red; the closer to the eye corners, the lighter the redness was.


    His eyes were cold, showing no feeling. He looked at Lin Qiao as if she was a stranger.


    Lin Qiao detected the instinctive vigilance in his eyes. He was trying to protect his daughter.


    She looked at him with surprise. He had lost his mind, yet he still wanted to protect his daughter.


    Xiao Licheng heard about what happened and returned to the flat. Once near, he saw the damaged building. The whole building was quiet, with one corner broken and smoking. Clearly, it had just suffered a heavy strike.


    A series of muffled thunder was heard from the clouds in the sky.


    Xiao Licheng knew that something bad was happening, and instantly rushed into the building.


    "You can''t go in now. Ling Ling is with Wu Chengyue. You might stimulate him and make him overreact," Yun Meng suddenly showed up and stopped Xiao Licheng.


    "Ling Ling is up there?" Xiao Licheng gave a start and popped his eyes. He was anxious, but didn''t dare to get into the building. His vibe might really stimulate his crazy Chief.


    On the top floor, Lin Qiao didn''t dare to move after Wu Chengyue turned to her. The energy was running rampant in the flat. All the furniture pieces had been shredded, and the entire flat was wasted.


    Seeing that Wu Chengyue was protecting Ling Ling instinctively, Lin Qiao was first surprised, then a little relieved. But then, she started thinking about what to do next. Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to be willing to let Ling Ling go.


    As Lin Qiao was thinking, Wu Chengyue suddenly moved. He stood up with Ling Ling carried in his arms. Thankfully, he held the little girl exactly as he used to and not in a random way.


    He looked at Lin Qiao without any expression and with cold eyes. Suddenly, he slightly raised his head and sniffed toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at him carefully. The eyes of the other crazy superpowered people were always filled with madness, but why were his eyes so cold? Under his gaze, even Lin Qiao sensed a coldness coming straight down her spine.


    The people by the stars moved slightly. Lin Qiao hurriedly put a hand behind her body to signal for them not to move. Duan Juan instantly raised a hand to tell the people behind her to fall back, then moved back to the corner of walls.


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Yueling. The little girl was lying softly in Wu Chengyue''s arms with her eyes closed. Her long hair fluttered in the air.


    Wu Chengyue was less than three meters away from Lin Qiao, but she couldn''t read his mind or tell anything from his eyes. She thought for a moment, then tried to talk to him, "You don''t want to hurt Ling Ling, do you?"


    Her voice was bland, even gentle.


    Perhaps, Wu Chengyue still had a trace of sanity remained, or he wouldn''t suppress his energy like he was doing.


    As she expected, Wu Chengyue blinked on hearing what she said, then looked at her with confusion.


    It worked!


    Lin Qiao delightedly continued with, "Put Ling Ling down. You''ll hurt her if you refuse to let her go."


    Once she said that, Wu Chengyue had vigilance in his eyes. He looked at Lin Qiao with distrust, as if she was a fraud.


    Lin Qiao felt a little helpless.


    In order to save Ling Ling from her father who was now basically a human bomb, she had no choice but to be a fraud.


    "Put her down, then I''ll go with you. I won''t hurt her, don''t worry. If you don''t leave now, you''ll be the one to hurt her. Do you want Ling Ling to die?" Lin Qiao looked at him in the eyes and raised her voice a little while saying the last sentence.


    Wu Chengyue seemed to be struggling. Clearly, he understood Lin Qiao''s words, but couldn''t control himself.


    Lin Qiao didn''t give up. "Put her down if you don''t want to hurt her," she said.


    Wu Chengyue struggled even harder than before. However, he slightly relaxed his grip on the little girl.


    Lin Qiao''s eyes glowed. She repeated her words, "Put her down if you don''t want to hurt her."


    Finally, Wu Chengyue turned his eyes away from Lin Qiao and dropped his head to give Ling Ling a glance, then looked at Lin Qiao again. It seemed that he wanted Lin Qiao to give him a promise.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Put her down, or you''ll regret it."


    Wu Chengyue bent over slowly with his eyes fixed on Lin Qiao. After making sure that she wouldn''t come in, he slowly put the little girl on the ground.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief.


    Right at that moment, Wu Chengyue suddenly flashed across the air and showed up before Lin Qiao, bringing to her an overwhelming energy wave.


    Lin Qiao instinctively grew alarmed. She reacted super fast and made a step backward. But still, she was not fast enough. An aggressive force locked her neck, squeezing her throat.

 891 Draw Him Out Of The Base

    "Bang!" The window at the end of the hallway burst open. Wu Chengyue gripped Lin Qiao''s throat and jumped out of the window together with her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t need to breathe, so having her throat gripped barely affected her. Wu Chengyue squeezed her throat with a great strength. However, her body wasn''t fragile, and he couldn''t break her neck.


    While flying out of the building, Lin Qiao grabbed Wu Chengyue''s arm with both hands, then flipped in the air and quickly coiled her legs on his neck, turning and easily freeing herself from his grip.


    After that, she instantly kicked on Wu Chengyue''s chest to send herself away from him.


    She was swift, and the two of them parted in the air. By the time they landed on the ground, she was already over ten meters away from him.


    After Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue flew outside the window, Duan Juan and the others immediately rushed into the flat, scooped Wu Yueling up, and left as soon as possible.


    Once Wu Chengyue landed on the ground, Yun Meng turned invisible and sneaked toward him.


    However, once she was behind him, he turned and fixed his eyes on her with a cold face.


    Yun Meng grew alarmed.


    ''Damn! Can he sense me?''


    On the other side, Lin Qiao fell back as soon as she landed on the ground. She was too weak to combat. Yun Meng and Qiu Lili were there, so she could draw back a little.


    She didn''t only do that to protect Viney. Even if she now regained all her power, she wouldn''t dare to pick up a fight against Wu Chengyue at the moment.


    However, Wu Chengyue abruptly turned and stared at Lin Qiao, then once again flashed toward her, ignoring Yun Meng, who was behind him. By that time, Lin Qiao had only moved backward for one meter.


    Lin Qiao gave a start. "Damn! Why are you looking at me again?"


    She swiftly turned around, rushing out of the base. She had lost her power, but thankfully, she could still move as fast as before.


    It was good, though. Since Wu Chengyue had his eyes on her, she decided to conveniently draw him out of the base.


    As expected, Wu Chengyue followed behind her. The rumbling thunder was heard from the sky right above his head.


    Lin Qiao was fast, yet Wu Chengyue was even faster, because his body was full of energy.


    Behind them, Yun Meng didn''t dare to be too close to him. After all, the energy wave coming from Wu Chengyue was highly harmful. Surrounding his body, the buildings and everything else on the ground were sent flying into the sky, shattering into pieces.


    Soon, the lightning stopped falling from the sky. People were worried, but also a little relieved. Watching Wu Chengyue chasing closely behind Lin Qiao, they also felt speechless.


    Chief Wu had lost his mind, yet he was still chasing behind Chief Lu. He was really a single-minded man!


    No one on the scene was a match for Wu Chengyue. So now, they only counted on their Chief to take care of the crazy man. Seeing Lin Qiao draw him out of the base, they thought that she planned to defeat him out there.


    Little did they know that Lin Qiao, who was running toward the outside while dodging Wu Chengyue''s attacks, was feeling utterly troubled. She planned to bring Wu Chengyue out of her base, then enter her space. She couldn''t tell where she would be when she came out though.


    On the way out of the base, Wu Chengyue seemed to become a little agitated, as he had made a few pounces but failed to hit his target.


    Bang! A medium-sized lightning bolt descended from the sky and landed on the ground before Lin Qiao, but didn''t hit her.


    While moving forward, Lin Qiao glanced up at the sky, then stepped on a building next to her before leaping forward within a blink. Perhaps Wu Chengyue really had a tiny bit of sanity remained. His energy was disordered all the time, but he didn''t summon the lightning from the sky.


    Lin Qiao took the opportunity to draw him out of the base as quickly as she could.


    The soldiers by the gate saw a blurry figure rush over, hop onto a vehicle, leap onto a utility pole, and then jump on top of the fence wall. She was so fast that people couldn''t even see her clearly.


    As she landed on the wall top, they saw her a little clearer. They recognized her as a woman, but failed to tell who she was. Before she disappeared from the wall top, they only saw her fluttering coat and hair.


    Right after her, another figure hopped onto the fence wall along with a violent energy. That man followed behind the woman and disappeared within a blink too.


    Lin Qiao jumped off the wall top, flipped in the air, and landed on the ground agilely. Once her feet touched the ground, she rushed forward fleetingly.


    One second after she left, Wu Chengyue flew over along with a fierce vibe, leaping over and landing before her.


    Lin Qiao stayed calm as she swiftly turned to avoid Wu Chengyue and then darted to the side.


    As she moved sideways, Wu Chengyue reached out an arm to catch her. That was only an instinctive movement; he instinctively wanted to catch her.


    A nice aroma from her had been attracting him. He felt so irritated as he couldn''t catch her.


    He wanted to catch her! He wanted her! But¡­ what was he supposed to after catching her? Should he eat her?


    She smelt nice, after all. However, her aroma was different from the aroma of food. He didn''t want to eat her.


    Wu Chengyue''s brain wasn''t able to solve that puzzle. At that very moment, he was only instinctively trying to catch Lin Qiao.


    ''Get her! Get that aroma from her!''


    However, she was running too fast, like a loach! He couldn''t get her!


    The more times he failed, the more he wanted her!


    That desire occupied his mind. That simple desire controlled his body.


    Being chased by Wu Chengyue, Lin Qiao darted from side to side and spent quite a while to leave the clearing around her base, even though that area was only hundreds of meters wide. After that, she quickly rushed into an alley in the safe zone.


    Not enough! They were still too close to the base! She needed to bring him out of the safe zone at least!


    While thinking, she turned to look at Wu Chengyue and found him right before her eyes.


    "Damn!" Lin Qiao gave a start and automatically made a step backward, bending over in the meanwhile to dodge Wu Chengyue''s arms, which were reaching toward her. Next, she propped both hands on the ground, swung her body sideways, and kicked his shoulder.

 892 Hide In The Space

    Lin Qiao kicked Wu Chengyue away, then made a roll on the ground before springing up and leaping off the roof. By that time, she had realized that Wu Chengyue didn''t intend to hurt her. Otherwise, he would have killed her with a few lightning strikes.


    She was aware that he was still restraining his energy. If he really lost control of himself completely, lightning bolts would fall from all over the sky, like what happened when Mo Yan went crazy.


    Missing his target once again, Wu Chengyue''s face turned colder and colder, his eyes showing a ferocious look. He suddenly turned around and fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao.


    The moment Lin Qiao left the safe zone, he flashed across the air and disappeared, showing up before her in the next moment.


    Lin Qiao was rushing forward, but Wu Chengyue showed up right in front of her all of a sudden. She wanted to stop, but it was already too late. Automatically, she turned her foot and moved sideways to try and dodge.


    In the meanwhile, she said to herself¡ª''It''s too late for this. I have to enter the space!''


    Wu Chengyue raised both arms to hold her, yet touched nothing but air. She had disappeared within a blink.


    He was stunned for a second, then immediately turned and looked around. Her vibe was gone, and that nice aroma faded gradually as if its owner had vanished from the world.


    Realizing that his target was gone, Wu Chengyue changed his expression. At that very moment, his energy exploded.


    Following the muffled, rumbling thunder, a series of lightning bolts fell from the sky and landed near Wu Chengyue. Within the area one-hundred meter in radius surrounding him, everything was shattered into smithereens.


    Wu Chengyue''s handsome face was now filled with madness. The blustering radiated from his body and climbed higher and higher, echoing with the natural thunder.


    The thunder grew louder and louder, and the clouds came lower and lower. The pressure coming from the clouds turned greater and greater, making people feel suffocated. The rain got heavier and heavier as it landed on the ground and raised clouds of dust.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue became the center of a thunder zone, the lightning energy sweeping across the whole area.


    He stood straight motionlessly. His eyes were no longer cold, but occupied by madness.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao, who was hiding in her space, had no idea that Wu Chengyue had gone mad because of her disappearance. As she suddenly showed up in the space, Lu Tianyi looked at her with surprise, because she seemed to be in haste.


    "What''s wrong? Were you chased by a dog?" Lu Tianyi ran up to her and asked curiously.


    Lin Qiao automatically narrowed her eyes to look outside her space, but only saw a thick, white fog. She opened her eyes and glanced at Lu Tianyi, "Yeah, sort of. It was a strong dog!"


    Wu Chengyue was really like a crazy dog at the moment.


    "Where''s your dog? He''s a level-six zombie dog. He''s strong too. Why don''t you send him out to fight that dog?" Lu Tianyi said with laughter.


    He thought Lin Qiao meant what she said, and figured that she was probably attacked by a mutated dog, or some other mutated beast.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glare and said, "Bowwow can''t win against him."


    Wu Chengyue was a level-eight lightning power possessor, and had gone crazy. Bowwow was a level-six mutated zombie beast. Wu Chengyue would beat the dog so hard.


    Lin Qiao had no spare attention to continue the conversation with Lu Tianyi. Wu Chengyue was crazy, so who would be able to knock him out? No one could even approach him, not to mention knock him out!


    Thinking about that problem, Lin Qiao furrowed her brows into a frown. She drew him out of the safe zone just now, but she couldn''t tell if he would go back to the base. Thinking that he might bring the natural lightning into her base, Lin Qiao suffered a headache.


    Normally, superpowered people would stay where they were when they lost control of themselves, unless they had targets. Without a target, they would stay where they were for a very long time.


    Noticing the frowning, serious look on Lin Qiao''s face, Lu Tianyi looked at her confusedly. He thought for a moment, then figured out something. "No way!" He said, "Is that dog so strong that not even you can defeat it? Do you even need to hide here?"


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance but stayed silent. That glance made him understand what she meant. Clearly, he had guessed right.


    He didn''t know that Lin Qiao had lost her superpower and grown weaker than before by at least fifty percent.


    "I''m still worried about him. I have to go." While speaking, Lin Qiao flashed out of her space.


    Her eyes were dazzled for a second, then she found herself in a strange place, as she had expected. Thankfully, she was still in the city and not in the suburban area.


    She hurriedly checked the surrounding road signs. A short while later, she learned that she was still in Hangzhou. She had jumped into Lower City District from Upper City District.


    She waved a hand and let out a car, then immediately sat into the driver''s seat and drove back toward the base.


    The moment she came out of her space, Wu Chengyue, who was standing still where he was, rolled his eyes and turned to Lower City District, seeming to have discover something. The ferocious look in his eyes faded a little, being replaced by uncertainty.


    A short while later, he turned around and slowly moved toward Lower City District. It seemed that he wasn''t sure if his target was there, but his instincts told him that she was. Something was attracting him toward that area.


    Lin Qiao had no idea that she had caught the attention of Wu Chengyue once she came out of her space, even though he was about thirty miles away from her. She never thought that he would be able to sense her through such a long distance.


    As Lin Qiao''s vibe disappeared, the people in the base looked at each other with confusion.


    Wu Chengyue''s agitated vibe hadn''t disappeared after all.


    "Perhaps¡­ Chief doesn''t know what to do either," said Yun Meng, "After all, Chief Wu is at the peak of level-eight, and has lightning power. He''s really powerful!"


    That was, in fact, what everyone thought.


    Yuan Tianxing heard about what happened and went to the gate area hurriedly. He sensed Wu Chengyue''s vibe and gazed into that area, but didn''t say anything.


    If not even Lin Qiao could solve that problem, none of the others could. With their current powers, they couldn''t even approach Wu Chengyue at the moment.


    "If even Chief can''t deal with him, we can only stay here and watch," said Duan Juan helplessly.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue suddenly started moving toward Lower City District.

 893 Zuo Chen Wakes Up

    "Eh? He left!" Qiu Lili said with surprise.


    Xiao Licheng and the other Sea City People were all confused and worried. Xiao Licheng thought for a second and said, "We can''t let our Chief be like that."


    Even though they couldn''t stop Wu Chengyue, they could still follow him and watch him. Under Xiao Licheng''s leadership, Sea City Base people leaped off the fence wall and drove their cars out of the base to follow behind Wu Chengyue.


    They were not able to stop their crazy Chief, but they at least needed to keep him under watch, in case some people grasped the opportunity to do something bad.


    Thirty miles of distance would only take Wu Chengyue about ten minutes. He was as fast as lightning.


    The closer he got to Lower City District, the faster he became, because he sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe and paced up. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao suddenly sensed Wu Chengyue''s vibe not long after she came out of her space.


    "No way!" Her heart leaped as she turned to that direction with both surprise and confusion.


    Then, she heard the muffled thunder from that area and saw the lightning flash across the sky.


    She changed her expression, immediately turned the car around, and moved fleetingly in another direction.


    There were many broad roads in Lower City District. Those roads had been cleaned by the people who came here to search for supplies, so it was unimpeded for Lin Qiao to drive.


    The car rushed out of the city and onto the highway, moving quickly in a random direction. Lin Qiao didn''t care where she was going, as long as she wasn''t going back to the base.


    That man had found her already! It had been less than ten minutes since she had exited her space! How could he find her so quickly? Not even dogs had such a keen sense of smell!


    Sensing the familiar vibe coming closer and closer, Lin Qiao knitted her eyebrows.


    Should she hide into her space again? She would end up in a random location every time she exited her space, but her new location wouldn''t be too far away from the old one. She was now thirty miles away from Wu Chengyue, yet he could still sense her. So, entering her space again would be meaningless, unless she stayed in there.


    She couldn''t stay in her space, because she still needed to go back to the base!


    She spent a short while thinking, but failed to come up with a good solution. She wasn''t able to knock Wu Chengyue out either. What should she do?


    There was one thing for sure though. In order to keep Wu Chengyue away from her base, she couldn''t go back either.


    Since their Chief had left, Yuan Tianxing temporarily took over all the work in the base again.


    He felt a little speechless though. Lin Qiao only returned not long ago, but now she had left again.


    "Deputy Chief, Zuo Chen is awake." One of his subordinates reported to him with a low voice.


    On hearing that, Yuan Tianxing wore a cold look in his eyes. He turned to his subordinate and said, "Oh! Didn''t they say that they don''t know when he''ll wake up? How come he woke up so soon?"


    The man continued with a low voice, "He''s awake, but he can''t move at the moment. The doctor said that the toxin is still lingering inside his body, so he''s in paralysis now. About that, we really don''t know when he''ll recover."


    "He can''t move? Paralysis?" Yuan Tianxing blinked.


    He was in paralysis, like an old man who had a stroke? In that case, he wouldn''t be able to hit on Chief recently. No one could tell when would Chief come back anyway.


    In fact, Yuan Tianxing and the others patiently played the game with Zuo Chen and his people only because they wanted to gather some solid evidence, so they could fight back strongly. Those people had brought a large group of new residents to the base after all. If those people were kicked out of the base for nothing, or accused of something without evidence, the others in the base would be scared. They would be worried, thinking that they were probably not safe in the base.


    The base was built for people to live without worry instead of being on tenterhooks the whole time. If that were the case, they would soon give up on the base.


    Currently, those people were only halfway through their plan, so Yuan Tianxing and his people had only collected half of the evidence. That was still not enough to kill those people with one strike.


    "Em, I get it. Keep an eye on him, but don''t let him see you," Yuan Tianxing nodded.


    The subordinate nodded seriously and then left.


    On the other side, Liu Jun could see Huo Antong in the canteen almost every day.


    "You really have a lot of free time lately," Liu Jun looked at him and asked in a strange tone, "Do you want something from me?"


    ''Such as getting information about Chief?'' she thought.


    On hearing that, Huo Antong laughed and then responded, "You finally figured it out. In fact¡­ I¡­ I was worried that you might say no if I told you at the beginning."


    After saying that, he looked at Liu Jun in the eyes frankly in an affectionate way.


    Liu Jun was stunned a little. Under the cosmetic contacts, her eyes glowed as she looked at him with surprise and said, "It''s not like what I think it is, right? You¡­"


    Her reaction made Huo Antong thrilled. She didn''t show any dislike, meaning that he had a great chance.


    He looked at her delightedly and nodded, "Yes, I like you. I didn''t want to scare you, so I came to you with all those excuses. I want to know if you¡­ are willing to be with me. I''ll treat Tongtong like my own son. I will never abandon him like his real father did."


    Liu Jun hesitated. With a slight frown, she looked at him. The surprised look in her eyes hadn''t faded yet. "But¡­" she said, seeming to be struggling.


    "You don''t need to answer my question right now, okay? I know that you might have a lot going on in your mind, so I''m willing to wait. When you have calmed down and have an answer, you let me know," Huo Antong hurriedly interrupted her.


    This time, Liu Jun honestly didn''t know what to say, so she looked at him silently. A short while later, she sighed and responded, "Alright. Well¡­ I''ll think carefully about it."


    Then, she scooped Tongtong up, opened an umbrella, and left hurriedly.


    The umbrella covered her face, so no one saw the cold look on that face. It was even as if the person who was surprised and helpless just now was not her.


    Huo Antong fixed his eyes on her and watched her leave, then turned and left. He couldn''t help feel delighted. He had tried for such a long time, and she finally gave him a chance.


    "Mom¡­ I don''t like that man¡­" Tongtong, who was lying in Liu Jun''s arms, suddenly straightened his body and looked at Liu Jun.


    Liu Jun paused, looked at him with surprise and asked, "Why don''t you like him? Did he treat you badly?"


    In fact, Huo Antong brought Tongtong some interesting little toys every time he saw Liu Jun. However, Tongtong always seemed timid and never dared to accept his gifts.


    Tongtong looked at his mother as he opened his mouth, but didn''t know how to describe his feelings. So, he murmured, "I just¡­ don''t like him." After that, he put his arms around Liu Jun''s neck and didn''t say anything else.


    Liu Jun smiled at her son as she stayed silent and kept walking.

 894 Let Herself Being Caugh

    Zuo Chen woke up and started regretting his plan. He couldn''t have imagined that he would be poisoned and that he might never wake up.


    He was planning on pretending to be injured to find a chance ad get close to the Chief lady. But now, he really needed treatment, and she had stopped coming to the medical department.


    Besides, he was paralyzed. How was he supposed to get close to her?


    He didn''t know when his body would recover from the toxic reaction. Thinking about that, a hatred toward Lin Qiao suddenly rose from his heart.


    He wouldn''t have taken the mission and left the base if he wasn''t trying to get close to the Chief lady. If he didn''t need to pretend to be injured and get himself into the hospital, he wouldn''t have been stung by those poisonous bees! It was all because of that woman! If it weren''t for her, he wouldn''t end up in his current state.


    Zuo Chen didn''t consider running into those poisonous bees his own fault at all. He blamed Lin Qiao for it.


    If Lin Qiao knew what he was thinking, she might throw him straight into the hive!


    "Are you kidding me? I''m here, and she''s not even in the base? Did I get poisoned for nothing?" Zuo Chen lay on the bed, his face pale and sullen. His lips were bluish, as the toxin hadn''t been removed from his body yet. His handsome face now looked like the face of a ghost because of the vicious and sick look on it.


    "What could you possibly do even if she was here? You can''t walk. You can''t even move now. You wouldn''t be able to touch her even if she passed by your door," Liu Wan gave him a sneer.


    Apparently, he wasn''t happy about Zuo Chen''s attitude. He couldn''t help but despise the latter for failing such a small task. He was supposed to pretend to suffer a small injury, which could easily happen to any zombie hunter. Yet, he came back severely poisoned.


    Hearing what Liu Wan said, Zuo Chen''s face turned even darker.


    Before they could say anything else, one of their subordinates knocked on the door and came in, "It''s time for the injection."


    Both Zuo Chen and Liu Wan shut their mouths and watched a nurse enter with the medicine.


    Earlier on, a batch of women joined the base, and some of them now worked in the hospital as nurses.


    Outside the base, after a short while of driving on the highway, Lin Qiao sensed that Wu Chengyue''s vibe was getting closer and closer. Before he caught up with her, she got off the car and put the car back into her space.


    Following a rumbling thunder, Wu Chengyue descended from the sky, the thunder following right behind him.


    Lin Qiao didn''t understand why Wu Chengyue was still chasing her so determinedly, as he had lost his mind. She sensed no intention of killing from him, so why did he want to catch her?


    What did he want?


    Not even Wu Chengyue himself could answer that question.


    Suddenly, Lin Qiao had an idea. Since Wu Chengyue didn''t want to hurt her, maybe she should let herself be caught by him and see what exactly he wanted. That might provide her with a chance to approach him. She might be able to knock him out directly.


    With that thought, Lin Qiao hesitated shortly, then lightning bolts fell around her. In the meanwhile, a hand gripped her arm and the other hand swiftly clasped her slim neck.


    The energy that was radiating from Wu Chengyue''s body was eased a little at the moment he touched Lin Qiao. Soon, the lightning bolts that were falling from the sky faded gradually.


    The surrounding plants and guardrails had all been shattered. All the mutated animals and plants in the area were scared away by Wu Chengyue''s vibe.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief, because she found that Wu Chengyue''s vibe had calmed a little after he caught her. However, she was not happy to let him grip her throat.


    She looked at him in the eyes. His eyes were still cold, showing no emotions. His face wore no expression either. The redness in his eyes had been shrinking and expanding from time to time, his energy oscillating along with it.


    Lin Qiao stayed still, waiting to see what Wu Chengyue wanted to do with her. He had lost his mind, and she was curious about what he would do.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue abruptly lowered his head and reached his nose toward her. Then, he sniffed her from her cheek to her ear, and to her neck and shoulder.


    As Wu Chengyue acted like a zombie, Lin Qiao was confused. Did she have a special smell? She thought she only had the zombie smell.


    Wu Chengyue still wore no expression, yet he seemed to be enjoying sniffing her. Lin Qiao''s head was full of puzzles.


    Whatever smell she had, the first thing she needed to do was to find a chance to give him a sneak attack.


    She slowly raised her left hand, prepared to give him a strike on the neck. However, once she raised that hand, Wu Chengyue raised his head from her neck and looked at her expressionlessly.


    Lin Qiao froze.


    With surprise, she found his eyes pretty when he wasn''t smiling. It might be because they were very close to each other at the moment. She saw his slender eyes, his dark pupils surrounded by a light redness as if he was wearing cosmetic contacts, looking weirdly beautiful. He had thick and long eyelashes which were perfectly curly.


    Normally, he was almost smiling. His smile and his strong vibe disabled other people from noticing how good-looking his eyes were.


    As Lin Qiao was distracted by Wu Chengyue''s eyes, he relaxed his grip on her neck, then grasped her left hand.


    Only after that did Lin Qiao remember what she had attempted to do earlier. She got slightly nervous and thought that Wu Chengyue had discovered her intention.


    Wu Chengyue stood still, holding her hand and also took his other hand off Lin Qiao''s shoulder to hold her other hand. Then, he stopped moving and stood there with her hands held in his.


    Lin Qiao looked around and tried to move her hands. Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to want to hurt her, but was holding her hands tightly.


    Obviously, Wu Chengyue was making no further moves, so Lin Qiao felt a little helpless. Should she stand there with that man and do nothing? Why on earth did he chase her so persistently?


    She raised her head to look at the sky. The rain was still falling, and both of them were soaked already. She wouldn''t catch a cold, but she wondered if he would.


    Probably not. His energy had exploded crazily, yet was still instinctively protecting him.


    The dark clouds in the sky were still dense, and the thunder seemed to be fading. However, muffled rumbles could still be heard in the sky from time to time.


    After looking at the sky, Lin Qiao dropped her head to look at Wu Chengyue, then thought for a moment and raised her head again to look into the sky, and then back at Wu Chengyue.


    The thunderclouds in the sky seemed to be showing the man''s emotion. Earlier on when he was chasing her, the thunder was deafening. But now as he had caught her, it quieted down.

 895 Suppress Him With The Space

    With her hands being held, Lin Qiao didn''t know what to do for a moment. She needed to free her hands from his, or how was she supposed to knock him out?


    And, how long did he plan to stand in the rain?


    She glanced at her soaked clothes. They stuck on her skin, making her feel very uncomfortable.


    She looked at Wu Chengyue, then looked around her. He had lost his mind, yet he did nothing after catching her.


    Lin Qiao made a step backward to create space between her and him. However, once she moved, Wu Chengyue made a step forward to follow her.


    That was interesting.


    Lin Qiao thought Wu Chengyue might pull her back toward himself, but he didn''t. He followed her instead. Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise, then made two steps sideways.


    Wu Chengyue took two steps to follow her, without making other reactions.


    Lin Qiao thought he wouldn''t make further moves, but at that moment, he lowered his head and reached his nose toward her, sniffing her ear and neck.


    ''So¡­ he turned into a dog after losing his mind?'' Lin Qiao wondered.


    Then, she found that Wu Chengyue''s energy was growing quieter and quieter as he was smelling her. The energy storm that had spread ten meters away shrank to two meters in radius around the two of them.


    The rain fell on Wu Chengyue and made him wet, and the energy didn''t keep him dry any longer.


    Lin Qiao leaned her head slightly backward to try to keep a distance from Wu Chengyue. But, the further her head went, the lower he dropped his.


    His hot breath landed on her neck. Lin Qiao felt nothing particular from her skin, yet she felt weird in her heart, especially when she had to maintain that position.


    She didn''t want him to come close to her before. But currently, Wu Chengyue had lost his mind; so no matter what he might do, he was only driven by his instincts, and wouldn''t have any hidden intentions. That was relatively acceptable for Lin Qiao, so she felt less repulsive to the physical contact with him.


    Since he didn''t intend to do anything particularly, Lin Qiao decided to find a place to hide from the rain first.


    She slowly moved backward and tried to bring him to somewhere else step by step. She didn''t dare to stimulate him, in case he went crazy again.


    Once Lin Qiao moved her feet, Wu Chengyue raised his head and looked at her coldly. His eyes still wore no expression. He looked a little angry, but Lin Qiao wasn''t sure about that.


    Lin Qiao stopped moving to see if he would get angry. Wu Chengyue looked at her in the eyes and straightened up, also letting go of her left hand and only keeping her right hand held in his left hand.


    ''Eh?''


    With surprise, Lin Qiao glanced at his hand that was still holding her, then at her own left hand that was already free.


    That was unexpected! She raised her head and carefully observed Wu Chengyue''s eyes. The redness in his eyes had almost faded, but the dull look still lingered in them.


    She moved her feet slightly, then observed Wu Chengyue''s reaction. As she thought, he tightened his grip on her hand, but did nothing else.


    She held his hand and took a few steps sideways. Wu Chengyue followed her with a poker face.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then brought Wu Chengyue into her space. She decided to try to suppress gun with the power of her space. If that didn''t work, she would have no choice but to bring him back out.


    As Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue showed up in the woods in her space, a tense atmosphere instantly emerged inside.


    Feeing the threat, Wu Chengyue boosted up his vibe immediately and created a strong wave of air stream, spreading it in the woods.


    The wind roared across the space, and a series of thunder were heard in the next second.


    The other zombies in her space froze under the strong vibe that emerged suddenly along with the great pressure from the thunder power. They all turned to look at the woods with fright.


    Lu Tianyi knitted his brows into a frown. He was disabled from moving under that pressure as well. Nonetheless, he found that strong vibe familiar. Wasn''t that Wu Chengyue''s vibe?


    He figured that Lu Tianyu had brought Wu Chengyue into the space. But, what caused that strong airstream? Also, Wu Chengyue''s vibe was fierce and disordered, completely not the same as before.


    Mo Yan, who was in a room upstairs, was also frowning. His nucleus was broken, yet his vibe was no weaker than Wu Chengyue''s. Therefore, the energy wave that Wu Chengyue caused could barely affect him. However, that man''s disordered vibe clearly stated how abnormal he was.


    He felt as if Wu Chengyue had lost control of himself, like he used to. He possessed lightning power too. No one but he knew what that disordered lightning energy meant.


    He wondered why the zombie lady brought the crazy Wu Chengyue into her space. Wasn''t she afraid that he might blow the space up? Or, was her space powerful enough to suppress a level-eight lightning-powered man?


    Lin Qiao didn''t know if her space was able to suppress a level-eight being with the lightning power. It did manage to suppress other level-eight people before though.


    As Wu Chengyue suddenly released his power, Lin Qiao hurriedly stepped backward, then raised her free hand and pressed toward Wu Chengyue. The power of the space was gathered by her, pressing down on Wu Chengyue from all directions.


    Under the pressure, Wu Chengyue instantly had his face twisted. He popped his eyes and furrowed his brows. His lips that were pressing together now tightened, baring his clenched teeth. He was fighting against the space.


    Still, he didn''t let Lin Qiao''s other hand go. On the contrary, he held her even tighter, nearly breaking her wrist.


    That tight grip didn''t cause Lin Qiao a pain. But, she gritted her teeth and lay a heavier pressure on him.


    Wu Chengyue was fighting hard against the space, and Lin Qiao was having a very hard time as well. She felt that the space was nearly going out of her control.


    Wu Chengyue had no idea that the threat he sensed was caused by Lin Qiao''s movement.


    Wu Chengyue struggled for a short while, then sensed the pressure grow slightly weaker. At that very moment, he abruptly pulled Lin Qiao into his arms and held her tight to shield her while fighting against the space power.


    Lin Qiao was dumbfounded by his movement. She never thought that Wu Chengyue would still want to protect her. As she paused in shock, the power of the space escaped from her control.


    Wu Chengyue took the opportunity to free himself from the pressure. In the meanwhile, he boosted his energy and spread it to the surrounding area while holding Lin Qiao and vigilantly looking around.


    Earlier when Lin Qiao suppressed Wu Chengyue with the space power, the other zombies in the space felt slightly better. However, in just a few seconds, Wu Chengyue''s energy suddenly erupted.


    Lu Tianyi, who was attempting to run away from the woods, only managed to take two steps before he froze again. He couldn''t help but want to yell at the two in the woods¡ª''Can''t you play on the outside? We''re gonna be scared to death!''

 896 The Space Cant Suppress Him

    Lin Qiao sighed and helplessly realized that her plan hadn''t worked.


    After her energy nucleus was disabled, her control of the space had grown weaker. Consequently, she wasn''t able to suppress the crazy Wu Chengyue.


    As Wu Chengyue was infuriated, Lu Tianyi and the other zombies all froze under the pressure, without daring to make any move. On the other side of the lake, the mutated goats and roe deer lay on the ground and curled themselves up.


    Half of those mutated goats and roe deer were babies.


    Rumbling thunder could be heard. There were no dark clouds in the space, yet Wu Chengyue managed to bring down a few lightning bolts from the sky and make them land on the trees.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The lightning exploded on the trees and caused dazzling sparks, but failed to deliver any harm to them.


    Sensing Wu Chengyue''s surging energy, Lin Qiao had no choice but to take him out of the space. Since her space had failed to suppress him, there was no reason for them to stay in there.


    After exiting the space, Wu Chengyue still held Lin Qiao tightly. He held her hand with one hand while the other arm held her waist. A short while later, he sensed that the threat was gone, and then slightly raised his head to look around.


    The aroma that he liked filled his nose and kept him from going crazier.


    Lin Qiao stood still, her clothes still soaked. Being held by him, she could sense the warmth from his body. Thankfully, the weather wasn''t hot, and the rain had been keeping her cool, so she didn''t feel uncomfortable.


    She couldn''t go into her space, neither return to the base. So, she decided to find a building to hide from the rain first. However, they were in the suburban area, and were a couple of miles away from the city. Wu Chengyue was in bad condition, so she couldn''t bring anyone else out of the base to drive the car for her. Wu Chengyue might not like that. Even if he wouldn''t mind, the zombies from her space would be too frightened to even move under his vibe. After all, their levels were all relatively low.


    So¡­ she had no choice but to walk.


    But before that, she needed to wait for the crazy man to calm down.


    Following the earth-shaking thunder, a wave of lightning bolts landed on the ground less than five meters away from them and blew up the plants. Her body was held tight, so she could do nothing else but raise her head to look at the sky. Lightning bolts wriggled through the dark clouds and fell from time to time.


    She spent a short while observing the sky, then suddenly found that fewer and fewer lightning bolts were falling from the sky, and the lightning in the clouds was fading. Meanwhile, she sensed the waving lightning energy ease down and slowly shrink back toward Wu Chengyue''s body.


    At that moment, she suddenly heard¡ª''Owowowowowow¡­''


    That weird dog bark obviously came from Bowwow. Since Bowwow had shown up, the other two creatures must be nearby. Lin Qiao was surprised that her three pets that were left outside the base had found her.


    Here came a real dog.


    Hearing Bowwow''s sound, Wu Chengyue, who was slowly calming down, once again grew alarmed, as if he had sensed that his territory was invaded.


    He immediately raised his head, vigilance turning to where Bowwow''s sound came from. The air pressure around him rose again. The thunder was heard again, and the lightning that had faded not long ago reappeared in the clouds.


    Lin Qiao could only watch him act like a wild beast speechlessly.


    Wu Chengyue''s vibe was way too strong, so Bowwow and his little friends didn''t dare to come close to him. They showed up on a hill near the highway, and the dog howled toward Lin Qiao.


    "Owowowowo¡­" ''Oi! We want to get to you, but we can''t! What are you two playing? Is it fun?''


    Lin Qiao didn''t want to respond to the dog at all. ''It''s not fun at all,'' she said in her heart.


    Wu Chengyue, who had finally quieted down a little, was irritated again. On his side, Lin Qiao felt frustrated as well.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue suddenly looked around. The highway was too broad and empty. Being there gave him no sense of security, so he decided to leave and to find somewhere safe.


    Hence, he instinctively jumped into action.


    Lin Qiao suddenly found herself carried in his arms before she could even react and froze slightly. Before she could do anything, she heard the wind roaring across her ears and felt the raindrops hit against her face.


    She turned and looked around, finding that Wu Chengyue had already leaped high into the sky, stepped on top of the street lights and darted toward the city.


    She maintained the posture and slowly put one hand behind his neck, prepared to give him a strike while he wasn''t paying attention to her. However, Wu Chengyue stopped moving once she raised her hand. He stood on top of a street light and dropped his head to look at her expressionlessly and coldly.


    Lin Qiao honestly didn''t know what to say.


    Why did she feel a little guilty and unconfident under his gaze? Why? What happened?


    As a result, she quietly dropped her hand.


    The two of them spent a few seconds looking at each other in the eyes. After that, Wu Chengyue turned his eyes away from her and kept moving forward. Soon, they started to see buildings. Wu Chengyue held her and hopped onto the roofs, moving toward the tallest building.


    Lin Qiao could even sense her three pets, which had been following behind her and Wu Chengyue, and keeping a very, very long distance from them.


    She seemed also to smell Xiao Licheng and some other people. The rain was brushing away their scents. She wouldn''t be able to grasp those faint scents if her sense of smell wasn''t better than that of dogs.


    It didn''t take her long to figure it out that Xiao Licheng and his people were there to keep an eye on Wu Chengyue. Wu Chengyue had lost control of himself, but they couldn''t leave him alone. He was their Chief after all.


    Except for Xiao Licheng and his people, Lin Qiao had also sensed the scents of Duan Juan and some All Beings Base people. Clearly, they came together.


    At that moment, they were miles away from her and Wu Chengyue.


    "Are they really going this way?" Xiao Licheng asked Duan Juan who was in the backseat uncertainly.


    Duan Juan turned to Shen Yujen, who was sitting beside her.


    Shen Yujen glanced outside the window, then nodded and said, "It is this way. I can smell my Chief, and I can also feel Chief Wu''s energy waves. Can''t you guys feel it?"


    Xiao Licheng thought for a few seconds, then responded, "No. They''re probably too far away from us. Can you sense how far are they from here?"


    Shen Yujen shook her head.


    Xiao Licheng turned to Duan Juan and continued, "Does your Chief really know how to deal with the problem? What if she can''t fix it?"


    After all, his Chief was a very powerful man. Lu Tianyu was now a powerful being too, but in Xiao Licheng''s eyes, she was still weaker than Wu Chengyue.


    Duan Juan shrugged and said, "If not even our Chief can solve it, we''ll have to wait for your Chief to wake up by himself."


    If Lin Qiao couldn''t fix the problem, no one else could. Even Si Kongchen might not deliver a better result.

 897 A Few Rats

    Wu Chengyue brought Lin Qiao into a room on the top floor of a tall building and then put her down. After that, he didn''t do anything else but keep holding her hands. It seemed that he would stay quiet as long as she was with him.


    In fact, it was her aroma that had been keeping him quiet. Of course, Lin Qiao didn''t know about that.


    Soon, Sea City Base people heard that Wu Chengyue had lost his mind. But, under the orders from Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui, that news didn''t spread.


    "Why now? What should we do? Who has the power to wake him up?" Xiao Yunlong furrowed his brows and said with anxiety, suffering a serious headache.


    The people from Huaxia Base and the other bases were coming to Sea City Base to talk about the deal. However, at that very point in time, the strongest man in their base had gone crazy. Those people would certainly make some unwanted moves as Wu Chengyue wouldn''t be there to guard his base. So, they mustn''t know about it.


    Zou Shihui was wearing a deep frown as well. He was a lot calmer than Xiao Yunlong though. He thought for a moment and then said, "Can''t Miss Lu from All Beings Base turns herself invisible? She should be no weaker than you and I. If even she cannot fix him, what else can we possibly do? We might not even be able to get close to Wu Chengyue."


    He was right. Except for Miss Lu, no one else was strong enough to knock him out and be able to approach him.


    "So, she''s out only hope¡­ What if she fails? What should we do? Are we gonna watch him stay crazy?" said Xiao Yunlong.


    Obviously, he believed that the zombie lady wouldn''t succeed so easily. In his eyes, Wu Chengyue was super, super strong!


    Zou Shihui looked at him and responded with a sigh, "Don''t be so negative. She might be able to fix the problem. Besides, our first priority now is to make sure no one else knows about this."


    "Yes, that''s for sure," Xiao Yunlong put on a serious look.


    The people from Sea City Base and All Beings Base pinned their hope on Lin Qiao. However, little did they know that Lin Qiao had been trying everything to look for an opportunity to attack Wu Chengyue. But every time she did it, he would look straight at her, and then she would have to drop her hand.


    A couple of times later, Lin Qiao finally learned that Wu Chengyue had very keen sensations. He would discover it once she had that intention. However, he didn''t do anything to her every time he detected her intent, but only looked at her with a pair of cold and pretty eyes.


    Every time he looked at Lin Qiao with those slightly red eyes, Lin Qiao would somehow feel guilty and struggle a little, as if she had done something bad.


    Duan Juan, Xiao Licheng, and their people took cover hundreds of meters away from Wu Chengyue''s building. They carried the objects that contained Lin Qiao''s blood, so the zombies near them had moved far away. They only needed to look out for mutated creatures.


    "Chief''s energy seems to have eased down again. But, I don''t think he has woken up. What on earth is his condition like right now?" Xiao Licheng carefully sensed the vibe from the top floor. All he could feel was his Chief''s calmed vibe.


    Earlier on, his Chief''s vibe disappeared for a short while and soon reappeared. By that time, his vibe was agitated, and it soon moved into the city. As he and his people followed the vibe to the city, he found it growing stable again.


    Did he wake up or not?


    His Chief was special even when he lost his mind and fell into madness.


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen looked at Xiao Licheng with confusion, both shaking their heads.


    Other superpowered people crazily released their energies when they lost their minds, but unlike them, Wu Chengyue only cause lightning strikes from time to time. However, the thunder never stopped rumbling in the sky.


    Did he really lose the control of himself or not? What on earth was he doing? He was known as the most powerful human being, but¡­ his energy did seem to run crazy. It wasn''t as scary as people thought it would be anyways.


    Despite that, those people still didn''t dare to get closer, and feel how out-of-control Chief Wu was at closer range.


    "Our Chief is with Chief Wu. Is it because of her?" Shen Yujen raised her head toward the top floor and sniffed the air, then turned to say to the others.


    Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng looked at her. They were human beings, and their sensations weren''t as sharp as Shen Yujen''s. Hearing what she said, they both found it to be possible.


    It had been so long, but Miss Lu still didn''t bring Wu Chengyue back awake. It seemed that things were troublesome for her too.


    The group of people wanted to know what exactly was going on at the moment, but didn''t dare to go anywhere near the two. They were so curious, but had to stay patient.


    At that time, Shen Yujen abruptly turned and sniffed toward another direction, then frowned and said to Duan Juan, "Some people are coming after you."


    On hearing that, Duan Juan immediately figured out whom she was talking about. She too furrowed her brows, her eyes showing a fierce look.


    "What people?" Xiao Licheng looked at the two confusedly.


    Duan Juan glanced at him, then sneered and said, "There''re a few rats. Since they''ve come here, I can''t possibly let them go."


    Then, she turned to Shen Yujen and said, "They had the courage to follow us here, so I think we should let them stay here forever. If they die out there, their death won''t have anything to do with our base anyway."


    "There''re quite some of them," Shen Yujen looked at her and said, "We''re shorthanded. It''s gonna be a little hard for us to kill them all."


    It was a little hard, but not impossible.


    Duan Juan smiled coldly and said, "Haven''t you sensed it? Look that way¡­" While speaking, she pointed at one direction.


    Shen Yujen and Xiao Licheng looked that way but saw nothing. However, as they focused their sensations, they both sensed a faint, familiar vibe.


    "That''s¡­ Eh? Bowwow and his friends?" Shen Yujen quickly found out who they were.


    Duan Juan nodded smilingly.


    All the people on the scene knew about Lin Qiao''s three pets.


    "But, they only listen to Chief. Will they cooperate with us?" Shen Yujen hesitated.


    Xiao Licheng was completely fine with Duan Juan''s suggestion. The two ladies wanted to take out the group of ''rats'', and so did he. After all, the fewer people knew that his Chief had gone mad, the better. Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng had blocked the leakage of the news from inside All Beings Base, but their powers didn''t cover the outside world.


    Based on the attitude of Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, Xiao Licheng chose to stand on their side without thinking.

 898 Start to Fight Back

    "We don''t need them to cooperate with us. We just need to cooperate with them. See this?" Duan Juan smilingly dangled the small thing that contained Lin Qiao''s blood and said, "Draw them there."


    "Are you saying that¡­" Shen Yujen had her eyes glowing. She understood what Duan Juan meant. The latter planned to bring the enemies into the territory of Lin Qiao''s three pets. The three wouldn''t attack them because they had Lin Qiao''s scent, but the people who were following behind them didn''t.


    "And we only have to make sure none of them gets away," Duan Juan gave a meaningful smile, then stood up and said, "Let''s move."


    While speaking, she glanced at Xiao Licheng, and the latter nodded. They quickly left with their subordinates and jumped into action.


    Under Liu Wan''s lead, two level-five men and a dozen at level three and two followed behind Duan Juan and her people, keeping a distance from them. Through the telescope, Liu Wan saw Duan Juan and her people leave, driving toward the thundercloud.


    Not long ago, he came out of the hospital after visiting Zuo Chen and then heard that Chief Wu from Sea City Base had gone mad. The Chief lady from All Beings Base went after him to try and stop him. As both of them had left the base, their subordinates would certainly follow.


    He heard that Duan Juan had gone out of the base too, and that she only brought three people with her, none of whom was super strong. One of them was at level-six, Duan Juan was at level-five, and Shen Yujen was at level-four. Liu Wan planned to deal with the level-six man himself, and let the others take care of the two ladies.


    The other man was a level-two driver. Clearly, Liu Wan didn''t take him seriously.


    With that plan, Liu Wan and his people immediately left the base. Since Shen Yujen was with Duan Juan, he decided to capture both of them together. No one would know what happened to them outside the base. Liu Wan believed that as long as he and his people didn''t tell, even Chen Yuting wouldn''t find out anything.


    "Follow them. Don''t let them run away. We have to get those two women this time. The other two people don''t matter, just keep them busy," Liu Wan quickly gave his order. Following his words, his people speedily got into the cars and chased behind their targets.


    On the other side, Duan Juan and her people approached Bowwow and his friends, then quickly got off the car and hid in a building, waiting for Liu and his men to arrive in ambush.


    Bowwow and his friends sensed them coming. They sensed Lin Qiao''s scent from them, so they made no particular reactions, basically ignoring them. But not long after that, the three creatures sensed some strange scents. Those people who didn''t carry Lin Qiao''s scent immediately made Black and Bowwow grow alert.


    Bowwow stood up from a corner of a roof, then raised his ears and reared up his head to sniff around. Once again, he confirmed that those people didn''t carry Lin Qiao''s scent, and then he narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth.


    "Roar¡­ owoo¡­" He gave a deep growl from his throat.


    Hearing his voice, the mushroom that was hiding in the stair room and Black, who was coiled on top of the room, instantly stuck their heads out. In fact, Black''s body had covered the entire roof, looking very eye-catching.


    Normally, no creatures would have the courage to intrude an area that was occupied by the vibes of a level-six mutated beast and a level-six zombie beast.


    Their vibes had dominated the area temporarily.


    However, two groups of people had entered the area. One group carried the scent of their owner, and the other didn''t. The three beasts instinctively grew vigilance toward the people who didn''t have Lin Qiao''s scent.


    Black wriggled off the roof and landed on the platform, putting his head on top of the guardrail as he lazily looked at where Bowwow was looking with his snake eyes. The scared mushroom was still hiding in the stair room. Sticking its head out of the door was the most it could do.


    Bowwow kept his voice very low. Except for his two friends, no one else could hear him.


    Duan Juan and her people clearly sensed the Bowwow had grown alarmed, as if he was facing some kind of danger.


    "Wait! Wan, why do I feel that there''s something dangerous near those people?" One of the two level-five men sitting behind Liu Wan suddenly said with a frown. As human beings, they weren''t as sensitive as animals. However, the man who talked was a possessor of spirit power. He had relatively sharper sensations than the others did.


    "Did you feel something?" Liu Wan who turned back from the front seat and asked the man.


    If those words came from someone else, he would ignore it. However, he had to take what that spirit-power possessor said seriously.


    The spirit-powered man knitted his brows and focused his sensations on the surrounding area, but sensed nothing this time.


    Uncertainly and confusedly, he said, "Just now, I felt that something dangerous was targeting us for a moment. But now, that feeling is gone."


    "Maybe you were being paranoid." The other level-five man looked at him and said.


    Bowwow had restrained his vibe and hidden himself, and Black did the same. They both spontaneously triggered their predatory nature. Their vibes had been concealed entirely, yet their eyes were cold, containing an intention of killing.


    They were like predators in the jungle, preparing to give their prey a lethal strike.


    Bowwow swiftly leaped off the ten-story building and took over on the ground, avoiding Duan Juan and her people before darting at Liu Wan''s car from the behind.


    Meanwhile Black stayed where he was and spent a moment sensing Bowwow''s vibe and movements. Clearly, it had figured out Bowwow''s plan. The snake instantly sneaked toward the targets frontally and crawled near Duan Juan and her people to observe the targets from a short distance.


    All this while, the mushroom stayed on the roof alone. As its two little friends both went down, it jumped out and looked around. Feeling that its friends were hunting, it wanted to hunt too.


    Bowwow and Black both went after the second group of people, so the mushroom would, of course, do the same. After all, the first group of people carried its owner''s scent.


    The mushroom went off the building like a gust of wind, moving swiftly toward Bowwow.


    Duan Juan and the others could no longer sense the three creatures'' vibes. However, Shen Yujen was able to sense the changes of the zombie dog''s location with her nose.


    "They''re launching an attack!" said Shen Yujen delightedly. At first, she was worried that Duan Juan''s plan might not work. As things happened exactly like how Duan Juan predicted, she felt as if they had won the lottery.


    "Let''s go too! We can''t let those rats run away!" Duan Juan instantly restrained her vibe and flashed out of the car with a frosty look.


    Xiao Licheng and Shen Yujen quickly got out of the car too, leaving the level-two driver alone in the car.

 899 Lin Qiaos Order

    On the top floor of that building, Lin Qiao was standing in the room with her hands held by Wu Chengyue, doing absolutely nothing.


    It was an office building. The room that Wu Chengyue found used to be a rest room attached to the office of a senior staff in a company.


    One wall of the room was a single-sided mirror, forbidding people from looking into the room from the outside, but allowing the people within to see everything outside. At the same time, there was a window on another wall.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Chengyue who had calmed down and become like a robot, then slowly moved toward the window.


    Once she moved, Wu Chengyue followed. He didn''t forbid her from moving in the room, but kept holding her hands. At present, the two of them were like conjoined twins. Wherever Lin Qiao went, he would follow.


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue''s hands which were holding hers tightly and gave a sigh. She couldn''t defeat him, neither did she have a chance to attack him at the back. She had to figure out another way to put him down.


    She remembered Lin Hao say that her lake water could work.


    Since she wasn''t able to knock Wu Chenyue out, she decided to try to make him drink some of the lake water.


    By the window side, she sensed the scents of two groups of people from the air. It was Duan Juan, Xiao Licheng, their people, and the ones who were trying to get themselves killed in the base.


    Lin Qiao sensed that Bowwow and his friends had been sneakily approaching the group of people.


    She paused briefly with surprise, then figured out what had happened. Those people were probably coming after Duan Juan and Shen Yujen. Since they had left the base, they should not go back. If they stayed in the base, Lin Qiao would deal with them slowly. But now, as they had brought themselves out of the base to die, she would surely do as they wished.


    "Roar!" She abruptly gave a resonant roar toward the outside.


    About six-hundred meters away from her building, Bowwow, Black, and the mushroom, who were sneakily approaching Liu Wan and his people, paused simultaneously. In the next second, their vibes all changed. A cold intention of killing was detected from them, but it soon disappeared.


    Lin Qiao ordered them to kill every single one of those people.


    Shen Yujen heard Lin Qiao''s voice as well, so she delightedly whispered to Duan Juan, "Chief has found them. She ordered Bowwow and his friends to kill them. They won''t get away this time!"


    Duan Juan nodded and kept sneaking toward Liu Wan and his people.


    Liu Wan, who had no idea that Bowwow was already behind his car, heard the zombie roar and changed his expressions. Meanwhile, the spirit-powered man had his face paling, and he said with fear, "Damn! There''s a zombie dominator! It was giving its order just now!"


    On hearing that, Liu Wan had his face turning pale as well. He instantly turned to look outside the window. As the man said, the zombies nearby had started gathering toward his car.


    "Roar¡­"


    "Roarrr¡­"


    That area didn''t have a large population of zombies, and Liu Wan and his people had killed a lot of them at first. However, more and more zombies were being attracted there by their scents.


    At that moment, Liu Wan sensed a severe crisis. He realized that not only the zombies nearby would gather to his car, but the ones from further areas would come over too.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! In the car behind Liu Wan''s, a few men stuck their guns out of the windows to shoot at the zombies.


    A zombie, whose head was hanging loosely on his neck with a twisted face, reached out both hands and quickly rushed at that car. The zombie''s eyes were purely black and teeth bared.


    Bang! A bullet sank into his body and made him pause for half a second. After that, the zombie kept charging at the car.


    "Roar!"


    Bang! To shoot a zombie down, the bullet had to hit the zombie in the head. Therefore, the one who made the first shot instantly added a shot at the zombie''s dangling head.


    That zombie suddenly and creepily swung his head to the other side, swift enough to dodge the second bullet.


    That was a level-one zombie which was running very fast. He had his eyes on those people since long ago. Earlier on, the whole area was occupied by the vibes of Lin Qiao, Bowwow, and his friends, so he didn''t dare to come close.


    But now, as the dominator had given her order, he was allowed to rush out and hunt for food!


    After dodging the bullet, the zombie suddenly bent his body and legs, springing up and pouncing on the car behind Liu Wan''s car.


    The bullets were useless. Seeing the zombie jumping at the car, one of the four who were standing on the car roof immediately raised both arms and sent a wave of sharp ice pieces toward the zombie.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The sharp ice pieces pierced into the zombie''s body. One of them went into his left eye and came out from the back of his head.


    Thud! Just like that, the zombie fell from the air.


    From the time the zombie showed up to his death, everything happened within a few seconds. The people on and in the car stayed highly alert, even wishing that they could see every single corner around them, in case a zombie jumped out of a blind spot and bit them to death.


    The people who followed Liu Wan out of the base to carry out the mission were all elites. They were experienced in fighting zombies, armed to the teeth, and all had superpowers. Their mission was to capture Duan Juan and Shen Yujen. However, before they could even approach their targets, they were surrounded by zombies.


    Normally when they were surrounded by a large number of zombies, they would quickly move to a high spot to clean out some of those zombies, then find a relatively good cover for themselves.


    But now, more and more zombies were attracted to them, all agitated. A large crowd of zombies was following behind them, and more had been coming from the front or the side.


    Duan Juan and her people would certainly hear the noises they created.


    "Tell them not to shoot! Use their powers! Quicken up and get to Duan Juan and her people, bring these zombies to them as well!" Liu Wan turned and glanced at the car behind, wearing a grim look.


    A level-five man in the backseat talked to the people in the car behind through an interphone, "Don''t shoot! Fight with your superpowers!"


    The gunshots stopped, being replaced by the sounds of explosions and zombie roars.


    Liu Wan looked ahead and raised his arms from time to time to create earth walls to defend against the zombies that pounced from both sides of his car. But suddenly, something flashed across his sight.


    Bang! He felt that something had landed on top of his car.


    "Owooooo!" A weird but resonant roar was heard.


    Liu Wan and his people instantly froze, as if they had fallen into an ice hole. They all realized that what they heard was a roar from a zombie beast.


    The roof of Liu Wan''s car was empty. The people who were standing on top of the other car turned and saw a giant mutated beast standing on their boss''s car roof, letting out a zombie roar.

 900 Give Him The Water With Her Mouth

    Looking at the huge dog that looked like both a mutated beast and a zombie beast, the people on the second car were stunned and unwittingly relaxed their vigilance. In the outside world, a slight moment of carelessness could cost one''s life.


    At that very moment, a level-three zombie suddenly jumped at the people on top of the car at lightning speed. Those people came back to their senses, but it was already too late for them to do anything. Within a blink, the zombie had already pounced on them.


    "Ah!" A man was pressed down on the car roof while the other three automatically leaped off the car roof. However, they all ended up drowning in the zombie crowd.


    "Roar¡­"


    "Roar!"


    By that time, Bowwow had lowered his body, looking at Liu Wan and his people through the windshield. At the same time, he raised a forepaw and slapped on the glass.


    Crack¡­


    The glass shattered entirely, and the driver hit the brakes. The car turned sideways, almost bumping into the utility pole nearby.


    While Liu Wan and his people were in a very critical situation, Duan Juan and her people had found a high spot and started watching the fight through telescopes.


    On the other side, after giving her order, Lin Qiao took out a cup of lake water from her space. Holding the water, she raised her head to look at Wu Chengyue''s face and thought for a moment, then slowly raised the cup, gently touching Wu Chengyue''s pretty lips with it.


    Wu Chengyue slightly turned his face and narrowed his eyes as he looked at the water coldly. The cup was very close to him, so he almost cross-eyed. He took a single glance at the cup of water before he moved his head backward, away from it.


    Seeing his reaction, Lin Qiao pulled a long face.


    Good. He was not interested in the cup of lake water! What should she do now? Force him to drink it?


    While thinking, Lin Qiao reached the cup toward Wu Chengyue again, and then saw him turn his face further away.


    Well, there was again a problem. She was having one hand held tightly by the man and the other holding the cup. How on earth was she supposed to make the man drink the water?


    She tried it a few times. Suddenly, Wu Chengyue''s vibe went disorderly, and then grew stronger. He abruptly raised his free hand to slap off the cup that was put before his face by Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao swiftly took the cup away and dodged his move in time.


    Failing to slap the cup off Lin Qiao''s hand, Wu Chengyue had his energy boosted again, with his eyes fixed on the cup.


    Lin Qiao honestly didn''t know what to say.


    She silently turned her head away and sighed, then drank the water herself and put the cup back into her space.


    Wu Chengyue watched her drink the water, then stared at her squirming throat. His vibe calmed down once again. After Lin Qiao drank that water, he stared straight at Lin Qiao''s moist, lightly pink lips.


    Abruptly, he blinked his eyes, and the redness in those eyes grew deeper.


    Lin Qiao suddenly sensed an indescribable danger from him, so she quickly turned and look at him vigilantly. Then, she found that he was gazing at her lips without blinking.


    For some reason, she knitted her brows and had her scalp numb.


    What did that look in his eyes mean? He didn''t want to kiss her, did he?


    Once that idea popped up in her mind, Wu Chengyue leaned his head toward her. She instantly leaned her head backward and turned her face away to dodge. Meanwhile, she raised her free hand to push against Wu Chengyue''s chin, and her own chin was gripped in his hand.


    ''Damn! He has lost his mind, yet he still wants to take advantage of me!''


    Lin Qiao wanted to throw Wu Chengyue into a wasteland and leave a thousand mutated beasts upon him!


    Even though she managed to turn away her face and push against Wu Chengyue''s face in time, her strength wasn''t as good as his at that moment.


    He forcibly turned her face back and pressed his toward her, against her hand. `


    At first, Lin Qiao cursed Wu Chengyue in her head a hundred times, but then started feeling speechless. She was a level-seven zombie after all! She should be stronger than humans by many times over! Why on earth was Wu Chengyue so strong now? Was he still a human being?


    It was reasonable though. Some other superpowered people created holes on the metal wall of the isolated wards when they lost control of themselves. Their strengths might have grown at that time.


    As her face was turned back, Lin Qiao had no choice but to step backward. But soon, her waist thudded against the wall near the window. There was no more space behind her.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue had pressed his lips against her.


    That was not a gentle kiss; he opened his mouth and bit her lips directly.


    Lin Qiao was very, very unhappy about it.


    ''Damn! I''m a zombie! Why on earth am I feeling a sting from my lips!''


    That sting wasn''t bad actually. It was more like a strange feeling spreading on her lips, after numbness.


    At that very moment, a startling thought occurred to Lin Qiao.


    ''Right! He wouldn''t drink from the cup, so why don''t I give him the water with my mouth? As long as he drinks it! No matter how! We have¡­ We have done something much more intimate than this anyway!''


    With that thought, Lin Qiao put forth her strength and turned her face away again. In the meanwhile, she dropped the hand that was pushing against Wu Chengyue''s face. A cup of water showed up in that hand in the next moment. She quickly poured that water into her mouth, then swiftly turned her head back and took the initiative to kiss Wu Chengyue''s lips.


    Wu Chengyue paused briefly and felt agitated again, because the soft and sweet taste in his mouth was gone. However, before he could do anything, Lin Qiao kissed him.


    Her soft tongue wriggled into his mouth and quickly opened his jaw. Then, she sent the water in her mouth into his.


    Wu Chengyue, who was thirsty for the liquid from her mouth, instantly swallowed the water. Then, his tongue broke into her mouth and entangled with hers, as if it just caught a prey.


    He slowly relaxed his grip on her chin and instinctively held her in his arms. His hand that held her hand all the time was now wrapped around her waist, bringing her closer to him.


    After giving him the water, Lin Qiao attempted to move backward and pour some more water into her own mouth. However, he didn''t let her. His tongue aggressively entangled with her tongue, stirring her mouth and sucking her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t need to breathe, so she wouldn''t feel dizzy or limp. But, her lips were still sensitive. The numbness spread into her mouth, reaching her tongue from her lips.


    She had only given him one mouthful of water. It was far from enough to wake him up from the madness. She needed to give him more water in the same way. Thinking about that made her feel utterly troubled.

 901 Hes Finally Down

    She struggled to pull her tongue out of his mouth, then quickly turned her head away and poured the second cup of water into her own mouth. After that, she turned back her head once again and kissed him.


    When kissing her, Wu Chengyue''s vibe would calm down, and when she struggled away from that kiss, he would be agitated again until she kissed him again. The whole process happened repeatedly five times. At last, Lin Qiao couldn''t even feel her lips and tongue anymore.


    Wu Chengyue kissed her gentler and gentler. At first, he slightly narrowed his eyes, and in the end, he closed his eyes and suddenly fell toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao held him automatically. However, realizing what she had just done, she pushed him away without thinking.


    Thud! After throwing Wu Chengyue to the ground, she sighed with relief, then looked outside the window and instantly sensed the blood scent from a distance away.


    By that time, Liu Wan and his people were all covered in blood, finding a place to hide in panic. Many of them had died. Currently, only five or six of them were still alive, crowding together.


    They were hiding in a bank vault. The thick door of the vault was made from a special alloy, and was very strong. Therefore, that place was safe.


    However, the ventilation system in the vault was no longer working, so they could not stay there for long.


    Liu Wan''s entire body was covered in fresh blood. It wasn''t his blood though. Earlier on, he had dragged over one of his subordinates to shield himself from the zombie dog''s claws. It was precisely that man''s blood.


    Back then, the zombie dog pounced on him like a storm, and Liu Wan didn''t manage to dodge. Before the dog''s sharp claws sank into his throat, he only had the time to pull over his subordinate who was standing by his side to protect himself.


    That gigantic, black zombie dog had a pair of purely black eyes that were glowing with a red light. The dog didn''t have scary wounds on its body like the other zombie beasts did, and had its body covered in clean and smooth fur. But still, its eyes clearly revealed its zombie nature.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The banging from the door was heard along with the shrill noises caused by claws scratching the mental door.


    For the time being, no zombie dogs or zombies could get into the vault. Thinking that, the group of people sighed with relief.


    "Is anybody hurt?" Liu Wan turned and looked at the others, all of whom shook their heads seriously.


    Liu Wan observed every one of them with sharp eyes. As none of them seemed to try to avoid eye-contact with him, he stopped worrying. If any of them was injured by zombies, Liu Wan would put a bullet in his head.


    They were in a sealed vault. He didn''t want any of his men to suddenly turn into a zombie and attack him later. They had to stay in the vault until those zombies outside lost the tracks of their scents and left. Until then, they couldn''t go out.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The noises from the door were as loud as ever.


    Liu Wan turned back to the door. He didn''t notice how pale the spirit-powered man was. The man quickly dropped his head so that the people wouldn''t notice his pale face.


    His eyes were filled with despair while he covered his left arm with his right hand tightly. Black blood was seeping out from between his fingers.


    Currently, there was no cure for the zombie virus. Anyone who was infected would have to die. The people who were infected would normally kill themselves before they turned into zombies, so that they wouldn''t have to become zombies and be killed by other people.


    However, the spirit-powered man didn''t want to die; he wanted to live. The transformation of every zombie cost various spans of time. He wanted to live as long as possible. Perhaps, the cure could be found tomorrow, or the day after that.


    With that extravagant hope, he decided not to tell the others about his injuries.


    But, his current situation made him hopeless. Not to mention if he and his people could still get out of this vault, he would have no ability to kill the zombies and protect himself even if he got out.


    Abruptly, the banging of the door stopped.


    Liu Wan instantly moved to the door and put his ear against it to listen to the sounds from the outside. The outside suddenly quieted down. Normally, the sudden quiet would make people feel threatened, just like how Liu Wan felt at that moment.


    He spent a short while listening very carefully, but heard no sounds at all. He frowned slightly, then stepped backward with vigilance and raised his head to look around.


    Seeing that, the others all grew alert and started paying attention to the surrounding environment.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Liu Wan stayed silent, but put a finger before his lips to signal for the others to be quiet.


    They stayed quiet and focused their hearings for about ten minutes, but still, no sound was heard. Nonetheless, Liu Wan didn''t relax after that.


    At that moment, Bowwow was burrowing very quickly somewhere outside the vault. There was a dent in that area, probably caused by something heavy that fell to the ground. The cement and floor tile were broken, providing Bowwow with convenience.


    Bowwow''s claws were harder than metal, so he burrowed speedily while the mushroom was watching him. The mushroom curled its roots from time to time and swung its head from side to side, seeming to be highly interested.


    Duan Juan and her people were standing outside the bank, chatting leisurely.


    "I think they''re hiding in the vault. That''s the only safe place. But, the power is off and the ventilation system isn''t working. There''s not much air in the vault," Duan Juan rested both hands in her trousers'' pocket and looked at the bank.


    They stood there carefree. The zombies near them were attracted by their scent, but didn''t dare to make any move as Lin Qiao''s blood was giving out a strong pressure. Not even one zombie approached them.


    "These people are so over-confident! If Chief hadn''t been so busy, she''d have given her order to finish them out long ago. Deputy Chief Yuan is not decisive enough at times," Shen Yujen snorted scornfully, then gave a sigh when she mentioned Yuan Tianxing.


    "These people brought themselves here to die. There''re more of them to be dealt with back in the base," Duan Juan smiled.


    Xiao Licheng turned to Wu Chengyue''s building with concern. He sensed Wu Chengyue''s vibe going up and down all the time, and didn''t know what was happening.


    That zombie Chief lady must be doing something! She wouldn''t take the opportunity to bully Wu Chengyue, would she? After all, the two of them weren''t getting along before.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao turned back and looked at Wu Chengyue, who was lying on the ground face down. Thinking about what happened earlier, she prayed in her heart.


    ''Please don''t remember this when you wake up! Please don''t remember this when you wake up! Please don''t remember this when you wake up!''


    If Wu Chengyue woke up to remember that he and Lin Qiao spent nearly one hour in that room kissing each other, and that she was the one who started it, he might do something that she would not like!

 902 Wu Chengyue Wakes Up

    It turned out that people couldn''t remember the things that happened while they were out of control.


    Lin Qiao stood by Wu Chengyue''s side with her arms folded, waiting for him to wake up.


    He actually woke up within one minute after he passed out. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the ground. The first thing he saw was the thick dust on the ground.


    He spent a few seconds blinking his eyes with confusion, then slowly got up from the ground and covered his forehead with a hand. Once he stood up, he saw Lin Qiao, who was expressionlessly leaning against the wall.


    "Where are we?" Wu Chengyue glanced at the unfamiliar environment and the dusty floor, then asked Lin Qiao.


    His clothes were wet, and so were the zombie lady''s. He then looked outside the window that was near the zombie lady. It looked like a rainy day.


    Why was he there with her?


    Wu Chengyue walked to the window and looked outside. He still didn''t know where he was.


    He then turned and looked at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows and said, "Don''t you remember that you had lost your mind? I spent quite some effort to wake you up."


    ''My lips are even swelling!'' she continued in her head.


    Her lips were a little purplish at the moment. Her blood was dark-red, so after the long kisses, her lips didn''t really swell, but did turn darker.


    "What happened to your lips?" Wu Chengyue abruptly fixed his eyes on her lips and asked with surprise.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    She did not want to talk to him!


    Wu Chengyue curiously looked at her and observed her.


    Her long hair were tied up at the back of her head, wet. Her face was as pale as usual, but moist. Her glowing, green eyes sparkled with a faint light; her purplish lips made her cheeks look paler than they really were.


    A moist lock of hair fell from her temple and got stuck on her side cheek.


    Her purplish lips were pressed together; added with her fierce vibe, a cold and charming presence was created. She was attractive to Wu Chengyue''s eyes in an indescribable way.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment calming herself down, then looked at him with composure and said, "Nothing. Since you''re already awake, let''s head back. Ling Ling passed out under your energy. Thankfully, you were still trying to protect her."


    Lin Qiao didn''t want to answer Wu Chengyue''s question, so she diverted his attention by mentioning Ling Ling.


    As she expected, Wu Chengyue grew nervous once he heard Ling Ling''s name, "What? Ling Ling passed out? How is she? Is she hurt?"


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue, who had moved closer to her and was looking at her nervously. She sensed a trace of fear from his heart. He was afraid to hear her say that he had hurt Ling Ling.


    "I only roughly checked her. No problem was found. As for exactly how she''s doing now, we need to go back and to find out," said Lin Qiao.


    A deep concern flashed across Wu Chengyue''s eyes, yet he concealed it. He raised his head and looked at Lin Qiao, "What about you? How did you¡­ wake me up?"


    He knew how powerful he was, and how destructive he might be when he lost control of himself. He woke up to see no one else but the zombie lady, and she had told him that it was her who woke him up.


    Wu Chengyue was very curious about what happened while he was out-of-control. No traces of fighting were left in the room, meaning that he wasn''t in madness when he was in this room with her. So, he guessed that she had knocked him out before bringing him there.


    On hearing his words, Lin Qiao twitched her mouth corners slightly. She stopped her own face from twisting, then responded expressionlessly, "That is not important. The important thing is that you''re awake. Let''s go. There''s something else for me to deal with."


    Those people were still alive. She needed to finish them.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her silently.


    Her clothes were still wet. Why didn''t she get changed? Even if she didn''t have dry clothes to change into, why didn''t she dry her clothes with her superpower? Wearing wet clothes must be very uncomfortable.


    Something was really wrong with her body, and it was pretty serious.


    Lin Qiao was wearing a long dress and a suit jacket. Her clothes were soaked, sticking on her skin and making her slightly bulging pregnant belly very obvious in Wu Chengyue''s eyes.


    Wu Chengyue had dried his own clothes already. As Lin Qiao turned around, he abruptly reached out a hand to hold her.


    "What are you doing¡­" Lin Qiao was stunned a little when Wu Chengyue held her hand, but didn''t automatically try to shake his hand off as she would before. Earlier on, he held her hands all the time. She was probably used to that already.


    Before she said anything else, a stream of warm energy was sent into her body and evaporated the moisture in her clothes and hair.


    Wu Chengyue let go of her hand right after she was dry, and didn''t wait for her to shake herself free.


    Lin Qiao dropped her head and glanced at her own clothes. Suddenly, she pulled a long face as she stayed silent and turned, heading straight toward the door.


    He found out about her condition. What could she possibly do?


    After watching Lin Qiao walk out of the room comfortable and dry, Wu Chengyue glanced at his own hand. For some reason, he felt something familiar just now when he held her hand.


    When he raised his head again, Lin Qiao was already gone. He quickly brushed his hair toward the back of his head and exposed his clean forehead. The sudden change of his hairstyle instantly sharpened his vibe.


    He spent a few seconds standing there quietly gazing at the door, then walked out.


    The zombie lady''s repulsive attitude toward him seemed to become subtle. It was not as strong as before. She was still keeping a distance from him, but except for that distance, something else was between her and him.


    She must have done something to him while he lost his mind, or he did something to her. That ''something'' caused the subtle atmosphere between them.


    Wu Chengyue curved his lips in a meaningful smile. He needed to figure out what exactly had happened.


    And her body¡­


    Thinking about that, he dropped his lip corners and walked out of the building with big steps.


    Lin Qiao found the stairs and got onto the roof, looking around. The rain had stopped, but the dark clouds hadn''t faded. A moist gust of wind blew across her, making her long hair and dress flutter.


    Wu Chengyue came up and saw her jump off the building, landing on a smaller building before moving toward where the vibes of Xiao Licheng and Duan Juan came from.


    He flashed across the air and disappeared from the roof, then showed up in front of Duan Juan and her people one step ahead of Lin Qiao. He looked at the huge snake that was coiling on top of the bank building, then asked those people curiously, "What''s going on here?"


    "Chief! You''re awake!" Xiao Licheng shouted gladly at the sight of him.

 903 Being Sold By Her Teammates

    "Who is in there?" Wu Chengyue stood under the eave and looked at the bank across the street as he asked.


    "Oh, it''s those people who arrived at All Being Base earlier," said Xiao Licheng, "those who''re planning on making trouble."


    "Those who plan to seduce her with a pretty man?" Wu Chengyue''s eyes turned cold, giving out an intention of killing.


    Not only All Beings Base people knew about what those people were secretly planning, Wu Chengyue did too.


    If All Beings Base people didn''t know about it and didn''t take precautions for it, he would have made a move long ago. He didn''t do anything because he was an outsider after all. However, he did plan to aid the zombie lady when she finally decided to take out those people.


    How dare those people cast their eyes on his girl!


    "How many of them are still alive? How strong are they?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "Six. One level-six earth-powered man, two level-five¡ªone spirit-powered and one fire-powered¡ªtwo level-three, and one level-two. I don''t think we need to do anything though. We just need to make sure that none of them will get away," Duan Juan answered the question for Xiao Licheng. While speaking, she cast a meaningful glance at the giant snake that was wriggling upon the bank.


    Wu Chengyue noticed the snake once he arrived. He heard what Duan Juan said and understood her meaning.


    At that point, Lin Qiao finally showed up.


    She glanced at the bank, then sniffed the air. After that, she fixed her eyes on the bank building and said, "One of them is infected. I wonder if Liu Wan knows about it."


    Having finished talking, she turned around and detected a weird atmosphere.


    Duan Juan, Xiao Licheng, and Shen Yujen were all staring straight at her purple-red lips.


    "What are you looking at?" Lin Qiao paused briefly, then pressed her lips together. In the next moment, the three of them turned their eyes to Wu Chengyue''s lips simultaneously.


    ''Why do I feel as if I''m going to be sold by my own team? Can I throw the three of them away?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    It was, of course, too late. The reaction of the three helped Wu Chengyue realize something that he didn''t realize before. He instantly turned to carefully observe Lin Qiao''s purple-red lips, then slowly smiled.


    The smile on his face was too bright to be looked at directly. The other three were all dazzled by that smile too so they turned their faces away together.


    No wonder he detected a subtle attitude from the zombie lady when he woke up. Did they kiss each other? Earlier on, he heard that the drug that she gave Ling Ling to bring down her power-awaking fever could wake up superpowered people from madness.


    His brain wasn''t working so well when he woke up, so he didn''t think of that immediately.


    Feeling that Wu Chengyue''s gaze grow scorching hot, Lin Qiao silently glanced at the sky.


    ''I didn''t see anything, and I don''t know anything!'' she said to herself.


    "Eh-hem, where''s Bowwow?" There seconds later, she failed to stay calm and quiet under the strong pressure.


    Duan Juan immediately turned to her and responded with, "He''s in there. We don''t know what he''s doing! Those people are hiding in the vault though."


    She told Lin Qiao about the power levels of those people. The latter narrowed her eyes slightly after hearing that. She had all the patience. Without doing anything, she expressionlessly waited there together with Duan Juan and her people.


    It would be better if someone could turn his burning eyes away from her though.


    Duan Juan and the other two turned their backs to Wu Chengyue. They seriously could not stand the obvious delight that was radiating from him.


    Shen Yujen was doing fine actually. She, as a married woman, was relatively strong. Unlike her, the other two who were still single felt like being tortured¡­


    About half an hour later, someone suddenly rushed out of the bank along with gunshots. A few disordered vibes could be sensed from the back. Apparently, a battle had started.


    "Owowooo¡­" Bowwow''s sound came out of the bank.


    The group of people darted out of the bank. But, before they could look around, a huge snakehead descended from the air, caught one of the two level-five men.


    "Ah¡­" The fire-powered man was brought into the sky before he could even react.


    Black didn''t eat him, but penetrated his body with his pair of fangs and swung him from side to side. Fresh blood sprayed all over the sky and fell like rain.


    Thud! Soon, that man was thrown to the ground like a piece of meat by Black.


    The dead man''s skin had turned dark-purple under the effect of Black''s venom. Blood had been flowing out of every opening of his body. The man''s stomach was torn open by the snake''s fangs, and all his internal organs had flown out.


    Meanwhile, Bowwow rushed out of the vault. Bullets and the attacks from those level two and three men landed on his body, being ignored by the dog completely. Without dodging, he pressed a man straight down to the ground and bit off his head entirely.


    Crack! Accidentally, he crushed the head with his teeth and swallowed it.


    "Bowwow! You can''t eat it!" Lin Qiao suddenly shouted out loud toward Bowwow. Following her voice, Liu Wan and his man instantly saw her and her people.


    "You!" Liu Wan popped his eyes and fiercely glared at Lin Qiao and the others.


    He wasn''t stupid. Hearing the Chief lady''s voice and looking at the giant dog''s bloody mouth, he immediately figured out that the dog was sent after him and his people by her.


    Lin Qiao flashed across the air and then showed up on top of a street light, which was about ten meters away from Liu Wan. She looked down at Liu Wan and the other two men who were still alive, then sneered and said, "Didn''t you follow us here? What? Are you surprised?"


    She made it pretty clear that she knew what they were trying to do.


    The look in Liu Wan''s eyes changed as he suddenly realized something. He clenched his teeth as he glared at her and said, "Do you know everything?"


    Based on what she said, he immediately figured out that she knew about his plan already. He thought his plan was perfect, yet his target knew every detail about it. Liu Wan suddenly felt that he, Zuo Chen, and his other people were like clowns that were being watched by some people who didn''t even take them seriously.


    He felt being despised, so humiliated, and also so angry.


    At that moment, only the sweating spirit-powered man and a level-three man were standing beside Liu Wan. The huge dog had killed a man back in the vault and one outside. The other man was killed by the snake from the roof.


    With a faint smile, Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes as she looked at him and said, "Yeah, I know what you''ve been trying to do. Do you know why aren''t you guys making any progress with Liu Jun and Lin Wenwen? It''s because we all know what you want. So, what do you think you can get from them? Well, that Zuo Chen surprised me though. He threw himself into a nestful of poisonous bugs before I did anything. Hehe¡­ I''ll visit him when I get back to the base. He might never recover."

 904 Xiao Licheng Takes The Blame

    "You¡­ You!" Liu Wan was so angry that he didn''t even know what to say. No matter what he said at the moment, nothing would possibly change. His plan had been exposed, and he didn''t have a chance to run.


    "We¡­ We didn''t do anything to¡­ harm the base, did we? You''re the leader of the base. Won''t it be too cruel for you to kill us all?" The pale-faced spirit-powered man talked abruptly.


    At that moment, his face was ghastly pale, covered in sweat. His lips were bluish, and a pair of dark circles had emerged under his eyes. Liu Wan and the other man had no spare attention for him, so they didn''t notice the strange look on his face.


    Hearing his words, Liu Wan instantly had his eyes glowing. "Yeah! He''s right!" He yelled at Lin Qiao, "Even if we had a bad intention toward you at first, we didn''t do anything to hurt your base. How can you kill us!"


    Lin Qiao snorted with laughter and then said, "You made an attempt but failed. Doesn''t that count? Should I wait until you have turned my base into yours? Besides, do you think that we''re still in the peaceful world before the apocalypse? We don''t follow laws or moral principles or anything like that now¡­ At present¡­ power is the only rule of the world."


    After saying that, she abruptly raised an arm and gave out her orders, "Bowow, go bite him! Yeah, bite that guy! Black, go and get that one! Yes, that one! Eh¡­ the last one here¡­ Mushroom, stop eating that one, come here and eat this one! He''s still alive!"


    Duan Juan and the others watched Lin Qiao direct her three pets to attack the three people. Even the mushroom who was sucking blood from dead bodies received an order too.


    The mushroom was enjoying its meal, so it made no response to Lin Qiao.


    ''Damn¡­ This mushroom doesn''t listen to me! Should I stew it together with a chicken back in the base?'' Lin Qiao said to herself.


    "Ah¡­ Don''t kill me!" The level-three man burst in screams, then turned and ran.


    The mushroom gave a start as it had detected a dangerous vibe from Lin Qiao. Next, it quickly dropped the dead body, raised its roots, and chased after the level-three man.


    In the mushroom''s eyes, the man was running very slowly. In the very next moment, it leaped high and jumped upon the man. Its roots covered the man''s body and drilled into the earth before they started growing. From its mushroom head, a few straws quickly reached out and sank into the man''s body.


    "Ahhhh!" Shrill screams could be heard immediately as blood and pasted flesh were sucked into those straws. A short while later, the mushroom pulled its roots out of the ground, supported its body with a few thick roots and left, leaving a drained corpse on the ground.


    Liu Wan was a level-six man. He created earth walls, earth thorns, and cracked the earth surrounding him to keep Bowwow from causing actual harm to him.


    The spirit-powered man was physically weak. Normally, he would launch attacks with his spirit power. However, as the moment, he felt so cold and his mind was blurred long ago. He wasn''t able to launch any effective attacks anymore, not to mention the fact that he was only at level-five. His power could barely hurt a level-six mutated beast even if it didn''t grow weaker.


    Therefore, he didn''t plan to fight, but run!


    But, as a level-six mutated beast, how could Black possibly let him run?


    The man-made a few steps backward, but all of a sudden, a dark figure flashed across his eyes. In the next moment, a huge snakehead descended from the air and whooshed up to his face, looking straight at him in the eyes.


    Those cold, rhombic, emotionless eyes and the long, fork-tongue that was sticking out of the flat snake mouth gave out a life-threatening vibe that shrouded the man.


    He popped his eyes and knelt to the ground, staring at the gigantic black snake which was less than two meters away from him. All his strength was gone, probably because he had mentally collapsed, or because the virus had attacked.


    Black was not in the mood of playing a game. He spent two seconds gazing at the man, then suddenly opened his mouth wide while baring his sharp fangs and gave the man a bite.


    Lin Qiao and her people coldly looked at Liu Wan, who fought for a couple of minutes under Bowwow''s attack. After that, Bowwow shattered an earth wall and pressed him down to the ground.


    The last thing Liu Wan saw was a widely opened mouth with sharp teeth, biting at his face.


    "Pah!" Bowwow was warned by Lin Qiao earlier, so, he didn''t swallow Liu Wan''s head this time. Instead, he swung his head and spat out the half head that he bit off, also letting out a few mouthfuls of blood mixed with his saliva.


    Of course, it wasn''t his blood.


    "Alright, let''s go home," Lin Qiao clapped her hands and nimbly leaped off the streetlight with a relaxed look on her face, as if she had just completed an important mission. She conveniently swung an arm and brought out an armed off-road car from her space, then sat into the backseat.


    She thought Duan Juan and Shen Yujen would take the driver''s seat and the front seat as always, but once she sat into the car, the door beside her was opened, and then Wu Chengyue got in.


    Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise, then looked outside the window and found Duan Juan being dragged away by Xiao Licheng. Duan Juan had her eyes on Lin Qiao the whole time, but didn''t hesitate to walk away together with Xiao Licheng.


    Shen Yujen sat on the driver''s seat and started the car, pretending not to know anything.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. She tried to stay cool, but failed. "Chief Wu, your car is over there!" She couldn''t help but glare at Wu Chengyue, who was already sitting by her side and said to him.


    After saying that, she clenched her teeth and pointed at the car that parked not far away. Duan Juan was being dragged into that car by Xiao Licheng.


    With a smile, Wu Chengyue looked at her and said, "I know. Licheng seems to be into Duan Juan. Why don''t we give them some space alone?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    ''Damn! That''s ridiculous! It''s you who are with some indecent intentions! How can you make him take the blame!''


    Xiao Licheng had no idea what Wu Chengyue said about him. Obviously, he dragged Duan Juan to his har to create a chance for Wu Chengyue. If he heard what the latter said, he might send Duan Juan straight to her car.


    Shen Yujen glanced at Xiao Licheng''s car from the rearview mirror with pity. Based on what she knew about Chief Wu, he would not stop telling that lie since he had already told it once. Xiao Licheng should better get ready to be sold by his boss!


    She knew that she should not laugh, yet she still narrowed her eyes and twitched her lips corners. It took her a great effort not to laugh out loud.


    ''Poor boy! Hahaha¡­'' she thought.


    In the other car, Xiao Licheng sensed a sudden coldness, so he looked around with confusion. The sky was still cloudy, and the air was highly moist. It was a little chilly indeed.

 905 Hide In The Shell

    Lin Qiao turned back and looked at him coldly as she said, "Am I blind? Why can''t I tell that Xiao Licheng is into Duan Juan?"


    "He is¡­ because I said so," said Wu Chengyue smilingly.


    Lin Qiao looked at his face. Ever since he woke up, he was wearing that fake, foxy smile. In that smile, his pretty eyes curved into a crescent, concealing all his emotions and the good looks of those eyes.


    She suddenly missed those cold and emotionless eyes that she had seen on his face not long ago!


    Wu Chengyue''s eyes glowed as his zombie lady was looking straight at those eyes. ''She hasn''t realized that her vibe is changed yet. Doesn''t she know that her attitude toward me is already different?'' he thought.


    "Tell me, what did you do to me earlier? In your current condition, you couldn''t possibly knock me out. Besides¡­ I''m not feeling any discomfort," he said. All he felt was a refreshing and sweet aroma that lingered in his mouth. That was from her mouth, wasn''t it?


    Wu Chengyue twisted his neck, then touched his head. He couldn''t help but take another glance at Lin Qiao''s lips, looking like a cat that had stolen a piece of meat.


    Her aroma still made him feel comfortable. He felt no discomfort from his head and neck, meaning that he wasn''t knocked out. So, he must have drunk the magical water from her space.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said expressionlessly, "Em, I didn''t knock you out. I just gave you some drug."


    While speaking, she awkwardly turned her face away to avoid looking at him.


    Earlier on, his tongue had stirred in her mouth. She could still feel that numbness from her lips. The man always looked mild and smiling, yet under that fake-smiling face, it turned out that he was like a fierce beast that could even swallow the girl whom he was kissing.


    However, he still instinctively tried to protect Ling Ling and Lin Qiao when he lost control of himself. Thinking about that, Lin Qiao felt as if she had dropped some kind of burden deep down. She no longer felt as strongly repulsive to him as she did before.


    With that thought, Lin Qiao''s heart missed a beat. She finally realized that her feelings for Wu Chengyue had changed and were going out of her control. That made her feel slightly confused and helpless.


    Soon, she suppressed her confusion and helplessness with sanity and stayed calm, adjusting her expression.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with a meaningful smile and said, "As we all know, people won''t obediently do what we tell them when they lose the control of their powers. I don''t have that part of memory, but I suppose I would not complyingly drink the drug when you gave it to me. Am I right?"


    He had guessed out what happened between him and her, but still wanted to know about the details. The zombie lady looked perfectly unharmed. His energy couldn''t avoid hurting her automatically, so he must have tried to protect her instinctively.


    She was willing to feed him the drug with her mouth. Did that mean that she already accepted him a little bit?


    But at the moment, the zombie lady again hid in her shell and tried to avoid him. That made Wu Chengyue feel a little worried.


    Before, no matter how hard he tried to pursue her, she always responded to him with a cold attitude, but never tried to avoid him. Yet now, she had started to avoid him. Was that because she had started to care about him?


    The more he thought about that, the more Wu Chengyue wanted to know the answer.


    He looked at her face and couldn''t help but land his eyes on her light-purple lips again. It had been such a long while since he woke up, yet the color of her lips only faded slightly. Was it because zombies'' blood was still dead?


    He remembered kissing her the last time in the water. Her lips were lightly colored, but very tasty, soft and elastic, slightly cold.


    This time, he kissed her lips into purple-red. Apparently, he kissed her so hard. Sadly, he didn''t remember it at all. What a shame!


    Lin Qiao felt terribly uncomfortable under his gaze. She had just realized how her feelings toward him had changed, and was having a lot of thoughts going on in her mind. Under that situation, she could not stand being stared straight at by him.


    Somehow, she felt a little hot. Was that an illusion?


    "You were out of control, but you still had a slight little bit of sanity remained. You recognized Ling Ling and me, so you didn''t hurt us. I gave you the cup and you drank the drug. Nothing else happened!" She said expressionlessly while looking straight ahead. She had no courage to look at him in the eyes at all.


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue paused briefly, then said with disbelief, "Could that happen? Why didn''t I feel anything then? Is that true, Jen?"


    He abruptly turned to ask Shen Yujen, who was driving the car.


    Shen Yujen was listening to the conversation between Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao. Hearing Wu Chengyue''s question, she replied, "Chief Wu, your condition seemed to be a little special. You were still able to control your power! You weren''t completely out of control like the others."


    Wu Chengyue nodded. Based on what Shen Yujen said, his condition did sound a little better than what happened to the others.


    He, of course, did not believe that he drank the drug from a cup that the zombie lady handed him. If that was the case, why were her lips purple-red? Did he try to kiss her while he lost control of himself?


    If that was really what happened, she would have a different reaction, wouldn''t she?


    He might have forcibly kissed her, yet she wasn''t showing any dislike or hatred toward him. With that thought, Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao with an even more meaningful look.


    However, as the zombie lady seemed to be trying too hard to avoid him at the moment, he restrained his vibe slightly. He should not push her too hard. What if she got emotional and ran away?


    He needed to pull her slowly out of her shell, or¡­ Should he drag her out before she hid her entire self in it?


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then changed the topic, "Ah, how come we''re so far away from the base? I seem to remember that the crazy superpowered people didn''t tend to move in a large range. I get it that you guys needed to get me out of the base, but we didn''t need to come this far, did we?"


    That question was for Lin Qiao. She blinked and said, "I had to bring you far away from our base in case you ran back."


    Shen Yujen had no answer to that question. Back then, she sensed that Lin Qiao''s vibe disappeared for a short while, and Wu Chengyue''s vibe suddenly grew stronger. Not long after that, Wu Chengyue started moving fleetingly toward Lower City District.


    Shen Yujen, Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng didn''t know what exactly was happening. They thought it was some kind of skill of Lin Qiao. And now, on hearing what Lin Qiao said, she was surer about it.

 906 Do It Before Its too Late

    Wu Chengyue didn''t say anything else, and Shen Yujen stayed silent as well, focusing on the driving. Under the former''s gaze, Lin Qiao wanted to get back to the base right now and then split up with him.


    He had his eyes fixed on her all the time. He was even more clingy than earlier when he was out of control! Lin Qiao could even detect the delight and pride from his gaze. In the small space in the car, his vibe was enlarged many times over.


    Lin Qiao had no such feelings before. She felt nothing about him, only a little annoyance. But now, her feelings had changed, and she turned more sensitive to what he did. Under Wu Chengyue''s piercing eyes, she had no choice but to pretend to be calm, even though she was feeling utterly uncomfortable.


    Back in the base, Wu Chengyue dragged Lin Qiao to the hospital. He planned to ask Lin Hao to give the zombie lady a check-up after checking for Ling Ling''s condition. In front of many people, he held Lin Qiao''s hand while walking. She intended to shake herself free, yet he held her very tight and disabled her from doing that.


    With a frown, she looked at him and said, "Can you please not hold my hand? I know how to walk by myself."


    Wu Chengyue turned and said to her smilingly, "You know how to walk, but you wouldn''t walk with me if I were not holding you."


    Lin Qiao was sitting in the same car with him all the way, under his gaze. She wanted to run away from him a long time ago. Finally, she was back in the base, and could split up with him. How could she possibly go with him now?


    "You don''t need to do this. I still have work to do. Chief Wu, I guess you are eagerly curious about Ling Ling''s condition. Go and see her. I''ll give you two some father-and-daughter time alone," said Lin Qiao coldly. She even wanted to wave him off.


    ''Go, go! Don''t let me see you again!'' she said in her head.


    Seeing the cold look on her face, Wu Chengyue gave a faint smile. He spent a few seconds looking at her quietly, then thought for a second and decided not to force her.


    "Alright, then," he nodded and said, reluctantly letting go of her hand. Her skin was smooth, soft and elastic like the skin of a healthy human being, but cold.


    Lin Qiao pulled back her hand, then turned and got back into her car. Next, the car was driven toward Base Number Two. Duan Juan had quickly gotten off Xiao Licheng''s car and returned to Lin Qiao''s car while she was having that short conversation with Wu Chengyue.


    "Since Liu Wan and his people have died, Zuo Chen and the others who are still in our base should be dealt with as soon as possible." Back in her office, Lin Qiao summoned Xie Dong, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the others.


    "Are we killing them all?" Qiu Lili looked at her with sparkling eyes and asked.


    "Release the evidence we have. If it''s not enough, add some details," said Lin Qiao expressionlessly, a gleam of frosty light flashing across her eyes.


    Except for the dozen people who had followed Liu Wan out of the base, about two-hundred men under his command were still in the base. However, a big half of the leaders of those people were gone. Currently, Zuo Chen and the other three level-five people had been leading those people.


    "I get it," Xie Dong nodded and responded with a low and dry voice.


    Lin Qiao turned to Yun Meng and said, "Go and tell Yuan Tianxing that we''ll arrest those people tonight. You, Four, and the old man will be guarding around the base, making sure that none of them gets away."


    She meant Four, Old Guo and the other zombie kings and queens should each take a squad of level three and four zombies to guard around the base, and Yun Meng would be in charge of the mission.


    "Alright, I get it. I doubt they can run away from us," Yun Meng gave a cold smile.


    The relatively stronger ones among those people had died, while one leader was poisoned and still lying in the hospital. The ones left in the base were mostly weak. What could they possibly do?


    "Keep your actions secret. Don''t let the others know. Be careful! Don''t underestimate your enemies, even if they''re only commoners," Lin Qiao gave Yun Meng a glared and said coldly.


    "Oh, I get it," Yun Meng dropped her head under Lin Qiao''s glare.


    After planning the arrest, Lin Qiao ended the meeting, then waved to signal for the zombies in her office to leave.


    However, Xie Dong stayed. After watching Lin Qiao stand up from the couch and sit down behind her desk, he walked to her desk and said, "A few people from Huaxia Base are on their way to Sea City Base. Maybe they have heard about what happened to Chief Wu. They seem to be in a rush this time."


    "So soon?" Lin Qiao frowned slightly, "Sea City Base has a large population. I guess there''re quite some moles among them."


    "This time, Huaxia people secretly brought some advanced and powerful weapons. Except for the ones coming for the deal, the other two groups of people have been secretly approaching Sea City Base, all armed to the teeth, composing of level three to five superpowered men. I don''t think they''re holding good intentions," said Xie Dong.


    Currently, Huaxia Base possessed the most advanced techniques in the country. They had developed a lot of advanced devices, including weapons, and had also been constantly producing newer and stronger weapons that would only consume a small amount of energy.


    "Have Sea City Base people heard the news yet?" Lin Qiao soon relaxed her frown and asked blandly.


    That was not her problem anyway. Wu Chengyue was the one who should be worried about that. She was hoping that more things could happen to lead him away from her! She didn''t want to see him at all!


    Xie Dong nodded and said, "I think Chief Wu will soon receive the message."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao waved at him and said, "Good. That''s his problem. Let''s just watch, and do nothing for now."


    Xie Dong heard her, then turned and headed toward the door. Before reaching the door, he stopped moving and turned sideways, waiting by the door.


    Lin Qiao noticed his movement and cast a glance at the door with confusion. Then, she sensed Liu Jun''s vibe.


    In a few seconds, Liu Jun came in while holding a pile of files, with her head dropped. She liked to read the files while walking. Not even she herself knew when she had grown that habit.


    Once in, she sensed Xie Dong''s vibe, so she raised her head to find him quietly standing by the door. Clearly, he was waiting for her to come in.


    They bumped into each other the last few times. Thinking about that, Liu Jun greeted him with an awkward smile. After that, she walked straight to Lin Qiao''s desk and sat down on the chair before it.


    "We got our first harvest, only vegetables though. As for the other crops, we need to wait. It won''t be long though. You need to get rid of those ''rats'' around the farm as soon as possible. They''re hovering around us every day, so annoying!" Being a target of thieves was annoying indeed.


    Those ''rats'' would show up again and again, unless one took them all out at one time.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "We''ll do it tonight. That will be a perfect reason to deal with them."


    Liu Jun had her eyes glowing, "Oh, are you going to make a move? So, I don''t have to talk to Huo anymore, right?"


    Lin Qiao was reading a file that Liu Jun brought. Hearing the latter''s question, she raised her eyes and gave her a glance, "That''s your decision."

 907 Endure It For Her

    In the medical department of All Beings Base¡­


    "What! They went out to hunt zombies but never come back? They went out to hunt zombies and collect supplies?" Zuo Chen was lying on his hospital bed, glaring at his subordinate who brought him the message with both surprise and anger,.


    "Of course not! That''s what the others in the base have been saying. We didn''t say that! But, Wan and the others did tell the base managers that they were going out for hunting and collecting supplies. They haven''t come back yet¡­ And, both Wu Chengyue and the Chief lady have returned, perfectly unharmed," the man hurriedly explained.


    Zuo Chen couldn''t believe what he heard. He wore a grim face and fell into silence. His pale face made him look like a dying man.


    Liu Wan brought a dozen elites out of the base to capture Shen Yujen and Duan Juan while the two women were out of the base without guards. They thought that was a great opportunity. There were only four of them, and the strongest one was the level-six guy from Sea City Base. Liu Wan was at level-six himself, and he had two level-five and over ten lower-leveled men under his command. They were much stronger than their targets.


    But in the end, they didn''t even manage to return to the base. Was that even real?


    "Have you sent people to the scene to confirm it yet?" Zuo Chen asked with a cold voice.


    The man said, "We have, but those people haven''t come back yet."


    Zuo Chen stayed silent and furrowed his brows.


    If Liu Wan and his people had all died, the ones who killed them couldn''t possibly be Duan Juan and her people. They weren''t strong enough to do that¡­ Did something else happen? Did they run into powerful zombies? Or a level-six, crazy mutated beast?


    Recently, many mutated animals had gone mad, growing twice as powerful as before. Besides, the outside world was still full of man-eating zombies.


    So many things out there could kill them, but Zuo Chen was still surprised. He never thought that not even the level-six Liu Wan could come back alive.


    Also, he felt that something wasn''t right. How come people started to talk about the death of Liu Wan and his people once the Chief lady was back? Didn''t they even need to send someone to confirm it?


    Little did Zuo Chen know that his people who were sent out of the base to confirm it wouldn''t be able to come back either.


    In another room in the hospital, Wu Chengyue was sitting by the bedside, looking at Ling Ling, who was still in sleep. He felt so lucky that he didn''t do anything to hurt the little girl. If anything had happened to her, he would regret it for the rest of his life.


    Lin Hao walked in and checked on Ling Ling''s condition, then said to Wu Chengyue, "She''s fine, but¡­ she has this psychological problem. I''m afraid that she has been scared by you this time. It might affect her a little. You should get ready. I suggest you to go and bring her favorite toy to her."


    On hearing that, Wu Chengyue had his face paled. Lin Hao was right. How could he forget about Ling Ling''s autism?


    Her body was fine, but she must have been frightened by him when he lost control of himself. She even passed out under his erupted energy. It must have affected her mentally.


    Recently, the little girl had been in All Being Base. She played with the zombie lady occasionally and had made two little friends. She had become a lot more outgoing than before. She could laugh like a healthy child, and could even say some short words. She was only not yet used to talking.


    The zombie lady was the only one that Wu Chengyue could turn to. Only she could heal Ling Ling''s psychological problem.


    He quickly calmed down, then nodded and said, "I get it."


    Then, he thought for a moment and said to Lin Hao with a serious look, "There''s¡­ something wrong with your Chief. I think you should give her a check-up as soon as possible."


    He wasn''t willing to let Lin Hao have too much contact with the zombie lady, but she was probably sick, and Lin Hao was a doctor. He didn''t want anything bad to happen to her. She was like Ling Ling to him. The two of them were the ones that he cared about the most in the world.


    Lin Hao paused briefly, then asked with anxiety, "What''s wrong with her? What have you found?"


    Clearly, Lin Hao wasn''t pretending to be worried. Wu Chengyue carefully looked at him in the eyes to confirm that he really cared about the zombie lady, then unhappily and reluctantly told him about the zombie lady''s condition.


    "I think her power is gone." After saying that, he couldn''t help but continue in a sour tone, "Will it help for you to know? You cure people, not zombies!"


    Lin Hao gave him a cold glance and said, "Yet you still told me."


    Wu Chengyue didn''t want to talk to him, yet had no choice. Seeing that struggling look on Wu Chengyue''s face, Lin Hao somehow felt delighted. However, he knitted his eyebrows again when he thought about Lin Qiao''s condition. "Have you found anything else apart from that?"


    "Not yet," Wu Chengyue shook his head and said coldly.


    Lin Hao knew his sister well. He knew that she surely wouldn''t listen to Wu Chengyue and come to the hospital for a check-up.


    "How am I supposed to help her since you didn''t bring her here? I want to help her, but in order to do that, I need to see her," Lin Hao shrugged and said to Wu Chengyue scornfully.


    Wu Chengyue restrained his anger and responded expressionlessly, "Don''t you know her better than I do? Don''t you know that she''s a workaholic?"


    The zombie lady used work as an excuse and ran away from him once they arrived at the base. He wanted to bring her straight to the hospital, but he couldn''t force her, could he? He didn''t want to make her unhappy again. There was finally a good atmosphere between her and him. He didn''t want to ruin that.


    Lin Hao glanced at Wu Chengyue''s grumpy face, then happily turned and left.


    He guessed that what Wu Chengyue said night have something to do with Lin Qiao''s baby. She had only lost her power, which was fine as long as she didn''t lose her life-force. It was highly possible that her power would slowly come back after she gave birth to the baby.


    He thought about Lin Qiao''s condition with his medical brain. However, she was no longer the same as human beings. Her case was special, so she needed special treatments. She still needed to get a check-up as soon as possible though.


    Their mother had turned into a zombie and hadn''t woken up yet. Currently, no one could convince Lin Qiao to go to the hospital. Once she started working, no one could make her stop, not even her three brothers and sister together!


    While watching Lin Hao leave, Wu Chengyue took a deep breath and said to himself, ''It''s all for her! This is all for her! Endure it for her!''


    After all, he didn''t dare to find another doctor to give the zombie lady a check-up. Doctor Lin was his only choice.


    ¡­


    That afternoon, Lin Qiao went to Yuan Tianxing''s office. Together with Yun Meng, they started planning on taking out the rest of Liu Wan''s people.


    The ones who had left the base would be killed out there, neatly and quickly!

 909 Thank You, Uncle Xie

    Tongtong looked at the uncle who was holding him. He didn''t know Xie Dong well, but he did know who he was. He remembered that he was taken away by the man who showed up a lot recently. He didn''t like that man. That man yelled at him and threw him to the ground, threatening to beat him once he cried.


    At last, the man locked him up in a small and dark room. He was so afraid, but he could only cry with a very low voice. His limbs were tied up and his mouth was taped, so he couldn''t cry out loud.


    When he was about to fall asleep, the door was suddenly opened. Then, he saw another man come in and lift him from the ground.


    "I''m taking you to your Mom. Don''t be afraid," Xie Dong put an arm under Tongtong''s butt and held the boy before his chest. Tongtong put an arm around Xie Dong''s neck and wiped his tears with the other hand. On hearing Xie Dong''s words, he nodded quietly.


    Not long after they left, Huo Antong returned to the basement where he kept Tongtong. Seeing the door wide open, his heart missed a beat. He quickly ran downstairs and found that the child was gone.


    Bang! He angrily punched the door.


    The boy was gone. He had nothing in his hands! He wouldn''t get the zombie nuclei!


    He took a deep breath, then looked at the basement grimly. ''Perhaps that woman still thinks that I have her son. As long as she brings the nuclei here, I''ll be able to make her give them to me,'' he thought.


    He had no idea that Liu Jun had restrained her vibe and followed him to the basement.


    Liu Jun didn''t go into the basement but stayed on the outside. She sensed her son''s scent from the basement, but the source of that scent was no longer there. She sniffed around, then quickly sensed a familiar vibe.


    Xie Dong? What was he doing there? His vibe was mixed together with the scent of her son. They were moving toward the other side of the base.


    Sensing her son''s scent, Liu Jun had her eyes glowing as she guessed out something and quickly moved in that direction.


    Abruptly, Xie Dong stopped walking and turned to look back, seemingly waiting for someone.


    Soon, Liu Jun showed up.


    "Mommy!" At the sight of his mother, the scared little boy burst in happy shouts. Meanwhile, he turned his body and leaned forward as he raised both arms toward Liu Jun.


    "Tongtong! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did that bad guy hurt you?" Liu Jun rushed up and took Tongtong over from Xie Dong, then checked the boy''s entire body to see if he was harmed.


    "Mom! That guy was awful!" Tongtong pouted grumpily as he put his arms around Liu Jun''s neck.


    "I''ve checked him just now. He''s slightly injured. I think that guy kicked or hit him," Xie Dong said. His voice was hoarse, but not too deep. "I was passing by and sensed Tongtong''s scent, but I thought he shouldn''t be there. So, I followed his scent and found him. He was kept in a basement, tied up."


    "Thank you, Xie Dong!" Liu Jun looked at Xie Dong gratefully. Finally, she could stop worrying.


    "Was it Huo Antong?" Xie Dong turned and asked while heading back. He and his people had caught everyone related to Liu Wan''s plan, except for Huo Antong. That man might have hidden somewhere.


    So, Xie Dong easily figured out who had kidnapped Tongtong. Huo Antong was in close contact with Liu Jun earlier after all.


    "He asked me for three level-five zombie nuclei," Liu Jun followed behind him and explained with simple words.


    Xie Dong nodded and understood her meaning. Huo Antong was putting up his last struggle. He wasn''t willing to leave without getting anything. He still wanted to gain something.


    Xie Dong didn''t say anything else. Huo Antong was never a good guy, but he didn''t expect the man to be awful enough to hurt a four-year-old boy.


    "Tongtong, have you thanked Uncle Xie yet? Uncle Xie saved your life. You need to remember that. Do you understand me?" Liu Jun said to Tongtong.


    Xie Dong looked at her and then at Tongtong. Tongtong turned to Xie Dong and said with clear pronunciation, "Thank you, Uncle Xie!"


    Xie Dong nodded slightly, then rubbed Tongtong''s head. A trace of warmth could be detected from his eyes.


    After thanking Xie Dong, Tongtong buried his head in his mother''s neck again. He was a little shy, but he didn''t show repulsion toward Xie Dong.


    "You and Tongtong wait here," said Xie Dong then returned to the basement and caught Huo Antong''s smell. After that, Xie Dong quickly moved in another direction.


    Huo Antong had left the basement and sneakily moved to another hiding spot of his.


    Currently, a lot of empty buildings could be found in All Beings Base. Not every area had residents yet, because the base was still underpopulated. So, Huo Antong easily found another empty building and hid in there.


    Xie Dong followed Huo Antong''s smell to that four-story building and landed on the roof. His vibe was completely restrained by habit. He also did that to avoid alarming the other.


    Huo Antong was at level-four, so he wasn''t able to sense a zombie king who had his vibe restrained. As he was sitting on the floor of the innermost room on the third floor, a figure suddenly showed up by the door.


    Huo Antong automatically turned and attempted to run out of the only window in the room. He had no time to look carefully at the man at the door. The man showed up so close to him without letting him sense anything, meaning that he was stronger than him.


    Therefore, he immediately chose to run.


    However, the mysterious man was faster than him. Before he could run up to the window, the man had flashed across the air and showed up before the window, throwing a kick at him.


    Bang! Huo Antong was kicked back to where he was and thudded against the wall.


    Both his stomach and his back suffered a heavy strike, bringing him a severe pain. He slid off the wall and fell to the ground, without being able to move again.


    "You shouldn''t have hurt a boy," Xie Dong looked at Huo Antong and said, his face filled with disgust. After saying that, he popped his claws and scratched Huo Antong.


    The virus went into Huo Antong''s body in no time, which provided Xie Dong with a reason to kill him.

 910 Ill Vist Her When I Have Time

    Xie Dong carried the powerless Huo Antong to Liu Jun and threw him to the ground.


    Liu Jun held Tongtong as she glanced at Huo Antong, then looked at Xie Dong and asked him, "You infected him?"


    Xie Dong nodded silently.


    "In fact, you could have killed him directly. He has committed a capital crime by hurting my Tongtong!" said Liu Jun, her eyes showing the intention of killing.


    In any base, hurting children was a capital crime. Earlier on, Chen Hao kidnapped Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong, getting himself killed for that¡­ Not to mention the fact that the Xiaolu and Tongtong were the only two children in the entire base.


    Huo Antong, who was feeling hot and cold at the same time, heard their conversation. He didn''t feel right, and Liu Jun''s words reminded him of something.


    People would feel hot and cold at the same time when they were infected by the zombie virus. Their bodies would gradually become cold, and then they would lose their sense of temperature.


    He suddenly turned to look at his own arm. Earlier on, Xie Dong had scratched his arm. At the moment, that wound had turned black and started rotting, giving out a bad smell.


    "You¡­ You¡­ You''re not human!" He suddenly turned to Xie Dong with fright.


    But soon, he doubted himself. Xie Dong looked nothing like a zombie. His face was undamaged, and his eyes weren''t dark. His mouth wasn''t cracked, and he had no dark circles under his eyes. His skin was clean, with no scars. He was a little pale, but still looked exactly like a human being.


    More importantly, he could talk! How could zombies possibly talk!


    "No¡­ You''re a man, not a zombie¡­" Huo Antong murmured to himself, the coldness and dizziness blurring his mind.


    Liu Jun looked at Huo Antong''s face that was turning bluish. A pair of dark circles had emerged under his eyes. She didn''t want to say another word to him, but drew her gun and pointed at his forehead.


    Bang!


    After putting the gun away, Liu Jun put two fingers into her mouth and made a whistle.


    Soon, a figure showed up before her.


    "Dig out his energy nucleus, then throw him out of the base," said Liu Jun to the level-four zombie. Then, she pointed at the dead body on the ground and added, "Do it secretly."


    The zombie nodded and walked to the dead body, lifting it and quickly leaving her sight. After that, Liu Jun and Xie Dong turned and headed toward Base Number Two.


    At the same time, Lin Hao was sitting in Lin Qiao''s office, talking to her repeatedly, "Let me give you a check-up. How am I supposed to come up with a solution for your condition if you don''t let me give you a check-up?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t even raise her head to look at him. While reading the file in her hand, she responded with, "What solution can you possibly find? Didn''t you just say that my power will come back after I give birth to the baby? Let''s just wait for the baby to come out then. What is the rush?"


    Lin Hao said, "You need to let me record your condition. What if the same thing happens to someone else in the future? The other zombies aren''t as special as you are¡­"


    "Alright, alright, I''ll come to you when I have time," Lin Qiao raised her head and said impatiently.


    Lin Hao pulled a long face and said, "You''ll never have time. You''ll find more work to do when you have time. Don''t I know about you?"


    Lin Qiao sighed and leaned against the back of her chair, "Alright. I get it! Seriously, I''ll come to you when I have time."


    While speaking, she put a hand on her belly, a sweet sense of satisfaction flashing across her heart.


    Lin Hao folded his arms, then rested his chin on a palm as he looked at his sister while saying, "For now, you look fine, but we don''t know how long this condition will last."


    "Alright, go back to the medical department. There is ton of work for you to do over there. Do you really have time to waste in here?" Lin Qiao started to ask him to leave.


    "The hospital is busy, but I''m not the only doctor," Lin Hao shrugged and said, "None of the other patients are as important as you."


    "You may have time, but I don''t. Stop bothering me. Just go, go!" Lin Qiao waved a hand at him, then sat straight and started reading the file again.


    Lin Hao thought for a moment, then said, "Oh, you haven''t visited Chief Wu''s daughter, have you? I think you should go and see her when you have time. She''s not in good condition now. I heard from Chief Wu that she was doing a lot better than before because of you. But recently, her illness has attacked again. Perhaps, she''ll open herself up to you."


    "Ling Ling?" On hearing that, Lin Qiao raised her head to look at Lin Hao and asked, "Her illness?"


    Lin Hao nodded and explained, "Yes, she had herself protected again. Except for her father, she won''t let anyone come near her. No one else is allowed into her room. It''s pretty bad."


    Lin Qiao sighed and said, "It''s because of what happened to Wu Chengyue earlier, isn''t it?"


    "Yes, it is," Lin Hao nodded.


    "Alright, I''ll visit her," Lin Qiao said.


    Hearing that, Lin Hao stood up and glanced at his sister, then left while thinking. In fact, he had made a lot of plans for Lin Qiao''s condition. None of them were put in use though. Thankfully, her baby had been growing healthily, without showing anything wrong.


    Lin Qiao''s condition was unique, and there were no other examples to refer. Therefore, Lin Hao wasn''t certain about what to do with her.


    Lin Qiao sighed with relief as Lin Hao finally left. But, thinking about Ling Ling''s condition, she frowned slightly.


    She thought that Ling Ling was healing. But, it turned out that she underestimated autism. She should really find some time to visit the little girl.


    That night, she returned to where she lived. Once in, she couldn''t help but roll her eyes.


    "What are you doing here? You should be in the hospital with Ling Ling." She looked at the man that she wanted to see the least in the world and said. He always came to her place at any time he wanted, no matter what she said to try to stop him. What a shameless and bossy man!


    "Can you please go and see her? She''s¡­ not doing well," Wu Chengyue looked at her and said despondently. Even though Ling Ling''s condition had provided him with an excuse to come to talk to the zombie lady openly, it still burned his heart. Thankfully, Ling Ling''s condition wasn''t entirely bad yet.


    "I get it. I''ll find some time to see her these days. Is there anything else that I can do for you? If not, you may leave. The door is that way. Show yourself out. You can go to my office if you need my help instead of sneaking into my home like a thief, okay?" Lin Qiao looked at him disdainfully while walking to the tea-table nearby and pouring herself a glass of water.

 911 Im Yours

    Wu Chengyue stood up from the couch and walked to Lin Qiao''s side, looking at her as he said, "Are you avoiding me?"


    Lin Qiao had coldly asked him to leave, but he sensitively grasped something that was not usual from her speaking tone.


    Lin Qiao''s eyelashes shook slightly. She took a small step sideways, then raised her eyes and gave him a glance while saying, "Why would I avoid you? Chief Wu, I think you''re overthinking."


    He always came to her private place without invitation. She was still, unhappy about it. However, she didn''t know when she had stopped feeling repulsion toward that.


    During the past few days, her feelings for Wu Chengyue had changed drastically, and that made her feel more and more uneasy. It seemed that she had gotten used to see him being around her. That feeling invaded her mind like a virus, being accepted by her slowly.


    Currently, once Wu Chengyue''s vibe come near her, she would have a sense of crisis, as if she was targeted by a hunter. Before, she and him were both hunters, but she now felt as if she had become the prey.


    "Yeah? Why did you step back then? You have started to accept me, haven''t you? Why wouldn''t you admit¡­" Wu Chengyue sighed, then smiled proudly and bitterly. He believed that she had already started to accept him bit by bit deep down. However, her heart was controlled by her sanity. She was too rational to show any slight weakness of hers.


    It looked like that he was now in the hunter''s position, but in fact, he was her prey every sine he fell for her.


    In the world of love, the one who fell in love first would always be at a disadvantage.


    Lin Qiao turned and brushed past him, heading toward the balcony.


    "Maybe you have misunderstood. I have not accepted you," she said blandly.


    Wu Chengyue followed her to the balcony and said helplessly, "How on earth will you accept me? You don''t even like Lin Hao, do you?"


    He finally figured it out. Lin Hao and her were putting up a show together! They seemed to be close with each other, but Wu Chenyue had sensitively detected that they weren''t like lovers. Instead, they were more like brother and sister, or old friends.


    Lin Qiao blinked as she leaned on the guardrail, looking into the darkness.


    "Why do you want me to accept you so much? I don''t want to change my life," she looked into the distance and said.


    Wu Chengyue walked to her side and erased the helpless look in his eyes as he said with a smile, "Because you have to be responsible for me! Not to mention the first time¡­ the second time¡­ Well, that didn''t happen under my will either! Besides, I am the father of your baby. If I don''t keep an eye on you, you might run away with the baby! Where should I go and find you if that happened?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    She couldn''t think of any words to argue with him! She wanted so much to punch the previous owner of her body. Why on earth did she leave her such trouble to deal with!


    So, the second time¡­ Alright, that was partially her fault. She failed to discipline Viney well and ended up letting her do something like that. As her parent, she did need to take responsibility for that!


    Thinking about that made her feel exhausted.


    She turned and looked at Wu Chengyue''s fake-smiling face. She couldn''t help but wonder why the world gave her a chance to relive her life. Did God bring her back to life so this man could find her and never stop bothering her?


    She thought for a moment, then tried to mention the disgusting past of the previous owner of her body to make him give up. "About what I''ve done before¡­ Eh, are you okay with all of it? Do you actually want to be with someone like me? You have better choices really. There''re a lot of pretty women in Sea City Base, right? They''re beautiful and innocent, not like me. Why do you waste your time on me?"


    He was surrounded by pretty ladies¡­ Meng Yue, Moli, and the female space possessor, they were all beautiful girls. Was the man blind? Why on earth did he like Lu Tianyu, who was basically a sl*t?


    Wu Chengyue blinked, then said with a faint smile, "Everyone has to bear the consequences of the things that they''ve done. I don''t care what kind of person you used to be. I only want the current you."


    At first, he was indeed uncomfortable about what Lu Tianyu did before. However, over time, he learned about the new her and that her body had been renewed, which she herself didn''t know yet. For those reasons, he slowly forgot about her past.


    Besides, he fell for the zombie lady and not Lu Tianyu from Sea City Base. What happened in the past should be forgotten. Why would he care so much about that?


    Also, he hadn''t won her heart yet! What right did he have to judge her for her past?


    On hearing his words, Lin Qiao suffered a headache. She wanted to bury her face in her hands, but didn''t let herself. Instead, she said with a frown, "Do you have principles or not?"


    ''How awful is his taste in women? I can''t believe he actually likes Lu Tianyu¡­'' she thought.


    Lin Qiao had no idea that her body had been purified and regenerated. She thought it was still the old body of Lu Tianyu that had the marks left by all kinds of men.


    Wu Chengyue abruptly reached out a hand to hold her chin. Lin Qiao tilted her head and dodged. But in the next second, Wu Chengyue pressed both hands on her shoulders and leaned his entire body toward her. Meanwhile, he turned and pressed her against the guardrail.


    The fake smile on his face was gone. In the darkness, his face wasn''t clearly seen. However, his eyes glowed brightly as he said to her, "My principle is that the girl who had sex with me is my wife. I''m pursuing my wife. What''s wrong about that?"


    While speaking, he raised a hand and held her chin, slightly raising his thumb and stroking across her lips. Her lips were soft and elastic against his finger. He enjoyed that feeling and wanted for more.


    "What the hell is that?" Lin Qiao said with a click of her tongue and said, "This is the post-apocalyptic era, not the ancient time when a girl had to marry the man who accidentally saw her nude," Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and raised an arm to slap his hand off her chin.


    ''How dare you try to flirt with me! If you want to talk, just talk! Don''t make any unwanted moves!'' she complained in her head.


    Wu Chengyue stared at her lips as his eyes turned slightly darker. With his hands on her shoulders, he said, "No matter what, I''m yours already. Don''t even think about abandoning me and being with another man."


    ''You are mine too. No one else would have a chance with you!'' he finished his speech in his heart.


    He laid himself upon Lin Qiao, but not too heavily. He could feel her slightly bulging belly.


    Lin Qiao pushed him away as she looked at him and said, "Enough! You should spend more time worrying about Ling Ling now."


    While speaking, she walked past him, back into the living room, then slammed the balcony door shut.

 912 The Pas

    Lin Qiao didn''t believe in love, not any more. She treated Yang Jianhua like a good friend and took care of him as if he was a brother of hers, because she believed that he had saved her life.


    Yang Jianhua pursued her very hard, yet she never responded to him.


    Before the apocalypse, she was in love twice and her relationship ended with the death of the man both times. One of those two men even betrayed her.


    Her first lover loved her actually; he was an international spy. At last, he chose his own interests over her and she ended his life personally to keep the confidential information of her country from leaking.


    She was sad for a while, but soon recovered. She was upset, but still was the capable Captain of Hades.


    Her second lover died at her hands too, as their mission went wrong. They were both captured by the enemies, who tortured their teammates to death. They found out about their relationship and gave each of them a gun, forcing them to shoot each other. One of them had to die.


    Back then, she wanted to be the one to die and not the one to fire the gun. However, the man held her hand and made her pull the trigger in despair.


    Then, the reinforcements arrived. They rushed in and attacked the enemies. She did nothing as she held the man''s body, unable to even move.


    After that, she sealed her heart up. The two past relationships disabled her from believing in love, and took away her courage to fall in love again.


    No matter if Yang Jianhua loved her with a true heart, she wouldn''t respond. What she didn''t expect was that Yang Jianhua was actually evil enough to stab her in the back.


    Therefore, she thought she would never open herself up again, no matter how hard Wu Chengyue tried. But recently, she found herself get more and more used to his persistence. That was not a good sign.


    Before, no matter how attentively Yang Jianhua pursued her, she didn''t have that kind of feeling. At that time, she was able to keep a clear distance from him. She thought she would do the same to Wu Chengyue. But now, that distance had shortened slowly, and she didn''t even know how.


    Besides, Wu Chengyue had selfish purposes when he first started to pursue her. She understood that he did it for Ling Ling, but that didn''t mean that she would accept him.


    Even if he had slowly fallen in love with her, she still didn''t want to establish that kind of relationship with him.


    She liked to be alone and free; that was the life she lived. Currently, not even her family could tell her what to do.


    She didn''t want to admit that she refused to start another relationship only because she didn''t want to watch the man she loved die in front of her, and feel the pain and despair again. Wu Chengyue was strong, but in face of an unknown danger, his power was nothing.


    No matter how strong a man could be, he couldn''t possibly conquer a natural disaster.


    On the balcony, Wu Chengyue watched the door close. He gave a faint smile and didn''t go back into the living room, but disappeared from the balcony.


    ¡­


    The next day, Lin Qiao worked from the morning till night, then finally had some time to go to the medical department. Lin Hao gave her a check-up from the head to toe and found that her baby was thriving, even though her heart wasn''t beating.


    "Ah! She moved! I saw her move!" Lin Hao looked at the screen and exclaimed excitedly.


    Lin Qiao was lying on the bed. She couldn''t see the screen, but smiled slightly on hearing Lin Hao''s voice.


    "Look at you¡­ People might think that you''re the father," she laughed.


    Lin Hao gave her a glare and complained, "I''m her uncle! How could you say that!"


    "Yeah, yeah, you''re her uncle. Is she still moving?" Lin Qiao asked.


    Lin Hao spent a short while staring at the screen, then replied disappointedly, "No. Her foot twitched slightly just now."


    "Can I get up now?" Lin Qiao asked. But in fact, she had gotten up from the bed already.


    "Yeah," Lin Hao glanced at her and said. Then, he turned back to the screen and looked at the baby that had curled herself into a tiny ball.


    "She looks like a four and a half months old human fetus, but you''re already seven months pregnant. Based on this rate, I thik you''ll be pregnant for another winter," he looked at Lin Qiao''s belly while speaking.


    The baby was growing very slowly.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on her obviously bulging underbelly as she smiled and said, "It''s fine. As long as she''s healthy, I can wait¡­ But, I won''t be able to show up in front of the others again in a while."


    Lin Hao glanced at her belly, which her dress could barely cover by now. It seemed as if she had gained some weight¡­


    "You can tell them that you''ve gotten fat¡­ Haha, that was a joke. Based on the current growth rate of the baby, I think you still have time," Lin Hao wanted to make a joke, but after receiving his sister''s dagger eyes, he hurriedly changed his words.


    "Earlier today, Duan Juan asked me if I''ve gained some weight¡­ And she asked me if zombies could gain weight too," said Lin Qiao helplessly.


    Duan Juan asked her that question while confusedly looking at her belly. She didn''t even know how to answer it. At last, she replied with the word ''perhaps''.


    Duan Juan would have to figure the answer out by herself.


    After leaving Lin Hao''s clinic, Lin Qiao headed toward Wu Yueling''s room together with Duan Juan, who had been waiting for her on the outside.


    Xiao Licheng was sitting on a chair by the door. At the sight of Lin Qiao, he stood up and said, "Miss Lu!"


    Lin Qiao nodded at him, then looked at the closed door and said, "Is your Chief in there?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded.


    "How''s Ling Ling doing?" she continued.


    "She wraps herself up with the quilt and sits by the bedside when she''s alone. She only shows her face when Chief is in the room. If anyone else gets into the room, she would roll off the bed and hide under it."


    For autistic people, the smaller the space was, the safer they might feel. That was like an animal instinct.


    "It''s good that she can still let her father get close to her. It''s not entirely bad," Lin Qiao walked to the window and looked inside the room.


    Xiao Licheng sighed and said, "Chief raised her after all. She surely relies on him."


    Wu Yueling was very sensitive. Once Lin Qiao showed up outside the window, the little girl sensed her. She automatically shrank into the quilt, then vigilantly looked at the window. Seeing Lin Qiao''s face, she seemed to be a little surprised.

 913 Go And Visit Ling Ling

    Noticing Ling Ling''s movements, Wu Chengyue, who was feeding the little girl, turned to the window as well. He saw Lin Qiao standing there, smiling at Ling Ling faintly.


    He immediately turned back to observe Ling Ling''s reaction. Seeing that the little girl wasn''t trying to hide, he was delighted, and then he turned back to look at Lin Qiao through the window.


    Lin Qiao had been observing Wu Yueling as well. She found the latter''s pupils shrunk slightly when she saw her, and then the girl quickly turned her eyes away.


    She was only meters away from the little girl, so she could read her mind. She felt that the girl wasn''t close to her anymore, but she didn''t seem to be afraid of her either.


    She glanced at the other things in the room and noticed a grass doll and a large ball of fur on the bed. The rabbit might have sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe. Once she looked at it, it hopped off the bed and jumped toward the door.


    The rabbit was swift. Within a blink of an eye, it had already disappeared from the bed.


    As the rabbit ran off the bed, Wu Yueling instantly had her expression changed. She glanced at the floor near the door in a panic, then uneasily looked at the window.


    She liked the rabbit very much, but she was aware that it didn''t belong to her. It was Zombie Mommy''s rabbit. No matter how much she liked it, she didn''t own it.


    She was a smart kid who understood everything that Wu Chengyue told her. She surely knew that she shouldn''t take the things that didn''t belong to her without permission.


    Even though Grey the rabbit had been keeping her company the whole time, she always knew that it didn''t belong to her. So now, seeing Grey run away, she didn''t attempt to make it stay as the other kids might, but felt a little sad and reluctant to part with it.


    It was like a good friend of hers was leaving her.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Ling Ling''s sad eyes and asked her with a smile, "Ling Ling, do you want your Zombie Mommy to come in? If she''s here, big fat Grey won''t leave you."


    The little girl''s eyes glowed. She looked at her father and hesitated, not nodding to agree immediately. Wu Chengyue encouraged her with his eyes instead of urging her.


    A short while later, Wu Chengyue slowly stood up and put the bowl on the nightstand, then looked at the little girl while slowly moving toward the door.


    As Wu Yueling made no strong reaction to his movement, Wu Chengyue relaxed slightly.


    Once he opened the door, the rabbit darted out, then turned left and hopped onto Lin Qiao''s foot like a huge, fluffy ball.


    Lin Qiao dropped her head to look at the large rabbit that she hadn''t seen in a while. The rabbit always came to her. Wasn''t it afraid that she might skin it and eat it?


    After giving the rabbit a glance, Lin Qiao walked into the room. The rabbit followed closely behind her, keeping itself less than ten centimeters away from her.


    Seeing her come in, Wu Yueling automatically flinched. But then, she stopped moving upon seeing Lin Qiao close the door behind her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t approach her, but stayed by the door, then bent over and picked up the big rabbit.


    The rabbit was very heavy now. Lin Qiao found it in the past July and kept it as a source of food. However, she didn''t eat it, but kept it until now. The rabbit had become big and fat, yet was nimble. It was mutated, so it was, of course, much bigger than normal rabbits.


    It weighed at least ten kilograms now.


    What a fat rabbit!


    "It has gained some weight. Ling Ling, what did you feed it with?" Lin Qiao weighed the rabbit with her hand and pet it with her other hand, feeling the soft, fluffy fur against her palm.


    Ling Ling soon turned her eyes to the rabbit.


    It was a good thing that Ling Ling was still sitting by the bedside quietly when Lin Qiao got into the room. Lin Qiao felt that things would be a lot better if Viney was there. She didn''t really know how to make kids happy, but Viney was good at it.


    She carried the rabbit and slowly moved to the end of Ling Ling''s bed, then put the rabbit on the bed. Then, she took some fresh vegetable leaves out of her space to feed it.


    The rabbit held the leaves with its pair of forepaws and began eating with a great appetite.


    Wu Yueling was distracted by the rabbit and began watching it eat.


    Outside, Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng were quietly looking into the room through the window. Seeing that Wu Yueling made no strong reaction when Lin Qiao went in, they both sighed with relief. Then, they glanced at each other and stepped away from the window together.


    "Ling Ling is fine with Miss Lu staying in the room. She really likes Miss Lu," Xiao Licheng sat down on the chair in the hallway. He wondered what Miss Lu did to Ling Ling back when she took the girl away from her father. Why did the little girl like her so much? The girl was much closer with her than with Meng Yue, who kept her company the whole time.


    Duan Juan folded her arms and leaned against the wall, glancing down at Xiao Licheng and staying silent. At that moment, Lin Hao came over and saw the two of them by the door.


    He walked to the window and looked inside, sensing the good atmosphere in the room, then turned to say to the two, "I guess Ling Ling is only willing to let those two get into her room. I wonder if Chief can convince her to come out."


    "Do we need her to come out?" Duan Juan looked at him and asked, "Isn''t she willing to come out?"


    Lin Hao nodded and said, "We need to think of a way to let her go home. Not even Chief Wu can bring her out of this room. She gets emotional once she leaves the room."


    "Why didn''t he bring her out while she''s sleeping?" Duan Juan didn''t understand.


    Lin Hao shook his head and said, "That won''t work. If she woke up to find herself in a completely strange place, her fear would be triggered. That would only worsen her condition. The best way is to bring her out when she''s awake. She needs to adapt to the environment step by step."


    "Ah, I see¡­" Duan Juan said, "That''s pretty troublesome¡­" While speaking, she turned to look into the window.


    Lin Hao shrugged and responded, "Mental problems are troublesome. They can be triggered by any external factor at any time."


    The other two nodded in agreement.


    "In fact, Miss Lu could make a perfect mother for Ling Ling. Sadly, our Chief still hasn''t won her heart," Xiao Licheng said regrettably.


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao and Duan Juan both fell into silence with a slight frown. They both clearly knew about Lin Qiao''s past, especially Duan Juan, who used to be in her squad.


    In fact, they both felt that the atmosphere between Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue had become different from before in the recent few days. However, because of what happened to her in the past, Lin Qiao wouldn''t easily open herself up, not even if she had truly fallen for him.

 914 Ten Times More Patience

    "It''s not so easy to win our Chief''s heart. If Chief Wu doesn''t have ten times more patience than the others, he''ll have no hope," Duan Juan abruptly started talking. Her words obviously had some hidden meanings.


    Xiao Licheng detected it, so he looked at her curiously.


    Did something happen to Miss Lu before? Why would it require ten times more patience to win her heart? Why did Duan Juan know so much about it? She seemed to know Miss Lu pretty well. They didn''t know each other before, did they?


    Did she know some secrets that he hadn''t found out yet?


    Xiao Licheng frowned slightly and then asked, "Why? I don''t think Miss Lu was once heartbroken¡­ She was¡­ Eh¡­ No one could tell if she ever fell for any man or not."


    Only the people with broken hearts would seal themselves up. If she needed ten times more patience to open herself up to someone, she must have suffered deep harm in a relationship.


    Based on what Xiao Licheng had found, Lu Tianyu never really loved a man. She was with all kinds of men for survival and for her interests. Once she had a new target, she would soon leave the old one.


    Duan Juan gave him a cold glance as she said, "Is Miss Lu still the same person as she used to be? Who doesn''t have a past that others don''t know about?"


    Xiao Licheng didn''t know what to say.


    Miss Lu was only twenty-four years old. Before the apocalypse, she was merely about eighteen, and was in the first year of her college. He had checked up her background. Not much about what she did before the apocalypse was found. Perhaps something happened to her back then? School-love couldn''t hurt her bone-deep, could it?


    He was utterly confused by what Duan Juan said, but didn''t say anything else. After all, Duan Juan was Miss Lu''s assistance, so it was reasonable for her to know more about Miss Lu than he did.


    At that moment, Duan Juan was thinking¡ª''Even Yuan Tianxing has given up. Who can possibly be more patient than him?''


    Wu Chengyue looked aggressive and persistent, but Duan Juan couldn''t tell how long he would keep trying. Besides, he didn''t know about Lin Qiao''s past yet.


    In fact, Duan Juan wished that Wu Chengyue would be able to win Lin Qiao''s heart. She could tell that he liked her for real. He had some other purposes at first, but he never intended to hurt Lin Qiao. Besides, he had told her about his purpose frankly, and didn''t try to lie to her.


    Lin Qiao felt repulsion toward Wu Chengyue''s pursuit, so she ignored that.


    "Eh, that''s their business. No matter which one of them gives up the first, neither of them would lose anything. Besides, they don''t have much time for that right now. I heard that the people from Huaxia Base and the other bases are arriving at Sea City Base. Isn''t your Chief going back to your base yet?" Lin Hao waved a hand and joined the conversation with a relaxed tone.


    Xiao Licheng looked at him and thought for a moment, then wore a weird expression.


    ''Isn''t this man Chief''s rival in love? Was he speaking for Chief? Did he misunderstand something?''


    Duan Juan nodded, then looked into the room as she thought briefly and said, "So, we need to figure out a way to bring Ling Ling out of this room, right? He can''t leave her here alone."


    Lin Hao nodded and said, "That''s right. So, I asked our Chief to come here and give it a try. Perhaps, she can make her feel better."


    "I think those people will arrive at Sea City Base tomorrow afternoon. Our Chief needs to be there before that," Xiao Licheng nodded and said.


    Wu Chengyue wanted to get his daughter out of the room because he needed to head back to his own base. Lin Qiao was trying her best to help him because she wanted him to leave as soon as possible. While the two of them were making that effort, a group of hunters crawled out of a collapsing underground cave in Ningbo City.


    A tall and slim girl was lying by the entrance of the hole. She first grasped a rock before her, then turned and reached her other hand backward.


    She didn''t say anything. The person behind her held her hands and crawled outward with her help.


    Soon, about eight people crawled out of the hole, covered in dirt. standing nearby as they quietly watched the large pit that was over ten meters in radius. At the bottom of it was a building that had fallen right at the huge entrance of the cave.


    Qin Yu squatted. Her face was a little pale, and her eyes wore a painful look.


    "Let''s go! Let''s go back to the base and tell people what happened here. We can''t defeat those things down there. If they run up here, we won''t be able to stop them," A man stood beside Qin Yu said frustratedly. His eyes were red, but he clenched his teeth to keep himself calm.


    Hunting was a life-risking business. Every time their teammates died, they had no choice but to adjust their own mindsets as soon as possible. Panic and sadness would weaken them and mislead their decisions. If that happened, they would be in danger as well.


    This time, about twenty of them left the base together, but only seven or eight of them were still alive.


    They blew that building up to seal the underground cave.


    No traces of zombies were seen near the pit, which was the center of a city. It was crowded, so a lot of zombies should be seen there reasonably.


    Those hunters arrived at this place but found no zombies, feeling strange about it. Then, they found a hole that seemed to have collapsed. In there, it was all dark, and they didn''t know what was inside.


    When the hunters found something strange, they would carefully try to find out what it was, then bring their discoveries back to the base and trade for credits.


    Qin Yu and her people went into the hole and found some strange tunnels. The further they went down, the more tunnels they saw. Those tunnels looked like the ones created by rats, except they were a lot bigger, big enough for adults to walk through them.


    After a short walk, they ran into some weird creatures. Those creatures were highly aggressive, covered in strong cuticle and swift. Those hunters couldn''t even see them clearly when they darted out.


    Those creatures caught some hunters and quickly dragged them into darkness, leaving behind a series of screams that soon faded away.

 915 Underground Creatures

    Lin Qiao spent two hours to bring Wu Yueling out of the hospital. After entering that room, she didn''t approach the little girl, but stayed by the end of the bed. She put the rabbit on the bed, but it refused to go to Wu Yueling. It jumped off the bed and hopped onto Lin Qiao''s foot again.


    Wu Yueling fixed her eyes on the rabbit and raised her head to look at Lin Qiao from time to time. As Lin Qiao didn''t seem to put the rabbit back onto the bed, she slid off the bed and put on her little shoes before walking toward Lin Qiao.


    Then, Lin Qiao bent over and picked up the rabbit. Instead of handling the rabbit to the little girl, she said, "Your father is going home tomorrow. Can you go home with him? If you go home together with your father tomorrow, I''ll give you this fat rabbit. It will be your rabbit. Is that good?"


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling had her eyes glowing slightly. However, she then realized that she would have to leave the room, and became unhappy again. She spent a short while looking at the rabbit, then turned to Wu Chengyue, seemingly to ask for his opinion.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly stood up, then nodded and said, "Daddy is going home tomorrow. Ling Ling is going home too. We''ve been here for quite a while. It''s time to go home."


    After that, Lin Qiao put the rabbit into the little girl''s arms, then scooped up the girl and brought her out of the room.


    Coming out of the room, Wu Yueling immediately held the rabbit tight and automatically buried her head in Lin Qiao''s neck. She shut her eyes tightly, seeming to be scared. Lin Qiao glanced at the others while gently patting Wu Yueling''s back to comfort her. At the same time, she walked out of the hospital.


    Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue packed Wu Yueling''s belongings and then followed her out. Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng both stepped away from the little girl as they knew about her condition. Lin Hao walked side by side with Lin Qiao, but kept a distance from her.


    "You''re a lot more useful than her father," Lin Hao said while scornfully glancing back at Wu Chengyue, who was left speechless and did not know what to say. He gave Lin Hao a glance with a sour face and found that the latter had already turned away.


    After leaving the medical department, Lin Qiao gave Wu Yueling back to her father, then said to her, "Good girl, listen to your father. I''ll visit you when I have time."


    Wu Yueling held the rabbit and let her father put her into the car.


    The next day, Wu Chengyue and his people finally left. Lin Qiao sighed with relief when she heard about that from Shen Yujen.


    She had a meeting with Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and some others. After that, Lin Feng received a message from his subordinate, Qian Xiaoai.


    An underground cave was found in Ningbo City, with strange creatures living within. Those creatures were strong and fast. More importantly, those weren''t normal mutated creatures. No one knew what they were.


    "Those creatures are large. They said that the one they saw was about two meters long. It had four limbs and very sharp claws. The team had twenty-eight people, but they were attacked by those creatures and twenty of them died in no time. The ones who got out were relatively strong. The weak ones had been dragged away by those creatures," said Qian Xiaoai.


    Lin Feng took over the file from him and frowned silently.


    "They said that a lot of those creatures are down there, and that there were many long tunnels underground. I guess it covers a large range. They didn''t find out much about those creatures though. If we are sending people to that area, we need to send some strong ones, or they might not be able to come back," said Qian Xiaoai with a slight frown and then stopped talking. His job was to deliver the message to Lin Feng, not to make any decisions.


    "I''ll talk to Chief," Lin Feng nodded.


    The underground cave wasn''t close to All Being Base, but it wasn''t far away either. The hunters from All Being Base often visited that area. For the safety of the people in the base, Lin Feng believed that he should figure out what exactly those creatures were.


    Not long after Lin Qiao returned to her office in Base Number Two, Duan Juan told her that Lin Feng was there to see her.


    "What''s wrong?" She was a little surprised. If he needed to talk to her, why didn''t he talk to her during the meeting just now instead of following her all the way to Base Number Two?


    Lin Feng walked into her office, then handed her the file and said, "I received the message just now. I think it''s probably serious. I want to go to the scene and take a look."


    "What''s serious?" Lin Qiao took over the fire and browsed through it with curiosity.


    "It''s a new species. They live underground. We don''t know if they''ll come up here. They''re dangerous, and have a large population. I want to go and see if they''ll come out and cause any harm to our base," Lin Feng sat straight as he said with a serious look.


    Unknown situations could bring people a sense of crisis. If those creatures turned out to be highly threatening, people needed to be ready for what might happen. Of course, it would be great if they were not threatening to the base.


    Lin Qiao read the file, then nodded and said, "Okay. But, don''t take anyone under level-three. Take a few who are good at surviving. I''ll send Three, Four, and five zombie leaders to go with you."


    Then, she turned and said to Shen Yujen, who was standing at the door, "Jen, go and find Three and Four."


    "Yes ma''am!" Shen Yujen nodded and left, and soon came back with a middle-aged man and a boy in face mask.


    Lin Feng had seen them before. They were both zombies, and had regained some of their memories. She nodded at them slightly to greet them.


    Three and Four both glanced at Lin Feng silently, and the former nodded back.


    "There is a mission. You two will lead five zombie leaders who are good at long-range attacking to carry it together with him and his people. Don''t let the others find out who you are," Lin Qiao said to the two of them.


    She was planning on letting the zombie squad follow behind Lin Feng''s team to protect them secretly. But, she then realized that they might need to go down into the underground cave. In that case, letting them act together might be a better choice.


    Three and Four glanced at Lin Feng together, then turned back to Lin Qiao and nodded.


    Lin Qiao read the file again. Somehow, she recalled how the rat group erupted, as well as the second explosion of the virus. She started to wonder if those mysterious creatures had anything to do with the second explosion of the virus.

 916 Hes A Nice Guy

    "Your mission is to collect information, observe those creatures, and find out how dangerous they are. Keeping yourselves safe is your top priority. Fall back immediately if you find yourselves in danger," Lin Qiao looked at the three and said to them.


    Lin Feng nodded, understanding her meaning.


    Three and Four were both zombie kings. They had regained some of their memories, and were smarter and more capable than some people. They surely understood what Lin Qiao meant as well.


    Their mission was mainly to observe those creatures, learn about them, and figure out if they were dangerous for mankind and threatening to the base.


    "This is it," Lin Qiao told them to leave, then folded her arms and started thinking.


    She suddenly realized that she needed more zombie subordinates! Currently, she only had a few zombie kings and queens under her command. The world was filled with mad mutated animals and plants. All those creatures had grown stronger, and were evolving quickly. At present, level five and six mutated creatures were seen everywhere. For level-six zombies, crazy level-six mutated creatures could be hard to deal with.


    For now, she had three zombie dominators, as well as eleven kings and queens on her side. Half of them needed to stay in the base to guard it while the other half were often sent out for missions.


    People hadn''t yet figured out what was going on with the huge group of rats, and now those underground creatures were discovered. Apart from those, a large number of mutated animals, plants, and insects needed to be worried about¡­


    People still needed to go out of the base to gather all kinds of supplies, so they would need to face all those dangers.


    A couple of days later, Liu Jun came to Lin Qiao''s office with a report from the farm and asked the latter, "We''ve run out of seeds. Can we bring a batch of seeds out of your space? How''s Lu Tianyi doing in there?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "He has developed the land around the three houses and the area near the lake. The strawberry field has become much larger than before."


    "Such a great land? How many people have you sent to aid him?" Liu Jun thought for a moment and said. The land near the lake was large. Lu Tianyi certainly couldn''t develop that entire land with the help of merely Pesticide and Xiao-xiao.


    "About twenty zombies are working there in total at the moment," said Lin Qiao.


    Even Mo Yan had joined the farm work with his zombie girl. Well, he was only there to have fun though. He was bored doing nothing after all.


    At first, he leisurely taught the zombie girl in a white dress so loosen the soil, plant the seeds, and water the crops. The next day, he found that the seeds that he planted about ten hours ago had all sprouted. The thriving, tender green sprouts brought him an indescribable sense of accomplishment.


    He had grown them.


    So, the zombie emperor was suddenly obsessed with farming. He observed those sprouts every single day and watched them grow, turning into different shapes. He watched the seeds he planted become juicy vegetables. The more beautiful those crops turned, the happier he would be.


    When he was in a good mood, he would even pick a few leaves and put them into his mouth to chew. No one knew if he could taste anything though.


    Mrs. Lin started from standing near the farm with confusion and watching the others work. Later on, she started learning how to do the work and joined the crew.


    Currently, all zombies in Lin Qiao''s space had been doing the farm work all day.


    Every day, Lu Tianyi would put the harvested vegetables in some baskets on the clearing before Lin Qiao''s house. Lin Qiao would bring those out of her space by merely waving a hand, and then ask Liu Jun to send them to Cheng Wangxue.


    The food from Lin Qiao''s space wouldn''t be put together with the food from the farm in the base. The food from her space was heathier, containing a slight amount of energy that was beneficial for the human body.


    Those vegetables and fruits were supplied to the high-level base administrators and the others who were rich in credits. Normal people couldn''t afford it.


    Abruptly, Lin Qiao sniffed at Liu Jun and then asked her, "What do you think of Xie Dong?"


    "What?" Liu Jun looked at her confusedly. She didn''t understand why Lin Qiao suddenly mentioned Xie Dong.


    "I mean, what do you think of him? Is he good?" Lin Qiao repeated her question.


    Liu Jun stayed silent for a short while, then responded, "Em, he''s nice. He''s quiet, but he gives out a strong sense of security."


    "Oh, really?" Lin Qiao laughed and said jokingly while looking at Liu Jun, "Why have I been sensing his scent from you lately? It''s growing stronger and stronger. You guys are pretty close lately!"


    Something was happening between them!


    Liu Jun paused briefly, then sniffed her own arm and said, "His scent? Why didn''t I sense it?"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said, "I bet you can''t sense it. You''ve gotten used to it already."


    "Got used to what?" Liu Jun looked at her bewilderedly, "He saved Tongtong last time. I am grateful for it."


    "That''s it?" Lin Qiao wanted to roll her eyes again. It seemed that Liu Jun hadn''t realized it yet.


    She wondered how had Xie Dong been feeling. Was it like what she thought?


    Lin Qiao looked at Liu Jun and thought about the relationship between her and Xie Dong as she blinked with curiosity in her eyes. She was only curious about it, but didn''t plan to tell either of them what to do.


    It would be nice if the two of them got together¡­ Liu Jun had a son, and she was a good girl. At the same time, Xie Dong was a great man. It would be good if he could forget about his awful ex-girlfriend.


    "What else can it possibly be?" Liu Jun looked at Lin Qiao confusedly while the latter stared at her with glowing eyes. Liu Jun often mentioned what was happening between Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, so Lin Qiao was happy that she could do the same to Liu Jun now.


    "I think Xie is a nice guy. Are you gonna think about it? It''ll be nice if Tongtong could have a father to protect him. You''re busy after all¡­" Lin Qiao looked at her and said.


    Liu Jun looked back at her and said, "Xie Dong is even busier than I am. I work in the base, but he goes out all the time."


    Xie Dong was doing the intelligence work, so it was normal for him to go out of the base for missions.


    "That''s temporary," Lin Qiao said while rubbing her chin, "He''ll train his men, and he''ll have more subordinates under his command. By then, he''ll get promoted and won''t have to go out all the time anymore."


    In fact, Xie Dong hardly went out off late.


    "Well, even if that''s the case, we can''t be together unless we both want to. I don''t think he wants it," Liu Jun said carelessly. She didn''t seem to be interested in that. In her impression, Xie Dong never seemed to have special feelings for her.


    However, they did happen to run into each other a lot lately.


    "Alright," Lin Qiao shrugged and didn''t say anything else.


    Liu Jun glanced at her with confusion, then picked up the box of seeds from Lin Qiao''s space and left the office.

 917 Im Just Curious

    Not long after Liu Jun left, Xie Dong came into Lin Qiao''s office.


    Lin Qiao dropped the file in her hands as she looked at him and said, "You two are in tune lately. Why do you always come to my office on the same day?"


    Xie Dong paused briefly, then put a piece of paper on her desk without saying anything or wearing any expression.


    Lin Qiao took over the piece of paper and browsed through it as she asked, "How are things going?"


    "Chief Wu kept his tracks very secret. Those people thought he was still out there and going mad, not in the base. At first, they took a tough stance and tried to make Sea City Base give them the soil remedy. They said that it should be benefiting mankind instead of being hidden by the Sea City Base."


    Lin Qiao quickly ran over the report, then threw it on a pile of undone work.


    "Are they trying to force Sea City Base to sell them the soil remedy? What did they offer?" She put both hands on the table as she raised her head and asked Xie Dong.


    "Fifty-thousand sets of winter clothes, some personal cleansing products such as shampoo and shower gel¡­ They''ve also offered some tools and devices, but not many," Xie Dong gave some numbers and then added, "That''s not important though. The important thing is that the people they sent to Sea City Base secretly are planning on sneaking into the base to kidnap the researchers and get what they want from them."


    So, the deal and the offer they made were only distractions.


    "They''re smart enough to target the scientists, but I''m afraid that they''ll be disappointed. Even if they manage to kidnap some researchers, they wouldn''t get what they want," Lin Qiao dropped her eyes and gave a sneer.


    Xie Dong looked at her silently.


    "So?" Lin Qiao asked, "Were they kidnapped yet?"


    She had the answer to that question actually. Wu Chengyue was back in his base, so he surely wouldn''t let those people do what they wanted. He wasn''t stupid. He didn''t become a leader of such a large base for nothing.


    "No. Those people didn''t even get the chance to get further into Sea City Base. They were brought under control as suspicious people once they got in. Huaxia Base people couldn''t admit that those people were working for them. So, their mission has stopped," said Xie Dong.


    Lin Qiao had guessed that out. As Xie Dong finished talking, she looked at him and changed the topic, "What''s going on between you and Liu Jun? Do you like her?" she said curiously.


    As same as Liu Jun, Xie Dong was stunned a little upon hearing what Lin Qiao said. He raised his head and looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao silently looked at him with glowing eyes, waiting for his answer.


    Xie Dong spent a few seconds looking back at her in the eyes, then turned away. His masculine face was pale as usual. However, at that moment, Lin Qiao sensed with surprise that his energy seemed to be surging toward his face.


    Was that how zombies blushed?


    Clearly, he liked her! He was a zombie. Even though he surely could still fall in love, what about his body? Was his body still functional? Lin Qiao was curious about that. Reasonably speaking, his organs should have died because he was a zombie¡­


    If his body was no longer functional, he and Liujun could only be soulmates. Well, that would be nice too. Having someone to rely on would always be better than being alone and empty.


    Xie Dong noticed that the look in Lin Qiao''s eyes was growing weirder and weirder. Also, why was she looking at his crotch area?


    He could barely stay calm and expressionless. His Chief must have been having some strange thoughts!


    To keep the look in Lin Qiao''s eyes from turning even stranger, Xie Dong hurriedly said, "I think it''s hard for her to raise her son alone."


    Liu Jun was a commoner. Protecting herself was exhausting enough for her, yet she needed to protect her son too. At last, she was abandoned by a heartless man and turned into a zombie. After that, she still tried to guard her son.


    When Xie Dong first heard about her story, he wished the woman that he fell for could be like her.


    As he saw Liu Jun more and more, he slowly forgot about that woman. He never showed his feelings on his face, but he would always pay more attention to her.


    Lin Qiao heard his words and sensed his feelings. It seemed that he intended to protect Liu Jun and her son.


    "Yeah? I can see that you mean it. Congratulations for letting the past go and embracing the future. You two can be the first zombie couple. Em¡­ I''m curious that¡­ have been having that kind of desire toward her?" Lin Qiao asked her question straightforwardly. The light shown out of her eyes almost blinded Xie Dong.


    Hearing her question and seeing the look on her face, Xie Dong wanted very much to cover his face with his hands.


    ''Chief, have you forgotten that you''re a woman? Don''t you feel it''s a little weird for you to ask a man a question like that?''


    "Eh-hem, I''m just curious, curious, haha¡­ Alright, you are free to leave," Lin Qiao noticed how embarrassed Xie Dong was, so she finally decided to let him go. On her word, Xie Dong swiftly ran out of her office as if a ghost was chasing him.


    "I think Lin Hao will be more curious about that than me," Lin Qiao watched him leave and murmured to herself. She pictured the two of them together in her head, and the result was beautiful.


    Xie Dong was tall and strong. He didn''t have a pretty face, but he was manly and handsome indeed. He was reliable, careful, and decent. He was betrayed a couple of times, but that didn''t turn him into a worse person.


    Liu Jun was good-looking, with a nicely shaped body. She had had a son, but giving birth didn''t seem to make her less pretty. She was a little skinny though, and had a gentle and warm soul.


    She and Xie Dong should be able to live a great life together.


    However, judging by Liu Jun''s reaction, Lin Qiao figured that Xie Dong would have a long way to go to win her heart.


    After leaving Lin Qiao''s office, Xie Dong sniffed around for Liu Jun''s scent, then followed it to the farm. Just now, after hearing Lin Qiao mentioned Liu Jun, he suddenly missed her. He wanted to see that warm and gentle zombie lady who was strong on the inside.


    Not long after Liu Jun returned to the cabin in the farm, she sensed Xie Dong''s scent.


    "Eh? What are you doing here? Can I help you?" With surprise, she looked at Xie Dong who was standing before the door of the cabin. Most of the times, they saw each other in Lin Qiao''s office or in the administration building. It was the first time he came to the farm.


    He looked around and said, "I came here to take a look."


    Then, he unwittingly glanced into the door behind Liu Jun.


    Realizing who he might be looking for, Liu Jun smiled and said, "Normally, Tongtong stays in Wangxue''s place with Xiaolu during the day time. It''s inconvenient for him to come here at the moment."


    The farm wasn''t a safe place for a human boy. After all, zombies were all over the place. Those zombies were all well trained and able to control themselves, but being careful would do no harm nonetheless.

 918 Sea Citys Situation

    After Xie Dong left, Lin Qiao picked up his report and started reading carefully. It seemed that the situation was still under Wu Chengyue''s control. The people from the other base weren''t able to cause any trouble for now.


    At that moment, Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui, who represented the base as leaders; Moli, He Lukun, and Xiao Licheng as vice-leaders, were all present in the conference room in Sea City Base. Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong represented Huaxia Base. After the massive zombie attack, Hou Guozhong got promoted, and was now a chairman. Li Zhengye, the last leader of Sky Fire Base, and Mo Quan, the Deputy Chief under his command, Du Kunsheng from Heilong Base, and Bao Chengzhi from Mongols Base, were also on the scene.


    Only the two newly emerged bases¡ªAll Beings Base and Green Mountain Base¡ªdidn''t send people to attend that meeting.


    Wei Haichao was sitting in a guest''s seat as he looked at Xiao Yunlong and said smilingly, "We have made you a great offer. We made those winter clothes and quilts ourselves, with the cotton that we grew in our base."


    ''You can''t grow cotton, so you have to accept our deal. You have no choice''¡ªThat was his hidden meaning.


    Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui surely understood his meaning. They both stayed calm and looked at Wei Haichao without taking his words seriously.


    Every time they made a deal with Huaxia Base, a long negotiation was inevitable. People always complimented themselves and depreciated others to try and gain more profits.


    "We have prepared a sufficient amount of vegetables and grains to trade for the supplies that you just mentioned. As for the soil remedy, we cannot give it to you," said Zou Shihui blandly.


    He was facing a few level-seven powerful men from the other bases, but his vibe stayed strong.


    "What do you want in exchange for that? We are from the same country after all. It''s something that can save the mankind. Why won''t you share it with us? Are you gonna wait until some foreign bases make you a target?" said Li Zhengye from Sky Fire Base with a frown, accusing Sea City Base people of being too selfish and cold-blooded.


    "Chief Li is right. I heard that the Japanese people are making some moves. The apocalypse has triggered frequent earthquakes, and all sorts of mutated creatures have been worsening their situation. Their country is no longer suitable for living. They are planning on invading our place, and they''ll soon take action for it," said Wei Haichao.


    "As far as I know, it''s not gonna be easy for them to come across the sea. Airplanes are more energy-consuming than ships by tens of times over. And if they take ships, they''d be facing the horrible mutated creatures in the sea. They would need to abandon a lot of their people if they want to move to our place, and they won''t be able to bring many weapons and tools. In that case, they would have no chance of surviving even if they managed to set foot on our land," Xiao Yunlong said expressionlessly.


    After the apocalypse, earthquakes and tsunami happened with high frequency. The people who lived on the islands or near tectonic plates were living a much harder life than the people on the mainland.


    It was highly dangerous for them to give up on their homeland and move into the mainland. Besides, they didn''t have enough energy to power their planes.


    Wei Haichao and Li Zhengye were only trying to scare the Sea City Base to give them a sense of crisis, and make them agree to work with the other bases. If their plan worked, the situation would turn other way around, and Sea City Base would become the one who needed help.


    Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui were both clearly aware that Wei Haichao and the others were telling lies. Making the deal happen wasn''t even their real purpose. They mentioned the soil remedy the whole time but never offered a fair price.


    What they had really been trying to do was to buy more time, so that their people could complete the secret mission.


    They knew that Sea City Base wouldn''t accept their offer. Clearly, they named a very low price deliberately.


    "So, since you didn''t bring enough supplies, we have no choice but to deduct the amount of food that we were going to sell you," Zou Shihui had no mood to continue that meaningless conversation. If Wu Chengyue didn''t have to hide to deal with those ''rats'' who attempted to steal from his base, Zou Shihui wouldn''t need to sit there and cover for him.


    He wanted to go back to his lab to study the soil and figure out a way to grow healthy food. He had tons of work to do. The last thing he wanted to do was waste his time with those people.


    The deal could still be made. Those people should take the food they need and go back where they came from instead of trying to steal the so-called soil remedy.


    Du Kunsheng who stayed silent the whole time listened to the conversation between Wei Haichao and Xiao Yunlong with a sullen face, showing no sign of saying anything.


    He was only there to help. The deal that he made with Si Kongchen didn''t require him to help Wei Haichao. He only needed to be on the scene to show the attitude of Heilong Base.


    They had been in Sea City Base for a few days. However, the people that Wei Haichao brought in secret didn''t even manage to enter Sea City Base, not to mention if they could accomplish their mission or not.


    A slight trace of scorn was detected from his eyes. ''Do these people think that they have a chance to suppress Sea City Base while Wu Chengyue is too crazy to control the overall situation? The other Sea City Base people aren''t stupid!'' he thought.


    Du Kunsheng had thought about the changing situation in the country and felt that Sea City Base seemed to have some secret cards. There were eight bases in the country, but now, half of them were gone. Hades Base, Earth Dragon Base, and Hidden Cloud City Base had been decimated, while two of the three leaders of Sky Fire Base had gone missing. Huaxia Base and Heilong Base suffered massive zombie attacks; Mongols Base suffered no losses, but it had always been the weakest base among the eight. Mongols Base had a small population, an awful environment, and was always short of supplies.


    Currently, only Sea City Base, All Beings Base, and Green Mountain Base were in stable and safe terms. All Beings Base should be relying on Sea City Base. So, Du Kunsheng figured that Sea City Base must have some secret power that had been keeping itself from suffering severe losses.


    He believed that even if he had to make Sea City Base his enemy, he needed to leave some wiggle room for himself.


    That was his hunch.


    On the other side of the base, Wu Chengyue had been staying in his house the whole time. However, he knew everything that was happening in his base.


    "Locate them and find out how strong they are. Since they attempted to sneak in, we should make them disappear silently." Wu Chengyue was sitting behind his desk with Wu Yueling held in his arms. The little girl was holding a large rabbit, which had been shaved.


    It was getting warmer and warmer, and the rabbit had long fur. Wu Yueling liked to hold it all day long, which made it feel very hot. At last, the rabbit refused to let Wu Yueling hold it again. So, Wu Chengyue shaved the rabbit.


    Wu Yueling was looking at the shaved rabbit and feeling complicated. But, someone else was in the room, so she didn''t show her feelings on her face.

 919 Plan B

    Li Yue Shan, the head of the intelligence department, was standing three meters away from Wu Chengyue, reporting to him. Because of Wu Yueling, he didn''t dare to come close to Wu Chengyue.


    "We have already located them, but we don''t know what kind of weapons they have at the moment," said Li Yue Shan.


    His people didn''t approach the enemies, in case they became alert. So, they could only see the weapons held in those people''s hands, but didn''t know what other weapons they had.


    Wu Chengyue heard him and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright, I get it. Keep an eye on them. Let me know if you find anything else."


    "Yes sir!" Li Yue Shan quickly left.


    Wu Yueling relaxed her body slightly as only she and her father were left in the room. She was at home; however, the house had become a little strange to her, as she hadn''t lived there for over a month. She felt uncomfortable at first, so she made her father hold her the entire time.


    Every time Wu Chengyue''s subordinates came to talk to him, she would tighten her body or find somewhere to hide.


    Wu Chengyue noticed that she hid under the table or behind the couch every time, so he held her in his arms to make her feel safe. It was better than letting her hide under the table after all.


    At present, as no stranger was in the room, Wu Yueling relaxed her vigilance. Wu Chengyue put her on the ground and told her to sit on the couch.


    "Can you sit on the couch with your little friend? Daddy needs to work."


    Hearing him, Wu Yueling carried her furless little friend to the couch and sat down, then looked at the ugly rabbit with a struggling look on her face.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her while thinking. Currently, the span of time that Ling Ling could spend without him was getting longer and longer. He needed to let her adapt to the environment as soon as possible, or he might not be able to leave home to deal with those uninvited people in his base.


    He prepared to deal with those people by himself. They were mostly at level four and five, and were highly armed. A couple of them were probably at level-six. He wanted them to disappear quietly, so he couldn''t send a lot of people for that mission. After consideration, he decided to do it himself.


    He wanted to know how good were the weapons that Huaxia Base had developed.


    ¡­


    After another failed negotiation with Xiao Yunlong, Wei Haichao and the others calmly returned to where they lived. They didn''t even know how many meetings they had had with Sea City Base leaders. They had all the patience anyway.


    "Have they found out our real purpose? Otherwise, why can''t our people sneak into this base?" Hou Guozhong sat on the couch and said uncertainly.


    "How can that be possible? Why would they waste time meeting us if they know about that? This is obviously not good for them. If they knew about our real purpose, they should have kicked us out of the base or just accepted our terms," Wei Haichao disagreed.


    "Are your people capable enough? How come they can''t even make it into the base? You should have brought them straight in. Why did you leave them out there anyway?" Li Zhengye said scornfully.


    "How could we bring so many people in? Are Sea City Base people blind? Even if we can bring our people in, what about the weapons? Besides, how should we explain to Sea City people when our people leave to carry out the mission?" Sensing the scorn in Li Zhengye''s eyes, Hou Guozhong responded with hostility.


    Clearly, Sky Fire Base wanted Huaxia Base to suffer some losses. Last time when Huaxia Base suffered the massive zombie attack, the Sky Fire Base people were nearby but didn''t help. Huaxia Base didn''t care about that though. As a powerful base, Huaxia Base didn''t need the help from Sky Fire Base, which was only an average base.


    "What on earth is going on? Haven''t you found anything yet? We need to come up with a solution as soon as possible. Sea City Base people are losing patience," Bao Chengzhi from Mongols Base said expressionlessly.


    They planned to get the names and addresses of the researchers who had developed the soil remedy once they arrived at Sea City Base, then control a small gate that was poorly guarded and let their people in.


    Each base had four main entrances¡ªlocated in the East, West, South, and North¡ªand a lot of small gates. Some small gates were always poorly guarded.


    After entering the base, they did get the name list of the people who were studying the soil remedy, but didn''t find a gate to let their people in. Every small gate was strictly guarded. People needed to go through body searches before coming in, which would expose their real purpose. Subsequently, a fight would be started and noises would be created.


    Therefore, the people on the outside hadn''t found a way in. The residents from each back had records, so they couldn''t pretend to join Sea City Base and make their way in.


    They couldn''t go over the wall, as the wall top was guarded as well.


    "How about we use Plan B?" Wei Haichao said while frowning with a sullen look.


    The others looked at him silently. Du Kunsheng had a sharp beam of light flashing across his eyes as he responded, "If they find out about that plan, I think everyone would need to suffer consequences. If Wu Chengyue woke up one day to find that you had joined hands and brought zombies and mutated animals to his base, he would crush your bases."


    He said ''you'', without including himself. He didn''t approve of that plan after all.


    "Wu Chengyue has lost his mind. We don''t even know where he is now. To wake him up, people need to bring him under control first. No one is strong enough to do that. How would one knock him out?" Li Zhengye laughed carelessly, then couldn''t help but taunt Du Kunsheng, "Du Kunsheng, why are you always such a coward? No wonder you were suppressed by Gao Haoyun the whole time."


    People hadn''t yet found out about what caused superpowered people to lose control, not to mention a cure for that. The only way to wake up the maniacal superpowered people was to knock them out.


    "I am cautious. I might be a coward, but I''m still alive," Du Kunsheng snorted coldly.


    "Bao, what do you think? Should we use plan B?" Wei Haichao turned to Bao Chengzhi, who was staying silent. The latter shrugged and said, "I''m cool with it."


    "In that case, I won''t be a part of your action. Don''t worry, I won''t tell them about your plan," Du Kunsheng stood up and put on his black army cap, then turned and walked out of the room.


    He didn''t mind causing Sea City Base some small trouble, but he would not risk the lives of the innocent people in the base to get what he wanted. At the same time, he believed that turning Sea City Base into an arch-enemy would do him no good.


    The others quietly watched him leave, after which, Li Zhengye asked Wei Haichao, "Are we letting him leave just like this? Won''t he snitch?"


    Wei Haichao shook his head and said, "He won''t. He may not want to be enemies with Sea City Base, but he doesn''t dare to be enemies with us either."


    "He doesn''t dare?" For Sea City Base, he didn''t want to be their enemies, and for Huaxia Base, he didn''t dare to make himself an enemy.


    Li Zhengye failed to understand him at first.


    "Because his base is close to Huaxia Base¡­ Chief Li, when have you stopped being smart?" Bao Chengzhi laughed and said jokingly.

 920 Long Qingying Is Poisoned

    Huaxia Base was close to Heilong Base, so the latter couldn''t be enemies with them if they didn''t want their source of supplies being cut.


    Everybody knew that fact.


    Du Kunsheng returned to where he lived with a grim look. A cold and fierce vibe was given out from his body as he said to his subordinate, "Go and tell Zou Shihui that we, Heilong Base, want to make the deal with his base alone."


    "Yes, sir!" His subordinate quickly turned and left.


    Du Kunsheng turned to look outside the window. He was handsome, but ever since Heilong Base suffered the massive zombie attack, he wore a sullen look every single day, and his vibe had become fierce, cold, and scary.


    He was prepared. If Wei Haichao and the others decided to use Plan B, he would make the deal with Sea City Base without them. He came all the way here, and didn''t intend to go back with empty hands. He didn''t bring a lot of supplies, but he planned to trade everything he brought for the supplies he needed. For the things that Sea City Base didn''t want, he planned to rent a stall in the base and sell them.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Leng Xuantong and his people were resting in a lakeside residential area near Lake Tai that was located at the border between Suzhou Province and Zhejiang Province. They found a relatively clean room in a building and stayed there, looking at a woman who was acting completely abnormal.


    "Oi, oi, don''t just watch! Come and get her away from me¡­ Ouch, she''s so heavy!" Lin Wenwen leaned her head backward and helplessly shouted at the people who were watching her. She looked at her best friend who was laying herself upon her and tried very hard, but failed to pull her away from herself. The woman held her even more tightly than an octopus.


    That was not the worst part. The worst part was that Long Qingying had been looking at her with misty eyes, leaning toward her face and sniffing at her, trying to kiss her.


    ''No! I''m not a lesbian! Please stop¡­'' she screamed in her head as she tried her best to push Long Qingying away, feeling exhausted.


    "Wenwen, you''re the only one who dares to hold her in this room. If she woke up to find herself in our arms, she''d hack us to death," Leng Xuantong made a joke while leaning against the window frame with his arms folded.


    The others were standing, squatting, or sitting around the two girls without lending a hand at all.


    "What kind of toxin is it? How come it turns people into crazy kissers? Haha¡­ Will Long Qingying remember what she''s doing now? This can be some serious dark history!" A superpowered man from Sea City Base laughed.


    "This toxin is kinda like a hallucinogen¡­ might be aphrodisiac too," Kong Qingming turned his fingers into twigs and held a bug with that hand. While speaking, he walked past Lin Wenwen and her friend.


    "You! Can you please come over and take her away from me? Oh, my waist¡­" While pushing Long Qingying who was softy leaning against her, Lin Wenwen turned her face away from her to avoid being kissed. Long Qingying leaned further and further forward, almost pressing her to the ground. She felt as if her waist was breaking.


    Long Qingying was out of her senses at that moment. She was smiling a weird smile while holding Lin Wenwen tightly. No matter how hard the later struggled, she couldn''t free herself from Long Qingying''s embrace.


    The others had been watching without intending to help at all. They all looked at Kong Qingming, and their meaning was pretty clear.


    ''What are you waiting for?''


    "I think if I take her over now, she would cut me when she wakes up. I don''t dare to do that!" Kong Qingming put the bug into a glass bottle and then said smilingly.


    Except for Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying, there was another girl in the team. She was Luo Gefei from Sea City Base, a space possessor. She was smiling, and didn''t intend to help either.


    "Then figure out a way to wake her up! Eh¡­" Said Lin Wenwen helplessly.


    "We have given her the antidote, but she''s not getting better. What else can I do? We can only bring her back to the base and see what we can do. I think she''ll be fine¡­" said Zheng Xiaonian who was under Kong Qingming''s command.


    "Pah!" Before he could finish, Long Qingying suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood, right onto Lin Wenwen''s face.


    "Qingying!" Lin Wenwen burst in a scream as she looked at Long Qingying in a panic. Then, she saw the latter softly fall to the ground.


    The others all had their expressions changed and came over with concern. Ahead of the others, Kong Qingming flashed to Lin Wenwen and held Long Qingying in his arms.


    "Let me look at her!" Leng Xuantong quickly came over and lifted Long Qingying''s eyelids as he observed her eyeballs. He was not a professional doctor, but he had learned a lot of medical knowledge in order to study the zombie virus. He at least knew some basic first aid measures.


    "I think she has forced the toxin out of her body with her power, but some of it is still lingering within her body." After checking Long Qingying''s pupils, Leng Xuantong didn''t relax his tightened face.


    "How is she now?" Lin Wenwen was worried about Long Qingying as she hurriedly asked, even forgetting to wipe the blood on her face.


    Leng Xuantong spent a few seconds thinking, then responded, "I''m not sure. But, since she has gotten rid of the toxin, I think she''ll get better. Wenwen, you should wipe your face with the antidote now."


    "Okay," Lin Wenwen responded, then stood up and stepped backward as she took out a pack of tissue and a bottle of antidote. She poured some antidote on a tissue and wiped the blood off her face.


    "Get her onto the bed," said one of the others.


    In the bedroom, the bed was covered in a thick layer of dust. People removed the dusty sheet, leaving the clean mattress on the bed. Kong Qingming carefully put Long Qingying on the bed, with a serious and anxious look on his face.


    But before he could take back his hands, Long Qingying opened her eyes. She was in a daze for a few seconds, then finally came back to her senses.


    "What are you¡­" Seeing Kong Qingming''s face that was very close to her, she furrowed her brows and asked him expressionlessly. Once she said the first word, she felt very uncomfortable.


    Kong Qingming was delighted to see her wake up and be able to talk. He looked at her in the eyes and asked her with concern, "How are you feeling? Are you feeling any discomfort?"


    The others sighed with relief as she finally woke up.


    Lin Wenwen had only wiped half of her face. Hearing Long Qingying''s voice, she came to the bedside and said while wiping the other half of her face, "Qingying? Do you know me? Are you feeling okay?"


    Seeing her wipe her face, Long Qingying felt a little confused. With simple words, she answered Lin Wenwen''s question, "I feel powerless, thirsty, and hot¡­ What happened to me?"

 921 A Man Will Be A Cure

    "Don''t you remember? You were bitten by a poisonous bug," Lin Wenwen wiped her face clean, then drank a bottle of antidote to make sure she wouldn''t get poisoned. She then looked at Long Qingying and answered her question.


    Long Qingying furrowed her eyebrows and thought for a moment. She recalled passing by a wetland earlier, where a huge swarm of bugs suddenly flew out of the grass.


    They reacted quickly, each releasing their powers to protect themselves. However, there were too many bugs, and they couldn''t guarantee to kill them all. One bug fell into Long Qingying''s clothes and bit her.


    She didn''t remember what happened after that. She looked around, yet couldn''t recall how she got into the room either.


    "She feels hot. Maybe she''s having a fever," Leng Xuantong stood by the bedside and said.


    Kong Qingming automatically raised a hand to touch Long Qingying''s forehead, but she slightly turned her head to dodge.


    "You''re too close to me," Long Qingying looked at him expressionlessly. Lying on the ground, she felt that her limbs were all soft and weak. Even turning her head slightly required a great effort.


    Kong Qingming paused briefly, then stood up with no other choice and took two steps backward. Meanwhile, Lin Wenwen quickly came up and touched Long Qingying''s forehead, then touched her own head.


    "She''s indeed a little hot. Maybe we should give her some antipyretics," Lin Wenwen said to Leng Xuantong. People always carried antidotes and all kinds of medicines for emergency use when they left the base to carry out missions.


    Leng Xuantong moved closer to the bed and bent over, observing Long Qingying''s eyes. "Except for weakness and hotness, are you feeling anything else?" He abruptly asked a question.


    Long Qingying was with a cold look. Seeing Leng Xuantong come near her, she understood that he only wanted to check her body condition, so she didn''t move. After hearing what he said, she blinked and glanced at the others in the room, then slowly responded to him.


    "Just give me the antidote. I don''t think what I''m having is a normal fever," she said.


    Lin Wenwen immediately handed her a bottle of antidote. Meanwhile, she said, "We''ve given you three doses of the antidote, but it didn''t seem to work. Earlier on, you let out some of that toxin. Maybe the antidote will work now."


    Long Qingying didn''t say anything, but took over the antidote and drank it. The others fixed their eyes on her, hoping for the antidote to deliver some effect.


    "I think¡­ I now need a¡­ man," said Long Qingying. Her voice was still cold, but her tone of speaking was no longer calm.


    The antidote failed to bring her fever down. On the contrary, she felt hotter and hotter. The sensation gathered in her lower body and brought up a strong sexual desire.


    Lin Wenwen, who was worried about her, felt a little speechless. Kong Qingming, who had stepped behind Lin Wenwen, shared the same feeling with her. The others didn''t know what to say either.


    Only Leng Xuantong looked at her with a faint smile and said, "I guess the antidote isn''t working. You already know what you need."


    The roomful of people were confused at first, and in the next second, they turned to Kong Qingming simultaneously. The other single men sneakily moved toward the door.


    "Oh, I''m married. I don''t think I can do that."


    "I have a girlfriend¡­"


    "I have a girl that I''m fond of¡­"


    People quickly sneaked out of the room while explaining themselves.


    Long Qingying lay on the bed with a deep frown. She felt burning hot, and the desire in her heart was burning as well. The two different fires scorched her together. Her throat was so dry that she wanted to kiss someone; her skin was slightly itchy, that she wanted very much to scratch¡­ or have someone stroke it.


    She was aware that she was probably affected by some kind of aphrodisiac. Her condition wouldn''t be eased unless she gave a vent to her desire. It was getting worse and worse. She didn''t know how it might harm her if it didn''t get solved.


    "Ah¡­ eh¡­ Really? Can''t cold water work?" Lin Wenwen asked with astonishment.


    "Not even the antidote worked, so what can cold water possibly do to help her? I''ve checked her eyes just now. She has this light pinkness at her eye corners. That''s what the toxin does. See? That pinkness is expanding. I think the longer this condition lasts, the worse it''ll get," Leng Xuantong stayed calmed and explained it to Lin Wenwen.


    "You don''t have a boyfriend anyway. Just chose one from this team¡­ eh-hem¡­" Leng Xuantong continued awkwardly and then left the room. On the other side, Lin Wenwen honestly didn''t know what to say. She glanced at Kong Qingming, who was standing beside her quietly with a sour face.


    Lin Wenwen thought for a second, then asked Long Qingying, "Eh¡­ Do you know whom you want to do it with? I''ll go and tell him¡­"


    Long Qingying didn''t seem to feel strongly repulsive toward what was going to happen, so Lin Wenwen sighed slightly with relief. After all, there was no other solution. Besides, people were open-minded about that kind of things now. It could be seen as an accident.


    She didn''t know what Kong Qingming was thinking at the moment though. She glanced at his unhappy face again and felt a little cold¡­


    Shouldn''t he be happy that he was now having an opportunity to make some progress with Long Qingying? Why was his face so dark? Wasn''t he willing to do it?


    Kong Qingming was indeed not willing to do it. He didn''t want to take advantage of Long Qingying, but he could not let another man do it either. Long Qingying was still having a cold attitude toward him, so she wouldn''t possibly agree to do it with him.


    He didn''t want to force her to accept him, but for her health, he couldn''t stop her from doing it with another man, if that was what she wanted.


    Without any other choice, he said to her with a begging tone, "If you really need that, can I do it?"


    Long Qingying looked at him silently. Her face wore no expression, but her eyes showed repulsion.


    She never liked that pretty-looking boy ever since they met each other. Later on, they saw each other often. He didn''t do anything to her, but she recently found that he always looked at her in a strange way.


    At that very moment, she really needed a man to cure her. That seemed to be the only solution.


    She didn''t want to do it, but she had to. No man was special in her eyes for now. She didn''t really care whom she would do it with.


    She glanced at Kong Qingming, then forcibly suppressed the hotness inside her and said to Lin Wenwen, "Go and ask around for me¡­ see if anyone else is willing to do this."


    It had to be consensual.


    Hearing that, Lin Wenwen glanced at Kong Qingming, whose vibe was growing tense, then nodded and said, "Alright, I''ll go and ask."


    "Why? Why can''t it be me?" Kong Qingming restrained his anger as he stared at Long Qingying, who had already closed her eyes, and said through clenched teeth. He had recommended himself to her, yet she ignored it. Which part of him was not as good as those men outside? Did she really need Lin Wenwen to ask them for help?

 922 Make It Quick

    Long Qingying looked at Kong Qingming and said, "It can be anyone but you."


    She somehow felt that if anything happened between her and that man, she would fall in trouble. Besides, she didn''t have a good impression on him. She''d rather choose another man.


    "Give me a reason!" Her attitude made Kong Qingming suffer an ache in the chest. He didn''t even know how to ask her why.


    "It has nothing to do with you. I don''t¡­ need to tell you," Long Qingying''s breath became shallow and uneven. Her voice trembled slightly, and her cheeks reddened because of the hotness. She tried very hard to control her expression and not to make herself look insane.


    She didn''t understand why Kong Qingming''s vibe was so tense. It had nothing to do with him, right?


    Kong Qingming spent a few seconds looking at her sullenly, then had a cold light flash across his eyes. Abruptly, he walked to the door and shut it.


    Bang! The door was slammed shut and locked.


    Outside, Lin Wenwen and the others turned to look at the door. Huang Shou shrugged and spread his hands as he said, "See, I told you that he won''t let us in."


    Zheng Xiaonian raised his eyebrows and said, "Like you have the courage to get in!"


    The others all looked at the door with a meaningful smile on their faces.


    In the bedroom, Kong Qingming looked at Long Qingying and said to her smilingly, "I won''t let any of them touch you."


    Long Qingying immediately opened her eyes and saw his smiling face as well as the cold light glowing out of his eyes. A sense of crisis instantly rose from her heart.


    She was unhappy about his interference.


    She frowned as she stared at him in the eyes and said, "Why? Don''t you think that this is none of your business?"


    Kong Qingming walked up to her as he looked at her reddening cheeks and said, "Because¡­ I can''t let any other man touch you."


    After saying that, he sat on the bedside and reached a hand toward Long Qingying''s face, feeling her hot and smooth skin.


    The hotness from her face seemed to flow into his heart through his fingers, heating his heart up slowly.


    Once he approached, Long Qingying felt as if she was suddenly targeted by a fierce beast, with no way of running.


    She turned her face to draw herself away from his hand, but along with her move, his hand slid down to her collar bone through one side of her neck. His fingers aroused a tingling from her skin and made her feel comfortable, making her want more of it.


    However, she pressed down her desire.


    Long Qingying glanced at the closed door. It had been a while, but Lin Wenwen still hadn''t knocked on the door. She turned back to Kong Qingming, whose vibe had grown fierce, and started feeling uneasy.


    Was she really doing it with him?


    She didn''t really care whom she would do it with before, as that man would merely be the cure for her condition. But now, she had changed her mind. She didn''t know Kong Qingming could be aggressive enough to suppress her completely.


    "Did you say something to Wenwen?" She glared at him and said.


    She was always cold. Normally, she could scare people by merely glancing at them. But now, she didn''t know that the tempting pinkness around the corners of her eyes had eased her coldness and made her look attractive.


    Kong Qingming smiled and said, "I didn''t say anything to her. But, I think she figured something out."


    Long Qingying looked at him coldly and silently. Despite the cold look in her eyes, the pinkness around her eyes had melted her frosty vibe.


    Kong Qingming looked back at her in the eyes. After a short eye-contact, Long Qingying suffered a strong wave of itch from her lower body.


    She gasped for air as she closed her eyes and turned her head away. Her mind was crystal clear. She wanted to be touched¡­ so badly! That feeling was torturing her. She couldn''t move, so she couldn''t touch herself.


    His fingers lingered on her collar bone. That tingling had faded, replaced by stronger hotness.


    Long Qingying bit her lip and furrowed her brows, trying so hard to fight against the longing of moving closer to Kong Qingming. She felt as if she was on fire. Her clothes itched her skin; she wanted to rip them all off.


    She shut her eyes, breathing unevenly. Her eyebrows were knitted into a deep frown, as if she was enduring a pain. Sweat oozed out of her forehead and soaked her hair, while her eyelashes were shaking.


    By turning her face to the side, she exposed her snow-white neck. The perspiration gave her skin a glistening luster, luring the man to touch it.


    And Kong Qingming did touch it. He moved his hand upward from her collar bone. His movement made Long Qingying take a deep breath, and then she said abruptly, "Make it quick¡­"


    His slowly movement was killing her, yet she didn''t want to show any sign of weakness. She wanted to make it done and free herself from the embarrassing condition as soon as possible. She didn''t want to spend one more minute together with the man in front of her. However, he had control of the room, and she couldn''t even replace him.


    Kong Qingming paused and suddenly retracted his hand, then raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you gonna just leave after it''s done?"


    Long Qingying opened her eyes and glared at him as she said, "What else do you want? Get out if you don''t want to go through."


    "I get out? Then what? Let another man in? I just said that I won''t let any other man touch you. If I leave, the fever would burn your brain. Do you want that?" Kong Qingming sneered without making any move.


    "What¡­ do you want?" The more Long Qingying talked, the more uneven her breath became. However, her mind was still perfectly clear, and the longing surged like tidewater.


    She couldn''t help but clench her fingers.


    ''She wants it¡­ She wants it¡­''


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen sneakily moved to the door and prepared to press her ear against the door to listen to the sounds from the bedroom. As a girl, she didn''t feel shame for her behavior at all.


    Her movement aroused the curiosity of all the others. Zheng Xiaonian and the other few people quietly came near her and put their ears on the door as well.


    Leng Xuantong looked at those single boys and laughed, "Oi, aren''t you afraid that you might get yourself on fire too? How are you planning to put that fire out?"


    Lin Wenwen glanced at them. An embarrassed look flashed across their eyes, but they were too curious to leave.


    At that point, Kong Qingming silently glanced at Long Qingying, then stood up and took off his clothes. Soon, he sat on the bed with his upper body bared and bent toward Long Qingying, whispered in her ear, "Since you want it so much, I''ll give it to you."

 923 Suddenly Become Invisible

    The group of people spent an hour eavesdropping at the door, then felt that it was coming to an end. So, they left one after another, waiting for the two to come out of the bedroom.


    Another hour passed¡­ Two hours¡­


    "Oh my. Your boss looks weak and fragile. I can''t believe that they''re still doing it. How many times do you think they have done it?" Lin Wenwen made a circle around the bedroom door and couldn''t help but start talking.


    "How are we supposed to know?" said one of the others.


    They had never seen their clean freak boss being with any woman before, and surely didn''t know if he was good at sex or not. They all thought that he was going to be with Lu Tianyi before. And, he seemed to be the one at the bottom¡­


    Lin Wenwen folded her arms, then raised a hand to scratch her chin while saying, "I heard that he''s with our Chief''s brother. That boy''s name is Lu Tianyi, right? Well, now Lu Tianyi is a single man."


    "No! He was always single! He''s good friends with Director Lu. They''re like brothers, not lovers!" Zheng Xiaonian immediately explained to her with a low voice. ''What the hell is this girl thinking?'' he thought.


    At that moment, in All Beings Base¡­


    Lin Qiao was at the construction site in Base Number Two. The construction work was almost done, so she went there to see how much more time it would take.


    "According to the current rate, the construction will be completed in about twenty days," Duan Juan followed closely behind her, holding some files. While looking around at the workers nearby, she said to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao was wearing a pair of sunglasses, a knee-length, loose-fitting dress, and a large coat. Shen Yujen was wearing a white shirt and grey suit pants. The others were in camouflage suits.


    They went on a round in the construction site. While walking, she sensed a hotness from her lower belly, and it was spreading toward the rest of her body. It was probably because of Viney.


    "Alright. Now, let''s head to the medical department." She turned and walked out of the construction site.


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen thought she was going to talk to Lin Hao about his study, and didn''t think that it was about herself. After all, she was a zombie. She should be fine as long as she didn''t suffer any severe injury.


    They got into the car, and Shen Yujen drove the car toward the medical department that was located in Base Number One. Lin Qiao sat in the backseat. She put her hands casually on her stomach, then found that her belly was growing warmer than before.


    She stayed very calm though. She had no sense of crisis, and didn''t feel uneasy either.


    After arriving at the medical department, she headed straight to Lin Hao''s office, which was right next to his clinic. She knocked on the office door, but no one answered. She then opened the door; no one was in the office. She glanced into the clinic, but still no one was there.


    Lin Qiao sat down in the office, waiting for Lin Hao, leaving Duan Juan and Shen Yujen on the outside. But soon, she started feeling sleepy. She wondered why, but her head grew heavier and heavier until she couldn''t think anymore. She rested her head on a palm and slowly fell asleep.


    A while later, Lin Hao returned to his office. By the door, she saw Shen Yujen and Duan Juan. "Is Chief here?" he asked, and the two nodded in response.


    "She''s been waiting for you in the office," said Duan Juan.


    "How long she''s been there for?" Lin Hao asked.


    "About half an hour," Duan Juan answered the question.


    "Okay, I get it," Lin Hao nodded, then pushed the door open and walked in. But¡­


    He stepped back out and looked at the two confusedly as he asked, "Where is she? Didn''t you say that she''s in there?"


    "She is in there," Duan Juan looked at him bewilderedly, then turned and looked into the office. No one was in there.


    Shen Yujen stuck her head into the office, also finding it empty. She sniffed around, then said with a slight frown, "Chief''s vibe is still in there."


    After saying that, she glanced at the other two with confusion, then turned back to the office.


    The vibe was still in the office, but where was its owner?


    The three at the door were utterly puzzled. Together, they walked into the room and started looking for Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao woke up finding herself no longer in Lin Hao''s office. She was in a strange room that looked like a study room. She first looked around with confusion, then realized what had happened.


    ''Damn! Where is this place? I was in Lin Hao''s office! How come I took a nap and ended up somewhere else? Wait, why is this scent so familiar? Isn''t this Wu Chengyue''s scent? And Wu Yueling! And that fat rabbit!''


    Uncertainly, she walked to the desk in the room and took a look at the headlines of the files on the table. Those files all belonged to Sea City Base¡­


    ''No way. This is¡­''


    With both surprise and doubt, she walked to the window and looked outside, then felt shocked.


    What on earth had happened? How did she go there?


    She slightly dropped her head, then suddenly realized that she couldn''t see her hands, which were put on the window frame.


    ''Eh? Eh? Where are my hands!''


    Not only were her hands invisible, but also her entire body. What the hell just happened! At that very moment, she realized that she had turned invisible entirely, and that feeling was scary.


    Thankfully, it wasn''t her first time being in that state. She was able to turn herself invisible before. Soon, she recovered from the shock and closed her eyes to turn herself back normal.


    However, nothing happened.


    She had somehow turned invisible without being able to turn back. With an invisible, expressionless face, she cursed herself in her head¡­


    Undoubtedly, it had something to do with Viney. As a zombie who did not need sleep, she suddenly felt sleepy earlier. After taking a short nap, she woke up in a different place. How did that happen?


    She was so confused and unhappy about what happened.


    Abruptly, footstep sounds were heard from the outside, and the door was soon opened. Wu Chengyue walked in, with Wu Yueling carried in his arms. The little girl was holding a furless rabbit.


    "Ling Ling, sit here and play on your own. Daddy needs to work," Wu Chengyue put Wu Yueling on the ground, then sat down behind his table and started working.


    The invisible Lin Qiao was looking at the fat rabbit in Wu Yueling''s arms. It had only been a couple of days since she gave the rabbit to the little girl, but the rabbit had become so ugly already.


    It was so fat, even without its hair!

 924 Trapped in the House

    Wu Chengyue sat down and felt a little different. He raised his head and glanced around at the room, but found nothing unusual. Wu Yueling was sitting on the couch like always. Then, he turned his eyes back to the desk and picked up a document, opening it.


    Lin Qiao stood by the window as she turned to glance at Wu Chengyue, then at Wu Yueling. After that, she turned back and leaped out of the window.


    Wu Chengyue raised his eyes once again and looked around. At last, he cast a glance at the window. He didn''t even know why he did that.


    Lin Qiao airily landed on the ground, prepared to walk away. But then, she found that she couldn''t leave. She retracted her foot and then tried again to make a step forward. As same as the last time, she failed.


    She felt as if a gigantic magnet was behind her, attracting her and disabling her from making the second step.


    What the hell!


    She tried once again. After making the first step, she couldn''t even raise her foot to make the second step. She took her foot back, then turned around and walked back toward Wu Chengyue''s house. This time, she was able to walk easily.


    What was happening? Was she trapped in that house? Why? How? What did her body condition have to do with that house anyway?


    She felt as if she had become a ghost, invisible and trapped in a place. If she hadn''t seen those zombies out there, she would think that she might have jumped into a fantasy fiction from a science fiction.


    She turned and tried to move in other directions, but still failed. She was really trapped by the house.


    What on earth did the house have to do with her? Lin Qiao really couldn''t understand her situation.


    For now, she wasn''t able to go back to her own base. With no other choice, she returned to the door of Wu Chengyue''s house. Looking at the closed door, she stopped moving.


    Should she knock on the door? She didn''t think she should let Wu Chengyue know about her current condition. However, without letting him know, she would have no way to make contact with her own base. But, she couldn''t tell for sure what Wu Chengyue would do after knowing about her condition!


    She believed that he wouldn''t do anything to hurt her, but still didn''t trust him completely. After some consideration, she decided to ask him for help. She honestly couldn''t think of any other idea.


    She thought for a second, then returned to the yard and looked up at the house. She glanced at the window of the study room, then made a run-up, leaping high and nimbly landing on the windowsill before flipping into the room.


    Once she got in, Wu Chengyue raised his head from the document pile on his desk and looked at the window.


    ''He can''t feel my presence, can he?'' Lin Qiao''s heart missed a beat.


    Wu Chengyue wore no expression as he looked at the open window with confusion. Just now, he felt that something had come in through that window, but his eyes grasped nothing. He sensed the flow of the air. He had the same feeling earlier when he came into the room.


    Lin Qiao made a few steps sideways, slowly and gently. As Wu Chengyue was still staring at the window, she sighed with relief.


    Why would she sigh with relief anyway? Didn''t she want him to know that she was there?


    She looked around, then prepared to walk up to Wu Chengyue''s desk to try and talk to him. She didn''t know if he could hear her yet.


    But before that, she sensed that someone was coming upstairs. So, she turned and looked outside the window, deciding to wait.


    The person came in through the backdoor, and clearly, he was hiding his tracks. Seeing that man smoothly get into the house and head toward the study room, Lin Qiao figured that he was here to see Wu Chengyue.


    Soon, that man showed up at the door of the study room.


    Li Yueshan didn''t come straight in, but glanced at Wu Yueling, who was sitting on the couch, then gently knocked on the door. Seeing him, Ling Ling immediately got off the couch and quickly ran behind Wu Chengyue''s desk, climbing onto his knees by using both her hands and feet.


    After that, she alarmedly looked at the man at the door.


    She saw that man a lot recently, but still didn''t want him to intrude her territory.


    Wu Chengyue dropped the document in his hand, then turned to the door and said to the man with a smile, "Are we ready?"


    From three meters away from the desk, Li Yueshan nodded and said to him, "Chief Xiao said that we''re ready."


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Good. Go and get your man ready. Tomorrow, take your man out of the base secretly before dawn. Don''t make any move until I''m there."


    Tomorrow, Sea City Base would have the last round of negotiations with the leaders from the other bases. After that, it would be over, whether the deal could be made or not.


    So tomorrow, while Wei Haichao and the others would have their attention on the negotiation, Wu Chengyue would go out of the base to take out the enemies there.


    "Yes, sir!" Li Yueshan nodded, then turned and left.


    After watching him leave, Lin Qiao turned to Wu Chengyue. From their short conversation, she learned that Wu Chengyue would kill those people himself. He would not only keep his actions secret, but would also make sure to take out every single one of those people.


    Lin Qiao didn''t mind that she had accidentally heard his plan. If he succeeded, she would be benefited too. Wu Chengyue was clearly aware of that. Therefore, he wouldn''t be afraid to let her know.


    She leaned against the window frame and tried to say hi to Wu Chengyue. However, she could not utter any sound.


    She wasn''t disappointed though. She was already prepared for that.


    She gave up on talking, but walked up his desk, then took a pen from the pen container. Next, she pulled over a notebook near it and started writing.


    Finding the pen floating in the air and writing by itself, Wu Chengyue was stunned. He managed to stay calm, but he knew that he almost gave a start.


    He soon guessed that someone with invisibility might have intruded his house. After learning about Lin Qiao''s invisibility, Wu Chengyue could no longer be shocked by that kind of ability.


    No wonder he felt that something was near the window just now.


    He erased the smile from his face and expressionlessly watched the pen writing on the notebook. At the same time, he started feeling confused.


    Since that person managed to sneak into his study room without causing his attention, why didn''t he or she hide?


    Soon, the invisible being finished a line. She dropped the pen, then turned the notebook around and pushed it toward Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the note¡ª''Do me a favor. Send someone to bring Xie Dong here from All Beings Base.''


    That simple sentence explained who it was.

 925 Ill Babysit Your Kid

    Wu Chengyue couldn''t have imagined that the invisible intruder was Lu Tianyu, who was supposed to be in All Beings Base.


    "Is it you?" After reading the note, he automatically raised his head to look at the other side of his table. He saw nothing, of course.


    He silently stared at the air with confusion in his eyes. His brain was working quickly, trying to figure out what was going on.


    The zombie lady turned invisible and came into his office, then asked him to send someone to bring her subordinate to her. Why? Did she come alone this time? Didn''t she bring even one man? Even if she didn''t bring anyone, she could go and find her people by herself, couldn''t she? Wasn''t she able to leave the house?


    Besides, why was she staying invisible? Wouldn''t it be politer for her to show her face and talk to him?


    Did something happen to her and made her hide herself?


    In spite of the ton of questions in his head, Wu Chengyue smiled faintly and said, "Is something wrong with your body? Can''t you show your face?"


    Thinking that there might be a problem with her body, Wu Chengyue was a little worried. That was only a guess though. He mentioned it casually, hoping to hear an answer.


    Lin Qiao took back the notebook and wrote¡ª''It''s inconvenient for me to show up now. Please find my man, thank you!''


    She didn''t tell him that she couldn''t deactivate her invisibility at the moment, and that she couldn''t leave the house.


    The current relationship between the two of them was complicated. Wu Chengyue should be willing to find Xie Dong for her. After all, that was only a small favor to ask.


    "I need a reason to help you. So, why are you here?" He was worried about her health. However, he knew that she wouldn''t tell him the real reason no matter how he asked, unless she wanted him to know.


    He had learned that the zombie lady didn''t like talking about her personal life, and didn''t like people interfering with it.


    Lin Qiao frowned and thought for a moment, then wrote¡ª''I don''t know what''s going on either. I''ll tell you when I have figured it out.''


    Wu Chengyue read the note and then showed a surprised look on his face. "Not even you know what''s going on? Why are you here then?"


    How could she not know what had happened to her? Wu Chengyue didn''t fully understand what that meant.


    ''Don''t worry, I won''t steal your secret,'' Lin Qiao wrote.


    Wu Chengyue curved his mouth corners in a faint smile and said, "I believe that you''re not interested in those."


    Wu Yueling heard her father talking and raised her head to look at him. She found that no one but her father and herself were in the room. Whom was her father talking to?


    Then, she saw a pen standing on her father''s desk, writing by itself.


    She popped her eyes and looked at the pen curiously. It was so interesting, just like magic. She wasn''t afraid at all.


    She saw her father talk to the air, as if someone was there, then saw the pen moving. Was her father talking to the pen that was standing on the table?


    After writing the last note, Lin Qiao dropped the pen and stopped writing.


    Seeing the pen fall on the table, Wu Chengyue knew that she didn''t want to tell him anything else. So, he nodded and said, "Alright, I''ll find your man. Do you need any other help?"


    The pen stood back up on the table and wrote down two words¡ª''No, thanks.''


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Em, I''ll send Licheng to find your man later when he comes here."


    Lin Qiao thought for a second, then wrote¡ª''As payback, I''ll babysit your kid.''


    Wu Chengyue needed to leave the base tomorrow to carry out a mission. He could use a babysitter. Lin Qiao had observed Ling Ling earlier, and believed that she herself was suitable for the job.


    Wu Chengyue read that note and then the room fell into quietness. He dropped his head and looked at Wu Yueling before saying to her smilingly, "Ling Ling, can you go over there and sit on the couch? Daddy needs to work. Daddy can''t work while you''re sitting on his knees."


    Wu Yueling looked around to confirm that no one else was in the room. Then, she slowly slid off Wu Chengyue''s knees and walked to the couch. While walking, she turned back to look at the pen that had been put back into the pen container by Lin Qiao.


    Seeing her come over, the rabbit that was on the couch moved sideways slightly.


    Wu Yueling walked to the couch, then suddenly heard a voice from her mind¡ª''Ling Ling, can you hear me?''


    ''Eh? That''s¡­ Zombie Mommy!''


    Wu Yueling immediately stopped walking and looked around with surprise.


    At that moment, someone gently patted her hair. Then, she heard Zombie Mommy''s voice again¡ª''It''s me, but please, don''t call me Zombie Mommy! Call me Zombie Sister!''


    Lin Qiao had spent a long time, but still couldn''t make the girl stop calling her Zombie Mommy. The kid really listened to her father.


    Having her head being touched, Wu Yueling was stunned at first, then delighted.


    ''Mama!'' She happily called Lin Qiao, and the latter didn''t know what to say.


    Alright, she removed the word ''zombie''. Why on earth did the little girl insist on calling her Mama?


    Lin Qiao looked at her helplessly and habitually sat on the couch, then put the girl on her knees. While brushing the girl''s long hair with her fingers, she tried again to correct her¡ª''I''m not your Mama. Call me Sister!''


    Wu Yueling looked around. She couldn''t see her, but could feel her. It was so interesting.


    ''Have you missed me these days?'' Lin Qiao asked her in her mind, and Wu Yueling nodded in response. She remembered how she missed Zombie Mommy the first few days after coming back, but later on forgot about that. Kids could forget about a lot of things.


    Lin Qiao smiled, then reached out a hand to catch the rabbit while asking the girl, ''Why is the rabbit so ugly? Who shaved it?''


    Wu Chengyue raised a hand and pointed at Wu Chengyue, who was sitting behind the table.


    Wu Chengyue sensed something, then raised his head to see his daughter being held by the invisible being. It looked as if the little girl was floating in the air.


    He found that scene so weird! He wondered if something would happen to his eyes if he spent too much time looking at that.


    In the next couple of hours, Lin Qiao was sitting on the couch talking to Wu Yueling while Wu Chengyue was doing his work behind his desk.


    Lin Qiao sensed that someone was coming. So, she put Wu Yueling on the couch and said to her, ''Ling Ling, do you want to play a game with me?''


    Wu Yueling looked at her confusedly. She couldn''t see her, of course. But, the word ''game'' aroused her interest. As a result, the little girl nodded with sparkling eyes.


    ''Later, someone will come here. You will sit here and guess if he can find me. Don''t let him find me.''


    Lin Qiao didn''t want Xiao Licheng to come in and see Wu Yueling floating in the air, because she didn''t want anyone else to know that she was in Wu Chengyue''s study room yet.


    Wu Yueling nodded without fully understand. Keeping others from finding Zombie Mommy should be easy. People couldn''t see her anyway.

 926 The Leader of Heilong Base

    Soon, footstep sounds were heard from the outside.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Wu Yueling, who was sitting still on the couch, with surprise. He had noticed that the girl seemed to have been communicating with someone. It should be the zombie lady. But, the zombie lady didn''t make any sound or write any note for Ling Ling. How had they been communicating with each other?


    At that moment, Xiao Licheng came to the door. Wu Chengyue saw him before he knocked on the door, so he came straight inside.


    After making two steps, he slowed down. Recently, Ling Ling always ran into her father''s arms when she saw anyone else. Why didn''t she do that today?


    Wu Yueling flinched slightly as uncle Xiao looked at her. But, she didn''t run to Wu Chengyue this time. Instead, she popped her eyes and stared straight at Xiao Licheng.


    Xiao Licheng slowly walked to the desk with confusion. Only after confirming that Wu Yueling was making no strong reaction did he turn to Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him with composure and asked, "Has Du Kunsheng left?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded slightly and said, "Em, he left the base just now."


    Wu Chengyue had foreseen that. He didn''t change his expression, but kept the faint smile on his face and said, "What he needs the most now is food. I think he''s in a rush to ship the food back to the Northeast."


    It would be a long and arduous journey. The sooner he took off, the sooner he would get through it. Besides, the survivors in Heilong Base were almost running out of food.


    "He''s smart. Leaving that alliance that Huaxia Base founded is clearly safer for him," said Xiao Licheng.


    "He is very cautious. He doesn''t want to put himself in a too dangerous a situation. Besides, whether Huaxia Base will succeed or not, it would do him no good. It was better for him take the risk and complete the deal alone," said Wu Chengyue.


    Du Kunsheng was scheming, cattish, and could be cruel-hearted too. However, everything he attained, he attained it for the people in his base. He cared for his base and his peop;e whole-heartedly. He was a nice leader, actually. If he were stronger, he would be considered as the real leader of Heilong Base.


    "The food he got from us can only last the four-hundred-thousand survivors in his base three months, even if they save it as much as they can. Also, after what will happen this time, I think he''ll stop working with Huaxia Base," Xiao Licheng sighed.


    "I guess he has spent the last nuclei he had this time," said Wu Chengyue, "Oh, don''t forget to block the messages of Wei Haichao and the others tomorrow. Don''t let them find out about our plan."


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng nodded, then asked, "What about Ling Ling?"


    They couldn''t bring her out of the base with them, could they?


    "Ling Ling will stay at home tomorrow," said Wu Chengyue with a faint smile, "Someone will look after her."


    Xiao Licheng frowned slightly and asked with concern, "Is she okay with that?"


    What if her illness attacked while her father was gone?


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Of course, she''s okay with it. Don''t worry! I''m her father, but I''m not worried. You''re just an uncle. Why are you so worried?"


    "Can''t an uncle be worried about her? What are you talking about?" Xiao Licheng looked at his boss and rolled his eyes. However, judging by Wu Chengyue''s calm attitude, Xiao Licheng figured that he did find someone reliable to look after the kid. He was curious about who that was though. Except for her father and the zombie lady from All Beings Base, the little girl didn''t seem to let anyone else get close to her.


    "Alright. I know that you''re worried about Ling Ling. But listen to me, she''ll be fine!" Wu Chengyue smiled as he looked at Xiao Licheng and said, "Send a man to Base Number Two of All Beings Base and tell Xie Dong, the head of the intelligence department, to come here."


    "Alright," Xiao Licheng nodded and responded at first, then asked with curiosity, "But, why do you want him here?"


    "Em, someone wants to see him. Just tell him to come here as soon as possible," said Wu Chengyue.


    "Yes, sir!" Xiao Licheng had no other choice but to restrain his curiosity. After settling the schedule for tomorrow, he left.


    Wu Chengyue glanced outside, then looked at the time. Realizing that it was about dinner time, he stood up.


    "Come on, Ling Ling! We''re going downstairs for dinner." He stood by the couch and reached out toward Ling Ling while talking to her. Wu Yueling obediently slid off the couch and held her father''s hand, then turned back to look at the empty couch.


    No one was seen on the couch, but there was a dent on it, as if someone invisible was sitting there. That was true, actually.


    Soon, the invisible lady stood up and the dent on the couch disappeared.


    Feeling Wu Chengyue touch her head, Wu Yueling turned to look at her father. The rabbit that was squatting in a corner followed behind her and hopped out of the room.


    Wu Chengyue held her hand and walked out of the room. After they left, the door closed itself.


    After going downstairs, Wu Yueling quietly held the rabbit and sat down on the couch in the living room while Wu Chengyue walked into the kitchen to cook.


    Lin Qiao watched Wu Yueling turn the rabbit from side to side to play with it, and the rabbit relax its body to let the girl do what she wanted. She felt a little bored, so she glanced around and then looked outside the door, deciding to try again and see if she could leave the house.


    She walked to the door and opened it to walk out. The sun had fallen, and the air temperature was dropping rapidly. At night, the air temperature would drop to eleven or twelve degrees, even if it were July.


    That didn''t affect Lin Qiao though. For her, night time was more comfortable than daytime, because she was afraid of the heat.


    The other zombies were normally more active during the day time, because they could absorb the solar power. During the night time, as the air temperature dropped, their activity would reduce as well. Lin Qiao was the reverse of that.


    Lin Qiao closed the door, then walked to the yard and glanced at the sky. It was windy at night.


    A guard that was secretly guarding the house confusedly looked at the door open and close. No one came out, so he figured that someone was standing behind the door and swinging it. He had no idea that the one who opened the door had already come out. He just couldn''t see her.


    Lin Qiao walked forward and reached the spot that she was stuck at during the day time, only to find that she was able to walk further away.


    ''Eh?''


    She paused with surprise, then tried to take two more steps forward. She found to her delight that she really could walk further away.


    Had she been freed from that weird state?


    While she was still filling happy, she was stuck at the gate of the yard.

 927 A Family Man

    Lin Qiao stepped back with confusion and tried away to walk forward. However, the result stayed the same; she couldn''t go anywhere further.


    What on earth was happening!


    She furrowed her eyebrows and stood by the gate as she folded her arms and started thinking about what exactly happened today. Earlier on, she wasn''t able to walk to the gate, but now she could. Something must have caused that change. What was it?


    Unwittingly, she raised a hand to scratch her chin, then turned to look at Wu Chengyue''s house.


    Two people visited Wu Chengyue, and then he and his daughter went downstairs from the second floor. Those were all the changes that had happened.


    A gleam of light flashed across her eyes as she looked at the house.


    Was Wu Chengyue the reason why she suddenly showed up in the house? Was there some kind of connection between her and him? Was it because they had had intimate physical contact?


    Her current condition could not be explained by common sense after all.


    Lin Qiao wanted to know if what she thought was true right now. So, she quickly returned to the door, opened it, and walked in. Meanwhile, the secret guard looked at the door bewilderedly, wondering if the little princess was playing behind the door.


    She walked into the living room and glanced at Wu Yueling, who was still playing with the rabbit on the couch, then turned and walked to the kitchen. Standing near the kitchen, she looked at the man who was busy cooking.


    She thought for a moment, then decided to wait until he had time.


    Wu Chengyue was a base leader, so his house was equipped wih the most advanced tools. His kitchen had been modified, added with the newest fire-powered stove. The stove was very energy efficient. A level-four fire-powered nucleus could last a normal family three months.


    Lin Qiao stood by the kitchen door and looked the man who was the most powerful being in the base. She saw him masterly pour some oil into the pot, throw some garlic into it, and wait for the garlic to release its aroma before pouring in the vegetables and start to stir fry them.


    He was tall and slim, wearing a blue and white, latticed apron. He was quiet and concentrated. His lips which were always curved in a faint smile were now pressing together.


    His vibe had become peaceful, even making him look like a great house husband.


    Lin Qiao smelled the aroma of the vegetables that were stir-fried in vegetable oil. From where she was standing, she could see one side of Wu Chengyue''s body. The straps of the apron emphasized the nice shape of his waist.


    She quietly looked at his slender legs and round butt, wondering if that butt would feel nice against her palm. It looked so round and full, should be pretty bouncy¡­


    Suddenly, she realized that she was having some inappropriate thoughts¡­ She stayed composed, but turned her eyes up to his chiseled jaw. The beautiful lines of his lips and nose gave him a charming feature.


    While Lin Qiao was observing the man with great interests, the man abruptly turned around and looked at her, his eyes glowing with a dim, strange light.


    Lin Qiao noticed the meaningful smile on his face.


    She rolled her eyes to look at the ceiling, then raised a hand and touched her nose. Then, she turned and left the kitchen, as if running from something.


    Being caught peeking at someone could be quite embarrassing!


    But soon, she got rid of that embarrassment. She was not peeking at him. She was looking at him! Why did she feel guilty?


    She looked straight at him, and he should have sensed it since long ago.


    Once she walked away, Wu Chengyue came out of the kitchen and put a steaming plate of food on the table, then turned and went back in. A couple of minutes later, he brought out another dish.


    Lin Qiao walked to Wu Yueling and sat down beside her. The little girl instantly felt her and moved toward her.


    ''Ling Ling, do you like Daddy''s food?'' she asked the girl in her mind.


    Wu Yueling heard Lin Qiao''s voice from her mind and nodded to respond.


    ''Daddy''s food is delicious.''


    ''Yeah?'' Lin Qiao smiled, ''Sadly, I can''t taste his food.''


    Everything she found delicious before had become inedible for her now. That was a loss for her, even though she was never a great eater.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue prepared three dishes, a soup, and two bowls of rice. He placed the food on the table, then put a glass of white wine on his left side, without a bowl or chopsticks.


    "Ling Ling, come here for dinner." He poured the wine, then placed the bottle on the table. After that, he took off his apron while talking to Wu Yueling. Then, he said to the invisible lady who was next to Wu Yueling, "I know you don''t eat cooked food. You can still have some wine, right? I don''t know if you can taste anything though."


    Then, he saw Wu Yueling walk to the table with one hand raised in the air, as if she were holding someone''s hand. She was holding someone indeed.


    After escorting Wu Yueling to the seat, Lin Qiao pulled out the chair before the glass of wine and sat down.


    Wu Chengyue sat down and first served his daughter with a bowl of soup. As the little girl finished the soup, he picked up his chopsticks and put some food into the small, empty bowl before Wu Yueling''s rice bowl. He let the girl eat with her own chopsticks instead of feeding her.


    Wu Yueling used her chopsticks rustily, but still tried her to eat on her own. Lin Qiao picked up the glass of wine and took a sip to let Wu Chengyue know that she was there.


    Of course, she wasn''t able to taste anything. The wine tasted plain as water to her.


    No one talked during the dinner. Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling quietly finished their food under Lin Qiao''s watch, who finished her wine sip by sip, then started drinking the lake water from her space.


    After dinner, Wu Yueling gently put her chopsticks on the table and then walked to the kitchen door. Wu Chengyue quickly and neatly tidied the table and put the dishes into the sink, then put a small bundle of washed vegetables on a small plate, bringing it out and handing it to Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling took over the vegetables, then quickly walked to the rabbit which was on the couch and started feeding it. After that, Wu Chengyue turned and returned to the kitchen to do the dishes.


    Lin Qiao looked at the man, then at Wu Yueling. She couldn''t help but feel that he was like both a mother and a father to the little girl, and was doing a great job.


    She didn''t like being pursued by him, but objectively speaking, he was a handsome, capable, great family man who had a perfect body. Honestly, he was a nice guy to marry.


    Regrettably, she had no plan of starting a relationship, not to mention getting married. She only needed to take good care of her family and base.

 928 Found The Cause

    After cleaning the table, Wu Chengyue came out and saw a piece of paper fly to him with a few words written on it.


    ''Do me a favor. Can you leave this house now?''


    Wu Chengyue read the note with confusion. After a short silence, he said, "Why? For what?"


    For him, the whole thing was weird and confusing. The zombie lady suddenly showed up in his place, and now asked him to do something strange without telling him why.


    Wu Chengyue decided to first ask her why. He knew that she wouldn''t try to hurt him, but it might have something to do with her current condition. He wanted to know about it.


    The piece of paper flew away from his hand and landed on the tea table, then the pen on the table stood up and wrote down another line on it.


    ''I need to figure out one thing before telling you.''


    She was aware that Wu Chengyue wanted the answer firmly this time, so she didn''t insist on not telling him. Wu Chengyue walked over and glanced at the note, then asked her, "Will you really tell me?"


    ''Yes,'' Lin Qiao quickly wrote down a word.


    "Alright," Wu Chengyue turned and said, "But, I can''t go out of the front door now. I''ll take the back door. How far do I need to go?"


    ''Just go out of the yard,'' Lin Qiao wrote.


    She knew why he couldn''t go out of the front door. It was because he didn''t want the group of Huaxia people see him. No one but his secret guards were near the house, but some people might have their eyes on the house through telescopes.


    "Ling Ling, Daddy will come back later to give you a shower. You stay here and feed Grey. Don''t go anywhere else."


    While speaking, Wu Chengyue found a hoody and put it on, covering his head with the hood before putting on a face mask. After that, he walked to the backdoor and looked around to make sure that no suspicious people existed within six-hundred meters radius, then walked out of the house.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him. She wanted to follow her Daddy, but Daddy told her to stay in the house and feed the rabbit. So, she had no choice but stay and keep feeding the rabbit like Daddy said.


    She handed a tender leaf to the rabbit. Watching the rabbit chew the leaf, her heart slowly calmed down. Daddy said that he would soon come back to give her a shower anyway.


    Lin Qiao followed Wu Chengyue out of the house. As he walked out of the yard, she walked out as well and made a circle around him. She managed to leave the yard, but got stuck about twenty meters away from Wu Chengyue.


    She tried different directions, but the result was the same. She could go no further than twenty-five meters away from Wu Chengyue.


    "How''s it going? Have you felt anything yet?" Wu Chengyue abruptly said to the darkness.


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly. She walked to his side and grasped his sleeve, then moved further away from the house.


    "What''s wrong?" Wu Chengyue knew that it was Lin Qiao who was dragging him, so he asked another question.


    Lin Qiao held his sleeve and brought him further away from the yard. Her hand accidentally touched his arm. Hearing his question, she unwittingly answered it in her head.


    ''I think you''re the cause.''


    He didn''t seem to hear her, so she decided to write him a note later when they got back into the house. But suddenly, Wu Chengyue stopped moving, then turned to her and asked, "I''m the cause? Lu Tianyu, were you talking to me? What cause?"


    Lin Qiao stopped moving as well and looked at him with surprise.


    Wu Chengyue was at a higher-level than she was, so she couldn''t read his mind. For that reason, she thought she couldn''t make him hear her through his mind either.But judging by his question, he had clearly heard her just now.


    He was surprised too. "Eh? I think I just heard you talking in my head."


    Lin Qiao dropped her hand and tried to talk to him again, ''What about now?''


    This time, Wu Chengyue made no response. He felt that Lin Qiao wasn''t holding his sleeve anymore, so he asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Lin Qiao reached a hand toward his arm again. Before touching him, she hesitated slightly, and then gently put her hand on his arm. Meanwhile, she said to him in her heart, ''What about now?''


    Wu Chengyue was utterly confused. She first led him to walk around his house, then told him that he was the cause. Now, he found that he could hear her talking in his mind. That was interesting.


    "I can hear you. Did you say something earlier?" He felt that the connection between him and her was somehow cut off just now.


    Lin Qiao looked at her hand which was holding his arm and said, ''I think you can only hear me when I''m touching you.''


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "I see."


    He raised his head and looked around, hearing the roaring of the wind. "Can we go back now?" he asked.


    "Yes," Lin Qiao responded.


    Then, she relaxed her hold on his arm.


    They went back into the house, where Wu Chengyue took Wu Yueling into the bathroom for a shower. He decided to ask Lin Qiao about what happened after he gave the little girl a shower.


    Lin Qiao folded her arm and sat down on the couch, thinking about what happened earlier.


    It turned out what trapped her wasn''t the house, but Wu Chengyue. In that case, she would need to leave the base together with him tomorrow, right? But, she had promised him to stay at home and look after Ling Ling. That would be troublesome.


    But, why did such a thing happen between her and Wu Chengyue?


    More importantly, she couldn''t enter her space anymore. She had tried that earlier today. She tried to enter her space and then come out. She might end up in a random spot, but it would be better than being trapped in a house.


    However, she couldn''t get in.


    She put a hand on her slightly bulged belly and sighed helplessly, "Viney, can''t you just be a good little baby? Don''t always cause your mommy trouble! Naughty girl!"


    Something gently pushed her hand from inside her belly, as if Viney was responding to her.


    Lin Qiao paused with surprise, then smiled delightedly. She put both hands on her belly to see if she could feel that again, but nothing happened in the next couple of minutes.


    Her Viney started to kick her so early. Would she be dancing in her womb when she was about to be born?


    She spent another while feeling her stomach, but still nothing happened. She sighed disappointedly, then kept thinking about her problem.

 929 Viney Wakes Up

    After giving Ling Ling the shower, putting dry clothes on her, and wrapping her wet hair up with a towel, Wu Chengyue carried the little girl to the couch in the living room and started talking to Lin Qiao while drying the girl''s hair, "What did you mean by ''I''m the cause''? Also, do you have to touch me to let me hear your voice?"


    Based on what happened earlier, Wu Chengyue had guessed that out.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and realized that she had no other choice but to tell him the truth. She found a pen and a piece of paper, wrote¡ª''For some reason, you and I can''t separate too far..''


    She didn''t tell him that she now seemed to have been tied to his body by an invisible line, and that she had to follow him. Why wasn''t it the other way round?


    While rubbing Wu Yueling''s hair in the towel with both hands, Wu Chengyue turned to read Lin Qiao''s note. He first stayed silent for a few seconds, then said with surprise, "So, we''re bound together now?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t write this time, but knocked on the tea table with the pen. Wu Chengyue knew that it meant he was right.


    Lin Qiao continued writing¡ª''So, I probably can''t stay here and watch Ling Ling for you tomorrow.''


    Wu Chengyue paused briefly, then said, "That''s right. You can''t be away from me, so you''ll have to go out of the base with me tomorrow. I guess I need to find someone else to take care of Ling Ling."


    Then, he thought for a second and turned to Lin Qiao as he continued, "What should we do about you now? You just said that I''m the cause. What does that mean? How are we gonna fix it?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and wrote¡ª''I only know that you''re the cause, but I don''t know how exactly this was caused.''


    At that moment, a voice was heard from Lin Qiao''s mind¡ª''Mama, Mama, I know! I know! Because I''ve been absorbing too much energy lately, Mama''s energy isn''t enough for me anymore. So, I need Daddy''s energy too!''


    Lin Qiao first gave a start when he heard Viney''s voice, then felt a little speechless after she heard her explanation.


    ''Can you please tell me how have you been managing to absorb Wu Chengyue''s energy through the air?'' She thought.


    Then, she heard Viney''s voice again¡ª''I was afraid that I might not be able to absorb his energy through a long distance, so I brought Mama closer to him¡­''


    Lin Qiao responded ¡ª''By closer, do you mean like keeping me less than twenty meters from him?''


    Viney explained with a weak tone¡ª''Um¡­ Well¡­ In fact¡­ I don''t know how it happened¡­ I just wanted Mama to be closer to Daddy, then it happened¡­''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    "What''s wrong? Don''t even you know why it happened?" Wu Chengyue asked again as Lin Qiao didn''t respond to him.


    Lin Qiao picked up the pen and wrote¡ª''I don''t know. Let''s first think about how to get Ling Ling taken care of tomorrow.''


    She wasn''t able to leave his side at the moment, meaning that she would have to leave the base together with him tomorrow. They couldn''t bring Ling Ling for the mission, so, they might need to find someone else to take care of her. However, Ling Ling refused to let anyone else get close to her. She would probably have to stay in her room alone.


    She wasn''t sure how long Wu Chengyue would be gone for.


    Anyhow, Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to worry about that as he said, "It''ll be fine even if you can''t stay. Ling Ling can stay in her room alone now."


    Lin Qiao didn''t agree with that. What if the kid got scared? Some accidents might happen if she got scared. Lin Hao had told her that she might even try to hurt herself if her illness got worse.


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t see Lin Qiao or hear her response, but he somehow guessed out what she was thinking. So, he said, "In fact, she won''t be scared as long as the rabbit is keeping her company. The rabbit is her friend. It means a lot to her."


    Lin Qiao frowned and fell into silence. At that point, Viney followed her thoughts and said, ''Mama, Mama, I know what to do¡­ Let Ling Ling come with us!''


    Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise, then dropped her head to look at her belly while putting a hand on it and asking, ''Why? That''ll be too dangerous. Wu Chengyue will be killing some people tomorrow. How can we bring Ling Ling with us?''


    Viney said, ''Mama, because I can protect her!''


    Lin Qiao was a little confused. ''You protect her? How?'' she asked.


    ''Mama, you hold Ling Ling, I''ll show you,'' said Viney.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. She was curious about what Viney said, and also wanted to know if it would work. So, she wrote down a line on the paper.


    ''Let me hold Ling Ling for a minute. I''ll try another way.''


    Wu Chengyue had almost dried Ling Ling''s hair at that moment. After reading her note, he nodded and put Ling Ling on the ground. Lin Qiao reached out to pull Ling Ling toward her, then said to her in her head¡ª''Ling Ling, Viney woke up. Do you want to talk to her?''


    Wu Yueling instantly had her eyes glowing as she nodded slightly. She hadn''t talked to Viney for long after all.


    Lin Qiao could feel how happy Wu Yueling was even though the little girl''s expression didn''t change much, except for the look in her eyes. She let the girl sit beside her, then put her little hand on her belly.


    ''Ling Ling! Ling Ling! Did you miss me?'' Viney was happy too as she talked to Ling Ling excitedly. Wu Yueling blinked and nodded in response as she said in her heart, ''Yes, Ling Ling missed Viney, but Viney was sleeping all the time!''


    Viney comforted her, ''I''ll be able to play with you when I come out!''


    While listening to the two kids, Lin Qiao wrote on the paper¡ª''How long will it take you to deal with those people?"


    Wu Chengyue was waiting for her to talk about her other way, but before that, he saw Wu Yueling somehow become very happy. Now, upon reading Lin Qiao''s question, he answered it without thinking.


    "Not long. A couple of hours."


    She fixed her eyes on the pen, wondering what other questions Lin Qiao would ask him. However, Lin Qiao was merely holding the pen without writing anything else.


    At that point, Viney said to Lin Qiao, ''Mama, I''m doing it! Watch this!''


    Lin Qiao dropped her head and saw Wu Yueling disappear from her side.


    Watching that, Wu Chengyue was a little stunned, but he didn''t panic. Instead, he looked at where Lin Qiao was sitting with surprise.


    "You can do that?"


    Lin Qiao wrote¡ª''It wasn''t me¡­''


    Wu Chengyue read the note with confusion, then asked without thinking, "Not you? Who then?"


    ''Viney,'' Lin Qiao wrote.


    At that time, Viney said to her, ''Mama, you only need to hold Ling Ling tomorrow, then I''ll make her disappear.''


    ''Where did you take her?'' Lin Qiao asked in amazement.


    ''Mama''s space,'' said Viney.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment feeling her space, but didn''t sense Ling Ling''s location. So, she asked, ''Where? Why can''t I sense her?''

 930 Can I Touch Her?

    Viney said that she brought Ling Ling into the space, but Lin Qiao didn''t feel the little girl in her space. She wasn''t able to enter her space anymore, but she could still sense everything within.


    Wu Chengyue looked at where Lin Qiao was sitting confusedly.


    So, Viney, who was still in her womb, did that? The baby wasn''t even born. Was she already so powerful?


    "Um¡­ Can I touch her?" He abruptly made a request.


    Lin Qiao thought he asked to touch Ling Ling, so she wrote, ''Ling Ling has been brought into a special space by Viney.''


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "No, I want to touch¡­ your belly."


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. She didn''t want him to touch her! However, that was his right. He was the baby''s father after all. She should not say no.


    She had been planning on raising the kid alone all the time, but Wu Chengyue was indeed the baby''s father. She had no right to stop him from caring for the baby.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling reappeared. She looked a little confused, but her eyes soon glowed brightly.


    Even after that, Wu Chengyue still looked at Lin Qiao expectantly. He wanted very much to sit down by her side and put a hand directly on her stomach. However, she finally started to have some good feelings for him, and he didn''t want her to lose that.


    Then, he saw the pen write on the paper¡ª''Yes.''


    He was stunned at first, and then thrilled.


    He didn''t move, yet he soon felt an invisible person come to sit beside him. Then, an invisible hand held his hand and gently pulled his hand to the side. Next, he touched a cool, slightly bulging belly through a layer of cloth.


    Lin Qiao was able to turn her clothes invisible together with her body. She didn''t know how she did that though.


    Before Wu Chengyue could feel the zombie lady''s stomach carefully, something suddenly pushed his palm. At that very moment, he had an indescribable feeling.


    That was his child. She had his blood.


    That subtle feeling made him reluctant to take his hand away. He gently moved his palm to feel the shape of Lin Qiao''s belly.


    It was still small, even though she had been pregnant for so long. The baby was growing slowly.


    Wu Chengyue was looking forward to meeting the baby. He wanted so much for the baby to grow faster, so he could meet her sooner.


    Lin Qiao sensed the warmth from his palm and his gentle movement somehow felt a little itchy in her heart.


    "When will she come out?" Wu Chengyue asked while touching her belly. He felt that her body was a little stiff, but she didn''t push his hand away immediately, which made him happy.


    Lin Qiao said to him, ''According to her current growth speed, seven or eight months.''


    "So long?" said Wu Chengyue disappointedly.


    Lin Qiao felt helpless too. She would be pregnant much longer than other pregnant ladies. It was so hard for a zombie to have a baby.


    ''I''m a zombie, so you can''t see me as a normal pregnant woman. Have you had enough yet?'' she said.


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue reluctantly took his hand away.


    After that, Wu Yueling moved to Wu Chengyue''s side, with her expectant eyes on Lin Qiao. Soon, she turned back to her father and pulled her father''s hand, as if some idea just popped up in her mind.


    "What''s wrong?" Wu Chengyue looked at her.


    Wu Yueling raised her head and looked at her father with a pair of watery eyes. Wu Chengyue didn''t know what she wanted, so he only looked at her confusedly.


    Lin Qiao sensed Wu Yueling''s thoughts and felt speechless. She didn''t say anything, but moved away from Wu Chengyue''s side and sat back into the armchair nearby.


    She would never tell Wu Chengyue that Ling Ling was trying to tell her father that she wanted all three of them to sleep together!


    After spending a while looking at her father in the eyes, Wu Yueling realized that her father had no idea what she wanted. She was running out of patience, so she turned to look at Lin Qiao with anxiety in her eyes.


    Lin Qiao saw the emotional look on her face and felt how anxious she was, and couldn''t help but get worried about the little girl.


    Wu Chengyue had also found that something was not right with his daughter. He hurriedly held her and asked, "What''s wrong? What''s wrong? Ling Ling? Calm down, calm down!"


    Wu Yueling looked around and pressed her lips together. Suddenly, she opened her mouth and said, "Sleep!"


    Wu Chengyue was thrilled to hear his daughter talk. He didn''t even hear what she said because he was too excited. He looked at the girl and said delightfully, "Ling Ling, what did you say just now? Can you say again? Daddy didn''t hear it clearly!"


    Wu Yueling managed to say the key word out loud just now, but she refused to repeat it at the moment. She was only glaring at Wu Chengyue with anger.


    She said it, but Daddy didn''t hear it! She was so angry! Daddy had promised her to sleep together with Zombie Mommy before, but he forgot about it!


    Lin Qiao looked at Wu Yueling. The little girl was still angry, but after saying that word out loud, she had already calmed down.


    She picked up the paper and wrote¡ª''I know what''s going on between you and me. Viney needs energy, but my energy isn''t enough for her. I think she needs to absorb energy from you too.''


    Wu Chengyue wanted to hold Ling Ling and comfort her, but Ling Ling seemed to be a little angry. She turned away and ran up to Lin Qiao, then threw herself onto her lap with her back to her father.


    She was still unhappy, but her anxiety was gone.


    So, Wu Chengyue stopped worrying about her and read Lin Qiao''s note. "She needs my energy?" he was a little confused, "Is that why she bound us together?"


    Lin Qiao knocked the tea table with the pen.


    "But, I haven''t been feeling any discomfort," said Wu Chengyue, "If she has been absorbing energy from me, shouldn''t I be feeling something unusual instead of you?"


    Lin Qiao, of course, had no answer to that question. ''Viney, do you know why?'' she asked Viney.


    Viney responded, ''Perhaps I only need a slight amount of Daddy''s energy, so he''s not feeling anything strange. I don''t know, actually. But, as long as Mommy stays close to Daddy, I won''t feel hungry.''


    In fact, Viney had no idea why and how Lin Qiao ended up in her current state, because she was still asleep when it happened. Lin Qiao''s energy was suddenly gone, but she couldn''t stop her absorption. If she tried to absorb more from Lin Qiao, she would hurt her, so she subconsciously triggered her power to protect Lin Qiao.


    She triggered Lin Qiao''s space power and got her into the space, then traced Wu Chengyue''s vibe to locate him. After that, she put Lin Qiao to his side.

 931 Not Changing I

    ''Isn''t the energy I absorbed enough for you?'' Lin Qiao asked.


    She absorbed a lot of nuclei every single night! However, it turned out that the energy she absorbed wasn''t enough to feed the baby!


    ''Not enough!'' said Viney.


    ''How long do I need to stay around him? Don''t tell me that I''ll have to stay with him until you''re born!'' Lin Qiao continued.


    That would be horrible!


    At the same time, she wrote on the paper to answer Wu Chengyue''s question¡ª''My energy is drained. My body turned invisible to protect itself.''


    Viney responded to her, ''Em, I don''t know¡­ Probably not too long¡­''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. ''Probably? You made this happen and you don''t even know how long it''s gonna last?''


    Viney felt that Lin Qiao was a little angry, so she immediately hid away without making any other sound in her mind.


    Wu Chengyue read Lin Qiao''s note while paying attention to Wu Yueling. Finally, he learned about what was going on.


    He looked at the time. It was about time for Ling Ling to go to her room and read. So, he said to the little girl who wouldn''t look at him, "Ling Ling, it''s your reading time. Would you like to go upstairs and read with Daddy?"


    Wu Yueling had read the same story over and over again to learn every single word in that story. The pictures in the book and her father''s explanations helped her understand the story.


    She liked reading, and she memorized every word that her father taught her. She couldn''t write those words yet, but at least she could read them.


    However, the little girl was still mad at her father at the moment. So, she ignored her father and kept holding Lin Qiao''s lap.


    Thinking that the little girl was getting a little emotional earlier, Wu Chengyue gave up. The little girl couldn''t be pushed, and could only follow her interests.


    Normally, she would be happy to read, but not tonight.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then said to Lin Qiao smilingly, "How about I show you your room? Since you can''t leave, maybe you should stay here for a while."


    Where else could she possibly go?


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes, then knocked the tea table with the pen.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Ling Ling, who was still lying on Ling Qiao''s lap, and said, "Ling Ling, let''s go upstairs together. Let''s bring your Zombie¡­ Aunty to her room to rest¡­"


    Lin Qiao felt a little speechless when she heard what he said.


    She was thirty-six years old, so calling her Aunty was fine. However, she felt weird about the pause that Wu Chengyue made between the word ''zombie'' and ''Aunty''.


    Wu Yueling got up from Lin Qiao''s lap and held her hand as she headed upstairs. Lin Qiao glanced at the rabbit that was curling in a corner of the couch, then asked the girl, ''Ling Ling, don''t you want your rabbit?''


    Wu Yueling paused briefly, then turned and looked around. With her eyes on the rabbit, she dropped Lin Qiao''s hand and ran back to the couch to pick the rabbit up.


    Wu Chengyue walked upstairs while looking at the little girl. Lin Qiao waited until Wu Yueling followed behind her father like a little tail, then headed upstairs as well.


    He knew that zombies didn''t need to sleep, but he also knew that Lin Qiao would absorb energy during night time.


    Lin Qiao knocked on the door to respond to him, then walked into the room. After that, Wu Chengyue prepared to bring Wu Yueling upstairs to her own room. However, the little girl dodged her father''s hand and ran to the bed in Lin Qiao''s room.


    Clearly, she didn''t want to go back to her own room.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her helplessly and gave up on his original plan. "Please, take care of her," he said to Lin Qiao. "Ling Ling, don''t be naughty! Do what Zombie Aunty says, alright?"


    Wu Yueling was not going to respond to him.


    What Zombie Aunty? She was Zombie Mommy.


    The little girl was not going to change that.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the girl, then knocked on the door again. Wu Chengyue left the guest room and walked into his study room to continue his work. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao closed the door and sat on the bed, looking at Wu Yueling.


    She wanted to communicate with the girl properly, but was afraid that the girl might get emotional again. The little girl was having some strange thoughts which were growing stronger and stronger.


    Wu Yueling held the rabbit as she sat on the bed. She looked around, as if she didn''t feel Lin Qiao''s presence.


    Lin Qiao moved to her side and thought for a moment, then couldn''t help but put a hand on her head and ask, ''Ling Ling, do you want a Mommy?''


    Wu Yueling immediately turned to her and nodded.


    Lin Qiao sighed and continued with, ''Except me, is there anyone else you want as your Mommy?''


    Wu Yueling shook her head and then nodded.


    ''No! No one else! I want you.''


    Lin Qiao said to her slowly, ''But, I''m not human. I''m a zombie. I can''t live with you guys for long. We should find you a human Mommy.''


    Hearing that, Wu Yueling''s eyes immediately turned red and tearful.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. She really shouldn''t mention it.


    Looking at the sobbing little girl, She felt quite helpless. She was really not good at dealing with kids, as they were innocent and stubborn.


    Wu Yueling looked at Lin Qiao and asked her with both sadness and confusion, ''Why can''t you live with us? You don''t bite, and you don''t eat people.''


    Lin Qiao said, ''I don''t do that now, but I can''t guarantee that I won''t do that in the future. What if I became crazy someday? I might hurt you, your father, or someone else.''


    Wu Yueling dropped her head and a tear fell out of her eyes. She hurriedly wiped it with the back of her hands, then turned and threw herself onto the bed with her back to Lin Qiao.


    ''This looks familiar¡­'' Lin Qiao thought.


    ¡­


    Back in All Beings Base, people had spent an entire afternoon looking for their Chief, but failed to find her. It was as if she vanished into thin air.


    Lin Hao was the most anxious one among all, as he knew that all sorts of things had been happening to Lin Qiao lately. He couldn''t let too many people know about what happened, so he went to talk to Lin Feng about it.


    "Haven''t you found her yet?" Seeing Lin Feng come into the office, Lin Hao immediately stood up. The frown on the former''s face gave him the answer.


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "We''ve looked everywhere, but we couldn''t find her. Weren''t you two with her the whole time? Did you notice anything unusual before she disappeared?" He asked Duan Juan and Shen Yujen.


    The two nodded while Shen Yujen responded, "I could sense Chief''s vibe from Doctor Lin''s office the whole time. I thought she never left. Besides, she didn''t mention anything that needed to be dealt with. Even if there were an accident, we should have heard some noises at least."


    The others all wore a sullen look on their faces.

 932 The Instructions for Xie Dong

    All Beings Base people unexpectedly received a message from Wu Chengyue while they were secretly looking for Lin Qiao.


    "Are you saying that Chief is in Sea City Base now?" Lin Feng looked at the man who brought him the message with surprise.


    Qian Xiaoai nodded and said, "Yes. The message is from our Chief. She summoned Xie Dong from Base Number Two. That was her only instruction."


    Lin Feng looked at the others and thought for a moment, then said, "Alright. Let Xie Dong go then."


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen glanced at each other. "I''m talking to Xie Dong now," said Shen Yujen. While speaking, she turned and left, after which, the others went back to their positions, waiting for Xie Dong to bring further news back.


    Wu Chengyue knew that Xie Dong was a zombie too, so he opened a small gate for him.


    Xie Dong arrived at Wu Chengyue''s place at ten pm. Lin Qiao was looking at Wu Yueling, who was sleeping tight on her bed with the rabbit held in her arms. She prepared to carry Wu Yueling back into her own room, but she sensed Xie Dong''s vibe coming from a distance away before that. Knowing that he would arrive soon, she decided to let Ling Ling stay in her room.


    She gently walked out of the room and closed the door, then headed downstairs and waited in the living room.


    Wu Chengyue had also sensed Xie Dong''s vibe when he was arriving. So, he finished working and came out of his study room. On his way downstairs, he stopped before Lin Qiao''s room, then quietly opened the door and walked in.


    Since he had sensed Xie Dong''s vibe, he assumed that Lin Qiao had sensed it too. Knowing that she was no longer in the room, he walked in and gently carried his daughter out, bringing the little girl into his room.


    The light in the living room was off, so it was all dark. The pen laid on the tea-table was now floating in the air while the couch was completely empty.


    That was what Xie Dong saw when he came in. As a zombie, he saw things clearly in the darkness. He looked around, then landed his eyes on the floating pen.


    ''What?''


    Why was the pen floating in the air?


    He wondered.


    Then, a voice was heard in his mind¡ª''Because I''m holding it.''


    Xie Dong watched the pen rise higher, and paused briefly with surprise.


    "Chief?" After a short silence, his voice was heard.


    Lin Qiao said to him with her will power¡ª''I can''t go back to our base for now. You need to bring me the work that has to be done by me. Let Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng deal with the other things.''


    "Yes, Ma''am," Xie Dong nodded.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t utter any voice, but was able to make lower-leveled zombies hear his voice in their minds. She had to be close to those zombies, though.


    ''I''ll be with Wu Chengyue lately. If you need to see me, go and find him, then you''ll find me.''


    Xie Dong looked at the floating pen. He didn''t know why Lin Qiao talked to him without showing her face, but he didn''t try to ask. After hearing her instruction, he nodded.


    Lin Qiao dropped the pen while continuing¡ª''Don''t let too many people know about this. Okay, you can leave now.''


    Xie Dong understood what she was talking about. Only Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing would know about that for the time being.


    "Yes, Ma''am," he responded expressionlessly, then left quietly.


    Except for Wu Chengyue''s secret guards, no other people knew that Xie Dong had visited that house.


    After Xie Dong left, Lin Qiao went upstairs, back to her room. She opened the door and found that Ling Ling was no longer on her bed. She guessed that Wu Chengyue had brought that little girl away. She didn''t think much about it, but walked in and lay on the bed.


    She took a level-five zombie nucleus out of her space, held it in her hand and started to absorb it.


    For the commoners, or for some of those newly invented machines, a level-five nucleus could last for a long time. However, it was only able to last two hours for Lin Qiao.


    The energy flowed into her body, slowly gathered in her brain, then spread to every corner of her body. At last, it moved into her lower belly. By that time, seventy percent of it would be gone.


    Currently, Viney would only absorb thirty percent of the energy that Lin Qiao absorbed. The rest seventy percent would stay inside Lin Qiao''s body and his nucleus.


    Lin Qiao was at the top of level-seven. For her, that slight amount of energy was like a drop of water falling into a drained lake. It would take forever for the lake to be filled up again.


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue put Ling Ling on the bed, covered her, then took a shower himself. After that, he got into the bed and fell asleep with his daughter in his arms.


    He had no idea that in the middle of the night, a small amount of his energy quietly flowed out of his body, formed into a stream in the air, flowed out of the opened window, moved downward, then drifted into Lin Qiao''s window and drilled into her lower belly.


    The next morning, before Lin Qiao opened her eyes, the energy flow broke. After the tail of the energy stream drilled into her body, Lin Qiao slowly opened her eyes.


    Upstairs, Wu Chengyue soon opened his eyes too. He didn''t sense the loose of energy. Perhaps, it was too slight for him to feel it.


    The first thing he woke up to do was to look at Wu Yueling. Seeing that his daughter was still in sleep, he gently got off the bed to get fresh up. As he came out of the bathroom, he saw Wu Yueling sit on the bed with her hair messy, rubbing her eyes drowsily.


    "Ling Ling is up? Come wash your face and brush your teeth then. After breakfast, we''ll go out and play!" He didn''t carry the little girl off the bed but walked to the side, poured himself a cup of water while talking to her.


    Wu Yueling was still sleepy, but she obediently followed Wu Chengyue''s instruction. She moved to the bedside, put on her shoes and got off the bed.


    After that, she walked into the bathroom by herself.


    As she came out, Wu Chengyue was already dressed up. He helped the little girl to get changed, then brushed her hair. After that, he brought the girl out of the room, to the downstairs for breakfast.


    Lin Qiao had come downstairs long ago. She was sitting on the couch, rubbing the rabbit, feeling a little bored.


    Wu Yueling had her eyes glow when she saw the rabbit, that was floating in the air. She immediately dropped her father''s hand and ran to the couch. Wu Chengyue glanced at her, then went into the kitchen to make breakfast.


    After breakfast, Wu Chengyue spent a short while observing the surrounding area, then left home together with Ling Ling.


    Lin Qiao didn''t sit into his car, but sat on top of the car. The sun wasn''t scorching in the morning, so she could still stand it.

 933 The Secret Movements on Both Sides

    Early in the morning, a few heavily armed combat vehicles were parked in the underground parking lot in a building that was located six miles away from Sea City Base''s safe zone. Some people were moving inside the building.


    No zombies could be seen around the building. The area hundred meters around the building was zombie-free, as if something had driven all the zombies away.


    They got the anti-zombie drug from the Green Mountain Base, which was exactly the kind of drug that Lei Cheng offered Lin Qiao last time.


    "Are we ready?" A level-six man among the group of people said to the dozen squad leaders.


    "We''re ready!" The others responded in one voice.


    "We can do it at any time," one of them added.


    The level-six man nodded and glanced at his watch, then immediately gave his order, "Good! Move, now!"


    "Yes, sir!" The others responded, then quickly dismissed to gather their teams and jump into action.


    One group of people were wearing protective clothing that sealed their scents and vibes, holding around ten commoners, whose limbs were tied up. They were young and strong, but their faces were pale and eyes unfocused.


    They separated those commoners and poured some drug into their mouths, then cut their skin with daggers and let them bleed. After that, they threw those people out and tied them on the vehicles.


    "Ah¡­" Those people who were covered in wounds burst into screams. Their lusterless eyes showed anger and fear, and their faces were twisted.


    The scent of fresh blood instantly spread from their bodies. The drug might have emphasized the scent of their blood and allowed it to spread to further areas.


    "Roar¡­" Soon, the zombies nearby sensed that blood scent.


    Those people drove their vehicles slowly toward the zombie crowd, dragging those injured commoners behind the vehicles and attracting the zombies nearby.


    Those commoners were bleeding, and the approaching zombies scared them and made them want to run. So, being led by the vehicles, they kept running until they bled out. They were brought into the vehicles after passing out. However, those people didn''t try saving them, but tied them on the tails of the vehicles and cut deeper into their skin to lure the zombies.


    "Roar¡­" More and more zombies followed behind those vehicles, and a small scale massive zombie crowd was soon formed.


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue''s men had been watching those people. A man dropped the telescope and said through clenched teeth, "What are they doing! How can they do something like this! So brutal!"


    Another man responded expressionlessly, "I think they''re trying to gather zombies. They''re leading those zombies to our base."


    "Yes. They can''t get into our base. I guess they''re trying to bring about some disorder in our base and then take the opportunity to break in. Bring the news back to the base now."


    "I''m going now!"


    Wu Chengyue received the message as his car secretly drove out of the base. The smile on his face grew bigger, yet no actual smile was detected from his eyes. Those eyes of his were even glowing with a cold light.


    "I get it. Go and tell Licheng to bring the message to the other two Chiefs. Tell them not to worry about the people out here, but keep an eye on the ones inside. Those people might make a move today too. Tell Xiao Yunlong to be careful," he said with a cold smile.


    "Yes, sir!" His subordinate quickly headed back to the base to deliver the message.


    Lin Qiao stood on the car roof and sensed the faint blood scent from the air. Something contained in that scent made her slightly excited, but she didn''t know what it was.


    She had roughly guessed out what was happening. Those people were gathering a zombie crowd by using bleeding human beings. She believed that they planned to bring those zombies to the front gate of Sea City Base. That would create them an opportunity to get into the base. Even if they still couldn''t break in, the people who were already in the base would have a chance to do what they wanted.


    Wu Chengyue''s car quickly left the safe zone and then stopped. Soon, one of his subordinates came to report to him.


    "They have gathered the zombies from over ten directions. Over ten-thousand zombies have been gathered together so far."


    "Are they all in those cars?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "Yes," the man responded.


    "Alright," Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Go back and keep watching them."


    "Yes, sir!"


    Lin Qiao planned to merely watch instead of taking a part in the operation. Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling out of the car, then looked at the car roof and said, "Please take care of Ling Ling."


    Lin Qiao gently leaped off the car and took Ling Ling over from him.


    Wu Chengyue''s subordinate and the driver were utterly confused when they saw him talking to the air. Then, they saw Ling Ling float away from his arms and disappear into thin air¡­


    They wondered if they were having hallucinations.


    Lin Qiao took Wu Yueling over, then called Viney. After that, she felt that the weight in her hands was gone as Wu Yueling disappeared from her arms.


    In Sea City Base, Xiao Yunlong, Zou Shihui, Wei Haichao, and the others were having another meeting in the conference room after 9 am.


    The people from Heilong Base had already left. This time, only the people from Huaxia Base, Sky Fire Base, and Mongols Base were on the scene.


    "We will not change our terms. If you really can''t accept them, I''m afraid that we''ll have to suspend our deal," Xiao Yunlong said to the guests with a faint smile.


    Wei Haichao was a little surprised to hear that. He popped his eyes and said, "Suspend? Are you suspending this deal with our Huaxia Base?"


    Huaxia Base had been producing a series of highly advanced devices that Sea City Base could not develop on its own. For that reason, Huaxia Base charged Sea City Base very high prices every time for them. Sea City Base had no other choices but to pay the high prices for those technological products they needed.


    The scientific group in Sea City Base wasn''t as capable as that in Huaxia Base after all.


    "No, not this deal. We''re suspending all deals." Xiao Yunlong shook his head and answered Wei Haichao''s question.


    Before, Sea City Base people let Huaxia Base take advantage of them because they didn''t have the technologies that they needed. However, their own scientific projects had been making progress the whole time, and their researchers had been growing more and more capable. Currently, even though there was still a great difference between Sea City Base and Huaxia Base in terms of technology, Sea City Base was already able to fulfill its own needs. Therefore, they didn''t need to spend a huge amount of food to purchase technological products from Huaxia Base anymore. They were able to create things themselves now.


    During the past two years, they had recruited quite a lot of scientific and technological talents from Huaxia Base. Sea City Base no longer needed the products from the other, but they now needed the food from the former.

 934 Their Plan Is Ruined

    "What? You want to stop all trade with us? Why? I''m afraid your people can''t live a good life without our products," Wei Haichao was a little surprised at first, then wore a sullen look. Subsequently, his last sentence was said with a threatening tone.


    He wasn''t expecting Sea City Base people to stiffen their spine this time. Before, Huaxia Base people threatened them with their most advanced weapons every time they tried to stop the trade. If Sea City Base refused to complete the deals, Huaxia Base would attack mercilessly.


    A few years ago, Sea City Base was weak and over-populated. The lightning-powered Wu Chengyue had emerged from the base, but his superpower was upgrading slowly. The base still relied on weapons for the most part.


    During the past two years, Sea City Base people had great dissatisfaction with the unequal trade between Sea City Base and Huaxia Base. After every negotiation, Huaxia Base slowly made a step backward. After all, Sea City Base was growing stronger and stronger.


    Xiao Yunlong gave a scornful cold smile and said, "We can live a good life even without making trades with you. You really don''t need to worry about us."


    ''We''re gonna teach you Huaxia people a lesson this time, or you might think that we''re afraid of you. How dare you play that dirty trick in our place? Are we all dead? You want the technology, and you plan to kidnap our scientists because you can''t get it? That''d only happen in your dreams!'' he thought.


    Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong both pulled a long face. The former stared at Xiao Yunlong and said, "What do you mean? We''ve been working together all this time. Now you''re going to stop trading with us. Don''t you need to give us a reason?"


    Xiao Yunlong gave Zou Shihui a glance, then turned back and responded, "Reason? Oh, simple. Because we can now produce technologically advanced products as well. We won''t be needing your help anymore. After all, there would be a high price to pay if we want to use your products. It''s not cost-efficient, is it?"


    Wei Haichao narrowed his eyes and said with disbelief, "You made your own? How long can your products last? Are they as good as ours?"


    After saying that, he snorted with laughter. He doubted the abilities of the technicians in Sea City Base. Huaxia Base had the best technicians in the country. Sea City Base might be able to find some technicians of their own, but how could they possibly make the products as good as Huaxia Base''s?


    Sensing the tense atmosphere between Sea City Base and Huaxia Base, Sky Fire Base and Mongols Base people stayed calmed while watching the show.


    They were surprised that Sea City Base had finally demanded to stop trading with Huaxia Base. After all, no base in the country dared to displease Huaxia Base openly. It was the strongest base, after all, strong and richly populated.


    As Sea City Base had picked the side against Huaxia Base openly, it would certainly become a target of the latter. Huaxia Base would find all sorts of excuses to bring Sea City Base down.


    In fact, Huaxia Base already had that intention recently; it was just not obvious yet. It was because Sea City Base had a level-eight lightning-power possessor, who was even stronger than the fire-powered Si Kongchen.


    Besides, they had heard that quite a lot of technicians who hadn''t been living an ideal life in Huaxia Base were having their eyes on Sea City Base.


    "Our products may not be as good as yours, but they''re good enough for us. We don''t have much to ask for. Before, we couldn''t make those products by ourselves, so we worked with you. Now, since we have grown that capability, we surely don''t need to purchase things from you again," Xiao Yunlong said with a faint smile.


    Seeing the proud smile on Xiao Yunlong''s face, Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong sneered in their heads. When their Plan B worked, Huaxia Base would never need to worry about food again, because they would have the people who developed the soil remedy working for them. By that time, Sea City Base would have no power to threaten them, and they would be able to suppress Sea City Base again.


    But, they needed to wait now until Sea City Base people were too busy dealing with the massive zombie attack to pay attention to them.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue was standing on top of a seven-story building that was located outside the base, looking at the smoking combat vehicle that was parked about two-hundred meters away. The vehicle was burned black, and fire came out from the hole on top of it. It seemed like it had been struck by a lightning from the sky.


    It was indeed struck by a bolt of lightning from the sky. Once the vehicle stopped moving, the zombie crowd behind it immediately rushed up. Those zombies reached their hands into the vehicle through the cracks to grasp those injured or dead people.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the vehicle, then quickly turned and moved toward the next one. There was one last combat vehicle to go.


    "Squad One! Squad Two! Respond! Respond!" At that point, the level-six man was yelling at the interphone in the last combat vehicle, waiting for the response from the rest of his people.


    Just now, he suddenly found that his connection with a few of the other squads had been cut off. After hearing a series of thunder, he had a bad feeling. He talked to the interphone, but those squads didn''t respond.


    The thunder was heard again and again, and people''s voices disappeared from the interphone one after another. At last, it fell completely into silence.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t even need to approach those vehicles. He wielded his arms from a long distance away and brought the lightning down upon his targets from the sky.


    Lin Qiao was standing about ten meters away from him, watching him do that. She felt a little bored as she watched Wu Chengyue easily destroy the dozen combat vehicles which had been trying to guide a huge crowd of zombies to his base. Then, she watched those wasted vehicles sink into the zombie crowd or explode. However, not even the explosion could stop those exciting zombies.


    After those people were finished, Lin Qiao asked Viney to send Wu Yueling out.


    Wu Yueling was a little stunned to see the strange surrounding environment, but calmed down when she saw Wu Chengyue. They were on top of a building. Wu Chengyue walked to the little girl, then held her hand and headed downstairs.


    Soon, they both left the building and sat inside the car that was parked before the building long ago. Then, the car was driven back toward Sea City Base.


    At that time, Wei Haichao and the others had no idea that their Plan B was already ruined. They glanced at their watches and found that it was about the time. Seeing that Xiao Yunlong and his people still looked calm, they couldn''t help but again sneer in their heads.


    ''Let''s see if you can stay so calm later!'' they thought.


    Xiao Yunlong looked at the time and said, "Since we cannot achieve an agreement, why don''t we have a lunch together before you guys head home?"


    Li Zhengye from Sky Fire Base and Bao Chengzhi from Mongols Base both wore a slightly confused look. They weren''t expecting Sea City Base people to ask them to leave so soon. They glanced at Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong. Seeing that those two weren''t wearing any expressions, they stayed put as well.


    "Alright, we don''t intend to constrain you to do things that you don''t want to. But, I do hope that you won''t regret your decision," Hou Guozhong said coldly, then turned and glanced at Wei Haichao. After that, they both stood up and left. While leaving, he gave one of his subordinates a meaningful glance, seemingly to signal him to do something.

 935 Lunch Invitation

    The man who received the glance from Hou Guozhong soon disappeared.


    "I don''t think we can say no to your hospitality," said Wei Guozhong smilingly.


    Reasonably speaking, they should not stay in Sea City Base any longer, as Sea City Base had unilaterally ended all trade with them. Xiao Yunlong didn''t really mean to invite them for lunch. His point was to ask them to leave. Clearly, he didn''t want those people to linger in his place.


    However, Huaxia Base people, of course, wouldn''t want to leave, as they hadn''t heard any news about a massive zombie attack in Sea City Base. So, they shamelessly decided to stay for lunch.


    Bao Chengzhi and Li Zhengye glanced at each other, then looked at Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui. After that, they stood up and left the conference room along with the others without saying anything.


    Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui didn''t expect them to agree to stay for lunch. They both paused briefly, then looked at each other with a gleam of light flashing across their eyes. They could roughly guess out what those people were thinking.


    They were waiting for the trouble to start! How would their faces look when they realized that the trouble was never going to arrive?


    As the guests didn''t want to leave, Xiao Yunlong and his people didn''t say anything to expose their true intention, but told the canteen to prepare some decent food, then led the guests there for the lunch.


    At the table, the people on both sides had different thoughts in their heads. No one talked as they looked at each other with cold smiles, trying to buy more time.


    "Gentlemen, are you not satisfied with our food here? Should we get you something else?" Xiao Yunlong talked smilingly with a friendly tone, yet a faint scorn was detected from his language.


    Wei Haichao glanced at him and responded with a smile, "That is nonsense. The food is luxurious for the post-apocalyptic era. I heard that Sea City Base is doing good in the breeding industry, and that you have healthy pigs, cattle, and lambs. These meat dishes are precious."


    He looked at those savory dishes on the table and complimented them without even touching his chopsticks.


    Li Zhengye, who sat beside him, slowly picked up the chopsticks, then picked a piece of stewed pork with brown sauce and put it into his mouth. While chewing, he nodded and praised, "Mm, this is delicious. I really love meat!"


    Finishing the pork, he picked up the glass of wine before him and took a sip, then said with satisfaction, "We all know how precious these foods are. How can we waste it? Eh?"


    "Haha, I agree with Chief Li," Bao Chengzhi laughed, then picked up his chopsticks and started eating as well. They didn''t worry that the food might be dodgy, because Sea City Base people had no reason to poison the food.


    Xiao Yunlong looked at them and blinked, then started eating as well. The cooperative relationship between Sea City Base and Huaxia Base was broken, but the leaders from two other bases were also present. Sea City Base had no intention of turning those two bases into enemies as well.


    The people spent a while focusing on the food with different thoughts in their heads. Hou Guozhong''s subordinate, who had disappeared earlier, soon returned. He walked straight in even though the room was full of base leaders. That man quickly walked up behind Hou Guozhong and bent over before whispering something to him.


    Hou Guozhong''s expression changed subtly. He soon adjusted it, but none of the others in the room missed that, as they had all been paying attention to him.


    Xiao Yunlong curved his mouth corners in a meaningful smile. Wei Haichao had a bad feeling when he noticed the look which had flashed across Hou Guozhong''s face. Li Zhengye and Bao Chengzhi stayed composed, but a slightly sullen look could be detected from their eyes.


    ''Nothing happened at the front gate.'' That was what Hou Guozhong heard from his subordinate.


    That meant the massive zombie crowd that was supposed to be led to the front gate didn''t show up. Their people out there might have had some kind of accident, or encountered some kind of problem. Otherwise, they would have accomplished their missions.


    Without a massive zombie attack, nothing would be diverting the attention of Xiao Yunlong and his people, meaning that they wouldn''t have a chance to take away those scientists while the base was in chaos.


    At that time, Xiao Licheng walked over to Xiao Yunlong''s side. He didn''t whisper like what Hou Guozhong''s subordinates did, but said slowly with a voice that was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "Chief, I heard from the West Gate that about ten zombie crowds are gathering near the safe zone. We don''t know why they all gathered up. But fortunately, they aren''t approaching the safe zone."


    Xiao Yunlong wore a surprised face as he turned to look at him and reply, "Zombie crowds? They gathered together?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "At first, those zombie crowds tended to merge into one, almost forming a small-scale massive zombie group. But for some reason, that didn''t happen. They were approaching the safe zone earlier, but then they stopped moving."


    "What about now?" Xiao Yunlong asked.


    "They have all stopped moving now," said Xiao Licheng, "The crowds didn''t merge together, and nothing happened subsequently. All the zombies have quieted down."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and glanced at Zou Shihui, then said, "I see. Keep an eye on them. Deliver the news to All Beings Base, to our Chief Wu. He knows how to deal with those zombie crowds."


    Zou Shihui, who had stayed silent the whole time, nodded and started talking with a deep voice, "It''s not a big deal. I think it won''t affect our base." Then, he looked at the others and continued, "But I''m afraid Chairman Wei and his friends are going to have to take a detour later. Maybe they can leave from the North Gate."


    They came in from the West Gate, so they planned to leave from that gate too.


    Hearing that, Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong started to look unhappy. They both tried pretty hard to conceal their unhappiness though as Wei Haichao said through clenched teeth, "It''s alright. We''ll take the North Gate."


    Unexpectedly, their plan didn''t work. Xiao Yunlong''s man said it out loud. Clearly, Sea City Base people wanted them to hear it, meaning that they knew what their guests were up to since long ago.


    Wei Haichao and his people couldn''t leave any evidence for Sea City Base people, and they could never admit that it was their plan.


    So now, they had no other choice but to pretend like it didn''t happen. They even pretended to care for Sea City Base. "Since there might be a small-scale zombie attack, I think it''s probably serious. You guys need to be careful with it."


    Xiao Yunlong smiled and said, "Ah, it''s fine. We have plenty of ways to deal with zombies now. You don''t need to worry about it."


    "Great!" Wei Haichao responded with a fake smile.


    Li Zhengye and Bao Chengzhi were having their expressions changing constantly, avoiding eye contact with the others. No one knew what they were thinking about.

 936 Who Did It?

    Hou Guozhong abruptly turned to Xiao Yunlong and his people, looking at them with a sour face as he said, "I heard that your Chief Wu is spending a lot of time in All Beings Base, that new base. I guess he really likes Miss Lu."


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and admitted, "I think so too. But sadly, she doesn''t like him back. There''s a long way for our Chief Wu to go if he wants to marry her."


    Hou Guozhong said, "On our way here, we heard that a lightning power possessor in All Beings Base went mad. We don''t know who that was."


    There was a hidden meaning in his words. Everyone knew that lightning power possessors were rare. Wu Chengyue was the only one they knew, apart from that zombie emperor.


    "Really? How come we didn''t hear about that?" Xiao Yunlong responded with confusion.


    "Stop hiding it. Wu Chengyue is a level-eight lightning power possessor. Who can approach him when he''s out of control? I guess your Chief Wu is still in a bad state now, huh?" Wei Haichao said with a sneer.


    He pointed out that he and his people had already known about what happened to Wu Chengyue. Without Wu Chengyue, what right did Sea City Base have to go against Huaxia Base?


    Sea City Base people had been showing a bad attitude, so Huaxia Base people didn''t intend to show any more mercy.


    "Chief Wu is fine. Don''t worry about him," Zou Shihui said blandly, then took a sip of his wine. Clearly, he didn''t take Wei Haichao''s words seriously. Xiao Yunlong reacted in the same way.


    The others all believed that they were trying to hide the truth, and guessed that they weren''t as calm as they looked like.


    Knowing that Plan B didn''t work, Wei Haichao and his people had no reason to stay in Sea City Base with fake smiles on their faces. They all stood up, then turned and left with their faces pulled long.


    "I''ll walk you guys out of the gate. Which gate would you like to take? The North Gate or¡­" Xiao Yunlong stood up and asked with laughter.


    "The West Gate. Are we afraid of those zombies? We''ll take that gate, and maybe we''ll conveniently solve the zombie problem for you. Shouldn''t you guys thank us for that?" Wei Haichao responded with a fake smile.


    "Don''t bother. We can solve that problem by ourselves. You don''t need to do that for us," Xiao Yunlong responded carelessly.


    "Suit yourself then! We''ll still take the West Gate," Wei Haichao erased the smile on his face and said coldly.


    The expected chaos didn''t happen, so Wei Haichao and his people had no chance of kidnapping those scientists. They couldn''t do it right under the watch of Sea City leaders anyway. Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui walked them straight out of the gate, in case they might try to play any tricks.


    After leaving the base, Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong instantly headed toward the zombie crowd and soon found those damaged combat vehicles. They both wore the drug invented by Green Mountain Base, the smell of which drove the zombies near them away.


    The drug provided people with convenience if they needed to go out of the base to carry out some kind of mission. However, it was not helpful for zombie hunters.


    The faces of Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong were black as thunder as the two of them saw those burned vehicles.


    "Boss, we found the other cars. They''re all¡­ the same." One of their subordinates searched around and then came back to report to Hou Guozhong. Hearing that, Hou Guozhong wore an even deeper frown.


    "These cars were attacked by either fire power or lightning power. They were fine this morning, but broken within such a short time. The one who did this is strong," Li Zhengye observed those vehicles and shared his opinion.


    Those vehicles were burned black, with no other traces near them. Clearly, someone attacked those vehicles while they were still driving and then blew them up. Some body parts were found in the cars, and surrounding the cars were puddles of blood and body pieces. The zombies might have dragged some corpses out of the cars and eaten them.


    The weapons on every vehicle had been destroyed, and those advanced weapons were trashed even before they were used.


    "It can''t be lightning power! Wu Chengyue didn''t go crazy here. If it were him, these cars couldn''t be the only things that got attacked. Besides, no other traces of lightning strikes were found near the vehicles," Hou Guozhong excluded Wu Chengyue, as he believed that the latter couldn''t possibly show up there.


    "Who was it then? It seems that your men didn''t even have the time to react when the attack happened, meaning that the one who did this is certainly at a higher level than they are. He should be at level-seven at least, with lightning power or fire power. Among all level-seven people from All Beings Base and Sea City Base¡­ only Lin Feng from All Beings Base has fire power. Was it him? I didn''t hear about him breaking into level-seven though. He reached level-six last year. I don''t think he can upgrade again so soon," Li Zhengye suddenly thought of Lin Feng.


    "No matter who did this, I will find him!" Wei Haichao snorted through clenched teeth.


    "Sea City Base has officially turned against Huaxia Base. What are you going to do next?" Bao Chengzhi turned to Hou Guozhong and asked. Their plan ended up as a total failure this time. They had no intention of making any deal with Sea City Base, so they didn''t bring anything but the small number of supplies which served as a disguise. The elites and weapons that they brought in secret had all been destroyed, and they were bringing home nothing.


    They didn''t get the soil remedy or the scientists. In addition to that, all the trades between Huaxia Base and Sea City Base were stopped. That was like a slap on the face for Huaxia Base, which was known as the most powerful base in the country.


    "Those ungrateful Sea City Base people better don''t blame us for having no mercy. They can''t possibly cure Wu Chengyue anyway. Let''s see what power they have to fight against us," Wei Haichao said viciously, with a cold and fierce look in his eyes.


    "Sea City Base people are so selfish. They have the soil remedy, but refuse to share it with us? Human beings should unite. It''ll be harder and harder for people to survive if everybody is like them," Li Zhengye criticized Sea City Base people with discontentment.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, the only way to earn respect was to be strong. People minded only their own business. If one wanted to get things from the others, he or she would need to pay an equal price.


    Huaxia had so many more technologies than Sea City Base did. They didn''t share those for free to unite mankind and help people to survive. Instead, they cast their greedy eyes on the technologies that they didn''t have and planned to get them by unfair means.

 937 The Gorillas From Underground

    This time, none of Huaxia Base and its allies attained anything. Huaxia Base lost face while Sky Fire Base and Mongols Base went home empty handed. Unlike those bases, Heilong Base left in the middle of the plan and brought home a batch of food, becoming the biggest winner. That was only a small batch of food, but at least Heilong Base people wouldn''t need to worry about food for the next two to three months.


    "Things have already ended up like this. We should get back and make some further plans. But now, the most pressing problem is the food crisis in our bases. Sea City Base refused to make any deals with you again, but they are still willing to trade with us. Would you like our help?" Li Zhengye said with a smile.


    Wei Haichao looked at him with narrowing eyes and sneered in his head, but responded with a smile, "Not for now. We still have some food in stock. We will not forget about your base when we really need help. Perhaps, we''ll develop the soil remedy before that."


    Li Zhengye nodded and said, "Good then. I''m not joining you for the journey back, as I have some other work to do. We should say goodbye here. I''ll see you around."


    "See you," Wei Haichao responded quickly.


    After saying goodbye to the Huaxia Base people, Li Zhengye and his people took a detour toward All Beings Base.


    "This base is doing good now. Sea City Base let it grow like this. I have even started to think that this base is built secretly by Sea City Base as its subsidiary base. Currently, a lot of survivors from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base have been joining Sea City Base and All Beings Base. The All Beings Base must be stronger than it looks, or it wouldn''t be able to take in so many people." Li Zhengye had his eyes on All Beings Base since long ago. He had sent many people to the base to gather information, but no useful information was found. Even Gu Yikang had disappeared after arriving near that base.


    "This All Beings Base is a little weird. Some of our people have gotten in, but they don''t dare to make any obvious move yet. Not long ago, they dealt with a group of people who attempted to cause trouble in the base. I told our people not to do anything and settle down first," Li Zhengye''s assistant looked at him and said.


    Recently, a large number of people had joined All Beings Base, so it was easy for their people to make a way into the base. But after that, All Beings Base people would check their backgrounds. Therefore, to avoid catching attention, Li Zhengye''s assistant ordered his people to stop gathering information.


    "Be patient. A watched pot never boils. It''s already great that they made their way in. Tell them not to do anything for the time being," Li Zhengye gave a small smile. Apparently, he approved what his assistant did. "The leaders of All Beings Base aren''t stupid. They are certainly having their eyes on the new residents in their base. Our people would surely expose themselves if they caused trouble once they got in."


    The assistant nodded in response.


    At that moment, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and some others were having a meeting in All Beings Base. Xie Dong had turned and told them about Lin Qiao''s situation. As a result, the base was left under their management temporarily.


    Lin Feng returned to the base not long ago. He ran into Lin Hao in the medical department and learned that Lin Qiao was gone missing. Now, knowing that she was fine, he was finally relieved. As for why she suddenly went to Sea City Base, he didn''t think much about that.


    He was never able to figure out what she was thinking anyway. He only needed her to be okay.


    "Those creatures are afraid of the sunlight. They don''t come out during the daytime, and only leave their nest to search for food at night. They don''t have superpowers, but they are especially strong. Their mutations are the same as the animals on the ground, but a level-one underground beast can bite a level-two beast on the ground straight to death, and has a chance to break even with a level-three one. More importantly, they are able to boost their strength without losing control of themselves," Lin Feng shared what he found out about those underground creatures with a serious look.


    The last part of his information surprised Yuan Tianxing. "Are you saying that they can go crazy at any time they want, without losing their mind?"


    Lin Feng nodded and said expressionlessly, "That''s why a level-one underground beast has a chance of winning against a level-three beast on the ground, no matter how large its opponent is. Those creatures look like gorillas without hair. Their bodies are covered by a cuticle-like skin. They are muscular and very strong. Their claws are sharp, and can cut iron as easily as cutting butter. They have strong teeth too, even stronger than the teeth of those mutated rats. But, they don''t have eyes. They detect the surrounding environment with their noses, ears, or some other organs."


    Yuan Tianxing pictured an extremely ugly, eye-less creature in his head based on Lin Feng''s description.


    "Every night, they''ll swarm out to find food and crawl back into the underground cave before dawn. They like eating living animals. They usually hunt for mutated animals at night. They won''t eat their prey on the ground. They always bring them back into the underground cave," said Lin Feng.


    Yuan Tianxing furrowed his brows and asked a question, "How large is their scope of activity?"


    Lin Feng responded, "They will choose a different direction to go every night. For now, they go no more than one mile away from their nest. Wherever they reach, all living creatures are caught by them, and not one can get away. Their sensations are very sharp. Not even the birds on the trees can fly away from them."


    In the areas visited by those underground gorillas, no survivor was found.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Feng and asked, "How did you observe them then? Didn''t they discover you?"


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "My men and I didn''t approach them. Three and Four did that."


    Three and Four were zombies, so those underground creatures ignored them completely. They had no interest in zombies at all.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded knowingly and said, "Ah, I see. What is the highest level of those creatures?"


    Lin Feng stayed silent for a few seconds, then said with a deep voice, "Seven. During the time we were observing them, more than one level-seven members led the group every night. They take turns to come out. Every two or three days, they''ll switch to a new batch of members to come out."


    Yuan Tianxing slightly widened his eyes and said with disbelief, "Are you saying that we don''t know how many of them are at level-seven?"


    Level-seven mutated beasts were no longer rare, but still not seen everywhere. Level-seven mutated beasts were highly territorial. Normally, two level-seven beasts couldn''t possibly act together, not even of the same kind.


    If more than two level-seven beasts were seen together, it would mean one thing¡ªthere was a level-eight being controlling them.


    "I''ve seen more than twenty of them. Those level-seven creatures can be as strong as a level-eight mutated beast when they boost their strength up," Lin Feng said, then gave a long sigh.

 938 The Second Entrance

    Twenty level-seven mutated beasts together¡­ How destructive and dangerous could they be? No wonder Lin Feng had been wearing a serious look since he came back.


    Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment and then asked, "Did they get into the underground cave?"


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Yes. It was quiet down there during the daytime. There are a lot of tunnels underground, interweaving with each other. The place was large, and each tunnel seemed to be endless. For their safety, we didn''t let Three and Four get too deep into the cave. One night after those creatures had left, I sent Three and the other zombies down there again, but they were attacked. Only a small part of those creatures went out while the rest stayed underground."


    "Have you found any other entrance to the cave?" Yuan Tianxing asked with a frown.


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "I''ve checked the area ten miles in radius around that place, but didn''t find any other entrance. I can''t guarantee there won''t be one in the future though."


    "If there isn''t a second entrance, their territory might not be extending," said Yuan Tianxing, "But, we can''t say for sure, as we don''t know what exactly is going on underground. We should mark that area as a dangerous zone and forbid people from approaching. Also, we should inform all hunters to avoid that area."


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Okay. I''ll write a report for Chief."


    Hearing him mention Lin Qiao, Yuan Tianxing paused briefly, then said uncertainly, "Is Chief¡­ really fine?"


    Lately, he had been feeling that Lin Qiao''s vibe was a little strange, a lot gentler than before. Her vibe was as strong as ever, but somehow, he felt that she was not as dangerous as she used to be.


    Not long ago, she disappeared suddenly, then showed up in Sea City Base. Yuan Tianxing couldn''t help but feel that something important had happened and caused that. He couldn''t stop himself from trying to figure out what it was. Last time, Wu Chengyue lost control of himself but soon woke back up. That was not normal either.


    Lin Feng thought for a second and responded, "As far as I know, she''s indeed facing a problem. It''s no big deal though, I think. That''s why she didn''t tell us what''s going on. Don''t worry! Wu Chengyue is with her, isn''t he?"


    Lin Feng was a little worried about Lin Qiao too actually, because he had heard from Lin Hao that her problem was caused by her baby. He also understood that her case was special, and that it was probably normal for that problem to occur. Many healthy women had different pregnancy reactions after all.


    Lin Hao was a little anxious about Lin Qiao''s condition because it was completely out of his control. However, he was also pretty sure that she would be fine. Lin Feng believed in his brother, so he wasn''t too worried about Lin Qiao''s health.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Feng and slightly moved his lips, but didn''t say anything at last.


    Even her brothers weren''t concerned about her, so he, who was not a family member, shouldn''t act super worried. He had decided to let her go, but it was really hard to actually do that.


    After all, he was able to control his behavior, but not his feelings.


    While Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were talking about those underground creatures, those hairless, eyeless creatures, which had long and strong arms, had been digging on the other side of the cave with their sharp claws. They were able to easily shatter the earth and hard stones.


    They had strong muscles, strangely long arms, and short legs. The ones who were responsible for the digging were at level-five, enormous in size. Behind them, the smaller, lower-leveled ones were shipping the earth and stone pieces away.


    Soon, the ground in a small park that was located about ten miles Northwest of the entrance that Lin Feng had been to suddenly sank into a seven or eight meters wide hole.


    It was dark inside the hole, and nothing could be seen. The daylight poured into the hole, but could not reach its end.


    At dusk, when it was growing darker and darker, noises could be heard from the hole. A claw that had a cold luster reached out and clasped on the ground beside the hole, sinking into the earth. Next, a figure flashed out of the hole.


    Soon, the second and third figures showed up. They crawled out of the hole and sniffed around, then swiftly moved in one direction. More creatures soon swooshed out of the hole and followed behind them.


    Before long, a series of strange noise was heard from the park, followed by a wave of bloody scent. No screams were heard.


    Soon, one of those creatures returned to the hole, a prey covered in blood held in one of its forepaws. A couple of minutes later, another creature dragged a dead animal back to the hole and quickly crawled in.


    After that night, the countless mutated dogs, cats, and birds in that park were all gone, without leaving a trace. All that was left was a faint bloody sent that lingered in the air. Only after the sun rose and a gust of wind blew across the park did the scent fade away slowly.


    Lin Qiao woke up in the morning and dumped a handful of zombie nucleus ash in the trash bin, then walked into the bathroom to wash her face and hands. It was her third day being invisible. She felt much better than before, much less stressed. She couldn''t tell why though.


    Since her power was disabled, she felt as if her body was restrained and suppressed. She absorbed a few zombie nuclei or plant nuclei every night, but never felt as relaxed as she was now.


    She washed her face, then dried her hands with a towel and put them on her belly, saying morning to Viney. After that, she got changed and walked out of her room.


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue woke up, wanting to stay a little longer in the bed. However, he only hesitated for a few seconds before he got up from the bed. After refreshing himself up, he started taking care of his daughter.


    Soon, he went downstairs and saw a cup of water on the tea table. An invisible hand picked up the cup and tilted it slightly. Some of the water flowed into an invisible mouth, then the cup was put back onto the tea table.


    Wu Chengyue had already gotten used to that. At that moment, Wu Yueling happily ran to Lin Qiao. Wu Chengyue cast a gentle glance at the couch area with a faint smile, then turned and walked into the kitchen.

 939 Living Together

    Wu Yueling said one word the night before the last, but she refused to say another word after that. Wu Chengyue tried very hard to coax her into talking last night, but failed.


    Wu Chengyue was a little disappointed, but was also delighted. After all, Wu Yueling had started to talk again, meaning that there was a good chance for her to be willing to talk when she grew older. That was a good sign indeed.


    In the kitchen, Wu Chengyue cast a casual glance at the living room and unwittingly curved his lips in a smile. The smile on his face was different from his standard smile. It was faint but sincere, not as fake as usual.


    It was the first time the zombie lady stayed in his place. Before, he was always the one who stayed at hers and refused to leave. He had a subtle feeling of satisfaction as she was staying in his house like that.


    However, thinking that the zombie lady wasn''t staying at his place willingly, he started to feel slightly unhappy.


    ''Whatever! As long as she''s here¡­ We''re kinda living together now, aren''t we?''


    Wu Chengyue got rid of the entangled thoughts in his head and started preparing breakfast.


    Inside the living room, Lin Qiao let Wu Yueling sit by her side and put her little hands on her belly. The girl was talking to Viney.


    Lin Qiao was reading a book; it was a biography. She found it from the bookshelf in the living room. She had nothing to do around there, so she decided to read a book while waiting for Xie Dong to come to her.


    Xie Dong didn''t show up, but Xiao Yunlong did.


    Not long after Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling had breakfast, Xiao Yunlong showed up together with Xiao Licheng. Before they came in, Lin Qiao put the book back onto the tea table, then gently moved Wu Yueling''s hands away from her belly and thrust the rabbit into the little girl''s arms.


    Hearing the footstep sounds from Xiao Yunlong and Xiao Licheng, Wu Yueling quickly dropped the rabbit and slid off the couch, then ran behind the couch and hid away. Xiao Yunlong saw the little person flee to the back of the couch and hide there once he walked in.


    "Didn''t you tell me that Ling Ling is getting better?" He turned and asked Xiao Licheng.


    "She''s better when she sees me. I don''t know about you," Xiao Licheng shrugged and said.


    Xiao Yunlong was a little speechless to hear that.


    "You''re here. Get upstairs," Wu Chengyue came out of the kitchen and greeted them both, then turned and went headed toward the second floor. Xiao Yunlong looked at him with surprise, then glanced at Wu Yueling, who was hiding behind a corner of the couch. "Aren''t you taking Ling Ling with you? Are you gonna leave her alone in the living room?"


    "It''s alright. She''ll be fine staying here," Wu Chengyue smiled and said.


    Xiao Yunlong and Xiao Licheng both hesitated for a moment. They looked at Wu Chengyue uncertainly, not seeming to agree with his decision. However, as the other had already gone upstairs and Wu Yueling was still hiding behind the couch, they thought for a moment and then glanced at each other before following him upstairs at last. It was Wu Chengyue''s house anyway. Ling Ling should be fine in her own home. She was very familiar with the place after all.


    After watching the two go upstairs, Lin Qiao leaned against the back of the couch and reached a hand backward to touch Wu Yueling and tell her that the guests had left, so that she could come out.


    Wu Yueling slowly crawled out from behind the couch as no strange vibe could be detected from the living room anymore. Lin Qiao looked at her, without knowing what to say. Even the rabbit was braver than the little girl!


    She glanced at Wu Yueling, then raised her head to look at the study room that was on the second floor with confusion in her eyes.


    Just now, she suddenly sensed something strange from Wu Chengyue. She narrowed her eyes to observe his energy, but didn''t find anything wrong. The purple energy sphere in his brain was still vigorous, and the energy flow inside his body was dazzling.


    Nothing changed, but for some reason, she felt that his vibe was weakened slightly. Was she wrong?


    She tried to figure out why.


    Two hours later, Xiao Yunlong and Xiao Licheng came downstairs, and Wu Yueling hid away again. They sighed and left, because they didn''t dare to talk to the little girl.


    "The kid was getting better. Now she''s like this again. When can she be like a normal kid?" Xiao Yunlong''s concerned voice was heard from outside.


    "Maybe she needs more time. Only time and a good environment can cure her," Xiao Licheng''s gentle voice faded away.


    Wu Chengyue came down and sat on the couch, then said to Ling Ling with a helpless tone, "Ling Ling, come over here."


    For Xiao Yunlong and Xiao Licheng, Wu Yueling''s behavior was impolite. People didn''t mind her doing that because they know that she had some issues.


    "Next time, don''t try to hide when you see them. Have you forgotten how nice your Godfather and Uncle Xiao are to you? They''ll be sad if you always try to hide from them. Ling Ling, you can''t make people sad. Do you understand?" Seeing Wu Yueling slowly come out from behind the couch, Wu Chengyue said to her gently. He wasn''t blaming her or coaxing her. He was just talking to her, like talking to anyone else.


    Wu Yueling sat beside Lin Qiao and dropped her head slightly. She didn''t look at her father, but was slowly wringing the corner of her shirt.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t say anything else to her, but turned to Lin Qiao, who had picked up the book again, and said, "From now on, Sea City Base won''t work with Huaxia Base again. Their plan didn''t work this time, so they might keep watching us."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao dropped the book, then picked up the notebook and the pen and wrote¡ª''Since you have refused to cooperate, they will try to force you. I believe they''ll soon point their weapons at your base."


    Wu Chengyue read the note and said, "That''s for sure! Huaxia people have been considering their own base as the strongest base in the country all this long. Now, we''re making them feel threatened. We might cause them to lose a large number of resources. Si Kongchen isn''t stupid. As long as he''s alive, he''ll try everything he can to bring us down."


    By resources, he meant human resources. Sea City Base had recruited some people from Huaxia Base already. If Sea City Base grew stronger and stronger, Huaxia Base might not be able to stop their talents from leaving. After all, Huaxia Base had a large population, and the personal average resources were limited. In Sea City Base, the competition would be weaker, and the resources could be richer.


    There was one more thing¡ªthe natural environment in Sea City Base was better than that in Huaxia Base. The winter in Sea City wasn''t freezing cold, and sandstorms barely happened in this city.


    Lin Qiao looked at him. Once again, she narrowed her eyes and carefully observed him. Nothing was found still, so she stopped thinking about the strange feeling that she had earlier.


    "Huaxia Base is far away from Sea City," she said, "It''ll be hard for them to conceal their movement if they''re up to something big. But, I think you still need to pay some attention to their weapons, or you might suffer losses."


    After all, if Sea City Base suffered losses, All Beings Base would be affected too.

 940 His Vibe Is Growing Weaker

    At night, Lin Qiao waited in the living room, where Xie Dong showed up with some files from All Beings Base that needed her signature. Without saying anything, he put the files and a bagful of zombie nuclei on the tea table, then moved to the side.


    Lin Qiao dropped the book and first put the bagful of nuclei into her space.


    She asked Qiu Lili and the other few strong zombie kings and queens to collect those nuclei for her. For the things that were not convenient for her to do, she asked Qiu Lili to do them for her.


    Then, she picked up those files and started reading.


    Those files were about the construction work in Base Number Two, the background information and number of the people who joined the base recently, and the report about the rat ground and those underground creatures found near the zoo.


    Seeing the detailed report about those underground creatures, Lin Qiao paused briefly, then narrowed her eyes and carefully read it.


    What caught her attention the first was how strong those creatures were. Over twenty of them were at level-seven, able to boost up their strength without losing control, good at hunting, only active at night, and in favor of eating living preys¡­ All these clearly told Lin Qiao that those creatures could be an immense crisis.


    Over twenty level-seven mutated beasts had emerged from one group. So, how powerful was the group in combination? Those creatures were able to boost their strength, which could almost be seen as a temporary upgrade. If they attacked a human base at night, what would happen?


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but furrow her brows and think about it. Those creatures were way too close to All Beings Base. They might not be trying to expand their territories yet, but they liked eating living animals. That meant that once they ate all animals around their nest, they would want to go to further areas to look for food.


    ''Did Lin Feng mention the other entrances to that cave?'' she asked.


    "No. He didn''t find the second entrance," Xie Dong started talking, his voice emphasizing his presence.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment with a frown, then wrote down some words on a piece of paper. Meanwhile, she said, ''Tell Lin Feng to search for the second entrance. Release an announcement in the base and collect information about those creatures from all the hunters in the base.''


    She had a feeling that those creatures wouldn''t stay in that one area. They had eaten up all living creatures around the entrance of the cave within just a few days. They were way too aggressive. They lived underground, and the surface of the earth was only their hunting field. When they emptied one area, they would certainly want to move to a new one.


    She wrote the announcement down on the paper and signed her name on it, then tore if off from the notebook and handed it to Xie Dong.


    "Yes, ma''am," Xie Dong took it over and said.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao kept reading the report. The light was off, but the darkness caused her no difficulties in reading.


    At that moment, an inspiration suddenly hit her. She thought of that huge group of mutated rats that not even mutated cats could conquer. It would be perfect if those fierce underground creatures could be drawn to those rats.


    However, the rats were over a hundred miles away from those creatures. Besides, those creatures lived underground, and probably wouldn''t want to leave their nest.


    Lin Qiao pondered briefly, then gave up on that idea. That huge group of mysterious creatures lived underground. People still knew too little about them. She had no idea how to lead them to the rats. Besides, they only come out at night. It would be highly dangerous for people to approach them at night.


    Xie Dong fell into silence again as Lin Qiao failed to come up with any good idea about those creatures. She didn''t have enough information about them yet, so she could only leave that problem for later.


    She handed Xie Dong the files that she had read and signed yesterday, and told him to bring those back to All Beings Base. Then, she threw the files in her hands into a small space within her space.


    Currently, she had been using a few small spaces like utility rooms. The area near the small spaces had become the playground for the zombies who lived there, and a part had been turned into farmland by Lu Tianyi. The other side of the lake was where the mutated animals lived.


    Recently, the fruits and vegetables that Lu Tianyi harvested in the space weren''t shipped back to All Beings Base. The space couldn''t keep them fresh unless they were soaked in the lake water. There was a new harvest every single day, and those fruits and vegetables couldn''t be air-dried in the space. Therefore, Lu Tianyi asked Lin Qiao to do something with them. It wasn''t convenient for Xie Dong to bring them all the way back to All Beings Base, so Lin Qiao gave them to Wu Chengyue as a payback for letting her stay in his place.


    Xiao Licheng took a large batch of fruits and vegetables from Wu Chengyue''s place every two or three days, and Wu Chengyue''s fridge was always full.


    After spending a month in Wu Chengyue''s place, Lin Qiao finally found that Wu Chengyue''s vibe was really growing weaker.


    Wu Chengyue had found out about that too. Every morning, he didn''t want to leave the bed. That feeling never occurred to him before, but it was growing stronger and stronger lately. He was pretty confused about that.


    He didn''t know what caused that. He didn''t use his power lately, so he hadn''t been absorbing any nuclei. Was it because of that?


    Wu Chengyue checked himself up from head to toe, but still found nothing unusual.


    One morning, Lin Qiao put a hand on her belly and asked Viney, ''Viney, you said that you made me stay together with him because you need to absorb his energy. His energy is growing weak indeed. How have you doing that?''


    She never felt Viney absorbing any energy from Wu Chengyue.


    Viney responded, ''I did it when he was sleeping. Mama, you focused on absorbing energy every night, so it''s normal that you didn''t know.''


    Lin Qiao finally understood how it happened.


    Viney absorbed Wu Chengyue''s energy at night while she was absorbing energy for herself. She couldn''t have felt it indeed.


    Lin Qiao had been absorbing zombie nuclei every single day during the past month. Viney only took thirty percent of the energy that she absorbed. But still, the energy in her nucleus was growing at a very low rate. She hadn''t even regained ten percent of the energy that she used to have.


    It was already not bad for Lin Qiao though. The nuclei that she absorbed lately were mostly at relatively lower levels, about three to five. Only a few were at level-six. She hadn''t had any level-seven nucleus recently, because except for Qiu Lili, the other zombies weren''t able to get any level-seven nucleus.


    After hearing what Viney said, Lin Qiao folded her arms and looked at Wu Chengyue while scratching her chin gently. In her eyes was a peaceful look.


    She had lived there for a month. For some reason, she had grown fond of watching Wu Chengyue cook. That made her feel at peace. So, every time he was in the kitchen, she would lean by the door and watch him prepare the food smoothly and intently.


    In the recent couple of days, Wu Chengyue didn''t do anything to her but talk. Gradually, Wu Yueling no longer got frightened when Xiao Yunlong and Xiao Licheng showed up. She still wouldn''t let those two come near her though.

 941 From The Earth’s Core

    One month after the first entrance to the cave was found, Lin Feng, his people, and some hunters found two other entrances.


    Lin Qiao was right. Those creatures would move to another area once they ate all animals in one.


    Currently, two new entrances were found in the northeast and the southeast to the first one, both ten miles away from the first entrances. One day, an entrance like that might show up near All Beings Base.


    Lin Qiao was paying a big price to gather information about those creatures. During the past month, three hunters groups had fallen in the cave. Added with the soldiers who were brought there by Lin Feng, hundreds of people had died in the cave so far.


    Later on, Lin Qiao sent Yun Meng and the other zombies. But still, they suffered attacks and fell back. Those creatures didn''t eat zombies, but responded intensely when zombies invaded their territories.


    Thankfully, zombies were strong. It was impossible to kill zombies without hurting their heads. Yet, the level-six zombies and five zombie leaders who followed Yun Meng into the cave were all covered in wounds when they came out.


    Nan Jin, the level-six zombie, had one arm cut off in the cave.


    The injured zombies wouldn''t die, but they wouldn''t heal either unless they ate human flesh and drank human blood. The zombies in All Beings Base didn''t eat people, so their injuries would stay on them.


    Lin Qiao had no solution to that. Mo Yan''s zombie lady would be able to heal those injured zombies, but Lin Qiao couldn''t enter the space to bring her out at the moment.


    All she could do at the moment was to use the lake water to keep those injuries from worsening. The lake water could heal injuries for human beings, but not for zombies. It was able to keep the zombies'' injuries from worsening though. To heal those zombies, Lin Qiao needed to dive into the lake to borrow the energy there.


    Those creatures were weird. Yun Meng turned herself invisible, but they could still sense her. They didn''t have eyes, so they ''looked'' with their other organs.


    As a high-leveled zombie, Yun Meng reacted fast enough to run out of the cave safely. It was still dangerous though as three level-seven gorillas chased her out of the cave.


    Fortunately, those creatures seemed to be scared of sunlight. They stopped attacking once Yun Meng and the other zombies went out of the cave.


    The next time, they went back into the cave with fluorescent lamps, and those creatures drew back immediately. It turned out that they weren''t only afraid of the sunlight, but all strong lights.


    Those underground gorillas were smart though, as they learned to destroy the lights before attacking.


    By that time, Yun Meng and the other zombies had gained a vision of almost the entire cave. The ground floor was composed of a lot of tunnels. Underneath those tunnels were some large holes filled with bones from the animals that had been eaten.


    All those fresh bones produced an awful odor.


    Some tunnels led further downward. But, Yun Meng and the zombie zombies didn''t manage to go further down before some crazy level six or seven gorillas chased them out.


    Even though zombies were stronger than human beings, some lower leveled zombies still died in the cave.


    Lin Qiao read the report from All Beings Base and felt that things were getting more and more serious. During the past month, All Beings Base members failed to kill even one of those underground creatures.


    Those creatures were invincible. Superpower attacks could barely hurt them! Fire and ice were harmless to them, and wind blades could only leave white marks on their skins. Poisons were useless too. Those creatures had their bodies covered in virus. They could infect other animals by scratching them.


    Because of that, Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and Yun Meng were all suffering a headache. All they could do was to report to Lin Qiao about what happened and wait for her to come up with a solution.


    After reading the report, Lin Qiao gave a long sigh. She had no good ideas right now. At last, she sent Yun Meng and a few zombie squads to blow up the three entrances and stop those creatures from coming back out temporarily.


    However, the underground space was their territory. Not to mention how many other entrances they had created, blowing up the existing entrances wouldn''t be able to stop them for long.


    Lin Qiao wanted to go into the cave and see it for herself. So, she had no choice but to ask Wu Chengyue to go with her.


    Wu Chengyue learned about those creatures from her. He felt into silence when reading about how strong and aggressive those creatures were. He carefully read the report and the other materials with a frown, then agreed to Lin Qiao''s request.


    "What are they? Where are they from?" He asked.


    Lin Qiao wrote on the paper¡ª''They are afraid of the sunlight, so I think they''ve been living underground the whole time. They are large and strong. I don''t think the surface layer of the earth was where they lived before."


    Wu Chengyue immediately figured out her meaning. "Are you saying that¡­ they''re creatures from the earth''s core?"


    Lin Qiao nodded. Realizing that he couldn''t see her nodding, she knocked the table with the pen and then wrote¡ª''The underground world always existed. Yun Meng said that all the tunnels they saw are new."


    Those creatures should not have showed up on the surface of the earth.


    Wu Chengyue understood what she meant. He knitted his brows into a deeper frown, saying, "From the earth core? Why don''t they stay where they were? Why would they come up to the surface?"


    The most important thing now wasn''t why they came out of the earth core, but to figure out their weakness. Based on what happened during the past month, those creatures didn''t show up with good intentions. All Beings Base might not be the only base in danger. If no one tried to stop those creatures. Sea City Base would be threatened as well. After all, it was not far away from the cave.


    "They are afraid of the sunlight, but not fire. What on earth are they really afraid of?" Wu Chengyue was thinking.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then wrote¡ª''Ultraviolet rays maybe, or any other things contained in the sunlight.''


    Wu Chengyue nodded slightly and said, "Perhaps. Let''s lure them out of the cave and see what the sunlight will do to them."


    ''I''ve told them to try that,'' Lin Qiao wrote, ''They are smart and sneaky. They won''t come out during the daytime.''


    Wu Chengyue thought briefly and said, "Then we have to go there and see for ourselves, to find out exactly how strong they are."


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to observe the energy inside Wu Chengyue''s body. The light of his energy was a little dimmer than before. It barely affected him though.

 942 Her Belly Grows Larger

    There was not much work to do in Sea City Base lately, so Wu Chengyue didn''t mind going to explore the cave together with Lin Qiao.


    They jumped straight into action. That night, Wu Chengyue told Xiao Licheng to get ready, then threw his unfinished work to Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui. After that, he left for All Beings Base together with Wu Yueling once again.


    ''So¡­ which one is your base?'' Xiao Yunlong wanted to ask him so.


    What Zou Shihui wanted to say was¡ª''Can you please marry her as soon as you can?''


    Xiao Licheng had gotten used to it. He quietly rolled his eyes, then followed his boss back to All Beings Base. He was also aware that what they were about to do was very important based on the report from All Beings Base. Those underground creatures were much more horrible than those rats.


    "What on earth are they? They can''t be burned or frozen to death, and their skin is even stronger than turtle shells! Can they even be killed?" Sitting in the front seat, he couldn''t help but turn to the backseat and ask curiously.


    Wu Chengyue was sitting on one side of the backseat, with Wu Yueling by his side. He put his right elbow on the window frame, then rested his face on his palm. Hearing the question, he turned and responded, "We don''t know yet, so we''re going to find out now."


    Xiao Licheng frowned slightly and said, "They''re spreading quickly, and they only come out at night. Will the sunlight kill them? Otherwise, why don''t they come out during the daytime?"


    "I don''t know if the sunlight will kill them, but it''ll certainly affect them in some way. It doesn''t seem easy to make them come out into the sunlight though," Wu Chengyue glanced up while talking.


    Xiao Licheng didn''t respond. But soon, he asked another question, "Boss, why do you always summon Xie Dong lately? What have you guys been planning? Even I don''t know about that."


    Ever since Wu Chengyue sent him to invite Xie Dong to his house, the latter often showed up in that house secretly daily.


    Xiao Licheng was very curious about the reason behind that, as he thought he knew everything about his boss. Was his boss making a progress with the zombie lady from All Beings Base?


    "Why? Are you curious?" Wu Chengyue said with a faint smile.


    He knew what Xiao Licheng was thinking, but at the moment, the zombie lady''s condition should be kept as secret as possible.


    Xiao Licheng glanced outside the window, then turned back and said, "Are you making some kind of progress with her? You haven''t been paying attention to All Beings Base lately, but Xie Dong comes to your place all the time. Anyone who noticed that would think so, right?"


    Wu Chengyue cast another glance at the car roof, then looked at him and said, "If I remember what happened when I lost control of myself, I might be making some real progress."


    The zombie lady''s attitude toward him changed obviously after that, but he couldn''t remember what happened during that short span of time. Except for the zombie lady herself, no one else knew what happened. People noticed the change of her lip color and figured out what happened, but he didn''t remember it. He felt like something was missing.


    The zombie lady had been trying to avoid talking about that, and he didn''t want to push her. He had no plan to push her further away from him. She stayed by his side during the past month, yet her heart and his were never close.


    However, thinking about the baby, Wu Chengyue showed a big smile on his face.


    Lin Qiao sat on the car roof and listened to the conversation in the car without making any reaction. When she thought about the past month, what popped up in her head was how the man prepared food intently in the kitchen. Those images kept replaying in her mind.


    Soon, the car drove into All Beings Base. Yuan Tianxing and the others had been waiting before the entrance of the administration building. As Wu Chengyue got off the car, Yuan Tianxing and the others looked around, but didn''t see their Chief lady.


    After watching Wu Chengyue carry Wu Yueling out of the car, Yuan Tianxing made eye-contact with Lin Feng, then couldn''t help but ask, "Our Chief¡­"


    He didn''t ask the question straightforwardly, as he believed that Wu Chengyue would understand his meaning once he mentioned his Chief.


    Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling. The little girl had curled herself up and put her arms around his neck, burying her face in her father''s chest because too many strangers were surrounding her.


    Wu Chengyue said to Yuan Tianxing and the others with a smile, "Isn''t she back?"


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng looked at each other confusedly. At that moment, Xie Dong suddenly showed up and said to them expressionlessly, "Deputy Chief Yuan and Deputy Chief Lin, Chief wants you both in the conference room."


    Both Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng paused briefly with surprise. "Is she back?" Yuan Tianxing looked at Xie Dong and asked with confusion.


    Xie Dong answered that question by nodding silently.


    Seeing that, Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng quickly turned and guided Wu Chengyue toward the conference room.


    Lin Qiao leaped off the car when it was still approaching the administration building. During the past month, Wu Chengyue had lost a slight amount of his energy, and Lin Qiao had regained a little of hers. The allowed the distance between them to grow larger. At first, it was no greater than twenty-eight meters; but currently, Lin Qiao was able to move to a hundred meters away from Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Qiao''s belly had grown much larger than before like a balloon. She could not show up in front of the people in her base at the moment even if she wasn''t stuck with her invisibility.


    At the moment, Lin Qiao was sitting in the middle of the conference room with a hand on her belly that looked like the belly of a seven-month pregnant human lady. She didn''t understand why the baby grew so quickly during the past month. She was growing super slow before. She thought the baby would come out in seven or eight months, but her belly grew into a bigger size during that one month she spent in Wu Chengyue''s place.


    Her body was still flexible, but the weight on her belly could not be ignored. Currently, she was still able to leap down from a car roof, but didn''t dare to jump off from the top of a ten-story building anymore.


    Viney had fallen asleep not long ago.


    Was it Wu Chengyue''s energy that made her grow so fast? That was quite a huge difference! The baby grew strangely slow in the past eight or nine months while she was absorbing energy from Lin Qiao, but during the month that she was absorbing energy from Wu Chengyue, it grew surprisingly fast.


    Lin Qiao was not very happy about that.


    However, thinking that Viney would soon come out of her belly, Lin Qiao was happy again. No matter what happened, she only wanted the baby to come out safe and healthy.


    She had a strange feeling every time she recalled the happy and expectant look that Wu Chengyue had on his face when he touched her belly. She wondered when they would stop being bound together. Would that situation last until Viney was born?


    That possibility gave Lin Qiao a headache.


    But thankfully, the distance between him and her could now extend to a hundred meters.

 943 What Did You Eat?

    Lin Qiao sat there alone for two minutes before Yuan Tianxing and the others walked in. Wu Chengyue was offered a guest seat, while Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng surely wouldn''t take the seat in the middle. It was saved for Lin Qiao, who hadn''t shown up yet. The two of them sat into the seats aside.


    They didn''t know that Lin Qiao was sitting there since long ago.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at empty seat in the middle. None of the others noticed the meaningful look in his eyes.


    Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng thought Lin Qiao would be expecting them in the conference room. However, they came in to find the room empty, which made them feel strange.


    Xie Dong walked to Yuan Tianxing and whispered a few words to him. After hearing that, he nodded knowingly. Then, he said to Wu Chengyue, "I think our Chief is not free enough to welcome you in person. Hope you don''t mind, Chief Wu."


    With a faint smile, Wu Chengyue responded, "Of course, I don''t mind." He wasn''t surprised at all.


    Yuan Tianxing opened the files and started talking to him about those underground gorillas.


    Lin Qiao sat there quietly, listening to their conversation. Except for Xie Dong and Wu Chengyue, no one sensed her presence.


    "Those creatures are invincible. They''re immune to all poisons, and no superpower or weapon can hurt them. Bombs managed to deliver a little effect, but only a little. We couldn''t kill them with bombs either," Lin Feng wore a serious face once he started talking about those underground creatures.


    "They are afraid of the sunlight. We''ve tried many ways to lure them into the sunlight, but they are so sneaky that they seem to guess out what we want. During the daytime, they usually hide deep underground. Our men brought some mutated animals into the cave to lure them, but none of those animals managed to make it out of the cave. Those creatures wouldn''t show up if we left the baits by the entrance."


    "Have these creatures been found in any other area?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    "Not yet," Lin Feng and the others shook their heads.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "I get it. Get ready. We''ll head to the nearest entrance and take a look tonight."


    Those creatures wouldn''t come out during the daytime, so he decided to go and meet them at night. He wanted to know if the lightning strike could hurt them or not.


    "Tonight? Will it be too dangerous?" Yuan Tianxing looked at him and hesitated.


    "Is level-seven their highest level so far?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Lin Feng nodded.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then said, "It''ll be fine. I won''t start a war against them. Perhaps I can bring back a lower leveled one for research."


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing glanced at each other. They had tried to do that, but it was not as easy as they thought. As a result, they couldn''t catch any of them. It was risky to try and catch an underground creature at night, and those creatures hid deep underground during the daytime.


    After the meeting, Wu Chengyue brought Wu Yueling to the medical department to see Lin Hao.


    "She looks much better than before," Lin Hao first noticed Wu Yueling, who was carried in her father''s arms. She quietly buried her face in his father''s chest, with her arms around his neck.


    Wu Chengyue sighed and said, "Really? She''s still afraid of strangers. She doesn''t like crowded places, and she can''t leave my side in a strange place."


    That was why he let the little girl sit on his knees during the meeting. He felt that the others were looking at him in a strange way, even though they all tried to conceal it.


    "It''s already not bad that her condition didn''t get worse. Don''t be greedy," Lin Hao said to him.


    It required a long time to cure such kind of mental illness. It couldn''t possibly be fixed within a month. Lin Hao was right; the little girl stayed quiet with her arms around her father''s neck, which was already impressive. She might become emotional if her condition worsened.


    "I know," Wu Chengyue sighed.


    Lin Hao sat down behind his desk, then said to him, "You''re not here just to let me see your daughter, are you? You don''t need me for her condition. You have doctors in your base too, don''t you?"


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "It''s not me who needs to see you. It''s her."


    Lin Hao looked at him confusedly, "Her? Who?"


    Wu Chengyue didn''t answer his question but looked at his desk.


    With confusion, Lin Hao turned and glanced at the surface of his desk. Nothing seemed to be wrong on that desk. He turned back to Wu Chengyue, but before he said anything, he heard a few clicks from behind him.


    He twirled to the desk and saw a pen stand up on his desk, starting to write on his scrubbing pad.


    Lin Hao was shocked. Was his office haunted? Wasn''t he living in a scientific era?


    Soon, he saw the pen write down a line on the notebook¡ª''It''s me. You know who I am.''


    The familiar handwriting¡­


    Damn! That was his elder sister''s handwriting¡­


    "So, why are you invisible now? Are you playing around with me?" Lin Hao glared at that floating pen and said with discontentment.


    Lin Qiao wrote¡ª''You think I want this? I didn''t mean for this to happen, but it happened, suddenly. Okay, cut the crap and give the baby a check-up. You will be surprised."


    "How am I supposed to do that? You''re invisible now," Lin Hao read her note and then said bewilderedly.


    Lin Qiao put the pen on the desk, then walked up to Lin Hao and grasped his hand before gently putting it on her own belly. Lin Hao popped his eyes when he touched his sister''s belly. "Damn! It''s so large already?"


    Then, he put the other hand on Lin Qiao''s belly to feel its shape. Others might think that he was touching air, but Wu Chengyue knew exactly what was happening.


    He fought hard against the jealousy in his heart, saying to himself, ''He''s a doctor¡­ he''s a doctor¡­ he''s a doctor¡­''


    While feeling his sister''s round belly with both hands, Lin Hao said with disbelief, "What have you eaten? How come she suddenly grew so large? It has only been a month. What happened?"


    As Lin Hao had touched every corner of her belly, Lin Qiao slapped off his hands, then walked back to the desk and wrote¡ª''Viney said that my energy isn''t enough for her anymore, so she started to absorb her father''s energy. That''s why I''ve been staying together with Wu Chengyue this whole month.''


    After reading the note, Lin Hao automatically turned and gave Wu Chengyue a glance. He seemed to be perfectly healthy.


    Wu Chengyue raised his eyebrows and looked back at him in the eyes.


    Lin Hao looked at him from head to toe, then asked him, "Aren''t you having any problems?"


    The little freak had absorbed so much energy from her mother that her mother had even turned invisible, but how come her father seemed to be fine while she was absorbing his energy? The baby was growing fast. She should have absorbed a good amount of energy from her father.


    "Should I be having some kind of problem?" Wu Chengyue was a little confused. He was fine, except for the fact that he always wanted to stay longer in bed lately.

 944 Growing Faster

    Lin Qiao walked to Lin Hao''s side and grabbed his collar, then dragged him to the clinic next-door and sat beside a device.


    Sensing that Lin Qiao had sat down near the device, Lin Hao didn''t say anything but quickly sat down as well and started to do a scan for her. It seemed very weird when he fumbled to feel the invisible Lin Qiao. He thought for a moment, then grabbed over a piece of cloth and covered Lin Qiao''s body with it, then cut a hole in the middle.


    Lin Qiao cooperatively lifted her clothes and bared her belly, putting it into the hole on the cloth and letting Lin Hao do his job.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t follow the two of them to the clinic but waited in the office.


    A long while later, Lin Qiao sat up from the small bed and removed the cloth. She adjusted her clothes and then stood up, walking up behind Lin Hao and putting a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes were fixed on the baby on the screen.


    It was a big-headed little baby curling up with her little fists before her chest, her little legs curved. The baby was larger by three or four times compared to before when she saw her the last time on the screen. She was growing super fast.


    Lin Hao pointed at the baby and said, "The baby is as large as a thirty-week old human baby. According to her current growth rate, I can''t say for sure what she''ll look like in another month."


    That baby''s growth rate wasn''t the same as that of a normal human baby. She was growing especially fast within the past month, so she might be ready to come out in another month.


    Lin Qiao dropped her hand from Lin Hao''s shoulder, agreeing with her brother.


    "She''s healthy, but her heart isn''t beating still," Lin Hao started to talk about the baby''s health, "Will she be like you and Xie Dong? You both look like human beings, but your bodies aren''t functioning like human bodies."


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly, then put her hand back onto Lin Hao''s shoulder and asked in her head, ''Will it affect her health?''


    Lin Hao shook his head and said, "Based on the data, she''s like a¡­ dead baby. As for if it''ll affect her health, we can only wait until she''s born and then find out. She looks very healthy though. She''s growing quite fast lately. Maybe it''s because she''s been richly nourished. Wu Chengyue seems fine. Why are you having so many problems?"


    Having finished talking, he turned to look at Lin Qiao but saw nothing. Then, he suddenly realized one thing. "Wait a moment! Were you speaking just now? I didn''t seem to hear anything¡­"


    ''I can communicate with you by touching your body,'' Lin Qiao pressed a hand on his shoulder and said.


    Lin Hao fell into silence with surprise when he heard her voice from his mind again.


    How magical!


    Lin Qiao felt a little frustrated when she heard that Wu Chengyue was fine while she was having all sorts of problems. But then, she recalled that Wu Chengyue''s vibe had been weakening. He wasn''t completely fine. Thinking about that, she felt slightly better.


    ''Wu Chengyue isn''t completely fine. His energy and vibe have both weakened largely,'' she said.


    "Oh, really? How come I didn''t notice that?" Lin Hao replied with confusion.


    ''Because you''re not a zombie, and you''re at a lower level than him,'' said Lin Qiao.


    "I''m busy at curing people all day, and I always work late at night. Is it my fault that I''m at a low level?" Lin Hao sensed a trace of disdain from Lin Hao''s words, so he couldn''t help but argue.


    Lin Qiao shrugged, then turned and opened the door to walk out. She had already known about Viney''s condition, and had no plan to stay there for any longer.


    Lin Hao printed out the check up report and then followed Lin Qiao back to the office, putting the report into a folder.


    "When will the baby come out?" Seeing Lin Hao come in, Wu Chengyue asked eagerly. He seemed to care a lot about that.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance; he was the baby''s father after all. He had the right to know about the baby''s condition. Lin Hao then glanced around the room. Lin Qiao, who was probably hiding in a corner, didn''t try to stop him from answering Wu Chengyue''s question.


    "I can''t tell you the exact time, because her growth rate is changing all the time. As you know, she''ll probably come out within a month according to the current growth rate. But, I can''t tell you what exactly will happen next, because I don''t know if her growth will suddenly slow down tomorrow." Lin Qiao was the first pregnant zombie he had ever seen. There were no previous cases for reference, so he wasn''t sure about what would happen in the future.


    On hearing that, Wu Chengyue sighed in his head with disappointment but let the mild smile stay on his face.


    He turned and glanced at the empty room while smiling as he said, "You need to stay away from that place tonight. Those creatures aren''t interested in zombies, but you still need to be careful."


    Lin Qiao was sitting before Lin Hao''s desk. After hearing his words, she quickly wrote down three words¡ª''I''m not stupid.''


    She wasn''t stupid enough to risk approaching that dangerous zone in her current condition.


    Wu Chengyue smiled silently.


    Lin Hao spread his hands and said, "So far, the baby seems healthy. Alright, you can leave now."


    He asked her to leave, but then added, "Chief Wu is right. I can''t stop you from running around, despite your current condition. But remember, don''t be reckless and do something that you should not be doing. If you let anything bad happen to yourself, you won''t have my help!"


    He was still worried about her, but he didn''t try to stop her from going to the dangerous zone tonight. She would be going together with Wu Chengyue, and the latter would keep her safe.


    Before dark, Lin Qiao gathered Yun Meng and all the other level-seven zombies under her command, leaving All Beings Base for the nearest entrance to the cave together with Wu Chengyue.


    The entrance was about seventy miles away from All Beings Base, in the southeast direction.


    Lin Qiao and her people arrived before dark. Those creatures loved to hunt living animals, so Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng were the only living human beings in the team. The other team members were all zombies.


    Lin Qiao stood on top of a building two-hundred meters away from the collapsed entrance as she narrowed her eyes to observe the area near the entrance and then sniffed around. Yun Meng stood by her side and said with disgust on her face, "Those creatures stink."


    Lin Qiao had sensed that weird odor since long ago, so she nodded in agreement with Yun Meng. That was not a good smell at all.


    The odor was already faint, but it still lingered in the air. It smelt like rotten mud mixed together with the scent of blood. It was irritating to Lin Qiao''s nose.


    Hearing Yun Meng''s words, Xiao Licheng and Wu Chengyue sniffed at the air, but didn''t sense anything.

 945 Brave Zombies

    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng, of course, couldn''t sense any smell. Their sense of smell wasn''t as sharp as that of zombies and mutated animals.


    Two hundred meters before the building, the earth was sunken, and the whole area was wasted.


    "This area was blown up about ten days ago. Haven''t those creatures shown up again ever since? Have they created other exits already?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Yun Meng shook her head and said, "The smell can only be detected here, and not other areas. It means they are still hiding underground, or that they have gone really far away, and I can''t smell them anymore."


    Lin Qiao stood by her side and sniffed around, then nodded slightly. Indeed, the smell in that area was the densest.


    It was already dark, and the air temperature dropped drastically. The cold barely affected Lin Qiao and the other zombies though. At the same time, as high-leveled, superpowered human beings, Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng weren''t afraid of the cold either.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment sensing the surrounding vibes. She sensed some zombies nearby, but no animals at all. She sensed quite some mutated plants though, all at relatively lower levels. The strongest one was only at level-five.


    She pointed at the level-five plant and said to Keng-keng, who was beside her, ''Go and get me that plant''s nucleus.''


    "Yes, ma''am," Keng-keng responded immediately, then turned and disappeared.


    Lin Qiao then pointed in some other directions and sent out the rest zombie dominators under her command, except for Yun Meng. Those zombies were either sent to kill zombies or mutated plants.


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng couldn''t hear her voice. Seeing those zombies leave one after another, they figured that Lin Qiao was giving them tasks. Hence, they didn''t pay much attention to that.


    The mutated animals that lived in the area were almost eaten out, but quite some mutated plants and zombies could still be found. So far, four or five zombie leaders had been detected. No level-six zombie was found yet.


    Wu Chengyue switched to a night-vision telescope and continued observing the surrounding area while sensing the energy waves around him. The entrance seemed to have been blocked for real. He wondered if those creatures had created other exits or hidden away.


    As Lin Qiao felt that it might take her and her team a couple of days to find those creatures, she and Yun Meng suddenly turned around simultaneously.


    "Eh?" Yun Meng said with surprise. She didn''t say anything else though.


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng both turned to her and saw her looking back. The two men followed her eyes and looked at that area as well. They didn''t see anything, but had a faint feeling that something was in that area.


    They both had their hearts leaping, as they thought they had found those underground creatures. However, before they did anything, that mysterious creature slowly stuck its head out from behind the edge of the platform and fixed its dark eyes straight at the two men, then slowly shrank back down.


    Wu Chengyue was a little disappointed because that was not a creature from the underground: it was a zombie leader.


    Xiao Licheng saw the zombie too. He speechlessly watched the zombie stick his head out and then slowly shrink back.


    "He''s pretty brave. He''s actually not scared of us," said Yun Meng with surprise.


    As the weakest one among the group, Xiao Licheng was a level-six superpowered man. A level-eight man and two zombie dominators were also on the scene. However, the zombie leader wasn''t frightened by their vibes, but came up to see them.


    His movements were quite funny. He was a zombie, not a cat. Why did he seem so curious?


    Xiao Licheng looked at that zombie and felt that if the zombie had a pair of cat ears on his head, those ears must have been flattened right now.


    While the people on the roof were looking at the zombie with both confusion and surprise, the level-five zombie slowly stuck his head out again. Seeing people stare at himself, he wasn''t frightened, but showed his entire face and licked his lips. At last, he fixed his eyes on Xiao Licheng.


    ''That man has the weakest vibe! I should be able to beat him down!''


    Level-five zombies were indeed able to win against level-six superpowered human beings.


    Xiao Licheng, who had become a target, instantly felt very uncomfortable.


    The zombie ignored Wu Chengyue, Yun Meng the zombie dominator, and the invisible Lin Qiao, and slowly climb onto the roof. However, he sprained his ankle while crossing the guardrail.


    Thud!


    Xiao Licheng, Wu Chengyue, and Yun Meng looked at the zombie speechlessly. Lin Qiao started to observe him with great interest as well.


    She sensed no bloody scent and hostility from the zombie; his vibe was surprisingly clean. Moreover, his clumsy movements made him look silly.


    He was a zombie leader, yet he threw himself to the ground while trying to climb over the guardrail.


    The zombie quickly got up from the ground, then looked around as if it suddenly thought of something. Next, it flashed into the stair room, then stuck half of his head out from behind the door and kept looking at Xiao Licheng.


    The people on the roof didn''t know what to say. They didn''t even know what expression to wear to express their feelings.


    Yun Meng covered her face with one hand, then turned around and murmured, "I''ve never seen such a stupid zombie. How do you think he managed to break into level-five?"


    She clearly didn''t want to admit that that silly zombie was one of her kind.


    Lin Qiao looked at that zombie who had shrunk back into the room. He fell to the ground earlier when he climbed onto the roof, but his clothes looked clean; a little old, but clean.


    She was also curious about how the zombie reached level-five. No bloody scent or hostility was detected from him, meaning that he didn''t eat human beings or zombies.


    His face was undamaged and young, a little scrawny though. His eyes were deeply sunken, with a huge pair of dark circles underneath, which made his eyes look very big. His short hair were messily cut. It was ugly, but looked cleaner than the hair of the other zombies.


    "What does he want?" Wu Chengyue spent a short while observing the zombie, then asked a question.


    "I think he wants to eat me¡­" said Xiao Licheng.


    That zombie was almost drooling at him!


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly. She might think the same if she had detected some bloody scent or hostility from the zombie. Anyhow, the zombie was a little too far away from her at the moment, so she couldn''t read his mind.


    With that thought, she silently moved toward the stair room and then heard a voice coming from the dark room.


    ''Yummy, yummy¡­ yummy¡­ can''t eat it!''


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to do. She had a weird feeling that¡­ she couldn''t bear killing that zombie. What should she do?

 946 The Zombie Ran Away

    While Lin Qiao was feeling that the zombie was too clean to be killed, the zombie rushed out of the room swiftly at Xiao Licheng. The others saw it show up before their eyes within a blink, then fall to the ground again two meters away from Xiao Licheng.


    They looked at the zombie that was lying face down on the floor with complicated expressions.


    "He runs fast, but why did he fall? I can''t understand¡­" Xiao Licheng murmured to himself.


    The zombie was coming at him clearly, but he had no sense of crisis at all. He still had a mood to wonder how the zombie fell to the ground. He sensed no intent of killing from the zombie at all, so he didn''t even keep vigilance against it.


    Lin Qiao walked over from behind the zombie and grasped the back of his collar, stopping him from charging at Xiao Licheng again.


    "Hrrrr¡­" The zombie swung his arms forward and raised a foot to take a step forward, but then turned back confusedly, as he found that he was disabled from moving.


    No one was behind him. So, what had clasped him?


    The zombie clearly felt that something was holding the back of his collar, so it reached both hands backward and caught a hand. He turned around again, but still saw nothing.


    The confused zombie leader tried very hard to look back around.


    While curiously observing the zombie who was twisting his body from side to side, Yun Meng said with confusion, "How did this guy hide from us? I didn''t sense his presence before, but he suddenly showed up."


    Then, she turned to Xiao Licheng and laughed, "I think he likes you. Maybe he was into guys before he died."


    The others understood that she was trying to say that the zombie might be gay when he was alive.


    Holding the zombie, Lin Qiao read his mind. ''Zombies taste bad. Can''t eat the high-leveled humans. Only this one is weaker. I should be able to defeat him, so I should be able to eat him.''


    The zombie wasn''t scared at all. He was really not scared of the ones on the scene who were much more powerful than himself. Why?


    Lin Qiao stared at the zombie, who was still struggling, without knowing what was happening.


    Zero blood scent could be sensed from him. As a level-five zombie, it should be very easy for him to hunt human beings, yet he carried no scent of blood. However, he charged straight at Xiao Licheng just now. Why?


    Abruptly, Lin Qiao let the zombie go. She would like to see if he would really attack Xiao Licheng.


    Once Lin Qiao relaxed her grip, the zombie turned and thudded against the floor in front of the others for the third time.


    "What a silly zombie!" Xiao Licheng said that at first, then continued, "Whoa! Miss. Lu, why did you let him go!"


    He already knew that Lin Qiao was with the team in her invisible state, so he wasn''t surprised just now.


    As Xiao Licheng made the complaint and realized what had happened, the zombie had already sprung up from the ground and pounced on him. In panic, Xiao Licheng quickly stepped back and turned to dodge.


    Thud! So, the zombie fell to the ground once again.


    ''He has never killed or eaten anyone,'' said Lin Qiao to Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng told that to the other, "Chief said that this zombie has never killed or eaten anyone. No wonder I haven''t been sensing any blood scent and hostility from him."


    "Don''t tell me that he isn''t trying to eat me but only play with me," Xiao Licheng looked at the zombie that had struggled up from the ground again. He stepped backward for a few meters and then said to Yun Meng grumpily.


    Yun Meng laughed, "I''m not sure about that. But, Chief said that this zombie is really simple-minded, and he really wants to eat you. We just don''t know why he''s so silly! Haha, it''s the first time we have seen a zombie like this. He''s like Pesticide and Xiao-xiao."


    "Can I beat him?" While moving backward, Xiao Licheng looked at the zombie who was still approaching him and said expressionlessly. The two high-leveled zombies on the scene didn''t seem to do anything to the silly zombie. Xiao Licheng wasn''t hoping for them to help either. They just wanted to watch a show.


    "Yeah, as long as you don''t kill him," Yun Meng nodded with a grin.


    Lin Qiao folded her and leaned against the guardrail at the edge of the roof. While watching the zombie chase the man on the roof, she had also been paying attention to the huge pit two-hundred meters away.


    After getting Yun Meng''s permission, Xiao Licheng instantly clenched his fists and turned his hands into stones. He abruptly stopped running, but turned and punched the zombie behind him.


    The zombie suffered a heavy punch right on the face, so he burst in screams and made a few steps backward. Then, he covered his face with a hand and quickly turned around before running away while howling.


    He actually ran away!


    The others saw the zombie swiftly run to the edge of the roof and fall to the ground once again before climbing onto the roof. But, he soon sprung back up, then leaped off the building and disappeared.


    Xiao Licheng was a little dumbfounded as he turned to the others and said bewilderedly, "I only punched him, right?"


    He didn''t launch any destructive move, did he?


    Wu Chengyue and Yun Meng nodded together.


    Lin Qiao covered her mouth with a hand as she couldn''t stop laughing. As a pregnant zombie, she shouldn''t get too emotional. Otherwise, she would have laughed really loud.


    Wu Chengyue also wore a mysterious smile. It was too dark for the others to see the look on his face clearly though. "That was an interesting zombie. He''s funny."


    He showed up suddenly and left suddenly as well.


    "What a strange zombie!" said Xiao Licheng.


    Yun Meng walked to where the zombie jumped from, then glanced down and said, "He has disappeared."


    His vibe had disappeared, and she couldn''t sense him anymore.


    Lin Qiao had found out about that too. The zombie jumped off the building and left her sight, then his presence and vibe both vanished into thin air.


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng walked over and looked down as well. The zombie''s vibe was really gone. It was reasonable though; not even Yun Meng could sense the zombie, so how could they possibly sense him?


    The zombie was good at hiding. It was able to show up and disappear suddenly without letting others feel anything in advance. His way of showing up and behavior was weird though¡­

 947 The Effect Of Lightning Strike

    The group of people looked down with confusion. After confirming that the zombie had really disappeared, they glanced at each other, wondering what exactly had happened just now.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao finally figured out why the zombie did not carry blood scent. He probably often got scared by his target before he could launch an attack¡­


    Yun Meng laughed, "That boy seemed to be quite brave earlier when he came up here. How come he ran away after taking only one punch? Such a silly zombie, right?"


    Xiao Licheng glanced his fist and then said, "I think the way he attacked clearly exposed his weakness. Is he really a zombie? Level-five?"


    Wu Chengyue spent a short while looking around through the telescope, then suddenly turned to another direction. An odor that smelt like rotten mud was detected from that area. Lin Qiao had noticed that too as she patted Yun Meng on the shoulder and said, "You and Xiao Licheng stay here. We''ll go over there and take a look."


    Yun Meng paused briefly at first, then realized that Lin Qiao might have found something.


    "Is it them?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes. Protect Xiao Licheng."


    Xiao Licheng possessed level-six earth power, but earth power could barely hurt those creatures.


    One stone piece in that dark and large pit moved slightly, and then that area suddenly sunk, stirring up a cloud of dust. The dust soon dissipated in the wind.


    A dark figure flashed out of the hole and then lay down beside it before stopping.


    Lin Qiao was able to see everything clearly within five-hundred meters radius. During the daytime, that range would be over a thousand meters in radius. She carefully observed that creature which was staying by the edge of the sunken area in the pit. It was a spearhead, huge like an adult gorilla. Its forelimbs were strong and muscular. Its skin looked sturdy like dried mud. Its lower body was much smaller than the upper body, and its rear limbs were short. Its sharp claws shone in the darkness with a metallic luster.


    The creature had a round head and a monkey-like face, but with a huge mouth and sharp teeth sticking out of it. It had no eyes; the eye area on its face was flat and empty.


    The underground gorilla lay on the ground and sniffed around, even pressing its head on the ground to feel something. In a couple of seconds, it propped its body up with its pair of strong arms.


    "Whooo¡­" The underground gorilla uttered a weird sound from its mouth. That sound wasn''t loud, but was able to spread far away. Following its sound, another few of its kind came out of the hole. The ones that came out later were slightly smaller than the first one.


    As seven or eight of them came out of the hole, they suddenly rushed toward Lin Qiao''s building altogether.


    "I think we don''t need to go over there," Wu Chengyue dropped the telescope and said with a faint smile, then suddenly raised an arm.


    Bang! A series of lightning bolts flashed across the sky and descended, landing right on those creatures that were charging at the building accurately.


    "Roar!"


    "Owooo¡­"


    "Roarrr!"


    With that, a series of shrill screams were heard.


    "Eh? The lightning strike worked!" Yun Meng said with delight, her eyes even glowing. Both fire attack and water attack had failed to hurt those creatures. They were fireproof, and knew how to swim.


    However, Wu Chengyue''s lightning attack surprisingly managed to hurt them. It worked even better than bombs!


    Those underground gorillas were swift and quiet, neither did they release any obvious vibe. People might not even sense the presence of those creatures if they weren''t careful enough.


    Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao had their eyes fixed on them once they came out of the hole. That was why Wu Chengyue hit them accurately with his lightning when they were tens of meters away from the building.


    Lin Qiao silently walked toward the stairs. She couldn''t leap straight off the building now because she was a pregnant zombie¡­


    She slowly went down the stairs. On the other side, Wu Chengyue leaped off the building and landed on the ground. He didn''t move at first; only until Lin Qiao came down and stepped on a stone to let him sense her did he head toward those creatures.


    Lin Qiao didn''t walk up to those creatures, but followed behind Wu Chengyue and stopped about thirty meters from those creatures who had been struck down by the lightning. Five underground gorillas were brought down by Wu Chengyue''s lightning while the other two fled back into the cave. The five were disabled from moving, but were still alive.


    When Wu Chengyue arrived, the five underground gorillas were trying to struggling from the ground. However, half of their bodies were burnt, which slowed them down awfully.


    "Roar¡­" The largest one bared its teeth and roared at Wu Chengyue once it got up from the ground. Then, its body glowed with a faint red light and started growing larger.


    "It''s going crazy," Yun Meng jumped off the roof and landed on top of a utility pole nearby as she reminded Wu Chengyue. Meanwhile, the other underground gorillas shambled up and glowed as well.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue raised a hand and brought down four huge lightning bolts from the sky. Following the rumbling thunder, four of the five were blown into pieces, and only the smallest one was left alive.


    Wu Chengyue looked at the scattering bodies of the four underground creatures, which were pretty fragile in his eyes, then said to Yun Meng with surprise, "Didn''t you say that they''re not afraid of bombs?"


    "Em, they are not afraid of bombs," Yun Meng nodded and said. She was a little confused as well.


    Wu Chengyue pointed at the body pieces on the ground and asked, "What happened just now?"


    Yun Meng thought for a second, then responded, "Well¡­ I think we should bring this one back and try to figure out. Maybe they are afraid of lightning?"


    At that point, the underground gorilla that Wu Chengyue didn''t kill had already charged at him. Its entire body was glowing with a red light.


    Wu Chengyue conveniently raised an arm while he moved his feet and flashed a couple of meters away.


    Bang! A small lightning bolt landed on the underground gorilla that was pouncing at him fiercely.


    Thud!


    This time, Wu Chengyue kept his power limited to thirty percent of the power that he used to launch the last strike. The underground gorilla was instantly thrown to the ground as result and disabled from moving.


    Yun Meng leaped down, walked to the side, and picked up a broken claw from the ground.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao suddenly flashed to Wu Chengyue''s side, grasped his shoulder, and said to him, "Move! The army is coming up."

 948 The Intense Fight in the Nigh

    On hearing that, Wu Chengyue immediately held her arm and swiftly brought her away from where they were. Xiao Licheng and Yun Meng both flashed away as well. Of course, Lin Qiao had conveniently thrown the underground gorilla that was lying on the ground into the woods in her space before she talked to Wu Chengyue.


    A couple of seconds after they moved away, countless underground gorillas came out of the hole. Most of them were larger than the ones showed up earlier, and two were even as large as bulls.


    A strong and violent vibe spread in all directions once the two gigantic gorillas showed up.


    Within a blink, the two huge underground gorillas showed up near the four which had been blown into pieces by Wu Chengyue. Tens of underground gorillas followed them over, quickly picked up those body pieces, and brought them back toward the cave.


    The two huge ones stayed there and sniffed around while moving from side to side, seemingly looking for something. After a short while of searching, they stopped, then rushed toward Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng.


    Wu Chengyue took a few steps backward and then stopped as he remembered to keep the distance between Lin Qiao and himself within a hundred meters. After that, he raised a hand and gave the huge underground gorilla a lightning strike.


    Boom!


    Lin Qiao moved to a corner that was tens of meters away from Wu Chengyue and watched him fight that huge creature.


    The lightning didn''t hit the underground gorilla as it dodged in time and charged at Wu Chengyue again, not seeming to sense Lin Qiao''s presence.


    Maybe because Wu Chengyue''s vibe was highly threatening to it or his lightning power frightened it, the bull-sized underground gorilla had its entire body glowing with a red light, and its vibe growing stronger and stronger.


    "Roar¡­" It opened its mouth wide and gave Wu Chengyue a resonant roar, then attacked him again.


    It was very fast; within one second, it disappeared from where it was and reappeared in the sky, over ten meters away from the ground, as it swung its claws at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue dodged, then raised his arms and threw out a bolt of lightning. The lightning sizzled across the sky and descended toward the underground gorilla that was pouncing down toward him.


    Bang!


    The lightning struck on the underground gorilla and sent it flying again. Soon, it fell on the ground and caused a muffled thud. The creature landed a little too close to Lin Qiao, so she quietly flashed to the side to stay away from it.


    The underground gorilla gasped loudly for air. It stayed on the ground for two seconds, then struggled up and shook its head.


    Lin Qiao noticed that the area from its chest to its left shoulder had turned black, and a faint bloody scent could be sensed from it. She couldn''t help but furrow her brows.


    That lightning strike from Wu Chengyue could blow a rock that weighed hundreds of kilograms into pieces, yet it only left a few scratches on the creature''s skin.


    The underground gorilla shook its head, then suddenly disappeared from where it was. On the other side, Wu Chengyue knitted his eyebrows and immediately flashed to the side.


    Boom! A red figure landed on where he was standing before and created a meters wide pit on the ground. The ferocious creature, which was glowing with red light, was standing in the middle of the pit.


    At the same time, the other gigantic gorilla was chasing Xiao Licheng crazily. Xiao Licheng''s level-six earth power could not stop that creature''s fierce claws.


    He raised a half-meter-thick earth wall, but the creature shattered it with one strike. Stone thorns and earth blades broke into pieces against its skin without causing it any harm; it didn''t even have to dodge.


    Yun Meng turned into a beast and wagged her thick and long lizard tail as she swung her claws at the gigantic gorilla. Her claws were sharp, but only managed to cut broken the creature''s skin.


    Xiao Licheng made a roll on the ground and hid behind a hill to dodge the gorilla''s attacks temporarily.


    The gorilla had its eyes on Xiao Licheng the whole time. It ignored Yun Meng''s at first, but after the latter left over ten wounds on its body, it gave her a raging roar.


    "Roar!"


    Next, when Yun Meng charged at it again, it suddenly moved its feet and turned its body, swinging its muscular arm and swiftly slapping her away.


    Bang! Yun Meng was thrown over twenty meters away and fell into a pile of stones, causing a muffled thud.


    "Eh-hem-hem-hem¡­ Damn! So difficult!" Yun Meng coughed out some black blood and caught her breath as she complained, then quickly got up from the ground.


    After sending Yun Meng away, the underground gorilla suddenly had its body glowing with a red light. Next, it turned into a red shred of shadow, flashing toward Xiao Licheng.


    ''This is bad!'' Xiao Licheng immediately turned and ran.


    Bang! A thunderous sound was heard from behind him once he started running. He turned to find a huge pit where he stood before, stone pieces flying all over the sky.


    The two giant gorillas had been seeing Xiao Licheng and Wu Chengyue as their targets. They focused on the two men without taking Yun Meng seriously.


    Xiao Licheng and Yun Meng had no chance of winning against that gigantic gorilla, not even when combined.


    Wu Chengyue was halving the pressure though. His first lightning strike didn''t bring the gorilla a severe harm, but the effect of his attack started to show when he aimed at the same spot for the second and third strikes.


    Bang! Another thunder was heard as Wu Chengyue aimed at the underground gorilla''s shoulder and chest and launched an attack.


    "Roar¡­" This time, the gorilla gave a raging roar under the pain and was slowed down.


    Lin Qiao was purely watching. As Wu Chengyue had regained his advantage, she turned to look at Xiao Licheng.


    The two gigantic gorillas were one of the level-seven ones mentioned in Lin Feng''s report. Their vibe was as strong as that of some level-seven mutated beasts, but they didn''t seem to have superpowers, and only fought with their strength.


    Xiao Licheng was under great pressure, as one of the two level-seven gorillas was having its eyes on him. A strong sense of crisis was shrouding him the whole time, which grew even stronger when he saw Yun Meng being slapped away.


    As he prepared to dodge the gorilla''s next attack, something suddenly grasped his waist. Next, the world before his eyes turned upside down. He was carried on someone''s shoulder and brought away!


    Yes, he was carried away!

 949 Beat Them Back

    Something was pressing against his stomach, and his limbs were hanging in the air. When he recovered from dizziness and realized what was happening, he found himself on someone''s shoulder, moving forward at a surprisingly high speed.


    "Who are you?" His head was pointing at the ground. In the darkness, he saw a blurry back, so he asked a question. However, the one who carried him didn''t respond, and just kept running.


    Lin Qiao saw Xiao Licheng being carried away, and Yun Meng had her mind focused while attacking the giant gorilla. After launching a few moves, she found that the gorilla had turned a little agitated, and then realized that something was wrong.


    She turned and instantly found that Xiao Licheng was missing. "Eh? Where''s Xiao Licheng? Was he dragged into the hole already?"


    "Roar!" The giant gorilla, whose prey was stolen, gave a wrathful roar. Then, it turned away from Yun Meng to track Xiao Licheng''s scent and followed behind him.


    Right at that moment, Lin Qiao abruptly raised a hand. A faint wisp of dark smoke drifted out of her palm, quickly moving toward the giant gorilla in the darkness.


    She had only regained about ten percent of her energy. She wasn''t able to use netherworld fire yet, but could manage to control a slight amount of poisonous mist, only a slight amount though.


    That dark mist, which was invisible in the darkness, was faster than the gorilla. Within a blink, it flowed into the gorilla''s mouth.


    Since those underground creatures had super strong skin, Lin Qiao decided to try cracking them from the inside. They appeared to be immune to all sorts of poisons, but her dark mist was not like any normal poisonous mist.


    Her mist was the same as her netherworld fire; it was able to devour anything. She wasn''t sure if it would hurt those underground creatures though. Therefore, she sent out a wisp of dark mist to try and devour that gorilla''s energy, and see how it would work.


    She didn''t ask Wu Chengyue to follow behind the gorilla which was chasing Xiao Licheng, but gave Yun Meng an instruction, telling her to find Xiao Licheng first.


    On Wu Chengyue''s side, the gorilla that had suffered two strikes from him in a row was already weakened. It was much less aggressive and threatening than before.


    "Roar¡­" Its chest that had suffered two strikes now had a hole in it; dark-colored blood had been flowing out of that wound. It was hard to tell the color of the blood in the dark, but a strong odor could be sensed from it.


    Lin Qiao pinched her nose; she really didn''t like the scent from that blood.


    The underground gorilla that was targeting Wu Chengyue had stopped attacking him fiercely, but kept a distance from him and just stared at him fiercely, with its muscles tightened in high vigilance. Its body was still glowing with a red light, which emphasized the dark wound on its chest.


    Wu Chengyue looked at it, then suddenly raised an arm and threw out another strong bolt of lightning. Once he moved, the gorilla turned and attempted to run.


    However, it was already too late. The dazzling lightning bolt descended from the sky and landed on its body once again, accurately hitting the wound.


    "Errr¡­" The gorilla moaned with a strange voice as it was sent flying again, smashing the surrounding trees and rocks. But still, it didn''t fall to the ground. It turned its body while it was in the midair and quickly landed on the ground, then rushed toward the hole at a super high speed and crawled in within a moment.


    Once it shrank back into the hole, the other underground gorillas which were lingering nearby instantly started moving toward the hole.


    Wu Chengyue watched the huge gorilla run without trying to chase it. As the danger was gone, he said to the air, "Let''s go and find Licheng. We might be able to take care of that large one. This one has gotten away."


    He wasn''t really talking to the air; he was informing Lin Qiao that they needed to move.


    Lin Qiao flashed to his side. In order to catch up with Xiao Licheng in time, she had no choice but to hold her belly with one hand and put the other hand on Wu Chengyue''s shoulder, to let him take her away.


    Wu Chengyue took her hand off his shoulder and held it in his other hand. As Lin Qiao didn''t say no to that, he smiled a bigger smile and brought her away from where they were.


    On the other side, Xiao Licheng didn''t get any response from the one who was carrying him. His stomach kept bumping against the mysterious being''s shoulder, and that made him feel very uncomfortable. He immediately ordered that person to put him down. That person''s vibe was a little familiar, but he failed to recognize it immediately.


    However, that mysterious person still didn''t respond. Finally, he felt that something was not right. He quickly raised a hand to touch that person''s skin: it was icy cold.


    That was not a human, but a zombie!


    Xiao Licheng''s heart leaped. He instantly raised an arm and turned it into stone, then slapped on the back of that zombie''s head.


    He restrained his strength, so he wouldn''t crack the zombie''s head. He only wanted to frighten the zombie to make it put him down.


    Every zombie would instinctively protect its own head. Xiao Licheng didn''t understand why the zombie suddenly showed up at the battlefield and carry him away. Was it trying to save him? Was it taking him to eat him?


    He wanted an answer, so he didn''t kill the zombie but only made a move to free himself.


    As he expected, the zombie paused for a moment when his stone hand landed on the back of its head. Next, the zombie suddenly grabbed him with both arms and threw him away.


    Xiao Licheng reacted while he was still in the air and adjusted his posture so he could land on the ground safely. He leaped away to create a safe distance from the zombie once his feet touched the ground.


    At that point, he suddenly realized why the zombie''s vibe was so familiar.


    Wasn''t that the silly and adorable zombie leader that he saw not long ago? That zombie was actually capable enough to steal him from that huge underground gorilla! That was a level-seven mutated beast!


    The zombie, obviously, didn''t plan to give Xiao Licheng any time to think. Right after throwing him away, it pounced on him.


    Xiao Licheng was pressed to the ground after he made merely two steps backward. As the zombie bared his teeth to bite him, he grasped something from the ground and thrust it into its mouth without thinking. He didn''t even know what it was.


    Crack! A muffled noise was heard. Something seemed to have broken.


    At that moment, Xiao Licheng finally saw what he had in his hand: it looked like a cellphone.


    Abandoned cellphones could be found everywhere in the post-apocalyptic era.

 950 What Netherworld Fire Can Do

    After realizing that he had picked up a cell phone and shoved it into the zombie''s mouth, Xiao Licheng figured that the muffled noise he heard just now was caused when the zombie''s teeth crushed the phone. He turned both his hands into stones and pushed the zombie away from himself, then made a roll on the ground and stood up to move as far away as the zombie as possible.


    As he steadied himself, he saw the zombie stand up as well, covering his mouth with both hands. He narrowed his eyes to look at the zombie carefully and found that it seemed to try and dig something out of his mouth.


    "Hrrr¡­"


    It was dark, but as a level-six superpower possessor, Xiao Licheng had great eyesight at night. He didn''t see things as clearly as he did during the daytime, but he could still see the zombie pretty clearly, as the latter wasn''t far away.


    He saw that the cell phone which he put into the zombie''s mouth just now seemed to be stuck between its teeth.


    He didn''t know what to say.


    He wanted to say something, but didn''t know how to express his feelings.


    Right at that moment, the zombie finally pulled the cell phone out of its mouth with both hands, causing a loud crack.


    Xiao Licheng took a mini flashlight out of his trousers and turned it on, then found that the cell phone had indeed been cracked by the zombie''s teeth. The screen of that phone was now filled with spider-web-like cracks. A white teeth was stuck in the middle of that spider web.


    Xiao Licheng didn''t understand why the zombie''s teeth were more fragile than the screen of the phone.


    Weren''t zombies able to chew human bones like beans?


    At that moment, a red figure flashed across the corners of Xiao Licheng''s eyes, creating a swishing sound. He leaped away immediately, then made a roll on the ground. He didn''t stop moving after that, but sprung up from the ground and quickly created a thick earth wall before himself.


    Bang! The gigantic red figure landed where he was, then swung both claws at the ground and created a pit.


    Xiao Licheng turned and found that the level-five zombie had disappeared again. Meanwhile, the underground gorilla hopped out of the pit and turned toward him. It didn''t have eyes, but he felt that it was staring at him.


    The underground gorilla was fast, but so was Yun Meng. She showed up soon and fiercely swung her claws at the underground gorilla''s neck. The latter tilted its head and easily dodged her attack, then turned around and raised both arms to catch her.


    Seeing that the situation was worsening for her, Yun Meng immediately turned and wagged her tail, her body automatically turning invisible. However, the gorilla kept reaching its claws toward her, as if it could still sense her even after she turned invisible.


    Yun Meng dodged its claws and flashed onto a streetlight to hide herself. At that point, Xiao Licheng took the opportunity to create a safe distance between himself and that dangerous creature.


    The underground gorilla was a large as a buffalo, about four meters tall when it stood up. It abruptly paused, then widened its mouth and let out a series of weird sounds.


    "Roar¡­" Then, it started scratching its own chest; its sharp claws broke its skin.


    Yun Meng landed beside Xiao Licheng and watched the underground gorilla''s weird behavior as she said with confusion, "What is it doing?"


    Xiao Licheng shook his head. He was already safe, but he still looked around carefully, worried that the zombie might suddenly show up again.


    The zombie disappeared once the underground creature showed up. It seemed that he was afraid of that creature. Why wasn''t he afraid of Wu Chengyue and Yun Meng?


    "Roarrrr¡­" The underground gorilla soon made its own chest bleed, even hunching its back in pain.


    What was going on?


    Xiao Licheng confusedly pointed the flashlight on the gorilla and saw the dark-brown blood gush out from the wound on its chest and drip on the ground.


    Yun Meng moved toward Xiao Licheng and asked him, "Are you hurt?"


    "No. I''m fine," Xiao Licheng shook his head and said.


    Yun Meng laughed with confusion, "Did that zombie bring you away because he didn''t want that thing to eat you? So possessive!"


    Xiao Licheng stayed silent. ''That is not funny!'' he thought.


    While they were talking, the huge creature thudded loudly on the ground and let out weird screams from its mouth while rolling and struggling.


    "Is there something on its chest?" Xiao Licheng looked at the creature and asked. It was still scratching its chest and kicking its legs.


    Yun Meng nodded in agreement, then suddenly turned back and said with surprise, "I think so. Eh, the rest of them have started running!"


    The giant underground gorilla had stopped moving by the time Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao arrived.


    "Did you do this?" Wu Chengyue turned to Lin Qiao and asked. He sensed a trace of her vibe from the underground gorilla.


    Lin Qiao slapped his hand off her, then moved closer to the underground gorilla. After that, she raised her hands to control the dark mist and made it spread inside the gorilla''s body.


    The dark mist had grown much stronger than before as it had just absorbed a good amount of physical energy from the creature. Under Lin Qiao''s control, it spread and turned thinner.


    At that moment, the creature''s chest had been emptied. The dark mist spread and started to devour its flesh and blood. Before long, Xiao Licheng and Yun Meng saw the buffalo-sized underground gorilla shrink all of a sudden.


    After hearing Wu Chengyue''s question, the two of them finally figured out why the underground gorilla suddenly began scratching its own chest.


    Xiao Licheng shone his flashlight on the gorilla''s body and found a hole on its flattened back. A few wisps of dark mist drifted out of the hole and started spreading on the creature''s back as if it was alive.


    Soon, the people on the scene watched the underground gorilla''s body disappear, leaving only its head and four claws.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand, and the dark mist flew back to her and drilled into her palm. She released a little-finger-sized stream of mist earlier, but an arm-sized stream went back to her.


    She walked over and collected the remains of the creatures, preparing to bring them back for Leng Xuantong to study. At that point, Xiao Licheng abruptly clicked his tongue and said, "Eh, again!"


    Following his voice, the others saw a figure sneak out from a corner, then suddenly charge at him again.


    The zombie saw the underground creature die, so he came back to attack its target again.

 951 Quieted Down For Now

    Yun Meng caught the zombie who attempted to give Xiao Licheng another sneaky attack, grasping his collar and dragging him away.


    "Don''t move!" Yun Meng released her vibe and glared at the zombie as she gave him a roar.


    The zombie was stunned at first. It stopped moving and turned to give Yun Meng a glance with confusion, then suddenly bared his teeth and roared back at her.


    "Roar!"


    "What? How dare you roar at me! I don''t believe that I can''t suppress you. You''re only a zombie leader!" Yun Meng was surprised to hear his roar. Then, she furrowed her brows and yelled at him through clenched teeth.


    She was not expecting the level-five zombie to have the courage to ignore her strong vibe and fight back against her. As a higher leveled zombie, she was supposed to suppress him naturally. Why couldn''t she do it? Why wasn''t it working on that zombie?


    Since the zombie refused to listen to her, Yun Meng had no choice but to beat him until he followed her words. She grabbed the zombie''s cloth with one hand and slapped him on the head with the other hand.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!" Every time she slapped him, the zombie gave a roar.


    Soon, the zombie seemed to be infuriated. He suddenly reached his hands back to grasp Yun Meng''s hands, then twirled his body and freed himself from her.


    Yun Meng was thrown to the side by him. She paused briefly with surprise, then turned around and prepared to teach the zombie a lesson. However, the zombie turned and disappeared again after throwing her away.


    Then, the four on the scene saw the zombie fall to the ground about ten meters away. He quickly got up from the ground and disappeared once again.


    "Are we gonna let him run just like this?" Xiao Licheng wasn''t happy about that. The zombie was targeting him. If he couldn''t kill the zombie, he should at least bring him back to Base Number Two in All Beings Base and get him trained.


    Based on Yun Meng''s attitude, Xiao Licheng figured that Lin Qiao didn''t plan to kill that zombie. He didn''t know why though. The zombie always tried to pounce on him and bite him, which made him quite unhappy.


    Yun Meng shrugged and said, "This guy is a little weird. Chief thinks that he might be helpful for us."


    Lin Qiao planned to recruit the zombie into her army. He still needed to be trained though.


    They found a building that wasn''t far away from the entrance to the underground gorilla cave to rest. Lin Qiao took out the remains of the underground creature which was devoured by her mist, then put them in the middle of the room and started observing them closely.


    Xiao Licheng and Wu Chengyue shone their flashlights on that creature''s head and paws. The paws were black, shining with a metallic luster under the flashlight. The pair of paws were huge. The palms were over twenty-centimeter wide, and every finger was strong, looking dangerous and full of strength.


    The head was half a size bigger than that of a buffalo. Except for a mouth and a nose, no other organs were seen on the face. The ears were small and sharp; the top of the head was hairless and smooth, and the back of the head was angular.


    It looked ugly and weird.


    Lin Qiao guessed that the eyes of those creatures have become vestigial because they lived underground, where it was too dark for eyes to work.


    Yun Meng stayed quietly by the window with her eyes fixed on the hole. Those creatures ran into the hole just now, and no one knew when they would come back out.


    Wu Chengyue broke off a leg from a wooden chair and turned the creature''s head with it, looking closely at the creature''s broken neck.


    "Its blood and claws carry the zombie virus. Don''t touch them," Yun Meng reminded him. She knew that Wu Chengyue might have read about it from the report, but she still couldn''t help reminding him.


    "What exactly is this thing turned from? It looks so weird¡­" said Xiao Licheng.


    Lin Qiao stood aside, observing the remains of the creature. That creature had strong forelimbs and wide paws, long and hooked claws, with earth stuck underneath. Those claws were perfect for burrowing.


    If those creatures were really from the earth''s core, they shouldn''t be the only species that came up to the surface. Why did they come up? Was the earth core going through some kind of big change?


    The next morning, some of the zombies that Lin Qiao sent out returned at dawn, bringing her a small pile of zombie nuclei and plant nuclei.


    Lin Qiao put a rear paw of the dead underground gorilla under the sunlight to see what would happen. All the others were watching.


    The sunlight in the morning was warm. Being exposed under the sun, the paw swelled slowly, and only the nails remained unchanged.


    Puff! Puff! The paw swelled, and many blisters emerged from the skin. Those blisters grew larger and larger, then exploded when they reached a certain size.


    The blistering skin smelt like burnt meat. After those blisters broke, the muscles underneath the skin started melting. About ten minutes later, only the bones and five sharp nails were left from the paw.


    "So this is why they''re afraid of the sunlight," said Yun Meng knowingly.


    Both Xiao Licheng and Wu Chengyue were pinching their nose. This time, Lin Qiao and Yun Meng weren''t the only ones who were able to sense that awful smell. That smell was too harsh and terrible.


    Lin Qiao went downstairs and brought a minivan out of her space, then threw the smaller underground gorilla into it. After that, she ordered Jingyan, Three, and Four to drive the dead underground gorilla back to the base.


    "The sunlight is highly harmful to them, but we can''t kill them all unless they come out of that cave. We can''t blow the entire cave up, can we? Who knows how large that cave is," said Yun Meng with a bitter face.


    It had been mentioned before that those creatures weren''t stupid. They wouldn''t come out of the cave during the daytime, no matter how people tried to lure them. Besides, their exact number was still unknown.


    Wu Chengyue, Lin Qiao, and the others spent another few days in that area. The area surrounding the hole stayed absolute quiet during that span of time.


    Lin Qiao sent her zombies to search through the area ten miles in radius around the hole. Those zombies searched the area for a few times, yet found nothing. Those creatures seemed to have stopped all their activities and hidden away.


    That level-five zombie, who fell to the ground every time he tried to run, harassed Xiao Licheng three or four times every single day. No one knew how he managed to keep himself from being detected by the other zombies. He was found less than twenty meters away from Xiao Licheng every single time.


    During the daytime, his face could be seen clearly. His facial muscles were atrophic, so his cheekbones seemed especially sharp. His eyes were purely dark and deeply sunken. He was not good-looking, but he had very bright eyes. In those eyes was the purity which was similar to what could be seen in the eyes of babies.


    Every time he showed up, everyone else would automatically stare at his eyes and ignore the rest of his face.

 952 In Another Half A Month

    Under the leadership of Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao, the team stayed around the hole for another half a month, but those creatures never showed up again. Therefore, they started searching around for other possible entrances to the cave, especially in the area between the first entrance to the cave and All Beings Base.


    The level-five zombie had been caught and tied up by Yun Meng. Yun Meng tied his hands together with a rope and held the other end of the rope in her hand.


    "Roar¡­" The level-five zombie didn''t try to free himself after having his hands tied up. He didn''t even try to bite the rope with his teeth. After all, it was merely an ordinary rope, and not a chain.


    Even though his hands had been tied up, he had still been trying to approach Xiao Licheng. He leaned his head toward the latter and ceaselessly tried to bite him.


    Bang! Wu Chengyue conveniently killed a level-six mutated plant that was able to swing its branches from side to side. Its branches swooshed in the air like messy hair. As Wu Chengyue and his people showed up, it turned toward them and attempted to wrap them up with its branches.


    But in the end, Wu Chengyue broke its trunk with his lightning.


    He dug out the nucleus and held it, then looked around and asked the others, "Where are you?"


    When he talked to the air, the others all knew that he was talking to Lin Qiao. Yun Meng pointed at a tree nearby and said, "On that tree."


    Wu Chengyue walked to the tree, then raised his head and looked at the tree smilingly as he said, "Here!"


    Lin Qiao didn''t climb high, and was just standing on the lowest branch. As Wu Chengyue handed her the nucleus, she gently leaped off the tree and walked to his side with a hand on her belly, then pressed the other hand on his shoulder.


    ''You don''t need to give it to me every time.''


    He harvested that nucleus, not her. He didn''t need to give it to her.


    "Not for you. For her," Wu Chengyue gave a mild smile and said with a soft voice.


    Lin Qiao knew that he was talking about Viney. Her belly had become much larger than half a month ago, and she could even feel the heavy weight on her waist.


    Currently, Viney would only absorb a small amount of energy that she absorbed. Her main energy recourse was Wu Chengyue now. Every night, Lin Qiao could sense an invisible stream of energy coming into her body from Wu Chengyue.


    During the past half a month, Wu Chengyue gave Lin Qiao every nucleus that he harvested. She didn''t accept those nuclei at first. She had a bunch of zombies under her command, so she could have as many nuclei as she needed. She didn''t need to take things from Wu Chengyue.


    However, he insisted to give them to her. He put the nucleus in her hand every single time, and used the baby as an excuse. If she refused to take it, he would give it to Yun Meng or another zombie.


    Later on, Lin Qiao started to accept those nuclei, but she would impatiently tell him every time not to do it again.


    During the past half a month, the distance between him and her had grown much larger than before. Currently, they could move over two-hundred meters away from each other. And in that span of time, Wu Chengyue had been weakening obviously.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the nucleus in his hand which was sparkling with a beautiful luster under the sunlight.


    ''I have plenty. I think you need to absorb some energy more than I do,'' Lin Qiao said to him.


    Wu Chengyue wore a faint smile and curved his eyes into a pair of crescents. Under his thick eyelashes, his eyes shone with a charming light.


    "I don''t need it," he said.


    In a recent couple of days, he had started to feel the decrease in his energy. He had also been feeling strangely tired and heavy-bodied every night.


    However, he was not unhappy about what was happening to him at all. He felt the zombie lady''s belly, that was growing larger and larger, with his hands. Occasionally, he sensed a little foot kicking his palm from inside her belly. The baby might not have a heartbeat or body temperature, yet he felt that she was thriving.


    There was a reason that he told Lin Qiao he didn''t need to nucleus. His body wasn''t able to store new energy anymore. He had absorbed some nuclei lately, but the energy from those nuclei circled in his body, then melted into his blood and vanished without gathering in his brain.


    He guessed that it had something to do with the baby.


    Since his body couldn''t store new energy, he didn''t plan to waste time absorbing any. Thankfully, his body originally contained a rich amount of energy.


    ''Just save it for yourself,'' Lin Qiao frowned slightly and said.


    After saying that, she took her hand away from him and turned to the level-five zombie, who got tied on a tree and ended up strangling himself with the rope. Sensing her taking her hand away, Wu Chengyue was slightly disappointed. The smile in his eyes faded, and the corners of his mouth dropped slightly.


    But in the next second, he put the nucleus in his pocket as if nothing happened. He knew that she would be displeased if he tried again to give her the nucleus.


    Lin Qiao walked up to the level-five zombie and sensed his thoughts, which never changed.


    He really liked Xiao Licheng. Wu Chengyue was also a living human being, yet the zombie had no interest in him at all. He had his eyes on Xiao Licheng solely. Xiao Licheng was over twenty meters away from him at the moment, but he was still staring at the man with greedy eyes.


    He gazed at Xiao Licheng like how a man might look at a pretty lady¡­ or a delicious roast duck, roast suckling pig, or roast whole lamb.


    She couldn''t tell how the zombie tied his entire body on the tree. Yun Meng had only tied the rope on the tree trunk.


    Lin Qiao stood before him, then raised a hand holding a glass of water.


    As the glass of water appeared, the zombie immediately turned around and stared at it. The energy in the water made him feel hungrier.


    He could not eat the man who was far away from him, but the energy-water before his eyes seemed to be able to ease his hunger. It was like a human being could live on meat or nutrient solution; the former could satisfy the desire and the latter was only able to quench the physical hunger.


    The zombie quieted down at the sight of the glass of the water. He fixed his eyes on the glass, without looking at Xiao Licheng again.


    "Ah¡­ ah¡­" He opened his mouth slightly and reached his head toward the glass while uttering strange sounds from his throat. Lin Qiao didn''t make him wait for long but poured the water straight into his mouth.


    While Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue, and the others kept looking for traces of those underground gorillas, some people in All Beings Base were carefully and secretly observing the farm through telescopes from over a thousand meters away.


    "Have you seen clearly? Are you sure no heat source was detected from those people?" A man whispered to the other man who was holding a telescope, sounding uncertain.


    "There is really no heat source! See for yourself!" Hearing that question, the other man quickly handed him the telescope.

 953 The Secret Is Leaking

    The two people observed the farm in All Beings Base through the telescope from over a thousand meters away and found that the people who were working in the farm were all mysterious.


    They didn''t dare to go anywhere near the farm. It was already risky for them to stay where they were at the moment.


    They found that no heat source could be detected from the people who worked in the farm. A lot of other creatures were cold like that. They lived outside human bases, and were called zombies.


    However, the farm of All Beings Base was located right outside the fence wall, within the safe zone. That area should be zombie-free.


    The man took over the telescope and prepared to take a look. But before that, the other man suddenly restrained his vibe and dragged him as he started running in a panic.


    "Move! Someone is coming!"


    The man who was raising the telescope to his eyes instantly put the telescope into his bag, then turned and ran. They were both fast, and they soon disappeared from the building that they were hiding in.


    A couple of minutes later, two figures showed up in the building.


    Liu Jun stood in the building and looked around, then moved to the window and said to the chubby Fox, "There is a weird smell."


    Fox turned her head from side to side, then raised her head to sniff around. After that, she asked with confusion, "What is this smell? I''ve never sensed something like this."


    Liu Jun wore a calm look and had a sharp beam of light glowing across her eyes. "I saw shadows flashing across this area just now. Someone¡­ or something¡­ must have been here."


    While speaking, she dropped her head and started searching carefully in the room.


    Fox spent a short while sniffing around, then said, "If you''re talking about humans, they must have been wearing something to cover their scents." After saying that, she sniffed the air outside the window. "I can''t smell that scent outside. It is gone along with the wind," she clicked her tongue and said with a frown.


    That scent was very faint. It could be detected in the room, but it had mixed outside with the other scents and disappeared.


    That was why Fox couldn''t trace it.


    Liu Jun furrowed her brows. After making a few circles in the room, she said, "These people are much more cautious than Zuo Chen and his people."


    No traces were left on the scene to identify them, and nothing in the room was touched. They even cleaned the floor without leaving any footprints on it. They also had their scents covered. Maybe they had realized that some All Beings Base members had a great sense of smell, or it was only because they always prepared themselves for all possible situations.


    Fox leaned her head out of the window and sniffed around again. After that, she turned back and said to Liu Jun, "We need to tell Chief to do a detailed background check for everyone in the base. They shouldn''t be able to see things clearly in the base from here, but they could still find something. We can''t ignore that possibility."


    "This needs to be dealt with carefully," Liu Jun nodded and said.


    The two of them quickly left the building. One of them returned to the base while the other headed toward Base Number Two.


    Liu Jun went back to Base Number Two and found Xie Dong, telling him about what happened earlier.


    "They even covered their scents?" On hearing that, the expressionless Xie Dong wore a small frown. As zombies, they were highly sensitive to smells, which was one of their specialties. However, those people managed to cover their scents, which caused the zombies great difficulties to find them out.


    Liu Jun stood by the window in Xie Dong office, leaning against the window frame with her arms folded. She thought for a moment and then said, "Were they with Zuo Chen? Maybe we missed them. Who else would want to know the secrets of our farm?"


    Xie Dong shook his head slightly and said, "I''m not sure if they were with Zuo Chen. They could be from other bases too. Currently, all the other bases except for Sea City Base want to know about our secrets. We have accepted so many new residents lately. The spies from the other bases might have mingled in."


    Yuan Tianxing and Xie Dong would send their people out to check the background of every batch of new residents in the base. However, a lot of people had joined the base recently, and they couldn''t make sure not to miss any detail.


    Yuan Tianxing, of course, had thought about the possibility that some of those people might be spies. Since he couldn''t stop spies from coming into the base, he had to guard the secrets of the base well.


    Xie Dong thought for a second, then asked Liu Jun, "How far were they from the base?"


    "A mile at least," said Liu Jun, "Not too far away. They shouldn''t be able to see the things in the farm clearly from where they were. Even if they had telescopes, they would only see all sorts of leaves."


    "Take me there," Xie Dong pondered briefly, then decided to go to the scene and take a look himself first.


    "Okay," Liu Jun nodded.


    The two of them walked out of the office and left swiftly. In the next second, they showed up near the building that Liu Jun found earlier.


    "The scent is gone," Liu Jun sniffed around and found that the strange scent was gone without a trace. Clearly, that scent was special. Normal scents would linger for a longer time.


    "We need to pay attention to the people who will come into the base in the next couple of days. But, as they have such a great anti-reconnaissance capability, I don''t think they''ll come into the base any time soon," Xie Dong narrowed his eyes and said coldly.


    Liu Jun sighed with a frown and said, "We are not strong enough yet. We can''t let the secrets leak at this point."


    Xie Dong abruptly held her hand and said, "Don''t worry. I won''t let that happen."


    The base was where Liu Jun and her son could live safely, and where Xie Dong would follow and guard. It had a special meaning for both of them. Therefore, Xie Dong didn''t want to see the base fall into a bad situation.


    On the other side of the base, two men showed up in the darkness within an alley in the safe zone. They found a sewer cover and lifted it, then quickly dove into the sewer and put the cover back on.


    "Are you sure the deodorant will work? What if they sent dogs after us?" One of the two whispered with worry.


    "Relax. It works even for zombies. Didn''t you notice that the zombies on our way made no reaction when we approached them?" said the other man confidently.


    They had already left the safe zone and entered the zombie zone.


    "You''re right. I didn''t notice that before." The man who had doubts paused briefly and then nodded.


    "They saw us. We can''t enter the base for now," said the other man with frustration.

 954 Two Regiments

    "We can''t get into All Beings Base now, so why don''t we go to Sea City Base?" Hiding in the sewer, Luo Yusheng suggested.


    The two of them were alone at the moment. They were both at level-four, but they restrained their powers and pretended to be level-three when they made their way into All Beings Base. Now, they were outside. The food and weapon they had weren''t enough for them to travel to Huaxia Base in the north or Sky Fire Base in the northwest. Therefore, Sea City Base was their only choice.


    They couldn''t stay out there for long. The outside world was too dangerous after all.


    Wang Chong hesitated and said, "I''m worrying that All Beings Base might try to find us in Sea City Base, or they might keep an eye there."


    After all, every base had records for the people who entered and exited.


    He was probably right. Luo Yusheng thought for a moment and then asked, "What should we do then? Should we go straight to Sky Fire Base? That''s a long way to go. I''m afraid we can''t make it till there."


    Wang Chong shook his head and said, "It''s too soon for us to go to Sky Fire Base. The information we have now is not very valuable. We haven''t found out the secrets of this All Beings Base, but they are alerted already. Even if we go to Sky Fire Base now, we wouldn''t be able to get ourselves anything good."


    Luo Yusheng knitted his brows and said, "Indeed. It''s not worthy for us to travel all the way there."


    With that thought, he gave up on that idea. Then, another problem popped up in his mind, "Oh, just now, we didn''t detect any heat source from those people. Are they zombies? Are they humans? I''ve asked around, but no one from Base Number One is working in the farm. They are now mostly building the fence base for Base Number Two."


    Wang Chong narrowed his eyes and said, "I think they might be zombies. But, the farm is within the safe zone. Why didn''t All Beings Base people kill those zombies? Or¡­ have they given up on the farm already? Didn''t they say that all farmlands are dead now?"


    Luo Yusheng thought for a few seconds and then said, "But why didn''t they clean out those zombies? Why are they keeping them?"


    "I don''t know," said Wang Chong, "But now, I think that All Beings Base has a lot of secrets indeed! Those soldiers with sunglasses are weird too. And, people aren''t allowed to enter Base Number Two."


    Back in the base, the two of them didn''t dare to carry too many devices, so they didn''t get a chance to observe those soldiers who wore sunglasses all day through the special telescope. If they did that, they would find out that no source of heat could be detected from those soldiers either.


    "Those soldiers belong to Base Number Two. If we can get into Base Number Two, we might be able to find something out. The problem is, we can''t even get into Base Number One now," said Luo Yusheng.


    The two of them sighed together. The current situation was not good for them, and they didn''t know where to go next. Returning to All Beings Base was, of course, not a choice. Sky Fire Base and Huaxia Base were both too far away. They had no other choice but to try their luck in Sea City Base.


    At that moment, Xie Dong had visited all the entrances of the base and gotten a list of the people who exited the base earlier but hadn''t returned yet.


    "Those people might have never entered our base. They might be observing us from the outside the whole time," Qiu Lili couldn''t help but share her doubts.


    "They are a small group. I don''t think they can stay out there for long without getting supplies from out base. But, what you said is also possible," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "I think they won''t come back to our base next. They are most likely heading to Sea City Base. I''ll tell Sea City Base people to strictly guard every entrance of their base," said Xie Dong. He didn''t care how and when those people showed up. He was only thinking about what to do next.


    "I agree," Yuan Tianxing nodded.


    Qiu Lili shrugged and said, "I think I might as well go out and try to track them. I might be able to find some traces they left."


    Having finished talking, she stood up and left the conference room. Anyhow, she came and left whenever she wanted. The others made no reaction to that, but kept discussing the further plan.


    "How is the current size of the zombie army in Base Number Two now?" Yuan Tianxing abruptly turned to Xie Dong and asked.


    As far as he knew, Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and Lin Kui were the only level-seven ones. Under their commands were twelve zombie kings and queens. But, he had no knowledge about the numbers of the zombies from level-five to level-three. Those soldiers with sunglasses who patrolled in the base every day were all at level-three. No level-four ones were seen among them.


    Xie Dong said, "Currently, we have about a hundred trained level-five zombies, five-hundred level-four zombies, and two-thousand level-three zombies. They are all well-trained and divided into two regiments. We are still recruiting and training new zombies for the third regiments. They are obedient because they are under the control of Chief''s blood."


    One regiment normally had one-thousand or one-thousand and five-hundred men. A zombie regiment under Lin Qiao''s command was composed of one-thousand to one-thousand and two-hundred zombies. Currently, Qiu Lili and Yun Meng had been managing the two regiments, each with the help of five kings and queens. Lin Kui wasn''t arranged in the army yet.


    The zombies under level-three weren''t in the army either. Lin Qiao had only been keeping them around the base. They would be trained and put in the army only after they entered higher levels.


    The two regiments under Lin Qiao''s command were way more powerful than a normal regiment because they were composed of zombie soldiers.


    Yuan Tianxing made eye-contact with Lin Feng, then nodded and said, "We thought the numbers would be bigger."


    They had seen Lin Qiao bring back large batches of zombies. The huge crowd that used to surround the base, and was now hiding near Mount Wu area, contained at least eighty-thousand zombies. However, it turned out that there were only two or three thousand zombie soldiers in Lin Qiao''s official zombie army.


    "You all know that lower-leveled zombies barely have any sanity," said Xie Dong, "Chief has upgraded them with her own blood, but she still doesn''t trust them completely. After all, zombie instincts can be tricky."


    The ones who refused to follow orders were killed directly. They might be killed by someone else in the future anyway. By dying in the base, they could at least contribute their nuclei.


    "That''s true," Yuan Tianxing nodded.


    "We have to keep the secret of Base Number Two. At the very least, we need to make sure that no other base will target it in one or two decades," said Lin Feng.


    Xie Dong nodded silently.

 955 A Level-Eight One Shows Up

    Qiu Lili showed up on the fence wall, and carefully sensed the scents in the air, even though Xie Dong had told her that those people used by digging in the base, and that the scent they left might be gone already.


    However, as long as the deodorant wore out, she would be able to grasp all scents in the air from ten miles in radius.


    She felt that it would be her fault if she let anything unwanted happen in the base while Lin Qiao wasn''t around. If those people really leaked the secret about the farm this time, she would feel so ashamed.


    People never thought that those sneaky people who spied on the base this time would use deodorant.


    During the same night, Lin Qiao was leading her zombies carefully to search for the traces of those underground creatures. Standing on top of a building, she suddenly shivered. Together with Wu Chengyue, she turned to another direction as a highly aggressive vibe was rising from that area.


    "It''s here!" Wu Chengyue blinked.


    Yun Meng and the other zombies had felt it too, and immediately grown alert. No one bothered to untie the level-five zombie from the tree though.


    Lin Qiao abruptly turned and cut her finger with her nail, squeezing a drop of her blood into the glass of water in her hand.


    "Roar¡­" The level-five zombie was irritated once Lin Qiao''s blood was exposed in the air. He tightened his entire body as he glared at Lin Qiao and roared vigilantly.


    Lin Qiao didn''t waste any time talking to him, but grasped his chin with one hand to force open his mouth and poured the water that contained her blood into his mouth with the other.


    "Er¡­" The zombie stiffened his entire body with fear and launched a scream. However, he could only utter half of that scream because his mouth was gripped in Lin Qiao''s hand.


    Soon, the zombie gulped the water. Seventy percent of the glass of water was poured into the zombie''s mouth, and the rest splashed out.


    After that, Lin Qiao relaxed her grip and made a few steps backward. She then flashed to Wu Chengyue''s side, put a hand on his shoulder, and said, ''Let''s go and take a look."


    That vibe was very strong, but she didn''t intend to avoid it. She asked Wu Chengyue to go and take a look at its owner with her. She only wanted to see it, without staring a war against it.


    After Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao left, the other zombies moved away as well. Before leaving, Xiao Licheng turned and glanced at the level-five zombie. He didn''t understand why the zombie lady chief left him there.


    After everybody left, the level-five zombie trembled and then burst in roars, with his face all twisted.


    "Roar!"


    He struggled while his energy started gushing out of his body, forming sharp energy blades that soon cut the rope on him.


    "Roarrrr¡­. er¡­" But in the next second, he fell on the ground and started rolling. He twitched, curled, and spread his body from time to time, with all four limbs shaking. About ten minutes later, he slowly quieted down. His clothes had become dirty and messy.


    The zombie then stood up from the ground, staring at the ground confusedly. In a few minutes, his dark eyes gradually regained the glow that they had before, and his eyeballs became a little translucent.


    He looked left and right, then raised his head to sniff around. Afterward, he started walking slowly toward Lin Qiao and the others.


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue brought Lin Qiao back near the hole where they killed the level-seven underground gorilla earlier. They didn''t approach it, but stayed two miles away from the cave.


    Yun Meng, Eight, and Xia Ri had been carefully approaching the hole.


    Lin Qiao furrowed her brows slightly. She was two miles away from the hole, yet the strong vibe still made her feel very uncomfortable. The discomfort was keeping her from controlling her own vibe, irritating her, and making her want to boost her vibe to fight against that strong vibe.


    Wu Chengyue stepped forward and stood before her to shield her from that vibe.


    "This one is at level-eight. They are on alert now because we killed that level-seven one earlier," he said.


    ''I was only guessing earlier, but it turns out there really is a level-eight one among them,'' Lin Qiao said.


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t see her face, but clearly felt that her vibe was depressed, or that she was on vigilance.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was indeed on alert instinctively. That creature''s vibe was especially strong, much stronger than her own, almost as strong as the natural vibe generated from Mo Yan''s thunderclouds when he was out of control. The latter was still stronger though.


    What made Lin Qiao feel stressed was that the creature was too close to her base!


    As the enormous dark figure crawled out of the hole, the vibe immediately spread out wave by wave. Even the people in All Beings Base, that was located tens of miles away, all sensed it.


    Qiu Lili, who was standing on top of the fence wall, sensed it first. Then, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and the others who were in the base all felt it. Soon, Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui, who were in Sea City Base, paused and raised their heads to look outside the window.


    "What is that?" Yuan Tianxing stood up from behind his desk and walked to the window as he looked outside. Li Zheng seemed to have sensed something unusual too, but not as clearly as Yuan Tianxing had.


    "What?" he asked.


    Yuan Tianxing gazed into the darkness and said, "A very aggressive vibe suddenly emerged. I think it''s coming from the area where those underground creatures have been showing up."


    With concern in his eyes, he murmured, "I wonder what Chief and the others have encountered."


    Li Zheng walked to the window side. Near the window, he could sense that vibe more clearly. "Chief is with Chief Wu. I think she''ll be fine."


    On hearing that, Yuan Tianxing dropped his eyes as he nodded and responded, "Yeah, I think so."


    At that moment, both Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao had their brows knitted. Ever since that creature came out of the underground, they both felt stressed. Lin Qiao had a stronger feeling than Wu Chengyue though.


    "Let''s go." She abruptly dragged Wu Chengyue''s arm. Then, she gave Yun Meng and the other zombies an order, telling them to fall back as soon as possible.


    If she were in her best state, she wouldn''t mind picking up a fight with that level-eight underground gorilla. But, she was currently a pregnant zombie, and she needed to be careful!


    Sensing her movement, Wu Chengyue instantly realized what he should do. Within a moment, he brought Lin Qiao away from where they were.


    He, of course, would have no worries if the zombie lady wasn''t bonded together with him. However, they were bonded together indeed. For that very reason, he could not risk his own safety to fight that creature, and had no choice but to draw back together with her.


    As the two of them left, Yun Meng and the other zombies quickly turned and followed them.


    The enormous, dark figure crawled out of the hole and stood up. It was ten meters tall, and its vibe grew further stronger as it stood up.


    It turned its head from side to side, seemingly trying to sense things with his nose and ears.

 956 Save Xiao Licheng

    All mutated animals tens of miles around the area instantly hid their vibes and started running for their lives. Some hid in their nests and didn''t dare to come out. Meanwhile, most of the birds rose from treetops and flew away.


    Even some mutated plants above level-five quieted down.


    Wu Chengyue brought Lin Qiao away at a very high speed. In the next second after the level-eight underground gorilla crawled out of the hole, he and Lin Qiao showed up somewhere over ten miles away.


    After steadying herself, Lin Qiao turned back to look at that underground gorilla. She was a little worried that the giant monster might head toward All Beings Base.


    Wu Chengyue brought her to the opposite direction of All Beings Base. He, of course, was aware that they should not return to All Beings Base at the moment. If the monster followed them there, the base would be doomed.


    Yun Meng and the others were fast as well. Before long, they showed up around Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao. Xiao Licheng was slower than them, and was still on the way. After all, his earth power didn''t allow him to move as fast as wind-power possessors.


    Also, the poor man had become a target again. This time, what was targeting him wasn''t that level-five zombie or the level-seven underground gorilla.


    The ten-meter-tall underground gorilla sniffed around, then made two steps toward Xiao Licheng. After that, it lowered its upper body and propped itself with its pair of strong forelimbs that looked like elephant legs, then bent its waist and thrust its rear legs against the ground.


    Bang! The giant dark figure leaped over ten meters high in the darkness, then landed about fifty meters away from the hole. After that, it made another leap. Its enormous body stirred the air and raised a gust of wind. When it landed, a thunderous thud was heard and a wave of strong wind spread.


    Xiao Licheng was leaping from a roof when he heard the loud noise behind him. That dangerous vibe descended and shrouded him instantly.


    He turned back to find a gigantic figure hopping toward him from a distance away. He felt as if he had just fallen into an ice hole. The strong oppressing feeling made his face pale, and sweat drops oozed out of his forehead thickly.


    That monster had its eyes on him¡­


    He was going to die¡­


    While he was locked onto and slowed down a little, that enormous figure had made a couple of more leaps and shortened the distance further.


    The overwhelming life crisis urged him to wake up quickly, and then he started running like hell.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue both realized that Xiao Licheng''s life was in danger.


    Wu Chengyue was anxious, but also hesitating. He wanted very much to save Xiao Licheng. With him, Xiao Licheng would surely be safe. However, he was now bonded together with his future wife, who was in no condition to approach that monster together with him.


    While he was struggling, Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes, seemingly to sense something. Soon, she gave her order to Yun Meng and the other zombies¡ª''Go and save him first. Don''t fight it face to face.''


    Hearing that, Yun Meng immediately brought a few level-six zombie back toward Xiao Licheng.


    None of zombies on the scene had wind power. A wind power possessor would be able to bring Xiao Licheng out of trouble very easily.


    Bang! Another sound was heard, and Xiao Licheng turned back to find that the monster had made over ten leaps within a few seconds, catching up with him rapidly. It was now only two-hundred meters behind him, and would be right before his eyes in a few blinks.


    He was so nervous, but he still told himself to calm down. At least, his boss was there. Chief Wu wouldn''t let anything happen to him. Apart from him, the group of zombies from All Beings Base was also nearby. Thinking about them, he believed that he wouldn''t die, at least not so soon.


    "Don''t look back!" Yun Meng showed up by his side right at that moment and grabbed him, then moved forward at lightning speed. The other zombies showed up in the next second as well. They didn''t approach that monster, and only attacked him with their superpowers from the distance.


    Swoosh! Eight had metal power. His head was still wrapped gauze in a weird shape. However, that didn''t weaken his power.


    All metal objects nearby flew into the sky and gathered toward him. Abandoned cars, metal pieces from buildings, even the reinforcing steel bars were brought out from the walls and woven into enormous arrows. As Eight wielded an arm, those huge arrows swished at that monster.


    "Roar¡­" The gigantic underground gorilla paused briefly under the rain of metal arrows, then swung both arms and easily slapped the two-meters-long, five-centimeters thick arrows off the sky. It missed a few and let them land on itself, yet those arrows only caused a series of clangs against its skin and left some white marks on its body. Not a single arrow broke its skin.


    After dealing with those large arrows, the giant gorilla made another leap toward Xiao Licheng. But at that moment, a dazzling huge fireball was thrown at it.


    The tiny body of Four, who threw out the fireball, flashed across the air and disappeared.


    It was his greatest fireball, generated with all his power. After throwing out that fireball, he wouldn''t be able to use his fire power again in about ten minutes. On the other side, Eight also needed a few minutes to regain his power after launching those metal arrows.


    Lin Qiao didn''t want them to confront tough with toughness, so they took turns to distract the monster and buy time for Yun Meng.


    Bang! The underground gorilla, which had leaped into the sky, failed to dodge the fireball and ended up being struck down to the ground. However, the fireball didn''t bring it any harm, and only emblazed some inflammable objects around it.


    "Roar¡­" The giant gorilla made a roll on the ground and crushed the flower bed by the street. Then, it stood up and uttered an angry roar. Those attacks didn''t hurt it, but stopped it from catching up with its prey. That made it very unhappy.


    With all that happening, Yun Meng brought Xiao Licheng farther away from the giant gorilla.


    As Lin Qiao sent her zombies to help Xiao Licheng, Wu Chengyue sighed with relief. He held her wrist tightly, then slightly dropped his head as he turned and said to her, "Thank you!"


    ''You''re welcome,'' Lin Qiao responded calmly.


    Recently, she was able to vaguely sense his thoughts while making body contact with him. It might because he had suffered a drastic energy reduction lately. She sensed how worried he was just now. That was why she sent Yun Meng and the other zombies to bring Xiao Licheng back.

 957 Draw Back Suddenly

    Except for Yun Meng, the other zombies were all at level six or five. Their attacks could not stop that underground gorilla.


    After being interrupted over and over again, the underground gorilla was infuriated and started to launch fierce counter strikes.


    It landed on the ground with an earth wall before it, but shattered it with merely one swing of its arm. Vines grew out of the earth and wrapped it up, but it raised both arms and easily broke them.


    At that moment, a figure sneakily took a detour around the battlefield and followed behind Xiao Licheng and Yun Meng.


    As Xiao Licheng was already safe, Wu Chengyue took Lin Qiao and kept moving further away. They both wanted to know how far could that eye-less monster go away from its nest.


    Right at that point, the giant underground gorilla abruptly stopped. It turned its head from side to side, then made a circle before spending a short while standing there quietly. After that, it suddenly turned and slowly walked back without leaping like it did earlier.


    While walking, it quickly restrained its vibe. Soon, people could no longer sense its presence.


    "Eh?" Yun Meng had felt that too. She landed on top of a building with Xiao Licheng and looked at that underground gorilla.


    "What''s wrong?" Xiao Licheng asked curiously without thinking.


    "Haven''t you sensed it? It''s not coming after us anymore. It has also hidden its vibe and stopped causing noises."


    Being reminded by her, Xiao Licheng immediately felt that as well. Indeed, the pressure that nearly suffocated him earlier was gone. He could no longer hear that monster run or sense the quake of the earth caused by it.


    At that moment, Eight, Xia Ri, and the other zombies who were relatively closer to the gorilla had all been watching it slowly walking back toward its nest with its back hunched. Its vibe had disappeared without a trace.


    Strangely, that enormous creature wasn''t creating any noise while walking as it silently merged into the darkness and disappeared.


    Four landed beside Six, glanced at the disappearing monster, then raised his head and looked at Six confusedly. Six looked back at Four, then shook his head and said with a dry voice, "I don''t understand."


    He didn''t know what was happening either. Why did that fierce big guy suddenly give up on chasing them?


    He and his friends didn''t relax their vigilance though. They kept their eyes on that giant gorilla and watched it moving silently in the darkness, no longer toward Xiao Licheng.


    The fresh scent from Xiao Licheng, a living human being, was its target for tonight. But, predators wouldn''t normally give up on their prey like that.


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, who were preparing to leave, paused and turned back.


    "It stopped and took back its vibe," Wu Chengyue said with confusion, "Why?"


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to sense it, then shook her head to let him know that she had no idea either. But soon, she realized that he couldn''t see her movement. So, she put a hand on his arm and said to him, ''I don''t know.''


    After that, she took her hand off him and folded her arms to ponder over the creature''s behavior.


    The underground gorilla didn''t even boost its strength. Why did it suddenly stop chasing its target? Was that a scheme? Did it change its way of hunting? Was it preparing to launch a sneak attack?


    It had hidden its vibe, so Lin Qiao could only locate it by tracking its scent.


    At that time, Yun Meng brought Xiao Licheng back to them. She was confused about the creature''s behavior as well.


    "It stopped following us and went back. It''s not planning on a sneak attack," said Yun Meng.


    "Are you sure?" Lin Qiao looked at her and asked.


    "Six and Eight are keeping an eye on it over there," said Yun Meng, "We''ll know when they come back and tell us what they saw."


    About ten minutes later, Four came back and stood before Lin Qiao. He told her that the monster had gone back to the cave indeed, and that Six was still watching it.


    Lin Qiao frowned slightly and murmured to herself with confusion, ''Why did it give up? Is it because it can''t go too far away from the cave?''


    ''Where was it just now?'' She asked Yun Meng, ''How far was it from the original entrance to the cave?''


    "About ten miles," Yun Meng answered her question.


    One thought suddenly crossed Lin Qiao''s mind. Those creatures only moved in one direction every time when they come out to search for food. They wouldn''t go too far away from their nest. No matter how many preys they caught, they would draw back to the cave when they reached a certain distance. The next time, they would choose a different direction, but their moving range would stay the same.


    It seemed that they didn''t dare to go too far away from the cave.


    Lin Qiao thought of one possibility. ''Perhaps they have no sense of direction. What do you think? They stay near their nest, maybe because they are afraid that they might get lost. They probably need to follow their own scents back to the cave.''


    "They might get lost?" Yun Meng paused briefly and wondered, "I think¡­ that''s possible."


    In pure darkness, people could easily lose their sense of direction. Those creatures lived underground, with no eyes to see things. They, of course, had no sense of direction in the darkness. They could only sense their prey with other organs except eyes. They were probably only able to mark locations with their own scents, or the scents of their preys.


    Hearing what Yun Meng said, Xiao Licheng and Wu Chengyue instantly figured out what Lin Qiao had in her mind.


    Wu Chengyue nodded in agreement with his eyes glowing, "That''s possible. Many animals that live underground have no sense of direction, which is why they can''t go far on the earth''s surface. If their scents faded, they wouldn''t be able to find the way back home."


    That was only a guess so far, so people still didn''t care to relax their vigilance.


    "They have no eyes, so they must be very sensitive to scents. I think your guess is highly likely to be right," Xiao Licheng, who was frightened slightly just now, had calmed down already. He agreed with Lin Qiao as well.


    "Next time, we can bring one back alive for study," said Yun Meng excitedly.


    Those creatures couldn''t go far on the earth''s surface, so they weren''t highly threatening to All Beings Base temporarily.


    ''Let''s head back,'' said Lin Qiao, ''I wonder what they have learned from the body that we sent back to the base.''


    While speaking, she walked downstairs, then brought out a few vehicles from her space. Holding her belly with her hands, she got into the backseat of the first car.


    Wu Chengyue followed her into that car without thinking. He wanted to stay close to her now, so he could protect her in time if any accident happened. In the post-apocalyptic era, any danger could occur at any time in the outside world.


    Xiao Licheng took the driver''s seat and watched Yun Meng sit on the front seat before he started the car. Meanwhile, the other zombies fitted themselves in the rest two vehicles.

 958 Caught The Mole

    Once Xiao Licheng started the car and prepared to start driving, a dark figure suddenly landed on the windshield, generating a loud thud that made the former automatically lean backward.


    He gave that figure a close look. It was none other than that stupid zombie! It would never leave!


    And¡­


    "He''s at level-six now?" Xiao Licheng calmed himself and immediately had an unexpected discovery. After all, the other was still at level-five not long ago.


    "Oh! He was at the top of level-five before. It was about the time for him to upgrade," said Yun Meng with composure.


    During the past few days, Lin Qiao gave him a cup of energy lake water every day, so he was ready to upgrade long ago. Before leaving, Lin Qiao gave him a cup of lake water that contained her blood, which unexpectedly upgraded him.


    Xiao Licheng stayed silent for a few seconds, then raised a hand and pointed at the zombie, who was still lying on the head of the car. "What now?" He turned and asked Yun Meng.


    What he really wanted to say was¡ª''Aren''t you gonna get him off the car now? How am I supposed to drive like this? I can''t even see the road.''


    Yun Meng shrugged and said, "He didn''t listen to us before. Now that he''s grown stronger, he won''t possibly listen to us now."


    Clearly, she didn''t plan to do anything to that zombie.


    Xiao Licheng looked at her speechlessly.


    ''That is a zombie. Shouldn''t you be dealing with him? Do I have to do it myself? Can I please put a bullet in his head?'' He thought.


    At that moment, the level-six zombie crawled on top of the car on all fours and then stopped making sounds. Xiao Licheng couldn''t help to glance at the car roof, then turn to look at the man in the backseat.


    Wu Chengyue smiled and said, "Let''s go. Don''t mind him. Someone will take care of him."


    While speaking, he turned to look at the empty seat beside himself. With his word, Xiao Licheng instantly started driving with no worries, pretending not to know that a zombie was on top of his car.


    ¡­


    In the base, Qiu Lili sighed slightly with relief as the strong and suppressive vibe disappeared. She didn''t fully relax though. She had felt under threat earlier, which made her worry. But currently, her first priority was to find the people who attempted to expose the secret of the farm in All Being Base.


    She focused her sensations near the base within the safe zone. No scent of living human beings was detected from that area, so she extended her senses. Suddenly, a trace of a strange scent crossed her nose and vanished soon. Her ruby-like eyes glowed brightly, then her body flashed across the air.


    At that moment, two people had been running desperately underground miles away from the safe zone outside All Beings Base.


    "Why is there a level-six mutated snake! This is ridiculous!" Wang Chong, who was running at the front, yelled with disbelief.


    "Cut the crap! Run faster if you want to live!" Luo Yusheng didn''t want to talk because his nervous friend might slow him down. There weren''t many ways to go in the sewer. Soon, they rushed into a dead end, with only one way out above their heads.


    Without thinking, they quickly climbed up through the ladder.


    Once out, they turned and found a beast near them, staring at them with a pair of dimly glowing, cold eyes. Those eyes were as cold as the eyes of that giant black snake that was chasing them down in the sewer.


    Wang Chong shone the flashlight on the beast. It was a purely black, gigantic dog, with short but beautifully shiny hair.


    As the flashlight was pointed right at his face, Bowwow bared his mouth and showed the two men his sharp and white teeth.


    "Its eyes! Its eyes!" Luo Yusheng had his face paling once he saw that dog''s eyes, and felt even more hopeless.


    Those eyes were purely black, with no white parts at all. It was not a mutated dog, but a zombie dog! The dog was nearly one meter and twenty centimeters tall, and two meters long, with muscular limbs that made it look especially strong and dangerous.


    Bang! Right at that moment, the sewer lip behind them was bumped up, then the giant snake that was as large as the opening of the sewer squeezed out bit by bit. But, before its entire body came out, the snake suddenly stopped moving.


    Bowwow fixed his eyes on the two men. Under the gaze from both the dog and the snake, Luo Yusheng and Wang Chong were disabled from moving. They stood there stiffly, without daring to move at all.


    Two minutes later, a cold gust of wind blew across.


    Bowwow silently cast a glance at Black with impatience in his eyes. ''Just get the hell out. Why are you still in that hole?''


    Black expressionlessly glanced back at his little friend, then kept staring at the two shaking men. ''You think I don''t want to get out? I''m stuck!''


    Yes, Black was stuck in that sewer hole, unable to come up or go back down.


    At that moment, a weird dark figure flashed across the air and showed up beside Black. The mushroom curiously stood behind the snake, then slightly bent its body to look at the other half that was still in the sewer. Two tentacles dropped from its head, then curled to support its umbrella head. The mushroom looked like a curious baby at this point.


    That was what Qiu Lili saw when she arrived.


    She conveniently knocked the two men out, then curiously looked at the weird postures of the snake and the mushroom.


    "What''s going on here? Black, aren''t you gonna pull yourself out? It''s dirty in the sewer. Don''t forget to take a bath later!" Qiu Lili made a circle around Black, then left with a smile. Of course, Black didn''t understand her every word. He managed to figure out the meaning of the last half of her speech though.


    After being stuck there for a while, Black ran out of patience. He shrank his head slightly, then his vibe suddenly changed.


    Qiu Lili and the mushroom immediately stepped away.


    Boom! Following a thunderous sound, Black pulled himself out of the cement ground. Under his severe movement, the sewage well was, of course, blown up.


    The others finally understood what happened just now.


    "Woof!" Bowwow narrowed his eyes and bared his mouth, exposing his white teeth as he burst in laughter.


    Qiu Lili lifted the two men and said, "Alright. I got to go. Thank you, all three of you!" After saying that, she turned and left.


    Seeing her leave, Bowwow knew that he had finished his job. In fact, he and his little friends were playing near Mount Wu earlier. They saw what Liu Jun and Fox did, then sensed two strange scents nearby. Bowwow quickly figured out what was going on, so he brought his little friends over for hunting.


    Bowwow became very smart after upgrading to level-six. Recently, he and his friends had taken Mount Wu area as their territory. If any stranger entered that area without permission from Liu Jun or someone else from the farm, the three would grow alert immediately.

 959 Back To The Base

    Lin Qiao''s body suddenly came out of the invisible state by the time she returned to the base with the others. She was still bonded together with Wu Chengyue though. They entered the base through the gate of Base Number Two, which had been built up by now. The guards at the gate were all zombies. Under Lin Qiao''s command, Xie Dong arranged them to guard the gate.


    Those guards sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe and opened the gate while she was still far away from the base. At the same time, they pretended not to see the strange zombie king who was sitting on top of their boss''s car.


    Back in the base, Lin Qiao sat in her office and listened to the reports from Xie Dong, Duan Juan, Shen Yujen, and the others. Wu Chengyue stayed in the restroom near her office, waiting for Xiao Licheng to bring Ling Ling to him from Lin Feng''s place.


    During the past half a month, Lin Xiaolu, who possessed spirit power, looked after Wu Yueling and played with her at her home.


    Lin Xiaolu was eight years old, and was a good kid. After knowing Ling Ling and Tongtong, she grew a sense of responsibility and started seeing herself as the ''big sister''. She would think for her little brother and sister in case of many things now.


    On the third day after Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue left, Wu Yueling started feeling upset. The others couldn''t tell how she felt, but thankfully, Lin Xiaolu''s power allowed her to read the little girl''s mind. Every time Wu Yueling turned emotional, she tried her best to make her happy.


    Therefore, Wu Yueling stayed in Lin Feng''s place peacefully during the past half month. She quietly sat in a corner without saying anything most of the time. She missed her father, but with Lin Xiaolu keeping her company, she wasn''t scared at least.


    Soon, Xiao Licheng brought Wu Yueling to Base Number Two and found Wu Chengyue. The little girl rushed at her father at the sight of him.


    Wu Chengyue scooped his daughter up and looked at her carefully. He was relieved when he detected a strong joyfulness from the girl''s eyes, without any negative emotions.


    "Did Ling Ling miss Daddy?"


    Wu Yueling put her arms around his neck and nodded. He knew that Daddy left for work, and believed that he wouldn''t abandon her. That was why she stayed quietly with Lin Xiaolu.


    Xiao Licheng had brought gifts to Lin Feng and his family when he picked the little girl up. However, Wu Chengyue still wanted to invite Lin Feng and his family for dinner, so he could thank them sincerely for taking care of his daughter.


    He also wanted an opportunity to find out why his family was so close to the zombie lady. That question had been lingering in his mind the whole time. As he thought about the indescribable close relationship between the zombie lady and Lin Hao, a sullen look emerged from his smiling eyes.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao learned about all that had happened in the base recently. Except for the two mysterious sneakers who were caught near the farm, nothing special happened.


    "Investigate them carefully. See if they have found out anything, and if they have leaked any information yet," Lin Qiao frowned and said.


    "Yes, ma''am," Xie Dong nodded.


    "Go and tell Lili to raise the security level in the farm area." She then said to Shen Yujen.


    "Yes, ma''am," Shen Yujen nodded and responded.


    After giving out the orders, Lin Qiao told the others to leave, and only let Xie Dong stay.


    "Quicken up the training of the third regiment, but don''t be careless. We have to make them follow the rules and control themselves. Whoever violates the rule will die." In terms of controlling the zombie army, Lin Qiao''s way was bossy and cruel; she left those level three and four zombies no room to relax at all. If any of those zombies lost control and exposed themselves in Base Number One, the consequences would be serious.


    If that happened, All Beings Base would be facing both inner and outer problems.


    Xie Dong was a soldier currently responsible for both the intelligence department and training the new regiment. As a level-six zombie, his current duty was a little heavy for him. But thankfully, Yun Meng had been managing the three regiments and keeping all zombie soldiers under control.


    "I get it," Xie Dong nodded seriously.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "Qiu Lili and Yun Meng are powerful, but they don''t know as much as you do. So, we''re going to need you to run the army. Just hang in there for a little longer. I''ll get you upgraded when I can."


    Xie Dong blinked and stayed expressionless. However, his vibe fluctuated slightly.


    "When Wenwen and the others come back, I''ll let Lin Kui take Yun Meng''s place," Lin Qiao continued, "Yun Meng will go out to recruit new zombies and expand the army. Currently, all bases except for Sea City Base are having their eyes on us. After all, Sea City Base and Huaxia Base have become enemies already. From now on, the bases in the country might be divided into two forces."


    For that exact reason, All Being Base needed to grow stronger as quickly as possible.


    After talking about the army, Lin Qiao let Xie Dong go. Xie Dong was her most capable subordinate so far; he was powerful and responsible. However, as the army grew larger and larger, it was a little difficult for him to do all of the work alone. Therefore, Lin Qiao decided to upgrade him once she recovered from giving birth to Viney, and also upgrade Jingyan.


    Jingyan''s memory was incomplete. She couldn''t remember many things, but she clearly remembered the training she underwent before. Sometimes, she knew how to solve a problem by taking merely one glance at it. She was also a fast learner.


    Lin Qiao could tell that she had accepted military training as well. She didn''t know what kind of soldier Jingyan used to be, so she threw the latter into the army for observation.


    After Xie Dong left, another zombie sneakily stuck his head in from behind the door, then shrank back. Lin Qiao turned to the door. The zombie suddenly stepped out and stood by the door, gazing straight at her.


    "What are you doing here? Didn''t I tell you to stay in your room?" Lin Qiao looked at him and said. The zombie was improved by her blood and had broken into a new level, but why didn''t he become smarter at all?


    He no longer followed Xiao Licheng everywhere, but cast his eyes on Lin Qiao.


    The reason was simple. It was now connected together with Lin Qiao, and was under her command. He instinctively yielded to her, but didn''t understand why. He was wondering about that all the time.


    Why? Why was he so eager to embrace her legs every time he saw her? Why? Why? Why?


    Yun Meng put him in a room earlier, but he came out soon after that.


    Now, he was wearing a highly confused look. It seemed that he wouldn''t leave until Lin Qiao gave him an answer.


    Looking at the zombie, Lin Qiao couldn''t help to bury her forehead in her palm.


    "Go back and stay in the room! Don''t leave without my permission!" Lin Qiao sighed helplessly, then ordered him.


    Receiving the order, the young male zombie turned automatically and prepared to leave. But suddenly, he paused as if he had realized something. In the next second, he turned back and kept staring at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.

 960 Wu Chengyues Abnormal Condition

    It was so exhausting to talk to a zombie who didn''t understand human language. However, this zombie didn''t even understand zombie language!


    Lin Qiao just looked at the young male zombie who was standing at the door speechlessly.


    At that moment, Yun Meng showed up at the door and saw the zombie who was standing straight with his back to the door. She paused briefly with surprise, then walked in while asking, "What is he doing here?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "He came here by himself. I told him to go back, but he wouldn''t listen."


    Yun Meng sat before Lin Qiao''s desk, then turned and took another glance at the zombie. After that, she turned back to Lin Qiao and said, "So, you let him stand there?"


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. The zombie didn''t seem to understand their conversation, so she decided to let him be there. "Just let him stand there. How''s it going? How many zombies have upgraded this time?" She said to Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng handed her a piece of paper and said, "Here."


    Yun Meng accepted another task once she came back and left the base again. This time, she went to check the zombie crowd that was left in the west. Those zombies were left there for months, and the competition among them was intense. Yun Meng found a few level-five ones among them, tens of level-four ones, and quite some level-three ones.


    She brought hundreds of zombies at level three to five back to Base Number Two, and put them into the third regiment for training.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the numbers on the paper and nodded.


    Yun Meng seemed composed before leaving, yet she couldn''t help to glance at Lin Qiao''s belly before she left the office. She remembered how shocked she was back when she got off the car together with Lin Qiao, and the stunned look on Xiao Licheng''s face.


    She was too surprised, so she asked about the baby without thinking. Lin Qiao didn''t answer her question though.


    After finishing her work quickly, Lin Qiao left her office, prepared to go back to her dorm. She stood up to see that the young male zombie was still standing at the door motionlessly, looking at her quietly.


    Once she stood up from her seat, her round belly became obvious. She didn''t let anyone see her on her way to her office, and she had her belly covered while she was sitting behind her desk. That was how she kept Xie Dong, Duan Juan, and the others from finding it out.


    Lin Qiao observed the zombie''s face. To be honest, she could only vaguely tell his original look because he was scrawny, and his facial muscles were atrophic. His eyes were deeply sunken and his lips were blue. Except for his Roman nose, his face was distorted.


    However, as she looked at him more carefully, she managed to picture his original look.


    After a quick observation, she figured that he should be a good-looking man before turning into a zombie. He was over six-feet tall. He was so skinny that he looked even like a bamboo. For that reason, he seemed taller than he really was.


    "Come here," Lin Qiao walked to the door and waved her hand at him, then headed toward the restroom where Wu Chengyue was.


    Wu Chengyue couldn''t go anywhere further away from her. She hadn''t finished her job yet, so he stayed in the restroom, reading the files that Li Yue Shan brought him.


    Lin Qiao walked to find that Wu Yueling had already fallen asleep. She was lying on the couch, covered in a blanket.


    "Are you done?" Seeing Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue raised his head and asked her.


    "Em," Lin Qiao nodded and responded.


    Wu Chengyue immediately put the files into the bag beside him, and Xiao Licheng picked up the bag. He frowned slightly with fright when he saw the young male zombie behind Lin Qiao, worried that it might suddenly pounce on him again.


    However, the young male zombie didn''t stare at him this time. Instead, he was drooling at Wu Yueling, who was lying on the couch.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but grab his ear and pull him to the side. She pulled his head toward herself and said to him, "You cannot eat her!"


    Then, she turned to say something to Wu Chengyue, ending up watching him fall to the ground.


    Everyone in the room gave a start and had their expression changing, except for the young male zombie.


    "Chief!" Xiao Licheng dropped the bag and hurriedly stepped over to hold Wu Chengyue up from the ground.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t pass out, and his mind was still clear. He just suddenly lost his eyesight and strength just now. After being pulled up from the ground, he felt better, albeit still weak.


    He let Xiao Licheng hold him up, then waved a hand and said, "I''m fine."


    Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes to observe his body, then reopened those eyes and said to him, "Go to the medical department and have a check-up." She needed to go and get a check-up as well. She was planning on doing that tomorrow because it was late, and she didn''t know if Lin Hao was still working.


    Then, she turned to say to that young male zombie, who was following closely behind her, "Go back to your room."


    This time, she controlled him with her will power and released her vibe.


    Under her gaze, the zombie flinched and left obediently. On his way while leaving, he turned back to look at her all the time.


    Wu Chengyue sat on the couch and leaned against the back of the couch with his eyes closed. As the dizziness faded, he waved a hand and talked to the others.


    "I''m fine."


    At that moment, Wu Yueling woke up. She sat up drowsily and looked at the others with confusion.


    "Let''s go to the medical department and get you a check-up first," said Lin Qiao. She sounded very firm while Xiao Licheng nodded in agreement.


    Hearing what she said, Wu Chengyue paused briefly, then nodded with a smile, "Alright. It''s the first time that you cared so much about me. I''ll go."


    Lin Qiao glanced at him expressionlessly and said, "We are partners. Isn''t it normal for me to care about you?"


    She brought Wu Chengyue to the medical department. Lin Hao was rubbing his own temples by the time they arrived. He had been expecting her since long ago. He first took a glance at Lin Qiao and her belly, then turned to Wu Chengyue.


    "Oh, I''m surprised that our powerful Chief Wu can actually get sick too," Lin Hao teased him with a faint smile. Usually, superpower possessors were outstandingly healthy and strong. They could get injured, but weren''t likely to fall in illness.


    Sensing his teasing tone, Wu Chengyue responded with a mild smile, "I''m a human being, not a god."


    Lin Hao raised his eyebrows, then turned and headed toward the clinic. While walking, he said, "Follow me. The rest of you, please wait in the office."


    He wanted very much to check his sister''s condition first. However, his sister gave him an eye signal just now. Under her order, he had no choice but to give Wu Chengyue a check-up first.


    Lin Qiao and Xiao Licheng stayed in the office together with Shen Yujen, who came here to inform Lin Qiao in advance. At that moment, Shen Yujen had her wide-opened eyes fixed on Lin Qiao''s belly. She had finally discovered Lin Qiao''s pregnant belly.


    Seeing that look on her face, Xiao Licheng figured that it might be her first time noticing her Chief''s condition. He couldn''t help but turn toward Lin Qiao with curiosity as well.

 961 Shes A Little Fa

    The first thought that popped up in Xiao Licheng''s mind when he saw Lin Qiao''s pregnant belly was¡ªthe zombie lady cheated on his Chief! He then noticed that Wu Chengyue seemed to be used to it since long ago, so he started thinking that his Chief was going to be someone''s stepfather!


    Seeing that Shen Yujen, who was always by the side of the zombie lady, was also wearing a shocked face, Xiao Licheng somehow felt less unbalanced.


    Shen Yujen abruptly turned to look at Xiao Licheng questioningly. ''Are you seeing what I''m seeing? Why am I seeing something that I shouldn''t be seeing?''


    Xiao Licheng shrugged and responded to her with a confused face.


    Shen Yujen''s expression changed constantly. Suddenly, she looked at Xiao Licheng with pity¡ª''Sigh, your Chief has no hope.''


    Xiao Licheng swallowed his saliva as he turned to look at the clinic.


    Lin Qiao was sitting nearby. She could tell that the two of them were communicating with their eyes. She didn''t interrupt them, but sat there quietly, together with Wu Yueling. The little girl was looking at her big belly curiously. The little girl raised both hands and tried to touch her belly, but didn''t dare to.


    Lin Qiao smiled and put the girl''s hands on her belly.


    Wu Yueling felt Lin Qiao''s round belly through the cloth. She was excited, also wondering why she couldn''t hear Viney''s voice.


    Lin Qiao said to Wu Yueling in her mind smilingly¡ª''She''s sleeping.''


    Wu Yueling nodded in response.


    Half an hour later, Wu Chengyue and Lin Hao came back.


    "He''s fine," said Lin Hao calmly, "He lost too much energy recently, and his body failed to adapt to the condition. The symptoms will disappear in a few days."


    Both Xiao Licheng and Shen Yujen were very confused. Xiao Licheng turned to his Chief and asked, "He lost too much energy lately?"


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Lin Qiao, then smiled at Xiao Licheng without saying a word.


    Earlier, he did feel that a big half of his energy was gone before the dizziness occurred. He could even vaguely feel that his energy was going into Lin Qiao''s body. Therefore, he had roughly guessed out what was happening.


    "It''s your turn." Having finished talking to Wu Chengyue, Lin Hao immediately turned and said to Lin Qiao. She gave Wu Yueling back to Wu Chengyue, then followed Lin Hao to the clinic.


    In the clinic, Lin Hao looked at her belly, which was twice as large as before, and couldn''t help but sigh, "Your belly is so much larger than before. I''m afraid the baby is coming out soon."


    Currently, Lin Qiao looked like an eight-month pregnant lady. She was tall and slim, and her dress and coat were loose-fitting, so her belly wasn''t so obvious yet.


    Lin Qiao lay on the bed, and Lin Hao put the cloth that had a hole in the middle on her belly. She then lifted her clothing under the cloth and exposed her belly.


    Lin Hao spread some liquid on her belly and then started giving her a scan. He turned to look at the screen and saw a baby in the gray shadow.


    "She has grown bigger. I think I''ll soon meet my niece," Lin Qiao moved the device on Lin Qiao''s stomach while looking at the screen. The image changed along with his movement.


    Lying on the bed, Lin Qiao turned to him and asked, "How''s the baby?"


    "The baby is fine," said Lin Hao, "But her body shape is¡­" He paused briefly.


    As he paused, Lin Qiao''s got a little nervous and asked anxiously, "What about her body shape? Is there some kind of problem with it?"


    She thought there was a problem with the baby, such as a disability or something like that.


    Lin Hao looked at her and smiled, "Relax and let me finish. I was gonna say that the baby seems to be a little chubby!"


    Lin Qiao was speechless. The weird silence lasted for a few seconds, then she asked, "And?"


    Lin Hao looked at her with a very meaningful smile and said, "The baby is a little chubby, so the labor might be difficult. So, normal pregnant women¡­ emm¡­ they would do some exercise at this point in time in order to help open the birth canal."


    "Some exercise?" Lin Qiao looked at him with confusion.


    She had heard about antenatal yoga and things like that before. But, she was a zombie! Should she do those exercises like humans?


    "Eh-hem¡­" Lin Hao looked at her in a weird way, then coughed slightly and continued, "I was talking about¡­ two-person sport. Em, that kind of sport can help you to open your birth canal."


    He believed that he already made it clear enough. Two-person sport, open the birth canal, weren''t those keywords clear enough? However, he underestimated how ignorant his sister was in that field.


    Lin Qiao was still confused. "Like antenatal yoga?" she looked at him and asked, "Why does it involve two people?"


    Lin Hao didn''t know what to say.


    "Would you like natural childbirth or cesarean birth?" He asked her.


    "I heard that natural childbirth is better," Lin Qiao responded without thinking.


    "That is correct," Lin Hao nodded and said.


    Their mother had become a zombie, so there were no experienced people to guide Lin Qiao. She felt a little helpless at the moment.


    Lin Hao looked at her with a strange smile on his face. After a few seconds of silence, he said shamelessly, "By two-person sport, I meant you should do some on-bed exercise together with the baby''s father. And it needs to happen frequently, or it won''t work."


    Lin Qiao was speechless.


    Wait a minute! What did she just hear? Did the little b*stard just tell her to have sex with Wu Chengyue?


    Looking at that Lin Hao''s smiling face, she finally understood why was his smile so weird the whole time. She wanted to punch him. What should she do?


    Noticing that his sister had pulled a long face, Lin Hao automatically stood up and made a few steps backward as he said to her, "Eh-hem, I''m saying this for your own good. You said that you want natural childbirth, right? The baby is developing too well. Do as I say if you want the labor to be easier. Or, the baby might get jammed on her way out. As a doctor, I''m only trying to help you."


    Lin Qiao didn''t respond.


    Lin Hao wasn''t really happy to let Wu Chengyue take advantage of his sister actually. However, for the safety of Lin Qiao and the baby, he had no choice but to forget about his slight unhappiness.


    Lin Qiao sat up with a sour face, then picked up a piece of tissue to wipe the liquid off her belly. After adjusting her clothes, she said expressionlessly, "Is there another way?"


    Lin Hao shrugged and said, "No, unless you want to do it with your own hands."


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but throw the wad of tissue at him.


    The tissue couldn''t hurt him, but Lin Hao was afraid of Lin Qiao''s strong vibe. While dodging and shielding his face with his arms, he hurriedly explained, "What are you doing! I''m doing this for your own good! Do realize that I''m on your side!"


    "Shut up, you!" said Lin Qiao crankily.

 962 Im Pregnant With A Fairy Baby

    Lin Qiao didn''t want to say another word to him, so she headed straight to the door. By the door, she suddenly stopped, then turned and gave him a glare as she said, "Don''t say anything that you shouldn''t be saying later!"


    "Okay, Okay!" Lin Hao raised both hands, and then they left the clinic to return to Lin Hao''s office. Wu Chengyue, Xiao Licheng, and Shen Yujen were in the office, and Duan Juan had come over too.


    Seeing that unusual belly of Lin Qiao, Duan Juan first paused briefly, then slowly widened her eyes.


    "Boss¡­ Eh, I mean, Chief, what happened to your belly? It''s only been two months¡­ Is a baby hiding in there?" The shocked Duan Juan nearly called Lin Qiao in the old way, like how she called her before the apocalypse. After hearing herself, she hurriedly changed her words. Her expression didn''t change though. Those eyes of hers were still popped, fixed on Lin Qiao''s belly.


    Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind. She adjusted her expression slightly and then said knowingly, "Ah, no wonder earlier I felt that you might have gained some weight."


    Only Duan Juan and Lin Hao had the guts to talk to Lin Qiao like that. Shen Yujen didn''t have that kind of courage. Based on Duan Juan''s speaking tone, the two of them seemed to have known each other for long.


    Wu Chengyue slightly narrowed his eyes, and a dim light flashed across those eyes. It was understandable that she was close to Lin Hao, but why was she close to Duan Juan, who was from Hades Base too? The zombie lady founded the new base about a year ago. Duan Juan should have followed her for no more than a year. But, she sounded like she had known her for a long time.


    ''What secret does Lu Tianyu have that not even I can''t find out?'' Wu Chengyue wondered.


    Lin Qiao expressionlessly cast a glance at Duan Juan, then looked at the others. Except for Wu Chengyue and Lin Hao, the others all looked so confused and curious.


    "I''m pregnant with a fairy baby. Do you believe it?" She said.


    ''Are you kidding?'' The others stayed silent.


    "It''s a zombie baby!" Lin Hao couldn''t help but let it out.


    Clap! Before his voice faded, Lin Qiao, who happened to be standing by his side, slapped him on the back of his head and gave him a glare for showing no respect to her story.


    "Can you please not always slap me on the back of my head? You do that without warning every time!" Suffering that slap, Lin Hao complained without thinking. But then, he suddenly realized that there were other people in this office, and that his sister was still wearing someone else''s skin.


    "Eh-hem, alright! Each of you two has had a check-up. You can go home and rest if you have no questions. It''s pretty late. I should head home as well," Lin Hao rubbed his nose and said.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glare, then turned and left, with Shen Yujen and Duan Juan hurriedly following behind her.


    Wu Chengyue watched the three ladies leave, then looked at Lin Hao and asked, "I remember that you''re all from Hades Base. Lu Tianyu is from the north. She''s never been to the south before or after the apocalypse. Why is she so close to you guys?"


    Lu Tianyu became like a totally different person after she turned into a zombie, and became so close to so many people from Hades Base, which was located in the south. If she knew them since the beginning, why didn''t she go straight to a base in the south? Why did she stay in Sea City Base? Also, with those Hades Base people, she didn''t need to rely on all kinds of men to survive.


    Actually, judging from her current capabilities, she wouldn''t need to rely on any man to survive even if she were all alone. Realizing that, Wu Chengyue was even more confused.


    Lin Hao glanced at him; the warm and mild smile that was always on his face was now gone. He wore no expression at the moment, and his eyes were filled with puzzles.


    "Did you finally find that something isn''t quite right? What have you been doing all this time?" Lin Hao clicked his tongue, then pressed his lips together as he responded.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him in a meaningful way, without saying anything.


    At first, he cared a lot about what the zombie lady did to him before she turned into a zombie. Then, he started paying attention to her because of his daughter. He didn''t notice her differences at first. And when he did, he sent Xiao Licheng to dig into her background. However, except for her relationship with Lu Tianyi, he never found out anything else. He didn''t know what her relationship with those Hades Base people was.


    But now, he felt that her story was indeed not as simple as it looked. She seemed to have become someone else.


    "I realized that a long time ago," he said, "I just couldn''t find any clue."


    Lin Hao shrugged and said, "If she wants to tell you, we don''t need to say anything, and if she doesn''t, we have to stay silent. Instead of doubting her identity, I think you should spend more time worrying about how the baby that you left in her womb will be born! That baby has had too much of your energy lately!"


    While speaking, he smilingly looked at Wu Chengyue from head to toe.


    ''He''s not implying that I''m bad in bed, is he?'' Wu Chengyue thought.


    He was clearly aware that Lin Hao was making that face on purpose, and that what he said had nothing to do with sex. As the doctor mentioned the baby, he immediately got rid of the questions in his head.


    "Is something wrong with the baby?" He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lin Hao and asked.


    "Yes! She''s too fat. There might be a difficult labor! So, you should grasp any chance you can to exercise together with my Chief," Lin Hao said to him while looking at him in a meaningful way.


    Hearing that the labor might be difficult because the baby was too fat, Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say. He didn''t know what expression to wear to express his feeling as he felt a little embarrassed.


    However, the embarrassment only lasted for about a second. He, Wu Chengyue, was a man standing at the top after all. He concealed the embarrassment with a faint smile.


    "Why are you suddenly so generous? I thought you don''t want me to get too close to your Chief." He didn''t forget that Doctor Lin could be his rival in love.


    Lin Hao rolled her eyes while his pretty face wore an impatient look. "You were over-thinking about our relationship. It''s not like what you think, alright? Besides, I''m a doctor. I told you about that because I''m trying to do my job, and also because you''re the father. Do you want her to do it with someone else?"


    "That''s impossible!" His last few words made Wu Chengyue pull a long face.


    Lin Hao pressed his lips together and then continued with, "See!"


    While talking to each other, none of them noticed how shocked Xiao Licheng was.


    ''Damn! It''s Chief''s baby! Thank god she didn''t cheat on him! Wait, wait, that is not the problem. My Chief actually knocked a zombie up! I am so impressed! Wait again, the baby is about to come to this world, but why didn''t we know about it? We are like his brothers! I feel hurt! Chief kept a secret from his family! Damn! Chief and the zombie lady have slept with each other! They must have done it again! Why didn''t Chief become a zombie too? Whoa¡­ I mean, he''s such a brave man! He''s brave enough to even have sex with a zombie!''


    Xiao Licheng had so many questions in his head at that moment that he felt his brain about to shut down.


    Meanwhile, Lin Hao continued with a smile, "Do work hard on bed recently! It''s gonna help opening the birth canal!"


    "About that, I will, of course, do well. Thank you, Doctor Lin!" Wu Chengyue responded, also with a smile. Having finished talking, he turned and left.


    After leaving the office, he didn''t see the man who was supposed to follow him out. "Licheng?" He called him.


    "Oh!" Xiao Licheng finally came back to himself and rushed out.

 963 Live Closer

    Two people had their eyes fixed on Lin Qiao ever since they left Lin Hao''s office. She abruptly stopped walking, then turned and looked at the two of them as she said, "What are you two looking at? Jen, go to the front and scout around. I can''t let the others see me now."


    "Oh, I get it," Shen Yujen paused briefly as Lin Qiao suddenly turned around and talked to her, then nodded and responded. If people found out that the leader of the base was pregnant, the news might spread and some unnecessary trouble night be caused.


    So, irrelevant people should be kept away from wherever Lin Qiao would be.


    After watching Shen Yujen leave, Duan Juan said to Lin Qiao, "I can''t believe that you''re still able to get pregnant. Can your body provide the baby with nourishment?"


    Duan Juan had recovered from the shock, and now she stared at Lin Qiao''s belly with great curiosity as she continued, "You''re seven months pregnant at least, right? Or, eight months? Em¡­ is this baby growing like normal human babies?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "Well, if you count the months¡­ I''m about ten-months pregnant, I think."


    Duan Juan slightly widened her eyes, then asked in a gossipy way, "Who''s the father? The baby didn''t just suddenly emerge from your womb, did it?"


    Lin Qiao turned and kept walking without saying anything.


    Duan Juan continued, "So, Chief Wu has no chance at all. I thought he''d win your heart. Eh¡­ does he know that you have been having a secret boyfriend? Oh, I think he must be heartbroken to see your belly now, right?"


    While walking, Lin Qiao clicked her tongue and responded impatiently, "Isn''t it weird that you always gossip with such a serious face? Can you please stop asking questions? You''re so annoying!"


    Duan Juan pressed her lips together and then said, "Alright, I''ll stop. I''ll be waiting for the father to show up. I''ll meet him sooner or later. I doubt you can keep him secret for any longer!"


    Duan Juan was Lin Qiao''s subordinate, but also her friends for years. Therefore, she had all the courage to gossip about the latter.


    Lin Qiao brought Duan Juan out of the medical department through a secret path, then quickly got into the car. The irrelevant people had been asked to leave by Shen Yujen and Lin Qiao''s guards, so one saw her.


    In the car, Lin Qiao put a hand on her belly and couldn''t help but complain, "You ate too much and got fat! Now, it''s difficult to give birth to you! From now on, you need to decrease your energy absorption."


    She decided to make Wu Chengyue stay as far away from her as possible!


    With that thought, she immediately said to Shen Yujen, who hadn''t gotten into the car, "Make sure that Wu Chengyue''s room is away from me, but not over two-hundred meters away."


    "Eh?" Shen Yujen looked at her confusedly.


    "Isn''t that clear? Do as I said," Lin Qiao said.


    "Oh, I get it," Shen Yujen nodded. Having finished talking, she turned and left.


    Duan Juan prepared to stop the car, but Lin Qiao told her to wait a minute.


    "What''s wrong?" Duan Juan didn''t understand why.


    Her Chief had disappeared for two months. Now, she returned as a pregnant zombie, and her behavior had turned weird.


    "Just wait," Lin Qiao glanced at the medical department. Feeling that Wu Chengyue''s vibe had come out of the front yard, she said, "Okay, now go."


    Duan Juan started the car.


    On the other side, Wu Chengyue looked around but didn''t see Lin Qiao, so he asked Xiao Licheng, "Where are they?"


    Xiao Licheng shrugged and said, "I don''t know. Maybe they went home. Why did they let us stay in Base Number Two this time? Aren''t we always staying in Base Number One?"


    Base Number Two was the secret zone of the base, and the two of them were outsiders. Was it really okay for them to stay there? Thinking about all kinds of weird zombies who lived in Base Number Two, Xiao Licheng was a little worried.


    "What is there to be worried about? They weren''t afraid to let us stay here, so why should we be afraid to do so? If we see something that we shouldn''t be seeing, we''ll pretend not to see it, and won''t tell things that we shouldn''t be telling," said Wu Chengyue. If he didn''t stay in Base Number Two, the zombie lady would have to stay in Base Number One together with him. In that case, her condition could easily be exposed to others. So, it was better for him to stay in Base Number Two.


    The medical department that was located in Base Number One was about ten minutes'' drive away from Base Number Two. Soon, they drove through the gate in the tall wall between the two parts of the base, after which, Xiao Licheng was a little lost.


    "They haven''t told us where we''re gonna stay yet. They didn''t even send anyone to guide us. Where are we going now?"


    "Go straight to where they live," said Wu Chengyue.


    "Oh," Xiao Licheng nodded.


    Soon, they caught up with another car. That should be the zombie lady who just came out of the medical department.


    The car stopped, and Lin Qiao got off the car, holding her belly with a hand. Shen Yujen was already there. She attempted to help Lin Qiao, but the latter waved a hand to signal for her not to do it. She didn''t need help yet.


    She saw Wu Chengyue, who had Wu Yueling in his arms. "You are going to stay in my building. Deploy a few more men to protect Ling Ling," she walked to him and said.


    They were in a zombie zone. The zombies who lived in that area were all able to control themselves, but she still had to stay careful to prevent accidents.


    "I get it," Wu Chengyue curved his lips in a familiar smile and nodded.


    "Your rooms are ready. Please come with me," Shen Yujen walked to him and said.


    Wu Chengyue gave Lin Qiao a glance, then turned and followed Shen Yujen upstairs together with Xiao Licheng. Lin Qiao detected some hidden meanings from his glance. She couldn''t help but recall the suggestion that Lin Hao gave her earlier, and pulled a long face.


    What the hell was that ridiculous suggestion? How could he sell his sister out like that?


    She noticed that perky look on Wu Chengyue''s face. She did not need his help! She could always have a Cesarean birth! Also, she would reduce Viney''s energy absorption from now on!


    Upstairs, she said to Duan Juan, "I''m not going to Base Number One for now. Tell them to come here if they need me."


    "I understand," Duan Juan nodded.


    While the two of them were walking upstairs, a figure darted out from the stairwell and pressed Duan Juan down to the ground before she could even react.


    "Ouch!" Duan Juan gave a muffled moan. Her back thudded against the ground, making her suffer a slight pain and an awful dizziness. She could even see stars in her eyes.


    "Don not bite her!" Lin Qiao hurriedly gave a roar.


    Hearing her voice, Duan Juan came back to her senses. She found a strange male zombie lying upon her with his mouth wide open, preparing to give her a bite on the face. He had paused, maybe because he heard Lin Qiao''s order.


    The young male zombie closed his mouth as Lin Qiao forbade him from biting Duan Juan. He stared at the other regrettably. As Duan Juan and Lin Qiao thought that he was going to get up, he suddenly let out his tongue and licked Duan Juan''s cheek.


    Duan Juan''s right cheek was instantly covered in zombie saliva, leaving her stunned.

 964 He Pounces on Anyone He Sees

    "Get up!" Lin Qiao said.


    The young male zombie who was lying on Duan Juan moved slightly, then got up reluctantly. As the zombie finally got off her, the latter recovered from the shock slightly. However, before the zombie could stand up, his knees slid on the floor and then he fell again, his entire face buried into Duan Juan''s chest.


    Why was she so unlucky? A zombie licked her face and bumped into her chest¡­ Her heart was even aching¡­


    Lin Qiao sighed as she held her own waist with one hand and lifted the zombie with the other. "Can you not pounce on any living human being you see?" She said to him, "You are not allowed to eat human beings from now on! If you want meat, I''ll give you meat in a while. But, you can''t eat humans anymore. Do you understand me?"


    The zombie would be able to eat mutated animals like Lu Tianyi and the other zombies when his body fully adapted to Lin Qiao''s virus. That would take some time though.


    The young male zombie looked at her, his eyes filled with confusion.


    What human beings? He didn''t eat human beings. What were human beings? What did ''meat'' mean?''


    Lin Qiao''s blood allowed her to easily control the zombie. The zombie had upgraded under the effect of her blood, but clearly, he hadn''t regained his intelligence¡­


    Duan Juan stood up bewilderedly and took a few steps sideways, away from the young male zombie. Standing on Lin Qiao''s other side, she asked while wiping her face, "Who''s this? Your new recruitment?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t answer Duan Juan''s question, but stared at the zombie and yelled, "Have you heard me? I said that you are not allowed to eat human beings anymore¡­ No, actually, you have to stay away from all human beings from now on!"


    While speaking, she pointed at Duan Juan.


    The young male zombie finally figured out what she meant. Ah, so, by ''human being'', she meant that edible creature. He didn''t want to eat her actually. She smelt so nice, so he simply wanted to jump on her. She was so close to him, so he had no reason not to pounce upon her!


    "Respond to me," Lin Qiao glared at him with cold eyes.


    "Roar!" Under that glare, the zombie automatically gave a roar as a response.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao wiped that cold look away from her eyes and said, "What are you doing here? Didn''t I tell you to stay in your room? Go back!"


    The young male zombie was a little afraid of the cold look that Lin Qiao had on her face just now and her vibe. He didn''t want to leave, but still obediently stepped sideways. While moving his feet, he fixed his eyes right on Duan Juan who was standing beside Lin Qiao. From time to time, he sneakily cast a few glances at Lin Qiao as well.


    "Move!" Watching him move like a turtle, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but hasten him. The zombie flinched, then instantly turned and started running. But¡­


    Thud!


    Duan Juan buried her face in her palm while Lin Qiao helplessly rolled her eyes to look at the ceiling. She didn''t understand it at all. He was a level-six zombie now, but he still fell to the ground all the time. Also, why on earth did he bump into the wall just now?


    The zombie who had bumped into the wall seemed to feel nothing at all. He put a hand on the wall to steady himself, then kept moving with a confused face.


    After that, Lin Qiao kept walking up the stairs together with Duan Juan. Meanwhile, she said, "That zombie showed up while we were near the entrance to the cave of those underground gorillas. He''s not afraid of me and Wu Chengyue, or Yun Meng and the others at all. He pounced upon Xiao Licheng once he saw him. He''s stupid though. I detected no blood scent from him, and I don''t know what power he has either. He seems to be special, so I brought him back."


    Duan Juan felt a lot better on hearing that Xiao Licheng had suffered the same as she did. "He pounces on everyone he sees. Is it safe for him to be here?" she asked.


    Lin Qiao turned and gave her a glance, then abruptly laughed and said, "He didn''t touch Xiao Licheng. He was only at level-five before."


    ''So, you suffered worse than Xiao Licheng did''¡ªThat was what she really wanted to say to Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan stayed silent. She did not want to know about that!


    Lin Qiao continued, "Didn''t I say that I detected no blood scent or hostility from him? I don''t think he has ever eaten living human beings. Actually, he probably never ate corpses either. That''s why I think he''s special."


    "I was¡­ Will I be infected?" Duan Juan asked with a sullen look.


    She didn''t want to say the words ''licked by him''. She was still worried though. That creature was a zombie, and his mouth was full of the virus, after all.


    "Don''t worry. You''ll be fine," Lin Qiao laughed, "Even if you are infected, I can cure you as long as you''re not dead."


    On hearing that, Duan Juan paused briefly with surprise. After realizing what Lin Qiao had said, she asked in shock, "You can cure the zombie virus infection?"


    Lin Qiao nodded. She didn''t plan to keep that secret from Duan Juan. "I can," she said, "But only I can do it."


    She figured that out when Lu Tianyi turned into a zombie. Lin Yu was bitten by her after he was infected but before he died, and he was healed as a result. Unlike him, Lu Tianyi had already stopped breathing before Lin Qiao could save him.


    Also, her virus was able to devour the virus carried by the other zombies. Based on that and what happened to Lin Yu, she figured it out.


    It didn''t even need to be proved.


    Duan Juan slightly widened her eyes and looked at Lin Qiao as she said with surprise, "You have so many new abilities after you switched to a new body. I can''t believe that you can even cure the virus infection!"


    Lin Qiao smiled but didn''t say anything.


    As Lin Qiao''s assistant and the leader of her guards, Duan Juan lived in Base Number Two as well. She was the only human being who lived in Base Number Two, and knew all other zombies. None of them would want to eat her. But now, things were a little different. A new zombie, who was clearly a little dumb, was there.


    At night, Duan Juan suddenly felt some extra weight upon herself while she was still in sleep. She automatically wielded an arm and pushed whoever it was off herself, then quickly flipped off the bed and sat upon him. Within a blink, she dragged his hands behind his body and locked those hands up with her power.


    "Who are you!" Duan Juan sat upon his waist and knew upon feeling his cold skin that he was not a human being. That made sense though. Except for Wu Chengyue, Xiao Licheng, and the little girl, she was the only human being there.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie struggled intensely. He was so strong that Duan Juan almost failed to press him down.


    His roar confused Duan Juan. After all, all the zombies who lived in the building were able to talk. Why did the one underneath her roar instead of talking? Also, that voice of his sounded a little familiar.


    Duan Juan stood up and turned on the light. Once the light was on, she recognized the zombie as no one else but the one who had licked her face earlier tonight!


    "How dare you disobey Chief''s order!" Duan Juan glared at the young male zombie who had managed to sit on the ground.

 965 Attack At Nigh

    Duan Juan was so surprised that the zombie actually disobeyed Lin Qiao''s order. Normally, a level-seven zombie should be able to easily control lower-level zombies by giving them orders. Why didn''t it work with that weird zombie?


    She glanced at the stone handcuff that she created with her power. The zombie''s hands were locked in it. Just now, she felt that he was pretty strong, but he never freed himself from the stone. Wasn''t he a zombie king?


    In another room, Lin Qiao was lying in her bedroom, each hand holding a level-six nucleus. She was absorbing the two nuclei with her eyes closed.


    Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of her apartment.


    Lin Qiao sensed the two vibes outside the door. With confusion, she put the remains of the two nuclei back into her space, then clapped the dust off her palm as she got off the bed and went out of her bedroom.


    She went through the living room and opened the door, only to see Duan Juan standing out there in her pajamas with her hair disheveled. As Lin Qiao opened the door, she expressionlessly raised her right arm and put the zombie before Lin Qiao''s face.


    "This guy attacked me while I was sleeping. Are you gonna do something about that?"


    Lin Qiao looked like the zombie. He had both hands held behind his body, looking like a poor little girl. "What happened to him?" asked Lin Qiao.


    "Oh," Duan Juan said, "I accidentally beat him up just now. Are you sure that he''s really at level-six and not level-three?"


    How could a level-six zombie be frightened so badly after suffering a few punches from her?


    "He attacked you?" Lin Qiao frowned as she gave the zombie a glance. Every single time, he forgot about her order so quickly.


    "Why didn''t he go to Xiao Licheng''s room and attack him?" Duan Juan complained, "Why me? Is Xiao Licheng''s room further away from him than mine?"


    She wasn''t the only living human being in the building after all!


    Lin Qiao gave her a meaningful glance, then said, "It''s probably because you''re weaker. Xiao Licheng is at level-six after all."


    Duan Juan didn''t respond, as she had no words to argue with that. So, she turned to the young male zombie and glared at him coldly.


    "He hasn''t remembered anything yet, so I don''t know if he will remember his name. I''m going to call him Nine. He''s zombie number-nine," It occurred to Lin Qiao''s mind that the zombie didn''t have a name yet, so she gave him a number.


    She then turned to him and said, "From now on, your name is Nine. Let me ask you something. I just told you not to eat human beings. Why didn''t you listen to me? I''m gonna kill you if you disobey me again, believe it or not!"


    While speaking, she supported her waist with one hand and slapped the zombie''s head with the other.


    "Roar¡­" ''I didn''t eat her.''


    The zombie suddenly gave Lin Qiao a roar with a grievance. He really did not bite Duan Juan. He only wanted to lick her. Couldn''t he even lick her? That was so cruel!


    "Why were you in her room if you didn''t want to eat her?" Lin Qiao gave him a glare and scolded him. She didn''t know that he would actually argue against her.


    "Roar¡­ Roar¡­ Roarrr!" ''I didn''t¡­ She smells so nice¡­ I just want to smell her!''


    Under Duan Juan''s cold glare, the zombie, for some reason, didn''t dare to tell Lin Qiao that he wanted to lick her. So, he thought for a moment and smartly chose another word.


    "Smell her? Are you a dog?" Lin Qiao raised her arm and slapped on the zombie''s head again.


    Duan Juan didn''t speak zombie language, but from Lin Qiao''s words, she could roughly guess out the rest of the conversation. She had no patience to keep hearing that.


    "He''s yours. I''m going back to bed," she said as she waved at Lin Qiao and left.


    Lin Qiao looked at her speechlessly. She was Duan Juan''s boss, yet that woman showed her no respect at all. She dragged her off the bed in the middle of the night and brought her a piece of trouble.


    But in fact, that piece of trouble was brought back to the base by Lin Qiao herself. Thinking about that, she felt hat she was suffering from her own deeds.


    She summoned Six by using her vibe, then him, "Bring him to your room. Don''t let him leave your sight. He''s called Nine."


    Since she couldn''t leave Nine alone in the room again, she found someone else to discipline him. Six glanced at the young male zombie, then nodded at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao then said to Nine, "If I see you somewhere you shouldn''t be again, I''ll dig out your nucleus!" While speaking, she crooked her fingers, popped her sharp nails, and put her hand above the zombie''s head to threaten him.


    "Roar¡­" The zombie froze under her threat.


    Lin Qiao dropped her hand then said to Six, "Take him away."


    After that, she closed the door and went back into the living room, then turned and found a man sitting on her couch.


    "Why are you here in the middle of the night?"


    Wu Chengyue''s vibe had weakened by fifty percent. His power might have dropped to level seven or six already.


    Wu Chengyue sat on the couch with his arms folded before his chest and legs crossed. With a faint smile, he looked at Lin Qiao and said, "I heard some noises from your room, so I came here to check on you."


    Lin Qiao looked at him expressionlessly and said, "Alright, you''ve seen me. Nothing happened. Can you leave now? Show yourself out."


    "No, I don''t want to go," Wu Chengyue grinned.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes as she stood in the living room, supporting her waist with a hand. That posture made her feel tired, as her belly was too heavy. Therefore, she turned and headed to the bedroom.


    "Suit yourself. I guess you like my couch." While speaking, she walked into the living room and closed the door. She didn''t care if he would come into her office, or what he might do in her living room. She lay back on the bed, then took out the two nuclei and continued to absorb them.


    Wu Chengyue stayed on the couch and looked at the closed door. Quite a while later, he stood up and left with a faint smile.


    ¡­


    At the same moment, a conversation was happening within a dark room in the area where commoners lived in Sea City Base.


    "Are you saying that the soil in Sea City Base can''t grow anything?" A voice was heard; its owner seemed to have some doubts.


    "Yes. I spent hell of an effort to finally find out the actual condition of the farm here. Zou Shihui is with a worried frown the whole time because of the dead soil. He''s tried many ways, and did many experiments, but nothing worked yet," another voice responded.


    "But, they told Huaxia People that they have the soil remedy," the third man was also confused.


    "Maybe that was false information," the first man thought for a moment and said.


    "They probably made up that lie to end the partnership with Huaxia Base. They wanted Huaxia Base people to cast their eyes on the soil remedy and then make some unwanted moves, so they would be able to use that as an excuse to turn against them and rise on their own."


    "But, Sea City Base does have quite some fresh vegetables lately. If they didn''t grow those by themselves, where did they get those? Er, are you sure that what you said is true?"


    "Of course, it''s true! Look, this is the test report of the soil from the farm in Sea City Base," Er said, then took out his phone and showed a few pictures to the others. That was indeed the most recent soil test report from Sea City Base Farm.

 966 Mobilizing the Zombie Army

    Lin Qiao'' body was a little heavy, but she still went to the farm. While watching the other zombies working there, she folded her arms and rested her chin on a palm.


    "It''s only been two months. This is shocking!" Liu Jun stood beside her as she looked at her round belly.


    "Don''t ask any question. I''m not gonna answer it," Lin Qiao gave her a cold glance, leaving the other a little speechless.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the mountain nearby and said, "How about we turn the other side of that mountain into a military base? In the future, this area will become an important military place that no irrelevant people can have access to."


    Before, quite some people in the base knew where the farm was. After the second explosion of the virus, Lin Qiao asked Liu Jun to tell all the others that the farm area had become a military base, and used that excuse to forbid irrelevant people from approaching.


    Currently, the zombie army was growing larger and larger. Apart from Base Number Two, they needed to find another secret training ground for the zombie soldiers. The farm had already become a forbidden area for the common residents in the base, so they might as well turn the mountain straight into a zombie training ground.


    After all, the farm work and the training could happen at the same time.


    Liu Jun turned to look at the mountain, then nodded in agreement and said, "I get it."


    Lin Qiao walked to the cabin, which was no longer the only cabin near the farm. A row of cabins had been built right next to it, behind which were a few treehouses. The scents of zombies lingered inside and around all the cabins and treehouses.


    Currently, the farm had already expanded to tens of acres. One side of the mountain and the area at its base had been developed by the zombie farmers under the leadership of Liu Jun, Fox, and Keng-keng. They watered the soil daily with diluted lake water.


    As a result, the infected soil was fixed. The zombies with water power and green power were responsible for the growth of the crops. Meanwhile, the zombies under level-three, who didn''t have superpowers, were responsible for weeding and turning the soil.


    In the clearing before the cabins, Lin Qiao took out the fresh vegetables that Lu Tianyi harvested in her space, basket by basket. She had regained some of her energy, but still couldn''t enter her space. Thankfully, she could at least look inside her space and communicate with the zombies in there with her will power.


    The farm work seemed to be going well with no problems, so Lin Qiao returned to Base Number Two and summoned the leaders of the zombie army in the conference room. Yun Meng, Qiu Lili, Xie Dong and the others came in. Each one of them silently glanced at Lin Qiao''s belly before finding themselves a seat.


    In Base Number Two, almost everyone knew about Lin Qiao''s current condition. Lin Qiao wasn''t talking about it, but they were all curious about the father of the baby. Who was so capable that he even made Lin Qiao, the zombie, pregnant? Was he a zombie too?


    After sitting down, they got rid of the weird thoughts in their minds as Lin Qiao asked Shen Yujen to spread the map on the table.


    She picked up a stick and pointed at one spot on the map as she started talking. "We''ve been telling everyone that the farm is our military base to keep those commoners away. Now, I plan to turn it into an actual military base. The other side of the mountain will become the training ground of our soldiers. This will be our Military Base Number One. As for the second military base, I plan to build it near those underground creatures. An elite force will station there to keep a close eye on those creatures."


    People immediately landed their eyes on the spot that Lin Qiao was pointing at.


    "Are you saying that we are now selecting some elites from the three regiments and sending them to this place?" Yun Meng asked.


    "Yes," Lin Qiao nodded and said, "From here, a hundred miles in radius have become a dangerous zone. We don''t know how to deal with those underground creatures yet, so all we can do now is take precautions. Based on what we have learned, their moving range on the earth''s surface is limited, but they are able to go anywhere they want underground. Currently, we have found three entrances to the cave, parted about ten miles from each other. So, the next entry should be within ten miles from the existing three as well."


    Lin Qiao drew a circle on the map with the stick and marked the moving range of those underground gorillas.


    That area was less than seventy miles away from All Beings Base. More exits of the cave might emerge near the base soon. At the moment, no one could tell where the next exit would be. If it was by All Beings Base''s side, Lin Qiao would have to prepare for the worst-case scenario. If it turned out to be somewhere else, things would still be under control.


    Qiu Lili hadn''t seen those creatures yet, so she asked curiously "You said that their moving range on the surface is limited. Why?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her and answered her question with a smile, "Because they are blind. They identify directions with the scents they leave behind. If they go too far away from their nest, their scents might fade in the wind. The wind on the surface is strong, so their scent can''t linger for long."


    "Oh, so specifically, they have trouble telling the directions, right?" Qiu Lili understood it.


    Yun Meng furrowed her brows and said, "But, we don''t have enough soldiers yet. If we send a thousand there, we''ll only have less than two-thousand zombie soldiers left in the base. Will it affect the security of the base?"


    Lin Qiao waved her hand and said, "We don''t need to worry about the base for now. Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng are here anyway. The human army isn''t just for decoration. The base will be okay."


    Hearing that, Yun Meng nodded and didn''t say anything else.


    "If we send over a zombie army, who''s gonna be there to keep them under control?" Qiu Lili asked. A level-seven zombie would need to go together with the thousand zombie soldiers to keep them under control. Qiu Lili glanced at Yun Meng while speaking. Currently, she and Yun Meng were the only two level-seven zombies in the base. Lin Kui was still in Lake Tai area, so Lin Qiao would have to pick one between the two girls.


    Lin Qiao looked at Yun Meng. "I''ll go," Yun Meng started talking before her, "I''m more familiar with those creatures."


    Yun Meng was no longer a little girl, and had grown quite mature. She had always been composed and reliable, so she naturally matured faster than Qiu Lili.


    Qiu Lili was powerful, but still was more like an innocent, simple-minded kid. About some important matters, she wasn''t as thoughtful as Yun Meng was.


    "Em, that''s what I thought," Lin Qiao nodded and said, "But Lili, if you want to go out and have some fun, you can go. Don''t go too far away though."


    "Okay," Qiu Lili nodded and said.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then turned to Xie Dong and said, "Step up training the new zombies. Huaxia Base and Sea City Base have become enemies. I think they''ll start a war very soon. We''ll be affected too by then. That''s inevitable."


    "Yes, ma''am," Xie Dong nodded.

 967 Yuan Tianxing Gave up the Hope

    After ending the meeting with the zombie group, Lin Qiao held another meeting with the leading team of the base.


    It was the first time Lin Qiao met with Yuan Tianxing face to face during the most recent two months. She didn''t plan to keep her current condition secret from him, so she didn''t try to hide her belly during the meeting.


    Yuan Tianxing came to Base Number Two together with Lin Feng to attend to the meeting. He didn''t notice Lin Qiao''s belly when he first came in, as she was sitting there.


    "The second thing, I sent a zombie regiment to station in this place. This place is forty miles away from our base, not far. If anything happens, Yun Meng will deliver the message back to us as soon as possible." Lin Qiao pointed at a spot on the map with the stick and said.


    "The landform in Mount Wu area is not complicated enough for a military base. It''s a mountain area, but it''s still too small, and¡­" Yuan Tianxing accidentally noticed Lin Qiao''s belly while talking. He fixed his eyes straight on her belly and changed his expression right away.


    As he abruptly stopped talking, the others all turned to him and found that he was staring at Lin Qiao.


    "Oh, Deputy Chief Yuan, didn''t you know about that?" Yun Meng looked at Lin Qiao with a wicked smile.


    Lin Qiao gave her a glance, then looked at Yuan Tianxing without saying anything.


    Lin Feng had noticed her belly too, so he said with surprise, "Wait a minute. She''s so large already? It''s only been two months. What did you feed her with?"


    Hearing Lin Feng''s words, Yuan Tianxing instantly turned to him. His lips trembled slightly before he asked, "What is it? Lin Feng, do you know about it?"


    He was still in shock, and his eyes were still wearing a confused look. He had one thought in his mind, but he wasn''t willing to believe in it.


    How could she be¡­ That was not true! He must be wrong! Was Lin Qiao''s body in some kind of unusual condition now?


    However, Lin Feng''s words took away his hope.


    Lin Feng smiled as he looked at Lin Qiao''s stomach and said, "We''ve all been busy lately, and you were invisible. I couldn''t have imagined that she has grown so big already. Is she going to come out soon? What did Hao say?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then looked at the others. None of the others continued talking about the business at all. It seemed that they would not continue the meeting until they figured out the truth about her baby.


    ''Can you please be more serious?'' She curved her lips downward and stayed silent.


    "Uncle Lin, you seem to have known it long ago! We''re the only one who didn''t know, aren''t we?" said Qiu Lili sourly. They only found out in a recent couple of days, and were all so shocked.


    Standing beside Lin Qiao, Shen Yujen smiled and said, "Even I didn''t know until the day before yesterday when Chief came home."


    Everyone else turned to Lin Feng, who wiped the smile away from his face and expressionlessly glanced at the people, then cleared his throat and said, "Be serious! Are we gonna have the meeting or not?"


    Yun Meng glanced at Yuan Tianxing, who was still stunned, then at Lin Qiao, and said, "What I want to know is how has our Chief been managing this. You''re gonna have a baby¡­ Um, who''s the father?"


    Hearing the word ''baby'', Yuan Tianxing instantly came back to himself. He turned back to Lin Qiao with a very complicated look in his eyes, seeming to be hurt and hopeless. Judging by how the others reacted, he was wrong. He didn''t want to admit it, but that was the truth.


    He loved that woman. She did not only turn into a zombie, but also got pregnant with someone else''s baby. She was even pregnant with someone else''s baby! What could he possibly do but give up?


    A muffled pain was sensed from his heart. It was even worse than what he suffered when Lin Qiao refused him to his face.


    Yuan Tianxing couldn''t maintain a calm look. His eyes started to lose focus, and his entire face darkened.


    Lin Feng knew how Yuan Tianxing felt about Lin Qiao. He saw the look on his face but didn''t know what to say to him.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Yuan Tianxing. She knew that the meeting wasn''t going to continue, so she had to adjourn the meeting.


    "But, we don''t know who''s the father yet!" Qiu Lili pouted and made eye-contact with Yun Meng. No one on the scene knew who the father was.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said, "You might know in the future. Alright¡­ go, just leave! Come back tomorrow and finish this meeting."


    After that, she glanced at Yuan Tianxing, and then at Lin Feng.


    Lin Feng gave her an eye signal, then stood up and patted Yuan Tianxing on the shoulder as he left.


    Duan Juan wasn''t in the conference room; she was guarding the door. She knew about Yuan Tianxing''s feelings toward Lin Qiao though. As Lin Qiao and the others came out, she accidentally noticed the look on Yuan Tianxing''s face.


    "What happened to Deputy Chief Yuan?" She asked Shen Yujen with a low voice.


    Shen Yujen and Liu Jun were standing together. Hearing her question, they both turned to give Yuan Tianxing a glance. He was sitting on his chair motionlessly with a depressed look. The two of them glanced at each other, then looked at Lin Qiao, who was leaving. "He saw Chief''s belly for the first time. I think he''s a little shocked."


    Duan Juan blinked, then nodded knowingly.


    It made sense. Yuan Tianxing was always fond of Lin Qiao. After the apocalypse, she became a base leader, yet he never seemed to give up. However, after coming to the new base, he started to keep a distance from Lin Qiao.


    Duan Juan thought that Yuan Tianxing had shrunk back and given up. However, it turned out that he didn''t really give up, until just now.


    Duan Juan gave a sigh. Lin Qiao was harmed so deeply. She always felt that if a man could really keep Lin Qiao company for the rest of her life, Yuan Tianxing, as her right-hand man, might be the most suitable one.


    But, it now turned out that one really could not force a relationship.


    Lin Qiao returned to her office and found Wu Chengyue sitting on her couch, reading a file. Wu Yueling was sitting by his side, playing alone. As Lin Qiao came in, she immediately slid off the couch and ran up to her.


    Except for Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, the others who followed Lin Qiao out of the conference room had all returned to their own offices.


    "So soon?" Wu Chengyue raised his eyes to look at Lin Qiao. The meeting today should have taken at least two hours, but it had only been one hour since it started.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and then said, "It''s not over yet. We''ll finish it tomorrow."


    Wu Chengyue raised his eyebrows as he guessed out what had happened. He thought for a moment, then asked her, "What do you plan to do to the underground creature zone?"


    Lin Qiao walked behind her desk and sat down, habitually putting a hand on her belly as she said, "What can we do? We can''t fight a war against them, so we can only hide."


    As far as she knew, only the powers possessed by herself and Wu Chengyue could deliver actual harm to those creatures. A short-term hustle could not deal with those creatures. They would have to spend a long time to hunt those creatures down batch by batch.


    She couldn''t do that by herself now; she needed to wait until Viney was born and she regained her power. She wasn''t counting on Wu Chengyue to help either, as he didn''t have so much time to spend on that.

 968 Thats My Duty

    Wu Chengyue asked her, "You don''t have enough researchers, do you? Should I send two of mine here to lend you a hand?"


    Earlier, Lin Qiao sent back a dead underground creature and some body parts, but Lin Hao''s research on them had been advancing at a snail''s pace. On one hand he was a doctor, so he needed to run the hospital and help his patients during the daytime; on the other hand, doing research wasn''t one of his specialty. It was more of Leng Xuantong''s sphere. However, Leng Xuantong wasn''t in the base at the moment, so even though Lin Hao had been trying very hard, he had achieved no results so far.


    "No, thank you," Lin Qiao rejected him without thinking. "Leng Xuantong is coming back soon."


    It was reasonable for her to say no to Wu Chengyue. A couple of days ago, she had sent people to find Lin Wenwen and her team, and bring Leng Xuantong back. That mysterious stone might be helpful for the people who had lost control of their superpowers, but the threat from the underground creatures needed to be dealt with first. Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying could handle other things.


    Another reason was that Lin Qiao didn''t want to owe Wu Chengyue too much. Every time he helped her, she found a way to repay him. However, not long ago, she realized that she was having some dangerous feelings toward him. Ever since then, she had been avoiding any unnecessary interactions with him.


    They had been together in the past two months. However, their relationship stayed in an awkward state, except for the fact that Wu Chengyue often held her hands to help her move fast.


    She was avoiding, while he didn''t dare to try too hard. That was how the weird situation was caused.


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes slightly. The smile on his face faded a little, but still, he kept the same expression and said, "Alright. Since you don''t want my help, you can do whatever you want."


    After saying that, he dropped his head and continued reading the file in his hands.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him with surprise, as she thought he would do something else. Was he used to that weird atmosphere between himself and her already?


    As he stayed silent, Lin Qiao stopped talking as well. She just sat behind her desk and started working.


    It was quiet in her office. Occasionally, the noises of writing and turning pages could be heard. Wu Yueling quietly sat back to her father''s side, holding her hairless bunny friend.


    In the afternoon, Wu Chengyue took Ling Ling back to where they lived for dinner while Lin Qiao kept working. She was still working even after dark.


    It was around eleven pm already when she finally came home.


    She sensed Wu Chengyue''s vibe coming from her flat before she even walked to the door and felt a little helpless. That man would never leave her alone. He stationed in her office during the daytime, and put himself in her flat at night.


    She opened the door and saw the man who was sitting on the couch without needing to turn on the light. Nonetheless, she turned on the light, closed the door, and then looked at him as she said, "What now?"


    Wu Chengyue was wearing a black bathrobe, leaning against the back of the couch elegantly. He raised his head to look at her and said, "I was waiting for you."


    That was pretty obvious! Lin Qiao spent a few seconds looking at him speechlessly, then said, "So, why are you waiting for me?"


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face grew slightly bigger. He looked at her in the eyes and said in a meaningful way, "I assume you haven''t forgotten about the suggestion that your Doctor Lin gave you. I''m here to do my duty."


    Lin Qiao pulled a long face once she heard him mention Lin Hao. "Thank you, but I don''t need you to do that kind of duty," she rejected him without thinking, "The doctor only gave his suggestion. He didn''t say that we have to do that."


    She strongly felt that she had been sold out by her own little brother. With that thought, the look on her face grew even sourer. She glared at the smiling Wu Chengyue amd clenched her teeth.


    Wu Chengyue smiled without responding to her. But, he abruptly stood up from the couch and walked toward Lin Qiao.


    He was taller than her. Watching the tall and slim man approach, Lin Qiao felt as if an invisible pressure was shrouding her. But still, she narrowed her eyes and stayed perfectly still.


    Wu Chengyue walked up to her, keeping half a meter of distance between him and her. He slightly dropped his head and looked at her in the eyes as he said to her, "You have realized it, haven''t you? What are you afraid of?"


    Ever since he woke up from the uncontrollable state, the zombie lady looked at him in an unusual way at times. She had been trying to conceal that, but he found it out as it happened more than just a few times. However, the zombie lady always tried to avoid that and extend the distance between herself and him.


    Back at his home, she was invisible. However, he found that she liked to stand beside him quietly and watch him cook. He pretended not to know about it, but he was glad about it on the inside.


    After all, the zombie lady had started caring about him.


    However, he couldn''t figure out why she was trying to avoid it. She seemed to be afraid of something. That was why she chose to run away from it.


    He was probably right. The zombie lady''s pupils shrank when she heard what he said, then she turned her eyes away to avoid eye contact with him.


    Lin Qiao calmly turned her face away and walked to the tea cabinet nearby. "I don''t know what you''re talking about," she said while walking. After saying that, she poured herself a glass of water and took a large gulp.


    "It''s alright," Wu Chengyue smile relaxedly, "If you don''t know what I''m talking about, I can explain to you. But, running away isn''t going to solve a problem. You are trying to run away now."


    Lin Qiao looked at the glass of water in her hand and paused briefly. Two seconds later, she drank up the water and put the glass back.


    "Things aren''t always like you think. It''s getting late. Chief Wu, please leave," she said blandly.


    "I''m not leaving tonight. I haven''t done my duty yet." That would be his bonus. He hadn''t collected it yet. How could he possibly leave?


    Wu Chengyue just smilingly looked back at her.


    "Don''t even think about it!" Lin Qiao turned back and glared at him with an unfriendly look, "I can undergo a cesarean birth. Viney has eaten a ton of energy. I think a cesarean birth won''t affect her much."


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "How can you let that happen? Natural birth is better for the baby. Even if you don''t think for yourself, you have to think about the baby. Besides, the doctor is always right. You might suffer a bad result if you refuse to listen to your doctor."


    Lin Qiao had no words to argue with that. She stared at him coldly and said crankily, "Aren''t you afraid that you might turn into a zombie? I can''t enter my space now, so there is no energy from the lake to adjust the virus. You''ll turn into a zombie if you dare to touch me."


    She was only trying to frighten him. Last time, she kissed him for a long time when he was out of control. Yet, he didn''t turn into a zombie after that. So, even if they really had sex again, he might still not turn into a zombie.


    Wu Chengyue laughed and said, "Do you think that I''m stupid? Even though I don''t remember what happened when I was out of control, I can easily find out. Do I even need to find that out?"


    While speaking, he took a small step forward and stood before Lin Qiao, raising a hand and gently stroking her lips.

 969 Wash Yourself Clean and Wai

    Clap! Lin Qiao impatiently slapped off his hand and made a step sideways, then clicked her tongue as she glared at him with a frown and said, "Are you really not going to leave? Do you want it so much?"


    She made it sound like Wu Chengyue was a horny man.


    Wu Chengyue paused briefly at first, then looked at her smilingly. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao stared at him in the eyes, then abruptly blinked and nodded, "Alright. Do you want it? Okay. Go wash yourself clean and then wait on the bed."


    She figured that he wouldn''t give up until he got what he wanted. He wouldn''t stop using what Lin Hao said as an excuse. Based on what she knew about him, she might be able to say no tonight or the next night, but he would come to her place to bother her every single night before she gave him what he wanted.


    It was nothing but sex! She could do that. It wasn''t like she hadn''t done it before. He had provided Viney with quite some energy during the past two months, so Lin Qiao decided to serve him once as compensation.


    Wu Chengyue was stunned a little as Lin Qiao suddenly changed her attitude. Then, he was delighted, and his eyes glowed brightly.


    "I have taken a shower. I am very clean," he said with a smile, even seductively pulling off half of his bathrobe and exposing a shoulder as well as a part of his chest. His beautifully shaped chest muscles and arm gave out a vibe of strength.


    Lin Qiao couldn''t bear looking at his healthy olive skin.


    "Go and do it again!" She was not happy. Seeing him narrow his eyes into a pair of curved lines in a big smile, she felt very agitated.


    "Alright, alright, I''ll do it. Wait for me," Wu Chengyue was in a very good mood at the moment, and was willing to follow her every word. After responding to her order, he even winked at her before turning and heading toward the bathroom.


    Lin Qiao didn''t say anything. She felt as if she was going blind. That man was different again from usual, looking exactly like a lascivious guy now!


    She supported her waist with a hand and sat down on the couch, putting the other hand on her belly. She then gave a sigh, wondering when the baby would come out. She raised her head, looking at the bathroom door as she frowned slightly.


    She barely knew Wu Chengyue before. When she was leading Hades Base, she had only seen him a few times in Huaxia Base. Back then, he was a mild, smiling guy, who always kept a polite distance from others. He looked friendly and inaccessible at the same time. Back then, she couldn''t have imagined that the relationship between him and her would become like now.


    If Earth Dragon Base and its allies hadn''t threatened her so intensely, she wouldn''t even think about asking him for cooperation and help.


    Unexpectedly, she died and then switched to a new body and a new identity. The previous owner of her body didn''t only kidnap his daughter, but also raped him! And then, that woman died before sending his daughter back to him! Lin Qiao woke up to face that huge trouble! That was a huge, huge trap! She already had one foot sunken in that trap¡­ She couldn''t pull it out!


    She couldn''t pull her foot out because Wu Chengyue was holding it!


    What was even more unexpected was that her heart, which she thought had been sealed off, now seemed to leap again for him. Every time she thought about that, she would wear a bitter look on her face.


    Soon enough, Wu Chengyue came out of the bathroom with moist hair, nakedly.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to see his slim and muscular body, and that thing between his legs. However, she closed her eyes as quickly as she could.


    ''Damn, my eyes!''


    She had seen his body before, but it was still dangerous for him to walk to her nakedly like that.


    Wu Chengyue had a towel on top of his head. While drying his hair, he smilingly walked out of the bathroom straight toward Lin Qiao''s bedroom. While walking past the couch, he gave her a glance.


    "I''ll be waiting for you," he said.


    Lin Qiao looked at him expressionlessly. Somehow, she felt that she had thrown herself into trouble.


    Watching the man disappear into her bedroom, Lin Qiao had her eye corners twitching slightly. She stayed silent for a minute, then finally stood up and walked toward the bathroom.


    Once in, she sensed the cold moisture in the air, mixing together with the man''s scent. She didn''t need to breathe, yet she felt his scent drilling into her body through her nose.


    She took off her clothes and turned the shower on. The icy cold water poured onto her head and washed her skin. She didn''t feel cold, only comfortable.


    She couldn''t take a shower anytime she wanted when she was outside, but she showered every day within the base, including the days she lived in Wu Chengyue''s place.


    She washed off the shower gel, then put on a loose-fitting bathrobe. As same as Wu Chengyue, she walked out while drying her hair with a towel.


    She walked to the bedroom door and saw the man lazily leaning against the headboard. His bared upper body and slender legs were so eye-catching while the blanket only covered the important area of his body.


    That was a really seductive posture! Lin Qiao didn''t even know what to say.


    Wu Chengyue was holding a book he might have found in her bedroom. Hearing the noise she created, he raised his head to look at her with a weird, scorching look in his eyes. But soon, he narrowed his eyes in a smile and concealed it.


    Seeing Lin Qiao standing by the door while drying her hair with a towel, Wu Chengyue put the book on the nightstand. Then, he lifted the blanket and got off the bed, walking to her.


    Lin Qiao was trying to keep herself from looking at that certain area of his body. However, when he was walking, she couldn''t help but that thing dangling in the air see from the corners of her eyes.


    She slightly raised her head to look at his face, but she could still see that thing from her eye corners! Her eye corners even twitched as a result.


    ''Damn! Can''t you at least put on some underwear! Is it funny to walk around nakedly?'' She complained silently.


    "What are you doing?" Lin Qiao was having trouble remaining calm, but still, she expressionlessly watched the man walk up to her and talked to him coldly.


    Wu Chengyue gave her a smile, then raised a hand and pressed on the towel on her head. Then, he raised the other hand and held the towel with both hands to dry her hair for her.


    "I''m drying your hair. What do you think I''m gonna do?" He dropped his eyes and gave her a glance while drying her hair.


    Lin Qiao looked at him without knowing what to say.


    Wu Chengyue''s movements were gentle and smooth. Lin Qiao''s hair was long enough to reach to her hip. If Wu Chengyue had fire power, he would be able to easily dry her hair with his superpower. But sadly, he did not have fire power, so he could only dry the hair slowly for her.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t used to letting other people touch her hair, so she automatically lowered her head when Wu Chengyue put his hands on her head. But once she did that, the thing between his legs came into her sight. She helplessly tilted her head and freed herself from the towel and his hands, then turned and walked toward the bed.


    As she walked away, Wu Chengyue watched her walk to the bed and sit down. Holding the moist towel, he followed her to the bed and sat beside her, drying her hair.


    Lin Qiao turned and gave him a glance. Finally, she couldn''t help but pull over the thin summer blanket and cover his lower body with it.

 970 What If You Broke It?

    Wu Chengyue''s hands which were holding her hair paused. He gave her a glance, then smiled a bigger smile and said to her, "Why? Aren''t you gonna use it soon later? Don''t you want to take the chance to take a look at it closely?"


    Lin Qiao glared at him with her mouth corners twitching. That man was really shameless!


    "No. It''ll burn my eyes!" She said through clenched teeth.


    Wu Chengyue was still smiling as he said to her wickedly, "How will you know if you''ll like it without looking at it? Perhaps you can touch it and see if you like it or not. Or¡­ Are you regretting your decision? Eh?"


    He didn''t stop drying her hair while speaking. Soon, her long hair were nearly dried by the towel.


    Looking at his smiling face, Lin Qiao wanted to give him a punch. She narrowed her eyes, then reached out a hand and grabbed what was between his legs.


    "Ouch! Be gentle! What if you broke it?" Wu Chengyue didn''t see that coming. Only until he suffered a pain and gave a muffled moan did he realize what had just happened. His entire body froze, and his hands stopped moving.


    Lin Qiao raised her other hand and pressed on his chest, pushing him onto the bed. Then, she turned and sat on top of his stomach.


    She put a hand on Wu Chengyue''s muscular chest and raised the other hand to flip her moist hair. Then, she dropped her head and leaned her upper body forward, gently rubbing against his skin with her belly.


    "If you can break so easily, fine! I can borrow it from someone else. I have plenty of guys in my base," Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and looked down at him in the eyes, licking her blue lips as she said to him.


    A strong, suppressive vibe rose from her body and descended to Wu Chengyue along with her gaze.


    He was not her only choice.


    Wu Chengyue had a cold light flashing across his eyes when he sensed that strong vibe and heard her words. He didn''t make any movement, but quietly lay there.


    Looking from his angle, the zombie lady''s face looked more lively than usual. Her pretty eyes glowed with a sharp light while her delicate chin and dark-colored lips gave out a lethal temptation.


    Her strong vibe did make Wu Chengyue feel a slight pressure. However, what he cared about more at the moment was her body that was sitting on top of him. The texture of her skin aroused the fire inside him.


    Her skin was still cold, but perfectly tender and smooth. He wanted to feel that skin carefully with his palms so much.


    She wasn''t wearing anything underneath her bathrobe! She was killing him!


    "Of course, it won''t break so easily! Play me in any way you want," The thirst in his heart almost occupied his mind, but he managed to keep that faint smile on his face while talking to Lin Qiao.


    She was in an aggressive posture at the moment, but he didn''t care. After all, that posture might be good for her current body condition. But, there were some preparations that needed to be done in advance.


    Hearing Wu Chengyue''s flirting, Lin Qiao was very speechless even though she was staying pretty calm. Even if she wanted to play with him, she wouldn''t be able to actually do it.


    ''Damn! I know that you''re shameless, but I''m not!''


    Because of Wu Chengyue''s shameless flirting, Lin Qiao''s vibe collapsed. Wu Chengyue curved his lips corners in a bigger smile, then abruptly put his arms around her waist and put forth his strength through his back and waist.


    Just like that, he put her down. By the time Lin Qiao realized what happened, she was already lying on the bed. The two of them were still in the same position as before, but the roles had swapped.


    Wu Chengyue, of course, didn''t lay pressure on Lin Qiao''s belly, and just sat on her legs. Lin Qiao''s belly was between her and him like a ball.


    Wu Chengyue put both hands on her stomach, feeling the life inside it. The look in his eyes grew much gentler than before. Then, he bent over and landed a soft kiss on her stomach.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao woke up from the ocean of desire and came back to the real world, finding herself lying on one side. Her back was pressed tightly against the man, and a strong arm was around her body. Slowly, she could feel her body again.


    She moved slightly, then wore a sulky look on her face. That part of his body was still inside her.


    Lin Qiao gave him an elbow strike, then said to him coldly with a dry voice, "Get the hell out."


    She had no idea how seductive her lazy and hoarse voice was. Her softly hoarse voice neutralized the coldness in her voice, which was highly tempting in Wu Chengyue''s ears. He gave vent to his desire one time just now, and that did not satisfy him.


    So, two seconds after he heard Lin Qiao''s voice, that part of his body went hard again.


    Lin Qiao even had an impulsion to crumble that part of his body as she immediately pulled a long face. A dangerous intention of killing suddenly came from her body. Sensing that, Wu Chengyue froze slightly, then brought himself out of her body regretfully.


    He sat up and got off the bed, then turned around and bent over toward her. Then, he put one arm under her knees and the other around her back. After that, he straightened his body and lifted her from the bed.


    "What are you doing?" Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and asked without thinking. At that moment, her entire body was feeling powerless. She had no idea why she, a zombie, felt powerless after having sex. She wanted to fight back when Wu Chengyue lifted her, but her body didn''t do what she wanted.


    "Taking you to a shower. Don''t you feel sticky?" Wu Chengyue squeezed his eyes into a pair of thin lines to show how happy he was at that moment. A relaxed smile was on his face, not like his standard every-day smile.


    Being reminded by him, Lin Qiao did feel sticky. She didn''t sweat; what was on her body was Wu Chengyue''s perspiration.


    What made her feel the stickiest and the most uncomfortable was that indescribable part of her body.


    "I can do it myself. Put me down."


    Wu Chengyue had already walked to the bedroom door. Hearing her words, he stopped walking and looked at her, then raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you sure? Aren''t your legs limp?"


    Lin Qiao gave him a cold glare and said, "I can still walk. Put me down."


    Wu Chengyue spent two seconds looking at her silently, then put her down gently on the ground.


    Lin Qiao nakedly walked across the living room, and the door and windows in the living room were instantly covered by a layer of dark mist. As she walked into the bathroom, the mist drifted toward the bathroom.


    Wu Chengyue looked around, then turned and picked up Lin Qiao''s bathrobe. Putting it on himself, he picked up Lin Qiao''s slippers and put them before the bathroom door.


    "I put your slippers at the door."

 971 It Doesn’t Feel Righ

    To be honest, Lin Qiao''s legs were a little limp indeed when she walked into the bathroom. She put a hand on the wall and supported her waist with the other. At first, she was on top of Wu Chengyue and moving slowly, but then that b*stard complained about how slow she was!


    He turned her body around and sat up, holding her from the behind before making some movements. After that, they switched to a few other positions.


    At last, Lin Qiao had no spare attention for him because she felt so tired! That weird and strong feeling of tiredness seemed to take away all her strength and occupy her mind.


    She washed that sticky feeling off her body with water. She wanted to take a bath, but she was worried that she might get too comfortable to come out. She thought about it and then gave up. Compared to the bathtub, she would rather lie on the bed.


    She heard Wu Chengyue''s voice through the bathroom door but didn''t respond.


    After the shower, she glanced at the clothes in the bathroom, then remembered that she didn''t bring in her bathrobe. She saw Wu Chengyue''s bathrobe hanging on the wall, but only wrapped herself up with a towel. Then, she opened the door and saw her slippers at the door.


    She put on the slippers and walked out of the bathroom to find Wu Chengyue sitting on the couch lazily in her bathrobe. Her bathrobe was loose-fitting, but still a little short for a nearly six and a half feet tall guy.


    His limbs are long and slender, so he looked a little weird in her bathrobe.


    "Please give me my bathrobe back," she clicked her tongue and said, "Don''t stretch it out," she said coldly with a muffled voice. The satisfied look on his face made her even want to bite him.


    Wu Chengyue smiled, seeming to totally understand her weird reaction. He didn''t say anything, but stood up and nodded at her, then walked toward the bathroom. As he put on his own bathrobe and came out of the bathroom, he found that the door of Lin Qiao''s bedroom was already closed.


    Clearly, she gave him no access to her room this time.


    Wu Chengyue sighed with a smile, then turned off the light in the living room before disappearing from her flat.


    In the bedroom, Lin Qiao sensed him leaving and relaxed slightly. She looked at everything in her room, still wearing a bitter expression on her face.


    His scent was everywhere.


    Yes, his scent¡­ That strong scent of Wu Chengyue suffused the entire room. It invaded the room, twisted Lin Qiao''s scent, and pushed it to the corners. Wu Chengyue''s scent aggressively occupied the whole bedroom. A suppressive, strong, and masculine vibe could also be sensed by every organ of senses that Lin Qiao had.


    She frowned slightly and pondered for a moment, then turned and opened the door and window to let the wind bring the scent away as soon as possible. The airflow did lighten the scent in the room slightly, but only slightly.


    Lying on the bed, Lin Qiao felt very helpless. The scent that lingered on the bed was even stronger! She sat up as she couldn''t bear that scent, then looked at the messy bed without knowing what to say.


    She was so tired. Her belly was heavy, and her limbs were limp. She had no energy to change her sheets, so she changed her blanket.


    She picked up the blanket on her bed and threw it onto the couch in the living room, then found a new blanket from her closet. Only after that did she weakly throw herself onto the bed, enduring the scent there.


    After lying down, the last bit of her strength was gone. Her body was exhausted, but her mind stayed crystal clear. After all, she was a zombie. She was too lazy to move, and didn''t even have the mood to absorb a nucleus.


    But earlier, quite some of Wu Chengyue''s energy flowed into her body, and she absorbed some of it. She didn''t know that could happen. She felt like a martial art master who was able to absorb power in such a weird way.


    Earlier when Wu Chengyue ejected, his sperm brought a stream of his energy out of his body, into hers. Most of that energy was absorbed by Lin Qiao directly, and the rest flowed into her womb.


    Lin Qiao stared at the ceiling, feeling not good.


    When they did it, he was aggressive the whole time, such that she almost failed to maintain her strong vibe. However, she remembered that he was so gentle from the beginning to the end, as if he was taking care of a delicate piece of chinaware. When he kissed her stomach, a weird vibe went into her heart from his body, making her feel slightly itchy in the heart, like a spring breeze blowing across her hair.


    It was so comfortable that she couldn''t help but want more.


    So at last, in spite of how aggressively and possessively he kissed her, the repulsion in her heart seemed to be brought down gradually.


    Thinking about it, she realized that it was not good.


    She turned and looked outside the window. The night was dark, without any starlight. After the apocalypse, the nights had been cold, dark, and dangerous.


    She closed her eyes to feel the changes in her space, but suddenly felt weightless. When she realized what happened, she was already lying on the couch in her house in the space. She paused briefly, then sat up and looked at her clothes. Thankfully, she had put on a pajama suit before went into her bedroom.


    Sensing the sudden appearance of her vibe, the zombies in her space all paused and turned to her house simultaneously. Pesticide, who was squatting in the field, raised his head as well. Half a tender leaf was hanging on his mouth.


    Suddenly, a small stone flew over and landed on his head.


    "Pesticide! You are stealing vegetables again! I will punish you so hard!" Lu Tianyi was standing near an arbor for beans, about ten meters away from Pesticide. He glared at Pesticide and yelled at him, but then clapped his hands and walked toward Lin Qiao''s house.


    Pesticide carelessly sucked the half leaf into his mouth and then started chewing. Meanwhile, he moved toward the house as well. He didn''t dare to go straight to the front door, but took a detour to one side.


    Lu Tianyi sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe and found it a little strange. While walking, he wondered why was there another vibe mixed with her vibe.


    "You¡­" He walked into the living room and got choked on his own words when he saw Lin Qiao.


    "Damn! Whose baby is this?" Lu Tianyi popped his eyes in shock and froze at the door as he stared at Lin Qiao''s huge belly and finally managed to let out a question. Then, he thought for a moment and found some logic loopholes about that. Tremblingly, he pointed at Lin Qiao and almost screamed, "It''s only been two months. When did you put such a big ball¡­ eh¡­ I mean, baby, into your belly?"


    Lin Qiao wasn''t surprised by his reaction, so she said to him blandly, "Oh, I put the baby into my belly long ago. I just didn''t tell you¡­"


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say.

 972 Would You Like to Touch It?

    Lu Tianyi spent a short while gazing at Lin Qiao in shock, then let out a few words, "It''s not Chief Wu''s baby, is it?"


    Lin Qiao paused with surprise, then stared at him expressionlessly and said, "How-did-you-know!"


    Seeing the dangerous look on her face, Lu Tianyi was instantly frightened. "Eh¡­ It was me who told him who you are¡­"


    "What? You told him who I am?" Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and said.


    Lu Tianyi even wanted to raise his hand and wipe the cold sweat off his forehead even though he, as a zombie, didn''t sweat. His sister''s vibe was so strong that he even felt suffocated. He still hadn''t figured out why she became like a total different person after turning into a zombie. It had been so long, but he still hadn''t gotten used to his new sister yet.


    "Um¡­ he was trying to find out your identity. Qingming and I tried to cover for you, but he found out about it. So, he forced me to tell him¡­ and I¡­ told him."


    Lin Qiao kept staring at him expressionlessly. "So, he learned about who I am from you. You haven''t answered my question yet."


    Lu Tianyi''s pretty face wore a guilty look. At that moment, he looked nothing like the composed young man that he used to be. He looked around, then directly sold Wu Chengyue out. "Wu Chengyue told me himself!" He said, "Qingming knows about it too!"


    Lin Qiao didn''t say anything.


    As her vibe eased down, Lu Tianyi sighed with relief, then curiously looked at her pregnant belly and said, "He came to me over ten months ago, so your baby¡­ Emm, the baby is coming out soon, isn''t it? Why didn''t you look pregnant at all before? Wait a minute! You''ve been pregnant this whole time, but you were traveling everywhere!"


    Thinking about that, Lu Tianyi immediately pulled a long face as he stared at Lin Qiao with both concern and anger in his eyes.


    How could that woman run about like that while she was pregnant? Wasn''t she afraid that some accidents might happen? How could a pregnant woman¡­ eh, pregnant zombie, do something like that? She wasn''t thinking about the baby at all¡­


    Then again, not only did Wu Chengyue sleep with a zombie, but also made his zombie sister pregnant. That was unbelievable!


    Lu Tianyi even admired him for that.


    Lin Qiao sat on the couch, watching the expression on Lu Tianyi''s face change constantly and also sensing the thoughts that were going on in his mind. She felt a little speechless.


    "I''m not like those normal pregnant women," she responded, "And this baby isn''t a normal baby. I know what''s been going on with myself. I''ve been quite careful actually."


    She wasn''t lying. Ever since she knew that she was pregnant with Viney, she had stopped all dangerous activities! However, Lu Tianyi still looked unhappy. This time, he was with a stronger vibe than her.


    "Even though this kid isn''t a normal kid and you are not a normal woman, accidents could still happen! Have you ever thought about that? As you know, both you and the baby are special. So, if an accident did happen, no one would be able to help you!" The more he thought about it, the more concerned he got. Lu Tianyi glared at Lin Qiao, and a slight trace of wrathfulness was even detected from his eyes.


    That was his nephew! Even if it turned out to be a baby monster, it would still be his nephew, his family, because it was his sister''s baby.


    Looking at the unhappy Lu Tianyi, Lin Qiao felt that even Lin Hao, her real brother, was easier to coax than he was.


    "Eh-hem¡­ Alright, alright! I''ll be careful! The baby is coming out soon, and we''re both fine now, aren''t we?" Lin Qiao gave a fawning smile and then said to him, "Would you like to touch it?"


    Lu Tianyi was not content about what she said at first, but her question made him stunned. He fixed his eyes straight on that round, pregnant belly of hers.


    Then, he raised his eyes and glanced at Lin Qiao''s face before swallowing his saliva.


    "What? Don''t you want to touch it? This is your niece. She''ll come out soon. She might be a snow-white, tender, chubby baby, or a little zombie." Detecting the eagerness and hesitation in his eyes, Lin Qiao tempted him with a smile.


    Picturing a tender and chubby little baby in his mind, Lu Tianyi instantly collapsed. Then, he walked to Lin Qiao, quickly and nervously.


    He walked over to Lin Qiao''s side and stood there as he gazed at her belly without even sitting down. From a shorter distance, he found that belly of hers to be so round! He imagined a thriving baby living in there, which even softened his heart.


    Lu Tianyi was a little nervous. He didn''t know why he was nervous though. He wasn''t the father of the baby. Why on earth was he so nervous?


    The baby was such a big surprise! He wasn''t the father, but he was the baby''s uncle. It was his first niece.


    Before, he couldn''t have imagined that Lu Tianyu would give him a niece because her life was so complicated. More importantly, that woman had a cold heart. She didn''t want a baby, and she didn''t want to have a baby for any man.


    Giving birth might ruin her body shape, and she didn''t want to lose her perfect body. She relied on many men for survival, but she never fell in love with any of them, and never thought about giving any of them a child.


    He put his hands on that round belly of Lin Qiao and found it to be a little hard. With one slight touch, he retracted his hands and didn''t dare to touch it again. Somehow, he felt as if her belly might explode at any moment, and that it was pretty dangerous¡­


    Lin Qiao watched his reaction with a grin, feeling that he was acting like an innocent boy.


    "What''s wrong? Are you afraid that she might bite you?" Lin Qiao smilingly teased him.


    "No¡­" Lu Tianyi was a little embarrassed, which didn''t happen so often. He thought for a moment, then reached out his hands against to touch Lin Qiao''s belly. This time, he was a lot calmer than before.


    "She''s been sleeping recently, or she might be able to give you a high-five," Lin Qiao smilingly dropped her head to look at her own belly and then said gently.


    At that moment, Mo Yan and his white-dressed zombie girl, who never left his side, walked in. As same as Lu Tianyi, he paused with surprise when he saw Lin Qiao as well. That breathtakingly pretty face of Mo Yan froze for a few seconds, then wore a shocked look.


    "You''re here. Come on and take a seat," Lin Qiao looked at him and greeted.


    After that, she glanced at the two who were sticking their heads out from behind the door: those were Pesticide and Xiao-xiao. They didn''t want to come in, but only looked at Lin Qiao from behind the door.


    Mo Yan walked to her and sat down on an armchair, with his eyes fixed on Lin Qiao''s belly. Those eyes of his contained a very complicated look. Meanwhile, the zombie lady was quietly standing behind him.

 973 The Farm Products From The Space

    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to observe Mo Yan. The cracks in his zombie nucleus had become much thinner than before, but hadn''t faded yet. His nucleus was still thickly covered in cracks.


    The black marks on his face had grown thinner and less too.


    "Your zombie nucleus has been healing. Congratulations! You are going to retain your power," Lin Qiao looked at Mo Yan and said.


    However, she still looked at him uncertainly. She wasn''t sure if the zombie emperor would go crazy again after regaining his power.


    Meanwhile, Mo Yan looked at her silently as Lin Qiao continued, "In fact, I want you to recover your power as soon as possible. With your help, my base will be a lot safer."


    She was testing him. Mo Yan had accepted her terms before, but he didn''t have any other choice back then. More or less, he should be repulsed by that idea.


    And now, Lin Qiao wanted him to stay. He was a zombie emperor, and his vibe naturally suppressed the zombie crowd in the base. All she needed was his trust. It would be fine even if he couldn''t regain his power.


    Mo Yan curved one corner of his mouth in a charming smile. That cold vibe of his instantly turned half wicked and half positive. But still, he nodded in agreement with Lin Qiao.


    Then, he landed his dark-purple eyes on Lin Qiao''s pregnant belly with curiosity, seeming to have something to say.


    Lin Qiao looked at his eyes and immediately figured out what he was thinking. She thought for a moment and then said, "My body is in a special condition, so this happened. I don''t think the same thing can easily happen to the other zombie ladies, such as the one behind you."


    While speaking, she glanced at the zombie lady behind Mo Yan. She was prettier than two months ago. Or, specifically, she had been healing too.


    Her facial skin was smooth and lustrous again. The huge dark circles under her eyes had mostly faded, leaving a slight hint of it which looked like some eye-shadow now. It made her dark eyes look cold and beautiful while her full lips were tinted with a faint, purple color.


    She was always a pretty zombie, but now, she was even better-looking than before. She followed Mo Yan everywhere, but never paid attention to anyone else, looking so cold and proud. Lin Qiao wondered where Mo Yan found that beautiful zombie girl.


    Mo Yan didn''t turn back, but cast a glance backward.


    What he wanted to know was the name of the amazing guy who managed to make zombie Chief lady pregnant. But clearly, she didn''t want to tell him. So, he didn''t bother to ask that question out loud.


    He was surprised to know that Lin Qiao, as a zombie, was actually able to get pregnant. What was she pregnant with? A baby zombie? It was not a human baby, was it?


    Lu Tianyi asked a question before Mo Yan could, "So, you are pregnant, but what is the baby? Is she half human and half zombie? Or, an infected human baby? Or just a baby zombie?"


    "I am curious about that too," Lin Qiao turned to him and said.


    The others didn''t know what to say.


    So, they needed to wait. Somehow, they felt a little excited about it. But, why?


    Lin Qiao looked at Mo Yan and said, "Since my space is indeed helpful for your condition, please stay here and take your time to heal. You have killed the people that you wanted to kill anyway. For some things, it''s time to let go. Think about the life you want to live in the future, a new start."


    That was what she thought. Unexpectedly, she detected a trace of intention of killing from Mo Yan''s eyes as she finished talking.


    She paused briefly with surprise, wondering if the zombie emperor had more enemies to kill. Even if that was true, it would be fine actually. However, before he made another move, he needed to grow stronger.


    She stood up and walked to the door, preparing to take a look at the farm that was created by Lu Tianyi around her house. But, after making two steps, she turned back and said to Mo Yan, "Also, you two feel free to take a bath in the lake water every day. It should be helpful for both of you."


    Currently, there was a pool near the lake filled with lake water. The zombies in the space couldn''t approach the lake to fetch water, but were able to fetch from the pool.


    Bathing in the lake water every day would be much more efficient than exposing in the air within the space.


    Currently, she only allowed Lu Tianyi and her mother to take bath in her space every day, one or two hours every time. As for the other zombies, including Pesticide, Xiao-xiao, and the dozen at level four and three, Lin Qiao let them take a bath every ten days or half a month.


    Therefore, Lu Tianyi managed those zombies very easily. The well-behaved ones would be rewarded with an energy bath while the misbehaving ones wouldn''t. For the energy bath, all those zombies worked extra hard and didn''t feel bored.


    Lin Qiao then turned to Lu Tianyi and said, "Just tell them where to fetch water from."


    Lu Tianyi gave Mo Yan a glance, then turned and nodded at Lin Qiao. In fact, he had been keeping vigilance against the zombie emperor because the emperor''s vibe was way too strong.


    By the time Lin Qiao prepared to come out, Pesticide and Xiao-xiao who were peeking from the door had disappeared long ago. Lin Qiao came out to find that the grassland before her house had become a cornfield. Only thirty percent of the land was used for growing all kinds of vegetables. All the seeds that she borrowed from Sea City Base had been planted successfully.


    The strawberry filed was thriving and fruitful too. The large and juicy strawberries were hiding under the leaves, covered in vividly red colors and green spots. The leaves couldn''t cover them entirely.


    Those strawberries could now be counted as a special local product from All Beings Base. They couldn''t be found anywhere else other than All Beings Base.


    Not including the lake, the woods, and the three houses, about ten acres of land on this side of the lake had become farmland. The rich grassland on the other side of the lake was the territory of those mutated goats and roe deers.


    Lin Qiao looked around and made some discoveries. She narrowed her eyes and generated a thought. In the next second, she disappeared from where she was and reappeared in the territory of those mutated goats and roar deers.


    Those goats and roe deers gave a start and ran away from her in all directions. Lin Qiao didn''t chase them, but stood there as she narrowed her eyes and carefully observed those animals. Then, she sniffed around and confirmed something with her nose.


    When she narrowed her eyes, she saw something different from what she could see with her eyes wide open. By narrowing her eyes, she was able to see different types of energy and their colors.


    At that moment, she found that the virus energy inside those animals'' bodies seemed to have grown weak. The virus still existed inside their bodies, but the younger ones only carried a slight amount of virus. The younger the animal was, the weaker the virus it carried.


    The newborn animals were almost virus-free! They looked healthy too, without any sign of mutation.

 974 Making Great Progress

    Lin Qiao observed those roe deers and goats carefully, and that discovery made her glad.


    It seemed that the energy in her space had removed the zombie virus from their gene. The adult ones didn''t look so different from before, but the second generation was obviously different from their parents. Apart from the virus, they also carried the energy from the lake water.


    Meanwhile, the second generation of goats were almost virus free. Their meat would be edible for human beings after being soaked in the lake water for a few days. Perhaps, the third generation would be edible for humans directly.


    If her space could deliver such an effect, maybe she should put some mutated chicken, duck, and pigs in there. In the future, the people in her base would have safe meat to eat with that.


    With better food and living conditions, people would have greater strength to hunt zombies, and the army would soon grow stronger. She would also be able to trade the safe meat from her space for the supplies that her base needed.


    Without needing to catch any of those mutated roe deers and goats, Lin Qiao was able to clearly sense the virus that each of them carried. She instantly decided to release an announcement for the hunters in her base later when she exited her space and tell them to capture some mutated animals alive. She had plenty of room in her space to keep those animals anyway.


    She planned to ask Lin Feng to release that task in the mission hall. That was an efficient way to get things done.


    After confirming the changes that had happened to the animals in her space, she returned to her house, looking at Lu Tianyi and the other zombies, "You''ve been here for about three months. I''m taking you outside to breathe some fresh air today. Leave a few zombies here to watch the crops."


    "I''ll make some arrangements." Lu Tianyi''s eyes immediately glowed. He had no idea what was happening outside during his time in the space. He wasn''t one of those who couldn''t bear loneliness, but it was still great to go out for a little bit.


    Soon, Lu Tianyi summoned a few zombies and said to Lin Qiao, "Take them out first and put them in the army for training."


    Lin Qiao nodded. Lu Tianyi had already taken out a rope and connected those zombies, Pesticide, and Xiao-xiao with it.


    Lin Qiao held Lu Tianyi''s arm, then closed her eyes and generated a thought.


    Reopening her eyes, she and the other zombies were already standing in her bedroom.


    "Out, out," Lin Qiao immediately started to drive those zombies out of her room. She didn''t like it when so many different scents lingered in her room.


    The other zombies obediently moved toward the bedroom, and only Lu Tianyi hesitated to move. He sniffed at the air and paused for a moment, then turned to give Lin Qiao a meaningful glance.


    "I guess you two are making some great progress. Should I start calling him brother-in-law?" Lu Tianyi spent a second staring at her and then said with a grin.


    "Brother-in-law my a*s! Out! Out!" Lin Qiao waved at him like waving off a mosquito.She had spent a long while in her space, yet a strong scent from that man was still lingering in her room.


    Lu Tianyi rolled his eyes as he walked out of the bedroom and said in the meantime, "Still not admitting it? You are going to have a baby together, and you''ve done what was needed to be done. Are you still not going to be together? When did you become so inaccessible?"


    ''You were with so many men before, but you never disliked any of them.''


    Lin Qiao blinked, then said to him blandly, "Before, self-protection was difficult."


    She said self-protection was hard instead of ''I couldn''t protect myself'', because she was talking about Lu Tianyu and not herself.


    She looked at Lu Tianyi. The more time she spent together with him, the more strongly she felt that he cared about his sister, and the harder it was for her to tell him about her true identity. If she did, the young man would certainly take a heavy strike, and maybe do something not good.


    He would be sad for sure, because his real sister had died.


    But, she was so different from Lu Tianyu. Did Lu Tianyi really not know that she wasn''t his sister? He should at least have suspected her.


    Lu Tianyi looked at her in a very meaningful way. But soon, he walked out of her bedroom without saying any other word. Surprisingly, Lin Qiao wasn''t able to read his mind at that moment.


    In the living room, Lu Tianyi turned back to her and said, "Will you let the baby call you Mom and him Dad? But you won''t be together¡­ What if the baby asked you why the other kids'' parents are together? How are you gonna answer that question? Single-parenting isn''t good for the child''s growth. The other kids might laugh at your baby for that."


    Many children from single-parent families had some psychological shadow after growing up, unless their parents gave them a double amount of love. When their parents weren''t around, some of the other kids would say mean words to them and make fun of them. Sometimes, people mentioned their families casually, but those words they used could be hurtful for those poor kids.


    "Viney won''t be so fragile," Lin Qiao responded to him, "She''s a sensible child."


    How could that kid, who dared to entrap her own parents, be sad only because of some words that came from other people? That would be impossible!


    Lu Tianyi was a little confused when he heard that. How sensible could a baby possibly be? And, Viney? Was it a girl?


    "Alright, alright! You take them back to where you live."


    After sending all those zombies out of her flat, she finally realized that she didn''t land in a random spot this time. She entered the space from her bedroom, and now she was back in her bedroom.


    She seemed to have regained all her abilities. She was able to enter her space again, and turn invisible at any time she wanted.


    She glanced at her own pajamas and felt a little embarrassed. Earlier, she talked to Mo Yan in that pajama suit. How impolite!


    As Lu Tianyi and the other zombies had left, she thought that she could finally take some rest. However, someone knocked on her door before she even walked back into her bedroom.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows. The scents that came from behind the door belonged to Duan Juan and Nine, the new zombie. She looked at the time and found that it was already three in the morning. No way! Did that dumb zombie attack Duan Juan at night again?


    She opened the door to see Duan Juan''s sour face. She didn''t say anything as Lin Qiao opened the door, but folded her arms and pouted her mouth to point at one side to signal for Lin Qiao to look that way.


    Lin Qiao turned and saw that young male zombie, who loved to pounce on people, standing beside Duan Juan with his hands held behind his back. From Lin Qiao''s angle, she was able to see his hands locked in stone handcuffs again.


    "He went to your room at night again?" Lin Qiao laughed and said.


    Duan Juan pressed her lips together. She didn''t want to say anything.


    She was sleeping tight, yet that zombie suddenly jumped on her and licked her face. How awful it was to wake up with her face covered in zombie saliva!


    She had no idea how the zombie managed to sneak into her room without letting her know. It had happened twice. Had she been off-guard? She was an elite from a special force after all! It was so ridiculous that she let a stupid zombie sneak into her room twice.


    Why? How on earth did the zombie do that?


    Duan Juan was so not happy and curious about it.

 975 Nine Faces the Wall and Ponders Over His Misdeed

    Lin Qiao, of course, was able to read Duan Juan''s mind. She turned to the young male zombie and couldn''t help but say with curiosity, "He really likes you. Did he lick your face again?"


    She had already learned about what the zombie did just now from Duan Juan''s mind, but she just wanted to say that out loud because the look on the latter''s face was funny.


    As she expected, Duan Juan pulled a long face upon hearing her words. She grumpily gave Lin Qiao a glare, feeling that the latter was acting less and less like a leader recently. How could she always make fun of her like that?


    She liked to make fun of people before, but after that the apocalypse, she became a base leader and managed to get rid of that bad habit. However, Duan Juan felt of late as if Lin Qiao had redeveloped that old habit, which she used to have when she was in the army.


    Duan Juan glanced at Lin Qiao''s belly and wondered if that had anything to do with her pregnancy.


    "This is the second time. If I see him in my room again, I will¡­" Duan Juan glared at the young male zombie but failed to finish her speech.


    "You what? Hehe, he''s stronger than you, so you might not be able to defeat him if he gets serious. It''s weird though. Did he do anything else apart from licking your face? I never saw him licking Xiao Licheng''s face¡­" Lin Qiao had a question as she looked at Nine with curiosity.


    The zombie had changed his target. He was so persistent that he wouldn''t even listen to Lin Qiao''s orders. Well, in fact, he never followed her orders.


    He didn''t hurt Duan Juan though, not this time or the last time. Duan Juan was annoyed by him, but in fact, there was nothing to worry about for her.


    The young male zombie looked a little clumsy, but in fact, he should be rather capable. At least, he was able to approach Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue without letting them sense him. That was already impressive.


    As a zombie king, he should be able to hurt Duan Juan very easily. If he really wanted to do something to Duan Juan, she couldn''t possibly stay unharmed after being attacked at night twice.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the zombie. She clearly knew that he didn''t really want to tear Duan Juan into pieces and eat her. It seemed that he had never eaten any human being!


    What Lin Qiao said made Duan Juan very unhappy, so she couldn''t help but give the zombie a glare with the intention of killing.


    The young male zombie was immediately frightened. He turned around and put his face against the wall with his back to Duan Juan, then closed his eyes without daring to take another glance at her.


    Lin Qiao didn''t say anything.


    Why was he such a coward? Duan Juan did nothing but give him a threatening glance. She was fierce indeed, but he was a zombie king after all. Why did he get scared by her?


    After giving Nine that glare which was filled with the intention of killing, Duan Juan turned and left, once again leaving the zombie at Lin Qiao''s door.


    The fierce look in Duan Juan''s eyes was real. She had killed many people, before or after the apocalypse. As same as Lin Qiao and Yuan Tianxing, her hands were full of blood of some extremely evil people. None of those people she killed was innocent.


    The intention of killing coming from her eyes was actually hurtful. It could make people feel cold on the spine and find it hard to breathe.


    As Duan Juan left again like she did last time, Lin Qiao helplessly turned to Nine, who was pressing himself on the wall. She honestly didn''t understand what the zombie really wanted.


    Well, in fact, she was able to hear his thoughts, which were pretty simple.


    He only wanted to lick that nice smelling person. He understood that he wasn''t allowed to eat her, but couldn''t he even lick her? He was aware that he was forbidden from licking her as well, but he still wanted to do that. He did that last time, but didn''t suffer any severe punishment!


    That was what Lin Qiao heard from his mind. He was so childish, wasn''t he? She wanted to tell him that what he did was harassment. Would he be able to understand it if she told him? She didn''t think so!


    Was he stupid? No. After last time, he seemed to have learned that she would not hurt him for real. All she did was ask Six to discipline him. And now, she didn''t even know where Six was.


    "What on earth do you want?" Lin Qiao put a hand on the door frame and the other on her waist. She had really found herself something to worry about by bringing that zombie back.


    Nine leaned against the wall and stayed motionless.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said, "She has left! Are you now afraid of her? Why did you provoke her just now?"


    She did not understand that. He was brave enough to make Duan Juan angry, yet was frightened so badly by a fierce glance from her. She had never seen such a weird zombie before. She just could not figure out what he was thinking.


    She was able to hear his thoughts at the moment, but still couldn''t understand him.


    Nine heard what Lin Qiao said, then sneakily turned his head and looked around. Realizing that the nice smelling person had really left, he immediately wore a disappointed look.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and thought for a moment, then spent a second sensing Six''s vibe. Next, she released her own vibe and summoned Six.


    Soon later, Six showed up at Lin Qiao''s door. She waved at him and said, "Take him away."


    After saying that, she closed the door and walked back into her bedroom. The light in her room was off the whole time. As a zombie, she didn''t need lights anyway.


    Outside her door, Six silently glanced at the young make zombie, then frowned slightly while suffering a headache. That zombie was such an escape master. He could disappear within a blink of an eye!


    ¡­


    Another week passed. After the fence wall in Base Number Two was built up, Yun Meng and Xie Dong brought an elite zombie troop to the edge of the area where those underground creatures lived. Xie Dong returned to the base soon afterward, leaving Yun Meng and Old Guo there to keep an eye on that area.


    Lin Qiao didn''t plan to send Old Guo at first, but the old man volunteered to go. Before, he hadn''t been doing much work in the base, and Lin Qiao was fine with it. But this time, as he asked to go with the troops, Lin Qiao let him go.


    Lin Qiao had a feeling that he had some specific purpose. She didn''t prepare to dig it out, but told Yun Meng to keep an eye on the old zombie man.


    Before Wu Chengyue came to her to collect his bonus again, Lin Qiao suddenly sensed a bearing-down pain from her lower abdomen. She was really nervous, because she thought that something bad had happened to Viney.


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen sent her to Lin Hao''s place in a flurry. Lin Hao gave her a check-up, then told her the truth with a weird look on his face.


    The baby was coming out.


    ''What? The baby is coming? So soon? How come!'' Lin Qiao was totally unprepared.


    It happened too suddenly, so much so that Lin Qiao even panicked a little. She couldn''t have imagined that she would be giving birth to the baby so soon. It had only been a week¡­

 977 The Baby Is Delivered Safely

    Lin Hao watched Lin Qiao''s stomach squirm intensely. He paused briefly with surprise, then realized what was happening. Then, he turned his head, and as he thought, he saw Lin Qiao''s cervix dilated quickly, and a stream of transparent liquid flowing out.


    "Sis¡­ You, you¡­ The baby is even more impatient than you are!" He didn''t even know what to do at the moment.


    Well, the baby was in a perfect position, so no adjustment was needed. Now, Lin Qiao had to start pushing hard. She needed to do it on her own. ''Right, I got to give her something to bite on,'' Lin Hao thought.


    Lin Qiao sensed a tearing pain coming from her lower body, as if her pelvis was tearing apart. It hurt so much that her limbs were limp and her mind wasn''t even clear. She got herself together and bit on a towel roll. Viney''s voice had been echoing in her mind¡ª''Mama, come on! Ouch¡­ It hurts¡­''


    ''Is it you or me who is suffering the pain?'' Lin Qiao complained silently.


    "Push! Push!" Lin Hao stood by her side and said to her, "You don''t need the air, but you should still breathe. It''ll ease the pain and raise your tolerance."


    Lin Qiao had no other choices but to follow his instructions. She breathed deeply with her nose, then slowly let exhaled through her mouth.


    "When you inhale, gather your strength in your lower part and squeeze the baby out," Lin Hao stood between her legs and said to her with his eyes fixed on her cervix.


    Lin Qiao bit on the towel roll and clenched on the armrests on both sides of the obstetric table, causing them to even distort. The pain coming from her lower abdomen made her want to die as she felt a hard object trying to make a way out of her womb.


    "I''m going to cut you," Lin Hao suddenly said to her.


    Lin Qiao had no strength to respond to him at that moment. She bit the towel so hard that her veins even bulged under her skin. She felt as if her mind was drifting away from her body, yet she had only one thought left in her head, that was pushing Viney''s head out of her body.


    As Lin Hao''s voice faded, she sensed a slight pain from between her legs. Compared with the severe labor pain, that was not even worth mentioning. Lin Hao gave her episiotomy to enlarge the opening because the baby''s hard and dark head was already coming out.


    Thick, dark-red blood flowed out of that small wound and soon stained the baby''s head. Lin Hao was wearing gloves, so he wasn''t worried that he might accidentally expose his skin to Lin Qiao''s blood.


    "Come on, come on! Push harder! Harder! The baby is coming out! Harder! Harder!" Seeing the baby''s head, Lin Hao shouted at Lin Qiao with excitement. That was the hardest part. As long as the baby''s head came out, the rest would be easy.


    "Mm¡­ Eh!" Lin Qiao closed her eyes tightly. At last, she uttered a scream from her throat. At the same time, she gathered all her strength in her lower body.


    Puff! Following a muffled noise, she felt that her lower body was no longer pressed tight, and also that her body seemed to fall apart. But soon, she sensed that something was stuck in her body.


    Lin Hao instantly supported the baby''s head with his palm, then started to pull the baby outward with both hands carefully. Meanwhile, he squeezed some sticky liquid out of the baby''s mouth, and said, "Don''t relax! The baby''s body hasn''t come out yet! I''ll count from one to three, and you''ll push again!"


    Then, he started counting, "One, two, three!" He gently pulled the baby outward in the meantime. Following his voice, Lin Qiao pushed again, and finally pushed the baby out of her body.


    Only after that did both of them finally sigh with relief. Lin Hao was covered in sweat at the moment; his face mask and scrub cap were both soaked.


    In his hands was a bluish pale, wrinkled little person. His moist hair were stuck on his scalp, making him look really not so pretty!


    But still, Lin Hao was so happy. He neatly cut the umbilical cord and clamped it, then lay the baby on a towel with both hands. After that, he wiped the baby''s body with a sterilized, wet towel while saying, "Great, it''s a chubby boy!"


    Lin Qiao was lying there weakly, having dropped the towel from her mouth. Hearing what Lin Hao said, she was confused at first. A few seconds later, she abruptly turned around with surprise.


    "What did you say? A boy?" Her voice was hoarse, maybe because she was exhausted.


    "Em, yeah, a boy. He looks healthy. But, why isn''t he crying?" Lin Hao wiped the baby, then gently patted him on his little butt. However, the baby made no reaction.


    Lin Hao looked at the little boy while thinking. He had spread his arms and was kicking his little legs. His eyes were still closed, but judging from his kicking little legs, he was quite energetic.


    Lin Qiao didn''t notice Lin Qiao''s strange tone of speaking.


    Lin Qiao first gave Lin Hao a glance with surprise, then turned to the baby on the bed, who was kicking his legs. Abruptly, she burst into laughter.


    "Hahaha! Viney, have you heard that? Your uncle said that you''re a boy! It turned out that you are a boy!" She said knowingly.


    Lin Hao turned to look at her with confusion. He didn''t understand why she said that.


    What was going on? She was clearly talking to the baby. The baby was only a few minutes old. There was no way that he could understand his mother. But somehow, Lin Qiao seemed to believe that the baby was able to understand her.


    And¡­


    "You named him Viney? Why did you give him a girl''s name?" Lin Hao bewilderedly wrapped the baby up with the towel, then put him in Lin Qiao''s arms.


    Lin Qiao looked ghastly pale at the moment, as if she was suffering from a serious illness. However, she laughed relaxedly and said, "He named himself."


    Lin Hao walked to between her legs, prepared to help her remove the placenta. Hearing what she said, he was stunned a little. "He''s still a baby. How could he name himself?"


    He didn''t believe that at all.


    Lin Qiao gave a smile and said, "You can ask him yourself in the future."


    Picturing the baby have a sour face when people called him Viney, Lin Qiao couldn''t stop laughing wickedly in her head.


    Lin Hao pressed his lips together, as he didn''t want to continue that conversation. He removed the placenta and checked her wound. He was going to stitch the wound, but found that it was not necessary.


    "Eh? I didn''t know that your body has such a great self-healing capacity!" He said with surprise.


    The lateral episiotomy wound was already half-way healed. He didn''t even need to put stitches into that wound.

 978 Its A Baby Monster

    Hearing what he said, Lin Qiao nodded and responded, "This body always has a great self-healing capacity. Alright, I''m fine. I''ll just take some rest, and soon I''ll be able to walk."


    While speaking, she held Viney and looked at his wrinkled little face as she touched his chest. Then, she said to Lin Hao with a weird look on her face, "Lin Hao, look, this baby''s heart is beating."


    Lin Hao who was cleaning his tools hurriedly dropped what was in his hand and walked to her, then picked up the stethoscope and put it on Viney''s chest.


    "How come?" He was confused, "Why couldn''t I detect his heartbeat when he was in your womb?"


    Lin Qiao sniffed at Viney. She sensed a tight connection between herself and the baby, and the familiar Viney vibe. However, his scent was different from before.


    "He is alive," Lin Qiao looked at Viney and said with a complicated look.


    She couldn''t have thought that she, as a zombie, would give birth to a living human being. She thought that Viney would either be a zombie or half-human and half-zombie.


    Lin Hao didn''t say anything, but measured Viney''s heart rate and checked his mouth and nails.


    "Look at his nails. His body temperature and his heart rate are both lower than healthy babies." After checking, Lin Hao said with a serious look. He was not a human being, because his body wasn''t as vivacious as that of healthy human beings; he wasn''t a zombie either, because his heart was beating.


    Followed Lin Hao''s words, Lin Qiao turned her eyes to Viney''s little hands and instantly detected a slight amount of zombie virus from the baby''s purple-blue nails. The virus existed in all ten of his nails.


    If he scratched someone, that person would certainly be infected by the zombie virus.


    She couldn''t sense the baby''s body temperature, because she herself was cold, and Viney was wrapped in a towel.


    She thought for a moment. Actually, it would fine even if Viney was a zombie baby. He was a smart kid. Being a zombie wouldn''t be a problem for him.


    Abruptly, she pinched the baby''s wrinkled little face and said to him, "Aren''t you gonna say anything yet? Are you going to swallow what''s in your mouth?"


    Lin Hao bewilderedly gave her a glance. However, in the next second, he saw the baby turn his face and spit at the clearing nearby.


    "Pah!"


    Lin Hao was dumbfounded.


    Lin Qiao ignored her stunned brother. She had gotten enough rest, so she quickly sat up and put her feet back on the ground. Her legs were still limp, yet she was already able to walk.


    She put on her slippers and walked outside while talking to Viney, "My son, I have no milk. Would you like some milk? Do you want me to get you some milk from those goats in my space?"


    Viney had his eyes closed. His eyelids were toned with a dark-blue color, and his lips were pale. Hearing Lin Qiao''s voice, he couldn''t help but press his little lips together, and then open his mouth.


    "Mama, can I talk to you about one thing?" Viney''s voice was a typical baby''s voice, yet his tone of speaking sounded mature.


    He thought he would be a girl. Back in Mama''s womb, he had no idea about his gender. Now, knowing that he was a boy, he started not to like Viney as his nickname.


    That name sounded so girly!


    Lin Qiao walked to the door with a smile. While opening the door, she replied, "What''s it about?"


    She opened the door, but didn''t see those people out there who were frozen in shock. Instead, she lowered her head to look at Viney.


    "I want to change my name!" Viney had a tender voice, but he sounded not so happy.


    Lin Qiao heard people gasp, then raised her head and saw them.


    ''Damn! I forgot there are people waiting out here!''


    Those people popped their eyes and stared at Viney, who was in Lin Qiao''s arms. They looked so surprised as if they were looking at a ghost.


    Did they mishear? That baby voice wasn''t coming out of that baby''s mouth, was it?


    At that moment, Lin Hao, who was still in the delivery room, was as shocked as the others. Before the others could react, he made his voice sounded.


    "What? You gave birth to a little monster! A monster kid? No¡­ A monster baby?"


    That was absolutely not normal! Which normal baby was able to talk right after it was born? Also, that baby seemed to have fought pretty hard for a way out just now! Also, he didn''t cry! And¡­ he spat!


    His voice brought the others back from the shock. They understood that Lin Hao didn''t mean bad, but no one would like their kids being called ''monster''.


    Wu Chengyue immediately pulled a long face.


    "Shut your mouth! How can you say that? What baby monster? He is clearly a baby zombie!" Lin Qiao gave him a glare. However, what she said was not much better than Lin Hao''s words.


    "Mama, are you trying to scare everybody? I am a human being, okay?" The soft and silvery baby voice was heard again. Viney couldn''t open his eyes yet, but he could detect the vibe of everyone on the scene by sniffing.


    The people were speechless.


    What Lin Qiao said didn''t scare them, but the baby talking did. Was the baby even aware that he was only a newborn baby?


    Lin Hao had a strong mind, so he was less shocked than before at that moment. His sister had died and then come back to life in another body. What could be more miraculous than that?


    At that moment, Lin Qiao looked at Viney and said, "Thankfully, you are not in your original shape. A baby with vines on his head would be so ugly."


    Viney didn''t want to say anything.


    Except for Wu Chengyue and Viney himself, none of the others knew what his original shape was. Lin Qiao''s words aroused their curiosity, so they soon gathered around Viney and looked at him like they were looking at some kind of rare animal in the zoo.


    The baby was wrapped in a towel and looked normal. He had a little face, a pair of eyes, a nose and a little mouth. Looking carefully, they felt that he would grow into a lovely kid.


    Wu Yueling, who was carried in her father''s arms, was the most excited one. With her arms around Wu Chengyue''s neck, she leaned her head forward to look at the baby. The baby was so small. Was that her little sister?


    She was close to Lin Qiao, so Lin Qiao heard her thoughts. "No, this is your little brother," Lin Qiao raised her head and said to the girl, "Ling Ling, you are going to take good care of your little brother."


    "A boy?" The others were a little surprised. They didn''t change their expressions much though. Some of them were even disappointed.


    Qiu Lili was disappointed the most obviously. "Ah, it''s a boy!"


    "I thought you''d have a daughter. I was going to let Tongtong get engaged with her," said Liu Jun regrettably.


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were both a little speechless on hearing that. Did she plan on that before Viney was even born? Did Viney agree to that?


    "He''s so tiny! And he''s ugly!" Qiu Lili complained, but her eyes were still sparkling when she looked at Viney''s face.

 979 The Sights of Their Backs

    Viney wasn''t happy to hear Qiu Lili call him ugly. He snorted scornfully, then said with his baby voice, "I don''t think you were prettier than I am when you were a baby!"


    Hearing that, Qiu Lili instantly pouted. ''You little thing! You just came to the world. How dare you argue with me!'' she thought.


    She slightly raised her chin and said, "I couldn''t see myself when I was a baby!"


    "You''re right¡­" Viney said blandly, "I can''t see myself either¡­ I''m tired. I''m going to have some sleep."


    His voice grew weaker, and so did his breath.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue asked Lin Qiao, "Are you alright?"


    His voice was deep and filled with concern. He was feeling uncomfortable ever since he heard from Liu Jun about how painful birth-giving could be. He thought the labor would last over ten hours, but the baby was delivered so soon.


    Just now, he heard her giving out a muffled scream in pain, and that even made his heart twitch.


    The zombie lady didn''t scream out loud. It sounded as if something was stopping that scream from escaping her throat. But still, he heard her voice and felt her pain.


    She was a zombie, and her pain-sensitive nerve should have died already. However, the birth gave her so much pain that she even moaned. That must be extremely painful!


    Lin Qiao glanced at him with a complicated look in her eyes. She soon dropped her eyelids and let her eyelashes cover her eyes, then blandly nodded.


    "I''ve been having a great self-healing capacity. I''m already fine," she said.


    At that point, Lu Tianyi came to her and said to her carefully with longing in his eyes, "Can I hold him?"


    Lin Qiao generously handed him the kid. The young man stiffly took the baby over and couldn''t help but gave a happy grin. Seeing that, Lin Qiao smiled faintly.


    Meanwhile, Lin Hao tidied the delivery room. Seeing that the group of people were still at the door, he said to them, "Alright, alright, bring the baby to the baby''s room." Then, he turned to Lin Qiao and said, "You won''t stay in the hospital, will you? But still, you need to come to my clinic for a check-up before leaving."


    "I''ll bring the baby to the baby''s room," Lu Tianyi said.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the baby that was held in Lu Tianyi''s arm with hesitation, then looked at Lin Qiao. At last, he gave Xiao Licheng an eye signal.


    "I''m going with you," Xiao Licheng said to Lu Tianyi as he understood Wu Chengyue''s meaning.


    "Good. Since you and the baby are both safe and healthy, I''ll be heading back." Liu Jun sighed with relief and then left. The others also left under Lin Qiao''s orders. Of course, she told them not to leak the baby''s identity.


    Every one of those people understood why. None of them would tell anyone else about the baby.


    As Lu Tianyi brought Viney away, Wu Yueling got anxious. She looked at Lu Tianyi''s back and patted her father''s should with her little hands.


    Wu Chengyue knew that she wanted to see Viney, but he himself wanted to know more about the zombie lady''s condition. So, he patiently comforted his daughter, "Ling Ling, wait a moment. We''ll go and see your little brother soon, alright? Let''s first check on your Zombie Mommy."


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, who were following behind Lin Qiao, heard him and didn''t know what to say.


    Zombie Mommy? That was way too straightforward!


    Thankfully, Ling Ling didn''t like talking, so she probably wouldn''t call Lin Qiao that in front of other people. Then again, Chief Wu seemed to be quite determined about his relationship with Lin Qiao. He even taught his daughter to call her Mommy!


    Hearing what he said, Lin Qiao instantly furrowed her eyebrows and stopped walking. It was late and night, and no other people were in the hallway, but still, she didn''t want Ling Ling to call her that.


    "Can you please stop teaching her to call me that? I like Ling Ling, but I don''t want to be her Mommy." Her feelings toward Wu Chengyue had changed, but she still refused to let her relationship with him grow any closer.


    She had no plan of being with him, or any other man for that matter. She really did not want to go through the pain that she had suffered before again.


    Judging by Wu Chengyue''s tone of speaking, he was pretty possessive. People''s feelings changed all the time. Who would know if his feelings toward her would be different someday?


    Lin Qiao was aware that Wu Chengyue was a strong man, and she believed that he wouldn''t die easily. However, her relationships with both her ex-boyfriends ended in miserable ways, and she was afraid of suffering that kind of pain again.


    Seeing the cold and fierce look on her face, Wu Chengyue gave a sigh and said, "Alright, I get it. I''ll tell her to call you Aunty Lu. Is that okay?"


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao turned and kept walking while she said, "I think I''ll prefer ''sister''. Alright, it''s late. Ling Ling needs to rest. Chief Wu, you should take her back to rest."


    She had given birth to Viney, so the binding between Wu Chengyue and her should have ended. He no longer needed to stay together with her. Besides, he had left Sea City Base for nearly a month. It was about the time for him to go back.


    Wu Chengyue carried Wu Yueling and followed behind her. He looked at her back and pressed his lips together. He wanted to bossily way no to her, but didn''t want to trigger an argument with her. He wasn''t happy about her attitude, as he felt that she was abandoning him after making use of him.


    "I get it." Wu Chengyue stayed expressionless and silent for about ten seconds, then stopped walking before turning and leaving.


    Duan Juan and Shen Yujen turned to glance at his back. Somehow, they felt that he was upset. The two of them then turned back to their Chief and both sighed in their heads.


    Duan Juan knew why had Lin Qiao been staying vigilant against Wu Chengyue. But unlike her, Shen Yujen didn''t understand why the atmosphere between Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue suddenly grew tense again. Weren''t they on friendly terms not long ago? She thought Wu Chengyue had a chance of winning her heart.


    In Lin Hao''s clinic, Lin Hao gave Lin Qiao a check-up and found that she was totally fine, except for the fact that her belly looked a little flabby.


    "How much energy do you have in your nucleus now?" He thought for a moment and then asked her a question.


    Lin Qiao answered, "I''ve regained fifteen percent of my power during the past two months, but that energy was consumed up just now during the birth. Now, I can''t feel any energy inside me."


    "What about the rest part of your body?" Lin Hao asked another question, "Do you feel any discomfort? Or, is everything normal again?"


    Lin Hao had kept all kinds of problems that occurred during her pregnancy in secret records. He knew that her condition would be different after the baby came out. There were two possibilities: she would restore all her lost energy and powers slowly, or her energy and powers would be gone for good.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "How could that happen so soon? I guess it''ll take a little longer. I''ve regained the control of my space, though, and my space has grown larger¡­"


    She narrowed her eyes to sense her space, then found that the white fog had moved further backward for a long distance.

 980 After Giving Birth to the Baby

    "Apart from the fact that my energy is consumed up, there''s another thing I need to confirm," said Lin Qiao.


    "What?" Lin Hao asked.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "The binding between me and him." She had told Lin Hao about why she suddenly disappeared two months ago.


    Lin Hao paused briefly with surprised and said, "Hasn''t he left yet?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "He''s in the nursery."


    "Oh," Lin Hao nodded.


    The nursery was only tens of meters away from Lin Hao''s clinic, so Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if the binding between Wu Chengyue and herself had disappeared or not. She needed to go over two-hundred meters away from him to tell.


    "What are you gonna feed the baby with? Fresh milk powder is hard to get now. Maybe you should find my nephew a wet nurse." Lin Hao knew that Lin Qiao''s body didn''t produce milk, so it was impossible for her to feed the little thing herself.


    The milk powders from before the apocalypse were out-of-date long ago. Most of the goats and cows had mutated. Who would feed their children the milk from mutated animals? Each base had been keeping some healthy goats or cows, but only in small numbers. Each base was only able to produce a small amount of milk powder, so fresh milk powder was very precious.


    Lin Qiao stood up, then turned and walked toward the door. Meanwhile, she said, "We don''t need a wet nurse. I can get milk for Viney."


    A few goats that were born in her space had whelped baby goats, and they had plenty of milk. The second generation of mutated goats still carried a slight amount of zombie virus, but the lake water in her space could remove that.


    Besides, Viney was her child. He looked like a human being, but maybe his digestive system wasn''t the same as that of human beings. His mouth and nails, and even his blood carried a small amount of zombie virus. Perhaps, he was immune to the zombie virus.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao wasn''t worried about Viney''s food source.


    "Are you still calling him Viney? Have you thought about how much he doesn''t like that name? He is mature. He might refuse to talk to you if you keep calling him that." Hearing Lin Qiao mention Viney''s name, Lin Hao recalled how the baby complained in a tender, soft voice, back at the door of the livery room.


    He was able to talk; he pronounced clearly and his words were perfectly coherent. What a baby monster! His tiny body seemed to contain a mature soul.


    Would all zombie babies be like that?


    Somehow, Lin Hao thought of the other zombies. He didn''t yet know if the other zombies could have babies like Lin Qiao did or not.


    While speaking, he picked up the baby''s record and followed Lin Qiao out.


    "He can change his name himself. I really am surprised to know that he''s a boy! Also, I think he''ll know better about what he can eat than we do," Lin Qiao was still wearing the hospital gown and a thin jacket that she always wore,


    The two of them headed toward the nursery.


    "No wonder you were never worried about the baby''s growth environment. That kid is so mature already. I don''t think he''ll wonder why his parents aren''t together," Lin Hao abruptly recalled what they had discussed earlier.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent.


    He was wrong. That little thing cared a lot about that. Based on how he entrapped his parents earlier, he clearly wanted Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue to be together. Lin Qiao had no idea why the kid was so smart that he knew everything he should or shouldn''t know already.


    In the nursery, Lin Qiao saw Wu Chengyue, Wu Yueling, and Qiu Lili standing beside the crib and staring straight at the baby. Lu Tianyi and Xiao Licheng were also leaning their heads forward to look at him.


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face grew faint as Lin Qiao showed up together with Lin Hao. He looked at Lin Hao and said, "I want to know about the baby''s condition."


    That was a special nursery, and Viney was the only baby in there.


    Lin Hao told him about what he knew, "He is in a special condition right now. Based on his physical features, he is a human being indeed. However, his body temperature is relatively low, and his heart rate is lower than healthy human babies by fifty percent. His gum and fingernails both carry the zombie virus, and so does his blood. I''m not sure if he''ll grow into a pure zombie or a healthy human being. Maybe the virus will disappear slowly and he''ll turn into a normal human being. But, I can''t tell for sure now. Apart from that, he is fine. Oh, also, he can talk once he was born, too."


    At that moment, Viney was in a deep sleep in the baby crib. Everyone on the scene could feel that his breath was shallow and weak. His pair of tender and chubby hands weren''t covered. Someone might have taken those hands out earlier. At the moment, Wu Yueling was holding one of the baby''s hand with a finger.


    Wu Chengyue frowned slightly and asked, "Will he be able to live like a normal child, or will he be like a zombie?"


    While writing something down on the baby''s record, Lin Hao shook his head and responded, "I am not sure about that. But, I personally think that he''ll be like a normal human baby. After all, his physical features are mostly the same as human beings."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue sighed with relief.


    At that point, Lin Hao started asking people to leave. "Alright, the baby needs some quiet. Your vibes will stimulate him and wake him up. Just leave! Go and do whatever you need to do."


    The people on the scene were soon cast out of the nursery by him. But, before leaving, Lu Tianyi asked one question.


    "Eh¡­ Have you prepared milk powder? Does Chief have milk?"


    "Yes, yes! You don''t need to worry about that. Your Chief will handle it," Lin Hao waved a hand and responded to him while closely observing Viney without even raising his head.


    Lin Qiao was cast out too, feeling abandoned. Lin Hao was so worried about her when she was pregnant, but as the baby had come out, he started to ignore her now.


    She walked out and saw Wu Chengyue standing aside, holding Wu Yueling. Wu Yueling could barely keep her eyes open. The little girl blinked slowly, and her eyelids kept falling.


    Lin Qiao silently gave the man and his daughter a glance, then turned to Qiu Lili and said to her, "You stay here and keep an eye on Viney tonight. I''m going back to my office. I''ll come back here tomorrow."


    She still had some work to do. Earlier on, her stomach suddenly ached while she was working, so she came here and had the baby. She glanced outside and found that the day was breaking. She planned to head back and finish work for today, and also conveniently get tomorrow''s work done.


    "Okay." Qiu Lili had no critical work to do anyway, and just wandered in the base most of the time. Lin Qiao asked her to watch the baby because no one else could be more suitable for the job than her.

 981 The Binding is Gone

    After walking out of the side door of the medical department, Lin Qiao glanced back at the medical department, then got into the car. As the car drove away from the medical department, she silently calculated the distance between herself and Wu Chengyue.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue was near the front door of the medical department, sitting in the car seemingly waiting for something. Xiao Licheng was sitting in the driver''s seat, with one hand on the steering wheel and upper body turned slightly backward, eyes on Wu Chengyue.


    He didn''t understand Wu Chengyue told him to wait for a moment just now. As the man''s subordinate, it wasn''t appropriate for him to ask any question. With no other choice, he waited for the boss''s order.


    Quite a while later, Wu Chengyue said, "Let''s head back and pack our things. We might need to move somewhere else after dawn."


    Xiao Licheng instantly started the car. While driving, he said, "Move somewhere else? Why?"


    Wu Chengyue curved his lips corners in a small smile and said, "Because we have no reason to stay there." In his eyes was a disappointed look.


    Base Number Two in All Beings Base had always been a secret, and the two of them were outsiders. They were allowed to stay in Base Number Two only because Wu Chengyue needed to stay close to the zombie lady, and the zombie lady had to stay in Base Number Two. Now, as the binding between them was gone, she would surely ask him to leave.


    Besides, Base Number Two was full of zombies. As two living human beings, Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng were as tempting to those zombies as two well-roasted pork knuckles.


    Sitting in the car, Lin Qiao sensed the distance between Wu Chengyue and herself grow longer than two-hundred meters. Realizing that she was no longer bonded together with him, she sighed with relief, finally feeling free.


    During the past two months, she was bonded together with Wu Chengyue and had to follow him everywhere. She was very, very unhappy about that. Wu Chengyue agreed to go to the places that she wanted to go to, yet she was still not happy, because her activities were limited by him.


    She always hated being restrained. What she hated more was the people who tried to threaten her. Most of the people who did that didn''t end up well. But this time, she tolerated Wu Chengyue for the sake of Viney.


    Apart from feeling free and relaxed, she somehow also felt a little disappointed. She knew where that feeling came from, yet she didn''t want to dig deep into it.


    After all, she was with that man the whole time during the past two months. She had gradually gotten used to his presence and his vibe. Even if they didn''t have sex again, she would still feel slightly disappointed at the moment.


    Thankfully, she had always been rational. Currently, she had romantic relationships cast out of her life, so even though she felt a little disappointed, she pretended not to realize it and stayed expressionless.


    Instead of going straight to her office, she first returned to where she lived and got changed. She put on her old army green suit, including the loose-fitting pants and shirt, the army coat, and the cap that she hadn''t worn for long, along with her combat boots.


    Finally, she could tuck her shirt into her pants again. That made her sigh with relief.


    Wearing casual clothing in her office made her feel not serious enough, not to mention how inconvenient those casual clothes could be when she left the base for missions.


    She put a hand on her lower belly, which was already flat. Unlike the other new mothers, her belly turned flat again right after she gave birth to the baby. She was already a zombie. She absorbed energy to nourish her dead blood and flesh, but would never grow one slight bit of extra fat.


    However, the pregnancy did make her lower belly saggy. Her abdomen skin hadn''t restored its elasticity, so her belly looked flabby. The shape of her waist didn''t change though. After putting on her clothes, she was again a sexy zombie who had full breasts, slim waist, round hips, and long legs.


    She brushed her hair that were hanging loosely over her shoulder with her fingers, then put on the cap and went out of her flat, heading toward her office. Seeing her in that familiar military suit, Duan Juan and Shen Yujen had a complicated feeling. What they felt the most strongly was that the zombie lady has regained her sharp vibe.


    No wonder she seemed to become so much gentler before. It was because she was pregnant! How come they didn''t realize that!


    "Send someone to re-accommodate Chief Wu. Ask him to move to Base Number One. It''s really inconvenient for him to stay here," After leaving her apartment, Lin Qiao said to Duan Juan.


    "Yes, ma''am," Duan Juan nodded.


    Before going to her office, Lin Qiao entered her space and showed up on the grassland on the other side of the lake, right beside a mutated goat that was nursing its baby.


    The goat gave a start when she suddenly showed up. It sprung up from the ground, then turned and attempted to run. However, Lin Qiao swiftly caught it and then brought it into the woods, tying it to a tree with the vine that Viney left. That vine was unbreakable.


    Then, she found a medium-sized bowl and a cup of water from her house, and went back to the goat.


    Soon, she exited her space holing a bowl of goat milk covered by a lid. "Send this to the medical department and give it to Doctor Lin. Tell him that this is for Viney." She said to Shen Yujen.


    "Viney?" Shen Yujen paused briefly with surprise. Based on Lin Qiao''s words, she could guess whom the bowl of milk was for, but Viney''s name made her doubt it.


    That was a boy, wasn''t it? Why did he have such a girly nickname?


    "Ah," Lin Qiao smiled and said, "I''ve been calling him that and can''t seem to change it immediately. Go."


    "Yes, ma''am," Shen Yujen left with the milk.


    Lin Qiao walked to the administration building. In her office, she took off her cap and put it aside, then started working.


    On the other side of the base, Wu Chengyue was talking to Xiao Licheng, "Send Yue Shan back to our base to bring some milk powder over, as well as some baby''s clothes and other supplies. Tell him to deliver those here as soon as possible."


    "Sure!" Xiao Licheng nodded knowingly.


    ¡­


    Viney woke up to find Lin Hao sitting beside his little bed, holding a bowl of warm milk.


    "Hey, little monster¡­ Eh, I mean, Viney! You woke up! Come on! You''re hungry, aren''t you? Your mama just brought you a bowl of goat milk. Do you like it?" Noticing Viney twitch his nose slightly and move his eyeballs under his eyelids, he knew that the baby was awake. He really couldn''t see that little one as a normal baby at the moment. After all, what happened when he was born was just too shocking.


    While speaking, he carefully put the bowl near Viney''s face.


    Viney moved his lips slightly. After a short silence, he said in a consultative tone, "Uncle, can you please not call me Viney? You can call me Baby¡­"


    Detecting that helpless tone of speech from the little one, Lin Hao couldn''t help but laugh. "Oh, sure, I''m going to call you Baby then! How do you know that I''m your uncle? Did your mother tell you that?"


    Viney nodded and said, "Of course! I''m hungry, so just give me the milk. I smelt milk. It smells nice. I can drink it."

 982 Where Is The Milk From?

    Hearing him, Lin Hao dropped the milk bowl and scooped him up from the tiny bed, putting him on his own knees. Then, he propped the baby''s back with a hand and started feeding the baby with a little spoon.


    In the meantime, he said to the baby, "Can you tell the differences between different types of food by smelling them? Can you tell what''s edible for you and what''s not? Or, can you tell what''s edible for everyone?"


    It would fine if he was only able to tell what was edible for himself by smelling the food. If he could even tell what was edible for the others, he might possess the same kind of power as his mother.


    Did he inherit that power from his mother?


    Viney said, "I can only tell what''s edible for me. I think I can drink this bowl of milk." He couldn''t tell what was in that milk, but the aroma told him that it was safe for him.


    "Like animals," said Lin Hao, "did you make the judgment by the smell of the milk? Come on, open your mouth. You didn''t get your first spoonful of milk from your mother. You got it from me, your uncle! Oh, but Baby, don''t tell other people that I''m your uncle."


    His sister was still wearing someone else''s skin. He was worried that the baby might call him ''uncle'' in front of some other people and cause them to suspect his mother.


    Viney opened her mouth and tasted the milk. The milk had a faint fishy smell, but after he swallowed it, he sensed a refreshing sweetness lingering in his mouth. It wasn''t bad. After the first gulp, he responded to Lin Hao, "Don''t worry! I''m young, but not stupid. I am aware what situation my Mama is in now."


    He didn''t try to hide his scorn toward his uncle.


    Lin Hao didn''t know what to say. Talking to a little baby who had a mature mind could be exhausting. And somehow, he felt as if he was going to be outsmarted by the little thing.


    "Oh, my little uncle is here," Viney said abruptly.


    Who? Lin Hao was confused.


    Following a series of footstep sounds, Lu Tianyi showed up outside the window. It turned out that Viney knew him too. Alright, he was indeed the baby''s uncle too.


    Lu Tianyi glanced into the nursery. Seeing that Lin Hao was already holding the baby and feeding him, he opened the door and walked in.


    "The baby woke up. Where is the milk from?"


    "Oh, Chief had someone deliver it to us," said Lin Hao.


    Lu Tianyi walked to Viney and noticed that the baby still had his eyes closed. He couldn''t help but ask, "When will he open his eyes?"


    Lin Hao checked Viney''s eyes; the corners of the baby''s eyes had already opened slightly, so he said, "Soon, I think. By the end of today, these eyes will open half-way. I think he''ll be able to blink tomorrow."


    It was about six o''clock in the morning. The baby should be able to open his eyes in about twenty hours.


    "Tomorrow? That sounds soon. I heard that it takes a week for a baby''s eyes to open at times," said Lu Tianyi as he watched Lin Hao feed the baby gently, not feeling strange about it at all.


    "You''re talking about normal babies." After giving the baby another spoonful of milk, Lin Hao raised his eyes and gave Lu Tianyi a glance. ''Do you think this one is a normal baby? This is a little monster!'' he said to Lu Tianyi with his eyes.


    Lu Tianyi spent a short while watching, then said, "Can I try to feed him?"


    "Do you know how?" Lin Hao gave him another glance and asked blandly. What if he couldn''t do it well and made the whole place messy?


    Lu Tianyi understood the look in Lin Hao''s eyes. But, he really wanted to hold the baby and feed him.


    Lin Hao noticed the longing in his eyes. In fact, he felt that letting him feed the baby or teaching him how to do it wouldn''t be a big deal, but he didn''t want to give him the little monster.


    "Just let me do it. I''ll do it slowly and carefully. Also Doctor Lin, aren''t you busy? Don''t you need to check on your patients? Don''t you have to operate on your patients?" Lu Tianyi said with a smile.


    On hearing that, Lin Hao pulled a long face. He was busy indeed. Two surgical operations needed him today. Once he started working, he wouldn''t be able to take care of the baby.


    "Just go. Little Uncle can feed me. We''ll be fine," said Biney.


    Lu Tianyi heard the baby and paused briefly with surprise. Then, he slightly widened his eyes and looked at Viney happily.


    He heard the baby call him ''uncle of That was a subtle and complicated feeling. He had no idea why the kid added ''little'' before ''uncle'' though. He was in his twenties already! Of course, he did not know that he was Viney''s youngest uncle. Both Lin Hao and Lin Feng were older than him.


    Lin Hao reluctantly gave Viney to Lu Tianyi at last and told the latter how to hold the baby, as well as the things that required attention.


    The baby''s body was soft. A wrong position could make the baby feel uncomfortable, or lay pressure on its fragile bones.


    While Lin Hao was listing the matters that needed attention, Viney said impatiently, "Alright, alright. I can talk. If I feel uncomfortable, I will tell Little Uncle about it. Just go, go!"


    Lin Hao didn''t know what to say.


    ''I am worried about you, okay? What is that look on your face? You are wearing a frown! Why do you like Lu Tianyi more? I am the one who brought you to the world! I am your uncle too!'' Lin Hao complained in his head.


    By the time Wu Chengyue brought Ling Ling over to see Viney, he found Lu Tianyi holding his son and smiling like a silly man. The people who didn''t know the story of the baby might think that the young man was his father!


    "Ling Ling is here!" Viney made his voice sound once he sensed the scents of Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling. Hearing his voice, Wu Yueling jogged to him happily.


    Then, Lu Tianyi noticed that the little thing twitched the corners of his mouth and wore a weird expression. Viney said, "Um, Ling Ling, can we talk? Can you please stop calling me Little Brother Viney? That sounds really weird!"


    The baby sounded very helpless.


    Wu Yueling moved to Lu Tianyi''s side and fixed her sparkling eyes on the baby. Unwittingly, she curved her lips in a smile.


    Wu Chengyue came over and saw that. "Viney, can you read Ling Ling''s mind?" He asked Viney.


    "I want Mama to give me a new name as soon as possible!" said Viney.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and said smilingly, "Why don''t you ask me to give you a new name? I''m your father after all."


    Viney moved his eyeballs slightly and said, "I''ll take your family name, so I have decided to let Mama name me."


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue was stunned a little, then smiled a bigger smile. "Alright then!"


    He didn''t hear the zombie lady say that Viney would take his Family Name. He thought she would give her family name to the baby. Since Viney was willing to take ''Wu'' as his family name, he was happy to let the zombie lady name his son.


    Having such a smart son who knew his own mind so clearly, Wu Chengyue somehow felt that he wouldn''t be able to collect quite some bonus that normal fathers could.

 983 Ill Give You A Nickname Firs

    By the time Lin Qiao finally finished her work and got to the medical department, it was already about three o''clock in the afternoon.


    When she arrived, only Wu Chengyue and his daughter were in the nursery. Viney was held in Wu Chengyue''s arms and talking to him. The man knew exactly how to hold the baby right. Wu Yueling offered her little brother her exclusive seat¡ªher father''s knees. At that moment, the little girl was standing by her father''s side and looking at Viney.


    As Lin Qiao showed up at the door in a military suit, wearing an army cap and giving out a cold and strong vibe, Wu Chengyue''s eyes glowed with a bright light.


    She gave birth to a baby last night, yet she had already put her military suit back on. She stood there straight and strong like a sharp sword. The brim of her cap partially covered her eyes, but could not block the fierce glow in her eyes. Her long hair were tied up at the back of her head, making her look serious, dashing, and neat.


    Lin Qiao walked into the nursery as she took off her cap and handed it to Shen Yujen, who was beside her, also restraining her vibe. She wasn''t surprised to see Wu Chengyue. She walked straight to him, with her eyes fixed on Viney.


    "Let me hold him," she bent over slightly while reaching out her arms and saying expressionlessly.


    Wu Chengyue gave her a glance, then handed her the baby and said, "He wants you to give him a new name."


    Lin Qiao took over the baby, whose tender body was wrapped in a thick and soft towel. Hearing what Wu Chengyue said, she glanced at the man, then asked the baby, "Viney, what kind of name do you want?"


    Viney really, really didn''t like the name ''Viney''. However, he was too lazy to correct his mother. "Em, I have no other requirements, only that I want ''Wu'' as my family name."


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao immediately cast her dagger eyes toward Wu Chengyue and slightly pressed her lips together, without saying a word. Receiving that glance, Wu Chengyue''s heart sank a little, and the smile on his face grew faint. "I didn''t say anything."


    He didn''t ask Viney to take his family name. To be honest, he wouldn''t feel unhappy even if Viney wanted to take ''Lu'' as his family name at the moment. He would always have a chance to change his name anyway.


    Viney raised his little hands as he grabbed Lin Qiao''s collar and said, "Mama, don''t be angry. Daddy didn''t ask that. That''s what I want. He is my Daddy after all. I should take his family name. Besides, Daddy is happy to let you name me¡­"


    Speaking so many words all at one breath made Viney feel a little tired, so he paused and rested slightly. Only after hearing that did the look in Lin Qiao''s eyes turn softer. "I''m sorry," she apologized to Wu Chengyue for her attitude.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and wore a smile again. However, that smile was still smaller than what he had just now.


    He could feel that the zombie lady was rather possessive of the child. She seemed to have put him outside her safe zone and wanted to hide the baby behind herself, without letting anyone else approach him. If he tried to approach, she would raise her thorns and cast him away.


    Lin Qiao looked at Viney and said, "I''ll give you an official name later, but right now, I can give you a nickname first."


    Viney nodded, then slightly tilted his head toward Wu Chengyue. If he could open his eyes as the moment, he would have pity in his eyes.


    That was his father after all. His Mama was again trying to keep him away. When on earth would the two of them be together? Did he need to wait for years to see them being together with love?


    Thinking about that, Viney felt tired.


    "It''s easy to give you a nickname. You were called Viney because you were a vine plant. Since you think Viney is a girl''s name, I''ll just call you little Teng-Teng. ''Teng'' means ''rising'', and can also mean ''vine'' in Chinese," Lin Qiao said to Viney smilingly.


    Both Wu Chengyue and Teng-Teng felt a little speechless. Why didn''t she just name him ''Teng''? Why Teng-Teng? That didn''t sound manly at all.


    Lin Qiao ignored Viney''s reaction, but turned to Wu Yueling with a smile and asked the girl, "Ling Ling, what do you think? Your little-brother will be called Teng-Teng."


    Wu Yueling turned and glanced Wu Chengyue and Viney with confusion. She didn''t understand why Teng-Teng wanted to change his name. Whatever his name was, he would always be her little brother.


    She happily nodded. She didn''t really care what the baby''s name meant, or whether it sounded good or not.


    At that time, Viney finally let out his voice to better his nickname. "Mama, just call me Teng! I don''t want to be ''little Teng-Teng!"


    "Hah!" Feeling how the baby felt, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but laugh. "Eh-hem, alright, we''ll call you Teng!"


    So, Viney had his name changed into Teng.


    Standing by Lin Qiao''s side, Shen Yujen smilingly looked at the baby in her arms. She envied her for having the baby, and was upset about the fact that she couldn''t have a baby of her own. She had a chance to have a baby together with Chen Yuting, but now, she didn''t even dare to kiss him.


    If only she could have a baby like Chief did! However, she was aware that Chief was different from her. Looking at Teng, she was so jealous of Chief, and also had a gleam of hope rising from her heart.


    Perhaps, Chief could help her have her own baby one day.


    She knew it might be very hard, but that idea rooted in her mind like a seed that she thought was dead, but turned out to have survived. Her eyes were a little unfocused as Lin Qiao cast her a casual glance.


    She heard Shen Yujen''s thoughts and felt her longing; she also knew how deeply she loved Chen Yuting, and how guilty she felt for everything that she believed she owed to him. After she became a zombie, he never abandoned her.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away from Shen Yujen, then said to Teng, "Was the milk that I gave you this morning good?"


    Teng clicked his tongue and then said with his baby voice, "It was good, a little fishy though."


    "That was fresh goat milk. It could taste a little strange. But, I''ve mixed it with lake water. Did it still have that fishy flavor? Why didn''t I sense it when I tried it?"


    She mixed the fresh goat milk with the lake water once she milked it. She tried it but didn''t detect any fishy smell from it. Perhaps, the baby was more sensitive to tastes and smells than her.


    "Just a little bit," said Teng.


    Hearing their conversation, Wu Chengyue lost the smile on his face. He furrowed his brows and asked with confusion, "Goat milk? I don''t think you have goats in your base. Where did you get the fresh goat milk from?"


    All Beings Base didn''t have an animal farm yet. Not to mention goats, cows, and pigs, there weren''t even hens, ducks, or geese in the base.


    Hearing Lin Qiao mention the goat milk that came from an unknown source, he was a little worried. He knew that she wouldn''t give the baby anything harmful, but he still wanted to know about the source of the milk.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and instantly figured out what he was thinking. "Don''t worry! Teng has his own system to differentiate edible food from inedible things. He won''t eat anything that''s harmful to him."


    Teng nodded as he agreed with his Mama in a mature tone of speaking, "Umm, yes. Daddy, don''t worry about me!"

 984 Find Someone To Rely On

    Wu Chengyue was, of course, aware that Teng was able to tell what was edible for himself and what was not. He believed in the zombie lady, but he didn''t want to feel like an outsider anymore.


    With an upset look, he turned her head to Teng''s little bed and said, "That''s not what I meant."


    As the baby''s father, he felt as if he had failed to do his job, as he didn''t even know about the source of his baby''s food.


    Moreover, Lin Qiao''s attitude made him feel hurt. She wasn''t ignorant, and she understood how he felt about her. She even had feelings toward him as well. But, why had she been running away from him all this long? Which part of him wasn''t good enough for her? Did he do something wrong?


    Thinking about that, Wu Chengyue fell into the depression that rose from his heart. He felt very uncomfortable; he wanted to be angry, wrathful. Yet, his mind told him that he needed to calm down instead of losing his temper, or she would go further away from him.


    Lin Qiao carried Teng in her arms. She heard what Wu Chengyue said, but didn''t respond. After a short silence, Wu Chengyue abruptly stood up as he held Ling Ling''s hand and walked toward the outside.


    "You gave birth to the baby last night. Just get some rest," At the door, Wu Chengyue left her a few words and then left.


    Lin Qiao watched him leave with a strangely depressed vibe. She didn''t understand why he suddenly turned so emotional.


    "I think he''s angry again. What happened?" She dropped her head and asked Teng.


    "It was because of you," Teng sighed and said.


    "What does that have to do with me?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked bewilderedly.


    "Because you made use of him and then abandoned him! Poor Daddy¡­" said Teng.


    Lin Qiao was pretty confused on hearing that.


    "How can you say that? You''re the reason for it all, aren''t you? You''re the one who made use of him!" Lin Qiao pinched the baby''s little face.


    "Oh, you''re right!" Teng didn''t try to argue at all. After all, it was he who bonded the two adults together. He did that so he could absorb energy from his father.


    "But, my Daddy is so nice! Why don''t you like him?"


    Which part of his Daddy was not good? Wasn''t he handsome? Wasn''t he powerful? Wasn''t his body in a perfect shape? Was he short-tempered?


    Young, handsome, gentle, strong men like him were very rare in these days!


    Teng wondered why his mother didn''t like that man. Well, in fact, she did like him. She was only pretending not to like him!


    Hearing the baby''s question, Lin Qiao first paused briefly to think, then dropped her eyes and said, "I need to worry about my family. I don''t want a man in my life taking up my mind."


    She was tired. Wasn''t her life great now? She had family. She had a son. She had what she needed. She didn''t need to rely on anyone. She could rely on herself.


    "Aren''t you tired of living like this? Mama, I think you are wrong. Daddy isn''t a burden of yours. He can be your wall for you to rest on when you are tired. You can lean on him when you need to rest." Teng wasn''t able to say too many words in one breath at the moment. After the long speech, he felt a little hard to catch his breath again.


    He understood how his Mama felt, but didn''t understand why she felt that way.


    Lin Qiao looked at him silently. She was nearly persuaded. But soon, she told herself not to think that way.


    She always relied on herself ever since she was a little girl. She never relied on anyone else. She was a good student at school who never let her parents worry. She got bullied in school, yet she dealt with it on her own. She never needed help from Lin Feng, her big brother. She graduated from the military academy and then joined the army. During missions, she solved all sorts of problems on her own and shielded all her teammates.


    She had two boyfriends, yet she never showed them her weakness.


    Teng said that she should find someone to rely on. For a moment, she was tempted by that idea, because she could feel exhausted too sometimes like everyone else.


    "I, your Mama, am so strong. I can rest on my own. I don''t need to rely on other people," Lin Qiao said to Teng with a smile.


    "Alright. You may not need to rest, but I do. I feel so tired. I need some sleep¡­" Teng finished talking, then dropped his little hands and turned his face away, prepared to have some sleep.


    Lin Qiao put him on the bed, then checked his diaper before entering the space to get milk for the baby.


    Teng was able to talk, so he would tell her if he wanted to pee.


    She got some fresh goat milk and brought it to her house in the space, boiling it together with the lake water before bringing it out of the space.


    While Teng was sleeping, Lin Qiao sat in the nursery and slowly read the files that Shen Yujen brought her while paying attention to him, who was sleeping on the tiny bed. Babies could get tired and energetic easily. Sometimes, they only needed a short sleep to restore their energy.


    In merely two hours, Teng woke up.


    "Mama, I need to pee," Once awake, Teng raised a little hand and waved at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao raised her head from the files, then quickly dropped the file and stood up to carry Teng to the bathroom. There, she spread the baby''s legs and let him pee.


    "Mama, don''t look!" Teng was shy, so much so that his little cheeks even turned pink.


    "You are my son," said Lin Qiao, "Are you afraid that I might see your ''little brother''? Besides, I''ll take you home in a few days, then I''ll bathe you every day! You can pee in front of me. Are you aware that you are still a baby?"


    Teng had no words to argue with that, but he still felt embarrassed. Thinking that his Mama would need to turn him back and forth nakedly to give him a bath, Teng sighed helplessly and then started peeing.


    Lin Qiao spent a night in the nursery, keeping an eye on Teng while absorbing some energy nuclei. The next morning when she absorbed the fifth energy nucleus, she opened her eyes to see the baby looking at her with a pair of sparkling eyes.


    "Eh? You opened your eyes!" Lin Qiao happily scooped him up and asked, "Are you hungry? Do you want to pee first?"


    Teng had been holding it for a little while. He was going to ask Mama to take him to pee, but seeing that Mama was about to finish the last nucleus, he decided to wait for a little.


    "Yes!"


    Lin Qiao smilingly lifted him and brought him to the bathroom.


    Coming out of the bathroom, she found the door of the nursery open, with Xie Dong and Lin Hao standing at the door, waiting for her. Lin Qiao wasn''t surprised to see them. She put Teng back on the bed and said, "Teng opened his eyes. I''ll take him home today. Lin Hao, get prepared!"


    "Oh, so soon?" Lin Hao was aware that his nephew was an extraordinary little baby, so it was reasonable for him to leave the hospital early. But, he was reluctant to part with the baby. After all, once the baby left the hospital, he would need to travel all the way to Base Number Two to see him.

 985 The Secret Leaked

    Lin Qiao left Teng under Lin Hao''s watch, then brought Xie Dong out of the nursery. Xie Dong wasn''t there to visit the baby. he must have something special or urgent for Lin Qiao.


    "What''s it about?" At the end of the hallway where no one else was present, Lin Qiao told Xie Dong to start talking.


    "The secret of Sea City Base has been leaked."


    "What secret?" Lin Qiao blinked and asked.


    "About the soil remedy. Some people found out that it''s a lie. Those people were from Huaxia Base. They have brought the news back to Huaxia City," said Xie Dong.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t surprised to hear that. Instead, she said calmly, "Huaxia people moved fast.


    Her base had a small population, so it was easy to keep a secret in her base. Unlike her base, Sea City Base was large. Any kind of people could mingle in the hundreds of thousands of residents in that base. Therefore, the secret would be revealed sooner or later. Lin Qiao didn''t think they could always keep it.


    "Apart from that, do they know anything else?" Lin Qiao asked.


    She wanted to know if Huaxia Base people had found out about the real source of food of Sea City Base. Since they had found out about the real situation of the farm in Sea City Base, they must have learned that Sea City Base had been providing people with a small number of fresh vegetables every day. They would certainly try to find out where those vegetables came from.


    Those vegetables were, of course, from All Beings Base. If those people found out about it, the secret of All Beings Base would no longer be a secret. Sooner or later, Lin Qiao''s base would become a target. By that time, things would be much more complicated than now.


    Xie Dong shook his head and said, "Not yet, but they are indeed trying to dig deeper. Sea City People detected their moves and covered all the traces in time, so they found nothing else."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Thankfully they reacted quickly enough. However, I don''t think they can keep the secret for long. We need to be prepared. Have Sea City Base people caught those spies yet?"


    "Most of them, but a few got away. That''s how the news was delivered to Huaxia Base. Huaxia Base is preparing to send another batch of people into Sea City Base to keep digging," Xie Dong told her what he knew.


    Lin Qiao folded her arms as she raised her right hand to scratch her chin while thinking about the future situation of her base.


    Sea City Base had caught some spies, but not all of them. Apart from the few who got away, some of them might still be hiding somewhere. Those people wouldn''t make a move any time soon, in case they got caught by Sea City Base people.


    Huaxia Base would send another batch of people to Sea City Base. Those people might make contact with the hunters from Sea City Base who were outside. Even if they couldn''t mingle in those hunter groups and get into the base, they could hire some of those hunters to gather information.


    Some of those hunters might refuse to collaborate with them, but they could force them.


    That needed time, but Si Kongchen would make moves quickly. Anyone who was not stupid would suspect All Beings Base based on the close partnership between it and Sea City Base.


    "Keep a close eye on Huaxia Base and Sky Fire Base. If they make any move, come back and tell me as soon as possible," Lin Qiao dropped her eyes and spent a short while pondering, then gave her order. After saying that expressionlessly, she waved at Xie Dong and signaled for him to leave.


    "Yes, ma''am." Xie Dong nodded with a serious look as he responded, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao stayed motionless and spent another while to think, then dropped her arms and headed back to the nursery.


    "Inform all senior base administrators to go to conference room number one at two pm today for a meeting." At the door, Lin Qiao said to Shen Yujen and then walked in.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Shen Yujen quickly left to spread Lin Qiao''s words. In the nursery, Lin Hao asked her, "What happened?"


    Since Lin Qiao was summoning all senior base members to conference room number one for a meeting, Lin Hao realized that it might be about something important. Conference room number one was the largest conference room. Normally, she would not hold meetings in that conference room. Most of the meetings in the base took place in the smaller conference rooms, or in the conference room in Base Number Two.


    "Some people found out about Sea City Base''s lie. Huaxia Base have learned that Sea City Base can''t grow any food on their own. They haven''t found out about us though. But still, I need to make some preparations as soon as possible." Lin Qiao walked to him and said while packing the things that Teng needed.


    Lin Hao clearly understood that it was not a good thing for All Beings Base. He thought for a moment and asked, "Will Huaxia Base target us?"


    Lin Qiao threw the things in her hands into her space, then gave him a glance and replied, "We are in a close partnership with Sea City Base. Don''t you think that''s enough to make Si Kongchen suspect us?"


    "Oh, you''re right!" Lin Hao nodded.


    After packing, Lin Qiao brought Teng out of the medical department and headed back to her flat in Base Number Two, starting her life as a mother.


    While working in the office, she usually put Teng on the couch. The baby wasn''t able to crawl or walk, but he wouldn''t burst in cries and screams to torture the adults like the other babies either. If he needed anything, he would just talk.


    So, Lin Qiao let him lie on the couch without any worries.


    Teng looked at his little hands, feeling a little bored. He was able to move his hands and kick his legs, but not walk or crawl. His bones were still too soft. However, he could live on milk, meaning that he was a healthy baby. Based on how soon he opened his eyes, he figured that he might grow faster than the other babies.


    He was patient, but he still wanted to be able to move freely as soon as possible. Therefore, he decided to exercise as much as he could.


    In the quiet office, Lin Qiao had her head dropped while she was writing something. From time to time, she raised her head to glance at Teng, who was lying on the couch. The baby was always kicking his legs and swinging his arms. Seeing that, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but recall the days when he still had vines on his head.


    In the afternoon, Lin Qiao brought Teng and the materials that were needed for the meeting to Base Number One, to attend to the meeting. Before entering the conference room, she put Teng on the couch in her house inside the space. Instead of letting the others see him, she decided to leave the baby in her space for a while.


    "This meeting has only one theme¡ªprepare for war. From today, we have one or two months to get ready." Sitting in the middle of the room, Lin Qiao took off her cap and put it on the table, then rested her elbows on the table with her fingers crossed under her chin. Slowly, she scanned the faces of the others with her eagle eyes.

 986 Arrangements

    People hadn''t seen Lin Qiao in a formal military suit for months. The people who didn''t know about the baby had no idea why she wore loose-fitting dresses during the past few months. Of course, the people who knew about the truth weren''t as surprised as the ones who didn''t.


    Yuan Tianxing looked much calmer than he was last time.


    The people didn''t understand Lin Qiao at first, but then they heard her continue with, "Huaxia Base and Sea City Base have already become enemies. Currently, Huaxia Base is certainly trying to find Sea City Base''s weaknesses. They have now learned about the real situation of Sea City Base''s farm, so Si Kongchen is definitely trying to find the real source of the fresh food that Sea City Base has been providing their people with. I believe that they''ll find out about us in the near future."


    After hearing that, people realized how serious it was.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, food was the most important commodity. The infected soil couldn''t grow safe food anymore. Huaxia Base people wanted to bring Sea City Base down, but they needed to solve the food crisis in their base before that. However, they wouldn''t stop gathering useful information against Sea City Base.


    It would not take them too long to find out the secrets of All Bing Base through what they had learned from Sea City Base.


    Currently, All Beings Base needed to stay vigilant against those underground creatures, those mutated rats, and Huaxia Base. The situation was really problematic.


    The human army in the base wasn''t strong enough yet. They could handle small battles, but not real wars. If a real war happened, only the zombie army would be able to guard the base.


    "First of all, we need to run a detailed background check on all suspicious people in our base, in case someone sold us out. Then, Yuan Tianxing, raise the security level in the surrounding area. Keep the area five miles round under close watch. Also, Xie Dong, send your people to keep an eye on every hunter group that has exited the base. If they make any contact with suspicious people out there, bring them back immediately. Yun Meng, your mission stays the same. Keep an eye on those underground creatures and let us handle the rest," said Lin Qiao.


    Currently, All Beings Base only had tens of hunter groups. So, it wasn''t so hard to keep an eye on each of them while they were not in the base.


    Xie Dong was responsible for training the zombie soldiers while Yun Meng and Qiu Lili kept them under control. Yuan Tianxing, Li Zheng, and his people were responsible for training and managing the human army. As for the other administrative works in the base, most of them had been handed by Chen Yuting, Du Yuanxing, and the others.


    The base was still small, so Lin Qiao hadn''t founded an independent military department. That would be put in the schedule after the population of the base went beyond thirty-thousand. Currently, there were only thousands of people living in the base, so starting an independent military department was unnecessary. The base had less than three-thousand soldiers right now, including the common and superpowered ones. Among the other base members, most were women, old people, disabled people, and some hunters.


    Yuan Tianxing had recruited three regiments, but compared with Lin Qiao''s three zombie regiments, the human regiments were way too fragile.


    The human regiments were composed of ninety percent of commoners and ten percent superpower possessors, while the zombie regiments were purely formed from zombies at level three or four. The difference was drastic.


    "What about¡­ Sea City Base? Who will be talking to them?" said Lin Feng with a frown.


    Sea City Base''s secret was already leaked. So, they definitely needed to make new plans. Sea City Base and All Being Base had shared interests. All Being Base certainly needed to send representatives to Sea City Base to talk about future plans and be there when Sea City People made decisions, even if they couldn''t take part in the decision-making process.


    "You," Lin Qiao glanced at him and said. She didn''t mention Lin Feng when she made arrangements earlier because she had a special mission for him.


    "So, you were waiting for me to ask the question, weren''t you?" Lin Feng looked at her expressionlessly.


    "What? Who do you think is more suitable for the job than you?" Lin Qiao shrugged.


    She was the only Chief in the base while Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were the only two Deputy Chiefs. Yuan Tianxing needed to keep an eye on the surrounding area, so Lin Feng was the only one who was able to travel to Sea City Base.


    "Ah, okay. I remember that someone still owes me dinner. Perhaps, I can take Xiaolu and Wu Chengyue to that dinner." Lin Feng nodded. Wu Chengyue had mentioned that he wanted to invite Lin Feng and his family for dinner, as his wife and daughter always looked after Ling Ling for him.


    After the meeting, Lin Qiao came out of the conference room and went straight to her car, heading back to Base Number Two.


    In her office, she brought Teng out of her space, who was sleeping again. He had his eyes closed and breathed shallowly through his nose. Lin Qiao sniffed at him but didn''t wake him up. Instead, she put him on the couch and let him sleep.


    Teng had a strange scent which was not like that of human beings at all. That might be caused by the virus in his blood. However, Lin Qiao couldn''t detect the vibe of zombies from the baby either.


    The boy looked like a human being, but zombies would not want to eat him at all!


    As a zombie, Lin Qiao could work constantly without feeding. Unlike her, Teng got hungry all the time. As he woke up, his belly grumbled again.


    "Mama, I''m hungry!" Waking up to see the ceiling again, Teng knew that he was lying on a couch. He looked around and recognized the place as Mama''s office. Sensing Mama''s scent from the air, he instantly called her.


    Lin Qiao instantly raised her head and dropped the pen in her hand. Then, she stood up and walked to the couch before flashing into her space to bring out the milk that she stored in a vacuum cup earlier to feed Teng.


    After feeding him this time, she needed to go back into her space to catch a mama goat and milk it. Thankfully, the grass in her space was rich in energy. The goats and roe deers that fed on the grass were strong, and the mama goats had enough milk to nurse their own babies and Teng.


    After feeding Teng, she spent a short while gently patting him on the back, then started working again, leaving Teng helplessly lying on the couch alone and feeling so bored. Sadly, his mother was a total workaholic.


    On the other side of the base, Wu Chengyue was listening to Li Yueshan''s report about the news from Sea City Base while wearing a frown. No other emotions were shown on his face except the extra coldness.


    "Since the secret is already leaked, we need to cover the traces of the food we have and keep them from finding out the real source," he said blandly.


    He knew that Huaxia Base people would find out about his lie sooner or later, but didn''t expect it to happen so soon. Clearly, the enemies were smarter and more resourceful than him and his people. That made Wu Chengyue very unhappy.


    However, what made him even unhappier was the zombie lady! Huaxia Base people had made some provocative moves and provided him with a perfect opportunity to vent his anger.


    Seeing that look on his face, Xiao Licheng and Li Yue Shan were wildly aware that their boss was in a very bad mood. But, why? What happened in Sea City Base was definitely not the reason!


    They both had the same feeling.

 987 He’s So Tired In His Hear

    At night, Teng couldn''t help but tell Lin Qiao to get off work early. About nine, Lin Qiao brought him back to where she lived, yet sensed a familiar scent from her apartment before she went in.


    She rolled her eyes. Why on earth did the man always sneak into her apartment?


    She opened the door, and as she thought, she saw Wu Chengyue sitting on her couch. A bottle of wine was standing on the table before him.


    That was not her wine. Why did the man bring a bottle of wine to her place?


    "You should get yourself some peanuts to go with the wine," Lin Qiao said blandly as she carried Teng, who was already in sleep, and walked into the bedroom.


    Wu Chengyue was wearing no expression. As Lin Qiao came in, he instantly stood up and asked her, "Is he asleep?"


    His voice was a little dry, but very gentle.


    Lin Qiao nodded while walking. A short while later, she gently closed the door and came out, then sat on an armchair. She looked at the man and said blandly, "Can you please stop coming into my place without an invitation? You are a base leader. If people knew about this, wouldn''t you feel humiliated?"


    "You weren''t here every time I came." Who dared to tell anyone else about that? Besides, only a few people knew that he had been visiting her place.


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao did not want to continue the conversation. She pressed her lips together and changed a topic, "Why are you here?"


    Wu Chengyue poured himself a glass of wine, then poured her a glass too. He pushed the glass toward her as he said, "Huaxia Base might cast their eyes on your base because of Sea City Base. Also, as far as I know, Sky Fire Base has been targeting your base since long ago. Have you noticed that yet?"


    Lin Qiao blinked and said peacefully, "I know. They have eyes on us all the time."


    Last time, she and Wu Chengyue went to Huaxia Base to lend a hand, but Sky Fire Base people didn''t show up. She had noticed it since then. Later on, Gu Yikang showed up around her base. After that, she told Xie Dong to keep an eye on Sky Fire Base.


    "Li Zhengye thought that Huaxia Base is going to start a war against Sea City Base. He wants a share, but doesn''t want to fight the war. All he wants is to watch us fight Huaxia base and gain benefits amidst the chaos," Wu Chengyue picked up the glass and took a sip, then said, "They support Huaxia Base, but only mentally."


    Lin Qiao snorted coldly and said, "Li Zhengye loves to fish in troubled waters. That sounds exactly like what Sky Fire Base will do. Gu Yikang and He Mu have both disappeared, so Li Zhengye won''t dare to make any big moves. He is greedy, but also cowardly."


    Sky Fire Base was her next target, and she was worried that Li Zhengye might not make a move at all! Only by killing Li Zhengye and destroying the current leadership of Sky Fire Base could she finish her revenge for Hades Base.


    Hundreds of thousands of innocent residents were still living in Sky Fire Base, so Lin Qiao didn''t plan to destroy the entire base. At least, she would give the commoners a chance of survival.


    Wu Chengyue stayed silent and took another sip of the wine.


    "Is that why you''re here?" Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Wu Chengyue looked at the glass of wine in his hand and asked another question, "Whom are you going to send to Sea City Base?"


    "Lin Feng," said Lin Qiao, "I heard that you owe him a dinner."


    Wu Chengyue nodded without changing his expression. "That''s right," he said, "Good. I''m gonna prepare him a rich dinner."


    "He''ll bring his wife and kid. Be prepared," said Lin Qiao.


    After that, the two of them fell into silence. He drank the wine sip by sip while she sat there silently and motionlessly. A short while later, Wu Chengyue seemed to have failed to withstand the weird atmosphere. They were less than two meters away from each other, yet he felt as if she was hundreds of meters away.


    "Have you made the decision about the baby''s official name yet?" he asked.


    "Yes," Lin Qiao nodded.


    Wu Chengyue immediately raised his head to look straight at her. In his eyes was a complicated look. "What''s his name?" he said.


    Since he had agreed to let her name the baby, he, of course, wouldn''t try to interfere. Even if the zombie lady picked an awful name, he wouldn''t say anything bad about it. He just wanted to know.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and then said, "Wu Qiteng. It means to stand up and fly into the sky. He was a vine. ''Teng'' is a homophone of the word ''vine'' in Chinese."


    Wu Chengyue stayed silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "That''s a great name!"


    His son''s name was Wu Qiteng!


    Hearing that name, an indescribable and subtle feeling spread from his heart. He couldn''t help but turn to the door of Lin Qiao''s bedroom.


    He liked that name. He even sighed with relief when he heard it. At least, it was not a bad name. If the zombie lady picked a terrible name for his son, he might fail to stop himself from trying to rename the baby!


    They both stayed silent for a few seconds before Lin Qiao couldn''t help but ask him, "Is there anything else that you want to say to me?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and pressed his lips slightly together, then said sourly, "Can''t you even stand being with me alone now? You must have suffered so badly earlier for what we did together."


    Lin Qiao looked at him silently, trying to show him some respect. That was why she didn''t stand up and walk away.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and the anger that he managed to restrain just now rose again in his heart. He put the glass on the table, then rested his elbows on his knees.


    "Is it really impossible for us to be together? Why are you always so¡­ Why can''t you give me even one chance?" He sounded frustrated. Letting out those words seemed to have consumed the last bit of his energy. Abruptly, he raised a hand and covered his face with it.


    He thought the zombie lady would have a better attitude toward him after the baby was born, for the sake of the baby. She might still not accept him, but he thought that she, at least, wouldn''t keep rejecting him.


    However, the attitude that she had been showing recently made his heart sink. He didn''t know what to do.


    He was a man, and he could get tired like any man. He grasped every opportunity to try and get close to her and win her heart. Many times, he nearly gave up because he couldn''t see even a gleam of hope.


    About two months ago, he finally discovered a change of her attitude, but within a blink, she hid her heart away once again and shrank into her shell, isolating herself from him no matter how hard he tried to approach her.


    The baby was born and she was no longer bonded together with him. Within merely two days, she flew away from him like a kite with her strings cut. He could only watch her drift further and further away.


    He was so tired, and his heart ached so much.

 988 Sky Fire Bases Move

    Lin Qiao couldn''t see his face, but was surprised by the depressed and helpless vibe that radiated from his body. At that very moment, she felt as if Wu Chengyue was as panicked and scared as a kid who couldn''t find his way home. He was frightened, not knowing what to do. His only choice was to wait for someone to save him.


    Not long ago, he was still able to stay composed and keep a distance from her. Why did he suddenly become like a kid? Wu Chengyue had let out his real feelings, and it was the first time Lin Qiao sensed his emotions and thoughts.


    He was always smiling, scheming, calm, and powerful. So she never thought that such kind of emotions would come from him. Lin Qiao wasn''t prepared for that, so she didn''t know what to do. After spending two seconds staring at him, she said, "Don''t tell me that you''re crying. Who are you? A three-year-old boy?"


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say. That sad atmosphere vanished all of a sudden, as he really did not expect her to say that.


    Couldn''t she just let him pretend to be heartbroken for a moment?


    He dropped his hand and looked at her helplessly as he said, "I''m heading back to Sea City Base tomorrow. Aren''t you gonna say anything to me?"


    He didn''t plan to bring the baby back to Sea City Base even though he was a little worried that the zombie lady might fail to take good care of him. She would never give the baby to him even if he asked.


    "Oh, goodbye then!" Lin Qiao immediately stood up and flashed to the door side, opening the door and signaling for him to leave with a hand gesture.


    Wu Chengyue felt so tired in the heart. Why on earth did he fall for the zombie lady?


    Yes, he didn''t only like her, but had also fallen in love with her. His heart ached for real. If he didn''t love her, why would that heartache be so strong that it even made him feel suffocated?


    He sighed as he stood up, then turned and walked out of Lin Qiao''s apartment.


    It was alright. No matter how exhausted he felt, he still didn''t plan to give up.


    After watching Wu Chengyue leave, Lin Qiao closed the door as well as her eyes and sighed with relief. Then, she turned and glanced at the glass on the tea table.


    ¡­


    Sky Fire Base¡­


    Li Zhengye was sitting on a couch in his own living room. Four other people were in the living room as well, sitting on the other couches and chairs.


    "So, Sea City Base can''t grow food at all, but they still have fresh vegetables and fruits every day. Where is that fresh food coming from?" Li Zhengye said. His brows were knitted and back was hunched, elbows resting on his parted knees while his finger were crossed to support his chin.


    "Do they have a secret base, or¡­ Maybe, those foods weren''t grown from the soil." Mo Quan, one of the vice-leaders, made a guess. Before the apocalypse, people had developed soil-less culture techniques. Perhaps, Sea City Base didn''t need soil to grow food!


    Li Zhengye paused briefly, then blinked and said, "That is highly possible. So, Sea City Base might have found a scientist who has mastered relevant techniques?"


    The others glanced at each other and then nodded in agreement. "I think that might be true. Sea City Base people are so sneaky. Earlier, they made up a lie about the soil remedy to mislead Huaxia Base. Did they do that to hide their real culture techniques?" A man said.


    The other man said, "Isn''t Huaxia Base known as the base that is rich in scientists? Don''t they have the same kind of technique?"


    "Even if they do, they won''t let us know about it," said Li Zhengye blandly. "They need a reason to be enemies with Sea City Base."


    "Are you saying that¡­ Oh, no wonder Huaxia Base people have been staying so calm after Sea City Base people turned against them. The soil remedy isn''t what they really want!" Mo Quan figured it out.


    "Haven''t we heard anything from All Beings Base yet?" Li Zhengye turned to another man and asked.


    The man shook his head and said, "That new base is strictly guarded, and their hunters are highly vigilant. Most of them refused to work together with us. As for the ones who agreed to cooperate, they never came out of the base again after they returned. We don''t know if they were busted or if they were too scared to do anything."


    Li Zhengye thought for a moment and said, "It has been over two months, yet not even one message was delivered back to us. That woman is pretty capable, really."


    "She has the guts to waste an arm of Hu Zhiyong right in front of all those base leaders, and never paid the price for that. She surely isn''t just some ordinary woman." Mo Quan knitted his brows and said uncertainly, "But¡­ Hu Zhiyong was devoured by a dark fire at last. That fire looked a little like what that Hades Base woman had. Is that the same kind of fire as netherworld fire?"


    Once he mentioned that, the others pulled long faces.


    Li Zhengye furrowed his eyebrows and said sulkily, "That woman is definitely dead. However, whoever is able to kill a level-seven man can''t be weak. He or she is at level-seven at least¡­ Which base has a level-seven black fire possessor now?"


    The others shook their heads and said, "The woman from All Beings Base only has dark poisonous mist. She doesn''t have a black fire."


    "Never mind. Keep an eye on All Beings Base. Since those hunters don''t want to work with us, we have to make some aggressive moves," said Li Zhengye.


    "Should we capture them?" Mo Quan asked.


    Li Zhengye nodded and said, "I think we will be able to get something from them."


    ¡­


    A couple of days later, a few hunter groups from All Beings Base disappeared.


    Mo Qiqi''s limbs were tied up. She opened her eyes and felt limp and weak, without any energy. But, she still stayed calm while observing the surrounding environment. She was in an office. The sunlight was dim and orange, meaning that it was at dusk.


    The furniture pieces in the room were placed disorderedly, showing how chaotic the place was when the old world ended. All the furniture pieces were covered in a thick layer of dust, meaning that this place hadn''t had visitors for a very long time.


    Mo Qiqi looked around; she was alone. The door and window were sealed. The footprints on the ground told her that some other people were in the room.


    She sat up and leaned against the wall, sensing numbness and pain from her thigh. She remembered an anesthetic needle piercing into her thigh before she lost consciousness. When she fell, she saw the others fall together with her, then she lost her eyesight.


    The door was open, and a man''s voice was heard. "Hey, the pretty lady is awake!"


    He called her ''the pretty lady'' not because she was pretty. Women had become rare in the post-apocalyptic era, so all young girls were called ''pretty ladies'' nowadays.


    Mo Qiqi raised her eyes to see a strange man wearing a baseball hat and a loose-fitting camouflage suit along with a pair of combat boots, walking toward her.

 989 Mo Qiqi Got Ou

    Mo Qiqi looked at him expressionlessly. In her eyes was a peaceful look.


    The man was average-looking, dark-skinned. He got tanned as he was out in the field most of the time. He was tall though; while walking in, he gave out an oppressive vibe like a giant that came straight at her.


    "I thought you''d ask who I am." The man walked up to Mo Qiqi and squatted, looking at her as he said with a smile. Mo Qiqi looked back at him coldly as she pressed her lips together and stayed silent.


    Seeing her like that, the man snorted coldly and said, "If you want your friends to live, answer my questions. Or, they might be thrown out to feed zombies."


    "What do you want to know?" said Mo Qiqi coldly.


    The man instantly gave a perky grin and then said, "That is my girl. As long as you do what we say, we won''t do anything to hurt you. The first question¡­ how many soldiers does All Beings Base have currently? Second Question, except for the level-seven Chief lady and the two level-six deputy Chiefs, how many level-six people are in the base now?"


    Mo Qiqi looked at him and sat straight against the wall as she crossed her legs and then said, "Can I have two of my teammates back for answering these two questions?"


    "No, only one." The man shook his head and said.


    Mo Qiqi gave him a cold glare, but still stayed calm. She nodded and said, "Alright, one. I need to see this person first."


    She understood that it was not the right time for her to negotiate with the enemy. She was at a disadvantage. The enemies had the power to decide the number of people that would be given back to her, not her.


    The man blinked, then stood up with a smile and nodded. He clapped his hands and said, "Alright."


    A series of footsteps was heard instantly as two men in training suits pushed a man, whose hands were tied up behind his body, into the room.


    "Qiqi, are you okay?" The man came in and wore a glad look at the sight of Mo Qiqi. He looked at her excitedly and talked to her with concern.


    Sitting against the wall, Mo Qiqi raised her head as she nodded at him and responded, "I''m good."


    The man was Dou Yunfan, the vice-leader of Mo Qiqi''s hunting group.


    The man who was standing before Mo Qiqi smilingly lowered his head and looked down at her, "Alright, you can answer the two questions now."


    Mo Qiqi looked at him and responded, "I don''t know."


    "Do you want him to die?" A cold gleam of light flashed across the man''s eyes as he released his intention of killing.


    Mo Qiqi leaned against the wall with her head raised as she said peacefully, "I didn''t promise to answer your questions. Also, I was telling the truth. I don''t know."


    The man immediately drew his gun and pointed the gun at Dou Yunfan''s face; his eyes still fixed on Mo Qiqi and narrowed slightly. "Once again, how many soldiers does All Beings Base have now? How many level-six people are in the base?"


    Mo Qiqi looked at him disdainfully and said, "The military power of the base has always been a secret. How am I supposed to know about that? I joined the new base only three months ago. How can I possibly know such kind of secrets? Is your brain damaged?"


    She scornfully questioned the man''s IQ.


    "You¡­ Good! I guess you don''t care about your friend''s life at all¡­" The man glared at Mo Qiqi with anger, yelled. But before he finished, Dou Yunfan interrupted him by shouting at Mo Qiqi, "Qiqi, run! Don''t worry about us!"


    He knew about Mo Qiqi''s power. It was not difficult for her to free herself. However, if she tried to save the others, things might get a little troublesome.


    Every time the team left the base to hunt for zombies, people had themselves prepared for death. Whether they would be killed by zombies or by those mysterious enemies, they would have no fear.


    "Shut up!" The man burst in a wrathful curse and pulled the trigger.


    "Bang!" Right when the gunshot was heard, Mo Qiqi, who was leaning softly on the wall, suddenly sprung up and made a roll on the ground; her hands were untied already. Once up, she swiftly swung her right arm at Dou Yunfan, and a few beams of light were sent out of her palm,


    At the same time, a gleam of silver light flashed across the ropes on her foot. In the next moment, the rope fell and Mo Qiqi fiercely swung her leg, giving a heavy kick at the tall man''s crotch area.


    The man wasn''t expecting her to make a sudden move at that moment. He didn''t manage to react timely, and ended up being thrown to the floor by her sidekick.


    Meanwhile, the bullet that was flying at Dou Yunfan was frozen. It then landed on his body and shattered against his skin.


    Puff! Puff! The two men behind Dou Yunfan each let out a muffled moan and then fell together.


    Dou Yunfan turned to find them each having a bleeding hole on the neck. Each hole had an icicle stuck in it.


    The tall man reacted once he fell to the ground. He made a roll on the ground and quickly moved away from Mo Qiqi''s attacking range. In the meantime, he turned his gun toward her and let out three bullets.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Mo Qiqi foresaw his move when he turned his gun around, so she immediately rolled up behind a desk to take cover.


    Watching her nimble and neat movements, the man realized that he was at a disadvantage. He didn''t waste any second lingering in the room, but moved toward the door while shooting a few bullets at Dou Yunfan. He failed his job, yet he still wanted to take someone''s life.


    He had no idea why the effect of the drug wore out on Mo Qiqi so soon, but he had no time to think about that at the moment.


    Dou Yunfan sensed the danger, so he flashed out of the door. The bullets brushed across his arm and sank into the wall.


    At that moment, the man heard a shrill swishing noise and automatically turned his head around. From the corners of his eyes, he saw a wave of sharp icicles coming at him along with a bone-piercing coldness.


    With no time to think, he leaped sideways, then made another roll on the ground. However, a sharp pain attacked him while he landed on the ground. He realized that one of those icicles had hit him on the leg.


    At first, he thought the small icicle couldn''t possibly bring him any serious harm. But, he sensed a numbness and coldness from his injured leg, and then he couldn''t feel that leg anymore.


    "Eh?" The man immediately turned to look at his own leg. The entire thigh was already covered in ice.


    Losing the feeling of that leg made him panic. He lied on his stomach and supported his body with his elbows. While staying vigilant against Mo Qiqi, he moved forward to try and take cover.


    Once he moved, he could no longer feel the weight of that injured leg of his.


    Crack! The noise of breaking ice was heard at the same time.

 990 Qin Yus Dangerous Situation

    The man turned and saw something that made him pop his eyes.


    His frozen leg had shattered in pieces.


    "Ah!" He couldn''t feel that leg anymore, but seeing his own leg in pieces still made him scream with fright.


    At that moment, disordered footsteps were heard from the outside as a group of people was approaching the room. Mo Qiqi was clearly aware that those people couldn''t possibly be friends, and she had to leave as quickly as possible. She immediately turned and flashed to the window, then opened it and leaped out.


    Once she disappeared, a group of armed men burst in.


    On another building that was not far away from that office building, a figure was hiding in the shadow and staring at those people.


    That was a zombie wearing a camouflage suit. His eyes were purely black, and his face was bluish pale. He would look like an average person if he didn''t have two tissue rolls in his nostrils.


    He didn''t put tissue rolls into his nose to stop his nose from bleeding. Instead, it was because those people whom he was looking at smelt really, really bad!


    He watched Mo Qiqi and Dou Yunfan escape, but didn''t lend a hand. Before taking action, he needed to listen to their conversations carefully.


    He wasn''t allowed to save those captives unless the latter refused to give the enemies any secret information about All Beings Base. If the captives gave the enemies what they wanted under the pressure, the zombie would have to kill them.


    Seeing that Mo Qiqi had managed to get away, the zombie figured that she did not need his help. He couldn''t leave still, because he had to finish off every single one of those people who kidnapped the hunters from All Beings Base.


    Mo Qiqi found Dou Yunfan, and the two of them prepared to find a way to save their teammates from the kidnappers. But at the same time, another hunting group was in a bad situation.


    Qin Yu covered her injured shoulder with one hand and kept running while gasping quickly for air. Her body was growing weaker and weaker. She leaned against a wall and glanced backward. Perspiration made a few locks of hair stick on her cheek, yet she didn''t even have the time to flip them.


    A fierce look emerged from her eyes. She suddenly dropped her hand from her wound and then left as quickly as possible, with her hands on the wall to support her body.


    The enemies were still far away from her, yet the distance between them wasn''t long enough, and she was running out of strength. Before her strength ran out, she needed to find somewhere safe to hide.


    She was hit by an anesthetic needle, but didn''t fall into unconsciousness immediately. She could still run, but her power seemed to be gone.


    Three men were chasing behind her¡ªone at level-four and the others at level-three. If she still had her superpower, she wouldn''t be afraid of them at all. But at the moment, her power was disabled and she had to run.


    She knew who those people were. They were from Sky Fire Base, and all they wanted was to dig out the secrets about All Beings Base from her and the other hunters. Qin Yu and her team had met those people before, and they didn''t agree to work with them. Last time, those people didn''t make any aggressive moves like that. Did they finally lose their patience?


    Qin Yu shambled to a large building which used to be a shopping mall, running inside as quickly as she could. On the top floor was a cinema. Perhaps, she could hide there.


    However, the enemies that Qin Yu thought would catch up with her in no time were stopped by about a hundred zombies. Looking at those zombies who jammed the road, the three men were confused.


    "What''s going on? Is the drug that we are wearing worn out already? Didn''t they say that the effect will last for two weeks?" One of the two level-three men said.


    "Are you blind? Don''t you see that all these zombies have their noses covered with their hands?" said the level-four man.


    Those zombies were actually smart enough to cover their noses with their hands. They looked like ordinary zombies, but why were they so smart?


    "I do see it¡­ I just don''t want to believe it," said the man.


    "Cut the crap! They''re coming!" The level-four man gave a shout and then immediately released his power to fight against the zombie crowd that was charging at him already. While defending, he and the other two moved backward.


    "Damn, that woman got away!" The level-four man said angrily.


    That woman was the team leader. She definitely knew more than the others who had been caught already. However, she got away! That needle failed to put her down!


    Also, where were those zombies from? They were smart enough to block the bad smell from the three men by covering their noses!


    In a five-story building nearby, a female zombie was standing against a wall. Under her sunglasses were a pair of typical, purely black zombie eyes. She was wearing a black and white camouflage suit and a black baseball hat. Her hair were tied into a ponytail and stuck out of the hat, hanging on her back.


    As the battle began, the female zombie quickly leaped off the building toward the backs of the three people, preparing to launch a lethal and surprise attack from behind.


    Qin Yu had no idea that someone else was dealing with her enemies. At that time, she ran upstairs with the last bit of her strength to the cinema, then turned on her flashlight and found the largest screening room to get in.


    She staggered to the last row and moved to the seat in the corner, then lay down. She had no energy to think as she passed out immediately. She didn''t even have the strength to wrap her wound up.


    ¡­


    In the Chief''s office in Base Number Two of All Beings Base, Lin Qiao gave a cold smile upon hearing from Xie Dong that quite some hunters had gone missing or were captured recently.


    Li Zhengye had finally made a move. This time, he sent over three-thousand soldiers to capture the hunters from All Beings Base. Did he think that he was allowed to capture as many All Beings Base people as he wanted?


    While reading a file calmly, Lin Qiao said, "Keep a close eye on them when they attempt to leave. Don''t give them any chance to bring home any useful information about us."


    "I get it," Xie Dong nodded.


    He had sent out three-hundred level-four zombies and fifty level-five zombies in three groups. One group had their eyes on the enemies'' way home, one had been watching the enemies'' base camp, and the rest were ruining their actions.


    The zombies that had shown up near Mo Qiqi and Qin Yu were all under Xie Dong''s command.


    The three-thousand soldiers from Sky Fire Base were hiding in a secret spot. That was a hotel building located tens of miles away from All Beings Base. All their combat vehicles had been driven into the underground parking lot while the soldiers were hiding in hotel rooms.


    Lin Qiao wouldn''t have noticed them so soon if she hadn''t had her eyes on Sky Fire Base all the time.

 991 The Soldiers From Sky Fire Base

    It had been half a month since Teng was born. Lin Qiao absorbed energies every single night, but had only regained thirty percent of her power so far. She needed more time to recover.


    She was able to launch effective attacks at the moment, but her thirty-percent filled energy couldn''t support her in a long-lasting battle. She didn''t plan to fight the battle by herself though, not against the three-thousand human soldiers at least.


    Lin Qiao wrote down something on a piece of paper, then drew a map on the paper. After that, she pointed at the building where Sky Fire Base people were hiding and said, "They left a large troop here, but all the superpowered soldiers have been sent after our hunters. You might as well gather all the zombies in this area. First, send zombie leaders to block the way of their level-five superpowers possessors and stop them from returning to the building, then send the lower-leveled zombies to take this place down. Can you do that?"


    Xie Dong looked at the map that she drew, then nodded and responded, "No problem!"


    Lin Qiao nodded as she leaned against the back of her chair and said, "Go!"


    After Xie Dong left, she habitually glanced at the baby who was lying on the couch. Teng had fallen asleep again. He fell asleep easily, no matter how noisy the environment was.


    ¡­


    The building that was located fifty miles away from All Beings Base used to be a five-star hotel. It was a luxurious building, with a large underground parking lot. Since the apocalypse happened, the place hadn''t had many visitors. The surrounding plants had either died or mutated. The mutated vines covered the building, and the plants in the garden had been thriving.


    Usually, a lot of zombies could be seen in that area. But at present, it was all quiet, without any traces of zombies.


    In a room in that hotel building, a man was standing behind the window, smoking.


    That was a thirty-two-year-old man named Huang Chengfeng; he was the director of the plan this time. He had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and thin lips that were pressed together into a straight line. The features of his face gave out a wild presence.


    Huang Chengfeng had an average height. However, his muscles, that had his camouflage suit filled up, created a vibe of strength.


    He reached the cigarette out of the window and flicked it.


    "Boss, we didn''t find those two women." One of his subordinates, who was also in a camouflage suit, walked in and said.


    On hearing that, Huang Chengfeng furrowed his eyebrows while the vibe that radiated from him grew frosty cold.


    "You are useless," he snorted coldly and said, "You can''t even catch two women."


    "They are both at level-five¡­" The man tried to explain.


    Huang Chengfeng interrupted him coldly, "You caught one of them but let her get away. How do you explain that? Did you take her lightly because she was a woman? You think the women who have the guts to come out of the base to hunt zombies are easy to deal with?"


    The man dropped his head and stayed silent.


    Huang Chengfeng angrily threw away the cigarette in his hand as he clicked his tongue and continued, "Those are two good-looking women. They could help us quench our thirst, yet you let them get away!"


    Huang Chengfeng and his people rarely had a chance to touch the bodies of women. When they heard there were two young women among their targets, they had grown that kind of intention.


    However, they didn''t manage to capture them.


    After a short silence, Huang Chengfeng asked the man, "When will the first batch of captives be brought back to us?"


    "They are on their way back already," said the man.


    Huang Chengfeng was so angry that his lungs even ached. "I know that they''re on their way back already! Where else could they possibly be? Would they stay where they were until the next spring? I want to know how far away they are now from us, and when will they get here!"


    "Oh, about ten miles. They''ll be here in around twenty minutes," the man responded immediately.


    "Alright," Huang Chengfeng immediately waved a hand and signaled him to leave. "Send your people to their aid. Don''t let any accidents happen. Keep a close eye on those captives, especially the ones from those two women''s teams. I''m expecting them to come and try to rescue their friends." While speaking, he wore a cold and wicked smile.


    They ran away? It was fine. Their teammates were captured, and Huang Chengfeng was sure that they would try to rescue them.


    At that moment, a soldier who was standing guard on the roof abruptly put down his telescope with a confused look. After putting the telescope back before his eyes and taking a glance through it, he waved at his comrade who was standing near him and asked the latter to come to him.


    "Sam, come here!"


    The other soldier, who was about ten meters away from him, turned and gave him a glance, then asked habitually, "What''s wrong?" While speaking, he turned and walked over.


    The soldier with the telescope said to him, "Come here and take a look. I think I saw something five-hundred meters away."


    The soldier who looked where his telescope was pointing at but didn''t see anything. The distance was rather far after all.


    "What did you see?"


    The soldier with the telescope handed it to him, then pointed at one direction and said, "Look, over there, about five hundred meters away, near the bar."


    The other soldier saw a green street through the telescope. The bordering trees on both sides of the street had mutated, and on the sides of the street were stores and bars. However, he saw nothing apart from those thriving trees and the buildings that could be seen through the spaces between the leaves.


    "What? What did you see?" He asked with confusion.


    "Look carefully!"


    The other soldier took another glance. This time, he spotted some shambling figures on the street through the spaces between the leaves. Judging by the weird movements and twisted limbs of those creatures, he clearly knew what they were. Those were zombies, and not human beings.


    It wasn''t a strange thing to see zombies in the post-apocalyptic era. The strange thing was that those zombies were moving in ordered lines and approaching the hotel building like an army.


    Each one of the people in the building was wearing the anti-zombie drug. And as they all gathered together, the smell that emitted from the drug grew stronger than usual. Half of the zombies nearby were cast away by that smell, and the other half were killed. So, it should be impossible for any zombie to approach the area.


    "I''m going to tell Captain about this. You keep watching them!" The soldier quickly thrust the telescope into the other soldier''s hands as he left a few words and then left in a haste. The other soldier raised the telescope and observed carefully through it. He was right. A giant zombie crowd was approaching indeed.


    Moreover, that zombie crowd was expanding. He had seen tens of zombies through the gaps between the leaves and buildings. What about those areas that he couldn''t see? How many zombies were there?


    Soon, a familiar footstep sound was heard as his captain came up.


    "Are they really coming here?" The captain took over the telescope and put it in front of his eye.

 992 The Looming Zombie Crowd

    The captain on the roof spent a short while observing through the telescope, then had his expression changing. He looked around and spent another half a minute with his eyes in the telescope. After turning the telescope toward quite a few different directions, he finally handed it back to his subordinate, then turned and quickly left, running downstairs without saying anything.


    Huang Chengfeng was waiting for his men to come back with captives. However, the leader of the squad that was responsible for guarding the building abruptly came downstairs in a flurry.


    "Director, there is an emergency!"


    "What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?" Huang Chengfeng looked at him and asked.


    The squad leader said, "This building is surrounded by zombies! The zombie crowd is five-hundred meters from us and approaching. There are at least three thousand of them!"


    Huang Chengfeng furrowed his eyebrows and showed a fierce look. "What? We are surrounded by zombies? They are approaching?"


    The squad leader quickly nodded and responded firmly, "Yes, they are coming at us. A lot of them! But¡­ They have been quiet. I think¡­ some of them are at high levels¡­"


    Huang Chengfeng didn''t want to believe that, but he knew that his subordinate wouldn''t lie. The man must have confirmed the situation before reporting to him.


    "That''s impossible!" He said with disbelief, "Are you sure about what you saw?"


    The squad leader stood at attention as he saluted at him and said seriously, "I spent tens of seconds confirming it. I know what I saw. The soldiers on the roof saw them too!"


    Huang Chengfeng picked up the telescope from the table beside him, then walked out of the room with big steps. He ran up to the roof, then raised the telescope and cast a glance through it. After that, he immediately gave out his order.


    "All, get ready to fight! Bring out the combat vehicles! All-round aiming!"


    Following his order, all the soldiers swarmed out of the hotel rooms while carrying their weapons, taking cover near the hotel building and pointing their weapons outward. On the other side, the zombies moved slowly. Hundreds of meters took them a long while to cover.


    Huang Chengfeng spent a short while looking around from the roof, then pulled a long face.


    The zombie crowd had jammed every road around the building. He was able to leap onto another building and leave, but his soldiers weren''t able to do that.


    "Tell our men to wear more anti-zombie drug, then gather together and rush out through this way," Huang Chengfeng pointed at one road and then leaped off the building.


    "Fire!" He landed beside the gunner on the road that he pointed at and gave his order immediately. After that, he turned and shouted, "Get into the cars and move!"


    Receiving his order, the gunner launched the cannon.


    Bang! A thunderous sound was heard and a cloud of dark smoke rose. Half of the zombie crowd on the road was blown off, yet more zombies rushed up from behind.


    At that moment, a shrill zombie roar could suddenly be heard. "Roar!" ''Attack!''


    Following that order, the slow-moving zombie crowd suddenly switched to another mode. All the zombies brandished their claws and bared their teeth as they began rushing forward crazily.


    "Fire!" With a frown, Huang Chengfeng gave another order.


    Bang! Another blast was heard and some more zombies were blown into the sky.


    At that point, the combat vehicles were driven out of the parking lot, moving toward the road that Huang Chengfeng was on while whistling.


    "Get into the vehicles!" Huang Chengfeng ordered his men to hop onto the vehicles once those vehicles came into his sight. Following behind the combat vehicles were military trucks.


    About ten miles away, the people on three modified off-road cars heard the blasts and pulled over.


    "What''s going on? Is there a fight near the hotel?"


    "That''s a lot of noise. Has the Director and the others encountered some kind of situation?"


    "I don''t know! But I think so!"


    A man got off the first car and looked around, then hopped onto a tall building and looked at the hotel. He saw a few thick clouds of smoke rise from that area and spread in one direction, as if the troop was moving.


    He jumped off the building and landed on the car roof as he said, "Let''s get there and take a look. The fight is intense. We don''t know what''s going on. We need to get closer."


    With that, the three cars immediately started moving again.


    But, they soon had to stop the cars again, because a group of zombies was quietly standing on the road. At least a hundred zombies blocked the way before them.


    "Damn! Where are all these zombies from? Why do I feel that they seem to be waiting for us?" The driver in the first car hit the break as he looked at the zombie crowd that was about eighty meters away from the car, popping his eyes and staring at those zombies with disbelief.


    "Look up there! Two people are standing on top of that building!" The man in the front seat abruptly stuck his head out of the car window and pointed at a building while yelling. The man on the car roof had seen the two people as well. Each of them was giving out a strong vibe that made all the people in the three cars feel a strong pressure.


    Suddenly, one of the two disappeared.


    Before the people in the cars could react, a muffled thud was heard. Next, the man on the car roof was thrown off.


    The man''s brain stopped working when he fell onto the ground. However, when he raised his eyes to see a pair of purely dark eyes, his fine hair instantly stood straight up.


    That was a zombie! He was pressed down to the ground by a zombie! He believed that the zombie would bare its teeth and give him a bite in the next second!


    That thought flashed across the man''s mind. He tried to struggle instinctively, but he sensed something soft and wet against his face all of a sudden. By the time he realized what had happened, his face was covered in zombie saliva. The zombie didn''t bite him, but licked his face!


    Was the zombie marking its prey?


    ''Damn! Aren''t you a zombie! Shouldn''t you bite me! You''re not a dog! Why did you lick me?"


    Realizing that the zombie just licked him, the man was stunned. At that moment, the other figure on top of the building disappeared as well. Within a blink, that figure showed up on top of the first off-road car and couldn''t help but say to the face-licking zombie, "Why are you licking him! Bite him to death! Bite!"


    After saying that, Six felt so tired in the heart, wondering where Chief found Nine. That zombie definitely had some problems! He wouldn''t listen to any orders. As for the things he did listen to, he never kept them in mind. And the things he did remember, he never put them in action!


    He pounced on any person he saw and then licked them, whether they were friends or enemies. What on earth was wrong with him!

 993 Sabotage The Action

    Hearing Six say that he was allowed to bite the man, Nine immediately changed his expression and uttered a roar.


    "Roar!" He crooked his fingers and pressed the man on the ground violently. Next, he bared his teeth and lowered his head all of a sudden. He was so swift that the man didn''t even have the time to struggle, and only gave out a shrill scream.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Being reminded by the scream, the others realized what had just happened. Thus, they quickly fired at Nine. Meanwhile, the people in the other two vehicles stuck their heads and hands out of the windows to shoot Six, who was on top of the first car.


    However, Six flashed across the air and disappeared, and then the two vehicles started quaking.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Before the people could sense anything, a few sharp stone thorns suddenly pierced into the cars from the bottom and penetrated them.


    "Ah!" The ones who didn''t manage to dodge had their bodies penetrated, and the ones who reacted fast jumped out of the car windows and landed on the ground.


    "Roarrrr!" At that moment, the zombie crowd that had the road jammed suddenly rushed at them. They widely opened their mouths and bared their shiny teeth, brandishing their claws while charging at those people.


    Just like that, the crowd of zombies swarmed at those people in a formidable array.


    The hostages were kept in the car in the middle, so Six didn''t attack that car. He did break the tires and disabled the car from moving though.


    The people in the car came out and dragged out the hostages from All Being Base, who were tied up and drugged. Then, they drew back and brought the hostages with them. They tried to escape, but didn''t plan on giving up on those hostages.


    That was their mission. They wanted to accomplish it even though it might cost them their lives.


    After making a bite on the man that he pressed onto the ground, Nine saw a few bullets flying at himself. He didn''t dodge, but pressed the man firmly on the ground and kept biting him.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Bullets landed on his body, but he didn''t care.


    "Alright, killing him is enough. Don''t eat too much, or the Chief might punish you. Have you forgotten about what Chief said?" Six flashed to his side and grabbed Nine''s collar, then threw him away. Then, he quickly glanced at the dead man on the ground. Nine had eaten half of his neck. After that, Six turned to those people who were trying to flee and reached out a hand while making a weird gesture.


    Following his move, the earth under those people''s feet suddenly cracked. Two or three people didn''t manage to stop on time and ended up falling inside; one man quickly held the edge of the crack to stop himself from falling. However, a few All Beings Base hunters whose hands were still tied up immediately gave the man a few kicks and sent him down into the abyss.


    "Don''t move! You move and I kill them!" A Sky Fire Base man abruptly turned his gun to those All Beings Base hunters and yelled at six.


    Six was wearing sunglasses, so no one found out that he was a zombie. The people on the scene recognized Nine as a zombie, and also felt that he seemed to be controlled by the man with sunglasses, just like the zombie crowd.


    Those Sky Fire Base men thought that the man with sunglasses was there to rescue the hostages, so they still had a last gleam of hope. As there was no way out, they threatened Six with the lives of hostages.


    Six looked at them expressionlessly and stood there silently.


    Seeing that, the Sky Fire Base man thought that his plan had worked. He sighed with relief, then started moving backward carefully, together with the hostages. He wanted to find a way to leave.


    Under the sunglasses, Six slightly narrowed his eyes. The sweet aroma of fresh blood and meat made him lick his teeth. But still, he ignored the thirst in his heart. He did plan to save those All Beings Base people. They didn''t leak any secret of All Beings Base to the enemies, so Six wouldn''t let them die.


    However, he didn''t plan to let the enemies live.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Right at that moment, a series of gunshots were heard, and a few Sky Fire Base men had their heads blown up.


    The man who was pointing his gun at a hostage had a half of his head exploded as well. Brain matter splashed everywhere, mixed with blood, and spread on the faces and bodies of the All Beings Base hunter who was standing near him.


    What blew their heads were the bullets that came from a sniper rifle. About a mile away, someone was lying on top of a building behind a sniper rifle. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses, so he might not be a human.


    As a few enemies suddenly went down, Six moved his hand. In the next second, the earth under the hostages'' feet suddenly sank. The hostages fell into a shallow pit while a few zombies suddenly darted out from the side and pressed down the rest three Sky Fire Base men, biting them to death.


    Only after all the enemies died and their bodies were eaten by zombies did Six bring up the four All Beings Base hostages.


    "Right now is a special time. Please follow me back to the base." While he was speaking, two vehicles were driven over from a road nearby. Then, he untied the four and sent them into a car.


    The hostages had witnessed the way he fought the battle, so they needed to be brought back to the base for some follow-up work.


    "Roar!" Nine hopped on top of the car and sat down with his legs crossed, then licked the blood off his lips. As for the bloodstains that his tongue could not reach, he just ignored them.


    So, in the end, he had a circle of blood around his mouth.


    In the cinema, not long after Qin Yu passed out, the door of the screening room was opened and a figure walked in. She walked into the dark screening room and sniffed around without turning on a flashlight. Then, she moved toward the last row and soon found Qin Yu, holding her up and letting her sit on the chair.


    Qin Yu was still bleeding. The wound was deep, caused by a wind blade.


    The female figure looked at the wound on her arm and couldn''t help but inhale deeply toward it. After letting out that breath, she started taking out the tools in her pockets.


    She had first aid gauze and styptic powder.


    She first spread the styptic powder on Qin Yu''s wound, then wrapped it with the gauze three times and tied a knot. Next, she squeezed Qin Yu''s jaw to force open her mouth and poured in a dose of medicine. After that, she carried her on her back and walked out of the screening room.


    Coming out of the screening room, the figure''s face was exposed under the light. She was wearing a black cap, sunglasses, and a camouflage suit, with her long hair tied up at the back of her head.


    She was the female zombie who had controlled the other zombies to stop the people from chasing Qin Yu earlier. She was a level-five zombie, one of the tens of zombie leaders that Xie Dong had brought into action this time. She was taller than Qin Yu, with a body of supermodels. In the loose-fitting combat suit, she looked less slim than she really was, but neat and dashing nevertheless.

 994 After The Operation

    At night, Xie Dong sent the news back to Lin Qiao: all hostages were rescued, and all enemies were killed.


    "Did anyone get away?" Lin Qiao looked at the level-four wind-powered zombie before her and asked.


    The zombie was one of the first batch of zombies that she put under Xie Dong''s command, and also the fastest one. Xie Dong always sent him to deliver the message when he couldn''t do it by himself.


    The zombie shook his head: no one had escaped.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Good! You can go."


    She didn''t need to say anything else. Xie Dong was a senior leader of the zombie army, and he clearly knew about how to tidy the battlefield and collect trophies after the war.


    Hearing the order, the zombie quickly turned and left Lin Qiao''s office.


    "Mama, I''m hungry!" Once the zombie left, Teng, who was lying on the couch, made his soft voice sound.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance impatiently and said, "You had a bowl of milk an hour ago! Why are you hungry again?"


    Teng responded, also impatiently, "I am hungry! My digestion is working very well! I am a baby!"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "Have you seen a baby who can talk once he was born? You are tiny, but you are not like a baby!"


    Hearing her call him tiny, Teng exploded immediately, "I''m not tiny! I will soon grow up! I''m still developing! Can''t you see me as a normal baby? I''m still a little baby¡­ Ahhhhh!"


    Through the past week, Teng had grown into a white and chubby baby, and his voice had grown louder and stronger. Unlike before, he didn''t need to rest after saying a long phrase anymore. He even had the strength to cry very loudly.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly reached out her hands to stop him. "Alright, alright! I get it! Don''t attack me with your terrifying baby-cry! Viney, you''ve changed since you became a boy! You are no longer the adorable Viney!"


    Once she said that, Teng burst in louder cries. "Ahhhhhh! Mama! Can''t you call me by my current name! Don''t call me Viney again! That name is so annoying!"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and responded, "I''m used to calling you by that name. It''s not so easy to change it. What can I possibly do? That''s not my fault."


    "Whose fault is it then? Mine?" Teng said angrily, "It has been so many days! You should be able to change it by now!"


    "Hey, are you guys having a fight again?" Another voice was suddenly heard from the door of Lin Qiao''s office. "Why are you guys fighting all the time?" That voice laughed at Lin Qiao and the baby.


    Lin Qiao looked at Lin Hao, who was walking in, then pointed at her son and said, "He''s changed. He''s not the Viney that I know. The real Viney might have been swapped out already!"


    "Hah!" Lin Hao burst in laughter. Which mom would say something like that about her newborn baby?


    "Uncle, I think my Mom isn''t my Mom! She doesn''t love me anymore! I might be a child that she found by the street!" Teng turned around on the couch and lay on his stomach as he argued against his mother.


    "I''m glad that you''re here. He just told me that he''s hungry. Feed him. I''m in the middle of something here!" Lin Qiao pointed at the vacuum cup on the tea table and said to Lin Hao.


    Teng was strongly against nursing bottles and anything else like that, so Lin Qiao had to feed him with a spoon and a small bowl, which was very inconvenient. What was even worse, the baby wouldn''t let anyone else but his mother and uncles feed him!


    Duan Juan, Shen Yujen, and the others were allowed to hold him, but not feed him. No one knew why!


    Lin Qiao always complained about it in her head.


    Lin Hao walked over as he took off his white coat and threw it to the side, then sat down on the couch. He opened the vacuum cup and poured some milk into the small bowl on the table. After that, he held Teng, who was crawling on the couch like a turtle, in his arms.


    While feeding the baby, Lin Hao asked Lin Qiao, "I heard that some Sky Fire Base men are out here these days. How are things going?"


    Earlier that afternoon, quite a few injured men were sent into the medical department. Most of their injuries were caused by bullets and superpower attacks.


    Lin Qiao was still reading a report from the farm. Without raising her head, she replied, "Xie Dong has dealt with it. However, that was only a tentative move from Sky Fire Base. It''s not over yet."


    "Are you going to wait for them to come here and then finish them off? Batch by batch?" Lin Hao asked.


    "What I''m more worried about are those underground creatures," said Lin Qiao, "Before coming up with an efficient way to deal with those creatures, do you think I can leave this place to attack Sky Fire Base, which is over a thousand miles away?"


    "That''s true!" Lin Hao nodded and said, "Those creatures are so close to us. If you and the zombie army left, they might come out and cause trouble."


    Lin Qiao didn''t say anything else.


    ¡­


    Qin Yu woke up to find herself lying in a room that looked like a hospital ward. She supported her body with her arms and sat up. The pain coming from her arm made her lower her head and glance at herself. Her wound was wrapped up and her coat taken off, hanging on the back of the chair nearby.


    At that moment, the door was open. A tall and slim woman who was wearing sunglasses, walked over.


    "Who are you? Where is this place?" Qin Yu looked at her. She was vigilant against that woman, but she didn''t show that on her face.


    The woman walked in and pulled over the chair before sitting down. Then, she took out a notebook and a pen, and started writing.


    Qin Yu watched her movements with confusion. She didn''t understand why the woman didn''t talk but write.


    The woman quickly wrote down a line, then raised the notebook and showed it to Qin Yu.


    ''Hi, I am Yan Xiao. You are in the medical department of All Beings Base.''


    Reading Yan Xiao''s note, Qin Yu sighed slightly with relief, but still looked at her with confusion, wondering why didn''t she talk. Yan Xiao seemed to have figured out what she was thinking. ''I''m sorry. My throat is broken, so I can''t talk,'' she quickly wrote down another line.


    "Ah, I see. Did you save me?" Qin Yu nodded knowingly and then asked her.


    She wanted to know if it was Yan Xiao who saved her and brought her back to the base. The last thing she could remember was that pitch dark screening room.


    Yan Xiao nodded.


    "Thank you!" Qin Yu thanked her sincerely, but then stared at Yan Xiao alertly and asked, "But¡­ I remember that I passed out in a very secret place. It should be pretty hard for you to find me. How did you¡­"


    She was highly vigilant, not because she suspected Yan Xiao, but because every zombie hunter was required to stay alert in order to survive.


    She didn''t believe that Yan Xiao just happened to spot her. That corner in the screening room was very hard to notice. No one should have found her unless he or she was looking for her on purpose.

 995 Sign A Confidentiality Agreemen

    Yan Xiao wrote, ''I can''t tell you that. But, I am representing the base. You didn''t betray the base, so we are responsible for your safety.''


    Reading that, Qin Yu immediately understood Yan Xiao''s meaning. If her enemies weren''t from another base, Yan Xiao might not show up to help her.


    In a good way, Yan Xiao was there to help her and her friends, but in a bad way, she was there watching them. If she agreed to work with Sky Fire Base people, she might be added to the killing list of All Beings Base once she achieved an agreement with those people and sold the secrets of All Beings Base.


    Most people had learned about the hidden rules among all the bases.


    Qin Yu pressed her lips together slightly and then asked, "Where are my teammates? I believe that they wouldn''t betray the base. Besides, they don''t know anything."


    Yan Xiao stretched her hand, which was holding the pen, then wrote, ''Don''t worry, they are all fine! But, they witnessed how we fought the battle, so they need to sign a confidential agreement now. You need to be their guarantor.''


    Qin Yu paused briefly, then asked with confusion, "I understand that you want to keep your way of fighting secret, but why do you want me to be the guarantor? I don''t know anything, do I?"


    She didn''t witness that so-called way of fighting. Why did she need to be the guarantor?


    Yan Xiao smiled and wrote, ''That''s for double security. Don''t worry! As long as you keep the secret well, they will be fine, and so will you."


    Qin Yu was forcibly dragged into the whole thing because she was the team leader. If her teammates intended to leak the secret about All Beings Base, they would have to think about Qin Yu''s safety before doing that.


    For her own safety, Qin Yu, of course, wouldn''t let her teammates leak the secret. So, the secret would be doubly secured.


    It was probably unfair for Qin Yu and the other victims who had been held hostage by Sky Fire Base people, but that confidential method was necessary for the safety of the entire base.


    As long as Qin Yu and her people kept the secret of the base, the base would surely protect them from being harmed by the other bases.


    Qin Yu stayed silent for a short while and then said, "Alright, I''ll sign it. But¡­ am I allowed to know about that so-called way of fighting of yours? After all, I''m going to be a guarantor, yet I don''t know anything at all. Isn''t that a little unfair?"


    She understood what it was for, and the woman with sunglasses looked friendly. Therefore, she gradually accepted her current situation.


    Yan Xiao gave her a glance, then wrote, ''I can make an application for you about that if you are willing to join our army."


    "The army?" Qin Yu was a little stunned.


    She was a zombie hunter, and zombie hunters were free. They were like mercenaries in the old world. They willingly accepted all kinds of missions from the base, and accomplished them to get paid. They had the right to choose their missions.


    They would lose that right if they chose to join the army. After all, the army had strict rules, and the missions were assigned by the leaders. The soldiers were given no other choice but to accomplish their missions.


    Therefore, the people who were capable but liked freedom were normally unwilling to join the armies.


    If she didn''t go through what happened earlier, Qin Yu would, of course, not want to join the army. But now, she was going to be forced to sign an agreement that she didn''t even know what it was for. By doing that, she would be bonded together with the base. She was still allowed to continue her life as a free zombie hunter, but in that case, she would be living under someone else''s watch.


    In the army, she and her people would be disciplined, but their positions would change. They would know much more than they could as zombie hunters. And the more they knew, the clearer they could see their current situation. In fact, anything had two sides; it depended on which side people would like to accept.


    Qin Yu seemed to be struggling. Seeing the look on her face, Yan Xiao smiled knowingly and then wrote, ''You don''t need to make the decision now. You can think about it first. You''ll be discharged by the hospital in three days. I''ll expecting to hear your answer by then.''


    While speaking, she took out a confidential agreement from behind her and handed it to Qin Yu.


    The latter took it over and read it, then took over the pen from Yan Xiao''s hand and signed her name on it.


    After watching her sign the agreement, Yan Xiao left the room.


    On the other side of the base, Mo, Dou Yunfan, and Sun Lunan were kept in an interrogation room. They weren''t allowed to leave, but were provided with rather good living conditions. Each of them had a single bed with clean sheets, a desk, and a chair. There was also a bathroom in the room.


    However, none of them had spare attention for the room at the moment. Apart from the three of them, a few others were also sitting in the room. And those were a few zombies!


    "So, do you have any other questions?" Six sat on a chair as he looked at the three of them. Beside him, Nine was eying the three people greedily, seemingly about to pounce on them at any moment.


    Standing by the door were two level-four zombies.


    "You¡­ you¡­" Dou Yunfan looked at Six with disbelief. He was so shocked earlier. But now, he had managed to calm down a little. Mo Qiqi stayed calm and cold. From the beginning till now, all that could be detected from her face was a slight pupil-shrinking.


    It was the very first time Dou Yunfan and Sun Lunan saw a talking zombie, so they could barely react at that moment. What the zombie said to them was very informative, so they needed time to process it.


    Six had said what he needed to say. The content of his speech was similar to what Yan Xiao had said to Qin Yu. Mo Qiqi and her people had discovered about their zombie nature, so Six talked to them more straightforwardly than Yan Xiao did with Qin Yu.


    He stood up and put six copies of two different agreements on the table as he said, "If you want to leave, simple. Sign these two agreements and then you will be free to go. But of course, you can think about my suggestion. You''ll be paid well in the army."


    After saying that, he dragged the drooling Nine to the door. After he left, the two level-four zombies at the door only closed the door, but didn''t lock it.


    They didn''t need to lock the door. For Mo Qiqi and her people, the level-four zombie soldiers who were standing in straight lines outside worked much better than an iron door lock!


    Dou Yunfan rubbed his face and erased the stunned look from his face, then said, "So, this is a zombie base, isn''t it?"


    Sun Lunan was a little more composed than he was. He thought for a moment and then said, "You can say that. But, I think they are protecting the human residents in the base. That Chief lady is actually able to control those zombies. How amazing!"


    Mo Qiqi walked to the desk and attempted to pick up those agreements. However, she hesitated and paused before her fingers touched those papers.


    Would she get infected by touching the papers that were touched by that zombie?

 996 All Beings Base Army

    "Don''t worry! They just want us to join the army, and not turn into zombies. They won''t put the virus on the papers!" Sun Lunan noticed Mo Qiqi''s movement and smiled as he said.


    Dou Yunfan glanced at the door and sighed, then dropped his head and said, "I think we won''t be able to leave until we sign that agreement. This is indeed a big secret for the base."


    Sun Lunan walked to Mo Qiqi''s side and picked up the two agreements. While reading them, he said, "You should say that thankfully, as they aren''t planning on killing us to keep the secret. Instead, they only want us to join the army of the base. That''s merciful. If it happened in another base, we might have been killed out there already. After all, killing us is the best way to keep us silent."


    There were two agreements to be signed: one was the confidential agreement, and the other was the application agreement to join the army. Under the application agreement, their expected positions and pay grades were listed. Of course, they needed to be trained before officially joining the army.


    "Are we signing these?" Mo Qiqi looked at him and asked.


    "Or? Do you want to stay in this room forever?" Sun Lunan looked at her and said.


    Mo Qiqi immediately shook her head.


    "So, we have to sign these." While speaking, Sun Lunan pulled over a chair and sat down, then picked up the pen and signed his full name on the two agreements. As the team leader had signed it, both Mo Qiqi and Dou Yunfan did the same.


    After signing the agreements, the three of them kept a copy of each agreement for themselves, then brought the rest of the copies to the door and opened it.


    With a subtle and complicated look in his eyes, Sun Lunan faced the two zombies on both sides of the door, who were in military suits. The two zombies both possessed level-four superpowers. They stood straight, wearing clean uniforms and army caps. They did look like real soldiers, even though their faces looked a little scary.


    Sun Lunan had never spent such a peaceful moment together with any zombie before. He had confirmed that those zombies really wouldn''t attack him, and that they were even on the same side as him. That was something new; he was interested, yet stayed vigilant.


    He looked around, then raised the signed agreements in his hands and said, "We''ve signed these. Can we leave now?"


    One of the two zombie soldiers took over the agreements from his hand without reading them. Instead, he pointed a hand toward the outside and then walked out.


    Sun Lunan immediately turned back to the other two and said, "We''re free to go."


    The three of them followed the zombie soldier out of the door and soon walked up to an iron door. On the other side of the door was a guardhouse.


    At that moment, Xie Dong was sitting in the guardhouse with his eyes on the screens of the surveillance cameras. There was no expression on his face. Under the brim of his cap, his eyes glowed with a dim light. Hearing the footsteps coming from the other side of the door, he stood up and walked out.


    Xie Dong stood straight at the door, his legs slightly parted and hands held behind his back, looking at the three people with a fierce vibe.


    He first took over the agreements from the zombie soldier''s hand and checked the signatures of the three people, then said, "Welcome to the All Beings Base Army. I am Xie Dong, the head coach of the reserve force from Base Number Two."


    The reserve force that he mentioned was actually the zombie army.


    Sun Lunan blinked as he stepped up to Xie Dong, reaching out a hand, "Good to see you, I''m Sun Lunan!"


    Dou Yunfan was the second to start talking. "I think you knew our names long ago. But still, let me introduce myself. I''m Dou Yunfan!"


    "Mo Qiqi," Mo Qiqi coldly let out her own name.


    Xie Dong shook Sun Lunan''s hand, then smilingly nodded at Dou Yunfan.


    Sun Lunan looked around and then asked, "Are these the reserve force from Base Number Two that you talked about? Are they all¡­"


    He didn''t say the word ''zombie'' out loud, but Xie Dong understood his meaning. He nodded, then took off his hat and said, "In fact, I am a zombie too."


    He often showed up in the base, yet none of the others found anything wrong about him. He had a human face after all, and his eyes weren''t purely black. The other zombies were able to sense his zombie vibe, but no human had found out about his zombie nature yet.


    After he took off his hat, the white parts in his eyes suddenly turned black.


    All the three were stunned, looking at him with disbelief.


    Xie Dong closed his eyes for a second to let his eyes turn back normal, then said, "Don''t worry! You''ll be with the force from Base Number One under the command of Deputy Chief Yuan, and not with us. You can leave now. Tomorrow, someone will take you to the army."


    Sun Lunan and Dou Yunfan made eye-contact with each other, then both turned to give Mo Qiqi a glance. After that, they nodded at Xie Dong, who slightly turned his body and pointed outside.


    A vehicle drove the three of them back to Base Number One after they left that place. Meanwhile, Xie Dong returned to his office and saw Yan Xiao, Six, Jingyan, and some of the others sitting on the couch in his office, each holding a few agreements.


    "How are things going with Qin Yu?" Xie Dong sat down behind his desk and looked at Yan Xiao as he asked.


    Yan Xiao stood up and walked up to his desk, putting the signed agreements on his desk before writing on her notebook, ''Her attitude is turning for the better. I gave her three days to think. I think she''ll join the army.''


    Xie Dong nodded, then picked up those agreements and browsed through them. After collecting all the signed agreements, he started writing the post-battle report.


    The next day, when Lin Qiao was feeding Teng in her office, Xie Dong brought the report to her.


    "Come in and put the report on my desk." Sensing his vibe coming near, Lin Qiao said to him without even raising her head.


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue, Xiao Yunlong, and Zou Shihui had been discussing how to prepare themselves for Huaxia Base''s possible moves. Recently, Huaxia Base had been strangely quiet, which made Wu Chengyue and his people think that they were up to something big.


    "Why is Huaxia Base staying so peaceful? What on earth does Si Kongchen want? Is he going to pretend that nothing happened?" Xiao Yunlong furrowed his eyebrows. He couldn''t figure out what Si Kongchen wanted.


    "Perhaps he''s up to something bigger, and he can''t let this small conflict ruin his big plan. We don''t know about his real purpose yet. Recently, many of our information sources in Huaxia Base have broken. Si Kongchen has been secretly cleaning out spies," Wu Chengyue was wearing his everyday faint smile, yet his eyes weren''t narrowed.


    "That''s bad for us, isn''t it?" said Xiao Yunlong.


    Wu Chengyue replied, "I think he will make sure no information leaks before starting to take actions."


    "I think so too," Zou Shihui nodded.

 997 Lets Steal Him!

    After ending the serious topics, Xiao Yunlong turned to Wu Chengyue and said, "Oi, your son is born already! Why haven''t you won his mother''s heart yet? I never saw a man failing like you!"


    Hearing that, Zou Shihui wore a smile on his expressionless face and said, "Can you bring him back here and let us see him when he''s a month old? After all, that is your son, the little prince in our base!"


    Wu Chengyue responded helplessly, "Just go to All Beings Base if you want to see him. You want her to bring the baby over? I don''t think that''s gonna happen¡­"


    A very bitter look emerged on his face while he was speaking.


    He vividly remembered the looks on the faces of Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui when the two of them heard about his son. Their eyes almost jumped out of their faces. At first, they refused to believe it. After learning about the truth, they stared at Wu Chengyue as if the latter was a monkey.


    At that time, Xiao Yunlong popped his eyes and said, "Eh¡­ I didn''t know that you are so capable that you can even knock zombies up!"


    Zou Shihui was older than Wu Chengyue, but he landed his eyes straight on the area between Wu Chengyue''s legs and asked, "What? Didn''t you become a zombie?"


    Wu Chengyue honestly didn''t know what to say at that moment. Later on, the two learned that even though he had slept with the zombie lady and that his son had come to the world, the lady still didn''t agree to be with him. Hearing that, they were both disappointed.


    Hearing his words, Xiao Yunlong said, "You are the baby''s father after all. The baby''s one-month-old party surely has to take place in our base!"


    They couldn''t let the whole base know that their Chief had a little boy, but at least he should throw a nice party with his close friends and subordinates to celebrate it!


    "I don''t think she''ll be willing to do that," said Wu Chengyue with a bitter smile. The zombie lady was so possessive to the baby, and her attitude toward him had turned as bad as before. He honestly didn''t think she would agree to throw the party at his place.


    "How do you know? You haven''t even tried! Don''t be such a coward! That is your son. You have the right!" Xiao Yunlong said with a serious face. He didn''t like seeing Wu Chengyue like that.


    Zou Shihui added, "You should at least try to talk to her about that! If she says no¡­ we will steal the baby!"


    Wu Chengyue failed to maintain the smile on his face. He looked at Zou Shihui with his mouth corners twitching. "I can''t believe that you said that with such a serious attitude!"


    Zou Shihui raised a hand to cover his face, then coughed slightly and rolled his eyes to look at the ceiling. He strongly agreed with Xiao Yunlong. However, Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to have the heart to do anything to hurt the zombie lady''s feelings. So, he would not be able to convince her to throw the party at Sea Ctiy Base.


    That baby was the little prince of Sea City Base. How could his one-month-old party happen in another base? That would be unacceptable even though that was his mother''s base.


    Also, was that baby really able to talk? It was said that he had a mature mind, not like normal babies. That was magical! Was what inside the baby''s body an adult soul?


    "Eh? That''s a good idea! We don''t need to confront her face to face!" Xiao Yunlong changed his expression and laughed once he heard what Zou Shihui said.


    Seeing the looks on his faces, Wu Chengyue felt that something not-so-good might happen, so he hurriedly said, "Let me talk to her first! Perhaps she doesn''t care where the party will take place¡­"


    He didn''t sound confident at all. Based on what he knew about the zombie lady, what he just said was not possible! However, he had no choice but to say that in order to stop his two friends from doing anything weird.


    "Do it as soon as possible! Make it happen! Think about it! If the baby is here, his Mama will surely be here too. You''ll have a chance to get into her heart, right?" Xiao Yunlong leaned against the chair and gave him a suggestion.


    Wu Chengyue doubted if the zombie lady would agree to come over, but he was still tempted by what the other said.


    "Alright. We''ll leave it to you then. You have to bring the boy here and let us see him," Zou Shihui stood up as he looked at him and left a few words before leaving. Xiao Yunlong also stood up and picked up his materials before leaving.


    Wu Chengyue returned to his office while wondering how on earth he could make the zombie lady agree to bring the baby to Sea City Base. But before he came up with an idea, Xiao Licheng came in with the news.


    "Chief, there''s something new from All Beings Base."


    "What is it?" Wu Chengyue immediately turned to him.


    Xiao Licheng said, "A few days ago, a three-thousand-men troop from Sky Fire Base showed up fifty miles from All Beings Base, in the western side of the base. They captured some hunters from All Beings Base. But yesterday, Xie Dong went over with three-hundred soldiers and destroyed the entire troop, rescuing those hunters. All the surviving hunters have signed confidentiality agreements, and have been required to join the army."


    Wu Chengyue wore a faint smile on his face, yet the look in his eyes was cold. "Did anyone get out?" He asked.


    "No. All dead." Xiao Licheng shook his head and said.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "We have turned against Huaxia Base, so Sky Fire Base can''t keep quiet anymore. Currently, the human population in All Beings Base is still too small. They seem weak, and can''t show their real power to the world. I guess that''s why they''re recruiting soldiers now."


    "That''s right," Xiao Licheng nodded, "Some survivors from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base were willing to join All Beings Base, but the giant rat nest is making them think that the base isn''t safe."


    The survivors from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base had scattered everywhere. The capable ones all wanted to go to Huaxia Base or Sea City Base. The ones who didn''t want to go through a long journey went to Sky Fire Base, which was the nearest base, for survival. Currently, as Huaxia Base and Sea City Base had become enemies, some of those people struggled about which base to go to. They needed to think carefully about which base would be able to provide them with a safe and stable life, and which might put them in a bad situation again.


    Currently, Huaxia Base still seemed like the strongest base. Sea City Base wasn''t weak, but still not as powerful as Huaxia Base, at least in terms of high-tech weaponry. Thankfully, each of the two bases had a level-eight leader to maintain the balance.


    Wu Chengyue smiled coldly and said, "If they knew about those underground creatures, they would be even more afraid to go to All Beings Base." After saying that, he started wondering if those underground creatures only existed in the area near All Beings Base.


    If that were the case, the base could be considered unlucky. Could that be counted as a mistake that the zombie lady had made? Did she regret building the base there? Perhaps she should build her base in the South.


    "If those underground creatures can''t be dealt with as soon as possible, I''m afraid All Beings Base will be in trouble. It would be such a shame if that new base was ruined," said Xiao Licheng with concern.

 998 Enemy Strike

    Before long, what Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng worried about really happened.


    About half a month after Xie Dong and his men destroyed the three-thousand-men troop from Sky Fire Base, five seven-meters-wide holes appeared near the area that Yun Meng''s regiment was stationed in after dusk, before it was completely dark.


    Yun Meng and her zombie soldiers instantly sensed a strong earthy smell from that area coming from a few different directions. So, she immediately brought a few zombie kings and queens to that area and found more than one hole.


    No sound could be heard from those holes as countless underground creatures that were at the size of mature gorillas silently crawled out of the ground. Hundreds of them were already standing near the holes.


    Soon, the zombie kings and queens who were sent to the other underground cave entrances returned. A large number of underground creatures were found near every entrance. The five entrances were in a straight line; the one nearest to All Beings Base was at least thirty miles away from the furthest entrance, but was only about twenty miles away from the base.


    Obviously, those creatures were targeting the base.


    "Go and inform Chief about this ASAP! Get ready for war! Earth power! Find a way to block those holes right now!" Yun Meng returned to the base camp and immediately gave her orders. She first sent a group of zombie soldiers to each entrance, then started gathering the surrounding zombies to stop those underground creatures from spreading.


    "Roar¡­" A muffled roar was heard from a distance away, and Yun Meng''s heart leaped.


    In All Beings Base, Lin Qiao, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, Qiu Lili, and the other level-seven beings all paused and turned to where the underground cave was located. Even Wu Chengyue, Zou Shihui, and Xiao Yunlong, who were in Sea City Base, had also sensed something. The distance between the cave and Sea City Base was large, so only Wu Chengyue, who was relatively stronger, sensed that familiar vibe clearly.


    He thought for a moment, then suddenly had his expression changed.


    At that moment, the underground creatures, which were surrounded by zombies, started turning red. Within a blink, they all switched to the crazy mode and launched indiscriminate attacks against the zombies.


    The area one mile around each entrance instantly became the battlefield of the beasts and the zombies.


    "Roarrrr!"


    "Roarrrr!"


    Human beings couldn''t understand their raging roars.


    "Damn! I was wondering why weren''t they making any move! They were planning this!" Yun Meng showed up near the entrance that was the nearest from All Beings Base and cursed through clenched teeth. Then, she stormed into the battlefield while swinging both arms and easily cutting off the heads of a few low-leveled underground gorillas.


    No one could have thought that those underground creatures would launch a massive attack, without showing any sign before it. They created five new exits of the underground cave, but didn''t cause any noise!


    "Roar!" A five or six meters tall underground gorilla rushed out at Yun Meng like a buffalo and wielded his claws. Its body glowed with a red light and its sharp teeth shone brightly in the darkness.


    "Bang!" The crazy underground creature had both its speed and strength boosted to a higher level. As a result, its claw landed on Yun Meng''s body and sent her flying away!


    "Eh¡­ Pah!" Yun Meng felt pressure from her chest, and then a salty stream of liquid gushed out of her mouth. She coughed out some thick and black zombie blood as she bumped into a house. Soon, she rushed back out, leaving a hole on the wall.


    A small part of those underground creatures were left to guard the entrances. Yun Meng ordered some earth-powered zombies to seal those holes, yet those creatures attacked them fiercely. The earth-powered zombies didn''t approach them, but still got spotted.


    A ten-meters tall underground gorilla crawled out of the hole near Yun Meng, then stood there motionlessly as it faced All Beings Base, sniffing at that area.


    Behind him, more and more underground gorillas of different sizes crawled out of the hole. Soon, no more underground gorillas came out of the rest four holes. Each hole was surrounded by four or five hundred of underground gorillas, including two level-seven ones. Those level-seven underground gorillas violently attacked the level five or six zombies who were under Yun Meng''s command.


    Yun Meng didn''t have many zombie kings and queens under her command. Old Guo, Eight, Three, Xia Ri, and Nan Jin each led ten zombies leaders and launched attacks.


    Once that gigantic gorilla released its vibe, Lin Qiao, who was in All Beings Base, instantly detected danger. She quickly changed into a combat suit, picked up her son, and thrust him into Shen Yujen''s arms.


    "Send him to Lin Hao''s place!" She said to Shen Yujen, then turned to her son, "Son, go and stay with your uncle. Mama needs to leave the base for a while."


    "Go." Teng gave her a glance and then calmly waved an arm. Teng was almost a month old, no longer soft and weak like he was before. He was still tiny, but he was strong!


    Lin Qiao left her office and sent Duan Juan to deliver her urgent order to Yuan Tianxing and Xie Dong, then drove out of the base in a haste.


    At that moment, more underground gorillas had been coming out of the hole that was the closet to All Beings Base. While Yun Meng was fighting against a crazy level-seven underground gorilla, a large crowd of underground gorillas had already shown up near the hole. Apart from the two level-seven ones who were fighting Yun Meng and Xia Ri, five more were quietly standing behind that ten-meters-tall one.


    That level-eight underground gorilla seemed to be a leader.


    "Roar!" Abruptly, the gorilla leader seemed to have sensed something. It bared its teeth and raised his head to utter a roar, giving out some kind of order. After that, it lowered its body and sprung up, leaping toward All Beings Base.


    Once it moved, all the other underground creatures, which were standing there quietly, all followed behind it. Their bodies glowed with a red light, even illuminating the entire area.


    "This is bad!" Yun Meng shouted out loud without thinking. She dodged the level-seven gorilla''s claw, then saw the gigantic creature lead over a thousand underground creatures toward All Being Base.


    She wished those creatures wouldn''t go all the way to All Beings Base that was located in twenty or thirty miles away. She hoped they would worry about getting lost.


    If those creatures really broke into the base, a disaster would descend upon the base.


    The giant crowd of underground creatures might have given out an exceptionally strong vibe that made the rat group¡ªwhich was on the other side of the base¡ªdraw back into their nest in a flurry, seemingly frightened.

 999 Jump Into Battle

    Lin Qiao parked the car on the way to where Yun Meng and her troop was stated, then put the car back into her space and hopped onto a tall building. She found a spot with a wide view and saw a massive spread of glowing red spots coming closer and closer.


    She sighed with relief. Thankfully, she had ordered Lin Feng before leaving to send Lin Hao, Lin Xiaolu, Tongtong, and Teng away from the base to Sea City Base for protection.


    A series of swishing noises could be heard. Along with the noises, Qiu Lili, Lin Kui, and all zombie kings and queens from the base showed up beside her.


    A couple of days ago, Lin Qiao had summoned Lin Kui back to the base ahead of schedule. Long Qingying, Lin Wenwen, Leng Xuantong, Kong Qingming, and his people were still in Lake Tai area, searching for that mysterious stone while studying the medicinal value of mutated herbs.


    "Why are they here? They''re so close to us! And there are so many of them!" Qiu Lili widened her red eyes and said with surprise. Those creatures were really close to All Beings Base.


    Lin Qiao looked straight ahead with a sullen face and said, "They are frenzied now. Their speed, strength, and self-defense capacity have all been boosted. Be careful! Don''t risk your own safety fighting them!"


    "What about you? You''re not going after that big one, are you? It looks like a tough one!" Qiu Lili detected the hidden meaning in Lin Qiao''s words, so she turned and asked the latter. Lin Qiao clearly had told them to pick on the ones that they were capable of defeating. As for the stronger ones¡­


    "Don''t worry! My power is highly harmful to them. I''ll find a way to fight that level-eight one. If I fail¡­ If I fail, you should send someone to Sea City Base and ask Wu Chengyue for help," Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and released a black fire from her palm.


    She believed that Wu Chengyue would at least be able to buy some time for the residents in her base to run if she failed to stop those creatures. If that really happened, her new base might be destroyed again.


    As someone who preferred to solve every problem by herself, Lin Qiao honestly didn''t want that to happen, and neither did she want to ask Wu Chengyue for help at the current point in time. She didn''t want to rely on anybody as long as she was still able to fight.


    What she said to Qiu Lili was the decision that she made for the people in her base.


    The black fire turned into a black lotus and twisted slightly on her palm, then suddenly split into countless dark fire streaks. Each streak of fire shattered in the air into tiny wisps, flashing toward the red spots in the darkness which were not far away.


    After giving birth to Teng, Lin Qiao had been trying to regain her power. As a result, she had regained about eighty percent of her power over the past twenty days. Her power hadn''t been fully restored yet, but could still allow her to launch a few massive attacks.


    As Lin Qiao and the other zombies showed up, the underground creatures'' army, that was moving forward speedily, paused. By the time Lin Qiao released her fire, they even took a step backward instinctively.


    "Roar¡­" Their leader stopped moving and uttered deep, wary roars from its throat.


    Realizing that her superpower seemed to have frightened the enemies, Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and gave her order, "Apart from that level-eight one, there are five level-seven ones among them. Lili, you take one, Lin Kui, take another. The others, try your best to avoid the level-seven ones."


    Qiu Lili might not have a chance of winning against a frenzied level-seven underground creature. But thankfully, there was one good thing about being zombies: as long as their limbs and heads were still attached to their bodies, they would be fine.


    Simply speaking, zombies were really hard to kill.


    Having finished talking, Lin Qiao leaped off the building, rushing at the few level-seven underground gorillas who were near the level-eight one.


    She remembered burning a level-seven underground gorilla to death with a slight wisp of dark fire. The fire had burned the creature from inside out.


    Meanwhile, she found that those creatures didn''t scatter. They were charging straight at her base without attempting to hide. In the darkness, they looked like weird, monster-shaped lanterns.


    Within a blink, Lin Qiao flashed to the side of that enormous underground gorilla and released a stream of dark mist to wrap it up, also swiftly throwing a tiny black fireball at the head of a level-seven underground gorilla.


    "Roar!" The underground gorilla surrounded by the dark mist wasn''t stupid. It faintly detected the energy contained in the mist and instantly sprung up, leaping thirty meters away and generating a thunderous noise while landing.


    Lin Qiao and her netherworld fire had stirred the monster troop. All those creatures tried their best to stay away from her fire, seemingly panicked.


    But, how could they dodge Lin Qiao''s dark fire so easily? Her fire was like the fire of death leaked straight from the netherworld, following tightly behind those weird creatures and bringing a frosty vibe to them.


    "Roar!" One level-seven underground gorilla didn''t manage to dodge and let the tiny black fireball land on its head. The fireball split into a series of fire streaks and drilled into its mouth, ears, and nose.


    "Bang!" At that moment, a slim figure was thrown onto the ground like a broken doll.


    "Eh-hem! You guys are finally here! I''d be wasted if you were not¡­" Yun Meng even started to stutter. She struggled up from the ground, with one leg twisted. The bones of that leg might have been broken. Her body and head were covered in zombie blood; a pair of pupils glowed with a green light in her dark eyes like emerald, making her look like a ghost.


    While speaking, she coughed out some blood.


    "Whoa! Mengmeng, you look miserable!" Qiu Lili uttered a scream. Meanwhile, she flashed to Yun Meng''s side and swiftly brought her away from where she was standing.


    Boom! A buffalo-sized underground gorilla landed in that area and created a half-meter wide pit on the ground with its strong claws.


    Lin Qiao flashed onto a tall building, then raised both hands and focused her mind to control the netherworld fire that she had released just now. After that dark mist that was chasing behind the level-eight gorilla, she let out another wave of dark fire toward the level-seven ones.


    There were seven level-seven underground gorillas on the battlefield. One of them was busy fighting Yun Meng, and another one was engaging with Xia Ri. As a zombie who possessed rarely seen super strength, Xia Ri had a much stronger body than Yun Meng did. But still, he was a level lower than Yun Meng, so he suffered worse than she did.


    He was still alive, but disabled from moving; his entire body was covered in wounds and zombie blood. His chest was dented and stomach ripped open, guts exposed in the air while limbs were twisted in weird ways. Lying in a deep pit, he blinked and looked at the sky helplessly.

 1000 The Battle Between Zombies and Beasts

    Lin Qiao''s dark fire accurately hit almost every target of hers, including the buffalo-sized level-seven ones or the cattle-sized level-six ones, and even the mature gorilla-sized level-five ones. She had sent tiny wisp of netherworld fire into their mouths, noses, or ears.


    "Roar¡­ errr¡­" Before long, the underground gorillas who were attacked by Lin Qiao''s dark fire started going crazy. They covered their heads or madly scratched their chests or stomachs as if they were poisoned.


    "Roarrrr!" The screams of those underground gorillas agitated the level-eight one, and it instantly turned its face to Lin Qiao''s building. Its vibe generated a strong killing intent, pressing straight down on Lin Qiao.


    As same as the killing intent from a zombie emperor, the killing intent from a level-eight beast was able to bring fear to a relatively weak living being and collapse its mind. The weak ones could be scared straight to death.


    However, Lin Qiao was a special zombie. She had no fear of the vibes or killing intents from the ones who were at higher levels than her. She was highly vigilant against the level-eight creature''s killing intention, yet she was not scared by it.


    She pressed her lips together, then abruptly raised her head and uttered a roar. "Roar!" ''All, come here!''


    Her voice was loud and resonant, traveling through a long-distance and waking up all the zombies within fifty miles. All those zombies raised their heads from rest and turned to Lin Qiao, then started moving toward her.


    Soon, the zombie dominator gave her second roar.


    "Roar!" ''Speed up!''


    Following that order, those walking zombies instantly started running and shambling toward her.


    Lin Qiao was at level-seven, but her vibe had always been nearly as strong as that of a zombie emperor. It was still slightly weaker than the vibe of a real zombie emperor, but was way stronger than the vibes of the other level-seven zombies, and could generate a greater pressure.


    While her base was still in construction, she used zombies as a line of defense, and the lower leveled zombies near All Beings Base were still alive. Upper City District and Binjiang District had at least six-hundred-thousand residents before the apocalypse. Ten percent of them didn''t turn into zombies, so, about five-hundred-thousand zombies should be existing in those two districts. Of course, some of them might have disappeared for all kinds of reasons.


    Currently, Lin Qiao was near the border between the Upper City District and Binjiang District. From there, she was able to summon at least one-hundred-thousand lower-leveled zombies.


    In simple words, she was trying to create a massive zombie attack like what Mo Yan did earlier.


    Those underground creatures were exceptionally strong and good at fighting, so she decided to use the huge-crowd strategy and bury them in the zombie crowd.


    After giving out her orders, Lin Qiao again focused her mind to deal with all the underground creatures above level-five on the scene. She aimed at the strongest ones and let the others deal with the rest. She had brought over a team after all!


    After Qiu Lili brought Yun Meng out of the battlefield, Keng-Keng showed up by the side of Xia Ri. When she saw Xia Ri, she had the same look as what Qiu Lili had on her face when she first saw Yun Meng in that awful shape.


    "Oh my¡­ Big guy, I never saw you get beaten so hard!" Keng-Keng squatted beside the pit that Xia Ri was lying in and looked at the zombie man who was beaten out of his shape.


    "Can you please save the talking? If you want to help me, just do it¡­" Xia Ri gave her a glance and said weakly.


    Keng-Keng quickly jumped into the pit and bent over, then made a few different postures as she looked at Xia Ri and said, "I don''t think I can carry you on my shoulder. First of all, your blood might splash all over me, and I''m worried that your guts might fall out! So¡­"


    The nearly six-feet and five-inches tall Xia Ri was carried in the arms of Keng-keng, who was a slim girl, five-feet and four-inches tall. Soon, she leaped up and returned to her teammates.


    While moving, she teased him, "You see, now Chief has to let you spend many hours in the lakewater and make you drink tons of that water to heal you. It''ll take three or five months for your stomach to grow back, right?"


    All the high-leveled zombies under Lin Qiao''s command knew about what the lake water could do. That was why they followed her with loyalty. At first, they were forced to serve under her command, but then they changed. Currently, they only saw Mo Yan as their former leader.


    Xia Ri stayed silent. Being carried in the girl''s arms, he felt so humiliated that he didn''t want to talk. Thinking about his injury, the tall and strong zombie felt so tired in the heart.


    "Aren''t you super strong? I can''t believe that you got you''re a*s kicked so badly¡­ Those creatures are terrifying!" Within a blink, Keng-Keng had brought Xia Ri back to her friends. While murmuring, she wrapped Xia Ri up in gauze and also gave him some of Lin Qiao''s lake water that was contained in test tubes.


    "Go and try fighting them yourself¡­" said Xia Ri, who now looked like a mummy.


    After settling him down, Keng-Keng turned and attacked a level-six underground gorilla. However. that creature didn''t even respond to her challenge! Keng-Keng looked at that underground creature which was scratching its own head, and easily trapped it in a giant water sphere. However, that creature wasn''t afraid of water at all.


    In the water sphere, the creature struggled energetically without showing a sign of suffocating. It kept scratching its own head; its eye-less face was almost torn apart.


    That creature seemed about to even scratch itself to death.


    On the other side of the battlefield, Nan Jin attacked a level-six underground gorilla with her ice power, yet failed to cause any harm to that creature. She reached out both arms and released a wave of ice mist that shrouded the underground gorilla, instantly freezing it into an ice statue.


    An ordinary person would shatter into pieces by a slight touch after being frozen like that; a powerful superpowered person might not shatter after being frozen, but would certainly fall into unconsciousness and be disabled from moving.


    However, her ice blasted along with a ''bang'' in less than two seconds, and that underground gorilla was still alive and unharmed! Unlike the one that Keng-Keng tried to kill, that underground gorilla was scratching its stomach instead of the head. Its stomach was already ripped open, and its guts had been pulled out.


    In fact, all the underground creatures that had been attacked by Lin Qiao''s fire were all disabled from launching attacks already. For zombies, they were only moving targets, still hard to kill though.


    At that moment, Qiu Lili created a fiery tornado and sent a level-seven underground gorilla into the sky. The fire wouldn''t kill it, but the fall might.


    Bang! The noise was loud, but the creature did not die.

 1001 Lin Qiao Is Busy

    The buffalo sized creature fell from tens of meters altitude and thudded against the ground, creating a huge dent. However, it did not fall into pieces like normal living beings might.


    The underground gorilla stayed perfectly unharmed as it made a roll on the ground and then got back up. Qiu Lili''s attack could barely hurt it; the fire had failed to kill it, and so had the wind blades. It was thrown to the ground from tens of meters high in the sky, but was still alive. Qiu Lili didn''t plan to give up, though.


    So, she decided to try it again. This time, she would bring it a hundred meters high in the sky. One fall might not kill it, but she could always try again!


    Qiu Lili stared at that underground gorilla which had started to scratch itself after struggling up from the ground. Once again, she sent it into the sky with a tornado.


    On the other side, the level-eight underground gorillas gave Lin Qiao a raging roar as it watched its subordinates hurt themselves in pain under the effect of her netherworld fire.


    "Roar!"


    It rushed out of the dark mist which was under Lin Qiao''s control, and leaped toward the roof, that she stood on.


    Lin Qiao was on top of a thirty-story building. The building wasn''t very tall, so the underground gorilla easily hopped onto the roof. The giant creature, which weighted at least two tons, landed on the roof thunderously, creating cracks and dents on it.


    However, by the time it landed on the roof, it realized that its target had disappeared. It gave another wrathful roar as it chased behind her.


    Lin Qiao had no plan to confront the creature face to face. She needed to focus her mind to control her power. Only when she had weakened those underground creatures from level five to seven with her power could Qiu Lili and the others have a slight chance of killing them.


    That was the only way for the situation to turn better for her and her zombies.


    "Roar¡­" The surrounding zombies rushed up to bite and scratch the lowest leveled underground gorillas. Of course, they couldn''t hurt those creatures. But, they managed to keep those creatures busy at the very least.


    The netherworld fire started to absorb their energy once it drilled into their bodies. Only after their energy was drained could the fire start to devour the bodies. Their energy merged perfectly with their bodies. Every piece of bone and every single cell richly contained the energy that was generated by the virus.


    In fact, absorbing their energy was highly beneficial for Lin Qiao.


    Soon enough, the level-five underground creatures had their energy draining out. They slowed down, being overwhelmed by the zombie crowd.


    Puff! A level-five underground gorilla was hit by a fire-powered zombie leader after it slowed down, and its body started to burn.


    ''Eh?''


    The zombie leader was surprised, then boosted its fire up and burned the underground gorilla straight to death.


    Then, a wisp of black fire drifted out of the red fire and quickly found its next target.


    The zombie leader figured out what happened at the sight of the black fire which belonged to Lin Qiao. He followed behind the black fire and charged at the next gorilla as soon as the black fire drilled into its body.


    While controlling over a hundred wisps of netherworld fire, Lin Qiao sensed how the fire grew after absorbing the energy from those underground creatures.


    At first, she sent a little-finger-sized wisp of netherworld fire into each level-five underground creature''s body, growing into the size of forefingers after draining it. The creatures at level-five were drained first, being the only ones who died during the previous two minutes.


    The ones at level six and seven hadn''t died yet even though they had scratched their skin broken. She remembered how she killed a level-seven underground creature last time. It took at least ten minutes for that creature to die.


    The energy she absorbed wasn''t enough to replenish for the energy she consumed. It did make her attack more efficient, though.


    The level-eight underground gorilla was enraged because Lin Qiao had disabled a good deal of high-leveled underground creatures with her power. Because of her dark mist, it couldn''t approach her at all, making it highly irritated.


    "Roar!" The creature roared with anger, then bent over slightly. Next, cracks appeared on its skin and a bright red light shone out of its cracked skin, while a strong and oppressive vibe rose from its body.


    Qiu Lili and the others automatically paused, even losing the control of their own bodies for a second.


    "Eh!" Even Lin Qiao felt suffocated, as if her vibe had been locked up entirely. A strong sense of crisis arose within her heart.


    Under that extremely bad feeling, her body automatically flashed away from where she was. She still needed to control her dark fire, so she could not turn herself invisible, and only hide.


    Still, she was a little slow. When she made the move, a coldness was sensed from her spine. Before she could react, she found herself flying in the air.


    Bang!


    "Pah!" By the time she realized what just happened, she had already bumped into a mutated tree. Half of the tree trunk was broken, and the tree crown had fallen entirely. Meanwhile, a series of rustling noise was heard.


    She fell on the ground and saw the tree pressing down toward herself. She hurriedly made a roll and sprung up, then flashed away before the tree fell upon her. However, that enormous creature, whose body was covered in glowing cracks, blocked her way.


    A huge paw with sharp claws swiftly swung at her face.


    She swiftly turned her body, then thrust a foot against the creature''s body and flipped in the air, nimbly dodging the claw as she sprung away. In the meantime, she swung an arm and sent out a stream of black fire. The fire flashed across the air like a snake and drilled into the underground gorilla''s nose.


    "Roar!" Feeling that something had gone into its nose, the underground gorilla immediately made a step backward and sneezed a few times, panicking slightly.


    "Hrrrr¡­" While sneezing, the creature slapped its nose quickly, even exhaling deeply a few times through the nose.


    At that time, Lin Qiao had moved on top of a utility pole that was about twenty meters away from the creature, with a hand on her chest. Thankfully, she had a strong body. Bumping into the tree caused her no harm and only brought her a slight suffocated feeling.


    She covered her chest with her hand, not because she was feeling discomfort, but because her clothes were torn by that creature''s huge claw!


    Nothing could be more frustrating for a girl than having her clothes torn during a battle!

 1002 The War Situation

    Lin Qiao quickly took off her coat and found a new one from her space. While dodging from the level-eight underground gorilla, she swiftly put the coat on and buttoned it up.


    At that moment, the underground gorilla trembled slightly and then gave a series of weird coughs. Next, Lin Qiao saw a stream of dark mist drift out of its nose. In the meantime, the dark fire that she sent into the creature''s nose just now died.


    "Pah! Pah!" The underground gorilla didn''t stop after letting out that dark mist, but coughed out some black saliva as well. The saliva was spat to the ground, corroding the plants and stones and creating a dent on the ground.


    ''Damn!'' Lin Qiao said to herself, ''Did this thing neutralize my attack by spitting? Really?''


    "Roar!" After getting rid of Lin Qiao''s dark fire, the level-eight underground creature once again charged at her. It was enormous, but not clumsy at all. It raised its speed high enough that she couldn''t even dodge.


    Lin Qiao hurriedly moved, then disappeared from where she was within a blink.


    If any lower leveled being was there, they might only see the afterimages that Lin Qiao and that creature left behind while moving at thunder speed.


    While dodging the level-eight creature''s attacks, Lin Qiao still needed to spare her attention to control her netherworld fire, which was still inside the bodies of the other underground creatures, absorbing their energy. Therefore, the dark fire that she sent to the level-eight being earlier was too weak to hurt the creature.


    Bang! The level-eight creature fiercely chased behind Lin Qiao, pouncing on her once again within a blink of an eye. Its pair of sharp claws swung at her head along with a piercing, frosty vibe.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao made a sudden flip, almost brushing across those claws.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Those claws stirred the air and created sharp air streams, even cutting the rocks and trees that stood meters away.


    Under the pressing threat from that dangerous level-eight creature, Lin Qiao had no choice but to temporarily give up on controlling her fire inside the other underground creatures.


    As the connection between the fire and Lin Qiao was cut off, the fire stopped devouring energy, but quietly hid inside those underground creatures'' bodies.


    Those level six and seven underground creatures were immediately released from the pain. So, they raised their heads and started to attack the zombies that had been surrounding them the whole time.


    "Roar!" The level-seven one that was sent up two-hundred meters high in the sky by Qiu Lili adjusted its posture in the midair and uttered a raging roar.


    Bang! Following a muffled thud, the creature stably landed on the ground, denting the cemented ground. Then, it walked out of the pit with strong steps and sniffed toward Qiu Lili, locating her immediately.


    "Why in the world are these things so strong! Not even the fall can kill it!" Qiu Lili was so annoyed and irritated on seeing the buffalo sized underground gorilla suddenly change its expression and prepare to launch attacks on her.


    "What can you possibly do to me!" She angrily glared at that ugly creature, then flew into the sky and looked down at that creature.


    "Roar!" The level-seven underground gorilla raised its head to face her as it gave a raging roar and then bent its knees, hopping on top of a streetlight nearby. Then, it jumped onto a building and quickly climbed onto the roof.


    Qiu Lili moved slightly backward and then rose higher, extending the distance between herself and that creature by nearly a hundred meters. Seeing that, the level-seven underground gorilla again gave her a roar. She was right in front of it, yet it could not hurt her.


    She was too high in the sky. The creature could leap high, but not over a hundred meters. Also, the higher in the sky, the quicker the air flowed. At Qiu Lili''s altitude, the air flowed faster than that on the ground many times over. Therefore, her scent soon faded, almost disappearing.


    Hence, the level-seven creature soon gave up on attacking Qiu Lili as it stood on the roof and turned its head to sniff around. Yet, he found nothing nearby that was worth it to launch an attack at. After that, it turned its face to where the All Beings Base was located, then leaped off the building and moved toward the base.


    "Roar!" A beast roar was heard while a dark figure flashed across the darkness and blocked the creature''s way to All Beings Base when it landed.


    That was a huge black panther.


    The panther was supposed to have smooth and shiny fur, as well as a pair of eyes glowing brightly in the darkness. However, a few deep claw wounds were seen on the panther''s back at that moment, black blood soaking his black fur.


    Lin Kui bared his teeth and gave the underground creature a warning roar, his beast eyes shining with a fierce light.


    "Roar¡­" The underground gorilla seemed to understand the warning tone in his voice, so it responded with a scornful, even provocative roar.


    Hearing that, Lin Kui''s ferocious panther face twisted into an even scarier look. He slightly bent his lower body while fixing his eyes on the creature. Behind his body, his tail was wagging quickly and rhythmically from side to side.


    That was what cats did before attacking.


    As the two beasts were confronting each other, another level-seven underground gorilla suddenly darted over and fiercely charged at the large black panther while swinging its claws toward him.


    Bang!


    The black panther swiftly leaped backward and nimbly dodged the surprise attack. But, when he was still in the air, the other underground creature pounced on him.


    The creature''s claws shining with a cold light were about to cut into his body. The only thing that Lin Kui could do at that moment was to twist his body in the air and protect the vital parts of his body.


    But at that very moment, a tornado rose from the ground and brought him away. In the next second, the panther was brought on top of a building and Qiu Lili showed up beside him.


    "I think Chief is in danger," Qiu Lili looked at the shreds of shadow that Lin Qiao and the level-eight creature created while fighting each other and said with a frown.


    The black panther turned to that direction and gave a glance. If Chief didn''t stop controlling her power, those lower-leveled underground creatures wouldn''t have suddenly regained their power. Without her threat, those creatures had nothing to worry about.

 1003 The Long Haired Man

    The black panther quietly looked at Lin Qiao when a hand suddenly reached to him and rubbed his head.


    "Wow! So, this is your power! So cute! You are a big cat!" Qiu Lili suddenly turned her glowing eyes to Lin Kui''s fluffy head while quickly rubbing that head with both hands. His soft and smooth hair made her reluctant to let go.


    She was actually an animal lover. Unlike some other girls who loved small, mild animals, she liked the big and wild ones. She found the wild animals somehow adorable. Of course, before the apocalypse, she rarely had opportunities to see large wild animals, not to mention petting them.


    She had noticed the black panther earlier. If she didn''t recognize him as Lin Kui by his scent, she would have thought that he was a wild mutated black panther.


    She was thrilled to find out that the panther was actually someone she knew, because that meant she could rub his head! She didn''t know the guy could turn into a cat.


    Lin Kui was a little stunned as the girl''s little hand was rubbing his head.


    People said that a girl''s waist could not be touched without permission. The same thing could also be said about a guy''s head! Even though he was now in his cat shape¡­ well, panther shape actually, his head still could not be touched! He was a man after all! Was she flirting with him?


    More and more zombies gathered around the battlefield. Some of them joined the battle while some moved toward All Beings Base to block the way from the battlefield to the base. If Lin Qiao and her zombies were defeated, those creatures still wouldn''t be able to go straight to the base, and would need to go through the zombie crowd.


    At that point, a few figures showed up near the Sky Fire Base. Except for the one at the front, none of the others showed any vital signs. The one at the front was wearing a long, black wind coat and a black hat. Under that hat, his shoulder-length hair spread messily around his shoulders, almost covering his entire face.


    He had a masculine body shape, and was at least six-feet tall.


    In the darkness, the mysterious man walked into the safe zone of Sky Fire Base, followed by five or six people who didn''t seem alive at all. They moved forward step by step; a few groups of soldiers passed by on patrol, but none discovered them.


    After making a few steps forward, they suddenly disappeared, soon showing up on top of a building inside the base.


    Li Zhengye came out of the bathroom that was located on the second floor, heading toward his bedroom. He stopped moving all of a sudden and blinked, then turned to give a glance at the stairs. After that, he went back into his bedroom as if nothing happened.


    A while later, he walked out of the bedroom, wearing not pajamas, but leisure clothing. He headed downstairs, but saw a man sitting on the couch in the dark living room from the stairs. It was so dark that he couldn''t see the man''s face or clothes.


    Clap! Li Zhengye turned on the light in the living room, then looked at the man and said smilingly, "Ah, you''re back so soon. I thought it would take you two more months to come back here. How did it go? Did you get it?"


    The man took off his hat and showed his sullen face. He had relatively manly facial features, but it was softened by his vibe and messy, long hair.


    The look in his eyes was very cold while his lips were pressed tightly together. Hearing Li Zhengye''s question, he responded, "No. That man is at level-nine. He''s out of control. No one can stop him."


    His voice was surprisingly clear and pleasant to the ears. It was a little dry though, as if he hadn''t talked for a long time.


    Li Zhengye paused briefly, then pulled a long face and said, "What? Why did you come back so early then? Didn''t I tell you that I want his nucleus? Even if you can''t get it, you can''t let it fall into the hands of Huaxia people or Green Mountain people!"


    The long-haired man gave him a cold glance and said, "He didn''t die. No one gets his nucleus. Not us, not anyone else."


    "Is that why you came back so early?" Li Zhengye looked back at him, also coldly, as he snorted and asked a question.


    "Did I say that I gave up? I only said that no one can stop him now." The man gave him another glance, then turned his face away.


    "So you¡­" Li Zhengye looked at him with confusion. The angry look on his face was eased slightly.


    The long-haired man abruptly gave a wicked smile and said, "I brought you a gift." While speaking, he clapped his hands.


    Following his words, five or six men walked in and stood in a straight line between the two of them.


    Li Zhengye raised his head to look at them, then paused with surprise. He looked at that man uncertainly and asked, "Are they¡­ dead?"


    Those people had dark and lusterless eyes with dark circles underneath. Their skin was bluish pale, and their lips were purple, like the lips of the people who were poisoned to death. None of them had any vibe.


    However, Li Zhengye watched them walk in! They were dead! How come they could still walk!


    "They are dead, and they are also alive," said the long-haired man.


    "What do you mean?" Li Zhengye looked at him confusedly, "Is this the gift that you talked about?"


    The long-haired man shook his head and said, "No. They''re only a few of them. Many more of them are outside the base. I can''t bring them all in. These are the strongest ones, also the most ''undead'' ones. I also brought you a message that will surprise you."


    Li Zhengye looked at him, then at the few walking dead. "What message?" he said, "Explain this first."


    "Can''t you see?" said the man, "They are infected by the zombie virus. They are dead, but they still have some of their memories and subconsciousness. They can even understand some of my simple orders."


    While speaking, he waved his hand to signal for those dead people to leave. Following his movement, those dead people immediately turned and walked away. The way they walked was exactly like how normal people walked.


    Li Zhengye fell into silence. He thought for a moment, then suddenly realized something. "How are you gonna use them?" he said.


    They had turned into zombies, but could still move like normal people. With some disguise on the faces, they might be able to make a way into the other bases to carry some secret missions. Not to mention anything else, they could, at least, bring the zombie virus into the other bases.


    Among all that people were afraid of at present, the zombie virus was definitely on top of the list. A base would be undoubtedly thrown into panic and chaos if the virus seeped in. If some extra accidents were added, the results could be easily foreseen.


    Thinking about that, Li Zhengye had his eyes glowing.


    "They can do a lot more than getting into the other bases to spread the virus," said the long-haired man while his eyes shone with a bright, cunning light.

 1004 The Secret Is Leaked Out Again

    Noticing the look in his eyes, Li Zhengye looked at him with surprise and said, "Yeah? What else can they do?"


    The long-haired man gave a proud smile and said, "They are three times stronger than before when they were still alive, and they are able to control ordinary zombies. Moreover, they can be used as bombs. If we create an army of them, we''ll never need to worry about the invasions or zombie attacks."


    Li Zhengye responded uncertainly, "I understand that they can be like bombs, but you said that they are able to control ordinary zombies. Is that real?"


    "Why can''t they?" said the long-haired man, "All we need to do is to control them and make them control the other zombies. We need more dead soldiers like them to strengthen our army. So, I''m gonna tell you how to create dead soldiers like them, then you''ll be doing it. I''ll go back and keep watching that level-nine crazy man to see when he''ll die. He has been crazy for months. I feel that his energy is being consumed very intensely. When he ran out of energy, his life-force will be next to be consumed."


    "Oh," Li Zhengye had his eyes glowing, "Are you saying that he''ll soon be dead?"


    The long-haired man blinked, then raised a hand before his eyes and put his fingers together. Looking at that hand, he said, "When his body runs out of energy, it might explode like this¡­ boom!"


    While speaking, he suddenly spread his fingers.


    A delighted look emerged from Li Zhengye''s face as he nodded and said, "Alright! I''ll do what you have said, and you have to get me that level-nine energy nucleus. Even if you can''t, you mustn''t let anyone else get it."


    "I get it," the long-haired man nodded and said.


    Li Zhengye then asked him about how to create zombie soldiers.


    What the long-haired man gave him was some drug. He asked Li Zhengye to find a batch of superpowered people, then inject the drug and zombie blood into their bodies. That was how simple it was.


    Those people mustn''t be volunteers. The ones who weren''t willing to die would have a strong psychological reactance or a strong thirst for life. That was why they could preserve a slight trace of human subconsciousness after death. That subconsciousness wouldn''t wake them up, neither allow them to tell right from wrong. All it could do was allow them to follow orders and instructions.


    "Where did you find these people?" Li Zhengye asked the man. Those few people didn''t look like Sky Fire Base people.


    The long-haired man gave a cold smile and said, "They are not from our base, of course! You want them to resist after all. The ones you saw were from Green Mountain Base, and the ones outside are from Huaxia Base."


    Li Zhengye gave him a wicked smile and said, "Si Kongchen and Lan Lu will kill you sooner or later. Aren''t you afraid?"


    The long-haired man snorted with a scornful laughter and said, "A lot of people want to kill me. But to kill me, they need to find me first. Oh, I just said that I have a message for you. The Chief lady from the East is actually a zombie. Did you know about that? Are you surprised?"


    Li Zhengye was stunned by what he heard. He popped his eyes in shock as he stared at that man and said, "What? Are you kidding? She doesn''t look like a zombie at all. You think I''d believe it?"


    The man calmly gave him a glance and said, "Believe it or not. I haven''t verified that message yet. But, I suggest you keep the secret, and for the best, you might as well¡­ capture her."


    The long-haired man''s eyes, which were covered by his long hair, glowed with a weird light. They were containing an excited, curious look that was also toned with the color of violence, madness, and thirst for blood.


    "If she''s really a zombie, she must be much more valuable than the ones we have created. Think about it¡­ That zombie looks exactly like human beings, can talk, and is strong enough to build a new base. Furthermore, she is so beautiful and charming! How can we let such a special zombie lady disappear?"


    Li Zhengye wore a strange look while looking at the man''s face. He seemed to be a little scared, and also helpless.


    "Alright. I get it. But first, I need to know if what you said is real. Where did you hear it from?" He asked.


    "From Lan Lu, accidentally," the man responded blandly. The weird look on his face was gone.


    "Does Lan Lu know about it too? How come he''s still working together with All Beings Base?" Li Zhengye doubted it.


    The long-haired man glanced at him and said, "Lan Lu knows more than we do. If I hadn''t been watching him lately, I wouldn''t have heard about that by accident. Leave it! Just find a way to verify the message. Then, we''ll make decisions."


    At that moment, Lan Lu, Chang Qingqing, and Hu Ba were sitting together with bitter looks in Green Mountain Base''s temporary station.


    "Things would be bad for Miss Lu if the secret leaked out, right?" said Chang Qingqing with a frown.


    "If she hid the secret well enough, those people wouldn''t know if what we said is true or not. Later on, we''ll spread the word that what they heard was not real. I think it''ll be fine," said Lan Lu with a bitter smile.


    "Hopefully, she can cooperate with us about this¡­ But, we are far away from All Beings Base. Messages travel slow nowadays¡­" said Chang Qingqing.


    They needed to deliver the message to All Beings Base, to the Chief lady, and keep it from being heard by the person who accidentally learned the secret from Lan Lu. Therefore, they could not use helicopters.


    "Roar¡­" ''You leaked the secret. You think of a solution.''


    Hu Ba gave Lan Lu a glance.


    "Anyway¡­ just find someone who can do the job and put him into action. Apart from Miss Lu, we also need to inform Wu Chengyue about it. If he found out himself that I leaked his wife''s secret, he''d kill me!" Lan Lu looked at the other two with a very bitter face.


    Hu Ba rolled his eyes up to look at the ceiling, deciding not to do anything about it. The man who caused the trouble should solve it by himself.


    Chang Qingqing knitted her brows and thought for a moment, then said, "Maybe we should send Lei Cheng and Yingyue. Erlei is not as fast as helicopters, but nothing that moves on the ground can be faster than him."


    Lan Lu sighed, "Eh, I suppose there''s no better way. It''ll be a little hard for Erlei to carry two people through such a long journey. We can only send one of them."


    "Yingyue then¡­ The mission is mainly about delivering the message. Yingyue has a space. She''s not a strong fighter, but is better at escaping than Lei Cheng," Chang Qingqing nodded and said.

 1005 She Can Barely Stop Them

    Lin Qiao, who was still fighting against the underground creatures, had no idea that Lan Lu had accidentally leaked her secret. The one who heard the secret still had doubts though. The others might not believe what Lan Lu said, yet the one who heard it seemed to have an unusual way of thinking.


    Boom! Once again, the underground creature''s paw landed on Lin Qiao''s body and sent her flying away. She bumped into a building, creating a hole on the wall.


    "Eh-hem!" Lin Qiao coughed out some black blood, then flashed out of the broken building.


    Bang! Right after that, the level-eight underground creature bumped straight into the building through the hole that she had created. A series of thunderous noise could be heard as the three-story building was torn down.


    Lin Qiao gave a sigh; she was still too weak. She was a zombie dominator, yet she hadn''t restored all of her power. Her opponent was a level-eight mutated beast in the crazy state, meaning that it was as strong as a level-nine being.


    It was terrifying!


    Currently, she was almost powerless against the creature. Most of her energy had scattered and drilled into the other underground creatures'' bodies, so she was in a pretty awful shape now.


    Anyhow, the others suffered even worse than she did.


    Among them all, Qiu Lili was the only one who stayed in good shape because she had been in the sky the whole time. Those creatures weren''t able to launch long-range attacks, so they could barely hurt her. Unlike her, the black panther who stayed on the ground looked miserable. Some more claw wounds were added to his back, and an ear of his was cut. If Qiu Lili didn''t lend a hand in time, his entire right ear would have been cut off.


    Yun Meng shifted her shape and joined the battle again. Some of her bones were broken, so she was a little slow. She wasn''t able to deal with the big ones, and only handled the small ones.


    After tearing down the building, the level-eight creature found that Lin Qiao had escaped again. As a result, it started to lose patience. Standing on top of the ruins, it sniffed at her, then abruptly turned and sniffed at All Beings Base.


    Noticing the look on its face, Lin Qiao realized that something bad was going to happen. As she thought, the creature suddenly raised its head and uttered a loud roar.


    "Roar¡­" The other underground creatures immediately responded to it, then turned away from the zombies and moved toward their leader.


    All those zombies were injured. They were still alive, but they all looked miserable.


    At that moment, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and the others, who were standing on top of the fence wall of All Beings Base, were all anxious because of the news from the battlefield. They had no way to harm those dangerous creatures effectively, so they couldn''t help. Neither were they as strong and hard to kill as the zombies were. If they joined the battle, all they could do would be worsening the trouble and slowing the zombies down, while also raising the chance of death.


    Lin Qiao didn''t want to see that happen, so she didn''t bring those fragile human beings to the battlefield.


    Currently, they could do no more than sending away the people who weren''t able to fight batch by batch, while keeping a close eye on the war situation.


    "It''s bad! Chief can barely stop them!" Li Zheng returned from the front line and said to Yuan Tianxing anxiously.


    "Tell us the details!" Lin Feng immediately said to him.


    "At first, Chief was able to slow those underground creatures down with her power," said Li Zheng, "But, the level-eight one went crazy. It''s way too powerful! Chief couldn''t keep attacking the other underground creatures while defending herself against the level-eight one, so she stopped holding off the other underground creatures. Now, Qiu Lili and all the others are injured. Not even Chief has a chance to win. Those creatures appear to be impatient. Currently, a large number of zombies are gathering between our base and the battlefield. I don''t think they can hold off those creatures for long though."


    Yuan Tianxing gave Lin Feng a glance, who nodded and said, "Go, now! Although she doesn''t want to ask for help, we can''t watch her and the others fight like this without being able to help at all."


    "Are you going to see our Chief? Don''t bother. He''s already here." Another voice was suddenly heard.


    Yuan Tianxing and the others turned, only to see Xiao Yunlong among them. No one noticed him show up.


    "Are you saying that Chief Wu is here?" Seeing him, people were a little stunned at first. But, they soon realized what happened and all wore delighted smiles.


    Xiao Yunlong grinned and said, "Of course! His wife might be gone if he didn''t come here after all."


    The others didn''t know how to respond to that.


    On the battlefield, Lin Qiao noticed that all underground creatures seemed to have lost their interest in the zombies. She had a very bad feeling about that. So, she once again charged at the level-eight creature without thinking, turning all her energy into a puff of netherworld fire and sending it toward the creature.


    A basin-sized dark lotus split up into countless streams of black fire, drifting toward the level-eight creature together. The fire drilled into its nose, mouth, and ears, then quickly spread inside its body.


    "Roar!" This large stream of fire was a lot different from the thin thread that she threw out earlier. But still, Lin Qiao felt that her netherworld fire was suppressed and disabled from moving inside the creature''s body.


    The level-eight underground creature stopped moving and gathered its energy to fight against the netherworld fire. It hunched its back, seemingly trying very hard to do something. Meanwhile, the red light shining out of his body sparkled intensely.


    "Roar!" The other underground creatures bumped the zombies away and kept rushing toward the All Beings Base.


    Lin Qiao''s power made the creature stop for half a minute. But all of a sudden, the enormous creature stood up and gave a thunderous roar. Meanwhile, a dazzling red light burst out of its body.


    "Pah!" At that very moment, Lin Qiao felt that all the energy that she sent into the creature''s body was devoured. The feeling of emptiness made her blood, that had been held in her chest, gush out of her throat.


    "Er¡­" The level-eight immediately turned to look at her, then sprung up and leaped high toward her, attempting to stomp her straight to death.


    Suddenly, a half-meter-thick bolt of lightning that looked like a huge root descended from the sky and landed on the enormous creature''s body.


    Bang!


    "Roar!" The creature roared in pain as it thudded against the ground. The ground was dented, and a burnt smell was sensed.


    Following the first lightning bolt, over ten more bolts fell in a row and struck down the other underground gorillas that had been moving toward All Beings Base.


    As the level-eight underground creature leaped high, Lin Qiao struggled up and attempted to dodge. But at that point, a pair of arms lifted her and brought her to a man. After just one blink, she found herself somewhere else.

 1006 A Little Stronger than You

    Sensing the familiar scent from the man, Lin Qiao silently sighed with relief, then said with surprise, "Eh? Did they tell you to come here already? I don''t think it''s time yet¡­"


    Wu Chengyue''s lips were curved in a smile, but the look in his eyes seemed to be a little dangerous. "Not time yet? Would you wait until you were beaten into a disabled zombie to ask me for help?"


    He sensed the scent of blood from the zombie lady''s mouth and chest. He checked her body and found no severe injuries, but was still worried about her.


    Earlier, he saw from a distance how she didn''t manage to dodge. The creature was about to flatten her. At that very moment, panic shrouded his entire body, and he instinctively raised his arms to attack that monster.


    But then, the zombie lady told him that it was not the time for him to be there yet. He was very unhappy about that! If he didn''t show up, she would probably end up as a pile of smashed flesh! If he came a little later, he might need to collect her dead body!


    Wu Chengyue''s vibe grew strong and irritated when he was picturing that.


    Hearing his words and sensing his changing vibe, Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then said, "So, they didn''t tell you to come here¡­ Just put me down! Since you''re already here, please help me deal with this big one together."


    The man showed no sign of putting her down, so Lin Qiao had no choice but to ask him to do that.


    The two of them were standing on top of a building. Wu Chengyue put her down as he gave her a cold glance, said, "Together? You think you can still fight?"


    She thought he didn''t know that she had already run out of energy. Without confidence, Lin Qiao had her mouth corners twitching slightly as she looked at him and said, "That creature is crazy. Do you think you can deal with it by yourself?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at her. His beautiful lips wore a mysterious smile, and his eyes shone brightly. "I''m a little stronger than you are, at least," he said.


    While speaking, he swung an arm without even raising his head.


    Rumbling thunders could be heard before a huge silver bolt of lightning fell from the sky and landed on the level-eight creature, who just started to recover from the last round of lightning strikes.


    "Roar!"


    Lin Qiao stayed silent. She had to admit that the man seemed to be stronger than before. He was probably ready to break into a higher level.


    Endless thunders could be heard as lightning bolts fell like rain, striking the underground creatures at or above level-five.


    When the first lightning bolt emerged from the sky, Qiu Lili and the other zombies all sighed with relief. They all knew that apart from their own Chief, Wu Chengyue was the only one who had the power to kill those underground creatures.


    After suffering two lightning strikes in a row, the level-eight underground gorilla seemed to have been slowed down a little. However, as the third lightning strike came at it, it reacted in time and dodged.


    "Er¡­ Roar¡­" It shook its head, which was burnt black by the lightning. After regaining its sensations, it bared its teeth and roared at Wu Chengyue. Clearly, it was enraged by his lightning attack.


    After the thunder strikes, the red light that shone out of the bodies of the other underground creatures dimmed down a little. Hearing the roar from the level-eight one, they all roared out in one voice.


    "Roarrrr!"


    "Roar!"


    Waves of beast roars came at Wu Chengyue. An ordinary person might suffer a mental collapse under those sound waves. However, the sound waves were barely harmful for him and Lin Qiao. Lin Qiao could tell that those creatures were angry though.


    "They are angry!" said Lin Qiao with surprise. Earlier when she attacked them with her own power, they didn''t seem to be so angry.


    "Stay here," Wu Chengyue said to her, then flashed out. Along with his movement, muffled thunders could be heard from the sky. Following the rumbles of thunder, lightning bolts flashed across the dark clouds in the sky and fell from time to time, accurately hitting those underground creatures.


    The lightning couldn''t kill the higher-leveled underground creatures immediately. But, they were temporarily disabled from fighting, with their red light sparkling. Anyhow, the ones under level-five were struck straight to death by the lightning power.


    "Roar!" Wu Chengyue''s lightning power had infuriated the level-eight creature, but frightened it as well. It roared ragingly as it sprung up and pounced on him.


    The creature jumped at Wu Chengyue and swung its claws that were as sharp as steel swords, its body glowing with a dazzling red light. The level-eight underground gorilla was swift. Within a blink of an eye, it darted up to Wu Chengyue and gave him a fierce roar while launching an attack.


    Beasts usually used their roars to scare or distract their targets. That worked well for weak targets.


    Wu Chengyue was affected a little by that thunderous roar as well. At least, he felt as if her ears were vibrating intensely. He didn''t pause though; another bolt of lightning fell from the sky toward the level-eight underground creature.


    Boom! This time, the creature dodged nimbly.


    At first, Wu Chengyue managed to hit the creature by attacking sneakily. But now, the creature had figured out what was happening. Hence, Wu Chengyue started to have difficulties hitting that powerful underground creature.


    An intense battle instantly started. Wu Chengyue''s lightning bolts fell one after another, sending fire sparks all over the sky and creating a dazzling light in the darkness from time to time. Meanwhile, the enormous underground beast was glowing with a bright red light. It moved fast, leaving shreds of red light behind. Every time it launched an attack, its huge paws would smash some buildings or some mutated plants nearby.


    Soon enough, the entire area was wasted and turned into ruins. The fire created by the lightning was burning everywhere.


    Lin Qiao stood on the roof. She found that Wu Chengyue was showing no sign of losing to the crazy level-eight underground creatures. So, she started observing him with surprise.


    On the other side, Qiu Lili raised an arm and started a tornado, sending a few level-five underground creatures, which were charging at her, over two-hundred meters in the sky before letting them fall.


    Thud! Thud! Thud! The few level-five creatures weren''t as strong as the level-seven ones. They fell on the ground and didn''t die, but still suffered some internal injuries. But before the pain faded away, they were sent up into the sky by Qiu Lili once again.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    After three or four falls, those creatures couldn''t get back up.


    Standing on top of a building, Qiu Lili looked at those underground gorillas who had finally died and complained, "I had to make them fall four times to kill these level-five creatures. Why on earth are they so strong?"


    Lin Kui the black panther was sitting by her side, wagging his tail. He raised a forepaw and looked at it with helplessness in his beast eyes.

 1007 Reverse the Situation

    Wu Chengyue joined the battle alone, but he almost suppressed the crazy level-eight creature once he showed up. As a result, the war situation was instantly reversed.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while watching him fight. She knew that the level-eight creature wouldn''t be able to end the fight any time soon. She was grateful to Wu Chengyue for helping her. Moreover, the feeling that had been buried deep in her heart was aroused again.


    She looked at him; the man was powerful indeed! That powerful man had been growing a stronger and stronger affection toward her, and affecting her more and more deeply.


    She took a deep breath, then turned her eyes away from him, toward the other underground creatures. More and more underground creatures showed up on the battlefield. They were surrounded by zombies, but the latter could hardly hurt them.


    Besides, they were strangely strong. They were able to sweep away a large group of zombies by simply wielding their arms. Thankfully, the zombie crowd was huge.


    Lin Qiao reached out both hands to feel her energy that she had left inside the bodies of those underground creatures, then started to control it.


    The netherworld fire that was buried inside the body of a level-six underground creature nearest to her was activated immediately. Once again, the fire started to absorb energy from those creatures.


    "Roar¡­" The level-six underground gorilla roared with fright, then began scratching its own chest. Soon, the same thing started to happen to the other underground creatures, as tens of underground creatures at level five or six started to harm themselves again.


    After the short, intense fight that happened just now, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the other zombies were all injured. Not many of them still had the power to fight.


    Among them all, Qiu Lili and Lin Kui suffered the least.


    Lin Qiao looked around, then suddenly started moving. As long as she didn''t need to focus on the level-eight one, she still had a way to deal with the lower-leveled ones.


    A buffalo-sized level-seven underground gorilla was desperately scratching its own chest with its sharp claws. The red light shining out of its skin was sparkling.


    Lin Qiao suddenly showed up on its neck, with her legs around its neck. She held the creature''s head with both arms, and in the next second, both the creature and herself disappeared.


    A few seconds later, she showed up again beside another level-seven underground creature. She repeated what she did just now and brought the second level-seven creature into her space.


    Added with the first five level-seven underground creatures and the ones she caught later, ten of them were tortured by her netherworld fire. They were brought into the space before they even noticed her moves.


    "Wow! Is Chief going to keep them all in her space?" Qiu Lili saw what Lin Qiao did, popping her eyes as she said with surprise.


    "She can be stronger in her space. If she didn''t need to fight the level-eight one earlier, she might have thrown those things into the woods inside her space long ago," Lin Kui stood up and walked to Qiu Lili''s side as he talked to her while wagging his tail.


    "I see," Qiu Lili nodded while thinking.


    The two of them turned their eyes to the area where rumbling thunders had been heard from. The level-eight creature was ferociously chasing behind Wu Chengyue, getting struck by his lightning from time to time.


    It was super strong. Wu Chengyue''s lightning had landed on its body a few times, but failed to leave any wound on its skin. All the lightning managed to do was make the red light that was shining out of its skin flicker.


    Wu Chengyue slightly raised his eyebrows, then abruptly put his palms together, seemingly holding something. Next, he suddenly moved both hands downward.


    A deafening thunder was heard. It was so loud that all the zombies and underground creatures on the scene stopped moving and automatically raised their heads to look at the sky.


    A bolt of lightning, that was at least one and a half meters thick, descended from the sky straight at the enormous underground creature.


    "Roar!" The level-eight underground gorilla stopped moving as well. It raised its head and looked at the sky alertly. Following its movement, the huge lightning bolt fell on its head, not even giving it the time to dodge.


    Boom! As the lightning bolt landed, even the earth quaked a little. A huge and deep pit was created in the middle of the road that the level-eight creature was standing on. The creature was pressed down to the bottom of the pit.


    "Roar!" This time, the underground gorilla gave a shrill scream. Apparently, the huge thunderbolt had hurt it severely.


    Wu Chengyue showed up by the edge of the pit, and a second huge lightning bolt fell from the sky in the meantime. By the time the meter-thick lightning bolt fell upon its head, the level-eight creature hadn''t recovered from the first thunder strike.


    "Hrrr¡­" The first lightning bolt had injured the level-eight underground creature already. As the second bolt landed on its body, it fell to the ground without being able to get back up.


    It still struggled and tried to get back on its feet, seeming unwilling to admit defeat.


    Wu Chengyue expressionlessly looked around, but didn''t see the zombie lady. About ten level-seven underground creatures were also gone.


    He frowned slightly. Was the zombie lady going to deal with so many underground creatures by herself all at once? Could she do that? She probably could¡­ Her power seemed to be highly harmful to those creatures.


    Wu Chengyue trusted Lin Qiao with her power. However, she hadn''t restored all her power after all. Besides, she brought ten level-seven underground creatures into her space at once, not one or two. That really made him worry.


    At that moment, the ten level-seven underground creatures that had been thrown into the woods inside Lin Qiao''s space were all staying motionless, vigilantly sensing the scents in the air and listening to the surrounding sounds. They seemed to be trying to locate themselves.


    All the scents they sensed were strange, while the scents from their friends were gone. That made them panic a little.


    Lin Qiao quietly landed on a tree in the middle of the woods. She crossed her legs and sat on top of the tree, then closed her eyes to focus her mind and control the power of her space. While suppressing the ten creatures with the space power, she released her own power to control the netherworld fire inside their bodies, quickly absorbing their energy and turning it into hers.


    "Roarrrr!"


    Waves of beast roars were heard from the woods. Those creatures sounded wrathful and frightened.


    Mo Yan and his zombie girl looked at the woods with confusion, wondering what Lin Qiao was doing this time. On the other side of the lake, the goats and roe deers were all terrified by the beast roars. They didn''t run away, but got down on the ground and buried their heads in the grass, trembling.

 1008 The Weird Ligh

    With the help of her space, Lin Qiao found it much easier to control her netherworld fire to absorb energy from those creatures. Gradually, the energy that she absorbed from those creatures refilled her empty zombie nucleus.


    Wu Chengyue had his eyes on the strongest monster outside, while the level-seven ones had all been brought into Lin Qiao''s space. At the moment, only the level-six ones were left to be dealt with. But still, except for Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, the zombies found them very hard to kill!


    Qiu Lili sent a level-six zombie up into the sky with her wind power and then let it fall heavily. Falling from a low altitude couldn''t kill it, but if she brought it too high up in the sky, it would have the time to adjust its posture midair, and eventually land perfectly unharmed.


    "Roar!" The level-eight creature in the pit suffering endless lightning strikes launched by Wu Chengyue suddenly gave a raging roar and shambled slightly on the bottom of the pit before springing out. Following its roar, the surrounding underground creatures turned around and started falling back.


    "Eh? They''re retreating!" Qiu Lili had her eyes glowing.


    Lin Kui pressed a level-five underground creature down on the ground, then turned it over and fiercely clawed at its belly.


    Puff! The skin on that creature''s stomach, which was the most fragile part of its body, could still be counted as strong. Lin Kui''s sharp claws only left a few shallow wounds on that creature''s skin but failed to rip the creature open. Only a slight amount of blood seeped out of those wounds.


    Lin Kui immediately bit on those wounds, then pressed the creature, which was struggling intensely, with all fours as he started ripping its belly with his teeth. He enlarged the wounds on the creature''s stomach with his teeth, then poked his claws into the wounds to stir inside its stomach.


    "Roar¡­" The severe pain coming from its stomach made the creature struggle desperately. However, Lin Kui easily pressed it down on the ground, no matter how hard it struggled. Soon, its stomach was covered in blood, and its guts were dug out.


    The surrounding underground creatures all started moving back toward where they came from. Unlike them, the level-eight one couldn''t leave so easily. Following rumbling thunders, lightning bolts struck at it one after another. One or two bolts of lightning could barely cause it a pain, yet suffering constant lightning strikes could be very painful!


    The level-eight creature realized that it wasn''t able to defeat the man who could summon lightning and lead its army forward. So, it decided to retreat. The other reason it did that was the group of level-seven subordinates of its had all disappeared, which made it worry.


    Wu Chengyue, of course, wouldn''t let it go just like that. He planned to kill the creature, so that it wouldn''t have a chance to come out of that underground cave and cause trouble again. Stronger lightning bolts fell from the sky, every single bolt powerful enough to tear down a small building. However, each lightning bolt only managed to leave a fist-sized wound on the level-eight creature''s body.


    At the moment, the creature''s body was covered in wounds like that. That kind of injury wouldn''t kill, it but did cause a severe pain.


    The level-eight underground gorilla didn''t want to fight Wu Chengyue. All it wanted was to free himself from his attack as soon as possible. However, no matter how hard it tried to dodge, the man followed closely behind it, constantly attacked it with lightning. Gradually, the underground gorilla lost its patience.


    As it grew more and more agitated, the red light shining out of its skin grew brighter and brighter. The light turned orange from red, then yellow; at last, it almost turned white.


    Wu Chengyue had a feeling that the enormous creature might be launching some kind of attack. So, he prepared to step backward cautiously.


    However, at that very moment, a meter-thick beam of light suddenly burst out of the ten-meter-tall creature''s body and poured straight on Wu Chengyue. Being shrouded in that pale-yellow light, Wu Chengyue felt as if his brain was vibrated, and then his mind blurred.


    After two seconds, the underground creature retracted the light before quickly turning and running away from him. It leaped toward the nearest entrance to the underground cave, covering over ten meters with one single leap.


    Wu Chengyue was left standing there motionlessly, without generating another lightning strike. Meanwhile, the thunderclouds in the sky faded slowly.


    As Wu Chengyue made no move, no one else was able to stop the level-eight creature from running away. Soon, that huge creature disappeared into the darkness, and so did the other underground creatures.


    The zombie crowd under Lin Qiao''s order followed closely behind those creatures.


    "Eh?" Qiu Lili killed a level-six underground creature with a great effort, then noticed Wu Chengyue''s weird behavior. She saw him standing there, watching the level-eight underground creature run. So, she flashed to his side, prepared to ask him about what was happening.


    "Why did you let that thing go? Couldn''t you stop it?"


    However, Wu Chengyue didn''t answer her question.


    Qiu Lili found that his eyes were closed. She didn''t know what he was doing. "Oi!" She raised a hand and waved it before Wu Chengyue''s face.


    Wu Chengyue still didn''t respond to her, but his energy suddenly erupted.


    "Ah! This is not good!" Qiu Lili burst in scream and swiftly disappeared from before Wu Chengyue. A second later, she reappeared high up in the sky.


    At that point, dark clouds gathered above Wu Chengyue''s head again, and muffled thunders were heard. Wu Chengyue abruptly opened his eyes which were glowing with a purple light. Both his pupils had turned purple. Meanwhile, waves of thunders could be heard from the sky.


    His energy started leaking out of his body, forming a five-meters-wide swirl around his body. Everything within that area was shredded by his energy into dust and then vanished. As his energy erupted from his body, the thunders from the sky instantly grew louder and thicker. Lightning bolts seemed ready to fall from the sky.


    "This¡­ This guy is going crazy again!" Qiu Lili popped her ruby-like eyes as she stared at the man and murmured in shock. Next, she flashed back to Lin Kui''s side.


    "What happened?" Lin Kui raised his head to look at the sky while asking Qiu Lili.


    Wu Chengyue seemed to be pretty strong. He thought the man would be able to finish off that huge monster. But unexpectedly, the monster shone a beam of light on him, and then he let it go.


    He let the monster go, and then his energy exploded. He didn''t lose control of himself again, did he? Didn''t that already happen once? How come it happened again?


    "Something is wrong with the light that the creature released just now. Otherwise, how could Wu Chengyue suddenly become like this?" said Qiu Lili.

 1009 Losing Control Again

    Qiu Lili and Lin Kui glanced at each other. All underground creatures had fallen back, so all the other zombies returned to Qiu Lili. Yun Meng hopped to Qiu Lili''s side with one leg and glanced at Lin Kui. She was surprised to see him turn into a big, fluffy cat.


    "Why does this look a little familiar?" She then turned to Wu Chengyue and said.


    "Oh, get closer to him and you''ll know why it looks so familiar," Qiu Lili responded with composure.


    "How come he went crazy again? Didn''t people say that the superpowered people who had lost control once wouldn''t lose control again?" Yun Meng said confusedly.


    Qiu Lili turned and glanced at the other, then popped her eyes and said, "Wow, you all look miserable! How long will it take for you guys to heal?"


    Except for herself and a few wind-powered zombie leaders, everyone else was injured, almost fully covered in blood. Before returning to the base, they needed to wash the blood off themselves.


    Lin Kui''s face stayed undamaged, but there was a wound on his right ear. His back looked a little messy as well. He didn''t shift back into his human shape, because he had no clothes to wear. If he shifted his shape back, he would be naked.


    "Chief had brought the level-seven ones back into her space. Can she handle them?" Yun Meng frowned slightly.


    Qiu Lili nodded with confidence as she said, "Yeah, yeah! She''s good! But, I wonder how she''ll feel when she comes out to find that guy going crazy again and that the big monster having gotten away."


    The other zombies didn''t know what to say.


    "I think she''ll laugh at him! Even though he didn''t cause extra trouble, he failed his job, didn''t he?" Yun Meng thought for a moment, then responded with a wicked smile.


    "Has he lost his mind completely? Will he still recognize our Chief like he did last time?" Qiu Lili asked.


    The others looked at her silently.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was hiding in her space, devouring the energy that belonged to the ten underground creatures. She had no idea yet that the level-eight creature that she left for Wu Chengyue to deal with had run away, and the man was going crazy.


    Qiu Lili and the other zombies gathered together, staying vigilant against those underground creatures which had retreated, while keeping an eye on Wu Chengyue, who was still standing there motionlessly.


    Wu Chengyue wore no expression on his face. His pupils turned purple, sparkling brightly in the darkness like the stars. Meanwhile, thunderclouds gathered thickly above his head, and lightning bolts flashed across them without falling. The energy that burst out of his body stayed within five meters around him without expanding.


    The look in his purple eyes was icy cold. However, he was slowly turning those eyes from side to side, seemingly searching for something.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao wasn''t worried about the outside. She spent three hours to drain up the ten underground creatures in her space and burn out their bodies. Only after that did she come out of her space.


    She thought the battle would have ended by the time she came out. Even if Wu Chengyue failed to kill that level-eight creature, he should at least be able to cast it away.


    As she expected, she didn''t sense the scent of those underground creatures when she came out. However, she found Qiu Lili and the other zombies gathering together and watching the man.


    "What happened? How did he become like this?" Lin Qiao was surprised to notice Wu Chengyue''s current state, so she flashed to Qiu Lili''s side and asked with confusion.


    "Oh, you''re here! You finished off those creatures, didn''t you?" Qiu Lili said to her happily, then answered her question, "So, after you went into your space, he had fun torturing that big thing. That thing might have realized that he''s a tough cookie, so it attempted to run with its underlings. However, Wu Chengyue didn''t let it go. At last, the light that shone out of the creature''s skin turned white from red and shone on his body. He then became like this."


    "How long has he been like this for?" Lin Qiao asked with a frown.


    "About three hours," said Qiu Lili.


    While they were talking, Wu Chengyue, who had been staying motionless for over three hours, suddenly turned to them and landed his glowing, purple eyes on them.


    "Whoa! Damn! He''s looking at us!" Qiu Lili and the others instantly tightened their bodies Somehow, they felt as if they were shrouded by a dangerous vibe.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao had a bad feeling. "No way! Again?" She made her voice sound without thinking. Once her voice faded, the man who was standing on top of a pile of ruins suddenly disappeared from where she was. A strong vibe pressed down toward the group of zombies, who immediately fled in all directions.


    In the next second, Wu Chengyue showed up before the zombie group, then raised his head to look at Lin Qiao, staring at her obsessively.


    "Wow, he still recognizes Chief! He really loves her!" Yun Meng flashed onto a utility pole and said.


    "So, he can still be saved! Good, good." Qiu Lili landed on top of a building nearby.


    Noticing that Wu Chengyue had his eyes fixed on Lin Qiao, all the others somehow sighed with relief. Unlike them, Lin Qiao wore a bitter look on her face. She had become a target of his yet again. Under the heavy pressure that was coming from the man, she was actually disabled from entering her space.


    What on earth was happening? Couldn''t things just go well?


    Once again, Wu Chengyue disappeared from where he was and flashed toward her within a blink. She tried again to enter her space, but still failed. Hence, she stopped trying but stayed highly vigilant against him.


    She decided to figure out what exactly was wrong with the man.


    If he attacked her, she would¡­ just run. She couldn''t defeat him or enter her space! What else could she possibly do!


    Before she finished thinking, Wu Chengyue showed up right before her along with a fierce, agitated vibe. Weirdly, he stayed half a meter away from her and stood in front of her as he slightly lowered his head to look at her with his pretty purple eyes.


    Lin Qiao was very confused, and so were the others.


    Under the gazes of everyone on the scene, Wu Chengyue spent a few seconds quietly looking at Lin Qiao, then dropped his head and sniffed at her. After that, he slowly raised a hand, reaching toward her face.


    ''Is he trying to take advantage of me?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    Meanwhile, a knowing look emerged from the faces of all the others on the scene.


    Lin Qiao turned her face away from Wu Chengyue''s hand, then saw the zombies who were surrounding her no less than ten meters away. Noticing the look on their faces, she had her face darkened.


    ''What the hell are these zombies doing? Watching a show? They need to stay away!'' she complained silently.

 1010 Kid, Dont Look

    Before Lin Qiao made a sound, Wu Chengyue, who was standing before her, suddenly turned to glare at those zombies. The energy that had been flowing five meters around him suddenly expanded, aggressively gushing toward the surrounding zombies.


    "Whoa! He''s angry!" Qiu Lili immediately flew up into the sky and then screamed out loud.


    Wu Chengyue''s energy forbade the other zombies and living beings from approaching, but seemed to be pretty harmless to Lin Qiao.


    As the other zombies ran away from his erupting energy, Lin Qiao speechlessly glanced at the dark sky. The dark clouds in the sky seemed to have been fading.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue suddenly held Lin Qiao''s wrist, then raised her hand to his nose and sniffed at it before gently pulling her toward himself. After that, he slightly lowered his head to sniff at one side of Lin Qiao''s neck.


    The familiar sweet aroma made his eyes sparkle.


    While making that series of movements, he still had no expression on his face. The look in his eyes was icy cold. However, his movements were very gentle.


    Wu Chengyue''s instinctive movements made Lin Qiao feel a little awkward. She had learned what the man''s instincts could do last time. She was less repulsive to Wu Chengyue than she was before. Currently, she found the relationship between herself and him getting a little weird, seeming to be developing in a strange way.


    She took a slight step backward. However, that small move she made caused Wu Chengyue to react intensely. Once she moved, he reached out the other hand and grasped the back of her neck before pressing her head toward himself.


    Lin Qiao''s face almost bumped against his.


    The other zombies, who had been driven away by Wu Chengyue''s powerful vibe, had now been curiously making guesses about his movements. "What on earth is he doing? Why is he sniffing at Chief like a dog?"


    "I think he''s sensing Chief''s scent instinctively. His has lost his mind. Whatever he does now, that''s only because of his instincts."


    "I agree! But look, the thunderclouds are gone. I think Chief''s presence is pretty comforting to him."


    Hearing the other zombies talking, Lin Qiao didn''t dare to make any move. ''Anyone, please get this crazy man away from me!'' she screamed in her own head.


    While she rolled her eyes speechlessly, Wu Chengyue, who was sniffing at her, put his face closer and closer to her. His warm breath landed on her side neck and made her shiver. Numbness spread into her heart from her skin, making her feel as if she was hit by an electric current.


    Then, his cold lips were pressed against her neck. ''Damn¡­ No way!" she cursed silently.


    Feeling that kiss on her neck, she wanted to struggle. However, his hands grasped her neck and hand, disabling her from moving. He slowly moved closer to her and pressed his own body against hers.


    Qiu Lili, Yun Meng and the others watched that from the top of a building far away. The distance was long, yet they were all able to see it clearly.


    "Oh my¡­ What''s going on?" Qiu Lili popped her eyes and said curiously.


    Yun Meng was standing by her side with one leg. She raised a hand to cover Qiu Lili''s eyes while saying, "Kid, don''t look."


    Qiu Lili slapped off her hand and complained, "You''re a kid!"


    Maybe because of the interweaving vibes coming from the surrounding environment, Wu Chengyue abruptly stopped moving. He moved slightly away from Lin Qiao, then dropped his hand from the back of her neck.


    However, in the next second, he held Lin Qiao''s hands and brought her away. Just like that, the two of them disappeared together.


    "Oh, he brought Chief away," said Yun Meng.


    "It''s okay. I think he won''t hurt her," said Qiu Lili calmly.


    "Why don''t you say that Chief has a way to get out?" Yun Meng glanced at her and said.


    Qiu Lili turned to her and abruptly gave a glance at her leg as she said, "Is your leg hurting?"


    Yun Meng detected the sarcastic look in her eyes.


    Lin Qiao watched Wu Chengyue bring herself high up into the sky, then move swiftly toward Sea City Base. He was very fast as he retracted his energy once he started moving. The energy stopped flowing out of his body, and the thunders faded.


    What was going on? Why was the man taking her to Sea City? Did he lose his mind or not? What was he bringing her to Sea City Base for?


    Lin Qiao pulled a long face as she found herself landing in a familiar yard together with the man.


    Great! The man had lost control of himself, yet he still managed to bring her back home. What on earth was going on with him? He actually remembered how to come home!


    The secret guards who had been guarding Wu Chengyue''s house noticed the two once they landed. They pretended not to see their Chief and his future wife, but kept guarding the place silently.


    Wu Chengyue looked the same as usual. None of those guards noticed his purple eyes from the distance, so they didn''t know that their Chief was in an abnormal state at the moment.


    Wu Chengyue glanced his yard, then held Lin Qiao''s hand and brought her into the house. He never let go of her hand. After coming in, he looked around and brought her to the kitchen, then to the storeroom and then the bathroom, seemingly looking for something.


    Lin Qiao let him hold her hand. While following him around, she observed his expressions.


    Wu Chengyue was still wearing no expression. However, his lips were pressed together, and the purple light shining out of his cold eyes flickered quickly.


    What was he looking for? Was he looking for Ling Ling?


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, wondering if she should ask him about it. She didn''t do it, because she was worried that he might be irritated by her sound.


    She stayed silent, thinking about how to wake him up. In order to free herself, she had to wake him up. Did she have to feed him the lake water with her own mouth like what she did last time? That would be so exhausting!


    Wu Chengyue held her hand and made a circle on the ground floor, then paused briefly before the stairs and headed toward the second floor. He looked around on the second floor, then went up to the third floor. At last, he pushed open the door of his own bedroom and then stopped moving.


    With confusion, Lin Qiao scanned his room with her eyes and found it a little too clean. Before she saw every corner of that bedroom, she suddenly felt being dragged forward, and then pushed onto the bed.


    Bang! The door was shut.


    ''Eh? What happened? Wait a minute! What is happening? Aren''t you looking for your daughter? So, you weren''t looking for your daughter, were you? You were looking for your bedroom, right? You b*stard!''

 1011 He Brought Her to His Home

    Lin Qiao realized what was happening as soon as she was pressed onto the bed. While falling, she threw a kick at Wu Chengyue, who was pouncing on her. Her movement was quick and accurate, yet he was even faster. He raised a hand and easily pushed away her foot.


    In the next second, her entire body was pressed down on the bed.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say, cursing him again and again in her head.


    Wu Chengyue pressed his body against hers and fixed his eyes on her face. Then, he dropped his head to sniff at her. The longer time he spent sensing her scent, the more reluctant he was to let her go.


    Lin Qiao''s both hands were grasped in his, disabled from moving. She attempted to move her legs, yet found her legs being pressed tightly under his body and wrapped around by his legs.


    His purpose was pretty clear. That was why the look on Lin Qiao''s face turned sourer and sourer.


    Feeling his breath that landed on her neck, and his lips that gently brushed across her skin, Lin Qiao even wanted to kick the man straight out of the window. The man''s brain wasn''t working at the moment, and he was following his instincts like a beast.


    She knew that he had been casting his eyes on her all the time, but couldn''t have thought that this would be the only thing he wanted to do once he lost his mind.


    Lin Qiao felt both angry and helpless. She even found his behavior both annoying and funny.


    Lin Qiao''s vibe was the most familiar vibe to Wu Chengyue. He had been seeing her as his wife. Instinctively, he saw her as his partner.


    As his partner, didn''t she have the responsibility to bear his children and fulfill his sexual needs?


    Before, he had his sexual desire restrained all the time. But, he had slept with her zombie lady not long ago and memorized how that felt. So now, he remembered nothing but himself having sex with Lin Qiao.


    That was such a great memory, so he wanted more of it! He could retrain that desire when his mind was clear, but after losing his mind, he just followed his instincts.


    Under the current circumstances, Lin Qiao couldn''t even pour the lake water into her own mouth, not to mention putting it into the man''s mouth.


    Her hands were pressed on the bed by him.


    She turned her face and stopped trying to avoid him. She had nowhere to hide anyway, unless she found a way to stop him.


    Perhaps, she should let him continue what he was doing, so he would let go of her hands. In that way, she would at least be able to get some lake water from her space and pour it into her own mouth, then lure him to drink it.


    His cold and soft lips gently brushed across her side neck, then pressed on her skin. Then, a suction force was sensed from her neck, bringing up a wave of numbness that spread toward her scalp.


    Her entire scalp went numb and a strange feeling that she wasn''t sure about arose in her brain.


    Her body seemed to have become even more sensitive than before. That was only a gentle kiss, so how come it made her scalp go numb?


    She sensed warmth from his body that was pressing tightly against hers. She didn''t notice it at first, but gradually sensed it clearly. Moreover, she sensed that one part of his body was pushing against her lower stomach.


    Was his body aroused by merely her scent? Did her scent have that kind of effect?


    "Ah¡­ Oi! Wu Chengyue! Wake up! Are you a dog!" Suddenly, a piercing pain was sensed from her neck. Lin Qiao automatically moaned, then came back to her senses and turned to look at the man.


    She detected a slight discontentment from Wu Chengyue''s cold face.


    ''What the hell?'' Lin Qiao wondered, ''Is it because I was distracted?''


    Wu Chengyue seemed to be unhappy about how quiet and distracted she was, so he gave her a gentle bite. As a result, a purple-red teeth mark immediately appeared on Lin Qiao''s neck¡­


    Once she turned around, he pressed his lips against hers. His scorching hot breath came out of his nose and drilled straight into hers.


    He rubbed her lips with his own, then sucked them. After that, he reached his soft and wet tongue out of his mouth and licked her lips, then made a way into her mouth through her teeth.


    The familiar feeling, the familiar taste¡­


    Wu Chengyue had a sweet aroma and smelt like food, which made her want to bite him.


    She blinked. Even though she didn''t plan to respond to that kiss, she gave up on resisting. She wanted him to let go of her hands.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue let go of one of her hands. He reached that hand to her chest and then started ripping her clothes violently.


    As one of her hands was free, Lin Qiao hurriedly took a cup of water out of her space, then turned her face with a great effort to drag her lips away from his. After that, she poured the water into her own mouth.


    Of course, because of her weird posture, except for the water that was poured into her mouth, the rest of the cup of water spilled on Wu Chengyue''s bed.


    After putting the cup back into her space, she immediately held Wu Chengyue''s chin with her free hand and then gave him a kiss.


    ¡­


    In the morning, Lin Qiao woke up when a beam of sunlight shining on her eyes. She frowned slightly and then opened her eyes. After spending a few seconds in a daze, she turned to look outside the window.


    Once she moved, she found herself lying on her stomach, with something as heavy as a mountain on her back. The memories from last night gushed into her brain. She moved her limbs and felt like a turtle carrying a heavy shell while moving its limbs in water.


    She was able to move her hands and feet, but not her body. Perhaps, she was more like a monkey that was stuck under a pile of rocks.


    She tried to move her body, then felt that a part of the man was still inside her!


    A very unhappy look emerged on her face. She abruptly turned around and threw away the man on top of her before giving him a kick.


    Thud!


    "Ouch¡­"


    A muffled moan was heard in the room, along with a heavy thud.


    Lin Qiao stat up and wrapped herself up with the sheet on Wu Chengyue''s bed, then walked straight into the bathroom without taking a glance at him, who was sitting on the floor with confusion.


    Wu Chengyue sat on the floor by the bedside with one hand on the bed. Seeing Lin Qiao wrap herself in the sheet and walk into the bathroom, he gave a smile of satisfaction.


    In fact, he had started to wake up after the first time last night. He clearly remembered the second and third time.


    He stood up and found his underwear and pants, then put them on before quickly tidying that awfully messy bed. After that, he found a suit from his closet and walked out of his bedroom.


    After taking a bath, Lin Qiao put on some clothes that she found from her space. She came out of the bathroom to see Wu Chengyue sitting on the couch in his bedroom, looking at her smilingly. He had dressed up already.

 1012 Wow! Daddy and Mommy!

    Lin Qiao pressed her lips together, then turned and headed straight toward the door. While walking, she said, "Last night was an accident. Don''t¡­ think too much about it."


    Hesitation could be detected from her eyes when she said those words. She was clearly aware that the man''s affection toward her might grow deeper after last night. She was right, though. Last night was an accident indeed. Her feelings about him had changed after the beginning, and he had sensed it. She had no plan of denying it. She just couldn''t accept it yet, as it happened too suddenly.


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face grew smaller as he sighed helplessly, "Are you leaving already? So heartless¡­"


    He had guessed that she would react this way. But still, he was disappointed to hear her say that.


    But then, he thought for a moment and told himself that her current attitude was already not bad. He had sensitively grasped the hesitation from her words. That was good! At least, that could be counted as some progress.


    Lin Qiao looked at his face and somehow felt a little uncomfortable. He seemed to be disappointed to hear her describe last night as an accident. But, what else could she possibly say?


    She couldn''t change the decision that she had already made because of that accident. She even wanted to leave the room as soon as possible, so he wouldn''t notice that she was hesitating. She worried that she might change her mind under his gaze if she spent a longer time in that bedroom.


    "But, Teng will be a month old in a few days. Can we¡­" Wu Chengyue abruptly stood up and walked up behind her, then lowered his head to look at her while asking her with a begging tone, "Can we throw the party here?"


    Looking at him right in the eyes, Lin Qiao had her pupils shrinking slightly. She quickly blinked a few times after that, then turned her eyes away from him and responded with a cold voice, "About that, you need to ask Viney. If he agrees, I won''t say no."


    She didn''t say no to Wu Chengyue, because she knew that he had the right to make the request. Viney could make his own decision, and she tended to respect that.


    Wu Chengyue raised his hands and attempted to hold her. However, he paused for two seconds before touching her, and then dropped those hands.


    "Can''t you stay here to wait for his answer?"


    Lin Qiao turned and looked at him in a weird way as she said, "I need to go back to deal with what needs to be done next."


    "You can have someone bring your words back to your base. You don''t need to actually go back," said Wu Chengyue. He himself had gotten used to working from outside his base, with absolutely no idea how exhausting it was for Xiao Licheng and the others to travel everywhere for him.


    Unlike him, Lin Qiao liked to stay in her base to have everything under control. So, she didn''t plan to do what he said.


    As she prepared to say no to his suggestion, she heard a series of car noises from downstairs. She paused briefly, then suddenly glared at Wu Chengyue with a fierce look in her eyes.


    Wu Chengyue immediately raised both arms and explained with a bitter look on his pretty face, "It wasn''t me! It was Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui! I tried to talk them out of it!"


    He betrayed his friends without hesitating.


    Lin Qiao sensed the scent of her son from one of those vehicles downstairs. Duan Juan and Shen Yujen were both there too.


    As Wu Chengyue reacted so quickly and apologized with a very good attitude, Lin Qiao had no choice but to give up on blaming him. She gave him an angry glare, then immediately opened the door and walked out. Wu Chengyue followed closely behind her, worried that she might rush downstairs, scoop up her son, and run away.


    The two of them walked to the gate of the yard, where the cars parked right before them. Four modified off-road cars were parked in the straight line. Xiao Yunlong opened the car door and came out the first.


    "Oi! Brother! You''re pretty fast!" Xiao Yunlong looked at the two who were standing side by side at the gate and teased Wu Chengyue with laughter. The latter wore a faint smile. He ignored Xiao Yunlong, but fixed his eyes on his son, who was carried out of the car in the middle by Duan Juan.


    ''Prepare to be tortured by the zombie lady,'' he said to Xiao Yunlong in his head.


    "How come I never heard that Chief Xiao from Sea City Base now likes to kidnap babies from other people?" Lin Qiao looked at Xiao Yunlong coldly and said to him in a bland tone. However, her eyes landed on his face like sharp daggers.


    Xiao Yunlong shivered slightly. Under her frosty glare, his face went stiff for a moment. Then, he gave an embarrassed smile and explained, "Eh¡­ How can this be kidnapping? We just want our Chief''s son to throw his one-month-old party here at his own home. Also, we invited Teng here openly. This is definitely not kidnapping!"


    "Whoa! Daddy and Mommy! Did you have sex last night? You both have this strong scent!" At that very moment, the baby''s voice was sounded loud and clear, filled with excitement.


    Hearing that, both Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue failed to control their expressions. The others tried so hard not to laugh out loud, because they didn''t want to be beaten up by the two. It was so difficult for them to hold their laughter off though!


    Lin Qiao even froze. She honestly did not expect her son to say something like that in front of so many people! That was so humiliating! She wanted to kick that little boy''s a*s so much!


    Wu Chengyue didn''t react as strongly as Lin Qiao did, but still, he failed to maintain his smile for a few seconds. Soon, he smiled again as he looked at Lin Qiao and rolled up his sleeves, seemingly prepared to teach the little boy a lesson.


    "Teng! Mind your language! Your Mom might spank you!" He said.


    "Oh¡­" Feeling the very unfriendly vibe from his own mother, Teng immediately shut his mouth.


    "Hahaha! Hahaha¡­ I''m sorry! I can''t help! Haha¡­ Please let me laugh!" Xiao Yunlong couldn''t help but burst in laughter. He noticed the unhappy look on the faces of Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao, so he quickly turned his face away and covered his mouth with a hand while speaking. Then, he sneakily gave Teng a thumb-up, but made sure that the boy''s parents couldn''t see his movement.


    Teng rolled his eyes. ''I was trying to save you, yet you laughed!'' he complained silently. ''You are an awful teammate!''


    A tiny person rushed at Wu Chengyue and held his thigh, then looked at Lin Qiao, who was standing beside him. The little girl''s tender face was toned with a happy look, and her eyes sparkled brightly.


    Wu Chengyue scooped Ling Ling up and looked at her affectionately as he asked her, "Ling Ling, did you sleep well together with your little sister last night?"


    Wu Yueling nodded heavily, then turned to look at Lin Xiaolu, who was walking over while holding Tongtong''s hand.


    "Uncle Wu, good to see you." Both the two kids greeted Wu Chengyue politely, then turned to Lin Qiao.


    "Aunty," Lin Xiaolu looked at Lin Qiao and called her happily.


    "Aunty Lu," Tongtong was a little scared. He hid half of his body behind Lin Xiaolu and then greeted Lin Qiao as well.

 1013 He Picked His Fathers Side

    Lin Qiao gave a small smile to the two kids.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Xiao Yunlong, who was shaking with his back toward him, and asked the latter smilingly, "Are you done laughing yet?"


    "Eh? Eh¡­ Eh-hem, yeah, yeah!" Xiao Yunlong paused briefly, then quickly adjusted his expression. After that, he nodded and said with a serious look.


    "So, can you please tell me what is going on here?" Wu Chengyue asked with a smiling face. While speaking, he sneakily gave Lin Qiao a sideways glance.


    "Oh, you suddenly left for All Beings Base last night. We thought that something bad was happening. Later on, we heard that those creatures showed up over there, so we went over to take a look," said Xiao Yunlong.


    Duan Juan brought Teng to Lin Qiao and put him in her arms.


    "You need to watch your mouth!" Lin Qiao took Teng over and gave him a glare, then turned to look at Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan glanced at Xiao Yunlong, then said with a weird look on her face, "Eh-hem, Chief Xiao told us that you''ve agreed to let Chief Wu bring Teng to Sea City Base. But, we didn''t hear you talk about that earlier, so we didn''t let him take Teng away last night. Then¡­ this morning¡­ he stole the baby from us before dawn when we were still in sleep!"


    Xiao Yunlong raised his head to look at the sky.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance, then looked at Duan Juan and said blandly, "So you let him bring my son here?"


    Deputy Chief shook her head and said, "No. We informed Deputy Chief Yuan and Deputy Chief Lin, asking them about what to do. Deputy Chief Lin decided to let you deal with it, since you are already here and Chief Xiao has already brought the boy out of our base."


    Lin Qiao glanced at Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong, then at Wu Chengyue. "Is there anything going on between you and Lin Feng?" she asked him, "Also, when did I agree to let you bring the kid here?"


    Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong were brought to Sea City Base too, meaning that Lin Feng must have known about Wu Chengyue''s plan and had been helping the other!


    The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face froze for a moment. After that, he responded with confusion, "No. Why?" He did mention that to Lin Feng earlier, but never achieved an agreement with the latter. He had no idea why Lin Feng helped him. Then, he turned to Xiao Yunlong and said, "Also, when did I say that she agreed? You did this yourself. Don''t drag me into trouble, okay?"


    Hearing that, Xiao Yunlong immediately grew unhappy. Whom he did all that for?


    "What? You''ve brought the lady to your own place and slept¡­ eh, I mean, you two spent a night together. I brought your son to you, yet you betrayed me instead of thanking me! How dare you!"


    At that point, Teng started talking in Lin Qiao''s arms. "Mama, since we''re already here, let''s throw the party here. Daddy can cook for us!"


    Lin Qiao stayed silent. Great, even Viney was taking Wu Chengyue''s side! What could she possibly say?


    In Lin Qiao''s head, her son would be called Viney for a very long time.


    "You don''t have the teeth to eat his food! Why are you helping him?" Lin Qiao gave her son a glare, then glared at both Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong.


    Wu Chengyue was wearing a thick-skinned smile without turning away his eyes. Meanwhile, Xiao Yunlong kept looking at the sky and didn''t dare to make eye contact with Lin Qiao.


    "Get in. Teng is right. You are here already. Staying a couple of days longer won''t hurt. Besides, although the crisis in All Beings Base has been dealt with, we can''t guarantee that those creatures wouldn''t come out again, right?" Wu Chengyue carried Ling Ling and slightly turned his body, looking at Lin Qiao as he said with a smile.


    Teng''s attitude made him very delighted. The zombie lady looked very unhappy about it, but he knew that she would respect the kid''s decision. It meant that Teng''s one-month-old party would be thrown at Sea City Base.


    Lin Qiao snorted silently without saying no. Holding Teng in her arms, she turned and walked back into the house. Duan Juan and Shen Yujen followed behind her, holding the other two kids.


    Seeing that, Xiao Yunlong sighed with relief and then walked in excitedly.


    In Wu Chengyue''s living room, people recalled what Teng said earlier, so they looked at Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao again with meaningful expressions. Lin Qiao detected the looks in their eyes and also sensed some of their thoughts. So, she pulled a long face and abruptly thrust Teng into Duan Juan''s arms.


    The boy was such a troublemaker! Thankfully, all the people on the scene were friends. What if a stranger heard it too? Not to mention the contents of the boy''s speech, a talking baby who was only a month old could be terrifying already! The boy should really learn when to talk and when to stay silent!


    "I''ve told you not to speak when there''re a lot of people around you. Have you forgotten about that again?" Lin Qiao gave Teng a glare.


    The latter turned his head away from her while arguing, "But, there weren''t a lot of people around me."


    "Were you trying to scare your father''s guards to death? Didn''t you see the look on their faces just now? They were looking at you as if you''re a monster. Are you aware of that?"


    Wu Chengyue had two guards in his yard. Earlier on when they heard the baby talking, they laughed at first but then started to stare at him in shock.


    While coming back into the house, Lin Qiao heard Xiao Licheng bringing those two guards away to make them sign confidential agreements. If Teng''s secret leaked out, some people might want to capture him and study him in a lab.


    Teng glanced at Lin Qiao and then abruptly yelled at Wu Chengyue, "Daddy! Do something! She always bullies her son!"


    Wu Chengyue stayed silent. What did it have to do with him?


    Sea City Base people watched the mother and son talking to each other with surprise while the people from All Beings Base ignored it. They had gotten used to that long ago.


    After coming in, Xiao Licheng moved to the side of Shen Yujen, who was standing in a corner. Then, he poked her with an elbow and whispered, "Teng is so brave that he actually has the guts to talk to your Chief like that."


    Shen Yujen responded to him with a glance.


    Xiao Yunlong first looked at Teng with excitement, then turned to Wu Chengyue and asked, "How did you guys make a son like this? Tell me about it, I want one too! I''ll ask Yue to give me a son like this."


    Lin Qiao gave him a cold glance but stayed silent. Meanwhile, Wu Chengyue looked at him with a meaningful smile and replied, "Let''s not talk about how we made Teng yet. I don''t think I''ve ever heard that Yue is willing to marry you. Isn''t it too soon to talk about you two having a baby? First, you need to marry her."


    "You guys aren''t married either, are you?" Xiao Yunlong pointed at the two of them and said.


    "What happened between us was an accident!" said Wu Chengyue.


    The same kind of accident couldn''t happen to anyone. Besides, Teng made himself the son of Wu Chengyue. The latter had no idea if he could make the zombie lady pregnant or not without Viney''s help!


    While thinking about that, Wu Chengyue abruptly gave a glance at Lin Qiao''s lower belly. He seemed to have worked pretty hard last night. Would there be another baby?

 1014 Please Dont Call Me Tha

    Wu Chengyue put Wu Yueling down and said, "Take your little sister and brother upstairs to play in your room."


    Wu Yueling nodded, then stood up from Wu Chengyue''s arms and walked to the side.


    "Xiaolu, take him away from me!" Lin Qiao immediately pointed at her son and said.


    "Alright," Lin Xiaolu walked up to Duan Juan and carefully held Teng in her arms. She had already learned how to hold that little cousin of hers.


    "Whoa! What are you guys gonna talk about? I want to hear it too!" Teng wasn''t willing to be taken upstairs. He had a feeling that his parents were going to talk about him next.


    "You''re just a kid. You should stay out of it!" Lin Qiao gave him a glance, then sat on the couch and crossed her legs, folding her arms before her chest.


    Lin Xiaolu held Teng and said, "Alright Teng, stop arguing with Aunty!"


    After saying that, she followed Wu Yueling upstairs. It wasn''t the first time she played in Ling Ling''s house, so she was familiar with the place. At the stairs, she continued speaking with a smile, "You never win anyway!"


    Teng didn''t know what to say.


    As the kids went upstairs, the adults in the living room suddenly fell into a weird quietness.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t happy about the fact that her son didn''t pick her side, so she did not want to talk.


    Wu Chengyue felt that he might end up displeasing the zombie lady if he said anything, so he chose to stay silent as well.


    Xiao Yunlong looked around, then sneakily observed Wu Chengyue. The man was wearing his standard every-day smile, but the happiness in his eyes was pretty obvious today. Judging by the look of satisfaction and tolerance in his eyes, he had clearly managed to do what he wanted last night.


    He thought for a moment, then brought up a new topic, "Oh, those creatures ran away last night, but they might come back someday. Have you guys figured out a way to deal with them yet? I heard that the battle was pretty intense last night."


    Last night, he spent the whole night in All Beings Base and learned pretty much all the details about those creatures. He didn''t go to Base Number Two to visit those zombies himself, but did hear that they were all injured severely. He learned that those creatures lived underground, so he started to worry that they might dig a tunnel underneath All Beings Base someday.


    "They are afraid of the sun and some special superpowers. They never show up during the daytime. We still need to keep an eye on that area at night. We can''t put a shield underneath All Beings Base, can we? Those things can even break iron walls," Wu Chengyue had no idea how to prevent those creatures from invading the base from underground.


    If those creatures weren''t able to break metal walls, they could choose to build an underground base with metals. That would take a very long time though, as it wouldn''t be as easy as building fence walls.


    "Anyhow, we need to beef up the night guards and patrols," Xiao Yunlong scratched his chin and said. He felt that the current situation of All Beings Base was pretty troublesome.


    Lin Qiao made no objections to what they said. She was also worried because of those creatures. However, that was the problem of her base, so she planned to start solving it when she got home. Those creatures had been forced back to their nest anyway. Based on what happened earlier, she assumed that they would stay quiet for at least a few days.


    "I''ll figure something out about that myself. You don''t need to worry about it yet." She pointed at the stairs and said, "So, you brought my son here only because you wanted to throw him a one-month-old party here?"


    "Eh-hem, well, yeah! After all, we all wanted to meet the baby, and we were too busy to go to All Beings Base to visit him. Sister, you know we still need to stay alert against Huaxia Base and Sky Fire Base," said Xiao Yunlong.


    Lin Qiao looked at him coldly and said, "I won''t say no because Viney has agreed to throw the party here. Please don''t call me sister, thank you."


    "Eh?" Xiao Yunlong paused briefly, feeling a little embarrassed. He quickly turned to Wu Chengyue. The latter looked at him and winked silently.


    "Eh-hem, alright, um¡­ Chief Lu? Will that sound too unfriendly?" Xiao Yunlong had no choice but to change his way of addressing her.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows and responded, "I''m fine with it as long as you stop calling me sister. That''s very annoying."


    "Haha¡­" Xiao Licheng couldn''t stop but burst in laughter. Hearing himself, he quickly turned his head away. Seeing that, Duan Juan gave him a warning glance.


    ''My boss isn''t in a good mood now. You better not cause any trouble.''


    Xiao Licheng turned back. Seeing that all the others were looking at him, he immediately responded, "I''m sorry! I''ll step to the side."


    Xiao Yunlong felt embarrassed while Wu Chengyue stayed composed. Lin Qiao was still carrying a cold expression.


    What was so funny? Being called ''sister'' by the man was annoying indeed!


    "Hem¡­ I''m curious why you''ve been calling your son Viney. That doesn''t sound like a boy''s name¡­" Xiao Yunlong asked.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "I don''t think that has anything to do with you. I don''t need to explain it to you."


    Hearing her merciless response, Xiao Yunlong instantly shut his mouth. She might be a little angry at him because he brought her son to his base without her permission.


    "Eh-hem, since Teng has agreed to throw his party here, can you please inform the people whom you want to invite to the party to come here?" They couldn''t tell everyone about Teng, but the important people should still be invited to Teng''s party. The ones who would be invited to the party should be the important people from Sea City Base and All Beings Base.


    On Wu Chengyue''s side, the other two base leaders would attend the party, and so would Xiao Licheng, Moli, and Meng Yue, who were known as his subordinates but were more like his brothers and sister. Some other trustworthy people would also be invited, such as Kong Qingming.


    Thinking about Kong Qingming, Wu Chengyue recalled that he had sent people to inform him to come back long ago. However, the young man hadn''t returned yet. He had probably run into some kind of trouble on his way back to the base. Yesterday, Wu Chengyue sent out another batch of people to aid him.


    "I get it," Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I''ll give you a list."


    "Have you sent people to look for Kong Qingming and the others yet? The ones I sent out haven''t brought anything back to me. I think they''re probably in trouble," she then added.


    A couple of days ago, Lin Qiao sent two wind-powered zombies to tell Lin Wenwen to come back for Teng''s one-month-old party. She and the others should be back in the base already, but nothing had been heard from them yet.


    "I did," Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "But I haven''t heard anything from them yet. I had sent out another squad yesterday. Did you find anything?"


    Based on Lin Qiao''s question, Wu Chengyue figured that she might have detected something. After all, her people were with Kong Qingming and the others from Sea City Base.


    Lin Qiao folded her arms before her chest, with her fingers flicking on her arms as she looked at Wu Chengyue and said with surprise, "Didn''t you notice the recent movements of Huaxia Base?"

 1015 The Scattered Team

    Wu Chengyue immediately turned to Xiao Licheng, who had already stepped away from him.


    The latter could still hear him talking. He only stepped away to create a safe distance between himself and the angry zombie lady.


    As Wu Chengyue gave him a glance and started a serious conversation, Xiao Licheng immediately stepped back and said, "The purge that is happening in Huaxia Base is working well. Most of our sources have been cleared out. Now, we need to get information from Huaxia people, which will take a longer time. So now, we''re a little uninformed about the military side of Huaxia Base."


    He was basically saying that Sea City Base no longer knew everything about Huaxia Base.


    Wu Chengyue turned back to Lin Qiao and couldn''t help but ask, "So, what have you found?"


    Lin Qiao had a different source of information than he did. The ones that Xie Dong sent out to collect information were all zombies, who stayed near Huaxia Base and Sky Fire Base. They were sensitive to the scent of human beings, so they followed every single person from Huaxia Base to find out about what had they been doing.


    It always took some time for Lin Qiao to receive the messages, but what she received was all accurate.


    After learning about Huaxia Base''s recent movements, she immediately sent out a squad to find Lin Wenwen and the others, and also to invite Lin Wenwen¡ªTeng''s aunt¡ªto Teng''s one-month-old party.


    Back then, she had no idea if Lin Wenwen and the others had run into those Huaxia Base people. But now, she figured that they had.


    Wu Chengyue knitted his brows and said, "I guess Huaxia People have heard about Kong Qingming''s mission."


    He thought Huaxia Base people weren''t taking any action, but unexpectedly, they had already made moves against his people, who weren''t in the base. He had already fallen into a disadvantage.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, Kong Qingming, and the others had been chased by the enemies. Unfortunately, they were all separated.


    Seven days ago, the enemies had set their eyes on them. By the time they realized it, the enemies were already very close. The enemies were strong, armed to the teeth, and led by two level-six superpowered men.


    Kong Qingming was the only level-six one on Lin Wenwen''s side. All the others were at level five or below. Thankfully, Lin Kui didn''t take away Mo and Ye Qingxian, the zombie queen and king.


    Otherwise, they might have all been captured or killed by the enemies already.


    Under the strong protection of Mo, Ye Qingxian, and Kong Qingming, Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying helped Leng Xuantong, who was only at level-four, to run. On the way, Long Qingying was injured when trying to protect Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong. Thankfully, Kong Qingming rescued her timely. Mo and Ye Qingxian arrived not long after that and created an opportunity for them to run.


    In order to distract the enemies, Kong Qingming and Long Qingying were separated from the rest of the group at last.


    At the moment, they were hiding in an underground storage room. Kong Qingming was dressing Long Qingying''s wounds, with a flashlight held in his mouth. Long Qingying was unconscious, with gunshot wounds visible on her chest and thighs. Under the flashlight, the clothes on her chest were visibly soaked in blood.


    Kong Qingming undone the buttons of her coat, then tore apart her T-shirt and exposed the wound on her chest. There was a distance between the bullet and her heart. Seeing that, Kong Qingming finally relieved a little, and his thumping heart was eased slightly.


    He quickly pulled out a dagger and burned it in the fire, then gently cut upon the bullet hole on her chest before digging out the bullet.


    Clang! The bullet fell on the ground and blood gushed out of the wound. Because of the pain, Long Qingying''s body was tightened slightly. She was still unconscious, yet her brows were knitted automatically.


    Kong Qingming immediately threw away the dagger and spread the styptic powder on her wound, then pressed some gauze against it.


    He took the flashlight out of his mouth and put it aside, then took out a test tube full of transparent liquid drug. He unplugged the test tube with his teeth and poured the drug into his own mouth, Thenm he squeezed Long Qingying''s chin with a hand and dropped his head to press his lips against hers, pouring the drug into her mouth.


    He found the drug from Long Qingying''s pocket. Earlier on, she told him that it could cure wounds.


    He didn''t have enough gauze, so he shredded his coat to wrap Long Qingying''s wounded chest, then dug out the bullet in her thigh.


    "Eh¡­" This time, the pain woke Long Qingying up. She gave a muffled moan and gasped heavily for air. Only after that did she slowly open her eyes, instinctively looking around to observe the surrounding environment.


    It was all dark and quiet. The quietness meant that she was safe, for the time being at least. Soon she sensed a familiar vibe nearby, and her mind slowly became clear.


    "Where¡­ are we?" She asked with a weak voice. Except for the weakness, her voice sounded good, because she had had some water earlier.


    "An underground storage¡­ Shh, don''t speak! Save some strength," Kong Qingming, who was dressing the wound on her thigh, was glad to see her wake up as he looked at her and answered her question.


    Long Qingying saw what he was doing. She raised a hand to touch her own chest and found that the bullet had already been dug out, and her wound was taken care of.


    "Thank you!" She said expressionlessly.


    Kong Qingming tied the cloth shreds into a knot, then picked up the flashlight and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. Then, he held her and made her lie in his arms with a comfortable gesture.


    "Don''t thank me, I''m saving myself," he said.


    Long Qingying didn''t understand it. She was injured and disabled from fighting. She couldn''t even move anymore. Currently, she was nothing but a burden to him. Clearly, that was not a good thing. However, he told her that he was saving himself.


    Why?


    She stayed silent for two seconds, then couldn''t help but ask, "Why?"


    Kong Qingming wore a gentle smile on his slightly dirty but still pretty face, "What would happen to me if you died? How would I be able to keep living?"


    He let out that touching phrase without thinking under those unfavorable circumstances.


    Long Qingying didn''t know how to respond to that. She clearly sensed the strong affection that he had when he said those words.


    Ever since what happened last time, the man had been following her everywhere; his eyes were always on her. At first, she found him so annoying and tried to avoid him, on purpose or not. She couldn''t have thought that she would be injured and saved by him.


    She dropped her head and didn''t say anything, her back sensing his strong heartbeat.


    "It''s okay. I''m here. I won''t let you die," Kong Qingming laid his pretty eyes on her, a little obsessively. Then, he put his arms around her waist and said with a gentle and soft voice.

 1016 Falling into Disadvantages

    Under the protection of Mo and Ye Qingxian, Leng Xuantong and Lin Wenwen avoided the chase temporarily.


    "We mustn''t let them get our diary! Wenwen, you are able to foresee the future. You have the biggest chance to return to the base safely. So, take this diary. You have to bring it back to the base!" Leng Xuantong handed Lin Wenwen a black notebook and said to her with a serious face.


    Lin Wenwen took it over silently and put it into her space as she nodded. However, she didn''t want to give up hope just yet. "Don''t give up so soon! I feel that we will be fine this time. Trust me."


    Leng Xuantong recorded his research on that notebook. Anyone who had relevant knowledge could understand the data in it.


    Not only did the notebook contain his research, but also recorded a large amount of information about the mutated plants that he had studied. If Huaxia Base people got the notebook, they would find a lot of secrets about All Beings Base from it, along with some valuable information about mutated plants.


    For the safety of the entire All Beings Base, Leng Xuantong didn''t want Huaxia Base people to obtain the notebook.


    Lin Wenwen looked at Leng Xuantong and felt that he would not die. She trusted her feelings, which always turned out to be right. She wasn''t even worried about her best friend, Long Qingying. Even though she was separated from her earlier, she had a feeling that both Long Qingying and Kong Qingming would stay alive.


    "Huaxia Base people have been developing their weapon tech all the time. There are only four of us now, and the chance of survival is very small." Leng Xuantong sighed with despair and shook his head.


    There were about thirty people in the group, some from All Being Base and others from Sea City Base. However, over three-hundred enemies attacked them, splitting into a few squads and targeting each of them. Those enemies were at level-five or even above, all armed with the newest weapons that Huaxia Base had developed.


    The bullets shot from their pistols could cause a damage as bad as grenades. Moreover, the firing range of their rifles could reach about two kilometers. Their bullets were faster and more destructive than the bullets from normal rifles by at least five times over.


    Everyone who was targeted by a sniper from the enemy''s side would die. Huaxia Base had even developed a drug that could cover human scent, in order to disable zombies from sensing them. The smell of the drug could only be sensed from a very short distance. The enemies were wearing that drug, so not even Mo and Ye Qingxian could sense their scent.


    The untrained ordinary zombies couldn''t recognize Huaxia Base people and their vehicles. Without the scent of human beings, they barely existed in the eyes of ordinary zombies. Therefore, Mo and Ye Qingxian couldn''t receive any useful information about those people from the surrounding zombies either.


    Lin Wenwen was able to foresee some dangers that might happen to herself. Otherwise, she and her friends might have had their heads blown off already. More importantly, she and her people had almost run out of ammo, while the enemies were still fully loaded. People left the last few bullets to Lin Wenwen, who had a space, and fought with only their superpower.


    Mo had metal power while Ye Qingxian had green power. They were both powerful, no matter in the field or in the city. Leng Xuantong was only at level-four, yet his ice power still allowed him to fight.


    Except for them, who were relatively strong, all the other team members had died. As a result, they were currently in a very bad situation.


    A few miles away from them, a few lightly armored vehicles had been moving slowly. The people inside the vehicles were all armed to the teeth.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The man in the front seat of the vehicle in the middle of the line reached a hand out to drum the car roof and then shouted, "Haven''t we located them yet?"


    The man standing on the car roof was carefully looking ahead. Hearing the question, he responded, "The direction is right, but I can''t tell the exact location from here¡­"


    After saying that, he abruptly disappeared from the car roof. A few seconds later, he reappeared on top of a building nearby. The vehicles didn''t stop moving because of him leaving, but kept moving slowly forward.


    A short while later, the man leaped off the building, then nimbly landed on the ground and ran quickly toward the vehicles.


    "Ten o''clock, move!" He patted on the driver''s door, then hopped back onto the car roof. The driver instantly hit the accelerator and moved toward where he pointed at.


    Right at that moment, Lin Wenwen suddenly felt as if someone was staring at her back. She furrowed her eyebrows as she sprung up and said, "Damn! They''re coming! We got to go!"


    The others quickly packed their belongings and started moving. They left the area as soon as they could, pausing briefly to sense the enemies'' locations before moving in another direction.


    Huaxia Base people had split into a few groups to chase behind Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying and the others. After them, two other groups were also approaching.


    Those were two zombie leaders, both swift, along with a dozen human soldiers under the leadership of Li Yueshan. They were sent out to look for Kong Qingming by Wu Chengyue


    The two zombie leaders¡ªone male and one female¡ªsilently landed where those Huaxia Base people drove across, then looked at those vehicles that had been driving away, raising clouds of dust. They were both surprised.


    "Their scents are covered. We wouldn''t be able to discover them if we weren''t close enough to see them." The zombie girl looked at those Huaxia Base vehicles curiously through her sunglasses. Meanwhile, the zombie guy stayed silent.


    He wasn''t able to speak. His position wasn''t high enough yet, so his throat hadn''t been fixed.


    The female one was none other than zombie number two, one of the two who used to follow Qiu Lili''s lead. Lin Qiao brought her up to level-five, and also conveniently fixed her throat.


    She felt very awkward when she restored her memory and recalled that she was forced to bathe together with zombie number one.


    Most of the zombies who absorbed Lin Qiao''s blood had gradually restored their memories. Some of them only partially regained their memories. They still didn''t remember their old lives, but did remember many of their old habits and the knowledge that they used to have. Some special ones even recollected their old skills because their bodies had memorized the movements that they always made.


    Currently, all zombies at level-five or above had restored some of their memories, such as Jingyan, Yan Xiao, Chong, Song, and some others.


    The zombie man who was standing beside Two was Song. He had remembered who he was from before, and his human memories and zombie memories had mixed together. He panicked for a few days at first, but soon accepted his new identity with Xie Dong''s mental health aid.


    Noticing the excited look on Two''s face, Song gave her an eye signal and told her that he was ready to kick some a*s together with her.

 1017 Wind-power Harassmen

    Zombie number two''s name was Yue Xiaoxian. That sounded like the name of a fairy, yet she didn''t look like a fairy at all. She looked more like a smart, naughty girl.


    She found that those Huaxia Base people didn''t give out the nice aroma that all other living human beings had. They had no scents. She wouldn''t have discovered them if she didn''t see them.


    As a result, her interest was aroused immediately. First if all, she wanted to figure out who those people were, then find out why their scents disappeared. As for her mission, that was not urgent anyway.


    Both her and Liu Mingsong were able to sense Mo and Ye Qingxian''s locations because they were all zombies. They could also detect the scents of Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong.


    "Roar!" Yue Xiaoxian abruptly raised her head and gave a roar to warn Mo and Ye Qingxian about the enemies, and also to summon the surrounding zombies.


    "Eh? That sounded like a zombie roar. I think it''s close to us." Huaxia Base people heard the roar from the vehicles and gave a start, then turned back to look outside the windows. However, no zombie was seen.


    There seemed to be a distance between them and the zombie.


    "Is it coming at us? That''s impossible! The drug that we''re wearing is still effective," someone said uncertainly.


    "I don''t know. It''s probably just passing by," someone responded.


    They believed that the drug they were wearing could perfectly keep themselves from being noticed by any zombies, so they assumed that the zombie that gave the roar was only a passerby, without paying too much attention to it.


    On the other side, Mo and Ye Qingxian suddenly stopped moving. They took a glance backward, then made an eye-contact with each other. After that, Mo said to Lin Wenwen, "Chief has sent us help. Let''s go this way!"


    "Who are they?" Lin Wenwen had her eyes glowing.


    "Not the strong ones," Mo replied, "They''re two zombie leaders. They''re following behind the enemies. I think they''re going to cause those people some trouble."


    "Why did Chief send them? Did anything happen back in the base?" Leng Xuantong asked.


    Not long ago, Lin Qiao sent someone to bring Lin Kui, who was secretly protecting Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong together with Mo and Ye Qingxian, back to the base. Why did she send two other zombies to them so soon? Did something bad happen in the base?


    At the same time, Li Yueshan and his people were following the marks that Kong Qingming had left to reach him and Long Qingying. They weren''t moving in the same direction as Lin Wenwen and the others, so they didn''t hear Yue Xiaoxian''s roar.


    After giving that roar, Yue Xiaoxian spent a short while observing the group of people, then said, "They''re heading toward Wenwen and the others. Are they chasing them?"


    "Roar¡­" ''They have Huaxia Base''s marks on their vehicles.''


    Liu Mingsong observed those vehicles and found the marks.


    "Huaxia Base? What are they doing here? Well, since they''re from Huaxia Base, I suppose they''re up to no good. Great, we don''t need to be polite to them!" Yue Xiaoxian curved her lips in a wicked smile. Under her sunglasses, her eyes glowed with a smart light.


    "These guys are from Huaxia Base, so we need to be careful of their weapons." She continued with, "Don''t approach them just yet. Let''s harass them from a distance."


    They were both zombie leaders. Each one of them was only able to summon a limited amount of zombies, but still, that would be a good way to consume the enemies'' ammo.


    Yue Xiaoxian finished talking, then leaped off the building and swiftly took a detour to the head of the enemies'' motorcade. As she disappeared without a trace, Liu Mingsong headed toward the motorcade from another direction.


    Huaxia Base people were still driving forward. Suddenly, the man standing on top of one of the vehicles furrowed his brows and started to pay attention to the surrounding environment.


    Soon, he found the surrounding zombies, which were supposed to be ignoring him and his people, start moving toward their vehicles at a high speed. Those zombies weren''t running, but had been moving pretty quickly indeed, unlike how they shambled slowly during normal times.


    "What''s happening? Why are the zombies moving forward? Didn''t that zombie roar come from behind?" The man in the front seat noticed the weird situation too and murmured to himself with a frown.


    A short while later, he and his people found more and more zombies nearby. Those zombies still paid no attention to them though. They kept moving forward, and many had moved before their vehicles and jammed the road.


    As more and more zombies walked to the middle of the road and blocked the way, the people had no choice but to clear the road while moving forward.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! They reached their guns out of the car windows or climbed on top of the cars to shoot at the zombies in the middle of the road.


    The zombies kept moving forward. The ones who got shot in the heads fell to the ground, but that didn''t make the other zombies stop moving.


    Shooting those zombies which would not attack them was pretty easy. However, after killing them, their cars would need to jolt across their dead bodies. That was very uncomfortable.


    If that kept happening, they wouldn''t be able to speed up, and their targets might run away. So, they needed to figure out what had been gathering those zombies and deal with the problem for good.


    The man on the car roof thought for a moment, then leaped off the car and hopped onto a utility pole nearby. Then, he leaped onto a building by the road and quickly moved forward. He intended to find out what exactly was attracting those zombies to that area.


    At that very moment, a few tornadoes rose from the ground, blowing straight at their cars. The tornadoes rolled up the sand and some light objects, throwing them at those vehicles.


    "What''s going on? Tornadoes? There is a wind-powered zombie or human! Enemies!" Hearing the tornado roaring around them, Huaxia Base people immediately realized that a wind-powered being might be nearby.


    The tornadoes stirred the air and raised the stones, sand, and leaves into the sky. The wind power wasn''t strong, but it wasn''t weak either. The tornadoes made the trees sway and blew off the leaves, yet did not uproot those trees.


    However, for human beings, wind power was strong enough to disable them from even opening their eyes.


    The Huaxia Base people immediately realized that they might be under attack from a wind-powered enemy, who obviously didn''t plan to show him or herself.


    "Roar¡­" At that point, the crowd of zombies, which had been paying no attention to them, suddenly bared their teeth and crazily charged at them.


    "I think it''s a wind-powered zombie." Based on those zombies'' reaction, Huaxia Base people easily guessed out that a level-five or six zombies had been controlling them.

 1018 Where Did the Son Come From?

    Long Qingying held the wall and slightly moved her right hand, triggering the energy that she had just restored. Earlier on, she ran out of energy and failed to cover her skin with her metal power, ending up getting shot.


    She would have been able to squeeze the bullets out of her body when she woke up and regained some of her energy. Unexpectedly, Kong Qingming dug out the bullets for her while she was unconscious.


    The bullets were gone, and she restored a slight amount of energy after drinking the liquid drug that she brought from All Beings Base. With the help of that slight amount of energy, her injury was healing quickly.


    She took the few sips of water, then ate the last piece of homemade hardtack she had. Only after that did she have the strength to stand up and walk.


    Kong Qingming was walking before her, paying attention to the surrounding environment. The two of them walked out of an alley and leaned against a wall while observing the surrounding area.


    "I sensed some energy waves from that area. The air is flowing quickly. I think it''s wind power," Kong Qingming spent a moment sensing the energy contained in the wind and said. He couldn''t hear anything from that area through the long distance, yet the wind was blowing strongly, as if someone was controlling it.


    "It''s not Wenwen and the others then," said Long Qingying with a slight frown. She had only started to restore her energy, so she wasn''t able to sense the energy waves from a distance away yet. Hearing what Kong Qingming said, she made a guess.


    After all, none of her friends had wind power. Whoever released the wind power couldn''t be one of them.


    Kong Qingming thought for a second, then abruptly hopped on top of a building nearby to carefully feel the wind power that was coming from a long distance away.


    "The energy is fluctuating strongly. I think there might be a fight. We are not sure if the possessor of this wind power is a friend or an enemy, and whom he or she is fighting. Let''s go and take a look," Kong Qingming leaped off the building and held Long Qingying''s hand as he talked while moving forward.


    Earlier on, they abandoned their car when escaping. Without a vehicle, they could either move quickly by using their superpowers or walk step by step with their legs. They chose the latter to save energy.


    They heard the noises of a car engine after a short while of walking. Kong Qingming instantly dragged Long Qingying to a corner to hide, then sneakily observed the coming vehicles.


    While walking, he had been leaving secret marks behind. If any Sea City Base soldiers were around, they would notice those marks and find him. He wasn''t sure if any Sea City Base people would show up there though.


    About ten minutes later, he saw two modified off-road cars slowly driving over.


    The postures and clothing of the soldiers, who were sitting on top of the two cars and holding guns, made him sigh with relief. Those cars did belong to Sea City Base. He didn''t know the people sitting on top of the cars though.


    "It''s alright. They''re friends." Kong Qingming said to Long Qingying, then turned and stood up on the roof as he waved both arms. Following his movements, the mutated trees on both sides of the road instantly started growing rapidly and blocked the way.


    "It''s Deputy Chief!" Finding that it was trees that blocked the road, the people on the two cars were relieved. They dropped their weapons and waited for the people that they were looking for to show up.


    Soon, Kong Qingming showed up together with Long Qingying. "Do you have any food? Give me some," he said to Li Yue Shan.


    Li Yue Shan threw two packs of hardtack at him while asking him, "Where are the others? Why are you two alone?"


    Kong Qingming handed one pack of hardtack to Long Qingying, then opened the other pack and started eating. While chewing the food, he said, "Huaxia Base people attacked us. They''re strong. We ran out of ammo, and we were outnumbered. Her, me, Lin Wenwen, and Leng Xuantong from All Beings Base, we''re the only survivors. We got separated, so we don''t know what''s happening with them now. Those Huaxia Base people aren''t coming after us, so I guess they''re after Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong."


    Li Yue Shan furrowed his eyebrows and said with a serious look, "Why did they suddenly show up and attack you? You look so miserable, so I guess they came all prepared. How strong are they?"


    Kong Qingming found a rock to sit on as he answered the question, "Two level-six ones, and the others are at level-five. There are about three-hundred of them. They split into about ten squads, each squad having three lightly modified combat vehicles that are heavily armored. They fired at us as if their bullets were free. I suppose they brought enough ammunition. As for why they suddenly attacked us, I think it''s because they''ve heard about our mission. They aren''t making any big moves, but it doesn''t mean they won''t make small moves."


    Li Yue Shan stayed silent as he frowned slightly. After quenching his hunger and thirst, Kong Qingming asked him about why he and his people were there. "What are you doing here? Did Chief give you any mission?"


    Li Yue Shan quickly answered his question, "Chief sent us here to bring you guys back. He already sent here a batch of people before us about a week ago. Didn''t you see them? We''re the second batch. We came here under an emergency order."


    Kong Qingming paused briefly with surprise. The first batch of people should have arrived long ago, yet he didn''t see anyone from Sea City Base. Huaxia Base people might have found them and murdered them already.


    Li Yue Shan glanced at the others, then abruptly put an arm around Kong Qingming''s neck and dragged him to the side, slightly away from the others. After that, he whispered softly, "Chief''s son is going to be a month old in a few days. He wants you to finish the mission early and go back for the party."


    "What?" Kong Qingming immediately popped his eyes in shock and said, "Son? Where did the son come from?"


    Damn! If Chief Wu had a son¡­ What about Lu Tianyi''s sister? Was he giving up on her? Hadn''t he been pursuing her so passionately without giving up no matter how? Wait¡­ Son? A month old?


    Kong Qingming''s brain wasn''t working very well at the moment.


    Had Chief Wu been with someone else while pursuing Lu Tianyi''s sister? Did he and that woman have a son already? So, was he faking it with Sister Lu?


    So, was everything he said and did before a lie?


    Kong Qingming suddenly thought of Lu Tianyi. If he knew about that, he might try to put Wu Chengyue in a bag and beat him so hard. Of course, that was a very difficult thing to do.


    Seeing the look on Kong Qingming''s face, Li Yue Shan grinned. He enjoyed watching the latter''s shocked face. He had no idea what Kong Qingming was thinking about at the moment, but was pretty sure that the young man was stunned.


    He himself reacted the same way a few days ago when he heard that shocking news.


    "You can make a guess about where the baby came from." He didn''t plan to reveal the kid''s special background, but told Kong Qingming to guess.


    No one would even imagine that the Chief lady from All Beings Base, who was a zombie, could give birth to a perfectly healthy and alive baby.


    Clap! Kong Qingming slapped on his shoulder and said, "Just tell me!"


    "You''ll know when you get back. Do keep it secret though. I''m the only one who knows about it here," Li Yue Shan took his slap with a smile, then brought him back to the ground while speaking.

 1019 Come Here and Meet Her

    "We need to find Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong before heading back. We can''t leave them here." Getting back with the group, Kong Qingming said to Li Yue Shan, who nodded in agreement.


    After all, they came out together, and should go back together as well.


    "Our other brothers¡­" Li Yue Shan said with a depressed look in his eyes. Hearing his words, Kong Qingming wore a sullen face too. A gloomy vibe came out of his body as he stayed silent for a short while, then said, "We''ll make Huaxia Base pay for it one day."


    This time, his soldiers weren''t killed by mutated beasts, zombies, mutated plants, or poisonous insects. Instead, they died in the hands of Huaxia Base people. Sea City Base wouldn''t let it go so easily. They would make the enemies pay for that they did, sooner or later.


    On hearing what he said, the others stayed silent.


    Abruptly, Kong Qingming walked to Long Qingying''s side and put an arm around her waist, then said to Li Yue Shan and the others, "Come here, I want you to meet her. This beautiful ice queen will be my wife. Her name is Long Qingying¡­ Ouch¡­ it hurts! You are injured! Be careful! You might rip open your wound again!"


    Before he finished, Long Qingying gave him an elbow strike right on the chest, making him give out a muffled moan.


    She said to the others expressionlessly, "Don''t listen to him. That is not true."


    Kong Qingming clicked his tongue, looked at her with discontentment. He thought for a moment, then suddenly dragged her to the side.


    "What are you doing?" Long Qingying glared at him unhappily, but did let him drag herself away from the others. Meanwhile, the others confusedly watched him drag her to about ten meters away.


    Li Yue Shan smacked his lips and then said with a sour tone, "Eh, Chief Wu and Chief Xiao are no longer single, fine! But, this kid looks like a woman! How come he got a girlfriend too? Is that girl happy to see a man who is even prettier than herself every day?"


    "Boss," his assistant laughed at him, "You are jealous. Just get yourself a girlfriend too. We do have some single ladies in our base. You are a powerful man, so you surely can win a girl''s heart."


    "Yeah, yeah! We are not jealous, so why should you be? Deputy Chief Xiao is never jealous of them. You''re the only jealous one!" The other team members agreed with their vice-captain and teased their captain.


    "What are you talking about? I''m not jealous! Why do you think I''m jealous? Which one of you said that the kid was going to spend the rest of his life together with Lu Tianyi? Oi, you, go over there and say it to his face if you have the guts!" Li Yue Shan glared at them and said.


    On the other side, Kong Qingming dragged Long Qingying away from the others, then aggressively put an arm around her waist and pressed her against a tree.


    "You are mine. You will be my wife. What? We''ve already slept together. Are you gonna pretend like nothing happened? Don''t you even think about getting rid of me! Even though I''m a man, you still have to take the responsibility for what you''ve done to me," Kong Qingming curved his pretty lips and narrowed his beautiful, slender eyes as he looked at her and smiled. That slightly feminine smiling face of his was dazzlingly charming.


    However, Long Qingying was not swayed by his pretty face at all. She looked at him coldly and said, "I didn''t ask you to do it. You volunteered, but now you want me to take the responsibility? Can you be more thick-skinned? Let go of me!"


    Kong Qingming held her without moving and said, "It doesn''t matter whether you admit it or not. They''ll think that we''re together anyway." He paused for two seconds as he stared at her right in the eyes. His beautiful eyes glowed with a dangerous light as he put his mouth near her ear and whispered, "Perhaps, you want me to lock you up. You''ll be mine forever. I won''t let you go anywhere."


    "You!" Long Qingying popped her eyes and glared at him angrily. She felt that he was not joking. She had sensitively sensed that this crazy idea really existed in the man''s head.


    She never thought that he would have such crazy ideas about her.


    Kong Qingming slightly raised his head and moved his head slightly away from her, looking at her in the eyes. Meanwhile, he raised a hand to stroke her clean face while saying, "So, don''t say no to me. I''m afraid that I might not be able to control myself."


    He smiled like an angel, but the look in his eyes was creepy, and his words were highly threatening.


    Long Qingying coldly looked at him in the eyes, showing no sign of compromising. "I don''t care if you can control yourself or not. I won''t be with you!"


    Her heart was warmed slightly by him earlier, but it had cooled down again now. The man was too dangerous for her. She had no idea why he had that kind of idea about her. They slept with each other once, but she didn''t think that would change anything.


    Besides, what happened that time was an accident. She didn''t force him into it. He was the one who took the advantage!


    They only had a one-time sexual relationship. Why on earth would she share the rest of her life with him because of that?


    Long Qingying thought with anger. Abruptly, she turned her body and reached out one arm, easily freeing herself from Kong Qingming''s arms. Then, she conveniently pushed him about a meter away before turning and leaving.


    Her movements, of course, didn''t escape the tens of pairs of eyes that had been fixed on her and Kong Qingming from a distance away.


    The others watched the two walk back to them, but their expressions didn''t even change. The girl was still wearing a cold face while the man was smiling like a fox. No one could tell what he was thinking.


    Li Yue Shan moved to Kong Qingming''s side, then poked him and whispered, "What''s wrong? She''s not yours yet, is she? It''s still too early to call her ''wife'', right?"


    Kong Qingming shrugged and said carelessly, "I only wanted you guys to meet her. I''ve already decided to be with her, so she definitely will be my wife."


    Li Yue Shan glanced at him with surprise. He didn''t know that the pretty boy could be so bossy in a relationship.


    He had chosen her, so he believed that he would have her. If he couldn''t have her, he would lock her up¡­ That was a little weird!


    "Let''s go! I just heard some noises from that area. Those Huaxia people might be fighting against something. Let''s go and take a look. Your timing is perfect. We could really use a car." Kong Qingming followed Long Qingying into the second car and made some of the people inside move to the first car.


    Li Yue Shan didn''t waste more time talking, but immediately gave the order to move.


    At that moment, the group of Huaxia Base people, who were suffering both zombie attacks and the tornadoes, were firing at the zombies that had been crazily charging at them while trying to locate the wind-powered zombie who was controlling the tornadoes.


    They believed it was a level-six zombie, because a zombie leader couldn''t possibly release seven to eight medium-sized tornadoes and control hundreds of ordinary zombies at the same time.


    Earlier on, Mo and Ye Qingxian protected Lin Wenwen and her people while the Huaxia people were chasing them. They needed to keep Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong away from the enemies, so they weren''t able to leave their side to summon a zombie crowd and attack the enemies.


    More importantly, they could not expose their zombie nature in front of those people. If those people found out what they really were and brought the news back to Huaxia Base, the consequences would be unimaginable for All Beings Base.


    Therefore, those Huaxia people did not know that the two powerful beings who had been protecting Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong were actually not human beings, but zombies.

 1020 The Second Batch

    In Huaxia Base, Si Kongchen received a message.


    "Missing? What does that mean? Did the die or get caught? Why are they missing? Haven''t you found out why?" He read the message and asked with confusion.


    Hou Guozhong was sitting straight in the armchair next to him. "They suddenly disappeared," he said, "Not during their missions. They vanished when they were taking rest. No enemies or any suspicious people were noticed. All of the disappearing ones have superpowers. The ordinary soldiers are all fine."


    Si Kongchen knitted his eyebrows and said, "Did that happen only to our people, or all the superpowered people?"


    Hou Guozhong said, "The ones who have disappeared were all heading South for missions. The others are fine. I don''t think our base is the sole target. Perhaps, it was Green Mountain Base people who did it."


    Si Kongchen snorted coldly as he said, "You haven''t even located Green Mountain Base yet. You haven''t found out anything about them. How do you know it was them? What about Sky Fire Base?"


    Hou Guozhong shook his head as he slightly dropped his eyelids and replied, "We haven''t heard anything about that from Sky Fire Base."


    Si Kongchen thought for a moment and said, "Tell your men to be careful when you send them to that area again."


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Keep a close eye on Sky Fire Base. It''ll be fine if what Li Zhengye is planning on doesn''t affect us. But still, we need to prevent him from casting his eyes on us."


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Once our experiment succeeds, we will be the only base which rules over the country. All the others will yield to us. By then, Wu Chengyue would have no power to fight against us."


    Saying those words, Si Kongchen''s eyes, that normally wore a composed look, gradually showed a trace of madness. He turned to the door and then continued, "By then, we''ll not only be controlling the bases in the country, all of the foreign bases will be under our control too. We will own the whole world! All the food and resources in the planet will be held in our hands."


    Hou Guozhong stayed silent as he gave him a glance.


    Soon, Si Kongchen adjusted his expression and got the composed look back on his face again, "You said that you didn''t find anything about Green Mountain Base, so what about All Beings Base? Still nothing?"


    Hou Guozhong shook his head and said, "It''s very hard to dig out the secrets of All Beings Base. Earlier on, Sky Fire Base tried to use violence to get some useful information out of that base, yet none of their people returned. The batch of people that they sent into the base was decimated. Not one message was brought back to Li Zhengye."


    He wasn''t trying to tell Si Kongchen that Sky Fire Base people were too weak. Instead, he was letting Si Kongchen know that All Beings Base was a little too mysterious. That base was like a sealed iron bucket. Not a single piece of information would be leaked to the outsiders.


    Si Kongchen didn''t pay much attention to that, but said expressionlessly, "We''ll take our time to crack them. We have as much time as we need. Time will give us the opportunity to dig out their secrets. Also, how are things going with the group of Sea City Base people near Lake Tai?"


    "We have given them surprise attacks and separated them from each other. Except for the few stronger ones, all the others have died," Hou Guozhong responded. Speaking about that mission, he sounded a little more confident than before. At least that mission was half-way accomplished already.


    "So, some of them got out and you still haven''t finished them off?" Si Kongchen furrowed his eyebrows with discontentment. He sent about three-hundred level-five soldiers, all armed to the teeth. He wanted those people to be killed quickly and neatly. Nevertheless, some of those people got out. That was not what he wanted. After all, there were only about thirty of them, and they weren''t as powerful and highly armed as his men.


    "Don''t worry! We''ve been chasing them with all our force. They can''t run. Currently, only one level-six, two level-five, and a level-four one is left alive. Some of them are even injured. We can even exhaust them to death. Not to mention our pursuit, their lives are also threatened by zombies, mutated plants, and insects. Their chance of survival is very low," said Hou Guozhong with confidence.


    At that time, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and the others were having a meeting in All Beings Base, talking about who should be bringing Lin Wenwen and Leng Xuantong back to the base.


    Last night, Yue Xiaoxian had made a visit to All Being Base and talked to Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng. Even though Lin Qiao hadn''t given her order yet, Lin Feng clearly understood that he should be sending out another batch of people to look for Lin Wenwen and the others. Earlier on, Yuan Tianxing heard that Huaxia Base had sent people after Lin Wenwen and her teammates. Yue Xiaoxian and Liu Mingsong, who were sent to them earlier were clearly not strong enough. Lin Qiao was planning on sending some stronger zombies to find them.


    However, those underground creatures suddenly attacked and ruined her plan. She had a plan about whom to send to bring Lin Wenwen and her people back. Those zombies were supposed to be on the way today.


    But, those underground creatures came out of their nest before it was completely dark and caused trouble. She didn''t even have a chance to give her order.


    "Do you guys know whom Chief was going to send? I think she''ll send Lin Kui back there, as he knows where they might be. It''s relatively easier for him to find them," Lin Feng looked at Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, who were sitting on the other side of the table. At the moment, Yun Meng was in a special hospital room with one leg of hers fixed on the bed, so she didn''t attend the meeting.


    Thankfully, Duan Juan and Shen Yujen mentioned Lin Qiao''s original plan before they left in the morning.


    Qiu Lili never worried about such things. Lin Qiao always told her what to do whenever her help was needed. So, she shook her head to tell the others that she didn''t know about the other''s plan.


    Lin Kui folded his arms before his chest. He had detected the hidden meaning in Lin Feng''s words, so he glanced at the latter but didn''t say anything.


    Receiving that glance of his, Lin Feng figured that Lin Kui had understood his meaning. So, he continued, "In order to bring Wenwen and the others back by the day after tomorrow, we''re going to ask Mr. Lin to go back there to find them. He returned from that area not long ago, so I suppose he knows better about their current location than we do. It''ll be easy and convenient for him to find them," Lin Feng pointed at Lin Kui and said.


    "I''m going too! The big cat is fast, but not as fast as me! I can fly! Besides, those Huaxia Base people are so awful! I''m going to find and kill them! The people who messed with us won''t end well!" Qiu Lili abruptly made her voice sound. She was pouting with anger, and her red eyes were sparkling brightly.


    "I''m not a big cat!" The silent Lin Kui complained helplessly. He couldn''t accept being called ''big cat'' by Qiu Lili, the little girl.

 1021 Was that Like An Electric Shock?

    "Why aren''t you a big cat? Panthers are cats too. What''s wrong about calling you ''big cat''?" Qiu Lili was not happy to hear Lin Kui''s complaint, so she pouted and argued with him.


    "Emm, nothing wrong about that," Lin Feng nodded and said. Meanwhile, Yuan Tianxing smiled silently as well. Judging by the look on his face, he too agreed with Qiu Lili.


    ''Alright. You''re younger, so you can always be right,'' thought Lin Kui.


    "So, you two can go together. First of all, you need to bring Wenwen and Leng Xuantong back here safely, and secondly, don''t forget to finish off those Huaxia people," Yuan Tianxing nodded to let Qiu Lili go with Lin Kui.


    "We''re going now! Let''s go, Big Cat!" On hearing that, Qiu Lili instantly sprung up from her seat, then turned and dragged Lin Kui toward the door, without giving the latter a chance to say no.


    Lin Kui was dragged up from his seat without being able to react. Only when he was pulled out of the door by the little girl could he start to speak.


    "Alright. Can you please let my hand go now?"


    Qiu Lili, who was walking before him, turned to glance at their hands which were held together. "Oh¡­" she quickly let go of Lin Qui''s hand. Then, she immediately turned around and said, "Move quick! I''m a little worried about Wenwen."


    A lock of her hair brushed across Lin Kui''s hand. He silently glanced at his own hand, then followed the girl to the elevator. After the two of them walked in, the elevator moved toward the roof.


    In the narrow elevator, the two fell into a weird silence. Qiu Lili awkwardly fiddled with the tips of her ponytails while thinking about the feeling she had when she realized that she was holding the guy''s hand. Suddenly, a strange, itchy feeling came from her palm.


    Earlier when she let go of his hand, her face was actually burning slightly. However, as a zombie, she was always pale, and her cheeks would no longer turn red when she felt shy.


    Unlike her, Lin Kui was somehow disappointed a little when the girl dropped his hand. That was why he unwittingly glanced at his own hand. Before he figured out what it was about, that feeling had faded away.


    At that moment, they both had a weird feeling, so they fell into a strange silence.


    Qiu Lili dropped her head and looked at the seam of the elevator door. She wasn''t sure about how she felt at the moment. If she was still a human being, she would be able to hear her heart thumping. However, she was no longer human, so she couldn''t heart her own heartbeat.


    After the two of them left, Lin Feng turned to Yuan Tianxing and asked him, "Are you really going?"


    Lin Feng knew that Yuan Tianxing would attend Teng''s one-month-old party at Sea City Base too. But, he figured that it might be very difficult for him. After all, it wasn''t so easy to forget about the feelings that he had for Lin Qiao.


    Yuan Tianxing smiled and nodded, "It''s alright. Teng is our Chief''s son after all. She''s my boss, and my old army friend. Of course, I''ll be there! Am I a heartless person?"


    He would have to face it sooner or later. Lin Qiao had already become the mother of another man''s son. He would rather suffer the pain sooner than later. Perhaps, that would help him let go of the feelings he had for her.


    "You need to arrange your schedule in advance then. You are a busy man," Lin Feng sighed and nodded, then looked at him with a smile.


    "Like you''re any less busy than I am," Yuan Tianxing gave him a scornful glance.


    Well, he was right. Lin Feng was busy too.


    Last night, those underground creatures didn''t attack again. But still, the two of them needed to figure out a way to provide the base with better protection as soon as possible.


    Those creatures lived underground, and could dig a tunnel underneath the base at any time. There was nothing to stop them from moving forward underground. They couldn''t shield the entire bottom of the base underground, could they? How were they supposed to do that?


    They weren''t able to destroy those underground creatures yet, so all they could do was to find a way to guard the base well. Hopefully, they would be able to protect the base from those dangerous creatures.


    "Are there any devices that can store solar energy or lightning energy, and then release them when needed?" Lin Feng put on a bitter look when he thought of those underground creatures.


    "Perhaps¡­ We need to find out what they''re afraid of. Every species has natural enemies. They might have natural enemies too," said Yuan Tianxing with a frown.


    "Aren''t they afraid of lightning and sunlight?" said Lin Feng.


    "Both lightning and sunlight exist in the form of energies. I''m talking about actual things. Those creatures lived underground, but they are all alive at least. Nature has its laws. I don''t believe that there''s nothing else to stop those creatures other than lightning and the sun."


    Lin Feng thought for two seconds and then responded, "There is something else. Isn''t there our Chief''s fire! That''s highly harmful to them too!"


    Yuan Tianxing gave him a cold glance and stayed silent. Under that glance, Lin Feng felt slightly embarrassed as he coughed slightly and then continued, "Well¡­ there might be some actual things to stop them. Plants? Or, some special kind of metal? Or, some kind of animals? Lin Hao''s research is going nowhere sadly. Maybe he''s not good at it. Leng Xuantong might be able to find something when he comes back."


    "We need more test subjects. I guess Lin Hao has almost used that dead body up," Yuan Tianxing nodded in agreement with Lin Feng.


    After the battle that happened last night, those underground creatures dragged all the dead bodies back to their nest, without leaving even one for the enemies. Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing heard that their Chief had brought about ten level-seven ones into her space. So, they supposed that they would have enough test subjects.


    Little did they know that those ten level-seven underground creatures had been devoured into nothingness by Lin Qiao.


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, Lin Qiao was sitting on Wu Chengyue''s couch and looking at Teng, who was crawling everywhere. She said to the baby helplessly, "You are only a month old, yet you''re already crawling all over the house. How will the other babies at your age think? Can you please sit quietly for a while?"


    The boy was almost like he was suffering from ADHD. Other than the sleeping times, he only sat tight while drinking milk. For the rest of his days, he would crawl all over the bed or couch. Thankfully, he didn''t like crawling on the floor¡­


    "I am strengthening my bones! Am I an ordinary baby? I am not! I am Teng!" Teng, who had his little legs curled and his tiny butt raised, propped his body with his pair of short arms and proudly raised his chin, narrowing his eyes and snorting.


    Wu Yueling and the other two kids were quietly sitting by the side, looking at him.


    "Baby, you haven''t even turned a month old yet," said Lin Qiao, "Can we grow like a normal baby?"


    She was so exhausted watching the little guy crawling all over the house every day, squeezing into every corner like a curious cat. The boy was curious about everything in the world. He touched everything and looked at everything. Ever since he grew the strength to crawl, he could not sit for a single second.

 1022 An ADHD Baby

    Teng turned around and sat on the couch, then leaned against the back while crossing his little legs. He then folded his little arms and looked at Lin Qiao while thinking.


    "What?" Lin Qiao looked at him and raised her eyebrows, "Is there anything that you aren''t happy about?"


    Teng turned his face away, showing her his hairless head as he spoke, "I''m not going to be like a normal baby! The other one-month-old babies don''t know anything. I know everything! Why should I play dumb? I can play dumb out there, but how can you ask me to do that at home too? Am I not tired?"


    "So tell me, if you really know everything, why did you crawl under the bed?" said Lin Qiao, "If you were able to make a way out yourself, it would be fine. But, why were you stuck under the bed? Why did you have to ask us to rescue you?"


    Hearing that, the other three kids immediately turned to look at Teng with agreement in their eyes.


    They were distracted for only a few seconds, and the little guy disappeared right before their eyes! They looked everywhere but didn''t find him. At last, he screamed out loud for help from under the bed in the guest room.


    "That''s because¡­ because I heard some noises from under that bed! I was only trying to find out what was making that noise¡­" Teng explained.


    "Haha¡­" Hearing the boy''s diffident voice, Lin Xiaolu couldn''t help but cover her mouth with her hands and burst in laughter.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue brought a large bowl of soup out of the kitchen and placed it on the dining table. Five or six dishes were already served on the table. "You all, come here and wash your hands. The meal is ready!"


    Wu Yueling was the first to slip off the couch and run toward the dining room, with Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong following behind her. Within a blink, the three kids were already around the dining table.


    "Oi, oi! Who''s gonna carry me to the table!" Seeing all of his little friends run away, Teng instantly popped her eyes and yelled anxiously. He then glanced at Lin Qiao, who was sitting by his side, looking at him with cold eyes. Silently, the boy turned his eyes away from his mother and gave up on asking her for help.


    People said that women would become gentle and caring after having babies. Why on earth did his mother not change at all? Would any other mother say mean words to her one-month-old son every day like her?


    "Isn''t Aunty there?" Lin Xiaolu turned and said to him with a grin, "Aunty will carry you here."


    Wu Yueling turned and glanced at her little brother who was sitting on the couch all alone, then at Lin Qiao, who was sitting near the boy. At last, she turned to Wu Chengyue, who was coming out of the kitchen while untying his apron.


    As the kids looking at each other, Lin Qiao finally stood up and moved toward Teng.


    Seeing his mother coming at him, Teng immediately sat tight, waiting to be held in her arms. Lin Qiao bent over and picked him up, then walked toward the dining room.


    Wu Chengyue boiled milk and pork ribs together for hours to feed Teng. Teng had no teeth yet, and his digestion system was still weak. Therefore, he could only eat liquid food at the moment.


    He was growing rapidly though, and was a strong baby now. He was fed with nourishing food, along with Lin Qiao''s lake water. He was actually a chubby little boy now.


    He was also a beautiful baby. His eyes were big and bright, looking a little like Wu Chengyue''s smiling eyes. He had a straight nose, and Lu Tianyu''s lips and chin. His head and face were both round, and his little limbs were super adorable.


    Xiao Yunlong spent the whole morning holding him and playing with him. Wu Chengyue had to ask him to leave repeatedly.


    Wu Yueling brought the vegetables that had been washed by Wu Chengyue out of the kitchen and put them in the rabbit''s plate, then washed her own hands and sat on her own chair. Ever since Teng came to the world, the big fat rabbit was in disfavor. Thankfully, Wu Yueling never forgot to feed her rabbit friend.


    After lunch, Wu Chengyue spent a while strolling in the living room, holding Teng and patting him on the back. Soon, the baby fell asleep, after which, he brought Teng and the other kids upstairs to put them to bed for a nap.


    Lin Qiao sat in the living room, watching them go upstairs. Then, she walked to the door and looked at the people in the yard.


    "Get in."


    Duan Juan, Shen Yujen, and Xiao Licheng glanced at each other, then walked into the house.


    Lin Qiao pointed at the stairs with her chin, then looked at Xiao Licheng and said, "He''s upstairs. Go and wait for him in his study room."


    Xiao Licheng nodded, then quickly went upstairs. After that, Duan Juan started talking, "Lili and Lin Kui left the base together to look for Wenwen and the others. If they can find them, they''ll be back in two days."


    "Why did Lili go with him?" Lin Qiao said with surprise, "She hates long trips, doesn''t she?"


    "I don''t know," Duan Juan shook her head and said, "But, she''s the fastest one among us. I think it''ll be easier for Lin Kui to find Wenwen and the others with her help."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yun Meng needs to take a bath for seven days in a row for her leg to recover, and Xia Ri needs to bathe for at least a month. He is miserable. He looks even worse than me back when I first woke up as a zombie. At least my limbs weren''t broken¡­"


    Thinking about Xia Ri''s injury, Lin Qiao gave a sigh.


    "Is there anything else that I need to know?"


    "Yes," Shen Yujen joined the conversation as she handed Lin Qiao a file and said, "This is the news from Sky Fire Base I got just now."


    Lin Qiao took it over and spent a short while reading it, then slightly narrowed her eyes. After reading the news, she wore a grim look and said, "Haven''t you found out about the man''s identity yet?"


    Shen Yujen shook her head and said, "We couldn''t. That guy is very mysterious. No one but Li Zhengye himself has been making contact with him."


    Holding the file, Lin Qiao knitted his eyebrows and said, "What did he tell Li Zhengye?"


    "We don''t know yet," said Shen Yujen, "But, I suppose it''s about the few zombies that he was with."


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "You said that he came from Northwest and threw the message to Li Zhengye, then returned to the Northwest in a haste, right? Is there anything in the Northwest that is important to him?"


    The information contained in that message must be important. Perhaps, the man didn''t trust anything else with it, so he made a trip back to the base himself to deliver the message to Li Zhengye, and then left quickly again.


    He came back to the base in the middle of the night and left in less than one hour after arriving. He seemed to be in a hurry. There should be something in the Northwest that had been concerning him


    And¡­


    Lin Qiao lowered her head to read the last part of the file¡ª''The man is with six level-three zombies who have a weird vibe, seemingly under control, with no obvious zombie features and preliminarily judged as abnormal zombies.''


    That man was actually able to control six level-three zombies who weren''t normal. The message that he delivered to Li Zhengye might have something to do with those strange zombies. What was he planning on?

 1023 Level-Nine Superpower Possessor

    A man who was no weaker than a level-seven being showed up in Sky Fire Base in secret, together with a few abnormal zombies, and talked to the leader of that base before leaving in silence. No one else knew about that conversation.


    Currently, all Lin Qiao and her people knew was the mysterious man has given a message to Li Zhengye. No one knew about the contents of the message yet. It was the first time the mysterious man showed up together with zombies. The message might be related to those zombies.


    Anyhow, it gave out an unsettling sign. After hearing about the mysterious man, Lin Qiao started to feel that Sky Fire Base wasn''t as simple as it looked. Also, Li Zhengye might be planning on something secretly.


    "Tell Xie Dong to keep an eye on Sky Fire Base, and find a way to discover what that mysterious man has said to Li Zhengye, or figure out his next move," Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and said.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Shen Yujen nodded.


    Upstairs, Wu Chengyue walked into his study room to find Xiao Licheng sitting on the couch. He moved to his desk and asked, "Is there any news from Huaxia Base?"


    If it wasn''t about Huaxia Base, Xiao Licheng wouldn''t come to see him right after lunch.


    "There is news from Huaxia Base. We''ve also heard something new from Sky Fire Base," Xiao Licheng stood up from the couch and walked to the desk, then pulled out the chair from under the desk and sat down as he put some files before Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue curved his lips corners, yet the look in his eyes turned cold. "What''s it about? What kind of trick Sky Fire Base people want to play this time?"


    Xiao Licheng replied, "It''s about Green Mountain Base in the Northwest. Lan Lu has been keeping it strictly secret. If the second virus explosion didn''t happen, no one would find out that they have such a powerful man in their base.


    Knowing that Xiao Licheng hadn''t finished speaking yet, so Wu Chengyue looked at him with confusion.


    "I assume you don''t know yet that there is a level-nine superpower possessor in Green Mountain Base," Xiao Licheng continued with.


    Wu Chengyue''s pupils shrank, and the smile on his face faded slightly. A few seconds later, he adjusted his expression as he wore a meaningful smile while saying, "Oh? Level-nine? If there is a level-nine man among them, why have they been hiding?"


    "Because this level-nine man has no intention of expanding their base. Specifically, he doesn''t want to manage the base at all. He''s in a special condition," Xiao Licheng pointed at his own head while speaking.


    Wu Chengyue paused briefly with confusion. While opening the file on his desk, he asked, "What do you mean? Is there some kind of problem with his brain?"


    "His brain is fine," Xiao Licheng rested his elbows on his knees as he looked at Wu Chengyue and responded, "He has a mental problem. His condition is similar to Ling Ling''s, but it''s many times more serious."


    This time, Wu Chengyue understood his meaning. "Are you saying that he''s autistic too?" he said, "So, the other Green Mountain Base people put him under protection, right? What does that have to do with Huaxia Base and Sky Fire Base?"


    "He has gone crazy," said Xiao Licheng, "Huaxia Base people and Sky Fire Base have heard about it. They all intend to wait for his energy to be consumed up, and then take his nucleus. For that reason, the people from both Huaxia Base and Sky Fire Base have been having their eyes on the Northwest."


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes and said, "A level-nine energy nucleus is tempting for those people indeed. However, it''s not easy for them to get it. They might need to wait for a long time, for the level-nine man to die of exhaustion."


    "That is their plan. However, the level-nine man has been out of control for months, and yet no bad sign was noticed from him yet. So, I guess their plan won''t lead to any good result recently unless they try to make a move to finish off that level-nine man." Xiao Licheng thought for a moment and then said.


    "Are they intending to kill him? How? They can''t possibly win. Normal weapons are harmless for that man, and the powerful weapons might destroy his energy nucleus along with his body. I don''t think they''ll make any move unless their brains are damaged," Wu Chengyue gave a scornful smile and said blandly.


    Xiao Licheng nodded.


    "Does All Beings Base know about this?" Wu Chengyue asked another question. By All Beings Base, he was actually talking about Lin Qiao. All Beings Base and Green Mountain Base were in cooperation. So normally speaking, All Beings Base people should know a little about it.


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and replied, "I''m not sure. But, I don''t think Miss. Lu is paying any attention to Green Mountain Base."


    On hearing that, Wu Chengyue wore a confused look as well.


    At that time, Lin Qiao was talking to Shen Yujen at downstairs. "Hasn''t Lan Lu sent us any message yet?"


    Shen Yujen glanced at the stairs, then turned to Lin Qiao and shook her head, "No. I think it''s because they don''t want to give up on that man. After all, they aren''t able to bring that man here under the current circumstances."


    Lin Qiao nodded seriously and said, "That''s true. The level-nine man is still out of control. And no one can approach him. Even if I gave my lake water to Lan Lu, he and his people might not be able to make him drink it."


    Both Shen Yujen and Duan Juan fell into silence.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then raised her head and said, "Also, tell Xie Dong to pay attention to Huaxia Base and Sky Fire Base too. I wonder if those people have found out about that level-nine man or not. Both those bases have been having their eyes on the Northwest, so I think they might have discovered the man already."


    She blinked while speaking. If that were true, Green Mountain Base might be in a bad situation at the moment.


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    "Go." Having finished talking, Lin Qiao waved a hand and signaled for Duan Juan and Shen Yujen to leave.


    ¡­


    After one hour of sleep, Teng finally woke up. Babies could be tired easily, yet Teng wasn''t like normal babies. He looked weak, but was actually more energetic than an adult.


    After waking up, he rubbed his eyes with his chubby hands, then sat up and saw Lin Xiaolu teaching Wu Yueling and Tongtong how to write on a small desk. Hearing the noises that je made, Lin Xiaolu immediately turned toward the bed. Seeing that Teng had sat up from the bed, she asked the boy, "Teng, you''re awake! Do you want to pee?"


    Teng wasn''t wearing open-crotch pants, and of course, no diaper either. Gradually, he grew the habit to go to the bathroom every time he woke up from sleep.


    Hearing Lin Xiaolu''s question, Teng nodded.


    "You guys keep writing," Lin Xiaolu quickly stood up and said to the two younger kids who were learning writing. Then, she walked to the bed, picked Teng up, and left to look for the bathroom.


    After taking a leak with the help of Lin Xiaolu, Teng looked at the two who were learning how to write. Suddenly, he had an idea.


    "I''m so bored. How about I ask Mama to take us out to have fun?"

 1024 Lets Go Out and Play

    Hearing what Teng said, Lin Xiaolu instantly had a very bad feeling and immediately objected, "Teng, you are just a little baby! You shouldn''t leave the house yet. What if an accident happened?"


    Teng has grown bigger than before, but he was still a tiny baby. What if he got injured out there? He was such a tender baby. He could get hurt easily.


    The little boy''s eyes were rolling quickly. Something dangerous must be going on in his little mind!


    He was tiny, but he knew a lot. He argued with his mother every day. He was probably the only baby who was able to argue with his mother since he was born.


    "My Mama will be with us. What can possibly happen to me? Don''t you guys want to go out and play? I heard there''re a lot of people and funny things on the market!" Teng said carelessly. His eyes glowed brightly when he mentioned the market with excitement.


    Lin Xiaolu was a kid after all. Hearing about many people and interesting things, she was swayed. There was still a look of hesitation on her face though.


    "But, Aunty won''t agree to take us out, will she?" Thinking about Lin Qiao''s cold face, Lin Xiaolu flinched slightly.


    "I know how to make her say yes," Teng said with confidence, "My Mama is so powerful. She won''t let anything happen to us. Besides, we''re only going out to take a stroll. Kids shouldn''t stay indoors all the time. It''s bad for the development of our character."


    "Like you''re old," Lin Xiaolu looked at him and said, "You''re the youngest one in the room." Hearing her words, Teng knew that she was already persuaded.


    Unlike the other kids, Wu Yueling seemed to be a little disappointed when she heard her friends talking about going out. Normal kids liked to go to the crowded and noisy places for fun, but she was the opposite. She didn''t want to go to any crowded place; she was afraid of that kind of places.


    She wanted very much to play with Xiaolu, Teng, and Tongtong, and didn''t want to be separated from them. However, she didn''t have the courage to go to the market together with them either. That was so terrifying.


    She furrowed her eyebrows and pressed her lips together, wearing a disappointed and struggling look.


    Lin Xiaolu sensitively noticed the change of her expression and instantly said to Teng, "But, if we went to the market, Ling Ling would be at home alone. We can''t leave her here alone, can we?"


    "Who said we''re leaving her here alone?" Teng looked at Lin Xiaolu confusedly and said, "Ling Ling is coming with us."


    "Ling Ling will get scared I think," Lin Xiaolu said.


    She knew about Ling Ling''s condition. What if her illness attacked out there? She shouldn''t be going to any crowded place.


    Teng turned around and waved at Ling Ling as he said to her with his baby voice, "Ling Ling, don''t be afraid! We will protect you. Besides, we''ll be with you all the time, so you won''t be afraid."


    In fact, Teng felt that Ling Ling''s condition had been developing in a good way, since she was already able to play with the other kids. She was still unwilling to talk, so, Teng figured that a further plan of her treatment was needed. Perhaps, she could use some strong stimulation.


    "Besides, we''ll be leaving in a few days. We won''t be able to play with Ling Ling all the time after that," Teng abruptly gave a sigh with regret. The one-month-old baby tried to make himself look mature. However, his chubby round face and large eyes didn''t allow him to look mature at all.


    Lin Xiaolu looked at the little boy with a smile. She sensed the baby''s thoughts and felt that going out together might be helpful for Ling Ling.


    So, she carried the baby to Wu Yueling''s side and said, "Teng is right. We''ll be leaving in a few days. By then, we won''t be able to play with you for a while. Why don''t you go out together with us this time?"


    Thinking that Lin Xiaolu, Tongtong, and Teng would be heading back to All Beings Base in a few days, and she herself would be staying at home alone again, Wu Yueling had a feeling of emptiness. That didn''t feel good. She didn''t like that feeling.


    With that thought, Wu Yueling felt less repulsive toward the outside. She raised her head and looked at Lin Xiaolu and Teng, the little boy encouraging her with his sparkling big eyes.


    Lin Xiaolu sat down on the carpet next to Wu Yueling and put Teng down, letting him crawl on that thick carpet. Then, she gently touched Ling Ling''s head and said, "Ling Ling, don''t be afraid! We''ll come here to play with you as often as we can. Besides, Teng is your brother. He might be worried about you unless you are happy and not scared anymore."


    As Lin Qiao heard the noises that Teng caused and showed up by the door, she felt four pairs of eyes landing on herself.


    "Mama, Mama, please take us out!"


    Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows and folded her arms, "Why? Isn''t making trouble here enough for you? Do you want to create trouble on the outside?"


    Teng rolled his eyes and gave his mother a very adorable smile, "I''m not making any trouble! I''ve been a good baby! Daddy said that I''m a good kid!"


    Lin Qiao gave him a cold smile and said, "Are you? Why did you rip open the leather of his couch in the morning? Why did you pour water on his bed? Also, why did you shatter the vase in his living room along with some cups?"


    Back then, Wu Chengyue smilingly said that he didn''t mind at all. Lin Qiao watched him quickly throw the broken couch out of the house, change the sheets, and calmly clean the mess in the living room. He didn''t let her help, and she somehow felt embarrassed!


    Hearing all that, Teng immediately turned his eyes to the ceiling.


    How on earth was he supposed to know that his fingernails were sharp enough to break the couch? He felt that something was on the couch and got curious, so he tried to dig! That was all! He didn''t pour the water on the bed on purpose. He was holding the glass, and it accidentally fell from his hands. As for the vase in the living room, he found it pretty and wanted to take a close look at it, but ended up letting it fall on the floor. He had no idea who put the cup next to the vase!


    "Aunty, please take us out!" Lin Xiaolu joined the conversation to help Teng out of the awkward situation, "Mama didn''t take us out when we were here the last time."


    Hearing the little princess''s request, Lin Qiao immediately gave her a smile and nodded, "Alright then. Get ready. Where do you want to go?"


    "To the market!" Teng shouted out loud, "I heard that a lot of people are there! And Mama, how come you didn''t listen to your son, but listened to Xiaolu?"


    "It''s because you don''t have the right to talk, do you get it?" Lin Qiao gave him a cold glance.


    Teng stayed silent. ''Daddy! Please come here and take this zombie lady away from us! She is awful!'' he screamed in his head.

 1025 Going Out To Play!

    "Is Ling Ling going too?" Lin Qiao ignored her son and laid her eyes on Wu Yueling''s face, who slightly nodded in response.


    Lin Qiao thought for two seconds and then said, "Then we have to get your father''s permission."


    Wu Yueling nodded again, then quickly turned and ran out of the room to look for her father.


    After she left, Lin Xiaolu said to Lin Qiao, "Teng said that Ling Ling needs to meet more people now, as it might be good for her condition. We will protect her." She tried to explain for Teng because she didn''t want Lin Qiao to blame him.


    Lin Qiao walked to her and put a hand on her head, then nodded and said with a smile, "Emm, you''re right. Ling Ling''s condition is much better than before. Perhaps, meeting more people is helpful for her indeed. She was willing to talk earlier, but she refused to talk again now."


    Lin Xiaolu grinned delightedly as Lin Qiao agreed with her.


    On the other side, Wu Yueling ran to Wu Chengyue''s door and knocked on the door twice, waiting for a few seconds. After that, she stood on her tiptoes and opened the door before sticking her head inside the room.


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng had stopped talking when she knocked on the door. As the little girl stuck her head in, Wu Chengyue gave her a mild smile and asked, "What''s wrong? Is there anything that you want to say to me?"


    Wu Yueling shrank her head, then walked in while holding the edge of her clothes. She looked at Wu Chengyue with hesitation, seemingly wanting to say something but lacking the courage.


    As Wu Yueling walked up to him, Wu Chengyue glanced at Xiao Licheng and then asked her again, "What''s going on?"


    Wu Yueling pulled his trousers, then pointed at the door with her other hand. She wanted her father to walk out of the room.


    "Does Ling Ling want you out?" Xiao Licheng said uncertainly.


    Wu Chengyue was confused too. He gave Wu Yueling a glance, then obediently stood up.


    As he stood up, Wu Yueling impatiently dragged him out of the room, downstairs to the living room. In the living room, Wu Chengyue saw Lin Qiao and the other three kids.


    Lin Qiao said to him expressionlessly, "Ling Ling wants to go out with us. I told her to ask for your permission."


    "Where are you going?" Wu Chengyue looked at her with a smile and asked.


    "The market. I''m taking them there to take a look. We might find something useful," said Lin Qiao.


    "I''m going with you then," Wu Chengyue said without thinking.


    Lin Qiao rejected him directly. "I don''t think so. You are too eye-catching. I don''t want everybody to look at me."


    Her meaning was pretty clear. So, Wu Chengyue didn''t try to persuade her. "Okay then! I''m going to prepare a car for you. Come back early for dinner."


    Soon, Lin Qiao carried Teng and got onto the car that Wu Chengyue prepared for her, together with the other three kids, as well as Duan Juan and Shen Yujen. Soon, the car drove toward Central Market.


    There was a market in every district within Sea City Base, and Central Market was the biggest market there. People from all over the base could sell and shop in that market. Of course, the goods in that market were expensive.


    The market was very busy, filled with people, and comprising of three floors.


    Lin Qiao had been to the market before, so she knew where it was. She parked the car in the underground parking lot, then brought the four kids out of the car and headed upstairs. Duan Juan held Wu Yueling with her right hand and Tongtong with her left hand. Lin Xiaolu followed behind Lin Qiao while Shen Yujen walked behind everyone else.


    Shen Yujen had been there before as well. While walking, she introduced the place to Duan Juan.


    "The first floor is crowded and messy as a lot of people are there. As expected, the goods on that floor are relatively cheap. The second and third floor are the main parts of this big market. The fourth floor is the Mission Hall, and the fifth floor is the center of the hunter business. The other offices and conference rooms are located on higher floors."


    Three young women and four kids together could be pretty eye-catching in the market.


    Normally, the women with kids were either from rich families or surrogate mothers. The former would look much better than the latter. All surrogate mothers were from the bottom of society who struggled very hard for survival.


    The people observed the three women and four kids. Two of the three women were wearing camouflage suits, looking dashing and serious. The other woman was in a simple shirt and a pair of jeans, also looking neat and clean. The kids were all in clean and good clothes. Their clothes weren''t brand new, but not old either.


    The three women didn''t look like someone who lived at the bottom of society.


    Lin Qiao was wearing sunglasses, and her long hair were tied into a ponytail at the back of her head. The camouflage suit made her look very young, though the baby carried in her arms ruined her young and energetic vibe a little bit.


    Lu Tianyu was young, actually, was only about thirty-four years old. Before, her thick makeup made her look older than her real age. Lin Qiao never wore makeup, so she now looked much younger than the old Lu Tianyu. Her skin was white and tender, and she was in great shape. As she and her people walked into the market, many people laid their eyes on her with greed.


    She could detect the hidden meaning in those people''s eyes. But, she stayed composed as she carried Teng and walked around the stalls while paying attention to the surrounding people. In fact, only the kids were looking around at the stalls.


    Teng climbed onto her shoulder and sat on her arm, twisting his little waist to look from side to side without stopping for a second. Lin Xiaolu was looking around as well. The market was larger than the market that she had visited back in Hades Base, and a lot of people were there.


    The goods on the stalls were mostly daily needs or some machines.


    Some people were strolling around, window-shopping like Lin Qiao and her people.


    Lin Qiao gave Wu Yueling a glance, whoi had unwittingly held Duan Juan''s hand tighter and stayed close to the latter. The little girl seemed nervous and scared but calm, not panicked or anxious.


    Teng''s plan worked well; the girl wasn''t terrified or freaked out. She should do it a few times more. Perhaps, she would get used to it over time.


    Under Lin Qiao''s lead, the few kids made a tour on the first floor, then moved to the second floor, which was much tidier and less crowded than the first floor.


    "Are you¡­ Lu Tianyu?" After Lin Qiao visited half of the stalls on that floor, a voice was suddenly heard from behind her. Lin Qiao paused, and so did the others. Everyone turned to look back.

 1026 Lu Tianyu Didnt Die

    She turned and saw a few people looking at her and her friends. A man and a woman were at the front, with three men following behind them. The woman was the one who asked the question, seeming to be in her twenties. She fixed her eyes on Lin Qiao with a shocked face, seeming to be uncertain.


    Lin Qiao quietly looked at that woman and took off her sunglasses.


    "Ah! This is impossible! Why aren''t you dead!" The woman burst in screams once she saw Lin Qiao''s eyes. She glared at Lin Qiao and took two steps backward, as if she was scared.


    The man beside the woman also looked at Lin Qiao with surprise. Earlier on, he noticed her beautiful back and found her both strange and familiar. Before he could figure out who she was, he heard what his girlfriend said. Being reminded by her, he remembered Lu Tianyu. As same as that woman, he was also surprised and couldn''t believe it.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while looking at that woman with confusion, then gave a glance to Shen Yujen, who was standing by her side. "Do you know who she is?"


    Shen Yujen looked at that woman and furrowed her brows as she thought for a moment and then responded, "She looks a little familiar¡­ But, I don''t remember who she is."


    Lin Qiao searched through Lu Tianyu''s memory, but still didn''t remember that woman. It seemed that Lu Tianyu didn''t care about her at all.


    "What? You don''t remember me? I''m¡­ That''s not important. Weren''t you dead?" The woman noticed the confused look on Lin Qiao''s face and heard the question she asked her friend, figuring that she clearly didn''t remember her. So, she instantly stepped forward and yelled out loud, the fear and disbelief from earlier disappeared by now.


    The woman seemed to be emotional and angry. From her, Lin Qiao also sensed a scorn toward herself¡­ toward Lu Tianyu. The woman seemed to not like Lu Tianyu, but also be upset about the fact that Lu Tianyu didn''t know her.


    "I''m sorry, I have a very short memory. Who are you?" said Lin Qiao coldly.


    Hearing that woman call Lu Tianyu''s name, the surrounding people all wore a knowing look on their faces and soon started to whisper to each other.


    "No wonder I found her look familiar. I just couldn''t figure it out¡­"


    "Yeah. I was thinking about which district this pretty lady came from. I felt that I''ve seen her somewhere before. It turns out that she''s Lu Tianyu¡­"


    "Didn''t she die a year ago? I heard that she was thrown into a zombie crowd. Who exactly is she? She''s not her, is she? Did she survive?"


    "Is it really her? She does look like her, but she''s so different from that woman!"


    "That''s true¡­ She looks so much more pleasant to the eyes than Lu Tianyu."


    People started to look at Lin Qiao from head to toe with surprise. The men were attracted to her naturally while the women looked at her with scorn, jealousy, dislike, and all the other complicated emotions in their eyes.


    It was Lin Qiao wearing Lu Tianyu''s skin. However, those people had started to believe that Lu Tianyu didn''t die. She might have been saved, or miraculously survived.


    The world outside the base was dangerous, but also full of opportunities. Perhaps, Lu Tianyu triggered her superpower when her life was threatened, or someone found her and saved her life.


    Seeing her standing there, people believed the saying that she died a year ago turned out to be untrue.


    "Eh? Didn''t people say that she pissed Chief Wu off last year and got killed? If she''s not dead, how dare she show up in Sea City Base again?"


    "I''m thinking about the same thing! How dare that disgusting woman cast her eyes on Chief Wu? She even kidnapped Chief Wu''s precious daughter to threaten him. I would have killed her and thrown her into a zombie crowd if I were Chief Wu!"


    Those women looked at Lin Qiao like looking at a bagful of trash and raised their voices on purpose. Most of the people on the scene had never seen Wu Yueling, so they had no idea the little girl they talked about was standing right in front of them.


    Of course, a small number of people had recognized Wu Yueling amongst the group of kids, so they looked at Lin Qiao in a meaningful way.


    People''s whispers didn''t affect that woman who called out Lu Tiany''s name the first as she popped her eyes when she heard what Lin Qiao said. She was infuriated because she thought the other was teasing her.


    "You don''t know me? Hehe, that makes sense! Some women have to sleep with different guys to survive. You are living a comfortable life at the base. How would you know the ones who work so hard out there like us?" After the short anger, the woman changed her expression and said with a cold, sarcastic smile.


    Her words made the man beside her a little unhappy. "Xuer," the man glanced at her with a frown and said.


    Bai Xuer glared at the man with discontentment and said, "What? Are you taking her side now? Did I say anything wrong?" After saying that, she turned back to Lin Qiao and looked at her scornfully. But, she abruptly noticed Teng, who was carried in Lin Qiao''s arms. So, she paused briefly and then said, "I was wondering why you look so different from before. I almost didn''t recognize you. It turns out that you finally thought it through and became a surrogate mother. Whose kid is this? I wonder if he''s healthy or not."


    She was trying to say that since Lu Tianyu had sold her body so many times, she might have some kind of disease. How could the baby that she gave birth to be healthy?


    "Are you done?" Lin Qiao looked at the woman with composure. Then, she turned around and walked forward calmly without making any reaction to Bai Xuer''s words. She didn''t intend to have any communication with that woman.


    "You¡­ Stop!" Bai Xuer didn''t expect Lin Qiao to turn and walk away just like that. Her cold attitude made Bai Xuer felt like a clown. She automatically glanced at the others, who seemed to be watching a show. The look in their eyes pierced into her heart like needles.


    Recalling how Lu Tianyu used to laugh at her and despise her, Bai Xuer had hatred raising from her heart. She was now at level-four. Last year, Lu Tianyu insulted him back when she was only at level-two. That woman didn''t need to pay any price for what she did all because she was Yang Chao''s girlfriend.


    But, Yang Chao was long gone. As a commoner, Lu Tianyu would be living a very difficult life in Sea City Base without him, unless she found another man to rely on. After all, she had done many bad deeds in the base.


    Lin Qiao ignored her but kept moving forward. Meanwhile, Teng put her hands on Lin Qiao''s shoulder and glanced back at that woman, then turned away.


    "You¡­ Yang Chao died a year ago, yet you are still alive. It seems that you are quite capable indeed! You found another man, didn''t you?" Seeing that Lin Qiao was walking away, Bai Xuer quickly caught up with her and stared at her back as she said loudly.

 1027 They Studied in the Same School

    "Alright Xuer, stop it! We''re here to make trades. Don''t cause trouble." The man said to Bai Xuer and held her hand, prepared to bring her to the side. However, Bai Xuer swatted his hand away as she stared at Lin Qiao, who was walking away. Suddenly, she turned to the man and glared at him, "Why? Do you still like her? You were only one of those men that she made use of. She sleeps with everyone. Are you still not over her?"


    Apart from hatred, a strong jealousy could also be detected from her words. Her pretty face was even twisted right now as she popped her eyes so hard that her eyeballs seemed ready to fall out of her eye sockets.


    Clap! On hearing her words, the man raised a hand and slapped her face violently. Then, he said with a deep, vicious voice, "Shut up! Do you consider yourself better than her? She did what she did openly. What about you?"


    Suffering that slap, Bai Xuer sensed pain and numbness from her cheek and heard a buzzing noise from her ear. She was stunned, even looking a little confused. Then, she heard the man''s voice and shivered as she raised her eyes and looked at him with fear. She moved her lips slightly, but didn''t dare to say anything else.


    The man gave a glance at Lin Qiao''s back, then coldly looked at Bai Xuer. After that, he turned and walked toward the other side. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao heard the slap and what the man said, wearing a meaningful look on her face.


    "Find out who they are after we get home," she turned and said to Duan Juan with a low voice.


    "Yes, ma''am! Eh?" Shen Yujen said with surprise, "I think I know¡­ But Chief, do you really not remember her?"


    "What? Do you know who she is?" Both Lin Qiao and Duan Juan turned to her.


    "That woman''s name is Bai Xuer, and the man is Ding Biao. Ding Biao is a level-five fire-power possessor, and THEY are from a medium-sized hunters group that has about three-hundred members. Ding Biao is one of the vice leaders of the group. I think¡­ Bai Xuer was in a very bad relationship with you before. You used to bully her¡­ Eh, I mean, you used to cause her trouble!"


    Shen Yujen somehow felt awkward saying the last few words. Back then, Her Chief was evil indeed! Of course, she had no idea that Lu Tianyu''s body now belonged to Lin Qiao. She thought it was still Lu Tianyu, just that the woman had become a nice person.


    Lin Qiao''s interest was instantly aroused, and she said while walking, "I have a very short memory, so I might have forgotten them. Tell me more. I might be able to remember something."


    On the side, Duan Juan also looked at Shen Yujen with curiosity.


    "I don''t know everything," said Shen Yujen, "But, I do know a little about her. Didn''t you two join Sea City Base together? You really do have a short memory. I heard that you two arrived at the base together. I don''t know what happened between you two before you joined this base, but I''ve seen both of you a few times in the base. You were mean to her, basically every time you saw her in a market¡­ Back then, she was weak, and not as pretty as you are. Her background wasn''t as strong as yours either. So, all she could do was to look at you with hatred while suffering your¡­ um, insults."


    Lin Qiao put her fingers on her chin and started to think. Based on Shen Yujen''s words, she did find something from Lu Tianyu''s memory.


    Bai Xuer and Lu Tianyu were from the same college, the former being a grade higher. After the apocalypse, the two of them ran out of the school together and went through a difficult, long journey to the base. Not many girls were in the group. Back then, most of the survivors were commoners with no fighting capacities.


    As same as Lu Tianyu, Bai Xuer had no skills, and was very afraid of death. She was as selfish as Lu Tianyu. She was a pretty girl, but Lu Tianyu was much sexier than her.


    At first, people treated them in the same way, as they both relied on men for survival. Lu Tianyu was beautiful and super-hot, so the boys gradually started to treat her better than Bai Xuer.


    The latter obviously found it unfair. They did the same thing, but why did people treat them differently?


    Soon, they met Ding Biao and his team on the way. At that time, Ding Biao was a level-three superpower possessor, and the strongest one in the team. In order to survive, Lu Tianyu soon laid her eyes on him, and so did Bai Xuer.


    Unlike Lu Tianyu, Bai Xuer almost fell for Ding Biao at first sight. She competed against Lu Tianyu for everything, but still lost in the end. Ding Biao had no interest in her at all, and was interested in Lu Tianyu.


    Later on, they joined the base. Lu Tianyu met many superpower possessors who were stronger than Ding Biao, so she dumped him immediately. At that time, Bai Xuer triggered her superpower as well.


    After triggering her own superpower, Bai Xuer instantly stopped relying on men. However, she didn''t forget Ding Biao. She joined a hunters'' group together with Ding Biao and started to grow survival skills in the outside world, upgrading herself.


    Lin Qiao calmly carried Teng and kept walking. No wonder that woman seemed like she wanted to tread upon her face after seeing her.


    The other people all looked at Lin Qiao curiously as they had recognized her as Lu Tianyu. However, they also automatically stepped away from her. After all, Lu Tianyu used to bring people trouble wherever she had been.


    The attention from the surrounding people didn''t affect Lin Qiao and the other adults, or Lin Xiaolu, or Tongtong, or Teng. However, it did start to affect Wu Yueling in a bad way.


    Lin Qiao noticed that Wu Yueling seemed to be more and more scared, and her movements turned more and more unnatural. So, she quickly handed Teng to Duan Juan, then bent over to scoop Wu Yueling up.


    "Ling Ling, what''s wrong?"


    Wu Yueling shook her head. She felt very uncomfortable being stared at by so many people, getting anxious. As Lin Qiao picked her up, she immediately put her arms around her neck and buried her face in her chest.


    Lin Qiao looked at the other three kids and asked, "Have you had enough fun yet?" She also looked at the time. They had only spent about half an hour in the market.


    The three kids nodded. They obviously wanted to stay, but they all had noticed that Wu Yueling, their little friend, seemed to be in a bad state.


    "Then, let''s head back!" Lin Qiao said to them with a smile.


    After that, the three adults and four kids headed downstairs, even though they hadn''t bought anything. They walked outside the building, prepared to drive back to Wu Chengyue''s place.


    Unexpectedly, they were stopped by Bai Xuer and some other people once they came out of the building.

 1028 A Good Dog Wont Stand in Anybody’s Way

    Lin Qiao frowned slightly as she said, "You again? How can I help you?" She did not want to talk to that weird woman, but that woman had annoyed her by blocking her way.


    "It''s been a year since I saw you the last time. You''ve changed. I never saw you during the past year. You weren''t in Sea City Base, were you? Did you join All Beings Base?" Bai Xuer stood in the middle of the way and folded her arms before her chest, looking straight at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao walked to the side. She did not want to waste time talking to that woman, so she prepared to go around and leave. However, Bai Xuer quickly moved and barred her road again. Not only her, the few people who were with her scattered to block Lin Qiao''s way too.


    Seeing that, the surrounding people who were coming in or out of the building all stopped and stepped away to watch the show.


    Lin Qiao tried to avoid her, which boosted Bai Xuer''s vibe. She held her chin high and said, "Don''t leave. We were ''good friends'', after all. It''s been so long, so talk to us. Whose children are these?"


    Bai Xuer thought she had guessed right. She thought Lu Tianyu had netted a man in All Beings Base. However, she heard that All Beings Base was a small base, with only thousands of people. Was there any powerful man in that base for Lu Tianyu to pay attention to? Bai Xuer believed that the man that the other was currently with was only an average one.


    The man that Lu Tianyu was with now should be no better than Yang Chao. Bai Xuer didn''t care if that man was powerful or not. She only wanted to know if he was from All Beings Base or not.


    "What do you want? Just tell us, or please get out of the way." Shen Yujen abruptly made a step forward and said to Bai Xuer coldly. Clearly, Bai Xuer thought that Lu Tianyu''s current boyfriend was weaker than Yang Chao, and that she had gone downhill. So, she intended to give the other a hard time.


    Lin Qiao slightly narrowed her eyes and gave a glance to Bai Xuer and Ding Biao, who was standing near Bai Xuer, with a calm face. Bai Xuer looked around, then continued with a smile, "We shouldn''t talk here. What if anything happened and the kids got hurt? Let''s find a quiet place and have a nice conversation."


    While speaking, she looked at the few kids who were with Lin Qiao, and gave Teng, who was in Duan Juan''s arms, a glance in particular. Following her words, the few men behind her instantly stepped forward, seemingly to surround Lin Qiao and her people.


    She was threatening Lin Qiao and her people. If they refused to do what she said, she might do something to hurt the kids.


    Hearing what Bai Xuer said, some of the surrounding people looked at Lin Qiao and her friends with pity, and some looked at Bai Xuer like they were looking at an idiot.


    "Does this woman want to die?"


    "Who knows. She should blame herself for not knowing the little princess."


    "Lu Tianyu looks so much prettier than before. Her vibe is restrained, but strong. I don''t think she''ll yield."


    What Bai Xuer said made the surrounding people wear meaningful looks on their faces. Unlike them, Lin Qiao and her friends didn''t change their expressions at all. Lin Xiaolu abruptly raised her head and said to Lin Qiao, "Aunty, let''s go. There is a mad dog. She might bite us."


    She even gave Bai Xuer a glimpse while saying that.


    "Hah¡­" Some of the others burst into laughter as they watched Bai Xuer''s face suddenly grow dark and found it so amusing. The little girl looked very young, but turned out to be quite smart. She even knew how to dish out sarcasm.


    Lin Qiao lowered her head and said to Lin Xiaolu with a smile, "It''s okay. If the mad dog attacks us, we''ll kill her and feed her to zombies." After saying that, she raised her head and give Duan Juan a glance.


    Duan Juan received the signal and carried Teng with one arm while waving the other.


    "Ouch!"


    "Eh!"


    "Mm!"


    Following a series of muffled moans, the few men who were with Bai Xuer fell to the ground one after the other. They each held a leg and moaned in pain.


    "You!" Bai Xuer was stunned at first, then realized that all her men were down within a blink. She immediately changed her expression as she glared at Lin Qiao and her friends with both anger and surprise.


    Ding Biao changed his expression too. He narrowed his eyes and his relaxed vibe instantly grew fierce.


    "A good dog won''t stand in anyone''s way. Move!" Duan Juan said to Bai Xuer coldly, then followed behind Lin Qiao, who had already started walking.


    "Stop!" Bai Xuer immediately turned around and pointed at Lin Qiao as she screamed. However, Lin Qiao and her friends ignored her and just kept moving forward.


    Bai Xuer prepared to chase. But at that moment, someone darted out of an alley nearby and screamed at her, "Bai Xuer!"


    The middle-aged woman caught people''s attention, wearing ragged clothes and having messy hair. The sallow woman rushed up to Bai Xuer and knelt on the ground, then put her arms around one of Bai Xuer''s legs and then started crying loudly.


    "Please! Please save my Anan! She got injured saving you! She needs to go to the hospital, or she''ll die! Bai Xuer, please, please save her¡­ Please save Anan! She saved you!"


    Bai Xuer was startled by the woman and panicked a little when the latter held her thigh. She looked at Lin Qiao and her friends anxiously, intending to catch up with them. But, the woman was hindering her. She didn''t even look at her injured friends.


    While trying to free her leg from the woman''s hands, she scolded her, "Let go of me! What does it have to do with me? I didn''t ask Jiang Anan to save me! She got herself injured. Can''t you send her to the hospital? Why did you come to me? Let go of me! Just let go! Did you hear me?"


    The woman let go of her leg but grasped her clothes and stared at her with a pair of bloodshot eyes, "How can you say that? You hunted zombies together, and she saved you so many times. I''m not asking you to thank her for that. This time, you asked Anan''s help yourself. Anan saved you because you asked for help. Aren''t you her best friend? Why did you say that?"


    Hearing what the woman said, the surrounding people changed their way of seeing Bai Xuer. They looked at her as if she was a nasty bug, and started to even point at her.


    "So that''s what happened. What a selfish woman!"


    "It''s a normal thing, actually. Who isn''t selfish these days? Well, she''s a little cold-blooded indeed. Her friend saved her life after all!"


    "It turns out that she''s this kind of person. We should stay away from her. Did you see that? Don''t trust people too easily. You have to figure out what kind of person it is before starting to trust someone."

 1029 Dig Out Their Background

    Being stared and pointed at by the surrounding people, Bai Xuer had her face reddened with anger. She pulled her cloth out of the woman''s hand and kicked the latter away.


    "Don''t ever come to me again! Jiang Anan has nothing to do with me!" She yelled and then quickly followed behind Lin Qiao and her friends, also giving a glare at Ding Biao, who was standing beside her.


    "Why didn''t you stop them?"


    Ding Biao glanced at the woman behind and stayed silent, then turned and headed toward the parking lot that Lin Qiao and her friends were heading toward. A discontented look was detected from his eyes.


    "Ou¡­" The woman suffered a heavy kick. She was suffering from malnutrition, and Bai Xuer kicked her violently out of anxiety and anger. At that moment, she lay on the ground without being able to get back up. All she could do was watch Bai Xuer and Ding Biao walk away together.


    In the parking lot, Lin Qiao said to Duan Juan, "Dig out their background, and also find out what happened with to that lady."


    While speaking, she put Wu Yueling into the car, then took over Teng from Duan Juan. Tongtong sat in the backseat while Lin Xiaolu took the front seat and buckled herself up. Shen Yujen took the driver''s seat, as she was always the driver.


    Duan Juan nodded, then quickly stepped backward and stopped Bai Xuer and Ding Biao.


    "I''m sorry. My boss is busy. She has no time to talk to you. Please leave!"


    "Your boss? Hah, she can be a boss? I''m impressed! What can she do?" Sensing the respect in Duan Juan''s tone of speaking, Bai Xuer said with scorn.


    Duan Juan figured that Bai Xuer might have an issue with the previous owner of Lin Qiao''s body. However, that didn''t mean that her boss should be dealing with her. Besides, what Lu Tianyu did to her didn''t seem to be lethal at all.


    She warned Bai Xuer, "No matter what happened before, she is now my boss. Stay away from us if you want to live."


    While speaking, Duan Juan turned her eyes and gave Ding Biao a threatening glance, giving out a killing intent.


    "How dare you threaten us! Lu Tianyu survived a year ago, and I''d like to know what she can do now!" Hearing Duan Juan''s threat, Bai Xuer was infuriated.


    Who didn''t know about what Lu Tianyu could do? She was nothing but a wh*re who had to sleep with different men to earn food. She had no idea why the woman in front of her tried to protect Lu Tianyu.


    Bai Xuer wasn''t stupid. Earlier on when Duan Juan made a move, she didn''t manage to react timely. But now, she had realized that Duan Juan wasn''t ordinary. She thought a moment about why a capable person like Duan Juan was calling Lu Tianyu ''boss''. Also, she had noticed that the car Lu Tianyu just got into was modified with high quality.


    She herself was a level-four superpower possessor, yet she didn''t get to sit in a car like that. Why on earth could Lu Tianyu, a commoner, live a better life than her? The more she thought about it, the unhappier she became. Her eyes even turned red because of her jealousy.


    Unlike Bai Xuer, Ding Biao was slightly nervous after receiving the threatening glance from Duan Juan. He wasn''t afraid of the latter though, and just stayed expressionless while watching Lin Qiao''s car drive away.


    His eyes were slightly narrowed, and no one could guess out what he was thinking. However, Lin Qiao had read his mind since the beginning. Of course, he thought she didn''t know what he wanted.


    As Lin Qiao had left, Ding Biao turned his eyes back to Bai Xuer and spent a short while looking at her, then turned and left. But before leaving, he left her a few words, "Deal with your own mess. Don''t leave it to me."


    Bai Xuer noticed that he quickly glanced at Jiang Anan''s mother while saying that. She knew that he wanted her to secretly deal with Jiang Anan and her mother.


    They thought Duan Juan wouldn''t understand their eye signals, yet she had it figured out. If she couldn''t even understand that obvious eye-contact between those two people, she would be unqualified to serve under Lin Qiao''s direct command.


    She didn''t say anything but gave Bai Xuer a glance, then turned and left. She would be gathering information in secret.


    Lin Qiao''s car made a few circles in the base. After all the people who were secretly having eyes on them were taken care of by Wu Chengyue''s people, they drove straight back to Wu Chengyue''s house.


    After getting out of the car, Lin Qiao noticed that Wu Yueling had calmed down a little. Earlier on, the little girl''s reaction was a little abnormal, but not too serious.


    In the living room, Wu Yueling sat on the long couch silently. Lin Qiao threw Teng by her side, then looked at him. ''You''re the one who wanted to take her out. Now you go and cheer her up!''


    Teng didn''t know what to say.


    It was only about four pm, and Wu Chengyue wasn''t home. He left home to work after Lin Qiao and the others left.


    "Ling Ling, are you still scared?" Before Teng could crawl to Wu Yueling, Lin Xiaolu came over and leaned against the arm of the couch. Meanwhile, Teng crawled on the couch with all fours, then sat down beside Wu Yueling.


    Hearing Lin Xiaolu''s question, Wu Yueling shook her head. She was indeed a little nervous and scared back in that crowded market, but she felt much better after coming home.


    "Then how about we go back there tomorrow?" Teng raised his head and looked at Wu Yueling with his puppy eyes, "That place is so interesting. There were so many people! We haven''t seen the third floor yet!"


    Wu Yueling looked at him while hesitating. She didn''t like that place. However, seeing her little brother looking at her with those puppy eyes, she didn''t have the heart to say no to him.


    Lin Xiaolu glanced at Teng, then at Lin Qiao. As Lin Qiao stayed silent, she thought for a moment and then said to Wu Yueling, "Ling Ling, you won''t be so scared if you went there a few more times. You see, haven''t you gotten used to us? You used to be afraid of us too! Besides, Teng is such a naughty kid. There is no chance for him to stay at home all day. You need to get used to going out as soon as you can, or you won''t be able to play with Teng."


    That worked well. Since it was about Teng, Wu Yueling hesitated.


    Lin Qiao gave a smile and said, "Ling Ling, Teng is your little brother. He is still very young, so he needs your protection and care." She had to understand that and grow a sense of responsibility, so she would grow strong.


    Lin Qiao''s words generated a strange feeling in Wu Yueling''s heart.


    ''Teng is your little brother. He is very young¡­ He needs your protection and care!''


    Those words brought an indescribable feeling of satisfaction to Wu Yueling''s little mind. It was like a sense of accomplishment, wasn''t it? It sounded like she was very capable.


    She didn''t understand it, but a determined look was already shining in her eyes.


    Lin Qiao smiled faintly on seeing that and stayed silent.

 1030 Half A Daughter

    After hearing Lin Qiao say that she needed to protect and take care of her little brother, Wu Yueling was less reluctant to go out. She could not let herself become the reason for Teng to have less fun after all.


    Teng immediately lay on Wu Yueling''s lap as he wielded his limbs and chuckled, "Yeah, Ling Ling, you have to protect me. You see, I''m so tiny and weak. I''m still a baby!"


    Lin Qiao somehow couldn''t bear watching him.


    Lin Xiaolu looked at Teng and said, "Maybe you can make a few rolls on the couch so that you''ll look more like a baby."


    "Do I need to roll?" Teng said carelessly, "I am a baby!"


    "Short arms and legs," Tongtong joined the conversation.


    Teng didn''t know what to say.


    "Haha¡­ Tongtong, someone might hate you for telling the truth," Lin Xiaolu covered her mouth and laughed.


    "Why?" The four-year-old Tongtong was so confused, "Mommy said that kids shouldn''t lie."


    Lin Xiaolu didn''t know how to respond to that. She thought for a moment and then said, "Well¡­ Um¡­ Because the truth could be unpleasant to the ears¡­ I''m not telling you to lie¡­ Hmm, it''s not like that. Anyway¡­ just don''t always say what you want to say."


    "Alright¡­" Tongtong nodded as he looked at her without fully understand her meaning.


    An hour later, Duan Juan came back with the information about Bai Xuer and her people, while the four kids had returned to their room for a nap. Lin Qiao was waiting for Duan Juan on the couch in the living room.


    "Bai Xuer and her people are up to something unusual. Their leader has been secretly gathering information about our base. Since you didn''t show up in Sea City Base in the past year, they figured that you spent the whole year in All Beings Base. That''s why they came to you. They wanted to get some useful information from you. I guess Bai Xuer was pretending, while it''s Ding Biao who has been planning things behind her," Duan Juan handed Lin Qiao a name list and some files as she spoke.


    Lin Qiao expressionlessly took over the name list and said, "I read Bai Xuer and Ding Biao''s minds earlier today when I saw them. They made me a target, so let''s see if they can cope with the consequences. What''s that woman''s story?"


    "Bai Xuer has a good friend named Jiang Anan, who is a level-four earth-power possessor," Duan Juan continued, "That woman is Jiang Anan''s mother. Not long ago, Jiang Anan and Bai Xuer left the base together with the hunters'' group for a mission. Jiang Anan returned severely injured two days ago, and is in a coma now. I heard that she risked her own life to save Bai Xuer from danger out there and ended up in a coma. Jiang Anan''s mother is ill, and Jiang Anan has been paying for her medical costs with the zombie nuclei that she earned. So now, Jiang Anan''s mother doesn''t have enough nuclei and credits to send her to the hospital."


    "So, she went to ask Bai Xuer for help?" said Lin Qiao knowingly.


    "Bai Xuer and Jiang Anan were very close," said Duan Juan, "She was Jiang Anan''s only friend. I guess Jiang Anan''s mother had no one else to turn to."


    "Was Bai Xuer really saved by Jiang Anan?" Lin Qiao put her fingers on her chin and said, "If it were true, it''s not impossible for her to leave her injured friend to die. After all, she is a very selfish person. I guess she never really saw Jiang Anan as a friend."


    Lin Qiao didn''t know Bai Xuer well, but from on Lu Tianyu''s vague memory about her, she learned that the woman was not a good person.


    "Jiang Anan did save her. Many other hunters knew about that. Ding Biao tried to cover it, but the word still spread out," Ding Biao nodded and said.


    "Was Jiang Anan blind? How could she be friends with such a person¡­" Lin Qiao clicked her tongue and curved her lips downward.


    "Perhaps Bai Xuer is too good at pretending," said Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao furrowed her brows slightly and said, "Wait! You said that Bai Xuer was Jiang Anan''s only friend, right? Doesn''t she have other friends?"


    Duan Juan shook her head and said, "I heard that Jiang Anan is a little isolated. She doesn''t like making friends. Before meeting Bai Xuer, she usually left the base alone for hunting. She joined Bai Xuer''s team only after meeting her."


    Lin Qiao pondered for a moment and then said, "Something doesn''t feel right. I want you to find out when and how Bai Xuer met Jiang Anan. I also want Jiang Anan''s background information. She was a loner, so why did she suddenly become friends with Bai Xuer? Now, Jiang Anan is in a coma, and Bai Xuer doesn''t want to have anything to do with her."


    Duan Juan blinked and said, "Earlier today, I found that Ding Biao seemed to want Bai Xuer to kill Jiang Anan and her mother in secret. Perhaps there is something that we don''t know yet."


    Lin Qiao waved a hand and said, "That''s what I''m thinking. Give me Jiang Anan''s location. I''m going to take a look at her."


    She felt that something unknown might be happening between Bai Xuer and Jiang Anan, and that the latter might know something. So, she decided to go and see the girl before she died.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Duan Juan left.


    Soon, Wu Chengyue came home.


    "I heard that you encountered some trouble earlier today in the market?" Wu Chengyue walked toward the stairs while talking to Lin Qiao, who nodded in response. His men were following them, so he must have known about what happened.


    "I guess you don''t need my help," Wu Chengyue shrugged and continued.


    Lin Qiao gave him a bland glance and stayed silent. Clearly, she did not want to answer the unnecessary question.


    "Oh, I heard that Ling Ling did well. She used to be strongly repulsive to crowded and strange places. She didn''t seem to react strongly today." His subordinates reported to him about that, and he was happy to hear it.


    "So?" Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes in a smile and said, "So, please take her out more often. I''m kinda busy, and I don''t think I have the time for that."


    Lin Qiao gave a cold smile and responded, "Like I''m not busy. Don''t you forget that Ling Ling is your daughter, not mine."


    Wu Chengyue smiled carelessly while saying, "I''m thinking of her as your daughter too. I also believe that you''ve actually been seeing her as your own child as well, at least half a daughter of yours, right?"


    Lin Qiaos stayed silent as she could not refute that.


    She liked Ling Ling. Ling Ling was a nice girl, and she loved Teng. Indeed, she had been seeing Ling Ling as one of her own children. Now that Wu Chengyue had pointed that out, she did not know how to disprove that.


    As Lin Qiao didn''t say a word, Wu Chengyue went upstairs smilingly. "I''m coming down later to make dinner. Of course, I won''t mind if you want to do it."


    "Do you want me to blow your kitchen up?" said Lin Qiao.

 1031 She Didnt Know How to Cook

    Wu Chengyue paused on the stairs, then turned and looked at her in a strange way. "Don''t you know how to cook?"


    "Do you want me to try?" Lin Qiao looked at him blandly.


    Wu Chengyue looked very confused.


    "What is wrong?" asked Lin Qiao.


    Wu Chengyue adjusted his expression as he shook his head and responded, "Nothing. No, you don''t need to cook. I''ll cook." While speaking, he turned and kept walking upstairs. With his back to Lin Qiao, he furrowed his eyebrows when trying to think.


    Lin Qiao had noticed the weird expression that was on his face earlier. What was wrong? Was it a strange thing that she didn''t know how to cook? She was just saying¡­ Oh, no! Wait, Lu Tianyu knew how to cook! Damn, he might realize it!


    Did Wu Chengyue think that she didn''t want to cook in his house? He seemed to know that Lu Tianyu knew how to cook.


    ''The zombie lady said that she might blow up the kitchen, and made it sound like something that would happen for real. It means that she did that a lot, or she wouldn''t have said it so smoothly. But, I''ve done the background check on Lu Tianyu before. Lu Tianyu knows how to cook. I don''t know if she''s good at cooking or not, but she wouldn''t blow up a kitchen for sure. Was the zombie lady lying to me? Was that an excuse she made up? Did she say that because she didn''t want to cook?'' Wu Chengyue thought while going upstairs.


    He felt that what the zombie lady said sounded too much like something that would really happen instead of a random lie. Why did he feel so weird about it?


    With a confused face, he walked into his study room.


    Lin Qiao watched him disappear on the stairs, thinking if she should prepare dinner to prove that what she said was not true. What if he believed that she didn''t know how to cook and started to suspect her?


    ¡­


    In a building that was located in District B in Sea City Base, a group of people was present in a room, some sitting and some standing.


    "What? You lost them?" Bai Xuer heard some men say that the people who were supposed to be following Lin Qiao''s car had lost the target, so she instantly popped her eyes and yelled angrily, "How useless you are! Can''t you even keep your eyes on two women?"


    "Shut up!" Ding Biao gave Bai Xuer a cold glance and said, "Lu Tianyu is no longer as weak as she used to be. You better not see her as the old Lu Tianyu, or you''ll be the one who''s gonna suffer."


    An obvious scorn toward Bai Xuer was detected from his words.


    Hearing his cold words, Bai Xuer glared at him and argued, "Not weak? How? I don''t see how capable she is. She''s still living under someone else''s protection, isn''t she? I doubt she could do anything without the other woman. Since you think so much of her, let''s find out what she can do."


    "Alright, stop fighting!" A man who looked about thirty-year-old stopped the argument. Then, he looked at Ding Biao and said, "Lu Tianyu survived, but didn''t show up in Sea City Base during the past year. Why do you believe that she was in All Beings Base for the whole year? Did you find out about where she came from?"


    Ding Biao shook his head and said, "No, I didn''t. That''s how I found her suspicious. There''s no record of her at the base gate. The people that we sent after her were stopped by some other people on the way. Some people are certainly protecting that woman in secret."


    "She has disappeared," said the man, "It''s not easy to find her in this huge base. Haven''t you found anything about those kids yet?"


    Ding Biao shook his head again.


    "Since she has shown her face, I think she is certainly up to something. The entire base knows what kind of person she is¡­ She is a troublemaker. Let''s just wait for her to show up again," Bai Xuer said something that the others all agreed with.


    The man nodded and said, "Emm, send some people to the places that she used to visit a lot."


    Ding Biao nodded with hesitation and then said, "I get it. But, I think this time¡­ she looks a lot more mysterious than before. I can''t see through her so easily anymore."


    The man responded with a cold voice, "No matter if she can be seen through easily or not, keep an eye on her. She isn''t the only target. The other two women and those children are our targets too. We can always find something about them."


    "Mm, I get it," Ding Biao quickly nodded.


    Then, the man said to Bai Xuer, "Get rid of Jiang Anan as soon as you can. If the others notice her, we''d be in trouble."


    Bai Xuer paused briefly, then nodded and said, "Okay, I get it. I''ll take a few men to do it tonight."


    "And her mother," the man added.


    Bai Xuer looked at him with hesitation and said, "Her mother doesn''t know about those things. Do we have to kill her too?"


    The man gave her a glance and said, "Have you forgotten about what happened earlier today? If she gave you trouble in public again, people would notice. Do you understand me? What if people noticed Jiang Anan through her?"


    "Okay, I get it," Bai Xuer nodded.


    At that moment, Ding Biao abruptly joined the conversation, "Jiang Anan is infected by the zombie virus, so she can''t possibly survive. I don''t think she''ll wake up. If she does wake up, she''d be a zombie. So now, her mother is more dangerous than she is. We should make that woman disappear ASAP."


    "In this case," said the man, "why don''t we let her become a zombie and then bite her own mother to death?"


    "That''s a good idea," Bai Xuer had her eyes glowing, "They will be two poor people who got injured by zombies and turned. No one will ever figure out what they had to do with us."


    ¡­


    In a commoner district, a woman was lying in a coma in the bedroom of a small, ordinary apartment. Her face was bluish pale, and her lips were light-purple. She lay motionlessly under the blanket.


    A sallow, sad, middle-aged woman walked in and looked at her daughter.


    Jiang Xiuran stood by the bedside with despair and sobbed, "I told you not to trust them, but you wouldn''t listen. What now? You saw her as a friend, but she was only using you. Do you understand me, Anan? Why wouldn''t you listen to Mama?"


    Suddenly, door knocks were heard.


    Jiang Xiuran blinked and relaxed her furrowed eyebrows, but didn''t react. The sharp rap on the door didn''t stop.


    Jiang Xiuran turned around and wiped her eyes and face with her sleeve, then walked out of the bedroom to the door, looking outside through the peephole.


    "Who are you?"


    A man was standing out there. The light in the hallway was dim, so his face wasn''t seen clearly. "Please open the door. We are here to save your daughter," the man said.


    Jiang Xiuran didn''t open the door, but looked at him vigilantly and asked, "Who are you? Why are you saving my daughter?"


    She did need help desperately at the moment, but that didn''t make her stupid enough to trust anyone who showed up at her door.


    The man took a slight step back to expose his face under the light and then said, "Don''t worry! If we were here to hurt you, we wouldn''t have knocked on the door."

 1032 Thats Impolite

    Jiang Xiuran pondered over his words and found it reasonable. The man''s face was already exposed under the light. She didn''t know him, so she didn''t dare to open the door.


    However, he said that he was there to save Anan. What if that was real? She didn''t dare to take the risk, but didn''t want to give up on the hope either.


    While Jiang Xiuran was hesitating, the man was pushed away by a woman. "Move, let me talk to her," said the woman to the man.


    Through the peephole, Jiang Xiuran saw an average-looking woman in a camouflage suit.


    "Hi, I think you should open the door and let us in so that we can talk about your daughter, Jiang Anan. Let us in if you want her to live." The woman didn''t introduce herself, but the last few words she said pointed out exactly what Jiang Xiuran wanted.


    Jiang Xiuran clenched her teeth and slowly opened the door. She opened the door slightly first. As the two people didn''t rush up and push her away, she opened the door wide with doubts.


    The man and the woman looked at her quietly and expressionlessly.


    "Who are you?" said Jiang Xiuran.


    "That is not important. There is one thing that is important for you and your daughter¡ªsome people are planning on murdering you two. Do you know that?" Duan Juan looked at Jiang Xiuran and said.


    On hearing that, Jiang Xiuran changed her expression and let the two in. She closed the door and locked it behind them, then turned to the two and said, "Who on earth are you people? Do you know anything about my daughter? Are you really here to save her?"


    Duan Juan pointed at the man and said, "Oh, who I am isn''t important. You only need to know who he is. He works for Chief Wu. He has some questions for you about your daughter. We are here to save your daughter, but you need to let us see her first."


    Hearing Duan Juan say that the man worked for Chief Wu, Jiang Xiuran had her pupils shrinking slightly. Then, she dropped her head and moved toward the bedroom door.


    "My daughter is in there. Go and see her if you want."


    ¡­


    At that moment in Wu Chengyue''s house, Lin Qiao was secretly observing his face. She wasn''t sure if he believed what she said earlier or not. Perhaps, she really should make a meal to prove that she was Lu Tianyu. However, she wasn''t lying about the fact that she might blow the kitchen up.


    That happened a lot before when she cooked for herself. She didn''t need to cook when she lived with her family. After meeting her second boyfriend, she was trained to cook like how a soldier was trained to fight. Back then, the kitchen was her training ground.


    Her cooking was average. The food she made wasn''t delicious, but it wasn''t bad either. At least, she had learned not to blow up the kitchen. Last time she cooked for Lin Hao, he complained about the food being too salty.


    Based on the look that Wu Chengyue wore earlier, she figured that he had really started to suspect her. She wondered how he would feel when he found out that she was not Lu Tianyu.


    Who, or what exactly did he like? Lu Tianyu? Lu Tianyu''s skin? Or Lin Qiao''s soul?


    Lin Qiao was curious about that. Wu Chengyue might be into Lu Tianyu or Lu Tianyu''s pretty face only. He might be disappointed to know that she was not Lu Tianyu.


    Thinking about that, Lin Qiao didn''t feel very comfortable. She curved her lips downward and got rid of that slight discomfort. She was now wearing Lu Tianyu''s skin and using her identity, but was still Lin Qiao.


    Whether Wu Chengyue liked the current her or not, she didn''t need to think about that.


    After dinner, the kids went back to their room to play. As the oldest one, Lin Xiaolu always took care of the three younger ones. At the moment, she was reading the storybook that Wu Chengyue provided for the three other kids. Of course, Teng complained from time to time about how silly the people in the story were.


    Lin Xiaolu wanted very much to throw the book at his face. No wonder her Aunty always fought with the boy when she had to take care of him.


    Lin Qiao went into her space and picked a large plateful of strawberries, then washed them clean and brought them upstairs for the kids.


    "What is this? Who said that monkeys are smart? How can that monkey throw away the big watermelon and go to chase the bunny? Can he eat the bunny?" Teng yelled while rolling on the bed.


    Lin Xiaolu looked at him with her brows knitted. Holding the book, she couldn''t help but say to him, "Alright, shut up! I''m only telling a story. If you want to listen, just listen. If you don''t want to listen, you still need to keep quiet!"


    She felt so annoyed as the boy always interrupted her. She had to listen to the boy complain about how silly the monkey was. But, the real problem was that she found his complaint reasonable, and couldn''t argue with that.


    Lin Qiao put the strawberries on the table and said, "Have some strawberries. You have lots of questions. Do you know why the monkey got nothing in the end?"


    Teng rolled his eyes as he looked at her and said, "If I were the monkey, I''d go back to fetch the watermelon when I realized that I couldn''t catch the bunny. That monkey was just too stupid."


    Lin Qiao spanked him gently and then held him while sitting down by the bedside, "Yeah, yeah, you are the smartest kid ever! But, the story isn''t just telling you that the monkey is stupid. It''s also telling you that being half-hearted is not good, and that we shouldn''t neglect the valuable things that we already have. Also, do not interrupt others when they are talking. That is very impolite."


    Hearing the last part of her speech, the other three kids nodded together. Tongtong looked at Teng and said, "Emm, my Mama also told me that is impolite."


    "Very impolite!" Lin Xiaolu looked at Teng.


    Wu Yueling also stared at Teng and nodded heavily.


    Seeing that, Teng did not know what to say.


    After spending a short while playing with the kids, Lin Qiao told them to get to bed, then went into the other room. She took out a stack of files that Shen Yujen delivered to her earlier at night and sat behind the desk, reading them and signing her name on them.


    It was about midnight when she finished all the work. While she was preparing to absorb zombie nuclei until the dawn, she sensed that Wu Chengyue was coming at her door.


    "Come in, don''t bother to knock," she said when he stopped at her door.


    Wu Chengyue opened the door, then walked in and slowly closed the door.


    "How can I help you?" Lin Qiao turned her chair and crossed her legs, then raised her eyes to look at him.


    Wu Chengyue stood by the door and spent a few seconds looking at her, then walked to her desk and lowered his head to look at her while saying, "Do you really not know how to cook?"


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "Did I say that? I only said that I might blow up your kitchen. That doesn''t mean I don''t know how to cook."


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with confusion, "Normally, the people who blow up kitchens don''t know how to cook."


    Lin Qiao looked at him coldly and said, "So, you came here in the middle of the night to talk to me about if people who blow up kitchens know how to cook or not?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at her as he narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I''ve been thinking about what could make a person become entirely different from before after she died once. I understand the drastic change of personality, but even some of the small habits have changed too. That''s a little suspicious, right?"

 1033 Her Disguise Is Ripped Off

    On hearing Wu Chengyue''s words, Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise. She quickly adjusted her expression, but she was shocked on the inside. Wu Chengyue''s current attitude was completely unexpected for her.


    Before she could say anything, Wu Chengyue looked at her deep in the eyes and continued, "Since the very beginning, I''ve been wondering why you care so much about Hades Base, and are so strangely nice to Lin Qiao Family people. I''ve done the background check. Lu Tianyu did not know anyone from Hades Base or Lin Family. You died and then became a zombie. After that, your character changed drastically, and so did your way of dealing with things and your habits. You became a totally different person."


    Lin Qiao blinked slightly and tried very hard to maintain a calm face. But, she was stirred on the inside. She thought for a moment and then felt relieved.


    Wu Chengyue was running a base with over a million people. He, of course, was a capable man. Suddenly, she was curious about if he had figured out her real identity already. She looked at him and frowned slightly as she said with a deep voice, "So? What do you want to say?"


    A mysterious look was detected from Wu Chengyue''s narrowed eyes as he stared at her straight in the eyes and said, "You are not Lu Tianyu, are you?"


    Earlier on, after hearing what the zombie lady said about cooking, Wu Chengyue went into his study room with confusion. He did nothing there but sit behind his desk, thinking about how strange the zombie lady made him feel.


    She said that she might blow up the kitchen. That might be a joke, but it sounded very much like something that might really happen. It sounded like she always blew up kitchens.


    Wu Chengyue believed that he was right about the look on her face and her tone of speaking.


    He thought of how much she had changed after becoming a zombie; she was like a completely different person. Her attitude toward Sea City Base was entirely different from before, and she was very protective of the Hades Base people.


    He never figured out why. But today, what the zombie said about cooking enlightened him. He thought of how smoothly she had been handling her work as a base leader, and how smartly and quickly she built her new base, along with her great combat skills and superpower. The superpower might be explained, but it was impossible for her to learn to fight like a professional within such a short time.


    He was puzzled all the time. He believed in science and not fantasy stories, such as being possessed by a ghost¡­ He had never thought about that.


    But today, he suddenly started thinking that way. If Lu Tianyu was no longer Lu Tianyu, everything could be explained.


    If Lu Tianyu died before turning into a zombie, who was the zombie lady?


    Who was able to lead a base? Who was used to being a Chief? Who could deal with the Chief''s work so easily? Who would care so much about Hades Base people and try so hard to protect them, and pay so much attention to Lin Feng, Lin Hao, Lin Wenwen, and the other Lin Family people?


    Who else could she be but the woman who used to run Hades Base?


    Wu Chengyue suddenly felt that he was so stupid that he couldn''t even figure out who the woman that he was in love with really was. He thought she was the evil Lu Tianyu while trying to explain why she was so different from before.


    He told himself that it was reasonable for the zombie lady to not accept his love. He didn''t even know who was he loving. How could he ask her to accept himself?


    Finally, he had figured it all out. He never felt as stupid as he felt now.


    Lin Qiao looked at him. After a few seconds of silence, she said calmly with a smile, "Oh? If I''m not Lu Tianyu, is this face of mine fake?"


    She was sitting while he was standing. However, she was not suppressed. Both of them had strong vibes.


    Wu Chengyue was telling her with his eyes that he had figured out something already. However, she would not admit it to him like a silly person. Would anyone sane believe something like that?


    He watched that face of hers heal bit by bit. He had seen her when her face was damaged. He had seen her body clearly before Lu Tianyu died. The others might think that she took plastic surgeries to make herself look like Lu Tianyu, but not Wu Chengyue.


    With a small smile, Wu Chengyue looked at her and said, "No, your face isn''t fake, neither is your body. I am sure that not a single part of this body has changed, but your soul¡­ It isn''t Lu Tianyu''s, is it?"


    "Why don''t you say memory?" said Lin Qiao with surprise, "It''s doable to change someone''s memory now."


    Memories could be implanted through hypnosis. Not only could science do it, but also superpowers. Currently, it was not hard to change someone''s memory.


    Wu Chengyue turned and walked to the only armchair in the room, then sat down as he answered Lin Qiao''s question, "You can change a man''s memory and make him follow his fake memories, but a man like that wouldn''t have a determined look in his eyes. Deep down, he''d question himself in a confusing, unexplainable way. You are not like that. You are determinedly doing the things that Lu Tianyu would never do. Also, you cannot change someone''s physical instincts by changing her memory. That only goes with the soul."


    Lin Qiao looked at him, feeling a little uncomfortable. He suddenly dug out her secret bit by bit and saw her real face.


    He revealed her real identity without even warning her. She was wearing a perfect disguise, yet he abruptly ripped if off. Could they still cooperate? Should she keep trusting him? He had thrown her trust out of the base and fed it to zombies, hadn''t he?


    She admitted defeat on the inside, but did not show that on her face. She gave a cold smile and said, "I don''t know what you''re talking about. I''m not curious about what you are thinking. It''s late. Please leave."


    Wu Chengyue spent a few seconds looking at her deep in the eyes, then silently stood up and walked to the door. Before leaving, he said to her with a meaningful smile, "It''s okay. I think I''ve already gotten the answer that I want."


    ''What did I say? How come you already got the answer you wanted? Wait, what is the answer that you wanted?'' Lin Qiao was so confused.


    Wu Chengyue opened the door. While walking out of the room, he gave Duan Juan, who was standing by the door, a smiling glance, then turned and left. Duan Juan walked in and closed the door, then turned to look at Lin Qiao, "He glanced at me just now. Why do I feel like he has discovered something?"


    "He suddenly became smart," said Lin Qiao helplessly.


    Duan Juan looked at her with confusion.


    "He figured out who I really am," Lin Qiao explained.


    On hearing that, Duan Juan slightly widened her eyes and said, "Are you saying that¡­"


    Lin Qiao nodded, not feeling like talking about it. With a tired face, she waved a hand and said, "Alright, what did you find?"

 1034 Jiang Familys Secre

    Duan Juan first spent a few seconds looking at her with surprise, then adjusted her expression and started reporting.


    "Jiang Anan is infected by the zombie virus. Her mother somehow learned that the hospital in Sea City Base has your energy lake water that can stop the virus from spreading. So, she wanted to send her into the hospital to keep her from becoming a zombie, even though she might never wake up," Duan Juan said, "Tonight, Bai Xuer and Ding Biao were going to kill her and her daughter. Li Yue Shan and I have transferred Jiang Anan to a secret safe place. We''ve also given her your lake water to stop the virus from further spreading."


    Lin Qiao nodded, and then Duan Juan continued, "You guessed right. Bai Xuer became friends with Jiang Anan on purpose. Jiang Anan was a loner, and she and her mother are keeping a secret. That was the reason why Bai Xuer went through the trouble to become friends with her. Now, Bai Xuer has gotten what she wanted, so she planned to get rid of her."


    Lin Qiao glanced at Duan Juan and said, "So this time, what Jiang Anan saved Bai Xuer from was actually a trap that the latter set for her on purpose, right?"


    Duan Juan nodded.


    "What is that secret?" Lin Qiao asked.


    Ding Biao said, "People said that Jiang Anan''s father is dead, but in fact, he is still alive. He isn''t in Sea City Base, but in Huaxia Base. I heard that he was a botanist before the apocalypse. Most of the people who knew Jiang Anan and her mother knew about that. Bai Xuer''s hunting group has been making secret information deals with Huaxia Base. Huaxia Base people might think of Jiang Anan''s father as a very important person, so in order to control him, they found out about Jiang Anan and her mother, and asked Ding Biao and his people to keep an eye on them."


    "So, Jiang Anan and her mother are supposed to be hostages. Why do Bai Xuer and her people now want to kill them?" said Lin Qiao with a frown.


    "Jiang Anan''s mother told me that Jiang Anan''s father escaped from Huaxia Base a few months ago. Moreover, he was shot dead during the manhunt. However, he gave someone his diary before death and asked that man to bring it to Sea City Base to Jiang Anan. Bai Xuer got the diary from Jiang Anan. So now, she''s preparing to kill Jiang Anan and her mother."


    Lin Qiao nodded knowingly and said, "I see. So, Bai Xuer''s hunting group trades intelligence with Huaxia Base, right?"


    Duan Juan nodded and replied with, "Li Yue Shan has dug out everything about that group of people. I believe Chief Wu''s men will soon be dealing with them. Are you still going to see Jiang Anan? She''s infected. Do you know how to save her?"


    Lin Qiao nodded, then stood up and said, "Yeah. Why not? I can save her as long as she''s still alive."


    Lin Yu was the first person she saved from the zombie virus, and Bao Xiaoguo was the second one. Jiang Anan might be the third one.


    At the same time, Wu Chengyue returned to his study room and soon received the message from Li Yue Shan. The message was same as what Duan Juan told Lin Qiao.


    "Should we take them out in public or in secret?" Li Yue Shan asked Wu Chengyue.


    "What did they do apart from trading intelligence with Huaxia Base? Have they shown any intention of joining Huaxia Base?" said Wu Chengyue.


    Li Yue Shan nodded and responded with, "I think so. They seem to be preparing to join Huaxia Base."


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, "Deal with them in public then. They haven''t left Sea City Base yet. Just execute them for selling intelligence."


    "Yes, sir!"


    "There''s one other thing. Bring me the file of Netherworld Fire, the leader of Hades Base. I want the details. I also want to know her background before the apocalypse," Wu Chengyue gave him another order.


    "Huh? Isn''t she¡­" Li Yue Shan looked at him with confusion. He did not understand why his Chief suddenly wanted to know about that dead leader of Hades Base. But, he was the man''s subordinate, so he had no choice but to follow the order. "Okay, I will do it."


    "No wonder you seemed to be so close with Lin Hao and Duan Juan¡­" Wu Chengyue murmured to himself with a mysterious smile on his face.


    Li Yue Shan was utterly confused.


    Why was his Chief taking to himself?


    ¡­


    Bai Xuer, Ding Biao, and their people secretly showed up in Jiang Anan''s apartment, looking at the empty apartment sullenly.


    "Where are they? Haven''t your men been keeping an eye on this apartment?" Ding Biao turned to a man and said to him.


    The man was clearly panic. "They¡­ They suddenly disappeared. I haven''t heard from them yet, so¡­"


    Bai Xuer furrowed her brows and said, "Jiang Anan is infected. If anyone saw her, she''d be arrested immediately. She wouldn''t dare to go outside. But, where are they?"


    Ding Biao thought for a moment, then turned on his flashlight and looked carefully around the apartment. "All their belongings are still here. I think they didn''t have the time to pack before leaving."


    Bai Xuer abruptly snorted with laughter and said, "Jiang Anan is infected by the zombie virus. She might become a zombie at any time. How dare that old woman take her out? Does she want her daughter to die faster?"


    Jiang Anan''s mother wasn''t very old. However, she looked older than her real age because of her bad health. Therefore, Bai Xuer had been calling her old woman.


    "We need to find them as soon as possible," said Ding Biao with a serious look, "If they told anyone else about the diary, we''d be in trouble."


    "Okay," Bai Xuer responded carelessly.


    The group of people quickly left the apartment and scattered to search for Jiang Anan and her mother. They spent the whole night searching around, but not even a clue about the two was found.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao arrived at where Jiang Anan was. That was an isolated, strictly guarded building in Central Hospital, with a series of independent rooms inside. She followed Duan Juan into the building, and the guards by the entrance didn''t stop them.


    Duan Juan guided Lin Qiao into the building toward the stairs. On the third floor, she turned and walked into the hallway, over to the door of a room.


    "They''re in there," Duan Juan looked at the closed door and said to Lin Qiao. While speaking, she knocked on the door.


    Soon, the door was opened from the inside. The middle-aged woman that Lin Qiao had seen earlier today was standing behind the door, surprised to see Lin Qiao.


    "You¡­"


    Then, she turned to Duan Juan and nodded knowingly. Earlier on, she didn''t pay much attention to Duan Juan, so she didn''t realize that Duan Juan was the one who confronted Bai Xuer. However, she recalled it all when she saw Lu Tianyu''s face.

 1035 Save Jiang Anan

    Jiang Anan''s mother knew Lu Tianyu. Many people in Sea City Base knew her, and many had seen her. However, only a few had seen her without make-up.


    Jiang Aanan''s mother recognized Lin Qiao as Lu Tianyu. Earlier today when she asked Bai Xuer for help, she noticed her because some of the others were talking about her. She didn''t pay much attention to Duan Juan though.


    Now, seeing the two of them together, she recalled seeing Duan Juan earlier today.


    "She''s the one who can save your daughter," Duan Juan pointed at Lin Qiao and said.


    Mrs. Jiang looked at Lin Qiao with hesitation but made a step backward, silently accepting what Duan Juan said. Lin Qiao walked in straight toward the bed in the room without saying anything.


    Duan Juan locked the door and then took out a confidential agreement, handing it to Mrs. Jiang as she said seriously, "Whatever you might see later, you cannot tell anyone else about it. Leaking the secret won''t do you and your daughter any good."


    Mrs. Lin glanced at Lin Qiao and then at her daughter. With a sad face, she nodded and took over the agreement from Duan Juan''s hands.


    Lin Qiao observed Jiang Anan''s face. Jiang Anan was a pretty girl. However, there was a wound between the tails of her right eyebrow and her right eye, which ruined the beauty of her face. Between her eyebrows were some slight wrinkles. Only a person who frowned a lot would have that kind of wrinkles.


    There might be a reason that made her a loner.


    After spending a while observing her face, Lin Qiao reached out a hand to feel her pulse on one side of her neck. Sensing the girl''s weak pulse, she turned to Mrs. Jiang.


    "You should have heard about me already," she said, "Many think that I died. In fact, they are right. I died. But then, I came back to life."


    Mrs. Jiang looked at her with confusion as Lin Qiao continued, "I can''t let you know how I will save your daughter, so please go out. Can you do that?"


    Mrs. Jiang looked at her with unwillingness in her eyes. She didn''t seem to want to accept the request.


    Lu Tianyu was never a good person. She did not want to leave her daughter alone in a room with that woman, because she didn''t know what the woman might do to her daughter. However, Lu Tianyu was there to help Anan, so she could not say no directly.


    "I¡­ Can''t I stay here and watch?" she said to Lin Qiao with hesitation.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "There''s something that you can''t know. Knowing it won''t be good for you."


    Mrs. Jiang looked at her silently. Duan Juan put a hand on Mrs. Jiang''s shoulder and said, "Don''t worry! My Chief is here to save your daughter and not hurt her. Just follow me out. Please trust me."


    Mrs. Jiang turned and gave Duan Juan a glance. Then, she looked at Lin Qiao and clenched her teeth before turning and walking to the door. She then opened the door and left quietly. Things had already gone so far. At that point, she had no reason to say no.


    Duan Juan followed Mrs. Jiang out, leaving Lin Qiao in the room. The latter picked up Jiang Anan''s hand and rolled up her sleeve, exposing her arm that was covered in bulging veins.


    Darkness emerged from the corners of her eyes and devoured the white parts of her eyes. In a second, her eyes turned purely black.


    She opened her mouth and bared her teeth, then bit Jiang Anan''s arm. She easily bit through the girl''s skin and sunk her teeth in the girl''s arm for three seconds before relaxing the bite. After that, her eyes quickly turned back normal. She put down Jiang Anan''s sleeve and then put her arm back under the blanket.


    Then, she slightly narrowed her eyes, watching her own virus spread in the girl''s body from her right arm and devouring the original zombie virus. Next, she took out a cup of pure lake water, forced Jiang Anan''s mouth open, and poured the water in.


    The original zombie virus was vanishing quickly in the girl''s body, and the energy of the water was spreading from her stomach, restoring the girl''s bodily functions.


    Lin Qiao turned and walked to the door, then opened it and said, "Come in."


    Mrs. Jiang walked in eagerly over to the bedside and carefully observed Jiang Anan. The latter was still pale, looking same as before. With both surprise and doubt, Mrs. Jiang turned to look at Lin Qiao.


    "This¡­ How is Anan now?"


    "Keep an eye on her," said Lin Qiao, "The effect will start to show in an hour. Be patient!"


    Duan Juan also came over to observe Jiang Anan''s face. She lifted the girl''s eyelids and checked her eyeballs, then said to Mrs. Jiang, "Look, her eyes already look better than before."


    On hearing that, Mrs. Jiang immediately leaned forward to look closely at Jiang Anan''s eyes. The bloodshot look that had those eyes covered had been fading bit by bit, and could even be observed by human eyes.


    "It''s real!" Mrs. Jiang was thrilled to see that, "Great, great!"


    Hope sprouted from the despair in her heart and instantly occupied her mind.


    "Take her to All Beings Base when she wakes up. Your secret has already been leaked. We''ve taken care of Bai Xuer and her people, but some other people will still come after you," said Lin Qiao to Mrs. Jiang.


    Mrs. Jiang nodded as she stared straight at Jiang Anan, who was lying on the bed.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Jiang Anan and said, "Jiang Anan still has the diary. I don''t know what the diary is about, but I assume it''s very important. There are too many people in Sea City Base. You might not survive even if you handed the diary to the army of Sea City Base, not to mention the fact that Jiang Anan is infected by the zombie virus. I have saved her now, and that has become another secret. So, I think it''s better for you two to follow me to All Beings Base."


    "That''s right. Giving us the second diary book is no different from giving it to Sea City Base," said Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan had talked to Mrs. Jiang before. She promised the latter to save Jiang Anan''s life and asked for the diary in return.


    Duan Juan and Li Yue Shan had found out that the diary which Jiang Anan gave to Bai Xuer was not complete. Jiang Anan''s father gave her two diary books, and Bai Xuer only got one of them.


    Of course, Bai Xuer, Ding Biao, and their people didn''t know about that yet.


    Sea City Base was supposed to be fully responsible for that. However, Lin Qiao was also curious about the contents of the diary. Jiang Anan''s father was studying mutated plants, so his diary might contain a clue about how to destroy those underground gorillas.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao decided to save Jiang Anan and then share the diary with Sea City Base.


    She would get the second book, and Wu Chengyue''s men would track the first book down.

 1036 Jiang Anan Wakes Up

    Mrs. Jiang sighed, \"Jiang Anan has the diary. We have to wait for her to wake up and tell us where it is.\"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, \"She''ll wake up before dawn.\"


    Jiang Anan was tied on the bed in case she suddenly turned into a zombie and sprung up to attack people. Lin Qiao finished talking and then left the room together with Duan Juan.


    The next day, Bai Xuer and her people, who spent the whole night searching for their targets but found nothing, went back to where they lived. Bai Xuer lived together with Ding Biao. In the apartment, neither of them looked happy.


    \"How come they suddenly disappeared? Did that old woman really take Jiang Anan away and hide her somewhere?\" Bai Xuer sat on the couch, wearing a sulky, confused face. Ding Biao sat on the other side with his eyes narrowed, without responding to her.


    Bai Xuer raised her eyes and gave him a glance, then asked him, \"What if we can''t find them? We''ve gotten the diary, but Sea City Base will certainly want it if the old lady told the others about it, and they''ll suspect us.\"


    Hearing that, Ding Biao turned and gave her a glance as he replied, \"So, we have to find them no matter what. We can''t let them live.\"


    Bai Xuer nodded. Once again, she thought of Lin Qiao and her people that she met yesterday. \"I wonder if Captain has found anything about Lu Tianyu yet. I''m sure that she''s been hiding in All Beings Base. Who were the other two women? Why were they so obedient to her?\"


    Thinking about Duan Juan, who blocked his way earlier, Ding Biao said, \"The woman in a camouflage suit is pretty capable. She''s at level-five, but she''s serving as Lu Tianyu''s bodyguard. I wonder who she works for. Perhaps, you''re right. They might be from All Beings Base.\"


    \"Sadly, all the people that you sent after them were distracted from the target,\" said Bai Xuer with an angry face and a vicious tone, \"Now, we can''t find a trace of her. We want to learn a bit about All Beings Base from her, but we can''t even find her. She''s under the protection of a level-five person. I''m sure that she''s with a pretty powerful man in All Beings Base. Perhaps, we can really get some useful information about All Beings Base from her.\"


    Ding Biao recalled Lu Tianyu''s white and clean face, and how innocent and shy she looked a couple of years ago when she was still a college student. She was very pretty and charming.


    Yesterday, she saw Lu Tianyu without makeup, looking even more attractive. Yesterday, Lu Tianyu had a cold look in her eyes and an inexplicably strong vibe. She was completely different from before.


    Thinking about her perfect body that used to lie underneath himself, Ding Biao blinked his eyes.


    \"Come here.\" Abruptly, he said to Bai Xuer.


    \"Eh?\" Bai Xuer was a little confused. She didn''t understand what he suddenly wanted.


    \"Come here, I want to hold you.\" Ding Biao looked at her chest and licked his lips, then said to her with his eyes narrowed slightly. Bai Xuer paused briefly, then obediently stood up and walked to up to him with confusion. Then, she sat on his lap and looked at him uncertainly.


    \"Why? Do you want it?\"


    Ding Biao put his arms around her waist when she sat down on his lap, then buried his face in her chest. However, what he was thinking about were Lu Tianyu''s face and body.


    Ding Biao bit on Bai Xuer''s collar bone and made her breathe deeply. Then, she relaxed her body and let him take off her clothes.


    ¡­


    Mrs. Jiang was lying asleep on the sling chair in Jiang Anan''s room. In the past few days, she had been so worried about Jiang Anan and was totally exhausted. Last night after Lin Qiao left, she noticed the color of Jiang Anan''s face gradually turn back normal and finally stopped worrying. About four in the morning, she finally fell asleep.


    Jiang Anan, who was lying on the bed, slightly moved her eyelids. Her thick eyelashes shook slightly, and then her eyes opened slowly.


    She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling with confusion. After about ten seconds, she rolled her eyes slightly and her mind started to become clear again.


    She looked around and found her mother lying asleep on a ling chair. Then, she turned to the other side and saw a very small window that was located high on the wall. The bright light had been pouring in through that window. It seemed to be early in the morning.


    Where was that place? Why was she there?


    Jiang Anan had two questions in her head. She furrowed her brows and tried to move her body while thinking. Then, she found that she was tied up on the bed.


    A dull pain was sensed from a few areas of her body; she was injured.


    Suddenly, she recalled that she was outside the base not long ago on a mission. Something crossed her mind, and her expressions changed a few times before growing into a fierce look at last.


    She closed her eyes to adjust her emotions. She covered her feelings with coldness, then moved her fingers. Slowly, her fingers turned into stone.


    Clap! As she put forth her strength through her arms, the straps on her arms were broken. She knew why was she tied on the bed. She was infected by the zombie virus.


    After freeing her hands, she immediately untied the straps on her neck and chest and then sat up.


    She looked at her own hands. Those hands looked healthy. Her nails were still pink, not dark at all. Her skin looked healthy as well. With disbelief, she rolled up her sleeves and found the skin on her arms being healthy too. No part of her body was turning blue and covered in bulging veins.


    \"Anan! You''re awake!\" Mrs. Jiang''s voice was suddenly heard.


    Jiang Anan turned and saw her mother standing up from the chair, walking to her delightfully.


    \"Mom!\" Jiang Anan calmly called her mother.


    \"Great, Anan! My Anan! You are really awake! You didn''t turn into a zombie! You didn''t turn into a zombie!\" Mrs. Jiang rushed at the bed and held her daughter''s face with both hands, looking at her with a pair of red eyes as she said with happy tears.


    \"Mom¡­ How did I¡­\" Jiang Anan was confused. She wanted to know what had happened. Before she fell into consciousness, she was already feeling cold and stiff. She was clearly turning into a zombie back then. But, how come those signs of turning all disappeared?


    She heard what her mother said. Her mother seemed to know why she didn''t turn into a zombie.


    \"Great! They didn''t lie to Mama¡­ Anan, how do you feel? Can you feel your body?\" Mrs. Jiang soon calmed back down, wiping her face as she asked Jiang Anan.


    Jiang Anan nodded, then smiled and comforted her mother, \"I can feel my limbs again. I''m good. I think the virus is really gone. My power is also back.\"

 1037 Theres Something Else that I Want to Do

    \"Good, good!\" Mrs. Jiang finally sighed with relief, then sat down while stroking Jiang Anan''s long hair. The latter looked around at the strange room and asked, \"Mom, where is this place? Just now, you said that they didn''t lie to you. Who are they?\"


    She thought for a moment and then continued, \"Mom, who brought me back?\"


    Mrs. Jiang wiped the tears away from her face and then answered her questions, \"A young man from your team brought you back. He dropped you and then left, without saying a word. You were in a coma the whole time, and I found some wounds on your body caused by zombie claws. We don''t have enough credits and zombie nuclei to send you to the hospital. I heard that you got injured trying to save Bai Xuer, so I went to her to ask her to help to send you to the hospital.\"


    Speaking of that, Mrs. Jiang dropped her head, both angrily and helplessly. Hearing her mother mention Bai Xuer''s name, Jiang Anan showed a cold look in her eyes but stayed silent. Then, Mrs. Jiang continued, \"But, she didn''t want to help you at all. Didn''t you save her life? She doesn''t want to have anything to do with you. Why?\"


    Jiang Anan shook her head and said, \"Mom, don''t mention her name again. From this day on, she and I aren''t friends anymore.\"


    They were enemies! After saying that, she asked, \"Who on earth helped us? Mom, why did they help us?\"


    No one would save her for no reason, not to mention the fact that she was infected by the zombie virus. She never heard that infected people could be cured. But, the people who saved her life managed to do that. They surely understood how valuable the cure was. It would make shocking news if she told other people about that. If she did not have something that they wanted, how would they possibly save her with that cure?


    Jiang Anan was not stupid. By saving her, those people had told her about the secret of the cure. Without a doubt, there was a reason for them to save her life and let her know about the secret other than pure kindness.


    Mrs. Jiang knew what she meant. She sighed and said, \"Do you remember Lu Tianyu, the one who died a year ago?\"


    \"Yeah, why?\" Jiang Anan looked at her mother with confusion. She didn''t know why her mother mentioned Lu Tianyu. What did it have to do with that evil woman?


    \"She came back alive,\" said Mrs. Jiang, \"She didn''t die¡­ Well, she said that she did die, but she then came back to life. It was she who cured you.\"


    Jiang Anan slightly widened her eyes. She was shocked to hear what her mother said.


    \"What? She didn''t die? She saved my life?\"


    Mrs. Jiang nodded.


    Jiang Anan asked her mother with disbelief, \"How can that be possible? Even if she didn''t die¡­ Why did she save me? Did she ask for something in return?\"


    It was absolutely impossible for that woman to kindly save her for no reason. That woman wouldn''t save anyone unless she wanted something from that person!


    Mrs. Jiang nodded.


    Jiang Anan looked at her and said, \"Mom, did you promise her something?\"


    Mrs. Jiang sighed and said, \"I told her about your father''s diary. To save your life, I accepted three terms that she named¡ªmoving to All Beings Base after you woke up, keeping the fact that she cured your virus infection a secret, and showing her the contents of your father''s diary.\"


    Hearing that Lu Tianyu did ask for something in return, Jiang Anan calmed down. That was not unexpected. The three terms were actually acceptable for her.


    She was a little reluctant to give away the diary though. But, she would still do it. After all, her life was saved. If she died, the diary and all the other things she had would become meaningless. If she were gone, who would be taking care of her mother?


    Currently, the diary was not as important to Jiang Anan as before.


    \"But, Ding Biao and his people have gotten the first book of the diary,\" she said, \"I only have the second book.


    \"It''s okay,\" Mrs. Jiang smiled and said, \"They said that you don''t need to worry about the first book. They only want the second book from you.\"


    Jiang Anan nodded and then said, :Have they told you when will we leave? There''s something that I want to do. I don''t want to leave until it''s done.\"


    \"In a couple of days, they said¡­\" said Mrs. Jiang, \"What is that thing?\"


    \"Mom, Ding Biao took the diary from me,\" said Jiang Anan, \"I need to get it back. Also, I don''t want that liar Bai Xuer to get away from what she has done to me.\" While saying that, she clenched her teeth and had a fierce look in her eyes.


    \"What? Are you going to see that woman again? We should leave. We can''t win against them. I think you should stay out of trouble! You nearly died! You can''t let anything like that happen to yourself again. If something bad happened to you, how would Mama be able to live?\" Hearing Jiang Anan''s words, Mrs. Jiang held her hand and said anxiously.


    Jiang Anan held her mother''s hands with a deep frown, looking at her mother with her eyes turning red. \"Mom,\" she said, \"I can''t get over it! They took Daddy''s diary and fooled around me. I saw Bai Xuer as a real friend! I couldn''t have thought that she would do this to me!\"


    \"But¡­ how are you gonna fight her? You know how powerful her team is. You can never win. What about¡­ what about we wait for an opportunity?\" Mrs. Jiang looked at her and said. She did not want her daughter to put herself in danger again.


    At that moment, the door suddenly opened and a woman''s voice was heard, \"How do you want to deal with her? I''ll help you. She pissed me off yesterday. I''ll let her know how much she overestimated herself.\"


    Jiang Anan and her mother turned to see Lu Tianyu walking in with her hands resting in her pockets. Another woman had opened the door for her.


    \"Are you¡­ Are you Lu Tianyu?\" Jiang Anan looked at Lin Qiao and asked uncertainly.


    \"Yeah, I am,\" Lin Qiao nodded and said. \"Is something wrong?\"


    Jiang Anan spent a short while observing Lin Qiao, then glanced at the other woman who followed her in. After that, she said to Lin Qiao, \"You said that you will help me. How do you prepare to do that?\"


    \"How about I give you the exact location of her and Ding Biao and let you do it yourself? I can also keep Ding Biao under control.\" Lin Qiao smiled and said.


    Jiang Anan looked at her with doubts. \"Do you¡­ do you mean it? Can you do that?\"


    \"Of course, our Chief can do that! We wouldn''t have come for you if we didn''t want you to take the revenge yourself,\" Shen Yujen joined the conversation.


    \"Chief?\" Jiang Anan heard the word and looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    \"Yeah. Is anything wrong about that? She is the Chief of All Beings Base. Haven''t you heard that the leader of All Beings Base is a lady?\" Shen Yujen smiled and said.


    Jiang Anan popped her eyes and said with surprise, \"I have heard that the leader of All Beings Base is a woman. I''ve also heard that her family name is Lu!\"


    She couldn''t have thought that the Chief lady was Lu Tianyu! That was truly shocking!

 1038 The Diary Is Found

    When Lin Qiao was on her way to see Jiang Anan at noontime, Xiao Licheng and Li Yue Shan arrived where Bai Xuer and Ding Biao lived, having their men surround the apartment before the two noticed.


    Bang! The door of the bedroom was suddenly blown up.


    The two, who were lying on the bed naked under the blanket, immediately sat up.


    \"Who are you!\" Ding Biao shouted out loud and looked around alertly, seeing a group of soldiers walk in.


    \"Put on your clothes and come with us,\" Xiao Licheng looked at the two and said coldly. Meanwhile, the soldiers had already surrounded the bed and pointed their guns at the two.


    \"Deputy Chief Xiao, what is happening? May I ask why you broke into my apartment and commanded us to come with you?\" Ding Biao calmed himself down as he looked at Xiao Licheng and asked.


    \"You''ll know when you get there. Don''t ask any questions. Put on your clothes,\" said Xiao Licheng to him blandly.


    \"Put on your clothes!\" A soldier who was pointing his gun at Ding Biao said to the two people on the bed. Bai Xuer''s exposed skin did not attract any of them.


    Bai Xuer covered her chest with the blanket and glared at the soldiers as she said in anger and panic, \"How am I supposed to put on my clothes while you are all staring at me? You''ll see my body!\"


    \"Cut the crap! Just get dressed!\" The soldier nearest to her yelled at her impatiently. \"Or you''ll be coming with us naked.\"


    Hearing that, Bai Xuer instantly shut her mouth. \"At least¡­ pass me my clothes,\" she murmured.


    \"Get off the bed and fetch them yourself!\" The soldier refused to do that without hesitation.


    Bai Xuer stayed silent.


    \"Give her the clothes,\" said Xiao Licheng blandly.


    The soldier nearest to Bai Xuer''s clothes, which were lying on the floor, picked up them with the tip of his gun and then threw them to the bed.


    Ding Biao bent over and picked up his underwear and pants from the floor, putting them on under the blanket. Then, he got off the bed to look for his other clothes.


    \"Don''t think about running away. You can''t run.\" Xiao Licheng said with a cold voice as he noticed the look in Ding Biao''s eyes. Once his voice faded, a soldier suddenly fired at Ding Biao and Bai Xuer. What came out of his gun weren''t bullets, but two needles, each attached to a small tube full of liquid.


    Puff!


    \"Eh!\" The needle sank into Ding Biao''s skin once he tried to make a move. His legs instantly went limp, and he knelt on the floor. In a few seconds, his legs grew some strength back, but he could no longer feel his superpower.


    \"I heard you have a diary that belonged to Jiang Anan''s father. Are you gonna give it to us? Or, do you want us to search this place?\" As both of them got shot, Xiao Licheng walked out and sat on the couch, watching his soldiers drag the two out of the bedroom.


    \"Oh, so you want the diary too?\" Ding Biao looked at him and gave a cold smile.


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and said, \"We don''t want it. We want to give it back to its owner.\"


    \"Give it back to its owner? Jiang Anan is turning into a zombie. Will you ever give it back to her? Do you think that we''re idiots?\" Bai Xuer rolled her eyes and said scornfully.


    Xiao Licheng shrugged and said, \"Who said that we''re giving it back to Jiang Anan? Her mother is also an owner of the diary. You don''t need to worry about that though. All you need to do is give it to us.\"


    \"I don''t have it,\" said Ding Biao, \"Do you want me to tell you where it is? Do you think I''ll tell that to you?\"


    \"You, of course, won''t tell us where it is so easily. That''s why I am needed.\" A woman''s voice was heard from the balcony as Moli walked in from the balcony. Ding Biao and Bai Xuer looked over, but neither of them knew her.


    Moli worked in the lab most of the time, so the ordinary hunters like Ding Biao and Bai Xuer didn''t know her.


    \"I''ll leave it to you,\" Xiao Licheng nodded at her and said.


    Moli walked over and stood before Ding Biao, looking at him in the eyes. The latter didn''t know that she had spirit power, so he looked back at her fearlessly at first. However, he panicked two seconds later.


    \"You¡­ You have spirit power! Eh¡­\" Before he could finish his words, his eyes lost focus and his pupils expanded. Meanwhile, Moli stared straight at him; her power has invaded his brain through his eyes.


    \"She has spirit power?\" Hearing what Ding Biao said in panic, Bai Xuer was stunned. She immediately turned to Ding Biao and the woman before her with fright.


    \"Be quiet!\" Xiao Licheng waved at her and said. Following his voice, the two soldiers who had hands on Bai Xuer''s shoulders immediately dragged her to the side, away from Ding Biao.


    Bai Xuer panicked after figuring out that Moli was a spirit power possessor, and let herself be dragged to a corner. The more she thought about what might happen, the more scared she got.


    She spent two years to become friends with Jiang Anan and tried everything to dig out that diary. Now, it finally fell into the hands of her and Ding Biao. With that diary, they would be able to live a better life in Huaxia Base as long as they left Sea City Base safely.


    If Ding Biao gave the diary away, the two of them would have no value in the eyes of Huaxia people.


    While Bai Xuer was in a panic, Moli looked at Ding Biao and started talking, \"Tell me, where is the diary?\"


    Ding Biao was wearing no expression, and his eyes were unfocused. Hearing Moli''s question, he seemed to be struggling. So, she repeated the question, \"Tell me, where is the diary?\"


    The unwillingness in Ding Biao''s eyes instantly faded. \"Here,\" he answered the question obediently.


    \"Where exactly?\" Moli asked another question.


    \"On the wall behind the headboard in the living room. There is a hidden compartment.\"


    Hearing that, two soldiers immediately went into the bedroom to search for the diary.


    ''We put it in there just two days ago. I can''t believe that it''s gonna be taken out by someone else so soon,'' thought Bai Xuer.


    \"Hei, you guys are fast. Have you found it yet?\" A woman''s voice was heard from the outside. The people in the room turned and saw some other people come in from the door.


    Lin Qiao walked in with a few others. She had her long hair tied up at the back of her head, and her hands were resting in the pockets of her coat. Xiao Licheng immediately stood up from the couch, then nodded at her and said, \"We are still looking for it.\"


    \"We found it!\" A soldier came out of the bedroom while holding a thick diary.

 1039 Do You Think That Im Stupid?

    All the others instantly landed their eyes on the diary.


    \"My father''s diary!\" Another person suddenly showed up and darted up to that soldier.


    \"Jiang Anan! You! You didn''t die!\" Bai Xuer, who was a little panicked because of what was happening in the apartment, burst into a scream at the sight of Jiang Anan. Meanwhile, the latter took over the familiar diary book from the soldier''s hand and checked if it was damaged. Hearing Bai Xuer''s words, she turned to the woman with a cold smile.


    \"What? Are you disappointed that I didn''t turn into a zombie?\"


    \"You! It''s¡­ it''s impossible! It''s impossible!\" Bai Xuer wasn''t able to think at that moment as she gawked at Jiang Anan and murmured. Suddenly, she popped her eyes and screamed with disbelief, \"It''s impossible! You were injured by zombies! You were infected! It''s been three or four days! How could you still wake up?\"


    Bang! Lin Qiao waved an arm and created a strong gust of wind to shut the door. Then, she said to Xiao Licheng, \"Tell the others to leave.\"


    Xiao Licheng didn''t say anything but waved at his soldiers. He knew that his men wouldn''t say anything that shouldn''t be said.


    Getting the order, the soldiers left promptly. Xiao Licheng stood by the couch while Lin Qiao walked over and sat down. Meanwhile, Shen Yujen stepped back to the door and Duan Juan walked to the balcony to look outside.


    Lin Qiao crossed her legs; No one said anything. Together, they were all watching the great show.


    Holding the diary, Jiang Anan walked up to Bai Xuer and looked at her as she said coldly, \"For this, you spent two years to become friends with me. You fooled me. I saw you as my only friend while you saw me as a fool.\"


    After saying that, she took two steps backward and then burst in laughter. Full of scorn and disdain, she continued, \"But what happened in the end? Do you think that this diary could give you a better life in Huaxia Base? The real valuable thing isn''t even in this book. It''s in the second book. However, I don''t think you know that there are two of my father''s diaries. I assume what Huaxia Base people really want is also the second book.\"


    Hearing her words and seeing the look on her face, Bai Xuer popped her eyes in shock. A few seconds later, she finally managed to speak, \"What¡­ what did you say? You''re lying, aren''t you? Hehe¡­ You said that because hate me for lying to you, right?\"


    Jiang Anan laughed at her for being too stupid. She spent two years but failed to find out what was really valuable. She lied to Jiang Anan, yet Jiang Anan seemed to have seen right through her. Was she like a clown in Jiang Anan''s eyes?


    \"Believe it or not. I don''t need to lie to you. I''m planning on handing over the diary anyway,\" Jiang Anan looked at her coldly and said.


    \"That''s impossible! You must be lying! You hate me for letting you be attacked by zombies¡­ But, you did that to yourself, didn''t you? You got injured because you were too weak!\" Bai Xuer screamed at Jiang Anan. Her eyes were popped, brows were furrowed, and mouth was wide open.


    Then, she laughed in a twisted way and continued, \"Do you expect me to thank you for saving my life? Haha¡­ I didn''t need you to save me at all¡­ Oh, no, I did need you to do that. If you didn''t do that, how would I get you injured? I just didn''t expect you to manage to take me out of that crappy storage.\"


    Her words were incoherent, but did remind Jiang Anan of what happened earlier. Hatred could be detected from her eyes, soon being replaced by the intent of killing.


    \"Yeah, I was wrong to save you and believe in you. But, I didn''t die. As for you, Ding Biao, and your entire team, you people will pay for what you''ve done. I didn''t die, but unlike me, you guys are going to die for sure. How does that feel? Do you hate me? Do you really hate me now?\" Jiang Anan reached out a hand and grasped Bai Xuer''s chin as she stared at her with a strong intent of killing.


    Under the frosty intent of killing that came out of her eyes, Bai Xuer felt as if she had fallen into extreme coldness, and her legs grew weak.


    Thud! Under Jiang Anan''s glare, she sat straight on the floor.


    Jiang Anan was a loner who was able to survive in the outside world all alone. She was, of course, not a weak person. Her vibe and intent of killing were both stronger than that of the other level-four superpower possessors.


    How did she meet Bai Xuer? The latter helped her mother a few times and then they met. Now, she thought back and realized that the problems that her mother encountered while she wasn''t in the base might be a part of the plan!


    \"No¡­ no¡­ Anan! I¡­ I''m sorry! Don''t kill me! I don''t want to die! They made me do it! Yeah, they made me! I didn''t have a choice! Anan¡­ Please, don''t kill me!\" Bai Xuer knelt on the floor and looked around, seeing the others watching her silently. All of a sudden, she threw herself on Jiang Anan''s lap and held her as she burst into tears.


    \"Get off me! Do you think of me as an idiot? Am I stupid enough to let you go? Bai Xuer, I don''t hate you for taking my father''s diary, but I won''t forgive you for tricking me into saving your life. Also, you even tried to kill my mother! I will never let you get away with it! You are even more disgusting than the old Lu Tianyu! She, at least, did all her evil deeds in public. She never tried to fake friendship with anyone!\" Jiang Anan kicked Bai Xuer away


    Lin Qiao, who was unexpectedly mentioned, was stunned. ''Why are you all looking at me? Don''t I need any respect?\"


    Seeing the unfriendly look in Lin Qiao''s eyes, Jiang Anan realized that she might have said something that she should not say. So, she immediately glared at Bai Xuer, who was sitting on the ground.


    She didn''t say anything wrong, though. The old Lu Tianyu was evil indeed! But now, she was a base leader who stood high above the masses¡­ It was indeed a little impolite to compare her with Bai Xuer right in front of her.


    Hearing Jiang Anan''s merciless words, Bai Xuer tried again to hold the former''s lap. \"It''s not like that! Anan, listen to me! They arranged the whole thing¡­ And, and I really see you as a friend!\"


    \"Are you still trying to fool me? Am I really a stupid person in your eyes?\" Jiang Anan looked at her with disgust, \"Since I once saw you as a real friend, I will end your life myself.\"


    Next, one of her hands pierced into Bai Xuer''s forehead at lightning speed. Puff! Following the loud noise, her fingers, which turned into stone within a blink, penetrated Bai Xuer''s head without bringing out even one drop of blood.

 1040 The End of Bai Xuer and Ding Biao

    Puff! Jiang Anan pulled her stone fingers out, generating a slight noise. She didn''t look at Bai Xuer, who was falling to the ground with her eyes popped, but raised her bloody fingers and looked around in the room. She soon found a boxful of tissue to wipe her fingers.


    Bai Xuer''s body thudded against the ground, her expression frozen on her face. Those widely opened eyes of hers had become lusterless and lifeless. Ding Biao was standing nearby, under the control of Moli''s power. He was standing there silently ever since he gave the location of the diary.


    Jiang Anan glanced at Bai Xuer''s dead body, then turned to Lin Qiao and the others and said, \"I killed her. You''re not gonna arrest me, are you?\"


    After all, killing was not allowed in the base.


    Lin Qiao gave Xiao Licheng a glance.


    \"Of course not! She was going to die anyway, so are Ding Biao and his team. They''re all criminals who sold the intelligence about our base. They''ll all be executed anyways,\" Xiao Licheng shook his head and said.


    Jiang Anan instantly turned to Ding Biao and furrowed her brows slightly. She hated Bai Xuer for lying to her. Ding Biao was her confederate, so she wanted to kill him too.


    She thought for a moment, then brought the diary to Xiao Licheng and said, \"This is the first book of my father''s diary. I''m giving it to you. I can''t make use of it anyway¡­ I was going to give it to Sea City Base.\"


    Xiao Licheng took it over, then opened it and leafed through. In the diary were some handwritten notes about the studies of all kinds of mutated plants.


    After giving away the first diary book, Jiang Anan looked at Lin Qiao and said, \"Let''s go and get the second book now. I put it somewhere else.\"


    Lin Qiao glanced at Ding Biao with surprise and asked, \"What about him? Aren''t you gonna finish him yourself?\"


    Jiang Anan gave Ding Biao a cold glance and said, \"I''ve already found my father''s diary. I have no interest in taking his life now. He''s not gonna end well anyway. His life is meaningless to me. I only wanted to kill her.\"


    While speaking, she blandly glanced at Bai Xuer''s body.


    Lin Qiao looked at Bai Xuer, then smiled and sighed, \"You see, if they left once they got the diary, all this wouldn''t have happened. However, this Bai Xuer tried to bring me trouble when she saw me. If she didn''t do that, she might be still alive.\"


    Jiang Anan looked at Lin Qiao with confusion. She and Bai Xuer were friends for a long time, so she surely knew that Bai Xuer had an issue with Lu Tianyu. She also knew what kind of a person Lu Tianyu used to be.


    But no matter how, she could not fit the new Lu Tianyu into the image of the old one. She somehow felt as if they were two different people.


    Soon, Lin Qiao and her people left while Xiao Licheng and his men stayed to clean up the scene.


    Teng''s one-month-old party would take place the next day. Wu Chengyue planned to throw the party at night, because people might not have time for it during the day. Qiu Lili and the others should be able to make it back before the party started as well.


    Thinking about them, Lin Qiao raised her head toward the Lake Tai area when she came out of the building.


    At that moment, Qiu Lili was controlling a few enormous fiery tornadoes and chasing a group of people who were running desperately for life.


    Her level-seven tornadoes weren''t something that the level-seven tornadoes created by Yue Xiaoxian and Liu Mingsong could compare with; her tornadoes were destructive. The roofs and windows of the surrounding buildings had all been rolled up into the sky. Even some walls had been torn into pieces, hovering in the sky along with the tornadoes


    The glowing red, fiery tornadoes brought up scorching hot air streams as they swept across the entire area. Everything that was rolled into the tornadoes was torn apart and burnt into ashes.


    Five tremendous tornadoes connected the earth and the sky, looking like fire dragons. They would make for a beautiful scenery at night, but during the day, all they did was burn the sky red.


    \"Run! Run!\" The elites from Huaxia Base were on the run, not panicking though. They were trying their best to find an opportunity for survival. They were certainly not able to escape on the surface of the ground. They needed an underground path, such as sewers, to hide from the fire dragons.


    \"Are you people trying to hide? If I let you guys go back to Huaxia Base alive, I will write my name backward!\" Qiu Lili floated in the sky as she looked down at those running soldiers.


    \"Miss, writing your name backward won''t change your name at all,\" Yue Xiaoxian, who floated by her side, said to her.


    Her name was Lili. If would still be Lili even if it was written backward.


    \"I''ll write it upside down then, okay?\" said Qiu Lili.


    \"Sure¡­\" Yue Xiaoxian responded, while thinking that it wouldn''t even be a word then.


    Behind the tornadoes, the scattered teammates had reunited. Lin Wenwen looked at Long Qingying and asked with concern, \"Are you okay? Is your injury serious?\"


    Long Qingying was standing straight like a perfectly healthy person. But, Lin Wenwen watched her get shot and fall earlier on. Of course, Kong Qingming had saved her. Besides, she still looked pale.


    \"I''m good,\" Long Qingying slightly shook her head and responded to Lin Wenwen, \"I won''t die.\"


    In the outside world, only life-threatening situations would be counted as serious.


    \"Oh,\" Lin Wenwen looked at her, then at Kong Qingming, who was right by the side. He was so clingy to her. He even followed her when she needed to go to the bathroom. Thinking about how the dark-faced Long Qingying threatened to cut him with her katana, Lin Wenwen smiled.


    How come all Sea City Base men pursued girls like that? Did Kong Qingming learn that from Wu Chengyue? He was much more shameless than Wu Chengyue though. He had a pretty face, but unexpectedly, what was hiding under it was a shameless soul.


    Long Qingying was always unfriendly to her suitor, yet confusion and hesitation were detected from her eyes. Lin Wenwen believed that Kong Qingming would have a chance to win her heart if he tried harder.


    It seemed that Long Qingying didn''t know what to do. The fact that Kong Qingming risked his own life to save hers earlier made her hesitate. Lin Wenwen felt that putting Long Qingying under Kong Qingming''s protection was not a bad thing. After all, he was pursuing her with a very serious attitude.


    Li Yue Shan moved to Lin Wenwen''s side and asked her curiously, \"How long do you think it''ll take for your best friend to surrender herself?\"


    Lin Wenwen gave him a glance, then said with slight disdain, \"You don''t seem to want him to succeed. Are you jealous of him?\"


    Li Yue Shan looked at her with surprise and said, \"Yeah. I don''t like watching people in sweet love because I''m still single. But you, you look like you want them to be together. Am I right?\"


    \"Won''t that be great?\" said Lin Wenwen, \"I''m fine with it if he truly loves my Qingying and will always be nice to her. Besides, Qingying needs a man to keep her company. She always stays with me¡­ So, I just can''t abandon her and find myself a boyfriend.\"


    \"Eh¡­ So, do you think that she''s hindering you?\" said Li Yue Shan.


    Lin Wenwen shrugged silently.

 1041 The Monster at the Bottom of the Lake

    As Qiu Lili and Lin Kui showed up, Lin Wenwen and the others sighed with relief. The situation was instantly turned around, and the ones who were running for life had become the hunters.


    \"Ah¡­ Lili won''t let us make a move. She''s creating a disaster though¡­ I don''t think any of them will escape,\" Ye Qingxian slightly raised his head and looked at the five enormous tornadoes whirling in the sky while murmuring.


    Mo was standing beside him with a cold face, ignoring him. Lin Wenwen responded to him, \"No, they won''t. Lili is strong.\"


    Li Yue Shan said from beside her, \"We still have time. As long as we start heading back tonight, we''ll be in the base tomorrow.\"


    Lin Wenwen had her eyes glowing. \"Oi, have you met my¡­ um, my Chief''s baby? Who does he look like?\"


    Li Yue Shan looked at her with a strange expression. He put a hand on his chin and spent a few seconds thinking, then asked her, \"Hmm¡­ Have you ever seen a baby who can talk once he was born?\"


    Hearing that, Lin Wenwen pictured a bloody, bluish pale little baby opening his mouth to talk, with his limbs curled up. She trembled slightly, as that imaginary baby was a little scary.


    Seeing that weird look on Lin Wenwen''s face, Li Yue Shan gave a wicked smile and said, \"Are you thinking about something bad? Hehe¡­ the baby is actually pretty adorable. He has big eyes. He''s tiny but very energetic. He''s also super brave. He fought with your Chief every single day, and every time he lost, he rolled on the bed and screamed.\"


    Lin Wenwen automatically pictured a crying babyface and imagined that deafening baby screams. So horrible!


    She laughed and said, \"I bet he''s gonna piss my Chief off so badly! I''m surprised that my Chief actually agreed to throw the baby''s one-month-old party in Sea City Base. Is the thing between her and your Chief making a progress?\"


    Li Yue Shan shook his head and said, \"No, she didn''t agree. The other two Chiefs of our Sea City Base planned to steal the baby from your base¡­\"


    \"Steal the baby?\" Lin Wenwen glared at him with surprise, \"How could those two grown men come up with that kind of idea?\"


    While the two of them were talking to each other, the others who had nothing to do were listening. The people on the scene were either zombies or level five or six superpower possessors. They could hear things clearly from hundreds of meters away.


    Kong Qingming joined the conversation, \"Maybe they came up with that idea because they felt Chief Wu has no chance of winning your Chief''s heart¡­\"


    Long Qingying silently turned and glance him a glance with disdain. She seemed to despise Sea City Base people for being sneaky.


    \"Why are you looking at me like this? I am a decent man. I won''t possibly do something like that,\" Kong Qingming immediately felt uncomfortable.


    Long Qingying snorted coldly, then turned her head away, flipping her long ponytail on his face. Yesterday, he threatened her to lock her up and not let her go anywhere.


    \"It''s about the time to head home,\" Lin Kui, who was silent all the time, said with a hoarse voice.


    The people turned and found that the fiery tornadoes had gone. Two figures were flying toward them swiftly.


    \"It''s done. I''ve burnt those bugs to death. Let''s go home!\" Qiu Lili airily landed on the ground and said to the group of people. Hearing that, the group of people instantly sat inside the cars. The two off-road cars that Li Yue Shan brought over and the vehicles that they took from those Huaxia Base people were enough to contain all of them.


    After Qiu Lili and the others left, the surface of the enormous Lake Tai suddenly waved intensely as if the bottom of the lake was quaking, or some huge thing was moving in the water to stir the lake.


    About half an hour later, a herd of huge creatures crawled out of the Lake Tai, which was about two-thousand acres wide, one after another. Most of them were chewing mutated fishes that came from the lake.


    They looked like lizards and crocodiles with horns. The large ones were as big as buffaloes, and the small ones were at the size of pigs. They had strong legs, slim bodies, short tails, and sharp claws, crawling out of the water swiftly.


    Those creatures didn''t go too far away from the lake. They crawled out of the water and took a tour two-hundred meters around the lake, then returned to the lake and dove back into the water. After that, the water surface quieted down again.


    ¡­


    In the North, Si Kongchen showed up in a secret underground base inside Huaxia Base. He walked into a gate and the thick alloy gate automatically closed behind him, generating a loud bang.


    Si Kongchen raised his head to look at a gigantic, mechanized space. He was standing on a platform that was about twelve meters high, and the space before him was at least a hundred and fifty meters tall. Countless large glass boxes were piled on the ground layer by layer. The space was divided into many areas, each area having a large number of different sized tempered glass boxes neatly piled in it. In the boxes were all kinds of mutated animals and a huge number of zombies.


    Countless people in white protective suits were moving in that space, controlling machines or standing beside some glass boxes, recording something.


    \"Chief!\" The person who was responsible for the place showed up before Si Kongchen once the latter came in.


    \"How''s the study going? Is there a breakthrough?\" Si Kongchen looked at him and asked.


    The person who was responsible for the place was a pretty woman. She was wearing a white, long lab suit, with her long hair tied up at the back of her head. A pair of glasses was worn on her clean face.


    She turned and glanced down at those glass boxes, then shook her head and said, \"A small amount of drug can''t control their mind, and a huge amount of drug makes them explode. I have a feeling that something in the drug is missing. I don''t know how much time we''ll need to spend to find out what''s missing without his diary. If we want this to be solved as quickly as possible, we need to find his diary.\"


    Si Kongchen looked at her with discontentment and said, \"Can''t you do it without his diary? If you don''t fix it soon, the researchers in the United States and Japan will laugh at us for being weaker than them.\"


    He didn''t want to be looked down upon by foreign scientists. He had recruited the most famous researchers in the country, yet no solution was found. Now, he had to pin his hope on the missing diary. That was not his style.


    \"Our technique is always a step slower than the United States. We are doing our best. I''ve tried many special types of energies, but nothing fits perfectly. Now, the only thing we can do is to keep doing experiments to look for the most suitable type of energy,\" the woman responded blandly while pushing her glasses upward.

 1042 Prepare for the Party

    For the time being, no one knew that a herd of strange creatures had suddenly crawled out of Lake Tai and taken a tour on the ground. Each base seemed to have been secretly planning on something.


    Lin Qiao brought the diary of Jiang Anan''s father back to Wu Chengyue''s place and sat on the couch to read it. The four kids were playing on a carpet in the living room while Wu Chengyue was sitting in an armchair on the other side of the living room, reading a file. Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue came in to find the two adults sitting on different sides of the living room, each reading something, and the kids playing on the ground and the couch.


    In fact, the three older kids were all sitting on the couch. Teng was the only one crawling on the ground, wearing a panda jumpsuit.


    \"Is this Teng? Hi, Teng! I am Meng Yue. You can call me Aunt Yue!\" Meng Yue saw Teng crawling on the carpet with his small limbs once she came in. So, she instantly walked to the kid and reached out her arms to hold him.


    However, Teng immediately turned around and quickly crawled toward the couch. By the side of the couch, he turned back and glared at Meng Yue silently. The series of movements didn''t look like something that a one-month-old baby would make.


    To create the space for the kids to play, Wu Chengyue had moved the couch and the tea table to a corner, so there was a clearing before the couch.


    Xiao Yunlong walked in and sensed Meng Yue''s disappointment. \"Little guy, stop pretending!\" he said to the boy, \"Yue knows everything about you.\"


    On hearing that, Teng immediately pointed at Xiao Yunlong with his little finger and said angrily, \"Traitor! How dare you sell me out!\"


    Xiao Yunlong walked over and reached out his hands to swiftly drag the boy into his arms before he could crawl away. He said while laughing, \"Sold you out? No, I didn''t do that. Yue is on our side. She won''t tell anyone else. Don''t be afraid!\"


    As the two of them came in, both Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao raised their heads. Meng Yue walked to Teng''s side and looked at him with disbelief. She raised a finger and poked the boy''s little face, then said, \"You are really able to talk! I guess you can''t walk yet, but you''re fast! I think you''ll soon be on your feet!\"


    The boy''s tone of speaking didn''t sound like a baby either. Meng Yue turned and glanced at Lin Qiao, then at Wu Chengyue, knitting her eyebrows slightly.


    How did those two do it? They were a man and a zombie, and they actually managed to create a perfectly alive baby! Moreover, the baby was so¡­ special!


    No wonder Wu Chengyue pursued the zombie lady so persistently. Was it because they already had a kid together? Did it happen at that time? She raped her in June last year, but the zombie lady had the baby last month¡­ So, was the gestation period of zombies usually fifteen months? That was a long time¡­


    Lin Qiao did notice the look in Meng Yue''s eyes and read her mind very easily. Meng Yue was purely curious, without any negative thoughts or emotions. So, Lin Qiao stopped paying attention to her.


    \"Oh, we''ve prepared the tables and chairs. Whom do you want as your assistant in the kitchen?\" Xiao Yunlong held Teng''s soft little boy as he turned to look at Wu Chengyue and ask.


    \"I''ll wait for Qingming to come back. Licheng will be helping me as well,\" Wu Chengyue glanced at his watch. It was at about 3 pm; he should be preparing the dinner. So, he stood up and walked toward the kitchen.


    \"I''m not sure if Qingming can make it back tomorrow,\" said Xiao Yunlong.


    \"If he can''t, I won''t let him go to All Being Base to see the girl named Qingying,\" Wu Chengyue left a few words before going into the kitchen.


    \"That is cruel!\" said Xiao Yunlong.


    \"Put me down! Your body is as hard as a rock! I don''t want you to hold me. I want Aunty Yue to hold me!\" Teng slapped his arm and complained.


    \"Oh, you are calling her Aunty Yue already! You ran away from her just now! How come you want her to hold you now?\" Xiao Yunlong dropped his head to look at the little boy scornfully.


    \"That''s because your muscles are so hard that they''re making me feel uncomfortable! Cut the crap and put me down!\" Teng gave him a glare and said.


    Xiao Yunlong spent three seconds staring at the boy, then responded, \"I don''t need you to like my muscles anyway! I only want Yue to like them.\"


    \"Oi! What are you talking about in front of the kids!\" Yue warned him once he finished. While speaking, she took Teng over from his hands.


    \"He is not an innocent kid! Don''t let him fool you with his appearance!\" Xiao Yunlong looked at Meng Yue with a grievance. After all, the kid said something that shocked everyone yesterday!


    Wu Chengyue''s men had prepared all the tables and chairs which would be needed for the party tomorrow. Some of the food was prepared as well. Of course, most of those fresh fruits and vegetables were provided by Lin Qiao.


    At least five tables were needed for the meal, as Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue had each invited some guests.


    After dinner, Wu Chengyue started to work on the menu for tomorrow in the kitchen. He planned to use the night to prepare everything that could be prepared in advance, and then do the rest tomorrow. The party wouldn''t start until dinner time anyway.


    After bringing the kids back to their room, Lin Qiao sat down on the couch and kept reading the diary. Some noises could be heard from the kitchen from time to time. Every time she heard something, she automatically glanced at the kitchen.


    Why did the man always wear a serious look on his face when he was in the kitchen? He normally had a smiling face, but he never smiled in the kitchen.


    Lin Qiao watched him come in and out of the kitchen. He sorted the vegetables that could be stored overnight, and then soaked some dried vegetables in the water, in a few different bowls.


    The man was really charming when he was focusing on something. He had a handsome face, a pair of bright eyes, and a concentrated look in those eyes. His body was slim but muscular¡­


    For a moment, Lin Qiao was stunned. When she realized what was happening, she hurriedly turned her eyes back the diary which was held in her hands. Then, she couldn''t help but give a sigh. She felt more and more that something was going wrong with herself.


    She spent quite a while staring at the diary until someone suddenly took it away from her hands.


    \"You''ve been staring at that page for ten minutes. What are you thinking about?\" She didn''t even sense him approaching as Wu Chengyue sat down by her side and looked at the page that Lin Qiao was staring at while asking that question.


    Lin Qiao watched him sit down right beside herself on the arm of the couch, very close to her!


    She felt the warmth from his body and finally came back to her senses. She slightly changed her expressions and responded to him with composure, \"I''m thinking about any way to suppress those underground creatures.\"

 1043 Something Good

    \"There certainly is. Isn''t sunlight their natural bane?\" said Wu Chengyue smilingly.


    \"What about the nighttime?\" Lin Qiao slightly turned her body and raised her head to give him a glance. Why on earth did he come so close to her to talk to her? There were a lot of empty seats.


    She thought for a moment and then decided to let Wu Chengyue stay out of it. So, she faced her palm toward him and said, \"Never mind, I''ll think of something myself.\"


    Clearly, she tried to tell him not to interfere with her business.


    Her power was able to drill into those creatures'' bodies to devour their energy, so she guessed that some other special poisonous energies might be harmful for them too. Therefore, she decided to go into the underground cave herself to capture a few of those creatures for experiments after Teng''s one-month-old party.


    She believed that she would be able to discover some other weaknesses of those creatures apart from sunlight.


    Wu Chengyue shrugged and smilingly handed the diary back to Lin Qiao. As he was working in the kitchen earlier, his sleeves were still rolled up near his elbows, exposing his strong forearms. His olive skin looked so healthy that Lin Qiao couldn''t help but want to touch it.


    \"Have you felt that your power is growing back pretty fast lately?\" Wu Chengyue asked her another question as she took over the diary.


    Lin Qiao was preparing to move to the other side of the couch as the man obviously had no intent of getting up. Hearing his question, Lin Qiao automatically stopped moving but raised her head to look at him with confusion.


    Lin Qiao had noticed that indeed. She noticed it last night when she was absorbing zombie nuclei.


    Normally, she was able to absorb about ten zombie nuclei at level four or five every night. Since she was pregnant with Teng, that number went lower. During her pregnancy, she was only able to absorb five or six energy nuclei per night, and most of the energy would be absorbed by Teng.


    But last night, she absorbed thirty nuclei. As her absorption rate grew higher, her zombie nucleus was already eighty percent filled.


    That had never happened before last night.


    At first, Lin Qiao couldn''t figure out why. Recently, all she did was to absorb ten level-seven underground creatures and have sex with Wu Chengyue once. She couldn''t figure out what boosted her absorption rate before. However, after hearing Wu Chengyue''s question, she had a thought that she did not want to believe.


    He was not experiencing the same thing, was he?


    Seeing Lin Qiao blink her eyes with hesitation, Wu Chengyue curved his lips corners in a bigger, meaningful smile and said, \"You seem to have realized something. What exactly do you think has happened between us? I think that thing turns out to be good for both of us, doesn''t it?\"


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    She thought for a moment and then realized that all the effects of their first two times were actually shown on her. The first time, half of her body was re-activated, and she had a strange feeling which seemed to have triggered something. After that, Viney became her baby. As for the second time¡­ Viney was born not long after that!


    No to mention what happened during the first two times, a few nights ago during their third time, Lin Qiao felt his energy gush into her own body. Back then, her mind wasn''t very clear, so she didn''t pay much attention to that feeling. Now, she thought back and recalled that something of herself seemed to have been taken out of her body. That was a very strange and subtle feeling!


    There seemed to be a hole in Lin Qiao''s head when she thought about how she had sex with Wu Chengyue three times. Every time her body went through obvious changes.


    ''Oh, there''s more!'' she said to herself. She remembered he was still at level-seven when he had sex with her for the first time. Back then, he was only a breath away from level-eight. After being tricked into having sex with Lin Qiao, he soon became a level-eight superpower possessor!


    Wu Chengyue folded his arms as he leaned against the back of the couch and said smilingly, \"Last year, Teng entrapped me and then I made the breakthrough, entering level-eight. You seemed to have grown much stronger after that too. How about this time? Are you feeling the changes as well?\"


    \"So what?\" Lin Qiao turned her eyes away from him and said, \"What are you trying to say?\"


    She didn''t answer his question clearly but gave a response in an indirect way. Her attitude was no longer firm.


    Wu Chengyue had his eyes glowing. Then, a mysterious look emerged from those eyes as he abruptly reached out a hand and gently touched her ear with his fingers.


    Lin Qiao trembled and immediately stood up, flashing two meters away from him. Then, she turned back and glared at him, \"What are you doing?\"


    How dare he touch her while talking to her? He was definitely going too far!


    Wu Chengyue looked at her in a meaningful way, blinking. \"Why are you so nervous?\" he tittered and said, \"I wasn''t going to do anything.\"


    Lin Qiao looked at him coldly and pressed her lips together. Then, she snorted as she held the diary and turned to head toward the stairs. \"It''s late. Chief Wu! You should get some rest.\"


    She saw a dark figure flash away from the end of the stairs once she walked near the stairs. Rolling her eyes, she stepped onto the stairs. Did the two kids think her nose was only a decoration? Couldn''t she sense their scents?


    Lin Xiaolu sneakily carried Teng back into their room and threw him onto the bed. Then, she quickly crawled onto the bed, pulled the blanket up, and started pretending to sleep.


    Soon, Lin Qiao opened the door of their room and stood at the door while looking at the bed. Then, she walked into the room and pulled the blanket over to cover Tongtong, who had rolled to the side. After making sure that all the four kids were covered, she turned and left.


    Once she closed the door, Teng and Lin Xiaolu, who were pretending to sleep, sat up in the darkness.


    \"Eh¡­ Daddy is so lame! We have only one night left, tonight and tomorrow night. Mama''s going to leave again if he doesn''t make a move,\" Teng folded his little arms and said with a bitter face.


    Lin Xiaolu said to him, \"Why are you always worrying about the adult stuff? Just go to sleep! You promised me just now. Don''t you eat your own words!\"


    Earlier on, the boy asked her to carry him out to hear what his Mama and Daddy were talking about, and promised her to stay quiet and sleep once they came back.


    \"Your Mama and Daddy live together. So, you surely don''t know how it feels like to always travel from your Mama''s to your Daddy''s!\" Teng clicked his tongue and said, \"Mama is going back to our base in a couple of days. If I ask to stay here, she''ll say yes, and she''ll leave me here for a long time! She might even be happy about it!\" said Teng with discontentment.


    \"How do you know that Aunty will be happy?\" Lin Xiaolu asked.


    \"I know my Mama the best! You see, she never likes me now. It''s definitely because I''ve been too naughty. She can''t focus on work when I''m with her!\" Teng said with his eyes sparkling in the darkness. He sounded like someone who knew everything.

 1044 Hes Going to Bring Trouble to His Mother Again

    Hearing that, Lin Xiaolu started feeling sorry for Teng, \"Okay, alright, the grown-ups are gonna deal with their own problems. You''re just a kid. You shouldn''t worry so much about that. Just lie down and sleep!\" While speaking, she pressed Teng down to the bed and then covered him with the blanket.


    \"I can''t sleep!\" Teng kicked his legs and said.


    \"That''s because you slept too much during the daytime! Just lie there if you can''t sleep.\" Lin Xiaolu was a little sleepy.


    Teng blinked while looking at the ceiling. He had a great night vision. His body carried more than the zombie virus; the energy inside his body had been strengthening his sensations. He could hear the sounds coming from a long distance away, and see things clearly in the dark; he was also very sensitive to smells.


    He heard the other three kids breathing. For convenience, the four kids shared a bed. Wu Chengyue prepared them a large bed that was two meters long, and one and a half meters wide, so they could sleep comfortably together.


    Currently, Wu Yueling was willing to play with the other kids and sleep together with them. Recently, she had become much more outgoing than before. Therefore, Wu Chengyue happily let the four kids sleep together.


    At night, he would come to the room to check on the few kids from time to time and to tuck them in.


    Thinking about the conversation that happened between Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue earlier, Teng gave a proud smile.


    He, of course, knew what exactly was happening. The lake water in his Mama''s space could do more than just remove the zombie virus and heal people and zombies. When the two people had sex at the bottom of the lake with Viney''s help, both their bodies had actually been improved by the energy in the lake. Lin Qiao wasn''t the only one who went through physical changes; the same thing had happened to Wu Chengyue too.


    Otherwise, how could he possibly be woken up so easily when he lost control of his power? He would have caused a disaster!


    His Daddy and Mama didn''t know about that yet.


    The two of them should do that thing more frequently because that would be very helpful for her mother. Of course, his Daddy would be able to benefit from it too.


    He turned and found that Lin Xiaolu had fallen asleep. In the darkness, Teng''s dark and shiny eyes rolled quickly.


    Tomorrow night, at his one-month-old party, his father would certainly drink a lot. He needed to put something in Daddy''s drinks. Recently, Mama always stared at Daddy in a daze. Mama had already started to care about Daddy, hadn''t she?


    As their great son, Teng believed that he had the responsibility to do them a favor. And if Mama found out the truth and threatened to spank him, he''d be hiding in Daddy''s place!


    Lin Qiao, who had no idea that her son was planning on entrapping her again, entered her space and fetched some water from the lake, then took a bath in her house in the space.


    She pondered over Wu Chengyue''s words. What was he trying to say? Having sex with each other might be beneficial for both of them, but that didn''t mean they should be together. Was he going to use that as an excuse to do something to her?


    She clearly knew that the smiling man was actually longing for her body! He could detect the desire that was hiding in his eyes!


    Watching Lin Qiao walk upstairs, Wu Chengyue smiled helplessly, then tidied up the living room and headed upstairs as well.


    As he came upstairs, he found that Lin Qiao''s vibe was gone. He guessed that she might have entered her space. He walked to the kids'' room and opened the door to take a glance inside. The four kids were all lying on the bed under the blanket, in a deep sleep. He gently stepped out of the room and closed the door, then walked toward his study room.


    Lin Qiao spent two hours in the lake water bath and then came out of the bathtub to get dressed. Then, she picked up a towel to wipe her hair while heading downstairs. Someone was standing by the door, seemingly wanting to come in but also hesitating.


    \"Mom, have you remembered anything?\" Lin Qiao walked to the door and brought her into the house. Mrs. Lin looked at her with a pair of zombie eyes and shook her head before nodding.


    Lin Qiao guided her to the couch and let her sit down, then smiled at her and said, \"Are you trying to say that you remembered something but you don''t know me?\"


    Recently, Mrs. Lin had been staying in th space. After absorbing Lin Qiao''s blood, her memory had been restoring very slowly. Perhaps, the second virus explosion had upgraded the virus. The original virus was fighting against Lin Qiao''s blood strongly, so Mrs. Lin had only recollected a slight part of her memory.


    Lin Qiao sat in front of her and said, \"I am Lin Qiao, your daughter. You have a new grandson now. He''s gonna be a month-old tomorrow. I''ll bring him here to you tomorrow.\"


    Mrs. Lin popped her eyes with surprise and confusion. She remembered her eldest daughter and how she looked. And, she seemed to have forgotten something. Whatever it was, she clearly remembered that his eldest daughter didn''t look like the woman who was sitting right in front of her! Her daughter was older than the woman, and¡­ she was not a zombie.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said helplessly, \"I think you remember the things happened from before, but have forgotten those that happened recently.\"


    With confusion, Mrs. Lin nodded in agreement.


    A strong pressure had been coming from Lin Qiao''s body, so she didn''t dare to approach her earlier. She knew that she had become a zombie. She had also learned that she was not the only zombie who lived in the misty space which had no nights.


    Mrs. Lin didn''t remember everything. She heard Lin Qiao call her ''Mom'' and felt familiar about it. However, she didn''t recognize Lin Qiao''s face. She didn''t want to believe the latter''s words, but she wasn''t a hundred percent sure.


    She looked at Lin Qiao and opened her mouth to say a few words silently.


    Lin Qiao didn''t need to read her lips to figure out what question she was trying to ask. \"Lin Feng and the others are all fine. Xiaolu is good too. This time, I''ll bring you out when I get back to our base. I won''t accommodate you in the human base though.\"


    While speaking, she stood up and walked outside. On the clearing before her house, Mo Yan and the zombie girl in white dress were standing side by side, looking at her. Lin Qiao folded her arms and stood by the door as she glanced at the zombie girl and then said to Mo Yan, \"She''s going to upgrade soon, isn''t she? If she breaks into level-six, she''ll be able to heal your nucleus much more quickly than now.\"


    Mo Yan nodded. The dark marks on his face had grown much thinner than before. His pretty face was no longer entirely covered by those marks, and his mouth corners were curved in a faint, wicked smile.


    The zombie girl spent most of every day healing him. He also bathed in the lake water a lot. By now, half of the cracks on his zombie nucleus were gone.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and looked at Mo Yan''s head. She measured his current healing rate and figured that it would take about three more months for his nucleus to be healed completely. Only after that could his powers come back slowly.


    Mo Yan furrowed his eyebrows slightly as Lin Qiao was staring at his nucleus. That didn''t feel great. He felt as if she was staring right at his biggest weakness. Thankfully, Lin Qiao was showing no bad intention to him. That was why he could still tolerate her gaze.

 1045 Busy Breakfast Time

    \"Recover as quickly as you can. Your lightning power will be very helpful. Sadly, you can''t make a move now¡­\" Lin Qiao looked at him and sighed helplessly.


    If his lightning power was restored, Wu Chengyue''s help would no longer be needed. At the very least, Mo Yan would be guarding the base as a lighting power possessor. Yun Meng and the other zombies had no way of defeating those underground creatures. Every time a battle started, they suffered heavy injuries like the last time.


    Mo Yan had no idea what was happening outside. Hearing what Lin Qiao said, he looked at her with surprise, feeling that the situation was probably a little serious. If everything was fine, the zombie lady wouldn''t say that to him.


    Lin Qiao still had a towel hanging on her neck. She held the towel and waved at Mo Yan, then flashed out of the base.


    Standing behind the desk, she raised a hand and faced her palm toward the desk. Following her movement, a small pile of glistening energy nuclei appeared on the desk, at levels four to six.


    Lin Qiao gave a quick glance at the nuclei; there were no more than fifty nuclei left. She wondered if her nucleus would be refilled tonight after she absorbed all the nuclei she had.


    She sorted those zombie nuclei out and found only three level-six nuclei, along with quite some level four and five ones. Then, she put all the nuclei back into her space and tilted her head to dry her hair with the towel. As her hair was half-dried, she sat on the bed and crossed her legs before starting to absorb zombie nuclei.


    ¡­


    The next morning, Wu Chengyue got up before dawn. Soon, some other people came over to help him.


    Xiao Licheng came straight into the kitchen. As he thought, his Chief was already working in the kitchen. Wu Chengyue had prepared all the food that needed to be stewed for a long time, and was about to put them into pots. At the same time, he was also preparing breakfast.


    Next to the vegetables was a pile of flour prepared for the dough.


    \"You''re here. Haven''t you heard anything from Yue Shan and the others yet?\" Wu Chengyue was squatting next to the cabinet, looking for something. He turned and glanced at Xiao Licheng when he heard the footsteps, then lowered his head to continue doing what he was doing.


    \"They''re on their way. Don''t worry, they''ll make it to the party,\" Xiao Licheng came into the kitchen and asked, \"What am I gonna do?\"


    \"Prepare the dough,\" said Wu Chengyue.


    \"Okay.\" The dough was probably for steamed buns or dumplings, or something else like that, so Xiao Licheng started looking for the tools he needed. A while later, Lin Qiao brought the kids and the fat rabbit downstairs.


    \"Oi, can we eat that rabbit? We should cook it! Stewed rabbit!\" Seeing the fat gray rabbit hopping downstairs, Xiao Licheng made a joke. On hearing that, Wu Yueling immediately ran over and held the rabbit in her arms as she looked at Xiao Licheng vigilantly.


    \"Hi, Ling Ling! Did you sleep well last night?\" Xiao Licheng smiled and greeted her. He made that joke to make the little girl come to him. But, Wu Yueling gave him a glare, then turned and ran away.


    \"Where are you going? The breakfast is ready,\" Wu Chengyue brought a large bowl of noodle out of the kitchen and said loudly as he saw the little girl run away once he came out.


    \"Uncle Wu, Uncle Xiao, good morning!\"


    \"Uncle Wu, Uncle Xiao, good morning!\"


    Lin Xiaolu and Tongtong nicely greeted Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng.


    \"Morning! Sit down and have some breakfast,\" Wu Chengyue smilingly nodded at the two kids.


    Teng was carried in Lin Xiaolu''s arms. He leaned his head forward to look at the food on the table and then sighed, \"Ah¡­ Why don''t I have teeth! I want some of that¡­\"


    \"Hehe, you need to be patient. I heard that babies will typically start to grow teeth when they''re six months old. You need to wait for a couple of more months.\" As Teng stared at the rich breakfast on the table with a grievance, Lin Xiaolu grinned and said.


    \"Just eat your porridge! Your father makes different kinds of porridge every day! Isn''t it delicious?\" Lin Qiao gave her son a cold glimpse.


    \"But I want something else¡­ I''m looking at those delicious foods every day but can''t eat them. They smell so nice. I watch you guys enjoy the food that I cannot eat! You don''t understand how painful it is! You don''t know about how I feel at all! How can you be a mother like this!\" Teng complained to his mother angrily.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and responded, \"You are a naughty kid who sneaks all over the house at night when you were supposed to be sleeping. Will any other one-month-old baby run about like you do?\"


    The kid hid behind the stairs eavesdropping her conversation with Wu Chengyue last night. She hadn''t given him a lesson for that yet. How dare he question her!


    Hearing that, Teng immediately turned his eyes to the ceiling silently. He thought for a moment, then turned back to Lin Qiao and said, \"Am I a normal kid? I am not! I am a lot smarter than normal kids! You can''t compare me with them!\"


    \"Why are you so thick-skinned?\" said Lin Qiao. While speaking, she took Teng over from Lin Xiaolu''s arms as she sat down and pinched the boy''s chubby cheeks.


    \"Ahhh! It hurts! Are you even my mother! Why are you treating me so violently!\" Teng burst in screams.


    Xiao Licheng was putting noodles into Tongtong''s bowl. \"The house is warm in the morning with kids. We single people are always cold and sad in the morning!\"


    Wu Chengyue was fetching noodles for Wu Yueling. Hearing Xiao Licheng''s words, he gave him a glance and said, \"Get yourself a girlfriend then. Being jealous of me won''t help you.\"


    Xiao Licheng shrugged and said, \"I haven''t met anyone that I really like yet. I''m just going to keep living like this.\"


    \"You''re still waiting for the one you really like? Do you know how rare young girls are now? She''ll be someone else''s wife by the time you meet her,\" Lin Qiao couldn''t help but join the conversation.


    Xiao Licheng stayed silent with a bitter face. He didn''t need her to tell him that cruel truth.


    Teng reached his head out of Lin Qiao''s arms as he looked at Xiao Licheng and said, \"Uncle Xiao, what do you think about my Aunty Duan? Do you need my help?\"


    \"Stop fooling around!\" Lin Qiao slapped on his bald head.


    \"Ouch! Can you please be gentle? Are you my stepmother?\" Teng had his cheeks pinched and head slapped by her, so he glared at his mother with a pair of tearful eyes.


    Clap! Lin Qiao slapped him on the head again, then pinched his ear and said, \"How dare you call me stepmother! Who suffered so much pain to give birth to you? You little b*stard!\"


    \"Ahhh! Daddy! Help! Mama is abusing me!\" As Lin Qiao pinched his ear, Teng surrendered immediately and cried at Wu Chengyue for help while struggling.


    Xiao Licheng looked at him with a helpless smile and said, \"You''re not talking about Duan Juan, are you? Emm¡­ There''s nothing like that going on between her and me.\"


    He did not notice the hesitation in his eyes.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him and then at Teng. With laughter, he said, \"Oh, solve your own problem. Remember this, don''t always ask others for help.\"


    Teng immediately fell into silence. He angrily opened his mouth wide and ate the spoonful of milk porridge that Lin Qiao put before his mouth.

 1046 Some of Them Come Back

    Not long after breakfast, a few cars parked outside the yard. Lin Qiao glanced outside on sensing that but stayed silent.


    Teng twitched his ears and nose, and abruptly made his voice sound, \"Eh? Lili and the others are coming here!\"


    As the few cars were parked, Qiu Lili, Lin Kui, Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying and the others got off them. Qiu Lili and the other zombies were all wearing sunglasses to cover their purely black eyes. Following behind them were Li Yue Shan, Kong Qingming, Leng Xuantong, and the others.


    Lin Wenwen excitedly rushed into the house once she got off the car, and the others followed behind her unhurriedly.


    \"Where''s the baby?\" Lin Wenwen''s voice was heard before she came into the living room. Once in, she saw the kids sitting on the couch, and Lin Qiao, who was sitting beside the kids. Her eyes soon caught the baby who was lying on the couch, and she rushed straight at the baby.


    \"Wow! So cute!\"


    Teng was wearing a tiger jumpsuit, with a hood hanging behind his neck. His head was hairless, and his limbs were short. At that moment, he was looking at Lin Wenwen with a pair of bright and big eyes, looking very adorable.


    Lin Wenwen scooped him up and then sat down on the couch as she started squeezing his cheeks, hands, and feet.


    \"His face is so round and chubby! Haha¡­ His head is round too! He looks so much like an egg!\"


    Teng instantly rolled his round eyes as he looked at Lin Wenwen with discontentment. Quite a lot of people came in, so he didn''t say anything and only glared at his Aunty while trying to stop her from pinch his hands.


    Except for Qiu Lili and Lin Kui who had met the boy long ago, all the others gathered around him. Most of them knew about how special the kid was, but none of them said anything. One of them didn''t know about that yet, and that was Leng Xuantong.


    Leng Xuantong was a scientist. If he knew that Teng was able to speak at birth, would he want to cut him into pieces to figure out why?


    Li Yue Shan secretly told Kong Qingming about how special the boy was and asked him to keep it a secret. When Qiu Lili told Lin Wenwen about it, Lin Kui had said the same to her.


    Teng was ordered not to talk today.


    \"Wow, look at your little face! Are you trying to tell me to stop? You''re so adorable! Haha¡­\" Lin Wenwen held Teng in her arms and refused to let go of him as if Teng was her new toy. The kid struggled so hard, but she never relaxed her grip on him. She even tickled his underarms to make him laugh.


    \"Ahhhh¡­ Hahaha¡­\" Teng instantly burst in laughter and screams, struggling even harder. He wasn''t allowed to talk, so it was hard.


    ''Please take this crazy woman away from me! Please! Stop her from tickling me!'' he shouted in his head.


    \"Oh, this kid has met his natural bane! Wenwen, he''s afraid of you!\" Lin Qiao looked at the two of them with surprise.


    \"Ah¡­ hehe, he''s so energetic. I can''t believe that he''s only a month old! So impressive!\" As Teng was struggling intensely, Lin Wenwen clamped his legs with her own legs and then raised his arms as she kept tickling him.


    ''This is awful!'' Teng screamed silently, ''I have an irresponsible Mom and a crazy Aunty! I miss Uncle Lin Hao and Uncle Lu Tianyi so much! My two uncles are both so much gentler than these two women!''


    The more he thought about that, the more speechless he felt.


    \"He''s so tiny!\" Long Qingying walked over and carefully reached out to touch Teng''s face. The baby''s soft and tender skin felt nice. So, she poked the boy''s cheek again expressionlessly.


    \"So soft!\"


    Lin Wenwen put her hands under Teng''s arms and lifted the boy, putting him in Long Qingying''s arms while smiling, \"His body is even softer. Hold him!\"


    Long Qingying took Teng over in a flurry. She was normally calm and cold, but facing the tender and soft baby, she became very careful. She was worried that she might accidentally hurt the baby. In her eyes, babies were fragile creatures who needed protection.


    Lin Qiao stood up and waved at Leng Xuantong, Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, then said, \"Come upstairs with me.\"


    The house belonged to one of the leaders of Sea City Base, and was a private residence. Among all All Beings Base people on the scene, only Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying had been there before. The other three didn''t know the place well, so they had been standing in a corner quietly. Well, Qiu Lili made herself comfortable by finding herself a chair to sit on.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s instructions, the three quickly followed her upstairs. The others figured that Lin Qiao wanted to know about how their mission was going.


    As Long Qingying was carefully holding Teng, worrying that she might accidentally drop him, Kong Qingming came to her side and said, \"Do you like it?\"


    Long Qingying was looking at Teng in the eyes without blinking. The baby''s eyes were so bright and clear. She heard Kong Qingming''s question but didn''t understand his meaning. She raised her head to give him a quick glance, then turned back to keep staring at Teng in the eyes.


    ''This lady seems to be quite normal,'' thought Teng.


    Kong Qingming moved closer to Long Qingying with an evil smile, then whispered by her ear, \"We''ll have one together if you like children.\"


    Long Qingying didn''t know what to say. She quickly stepped to the side, then expressionlessly gave him a glare.


    Teng curiously looked at Kong Qingming and then at Long Qingying who was still holding him. Then, he wore a knowing look on his face.


    Something was happening between those two!


    He noticed the persistence and gentleness in Kong Qingming''s eyes and Long Qingying''s swaying attitude. With one of his chubby hands on his chin, the boy turned his eyes from her to him, and then from him back to her. That looked familiar.


    Same as Teng, Lin Wenwen was also looking at the two in a meaningful way.


    \"I think that''s a good idea. Qingming, work hard!\" Li Yue Shan joined the conversation with a grin.


    \"Work hard on what? Qingming, come over and help us! Yue Shan, move the tables and chairs out to the yard. Thankfully, the weather is nice today,\" Xiao Licheng came out of the kitchen and heard what Li Yue Shan said.


    \"Alright!\"


    \"I''m coming.\" Li Yue Shan and Kong Qingming responded together, then left the crowd to lend a hand to Xiao Licheng.


    Once Kong Qingming stepped into the kitchen, Xiao Licheng came to him and said, \"Hmm, I saw what you did just now. Has anything happened between you two? Why did your attitude change so drastically?\"


    \"Nothing happened. I got some bonus, that''s all! I''m still working on her. She''ll be mine, sooner or later. I have a target now. What about you? Where''s your target?\" Kong Qingming smiled proudly.


    Except for Lu Tianyi and himself, Xiao Yunlong, Xiao Licheng, and Li Yue Shan were all famous single guys in Sea City Base who worked for Wu Chengyue. Xiao Yunlong had been pursuing Meng Yue the whole time, and everyone knew that. Li Yue Shan was a humble person who always kept a low profile. Therefore, Xiao Licheng had caught most of the attention.

 1047 The Energy of the Stone

    Noticing the look of satisfaction on Kong Qingming''s face, Xiao Licheng somehow felt that he had asked a silly question.


    \"Judging by her attitude, you still have a long way to go¡­ Look at our Chief and you''ll know. The girls from All Beings Base are hard to pursue,\" Xiao Licheng said to him mercilessly.


    Kong Qingming glanced at Wu Chengyue, who was squatting near the door of the kitchen and peeling potatoes. He felt pity for his Chief. \"You don''t know what''ll happen. I might succeed sooner than Chief.\"


    \"Sooner? How?\" Wu Chengyue turned and gave Kong Qingming and Xiao Licheng a glance, then said, \"I made a baby. Did you?\"


    Kong Qingming honestly didn''t know how to respond to that.


    \"Hehe¡­ You''re right! But Chief, you guys have already had a baby together, but she''s still not your wife. Isn''t that a little too abnormal?\" Xiao Licheng grinned and said.


    Wu Chengyue was speechless.


    The three guys were busy in the kitchen, so oo one in the living room paid attention to their conversation.


    Upstairs, Lin Qiao guided the three into her room, then handed Leng Xuantong the second diary and the copy of the first diary that she got from Jiang Anan. \"I recently got a diary about mutated plants. Read it and see if you can find anything useful from it.\"


    Hearing that, Leng Xuantong had his eyes glowing slightly. He took over the diary and started reading it. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao turned to Qiu Lili and said to her, \"Have you dealt with the Huaxia Base people?\"


    Qiu Lili nodded as she sat down on the couch and crossed her legs, answering the question while fiddling with her hair, \"Of course! I''d never let them run.\"


    \"Secrets aren''t safe in Sea City Base. This base has too many people, and word always spreads out,\" Lin Qiao said while scratching her chin. Then, she turned to Leng Xuantong and continued, \"Have you found the stone?\"


    Leng Xuantong raised his head from the diary and nodded at her, then took out an egg-sized stone from his pocket and handed it to Lin Qiao. The latter sat on the chair and took the stone over. The stone looked ordinary and had an irregular shape. Its surface was smoother than that of normal stones.


    She narrowed her eyes to look at the energy inside the stone. In the middle of the stone was a sphere of faintly purple energy.


    \"It does contain some energy right in the middle,\" Lin Qiao said while putting the stone under her nose to sniff at it. She sensed a faint, weird smell from the stone. It was very light and hard to grasp. She was very sensitive to smell, but still needed to put the stone close to her nose to sense the smell. The others couldn''t sense it at all.


    Lin Qiao spent a second sensing the smell and found the energy quite strange, a little similar to the energy in the bodies of the underground creatures, but not entirely similar. She quickly raised her head and looked at Leng Xuantong as she asked him, \"How many did you bring back?\"


    \"Wenwen has about two-hundred kilograms in her space,\" said Leng Xuantong.


    Lin Qiao raised the stone, her eyes glowing brightly. She smiled and said, \"I think this stone isn''t only able to help the maniac superpower possessors, but is also effective on those underground creatures!\"


    Hearing that, both Qiu Lili and Lin Kui had their eyes glowing.


    \"Really? How do you know this stone can hurt those weird things?\" Qiu Lili sat straight as she stared at Lin Qiao with her ruby-like eyes and asked.


    Lin Qiao threw the stone into her hands and said, \"Sense its smell. I''m not sure what the stone can do to those underground creatures, but I''m pretty sure that it''s effective on them. The energy contained in this stone is a little similar to the energy of those creatures. Perhaps, the stone is helpful for him and not harmful. I don''t know yet. Maybe the stone can hurt them. But at least, this is a breakthrough. We need to do some experiments to find out.\"


    On hearing her explanation, Qiu Lili dropped her head with disappointment and said, \"Ah, you don''t know.\" She took the stone over and put it under her nose to sniff at it, but sensed no smell. \"I didn''t sense any smell,\" she said with confusion.


    Then, she threw the stone at Lin Kui and said, \"Try with your cat nose.\"


    Cat nose? Lin Kui didn''t know what to say. Helplessly and unhappily, he glanced at her and then took over the stone, giving it a closer look. After that, he put it under his nose and said, \"I smell water.\"


    It smelt like the stones near the freshwater lakes.


    Leng Xuantong looked at Lin Qiao and asked, \"Can you really sense the energy inside the stone?\"


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and then said, \"I can not only sense it, but also see it. Anyway, you need to start studying the energy in the stone once we get back home. I''ll capture a few underground creatures alive for you to do some experiments on.\"


    She was probably the only one who was able to capture those creatures alive.


    ¡­


    Soon after lunch, Lu Tianyi and Lin Hao showed up in Wu Chengyue''s yard, together with Cheng Wangxue and Liu Jun.


    \"My brother said that he still has some work to do. He''ll be here in the afternoon,\" Lin Hao walked into the living room and said to Wu Chengyue. The latter nodded smilingly and said, \"It''s okay, as long as he can make it to the party.\"


    Lin Hao found his smile a little weird, so he stopped walking and stared at Wu Chengyue''s face with confusion.


    \"What''s wrong?\" Wu Chengyue looked at him and asked, still with that smile.


    Lin Hao shook his head, then moved to Lu Tianyi and whispered, \"Have you found that your previous Chief is having a strange attitude toward me?\"


    \"How?\" Lu Tianyi gave him a glance confusedly.


    Lin Hao found himself a chair to sit down, then folded his arms and dropped his head to think for a moment. After that, he raised his head and looked at Lu Tianyi as he said, \"It''s like¡­ like I''m his brother-in-law.\"


    After saying that, he paused with surprise, then turned to Wu Chengyue, who was near the door.


    No way. Had he found out the truth already?


    Lu Tianyi looked at him bewilderedly and said, \"I''m his future brother-in-law, okay? Who are you?\"


    \"Hmm,\" Lin Hao gave him a glance. ''Don''t you be perky. I''m his brother-in-law too!'' Lin Hao thought. But, Lu Tianyi ignored him and moved toward the kitchen.


    \"What are you doing? Stay away from the kitchen unless you''re here to help!\" Kong Qingming didn''t let him in.


    \"I think you guys don''t need help here. Bye!\" Lu Tianyi clicked his tongue and pressed his lips together before going back to the living room. In the living room, he saw Lin Hao fighting Lin Wenwen over Teng.


    \"How can you hold him like that? Do you know how much pressure that posture might put on the baby''s soft body? You are a woman! How can you be so rude!\" Lin Hao pointed at Lin Wenwen, who hid the baby behind her body to keep him away from Lin Hao.


    \"You are so annoying! I want to hold him! You''ve been holding him a lot more than me back in the base! How can you not let me hold him now?\" Lin Wenwen didn''t want to pay any attention to him. However, she did change her way of holding Teng.

 1048 You Naughty Little Kid

    Teng relaxed his limps helplessly to let them do anything they wanted with him. He almost rolled up his eyes to pretend to be a dead fish. Lin Xiaolu and Wu Yueling were even looking at him with pity.


    Wu Yueling was feeling a little uncomfortable as many people were at her home. However, Teng was still there, so she endured the discomfort and sat in a corner. She kept her eyes on Teng and paid close attention to the baby''s condition.


    Lin Xiaolu was by her side. Since the norming, the two of them watched Lin Wenwen play with Teng as if he was a doll. They knew that the adults wouldn''t hurt Teng, but the helpless look on Teng''s face made the two little girls feel sorry for him.


    Teng took a short nap after lunch. But since waking up, he was never out of his Aunty''s arms. Aunty''s arms are soft, but she was poking him and pinching him the whole time. She didn''t even stop for a single second.


    Lin Qiao came downstairs and found the living room noisy. A few people were in the yard, sitting or standing.


    \"Why are you here so early? The party won''t start until dinner time.\" Lin Qiao looked at Liu Jun and said.


    Liu Jun was sitting on a chair with her son on her knees. She smiled at Lin Qiao and said, \"I took a day off, so I came here early. I was going to help them in the kitchen, but it turns out that they don''t need help.\"


    Wu Chengyue and the two other men occupied the kitchen. They wouldn''t let anybody in, but told the people to come to help serve the dishes at dinner time.


    At about five pm, almost all invited guests had arrived except for Lin Feng and Zou Shihui, who both had a lot of work to do. Everyone sat around the tables. Qiu Lili, Lin Kui, Lu Tianyi, and the other zombies had no bowls and chopsticks before them, only a wine glass each.


    They wouldn''t eat human food, so they normally drank some wine on such occasions. Of course, the others were expecting a rich dinner.


    At this time, Teng was finally taken away from Lin Wenwen''s arms. Lu Tianyi held him for a while and then did Lin Hao. After that, Lin Wenwen took him back. Soon, he ended up in Long Qingying''s arms, and next, Xiao Yunlong took him away and put him in Meng Yue''s arms.


    Wu Yueling followed behind him the entire time. No matter where the adults took Teng to, the girl would follow.


    \"Look at Ling Ling. She''s trying so hard to protect Teng. She''s such a good sister!\" Cheng Wangxue stood by Lin Qiao''s side and couldn''t help but say.


    \"Has she healed for good?\" She thought for a moment and added.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, \"Not exactly. She still gets nervous. It''s getting better now, as she has all her attention on Teng. I wonder when she will start to talk.\"


    Cheng Wangxue smiled and said, \"She''s good now. I think she''ll start to talk when she grows older and learns more. She''s not afraid of people anymore. Her condition is already a lot better than before. She''ll be fine as long as she stays away from all kinds of negative stimulations.\"


    \"I hope so,\" Lin Qiao glanced at Wu Yueling and said.


    Ling Ling said a word the last time, and both Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao thought that the girl would start to talk like a healthy child. However, she never talked again.


    \"She''s persistent, though, about protecting her little brother. She''s a responsible kid,!\" Liu Jun came over and joined the conversation.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, \"Perhaps it''s because Viney is her very first friend. That might be a sense of belonging, right? Kids'' feelings are actually very simple¡­ Normal kids, I mean.\"


    Thinking about her own son, Lin Qiao felt exhausted. The kid had been very, very naughty ever since he was born. He could be quiet when he needed to be, but once he started making noises, a disaster would surely be there. Lin Qiao suffered a headache even thinking about that.


    He could be so loud!


    \"Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhh!\" The baby''s deafening screams could be heard from the yard at that very moment. The boy''s voice was so loud and resonant that it could be heard from a very long distance away.


    Lin Qiao walked out and found that Teng was holding Xiao Yunlong''s hand between his teeth. \"Teng, what are you doing! Let him go!\" She immediately yelled at her son.


    If the boy''s teeth broke Xiao Yunlong''s skin, she would have to bite that man too!


    Teng relaxed his bite. Xiao Yunlong''s hand was covered in his saliva. Only a red mark was left on Xiao Yunlong''s hand, without any wound. The boy gave Lin Qiao a scornful glance, then snorted as he turned and buried his head in Lu Tianyi''s neck.


    \"Haha, you deserve that! You shouldn''t have tried to see his ''little brother'',\" Meng Yue covered her mouth with a hand and laughed; her shoulders were even shaking. The others looked at Xiao Yunlong and grinned as well.


    Xiao Yunlong raised his head to look at the sky while murmuring, \"I was just curious about what the boy''s ''little brother'' looks like.\"


    \"Have you never seen a baby boy''s ''little brother'' before? You nasty man!\" Kong Qingming looked at him and said.


    Lin Qiao instantly changed her expression. \"I see¡­\" she said, \"Teng, bite him again!\"


    Xiao Yunlong didn''t know what to say.


    \"Pah!\" Teng leaned forward and spat with dislike.


    \"Oi, kid!\" Xiao Yunlong yelled at him. Couldn''t the boy show him any respect?


    \"Pah!\" Teng pulled his eyes downward with his fingers and let out his tongue, making a face to Xiao Yunlong.


    \"You naughty boy! You''re not cute at all!\" said Xiao Yunlong.


    Teng raised his chin and snorted coldly toward Xiao Yunlong, then turned and showed the man the back of his head. After that, he patted on Lu Tianyi''s shoulder and pointed at the living room.


    Lu Tianyi understood that the boy wanted to go back in. So, he carried him back into the living room.


    \"Dinner is ready! Why aren''t Lin Feng and Zou here yet?\" Wu Chengyue clapped his hands and said to the people, then murmured to himself. After that, he called Xiao Licheng, who was walking past him, and said, \"Send a few men to see what they''re doing.\"


    \"Alright,\" Xiao Licheng was bringing a dish out of the kitchen. Receiving the order, he nodded and walked out of the house. Two minutes later, he came back in.


    Everyone each found a seat to sit down.


    Teng was in Lu Tianyi''s arms. Hearing Wu Chengyue say that the dinner was ready, he covered his mouth with a hand and whispered to Lu Tianyi, \"Later, bring me to my Daddy, then find a way to distract him from the food.\"


    Lu Tianyi looked at the boy with confusion. The boy''s bright eyes glowed with a mysterious light. \"What are you going to do?\" He asked the boy alertly.


    \"Stay out of it! If you refuse to help me, I''ll tell Uncle Kong that you like Aunty Long!\" Teng threatened him.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say. ''The kid is so smart!'' he said to himself.


    \"I get it!\" With a sour face, Lu Tianyi agreed to help. \"What on earth are you going to do to your father?\" he asked curiously after that.


    \"I''m going to help him to pursue my Mama!\" said Teng.


    \"How are you gonna do that?\" Lu Tianyi didn''t understand.


    \"By making them sleep with each other!\" Teng explained.


    Lu Tianyi was speechless.

 1049 Meet Grandma in the Space

    Lu Tianyi lowered his head and spent a short while staring at Teng. After that, he said to the boy, \"Your Mom might spank you for that!\"


    Teng said carelessly, \"I''m not afraid of her. Let''s start running at tomorrow''s dawn!\"


    \"Wait! We? Why should I run with you?\" Lu Tianyi immediately felt that something was not right.


    Teng gave him a glimpse and said, \"Aren''t you aware that you''re my accomplice?\"


    ''Damn!'' Lu Tianyi thought.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao''s voice was heard, \"Teng, come here.\"


    Lu Tianyi carried the boy to Lin Qiao and handed him to her expressionlessly. She glanced at the former with surprise. The young man wore no expression, but how come she felt as if he was throwing away a hot potato?


    \"Eh-hem!\" Teng coughed, then looked at Lin Qiao silently. ''What do you want?'' he asked his Mama using an eye-contact.


    \"I''m taking you into the space to meet your Grandma,\" Lin Qiao smiled at the boy. Then, she walked into the living room and disappeared together with Teng.


    \"Grandma?\" Lu Tianyi gazed into where Lin Qiao disappeared with confusion.


    Which grandma? His mother was long gone.


    \"What are you doing? Come here and drink!\" Kong Qingming suddenly showed up and put an arm around his neck, then dragged him outside.


    \"Are you able to drink as much as I can?\" Lu Tianyi looked at him scornfully. He was a zombie now, so alcohol had no effect on him.


    Kong Qingming snorted and said, \"Alright, come here and keep us company then.\"


    At that time, Xie Dong, who was missing all the time, abruptly showed up at the gate of the yard. He came in and looked around, but didn''t see Lin Qiao. So, he walked to Liu Jun.


    \"Where''s Chief?\"


    Liu Jun was setting Tongtong''s bowl and chopsticks. Hearing his voice, she raised her head and said, \"Oh, she mentioned about entering the space just now. I think she''s in there already. What''s wrong?\"


    Xie Dong pulled over a chair and sat down beside her as he said with a serious face, \"Something happened in Sky Fire Base.\"


    Liu Jun paused briefly with surprise, then looked at him and asked, \"Oh? What is it?\"


    Xie Dong said, \"Li Zhengye has started to make moves with the thing that the mysterious man brought him earlier. His targets are superpower possessors, from his own base or the other bases. Currently, he''s secretly capturing the superpowered hunters from his base. I heard that he has even caught some of his soldiers.\"


    Liu Jun furrowed her eyebrows slightly. Clearly, Li Zhengye was up to something no good.


    \"Have you found out why he''s capturing people?\"


    Xie Dong shook his head and said, \"The time was too limited. At present, he''s only capturing people. No further movements were made yet.\"


    It required time to capture a certain number of people in secret, and he needed excuses to cover his action. If a large number of people suddenly went missing, the other residents in his base would panic.


    \"What is he going to do those superpower possessors?\" Liu Jun asked with a frown.


    \"It''s not gonna be anything good. He has also sent out his people to hunt superpower possessors from the other bases. Currently, we''re not his only target. He''s also capturing the people from Sea City Base, Huaxia Base, and Green Mountain Base,\" Xie Dong snorted coldly and said, \"He is ambitious. I wonder if he was worried that his people might never be able to return to him.\"


    Liu Jun said, \"Wait for a second. Chief isn''t here at the moment.\"


    In the space, Lin Qiao brought Teng into her house and stood by the door, pointing at Mrs. Lin, who was squatting in the vegetable field near the house as she said, \"Look, your Grandma.\"


    Teng looked at Mrs. Lin with surprise and said, \"Eh? How did Grandma become like this?\"


    While Lin Qiao was pregnant with him, he slept a lot. After he was born, Lin Qiao hadn''t talked to him about his Grandma yet. Therefore, he didn''t know that Mrs. Lin had become a zombie.


    Lin Qiao held him as she walked outside and said, \"She became a zombie during the second eruption of the zombie virus. She has lost some of her memories. She doesn''t remember what happened recently.\"


    Sensing Lin Qiao''s vibe, Mrs. Lin raised her head to look at her. She remembered Lin Qiao say that her grandson would be brought here to see her today. Seeing her carry a baby, Mrs. Lin was stunned a little. She sensed the scent of the baby, then wore a confused look.


    Why did the baby smell weird?


    \"Say Grandma,\" Lin Qiao brought Teng to Mrs. Lin''s side and then said to Teng.


    \"Grandma,\" Teng called his grandma while observing her.


    Hearing the baby talking, Mrs. Lin popped her eyes in shock and gave Lin Qiao a glance. She couldn''t believe that the one-month-old baby was actually able to talk already.


    \"He''s special. I gave birth to him,\" Lin Qiao explained to Mrs. Lin, \"You might have forgotten about it, but you knew it before. You won''t be so surprised when you remember it.\"


    Mrs. Lin was still in shock. After hearing Lin Qiao''s explanation, she started observing Teng with her eyes wide opened. In her eyes, the baby was wearing a gray and white baby suit, with no bright colors. The only thing bright that Mrs. Lin saw were the baby''s eyes.


    The baby''s eyes were clean, pure, and innocent.


    Mrs. Lin had her heart softened. She raised a hand as she wanted to touch the baby. However, she then noticed that her hands were covered in soil. Besides, she was a zombie. What if her nail hurt Teng''s skin?


    With that thought, she immediately dropped her hand.


    \"Don''t worry! He''s in a special condition, and is immune to the zombie virus. He carries the virus actually,\" Lin Qiao put an arm under Teng''s butt and said.


    At that moment, Mo Yan was standing on the balcony on the second floor of the other house, bending his waist with his hands on the guardrail. He was looking at Lin Qiao. Standing next to him, the zombie girl was also confusedly looking at Teng, who was carried in Lin Qiao''s arms.


    They were about three-hundred meters away from Lin Qiao, but they clearly heard what she said. They heard she say that Teng was her baby, which made both of them curious.


    Mo Yan looked at Lin Qiao. She had actually given birth to a perfectly alive baby. What was the baby though? Was he a zombie? A human being? Was he both?


    It was dark by the time Lin Qiao brought Teng out of the space. The light was on in Wu Chengyue''s yard. Three tables were set in the yard, one in the living room, and one in the dining room.


    \"Oi, they''re out! Come here and let me see the baby!\" Zou Shihui landed his eyes on Teng once Lin Qiao and her son showed up. Lin Qiao glanced at Xie Dong, then handed Teng to Lin Wenwen, who had come near her. After that, she walked to the tea cabinet and found a clean glass before pouring herself a glass of liquor.


    As Zou Shihui asked to see Teng, Lin Wenwen brought the boy to his table.

 1050 Drag Someone into the Trouble

    \"I finally get to meet the baby. Let me see him!\" Zou Shihui and his people were sitting at the table in the living room. As Lin Wenwen brought Teng to him, he immediately reached his arms out toward the boy.


    Lin Wenwen put Teng into his arms.


    \"Nice! Look at his bright little eyes! He looks smart! Let me look at him¡­ He got your eyes, Wu,\" Zou Shihui put Teng on his knees and looked at the boy''s eyes, then smiled at Wu Chengyue.


    Teng raised his head to look at Zou Shihui while sitting on his lap quietly.


    Wu Chengyue grinned as he refilled Zou Shihui''s wine glass and said, \"Sure. He has my genes.\"


    Xiao Yunlong leaned over and looked at Teng as he said, \"It would be problematic if he didn''t look like Wu!\"


    Wu Chengyue laughed as he turned and gave him a glance. Receiving that glance, Xiao Yunlong immediately added, \"He looks very much like his father! He has his father''s eyes, nose, and mouth!\"


    ''Can''t I even make a joke?'' Xiao Yunlong complained in his head. \"Oi, kid!\" He said to Teng, \"Why are you acting like a good baby in Zou''s arms? Why wouldn''t you let me hold you like this?\"


    Teng immediately rolled his eyes toward Xiao Yunlong. ''Because you tried to see my ''little brother''! Don''t you think that you can do anything to me only because you''re an adult!''


    Wu Chengyue smilingly poured Xiao Yunlong a glass of wine and said, \"He''d be nice if you didn''t try to see his little treasure.''


    ''You don''t deserve his respect, you dirty uncle'' was what Wu Chengyue was really trying to say.


    Holding the glass of liquor, Lin Qiao sat down on the couch that had been moved to a corner of the living room, waiting for Xie Dong to come to her. The latter moved to her side once she showed up.


    \"What''s going on in Sky Fire Base?\" Lin Qiao asked blandly while glancing at Wu Chengyue''s table. He was sitting together with the other two leaders of Sea City Base. Lin Feng, Cheng Wangxue, and Meng Yue were at that table as well. Zou Shihui was still a single man.


    In the dining room were Lin Wenwen, Long Qingying, Liu Jun, Duan Juan, Shen Yujen, Qiu Lili, and a few others. In the yard were Wu Chengyue''s close subordinates, including Kong Qingming, Lu Tianyi, and Li Yue Shan.


    Of course, most of Lin Qiao''s subordinates were zombies. All they could do was watch the others eat and try to recall the flavors that they had tasted when they were still human beings.


    \"Li Zhengye has started to secretly hunt for superpower possessors, from his own base as well as the other bases. He has captured those people, but we don''t know what he''s going to do to them. He has also sent a few large troops toward us, Huaxia Base, and Green Mountain Base,\" Xie Dong stood beside Lin Qiao and whispered.


    \"Again? Li Zhengye does have a great army in his hands. That makes sense though. Last time, he only sent three-thousand soldiers to our place. He has over two-hundred-thousand soldiers in his base,\" Lin Qiao smiled coldly.


    \"Most of the people who have been captured by him are from Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base. He didn''t touch the original residents in Sky Fire Base,\" Xie Dong thought for a moment and said, \"Also, someone from Green Mountain Base asked to see you.\"


    \"They want to see me? On purpose?\" Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise, then turned to look at him.


    Xie Dong nodded at her and said, \"It''s Ye Yingyue, who has visited us once. She said that there''s something she can only talk to you about. She''s waiting for you in the base.\"


    Lin Qiao nodded, said, \"Did she come alone?\"


    Xie Dong nodded.


    \"Alright, I get it. I think she''s in no rush, or she''d come straight here,\" said Lin Qiao.


    Teng spent a short while sitting on Zou Shihui''s lap, then leaned toward Wu Chengyue and reached out both arms, seemingly wanting his father to hold him.


    \"Does he want you to hold him?\" Zou Shihui noticed the boy''s movement, so he turned to Wu Chengyue. The latter dropped his chopsticks and said, \"He''s probably hungry. I''ll go and get his porridge.\"


    After saying that, he stood up and walked toward the kitchen. Soon, he came back with a bowl of warm porridge. He put the porridge on the table, then held Teng his arms and sat down, putting the boy on his knees.


    Outside, Lu Tianyi was glancing at Wu Chengyue from time to time. Seeing him put Teng on his knees, he realized that the boy was going to look for a chance to bring trouble to his parents again.


    The boy had also asked him for help. He attempted to refuse, but then ended up being threatened.


    Lu Tianyi thought for a moment, then decided to drag his best friend into it. So, he said to Kong Qingming, \"There''s something that I want you to tell Wu.\"


    Ever since he became a zombie, he stopped calling Wu Chengyue ''Chief''. Of course, he hadn''t been calling his sister ''Chief'' either.


    \"What is it? Why don''t you tell him yourself?\" Kong Qingming was drinking together with Lin Hao. Being pulled by Lu Tianyi, he turned to the latter and looked at him confusedly. He had had quite some liquor, and his cheeks had reddened a little. However, his eyes were still clear. After all, as a level-six man, he didn''t get drunk easily.


    That was one of the good things of being a superpower possessor. The people who had superpowers could drink a lot without getting drunk.


    \"I''m in an awkward place to do that. It''s about Sea City Base. You should tell him,\" Lu Tianyi found an excuse.


    \"What is it?'' Kong Qingming asked curiously.


    \"My sister seems to have heard something from Sky Fire Base. Go and remind Wu to pay attention to the recent movements of Sky Fire Base, also ask him if Yue Shan has found out anything,\" Lu Tianyi told Kong Qingming about the conversation between Xie Dong and Liu Jun that he overheard.


    Kong Qingming looked at him confusedly and said, \"That''s not urgent. I''ll tell him tomorrow. Isn''t it strange to talk about that now? Perhaps, Yue Shan has already heard about it. Besides, even if I need to remind someone about it, I should be reminding Yue Shan. He''s responsible for the intelligence work. I don''t need to go straight to Chief.\"


    Lu Tianyi clicked his tongue and said, \"What if you missed the best chance? It is urgent! A twist might happen at any moment. Just cut the crap and go!\"


    Kong Qingming had drunk quite some alcohol. His eyes were still focused, and his mind stayed clear. However, his brain was slowed down a little. As Lu Tianyi urged him, he felt as if he had no choice but to do what he said.


    So, he stood up and moved toward Wu Chengyue''s table. Seeing him walk to Wu Chengyue, Lu Tianyi immediately stood up and walked into Teng''s sight, making a series of hand gestures to the boy while winking. Teng instantly received the signal and had his eyes glowing. Soon, he saw Kong Qingming come to Wu Chengyue.


    Kong Qingming stood behind Wu Chengyue and bent over to whisper a few words to Wu Chengyue. The latter turned and looked at him with a slight frown. At the same moment, Teng pricked his finger and flicked a small drop of his blood into Wu Chengyue''s bowl.


    He was fast, and his movement was subtle. None of the others at the table noticed his move.

 1051 I Did Nothing

    After watching the boy''s movements, Lu Tianyi silently turned his face away, then poured a glass of wine into his mouth. ''Emm, don''t be nervous,'' he said to himself, ''They''ll be blaming Kong Qingming and the kid for what is going to happen, hah!''


    Wu Chengyue heard what Kong Qingming said, then nodded and said, \"I get it. I''ll ask Yue Shan about it when the party is over.\"


    \"Alright,\" Kong Qingming said, then turned and left. He had no idea that Teng had made a sneak move while Wu Chengyue was distracted by him. The others didn''t notice that either


    \"Come on, come one! Do you have enough booze left? Shall I provide you some?\" Xiao Yunlong urged Wu Chengyue to drink and said jokingly. The latter clicked his tongue as he gave Xiao Yunlong a glance, then responded, \"I have as much as you want!\"


    After that, he sent a piece of meat into his mouth with his chopsticks without noticing the weird look in Teng''s eyes.


    \"I''ll be impressed if you can finish the booze on the table. Your belly might explode!\" Wu Chengyue swallowed the meat as he gave him a glimpse and said.


    \"These few bottles? Stop kidding. These aren''t even enough for Zou and me!\" Xiao Yunlong laughed scornfully.


    Teng spent a short while sitting on Wu Chengyue''s lap, then twisted his body and patted on his arm before pointing at Lin Xiaolu''s table.


    \"Do you want to go there?\" Wu Chengyue understood his meaning. So, he stood up and carried Teng to his little friends. Seeing him bring Teng over, Lin Wenwen quickly stood up and took Teng over.


    People enjoyed the food and drinks, and the party didn''t end until midnight. A few of them ended up quite drunk. Most of the people on the scene were superpower possessors, so only a few commoners were the ones who got drunk.


    The zombies drank alcohol like water, and of course, the others complained about the waste. At the end of the party, the zombies were told to leave. They didn''t need to sleep, and wouldn''t get drunk either. As the party was over, Lin Qiao sent them straight back to All Beings Base.


    By the time the party was over, the kids were already in sleep. Therefore, Lin Qiao had no choice but to stay for another night. She planned to leave in the morning.


    Lu Tianyi and Lin Hao stayed as well. The former stayed to see how Teng''s scheme would go while the latter stayed because he was drunk.


    Lin Hao wasn''t super drunk, but was drunk enough to be too lazy to move. Therefore, Wu Chengyue put him in a room and let him sleep. Liu Jun, Lin Wenwen, Lin Feng, and the others who hadn''t left yet were accommodated in the other rooms.


    \"You had your eyes on Wu the whole night. Is anything happening? Are you planning on something?\" Lin Hao occupied the entire bed as he lazily lay there while talking to Lu Tianyi, who was sitting by the window.


    Lu Tianyi looked at him and pretended not to know anything. \"That''s not true. You''re blind.\"


    Lin Hao clicked his tongue, then snorted and said, \"Did you hear yourself. Something is definitely going on. Tell me, is it about Wu and your sister? Are you trying to create a chance for the two of them?\" He abruptly sat up and moved to Lu Tianyi, then put an arm around the latter''s neck and continued.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at him with surprise. He didn''t understand why Lin Hao thought that way. Was it so obvious?


    He thought for a moment, then spread his hands and said, \"I did nothing. Why do you care about them so much? I think you have a strange attitude toward my sister, and so does your sister and brother.\"


    Lin Hao was the youngest kid in his family, and Lin Wenwen was his elder sister. Lin Qiao was the second oldest among her siblings, but both Lin Wenwen and Lin Hao called her ''Big Sister''. She was, indeed, the ''Big Sister''.


    When they were little, Lin Qiao was much naughtier than Lin Feng. She was good at fighting, too. When they were teenagers, Lin Feng couldn''t even win against her. Thankfully, he wasn''t into fighting, and normally preferred to use cold violence¡­


    Lin Qiao wasn''t so gentle on her younger brother and sister.


    Ever since Lu Tianyi started to follow Lin Qiao''s lead, he had gradually discovered something weird. He never mentioned it to anyone, but that didn''t mean he didn''t care.


    Hearing his words, Lin Hao blinked, then smiled, \"She is our leader now. It''s normal for me to care for her. What''s so strange about my attitude? I think you have misunderstood it.\"


    Lin Hao was curious about how Lu Tianyi would react when he found out that it was a different soul in his sister''s body. However, he clearly understood that he was in no place to tell the truth. If he did that, his sister would kill him.


    \"Don''t try to change the topic. I''m talking about Wu. Did you do anything?\" He brought up the original topic.


    Lu Tianyi turned his eyes away and thought, ''Would he tell my sister if he knows? He''s not a big-mouthed man, but what if he did tell her? My sister is a scary woman now¡­ I wouldn''t be so worried about something like this before¡­''


    \"Didn''t I tell you that I did nothing? Move, get off me! Are we so close?\" While speaking, he pushed Lin Hao away from his shoulders and then stood up, then opened the door and left.


    \"Am I stupid?\" Lin Hao murmured to his back, then moved back to the bed and threw himself onto it again.


    Lu Tianyi left Lin Hao''s room, then quickly moved to the kids'' room. The door was open. He stuck his head in and found Liu Jun and Cheng Wangxue in the room, taking care of the kids.


    \"Ah, you''re still up? Teng, why are you still so energetic? The other kids are in sleep, so why aren''t you?\" He walked in and pretended to be someone who was only passing by. Then, he scooped up Teng, who was rolling on the bed, and sat down by the bed while looking at the boy.


    \"We don''t know what''s going on with this kid. He refuses to sleep,\" Liu Jun smiled, then turned to Cheng Wangxue and said, \"You must be tired. Maybe you should go and take some rest.\"


    Cheng Wangxue looked at the time and then nodded, prepared to leave. But then, she abruptly gave Liu Jun a naughty grin and said, \"Alright, I know you don''t need to sleep, but, Xie Dong is finally back with us. Go and keep him company.\"


    \"Eh-hem, hmm, I get it,\" Liu Jun nodded a little embarrassedly.


    \"Miss Liu, you can go. I''ll look after the kid. I know how to make him sleep,\" Lu Tianyi immediately said to Liu Jun.


    \"Alright, then!\" Liu Jun glanced at him. Teng was the only kid who was still awake anyway. She tucked the other three kids in, then turned and left, also closing the door.


    As Liu Jun left, Lu Tianyi instantly stared at Teng and whispered, \"Why on earth did you feed your Dad your blood? What can your blood do?\"


    Wu Chengyue was still drinking together with Lin Feng and Xiao Yunlong at downstairs. Nothing seemed to have happened to him. Lu Tianyi was quite curious about what was going to happen.


    Teng laughed proudly and said, \"That, you don''t know. My blood can do a lot. Not everyone can drink my blood. Only my parents can!\"


    \"It won''t deliver any side effects, will it?\" said Lu Tianyi with doubts.

 1052 Get Drunk for Real or No

    Teng gave him a glare and said, \"Would I let Daddy consume it if it had any side effects? You make it sound like I''m trying to hurt him.\"


    Lu Tianyi said, \"As long as it''s safe! But, will your blood really work? Why does nothing seem to happen to him at all?\"


    Teng snorted and said, \"My blood''s effect is related to the amount that he took, and also his power level. If I fed the drop of blood to a level-five man, he wouldn''t be handling it so easily as my Daddy is right now. If you had it, you might be feeling some unexpected effects. Would you like to try?\"


    While speaking, he blinked his innocent eyes toward Lu Tianyi. The latter immediately shook his head and said, \"No, no, the look in your eyes clearly told me that it won''t be a good thing!\"


    \"My blood is special. My Daddy has had a drop of my blood, so I think he''ll get drunk tonight, and he will be¡­ in the heat¡­\" Teng said, first with a proud look on his face, then narrowing his eyes as he looked at Lu Tianyi sideways with a wicked smile. That funny expression of his and his hairless head made him look hilarious.


    \"How on earth did you become like this?\" Lu Tianyi asked him.


    The little boy suddenly made him feel threatened in an indescribable way. He realized that he should not bully the boy or piss him off, or he might be in trouble!


    Downstairs, Wu Chengyue complained to Xiao Yunlong, \"Have you had enough yet? Are you still drinking? Alright, just leave! Don''t waste my wine.\"


    Xiao Yunlong glared at him with discontentment as he clicked his tongue and said, \"You stingy man! Alright, alright, I''ll go¡­ I''ll bring you tens of boxes of wine someday.\"


    \"You better make tens of boxes of wine yourself,\" Wu Chengyue rested his elbow on the table while holding a glass of wine and smiling lazily. His eyes were slightly unfocused.


    \"I''ll definitely make wine for you if I know how!\" Xiao Yunlong stood up as he glanced at him and then continued \"Oi, you''re not drunk, are you? Really?\"


    He didn''t want to believe it, but the look in Wu Chengyue''s eyes give him doubts.


    \"Will I ever get drunk? Are you stupid?\" Wu Chengyue snorted as he poured the wine into his mouth, then waved at him to signal for him to leave.


    \"Oh, you might be pretending to be drunk,\" Xiao Yunlong thought for a moment and said, then turned and left Wu Chengyue''s place. ''Perhaps he was pretending to be drunk so that he could get into Big Zombie Sister''s room.''


    Xiao Licheng and Li Yue Shan cleaned the tables in the yard, then started cleaning the kitchen and washing the dishes. They came out and found that Xiao Licheng had finally left, while Wu Chengyue and Lin Feng were still drinking.


    Lin Feng, who was quiet all the time, said to Wu Chengyue after Xiao Yunlong left, \"I feel that you''re a little drunk too.\"


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and focused his eyes slightly as he smiled, \"No, I''m wildly sober. The alcohol content of these liquors is no greater than sixty percent. How can superpower possessors get drunk so easily? Don''t worry.\"


    \"Eh-hem, you''re right,\" Lin Feng nodded. Then, he heard footsteps coming from the upstairs. Cheng Wangxue walked to his side and said, \"Still drinking? Are you planning on drinking until midnight?\"


    Seeing his wife come down, Lin Feng knew that it was the time for him to leave. He looked at Wu Chengyue and said, \"I think we''ll call it an end for today. We''ll do it again some other day.\"


    While speaking, he stood up, patted Wu Chengyue on the shoulder.


    \"Oh, it''s okay, I''ve had enough too,\" Wu Chengyue stood up with a smile.


    The party was over. Wu Chengyue looked at the two single men who were doing the dishes in the kitchen and laughed, \"See, Qingming has fallen in love with a girl, so he left early. You two are still here washing the dishes. Poor you!\"


    Xiao Licheng and Li Yue Shan wanted very much to shatter the dishes in their hands against the floor.


    Seeing their unhappy faces, Wu Chengyue smiled at them, \"Alright, I''ll do the rest tomorrow. You can go now.\"


    Hearing that, the two immediately dropped the dirty plates and left.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the messy kitchen and then at his table. He planned to clean them tomorrow, but seeing those made him feel very uncomfortable. He might not be able to sleep tonight without cleaning them all.


    He regretted letting the two leave. They were already gone, so he had no choice but to finish the job all by himself. He rolled up his sleeves and cleaned the last table, then washed the dishes. After that, he cleaned the cooking bench and the rest of the kitchen. As everything was clean again, he sighed with relief.


    He glanced at his watch and found it was about two in the morning.


    Upstairs, Teng and Lu Tianyi had been carefully listening to the noises downstairs. As Wu Chengyue finally stepped out of the kitchen, they sighed with relief.


    \"So, Wu is a clean freak?\" Lu Tianyi couldn''t help but ask Teng.


    \"Oh, only about the kitchen! Normally, it''s not so bad,\" Teng lay on the empty side of the bed and said.


    \"Oh, is that so?\" Lu Tianyi was surprised.


    \"Yeah! He forbade the others from stepping into his kitchen. Eh, he''s here¡­\" While speaking, Teng suddenly relaxed his limbs and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep.


    Lu Tianyi rolled his eyes. He thought Wu Chengyue would come into the room and take a glance at the kids, but he didn''t. Instead, he headed toward his own room.


    Wu Chengyue went into his bedroom and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. In the shower, he somehow started feeling hot and dizzy. It wasn''t uncomfortable, just a heavy-headed feeling.


    After the shower, he came out of the bathroom while wearing only trousers. While drying his hair, he wondered what was happening to himself.


    Was he really drunk? Why did he feel hot? A faint aroma went into his nose and made him feel even hotter. The hotness gathered in his lower abdomen.


    What was happening? Why was his body suddenly thirsty?


    The faint aroma was coming from the outside. He clearly knew that it was from the zombie lady''s room.


    He was good at self-restraint, but how come he now felt as if he was losing control of himself?


    His body was feeling strange, and his mind wasn''t clear. His brain replayed the other night that he spent together with the zombie lady and made him feel on fire. He couldn''t cast the zombie lady''s beautiful body out of his mind. Her soft and bouncy breasts, slim waist, long and slender legs¡­


    His breath became shallow and uneven.

 1053 Come Here

    Wu Chengyue felt as if his entire body was on fire. But, a coldness suddenly spread from his heart and cast away the hotness within a second. He couldn''t help but bend his body and shrink his shoulders.


    What was happening?


    Wu Chengyue gave a start, and his mind suddenly became much clearer than before. Why did his body suddenly become like that? What on earth was happening? Was something wrong with the food that he had earlier today? He prepared the food himself. The food was definitely safe.


    He felt suffocated as if something was pressing on his chest. He gasped for air, then shambled toward his bed step by step. At that moment, his energy started flowing all over this body uncontrollably, through every vein of his.


    \"It''s beginning!\" Teng immediately sat up and whispered.


    Lu Tianyi raised his head to look at the ceiling. Wu Chengyue''s room was on the third floor. Sensing his abnormal state, he said with concern, \"Will anything bad happen? I think something is going wrong with Wu¡­\"


    Teng shook his head carelessly, and said, \"It''s okay. Even if he doesn''t sleep with Mama, he won''t be harmed. He''ll probably feel very uncomfortable and muddle-headed for two days. That''s all.\"


    \"How can you do that to your parents? I honestly feel sorry for them,\" said Lu Tianyi.


    \"What do you know? I''m helping them. Haven''t you discovered that Mama has already started to hesitate when she looks at Daddy? She''s not sure about her own feelings. I''m helping her figure out how exactly she feels. Besides, she''ll be able to break into a higher level if she has sex with Daddy a couple more times,\" Teng first made a face and explained.


    \"Eh? Why do you know so much? You''re just a kid¡­ No, you are not even a kid. You are a baby. Can you please not talk about your parents'' sex life as if it''s a normal topic? Aren''t you shy? You''re just a little baby,\" Lu Tianyi looked at him.


    Teng didn''t want to respond to him. It wasn''t the first time the boy talked about that kind of thing. Hadn''t people gotten used to that yet?


    He quietly crawled to the bedside and said, \"My Mama gave birth to me. I feel Mama''s feelings strongly. We used to talk to each other through our minds. I should be able to know how she feels. Come on, bring me to her. I''m gonna talk to Mama!\"


    While speaking, he reached out his arms toward Lu Tianyi.


    Lu Tianyi paused with surprise, then looked at the boy and said, \"What? Are you going up there and show up right in front of them? Your mother will know it was you who did it, won''t she? Aren''t you afraid that she might kick you''re a*s?\"


    \"No. If I don''t explain it to them, I''m worried that Mama might refuse to do it!\" Teng wasn''t worried about himself at all.


    Lu Tianyi spent a few seconds looking at him silently and then said, \"I am really impressed. You are a troublemaker!\" After saying that, he stood up from the couch and walked to the bed, scooping up the baby. Then, he quietly turned off the light as he walked out of the room and closed the door.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao was also looking at the ceiling with confusion. She lived in a guest room on the second floor. At the moment, she sensed a weird vibe coming from Wu Chengyue''s room, reminding her of how he suddenly became crazy a couple of days ago.


    Was that a sequel of what happened days ago? Did he just lose control of himself again? Was the same thing happening again?


    No matter what it was, Lin Qiao walked out of her room without thinking. Then, she saw Lu Tianyi with Teng carried in his arms.


    \"Why are you guys still up?\" She stopped walking and looked at the young man and the boy as she asked.


    \"Eh-hem, Teng needs to talk to you,\" Lu Tianyi immediately put Teng before Lin Qiao''s face and said.


    Lin Qiao looked at him confusedly, then at Teng. Abruptly, she blinked her eyes and then glared at her son, \"Does his current condition have something to do with you?\"


    Teng couldn''t bear being exposed under her piercing gaze. He secretly pinched Lu Tianyi and moved him backward, signaling for him to move back.


    Feeling the boy squeeze his back, Lu Tianyi made two steps forward to create a distance between himself and Lin Qiao.


    \"Hem¡­ It''s no big deal. I noticed that some kind of strange energy seemed to be hiding inside Daddy''s body, so I tried to help him release it as soon as possible¡­ He''s reacting a little too strongly¡­ hehe¡­\" Teng started making up a story. He turned his little eyes from side to side, not daring to look at Lin Qiao''s face.


    Lin Qiao pulled a long face, said with a cold voice, \"Then what? What is happening to him now?\"


    Teng immediately continued, \"If we don''t do anything to help him, he might be crazy for a few days, or two weeks. Then he''ll wake up. By then, that strange energy inside his body will be gone¡­ If we want him to wake up earlier, hmm¡­ there''s another way¡­\"


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes as she looked at Teng silently. Teng didn''t finish his explanation, but she had figured it out.


    She quickly moved toward the stairs, leaving Teng a few words.


    \"Get over here.\"


    Lu Tianyi gave Teng a glance gleefully but received a glare from the boy. Then, he carried the boy to the third floor.


    Except for Wu Chengyue''s bedroom, there were two guest rooms on the third floor. Lin Feng and his wife took one, and Lin Hao took the other one. At that moment, both Lin Feng and Lin Hao had their doors opened, and were looking at Wu Chengyue''s door with a serious and confused look.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come up, the two of them immediately turned to her and asked, \"What''s going on? What''s happening to Wu?\" Wu Chengyue''s vibe was a little dangerous at the moment. Thankfully, his energy hadn''t erupted from his body, or everything in his room would have been shredded.


    Lin Qiao didn''t say anything but walked straight to Wu Chengyue''s room and opened the door. Lin Hao, Lin Feng, Lu Tianyi followed behind her, leaning their heads forward to look into the room.


    They saw Wu Chengyue curling on the bed, wearing only pajama trousers. His body was bent like a shrimp, and his arms were around his knees. His cheeks were bulged slightly as he clenched his teeth tightly. His eyes were closed, and his face was ghastly pale.


    \"What on earth is going on?\" Lin Feng and Lin Hao were both confused.


    Lin Hao was a doctor. At first glance, he figured out about Wu Chengyue''s current condition and said with composure, \"Something is wrong with him. He has entered an extremely cold state. His self-protection awareness made him curl his body, and his power seems to be fighting against something. That''s why his vibe is disordered.\"


    Lin Qiao immediately turned to Teng.


    At that very moment, Wu Chengyue suddenly opened his eyes, fixing those purple eyes straight on Lin Qiao.

 1054 Bring Trouble to His Parents

    The look in Wu Chengyue''s eyes was a little cold. At that very moment, he looked much different from the smiling man that he always looked like. Those cold eyes of his only saw Lin Qiao. He didn''t seem to care about any others, just looking at Lin Qiao in an aggressive way.


    However, after just a few seconds, he closed his eyes again and stayed in the same posture, even trembling slightly.


    \"How¡­ why did he suddenly become like this?\" Lin Feng knitted his brows and asked seriously.


    Lin Hao was confused too. \"I think he''s losing control of himself, but he''s somehow fighting against it. I think his mind is still clear.\"


    What was going on? Earlier, he heard that Wu lost control of his power for the second time. That already confused him. Was the third time happening now?


    \"Oh, how did you wake him up that night?\" Lin Hao abruptly turned to Lin Qiao and asked her.


    Lin Qiao was stunned a little, then the expression on her face changed slightly. She didn''t answer Lin Hao''s question but quickly walked toward Wu Chengyue. An egg-sized stone had appeared in her hand.


    \"Open your mouth!\" Standing beside Wu Chengyue, Lin Qiao put the stone near his mouth. He opened his eyes in response and looked at the stone. Seeing this, Lin Hao, Lin Feng, and Lu Tianyi were all utterly confused.


    Did she want Wu to eat that stone?


    \"Mama, are you gonna make Daddy eat stone? You are so cruel!\" Teng suddenly started talking, also lookING at his Daddy with pity.


    Wu Chengyue stayed motionless. Lin Qiao turned and gave Teng a glare, then said to him, \"The energy inside this stone can keep him under control. I only want to put it into his mouth! It might be helpful!\"


    \"That''s not gonna work,\" Teng immediately waved his little hands and said to her, \"If Daddy calms down easily, my blood will be wasted¡­ Oh!\"


    Before he finished, he realized that he had said something which should not have been said.


    Lin Qiao stared at him with a dangerous look in her eyes as she said, \"You fed him your blood? That''s how you tried to help him release the strange energy inside him? Also, why did I never feel that so-called strange energy inside him?\"


    Her eyes were able to see any energy in the world! The boy was lying to her!


    Teng turned his eyes to the ceiling and the walls, far away from Lin Qiao. Hearing their conversation, the others immediately figured out what had happened. Clearly, this whole thing was planned. If Teng was the one who started it, Wu should be fine.


    So, Lin Feng and Lin Hao sighed with relief, then started watching the show with great interest.


    Wu Chengyue, who was feeling both cold and hot, wore a very bitter face. His mind was still clear. He thought something awful was happening to him, but it turned out that he fell into his son''s trap again!


    The zombie lady actually wanted to put a stone into his mouth! He must have owed her and her son so much money in his previous life. Otherwise, why on earth would they treat him so awfully?


    \"Em, Teng''s blood contains the zombie virus,\" said Lin Hao, \"No wonder he seems to be freezing. He should be feeling both cold and hot actually. He''s probably gonna feel like he''s on fire soon. So, his energy is fighting against Teng''s virus, isn''t it? No wonder this is so bad. But, why is he losing control of himself?\"


    While speaking, he looked at Teng, seemingly to find an answer from the boy''s face.


    Teng turned his eyes from side to side, then pouted and said to Lin Qiao, \"Your sensation system isn''t the same as mine. Besides, you always avoid Daddy. It''s normal that you didn''t notice it. He has already become like this, and you''re the cure. If you don''t want to help him, he might lose control and then become crazy. He''ll wake up anyway. I''m not sure how long it''ll take though.\"


    Wu Chengyue looked at Teng''s little face, wanting both to laugh and to cry. He believed that Teng did what he did for a good reason. Based on what the boy said to the zombie lady, he figured that the boy was probably trying to help him. Was that right?


    Was that real? Was he over-thinking?


    Lin Qiao immediately realized that Teng was trying to entrap her boldly!


    \"What do you mean that I''m the cure? How can you be sure that I''ll help him? Aren''t you afraid that I might walk away? As you''ve said, he''ll wake up anyway. I don''t care how he will wake up,\" Lin Qiao glared at Teng and snorted.


    \"Oh, I see. So Teng, your blood can be used this way, hah! You smart boy!\" Lin Hao nodded knowingly, then winked at Teng with a wicked smile.


    Teng looked at the ceiling again.


    Lin Hao immediately pointed at Lu Tianyi and said, \"No wonder he''s been weird the whole night. He took part in the plan, didn''t he!\"


    Lu Tianyi gave a start. He didn''t expect Lin Hao to notice his weird behavior. He changed his expression and then said, \"I haven''t been weird at all! I don''t even know what you''re talking about. Teng, have you finished talking yet? I think this has nothing to do with us. Let''s go back and sleep.\"


    After saying that, he held Teng and quickly turned, attempting to run. However, Lin Hao stared at him and started talking again.


    \"Oh, are you gonna sleep together with Teng? Aren''t you ashamed? You''re an adult, yet you''re going to sleep together with the kids. Aren''t you supposed to be sharing a room with me?\" While speaking, Lin Hao pointed at the door of his own room.


    \"Who''s gonna share a room with you? Go away!\" Lu Tianyi rolled his eyes and said with a dry voice. After that, he quickly brought Teng away from Wu Chengyue''s room before Lin Qiao could do anything.


    Lin Feng looked at them, then at Lin Qiao. \"Emm, do what you need to do,\" he said, then turned and left.


    Lin Hao was the last to leave. He also thoughtfully closed the door for Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue. As a result, the two were left in the room silently glancing at each other.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue''s sensed that the coldness was quickly gone, and then the familiar hotness arose. He immediately spread his body and let out a long sigh, seemingly to breath out the coldness inside his chest. After that, he relaxed his entire body.


    Being stimulated by the sudden coldness and hotness, one part of his body quickly erected. He felt that, so he turned and pulled over the blanket to cover his abdomen. He then raised his head and stared at Lin Qiao with his eyes, which were still purple. While gasping quickly, he said to her, \"Are you gonna leave me like this?\"

 1055 Ill Make the Decision For You

    He clearly understood that Teng did that to create a chance for him and the zombie lady. He didn''t blame Teng for it at all. At the moment, all he wanted to know was what the zombie lady would do.


    As Teng had said, if she decided not to do anything to help him, he would lose his mind for a while and then recover. However, he was a very powerful man. Something terrible might happen when he lost control of himself. Besides, the current period was sensitive. Wu Chengyue couldn''t show any weakness to Huaxia Base, because that would bring trouble to his base. If Sea City Base was in trouble, All Beings Base would be affected too.


    Even just for the overall situation, the zombie lady should help him.


    Seeing the calm look on the zombie lady''s face, Wu Chengyue felt slightly unhappy. Did she not care about him enough to show any expression?


    Lin Qiao raised a hand, and a glass of water appeared in her hand. \"Drink it,\" she handed the water to Wu Chengyue and said.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and asked, \"Why did you give me the stone since you have this?\"


    Lin Qiao pressed her lips slightly together, then answered his question blandly, \"I wanted to know if the stone will work or not.\"


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say. He endured the hotness and dryness and sat up from the bed, then took over the water and drank it up.


    Lin Qiao took the empty glass from his hand and quickly touched it with the other hand. Along with her movement, the glass was immediately refilled. Then, she handed the second glass of water to him.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t say anything, but looked at her as she drank up the second glass of water and then handed her the empty glass, waiting for her to give him the third glass. After having the third glass of water, Wu Chengyue suddenly sensed a strong energy stream rising from his lower abdomen. His hands trembled, and the glass fell onto the floor.


    The glass shattered against the floor.


    Suddenly, Wu Chengyue got down on the bed and turned as he said to Lin Qiao with a deep voice, \"Eh¡­ Go!\"


    Lin Qiao gave a start. She had no idea what was happening. She hurriedly narrowed her eyes to observe his body and saw a strong, aggressive red energy spreading from his lower abdomen, devouring the energy of the lake water.


    Why did that happen?


    Lin Qiao was confused. Was the energy from the lake in her space not working for him? Was Teng''s blood so powerful?


    Wu Chengyue seemed to have fallen into a very strange and uncomfortable state. Lin Qiao furrowed her brows and hesitated.


    Earlier, Teng said that she was the cure. Clearly, the cure wasn''t the lake water from her space. So¡­ was it her body?


    Two or three months ago, Lin Qiao would turn and walk away without hesitation once that thought popped up in her mind. But now, she could not move her feet. She could not leave the man like that.


    Wu Chengyue''s face turned scarlet, and his eyes glowed with a dazzling purple light. Veins bulged on his forehead. Obviously, he was trying his best to fight against whatever was happening to him.


    While Lin Qiao was still hesitating, Wu Chengyue suddenly moved. He grasped Lin Qiao''s arm and threw her onto the bed, then lay upon her.


    \"Em! You¡­ Hmm!\" Lin Qiao was disabled from moving when she realized what was happening. She automatically struggled, but once she opened her mouth, he pressed his lips against hers.


    By hesitating, she had given Wu Chengyue an opportunity. How could he possibly miss that great chance? Before she regretted, he made a move.


    \"You couldn''t make the decision, so I''ll make it for you,\" Wu Chengyue let go of her soft lips and said to her before aggressively kissing her again. His strong and nimble tongue forced open her mouth and invaded into her mouth, stirring inside it.


    \"Eh¡­\" Every time that happened, Wu Chengyue would become very aggressive. Lin Qiao didn''t manage to react before her mouth and nose were filled with his scent. Today, his scent was mixed with a thick smell of alcohol.


    His tongue rubbed against hers and brought it out of her mouth, into his. Lin Qiao felt as if she was going to be eaten alive by the man. The slimy and flexible tongue swept across her mouth, making her feel a slight numbness.


    While the passionate, deep kiss caught Lin Qiao''s attention, Wu Chengyue lay upon her body and held her hands to disable her from moving. Later, he pulled both her hands above her head and held them with one hand before he started reaching his other hand to the rest of her body.


    He stirred in her mouth as much as he wanted, inhaled her sweet aroma, and then retracted his tongue with satisfaction before starting to suck her soft lips. He held them in his mouth as if they were sugar. He bit them from time to time gently, or stroked them with his tongue to carefully feel the softness of those lips.


    Lying underneath the man, Lin Qiao blinked, feeling very unhappy. Why on earth would she let the b*stard lie upon her and take advantage of her over and over again? Even if she was willing to do it with him now¡­ she still needed to lead!


    She stared straight at Wu Chengyue''s purple, unfocused eyes. His eyes looked very beautiful when they turned purple. They glowed so brightly that they even seemed to suck her mind into the splendid purple light.


    It would be nice if those eyes belonged solely to her. She was tempted¡­


    With that thought, she sensed a sting from her lips.


    Wu Chengyue let go of her lips and narrowed his purple eyes, looking at her in the eyes as he said, \"You''re distracted. Isn''t my service good enough?\"


    While speaking, he lowered his head to sniff the corner of her mouth, then pressed his lips against hers. While fighting against the urge inside him, he left a series of gentle kisses on her smooth cheek. Through her chin, his lips moved to her beautiful neck.


    Feeling the erected part of the man''s body pressing against her, Lin Qiao looked at his purple eyes and licked her own lips. After that, she suddenly put forth her strength through her hands and freed herself from his hand.


    She quickly held his chest and shoulders and wrapped a leg around his waist, then turned her waist and thrust the other leg against the bed. Very easily, she brought Wu Chengyue down and lay upon him. Swiftly, she pulled both his hands above his head and switched positions with him.


    She dropped her head and looked at him as she moved her face closer to his. Before their noses bumped into each other, she said to him, \"Let''s see what you can do.\"


    She had already regained ninety percent of her power. He could only suppress her in his dream!

 1056 The Feeling of A Breakthrough

    Teng and Lu Tianyi weren''t the only two who had been hearing the noises coming from Wu Chengyue''s room. The people in the other two rooms on the third floor could hear it too. After all, they were all above level-five, and their rooms were close to Wu Chengyue''s. They could hear the sounds from his room clearly if they wanted.


    Lying on his bed, Lin Hao listened to the sounds with great interest. Meanwhile, he complained silently, ''Why didn''t they close the window?'' The sounds came out of their window and went into his.


    His sister had been trying her best to keep quiet, but still her voice could be heard from time to time. The heavy breaths of her and Wu Chengyue mixed together and went into the others'' ears, forming a seductive scene in people''s heads together with the squeezing sound from the mattress and the clapping noises.


    As a single man, all Lin Hao could do was comfort himself by using his own hands. Lin Feng was much luckier than him, because his wife was right by his side!


    \"Enough¡­ enough¡­ No more¡­ Please, take a break. I can''t take it anymore¡­\" Before dawn, Lin Qiao lay on the bed weakly and said to Wu Chengyue bitterly. The man was lying upon her back.


    God knew why was she, a zombie, weaker than the man! Were level-eight superpower possessors actually so strong?


    They started at one or two in the morning. Lin Qiao pulled over the nightstand near Wu Chengyue''s bed and picked up the alarm to look at the time. It was about seven in the morning already¡­


    Damn! They did it five times in one night!


    Lying on her back, Wu Chengyue heard her and then turned to look outside the window. After that, he put Lin Qiao''s hair behind her ear. Then, he held her and lowered his head to lick her tear, making her shrink her neck.


    Only after that did he get off her and stood by the bedside, giving her a few glances. Then, he turned and walked into the bathroom, turning on the water. Next, he came back out and bent over. He lifted her from the bed and then walked toward the bathroom.


    Lin Qiao seemed to be exhausted. She lay on the bed softly with her eyes narrowed. Knowing that she was really tired, Wu Chengyue carried her into the bathroom.


    \"In fact, I can do it myself,\" Lin Qiao said. She was listening to the noises that he made. As he lifted her from the bed, she opened her eyes and said to him expressionlessly.


    \"You can? But I want to do it for you,\" Wu Chengyue curved his eyes in a smile and said to her; his eyes had turned black again. While speaking, he put Lin Qiao straight into the tub.


    Lin Qiao''s body was soaked in the warm water. The water washed Wu Chengyue''s perspiration off her and the mess between her legs.


    After putting her down, Wu Chengyue took a quick shower himself, then turned and looked at Lin Qiao. She quickly raised her head to look at him and said, \"If you''re helping me, no thank you! I can do it myself.\"


    A very strong threatening look was shown in her eyes. She might punch him on the face without hesitation if he dared to disobey his words.


    Wu Chengyue shrugged and wrapped a clean towel around her waist, then smiled at her gently, \"Alright, you do it yourself. It seems that I don''t need to prepare clothes for you either. I''ll go downstairs to prepare breakfast then.\"


    He knew that the zombie lady had clothes in her space. He didn''t need to worry about that.


    Lin Qiao quietly watched him walk out in the towel, then sighed with relief and relaxed her body in the tub. She replaced the water in the tub with the lake water from her space and then continued the bath.


    She could still feel numbness and weakness from her skin. Her body seemed to be weightless, and her limbs were powerless. She felt as if her body was going out of her control.


    Apart from that, a stream of energy was burning near her lower abdomen. The energy spread bit by bit, toward every corner of her body and inside her blood before gathering toward her nucleus.


    That kind of feeling wasn''t so strong last time, so Lin Qiao noticed it this time. The energy fully replenished her consumed power; it was more than sufficient.


    In the lake water, Lin Qiao relaxed her body and felt the change in her energy. She had a feeling that she was breaking into a higher level, and also felt that she needed great energy to help her make the breakthrough into the realm of zombie emperors.


    Merely making love with Wu Chengyue was not enough. However, if she didn''t do it with Wu Chengyue, she might not sense the arrival of the breakthrough so quickly.


    After last night, she could no longer keep a distance from Wu Chengyue and ignore him. Clearly, she had already started to surrender herself to him last night.


    The gentle energy from the lake purified the energy that Wu Chengyue left inside Lin Qiao''s body and sent it into her zombie nucleus, to make her nucleus stronger and stronger. Lin Qiao hated to admit that what was inside her were Wu Chengyue''s germ cells¡­


    Somehow, she felt a little embarrassed.


    She raised her hands and covered her eyes, laying motionlessly in the tub.


    Wu Chengyue got dressed in his room and then left. Before leaving, he turned and glanced at the bathroom door with a faint smile of satisfaction. Once out, he saw Lin Hao coming out of his room with a pair of dark circles under his eyes. Lin Hao weakly waved at Wu Chengyue and said, \"Oh, morning¡­\"


    \"What''s wrong?\" Wu Chengyue smiled at him, \"Were you up all night?\"


    Lin Hao pressed his lips together and gave him a glare as he said, \"You don''t need to say it out loud. You clearly know why.\"


    With a smile, Wu Chengyue patted him on the shoulder while walking downstairs, and said, \"You should find yourself a girlfriend too. Do you need me to hook you up with some girls?\"


    \"No!\" Lin Hao said no without hesitation. Then, he paused briefly with surprise and blinked, staring straight at Wu Chengyue as he said, \"Your attitude is a little strange. Why do I feel as if you''re trying to fawn on your future brother-in-law?\"


    \"You can see it?\" Wu Chengyue responded to him smilingly, \"You are very perceptive.\" While speaking, he kept moving, leaving Lin Hao on the stairs stunned. Abruptly, Lin Hao changed his expression and said, \"Wait! You¡­ Have you found anything?\"


    Wu Chengyue did not argue with him! Something was not right!


    Lin Hao knitted his brows into a deep frown as he stared at Wu Chengyue. The latter didn''t even look back at him. He just waved at Lin Hao with his back toward him and walked downstairs.


    ''No way¡­'' Lin Hao said to himself, ''Has this man found out something? But¡­ will he believe it?''


    With that thought, Lin Hao worriedly turned and glanced at Wu Chengyue''s room. Then, he shook his head. He didn''t think Wu Chengyue would believe it. No normal people would.


    However, his attitude¡­


    Lin Hao wasn''t sure. He pondered over it and then quickly turned, walking back upstairs toward Wu Chengyue''s room.

 1057 Youve Already Los

    Lin Qiao heard the door knocks when she was still in the water and sensed Lin Hao''s scent. She had no idea why he came to see her, but still came out of the tub, grabbed a bathrobe from her space, and put it on. She emptied the tub and then walked out of the bathroom to answer the door.


    \"What?\" Before opening the door, Lin Qiao glanced at the bed which was messy before. It had been tidied up.


    \"Em¡­\" Lin Hao looked into the room, then turned his eyes back to Lin Qiao, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitating.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then walked out of Wu Chengyue''s room. The room was filled with a strong scent, and she could use some fresh air.


    \"Follow me!\" Lin Qiao walked out of the room and closed the door, then dragged Lin Hao a few steps forward before bringing him into the space. The two of them soon showed up on the clearing before Lin Qiao''s house.


    \"Tell me.\" While speaking, Lin Qiao looked at the field before the house. A few level-four zombies were taking care of the crops, and Mrs. Lin was one of them.


    Lin Hao looked around. He had seen Mrs. Lin too. He didn''t ask any question about his mother, but said to Lin Qiao, \"What''s going on with Wu Chengyue? Has he figured out who you really are?\"


    \"He told you that?\" Lin Qiao turned and looked at him with surprise.


    Lin Hao shook his head and said, \"He didn''t tell me directly, but didn''t deny it either. I tried to ask him about it. He seems to know it already.\"


    \"I see¡­ So, he has admitted it to you,\" Lin Qiao pressed her lips together.


    \"Aren''t you surprised?\" Lin Hao stared at her, \"Are you expecting him to believe you? Aren''t you afraid that he might want to cut you open and find out what exactly has happened to you¡­\"


    Lin Qiao gave him a glare and said, \"Even if he does have that kind of intent, he might not be strong enough to actually make it happen. Also, don''t think that everyone is as crazy about science as you are.\"


    \"Normally, it''s hard for people to believe in something like that,\" Lin Hao said with a slight frown, \"How are you going to explain it with science? Now, he knows it. Isn''t he a little too not-surprised? Is he planning on something secretly?\"


    In terms of safety, Lin Hao believed it was dangerous for anyone to know about it. Some people might want to use that against Lin Qiao and her family.


    The man was Wu Chengyue, but still, he wasn''t sure what the man would think after finding out the truth. No one could read his mind. It seemed that he really liked Lin Qiao, but who knew if he would change his mind because of the truth that he just found out?


    Perhaps, he never liked Lin Qiao''s soul. All he liked might only be Lu Tianyu''s body.


    \"I know what you''re worried about. But, I believe him,\" Lin Qiao looked at Lin Hao smilingly. If what Wu Chengyue liked was only her body or Lu Tianyu''s face, she would, of course, not respond to him.


    But last night, he called her Chief Lin. Clearly, he sincerely liked the entire her and not only her body and face. Besides, she was able to see through almost everyone and read their minds. She could accurately sense people''s feelings and thoughts toward her.


    Normally, she wasn''t able to read Wu Chengyue''s mind. However, she could feel his feelings and hear his thoughts while making love with him. If she didn''t feel how sincerely and persistently he loved her, she would not be swayed by his love.


    \"How come you now believe him so firmly! I think you''ve already lost¡­\" Lin Hao looked at her and said with pity. He thought for a moment and then continued, \"Oh no, you''re still the winner! He''s the one who lost first if he truly loves you and is not coming after you merely for the two kids.\"


    \"I can feel his feelings,\" said Lin Qiao determinedly, \"If he stops loving me one day, I''ll let him go. Don''t worry. I, your sister, am not a weak person, alright?\"


    Hearing that, Lin Hao had no choice but to stop talking.


    \"Mom is here,\" Lin Qiao blinked and said to him.


    Lin Hao followed her eyes and saw Mrs. Lin come over, carrying a basket. She stopped moving three meters away and looked at Lin Hao with both surprise and confusion, then turned to Lin Qiao questioningly.


    Lin Qiao walked to her side and nodded, \"Yes, he is Lin Hao.\" Then, she said to Lin Hao, \"Mom asked me why you look so much older than before¡­\"


    Lin Hao didn''t know what to say, so Lin Qiao explained to him, \"Mom only remembers the things from years ago. She hasn''t restored her memory of recent years. I guess she now feels as if she hasn''t seen you for years.\"


    Lin Hao nodded and made a few steps toward Mrs. Lin. The latter quickly stepped backward, also raising a hand to push him.


    Lin Qiao looked at Lin Hao and said, \"Don''t come too close to her. You''re a human being. Your scent will arouse her appetite.\"


    Hearing this, Lin Hao quickly stepped back and asked her, \"Will Mom be able to recollect all her memories?\"


    \"Yes,\" said Lin Qiao, \"Haven''t the others restored their memories slowly?\"


    Lin Hao sighed with relief on realizing that. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao took over the basket from Mrs. Lin''s hands. In the basket were some beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes.


    \"We need to leave. We''re going back to our base today,\" Lin Qiao said to Mrs. Lin, then walked back to Lin Hao with the basket and brought him out.


    Wu Chengyue went downstairs and saw the kids sitting on the couch, playing in different ways. But¡­


    \"Where''s Teng?\" He looked around but didn''t see his son, who had just turned a month old.


    \"Daddy said that he''s out playing with Uncle Lu,\" Lin Xiaolu politely answered the question.


    Hearing that, Wu Chengyue blinked and then nodded smilingly, \"Oh, is he?\"


    At that moment, Cheng Wangxue came out of the kitchen, carrying a plate of stir-fried dried carrot. Seeing Wu Chengyue, she smiled apologetically and said, \"Sorry, I took the liberty to use your kitchen. I thought you wouldn''t get up so early.\"


    While speaking, she looked at Wu Chengyue in a meaningful way.


    \"Hehe¡­ It''s okay¡­ You can use my kitchen,\" said Wu Chengyue. How could he possibly tell her that he was fine even though he didn''t get any sleep last night?


    \"Oh, Lin Feng has left. He said he has work to do,\" Cheng Wangxue added, then turned to the kids and said, \"Xiaolu, bring your little friends over for breakfast.\"


    \"Alright,\" Lin Xiaolu responded immediately, then held the hands of Wu Yueling and Tongtong and brought them to the dining room.

 1058 The Kid Is On the Run

    Wu Chengyue glanced at the door and blinked his eyes. The kid would probably hide for a few days. Wu Chengyue wondered if the boy could escape his mother''s eyes.


    Lu Tianyi brought Teng to where he lived before. Kong Qingming, Lin Wenwen, and Long Qingying were standing by his side.


    Kong Qingming managed to keep the apartment where Lu Tianyi lived after he was declared dead by the other Sea City Base people. He was an official of the base. Normally speaking, his apartment would be reassigned after he died. After all, the apartment belonged to the base and not him.


    \"So, what are you doing here?\" Lu Tianyi looked at the familiar door. He hadn''t come back here for quite a while. Then, he abruptly turned to Lin Wenwen and asked her a question.


    Lin Wenwen turned and glanced at Long Qingying, then at Kong Qingming. \"I need to keep Teng safe. How can I let you take him away alone?\" she said, \"Also, isn''t this place a little too close to his parents?\"


    \"Your mother can easily smell you!\" She turned to Teng and said gleefully.


    Teng wore a serious look on his little face. He didn''t respond to Lin Wenwen, but held Lu Tianyi''s neck tightly, worried that his aunty might take him away from Lu Tianyi''s hands and tickle him to death. He had enough of his weird aunty''s awful hobby!


    Kong Qingming took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open and showing the room to the others.


    \"How long has it been since you cleaned up here? The room is dusty,\" Lu Tianyi went in and looked around before complaining to Kong Qingming.


    \"Is it my fault? Is this my apartment? I kept it for you, but instead of thanking me, you are complaining to me!\" Kong Qingming snorted coldly and gave him a sideways glance with the pair of slender eyes.


    \"I''m sorry, I''m sorry! Thank you, Mr. Kong!\" Lu Tianyi immediately wore a smiling face and said to him.


    Seeing that fake smile on his face, Kong Qingming rolled his eyes and said, \"We were in the Lake Tai area in the past few months. We came back yesterday and went straight to Chief''s. How on earth do you expect me to make time to clean your apartment?\"


    Lin Wenwen held Long Qingying''s hand and brought her into the room. Long Qingying had a frosty look on her face. A strong vibe was radiating from her body, affecting everyone else in the room.


    Last night, she planned to head back to her own base together with Lin Wenwen and the others. However, Kong Qingming blocked her way before she even exited Sea City Base. He didn''t say anything but aggressively dragged her away from the crowd, leaving the other All Beings Base people smiling a meaningful smile and watching them leave.


    Lin Wenwen followed Long Qingying behind Long Qingying as the latter was taken away by Kong Qingming.


    So, in the morning before dawn, Lu Tianyi sneakily brought Teng out of Wu Chengyue''s place and showed up in Kong Qingming''s place. He woke Kong Qingming up from his warm bed, and Long Qingying, who was trapped in that bed for a whole night.


    As the three of them left Kong Qingming''s place together and went upstairs, they saw Lin Wenwen sitting on the stairs. Kong Qingming and Lu Tianyi lived in the same building. Their apartments were located on different floors.


    Lu Tianyi carried Teng and stood in the middle of the living room and watched Kong Qingming open the balcony door and the window to let the fresh air come in.


    As the door was closed, Teng started talking, \"We''ve gotten the drug that Huaxia Base developed. The drug can remove our scents. So, I don''t think my Mom will smell me. She might sense Uncle Lu''s vibe though.\"


    \"Go and clean your room. I''ll hold Teng,\" Lin Wenwen quickly moved toward Lu Tianyi and attempted to take Teng over.


    \"No, I want Aunty Long to hold me!\" Teng turned his little face and reached his arms toward Long Qingying, who was giving out a very cold vibe. Seeing the little boy, she slightly relaxed her tightened face and walked over, holding Teng in her arms before walking toward the balcony.


    The apartment was being cleaned, and dust drifted everywhere. As his hands were freed, Lu Tianyi picked up a piece of rag and started to wipe his furniture.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao came out of her space to find that the scents of Teng and Lu Tianyi were gone. She immediately figured out what happened, so she said through clenched teeth, \"The kid ran fast!\"


    After saying that, she went downstairs into her room to get changed, leaving Lin Hao going down to the living room alone, smiling.


    He knew that Lin Qiao was talking about Teng. The scents of that boy and Lu Tianyi had disappeared from the building. It seemed that they ran away last night.


    \"Hao, you''re up! Come here and have some breakfast.\" Cheng Wangxue called out on seeing him.


    \"Oh!\" Lin Hao paused briefly, then responded to her and walked toward the dining room.


    \"I think our Chief is going to leave in the afternoon. Wu, aren''t you gonna try to make her stay?\" Lin Hao sat down and picked up the chopsticks as he said to Wu Chengyue.


    \"No. She has work to do. I''m going to be busy too,\" Wu Chengyue put some leftovers from last night into his mouth, then picked up his bowl and took a sip of the porridge. After that, he answered the question.


    \"There''re a lot of work to do indeed! I heard that Li Zhengye is playing some tricks again. He just can''t let the world be peaceful. And Huaxia Base, they should be up to something too. They''ve been strangely quiet recently. How come these two bases are now like each other''s past statuses?\" Lin Hao put some food into his bowl while speaking. He was a doctor who rarely took a part in the administrative works of the base. But, he still knew everything that he should know.


    \"I guess Huaxia people are up to something big. They''ve been keeping their plan perfectly secret,\" Wu Chengyue gave a small smile as he put some food in Wu Yueling''s small bowl, then said to her, \"You have to eat some meat too.\"


    Some children liked meat and hated vegetables. Unlike them, Wu Yueling only liked vegetables.


    By the time Lin Qiao came downstairs, the others were still having breakfast. She said morning to Cheng Wangxue and the kids, then sat down on the couch amd picked up the stone that Leng Xuantong gave her. She prepared to wait until the others finished breakfast and then head back to All Being Base together with them.


    \"You don''t seem angry. Aren''t you gonna find that naughty boy and make him pay for what he has done?\" Before leaving, Lin Hao looked at Lin Qiao with surprise and asked.


    \"I don''t have time for that,\" Lin Qiao answered his question expressionlessly. If the boy was right in front of her, she would, of course, twist his ears and give him a good lesson. However, the boy wasn''t there, and she didn''t want to bother to look for him.


    The kid was with Lu Tianyi, meaning that he was with Kong Qingming too. Kong Qingming would certainly make Long Qingying stay with him. As Long Qingying was there, her sister, Lin Wenwen, would be there too. She had also sent a bunch of bodyguards after them in secret. So, the boy would be safe.


    And so, Lin Qiao got into the car and headed straight back to All Beings Base, leaving her son, who had thrown her into a trap last night, in Sea City Base.

 1059 She Is My Sister

    Lin Kui returned to All Beings Base the previous night. He stayed in his room for the night and sorted the pile of zombie nuclei he had, putting them in different bags according to their power level. Then, he put quite some level four or five, and a few level-six ones into another bag. The next morning, he put on some comfortable clothes and walked out with a bag.


    Downstairs, he raised his eyes and looked at the sun which had risen not long ago. He put on sunglasses and got into his car, then drove to Base Number One from Base Number Two.


    Qiu Lili, who was sitting on the edge of a roof with nothing to do, immediately noticed his movement. She watched him drive toward Base Number One and thought for a moment, then leaped on top of the other building and followed behind his car with curiosity.


    ''We have no missions today. Where''s the big cat going? Lin Qiao is coming back soon. He shouldn''t leave now,'' she thought.


    About ten minutes later, Qiu Lili saw Lin Kui park his car before an apartment building for human beings from a distance away. That was a commoner residential area. She had no idea what he was doing there.


    Lin Kui parked the car and came out, then walked into the building while holding a bag. Qiu Lili immediately landed on top of a building nearby. Seeing Lin Kui enter the building, she landed on the ground and followed him inside.


    At the first turn on the stairs, she saw Lin Kui standing there, looking at her. \"What are you doing here?\"


    \"What are you doing here?\" Qiu Lili looked around with her large, red eyes. She wasn''t wearing sunglasses because no human beings were nearby.


    \"It has nothing to do with you,\" Lin Kui said blandly.


    \"It''d be weird if it has something to do with me. I surely know it has nothing to do with me¡­\" Qiu Lili looked at him and said.


    Lin Kui didn''t know what to say. She was actually right. ''So, what are you doing here?'' He looked back at her, repeated the question with his eyes.


    \"I¡­ I''m just curious,\" Qiu Lili said, \"It''ll be okay if I follow you, right? I won''t get in your way.\"


    Lin Kui thought for a moment. If he said no, the girl would certainly follow him sneakily. Since she was curious, he decided to take her with him.


    With that thought, he turned and walked upstairs.


    \"Why don''t you take the elevator?\" Qiu Lili followed him and asked another question.


    \"Because I don''t want to run into anyone else,\" Lin Kui moved forward expressionlessly as he answered the question without looking back at her.


    \"Oh¡­ Which floor are we going to?\" Qiu Lili responded and then asked the third question.


    \"The ninth floor,\" Lin Kui turned and kept moving upward.


    The buildings in that area were in good shape. Every building had twelve or thirteen floors, and the elevators were working. Climbing seven or eight floors might exhaust the commoners, but it was nothing for zombies and superpower possessors.


    Soon, Lin Kui and Qiu Lili arrived on the ninth floor, then walked to a door and knocked on it.


    \"Are you here to see someone? Who lives in there?\" Qiu Lili looked at every corner of the door and then couldn''t help but ask. Lin Kui didn''t answer that question but patiently waited for the door to be answered.


    Qiu Lili didn''t mind that Lin Kui ignored her. After observing the door, she started looking around at the hallway and the other doors. She just could not let her eyes rest.


    Before long, a series of light footstep sounds could be heard from behind the door, and then it was opened.


    \"Kui, you''re back!\" Lin Jing wore a happy smile when she saw Lin Kui. She had been living a much better life than before since she moved into All Beings Base. She no longer worried about food and accommodation, and she now had a brother, whom she thought was dead, to rely on. Currently, she looked much healthier than before, not as pale and weak as she used to be.


    Hearing her voice, Qiu Lili quickly turned back, her long ponytails flipping in the air.


    Lin Jing had noticed Qiu Lili, who was standing beside Lin Kui. She paused briefly with surprise when she saw the girl''s red eyes and then guessed something. \"Kui, who is this?\"


    Lin Kui turned and gave Qiu Lili a glance while answering Lin Jing''s question, \"Her name is Qiu Lili.\" After that, he stepped into the door, as if he were pretty familiar with the place.


    Lin Jing and Qiu Lili were left at the door, looking at each other. Lin Jing reacted first as she said with a smile, \"Um¡­ Are you coming in?\"


    Qiu Lili immediately nodded, and also said politely, \"Thank you, nice to meet you!\"


    Then, she followed Lin Kui into the apartment.


    Lin Jing closed the door, then looked at Qiu Lili as she pointed at the couch with a hand and said, \"Please have a seat! These furniture pieces are old. If you don''t find them not good enough¡­\"


    \"It''s okay,\" Qiu Lili instantly responded to her with a sweet smile. She was a clean freak, but she didn''t feel right to show that to the people whom she had just met. Thankfully, Lin Jing''s couch was old but still clean.


    She sat down and started to turn her eyes between Lin Kui and Lin Jing with curiosity. \"Are you two¡­ brother and sister?\" she asked. She observed both of them and then found them looking slightly similar to each other.


    Lin Jing looked at her. As the girl seemed to be waiting for an answer, she said, \"Didn''t Kui tell you about his relationship with me?\"


    The young girl had vividly red eyes, and Lin Jing easily guessed that she was not a human being. She couldn''t tell which level the girl was at though. Of course, she was not afraid of zombies anymore. The zombie girl showed up together with her little brother, so of course, she wasn''t afraid of her.


    Qiu Lili shook her head, then said to Lin Jing, \"No. I followed him here without his permission. You guys look alike.\"


    \"She is my sister,\" Lin Jing said to Qiu Lili. After that, he handed his bag to Lin Jing and said, \"Take these!\"


    \"Why did you bring so many to me again? Don''t you need to keep some for yourself? Don''t you guys need to absorb energy nuclei to upgrade yourselves or maintain your body functions? I don''t need too many¡­\" Lin Jing took over the bag. Feeling the heavy weight of the bag, she said with a bitter face.


    \"Oh, so you''re here to deliver zombie nuclei! Hi, Sister Lin, I like your little brother! Can I be with him?\" Based on Lin Kui''s movement and Lin Jing''s words, she immediately figured out what Lin Kui was there for. So, she asked that question without thinking, then looked at Lin Jing expectantly.


    Lin Kui and Lin Jing were both stunned on hearing what she said¡­


    \"Eh¡­ Eh? Are you saying that you are going to pursue Kui?\" Lin Jing reacted a little quicker than Lin Kui did as she looked at Qiu Lili with surprise and asked her.


    Qiu Lili nodded deeply.


    At that moment, Lin Kui was still looking at Qiu Lili in a state of shock.


    The surprised look in Lin Jing''s eyes made Qiu Lili feel a little embarrassed. She slightly dropped her head, then turned her eyes from side to side without daring to look at Lin Jing. Meanwhile, she replied, \"Hmm¡­ Yeah¡­ because I like big cats¡­ And¡­ And¡­\"


    She didn''t finish her speech, but Lin Jing discovered something from the look on the girl''s face.

 1060 The Person From Green Mountain Base

    Lin Jing looked at Lin Kui and asked him a question with a meaningful smile, \"Is this your girlfriend?\"


    \"Ah? Eh¡­ No! I¡­\" Lin Kui finally came back to his senses as he looked at his sister with surprise and stuttered.


    Qiu Lili sprung up from the couch and stepped to Lin Kui''s side, then grabbed an arm of his automatically. She tilted her head and said to Lin Jing, \"No, I''m not his girlfriend. Hmm¡­ I just like him in his cat shape¡­ Oh, no, I don''t hate his human shape¡­\"


    She felt that Lin Jing had misunderstood what she said earlier. She tried to explain, but didn''t know how. She didn''t even know how she actually felt. Therefore, she started to stutter.


    \"Oh, I see! Alright, I get it!\" Lin Jing smiled gently as she watched the girl hold Lin Kui''s arm.


    Lin Kui didn''t expect Qiu Lili to be so straightforward. He was startled, but he was somehow slightly delighted too. He didn''t wear it on his face, but as he turned to look at Qiu Lili, a trace of happiness escaped his eyes.


    Lin Jing had been observing the two of them all the time. Noticing the look in her brother''s eyes. she curved her lip corners in a bigger smile.


    \"Alright, you guys sit here. I''ll make some breakfast, and then you two can keep me company when I eat,\" Lin Jing waved at the two and then went into her bedroom, putting down what Lin Kui gave her. After that, she came out and went into the kitchen.


    Lin Kui asked Shen Yujen to accommodate his sister. Some of the others saw Lin Jing merely as a weak commoner who should have no right to live in the one-bedroom apartment. But, the people who were relatively close to her all knew that she had a brother who was mysterious and powerful. The security guys in the building were especially protective of Lin Jing. The people who attempted to dig out Lin Jing''s background had all been warned by them.


    Hearing what Lin Jing said, Lin Kui and Qiu Lili glanced at each other automatically. Only after that did Qiu Lili realize how close she was to him at the moment. She immediately let go of his arm as if hit by an electric current. Then, she stepped back to the couch and sat down.


    Neither could Lin Kui nor Qiu Lili eat human food, so they sat there and watched while Lin Jing was having her breakfast.


    \"So, you like cats. Zombie cats like Kui are rarely seen indeed! Most of the zombies have metal power, fire power, water power, and earth power. I think the ones who can turn into animals are special.\" Thinking about what Qiu Lili said earlier, Lin Jing said to her while drinking the sour and spicy soup and picking pancakes with her chopsticks.


    Qiu Lili only smiled shyly in response.


    \"How long have you two known each other?\" Lin Jing asked another question.


    \"Not long,\" Qiu Lili said, \"We officially met each other a few days ago. Before that, we had only heard each other''s name and sensed each other''s presence.\"


    She hardly talked to Lin Kui before. After all, Lin Kui had a very weak sense of presence. He often disappeared without a trace. If those underground creatures didn''t attack a few days ago, she wouldn''t know that the zombie guy was actually able to turn into a huge cat!


    \"Oh, I see!\" Lin Jing said. ''Their relationship developed fast,'' she thought as she smiled and gave Lin Kui a glance. The latter stayed silent as he listened to the two girls talk to each other.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao returned to the base and first sorted the files that Xie Dong gave her, then headed to Base Number One to meet the person from Green Mountain Base.


    A round-faced girl walked in, whom Lin Qiao had seen once before. She came to All Being Base to recommend an anti-zombie drug the last time.


    \"Are you alone? Are you here to see your zombies?\" Lin Qiao sat in the armchair in her office and leaned against the back of the chair as she looked at Ye Yingyue and asked. The latter sat on the couch nearby, wearing an embarrassed look on her doll face. \"Eh, not exactly. I came here mainly to tell you about one thing, and also to check on our zombies.\"


    \"Oh!\" Lin Qiao looked at her curiously, \"What''s so important that Lan Lu sent you all the way here alone to tell me about it?\"


    \"It''s¡­ Um, we have¡­ accidentally¡­ let someone from Sky Fire Base know about your zombie nature. We''re not sure if they believe in it or not though. We''ve tried to cover it and make them believe what they heard isn''t real,\" Ye Yingyue looked at Lin Qiao. She seemed to be a little frightened, maybe because she was feeling guilty. After all, the secret was leaked from her base by Lan Lu, one of the few who were responsible for the base.


    A cold and fierce look flashed across Lin Qiao''s eyes once she heard Ye Yingyue''s words. She looked at the latter expressionlessly and said to her in a peaceful tone, \"Are you saying that Sky Fire Base people have learned from you about the fact that I am a zombie?\"


    Ye Yingyue said that her people had tried to cover the truth, but the enemies had already found out about it. No matter if the truth could be covered or not, the enemies already had doubts. Since they had doubts, they would certainly find a way to the truth.


    She knew that both Sky Fire Base and Huaxia Base had their eyes on Green Mountain Base currently. Therefore, she was not surprised to hear that Lan Lu had leaked her secret. But still, she was unhappy about it.


    Under Lin Qiao''s gaze, Ye Yingyue sensed an invisible but strong vibe coming straight at her, making her feel suffocated.


    \"Hmm, yeah!\" She managed to nod.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes away and stayed silent for a few seconds, then asked, \"When?\"


    As Lin Qiao turned her eyes away, Ye Yingyue sighed with relief and then answered her question, \"Half a month ago. The one who heard the secret is not weak. He made a trip back to Sky Fire Base after he heard about it.\"


    That person was, of course, not weak. After all, he managed to approach Lan Lu, who was a level-eight spirit-power possessor, without being noticed by him.


    Lin Qiao blinked and said, \"Did that person bring any other news back to Sky Fire Base? What do you know about him?\"


    Hearing that, Ye Yingyue slightly dropped her head to think and said, \"That guy¡­ We haven''t found out anything about him. He is very mysterious! All we know is that he''s from Sky Fire Base¡­ We don''t know if he brought any other news back to his base. But, something did happen a while ago. I think it had something to do with him. Some superpower possessors from our base went missing, along with some of the people that Huaxia Base sent to spy on us.\"


    She furrowed her brows slightly and then continued, \"The bodies of those people were found in a few places. Those corpses were a little strange. Also, some traces of Sky Fire Base people were found in those places.\"


    \"Strange? How?\" Lin Qiao immediately asked.

 1061 Sky Fire Bases Experimen

    \"They were injected with a drug that contained the zombie virus. The skin of the corpses was purple, and they showed some features of zombies. However, those people were dead for sure. Their heads weren''t damaged. It seemed as if they died because their transformation from humans to zombies failed,\" Ye Yingyue told Lin Qiao about what happened and what she saw.


    Lin Qiao folded her arms before her chest and raised one hand to gently pinch her own chin with her thumb and forefinger while dropping her eyelids to think.


    Was that the secret the mysterious man brought to Li Zhengye?


    \"Are they all dead?\" Lin Qiao asked.


    \"Some of them are still missing. We don''t know if they died or not,\" Ye Yingyue shook her head and said.


    \"So¡­ Someone took them away, then their corpses were found together, showing some features of zombies. Did someone do a zombie experiment on them?\" Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said.


    \"We don''t know. Currently, my boss is still trying to find out the truth and the man''s purpose. We don''t know if it''s like what you said,\" Ye Yingyue shook her head again and said uncertainly.


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows but didn''t say anything, and the office fell into silence. A few seconds later, she said, \"Alright, I get it! I''ll have someone guide you to your zombies, since you said that you''d like to take a look at them. Yujen, take Miss Ye to the guys from Green Mountain Base.\"


    \"Yes, ma''am! Miss Ye, please come with me!\" Shen Yujen came in and said to Ye Yingyue with a smile.


    \"Okay, thank you!\" Ye Yingyue quickly stood up and nodded at Lin Qiao, then turned and followed Shen Yujen out of the office.


    Lin Qiao sat on the couch and thought about what Ye Yingyue said, as well as the news that Xie Dong brought back from Sky Fire Base.


    Recently, Li Zhengye was secretly capturing superpower possessors from his own base too. According to Ye Yingyue, some people from Green Mountain Base and Huaxia Base went missing and then were found dead. They seemed to have turned into zombies, but their cause of death was not damage to their heads. By putting all the clues together, Lin Qiao could totally guess what Sky Fire Base was up to.


    Turning human superpower possessors into zombies? For what?


    Sky Fire Base people might have found out about her zombie nature, so she needed to make a move as soon as possible to solve that problem. However, All Beings Base was now threatened by those dangerous underground creatures. Without solving that first, she could not leave her base to attack Sky Fire Base.


    Sky Fire Base people might have already found out the truth about Lin Qiao, but they seemed to be making no movements.


    Lin Qiao measured the two different kinds of threats and then decided to solve the nearest problem first. As for the truth about her nature, the enemies were only suspecting it. They hadn''t confirmed the message yet. So, Li Zhengye would send his people to All Being Base next to find out if what he heard was true, meaning that the situation for Lin Qiao would not be urgent.


    With that thought, she immediately stood up and walked out of the office, returningto Base Number Two together with Duan Juan.


    By using her vibe, she summoned Xie Dong to her office in Base Number Two and said, \"Keep a closer eye on Li Zhengye. One, he might have started to suspect that I am a zombie, and second, he''s secretly capturing superpower possessors to do some kind of zombie experiments.\"


    \"Yes, ma''am!\" Xie Dong wrote it down on a small notebook and nodded.


    Next, Lin Qiao had a meeting with Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing, talking about the underground creature problem and also telling them about her plan for the next step, as well as her future schedule.


    \"Are you going down to the hole to capture them? Will it be dangerous?\" Lin Feng asked with a serious look.


    \"I need to get down there to find out. I''ll go alone. I have invisibility and a space. I will be able to escape any dangerous situation that arises,\" said Lin Qiao.


    \"I wonder if the stones that they brought back can suppress those underground creatures,\" Yuan Tianxing rested his elbows on the table and crossed his fingers as he said with a frown.


    \"The energy in the stone is similar with the energy of those underground creatures. I don''t know if the stones can weaken those creatures or not. We have to give it a try to find out,\" Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    After the meaning, Lin Qiao headed alone to the area which had been occupied by underground creatures.


    ¡­


    In a building inside Sky Fire Base, the third floor underground was strictly guarded. The space there wasn''t large. Near the elevator was a two-hundred-meter square lab. The walls of the lab were made from frosted glass, so the things in the lab couldn''t be seen. Through the glass, people could only see some blurry images. Some people in white coats were moving inside the lab.


    On both sides of the lab were two hallways. On the other side of each hallway were some closed doors and windows. People could look into the room through the windows.


    \"How''s number three doing?\" In the lab, Li Zhengye was wearing a white coat, a facial mask, and a pair of gloves. He was holding a notebook and reading whatever was on it while asking the question to the man beside him.


    \"Number three has fallen into unconsciousness, but¡­ his vital signs aren''t gone for good yet.\" The man said to him with fright, not daring to look straight at Li Zhengye.


    \"How''s the infection?\" Li Zhengye frowned and asked.


    \"His muscles have gone stiff, and his blood has¡­ stopped flowing. The virus is detected from his fingers and gums. He''s showing no obvious zombie features yet, but in fact, he has already turned into a zombie,\" the man said.


    \"Keep injecting drug number four and ten. Keep a close eye on these people. Don''t let them run,\" Li Zhengye put the notebook on a table while speaking.


    \"Yes¡­ yes, sir!\" The man quickly nodded and responded with great respect.


    Only after watching Li Zhengye turn and walk out of the door of the lab did the man sigh with relief. Soon, some noises were heard from the elevator. After that, the people in the lab, who earlier tried so hard to keep themselves from being noticed by Li Zhengye, started talking.


    \"Who on earth got Li Zhengye that thing? This is murder!\"


    \"Shh! Keep your voice down. We''d all be dead if someone told Li Zhengye what you just said.\"


    \"Yeah, mind your language!\"


    \"Director, we haven''t gotten rid of the failed samples yet. How are we supposed to deal with them?\"


    The director, who talked to Li Zhengye earlier, stayed silent. The look on his face now was a little different from before. At the moment, he dropped his eyes immediately which glowed with a dim light. No one knew what he was thinking.


    \"Director?\" As he didn''t respond, his assistant called him again.


    \"These could all become evidence. Don''t throw them out of the base. Find a place that no one knows about and hide those corpses there. Find someone with ice power and then ask that person to freeze all those corpses,\" said the director.


    \"Will there be an accident? What if those dead people come back to life? Should we put a bullet into their heads in advance?\" said the assistant with hesitation.


    \"No, do as I said!\"


    \"Alright!\"

 1062 Go into the Cave

    The assistant turned and left the lab, walking to the elevator and opening a door nearby. Behind the door was a staircase, with another space downstairs. As same as the lab floor, there was a hallway with doors on both sides, without any other lab though.


    These hallways were also guarded by quite some armed soldiers.


    "I need a few men." The assistant went downstairs and said to the soldiers in the hallway. The soldiers glanced at each other. At last, the few soldiers near the stair stepped out and moved toward the man.


    The assistant thought for a moment and then said to one of them, "You, go out through the back door and prepare a medium-sized van, then wait inside."


    "Yes, sir!" The soldier responded, then turned and walked into the elevator.


    "I need more men," The assistant looked at the rest of the soldiers as he shook his head and said. The soldiers glanced at each other again, and five men stepped out.


    The assistant looked at them, waving as he said, "Follow me."


    Then, he turned and went further downstairs. He brought the nine soldiers to the third floor underground and turned right, then walked to the end of the hallway and opened a door. Behind the door was another staircase. It was smaller than the last staircase and made from cement, dimly illuminated.


    Down the stairs was a door, behind which was a sealed room. Once the door was opened, cold air gushed out of the room. Tens of human-sized objects sealed in plastic bags were placed on the floor in rows.


    "Carry these out of here. Go through the back door," The assistant pointed at the things on the floor and said to the soldiers. The soldiers had guessed out what their temporary mission was once they came downstairs. Of course, they didn''t say anything, but wore their guns on their shoulders and started lifting.


    ¡­


    At noontime, Lin Qiao drove to where Yun Meng''s troops were stationed. The latter sensed her presence before she arrived at the camp and landed on top of the car when it was still hundreds of meters away from the base.


    Lin Qiao parked and stuck her head out of the window to look at Yun Meng.


    "You''re here!" Yun Meng leaped off the car roof.


    "Are they making any movements lately?" Lin Qiao looked at her and asked.


    "No. They seem to have hidden back underground," Yun Meng pressed her lips together and then said helplessly.


    "Where is the nearest cave entrance?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "Over there, five or six miles from here," Yun Meng pointed at one direction.


    "Show me!" Lin Qiao instantly shrank back into the car.


    "Okay," Yun Meng walked to the other side of the car and sat into the front seat, then said, "Are you going to search for clues about those creatures?"


    While driving, Lin Qiao turned to Yun Meng as she nodded and said, "Kind of. I also need to catch a few of them alive and bring them back to the base for experiments."


    "Alive? Can we manage to cage them?" Yun Meng wasn''t sure.


    After all, those creatures were able to break any kind of metal with their claws. Yun Meng had no idea how Lin Qiao was supposed to lock those creatures up after she brought them back to the base.


    "I''ll first catch a few of them and then figure it out. I''ll pick some weak ones as I will be able to keep them under control," said Lin Qiao.


    She did not know what could possibly lock those creatures up, because she hadn''t caught any of them yet. Things would be a lot less troublesome if she had something to limit their movements. She had to catch them first, so she could figure out how to cage them. She could simply throw them into the woods in her space anyway. Those creatures would never be able to run away from there.


    Soon, Lin Qiao sensed the earthy smell. She put the car into her space, then walked toward the entrance. Yun Meng followed behind her while looking around.


    Before the entrance was a square. The entrance was located in the parking lot next to the square. It was large, ten or twenty meters wide and long. A strong, earthy smell could be sensed from it.


    "Pay attention to the area and wait for me to come out," Lin Qiao said to Yun Meng, then turned herself invisible and jumped into the cave.


    There was no light in the cave, and a slope led from the entrance into the cave. The further down one went, the darker it got.


    Of course, Lin Qiao''s zombie eyes could still see everything clearly. The path that led from the entrance to the cave wasn''t small. It was three meters tall and five meters wide at least. Although, the level-eight underground gorilla would be able to come out through the path only by bending its body.


    From the entrance, a forty-five-degree incline led straight into the cave. Lin Qiao moved downward, still moving downstairs when the light was completely gone. She kept moving for about ten minutes after which the ground under her feet finally became flat.


    In the flat area was a large, round-shaped room, and above it was a dome. Surrounding the room were five to six different sized tunnels, one of them being as large as the one that Lin Qiao entered through.


    Lin Qiao figured the large tunnel was for the level-eight creature exclusively.


    She thought for a moment and then bent over, walking into a relatively small tunnel. The entrance of the tunnel was only about a meter and thirty centimeters tall. Thankfully, she didn''t need to crawl in. All she needed to do was to bend her body slightly.


    The tunnel was dry while the wall was rough, but not moist. A strong earthy smell existed in the cave, but mainly left by those creatures.


    Lin Qiao walked further in and found the tunnel to be crooked. It took her twenty minutes to walk to the end of it. At the end of the tunnel was no other tunnel. Instead, there was a hole she needed to jump in.


    Lin Qiao squatted by the hole and looked down, but couldn''t see how deep it was. She thought for a moment and then popped her claws before jumping in. She inserted her claws into the cave wall to slow herself down, which left a few deep cuts and stirred up a puff of dust.


    Puff! Before long, she landed on the flat ground and dusted off her hands and body, then started to observe the bottom of the hole. The air temperature at the bottom was much lower than the top. At the bottom, a tunnel that looked similar to the ones up there extended to an unknown area.


    No other smell except the earthy scent from those underground creatures could be sensed. It was all quiet, with no sounds to be heard.


    Lin Qiao walked further forward through the tunnel, creating light footstep sounds.


    ¡­


    Back in Sea City Base, neither Teng nor Lu Tianyi sensed Lin Qiao''s departure. At noontime, Lu Tianyi stood on the balcony and carefully sensed the surrounding vibes to find that Lin Qiao''s vibe no longer existed in Wu Chengyue''s house. As a matter of fact, her vibe could no longer be detected from the entire base.


    "Your Mom has left. Have you felt that?" He went back into the living room and said to Teng. The latter glanced at him and said happily, "She left? Great! Bring me back to Daddy''s then."


    "Why do you want to go back to your Daddy''s? Isn''t my place good enough for you?" Lu Tianyi looked at him and said.


    Teng immediately rolled his eyes and responded, "No. Your food tastes awful."


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say.

 1063 The Stink Large Hole

    Lu Tianyi was not good at cooking, but he believed that his food was not terrible. Besides, the boy had no teeth. What could he possibly eat? He made some plain porridge for the lunch that was slightly salty. He spent a long time boiling it slowly, yet, the boy still complained about it!


    "Daddy''s food has a milky aroma. He also makes delicious soup for me. How can you feed me only plain porridge? I am growing, okay?" Teng gave him a glare.


    So, under Teng''s complaints, Lu Tianyi sent him back to Wu Chengyue''s place. After that, he figured that the whole thing was no longer related to him. So, he planned to take a few days off and then go back to All Beings Base.


    But in the end, Kong Qingming made him work.


    "Well, you gave all your work to me. What are YOU gonna do then?" Looking at the large stack of files on the desk, Lu Tianyi asked Kong Qingming with confusion.


    "I''m going after Qingying," Kong Qingming made himself sound very reasonable.


    Long Qingying and Lin Wenwen headed back to All Beings Base after lunch. Kong Qingming wanted very much to ask her to stay, but he was aware that he should not go too far. After all, he trapped her in his bed the whole night last night. So, without any other choice, he let the two girls leave.


    He decided to follow her to All Being Base, but he had so much work to do. Therefore, he made Lu Tianyi do his work, leaving the latter speechless.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao spent quite a while waking in the tunnel, only to find another circular room. It was similar to the last one she found, about ten meters wide and tall.


    The room was surrounded by over ten tunnel entrances; the large ones were about five-meters tall while the small ones around one or two meters. She walked past those entrances one after another and sensed the scents coming from them. Some scents were fresh, and others were faint.


    One of those entrances gave out very special scents. A strong blood scent and stench was sensed from that entrance. Lin Qiao knew what the source of those smells was; those were probably rotten dead bodies. It was not normal, though, as the scents were too strong.


    Lin Qiao thought for a second and glanced at the other entrances. She had no idea how long it would take to walk to the end of any of those tunnels. She had spent about three hours walking, and had gone pretty deep underground. But still, she hadn''t seen even one underground creature.


    Those creatures were hiding deep.


    So, she walked into the stinky tunnel. The further in, the smellier it was. Lin Qiao couldn''t help but cover her nose, as the scents were too heavy. Her sense of smell was especially great. Therefore, some strong smells could affect her badly.


    The tunnel wasn''t large, but it wasn''t small either. Compared to other tunnels, it was a medium-sized one, about two meters tall and one and a half meters wide. Lin Qiao did not need to bend her body in it.


    Those underground creatures had dug so many tunnels underground. Lin Qiao wondered if the entire underground cave would collapse in the event of an earthquake.


    After half an hour of walking, the smell grew stronger, causing Lin Qiao to cover her nose tight. Thankfully, she did not need to breathe. It was pitch dark in the tunnel, and what Lin Qiao saw was a black and white scene. Anyhow, she couldn''t see more than ten meters in front of her.


    At the end of the tunnel was another larger hole, over ten meters wide. The rotten corpses'' stench rose from the hole wave by wave.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and looked down, with some kind of dark energy existing within. The hole was so deep that she could not see the bottom, but she was sure that nothing good would be there.


    At that moment, she heard some noises coming from a distance away behind her. Then, she sensed the earthy and bloody scent coming closer and closer.


    She leaned against the cave wall and looked into the tunnel. A short while later, she saw two two-meters-tall underground creatures drag something over.


    As the two creatures came close enough, she saw the thing in their hands clearly¡ªthose were four dead mutated dogs. The dogs were almost eaten up, and only the bones remained. The bones were covered in blood and some flesh remnants that hadn''t fallen apart yet. However, the heads were undamaged; it seemed that those creatures didn''t eat heads.


    Clearly, the two dead dogs were their food, and they were there to dump the food waste.


    The two underground creatures had a dead dog in each hand, each of different sizes. The largest one was as big as Tibetan mastiff and the smallest one was only as big as a Husky.


    Lin Qiao watched the two underground creatures drag the four dead dogs to the edge of the hole and then swing their arms to throw the dogs into the hole. After that, they licked their claws as they turned and headed back.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao suddenly made a move. She grabbed an underground creature with each hand and then threw both of them into the woods in her space.


    "Roar!" Being thrown into a totally strange place, the two underground gorillas immediately panicked and burst in growls. Lin Qiao didn''t pay attention to them, but turned and exited her space.


    Another two underground creatures were coming, also dragging some dead mutated animals. This time, those dead animals weren''t mutated dogs, but mutated cats and rats.


    "Err?" Before approaching the hole, the two creatures gave out some weird sounds. Then, they walked to the hole and looked around, seemingly looking for something. Lin Qiao guessed they were looking for the two creatures that had been thrown into her space.


    She had probably misstepped. She could not let the two discover anything wrong. Otherwise, they might warn the others, in which case she would be in trouble.


    With that thought, Lin Qiao immediately threw the two underground gorillas, who hadn''t thrown their food waste into the hole, into her space. Then, she came out and kicked the dead animals into the hole before waiting for the other underground gorillas.


    The four weren''t the only ones who came to dump garbage. Lin Qiao had sensed some more behind them. It was a good thing though, as she planned to catch every single one of those underground creatures who showed up in her sight.


    At that time, a three-meters-tall underground creature was standing near the tunnel entrance that Lin Qiao just went in, watching its subordinates drag food waste into the tunnel in groups of two. But soon, it turned toward the tunnel questioningly.


    The few who had entered the tunnel should have returned already. Why hadn''t they come out yet? Were they loafing on the job?


    Even after all of its subordinates went into the tunnel with the remains of mutated animals, none of them came back out.

 1064 Caught A Team

    If the three-meters-tall underground gorilla had eyes, its eyes would certainly be filled with question marks at the moment. However, it did not have eyes, and just its movements showed how confused it was. It leaned its head toward the tunnel entrance and sniffed around, then finally stepped into the tunnel.


    By the edge of the hole, Lin Qiao kicked the last dead animal into the hole, then turned and walked back.


    Sixteen underground gorillas brought thirty dead mutated animals, including dogs, cats, rats, snakes, pigs, birds, and some weird creatures that she had never seen before.


    Lin Qiao had indeed caught sixteen underground creatures. Her mission was accomplished, but she didn''t plan to go home so soon. She wanted to find out how those creatures lived underground. Perhaps, she would have some other discoveries.


    As she prepared to walk out of the tunnel, she sensed the vibe of another underground creature.


    Another one? The creature''s vibe was much stronger than the vibes of the ones that had been thrown into Lin Qiao''s space. It was clearly at a higher level.


    Lin Qiao might not be able to cage the relatively stronger one, so she decided to kill it.


    After making the decision, she began moving forward slowly. She was invisible, and those creatures didn''t seem to be able to sense her presence or smell her. Earlier, the sixteen underground creatures made no reaction to her at all.


    She could feel those underground gorillas running around in her woods. No matter how they tried, they could not leave the woods. Meanwhile, the higher-leveled underground gorilla came closer and closer. Lin Qiao saw it bend its waist and lower its head, then prop its upper body with its strong arms. It was much larger than the sixteen that she had caught.


    Judging by its vibe, the underground creature was as strong as level-four mutated animals. Meanwhile, the ones that she had caught were only at level-two.


    The creature''s body had almost completely blocked the entrance of the tunnel. There was no space left for Lin Qiao to slip through. Therefore, when she approached the creature, she swiftly reached out a hand to grab its arm and then brought it into her space.


    "Roar¡­" Sensing some strange scents coming from the surrounding area, the level-four creature turned around and then roared out loud in a panic.


    The level-two underground creatures which had been darting about in the woods heard their boss and responded to it immediately.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Hearing its subordinates, the level-four creature gave a roar in delight. But soon, it became unhappy.


    Lin Qiao stood on a tree near the creature and waved a hand to release a wisp of dark fire. The fire flashed toward the level-four creature and left a thin, long, shaking tail behind. Before the creature could react, the fire drilled into its ear.


    "Roar¡­" The dark fire drilled into the creature''s ear, causing it to immediately suffer a severe headache. It roared in pain and then held its head as it started rolling on the ground. While rolling, it scratched its head with its claws. Its eye-less, extremely ugly face was soon covered in blood and wounds.


    The level-four creature''s painful screams made the other underground creatures fall into silence. But soon, the level-four creature stopped struggling and quieted down.


    Its head slowly shrank, and so did its body. Before long, a wisp of dark fire flew out of its head, slightly larger than before. It then started devouring the creature''s head, neck, and upper body.


    The other underground creatures in the woods sensed Lin Qiao''s fire. They didn''t dare to make any sound anymore, as they were afraid that the dangerous fire might come to them.


    The fire devoured the creature and then returned to Lin Qiao with some new energy. The creature was only at level-four, so the energy it had was far from enough for Lin Qiao. Last time, she had devoured ten level-seven creatures to replenish herself. The slight amount of energy that the level-four creature had was nothing for her.


    Lin Qiao flashed out of her space and quickly moved toward the tunnel entrance. She had no idea how long it would take for the other underground creatures to find out that a squad had gone missing. She wasn''t curious about that though, and she soon left the tunnel that led to the junkyard.


    She wondered where the nest of those creatures was.


    Standing in the round-shaped room, she sniffed around and then went into a tunnel, from where she sensed a fresh earthy smell.


    Back on the earth''s surface¡­


    Lin Qiao had been in the underground cave for hours. Except for Yun Meng, her three pets had also been waiting for her at the entrance.


    "Owowowooo¡­" The dog, the snake, and the mushroom, who hadn''t shown up for a while, were now staying at the entrance to the cave, looking inside it. The dog wanted to go in, but the snake didn''t let it.


    Bowwow was lying on the ground with its limbs spread. It let out its tongue as it looked into the hole on the ground excitedly. One of its rear legs was dragged backward by Black''s tail tip, so it wasn''t able to go into the hole.


    Besides the dog, the mushroom planted its roots in the ground and leaned its head forward, seemingly looking inside the hole.


    Yun Meng squatted nearby and rested her chin on her palm, looking at the three. The dog didn''t seem to sense the vibe coming from the hole, but the snake seemed to be afraid of it. It didn''t even let the dog approach the hole. On the side, the mushroom was both curious and vigilant.


    She wondered how Lin Qiao made the three from a group.


    Bowwow didn''t plan to give up even though one of its rear legs was being dragged backward by Black. It moved its forelimbs to try very hard to move forward. It was strong, so its rear leg extended and bit by bit and Black''s tail was dragged forward.


    Black reared up its head, and a look of anger could be detected from its eyes. Suddenly, it dragged Bowwow''s entire body backward and then wrapped itself around its body.


    "Owowow!" The dog made a few rolls on the ground and then was disabled from moving by the snake. Meanwhile, the mushroom made no reaction to what the two had been doing. Yun Meng looked at the zombie dog speechlessly. It shouldn''t have made the snake angry.


    ''See, you can''t move now,'' she said to the dog with her eyes.


    At that moment, the mushroom, that had been leaning its head into the hole, suddenly leaped into the hole.


    "Oi!" Yun Meng didn''t see that coming.


    "Owo?" Bowwow also turned to the hole and looked at the area where the mushroom was standing before.


    Black felt so annoyed. It tried so hard to stop the dog from going in, but it now looked like the effort it had made was completely in vain. After all, it had thought the mushroom didn''t want to go in.

 1065 They Went Down

    Seeing its mushroom friend go down, Bowwow immediately struggled out of Black''s grip and excitedly darted into the hole. As a result, Black was left outside, so it coiled its body and stayed motionless.


    Yun Meng looked at the snake and said to herself, "Oh, those two went down. Isn''t this one going too?"


    Black stayed exactly where it was for about ten seconds. At last, it helplessly crawled toward the hole and wriggled in through the edge.


    Lin Qiao, who had no idea that her three pets had also entered the underground cave as well, was moving forward through the tunnel.


    The ground in the tunnel was inclining again, with a turn up ahead.


    She kept moving forward for about ten minutes when she abruptly saw an enormous space before her. She couldn''t see things far away; all she could see was the end of the road under her feet. She raised her head and couldn''t see the top of the space or the bottom. She couldn''t see what was on the other side of the space either. She looked around and found a two-meters-wide passage on both sides. Every three of four meters on the side of the passage was a hole.


    A very strong scent of those underground creatures could be sensed there. Clearly, that space was not another junkyard.


    Lin Qiao moved right toward the hole about three or four meters away. She thought it was the entrance of another tunnel, leading from somewhere else to here.


    Unexpectedly, it was not a tunnel, but a cave. It was a small one, about two meters tall and around four or five meters squared. A thick pile of hides existed in the innermost corner of the cave with a dent in the middle, as if something often lay upon it.


    Was that a bedroom? A bad smell could be sensed from the pile of hides.


    Lin Qiao walked into the room and looked around with curiosity. But, nothing was found there except for those hides.


    With no discovery, she stepped out and kept moving forward. At about five meters away, she found another cave which was also like a small bedroom. In that cave was also a pile of hides, coming from unknown animals.


    She moved further and further forward until she returned to the first cave. All the way, she saw many small bedroom-like caves. The ceiling of those ''bedrooms'' was all earth. She stood at the edge of the passage and looked up and down, finding more similar caves.


    She had made a circle in the space, but didn''t see any underground creatures. Where had they all been?


    She headed back through the tunnel that she came from. She walked downhill when she came, so she, of course, needed to go uphill to go back. Through the tunnel, she returned to the round room and looked around, then walked into another tunnel.


    This time, she reached a fork after a short walk.


    Lin Qiao sniffed around before the fork and then chose a way, from which she sensed a relatively heavy underground creature scent. Soon, she reached another fork and felt as if she was in a maze. She had no idea what was in front of her.


    She sensed the scent of the underground creatures from both the ways, but also sensed another weird scent from one of them. She had no idea what it was. It was weird, not bad but not good either. It was just¡­ weird.


    So, she curiously moved toward the source of the scent. The tunnel was small, so she needed to lower her head slightly, or her head might bump into the top. It didn''t take her long to reach the end of the tunnel. Before her was a pile of earth, halfway dug and seemingly abandoned. She walked forward and gave the area a look.


    It was a dead end; the earth and rocks on the ground hadn''t been cleaned. The whole area was left messy, and on the surrounding cave wall were a series of disordered claw marks.


    Clearly, it was an undone, abandoned tunnel. Perhaps, they stopped digging and then moved backward to dig the other tunnel.


    The three who came down without permission had now been moving in the cave as well. The mushroom was exploring the way while Bowwow was sniffing around. It sensed the scent that Lin Qiao left in the air and followed it.


    Bowwow became much quieter than before since he came down into the cave. It was still darting around excitedly, but it was quiet now at least. Black followed behind the two, vigilantly sensing the vibes coming from the front. Soon, the three followed Lin Qiao''s scent to the first round-shaped room.


    The mushroom moved left while Bowwow right as the two checked all the tunnel entrances surrounding the room. At last, Bowwow paused before the tunnel that Lin Qiao went in and let out its tongue as it turned to look at his friends.


    The mushroom reached its tentacles out of its head, poking into the cave wall. Bowwow had no idea what it was doing. As the mushroom didn''t come to him, the dog hopped to it and pushed it toward the entrance of the tunnel with his head.


    Black came over and looked inside the hole, then went in first. After that, Bowwow pushed the mushroom in.


    In the abandoned tunnel, Lin Qiao carefully looked around, trying to figure out why those underground creatures stopped digging that tunnel. There were some rocks in the cave wall cut into pieces. Clearly, it was not the rocks that blocked their way.


    What was it?


    Lin Qiao stayed there quite a while but failed to find anything. At last, she turned and left back to the fork, walking the other way. In that tunnel, the ground was slopping downward by at least fifty degrees. She held the wall as she moved ahead, soon arriving at a large hole.


    Back on the earth surface, Yun Meng mumbled to herself a while after the three disappeared into the underground cave, "Will those three cause a problem down there? Will they hinder Lin Qiao?"


    The answer was¡­


    ''I hope they won''t cause Lin Qiao any trouble,'' Yun Meng thought as she raised her head to look at the sky. It was already getting dark.


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue was sitting in his office, reading some files. Wu Yueling and Teng were sitting on the couch, both reading books. The office was quiet even though two kids were in there. Only the sounds that he made while writing on papers or turning the pages could be heard.


    A short while later, Xiao Licheng showed up at his door and knocked before walking in.

 1066 She Finds An Underground River

    "Chief Lu went down into the underground cave alone," Xiao Licheng told Wu Chengyue about the news he just heard.


    "Em," Wu Chengyue raised his head and gave him a glance. Then, he dropped his head and continued reading the file.


    "Aren''t you gonna say anything?" Xiao Licheng looked at him with confusion.


    "What do you expect me to say?" Wu Chengyue looked at him and asked back.


    Xiao Licheng looked at Wu Chengyue and stayed silent for a few seconds, then said, "You seem to be a little too calm. Aren''t you worried about her?"


    Wu Chengyue said to him, "I think she''s strong enough to protect herself. She won''t die down there. Besides, she has invisibility and a space."


    "Oh¡­" Xiao Licheng paused briefly, then continued, "Well, there might be some kind of accident. After all, it''s those creatures'' nest down there."


    "Alright! Since she has already gone into the cave, she must have had herself prepared," Wu Chengyue responded while reading the file.


    After Xiao Licheng left, he spent another few minutes reading the file, then threw the file on the desk and turned to look at the two little people on the couch. "Do you think I should go down there to take a look too?"


    Teng raised his head and gave his father a glance, then said, "Didn''t you say that she won''t die down there? Why are you worried about her now?"


    Wu Yueling looked at her father with confusion as well as Teng continued, "Besides, you have a lot of work to do now. Do you have the time to go and find her?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at the stack of files on his desk with a bitter face. He thought for a moment, then stood up and said, "I''ll try my best to finish my work here. I''ll go and have a meeting now. You two stay here."


    After saying that, he picked up some files and left. Wu Yueling and Teng watched him walk out of the office door speechlessly.


    In spite of what he said, he was deeply worried about Lin Qiao.


    ¡­


    In the underground cave, Lin Qiao was still moving forward. About half an hour later, she sensed moisture from the air. Once again, the road under her feet ended abruptly. Before her, was a cliff. from under which the sounds of water could be heard.


    Lin Qiao stepped forward and looked down, seeing light reflected by the water. It seemed like an underground river; the point she was standing at was far away from the water.


    She had actually found an underground river! It seemed that she was now deep underground.


    She looked around and then looked up. The rock above her head was corroded by the moisture into a dome. It was quiet down there; no sound except that of water was heard. There was no energy or strange things existing in the water either.


    Lin Qiao looked around and found a hole on the other side, so she walked toward it. But, before she approached the hole, footsteps were heard. She immediately stopped moving and leaned against the wall to take cover, waiting quietly.


    The footstep sounds came closer and closer, sounding disordered and coming from a lot more than one creature.


    "Roar, roar¡­" The roars and breathing sounds of underground creatures could also be heard. Soon, their scent could be sensed as well.


    Lin Qiao then saw some two or three meters tall underground gorillas come out of the hole. They came to the edge of the cliff, then bent over and leaped down into the underground river.


    Plop!


    Plop! Plop! Plop¡­ A series of noises were heard from the karst cave. Countless underground creatures walked out of the hole and then jumped into the river. As a result, the quiet river instantly became noisy.


    Lin Qiao stood at the edge of the cliff and listened to the sounds coming from the river. She could even picture those creatures happily swimming in the water.


    Plop! Plop! More underground creatures jumped into the river as Lin Qiao waited for a while. Hundreds of underground creatures had jumped into the river during that span of time. The clattering water sounds could be heard without an end.


    "Owoo¡­" At that moment, a different sound was heard from a distance away.


    ''That sounds like a dog. How come it sounds a little familiar?'' Lin Qiao wondered.


    "Roar?"


    "Roar?"


    "Roarrrr!"


    The river fell into silence for a second, then waves of roars were heard, not very loud though.


    "Owoooo¡­" At that very moment, another dog bark was heard.


    "Roar¡­" The underground creatures roared again.


    The dog wasn''t barking loud. It sounded unclear, seemingly far away from the river.


    "Roar¡­" At that point, the underground creatures had given warnings. The ones who hadn''t jumped into the water turned and moved toward the tunnel where the dog barks came from.


    Lin Qiao moved slightly toward the edge of the cliff and leaned her head forehead to look down, wondering how those creatures would climb back up.


    On the other side of the cave, a round-shaped room about three hundred meters away from the river was in chaos. Tens of two-meters-tall underground gorillas were chasing a snake and a dog. A huge mushroom was hanging upside down on the cave roof, waving its tentacles and watching the chaotic battle happily.


    Bowwow was running about in the ten-meter-wide room, leaping up or down while being chased by those creatures. He wasn''t frightened at all. On the contrary, it was running excitedly. Unlike the dog, Black stayed by the side flipping its tail to slap away every underground creature that pounced on him.


    Too many underground creatures were in the room, so it was a little difficult for the snake to slap them all away with its tail tip. Therefore, it decisively darted into a tunnel nearby, bringing away some of the pursuers.


    With that, the rest underground creatures all pounced on Bowwow. Bowwow was nimble and swift; as he was focusing on running, his body almost turned into shreds of shadows. No underground creature was paying any attention to the mushroom that was hanging on the cave roof.


    Lin Qiao gave a glance at the underground creatures in the river, then moved toward the tunnel and sniffed at it. She sensed a strong earthy smell from those underground creatures which covered all the other smells.


    The dog bark that she heard just now made her confused. Perhaps it was an escaped prey of those underground creatures. She did not forget that some underground creatures dragged quite a few dead mutated dogs into the junkyard earlier.


    The underground creatures in the water quickly climbed back onto the cliff, then moved toward the tunnel where the dog barks were heard from, seeming to be in a hurry. As they came out of the water, Lin Qiao followed behind them.

 1067 The Underground World Becomes A Mess

    "Roarrrr!"


    "Owooo¡­"


    Numerous underground creatures split into two groups in the tunnel as they chased a zombie dog and a large snake everywhere.


    Bowwow was as fast as a bolt of thunder, and much nimbler than the lowest-leveled underground creatures. Therefore, the large number of pursuers didn''t pose it any measure of threat.


    The snake was fast too. However, as his body was too long, his tail always ended up being bitten.


    Soon, more and more underground gorillas showed up. A few level-four ones came to the round-shaped room and sniffed around, then raised their heads together to look at the mushroom which was still hanging upside down on the cave roof.


    The mushroom stayed silent.


    The few level-four underground creatures stood below the mushroom and looked up at it, then lowered their heads and roared at each other, seemingly running a discussion. A few seconds later, they dug out some rocks from the corners of the room and threw them at the mushroom, each rock weighing about ten kilograms.


    Where they trying to hit the mushroom off the roof? How could that be so easy?


    The mushroom tilted its head and dodged the first rock, which flew to the other side and hit the cave wall. As the first rock missed its target, the group of level-four underground gorillas immediately threw out the second one, the third one, and the fourth one.


    They found more rocks and kept throwing them at the mushroom, which was hanging about ten meters away from the ground. The mushroom leaned from side to side, flexibly dodging every piece of rock that flew at it. Not even one rock hit it as the mushroom turned its body happily, seeming to be enjoying the game.


    "Roar!" After trying for quite a while, the group of underground gorillas started to lose patience. They gathered together again and roared at each other, then changed their plan.


    Soon, one of them lay on the ground and another one climbed onto its shoulder. Then, the first one propped its upper body up with its arms. After that, the other few creatures climbed onto its back.


    Clearly, they planned to send one of them to the roof to bring the mushroom down.


    Five three-meters-tall underground gorillas could reach the cave roof by forming a pyramid. However, could they form a pyramid stably?


    They could! Pretty easily, they reached closer and closer to the large mushroom.


    The mushroom quietly gave a few glances at those creatures, then pulled its roots out of the cave roof and slowly made a few steps to the side before turning back. As expected, the few underground creatures were looking at it confusedly.


    Lin Qiao walked into the tunnel which was connected with some other tunnels. From time to time, some underground gorillas came out of those tunnels.


    They quickly ran forward and Lin Qiao followed behind them like an invisible shadow. Soon, she entered another broad room that was crowded by underground creatures.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    A five-meter-tall underground gorilla and a few three-meter-tall ones were standing in the middle. The five-meter-tall one was the highest-leveled one that Lin Qiao had seen in the cave.


    It was a level-seven one, as large as a buffalo.


    It stood there silently, with the few level-four underground gorillas roaring at the group of lower-leveled ones by its sides, seemingly giving out some kind of instructions.


    Lin Qiao took a few glances at the level-seven underground creature. It wasn''t as energetic as the ones that she caught from the earth surface. It seemed weaker than those, but she still wanted its energy.


    After all, the energy it had was more than what a hundred level-four ones could have. As for the weakest ones, the total energy of a thousand of them might still not be as much as the energy of a level-seven one.


    Lin Qiao quietly looked at that level-seven underground gorilla. As the few level-four underground gorillas gave a few roars o the crowd, the crowd split up and went into the surrounding tunnels. Before long, the room became empty; only the level-seven one and the few level-four ones stayed there.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand and sent a few wisps of dark fire toward those underground creatures. While she was using her power, her body flashed across the air and was no longer invisible.


    The dark fire drifted in the air and drilled into those creatures'' noses and ears, not missing any one of them.


    "Roar!" Sensing Lin Qiao''s vibe, the group of underground creatures immediately grew alert and roared at her. Animals usually roared to warn their enemies.


    Soon, the netherworld fire that had drilled into their bodies started to absorb their energy. The disappearance of their energy made them panic. What was taken was not only their energy, but also their life force.


    "Roar¡­" The level-seven underground gorillas threw both arms on the ground and gave a painful roar as he started scratching its face, just like the others.


    Lin Qiao stood near them and raised both arms to gain a stronger control over her power to absorb their energy and life-force more quickly.


    Soon, the few level-four underground creatures fell on the ground stiffly before their bodies shrank and then disappeared. A few streams of dark fire flew out of their bodies into that level-seven one''s body, and then merged together under Lin Qiao''s control.


    "Roar¡­" The level-seven underground creature started rolling on the ground. The creature had extra strong skin, but wasn''t able to stop her from absorbing its energy from the inside of its body.


    Within one minute, the level-seven underground creature stopped moving, and then its body shrank. At last, it was devoured entirely by Lin Qiao''s dark fire.


    As the black fire flew back into her palm, Lin Qiao sensed a familiar energy flow across her entire body and then enter her nucleus.


    Still not enough! She needed much, much more to break into level-eight. That energy was¡­


    She wondered how the level-eight creature was doing at the moment, and how badly it was harmed by Wu Chengyue last time. If she could weaken that creature by fifty percent, she might be able to start absorbing its energy.


    Lin Qiao didn''t come down into the cave to look for the level-eight one particularly, but she now decided to try and look for it. If the creature was wounded severely, she would have a great chance.


    She had spent quite long in the cave, yet all underground creatures she met were at lower levels. She had only seen a few higher-leveled ones so far.


    With that thought, she turned herself invisible and looked around, then walked into the largest tunnel.

 1068 Meet Bowwow

    The entrance of the tunnel was at least seven meters tall and three meters wide, filled with the scent of the level-eight creature. The scents of the other underground creatures could hardly be sensed from the tunnel. The other underground creatures might not have the courage to enter that tunnel, or they were probably not allowed.


    Lin Qiao walked in; the tunnel was quiet, and the cave wall was coarse, full of bumps and dents. The level-eight underground creature was at least ten meters tall when it stood straight, but the tunnel was only about seven meters tall. Clearly, it would bend slightly to move across it.


    The tunnel was long, and Lin Qiao spent a long while walking in it. From time to time, the road inclined downward, and she walked past a large circular room. The further in she went, the quieter it got.


    About an hour later, she suddenly heard dog barks.


    "Owooo¡­"


    Following that came a series of footstep sounds and a wave of roars from some underground creatures.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    "Owooo¡­"


    At that point, Lin Qiao finally recognized the dog bark. No wonder it sounded so familiar.


    ''What is he doing here?'' Lin Qiao wondered.


    Bowwow was at level-six already. As a zombie beast, it was stronger than the mutated animals at his level. So, the underground creatures below level-six weren''t able to hurt it. Of course, he was probably unable to hurt them either.


    Lin Qiao had spent so long walking around in the cave. So far, she had seen a few level-four ones and a level-seven one. As for the level five and six ones, she had no idea where they were.


    Hearing Bowwow''s voice, she immediately ran toward the dog.


    Soon, she saw the black zombie dog jumping from side to side, nimbly running about in the broad tunnel and playing with those underground creatures. The dog leaped high and thrust its legs against the wall, then jumped onto the wall on the other side. The underground creatures wielded their claws and pounced on the dog over and over again, but it always dodged flexibly.


    The tunnel had provided the dog with enough space for him to play the game.


    The underground creatures following behind the dog seemed to be a little frightened. Lin Qiao detected that they didn''t seem to have the courage to launch fierce attacks on him. Perhaps, it was because their leader''s vibe could be sensed in the tunnel, and they might be afraid of it.


    Unlike them, Bowwow cared about nothing as it was happily darting around in the tunnel.


    Near the dog, Lin Qiao raised a hand and released a basketball-sized, black flake of flame. The flame quickly split into numerous small fire streams, which were even thinner than a little finger. The fire streams flew past Bowwow and flashed toward the underground creatures behind it.


    "Wow?" Sensing Lin Qiao''s vibe, Bowwow barked excitedly. Then, he turned away from the crowd of underground creatures and let out its tongue while storming toward Lin Qiao.


    Tens of underground creatures were following behind the dog, and Lin Qiao sent a stream of netherworld fire into every single one of them. Before long, they fell onto the ground one after another and started rolling and struggling.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and slowly clenched her fingers to control her power. The black fire quickly absorbed those creatures'' energy and life-force. Within a few seconds, the tens of underground creatures were all drained and then burnt into ashes.


    "Bowwow¡­" Bowwow rushed up behind Lin Qiao and jumped around her while wagging his tail crazily fast. He also pressed his body against Lin Qiao''s legs.


    "Alright, alright, stay far away from me! You are covered in dirt!" Lin Qiao pushed him away and said, "Where''re Black and the mushroom?"


    The dog was in the cave, so the snake and the mushroom were definitely there too.


    "No wonder those creatures have been so nervous just now. It''s you guys creating trouble here!" She glared at Bowwow as it pinched the dog''s ears while speaking.


    "Owoo¡­"


    Bowwow''s hair had grown much longer than before, and were smooth and shiny. The dog was large, reaching above Lin Qiao''s waist. He had strong limbs and sharp claws. At the moment, he had his teeth bared and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. Those teeth of his were shining with a cold light.


    "You got separated? You left them behind and played by yourself? I''ll kill you if those creatures eat Black!" Hearing Bowwow''s answer, Lin Qiao immediately raised a hand and slapped heavily on his head.


    "Owo!" Bowwow raised his head and barked again. He was clearly very confident about Black''s power. He had suffered a slap on the head, but didn''t care much about it.


    "Come on!" Lin Qiao moved forward.


    "Owo!"


    Lin Qiao needed to find Black and the mushroom in case those two got killed. For those underground creatures, Black was, of course, super delicious. The mushroom wasn''t an animal, but its scent would displease those creatures. They would figure out a way to throw the mushroom into the junkyard even if they didn''t eat it.


    While walking, Lin Qiao sensed the scents of many underground creatures and then saw a hole.


    A large group of underground creatures was gathering before the hole, pushing each other. They seemed to want to go in, but didn''t dare.


    As the vibes of Lin Qiao and Bowwow were suddenly sensed, those creatures paused with surprise and then gave warning roars.


    ""Roarrrr!"


    Lin Qiao waved an arm and released a large cloud of dark mist. The mist quickly moved toward the hole like some kind of living creature.


    "Roar¡­"


    "Roar¡­"


    Being threatened by the power in the mist, those underground creatures started shrinking back. Some didn''t manage to run, but ended up being wrapped in the mist.


    "Roar!"


    "Roar!"


    Waves of screams could immediately be heard from the mist.


    Lin Qiao controlled the mist and filled the entire hole up. As a result, the underground creatures who didn''t have the time to run were shrouded in the mist. The mist devoured their energy and life-force, then vanished their bodies without leaving even a drop of blood.


    With one movement, Lin Qiao cleared a large area near the hole. The other underground creatures made a few big steps forward, but didn''t dare to stop running. All they could do was keep an eye on Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao walked to the middle of the room, where the heavy earthy scent covered Black''s scent. Lin Qiao couldn''t sense him, so she had no choice but to spend more time and look more carefully for the snake.


    She spent about ten minutes sniffing around but still didn''t sense anything. So, she turned around and saw Bowwow quietly sitting by her foot, doing nothing.


    "Oh, why are you still sitting here? Get up and help me find them!" Lin Qiao kicked the dog.


    Owowo! After suffering that kick, Bowwow stood up and shook his body, then reached out his nose and sniffed every single tunnel entrance.

 1069 Take the Mushroom Back

    "Wowoooo¡­" Bowwow sniffed at every tunnel nearby, then stood at the side as it turned and barked at Lin Qiao while shaking his head.


    Black had never been there, so the dog didn''t sense its scent.


    Lin Qiao sniffed the air. The tunnels were ventilated, but she didn''t sense Black''s scent from the air. As the two were wondering which way to go, the earth under their feet suddenly quaked and the cave wall shook, causing a few rock pieces to fall off the roof.


    "Over here!" Lin Qiao immediately gave Bowwow an instruction, then flashed toward the source of the vibration.


    "Wow!" Bowwow followed behind her.


    On the other side of the cave, another room had collapsed, with Black sneaking away from one side. A group of low-leveled underground creatures were buried under the collapsed cave wall. They didn''t die, but felt dizzy. They quickly struggled out of the pile of rock and earth, then dug through the collapsed entrance of the room with their strong arms.


    "Roar!"


    By the time they made their way out, Black had disappeared without a trace. All they could do was follow the snake''s scent.


    Black''s body was as thick as a bucket and tens of meters long. He was a huge snake, but the tunnels were thankfully broad enough and his skin was very strong. Being bitten and scratched by those underground creatures could barely bring him any harm.


    But still, those creatures did cause him some difficulties. So, he collapsed the cave roof with his extra strong tail and buried those underground creatures that had been pursuing him.


    Black kept moving forward and soon entered another room with quite some underground creatures inside. As Black suddenly stuck his head into the room, those creatures immediately charged at him. However, Black bumped them all away with his head.


    By the time Black tore that tunnel down, an enormous creature that was lying in a huge, empty room deep underground moved slightly, then stayed motionless again. At the same time, the mushroom had been running about on the dome of that room, dodging the stones that the few level-four underground creatures threw at it.


    Earlier, those creatures tried to form a pyramid to catch the mushroom, but they fell to the ground in the end as the mushroom moved slightly sideways. They could not move steadily when they formed a pyramid after all.


    While following the noises that Black made, Lin Qiao and the dog accidentally ran into the mushroom''s room and saw the scene within. The mushroom seemed to be enjoying the game a lot.


    "Wow?"


    "Roar!" As Lin Qiao and Bowwow showed up together, the group of level-four underground creatures stopped throwing stones at the mushroom and turned toward them simultaneously.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao immediately raised a hand. Following her movement, a few streams of black fire flashed out of her palm toward those level-four creatures.


    "Roar!" Those underground creatures were frightened by the vibe coming from the fire, so they immediately turned around and attempted to run. However, the fire was faster than them by many times over. Within a blink of an eye, it disappeared into their noses.


    "Roar¡­"


    "Get down!" Lin Qiao looked at the mushroom on the cave roof and said. After that, she turned and walked toward another tunnel without even taking a glance at those underground creatures which were rolling on the ground with the pain caused by her dark fire.


    The mushroom quickly came down from the roof and moved to Lin Qiao''s side, reaching out a tentacle to hold her hand. She turned and gave it a glimpse, then held it and brought it into the space. Soon after that, she came back out of her space.


    It was not her idea to bring the mushroom into the space, but the latter had asked for that. Lin Qiao had left it outside for quite a long while, and the mushroom actually missed the space.


    The mushroom rushed to the pool once it entered the space, then sat down at the edge and reached a few roots into the water. It relaxed its head and raised a few tentacles to comfortably dance in the air.


    Sensing its movement, Lin Qiao rolled her eyes speechlessly, then kept moving toward Black with Bowwow.


    ¡­


    Near the entrance to the cave, Yun Meng was lying on a tree, looking at the rising sun. Lin Qiao and her three pets had spent a whole night in the cave. No loud noises were heard from the cave, so she had no idea how they were doing down there.


    Abruptly, she changed her expression and turned to glance at the base. Soon, two people showed up near the entrance. Seeing them, Yun Meng immediately leaped off the tree and landed by their side.


    "Eh? What are you doing here?" Yun Meng looked at Wu Chengyue and Li Yue Shan with surprise. "You''re not going down there, are you?" She then turned to Wu Chengyue and asked him. There were so many tunnels in the cave. She did not know which one Lin Qiao went in, so she wasn''t sure if the other could even be found.


    "Haven''t you heard anything from down there yet?" Wu Chengyue put a hand on his chin and tilted his head as he looked into the cave while speaking.


    "No," Yun Meng shook her head.


    Wu Chengyue looked into the cave silently.


    "It''s not gonna be easy for you to go down there and find them now. There''re a lot of tunnels down there. We don''t know where they all lead to. You don''t have a dog''s nose, so it''s gonna be hard to find them," said Yun Meng as Wu Chengyue seemed to want to go down.


    "Don''t worry, I''m not gonna go down there," Wu Chengyue said smilingly.


    He could not enter the underground cave just yet. The zombie lady should be fine. After all, she was smart, and had a space. She should be able to come out safely.


    Currently, both Huaxia Base and Sky Fire Base had their eyes on Sea City Base and All Beings Base. If he left now, the situation might turn bad for him and his people.


    "Oh!" Yun Meng responded to him with.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Leng Xuantong was studying a piece of stone in all kinds of ways inside his lab in the All Beings Base. His experimental subjects hadn''t arrived yet, which was giving him a headache.


    "Director, come here and a take a look at this! The underground creature body part that we put together with stone number two last night is now showing some differences," said Bao Xiaoying, who was bending over to observe the things in a transparent box.


    Leng Xuantong raised his head, then turned and walked toward her.


    In the box, an egg-sized stone was put on the left side while a claw was put on the right. The claw was the experimental subject that Bao Xiaoying was talking about.


    Leng Xuantong came over, so the other immediately stepped aside to make space for him.


    He bent his waist and looked into the box. The stone seemed to be unchanged, but the claw looked a little weird.


    Normally, the underground creatures'' bodies would not corrode quickly unless they were exposed to sunlight. Their bodies contained a good amount of zombie virus, so their bodies would enter a frozen state after they died, just like the bodies of zombies. Without being exposed to the sunlight, it would take a very long time for their bodies to decay, even at room temperature.

 1070 The Level Five and Six Ones Show Up

    The claw came from the corpse that Lin Hao used for his experiment. Yesterday morning, Leng Xuantong returned to the base, so Bao Xiaoying gave it to him. He put the claw and the stone together, but nothing happened immediately. So, he sealed the two objects in a box.


    At this moment, Leng Xuantong observed the claw carefully and found that a thin layer of the stratum corneum had been corroded. That was a huge step forward!


    He smiled delightedly, then put on his gloves and goggles before carefully opening the box. Next, he reached tweezers in and gently poked the skin of the claw.


    The tip of the tweezers sank straight into the skin like piercing into a piece of rotten meat.


    "Eh?" Leng Xuantong tried it a few more times and created a few small holes on the claw.


    "The stone is effective on those creatures!" He excitedly took the claw out of the box and then scanned it with his power. As he expected, the energy contained in the claw was gone.


    He then looked at the stone and reached a hand into the box to take it out. The temperature of the stone was different from before. He thought for a moment, then took off his gloves and held the stone with his bare hand. The surface of the stone was warm.


    "Touch it! Is it warm?" He handed the stone to Bao Xiaoying and said uncertainly.


    Bao Xiaoying took it over and felt it with her palm, then nodded and said, "Yes, it is warm."


    Leng Xuantong looked at the stone, then at the claw. "I think the stone has absorbed the energy in the body part. But, it''s just a part of a dead creature. I wonder if the stone can do the same to the alive ones."


    Bao Xiaoying looked at him; she did not have an answer either. They had to wait for Chief to bring them a living underground creature, and then do some further experiments to find out.


    ¡­


    Back in the underground cave, Lin Qiao sent the mushroom into her space and then quickly left with Bowwow, following behind the traces that Black had left.


    Deeper underground was a fault, underneath which was a dark, empty space. The rock was corroded by all kinds of gases, transformed from a special kind of earth through weathering. From the cave roof, numerous stalactites reached down.


    The space was smaller than the underground cave above it and divided into two layers, looking like a giant, widely opened mouth. The upper layer was inclining downward while the lower layer was inclining upward.


    Further in were some naturally formed cracks and large caves. Quite a few of those caves were connected with some tunnels created by those underground creatures. At that moment, some five to seven meters tall underground gorillas had been climbing upward on the cave wall from underneath that dark fault.


    Their claws were very strong, sinking straight into the cave wall to allow them to put forth their strength. The claws on their rear limbs were also able to go straight into the rock.


    They crawled into the fault and then moved into the few caves, showing up in a remote room a while later. At the sight of them, the group of low-leveled underground creatures immediately bent over and lowered their voices, uttering a series of weird roars.


    "Roar! Roar! Roar!"


    Hearing those low-leveled creatures'' roars, the higher-leveled creatures immediately clenched their firsts and punched on the ground, then gave a raging roar. After that, they scattered and rushed into the tunnel nearby.


    There were about forty of them, with five of them being at level-seven and around seven meters tall.


    "Roar¡­" Those enormous creatures were actually nimble and swift. Except for their roars, they made no noises while moving.


    Lin Qiao quickly ran out of a tunnel and then entered another one. After a whole hour of running, she finally grasped a trace of Black''s scent. The snake was pretty fast¡­


    Thankfully, Black was a smart one. He smelled Lin Qiao and Bowwow, so he moved backward amd bumped straight into the few low-leveled underground creatures which were following behind him.


    "Roarrr!"


    "Owowowow!"


    "Roar¡­ owooo!"


    He bumped those two-meter-tall underground creatures to the side, then wriggled forward fleetingly. While moving, he violently slapped the cave wall with his tail, and soon, a loud boom was heard from behind.


    Before long, Black showed up before Lin Qiao.


    "Aren''t you worried that you might tear the entire cave down? Are you trying to bury all of us here?" Lin Qiao looked at the snake''s cold eyes. Well, the snake was calm, yet the noises he created were loud.


    Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Black blinked his eyes and looked at her as he slightly tilted his head.


    "Alright, you guys have had enough fun. It''s time to head home. Don''t get lost! If you get lost again, I''d have to look everywhere for you one more time!" Lin Qiao grabbed the hair on Bowwow''s neck with her left hand and pressed her right hand on Black''s head, then brought the two into her space and threw them straight into the woods.


    "Don''t kill those creatures in there. I need them alive." In the woods, Lin Qiao gave the two an order, in case the two of them killed the underground creatures that she had caught before. If that happened, she would have to do it all again.


    At that moment, the medium-leveled underground creatures had been gathering toward the center of the underground cave from all directions. Soon, they sensed the scents that did not belong the cave, and also detected the disordered vibes of some low-leveled underground creatures.


    "Roar¡­" A level-seven underground gorilla walked out of a room and gave a long and resonant roar. A few minutes later, waves of roars could be heard from the surrounding tunnels.


    "Roar!"


    Lin Qiao exited her space to hear the waves of roars, rising and falling with a strange frequency.


    Were those creatures exchanging messages?


    Using her sensations, she detected the vibe of an underground creature that was at level six or seven from not far away. She immediately turned herself invisible and quietly approached that creature like a hunter.


    She had gone all the way down there. Of course, she did not plan to go home empty handed. She had not found the large ones, so she decided to start from the smaller ones.


    Doing that, she might luckily fall into the nest of that level-eight one.

 1071 Roots

    Lin Qiao walked toward the tunnel from where she sensed the scent of a level-six underground creature and had her eyes on that creature before long, along with a large group of lower-leveled underground creatures following behind it.


    The level-six creature was over five meters tall, having its body lowered, propped by its pair of arms. While moving forward, it was twitching its nose to sense the scents in the air.


    Lin Qiao kept a distance from it as she raised a hand and released a stream of black fire. As the fire flew at the level-six underground gorilla, she released a cloud of dark mist with the other hand, which quickly shrouded the group of lower-leveled underground gorillas.


    "Roar!" All the underground creatures on the scene instantly grew alert because of Lin Qiao''s sudden appearance, soon sensing the dark fire. Except for the level-six one, all of them were thrown into a panic as they moved backward, trying to hide or run.


    "Roar¡­" The level-six underground creature gave them a roar, seemingly ordering them not to run.


    Lin Qiao''s dark fire flew into its mouth the moment it turned and opened its mouth. Meanwhile, the dark mist filled up the entire tunnel, gathering toward the group of underground creatures, who were all enveloped by it within two seconds.


    "Roar¡­" Lin Qiao stood by the side for a few seconds and then heard a wave of shrill screams from the mist. As the tunnel quieted down, she raised a hand and took the mist back. Then, she snapped her fingers, following which, a stream of dark fire popped out of the level-six creature''s dead body and flashed onto her hand.


    Lin Qiao walked past the bodies of those dead creatures and kept moving forward. She had absorbed their energy, and didn''t plan to do anything to their bodies. But, those dead bodies didn''t stop changing after she left. Lin Qiao had drained the energy of those creatures by using her power, so the corpses she left behind started melting slowly. An hour later, those bodies had turned into puddles of liquid.


    While hunting underground creatures, Lin Qiao had also been observing the underground cave. She spent a few more hours down there and killed quite some underground creatures at level five, six, and even seven. At last, she entered another halfway done, abandoned tunnel.


    Why did they give up on the tunnel? Was there a special reason?


    Lin Qiao stood in the abandoned tunnel and looked around carefully, also touching the earth on the cave wall and then sniffing her fingers. She sensed moisture from the earth. However, that did not seem like the reason why those creatures gave up on the tunnel.


    She took a few steps backward as she raised her head to carefully look up, and then look down.


    After looking from side to side for a few times, she finally discovered something unusual.


    Those were the roots of some kind of plants. What kind of plant could root so deep underground?


    Lin Qiao believed that her location was at least two hundred meters underground. What kind of plant could root hundreds of meters deep underground?


    She curiously moved closer to the roots and scratched the earth on them. The roots were thin, like the tips of chopsticks, spreading on the cave wall like a web.


    She looked around and found some more roots like that on the surrounding cave walls. After a short while of digging, she found some thumb-sized lumps on those roots, looking a little like fruits.


    It was some kind of plant with very strong roots.


    She picked some pieces of the roots with a few lumps attached to them. Then, she put the roots under her nose, but sensed no smell.


    She broke the roots with her nails, its skin seeming very thin and crispy. As a result, she broke it easily and exposed the matter inside it.


    Once she broke it, a strong, stimulating scent was sensed.


    She gave two sneezes in a row, then immediately pinched her nose with one hand and took the roots away from her face with the other. The mysterious plant should have some kind of effect on those underground creatures.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then quickly threw the roots in her hand into her space. Next, she dug out all the roots from the surrounding walls and put them into her space as well. Only after that did she turn and leave, continuing to move forward.


    After spending such a long time in the cave, even she had started to lose her sense of direction.


    Where was she?


    It took her a long while to finally return to the last tunnel. She came into another room that had a dome, surrounded by a few tunnels. This time, no especially large tunnel was found. It meant that the leader of the underground creatures would not come to that area.


    So, she turned around and headed the other way. While walking, she pondered for a while and decided to find a few underground creatures to find out what the roots could do to them.


    So, belong long, she followed the earthy smell to the other room. She approached those creatures, then suddenly broke some roots and the lumps before throwing them at the underground creatures on the scene.


    "Roar¡­" The stimulating smell instantly suffused the room as Lin Qiao quickly moved back tens of meters away.


    Those underground creatures reacted intensely when they sensed the smell. In a panic, they darted about aimlessly, turning the place chaotic. The wall side was no longer safe, so Lin Qiao leaped up and spread her legs to step on both sides of the cave wall, looking down at those creatures rushing crazily out of the tunnel.


    "Roar¡­" As all of them ran away, Lin Qiao landed back on the ground, then clapped her hands and continued walking forward.


    Tens of meters away, she found those creatures lying on the ground with blood flowing out of their mouths, ears, and noses. Their life-force was gone.


    They were dead.


    ''Eh? Dead? So soon?''


    Lin Qiao looked at those dead bodies with surprise. But in the next second, she was thrilled. Those roots seemed to be the perfect weapon against those underground creatures.


    Three hours later, Lin Qiao finally found a room that was connected with the tunnels exclusively for the leader of those creatures. Standing in the room, she sniffed around, then chose a tunnel from where she sensed the strongest scent of that level-eight underground creature.


    The further in she went, the more sharply downward the tunnel declined, and the stronger was the creature''s scent. Lin Qiao could even sense its vibe in that tunnel.


    The road under Lin Qiao''s feet abruptly grew wide, so she stopped walking. The ground had become like a weird type of rock that was still declining. She raised her head and found that the cave roof was formed from the same kind of rock.


    A strong airflow could be sensed from the front. It seemed like giant gusts of wind were blowing across.


    Lin Qiao carefully moved downward; the further she went, the steeper the ground got. She looked at both sides and found the area looking like a fault.


    The other side gave her a different feeling, as the level-eight creature''s vibe didn''t exist down there. At last, she didn''t go further down, but moved back to the room that she had been to before.

 1072 Wake Up the Big One

    Back in the room, Lin Qiao found the area below to be more like a large chasm. Except for the cave that she had visited before, the other few caves were also in the chasm. Each of them looked like a naturally formed cave, at leave seven meters tall and four meters wide.


    The scent of the level-eight underground creature could be sensed from one of those caves.


    Lin Qiao followed the creature''s scent and slowly approached the cave through the edge of the chasm. As she moved over a hundred meters ahead, she discovered a cave that was sunken into the ground.


    A thick scent of the level-eight creature could be sensed from the cave, and a breathing sound was heard.


    She had found it!


    Lin Qiao stepped into the cave, finding the ground to be sunken meters from the entrance. In the cave was a large pit, and a huge, black thing was seen at the bottom. Waves of breathing sound came from the big thing. Without a doubt, that was nothing but the level-eight underground creature.


    It was sleeping. Judging by its vibe and energy, it was weakened in the battle that happened that night by at least seventy percent. Its breath was uneven, and its life-force was weak.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and saw the red energy inside the creature''s body. Before, its energy looked like a one kilowatt lightbulb, but it now seemed like a hundred watt one.


    The energy the creature had left was healing its wounds. Waking it up recklessly would not be a good thing.


    Lin Qiao moved slightly backward, then released a stream of dark mist that drilled into its body through its nose bit by bit. Lin Qiao sent a slight amount of mist into the creature''s body so that it wouldn''t wake up. The mist wasn''t threatening the creature''s life, so it made no reaction to it.


    After sending some of the mist into the creature''s body, Lin Qiao turned and stepped out of the cave, then took some of the roots she found in the abandoned tunnel out of her space. Then, she threw them into the cave and waved her claws toward them.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Over ten lumps on those roots were cut by her sharp claws, causing the strong, stimulating smell to spread in the cave immediately.


    Lin Qiao swiftly moved backward as she heard a thunderous, raging roar from behind.


    "Roar!" The deafening roar erupted and caused a wave of vibration.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on the cave wall, even feeling the wall and the ground under her feet quaking. In that instant, she raised a hand and snapped her fingers, following which, the mist that she sent into the creature''s body just now uttered a series of popping noises and turned into a wisp of dark fire.


    The rest of the dark mist gathered toward the fire and then started expanding.


    "Roar¡­" Once again, the creature roared out loud and struggled. The enormous level-eight underground creature made a few rolls in the cave, then got up from the ground and shook its head.


    The disgusting smell in its nose made it so angry. Inside its body, a familiar kind of energy had been absorbing the energy that it had left.


    "Roar¡­" The level-eight underground creature gave a wrathful roar, then rushed out of the cave.


    Its voice spread to the surrounding caves wave by wave. Before long, many other underground creatures roared to respond to it.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao released a few arm-sized black fire flakes toward the level-eight creature.


    "Roar¡­" The level-eight creature was running toward the chasm, but, it suddenly sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe and figured out that she was launching attacks. So, it immediately turned around and charged at her.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao quickly drew back. While sending the dark fire on the outside into the creature''s mouth, she had also been controlling the fire inside its body, making it absorb the creature''s energy as quickly as possible.


    As the frenzied big guy was rushing at her, she immediately turned and moved into a smaller cave. She couldn''t move too far away from the creature, or she might not be able to control the fire inside its body.


    "Roar¡­" The level-eight underground creature stormed into Lin Qiao''s cave as it widely opened its mouth and bared its scary, sharp, white teeth. Sticky saliva flowed out of its mouth, splashing onto the ground.


    While absorbing the creature''s energy, Lin Qiao led it further into the cave. The deeper in they went, the narrower the space became, which was a good thing for Lin Qiao.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The level-eight underground creature''s body was ten meters tall and five meters wide, so it was very inconvenient for it to run in the cave. It was running violently forward, even brushing against the cave walls.


    It looked so infuriated as it even attempted to bite Lin Qiao to death.


    While moving backward, Lin Qiao had also been observing the creature. She found that the creature seemed to have become much slower than before. Earlier, the smell of the roots killed some lower-leveled underground creatures in no time, but they didn''t seem to be so effective on the big one. Or probably, the effects hadn''t started to show yet.


    "Roar¡­" The noises that the level-eight creature made in the cave were heard in the other caves, following which, the other underground creatures all gathered toward that area. Before long, some level four and five underground creatures showed up behind Lin Qiao and blocked her way back as they charged at her fiercely.


    Tonight, Lin Qiao and her three pets had caused them some heavy losses. So, they all appeared to be annoyed now.


    At the sight of her, they bared their teeth and roared at her ragingly.


    As there was no way back, Lin Qiao cut off the connection between herself and the dark fire inside the level-eight one''s body, then turned herself invisible leaping onto the cave wall nearby before thrusting her feet against the wall and hopping into the air. At that very moment, the level-eight creature showed up below her.


    She landed on the creature''s back, then turned and leaped down, landing behind it. She made a few quick steps backward, then showed her face and continued to control the fire inside the creature''s body.


    "Roar!" The level-eight creature bumped into its subordinates. It was stunned for a moment, then sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe from behind. The creature felt like she was fooling with it. So, it immediately turned toward her as it roared angrily and charged again. However, it only took two steps forward before it suddenly stopped.


    "Roar!"


    As the level-eight creature stopped moving, the lower-leveled ones behind it all stopped as well.


    The level-eight creature abruptly dropped its head to look at its own chest, then slapped on its chest with its claws. After that, it twitched its neck, seemingly trying to vomit or cough.


    "Errr¡­ Eh¡­"


    This time, it did not manage to cough out the thing that was inside its body, absorbing its energy. Before, when Lin Qiao sent her dark fire into its body, the creature suppressed it and then turned it into mist before coughing it out.


    But, it wasn''t able to do it again this time.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! The creature couldn''t help but violently slap its own chest with its claws as it started to feel uncomfortable.

 1073 Roar and Sit Down

    Lin Qiao felt that the creature was much weaker than before. On one hand, the creature was injured severely before and hadn''t recovered yet; on the other hand, she herself had grown much stronger.


    She grew stronger while the enemy became weaker.


    Lin Qiao''s confidence was instantly boosted as she had already figured out how strong the level-eight creature currently was. Also, she had a feeling that she might be able to become a zombie emperor if she absorbed all of the level-eight creature''s energy.


    Once again, she released a flake of dark fire. The meters wide, pitch dark stream of fire gushed toward the creature.


    Earlier on, she was only trying to feel the enemy out and had not launch a serious attack yet.


    "Roar¡­ er¡­" The devouring energy contained in the black fire was like a natural destroyer for those underground creatures. As a result, the large puff of fire frightened the underground creatures on the scene and made them step back.


    "Roar¡­" Even the level-eight one gave a roar with fright as it quickly stepped backward before turning around and running.


    "Wanna run?" Lin Qiao whispered as she sent the fire forward and also swiftly followed behind the creature.


    The level-eight creature wanted to move faster. However, it couldn''t help but shamble from side to side. It seemed to have lost its balance, and wasn''t able to control its body anymore.


    Without the balance, it was slowed further down. Lin Qiao''s dark fire flashed up to it within a blink of an eye and shrouded it.


    "Roarrrr¡­" The creature roared in a panic, although kit did not dare to stop moving. It kept running forward even though it could not run far. It was trying its best to escape. Only when it ran to a safe place could it focus its mind to suppress the strange energy inside its body.


    Boom! Boom! Its enormous, especially strong body thudded heavily against the cave wall, making it start to shake and fall.


    "Roar¡­" The other underground creatures fled in all directions, none of them trying to help their leader. In comparison with their leader, their own lives were definitely more important for them.


    Lin Qiao followed closely behind the big one. The large creature had lost balance, but it was still running fast. Wherever it went, the place would quake and collapse.


    The further it went, the narrower the tunnel became.


    Suddenly, a thunderous bang was heard from the front, followed by no more sounds. Lin Qiao came over and took a look, then almost burst in laughter. The enormous creature was stuck in the tunnel, surrounded by some large earth pieces and kicking its rear legs.


    Its huge body was stuck in the tunnel. At the moment, it wasn''t able to move forward or backward.


    "Roar¡­" The creature struggled anxiously as it kicked its legs as hard as it could. Sensing Lin Qiao''s approach, it roared in panic.


    Lin Qiao stood behind the creature and quietly watched it twist its large butt and short legs. The dark fire could not hurt the creature''s strong skin, but the fire inside its body had been fighting against its power. Of course, no one was gaining anything at this moment; Lin Qiao couldn''t absorb its power while the creature couldn''t force the fire out of its body.


    "Roar¡­ errrr¡­" The creature struggled as it kicked its legs, then abruptly, uttered a weird, low and soft voice that sounded like the moans of a poor and confused puppy which was abandoned by its owner.


    Of course, the creature''s voice was much louder than the voice of a puppy.


    Hearing its voice, Lin Qiao paused with surprise, then had a thought flash across her mind.


    "Eh? No way!"


    "Errrrr¡­" The level-eight underground creature stopped struggling, lying there quietly as it reached its rear legs backward and uttered a series of weird moans from its throat.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then said to herself, "It''s not like what I think it is, right? You got to be kidding me!"


    If she could control the big guy, she would no longer need to worry that the underground creatures might form an army again to attack her base! She hadn''t figured out a way to protect her base from those creatures yet. Even if she killed the level-eight one, the other underground creatures might elect a new leader. They would still be a threat to her base.


    She might as well bring the level-eight one under her control. Wasn''t it a perfect plan to use that one to control the entire herd? If she could do that, why would she bother to find out their weakness?


    With that thought, Lin Qiao immediately made a step forward, grabbed the creature''s large tail, and threw it into her space. She put the big one into the woods, where she was more than strong enough to suppress it.


    Being thrown into the woods, the creature actually lay its chest on the ground and buried its head in its arms.


    "Roar?" Sensing their leader''s scent, the group that Lin Qiao caught earlier instantly gathered toward the big one. The latter twitched its nose slightly, then moved a claw away from its head.


    Lin Qiao stood on a tree nearby as she looked at the big one. As she raised a hand and a small handful of roots appeared in her hand. Then, she broke one piece of the root and threw it down.


    "Roar¡­" The big one nimbly dodged the root, then raised its head to sniff at Lin Qiao. At that point, she said to it, "Sit down."


    The creature had no eyes, and Lin Qiao did not know if it could understand human language. It couldn''t see and didn''t understand her language. So, how was she supposed to train it?


    As she thought, the big guy made no reaction to her instruction.


    Lin Qiao paused briefly; she had guessed right. What should she do?


    At that moment, a loud series of dog barks were heard from outside the woods.


    "Owowowowo!"


    "Roar!" Hearing the dog, the big one immediately lowered its upper body and bared its teeth, facing the outside as it gave a roar.


    While thinking about how to train the big one, Lin Qiao heard the creature and Bowwow roar at each other, which suddenly gave her an idea.


    "Roar!" She gave the creature a roar as well. ''Sit down,'' she said to it.


    "Roar? Er?" Hearing Lin Qiao''s roar, the fierce big guy gave a questioning roar in half a minute, then turned to look at Lin Qiao.


    ''Oh¡­ Did that work? Do these things exchange messages by using their mind power?''


    "Roar¡­" ''Sit down, or I''ll beat you.''


    Lin Qiao roared at the creature again. Meanwhile, she released a flake of dark fire from her palm.


    "Roar¡­ Er!" The big one dropped its head once the fire appeared. It closed its mouth and put both palms on the ground as it bent its knees. It really sat down on the ground.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    The creature turned out to be pretty smart! For mutated animals, the higher the level they reached, the smarter they could be!


    Currently, she had three pets. Bowwow was relatively normal, but both Black and the mushroom were a little weird. And now, there was a new one, a big one¡­

 1074 Way of Communication

    Lin Qiao took back the fire, then leaped off the tree and landed before the big one. The creature was so huge that she had to raise her head just to see its mouth.


    "Roar¡­" ''Would you like to follow my lead?''


    Lin Qiao talked to the creature with the zombie language, but had no idea why it understood zombie roars. Perhaps, all mutated animals understood zombie roars.


    "Hooo¡­" The underground creature moved its butt backward, then obediently lowered is head. A stream of bloody scent came out of its nose.


    Lin Qiao moved backward slightly.


    "Roar¡­" The big one roared at Lin Qiao with a low voice. However, she had no idea what it meant.


    It understood her language while she did not understand its¡­ It was like having a dog. The dog could understand the human language, yet the human couldn''t understand the dog''s words.


    Lin Qiao looked at the creature, not knowing what to say.


    "Roar¡­ roar¡­" ''Nod if I''m right, shake your head if I''m wrong.''


    That was the only way for her to communicate with the creature at the moment.


    "Em¡­" The big one quickly nodded.


    "Roar? Roar?" ''Do you not want to die? Do you want to follow my lead?''


    "Hoo¡­ roar¡­" The big one nodded very quickly and moved further backward. At last, its butt thudded against a tree.


    As a result, the tree was rustled loudly. The tree was super strong, yet it was shaken as the big one bumped against it slightly, reflecting how strong it was.


    Clearly, the big one had suffered a life threat from Lin Qiao. It was weakened largely, and was no longer strong enough to protect itself. It planned to hide in the cave to heal.


    The man with thunder harmed it severely, and now the zombie with a devouring power showed up in its cave with a strong intent of killing toward it. The creature perceptively sensed the life-threatening danger.


    As a level-eight underground creature, it had very sharp sensations. So, it surrendered to Lin Qiao without hesitation in order to survive.


    As she said, it did not want to die! It was so afraid of death!


    Yes, it was big, but not very brave. Otherwise, it would not use its life-saving skill to escape from that lightning man.


    Earlier on, in order to release that mysterious light, the creature used the energy which was saved for boosting its strength. So, it could not enter the super-strong state again before it regained its energy.


    Otherwise, how could it possibly run so desperately away from Lin Qiao back in the cave and end up being stuck in the tunnel?


    It was stuck in the tunnel because the smell of the root messed with its mind. That was why it acted a little abnormally under her attacks.


    The mysterious light was a skill that the creature had newly attained when it broke into level-eight, and was highly energy-consuming. Thankfully, it was effective. At least, the light was able to transfer the energy that could drive the creature crazy into its enemy''s body.


    For the creature itself, the energy would only boost its strength, but for its enemies, it would also drive them mentally crazy. Therefore, the enemies who were exposed to the light would all lose their minds and become uncontrollable.


    Looking at the creature, Lin Qiao found it quite different from before. So she waved at it and roared, "Roar¡­" ''Come over, lower your head.''


    The big one hesitated for a second, then inched its way toward Lin Qiao as it lowered its chin and gently reached its head toward her. Meanwhile, she continued roaring at it. ''You want to follow me, fine! But, you have to listen to my words. If you disobey, the thing inside you will eat you.''


    She hadn''t used her zombie language for long. So, she felt a little strange after making a few roars. How come the big one could understand the zombie language but not the human language?


    "Roar¡­ er¡­" The big one immediately nodded at her. It understood what she meant by the thing inside its body; that was the fire. The fire had quieted down, but hadn''t left its body yet. It was still threatening its life.


    "Roar¡­" Lin Qiao gave it another roar. ''Don''t worry, it won''t hurt you now! But, if you do something wrong, it will devour your energy.''


    "Roar¡­'' The big one nodded.


    "Roar¡­" ''From now on, you need my permission for whatever you''re going to do. You are not allowed to do the things that I didn''t tell you to.''


    "Roar¡­" The creature nodded again.


    Lin Qiao nodded and roared. ''Alright. Stand up. I''ll take you out.''


    After saying that, she pressed a hand on the creature''s claw and brought it out of the space.


    Once out, she found herself squeezed by the creature''s body and the collapsed tunnel. The tunnel was narrow already, and the huge creature had filled it up with its body.


    At that moment, she was stuck between the creature''s arm and the wall.


    Alright, was it now her turn to be stuck? Was it the karma for laughing at the big one?


    "Roar¡­" ''Raise your claw. You''re crushing me!''


    Lin Qiao instantly gave it a roar.


    The big one silently moved its claw away. It did think about if it should really crush her just like that. However, that didn''t seem to be easy. Besides, if it failed, the consequences would be serious! So, it moved its arm forward at last.


    Lin Qiao made a way out and looked around. The tunnel on the other side had collapsed already, so they had no choice but to head back. As the two of them walked to the entrance of the tunnel, a huge group of lower-leveled underground creatures looked at Lin Qiao with confusion, then turned to their leader.


    If they had eyes, their eyes would certainly be filled with question marks. But, they had no eyes, so they could only silently face the level-eight creature and Lin Qiao.


    Why was their leader standing peacefully together with the invader?


    The group of underground gorillas twitched their noses to smell the two. They were really in peace¡­


    Since the big one had promised to follow her head, the underground creature crisis could be considered as solved. But still, Lin Qiao was a little worried. So, she continued threatening the creature.


    "Roar¡­ roar¡­ roar¡­" ''You are not allowed to go to the surface unless you have my permission. If you want to go out there for hunting, I''ll take you to a hunting ground. Do you understand me?''


    Wasn''t there a rat nest in the Southwest? That was the hunting ground she talked about. She planned to guide the underground creatures there. With a sufficient source of food, those creatures would no longer drool at the people in her base. That way, both the rat problem and the safety issue of her base could be solved.


    "Errrr¡­" The big one immediately sat on the ground and put both legs before its belly as it nodded obediently. Meanwhile, the other underground creatures were utterly confused.


    Lin Qiao happily patted the big one''s claw, then said goodbye to it and also told it to rest well.


    The big one wore a bitter face. Who turned the cave into a mess? It was resting before she came!

 1075 She Calls Him Strong

    Lin Qiao threatened the big one again before leaving. As the creature seemed to be very obedient, she started to look for a way out. While turning around, she realized that the creature didn''t have a name yet, and she didn''t even know how to call it.


    So, she turned back and roared at it, "Roar¡­" ''Oh, I need to give you a name.''


    The creature was preparing to sneak away, but it stopped moving on hearing her voice.


    "Roar?" ''Big One?'' Lin Qiao looked at the huge creature and roared.


    The creature shook its head quickly. How come that name sounded so non-serious?


    As it disagreed, Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "Roar?" ''Strong?''


    The creature stayed silent.


    As it did not shake its head again, Lin Qiao immediately nodded. "Roar!" ''Good, Strong it is!''


    "Roar¡­" ''You look strong, so I named you Strong.''


    "Errr¡­" Strong knew nothing about human society, so he had no idea how uncool the name ''Strong'' could sound like. Somehow, he was a little happy to have a name.


    Lin Qiao left with satisfaction, having no idea how Strong moaned as it turned and ran deep down into its cave after she left, as if he was running for his life. But, after making a few turns in the tunnel, she realized that she was lost.


    She had visited so many tunnels down there that she had lost her sense of direction since long ago.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say at this point.


    At last, she turned back and grabbed a level-five underground creature, then roared at it and asked it about the exit.


    The creature bared its teeth fiercely and stared at her alertly, seemingly ready to eat her without answering her question.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    Was the creature not able to understand her meaning?


    "Roar?" ''Can you show me the way out?''


    She roared at it again.


    This time, the creature instantly lowered its body and buried its head in its arms as it put its forehead against the ground and started trembling, also uttering a frightened moan from its throat.


    "Owoooo."


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    Was she so scary? Alright, she had, indeed, killed quite some underground creatures. Those creatures might be seeing her as a monster now. Sadly, the creature didn''t understand her words. Otherwise, it might even be happy.


    Moreover, Strong had hidden away. So, Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then roared in the air. ''Strong! Come out!''


    It took quite a while for Strong, who had hidden into its cave, to hear Lin Qiao''s voice coming from a long distance away. At this moment, he honestly felt speechless. If he were a human being, he would have started to complain already.


    Lin Qiao was worried that Strong might not be able to hear her, so she took a deep breath and gave a louder roar.


    "Roar¡­" ''I''m coming! Coming!''


    Once he responded to Lin Qiao, the other underground creatures in the cave shrank their bodies with fright, without daring to move.


    Lin Qiao waited for quite a white, then heard Strong''s voice coming from one of the cave. After another while, she finally sensed his scent. This time, he made much smaller noises while moving than he did the last time.


    "Roar¡­" Strong came out of the largest cave and gave Lin Qiao a low roar.


    Lin Qiao looked around, then pointed upward and gave him a roar. ''Show me the way out!''


    ''So¡­ She wants me to show her the way¡­'' thought Strong.


    Underground creatures differentiated directions with their noses, usually locating themselves by sensing the different compositions of the earth in different depths underground.


    Lin Qiao had no idea how to do that. She was able to tell the difference of soils using her nose as well, but she had visited so many tunnels already that she could no longer tell which was which. She had no idea which way was the one she came in from.


    "Hoo¡­" Strong uttered a sound and then turned around. He paused briefly, then gave Lin Qiao a glance and roared at her. After that, he started moving forward.


    Was he going to show her the way out now?


    Lin Qiao followed behind him with doubts, and he soon brought her to a large room. The room was surrounded by four seven or eight meters tall tunnels. Strong walked into a tunnel, then paused again and took a glance at Lin Qiao. As she followed behind him, he kept moving forward.


    While walking, Lin Qiao found the ground underneath her feet start to incline upward and sighed with relief. It seemed that Strong was really bringing her outside.


    Following his lead, Lin Qiao told him about her rules while walking. She told him that he was not allowed to attack the creatures on the earth''s surface who looked like her. She also told him that the place where he planned to attack last time was her home, and she would let the lightning guy kill him if he dared to do that again.


    Strong felt speechless again as he was threatened by her while showing her the way out. That was really awful! He was not able to fight back, which made him feel even unhappier.


    ¡­


    Two hours later, still no sound was heard from the cave entrance nearest to Yun Meng. However, Yun Meng sensed Strong''s scent from the third entrance, which was far away from her. Strangely, Lin Qiao''s scent was also sensed there.


    "Eh?"


    "What''s wrong?" Li Yue Shan turned and looked at Yun Meng''s surprised face as he asked her.


    "My Chief is coming out, but¡­"


    "She''s out? But what?" Li Yue Shan was happy to hear that.


    Then, Yun Meng felt that Strong''s scent was gone, leaving her totally confused.


    "Just now, I smelled the level-eight underground gorilla. I can''t smell it now¡­"


    "What?" Li Yue Shan didn''t understand.


    What? Did the level-eight underground gorilla come out together with Miss Lu? How come she couldn''t smell it anymore?


    Yun Meng shook her head and said uncertainly while leaping up, "I''m not sure. Let''s go and take a look."


    Li Yue Shan followed behind her.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao finally sensed the fresh air from the earth''s surface, so she waved at Strong. "Roar¡­" ''Go home!''


    On hearing her, the latter hurriedly turned and disappeared into the cave.


    Lin Qiao first entered her space and brought out Black and Bowwow, then followed Yun Meng''s scent toward the base. She planned to tell her about what happened in the cave.


    They were only a few miles away from each other, so they soon saw each other.


    "I smelled that big one, and you two were close¡­" At the sight of Lin Qiao, Yun Meng looked at her curiously and asked. A strong scent of underground creatures could be sensed from Lin Qiao''s body.


    Lin Qiao laughed relaxedly and said, "Oh, he''s my new pet. If I train him well, he and his herd will no longer threaten our base. On the contrary, they might help us guard the base."


    Yun Meng was stunned.


    Li Yue Shan landed on the ground just in time to hear what Lin Qiao said. He was so surprised that he didn''t know what to say at all.

 1076 Back to the Base

    Was something wrong with his ears? He heard something that sounded very weird!


    Li Yue Shan turned to Yun Meng with doubts and saw the latter wearing the same expression as him.


    "Wait, what did you just say?" Yun Meng looked at Lin Qiao confusedly as she raised a hand and asked.


    Lin Qiao found the look on their faces funny as she spoke, "I have a new pet, and he''s a big guy. He has a huge bunch of great eaters under his command, so I think I''m gonna have problems feeding them all."


    In shock, Yun Meng finally processed her words and then rolled her eyes, "Like you feed Black and the other two¡­ They feed themselves!"


    Li Yue Shan opened his mouth slightly, and it took him quite a while to realize what had happened. "Did you¡­ you turn that level-eight thing into a pet of yours?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "What are you doing here? Did Wu Chengyue send you?"


    Li Yue Shan instantly responded, "Chief left an hour ago. There''s an important message from Huaxia Base. He should be in your base by now."


    "He was here?" Lin Qiao was surprised.


    Both Li Yue Shan and Yun Meng nodded.


    "Huaxia Base? I''m heading back too. Oh, Mengmeng, Strong promised me that he won''t bring his people up here without my permission. He''ll talk to me before coming up again. But still, keep an eye on them. I''ve also told Strong that he and his people are only allowed to come up to the surface through the entrance that I just came out of. You can take your people to seal all the other entrances." Thinking about Huaxia Base, Lin Qiao blinked as she gave Yun Meng an instruction.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Yun Meng quickly nodded and responded. She took a glance at the entrance that Lin Qiao came from, then turned and headed toward where her troops were stationed.


    Lin Qiao turned to Li Yue Shan and said to him, "Is your job watching me or this area?"


    "Chief told me to keep an eye on you," said Li Yue Shan to her politely.


    "Let''s head back then," Lin Qiao nodded and said.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Li Yue Shan nodded.


    "Do you have a car?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked, in response of which he shook his head. She then raised an arm and brought a car out of her space.


    Li Yue Shan sat into the driver''s seat and started the car. As Lin Qiao got into the car, he finally couldn''t help but ask, "Miss. Lu, how¡­ how did you do it?"


    In fact, he wanted more to ask her what she had been through down in the cave.


    Lin Qiao sat in the backseat and stretched her body as she said, "Strong is big, but unexpectedly timid. He is smart, though. He knows how to play it by the ear. He couldn''t defeat me, so he ran. He couldn''t run either, so he surrendered. Life will always be better as long as you still have your life, right?"


    "So, you beat him up and then he surrendered?" said Li Yue Shan knowingly.


    "Last time, your Chief injured him severely, and he hadn''t recovered yet," said Lin Qiao, "If he didn''t surrender, I might have used his energy to break into a higher level."


    Finally, Li Yue Shan figured the whole thing out. The level-eight underground creature was wounded by his Chief last time and had not healed yet. So, the zombie lady took an opportunity to make him surrender.


    That was pretty much how the zombie lady got every one of her pets.


    Back in the base, Lin Qiao didn''t return to where she lived, but headed straight to her office in Base Number One.


    "So, is this your office now?" Once in, she saw a man before her desk and felt quite speechless.


    Wu Chengyue raised his head as he gave her a glance and smiled, "I thought you won''t mind me using it."


    Lin Qiao looked fine and relaxed. Seeing her, Wu Chengyue silently sighed with relief. He had received the news beforehand, but still could not stop worrying until he saw her in person. Now, as he saw her and confirmed that she was really fine, he finally stopped worrying.


    Lin Qiao looked around and said, "Isn''t the boy here? Well, right, he doesn''t dare to come back, does he? He''s afraid that I might kick his ass. Where is he now?"


    Wu Chengyue stood up from Lin Qiao''s chair and walked up to her with a stack of files. Meanwhile, he said to her smilingly, "He''s at Lin Feng''s place."


    Lin Qiao sat down on the couch and took over the files, "What is this?"


    "Something from Huaxia Base," Wu Chengyue sat in the armchair beside her.


    Lin Qiao opened the file and leafed through, then frowned slightly. "Experiment? Again? An experimental base?"


    Before going into the underground cave, she heard from Ye Yingyue that Sky Fire Base people might have been kidnapping superpower possessors for a zombie experiment. Now, according to the file provided by Wu Chengyue, Huaxia Base had been doing experiments about some kind of biochemical weapon, and they had built an extra-large experimental base for that.


    Why were those two bases so into creating troubles?


    Instead of trying to find out how mankind could have a better chance of survival, Sky Fire Base people studied zombies and Huaxia Base was trying to create biochemical weapons. Was the post-apocalyptic world not despairing enough for them? Did they want it to be worse?


    "Is Si Kongchen''s brain damaged? Isn''t he worried that human beings might die out because of what he has been doing?" Lin Qiao looked at the file with a frown.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her bitter face and laughed, "He''s not worried about that. I guess the only thing he wants is to control all the bases in the world. Also, he''s pretty confident about his technologies."


    While looking at Lin Qiao''s face, what he was thinking about was Lin Qiao''s original face.


    Recently, Xiao Licheng had brought him all the background information about Lin Qiao. She was not as pretty as Lu Tianyu, but to be honest, he found her original face very charming.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said, "Control the whole world? I think he should go and see a doctor. He''s brain might not be working."


    His biochemical weapon experiment had not succeeded yet. He wasn''t even able to control the two-million people in Huaxia Base, not to mention the other bases in the country, and the rest of the world¡­


    "As far as I know, Si Kongchen had sent quite some special warriors to the rest of Asia, Africa, and Europe, a few years ago. Recently, he''s preparing to send his people into South America," said Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Qiao gave a cold smile as she snorted and said, "Then? I know that. Clearly, he sent people out undercover to collect information. How could that be easy? I''m afraid he has lost contact with some of them since long ago."


    She had known about that. The leaders of almost all bases in the country knew about that, they just didn''t care much.


    How could that ever be easy? Ruling the whole world? Did he think he was God? How on earth could he control the entire planet?


    Not to mention the fact that the world was no longer ruled by mankind solely. Currently, the world belonged to zombies, mutated animals and plants, and the people who had superpowers.

 1077 Show Off the Sweetness

    Two years ago, Huaxia Base had secretly sent some special forces out of the country. But, none of those soldiers were seen coming back during the past two years. Only a small number of them kept in contact with their base.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and asked, "Let''s not talk about Huaxia Base just yet. Have you found anything down in the cave?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then stood up and walked behind her desk. She sat down there and put the file on the desk, then looked at the things there.


    Her stuff wasn''t touched. Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to be interested in her work.


    "I visited a lot of tunnels and killed quite some low-leveled underground creatures," she shrugged and said.


    Wu Chengyue kept looking at her with a faint smile on his face. He fixed his eyes on her face peacefully as he said, "No interesting things happened?"


    Lin Qiao raised her eyes and folded her arms, leaning against the back of the chair as she responded, "It was all dark down there. What interesting thing could possibly happen? There was nothing down there."


    "Didn''t you find that level-eight creature?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "I found him. I kicked his ass. I guess your lightning injured him pretty severely before. He''s weak now."


    Thinking about how the big guy was stuck in the tunnel, Lin Qiao wanted to even laugh. If his mind was clear enough, he would have broken the cave wall with his claws and freed himself. She wondered why the big guy was so blur-minded back then.


    "Oh, I also found these in the cave," Lin Qiao took out a small piece of those mysterious roots, with two lumps attached to it.


    "I think they''re afraid of this plant. This is what we''ve been looking for. When you break these lumps, some kind of gas will be released which is poisonous for them. Some of them died with their eyes, mouths, noses, and ears bleeding after inhaling the gas," Lin Qiao put the root on the desk.


    Wu Chengyue stood up and walked up to the desk. Standing behind it, he rested a hand on the desk and slightly bent over to look at the root.


    It looked like a piece of root growing in the soil, and was still covered in dirt.


    At that moment, footsteps were heard from the outside before Shen Yujen and Duan Juan showed up at the door. Shen Yujen was holding a stack of file while Duan Juan raised a hand to knock on the door.


    As the two in the office both turned to look at them, Duan Juan and Shen Yujen walked in.


    Then, they both looked at Lin Qiao silently from head to toe, with weird looks on their faces.


    Seeing the look on their faces, Lin Qiao figured that they might have heard about her new pet.


    "What''s wrong? Have I turned into someone else?" She smiled at them and asked.


    "I heard the big one is now your pet?" said Duan Juan, "You made a trip down there and now you have a new pet! How did you do that?"


    Before Lin Qiao responded, Shen Yujen joined the conversation, "They asked you to bring a few of them back for experiments. Are you gonna use the big one for experiment? It''s not safe, is it?"


    Hearing their words, Wu Chengyue stared straight at Lin Qiao with a meaningful look in his eyes.


    Wait! What had he just heard? Didn''t the zombie lady say she kicked the big one''s ass? How come he''s her pet now?


    Wu Chengyue''s eyes were filled with question marks.


    The lady grew a new hobby about having pets after she turned into a zombie, right? He never heard the leader of Hades Base having any pets.


    Lin Qiao glanced at them and said, "I was going to use him for experiments. His energy is just enough for me to break into a new level."


    Speaking of that, she gave Wu Chengyue a quick glance, believing that he had already discovered that.


    Hearing her words, Duan Juan and Shen Yujen both paused briefly with surprise, then said to her delightedly, "So, are you planning to kill it later when you need energy?"


    Lin Qiao waved her hands and said, "No. Let me finish. He begged me to spare his life. He''s like a dog. He almost let out his tongue and wagged his tail to please me. I thought about it, and it seems that it''s gonna be a good thing if he can voluntarily stop his herd from attacking out base. In that case, we can save the trouble to find out a way to stop them."


    There were only a few scientific researchers in her base, and they already had too much work to do. Currently, Leng Xuantong might even be wishing he could have multiple heads, eyes, and hands, just so he could do more work.


    "So, you made it your pet?" Wu Chengyue looked at her and said with surprise. Did the creature come to her and ask to be her pet? Was it pretending?


    Last time, the creature attacked him with a weird light and then took the opportunity to run. Wu Chengyue found the big one quite sneaky. Besides, that mysterious light was very dangerous.


    He had no idea that Strong''s mysterious light was his life-saving skill. After using it, he would need a very long time to recover from the energy consumption.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "Yeah. If he misbehaves, you can give him a bigger lightning strike. I think he''s afraid of you."


    Wu Chengyue didn''t know what to say. So, he needed to help her overawe the big guy.


    Was she tending to rely on him already? At least, she wasn''t planning to handle the whole thing all by herself anymore. Was she finally willing to consider him a part of her life?


    Thinking about that, Wu Chengyue smiled widely. "Alright. As long as it has the courage to come out."..


    Lin Qiao heard herself and found her words being a little weird. She then turned to Duan Juan and Shen Yujen, seeing the two wearing a mysterious smile on their faces.


    All in all, the atmosphere suddenly turned a little strange.


    ''Okay, so they''re on good terms now. I''m not jealous of them,'' Duan Juan thought.


    ''They''re already showing off the sweetness. I guess Chief Wu will get married soon,'' Shen Yujen thought.


    Lin Qiao looked at Shen Yujen as she pointed at the files in her hands and said, "How long are you gonna hold those? Aren''t you giving them to me?"


    Hearing that, Shen Yujen realized that the files were still in her hands, so she hurriedly walked to Lin Qiao and put them onto the desk.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao said, "Go and tell the research department to pause the study about the underground creatures. I still have about ten of them alive in my space, and I''ll keep them. In the future, I''ll send them to the lab for the study if it''s necessary. Tell Leng Xuantong to first find out a way to extract the energy from the stone."


    After a short pause, she continued, "And, send people to bring these to Leng Xuantong. Tell him to find out what kind of plant this is." While speaking, she threw all the roots she had collected in the area before her desk.


    Boom!


    "Yes, ma''am!" Shen Yujen nodded, then turned and left. Soon, she brought in two male soldiers and pointed at the roots on the floor.


    As the soldiers moved the roots out, Shen Yujen left the office as well.

 1078 When Will You Leave Tomorrow?

    Wu Chengyue gave Duan Juan a glance, feeling that she might have something important to say to the zombie lady. So, he stepped out of the office. Only after watching him leave and conveniently close the door did Lin Qiao turn to Duan Juan and say, "Did you hear something from Xie Dong?"


    A couple of days ago, Xie Dong left for Sky Fire Base himself. Li Zhengye would certainly make a move, as he had already started to suspect Lin Qiao for what she really was. She had learned all about it from Ye Yingyue.


    Duan Juan nodded and said, "Yes. Li Zhengye is doing experiments on the zombie virus indeed. He has been secretly kidnapping superpower possessors, some of whom died. Recently, some corpses were shipped out of his base in secret. Those people had turned into zombies before death."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao stayed silent as a cold look showed up in her eyes.


    Why was Li Zhengye doing that kind of experiments? He turned human beings into zombies, and then what?


    "Those corpses should be failed products. We don''t know if he ever succeeded," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then asked, "Was anything about me heard from Sky Fire Base?"


    Duan Juan shook her head.


    "So, Li Zhengye hasn''t made a move about that, has he?" While speaking, Lin Qiao abruptly stood up and walked toward the door.


    "Bring those files to Yuan Tianxing and call a meeting this afternoon."


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    She needed to go to Sky Fire Base right now to solve the problem. She could not stop worrying before she had confirmed that Li Zhengye hadn''t spread the word about her true nature.


    Also, who was that mysterious man?


    At 2 pm, Lin Qiao showed up in the conference room, with everybody else already there.


    "About those underground creatures, I''ve confirmed that the level-eight one was injured severely by Wu Chengyue''s lightning power before. He needs time to rest and heal, so he won''t lead the herd to attack out base again. If my plan works, we won''t need to worry about them ever again," Lin Qiao sat in her seat as she looked at the others and said.


    The others looked at her, waiting for the rest of her speech.


    "So, I will use this span of time to make a trip to Sky Fire Base. There''s something that needs to be figured out and solved as soon as possible. While I''m gone, our two Deputy Chiefs will be managing the base as always. I will leave tomorrow."


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    After the meeting, Lin Qiao showed up at Lin Feng''s door and said to Teng, who was lying on the couch in the living room, "Have you had fun these days?"


    Seeing Lin Qiao, Teng immediately sat up and crossed his legs, blinking his eyes as he looked at his mother, "Yes."


    Lin Qiao walked in and scooped the boy up, then said to Cheng Wangxue, "I''m taking him home now. Wu Chengyue will take him back to Sea City Base tomorrow."


    Standing beside her, Cheng Wangxue smiled and said, "Back to Sea City Base again? In fact, you can leave him with us. Chief Wu is busy too, isn''t he? Besides, Teng is a good boy. He and Xiaolu can keep each other company. It''ll be nice."


    Lin Qiao shook her head as she smiled at Cheng Wangxue and said, "Wu Chengyue is his father. As long as he stays in his base, he should take care of the kid, no matter how busy he is. That''s his duty."


    Cheng Wangxue looked at her as she sighed and said, "Before, you didn''t want the kid to be with him at all. Now you''ve changed your mind¡­"


    Lin Qiao only smiled silently.


    She brought Teng back to Base Number Two, to where she lived. But before arriving, she found that her door was open. Wu Yueling ran out and stood by the door, looking at her happily.


    Lin Qiao pressed her lips together. Once again, Wu Chengyue came to her place without invitation. However, she had gotten used to that.


    "You''re home. I''m preparing the dinner. It''ll take a while for Teng''s porridge to be ready," Wu Chengyue walked out of the kitchen and said to Lin Qiao. Meanwhile, she put Teng on the couch and glanced at him, then turned and walked into the bathroom.


    Wu Chengyue walked over and sat down beside Teng, then whispered to the boy, "Did she spank you?"


    Teng shook his head.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at the bathroom door and said, "She''s not angry anymore? Emm, you really are her son. She loves you."


    Teng rolled his eyes and said, "Do you want her to spank me? Will that make you happy?"


    Wu Chengyue smilingly rubbed the boy''s head and said, "No. I just think that her spanking you is what should be happening." After saying that, he stood up and walked back into the kitchen.


    Meanwhile, Wu Yueling came to Teng''s side and rubbed his head as well, then gave him a smile.


    Lin Qiao walked into the bathroom and filled the tub with her lake water, then took a bath to wash off the earthy smell on her body before putting on a bathrobe and coming out. After that, she leaned against the kitchen door and watched Wu Chengyue prepare the food.


    "When will you leave tomorrow?" Wu Chengyue stood straight beside the stove. While stirring the porridge in the pot, he looked at the pot expressionlessly and asked her.


    "Six in the morning," Lin Qiao answered the question blandly, then said, "Are you gonna stay here for the night?"


    Shen Yujen told her that Wu Chengyue was in the underground creatures'' territory there days too, and arrived at the base an hour before she did. As he had come to her place already, she guessed that he did not plan to go to where he always stayed.


    Wu Chengyue turned and looked at her, then curved his lips in a faint smile and asked, "Am I not welcome?"


    Before, he never stayed in her place for the night.


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds looking deep into his eyes, then turned and responded blandly, "Whatever you want. Clean the guest room yourself." After all, she had stayed in his place for quite a few times. Letting him stay in hers once was not a big deal.


    Wu Chengyue had his eyes glowing, then smiled a bigger smile.


    "Eh? Can Daddy stay here tonight?" Teng looked at Lin Qiao, who was walking toward her bedroom, and said with surprise. He thought Lin Qiao would kick Wu Chengyue out.


    Wu Yueling was also happy, looking at Lin Qiao with a pair of sparkling eyes. She was allowed to sleep in Lin Qiao''s place tonight!


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "Tell him to leave if you don''t want him to stay here."


    "I won''t do that," Teng rolled his eyes and said.


    Lin Qiao changed into leisurewear in her bedroom, then came out and sat down beside Teng, looking at the boy.


    "What?" Teng raised his head with confusion.


    She reached out a hand and pinched his ear as she said, "What? Do you think that I''m not gonna talk to you about what you''ve done? Of course, I won''t make you pay for it! But come on, tell me why you did it. Let''s talk!"


    Having his ear twisted by his mother, Teng moaned in pain. "Ouch! It hurts! Be gentle, gentle¡­" He didn''t dare to scream though.


    Lin Qiao looked at him coldly and said, "Tell me why you fed him your blood that night? Even if he did have some kind of problem, he wouldn''t need your blood. Do you know how dangerous your blood can be? What if you didn''t help him but hurt him? Have you thought about that kind of consequence?"

 1079 Being Rewarded for Taking A Step Back

    Teng hurriedly covered his ears as he looked at Lin Qiao with a pair of tearful eyes and said with a grievance, "I¡­ I know about the energy in my blood. It won''t hurt Daddy¡­"


    Lin Qiao glared at him as she let go of his ear and said, "So you also know your blood would put him into that state, don''t you?"


    Teng nodded as he covered his ears, without daring to move. Lin Qiao was super strong, and she really did hurt him just now. He was just a little fragile baby after all.


    Lin Qiao said to him coldly, "I didn''t discover any unusual energy inside his body. You were lying to me, weren''t you? Do you think that you can do anything you want since I can''t detect that so-called unusual energy?"


    Teng trembled under her gaze and immediately surrendered. He buried his head in his arms as he shrank into a corner of the couch and raised his little butt while yelling, "I was trying to help you guys. Your bodies aren''t the same as before. Sleeping with each other can help you both regain your powers quickly, and also break into a new level. The energy from that underground creature is indeed lingering in Daddy''s body. He might lose control again."


    In the kitchen, Wu Chengyue paused briefly as he gave a glance to the living room. He didn''t move his body though.


    Meanwhile, Teng continued, "Besides, I was also trying to bring you two closer to each other! Mama, you have started to care about Daddy already. Why are you still trying to avoid him?"


    Lin Qiao clenched her teeth as she tried to keep her veins from bulging on her forehead. She glared at the boy and said through clenched teeth, "We can solve those problems without your help. You were causing trouble! You are not allowed to do anything like that again!"


    Teng hurriedly sat up as he folded his little arms before his chest and said to Lin Qiao angrily, "I was trying to help! How can you be so ungrateful! Would I ever hurt you guys? Mama, you have no idea that Daddy''s body has changed like yours when he had sex with you in the lake for the first time. The zombie virus can''t hurt him anymore. It will, at most, bring him some temporary effect. Also, you''re still in recovery. You need Daddy''s help. I did what I did for your good!"


    After saying that, he glared back at Lin Qiao with anger, feeling a little aggrieved.


    Hearing their voices grew louder and louder, Wu Yueling looked at Teng and Lin Qiao with concern. As Teng angrily argued with Lin Qiao, she quietly moved to his side and dragged his cloth.


    Arguing with adults was not right.


    Lin Qiao took a deep breath. The boy actually felt he was right!


    "Even if you did it for my good or his, you should not do it without telling us. Even if your judgment is right, you still need our permission to do something like that. Have you heard of a word called ''accident''? Also, should you not respect our own wills?"


    He did it because he believed it was right. But, it might not be right for the others. He thought he knew everything and he could do anything, but that was not right. When he wanted to help someone, the first thing he needed to do was ask that person if he or she needed help or not, not take an action without that person''s permission. The boy was arbitrary. What if he stayed that way when he grew up? In that case, he would become a real troublemaker!


    That could not happen!


    Hearing what Lin Qiao said, Teng didn''t know how to respond to her. He glared at her with red eyes and pressed his lips into a line, his cheeks even bulging with anger.


    Wu Yueling couldn''t help but poke his cheek with a finger.


    "Alright, alright! Next time, talk to us before you take an action or when you want to do something. You did it without telling us, which made us worry. After all, we didn''t know what was going on." Wu Chengyue walked out and smilingly held the boy in his arms, then sat down and put the boy on his knees.


    He took her side! He had won the girl''s heart, so he forgot about his son!


    Hearing this, Teng stared at Wu Chengyue angrily.


    Wu Chengyue poked his face like how Wu Yueling just did it and then said, "Alright, don''t be angry! Look at you. Your face looks like a globefish."


    Teng snorted and turned his face away, showing his father the back of his head.


    Hearing Wu Chengyue say that the boy looks like a globefish, Lin Qiao pictured a globefish get frightened and turn into a ball. As a result, she almost burst in laughter.


    The boy was really angry. He was tiny, but short-tempered.


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes as she looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "Is the food ready?"


    Wu Chengyue nodded at her, then said to Teng, "Alright, let''s eat!" Then, he brought the two kids to the dining table and sat down. While feeding Teng the porridge, he put food in Wu Yueling''s bowl from time to time as well. Wu Yueling had learned to use chopsticks, so Wu Chengyue didn''t need to worry about her.


    Lin Qiao watched Wu Chengyue feed Teng while picking food for Wu Yueling. He was so busy that he didn''t even have time to eat.


    Teng was mad at her. So, she guessed that the boy wouldn''t let her feed him. She thought for a moment, then decided not to join the three. She returned to her bedroom and picked up some files that she brought back from her office to read.


    Time flew by as Lin Qiao focused on the work until Wu Chengyue opened her bedroom door and walked in. She looked at the time; it was about eleven pm.


    "Where''s Teng?" Seeing Wu Chengyue come in alone, Lin Qiao asked without thinking.


    Wu Chengyue walked over and took away the files from her hands, then said, "He''s sleeping, together with Ling Ling."


    "You let both of them sleep in your room? Aren''t you gonna sleep?" Lin Qiao was surprised.


    Wu Chengyue put the files on the desk, then pulled over a chair and sat down really close to her as he said, "How about we talk?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and frowned slightly, staying silent.


    "I can stay here if you don''t want to live in Sea City Base. Zou and Yunlong are dealing with most of the work in Sea City Base. It doesn''t really matter if I''m there or not," said Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Qiao pressed her lips together; she understood his meaning. He wanted to live with her, but he was not asking her to move to Sea City Base. Was he going to follow her will? Perhaps, he made that decision because he knew she could not leave All Beings Base for the time being.


    "What do you think? I have taken a step back, so I can stay here tonight as my reward, right?" Wu Chengyue smilingly looked at her in the eyes, then couldn''t help but reach out to flip the hair by her cheek.


    Lin Qiao slightly tilted her head to dodge his hand. She had been alone for long, so she was not used to intimate interactions like that.


    "Whatever you want!" she responded blandly, "But, won''t the two of them curse you if you dropped your work in Sea City Base?"


    Hearing her words, Wu Chengyue was stunned a little. He thought she would say no.


    A few seconds later, he adjusted his expression and then looked at her deep in the eyes while smiling, "I don''t care. Their curses won''t come true anyway."

 1080 The Nuclei He Gave Her

    Lin Qiao found his reaction interesting. He seemed to think that she would turn him down. Otherwise, why was he surprised?


    "In fact, you don''t need to be so strict to Teng. He knew what he was doing, and he meant good. The way you talked to him could easily hurt his feelings," Wu Chengyue smilingly brought up what happened before dinner.


    "Are you speaking for him? Or, do you think what he did could be encouraged?" said Lin Qiao.


    She didn''t expect Wu Chengyue to be so nice to the boy. Perhaps, he just had a different view about education.


    "No, he did wrong. But, I''m worried that being too strict with him might lead to the opposite of what we wish for. When it comes to children, we need to enlighten them with patience." Seeing Lin Qiao raise her eyebrows, Wu Chengyue smiled and waved his hands.


    "You''re nice. You go," Lin Qiao gave him a cold glance. The man hadn''t learned how naughty the boy could be, had he? She decided to let the boy spend some time with him and see if he could have more patience for the boy.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her smilingly, then stood up and put the chair back to where it came from as he said, "I''m gonna take a shower."


    Lin Qiao was a little confused. He didn''t need to tell her that, did he? But, she soon figured out why he told her that.


    "So, you let the kids sleep next door because you want to sleep here?" Lin Qiao sat on the couch and folded her arms as she watched the man get into her bed in pajamas and cover himself with her quilt.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with a grin and said, "Don''t worry. I''m not gonna do anything tonight. I''m just going to sleep."


    "Go ahead," Lin Qiao looked at him expressionlessly, "I don''t need to sleep anyway. I can lend you my bed for tonight."


    She did not plan to sleep indeed because she was a zombie and she didn''t need sleep. She fell asleep twice since she became a zombie, both times after she had sex with him. She fell asleep because she was too tired. That should be a special case though.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with curiosity and said, "You zombies don''t need to sleep, but you are always energetic. Oh, wait a second!" He thought for a moment, then abruptly got off the bed and walked out to next door. Soon, he returned with a bag in his hand containing a few zombie nuclei and energy nuclei.


    "But you guys need to absorb energy to replenish yourself. I don''t know how helpful these can be for you."


    Lin Qiao glanced at the nuclei in the bag. All of them were at level six or seven.


    Currently, these nuclei could be traded for tons of supplies. For superpower possessors, those could bring them to a new level. However, he gave them to her as if that was what he ought to do.


    "Again?" It wasn''t the first time he gave her nuclei. Earlier, he offered her nuclei sometimes during the two months they were bound together. Back then, she never accepted his kindness.


    "These are all I have. I think you''re breaking into level-eight soon. I don''t know if these are enough. You''re leaving the base for a mission, so it''ll be good for you if you can break into level-eight before leaving," Wu Chengyue walked up to her, then raised a hand of hers and put the bag on it.


    Lin Qiao blinked, not knowing how to argue with that.


    He was right, as she did need to grow stronger at the moment. Power was the most reliable guarantee. She had run out of nuclei recently, having absorbed all nuclei she had. She was planning to do some hunting on her way to Sky Fire Base.


    Also, she didn''t plan to miss out on Li Zhengye''s nucleus.


    She glanced at the heavy bag on her hand, then nodded and said, "Alright, thank you!"


    As she accepted the nuclei, Wu Chengyue sighed with relief, then smiled as he turned and lay back on the bed, "Take it as my rent."


    Lin Qiao looked at those nuclei, which were certainly too much for rent. This time, she did not feel any repulsion toward his kindness even though he said that those were all he had. A trace of warmth even flashed across her heart, which she felt strongly.


    Lying on the bed, Wu Chengyue didn''t fall asleep immediately. Instead, he picked a book that he was interested in from the stack of books on Lin Qiao''s nightstand.


    Meanwhile Lin Qiao sorted the files and put them in the file holder, then brought the nuclei that Wu Chengyue gave her into her space.


    The energy contained in the plant nuclei was the purest and easiest to be absorbed. It would take her a long time to absorb those nuclei outside. In that way, she could not break into level-eight in just one night.


    So, she decided to enter her space and absorb those nuclei at the bottom of the lake. Apart from that, she also needed to do it in a special way.


    In the space, she created a screen near the lake with her dark mist, then took off her clothes and went into the water with those nuclei. Inside the lake, she released her will power and gathered all the energy in the lake before sinking to the bottom.


    She hadn''t gone down into the lake for a while. At the bottom, she watched the green energy gather in the water and wrap her up. Her long hair spread in the water and drifted behind her body like floating grass.


    At that moment, she gently brought the nuclei before her body, causing the green energy to instantly wrap them up. The nuclei surrounded her body half a meter away, glowing with different colored light in the dark green energy in the lake.


    She reached out both hands and started to send the lake energy into her body. Meanwhile, she released a stream of black fire to connect all the nuclei. Interestingly, the dark fire didn''t die out in the water. On the contrary, it looked quite energetic. The energy in the lake seemed to be afraid of the energy in the netherworld fire. However, it didn''t escape, because it was under Lin Qiao''s control.


    The dark fire connected all the nuclei, then started to quickly absorb the energies contained in them and send them into Lin Qiao''s body, to her nucleus that was located in her brain.


    As the energy in the lake was gathered to the bottom by Lin Qiao, the lake no longer gave out a strong pressure. All the zombies in the space could feel it.


    Mo Yan was standing by the edge of the balcony, observing the lake surface. Earlier on, Lin Qiao entered the space and all the zombies in the space sensed her presence. What was she doing at the lake bottom?


    One hour later, the white fog at the edge of the space started moving backward. On top of the woods, the fog rose higher, exposing the higher parts of the trees.


    Two hours later, the zombie girl in a white dress behind him gently pulled Mo Yan''s shirt, then pointed at the sky.


    Mo Yan raised his head and found that the fog had risen high and a bright light was pouring down through the fog.


    The dim space was instantly brightened.

 1081 Become A Zombie Emperor

    Lin Qiao''s space had been dim the whole time, just like the time after dusk and before it was entirely dark. Most of the zombies weren''t very sensitive to lights. Therefore, the dimness didn''t affect Lin Qiao much, and she had gotten used to the light in her space.


    Unlike her, the zombie girl keenly sensed the change of the light. When the space started turning brighter, she detected it immediately.


    Mo Yan looked at the sky. Before this point, nothing but a thick layer of fog was seen in the sky. But now, the fog had risen high and light was pouring down. What a magical space! What did the zombie lady do at the bottom of the lake?


    In the bedroom, Wu Chengyue was still awake. The zombie lady had gone into her space, and he worried if she could come out by tomorrow morning. After all, she only had about six hours left.


    She was leaving the base soon, and could not absorb those nuclei on her way. If she couldn''t absorb all those nuclei at one time, she might fail to achieve the breakthrough. Absorbing all of those nuclei at one time was the best way for her to break into a new level.


    Trying to upgrade now seemed to be a reckless move, but that was her only choice. She had to grow stronger to secure her own safety after all.


    About two in the morning, Wu Chengyue went to the next door to check on the kids. The kids didn''t kick away the quilts, so he returned to Lin Qiao''s bedroom.


    ¡­


    Somewhere Mo Yan and the other zombies couldn''t see inside Lin Qiao''s space, things were changing quickly.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao''s body had been changing as well. At first, a stream of netherworld fire was circling around her body. But by now, the fire had wrapped her up entirely. The fire was shaking and twisting in the water, looking a little scary. The nuclei had all sunken in the fire, and Lin Qiao''s body was right in the middle.


    Like a black hole, her head had been absorbing energies from the dark fire, stream by stream.


    Flame-shaped marks emerged on Lin Qiao''s chest near her heart and spread to the rest of her chest and back, as well as both her arms. Currently, only the area above her neck and below her lower abdomen were still empty, but the marks were reaching those areas.


    The more energy she absorbed, the further the marks reached. Gradually, her body was covered in those marks completely.


    Those marks reached her face from her neck, looking like the marks on Mo Yan''s skin, but in a different color. Mo Yan''s marks looked like blasting lightning bolts while Lin Qiao''s looked like a burning fire.


    As the marks emerged, all the nuclei were instantly absorbed by Lin Qiao''s body. The energies flowed into every corner of her body and then moved toward her head through her veins. As the energy of the netherworld fire merged with her body, the energies from the nuclei all shrank into her brain.


    Her hair were still drifting in the water like floating grasses, although they had grown much longer than before. Currently, they almost reached the middle of her thighs.


    As the flame marks covered her entire body and stopped spreading, a terrifying vibe erupted from her body. But soon, the energy of the lake that was wrapping around her body sealed it.


    Anyhow, the zombies and mutated animals in her space took a heavy strike from that vibe.


    "Hoooo¡­" On the other side of the lake, all the mutated goats and roe deers sprung up and ran away from the lake like startled birds. The few level-four zombies who were wandering in the field suffered pretty badly. Under the strong vibe, they were disabled from moving. Even Mrs. Lin was shocked by the vibe; she wasn''t frightened though.


    Mo Yan was the only zombie who wasn''t affected by the vibe as he looked into the bottom of the lake knowingly.


    So, the zombie lady went down there to upgrade herself! She seemed to have entered the level of zombie emperors already, and her vibe was almost as strong as Mo Yan''s vibe. It was probably still a bit weaker, but at least, the two of them were now at the same level.


    Even though her vibe was still slightly weaker than his, she was already powerful enough to crush him. Mo Yan instinctively felt being threatened by Lin Qiao''s vibe, and somehow grew a depressed mood while his body automatically grew alert.


    While the zombies in Lin Qiao''s space were facing her upgraded vibe, the vibe had spread out of her base to the outside world.


    Wu Chengyue was the first to be struck by it. Thankfully, he adjusted his own vibe in time and shielded himself from Lin Qiao''s vibe, which had already been weakened by the lake energy and her space.


    The second one who sensed the vibe wasn''t one of the other level-seven zombies or superpower possessors in the base. Instead, it was Teng.


    Teng and Wu Chengyue sensed the vibe almost simultaneously. The boy immediately opened his eyes. His mind wasn''t awake yet, but his body had already woken up. At first, he stared at the ceiling coldly, and his eyes slowly focused two seconds later.


    "Eh?" Teng sat up from the bed, then rubbed his hairless head and started to carefully sense Lin Qiao''s vibe.


    "Eh? Level-eight!" After spending a short while sensing the vibe, he had his eyes glowing. Then, he looked around and felt the air temperature outside.


    It was almost dawn. How come Mama suddenly upgraded? Eh? Mama wasn''t in the bedroom¡­


    Focusing his sensations again, Teng sensed only his father''s vibe from the bedroom, without his mother''s. The vibe that woke him up just now had already spread out of the bedroom.


    At that time, some others in All Beings Base were also woken up by the vibe. The ones who sensed the vibe clearly the next were Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, who were both at level-seven.


    Under the emperor''s vibe, they both instinctively wanted to yield. Fortunately, the vibe had already been weakened by the space, and it didn''t affect the two of them strongly. The level-six zombies shivered under the vibe, but then felt nothing special. Meanwhile, the zombies at and below level-five were frozen for a few seconds. They reacted in different ways, but had all figured out who the owner of that vibe was.


    "Wow! Qiaoqiao has broken into level-eight! She is a zombie emperor now!" On the roof, Qiu Lili excitedly hugged the black panther and yelled out, almost jumping into the sky. She was so happy as if she was the one who just broke into a new level.


    Lin Kui had to make an effort to pull his head out of her arms. After that, he shook his ears and glanced at her silently.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were the last ones to feel the change in Lin Qiao''s vibe. The human beings below level-seven weren''t able to sense the vibe, but their bodies did automatically react to it. Some of them had their hearts racing slightly, and some felt danger.

 1082 Black Zombie Nucleus

    At the moment the vibe came out, not only did the high-leveled zombies in All Beings Base sense it, some others had sensed it too vaguely.


    At the bottom of the lake, Lin Qiao''s body was filled with interweaving energies inside the sphere of energy. The dark marks on her skin absorbed those energies, and the energy from the lake had been purifying them, before being sent into her brain.


    Before dawn, Wu Chengyue looked at the time: it was only a few minutes to six. He got up and tidied the bedroom, then turned and walked into the kitchen to prepare food for the kids.


    By the door, Duan Juan was standing there in a military suit. Beside her were Shen Yujen in a suit, Six, and Nine. Six stood by the wall expressionlessly, merging into the background, while Nine was staring straight at Duan Juan. He moved a foot slightly forward, then backward, then forward again.


    Duan Juan gave him a cold glance, but didn''t say anything.


    A short while later, Duan Juan looked at her watch: it was already six. However, nothing was heard from the apartment yet. Normally, Lin Qiao would prepare herself and leave home slightly earlier than the time she set for leaving.


    Duan Juan made eye-contact with Shen Yujen, then raised a hand and prepared to knock on the door. But, footsteps were heard abruptly from the apartment, coming near the door. So, she paused briefly and then dropped her hand.


    Soon, the door was opened. However, the one who opened the door wasn''t her boss, but was her boss''s¡­ man?


    "Come in and have a seat. She might be in some kind of situation right now," Wu Chengyue opened the door and said to Duan Juan, then turned and headed back to the kitchen, leaving the four at the door feeling confused.


    ''Situation? No way¡­ She was a zombie. Even her zombie body couldn''t take it?''


    Knowing that Wu Chengyue was in Lin Qiao''s place last night, Duan Juan immediately pictured an indescribable scene in her head. She thought that was the reason why Lin Qiao couldn''t get up in the morning.


    Shen Yujen and Six had sensed the scents of Wu Chengyue and Wu Yueling long ago. So, they weren''t surprised to see the man. They didn''t sense their Chief''s scent from Wu Chengyue''s body, so they weren''t thinking what Duan Juan was thinking about. They were only wondering what the situation Wu Chengyue mentioned was.


    Their Chief''s vibe didn''t exist in the room.


    "Chief is in the space," Six abruptly said a few words. After that, he walked into the apartment.


    Hearing him, Duan Juan glanced at him and then followed him in. Chief was in her space. So, the situation wasn''t caused by sleeping together with Chief Wu. What was it, then?


    Whatever it was, they had to wait.


    Nine was the last one to come in. He first looked at the kitchen, then at the guest room. He recognized Wu Chengyue''s vibe that was coming from the kitchen. His vibe was too strong. Apart from his vibe, Nine had also sensed a tempting scent from the guest room. Could he eat the source of that scent?


    At that moment, the marks on Lin Qiao''s body had been growing larger and thicker while her nucleus inside her brain had been growing larger and larger as well. At the same time, its color had also started to change.


    When she absorbed her original black nucleus, her nucleus didn''t turn black; instead, it was gray. It was lusterless, as if it had absorbed all the lights and grown a shell.


    The nuclei of the other level-seven zombies would normally change colors according to their powers and glow brightly. Unlike those nuclei, her nucleus seemed to be wrapped in something.


    But now, as she had entered the level of zombie emperors, her nucleus finally became dark and dazzling, with a bright light shining out of it.


    The marks on her skin grew thicker and thicker until her skin turned entirely black. At that very moment, the energy contained in her nucleus suddenly erupted and then immediately shrank back into her brain through the spot between her eyebrows.


    At the same time, the darkness on her skin quickly vanished, turning her skin white and flawless again.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes which were purely dark. The darkness was flowing in her eyes, seeming about to spill out of her eye sockets. Because of the nature of her power, her pupils were dark, merging with the darkness of her eyes. Those eyes of her were weirdly black like a pair of blackholes.


    She blinked her eyes, after which, the darkness in her eyes quickly faded, showing the white parts.


    She raised her head and looked around. The green energy around her quickly spread to every corner of the lake.


    She slightly moved her legs and showed up at the water surface a second later. Gently, she stepped on the water surface and walked toward the lakeside step by step, her body wrapped in the dark fire.


    She didn''t notice that all kinds of plants sprouted from the soil at the bottom of the lake after she came up to the surface.


    By the lakeside, she got dressed and then looked at the time: it was already half-past six. She was half an hour late.


    She glanced at the zombies who were standing before her house in a straight line, and Mo Yan and his zombie girl, who were on the balcony. She slightly nodded at them to greet to them.


    In the next second, she turned and disappeared from the space.


    Looking at where she disappeared from, Mo Yan curved his lips in a wicked smile, then turned and walked back into his room.


    Lin Qiao showed up in the living room, then found a field training suit from her space and put it on, tying her super long hair at the back of her head. After that, she picked up the file folder from the couch and walked out.


    "Congratulations. I think it went well!" Wu Chengyue was serving the breakfast. Seeing Lin Qiao, he was finally relieved and the smile on his face grew bigger.


    "Chief, congratulations for the successful upgrade!" Duan Juan, Shen Yujen, and Six stood up from the couch together and congratulated Lin Qiao in one voice.


    Duan Juan was a little excited. After all, Lin Qiao was the first level-eight leader of the base. She was a zombie emperor, and she was strong.


    Lin Qiao was Duan Juan''s boss and army friend, so the latter was sincerely happy for her.


    Shen Yujen was also happy to know that Lin Qiao had broken into level-eight. The pressure that she could sense from the latter had grown stronger than before, but she also felt safe standing near the powerful being.


    Six wasn''t very close to Lin Qiao. However, he had been under her command for a whole year. Lin Qiao made him feel safe; therefore, he was also congratulating her sincerely as well.


    Unlike the others, Nine was looking at Lin Qiao unhappily. He silently moved away from her and hid in a corner, trying to make himself invisible.


    "Thank you! We are half an hour late because of me. I am very sorry. Let''s go now!" Lin Qiao smiled at Duan Juan and Six, then glanced at Wu Chengyue. She didn''t say anything to him, but turned and walked into the room of Teng and Wu Yueling.


    Teng and Wu Yueling were lying on the bed side by side. Lin Qiao walked to the bedside and first rubbed Wu Yueling''s hair, then bent over and kissed Teng on the head. After that, she left the room, nodding at Duan Juan and Six.


    "Let''s go!" While speaking, she handed the file folder to Shen Yujen, then walked out of her apartment. But before leaving, she turned and gave Wu Chengyue another glance.

 1083 Growing Teeth

    The others didn''t understand the glance that Lin Qiao gave Wu Chengyue before leaving, but Wu Chengyue did. Receiving that glance, he narrowed his eyes into a pair of curved lines with a big smile. Seeing that smile on his face, everyone else except for Shen Yujen, who was married, and Nine who was all about food, was jealous of him.


    He looked like a househusband whose wife just left home for work!


    After Lin Qiao left, Teng sat up from the bed and rubbed his eyes as he confusedly glanced at the door. He sensed his mother''s vibe earlier, but it was gone now.


    He turned and pushed Wu Yueling to wake her up, "Ling Ling, get up. Breakfast is ready!"


    Wu Yueling sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking at Teng drowsily. The latter immediately pushed her again and said, "Get off the bed and get dressed. We''re going out."


    Wu Yueling dozily got off the bed and put on her shoes, then found her clothes and put them on.


    By the time Wu Chengyue came in, the two kids had gotten dressed already.


    "You guys are awake. Go brush your teeth and then we can have breakfast," he walked over and scooped Teng up as he said to Ling Ling. After that, he brought the kids to the basin for them to brush their teeth and wash their faces.


    "Where''s Mama? Did Mama just leave?" Teng abruptly asked.


    "Em, she just left. There''s something that she needs to do. She might be away for two weeks. After breakfast, I''ll take you back to Sea City Base. We''ll come back here when she''s back," Wu Chengyue smilingly nodded at Teng, then wiped his face with the warm towel that he prepared and let him rinse his mouth.


    Meanwhile, he handed Wu Yueling the toothbrush with toothpaste on and let the girl brush her own teeth.


    "I think I sensed her vibe last night. Has Mama upgraded?" Teng held Wu Chengyue''s neck and asked.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Yes. Did you sense that? Her vibe came out last night, but only faintly."


    Teng held the warm towel with his little hands to wipe his face, wiping from side to side and then rubbing his eyes. After that, he dropped the towel and responded, "Oh, I can feel it because there''s a special connection between Mama and me. Even though she was in the space, I still felt her. Besides, she was close to me last night."


    Even if Lin Qiao was a thousand miles away from him, he would still be able to sense her. He wasn''t bragging; it was true.


    Wu Chengyue smiled at him and said, "Is it because she''s your mother? How strongly can you sense me?"


    Teng looked at him as he rolled his sparkling eyes and then answered, "The connection between you and me is weaker than that between Mama and me by at least seventy percent."


    "I guess I''m not very important to you¡­" Wu Chengyue sighed as he wore a sad face.


    Teng rolled his eyes and said, "Daddy, stop pretending! You are much more important to me than you are to Mama."


    Wu Chengyue gave him a mysterious smile as he handed him a cup of water and said, "You don''t know. Maybe I''m as important to her as I am to you."


    Teng let out his tongue and said, "You are quite confident!"


    After saying that, he poured some water into his mouth to rinse, then tilted his head to let out the water. Next, he licked his itchy gum and said, "Daddy, I think my teeth are growing out."


    "So soon?" Wu Chengyue looked at him with surprise.


    The boy was only a month and a few days old. How come he was already teething?


    Teng nodded and said, "My gum is itchy. Also, I''ve been having a lot of saliva recently. Pah¡­"


    Wu Chengyue was speechless.


    At that time, Ling Ling also rinsed her mouth and then looked at Teng happily.


    Teng thought for a moment, then turned to Wu Chengyue and said, "Hm, I remember that Mama ran out of nuclei. Where did she get the energy to break into level-eight? Daddy, did you give her your nuclei?"


    Wu Chengyue smiled, "You know that too?"


    Teng looked at Wu Chengyue up and down and said, "I think Mama needed a large amount of energy this time. That would be three level-seven nuclei at least. How many did you give her? Did you give her everything you had? Oh¡­ Mama accepted them¡­ This is too much¡­ Let me think."


    After saying that, he looked at Wu Chengyue from head to toe again.


    The boy''s reaction was so weird. Shouldn''t he be purely happy? Why was he thinking so much?


    "You''re just a kid. You shouldn''t think so much. Okay, you''re clean. Let''s go for breakfast," Wu Chengyue rubbed the boy''s round head and carried him out of the bathroom with a smile.


    "Don''t always rub my head. What if my hair can''t grow out? Do you want me to be bald?" Teng angrily slapped off his hand and complained.


    "Hehe¡­ Alright, I won''t rub your head again," Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but laugh. He rarely laughed, even though he was always smiling.


    ¡­


    Shen Yujen parted with Lin Qiao after leaving the neighborhood. Instead of heading to the base gate together with Lin Qiao, she brought the file folder to Yuan Tianxing''s office.


    At the base gate, Qiu Lili and Lin Kui were already there waiting for Lin Qiao.


    "Are you really not gonna let me come with you? It''s so boring staying in the base," Qiu Lili stood by Lin Kui''s side as she looked at Lin Qiao and said with a sweet voice.


    Lin Qiao said to her smilingly, "You need to guard the base. What if something bad happened here while we''re both gone? You''re the second most powerful being in our base."


    Qiu Lili dropped her head and kicked a stone near her foot.


    At that moment, Lin Kui raised a hand and flipped a ponytail of hers behind her body, then said, "Don''t worry. We''ll come back soon."


    He knew that the girl wanted to go not because it was boring in the base, but because she wanted to be with him.


    Lin Qiao noticed his small movement and the distance between him and Qiu Lili. She blinked and then smiled, "Yeah, we''ll soon be back. Finishing off Li Zhengye won''t be so troublesome."


    The troublesome one was that mysterious man.


    "It''s because you''re so powerful now! I don''t even know when I can feel the opportunity of upgrading¡­" Qiu Lili raised her head and glanced at Lin Qiao, then dropped her head again with disappointment.


    Lin Qiao was even weaker than her when she first met her! It had been only a year, but Lin Qiao was already a level higher than her. Currently, Lin Qiao was at a whole new level.


    If Lin Qiao attacked her now, she wouldn''t be able to do anything but shake. Back when Mo Yan first showed up, he didn''t target her, but she still felt a very strong pressure from him. His vibe suppressed her and Yun Meng completely.


    That was the difference between zombie emperors and zombie dominators


    Lin Qiao had restrained her vibe entirely as she was facing Qiu Lili and Lin Kui peacefully, but the oppressive vibe from her still emerged from their hearts.


    "Be patient! The opportunity will come at the right time. I''ll let you two go hunting when I''m back."


    After saying that, she glanced at Qiu Lili in a meaningful way, then at Lin Kui. She didn''t say anything, but gave both of them a smile.

 1084 Different Heavy Work

    Lin Qiao was wearing a field suit, with no hat. Her long hair reached the middle of her thigh, swaying along with her footsteps before she got into her modified off-road car; her driver was still Duan Juan.


    Following behind her car were three off-road cars. On those cars were Lin Kui, who was at level-seven; Mo, Ye Qingxian, Xia Ri, Nan Jin, Six, who were all at level-six; and Jingyan, Yan Xiao, Liu Mingsong, and Wan Lizchong¡ªwho was also called Chong¡ªwho were at level-five. Apart from them, about ten zombies selected from the zombie army was also in the cars.


    Lin Qiao didn''t bring the zombie army with her. The group of high-leveled zombies that she brought was strong enough to bring Sky Fire Base trouble.


    Qiu Lili hopped on top of the fence wall and watched Lin Qiao''s motorcade leave safely. Then, she turned and headed toward Mount Wu. Before long, she showed up before the series of cabins at the farm.


    Liu Jun, who was weeding in the field sensed her presence and stood up, then dusted her hands off and walked toward the cabins.


    "What''s wrong? What brought you here? Has Chief left?" She walked to the cabins and saw Qiu Lili finding herself a stool to sit on, letting her long ponytails fall on the ground. She walked to one of the cabins and washed her hands in the bucket by the wall. Then, she dried her hands and walked back to Qiu Lili, putting the girl''s long hair behind her body.


    The girl seemed upset, not even remembering to keep her hair clean. She was such a clean freak normally.


    "She just left. How come she upgrades so fast? Hm, you''ve been upgrading quickly too. You''re at level-five now," Qiu Lili raised her head and looked at Liu Jun as she sighed and said.


    Liu Jun smiled and said, "She''s not like us. It seems that her destiny is designed by the world. We died and then woke up as zombies, and she did too, but in a different way. Also, I sensed something special from the lake in her space. I have a feeling that she is not only the savior of the zombies like us but, is also the hope of mankind."


    While speaking, she found herself a stool as well. "She spent a year to become a zombie emperor," she continued, "and she built this base. Currently, no one can threaten her and us, or this base. Thankfully, her hatred didn''t beat her sanity. She still has family to help her stay clear-minded, to face the world with the right mindset and remember who she really is."


    Liu Jun couldn''t even imagine what would her and her son turn into if Lin Qiao didn''t find them.


    Liu Jun''s words made Qiu Lili think. She blinked as she nodded and said, "Yeah, I was all alone before I met her. I was so lonely, so bored. Sometimes, I wondered why I still had human memory as I had already become a zombie. I couldn''t break my human bottom lines to do the things that zombies liked to do, neither could I live a human life."


    Back then, she always wondered why she was living like that, and what she should be doing. Was there anything that she wanted to do? She had no one to talk to. She was actually a girl who liked to live with other people. She liked to have somebody to rely on.


    She had no idea what to do.


    "It''s because you are too innocent. Look at Mo Yan. Isn''t he the same as us? He was alone too. His hatred crushed his human bottom line, so he became what he did," Liu Jun rubbed Qiu Lili''s head and said.


    Hearing Mo Yan''s name, Qiu Lili pouted and said, "I don''t like him. He''s seeing himself as a zombie, so he ate human hearts."


    Liu Jun shook her head and said, "He ate human hearts to get energy. If he didn''t do that, his face and body wouldn''t be able to stay so undamaged."


    Mo Yan didn''t look exactly the same as normal zombies. He only ate human hearts and not any other body parts.


    "Oh, I think he''s still alive. Where did he go?" Qiu Lili asked a question. She hadn''t heard anything about Mo Yan ever since Lin Qiao returned from Huaxia Base.


    Liu Jun shrugged and said, "How am I supposed to know? Maybe you should ask Chief about it. She might have an answer."


    Qiu Lili sighed, "Qiaoqiao has left. Did that awful zombie die?"


    Liu Jun shook her head and said, "I''m not sure. He''s a zombie emperor after all. I don''t think he can die so easily."


    Qiu Lili thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "That''s true."


    Neither of them knew that the zombie they talked about was resting and healing in Lin Qiao''s space.


    "Oh, what''s going on between you and Lin Kui? You two are pretty close recently," Liu Jun said to Qiu Lili jokingly.


    Qiu Lili''s cheeks grew red. She turned her face away awkwardly as she didn''t dare to look at Liu Jun, "Nothing is going on. I just like him in his cat panther shape. I like big cats."


    Liu Jun smiled a meaningful smile as she nodded and said loudly, "Oh, you like big cats."


    ''Why don''t you look in my eyes and say it, if it''s that simple? You''re shy, aren''t you?'' she thought.


    "Eh-hem, why are you smiling like that? I''m not wrong!" Qiu Lili couldn''t stand the look in her eyes. So, she turned and glared at Liu Jun anxiously.


    "Alright, alright, enough kidding! I''m going to the field to work. Would you like to come and have some fun?" Liu Jun stood up and said to her smilingly.


    "No, it''s dirty!" Qiu Lili turned and snorted.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Shen Yujen sent the files that Lin Qiao had read last night to Yuan Tianxing, then took a detour to Chen Yuting''s office.


    With a heavy heart, she walked to the door of Chen Yuting''s office. "Mrs. Shen," the guard by the door saluted to her. He then raised a hand to knock on the door, but Shen Yujen stopped him.


    "Let me." While speaking, she knocked on the door gently.


    "Come in," Chen Yuting''s voice was heard from the office.


    Shen Yujen opened the door and walked in.


    Sitting behind the desk, Chen Yuting was surprised to see his wife, "Jen? What brought you here? Has Chief left?"


    Shen Yujen closed the door, then walked to the couch and sat down as she nodded and said, "Yeah, she left just now. I remember that you have a lot of work to do today, so I came here to see if you need help."


    Chief wasn''t in the base, and her work had been handed to Deputy Chief Yuan. Therefore, Shen Yujen now had some free time.


    Chen Yuting smiled, "I''m not very busy, actually. But today, I need to go to Base Number Two to see the construction site there. Do you want to come?"


    "Yeah."


    Chen Yuting spent a short while managing the files on his desk, then stood up and walked out of the office together with Shen Yujen. By the door, he abruptly paused, then looked at Shen Yujen and said with concern, "Jen, is there something on your mind?"

 1085 Lin Wenwen Is Having A Headache

    Shen Yujen, who was following behind him, paused briefly, then raised her head to look at him. "What?"


    She was absent-minded indeed. Chen Yuting turned around and looked at her in the eyes as he asked her, "Is there something bothering you?"


    This time, Shen Yujen heard him. Feeling the concern in his eyes, she couldn''t help but drop her head to avoid eye-contact. "I''m¡­ I''m fine. Aren''t you going to the construction site? Let''s go."


    Chen Yuting spent a few seconds looking at her, then sighed, "Alright. But, you have to promise me that you will talk to me when you want to, okay?"


    He knew that Shen Yujen''s job as Chief''s assistant was going well. In fact, the work that Chief gave her was simple. It had been quite long, and she had gotten used to that job long ago. Whatever had been bothering her must be something about herself, or about her relationship with her husband.


    She didn''t want to talk to him about it, and he didn''t want to push her.


    "I¡­ I''m good. Let''s go." Shen Yujen dropped her eyelids and an upset look flashed across her eyes. After that, she raised her head and smilingly shook her head to her husband.


    Chen Yuting turned and opened the door, then walked out.


    ¡­


    Long Qingying and Lin Wenwen weren''t so busy these couple of days. After leaving Sea City Base, they didn''t head straight back to All Beings Base, but went out to hunt zombies.


    They led a ten men squad, while Four, Three and two level-six zombies followed them under Lin Qiao''s command for their protection.


    "I heard that you once almost chased our Chief from Sea City to the South. Uncle, it''s a miracle that you''re still alive!" Lin Wenwen looked at Three, the middle-aged male zombie, then laughed and said.


    Because of him, Lin Qiao found Xie Dong. Xie Dong had told that to Liu Jun, and Liu Jun told that to Cheng Wangxue. After that, Lin Wenwen and all the others knew about it.


    Back then, Lin Qiao almost ran all over the country to get away from the ice-powered middle-aged male zombie.


    Obviously, Three didn''t want to mention that story at all. He was just a normal zombie at that time. It was not his fault to follow his nature.


    Currently, he had recollected most of his memory. He remembered how Chief made him and the other zombies strip themselves and jump into the buckets to take bath. After restoring his memory, he wanted to die every time he thought about that. After all, he was a forty-year-old man.


    "But, back at that time, Chief had just woken up as a zombie. You two wouldn''t have become friends if you didn''t try to kill her," Lin Wenwen sat on a chair as she looked at Three and said.


    At the moment, they were taking a break in a coffee house in a shopping mall. People each grabbed a seat to sit down. The ten soldiers split into two groups, each group guarding one entrance of the coffee house while resting. Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying were sitting on the couch on the second floor, together with Four and Three.


    Four was reading a physics textbook from the first year of junior high with great interest, without paying any attention to the surrounding environment at all. Every time he read something that he couldn''t understand, he would ask Lin Wenwen about it.


    Three shrugged and said, "She stole my food. It wasn''t wrong for me to go after her!"


    If it weren''t for Lin Qiao, he would have eaten Xie Dong. But in the end, Xie Dong survived, and now, he was at the same level as Three! As Chief''s number one subordinate, he certainly had better treatment than the other zombies.


    "You''re right," Lin Wenwen nodded, then turned to Four, who was handing the textbook to her. She resolved his question, then landed her eyes on Four''s chin, which was wrapped in gauze.


    "Four, how''s your chin now? Has it healed yet? Can you let us see it?"


    The kid had the lower half of his face wrapped in gauze, looking like a ninja. Only his pair of dark eyes with glowing red pupils were visible.


    Lin Qiao''s lake had healing power, so Lin Wenwen believed that the kid''s chin should have almost healed.


    Hearing her words, Four first paused briefly, then put the textbook on a table and started unwrapping his chin. As his chin was unwrapped, the other three stared straight at his face. His chin had grown back, but a deep and large wound extended from his mouth corners to his ears.


    "Oh, your chin has grown back. I heard it was hanging from your face at first¡­ Thankfully, we''ve seen all kinds of scary-looking zombies, or you could look quite terrifying to me!" Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but sigh with relief. Then, she continued, "The healing power is really helpful for zombies. If this happens to a human being¡­ Eh¡­ It must be so painful! Four, was it painful?" While speaking, Lin Wenwen looked at Four with deep pity. The huge wound must have brought him severe pain.


    Four thought about it. He didn''t remember everything before death, but he did remember some of that pain, so he nodded.


    Lin Wenwen looked at Four''s eyes, and her eyes were suddenly dazzled before the scene in her eyes changed. The ten-year-old zombie boy became a handsome, expressionless young man, about seventeen years old. The young man looked similar to Four, but more mature. He still had that coldness in his eyes.


    What was important was that his face was flawless and smooth, without any scars. He looked adorable.


    The scene changed once again, and the young man turned back into the zombie boy.


    Four was putting the gauze back on his chin. His friends had seen it, so he quickly wrapped it up again. After all, he was aware that he looked scary.


    Lin Wenwen reached out a hand and rubbed his head as she said, "I''ve seen it. Your face will heal, and you will grow up!"


    Four paused, looking at her with confusion.


    Long Qingying and Three also glanced at Lin Wenwen confusedly.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen suddenly sensed a piercing pain from her brain. She quickly buried her head in her arms and gave a deep moan, with her face twisted in pain.


    "Eh¡­ Ah!"


    "Wenwen!"


    "Miss Lin!"


    Long Qingying and Three gave a start and called Lin Wenwen in one voice. Four was shocked as well. He dropped the gauze and held her shoulder.


    "What''s wrong? Wenwen?" Long Qingying flashed to Lin Wenwen''s side and gently held her shoulder as she asked her anxiously.


    Lin Wenwen furrowed her eyebrows. The headache had faded, but a dull pain was still lingering in her head. She sighed with relief, then raised a hand and said, "I''m okay. I just had a sharp headache."


    "What happened?" Someone was running up the stairs. The leader of the squad that was guarding downstairs heard Lin Wenwen''s scream and came up.


    "Oh, I''m fine!" Lin Wenwen weakly waved at the squad leader, then glanced at Three and Four. Seeing that the two had put on their sunglasses, she silently sighed with relief. After all, the soldiers didn''t know that they were zombies yet.

 1086 The Cause of the Headache

    The squad leader looked at Lin Wenwen and asked her, "Are you really okay?"


    By that time, she had recovered from the pain already. So, she raised her head while smiling at the squad leader and said, "I''m okay. But, we need to head back to the base ahead of schedule."


    The squad leader was a thirty-year-old man, level-five green-power possessor. Hearing her, he nodded and said before going downstairs, "No problem!"


    "What happened?" Long Qingying looked at Lin Wenwen and asked.


    The latter rubbed her temples as she slightly furrowed her brows and said, "I don''t know. I had a sharp headache, as if something was drilling into my brain. I need to go back and let Lin Hao give me a check-up."


    "Is that the first time you have had such a headache?" Long Qingying asked.


    Lin Wenwen nodded.


    Seeing that, Long Qingying and Three made eye-contact with each other.


    "We should head back to see Doctor Lin as soon as possible. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen!" said Three.


    Lin Wenwen was one of the few space possessors in the base, and was also Doctor Lin''s sister. No accident could happen to her.


    Three had no idea why Chief cared so much for Lin Wenwen. Last time, Chief sent Lin Kui, Mo and Ye Qingxian to protect her, and this time, she sent Three and Four. Even though he didn''t know the reason, but Three really didn''t dare to be careless about Lin Wenwen''s safety.


    "We should head back right now," Long Qingying agreed, then stood up and prepared to leave.


    "Eh? Aren''t we gonna wait for the others to come back?" Lin Wenwen hurriedly asked.


    "No. Your situation is more important," Long Qingying expressionlessly held her hand and headed downstairs.


    "Um¡­ We should leave someone here waiting for them. At least, we need to let them know that we''re heading back. Otherwise, Kong Qingming would be worried to death if he came back here to find that we''re all gone," Lin Wenwen looked at Long Qingying''s swaying ponytail and said.


    "Your call," Long Qingying responded to her with simple words.


    The four went downstairs, and then Lin Wenwen said to the squad leader, "Captain Huang, leave two of your men here to wait for Kong Qingming and his people. Tell them about our situation, in case they get worried when they can''t find us."


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    Kong Qingming and his team killed a level-six mutated plant and brought back the nucleus. But by the time they returned, Long Qingying and her people were already gone.


    "Lin Wenwen suddenly had a headache? What happened?" Kong Qingming looked at the two soldiers who were left there to wait for him and his people with confusion.


    "No idea! That''s all we know," the two soldiers shook their heads.


    Kong Qingming frowned slightly and said, "Let''s head to All Beings Base too. We can meet Chief Wu there."


    They weren''t far away from All Beings Base, so it only took about an hour for Long Qingying and the others to drive back to the base. Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying headed to the medical department to see Lin Hao once they arrived at the base. The other was performing an operation on a patient, so they waited for him in his office.


    "Big Sister left for Sky Fire Base? How many people did she take with her?" Back in the base, they heard that Chief had left in the morning with some others. This time, she was making a journey to Sky Fire Base, and her target should be Li Zhengye.


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying sat in Lin Hao''s office, talking to each other.


    "She brought about ten of the members from Base Number Two," said Long Qingying.


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Isn''t it too rushed? Has Big Sister taken care of those underground creatures yet? What if those things come out again while she''s gone?"


    "I heard that she solved that problem temporarily. Otherwise, she wouldn''t leave the base," said Long Qingying.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t that kind of person who would leave behind an unsolved problem.


    "I heard Big Sister took in the level-eight underground creature as her new pet. That''s why she''s not worried that those creatures might come out to bring trouble again." The door was opened as Lin Hao walked in and answered Lin Wenwen''s question.


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying were both shocked.


    "Wait, what? Pet?" The two managed to process what they just heard in two or three seconds. Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Hao with disbelief, as if she was doubting her own ears. Long Qingying was a little calmer than her, but she still popped her eyes in surprise. About two seconds later, she abruptly relaxed her tightened face.


    That made sense. Her Chief was no longer an ordinary being. She had founded a zombie army, and now, she was forming a pet army too. Well, every new pet of hers was scarier than the old ones.


    "Our Chief is amazing!" Long Qingying sighed.


    Lin Wenwen closed her mouth and said, "How did she do that? I heard that she couldn''t do anything to the big one the other night. How come she turned it into her new pet within such a short time?"


    Lin Hao shrugged as he sat down on his seat and said, "How am I supposed to know? You should ask her. Alright, tell me about your condition. Are you injured?"


    Once he came out of the surgery room, a nurse told him that Lin Wenwen was waiting for him in his office. She wouldn''t come to his place unless she needed help.


    He was wondering if she was injured out there. As he came to his office, he heard the two girls talk about Chief.


    "I had a headache, but I don''t know what was going on. It was a sharp pain. Give me a check-up," Lin Wenwen quickly stood up and walked up to his desk, then put her hand in his.


    Lin Hao gave her a glance with confusion, then pressed a hand on hers to sense her body condition with his power.


    He had green-power, but unlike the other green-power possessors, he was able to sense the body conditions of the other people, and if their energies were healthy. Because of his special power and his experience of learning in medical school, he became a doctor in the base and started running the medical department.


    He spent a short while feeling Lin Wenwen''s body condition, then wore a serious look on his face.


    Seeing the look, both Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying had their hearts sinking. However, before Lin Hao took away his hand, the two girls didn''t say anything.


    Another while later, as Lin Hao took away his hand, Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but ask him, "What''s wrong? Your expression told me that my condition isn''t good."


    While speaking, Lin Wenwen looked at him with her brows knitted.


    Lin Hao rested his elbows on the desk and crossed his fingers under his nose. After a short silence, he said, "The problem isn''t big, but it''s not small either. I think your second superpower is going to upgrade soon. Do you have two types of energy in your body?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Yes, but they never affected each other¡­ Are you saying that because my second superpower is going to upgrade, something happened between my two types of energy and caused the headache?"


    Lin Hao nodded, "Em¡­ In comparison with your second type of energy, your space energy is very strong. However, your second type of energy is aggressive. It''s ready to enter level-two, so it''s now trying to erupt."

 1087 The Way to Upgrade

    "So, what you''re trying to say is¡­ my two types of energy are conflicting?" Lin Wenwen asked.


    Not many people possessed two types of energies, but she was certainly not the only one. How come all the other dual-powered people managed to upgrade safely while she had such a problem?


    Normally, the other dual-powered people triggered their two different superpowers together. Unlike them, her second type of superpower woke up later than her first superpower. Was that the reason why she was different from the others?


    "Your case is¡­ special," Lin Hao leaned on the back of the chair and folded his arms before his chest. He thought for a moment, then organized his language and explained, "I felt that your second superpower is like a raging tiger, with a very strong territorial awareness. Before, that energy is weak, so it didn''t dare to fight against your space power. It had been hiding inside your body. Now, it''s ready to upgrade, but your space power makes it feel under threat and agitated. That''s why you had that headache."


    Hearing his explanation, Lin Wenwen finally understood it. "So, will the headache happen frequently before it upgrades?"


    Thinking about that, Lin Wenwen instantly felt not so happy. Would she suffer headaches every time her second superpower prepared to upgrade? It sounded like PMS.


    Lin Hao looked at her with a frown and said, "As I have said, your case is special. I don''t know what might happen to you if you fail to upgrade. The energies that you now have in the nucleus in your brain seem hard to deal with to me."


    His tone of speaking was a little heavy. Lin Wenwen looked at him with confusion.


    "Wenwen, don''t you have any presentiment?" Long Qingying asked.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "No. I didn''t feel anything except the headache that happened this morning."


    Lin Hao and Long Qingying both knitted their brows.


    "Oh, have you drunk Big Sister''s lake water to suppress your power yet?" Lin Hao asked.


    Lin Hao knew that Lin Qiao''s all-purpose lake water was able to suppress awakening superpowers, but he had no idea if it could help Lin Wenwen or not.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "No. Big Sister''s lake water can suppress awakening power. I was worried that it might hinder my upgrade, so I didn''t take any."


    What if the lake water kept her from upgrading, or caused any other unwanted effects?


    Lin Hao thought for a moment; he wasn''t sure either.


    "But, you have to try. Based on your current condition, your second superpower needs to completely suppress your space power to upgrade, or, consume your space power up. Otherwise, your space power will keep your second power from upgrading," said Lin Hao.


    Lin Wenwen and Long Qingying glanced at each other, both pondering over his words.


    "Since we can''t use Chief''s lake water, I think we should try the second way you mentioned. We need to consume up her space power," said Long Qingying.


    Lin Hao nodded and said, "That''s a safer way. After consuming up her space power, she can start to absorb energies. Her aggressive second power will certainly grab the energy first. In that way, I think it will upgrade successfully."


    How should the space energy be consumed up? That was a problem. No space possessors had ever consumed up their energy.


    Space power couldn''t be used for fighting. Putting things into the space wouldn''t consume any energy at all.


    As the three were trying to figure out a way to consume Lin Wenwen''s space power, a nurse came over to tell Lin Hao that a patient''s condition was getting worse, and asked him to go and take a look at that patient.


    "Alright! So, think about how to consume your space power," he said to Lin Wenwen. As a space possessor, Lin Wenwen was the one who could be sure about how to consume her power.


    Lin Hao told her to go back and think of a solution, then left with the nurse in a hurry to see the patient.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao''s motorcade stopped moving not long after leaving the base.


    Lin Qiao stood on a tall building as she pointed at a few directions for Lin Kui, Mo, and some of the others, ordering them to launch attacks. Sky Fire Base people had been approaching from those directions.


    Earlier, Xie Dong had reported to her that Li Zhengye had sent out some people to capture superpower possessors from the other bases while capturing superpower possessors from his own base as well. The ones that he sent toward All Beings Base had run into Lin Qiao.


    "Over there! There''re only a few of them, not strong. The strongest one is only at level-five. Mo, you go and kill every one of them!"


    "Yes." The tall and slim, gook-looking, expressionless zombie lady¡ªMo¡ªinstantly responded.


    "Ye Qingxian, Six, you two go there! You''ll be dealing with those two groups. Don''t let any of them get away," Lin Qiao pointed at another direction and said.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Ye Qingxian, who looked like a twenty-year-old young man, and Six, who was a reliable-looking male zombie, stepped out together.


    "Nan Jin, nine o''clock. Xia Ri, eleven o''clock!"


    "Yes, ma''am! None of them will run!" Nan Jin and Xia Ri responded in one voice. Then, the two of them disappeared from the roof as same as the others.


    The zombie kings and queens were each sent to deal with one group of Sky Fire Base people. After that, Lin Qiao sent the zombie leaders after the other two groups of enemies.


    "Each group has about two-hundred men, led by level-five men. I can''t even tell if Li Zhengye has overestimated our base or underestimated us." After giving out her orders, Lin Qiao folded her arms and looked at the way to Sky Fire Base as she said to the others.


    "Each group he sent is at the size of two companies, but among them, less than twenty have superpowers. Base on the number, he''s overestimating us, but based on strength, he has clearly underestimated us," said Duan Juan.


    Standing next to her, Lin Kui stayed silent but nodding in agreement.


    Lin Qiao snorted with laughter and said, "Li Zhengye never learns his lesson. How many times has this happened? His men never returned to his base, but he''s always sending more to us. I really admire his spirit!"


    Every batch of men that Li Zhengye sent to All Being Base had been dealt with by Lin Qiao. However, he still had the courage to send more soldiers to All Being Base. Maybe his brain was damaged, or maybe he was just persistent.


    Soon, Lin Qiao sensed waves of blood scent from the directions that she pointed at earlier and heard a series of gun shots and explosions. Before long, all the noises quieted down. About half an hour later, five zombie kings and queens and six zombie leaders returned with the scents of blood and gun powder.


    "Mission accomplished."


    "Mission accomplished."


    "Mission accomplished."


    "Mission accomplished."


    "Keep moving toward Sky Fire Base!" With a bland face, Lin Qiao turned and waved a hand, then leaped off the building.

 1088 Misunderstood Conversation

    After parting with Chen Yuting at noontime, Shen Yujen spent the whole afternoon sitting behind her desk. She wanted very much to ask Lin Qiao if she could have a baby as she did. Before, she never even imagined having a baby as a zombie. However, after witnessing Teng come to the world, she often wondered if she could have a baby too.


    Teng was nothing different from a healthy human child.


    She wanted a baby of her own, but was worried that Chen Yuting might not want the same. After all, a zombie''s baby could be unhealthy.


    So, she strongly wanted to ask Lin Qiao''s help for that now, but was also afraid that Chen Yuting might not agree. She wanted a hug from him, but was worried that her virus might infect him.


    She was struggling all the time. So, following Lin Qiao''s lead, she had stopped worrying already. She believed there was a way to solve her problem. The latter had been busy, so she hadn''t had an opportunity to talk to her about that.


    She looked at the time; it was dark. She tidied her desk and then left her office.


    Back in her dorm, she took out the nuclei that she had been saving for months. As Lin Qiao''s assistant, she received great treatment. Every month, she was paid with a zombie nucleus at her own level to provide her with energy.


    She had saved some nuclei that she earned, and some that Chen Yuting gave her.


    She looked at the nuclei she had, which should be enough. Sometimes, Chen Yuting left the base to collect supplies or hunt zombies. He gave all the nuclei he harvested to Shen Yujen, most of which were at level four and five.


    She brought the nuclei to the bed, then lay down and prepared to start absorbing energy. Back in her room, all she could do was absorb energy to strengthen herself. She couldn''t live as human beings anyway.


    Abruptly, door knocks were heard.


    She paused briefly with surprise, then sensed the familiar scent from Chen Yuting. She hurriedly got up from the bed, put the nuclei on the table, then turned and opened the door.


    "What are you doing here?" She looked at him with surprise.


    The human residents of the base weren''t allowed to come to Base Number Two without permission. Chen Yuting might have accessed Base Number Two using his special rights.


    Chen Yuting looked around and said, "It''s really quiet here." While speaking, he walked into her room.


    "What''s wrong? Has anything happened?" He wouldn''t have come to her place for no reason.


    After letting him in, Shen Yujen closed the door and looked at him questioningly.


    Chen Yuting held her hands and brought her to the couch. He sat down, then looked at her in the eyes and said, "I told you to talk to me when you want to, but I''ve now found out that you don''t want to talk to me at all. Am I right?"


    Shen Yujen''s pupils shrank slightly. After that, she unwittingly moved her eyes away to avoid contact with him.


    "Look at me, Jen!" Chen Yuting raised a hand and held her chin as he said to her gently, "What''s going on? I''m worried, and I''m making guesses. Is this what you want? Please, tell me!"


    Shen Yujen had no choice but to raise her eyes and look at him. With hesitation, she moved her lips slightly, but still couldn''t say it out loud. "I¡­ I want¡­" she said.


    Chen Yuting looked at her and waited patiently. However, Shen Yujen bit her lip and stopped talking after letting out the first two words.


    He was so anxious, but he couldn''t push her. So, he took a deep breath and then said, "How am I supposed to know what you want without you telling me? Let me guess. Is it about us? You''re being¡­ You''re not thinking about¡­"


    A possibility suddenly popped up in his mind and gave him a start.


    His Jen wasn''t breaking up with him, was she? He knew she had been worried that she might hurt him as a zombie. She forbade intimate interactions with him. She wouldn''t even let him kiss her!


    Now, she was wearing a sad, upset look on her face. Did she not want to be with him anymore? Was she suffering too much pressure from him? Was she giving up on him?


    With that thought, he popped his eyes with anxiety and yelled at her, "No! Impossible! I won''t agree!"


    Shen Yujen was startled by his loud voice. Hearing his words, she couldn''t help but widen her eyes and murmur, "Have you¡­ Have you known about it?"


    Did he already know what she was thinking? Did he not agree? Did he not want to let her try? Or, did he not want a kid who might be unhealthy?


    Thinking about that, Shen Yujen felt as if she had a hard and sharp piece of stone in her heart. She felt so bad that she almost burst in tears.


    Zombies didn''t have tears, though.


    Chen Yuting pressed both hands on her shoulders and gripped her as he stared at her right in the eyes and said, "Jen, I won''t let you go no matter how! Don''t you even think about abandoning me¡­"


    While speaking, he abruptly held her tightly in his arms.


    Shen Yujen gave a start when he put his arms around her, but paused on hearing his words. Wait¡­ what? Abandon him?


    "What did you say?" She said with confusion.


    Chen Yuting held her and pressed her tightly against his own chest, then buried his face in her neck to sense her scent. "I said I won''t let you go! Don''t break up with me!"


    Shen Yujen immediately rolled her eyes and then responded, "Shut up! When did I say that I want to break up with you? What are you thinking about?"


    On hearing that, Chen Yuting was stunned a little. Then, he quickly held her shoulders and put her slightly away from himself, looking at her eyes as he said to her uncertainly, "Aren''t you gonna leave me? You never let me touch you, kiss you, and do that thing with you¡­ I thought you were leaving me because you were worried that you might turn me into a zombie too."


    Shen Yujen looked at him with a cold face and said with slight anger, "I am afraid that I might infect you, but I never thought about breaking up with you."


    How could the man misunderstand her like that? She even wanted to punch him.


    "What? Then¡­ Then what is it about?" Realizing that he had misunderstood her, Chen Yuting had his masculine face reddened slightly as he asked with embarrassment.


    Shen Yujen was hesitating before. However, she was much less worried after being funnily misunderstood by her husband.


    "I want a child. I want a child of us, no matter if he or she will be a zombie or a human being. All I want is a child of us." She looked at him deep in the eyes and said determinedly.


    "Huh? A child?" Chen Yuting was stunned a little and automatically glanced at her belly. Soon, he thought of one problem. "But, you''re a zombie. Can-can you give birth?" he said.


    A child? A child! The child of him and her!

 1089 Try That Way

    Shen Yujen looked at him coldly and said, "Why on earth did you think that I was breaking up with you? Eh? How dare you yell at me!"


    Looking at her angry face, Chen Yuting immediately worn a fawning smile and said, "No, no, no. I was wrong! Please forgive me, Jen! So, you had a heavy heart today because you want a child? But you''re a zombie. Is that even possible? After all, you''re not the same as Chief¡­"


    After learning what Shen Yujen was thinking, Chen Yuting immediately figured out why she had that kind of thought. But, Lin Qiao was special, and Shen Yujen was not like her.


    Thankfully, Jen wasn''t trying to break up with him. If having a child was possible, he would, of course, be happy to do that! Which man didn''t want his own children? Having children was difficult nowadays. But, no matter how hard it was, people would never stop trying.


    "I want to ask for Chief''s help. She might have a way," Shen Yujen looked at him and said. She wasn''t really sure, actually.


    "But¡­ you never even let me touch you. How are we supposed to have a baby?" Thinking about her attitude, Chen Yuting asked with confusion.


    Shen Yujen stared at him and stuttered, "Did-did you agree? Aren''t you afraid that I might give birth to a zombie, or a half-human, half-zombie monster?"


    Chen Yuting shook his head and said, "Why wouldn''t I agree? What''s the big deal about having a zombie baby? I don''t even care about you being a zombie. Would I ever mind our child being a zombie too? As long as it''s our child, I don''t care if it''s a human or a zombie! Besides, isn''t Chief''s son great? If we work hard enough, we might have a kid exactly like him!"


    Chen Yuting hadn''t met Teng, but had heard from Lin Feng about how naughty the boy was. That was a super energetic boy! It would be great if he could have such a child.


    Ever since Shen Yujen became a zombie, he buried that thought deep in his heart. But, Shen Yujen wanted a child now. How would he possibly say no?


    However, the chance of success was too low.


    Shen Yujen looked at him, then at his hands, which were still on her shoulders. She took his hands off her shoulders and then said, "Let''s go and talk to Doctor Lin about it. He might know something."


    Chief visited Doctor Lin a lot while she was pregnant, so he might know well about her pregnancy. He might even know how to help Shen Yujen and Chen Yuting.


    At the moment, Chen Yuting had no other choice but to follow every word his wife said. After all, he had just made her angry. He could, definitely, not go against her. That would be suicidal.


    "Okay! No problem! Let''s do it now!" While speaking, he quickly stood up as he held Shen Yujen''s hands and walked outside.


    "What? Now? Can you first send someone to make an appointment with Doctor Lin? He''s off work now! He has been pretty busy!" Shen Yujen looked at him and said.


    "Oh, oh, you''re right! I''ll send someone to give him a heads up." She was right, so Chen Yuting nodded in agreement.


    "Alright, let go of me, and go back to Base Number One now@" Shen Yujen sighed with relief. Realizing that her husband was still holding her hand, she tried to pull her hand out. Unexpectedly, he held her tight and didn''t let go off her hand.


    "Okay, I''ll leave, but¡­" Instead of letting her go, Chen Yuting pulled her to himself, held her face, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Only after that did he let go of her and step to the side.


    "I''m going!"


    Lin Hao received the message from Chen Yuting and made an appointment with him on the next day. After hearing about the thought the man and his zombie wife were having, he looked at the two of them with surprise.


    "So, you two want a child?" Sitting on his chair, he looked at the couple with a hand on his chin. He blinked his eyes, seemingly sinking in his thoughts but also excited.


    "We do! But¡­ we don''t know if we can. Doctor Lin, what do you think about it?" Chen Yuting looked at him and nodded determinedly.


    Lin Hao looked at the couple but stayed silent. A few seconds later, he said, "I don''t know if you can succeed or not. After all, you are not as powerful as Chief Wu. First of all, you need to prevent the virus infection. Without solving that problem, you won''t be able to touch her. If you can''t touch her, you won''t be able to enter her body. And without that, she could never get pregnant."


    Lin Hao was very curious if the other zombies could get pregnant like his zombie sister.


    Lin Qiao would not be his experimental subject, but he was highly interested in the zombie-pregnancy study. Sometimes, he thought that maybe his sister and Wu could have another baby.


    He was happy to help Chen Yuting and his wife while fulfilling his own curiosity.


    "Are you sure that you two want to give it a try? I don''t know what might happen if there''s an accident¡­" He looked at the two and warned them.


    Chen Yuting nodded and said, "I don''t care. Worst case, I become a zombie like Jen."


    In order to have a child of Jen and him, he was willing to risk his life.


    Shen Yujen looked at him in a complicated way. Seeing the look on his face, she regretted slightly. However, upon thinking about having a baby, she was tempted again.


    "Is there a way to prevent the virus infection?" Shen Yujen thought for a moment, then asked Lin Hao.


    "There is one way¡­ No guarantee though!" said Lin Hao.


    He tried so hard to make Lin Qiao tell him how she had sex with Wu Chengyue for the first time. His big sister almost killed him with a pen when he asked her that question.


    "Really? What is it? It''s okay! We can take any result!" Shen Yujen and Chen Yuting instantly had their eyes glowing as they said eagerly in one voice.


    "Go to Director Chen''s place tonight if you have time. I''ll prepare something for you. With that, you might not need to worry about the virus infection anymore," said Lin Hao to them.


    "Okay, no problem!"


    At the same time, Lin Wenwen was doing something strange.


    She was standing in her own living room at the moment. She moved out everything in her space, then put them all back, and then moved them out again. During the past few hours, she had been repeating that process over and over again.


    Watching her, Long Qingying even suffered a dizziness. "It''s been a whole afternoon. How much energy have you consumed so far?"


    "You think I want this? I''m not a fighter. I have no choice. Only when I move these things in and out will my energy be consumed slightly. So far, I have consumed fifteen percent of my space energy."


    "You''ve consumed only fifteen percent of your energy by spending the whole afternoon doing that? There''s still eighty-five percent to go. Work harder! I''m going back to my room to sleep."


    Lin Wenwen wore a bitter face.

 1090 Show off the Sweetness Too Early

    Lin Wenwen spent the entire night moving things in and out of her space. About six or seven in the morning, she was so tired that she lay on the couch and fell asleep.


    But in less than two hours, she was woken up by the headache.


    "Ouch¡­ Damn! Am I lucky or unlucky to have this kind of superpower?" Lin Wenwen held her head and rolled down to the floor from the couch, curling her body. About two minutes later, she struggled up and leaned against the couch while complaining sullenly.


    It was not her second superpower''s fault, though.


    Long Qingying bought her breakfast. Opening the door, she saw Lin Wenwen sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch with messy hair and a sallow face. She seemed to have spent the whole night suffering torment.


    "You look miserable!" Kong Qingming, who was standing behind Long Qingying, leaned his head forward and saw Lin Wenwen, instantly bursting in laughter. Long Qingying turned and gave him a cold glance to make him shut up in no time.


    "Morning¡­" Lin Wenwen weakly raised a hand to greet the two. She had no strength left to argue with Kong Qingming. After saying morning, she got up from the floor and threw herself onto the couch.


    "Have some breakfast. There''s something you might be interested in," Long Qingying put the breakfast from the canteen of the base on the table before Lin Wenwen, then sat down by the side and said expressionlessly.


    "I''ll go wash my face." Seeing the breakfast, Lin Wenwen stood up to freshen herself up. The smell of the food might have given her power.


    "How are you feeling? You look like you''ve been tortured for a whole night. The result is good, isn''t it?" Long Qingying followed behind her and leaned against the kitchen door as she asked her.


    "Go away! I was up the whole night. I think I''m losing my mind¡­" Lin Wenwen complained while brushing her teeth. Then, she continued, "What were you gonna tell me?"


    Hearing her talk while brushing her teeth, Long Qingying couldn''t help but say, "Can you finish brushing your teeth first? You don''t want to swallow the toothpaste."


    Lin Wenwen imagined that and felt disgusted.


    She quickly rinsed her mouth, then said, "What is it about? What made you so excited so early in the morning?"


    Long Qingying had always been a quiet person. It was not normal for her to start a conversation.


    "Last night, I heard that Shen Yujen and Chen Yuting went to see your brother. They want Lin Hao to help them, so they can do that thing¡­" said Long Qingying.


    "That thing? Have they not been doing that thing?" Kong Qingming came over and asked with surprise. He thought those two had solved that problem long ago like the zombie sister and Wu.


    Long Qingying glanced at him coldly, then walked to the side to stay away from him. She sat down on the couch in the living room and said, "I''m not sure. Perhaps, they''re worried. Not everyone is as special as Chief. After all, she has a space and a lake."


    Lin Wenwen wiped her face with a towel and walked out, looking less tired than before. "Eh? Is that what you wanted to tell me? You said last night, so how is it going now? How did you know it anyway¡­"


    Long Qingying was rarely into gossip.


    "Oh, I met Liu Jun this morning, and I heard it from her," said Long Qingying.


    Lin Wenwen shrugged and said, "Then? Did they do it?"


    Kong Qingming walked over and sat down right next to Long Qingying. Before she could react, he bossily put his arm around her waist.


    As he came over and sat down, Long Qingying prepared to stand up and move away from him again. However, the man was much faster than her. He held her waist within a blink and pulled her back down.


    "Let go of me!"


    "No! You''ve been avoiding me since last night. When will you stop doing this?"


    Lin Wenwen speechlessly watched the two of them staying very close to each other. She rolled her eyes and said to the two, "Can you please consider my feelings? Are you here to show off your sweetness to me so early in the morning?"


    Kong Qingming gave her a bright smile, his pretty face looking like the face of an angal. "You can go and find yourself a boyfriend. I heard that you''ve been into Deputy Chief Yuan all the time. Why aren''t so as passionate about him as you were before?"


    ''Please go and be with some man. Don''t always try to steal Qingying from me.'' Kong Qingming thought.


    Lin Wenwen raised her delicate eyebrows and gave him a fake smile as she responded, "Oh, I smell sourness. Qingying, do you find him annoying?"


    "Very annoying!" Long Qingying responded agitatedly.


    Kong Qingming felt as if a knife was inserted into his chest. ''All women are difficult!'' he thought.


    "Tianxing gave up on my sister not long ago. I didn''t want to avail myself to the opportunity to get in his life, because I don''t want him to see me as her substitution," Lin Wenwen poured herself a glass of water and then sat on the couch. The other two were sharing the armchair, so she occupied the twin couch all by herself.


    Speaking of Yuan Tianxing, she wore a warm look in her eyes as the strong feelings rose in her heart. But, she soon calmed herself down and took a sip of the water.


    Yuan Tianxing was harmed on the inside. If she took the opportunity to pursue him, he could easily fall in love with her. But, she would eventually become her sister''s substitution. That was not what she wanted.


    While trying very hard to pull Kong Qingming''s hands away from herself, Long Qingying said, "I think Deputy Chief Yuan won''t accept anybody now."


    Lin Wenwen picked up the pancake that Long Qingying brought her, then took a bite and said, "So, how are things going with Shen Yujen and her husband? Did they do it anyway?"


    "I don''t know," said Long Qingying, "You can ask your brother about it when you see him." "Kong Qingming, enough! Let go of me!" she then yelled at Kong Qingming.


    Lin Wenwen had already gotten used to the weird interaction between Long Qingying and Kong Qingming. She discovered that Long Qingying seemed to have started to accept him already.


    "No, unless you agree to be with me. Otherwise, I won''t let you go," Kong Qingming tightened his arms, then leaned his head toward her and sniffed at her neck.


    "You might be even more clingy if she said yes," said Lin Wenwen carelessly.


    Long Qingying paused briefly, then immediately turned her hands into metal by using her power and pulled Kong Qingming''s hands away from herself.


    "Ouch! Ouch! It hurts!" Kong Qingming screamed in pain and hurriedly relaxed his grip on her. Then, he turned and glared at Lin Wenwen, "It''s not wrong for me to be clinging to my wife, is it?"


    "No, it''s not wrong," Lin Wenwen shrugged and said.


    Long Qingying felt as if Lin Wenwen was pushing her into a trap.


    "So, how much energy do you have left by now." She almost forgot to ask Lin Wenwen about her current condition.


    Lin Wenwen''s mouth was filled with food. Hearing the question, she quickly chewed the food, then took a sip of water and said, "About forty percent. I am so tired! My energy isn''t exhausted, but my body is."


    Long Qingying and Kong Qingming remembered how awful Lin Wenwen looked when they first came in and saw her. She did seem exhausted!

 1091 It Worked

    While Lin Wenwen was watching the intimate interaction between Long Qingying and Kong Qingming, Lin Hao was leaning against the couch in Chen Yuting''s place with a sad and cold face.


    He regretted staying there to observe the process out of curiosity. Why did he do that? As a result, he was tortured the whole night, listening to the water sounds and the moans.


    His brain was probably not working when he made that decision!


    Shen Yujen had turned into a zombie. Why did she still react so strongly? Did her body still have sensations? Zombies'' bodies should be dead. How come her body could still feel things?


    His sister seemed to have made a lot of noises too when she had sex with Wu¡­


    Also, Chen Yuting was pretty good! He barely took any break the whole night. Oh, he paused a few times, but soon started a new round, as if his energy would never run out.


    With a lot of complaints in his head, Lin Hao stood up from the couch and walked to the bathroom door, knocking on it.


    "Oi, you two! Are you done? Can you come out? Don''t just enjoy it. You need to at least let me check the result. Get out!"


    A while later, the bathroom door was opened, and a strong scent came out immediately. With a happy smile, Chen Yuting looked at Lin Hao, who was stepping back.


    "You could have left last time. It wasn''t our fault that you chose to stay here," Chen Yuting said to Lin Hao smilingly, only wearing a towel around his waist at the moment. Lin Hao walked back to the living room and sat down. He gave Chen Yuting a glance as he said, "If I left and an accident happened in the middle of your sex, I''d have to come back here."


    At first, the two tried to restrain themselves. But in the second half of the night, they finally set themselves free. The bathroom door wasn''t soundproof at all. So, in the end, Lin Hao had to listen to the noises they made the whole night.


    Shen Yujen hid behind Chen Yuting, wearing a bathrobe. She stuck her head out from behind Chen Yuting and said to Lin Hao apologetically, "Thank you, Doctor Lin! We are both fine¡­"


    She meant that no accident happened while the two of them had sex.


    "Of course! Would you spend the whole night having sex if you were not fine?" Lin Hao couldn''t help but roll his eyes.


    "I think you''re probably not fine. You''ve been listening to our sounds the entire night, but you made no reaction at all. Are you not interested in women¡­?" While speaking, Chen Yuting quickly glanced at Lin Hao''s crotch area.


    "What are you talking about!" Before he could finish, Shen Yujen slapped on his bare back.


    Meanwhile, Lin Hao really wanted to punch him in the face. Was he repaying kindness with meanness?


    Shen Yujen only understood half of Chen Yuting''s meaning. Chen Yuting implied that Lin Hao might be into men, and that he might have sexual dysfunction. Lin Hao gave Chen Yuting a wicked grin, then said through clenched teeth, "I can make you lose interest in women too, believe me or not."


    "Hah! I have no interest in other women. I''m only interested in my Jen!" Chen Yuting, who was still sinking in the happiness, boldly responded to him. Hearing that, Lin Hao didn''t know what to say.


    Seeing that Lin Hao was getting more and more agitated, Shen Yujen quickly pushed her husband toward the bedroom while saying, "Alright! Go and get dressed! Stop talking nonsense!"


    As the two surrounded by pink bubbles went into the bedroom, Lin Hao stepped into the bathroom. The full tub-full of water was halfway gone, and the water bucket near the tub was empty. Clearly, the water in the bucket was used up.


    He squatted and put his hand into the tub to feel the water in it. As he thought, the energy in the water was gone, and only pure water was left. Not even a trace of energy was contained in the water by now.


    The two seemed to have absorbed all the energy in the water.


    Chen Yuting looked quite energetic with pink cheeks and very bright eyes. Nothing seemed to be wrong at all. Based on that, Lin Hao could preliminarily tell that his method had worked. But, he still needed to give the other a check-up, and observe him for a few days to make sure.


    After coming out of the bathroom, he walked back into the living room and leaned against the window frame, waiting for Chen Yuting. The latter put on his clothes and soon came out of the bedroom with a faint smile on his face.


    "I''ll give you a check-up now. In the next few days, you should pay close attention to your body condition," Lin Hao walked up to him, then raised a hand and pressed on his skin, sending his power into his body.


    "Relax! Don''t fight against my energy."


    "Okay," Chen Yuting relaxed himself and let Lin Hao''s energy flow inside his body. Two seconds later, Lin Hao retracted his energy and dropped his hand, then nodded and said, "Hm, I think you''re not infected by the virus from her. My method worked. But, you have to do it the same way next time you want some nightlife."


    He thought for a second, then gave Chen Yuting a glance and continued, "I don''t have much lake water that Chief left me before leaving, so I can''t give you any more of it. If you want to sleep with your wife again, you''ll have to wait until Chief comes back."


    "Eh¡­ What? What? I have to wait until Chief comes back?" So, before Chief comes back, he could not touch his Jen again? He couldn''t help but take a glimpse at the bathroom. "Then¡­ Then, can we use the water left in the tub?" He asked.


    Lin Hao looked at him coldly and said, "Haven''t you discovered that the energy in the water is already gone?"


    "Oh¡­" Chen Yuting, who was high-spirited a second ago, dropped his shoulders with disappointment. That was clearly not good news. He was just set free, and now, he needed to suppress his sexual passion again. It was normal for him to feel disappointed.


    At that moment, Shen Yujen came out of the bedroom and heard the conversation between the two. She walked to Lin Hao and said to him with satisfaction, "It''s okay. Knowing about this method is already very helpful for us. This is a thank-you gift!"


    While speaking, she reached out a hand. Lying on her palm was a level-six nucleus and two level-five ones.


    Lin Hao accepted the gift. However, he only took the level-six one. "This is enough for me," he said.


    "You''re about to upgrade too, right?" Chen Yuting looked at him with surprise.


    Lin Hao put the zombie nucleus into his pocket, then nodded and said, "Yeah!"


    Before leaving, Lin Hao said to the couple with a meaningful tone, "Remember, control yourselves. Don''t do anything reckless."


    "But, last night wasn''t enough for Jen to get pregnant, right?" Chen Yuting asked.


    "So, wait!" Lin Hao gave him a wicked smile. Chen Yuting made him listen to the moans the whole night and even doubted his sexual ability! So, even if he had some spare lake water, he wouldn''t give it to the latter!


    Hearing that, Chen Yuting just stayed silent.

 1092 Arriving at Sky Fire City

    About ten miles away from Sky Fire Base, four modified off-road cars were parked in a secluded spot in an old residential area. Lin Qiao was standing on top of a building, looking at Sky Fire Base. Standing behind her were Xie Dong and Duan Juan.


    Xie Dong came over to meet Lin Qiao once he sensed her vibe.


    "I''ve sent people after every hunter group that came out of Sky Fire Base recently, but I haven''t heard any of them talking about your true identity. I think Sky Fire Base leader hasn''t spread the word about you yet," Xie Dong reported to Lin Qiao about the news that he collected during these days.


    He secretly sent his men after every hunter group from Sky Fire Base to eavesdrop on their conversations. As for the hunter groups which had members over level-six, he would follow them himself, in case his subordinates exposed themselves accidentally.


    Not a word about Lin Qiao was heard from any of the hunter groups that he and his subordinates had followed recently.


    "I heard that more and more people have gone missing in Sky Fire Base, all of whom are superpower possessors from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base. Currently, the hunter groups in Sky Fire Base have split up. On one side are the original residents of Sky Fire Base, and on the other are those who joined that base this year or last year," said Xie Dong.


    "Based on the current situation, those original Sky Fire Base residents seem to know something while the people from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base are worried and panicked. They haven''t found out anything yet, and all clues have been erased. However, more and more superpower possessors are going missing."


    Lin Qiao folded her arms before her chest, supporting her full breasts with her forearms. While listening to Xie Dong, she connected what he said with Ye Yingyue''s words.


    "Didn''t you say that you found Li Zhengye hiding the corpses of the failed experiment subject somewhere? How come those worried superpower possessors haven''t discovered the corpses yet?" she asked.


    "No. Only hunters from Sky Fire Base know about that. Also, they seemed to have been forbidden to tell anyone else. I think it''s a secret," Xie Dong shook his head.


    Standing beside him, Duan Juan thought for a moment and said, "Why did Li Zhengye keep those bodies? The experiment has failed, so why didn''t he burn them? It''s easy for people to find those corpses if he kept them, isn''t it?"


    Xie Dong pondered briefly, then nodded, "I have the same question. I tried to find out why, but the time was so limited. So far, I haven''t found any useful information yet."


    Lin Qiao thought for a second about it. If she were Li Zhengye, she would, of course, not leave any trace for people to find when she was doing such experiments. So, why did he keep those corpses? That didn''t make sense¡­


    Based on Li Zhengye''s personality and style of acting, he shouldn''t have kept those corpses. Perhaps, it wasn''t him who did that. Was it someone else? His subordinates might secretly hide those bodies if they were not loyal to him.


    "Didn''t you sneak into the base to try and find out the truth?" Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong and asked. Sky Fire Base had a very strong defense system. However, it wasn''t difficult for him to get in. He was a zombie king after all; he was strong.


    "I did. But you got here once I started¡­" Xie Dong spread his hands helplessly. He was in Sky Fire Base before he sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe. However, he sensed her vibe coming near before he could find Li Zhengye''s experimental base.


    "Haven''t you found out where Li Zhengye has been doing his secret experiments?" Lin Qiao gave him a glance and figured out what he was thinking.


    "No, I haven''t," Xie Dong shook his head.


    "Give me the map of Sky Fire Base," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said to Duan Juan. The latter quickly took out the map from her bag and spread it on the roof near the guardrail. Xie Dong found a few cement pieces and put them on the corners to prevent it from being blown away.


    Lin Qiao carefully looked at the areas and buildings which were marked on the map. Then, she pointed at a commoner area at the edge of the base and said, "So, Lin Kui, you will stay here later while I lead the others into the base to look around. I''ll give you a signal tonight. After receiving my signal, you will summon the surrounding zombies to circle up this base. Stay ten miles away from the safe zone of this base."


    While speaking, she drew a circle around the entire Sky Fire Base with her finger.


    "It''ll take some time to encircle the base, so I''ll give you a night for you to gather the zombie crowd. Tomorrow morning, you''ll make moves under my instructions. Be careful and don''t let anyone notice the zombie crowd. If any human beings approach, bring them under control."


    "I understand," Lin Kui nodded.


    "After we have killed Li Zhengye, we still need to lure out the mysterious man. I''d like to know what he''ll do when the Sky Fire Base is surrounded by a zombie crowd." After saying that, Lin Qiao turned and summoned all the other zombies under her command.


    "Mo, Qingxian, stay here to assist Lin Kui. The others, come here and stand in a line."


    Except for Lin Kui, Mo, and Ye Qingxian, all the others flashed up to Lin Qiao and stood in a straight line, including Duan Juan and Xie Dong. Lin Qiao waved a hand and threw out a rope, which was caught by others. In the next second, they were all brought into her space.


    "Stay here and wait for my order," Lin Qiao gave them instruction and then disappeared. Duan Juan and the group of zombies glanced at each other, then walked onto the stairs before the house and sat down in a line.


    After coming out of her space, Lin Qiao turned herself invisible and flew toward Sky Fire Base.


    She had become a zombie emperor. Ten miles of the distance would only take her tens of seconds now.


    Landing on top of the twenty-meter-tall fence wall, she looked into Sky Fire Base, then sniffed the air to search for Li Zhengye''s scent. Next, she flashed off the wall and followed his scent into the base.


    Li Zhengye was hurting his own people. She planned to expose his evil deeds and then see how the residents in his base would react. It would be a good thing for herself anyway. For any base, it was a taboo to use the residents in the base as experimental subjects. What Li Zhengye had been doing was suicidal.


    It was early in the morning, and many sounds could be heard in the base already. After a few leaps, Lin Qiao arrived at Li Zhengye''s building. She landed on his balcony and expressionlessly looked at the quiet apartment. Clearly, the base leader was still in bed.

 1093 Take Actions Under the Instructions

    Lin Qiao looked at the time, then turned and hopped onto the guardrail of the balcony before leaping up. Then, she held the edge of the roof and flipped onto the roof. Li Zhengye lived on the top floor, so she easily got onto the roof.


    Once she entered the space, the ones sitting on the stairs all stood up.


    "After I bring you guys out, you will scatter in the commoner area and find those superpower possessors from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base. Tell them that Li Zhengye has been capturing superpower possessors for secret experiments. Then, I''ll give you further instructions."


    "Roar!" ''Yes, Ma''am!''


    Among all the zombies on the scene, only the ones at level-six could talk. But after the mission was accomplished, the level-five ones would have enough credit for Lin Qiao to fix their throats.


    Lin Qiao brought the group of zombies out with the rope, then looked at them and found that one of them was missing!


    She looked at Six.


    Receiving her eye signal, Six looked around and found that Nine, who was supposed to be by his side, was gone again. A vein popped up from his forehead as he expressionlessly raised a hand and pressed it back down.


    Lin Qiao instantly gave him a hand signal. ''Go and find him!''


    ''Yes, ma''am!'' Six straightened his waist and disappeared from where he was.


    Lin Qiao then made a few hand gestures for the others. Following her movements, a few zombies disappeared from the roof, and the others took cover. She made another hand gesture, signaling for them to follow her and take cover. Then, she turned invisible again, leaping off the roof and landing back on Li Zhengye''s balcony.


    As Chief''s assistant, driver, secretary, and guard, Cheng Tianan was standing before Li Zhengye''s door as usual, waiting for his boss to get up. In his bedroom, a man and a woman were lying on the bed.


    Li Zhengye opened his eyes and drowsily lifted the blanket as he sat up, then nakedly walked into the bathroom. When he came out, he had already put on a bathrobe.


    "Get up, get out!" After coming out of the bathroom, he walked to the bed and raised the blanket, exposing the woman''s body.


    The chillness immediately woke the woman up. In a flurry, she got off the bed and found her clothes, putting them on. Her hair were still messy, but she tremblingly left the bedroom even before her clothes were neatly dressed.


    Crack! The woman paused briefly with surprise when she opened the door to see the man in a military suit out there.


    "Here," Seeing the woman, Cheng Tianan handed her a bagful of food. He seemed to be used to doing something like that. The food came from the canteen. It was the woman''s payment for keeping Chief company last night.


    The woman dropped her head and took over the food, then shrank her shoulders and quickly left the place. A car was waiting for her downstairs. As she came out of the building, the soldier by the car said to her expressionlessly, "Get in. I''ll drive you back."


    The woman silently got into the car. While adjusting her clothes, she held the food bag tightly.


    Under her disheveled hair was a pretty, young face. That face wore a dull look, and her eyes were unfocused.


    Standing on the balcony, Lin Qiao watched the car leave, then turned back to look into the apartment. The woman was upset after waking up, scared, angry, and helpless. The man was the leader of the base and she didn''t like him, but could not fight back. She also felt guilty for another person.


    The young woman had a lover; her life was poor but happy. But ever since Li Zhengye lay his eyes on her pretty face, her life fell into darkness.


    Every time her husband left the base for a mission, she had to be brought here to sleep with Li Zhengye every night. She could not resist, or her husband and families would all be punished for a non-existent crime or die silently.


    That kind of life had lasted for half a year. For the sake of survival, she had lost her feelings.


    That was what Lin Qiao sensed from her mind. She then put the pieces together and figured out the whole story.


    She quietly watched Li Zhengye put on a Chief''s suit and walk out of his bedroom to the window, the open it as well as the balcony door to let fresh air in. Then, she watched him adjust his clothes and leave his apartment. A minute later, he took the elevator downstairs and got into his car. At that moment, Lin Qiao leaped off the balcony and silently landed on top of his car.


    About ten minutes later, the young woman was sent back to where she lived, which was a commoner area. Most of the people that she lived together with were superpower possessors. The place could be counted as a fancy spot in the commoner area.


    The woman was dropped near a crossroad, after which, the car quickly drove away.


    Holding the food, the woman expressionlessly walked toward her home. Her steps were light, as if she was drifting in the air.


    "Hey, isn''t this Captain Li''s wife? Why are you coming home at this time? Were you working again last night? How great! You get food by lying on the bed!" A man''s sour voice was suddenly heard.


    The woman knew who it was, so she ignored him and just kept walking.


    "Oi, don''t just walk. Come on! I haven''t channeled my passion for days. Please do me a favor. You don''t want Captain Li to know about what you''re doing, do you?" As the woman gave no response, the tall and strong man stepped before her and blocked her way, then grabbed her arm and dragged her to a corner.


    "Let-let go of me!" Realizing what was happening, the woman immediately started struggling. She didn''t dare to scream though.


    "Stop yelling! You did it with me every time, didn''t you? Why are you struggling? Do you want everyone in the neighborhood to know that you have to sleep with another man every time your husband isn''t home?" The man said to her viciously while gripping her tight.


    On hearing that, the woman fell into a panic and instantly gave up on struggling. Soon, the man pulled her behind a wall in a corner. In that place where no one could see, he pressed her against the wall and rudely kissed her pretty face, his hands rubbing all over her.


    At that very moment, a figure descended from the sky and quietly landed behind the man.


    The woman was trying to turn her face away, twisted in both disgust and humiliation as she was enduring the violence. At that moment, the figure came into her sight and made her pop her eyes in shock. In her clear eyes were the reflections of a curious young man whose eyes were purely black.

 1094 The Leaked Message

    The woman rarely left the base, but she still knew that those purely black eyes belonged to a zombie.


    The young male zombie was curiously staring at her and the man upon her. The woman froze out of fear; that was a zombie which might pounce on her and eat her in the very next second!


    The zombie observed the two people and then sniffed at them. After that, he slowly raised both hands and popped his ten sharp nails.


    The woman thought the zombie would jump on her and the man right away. She struggled and attempted to scream. But, the man thought that he himself was the reason why she wanted to scream, so he quickly pressed a hand on her mouth to keep her from making a sound.


    "Emmm¡­" The woman tightened her entire body and started to slap the man. At the same time, she saw the zombie approach the man sneakily and slowly. The zombie had also widely opened his mouth and exposed his sharp teeth.


    The woman almost collapsed. Abruptly, she pushed away the man''s hand which was on her mouth with all her strength.


    "Ah!" The shrill scream could instantly be heard.


    "Roar!" Hearing her scream, the male zombie burst in a scream as well, as if he was frightened. Then, he turned and ran, but twisted his ankle and ended up falling to the ground.


    Thud! He fell on the ground.


    Hearing the zombie roar, the man immediately turned and looked back. He saw a man in a camouflage suit lying on the ground with his face down.


    "Damn! Who are you!" The man gave a start and yelled. He was angry as he was being hindered. But, the one on the ground suddenly turned around, looked at him with a pair of zombie eyes.


    The man startled when he saw those zombie eyes. But before he could react, the woman pushed him away and turned as she attempted to run. But at that very moment, someone descended from the sky and hit the back of her neck with the edge of his hand.


    The woman rolled her eyes and softly fell on the ground.


    At that point, the man finally reacted. He pointed at the zombie who was getting up from the ground and shouted, "Ah! Stay away from me!"


    Six quickly pulled Nine out from behind himself, then pointed at the man and said, "Bite him to death! Go! Don''t you like biting people?"


    While speaking, he raised a foot and kicked on Nine''s butt toward the man.


    "Roar¡­" Following the kick, Nine pounced on the man and sank his teeth into his skin.


    "Ah¡­" The man gave a scream when Nine jump on him before being pressed down on the ground. The screams soon caught the attention of the surrounding people. Some people stuck their heads out of the windows to see what was happening. The ones who were on the outside also turned to that area.


    "Alright, alright. Don''t eat him!" Sensing some other people approaching, Six immediately dragged Nine up from the ground. Nine was still chewing a piece of human skin, his mouth covered in blood.


    "Let''s go," Six glanced at him, then turned and picked up the woman. Next, he grabbed Nine''s collar with the other hand and leaped high, disappearing while leaving the man''s body lying on the ground.


    Before Nine landed on the ground, Six had noticed the two people. That was why he told Nine to kill the man but only knocked the woman out.


    On the roof, Six put the woman near the staircase and let her lean against a wall, then brought Nine away toward an area where some superpower possessors lived.


    "Hide here. Don''t go anywhere! If you run away, I''ll tell Chief to punish you!" Six first threatened Nine, then turned and sneaked into an apartment. He chose his target by carefully listening to the conversations in every apartment in the building while he was on the roof.


    Through the opened window, he easily got into the bedroom. But instead of hiding, he moved closer to the door and listened to the conversation of the people in the living room.


    "How is it going? Have you found him yet? Where the hell did Cheng go?" A woman''s voice could be heard, sounding anxious and worried. Her voice made it sound like she was going through some kind of torment.


    "I''ve asked everyone I know for help, and we have run out of zombie nuclei. Not a single piece of useful information was found. This is weird!" said a man who also sounded anxious and helpless.


    "I think those people are hiding something," said the third person.


    "So many people have gone missing recently. The base managers said that they''ve been trying to look for them all the time. But, not even a single clue is found! How on earth have they been doing their jobs?" The woman complained angrily.


    On hearing that, Six turned around and found paper and pen from the bedroom, then wrote down a few lines. ''The missing people won''t come back. If they didn''t turn into zombies, they might have died already. All that is just Li Zhengye''s experiment.''


    Finishing writing, he dropped the pen and put the note in the most obvious spot, then turned and silently jumped out of the window, moving toward his next target.


    Some others had been doing the same thing as him.


    Lin Qiao was standing on Li Zhengye''s car, listening to him talk to his assistant, "How dare the b*stard in the lab hide those corpses behind my back! He''s probably tired of living. I''d have killed him if he wasn''t still useful to me."


    "Chief, why don''t you replace him with someone else? You have the technology, so it doesn''t matter who the researchers are, right?" Cheng Tianan asked him.


    "The fewer people know about this, the better. If we let too many people know and one of them leaks the secret, I''d have to face unnecessary trouble," Li Zhengye sat in the backseat as he looked outside the window and responded coldly.


    Cheng Tianan nodded knowingly, "Oh! Fortunately, we have found those corpses and destroyed them. Things would become troublesome if those corpses were found."


    Li Zhengye snorted coldly and said, "Send your men to keep an eye on the b*stard''s family, and don''t let them run. If we lose the hostages, he might want to give me a bite."


    "Yes, sir!"


    On the car roof, Lin Qiao blinked her eyes. The man who was doing the experiment for him didn''t seem to be under his full control.


    In Li Zhengye''s office, Lin Qiao looked around while he was doing his work but didn''t find a clue about his secret experimental base. Since nothing useful could be found in his office, she decided not to waste any time on him. His assistant seemed to know where the lab was too.


    Lin Qiao walked to Li Zhengye''s side and expressionlessly reached a hand to his neck, then abruptly clenched her fingers. Before he could react, she had brought him into her space.


    Once in, Li Zhengye shivered and released a wave of cold energy from his body, which quickly spread along Lin Qiao''s hand.


    "Snow power? I''m sorry, but your power won''t harm me," Lin Qiao ignored his attack and tightened her grip as she twisted her wrist.


    Crack! Following that noise, Li Zhengye widely opened his mouth and popped his eyes, motionless.


    Ice power could be slightly more dangerous than snow power, but the latter was just weak.

 1095 Pesticide, Come Here

    Lin Qiao finished Li Zhengye off neatly and quickly, and harvested a level-seven nucleus. Then, she came out of her space and turned to walk toward the door.


    Cheng Tianan''s workplace was across the hall, very close to Li Zhengye''s office. Li Zhengye usually let his office door open, so the former could hear any sound from his office. Meanwhile, two soldiers were guarding the door, keeping irrelevant people from entering Chief''s office.


    Lin Qiao walked out of the door. In order to take away the person in the secretary''s office without catching anyone else''s attention, she needed to first take care of the guards by the door, and not by making them disappear.


    Lin Qiao pondered briefly, then moved toward the wall behind the door and focused her will power while releasing two faint wisps of black smoke. The hair-thin wisps of smoke drifted toward the soldiers'' ears like two black threads, then quickly drilled into their ears. With that, the two soldiers shivered and then froze, their eyes turning unfocused and lusterless.


    Lin Qiao walked out and glanced at the two standing dead bodies, then walked into the secretary''s office toward Cheng Tianan, who was sitting behind his desk.


    Cheng Tianan was checking some files that needed to be read by his Chief, having no idea what had just happened to his guards. Moreover, he did not know that a zombie had walked into his office. All of a sudden, someone grabbed the back of his collar and then the scene before his eyes changed without him managing to even react.


    He was sitting in his office a second ago. How come there was suddenly a lake in front of him?


    "Oi, back here! I wonder how a man as slow as you managed to become Chief''s assistant." A woman''s voice was heard from behind.


    Cheng Tianan gave a start and automatically turned around, then made a few steps backward as he looked at the woman alertly. He saw a woman who had a delicate face and a ponytail, wearing a camouflage suit. She was standing behind him, looking at him with a small smile.


    "Who are you?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "You don''t need to know who I am. You just need to tell me where is Li Zhengye''s zombie experiment taking place."


    Cheng Tianan''s pupils shrank. "I don''t know what you''re talking about. Who are you? Where are you from? Are you¡­ Are you the family of one of those missing people?"


    How did the woman know about the experiment? Also, this pretty woman had been hiding so deeply. He didn''t even know there was such a pretty woman in his base.


    Normally, such a pretty lady would be quite famous in the base, like the one who had left Li Zhengye''s bedroom in the morning.


    The others might not know the woman, but Cheng Tianan did. After all, she needed to find pretty women for Li Zhengye to sleep with. So, it was impossible for him not to know that there was such a beautiful woman in his base.


    "Stop pretending! It''s not gonna work. Soon, everyone will know about it. If you don''t want to tell me, fine. Someone will make you talk." Lin Qiao gave him a cold smile, then turned to the house behind her.


    "Pesticide, come here," she said.


    "Roar?" ''What?''


    Pesticide stuck his head out from behind the wall and looked at Lin Qiao confusedly. Some vegetable juice could be seen around his mouth corner.


    "Just come here. How dare you ask why!" Lin Qiao raised her brows.


    Pesticide was a little far away from Cheng Tianan, so Cheng Tianan didn''t see his face clearly. However, he did recognize the other''s roar as a zombie roar.


    Abruptly, he turned to Lin Qiao and popped his eyes. His expression froze on his face, as if something shocking crossed his mind.


    "You! You¡­ You''re the Chief lady from All Beings Base!"


    He remembered Li Zhengye telling him about the news that the man brought back. Li Zhengye didn''t care much about that. All he cared about was the benefit which could be delivered by the result of the experiment that the man told him to undertake.


    He didn''t take the news seriously at all. Not to mention Li Zhengye, Cheng Tianan himself didn''t believe it either.


    A female zombie was leading a human base which was founded by herself¡­ How could any zombie ever do something like that? All zombies could do was eat human beings. They had always been trying everything to break into human bases to eat human beings.


    Besides, the Chief lady looked exactly like a human being, and she could talk. How could she possibly be a zombie?


    However, at that very moment, Cheng Tianan watched the pretty lady summon a zombie who had purely black eyes to her side. More importantly, the zombie obediently stood behind her, staring straight at him.


    The pretty lady was obviously an enemy. She was actually able to give orders to zombies! Was what that man said real? Was the lady the Chief of All Beings Base? Why was the zombie eating a vegetable leaf? Was that really a zombie?


    If the zombie didn''t have a pair of zombie eyes, Cheng Tianan wouldn''t even believe he was a zombie. After all, he was holding half a vegetable leaf in his hand and was chewing something, with his lips stained with a suspicious green liquid!


    What a strange zombie! Which zombie would eat vegetable!


    Lin Qiao looked at him and smiled, "He seems to know a lot. I want to know what else he knows. Pesticide, finish your vegetable and then control him!"


    While speaking, she gave a glare at the silly-looking Pesticide.


    Pesticide quickly put the fresh vegetable leaf into his mouth entirely, then chewed hurriedly, saliva and vegetable juice spouting out of his mouth. Lin Qiao couldn''t even bear watch that. She buried her face in her palm as she turned her face away from him.


    Cheng Tianan was clearly aware that he was in a bad situation, but still wanted to laugh when he saw the zombie chew the vegetable.


    After a few seconds in a daze, before the zombie started controlling him, Cheng Tianan couldn''t help but say in a weak voice, "How about I answer all your questions? Can you please spare my life?"


    At that time, Cheng Tianan clearly understood that he might die. Not to mention the strong vibe coming from the pretty lady, the weird zombie was apparently not an ordinary one either. He had also realized that he was probably in an independent space.


    He was brought there from his office within a second, and before that, someone dragged the back of his collar.


    He wasn''t stupid. He had, of course, figured out what had happened.


    Hearing his words, Lin Qiao dropped her hand and blinked, then turned and gave him a meaningful smile, "Oh? Can I believe you?"

 1096 Please Dont Kill Me

    Cheng Tianan looked at her carefully and said, "If you believe me, you can let me answer your questions before you let him control me. If I have guessed it right, he''s a spirit-powered zombie, isn''t he?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him. She would know if he was telling the truth without having him controlled. She didn''t tell him that but looked at him and smiled quietly.


    She summoned Pesticide mainly because she wanted to stop that silly zombie from sneakily eating vegetables, and not to let him control the man! There were a lot of vegetables, and it was fine for him to eat some. But, he only picked the tenderest parts to eat, and Lin Qiao really couldn''t bear watching his sneaky movements.


    She knew clearly that the zombie had sneakily picked some tender sprouts and leaves from the vegetable field and hid them behind the wall, planning to enjoy them slowly! She hadn''t brought Lu Tianyi into her space recently, so there was no one disciplining the zombie.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while smiling in silence. As Cheng Tianan became so nervous that his heart even thumped audibly, she said to him blandly, "You know my secret. Do you think that I can still let you live?"


    On hearing that, Cheng Tianan gave a start and then started to tremble. He felt not good at all.


    "I¡­ I will follow your lead!" he hurriedly said to her.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and smiled coldly, "You betrayed Li Zhengye so easily. You might betray me like this too. How dare I let someone like you be around me!"


    Cheng Tianan shivered, then abruptly knelt and screamed, "No, no, no! I will never betray you! I swear! I really won''t! Please, don''t kill me! Don''t kill me!"


    As he knelt on the ground, Lin Qiao looked down at him and asked, "So tell me, where is Li Zhengye''s secret lab? Who is the man who brought news to Li Zhengye? Has Li Zhengye sent anyone to find out my true identity?"


    Cheng Tianan was so scared that he almost collapsed. Hearing Lin Qiao''s questions, he immediately responded with, "I know where the lab is! I can take you there! Li Zhengye didn''t send people to find out if you''re a zombie because he doesn''t believe that man. I don''t know who that man is. I only know that he''s a robber, and that he''s working together with Li Zhengye. He doesn''t show up in the base often, only coming in when he has something important to say to Li Zhengye! All I said is real! Please don''t kill me!"


    Having finished talking, Cheng Tianan lay on the ground and curled up, his entire body shaking.


    "Don''t you know what the man''s name is?" Lin Qiao furrowed her brows slightly. She seemed to be a little unhappy as she didn''t get the answer she wanted.


    "I¡­ I don''t know. All I know is Li Zhengye calls him Long Hair. Li Zhengye forbade other people from asking about him, so I don''t know anything else about him. I''m telling you the truth! I''m not lying!" Cheng Tianan answered the question nervously.


    Lin Qiao read his mind and sensed that he was telling the truth indeed. He really didn''t know much about that man. But still, she didn''t fully believe that he would follow her lead.


    He said that he would never betray her, but she didn''t believe that either. He could change his mind at any time. However, since he was willing to lead her to the lab, she didn''t mind letting him live for a couple of more minutes.


    "Take me there then," she said to him.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Cheng Tianan was relieved. He figured that Lin Qiao wouldn''t kill him just yet. Later on, he could try to find a way to run!


    Lin Qiao sensed his thought and smiled coldly, "Head straight to that place later when you get out, and don''t mind the other things. Also, don''t think about running. You can''t escape anyway."


    After saying that, she stepped forward and grabbed Cheng Tianan''s cloth on his back before bringing him out of the space.


    Pesticide, who was left in the space, looked at where Lin Qiao disappeared from. Why did she summon him anyway?


    Out of the space, Cheng Tianan raised his head and found that he was back in his office, He instantly turned and looked around; the woman wasn''t there.


    As he was wondering if she was still in the space, the files on his desk were suddenly swept to the floor.


    Cheng Tianan gave a start and grew nervous again. He hurriedly walked out and saw the two guards standing there expressionlessly. He wanted to give them a secret signal, but was worried that the woman might see his move. So, he had no choice but to stiffly walk into the hallway.


    Lin Qiao followed behind him. Not even Li Zhengye''s assistant knew about the mysterious man. That man was clearly hiding deep. Was he a robber? No wonder he did zombie experiments using healthy human beings. It seemed that he was really no one good.


    With his face tightened, Cheng Tianan walked out of the building and got into the car. He wanted to escape, but was worried that she might find him.


    He almost forgot how to drive.


    Lin Qiao hopped on top of his car, which then turned and turned as it drove to a remote area.


    They soon arrived at an abandoned building that was strictly guarded. After arriving, Lin Qiao sniffed the air. Except for the scent of the guards who were hiding in the darkness, no scent was sensed from the building.


    Li Zhengye''s experiment had to be kept secret, so the underground was the safest place for it.


    Cheng Tianan drove the car into the area and then parked.


    Soon, an armed soldier in a black suit showed up and stopped Cheng Tianan, "Assistant Cheng? Is Chief here?"


    While speaking, he glanced into Cheng Tianan''s car and thought that someone else was in it. After all, every time Cheng Tianan showed up, Li Zhengye was with him.


    Cheng Tianan''s forehead was covered in sweat and his eyeballs were rolling all the time. He slightly dropped his head to look around, then raised his eyes and winked at the soldier.


    "Eh? Isn''t Chief in the car?" The soldier failed to receive his message but paid the attention to the car. He waited for a few seconds, but the Chief still didn''t come out of the car. So, he confusedly walked toward the car and bent over to look into it. The car was empty.


    Sweat was streaming down Cheng Tianan''s forehead, and he didn''t dare to linger there any longer.


    "Chief sent me here to bring something to Professor Wang. He isn''t here." With no other choice, he made up an excuse to explain to the soldier, then moved toward the entrance to the lab.


    Little did he know that while he was trying to give the soldier an eye signal, Lin Qiao had already found the entrance to the lab. Silently, she sent out over twenty wisps of dark smoke toward all directions. Two wisps of smoke quickly flew into the noses of Cheng Tianan and the soldier behind him.


    Then, Lin Qiao raised a hand and clenched her fingers. Following her movement, Cheng Tianan, the soldier, and the other twenty people who were hiding nearby in corners all froze. Their pupils spread subsequently and became lusterless.

 1097 Sneak into the Destination

    After watching the bodies of Cheng Tianan and the soldier vanish, Lin Qiao walked out. She never promised Cheng Tianan not to kill him. She had already found the lab, so he was no longer useful.


    The entrance was hidden. Lin Qiao stood in the middle of the lobby and looked around, then walked to a wall and pressed a button that looked like the switch of a light. Human scent could only be sensed from that switch, meaning that it was often touched by humans.


    Click! Once she pressed the button, the floor in the middle suddenly sank and then moved sideways, revealing a staircase. At the other end of the staircase was the door of an elevator.


    Lin Qiao walked downstairs and looked at the door as she pressed the button near it. The door was soon opened, so she turned herself invisible and walked in.


    The elevator led to the lower floor. As the door opened again, Lin Qiao saw a two-hundred meters squared lab, built from matte metal and glass. Some people were seen moving inside the lab.


    As the elevator door opened, everyone in the lab and all the soldiers surrounding the lab turned toward the door. However, they saw nothing but the empty elevator, and were confused.


    Lin Qiao walked out of the elevator and looked at the hallway on both sides. She walked toward one side and looked into the rooms through the windows on the doors. Behind each door was a sealed room less than twenty meters squared. In each room was a man standing against the wall, fixed on the wall. Their limbs and necks were tied up, seemingly to prevent them from escaping. Lin Qiao saw a man with his head dropped; his skin had turned bluish.


    Judging by the scent coming from the room, the man had already become a zombie. As a zombie emperor, Lin Qiao couldn''t possibly get it wrong. She turned and looked into another window, checking all the rooms on both sides of the hallway. The scene in every room was almost the same.


    The only different thing was that the people in the rooms near the lab had all become zombies. They were unconscious, but not dead. Meanwhile, the people in the rooms near the end of the hallways had been infected by the virus but were still human beings.


    Lin Qiao sensed the scents coming from the other side of the hallway and found them almost the same as the scents from this side. She turned around and walked to the door of the lab, looking at the researchers in the lab who were wearing long white coats.


    She read those people''s minds and figured out their positions based on their thoughts. In no time, she found the one who was in charge of this place.


    The interesting thing was that the forty-year-old man in charge of the lab was thinking about those corpses while thinking about the experiment.


    As Li Zhengye had said, the man secretly hid those corpses as evidence. However, Li Zhengye found out about it. Li Zhengye didn''t kill him, but threatened him with the lives of his family. As a punishment, Li Zhengye chopped off someone''s arm in front of him.


    Those things crossed Li Zhengye''s mind and disappeared quickly when Lin Qiao was reading his mind, so she didn''t know about them clearly. But now, she got the whole picture by reading the mind of the lab leader''s mind.


    That arm belonged to the man''s son.


    At that moment, the middle-aged man was looking at the elevator with confusion. In the meanwhile, he was also thinking about how he could leak the secret about the experiment without letting Li Zhengye know.


    "Why isn''t anyone there? The elevator couldn''t possibly bring itself down here, could it?" After spending a while staring at the elevator, the man finally couldn''t help but start talking.


    "Yeah, why isn''t anybody there?" The others had the same question.


    The soldiers nearest to the elevator had stuck their heads into the elevator, looking into every corner. A short while later, they turned around and looked at the others bewilderedly.


    "It''s empty. Nothing seems abnormal in the elevator."


    The others glanced at each other.


    Right at that moment, the soldiers near the elevator suddenly fell to the floor one after another and lost consciousness. Seeing that, the people in the lab gave a start and moved backward.


    "They¡­ They¡­ What''s happening to them?" The research assistant nervously hid behind the door as he stuck his head out and looked outside with fear. However, the lab leader stayed relatively composed. Apart from him, the others had each picked up something that could be used as a weapon to defend themselves and held it before their chests. Only after attaining a slight trace of sense of security did they calm down.


    The lab leader stayed still as he glanced at the fallen soldiers, then at the empty hallway on both sides.


    "Since you''re already here, please show your face and meet us. Perhaps, we can have a talk," he abruptly raised his voice and said. Hearing that, Lin Qiao showed up while resting her hands in her trouser pockets and standing in the middle of the hallway.


    "I guess your experiment hasn''t succeeded yet," Lin Qiao looked at the middle-aged man with a small smile.


    The man looked at her calmly, not seeming surprised on seeing her. Unlike him, all the others were looking at her in shock. Some of them were probably shocked by her pretty face.


    Lin Qiao glanced at a young man who obviously stunned and said to him with a faint smile, "Watch out. Your eyeballs might fall out."


    The man gave a start, then realized how he might look like at the moment. He hurriedly adjusted his expression and apologized to her, "I''m sorry, sorry!"


    After apologizing, he felt a little awkward. With a silly smile, he scratched the back of his head while his cheeks had reddened slightly.


    The middle-aged man looked at Lin Qiao. After hearing what she said first, he furrowed his eyebrows and asked her, "How do you know?"


    Lin Qiao shrugged and responded carelessly, "Oh, I took a guess."


    Their conversation was a little confusing, but the others all seemed to be surprised.


    At that time, Lin Qiao turned and glanced at the door at the end of the hallway, then turned back to the man and said, "That''s too obvious. Aren''t you afraid that Li Zhengye might find out and then hurt him to punish you?"


    The person in that room wasn''t infected by the zombie virus. Instead, he was infected by another type of virus that would cause similar symptoms as the zombie virus would.


    On hearing her words, the middle-aged man tightened his face and looked at her alertly, but didn''t say a word.


    "Relax! How about we make a deal?" Lin Qiao waved a hand and said to him smilingly.


    "What deal?" The middle-aged man stayed silent for about ten seconds. After weighing the pros and cons, he replied to her. The strange woman found the lab, came in easily, and took care of all the soldiers within a second. She was definitely not an ordinary person. She offered to make a deal with him, meaning that he was useful to her.


    A useful person must have his value, and a valuable person would not die soon.

 1098 Take the Same Side

    "I wonder if you have any idea who invented the experiment that you are doing. If you can tell me about him, I''ll take care of Li Zhengye and his army for you. After that, Li Zhengye will no longer be running the base. What do you think?" Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Li Zhengye was already dead anyway. Lin Qiao''s next mission was to figure out who that mysterious man was and how powerful he was. He already knew her secret, so she could not let him live freely out there.


    "You mean Long Hair? I don''t know anything about him, but I know who does. How are you gonna deal with Li Zhengye and his army? He still has my family." The man blinked as he looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "I can''t help your family. I''m only gonna kill Li Zhengye for you. Without Li Zhengye''s orders, his army won''t react within a short time. Besides, I know how to keep the army busy. They won''t have time for you guys."


    "How exactly will you do that?" The man looked at her with doubts, "Who are you? Why should I believe you?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him as she smilingly shook her head and said, "A smart guy wouldn''t ask questions like that. You''ll know when it happens."


    The middle-aged man had no other choice but to believe her. Otherwise, he would be dead already. Hearing her words, he stayed silent for a few seconds, then nodded and said, "Alright. Since you''ve said that, I''ll believe you even though I don''t even know who you are."


    "Good. I''ve already taken care of the soldiers here, so you can do whatever you want now. Tonight, you will know how I''m gonna deal with the army. So, can you tell me something about the man called Long Hair now?" As the man seemed rather smart, Lin Qiao talked to him delightedly.


    The man looked at her, still not believing her hundred percent. "In this case, I''ll tell you who knows about Long Hair tonight after I learn what will be happening," he said.


    He needed to save a card for himself.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and smiled faintly, "No need. I already know who he is. You guys only need to wait and see what will happen tonight."


    After saying that, she turned and walked into the elevator unhurriedly, disappearing before the others'' eyes.


    "Director, who is she? Do you really believe what she said?" The man''s assistant asked the man once Lin Qiao left.


    The man looked at his assistant calmly and said, "Look at those soldiers. Do you think they''re still alive?" While speaking, he turned to the soldiers who were lying in the hallway.


    The others glanced at each other, then carefully walked out and alertly checked those soldiers, then straightened their bodies and sighed with relief.


    "They''re all dead."


    "Wait! What about the ones down there?" said another man.


    "I''ll go and take a look!" Someone else had thought of the same thing, so he turned and ran down the stairs near the elevator. Two minutes later, he came back up.


    "Director, the ones down there are all dead as well."


    "I guessed right," the director nodded, "I''m afraid the soldiers on the grounds have all been cleaned out too."


    "So, Director, do you know who she is? She''s so pretty. She found this place, so she must be quite powerful. She''s not from our base, is she?" asked a curious man.


    "She''s definitely not from our base," the director shook his head and said, "She''s here to deal with Li Zhengye. So, she''s probably from Hidden Cloud City Base or Earth Dragon Base."


    "She might be from All Beings Base. Isn''t that the new Hades Base?" The man''s assistant made a guess.


    "No matter who she is, she''s Li Zhengye''s enemy. So, she can work with us. She also wants Long Hair, but Long Hair isn''t so easy to deal with." The director wasn''t thinking that much. All he wanted to know was if what the woman said about tonight would truly happen. If that happened, there might really be a chance to take Li Zhengye down.


    Also, he needed to save his family.


    "Alright, since the soldiers here are down, go and bring our people back secretly and take control of this place. Also, shut down the experiment and send the dead bodies to their families," the director started to give instructions.


    "Should we send the bodies back secretly or¡­" the assistant asked.


    "Secretly, of course! Do you want to expose us? We are the people who actually did the experiment. Even though we were forced by Li Zhengye, we are still the ones who killed them," the director coldly gave him a glance.


    "Oh, I get it!" They mustn''t be exposed.


    After giving out the instructions, the director quickly ran to the room at the end of the hallway, untied the person in the room, and gave the man the cure that had been prepared long ago.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao left the lab and quickly found a tall building, then hopped on top of it and then raised her head, uttering a long and resonant roar toward the sky.


    "Roar!"


    In the next second, zombie roars were heard from the other few areas in the base, scaring almost everyone in the base and making them stop doing whatever they were doing.


    "What''s happening? What was that noise?"


    "Was that¡­ a zombie roar? How could it be possible! Why was it so close to us!"


    "This is bad! Is there a high-leveled zombie in the base?"


    "Alert! Alert!"


    The people who were staying at home curiously made guesses while the zombie hunters who often left the base for missions all grew vigilant. The army instantly gave an order to set off the alert. The first thing they did was to check the base gates.


    About ten miles away from the base, Lin Kui and the zombie crowd heard Lin Qiao''s roar. Following her voice, the zombies started shambling toward Sky Fire Base together as if they were suddenly switched on.


    Lin Kui was standing on a tall building. He bared his teeth and gave a roar to the zombie crowd that sounded exactly like the roar of Lin Qiao.


    "Roar!"


    After giving out that roar, he immediately left the spot. He made a circle around the base and gave out a roar to gather the zombies within the area thirty miles around the base every time he landed in a new spot.


    A massive zombie crowd was gathering toward Sky Fire Base.


    At that moment, the people in the base didn''t know about the incoming crisis yet. The soldiers had been searching through the base nervously because of the roars from Lin Qiao and the other zombies earlier. Meanwhile, they sought to report to Li Zhengye. However, they couldn''t find him.


    "Where has Chief been?" The leader of the first corps in Sky Fire Base rushed into Chief''s office, but no one was there. So, he came out and asked the two soldiers by the door.


    However, the two soldiers made no response to his question. They stood there motionlessly as if they didn''t hear or see him.

 1099 Im Going to Find Someone

    Xiao Guofeng, the leader of the first corps in Sky Fire Base, stood at the door of Li Zhengye''s office as he confusedly looked at the two soldiers who were as quiet as two pieces of wood. He gave a start when he saw their eyes, then raised a hand to touch one of them.


    As he thought, the soldier fell to the floor once he touched him.


    Xiao Guofeng turned to the other soldier. As same as the first one, the soldier''s eyes were lusterless. He suddenly realized something and immediately turned to run back into the Chief''s office and look at the desk.


    The files on the desk were open and a pen was thrown near them, left uncapped. Clearly, someone was working there. The man left so abruptly that he didn''t even have the time to tidy his desk.


    Chief might have encountered a surprise attack. Otherwise, why weren''t any traces of fighting found in the office?


    With that thought, Xiao Guofeng immediately turned and left.


    "Soldiers, come on, go and find Chief. Chief is missing. Keep it secret. Also, tell Cui Tengguang and the other corps leaders to come here." While walking into the hallway, Xiao Guofeng gave orders to his soldiers.


    "Yes, sir!"


    Soon, Cui Tengguang, the leader of the second corps in Sky Fire Base, arrived with his men.


    Sky Fire Base had about three-hundred-thousand human soldiers, divided into seven corps led by Xiao Guofeng, Cui Tengguang, and a few others. Xiao Guofeng was a level-seven fire-power possessor, the second most powerful man in the base.


    "Xiao, what''s wrong? Why did you suddenly summon us here? Where''s Chief?" Once arrived, Cui Tengguang asked his questions. Meanwhile, the others noticed the two soldiers lying near the door. "What happened?"


    Xiao Guofeng was a man in his forties, strong, looking very masculine with mainly facial features, very much like a powerful leader. With a sullen look on his face, he said, "The two of them were standing here, dead, when I came here. Chief and Cheng Tianan are both gone. That''s why I called you all."


    "What? Chief is gone? Have you sent anyone to look for him?" The others were surprised to hear that.


    "Sure I have! But, I think things are serious now. We need to be ready for the possibility that Chief might not be here," Xiao Guofeng glanced at the man, then turned to Li Zhengye''s desk and said.


    The others instantly understood his meaning and agreed with silence. "How come there were zombie roars? There isn''t a high-leveled zombie in our base, is there?"


    Xiao Guofeng walked into the office and sat down on the couch, then straightened his waist and rested his hands on his knees as he fell into deep thoughts. He didn''t say a word, so the others glanced at each other and stayed silent as well.


    A short while later, Xiao Guofeng said, "We haven''t found Chief yet, and neither have we found the source of the zombie roars. But now, we need to prepare for both good and bad. No matter if Chief comes back or not, we need to focus on the zombie roars right now. Also, send your men to keep an eye outside. Come back to report to us once anything abnormal is found. Feng, you''re responsible for the area outside the fence wall."


    "I understand!" A relatively shorter and younger man in a military suit nodded and responded, then quickly turned and left to give instructions to his men.


    "Director Liu, take some men to that base and see what''s happening there," Xiao Guofeng said to another man.


    "Eh? That base? Are you talking about¡­" The man was confused for a second, then figured it out.


    "Yes. That place cannot be exposed. If the base falls into chaos, we need to at least make sure that we still have the control of that place," Xiao Guofeng nodded and glanced at him.


    "Yes, sir! I''m doing it right now," Director Liu quickly left.


    As Xiao Guofeng was making plans, Lin Qiao had summoned all her soldiers.


    "You let him eat human again?" Lin Qiao glanced at Nine, then asked Six.


    "Eh-hem¡­" Six glanced at the sky and then responded, "Only one bite."


    Lin Qiao looked at him coldly and said, "You''re gonna spoil him. I doubt if he''ll thank you when he wakes up."


    Six turned to Nine silently. The kid would probably feel so sick once he recollected his memory and humanity, knowing that he had eaten human flesh.


    "The leaders of the army have gathered together. They might have noticed that Li Zhengye is missing. They have also heard our voices, so they will not ignore our sounds. Now, they should be focusing their powers searching through the base, so you guys need to hide well. We''ll be waiting for the reactions of the people in the base who have already known about the zombie experiment." Lin Qiao spent a second sensing the scents from Li Zhengye''s office building, then said to the others.


    After that, she gave Nine a glare and warned him, "You are not allowed to heat humans!"


    Nine was frightened by the emperor''s vibe that she released on purpose and instantly shrank behind Six.


    Lin Qiao waved a hand and said, "Go. I''m going to find someone."


    On hearing her words, the group of zombies immediately disappeared from where they were while Lin Qiao had also vanished into thin air. The one she was going to look for was, of course, the person who knew about Long Hair. She had learned about that person from the lab leader''s mind.


    In a basement in the outer part of Sky Fire Base, a bearded man with messy hair and unwashed face was sitting behind a desk, sorting a pile of files and materials. He stood up and picked up some sorted files, then turned and opened the cabinet behind him to put the files inside.


    The basement was only about three or four meters squared. The bed and table and cabinet had almost filled it up completely.


    As he closed the door of the cabinet and turned back, prepared to sit down and continue his work, the doorbell suddenly rang. The man paused. Under his bangs, his pair of sharp eyes were fixed on the door.


    Someone soon knocked on the door.


    A sharp beam of light flashed across the man''s eyes and disappeared in a few seconds. "Who is it?" he said with a bland voice. He looked slovenly, but his voice was unexpectedly pleasant to the ears. It sounded as soothing as the sound of spring water.


    "A deal. Are you interested?" A woman''s voice was heard.


    "A woman?" the man furrowed his brows.


    Only a few people knew of his location, and none of them was a woman. Besides, he only knew one or two female superpower possessors in the base. The voice that came from the other side of the door was strange to him, meaning that he did not know its owner.


    However, since the lady said she came to make a deal with him, he had no reason to not let her in. More importantly, it didn''t seem easy for him to stop her, since she had already managed to find him.


    The man thought for a moment, then walked out from behind his desk and opened the door.

 1100 The Small Basemen

    Looking at the man, Lin Qiao wore a weird look on her face.


    Normally, the men who looked like him always gave out an unpleasant smell. He lived in such a basement without any airflow. The smell wouldn''t even spread and fade.


    However, the scent that bearded man, whose hair were messy and long enough to cover his eyes, gave out was actually refreshing.


    Refreshing?


    "Please come in." The man was surprised and confused to see Lin Qiao, but still let her in politely.


    After walking in, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but say to him, "This place is so small¡­"


    The man looked outside. As no suspicious people were found, he closed the door and responded to her helplessly, "The place is small, but it''s secret enough."


    Thankfully, there was only a single bed in the room. If the bed were any bigger, the two of them wouldn''t be able to move at all. A double couch was also placed in the room.


    Lin Qiao stood face and face with the man. She looked at him up and down, then couldn''t help but continue, "You''re so short¡­"


    The one-hundred and sixty-eight centimeters tall man looked at Lin Qiao, who was about two centimeters taller than him, and stayed expressionless. He was so not happy, but he told himself to stay calm and control his temper.


    "Please have a seat! Can I ask you a question?" The man took a deep breath and pointed at the couch, then walked to a corner and took out a glass and a kettle, pouring a glass of water.


    "Yes, please," Lin Qiao nodded at him as she took over the glass of water from his hand. She knew what he was going to ask, because she could read his mind clearly.


    The man handed her the water, then sat back into his chair and leaned against the chair back as he asked her, "Who gave you my location?"


    While speaking, he was also observing Lin Qiao. The woman in a combat suit had a pretty face and a perfect body. Her eyes wore a bland look, but also contained a sharpness. She should have been restraining her vibe on purpose.


    Based on what he knew, the woman was definitely not from Sky Fire Base.


    Lin Qiao leaned against the back of the couch and folded her legs as she smiled at the man with composure, then responded, "Is that important to you? You make deals. I don''t think you care how your clients found you. Am I right?"


    "I need to know if you are a client or not." The man looked at her calmly. Under his hair, his eyes showed a coldness.


    Lin Qiao was still smiling. "I''m afraid you''re not gonna be able to make any deal with this attitude."


    The man looked at her silently.


    "You are an independent intelligence seller, and you''re hiding in this place which even Li Zhengye and his army don''t know about. So, I assume you should know that he''s been doing a zombie experiment." Lin Qiao said to the man as he stayed silent.


    The man kept looking at her while a dim beam of light flashed across his eyes. He was sure that the woman didn''t possess spirit power, because the look in her eyes was too cold and firm. Spirit power possessors had unfocused and mysterious eyes, unlike her.


    However, the woman had been trying to lure him into telling her what she wanted to hear with her words. Did she want to know about the zombie experiment? Judging by her words, she was obviously against Li Zhengye.


    "Do you want to know where the experiment is taking place?" The man finally asked her a question. He asked that question, meaning that he had already accepted Lin Qiao''s request.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "Oh, no. What I want to know is everything about Long Hair. Can you tell me about him?"


    The man''s pupils instantly shrank. He tightened his entire body as he looked at her alertly and said, "How do you know about him?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him from head to toe. The thoughts in his head surprised her. "Why are you so nervous?" she said, "You''re the only one who knows about him, aren''t you? After all, you two used to know each other."


    The man immediately stood up as he stared straight at Lin Qiao and said, "How did you know? No one in this base knows that¡­ No, no one in this world should know about that. Who the hell are you?"


    Lin Qiao stayed quiet as she curved her lips in a small smile. She had already learned about the complicated relationship between the man and Long Hair.


    They used to be like brothers. Before the apocalypse, one of them betrayed the other, then they both tried to kill each other. At last, one of them become a robber and the other became an intelligence dealer who lived a secret life in the base.


    Long Hair worked with Li Zhengye because he wanted to kill the intelligence dealer. But still, he failed to find him from Sky Fire Base. The messy-haired man had been gathering information about Long Hair while escaping his pursuit. He suffered all the bitterness because he was waiting for an opportunity to give Long Hair a lethal strike someday.


    How interesting!


    "I''ve told you not to be so nervous. I, of course, know about it. You told me yourself. I''m not a spirit-power possessor, but my power is special. I can hear your thoughts," Lin Qiao said to him smilingly.


    "You!" On hearing that, the man froze. He clenched his fists so tight that his veins even bulged from under his skin. He tried so hard to keep himself from launching an attack.


    "What? You''re reacting weirdly¡­ Aren''t you two enemies? I want to kill him, so you should be on my side," Lin Qiao kept stimulating him.


    The man clenched his teeth as his eyes were filled with a cold intent of killing. He finally took a deep breath and said, "He''s not so easy to kill."


    ''Only I can kill him! Only I can stab a knife into his heart! No one else is allowed to touch him!''


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said with a meaningful tone, "You really hate him. Is it because he betrayed you?"


    The man looked at Lin Qiao quietly and tried his best to stop himself from thinking. He didn''t forget the woman say that she had a special power that allowed her to hear his thoughts. He chose to believe that.


    Seeing the stubborn look in his eyes, Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "Alright, alright, I won''t kill him, but I need to find him. He messed with me first. If I don''t deal with him, I''d be in trouble. Since you want to kill him yourself, why don''t we work together? You give me the information, and I''ll bring him under control. What do you think?"


    She could tell that the short, eagle-eyed man had an unusual feeling toward Long Hair.


    Hatred? Grievance?


    His hatred toward Long Hair might be what had been supporting him all this long. Without it, he might have died already.


    "You bring him under control? What power do you have to do that? He has his own secret experimental base and an army of robbers. He has plenty of weapons. He himself is a breath away from level-eight. How are you, a woman, supposed to deal with him?" The man forced himself to calm down and then said to Lin Qiao coldly.

 1101 The Chaos in Sky Fire Base

    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "It''s okay that you don''t believe me. I have already gotten what I want to know from your mind. As your payback, I''ll give him to you when I have caught him. Don''t worry, I won''t kill him."


    While the man was talking, Lin Qiao had already learned enough about Long Hair from his mind.


    His name was Yan Huiguang, and he used to be a doctor. After the apocalypse, he attained a superpower and started to think in abnormal ways.


    Hearing what she said, the man was stunned slightly. "Are you re-really going to take action against him? Are you sure you can do that?"


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "He knows too much. Only a dead man can stay silent forever. I am confident. Just wait and see."


    Having finished talking, she stood up and put the glass of untouched water on the desk. After that, she took out a level-six zombie nucleus and put it on the desk too. Next, she turned and left.


    After all, she took the information from the man''s mind without his permission. For the man, Yan Huiguang was an important person. Therefore, she gave the man a level-six nucleus as his compensation.


    The man stayed silent as he watched Lin Qiao leave. Only after she closed the door did he turn his eyes to the zombie nucleus.


    Lin Qiao walked out of the basement and up the stairs. Up there was abandoned storage; the building had collapsed there. The entrance of the basement was cleaned and hidden, so people wouldn''t find it unless they paid extra attention to the area.


    She looked at the sky; it was already getting dark.


    She hopped onto a nearby utility pole and closed her eyes to listen to the sounds coming from the base, then spent a moment to sense the zombie crowd outside the base and figured out the rough number of those zombies.


    The area surrounding the base was still zombie-free. However, a crowd was gathering miles away from the base. A lot of zombies had gathered where she came in from earlier, and zombies had just started to gather on the other side, slightly further away from the base. It seemed that Lin Kui had already made a circle around the entire Sky Fire Base.


    At that time, the base had already started to become noisy. In the secret experimental base, a group of base residents had been confronting the leaders of the army.


    Hundreds of armored soldiers had their guns pointed at the entrance of the underground lab. Near the entrance were hundreds of residents, pointing weapons at the soldiers and showing no signs of stepping back.


    "Liu Hanqin! You are such a fool! Wake up! Li Zhengye is doing such an evil experiment behind our back! He kidnapped superpower possessors from our base! We won''t let this end so easily today. Kill us if you can!" The leader of the group of residents was a man who glared at the soldiers ragingly and shouted at the leader of the soldiers aggressively.


    Liu Hanqin furrowed his brows and stayed silent. He could not order his soldiers to fight those people. The secret lab had already been exposed, so he needed some people to be scapegoats.


    "What''s happening here has nothing to do with Chief. Chief does not know about it. The man who''s running this place is definitely the lab leader. Don''t listen to some people''s lie. They''re trying to frame the good people. Move! We need to collect evidence. Don''t interfere with our work!" Liu Hanqin thought for a moment and then said to the people loudly.


    "Bullsh*t! What do you mean that this has nothing to do with Li Zhengye? What do you mean don''t listen to some people''s lie? Li Zhengye is not a qualified base leader! Without his permission, who has the power to build such a huge experimental base in the base? Do you think that we''re all idiots?" The leader of the group of people yelled at Liu Hanqin angrily.


    As the two groups were confronting each other, a great number of soldiers had been searching through the base for zombies. Soon, they heard that a man was found dead where the woman, who came out of Li Zhengye''s place in the morning, lived.


    "A piece of his neck was bitten off, and he''s infected by the zombie virus. But, who put the bullet into his forehead?" Cui Tengguang went there as soon as he heard the news. He looked at the dead body with confusion as he said to his men.


    "We don''t know. We''ve asked everyone nearby about it, but no one saw what happened. However, some heard screams and yells. A security guy from the neighborhood shot the bullet after he found the man in the morning. He was worried that the man might wake up as a zombie, so he shot him," Cui Tengguang''s assistant reported to him.


    "So, there are zombies in the base. It''s weird though! It has been a whole day, but only one person got attacked by the zombies," Cui Tengguang still didn''t understand.


    At that point, a soldier ran over in a hurry and first saluted to him, then said, "Sir, I heard from the fence wall that a large zombie crowd was found five miles away from the south gate. They are approaching our base. A massive zombie crowd is forming."


    Cui Tengguang gave a start when he heard the soldier. "What? A massive zombie crowd? Do you know how many zombies are out there?"


    "About ten-thousand," said the soldier, "More have been gathering toward us. The fence wall is already on secondary alert."


    Cui Tengguang blinked and murmured, "Are those zombies out there summoned by the high-leveled ones in our base?"


    "Sir, what do we do now?" Cui Tengguang''s assistant asked him for instructions.


    "Let''s go there and take a look. Send more people to search every corner of the base!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    As Cui Tengguang and his men were heading toward the south gate, the woman who came out of Li Zhengye''s room in the morning was hiding in her apartment, walking around in her bedroom in a panic.


    Earlier in the afternoon, some soldiers asked her about the dead man who was found around the corner, so she lied out of fear. She told them she knew nothing about the dead man because she didn''t want to be caught for investigation. Even if she told the truth, the others wouldn''t believe her. After all, she was with that man before he died. He died while she stayed perfectly unharmed. She did not know how to explain that.


    Her husband was out of the base on a mission while she was at home alone with her parents.


    She had no idea what to do. She didn''t dare to tell the truth to her parents.


    She saw a zombie and a man in sunglasses, who was with the zombie. The man must have brought the zombie into the base for some kind of purpose. Even thinking about that made her feel terrified!


    However, they didn''t hurt her. Why? Weren''t they worried that she might tell the others about what she saw after she woke up?


    She walked to the window and looked outside. Soldiers ran across the neighborhood from time to time, seemingly searching for something.


    Gunshots could even be heard from time to time.


    ''Why were there gunshots? Did they find something?'' The woman wondered.

 1102 Go For the Next One

    All the soldiers in Sky Fire Base had jumped into action. They needed to find the zombies who were hiding in the base and suppress the residents who were raising a riot, while also dealing with the suddenly appearing massive zombie crowd. At first, the main army force was focused on those residents. But after hearing about the approaching zombie crowd, the army instantly transferred the main force to the fence wall.


    "Is this how she''ll be keeping the soldiers busy? Did she already know there will be a massive zombie attack tonight? That woman?" The lab leader has been hiding in a corner while paying attention to the outside. Hearing people say that Xiao Guofeng was sending the main army force to the fence wall, he recalled what Lin Qiao had said to him earlier.


    "It''s possible. She seemed pretty confident. She must have known about the massive zombie attack. Now, as there''s a zombie attack, Xiao Guofeng and his men will have no spare attention for the people in the base." His assistant thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement.


    "Director, what do we do next? The zombie attack isn''t just the army''s problem. If the army can''t stop those zombies, we''ll be in trouble too!" That was what the others were worried about.


    "Yeah, if the army fails to stop the zombie crowd and lets them break into the base, we''ll gain nothing!"


    The director didn''t look relaxed. He looked at the man who was responsible for receiving the news and asked, "What do we know about the zombie crowd?"


    The man responded, "I heard the zombie crowd is currently out of the south gate, still a few miles away from the base. I don''t know the exact number, but I guess it''s a large crowd."


    "Then keep an eye on Xiao Guofeng and see what he''ll do." The director thought for a moment and said.


    "Yes, sir."


    At that time, Lin Qiao raised her head to look at the sky. It was getting dark soon. She glanced outside the base, then turned and leaped off the utility pole toward Xiao Guofeng''s location. Li Zhengye had died, so the people who needed to die the next were his loyal followers. And Xiao Guofeng would be the first.


    At the moment, Xiao Guofeng was sitting in his office, paying close attention to everything that had been happening.


    "Someone leaked the secret about the experiment on purpose. Was it Dongfang Yang? If it wasn''t him, why did he hide away?" Xiao Guofeng stared at the desk and said through clenched teeth.


    "Last time, he took the liberty to hide some corpses from the lab. If Chief didn''t find those corpses before anyone else, the secret would have been leaked long ago. It must be him!" The other army leader who was sitting beside him agreed.


    "He was forced to do the experiment, and Chief still has his family. I don''t think he''ll risk his families'' lives to do that." Someone had doubts.


    "Chief didn''t even tell us where he hid those hostages. Dongfang Yang has hidden away. He''s definitely trying to save his family," said Xiao Guofeng.


    Lin Qiao was standing by the door which wasn''t closed. Quite some soldiers were sent to guard the place though. She glanced at Xiao Guofeng. The look in her eyes was peaceful, but the intent of killing was surging deep in her heart.


    The b*stard had done quite some evil deeds back when he attacked Hades Base!


    She didn''t linger by the door for another second, but walked straight toward Xiao Guofeng, gripped his neck, and showed her face.


    Bang! Xiao Guofeng gave a start and instantly started struggling as his throat was suddenly gripped. He reacted so strongly that he accidentally kicked the tea table before him.


    "How is this¡­!" All the others sprung up from their seats and moved backward simultaneously with their eyes fixed on Lin Qiao who had shown up suddenly.


    "Eh-hem-hem¡­ You¡­ Let go¡­ of me¡­" Xiao Guofeng had his throat gripped so tight that he couldn''t even breathe. He was a strong man, a level-seven superpower possessor, but still wasn''t able to move even an inch in her hand. Also, his power had been disabled. All he could do was try and pull her hand away from his neck with one hand while reaching the other hand for the gun around his waist.


    The people at his level did not need guns. However, he liked to have a gun with him.


    Lin Qiao didn''t give him a chance to draw his gun. After grasping his throat, she swept across his face with the other hand and sent a wisp of dark fire into his nose.


    "Ahhhh¡­ Ah¡­ hem-hem¡­ eh¡­" Xiao Guofeng popped his eyes. His eyeballs almost fell out of the sockets while his face was turning blue. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, and his face started twisting. He struggled intensely with his legs kicking and arms twitching.


    "Stop it!" The others finally realized what was happening, so one of them shouted at Lin Qiao and then they attacked her together.


    Those were only some level-six superpower possessors. So, Lin Qiao raised a hand and created a dark fire wall that devoured all their attacks.


    "Netherworld fire! Netherworld fire! Are you Lin Qiao? Are you still alive!" The people on the scene were stunned to see the dark fire wall. One of them pointed at her and widened their eyes as he said in shock.


    Hearing that man''s words, the others automatically took a step backward. As they gave Lin Qiao a closer look, one of them said, "No, you don''t look like Lin Qiao. Who the hell are you? What is your relationship with Lin Qiao?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t relax her grip on Xiao Guofeng. She turned to those people and smiled, "Guess¡­ You''ll be rewarded if you guess right."


    While speaking, she suddenly put forth her strength through her wrist. Following a crack, Xiao Guofeng stopped moving and fell softly.


    "You¡­ You killed him!" Watching the level-seven man be killed so easily by the weird woman, everyone on the scene were frozen. They even forgot to run, and just gawked at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao dropped Xiao Guofeng and conveniently swept across his face with a hand. Following her movement, a dark fire burned out of his head and shrouded his entire head.


    "Aren''t you gonna make any guess? I''m gonna make a move directly if you don''t take a guess." She stood straight and folded her arms as she looked at the people who had shrunk back to the door but forgotten to react at all. With a smile, she kindly reminded them to do something.


    After watching Xiao Guofeng''s head be burnt out and a level-seven nucleus fall to the floor, those people fell into silence. They didn''t dare to say a word, but slowly moved backward.


    She had killed the level-seven man so easily, and they were only at level-six. They would die faster than him if they attacked her, wouldn''t they?


    Was the woman a level-eight superpower possessor?


    Lin Qiao ignored those people. As Xiao Guofeng''s head was burnt out, she bent over to pick the level-seven nucleus.


    Great, she got the second level-seven nucleus! It was not as good as a level-eight one, but it was better than nothing.


    Watching her movements, the people who were shrinking back paused out of fear. They stared at her and didn''t dare to move again.


    Lin Qiao put Xiao Guofeng''s nucleus into her space, then turned to those people.


    "Do you want to leave? I can let you leave on one condition. I won''t kill you as long as you do me a favor," she said to them smilingly.

 1103 Horrible Woman

    "Wha-what is it?" The group of men who were stared at by Lin Qiao looked at her very nervously. Their bodies were tightened up as if they were ready to run at any time while their foreheads were covered in sweat. They were relieved slightly when they heard what Lin Qiao said, but they started to worry in the meantime as well.


    What the woman wanted them to do could not be anything good!


    Lin Qiao rested her hands in her pockets as she walked toward the door while speaking, "Li Zhengye is dead, and the fact that he did a zombie experiment using the residents in his base has been exposed. I think you guys better explain that to the people in your base thoroughly. Li Zhengye has died, so you don''t need to keep the secret for him anymore."


    "Chief is dead? That''s impossible¡­ Eh¡­" The people on the scene paused briefly when they heard about Li Zhengye''s death. They refused to believe that at first. However, before one of them could finish his words, they recalled how the woman strangled Xiao Guofeng straight to death.


    Glancing at Xiao Guofeng''s headless body, the man who was talking shut his mouth immediately.


    Seeing Lin Qiao come out, the people on the scene stepped backward with fear. The soldiers behind carefully drew back after receiving their commanders'' signals.


    "You''ve been searching for him the whole day. You didn''t find a clue, did you? Are you still unwilling to take my offer? Do you guys want to¡­ die?" While speaking, Lin Qiao glanced at each of them in a meaningful way.


    The people didn''t know how to argue with her.


    "Alright¡­ Alright¡­ We get it!" No matter what she wanted, they decided to agree to what she might say and save their own lives first.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then walked out of the office.


    "Wait, who-who are you?" One of the people gathered his courage to ask her. The look on his face was complicated.


    The woman killed Xiao Guofeng easily, meaning that she must be powerful. If she were from Sky Fire Base, she might help to protect the base against the zombie crowd which was approaching the base. If she weren''t from Sky Fire Base, and if she were only in the base to kill people, the base would fall, as there were no level-seven people left to stop the zombies.


    "I''m here to kill Li Zhengye and his men. You should feel lucky that you weren''t a part of the army that attacked Hades Base last year. Otherwise, you wouldn''t have a chance to talk to me."


    After saying that, Lin Qiao flashed across the air and disappeared in front of the group of people.


    "Is-is she from Hades Base? Is she here for revenge?"


    "Who the hell is she? She has Lin Qiao''s poisonous fire. Is she from Hades Base? She isn''t weaker than Lin Qiao, is she?"


    "She said we should feel lucky because we didn''t attack Hades Base, so she should be here to take revenge for Hades Base. Even Xiao Guofeng has died in her hands so easily. I think she didn''t lie to us about Chief''s death."


    "Ah! She could have shown up earlier or later, but instead, she showed up at this very moment¡­ How are we supposed to deal with the zombie crowd out there now? Without a powerful person, the army and the weapons aren''t enough to protect the base. If a zombie dominator showed up, who''s gonna fight it?"


    While those people were feeling lucky about survival and troubled over the unsolvable problem, Cui Tengguang walked over and looked at them bewilderedly as he said, "Eh? Why are you all standing out here? What''s going on?"


    The people looked at him sullenly, then dropped their heads and pointed into the office. Cui Tengguang turned and looked into the office, only to see someone lying in there.


    "What¡­ has happened here? What happened?" He rushed into the office and saw the headless body lying under the chair near the tea table, wearing a familiar suit. He observed the headless body with both surprise and confusion. "Thi-this isn''t Xiao Guofeng, is this?"


    "Yes, this is him. He was killed by a horrible woman who showed up all of a sudden."


    "How¡­ How come you guys are fine?" Cui Tengguang looked at them in shock.


    "That woman only wanted to kill Xiao Guofeng. None of us sensed her coming. She already had him in her hand when she showed her face."


    Cui Tengguang spent a short while observing Xiao Guofeng''s body, then asked, "What was that woman like? I can''t believe she killed Xiao Guofeng. Even a level-eight person would have to make quite some noise to kill Xiao Guofeng, right?"


    "She has invisibility, as well as the power that Lin Qiao, the leader of Hades Base had. She also has a very strong vibe. We were all suppressed. Even Xiao Guofeng was suppressed completely. He couldn''t even move."


    "Why did she kill Xiao Guofeng? What does she want?" Cui Tengguang didn''t understand.


    "She said to us that we should feel lucky that we weren''t a part of the army that attacked Hades Base last year. She said we wouldn''t have a chance to talk to her otherwise. She also said that she has killed Chief too, and that we need to do her a favor if we want to live," said one of the others.


    "What favor? Wait, did you say that she killed Chief?" said Cui Tengguang.


    "She wants us to explain to people about the secret experiment thoroughly¡­"


    After leaving, Lin Qiao found a corner with no one there and made a whistle. Soon, a few figures showed up by her sides.


    She said to her zombies, "Alright, Li Zhengye and Xiao Guofeng have died, and our work here is done. Let''s now go outside the base and stay there."


    "Are we leaving already? What do we do next?" Xie Dong asked her.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the road led to Green Mountain Base and said, "We wait."


    "Will the massive zombie attack continue?" Xie Dong asked another question.


    "Sure. The man won''t show up if we don''t put Sky Fire Base in danger," Lin Qiao blinked her eyes and curved her lips in a mysterious smile.


    "Will he come here," Xie Dong knew whom she was talking about. The man was in Green Mountain Base. Would he give up on the opportunity of attaining a level-nine nucleus and come back to Sky Fire Base? Was the base so important for him?


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and explained, "No. What''s important for him isn''t this base, but someone who has been hiding in this base."


    "Is that the person you went to see earlier today?" Xie Dong said knowingly.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then turned and waved a hand, "Let''s go! He won''t be back so soon. At least, it will take time for the news to be delivered to him from here."


    "I get it," Xie Dong nodded.


    Lin Qiao''s meaning was that if anyone left the base and headed toward Green Mountain Base, the zombie crowd should let the person go.


    After bringing everyone else into her space, she moved toward one direction with a helpless look on her face. In that area, a zombie was having his limbs coiled on a tree in an alley, refusing to let go. A man in sunglasses was angrily trying to drag him off the tree by the back of his collar.


    "Roar! You b*stard! Let go of that tree! We need to leave now! Or Chief might come here to punish you! Don''t drag me into trouble! Can''t you be normal? Let go!" Six was so infuriated. Why on earth did Chief make him deal with the troublemaker alone? He told himself that he would give the bad zombie back to Chief later on no matter how!

 1104 Six Wakes Up

    Lin Qiao arrived to find the two of them struggling by the tree. One was holding the tree and refusing to let go while the other was trying to drag him off the tree.


    "What are you two doing? Is this fun?" She said to the two zombies coldly.


    Hearing her, six immediately dropped his hands and stood to the side silently. Meanwhile, Nine turned to look at Lin Qiao. That was not funny at all. The reason why he held the tree was that he did not want to go near her! The emperor''s vibe was so annoying!


    Lin Qiao glared at him and said, "How long are you going to hold the tree? How dare you dislike me? You''re tired of living, aren''t you?"


    He was not afraid of her. Instead, he disliked her. He was such a weird zombie!


    While speaking, she stepped up and raised a foot to kick the zombie''s butt.


    "Roar!" Nine instantly leaped to the other side.


    Lin Qiao shook a hand, and a glass of water appeared in her hand.


    Seeing the water, Nine forgot about everything. He eagerly fixed his eyes on the glass of water in her hand while slowly moving toward her. Watching Lin Qiao lure Nine like luring a puppy, Six felt a little speechless.


    Once Nine approached, Lin Qiao immediately reached out a hand and grabbed his ear. She handed the glass of water to him, but retracted it before he took it over.


    "Do you want it? But, why would I give it to you? You don''t listen to me," she grabbed his ear and said.


    Nine''s ear was twisted by Lin Qiao. It didn''t cause him any pain, but disabled him from moving. So, he roared at Lin Qiao with discontentment.


    "I''ll give it to you when you start following my orders," Lin Qiao dropped the glass of water and said.


    "Roar!" As the attractive water disappeared, Nine instantly bared his teeth and gave Lin Qiao a roar.


    Clap! Lin Qiao slapped on his head and said, "How dare you yell at me? Have I been too nice to you?"


    "Yes." Abruptly, Six responded to her.


    Lin Qiao looked at him speechlessly, and the other raised his head to look at the sky.


    "Get in," Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and dragged the two zombies, throwing them into her space. After that, she turned herself invisible and headed outside.


    In the space, Nine was immediately surrounded by the others. They looked at Six and said with pity, "Nanny Six, where did this one go just now? Every time we gather up, he was missing. I have no idea why Chief brought him out."


    Six angrily gave them a glare and said, "What the hell is Nanny Six? I have a name. Please call me Jia Kun."


    Hearing himself, he paused with surprise. He had unwittingly spoken out his own name. Suddenly, he sensed a dull pain from his brain.


    "Eh? You remember your name!" The others glanced at each other. Seeing the look on Six''s face, they figured out what was going on.


    "I guess his memory is coming back," They looked at him knowingly, then turned to Six, who was standing nearby.


    None of them intended to help Six. The headache would fade soon anyway, and wasn''t a big deal.


    Nine curiously watched Six squat and bury his head in his arms. He had no idea what was happening. Six seemed to be in pain. He didn''t know what to do, but stood beside Six and looked at him.


    "So, his name is Jia Kun," Xie Dong said to Duan Juan, who was standing by his side.


    Duan Juan and Xie Dong were standing by the side, not with the group of zombies. Duan Juan was the only human being in the space, so she needed to keep a distance from those zombies.


    She knew that the other zombies wouldn''t want to attack her, but she really did not want to get close to Nine. That zombie didn''t care about Chief''s orders at all¡­


    "So now, Four is the only one who hasn''t remembered his name yet, right? He''s one of the first batch of zombies that Chief recruited. They have gotten the most lake water energy. I am so jealous¡­" Jingyan leaned near Yan Xiao as she looked at Six and said enviously.


    Yan Xiao took off the sunglasses, then turned and gave her a glance, "Why are you jealous of them? We''re not as strong as they are, but everything they have, we have it too¡­ Besides, haven''t you restored your memory? You''re on the verge of level-six. Chief has promised us to help upgrade once we have accomplished this mission. I think you''ll be able to get into level-six this time."


    Hearing that, Jingyan nodded expressionlessly and said, "Hm, you''re right. But, I''m not sure if I can upgrade successfully."


    "I think Chief has never failed," said Yan Xiao, "If she said you can, you certainly can."


    As the group of zombies was waiting for Lin Qiao''s next instruction, an emperor vibe was suddenly sensed from the house nearby. The zombies instantly turned to the house with vigilance in their eyes.


    They never neglected that vibe, especially Mo, Xia Ri, and their friends.


    On the outside, Lin Qiao, who was crossing the fence wall of Sky Fire Base, furrowed her eyebrows slightly. She didn''t stop, but kept moving toward Lin Kui.


    Mo Yan''s vibe erupted for merely a few seconds, then slowly weakened down. The pretty zombie girl was happily walking around before Mo Yan''s door. She wanted to go in, but didn''t dare to.


    In the bedroom, Mo Yan opened his eyes. A beam of purple light flashed across his eyes, but soon faded. He got up from the bed, then turned and looked outside the window. He got off the bed, put on his clothes, and opened the door.


    The zombie girl was quietly standing by the door, looking at him. A faint happiness was detected from her eyes.


    Seeing the look on her face, Mo Yan knew that she was purely happy for him. He felt warm in the heart, so he smiled slightly and raised a hand to stroke her soft hair.


    That smile stunned the zombie girl, because it was so different from his usual smile. Normally, he smiled wickedly and coldly by curving one side of his mouth corners. Unlike that kind of smile, this new smile on his face looked normal and relaxed.


    The zombie girl had no idea why her master smiled like that, but that smile made her feel so unusual. She couldn''t tell what exactly was different, but she liked her master''s new smile very much.


    At that time, the marks on Mo Yan''s face had faded by a half, and the cracks on his nucleus had disappeared completely. He still had no energy though, and needed to absorb energy to restore his power.


    He sensed the vibes of quite some other zombies. The zombie lady seemed to be doing something recently, but he did not know what she was up to. Since he was already able to absorb energy by himself, could he leave that space? He needed zombie nuclei to fill up his empty nucleus.


    He needed prey!


    There were plenty of level-six zombies in the space. He could see them, but could not hurt them. That did not feel good.


    He thought for a moment, then walked to the balcony and looked up at the white fog in the sky, which was much brighter than before. Then, he opened his mouth and uttered a slight roar.


    "Roar!"

 1105 Let Mo Yan Ou

    Lin Qiao, who had just leaped off Sky Fire Base''s fence wall, paused and then flashed into her space. She showed up under Mo Yan''s balcony and looked up at him, "Oh, your nucleus has recovered. Congratulations!"


    Mo Yan leaped straight down from the balcony. Behind him, the pretty zombie girl airily landed by his side as well.


    "Do you want to go out?" Lin Qiao looked at Mo Yan and asked him.


    Mo Yan turned and looked at the other zombies, who stepped backward out of fear. Two of them flashed behind Lin Qiao''s house, then stuck their heads out from behind the wall and carefully looked at Mo Yan.


    Actually, they did not need to be afraid of Mo Yan because their boss was on the scene. However, the predatory look in his eyes was way too scary.


    Lin Qiao knew what Mo Yan wanted. She thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright. Since you have already healed, I have no way to help you regain your power within a short time here."


    She knew that he needed to absorb a great amount of power to refill his nucleus.


    Only after Lin Qiao brought Mo Yan and the zombie girl out of her space did the other zombies sigh with relief and the two behind the house slowly moved out.


    Outside the space, Mo Yan raised his head and took a deep breath, then let it out. Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said, "Zombies don''t need to breathe. Why did you take a deep breath?"


    Mo Yan gave her a bland glance. ''None of your business! I felt suffocated in your space!''


    Lin Qiao shrugged as she tilted her head and said, "Alright, go and have fun."


    Mo Yan was speechless. She sounded as if she was walking her dog.


    He looked around, then at Sky Fire Base. After that, he turned back to Lin Qiao and looked at her questioningly. Lin Qiao looked at Sky Fire Base and said, "Oh, that''s Sky Fire Base. It''s chaotic in there these days. It''s chaotic out here too."


    Mo Yan turned and looked at the zombie crowd, then glanced at Lin Qiao knowingly. ''You created the chaos out here, didn''t you?'' he said to her using his eyes.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "I''m only trying to scare them. If they can''t deal with the zombie crowd, I won''t let the zombie break into the base. I''m not like you."


    Mo Yan knitted his brows slightly as a cold light flashed across his eyes. He looked at Lin Qiao expressionlessly, then at Sky Fire Base. In his eyes, those human beings'' lives had nothing to do with him. He didn''t care about them unless he could benefit from them.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, knowing that he was already disappointed with human beings. She didn''t say much but told him, "There are still some people that I want to protect. Not every human being is bad."


    On hearing her words, Mo Yan stayed silent for a few seconds. Unlike her, there was no one left for him to protect. He thought for a moment, then looked at Lin Qiao again. ''Have you killed the people you wanted to kill?''


    Lin Qiao nodded as she narrowed her eyes and responded, "Yeah. The ones who should die have all died. But, there was an accident. There''s another one to deal with."


    Mo Yan knew her meaning; she had taken her revenge. While he was thinking, a frosty cold light flashed across his slender eyes. His revenge still seemed to be unfinished! He could feel that there was still one person who had that kind of connection with him.


    That man had eaten his flesh, drunk his blood, and attained his energy¡­


    Silently, Mo Yan glanced at the North where Huaxia Base was located.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "Save it. You''re not strong enough yet." After saying that, she turned and walked away, leaving Mo Yan and the zombie girl behind.


    Mo Yan watched her leave expressionlessly and peacefully. The zombie girl looked at him, then at Lin Qiao''s back. After that, she slightly dropped her head while thinking.


    Over last night, more and more zombies had gathered around the base. Weirdly, the zombies stayed outside the safe zone, which made the Sky Fire Base people so scared and confused.


    The zombie crowd had threatened the safety of the entire base, so the conflicts in the base gradually eased down as both sides decided to focus on the zombie threat first. All the soldiers and angry residents had stopped confronting each other, but paid their attention to the outside.


    "What are those zombies doing? They stopped outside the safe zone. Why aren''t they attacking us?"


    "I don''t know! Is there a higher-leveled zombie controlling them?"


    "What do you mean? Do you want them to attack us?"


    "Shut the f*ck up! I''m only worried that they might be up to something more terrible! Don''t you think that I''ll let you as*holes get away from what you''ve done because there''re zombies outside! You people used living people to do a zombie experiment! After the zombie attack, we''ll make you animals pay for that!"


    "Damn you! We didn''t do the experiment! It has nothing to do with us. Go to Li Zhengye and make him pay for it if you can! He secretly sent his people to kidnap those victims! We didn''t even know about that! Why are you yelling at us?"


    "He killed those people, yes. But, it was the army who did the dirty work for him, wasn''t it? Would you follow his word and do something like that if you had the slightest bit of humanity left in you? Are you guys soldiers or machines?"


    "Because we are soldiers, we follow orders. Besides, we are only soldiers. We had no idea why the leaders had their men kidnap those people¡­"


    They had stopped fighting each other but never stopped arguing.


    Dongfang Yang and his people mingled in the group of residents, observing the situation.


    "Director, why did those zombies stop outside the safe zone? Shouldn''t they be crazily rushing straight to the fence wall?" Dongfang Yang''s assistant asked him.


    Dongfang Yang thought for a moment and said, "I think there''re high-leveled zombies controlling them out there. Otherwise, they wouldn''t stay in one spot for so long."


    "Will they break in?" said the assistant worriedly.


    "I don''t know," Dongfang Yang shook his head.


    At that moment, a short, bearded man came to Dongfang Yang''s side. He looked outside the base and said to Dongfang Yang, "Did you give that woman my location?"


    Seeing him, Dongfang Yang''s subordinates silently moved away.


    "Did she really come to you? Did she hurt you?" Hearing the man''s words, Dongfang Yang looked at him with surprise and asked.


    Shui Mingjun looked at him bewilderedly and said, "Wasn''t it you who told her where I was?"


    Dongfang Yang shook his head and said, "I didn''t say anything! She asked me about Long Hair. I only told her that there''s one person who knows about him. After that, she suddenly told that she already knew who the person is. Then she left¡­"


    Underneath Shui Mingjun''s hair, a dim light flashed across his eyes. "I guess she didn''t lie," he said, "She really is able to read people''s minds."


    "What?" Dongfang Yang looked at him in shock, "She can read minds? Is that kind of power real?"


    Shui Mingjun responded to him with a sullen face, "She found my basement, then asked me about Long Hair. I didn''t tell her what she wanted to know, but she suddenly told me that she already got the answer. She left me a level-six nucleus and then walked away."

 1106 Long Hairs Choice

    Dongfang Yang looked at Shui Mingjun. While processing his words, the former said, "Are you saying that she got Long Hair''s information from your mind? What were you thinking at that moment?"


    Shui Mingjun dropped his eyelids, his eyelashes covering his eyes. "Everything about him, and something that happened before. Her words reminded me about that person," he said with a cold voice.


    Dongfang Yang didn''t know about his relationship with Long Hair. "So¡­ she knew everything you were thinking at that moment. This is so dangerous. Nothing can be kept secret from her."


    "Will she go and find that person?" He blinked and continued, "How powerful do you think she is? Can she deal with Long Hair? I think she''s quite powerful¡­"


    Shui Mingjun shook his head and said, "I don''t know. I can''t tell her power level. I think she''s at level-seven. I don''t think she''s strong enough to defeat a dual-powered level-seven being. But, she said that she won''t kill him."


    "Eh? Why?" Dongfang Yang didn''t understand, but the other stayed silent. The woman said she would let Shui Mingjun kill the man himself. She sounded so confident, as if she had already succeeded. Could she do what she said?


    ¡­


    That night somewhere in the Northwest, the man with shoulder-length hair received a piece of news. He turned to look at his subordinate and said sullenly, "What do you mean by Sky Fire Base is encircled by zombies? Why haven''t I heard anything about that before? Why didn''t you tell me that earlier?"


    The subordinate was a strong man, over six feet tall and looking ferocious. There were even some scary scars on his face. However, facing the long-haired man, he bent his back and dropped his head while speaking carefully, "The¡­ the news was delivered to us just now. I think it''s an emergency situation. Sky Fire Base is in chaos now. I heard that Xiao Guofeng is dead, and Li Zhengye has gone missing. The zombie experiment has been exposed. Currently, many residents in the base are trying to start a war against the army. The conflict has paused because of the zombie attack though."


    The long-haired man narrowed his eyes as he looked at his subordinate and said, "So¡­ the massive zombie attack is real, isn''t it? Li Zhengye has gone missing? Even Xiao Guofeng is dead? How useless are they! How could they go missing and die at this very moment?"


    He was having his eyes on the level-nine superpower possessor, and was ready to make a move. However, an accident happened on Li Zhengye''s side. What if that man ran out of Sky Fire Base to another base? If that happened, all the efforts that he and Li Zhengye had made would be in vain.


    The tall man didn''t know what to say.


    Well, the reason why Li Zhengye went missing was still unknown, but Xiao Guofeng was clearly not willing to die. He didn''t dare to argue with his boss though. He might die if he happened to displease his boss.


    The man saw his subordinates'' lives as nothing. He could kill them just because he was in a bad mood.


    There was a man that he wanted to kill who was seemingly living in Sky Fire Base. If the massive zombie attack truly destroyed the base, that man might show up. And if that happened, he would never miss the opportunity to kill that man.


    "The massive zombie attack might make Shui Mingjun show his face. If you don''t go back, he might run away again. He''s so good at hiding. It''s not gonna be easy for you to find him again," The tall man couldn''t help but remind Yan Huiguang.


    Yan Huiguang, the long-haired man, thought for a moment and said, "You''re right. But if I leave, Huaxia people might make a move here before us. Things would be troublesome if they get the level-nine man."


    The tall man said, "It''s not gonna be easy. The level-nine man has consumed a lot of energy, but he still has level-nine power. Besides, aren''t those Green Mountain Base people still here? They won''t possibly watch Huaxia Base people make a move on them without trying to stop them."


    Yan Huiguang coldly glanced at him and said, "I surely know all that. What I''m worried about is accidents. Do you understand? An accident can ruin everything. Don''t you know that? What if Lan Lu failed to stop Si Kongchen and let Si Kongchen get the level-nine nucleus?"


    The tall man instantly stopped talking and just looked at the long-haired man. ''So, it depends on if you want to give up on revenge or the chance of upgrade.'' he thought.


    Yan Huiguang knitted his eyebrows while his vibe grew colder and colder. A short while later, he abruptly raised his head and said, "We''re going back to Sky Fire Base. Gather all our people and take all our weapons!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Then, something else crossed his mind. "Have Sky Fire Base people delivered the news to Sea City Base and Huaxia Base?"


    The tall man shook his head and said, "I don''t know, but I think so. They''ll definitely ask those two bases for help if they aren''t stupid."


    "Go and get ready. I''ll head there now. Catch up with me as soon as possible."


    Having finished talking, Yan Huiguang turned and went out of the building, He hopped onto the roof, then put two fingers in his mouth and let out a long and sharp whistle. Once the whistle faded, a series of figures showed up before him. Those creatures'' faces weren''t seen clearly in the darkness, but a cold and lifeless vibe could be sensed from their bodies.


    "Follow me!" He said to those creatures, then leaped off the building. An off-road car with the lights on was soon driven to his side. He got into the car and then moved toward Sky Fire Base.


    From the roof, the tens of creatures swiftly followed behind the car like beasts of the night.


    What Yan Huiguang did not know was that he was the only one who had heard the news. Lin Qiao didn''t let the news reach Huaxia Base or Sea City Base. Nothing would happen even if the news did reach Sea City Base though.


    At dawn, Lin Qiao crossed her legs and sat down on a roof. "When do you think Yan Huiguang will get here?" she asked Duan Juan.


    The latter looked at her and said, "Why are you so sure that he''ll come here? Hasn''t he been having his eyes on that crazy level-nine man? Will anyone give up on a level-nine nucleus and throw himself into such a chaos?"


    Lin Qiao smiled and said, "I''m not sure. It depends on how important the bearded man is to Yan Huiguang. What I can tell for sure is that he is pretty important to the bearded man."


    "How important?" said Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her and said, "So important that he wants to die together with that man¡­ I think Yan Huiguang is the only reason why Shui Mingjun is still alive."


    Duan Juan stayed a few seconds looking at Lin Qiao in silence, then said, "Do they hate each other so much?"


    Lin Qiao shrugged as she curved her lips downward and said, "Who knows! I felt that Shui Mingjun has only darkness in his mind, without any light, hope, or anything else. He''s only alive to kill Yan Huiguang."


    "What a miserable life!" said Duan Juan.

 1107 Whats the Answer?

    "What on earth has happened between them?" Duan Juan couldn''t help but ask with curiosity, clearly bored of waiting. As same as her, the zombies beside her had all been expecting that story. After all, they had nothing to do at the moment. They were all waiting for the main characters in the story to show up. One of them had already shown up while the other one was still missing.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "Based on what I''ve learned from the bearded man, he and Long Hair used to be good friends. They were a policeman and a doctor. When the apocalypse happened, the bearded man lost his only family, and half of his friends and colleagues turned into zombies. He then found Long Hair. During the first two years after the apocalypse, their other friends died, vanished, or betrayed them. Thus, they became the only friend to each other. Later on, Long Hair shot the bearded man from the back for an unknown reason, although the latter survived. I guess he hates the man so much because he used to believe that the man would never betray him."


    "So, his best friend shot him in the back. Anyone would hate the friend who did that. But, isn''t it a little too extreme that it''s the hatred that''s been supporting him to live?" said Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I think he''s rational. Before Long Hair shot him, he was a commoner. When Long Hair shot him, his power was waking up. What would you think if the same thing happened to you?"


    "He shot me, so I wouldn''t let him get away with it," said Duan Juan coldly, "Why did Long Hair betray him?"


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "We''re gonna have to ask Long Hair about that. After all, even the bearded man himself didn''t have the answer."


    Hearing that, Duan Juan was stunned. "He doesn''t know?" she said, "Has he never found Yan Huiguang and ask the man why?"


    Lin Qiao glanced at the others and said, "He had, but Long Hair didn''t answer his question. Every time they saw each other, they tried to kill each other. However, I think if Long Hair really wants the bearded man to die, he''d have died long ago."


    The others looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean?" asked Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao explained, "Yan Huiguang has been a superpower possessor all the time. He has two different types of power, along with his medical skills. He was a highly valuable person, so he must have a lot of followers. Shui Mingjun was a police officer, much weaker than Yan Huiguang. Besides, he never trusted anybody. Do you think he could survive till now if Yan Huiguang really wanted to kill him?"


    Duan Juan thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I think you''re probably right."


    Li Zhengye looked at Sky Fire Base and said, "The ones who are closely involved in something often cannot see the truth clearly. I think Shui Mingjun was probably not aware of his real situation. Or, he might have some kind of misunderstanding. Yan Huiguang worked with Li Zhengye and asked the latter to search for Shui Mingjun. But, I think killing Shui Mingjun isn''t his real purpose."


    Duan Juan pondered for a few seconds, then looked at Lin Qiao and said confusedly, "Why do I feel like you''re trying to get Yan Huiguang off the hook? Have you forgotten that he knows your secret?"


    "You''re wrong. I''m only trying to figure out the relationship between Long Hair and Shui Mingjun. We might be able to use Shui Mingjun against him," Lin Qiao gave her a glance, then continued, "But, all I said was only my guess. We need to talk to Yan Huiguang to verify it. Besides, I''m also curious why he shot Shui Mingjun."


    "Maybe Yan Huiguang misunderstood something," Yan Huiguang abruptly joined the conversation.


    "Maybe they fell into someone else''s trap!" said Jingyan.


    "Perhaps someone was jealous of Yan Huiguang and Shui Mingjun for being closer friends," Duan Juan made a guess as well.


    "Maybe someone was in secret love with Yan Huiguang. That person thought Yan Huiguang liked Shui Mingjun, so he or she said something to Yan Huiguang and tricked him into attacking Shui Mingjun. Or, an enemy of Shui Mingjun found that his power was waking up, so that person managed to make Yan Huiguang try to kill him," Yan Huiguang thought for a moment and added.


    "You girls have a great imagination¡­" said Xie Dong, "What do you mean by Yan Huiguang liking Shui Mingjun? You yaoi fandom are so scary!"


    Lin Qiao, Duan Juan, Yan Xiao, Jingyan and the other female zombies stared at him with dagger eyes together.


    Xie Dong stayed silent. ''These women are scary indeed. Oh, Junjun is much nicer than them!''


    Ye Qingxian walked over and patted Xie Dong on the shoulder, "Don''t say anything that shouldn''t be said, or you might suffer really bad."


    Xie Dong didn''t know how to respond.


    "What''s wrong about yaoi fandom? Have we been eating your food or spending your money?"


    Duan Juan stared at him and said, "You don''t like men, but some other men might. When you truly love someone, gender won''t be important."


    Jingyan also stared at him as well. "I agree."


    Yan Xiao folded her arms before her chest and said, "Most of the women have turned into zombies after the apocalypse. Of course, men are sleeping with each other. What else can they do? Sleep with zombies?"


    Clap! A small stone landed on her head once she finished.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, "You are a zombie yourself. What are you talking about?"


    Being reminded by Lin Qiao, Yan Xiao realized the fact that she herself was a zombie too. "Oh, you''re right! But, no man has the guts to sleep with me."


    The others felt a little speechless. ''Girl, mind your language!'' they thought.


    At that moment, Lin Kui who had been staying quiet and expressionless all the time, let out his voice, "I think he''s here."


    The others instantly adjusted their expressions and restrained their vibes. Lin Qiao had told them that Yan Huiguang was probably studying zombies, so he might be able to sense them.


    Lin Qiao turned to Lin Kui and narrowed her eyes as she stood up and said, "Move!"


    Within a blink of an eye, all the zombies on the roof disappeared. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao turned herself invisible and swiftly moved toward the source of the top-level-seven vibe that was approaching Sky Fire Base.


    Sky Fire Base people had spent a very long and difficult night. They prepared themselves for the war and waited for the zombie attack to start. However, nothing happened. At the moment, they were just constantly nervous and anxious.


    A few batches of people had been sent out of the base. Some of them were forced back into the base and others were eaten by zombies. They had no way to deliver the news to the other bases.


    "Both Huaxia Base and Sea City Base have spies outside our base. I think those people will bring the news back to their own bases. Huaxia Base is the strongest best in the country and is in cooperation with us. They will certainly do something to aid us," Cui Tengguang stayed calm, still having a gleam of hope.


    "What¡­ What if those Huaxia Base people have all been eaten by zombies? After all, those zombies gathered from a long distance away." Someone had negative thoughts.


    "If that''s the case, we''re on our own then," Cui Tengguang looked at him and responded helplessly after a short silence.


    Hearing that, the group of people instantly fell into silence.

 1108 The Zombies from the Experimen

    Shui Mingjun was standing on top of the fence wall of Sky Fire Base in a remote corner, looking at the West.


    Would the man give up on the level-nine superpower possessor and come back for him after receiving the news about the base? He would think that the army in the base wasn''t strong enough to protect the base from the massive zombie crowd, wouldn''t he? In his mind, Shui Mingjun would show his face as the zombie crowd broke into the base.


    Would that woman really be able to defeat him?


    As far as he knew, apart from the crazy level-nine man from Green Mountain Base, Si Kongchen was the only one who had the power to defeat Yan Huiguang. After all, Yan Huiguang was about to break into level-eight.


    Before, Shui Mingjun believed that Yan Huiguang wouldn''t give up the opportunity of upgrade for anything. But now, he wasn''t so sure anymore. Yan Huiguang hated him. After all, he had ruined quite some of the man''s plans and his secret experimental bases during the past few years for revenge.


    Looking at the quiet safe zone out of the base, he could feel the vibes of quite some level-six zombies coming from the surrounding area. He couldn''t tell their exact locations though. The safe zone was quiet, but a huge crowd of zombie could be seen miles away.


    "There are over ten zombie kings and queens, so there must be one or two at level-seven," He murmured to himself.


    Why didn''t those zombies attack the base? Why had they been merely standing out there? What did the high-leveled zombies who had been controlling the crowd want? Were they waiting for some kind of opportunity?


    How did the zombie attack happen? Why didn''t he notice any sign of it before it started?


    Shui Mingjun felt a little confused about the fact that the zombie crowd suddenly encircled the entire Sky Fire Base. The base was huge; normally speaking, a massive zombie attack would only happen at one gate or in one direction. But this time, the massive zombie crowd surrounded the whole base without leaving even one exit.


    The people in the base were suddenly stuck in the base.


    At that moment, the army had prepared a few helicopters that rose from the ground and flew outside. The ground had been occupied by zombies, so the only way out was the air.


    Cui Tengguang looked at the helicopters in the sky and said, "I hope they can get out of the base. This is our last way."


    "There shouldn''t be any high-leveled flying zombies¡­" Standing beside him, Director Liu wiped the sweat on the forehead as he worriedly glanced at the sky. He was afraid that something suspicious might suddenly show up in the sky.


    Lin Qiao had, of course, heard the sounds of the helicopters. She turned and glanced at those helicopters, but didn''t do anything to them. What she did was keep moving toward Yan Huiguang.


    Behind her, a series of figures swiftly rose into the sky, moving toward Yan Huiguang.


    At that point, Yan Huiguang''s car was parked hundreds of meters away from the zombie crowd. Standing near him were tens of walking dead who gave out a zombie vibe. But, their zombie vibe was weird. The surrounding zombies found their vibe familiar, but not exactly the same as natural zombie vibes. Their vibe seemed dangerous.


    The zombies who weren''t able to think automatically avoided those weird zombies and kept a distance from Yan Huiguang. Aa a top-level-seven superpower possessor, he had a very strong vibe himself, so the ordinary zombies didn''t dare to approach him anyway.


    Yan Huiguang was paying attention to the reactions of his tens of zombies, trying to figure out if any high-leveled zombies were hiding in the zombie crowd.


    The huge-scaled zombie crowd was certainly not formed naturally. Yan Huiguang hadn''t only been studying the bodies of zombies, but had also paid attention to zombies'' way of survival and thinking, as well as their habits and nature.


    Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to survive in the outside world for so long.


    He could guess that some level-seven zombies must be planning on something near the base. That was why the zombie crowd suddenly appeared around the base and gave the people in the base no time to prepare.


    How many level-seven zombies were there? That was something he couldn''t tell for sure. What he was sure of was that one level-seven zombie couldn''t possible gather such a massive zombie crowd.


    Earlier on, Huaxia Base and Heilong Base suffered massive zombie attack because a lightning-powered zombie emperor had been controlling the crowd. That was why Heilong Base failed to stop the zombie crowd.


    Fortunately, the zombie emperor wasn''t targeting all residents in Heilong Base, only some of them.


    Thinking about that, Yan Huiguang noticed that the zombies outside Sky Fire Base had been staying still. The zombie crowd was huge, but it had been making no movement at all. Why?


    Feeling a group of level five or six zombies approaching, Yan Huiguang furrowed his eyebrows, then opened the car door and came out of the car.


    "Be careful!" He gave out his words, hearing which, his zombies all grew alert.


    Instead of showing her face, Lin Qiao quietly approached Yan Huiguang''s zombies and curiously observed them. Those zombies looked nothing different from human beings, although their eyes were lusterless. Their skin looked exactly like the skin of healthy people, without any bluish tone, abnormal wrinkles, bulging veins, or other zombie features. If their eyes weren''t gray, she wouldn''t be able to tell that they were already dead by their appearances.


    Their vibe was very strange as well. Their bodies contained a special type of energy that was a mixture of the zombie virus and something else. Lin Qiao guessed it was the energy of the mutated zombie virus.


    Were they the zombies that Yan Huiguang had created? The lab leader in Sky Fire Base was probably showing down the experiment on purpose and lying to Li Zhengye. He told Li Zhengye that the experiment hadn''t succeeded. However, weren''t Yan Huiguang''s zombies the successful result of that experiment?


    Eachj one of those zombies seemed to be at merely the lowest level. However, Lin Qiao felt that they were all dangerous. She had no idea what made them so special.


    Suddenly, Yan Huiguang''s zombies lowered their heads and knitted their brows, baring their teeth as they roared out deeply toward whatever was in front of them.


    "Roar!"


    Yan Huiguang frowned and saw over ten figures show up before him. Those people were wearing the same kind of camouflage suits combat suits and the same kind of sunglasses. They looked exactly like a group of zombie hunters.


    However, Yan Huiguang had a way of telling that they weren''t human beings from their vibes. Five of them were zombie kings and queens while the rest were zombie leaders.


    Those zombies stopped two-hundred meters away from Yan Huiguang and his zombies, stanidng in the middle of the way, on top of the abandoned cars or the utility poles, the street lights, or the surrounding buildings. They looked at the man quietly without making any movements.


    Were they still zombies? They acted like a group of well-trained soldiers that gave out a depressing vibe.


    Yan Huiguang was a breath away from level-eight. But, he still felt a slight trace of pressure when he was facing this group of zombies.

 1109 He Betrayed Me Again

    Yan Huiguang''s zombies were all wearing costumed white suits, creating a sharp contrast with the ones in camouflage suits.


    After observing Yan Huiguang''s zombies, Lin Qiao walked toward him. From about ten meters away from the man, she noticed that he suddenly knitted his brows and turned to her.


    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao stopped walking with surprise, then took a few steps backward. Then, she detected the confused look in Yan Huiguang''s eyes fade. The man turned back to the group of zombies that was two-hundred meters away. As he turned away, Lin Qiao made a few steps toward him. As she thought, the man turned back to her with a sullen face.


    "Come out! A decent man won''t try to hide," Yan Huiguang stared where Lin Qiao was and said.


    "Haha¡­ She isn''t a decent man. She''s a girl." One of the zombies who had been standing quietly two hundred meters away from Yan Huiguang, abruptly started talking, and a woman''s voice was heard.


    Yan Huiguang immediately turned to the group of zombies and blinked his eyes. At that moment, Lin Qiao showed her face and looked at Yan Huiguang as she said, "I am no decent man indeed."


    After saying that, she made a few more steps toward Yan Huiguang and stopped ten meters away from him. The group of zombies flashed up behind her and stood in a straight line, clenching their fists and resting their arms behind their bodies while slightly parting their legs. They looked exactly like a well-trained squad of soldiers.


    Seeing that, Yan Huiguang raised his vigilance.


    At that time, Lin Qiao rolled her eyes toward her subordinates and then said, "What are you doing? I''ve never seen you so serious. Why are you pretending to be serious now?"


    The group of zombies looked at their boss speechlessly.


    Yan Huiguang didn''t know what to say either.


    Duan Juan walked to Lin Qiao''s side and confusedly looked at Yan Huiguang''s zombies. "Those people¡­"


    "Oh, those aren''t people anymore," said Lin Qiao, "They look like zombies, but I don''t think they''re exactly the same as normal zombies. Yan Huiguang, how dare you do experiments on healthy human superpower possessors! You are so problematic!"


    Yan Huiguang narrowed his eyes as he looked at her coldly and asked, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him and laughed, "Oh, don''t you know who I am? Haven''t you heard about me from Lan Lu?"


    She exposed her own identity.


    Yan Huiguang was stunned a little at first. Then, a weird light shone out of his eyes as he stared at her and said, "You''re the Chief lady from All Beings Base? Are you really a human being?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him blandly and ignored the weird and dangerous light in his eyes as she responded to him carelessly, "What do you think? Do you think that I''m not human?"


    Yan Huiguang looked at her carefully, then glanced at the zombies behind her. He could sense the vibes of those middle-leveled zombies, but couldn''t feel the woman''s vibe. Therefore, he wasn''t able to tell if she was a human being or a zombie.


    That aroused his great interest in Lin Qiao.


    "If you surrender, I''ll tell you if I''m a human being or not. Your good friend once told you that knowing too much will do you no good. Do you remember that?" Lin Qiao rested a hand in her pocket and raised the other hand to release a sphere of dark fire. She threw up the fire ball and caught it, then repeated the move as if it were a toy.


    Yan Huiguang''s pupils suddenly shrank when he saw the dark fire in her hand. He looked at Lin Qiao with a great fear and then lowered his face to cover his face with his long hair. Through his hair, the cold and vigilant look in his eyes could be detected. He had also tightened his muscles, seeming ready to launch a move at any time.


    "What? Don''t you want to surrender? Do you think you can escape from me by using your level-seven powers or the zombies behind you? Why can''t you just work with me? I''m not gonna kill you right now anyway. You want to see that man, don''t you?" Lin Qiao stayed unhurried while fiddling with the fire in her hand as she talked to the long-haired man in a nice manner.


    "Did he tell you about me?" On hearing Lin Qiao''s words, Yan Huiguang''s vibe grew even colder than before as the icy cold vibe was spreading from his entire body.


    "He betrayed me again!" Yan Huiguang stared at Lin Qiao and said through clenched teeth. His voice was as cold as his vibe. "He sold my information to a strange woman!"


    "I don''t care why you hate each other so much. You two should talk to each other." While speaking, Lin Qiao swung her arm and tossed the black fire ball at Yan Huiguang. In the air, the fist-sized black fire ball suddenly exploded into an enormous dark tiger head that widely opened its jaws to bite him.


    Facing Lin Qiao''s attack, Yan Huiguang didn''t run away in a flurry. Instead, he popped his eyes and stared at Lin Qiao right in the eyes, focusing his will power as he attempted to control her mind.


    As same as Lan Lu, he possessed spirit power. He thought he was able to control Lin Qiao, who, he believed, was also at level-seven.


    However, things didn''t go the way he planned. Lin Qiao gave him a cold smile and said, "Your spirit power can''t affect me. You might as well try to control your zombies with it."


    While speaking, she looked at Yan Huiguang''s zombies. She was very curious about how those zombies could be helpful for Yan Huiguang. Just now, she tried to control those zombies with her own will power, but failed unexpectedly.


    So, she figured that Yan Huiguang''s zombies would follow his orders solely.


    Yan Huiguang was slightly surprised by Lin Qiao''s calm reaction. Instantly, he figured out that his spirit attack has failed. On hearing her words, he rolled his eyeballs and abruptly raised an arm.


    "Number One, Number Two, go! Blow them up!"


    Following his voice, two zombies darted out of the crowd behind him toward Lin Qiao''s dark, fiery tiger head that was descending from the sky. At the same time, Yan Huiguang quickly moved backward to dodge it.


    Boom! Boom!


    At that moment, the two zombies exploded all of a sudden. Blood and flesh pieces flew all over the sky and body parts fell on the ground. Of course, most of the body pieces were devoured by the dark fire.


    The great explosion force sent a part of the dark fire back to Lin Qiao as the tiger head fell apart and became shapeless.


    "So, that''s how you use them? As zombie bombs? The explosion spread the virus everywhere¡­" Lin Qiao flashed away and saved herself from being showered in blood and flesh pieces. After that, she looked at Yan Huiguang and said peacefully.

 1110 Confronting Each Other in the Air

    Yan Huiguang stepped back to about twenty meters away from Lin Qiao as he looked at her and said with a deep voice, "That''s not the only way to use them. You seem to want to catch me alive. Let''s see if you can do that."


    After saying that, he suddenly put his fingers into his mouth and gave a whistle. Following that, the zombies surrounding him rushed straight at Lin Qiao and her zombies.


    Lin Qiao and her zombies had witnessed the explosion and learned what those zombies could do. They weren''t afraid of the virus, but did not want to be stained by blood. So, they all moved backward to create distance from Yan Huiguang''s zombies, then released their superpowers to attack them.


    Lin Qiao moved her feet and disappeared.


    Yan Huiguang wore a frown. Earlier, he had noticed that the woman had invisibility. After she turned herself invisible, her scent and vibe would both be gone. Even his zombies couldn''t sense her scent.


    He thought for a moment, feeling that he wasn''t strong enough to defeat the woman yet. Therefore, he decided to draw back.


    In the next second, he swiftly turned around and moved fleetingly toward another direction. However, at that very moment, a series of noises were heard from before him. He keenly detected the noise and launched a kick in the air. His foot hit something, and right after that, he saw the woman''s face.


    Lin Qiao blocked Yan Huiguang''s kick with an arm, and then they moved away from each other in the air. After giving Lin Qiao a kick, the counterforce made Yan Huiguang flip in the air and land back on the ground. He didn''t linger there, but darted out in another direction once he landed.


    After taking one kick from the man, Lin Qiao conveniently created a fire wall that blocked his way. After all, Yan Huiguang had very sharp sensations, and was able to detect Lin Qiao''s presence faintly while she was invisible.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Another series of explosions could be heard.


    "Isn''t it wasteful to let them explode just like that?" Lin Qiao showed up behind Yan Huiguan amd swung her claws at his head while speaking. The latter quickly turned around and released a wave of level-seven wind blades while bringing himself up into the sky using his wind power.


    Lin Qiao raised an arm and drew a circle in the air toward the wind blades. With that, a black fire ring appeared in the sky and devoured the wind blades. After that, she raised her head to look at Yan Huiguang, who had flown into the sky. She snorted with discontentment and curved her lips downward.


    Yan Huiguang hadn''t broken into level-eight eight, but was hard to catch. She couldn''t just kill him.


    But, did he think that she couldn''t do anything to him in the air?


    Lin Qiao landed on top of a building then rushed to the edge of the roof and suddenly leaped high. In the midair, she raised both arms and released a thick stream of dark fire that expanded quickly and then gathered under her feet.


    Manwhile, a bigger amount of dark fire had been releasing from her palms which slowly formed a tremendous dark dragon under her feet. Standing on the black dragon''s head, she raised both arms.


    Following her movement, the dark dragon flew straight into the sky.


    "Roar!" In the sky, the dark dragon gave Yan Huiguang a resonant roar. Its voice was purely generated from energy as it was not a living creature. However, that roar was heard within the area miles in radius around Lin Qiao''s body.


    "Whoa! I can''t take it anymore! No!" On the ground, Yan Xiao started to shake with fear when Lin Qiao released the dark fire dragon. Hearing that deafening roar, she instantly surrendered.


    Turning around, she found that most of her friends had run far away. "Damn! How come you didn''t tell me to go with you?" Yan Xiao shouted with discontentment.


    Thankfully, she was not the target of her Chief''s power, or she might have exploded under that strong energy wave. Her Chief wouldn''t even have to do anything to kill her.


    An angry zombie emperor could be a serious disaster! She had merely released her vibe, and the group of zombie leaders had nearly collapsed.


    "Chief is launching a big strike. Why didn''t you run? Are you staying there to get yourself hurt?" Jingyan''s voice came from a distance away.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Under Lin Qiao''s tremendous power, Yan Huiguang''s zombies exploded one after another.


    "Hmmm¡­" The ordinary zombies nearby all lay on the ground and didn''t dare to move.


    "You are not human!" Yan Huiguang looked at Lin Qiao who had fully released her vibe and said coldly.


    "Does it matter? You are human, but you don''t think of the other human beings as your kind. I am a zombie, but I don''t see human beings as food. Which one of us is more like a zombie who has no humanity?" Lin Qiao said to Yan Huiguang blandly. Under her feet, the dark fire dragon had become over a hundred meters long, floating in the darkness.


    "You''re not going to let me go today, are you?" Yan Huiguang slightly lowered his head, his hair covering his eyes. "What''s so good about human beings? They are selfish, jealous, cowardly, weak, disloyal¡­ You can never change the awful nature of human beings¡­" While speaking, he suddenly took out a small tube-ful of liquid and poured it into his mouth.


    After swallowing that unknown liquid, he raised his head and burst in laughter. "Hahaha¡­ Human beings are the weakest creatures in the world, but they have the dirtiest mind. They want to rule the world. How ridiculous¡­ Haha¡­ The mankind should not exist in this world. What''s so wrong about zombies? Zombies don''t age or die. They are able to control the ones at lower levels than themselves. Now, the world is full of zombies. This is the world of zombies. What do we need humans for? Humans should just become zombies¡­"


    Looking at Yan Huiguang, who seemed to have lost his mind, Lin Qiao rolled her eyes speechlessly.


    "What about Shui Mingjun? Do you want him to become a zombie too?" she asked him.


    Yan Huiguang paused for a second and stopped laughing. He looked at her and spent two seconds in a daze, then responded, "Why would I care? If he turned into a zombie, he wouldn''t betray me again or bring me any other trouble. He will do whatever I said and follow my every word. Won''t that be great?"


    Lin Qiao smiled and said, "You are so sick¡­ You don''t really feel this way."


    Hearing her words, Yan Huiguang pulled a long face and yelled, "What do you know? Every single person in this post-apocalyptic era only thinks for themselves. To survive, they can lie, betray, sell out their friends. They can be nice to you, then shoot you in the back. That''s human beings¡­ He betrayed me again and again, but still tried to pretend to be good in front of me¡­"


    Lin Qiao looked at him with a frown, then abruptly put a hand behind her body and twitched her fingers slightly. Suddenly, a tiny wisp of dark mist rose from behind Yan Huiguang and drilled into his ear.

 1111 They only Hit Faces

    The wanted person had already been caught. Lin Qiao lifted Yan Huiguang, turned and walked away. "Let''s go," she said to her zombies.


    Her zombies left fleetingly, leaving Yan Huiguang''s subordinates looking at each other without knowing what to do.


    "She¡­ She took Chief away. What are we supposed to do next? Should we go and save him?" A man moved to the tall guy''s side and asked him.


    The tall guy stood up, dusted himself off, then looked at Lin Qiao''s back. He remained silent for a short while. After that, he said, "Who is gonna save him? We don''t even know who they are. They are clearly much stronger than we are. They just didn''t want to kill us."


    "But¡­ But if we don''t save him? No one will be getting food for us from those bases, right? We''re going to starve to death, aren''t we?" someone said in a panic.


    "Relax! We can keep working with those bases without him. We do have some experimental means, and the drugs we produce can be sold to the bases. Even if we can''t make the drugs, we still have weapons, don''t we? Worst case, we can kill zombies for those people and protect them as payment," said the tall guy.


    "Oh¡­ Okay."


    After bringing Yan Huiguang away from the site, Lin Qiao said to her zombies, "Alright, dismiss the zombie crowd. We don''t need those zombies anymore."


    The zombie crowd was only there to lure Yan Huiguang. She, of course, wouldn''t bring a real massive zombie attack to Sky Fire Base.


    "Yes, Ma''am!" the zombies responded and left.


    Lin Kui had left as well. After all, the tens of thousands of zombies that had surrounded the entire Sky Fire Base needed to be dismissed from all directions.


    Lin Qiao watched her zombies leave, then found a tall building, hopped onto the roof, gave a long roar to the surrounding zombies.


    "Roar!" ''Fall back!''


    Her voice spread into the distance. Following that, the zombies that had gathered for tens of miles around the area started to move backward slowly.


    Lin Qiao threw Yan Huiguang into her space, turned herself invisible, and moved toward Sky Fire Base. She quickly located Shui Mingjun by his vibe, and before long, she quietly showed up behind that man.


    Shui Mingjun was standing atop a building that was located not far away from the fence wall, gazing into the distance.


    Thud! A man suddenly fell on the floor before him, giving him a start.


    "Who are you!" He gave a closer look and found the man lying on the ground quietly, like a dead body.


    "Long Hair!" He popped his eyes with surprise as he looked more closely.


    "If you want to kill him, you can do it now." A woman''s voice was heard from behind.


    Shui Mingjun immediately turned back¡ªit was the woman who visited him in his basement yesterday.


    "You¡­ you really caught him? Is he¡­" Shui Mingjun looked at her with disbelief. He was shocked.


    In his eyes, Yan Huiguang had always been highly dangerous. He was not only powerful, but also extra vigilant. His level-seven wind power could allow him to escape easily from all kinds of danger. Except for the ones who knew him well and the ones who were much stronger than him, no one could possibly capture him.


    However, at that very moment, Yan Huiguang was at his feet, lying motionlessly.


    He turned back to look at Yan Huiguang. The man had his eyes closed tightly. His mouth corners were turning purple, and his face was abnormally pale. His vibe was unbelievably weak.


    "He took the zombie drug that he developed. He must have had a brain fart when he made that decision. I suppressed the virus inside him with another drug, so he''s now like this. Don''t you want to kill him? Why are you still concerned about his condition?" Lin Qiao said with a bland tone. While finishing her speech, she gave Shui Mingjun a weird glance.


    "Yes, I do want to kill him," said Shui Mingjun, "But before that, I need to know why he shot me in the back years ago. What on earth did I do that made him do that?"


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "I think he said that you betrayed him."


    Earlier, Long Hair said that Shui Mingjun had betrayed him again. At that time, Lin Qiao read his mind and learned that he was talking about something that happened a long time ago.


    "I betrayed him?" Shui Mingjun paused briefly with surprise and said, "When did I betray him?"


    Lin Qiao folded her arms, looked at him, and said, "I''m curious about this. You two have been trying to kill each other over the past few years. Why did you never figure out what started the whole thing?"


    The look in Shui Mingjun''s eyes sank as he said, "Even if it was a misunderstanding, his bullets had hit me and caused harm. I gave him chances. I wanted to hear him explain, then decide if I''d forgive him or not. However, he never explained. Every time, he launched attacks without saying anything."


    Lin Qiao looked at Yan Huiguang, who was lying quietly on the ground. "What are you gonna do now?" she said. "Are you going to kill him? He won''t wake up, even if you don''t kill him. He''s not going to die by himself, but I think he''s infected by the zombie virus already."


    Shui Mingjun stared at Yan Huiguang. The look in his eyes changed constantly. The cold intention of killing and painful hesitation were detected from his eyes in turns. His attitude was firm before he saw Yan Huiguang, but from the moment he saw him in person, he started hesitating.


    He thought for a moment, then looked at Lin Qiao and asked her, "What will you do if I told you that I won''t kill him? If I guessed right, you''re the Chief lady from All Beings Base. I guess he is the main reason you came to Sky Fire Base. Finishing off Li Zhengye is only something you did out of convenience."


    Shui Mingjun had no idea why the woman killed the leaders of Hidden Cloud City Base, Earth Dragon Base, and Sky Fire Base after she built her own base. She seemed to be avenging Lin Qiao, the Chief lady of Hades Base. Or, she was probably avenging the lives of the Hades Base personnel that were taken by the intruders. Her family probably died in that war.


    Clearly, killing Li Zhengye was not the only reason why she came to Sky Fire Base.


    Hearing his question, Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "As I''ve told you, he knows too much. I was going to kill him. After all, only dead people can stay silent forever. But later on, I changed my mind. After all, I have very few doctors in my base. I might spare his life, if he''s willing to work for me. But now, he''s become like this. I don''t know if he''ll ever wake up. What do you think I should do?"


    Simply speaking, Yan Huiguang could either work for her, or die with her secret, so she would have no worry.


    She wasn''t being honest when she told Shui Mingjun she had no idea if Yan Huiguang would wake up or not. The man could surely wake up if she bit him and let her virus devour the virus in him.


    She needed to find a way to stop the man''s madness


    So, she decided to use Shui Mingjun¡ªsomeone she cared a lot about¡ªto control Yan Huiguang.

 1111 You Betrayed Him

    The wanted person had already been caught. Lin Qiao lifted Yan Huiguang, turned and walked away. "Let''s go," she said to her zombies.


    Her zombies left fleetingly, leaving Yan Huiguang''s subordinates looking at each other without knowing what to do.


    "She¡­ She took Chief away. What are we supposed to do next? Should we go and save him?" A man moved to the tall guy''s side and asked him.


    The tall guy stood up, dusted himself off, then looked at Lin Qiao''s back. He remained silent for a short while. After that, he said, "Who is gonna save him? We don''t even know who they are. They are clearly much stronger than we are. They just didn''t want to kill us."


    "But¡­ But if we don''t save him? No one will be getting food for us from those bases, right? We''re going to starve to death, aren''t we?" someone said in a panic.


    "Relax! We can keep working with those bases without him. We do have some experimental means, and the drugs we produce can be sold to the bases. Even if we can''t make the drugs, we still have weapons, don''t we? Worst case, we can kill zombies for those people and protect them as payment," said the tall guy.


    "Oh¡­ Okay."


    After bringing Yan Huiguang away from the site, Lin Qiao said to her zombies, "Alright, dismiss the zombie crowd. We don''t need those zombies anymore."


    The zombie crowd was only there to lure Yan Huiguang. She, of course, wouldn''t bring a real massive zombie attack to Sky Fire Base.


    "Yes, Ma''am!" the zombies responded and left.


    Lin Kui had left as well. After all, the tens of thousands of zombies that had surrounded the entire Sky Fire Base needed to be dismissed from all directions.


    Lin Qiao watched her zombies leave, then found a tall building, hopped onto the roof, gave a long roar to the surrounding zombies.


    "Roar!" ''Fall back!''


    Her voice spread into the distance. Following that, the zombies that had gathered for tens of miles around the area started to move backward slowly.


    Lin Qiao threw Yan Huiguang into her space, turned herself invisible, and moved toward Sky Fire Base. She quickly located Shui Mingjun by his vibe, and before long, she quietly showed up behind that man.


    Shui Mingjun was standing atop a building that was located not far away from the fence wall, gazing into the distance.


    Thud! A man suddenly fell on the floor before him, giving him a start.


    "Who are you!" He gave a closer look and found the man lying on the ground quietly, like a dead body.


    "Long Hair!" He popped his eyes with surprise as he looked more closely.


    "If you want to kill him, you can do it now." A woman''s voice was heard from behind.


    Shui Mingjun immediately turned back¡ªit was the woman who visited him in his basement yesterday.


    "You¡­ you really caught him? Is he¡­" Shui Mingjun looked at her with disbelief. He was shocked.


    In his eyes, Yan Huiguang had always been highly dangerous. He was not only powerful, but also extra vigilant. His level-seven wind power could allow him to escape easily from all kinds of danger. Except for the ones who knew him well and the ones who were much stronger than him, no one could possibly capture him.


    However, at that very moment, Yan Huiguang was at his feet, lying motionlessly.


    He turned back to look at Yan Huiguang. The man had his eyes closed tightly. His mouth corners were turning purple, and his face was abnormally pale. His vibe was unbelievably weak.


    "He took the zombie drug that he developed. He must have had a brain fart when he made that decision. I suppressed the virus inside him with another drug, so he''s now like this. Don''t you want to kill him? Why are you still concerned about his condition?" Lin Qiao said with a bland tone. While finishing her speech, she gave Shui Mingjun a weird glance.


    "Yes, I do want to kill him," said Shui Mingjun, "But before that, I need to know why he shot me in the back years ago. What on earth did I do that made him do that?"


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "I think he said that you betrayed him."


    Earlier, Long Hair said that Shui Mingjun had betrayed him again. At that time, Lin Qiao read his mind and learned that he was talking about something that happened a long time ago.


    "I betrayed him?" Shui Mingjun paused briefly with surprise and said, "When did I betray him?"


    Lin Qiao folded her arms, looked at him, and said, "I''m curious about this. You two have been trying to kill each other over the past few years. Why did you never figure out what started the whole thing?"


    The look in Shui Mingjun''s eyes sank as he said, "Even if it was a misunderstanding, his bullets had hit me and caused harm. I gave him chances. I wanted to hear him explain, then decide if I''d forgive him or not. However, he never explained. Every time, he launched attacks without saying anything."


    Lin Qiao looked at Yan Huiguang, who was lying quietly on the ground. "What are you gonna do now?" she said. "Are you going to kill him? He won''t wake up, even if you don''t kill him. He''s not going to die by himself, but I think he''s infected by the zombie virus already."


    Shui Mingjun stared at Yan Huiguang. The look in his eyes changed constantly. The cold intention of killing and painful hesitation were detected from his eyes in turns. His attitude was firm before he saw Yan Huiguang, but from the moment he saw him in person, he started hesitating.


    He thought for a moment, then looked at Lin Qiao and asked her, "What will you do if I told you that I won''t kill him? If I guessed right, you''re the Chief lady from All Beings Base. I guess he is the main reason you came to Sky Fire Base. Finishing off Li Zhengye is only something you did out of convenience."


    Shui Mingjun had no idea why the woman killed the leaders of Hidden Cloud City Base, Earth Dragon Base, and Sky Fire Base after she built her own base. She seemed to be avenging Lin Qiao, the Chief lady of Hades Base. Or, she was probably avenging the lives of the Hades Base personnel that were taken by the intruders. Her family probably died in that war.


    Clearly, killing Li Zhengye was not the only reason why she came to Sky Fire Base.


    Hearing his question, Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "As I''ve told you, he knows too much. I was going to kill him. After all, only dead people can stay silent forever. But later on, I changed my mind. After all, I have very few doctors in my base. I might spare his life, if he''s willing to work for me. But now, he''s become like this. I don''t know if he''ll ever wake up. What do you think I should do?"


    Simply speaking, Yan Huiguang could either work for her, or die with her secret, so she would have no worry.


    She wasn''t being honest when she told Shui Mingjun she had no idea if Yan Huiguang would wake up or not. The man could surely wake up if she bit him and let her virus devour the virus in him.


    She needed to find a way to stop the man''s madness


    So, she decided to use Shui Mingjun¡ªsomeone she cared a lot about¡ªto control Yan Huiguang.

 1112 You Betrayed Him

    The wanted person had already been caught. Lin Qiao lifted Yan Huiguang, turned and walked away. "Let''s go," she said to her zombies.


    Her zombies left fleetingly, leaving Yan Huiguang''s subordinates looking at each other without knowing what to do.


    "She¡­ She took Chief away. What are we supposed to do next? Should we go and save him?" A man moved to the tall guy''s side and asked him.


    The tall guy stood up, dusted himself off, then looked at Lin Qiao''s back. He remained silent for a short while. After that, he said, "Who is gonna save him? We don''t even know who they are. They are clearly much stronger than we are. They just didn''t want to kill us."


    "But¡­ But if we don''t save him? No one will be getting food for us from those bases, right? We''re going to starve to death, aren''t we?" someone said in a panic.


    "Relax! We can keep working with those bases without him. We do have some experimental means, and the drugs we produce can be sold to the bases. Even if we can''t make the drugs, we still have weapons, don''t we? Worst case, we can kill zombies for those people and protect them as payment," said the tall guy.


    "Oh¡­ Okay."


    After bringing Yan Huiguang away from the site, Lin Qiao said to her zombies, "Alright, dismiss the zombie crowd. We don''t need those zombies anymore."


    The zombie crowd was only there to lure Yan Huiguang. She, of course, wouldn''t bring a real massive zombie attack to Sky Fire Base.


    "Yes, Ma''am!" the zombies responded and left.


    Lin Kui had left as well. After all, the tens of thousands of zombies that had surrounded the entire Sky Fire Base needed to be dismissed from all directions.


    Lin Qiao watched her zombies leave, then found a tall building, hopped onto the roof, gave a long roar to the surrounding zombies.


    "Roar!" ''Fall back!''


    Her voice spread into the distance. Following that, the zombies that had gathered for tens of miles around the area started to move backward slowly.


    Lin Qiao threw Yan Huiguang into her space, turned herself invisible, and moved toward Sky Fire Base. She quickly located Shui Mingjun by his vibe, and before long, she quietly showed up behind that man.


    Shui Mingjun was standing atop a building that was located not far away from the fence wall, gazing into the distance.


    Thud! A man suddenly fell on the floor before him, giving him a start.


    "Who are you!" He gave a closer look and found the man lying on the ground quietly, like a dead body.


    "Long Hair!" He popped his eyes with surprise as he looked more closely.


    "If you want to kill him, you can do it now." A woman''s voice was heard from behind.


    Shui Mingjun immediately turned back¡ªit was the woman who visited him in his basement yesterday.


    "You¡­ you really caught him? Is he¡­" Shui Mingjun looked at her with disbelief. He was shocked.


    In his eyes, Yan Huiguang had always been highly dangerous. He was not only powerful, but also extra vigilant. His level-seven wind power could allow him to escape easily from all kinds of danger. Except for the ones who knew him well and the ones who were much stronger than him, no one could possibly capture him.


    However, at that very moment, Yan Huiguang was at his feet, lying motionlessly.


    He turned back to look at Yan Huiguang. The man had his eyes closed tightly. His mouth corners were turning purple, and his face was abnormally pale. His vibe was unbelievably weak.


    "He took the zombie drug that he developed. He must have had a brain fart when he made that decision. I suppressed the virus inside him with another drug, so he''s now like this. Don''t you want to kill him? Why are you still concerned about his condition?" Lin Qiao said with a bland tone. While finishing her speech, she gave Shui Mingjun a weird glance.


    "Yes, I do want to kill him," said Shui Mingjun, "But before that, I need to know why he shot me in the back years ago. What on earth did I do that made him do that?"


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "I think he said that you betrayed him."


    Earlier, Long Hair said that Shui Mingjun had betrayed him again. At that time, Lin Qiao read his mind and learned that he was talking about something that happened a long time ago.


    "I betrayed him?" Shui Mingjun paused briefly with surprise and said, "When did I betray him?"


    Lin Qiao folded her arms, looked at him, and said, "I''m curious about this. You two have been trying to kill each other over the past few years. Why did you never figure out what started the whole thing?"


    The look in Shui Mingjun''s eyes sank as he said, "Even if it was a misunderstanding, his bullets had hit me and caused harm. I gave him chances. I wanted to hear him explain, then decide if I''d forgive him or not. However, he never explained. Every time, he launched attacks without saying anything."


    Lin Qiao looked at Yan Huiguang, who was lying quietly on the ground. "What are you gonna do now?" she said. "Are you going to kill him? He won''t wake up, even if you don''t kill him. He''s not going to die by himself, but I think he''s infected by the zombie virus already."


    Shui Mingjun stared at Yan Huiguang. The look in his eyes changed constantly. The cold intention of killing and painful hesitation were detected from his eyes in turns. His attitude was firm before he saw Yan Huiguang, but from the moment he saw him in person, he started hesitating.


    He thought for a moment, then looked at Lin Qiao and asked her, "What will you do if I told you that I won''t kill him? If I guessed right, you''re the Chief lady from All Beings Base. I guess he is the main reason you came to Sky Fire Base. Finishing off Li Zhengye is only something you did out of convenience."


    Shui Mingjun had no idea why the woman killed the leaders of Hidden Cloud City Base, Earth Dragon Base, and Sky Fire Base after she built her own base. She seemed to be avenging Lin Qiao, the Chief lady of Hades Base. Or, she was probably avenging the lives of the Hades Base personnel that were taken by the intruders. Her family probably died in that war.


    Clearly, killing Li Zhengye was not the only reason why she came to Sky Fire Base.


    Hearing his question, Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then said, "As I''ve told you, he knows too much. I was going to kill him. After all, only dead people can stay silent forever. But later on, I changed my mind. After all, I have very few doctors in my base. I might spare his life, if he''s willing to work for me. But now, he''s become like this. I don''t know if he''ll ever wake up. What do you think I should do?"


    Simply speaking, Yan Huiguang could either work for her, or die with her secret, so she would have no worry.


    She wasn''t being honest when she told Shui Mingjun she had no idea if Yan Huiguang would wake up or not. The man could surely wake up if she bit him and let her virus devour the virus in him.


    She needed to find a way to stop the man''s madness


    So, she decided to use Shui Mingjun¡ªsomeone she cared a lot about¡ªto control Yan Huiguang.

 1113 The Result of the Negotiation

    "What can make you agree to give him to me?" Shui Mingjun looked at Lin Qiao and asked her.


    "Nothing," Lin Qiao shook her head and responded, "I won''t give him to you unless you kill him in front of me. If not, he''ll be held by me."


    Shui Mingjun looked at her and stayed silent for a short while, then said, "I know that you are the pretty Chief lady from All Beings Base. Currently, All Beings Base should be in short of talents. I think instead of killing Yan Huiguang, you might as well let him work for you. He has some strange thoughts, but he is a rarely seen talent in the medical world. Wouldn''t it be a shame if you killed him?"


    Lin Qiao''s eyes, which were fixed on Shui Mingjun, glowed. "You have a great plan," she said, "But, what if I can''t control him? This man is a great doctor, but he has some mental problems. Not to mention anything else, why are you so sure that he''ll wake up?"


    Shui Mingjun had made the plan for her. Clearly, he was pretty sure that she could wake Yan Huiguang up. The man saw things thoroughly.


    "Stop pretending!" He looked at her and said, "If you couldn''t save him, you wouldn''t bother to bring him to me. So, what do you want?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him as she folded her arms, then raised a hand to put her fingers on her chin. "Em, you saw through me," she said, "In this case, I think you should figure out what exactly is going on between you and him. After that, you two can come to my base together. What do you think?"


    Shui Mingjun was a level-six superpower possessor, and a great intelligence dealer. With his help, Lin Qiao would certain be expecting better intelligent sources. After all, it was inconvenient for Xie Dong to get into the other bases to gather intelligence.


    Shui Mingjun looked at Lin Qiao with surprise. "You want him and me go¡­ together? Why do you want to know about our history so much? What is your purpose?"


    "I have no purpose," Lin Qiao shrugged, "I''m only curious."


    "I am curious too!" Suddenly, Duan Juan stuck her head out from the edge of the roof and then nimbly hopped up onto the roof.


    "And me." Once Duan Juan''s voice faded, a zombie lady showed up. "Chief, the Northeast, the mission has been accomplished," Yan Xiao reported to Lin Qiao. By mission, she was, of course, talking about the evacuation of the zombie crowd. She didn''t return until she watched the zombie crowd move to a few miles away from Sky Fire Base.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then narrowed her eyes and looked around, "They have left. Next, we''ll be expecting an internal fight between Sky Fire Base people."


    "The curiosity of women is scarily strong¡­ I too want to know why Yan Huiguang the b*stard said that I betrayed him, and why he shot me in the back. Did you kill Li Zhengye and Xiao Guofeng? What had they ever done to you?" Shui Mingjun felt a little speechless about the curiosity of Lin Qiao and her subordinates, who were all females. So, he immediately tried to change the topic.


    "There was a history between them and me. You are working on intelligence, so why don''t you compare the current situation of Sky Fire Base with what happened to Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base?" Lin Qiao gave him a small smile.


    "Is this Long Hair? His hair are long indeed. He looks like a wild man," Yan Huiguang and Duan Juan walked up behind Lin Qiao and noticed Yan Huiguang, who was lying on the ground motionlessly.


    Shui Mingjun looked at Lin Qiao, then at Duan Juan. Based on what he knew, Lin Qiao used to be a weak and evil woman from Sea City Base. She died, then came back to life, and after that became like someone else. She founded a base of her own and raised a batch of capable followers.


    What she did to Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base, and what she was doing to Sky Fire Base, seemed like a revenge for Hades Base, which had fallen. But, she had nothing to do with Hades Base people.


    Why did she do that?


    Shui Mingjun never figured it out. Perhaps, someone from Hades Base had something to do with the changes that had happened to her. She might have gone through something unusual, and that unusual experience of hers should be related to Hades Base as well. That was probably why she targeted those bases.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "No matter how I became like who I am now and what I have to do with Hades Base people, the bygones are bygones. Now, everything is different. You don''t need to think too much about that¡­ Instead, you should think more about if you are going to solve your issue with Long Hair or not. Like you said, it would be a shame if he died. If you can make him act like a normal person¡­"


    "Why are you making it sound like he''s going to listen to me?" Shui Mingjun didn''t understand why the woman seemed to believe that he was able to control Yan Huiguang since the very beginning.


    ''Because he cares about you!'' Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said in her head. She didn''t say that out loud though. Instead, she said to him, "You''ll know. When he wakes up, you need to solve the issue between you and him first. After that, we''ll work on the problem between you two and me."


    Shui Mingjun didn''t know what to say.


    "Aren''t you gonna kill him?" Duan Juan looked at Long Hair and then at Shui Mingjun.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I''ll bring him back to ease Lin Hao''s burden.


    "Doesn''t he have a mental problem? Can you keep him under control?" said Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao pointed at Shui Mingjun with her pretty chin and said, "Hm, I can, with his help."


    "Oh, I see." Both Duan Juan and Yan Xiao instantly wore a knowing look on their faces.


    Shui Mingjun looked at the three of them bewilderedly and said "What do you mean? I don''t understand."


    Lin Qiao gave him a glimpse and said, "I said you''ll know. Alright, please go and pack all your belongings. Our work here is done. We''re heading back."


    "Wait! I haven''t said yes, have I?" Shui Mingjun said.


    "Aren''t you gonna go with us?" Lin Qiao and the other two ladies looked at him. Meanwhile, the three ladies approached Shui Mingjun step by step.


    Shui Mingjun suddenly suffered a heavy pressure and did not know what to say.


    ''Damn, are these three women going to use violence against me?'' he thought.


    Abruptly, Lin Qiao stopped moving, then turned and waved a hand, "It''s okay. I have Yan Huiguang anyway. If you don''t want to come, fine! You''ll never know why he said that you betrayed him, and why he shot you in the back."


    After saying that, she bent over and picked Yan Huiguang up, throwing him into her space. Then, she left together with Yan Huiguang and Duan Juan, leaving Shui Mingjun clench his teeth and watch them leave.


    At that moment, the people in Sky Fire Base who had noticed that the zombie crowd was leaving were both surprised and delighted. But soon, they started to attack at each other again because of the zombie experiment.


    Lin Qiao didn''t do anything to the chaotic base. She and her zombies quietly left Sky Fire Base, heading toward Green Mountain Base.

 1114 He Has Weakness Too

    Sky Fire Base people spent a whole night worrying about the massive zombie attack, then confusedly watched the zombies leave. They felt as if they had aged for years during that short span of time because of the fear.


    As the fear and the confusion faded, they remembered the reason why they hated each other before. So, a war between the army and the hunters was started again.


    In secret, Dongfang Yang told the hunters that the secret experimental base had been run by the army. The anger and the hatred overwhelmed the hunters and made them want to kill every single soldier in the base. Meanwhile, the army had been trying to explain for themselves all the time. They had better weapons than the hunters, so they weren''t scared by them at all.


    Cui Tengguang and the other few army leaders tried to comfort the people, but didn''t know how. Their soldiers had been infuriated by those hunters, so the situation grew more and more chaotic.


    Shui Mingjun knew about the experimental base. It had something to do with Dongfang Yang, so he didn''t leak the secret and only silently observed the situation. In the meantime, he had been thinking about if he should forgive Yan Huiguang or not.


    Agreeing to go to All Beings Base equaled to forgiving Yan Huiguang, didn''t it? He still needed to figure out why the other said that he betrayed him, and why the man tried to kill him.


    He couldn''t bear watch the woman kill Yan Huiguang. He had always been telling himself that he would kill Yan Huiguang by himself, but when the opportunity truly came to him, he found that he wasn''t able to do that.


    However, if the Chief lady saved Yan Guanghui, Shui Mingjun would be living in the same base with him. Thinking about that made him feel uncomfortable.


    While Shui Mingjun was hesitating, Lin Qiao entered her space and looked at Yan Huiguang, who was thrown on the couch in the living room in her house, then rolled up his sleeve and gave him a bite in the arm.


    Three seconds later, she relaxed the bite with her brows knitted, then stood up and spat toward the side, "Pah¡­"


    Beside her, Duan Juan had been holding a glass of water for her. As she stood up, Duan Juan handed her the water.


    Lin Qiao rinsed her mouth, then walked outside the house to spit the water out. only after that did she say, "I wonder when was the last time this guy took a shower. His skin is so salty!"


    Duan Juan couldn''t help but cover her mouth with a hand and laugh.


    Lin Qiao rinsed her mouth again, then handed the glass back to Duan Juan. After that, she walked back inside to observe Yan Huiguang.


    Her virus could suppress the normal zombie virus. However, what infected Yan Huiguang was the virus that he had developed by himself. Therefore, she wasn''t hundred percent sure if her own virus could better Yan Huiguang''s condition.


    If the man ended up turning into a zombie anyway, she wouldn''t be able to help him. He took the drug himself anyway.


    She narrowed her eyes to see her virus break the balance between the two different types of energy inside Yan Huiguang''s body, and then devour the mutated zombie virus.


    It turned out that her virus worked!


    "How are you going to persuade him when he wakes up?" Duan Juan stood by her side and said to her curiously.


    "He looks like a psychopath, but he has a weakness too," Lin Qiao walked to the couch nearby, sat down while Duan Juan sat down beside her. Her words made Duan Juan even more curious. "Weakness? A man like him? I thought he''s abandoned everything that could become his weakness."


    "Shui Mingjun is his weakness," Lin Qiao smiled blandly and said.


    "Oh?" Duan Juan said, "You seem to have learned quite a lot from that man."


    Lin Qiao looked at Yan Huiguang, who was lying on the carpet, then shook her head and responded, "Not much. He has hidden something on purpose. He didn''t remember those things, so I couldn''t know."


    After saying that, Lin Qiao abruptly turned to Duan Juan and continued, "Have you discovered that the atmosphere between Lin Kui and Qiu Lili is a little unusual recently?"


    Hearing that, Duan Juan looked at with confusion and said, "Unusual? How? I see the two of them together a lot recently."


    Lin Qiao curved her lips corners and narrowed her eyes in a slightly wicked smile, "That girl seems to like the big cat a lot. I haven''t been reading their minds, but I can guess out something merely based on the looks in their eyes. Haven''t you noticed that?"


    Duan Juan shrugged and said, "What could I possibly notice? I don''t see them a lot."


    "I think there''ll be someone looking after that girl in the future," Lin Qiao sighed with a smile.


    "How come you look like a mother whose daughter is going to get married?" Duan Juan looked at her and said.


    "What daughter?" Lin Qiao gave her a glance and replied, "She''s like a little sister to me. What was that crappy metaphor you used?"


    ¡­


    At that time in All Beings Base, Qiu Lili, Liu Jun, and Cheng Wangxue had been waiting outside a room which was located in a corner of the medical department. Long Qingying, Kong Qingming, and some other people were there too.


    A short while later, the door of the room was opened. Lin Hao walked out with a serious look on his face.


    "How is it going? Is Wenwen in a bad situation?" Seeing the look on his face, the people started to worry again.


    Lin Hao shook his head and said, "I can''t tell what result her condition is going to lead to. I thought her second power could upgrade successfully after her space energy was consumed up. I never thought it would become like this."


    The others glanced at each other. As Lin Wenwen''s sister-in-law, Cheng Wangxue was very worried about her.


    "Not even you can help her? Are we gonna let her stay unconscious like this?" Long Qingying looked at Lin Hao and said anxiously.


    "People need to rely on themselves when their powers upgrade," Lin Hao said to her, "What can I possibly do to help her? She won''t wake up unless her second power is upgraded successfully."


    "How did it become like this? Why did she trigger such a dangerous power?" Cheng Wangxue sighed helplessly.


    "Her second power is special indeed. She''s on her own now," Liu Jun said to Cheng Wangxue.


    With a frown, Lin Hao glanced inside the room and then turned to walk toward his office.


    "You guys can leave. I''ll stay and look after her," Cheng Wangxue said to the others.


    "I''ll do it. Wangxue, you still need to take care of Xiaolu. I don''t have a child, so I can look after her," Long Qingying moved to the door and said to Cheng Wangxue.


    Qiu Lili looked around, then curved her lips downward and said, "Qiaoqiao is going to worry when she gets back and sees Wenwen in such a condition."


    "I wonder if Chief has a way to help Wenwen. She might know what caused her current condition," Liu Jun said.

 1115 Lin Wenwen Loses Consciousness

    Lin Feng came out of the conference room together with Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting, asking Qian Xiaoai, who was waiting for him outside the conference room, "Have you heard anything from Wenwen yet?"


    "No," Qian Xiaoai shook his head.


    "What''s wrong? Did something happen to Wenwen?" Hearing his question, Yuan Tianxing and Chen Yuting both asked.


    While walking toward his office, Lin Feng said, "She lost consciousness since last night. I heard from Lin Hao that her second superpower is upgrading. No other superpower possessors fell into unconsciousness during upgrade, as that only happened when people triggered their powers."


    "Upgrade? Unconsciousness?" Yuan Tianxing was stunned a little. Abruptly, he dragged Lin Feng''s arm and looked at him as he said with concern, "Aren''t you going to take a look at her? How did that happen?"


    Lin Feng was surprised by his reaction. He looked at him and said smilingly, "What? Why are you suddenly caring so much about her? Have you finally started noticing other girls after you gave up on Lin Qiao?"


    Yuan Tianxing gave him a glare and said, "What are you talking about? Wenwen is like my little sister. Shouldn''t I care about her?"


    Lin Feng nodded, said, "Hmm, you should, you should. Mr. Yuan, can you please let me go? I need to go into my office and work."


    His weird tone made Yuan Tianxing feel speechless, so he let him go and said, "Go, just go."


    Lin Feng made a few steps toward his office, but then something crossed his mind and made him pause. He turned and said to Yuan Tianxing, "Oh, later when I get off work, I''ll go and take a look at Wenwen. Since you care so much about her, why don''t you come with me?"


    Yuan Tianxing looked at him and said with confusion, "What exactly is happening to her?"


    He had never heard that kind of condition occur to any superpower possessor.


    "I have no idea," said Lin Feng, "Lin Hao seems not to have an answer either."


    After saying that, he went into his office and left Yuan Tianxing outside. The latter thought for a moment and then walked toward his own office.


    On the other side of the base, Qiu Lili was sitting on top of the dormitory building in Base Number Two, sighing toward the sky. While thinking about how Lin Qiao''s mission was going, she also wondered what kind of job would Lin Qiao give Lin Kui.


    The big cat left the base together with Chief merely two days ago. But, she had already started to think everything about him. The big cat should be strong enough to keep himself safe, but she still wanted to know when he would be back.


    She hadn''t had a fluffy cat to play with for two days; her palms were even itchy. Should she get herself a couple of mutated cats to play with?


    She thought for a moment about that and immediately gave up on that idea. God knew how dirty those mutated cats could be. They lived in the wildness, and might even have parasites. Even thinking about that gave her goosebumps.


    After waking up, Yan Huiguang spent over ten seconds in a daze, then finally came back to his senses. He sat up from the couch and looked around, then looked at his nails and touched his own face.


    How weird! Didn''t he take the drug? How come he didn''t seem to have changed at all? Where was he?


    Through his messy hair, Yan Huiguang carefully looked around.


    Was it a living room? Why was he lying in someone''s living room?


    He turned and walked toward the door with confusion. Suddenly, he sensed the vibes of over ten zombies coming from the outside. Those zombies'' vibes weren''t very strong, at only about level four or five. Aside from the zombie vibes, he also sensed some weird scents that seemed to belong to mutated animals.


    He went out of the door and saw the field, as well as all kinds of thriving crops. Further away, was a large lake. On the other side of the lake was a boundless grassland, with some seemingly mutated animals on it.


    What was this place? How did he get there?


    He raised his head to look at the sky and saw the white fog as well as the light that seemed to have been partially blocked by the fog. On the side was a patch of woods with weird-looking trees.


    Were those mutated trees?


    From the woods, he sensed the scents of over ten strange creatures.


    "You''re awake¡­ So, let''s talk." A woman''s voice was suddenly heard from behind him.


    Yan Huiguang immediately turned back and stared at Lin Qiao coldly. When did that woman come behind him? He didn''t sense a trace of her!


    "The look in your eyes really makese me uncomfortable," Lin Qiao looked at him and furrowed her eyebrows slightly, then turned and walked into the house as she said, "Please come in. Let''s sit down and talk."


    Yan Huiguang kept staring at her back with a grim look. He stayed motionless as he watched Lin Qiao walk into the house that he just walked out from.


    "Don''t you want to know what has happened to you?" As he didn''t show a sign of making a move, Lin Qiao said to him.


    Hearing that, Yan Huiguang lowered his head to look at his hands, then raised his head and walked toward the house. A sharp beam of light flashed across his eyes.


    Lin Qiao watched him come in with a strong vibe, realizing that he was not a short guy. He was at least one hundred and eighty centimeters tall. Suddenly, she started to picture him standing side by side with Shui Mingjun¡­


    The height difference would make them look adorable together.


    Yan Huiguang walked in and sat down on an armchair as he looked at Lin Qiao expressionlessly and asked, "What do you want?"


    The woman brought him to that weird place. He clearly remembered drinking the drug which was supposed to turn him into a zombie. However, his body was showing no sign of turning into a zombie. The woman must have done something to him.


    Everything that he did not know limited his judgment. Currently, he had no choice but to observe the woman''s behavior carefully and try to figure everything out.


    Lin Qiao gave a smile and then said, "Aren''t you gonna ask me what I''ve done to you? I assume you didn''t lose your memory."


    Yan Huiguang looked at her coldly, "What might change if I did ask you that question? Is this funny?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise and laughed, "Since you don''t care, why did you come in and sit here?"


    Yan Huiguang snorted coldly and said, "I''m not so stupid that I can''t even tell this is an independent space. Would you let me go before making everything clear?"


    Lin Qiao nodded, "Good, you are smart. You asked me what I want, so I''m gonna tell you. Why do you believe that Shui Mingjun betrayed you? You found out that it was a misunderstanding long ago, haven''t you? That''s why you didn''t kill him when he came to you seeking revenge. You still care about your relationship, don''t you? Why don''t you just make it clear with him?"


    The more she talked about it, the more confused Lin Qiao felt. So, she looked at him bewilderedly.


    The man had spirit power which allowed him to keep people from reading his mind. Lin Qiao was at level-eight, but still could only sense some unimportant thoughts of his, but was unable to learn the things that had been blocked by him.

 1116 What Does It Have to Do with Him?

    Instead of answering Lin Qiao''s question, Yan Huiguang looked at her coldly with silence. However, some thoughts crossed his mind.


    Lin Qiao looked at him with a smile while carefully sensing his thoughts, trying to sort them out. Soon, she roughly figured out what exactly had happened.


    "If you don''t want to tell, fine. But, I have already known your secret. The secret can''t be leaked, so you should know what to do," Lin Qiao gave him a small smile. She didn''t care about his silence.


    ''Even though you don''t want to tell me, I know it already.'' She said in her heart.


    Yan Huiguang turned out to be a simple-minded person. He believed people very easily before, but never told people about his feelings. A few years ago, about two years after the apocalypse happened, he accidentally heard that Shui Mingjun had his eyes on the woman who was with him at the moment. Shui Mingjun knew that woman was his girlfriend, but still attempted to hook up with her. At first, Yan Huiguang was jealous, but still stayed sane. He secretly observed Shui Mingjun and the woman.


    Soon, he found that the two of them were very close, and the interactions between them tended to be intimate.


    Therefore, he started to believe that Shui Mingjun had betrayed him. Over time, he disliked Shui Mingjun more and more strongly, and even began to hate him. He wanted to ask Shui Mingjun about his relationship with that woman, but before he did that, something else happened.


    Did the two of them become enemies because of a woman?


    Yan Huiguang liked to make guesses without telling anybody anything or showing his feelings to people. When he was sure that Shui Mingjun had betrayed him for a woman, he started to want to hurt him.


    When that thing happened, he turned completely hostile toward Shui Mingjun. He was so angry that he even lost his mind. That was why he shot Shui Mingjun. After he did that, he himself was shocked. He wanted to see if he had killed him or not, but knowing that Shui Mingjun had betrayed him aroused all sorts of negative emotions, so he just turned and left.


    It was actually because of a woman!


    Lin Qiao curved her lips downward as she had lost her interest in that story. That woman had gone missing, and no one could find her. Lin Qiao had a feeling that she did what she did on purpose.


    She was already with Yan Huiguang, but why did she still get close to Shui Mingjun? Besides, Shui Mingjun never figured out what he had done to hurt Yan Huiguang, meaning that he never thought about that woman. Clearly, he did not know what had happened yet.


    Yan Huiguang''s eyes, which were hidden under his hair, looked like the eyes of a snake that was hiding among grass. He looked at Lin Qiao and said, "Kill me or let me go."


    "Alright," Lin Qiao clicked her tongue with discontentment and said, "Do you want to die?"


    Yan Huiguang curved his lip corners in a cold smile and said, "Would I ever be afraid of death? I am already infected by the virus. I''ll turn into a zombie after death. What''s not good about being a zombie? Look at you. Didn''t you attain the power that human beings can''t have?"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes. Abruptly, she said to him wickedly, "Do you want Shui Mingjun''s life? What if I tell you that if you died, he''ll die too?"


    "What does this have to do with him?" Hearing Lin Qiao mention Shui Mingjun and threaten him with Shui Mingjun''s life, Yan Huiguang''s vibe grew cold like his voice.


    Lin Qiao sneered and said, "Of course it has something to do with him. He was your best friend, wasn''t he? He knows quite a lot about my base. Letting him live will do me no good. So, if you don''t want me to kill him, you have to do what I say."


    "You¡­ you woman are so shameless and sneaky!" Hearing what she said, Yan Huiguang stayed silent for a few seconds while an intent of killing could be detected from his eyes. He said to Lin Qiao through clenched teeth, as if he would attack her at any moment.


    "This is sexual discrimination," Lin Qiao clicked her tongue, "Have men never threatened people? We only care about the result. Who would care about the method? The result would be the same for me if I killed you and Shui Mingjun. However, I am in short of talents. What can I do?" Lin Qiao shrugged. She didn''t really mind what he said.


    After saying that, she looked at Yan Huiguang and said with a great interest, " Before you shot him, why didn''t you ask Shui Mingjun why he sneakily took away that batch of weapons? No wonder he was your only friend. You never made things clear."


    After asking one question, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but start to complain.


    Yan Huiguang looked at her coldly and said, "Do you want me to work for you? How did you know about that thing?"


    Lin Qiao nodded, "Yes, I want you to join my base. I can use more doctors in my base. Aren''t you a great doctor? As for that thing¡­ I surely have my way of finding out."


    "Why would I listen to you? Do you really think that I still care about Shui Mingjun''s life? He''s been trying to kill me all the time. His death can save me some trouble," Yan Huiguang said to her coldly.


    Lin Qiao snorted and said, "You''re lying. You found out the truth after you attempted to kill him. So, why wouldn''t you explain to him face to face?"


    Yan Huiguang didn''t want to talk to her about that. "That''s none of your business." After saying that, he stood up and walked toward the door. "Do whatever you want," he left Lin Qiao a few words..


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and gave a weird smile, then said, "Then, why don''t you two make things clear with each other face to face?" While speaking, she stood up and then disappeared from the house.


    Yan Huiguang, who had walked to the door, paused, then turned back to look at where she was standing, silently.


    Lin Qiao flashed out of her space and showed up on top of a building. Earlier, she left Sky Fire Base from the northwest side of the base, heading toward Green Mountain Base. Currently, she was less than a hundred miles away from Sky Fire Base.


    Once she came out, the zombies who were sitting leisurely on the roof all stood up.


    "Chief, we have killed all mutated plants and animals and zombies above level-four in the surrounding area. These are what we got." The zombies came to her and handed her handfuls of energy nuclei from zombies, mutated animals, and plants.


    Lin Qiao nodded, then took out a bag and let them put the nuclei in. She looked around and asked, "Where''s Nine? Why didn''t you keep an eye on him?"


    The group of zombies looked at each other.


    "Eh? He was here just now. Where did he go?"


    "Yeah, I saw him wandering over there just about three seconds ago¡­"


    "Six, why didn''t you keep an eye on him? Isn''t he your zombie?"


    Hearing that, Six glared at the others and argued, "What do you mean by my zombie? Chief told us to keep an eye on him together. She didn''t say that to me alone. How am I supposed to know that you guys weren''t paying any attention to him?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.

 1117 Shui Mingjun Arrived

    Shui Mingjun''s vibe was sensed from not far away from Sky Fire Base, as Lin Qiao was expecting.


    "I guess you''ve decided to sort things out with Yan Huiguang, haven''t you?" As Shui Mingjun showed up before her eyes, she looked at him and asked.


    Shui Mingjun looked around. Apart from the mysterious lady, over ten other people were on the scene, and none of them smelled like a human.


    "I thought you''d go back to All Beings Base after throwing Sky Fire Base into chaos, and yet you came here. Are you interested in that level-nine superpowered man too?" Shui Mingjun said to her expressionlessly.


    Lin Qiao gave him a small, fake smile, then responded to him with a peaceful tone, "That is a level-nine energy nucleus. Everyone would be interested in that."


    The man was the first level-nine superpower possessor in the country. If he didn''t have the psychological issue, and if Lan Lu and his people were a little more ambitious than they really were, Si Kongchen probably wouldn''t be the head of Huaxia Base by now, and Huaxia Base might not be the strongest base in the country.


    If that happened, the overall situation of the country would be completely different.


    He had fallen into an uncontrollable condition, and no one could stop him. The ambitious people would certainly seek for opportunities to kill him. Whoever attained his nucleus would have a bigger chance of breaking into level-nine.


    Lin Qiao made a trip to Green Mountain Base, not only to deal with Yan Huiguang, who had known who she really was, but also to keep him from attacking the level-nine man. Of course, she did not plan to let Si Kongchen seize an opportunity to hurt the level-nine man either. No one knew what Si Kongchen might do if he attained the level-nine nucleus.


    He was obviously very ambitious, and he never even tried to hide his ambition.


    The first thing she did was to finish off Li Zhengye in Sky Fire Base, and the second was to take care of Yan Huiguang. So next, as her third mission, Lin Qiao prepared to take a look at the level-nine man and also find out about the recent actions of Huaxia Base people. She might be able to find some news about Huaxia Base in this way.


    Hearing her answer, Shui Mingjun nodded as he looked around and asked, "Have you waken Yan Huiguang up yet?"


    Lin Qiao spent a short while looking at him quietly, then replied, "Are you ready to meet him?"


    If she weren''t sure that Shui Mingjun and Yan Huiguang were just close friends, she would think of them as a pair of miserable lovers.


    Yan Huiguang did have a special feeling for Shui Mingjun though. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have spared Shui Mingjun''s life for so many times. Deep down, he was still worried about Shui Mingjun''s safety, but firmly refused to admit it.


    Shui Mingjun furrowed his brows which were covered by his hair. "Isn''t that what you want?" he gave Lin Qiao a cold smile and said.


    Lin Qiao snorted as she looked at him with discontentment, "You''re making it sound like I''m putting my finger in your pie. I think I should have just killed him."


    Both the men could be really helpful for her, so Lin Qiao felt that killing them would be a waste. Otherwise, she would have long killed Yan Huiguang.


    "Do you think that I''m making you do this? Do you feel being forced? Then go and kill Yan Huiguang. He knows something that he shouldn''t know. If he didn''t tell anyone about that, I wouldn''t have hurt him. However, he has leaked the secret already. So, I cannot let him get away easily," Lin Qiao said blandly, then turned and disappeared in front of Shui Mingjun.


    A short while later, she showed up again together with Yan Huiguang.


    Shui Mingjun popped his eyes with surprise. He did not know that the mysterious lady had space power. Earlier, he heard that she had poisonous mist and poisonous fire, and now, she turned out to possess space power too.


    How many superpowers did she have?


    Did she have three different types of superpowers? No one with three different types of power was heard of so far.


    But at the sight of Shui Mingjun, Yan Huiguang pulled a long face. He had always been wearing a sulky face though, so no obvious change of expression could be detected from his face. Unlike him, Shui Mingjun reacted strongly. He was shocked by Lin Qiao''s space power and the sudden appearance of Yan Huiguang.


    "Oh, you are still alive. You spent a year to develop that zombie drug, but it doesn''t seem so effective." Shui Mingjun automatically gathered his power in his palms once he saw Yan Huiguang and also started to tease the man.


    "Are you disappointed to know that I''m still alive?" Yan Huiguang looked at Shui Mingjun from head to toe and then responded to him scornfully.


    Standing aside, Lin Qiao watched the two start an unfriendly conversation once they had eyes on each other. Shui Mingjun was even preparing to attack. She looked at them and said, "Great! Whatever questions you have for each other, ask them now. When you guys done, I''ll start looking for Green Mountain Base."


    Yan Huiguang and Shui Mingjun turned to look at her together and said coldly in one voice, "We have no questions for each other."


    Despite their language, they had already told Lin Qiao that they would be following her, and that she could take them anywhere she wanted. So, Lin Qiao looked at the two weird men speechlessly.


    The fact that those two men had known she had a secret space didn''t make her worry. She could read Shui Mingjun''s mind clearly. If he wanted to tell that to anyone else, she would know once the thought popped up in his head. As for Yan Huiguang, she was not so sure actually.


    She could only sense his shallow thoughts, but not the ones deep in his heart.


    It didn''t matter though as he knew her biggest secret already. Letting him know another secret of hers wouldn''t hurt her. No trouble would be brought to her as long as she made him join her base. He had a weakness too anyway.


    Lin Qiao looked at Yan Huiguang, then at Shui Mingjun. Abruptly, she said to both of them, "You two have such different personalities, but actually look alike."


    Both the men chose to ignore that boring topic she had picked.


    "Alright. Since you two don''t want ask each other questions, I''ll do it for you. Consider it as me trying to fulfill my curiosity," Lin Qiao said smilingly.


    Knowing what she would be asking, both Yan Huiguang and Shui Mingjun had themselves prepared. But still, they couldn''t help but have their hearts sink and their vibes change. They unwittingly made eye-contact with each other, then gave each other a cold glare and turned their eyes away simultaneousness.


    Seeing the sparks in their eyes, Lin Qiao raised her brows and said, "Okay, I don''t want to know everything that has happened between you two. All I want to know is, Shui Mingjun, what exactly was your relationship with that woman called Xueqing?"


    Hearing that name which hadn''t occurred in his mind for a long time, Shui Mingjun paused with surprise before he could react. "What relationship?" He said with confusion, "We were only friends, and she was¡­ Why are you talking about her?"


    Lin Qiao observed Yan Huiguang''s expression from the corners of her eyes, then continued, "Before you guys tuned hostile against each other, you and that woman seemed to be in a special relationship. Someone felt that you two didn''t look like normal friends¡­"


    By someone, she was, of course, talking about Yan Huiguang.

 1118 Who Was Trying to Help Whom?

    Shui Mingjun had no idea why Lin Qiao asked that question, but he still glanced at Yan Huiguang automatically before he responded to Lin Qiao. "She used to be Yan Huiguang''s girlfriend. What could she possibly have to do with me?" he said.


    Yan Huiguang looked at Shui Mingjun coldly without saying a word. But clearly, he didn''t believe what the latter had said. He thought the zombie lady would ask some further questions, but to his surprise, she replied, "Yeah? Well, since nothing was happening between you and her, forget it then."


    Yan Huiguang looked at Lin Qiao, as he was expecting her to say more. But, she looked at Shui Mingjun and continued, "Why did you take away the batch of weapons which belonged to Yan Huiguang? You should know clearly how important that batch of weapons was for him."


    She had already learned from Yan Huiguang''s thoughts that he was displeased because Shui Mingjun was too close with the woman called Yuqing. Back then, he traded a batch of powerful weapons from Huaxia Base with a batch of drugs that he had developed from mutated plants. With those weapons, his research team would grow stronger soon and earn a place in the post-apocalyptic world.


    Unexpectedly, those weapons went missing a couple of days before the deal was made officially.


    Yan Huiguang and Huaxia Base people spent some efforts to find a clue about the person who stole the weapons, and that person turned out to be Shui Mingjun, who was Yan Huiguang''s best friend.


    Yan Huiguang was with Huaxia Base people when he shot Shui Mingjun. Back at that time, Huaxia Base people were going to kill Shui Mingjun. In order to save his life, Yan Huiguang pulled the trigger before those people.


    Since then, the two men became enemies. Shui Mingjun couldn''t believe that Yan Huiguang shot him in the back, and was left confused and angry. Therefore, after spending a year to recover, he started seeking for a chance to take his revenge from Yan Huiguang.


    Shui Mingjun looked at her and said, "You know a lot. No one told you that, right? Whose head did you learn that from?"


    He had killed almost everyone who knew about that thing. Except for himself and Yan Huiguang, Lin Qiao couldn''t have learned it from anyone else. He knew about the mysterious lady''s mind-reading ability. That was why he asked her that question.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and gave Yan Huiguang a glance, then looked at Shui Mingjun and said, "You haven''t answered my question yet."


    Before she looked at Yan Huiguang, Shui Mingjun had figured out the answer. He didn''t look at Yan Huiguang though. The reason why he took those weapons didn''t seem to have anything to do with the woman called Yuqing. Why did the mysterious lady mention that woman?


    Shui Mingjun thought for a moment and then said, "Those weapons were defective. Only the senior managers from Huaxia Base knew about that. Someone happily believed that he was about to get some good stuff¡­"


    After saying that, he knitted his brows and turned to Yan Huiguang, "So you knew it was me? You pretended not to know but you shot me in the back at last?"


    Yan Huiguang''s expression changed when he heard Shui Mingjun say that those weapons were defective as he slightly widened his eyes and looked at Shui Mingjun with surprise.


    "Those weapons had problems? How did you know? Why didn''t you tell me? Why did you steal them?" He asked while getting slightly emotional.


    Shui Mingjun sneered and snorted coldly, "Would you believe me? When did you ever listen to me? You hung out with those Huaxia people a lot. They were watching you, in public and secret, but you didn''t know that. If I went straight to you and talked to you about those weapons, they''d know that you already knew those weapons were defective. What do you think they''d do?"


    Yan Huiguang stared at him without knowing what to say.


    Shui Mingjun was right. Back then, he was creating a distance between them on purpose because of that woman. The two of them were drifting apart, no longer as close as before. He refused to listen to anything that Shui Mingjun said. He didn''t even want to talk to him.


    "So, he was unhappy because you were too close with that woman for some reason. At last, your relationship got worse and worse. You didn''t even believe what each other said. Therefore, you did what you did without telling him. You wanted to solve the weapon problem first and then tell Long Hair about it. But, before you explained it to him, he actually attempted to murder you. Am I right?" Lin Qiao looked at Shui Mingjun as she put her fingers on her chin while sorting out the story.


    On hearing her words, Shui Mingjun immediately glared at Yan Huiguang and said through clenched teeth, "Is that right? Is it like what she said? You suspected me for that b*tch? Would it kill you to come and talk to me about it?"


    "B*tch? I can''t believe you called her that," said Yan Huiguang, "I wanted to get things clear with you face to face, but before I found a chance to do that, you destroyed my weapons stealthily."


    "That woman was hooking up with many other men when she was with you. I talked to her and tried to tell her to stay away from you. But, you actually thought something was going on between her and me. Aside from your study, can you have anything normal in your head?" Shui Mingjun glared as he pointed at him and said with anger, "I tried to help you, but in the end you shot me in the back!"


    "You told her to stay away from me? Why didn''t you just make it clear with me? I shot you to save your life. If you were shot by those Huaxia people instead of me, do you think you''d still be standing here and talking to me now?" Yan Huiguang looked as unhappy as Shui Mingjun as he spoke with an icy cold voice. He sounded so cold that even the surrounding zombies felt chilly.


    "Have I never tried to make it clear with you? Think about it. I told you to stay away from that woman, but what did you say to me? You said that I was jealous of you. You said that I, as a single man, couldn''t bear watching you with a woman! Have you forgotten about that?" Shui Mingjun gave a frosty smile. His raging tone of speaking sounded almost ready to set both of them on fire.


    Lin Qiao listened to them fight each other quietly. But before they rolled up their sleeves and started a fight, she started talking abruptly, "So, since your misunderstanding has been resolved, please put aside your personal issues and let''s talk about our cooperation."


    "What cooperation?" Yan Huiguang and Shui Mingjun turned to her together.

 1119 Level-seven Mutated Yak

    "Cooperation, of course! Or, do you want me to make you guys choose between life and death?" Lin Qiao gave then each a wicked glance.


    Both Yan Huiguang and Shui Mingjun shut their mouths instantly. After a few seconds of silence, the latter said, "You want me to go to your base and work for you together with him, right? Why are you so sure that we''ll agree?"


    Lin Qiao tilted her head and responded to him carelessly, "I''m not so sure. I''m letting you guys choose. Coming to live in my All Beings Base will be better than your secret life in Sky Fire Base. And you, you don''t need to hide from place to place while trying to find somewhere to undertake your experiments. I can let you do your experiments in my base. So, why won''t you guys say yes?"


    "Oh, it''ll be fine if you want to say no." She paused briefly and continued, "As I''ve said, killing you won''t affect me much. Do you not like me for some reason that makes you not want to work for me?"


    She was powerful, and she was running a base. She could so everything that the other base leaders could, and even things that they couldn''t. What could possibly keep the two men from working for her?


    There was no deadly hatred between them and her. Why would they choose death instead of working for her?


    "Are you willing to let me do my experiments? You are aware what exactly my experiment is, aren''t you?" Yan Huiguang looked at her and asked with surprise.


    "Yes, but I''d like you to switch your concentration. Instead of turning people into zombies, I want you to think about how to turn zombies into people. Isn''t that interesting too?" Lin Qiao folded her arms and said.


    Hearing her, Yan Huiguang fell into silence.


    Shui Mingjun looked at Lin Qiao, then at Yan Huiguang. "Whatever!" he said, "I''m already here, so I think you should know about my decision."


    Yan Huiguang looked at him and stayed silent.


    Hearing his words, Lin Qiao instantly clapped her hands and said, "Good, you are a capable person! You will be someone in my Base Number One!"


    "Since you have already made your decision, come with me." After saying that, Lin Qiao raised an arm and let a few military-used off-road vehicles out of her space. Next, she waved at the group of zombies who had been watching from aside the whole time, then got into the first car.


    The zombies quickly followed her into the cars.


    Shui Mingjun raised his head and gave Yan Huiguang a glance, then snorted as he got into a car in the middle. Yan Huiguang expressionlessly watched Lin Qiao''s car drive away, then Shui Mingjun''s. In the end, the last car was parked before him, and the driver looked at him.


    "Are you getting in or what? Do you want to walk instead?"


    Yan Huiguang blinked, then quickly moved toward the car door.


    Lin Qiao''s motorcade moved toward Green Mountain Base. On the way, she sometimes told the others to keep moving while she herself went away to collect zombie nuclei or energy nuclei.


    She wouldn''t spare all the zombies between level-four and level-six who gave out a strong hostility and blood scent. So far, she hadn''t run into any zombie dominator, but did find two level-seven mutated beasts.


    Looking at the hill-sized, hairy yak in front of her, she wondered how many tons the creature weighed. Its long and black hair hung from its back, nearly reaching the ground. It was about thirty meters long and over ten meters tall, with a pair of sharp, enormous horns visible on its head. Several lines of sharp teeth stuck out of its mouth, stained with dried blood.


    Ever since the apocalypse happened, the predators stayed as predators while the vegetarians turned into predators as well. The creatures rooted in the soil were able to run, and even plants had started to feed on flesh.


    The level-seven mutated yak reminded Lin Qiao of the level-seven mutated horse that she had killed three hours ago. The mutated horse was pretty, except that it had a pair of featherless wings that affected its appearance strongly; all of its other parts was great. It was out of control when she found it.


    The crazy horse was bumping into everything in its sight, including rocks and hills.


    When Lin Qiao found it, it had found her motorcade as well. It rushed straight at the vehicles while baring its mouth and attempted to hit the cars with its head. It was swift, darting up to the vehicles from about three hundred meters away within a blink of an eye.


    At last, Lin Qiao made a move to end the crazy horse because its featherless wings were too unpleasant to the eyes.


    It was, of course, not easy to finish off a level-seven crazy horse. When it charged at the vehicles at lightning speed, it brought over a violent wave of wind power that shredded one of her cars.


    The zombies in that car would have been torn into pieces if they hadn''t jumped out of the car quickly enough. Even Lin Qiao didn''t manage to save that car.


    The enormous yak was chewing something. Dark-brown, thick liquid flowed out of its mouth and dripped down its jaw.


    "Whoa! I thought it was a hill when I look at it from afar. If it were not chewing something, I wouldn''t be able tell that this was a yak," Yan Xiao was standing beside Jingyan, looking at the yak with interest.


    The yak was lying on the ground at first. It sensed Lin Qiao''s vibe when the latter was hundreds of meters from it and stood up. Causing the earth to quake slightly. Its eyes and face were all covered by its hair. Except for its mouth and teeth and pair of huge horns, everything was covered by its hair.


    The gigantic yak breathed heavily and made no extra movement except chewing the food in its mouth. The air breathed out of its nose fluttered the plants before it.


    "Do you dare to fight it?" Jingyan asked Yan Xiao.


    Yan Xiao shook her head and gave her a glare, "Are you kidding me? That is a level-seven mutated beast, not a level-five one. It can flatten me with its hoof."


    "You''re right. It''s so huge! I bet it has a super thick skin. It must be good at defense," Jingyan nodded and said expressionlessly.


    Lin Qiao said to Lin Kui, who was standing by her side, "It''s measuring our powers. I can feel that it''s scanning every single one of us."


    "Its eyes are covered by its hair. Can it see us?" Lin Kui looked at the hairy yak.


    "It''s probably not looking at us with eyes," Lin Qiao glanced at him and said. Then, she abruptly raised a hand. With that, a black fireball was thrown out at the yak.


    The yak gave out a scent of blood, a rotten odor, and a vibe of violence. It was like a moving, enormous monster. A strong, dark, and evil vibe could be sensed from its body.

 1120 The Raging Giant Yak

    The black fire ball that Lin Qiao threw out was small, but the yak seemed to have sensed it clearly. It slightly raised its head toward the fireball, then opened its mouth abruptly and let out a stream of dark mist. A rotten odor was sensed from the dark mist along with a sour, awful smell.


    The dark mist from the yak clashed against Lin Qiao''s black fire and instantly generated a sizzling noise, sounding like a glass of water being poured on a piece of glowing-red iron.


    Boom! In the next second, Lin Qiao raised an arm. Following her movement, the small fireball suddenly expanded into a huge, blazing fireball that devoured the dark mist. Watching its dark mist being devoured completely, the yak moved its strong forelimbs slightly and stomped against the ground anxiously and gave a thunderous roar.


    "Roar!"


    The roar quaked the earth and even vibrated the ears of Lin Qiao and her friends.


    "Roar¡­" The enormous yak lowered its head and shrank its jaw, then pointed its huge and sharp horns at Lin Qiao and roared deeply while pawing at the ground with one of its fore-hooves. It was not scared of Lin Qiao''s dark fire that was coming at it.


    Its large hoof soon created a meter-wide pit on the ground.


    Seeing the yak showing no fear to her fire and also preparing to attack, Lin Qiao raised her brows and spread her palms, releasing a large stream of black fire to merge with the fireball. Next, under her control, the huge cloud of dark fire started to shift shape quickly. Before long, a black, fiery, gigantic yak showed up before everyone. The fire yak pointed its fiery horns at the yak and started to paw at the ground as well.


    Seeing the huge, black yak formed from dark fire, the yak paused and raised its head with confusion, looking at the dark fire yak which looked similar to itself. Then, the gigantic yak changed its attacking gesture and let out a weird roar.


    "Roarrr¡­"


    After giving the roar, it wagged its long and hairy tail and moved its rear legs to move toward the side, turning sideways. Strangely, it moved its butt before its upper body and head.


    Lin Qiao stopped moving. The yak didn''t seem to be preparing an attack at all.


    "Roarrr¡­"


    Lin Qiao was confused, and so were Lin Kui and the others.


    What was the yak doing?


    While they were all feeling bewildered, the enormous yak slowly and weirdly moved toward Lin Qiao''s black fire yak, letting out waves of strange roars.


    "Why do I feel that this yak is¡­" At that time, Yan Xiao, who had been watching the whole time, thought of something and wore a weird look on her face.


    "What?" Standing beside her, Jingyan looked at her and asked.


    At that point, everyone saw the yak put its nose near Lin Qiao''s fire yak.


    "Oh, I knew it! No wonder it''s acting so weirdly¡­ This yak is oestrous!" Seeing the yak''s movement, Yan Xiao instantly figured it out. Hearing that, the other zombies didn''t know what to say.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while in surprise before she wore a speechless look on her face. She waved a hand and quickly turned the black fire yak into a black fire lion.


    The yak that was happily moving around the fire creature was stunned at first upon seeing it turn into a lion, then raised its head and gave a raging roar.


    "Roar!" Obvious anger could be detected from its voice. Then, it turned quickly and lowered its head, charging at Lin Qiao. It made such loud noise that even the earth began to shake, and all the trees before the yak were bumped down to the ground.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! The yak rushed at Lin Qiao, bringing a wild, violent vibe. Its red eyes were faintly seen through its hair.


    "I think it''s mad at Chief for making its girlfriend disappear," Yan Xiao laughed while watching the angry yak storm at Lin Qiao, seemingly ready to stomp her into pieces.


    Under Lin Qiao''s control, the black fire lion, which was also enormous, rushed up and bumped against the yak.


    Bang! The black fire lion immediately became a sphere of dark fire that shrouded the giant yak''s head and then spread toward its body.


    ""Roarrrr!"


    ¡­


    As Lin Qiao and her friends were fighting the huge yak, Lin Hao, Lin Feng, and the others in All Beings Base were in a panic.


    Lin Wenwen, who was unconscious, had suddenly disappeared.


    "I really sense no scents of other people! Only Wenwen''s scent existed in this room. No one else has been here," Qiu Lili was standing in the room where Lin Wenwen was in, sniffing around while talking to the others, who were standing by the door. She was wearing a serious and confused look.


    "How can it be possible? Did she make herself disappear? Have you sensed any traces that she left while leaving?" Lin Hao asked Qiu Lili anxiously with his browns knitted.


    He left the room ten minutes ago. Before he left, Lin Wenwen was lying in the room. However, a couple of minutes later, Shen Yujen rushed into his office and asked him to come back to the room to take a look because something had happened there. He was stunned a little when he heard about it and then ran back to the room without thinking.


    When he arrived, Qiu Lili was making circles in the room while the bed was empty. Lin Wenwen had disappeared without a trace! The quilt on the bed wasn''t lifted. it was spread on the bed neatly, as if Lin Wenwen had vanished into thin air.


    Qiu Lili walked around in the room over and over again and carefully checked every single corner. But still, no strange scent was sensed.


    "Perhaps the one who took her away used something to cover their scent," Qiu Lili furrowed her brows and pressed her lips together, then said. Since the moment Lin Wenwen was found missing, people believed that she was taken away, because she was in no condition to leave the room on her own.


    Besides, even if she had woken up, she wouldn''t leave without telling anyone. Therefore, people believed that some people had sneaked into the room and took the unconscious Lin Wenwen away.


    Whoever took her managed to leave no clue in the room at all, not even a trace of scent! Clearly, it was well planned.

 1121 Lin Wenwen Disappeared

    Soon, Qian Xiaoai ran into Lin Feng''s office.


    "Deputy Chief! Wenwen has gone missing!" Once in, Qian Xiaoai said to Lin Feng anxiously.


    "What!" Lin Feng, who was reading files and signing his name, immediately raised his head to look at him. Clearly, he thought he had misheard, or he couldn''t believe what he heard.


    How could she possibly disappear?


    Qian Xiaoai repeated his words, "Just now, Doctor Lin''s people told me that Wenwen disappeared from the hospital room without a trace ten minutes ago."


    Lin Feng abruptly stood up from his chair, "Disappeared? Without a trace? Did she wake up?"


    Qian Xiaoai shook his head and said, "They don''t know how she disappeared yet. But, if she has woken up, she wouldn''t leave without telling the others, would she? Besides, no on in the medical department saw her leave."


    "What happened then? How did she disappear if she didn''t wake up?" Lin Feng knitted his brows.


    Qian Xiaoai looked at him silently, as he had no answer to that question either. One had to talk to someone from the medical department to learn what happened.


    Lin Feng closed the files in his hands and then quickly picked up his coat, walking outside his office while saying, "Let''s go to the medical department."


    At the same time, Yuan Tianxing had received the message too. It was Lin Yu who delivered the message to him.


    "What did you say?" As same as Lin Feng, he was confused at first. "What do you mean by Wenwen has disappeared?" he looked at Lin Yu and said, "Isn''t she in the medical department in a coma? How did she disappear?"


    Standing before his desk, Lin Yu looked at him and said, "Lin Hao sent a man here to tell me that Wenwen is gone. He didn''t say anything else, so I don''t know what exactly has happened."


    Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment with a frown and then said, "Has Lin Feng known about this yet?"


    Lin Yu nodded and responded, "Alex has received the message already."


    Yuan Tianxing immediately put away his work and stood up, then picked up his coat and walked out of his office in a hurry. "Let''s go and take a look."


    He arrived at the medical department soon after Lin Feng and found Lin Wenwen''s room.


    "What happened? I heard Wenwen went missing." He asked the people by the door once he saw them. The people turned to look at him, then turned their eyes back to Qiu Lili and Lin Hao.


    Lin Hao shook his head and said, "I was here observing her before she disappeared. A couple of minutes after I left, the nurse that I sent to look after her came to me and told me that she was gone. So, I asked for Lili''s help. Lili searched through the room but didn''t sense the scent of anyone else. We don''t know what happened."


    "Why would Wenwen leave without telling us if she was awake? Besides, I''ve sensed her scent. She never seemed to have left the room. Her scent was still lingering here, showing no sign of going out." While speaking, her entire face wrinkled in a deep frown. Clearly, she was very upset. As a zombie, she was highly sensitive to smells. Some people took Wenwen away and managed to hide all their scents and vibes. For her, that was a kind of humiliation!


    Therefore, Qiu Lili was not happy. Something like that actually happened while Qiaoqiao wasn''t around. Things would become troublesome if she couldn''t find Lin Wenwen before Lin Qiao came back.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Hao and Qiu Lili, then turned to Lin Feng and said, "So, did someone come in and take Wenwen away? Your people have been watching this place, right? Where are they?"


    On hearing that, Lin Feng turned to Qian Xiaoai, who was outside the door. "Sir, they have no discoveries," Qian Xiaoai reported to him.


    He meant that no suspicious people were found approaching the room, meaning that his men didn''t see anyone take Lin Wenwen out of the room. They didn''t see Lin Wenwen leave by herself either.


    The others all furrowed their brows into a deep frown. Not even the secret guards found anything. Did Lin Wenwen truly vanish into thin air? Was it like what happened to their Chief earlier?


    "Is she¡­ going through something that happened to Chief before? Did she suddenly turn invisible? But, has she woken up or not?" Qiu Lili thought for a moment and said.


    "That''s not right. Chief had invisibility since the beginning. That''s why she entered that special condition. Wenwen doesn''t have such a skill, so she shouldn''t have turned invisible. Also, look at this bed. The quilt doesn''t seem to have been lifted, or, it was lifted but then put back. If she woke up and got off the bed, why would she spread the quilt without showing up in front of us? That doesn''t make sense," Lin Hao thought for a moment, then pointed at the quilt and said.


    Her words made the others fall into silence. He sounded right.


    "Oh, doesn''t Wenwen have space power? Could she be¡­ in her own space?" Yuan Tianxing thought of Lin Qiao''s power, so he thought for a moment and said.


    On hearing that, the others had their eyes glowing. Clearly, that was highly possible.


    "Yeah, how come I didn''t think of that? But, I don''t think Wenwen''s space can contain living beings¡­" Lin Hao patted his own forehead and said, but then became uncertain.


    "But, she does have a space. Maybe she has brought herself into her space," Yuan Tianxing looked at him and said.


    "Or, her space has upgraded. Before, it couldn''t contain living beings, but now has become a space like Chief''s, where people can live," Lin Hao made a guess.


    "Anyhow, send out your people to search the whole base now. Seal every exit of the base. It''s very likely that she''s in her own space, but it''s still possible that she''s been taken somewhere else by some people. If that''s the case, whoever took her might have erased all the traces in this place," Yuan Tianxing said. After saying that, he turned to say to Li Zheng, who was standing outside the door, "Li Zheng, send your men to lock all the exits of the base and pay attention to all suspicious people. Lin Yu, tell Feng Yuming, Lei Yao, and Fei Chonglin to search through the entire Base Number One with their people."


    "Yes, Sir."


    "Yes, Sir."


    Lin Yu and Li Zheng responded in one voice, then quickly left for the mission.


    Lin Feng turned to Qiu Lili and said, "Lili, maybe you should go back to Base Number Two and search there. We need to be cautious."


    "Okay, I get it," Qiu Lili nodded. After saying that, she flashed across the air and disappeared, leaving only a gentle gust of wind.


    Lin Feng, his brother, and Yuan Tianxing stayed in the room, staring at Lin Wenwen''s bed and submerged in thoughts.


    At that time, Lin Wenwen was awake, but lost. She was in a strange place, standing by a busy street and looking at everything before her eyes with confusion.

 1122 Back to Seven Years Ago

    The bustling street, the people, the normal plants, the undamaged buildings, the fresh air, the bright, sunny sky¡­


    For Lin Wenwen, who had lived in the post-apocalyptic world for seven years, everything in front of her eyes was so familiar and strange at the same time. The street that was crowded with people and vehicles didn''t give out the desolated and deserted sense that she was used to.


    With confusion, she walked around the roadside over and over again. She didn''t know what was happening. At that moment, someone bumped into her shoulder while she was absent-minded.


    "Oh, I''m so sorry!" The person immediately turned back and smiled at her while apologizing.


    Only when she heard his words did she come back to her senses. "It''s okay," she smiled and said to him. After watching the man walk away, Lin Wenwen finally had her mind becoming clear.


    Where was she? What was going on? How did she get there?


    She dropped her head to look at her clothes, and then was shocked. She wasn''t wearing her own clothes, and¡­ What happened to her legs? Why were her legs so short and fat?


    She gave her legs a closer look and then popped her eyes while staring at them.


    Damn! That was not illusion! Her legs had grown much fatter than before indeed! Not only her legs, but her body had also grown fat! Her legs had turned shorter than before too! God!


    With disbelief, Lin Wenwen looked at her legs and body, which were much chubbier than before. Abruptly, she raised her hands and looked at them from side to side, then found that her hands weren''t the same as before either!


    Looking at her chubby hands, Lin Wenwen felt so confused. She raised her hands to touch her face and felt a pair of fleshy cheeks. Also, her bangs seemed to be a little too long.


    Something was wrong! She had side-swept bangs, but how come it turned into blunt bang?


    She raised her hands higher and touched her long hair. The hair were not very long, but were indeed much longer than her original hair.


    That was not right! That was not right! She was not like that!


    Everything was not right! The strong and weird feeling confused her. She looked around and saw a commercial street. Many shops over there had glass walls.


    She immediately ran toward the street. However, after running for tens of meters, she started gasping desperately for air and couldn''t even lift her feet anymore. She was so exhausted that she had to lean against a wall when she arrived.


    That body was not hers!


    She was trained for so long in Lin Qiao''s new base that she was able to run quickly for two hours without feeling exhausted. But just now, she only spent two minutes running before she felt as if she was dying.


    She moved toward a shoe store and stood before the glass window. Looking at her own reflection, she fell into despair.


    She buried her face in her hands and squatted.


    That was not her face, not her body. Even the height was not right!


    The girl that she saw in the glass window looked very young, about seventeen years old. She had shoulder-length hair and her bangs almost reached her eyes. Her cheeks were quite fleshy, such that her eyes seemed to have been squeezed by her flesh. That girl looked nothing like the original face of Lin Wenwen. She was only about one-hundred and fifty centimeters tall, but was actually wearing a tight suit! That one-hundred and fifty centimeters tall, over sixty-five kilograms body was honestly wrapped in a tight suit!


    Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but cover her face and squat when she saw the layers of flesh on her waist which was wrapped so tightly in her clothes.


    "A-are you okay?" A voice was suddenly heard.


    Lin Wenwen raised her head and saw a young girl dressed like a shop attendant looking at her with concern.


    She hurriedly stood up and waved her hands as she said to the girl, "Oh, I''m fine. I''m fine. Thank you!"


    She read the girl''s badge and learned that she was the manager of the shop. She understood that her behavior might have caught the girl''s attention, making the latter think that she was probably having some kind of discomfort.


    She was nearly suffering a mental collapse, but still managed to thank the shop manager with a calm face.


    The girl looked at her confusedly. After confirming that she was really fine, the girl nodded and walked back into the shop.


    Lin Wenwen immediately moved to the side and fumbled through her pockets to find a telephone. She pressed a button and the screen instantly showed the time and date.


    The phone was locked and required a password. Thankfully, the phone was good enough to be unlocked with a fingerprint.


    Lin Wenwen immediately unlocked the phone with her fingerprint.


    Looking at the ''4G'' showing on a corner of the screen, she wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. Internet¡­ In the post-apocalyptic world, it no longer existed.


    The date showing on the phone was three months before the apocalypse. She had actually traveled back to seven years ago into someone else''s body!


    She could finally feel what her sister had felt. Thankfully, she did not become a zombie whose limbs were barely attached to her body!


    How did it happen? Why did she jump back to seven years ago? Why did she become a fat girl? That body belonged to someone else, didn''t it?


    She remembered herself in a special condition as her second superpower was upgrading. She spent an effort to consume up her space power and then started to absorb energies from zombie nuclei. Then, she felt that the energies she absorbed were all merged the second type of energy in her body.


    As Lin Hao had said, her second superpower took over her body after her space power ran out.


    Before long, she felt more and more sleepy. When she woke up, she found herself in an empty room. She couldn''t move, and only stood there quietly. She probably stood there for a long time, or not so long. She didn''t feel tired anyway.


    She felt as if she was drifting in the air.


    She had no idea how long she spent in that condition. But when she woke up again, she had become a fat girl!


    Did she have a second life? Did she travel through time?


    It would be nice if she became herself from seven years ago, but she ended up in someone else''s body. How did that happen?


    Could she still go back to the post-apocalyptic world? She wouldn''t need to keep living with her current body, would she?


    ''No. I''ll let you go back to where you came from as long as you do a few things for me.'' As Lin Wenwen felt so confused, a voice was suddenly heard from her mind.


    "Who are you?" Lin Wenwen gave a start and a sharp beam of light flashed across her narrowed eyes.


    That voice wasn''t heard again.


    Lin Wenwen furrowed her brows and turned around. In the post-apocalyptic era, she had trained herself into a highly perceptive person. However, she found no one suspicious.


    Who was talking to her just now? The voice was sent straight into her head. Her ears didn''t detect any sound.

 1123 Pretty Boys and Girls

    As Lin Wenwen was observing the surrounding environment, her telephone suddenly started buzzing. She lowered her head and saw the screen showing the word ''brother''.


    Was it the brother of the real owner of her body? Should she answer the call? If she couldn''t get what the brother said, would he detect that something was wrong?


    She was hesitating, and the phone kept buzzing. When she gave up on answering the call, the call was ended. However, the phone soon started buzzing again.


    Lin Wenwen stared at the telephone and fell into silence.


    She thought for a moment and then answered the phone. The girl''s brother would probably be worried if the calls weren''t answered.


    "Hello."


    "Xinxin, what took you so long to answer the call?" A clear and refreshing boy''s voice was heard.


    Xinxin? Xin-xin? Xingxing? Xing-xing? Was that the name of the real owner of her body?


    Lin Wenwen blinked, then found an excuse, "Oh, em, I was in the middle of something, so I missed the call."


    "Oh, where are you now?" The boy quickly replied to her, "I wasn''t watching you for a second and then you''re gone. Stay wherever you are. Aren''t you aware that you''re terrible with directions? I might not be able to find you if you''re walking without knowing the way."


    The brother sounded very worried about the girl. He was probably used to looking after his sister like an adult looking after a child.


    "I-I''m at a shoe store in front of Paradise Coffee," Lin Wenwen looked around and saw a coffee house that had a large signboard, so she told that to the boy.


    "Stay there! How did you get there? We''re coming to you right now," The boy immediately ordered her not to move, then ended the call.


    We? It sounded like he was not alone.


    Lin Wenwen looked at the phone screen while thinking. She observed herself through the screen, then raised a hand and flipped her bangs.


    She looked carefully and found that the girl was actually not ugly. She had pretty eyes and nose and mouth. However, her chubby cheeks made them look smaller than they really were. Her eyes could be large if she open them as widely as she could.


    When Dong Lijia found his chubby sister, he saw her looking into her phone screen and squeezing her eyes. He had no idea what she was doing.


    "I see her! Over there!" Hsaid to the others, then walked toward Lin Wenwen. "Xinxin, over here!"


    Hearing that voice which she had heard just now through the phone, Lin Wenwen immediately raised her head to look at its owner and saw a few pretty boys and girls coming at her. They were so good-looking that she even felt being dazzled.


    Damn! Standing together with those people, she could look really like a weird being with her current body.


    She watched the two boys and two girls walk up to herself speechlessly. One of them was about six-feet tall, slim, straight, and handsome. The boy waved at her.


    "Why are you staring at us? Let''s go! Don''t just stand there." A well-dressed girl who had a long ponytail said to Lin Wenwen with a smile.


    While moving slowly toward those people, Lin Wenwen quietly observed their expressions. Apart from her brother was another boy. He was expressionless and much more handsome than her brother. He seemed over six feet tall strong.


    He could be the most good-looking boy in the school!


    She then turned to the two girls. One of them had a ponytail while the other had long hair hanging loosely over her shoulders. Both of them wore light make-up, having delicate faces and nice body shapes. They were both over five feet and five inches, wearing ten-centimeter heels.


    So pretty!


    Those pretty boys and girls were so pleasant to the eyes. The people nearby had been turning to look at them from time to time. Clearly, that group of young people was very eye-catching.


    However, Lin Wenwen sneered in her head once she gave a glance at the two girls in the eyes.


    There was a distance between herself and the two girls, but still, she could clearly feel the disdain in their eyes. They should at least try to hide it.


    "Why are you here? Didn''t I tell you to wait for us on the square? Here, your drink," The brother walked to Lin Wenwen with a cup of warm drink. He was complaining, but his behavior clearly stated how nice he was to his little sister.


    "Yeah, it''s so hot here. The sun is blinding me. Xinxin, aren''t you feeling hot?" The long-haired girl put her slim and fair hand above her eyes and said to Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Wenwen looked at the girl without saying anything. She didn''t know about the personality of the real owner of her body yet. Would she smile? Was she outgoing or gloomy?


    If she acted unlike the real owner of her body, at least her brother would notice.


    Therefore, Lin Wenwen decided not to say anything.


    Before she answered the question, her brother answered it for her, "It must be so hot. Xinxin is afraid of the heat the most."


    After saying that, he gave Lin Wenwen a glance with confusion and said, "Don''t you hate the heat? Why did you come here?"


    It was July. The noontime could be really hot.


    How should she explain that? It was certain weird for someone who couldn''t stand the heat to come all the way right under the sun.


    Lin Wenwen looked at him calmly while trying to come up with a good reason.


    She looked around. She was in a commercial street, and before her was a commercial plaza. She assumed that the group of people were out there shopping.


    "Oh, I was¡­"


    Before she finished, her brother interrupted her, "Are you here to buy shoes? I remembered you say that you wanted heels. Your body is still growing, so you can''t wear heels! Why don''t you listen to me?"


    Lin Wenwen silently turned and glanced at the shoe store beside her. The store was selling some fashionable shoes indeed. Her brother had saved her from the difficult situation, so she followed his words.


    "Because I''m short¡­" She murmured, then slightly lowered her head, seeming sad.


    "Alright Lijia, Xinxin just wants to be pretty. Is it wrong for girls to want to be pretty?" The girl with a ponytail said to Dong Lijia with a smile.


    Lin Wenwen gave her a grateful smile, then turned to look at Dong Lijia. At the same time, she observed the girl with a pony-tail through the corners of her eyes and saw her exchange glances with the other girl while the boys couldn''t see them.


    "Alright. Don''t always put strange thoughts into my sister''s head. She has just turned seventeen. Wearing heels can affect the development of her bones." Hearing the girl talk for his sister, Dong Lijia instantly gave her a glance with discontentment.


    Having finished talking, he held his sister''s hand as he turned and walked toward the plaza.

 1124 Secret Message from Huaxia Base

    While Lin Wenwen was wondering how she returned to the past, Lin Feng and the others searched through the entire All Beings Base over and over again. However, no one suspicious was found.


    Wu Chengyue in Sea City Base soon received the news as well.


    "Did you say that Wenwen disappeared? She didn''t lose control of her superpower like what happened to her Chief, did she?" Wu Chengyue held Teng in his arms as he sat in the couch, raising his head and looking at Xiao Licheng confusedly, who was standing in front of him.


    Teng also raised his head to look at Xiao Licheng. The boy thought for a moment and then said, "My Aunty has space power, but her second superpower is very special. Even I don''t know what it is. I only know that she''s able to foresee some things that will happen in the future. If she has really lost control of her power, can it be a result of the combination of her two different types of superpowers?"


    Xiao Licheng looked at the boy and his father, "I heard that Wenwen has been in an abnormal condition these days because her power was upgrading."


    Wu Chengyue and Teng glanced at each other. Without knowing what had happened to Lin Qiao, they would not think that way. Lin Qiao died and then came back to life in someone else''s body, meaning that she was special. Her sister had triggered a special power. Was the specialty running in their blood?


    "Do Lin Feng and the other have any clue?" Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and then asked.


    Xiao Licheng shook his head and said, "They don''t know what''s going on either. They''re searching through the base now. No progress was made so far."


    "That woman has done her job and made her way to Green Mountain Base. I don''t think she''ll be back any time soon. Get ready. We''ll go to All Beings Base to find out what''s happening," Wu Chengyue spent a moment thinking about Lin Qiao''s movements and figured that she wouldn''t be back soon.


    Lin Wenwen was her sister-in-law now, so he couldn''t let bad things happen to her. He had to do something to help.


    "Yes, Sir."


    Teng sighed, "We''ve only been here for a couple of days, but we''re going back already now."


    After saying that, he wrinkled his little face in a deep frown. His baby face looked adorable with that mature expression.


    "Daddy, when can you make Mama agree to live here? Oh¡­ You are probably not as important to Mama as her base is. Maybe you should move to her place so I don''t have to travel all the time," Teng spent a short while furrowing her brows, then abruptly turned to Wu Chengyue and said to him.


    After that, he looked at Wu Yueling and said, "Ling Ling, how about we go and live in All Beings Base?"


    Wu Yueling was sitting beside him, focusing on her drawing. Hearing Teng call her name, she raised her head to look at him, then thought for a moment and nodded. She had gotten used to traveling between the two bases anyway. She didn''t care which base to live in as long as she could be with her father and Teng.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Teng and said, "I''m fine with it, but your mother has to say yes first!"


    The boy was right. In the zombie lady''s heart, he was probably ranked behind Teng and her base and family.


    Teng said to him with great confidence, "Don''t worry, she''ll definitely say yes now! And Daddy, didn''t you invade her territory successfully last time? That means she has accepted you already. Don''t you understand?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and smiled, "Alright, I get it now."


    At that time, Li Yue Shan ran in and delivered a secret message to him. "Chief, this is the news from Huaxia Base."


    Wu Chengyue looked at him as he raised a hand and said, "Give it to me."


    Li Yue Shan handed the envelope to him when he raised his hand. Wu Chengyue opened it and took out what was inside before reading carefully. The more he read, the further his lips curved downward. His eyebrows were knitted slightly as well.


    According to the message, Si Kongchen was in contact with some foreign forces since long ago and had been making some kind of deal with them. The deal that he was making with those forces was probably related to the experimental weapons that he had been developing currently.


    If he traded the supplies in the country for some weapons and technologies that only foreign countries had, his biological weapons would certain be improved further. It would be very beneficial for Si Kongchen, but not so good for Wu Chengyue and the leaders of the other bases.


    Wu Chengyue believed that he needed to use some special ways to figure out what exactly was the deal which Si Kongchen had made with foreigners. Currently, the contents of the deal were unknown, so the result that it might cause was also unknown.


    Currently, he had to find out what exactly those people were doing so that he could make plans.


    "Go and tell Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui to prepare themselves for a meeting. Also tell Xiao Licheng that we''ll leave for All Beings Base in three hours."


    "Yes, Sir!" Li Yue Shan accepted the order and quickly left.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao had devoured the enormous yak with her dark fire and harvested a level-seven energy nucleus. At the time, she and her friends were still on their way to Green Mountain Base.


    All the way, Yan Huiguang and Shui Mingjun who were both following Lin Qiao''s lead, had been ignoring each other completely. They wouldn''t even look at each other, let along talk. The atmosphere between them was very awkward.


    Duan Juan, Yan Xiao and Jingyan had their eyes on the two guys. From time to time, they gathered together to make guesses. "I bet they won''t talk to each other before we arrived at our destination."


    Yan Xiao was holding a stainless bowl. In the bowl were some raw meat slices, soaked in water. She picked up a piece of meat from the bowl and put it in her mouth, then said while chewing, "No, I think they''ll start talking before that."


    The meat in the bowl was soaked in the lake water from Lin Qiao''s space. After soaking in the lake water for three hours, the meat would taste tender and sweet for zombies.


    During the journey, Lin Qiao sometimes hunted a few mutated animals and sliced their meat for everyone else to eat. Sadly, she forgot to save the yak''s meat, but accidentally devoured it.


    "I don''t think they''ll talk to each other even after we have arrived at our destination." Standing beside her, Jingyan said expressionlessly. While speaking, she picked a slice of meat from the bowl and put into her mouth as well.


    The two zombie girls shared the bowl of meat slices as if they were snacks. Duan Juan, who did not eat raw meat, could only watch them eat. If she wanted some of the meat, she would have to build a fire and cook it.


    "I think Shui Mingjun will be the first to talk, because Yan Huiguang isn''t someone who likes to start a conversation," Yan Huiguang said while putting another slice of meat into her mouth.


    At that time, a gust of wind blew across and then a large dog showed up before them, sitting down on the ground and letting out its tongue while fixing its dark and sparkling eyes on the bowl in Yan Xiao''s hand.


    "Have you finished your bones yet? These meat slices are far from enough for you. Just leave them for us!" Yan Xiao pulled a long face once she saw Bowwow.

 1125 Level-nine Crisis

    Bowwow didn''t give up as he kept looking at the meat in her hand with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and breathing loudly.


    "I don''t think he''ll leave until you give him a bite," said Duan Juan with a smile.


    With no other choice, Yan Xiao took a piece of meat out of the bowl with a bitter face. While throwing the meat to Bowwow, she said, "That tiny piece isn''t even enough for him to chew on¡­"


    Jingyan glanced at her expressionlessly and said, "You shouldn''t have let him see the meat."


    Lin Qiao was sitting on the other side, gazing into the northwest. A short while later, a car was driven over, and Xie Dong got off it.


    "I''ve found out what''s been going on. Lan Lu has received the message. He knows that you''re heading to his base. I think he''ll soon send his people to find you."


    Lin Qiao looked at him and asked, "How''s the level-nine superpower possessor doing now?"


    Xie Dong took a glance at Yan Huiguang, who was in a distance away, then turned back to Lin Qiao, "He is no longer as destructive as before. Also, he has injured himself quite badly. He is very strong, but I think he''ll soon grow weak after his energy runs out."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Is he running out of energy already?"


    "Almost. Green Mountain Base people have become nervous as Huaxia Base people have started to make moves. I think they will take an action against the target soon," Xie Dong nodded and said.


    "What''s Lan Lu doing now?" Lin Qiao asked. If she had guessed right, Lan Lu should be guarding his Chief in case the outsiders attacked the level-nine man, who was growing weak after losing control of himself.


    "Lan Lu is staying near the level-nine man. I think he''s protecting his Chief against the people from the other bases," said Xie Dong.


    "So, we need to get there as soon as possible," Lin Qiao furrowed her brows as she stood up and said, "Get ready to go."


    "Yes, ma''am," Xie Dong nodded. Then, he turned and said loudly to the other zombies, "Get ready to go."


    Yan Xiao was going to throw the last piece of meat to Bowwow. On hearing Xie Dong''s words, she quickly put the meat into her own mouth, then poured away the water in the bowl. After that, she carried the bowl and ran into the car.


    Bowwow was having his mouth wide open, waiting for the last piece of meat.


    ''I was waiting for the meat! How could you eat it? Stop! Give me my meat back!''


    Watching Yan Xiao eat the last piece of meat and then get into the car, Bowwow immediately turned and thrust his rear legs against the ground, wagging his tail as he leaped high. In the next second, he landed on top of Yan Xiao''s car.


    "Do not break my car!" From the corners of her eyes, Lin Qiao saw him leaping on top of the cars so she immediately shouted at the dog.


    Boom! If there were rain, the inside of the car would become wet.


    "Owooo¡­" Under Lin Qiao''s glare, Bowwow retracted his sharp claws and sat quietly on top of the car, also sneakily covering the few holes on the car roof with his paws. It was not his fault; the crappy car roof was way too fragile. It was like a piece of paper and his claws just went through!


    "Bad dog! Be careful or I might cut off your claws someday!" Lin Qiao gave the dog a glare angrily and helplessly, then turned and sat into her own car.


    "Owowowo!" Bowwow raised his chin and barked unhappily.


    ''It wasn''t my fault! Why are you cutting off my claws? The girl ate my snack! It''s her fault. Why don''t you cut off her claws?''


    Shui Mingjun sat into the car and asked Ye Qingxian, who was sitting next to him, "Do you all remember the things that happened before you turned into zombies?"


    Ye Qingxian took off his sunglasses as he looked at Shui Mingjun, then nodded and said, "Yes."


    Shui Mingjun looked at him with surprise as he asked, "Do you remember everything? Why?"


    They had become zombies, but their memories weren''t gone. How magical!


    Weren''t all zombies brain-dead? Lin Qiao''s zombies were not only able to think, but also had life memories. Apart from that, they were even able to talk! That was unbelievable! Also, their skin had become like the skin of healthy people. They looked a little pale, but not as rotten and broken as normal zombies.


    "Would you want to eat humans uncontrollably?" Earlier on, Shui Mingjun gave a big start when he saw Lin Qiao''s zombies take off their sunglasses and show their scarily dark eyes. Hearing his words, Ye Qingxian turned and gave him a glance, then abruptly leaned toward him and sniffed at him.


    "Eh!" Shui Mingjun was obviously scared by him. He automatically flinched and popped his eyes.


    Ye Qingxian moved away from him and then laughed, "What are you afraid of? I''d have eaten you long ago if I wanted to. Before I restored my memory, I did have trouble controlling myself. But since my memory came back, I can no longer stand the idea of eating human beings. That''s like a wall in my heart. As long as we stay sane, we can control our desire of feeding on humans."


    Shui Mingjun looked at him in shock. But then, he gave it thought and found it reasonable. They had turned into zombies, but as their memories came back, their humanity had come back as well. Eating humans should, of course, be intolerable for them. They certainly couldn''t accept it.


    "Did you say that your memory was restored after you became a zombie? Did it happen when you met your Chief?" Shui Mingjun soon grasped the key words.


    Ye Qingxian looked at him as he smiled and said, "Yes. As you should have noticed, we are not like the zombies that your boyfriend created. We are freer than them."


    Hearing the word ''boyfriend'', Shui Mingjun pulled a long face and looked at him coldly. ''Boyfriend? Seriously?''


    Ye Qingxian grinned carelessly, then continued, "You have seen what our Chief can do. She was in a good mood earlier. Otherwise, Sky Fire Base might have ended up liked Earth Dragon Base already. We didn''t even take away the supplies in Sky Fire Base. We are so kind!"


    Hearing that, Shui Mingjun asked a question, "Isn''t your Chief from Sea City Base? Why does she hate Earth Dragon Base, Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base so much? She''s not from Hades Base. She has no reason to take revenge from all those three bases, does she?"


    Ye Qingxian blinked, then shook his head and said, "You are wrong. Who said that we''re taking revenge from them? They offended my Chief first. Your information isn''t quite accurate, or you''re probably thinking in a wrong way."


    Being reminded by him, Shui Mingjun recalled that before Earth Dragon Base was attacked, Long Yubai had indeed made a trip to East China. He even attacked All Beings Base, which was still in construction back then. He was soon forced back though. Not long after that, Long Yubai, the Deputy Chiefs in his base, and some senior base administrators were all killed in secret.


    Hidden Cloud City Base seemed to also have eyes on All Beings Base before suffering an attack.

 1126 Lan Lus Situation

    ''That woman is scary indeed! No one who dares to mess with her will end up well!''


    Shui Mingjun attained a new understanding about Lin Qiao in this moment.


    In a patch of woods in the northwest, Lan Lu was hiding near the edge of a cliff, looking at the tall man who was standing on the cliff.


    The man was looking down the cliff expressionlessly. If there were not a strong energy wave surrounding him and shredding everything within the area thirty meters around him, one might think that he was just a normal man.


    Apart from Lan Lu and the man on the cliff, a level-eight mutated beast had been hiding nearby. Slightly further away were a group of people surrounding the man and observing him from all directions.


    The level-eight mutated beast was a Eurasian wolf, the wolf king, and following behind it were hundreds of mutated wolves. All the wolves had their sharp eyes fixed on the man on the cliff.


    The wolf king was purely black; its hair were long, looking shiny and soft and fluffy. Under the sunlight, its black hair had a beautiful luster. Its two ears stood straight up and its tail almost reached the ground. It was muscular, with very strong limbs; its sharp claws were sparkling dangerously.


    The wolf king was nearly two meters tall and eight meters long, including the tail. It had a pair of sharp eyes that contained a clam look. The wolf king quietly looked at the man on the cliff. From under the peacefulness in its eyes, waves of longing could be detected.


    It was craving energy. Apparently, the wolf king eagerly wanted to level-nine man''s energy nucleus.


    Lan Lu looked at the man and then at the black wolf king, then at the group of Huaxia Base, who had also been casting their greedy eyes on the man, suffering a headache. His Chief''s condition was growing worse and worse. The man''s energy had almost run out, so he was much less destructive than before. He possessed superpower strength that made him ten-times stronger than normal superpower possessors. But at the moment, he couldn''t even take uninterrupted attacks from level six or seven, not to mention those highly destructive small-range bombs that Huaxia people brought.


    Those rocket bombs were one-time only. However, each of them could be as effective as an attack launched by a level-eight superpower possessor.


    The level-eight wolf king and the level-eight weapons occupied both sides of the man, and Lan Lu could only deal with one of them. Once he made a move toward either of them, he would have no energy left to fight the other one. Currently, both sides had been waiting for an opportunity to take down his Chief.


    Thankfully, the wolf king seemed cautious, probably scared of Lan Lu and those Huaxia people. Likewise, those Huaxia people were scared of Lan Lu and the wolf king.


    So now, Lan Lu was praying that none of the two sides would suddenly make a move, because he wouldn''t be able to protect his Chief against both. But, he suddenly changed his expression and slightly turned his head to glance back. Before long, Chang Qingqing showed up.


    "I''ve delivered the message to the Chief of All Beings Base. She''s not far away from us. I think she''ll be here in about ten hours, even sooner if she moves fast," Chang Qingqing walked up to Lan Lu and said, then turned to the cliff and sighed, "Chief''s energy has grown weaker again. I hope he can hang on for another while!"


    Lan Lu knitted his eyebrows and said, "What could be different even if he hung on till the last? If we can''t wake him up, his nucleus will probably explode when his energy is consumed up."


    "Really?" Chang Qingqing looked at him and asked, also wearing a frown.


    With a sullen face, Lan Lu responded, "He lost control of himself because of a strange type of energy, and his energy erupted to protect him against that energy. When his energy is consumed up, nothing will be left to fight against that strange energy. What do you think will happen by then?"


    Chang Qingqing pressed her lips together and fell into silence.


    A short while later, she helplessly asked Lan Lu, "What should we do then?"


    Lan Lu sighed, "So, all we can do is wait for Miss Lu to come and help us. She might have a way to solve the problem. Didn''t they say that Wu Chengyue was once out of control and then woken up by her? We''ll ask her for help. She might really be able to help us."


    Chang Qingqing thought for a moment, then said, "Are we gonna ask her for help again? We''ve done that once already. We''re owing her more and more. When can we clear the debt?"


    Earlier, they had sent some of their own zombies to the zombie lady''s base, and not long ago, Lan Lu accidentally exposed her zombie nature. They owed her for both, and never had a chance to pay her back yet.


    That woman was powerful. She rarely needed help, and when she did, Wu Chengyue always grabbed the chance before anyone else could. His base was close to hers anyway while Green Mountain Base was located far away from All Being Base. Every time when Lan Lu and his people heard the news, her problems had already been solved.


    "Don''t worry. We''ll always have a chance to pay her back. She can''t possibly keep her nature secret forever. One day, her zombie nature and zombie army will be discovered. By then, she will need us to be on her side," Lan Lu thought for a moment and then said with a smile.


    Chang Qingqing glanced at him expressionlessly, said, "How will you help her? You don''t have weapons or soldiers."


    Lan Lu gave her a bitter smile, "What are you talking about? I am a level-eight superpower possessor after all. I, as an individual, am valuable enough. Don''t underestimate me like that!"


    Chang Qingqing rolled her eyes, then turned to the wolf king and said, "The black wolf king is really patient. It''s been so long, but the wolf is still so calm."


    Lan Lu glanced at her with discontentment, "Wolves are always patient for their prey. That is normal. Do you want it to attack our Chief sooner? Why can''t you think about something good?"


    "I''m only trying to prepare for both good and bad, so I can react in time no matter what happens," Chang Qingqing didn''t mind his complaint.


    As Lan Lu heard that Lin Qiao was arriving and felt slightly relieved, Huaxia People had also heard the news. Of course, they weren''t as delighted to hear it as Lan Lu was.


    "What? That woman is coming here? Why is she coming to the northwest, to Green Mountain Base? Even if Lan Lu had sent out his men to ask for help, she shouldn''t be coming so soon." Hearing that Lin Qiao was less than four-hundred miles away from the site, Hou Guozhong changed his expression and said with surprise.


    Standing beside him, Wei Haichao thought for a moment and said, "I think she had heard about the level-nine man long ago. She came here now because the man is running out of energy. I guess she''s coming for the level-nine energy nucleus too."


    After all, no one could resist the temptation from a level-nine nucleus. Like the others, that woman was ambitious too.

 1127 New Criss Occurs

    As a woman, she managed to break into level-seven and build her own base. To keep her base safe, she needed to be very strong. If she attained the level-nine nucleus, she might become the fourth level-eight superpower possessor in the country.


    She was in a close relationship with Wu Chengyue from Sea City Base. If she became a level-eight superpower possessor herself, the two of them in combination would be no weaker than Huaxia Base.


    If that happened, many people would want to join All Beings Base, which still had a small population currently.


    People represented power. With people, the base would grow strong!


    If Huaxia Base didn''t have two million residents, including countless talents, how could it ever become the top-one base in the country?


    "If she''s really coming for the level-nine nucleus, we must stop her before Chief arrives!" The more Wei Haichao thought about it, the more urgent he felt the situation being.


    Hou Guozhong thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I''m not sure if she''s coming for the level-nine nucleus. After all, she seems to be on good terms with Lan Lu. I think she''s probably coming to help them!"


    On hearing his words, Wei Haichao spent a moment thinking about Lin Qiao''s power. She was only at level-seven. If she was coming to help instead of seeking a chance to seize the level-nine nucleus, she might not be very helpful. After all, the wolf king was a level-eight mutated beast while the Huaxia Base troops had two level-seven superpower possessors, and were equipped with powerful weapons! As a level-seven being, she shouldn''t be able to stop either the beast or the people.


    Did she overestimate herself when deciding to come here to help Lan Lu?


    "Isn''t she a little stupid? Instead of helping, I think she''s probably here to die. She might be helpful if she brought Wu Chengyue here¡­" Hou Guozhong paused before finishing his words, then asked a question, "She''s coming alone, isn''t she?"


    She didn''t bring Wu Chengyue with her, did she?


    Wei Haichao nodded and said, "She''s coming by herself with her people. Wu Chengyue is in Sea City Base, keeping his eyes on our base at the moment. I don''t think he has the energy to look after the woman."


    "Good," Hou Guozhong sighed slightly with relief.


    While Huaxia Base people and Green Mountain Base were making plans for themselves, the wolf king suddenly turned its head and a sharp light shone out of its peaceful eyes. It slightly lowered its head and widened its eyes, uttering deep roars toward the area behind it.


    "Hrrr¡­" It seemed to be giving a warning.


    The wolf king''s movement instantly caught the attention of Lan Lu, Hou Guozhong, and the others. All those people focused on the area where the wolf king was looking at. They immediately found something that made them feel not good.


    A strong and violent vibe was faintly detected from a distance behind the wolf king. The source of the vibe was still far away, but the vibe was giving out a pressure as strong as what the wolf king had been giving out.


    Lan Lu, Chang Qingqing, Hou Guozhong, Wei Haichao all gave a start.


    Was that another level-eight being?


    Except for Lan Lu, who was on the scene, Si Kongchen and Wu Chengyue were the only two known level-eight humans in the country. Those two weren''t likely to show up on the scene, so the one who gave out the vibe must be another level-eight beast! After all, mutated beasts had been evolving quickly now.


    The black wolf king seemed to be quite afraid of that creature. Clearly, the wolf knew the mysterious creature.


    "This is bad! It might be another level-eight mutated beast. It might know the wolf king. The two of them are probably enemies! I think it''s not coming at Chief. It''s coming for the wolf king!" As a level-eight spirit power possessor, Lan Lu sensed things more clearly than the other superpower possessors.


    Chang Qingqing knitted her brows and said, "No way! Another one?" The look on her face grew sullen.


    There was already one level-eight beast on the scene. It was kept at bay by Huaxia people, so Lan Lu and his people were allowed to guard their Chief. They were hoping that the arrival of the Chief lady from All Beings Base would better the situation.


    Unexpectedly, new trouble occurred before their reinforcements arrived.


    The new beast could break the balance by attacking any side on the scene. It would become an unstable factor to threat Lan Lu and his people, or their Chief.


    "Wooooo¡­" As the vibe came closer and closer, the wolf king started roaring with anxiety. It abruptly turned and wagged its long tail as it wrinkled its face and bared its teeth. It lowered its ears and gave threatening roars to the owner of that vibe.


    "Roar!"


    Before long, a resonant beast roar was heard from the other side. The people on the scene were instantly suppressed by the two level-eight vibes. As the two beasts released their vibes and prepared to attack, except for Lan Lu, who was at level-eight, all the people at the site froze and felt it hard to breathe. The level-seven ones were doing slightly better than the others. The ones at or below level-six had all grown stiff, as if they had lost control of their bodies.


    The expressions on the faces of both Hou Guozhong and Wei Haichao changed. "How come there''s another level-eight one? Has the number of level-eight mutated beasts grown again?"


    "If the two beasts start fighting, Lan Lu might attack us! We need to stay alert!" Thinking of that possibility, Wei Haichao wore a deep frown and said.


    "That''s what I''m worried about. If the new beast goes for the level-nine man, the wolf king will certainly try to stop it. The wolf is smart. I don''t think it''ll fight the new beast," said Hou Guozhong.


    Wei Haichao nodded, "You''re right. If that''s the case, the wolf will also stop us from approaching the man. The new beast will probably also try not to let its competitors win."


    "So now, we can only wait and see how things go," Hou Guozhong thought for a moment and said. Launching a reckless attack on the level-nine man was not a good choice. The best thing to do now was to send out his men and get his Chief to come to the site as soon as possible.


    "I''m sending out people to tell Chief to come here quickly, or his level-nine energy nucleus might fall into some other creature''s mouth."


    The new beast made all three sides nervous. Only the level-nine man on the cliff stayed out of control and kept ignoring the others. As the people were paying attention to the new beast, the man suddenly turned around and roared out loud before jumping off the cliff.


    "Ah!"


    None of the people on the scene managed to react.


    ''Damn! He jumped! What should we do now? Should we jump too?''


    Before the humans could make a movement, the black wolf king had transformed into a shred of black shadow and flashed down the cliff.

 1128 The Poisonous Woods Down the Mountain

    Before Lan Lu and the others could react, the black wolf king jumped off the cliff right after the level-nine man. Only after watching the wolf jump did they come back to their senses.


    "Qingqing, find a way to stop those Huaxia people!" Lan Lu quickly gave out his order and then jumped off the cliff as well.


    "Roar!" Soon, a wolf roar was heard from down the cliff. Under the cliff was not a river or a lake, but a forest. The cliff was only tens of meters tall, but the forest at its foot was a world of poisonous insects and gas.


    The forest was suffused with a thick, poisonous gas. All the plants and animals in the woods were poisonous. Commoners or low-leveled superpower possessors would either be poisoned to death by the gas or bitten to death by the insects, or killed by mutated plants or animals once they came in. It was impossible for weak living beings to defend themselves effectively in the woods.


    In that place, human lives could be very fragile!


    As the wolf king and Lan Lu jumped off the cliff one after another, an agitated vibe was instantly sensed from behind the area where the wolf was.


    "Roar!" A thunderous roar was heard, quaking the ground and the plants. Soon, an enormous mutated bear rushed over.


    The bear rushed to the cliff edge on all fours, then stood up and widely opened its mouth to give a raging roar.


    "Roar!"


    Its vibe spread along with its deafening roar and startled the birds and animals in the surrounding forest, making them fly and run, also suppressing the people nearby. The commoners had their hearts shaken. They coughed blood and then fell to the ground, losing consciousness. Some of them had their hearts stop beating and died. Most of them passed out with blood flowing out of their mouths, ears, noses, and eyes.


    "Whooo¡­"The wolf herd let out a wave of deep roar in fear and then fled with their tails between their legs. The wolf king would, of course, not bring the low-leveled one with it. Among the herd, about ten were at level-seven while the rest were all at level five or six. None of them was below level-five.


    Facing the gigantic bear''s oppressive vibe, they could only fall back. The bear''s vibe didn''t affect them strongly though.


    The bear''s vibe didn''t only linger in the cliff area, but had also spread to hundreds of miles away. As a result, Lin Qiao sensed it immediately and her eyes glowed. "Eh? Level-eight¡­ Is that a mutated beast?"


    Duan Juan, who was driving, didn''t sense it as clearly as Lin Qiao did, but she indeed felt an oppressive vibe coming at her. Thankfully, she managed to stay calm and did not drive the car to the side. Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, she instantly figured out what was going on.


    "Level-eight? Where?" Duan Juan asked.


    "Where we''re heading to. I think the beast is not far away from Lan Lu. It seems Lan Lu''s Chief didn''t just attract humans," Lin Qiao spent a moment carefully sensing the beast''s vibe and then said.


    Duan Juan said with surprise, "Has he attracted mutated beasts too? It makes sense though. Some mutated beasts at level seven or eight tend to be very smart now, especially those predators. I guess the level-nine superpower possessor is in a quite dangerous situation."


    Lin Qiao nodded and sighed, "Hopefully, Lan Lu can hang on until we get there. But, letting the beast have the level-nine energy nucleus is better than letting Si Kongchen have it."


    Duan Juan turned and gave her a glance with confusion, "Aren''t you going to help? Why do you sound like you don''t care about the man''s life at all?"


    Lin Qiao glanced back at her and responded, "I am going to help, but I can''t guarantee his safety. Will I possibly be able to stop him if he detonates himself? All I''m going to do is to keep some people from attaining his nucleus."


    "That''s a bit wicked, isn''t it?" Duan Juan looked at her and said.


    Lin Qiao shrugged as she said blandly, "I''ll surely help them as long as I can. But, if it''s beyond my power, I can''t force myself into saving them, can I?"


    Being left behind by Lan Lu to stop Huaxia people, Chang Qingqing glanced back at the people behind her with a bitter face. The ones below level-five were powerless under this situation. Even she herself wasn''t a strong fighter either!


    "Come with me!" Still, Chang Qingqing gathered the people who were able to fight and approached the group of Huaxia people.


    "Launch long-range attacks, use your brains. Don''t go too close to them. Pay attention to their weapons."


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    At that time, the commoners on Huaxia Base''s side had all fallen. Hou Guozhong and Wei Haizhao had brought quite some superpowered soldiers though. Currently, at least a hundred men under their command still had the capacity to fight.


    "Put on your masks. We''re going down as well!" Hou Guozhong didn''t take Chang Qingqing and her people seriously. After watching his target jump off the cliff, he quickly ordered his men to take the gear and get ready to jump to bring down the prey.


    "Lan Lu might be fighting the wolf king. If we go down now, we''ll have the best chance. Hurry up!" Wei Haichao gave his order too.


    "Yes, Sir!"


    "I hope that level-nine man dies from the fall," Hou Guozhong murmured.


    "That''s not gonna happen." Wei Haichao refuted him in the next second. "That guy possesses super strength. Even though he''s running out of energy, he''s still super strong. He''s at level-nine after all. How can he possibly die of falling?"


    Hou Guozhong shrugged, "Can''t I even think about that? What if it really happened?" After saying that, he turned and disappeared.


    Lin Qiao followed Lan Lu''s vibe and approached the cliff area. Not only did she sense the vibe of the level-nine man, but she also sensed the level-eight Lan Lu, and more than one level-eight mutated beasts.


    "Two level-eight mutated beasts!" Lin Qiao sensed the beasts'' special scents. She and her troop stopped moving, then she stood on top of a hill while carefully feeling the waves of vibes.


    "Eh? Not one?" Duan Juan stood behind her and asked.


    "I felt them too. There are two mutated beasts, both strong and aggressive," Lin Kui nodded. After saying that, he glanced at Yan Huiguang, who had been staying silent. Yan Huiguang had his eyes on the level-nine man all the time. He must have known about the man''s situation.


    However, he didn''t seem to tell Lin Qiao about it, who didn''t ask him either.


    Lin Qiao didn''t need him to tell her anything. She already knew everything that she needed to know. She was going to the site to help, and she was able to sense the power levels of her opponents.


    "I sensed a strange smell from where they are. I guess they have run into someplace filled with poisonous gas," Lin Qiao sniffed around and carefully sensed the special scent before figuring out what kind of place it was.


    "Let''s go!" She abruptly gave an order and then disappeared from the hilltop. After arriving at the area, she put her cars back into her space because there was no road for driving.

 1129 Have Faith in Her

    In the All Beings Base, Lin Feng and the others were sitting in the office, wearing deep frowns.


    Lin Wenwen had really gone missing. Did she make herself disappear? Did anyone take her? She didn''t seem to have been taken because Qiu Lili had sent out a great number of zombie soldiers to search for her scent, but not even a trace of hers was found.


    After finishing his work in Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue made his way to All Being Base as soon as possible. No one had a clue where Lin Wenwen was, so all he could do was help find her.


    He wouldn''t stop until she was found.


    That night, Li Yue Shan brought another piece of bad news to Wu Chengyue.


    "Did you say that Si Kongchen is secretly headed to the Northwest? Since when?" Wu Chengyue asked expressionlessly, the smile on his face gone.


    "He left his base this morning. I think he should be on his way now," Li Yue Shan stood straight on Wu Chengyue''s left side as he reported to him. The latter landed his eyes on the ground and slightly knitted his brows as he fell into thoughts.


    Si Kongchen was already on his way to the Northwest, meaning that he wanted to get the level-nine energy nucleus by himself, and that he was confident. The level-nine man was probably running out of energy. It was about time for the people who had eyes on him to make a move.


    The zombie lady and Lan Lu should be able to stop Si Kongchen by combining their powers. Lan Lu even had a chance against Si Kongchen alone, but even the two of them might not be able to kill the man. After all, Lin Qiao only broke into level-eight not long ago.


    Without a question, zombies were always stronger than the other creatures at their levels. Therefore, if Lin Qiao picked up a fight against Si Kongchen, she might have a great chance of winning unless he used some destructive weapons.


    However, Si Kongchen would not be alone. His subordinates and soldiers couldn''t be neglected, especially with their weapons. The weapons that Huaxia Base owned nowadays were much stronger than they had before and could definitely not be underestimated.


    Judging by the current situation, Lan Lu and his people were not in a lethal crisis. However, things might change if some unpredictable twists happened.


    "How''s the level-nine man doing?" Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and then decided to first learn about the frontline situation.


    Li Yue Shan shook his head and said, "Not good. The last movement he made was to run up to a cliff and jump. Down the cliff is a forest filled with poisonous gas. It''s highly dangerous. Also, apart from the people on the scene, some mutated beasts also have their eyes on the man."


    Hearing him mention mutated beasts, Wu Chengyue had his heart sinking. "So, there was a twist," he said, "Which level are those beasts at?"


    "Eight. There are two of them," Li Yue Shan answered his question after two seconds of silence.


    "Two?" Wu Chengyue quickly raised his eyes and looked at the other.


    Li Yue Shan nodded and said, "Yes, a wolf king and a bear, both at level-eight."


    "Did they jump off the cliff too?" Wu Chengyue asked.


    Li Yue Shan nodded again, "Yes. After the level-nine man jumped, the black wolf, Lan Lu, the mutated bear, Hou Guozhong and Wei Haichao from Huaxia Base jumped one after another."


    Wu Chengyue leaned against the chair back and folded his arms as he thought for a moment and said, "What about Chief Lu? Where is she?"


    "As far as I know, she was near the area when they jumped. She should be finding the target soon."


    "So, Si Kongchen isn''t there yet, is he?" Wu Chengyue spent a short while pondering over the situation of the level-nine man. If Lin Qiao arrived at the site before Si Kongchen, Si Kongchen wouldn''t have a good chance to approach the man. However, two level-eight mutated beasts were also on the scene. Lan Lu couldn''t possibly deal with both of them all by himself unless the two beasts fought each other over the prey.


    Lan Lu was a smart man. He would certainly find a way to turn the two beasts against each other, then find a chance to rescue his Chief. So, Lin Qiao the zombie wouldn''t be in any danger.


    With that thought, Wu Chengyue''s concern was eased. He sighed with relief and said, "Keep a close eye on that area. If anything new happens, let me know as soon as possible."


    "Yes, sir," Li Yue Shan responded quickly, but he looked at Wu Chengyue silently after that.


    "Anything else?" Wu Chengyue glanced at him bewilderedly.


    "Aren''t you going there?" Li Yue Shan didn''t understand, "What if Miss. Lu has an accident¡­ or something like that."


    Wu Chengyue smiled, "Do you really think that she''s still Lu Tianyu? Don''t worry. She''s strong. I believe that she won''t put herself in danger. We still don''t know who''s going to win yet."


    Unlike him, Li Yue Shan had no idea that it was Lin Qiao''s soul inside Lu Tianyu''s body, and that she was already a completely different person. So, he didn''t understand where his boss got the confidence from.


    Was it because of love? Did he believe in her power because he loved her? Or, did he do that to protect his future wife''s dignity?


    As a single man, Li Yue Shan couldn''t figure it out, so he turned and left with confusion.


    After watching him leave, Wu Chengyue sighed and said, "Her problem isn''t a problem. Her sister''s problem is a real problem."


    ¡­


    Lin Wenwen, who had somehow jumped back to seven years ago, looked at the few people sitting before her and then at the outside. Just now, as those people weren''t paying attention to her, she ran into the toilet and searched through all her pockets, finding something that stated her identity.


    The chubby girl was named Dong Xinxin, seventeen years old, in third year of junior high.


    She was short and fat for sure. She had a handsome brother, and her brother had a bunch of pretty friends. Even worse, although her brother was really nice to her, he always brought pretty girls to her.


    Well, specifically, those girls came to her.


    Her warm, sunny, good-looking brother currently had no interest in girls, and his EQ was a disaster. He rarely even took a glance at those girls who brought themselves to him. So, some of those girls shamelessly approached his little sister. In order to get close to him, they decided to first become friends with his beloved little sister.


    Of course, that was what Lin Wenwen learned after spending a few hours with the four young people.


    The two college girls seemed to want to be close friends with her, but they obviously didn''t like her. Lin Wenwen, as a girl who was turning thirty, could surely feel that.

 1130 Dong Xinxin the Fat Girl

    The two girls had been calling Dong Xinxin''s brother ''Lijia''. So, Lin Wenwen figured that her brother was named Dong Lijia. Based on what Dong Lijia said to the two girls, she guessed that Dong Xinxin liked the two girls very much.


    Clearly, Dong Xinxin was either unsophisticated or silly. Judging by the clothes that she was wearing, Lin Wenwen could guess where Dong Xinxin''s IQ was set.


    The two girls coaxed her into purchasing the clothes that she was wearing while her brother wasn''t with her. Just now, Dong Lijia took her to a shopping mall and bought her some other clothes because he found what she wore not suitable for her.


    Great! Her brother was not only handsome, but also rich!


    Dong Xinxin the girl didn''t seem to be in lack of money either, because she had quite a few secondary credit cards in her wallet!


    "Xinxin, what''s happening to you today? You''re not talking much. Are you feeling unwell?" The straight-haired girl looked at Lin Wenwen and asked.


    The girl was named Lin Yuehui. Her target wasn''t Dong Lijia. It was the cold and handsome boy who was sitting beside Dong Lijia.


    Qin Jiao, the girl with a ponytail, came for Dong Lijia.


    Hearing Lin Yuehui''s question, Lin Wenwen silently glanced at Dong Lijia. He had been answering all the questions for her. She didn''t even need to worry that she might accidentally say something to expose her-true-self.


    Dong Lijia clearly loved Dong Xinxin deeply. However, he really did have low EQ as he never paid attention to what other people were thinking.


    "No," Lin Wenwen smiled and shook her head.


    "She must be unhappy because I didn''t let her buy shoes," Dong Lijia glanced at Lin Wenwen, then turned and said to Lin Yuehui. While speaking, he put a prawn in Lin Wenwen''s bowl with his chopsticks.


    Looking at the perfectly normal prawn in her bowl that was nothing like the weird, mutated prawns in the post-apocalyptic era, Lin Wenwen almost drooled. As she picked up her chopsticks and prepared to remove the prawn shell, another pair of chopsticks reached into her bowl from sideways and took away the prawn!


    "Jia, Xinxin doesn''t eat prawns. Have you forgotten that again?" Deng Chenfei who took away the prawn said to Dong Lijia with discontentment.


    "Ah¡­ Oh!" His words reminded Dong Lijia. "I''m sorry," he said, "I was going to put it in my own bowl. I forgot and then put it into yours."


    Lin Wenwen, who watched the prawn being taken away from her bowl, felt speechless.


    ''She doesn''t like it, but I do! Give my prawn back to me!'' she yelled in her head.


    She pictured herself kicking Deng Chenfei so hard over and over again, but still, all she could really do was look at him quietly.


    "Lijia, I think you''ve been too strict with Xinxin. You decide what clothes to buy for her, and you wouldn''t let her buy shoes. I''d be unhappy too if I were her," said Qin Jiao with a sweet voice.


    "I didn''t forbid you from buying shoes. I just want you to buy suitable ones. I didn''t let you buy those shoes because they don''t suit you. Trust your brother, you won''t look good in those shoes," Dong Lijia looked at Lin Wenwen and said.


    Lin Wenwen was staring at her empty bowl with a grievance. Hearing what he said, she raised her head and glanced at him silently. Then, she reached her chopsticks toward the chicken.


    ''If you don''t want to be exposed, do not eat the chicken. Pick some vegetables.'' The voice that was heard from Lin Wenwen''s mind once was suddenly heard again.


    Lin Wenwen paused briefly, then quickly turned her chopsticks toward the vegetables. In the meanwhile, she dropped her eyelids to cover the look in her eyes.


    ''Who are you? Did you bring me here?'' Lin Wenwen picked some vegetables. While eating, she asked the question in her mind.


    ''You can say that it was me who brought you back here, and you can say that it wasn''t me. You are an accident.''


    ''What do you mean?'' Lin Wenwen said.


    ''This body is mine. This girl is me.'' The voice said coldly.


    Lin Wenwen swallowed the vegetable in her mouth, then said to the voice in her mind with surprise, ''Eh? Did you come back here from seven years later? Seven years after the apocalypse happened? Why did you bring me back with you then?''


    However, the voice in her mind faded again. The girl who claimed to be Dong Xinxin didn''t answer her question.


    ''Oi, answer my question!'' said Lin Wenwen anxiously, ''Why did you bring me to seven years ago? What do you mean by ''accident''? Can I still go back to seven years later? Where is my body?''


    She jumped back to seven years ago without knowing how and ended up in someone else''s body. She was going to find herself. Since she had traveled back to seven years ago, there must be another her in the world. As long as she found herself in this timeline or her sister and then told everybody to stock food and water, people wouldn''t need to be all panicked and helpless when the apocalypse happened.


    But then, she realized that she didn''t die before jumping back in time. What if she still needed to go back to where she came from? If everything changed from this timeline, what would the world be like when she returned to seven years later?


    What if she changed people''s lives and caused the butterfly effect?


    In fact, what she was worried the most was that, if she changed everything, she might not be able to go back to where she came from. If that happened, she would have to keep living with her current body and identity while watching her other self.


    Her families would become strangers and some strangers would become her families. Even thinking about that scared her! She didn''t want that! She wanted to go back to seven years later, back to the post-apocalyptic world that she had managed to adapt to, back to her family.


    Also, why did the real owner of her body fall into silence again?


    "Xinxin, are you okay? Why don''t you eat?" As Lin Wenwen was struggling in her mind, Dong Lijia''s voice was suddenly heard and a hand was waved before her eyes.


    "Eh¡­ what?" Lin Wenwen came back to her senses.


    "Eat. Why aren''t you eating anything? What are you thinking about?" Dong Lijia looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at the others, who were looking at her confusedly.


    She was so shocked just now that she even forgot to manage her expression. Realizing that, she gave a start and quickly adjusted herself.


    "Oh, oh, nothing. I might be a little tired. I''m not really hungry¡­" Seeing those foods on the table which were very rare and precious in the post-apocalyptic world, Lin Wenwen regretted what she said once she said that.


    Dong Lijia put a plate of fish before her and moved the chicken away, then said, "You still have to eat something. We''ve been shopping all day. I think you''re probably really tired. Let''s finish the meal and head back. You need to pack your things and go to school tomorrow. Your grade will probably only get you to an average college though. It''s alright! After college, you don''t have to work if you don''t want to. Your brother will support your life. Don''t give yourself so much pressure!


    Lin Wenwen didn''t feel pressure when she heard the word ''school''. However, Dong Lijia''s words made her feel speechless.


    Was he comforting her or mocking her?

 1131 She Might Be Able to Go Back

    The world would end in three months. Why should anyone still spend time trying to get college offers?


    ''Help me to make my brother believe that the apocalypse will happen in three months.'' That voice was heard in Lin Wenwen''s mind again.


    While putting food into her mouth, Lin Wenwen asked that voice, ''What on earth do you want? Are we in the same body? How am I supposed to go back?''


    ''I don''t know how you came back with me, but I know how to send you back to seven years later. Before that, you need to help me with a few things. Do you like fish heads?''


    Lin Wenwen, who was reaching her chopsticks toward the fish head, paused and said in her mind, ''Don''t you like fish heads?''


    ''No.''


    Lin Wenwen had no choice but to move her chopsticks to the fish belly. ''Fish heads are delicious! I can''t believe you don''t like them. It''s such a waste! Why do you need my help anyway? You brought me back here accidentally, didn''t you? Besides, isn''t this your body? I don''t need to be here, do I?''


    ''Because I¡­ Because I''m not in good condition now. If I took over the body, I might lose consciousness. So please, help me! I''ll recover when you do those few things. I''ll help you to go back to where you came from by then.''


    While eating the fish, Lin Wenwen raised her eyes and glanced at the others. As no one was paying attention to her, she said to that voice with disbelief, ''Can you really send me back? How? I might have nowhere to go after leaving your body. I might die.''


    ''You won''t. Believe me! Don''t you want to go back? The original you already exists in this timeline, so you can''t go back into your own body.''


    While Lin Wenwen was talking to the voice in her head, Dong Lijia finally noticed that she had been absent-minded the whole time. So, he abruptly said to her, "What about I buy you a pair of sneakers? You really can''t wear heels. Believe your brother, heels will hurt your bones. You can always wear some other shoes."


    Lin Wenwen raised her head and gave him a glance while blinking her eyes. An idea crossed her mind as she nodded and said, "Emm."


    Then, she said to the voice in her head, "Are you really Dong Xinxin? Why did you come back here?"


    ''I am Dong Xinxin. I died seven years later. I jumped back in time using my power.''


    Dong Xinxin was talking with a bland tone at first. However, when she said the last phrase, Lin Wenwen clearly sensed the hatred and anger contained in her words.


    "Go on and eat then." Seeing Lin Wenwen nod, Dong Lijia delightedly urged her to eat faster.


    Lin Wenwen eat quickly while asking Dong Xinxin about her preference of food in her head. She also said to Dong Xinxin, ''I guess you died of some special cause. Your hatred is overwhelming me. You haven''t told me how you''re going to send me back.''


    ''My power is special,'' said Dong Xinxin, ''I might be able to send you back to seven years later when I have recovered. You were accidentally brought back here by me. You didn''t die before that. Your body is in my space.''


    Lin Wenwen''s hands paused. With surprise, she had her eyes glowing. ''Wait. Where did you find my body is? What is your power? Space power?''


    Did Dong Xinxin have the same kind of power as she did? Was that why she was brought back to the past?


    ''Not space power,'' said Dong Xinxin, ''It can be considered as a type of space power, actually.''


    Lin Wenwen was slightly confused. ''Not space power, but a type of it?'' she asked with curiosity.


    Dong Xinxin wasn''t willing to say more. ''I''ll explain it to you later¡­ I''m losing it. Wait until I wake up¡­'' her voice sounded weak.


    Lin Wenwen was stunned to hear that.


    Losing what? Wait until she woke up?


    Earlier, she mentioned that she wasn''t in good condition, and she asked Lin Wenwen just now to wait until she woke up. Did she fall into unconsciousness? Did she fall asleep?


    While Lin Wenwen was putting food into her mouth quickly, Deng Chenfei, who had been quiet and expressionless all the time, turned his eyes away from her. He was observing her; since earlier that afternoon, Xinxin had been making him feel strange. He didn''t know where the problem was.


    He saw the food she picked. Everything was the same as usual. However, he somehow felt that her eyes often landed on the food that she never liked before. Why?


    "Chenfei, eat! You are not eating anything. Do you have no appetite?" Lin Yuehui put a chicken wing in Deng Chenfei''s bowl with the shared chopsticks and then said to him with a gentle smile. She, of course, knew that Deng Chenfei liked chicken wings. She had read his file and learned all his habits and hobbies.


    Deng Chenfei glanced at the chicken wing in his bowl. He didn''t like people putting food in his bowl, but to be polite, he still nodded and thanked her before eating.


    After dinner, Lin Wenwen headed straight to a shop store in the shopping mall. There, she picked a few pairs of sneakers or sports shoes and bought them.


    "Wait a second! I need to go to the ladies'' room. Yuehui, are you coming with me?" Qin Jiao wanted to go to the ladies'' room, and asked Lin Yuehui if she wanted to go too. She didn''t ask Lin Wenwen. Clearly, she didn''t want Lin Wenwen to follow her.


    Lin Yuehui gave her a glance and instantly received her eye signal. So, she nodded and said, "Okay. You guys keep shopping. We need to use the ladies'' room."


    Dong Lijia, who had shopping bags carried in both hands, nodded and then asked Lin Wenwen, "Do you need to go too?"


    Lin Wenwen smiled and shook her head, "Not yet."


    Next, the three of them watched the two girls walk toward the ladies'' room. As the two girls disappeared around a corner, Lin Wenwen said, "Oh, I think I''m going."


    After saying that, she walked toward the ladies'' room too. Instead of going straight in, she leaned against the wall and folded her arms, listening to the conversation between the two girls.


    "What''s wrong with Dong Xinxin today? She''s listening to her brother instead of us," said Qin Jiao.


    "Who cares? We just need to always tell her what kind of clothes are pretty and what kind are not. Over time, she will believe that we are right. Dong Lijia is a boy. How can he possibly know about girls'' tastes? Besides, he''s been so strict with Dong Xinxin, so she might start to dislike him someday. By then, she''ll certainly argue with him, and he''ll like her less and less," said Lin Yuehui blandly.


    While they were talking, the slight noises of shutting toilet lids could also be heard.


    "Is this good? If we want Dong Lijia to like her less, why are we trying so hard to fawn on her?" Qin Jiao didn''t understand.


    "Are you stupid? Apart from study, Dong Lijia has all his attention on her. When he gets tired of her, he might actually notice you! Don''t you know about the sister complex? Also, when Dong Lijia stops taking Dong Xinxin everywhere with him, Chenfei won''t have to always spend time with Dong Xinxin anymore either," said Lin Yuehui grumpily.

 1132 I Have Something to Tell You

    After spending a while listening to the two girls, Lin Wenwen furrowed her eyebrows slightly, then turned and left.


    "Eh? You alone? Where are they?" Dong Lijia saw Lin Wenwen walk back from the ladies'' room alone.


    "In the back," Lin Wenwen shrugged and said.


    After the two girls came back from the ladies'' room, Dong Lijia drove them home. They lived in town, not far away from each other. In fact, their families knew each other. Their families were all running businesses, and sometimes even worked together. Therefore, they hung out a lot.


    Dong Xinxin''s family owned a large company, and Deng Chenfei''s family business was slightly smaller. Although the two girls didn''t have such good family backgrounds, it was still not bad.


    Simply speaking, the few young people that Lin Wenwen was looking at were all from rich families. Dong Xinxin was a rich girl too; she didn''t look like one though.


    Back in the family house, Lin Wenwen walked through hundreds of meters wide garden from the courtyard gate to the entrance of the house. Before the gate were a large group of bodyguards, and near the house were some other bodyguards.


    ''They are so rich¡­'' Lin Wenwen said to herself.


    "Young Master, Young Mistress." The one who welcomed them at the door was a middle-aged man. He was standing there straight, and in spite of the suit he wore, the shape of his strong muscles could still be seen. He looked polite and gentle, wearing a pair of glasses. The glasses perfectly hid the shine in his eyes.


    But still, he could not escape Lin Wenwen''s eyes. Lin Wenwen quietly glanced at the middle-aged man who looked like a butler, then quickly turned to Dong Lijia.


    Dong Lijia waved a hand toward the man and said, "My parents aren''t home yet, are they?"


    While speaking, he walked into the door.


    The middle-aged man nodded, then followed behind Lin Wenwen into the house. "Chairman has an important dinner party to attend tonight. Madam left earlier today and hasn''t returned yet," he answered Dong Lijia''s question.


    "Oh¡­ I get it," Dong Lijia nodded while walking through the living room toward the stairs.


    The middle-aged man stayed in the living room instead of following him upstairs.


    Lin Wenwen was amazed by the huge living room. She saw that Dong Lijia was still carrying her shoes. He probably wanted to bring those shoes to her room. Good, she didn''t need to find Dong Xinxin''s room by herself.


    At the door of her room, Dong Lijia put the shopping bags into Lin Wenwen''s hands, then said to her, "Here go you. Have an early rest."


    After saying that, he turned and prepared to go back to his own room.


    "Wait!" Lin Wenwen immediately called after him.


    "What''s wrong?" Dong Lijia stopped walking, then turned and looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Wenwen found the keys from her pocket and compared the keys with the keyhole to find the right key, then said to Dong Lijia, "Open the door for me."


    Dong Lijia realized that he just put the things in both his hands into his sister''s hands, so she didn''t have a free hand to open the door now. He quickly took over the key which was hanging on Lin Wenwen''s finger and opened the door for her.


    Lin Wenwen walked in and saw that Dong Lijia was still standing outside. As she went in, he turned to leave, so she called after him again.


    "Wait a moment!"


    "What now?" Once again, Dong Lijia turned back to look at her and asked.


    "Get in," Lin Wenwen said to him.


    "Why?" Dong Lijia looked at her bewilderedly, then observed her face carefully, "I have found you weird today. You weren''t talking, and you didn''t call me."


    "Call you?" Lin Wenwen didn''t understand.


    Dong Lijia rolled his eyes and said, "Think about it. Have you called me Big Brother even once since this afternoon? You haven''t, have you?"


    Xinxin loved to call him Big Brother over and over again.


    Lin Wenwen wanted very much to roll her eyes, but she didn''t let herself. The boy was even younger than her, yet he wanted her to call him big brother. She wasn''t really his little sister. She couldn''t call him big brother.


    "Just come in. I have something to tell you," Lin Wenwen didn''t waste time talking to him, but dropped the bags in her hands and dragged him in, then closed the door with the other hand.


    "Why are you being so secretive?" Dong Lijia, who was suddenly dragged into her room, looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Wenwen closed the door, then turned around and looked at him. She knitted her brows, thinking about how she should tell him that she was not his sister and that the world was going to end in three months.


    Saying those to him would be easy, but making him believe it would probably be hard.


    Lin Wenwen turned from side to side behind the door, wondering how should she start. She looked at Dong Lijia and wanted to say something, but paused on second thought.


    "Just say it. What do you need to tell me? Why are you pacing around?" Her behavior aroused Dong Lijia''s curiosity, and he even felt itchy in the heart.


    "Is there someone you like? Who is he? What does he look like? How''s his score at school? Is he kind? Oh¡­ No, it''s not time to ask those questions yet. How can you start a relationship at this very time?" Seeing Lin Wenwen pacing in the room with hesitation, Dong Lijia started to make guesses. He thought his sister had met someone she liked. No wonder she had been weird all day. She bought tight clothes and she asked for heels. She was also absent-minded.


    She must have fallen in love with someone!


    "No¡­" Lin Wenwen looked at him speechlessly, "Don''t be over-thinking. What I''m trying to say is¡­"


    "What?" Dong Lijia stared at her and asked impatiently.


    Lin Wenwen pressed her lips together, then said to him, "Will you believe me? I''m afraid that you might not believe me."


    Hearing that, Dong Lijia felt that something wasn''t right. He looked at her confusedly and said, "What do you mean? If you''re not in love with someone, what is it about?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him as she made up her mind and said, "I want to tell you that the world will change in a destructive way in three months. Do you believe me?"


    "No," said Dong Lijia.


    Lin Wenwen immediately gave him a glare and said, "See, you don''t believe me. But, you have to believe me. Because I''m not your sister."


    Dong Lijia fell into silence.


    Seeing the look on his face, Lin Wenwen slapped off his hand that was reaching toward her and , said, "What''s that look on your face? Do you think that I''m joking with you?"


    Dong Lijia nodded and silently retracted his hand. Suffering that slap, his hand was growing a little numb.


    ''When did this girl grow such a strength? My hand hurts!'' he said to himself.


    Lin Wenwen wore a cold look as she gave him a sneer said, "Yeah? So tell me, does your sister know how to fight?"


    On hearing that, Dong Lijia seemed to be so confused. "Fight?" he said, "How can that be possible? You might even fall three times when trying to run fifty meters. How can you possibly fight someone?"


    Lin Wenwen did not know that Dong Xinxin could fall three times when trying to run fifty meters.


    Picturing the fat girl fall, she almost failed to manage her expression.

 1133 So, Who Are You?

    While picturing Dong Xinxin fall, Lin Wenwen made a neat movement.


    She suddenly grabbed Dong Lijia''s wrist, then pulled and raised before turning around with her back to him. After that, she quickly separated her legs and then she bent over, putting forth her strength through the leg at the back and her waist and throwing Dong Lijia out.


    "Ah!" Dong Lijia wasn''t prepared for that. He felt being turned upside down and then his body thudded against the floor.


    That was not the end. Once he fell, he was violently turned around and one of his arms were pulled behind his back. A great force landed on his back, immediately disabling him from moving.


    Lying face down on the floor, Dong Lijia was dumbfounded.


    "Try to break yourself free," Lin Wenwen sat down on his waist and said to him with a smile.


    After making the series of moves, Lin Wenwen had almost figured out where the limit of Dong Xinxin''s body was. She was able to react quickly and smoothly, but the strength and flexibility of her body were only at the commoner-level, even worse than that of commoners in fact. The body belonged to a fat girl after all!


    Hearing Lin Wenwen''s words, Dong Lijia finally came back to his senses. He immediately started to struggle, but the force upon his back pressed him firmly down. He couldn''t even pull his arm from behind his back.


    At that point, Dong Lijia''s brain wasn''t even working. He was still so confused. As he recovered from the shock, he realized that the one who easily gave him an overarm throw and pressed him down on the ground was his sister who had a poorly coordinated body.


    A second ago, his sister told him that she was not his sister.


    His sister wasn''t able to make fight moves like that indeed. Was what the girl said true? If that was true, where was his sister? Who was the person wearing her sister''s skin? Faces could look similar, but it was too weird that the girl had exact same body shape as his sister!


    So many questions filled up Dong Lijia''s head, stopping his brain from working properly.


    Lin Wenwen relaxed her grip on him, then stood up and said, "Still don''t believe me? Stand up and let me tell you something else."


    As his body was free to move again, Dong Lijia automatically got up and started looking at his sister from head to toe.


    Lin Wenwen reached out her hand and said to him, "Look."


    In the next second, she turned her palm around and a pistol suddenly showed up in her hand.


    Seeing the pistol, Dong Lijia popped his eyes in disbelief. He spent a moment staring at the pistol, then glanced at his sister''s face.


    Lin Wenwen threw the pistol at him and said, "Check if it''s real."


    Seeing the pistol fly at him, Dong Lijia hurriedly reached out to catch it. Then, he held the gun and looked at Lin Wenwen as if looking at a ghost, "W-where did you get it? Your hand was empty just now! How did it come into your hand?"


    While speaking, he was carefully feeling the gun with his fingers. It was heavy, made from cold metal. It was exactly like a genuine gun. Dong Lijia had never seen a real gun before, but the one in his hand made him feel constrained.


    A fake gun couldn''t possibly make him feel that way.


    It was a real pistol!


    "I have a superpower. I am a space power possessor. Three months from now, a natural virus will spread all over the world, then you''ll see countless people turn into zombies, like the ones you''ve seen in films. They will be dead, but they will still be able to move, run, and jump. They will like to bite living human beings and feed on them the most. Among the ones who will survive, a small number will change physically and grow superpowers." While speaking, Lin Wenwen walked up to him and then put the gun back into her space.


    She could still use her space, which was quite large. She was surprised to find out about that. She had brought everything in her space back to the past, so she wondered if she could bring the things in the past to the future.


    "Is¡­ Is that real?" Dong Lijia widely opened his mouth in shock. It took him a short while to find his voice back.


    Lin Wenwen shrugged and said, "Do you still think that I''m your sister? Would your sister talk to you like this?"


    Dong Lijia immediately shook his head. Looking at his sister who seemed like a complete stranger to him, he did not know how to react.


    "Your sister is still in this body. I think she has had some kind of accident, so she can''t wake up to talk to us yet. But, don''t worry. I think she''ll be fine." Finally, Lin Wenwen had the time to look around the room and then walk to the desk, pulling out the chair for herself to sit on. The series of movements that she made just now made her feel hard to breathe. Dong Xinxin''s body was seriously weak.


    "So you¡­ who are you? Why are you in Xinxin''s body?" Dong Lijia tried to process what she said. He looked at her but still didn''t fully believe her.


    Lin Wenwen spread her hands and said, "You need to ask your sister about that. I don''t know how it happened either."


    Abruptly, Dong Lijia buried his forehead in a hand and then reached the other hand toward Lin Wenwen as he said, "Wait, wait, I need time to process all this. Virus? Apocalypse? Zombies? Are you sure you''re not lying to me?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him coldly, "What good could I get by lying to you? It''s you who might suffer losses by choosing not to believe me. After the apocalypse, all supplies will become precious, and anyone can turn into a zombie. You''ll turn into a zombie if you get bitten or scratched by a zombie. You may not believe me, but whatever I do now, I do it on behalf of your sister. So, don''t try to stop me."


    "No, I mean¡­ This is so unexpected. Let me think¡­" Dong Lijia held his head with his arms and walked to the couch, then sat down with a struggling face.


    "You should feel lucky that I came back to three months before the apocalypse happened," said Lin Wenwen, "It''ll happen in September when the new school semester will start. So, you have three months to prepare supplies and weapons."


    "Weapons?" Hearing the last word Lin Wenwen said, Dong Lijia immediately raised his head to look at her.


    "Yeah. When the apocalypse happens, you''ll need to face both zombies and crazy humans. Don''t trust anyone with your whole heart. To survive, many people will become backstabbers in the post-apocalyptic time. You''ll also meet post-apocalyptic robbers who feed on humans, and all kinds of mutated plants and animals," Lin Wenwen snorted coldly.


    On hearing her words, Dong Lijia fell into silence. Lin Wenwen was talking in a bland tone, but he still detected coldness from her words.


    "So¡­ who are you?" He looked at her and asked.

 1134 Arriving at the Battlefield

    Hearing Dong Lijia''s question, Lin Wenwen responded to him calmly, "It''s not important who I am. What''s important is if you believe what I said, go back to your room and think about what to do. You have three months to prepare for what''s going to happen. When the apocalypse happens, the electric power system is going to break down and traffic will be paralyzed. The network signal is going to disappear. Many plants and animals are going to mutate. The water sources are going to be polluted. The armed forces all over the world will soon build bases for the survivors. I''ll draw you a map tomorrow to let you know where those bases will be."


    By saying what she said, she gave him a hint that he may leave the room.


    Dong Lijia spent two seconds gawking at her. Only until Lin Wenwen pointed at the door did he realize what she meant. But, he still looked at her with disbelief.


    Lin Wenwen thought for a moment and said, "I''ve told you what I should tell you. It''s your own choice to believe me or not¡­ as long as you won''t regret."


    After saying that, she stopped paying attention to his reaction. After all, he needed to time process what he had heard. Anyone would react the same way he did when they heard such news. At first, they would refuse to believe it as it sounded completely impossible, and then would think that whoever told them the news was joking with them.


    However, Lin Wenwen had shown her combat skill just now and brought a gun out of nowhere. Even though Dong Lijia didn''t want to believe what she said, he had to take her words seriously.


    He stood up and walked toward the door.


    As he left, Lin Wenwen locked herself in the room and took out Dong Xinxin''s phone, then started placing orders on-line. She bought large batches of rice and flour, all kinds of packed food, fruits, clothes, and shoes.


    She still had her space which was airless. In her space, the shelf life of food could be longer than usual. She felt no guilty spending Dong Xinxin''s money. It was the girl who put her in such a situation anyway.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t stop shopping on-line until she maxed out all Dong Xinxin''s credit cards, which were linked with her on-line shopping platform accounts.


    She had run out of money, but she still needed to buy more supplies¡­ Should she go and borrow some money from Dong Lijia?


    With that thought, Lin Wenwen quickly stood up and ran out of her room. But once she got out, she paused without knowing where to go.


    Where was the boy''s room?


    She was standing in a hallway with doors on both sides. Lin Wenwen had no idea which one was Dong Lijia''s room.


    Should she search through all those rooms one after another?


    No, she wouldn''t do that. She believed that Dong Lijia would come to find her tomorrow morning.


    Lin Wenwen looked around, then quickly went back into her room.


    If Dong Xinxin believed what she said, he would come back to her tomorrow. In that case, the first thing that Dong Xinxin asked Lin Wenwen to do could be considered done.


    Lin Wenwen wondered what else did Dong Xinxin want her to do. She figured that she wouldn''t be able to return to her own time any time soon, so she still needed to adapt to the fat girl''s body.


    The girl needed to lose some weight and get some proper excise!


    She looked around and found Dong Xinxin''s room to be rather large. There was a bathroom, a balcony, and a walk-in closet in the back. The living environment of the rich girl was indeed different from the ordinary ones.


    After giving herself a tour of the rich girl''s room, Lin Wenwen found a loose-fitting pajama suit from her closet, then walked into the bathroom.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao arrived at the cliff area and sensed the surrounding scents, then looked down at the forest at the foot of the cliff. She couldn''t see the things down there clearly because the forest was shrouded in a faint, gray fog.


    She narrowed her eyes and looked down. The mist became dark-purple in her eyes.


    She turned back and glanced at the three humans in her team. Except for Duan Juan, Yan Huiguang, and Shui Mingjun, all the others under her command were zombies. Poisonous gas could hardly hurt zombies.


    "You guys stay outside to wait and see. Don''t get yourself involved in anything unless it''s related to us," Lin Qiao signaled for Lin Kui to step to Duan Juan''s side, then said to him and the three people. After that, she took out two small bottles of blue liquid drug and handed them to Duan Juan. She didn''t say anything to Duan Juan, but turned to Yan Huiguang and Shui Mingjun, "You two, drink this. This drug won''t affect you now, but you will lose your minds and lose control of your powers a month later. If I don''t come back in fifteen days, you two should go to Sea City Base and ask Wu Chengyue for the antidote."


    On hearing her words, Yan Huiguang knitted his brows and Shui Mingjun stayed silent for a few seconds as well. But soon, he took over the drug from the hand of Duan Juan, who had already walked up to him, opened the lid, and poured the drug into his mouth without hesitation.


    Lin Qiao smilingly observed their reaction. When Shui Mingjun took the drug, Yan Huiguang, who was standing by his side, blinked his eyes. Seeing that, Lin Qiao curved her lips in a meaningful smile.


    After taking the drug, Shui Mingjun threw away the bottle and gave Lin Qiao a glance, then turned and moved swiftly into the woods nearby. He might have hidden away, but his scent still lingered in the area. Clearly, he didn''t go too far away.


    After watching Shui Mingjun disappear, Yan Huiguang spent two seconds staring at Lin Qiao, then poured the drug into his mouth. A bitter, sour, disgusting flavor spread in his mouth. He swallowed the drug as quickly as he could.


    As both had obediently taken the drug, Lin Qiao turned around with satisfaction and jumped off the cliff with her zombies, landing into the poisonous forest. She landed on top of a tree and quickly slid down the trunk. She paused on the middle of the tree trunk, then thrust her feet against it and leaped toward where Lan Lu''s vibe was sensed from. Acting swiftly, she leaped through the tall and thriving trees.


    The mutated trees in the forest were tall, flourishing, and twisted. The leaves had blocked the sunlight, so the area under the trees was very dark. A faint, gray fog had the forest suffused, making people feel threatened and depressed.


    "Roar¡­" Boom! From a distance away, beast roars could be heard from time to time along with the thunderous noises caused by rocks bumping into each other and explosions. A battle was being clearly fought, quaking the earth and rustling the trees.


    Mo, Ye Qingxian, and the other zombies scattered and followed behind Lin Qiao, nimbly flashing through the forest like monkeys.


    "Roar!" Following a raging roar, an enormous dark figure flew out and thudded against a large tree, generating a muffled bang. The bear quickly got up from the ground on all fours and gave the black wolf, which was standing on top of a tens of meters tall tree, a thunderous roar. Then, it charged and bumped straight into the large tree, easily bringing it down.


    The tree fell to the ground and stirred the air, starting a gust of wind and a wave of rustling sound.

 1135 The Intense Figh

    When the bear bumped into the tree, the black wolf hopped onto another tree. Once it landed on the tree, it turned around and raised a paw to release a strong wave of sharp ice pieces toward the bear. Each crystal ice piece was as thick as a baby''s arm, especially long, slim, and sharp. Within a blink, the sharp ice pieces flew at the bear at lightning speed.


    "Roar!" The bear hit its head. Before turning around, it sensed the ice pieces that were flying at its back. At unimaginably high speed, it turned back, stood up, widely opened its mouth and uttered a resonant roar toward the ice pieces.


    A raging fire burst out of its mouth.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The ice pieces sank into the fire, quickly fell into pieces.


    After launching the fire, the bear quickly drew back. Its enormous body suddenly disappeared into the forest.


    The black wolf vigilantly looked around. The bear did not only disappear but also hid its vibe away. It was good at hiding its vibe. When it really wanted to vanish, even the black wolf which was at the same level as it couldn''t sense its existence.


    On the other side, the anxious Lan Lu had been paying attention to the level-nine man while fighting against the superpower attacks and weapon attacks from Hou Guozhong and his partner.


    Boom! Once again, a rocket bomb was sent toward the level-nine man.


    The level-nine man who was out of control made a strong reaction to that.


    "Ah¡­ Ahhhh!" Sensing the coming of the rocket boom which was as effective as an attack launched by a level-eight superpower possessor, he popped his bloodshot eyes, charged at the bomb while roaring madly.


    Standing nearby, Lan Lu felt so exhausted. He could not stop the man. He had spirit power, and as a level-eight superpower possessor, his body was relatively stronger than the others. However, he could be rather fragile on the battlefield. Neither the rocket bomb nor the energy tornado created by the level-nine man was something that he could cope with.


    But still, he risked his own safety and rushed up, pushed away his Chief. In the meanwhile, he attacked Hou Guozhong''s mind with his spirit power. In the next second, he was sent flying away by a violent energy stream created by his Chief. At last, both of them bumped into trees and rocks.


    He successfully dodged the rocket bomb, which was launched by Hou Guozhong.


    Bang! The rocket bomb landed on a hill on the other side, almost brushed across the two of them.


    "Eh-hem-hem¡­" Lan Lu fell under a tree, then pressed a hand on his chest, struggled up. The impact didn''t hurt him severely, but his Chief''s energy had left quite some wounds on his body.


    His clothes had almost been shredded. Thankfully, the vital parts of his body were still covered.


    "Em¡­ Pah!" Hou Guozhong who suffered Lan Lu''s attack had his face turned blue and his veins bulged on his forehead. He suddenly let out a breath, then closed his eyes, fell softly on the ground. His face had even twisted.


    "Hou!" Wei Haichao who was by his side hurriedly caught him, quickly brought him backward, away from Lan Lu.


    Thankfully, the distance between them and Lan Lu was rather long. Hou Guozhong and Wei Haichao didn''t intend to fight Lan Lu and the wolf king over the level-nine man.


    "Roar¡­" The wolf king was searching for its old opponent, the giant bear''s scent. It sensed that someone had actually attempted to attack its prey, so immediately, it turned around and gave Hou Guozhong a raging roar, then flashed across the air and disappeared from the tree that it was standing on.


    As the wolf disappeared, the huge bear showed up, quietly hanging on a tree near behind. As the wolf moved to somewhere else, the bear stopped climbing the tree and silently came back down to the ground.


    It was going to give the wolf a surprise attack from the back. However, the wolf was distracted by something else.


    The bear was at the size of an elephant. It probably weighed over a thousand kilograms. However, it climbed the tree so nimbly and flexibly. The tree didn''t even shake.


    Of course, the tree that it chose to climb was mutated.


    After getting off the tree, the bear''s body turned transparent. Then once again, it sneakily approached the wolf.


    The wolf darted up to Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong like a bolt of lightning, barred their road.


    "Roar!" Standing before the two men, the wolf lowered its head, glared at them with rage. Next, it bared its teeth, raised a paw and wielded toward the two.


    Following a swishing noise, a large wave of sharp ice pieces flew at the two, reflecting the sunlight.


    Wei Haichao raised an arm. Following his movement, the surrounding trees immediately reached their branches before him to shield him against the sharp ice pieces.


    A series of cracking noises could then be heard. The branches were broken and a small number of ice pieces flew through the leaves and branches, kept chasing the two men.


    The ice created by level-eight beasts could be even harder than steel. Earlier, the bear melted the ice with level-eight fire, but as a level-seven green power possessor, Wei Haichao wasn''t able to break the wolf''s ice.


    Therefore, when the wolf''s ice pieces broke the branches and the leaves, all Wei Haichao could do was to drag Hou Guozhong away as fast as he could.


    Seeing the two of them run, the black wolf didn''t chase them, but turned his eyes to the level-nine man, who was crazily bumping into everything that crossed his mind. Once again, the wolf transformed into a shred of black shadow and charged at the man.


    At that very moment, the energy stream that was surrounding the man suddenly grew weak, provided the wolf with a great chance to attack.


    Lan Lu sensed that his Chief was in danger again. He hurriedly focused his mind to search for the black wolf, attacked it with his spirit power.


    "Roar!" The black wolf king which had jumped up to the man suffered a sharp pain in the brain. It gave a roar and then fell from the midair, landed on the ground, could barely maintain the balance of its body.


    As the wolf landed on the ground, shambled and shook its head, the enormous bear pounced upon it from behind, spread its huge paws and swung them at the wolf''s back.


    The black wolf gave a start, immediately made a roll on the ground to dodge the bear''s attack, and then got up, roared at the bear ragingly. Next, the wolf charged at the bear with fury.


    "Owooo¡­"


    "Roar¡­" The bear showed no fear but accepted the challenge.


    "Hrrr¡­" The two beasts started fighting in the most primitive way. They brandished their claws, bared their teeth, clawed and bit each other.


    An entangled battle between the two beasts was started.


    Lan Lu grabbed the opportunity to approach his Chief, who was still hitting a rock with his head. The man''s agitated energy was easing down. He planned to seize the chance to knock him out and then bring him away.

 1136 The Fight of Wolf and Bear

    The invisible Lin Qiao arrived to find the two level-eight beasts rolling up into a ball while attacking each other with their teeth and claws, and Lan Lu sneakily approaching the level-nine man. She spent a short while observing the scene, then quickly moved toward the level-nine man. She ignored the energy stream that had been circling around him and raised an arm to give him a strike on the back of his neck. The energy stream had been weakened largely, so it could barely hurt her.


    The level-nine man gave a start, then his vibe suddenly dissipated.


    Lan Lu, who had just managed to come close to his Chief, sensed the man''s vibe fade all of a sudden and then saw him fall to the ground.


    Lin Qiao showed up beside the man as she looked at Lan Lu from head to toe and laughed, "Hey, nice look!"


    Lan Lu did not know what to say.


    Lin Qiao''s appearance and the disappearance of the level-nine man''s vibe made the wolf and the bear, who had been fighting each other intensely, pause. Both of them instantly turned to look at Lin Qiao.


    "Roar!" Finding its prey getting stolen by someone else, the wolf king instantly gave a raging roar, then turned away from the bear and rushed swiftly at Lin Qiao. Once the wolf turned around, the bear opened its mouth and sent a fireball toward it, which fleetingly and accurately hit the wolf''s butt.


    "Owoooo!" The wolf howled in pain and was sent flying sideways, bumping into a tree nearby, while its long tail was set on fire. This time, the black wolf was agitated. It hurriedly turned and let out a wave of ice mist from its mouth toward its tail.


    From the beginning, the bear was targeting the wolf king solely and didn''t seem to care about the level-nine man at all. It had its eyes fixed on the wolf and launched an attack every time it grasped a chance.


    While fighting against the bear, the wolf king had put most of its attention on the level-nine man. As long as it attained the level-nine nucleus and broke into level-nine, would it ever need to be afraid of the annoying bear?


    The fire on the wolf''s tail was instantly frozen by the icy mist. Then, as the wolf wagged its tail, the ice shattered and fell. What also fell were some hair from its tail.


    Feeling chilly from its tail, the wolf turned and gave the bear a deep, angry roar.


    "Roar¡­" It uttered a series of roars but didn''t charge at the bear. Instead, it suddenly twirled and charged at Lin Qiao and the other two people in the next second.


    At that moment, Lan Lu had already walked up to his Chief. He gave out a long sigh of relief when Lin Qiao showed up. But before he could respond to Lin Qiao, the black wolf pounced on them, and before the wolf could reach its targets, the bear once again set its tail on fire.


    Seeing the wolf come at him again, Lan Lu grabbed his Chief''s arm and lifted him, then glanced at Lin Qiao. She glanced back at him, then raised an arm toward the black wolf, creating a black fire wall.


    "Owoooo¡­" The wolf king uttered a shrill howl when the black fire wall suddenly appeared before its eyes. It twisted its body in the midair but failed to stop itself from lunging forward. In the end, it bumped straight into Lin Qiao''s black fire wall.


    "Owoooo¡­" Another wolf howl was heard.


    The wolf flew through the black fire wall and landed on the ground. Its body was covered in a layer of ice, and the ice surface was wrapped in a weird black fire.


    The wolf automatically made a roll on the ground and tried to put out the fire. The energy contained in the dark fire ball wasn''t at a higher level at its own power. However, the fire was able to devour its own energy.


    Seeing the wolf rolling on the ground, the bear thought for a moment and then decided to pounce on it. It suddenly released a raging fire that wrapped up its own body, then wielded its sharp claws at the wolf''s head.


    The black wolf didn''t manage to dodge in time. As a result, the bear''s claws left a few wounds on its body, and shattered a large piece of its ice shield. With that, Lin Qiao''s dark fire immediately reached toward those wounds.


    In the meantime, the dark fire had also gone onto the bear''s claws. On the two beasts'' skin, the fire quickly devoured their energy and then grew stronger and stronger.


    "Roar¡­" The bear was afraid of the energy contained in Lin Qiao''s fire as well. However, the black wolf was finally showing weakness. If it didn''t grasp the chance to attack the wolf, it might never have an opportunity again. Therefore, it hesitated briefly and then decided to attack the wolf again.


    But unexpectedly, although its attack worked, its own claws were compromised by that weird black fire on the wolf''s body.


    The bear was startled by the devouring power in the dark fire. Then, it started to hop while swinging its claws.,


    Bang! Bang! Bang! One could imagine an elephant-sized hairy bear jumping around. It looked silly and clumsy.


    "Aooooo¡­ Ao¡­" While shaking its paws, the bear roared in a panic. On the other side, the black wolf was still rolling on the ground.


    The dark fire which drilled into the wolf''s wounds wasn''t only devouring the wolf''s energy, but had also been melting its blood and flesh. The wolf screamed in pain as it constantly released its ice power to seal the wounds.


    "I think they''re afraid of your fire¡­" Holding his Chief, Lan Lu walked to Lin Qiao''s side as he looked at the two level-eight beasts with surprise. The two beasts both seemed so powerful just now, but they were clearly panicked now. He wasn''t expecting the zombie lady''s power to be so effective. Didn''t she have poisonous mist? How come it suddenly became dark fire?


    The dark fire even gave Lan Lu a weird sense of danger. His instincts told him not to get close to it.


    "My power is especially effective against mutated beasts and zombies," said Lin Qiao. While speaking, she turned to another direction. The scents of Hou Guozhong and Wei Haichao could be sensed from there at a distance. She furrowed her brows slightly and then said, "Didn''t you take care of those rats?"


    Lan Lu turned and gave a glance at that area. His handsome face was now stained and wounded, but his eyes still stayed sharp. "They are cautious," he said, "They''ve been hiding far away. I hit Hou Guozhong once though. I think he won''t recover anytime soon."


    Lin Qiao nodded as she gave another glance at where the scents of the two men came from, then said, "No wonder they''ve been moving away from here."


    Lan Lu looked into that direction and said, "Perhaps your presence made them feel that they have no chance. They''re probably preparing to leave."


    "I don''t think so," Lin Qiao shook her head.


    The two were miles away from her, but she could still faintly hear their thoughts. They weren''t giving up. Instead, they seemed to be waiting for some kind of opportunity.

 1137 The Wolf Sneaks Away

    The poisonous gas in the forest might have weakened Lin Qiao''s sense of smell. But thankfully, she could still roughly sense the surrounding scents.


    "Roar!" The black wolf, who was suffering the torment given by Lin Qiao''s black fire, suddenly uttered a fierce roar and released a strong stream of ice power from its head, covering its entire body with ice. Soon, its soft and smooth hair stood up and froze like ice thorns.


    It had managed to freeze Lin Qiao''s fire! Before long, the ice on the wolf''s body cracked and fell. With that, the wolf king who had long and black hair became a fur-less wolf.


    The wolf swiftly turned around and pounced on the bear who was flipping its limbs. It widely opened its mouth and sent a cloud of icy mist to the bear.


    The ice mist spread from before the wolf''s mouth and covered a hundred meters within a blink, with the bear within that area. The surrounding trees were all turned into ice statues as well; even the treetops, which were over a hundred meters away from the ground, had turned white and frozen.


    The coldness spread, and countless animals and insects which managed to survive in the poisonous forest were frozen.


    The enormous bear, which had been hopping around, was suddenly covered in ice. Then, it stopped moving and paused with a weird posture.


    All that happened within a blink of an eye.


    As the bear was frozen, the wolf immediately pounced on it, wielding its claws to attack it. Meanwhile, it sent a huge wave of sharp ice thorns toward the other.


    If the bear didn''t show up and repeatedly hinder it from hunting its prey, it might have brought down the nearly disabled level-nine man long ago instead of wasting the time until a stronger enemy showed up.


    As Lan Lu and Lin Qiao, who were both at level-eight, showed up to protect the level-nine man, the wolf instantly realized that its hunt had been ruined. It could charge again, but there would never be another chance to get the level-nine man. On the contrary, it might be suppressed by the two weird level-eight people and end up as a prey itself.


    Therefore, the wolf gave up on the level-nine man. In the meantime, he grew rage toward the bear who had caused it quite some trouble. It didn''t intend to risk its own life fighting the bear though.


    The bear was frozen for only a few seconds. After that, it instinctively released its power to free itself from the wolf''s ice.


    Boom!


    Fire power erupted from its body and blasted the ice off the surface of its body. The scorching fire energy exploded like a bomb and created a tens of meters wide pit on the ground, blowing away all the trees and rocks nearby along with the wolf''s ice thorns. Waves of hot air spread out and soon covered up the coldness, melting the ice-age-like scene that the wolf had created just now.


    Lin Qiao moved out of the blast range when the bear''s fire power erupted and then watched the ground being burnt black with a huge pit on it.


    "Eh?" She turned with her expression changed. She felt that the wolf''s vibe had moved quite away from the battlefield. She didn''t even notice when it ran away. It had probably taken advantage of the blast and fled when the bear''s power erupted.


    The wolf was careful and cautious. As the situation was turning bad for itself, it instantly found a way out. Before leaving, he even used the bear, its old opponent, to draw away the enemy''s attention.


    One had gotten away, but the other one was still there. Lin Qiao decided to finish off the bear first. It was an enormous bear after all, pretty fat. Aside from its nucleus, she also planned to slice the bear and soak it in the lake water, store it as food for her zombie soldiers.


    Lan Lu reacted not as fast as Lin Qiao did, and he was carrying an unconscious, tall and strong man. But still, he managed to dodge the fire and blast, draw back to the side.


    He saw Lin Qiao charge at the gigantic bear once he landed on the ground.


    The bear had just released all its power and was feeling very comfortable at the moment. As it prepared to shake its fur, an instinctive sense of danger occurred to it. It immediately turned around and stared at Lin Qiao with its pair of beady eyes.


    Lin Qiao rushed up to the bear, then leaped high and swung her claws down at the bear a few times in a row before throwing a huge, black fireball at the bear.


    "Roar¡­" Seeing Lin Qiao swing her claws at it, the bear was a little confused at first. In the next second, it heard a shrill sound and sensed a sharp vibe coming at it. The bear trusted its strong skin, so it raised both paws to shield its head.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! But soon, it sensed a pain from its paws as if something had cut into its skin.


    "Roar!" The bear''s face was twisted. It howled in pain, then flinched and bent over, standing on all fours. At that very moment, a black fireball which was as huge as its own body descended toward it.


    Level-eight mutated beasts weren''t much harder to kill than the level-seven ones. The claw move that Lin Qiao made just now could cut a building into pieces. However, the bear only suffered a few shallow wounds on its skin.


    Thankfully, her black fire soon landed on the bear''s body. After launching the attack, Lin Qiao landed on the clearing nearby, then raised her hands to control her fire. The fireball suddenly expanded and wrap the bear up once it touched the bear.


    "Roar¡­" Being wrapped in Lin Qiao''s dark fire, the bear raised a great crisis awareness. It struggled and started running while releasing a red energy from its skin as it attempted to push away her dark fire like it pushed away the wolf''s ice power just now.


    But, the result wasn''t the same as expected. The dark fire on its skin expanded a little when the bear''s energy suddenly gushed out of its body and made it look like a giant black ball. However, the dark fire didn''t leave its body. On the contrary, it absorbed the bear''s energy and turned that into a part of itself.


    So, in the end, the bear was running about aimlessly while the dark fire on its body grew stronger and stronger.


    "Roar!" Bang! The bear couldn''t see. Soon, it rushed out of the area which was swept across by its energy just now and bumped into a tree. The giant tree was easily pressed down to the ground while the bear bounced back and made a few rolls on the ground before struggling. With both angry and anxiety, it uttered a series of raging roars.


    "Roar!"

 1138 Torture the Fire Bear

    The trees which were knocked over by the giant bear were also shrouded by the dark fire. In the dark fire, the tree trunks, branches, and leaves and the grasses and vines on the ground vanished within a blink. The sands and stones were devoured too. The ground sank down.


    Lin Qiao controlled the fire on the bear''s body with one hand, and raised the fire on the other areas with the other, threw it back to the bear.


    "Roar!" The great stickiness and devouring nature of Lin Qiao''s netherworld fire made the bear suffer. The bear made a few rolls on the ground but still couldn''t get rid of the netherworld fire. It quickly stood up and uttered a raging roar toward the sky.


    Next, the bear''s fire power which had been resisting Lin Qiao''s netherworld fire suddenly shrink and then exploded.


    Boom! The scorching hot, glowing red fire energy exploded like a bomb. The impact force spread in all directions, created a huge and deep pit in the forest, which was already devastated. The new pit was times larger than the original one, and the trees near it were shredded.


    The energy that the bear released when it was fighting the wolf, and the energy it let out to fight Lin Qiao created two pits in the forest, blew away the poisonous gas in the area and generated a huge breach in the forest.


    While controlling her netherworld fire, Lin Qiao suddenly shook her hands. Her arms flinched slightly as if someone had thrown those arms back toward her body. Following her movement, the netherworld fire on the bear''s body erupted.


    The bear became a fiery bear, and the red fire blazed ragingly on its body as it charged at Lin Qiao while roaring thunderously.


    "Roar!"


    Lin Qiao raised her brows. The bear was at level-eight but seemed to be a little weaker than the eye-less gorilla that she found underground. It had fire power though¡­


    However, the bear was quite powerful even though it was a little weaker than Strong. Lin Qiao might have avoided the bear if she didn''t break into level-eight before leaving her base.


    Watching the bear rushing at herself with rage, seeming ready to tear her into pieces and eat her, Lin Qiao disappeared from where she was.


    From nearby, Lan Lu watched her disappear and gave a sigh. The zombie lady had upgraded ridiculously. Not long ago, her vibe was only at level-seven, but now, she seemed to have entered level-eight already. The vibe coming from her was already stronger than that belonging to Lan Lu himself. He figured that if he picked up a fight against her, he would be the one being tortured.


    She was not a superpowered human being but a zombie. The vibe of a zombie emperor could completely suppress that of a level-eight superpowered human being. Of course, a zombie emperor could be stronger than a level-eight man. Zombies could always easily defeat humans at their own levels.


    Lin Qiao''s sudden disappearance made the enormous fiery bear pause for two seconds with confusion when it rushed to where she was standing before.


    "Roar¡­ Er?" It stood there and looked around. Realizing that its target was gone, it burst in rage as it raised its head and gave another deafening roar.


    "Oarrrrr!"


    At that moment, Lin Qiao had sneakily moved to the spot about ten meters behind the bear, sensing waves of hot air coming from the bear''s body. Her body condition was rather weird currently as she was afraid of the heat the most. Heat could make her feel extremely uncomfortable as if her brain was being burnt.


    Her body should be dead, but still was so afraid of heat. She wasn''t afraid of coldness though. She had no idea what was going on, but guessed that it might be a side effect brought to her by the lake water.


    Even though she was afraid of the heat, she could, of course, not flinch when carrying a mission or let that affect her.


    When she moved behind the fiery bear, she popped her sharp claws.


    Against the great heat, she swiftly approached the bear. From about eight meters away from the bear, she suddenly leaped high and descended toward the bear from the midair, wielding her claws while disabling her invisibility. A puff of black fire burst out of her palms as her claws fleetingly and accurately pierced into the back of the bear''s neck.


    "Roar!" Instinctively, the bear felt a coldness from its back. It gave a start and quickly turned around. But before it could turn its body, it sensed a sharp pain from one side of its neck.


    "Owo¡­" A shrill howl echoed through the forest ten miles in radius.


    Wei Haichao was carrying the unconscious Hou Guozhong, looking into the battlefield from a distance away. Hearing the bear howl from time to time and sensing the newly appeared strong vibe, he became nervous.


    The vibe was no weaker than Lan Lu''s, meaning that its owner was another level-eight superpower possessor. The vibe was strange and familiar at the same time. He couldn''t tell whom it belonged to, but he was sure that it did not belong to Wu Chengyue or his Chief.


    Was there a new level-eight superpower possessor in the country? Which one of all the level-seven beings from the bases in the country could suddenly enter level-eight?


    At that time, Lin Kui and the other three had been hiding quietly near the cliff, which was not far away from the forest. Soon, a series of new vibes were sensed, one of which was very strong. It completely suppressed the vibes of Lin Kui and Yan Huiguang, who were both at level-seven.


    Lin Kui could clearly feel that a level-eight superpower possessor was coming, so he quickly flashed to Duan Juan''s side.


    "Some other people are coming here, and one of them is at level-eight." He moved to Duan Juan''s side and faced the incoming vibe as he reminded her.


    On hearing his words, Duan Juan stopped short and asked, "Level-eight? Chief Wu? No, Chief Wu shouldn''t be here at this time. It''s not Si Kongchen, is it?"


    "It''s not Wu Chengyue," said Lin Kui.


    He could recognize Wu Chengyue''s vibe and scent. The level-eight vibe was a little familiar to him, but he was sure that it did not belong to Wu Chengyue.


    "You''re right. Si Kongchen is here." Lin Kui remembered Si Kongchen''s scent and said.


    "What is he doing here?" Duan Juan furrowed her brows, "Does he not trust his subordinates with the job? Is he coming here to finish the level-nine man himself?"


    That made sense. The level-nine man was protected by Lan Lu, a level-eight spirit power possessor. Without someone at his level, it would be difficult to attain the level-nine man''s nucleus.


    Lin Kui nodded as he took off his coat. Black hair grew out of his skin and his face quickly twisted, turning into a round panther face. Soon, a large, muscular black panther showed up beside Duan Juan. The panther swiftly and silently darted away from Duan Juan, toward Yan Huiguang. Only in his panther shape could Lin Kui perfectly hide his vibe.


    At the same time, Duan Juan drew back toward Shui Mingjun.


    Before going down the cliff, Lin Qiao told them to stay there and see how things went if what was happening had nothing to do with them.


    But now, Si Kongchen was here. So, they had to move slightly away, in case he detected their vibes.

 1139 Si Kongchen Arrived

    About ten miles away from the cliff, a figure was gliding swiftly in the midair. A few people were following not far behind him. The tall and strong man in the lead soon landed on the cliff. He first observed the battle traces left on the cliff, then turned his eyes downward.


    He narrowed his eyes, sensing the changes of vibes from the poisonous forest down the cliff. A battle was clearly being fought down there. A few vibes could be sensed, but none of them belonged to the level-nine man.


    He sensed two level-eight vibes that belonged to human superpower possessors, and two that belonged to level-eight mutated beasts. One of the two beasts seemed to have been running; its vibe was already a little far away from the battlefield. He had also grasped the familiar vibe of Wei Haichao, but not Hou Guozhong''s.


    Si Kongchen knitted his brows while a look of confusion appeared in his peaceful eyes. His masculine face wore no expression when he looked down the cliff. The vibe of a superpower possessor would fade when the person died or fainted. A level-eight superpower possessor like Si Kongchen had to be no further than a hundred meters away from a fainted superpower possessor to sense his or her weak vibe.


    He sent Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong to carry the mission together. Now, only Wei Haichao''s vibe was sensed but not Hou Guozhong''s, meaning that Hou Guozhong was either dead or unconscious.


    What about the level-nine man? Was he dead or unconscious?


    The vibe fluctuations that he sensed from the forest down the cliff told him that a level-eight superpower possessor was fighting a level-eight beast. The level-eight superpower possessor''s vibe was familiar and strange at the same time. Si Kongchen couldn''t figure out whom it belonged to. Lan Lu''s vibe was peaceful, meaning that he wasn''t taking part in the battle.


    Who was the level-eight superpower possessor fighting the battle?


    It was a little familiar. Si Kongchen believed that he should have met the owner of the vibe. Who was it then? If the person was already at level-eight when he met him or her, he would have paid extra attention to that person instead of having no impression about him or her at all.


    If the person was only at level-seven, he wouldn''t pay much attention to him or her. Which level-seven one in the country had upgraded recently?


    Currently, not too many known level-seven people existed in the country. Quite some were in hiding though.


    Since the vibe was a little familiar to him, he had definitely met its owner.


    Si Kongchen furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out whom the vibe belonged to. It was no one from the three bases in the Northwest and Southeast. After all, except for Li Zhengye, all the high-leveled people from those bases had died or gone missing. Si Kongchen had memorized their vibes. It was no one from the Northeast and the North either. So, the owner of the vibe could only be from East China. Except for the two level-seven leaders of Sea City Base, the woman from All Beings Base was the only possible one.


    Thinking of the Chief lady from All Beings Base, Si Kongchen immediately recognized the vibe that belonged to whoever was fighting the level-eight beast. It belonged to none other than the Chief lady, who had been in Huaxia Base together with Wu Chengyue when the base was under a massive zombie attack.


    Bang!


    "Roar!"


    Explosions were heard from time to time, and the earth quaked every now and then. Beast roars came from a distance away while the dense, black smoke rose from the forest in clouds. The mutated beast''s energy was very familiar to Si Kongchen. As same as himself, the beast possessed fire power. He considered himself as the rightful owner of the bear''s fire nucleus. He had found it, so he should have the right to have it.


    The woman didn''t have fire power, so the fire nucleus couldn''t be helpful for her anyway. However, since she was willing to weaken the beast, Si Kongchen decided to let her fight the battle first. A level-eight man normally wouldn''t have a great chance to win against a level-eight mutated beast anyway.


    If he couldn''t get the level-nine man''s nucleus, the level-eight fire beast''s nucleus would still be considered as a good harvest. He should look out for Lan Lu though.


    Once he sensed the fire beast, Si Kongchen had started to see it as his second target.


    While he was standing on the cliff, sensing the vibes coming from a distance and trying to figure out what exactly was happening, a group of people landed beside him. Those were a level-seven woman and four level-six men. The five of them rarely showed up in public in Huaxia Base. Except for Si Kongchen, almost no one knew about their existence.


    "Didn''t they say there is only one level-eight? How come there''s another one?" The level-seven one was a woman. After landing by Si Kongchen''s side, she confusedly looked down the cliff and sensed the vibes coming from down there. The woman had a beautiful and attractive face, without any makeup. She had seductive eyes, sexy, full lips, and a straight nose. Her delicate face could be considered very impressive. Her long, slightly curly hair were hanging loosely over her shoulders. She was wearing an army beret, a waist-tight black army coat that emphasized her beautiful body shape, a pair of shorts that barely wrapped up her butt, and the over-knee, black boots. Her legs were long and straight, and her snow-white thighs were exposed in the air.


    Her seriously dressed upper body and sexy lower body created an extremely seductive kind of beauty in combination.


    The woman was nearly six-foot tall and her vibe was very sharp. Her vibe and sense of presence were even stronger than her actual power.


    She was standing by Si Kongchen''s side and talked to him without any extra respect.


    Si Kongchen didn''t mind, as if he was used to her tone of speaking. "You might have heard about the Chief lady from All Beings Base."


    "Oh, her?" The woman clicked her tongue, "I''d love to meet this pretty Chief lady." Hearing Si Kongchen mention the Chief lady from All Beings Base, the woman had her eyes glowing. A sharp light flashed across her eyes, and a strong vibe rose from her body.


    Si Kongchen blandly gave her a glance and said, "That woman isn''t as simple as you think she is. She''s already broken into level-eight. Be careful!"


    The woman curved her sexy lips in a faint smile, then raised a hand and flipped the hair that nearly covered her eyes. With a breathtakingly beautiful smile, she said, "So, it''ll be fun. If she''s so easy to deal with, it''d be boring, wouldn''t it?"


    Hearing that, Si Kongchen gave a sigh. "I see. I''ll go and look for the level-nine man later. You will get me the level-eight fire beast''s nucleus," he gave her an instruction.


    "No problem!" The woman''s smile grew smaller, "I''ll get you what you want. I''m excited to see what the woman can do. Wu Chengyue has been pursuing her for so long, but he never won her heart!"


    As she said that, the four people behind her silently glanced at each other, seemingly gloating over someone''s misfortune.

 1140 The Frontal Enemy Arrived

    While torturing the fire bear, Lin Qiao suddenly sensed a level-eight vibe coming from the cliff. Soon, a level-seven vibe and four level-six vibes were also sensed from there as well.


    She kicked the bear up into the sky, then cast a glance at where Si Kongchen''s vibe was coming from. In the next second, she disappeared from where she was and flashed into the sky, swiftly swinging her claws at the wound on the bear''s side neck.


    "Roar!" Suffering that strike, the fire bear fell to the ground, face down. It was injured quite badly, but none of those injuries was lethal. What scared it was Lin Qiao''s netherworld fire that would grasp any chance to shroud its body.


    The bear was nimble, but still wasn''t able to effectively defend against Lin Qiao, who moved like a ghost.


    Feeling more and more wounds being left on its skin and less and less energy left in its nucleus, the bear started wanting to leave. It realized that he had to find a chance to run away as soon as possible.


    Little did the bear know that Lin Qiao had decided to finish it off once she sensed Si Kongchen''s vibe. If she couldn''t kill the bear, she would throw it into her space and hide it there.


    However, in order to throw the bear into her space, she needed to touch the bear''s body with her hand. It wouldn''t work if the bear was wrapped in energy. She had to wait until the fire on the bear''s skin died.


    The bear''s fire had weakened largely. In the midair, Lin Qiao furrowed her brows and her eyes instantly turned purely black. Her power started growing strong, and her long hair fluttered behind her back in the air amidst her energy waves. She reached out both arms and spread her fingers toward the bear, releasing a great amount of black fire.


    Streams of dark fire gushed out of her palms and wove into a dark fire dragon, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws while charging at the bear at wind speed.


    "Roar!" Within a blink, the fire bear was devoured by the dark fire dragon and disappeared in the dragon''s mouth. The dark fire dragon was way too swift, and the bear couldn''t even react before it was devoured.


    As the dark fire dragon ate the fire bear under her control, Lin Qiao immediately cupped her hands before her chest.


    Following her movement, the dark fire dragon shrank into a sphere and grew smaller and smaller, denser and denser. It no longer looked like fire, but gradually turned into a weird, black ball that was twisting constantly.


    Lin Qiao quickly moved her palms toward each other as if she were pressing an invisible ball between her palms.


    "Roarrrr¡­" Under Lin Qiao''s control, the black fire became a huge black sphere with a diameter of ten meters, from which a series of bear roars could be heard. The level-eight mutated beast couldn''t be killed so easily. Lin Qiao''s power was special and scary, but she still wouldn''t be able to suppress the fire bear if she weren''t a zombie emperor.


    At the moment, she was trying to bring the bear down quickly with all her power.


    While trying everything she could to suppress the bear in the black sphere, she had also been paying attention to the cliff. Feeling that the people on the cliff had started moving toward her, she had her heart sinking.


    Lan Lu couldn''t possibly leave his Chief to help her stopping Si Kongchen at that point. On the contrary, he needed to be extra careful because Si Kongchen might attack his Chief.


    Lin Qiao felt that the bear was struggling intensely inside the black sphere; it was really hard to kill. Also, it still had a good amount of energy left inside its body.


    Lin Qiao had a bad feeling. She knitted her brows, feeling Si Kongchen come closer and closer. She wanted to kill the bear, but she had no time. She couldn''t bring it into her space either.


    So now, she had no choice but to face Si Kongchen. That man was coming with no good intentions anyway.


    She turned to where Si Kongchen was coming from and looked that way expressionlessly. She controlled the dark sphere with one hand and put the other near her mouth, making a whistle.


    Within a blink, over ten figures showed up by her sides, including Lan Lu and his unconscious Chief.


    "They''re not friends. I''m surprised that Si Kongchen actually thinks so highly of my Chief," Lan Lu landed meters away from Lin Qiao while carrying Dong Xiaowei, the level-nine man who was taller than himself, on his shoulders. He looked at where Lin Qiao was looking at and said.


    "You should say that your Chief''s level-nine nucleus is way too appealing. Not only humans and beasts, but the zombies are also coming at him," Lin Qiao said coldly.


    "Zombies? Are you talking about you guys?" Lan Lu gave her a glance with confusion, then looked at the group of zombies behind her.


    "Are you playing dumb?" said Lin Qiao, "I think you can tell that there are other zombies nearby apart from us."


    Lin Qiao summoned Mo, Ye Qingxian, Jingyan, Yan Xiao and the other zombies. They would have no chance against Si Kongchen, but they had the power to stop the group of level-six people behind him.


    "Mo, Qingxian, Six, Xie Dong, you go and take down the weakest four that Si Kongchen has brought here," Lin Qiao gave her order in a peaceful tone.


    "Yes, ma''am!" The four responded immediately.


    Lan Lu looked around; Lin Qiao was right. The vibes of some high-leveled zombie were approaching slowly from tens of meters away.


    "They''re here!" Lin Qiao''s voice was suddenly heard.


    Swish! Following the shrill sound, a beam of metallic light flashed toward Lin Qiao''s face. She quickly raised an arm to shield herself.


    Clang! The sound of metal on metal could be heard along with her movement as dazzling sparks were generated.


    Bang! Puff! A straight, single-edged long sword that looked like a Tang sword stuck slantingly in the ground. The sword edge was glowing brightly while giving out a strong, pressing vibe of killing.


    "If I saw it clearly, you blocked my sword with a bare hand, didn''t you?" A woman said affirmatively with surprise.


    Lin Qiao turned and saw a woman wearing a black army coat with her thighs exposed show up beside the sword. The woman looked young. She was tall, with a perfect body shape, a delicate face, and a pair of seductive eyes.


    She bent over slightly, then reached out an arm and grasped the hilt of the sword, swinging it up to put it on her shoulder. Meanwhile, she was observing Lin Qiao with great interest.

 1141 The Woman with a Sword on Her Shoulder

    Lin Qiao expressionlessly gave a few glances at the woman with a sword on her shoulder, then turned her eyes to Si Kongchen, who was standing beside her.


    "I didn''t know Chief Si has such a pretty lady with you. You are a lucky guy! What brought you two here?" Lin Qiao didn''t respond to the woman but gave Si Kongchen a faint smile and asked.


    The woman was at level-seven, but Lin Qiao had never heard anything about her. Clearly, Si Kongchen had her hidden well, or she was hiding herself deeply.


    Si Kongchen glanced at Lan Lu, then said, "I heard there''s a level-eight fire beast, so I came here to see if I have the luck to pocket it."


    He definitely wouldn''t tell about his true purpose. He was good at word-choosing. Luck? He was here to take what he wanted from someone else''s hands with violence.


    Lin Qiao, of course, understood his meaning. She turned and cast a glance at the fire bear, which was still under her suppression.


    "Roar!" In the black sphere, the bear was still roaring and struggling. It wasn''t able to break free from the dark sphere though. Lin Qiao couldn''t absorb all the bear''s energy at one time, but she was able to suppress it with all her power.


    She turned back and looked at Si Kongchen as she said with a cold smile, "Chief Si, I''m afraid you''re gonna have to go somewhere else to see if there''re other fire beasts. This fire bear is mine now. You''re not gonna try to take it from me, are you?"


    After saying that, she stared at Si Kongchen while a beam of light flashed across his eyes.


    "Of course, we won''t try to take it from you. You see, you can''t kill the bear all by yourself, so why don''t you give it to us in case it ran away? If it managed to escape, no one would get its nucleus." The attractive woman with a sword on her shoulder said with a grin. Lin Qiao ignored her just now, but she didn''t seem to mind.


    Lin Qiao looked at her and maintained the smile on her face as she said, "Miss, why would I give my prey to you? How do you know that I can''t kill it all by myself? Don''t worry, I am totally able to kill it. So now, can you give me a fair reason why should I give it to you?"


    "Don''t you have an injured man? Why don''t you hurry up and take him back to the base for some medical help? Aren''t you afraid that you might waste too much time on the bear and worsen the man''s condition?" Before the woman answered the question, Si Kongchen turned to Lan Lu and said.


    Lan Lu shrugged, said, "Chief Si is right." But despite what he said, he made no movement.


    While speaking, Lin Qiao had been boosting her power to control the dark sphere.


    "Do you need a reason for that? It''s jungle law. Who has the power gets the prey. You claim that you''re able to kill it, but why isn''t it dead yet? Since you can''t do it, why don''t you let me do it?" The woman with a sword on her shoulder said. Before finishing talking, she suddenly dropped the sword and charged at Lin Qiao, wielding her sword toward her.


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows as she waved her free hand at the woman and released a stream of dark fire. The fire split up into over a thousand tiny black fire snakes within a blink and scattered as they approached the woman in a fan-shaped formation.


    Seeing Lin Qiao suddenly release a massive wave of tiny dark fire snakes, the woman slightly widened her eyes. She thought Lin Qiao was suppressing the level-eight fire bear with all her power and had no spare energy to fight her. Lin Qiao blocked her sword with bear hand just now, but the woman thought that was an accident.


    Now, as Lin Qiao had sent thousands of black fire snakes toward her, the woman quickly raised her sword to cut the snakes. In the next second, she disappeared from where she was.


    Lin Qiao slightly raised her brows when the woman disappeared. Next, she abruptly raised her free hand and faced the sky with her palm.


    Clang! Following the metallic click, the sword that was descending toward Lin Qiao''s head was slapped away by her. The long sword was turned and shot off. Before it landed, someone flashed across the air and caught it.


    As a zombie emperor, Lin Qiao was sure that she was able to deal with a level-seven superpower possessor with only one hand. She only needed to watch out for Si Kongchen. Besides, the woman with a sword didn''t seem to have put her real power in use yet.


    "Not bad! You have some abilities indeed!" The woman caught the sword and disappeared again. In the next second, she reappeared by Si Kongchen''s side, then nodded at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao made no reaction to her words, but once again boosted her power to control the fire that was devouring the bear.


    "Roar!" The bear sounded painful.


    At that moment, the woman turned to ask Si Kongchen, "Didn''t you tell me she has poisonous mist? How come she has fire power now?"


    Si Kongchen looked at Lin Qiao and Lan Lu expressionlessly as he responded, "She might have mutated."


    Hearing the bear''s screams, he didn''t seem to be anxious at all. He had decided to fight Lin Qiao over the bear, but it looked like he didn''t mind Lin Qiao killing it.


    As Si Kongchen showed no intention of starting a serious battle, Lin Qiao flashed across the air and showed up right above the dark fireball that had the bear wrapped in it.


    The woman looked at Lin Qiao, then abruptly smiled and said, "You are pretty."


    Lin Qiao nodded at her with composure and said, "Thank you."


    "My name is Xie Longyun!" The woman continued smilingly, "I''ve heard about you. I heard that you were a commoner a year ago, and that you relied on men for survival. But in a year, you''ve become a level-eight being. I''m so impressed!"


    Xie Longyun sounded peaceful. She wasn''t taunting the old Lu Tianyu nor mocking Lin Qiao. Her words gave out no discrimination. No negative feelings were generated by her tone of speaking. However, from deep in her mind, Lin Qiao sensed her scorn and the hidden disdain.


    Lin Qiao maintained the small smile on her face as she looked at Xie Longyun and said, "So?"


    Xie Longyun propped the sword on the ground, then flipped her long hair over her shoulder with the other hand, "Nothing, I''m just curious. Don''t you think that''s not something that ordinary people can do? Think about it. Some people spent seven years to reach your level."


    While speaking, she glanced at Si Kongchen and Lan Lu.


    On hearing her words, both Si Kongchen and Lan Lu turned to Lin Qiao. The looks in their eyes weren''t the same. Si Kongchen had agreement in his eyes while the look in Lan Lu''s eyes was profound and mysterious.


    She was a zombie with human memory. As long as she was determined enough, she wouldn''t fail to upgrade. The ordinary zombies were too weak-minded. That was why they often failed to break into higher levels.

 1142 Large-scale Mutation

    While Lin Qiao was confronting Si Kongchen in the Northwest, the surface of Lake Tai, which was located in East China, was once again disturbed. A herd of mutated beasts at buffalo size, with horns on their heads and looking like both lizards and crocodiles, emerged from the water one after another, swimming toward the lakeside.


    More and more mutated beasts came out of the water and covered the entire lake. The lake was over two-thousand miles squared in area. Its edge connected the borders of quite a few cities. No one could see the piles of bones belonging to mutated fishes on the lake bottom. Not even one living fish could be sensed from the lake.


    Those lizard-like beasts came ashore and a great number of them swam into the surrounding rivers which were branches of the lake. The fishes in all the water channels that they visited were hunted and eaten, and so were the animals ten meters on both sides of the water. Any living creature that dared to approach the water would be bitten to death without being able to utter any sound.


    Those enormous, lizard-like creatures had soft and flexible limbs and bodies. They had no vibes at all, so the other creatures couldn''t feel the threat coming from them.


    They had four rows of sharp teeth in their mouths, two up and two down. Those teeth glowed with a cold light, clearly indicating how strong they were. Any creature that fell between those teeth would never have a chance to get out.


    As those mutated beasts came out of the water, some extremely ugly bugs that had cracked shells and small fires burning on their bodies started to crawl out of the vents of the volcanoes that were located in the Northeast and North China.


    Those bugs were huge in sizes. Among them, bowl-sized scorpions and giant spiders with two-meters long legs could be seen, as well as enormous ants. Those gigantic bugs all had fire power, which could be told from the fire that burst out of their cracked shells from time to time and never died.


    All the scorpions were black, and their hard shells were covered in red cracks. The spiders were colorful; red, purple, blue, black, gray, the spiders with all kind of colors could be found. They crawled out of the volcano vents in a thick herd, then scattered toward all directions.


    The ants were translucent and glowing red. The larger ones were over two meters long and the smaller ones were no less than a meter long. They had huge bellies and glowing-red hair on their legs.


    The three different types of giant bugs weren''t the same as the normal bugs. A normal scorpion had only one pair of pincers while the ones that came from the volcanoes each had three! They wielded their six huge pincers and rushed forward.


    The spider from the earth''s surface each had eight legs while the ones from the volcanoes each had only six. The pair of front limbs of theirs had evolved into pincers, like the pincers of scorpions. Those spiders with pincers propped their bodies with six two-meter long legs and ran as fast as the wind.


    The ants were moving in groups of two, moving side by side. They had exactly the same large bellies, which were glowing with a red light. Added with their glowing leg hairs, each group of ants looked like a pair of angry eyes in the darkness.


    Apart from the Lake Tai area, the Northeast, and East China, weird creatures had been showing up in the other areas as well. The types and numbers of the creatures in each area weren''t the same. The only thing the same was that all those creatures were coming from underground.


    Ridiculously long earthworms, hairless, four-eyed wolf-like creatures, and all sorts of, weird-looking animals¡­


    At that moment, Strong, who was in a good sleep in the underground cave near All Beings Base, suddenly raised his head and twitched his nose, then got up and crawled out of his nest. He stood at the entrance of his nest and sniffed around, then generated a great roar.


    After giving that roar, Strong turned and ran toward the outside. He was roaring all the way, and his sound echoed through the underground tunnels.


    "Roarrrr!"


    "Roarrrr!"


    Hearing his sound, all the other underground gorillas started running outside as well. They kept running upward toward the surface. It was the daytime, but they showed no sign of stopping.


    "Roar¡­" A wave of slight earthquake and beast roars could be heard from the underground.


    Before long, Yun Meng, who was responsible for keeping an eye on those underground gorillas, turned to the entrance that Lin Qiao pointed earlier and carefully listened to the sounds from underground.


    "Eh? Are they coming out?" She sensed the vibes coming from the entrance, then raised her head to look at the sky, "Is it because today is a cloudy day?"


    It was a cloudy day, and thick layers of cloud had blocked the sunlight.


    With that thought, Yun Meng quickly got up and headed toward the entrance. She arrived to sense a familiar earthy smell.


    "They''re really coming out!" Yun Meng immediately covered her nose and furrowed her brows.


    After all, those creatures coming out meant trouble.


    At that time, those underground gorillas had rushed to the entrance. Because of their leader''s order, they were only allowed to use one of the entrances of the underground cave. They didn''t know why, and they didn''t want to know. All they knew was that they needed to follow their leader''s orders.


    By the entrance, looking at the light pouring down from the sky, they were instantly frightened. They crowded near the entrance and none of them had the guts to make a single step forward.


    "Roar!" There was no sunlight on the outside, but still the light out there threatened them.


    Strong was jammed in the middle of a tunnel without being able to move upward or downward. With anger, he gave a series of roar to urge his subordinates.


    "Roarrrr!"


    Hearing his roar, the underground gorillas near the entrance had no other choice but to shake their bodies and dart out of the cave. While letting out shrill screams, they instinctively looked for covers such as woods and buildings.


    The light of the day couldn''t harm them as severely as the sunlight could, but it was still enough to make them scream. Clearly, it was still harmful.


    Yun Meng was standing on top of a building nearby, watching those underground gorillas risk their lives to come out of the cave in the middle of the day, wondering what was going on.


    "Roar¡­" As those underground gorillas ran out of the cave, waves of beast roars could be heard from the area. A large number of underground gorillas swiftly hopped toward the places which they considered safe, such as woods or buildings or anywhere that had no light. A while later, Yun Meng saw the big one come out. He wasn''t screaming as loudly as the lower-leveled ones were.


    "Errr¡­" He stood near the entrance and raised his head to sniff around, then let out a muffled howl. After that, he lowered his head to look at his body, and then slowly walked toward the woods nearby.


    After spending a while observing them, Yun Meng discovered that only the lower-leveled ones were screaming like hell as if something was killing them. The big one and the ones at level five, six or seven were staying relatively calm.

 1143 Being Cast Out of the Cave

    Yun Meng spent a while observing those creatures from the roof. She found them hiding in nearby woods and buildings after running out of the cave, then shrinking in the corners, trembling and staying motionless.


    Yun Meng scratched her scalp, feeling very confused. She looked at those creatures and murmured to herself, "What''s wrong with them? How come they seem to have been cast out of the cave? Am I missing something?"


    The big one was lazily lying by the edge of the woods in the shadow, not going anywhere. What on earth was in the cave that made them run out to hide in the middle of the day?


    After a short observation, Yun Meng moved backward and then made a whistle. An old man flashed to her side and complained, "Can you please change your way of summoning me next time? Please don''t whistle every time. Am I a dog?"


    Yun Meng gave him a glare and said, "I didn''t say anything. You said that yourself."


    Old Guo reached out and gave her a slap on her head.


    "Ouch! You bloody old man!" Suffering that slap, Yun Meng instantly bared her teeth toward the old man and yelled at him.


    "As a kid, you have no idea that you should respect the elders," Old Guo ignored her ferocious face. The little one hadn''t released her level-seven zombie vibe anyway. Then, he calmly turned to the cave entrance and sniffed around, then asked Yun Meng, "I thought they only take action at night. What are they doing outside in the middle of the day?"


    Yun Meng adjusted her expression as she shrugged and spread her hands, "I don''t know what happened. They''ve been out for a while. They''re hiding in the shadows near the entrance, not going anywhere else. I think something underground cast them out."


    Old Guo looked around, then roughly counted the underground gorillas on the outside. "There are¡­ They''ve all come out, haven''t they? What do you think cast them out?"


    Yun Meng shrugged again and said, "That''s only my guess. I only sensed these gorillas'' scent from the cave and no other scents.


    Old Guo thought for a moment and said, "How long do you think they''ll stay outside?"


    Yun Meng rolled her eyes and responded, "How am I supposed to know?"


    "Let''s first see what''ll happen then send the news back to the base. Chief isn''t in the base," Old Guo stood there with a hunched back and said. His gown was still clean, and his gray hair were brushed neatly to the back of his head. If he didn''t rub Yun Meng''s hair with his hand, he''d look like a serious old man!


    Clap! Yun Meng was beyond tolerance. She slapped the zombie old man''s hand off her head, then complained, "Can you please stop rubbing my hair? Is that fun? Are you an old man? I think you''re more like a kid! You''re even more childish than Four!"


    Old Guo tittered and then gave a sigh, "I''m an old man. That''s exactly why I like to rub your hair. You kids are like my grandchildren¡­"


    ¡­


    In All Beings Base, Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng still had a worried frown as no clue about Lin Wenwen was found. Wu Chengyue was cooking in Lin Qiao''s kitchen while the two kids were playing in the living room.


    Teng crawled off the couch, then crawled back onto the couch from the carpet, and then crawled to the other side; he just couldn''t stop moving. Unlike him, Ling Ling was quietly sitting in an armchair, drawing on her drawing board. From time to time, she raised her head to give Teng a glance. After confirming that the boy wasn''t hurting himself, she lowered her head and kept drawing.


    "Daddy, is the food ready? I''m hungry!" After the twentieth time the boy crawled onto the couch from the carpet, he finally stopped and yelled at the kitchen.


    "It''s already ready. Just a second," Wu Chengyue''s voice came out of the kitchen.


    Hearing Teng''s yelling, Wu Yueling raised her head again to look at the boy. She thought for a second, then dropped the drawing board and ran to the fridge to take out a few strawberries that she brought to the boy.


    Teng took over a strawberry and put it in his mouth before sucking it. His teeth hadn''t fully grown out yet, but the strawberries were so tender that he could even chew it with his gums. Therefore, he could easily drink the juice from the strawberry.


    As Teng had eaten one of those strawberries, Wu Yueling also picked one and put it into her mouth.


    A short while later, Wu Chengyue brought the food out of the kitchen and placed it on the dining table, then said to the two kids, "Alright, come here for the meal."


    Wu Yueling stood up and lifted Teng from the couch, then walked toward the dining table.


    "Daddy, you cook more and more slowly," said Teng.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and said, "It''s because your appetite is getting greater and greater. My timing is perfect. You get hungry very easily. What does that have to do with me?"


    Wu Yueling put Teng into his baby chair. After that, Teng said, "You don''t let me eat my fill! I''m gonna tell Mama!"


    Wu Chengyue said to him with a smile, "So tell me, on which meal didn''t I let you eat your fill?"


    Teng thought for a moment and failed to come up with an answer. He really got hungry very easily though. He figured that it was because his body was growing rapidly.


    "Where do you think your aunt has gone? She just disappeared without a trace. I don''t even know when she''ll come back." While putting porridge into the boy''s bowl, Wu Chengyue gave a sigh.


    "If my aunt is still missing when Mama comes back, Mama''s gonna get worried," Teng gave a sigh as well, then picked up his small spoon and started eating.


    "I don''t think your Mama will come back any time soon," Wu Chengyue put some food in Wu Yueling''s small bowl, then continued, "She needs to collect a lot of nuclei and recruit some high-leveled zombies to enlarge her army."


    "How do you know?" Teng looked at him questioningly, "Did she tell you about that?"


    Wu Chengyue smiled, "No, she didn''t. I guessed. I don''t think she went to the Northwest to watch a show."


    Teng nodded without fulling understand, "Oh."


    ¡­


    On the other side, Lin Qiao had figured out what Si Kongchen wanted. He was probably planning on waiting until she almost killed the bear and then launch a sudden movement to get it.


    That was a nice plan. The man was such an old fox! However, taking the bear from her was not going to be easy. Lin Qiao doubted if he had the capability to do that. Also, his plan allowed Lin Qiao time to do exactly what she was doing now¡ªabsorb the bear''s energy as much as possible.


    "Roar¡­" Lin Qiao''s dark fire in the dark sphere had been absorbing the bear''s energy constantly. The bear sensed its energy losing by a good amount and the pain from its wounds. It was in a great panic, but no matter how it tried, it could not free itself from the dark fireball.


    No matter how much energy the bear released and how hard it scratched the dark sphere with its claws, it couldn''t break the dark fire.


    All it could do was roar loudly.

 1144 Si Kongchen Draw Back

    Under Lin Qiao''s control, the fireball under her feet suddenly shrank and fall on the bear''s body.


    At the moment, the bear''s fire energy had been consumed up. A few holes were left on its skin; its blood and flesh were exposed.


    Thud! The bear lay on the ground at its last breath.


    Lin Qiao got off the bear, then dropped her hands and brought the bear into her space. After that, she suddenly disappeared from where she was and avoided the enormous, level-eight fireball which Si Kongchen threw at her. Half a second later, she showed on the other side of the battlefield.


    Bang! The fireball landed on where she and the bear were standing earlier and created a huge pit on the earth.


    "It''s gone! You¡­ Do you also have space power?" Xie Longyun watched Lin Qiao touch the bear and make it disappear. She popped her eyes with surprise as she stared at Lin Qiao with disbelief and said without thinking.


    "You''ve talked so much, but all you want is me to beat the bear until it''s at its last breath so you can take it from me, right?" Lin Qiao stood there calmly, resting one hand in her pocket, the other tossing a fist-sized black fireball. She looked at the woman and said with a scornful smile.


    Now, the bear was already in her space. Si Kongchen and the girl would never get it unless they could talk her into letting the bear out willingly.


    She had no idea where they got their confidence from. They had been acting like their plan would definitely work. She was a zombie emperor; even if Lan Lu wouldn''t help her, she would still be really hard to deal with!


    If the two of them attacked once they showed up, she might have trouble fighting them. After all, she needed to spare most of her power to suppress the bear at that moment. But to her surprise, the two actually spent such a while talking nonsense to her after they arrived.


    Looking at the empty area where the bear was just now, Si Kongchen instantly pulled a long face. He glanced at Lan Lu, then snorted coldly.


    "Let''s go!"


    He did not know the woman from All Being Base actually had a space, nor that she would be able to suppress the bear completely. How strong was she exactly? A level-eight mutated beast could flatten a town. A level-eight human being could never have a chance to suppress a level-eight beast.


    He had seen the situation quite clearly when he arrived and found the bear defenseless under the woman''s power. If Lan Lu didn''t lend a hand, the woman would consume a great amount of energy suppressing the bear. So, when the woman and the bear were both weakened, he would have a chance to insert himself in the battle.


    He thought the bear would last long. But unexpectedly, it didn''t take long for the woman to finish it off.


    Now, she had put the bear into her space. If she were alone, Si Kongchen would have a chance to defeat her and make her surrender the bear. However, as Lan Lu was also on the scene, he didn''t have such a chance.


    Therefore, he made a prompt decision to leave.


    However, once he turned around, a figure flashed up to him and blocked his way.


    Lin Qiao still had a hand resting in her pocket, the other fiddling with a fireball. While smiling, she said, "You showed up when you wanted to show up, and now you''re leaving because you feel like it? Chief Si, it''s a little inappropriate for you to leave just like this, isn''t it? You''ve already come into the scene, so why don''t you pay me for the entrance?"


    "Don''t go too far! You think you can make us pay the entrance fee?" Xie Longyun looked at Lin Qiao scornfully as she pointed a finger at her and yelled.


    Lin Qiao didn''t even look at her. She stared at Si Kongchen with a small smile. In spite of the faint smile that she wore on her face, anyone on the scene could detect the cold light in her eyes.


    Xie Longyun honestly despised Lu Tianyu for what she had done before. Therefore, she had been talking sourly to Lin Qiao since the beginning, trying to make the latter upset. The real Lu Tianyu might have reacted to her words. However, it wasn''t Lu Tianyu standing in front of her; it was Lin Qiao. She neglected the woman''s mean words, meaning that she despised Xie Longyun more than the latter despised her. She didn''t even bother to say a word to the woman.


    Being ignored over and over again, Xie Longyun was finally infuriated. She swung an arm and threw out her long sword. In the air, the sword suddenly fell apart and turned into a series of sharp blades, flying at Lin Qiao.


    Maintaining her composure, Lin Qiao threw out the fireball in her hand, which expanded into an enormous, round tiger''s head. The tiger widely opened its mouth and devoured half of Xie Longyun''s sword.


    "Come back!" Xie Longyun charged at Lin Qiao, and at that very moment, Si Kongchen suddenly gave a shout.


    "Move!" Lin Qiao also made her voice sound at that very moment. As well


    Following her order, Xie Dong and the other zombies who had been staying quietly behind her immediately formed groups and charged at the four level-six men behind Si Kongchen.


    Watching Lin Qiao''s dark fire devour her blades, Xie Longyun immediately raised an arm. Following her move, the rest of the blades grew longer and larger, then split into more blades. Under her control, all the blades flew fleetingly toward Lin Qiao. Those blades moved so fast that a commoner wouldn''t even be able to see them.


    Only the ones at Lin Qiao''s level could see those blades clearly. In fact, in Lin Qiao''s eyes, those blades were moving rather slowly.


    Blinking once, Lin Qiao wielded her arms once again. The tiger''s head turned as itopened its mouth and circled around her body faster than those blades by many times over, devouring all the blades that were coming at her.


    At last, a black, flying fire snake disappeared from Lin Qiao''s palm within a blink, then silently reappeared behind Xie Longyun. As the black fire snake was preparing to attack her from the back of her head, a red fire snake suddenly darted over at it.


    Two different types of power collided. The two different colored fire snakes tangled together, biting each other. Xie Longyun immediately turned around and moved away, giving a start. If Si Kongchen wasn''t fast enough, she would have been hit by the black fire snake. She could imagine the consequences.


    Si Kongchen flashed to her side, then grabbed her arm and disappeared.


    Lin Qiao didn''t chase them, but stayed where she was, sensing their vibes fade away.


    The four level-six men that Si Kongchen brought over were now facing Mo, Xie Dong, and the other zombies. They could not get themselves away. Seeing their Chief leave without looking back at them, they realized that they would have to rely on themselves to survive.


    Two minutes later, Lin Qiao flashed into her space to deal with the bear. In the space, the bear grew even weaker than before. Lin Qiao gathered the power of the space, with which, she harvested the bear''s nucleus within a minute.


    After that, she brought the bear''s body out of the space and found a clean area to skin it.


    "There''re holes on its skin. What do you need its skin for?" Lan Lu thought Lin Qiao wanted the fur.


    "Who said I want its skin?" Lin Qiao said to him blandly, "I want the meat."


    "The meat?" Lan Lu didn''t understand, "What do you need this mutated beast''s meat for? It''s inedible."


    "Who said that? It''s going to be the food for my zombie soldiers." Busy cutting the bear, Lin Qiao said without turning back.


    Lan Lu fell into silence, not knowing what to say.

 1145 Cut the Bear into Pieces

    Si Kongchen left with Xie Longyun, then showed up near Wei Haichao and Hou Guozhong.


    "Chief!" Wei Haichao greeted at the sight of him. His eyes glowed when he saw Xie Longyun, who was standing by Si Kongchen''s side. "This is¡­"


    "Xie Longyun from the Dark Department," Si Kongchen introduced Xie Longyun to Wei Haichao, but didn''t introduce him to back to her. She knew about him anyway.


    Wei Haichao gave Xie Longyun another glance with smile, but the latter greeted him with an expressionless nod.


    "Didn''t I tell you to be careful? Why were you so reckless?" Si Kongchen said to Xie Longyun with discontentment.


    "Was I?" Xie Longyun responded to him coldly, "I was only trying to feel her out."


    She was, indeed, a little displeased just now though.


    Si Kongchen looked at her with no expression, then snorted coldly and said, "I think you''re just jealous of her. Women really are troublesome."


    Xie Longyun raised her eyebrows on hearing that, then looked at Si Kongchen scornfully as she clicked her tongue and said, "I''m jealous of her? Is she prettier than me? Are her legs longer than mine? Is her waist slimmer than mine?"


    Si Kongchen looked at her silently.


    "She''s not less good-looking than you are," Wei Haichao murmured abruptly. Xie Longyun and Si Kongchen turned to him simultaneously, so he immediately shut his mouth and turned his eyes away.


    "Her waist is slimmer than yours, and her boobs are bigger than yours," said Si Kongchen. After saying that, he cast a glance at Xie Longyun''s chest.


    Xie Longyun was instantly infuriated. She raised an arm and flipped her long hair, then puffed her chest and said, "So what? Am I flat-chested? No¡­ Is this the time to talk about that? You two perverts!"


    "You brought it up yourself¡­" said Si Kongchen and Wei Haichao with one voice.


    "Leave that alone. What''s wrong with your intelligence work? You didn''t even figure out what her power was. She has poisonous fire, okay? Who said she has poisonous mist? Also, she''s dual-powered. I guess you didn''t know that either, did you?" Xie Longyun impatiently interrupted them.


    "She does have poisonous fire. But, what do you mean by dual-powered?" Wei Haichao asked.


    "She also has space power. What happened to Guozhong? Have you fought them face to face?" Si Kongchen looked at Hou Guozhong, who was lying on an old couch.


    "No, but Lan Lu attacked us," Wei Haichao turned and gave Hou Guozhong a glance, then wore a sullen look as he responded to Si Kongchen. Hou Guozhong was attacked by a level-eight spirit power possessor. He didn''t suffer a mental collapse and only fell into unconsciousness. Wei Haichao had no idea if that was a good result or a bad one. One thing was for sure, severe harm had already been done to Hou Guozhong.


    There was a good chance that he could wake up as a retarded man.


    Hearing that it was Lan Lu who attacked Hou Guozhong, Si Kongchen instantly knitted his brows.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao skinned the bear, then cut it open and started to dig out its guts.


    The bloody scene and the excited look on the zombie lady''s face made Lan Lu turn his eyes away. He just couldn''t bear watching that.


    "Weren''t you going to stop him? Why did you let him leave so easily?"


    Ten large buckets were placed beside Lin Qiao in a straight line, each containing half a bucket of lake water. Lin Qiao put the livers and some other organs into the buckets to soak with water and tossed the guts aside.


    "What else could I do? Fight him? Kill him?" While working, Lin Qiao gave him a bland glance.


    "You killed a level-eight fire bear while he''s only a level-eight man with fire power. It''s not hard for you to kill him, is it?" Lan Lu didn''t understand. Thinking about her power made him feel under quite a pressure. That was the power of a zombie emperor. Last time, Si Kongchen had failed to defeat the lightning-powered zombie emperor too.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "You don''t know for sure. Si Kongchen is much sneakier than the big stupid bear. I''m stronger than him now, but I can''t ignore his weapons. Defeating him might be easy, but killing him won''t be."


    "I thought you''d at least take the woman''s life even if you wouldn''t deal Si Kongchen some severe harm," Lan Lu shrugged.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "The woman is quite capable, even if she''s only at level-seven. Can''t you tell that she''s dual-powered? One of her powers is special¡­"


    While speaking, she slightly furrowed her brows and fell into thoughts.


    "Are you saying that she has two powers?" Lan Lu was a little surprised. He really did not find out that the woman was dual-powered. He thought she only had metal power.


    Lin Qiao emptied the bear''s belly and started to cut it into pieces. While doing that, she said, "Are you blind? Didn''t you see how fast she was? How do you think she moved like that."


    Lan Lu blinked and said, "Almost as fast as teleportation. Is super speed her other power?"


    "No¡­" said Lin Qiao, "It''s space power."


    "Space?" Lan Lu thought for a moment and then figured out what she meant, "Are you saying that her space is mobile?"


    Entering the space, moving to another spot, and then coming out¡­ That was such a good skill for escape.


    At that point, Xie Dong and the others returned one after another; Xie Dong was the first one to return. A faint intent of killing and blood scent could be detected from his body, and a nucleus that belonged to a level-six superpowered man was held in his hand. He came back to find his Chief cutting a bear into pieces. He was used to that kind of scene already, so he stood by her side peacefully and handed her the nucleus.


    Lin Qiao took out a towel and wiped her hands, then hung it on the edge of a bucket. After that, she took over the nucleus from Xie Dong''s hand, threw it into her space, and then continued chopping the bear.


    "Oh, that''s the entrance fee you talked about earlier," Lan Lu figured it out. The zombie lady was only trying to come up with a fair reason to kill Si Kongchen''s subordinates.


    Lin Qiao waved at Xie Dong and said, "Come on, lend me a hand. I''ll cut it into big pieces and you guys cut them smaller, then put them into the buckets."


    Xie Dong, Liu Mingsong, and Wan Lizhong stepped up together, picked up the knives that Lin Qiao threw at them, and started cutting the bear.


    As Chang Qingqing and her people found Lan Lu, Lin Qiao was cutting a hill of meat. "Is that the bear?" Chang Qingqing asked with surprise, "Why is she cutting the bear?"


    Lan Lu raised his brows and said, "She said it''s her soldiers'' food."


    Chang Qingqing didn''t know what to say. Human beings couldn''t eat mutated animals. How could her soldiers eat the bear?


    After Xie Dong, Mo, Ye Qingxian, and Six had all returned, each with a level-six nucleus.


    Lan Lu waited until Lin Qiao cut the bear into pieces, then started a serious conversation with her, "Earlier on, I sent someone to tell you about something. Have you dealt with that yet?"


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao glanced at him sourly and said, "How are you gonna make it up to me?"


    Lan Lu sighed with relief in his head when he heard what she said. Clearly, she had dealt with the problem.

 1146 The Bad Feeling Again

    "How do you want me to make up to you?" Lan Lu asked Lin Qiao relaxedly. Since she had solved the problem, the rest would be easy. The compensation was totally negotiable.


    Lin Qiao cut the entire bear into small pieces, then put it in the buckets and covered the lids before putting the buckets into her space. After finishing doing that, she looked at him and said, "I''ve also helped you to knock your Chief out this time, and your zombie friends are still in my base. Their faces have almost recovered, so it''s time for them to come back. To pay me back and make up to me, you can get me a level-eight nucleus."


    "Oh," Lan Lu understood what she meant, "You want me to get you the wolf king''s nucleus, don''t you? You are really greedy. You already have the level-eight fire bear''s nucleus."


    "No," Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I''ll get the wolf by myself. You need to get me a level-eight nucleus from somewhere else. You can get it from a zombie, a beast, a human being, or a mutated plant."


    Wherever the nucleus might come from, Lan Lu had to harvest it by himself or get it through some other ways.


    Of course, his Chief could get him a level-eight nucleus if the man woke up and regained his power within a short span of time. However, that would be impossible. Dong Xiaowei, who had been out-of-control for months, wouldn''t wake up so quickly. And after he woke up, his power wouldn''t come back within a short time.


    Therefore, Lan Lu needed to do the hunting himself.


    After putting all the buckets into her space, Lin Qiao waved at Lan Lu and said, "Alright, your problem has been solved. I''ve got to go. You should seize the time and take your boss back to your base."


    After saying that, she waved at her zombies, then turned and darted out toward where the wolf''s vibe came from.


    Watching Lin Qiao and her zombies leave, Chang Qingqing couldn''t help but ask Lan Lu, "Is she really going after that wolf? The wolf ran away long ago. Can she still find it?"


    Lan Lu carried Dong Xiaowei, the turned and said to her, "I don''t think there''s a good chance for any of her preys to run, because she''s a zombie emperor now." After saying that, he leaped high and disappeared with his Chief.


    Chang Qingqing glanced at the road that Lin Qiao and her zombies took, then disappeared as well.


    Soon after they split up, the entire forest abruptly quaked. Clouds of gray mist rose from the ground, and then the mutated insects in the forest were startled, desperately crawling toward the higher places.


    Not long after she parted with Lan Lu, Lin Qiao stopped moving on top of a tree, then raised an arm to signal for her zombies to stop as well. Then, she narrowed her eyes and spent a few seconds looking down at the ground. After that, she looked at the sky.


    Xie Dong and the others landed on the trees behind her, looked at her quietly without uttering any sound to disturb her.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while observing the surrounding environment, then lowered her head and looked at the dense forest in front of her, "I have a bad feeling."


    Xie Dong and the others glanced at each other. They didn''t really understand what she meant, but they believed that she said that for a reason. Lin Qiao rarely sounded so serious. Her serious tone of speaking made the other zombies take her words with a serious attitude.


    As same as Lin Qiao, Mo Yan, who had been pursuing a level-five mutated fox, abruptly stopped and raised his head to look at the sky, with a faint purple light glowing out of his eyes.


    "Roar!" As Mo Yan stopped attacking it, the lightning-powered mutated fox seized the opportunity to run. However, once it made a movement, a white figure pressed it down. Before the fox could let out a scream, a claw sank into its skull and dug out a purple nucleus.


    The zombie girl in a white dress walked to Mo Yan''s side and handed him the nucleus.


    Mo Yan lowered his head and glanced at her, then raised a hand and took the nucleus over. After that, he found a clean spot to sit down and started to absorb the nucleus. The zombie girl stayed by his side, standing on a rock and paying close attention to the surrounding environment while brushing her long and smooth hair with her fingers. Not a slight sign could escape her eyes.


    Mo Yan spent less than half an hour to absorb the level-five nucleus. He clapped off the dust in his palm, then brought the zombie girl to the tallest mountain nearby. Before long, they arrived at the mountain top.


    Standing on top of the mountain where provided him with a wide view, he narrowed his eyes to observe the forest down the mountain. He was, in fact, not far away from where Lin Qiao was. Lin Qiao let him hunt freely for nuclei to improve his power, but he had been following her all the time.


    After spending a short while looking into the forest, Mo Yan started to feel some special vibes coming from a few different directions. A mysterious and dangerous vibe was spreading speedily. Clearly, something strange was showing up. Those vibes made Mo Yan, a zombie emperor, feel under threat. Without a question, that something was definitely dangerous.


    He glanced at the area where Lin Qiao was and figured that she might have sensed the special vibe as well.


    About a hundred miles away from where both Lin Qiao and Mo Yan were paying attention to, the bottom of a dried river in a valley was covered in cracks. And from those cracks, a weird vibe gushed out.


    The river had been dried for a long time. The largest earth crack was about five meters wide, and the smaller ones were two or three meters wide.


    Puff! A weirdly-looking claw reached out of a crack and inserted itself into the ground.


    "Gooo¡­ rooo¡­" A head slowly stuck out of the crack and let out a strange sound. The round-headed creature soon reached out its other claw and slowly crawled out of the earth.


    The creature had round, basin-sized head which was thickly covered in blinking eyes. Its body was slim, and¡­ it had no legs. The round-headed creature had a pair of forelimbs and a flat, bucket-sized, leech-liked body. It was about four meters long.


    The multiple-eyed creature crawled out from underground and looked around, then bared its sharp teeth.


    "Goorooooo¡­" With its pair of forelimbs which were as thick as an adult''s thighs, it ran left and came back, then ran right. Before long, it ran back again. Then, it quickly moved to the edge of the earth crack, reached its head down, and let out a series of gooroo.


    "Goooorooooo¡­" The sounds of countless creatures were instantly heard from deep down the earth crack. Soon, countless creatures that had round heads, multiple eyes, and large mouths crawled out from underground, letting out waves of gooroo sounds. As more and more of those creatures crawled out, the ''gooroo'' sounds grew louder and louder, traveling to farther areas.

 1147 Multiple-eyed Monsters

    Lin Qiao stayed where she was and carefully sensed the weird, ominous vibe. She thought for a moment, then decided to go to where the vibe came from and take a look.


    The vibe made her feel not good, as if something extremely dangerous had shown up. Therefore, she decided to give up on the wolf and go find the source of the vibe. After she had figured out what gave out the vibe, she might continue tracking the wolf.


    "Follow me¡­ Speed up!" Lin Qiao gave her order and then disappeared. Hearing her order, Xie Dong and the other zombies followed her vibe at their highest speeds.


    Lin Qiao swiftly moved through the treetops or mountain tops, toward the source of the weird vibe. Before long, the group of zombies behind her could barely see her. Except for the few who had wind powers, no one was able to catch up with Lin Qiao the zombie emperor.


    More than a hundred miles only took Lin Qiao about ten minutes. She stood on top of the tallest tree on a mountaintop as she looked at the dried river and the herd of disgusting creatures which had occupied the river bed. Her brows were knitted into a deep frown.


    Why did those creatures have so many eyes? Were those eyes for seeing? And their disgusting bodies¡­ Were they mutated leeches or slugs? Why did they only have two legs? They looked so misshapen, even worse than some legless creatures!


    Lin Qiao couldn''t help but cover her eyes with a hand and turn her face away with disgust. Those creatures were so blindingly ugly, especially their eye-covered head. Her trypophobia was nearly triggered!


    Those creatures gathered in a huge herd. They weren''t large in size, but did have terribly strong vibes. Even the smallest one of them gave out a vibe as strong as that of a level-six mutated beast, while the largest ones seemed to be at level-eight. Moreover, their number was ridiculously large.


    As Lin Qiao curved her eyes and turned her head, the creatures in the valley all paused, then turned toward the mountaintop that she was on simultaneously.


    Lin Qiao''s heart leaped. She instantly turned back and found those creatures staring straight at her. The feeling of being targeted made her feel under pressure. The mountain was only about seven miles away from the valley, so those creatures easily detected her vibe and saw her.


    None of them showed any fear to Lin Qiao''s zombie emperor vibe. The plants near them had all started dying and turning dark, while the tree leaves had fallen and the tree trunks had turned black. It looked like the darkness was spreading bit by bit from the valley.


    Some mutated animals on the earth''s surface died and fell on the grass before being eaten by those creatures. The dead animals which had turned black emitted an odor like rotten corpses. However, those multiple-eyed creatures ate the dead bodies with great appetite.


    That scene was very unpleasant to the eyes, but still, Lin Qiao needed to observe them. Wherever those creatures visited, all objects on the ground turned black quickly, and an odor spread along the area. The animals in further areas fell to the ground once they smelt the odor.


    The lower-leveled mutated animals didn''t seem to sense the coming danger. Only the higher-leveled ones felt something and left vigilantly.


    About half an hour later, Xie Dong and the other zombies finally showed up by Lin Qiao''s side. At that moment, the darkness from the valley had spread to a very obvious degree, so the group of zombies noticed it once they arrived.


    "Whoa! What are those creatures? They''re so ugly!" Yan Xiao uttered a scream the first, then forced herself to observe those creatures with a twisted face. Those things were indescribably ugly.


    Jingyan stayed composed and looked at those creatures carefully. "They are from the underground too. How come so many weird creatures crawled out of the earth after the apocalypse?" she pointed at the earth cracks on the river bed and said.


    Xie Dong and the other male zombie didn''t react so strongly to those ugly creatures, but they did have their eye corners or mouth corners twitching. Six turned around the moment he saw the countless eyes squeezing together on those creatures'' heads. "Damn! I even have goosebumps! What the hell are those things! So disgusting!"


    Ye Qingxian looked at him, then patted on his shoulder and laughed, "Bro, you''re not having what people called trypophobia, are you? Haha, it''s gonna be interesting if you are."


    Six stayed silent; he hated to admit it, but he did have trypophobia.


    "What are they?" With a frown, Xie Dong looked at the valley that already had a big area turning black. Not even a slight trace of life-force could be detected from the valley as the sense of death spread in that area. Those monsters were obviously what turned the valley into that state.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I don''t know. Base on my observation, these things are even harder to deal with than those underground gorillas near our base. They like to eat rotten dead bodies, and their bodies release a highly poisonous gas, which is spreading in all directions now."


    "And there are a lot of them. If they start to move, the entire Northwest might be affected," said Xie Dong with worry.


    Hearing what he said, Lin Qiao turned and looked around. Then, she turned back and folded her arms, putting a hand on her chin as she said uncertainly, "If I''m right¡­ this isn''t the only place where the monsters showed up."


    The bad feeling that she was having grew stronger when she saw those creatures. The valley didn''t seem to be the only cause of that feeling.


    On hearing her words, not only Xie Dong, but the other zombies all turned to her and looked at her with surprise.


    "What? No way! Are there more of these things in other places?" Yan Xiao felt really uncomfortable on hearing that. She thought those creepy creatures wouldn''t affect her own base and the rest of China, as they were so far away from those places. However, Lin Qiao''s words ruined her good wish.


    A huge herd of multiple-eyed creatures had already occupied the valley, and more had been coming out of the earth cracks. Yan Xiao would rather deal with a world full of zombies than facing the fact that those disgusting creatures might invade the entire earth!


    Hearing what Yan Xiao said, Jingyan, Five, whose name was Liuli, and the other zombie ladies all felt chilly. Six flapped his own head and tried to slap those creatures'' serried eyes out of his mind.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "It might be different creatures, such as those underground gorillas. They don''t look the same as these things."


    Compared with these creatures in the valley, underground gorillas could even be called pretty.

 1148 Attack the Wolf King

    The creatures in the valley and the underground gorillas had different natures, but Lin Qiao could still sense a scent from them that was similar to the one on Strong and his herd. However, the underground gorillas were scared of the sunlight, yet these creatures in the valley weren''t.


    Thankfully, those multiple-eyed creatures didn''t go too far from the valley. Most of them stayed in the valley, lying upon each other. Only a small number of them had been scattering in all directions, seemingly hunting or occupying territories.


    The animals that lived near the valley were desperately running away, and some birds even fell from the sky.


    Even though those creatures didn''t make long-range movements, the plants on the surrounding mountains had died and turned black. Soon, the darkness spread to the mountain where Lin Qiao and her friends were while a strong, acidic, corrosive odor was sensed. Lin Qiao instantly knitted her brows and ordered her zombies to leave.


    "Leave this place!"


    The group of zombies quickly moved away, and Lin Qiao was the last to leave. Landing on top of the other mountain, they saw the original mountain slowly get covered in darkness, and all the plants wither away.


    Fortunately, the range of the darkness was limited. The plants over ten miles away from the valley stayed fine while all the plants and soil within that radius turned black.


    "Even zombies can be corroded. Wherever these creatures are, the place will be a typical death zone." Standing behind Lin Qiao on top of a tree, Ye Qingxian looked at the dark area and couldn''t help but click his tongue and say to his friends.


    Not to mention the living animals in that area, even the zombie beasts didn''t escape the fate of being destroyed. They suffered even more than the living animals because they had slower reactions. By the time they sensed the danger, their bodies were already disabled from moving.


    Watching some zombie beasts fall and then be dragged away by those multiple-eyed creatures, Lin Qiao and her zombie friends had an even stronger sense of crisis.


    "These creatures'' bodies released some kind of very strong acid that corrodes pretty much everything," said Lin Qiao.


    "If they keep moving, the Northwest will probably be destroyed in a few years," Xie Dong stood on a rock nearby and looked at the dark area with a solemn face.


    "These things won''t travel everywhere, will they? That will be a disaster¡­ Can anything stop them?" On hearing Xie Dong''s words, Yan Xiao pictured it in her head and then had her fine hairs stand straight up.


    Lin Qiao looked around as she shook her head and said, "We need to keep observing them to find out. Look at their two legs. They don''t look like something that''ll run all over the world."


    "Keep observing? Are we staying here?" Yan Xiao asked.


    "Why should we be staying here? Whoever is responsible for this area should be doing the observations," said Ye Qingxian.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes. Tell Lan Lu about the situation here when we get back and make him pay extra attention to this area." After saying that, she turned and continued, "Let''s go and find that wolf. It has run far away¡­"


    Because of the weird vibe released by those creatures in the valley, many high-leveled mutated beasts near the valley had run away, including the level-eight wolf. The wolf had sensed the vibe and run far away from where Lin Qiao was now. But still, she could sense its vibe and locate it.


    As Lin Qiao moved, all the other zombies quickly followed her away.


    About a hundred miles away, on a tall mountain, the fur-less wolf was standing on a giant rock, turning to look at the valley.


    "Owooooo¡­" A short while later, it raised its head and uttered a resonant howl toward the sky.


    "Owoooo¡­" The wolf pack howled after their king.


    After giving the howl, the wolf turned to leave. But all of a sudden, a dark fire dragon descended from the air and fiercely charged at it.


    "Roar!" The wolf gave a start and sprung up while raising a paw and releasing a wave of sharp, white ice blades toward the dragon. The black dragon bumped into the white ice and turned into a gray dragon as it fell from the sky, shattering against the ground and generating a loud boom.


    Next, the shattered ice quickly melted, and the black fire sealed within rose again within a blink.


    "Roar!" The familiar vibe from the black fire made the wolf''s hair stand straight up. Of course, it didn''t have much hair left on its skin. Only some sparse hairs were left on its neck, tail, and limbs.


    So, at the moment, only the hair on its neck and tail were seen standing up.


    Hearing the wolf king''s roar, all the other wolves hurriedly scattered and run.


    At that moment, an enormous black snake suddenly slid off a tree nearby and charged at a level-six gray wolf.


    "Owooo!" The gray wolf was smaller than the wolf king, but it was highly vigilant. The moment the snake darted out, it turned to give the snake a glance and then swiftly leaped again, landing on the other side before baring its teeth and roaring at the black snake.


    "Owowowowo!" A weird series of dog bark could be heard, along with which a figure that was as black as the wolf king stormed into the wolf pack, fiercely attacking the wolves who were running in all directions. That was s dog biting a wolf''s butt at first, then turning and pouncing on another wolf. It clinched one of the wolf''s rear legs and dragged it backward.


    "Owooooo¡­" The wolves who suffered the dog''s teeth howled in pain, then turned around with rage and rushed at the black dog together.


    "Owow!" As a few wolves charged at it all together, the black dog screamed shrilly as it turned and ran. The few level five and six wolves chased the dog closely, biting him madly.


    The giant black snake coiled his body and confronted the gray snake while staying vigilant against the other wolves. It wasn''t frightened though; from time to time, it tentatively reached out its head to bite the gray wolf.


    The wolf and the snake were both level-six mutated beasts; however, the snake was much larger in size. The snake looked very dangerous, so the wolf never dared to relax its nerve, but stared closely at it.


    A level-five gray wolf who was running at the edge of the wolf crowd suddenly fell into a hole, then countless tentacles wrapped up its body.


    "Roar!" The gray wolf struggled intensely with fright and found that the tentacles had its body wrapped tightly. No matter how hard it struggled, it wasn''t able to free itself. While the wolf was struggling, the sharp tips of those tentacles suddenly sank into its body.


    "Owooo¡­" The wolf screamed in pain.


    About ten figures showed up on the battlefield like lightning bolts, attacking the wolves at level five or six. Lin Qiao''s domineering vibe had thrown the entire wolf pack into chaos. The wolf king had didn''t have any spare attention to look after its pack because it was her target.

 1149 The Dog Who Hindered Her

    The black wolf spread its limbs, lowered its head, and widened its fierce eyes. It bared its teeth and gave Lin Qiao a deep roar, with the hair on its neck risen.


    "Hrrrr¡­" The wolf wasn''t expecting the zombie to catch up with it. At that point, it realized that Lin Qiao was coming at it.


    Lin Qiao stably stood on a tree nearby, wielding her hands to control the dark fire that was hovering around her body.


    The black wolf narrowed its eyes to observe her. That human-like creature gave out a strong zombie vibe. Back in the poisonous forest, the wolf had realized that she was strong enough to threaten its life. She was at the same level as the wolf, but the latter instinctively felt that she was dangerous.


    That was why the wolf ran away once it grasped a chance. But to its surprise, the human-like zombie found it. Her vibe was lingering in the area where a weird vibe could be sensed from just now. However, after a short disappearance, her vibe was sensed right near the wolf.


    "Roar!" The black wolf glared at Lin Qiao and gave another roar, then popped its claws and leaped high as it pounced on her tree. At that moment, Lin Qiao jumped and swung her arms forward, sending a stream of black fire straight to the wolf''s face.


    The wolf opened its mouth wide and let out a cloud of icy mist, freezing Lin Qiao''s black fire and making it fall to the ground. As the ice fell, the wolf leaped over and stepped on it to jump back into the air.


    At that point, Lin Qiao, who was in front of the wolf, had disappeared without a trace.


    "Roar!" The wolf landed on the tree where Lin Qiao stepped on before and stopped moving, carefully observing the surrounding area with a pair of sharp eyes and searching for any trace of Lin Qiao.


    The invisible Lin Qiao slowly came behind the black wolf, prepared to give it a lethal strike.


    "Owowowow¡­" At that very moment, a huge black dog suddenly rushed over and barked loudly. The dog swiftly rushed cross under the tree that the wolf king was on. Behind it were a few mutated wolves at level five or six.


    "Woooo¡­" The group of wolves bared their teeth and glared at the dog ragingly, seemingly even wanting to tear him into pieces. As those wolves ran over, Lin Qiao saw the wounds on their butts.


    The wolf king stood on the tree and looked at the dog and the group of wolves silently.


    Where the hell did the silly dog came from? Was it putting up some kind of funny show?


    If it didn''t need to stay vigilant against the invisible Lin Qiao, the wolf king would even jump off the tree onto the dog and bite off its head.


    "Owowow!" The huge black dog ran like a gust of wind. It created a distance from the group of wolves, then turned and barked at them provokingly. After that, it immediately turned and kept running.


    "Wooooo¡­" Its movement infuriated the wolves who howled even more loudly than before while chasing it.


    Seeing the wolves get angry, the dog barked excitedly and ran at lightning speed.


    Lin Qiao and the wolf king silently looked at the dog. Lin Qiao wanted to walk to the dog and give it a heavy kick on the butt. Meanwhile, the wolf king was quite angry to see the dog tease the wolves. It couldn''t jump off the tree to attack the dog though, because if it did that, the invisible zombie might give it a surprise attack.


    As the wolf king was baring its teeth with anger, Lin Qiao suddenly showed up behind it and swung her claws at its back.


    "Hrr!" The wolf king was prepared for that, so it reacted the moment she showed up by flashing away and hopping onto another tree. From that tree, it roared at her ferociously.


    Lin Qiao didn''t manage to touch the wolf. She turned and landed on the ground with her tiptoes, then charged at the wolf king again within a blink. The wolf king raised a paw and sent a sharp wave of ice pieces toward her when her tiptoes touched the ground. However, she wielded her arm and sent a black fire dragon against the ice pieces.


    Bang! The ice pieces fell to the ground. At that moment, Lin Qiao flew through the wave of flying ice pieces and swung her claw at the wolf king.


    Puff!


    "Owooo¡­" The wolf king already had a few claw wounds on its skin. And this time, Lin Qiao''s claws cut into its skin again. The wolf howled in pain, then flinched and fled a long distance away within a blink.


    "Errrr¡­" The wolf landed on a hill that was about two-hundred meters away from Lin Qiao and lowered its body as it stared at Lin Qiao alertly, seeming ready to run at any moment. Lin Qiao moved slightly, then disappeared from where she was. Once again, she turned herself invisible and approached the wolf king.


    But, before she went close to the wolf, the familiar dog bark was heard again.


    "Owowowowo!" The dog rushed out from behind the wolf king. While brushing across the wolf, he suddenly turned and conveniently bit on the wolf king''s butt.


    "Hrr!" The wolf had all its attention on Lin Qiao, so it didn''t even know how the dog came near it. Being bitten on the butt, the wolf king nearly exploded with anger. It forgot about Lin Qiao who was threatening its life, and turned to madly pounce on the dog, joining the group that was chasing the dog.


    "Owoooooo!" ''You b*stard! I''m gonna bite you to death! How dare you bite my butt!''


    "Owowowow!" As the wolf king suddenly came after him, Bowwow finally realized that he might have provoked someone that he should not have. The dog screamed and ran like hell, wishing that his owner would show up soon to save his life.


    He was not able to win against a level-eight beast!


    Lin Qiao, who had approached the wolf king in a perfect way, didn''t manage to make any move before Bowwow ruined her plan. She stood on the hill and quietly looked at the dog that was being chased by the wolf king, then at the wolf king that was determinedly trying to bite the dog on the butt.


    She did not want to save the dog at all. However, that was her dog after all. Would it be too heartless not to save him? But, the dog always hindered her.


    At that moment, over ten-thousand meters deep underground was an enormous, dark space, at least a thousand meters tall. The ground in that space was covered in all kinds of black plants. Those plants were tall and thriving, with huge leaves; all of them were ink black.


    The underground space was boundless; apart from the weird black plants, numerous underground rivers also existed there. The river water was black too, looking rather spooky. Some creatures were moving in the rivers, meaning that the rivers weren''t deadly.


    Boom¡­ Boom¡­ Boom¡­ A series of quaking noises could be heard from the space, seemingly generated by some large-sized creatures while moving. Hearing that noise, the creatures in the dark rivers immediately sank to the bottom, and the surface of the rivers instantly quieted down.


    Boom¡­ Boom¡­ Boom¡­ The sound came closer and closer, then faded away gradually. As the sound faded, the quiet river surfaces were rippled again. Some dark figures popped out of the water, then sank back to the bottom.


    That place was the earth''s core. No one on the earth''s surface knew about what was happening there. However, the creatures there were strangely nervous.

 1150 Kill the Wolf King

    On the ground, Bowwow was darting about under the wolf king''s pursuit. From time to time, he also needed to run from the other wolves that came at him from all directions.


    While the dog was dodging the attack from a level-six wolf, the wolf king seized the opportunity to pounce on him.


    "Owooo!" This time, Bowwow didn''t manage to get away and was pressed on the ground, struggling. Sensing the incoming danger, Bowwow finally had his hair standing straight up. He turned his head and desperately barked toward the surrounding area.


    While defending himself with his claws against the wolf king''s white, shiny teeth and scratching the wolf''s face, the dog didn''t forget to kick the wolf''s crotch area with his rear legs.


    "Hrrr¡­" The wolf king bared its teeth and attempted to bite the dog''s neck over and over again. But, the dog managed to push away the wolf''s face with his forepaws every time.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao showed up in the midair behind the wolf king and swung her claws toward it. Meanwhile, a large stream of dark fire was released from her palms, spreading and descending on the wolf.


    "Whooo¡­" Hearing the swishing noise caused by Lin Qiao''s claws, the wolf who had suffered from those claws once instantly leaped away with vigilance. However, that leap brought it right under Lin Qiao''s black fire.


    As the devouring dark fire came close to it, the wolf king immediately covered itself with a thick layer of ice. In the air, the wolf kicked its legs, twisted its body in a weird posture, and then darted into the forest.


    Lin Qiao clenched her fingers in the air. Following her move, the black fire swiftly flew at the wolf and wrapped it up within a blink.


    "Owooooo¡­ Hrrr¡­" Being wrapped in the fire, the wolf king lost balance and made a few rolls on the ground, then started struggling while releasing a great amount of energy, wishing to push away the devouring energy contained in Lin Qiao''s black fire. However, the more energy it released, the more the black fire absorbed. and the stronger it became.


    Lin Qiao floated in the air, treading over a small sphere of black fire. She controlled the fire on the wolf''s body with both hands to absorb the wolf''s energy. The fire had even started to melt the ice on the wolf''s skin.


    "Owooooo¡­" The wolf king rolled and struggled on the ground, then sprung up and bumped into a rock. From there, it leaped high and hit a tree with its body. It had lost its sense of direction and sight completely.


    Some level-seven mutated wolves had run away long ago while quite some wolves at level five and six were killed by the other zombies, having their nuclei dug out. The rest of the wolves had fled away without a trace.


    Lin Qiao trapped the wolf king with all her power. At that moment, no other level-eight beings were hindering her. So, the wolf king would eventually fall in her dark fire and die when its energy ran out.


    Without the threat coming from the wolf king, Bowwow had started teasing the group of large wolves once again. Some of them who were slow-minded still had their eyes fixed on Bowwow while the smart ones noticed that all their friends were gone, and their leader was trapped. Those smart wolves instantly stopped chasing the dog, then turned and ran deep into the forest.


    At that point, the black snake had his body wrapping an over two-meter-long gray wolf tightly. As same as the wolf king, that gray wolf was also covered in ice, and the snake''s teeth had sunken into the wolf''s neck. Near his teeth, the ice had cracked. The snake''s cold eyes sparkled with a strong intention of killing. No matter how hard the level-seven wolf struggled and how much icy mist it released to try and freeze the snake to death, or how it tried to scratch with its claw, the huge black snake didn''t relax his bite by even a little bit.


    Even though the snake had the wolf fully suppressed, quite some new wounds were added to his body, some left by claws and others caused by sharp ice pieces. A few ice thorns were even stuck in its skin.


    Not far away from the wolf and the snake, a dead level-six gray wolf was lying on the ground. The dead wolf''s body was twisted in a weird way, lifelessly.


    A huge mushroom slowly moved to the dead wolf''s side using its roots and stood there, glancing at the dead wolf, at the black snake, then at the wolf, and then at the snake again. Every time the mushroom gave the snake a glance, it would make a small step toward the dead wolf.


    After making a few small steps, the mushroom found that the snake was still trying to strangle the level-seven wolf. So, the mushroom instantly made a big step, hopped onto the dead level-six wolf, and poked its tentacles into the dead wolf''s head. Then, it stirred inside and quickly dug out a nucleus. The mushroom tossed the nucleus on the ground and gave the black snake another glance, then dragged the rather large dead wolf which weighed at least one hundred kilograms quickly into the forest nearby using its tentacles.


    Seeing the mushroom drag away the dead wolf but leave its nucleus, the snake had a faint gleam of light flashing across his eyes but made no further reactions. The level-seven wolf in its grip soon lost its strength to struggle because the snake''s venom had delivered its effect. The black snake slowly tightened his body; the bucket-thick snake was so strong that his body even crushed the wolf''s bones.


    The wolf-king''s level-eight nucleus contained a huge amount of energy, just like the bear''s nucleus. Therefore, the time Lin Qiao spent to suppress the wolf king was no shorter than what she spent on the bear.


    Finally, the wolf king''s mind grew weak and Lin Qiao seized the opportunity, cutting off its head with her claw. By that time, her zombie friends and three pets had rested for a while nearby.


    They harvested twenty-two nuclei this time, including one level-eight, one level-seven, eight level-six, and twelve level-five. Added with the level-eight bear''s nucleus, those nuclei could improve the powers of a small number of Lin Qiao''s zombie soldiers.


    But, that was still far from enough.


    Apart from Lin Qiao herself, Mo Yan was currently the only level-eight being in her base. Right now, she wondered how much power he had regained. She assumed he wouldn''t be able to regain all his power within a short time. Lin Kui, Qiu Lili, and Yun Meng were the only three level-seven zombies in the base. Apart from them, she also had about ten level-six zombies and around a hundred level-five ones.


    That force she controlled was strong enough to face one large base. However, it was not good enough to protect her base against all human bases in the country. She was still not powerful enough to awe those human beings and make them fear her.


    Only by making those human beings fear her zombie army and realize how much stronger she and her army were than themselves could she force them to accept the existence of her zombie army. They might still not accept the existence of her and her zombie army, but at least they would not always try to destroy her and her zombies.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the two level-eight nuclei in her hand. She needed one of them to strengthen herself. As for the other one, she planned to save it for the future. She would have plenty of level-eight nuclei in the future.


    The vibes that she and the wolf king released while fighting the battle frightened all the other mutated animals a hundred miles around them and made them restrain their own vibes.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while scanning the area with her sensations but failed to detect any other high-leveled mutated creatures. She didn''t plan to chase the few level-seven wolves that had run away anyway.


    She threw all the dead wolves into her space, then turned and swiftly moved toward Lin Kui and the others, "We''re heading home."


    Wolves didn''t taste good, but at least the meat of high-leveled wolves contained energy more or less. They should taste okay after soaking in the lake water for a while.


    Following Lin Qiao, the other zombies disappeared one after another.

 1151 She Still Has Three Months

    At dawn, Lin Wenwen was standing before the mirror, speechlessly squeezing the fat on her belly.


    "Are you saying that you want me to help you lose weight? I was brought back by you accidentally to help you lose weight? Why?" Lin Wenwen looked at Dong Xinxin''s face in the mirror and said unhappily.


    "Eh, you have nothing to do anyway. Please help me!" Dong Xin Xin said in Lin Wenwen''s mind with a weak voice, "I need to gain energy from this body to heal. This current body of mine is too lame. Let alone providing energy, the impurities inside this body can even hinder me from healing."


    Lin Wenwen had no words to argue with that.


    So, if she wanted to go back to where she came from, she needed to strengthen Dong Xinxin''s body and allow the latter to heal. Only when the latter regained the control of her own body could she send Lin Wenwen back.


    What an unexpected disaster!


    "What exactly is your superpower?" asked Lin Wenwen to the mirror with curiosity, "Why did you come back seven years ago?"


    "I didn''t have a choice," said Dong Xinxin, "I didn''t know which year I''d come back to."


    Clearly, the girl had a story. "So, you didn''t come back voluntarily," said Lin Wenwen, "Are you a time traveler? Why did you come back?"


    After a short silence, Dong Xinxin responded, "I''d be dead if I didn''t come back¡­ Actually, I think I''m already dead."


    "Dead?" Lin Wenwen was surprised on hearing that, "Are you saying that you came back to this year when you died? How did you die?"


    Lin Wenwen asked the last question without thinking. She was curious about how Dong Xinxin brought her back to the past accidentally.


    "I was killed by zombies during a mission," said Dong Xinxin blandly.


    She died because of a man. To save that man, she consumed up her energy. They were injured, then encountered post-apocalyptic robbers. At last, she and the man chose to be killed by zombies instead of the robbers.


    She didn''t want to tell Lin Wenwen about the real cause of her death, so she told her that she was killed by zombies during a mission.


    "So, what did your death have to do with me?" Lin Wenwen asked another question, "Why did you bring me back to the past?"


    "I''m not sure," said Dong Xinxin helplessly, "All I remember is I seemed to have seen a blurry figure in my last moment. After that, I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I found myself unable to move, and you in my body."


    "So, you don''t even know how you brought me here. How do you know how to send me back to the future then?" Lin Wenwen looked at Dong Xinxin''s face in the mirror and asked.


    "Didn''t I tell you that your body is in my space? When I have healed and regained the control of my body, I''ll be able to send you back into your own body. By then, you''ll be expelled by this timeline and automatically sent back to the future," Dong Xinxin explained.


    "I''ll be expelled by this timeline? I won''t be destroyed, will I?" Lin Wenwen was a little worried.


    "With my power, I can send you into the space orbit, so you don''t need to worry that this timeline might erase your existence."


    "Oh, good!" Lin Wenwen sighed with relief.


    While the two of them were talking in the bathroom, door knocks were heard.


    Lin Wenwen wiped her face and said, "Your brother is here. Do you think he''ll believe what I said?"


    "He''s spent the whole night processing it. He at least believes sixty percent of what you said now," said Dong Xinxin with a bland voice.


    Lin Wenwen turned and walked out of the bathroom, then opened the door of her room. Dong Lijia was standing out there with a sallow face.


    "Get in," Lin Wenwen turned and let him in.


    Dong Lijia came in and looked at her with a struggling look on her face, then walked to the couch and sat down. Lin Wenwen shut the door and walked to the desk, then dragged out the chair for herself to sit on. Then, she looked at Dong Lijia and said, "Do you believe me?"


    Dong Lijia swallowed his saliva and said, "If you''re not my sister, where is my sister? What happened to her?"


    Lin Wenwen said, "She''s great. She''ll be back in a while. You don''t need to worry about her safety."


    Dong Lijia let out a slight sigh with relief and then said, "Then¡­ what do you want me to do?"


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes, "Now you know that the world is going to end. What do you want to do? Sit here and wait for death? Or sit here and wait to turn into a zombie? What if you survived and didn''t turn into a zombie? The world would fall into chaos. I think you don''t need me to tell you about that. Have you watched one of those zombie movies?"


    Dong Lijia looked at her silently. A few seconds later, he nodded and said, "I get it. But¡­ what are you going to do?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and responded lazily, "You don''t need to know that. I''m not going to hurt your sister anyway. If I wanted to hurt her, I wouldn''t have bothered to tell you the truth. Oh, I''m out of money. Lend me some."


    Hearing what she said, Dong Lijia still had doubts in his heart. The last few words she said confused him. "You want to borrow money? Isn''t the world ending? What do you need money for? Besides, my sister has quite some allowance. You can spend her money, can''t you?"


    "When the apocalypse actually happens, money will become useless. But, it hasn''t happened yet. I need to buy things. Do you want me to steal?" Lin Wenwen looked at him impatiently.


    "Buy what?" Dong Lijia looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Wenwen stood up, said, "That''s none of your concern. Just give me the money. Oh, there''s another mission for you. Go and deal with your parents. I won''t do that."


    "What? Tell my parents?" Dong Lijia was a little stunned.


    "Yeah. Tell your parents to sell everything that they can sell, then buy a good amount of rice, flour, and water, stock as much supplies as possible," said Lin Wenwen while walking toward the closet, "In the post-apocalyptic era, those things can save your lives. You guys still have three months to make plans about how to purchase and store those supplies."


    Having finished talking, she walked into the closet and found the sportswear area, then took out a sports suit and put it on.


    Dong Lijia still didn''t want to believe what Lin Wenwen said. However, her tone of speaking, her attitude, and the combat skill that she displayed last night all clearly told him that he had to believe her.


    What if it were all true? If it were true, he would regret not believing her, wouldn''t he? If what she said were true, if the world would become a chaotic place with zombies and viruses everywhere in three months, the people who had no preparations would really die very easily!


    But, how was he going to tell that to his family and friends? Would they think of him as a crazy person?


    Also, he needed to get money. In the coming three months, he needed to purchase a great amount of food and water, as well as vehicles and weapons. He needed money to do that.


    As Lin Wenwen put on a loose-fitting, extra, extra, extra large sports suit and came out of the closet, she found Dong Lijia''s brows knitted into an even deeper frown than before.

 1152 Exercise in the Morning

    "What are you doing?" Seeing the chubby Lin Wenwen wearing a loose-fitting sports suit and a pair of trainers, Dong Lijia looked at her and asked.


    It wasn''t like what he thought, was it?


    "Can''t you see?" said Lin Wenwen, "I need to improve your sister''s body, or she won''t send me back to where I came from."


    "She won''t send you back?" Dong Lijia stopped short with surprise, then continued, "What do you mean? Can she talk to you?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded, "She''s in this body too actually. She''s too weak to control her own body, so she asked for my help. Also, your sister knows about the apocalypse too. She asked me to tell you."


    After saying that, she picked up Dong Xinxin''s phone and started checking the orders that she made last night. She spent the whole night making orders online last night. As the quantities were too large, many shop owners discussed the delivery time with her, because they were worried that she might switch to the other shops. All the orders she made were large; many shop owners were delighted and worried at the same time. They were delighted because the large orders would bring them a fortune, and they were worried because they did not have such large quantities in stock.


    The main goods she ordered were rice and flour, as well as some medicines and packaged foods. Aside from those, she had also bought a batch of seeds from a farm owner for her sister to plant in her space.


    "She asked you to tell me? How did she know¡­ Oh, you said that you have superpower. Are you from the future? Did you come into my sister''s body from the post-apocalyptic era? Why my sister''s body? Couldn''t you go back into your own body?" Dong Lijia had so many questions entangling together in his mind.


    "Hm?" Lin Wenwen raised her eyes and looked at him as she said, "Didn''t I tell you that I''m from the future last night? Oh, I only told you about the apocalypse that''ll happen in three months."


    Realizing that she didn''t tell him everything last night, Lin Wenwen continued, "Yes, I''m from 2024. I didn''t come back voluntarily, neither did I invade your sister''s body. She brought me back somehow. Don''t think that I want to be here!"


    After saying that, she gave Dong Lijia a glare, then lowered her head to continue looking at her phone screen.


    Dong Lijia slightly widened his eyes, staring at her. A short while later, he stood up and said, "I still don''t believe you. I''ll believe what you said if you let my sister talk to me."


    Lin Wenwen waved at him as she clicked her tongue and said, "I knew you won''t believe me so easily. Do whatever you want. Don''t forget to lend me money. Lend me as much as you have. Don''t save your money. In three months, money will become useless."


    She needed money to order a batch of fresh vegetables and fruits from the current season.


    "If I lend you money, how are you gonna pay me back?" Dong Lijia asked. He was going to say ''why should I lend you money'', but on a second thought, he felt that letting Lin Wenwen owe him a favor might not be a bad thing. After all, if what she said was real, money would become useless paper in three months.


    "What? You want me to pay you back? I was brought here by your sister for no reason, and I was required to do all kinds of things for her, including losing weight. Doesn''t your sister owe it to me? I told you about the apocalypse. The other people don''t even have the chance to pay for this kind of information, yet you want me to pay you? Seriously?" What the boy said infuriated Lin Wenwen. In a good way, she asked to borrow money from him, but in fact, she was asking him for compensation. However, the boy actually wanted her to pay him back.


    "Eh¡­ eh¡­ No, no, you don''t need to pay me back¡­" Hearing her yell, Dong Lijia was a little confused. The completely strange look on his sister''s face made him feel extremely bizarre.


    In the past second, Lin Wenwen had rushed up to him and grasped his collar. Now, on hearing what he said, she relaxed her grip and clapped her hands. Then, she grabbed her key and cellphone, put on earplugs, and went out to look for a place for jogging.


    She went down to the living room and saw a group of bodyguards in black suits standing in two straight lines that extended from the stairs to the door. Was Dong Xinxinx''s family rich or in the mob? A huge group of bodyguards standing in front of her like that wasn''t something pleasant to be seen so early in the morning.


    Lin Wenwen came downstairs. Standing in front of her was the muscular elderly man that she had seen last night. The man nodded at her slightly and said, "Miss. Dong, would you like some breakfast?"


    "What? Oh¡­ not yet. I''ll eat after jogging," Lin Wenwen rubbed her chubby face and said to the butler.


    "Jogging?" The butler''s face froze with surprise once she let out that word. The bodyguards turned to give her a glance. Realizing how inappropriate that was, they all hurriedly turned their heads back to look straight ahead.


    What was happening? Miss. Dong actually said that she was going to jog! She wasn''t even willing to walk for a hundred meters, yet she was suddenly going to jog! Was that another weight-loss battle?


    With composure, Lin Wenwen walked through the pathway with the bodyguards over six feet on both sides. Somehow, she felt that she herself was so short. Dong Xinxin was short indeed.


    As she walked out of the door, the butler instantly gave a few bodyguards a hand signal, following which, six bodyguards quickly stepped out of line and followed Lin Wenwen out.


    At that moment, Dong Lijia had come downstairs as well. He looked around, then asked, "Has she¡­ Has Xinxin gone out?"


    The butler immediately nodded at him and said, "Yes, she''s going to¡­ jog."


    Dong Lijia thought for a moment and then said, "Let her do what she wants. I have something to talk to you later."


    Lin Wenwen walked out of the mansion and into the front yard. While walking, she started stretching her body. She planned to get familiar with the place first and then look for a suitable area for jogging.


    She knew that a mansion like that was probably equipped with a gym, but she preferred jogging outside so she could enjoy the fresh air.


    Last night when she came here by car, she had noticed how large the courtyard of this luxurious mansion was. In the front yard were well-manicured plants. Between the front gate and the house was an exquisite fountain statue.


    Lin Wenwen walked to the backyard from the front yard. Quite some trees were planted in the backyard, so the view there wasn''t as wide as that in the front yard. However, the air in the backyard was great.


    She stopped moving and took a deep breath. No matter how many times she breathed, she could always feel how different the air was from the air in the post-apocalyptic era. Maybe it wasn''t the actual difference; maybe it was just because of her mindset.


    After making a tour in the mansion slowly, Lin Wenwen started walking quickly. She said she was going to jog, but she didn''t start doing that right away. She needed to adjust her body before she could run. Otherwise, she would be exhausted soon after she started.


    She walked in the backyard in big steps while swinging her arms. A few bodyguards followed behind her and kept a distance from her. Lin Wenwen surely knew they were there, but pretended she didn''t. After circling around the house twice, she started gasping for air. She adjusted her breath and pressed her lips as she kept moving faster and faster.

 1153 She Was A Big-cat Lover

    When Lin Wenwen started to exercise Dong Xinxin''s body, the people in All Beings Base had spent two days looking for her. Not even a trace of hers was found, and the people were almost driven crazy.


    They had no idea where she had gone. At first, they thought someone took her away. However, all superpowered people and zombies in the base had searched throughout the entire base over and over again, but nothing was found. No one could possibly take away a person from such a strictly guarded base without leaving a trace.


    If she made herself disappear, where did she go? Did she go somewhere else? Did she wake up? If she went somewhere else unconsciously, that sounded so dangerous!


    Lin Hao, Lin Feng, and the others were worried and helpless, not knowing what to do. All they could do at the moment was keep looking.


    Qiu Lili went to Lin Jing''s place and sighed, "Where is she? I couldn''t sense any of her vibe and scent from her room. She vanished into thin air! Do you think she can be in her space? I wonder if she''s awake. What if she''s still unconscious? Her space isn''t suitable for living creatures to stay in, is it?"


    Lin Jing smiled and comforted her, "It''ll be fine if Miss. Lin is really in her own space. That''s her superpower. Her self-protection awareness will allow her superpower to keep her safe. I think she''ll be fine."


    Qiu Lili came to spend a short while at Lin Jing''s place every day because Lin Kui asked her to look after Lin Jing before he left, also because she wanted to know more about Lin Kui.


    Lin Jing was always alone. Qiu Lili figured that she might be lonely sometimes, so she decided to come to keep her company whenever she could. Besides, Lin Jing was a very tender person, and being with her made Qiu Lili feel peaceful. Therefore, Qiu Lili grew fond of spending time with her after doing that a few times.


    "Really? I hope you''re right. If it''s like that, will she come back once she wakes up?" Qiu Lili said delightedly, having her eyes glow when she heard what Lin Jing said.


    "I think so," Lin Jing nodded.


    Qiu Lili rested her upper body on the back of the couch near the window and looked outside with her pair of large, ruby-like red eyes, "I wonder when will Chief and the others come back."


    Lin Jing followed her eyes and looked outside as well, "I don''t know. I think what Chief is up to must be something very important. Maybe they won''t come back so soon. Chief isn''t the one that you miss, is she? It''s Kui, right?"


    While saying that, Lin Jing looked at Qiu Lili with a meaningful smile.


    "Ah¡­ Eh¡­ It''s not like that¡­ Well¡­ I do miss him a little bit. There''s no big cat playing with me these days," Qiu Lili tried to explain bashfully at first. However, seeing the look in Lin Jing''s eyes, she shyly admitted.


    Except for Lin Qiao, whom she tended to rely on, she never cared so much about anyone after she turned into a zombie. However, ever since she watched the zombie guy transform into a huge black panther, Qiu Lili was thinking about his panther form every single day. She only thought of Lin Kui''s human face occasionally.


    Lin Kui had a scar on his face. He wasn''t a super handsome man, but wasn''t average-looking either. He could be counted as good-looking. The seven or six centimeters long scar near his eye corner added a masculine presence to him.


    Lin Jing smiled and said, "You''re so special! Don''t girls always like cute little animals? Most of the other girls love kitties while you like big cats."


    Qiu Lili shook her head, "Kitties are cute indeed, but I like the big ones. The big ones are adorable, pretty, full of strength. I like tigers the most. They have such beautiful stripes."


    "Leopards have beautiful spots," said Lin Jing.


    Qiu Lili sighed and said, "But I like tigers more. Why didn''t Lin Kui turn into a tiger?"


    Hearing what Qiu Lili said, Lin Jing started to worry about her little brother. If someday a tiger-power possessor showed up, his future girlfriend might be stolen from him.


    At that moment, far away in the Northwest, Lin Kui somehow had a sense of crisis. He had no idea where that came from. He turned his round, fluffy head, then raised his ears and looked around. Detecting nothing abnormal, he turned back and lay back on the branch.


    It was inconvenient for him to shift back into his human shape at the moment because there were no clothes for him to wear.


    Duan Juan and Shui Mingjun were sitting on a rock near the tree, eating solid food while chatting. Yan Huiguang was standing alone on top of a tree that was about thirty meters away from them, with a sullen look on his face.


    "Has he always been like this, pulling a long face?" Duan Juan glanced at Yan Huiguang, then turned and asked Shui Mingjun.


    Shui Mingjun took a sip of water. Hearing the question, he raised his eyes and cast a glance at Yan Guanghui, then said, "No. Before, he was only quiet."


    Yan Guanghui used to be quiet, cold-looking man, who had a lot of thoughts going on in his head.


    Duan Juan took a sip of water as well and sighed, "I guess many have changed after the apocalypse."


    Under the harsh survival condition, many people were forced to change themselves. Shui Mingjun didn''t say anything to her, but nodded slightly to agree with her point.


    "What did he do before?" Duan Juan asked with curiosity.


    "He was a doctor. Don''t you know?" Shui Mingjun said, then gave her a questioning glance.


    "Should I know that?" Duan Juan was confused.


    "Hmm, no," Shui Mingjun shrugged.


    At that moment, Lin Kui suddenly leaped off the tree and said to the two of them, "Lan Lu is coming back. Chief isn''t with him."


    He sensed Lan Lu''s scent. The latter was with a few others, but not with Lin Qiao.


    "Isn''t Chief coming back? So, we''ll have to keep waiting," Duan Juan stopped eating and looked at Lin Kui. She thought for a moment, then continued, "Lan Lu is back, so what about his level-nine Chief?"


    "He''s here too," said Lin Kui, "His vibe is very weak though. I think he''s lost consciousness."


    "It''s definitely our Chief who knocked him out. Only she was able to approach that crazy level-nine man," said Duan Juan affirmatively.


    From her tone of speaking, Shui Mingjun detected how confident she was about her Chief.


    "Si Kongchen hasn''t gone far. We should be careful," Lin Kui twitched his nose and blinked as he reminded the others.


    Hearing Si Kongchen''s name, Duan Juan and Shui Mingjun instantly grew vigilant. "Is he coming at us?" Duan Juan asked.


    Lin Kui shook his ears and said, "Probably. I''m not sure now, because there''s still quite a distance between him and us."


    Hearing that, the two relaxed slightly.

 1154 The Dogs Natural Enemy

    Lan Lu and Chang Qingqing brought Dong Xiaowei back toward their base. On the way, they found the car that they hid forehanded and sat in. In the front seat, Chang Qingqing turned and looked at Lan Lu, who was in the backseat, and asked him, "Are we going back just like this?"


    "Or?" Lan Lu looked at her confusedly, "Do you have any unfinished job?"


    Chang Qingqing shook her head as she pointed at him and said, "Not me. You should have something else to do."


    "Me? What else do I need to do? My job is to keep him safe," Lan Lu looked at Chang Qingqing with confusion. While speaking, he pointed at Dong Xiaowei, who was leaning against the back of the seat with his eyes closed.


    Chang Qingqing pressed her lips together for a second and said, "I''m talking about the level-eight nucleus. Where do you plan to get that for her?"


    "Oh!" Lan Lu finally understood her meaning. He thought for a moment and said, "Level-eight¡­ hmm, there are only three level-eight superpowered people and two zombie emperors so far. One zombie emperor has already gone missing while the other one was¡­ Quite some level-eight mutated beasts can be found these days though. No level-eight mutated plants were seen so far. I guess I need to get her another level-eight beast nucleus. Oh my, she already has the level-eight fire bear''s nucleus, and I think the black wolf won''t be able to survive her pursuit either. All Beings Base seems to be stronger than we thought."


    All Being Base didn''t have a large human population, but many in that base were rather powerful, including a great number of top-leveled zombies! Except for Huaxia Base and Sea City Base, which base had so many top-leveled superpower possessors? Not to mention the fact that zombies were always stronger than humans at the same levels.


    Hearing what Lan Lu said, Chang Qingqing nodded in agreement, "So, do you think that she doesn''t urgently need your level-eight nucleus?"


    Lan Lu responded to her smilingly, "She didn''t ask me to give it to her immediately. She didn''t say when she''ll need it."


    "You''re not gonna repudiate the debt, are you?" Chang Qingqing rolled her eyes and said.


    Lan Lu quickly shook her head and said, "I dare not to do that! I''m just gonna wait until she really needs it. Repudiate the debt? I''m afraid that she might kick my a*s. That zombie lady is violent."


    Chang Qingqing turned around and snorted scornfully, "I knew you don''t have it in you. Even if the zombie lady wouldn''t kick your ass, Wu Chengyue might."


    Hearing about that sweet couple from his subordinate, Lan Lu pulled a long face as he looked at the back of Chang Qingqing''s head and said, "Can''t you say something good? Why did you mention him at this time? I don''t want to hear about their relationship! I think we need to find someone to discipline you."


    Chang Qingqing''s ears reddened slightly. She turned and scolded, "Pah! Stay out of my business! Disciplines yourself, you old bachelor!"


    Lan Lu had trouble maintaining the smile on his face. "What? What did you call me? I''m so handsome and young! How could you use those awful words on me!"


    Chang Qingqing immediately widened her eyes as she stared at him and said, "Do you have any sense of shame? You''re about forty years old, aren''t you? You''re an old man! Young and handsome? Ming, what do you think?"


    While speaking, she turned and patted the driver on his shoulder.


    Ming, the young driver, gave her a sideways glance without knowing how to react, "Qing, can you please not drag me into your battle?"


    At that moment, Lin Qiao and her zombie friends blocked a zombie beast''s way. She turned and looked at Bowwow, speaking to the dog with surprise, "Oi, you were so brave that you even bit the wolf king''s butt just now. Why are you shrinking now? This one isn''t higher-leveled than you are. What are you afraid of?"


    Bowwow, who was hiding behind Lin Qiao, stuck his head out and glanced at the zombie beast which was quietly standing on a rock nearby. In the next second, it shrank back and gave a howl.


    "Owoooo¡­"


    Earlier in the poisonous forest, Lin Qiao sensed some zombie vibes coming from long distances away. To her surprise, the one nearest to her was from a dog. At the sight of that zombie dog which had fluffy black hair, bared long and sharp teeth, Bowwow hid behind Lin Qiao cowardly.


    That was a huge Tibetan mastiff, even larger than the wolf king. It was, of course, much larger than Bowwow in size. Added with its fluffy hair, it looked actually like a bear. If it weren''t for its huge tail which had curled into a large circle, it wouldn''t look like a dog at all.


    "No wonder Bowwow is afraid of it. That''s a Tibetan mastiff while Bowwow is a¡­" Standing nearby, Yan Xiao spent a short while observing the enormous fluffy dog that was calmly confronting her and her friends, then turned to give Bowwow a glance. "Thankfully, Bowwow isn''t a husky¡­ But you¡­ Bowwow, aren''t you twenty-five percent husky?"


    "Wow!" Bowwow barked at her with discontentment. He was a shepherd dog!


    "It''s only at level-six, but it''s already twice as big as you are," Yan Xiao laughed at Bowwow.


    "Errr¡­" Bowwow immediately bared his teeth and gave her a deep roar. How dare she laugh at him!


    "Why are you yelling at me? Fight that one if you''re so strong. That''s your brother! It''s much closer to you than the wolf king! Hehe¡­" Yan Xiao didn''t take the dog''s threat seriously at all. She pointed at the huge dog with a smile and said to Bowwow.


    "Owooooo!" Bowwow turned and looked at the huge fluffy dog right in the eyes, then immediately flinched.


    Everyone present found his reaction funny and shared the same thought¡ª''Has this dog finally met his natural enemy? Finally, there''s someone teaching him a lesson!''


    The silly dog had been such a reckless trouble-maker, and he always hindered the others!


    Black slid off the tree nearby and coiled his body, rearing up his head as he stared at the giant, fluffy dog. At that moment, the zombie Tibetan mastiff suddenly wagged its large tail and barked at Lin Qiao and her friends.


    "Woo¡­ woo¡­" Its voice was deep and resonant.


    After that, the dog suddenly turned and left, turning into a shred of shadow and disappearing.


    "Eh? It ran away!" said Ye Qingxian with surprise, "I thought he''d charge at us."


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "That''s a mutated beast after all. Its memory is gone, but it''s at level-six already. Its instincts have woken up long ago. it''s smart, too. We are clearly stronger than it, so it obviously ran away. Why would it stay? To wait and be slaughtered by us?"


    Ye Qingxian looked at Lin Qiao and said, "Are you gonna let it leave just like that?"


    ''Didn''t you bring us here to get that dog?''


    Lin Qiao pointed at the rock that the dog trod on earlier and said, "You think I''m here for the dog? You''re wrong. I''m here for what''s underground."


    "Underground?" Hearing what she said, all the others turned to where she was pointing at.


    Bang! Right at that moment, the rock suddenly exploded and exposed a hole. From the hole, countless dark yellow branches with dry and cracked surface reached out.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! At the same time, countless similar branches burst from the ground, swinging in the air while coming at Lin Qiao and her friends.


    A vibe that belonged to a level-seven mutated plant spread immediately.

 1155 Level Seven Plan

    Seeing those huge and long branches thrust out of the ground near their feet and twist like serpents, the group of zombies quickly moved backward.


    "Whoa! What the hell are these!" Seeing those twisting branches, Yan Xiao had goosebumps covering her skin.


    "Some kind of plant that grows underground," Jingyan flashed to her side and steadied herself, then released a puff of red fire to burn the branches that were coming at Yan Xiao. The branches that were covered in hair-like roots shrank the moment the fire touched them.


    "Oh, they''re afraid of fire! What kind of mutated plant is this?" Seeing how the plant reacted to the fire, Yan Xiao said delightedly.


    "It''s at level-seven, but it''s still afraid of my level-five fire. Why?" Jingyan looked at those branches and said with surprise.


    On the other side, Lin Qiao sent a large stream of dark fire with one hand toward the enormous, weird-looking plant that was located in the middle of all those branches.


    That gigantic plant looked like a pineapple, also like a short but thick pillar that grew out of the earth. It was only a little more than a meter tall. On its head were tens of sharp and hard leaves.


    Lin Qiao could feel the nucleus that existed in the large ''belly'' of that pineapple-like plant. Therefore, she aimed at that area and launched a strike.


    Boom! Boom! Another wave of branches broke the ground and came out. They didn''t come out to attack the enemies, but to wrap up the ''belly'' of the pineapple and defend against Lin Qiao''s fire.


    "Eh? Pineapple? Can pineapples grow in the Northwest? I think they''re southern fruits," Yan Xiao turned to look at her Chief''s target. Seeing the giant pineapple, she immediately said to the others with surprise.


    "Maybe it''s related to pineapples," Jingyan said, then turned to Yan Xiao and complained, "Shouldn''t you be doing something? Are you still having fun?"


    "Oh, oh¡­ I''m coming," Yan Xiao turned and gave her a glance, then threw out a fireball to burn the branches that were approaching her and Jing Yan from all directions.


    "This thing won''t pull itself out of the earth and run away like the big mushroom, will it?" said Ye Qingxian with curiosity.


    Six brushed across him and said, "It might run away underground."


    After all, it was hiding underground earlier.


    Ye Qingxian abruptly pointed at a swiftly swinging branch and said, "Oi, isn''t that Nine? What''s he doing up there? Playing on a swing?"


    Six turned and saw Nine hanging on the arm-thick branch, swaying from side to side. The branch was shaking so intensely like a man shaking his hand when it was stained by something dirty. But, Nine still clutched pretty tight on the branch.


    What on earth was that idiot doing?


    Six no longer wanted to know why the brainless Nine always behaved strangely, and only complained about it.


    "I think Chief won''t let this huge pineapple run," Six glanced at the Nine, who was swinging in the air, and said to Ye Qingxian before moving away.


    Lin Qiao''s dark fire wrapped up the branches and turned the pineapple into a huge, black fireball. With that, the energy in the fire started to absorb the energy in the branches.


    Feeling the devouring power, the pineapple instantly moved its branches that had the ''belly'' wrapped up, swinging countless other branches toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao flashed across the air and suddenly showed up right before the pineapple, then inserted her claw into the plant. In the next second, all the branches froze and fell to the ground two seconds later.


    "Alright, the job is done." Watching that, all the other immediately gathered together. Earlier, all they did was distract the plant to create a chance for Lin Qiao to get the nucleus directly.


    Lin Qiao pulled out her hand that was covered in a sticky, green liquid. A dark-yellow nucleus was glowing on her palm. Once she took the nucleus out of the plant''s body, the giant pineapple turned brown and dry. Then, as a gust of wind blew across, the plant turned into sand and dissipated.


    ¡­


    Near All Being Base, the underground gorillas which had run out of the cave still didn''t want to go back in even though the night had already arrived. They stayed outside the whole night. The second day, they finally started moving when it was dark again. They weren''t heading toward All Beings Base, but in the opposite way.


    "Roar!" Strong gave a roar toward the area where a strong scent of living creatures was sensed from, then leaped tens of meters high. A lot of underground gorillas followed him and leaped high. From a distance, they looked like a group of giant fleas.


    As they weren''t heading toward the base, Yun Meng and Old Guo stayed quiet and followed behind them.


    "Where do you think they''re going?" Standing on top of a building, Yun Meng asked Old Guo.


    The latter looked into that direction. If he guessed right, the zoo which had become the rats'' nest was about a hundred miles away in that direction.


    He held his hands behind his back and hunched his back as he said, "If I''m right, they are going to seek food."


    Yun Meng thought for a moment, then asked another question, "Do you think they''ll still go back to the cave?"


    Old Guo shook his head and said, "How am I supposed to know? I''m not one of them."


    "What happened in that cave? Why did they all come out?" Yun Meng said curiously.


    "You can go down there and find out," said Old Guo.


    Yun Meng turned and looked at him silently. Old Guo smiled at her in response and said, "What? Do you not dare to go down?"


    Yun Meng gave him a glare and snorted, "Who said I don''t dare to go down?" While speaking, she turned and headed back toward the cave entrance.


    Old Guo didn''t follow her, but stayed where he was as he brushed his beard with his fingers while murmuring, "Don''t go too deep."


    Yun Meng flew back to the cave entrance and observed it, then sniffed at the cave. She sensed nothing but the familiar earthy smell.


    She felt that it was necessary for her to go down into the cave to find out what exactly had happened to cause those underground gorillas to suddenly come out in the middle of the day and stay outside for a whole night.


    She walked down the slope while holding the wall. While walking, she carefully felt the scent in the cave and the change of the vibe in it.


    After half an hour of walking, she finally came into a round-shaped room. The room had a dome, and was connected with a few tunnels. She didn''t know where those tunnels all led to.


    The entrance of one tunnel was especially large, about eight meters tall and four meters wide. It might be exclusively for the big one.

 1156 Down in the Cave

    It was quiet in the cave; Yun Meng didn''t feel any abnormal vibe or a strange scent. So, she walked into the largest tunnel. As she moved forward, she felt the tunnel leading downward. About half an hour later, she entered another large round room.


    She spent about three hours moving downward and made a few circles in the underground cave, but still didn''t find anything unusual. At last, the road in front of her ended. It seemed to be a fault. In front of her was a cliff, and over ten meters down the cliff was an underground river, wide and deep.


    Only after approaching the cliff did Yun Meng sensed a faint vibe that was strange and coming from the river. She squatted by the cliff and carefully looked down. She couldn''t see colors; in her eyes, the river water which was supposed to be translucently gray was pitch dark.


    Why was the water black? Was there some problem with the river? Was that why those underground gorillas ran out?


    Yun Meng stared at the river, trying to figure out what it had to do with what had happened. She had spent three hours walking through so many tunnels, but no unusual signs were found until she saw the river. The river gave out an indescribable vibe, which was so mysterious that she couldn''t even tell what it belonged to.


    She looked around. On both sides of the river were vertical cliffs, with no places to land feet on. Therefore, she inserted her claws into the cliff and slowly crawled down to observe the river water more closely.


    Of course, she would not jump straight into the river.


    Thankfully, her body became very nimble and flexible after she turned into a zombie, and she often climbed walls and trees.


    She easily crawled down the cliff and approached the river water. With one hand holding the rock face, she turned and touched the water surface with the other hand. Then, she scooped a little of the water with her hand and put it under her nose. Instantly, she sensed a pungent smell.


    "Oh my!" Yun Meng threw away the water in her hand once she smelt it, then swiftly climbed back onto the cliff. Something was indeed wrong with the water. The water even had such a sharp smell! Also, no signs of living creatures were detected from the river.


    However, a smelly river wasn''t bad enough to make all those underground gorillas run out of their cave, was it? Yun Meng knitted her brows with confusion.


    After climbing on the cliff, she spent quite a while observing the surrounding area. Except for the river, everything else looked normal. So, she turned and started moving toward the outside.


    She went out of the cave, hopped onto a building, then made a whistle. Soon, a few figures showed up before her.


    "You guys guard in here. I''ll make a trip back to the base," Yun Meng said to the few zombies in front of her. Standing before her were a few zombie leaders, who nodded at her when she gave her words. Next, she turned and went back to where her troop was stationed, found a car, and drove back to the base.


    The first thing she did back in the base was to go to Base Number One and see Yuan Tianxing.


    "Deputy Chief!" Yuan Tianxing, who was reading files in his office, heard someone knock on his door. He raised his head to see Li Zheng standing by his door. "Yun Meng''s back." Then, a young girl walked into his office.


    Seeing her, Yuan Tianxing stopped short and asked, "What''s wrong? Why did you come back at this time? Is something wrong over there?"


    He looked at the time and found that it was almost midnight.


    Even though Lin Qiao had told him that those underground creatures were no longer a threat before she left, Yuan Tianxing still didn''t fully relax his vigilance against them. Now, as Yun Meng came straight to his office from the cave area, the first thought occurred to him was those creatures were probably attempting something bad again.


    However, Yun Meng came back herself, meaning that whatever was happening in the cave area did not need her to deal with. So, it shouldn''t be too bad.


    Yun Meng walked in and sat down on the couch, then said to Yuan Tianxing, "There is a situation indeed. But, I think those underground gorillas aren''t the cause."


    Yuan Tianxing quickly sorted the files in his hands, then stood up and walked to the armchair near Yun Meng. As he sat down, he said to her, "There''s a situation, but not related to those creatures? What happened?"


    "Midday yesterday, those creatures all ran out of the cave and stayed outside for a whole night. Now, they''re heading to another direction for hunting. I took the chance to get down into the cave and found a river deep down there, with funny smelling water. It was a pungent smell for me, but I don''t know what it''s effect is for you humans. But, I guess the smell is what made those underground gorillas run out of the cave."


    Yuan Tianxing quietly heard her statement, then asked a question, "How do you know something is wrong with the water? Have you been down there before?"


    "No," Yun Meng shook her head and said, "It was my first time down there."


    Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then said, "Perhaps¡­ the water is always like that? It might seem strange to you, but we don''t know for sure if it has any effects on those underground creatures. Have you found anything else that''s unusual?"


    Yun Meng carefully thought about what she had seen in the cave, then shook her head and responded, "No. I instinctively felt that something is wrong with the river water. Apart from that, everything else in the cave seems normal."


    "Aren''t those things coming to our base?" Recalling that those underground gorillas attempted to attack the base last time, Yuan Tianxing asked with concern.


    "No, they''re moving in another direction. Don''t worry, what Chief said was true," Yun Meng shook her head and said, remembering those underground gorillas hopping toward the zoo area. Then, she stood up and said, "Alright! I''m just here to tell you about this. If anything else happens, I''ll send someone back here to let you know."


    After saying that, she waved at Yuan Tianxing and left.


    Watching her leave, the latter knitted his brows. It was a good thing that those underground gorillas didn''t come to the base this time. However, they came out of the cave under the threat of the daylight, meaning that they were probably scared by something down underground.


    The funny smell of the river water that Yun Meng mentioned might be what caused them to leave, but it could also be something else.


    They were afraid of mere water? That didn''t make sense.


    Was there something in the water? Or, did the water deliver a signal of danger?

 1157 Unknown Danger

    That night, Yuan Tianxing spent some time thinking, then decided to talk to Lin Feng about it on the next day. No matter how, they needed to figure out what caused those underground creatures'' abnormal behavior, so they could prepare themselves for what might happen in the future as early as possible.


    The next norming, he called Lin Feng through the interphone.


    "Hey, what happened? What made you call so early?" Lin Feng received the call once he sat down behind his desk. Yuan Tianxing wouldn''t call him so early in the morning if nothing important happened.


    "Yun Meng came back last night," said Yuan Tianxing, "She said there''s a situation in the cave area. I asked her about the cause, but she didn''t give me a clear answer. I want to talk to you about this when you finish your works."


    Hearing Yuan Tianxing mention the case, he figured that the latter was talking about the underground creatures. His heart sank slightly, but as Yuan Tianxing didn''t sound very anxious, he guessed the problem wasn''t severe yet. He knew about Yuan Tianxing; he knew that the man would certainly want to figure the problem out.


    "Alright. I''ll come to your office when I finish my work here," he nodded and said.


    After ending the call, Yuan Tianxing also started to do his work.


    Last night, Qiu Lili sensed Yun Meng''s vibe comes back into the base and then leave again. She looked into the direction that Yun Meng was moving in with confusion. She didn''t leave the base to find Yun Meng out of curiosity though. Instead, she stayed in Base Number Two.


    Yun Meng went to see Yuan Tianxing. If there was a problem, Yuan Tianxing would solve it. She didn''t need to worry about it. With that thought, Qiu Lili headed to Mount Wu area to check for the zombie army.


    Xie Dong wasn''t there to discipline the army. The zombie soldiers weren''t so afraid of Liu Jun, who was assigned as the temporary commander. After all, many of the zombie soldiers there were at level-five. Half of all the level-five zombies followed Yun Meng to the cave area while Lin Qiao took away about ten. But still, tens of level-five zombies were left in the base.


    Therefore, Liu Jun, who was also at level-five, was no threat to them. Only Qiu Lili, who was at level-seven, could scare them.


    Thankfully, most of those zombie leaders had restored some of their memories and remembered some common sense that they had as humans. As a result, no one was giving Liu Jun a hard time.


    At the moment, Liu Jun was holding a basket, picking melons from the field. As a white light flashed across her eyes, she figured out who was arriving. She turned and saw Qiu Lili sitting on a tree near the cabin. Nonetheless, she kept picking the melons. Only when the basket was full did she carry it toward the cabin.


    She put the basket on the clearing before the cabin, then raised her head to say to Qiu Lili, "Mengmeng came back to see Yuan Tianxing last night. Did something happen out there?"


    "Perhaps," Qiu Lili shrugged and said, "I don''t know. I didn''t see her."


    Seeing her lazily leaning against the tree, Liu Jun laughed, "You look upset these days. Maybe you should ask Chief to take you with her next time."


    Qiu Lili turned and gave her a glance, then pouted and said, "Take me? Then she''ll certainly leave Lin Kui here¡­ Never mind. He can stay here when Chief takes me out."


    Hearing that, Liu Jun twirled to her and smiled, "Is it because of Lin Kui? Do you like him so much?"


    She found it pretty obvious when Qiu Lili liked someone. She could be quite clingy to the one she liked. Before, she liked Lin Qiao, so she followed her everywhere. Now, she liked Lin Kui, so she always wanted to be with him. That was totally the same!


    "Yeah, I like his fur. If only I could cuddle him when I''m sleeping¡­ He doesn''t let me hold him for too long," Qiu Lili curved her lips in a smile when she was thinking about Lin Kui''s soft and smooth fur.


    On hearing that, Liu Jun raised her head to look at the girl and laughed, "Sleep? You''re a zombie. Can you even fall asleep?"


    So, was the girl seeing the guy as a cuddle bear?


    Qiu Lili curved her lips downward as she looked down at Liu Jun, said, "I''m not talking about real sleep. We can simply cuddle and lie on the bed."


    "Alright, alright! You just want him to be your cuddle bear. I think you''re leaving Chief for him." While talking to her smilingly, Liu Jun found an empty basket and prepared to go back into the field to pick more melons.


    "What does that mean?" Qiu Lili felt a little speechless about the words that Liu Jun used.


    ¡­


    It was already about eleven am when Lin Feng finished all his urgent work and went to find Yuan Tianxing. He walked into the latter''s office and sat down on the couch, making himself a cup of tea.


    "What did Yun Meng say to you last night that made you so worried?" Lin Feng said to Yuan Tianxing while brushing the teapot. The latter sorted the files in his hands, then stood up and walked out from behind his desk to the window. He stretched his body, then turned and sat on the couch as he said, "She said that all those underground creatures have run out of the cave the day before yesterday, in the middle of the day. That''s abnormal, even though it had been cloudy and rainy these days."


    "What? Those gorillas ran out? Didn''t Lin Qiao say that she has brought the big one under control? Did it disobey her order?" Lin Feng stopped short and looked at Yuan Tianxing with surprise.


    Yuan Tianxing shook his head and said, "They ran out, but made no large-scale movement until yesterday. Yesterday, they started hunting. Yun Meng said that they''re not coming toward us, so we don''t need to worry about that yet. I''m just wondering what made them abandon their home and run out. Yun Meng said that she had gone into the cave last night. Except for a river that seems unusual, nothing else was found."


    Lin Feng understood Yuan Tianxing''s meaning, and the look on his face started to turn serious too. "Are you saying that they might have encountered something that they were afraid of? Is that why they abandoned the cave and came up to the surface?"


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and said, "That''s what I guessed. According to Yun Meng, they rather stayed in buildings or under trees instead of going back into the cave. Think about it! They seemed fearless before. Why did they suddenly abandon their home and run out? Why even the level-eight one gave up on fighting?"


    Hearing his words, Lin Feng realized that things were really not as simple as they sounded. If the thing that even the level-eight underground gorilla couldn''t resist came to the earth''s surface, what consequence could be expected?


    "Yun Meng said there''s an underground river that seems unusual. What''s the problem with it?" Lin Feng thought for a moment and asked.


    "She said the river water smells funny. Her instincts told her that something is wrong with it," said Yuan Tianxing.

 1158 Yuan Tianxing Sets Off

    Lin Feng looked at Yuan Tianxing. According to him, Yun Meng knew that something was wrong with the river water, but couldn''t tell what exactly was the problem.


    "So, do you have any plans now?" He thought for a moment, and then asked Yuan Tianxing.


    "I want to take a few people down into the cave and find out what exactly has happened there, as well as if it''ll come up to the surface," said Yuan Tianxing.


    "What? You''re going down? No, that''s too dangerous! What if some other monsters like those underground gorillas are down there? You might get eaten." Lin Feng had guessed out what Yuan Tianxing might want to do. However, he disagreed once the latter said it out loud.


    Even if it required someone to go down into the cave, it should be the zombie army. If any danger occurred down there, the zombie soldiers would have a chance to survive. The underground cave was a much safer place for the zombie soldiers than the fragile human beings.


    Yuan Tianxing gave him a glance and said, "Who else can go then? You? That''s not an option. You have a wife and kid. Besides, who said for sure it''s gonna be dangerous? I''ll be able to handle it even if it''s going to be dangerous. I''m a level-seven after all."


    "But¡­" Lin Feng still didn''t agree with him.


    Yuan Tianxing waved a hand, then picked up the potful of tea that Lin Feng made and poured himself a cup, "Think about it! Those underground gorillas have run out of the cave. That''s a warning sign for us. Animals are very sensitive to incoming dangers. They might have sensed something that was going to happen. If we don''t figure out what it is before things become worse, how are we gonna prepare ourselves? What would we do if an emergency happened?"


    Lin Feng understood how bad the consequences might be, and how necessary it was to find out the truth under such a potential threat. The people who would go down into the cave had to be strong. Otherwise, they might fail to handle the unpredictable situations down there and end up unable to bring their discoveries back to the base.


    The zombie soldiers have different body conditions and sensation systems than human beings, so they might miss some critical clues in the cave. It was risky for Yuan Tianxing to go down into the cave, but no one else was more suitable for the task. He once served in a special force and had mastered the skills of field works.


    "Then you should bring some helpers. Ask Yun Meng to send a few zombie leaders to go with you." As Yuan Tianxing was quite determined, Lin Feng had no choice but to sigh and agree.


    "Relax! If anything happened to me, you and Lin Qiao will be taking care of the base. If I find anything in the cave, I''ll certainly keep myself alive and bring it back to you. If I fail to do that, I can always turn into a zombie and wait for Lin Qiao to come back and save me. Besides, I''m a single man. I don''t have a home or a kid. I''m the perfect man for the job," Yuan Tianxing took a sip of the tea as he smiled and said.


    Lin Feng gave him a glare and said, "What are you talking about? This base is your home. You may not have family, but don''t forget about us. We are your friends!"


    ''If anything happened to you, my little sister''s heart will break into pieces when she returns and finds out.'' The last sentence could only be said by Lin Feng to himself in his head.


    "Oh, you''re right! See, I''m gonna be safe for the sake of you guys, my friends," Yuan Tianxing smilingly nodded at him.


    "Apart from Yun Meng''s soldiers, you should also take Li Zheng and his men with you. If anything really happens to you, they will look out for you. If things go bad, they''ll at least be able to bring out the news," Lin Feng said.


    "Alright, alright! I get it. You''re making this too big of a deal. Maybe things aren''t so bad yet," Yuan Tianxing waved at him.


    "What if those gorillas went back into the cave before you found anything down there? You''d be screwed," Lin Feng furrowed his brows and thought of another possibility.


    Yuan Tianxing folded his arms and leaned against the back of the couch, then thought for a moment and said, "I don''t think they''ll go back into the cave so soon. If they could go back, they wouldn''t need to run out. Their sensations are much sharper than ours."


    "You better be right! Tell Yun Meng to keep a close eye on those things. Tell her to send you a signal once they show any sign of going back," Lin Feng nodded to agree.


    After talking with Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing threw all his unfinished works to him. In the afternoon, he left for where Yun Meng''s troop was stationed, together with Li Zheng and the others. Yun Meng was expecting them at the entrance, and she sensed their vibes when they were still far away.


    "Did you come here today with a plan?" She talked Yuan Tianxing about what happened in the cave area last night, and he showed up right there today. He must have come for what she told him last night.


    "Yes. I plan to go down into the cave for a careful search. I want to ask you for some¡­ um¡­ helpers. Ten level-five ones. Will that be okay?" Yuan Tianxing got off the car and said.


    "What? Are you going down there too? I can provide you with the men you need, but are you sure? If anything happens down there, you guys might¡­ easily die."


    "We have to go down there. How can we find out what''s going on without going in there? How are we gonna know if we''ll be safe in the future if we don''t go down? This place is very close to our base after all." Yuan Tianxing turned and took a glimpse at All Beings Base while speaking.


    The cave entrance was merely tens of miles away from All Beings Base. It wasn''t too close to the base, but wasn''t far away either. All Beings Base was the only base within a hundred miles radius.


    "Are you getting down there now?" Yun Meng looked at Yuan Tianxing and asked.


    "How are those underground gorillas doing now? Will they come back?" Yuan Tianxing asked her about those underground gorillas.


    Yun Meng glanced into the direction those underground gorillas moved in, then shook her head and said. "No. They spent the whole night last night moving in that direction. At dawn, they stopped in an area where the light cannot reach. They''re already tens of miles away from here now. Maybe you should wait until tonight. Let''s see where they''ll be going. If they keep moving forward tonight instead of coming back here, I think they won''t suddenly come back and cause you any problems."


    Yuan Tianxing thought for a moment, then glanced at the others. Yun Meng''s advice was actually great. Safety was the first priority after all.


    "Alright. Let''s wait until we have found out which way they''ll be going," he nodded.


    "Get in then. I''ll go and get your men ready. You guys find yourself somewhere to take a rest." As he agreed, Yun Meng happily turned and left to make arrangements for Yuan Tianxing.


    Yun Meng and her soldiers lived in military tents. Her tent was guarded by quite some soldiers in military uniforms. No other people were there, so those soldiers didn''t wear sunglasses to cover their eyes.


    Yuan Tianxing and his people saw a lot of soldiers when they arrived, but sensed no human vibe at all. They also noticed the purely dark, weird-looking eyes of those soldiers.

 1159 Go Down Tonigh

    Li Zheng and his men followed Yuan Tianxing into the tent. They all knew what place that was, and that all the soldiers in uniforms were actually zombies. Except for Feng Yuming, the others were rather calm.


    Feng Yuming shrank behind the tall and strong Lei Yao, carefully following the others in.


    "Oi, do you have to be like this? Aren''t you feeling ashamed? What are you afraid of? They''re our friends now. They won''t pounce on you. Look at your cowardly face!" Lin Yu couldn''t bear watching the scared look on his face.


    "Shh! Keep your voice down! What if they heard you and got mad!" Feng Yuming immediately turned and put a finger against his lips to signal for Lin Yu to shut up. He was really afraid of zombies! He couldn''t help! What scared him was actually their eyes.


    The purely dark eyes of zombies looked like black holes that seemed to suck him in. No one knew what was in that darkness. He felt as if he would sink into the darkness and die of suffocation.


    He was really scared of those eyes. Before, he never had the courage to look at the eyes of the zombies in the zombie movies that he watched. Unexpectedly, the eyes of real zombies turned out to be even scarier!


    It had been so many years, but he still hadn''t gotten used to those zombie eyes!


    "I don''t even know what to say. Some of the others are afraid of zombies because the zombies they saw attacked people and fed on people. Many of the zombies here have restored their memories and regained their humanity. Why are you still so afraid of them? Speaking of which, our Chief is so powerful that she even managed to help them restore their memories!" Lin Yu said and suddenly fell into his admiration toward his Chief again.


    Feng Yuming moved to his side and whispered to him while carefully looking at the surrounding zombie soldiers, "You''re right, but I can''t help it. They look so scary to me! I don''t care if this is embarrassing or not. I''m almost losing control of myself. Let''s move!"


    Before he pushed Lin Yu to make him move faster, someone suddenly dragged the back of his collar and pulled him back.


    "Ah! Who?" Feng Yuming automatically gave a shout and turned to look at the one who pulled his collar. He saw a gray-haired old man who had gold pupils. The old man was smiling at him while holding his collar with one hand.


    "Boys, you two were pretty loud. We all heard you," Old Guo''s face wrinkled in the smile. His eyes were even squeezed into a pair of lines.


    Seeing his eyes, Feng Yuming exploded. The boy abruptly hopped onto Lin Yu and wrapped his body up with his four limbs as he burst in screams, "Ahhhhhhh! Zombies!"


    The zombie soldiers who were standing guard or passing by simultaneously turned to look at him with their purely dark zombie eyes. Lin Yu, who was held so tight by Feng Yuming, didn''t even know how to respond.


    Yuan Tianxing and Li Zheng were startled by the young man''s shrill scream. They turned to see what was happening and then both felt speechless. "Mr. Guo, these two will be left under your guidance."


    After saying that, Yuan Tianxing turned and left.


    Watching Yuan Tianxing leave, Feng Yuming cried, "Boss, help!" He couldn''t believe his boss left him there just like that. That was so cruel! Why the hell did his boss leave him with a zombie old man!


    Lin Yu turned back and dropped his head as he politely said to Old Guo, "I''m sorry, Mr. Guo! I was so rude!"


    Old Guo tittered and said, "You seem to be handling this well. Unlike you, this boy is quite interesting. Come on, let me take you out to grow some courage. How can you be such a coward? You''ve lived in the post-apocalyptic era for so many years, yet you''re still afraid of zombies?"


    Feng Yuming wanted to cry but failed to shed any tears. He turned to look at old Guo, but didn''t dare to look at the zombie in the eyes. "I¡­ I can''t help it!" The young man held Lin Yu as he turned his eyes from side to side while talking to Old Guo.


    Lin Yu raised his hands to pull his arms, attempting to free himself from the young man''s embrace. In the meanwhile, he complained, "Alright, get off me! You are so heavy! You''re an over six feet tall man. Why are you hanging yourself on me? Get the hell off me! This is very awkward."


    "Brother, please don''t leave! What if I had a heart attack after you left?" Feng Yuming put his feet back on the ground, but he still held Lin Yu firmly with his arms.


    Lin Yu suddenly regretted talking to him just now!


    Li Zheng turned back and gave them a glance. Old Guo was still holding the back of Feng Yuming''s collar while Feng Yuming was still holding Lin Yu''s neck, and Lin Yu was trying very hard to push him away. That scene looked so hilarious and awkward at the same time.


    Old Guo put his face near Feng Yuming as he popped his eyes and looked at the young man, "Are you afraid of me? Are you really afraid of me?"


    Feng Yuming immediately turned his eyes away and closed his eyes while yelling, "I''m sorry, Mister! I¡­ I-I¡­"


    Lin Yu spent a short while struggling, then realized that he was unable to get the young man off his body. So, he gave up, rolling his eyes as he said to the old man, "Mr. Guo, it was our fault. Please kindly forgive us! This kid might have some mental problem that is beyond cure. I''m afraid that you might scare him into unconsciousness."


    Old Guo glanced at Lin Yu, then relaxed his grip on Feng Yuming''s collar. Right after that, Feng Yuming got off Lin Yu and out of the base within a blink, leaving Old Guo and Lin Yu glancing at each other.


    Soon, the day was over. Yuan Tianxing started to look outside frequently, waiting for Yun Meng''s signal.


    Before long, Yun Meng showed up.


    "They aren''t coming back here¡­ They''re moving forward. Based on their speed last night, they''ll move more than ten miles forward tonight. In around ten days, they''ll be approaching the rat nest in the zoo. I hope that''s their destination." Yun Meng came in and said to Yuan Tianxing.


    He nodded in response and said, "Since they''re not coming back here, we should start moving now."


    Seeing the helpers that Yun Meng sent to him, Yuan Tianxing slightly turned his head to give her a glance, seemingly to ask her why she was sending the old man down to the cave too.


    "Why are you looking at her? I want to go down there. It''s nice to see something new," Old Guo held his hands behind his body and brushed his beard with his fingers while talking smilingly.


    The others looked at him speechlessly. Did the old man want to get into the cave for fun? He was so like a child. The serious look on his face could not conceal the fact that he was actually like a naughty child on the inside!


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Yun Meng again, who just shrugged, "Just take the old man with you. These are all zombie leaders with earth power and metal power. If any danger occurred down there, they will make things easier for you guys."


    "Hm, thank you!" Yuan Tianxing nodded at her, then turned and sat in a car.


    An off-road car and a small military truck carried the tens of humans and zombies, heading toward the cave entrance.

 1160 The Zombie Who Had the Power of Wind and Sand

    After arriving near the entrance, Yuan Tianxing and the others got off the vehicles before walking straight to the edge of the entrance. The entrance was over ten meters long. Shining the flashlights into the cave, they saw the road leading downward and the dark cave.


    Yuan Tianxing and the others tied the anti-poison respirator around their waists, armed themselves to the teeth, then set their feet into the cave. They brought the anti-poison respirators in case there might be poisonous gas down in the cave.


    They looked around as they carefully moved downward. They lightened the cave with flashlights and kept moving while observing the cave. Old Guo followed behind the others. While walking, he felt the rock face with his fingers and carefully looked around.


    As same as him, Yuan Tianxing had also been closely observing the rock face or the roof of the cave. Both the roof and the rock face were rough; many claw marks could even be seen on them. Only the ground was relatively smooth, probably trodden flat by the underground creatures who lived in the cave.


    After spending about half an hour walking, Yuan Tianxing took out the simple map that Yun Meng drew for him and looked at it. After that, he soon entered the round, large room marked on the map. As the map had shown, the room was connected with many tunnels.


    Before Yuan Tianxing and his people came into the cave, Yun Meng talked to him about the structure of the cave and also told him to choose the largest tunnel to walk into, so they wouldn''t be lost too easily.


    The cave was all quiet. Except for their own footsteps and voices, they could hear nothing.


    "Damn! Those gorillas are so good at burrowing. What are they? Rats? Rabbits? They don''t look like rats or rabbits. Why do they look like gorillas?" Standing in the large room and looking at the entrances of the seven or eight tunnels, Lin Yu sighed with surprise.


    "Their claws can easily cut through metal. Creating tunnels isn''t a problem for them at all. They live underground and can barely see light though. No wonder they have no eyes. Actually, I heard from the lab that they have eyes. It''s just that their eyes are covered by their eyelids," Li Zheng shone his flashlight around and then asked Yuan Tianxing, "Which tunnel are we taking?"


    "This one," Yuan Tianxing pointed at the largest tunnel. Soon, the group of people and zombies walked into that tunnel.


    Feng Yuming vigilantly stayed by Lin Yu''s side. He wasn''t paying attention on the cave at all, but on the zombies who came into the cave along with him and his friends. He told himself not to look at them, but he couldn''t help to observe them from the corners of his eyes, especially the zombie old man who frightened him before.


    ¡­


    At that time, Lin Qiao had harvested quite some nuclei at level six or seven that belonged to mutated plants or beasts. She had also caught a few level-six zombies on her way. Currently, she was pursuing a level-seven zombie. The ones who gave out a strong blood scent had all been killed by her. Only the relatively mild ones were captured alive.


    The zombie dominator she was pursuing now possessed wind and sand power. Lin Qiao planned to kill him, because the hostility and blood scent coming from that zombie was both too strong. The awful scent emitted from its body could be sensed from about a hundred meters away.


    "I can say for sure that Chief wants to kill him because he smells terrible!" Jingyan, who was in a group action together with Yan Xiao, said to her partner while watching Lin Qiao fighting the sand storm.


    By group action, they were actually sent to the side to watch. After all, they were only at level five or six. Facing a level-seven enemy, they couldn''t be helpful at all.


    The zombie dominator had sand power. He was able to turn soil into quicksand and create a sandstorm so great that could even connect the sky and the earth.


    Standing on a rock nearby, Jingyan watched Lin Qiao wave a hand and release an enormous stream of black fire. The fire transformed into a black dragon and bumped straight into the sand storm.


    Boom! The sandstorm was dissipated easily, the sand and dust falling all over the sky.


    "I think this zombie dominator should have eaten a lot of humans. The bloody scent coming from him is so strong!" Jingyan slightly raised her head and expressionlessly looked at the sand covering the sky.


    "Humans¡­ The poor people he ate were either from Green Mountain Base or Sky Fire Base." Those two bases were the nearest bases from that area.


    "I guess he used to live near Sky Fire Base or Hidden Cloud City Base. He was probably attracted here by the level-nine man''s nucleus," said Jingyan.


    Lin Qiao covered her mouth and nose and swiftly flashed into her space to dodge the stand storm. She didn''t want to be covered by sand.


    In the space, she narrowed her eyes to observe the zombie dominator. She saw him running fleetingly, but being stopped by Ye Qingxian, Six, and Mo. The three blocked his way, but weren''t able to hurt him.


    The zombie dominator soon freed himself from Ye Qingxian''s green vines and instead wrapped the vines up with a thick layer of sand before wringing them into ashes. The earth wall that Six created was easily broken by the sharp sand thorn that the zombie had built. Mo flashed across the air and sent a few short metal spears toward the zombie. Thankfully, they were in a town, and there were plenty of metal objects for her to use.


    But, the level-seven zombie turned his body slightly to dodge the spears.


    Lin Qiao turned herself invisible and flashed out of the space before flying at the zombie. Within a blink, she showed up before it and reached her claw toward his neck.


    The level-seven zombie looked a little ferocious. His lips had fallen off, exposing his gums. His teeth were stained with dark-red blood, but were still shining with a cold light. His mouth cracked from ear to ear, and half of his nose was cut off. His eye area was so dark that he looked like a ghost.


    Lin Qiao reached out and accurately grasped his neck, then showed her face. Next, she swiftly inserted her other hand into the zombie''s head and pushed upward, cutting off its skull.


    "Roar!" The zombie dominator only managed to utter a painful roar before he lost the strength to fight back. His skull was cut off, and he was so dead already.


    Lin Qiao dug out his nucleus, then brought out a cup of water from her space and washed the nucleus in it.


    "Alright. It''s about the time to go and meet with the others," Lin Qiao threw the nucleus into her space, then poured the water away and said to her friends.


    Ye Qingxian and the others flashed to her side. Lin Qiao brought them to the road and took out the vehicles, subsequently driving toward the cliff. They also planned to conveniently visit Green Mountain Base on their way back.


    As they arrived at the crossroad near the cliff, Lin Qiao hopped onto the car roof and gave a series of roar. The black panther on a tree, who was resting with his eyes closed, immediately opened his eyes and leaped off the tree.


    "Let''s go! Chief and the others are at the mountain foot."


    Not far away from the tree, Duan Juan and Shui Mingjun both turned to him. The two of them quickly stood up to pack their things and prepare to leave.

 1161 Two Zombie Emperors

    As the three were ready, they turned to find that Yan Huiguang had already disappeared. His vibe was moving toward Lin Qiao.


    The mountain range that the cliff belonged to had a highway at its foot. The highway was about ten miles away from the cliff, covered in sand and dust. A few abandoned cars were still lying by the roadside.


    Lin Qiao and her friends pulled over and waited for Duan Juan and the others to come over. In the meantime, Lin Qiao focused on Si Kongchen''s vibe to see if he was ambushing somewhere nearby.


    A short while later, following a series of swishing noise, Lin Qiao turned to see Yan Huiguang standing in front of her. Not long after that, she saw Lin Kui, Duan Juan and Shui Mingjun coming to her.


    "Let''s make a trip to Green Mountain Base and see how their base is like," Lin Qiao told them to get into the vehicles, then kept driving toward Green Mountain Base. She didn''t need a guide, because she could follow Lan Lu''s vibe straight to his base.


    A few level-six zombies were thrown into her space, to the grassland where the goats lived. They confusedly looked around. Seeing each other, they bared their teeth and roared like beasts to warn each other.


    They were all attracted by the level-nine man''s nucleus. They had seen other superpower possessors lose control of themselves and learned how they would end. If they stayed out of control, they would become very weak when their energies almost ran out. Therefore, they came near Green Mountain Base to see if they could be lucky enough to fetch the level-nine energy nucleus.


    But to their surprise, the competition was too intense, and the opponents were too strong! Not to mention the level-seven beings, quite some level-eight ones had even shown up, including a zombie emperor!


    Under the terrifying vibe of Lin Qiao the zombie emperor, those level-six zombies all drew back at last. They didn''t make an attempt on the level-nine man, but the zombie emperor came to them! They couldn''t run nor hide! They wanted to fight, but didn''t have the courage to do so. Under Lin Qiao''s vibe that was two levels higher than theirs, those level-six zombies who had already grown some intelligence soon gave up on fighting and became her captives.


    After being brought into her space, they felt completely suppressed. They kept a safe distance from each other and looked around with fear and panic, seeing the lake that made them feel oppressed.


    At that time, about ten underground gorillas at level one or two had been lying upon each other in a deep sleep.


    They had been starving for days. They smelt food from outside the woods, but couldn''t find a way out. All they could do was circle in the woods aimlessly.


    Their teeth weren''t strong enough to chew the trees in the woods. They climbed those trees to taste the leaves, but then found their taste awful. So, they lay on the ground to sleep at last and save energy.


    "Awooo!" Following a tiger roar, a young tiger darted out from behind a house with a wet piece of meat held in its mouth. It dragged the meat into the grass and then started wolfing it.


    In one of the few small spaces behind the house were the large buckets that contained the bear meat and wolf meat, soaked in water. At that moment, the lid of one of the buckets was opened, and the water and meat in the bucket were exposed.


    Quite some of the water was missing, as well as many pieces of meat.


    While enjoying the bear meat, the young tiger was observing the goats and roe deers on the other side of the lake. It found many newborn goats and roe deers.


    Earlier when the little tiger was healing from its injuries, there would always be someone feeding it. Lately, its feeders were all gone for some reason. Many vibes that used to exist in the space had disappeared.


    Feeling the vibes of the few human beings who showed up in the base recently, the little tiger licked its lips and then dropped his head to focus on the food. After spending a while eating, it raised its head and looked at the sky before uttering a bright roar. ''Have you forgotten me? How can you not let me out! You always let those three out and have fun! I want to play too!''


    Feeling the grievance coming from her space, Lin Qiao smiled. In fact, she had people take care of the little thing all the time. Earlier, it was Lu Tianyi who looked after the little tiger. Lu Tianyi wasn''t in the base now though, and she had brought out all the others too. The little thing was probably lonely.


    She didn''t plan to let the little tiger out now though, but decided to wait until she arrived at Green Mountain Base.


    She and her friends spent three hours driving before they found Green Mountain Base, which was located in a remote town in Xinjiang Province.


    "No wonder no one knew about their base all these years. It''s in the middle of nowhere!" Lin Qiao looked around at the barren land. Quite some zombies were seen in that area.


    Before Lin Qiao and her friends arrived, Hu Daba in Green Mountain Base nervously found Lan Lu and gave him a series of roar. Lan Lu was a little confused by the sudden roar. He turned to Chang Qingqing and asked her, "What did Daba say?"


    "He said a very powerful zombie is probably coming to us. That zombie is at a much higher level than himself," said Chang Qingqing.


    Hu Daba nodded quickly.


    Lan Lu thought for a moment, then him, "Is she surrounded by many other high-leveled zombies? It might be the Chief lady from All Beings Base."


    "Roar?" Hu Daba didn''t understand his meaning.


    Lan Lu looked at Chang Qingqing.


    "He said it''s a zombie emperor," Chang Qingqing translated Hu Daba''s words. "Oh, yeah, the Chief lady has broken into level-eight already."


    Her last sentence was spoken for Hu Daba. Hearing that, the latter looked at her with surprise. That zombie lady upgraded so unpredictably fast!


    He turned and left, but he ran back in a hurry soon and gave a roar. "Roar?"


    Chang Qingqing stopped short on hearing his roar, then turned to look at Lan Lu and ask, "Is the zombie lady with another zombie emperor?"


    Lan Lu paused for a second with confusion, then responded, "I don''t think so. The zombies who always showed up together with her are mostly at level five or six. I haven''t even seen a level-seven one by her side yet. Where does the other zombie emperor come from?"


    "Roar!" Hu Daba gave him another roar.


    Chang Qingqing looked at Lan Lu and said, "He said that he felt the vibes of two zombie emperors. They''re both coming here."


    Lan Lu stood up and walked to the window as he concentrated his sensation and looked outside. "How come I only sense one zombie emperor? It''s Miss. Lu indeed! I didn''t feel the other zombie emperor."


    "Roar!" Hu Daba put on a serious face and roared at him.


    Chang Qingqing translated his words, "He said zombies can sense other zombies by the vibes through a long distance."


    Hu Daba was only at level-six. By superpower energies, he could only sense the others within a small range, but through the special connection between all zombies, he was able to sense other zombies through a longer distance.

 1162 Let the Tiger Ou

    Hearing Lan Lu say that he only sensed one level-eight zombie, Hu Daba grew really nervous. Who was the other one?


    "Are you saying that the two zombie emperors are coming here together?" Lan Lu looked at Hu Daba and asked with a frown.


    Hu Daba nodded.


    Lan Lu put his fingers on his chin and dropped his eyelids as he fell into thoughts. He had only sensed the vibe of the lady Chief, not the other one. However, he was sure that Hu Daba wouldn''t lie to him. So, who was the other zombie emperor?


    Was there another zombie emperor on the zombie lady''s side that he and his people didn''t know about yet? If that were the case, he would be amazed by the zombie lady''s capability.


    Who would have the guts to mess with a base that had two zombie emperors? Even Huaxia Base would need to go through thorough consideration to make such a decision.


    "But, neither of us sensed the vibe of the other zombie emperor. Wait¡­" While speaking, Chang Qingqing furrowed her brows slightly and raised her head to look at Lan Lu, who was looking at her too.


    A strong vibe suddenly appeared, coming toward them.


    Lan Lu knitted his brows into a frown and said, "This zombie emperor''s vibe¡­ I remember it!" Once he said what he said, Chang Qingqing and Hu Daba both popped their eyes and stared at him, waiting for him to tell the name of the mysterious zombie emperor.


    "It''s the lightning-powered zombie emperor who attacked Huaxia Base last time," Lan Lu gave the answer.


    "The lightning-powered one?" Chang Qingqing didn''t get it.


    Lan Lu had something crossing his mind. "Oh," he said, "No wonder he suddenly disappeared last time. It turns out the zombie lady secretly brought him into her space!"


    "Did she save that zombie emperor?" said Chang Qingqing with confusion, "Didn''t they say that something was wrong with the zombie emperor back then?"


    "Yes," Lan Lu nodded.


    Chang Qingqing lowered her head and thought for a moment, then said, "I see. No wonder I feel that he isn''t very powerful now. Oh, what is Miss. Lu coming here for? She''s not coming to you for the level-eight nucleus already, is she?"


    "I don''t think so¡­" said Lan Lu.


    Chang Qingqing shrugged and said, "Is she only coming here to say hi or have a cup of tea?"


    "We''ll know when she arrives," said Lan Lu.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao parked her car a few miles away from Green Mountain Base, then entered her space to bring out the tiger.


    She stood before the house and looked at the little tiger who was hiding behind the house, sticking its fluffy round head out to look at her. She waved at the tiger and said, "Come on! Don''t you want me to take you out? You''ve grown up. It''s the time for you to go out and learn how to hunt. Let''s get out. I''ll ask the silly dog to take you for a stroll."


    "Awo!" The tiger was actually a year old already. It wasn''t large in size though. It gave Lin Qiao a roar vigilantly.


    The others on the outside had no idea why Lin Qiao suddenly stopped moving and entered her space. They were arriving at Green Mountain Base. Why didn''t they just go straight there? She must have stopped for a reason though.


    Before long, the other zombies grasped the vibe of another zombie emperor and instantly figured out why Lin Qiao stopped moving.


    She was waiting for him.


    In the space, Lin Qiao was luring the little tiger, "Are you coming here or not? I''m gonna leave if you don''t come to me. Don''t you want to go out and play?"


    "Errr¡­" The little tiger bared its teeth toward her, then turned its eyes away from her.


    It didn''t want to go out anymore!


    Seeing the big cat''s proud face, Lin Qiao walked to it and said, "Alright, alright. It was my fault that I''ve been too busy to play with you. Com here!"


    The tiger was a tiny little creature when she saved it. Now, it was already as big as a medium-sized dog. It had just been a year.


    "You''re a year old already. How come you grow so slowly? The other mutated animals are huge. Why are you even smaller than you are supposed to be? Your parents were pretty large," Lin Qiao carefully observed the little tiger and then murmured with surprise.


    The little tiger didn''t understand the words she said, but could read the look in her eyes. Was she complaining about its small size?


    With that feeling, the little tiger instantly grew unhappy. It abruptly hopped out from behind the house and roared at Lin Qiao fiercely. It wasn''t even afraid of her approach anymore.


    "Hey, be nice! You can''t defeat me, can you?" Lin Qiao walked to the tiger and waved a hand before its eyes. When the little tiger jumped on her to attack her, she grasped the chance the put her arm around its waist.


    "Awoooo!" The little tiger immediately started kicking its legs to struggle, trying to free itself from Lin Qiao''s arm. However, she held it and flashed out of the space within a blink.


    "Aowo!" Hearing the tiger roar, the other zombies all turned to look at the source of the sound.


    "Oh, Chief finally brought this little thing out." Seeing the little tiger, Xie Dong quickly came over and reached out, attempting to rub the tiger''s head.


    "Awo!" The little tiger angrily turned around and opened its mouth to bite his hand.


    "Oi, it''s fierce!" Xie Dong hurriedly retracted his hand.


    "Is he still not here yet?" Lin Qiao looked around and asked.


    The others looked at each other and \\shrugged. "He doesn''t seem to want to go with us," said someone. They had been waiting for a while, but that vibe wasn''t coming any closer. The owner of the vibe probably didn''t want to join the group.


    Lin Qiao threw the little tiger to the ground and said, "Since he doesn''t want to come, so be it. Bowwow, come here!"


    "Owo!" A large, black dog immediately showed up on a roof nearby, looking down at her. In the next second, he turned his eyes to the orange big cat on the ground.


    Bowwow grew excited the moment he saw the little tiger. He leaped off the roof and rushed up to it. The little tiger fluffed up and gave a start as it bared its teeth and roared at the dog ferociously.


    The dog wasn''t restraining his vibe at all. The level-six zombie dog''s vibe made the little tiger a little nervous and automatically roar at the dog with vigilance. The dog didn''t mind the little tiger''s attitude at all as he excitedly wagged his large tail and circled around it.


    "Go and play with him. Don''t forget to keep him safe," Looking the excited dog, Lin Qiao impatiently kicked on his butt and said to him. At that moment, a giant snake crawled down from the roof of another building and glanced at the tiger, then let out his forked tongue for a moment.


    "Owo!" Hearing Lin Qiao''s words, the dog immediately turned and barked at her happily. After that, he held the soft skin on the tiger''s neck with his teeth and carried the it away.


    "Awooo!" The little tiger gave a grumpy roar, but curled its body and tail, obediently letting itself be carried away by the dog.

 1163 Enter Green Mountain Base

    As Lin Qiao''s vehicles were driven to the entrance of Green Mountain Base, someone was already waiting for them there. It was none other than Lan Lu himself.


    Lan Lu blinked his eyes when he saw Lin Kui, Yan Huiguang, and the other few who were new to him. His eyes lingered on Yan Huiguang for a short while. That man had shown up together with the zombie lady, meaning that the problem of the leaked secret should have been solved already.


    While thinking, he smiled at Lin Qiao and greeted, "I wasn''t expecting to have you guys as guests. Why didn''t you tell us that you''re coming here? I thought you''d leave after finishing off that wolf king."


    Lin Qiao understood that he was just trying to be nice, so she responded to him with a smile, "This is your territory after all. I''ll surely come here to say goodbye to you before leaving. Am I not welcomed?"


    Lan Lu knew she was joking. He waved a hand, then guided Lin Qiao and her friends into the base, "That''s impossible! I''m just worried that my place might be a little too humble for you. Since you''re here already, please come in!"


    "I wonder if you''ll still welcome me when I told you that I''m here to collect a debt. When will you give me my level-eight energy nucleus?" While walking into the base, Lin Qiao said smilingly.


    After walking into the gate of the base, the looks on the faces of Lin Qiao and her friends turned a little weird.


    "You guys have built a base here. Can you at least get rid of the ''mental institution'' signboard?" Seeing the huge signboard, Lin Qiao complained to Lan Lu. The people who followed behind her all looked at Lan Lu and his people, agreeing with her.


    "Eh-hem¡­" On hearing her words, Lan Lu glanced at the signboard and coughed awkwardly, then explained, "Um, it''s because we were looking for a new site to build our base for a very long time. We didn''t plan to stay here for the long-run, so we didn''t pay attention to the signboard. But, we never found a suitable site to build our base, and later on we forgot about the signboard¡­ By now, we''re too lazy to deal with it."


    Lin Qiao looked at him with a weird expression and said, "I feel we''ve come to somewhere we shouldn''t have¡­ You have spirit power. Were you a patient in this place?"


    Lan Lu looked at her without knowing what to say. Seeing the look on his face, Lin Qiao grinned, "Oh, I think I guessed right."


    Lan Lu stayed silent. He would never tell her that most of the superpower possessors in his base were patients of the mental institution. He just guided the guests into the reception room and offered them seats.


    "I know you didn''t come all the way to our base to collect the debt. Tell me, is it about our base?" After sitting down, Lan Lu said to Lin Qiao with a smile. He, of course, wouldn''t believe what she said just now. He was a spirit power possessor after all. The zombie lady must have visited his base for a better reason.


    "Hm¡­ Northwest, about two-hundred miles from here near the border, some creatures showed up there. You better send your men over there to keep an eye on them. Don''t get too close, though. Those monsters are from deep underground and they emit a strong, acidic scent. Ten miles in radius around them, all the plants have died, and earth has turned black. That place has become a death zone by now. Those creatures eat rotten corpses, including zombies," said Lin Qiao to Lan Lu with a serious look.


    She didn''t seem to be joking. Hearing her description, Lan Lu realized that the situation was probably quite serious. "Monsters? What kind of monsters?" His heart even sank a little.


    Lin Qiao felt a little chilly on the back when she thought about those creatures'' heads covered in eyes. "Well, they''re two or three meters long, with round heads the size of basins. But¡­ they have so many eyes on their heads. They have two feet that look like forepaws, while the lower part of their bodies is flat and soft, like leeches or slugs. They are really disgusting!"


    Based on her description, the others on the scene pictured those multiple-eyed, soft-bodies creatures in their heads and felt very uncomfortable.


    "Why did such creatures suddenly show up?" Lan Lu looked at Lin Qiao and asked with confusion.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "I think there''s probably a world deep underground, and we don''t know about it yet. Aside from those creatures that we''ve seen in your territory, we''ve also found another type of strange creature near my base. They have no eyes and look like gorillas. They''re much larger than the ones we found near here though. Those gorillas are very aggressive. Thankfully, they have a weakness. I''ll leave you to find out the weakness of the monsters in your territory. I''m a little worried about my own monsters. I wonder if they will mutate at some point."


    She had a very bad feeling before she saw those multiple-eyed creatures. After seeing them, she started worrying that if anything was happening to Strong and his herd. Clearly, she was trying to tell Lan Lu that she wouldn''t stay in his territory for any longer.


    "There''re monsters in your place too? Do you think they have anything in common? Are they connected somehow?" Lan Lu thought for a moment and then asked her.


    "Things in common¡­ The two types of creatures were both unseen in the world before, and they are both from the underground. Nothing else," Lin Qiao spent a few seconds thinking and then responded.


    "Alright," said Lan Lu, "I''ll send my people there to take a look. We have found two different types of underground creatures now. Are there more in other places? Why did they suddenly show up? Perhaps something threatening to them is emerging underground."


    He always had sharp hunches. Hearing Lin Qiao say more than one type of underground creatures had shown up on the earth''s surface, he instantly grew nervous.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and nodded. "I feel the same. I think we need to find out if the other bases have found something too."


    After talking to Lan Lu about those multiple-eyed creatures, Lin Qiao didn''t linger in Green Mountain Base for long. Instead, she and her friends soon left the remote mental institution.


    Outside the base, Bowwow and his friends were playing with the little tiger. Sensing Lin Qiao''s vibe coming out of Green Mountain Base, they immediately moved toward her. The little tiger looked young, but it wasn''t weak at all. The mutated animals and zombies at or below level-three were no threats to it. It would need to run if it encountered a level-four one though.


    The four caught up with Lin Qiao and her friends on the highway nearby. She laughed when she saw the little tiger lying on the mushroom''s head.


    "Look at you! Does the little cat not like you two?" Lin Qiao looked at the mushroom who was carrying the little tiger on its head, then said to the other two. Black threw a cold glance at jer and then left. Meanwhile, Bowwow barked at the little tiger who was lying on the mushroom''s head with discontent.


    "Ao¡­" The tiger responded with a bland howl.

 1164 Adventure Tour to the Underground River

    Lin Qiao''s vehicles were driving on the highway, with a giant black snake flashing through the forest by the roadside from time to time. On the highway, a large black dog darted from side to side while a one-meter-tall mushroom carried a young tiger on its head behind the motorcade, running swiftly with its roots and seeming very happy.


    Shui Mingjun stuck his head out of the window to look at the large mushroom and said with surprise, "Your Chief takes all kinds of pets. I guess zombies are just normal creatures for her¡­"


    Sitting beside him, Ye Qingxian also stuck his head out to look behind. "Yeah, yeah, the mushroom is her weirdest pet," he nodded, "It''s unbelievably sly! Why does the tiger like the mushroom? It''s not coming off the mushroom''s head."


    On the highway, the speed of the vehicles had reached about one hundred and thirty kilometers per hour, which was a rather low speed for those mutated creatures.


    On the way, Lin Qiao didn''t stop to hunt mutated beasts or plants, nor linger in any town. Instead, she and her friends drove all the way to East China.


    ¡­


    It was almost midnight, and Yuan Tianxing and his people had been in the cave for hours. After spending hours wandering in the empty cave, they finally found the river that Yun Meng talked about.


    They shone the flashlights into the water; the water was dark indeed. Yuan Tianxing sniffed at the water but didn''t sense any smell. He looked at the others and asked, "Did you sense any smell from the water?"


    Li Zheng and his men shook their heads. Unlike them, Old Guo and the other zombies were all looking at the river, seemingly thinking about something. Seeing the look on their faces, Yuan Tianxing figured that they must have sensed something unusual. He moved to Old Guo''s side and said, "Mr. Guo, have you found something?"


    Old Guo possessed metal power, so he wasn''t sensitive to the energy in the water. However, his nose did sense a weird scent. "I can''t feel the energy in the water, but the smell is abnormal indeed. At least I''ve never sensed such a smell back on the earth''s surface. It''s strong and pungent. Didn''t you smell it?"


    While speaking, he looked at Yuan Tianxing questioningly.


    As Yuan Tianxing shook his head, Old Guo turned to the others and asked them, "What about you guys?"


    Li Zheng and the other humans carefully sniffed at the river, then shook their heads together and said, "No."


    "Maybe it''s because we have a better sense of smell. Lu Fang, you have water power. Did you feel anything?" He turned and said to a level-five zombie near him.


    Lu Fang was the only water-powered zombies in the group. He was a chubby, middle-aged man, and one of the level-five zombies who had fully restored their memories. As Old Guo called his name, he immediately put a hand toward the river to carefully feel it. A short while later, he gave Old Guo a roar.


    On hearing the roar, Old Guo furrowed his brows slightly and asked, "Are you sure?"


    Lu Fang nodded.


    Old Guo turned to explain to Yuan Tianxing, "He said that there''s something bad in the water. He said that no one should touch the water. As for what that thing is and what it might do, he can''t tell for sure. He just felt that it''s dangerous. If it''s even harmful to us, it must be highly dangerous for you guys too."


    "Are there any living creatures in the river?" Yuan Tianxing looked at Lu Fang and asked him.


    Lu Fang shook his head; no living creatures were detected from the water.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded, then turned and said to the others, "In this case, let''s bring some water back to the lab and let our scientists find out what''s in it. Lu Fang, you have water power. Use your power and try to put some water in a container."


    He asked Lu Fang to try because he wasn''t sure if the containers he had could contain the water. After all, no living creatures could exist in the water. The containers might fail to contain the water too.


    Lu Fang nodded while Lei Yao, who was standing beside him, took out a bottle from his bag. He unscrewed the cap and put the bottle on the ground, then stepped backward.


    Lu Fang raised a hand and crooked his finger toward the river. Following his movement, a fist-sized water drop rose from the river into the air. Next, as he pointed his finger at the bottle on the ground, the water drop drifted to the bottleneck, transformed into a thin stream, and flowed into the bottle.


    After watching the black river water flow into the transparent bottle, people looked at the bottle quietly and waited instead of recklessly picking up the bottle.


    A slight noise was heard from the bottle, and then people saw cracks spreading on the bottle.


    Crack! Bang! Within three seconds, the bottle exploded into pieces.


    The people on the scene automatically made a few steps backward, then looked at each other seriously.


    The bottle had exploded and the black water flowed all over the ground. People instinctively avoided touching the water.


    "I think the problem is serious!" Yuan Tianxing gave a sigh, then turned to look into the river. He wasn''t surprised.


    At that moment, Old Guo took out a dagger and threw it into the air, then raised an arm to control it and put it into the water. A short while later, he slightly shook his hand, and then relaxed his body. After that, he wore a solemn look on his face like the others and raised a hand to brush his beard with his fingers.


    "What''s wrong?" Yuan Tianxing noticed his reaction.


    Old Guo stopped short, then continued brushing his beard. He fixed his eyes on the river while answering the question, "The connection between me and my energy in the dagger was cut off once I put the dagger into the water. I can''t feel the dagger anymore. I don''t know what''s in the water."


    Yuan Tianxing squatted by the cliff and looked at the water as he said with confusion, "But the water won''t bring itself up here. Why are those underground gorillas afraid of it so much? They even ran out of the cave¡­ I don''t think that''s necessary¡­ They could simply stay away from the water."


    That made sense. After hearing what he said, all the others started wondering about the same question. Was it not the river water that they were afraid of?


    Yuan Tianxing glanced at the upstream of the river. He decided to go there and see if he could find out why the water became dark and dangerous.


    The group of people and zombies started moving toward the upstream of the river. Thankfully, there were some paths leading to that area on both sides of the river. They needed to climb the rock in some areas though.


    Climbing the rock wasn''t a problem for the zombies and superpowered human beings on the scene. They kept moving forward safely until they heard water streaming loudly. Soon, they found a waterfall. They shone the flashlights up and found that the waterfall only about six or seven meters tall. The water was flowing out of an oval-shaped dark hole. The surrounding area was very cliffy, so the edge of the hole was the only path to take.

 1165 The Globefish Stuck in the Hole

    Thankfully, some places on both sides of the hole were dry. However, getting too close to the hole could still be dangerous.


    "Be careful! Don''t fall into the water." Yuan Tianxing said to the others, then hopped onto the edge of the hole. He looked into the hole and saw a great, underground lake. The water in the lake rippled and generated a clattering sound. The surface of the lake wasn''t as peaceful as the surface of the underground river.


    Yuan Tianxing sensed many dangerous vibes coming from the lake, and even saw some enormous, faint figures moving in the water. The others soon landed by his sides and held their breaths when they saw the lake.


    Earlier, they didn''t sense any dangerous vibe coming from the hole at all. However, once they came up to the edge of the hole, the strong sense of danger instantly shrouded them.


    As they showed up, many dark figures in the lake came toward them.


    "This is not good! Move! The things in the water are coming toward us!" Lu Fang knitted his brows and gave a shout once he came up. At the same time, countless tentacles suddenly reached out of the water from right near them and wriggled like snakes, swishing toward Yuan Tianxing and the others.


    Yuan Tianxing and his people reacted swiftly, leaping backward and landing back where they came from. However, those tentacles were much faster than they were. Lei Yao, who was slightly slow, ended up being caught.


    "Lei Yao!" Seeing that, Li Zheng burst in yells and fleetingly threw a few huge ice blades at the tentacles which had Lei Yao wrapped up.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Li Zheng''s ice blades shattered against the tentacles.


    Before Lei Yao was dragged into the water, a long spear flashed across the air and sank into the tentacles.


    Old Guo raised both his arms to control the spear and raised it. The tentacles twisted and attempted to pull the spear down, to the point where Old Guo''s face twisted. The tentacles were so strong that Old Guo felt quite difficult to control the spear in the air.


    Lei Yao tried to free himself from whatever was wrapping his body. However, he found his superpower disabled. He couldn''t feel the energy inside his nucleus at all. Without feeling his power, he could not put forth his strength.


    At that moment, a widely opened mouth with sharp teeth rose from the water and came at him.


    All of a sudden, a hundreds of kilograms heavy rock fell from the cave roof and into the giant mouth.


    Lei Yao was thrown away, not toward the outside, but to the center of the lake.


    At that moment, a vine swung toward him and caught him before he fell into the water, then pulled him back and threw him back up into the air. As he was finally safe, the others landed back on the ground down the waterfall with their hearts thumping.


    "Are you hurt?" Li Zheng ran up to Lei Yao and asked with concern.


    Lei Yao was still gasping for air. Just now, he thought was really going to die. Hearing Li Zheng''s question, he came back to his senses, then automatically dropped his head to check himself. After that, he raised his head and said to the others, "I''m fine."


    "I was worried dead! Be careful, bro!" Feng Yuming patted Lei Yao on the shoulder.


    "Thank you!" Lei Yao looked at him and thanked. At last, it was Feng Yuming who sent out the vine to save him from falling into the water.


    "Alright! As long as you''re not hurt." After confirming that Lei Yao was all fine, Yuan Tianxing nodded and turned to look into the hole. The tentacles from the water looked like the tentacles of an octopus, but without suckers. Those tentacles were very long, thick, and smooth. The mouth that came out of the water just now looked like the mouth of a fish. Those sharp teeth looked rather scary.


    "What are those? Mutated fishes? What are those tentacles?" Feng Yuming asked the others.


    The others glanced at each other, then all turned to look at the hole. "The mouth looked a little like a fish mouth. But, I don''t know what those tentacles belong to. Do they belong to the monstrous fish? Or, is it some other creature?" someone said.


    "I don''t know. But, that thing is huge. And I feel there''re more of them in the water," Yuan Tianxing shook his head, then turned to Lu Fang and asked him, "Did you feel anything.


    Lu Fang nodded at him, then gave a long roar.


    Old Guo translated Lu Fang''s words, "He said there are a lot of them in the water. Those tentacles belonged to the fish. You may not be able to see them, but he can sense their shapes. They have spherical bodies, with tentacles all over their bodies. Unlike the normal fishes, they don''t have tails."


    The others pictured a ball with a fish head and a large fish mouth, along with twisting tentacles all over its body.


    "I feel it''s like a huge globefish. Globefishes don''t have tentacles though. Also, globefishes have tails," Lin Yu pictured an angry globefish in his head, then added twisting tentacles to it. That was indescribably weird.


    Lu Fang gave him a glance and thought for a moment, then nodded. The fishes in the lake did look like globefishes, but they were extra large and with countless tentacles.


    "They''re very aggressive. I guess the hole is too small, so they can''t come over here," Yuan Tianxing glanced at the hole, then thought of the giant mouth that he saw.


    The fish mouth was at least ten meters long and four meters wide. The oval-shaped hole above the waterfall was long, but only about three meters wide. It was a little too narrow for those creatures in the lake.


    The one that attacked Lei Yao just now might not be the largest one, but the smallest one couldn''t be much smaller than it.


    "Is those fishes'' vibe what scared the underground gorillas out of the cave? Will they come out of the water?" Li Zheng turned to look back.


    The waterfall was miles away from the gorillas'' cave. The distance wasn''t short, but wasn''t long either.


    All of a sudden, a massive wave of long and huge tentacles gushed out of the hole, rushing toward Yuan Tianxing and the others while generating a loud sound of water.


    Everyone quickly moved backward. The space was too limited, and the people moved all together, so the place became a little crowded instantly. Thankfully, a few higher-leveled ones leaped straight to the other side of the pond under the waterfall.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! As the people dodged, those tentacles pierced into the ground and broke the rock, but missed their targets. In the very next second, those tentacles scattered and reached further out. Yuan Tianxing and the other humans weren''t their sole targets; those creatures were aiming at Old Guo and the other zombies too.


    A row of giant teeth was seen in the hole upon the waterfall.

 1166 Yuan Tianxing Got Injured

    "Why is there such a large lake underground? And these creepy creatures live in the lake. Has the entire planet mutated now? The creatures on the earth''s surface have mutated, and so many mutated underground creatures have shown up now. The earth isn''t going to be destroyed, is it? Are we really going to build a giant spaceship and bring all the humans into the space, like what happened in some science fiction films?" Old Guo shook his head as he said.


    The others looked at him speechlessly. "It''s not that serious. Humans can still survive on the planet."


    A series of noises was suddenly heard, and Yuan Tianxing and the others swiftly drew back to create a safe distance between themselves and those tentacles. However, the creatures in the lake didn''t give up. They squeezed their tentacles out of the hole and reached as far as they could toward the group of people.


    There was already a safe distance between the people and those tentacles, so the people didn''t waste energy attacking the tentacles. However, as the creatures in the lake had blocked the way, they couldn''t move further forward.


    The lake was massive. Just now, Yuan Tianxing didn''t even see the bounds of the lake when he shone his flashlight into the hole. All he saw was the water surface and the dark cave roof, which was tens of meters away from the water surface.


    The water wasn''t the only thing that had a problem. The surrounding rock didn''t look normal either.


    Earlier, Yuan Tianxing tried to control the rock on the cave roof, but found that his power been weakened by about seventy percent. Therefore, he only managed to pull a single piece of rock off the roof just now. He was planning on lowering the cave roof until the monster was crushed. However, he failed to do that.


    "Let''s leave! We can''t get through here. If I have guessed right, the water was polluted by those creatures. Perhaps, they are new to this place and they came here in some way. Let''s see if we can find another road leading upward," Yuan Tianxing moved back to a bulging rock face and said to the others.


    The tentacles which were over a hundred meters long waved in the air for a while. As Yuan Tianxing and the others were unreachable, they slowly shrank back into the hole.


    As Yuan Tianxing and his people went back the way they came, a thunderous boom was suddenly heard from the hole upon the waterfall. Next, the ground began shaking and small stones rolled off the rock faces; even some large rock pieces fell off.


    "This is bad! Move!" Yuan Tianxing was startled by the deafening bang. He raised his head to glance at the waterfall, then changed his expression and uttered a shout. Another boom was heard from the hole, following which, Yuan Tianxing and the others felt the ground underneath their feet start to shake.


    At that very moment, those enormous, ugly fishes created a large breath on the three-meter-wide hole. Rock pieces flew all over the air and the water flooded down. The black water overwhelmed the area like some kind of horrible monster.


    The zombies reacted fast as they automatically popped their claws and swiftly climbed toward the higher areas. The relatively stronger ones even carried Feng Yuming and the other few who were slow up to the safe area.


    Li Zheng and his men didn''t have that instinctive ability that zombies had when facing danger. By the time they could react, the water had already gushed down and splashed everywhere.


    The water was dangerous; they mustn''t touch it! Despite how clearly they knew that, their bodies reacted slowly.


    Yuan Tianxing was at a higher level than the others, so he reacted in time by leaping high. However, the moment he leaped, he saw Fei Chonglin, his subordinate, standing right underneath the water that was descending from the air. So, he thrust a foot against the rock face and flashed to Fei Chonglin''s side before kicking the latter away.


    He had turned his skin into stone. By kicking Fei Chonglin away, he sent himself flying toward the other side. Therefore, the water that almost poured on Fei Chonglin''s body landed on him.


    Fei Chonglin bumped into the rock face. Thankfully, he moved quickly enough to grab a stone to keep himself from falling into the river.


    Realizing that he was safe, he immediately recalled how Yuan Tianxing shielded him from the dark water just now. "Deputy Chief! Are you okay?" he shouted with concern.


    Yuan Tianxing landed on the other side. He spent a great amount of energy to create a shallow hole on the rock face for himself to land in. He turned and waved at Fei Chonglin while responding loudly, "I''m fine. Let''s get out of here."


    Fei Chonglin, Lei Yao, Feng Yuming and Lin Yu were the weakest four among the group. None of them was above level-three; Lin Yu was only at level-two.


    Yuan Tianxing brought them down into the cave because they were his reliable subordinates, and also because they used to serve in the intelligence apartment in Hades Base, and were very observant. However, even though their brain worked quickly, their bodies couldn''t make reactions as quickly under serious situations.


    That was why Lei Yao and Fei Chonglin had both fallen into life-threatening dangers earlier.


    Yuan Tianxing would, of course, try everything he could to save them.


    He told the others that he was fine, but he knew that he was not.


    He has turned his skin and muscles into stone by using his superpower. At the moment, he was like a walking statue. No physical harm should have been done to him, but as the black water poured on his skin, he suffered a great pain, as if his skin was burning.


    He felt as if his neck, shoulders and, half of his chest were on fire, and that his flesh and blood were even about to be melted. He endured the pain and didn''t show anything on his face. After landing in the hole on the rock face, he quickly hopped backward.


    At that moment, the others had been moving backward as quickly as they could. The shallow section of the underground river in that area was expanded and deepened by the water coming from the lake.


    Thankfully, people found foothold before the water flooded the whole area, and then they ran away without hesitation.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! A series of banging sound was heard from the hole upon the waterfall. Along with every bang, the ground quaked strongly. The creatures in the lake were still trying to break out; the rocks at the edge of the hole had mostly cracked.


    Before, when there was no food, they stayed quietly in the lake, killed each other, and fed on each other for survival. But now, a group of prey showed up and smelled so much more delicious than themselves. The smell of the prey agitated them. That was why they tried to break the hole, so they could come out to hunt those delicious prey.

 1167 The Power of Time Travel

    Yuan Tianxing never thought that the water from the underground river could still hurt him.


    "I think we better seal this place off. We can''t let those things come out through the river." After landing in a safe area, Old Guo looked back and said with a frown.


    "I''ll try to do that. You guys can go," said Yuan Tianxing as he glanced upstream. After the last surge, the water level of the underground river had risen largely. As the strongest earth power possessor among all, he was the only one who could seal the river off.


    "Are you going alone? That''s too dangerous!" Li Zheng strongly disagreed.


    "You guys can''t help me. Just go! Don''t stay here, because accidents can happen," said Yuan Tianxing to him and the others expressionlessly.


    Li Zheng turned to Old Guo, wishing that the zombie old man would help him convince the other. He still didn''t agree with Yuan Tianxing, but the latter''s words made sense. The others could only hinder him.


    Unexpectedly, Old Guo patted Yuan Tianxing on the shoulder and said, "Alright, you do it! We''ll be waiting for you by the cave entrance." After saying that, the zombie old man turned and walked away.


    "Oi¡­" With surprise, Li Zheng tried to say something else. But before he let out any word, Yuan Tianxing patted on his shoulder and said, "Alright, follow my order."


    "Yes, sir," Li Zheng had no other choice and he followed Old Guo away along with the others.


    ¡­


    Lin Wenwen, who had traveled seven years ago, purchased tons of goods using Dong Xinxin''s identity. When the courier delivered the goods to the mansion of Dong Family with trucks, the butler and the bodyguards were all stunned.


    Lin Wenwen had told the guards in advance to let in all the couriers, otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to enter the mansion!


    Seeing countless bags of rice, flour, packaged food, and medicine piling up in the storage, the butler was really confused. He couldn''t help but drag Dong Lijia to a corner and ask him, "What on earth is Miss. Dong doing? Why did she buy so much rice and flour?"


    Dong Xinxin was being really weird these days. Her preference for food had changed, and she spent all day in the gym or jogging in the woods in the backyard.


    Was she still the lazy and gluttonous Dong Xinxin?


    Lin Wenwen asked some people to carry all the goods into the storage, then kicked them all out and shut the door. After that, she put all the goods into her space. Her space had grown large now, so it could easily contain tens of tons of rice.


    Compared with Dong Lijia, who was growing more and more worried, Lin Wenwen was pretty relaxed. In order to have her own body back, she had been trying very hard to lose Dong Xinxin''s weight, and also continued to convince her brother. However, for the sake of all the unpolluted food, she helped Dong Xinxin willingly.


    Her space was still with her. She brought the things that she kept in her space in the future back to seven years ago, so she believed that she would also be able to bring things from the past to the future. She wasn''t worried about that. What she was worried about was if Dong Xinxin could really send her back to the future.


    In the past few days, she had been communicating with Dong Xinxin, and had finally figured out what superpower the girl possessed.


    She had the power of time travel, which was such an amazing power! In comparison with that, the ordinary space power was nothing. In the post-apocalyptic era, space power possessors were rare, but quite a few them existed in each base. However, compared with Dong Xinxin''s power, it was just average.


    According to Dong Xinxin, she was able to travel back to any moment that she had experienced. In some way, she was able to manipulate time. When she traveled to the past, there would be two Dong Xinxin in that timeline. The two of them could merge into one as long as they looked at each other in the eyes.


    She could bring herself to the past, but not by reversing the time.


    The timespan that she could cover varied along with her power level. At first, she was only able to jump back half an hour ago. As she reached level-two, she could travel back for twelve hours. At level-three, she could go back to three days ago, and at level-four, that timespan became a month.


    She never told anyone about her superpower. She joined a hunter group to kill zombies with knives and guns.


    She, of course, didn''t have the courage to tell anyone about her special and great superpower. After surviving in the post-apocalyptic era for seven years, she was no longer the silly girl who would trust anyone she met.


    Before she died, she drained her nucleus and triggered her power with the last bit of energy she had. To her surprise, she brought herself seven years ago.


    "Those two girls are so eagerly attentive. They asked you out every couple of days. What happened to you guys in the future?" Lin Wenwen talked to Dong Xinxin while sorting the goods in the storage.


    Recently, Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui called Dong Xinxin almost every single day. They said that Dong Xinxin was so lonely before that she never really had fun, also that the summer vacation was the last chance for her to relax because she was going to start her last year in high school and prepare for the college entrance examination. By then, she would have no time to hang out with her friends.


    While saying all those nice words to her, they were actually thinking about taking her to some crowded place and embarrassing her somehow. That was how Lin Wenwen felt after spending some time with those two wicked girls recently.


    "After the apocalypse, Qin Jiao turned into a zombie but Lin Yuehui didn''t. She attained water power. On her way fleeing to a base, she managed to become a core member of a group," said Dong Xinxin in Lin Wenwen''s mind.


    "Weren''t you two together at that time?" Lin Wenwen asked.


    "No. When the apocalypse happened, who could still look after the others? She wasn''t with us back then," said Dong Xinxin blandly.


    Lin Wenwen heard that and nodded.


    At dinner, Lin Wenwen happily enjoyed the food while looking at all those dishes on the long dining table. Except for her and Dong Lijia, a middle-aged man and a good-looking woman were also at the table.


    According to Dong Xinxin, her family was lucky. None of her family members turned into a zombie when the apocalypse happened. They didn''t attain superpowers either though. On their way to a base, her father had a conflict with someone else in order to save the last pack of instant noodle for his daughter and ended up being shot dead. Back at that time, their lives were worth nothing in the eyes of the people who had superpowers.


    A few days after that, someone pushed her mother into the zombie crowd during a zombie attack. The zombies scratched her and then she killed herself.


    After the old world ended, Dong Xinxin learned how evil human beings could be. Therefore, Lin Wenwen could also feel this coldness coming from her heart when talking to her.

 1168 Whos Young Master Luo?

    "Xinxin, don''t eat so fast! It''s bad for your stomach," The middle-aged woman said to her daughter, whose diet habit seemed to have changed.


    "Eh? Oh!" Lin Wenwen was chewing a piece of pork rib. Hearing the woman''s words, she forced herself to eat with better table manners.


    "Xinxin, I heard that you didn''t go out these days. They said that you''ve been staying at home, working out all the time. Have you made up your mind this time?" Dong Xinxin''s father was a big-bellied chubby man with the polite presence that most businessmen had. He looked at Lin Wenwen and talked to her amiably.


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Yeah, Un-Um¡­ Daddy, you should do some exercise too when you have time."


    She almost called Dong Xinxin''s father ''uncle''.


    "Why did you suddenly decide to start working out? Did someone say anything to you?" Mr. Dong didn''t take Lin Wenwen''s words seriously. He just wanted to know why her daughter behaved weirdly.


    "No," Lin Wenwen shook her head. She thought for a moment, then added, "I''m preparing for what''s going to happen in three months!"


    "In three months? The third year of high school? You don''t need to work so hard for that, do you?" Mrs. Dong thought Lin Wenwen was talking about the school.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at Dong Lijia, who was eating quietly, then shook her head and said, "No."


    She would have no school to go to in three months.


    "No? What is it then? Is there something else?" Mrs. Dong looked at her confusedly.


    "It''s¡­ um¡­ eh¡­ Just let Dong Lijia tell you about it when he''s ready! Alright, I''m done!" Lin Wenwen knew that Dong Lijia hadn''t talked to his parents about the apocalypse, so she decided to give him a push. Having finished talking, she put her empty bowl on the table and then ran away.


    "Xinxin, you have only had one bowl of rice! Was that enough already?" Dong Xinxin''s mother wasn''t expecting her daughter to run away so quickly. She looked at the girl''s back as she said to her.


    Dong Lijia, who was focusing on the food, had his heart miss a beat when he heard what Lin Wenwen said. He was not yet ready to tell his parents the truth! He was panicking now!


    "What does Xinxin want you to tell us?" Mr. Dong asked Dong Lijia.


    "Ah¡­ Eh? Oh, that¡­ I don''t know how to explain it to you guys yet. Give me some time to think. I''ll talk to you when I have a clue!" In the past few days, Dong Lijia had already sold the small company that he was running. He had also starting to sell the stocks that he bought when he was in college.


    He hadn''t decided how to tell his father about the apocalypse yet. After all, no one would possibly believe something like that!


    "What''s so secretive?" Mrs. Dong gave him a glance with confusion, then continued eating.


    "So, tell me when you''re ready." Mr. Dong was always nice to his children, and he was never too strict with them. As Dong Lijia said that he didn''t know how to tell him about it yet, he responded to his son like that.


    After dinner, when Lin Wenwen was strolling in the backyard to accelerate her digestion, her phone rang. She took out her phone and looked at the number on the screen, then rolled her eyes and rejected the call as she kept walking.


    However, the phone soon rang again; it was still Qin Jiao.


    "Hi, can I help you?" Lin Wenwen answered the call impatiently.


    Feeing the impatience in Dong Xinxin''s tone, Qin Jiao glanced at Lin Yuehui, who was standing by her side, then said to the phone with laughter, "Xinxin, would you and your brother like to come out today? I heard that he and Chenfei are going to Luo Family to celebrate Young Master Luo''s birthday. You''ll be there too, won''t you?"


    Young Master Luo? Who was that?


    Lin Wenwen asked that question to Dong Xinxin in her mind while responding to Qin Jiao with, "What does that have to do with me? I don''t want to go."


    "Young Master Luo is a good friend my brother. He''s really annoying though. Kick his ass for me if you have the chance!" Dong Xinxin answered her question.


    Speaking of Young Master Luo, Dong Xinxin had a trace of anger in her voice that rarely occurred. She didn''t really seem mad though.


    Lin Wenwen blinked, then gave a smile. There seemed to be a story between her and that guy.


    Through the past few days, Lin Wenwen found that Deng Chenfei, who visited Dong Lijia very often, would actually land his eyes on Dong Xinxin quite frequently. Lin Wenwen pretended not to notice that, but that didn''t mean she knew nothing about that.


    Dong Xinxin always sounded cold and emotionless when she talked about Deng Chenfei. Clearly, he had no chance.


    "What? Why? Isn''t Young Master Luo your brother''s good friend? He has invited you too, hasn''t he? Won''t it be a little impolite if you don''t attend to his party?" Qin Jiao didn''t give up.


    She was planning to make Dong Xinxin become a joke at that birthday party. It would fun, and those rich boys would be disgusted. When people started to see Dong Xinxin as a pathetic joke, she would stand up to help the poor girl, so she could win goodwill from both Dong Xinxin and her brother.


    If Dong Xinxin refused to attend the party, her plan would be ruined. With that thought, Qin Jiao grew a little anxious and quickly winked at Lin Yuehui. The latter found a notebook and a pen in response and wrote down a name¡ªWu Minghao.


    Qin Jiao''s eyes shone when she saw that name. "But, if you don''t come, you won''t be able to see Wu Minghao. Didn''t you say that you like him?"


    Lin Wenwen felt a little speechless on hearing another strange name. "That was before," she said.


    ''Did you like this Wu Minghao? They have prepared so many baits for you! I guess they won''t give up trying tonight until they successfully make fun of you,'' said Lin Wenwen to Dong Xinxin.


    ''As you just said, that was before. I don''t care who he is now,'' said Dong Xinxin coldly.


    ''Oh,'' Lin Wenwen responded to Dong Xinxin in her mind. Then, before Qin Jiao could finish, she interrupted her and said, "Okay, let me think about it. I might go if I have a good mood. Don''t call me again for this, okay? Bye."


    After saying that, she quickly ended the call and turned off her phone.


    On the other side of the phone, Qin Jiao said to Lin Yuehui with surprise, "She said she''ll think about it, and that she''ll come if she has a good mood. Does she not like Wu Minghao anymore?"


    Hearing that, Lin Yuehui wore a confused look too. "I don''t think so. She blushed every time she saw Wu Minghao," said Lin Yuehui uncertainly, "She couldn''t help looking at him secretly even though she was blushed scarlet! How come she suddenly stopped liking him? Did Wu Minghao do something to her?"


    "What should we do now?" Qin Jiao looked at her and said, "If she decides not to come, the arrangements we made before will all be wasted."


    Lin Yuehui thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I think she''ll come. Let''s wait until tonight and see."

 1169 Shot Herself in the Foo

    "Why has Dong Xinxin''s attitude been weird these days? Has she discovered something about us?" Qin Jiao glanced at her phone, then threw it onto the table nearby and said with puzzlement.


    Recently, Dong Xinxin had been quite cold to them. They had known her for a whole year and finally built a close relationship with her. Finally, they managed to make her listen to whatever they said. How come there was suddenly a distance between them and her again? Did someone else say something to her?


    Their social circle wasn''t terribly wide, but it was not small either. Every rich boy or girl in the city knew that Dong Lijia had a fat little sister, and many had seen her.


    Dong Xinxin was a shy and silly girl. People made friends with her because of her allowance that would never run out or because of her rich family. Otherwise, who would want to spend all day together with a big, fat girl? No one made friends with her sincerely. The ones who meant to be real friends with her were all replaced by the ones who had purposes.


    In order to get close to Dong Lijia, Qin Jiao did a thorough background check about Dong Xinxin and tried everything she could to become friends with that girl.


    "That''s possible!" Lin Yuehui had too felt that Dong Xinxin''s attitude toward her and Qin Jiao had changed. She gave it a thought and felt that Qin Jiao might be right.


    "Maybe we should send someone to find out if she has spent time with someone else recently. There must be someone who caused her to change her attitude. I''m going to find how who''s jeopardizing our relationship with her!" Qin Jiao thought for a moment and then said, her delicate face wearing a dark look. A cold gleam of light flashed across her eyes which were decorated with exquisite eye makeup.


    She bent over and picked up the phone, then found a number and made a call, "Go and find out if Dong Xinxin has spent time with someone else recently or earlier. Check for a week, a month or two months before now. I want to know why she has changed her attitude recently."


    After finishing that call, she dropped her phone and turned to Lin Yuehui, who was still thinking. She was trying to think of if anything strange happened that day when Dong Xinxin went shopping with her and the others. She remembered the girl acting weird that day.


    After turning her phone off, Lin Wenwen spent another hour strolling, then went back to her room. Dong Lijia was sitting in her room with a bitter face and a deep frown.


    "What? Judging by the look on your face, I guess you haven''t told them the truth yet. I''ve created an opportunity for you. Are you still hesitating? Think about it. The time is running out." Seeing the look on his face, Lin Wenwen immediately figured out what he was thinking.


    "I''m worried that they might not believe me," said Dong Lijia, "Maybe we should tell them together. With you on the scene, my words will be more convincing for them."


    "Okay," Lin Wenwen thought for a moment and said, "On one condition."


    "What condition?" Dong Lijia asked.


    "I''ll convince them as your sister. You have to keep my true identity a secret," said Lin Wenwen.


    Dong Lijia spent three seconds looking at her before he figured out what she meant. "Are you saying that you''ll pretend to be my sister who experienced the apocalypse and then traveled back through time?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "They definitely wouldn''t believe you if you told them that I''m someone else. I can tell them that I lived seven years in the future and then died, and then came back to life by time-traveling. I''ll tell them that I''m their daughter from seven years in the future, and I''m not like the Dong Xinxin from the past. I can also do something that your sister would do to make them believe me. After all, between a stranger who occupied their daughter''s body and their daughter from the future, I think they''ll be more likely to believe the latter."


    Dong Lijia spent a short while thinking, then nodded and asked her a question, "Do you¡­ know what happened to my sister in the next seven years?"


    "I know, of course!" said Lin Wenwen, "Didn''t I tell you that she''s still inside this body? These days, she has woken up from time to time. She''s mostly been sleeping though. She talked a lot to me when she was awake."


    Dong Lijia looked at her knowingly in agreement, then stood up and said, "In this case, we''ll do it your way. Let''s go and talk to my father now!" While speaking, he walked to the door and opened it, then turned back to look at Lin Wenwen. The latter shrugged and followed him out.


    They turned and turned and then finally found Mr. Dong''s study room. "I don''t understand you rich people! Don''t you feel a lack of sense of security living in such a huge house?"


    "No," said Dong Lijia carelessly, "We might have gotten used to this. Besides, don''t we have guards and servants? I haven''t asked you about what you did before and how old you are. Are you a boy or a girl? Oh damn! You''re not a man, are you!"


    While finishing his last word, Dong Lijia twirled and stared at Lin Wenwen with popped eyes. Picturing a man in his sister''s body, seeing her sister''s nudity¡­ he suddenly felt like losing his mind!


    "Tell me you''re a girl! You''re a girl, aren''t you!" Dong Lijia suddenly dragged Lin Wenwen to a corner of the hallway and pressed her against the wall as he glared at her and asked her with anxiety.


    Lin Wenwen felt a little speechless. Wasn''t his mind working a little too slowly? It had been days and that question didn''t pop in his mind until just now.


    Looking at Dong Lijia''s twisted face, she said, "What would you do if I told you that I''m a guy?"


    Dong Lijia''s face froze at that very moment. The two of them just stared at each other in the eyes.


    After quite a while, Dong Lijia abruptly furrowed his eyebrows as he gazed at Lin Wenwen and said, "Marry her!"


    Lin Wenwen burst in laughter. After pushing Dong Lijia away expressionlessly, she immediately covered her mouth with a hand and laughed out loud.


    "Hahaha¡­ Relax, I was kidding!" While speaking, she walked forward. Dong Lijia paused briefly, then instantly pulled a long face.


    "Were you lying to me? That''s not right! I won''t believe a word you say from now on! Who the hell are you! Tell me or I won''t let you go!" Dong Lijia angrily dragged him back, then threw her against the wall and asked her fiercely.


    What if he were really a guy? What if what he said was a lie because he didn''t want to marry Dong Xinxin? He had seen and touched Xinxin''s body! Xinxin would suffer a great loss if he just left when he could, wouldn''t she?


    With that thought, Dong Lijia was almost exploding with anger. As a big brother who deeply loved his little sister, he was now seeing Lin Wenwen as a dishonest man who had taken advantage of his sister.


    Feeling the determined look in his eyes, Lin Wenwen realized that she might have shot herself in the foot.

 1170 Prove It With Action

    She made that joke, and now she needed to deal with it!


    "No, no, no, I''m a woman! I didn''t lie to you about that!" Lin Wenwen hurriedly said to Dong Lijia.


    Looking at Dong Lijia who was almost overwhelmed with rage, Lin Wenwen was a little worried. If the boy convinced himself to believe that the one who was living in Dong Xinxin''s body was a man, he would spend every single day trying to make Lin Wenwen agree to marry Dong Xinxin. What would Lin Wenwen do if that happened?


    Once she went back to the future, Dong Xinxin and her family might not have anything to do with her anymore. However, she would still stay in the past for a few months. She would be annoyed to death by Dong Lijia!


    "How are you gonna prove that?" Dong Lijia glared at her and said through clenched teeth.


    "Prove what?" Mr. Dong''s voice was heard before Lin Wenwen answered the question. The two of them turned together to see the big-bellied Mr. Dong standing not far away, looking at them.


    Dong Lijia turned and gave Lin Wenwen a glance, then suddenly realized how weird their current posture would seem to his father. So, he quickly let go of Lin Wenwen and made a step backward.


    "Ah, n-nothing. Dad, we want to talk to you!" He, of course, couldn''t tell his father that someone else was living in Dong Xinxin''s body. He needed to keep that secret, even if he didn''t need Lin Wenwen''s help.


    His father might burst in rage like he did if he knew that a man was wearing Xinxin''s skin.


    "Is it about what you mentioned earlier today? Come here!" Mr. Dong gave them each a glance, then turned and walked toward his study room. Lin Wenwen hurriedly stepped to the side the create a distance from Dong Lijia. Following behind her, the other made a threatening gesture toward her.


    In Mr. Dong''s study room, Mr. Dong sat on an armchair and pointed at the couch, signalling for the two to sit down.


    The rich man had a huge study room. A wall of that hundred square meters study room was occupied by bookcases, before which was a long, luxurious desk. On the other side of the room was a costly sofa set. The room was also decorated with some famous art pieces and expensive handcraft works.


    "Tell me, what secret have you been keeping from us? Xinxin suddenly decided to lose weight and Jiajia is acting secretively too." As the two sat down, Mr. Dong asked them curiously.


    The two glanced at each other. Dong Lijia had anger in his eyes when he looked at Lin Wenwen. He pointed at her, then turned and said to his father, "She said that in two months and twenty-five days, the world is going to end! Ask her!"


    Lin Wenwen wasn''t preparing for that. That was not what they agreed to. Why did he suddenly pass the buck to her? Was it because of what happened just now?


    "What? Jiajia, what did you say? Say it again," Mr. Dong looked at Dong Lijia with disbelief, as if he had heard something very ridiculous. He had no idea why Dong Lijia suddenly said something like that.


    "She said that," Dong Lijia pointed at Lin Wenwen and said, "Dad, ask her about it! Ask her!"


    After saying that, he folded his arms and turned away his face.


    Lin Wenwen gave a glance at the stubborn Dong Lijia, then quietly turned to look at Mr. Dong.


    "It''s true. It''ll happen on the night of September 1st. The whole world will change. On the morning of September 2nd, the world will fall into chaos. Ninety percent of all people will turn into mindless walking dead," she said to Mr. Dong seriously.


    Mr. Dong looked at her the way people look at a psychotic patient.


    "Jiajia, has some weird organization been harassing your sister recently?" Mr. Dong turned to Dong Lijia after hearing what Lin Wenwen said.


    "No," Dong Lijia snorted and said.


    "Do you really believe what she said?" Dong Xinxin pointed at Dong Xinxin and said confusedly.


    Dong Lijia thought for a second, then abruptly stood up and crooked his finger toward Lin Wenwen, "Come on, let''s fight." He walked to the middle of the room while speaking.


    On hearing what he said, Mr. Dong slapped on the desk and glared at him angrily as he shouted, "Stop this! Are you gonna hit your sister?"


    Dong Lijia was startled by his father''s angry voice. He flinched, but said determinedly, "You don''t know who''s gonna hit whom yet!"


    "Aren''t you coming?" He glared at Lin Wenwen and continued.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t know what to say. The boy really wanted to fight her, the way boys fought each other.


    In order to convince Mr. Dong, she had no choice but to fight the battle. "Alright," she said, "D-dad, just watch us. You''ll know if what I said is true."


    While speaking, she stood up as well. Calling a strange man ''Dad'' felt weird. However, in order to keep her real identity secret, she had to do that.


    Mr. Dong watched her stand up with surprise. She wasn''t really going to fight her brother, was she?


    He turned to Dong Lijia and found the boy showing no sign of taking a step back. On the contrary, he seemed to be a little angry. Why was he angry?


    "Ah!" Dong Lijia launched a punch without hesitation once Lin Wenwen found a firm footing.


    "Wait¡­" Mr. Dong tried to stop him without thinking. He was so shocked by the aggressiveness that his son was showing that his face even twisted. However, before his voice faded, he saw his fat daughter nimbly turn her body, raise an arm, and grasp Dong Lijia''s fist. After that, she turned around and gave him a kick.


    Thud! "Ouch!" Mr. Dong watched Lin Wenwen throw Dong Lijia to the floor, acting like it was an easy thing to do.


    "Again!" Dong Lijia got up and charged at Lin Wenwen again as he swung his fist at her face. He believed that Lin Wenwen was able to dodge that punch. Also, even if he did hit her face, it wouldn''t be her sister suffering the pain anyway. That punch was not going to ruin her face.


    Lin Wenwen stayed perfectly calm. She slightly tilted her head, then swiftly reached out and hit Dong Lijia''s elbow with her knuckles, then poked her fingers into his armpit.


    "Ou¡­" Dong Lijia twitched his face in the pain as if something had smashed the tip of his toe. He bent over and hopped to the side, unable to stop moaning.


    Lin Wenwen clapped her hands, then turned to Mr. Dong and said, "Did you see that? If you know about your daughter, you should know that she''s not capable of that."


    Mr. Dong closed his gaped mouth, then started looking at Lin Wenwen from head to toe with both surprise and doubts. He was not a young boy anymore. As a man who founded a public company from nothing, he had surely experienced a lot.


    There was a chance that his son was only staging a show just now, but her daughter''s excellent combat skill and quick reaction couldn''t be explained. After all, his daughter had never learned wrestling or martial arts.


    "W-who are you?"

 1171 Disassemble and Assemble the Gun to Prove I

    "I''m your daughter, but I''m not seventeen anymore. In fact, I''m already twenty-four. So of course, I''m different." Hearing Mr. Dong ask who she was, Lin Wenwen answered the question calmly. She looked around, then said, "If this body of mine wasn''t so fat and weak, I''d be able to throw him ten meters away."


    While speaking, Lin Wenwen pointed at Dong Lijia, who had his teeth bared in pain and his arm dropped powerlessly.


    Lin Wenwen hit his funny bone, so he felt as if an electric current had run through his entire arm. He definitely didn''t want to try that again.


    "That''s why she''s been exercising these days. She''s not only working out, but also training herself to grow some strength," Dong Lijia helped her with the explanation.


    Mr. Dong looked at Dong Lijia, then at Lin Wenwen. He clearly knew that his daughter wasn''t able to throw away a grown man like what she did to Dong Lijia so neatly and quickly, not even if Dong Lijia put an arm in her hands without fighting back at all.


    He was surprised, and also started to struggle. What his daughter just said sounded like complete nonsense. Apocalypse? People turn into walking dead? That sounded like a zombie movie. How could that ever happen in the real world?


    However, the skill that his daughter displayed just now could not be explained by what he already knew.


    "You¡­ First, tell me how did you get the combat skills? Also, you said that you''re already twenty-four. What does that mean?" He looked at Lin Wenwen and asked.


    "Oh, after the apocalypse, you might be eaten by zombies if you''re not fast enough. As for my age¡­ I''m from the future. Dad, I''m not seventeen anymore," Lin Wenwen looked at him and said seriously. After a brief pause, she continued, "I know what will happen seven years from now. I survived in the post-apocalyptic era for seven years. I have not only learned how to fight and protect myself, but also learned how to read people. So believe me, everything I said is true."


    Mr. Dong even suffered a headache. He still didn''t understand how his daughter suddenly became a completely different person. He still didn''t want to believe what she said. However, she made it sound very real.


    "¡­ I still can''t believe it. Xinxin, what you said is too¡­ unscientific!" He looked at Lin Wenwen and said.


    "How do you explain all the changes that have happened to me? None of this is scientific. How about this? I''ll prove it to you again. Can you give me a real gun?" Lin Wenwen looked at him, then thought for a moment and asked. She understood that having a gun was a very easy thing for a rich man like Mr. Dong. With his capability, he could have tens of guns in secret.


    She wanted very much to take out a gun directly from her space, but by doing that, she would expose her space. Dong Lijia had known about her space already, but in order to keep her true identity secret, he wouldn''t let her do that.


    If she used her power now, after she left, Mr. Dong might find out that Dong Xinxin doesn''t have a space. He then might doubt her for that.


    "What? What do you need that for? You shouldn''t touch something so dangerous!" Mr. Dong changed his attitude once Dong Xinxin asked him for a gun.


    A real gun would be no joke. It could kill somebody!


    "If you don''t give me a gun, how am I gonna prove it to you that I''ve really experienced seven years of the post-apocalyptic era? Don''t worry, you can take away all the bullets," said Lin Wenwen.


    "No! You''re just a kid. How can you play with something like that?" Mr. Dong still shook his head with a serious look.


    Lin Wenwen turned to Dong Lijia. It was his job to convince his parents, but now, Lin Wenwen was doing it. She should be asking him for help.


    Dong Lijia was still mad at her because he believed that the real her might be a short and ugly and nasty man. But still, he had to respond to her.


    "Dad, just give it to her. Since you think that she''s talking nonsense, you should give her a chance to prove what she said. As she said, you can empty the chamber. Nothing will happen. Just let us see what she wants the gun for," Dong Lijia tried to convince his father.


    "Do you believe what she said?" Mr. Dong looked at him and asked, "How can you believe something so ridiculous?"


    Clearly, his father would not give something as dangerous as a gun to Lin Wenwen. So, he stood up and walked to the bookcase, then moved one book and reached his hand in before fumbling for a few seconds.


    Watching his movements, Mr. Dong instantly stood up and yelled, "Stop it! How did you know about that place?"


    Dong Lijia soon retracted his hand. Next, a small drawer popped out of the bookcase; in the drawer was a pistol.


    That was a real pistol!


    "Oh, I know about all your secrets, including where you keep your secret money. Should I tell Mom about that?" While taking out the gun, Dong Lijia said to his father.


    "How dare you!" On hearing what he said, Mr. Dong immediately scolded him angrily. He didn''t sound so confident actually. While speaking, he even unwittingly gave the door a glimpse.


    Dong Lijia ignored his father. He took out all the bullets in the gun, then put the empty gun before Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Wenwen had asked Dong Xinxin how much time she needed to disassemble and assemble a pistol. In the post-apocalyptic era, many people could do that, not to mention the zombie hunters like Dong Xinxin.


    The answer that Dong Xinxin gave her was fifteen seconds at least. That could already amaze some commoners.


    Lin Wenwen herself couldn''t do much better than that. Of course, she wouldn''t be able to reach her current level without the year of training she had in All Beings Base.


    As Dong Lijia put the gun before her, she pulled out the cartridge clip out to show Dong Lijia and his father that it was empty and safe. She put the cartridge back in, and after that, she started to disassemble the pistol and then reassemble it. She did it so smoothly and quickly that the two couldn''t even see her movements clearly.


    Following a series of clicking and cracking, the dissembled gun was re-assembled. She wasn''t really fast actually, but she was definitely not slow. No one who didn''t know well about guns could do what she did.


    "Alright, you guys can check it now, and Dad, you should take some time to think carefully. Would the old me ever be able to do something like this? Think about what I said earlier," Lin Wenwen said and stood up. "I''m going back to my room." After saying that, she turned and left.


    As same as Dong Lijia, Mr. Dong also needed time to process what she said. The two men from Dong Family were left in the room, staring at the re-assembled gun in silence.

 1172 Lost It to Money

    Back in her room, Lin Wenwen prepared to get changed and to go the gym to work out. She had been adjusting her body and doing sports these days. Hence, her muscles were still sore at the moment.


    She couldn''t stop though. She knew how hard it could be. Nonetheless, the difficulties that she had conquered before were a little easier than what she was facing now. The seventeen-year-old Dong Xinxin was really too fat!


    She changed her clothes and planned to spend another two hours in the gym. But once she opened the door, she saw Dong Lijia walking toward her while talking to the phone.


    "Alright, don''t worry! I''ll be there soon. We won''t be late. Okay, bye."


    Seeing Lin Wenwen come out, he immediately ended the call and barred her road. "You''re working pretty hard," he looked at Lin Wenwen''s sports suit and said, "If my sister was doing this by herself, she might not last even a day."


    Lin Wenwen shrugged as she looked at him and said, "I doubt that. What I said just now was not a lie. The current Dong Xinxin is no longer the seventeen-year-old girl who knew nothing. She might have worked even harder than I am."


    She had to work hard. She must do what Dong Xinxin asked, so that the girl could gain some original energy from her own body and recover. After that, the latter would figure out a way to send her back to the future.


    "Why are you here?" she looked at Dong Lijia and said.


    Dong Lijia looked at her and said, "Are you a man or not? Tell me who you really are. I''ll go and find out if you''re lying or not! If you lie to me, I''ll¡­" That problem was still bothering him.


    "You''ll what? Hit me? You can''t defeat me, can you? Will you scheme against me? That can happen. But, as I''ve told you, I''m not a man. You are quite persistent! Even if I were a man wearing her skin, I couldn''t marry her for that sole reason. Have you asked your sister about her feelings? This is pointless." Hearing him mention that joke she made earlier once again, Lin Wenwen impatiently pushed away his arm.


    She had already discovered a benefit brought by Dong Xinxin''s body. She was heavy enough to bump people away! She didn''t have great strength, but she had a low center of gravity.


    "You! You just wait and see!" Dong Lijia believed more firmly that the one who was wearing his sister''s skin was a man, and a short-tempered man at that!


    "This is between Dong Xinxin and me. You better stay out of it. As her brother, you''ve been watching her too closely. My big brother isn''t like you!" Lin Wenwen said to him while walking toward the gym.


    "That''s because Xinxin is still too young. She doesn''t know things yet. Wait! Wait! Don''t go!" Dong Lijia still believed that his sister was a seventeen years old girl who needed his protection. He was her big brother, and that was his responsibility. But soon, another thing crossed his mind, so he hurriedly called after her and walked to her in big steps.


    "Go and put on a pretty dress now. I''ll take you to a place," He held Lin Wenwen''s hand and made her turn around to look at him.


    "A dress? What the hell? Why would I be wearing that?" Lin Wenwen looked at him with confusion. Recalling him say that he would take her to a place, she continued, "Wait. You''re not gonna take me to that Young Master Luo''s place, are you?"


    "Eh? How do you know?" Dong Lijia instantly wore a look of surprise.


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes and said, "Those two idiots called me and asked me to go. I don''t plan to go though."


    "Idiots? Who?" Dong Lijia didn''t figure out whom she was talking about.


    "That''s not important. Do you want to take me there? I''m not going," said Lin Wenwen determinedly. Having finished talking, she turned and intended to leave. Currently, she only wanted to focus on two tasks¡ªhelp Dong Xinxin recover so that girl could send her back to the future; thereafter, purchase as many goods as she could, store them in her space, and bring them back to the future with her.


    "Why not? Don''t you want to¡­ Ah, I mean, my sister wants to meet with Wu Minghao. She begged me to take her to the party the last time. You are not my sister, but you''re using her body. You need to impress Wu Minghao on her behalf! I''ve told everyone that I''ll bring Xinxin to the party. How can you not go?" Dong Lijia didn''t accept her answer. He darted up to her and talked and talked.


    Lin Wenwen felt so annoyed.


    He actually wanted her to impress the boy that his sister liked! Shouldn''t he be telling her to focus on studies and not be distracted?


    She told him that she would not go and that she did not want to go. Hearing what she said, Dong Lijia looked at her suspiciously and said, "Is it because you''re a man? You don''t want to go to the party because you are a man, but you''re now in a girl''s body, right?"


    Lin Wenwen wasn''t expecting him to bring that up again, and she even wanted to kick him away. She gave a fake smile as she furrowed her brows and said to him with a slight trace of a sulk, "Your sister isn''t interested in Wu Minghao now! Who knows if that Wu Minghao will turn into a zombie or not in three months! I don''t want to waste time! Go away!"


    The two girls were annoying her constantly, but at least they didn''t show up in front of her. She never thought that Dong Lijia would annoy her with the same thing as they did!


    "No way! We invited Wu Minghao because of Xinxin. If you don''t show up, we''d feel embarrassed!" Dong Lijia didn''t give up and strongly insisted. For Xinxin''s future happiness, he decided to take Lin Wenwen to the party. Perhaps, Xinxin might wake up once she saw the boy she liked.


    With that thought, Dong Lijia held Lin Wenwen''s arm and attempted to drag her back into her room to get changed. He failed, then tried again, and then failed again. The third time, he still failed¡­


    Lin Wenwen looked at him expressionlessly. ''Go ahead and drag me. See if you can make me move an inch!''


    Dong Lijia fell into silence.


    Damn it! He really couldn''t move her. Since violence was not a solution, his only other choice was to use his brain. He had an idea, actually. She needed money, didn''t she?


    "How about this, you go with me tonight, and then I''ll give you another five-hundred thousand."


    This time, Lin Wenwen fell into silence.


    God! She really couldn''t say no to that! Five-hundred-thousand could be used to buy a lot of food and medicines!


    She found that Dong Lijia was a little sly!


    At last, she said yes under the temptation of money. Missing two hours of exercise wouldn''t be a big deal anyway.


    Dong Lijia raised his brows and give a perky smile. His young, pretty face was toned with a winner''s happiness, which erased his frustration caused by Lin Wenwen''s strong attitude.


    Lin Wenwen saw the smile on his face before she walked into her room. For some reason, she wanted to beat him up.

 1173 Yuan Tianxing Passes Ou

    While Lin Wenwen was lured to Yang Master Luo''s birthday party by Dong Lijia with money, Yuan Tianxing let Old Guo bring the others away from the underground river, then headed back to find a place to seal the river for good.


    Back to a spot not far away from the waterfall, he found the water flow growing slow already. The water level wasn''t dropping though. Also, as there was now a large breach on top of the waterfall, the waterfall had grown larger than before. He had no idea where the river was flowing to. It would be great if it were flowing into the ocean.


    Those huge globefishes with tentacles all over their bodies weren''t crowding near the hole. The three-meter wide hole had now become about eight meters wide, and rock pieces had fallen all over the pond under the waterfall.


    He looked around, then leaped into the hole that he had created on the rock face earlier.


    "Eh!" The sharp pain coming from his shoulder and chest made him let out a muffled moan. He turned on the flashlight and undid his buttons to check himself, but found no burning wounds on his skin and only a large, dark-purple bruise. The purple area hurt like hell though.


    "Ah!" He felt that area with his fingers. But once his fingers touched that area, he couldn''t help but moan with a deep voice. That really hurt!


    He took a deep breath, then buttoned up his shirt and turned to look at the hole on top of the waterfall. He held the flashlight in his mouth as he raised an arm and pressed his hand against the rock face, controlling the surrounding rock. He couldn''t feel the arm on the injured side of his shoulders anymore.


    He gathered a small part of his energy near his wound to suppress the explosive energy that had invaded into his body through the black water while sending the rest of his energy into the rock, toward the waterfall. Under his control, the rock near the hole started moving and growing.


    His earth power allowed him to freely move the rocks and make them grow. However, the rocks near the water had all been corroded by the water and filled up with the strong energy that came from the water. That energy largely weakened Yuan Tianxing''s power.


    With one hand on the rock face, Yuan Tianxing released his energy at the highest rate while controlling the rocks near the waterfall with his mind power. Soon, the breached rocks on top of the waterfall started growing thicker and thicker. The rocks on the upper side reached downward while the ones on the lower side reached upward. The hole was soon sealed up, yet the rocks didn''t stop growing.


    Yuan Tianxing didn''t plan cut off the water flow completely, because if he did, the water behind the rock might burst out over time. The water was corrosive, so the rocks wouldn''t be able to hold it off forever.


    Hence, he left a small vent for the water. The rocks near that vent were so thick that not even those enormous monsters in the lake could break them.


    By the time the rocks grew to around twenty meters thick, Yuan Tianxing was already soaked in sweat. Nevertheless, he clenched his teeth and made the rocks thirty meters thick. The water now flowed out of a thirty-meter-long, meter-wide vent.


    Dropping his hand from the rock, Yuan Tianxing leaned against the rock face and sat down weakly. He gasped for air, his face twisted in pain.


    His energy was almost consumed up. The energy he used to press his wound grew weaker, so the energy from the river water started invading his body and corroding his flesh and blood. He watched the waterfall grow thinner and the water level of the pond drop, then spent quite a while observing the lake. As the vibes of those fierce fishes all seemed to sink to the bottom of the lake, he gritted his teeth and got up, prepared to leave.


    He followed the vibes of his teammates toward the outside, but he started feeling difficulty controlling his body while walking. The pain was seeping into his chest from his skin, even making him find it hard to breathe. Furthermore, the thin air underground worsened his discomfort.


    Thankfully, he had a strong mind. He endured the discomfort and moved toward the outside as soon as possible. His moving speed dropped a lot, and he started to even stagger.


    Old Guo and the others were waiting for Yuan Tianxing in the area where the underground river flowed into the nest of those underground gorillas. Abruptly, Old Guo slightly raised his head to look at the upper stream of the river as he furrowed his brows and said, "He''s back."


    He was back, but his vibe had become much weaker than before. He was barely holding up! Feeing that, Old Guo moved his feet and disappeared from where he was. The others were excited to hear what he said, but then confused by his movement.


    Li Zheng reacted a little faster than the others. He suddenly had a bad feeling that put a solemn look on his face. But before long, Old Guo brought Yuan Tianxing back. The latter was leaning on his shoulder with his head dropped.


    "Deputy Chief!" Li Zheng and his men called him in one voice.


    "He passed out. Bring him back to the base as soon as possible," Old Guo sounded calm, but he swiftly darted into the underground gorillas'' nest without pausing, and the others quickly followed behind him.


    "What happened to Deputy Chief?" Li Zheng nimbly followed by Old Guo''s side and asked anxiously.


    "He has the energy from the river inside his body. His own energy has been consumed. So, in order to resist the destructive energy from the lake, his body put him into unconsciousness for his own protection," said Old Guo.


    "Consumed? Deputy Chief is at level-seven already. I can''t believe he almost used up his energy! What did he do back in there?" Li Zheng said with both concern and confusion. Thankfully, it didn''t take them long to return to the earth''s surface through the largest tunnel in the underground gorillas nest.


    Yun Meng came over once she sensed their vibes, "How did it go? Did you find out anything? Eh? What happened to Yuan Tianxing?"


    Seeing Yuan Tianxing, who was carried by Old Guo, Yun Meng instantly realized that something was not right.


    "He''s injured. The others will tell you about what happened. Call Liu Shanlin and let her send Yuan Tianxing back to the medical department in the base," Old Guo put Yuan Tianxing into Li Zheng''s arms and then said to Yun Meng.


    Liu Shanlin was a level-five female zombie with wind power under Yun Meng''s command. At that moment, having a wind power possessor sending Yuan Tianxing back to the base with her power was the best choice.


    "Roar!" Yun Meng turned and gave a roar. ''Liu Shanlin, come here.''


    Soon, a medium-sized, average-looking female zombie in a camouflage suit showed up in front of the others. Yun Meng pointed at Yuan Tianxing and said to her, "Send him to the medical department to Lin Hao, now!"


    "Roar!" ''Yes, Ma''am!''


    Liu Shanlin responded immediately, then turned and walked to Yuan Tianxing. She put an arm of his around her own neck, then disappeared within a blink. Meanwhile, Li Zheng and the others found the vehicles that were parked nearby and drove back to the base at high speed.

 1174 Feeling Uneasy

    After Yuan Tianxing passed out, Lin Wenwen, who was dragged to Luo Yuanjun''s birthday party, suddenly had her heart thumping a few times. At that moment, she was standing in a corner, holding a glass of wine. The strange feeling from her heart made her press a hand on her chest and furrow her brows.


    An indescribable sense of suffocation spread from her heart and then soon disappeared. After that, she grasped a faint, bad feeling. She raised her head and looked around, wanting to know where that feeling came from.


    It was weird. It wasn''t like the chilliness that she might feel when someone was targeting her. Instead, she felt as if something bad and unpredictable was happening.


    All of a sudden, a blurry image flashed across her mind, and then she saw a man lying on a bed. His skin was dark purple; the image faded before she could see his face.


    Lin Wenwen covered her forehead with her free hand. She could feel that the man was someone really important to her, but couldn''t figure out who it was. The image disappeared so soon that she couldn''t see his face clearly. She didn''t even manage to grasp his body shape.


    On Lin Wenwen''s right side, around a table not far away, a few girls wearing exquisite makeup were secretly observing her.


    "Why isn''t she going to Wu Minghao? What is she doing standing there? Eh¡­ Why is she covering her forehead?" Qin Jiao said to the others while observing Lin Wenwen from the corners of her eyes.


    Lin Yuehui was looking at a group of pretty boys who were on the other side; her eyes were fixed on Deng Chenfei. Hearing Qin Jiao''s words, she turned back and gave Lin Wenwen a glance, "Why don''t we go to her and take her to him? By doing that, we can naturally approach Chenfei and the other boys. Isn''t that nice?"


    "Great!" Qin Jiao nodded with her eyes glowing.


    A short-haired girl looked at the two of them, and then at Lin Wenwen. "The fat girl really had the courage to show up," she said, "On an occasion like this, all she can do is embarrass herself. The dress she picked today actually suits her. It looks like a mosquito curtain on her though."


    Another girl urged Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui excitedly, "Oi, make it quick if you''re gonna do something. I''m waiting for the show! Wu Minghao is wearing a white suit today! This is gonna be perfect, hah¡­"


    "Let''s go! She doesn''t seem right. Let''s go and find out what''s wrong with her," Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui stood up.


    Lin Wenwen was having her head buried in her palm, carefully sensing that ill feeling which she had just now. However, the image was so blurry that she couldn''t grasp any useful information from it.


    A man? Dark purple skin? Was he poisoned? Who was he?


    The weird feeling came from her heart just now told her that the man was certainly related to her. Was it her big brother? Was it Lin Hao?


    Damn! Ever since she woke up in the past, her second power never gave her a sign. Now, she finally started to feel it, but the image she saw was so blurry! Was it because she hadn''t upgraded successfully?


    Sensing the two women coming to her, Lin Wenwen somehow felt so annoyed. She had noticed the looks in those girls'' eyes when they were looking at her secretly just now. It was so obvious; they weren''t even hiding the slyness in their eyes at all. Now, two of them suddenly came to her. They were ready to take action, weren''t they?


    She was carefully searching for useful clues from the image that flashed across her mind just now. She knew that it was not an illusion. It was going to happen to someone she knew and cared about.


    But at that point, some people were coming to disturb her.


    Lin Wenwen turned and walked away from Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui. If they left her alone, she would have enjoyed the night with great food and wine that could hardly happen again after the apocalypse. However, those idiots were so persistent about bringing her trouble.


    Lin Wenwen walked way, not because she was afraid of them, but because dealing with them would be troublesome. She decided to run, as girls were good at making trouble on such an occasion.


    Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui were pretending to move toward Lin Wenwen unwittingly. However, the other suddenly turned and walked toward the bathroom. Noticing that, they both felt displeased.


    She could go to the bathroom at any time, yet she waited until they made a move.


    As Lin Wenwen had walked into the bathroom, Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui had no choice but to give each other a glance, then walk toward the wine table.


    Sitting on the toilet lid, Lin Wenwen carefully thought about the image that he saw just now. The man was lying on a bed. She couldn''t tell how tall he was, but his dark-purple skin was very impressive.


    Who was he? What happened to him? Was it bad? Was he dying?


    Those questions filled up her brain and made her feel uneasy. She had to go back! She had to go back as soon as she could!


    The more she thought about it, the more worried she was. So, she abruptly stood up from the toilet lid, opened the door, and walked out. She washed her hands and dried them with toilet papers before walking out of the bathroom.


    Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui were standing nearby. They turned to Lin Wenwen once she came out.


    "Xinxin, we noticed that you didn''t look well just now. What''s wrong?" Lin Yuehui looked at Lin Wenwen with concern.


    "Did you eat something wrong? Are you okay?" Qin Jiao added.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head expressionlessly and said to them, "I''m fine. Thank you for asking!"


    Then, she walked straight to Dong Lijia and the other boys. Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui glanced at each other, then followed behind her.


    "How come I feel that your sister is being weird tonight?" Dong Lijia and the other boys were talking about Dong Xinxin. They felt that she was a little unusual tonight. Her dressing style had changed largely. She didn''t look as unwatchable as she always did.


    Dong Lijia rolled his eyes. Earlier on, he watched Lin Wenwen go to the bathroom. ''The prick is going into the lady''s room with my sister''s body'', he thought. It looked nothing wrong, but he felt very uncomfortable about it because he believed that the soul inside his sister''s body belonged to a man.


    It was so sick!


    "Oh, her brain might not be working well right now. It might also be that she suddenly improved her taste," he answered Luo Yuanjun''s question carelessly. Once his voice faded, the others all turned to him and stared at him.


    Dong Lijia stopped short under their gaze, then asked them, "What? Why are you all looking at me like this? Did I say something wrong?"


    The others didn''t say anything, but kept staring at him.


    He was always full of compliments about his little sister. How could he ever say something like ''her brain wasn''t working well''?


    Dong Lijia was being weird too!

 1175 She Really Lef

    Lin Wenwen walked up to Dong Lijia, ignoring the other handsome boys as she said to him, "I''m leaving. You guys have fun."


    While speaking, she blandly glanced the others, then turned to leave. She really didn''t have the mood to stay there.


    "Oh no! Fat Ball, you''ve only been here for a short while. Why are you leaving already? That''s a little disrespectful to me!" Hearing her words, a sunny boy beside Dong Lijia instantly complained.


    Judging by what he said, he was Luo Yuanjun, and the party was held for him. Dong Lijia and Lin Wenwen arrived just ten minutes ago, so it was indeed a little impolite for her to leave now.


    Lin Wenwen gave him a glance without saying a word to him. If she didn''t misremember it, Dong Xinxin had asked her to kick that boy''s ass. She wondered what he did to displease the girl.


    Was it because he called her Fat Ball?


    "Huh? So soon? Why? We''ve just gotten here!" Dong Lijia wasn''t happy either. She hadn''t talked to Wu Minghao yet! If she left just like this, this whole party thing would become meaningless!


    Lin Wenwen spread her hands and said to him, "I promised you to come to the party, but I didn''t say how long I''ll be staying here. I''m already here, and now I''m leaving."


    She was trying to remind him that he could not eat his own words about giving her another five-hundred-thousand yuan! She came to the party as she promised. As for what time she would leave, that had nothing to do with him.


    "Yeah Xinxin, you''ve just gotten here. Why are you leaving already? The first round isn''t ending yet, and there will be the second round. The second round is when the fun begins!" Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui came over. Hearing what people said, they hurriedly picked Dong Lijia''s side.


    The party took place in a fancy hotel. Luo Yuanjun wasn''t the one who held the party; it was his father. In fact. Many guests on the scene were middle-aged successful businessmen or senior managers from large companies, who had high social status. When the first round of the party ended at ten pm, the young people would find a place they like to continue the party in the way they liked.


    Therefore, the second round was what the young people really looked forward to. Dong Xinxin wanted to leave even before the first round of the party ended, which was way too soon for the other young people.


    Lin Wenwen gave a faint smile and said, "I think I''ll pass the second round. You guys can have fun without me, can''t you? You don''t really need me to be there."


    "That''s not true! I need you to be there! Come on Fat Ball, tell me what you will do when you get home. You''ll be lying on your bed, right? Why are you treating your fat so well? You should get some exercise!" As Lin Wenwen sounded quite serious about leaving, Luo Yuanjun immediately stood up from the couch and walked to her in big steps, then smoothly put an arm around her neck and said something really mean to her.


    The seventeen-year-old Dong Xinxin would have exploded when she heard him talking about her fat. However, that girl wasn''t there tonight; it was Lin Wenwen on the scene.


    She looked at Luo Yuanjun and said with a smile, "Whether I''m treating my fat well or not has nothing to do with you. Mind your own business!"


    Then, she turned to Dong Lijia and said, "That''s it. I''m leaving." After saying that, she turned and moved Dong Xinxin''s fat body as she walked toward the door alone.


    Dong Lijia looked at her back, feeling that what she said was actually right. He took a glance at Wu Minghao and found the boy having no interest in her at all. He didn''t even look at her.


    He thought for a moment, then followed her out. Behind him, Luo Yuanjun poked Deng Chenfei with an elbow and said, "Dong Xinxin is being weird tonight. What happened?"


    Deng Chenfei looked at the door and said, "Not just tonight."


    "What?" Luo Yuanjun looked at him with confusion.


    On the other side, Qin Jiao and Lin Wenwen were also looking at Dong Xinxin''s back with surprise. They couldn''t believe that she just ignored all the others and left.


    "Did-did she really leave?" If she left, what fun would they be having? Not to mention the second round, the show they prepared for the first round hadn''t even started yet! How could she leave!


    With that thought, the two of them hurriedly followed behind Dong Lijia.


    Lin Wenwen''s bodyguard came to her once she came out of venue. She had a chauffeur, so she wasn''t worried about how to get home by herself.


    Dong Lijia caught up with her and grasped her arm as he said, "Wait, seriously? What will the other people think of Xinxin if you just left like this? They will have bad impressions about her! Do you know that?"


    Lin Wenwen turned and looked at him expressionlessly, "Do you think that me coming here means anything to her? It''s not your sister''s soul inside this body now. What''s the point of me leaving a good impression on other people on behalf of her? Let her deal with her own business. I think you need to stop controlling her life. What you''ve been doing might not be good for her."


    Thankfully, Lin Feng wasn''t like Dong Lijia. Otherwise, she would be annoyed to death.


    Even if the old Dong Xinxin really liked Wu Minghao, that was in the past. Dong Xinxin had changed; she probably had stopped liking him since long ago.


    Lin Wenwen really didn''t think it was necessary for her to go to the party. If she didn''t need money to buy gas, she would never come to the party with Dong Lijia!


    Dong Lijia was stunned on hearing what Lin Wenwen said. She turned and left while he stood there silently, suddenly enlightened.


    Had he been neglecting his precious sister''s feelings all the time?


    Lin Wenwen was right! Dong Xinxin who had traveled back from the future, was no longer the seventeen-year-old girl. Her mind must have grown mature!


    Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui saw Dong Lijia standing by the hallway. They looked around, but didn''t see Dong Xinxin.


    "Eh? Lijia, did you let your sister leave? Why didn''t convince her to stay?" Qin Jiao was a little unhappy, but she still put on a fake smile and talked to Dong Lijia. While talking to him, she was still looking from side to side for Dong Xinxin; Lin Yuehui was doing the same. Finding that she had really left, the two of them grew sulky.


    They were planning to make Dong Xinxin accidentally fall in front of Wu Minghao tonight! That fat girl would probably shake the building when she fell and would catch the attention of everyone on the scene!


    Wouldn''t that be hilarious?


    For the second round, they planned to make her drunk. They heard that she would act crazily when she got drunk and even try to kiss anyone she saw! There was supposed to be a great show when she got drunk.


    They spent quite an effort to convince Luo Yuanjun to call Dong Lijia and tell him to bring his sister to the party. But unexpectedly, she only showed up for less than ten minutes!


    The two girls were so angry! They hadn''t even done anything yet!

 1176 Wait for Chief to Come Back

    People called for Lin Hao once Yuan Tianxing was sent back to the base.


    Lin Hao spent a whole night in the emergency room, but still failed to force out the explosive energy inside the latter''s body with his own superpower.


    The next day, the exhausted Lin Hao only managed to stable Yuan Tianxing''s condition temporarily by making him drink the lake water from Lin Qiao''s space and soaking him in it. Only with that did the weird energy stop spreading further inside his body.


    Lin Hao walked out of the room with a tired face, and found the others looking at him carefully and expectantly.


    "There is a very strong, volatile type of power inside his body. The muscles cells in half of his chest were almost blasted away. His bones are damaged to a certain degree as well. But fortunately, his own energy automatically protected his liver and heart. Otherwise, he''d die before Chief came back," said Lin Hao to the others seriously.


    "Yun Meng and Old Guo went back to the waterfall to take a look and found the source of the waterfall sealed by Deputy Chief Yuan with rocks. I guess that cost him too much energy and worsened his condition," Li Zheng received the news from Yun Meng when Yuan Tianxing was in treatment.


    Lin Feng furrowed his brows and said, "Are you saying that we have to wait for Chief to come back? Can''t you help him?"


    Lin Hao shook his head and said, "My power can barely suppress that energy inside Tianxing''s body. We have to wait for Chief to come back."


    He wasn''t able to control the energy in Lin Qiao''s lake water to cure Yuan Tianxing. Without the lake water, he wouldn''t be able to do anything to that destructive energy.


    Hearing Lin Hao''s words, the others all sighed with worry.


    "Are you saying that Chief is our only chance to change his condition?" Lin Feng thought for a moment and then asked Lin Hao.


    "Yes. But for now, I can''t tell if his condition will grow worse or better by that time. But, I think Chief will have a way to help him."


    Lin Feng glanced at the door of the emergency room, then sighed and left. After Lin Qiao left, bad things happened to Lin Wenwen and Yuan Tianxing in a row. That was not a good sign!


    Apart from that, more and more unpredictable factors emerged underground. It made people feel as if some great kind of crisis was coming.


    The apocalypse had already happened, and the zombie virus had exploded twice. Lin Feng suddenly found himself used to disasters like that.


    In Lin Qiao''s apartment, Wu Chengyue was feeding Teng while listening to the news from all over the world delivered to him by Xiao Licheng.


    "So, Si Kongchen went home empty handed?" Wu Chengyue put the rubber nipple into Teng''s mouth. The latter dodged from side to side, struggling on his father''s knees.


    "I think so. They released the news before Miss. Lu and Lan Lu came out. The level-nine man''s vibe has calmed down, meaning that someone managed to knock him out," While reporting to his Chief, Xiao Licheng looked at Teng who was struggling intensely in his father''s arms.


    "Lan Lu was there. He wouldn''t let anyone kill the level-nine man. The man''s vibe calmed down after the zombie lady arrived, so I guess she helped. After all, she''s able to turn herself invisible and approach the superpower possessors who have lost control of themselves. Alright Teng, are you gonna drink this milk or not? You are such a trouble-maker!" Wu Chengyue pondered for a moment based on the provided information, then gave a conclusion. Of course, he also felt annoyed by the naughty kid in his arms.


    "I don''t want the bottle! I don''t want the bottle! Put the milk in a bowl and feed me with that!" Teng turned the back of his head to his father and yelled.


    "The milk becomes cold in a bowl very quickly, and cold milk tastes fishy. You wouldn''t drink that. Come on, I''m gonna be mad!" Wu Chengyue said with a poker face, but his tone of speaking was still rather gentle.


    It was almost the end of November, and the weather had become very cold. The air temperature was low in both day and night. Feeding the kid had been troublesome recently; he always let his milk become cold and then complained about its awful taste. What a difficult child!


    The milk could stay warm for a longer time in a nursing bottle, yet the kid refused to drink milk from a bottle.


    "I don''t want it! I want it in a bowl! I''ll drink all of it!" Teng still wouldn''t yield.


    Sitting by the side, Wu Yueling was feeding herself quietly. From time to time, she would raise her head to look at her father and little brother. She seemed to be relaxed, even smiling a little bit.


    Wu Chengyue sighed and poured the milk into a bowl. At the same time, he asked Xiao Licheng, "Have you found out anything about the level-nine man yet?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded, "Yes, his name is Dong Xiaowei. I heard that Green Mountain Base is located in a remote town, in a mental institution, and that Dong Xiaowei, Lan Lu, and the others in their base all used to be patients who suffered mental problems. Somehow, they are all healthy now."


    "I guess it''s because their superpower energy fixed their brain. Lan Lu has spirit power after all," said Wu Chengyue.


    "I don''t know when Miss. Lu will come back to the base. The situation here isn''t good. Also, we haven''t yet figured out what exactly is going on underground. She might be able to learn something from those underground gorillas," said Xiao Licheng with a frown.


    "Lin Hao has spent a whole night in the ER. It seems that Yuan Tianxing is injured pretty badly. Even a level-seven man is hurt like this down there. Whatever is happening underground is definitely not easy to deal with. Where was that energy from?" Wu Chengyue had learned about the purpose of Yuan Tianxing''s mission, as well as its result. He didn''t know all the details, as he didn''t go down into the cave himself.


    Even the level-seven Yuan Tianxing returned with such severe injury, meaning that the underground world was dangerous, and was a huge problem for the people on the surface.


    That huge problem was now slowly surfacing.


    "Maybe something changed underground and caused that. In that case, whatever that change is, it''s gonna be dangerous for humans and other creatures," Xiao Licheng shared the same thoughts with Wu Chengyue.


    "We don''t have sharp sensations like zombies. But, not even Qiu Lili and Yun Meng have sensed anything yet. I think the situation isn''t very urgent yet. We should still have some time. Teng, can you drink your milk? Look at what your sister is doing. She has finished her meal already!" Wu Chengyue gave the little boy a glare while speaking.

 1177 Something Happened on the Way

    It took some time for the news to travel to All Being Base from the Northwest. By the time Wu Chengyue learned that Si Kongchen had withdrawn, Lin Qiao and her troop were already on their way back.


    A series of slightly modified vehicles were driving on the road at a high speed. On top of the last vehicle was a huge mushroom, standing there firmly against the strong wind.


    "Awowowowo!" In Lin Qiao''s car, the young tiger put its forepaws on the window frame and roared toward the outside from time to time. From the front seat, Lin Qiao turned and said, "Can you please be quiet? You''ll get tired soon if I let you out to run. It''s exhausting to take you back and out repeatedly!"


    The young tiger was actually fast. However, it was too young to keep running for a long time, able to run after the motorcade for half an hour at most. The mushroom loved running, but after a few hours, it hopped onto the car and stopped moving as well.


    Bowwow and Black were still in the forest nearby, relaxedly following the motorcade. They were both at level-six, and their energies could allow them to keep running for a few days without resting. Besides, the motorcade wasn''t moving very fast in their eyes. For them, the current speed was the same as jogging.


    The mushroom was the same as them, actually. It was just tired of running¡­


    "Awo!" Hearing Lin Qiao''s complaints, the young tiger turned back and gave her a roar, then lay on the seat and wagged its tail from side to side.


    "When do you think Lan Lu will find the level-eight nucleus and give it to you?" While driving, Duan Juan looked straight at the road as she asked Lin Qiao.


    "Soon, I think. Haven''t you noticed that all the mutated beasts and plants seem to have grown stronger after the second explosion of the virus? They''re upgrading rapidly now. Otherwise, how could we even see two level-eight beasts show up together? You can find a lot of level six and seven now," Lin Qiao looked outside the window as she said blandly.


    "I guess you''re right," Duan Juan thought for a moment and said.


    "However, the upgrading speed of human beings has dropped. Zombies are upgrading more quickly than before." Lin Qiao continued, then she abruptly looked at the road in front of her and said, "Stop the car!"


    "What''s wrong?" Duan Juan slammed the brakes, then turned to her and asked. A shrill squeak was generated by the tire skidding against the ground.


    "Hrrr¡­" The young tiger suddenly gave a deep, warning roar.


    From the rearview mirror, Duan Juan saw the little tiger hunch its back, as well as curl its limbs and tail under its body while baring its teeth and flattening its pair of round, small ears. The tiger seemed to be in a panic as if it had seen something horrible.


    "There''re something in the front," Lin Qiao opened the car door and got off the car with a serious look, standing beside the car as she carefully looked around. They were on a highway, with mountains on both sides. No towns or villages were seen nearby. Standing there, she sensed a faint, familiar, yet disturbing vibe coming near her. However, she couldn''t detect the source of that vibe.


    She sensed the surrounding smells, but nothing unusual was found. Nonetheless, she felt that something was approaching.


    "What is it?" Duan Juan got off the car as well and walked to Lin Qiao''s side, carefully observing the surrounding environment. The latter raised an arm and put the little tiger into her space along with the car, then shouted at the people behind her, "Watch out!"


    The others came out of the cars, and Lin Qiao put all the cars into her space.


    Hearing her voice, people instantly grew vigilant as they scanned the surrounding area with their eyes. At that very moment, the ground quaked slightly.


    "Underground¡­" Lin Kui dropped his head to look at the ground and murmured. Meanwhile, the others had sensed the vibration coming from the underground as well. Lin Qiao furrowed her brows as a bad feeling flashed across her heart.


    "Be careful! Whatever is coming up from the underground might be the same as those multiple-eyed creatures," she warned the others, then hopped onto a tall mutated tree in the forest nearby. Standing high, she prepared herself for the things that were coming out of the ground.


    Following behind her, the others all leaped onto tall trees.


    About ten minutes later, waves of intense vibration attacked the highway, then the ground cracked. As the cracks grew larger and larger, a dangerous and disgusting vibe gushed out of them along with thick, black smoke.


    "What is that?" Shui Mingjun furrowed his brows and asked.


    Mo, who was standing on the other side of his tree, responded to him expressionlessly, "I don''t know, but I guess it''s nothing good. This smell is seriously disgusting." While speaking, she knitted her brows into a deep frown. At last, she couldn''t help but pinch his nose with her fingers.


    The other zombies had all covered their noses with their hands as well.


    Shui Mingjun sniffed around and then said, "Why didn''t I sense any smell at all?"


    Mo gave him a glance, then replied with a snuffled voice, "Because you''re not a zombie. Would you like to become one and try to feel that smell?"


    "No, no, no, thank you!" Shui Mingjun quickly shook his head.


    Lin Qiao had also covered her nose, as that smell was strange, pungent and very unpleasant. That disgusting smell had brought discomfort to her nose.


    "Owowowoooo!" Bowwow was hopping around by the side of the highway, barking at those cracks with his teeth bared. The mushroom and Black had sneaked into the forest and disappeared; no one knew where they had gone to. Apparently, they didn''t dare to linger in the area, as they considered the situation too dangerous for themselves.


    "Can it be a kind of creature you''ve seen before?" Duan Juan was standing on the same tree as Lin Qiao. She was squatting on a branch a little lower than the latter''s foothold, looking down at the road.


    Lin Qiao shook her head as she fixed her eyes on those cracks on the road alertly and said, "No, the vibe is different. The energy contained in this dark mist is different too. I think it''s something else."


    The ground was still shaking, and the cracks were growing larger and larger. Meanwhile, the dark smoke that came out of the cracks spread in all directions. Lin Qiao carefully observed the plants shrouded by the dark smoke. As she thought, as same as the plants near the multiple-eyed creatures'' valley, those plants died too.


    Within a blink of an eye, those plants withered and died. However, the area didn''t turn black like the valley. Instead, the place turned dark yellow. The plants withered and died, then turned into yellow powder and dissipated in the air.


    With that, the air quality in that area dropped instantly.

 1178 Strange Red Ca

    Duan Juan quickly took out a gas mask and put it on to prevent herself from breathing in any poisonous gas.


    In the post-apocalyptic era, gas masks were standard equipment for the people who often traveled out of the bases. Almost everyone carried a gas mask, in case they ran into some kind of poisonous gas.


    Shui Mingjun and Yan Huiguang, who both spent a lot of time in the outside world, silently took out their masks and put them on.


    As the black smoke covered a wider and wider area, the surrounding plants were all turned into sands, blown into the air. Gradually, the whole area became a desert.


    "So, it''s a desert this time?" Lin Qiao watched the smoke grow larger and the area change. The wind spread the smoke and brought it toward the trees that she and her friends were standing on.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao and Duan Juan both leaped backward and quickly left the tree. Next, the surrounding trees started to wither and turn into sand slowly. Only the higher-leveled mutated trees were maintaining themselves.


    Soon, the surrounding mutated trees all turned into sand and collapsed. Only two level-five trees were left standing there, releasing the energy in their nuclei to keep themselves safe.


    The day they ran out of energy would be the day they died.


    "What the hell is coming out? Why does this smoke contain such a horrible power?" Duan Juan and Lin Qiao moved onto a tree hundreds of meters away. Watching everything in front of them turn into sand, they were both surprised.


    Lin Qiao steadied herself, then looked at those cracks silently. A couple of seconds later, she said, "It''s coming out!"


    The others landed near her at that moment. Hearing what she said, they all fixed their eyes on the cracks.


    Soon, the smoky cracks on the highway had grown meters wide. The three-hundred-meter-long sector of the highway was covered with giant cracks like that before the ground stopped shaking.


    "Roar¡­" But right then, a weird sound was heard from the underground, which attracted everyone.


    They soon saw a huge, blood-red claw reach out of a crack and sink into the ground loudly, leaving a few deep cuts on the cement road.


    "Red? Such a large claw!" Lin Qiao saw the claw and narrowed her eyes.


    The red claw was at least as large as a car. As the strong arm propped on the ground, a gigantic and red head was squeezed out of the crack. That weird-looking creature had a pair of curved horns, underneath which was a pair of round ears. It looked around with blood-red eyes.


    That claw was huge enough, yet its head was three times larger than the claw. The crack on the ground wasn''t even large enough for its head to come out, so it needed to squeeze itself out.


    The head of that creature actually looked like the head of a cat. It didn''t have fluffy fur though. Covering its claw and face was thick, hairless, blood-red skin. The erect pupils in its round, red eyes made it look very much like an enormous, strange cat.


    "Roaroooooo¡­" The strange, red cat opened its huge mouth and uttered a roar toward the sky, baring its sharp teeth. A thick stream of dark smoke came out of its mouth along with the roar. Then, it struggled to pull another claw out of the ground, then the third, the fourth, and then¡­ a fifth one!


    "Oh¡­ Those aren''t all its claws, right?" Yan Xiao had a bad feeling when she saw the fifth claw came out.


    Next, the giant cat struggled upward even more intensely than before. The crack on the ground was slowly widened, exposing the rest of its body. Abruptly, it shrank downward slightly and then lunged out, caused a thunderous sound.


    Bang! The ground was blown open and it finally came out.


    "Roar¡­" A six-footed, blood-red, hairless, enormous cat landed on the ground, wagging its tail which looked like the tail of a snake. It seemed to be excited. After roaring at the sky, it took a few circles swinging its tail, then finally stopped moving and twitched its nose to sniff at the air.


    Watching its movements, the others on the scene automatically held their breath and restrained their vibes, in case the cat discovered them and attacked them.


    Anyhow, what they were worried about didn''t happen. The six-footed cat, which was at least eight meters tall and ten meters long, wagged its over twenty meters long tail and sniffed around, then leaped toward the other direction. In the midair about twenty meters away from the ground, it suddenly disappeared.


    "It¡­ It''s gone!" The people didn''t see that coming. They thought the creature would cause a stir in the area or at least some loud noises. However, it only made a few circles after coming out from underground, and then leaped into the sky and disappeared.


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows as she kept staring at the ground. The space inside the cracks had become quiet again. She carefully observed the crack where the cat crawled out from, then suddenly blinked and turned to the other direction.


    In that area, a giant, mutated bird rose from a tree that was turning into sand, hovering in the air and then landing back on the ground.


    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao carefully looked at that bird. The bird was standing on the sanded ground but was suffering no harm at all.


    The bird was only at level two. However, it stood on the sanded ground perfectly unharmed, without being affected by whatever turned the whole area into the desert.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Some noises were heard from the other side too.


    The bird rose again, then spread its wings and flew toward that area.


    "Errrr!" After flapping its wings a few times, the bird suddenly thrust both legs into the sanded ground, and then rose into the sky again. A rabbit that was as large as a medium-sized dog was held in its claws as it flew away.


    "They''re alive," Lin Qiao murmured with surprise.


    "What are alive?" Duan Juan didn''t understand.


    "The bird and the rabbit. The bird is only at level-two while the rabbit has no level at all. It''s just mutated. They were in the dark smoke, but they survived," Lin Qiao pointed at the bird that was flying far away. It meant that the black smoke was only harmful to plants, and not to animals.


    "Is that so?" With confusion, Duan Juan looked at where she was pointing at, then at the three-hundred square meter area that had already turned into a desert. Suddenly, she saw a few cat-sized rats dart out of the sand and flee into the forest.


    Those rats did seem unharmed.

 1179 Its Getting Serious

    After the six-footed, hairless cat came out, the earth finally quieted down. Those huge cracks and the large hole created by the cat were left on the ground, showing people that something had come out from underground in that area.


    "Did that creature¡­ fly away?" Jingyan and Yan Xiao both landed on a tree near Lin Qiao, staring at the sky as they murmured.


    "No," Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "It ran away."


    It didn''t fly; it just moved so fast that the others didn''t even manage to capture its movement with their eyes before it disappeared.


    Lin Qiao dropped her head and glanced at the quiet hole on the ground, then leaped off the tree, flashing down to the devastated highway.


    "Chief!" Seeing Lin Qiao show up in the middle of the highway, the others gave a start. They were worried that she might turn into a puff of sand as those trees did.


    With her back to them, Lin Qiao waved a hand and signaled for them not to worry. She squatted by an earth crack and looked down, then stood up. More black smoke had been coming out of it, but apart from that, nothing in the crack made her feel dangerous.


    It meant that no other creatures were down there.


    Was there only one giant, six-footed cat down there? Why?


    Lin Qiao found that abnormal. She spent a short while carefully looking down, but sensed no vibe at all. Nothing threatening exited down there.


    She stood up and lowered her head to look at her own body. The dark smoke was shrouding her, but not bringing her any discomfort. She did not feel any energy invading her body either.


    She glanced at the area where the red cat disappeared in, then waved at the others and said, "Let''s go." After saying that, she flashed across the air and disappeared.


    The others quickly followed behind her.


    Only after they left the sanded area did Lin Qiao take out the vehicles from her space. Then, they sat back into the cars and kept driving toward the base.


    ¡­


    In the base, Lin Feng was sitting in his office with a deep frown. He was carefully reading the information provided by Yuan Tianxing''s teammates, trying to figure out something.


    The mysterious entities underground made those underground gorillas run out of the cave and expose themselves under the sunlight which might take their lives. Old Guo and the others sensed a strange type of energy down there, which was harmful to many creatures on the earth''s surface, surely including human beings.


    Without a doubt, whatever was down underground was highly threatening to the All Being Base, which was only tens of miles away from that area. That energy hadn''t come out to the surface yet, but it might in the future.


    Right now, what was happening underground was still a mystery, and Yuan Tianxing was in a coma. Many works were left for Lin Feng to do. Thankfully, Chen Yuting had been helping him. Otherwise, he would probably be drowning in work by now.


    The thousands of survivors in the base were each provided with a portion of food per day, which could keep them healthy. The capable ones went out of the base to accomplish missions, then returned to the base to trade their harvests for credits. The farm in Mount. Wu area had not only been feeding the people in All Being Base, but had also been providing food for Sea City Base. The yield of the farm was already pretty high, and under Liu Jun''s management, it was constantly expanding.


    "Haven''t we found any leads to Wenwen yet?" Chen Yuting brought a file to Lin Feng. Seeing the latter knitting his brows, he asked a question.


    "Not a clue," Lin Feng shook his head and said, "But now, many believe that she was brought into her own space by her own power. I tend to think that way too, because it makes me feel better. We can''t tell when she will come back. Apart from that possibility, we''ve already been preparing ourselves for some worse results. We''ve been sending people out of the base to look for her all the time, but nothing has been found yet¡­"


    While speaking, he sighed and then leaned against the back of his chair, closing his eyes and looking very exhausted.


    "Haven''t you made any contact with Chief?" Chen Yuting asked another question. The problems that now existed in the base weren''t large. However, Lin Feng wasn''t able to solve them. Lin Qiao was needed.


    "Not yet. I think she''ll come straight back once A finds her. A left the base last night. He couldn''t possibly have flown to the Northwest already," Lin Feng said with a very tired voice and his eyes closed.


    Chen Yuting spent a short while looking at him silently, then gave a sigh as well. He thought for a moment, then said, "I wonder what action will Sea City Base take to respond to Huaxia Base. Si Kongchen isn''t hiding his purpose anymore. I heard that he''s been making contact with other countries more frequently than before lately. I guess he''ll take some new actions before long."


    Speaking of Huaxia Base, Chen Yuting''s tone of speaking grew serious as well.


    The news about Huaxia Base brought Lin Feng a headache. It wasn''t the time for him to deal with that yet, so after spending a short while thinking about it, he cast it out of his mind and said, "Whatever! No matter what''s going to happen, Wu Chengyue will be handling it. We need to solve our own problems right now. We have no time to worry about them. Si Kongchen is not gonna take direct action right now. If he does, we''ll see what we can do."


    At that moment, Shen Yujen suddenly ran over in a flurry. She knocked on the door quickly, then came in and said, "Look at this! Things are getting serious!" While speaking, she put two pieces of paper on Lin Feng''s desk.


    Lin Feng opened his eyes to look at her. Seeing her being so anxious, he realized that it might be something urgent. "What''s going on?" he asked.


    "See for yourself," Shen Yujen pointed at the papers on the desk.


    Lin Feng picked up the papers while Chen Yuting looked at him with curiosity. Lin Feng was reading the note, so he couldn''t see it. He couldn''t help but turn to Shen Yujen and ask, "What happened?"


    Shen Yujen said, "According to the messages from the other bases, some weird creatures never seen in the world before are showing up in many areas. They are all from the underground, weird-looking and highly dangerous. When they first came out, they always turned the surrounding area into a death zone."


    It took Chen Yuting a few seconds to process that information. "What? Monsters showed up near the other bases? Like those underground gorillas? Where is the news from?"


    "Huaxia Base, Heilong Base, Mongols Base," said Shen Yujen with a serious look, "Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base. Currently, only Green Mountain Base hasn''t released such news yet."


    Chen Yuting popped his eyes with surprise. He turned to look at Lin Feng and found the latter''s brows knitted even deeper than before.

 1180 The Creatures in Each Area

    Reading the report that Shen Yujen brought to him, Lin Feng had his heart sinking deeper and deeper.


    Earlier, Lin Wenwen and some others went to Lake Tai area to collect the mysterious stones. A good number of strange creatures had come out of the lake, and the squad that Lin Qiao sent back to that area to collect more stones had disappeared. Recently, some Sea City Base hungers found those creatures and brought the news back to their base. At the same time. the other bases each found some strange creatures from the underground.


    The report that Lin Feng was reading now was about what those creatures looked like.


    The creatures that came out from Lake Tai looked like both crocodiles and lizards while the northeast people found giant ants with two bellies and two-meters tall giant spiders. Meanwhile in northern China, people found huge scorpions that each had six giant pincers. In the southwest, Hidden Cloud City people found some four-meter-tall, ten-meter-long creatures covered in carapaces. So far, about ten of them were found. Those creatures liked eating humans! They could smell human beings from hundreds of meters away. They charged at the people they smelt and grabbed or stomped them to death. After that, they put the people on a giant rock, smashed their heads with claws, and ate them bit by bit. Those creatures'' way of feeding was very bloody and scary.


    It was said that a few people who witnessed that were still suffering mental collapse.


    Some said that an invisible type of creature had shown up near Sky Fire Base. Those creatures didn''t only eat people, but also mutated beasts.


    "What the hell are those things? How come they came out at the same time?" Lin Feng agitatedly put the report on the desk and rubbed his temples as he sighed.


    Did that mean that the whole country had fallen under the threat of underground creatures?


    "Why is there no news from Huaxia Base? Didn''t they find anything?" Lin Feng didn''t read anything about Huaxia Base from the report.


    Shen Yujen and Chen Yuting glanced at each other. "Huaxia Base has itself sealed off strictly these days. We need some more time to get the news about them," said Shen Yujen.


    Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "Does Wu Chengyue know about this yet?"


    "I''m not sure," Shen Yujen shook her head and said, "I guess he already knows."


    Lin Feng furrowed his brows as he put his elbows on the desk and rested his forehead on his fingers.


    Underground creatures were seen near many bases. However, those creatures wouldn''t cause any huge problem, unless they were provoked. The space of survival of humans did shrink because of those creatures. If the situation stayed like that, the hunters would have smaller and smaller chances of returning safely to their bases in the future.


    Humans couldn''t be stuck in their bases forever.


    Lin Feng felt hard to breathe, as if he were carrying a mountain. His little sister had gone missing, and the other Deputy Chief of the base was injured beyond cure. The outside world had become more dangerous than before, and his other sister¡ªthe leader of the base¡ªhadn''t come home yet.


    Thankfully, nothing else was happening in the base. The people were living a safe life while the zombie army and the farm were kept secret.


    "Those creatures are all from the underground, like the underground gorillas near our base. They are omnivores. Most of them prefer blood and flesh actually. And, the same kind of phenomenon occurred when they came out¡­" Shen Yujen added with a serious tone.


    "What phenomenon?" Lin Feng raised his head and asked.


    "Read the last paragraph on the second page," said Shen Yujen, "Each type of creature brought out a kind of gas when they came out. Each kind of gas was a disaster for the living beings on the earth''s surface. They created the death zones that I mentioned before."


    Lin Feng turned to the second page and carefully read the last paragraph.


    "Death zones?" Once again, Lin Feng wore a remarkably pensive look.


    Not only did scary monsters show up, but also environment-damaging gases. Was the world going to end for good? Maybe in a hundred years or two, all the plants on the planet would die, and Earth would become a dead planet.


    That was a little too far away though. Currently, people had no way of stopping those underground creatures which had been popping up to the surface. No one knew what was happening underground that made those creatures come out to the surface.


    "Those creatures are coming out thickly now, and I''m afraid that this is not going to stop soon. More might come out. So far, many people have been killed by those creatures who like living human beings. If they show up close to a base along with a kind of gas that can kill all plants, the base would suffer a disaster even worse than a massive zombie attack," Shen Yujen folded her arms and looked at Lin Feng, then a Chen Yuting.


    The leaders of all bases would think of that, so another grand meeting for all base leaders might be called next. Of course, the meeting would be held for survival and the future of mankind.


    At the moment, Wu Chengyue was hearing about the same things from Xiao Licheng. He was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, reading the messages that the latter was talking to him about. Next to him, Teng was holding a nursing bottle while sitting on the couch with a sulky face. Wu Yueling was sitting nearby, holding the fat rabbit. She looked at her little brother from time to time.


    The rabbit''s hair had grown back even larger than before, becoming really heavy and fluffy. The gray rabbit dropped its long ears and curled itself into a furry ball on the girl''s lap, almost covering her legs entirely.


    "I think the underground problem isn''t only happening to us. It''s happening everywhere in the country. I wonder if the same is occurring in foreign countries," Wu Chengyue expressionlessly read the descriptions of those creatures. He twitched his eyebrows slightly when he read about those scorpions and spiders.


    Xiao Licheng noticed Wu Chengyue''s micro brow movement and wanted to laugh, but couldn''t. He pretended not to see it while saying to the latter, "Thankfully, no enormous centipedes were seen¡­"


    Wu Chengyue instantly pulled a long face. He raised his head to look at Xiao Licheng, then put a smile on his handsome face, his eyes narrowed into slits. "No, no centipedes. But, there are spiders!" he said.


    On hearing that, Xiao Licheng dropped his head and said, "Eh-hem, yeah, the spiders with legs over two meters long. Creepy!"


    Wu Chengyue gave him a glare, then erased the smile and said with a serious look, "I guess Huaxia Base is going to send out the invitations for another grand meeting in just a couple of days."


    Even if Huaxia Base didn''t want to take a part in that matter, the other bases would go to them and make them hold the meeting. After all, it was a serious matter relating to the survival condition of mankind.

 1181 Lin Qiao Returned to the Base

    Lin Qiao returned to the base with an intense vibe, looking stone-faced. Her first stop was the medical department. Under Shen Yujen''s guide, she went to Lin Wenwen''s room.


    The others stayed outside and looked at her quietly.


    She received the messages from the base when she was tens of miles away, learning about Lin Wenwen''s disappearance, Yuan Tianxing''s condition, and the fact that Strong brought his entire family to the rat nest to hunt in the middle of the day, without coming back.


    None of those were good news for her. She already had a bad feeling when she saw a few different types of underground creatures out there. Little did she think that when she came home, more problems would be waiting for her.


    The faint vibe and scent of Lin Wenwen were detected from the room, along with the scents of Lin Hao and Qiu Lili.


    Shen Yujen met with Lin Qiao at the gate of the base and told the latter about how Lin Wenwen went missing. Lin Wenwen went missing not long after Lin Qiao left the base. It had been seven or eight days already, but Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing never found a trace of hers in the base.


    According to Lin Hao, the most likely possibility, which was also what people wished to be true, was that Lin Wenwen entered her own space when her superpowers were upgrading. She might come out by the time her upgrade finished.


    Lin Qiao walked into the room but found no clue. However, the vibe that Lin Wenwen left behind gave her a feeling which was not dangerous, but not safe either.


    That comforted Lin Qiao a little bit nonetheless. At least, she knew that Lin Wenwen wasn''t in danger. Perhaps, she was having some kind of special experience. It might be like what Lin Hao said, that she was in her own space.


    Lin Qiao could at least say for sure that Lin Wenwen was not in a life-threatening danger. So, she relaxed her tightened face slightly when she walked out of that room. The others fixed their eyes on her face, wanting to ask what she had found. Judging by the look on her face, she must have found something.


    "How did it go? Did you find anything?" Lin Hao let out the question first.


    Lin Qiao shook her head in response, "No. I just have a hunch that she should be safe. I think we don''t need to be so worried. It might be like what you said, that she''s in her own space now. Perhaps, she''s in some unusual kind of condition. She might come out when she wakes up."


    On hearing that, Lin Hao gave a sigh of relief. Of course, he had not relaxed completely yet. He wouldn''t stop worrying about her until he saw Lin Wenwen come back herself.


    Lin Qiao clapped her hand and said to the others who were still worried, "Don''t worry! No one else has ever been in this room, so she wasn''t taken away."


    Next, she went to see Yuan Tianxing and furrowed her brows when she saw him, then closed her eyes and gave a sigh. "Eh, I knew it was like this when you guys told me what happened," she re-opened her eyes and said.


    Seeing her frown and hearing her sigh, the people who knew her well all had a bad feeling. Lin Hao stared at her and asked, "What should we do? You can help him, right?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t answer the question, but put her hand into the water and sent the energy in the water into Yuan Tianxing''s body. Then, she narrowed her eyes to observe the energies inside his body.


    She squinted to see a shoulder and half the chest of his filled with black energy that was sparkling with a red light. The green energy of the lake water surrounded the dark energy, but couldn''t cast it out, devour it, or neutralize it. The green energy had only one effect, that was to stop the sparkling dark energy from spreading. The dark energy was highly active and aggressive.


    She took her hand out of the water and then said to Lin Hao, "Thankfully, you put him in the water. Otherwise, his whole body would become purple in two days."


    "How is he?" Lin Hao asked her anxiously, "Can you remove that energy from his body?"


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "No. The energy in the lake can only suppress that energy. I can boost the lake energy and wake him up. But, waking up isn''t going to be a good thing for him, because he''d be suffering pain once he wakes up. I think we should let him sleep."


    On hearing her words, the others in the room all wore a grim look. If even their Chief had no way cure him, who else could help him? The dark energy inside Yuan Tianxing''s body was like a lethal poison with no cure.


    Lin Hao looked at Lin Qiao with surprise and said, "How is that possible? Even you can''t heal him? Then Deputy Chief Yuan is¡­"


    ''Is he going to stay like this?''


    Lin Qiao explained, "The dark energy inside him came from something underground that had mutated after being infected by the zombie virus. It''s different from everything on the earth''s surface, but it''s somehow similar to the virus energy. Therefore, the lake water from my space can only suppress it, but not neutralize it. To find whatever can neutralize that energy, I think we need to search underground. But now, the problem is that I don''t know what it is yet."


    Standing beside the large bucket that Yuan Tianxing was sitting in, she folded his arms and put a hand on her chin as she started thinking.


    Yuan Tianxing was sitting in the bucket with his upper body bared. The area under his chin was soaked in the water, and his neck and one shoulder were purple. His beautiful chest muscles and abdominal muscles could be seen, and his handsome face was ghastly pale. His eyes were closed tightly, and brows were furrowed slightly.


    He was unconscious, but his body still reacted to the pain.


    People thought Yuan Tianxing would get better once Lin Qiao returned. Unexpectedly, no good change was happening. Hence, they were disappointed, and even despairing.


    Filled with disappointment, they all sighed.


    Lin Qiao turned and looked at Yuan Tianxing''s perfectly handsome side face, wondering why Lin Wenwen went missing right before Yuan Tianxing went down into the cave. If she could foresee the danger, she might have stopped him from doing that.


    Yuan Tianxing got injured not long after Lin Wenwen went missing. If she weren''t missing, she would be so worried and anxious by now.


    Lin Qiao only wished that Yuan Tianxing could hold on until Lin Wenwen came back. She might be able to foresee something crucial to help heal him when she saw him being injured and unconscious!


    Little did Lin Qiao know that even though Lin Wenwen had traveled to another timeline, she still sensed Yuan Tianxing''s condition. She wanted to help, but didn''t know how. She couldn''t come back to her family and friends immediately after all.

 1182 Their Nature

    Observing her expression, Lin Feng stopped short and asked her, "Are you having any ideas?"


    Lin Qiao dropped her hand from her chin, then crossed her arms before her chest as she turned to look at him and said uncertainly, "I''m just thinking that¡­ um¡­ maybe Lin Wenwen is the only one who can know what we need. I hope she can get back as soon as possible. Besides, Yuan Tianxing''s condition isn''t our only problem."


    After saying that, she waved at the others, then turned and walked out of Yuan Tianxing''s room. On hearing what she said, the others suddenly felt that more questions were probably waiting for them. Only Lin Feng, Chen Yuting, and Shen Yujen thought about the news which was heard earlier.


    While walking out, Lin Qiao said, "You guys have ten minutes to prepare for the meeting. Come to the second conference room. Oh, go and tell Wu Chengyue to come to the meeting as well. He needs to know about it too."


    "Yes ma''am!" Shen Yujen immediately left to inform Wu Chengyue. Duan Juan helped the others preparing the materials that would be needed for the meeting.


    Ten minutes later, people went into the second conference room in Base Number One. By the time they arrived, Lin Qiao was already standing by her exclusive seat with her arms folded, thinking about something.


    Wu Chengyue came over while holding Teng in his arms. At the sight of Lin Qiao, Teng immediately reached out toward her and yelled, "Mama! Mama!"


    Lin Qiao raised her head to give him a glance, then said, "Be quiet."


    Teng immediately fell into silence and looked at her with a grievance. If there weren''t so many people on the scene, he would have started to loudly accuse her mother for having no love at all. However, as there were other people in the room, all he could say was ''Mama''. He couldn''t let too many people know that he was able to talk.


    Lin Qiao gave him another glance. Seeing the look on the little boy''s face, she couldn''t help but look at Wu Chengyue blandly, "Have you been abusing my son?"


    Wu Chengyue had been looking at her with a smile ever since he came in. On hearing what she said, he couldn''t help but curve his eyes and lips in an even bigger smile.


    "How can that be possible? Your son is such a capable little boy. Would he ever allow me to abuse him? Besides, am I the kind of man who''ll abuse his own son? It''s not like that I hate him."


    Lin Qiao came to him and looked at Teng from head to toe, then said, "You lied. You didn''t feed him well. He has lost weight."


    Wu Chengyue immediately erased the smile on his face and said, "He grew taller, okay?" What the hell? How could she falsely charge him for not feeding his son well and causing the boy to lose weight? He wasn''t happy to hear that!


    Meanwhile, the others all found their seats and sat down, leaving Wu Chengyue the seat in front of their Chief. Chen Yuting, Lin Feng, Yun Meng, Qiu Lili, and Lin Kui came in to hear the conversation between Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Qiao made two steps backward and said, "Hm, that little extra height means nothing. Alright, go and sit on the side with your sister. Be quiet. If you make any noise, I''ll throw you out." She said the last few sentences to Teng without showing any mercy. The latter only looked at her, feeling that she was exactly like a stepmother.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling quietly came over and carried Teng to a couch in a corner and sat onto it with him.


    As everybody took a seat, Lin Qiao sat down on her chair and said, "You''ve received the messages from the other bases. I''ve witnessed similar scenes five times on my way back from the Northwest. All those creatures came from the underground, and I could feel that their vibes are completely different from the vibes of any creature on the earth''s surface. They''re all omnivorous animals. They eat all living creatures on the earth''s surface. If they can''t find any, they would eat plants or even zombies."


    Duan Juan printed out the information about the underground creatures that Lin Qiao had met on papers and distributed them to the people on the scene. Detailed descriptions about those creatures could be read from the material, and how the surrounding environment changed when they came out. The information provided by the other bases were added to the material as well.


    While reading the material, people quietly listened to Lin Qiao''s explanation.


    "They have a few things in common. As you may have already known, they are all highly aggressive. As same as those underground gorillas, even a smaller one among them could be as strong as a level-three mutated beast on the earth''s surface. Many of them are at level six or seven. Of course, level-eight ones can be found as well. More importantly, they are social animals. If you run into one of them, you may consider yourself lucky, because we''ll find them in herds most of the times," said Lin Qiao to the others.


    Her words put a nervous look on the others'' faces. However, she didn''t stop talking. "They have no superpowers," she continued. "They launch pure physical attacks, although there are exceptions, and some of them might have some special abilities. For example, I''ve met a six-footed, fur-less, huge cat from the underground. It''s extremely fast that it moved over a mile away within a blink of an eye. I''ve also seen some kind of¡­ um¡­ worms. They have huge mouths and sharp teeth. Their saliva can melt a three-hundred kilograms rock. As for defense, most superpowers can''t hurt them. Or, only one type of superpower can cause some harm to each kind of creature."


    It meant that the superpowers that human beings and zombies currently had could hardly hurt those creatures. The only way to fight them was the original ways of fighting, such as using cold and hot weapons, or claws and teeth. However, most of those creatures had metal-hard skin or shells.


    "Apart from those, I also need to tell you that those omnivorous animals especially liked to eat human beings. The human scent can even make them crazily high. So, I think human bases will soon become their targets." What Lin Qiao pointed out the last was like a knife hanging upon people''s heads that would fall at any moment.


    "What? They will attack human bases?" Qiu Lili was the first to break the calm as she popped her red, bright eyes and asked.


    "They crave human flesh and blood," said Lin Kui to her, "They might not realize that before they could eat humans. But, once they had a taste of human beings, they would start to crave more eagerly. Like junkies, once they try it, they will never forget about it. They would want to eat human beings desperately. However, that addiction won''t hurt them like how drug addiction hurts people."


    His explanation made Qiu Lili''s hair stand on their ends, and she suddenly started to feel sorry for humans. The life of humans was already hard enough. And now, they might even become the food of those underground creatures.

 1183 Sea City Shelter

    After hearing what Lin Kui said, Lin Qiao glanced at the others, then nodded and said, "He''s right. Also, those creatures like commoners the most. I think they''ll follow the human scent to each base,"


    "No way! What should we do then? Aren''t those things hard to kill?" Qiu Lili instantly grew anxious.


    "Superpower attacks can hardly hurt them, but weapons can," said Lin Kui, "It''s hard to kill them indeed though. The ordinary bullets can penetrate their skin at most, but not kill them. It''s not easy to stop them either. They are as dangerous as high-leveled mutated beasts."


    "We can''t kill them, and we can''t stop them? Are they more dangerous than the zombies and mutated beasts that we''ve fought before?" Lin Feng rested his elbows on the table as he looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him, then at the others who were looking at her expectantly. She dropped her eyelids and said, "Let''s say this, almost all the attacks launched with the energies generated from the mutation caused by the zombie virus are harmless to them, which means, superpowered human beings, zombies, mutated animals, and plants can hardly hurt those creatures by using their superpowers. Therefore, by the time they find all human bases, mankind will be facing a destructive disaster once again."


    People glanced at each other, and the atmosphere instantly grew intense. At last, people all turned back to Lin Qiao silently.


    "What should we do to avoid the disaster? Have you discovered anything yet?" Chen Yuting took a glance at the others, and they couldn''t help but ask Lin Qiao that question.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "Except for those underground gorillas, no underground creatures are found near us yet. I think the one closest to Sea City Base are those lizard-like things from Lake Tai. Now, we need to take precautions against those two types of underground creatures. But in the meantime, we need to keep a close eye on the surrounding area, in case any new underground creatures come out near us."


    While speaking, she glanced at Wu Chengyue, who was sitting on the other side of the long table.


    "Speaking of precaution, you guys are doing it in a very easy way. Zombies can''t threaten your base, and you have turned that level-eight gorilla into your pet, haven''t you? What other precautions do you need?" Wu Chengyue put an elbow on the table and supported one side of his jaw with it. Then, he tilted his head and looked at her smilingly as he said with a soft voice.


    Qiu Lili sneakily leaned her head toward Lin Kui and whispered to him, "I think he''s jealous of our base."


    Lin Kui took a glimpse at her without saying anything.


    Yun Meng spread her hands and said, "Although we don''t need to take precautions against those underground gorillas, the threats coming from the underground aren''t easier for us. If it''s really like what you said, Yuan Tianxing wouldn''t have gotten injured."


    Lin Feng nodded, "Yes. It''s not gonna be easy for us either."


    "But, he has sealed the danger off, hasn''t he?" said Wu Chengyue, "He made an accurate judgment."


    "What are you trying to say?" Lin Qiao looked at him as she narrowed her eyes and said.


    Wu Chengyue gave a smile, "So, maybe you should make a trip to Sea City Base with me and see what''s going on there. Take the people in your base to the shelter in Sea City Base and let them stay there for a while. If anything happens here, you''ll have to release your zombie army anyway, right?"


    He believed that in order to keep the zombie army secret, the thousands of human survivors in All Beings Base should all move to Sea City Base for now.


    Sea City Base had its own shelter, that could contain hundreds of thousands of people. Adding thousands into it would not be a problem. The shelter in All Beings Base was still under construction. If those underground creatures from Lake Tai found Sea City Base, they would soon find All Beings Base too.


    Besides, Sea City Base had a strong fortification and more people. And more people, greater power.


    Wu Chengyue''s offer was very beneficial for Lin Qiao and her base. After all, the zombie army did need to be kept secret. However, the others responded to him by rolling their eyes while Qiu Lili pointed at him and said directly, "Nice sweet words. You just want our Chief to go to your place, don''t you?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at the others as he maintained that smile on his face while waving his hand and speaking cheekily, "So tell me, am I right or not?"


    Qiu Lili glared at him, trying to come up with some words to argue against him. But in the end, she realized that he was actually right. So, she just pouted and stared at him silently.


    The zombie army did need to be kept secret from the human residents in the base. If underground creatures really attacked the base, the base would be vulnerable without the protection of the zombie army. Therefore, hiding in the shelter of Sea City Base might provide the people in All Being Base a better chance to survive.


    With composure, Lin Qiao knocked on the table and said, "Let''s not talk about taking shelter yet. For now, I think we should wait and see what plan Huaxia Base will have. I believe Si Kongchen will make a move after he learns about those underground creatures. He might use the grand meeting as a cover for his secret action this time. How''s the intelligence work on your side?"


    The question was for Wu Chengyue. Lin Qiao met Si Kongchen in the Northwest, where he wanted the level-nine nucleus so eagerly. Judging by that fact, he must be up to something.


    He didn''t obtain the level-nine nucleus, so he would certainly come up with a plan B.


    "We have some clues. Huaxia Base people have been keeping their work highly confidential lately. If Si Kongchen didn''t leave the base this time, my people wouldn''t have had a chance to get that information," Wu Chengyue didn''t seem to take Si Kongchen''s action seriously.


    "In this case, our priority now is to keep a close eye on those underground creatures. Be ready to transfer our residents as quickly as possible. We can''t send them to the shelter yet, because we don''t know how long they''ll have to stay there. That might cause widespread panic, which would be an extra unwanted problem," Lin Qiao thought for a moment, and then said to the others. "Any disagreements?"


    The others shook their heads in response; there were no objections.


    As she had said, it was not sure yet when those creatures would start to attack human bases, and when the disaster would come. Preparations needed to be done, but sending people to the shelter was something to do when there were no other solutions.


    After all, it was not certain how long people would need to live in the shelter for. Before or after sending them into the shelter, the base managers would have to recalculate the amount of food and supplies needed by the people in the shelter. Replenishing supplies was not a mission to be accomplished within a short time.


    Wu Chengyue waved his hand again and said, "I have a question. Have you just agreed to go to Sea City Base with me? You need to go and check the defense installations and the environment in the shelter, as well as the other facilities¡­"


    "Who said I agreed," Lin Qiao interrupted him, "Do I need to handle a small matter like that myself? I''ll send someone else to do it. Hmm¡­ Lin Feng will go. I''ll be managing the other works in the base."

 1184 The Weird Cat Followed Them

    Being called, Lin Feng raised his head to look at Lin Qiao, and then at Wu Chengyue. Then, he shrugged and said, "I''ll go. But, are you sure you want me to go?"


    Lin Qiao had given her order, but the atmosphere was a little weird. Why?


    "Oi, you! You like to stay in our base, fine! But, please don''t always try to bring our Chief to your base, okay?" Yun Meng finally looked at Wu Chengyue and complained.


    Lin Qiao ignored Wu Chengyue as she nodded at Lin Feng and said to him, "Em, I''m sure. You''ll go." After saying that, she stood up, prepared to leave.


    At that very moment, she paused and turned to look outside the window, at the gate from where she came in from not long ago.


    "Awooo¡­" A strange beast howl was heard from that area.


    "Eh? What''s that sound?" The leader of the guards by the gate turned to that area with confusion.


    At that moment, a small figure showed up on top of the fence wall. He sat at the edge of the wall top and squinted his black zombie eyes which glowed with a red light, looking at where the sound came from. The lower half of his face was covered by a face mask.


    "Owow! Owoo!" A series of familiar dog barks was heard from that area too.


    Almost everyone in the base knew that the dog was the black mutated dog that their Chief took in earlier. The dog had been running about outside the safe zone of the base. They had also noticed that a bucket-sized black snake often showed up together with the dog. There was something else, but no one saw what it was clearly.


    "Is that Chief''s dog?" The guard leader heard the dog bark and asked the others.


    "What was the other sound?" A soldier by his side asked.


    "I don''t know," the guard leader shook his head and said, "I''ve never heard something like that."


    The little figure on top of the wall dropped the book in his hands, then stood up to look into the distance.


    "Owoooo!" Another resonant dog bark was heard from afar.


    "Eh? That''s¡­ That''s a dog, but it doesn''t sound like Chief''s dog."


    "It''s definitely not. That sounds like a calm, fierce dog. Chief''s dog barks loudly, but it sounds like a silly dog! Chief''s dog must be a husky!"


    "Shh! Don''t say that! If he''s not a husky and he heard what you said, he might eat you!"


    "That''s impossible! Chief''s pets don''t eat people!"


    The soldiers near the gates started to discuss where the second dog bark came from.


    "Owooo!"


    "Owowowow!"


    "Owoooo¡­ Roar¡­"


    Four stood on top of the twenty-meter-tall fence wall as he narrowed his eyes and looked toward the source of the roars. Except for Chief''s three pets, he sensed the vibes of two other beasts, one of which seemed to be very dangerous.


    What was it?


    While Four was making guesses, a figure suddenly showed up by his side. He turned and saw a tall and slim zombie lady who had full breasts, beautiful waist, and long legs. Her long hair were fluttering in the air.


    "Eh? No way. The big cat is here? Did it follow us here?" Standing beside Four, Lin Qiao murmured to herself. Four turned and raised his head to look at her with confusion and curiosity, waiting for her explanation.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him as she rubbed his head and said, "I''ll explain to you later." After saying that, she disappeared from where she was.


    As she disappeared, Four immediately turned back to look outside the base.


    Lin Qiao flashed to where the noises came from. As she expected, she saw a red figure flashing among a few black figures.


    "Owoooooorrrrr¡­ Lololo¡­" The blood-red, hairless, six-footed, snake-tailed cat, which had a pair of horns, was easily darting between two dogs and a giant snake.


    "What? Two?" Lin Qiao squinted at the large dog and the smaller one. Then, she recognized the other dog as Bowwow''s number one enemy!


    That was the fluffy, enormous Tibetan mastiff which was twice the size as Bowwow!


    Why did the cat and the dog both follow her all the way here from the Northwest? What were they doing now?


    Lin Qiao twitched her nose, then had her eyes glowing.


    The giant dog looked very fierce and scary, but earlier, she found that its body actually gave out no blood scent. Surprisingly, the six-footed cat carried no blood scent at all either. It was a little different from the other underground creatures she saw.


    At the moment, the two dogs and the black snake were attacking the six-footed cat together. The cat, which was larger than all of them, was easily dodging all the attacks. From whatever angle one looked, it looked like they were playing together.


    "What''s going on? Don''t tell me you got new pets," Wu Chengyue showed up by her side and saw what was happening, then said to her with surprise.


    Just now, the zombie lady suddenly disappeared from the conference room and moved toward where the noises came from. The others were surprised at first, then suddenly sensed a strange, dangerous vibe coming from that area.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "Who told you those are my new pets?"


    Wu Chengyue shrugged and said, "You had Strong, don''t you? Taking in two more will be no big deal."


    "Owooo!" At that moment, following a deep dog howl and a swishing noise, Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue turned together to find a cattle-sized, fluffy black dog flying at them.


    "Hah, this big one turns out to be so weak! Bowwow shouldn''t have been so afraid of it," Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue flashed away together.


    Boom! The enormous black dog landed on top of the small building that the two of them were standing on, flattened the entire building.


    "Awooo!" The red figure flashed across the air and charged at them.


    Lin Qiao moved her feet to the other side. However, the red cat was clearly faster than her. It landed in front of her as if it had foreseen her movements.


    "Eh?" Lin Qiao paused briefly with surprise. Then, she abruptly leaped high and flipped in the air, avoiding the cat while flying to the side and easily landing on a tree.


    She sensed no intent of killing; that was unexpected. She didn''t detect the kind of killing intent that came from a predator. She didn''t even sense any threat from the cat. Why did the weird cat follow her to the base then?

 1185 Its A Vegetarian

    "Eh? It''s not your pet? Em¡­ Is this the underground creature you mentioned?" Wu Chengyue smilingly landed near Lin Qiao, then started observing the six-footed cat.


    "Its vibe is at level-seven at least. But, I think it''s a little more dangerous than a level-seven mutated beast. It''s indeed like those underground gorillas."


    "Aorrr¡­ Lololo¡­" Failing to bar Lin Qiao''s way, the weird cat gave a roar and charged at her again.


    "Does it want you?" Wu Chengyue said to Lin Qiao with a smile.


    "How am I supposed to know?" Lin Qiao had no time to talk more to him as she leaped off the tree and disappeared.


    "Er?" The six-footed cat landed where Lin Qiao disappeared from, then raised its head to look at the sky with confusion. It then made a few circles, then a few circles again. After that, it stopped moving, wagged its twenty-meter-long snake-tail-like tail, and shook its pair of small and round ears. At that moment, Black, Bowwow and the mushroom were all staying at a distance away quietly, looking at the cat. They had no plan to rush at it.


    "Errr¡­" The black Tibetan mastiff landed on the ground and shook its fluffy black hair, then raised its head to look at the red cat as it bared its teeth and roared. The cat spent a short while staring at the sky. Only after it confirmed that Lin Qiao had truly disappeared did it turn to the mastiff and blinked its round eyes, then suddenly bared its teeth to roar at the dog deeply.


    "Roar¡­"


    "Owooo!" Hearing the cat''s voice, the dog grew even more agitated. However, it didn''t seem to be afraid of the cat''s vibe, which was higher-leveled than its own.


    "Ehhh¡­" As the dog showed no sign of being afraid of it, but grew even fiercer, the cat adjusted its expression and scornfully snorted toward the dog, then turned its back to the dog. After that, the cat slightly bent its six legs and leaped high before disappearing in the midair.


    After the cat disappeared, Lin Qiao showed up on top of a building.


    "Wowo!" When the cat disappeared and Lin Qiao reappeared, Bowwow, Black and the mushroom instantly came onto the roof that she was on. She glanced at area that the cat disappeared into, then at the Tibetan Mastiff that had calmed back down. It was so fierce, baring its teeth a minute ago, but now, it had already quieted down already.


    When she looked at the dog, the dog suddenly turned and gave her a glance. Then, it sprung up and ran away as well. Neither the dog nor the six-footed cat was going toward the base. They both went the other way.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment. She wasn''t worried about the dog yet, but she needed to follow the cat and see what it was doing. With that thought, she turned herself invisible and followed behind the weird cat.


    After she disappeared, a few people showed up beside Wu Chengyue. Qiu Lili sniffed around, then furrowed slightly and said, "What''s the scent? Is it from some weird creature?"


    Lin Feng looked around; the area wasn''t devastated, and not even a wave of energy was sensed. He wondered what those mutated beasts were doing there to cause such loud noises.


    How come only a few barks were heard?


    Lin Kui sensed the scent and said, "I remember this smell. It''s the red cat, isn''t it?"


    Hearing about cat, Qiu Lili immediately had her eyes glowing. She even forgot about the smell that she didn''t like. "Cat?" She looked at Lin Kui and asked, "What cat? What does it look like?"


    Lin Kui thought for a moment and said, "It''s as large as a cow, with six legs and a pair of horns. It''s red, and it has no hair. Oh, it also has a very long tail that looks like the tail of a snake."


    On hearing his description, Qiu Lili instantly lost her passion. Hairless? Six legs? Snake tail?


    She pictured all those elements together, and the result was very weird.


    "Where did you guys see it the last time?" Lin Feng thought of a question.


    "Before we left the Northwest¡­ We never thought it''d show up here so soon. It might have followed us here," Lin Kui answered the question while wearing a serious look.


    Why did the weird creature follow them?


    Everyone wanted to know the answer of that question.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao turned herself invisible and rose into the sky as she controlled her energy and followed behind the cat. She thought the cat would go far, but unexpectedly, it soon landed at the edge of the forest near West Lake.


    The cat was gigantic and had six feet, but it walked very quietly. Its vibe was so strong that the other mutated beasts in that area all fled away.


    Lin Qiao landed on a tree while observing the cat''s movement. She saw the cat lower its head and search for something in the forest. A short while later, it finally slowed down.


    In front of the cat was a mutated plant at level-five. Many red fruits were hanging on the tree.


    The cat raised its head and spent a few seconds observing those fruits. Then, it looked around and abruptly swung its tail upward.


    Clap! Clap! Clap! A lot of fruits on the tree were shaken off by its huge, whip-like tail.


    Then, Lin Qiao saw the cat walk toward the tree and drop its head to look for something among the grass.


    An idea flashed across Lin Qiao''s mind as she looked at the cat with disbelief. Soon, she saw it pick up a fruit from the ground with its mouth and chew on it.


    Lin Qiao immediately wore a weird expression on her face. ''So, this huge cat is a vegetarian?''


    ''No way! The others all eat meat. Why are you a vegetarian? The cats on the earth''s surface feed on meat. Are you not a cat? But, you look like one!''


    The six-footed cat ate the first fruit and licked its mouth with its tongue, then dropped its head again to find more fruits from among the grass while leisurely wagging its tail from side to side.


    Lin Qiao quietly watched the cat eat all the fruits on the ground. As the cat prepared to whip off more fruits from the tree, she turned and left.


    No wonder she sensed no blood scent from the cat. It was a vegetarian! Why did it show up near the base then? It seemed to be excited to see Lin Qiao.


    By the time Lin Qiao returned to the base, Bowwow and his friends had already gone to the farm in Mount. Wu. Back home, she saw the two kids sitting in the living room without Wu Chengyue. With surprise, she asked Ling Ling, "Ling Ling, where''s your Daddy?"


    Wu Yueling raised her head and shook her head to let Lin Qiao know that she had no idea where her father was.


    Seeing that, Lin Qiao looked around questioningly.

 1186 Ling Ling Speaks Again

    Lin Qiao looked around confusedly as she had sensed Wu Chengyue''s vibe from the living room just now. How come he was gone once she came in?


    However, in the very next second, as she abruptly turned back, something blocked her eyesight and then she felt a warmth on her lips. Then, an arm was put around her waist and brought her to the man.


    The moment she sensed the warmth from her lips, she automatically grabbed the man''s face and pressed him backward, then tilted her head and complained, "Can''t you restrain yourself in front of the children?"


    How thick-skinned was the man! How could he do something like that to her in front of the children? Besides, did she ever allow him to do that?


    The two children sitting on the couch looked at her calmly, "We didn''t see anything, em," said Teng. The boy then gave Wu Yueling a glance, who squinted at him and then dropped her head to continue drawing.


    Wu Chengyue held Lin Qiao''s waist as he grinned at her and said, "See, let''s pretend they aren''t here."


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    Teng raised an arm and pointed at Wu Chengyue with his short and chubby finger as he said, "Pretending that we are not here is not appropriate, is it? If we are really not here, you would have pressed Mom onto the bed!"


    While pushing away Wu Chengyue, who suddenly came so close to her, Lin Qiao said to her son, "Teng, what are you talking about? Kids should mind their language!"


    After being pushed away, Wu Chengyue didn''t try again to approach her. He let go of her and walked to the couch before taking a seat. Then, he looked at her and said, "Why don''t you come to Sea City with me? I''ll probably have tons of works to do back there. I won''t have time to come here for a while."


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "You don''t need me to do the small things like inspecting the shelter. I need to find a cure for Yuan Tianxing. Lin Feng will go to Sea City. I''m busy too. Do you think you''re the only busy one?"


    She was a base leader too. As same as him, she had loads of work to do for her base. Apart from the other work in the base, her zombie army also needed to be strengthened and enlarged.


    After saying that, she walked into her bedroom and found some leisurewear, then went into the bathroom for a shower. After all, she had no time to take a shower during the past few days when she was traveling on the outside.


    Wu Chengyue sat down next to Teng and heard the latter say to him, "It''s only been about two weeks. Do you miss her so much already?"


    Being taunted by his very own son, Wu Chengyue looked at the boy with a smile and said, "Yeah, I missed her. I haven''t seen her in two weeks after all."


    Before he saw her, he didn''t feel that so clearly. However, since the moment he landed his eyes on her, he couldn''t turn those eyes away. He came near her and smelled her aroma, feeling so soothed.


    Teng wasn''t expecting such a straightforward answer. He looked at his father and said, "Dad, you''re so thick-skinned!"


    Wu Yueling quietly came over and sat down beside Teng, looking at Wu Chengyue silently. She agreed with Teng by taking that action, then looked at Wu Chengyue with her big eyes filled with disdain.


    ''Daddy is thick-skinned!''


    Wu Chengyue looked at Teng, said, "What can I do? I like your Mama now. I couldn''t help wanting to be close to her when I saw her. I wanted to hold her¡­"


    "Daddy is thick-skinned!" said a girl''s voice that was never heard before.


    Wu Chengyue and Teng both paused for a second, then looked around. Then, they fixed their eyes on Wu Yueling together.


    "Ah! Ling Ling!" Teng popped his eyes and looked at Wu Yueling happily.


    Wu Chengyue was also wearing a shocked look on his face. The smile on his face was gone as he gawked at Wu Yueling with both surprise and disbelief. He swiftly moved up to her and said, "Ling Ling, did you just talk?" He looked a little excited, which rarely happened.


    Wu Yueling looked at him and narrowed her eyes in a smile.


    "Ah, Ling Ling! Say something else! You really did talk just now, right?" Teng crawled onto Wu Yueling''s laps and said to her expectantly.


    Wu Yueling shook her head to him, then kept smiling.


    "Ling Ling, you can talk now?" Wu Chengyue was also looking at Wu Chengyue expectantly. But still, Wu Yueling shook her head.


    "It was you who said that just now! I heard it!" said Teng.


    Lin Qiao came out of the shower and saw the three of them gathered together. Wu Chengyue and Teng both seemed excited.


    "What''s going on?"


    Teng turned his upper body around and said to her, "Ling Ling said something just now to complain about Daddy. She really did talk."


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao looked at Wu Yueling delightedly and asked the girl, "Oh, can Ling Ling talk again? Can you say something now?" While speaking, she walked to the girl, then bent over and looked at her.


    Earlier, Wu Yueling shook her head to Wu Chengyue and Teng, but facing Lin Qiao, she nodded and responded with, "Em."


    Teng immediately said to Wu Yueling with jealousy, "Ah, this is unfair! You nodded to Mama but ignored us!"


    Wu Yueling responded to his complaint with only a smile.


    Lin Qiao reached out and scooped the boy up from Wu Yueling''s lap before putting him on the other couch, "Alright, don''t sit on your sister''s lap." Then, she sat down beside the girl and said to her, "Come on, tell me, what did you say just now?"


    Wu Yueling glanced at Wu Chengyue, then grinned and said with a small voice, "Daddy is thick-skinned."


    After saying those words, she gave Wu Chengyue another glance, then looked at Lin Qiao. Then, she dropped her head, not to look at Lin Qiao or Wu Chengyue.


    The other three in the living room were joyful. Wu Chengyue wasn''t wearing a fake smile like he always did. At that very moment, happiness filled his eyes and his whole body. Lin Qiao looked at the little girl and said to her with laughter, "Ling Ling, you are amazing! Now you can communicate with everybody!"


    Wu Chengyue rubbed Wu Yueling''s hair, then stood up and headed toward the kitchen. It was time to cook again.


    Teng sniffed at Lin Qiao, then said, "You''ve taken a shower, but I can still sense many funny smells from you. Mama, what have you met on your journey?"


    "Oh," Lin Qiao said to him, "Lately, underground creatures have been showing up all over the country. They like to eat people, like zombies."


    On hearing that, Teng stopped short and twisted his little face, seemingly thinking about something. Noticing that look on his face, Lin Qiao asked him curiously, "What''s wrong?"


    Teng adjusted his expression as he raised his head to look at his mother while answering her question, "Em, I''ve been having a strange feeling recently. Does that have something to do with those creatures?"


    "Eh? You can feel them?" Lin Qiao looked down at him with surprise.

 1187 Yuan Tianxings Condition Grows Worse

    Teng folded his arms before his chest, then dropped his head as he wore a frown and said, "Hmm, I have some feelings, but I don''t know what''s going on."


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "You have a strong hunch. If only you could see the future like Wenwen¡­ Those creatures out there are pretty annoying. There are too many different types of them, and their numbers are huge too. We don''t know how to protect our base against them efficiently or kill them."


    "I wonder where is Aunty Wenwen. But, I''m not worried about her at all actually. I feel that she will return safely." That was why he hadn''t been anxious about Lin Wenwen''s missing.


    Lin Qiao sighed, "I hope she''ll come back soon, or we might really not able to cure Yuan Tianxing."


    Teng glanced at her, then abruptly reached out and patted her on the arm to comfort her, "Don''t worry, Mama, Uncle Yuan will be fine."


    At that moment, Lin Qiao sensed Duan Juan''s scent from outside the door. Soon, the door knock was heard.


    "Come in," Lin Qiao said to the door.


    Duan Juan immediately opened the door and rushed in while speaking anxiously, "Chief, it''s Deputy Chief Yuan!"


    Lin Qiao furrowed her brows as she stood up and put Teng on the couch, "I''m heading out for a bit."


    After saying that, she quickly turned and left with Duan Juan.


    Wu Chengyue came out to find her gone. Looking at the two children, he asked, "She left again?"


    The kids turned and nodded at him together.


    "She only came back for a shower. Now, she''s left again," said Wu Chengyue helplessly.


    On the other side of the base, Duan Juan and Lin Qiao soon arrived at Yuan Tianxing''s room. They saw Lin Hao standing in the room with a deep frown. Clearly, the situation wasn''t good.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Qiao walked in while speaking. She looked at Yuan Tianxing, who was still soaking in the water, and saw the deep purple on his skin.


    Seeing that, she knitted her brows. The purple color had covered Yuan Tianxing''s entire chest, the other shoulder, and his arms. The area below his neck had mostly turned purple.


    She narrowed her eyes to observe the energy inside his body and saw that the black energy sparkling with a red light had spread all over his body. Moreover, the green energy from the water was gone. The energy that Lin Qiao sent into Yuan Tianxing''s body to suppress the black energy was gone too.


    "Why did it suddenly spread?" Yuan Tianxing''s condition was stable just a couple of hours ago. Why did the black energy erupt suddenly?


    With a frown, Lin Qiao spent a few seconds observing Yuan Tianxing''s body, then abruptly dragged him out of the bucket and put him on the bed. After that, she poured three cups of lake water into his mouth and quickly renewed the water in the bucket.


    Next, she lifted him and put him back into the bucket, then put a hand in the water to send the energy in the water into his body.


    While doing that, she asked Lin Hao, "How did it become like this? Did you do anything before this?"


    Lin Hao shook his head, "No, nothing. It just happened."


    Once again, the green energy in the water seeped into Yuan Tianxing''s body through his pores and suppressed the dark energy that was flowing inside his body, calming it down.


    Lin Hao stood nearby and watched Lin Qiao''s movement. He thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it''s because the energy in the water ran out."


    "But, he has been soaking in the water for days. Nothing happened before," Lin Qiao looked at him confusedly.


    Lin Hao waved at her and said, "That''s not right. Before, no one was controlling the energy in the water, and the dark energy wasn''t triggered. I think when you sent the energy in the water into his body, you also accidentally activated the dark energy."


    "So, I did the opposite to what I wished?" said Lin Qiao.


    Lin Hao shook his head again and said, "Not exactly. If you didn''t suppress the dark energy with the energy in the water, I think he''d soon become like this anyway. That dark energy will spread sooner or later unless we remove it from his body for good."


    "This is troublesome," Lin Qiao sighed, "Even my lake water isn''t working."


    Currently, there was no solution for Yuan Tianxing''s condition or those dangerous underground creatures.


    Looking at Yuan Tianxing, Lin Qiao continued, "If Wenwen came back to see him like this, she''d be worried dead."


    ¡­


    After returning to Dong Family''s mansion that night, Lin Wenwen had spent a few days with anxiety. Only after that did she slowly calm down as no image popped in her mind again.


    She still worked very hard to exercise herself. After one week of hard-working, Dong Xinxin''s body was finally not as weak and powerless as before. It was easier and easier for her to do sports. Her body shape didn''t change much though; she only lost a few pounds.


    Dong Xinxin stayed awake for longer and longer time, and slept less and less.


    "Still working out?" Dong Lijia pushed the door open and stuck his head in, looking at Lin Wenwen, who was on the treadmill.


    Lin Wenwen was running on the treadmill using Dong Xinxin''s fat body. Sweat was streaming down her forehead, soaking the hair by her temples while her face was red. She clenched her teeth and gasped for air. Her pace was unhurried and rhythmical. It seemed that she had been running for quite a while.


    Dong Lijia walked in and stood beside her as he looked at her and said, "You''re really working hard to lose weight for Xinxin."


    During the past few days, he constantly asked Lin Wenwen to prove that she was not a guy. However, no matter how Lin Wenwen tried to prove it, he wouldn''t believe her. Lin Wenwen was so angry that she had to kick his ass to make him shut up every time.


    Hearing his words, Lin Wenwen glanced at him while breathing heavily, then kept running.


    She wanted to tell him that she had no choice. Without strengthening Dong Xinxin''s body to provide her soul with energy, she wouldn''t be able to give the body back to the other.


    "Oh, you''ve ordered so much gas. Is there enough room in your space?" Dong Lijia asked her.


    It was difficult for ordinary people to purchase gasoline in large batches. Thankfully, Dong Lijia knew a boy whose family was doing the gasoline business, and helped Lin Wenwen to order over three-hundred buckets of gasoline from the company run by the boy''s family. The gasoline would be delivered in over a month.


    Hearing the question, Lin Wenwen turned off the treadmill and slowly came off it. While wiping her face with a towel, she said, "Why would I order so much if there isn''t enough room in my space?"

 1188 Dong Familys Preparation

    Dong Lijia was wearing a sports suit too. Clearly, he was there to work out as well.


    "Will there be a big chance to attain a superpower after the apocalypse?" he asked Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and said, "The chance won''t be great, but not too small either. At first, you have five percent chance, and in the later period, it will depend on your luck. You''ll still have one percent opportunity though."


    "The later period?" Dong Lijia didn''t understand.


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Some people triggered their superpowers not right after the apocalypse. Your sister attained her power in the later period."


    Dong Lijia thought for a moment and said, "So, I''ll have a chance to trigger a superpower as long as I survive?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him silently. According to Dong Xinxin, Dong Lijia died at last. When the apocalypse happened, all her family members survived luckily, and none of them turned into a zombie. However, in the end, they all died to protect her, killed by zombies or other people.


    In the early stage after the apocalypse, people could still protect themselves with guns and other hot weapons. But later on, as the possessors of all sorts of superpowers emerged, the weapons grew less useful. One could still kill the ordinary zombies or the zombies at level one with guns, but in a few years after the apocalypse, more and more high-leveled zombies would show up.


    Under Lin Wenwen''s suggestion, Dong Lijia purchased quite some weapons. Mr. Dong finally believed the two and started to sell the stocks of his company. The other shareholders thought he had lost his mind.


    Mr. Dong had also hired more bodyguards. Apart from the ones he already had, he had added some more from a security company. He had also been purchasing supplies in big batches, and even hired some skillful auto repairmen to secretly modify his vehicles.


    It was not difficult to spend all his money within two months. The problem was that the time left for him to prepare for what was going to happen was getting shorter and shorter.


    Lin Wenwen picked up a bottle of water and took a sip, then said, "Em, many people triggered superpowers in the later period. In the future that I come from, people haven''t found out what triggers superpowers yet."


    After all, the human bases were basically focusing on their study of zombies.


    Dong Lijia stretched herself in the gym and prepared himself, then walked to the door and opened it, "Come in."


    Lin Wenwen turned and saw four men walking in. They were in different heights and shapes, but all had their vibes restrained and gave out a faintly detected ferocity.


    With a slight surprise, Lin Wenwen looked at Dong Lijia, then at the four men. Based on their vibes, she immediately figured out that they had all killed people. They were probably retired special force soldiers or mercenaries.


    Dong Lijia said to Lin Wenwen, "They are my trainers. My father pulled some strings and hired them. The time is limited, but still, I need to prepare myself as much as I can."


    Lin Wenwen understood what he meant. He wanted to learn some skills to protect himself within that short span of time. After all, in the dangerous and chaotic post-apocalyptic era, some self-protection skills could provide him with a better chance of survival.


    "This is my sister, Dong Xinxin," Dong Lijia introduced Dong Xinxin to the four trainers, "Em, you guys can just ignore her. I''m the one who needs your help."


    Three of the four wore no expression at all. Only a relatively short and slim one had a faint smile on his face. The four of them nodded at Lin Wenwen together. Lin Wenwen responded to them with a nod, then glanced at the smiling guy. She found his smile a little familiar.


    But, she was sure that she did not know the guy.


    "What will they be teaching you?" Lin Wenwen asked curiously.


    Dong Lijia pointed at the two men on the left and said, "These two will teach me how to fight, and those two will teach me how to fire guns."


    Lin Wenwen glanced at the four trainers who had strong vibes, then nodded and stepped back to the door, "Since you guys will be practicing here, I''ll go out and jog in the yard."


    While speaking, she picked up her water bottle and walked out of the gym, noticing the look in the four trainers'' eyes at the same time. The next couple of hours would be their private training time, and they didn''t want anyone else to see their skills. They also felt that the fat girl couldn''t possibly learn their skills, not even if she witnessed their teaching.


    After all, some people simply didn''t want to be watched when teaching their students.


    Lin Wenwen walked out of the gym with her water bottle and towel to the living room, then exited the building from the back door. One of the two guards outside the door came to her and took over her bottle and towel.


    As Lin Wenwen spent a while jogging in the yard and went to the pavilion in the middle to rest, the quiet guard had also prepared a new towel for her, along with cool water in the bottle.


    At first, the guard would carry a tray and put the bottle and the towel on it, looking like a waiter. Lin Wenwen couldn''t bear watching that, so she told him not to use the tray, and simply put the things on the stone table in the pavilion.


    After two weeks of exercise, Lin Wenwen was now able to keep running for an hour and a half at one go. Every time, she would grit her teeth and force herself to run a little bit longer, not stopping until she was dizzy and her sight was blurred. At first, she would even vomit after the running, which felt awful. She suffered dizziness and strong sweating, and her stomach twitched all the time. That was what would happen when a person who hadn''t exercised for a very long time suddenly did a lot of sports. But, after the first few days, it gradually became easier.


    Lin Wenwen would practice fighting when she had time too. The body that she was using now wasn''t hers, but she still had her skills. She remembered the training she had before, and knew how to train herself. She would, of course, grasp every chance to strengthen herself.


    While the brother was trained by his hired trainers and the sister was working very hard to lose weight, a few sports cars drove to the gate of Dong Family''s mansion. Deng Chenfei was driving, and Luo Yuanjun was sitting in the front seat. He looked at the gate and said, "How come Dong Lijia isn''t hanging out with us lately? Why is he staying at home all the time?"


    Deng Chenfei expressionlessly drove to the gate, then looked at the guard.


    The guard knew Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun. Seeing them, he hurriedly opened the electronic gate and let them in.


    "Is your Young Master home?" Deng Chenfei asked the guard.


    "Yes," the guard nodded.


    Only after confirming that Dong Lijia was at home did Deng Chenfei drive straight in. Some other young boys and girls were sitting in the rest three cars.


    "Will he be unhappy that we didn''t warn him before we came here?" In the second car, Qin Jiao looked around while driving.


    "Why would he be?" Lin Yuehui smiled, "If he does get unhappy, his two mates will be the ones to take the blame. They suggested we all come here to look for Dong Lijia."


    "Maybe he''s up to something," Qin Jiao hesitated, "Won''t we be disturbing him by swarming into his place?"


    Lin Yuehui gave her a glare and said, "Why are you thinking so much? We''re already here."


    Qin Jiao thought for a moment, then nodded and became excited again.

 1189 She Wants to Go to the Beach

    Four supercars drove into the front yard and parked before the mansion.


    The muscular butler guided the guests into the living room and offered them seats while saying, "Young Master is in the gym. I''ll go and tell him to come down here. Please have a seat!"


    Deng Chenfei nodded at him politely while Luo Yuanjun asked curiously, "He''s working out? Now? What''s he been up to lately?"


    Hearing the butler say that Dong Lijia was in the gym, the others all wore a confused look.


    The butler smiled as he shook his head and said, "I don''t know what Young Master is thinking about. Maybe you can ask him about it later."


    After saying that, he turned and went up upstairs, sending a few servants to serve those young boys and girls with coffee and tea.


    Dong Lijia heard the door knocks when the trainers were training him pretty hard. The smiling trainer who was standing near the door turned and opened the door. He saw the butler and let him in.


    "Young Master, Chenfei, Miss. Qin and some other friends of yours are here visiting you."


    Dong Lijia, who was lying on the ground, got up and wiped off the sweat on his face with a towel, then gasped for air as he said, "What are they doing here? Why didn''t they warn me before coming?"


    "They''re waiting for you in the living room," the butler smiled and said.


    Dong Lijia nodded and said, "Okay. Tell them that I''ll take a shower and then go downstairs to meet them. Alright, this is it."


    The last few words were said to the trainers. They nodded in response and found their shirts, putting them on before leaving. The air conditioner was on, but the vigorous exercise still caused heavy sweating. No girls were on the scene, so they had taken off their shirts.


    In fact, Dong Lijia had been working out all the time. He had even learned a few types of martial arts. He rarely practiced though. After all, he only learned the martial arts to protect himself from being kidnapped. He wasn''t paying much attention to that.


    So now, even though he had a little experience practicing martial arts, he would have to rely on his speed of reaction if he ever needed to fight an actual battle.


    He hired four trainers because he wanted to achieve the best results within a limited time. Anyhow, more skills meant a greater chance of survival. That was about his life after all.


    Lin Wenwen spent another while running, then returned to the pavilion and asked the two guards, "I heard cars. Who are they?"


    "A few friends of Young Master, and Miss. Qin and Miss. Lin," one of the guards answered her question.


    Hearing the names of the two girls, Lin Wenwen felt extremely annoyed. She turned her mouth down but didn''t say anything. After wiping her face, taking a tip of the water, and resting for a short while, she said to one of the two guards, "Go and see if the gym is empty now. I''ll use it if it is."


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    Dong Lijia wouldn''t keep training as his friends were here. Hopefully, those two girls wouldn''t land their eyes on her again.


    Dong Lijia took a shower and came downstairs refreshed. Seeing the group of people in the living room, he said, "Why are you all here? Don''t you have anything to do?"


    Deng Chenfei leaned on the back of the couch and looked at him silently. Luo Yuanjun wasn''t as quiet as Deng Chenfei was. Instead, he sprung up and walked up to Dong Lijia with big steps, then put an arm around the latter''s neck and said, "Do you have new friends lately? You haven''t talked to us in days. We had agreed to go to the beach for a few days. Have you forgotten about that?"


    Being reminded by him, Dong Lijia instantly recalled planning that trip with his friends before the summer vacation began. Driving on a beautiful beachside road on a summer night, how exciting and refreshing would that be?


    That would be something very enjoyable before. But now, Dong Lijia had no mood for travel at all. The world would end in only about seventy days after all.


    Lin Wenwen, who had heard from the guard that the gym was empty, came in from the back door and was prepared to go upstairs. But on her way, she heard what Luo Yuanjun said.


    She stopped short, because Dong Xinxin called her in her head.


    ''Let''s go to the beach too,'' said Dong Xinxin to her.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at the living room and asked her, ''Are you sure?''


    Dong Xinxin said, ''Think about it! The life in the post-apocalyptic era had been putting us under pressure, making us nervous and desperate for survival. How could we ever come back to such a relaxed and joyful time? We''ve both spent seven years in the post-apocalyptic era. Why don''t we just forget about it and relax for a few days now¡­?''


    Lin Wenwen sensed her expectant tone. ''Do you really love the sea?'' She couldn''t help but ask Dong Xinxin.


    Dong Xinxin stayed silent for a while, then said with regret, ''I''ve never seen the sea with my own eyes. I saw it on TV, or on computers. I was going to make a trip to the seaside at my eighteenth birthday, but I didn''t have the chance to do that¡­''


    The apocalypse happened before she turned eighteen.


    ''You never saw the sea?'' Lin Wenwen was surprised, ''Your family is so rich. I thought you would''ve traveled all over the world since you were a kid.''


    ''I was a shy kid,'' said Dong Xinxin, ''I didn''t like to travel back then. When I got older, my brother and I were both busy studying. My parents were busy too. So, I never had a chance to go.''


    Lin Wenwen thought for a moment, and then agreed. ''Since you want to go and see the sea, we''ll go. After the apocalypse, you won''t be able to see the blue ocean and sky with white clouds anymore.''


    In the post-apocalyptic era, the ocean was black and the sky was gray. The seaside was occupied by all kinds of mutated plants, and countless mutated beasts lived in the sea.


    Some people soon noticed Lin Wenwen standing in a corner of the living room.


    "Eh? Xinxin, you''re here too!" seeing Dong Xinxin standing there, Qin Jiao narrowed her eyes slightly, then greeted Dong Xinxin with laughter. Following her voice, the others all turned and found Dong Xinxin wearing a loose-fitting sports suit. The hair near her temples were moist and her cheeks were red. Obviously, she had just done some heavy sports.


    "Eh? You didn''t just finish working out like your brother, did you?" Qin Jiao looked at her and asked with surprise.


    "Wow! Fat Ball, I can''t believe that you''d exercise! Are you trying to lose weight again? Tell me, how is it going? How many pounds have you lost?" Luo Yuanjun immediately let go of Dong Lijia and walked up to Lin Wenwen. While looking at her from head to toe, he said to her with surprise.


    It sounded like he was teasing her, but he actually said those words in a friendly joking way. His voice also contained disbelief and confusion.


    He observed the girl and somehow felt that Dong Xinxin had actually lost some weight. Was that true? Did his eyes fool him?

 1190 Arent You Afraid that She Might Kick Your Ass?

    Dong Lijia wasn''t happy to hear Luo Yuanjun call his sister Fat Ball so straightforwardly either. "Can you please stop calling her that? Aren''t you afraid that she might kick your ass?"


    Luo Yuanjun glanced at Lin Wenwen, then said to Dong Lijia, "To be honest, I''d be scared if she put me straight down. She''s so big after all. But, don''t you know about your sister? She won''t hit me."


    Dong Lijia shrugged and said, "You better be careful. If you did get beaten up, don''t blame me for not warning you!"


    If that conversation happened in the past, he would have kicked Luo Yuanjun''s ass. But now, it was a stranger wearing his sister''s skin. For that reason, he felt it to be less related to himself. But still, he kindly gave Luo Yuanjun a warning.


    After all, whoever was wearing his sister''s skin now was able to fight! That person had gotten used to her sister''s extra heavy body lately. He had tried fighting her already. He had some martial art experiences, yet he was punched down nonetheless.


    Speaking of fighting, the quiet Deng Chenfei was actually the best fighter among all of Dong Lijia''s friends. A part of his family was related to some gangsters, so he brawled a lot since he was a little kid. If he hadn''t been training himself since little, he would have been killed many times in kids fight or by the enemies of his family.


    Luo Yuanjun looked at Dong Lijia in a weird way and said, "She can hit me? She doesn''t have it in her, not even if I stand here and let her punch me. This isn''t right. You weren''t like this. Dong Lijia, have you changed? Don''t you care about your sister anymore? Is it because you now have some new friends?"


    Dong Lijia glared at him and said, "Alright, shut up! Why are you always laughing at my sister? You''re a grown man now. Can you behave yourself?"


    Luo Yuanjun was a naughty one. He liked to play with Dong Lijia and make fun of Dong Xinxin. He often bullied Dong Xinxin when she was little, so she really didn''t like him. No matter how she warned him, he wouldn''t stop. He teased her and bullied her every time he saw her. He sometimes went too far, and when that happened, Dong Lijia would beat him up. But, in just a few days, he would forget about that and do it all over again.


    He couldn''t bully her physically anymore when they both grew up. However, he grew even more sharp-tongued than before. Dong Xinxin was an introverted girl, so she tried her best to avoid him. She wanted very much to kick his ass, but she was too weak to do that.


    Their relationship was actually a little complicated. They weren''t friends; they didn''t really like each other. Luo Yuanjun always took the initiative to displease Dong Xinxin, and she always tried to avoid him. But weirdly, he couldn''t stand letting other people make fun of her except for Dong Lijia, her brother. He would not allow anyone but himself, Dong Lijia, or Deng Chenfei to bully Dong Xinxin.


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes toward Luo Yuanjun, then walked past him up to Dong Lijia and said, "Are you going to the beach? I''m going too."


    In fact, she only wanted to tell Dong Lijia that she wanted to go to the beach. As for the first question, that was actually unnecessary. She didn''t care if Dong Lijia and his friends would go or not. If they wouldn''t go, she would go by herself.


    "You want to go?" Dong Lijia looked at her with surprise.


    "Yeah. Your sister wants to go. What? Is there a problem?" said Lin Wenwen blandly.


    Something crossed Dong Lijia''s mind when he heard Lin Wenwen''s words. He thought for a moment and then said, "No¡­ Alright, we''ll go."


    Hearing that, Lin Wenwen turned and went upstairs, leaving the others in the living room quiet.


    A short while later, Luo Yuanjun came over and said to Dong Lijia, "I have a question. At my birthday party and today, why is she being weird? She''s like a totally different person. You just said that she might kick my ass¡­ That''s not true, is it?"


    Dong Lijia gave him a cold glance and said, "I''ve told you not to underestimate my little sister now. You might have your ass kicked, believe it or not. You can give it a try."


    As he said that, Qin Jiao and Luo Yuanjun both paused with surprise.


    Dong Lijia then turned to glance at Wu Minghao, who was sitting aside quietly the whole time. "Young Master Wu, I''ve been seeing you a lot recently. Have you gotten used to the social circle in the city yet?"


    Wu Minghao was a single child, and he had returned from abroad earlier this year. Recently, he had started to make friends with the other rich kids in the city.


    Hearing Dong Lijia talk to him, Wu Minghao wore a mild smile on his beautiful face and said, "Hm, I didn''t know you guys well before. Thankfully, Mr. Luo is quite an annoying one."


    While speaking, he glanced at Luo Yuanjun, who was walking toward him. He was trying to say that he only came here for the sake of Luo Yuanjun, because he and Luo Yuanjun were pretty close. Luo Yuanjun liked to make friends and hang out with them. After learning about Wu Minghao''s return, he had been constantly asking him out.


    As everybody knew, Young Master Luo was a very annoying person. If he liked someone, he would keep bothering that person. The harder that person tried to ignore him, the more excited he would be.


    On hearing Wu Minghao''s words, Dong Lijia hurriedly nodded in agreement, "Yeah, yeah. I am so unlucky to grow up together with someone like him."


    "Oi! Is it really okay for you to say that right in front of me? Don''t I deserve any respect?" Luo walked to him and gave him a kick, then sat back down.


    "Go and get ready. We''ll drive there this afternoon. I can''t believe that Fat Ball asked to go with us. I wonder what''s wrong with her." After sitting down, Luo Yuanjun wore a confused look again.


    Dong Lijia kicked him back and said, "I''ve fed the respect for you to dogs. You have no respect from me now!"


    Luo Yuanjun kicked him again under the table, "There are girls here! Are you blind? Can''t you behave yourself in front of the ladies?"


    Apart from Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui, another girl was on the scene. She had been sitting there expressionlessly all the time. On the boys'' side, aside from Luo Yuanjun, Dong Lijia, and Wu Minghao, two other boys were there. They weren''t as close to Dong Lijia as Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun were, but they were friends too.


    Deng Chenfei watched the two boys'' childish interaction; he had gotten used to that already. He turned to the stairs, and then glanced at Dong Lijia. He was thinking about Dong Lijia''s attitude.


    He somehow felt that something was wrong with Dong Xinxin. He had noticed that long ago, but couldn''t tell what exactly was not right.


    She still looked like the same person, but he felt that she had changed. Even Dong Lijia''s attitude toward her was different from before. What on earth had happened?

 1191 The Images Pop Again

    Lin Wenwen went upstairs, back to Dong Xinxin''s room. "Do you know how to swim?" she asked Dong Xinxin.


    "No¡­" Dong Xinxin said.


    "Why do you want to go to the beach then?" Lin Wenwen asked.


    "Going to the beach doesn''t mean that you have to swim," said Dong Xinxin, "I''m not going to swim. I just want to see the sea¡­ I heard that you''ll feel very different when you see the actual sea."


    Lin Wenwen thought for a moment and said, "Hmm, you''ll definitely feel different. Sunset at the sea can be so beautiful. On the horizon, the ocean surface glistens with the orange light. I liked to stroll on a beach with bare feet, feeling the soft sands against my feet."


    Hearing her description, Dong Xinxin was even more excited.


    "We can take the opportunity to practice in the seawater. Running on the beach can be tricky too." What Lin Wenwen was thinking about wasn''t the view, but how to use the beach environment to upgrade her exercise. Swimming in the ocean was much more difficult than swimming in a swimming pool after all.


    She took a shower, then quickly did the packing. She packed her clothes, cellphone, tablet computer, and the other small tools in a small suitcase.


    She carried the suitcase, prepared to go out. But before her hand touched the doorknob, a sharp pain came from her brain, and a series of images flashed across her mind. She saw people, zombies, and many weird-looking creatures.


    She buried her forehead in her hands and leaned against the door, her face twisted with pain.


    This time, she saw four or five images in her head, much clearer than the one she saw the last time. In three images were countless different kinds of strange-looking creatures running rampant in a deserted city. They bumped into the zombie crowds to bite zombies and climbed onto the buildings to roar at the sky.


    In the other two images, she saw Lin Qiao and the others. In another image, she was looking down from a tall fence wall. Under the wall wasn''t a crowd of zombies, but massive waves of strange creatures swarming over.


    Those images flashed across her mind and disappeared within a blink. The pain faded, leaving her feeling dizzy. Her body suddenly became limp and powerless.


    She leaned on the door and slowly sat down on the ground.


    "What happened to you?" Dong Xinxin asked her in her mind.


    "Don''t speak just yet¡­ My head hurts once you talk!" Lin Wenwen said with a frown.


    When she heard Dong Xinxin''s voice, she felt as if her brain was twitching. It wasn''t as painful as before, but still making her very uncomfortable.


    Dong Xinxin instantly fell into silence.


    Lin Wenwen spent a short while sitting there, thinking about the images she saw and the information contained in them.


    The deserted buildings, dark-yellow sky, the wind, the sands¡­ Without a doubt, that was the post-apocalyptic world. Her sister was still wearing Lu Tianyu''s skin. She was flying in the sky, sending immense waves of dark fire toward the ground. From the other images, she saw some enormous, strange-looking beasts and some gigantic insects¡­ There were too many of them. They filled up the streets, roads, alleys, and even covered up some buildings.


    What were those? She hadn''t seen those creatures before. Those creatures were attacking the base. The tall fence wall was just the fence wall of All Beings Base. Her sister was fighting those creatures, surrounded by the dark fire and gunpowder smoke.


    Lin Wenwen knew that what she saw hadn''t happened it. It would happen in the future, but she didn''t know when.


    Where were those strange creatures from? Why would they attack the base? What had happened seven years in the future while she wasn''t there?


    Those images contained so much information, but it was all disordered. She managed to sort out one important message¡ªseven years in the future, the world would be facing another destructive disaster. Those strange creatures would be the ones to generate the disaster.


    She couldn''t see what would happen next and the result of it all. She didn''t know how it would end.


    "Xinxin? Xinxin? Are you in there?" While Lin Wenwen was still sitting on the floor, immersed in the shock that those images gave her, the door knocks were heard along with Dong Lijia''s voice.


    "What took you so long? What are you doing?" As she opened the door, Dong Lijia looked at her and asked.


    Lin Wenwen pulled the suitcase toward him to show him.


    Dong Lijia paused briefly with surprise, then said, "You''re done packing already? Are you really going?"


    Lin Wenwen shrugged and said, "You don''t have to come with me."


    Dong Lijia rolled his eyes and said, "How is that possible? We have to tell Mom and Dad before we leave at least."


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and said, "You''re the elder brother. Shouldn''t you be doing that? Do you need me to go with you again?"


    Dong Lijia shrugged, said, "I''ll do it. Why do you suddenly want to go to the beach?"


    Lin Wenwen leaned against the door frame and said, "Didn''t I tell you that your sister wants to go and see the sea? Besides, the sea won''t be so beautiful after the apocalypse. Why don''t we grasp our last opportunity to take a look at the blue sea and sky?"


    "So, you really will go," Dong Lijia nodded, "Get downstairs. I''ll go and tell my Dad."


    Lin Wenwen came out with her suitcase. By the stairs, she handed the suitcase to the guard, and then went downstairs empty handed. As she went down, Luo Yuanjun immediately came to her and said, "Fat Ball, are you really going with us? We''re going to swim. Do you even have the courage to get down into the water?"


    He just couldn''t help but say mean words to Dong Xinxin.


    Lin Wenwen gave him a glare, then asked Dong Xinxin in her mind, ''Why does he always talk to you like this?''


    Dong Xinxin snorted and said, "He''s always like this, so annoying."


    As Lin Wenwen ignored him, Luo Yuanjun got excited, "Oi, why are you so cold now?"


    Before, some words like that could infuriate the girl. But, no matter how angry she was, she wouldn''t hit him. All she would do was to pop her eyes and make herself look like a globefish.


    She was cute that way, actually.


    But now, she was so cold and bland. He somehow felt that she might really hit him at some point.


    Seriously, that wasn''t adorable at all!

 1192 Time Changes People

    Lin Wenwen looked at Luo Yuanjun. No wonder Dong Xinxin asked her to kick his ass when she had the chance. The boy was really, really annoying. He would get excited whether she responded to him or not.


    "How would you like me to respond to you then?" Lin Wenwen looked at him and asked blandly.


    Hearing that, Luo Yuanjun stopped short, then replied with, "Em¡­ No¡­ You don''t need to respond to me at all¡­ You can do whatever you want¡­"


    After saying that, he automatically stepped back. The look in Lin Wenwen''s eyes was strange. That wasn''t like something which could exist in Dong Xinxin''s eyes. She had such a strong vibe now that he felt as if she could suppress her within just a moment.


    This time, Luo Yuanjun finally felt that Dong Xinxin wasn''t the same as before. No wonder Dong Lijia gave him such a warning just now.


    Lin Wenwen glanced at the others and observed their expressions. Except for the two girls who were pretending to be excited but had actually been brewing some kind of scheme, the others seemed perfectly normal.


    Last time, the two girls'' plan had totally failed. So this time, they would probably come up with something new. Looking at their sparkling eyes, Lin Wenwen easily figured out what they were thinking. They would probably encourage her to swim in the ocean.


    After all, a fat girl like Dong Xinxin could look very funny in a swimsuit. She wouldn''t even need a swim ring. In front of so many pretty boys and girls, she could become something to laugh at, or something disgusting.


    As she looked at the two girls, Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui hurriedly walked to her with a smile. "Xinxin, we''re surprised that you''ll come with us. We had invited you before, but you didn''t seem interested back then," Qin Jiao looked at Lin Wenwen and said to her delightedly.


    "Yeah," Lin Yuehui added, "We thought you wouldn''t come with us."


    They had plans to coax Dong Xinxin into joining the trip. To their surprise, the girl asked to go. That was great, as it saved them a lot of effort.


    Lin Wenwen gave them a small smile as she said with a sour tone, "Oh? Don''t you girls want me to go?"


    The two girls who were both wearing delicate make-up paused briefly, then automatically glanced at each other. Lin Yuehui hurriedly waved at Lin Wenwen and said, "How is that possible? We were worried that you might not come with us. We were just talking about how to convince you to go."


    Lin Wenwen smiled at them, then walked to a chair near the window and sat down. She sat by the window, faintly implying that she wanted to be separated from the others.


    Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui looked at each other, both feeling a little confused. Lin Yuehui intended to go to Lin Wenwen and say something more to her, but Qin Jiao had lost her patience. She dragged Lin Yuehui''s sleeve and brought her back to their own seats.


    When did the fat girl become so aloof and proud? She was even talking with a disdainful tone now. It looked like the two of them so eagerly wanted to be friends with her now.


    Luo Yuanjun had stepped back, but he didn''t stop talking. He glanced at upstairs and said, "Eh? Fat Ball, why didn''t your brother come down with you?"


    Lin Wenwen sat down on the chair. Her body had almost covered the chair entirely up. She had gotten used to that body already though. She was fat, but so what? That was her very own business. She was fat, but flexible and nimble.


    "He''ll be here soon," Lin Wenwen said while looking at her phone. She didn''t even take a glance at the others.


    Deng Chenfei, who was remaining silent the whole time, abruptly turned to Lin Wenwen and said, "Xinxin, have you been¡­ Hmm, did anything happen recently?"


    "What? No." Lin Wenwen raised her head and looked at him as she shook her head.


    As Deng Chenfei asked that question, everyone turned to Dong Xinxin and looked at her questioningly. After hearing her answer, Luo Yuanjun didn''t joke with her again like he always did. He looked at her seriously, then turned back to Deng Chenfei, who seemed to have fallen into thoughts.


    Deng Chenfei rarely talked, but still, he asked that question out loud. Hearing that, Lin Yuehui immediately said to Lin Wenwen, "Yeah, I too feel that something has happened to you recently. I feel that you''ve changed a little."


    Lin Wenwen still gave her a small smile and said, "Oh, so be it. Everyone will change at some point."


    She didn''t pretend to be the seventeen-year-old Dong Xinxin, because the current Dong Xinxin was cold to those people too. Apart from the fact that she wanted to beat Luo Yuanjun up, she didn''t even say anything about the others.


    Deng Chenfei looked at her. His handsome face wore no expression, but his slender eyes were narrowed. "People change for reasons. Xinxin, what''s your reason?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him as she shrugged and said, "Time, I guess."


    Seven years¡­ The surrounding environment changed people. Without spending seven years in the post-apocalyptic era struggling to survive, Dong Xinxin might still be the same silly fat girl.


    On hearing that answer, Deng Chenfei gave her another glance, then turned back. Lin Yuehui looked at Lin Wenwen with confusion. She didn''t really understand the answer the latter gave. So, she couldn''t help but look at Qin Jiao questioningly.


    Qin Jiao spread her hands; she didn''t understand it either.


    Meanwhile, Luo Yuanjun blinked and looked at Lin Wenwen again.


    "Let''s go! It''s already about three o''clock. If we start driving now, we should be there by five. Have you guys booked the hotel rooms yet?" Dong Lijia''s voice was heard from the upstairs. The people raised their heads to see him come down the stairs.


    Luo Yuanjun immediately waved at him and said, "We''ve booked the rooms ages ago, as well as the seafood banquet. There''s gonna be delicious food waiting for us."


    Dong Lijia nodded, then waved a hand and said, "Oh, let''s get going then. Why are you still sitting there?" While speaking, he was already heading straight toward the door. Lin Wenwen stood up and walked toward the outside too.


    Outside, a series of sports cars were parked in a line. Lin Wenwen looked at Dong Lijia; she needed him to give her a ride.


    The chauffeur brought Dong Lijia''s red sports car out of the garage. Lin Wenwen wore dislike on her face the moment she saw that car.


    What a vivid red! She wasn''t expecting Dong Lijia to like red sports cars.


    Noticing the expression on her face, Dong Lijia instantly grew unhappy. "What''s that look on your face? Don''t you like my little wife here? Take another car then."


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes and said, "Little wife? Yeah, love your little wife as hard as you can. I wonder if you''ll still love it in tens of days."


    After the apocalypse, no one would ever drive a sports car.

 1193 Go to the Beach

    Dong Lijia froze on hearing what she said.


    She was right. She said the road condition in the post-apocalyptic era wasn''t suitable for sports cars at all. Besides, gasoline would become rather precious. Sports cars were highly fuel-consuming, so no one would want them.


    Besides, no one would be maintaining the roads after the apocalypse. Many roads were broken, occupied by zombies, garbage, or piles of sand.


    "What? There''s no way he''d give up on that car! Impossible! If you''re number one important in his heart, the car is number two. Even Mr. and Mrs. Dong rank behind the car. How can he ever give up on the car?" Luo Yuanjun suddenly showed up and put an arm around Dong Lijia''s shoulders as he looked at Lin Wenwen and spoke.


    Lin Wenwen gave him a smile, then turned away from him. As she started to ignore him again, Luo Yuanjun immediately continued, "Am I not right?"


    Dong Lijia dragged Luo Yuanjun''s arm off his own neck and said, "Alright, you''re right. Let''s get going!"


    He walked toward his Lamborghini while speaking.


    Lin Wenwen walked down the stairs together with him while saying, "Sell this useless thing as soon as you can and get a few off-road cars. Those will be much more useful than this."


    Her words were like a dagger piercing into Dong Lijia''s heart. He just looked at her sullenly and stayed silent. Behind them, Luo Yuanjun burst in screams. "Whoa! Fat Ball! You are so cruel! You actually told Jiajia to sell his wife!"


    Dong Lijia sat into the driver''s seat while Lin Wenwen took the front seat. He watched Lin Wenwen smoothly buckle herself up, then turned to glance at the suitcases, which were put in the backseat by the guards. After that, he looked at Luo Yuanjun, who was still outside, and said, "Hurry up."


    Then, he started the car and drove away.


    One and half-hour later, the sports cars were parked at the gate of a fancy beach hotel in the neighbor city. Those sports cars immediately attracted the eyes of many tourists nearby. Then, people saw a group of young boys and girls get off those cars, all tall and slim, perfectly beautiful and handsome. Some school girls, who took the summer vacation to go to the city for travel, were even stunned.


    Qin Jiao took off her sunglasses and turned to glance at the others, then upturned her lips as she walked into the hotel with a confident smile. By her side, Lin Yuehui raised a hand and flipped her bangs and straight, long hair. Only after that did she pick up her purse and cat-walked into the hotel in her heels. The other girl gave them a glimpse, then rolled her eyes slightly and followed the others into the hotel.


    "Oi, let''s take some rest in our own rooms. Don''t forget to come downstairs for seafood tonight," Luo Yuanjun waved at the others, then asked the hotel staff to show him his room. The hotel had a lot of rooms, so they booked a room each. Lin Wenwen looked around the lobby, then followed the guards toward her room. Mr. Dong agreed to let her and her brother come out for the journey. But for safety, they still brought bodyguards.


    The room was luxuriously decorated, and the balcony had a great sea view. At that moment, the sun was sinking already, so the sunset could be seen in a short while.


    ''Is this the sea?'' Dong Xinxin exclaimed in Lin Wenwen''s head, ''It''s really not the same as what I saw from TV and computer. It''s vast!''


    Lin Wenwen walked to the balcony and leaned against the guardrail as she said, "Sadly, you can''t control your own body yet. Walking on a sunset beach is very enjoyable."


    The warm and moist sea breeze felt salty and soothing. The weather was still pretty hot though.


    "Thankfully, we''re not in Hainan. That place is hot enough to drive people crazy in July and August," Lin Wenwen added.


    "Really?" Dong Xinxin asked her with curiosity.


    "Of course!" said Lin Wenwen, "The sun is scorching hot there!"


    After spending a short while standing on the balcony, Lin Wenwen got changed and picked up her phone and earplugs, then went downstairs. She quickly walked out of the hotel and moved toward the beach.


    Many people were on the beach, either swimming in the sea or playing with the waves in shallow areas. Lin Wenwen walked on the soft beach step by step.


    On the seaside terrace, Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui saw a short and fat person walking on the beach. "That person seems a little familiar. Is that Dong Xinxin?"


    The two of them squinted to carefully look at that person. At last, they confirmed that was indeed her.


    "Why is she going so far away alone?" Qin Jiao said, "It''s still sunny. The sun is setting soon, but it''s still hot there."


    Lin Yuehui gave an elegant smile, then flipped her hair and said, "She''s so fat. Of course, she''s not afraid of the sunshine. Do you think she was really working out earlier at her home today?"


    Qin Jiao recalled seeing Dong Xinxin earlier at Dong Family''s mansion. Dong Xinxin seemed to have just finished some heavy exercise back then. Qin Jiao slightly furrowed her delicate eyebrows and said, "I think so based on what we saw. Why did she suddenly decide to lose weight? Did something happen? I don''t think we''ve ever called her fat¡­ Only Young Master Luo likes to do that."


    Normally, fat people exercised to lose weight.


    Lin Yuehui smiled scornfully and said, "I wonder how long it''ll take her to lose all the fat she has. I guess no personal trainer would want a guest like her, hehe."


    Qin Jiao laughed as well. "But look at her," she said, "She''s short and fat. She seems to be growing sideward!"


    "Do you think she''ll agree to go swimming with us tomorrow?" Lin Yuehui said smilingly.


    "I wouldn''t if I were her," Qin Jiao shrugged and said, "She might not even find a swimsuit in her size. She can go down into the water wearing her usual clothes though. But, imagine how the clothes will stick to your skin. I''ll never do that."


    The two of them chatted and laughed as they looked at Lin Wenwen from time to time. They saw her walk under a tree, then start to stretch her body.


    "Look, look, she''s warming up. What is she going to do?" Qin Jiao abruptly tilted her head and looked at Lin Wenwen as she said with surprise.


    "I don''t know," Lin Yuehui turned to that direction as well and said.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen was bending over to stretch her legs under a tree. After that, she walked to the beach and started jogging from a relatively quiet area.


    "She''s jogging!" said Qin Jiao with surprise.


    "Does she really want to lose weight?" Lin Yuehui thought and said.


    "I guess!" Qin Jiao responded after a short silence.

 1194 They Died Together

    At dark, Dong Lijia started calling his friends for dinner. But, he couldn''t find Lin Wenwen.


    "Did you guys see Xinxin?" He looked at the others and asked.


    Luo Yuanjun was playing a game with his phone. "Have you looked in her room yet?" he said without even raising his head.


    "Yeah. She''s not in her room," said Dong Lijia.


    "Give her a call then," said Luo Yuanjun, "I didn''t see her."


    "I called, but she didn''t answer," said Dong Lijia.


    Qin Jiao smiled at Dong Lijia and said to him, "I saw her walking on the beach not long ago. I don''t know if she''s come back yet."


    "Oh, she went for jogging," Dong Lijia responded to her blandly, "She should be back by now."


    The others all raised their heads and looked at him. "What? Your sister went for jogging? Why? Is she trying to lose weight?"


    "The weather isn''t too hot for jogging right now," said Wu Minghao with a warm smile, "But, jogging for too long might ruin her appetite for dinner."


    "No, it won''t," said Dong Lijia, "She''s gotten used to this lately. She''ll have a great appetite. Her preference for food has changed actually. Don''t be too surprised later."


    The dining room they booked had a French window facing the sea, provided them with a great view.


    "If she wants to lose weight, she should be on a diet. But, did you say that she''ll eat a lot after jogging?" Luo Yuanjun looked at Dong Lijia questioningly.


    Deng Chenfei looked at Dong Lijia and said to him with a serious tone, "Has your sister been through something recently? Why has she suddenly changed so much? She''s not like Dong Xinxin at all. She''s like a totally strange person."


    Dong Lijia looked at him; Deng Chenfei had guessed right, but he couldn''t admit that. "Hm, she might have been through something indeed," he mumbled in response.


    The others found his reaction weird.


    Dong Lijia looked at them with a mysterious look on his face. He had asked Lin Wenwen about how his friends ended up after the apocalypse. She told him that some people betrayed Dong Xinxin at critical junctures, and some gave her away for just a few packs of instant noodle when there wasn''t enough food. Most of them turned into zombies.


    So, apart from Luo Yuanjun and Deng Chenfei, he didn''t need to care too much about anyone.


    On the beach, Lin Wenwen slowed down and started walking while talking to Dong Xinxin in her mind.


    "So, you want to kick his ass, not because you hate him, but because he didn''t listen to you and leave while he had a chance to survive, right?" Lin Wenwen finally figured out why Dong Xinxin asked her to kick Luo Yuanjun''s ass last time.


    ''Do you know how much energy I spent to travel to the past before I found him?'' said Dong Xinxin angrily, ''I couldn''t find him, and I didn''t know when he died. I gathered his last traces with so many efforts. Finally, I found the place where he died. I only found a piece of his body left by zombies. The rest was eaten. It was highly rotten, so I couldn''t tell when he died. The first time, I traveled back to half a month ago, but he was already dead. The second time, I went back over twenty days ago, but I was still too late. The third time, I went back to a whole month ago and finally saved him."


    Her power was special. Every time she triggered her power, a great amount of energy would be consumed. She couldn''t stay in the past for too long every time, or she wouldn''t have enough energy to return to the future.


    The third time, she managed to find Luo Yuanjun right before he died. With a great effort, she saved him from a zombie crowd. But, a couple of hours ago, they ran into a group of robbers.


    She broke a leg trying to save Luo Yuanjun and could barely move at that time. The last bit of energy she had could only allow her to jump to an hour ago, and she used it.


    She used that last opportunity she had to let Luo Yuanjun leave in advance and avoid those robbers. However, he insisted on leaving together with her. A man with no car and weapon still had a chance to leave the dangerous zone by himself, but with an injured one, he could barely go anywhere.


    In the end, because the man wouldn''t leave her behind, they both died. They chose to be killed by zombies instead of the robbers.


    "So, what did I try so hard for? We both died in the end! Did I consume all my energy just to die together with him? I am so angry!" Dong Xinxin was still in a rage. Even thinking about that made her feel highly irritated.


    For that exact reason, she didn''t want to see or talk to Luo Yuanjun since she came back to the past.


    Since Luo Yuanjun and some of her other friends would all survive the apocalypse, Dong Xinxin didn''t plan to tell them about it. They might not believe her anyway. They might even think that she had lost her mind. Since they were all able to survive for a few years after the apocalypse, whether she told them about it now would not be important.


    So, she decided to save some trouble.


    Lin Wenwen smiled and said, "Dying together is not so bad¡­ You were kept company at least. It''s better than dying alone."


    Hearing that, Dong Xinxin thought for a moment and said, ''You''re right¡­ I thought I had no other chances, but unexpectedly, I suddenly came back to seven years ago.''


    "You can punch him when you can control this body again. This is between you two. I have nothing to do with it," Lin Wenwen said while walking back toward the hotel.


    Dong Xinxin sighed and said, ''I don''t know when that will be. I get angry every time I saw him now. I''m afraid that I might not be able to control myself!''


    "Don''t control yourself then," said Lin Wenwen while walking, "Maybe your anger will trigger your power and allow you to regain the control of your body."


    On the way back, Lin Wenwen checked her phone and found a few missed calls. She had put the phone in her pocket and missed the calls earlier. She didn''t like the ringing, so she had her phone on mute the whole time.


    She looked at the time and figured her brother must have called her for dinner. So, she called Dong Lijia back, "Have you guys started eating already?"


    "Yeah," said Dong Lijia, "Why didn''t you answer my calls?"


    "I missed them," said Lin Wenwen, "The phone was in my pocket. Which room are you guys in? I''ll take a shower and then go there."


    Dong Lijia told her the name of the room and then ended the call.


    Lin Wenwen dragged her limp legs into her room and took a quick shower, then put on some clean clothes and then went downstairs. By the time she found the dining room, the dishes had all been served.


    Abalone, sea cucumbers, all sorts of delicious seafood made her drool.

 1195 The Big Sea Food Meal

    As she came in, Luo Yuanjun spoke first, "Oi, come on! We''re all waiting for you, Fat Ball! Do you want us all to starve to death?"


    Lin Wenwen glanced at him and said, "You guys can eat without me. I don''t mind."


    Luo Yuanjun pointed at Dong Lijia and said, "Your brother does! He wouldn''t eat without you, and he wouldn''t let us eat!"''


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes toward Dong Lijia, then picked up a bowl and fetched herself some whelk soup. While doing that, she said, "If you guys aren''t gonna eat first, I will."


    She liked the whelk soup the best. She preferred to prepare her stomach with some soup for the solid food later.


    "Let''s take a walk on the beach after dinner to enjoy the cool sea breeze," Lin Yuehui looked at the others and said with a smile.


    "That sounds like a good idea," Qin Jiao nodded.


    Wu Minghao nodded as well and said, "That''s a good idea. Young Master Luo, let''s go too."


    Luo Yuanjun put a large crab in his bowl with his chopsticks, prepared to start eating. Hearing Wu Minghao call his name, he responded carelessly, "Hm, let''s finish dinner first. What''s the rush? We can also make barbecue on the beach. How nice will that be?"


    "You haven''t even started dinner yet. Why are you thinking about the barbecue already?" Dong Lijia looked at him and said.


    "Have we rented a yacht for tomorrow yet?" Deng Chenfei asked Dong Lijia.


    Dong Lijia picked a prawn for himself. While removing the prawn shell, he glanced at Deng Chenfei and said, "Why are you asking me? Aren''t you guys responsible for it?"


    "Oi," Luo Yuanjun instantly said to him with discontentment, "We''ve found us this hotel. You should be renting the yacht."


    Dong Lijia dipped the prawn in the sauce, then put it into his mouth and started chewing. "I''m poor now. Don''t ask me to do it. I''m out of money!" he mumbled.


    He had spent all his money purchasing supplies, and was left with no money for fun.


    "Young Master Dong, are you kidding? Did you actually call yourself ''poor''?" the others refused to believe him. The one who said that was Xiao Hanfeng. He was the one who helped Dong Lijia with the gasoline order. His family was running an oil and petrochemical business.


    Luo Yuanjun held the crab as he pointed at Dong Lijia and yelled, "If you are poor, what are we?"


    Young Master Dong was supposed to be the richest one among all. He had five supercars! Luo Yuanjun himself had two, and Deng Chenfei had three! None of the others had more than three supercars. Not to mention the fact that Dong Lijia invested in stocks and founded a few small companies since his first year in college! Those companies were small, but the profits weren''t!


    Dong Lijia didn''t bother explaining to them. He shrugged as he kept removing the prawn shell while saying, "I''m really poor. Don''t ask me to pay for things. I''m just here for free food."


    Seeing that Dong Lijia was actually focusing on his own food, Deng Chenfei squinted at Lin Wenwen again. Usually, he would put a pile of food on his little sister''s plate before he started to eat. He didn''t do that today. Instead, he actually let her fetch her own soup!


    Something was not right!


    Lin Wenwen finished the soup and noticed Deng Chenfei glancing at her. Instead of hiding her true self, she started gulping food.


    Her way of eating stunned the others.


    Realizing what was happening, Dong Lijia felt a little speechless. He turned to Lin Wenwen, who was holding a crab leg in one hand and a chicken leg in the other, and said to her, "Xinxin¡­ You¡­ Mind your table manners!"


    He wanted to tell Lin Wenwen to save some face for his little sister! She was bringing shame to his sister!


    Lin Wenwen gave him a bland glance and said, "Eating is an enjoyable thing. If I can''t eat the way I want, I''d be enjoying nothing."


    Dong Lijia didn''t know how to argue with that. Meanwhile, Luo Yuanjun gawked at Lin Wenwen in shock. "Fat Ball, I remember that you hate lettuce," he said.


    Lin Wenwen gave him a glimpse and said, "That was before. I''m different now."


    Watching her eat, Deng Chenfei blinked his eyes. Dong Lijia glanced at Deng Chenfei silently and figured that someone might visit him in his room tonight.


    Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui glanced at each other. "Xinxin, aren''t you trying to¡­ lose weight? Why are you still eating so much?" Qin Jiao said.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t even look at her. She reached her chopsticks out and picked a spicy crawfish for herself. While removing the shell, she said, "I am trying to lose weight, but I have to ensure sufficient nutrition intake too. Besides, I''m not eating too much¡­"


    After saying that, she put the crawfish into her mouth and chewed it happily.


    After dinner, the people went to the beach for a walk. Deng Chenfei dragged Dong Lijia to the end of the group and looked at Lin Wenwen, who was walking in the shallow water.


    "What on earth is wrong with her?"


    Dong Lijia''s attitude toward her had changed so much. The problem seemed to be huge.


    Dong Lijia glanced at him and whispered, "Leave it. Things will soon be normal."


    Deng Chenfei looked at him suspiciously.


    Dong Lijia thought for a moment and said, "Something did happen to her. Specifically, she has experienced something. She''s different now. You''ll get used to it."


    "What has she experienced?" Deng Chenfei asked expressionlessly.


    Dong Lijia stopped walking and looked at him as he asked him a question, "If the apocalypse happened one day, what would you do?"


    On hearing that question, Deng Chenfei wore a confused look on his expressionless face.


    Dong Lijia smiled and continued, "I was kidding. But, I am curious. What would you do if you learned about the upcoming apocalypse in advance?"


    Deng Chenfei stayed silent and spent a few seconds looking at him. Before he said anything, someone in the front yelled at them, "Oi, you two, are you two in love?"


    On hearing Luo Yuanjun''s words, Dong Lijia yelled back, "Piss off! I''ll only be in love with girls!" While speaking, he quickened his pace.


    Deng Chenfei caught up with him and said, "That depends on what the apocalypse would be like? Would it be the eruption of all volcanoes? A tsunami? Or some kind of natural disaster?"


    Dong Lijia wasn''t expecting an answer like that. It made sense though. What he said could also end the world.


    "No," Dong Lijia said, "I mean virus infection and zombies. The whole city occupied by zombies, people falling into a panic¡­ Zombies all over the city, eating people. People have no food, water, no electricity, or the Internet."


    "Are you talking about Resident Evil?" Deng Chenfei looked at him and said, "If I knew that in advance, I''d certainly prepare food and water, vehicles, gasoline, and other supplies."


    Dong Lijia smiled and said, "You''re right. Anyone would think of that. But, that kind of thing only happens in films, right¡­" After saying that, he didn''t give Deng Chenfei another word, but looked at Lin Wenwen, who was dabbling her bare feet into the water.

 1196 Are You Guys Three?

    In the hot summer, treading upon the soft sands soaked in cool water could be a very soothing experience. The coolness dispersed the hotness inside her body through her feet.


    Qin Jiao turned to look at Dong Lijia from time to time. As he walked up, she hurriedly moved toward him with a smile.


    "It''s nice to walk on the beach at night, right?" Qin Jiao talked to Dong Lijia.


    "Yeah, it''s nice," Dong Lijia nodded.


    Luo Yuanjun looked at Lin Wenwen, who was walking in the water alone. Abruptly, he went up to her and kicked into the water toward her. His flip-flop flew at Lin Wenwen along with the water, and a loud sound of water was heard.


    Lin Wenwen nimbly turned around and dodged Luo Yuanjun''s childish attack. She noticed him the moment he moved, so how could she possibly let the water pour on herself?


    "Childish!" Lin Wenwen moved to the side and steadied herself, then habitually gave Luo Yuanjun a glare.


    "Hah! You actually dodged!" Luo Yuanjun looked at Lin Wenwen and said with surprise. Not even a single drop of water landed on her body.


    Hearing the noise he made, the others turned to him and Lin Wenwen.


    After watching Luo Yuanjun''s move, Dong Lijia had his eyes glowing. He sneakily walked up behind Lin Wenwen, but she soon saw him.


    "What do you want?" Lin Wenwen turned and looked at him expressionlessly.


    Being caught, Dong Lijia turned his head awkwardly. But in the next second, he burst in scream and kicked his foot that was in the water toward Lin Wenwen.


    "Oi!" Lin Wenwen automatically shouted out loud and nimbly leaped up, flashing a few meters away. The others looked at her in shock; she ran really fast and reacted swiftly!


    "Wow! Xinxin, you reacted fast!" Qin Jiao looked at her and said with a weird look on her face.


    "You too?" Lin Wenwen scolded Dong Lijia, "Are you guys three years old?"


    As both himself and Dong Lijia had failed to splash Lin Wenwen, Luo Yuanjun instantly got excited.


    "Oh my! You dodged twice in a row! You are nimble! When did you become a nimble fat person?" Luo Yuanjun moved up behind Lin Wenwen to the beach. There was no water there, but he could use the sands!


    Hearing Luo Yuanjun call her fat over and over again, Lin Wenwen finally grew upset. She suddenly turned and inserted a foot into the sand, then swung that leg toward Luo Yuanjun.


    Puff! The sand spread in the air and flew at Luo Yuanjun, who was meters away.


    Luo Yuanjun hurriedly attempted to dodge.


    "Oi, you guys! We''ve just had dinner. Don''t run so fast!" The quiet girl couldn''t help but say to Dong Lijia and Luo Yuanjun.


    After sending the sand toward Luo Yuanjun, Lin Wenwen quickly moved away from him and Dong Lijia, walking to the other side of the beach. Then, she turned and yelled at them, "Are you two idiots?"


    "Oi! Who are you talking to? You big Fat Ball! How dare you call me idiot!" Hearing what she said, Luo Yuanjun exploded and quickly went after Lin Wenwen.


    "Alright, Yuanjun," Deng Chenfei''s cold voice was heard, "Be quiet! Do you want to suffer a stomachache?"


    Being reminded by him, Luo Yuanjun instantly stopped moving. Then, he pointed at Lin Wenwen as he looked at Dong Lijia and complained, "What''s wrong with her? When did she become so sharp-tongued?"


    "I''ve told you that she has changed," said Dong Lijia. ''She''s not my Xinxin! God knows who she really is!'' he thought.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t want to say another word to them, so she turned and walked away alone.


    She walked along the beach and watched the spindrift climb onto the beach wave by wave. After an hour of strolling, the others all returned to the hotel, but Lin Wenwen didn''t. She spent another while walking on the beach, and then started jogging.


    Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui were standing on the terrace again. The former looked at the ocean and said, "Dong Xinxin seems to really have changed. She reacted fast just now, even managing to dodge Luo Yuanjun''s attack. She''s seriously nimble now."


    Lin Yuehui nodded, "Yeah, she seemed agile just now. Do you think she''ll wear a swimsuit tomorrow?"


    Tomorrow, they would spend a day on the yacht. They prepared to wear swimsuits because they might go down in the water in a shallow area or do some surfing.


    "She certainly won''t," said Qin Jiao.


    Lin Yuehui smiled and said, "You don''t know for sure. Let''s go to her room later and convince her to wear it. We''ll tell her that we''ll all be wearing swimsuits, and it''d be weird if she didn''t wear one. Have you forgotten that she fears attention the most? People will notice her if she dresses weirdly."


    "Oh, that''s right," Qin Jiao said with laughter.


    Lin Wenwen was exhausted by the time she went back to her room, where she had a nice hot bath. As she came out of the bathroom in a bathrobe, drying her hair with a towel, someone knocked on her door.


    She opened the door and saw Qin Jiao and Lin Wenwen. She rolled her eyes in her head, but didn''t show it on her face. She only looked at them with no expression.


    "Can I help you?" she asked.


    "Can''t we come here just to spend some time with you?" Qin Jiao looked at her with a big smile, "Xinxin, you''ve been cold with us lately. Come on, let''s chat!"


    "I heard that they''re gonna make barbecue tomorrow on the yacht, since we didn''t do it on the beach tonight," Lin Yuehui said, also with a smile.


    The two girls made their way in before Lin Wenwen invited them to.


    "Xinxin, everybody will wear a swimsuit tomorrow. Will you wear one?" Qin Jiao sat down on the couch and said to Lin Wenwen, making it sound like casual chat.


    "No," Lin Wenwen shook her head.


    "Why? We''ll all be wearing swimsuits," Lin Yuehui hurriedly joined the conversation, "It''s gonna be weird if you don''t¡­ Did you forget to bring your swimsuit? We''ve prepared one for you. We managed to find your size."


    Qin Jiao nodded quickly and added, "Yeah. We were worried that you might forget to bring one, so we had it prepared for you!"


    After saying that, she took out a paper bag and opened it to show Lin Wenwen what was inside it.


    Lin Wenwen clearly understood that the two girls would bother her for a very long time tonight, unless she agreed to do what they said. To make them leave as soon as possible, she should probably say yes.


    "But, I don''t want to wear it," she looked at the two and said.


    "Why? Everybody will be wearing a swimsuit. It''s really going to be weird if you''re the only one not¡­" Qin Jiao looked at her and said.


    Lin Yuehui knew Lin Wenwen would say that. With a grin, she said, "Are you worried that you might not look good in a swimsuit? Relax! This swimsuit isn''t revealing at all. It''ll cover your stomach. You really don''t need to worry!"

 1197 The Guest Who Visited Before Bed

    To match up with Lin Yuehui''s words, Qin Jiao took the swimsuit out of the bag to show it to Lin Wenwen. The swimsuit was indeed designed for overweight girls. It looked like a gauzy dress that could cover her body from the chest to the thighs.


    Lin Wenwen narrowed her eyes as she looked at the swimsuit. Indeed, she wouldn''t look too unpleasant to the eyes in that swimsuit. After all, it would cover her fat belly. However, would those two girls really kindly find her a swimsuit that was so perfect for her body shape?


    She reached out, wanting to take the swimsuit over to give it a closer look. However, Qin Jiao slightly moved it backward and dodged her hands, then put the swimsuit back into the bag.


    "Alright, we''ll leave this swimsuit here. You can put it on tomorrow. It really suits you. You don''t need to worry at all. You have to wear it tomorrow, okay?" Qin Jiao put the bag on the couch, then started to divert Lin Wenwen''s attention. "Xinxin, I think you''ve lost some weight lately. You''ve been working out all these days, right?"


    Lin Wenwen didn''t look at the bag again, but smiled at her and said, "Really? Can you tell?"


    "Yeah, yeah, we can tell!" Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui both nodded very quickly.


    They were lying. They knew that the people who were trying to lose weight liked to hear something like that the most. Therefore, in order to divert Lin Wenwen''s attention, Qin Jiao brought up that topic.


    The unsophisticated, seventeen-year-old Dong Xinxin would be easily distracted by that topic. She would be thrilled to hear something like that, and she would have forgotten about the swimsuit already. However, Lin Wenwen had, of course, seen through the two girls'' trick. She pretended not to know as she wore a small smile and said, "Really? I''ve been working out indeed."


    ''Are you done? Can you leave?'' she said in her head.


    Lin Wenwen seemed to have been distracted from the swimsuit already, so the two girls spent another while talking about some things that had completely nothing to do with the former. As Lin Wenwen started to look sleepy, they believed that she had forgotten about the swimsuit, and that she only wanted to sleep at the moment. Hence, they finally left.


    But once they left, the sleepy Lin Wenwen immediately adjusted her expression and looked clear-minded again. She expressionlessly walked to the couch and picked up the swimsuit, then spread it and observed it very carefully. Finally, she spotted the problem.


    She thought the two girls had done something to the swimsuit, such as cutting through some parts of it. The fabric was probably attached together, so holding it wouldn''t make it fall apart, but wearing it would. However, she found that it wasn''t like what she thought.


    The gauzy dress was glued onto the swimsuit. That kind of glue would dissolve in the water.


    "This is roughly crafted," Lin Wenwen found the glued part. She might not notice it if she didn''t look so carefully, but once she gave it a closer look, the glue was rather obvious.


    Was that a prank? If she wore the swimsuit tomorrow and the two girls ''accidentally'' poured water on her, the gauzy dress would fall off and expose her fat belly.


    That would be awkward and hilarious indeed.


    Lin Wenwen snorted and threw the swimsuit straight into the trashcan, then turned off the light. But before she went to bed, her door was knocked again.


    Speechlessly, she went to answer the door. She thought it was the two stupid girls again, but as she opened the door, she saw Luo Yuanjuna and Deng Chenfei.


    Luo Yuanjun had one hand resting in the pocket of his beach shorts and the other on the door frame. When she opened the door, he looked down straight at her. Meanwhile, Deng Chenfei had his arms folded before his chest. Like always, he was expressionless.


    "What? If you have something to say to me, can''t you do it tomorrow? Do you know what time is it now?" Lin Wenwen complained the moment she saw Luo Yuanjun''s face.


    It was midnight. Why on earth did the two boys come to her room?


    "We need to talk to you. Let''s get in first," Luo Yuanjun dropped his hand from the door frame, then pushed open the door and squeezed in. Deng Chenfei said nothing but followed him inside. It was the second time people went into her room without her permission. Lin Wenwen closed the door with a sullen face, then turned to look at the two.


    A seventeen years old girl would be intoxicated by the two boys'' pretty faces. Lin Wenwen didn''t notice that before, but as she carefully looked at the two boys now, she found them both looking slightly better than Dong Lijia.


    Once she closed the door, the two boys immediately changed their expressions and started to look at her from head to toe. Luo Yuanjun was looking at her body while Deng Chenfei had his eyes fixed on her eyes.


    Lin Wenwen spent a few seconds making eye-contact with Deng Chenfei. As the latter showed no sign of initiating a conversation, she said, "Why are you in my room in the middle of the night? Aren''t you afraid that Dong Lijia might find out?"


    Normally, a big brother wouldn''t be happy to know that some boys went into his little sister''s room in the middle of the night.


    Deng Chenfei squinted at her and abruptly asked her a question, "Who are you?"


    Lin Wenwen paused with surprise. She made herself stay calm, then raised her head and looked at his face as she said, "What are you talking about?"


    Deng Chenfei lowered his head to look at her, his sharp eyes looking straight into hers. With a serious face, he said, "Except for your face and body, you''re nothing like the Dong Xinxin that we know. Apart from twins, there''s only one in a million of the chance for two people to look exactly the same. We knew Dong Xinxin since she was a little girl. We''ve known her for over ten years. You had plastic surgeries to make yourself look like her, right? You think we can''t tell that you''re fake?"


    "I can''t believe you turned yourself into such a big fatso just to pretend to be Fat Ball," Luo Yuanjun joined the conversation, "You''ve invested quite an effort. Now tell us, what do you want?"


    "What are you talking about? I don''t understand," Lin Wenwen looked at the two bewilderedly.


    ''They seem to care a lot about Dong Xinxin. Is it because she''s Dong Lijia''s sister? Maybe Deng Chenfei is right. They''ve known her for over a decade. It''s reasonable that they know her well enough to realize that I''m not her¡­'' she thought.


    "You are not Dong Xinxin. Dong Lijia has changed too. He would never neglect Xinxin like this, unless you''re not his Xinxin," Deng Chenfei narrowed his eyes and said.


    "What''s wrong with you two? What are you talking about?" Lin Wenwen still pretended to be confused.


    At that moment, Luo Yuanjun suddenly stepped up to Lin Wenwen and pointed a finger at her heart as he stared at her in the eyes, "Your face looks like her face, and your body looks like her body. But in here, this soul isn''t her soul. Who the hell are you?"


    Watching him poke a finger straight into the girl''s chest, Deng Chenfei''s expression instantly became complicated. He wasn''t expecting Luo Yuanjun to do that!


    Lin Wenwen dropped her head and looked at that finger which had sunken into her flesh. She still wore no obvious expression, but her mouth corners did twitch slightly. Through clenched teeth, she said word by word, "Where-did-you-put-your-finger?"


    Luo Yuanjun was startled by the sharp look in her eyes. Following her words, he lowered his head to find his finger poking into her breast. No wonder it felt so soft!


    In the very next second, he froze.

 1198 Dont Touch Me!

    While Luo Yuanjun was frozen in shock, Lin Wenwen glared at him and gritted her teeth as she said, "Have you had enough?"


    Finally, Luo Yuanjun managed to react and hurriedly retraced his hand, then raised his head to look at Lin Wenwen with guilt. As a result, a chubby fist landed on his face once he raised his head.


    Thud!


    "Ouch!" Luo Yuanjun screamed as he covered one of his eyes with his hand and squatted in a corner.


    Deng Chenfei was twitching his mouth corners when he saw Luo Yuanjun freeze. He wanted to laugh. But in the next second, he watched Lin Wenwen punch him in the face, and then Luo Yuanjun turn around and squat with an eye buried in his palm.


    Deng Chenfei was stunned for a moment. Then, he looked at Lin Wenwen and said to her affirmatively, "You really are not Dong Xinxin, right? You said that time changes people, but Dong Xinxin was just normal less than half a month ago. How did she change so thoroughly within such a short time? Your personality, your habits, you''re like a totally different person."


    Time did change people, but it required time for the changes to happen. Only heavy mental strike or stimulation could cause such big changes within a short time.


    "Damn! Damn! How dare you hit me in the eye? What if I went blind?" Luo Yuanjun finally recovered from the pain. He sprung up and pointed at Lin Wenwen with one hand as he covered his eye with the other and yelled.


    "Don''t worry. Your eyes won''t go blind. I didn''t hit you hard. Next time, don''t touch me when you''re talking to me," Lin Wenwen said to him coldly, then turned to Deng Chenfei and continued, "If you''re only here to talk this nonsense with me, please leave. I have no time for you. I need to sleep."


    "I¡­ That was an accident¡­" Luo Yuanjun tried to explain. He felt a little embarrassed and guilty, so he talked with a very muffled voice.


    "Nonsense? If you''re pretending to be her, make sure you do a good job. From your face, I didn''t even detect one facial expression that Dong Xinxin would have! I asked Dong Lijia, but he wouldn''t tell me a thing. Who are you? What''s wrong with your family? Where is Dong Lijia?" Deng Chenfei looked at her coldly and asked.


    He gave Luo Yuanjun a glance, then continued, "Xinxin would never hit anybody! She would only step back shyly when someone offended her like that."


    Lin Wenwen carefully observed Deng Chenfei. He was rather perceptively stubborn. When he believed something firmly, it would be hard to change his mind. He had already realized that Lin Wenwen wasn''t Dong Xinxin. Lin Wenwen figured that he wouldn''t believe her if she kept pretending not to know anything.


    She then looked at Luo Yuanjun. Luo Yuanjun was naughty and silly, but as same as Deng Chenfei, he could be quite stubborn when he turned serious about something. Otherwise, he wouldn''t show up in Dong Xinxin''s room together with Deng Chenfei.


    She walked to the bed and sat down, creating a huge dent on the mattress. "I am Dong Xinxin," she said, "Believe it or not. Are you guys going to stay here tonight? I''m gonna sleep."


    It seemed that no matter what they said, she would not give them the answer that they wanted.


    Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun glanced at each other, both understanding her meaning. Indeed, they couldn''t linger in her room for too long. They had to leave now. There would be plenty of time for them to figure out the truth anyway.


    The two of them turned and headed toward the door. Luo Yuanjun covered one eye as he abruptly turned back, then pointed at Lin Wenwen and said, "Our Fat Ball would never be so violent. You are definitely not her!"


    After saying that, he quickly followed Deng Chenfei out of Dong Xinxin''s room.


    Lin Wenwen shrugged and said, "Just wait and see. She wants to kick your ass more than I do."


    She stood up and walked to the door to lock it, and then went back to the bed.


    That night, she had a dream, in which she saw her sister who was wearing Lu Tianyu''s skin, Lin Hao, Lin Feng, and the others. They were all fighting a difficult battle against those strange creatures that she saw earlier in her mind. The attacks they launched could barely harm those creatures, who kept attacking human beings and biting them. Each person on the scene was facing countless strange creatures. She didn''t see Yuan Tianxing though.


    She never saw that purple-skinned man whom she was very concerned about, again.


    "What? We need uninfected catmint? Where are we supposed to find uninfected catmint now?"


    "But, only the scent of fresh catmint can keep them away¡­"


    "All the plants out there are infected. There is no way we can find uninfected catmint¡­ They are not cats! Why is catmint effective to them?"


    "They would be thrilled to smell catmint if they were cats. But in fact, they are afraid of catmint¡­"


    In a lab, two men were talking about catmint.


    Lin Wenwen''s dream ceased after that conversation when she woke up in the morning. She wasn''t sure what those men were talking about. Those two men were strangers to her. However, she managed to grasp the information that uninfected fresh catmint was very important to them.


    She sat on the bed and closed her eyes, pondering upon what she saw in her dream. That dream felt so real and unreal at the same time.


    "Catmint? Does it have something to do with those strange creatures? He said they are afraid of catmint¡­" Lin Wenwen opened her eyes and got off the bed while murmuring to herself. She knew catmint as a type of plant. Was that dream trying to remind her to bring some uninfected fresh catmint from the past to the future?


    No matter what would happen, bringing some fresh catmint back to the past wouldn''t hurt. The two researchers in her dream seemed to have seen a gleam of hope, but had also been pushed toward one hopeless situation from another.


    She squinted toward outside; the sun hadn''t risen yet. Anyhow, she brushed her teeth, washed her face, and then tied up her hair before putting on a loose-fitting beach suit designed for men.


    The beach suit for men was loose and comfortable enough!


    She dressed up and drank a cup of warm water, then put on earplugs and picked up her phone before going out.


    Early in the morning, the beach was quiet; only a few people were jogging in the area. She inhaled the fresh air from the sea and did some warm up, and then started jogging along the beach.


    Around nine a.m., the others got up as well. Dong Lijia went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast, where he saw Luo Yuanjun and burst in laughter.


    "Hah! Young Master Luo, what happened to you? Hahaha¡­ What did you do last night?" Dong Lijia looked at Luo Yuanjun''s black eye as he sat on a chair and laughed out loud. The latter just silently glanced at him and then turned away.


    The others soon all came downstairs. Except for Deng Chenfei, everyone else exclaimed at the sight of his black eye, and asked him what he did last night to get himself a punch in the eye. If he told them that he fell and hit his eyes, no one would believe him.

 1199 Suppress Yuan Tianxing

    In the base, Lin Qiao stablized Yuan Tianxing''s condition and stayed in the hospital room, thinking about how to solve the problem more efficiently. She had used the energy contained in the large bucket of water, but the effect wouldn''t last for long.


    In two hours, she would probably need to renew the water. And when doing that, she also needed to control the energy in the water, which meant she couldn''t leave Yuan Tianxing''s side for more than two hours. If she couldn''t make it back in two hours to renew the water, his life would be in danger.


    Should she throw Yuan Tianxing directly into the lake in her space and then suppress the dark energy inside him with the power of the whole lake? She couldn''t come back to renew the water every two hours.


    It seemed that the best idea would be washing Yuan Tianxing clean and then throwing her into the lake.


    As for why wash him, she still needed to drink from that lake¡­ Well, she herself bathed in the lake all the time as well¡­ Em, the lake was probably not so clean anymore.


    Lin Qiao chose to ignore that awkward problem.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while thinking, then decided to put him into the lake. That would save her a lot of time and energy. So, she said to Lin Hao, "Help me wash him clean and put an underwear on him. After that, I''ll put him into the lake in my space. His condition may worsen at any moment. I''m afraid that I wouldn''t have so much time to make it back here to deal with it then."


    Lin Hao also felt that would be a good idea, so he nodded and said, "Alright, I''ll wash him."


    Before walking out of the room, Lin Qiao turned to remind him, "Get him clean¡­"


    Lin Hao stayed silent and told himself not to drink too much of the lake water. Maybe he shouldn''t drink it at all, unless he had no other choice.


    Lin Qiao waited outside the room. Half an hour later, Lin Hao came out with a sullen face and his sleeves rolled up. "It''s done," he said with a tired voice.


    Lin Qiao turned and walked into the room. Yuan Tianxing''s pants were gone, and his hair were wet. He was wearing only a white pair of underwear, and his entire body was dark purple, looking very weird.


    She reached out and held his arm, then brought him into the space. In the space, she showed up in the air upon the lake and threw him in.


    Plop!


    After throwing him off, Lin Qiao flashed to the lakeside, took off her own clothes, and dove into the water. Once in, she swam up to him like a fish and put a hand against his chest. By using her mind power, she gathered the surrounding energy in the lake. The green energy condensed and grew dark, accumulating around him and wrapping him up. His underwear dissolved in the energy as the energy covered his entire body up.


    Only when he was surrounded in the green energy did she slowly retract her hand and swim toward the water surface. She went back to the lakeside and put on her clothes, then flashed out of the space.


    Duan Juan and Lin Hao were waiting for her outside the room. They watched Lin Qiao disappear and then reappear in the room, and figured that she had brought Yuan Tianxing''s condition under temporary control.


    "Haven''t you made any progress on the development of the drug for his condition yet?" Lin Qiao came out and said to Lin Hao, her hair still wet.


    Lin Hao shook his head in response, and his handsome face wore a bitter look. "No. I''ve even tried the roots that you brought back from the cave last time," he said, "It didn''t work. I have no idea what can suppress that energy. I haven''t even figured out the nature of that energy yet. There isn''t gonna be a cure anytime soon."


    "Be patient!" Lin Qiao patted him on the shoulder and said, "I can stabilize his condition for now at least. We still can''t relax though. Work hard!"


    Lin Hao sighed, "If only Wenwen were here¡­ At least, she could give Yuan Tianxing that bath! She would be happy to take advantage of Tianxing¡­ I felt as if my eyes stung after I bathed him!"


    Recalling how he stripped Yuan Tianxing and bathed him just now, he felt very awkward. Yuan Tianxing''s body was so perfectly shaped that he was actually jealous. But, he liked girls, and had no interest in his body at all, especially that part of the man''s body. At first, he was curious about Yuan Tianxing''s size, but after comparing it with himself, he found it very unbearable to watch.


    And, he had to clean that part of Yuan Tianxing''s body. He even wanted to die when he was doing that. Lin Wenwen, who was into Yuan Tianxing, would be so thrilled to do that job!


    Noticing the look on his face, Lin Qiao laughed, "What? Yuan Tianxing has a nice shape, right? He''s a good-looking one. Are you jealous of him? Indeed, you two look quite different. You''re right though. Taking care of him when he''s in such a condition will be helpful for Wenwen as well. She''s not here though¡­ Eh, I can''t believe they had accidents at the same time."


    Seeing the look on Lin Hao''s face, Duan Juan also couldn''t help but turn up her lips in a smile.


    Lin Hao shrugged and said, "Who knows! Maybe they''re just destined to go through accidents at the same time."


    "Alright, this is it. I''m heading back," Lin Qiao waved at him and prepared to leave for home.


    Back home, the two kids were still playing in the living room while the noise of stir-frying was heard from the kitchen. She looked at the time. She was away for almost an hour. Hadn''t the man finished cooking?


    She had a towel on her head; her hair were half-dried and messy. She walked to Teng''s side and sat down, then scooped up the boy and put him on her knees.


    "Hm, you''ve gained some weight indeed. Can you stand now?" She put her hands under the boy''s arms to weigh him, then looked at the boy and asked.


    "Not yet," Teng shook his head as he looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    At that moment, Wu Yueling came to Lin Qiao''s side and looked at her adorably as she said with a small voice, "He¡­ crawls fast."


    He couldn''t stand up yet, but he crawled really fast.


    Lin Qiao looked at the little girl. Seeing the sweet smile on the girl''s face, she rubbed her head and smiled, "He''s always good at crawling. If he can stand up, he might learn how to run before walking."


    The boy was super energetic. If he were able to stand up, he would be going everywhere.


    She remembered Teng once became like a vine plant and came out of the lake in the space. At that time, he was active already. He could only run clumsily back then though.


    Lin Qiao''s words made Wu Yueling cover her mouth and chuckle. That really sounded like something her little brother would do. But, if he tried to run before he learned how to walk, he would probably fall!

 1200 Why Dont You Admit It?

    Actually, Teng fell a lot even though he had only been crawling around. Thinking about that, Wu Yueling grinned.


    Lin Qiao smiled at her, then turned to Teng. She pinched the boy''s pink and tender little feet as she said, "I was too impatient. Normal kids won''t be able to walk until they turn one or one and a half years old. But, they normally learn to crawl when they are over six months old. You''ve been crawling all over the house even before you turned a month old¡­"


    Teng was not an ordinary kid, as he grew a little too fast. As a baby who was able to talk once he was born, he should, of course, not be compared with normal children.


    "I''m teething¡­ My saliva¡­" Teng raised his head and said to Lin Qiao, who noticed a small stream of transparent liquid flowing down the corner of his mouth. She hurriedly looked for tissues, but Wu Yueling quickly took out a small towel and handed to her.


    "His¡­"


    Lin Qiao glanced at the towel and figured out it was a special towel to wipe Teng''s saliva. Since there was a towel, she decided to save the tissue. Sea City Base was able to manufacture tissues now. However, the raw materials needed to be collected from the outside. Therefore, tissues were still very precious.


    "Open your mouth and let me see your teeth," Lin Qiao wiped Teng''s mouth, then said to him expectantly. Thankfully, the boy reminded her before his saliva wet her shirt-front.


    "Ah¡­" Teng opened his mouth wide and let out a small ''ah'' sound. Lin Qiao tilted her head to look at his lower gum, then spotted two tiny, sharp teeth tips.


    "They''re growing fast," Lin Qiao gently felt the two sharp teeth with her fingers and said.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue brought a plate of vegetables out of the kitchen and put it on the table, "I think so too. Since he''s teething already, I think his stomach will soon be ready for solid food. Have you solved your problem yet?"


    "Kind of," Lin Qiao responded, "Only temporarily¡­ There is no real solution yet."


    "It''s a new type of power after all. We need time to crack it," Wu Chengyue gave her a glance, then turned and went back into the kitchen.


    Lin Qiao raised her eyes to look at him, then turned to Wu Yueling and said, "The meal is almost ready. Ling Ling, go and wash your hands in the bathroom, then go to your seat."


    Wu Yueling nodded, then obediently washed her hands. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao put a hand under Teng''s little butt and stood up, then walked to the kitchen door and glanced at Wu Chengyue, who was still in there. After that, she walked to the dining table and put Teng into his seat, then went into the kitchen and picked up a bowl as she asked, "Where is Teng''s food?"


    "In the clay pot," Wu Chengyue gave a glimpse to the clay pot, which was sitting on the stove.


    Lin Qiao found a spoon and opened the lid of the pot to see the golden egg porridge. While putting the porridge into the bowl, she asked, "When will you go back to Sea City?"


    "Do you want me to leave?" Wu Chengyue responded to her while dishing up the food.


    After fetching the egg porridge, Lin Qiao put the lid back onto the pot and glanced at him. She found the man wearing no expression. The look on his face didn''t change when he talked to her.


    He had his eyes fixed on the food while he was scooping it out from the pot and putting it into the plate. She saw his beautiful side face, which wore a serious look. Lin Qiao had gotten used to seeing him like that long ago. But every single time, she found herself attracted to him when he was working in the kitchen.


    Wu Chengyue put the food on the plate, then suddenly turned and looked at her in the eyes. With a smile, he said to her, "I found that you really like to watch me when I''m cooking. You were even obsessed with me some times. I guess I''m more charming than usual while I''m cooking."


    His smile ruined that attractive presence he had just now. On hearing what he said, Lin Qiao gave him a glare, then turned and brought Teng''s food out of the kitchen.


    Wu Chengyue received the glare and followed her out. While walking, he said to her, "Why don''t you admit it? When you were invisible and living in my place, you always watched me while I was cooking. Don''t you think that I didn''t know."


    "That was your illusion," said Lin Qiao coldly.


    She walked to Teng''s side and sat down, then picked up his tiny china spoon and stirred the steaming hot porridge in the bowl with it.


    "Mama, why don''t you admit it? You were watching him," Teng chose to stand on his father''s side.


    Lin Qiao paused and looked at him silently.


    With fright, Teng immediately turned to Wu Chengyue while murmuring, "I didn''t say anything wrong¡­"


    "Would you like to have this meal or not?" Lin Qiao looked at the back of his head and said with a frosty voice.


    Teng hurriedly turned back and dropped his hands while sitting straight, "Yes!" He made himself look like a good baby.


    "Don''t say anything that shouldn''t be said then," Lin Qiao said to him with displeasure.


    After saying that, she raised the bowl with one hand and the spoon with the other. She first gently blew at the porridge in the spoon, then felt its temperature with her own lips. As it was no longer hot, she reached it toward Teng and said, "Open your mouth."


    Wu Yueling who was sitting in her seat and waiting for her food, was looking at Teng too as she said seriously, "Eat well¡­ Don''t speak while you are eating¡­"


    Only Wu Chengyue and the two kids had the meal, while Lin Qiao was just there to feed the boy. With her help, the meal was a little easier for Wu Chengyue then the meals he had before.


    After dinner, Lin Qiao helped the two kids wash their feet and vital body parts. The weather was cold and dry, so she didn''t give the kids a full shower. Showering every day under such weather wouldn''t be good for them.


    "Mama, tell us!" After being washed clean, Teng started struggling in Lin Qiao''s arms again.


    "About what?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    "Didn''t you say that a lot of creatures have come out from underground? What do they look like? Oh¡­ my saliva is coming out again¡­" Before he could finish, his saliva streamed out of his mouth again.


    Lin Qiao wiped his mouth with the towel while saying, "Some of them look like huge worms and some are enormous monsters. There is one type of them with two legs each, and eyes all over the heads."


    Teng pictured the multiple-eyed creature, then said curiously, "What are they? Why did they come out from the underground?"


    Teng was only a little curious. Unlike him, Wu Yueling was a little frightened when she pictured that kind of creature in her head. Imagining a monster staring at her with countless eyes on its head, she felt so scared!

 1201 Future Sister-in-law

    While Lin Qiao was talking to the two kids in the room, Lin Kui and Qiu Lili were in Lin Jing''s place, talking to her. Their topic was also about those underground creatures.


    Lin Kui sat on the couch and said, "We saw those multiple-eyed creatures the first. A dark smoke came out together with them and killed the surrounding plants and animals. The dead animals soon rotted. Those multiple-eyed creatures seemed to like to eat rotten corpses."


    Both Qiu Lili and Lin Jing were looking at him with their shoulders shrinking. They didn''t even want to imagine that kind of a creature.


    "Alright, alright, stop talking about those multiple-eyed creatures¡­ You described so detailedly that my head of full of those creatures now!" Qiu Lili suddenly raised a hand to put Lin Kui away, then turned her face and complained.


    Lin Kui mildly smiled and said, "You two asked me first."


    "But, you didn''t need to give us so many details¡­" Qiu Lili turned back and pouted.


    Lin Jing smiled and said to her, "Kui can be a little too serious some times." She then said to Lin Kui, "Didn''t you say that you''ve seen some other creatures? What are they? Are they all monsters? Can they be mutated animals?"


    Lin Kui shook his head and said, "I don''t think they used to be any kind of animal we know. The current mutated animals don''t look so different from the way they used to. They are larger than before many times over and have attained superpowers, but their appearances remain recognizable. Oh, we''ve also met a six-footed, red, lion-faced big cat¡­ It has a snake tail though."


    On hearing him mention the big cat, Qiu Lili instantly had her red eyes glowing. "Is it the one that showed up near our base recently?" she said with great interest.


    "You saw it?" Lin Kui looked at her and asked with surprise.


    Qiu Lili nodded and said, "Yeah. It''s fast. It''s much faster than I am¡­ I heard from Chief that it followed you guys here."


    "Em. We were still in Xinjiang Province when we first met it. When it came out of the ground, all the plants near it turned into sand, but the animals in that area stayed unharmed¡­ How weird¡­" Lin Kui nodded and said with confusion.


    "But, Chief didn''t kill it," said Qiu Lili, "Didn''t it attack you guys? It has followed you guys to our base. Why didn''t Chief kill it?"


    She could still sense the vibe of that cat coming from a long distance away. It didn''t seem to threaten the safety of the base. But, she still felt that all the strange creatures were dangerous and hard the deal with. She felt that leaving them near the base might cause future problems; in fact, she felt the same about those underground gorillas.


    Lin Kui shook his head, "I''m not sure. Chief must have a good reason to do that. The cat walked away by itself. We don''t know if it''ll ever come back."


    Qiu Lili thought for a moment. Indeed, Lin Qiao might have a reason to do that. "I read the reports about those creatures before the meeting. But, I feel weird picturing them in my head, as I didn''t see them with my own eyes."


    "Have you seen any other underground creatures?" Lin Jing asked Lin Kui with curiosity.


    Lin Kui looked at her as he nodded and said, "We also saw some huge worms. Each of them is as thick as a huge bucket, about one and a half meter wide. When we saw them, the lower parts of their bodies were still buried underground. The part above the ground was over ten meters long, so I don''t know exactly how long they are."


    "Oh, Chief and the others said those might be mutated earthworms. Can earthworms really grow so huge? They have teeth in their mouth¡­ Ew, so disgusting! Do they have mucus on their skin or anything like that?"


    Lin Kui shook his head, "No mucus. Their skin is hard like stone. They like to bite their prey and spout saliva."


    On hearing that, Qiu Lili gave a slight sigh, "Oh, thank God! It would be so disgusting if they were as slimy as earthworms!"


    Picturing huge, slimy earthworms, Qiu Lili felt extremely uncomfortable.


    Lin Kui nodded in agreement, "That would be disgusting indeed!" Then, he looked at the time and stood up, "It''s quite late. We should be leaving. Sis, you can have an early rest. You need to work tomorrow, don''t you?"


    Lin Jing also looked at the time, then nodded and said, "Alright then."


    She stood up as well and walked the two to the door. With a gentle smile, she looked at them while sighing on the inside. It would be perfect if Qiu Lili were a little older than she was now. The two of them didn''t look like a couple at all!


    Qiu Lili, who had no idea that Lin Jing was already seeing her as her future sister-in-law, waved at her, then followed Lin Kui down the stairs.


    "Do you think those creatures will attack our base? They only showed up in remote areas, right?" Qiu Lili asked a question while walking.


    Lin Kui thought for a moment, "They liked to feed on human beings, so they might follow the human scent to our base. But, I think we still have plenty of time to prepare ourselves. They won''t find the bases so soon. Also, they eat zombies too. There are a lot of zombies for them to eat outside. I think they won''t come after human beings anytime soon."


    Large numbers of zombies existed in the world, but the numbers of those creatures were huge as well. Besides, they all had great appetites.


    The higher-leveled ones among them might choose to give up on the second-best food and seek delicious human beings. So, the time left for people to prepare themselves might not be very long.


    "Aren''t all those zombies enough to feed them?" Qiu Lili walked to his side as she raised her head to look at him and asked.


    Lin Kui slightly turned and gave her a glance as he responded, "If you were still a human being, would you like meat or flavorless steam buns?"


    "Meat!" Qiu Lili answered the question without thinking, "Steam buns are just dry and dull¡­"


    Lin Kui smiled at her mildly, "So, the smarter, high-leveled ones won''t be satisfied with zombies. They''ll follow the human scent and traces, and slowly approach the human bases to hunt."


    On hearing that, Qiu Lili dropped her head with her cheeks bulging, "Oh, when that happens, the human bases will be facing a huge disaster, right? Smart creatures like that won''t come alone."


    They would bring armies.

 1202 You Wont Be Alone

    Seeing Qiu Lili become a little worried and upset, Lin Kui slowed down on the stairs. He couldn''t help but reach out and gently rub her hair, "It''s gonna be fine. I believe that Chief and Chief Wu will figure out something to protect our base. We won''t lose our base."


    After all, they had all decided to settle down in the base. After such a long time, everyone in the base felt like they belonged there.


    Qiu Lili raised her head to give him a glance, then abruptly slapped his hand off her head and complained, "Don''t touch my head. You ruined my hairstyle. Did you touch my head because I''m shorter than you?"


    After saying that, she turned her face away and hopped off the stairs, putting on her sunglasses before walking out of the building.


    Lin Kui looked around, then took out his sunglasses and put them on as he followed her out. Before long, some people who lived in the building came out. None of them realized that Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, who visited the building a lot, were actually zombies.


    Not long after she left the neighborhood, Qiu Lili leaped high and disappeared. About ten seconds later, she showed up on top of the building where she lived in, in Base Number Two. Soon, she found her special spot and sat down.


    She didn''t like staying in her own room. Instead, she preferred spending time on the roof. Up there, she could feel the wind and see things far away. Quite a while later, the door led to the roof was opened again. A large black panther walked out of the door with elegant pace. It turned and looked at Qiu Lili, then wagged its long tail.


    Qiu Lili twirled. Seeing the panther, she blinked her eyes happily. Her red eyes even glowed more brightly than usual.


    "Come here!" She waved at Lin Kui.


    The panther slowly walked to her, then nimbly hopped up to her side and sat down. His long tail constantly swayed from side to side. Qiu Lili reached out and stroked the panther''s chest fur. It was so smooth and soft that she never got tired of rubbing it.


    The black panther flipped his tail quickly, then turned to say to her, "In fact, I wanted to say this long ago. Even though we are not human beings anymore, this can still be considered as harassment. Is my chest muscular enough?"


    Every time, the girl stroked him either on the chest or the head. That made him feel weirdly itchy in the heart.


    Hearing what he said, Qiu Lili paused briefly, then hurriedly retracted her hand. In the next second, she realized that she might have overreacted. She didn''t need to take back her hand, did she?


    So, she immediately raised her head to look at the black panther, who was taller than her even while sitting on the ground, and complained, "What are you talking about? You''re taller than me even sitting down. I can only reach your chest. Do you want me to touch your claws instead? Do you think that I''m too short?"


    "If you want to touch my paws, I''m okay with it," Lin Kui reached a paw toward her.


    Qiu Lili grumpily slapped off his large, black paw, then turned away, slapping his face with her long ponytail in the process, then pouted while murmuring, "No! Your paws tread on the ground. They''re so dirty! Besides, you could have stayed away from me if you really didn''t want me to touch you."


    Sometimes, he just brought himself to her!


    Lin Kui looked at her side face. His panther face wore a small smile, and his round panther eyes were narrowed. Behind his body, his long tail flipped Qiu Lili''s hair from time to time.


    "I heard you were the first to follow Chief. How did you two meet each other? Did you have a fight?" I heard that she was weak back then," he said.


    Recalling her first time meeting Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili smiled and said, "She was weak indeed. She was only at level three or four. We didn''t fight though. She was passing by, and I sent out my zombies to bar her road. I wanted her to go the other way, because that area was my territory. But, she didn''t just turn and leave like the other zombies would. Instead, she stopped her car right there. I was wondering why there was the sound of a car. I didn''t sense any human scent from that car, but only the scent of a zombie¡­ So I went there to see and saw her in the driver''s seat, looking at me quietly."


    Speaking of how she met Lin Qiao, Qiu Lili grew a little excited and carried on, "Then, we observed each other through a safe distance. Normal zombies can''t drive, right? So, I felt that she was really weird¡­ I gave her a few roars to ask her who she was, and then she opened the door and got off the car. She was wearing a clean camouflage suit. Her face was ugly, but her vibe was clean and pure. She took out a small notebook and wrote me a note. At that time, I realized that she was like me. She had memory and humanity. I felt like I had finally met someone who could be a family of mine."


    While speaking, Qiu Lili smiled a bitter, sad smile while the red light in her eyes dimmed slightly. "Before I met her, I felt so lost. I was all lonely, with no one to rely on. I was so scared. I turned into a zombie, but I still had my human memory. I felt as if I''m still a human being, but my body has become a zombie. I didn''t dare to get close to humans, neither did I want to be with the other zombies who ate people like brainless beasts."


    Lin Kui had never seen Qiu Lili like that. In his eyes, she was an unsophisticated, proud, and frank little girl. She was always happy. Except for Chief, she didn''t seem to care about anyone else. He didn''t know that she could be so sentimental.


    He couldn''t help but raise a paw to pat her head, but before touching her, he recalled her complaint about his paws being dirty. So, he wiped his paw on his chest, then patted the girl''s head with it.


    His movement woke Qiu Lili up. She slapped on the paw that he hadn''t retracted yet and yelled at him with a mad little face, "How dare you touch my head with your paw! Your paw is dirty!"


    "I wiped it clean," Lin Kui explained innocently while his paw froze in the air.


    Qiu Lili snorted, then turned away and refused to say another word to him. But then, she looked into the distance and said, "If I didn''t meet Qiaoqiao, I''d still be out there with those mindless zombies¡­ I''m afraid of being alone¡­"


    Lin Kui looked at her and stayed silent for two seconds, then said, "Don''t worry. You will never be alone again. I¡­ We are all here with you. As long as we still have this base, you won''t be alone."


    While the two of them were sitting there and chatting. A gray-haired head stuck out from the corner of the roof of another building. The zombie old man''s face wrinkled in a smile when he looked at the pretty girl and the beast.


    Woosh! A small figure showed up behind the old man and rolled his eyes, then walked over while holding the old man''s arm and dragging him away.


    "Eh? What are you doing? Four, where are you taking me?" Old Guo gave a start as Four suddenly dragged him backward. Turning and seeing Four, he immediately talked to the boy with a low voice.


    Four raised a notebook and showed him a line¡ª''Are you so bored that you even need to eavesdrop on their conversation? Help me with the study if you have so much time!''

 1203 Should He Cry or Laugh?

    Reading Four''s note, Old Guo wore a bitter face, "I''m so old. How can I still remember the classes they taught in elementary school? Besides, I was never a teacher¡­"


    He was really a bad student when he was in school! Studying could kill him, not to mention teaching.


    Four wrote him another note¡ª''How about you teach me the basics? You''re an adult. You must know more characters than I do!''


    Old Guo looked at him and stayed silent for a few seconds.


    He was not sure about that. For many words, he had even forgotten how to spell them! If the boy were still studying primary school classes, he might be able to help, but the boy was already reading the textbooks from junior high! He barely knew those rarely-used characters on the textbooks.


    "Eh-hem, um, maybe you should go and ask Lili to teach you. I''m too old¡­ I have a really bad memory¡­ and I have poor eyesight¡­" Old Guo looked around, then turned and prepared to run away. Before leaving, he pointed at Qiu Lili and Lin Kui.


    Four looked at him silently.


    Bad memory? Poor eyesight? Couldn''t he come up with a slightly better excuse?


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao spent an hour playing with the two kids in the living room, then put them on their bed. After that, she came down and sat in the living room, starting to do her work.


    Even though All Beings Base only had a small population currently, there was still a lot of work to do. After all, the base was newly constructed. She had just returned from the outside, so she needed to recheck the progress of all projects that were going on. As Yuan Tianxing wasn''t able to work at the moment, she had to fill in his place and take part in many small things.


    Wu Chengyue cleaned the kitchen, then came out and took a shower. After that, he sat down on the armchair near Lin Qiao and took out a stack of files which were from Sea City Base, starting to work as well.


    The two of them stayed quiet, without disturbing each other. Only the sounds of turning pages and writing were heard from the living room.About three hours later, Wu Chengyue finally gave a long sigh and closed the last file in his hands, then picked up all his files on the tea table and put them in a file folder.


    Then, he looked at Lin Qiao, who didn''t seem to stop working at all. So, he stood up and put his file folder on a cabinet near the wall, then sat down beside her. After that, he took away the file in her hand and threw it on the tea table.


    "What?" Lin Qiao, who was focusing on the file, gave a start, then turned and glared at him displeasedly.


    "It''s time to rest. Are you going to work the whole night? There are still so many files for you to read," Wu Chengyue said to her with a smile, then glanced at the stack of untouched files on the armchair nearby.


    "Can''t I work the whole night? I don''t need to sleep," Lin Qiao gave him a glance, then picked up the file which was thrown onto the tea table and kept reading.


    She had tons of works to do now. She needed to finish all those files tonight, and she needed to go to the zombie army tomorrow to upgrade her zombie soldiers. At least, she needed to upgrade a few of the zombie leaders who followed her out of the base for the mission this time. As for Xie Dong, she needed to get him to level-seven as soon as possible.


    More level-seven zombies meant stronger the defense for the base.


    Once again, Wu Chengyue pulled the file out of her hand, then looked at her in the eyes with a bitter smile, "Can you make some time for me? In your heart, Teng, Lin Feng, and your other families are number one important, the base number two, the zombie army number three, and those new underground creatures number four¡­ What about me? Don''t you find me too pitiful? I''m the one closest to you now¡­"


    While speaking, he even found himself so woeful. Was it really like what Lin Feng said that the period before the relationship between him and his wife was established officially was the hardest?


    Lin Qiao silently gave him a glance. He did sound pitiful, but¡­


    "What do you want?" Her relationship with him wasn''t determined yet. Deep down, she had started to accept him indeed, but she wasn''t ready to act that way yet.


    "Sleep with me," Wu Chengyue looked at her and said with a smile, "You don''t need to sleep, but I do. I''m still a human being."


    He didn''t want to sleep on the bed alone while they were both at home. The bed was hers. Even if they weren''t going to have sex, it would be nice if she could warm the bed for him.


    Well, the zombie lady''s body was cold actually. He only felt her body temperature rise when he had sex with her. So, if he really wanted to warm the bed, he would still have to do that thing with her. But¡­ if he made that kind of attempt right now, she might throw him out of the window.


    Not long ago, the two of them were entrapped by Teng. That night was pretty long for her.


    Lin Qiao squinted at him silently.


    "Just sleep," Wu Chengyue continued, "I won''t do anything unnecessary. Okay?"


    Lin Qiao looked around and said, "If you want to sleep, just go and sleep. Why do you want me to do that with you? Even if I don''t need to work or sleep, I still have to absorb energy nuclei to strengthen myself."


    Wu Chengyue looked at her, feeling speechless.


    So, was strengthening herself the fifth important thing to her? He ranked the last anyway, didn''t he?


    He turned and looked around. Seeing the kids'' room, he suddenly had an idea. "Think it as my reward for taking care of the kids these days," he said with a grin, "As a base leader, I''m here babysitting for you. Aren''t you gonna pay me for that?"


    Lin Qiao stayed silent. It would seem heartless indeed if she said no to that.


    She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Emm¡­ you said that we''re only going to sleep. I remember reading about that somewhere before. ''The lies of boys that girls always tend to believe'', em, yeah, it was mentioned in that article. When a boy tells a girl that they would do nothing but purely sleep, ninety-nine percent the chance it would turn out to be a lie."


    Wu Chengyue looked at her embarrassedly and didn''t say anything. He felt being wronged for no reason. He was not that kind man. He did have that kind of thought just now, but he gave up because she might throw him out of the window!


    He raised both hands and said, "I didn''t lie! I promise! Eh¡­ hem, at the very most, I might hold you in my arms. That''ll be okay, right?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him quietly. ''Don''t push it'', she said to him using her eyes, seeing which, Wu Chengyue''s vibe immediately grew weak.


    Lin Qiao turned her eyes on the files on the tea table and said, "Alright. I''ll be lying by your side, absorbing energy. If you do anything unnecessary to affect me, there will be consequences."


    Wu Chengyue wasn''t sure if he should cry or laugh.

 1204 Purely Sleep

    Letting him lying on the same bed with her was already the biggest concession that Lin Qiao could make.


    Some might say that she was too cold or heartless, but she didn''t care. Wu Chengyue had done a lot for her, and he wanted to be with her. However, that didn''t mean he could change her way of living. They had a son together, so she allowed him to be the father of her son instead of keeping Teng for her own. That should be enough.


    She had the right to choose her own life. A man who pursued her really hard could not change her life. She was preparing to spend the rest of her life alone. At least before, she never planned to marry any man,


    She was able to survive in the post-apocalyptic era and protect the people she cared about. What did she need a man for? Hadn''t she been living a perfect life without a man in her life? Besides, she wasn''t like the animals that needed to mate in the mating seasons. It was nice to have no desires. She was never very into sex anyway¡­ She could totally live without a sex life.


    Her principles for life hadn''t changed. Even though she might have gradually accepted Wu Chengyue as a part of her life, it did not mean that he was allowed to do anything he wanted.


    Because of Teng, he had been in a special position in her heart. She had been keeping a balance in her relationship with the man in a complicated way. He was the only man so special to her.


    It required love for two people to build a family. Before there was love, they needed to like each other. To start liking each other, they had to have good feelings for each other.


    It sounded simple, but was hard to do. At first, she and Wu Chengyue did not even like each other; they even fought a few battles. After all that happened later on, Wu Chengyue''s good feelings for her gradually turned into fondness, and then he fell in love with her and started to understand her.


    Lin Qiao could sense how his feelings toward her changed. But, she couldn''t be like him. After all, not everyone would fall in love with the person who loved him or her. They were just strangers at the beginning.


    She knew that ever since Teng was born, Wu Chengyue had been seeing that little boy as a very important part of his life, and that he really cared for her too. If she weren''t as strong as he was already, her feelings for him might be more like gratitude.


    The harm she suffered before made her seal herself up. She no longer expected a relationship, but cared only about her family. But to her surprise, Wu Chengyue pursued her so persistently. Thankfully, he wasn''t doing that in a sick way. After knowing him for such a long time, learning what kind of a man he was, and how he really felt about her, she couldn''t say that she still had no feelings for him. She just didn''t have the courage to invest too much hope in him.


    Therefore, letting him stay in her place and sleep on her bed was the biggest concession she could make at the moment. She could not offer him anything more than that.


    "Alright. I promise I won''t do anything else. Is that okay?" The best he could do was to hold her like holding a teddy bear to comfort himself. That part of his body would have to suffer some discomfort though.


    Wu Chengyue said to her smilingly, with his face twitching slightly. He was also crying on the inside, not sure if he were happy or unhappy. He was allowed to hold the woman he loved in his arms without doing anything else but purely sleeping. Well, any man would understand that faint kind of sadness.


    Lin Qiao seemed to have sensed his feelings. She turned and gave him a glance, and he immediately responded to her with a grin. His strong vibe was completely gone.


    Lin Qiao sorted the files on the tea table, then stood up and turned off the light in the living room before going into the bedroom.


    She went straight onto the bed and lay down, then took out a level-eight energy nucleus from her space and held it in her hand. After giving Wu Chengyue another glance, she closed her eyes and started to absorb the energy.


    She let him stay by her side while she was absorbing the energy, meaning that she trusted him hugely! Normally, people would find a quiet place to hide to absorb energy, so they wouldn''t be disturbed. Hopefully, the man would be content with what he had.


    Wu Chengyue walked in. Finding that she was really absorbing energy as she had said, he sighed in his head. However, he did understand that letting him lie by her side while she was absorbing energy meant that she trusted him more than before now.


    He pulled up the blanket that covered her, then sat on the bed and turned off the light. After lying down, he did nothing but quietly looked at the ceiling as her aroma filled up his nose.


    The aroma wasn''t as faint as before when he slept on that bed alone; it was fresh this time.


    He felt a strong stream of power flow into her body through her palm, travel through her entire body, and then flow into her heart. In her heart, the energy was purified, and then sent into her brain.


    It was not like how human beings absorbed energies. When a human absorbed energy, the energy wouldn''t linger in his or her heart. Instead, it would go through all the internal organs and then flow into the brain.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t fall sleep, but quietly felt the energy flowing inside Lin Qiao''s body, and also observed the change of her vibe.


    When her absorption of energy reached a stable state, he quietly moved his hand and held her hand that was near him. Lin Qiao was holding the nucleus with the other hand, so he managed to touch her free hand. Slowly, he put his hand into hers.


    Her hand was still cold. Her body was only slightly warmer than a corpse.


    His movement was very gentle and slow, so the zombie lady didn''t react to it. However, before he could carefully feel her skin. a stream of power suddenly flowed out of her palm and into his. That was exactly the energy that she was absorbing.


    ''Eh? What''s happening?''


    He only wanted to hold her hand, not share the energy that she was absorbing¡­


    What should he do? Should he let go of her hand? He had never heard about two people absorbing energy together. Would she be affected if he let go? Would that cause a sudden energy disorder? But, if he didn''t let go, would she open her eyes and glare at him very fiercely in a few minutes?


    That was awkward.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t move his hand. He was so unprepared for what was happening! He was hesitating. Should he let go or not? Normally, a superpowered person wouldn''t react to anyone or anything else while he or she was absorbing energy, unless something was affecting that person strongly. It was like that back in the ancient times when the martial artists practiced their inner power, a gentle movement made by the others wouldn''t affect them. Superpowered human beings should be the same. Was she different? Was it because she was a zombie?


    Right at that moment, Wu Chengyue felt that Lin Qiao suddenly clenched her fingers and held his hand tightly. He gave a start and turned to look at her. But in the darkness, her facial expression didn''t seem to have changed at all.

 1205 Their Hands Couldnt be Separated

    At that time, the energy that had flowed into Wu Chengyue''s body through his palm started to spread in his veins and muscles, then move toward his head. Lin Qiao was still absorbing the energy, but had spared a part of it for Wu Chengyue.


    ''I didn''t mean this to happen. Please don''t be mad!'' Wu Chengyue prayed in his head. He couldn''t retract his hand now even if he wanted to, because she was holding it tightly.


    He had no idea if Lin Qiao was holding him unwittingly or consciously. She should have sensed that he was absorbing the energy too, right? After all, she was able to feel the flow of energy.


    Did she hold his hand because letting go would cause a problem?


    ''Can''t let go.'' At that moment, a voice was suddenly heard from his head.


    Wu Chengyue gave a start. That voice wasn''t clear, but he knew that it was Lin Qiao''s voice. What was happening?


    Telepathy?


    ''I know what you''re thinking now.'' Lin Qiao''s voice was heard again, sounding a little displeased. She was trying to tell him not to think about anything that he should not be thinking about.


    Wu Chengyue immediately erased all the thoughts he had, then asked her in his mind, ''What should I do now? Stay like this?''


    ''You can''t let go even if you want to. Feel it. Try to cut off the energy,'' Lin Qiao said.


    Wu Chengyue gave it a try and found that she was right. He wasn''t able to cut off the energy that had connected the two of them together. So now, their hands couldn''t be separated.


    ''What''s going on?'' he asked.


    ''How am I supposed to know?'' said Lin Qiao, ''I told you not to do anything unnecessary. You wouldn''t listen.''


    Embarrassed, Wu Chengyue stayed silent for a few seconds, then said to her, ''So we have to wait until you absorbed this whole nucleus?''


    ''Probably.''


    The level-eight beast nucleus contained a huge amount of energy. Based on their current absorption rate, it might take days for them to absorb it entirely. After all, the energy contained in a level-eight nucleus was greater than that in a level-seven one by ten times at least.


    As a zombie, Lin Qiao was special. For a level-eight superpowered man like Wu Chengyue, a couple of days wouldn''t be enough for him to absorb a level-eight nucleus. Now, they had to stay together holding hands for day, and they couldn''t fully wake up. Wu Chengyue wondered if they could absorb thirty percent of the energy nucleus by the morning.


    Currently, the two of them were both thinking about one thing¡ªThe two kids would need to get up alone tomorrow morning.


    Thankfully, Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng would both come in the morning to pick up the files that had been read and signed, and drop some new. So, those two would discover the awkward situation of their Chiefs.


    As they thought, Teng woke up the first in the morning. He sensed the unusual energy wave in the room next door once he woke up. He leaned forward and twitched his tiny nose, then wore a confused look.


    "Eh? What are Mama and Daddy doing?" Teng sat on the bed. He was still tiny, and the winter quilt was thick. He was buried in the quilt, so even after sitting up, he could only stick the top of his head out of the quilt. He raised his arms and struggled for a while, finally pulling off the quilt and exposing his face. Then, he spent a short while thinking.


    The energy waves that he had been feeling from his Mama and Daddy were similar to what happened when he made them make love the first time, but not exactly the same. Back then, the energy waves weren''t so strong.


    "Ling Ling, get up, get up!" He turned and started shaking Wu Yueling, who was lying next to him.


    "Em¡­" Wu Yueling let out a small moan from under the quilt, then moved slightly and fell asleep again.


    Teng started to shake her very hard, also uttered his deafening baby scream, "Get up! It''s morning! Get up! Get up! Geeeeeet uuuuuuup!"


    Finally, Wu Yueling reluctantly reached an arm out of the quilt. But in the next second, she shrank that arm back under the quilt once she felt the cold air outside. Then, she once again curled in the quilt and stopped moving.


    "Get up! Don''t sleep late! Get up!" Teng pushed and yelled at her again.


    "Ooh¡­" Wu Yueling gave a weak complaint as she struggled to sit up. Her eyes were still closed though. Her messy hair covered her face, and some even stood up.


    As she sat on the bed, the quilt pulled up before her and buried her neck. She pushed away the quilt with one hand and rubbed her eyes with the other.


    "Get off the bed! Get off the bed! Put on your clothes and shoes! Then, help me get dressed!" Teng crawled out of the quilt and gave orders to Wu Yueling.


    "Hmm¡­ Eh? Daddy¡­ not here?" After rubbing her eyes, Wu Yueling finally started waking up. She looked around, but she didn''t see her Daddy. Normally, Daddy would come to wake her and Teng up.


    Teng crawled to the bedside and sat there as he said, "Just get off the bed and put on your clothes. Daddy and Mama won''t come here now. Let''s get dressed and go to their rooms to see what''s happening."


    Wu Yueling didn''t really understand what he said. However, as the little boy kept urging her to get the clothes, she obediently got off the bed and put on her fluffy little slippers, then made a few steps toward the chair where the clothes were put on.


    She first picked up Teng''s clothes and clumsily put them on the boy. Thankfully, Teng was cooperative. He raised his arms so she could put them into the sleeves. After the sweater, Wu Yueling put the coat on him. As she prepared to put the socks on the little boy, Teng stopped him.


    "Alright, alright, just put on your own clothes first then come to help me wear socks. It''s cold. Don''t catch a cold," Teng pushed her away and said to her while lowering his head to do his buttons.


    It was cold in the morning indeed.


    Wu Yueling found her own clothes and put them on. While doing that, she said word by word, "I won''t¡­ catch a cold. I am¡­ healthy."


    She had healing power. She didn''t know much about the self-protection system yet, but she could feel that her body wouldn''t become ill.


    Teng raised and gave her a glance, then said, "Oh yeah, you have healing power."


    Wu Yueling put on her clothes, then turned to put socks on the boy. After that, she first opened the door, then came back to lift Teng from the bed and walk out. She couldn''t open the door while carrying Teng in her arms after all.


    "Why didn''t¡­ Daddy come?" While carrying Teng toward the door, she asked the boy curiously.


    Teng rubbed his pink and tender cheeks and said, "I don''t know. Let''s go and take a look first."

 1206 They Have to Wait for Two or Three Days

    The two kids came out of their room and went to the door of Lin Qiao''s bedroom. Wu Yueling twirled the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. Then, the two kids stuck their heads into the door to look at their parents.


    The two parents were both lying quietly and unharmed. However, a stream of energy was flowing inside their bodies. The kids couldn''t see the energy, but were able to feel it.


    Wu Yueling had triggered her superpower, so she could more or less sense the energy. Meanwhile, Teng was a special kid. Even though he hadn''t triggered his superpower yet, he could still sense a lot of things, such as the presentiment that had been occurring recently and the energy inside his parents'' bodies.


    "Daddy?" Wu Yueling looked at the two people on the bed, whose eyes were closed, and then at Teng. She wanted to go near them and wake them up, but the unusual energy coming from their body scared her. So, she stayed by the door and called her father gently.


    "Alright, don''t call them," Teng said to her, "They won''t wake up now. Let''s get closer to see how they''re doing now."


    He couldn''t even feel the spirit connection between his Mama and himself, meaning that his parents couldn''t hear Wu Yueling right now.


    "Why?" Wu Yueling looked at him confusedly. While speaking, she slowly moved toward Lin Qiao''s bed.


    "Because they can''t hear you," Teng held Wu Yueling''s neck to prevent himself from falling, then turned to look at his parents while answering her question. While walking closer and closer to the bed, she gave him a glance without fully understanding what he said.


    As Wu Yueling stopped walking, Teng spent quite a while staring at the two on the bed, then sighed with relief, "They''re fine. But, I think it''ll take about two days for them to wake up. Alright, let''s go."


    While speaking, he pointed at the door.


    With hesitation, Wu Yueling glanced at the two on the bed, then carried Teng out of the room, "But, no one is going to boil the water for us to wash our faces¡­"


    "You don''t need to worry about that," said Teng carelessly, "Aunty Duan and Uncle Xiao will be here soon. We can ask them to boil the water for us. Let''s just sit on the couch and wait for them."


    So, the two kids, who hadn''t brushed their teeth yet, cuddled in a blanket and curled on the couch to wait for the aunt and uncle to come. They had to wait there for two hours, because they got up too early.


    Teng sensed the two before they even came to the door. "Hurry up, go, go, open the door! They''re here!" he hurriedly pushed Wu Yueling.


    Wu Yueling got off the couch and put on her shoes, then turned back to wrap Teng up with the blanket. Only after doing that did she run to the door and step onto a stool, the twirl the doorknob and open the door.


    Holding the door, she stuck her head out of the door and looked outside, seeing two people coming from the hallway near the stairs. After opening the door, she ran back to the couch and got onto it, cuddling with Teng to make herself warm.


    Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng ran into each other on the stairs. Duan Juan lived in the building, and Xiao Licheng was just coming up. As they arrived at Lin Qiao''s apartment, they found the door open already. Looking inside, the saw the two kids curling on the couch, looking at them with sparkling eyes.


    "Eh? Lin Qiao? Did you guys sleep late today?" Seeing the two kids'' messy hair, Xiao Licheng came in and closed the door, then dropped his bag and asked the kids with surprise. Then, he turned to the door of Lin Qiao''s bedroom, as if he had suddenly sensed something.


    "Something is happening in Chief''s room," Duan Juan said to him seriously. She hadn''t even dropped the things in her hands yet.


    Xiao Licheng nodded; he had felt that too. The two of them walked to Lin Qiao''s bedroom together and knocked on the door, then opened it and looked inside. Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were lying on the bed quietly, without reacting to them at all.


    Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng glanced at each other, then walked toward the bed.


    "Uncle¡­" Wu Yueling stood by the door and held the door frame as she stuck her upper body in and looked at the two while calling Xiao Licheng. The latter immediately twirled back to look at the girl with surprise, "Ling Ling, did you just call me?"


    Wu Yueling nodded slightly.


    Xiao Licheng walked to her happily and bent over, then scooped her up and said, "Great! Call me again!"


    The kid actually talked! When did she start to talk? Why didn''t he know about that?


    "Uncle¡­ We haven''t¡­ brushed teeth and washed faces yet¡­" Wu Yueling looked at him and said carefully.


    "Did you two get up by yourselves? Have they been like this the whole morning?" Duan Juan made a few steps toward Xiao Licheng and said to Wu Yueling with a soft voice.


    Wu Yueling nodded again.


    Xiao Licheng was happy to know that the kid had started to talk, so he instantly forgot about the two on the bed. After all, the little girl never had the courage to talk again since her father lost control of himself and scared her. It had been quite long. Xiao Licheng thought it would take longer for her to recover from that trauma.


    "It''s okay. I''ll boil the water for you guys and fix you two some breakfast. Just wait for a few minutes," Xiao Licheng said. He didn''t plan to ask the kids about what happened to their parents. After all, the kids might not know.


    The two on the bed seemed to be in a strange state. It looked like that they were absorbing energy together. Anyway, they seemed fine, so taking care of the two kids was more important.


    "When will they wake up? Is that a level-eight beast nucleus in her hand? Based on the amount of energy left in that nucleus, they didn''t absorb much last night. Can''t they stop the absorption?" Duan Juan turned to the two on the bed and said.


    Her Chief had a full schedule today. She wouldn''t possibly absorb energy at that time of the day. So, since she still didn''t wake up, there must be an accident. She was definitely unable to wake herself up.


    She guessed the Wu Chengyue was in the same situation.


    Xiao Licheng had already walked out of the room. He didn''t take Duan Juan''s words seriously, but said to her, "I guess they won''t wake up until they have absorbed that beast nucleus entirely. Come on, Ling Ling, you two sit on the couch. I''ll go and boil the water for you."


    Duan Juan put her bag on a cabinet in the living room near the wall. On that cabinet was Wu Chengyue''s bag and a stack of files that he put there last night. After dropping her bag, she looked for a comb to brush Wu Yueling''s hair.


    At that time, Teng sat up from the blanket and said, "Don''t worry. Mama and Daddy will wake up in a few days. So, just pile their works up in the next few days."


    Duan Juan found the comb. Hearing Teng''s words, she smiled as she sat down beside Wu Yueling, "What else can we do? That''s our only choice."


    "Is your Uncle Xiao good at cooking?" she asked Wu Yueling while brushing the girl''s hair.


    After a short silence, Wu Yueling turned to look at the kitchen, then leaned toward Duan Juan and whispered to her with hesitation, "Not as good as Daddy¡­"


    She meant that Xiao Licheng''s food was edible, but not good.

 1207 Complicated Relationship

    At that moment, in a research office in All Beings Base, Leng Xuantong read the file in his hands over and over again, then said sullenly, "So, apart from those underground gorillas, so many new types of underground creatures have come out. Where the hell are those creatures from? Is there a portal leading from the comic world to here underground? Is the portal bringing all the imagined creatures to our world?"


    He, of course, was only making a metaphor. Those creatures didn''t seem to belong to this world indeed. They might not be from the comic world, but no one could tell for sure if there were an unknown world underground or not.


    On his left side, Lin Hao was sitting on a chair, leaning against the back of the chair as he sighed with a frown. He couldn''t help but complain, "At first, we thought zombies are the most terrifying things in the world, but it turned out that the shortage of food is a lot worse. Then, we found mutated plants and mutated animals. The whole world is mutating, including human beings. And then, the apocalypse happened again. And now, a bunch of strange and powerful creatures have shown up. Why on earth do they all love eating people? Can''t they eat plants? Can''t they eat anything else?"


    Leng Xuantong gave him a glance and responded to him with a bitter smile, "Otherwise, why are we calling this time the post-apocalyptic era? It''s like we''ve gone back to the primitive time."


    Lin Hao looked at Leng Xuantong as he adjusted his expression and said, "Alright, enough of the complaining. How''s your research going? Aren''t those underground gorillas afraid of that plant root? Will it work for the other underground creatures?"


    "No," Leng Xuantong shook his head and said, "It''s only effective on the underground gorillas."


    Lin Qiao brought back three different types of underground creatures on her way back to the base for Leng Xuantong to do experiments. She brought two types of creatures alive, and the other one type dead. That creature constantly released poisonous gas when it was alive, and the gas was highly harmful to all living beings near them. Therefore, to make Leng Xuantong''s works easier, Lin Qiao brought a few dead bodies back.


    Therefore, Leng Xuantong''s lab had been very busy since Lin Qiao came back.


    Lin Hao turned away with disappointment and looked at Yan Huiguang, who had been sitting on the other side and staying silent all the time. "Mr. Yan, haven''t you been making any progress?"


    His big sister brought the man back to the base and gave him an independent lab. His assistant was the other man who came to the base together with him.


    He remembered hearing from his sister that both the two men reacted strongly when she arranged them to work together. At last, she used violence to make them follow her order. Lin Hao didn''t know about the relationship between the two men, but he believed that his sister made the arrangement for a good reason.


    Yan Huiguang had his head slightly dropped. His long hair covered a big half of his face, disabling the others from seeing his facial expression. However, one did not need to look at his face to feel the cold vibe coming from him.


    Hearing Lin Hao''s question, he slightly raised his head and said with a cold smile, "Would human beings need to worry about those creatures if my research could make progress so easily?"


    No progress was made, clearly. His tone of speaking just could not be friendly.


    Lin Hao looked at him, then turned to make eye-contact with Leng Xuantong. They both made no reaction to Yan Huiguang''s tone, because Lin Qiao had warned them about that. She told them he was a man with an eccentric personality.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao had warned them beforehand. If she didn''t, the short-tempered Lin Hao could pick up a fight with that man in a minute when the man talked to him with that kind of tone.


    However, the man was a level-seven, dual-powered being. The only outcome of Lin Hao fighting him would be him being tortured. If the man was in a bad mood, he might even take his life.


    Therefore, Lin Hao shrugged as he gave the man a fake smile and said, "So¡­ work hard."


    As Yan Huiguang''s assistant, Shui Mingjun was sitting on the side as well. Hearing what Lin Hao said, he couldn''t help but glance at Yan Huiguang and say, "You could have turned into a zombie and never worried about those creatures."


    On hearing that, Yan Huiguang''s sullen face instantly grew even darker.


    Shui Mingjun was satirizing him, because he couldn''t even become a zombie now. Last time, he drank the zombie drug, but the zombie lady stopped him from becoming a zombie. After that, he took the drug again and even got himself bitten by zombies, but nothing ever happened to him!


    What on earth did that zombie lady do to him?


    Yesterday, he studied his own blood, and the result was bizarre. As for those underground creatures that Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong were worried about, he hadn''t really started studying them actually.


    Hearing Shui Mingjun''s words, he snorted and responded quickly with, "If it weren''t for that zombie woman, I''d have become a zombie long ago."


    He sounded strongly unhappy about what Lin Qiao had done to him.


    Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong looked at him in a weird way. It was the first time they met a man who was so eager to become a zombie. Becoming a zombie meant death, and most human beings feared death.


    Leng Xuantong slightly dropped his eyelids; he didn''t want to become a zombie. He was grateful for what Lin Qiao helped him to achieve. In her base, he was allowed to let out his zombie wife and son, instead of freezing them like before. Unlike the other zombies outside, they didn''t lose their humanity and soul.


    Because of Lin Qiao, both his wife and son were behaving well. He got along with them peacefully, and they could even help him with the work. Before, he couldn''t even imagine that.


    To his surprise, someone would rather become a zombie than being a human being. Well in fact, after knowing all kinds of high-leveled zombies in Lin Qiao''s base, Leng Xuantong felt that being a zombie was not so bad.


    They were stronger than humans, and they weren''t affected by either cold or heat. They didn''t need food, because their energy nuclei kept them alive.


    Before Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong recovered from the shock caused by Yan Huiguang''s zombie dream, Shui Mingjun said coldly, "Yeah, you are just so weak. You are a dual-powered level-seven being, yet you still needed to strengthen yourself by turning into a zombie. Actually, the zombies that you created during your experiment could only keep their original power levels. That was not remarkable."


    Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong both turned to Shui Mingjun silently. The look on their faces was a little indescribable. The atmosphere between Shui Mingjun and Yan Huiguang seemed to be a little complicated.


    They watched the look on Yan Huiguang''s face grow sulkier and sulkier, and felt his vibe became tenser and tenser. Somehow, they felt that something seemed to be happening between those two men.


    What was their relationship with each other?

 1208 The Destruction of Sky Fire Base

    This time, Yan Huiguang didn''t respond to Shui Mingjun. Instead, he snorted coldly as he turned his eyes outside the window, then fell into silence.


    Leng Xuantong and Lin Hao glanced at each other. They had no idea where that weird atmosphere between the two men came from. They seemed to be enemies, but they had no intention of killing toward each other.


    Chief made the two of them work in the same lab, meaning that they had to work under each other''s mean attitude every single day. How depressing would that be! It was like a war could be started in their lab at any moment. Would they blow the lab up in a few days?


    Shui Mingjun turned around, then shrugged and said to Lin Hao, "He didn''t need to ask him that question. He hadn''t been studying those creatures in this couple of days at all."


    Lin Hao didn''t know what to say. Was it really safe for his big sister to make that man work in the medical department? Wouldn''t he turn humans into zombies?


    At last, the meeting became a conversation between Lin Hao, Leng Xuantong, and Shui Mingjun, while Yan Huiguang wore a cold and grim face the whole time without joining the conversation.


    "These roots were found in an underground cave near our base, which belonged to one type of underground creatures that showed up earlier. Our Chief brought them back here. When you crush this fruit-like lump, a kind of gas will be released, which can kill those underground creatures. We thought it''d be harmful for the other underground creatures that Chief brought back this time too, but it turned out that we were wrong," Leng Xuantong showed Shui Mingjun the roots.


    Shui Mingjun wasn''t a researcher, but he was a man with keen eyes. With enough background information, he might be able to find out something.


    ¡­


    In Earth Dragon Base, which was almost empty, the last batch of residents were staying there, living a hard life. They didn''t want to go anywhere else.


    After Lin Qiao broke Hidden Cloud City Base, which was located in the southeast, Hidden Cloud City Base people gave up on Earth Dragon Base to protect themselves. Great numbers of survivors moved to Sky Fire Base, Huaxia Base, Sea City Base, All Beings Base, and the other bases. At the end, less than a hundred people stayed in Earth Dragon Base. At this moment, only some body parts of them were left in the base, along with the large blood stains on the ground and the walls.


    A series of chewing sounds were heard from all over the base.


    An SUV sized monster slowly moved through a pile of bloody party parts and dropped its head to look for human arms or feet. As it located a target, it stuck out its tongue and rolled the body part into its mouth, which was filled with sharp teeth, then moved its jaw to chew it.


    That enormous creature had a black head and looked thirty percent like a pangolin. Not only one, but a herd of them had scattered in the base, searching for something.


    Earth Dragon Base was not the only place where the traces of living human beings were about to be erased completely. Sky Fire Base was also under the attack of a giant herd of beetles.


    Every single one of those beetles was gigantic, looking like a huge helmet. They had strong shells, and their heads weren''t visible. There was a breach on their shell, and from that breach, a series of tentacles reached out while shaking. Underneath their shell were countless iron-hard feet.


    They were very slow, but there was a huge number of them. They were so strong that each of them was able to flatten a building. The super strong fence wall which was built after the apocalypse already had a few giant holes in it.


    Except for the hundreds of helmet-like beetles which had been crushing the base like bulldozers, some smaller creatures which had long legs had been hopping around on the backs of those beetles.


    "Geee¡­ Geee¡­" Those flea-like creatures gave out a weird sound, which was shrill and could blur people''s minds.


    Bang! Bang! Boom! Explosions and gunshots could be heard from all over the base.


    "Ah¡­ Help me!" A man was held by a human-sized flea in the mouth, screaming in despair.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! His friends immediately shot that flea. However, before the bullet touched it, it leaped high and disappeared.


    "Ahhhhh!" Only that man''s shrill scream was left being heard.


    "Captain! We''ve almost run out of ammo! What should we do?" Someone shouted out loud in a panic.


    "Hang in there! We can''t leave until they have found us a way out! Running aimlessly would get us killed!" A relatively calm voice was heard.


    "Captain, what are they? Why can''t our superpowers hurt them at all?" Someone cried with despair.


    "I don''t know! You should feel lucky that these bugs are still afraid of bullets and bombs! Save your ammo! Try your best to hide!" The captain yelled.


    God knew how those bugs came to the base. They were tens of miles away from the base yesterday, but in a couple of hours, they were at the base already. Those beasts moved not even as fast as a human walking. How could they possibly cover tens of miles within a couple of hours?


    Those fleas were super fast though. They could hop from one place to the other within a blink of an eye, and cover tens of meters, even a hundred meters with one single leap. However, they hardly left the backs of those beetles. Even if they leaped off, they would soon hop back on.


    If they left the beetles'' backs, they would certainly be attacking humans. Their way of attacking was simple. They jumped on people, bit them, held them in their mouth, and then leaped away.


    The beetles that crawled into the base first already had their backs covered in blood. Those fleas gathered on their backs, ate the people they caught, then leaped out to hunt more. Not long after they left, the second batch returned onto the beetles'' backs.


    "They found it! They found a way out! Come with me!" Someone gave a roar, arousing the hope of people. They all gathered toward that person, then moved together in one direction while fighting.


    "Where are we going now?" A survivor who managed to run out of the base asked his friend.


    "Huaxia Base, of course! Huaxia Base is near us, and has a strong defense system," said the Captain.


    "But¡­ their entrance requirement is too high. Most of us might not get in," some people had doubts.


    "I''ll deal with that. You guys don''t need to worry about it. I''ll make you guys a way in when we get there," the Captain said. He only wanted those people to go with him and be his human shields on his way to Huaxia Base. They might not even make it to Huaxia Base alive anyway.


    So, the group of people followed their leader toward Huaxia Base confusedly and blindly.

 1209 Wu Chengyues Son

    At that time, in Huaxia Base, Si Kongchen was sitting in the office, reading a report with a poker face. Xie Longyun was sitting on the couch in his office, doing her manicure with her legs crossed.


    She fixed her pretty eyes on her own hands, then slightly moved her red lips and said, "Is it really necessary to trade our supplies with those foreign countries for these weapons? Are they really so useful? I don''t understand. Are our own weapons not good enough? Do you have to do the trade?"


    Si Kongchen slightly raised his eyes to give her a glance, then dropped his eyelids again as he said, "Why is it not useful? If we merge the features of their weapons into our own, our own weapons will become even better. Look at those creatures that came out from the underground recently. You should be aware of how important weapons are."


    Xie Longyun paused and said, "But, I think our own weapons aren''t worse than theirs. As long as the people in your research base use their brains, it won''t be hard to improve our current weapons. Don''t you know serious our shortage of food is now? The crops cultivated without soil have low nutrition value, not to mention the pathetically poor harvest. We need to provide over a million people three meals a day. I wonder if you''ve ever thought about how many people might die of starvation."


    Weapons were important indeed. However, they were able to produce good weapons by themselves. So, why trade the precious food for the weapons produced by the others?


    If people didn''t have food to keep them alive and healthy and clothes to keep them warm, how could weapons help them? Before true danger happened, they might die of starvation already.


    "What''s the matter? This world now follows the law of the jungle. The ones who can''t adapt to this world will be sifted out eventually. Why should we care so much about the others? We won''t die of starvation, and that''ll be enough," said Si Kongchen blandly.


    "Don''t forget that you''re a base leader," said Xie Longyun, "You are responsible for the residents of your base. Otherwise, why would they seek protection from you? Without such a big population, where could you find so many technicians to strengthen this base? If you don''t care about them, you might regret when they all leave."


    Si Kongchen didn''t seem to take her words seriously at all as he said expressionlessly, "I didn''t want so many people to join my base in the first place. The board decided to let them in. They can leave if they want to. The smart people know whether Huaxia Base is stronger or Sea City Base. Those people won''t leave. They clearly know that dying here of starvation is better than being eaten by zombies or mutated animals out there."


    Xie Longyun was aware that she wasn''t able to talk any sense into the man. So, she changed the topic, "Oh, didn''t you say that the robber will come to find you? Why didn''t he show up?"


    Si Kongchen turned a page of the report and said, "He won''t come to me. I heard from his men that he was taken by the woman from All Beings Base."


    Xie Longyun stopped short, then raised her head and looked at him with surprise, "She has the courage to do that? She actually let a robber join her base? How ridiculous! Is she dumb?"


    No base would accept robbers, because ninety percent of them ate people. They had lost their humanity. Letting them into a base would lead to hidden trouble. This time, Si Kongchen didn''t say anything. Clearly, he did not want to continue that topic.


    Xie Yunlong dropped the nail file, then bent over and reached out to pick up the teacup on the tea table. Then, she took a sip of the tea elegantly and put the cup back on the table.


    "Isn''t that good? Release the news in her base. Let''s see how she will try to save her small base that only has thousands of people."


    "The result would certainly be her joining Sea City Base, and then Sea City Base would have two level-eight beings. What good would that do to us?" said Si Kongchen coldly.


    Xie Longyun snorted, "What''s the difference? She''s so close with Wu Chengyue now, and their bases are only about a hundred miles apart. What difference would it make if she joined Sea City Base? I wonder what that woman did to make Wu Chengyue agree to let her build a base just a hundred miles away from his base. Has he changed? Has he decided not to be single anymore?"


    "As long as she stays in her own base, I can make her be unable to go to Sea City Base for help," said Si Kongchen blandly.


    At that moment, Wei Haichao knocked on the door, then walked in with a file. He smiled at Xie Longyun and said, "Hey, the pretty lady is here too. Aren''t you busy today?"


    Xie Longyun raised her eyes and gave him a charming smile, then winked at him and said, "I am busy. Chief Si asked me to make some time to come here for tea, because he doesn''t me to get exhausted."


    Receiving that wink, Wei Haichao even had his heart leaped. He gave her a polite smile and said, "Oh, then you have to thank our Chief. He cares about you so much."


    While speaking, he walked toward Si Kongchen and handed him the file. "There''s a funny news about Wu Chengyue. Would you like to take a look?" he said to Si Kongchen.


    "What?" Si Kongchen raised his head and looked at him while taking over the file.


    "He has a son now. The boy''s only about a month old. We don''t know who''s the mother yet," said Wei Haichao with interest.


    "What!" Before Si Kongchen said a word, Xie Longyun had already exclaimed out loud, "Wu Chengyue has a son? Where did that boy come from?"


    Wei Haichao turned to her as he spread his hands and raised his eyebrows, "How am I supposed to know? We''re still trying to find out. He''s been acting weird lately though. He''s been spending a lot of time in All Beings Base."


    Si Kongchen started reading the file. He stayed expressionless when listening to Wei Haichao, but as he started to talk, his tone of speaking contained a slight trace of surprise, "Where did that boy come from? Is this real? You didn''t get false information, did you?"


    As far as he knew, Wu Chengyue had no interest in women at all. Last year, he was raped by the woman who now led All Beings Base. Some said that he had killed that woman, but she turned out to be perfectly alive. She had also built a new base, and apart from that, she reached to level-eight within a single year.


    Who said that woman used to rely on men to survive? If he guessed right, she must have had her superpower hidden. As for all those boyfriends of hers, they might be her cover. Plenty of evidence proved that she did sleep with all those men though.


    The more real it seemed, the more doubtful it became.


    "How is that possible? I heard that some people have seen that boy. Many think the Chief lady from All Beings Base is the boy''s mother. However, no one had detected any trace of pregnancy on the woman in the past ten months," Wei Haichao folded his arms and said.

 1210 Leng Xuantongs Family

    Si Kongchen dropped the file, then leaned against the back of his chair as he folded his arms and thought for a moment before speaking, "Hasn''t he been pursuing that woman? Was there another woman who gave him a son? Or¡­ his son isn''t adopted too, is he?"


    He had already adopted a daughter. Adopting a son wouldn''t be surprising for him.


    Wei Haichao pondered upon his words and found them reasonable. So, he nodded and said, "That''s possible¡­ But, I''m thinking maybe he found a surrogate mother from another base?"


    "That''s not possible!" Xie Longyun, who was sitting on the couch, denied that possibility, "He has a daughter already. Does he still need a surrogate mother? He treasures his six-year-old daughter, doesn''t he? In that case, he doesn''t need a surrogate mother. I don''t think that''s something he would do. It''s not like he has to have a son. That''s not necessary at all."


    The two men glanced at her. Si Kongchen stayed silent while Wei Haichao responded, "Perhaps he wants a son to carry on his duty. After all, most men want to pass on their bloodline. That''s nothing strange."


    Xie Longyun gave him a sideway glimpse, "That sounds weird. Wu Chengyue already has his eyes on a woman. Why didn''t he let the woman he likes give him a son? Why another woman? Isn''t that weird? Are you a man like that? Do you prefer another woman to give birth to your son than the woman you like?"


    After saying that, she looked at Wei Haichao from head to toe the way people would look at an irresponsible and dishonest man. Under her gaze, the latter instantly felt embarrassed. "How is that possible? I''m not that kind of man," he denied without thinking.


    "Who knows? I don''t know you well," Xie Longyun turned her eyes away from him and shrugged. Raising her eyebrows, she picked up the teacup and took another sip.


    Wei Haichao felt being wronged.


    "So, Wu Chengyue has a one-month-old son. Anything else?" Si Kongchen asked.


    Wei Haichao shook his head, "They have been keeping the sources of their supplies strictly secret. Our people haven''t gathered any useful information yet. After the clues about those two diaries, nothing else was found."


    Si Kongchen furrowed his brows, "Hadn''t those two diaries fallen into Wu Chengyue''s hands already? Do you want to take them from him?"


    Wei Haichao dropped his head despondently and said, "It was all because of that woman. Eh! Wu Chengyue found out about it anyway."


    "He has already gotten the diaries, so there''s no chance for us to take them back," said Si Kongchen with a peaceful look in his eyes and a bland tone, "Wu Chengyue is not stupid. He won''t give us any chance to get something so important."


    Leng Xuantong had already been studying the two diaries. He hadn''t dug out any useful information from it though. Someone found him and asked him for the two diaries.


    "I heard from Chief that you have two diaries from Huaxia Base about the research on plants. Can I read them? Are you done reading them?" Shui Mingjun stood outside Leng Xuantong''s lab and said to him.


    "Yes, but I can only lend you one of them now. I''ll lend you the second one when you are done reading the first one. Can you understand the contents of those diaries? Those have a pretty high academic quality¡­" Leng Xuantong nodded, but looked at him with hesitation.


    "It''s okay," Shui Mingjun smiled and said, "I''ll memorize them after reading them once. That knowledge might be useless to me now, but after I learn more about those plants, I might be able to give it a try. It''s better than doing nothing, right?"


    Leng Xuantong thought for a moment and felt that Shui Mingjun was actually right. He himself had now been focusing on the energy and matters inside the bodies of the underground creatures, so he didn''t need those diaries for the time being. Shui Mingjun could read them if he wanted to. Perhaps, he could really discover something that he had missed.


    Sometimes, people with little professional knowledge might have surprising discoveries when they read academic articles.


    After giving the first diary to Shui Mingjun, Leng Xuantong went back to his lab. Apart from his zombie wife and son, Bao Xiaoguo and his little sister were also in that lab.


    Leng Xuantong''s wife was at level-three already. In the past year, she drank the lake water that Lin Qiao left her almost every single day. Therefore, her appearance had changed quite a lot. Her hair were already shiny. Apart from her black eyes and dark-purple lips, she looked almost like a healthy human being.


    His son was healing relatively slowly, but the cause was undetermined. It was definitely not because of his young age. After all, Four under Chief''s direct command was already a zombie king now.


    Bao Xiaoguo was guarding the lab diligently. From time to time, he turned to look into the lab.


    Most of the time, the zombie boy was outside the door, playing with Bao Xiaoguo. Leng Xuantong would ask the boy to go outside when he hindered the adults in the lab from doing their work. Well, the boy never listened to him anyway. Every time, he would bare his teeth and roar at his father fiercely. However, his mother would then slap on the back of his head and drive him out of the lab.


    Leng Xuantong''s wife was named Qi Lansheng. She was a short-tempered, violent zombie lady who beat her son all the time.


    "Director, was your wife like this when she was still a human?" The shorted haired Bao Xiaoying, who looked like a boy, sneakily poked Leng Xuantong and asked him when he watched Qi Lansheng kick her son out of the lab like always.


    Leng Xuantong was bending over to look into the microscope. Hearing the question, he stayed motionless and responded, "She wasn''t so violent before. The worst thing she could do was yell at us. Now, she''s a zombie, so maybe she''s become wilder than before, or her true nature is revealed."


    Thankfully, he was at level-five, and was totally able to suppress his level-three wife. Also, fortunately, Qi Lansheng had restored some of her memory. She had been quite nice to Leng Xuantong.


    Leng Xuantong''s lab was located in Base Number Two, so he hardly limited the freedom of his wife and son, as long as the two of them didn''t go too far away.


    The zombie boy started staring at Bao Xiaoguo again once he ran out of the lab. He stood about a meter away from the latter and raised his pale little face to looked at him with his dark eyes, struggling.


    Bao Xiaoguo smelt so good. He wanted so strongly to eat him. However, his mother wouldn''t let him eat the man. Also, the man sometimes released the horrible black fire to scare him.


    "Shu, you''ll get hungry standing near me. Move!" Like always, Bao Xiaoguo said to the little zombie with an unfriendly tone when the boy stood before him.


    The zombie boy had failed to resist the temptation and bitten him a few times. He didn''t turn into a zombie though. Recently, he attained a dark fire power, as same as what his Chief had. Once he released a tiny wisp of dark fire, the zombie boy would run away.

 1211 They Woke Up

    On hearing what Bao Xiaoguo said, the little zombie raised a hand to pull the lower eyelid of one eye, then stuck his tongue out and made a face toward Bao Xiaoguo. Then, he turned and ran away.


    At that very moment, a boom was heard from the lab next door. The people on the scene gave a start and turned to where the explosion happened, then all ran toward the door of the lab next door.


    They ran into the lab and found a glass container that contained the test subject exploded. The liquid in the container splashed everywhere, and glass pieces scattered all over the lab, even breaking some containers nearby. Thankfully, not all test subjects had exploded. But, the experiment table was obviously in a mess.


    Only one test subject had exploded.


    "What happened?"


    "What''s going on?"


    Bao Xiaoguo and Bao Xiaoying came in and looked at the messy lab in shock.


    "Stay away!" Leng Xuantong raised an arm to stop them approaching the test subjects, then walked closer alone and searched through the messy scene with his eyes. Soon, he fixed his eyes on a corner and slowly moved toward that area, then squatted.


    Watching his movement, Bao Xiaoguo and his sister figured that he might have discovered something. They both landed their eyes on that corner and carefully moved that way with curiosity.


    Lying in that corner was a baby-palm sized, black, rotten piece of flesh.


    "The color has changed¡­ Let me see¡­ Eh? Wasn''t this soaked in the juice mix of mutated catmint and the weird root?"


    At the sight of the black flesh piece, Bao Xiaoying had something cross her mind. She thought for a moment, then raised her head and looked around. After that, she walked to the experiment table and checked the label.


    As she thought, she found the label of the mixed juice of catmint and the roots. Earlier on, they soaked the flesh in the juice to see if anything would happen.


    The table and the cabinet nearby were both filled with the body parts of underground creatures mixed with the body tissues that came from different kinds of plants or animals.


    Leng Xuantong stood up and found a container and tweezers, then picked up the black meat piece and put it in. Then, he turned and walked out of the lab.


    "Xiaoying, clean up! Replace the broken containers and renew the fluids," he said while walking out.


    "Okay!" Bao Xiaoying responded. Then, she turned around and tell the others to leave, "Alright, alright, you guys, get out! This place is full of glass pieces now. You might get hurt."


    Leng Xuantong brought the black meat piece back to the other lab, then started finding out what caused it to change and explode.


    ¡­


    Three days later, Lin Qiao woke up. She let go of Wu Chengyue''s hand the moment she opened his eyes, then got up from the bed.


    "Mama and Daddy woke up!" Outside the room, Teng immediately sensed the changes in his parents'' energies and told that to the others. Xiao Licheng, who was sitting on the couch reading some files, heard Teng''s words and hurriedly raised his head to look at the bedroom door.


    Lin Qiao poured the ashes of the beast nucleus into the trash can, then dusted off her hands and walked out of the room.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue opened his eyes as well. He didn''t sit up immediately, but turned to look at Lin Qiao, seeing her open the door and walk out.


    "How many days we lay in there for?" Lin Qiao came out and asked the man and the two kids in the living room while brushing her long hair with her fingers.


    "Three days."


    "Three days."


    Xiao Licheng and Teng answered her question with one voice while Wu Yueling showed her three fingers.


    Lin Qiao helplessly raised a hand and rubbed her temples with her thumb and forefinger, then walked to the bathroom sullenly. It was Wu Chengyue''s fault. Because of him, all her plans were postponed for three days, and she wasted three whole days.


    She freshened up and changed her clothes, then came out of the bathroom and scooped up her son. She put the boy on her knees, then lowered her head and asked, "Who''s been feeding you two these days? Is it Uncle Xiao or Aunty Duan?"


    "Aunty Duan."


    "Aunty¡­"


    Teng and Wu Yueling both answered that question.


    Hearing Lin Qiao ask about feeding the children, Xiao Licheng turned his head to the window with a complicated look on his face. However, Teng pointed a finger at him and complained, "Uncle Xiao''s food was awful!"


    Wu Yueling covered her mouth and tittered secretly.


    "What? I''m not good at cooking indeed, but my food wasn''t awful!" Xiao Licheng couldn''t stay calm. He immediately turned back and argued with Teng.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue came out of the bedroom and joined the conversation, "It is awful, compared with mine." After saying that, he quietly walked into the bathroom.


    Xiao Licheng didn''t know what to say. That man and Teng were really father and son. They even shared the same thought!


    "Why are you guys so picky? My food is edible, and that''s enough. As long as you don''t starve to death, the taste of the food isn''t important! We live on dried food when we''re outside carrying missions. Who''d care about the taste?" Xiao Licheng was not happy to hear what Wu Chengyue and his son said.


    Lin Qiao rubbed Teng''s head. The boy''s head now had some short hair grown out. He was only about a month old, so his hair were still very soft and fluffy. She rubbed the boy''s head, feeling like rubbing a cat.


    "Who gave you showers and washed your clothes? Still Aunty Duan?" Lin Qiao asked Teng.


    "She''s only responsible for food. I''m the one taking care of these two little problems." Before Teng answered the question, Xiao Licheng said with a roll of his eyes.


    Clap! Wu Yueling didn''t like him calling her ''little problem'', so she slapped him on his thigh.


    "Oh, I mean, little baby, okay?" Xiao Licheng changed his words immediately when he saw the little girl''s bulging cheeks. Then, he turned around and handed Lin Qiao an envelope, "The invitation for the grand meeting from Huaxia Base arrived this morning."


    In the envelope was an invitation.


    Lin Qiao took it over and opened the envelope, leafing through the invitation before throwing it onto the tea table.


    "The number of people has dropped this year. Last year, seven base leaders attended the meeting. This year, there are only five," she pulled Teng''s sleeve and sighed.


    "Hem, it might not be a bad thing," Xiao Licheng glanced at her with a weird look. What he really wanted to say was¡ª''You are exactly the reason why there are fewer people now.''


    "When will we go?" Wu Chengyue got changed and came out of the bathroom. He walked to the tea table and picked up the invitation, glancing at the date of the meeting.


    The middle of December¡­ It was about the same time as last year.

 1212 The Catmints Effec

    Duan Juan was happy to find Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue awake when she arrived at Lin Qiao''s apartment. However, what made her happier was the report held in her hand.


    "Look! Leng Xuantong said that this kind of catmint is highly effective against those creatures. He has run experiments with the catmint in different mutation degrees. According to the results, less mutated catmint is more effective. The uninfected catmint would definitely lead to a better result."


    On hearing what she said, Lin Qiao quickly reached out and took over the report, then opened it and started reading carefully. Wu Chengyue walked to her and took Teng out of her arms, then stood by her side and lowered his head to read the report.


    "So, the purer the catmint, the more effective it is? But, over ninety-nine percent of the plants out there have mutated after the second eruption of the virus. Where can we find uninfected catmint?" Wu Chengyue knitted his brows and asked.


    That result was meaningless.


    There was one thing he cared about though. "What''s the best result of Leng Xuantong''s experiments so far?"


    At that point, Duan Juan dropped her eyes and gave a sigh, "He has run out of living test subjects. He''s going to ask Chief to send a squad out to capture some of those creatures alive. So far, the best result is that the mixture of catmint and the strange root can cause a small-range paralysis."


    "Paralysis?" Wu Chengyue heard her and then read the report again.


    ''It causes paralysis, but the efficacy is short. The juice of the current catmint can lead to about ten seconds of paralysis. The less infected catmint delivers a longer efficacy.'' That was written in the report.


    That was why Leng Xuantong believed uninfected catmint would probably be able to kill those creatures.


    "Can''t we purify it?" Lin Qiao furrowed her eyebrows slightly but soon relaxed them; it was good news anyway.


    "Why don''t we just go there and take a look now?" Xiao Licheng joined the conversation impatiently.


    "Good idea!" Lin Qiao immediately stood up. She glanced at Wu Chengyue and Teng, then reached out and took Teng back from his father''s arms. Putting a hand under the boy''s little butt and the other on his back, she walked outside quickly while the others quickly followed her out.


    Shui Mingjun arrived at Leng Xuantong''s lab together with them; he was there to return the first diary. He heard about the catmint once he arrived.


    "What? We need uninfected, fresh catmint? Where are we supposed to find that now?" Shui Mingjun looked at Leng Xuantong with confusion.


    "But, only the scent of fresh catmint can keep them away. And only that is effective on those creatures when it''s mixed together with the roots," said Leng Xuantong to him.


    Shui Mingjun was a master of intelligence work. He might be slightly better at finding things than the others.


    "All plants out there are infected. There is no way we can find uninfected catmint¡­ They are not cats! Why is catmint effective on them?"


    "They would be thrilled to smell catmint if they were cats. But in fact, they are afraid of catmint. You can''t paralyze a cat by injecting it with catmint," Leng Xuantong said with a smile.


    Shui Mingjun pondered upon his words and found them making sense. "You''re right. But, I don''t think it''s possible for us to find uninfected catmint. We can try to find some less infected ones. This kind of plant existed in many areas. Let me think¡­ The nearest place where that kind of plant grows is¡­ Minnan Province."


    At that moment, Qi Lansheng, who had been quiet all the time, abruptly turned and gave Leng Xuantong a deep roar, then pointed outside the door. Hearing her voice and watching her movement, Leng Xuantong figured out her meaning and quickly walked toward the door.


    "What''s wrong?" Shui Mingjun followed behind him confusedly. He didn''t understand why the zombie lady gave a roar and pointed outside.


    "Chief and some others are here," Leng Xuantong said. Then, he paused and said to Bao Xiaoying, "Xiaoying, go and get the most recent experiment report from my desk."


    "Sure!"


    Leng Xuantong and Shui Mingjun walked out of the lab and stood in the hallway, looking at the gate. Before long, a few people walked in.


    "I have a few living underground creatures. Can you do an experiment with those and show us?" Lin Qiao said to Leng Xuantong at the sight of him.


    "Oh, you have more? Great! That''s exactly what I need," Leng Xuantong had his eyes glowing.


    As Lin Qiao and the kids showed up, the people in the lab all curiously looked at Teng.


    Leng Xuantong''s zombie son hid behind his mother''s legs and stuck his head out to curiously look at Wu Yueling. He looked at her, not because he sensed her aroma and that made him hungry. Instead, it was because he finally saw someone shorter than him.


    There was always a magical attraction between the kids at about the same age.


    Wu Yueling became even quieter than before when she saw the strangers. She followed closely behind Lin Qiao, even forgetting about her father.


    On hearing Leng Xuantong''s response, Lin Qiao handed her son to Wu Chengyue without saying a word. Teng would understand her meaning anyway.


    "Take me where you kept them. I''ll let them out," she said to Leng Xuantong, then walked toward the lab. She asked him to take her, but in fact, she had been there before and knew where it was.


    The floor, ceiling, and walls of the room where the underground creatures were kept were all covered in the diluted juice of the fruits on the roots that Lin Qiao brought back from the cave. In the middle of the room was a large cage, which was covered with the diluted juice as well.


    Those creatures would roar agitatedly when they were put in that cage, but they wouldn''t dare to get near it. After spending some time roaring, they would force themselves to quiet down.


    Lin Qiao walked to the cage side, and then entered the woods in her space to bring out an underground gorilla which was passed out with starvation, before throwing it into the cage.


    "Roar¡­" The boar sized underground gorilla gave a weak roar when Lin Qiao brought it out of the space. But soon, it was irritated by the smell of the roots.


    "Roar¡­" It was agitated, but it could barely stand. It shambled for a short while before it found a steady foothold.

 1213 Try It with Yuan Tianxing

    Leng Xuantong injected the mixed juice of catmint and the roots into the underground gorilla from Lin Qiao''s space. The gorilla, which was roaring ragingly a minute ago, instantly fell to the ground and stopped moving.


    "I wonder if this kind of mutated catmint can help Yuan Tianxing with his condition. Give me some of it, I''ll give it a try," Lin Qiao stood outside and looked into the room. Yuan Tianxing''s condition crossed her mind, so she asked Leng Xuantong for a tube-full of mutated catmint juice.


    Leng Xuantong nodded and asked Bao Xiaoying to bring a tube of pure catmint juice and give it to her.


    "Are you guys going with me? Shouldn''t you be going back to Sea City?" Lin Qiao turned to say to Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng once she walked out of Leng Xuantong''s lab. She had a lot to do for the rest of the day, and she would, of course, not do them together with Wu Chengyue. He should be leaving. He had stayed in her base for such a long time. Was this place his home?


    "Alright then. I should be heading back indeed." As she had told him to leave so straightforwardly, Wu Chengyue had no choice but to obediently give her son back to her, then ask Xiao Licheng''s prepare the vehicle.


    Lin Qiao sat into his car and said to Duan Juan, "Let''s go to Mount Wu first."


    "Aren''t we gonna try the drug on Deputy Chief Yuan first?" Duan Juan asked with confusion.


    Lin Qiao held Teng and rubbed his head. Teng didn''t like that, so he slapped off his mother''s hand over and over again.


    "No. We''re going to put Lu Tianyi and his people into the space first. The vegetables in the space are going bad!" Lin Qiao said to Duan Juan while playing with Teng.


    "Oh, I see!" Duan Yuan responded and drove the car out of Base Number Two, to Mount Wu Farm. Liu Jun and Xie Dong were already waiting for them on the road.


    "Where''s Lu Tianyi?" Lin Qiao carried Teng off the car, then asked Liu Jun.


    "On the mountain," Liu Jun turned and pointed in one direction.


    Lin Qiao nodded and walked toward the cabin, "Send someone to tell him and his people to come here."


    Liu Jun nodded and waved a hand. Following her move, a male zombie leader came to her. As she gave her order, the zombie immediately flashed toward the area that she pointed at earlier.


    While Lin Qiao and the others went to the clearing before the cabin, Tongtong ran out of the cabin. He stopped short and fell into silence when he saw Lin Qiao.


    "Aunty Lin!" The boy stood by the door and called Lin Qiao, then carefully glanced at his mother.


    Lin Qiao looked at Tongtong and nodded at him smilingly. "Tongtong has grown taller. The kid is growing fast."


    On hearing her words, Tongtong gathered his courage to slowly move toward Xie Dong. His eyes were fixed on Teng all the time though.


    "Do you want to play with Teng? Come here and hold him." Detecting the expectant look in the boy''s eyes, Lin Qiao said to him.


    Teng held his mother''s neck and said worriedly, "Tongtong isn''t strong enough to carry me, is he?"


    He didn''t want to fall on the ground!


    "How can you know without trying?" Lin Qiao looked at him and said.


    Receiving her invitation, Tongtong excitedly walked to her. However, when he heard Teng''s words, he stopped and started struggling. He had never held Teng before. Lin Xiaolu and Wu Yueling had been the ones holding the baby. They were both older and stronger than he was.


    However, Tongtong looked at Teng''s tiny body and felt that he should be able to carry the baby boy.


    Still, he was a little worried, as Teng didn''t seem to want to be held by him.


    Lin Qiao didn''t give him any time for hesitation. She put Teng directly before him and encouraged, "It''s okay. This boy is weightless. You can hold him. Give him to us when you feel tired."


    While speaking, she put Teng into Tongtong''s arms.


    Teng was growing faster than normal children indeed, but he wasn''t heavy. He was about four kilograms when he was born, and around five as of now. Tongtong should be able to hold him.


    As Lin Qiao suddenly put Teng into his arms, Tongtong automatically reached out to catch him.


    "Put a hand under his butt and hold his back with the other hand, so he won''t fall," Lin Qiao taught Tongtong how to hold the baby boy, then left her son to him.


    At that time, Lu Tianyi came over with a group of zombies.


    A couple of days ago, Long Qingying kicked Kong Qingming back to Sea City Base. So, Lu Tianyi dropped his work and came back to All Being Base. He had to continue doing Kong Qingming''s works for him though, so the latter could spend time with his girlfriend.


    "Come on, pack your things! The strawberries in my space are about to go bad, and so are the vegetables," Lin Qiao said once she saw him.


    Liu Jun and Xie Dong started to prepare some empty baskets for her. She put all the baskets into her space, then brought Lu Tianyi and the group of level-four zombies all into the space and told them to harvest the vegetables and strawberries.


    "I''m gonna try solving Yuan Tianxing''s problem first. When I come out, Xie Dong, summon all level five and six zombies among the ones who carried out the most recent mission with us and are ready to upgrade. Gather them where the troop is stationed. The others will wait for the next time. I''ll bring them into my space to help with the upgrade. Tell them to get their nuclei ready." Before entering the space, Lin Qiao gave Xie Dong an order.


    "Yes, Ma''am!" Xie Dong immediately responded to her, then turned and left.


    Lin Qiao turned and glanced at Teng, who was still held in Tongtong''s arms, and said to the boy, "You stay here playing with Tongtong. I''ll come pick you up when I''m done."


    "Oh, okay," Teng looked at her and nodded.


    Duan Juan had found a stool for Tongtong to sit down, so he could put Teng on his knees and the baby boy wouldn''t fall. Duan Juan and Liu Jun had both been keeping a close eye on the two boys, in case any accident happened.


    Lin Qiao entered the space to find Lu Tianyi and his zombies had already scattered in the fields, picking beans, melons, strawberries, and all other kinds of vegetables. Lin Qiao''s strawberry fields had grown much larger than before. Without being harvested for about two weeks, those big and juicy strawberries were already perfectly ripe.


    There were no seasons in her space. Both the air and the soil in the space contained a special type of energy. Therefore, the plants in the space had been growing and fruiting constantly.


    The zombies only turned and gave her a glance when she showed up, then continued doing their work. Lin Qiao released a cloud of dark mist to cover herself, then took off her clothes and put them on the chair, which had been standing there all the time, by the lakeside. After that, she dove into the water along with the dark mist and soon dragged Yuan Tianxing out of the water.


    She put on her clothes, then covered the sensitive part of Yuan Tianxing''s body with a shirt. Next, she took out the tube of catmint juice that Leng Xuantong gave her.

 1214 Lu Tianyis Doubts

    Lin Qiao threw Yuan Tianxing on the lawn by the lakeside, then forced open his mouth and poured the catmint juice in. Then, she squatted aside and narrowed her eyes to look inside his body.


    Lu Tianyi slowly came to her with curiosity and said, "I''ve been feeling that you''re a little too close with Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng''s family. Why? Have you known them for a long time?"


    He had been wondering about that all the time. The way his sister treated Lin Family people was strange. She and those people seemed bizarrely familiar with each other. What was the reason? He never heard Lu Tianyu making any contact with Lin family people. He had been paying attention to her since the apocalypse and protecting her. He knew about most of the things she did.


    However, he never found her in contact with the Lin family people. Did she know them before the apocalypse?


    Lin Qiao saw the mutated catmint juice flow into Yuan Tianxing''s body, transform into a green stream of energy, and spread from his stomach. Hearing what Lu Tianyi said, she stopped short, then turned to look at him silently.


    Seeing the look on her face, Lu Tianyi knew that she wanted to say something. He waited for a short while, but she still stayed silent. She clearly had something to say to him, but she wasn''t saying a word yet. What did she want?


    "What''s wrong? Is it hard to say?" Lu Tianyi was even more curious.


    "No," Lin Qiao immediately turned around and kept observing Yuan Tianxing. How was she supposed to tell the boy that she was no longer his sister, and that she was only someone wearing his sister''s skin?


    Lin Qiao didn''t have the heart to tell him that. She felt that Lu Tianyi might be heartbroken when he knew that Lu Tianyu was gone. After all, she was family to him, and he had been trying very hard protecting her. Lu Tianyu never saw him as family, but he did care a lot about her.


    However, he would know sooner or later. After all, everyone else already knew about it but him. Lu Tianyi was such a poor young man. At least, he had the right to know that the person he had been protecting was gone. Her body remained, but her soul was gone. Lin Qiao was still hesitating. She wasn''t sure if she should tell him the truth herself or let someone else do it.


    "You haven''t answered my question yet," Lu Tianyi looked at her and said.


    As he wouldn''t give up, Lin Qiao gave a sigh. She stood up as she looked at him and said, "Do you want to know? Perhaps, you don''t want to know the truth about that."


    Lu Tianyi looked at her peacefully. His handsome face wore no expressions. He simply looked at Lin Qiao, his eyes as peaceful as a quiet lake. Despite his peaceful look, his tone of speaking wasn''t as calm as before. "Your words give me a bad feeling," he said.


    While looking at Yuan Tianxing, who was lying on the ground, Lin Qiao responded to him with, "What''s in your mind?"


    She saw the green energy linger in Yuan Tianxing''s body for a few minutes, then be devoured by the black energy which was sparkling with a red light.


    "I think you should tell me about it yourself. After all, the real Lu Tianyu would never look after anyone, especially one who has nothing to do with her," Lu Tianyi said. After saying that, he glanced at Yuan Tianxing before turning and leaving.


    He was saying that if she were the real Lu Tianyu, even if she managed to build a base of her own, she would never try so hard to take care of the people in her base. At the very least, she wouldn''t care so much about Yuan Tianxing''s current condition.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    Lu Tianyi had discovered that something was not right long ago. He asked her about the truth, because he wanted to hear it from her personally. It seemed that she had to tell him about the truth herself. She wondered how he would react.


    However, since he already had doubts, it was probably going to be easier for him to accept the truth.


    Lin Qiao watched him walk into the vegetable field and sighed, then turned and kept observing Yuan Tianxing. The dark energy devoured the green energy quickly. But, if she were right, the energy from the mutated catmint did tend to neutralize the dark energy before being devoured. Due to the small amount of the green energy, it was eventually devoured by the dark energy, which was ten-million times stronger.


    It was the juice of the least mutated catmint that Leng Xuantong could find, meaning that only purer catmint had a chance to cure Yuan Tianxing and defeat the underground creatures out there.


    Where in the world could she find any completely uninfected plant?


    It was probably impossible, but Lin Qiao still had hope. What if a miracle happened? People should believe in miracles.


    As the catmint energy disappeared, the dark energy became active again, because the energy from the lake was no longer suppressing it. So, Lin Qiao hurriedly threw the naked Yuan Tianxing back into the lake. She wondered how the man would feel if he knew that he was thrown from here to there nakedly by her.


    Once again, Lin Qiao came out of the lake and put on her clothes, the picked up a towel that someone put on the chair for her earlier and walked to her house while wiping her hair.


    "Come in if you want to know." Walking near Lu Tianyi, she paused and said a few words to him, then kept walking toward the house.


    Lu Tianyi, who was picking lettuce leaves, raised his head and looked at her back as he stood up. He handed the basket in his hand to one of his subordinates, and then followed her toward the house.


    In the living room, he found Lin Qiao sitting on the couch with her head tilted, rubbing her wet hair with a towel.


    "Sit down!" Seeing Lu Tianyi standing before the tea table motionlessly, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but give a glance at the armchair near him. After spending a short while looking at her quietly, he walked to the chair and sat down. Straightening his back, he rested his hands on his knees and said to her, "Tell me."


    Lin Qiao looked at him and stopped short, then continued rubbing her hair and started talking, "It''s been quite long. I guess you found out long ago. You already have the answer, don''t you? Do you really want to hear me say it? I''m afraid that you might be sad."


    Lu Tianyi slightly lowered his head and landed his eyes on the tea table. On hearing what she said, he gave a bitter smile that was full of sadness. "But, I''ll know the truth sooner or later, right? I''ll know eventually. You think I''ll feel better being the only one who doesn''t know the truth yet?"


    Lin Qiao looked at him, but didn''t know how to start talking. So, she stayed silent while Lu Tianyi stared at the tea table, and the two of them suddenly fell into a weird silence. About ten seconds later, he asked her a question, "Who are you?"

 1215 Bring Underwear

    "I''m your sister, be it before or now," Lin Qiao looked at him and answered his question, then continued with, "Of course, if you don''t want to accept that, there''s nothing I can do to make you feel better."


    Lu Tianyu looked at her with sharp, sad eyes. "I want to know who you are. You are not Lu Tianyu, so what is your real name?"


    Since a long time ago, he had been doubting that zombie lady''s identity. At first, he thought the experience of death changed her personality. But, the longer time he spent with her, the weirder he found her to be.


    Over time, he started failing to think of her as Lu Tianyu. He felt the two of them were completely different people. Before he died, he even had a dream.


    In his dream, he witnessed Lu Tianyu''s death. As same as what he heard, she was killed by a crowd of zombies. Her scream was filled with despair. Based on what he knew about her, she certainly cursed some people before she died.


    Then, he woke up with a start, his face covered in sweat. He sat on the bed and gasped for hair. Spending the whole night thinking, he finally figured out something.


    Why did Lu Tianyu become so different after she turned into a zombie? Her behavior, her personality, her way of doing things, and the vibe she gave out, everything about her was different.


    It was because the real Lu Tianyu had died long ago. The one who turned into a zombie was not his sister.


    But, who was it?


    With that doubt, he started to find clues from his zombie sister. Why did she care so much about Lin Wenwen, Lin Feng, and the other Lin Family people? She went all the way to Hades Base to look for them first. Why was she able to communicate with Yuan Tianxing and the others with merely a look in the eye or a hand gesture? Why was she so persistent about building her own base?


    Feeing his mood swings, Lin Qiao sighed and said, "You''ve guessed out, haven''t you?"


    "I want to hear you say it," said Lu Tianyi stubbornly.


    Without hearing her say it personally, he felt what he had found out was not true. He didn''t want to believe it. However, having false hope for too long made him feel not right.


    All the others had known about the truth but him. Wasn''t that making him seem silly? Was he too weak to even find out the truth?


    He knew that the current Lu Tianyu was keeping the truth from him out of goodwill. She was so powerful; she didn''t need to worry that he might want to hurt her for occupying his sister''s body. She didn''t tell him the truth only because she didn''t want him to be sad.


    However, he should wake up. No matter how great the false reality seemed like, it wasn''t true. It would be gone sooner or later. The truth would always be the truth.


    "Why?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked, "Isn''t it nice to think of me as your sister? At least, I now think of you as one of my brothers."


    "You are my sister, but not that sister. I can''t think of you two as the same person. You are not my real sister, so at least, you should tell me who you really are. Is it necessary to keep lying to me? Not everyone wants to hear white lies. I only know that it''s time for me to see the truth," Lu Tianyi erased the sadness from his face and wore that strangely peaceful look again.


    "Alright, if that''s what you want! You are right. I''m not Lu Tianyu. She had died indeed! I am Lin Qiao, the sister of Lin Wenwen, Lin Hao, and Lin Feng, the leader of Hades Base. Lin Qiao died as well, but for some reason, she woke up in Lu Tianyu''s body," Lin Qiao had no choice but to tell the truth. She put the hair near her forehead to the back of her head and exposed her entire face.


    Lu Tianyi immediately raised his head to look straight at her. His eyes were unfocused, containing confusion, helplessness, and sadness.


    "See, you wanted me to tell you. Now I''ve told you, and you''re crying!" Lin Qiao looked at him.


    Lu Tianyi automatically dropped his head to wipe his eyes. However, nothing was on his face, so he said grumpily, "I''m not crying. Do zombies have tears?"


    Lin Qiao rolled her eyes, then pointed a finger at his heart and said, "Who said only tears mean you''re crying? Your heart is shedding tears. Do you know that?"


    Lu Tianyi lowered his head to look at his heart, then pressed his right hand in that area. "I''m not crying," he still refused to admit.


    Lin Qiao stood up and walked to his side, then patted him on the shoulder and said, "You wanted the truth, I''ve told you what you wanted to know. As I''ve said, I''m still your sister. I see you as my second little brother. Well, having one more little brother isn''t a problem for me at all. As for if you can see me as your sister, that''s up to you. My body belonged to your sister, after all. You and me, we share the same blood¡­ Hm, we are zombies with blood relations!"


    Having finished talking, she retracted her hand and walked to the other side of the living room before disappearing, leaving Lu Tianyi sitting there alone, quietly.


    Lin Qiao came out of her space and felt relieved. She then looked at Xie Dong and the others who were standing before the cabin. A group of zombies was standing behind Xie Dong in a straight line; Mo was the only level-six zombie among them. The rest were four zombie leaders, Jingyan, Yan Xiao, Liu Mingsong, and Liuli, the zombie number five.


    "Are they the only ones ready to upgrade?" Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong and asked.


    "They''re the ones who followed us out for the mission. There are some more among the ones who stayed to guard the base, and Troop Number Two stationed outside."


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Em, I''ll first help the five of them. It''s four pm already. It''s gonna be Teng''s lunchtime in one hour. Mo will go first. Wait for a second!"


    Something crossed her mind while she was speaking. She disappeared for a few minutes, and when she showed up again, a small bucket of milk was carried in her hand.


    "Teng will be hungry at five. Warm this milk and feed him with it," Lin Qiao said. After all, she didn''t know how long she would be staying in the space helping Mo with the upgrade.


    "Oh, sure! I get it, don''t worry. He won''t starve," Liu Jun smilingly took over the bucket from her hand. She needed to feed her own son anyway. Since Lin Qiao was going to leave Teng in her place, she would, of course, feed that baby boy too.


    After hearing Liu Jun''s response, Lin Qiao walked to Mo and the others, "Have you prepared your nuclei yet?"


    The zombies nodded.


    Then, Lin Qiao turned and said to Xie Dong, "Maybe you should go first. Oh, eh-hem, did you bring underwear? Apart from nuclei, you guys should prepare yourself some underwear as well¡­ because my lake is a bit lascivious."


    After saying that, she smilingly looked at the other zombies, who stayed silent. Meanwhile, Xie Dong didn''t know what to say either, and Liu Jun couldn''t help but cover her mouth and chuckle.

 1216 They Dont Understand Human Language

    While Lin Qiao was busy upgrading her subordinates, Lin Wenwen, who had traveled to seven years ago, spent a night at the seaside and got up early the next morning for jogging. By the time she returned to the hotel, the sun had risen already.


    She walked through the lobby and took the elevator to her room, where she took a nice shower. After that, she put on a comfortable suit, picked up her phone and key, and went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast.


    "Xinxin, over here!" Someone called her name once she went in. She raised her head to find Qin Jiao waving at her. Seeing her, she slowly walked to the table and pulled out the only empty chair to sit down.


    "We''ve eaten these, and they''re cold. Order something new for yourself," Dong Lijia said to her as she sat down, then turned to call the waiter. Lin Wenwen ordered something she liked, and then started eating.


    Seeing the leftover food on the table and how lazy those people all were, she knew that they already had had breakfast.


    "Eh? Xinxin, didn''t you bring your bag?" Lin Yuehui looked at her up and down, then asked her a question.


    "No," Lin Wenwen gave her a short answer.


    "Aren''t you bringing your clothes to the yacht? We''re going out after breakfast. Do you plan to go upstairs to pick up your clothes after breakfast?" Lin Yuehui said.


    "I''m not going upstairs later, and I won''t bring any clothes with me," Lin Wenwen took a sip of the delicious prawn porridge, then said with a bland tone.


    "Why should she bring any clothes? She can wear what she''s wearing now." Hearing Lin Yuehui ask Lin Wenwen about her clothes repeatedly, Dong Lijia said with confusion.


    "Oh¡­ I''m just asking Xinxin if she wants to wear her swimsuit, because we girls have all brought our swimsuits. Didn''t you guys bring your swim trunks?" Qin Jiao explained for Lin Yuehui.


    "She can wear anything she wants to wear. We aren''t going to swim on the yacht anyway. We''re just gonna do some barbecue, fishing, and enjoy the sea wind. What''s so important about the swimsuit?" Dong Lijia carelessly waved a hand.


    Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui glanced at each other. They knew that they couldn''t say too much at the moment, or the others might detect their true purpose. They two of them also gave Lin Wenwen a glance with a fake smile, both seeming displeased.


    They gave her the fat girl swimsuit last night and spent a lot of time trying to talk her into wearing it. But unexpectedly, she didn''t even bring it out of her room today. Since when did Dong Xinxin start to make decisions on her own? She used to do whatever they said!


    Had she found the problem with the swimsuit? That shouldn''t be possible. No one would easily find out about that, not to mention Dong Xinxin, who was sillier than normal people.


    "Yeah, I wasn''t planning on wearing a swimsuit today. It''s so hot and sunny out there. Why should anyone be wearing a swimsuit?" While speaking, Lin Wenwen reached out her chopsticks to pick a small steamed bun and put it into her mouth.


    Her words successfully darkened the faces of Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui. The two girls soon hid their true expressions though. With an awkward smile, Qin Jiao looked at her and said, "But¡­ didn''t you agree to wear it last night?"


    Lin Wenwen turned and looked at her as she said with confusion, "When did I agree to wear it? I didn''t even want that swimsuit, but you guys insisted on giving it to me, right? That swimsuit is suitable for me indeed, but I don''t like wearing clothes with poor quality. I like my clothes to be at least not so easy to break. Also, there''s one thing I don''t understand. Why do I have to wear a swimsuit as you said? I don''t like wearing a swimsuit, and I''m not going to wear one. What''s the problem with that?"


    The fake smile on the two girls'' faces faded as she said those words. The others all turned their eyes to the two girls.


    Lin Wenwen made it pretty clear that the two girls seemed to have some secret scheme against her. However, she didn''t seem to care about those girls'' little trick at all. In addition to that, she even tore that swimsuit apart.


    She said she wanted her clothes to at least be not so easy to break. That proved the fact that the swimsuit was already broken. It also indicated that someone might have done something to that swimsuit to make it break easily. The people who managed to figure out the truth instantly had a bad impression of Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui. They were pretty, but people didn''t like girls who were too scheming.


    Dong Lijia spent a short while looking at the two girls while thinking about something.


    He knew that they liked to give Dong Xinxin advice, but never thought about why they liked to do that. He thought they really saw her as their friend, a normal friend at least. But now, it turned out that he was wrong¡­ No wonder they always tried to put some weird aesthetic standards in Dong Xinxin''s mind. Because of them, she grew fond of wearing tight dresses and heels.


    He never noticed what was wrong before.


    Under people''s gazes, Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui panicked a little. "It''s not like that. We were worried that you might be too shy to wear a swimsuit, also that you might have trouble finding one suitable for you. That''s why we picked one for you¡­ Hehe¡­ You accidentally tore the swimsuit that we bought you? It''s fine. We can always get you a new one," Qin Jiao tried to explain.


    "Do you even understand human language? I''ve said that I won''t wear one. Didn''t you understand it? Get me a new one? Why would I want a new swimsuit since I''m not gonna wear it? To decorate my room?" Lin Wenwen glanced at them disdainfully and said to them as if talking to two retarded people.


    Then, Lin Wenwen abruptly turned to Dong Lijia and the others as she said, "Be careful when making friends, especially girlfriends. Don''t have your hearts and feet softened when you see just any pretty girl. At least, make sure your friends have brains."


    Clap! Qin Jiao exploded upon hearing what Lin Wenwen said to the others. She couldn''t help but pound the table as she glared at Lin Wenwen and yelled, "Dong Xinxin, what do you mean? Are you saying that we have no brains? We''ve been seeing you as our friend and helping you all the time. Is that how you treat us now?"


    "Shhh¡­ Easy, easy, don''t yell!" People gave a start on hearing the noise Qin Jiao made. Luo Yuanjun reached an arm toward her and tried to make her calm down.


    "If you really saw me as your friend, you wouldn''t be trying to turn me into a joke every day. Like I''d believe you! I''m full. You guys carry on. Dong Lijia, where is the yacht?" Lin Wenwen said to Qin Jiao scornfully, then turned to Dong Lijia.


    "I''m full too. I''ll go with you. What about you guys?" Dong Lijia stood up and glanced at the others, not including Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui. The others all stood up and left the table. Only Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui were left sitting there, their faces black as thunder.

 1217 Get on the Yacht and Go out to Sea

    After walking out of the restaurant together with Dong Lijia, Lin Wenwen moved closer to him and said, "Those two girls were only pretending to be friends with Dong Xinxin. Couldn''t you see that?"


    Dong Lijia first looked at her with surprise, then nodded knowingly and said, "I didn''t notice it before. But, Xinxin was really happy playing with them. She seemed to have become more outgoing too."


    That was why he accepted her playing with those girls. In fact, he wouldn''t be meeting with those girls at all if it wasn''t for her. He really couldn''t tell that they were only pretending to be friends with Xinxin, and that they were probably doing that for some reason.


    "But, why? They pretended to be friends with Xinxin, not out of good will. Did Xinxin ever displease them?" Dong Lijia didn''t understand.


    "What else could it be? They just want to get close to you and me. Xinxin was used by them. She''s your little sister after all," Deng Chenfei''s bland voice was heard from behind. Dong Lijia turned and looked at Deng Chenfei, who was right behind him already. He then looked further behind and saw that the others had come out of the hotel as well.


    "To get close to us?" Hearing what Deng Chenfei said, Dong Lijia blinked his eyes. He thought for a moment and then found that the latter was right. Qin Jiao did like to talk to him, and Lin Yuehui always showed up around Deng Chenfei.


    They had seen a lot of girls like them. If the girls targeted them at the beginning, they would know since long ago. But, those two girls were quite smart. Instead of getting straight to them, they went to Dong Lijia''s sister indeed.


    No wonder Qin Jiao seemed quite surprised when he first met her. She asked him if he had a sister named Dong Xinxin. He was surprised too back then, so he had a short chat with her.


    "They didn''t come out," Luo Yuanjun looked back. He and the others had gone quite far away from the building, but the two girls were still in there.


    "Do they still have the guts to come out? Didn''t you see the look on their faces just now? I saw it. There was an obvious hatred on their faces when their scheme was exposed," Dong Lijia gave him a glare and said.


    Luo Yuanjun shrugged and said, "Women can really have some strange thoughts!"


    "Your thoughts are no less strange than theirs." By his side, Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes and said to him.


    "Oi, what did I do to you this time? Why are you so mean to me?" Luo Yuanjun wasn''t happy to hear that.


    Lin Wenwen gave him a cold glance. He immediately sensed a faint sting from his eyes, so he immediately shrank back. "Alright¡­ Do whatever you want. I''m a man. I don''t fight girls," He said and turned his face away.


    "They''re not shameless enough to follow us this time, are they? Oh, what''s about the swimsuit that you talked about earlier?" Dong Lijia glanced back again, then turned and asked Lin Wenwen.


    "Last night, they brought a swimsuit to my room and spent a long time trying to talk me into wearing it today on the yacht. The gauze dress on the swimsuit was glued, not waterproof. It looked fine when it was dry, but once it got wet, the gauze might fall off. I guess they planned to pour some water on me or shove me into the water, and make it look like an accident when I''d be wearing it. The gauze would fall, and you guys would all see my fat belly," Lin Wenwen said as she turned her mouth corners down.


    "They''d do something like that?" Dong Lijia looked at her and asked, "How would that benefit themselves? It seemed that they tried to find an excuse just now."


    Weren''t they making use of Dong Xinxin? They had already gotten close to Dong Xinxin. They were pretending to be friends with her. What could they possibly gain by embarrassing her?


    Lin Wenwen glanced at him, but didn''t say another word.


    They obviously just wanted to give vent to their dislike toward Dong Xinxin. They always looked at her the way people looked at a trash can. They didn''t like Dong Xinxin. However, in order to get to know Dong Lijia and eventually become his wife, Qin Jiao forced herself to be friends with her. But in fact, she despised her. So, behind others'' backs, she came up with some small tricks to embarrass her all the time. After all, she and Lin Yuehui felt happy watching her being embarrassed.


    The girl who was always quiet showed up beside Lin Wenwen and asked, "You didn''t see through their prank before. Why did you suddenly find out about it now?"


    The girl came with the group yesterday, but she barely talked to Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui. It seemed that she didn''t know them well. She was more familiar with Xiao Hanfeng, the oil prince. Xiao Hanfeng invited her, after all.


    Hearing that question, Dong Lijia, Deng Chenfei, and Luo Yuanjun immediately looked at Lin Wenwen with a complicated look on their faces. But in the next second, they all turned away.


    Lin Wenwen looked at the girl as she smiled and said, "Someone has been giving me advice lately. I''ve woken up."


    Dong Xinxin, who had survived in the post-apocalyptic era for seven years, had woken up of course. If she didn''t, all the pain she suffered in those seven years would be meaningless.


    The group of people found the rental company and rented a luxurious yacht that had a small swimming pool on it. After everything was prepared, they got onto the yacht. But before they all got onto the yacht, those two thick-skinned girls showed up again.


    "Have you guys forgotten about us? Why didn''t you call us? I''m so sad," Holding a beach umbrella, Lin Yuehui pouted as she looked at Dong Lijia and the other boys and complained.


    Lin Wenwen had gotten onto the yacht long ago. Hearing her voice, she turned back and gave the girl a glance, then couldn''t help but roll her eyes.


    Those two girls were so cheeky. They actually showed up! Back in the restaurant, the atmosphere was so weird. Wouldn''t it be weirder if they showed up on the yacht?


    Lin Wenwen ignored them and sat down in a corner, then took out her phone and started searching catmint online. She needed the fresh plants, so she had to find a plantation base. Purchasing fresh plants could be a little troublesome, and shipping would be a problem. Perhaps, she would need to go to the plantation base in person to purchase them.


    She searched online and found some contact information, then started contacting the sellers through phone calls and online chatting software.


    Another thing was that she needed to borrow money from Dong Lijia again. She wouldn''t pay him back, of course.


    With that thought, she quickly stood up and found Dong Lijia. He was standing by the guardrail on the deck together with Luo Yuanjun. She walked to him and dragged him to the side.


    "Lend me some more money," she whispered to him.


    "What for?" Dong Lijia asked her.


    "I need the money to buy something. What else could it be?" Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but give him a glare.


    "I know you need the money to buy things. I was asking you what are you going to buy!" Dong Lijia was used to her unfriendly tone, so he responded to her in an unfriendly way as well.

 1218 Purchase Catmin

    "You don''t need to know," Lin Wenwen refused to answer that question straightforwardly, "Just give me the money as soon as you can. This is urgent."


    "How much do you want?" Dong Lijia lowered his head to look at her reluctantly.


    "A million. I''ll give you a refund if I don''t spend it all," said Lin Wenwen.


    The boy was rich anyway; a million was nothing to him. Recently, he and his family had sold some of their properties and stocks at low prices. In the next two months, they would sell off everything they had and turn the money into all sorts of supplies¡­ There was a long shopping list.


    Lin Wenwen told them to seal up the food and store it on or above the fifth floor instead of the ground floor and the basement.


    Dong Lijia took out his phone and transferred the money to Lin Wenwen through two different banks, then asked her with curiosity, "What on earth do you need the money for?"


    "Thank you! You don''t need to know," Lin Wenwen said to him, then went back into the cabin and started making calls. She contacted the owners of many plantation bases. Some of them had already taken orders. There wasn''t too much left for her, and she wanted the plants to be fresh! Therefore, she placed orders on several bases. In a few days, she would need to go to those places to collect her goods.


    After what happened during the breakfast, Qin Jiao and Lin Yuehui had been avoiding Lin Wenwen all day, but continued creating opportunities cheekily to talk to Dong Lijia and Deng Chenfei. As men, Dong Lijia and Deng Chenfei couldn''t allow themselves to be too rude to the two girls. They rolled their eyes again and again while enduring those two tedious girls.


    In fact, only Dong Lijia''s attitude had changed obviously. Deng Chenfei was never interested in those two girls, and he was always cold. So, his attitude didn''t change much.


    The others were either playing with each other or watching the show that the two girls were staging. Lin Wenwen went fishing together with the other girl. At last, the girl actually fished an octopus while Lin Wenwen had caught quite some fishes as well.


    Seeing the two of them having a rich harvest, the others grew interested in fishing too. They each picked up a fishing pole, then sat together on the edge of the yacht. The yacht quietly floated in the sea, hundreds of meters away from the beach.


    While fishing, they started a barbecue on the yacht. The fishes they caught were put directly on the grill.


    They showered in the sunlight for the whole morning. They had applied sun oil, but their skins were still tanned a little. After enjoying fishing and barbecue, they returned to the beach in the afternoon and had another seafood meal in the restaurant.


    On the third day, they took flights back home. Lin Wenwen didn''t go home with them, but flew to another province.


    "Where is she going?" Luo Yuanjun walked to Dong Lijia and asked him a question after watching her hop onto the plane without them.


    "I don''t know," Dong Lijia was looking at his computer. He didn''t even raise his head when answering the question.


    "Come on! You seem to have known what''s going on since long ago. Tell me, what on earth is going on with her?" Luo Yuanjun rubbed his eye sockets and said to Dong Lijia. He still remembered the conversation that happened between Lin Wenwen, Deng Chenfei, and himself that night.


    Dong Lijia''s fingers, which were moving on the touchpad, paused briefly. He looked at Luo Yuanjun, then at Deng Chenfei, who sat in front of him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I''m afraid that you wouldn''t believe me. Just forget about it."


    Deng Chenfei looked at him and pondered briefly, then turned and made eye contact with Luo Yuanjun. Dong Lijia and his sister had really been weird lately.


    Lin Wenwen landed at the airport, then took a taxi to her destination. About an hour later, she arrived in a town, where a middle-aged man was expecting her. The man was a little surprised when he saw her. He wasn''t expecting such a young client.


    "Are you¡­ Miss. Dong?" The middle-aged man stood before his store as he watched Dong Xinxin get off the car. With hesitation, he walked up to her and asked.


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Yes, I am. Are you Mr. Huang?"


    "Yes!" Mr. Huang nodded.


    Only when Lin Wenwen said his family name did Mr. Huang confirm that she was really the client. So, he politely shook hands with her.


    "Can you please show me your nursery garden? Have you prepared what I ordered?" Lin Wenwen asked straightforwardly.


    Mr. Huang looked at her with surprise. The girl looked only about seventeen, but her tone of speaking sounded rather mature. He nodded quickly and said, "Yes. Please follow me! I''ll drive you there. It''s just a few miles away."


    Lin Wenwen sat into the backseat of Mr. Huang''s SUV. After about ten minutes of driving, they arrived at a large nursery garden in the suburban area, with many ornamental plants planted there.


    Mr. Huang''s plantation base was large. His business was going quite well, and he had a lot of loyal customers.


    Lin Wenwen held her bag as she followed Mr. Huang into the garden. After a few minutes of walking, she saw a series of single-story buildings.


    Mr. Huang pointed at one of the buildings and said with a smile, "We were going to sell this batch of catmint to a pharmaceutical factory. But, the factory closed down recently. So, we planned to provide the batch to another factory. Unexpectedly, you placed the order before them."


    "Thank you! I am in urgent need of catmint. I''ll keep purchasing catmint in the next few days. If you can spare a certain amount from your next batch, please let me know. I''ll take it," Lin Wenwen said to him with a smile.


    Walking to the building, Mr. Huang opened the door. Behind the door were over ten bags of well-packed catmint. Mr. Huang opened each bag to show Lin Wenwen the catmint in it, then told his people to seal the bags again.


    After placing the final payment, Lin Wenwen put the catmint bags on Mr. Huang''s car, who drove the car to the town, where she asked him to send her to a remote crossroad on the way to the city, and then drop her and the catmint there. After that, she told Mr. Huang, who was very worried about the safety of the little girl and the catmint, to leave. Next, she put the catmint into her space while nobody was around.


    In her mind, Dong Xinxin finally couldn''t help but ask her the question¡ª''What do you need so much catmint for?''


    Lin Wenwen walked toward the city which was only miles away. While walking, she answered Dong Xinxin''s question, ''I''m bringing them back to the post-apocalyptic era.''


    ''Is there a special effect of the catmint?'' Dong Xinxin asked.


    Otherwise, why would she want to bring so much catmint from the past to the future?


    ''Yeah,'' said Lin Wenwen, ''The catmint might be mankind''s last hope for survival.''


    ''How do you know that?'' Dong Xinxin was even more confused.


    ''You might know the answer in seven years,'' said Lin Wenwen, ''I think we''ll see each other again when I get back to the future.''


    ''Perhaps,'' Dong Xinxin said.

 1219 Dong Xinxin Woke Up

    Lin Wenwen traveled to a few places in a row and purchased over a thousand kilograms of catmint. Every time, she asked someone to drive her and the catmint to a remote area, then secretly put it into her space. Apart from the catmint, she had also bought quite some seeds to plant in her sister''s space when she got back to the future. Her own space was only able to store things, as there was no water and soil for plants to grow.


    As she asked, Dong Lijia didn''t let the bodyguards follow her. It would be inconvenient for her to put things into her space with the bodyguards following her everywhere. Therefore, the guards were all sent back to the family''s mansion.


    A few days later, Lin Wenwen returned to Dong Family. The apocalypse would come in less than seventy days. After coming home, she continued losing weight for Dong Xinxin''s body. After the training that she had done in the past tens of days, she now felt that her body had grown some muscles. Her body was no longer as soft and weak as the first day.


    Recently, she had dreams every night. What she saw in her dreams were mostly the post-apocalyptic scenes. She saw sands all over the sky, deserted, empty cities, dark, cloudy sky, broken, messy buildings and streets. She also saw zombies with twisted faces and rotten skins slowly wandering all over the world, and the mutated beasts flashing across mutated woods by the roadsides.


    Countless images that were familiar and strange to her at the same time overlapped in her mind. Because of those, she woke up upset every single morning. Normally, only in the afternoon would she feel slightly better.


    "What''s happening to you lately? You seem more and more upset since you came back¡­" During lunch, Dong Lijia looked at Lin Wenwen and couldn''t help but ask her.


    "Yeah. You look sallow these days. I¡­ something wrong with Xinxin''s body?" Hearing Dong Lijia''s question, Mrs. Dong dropped her chopsticks and looked at her daughter too.


    Earlier, Mr. and Mrs. Dong were told that another soul was existing in Dong Xinxin''s body. After spending so many days processing that, they finally managed to accept it. Facing a totally strange person who wore their daughter''s skin, Mr. and Mrs. Dong felt utterly weird. However, they still cared for her. That was their daughter''s body after all.


    To them, Lin Wenwen was like another personality of their daughter. They could not ignore her completely.


    "Em, I''m fine. I haven''t been sleeping well lately. Xinxin is fine. She''s healthy. Oh, she asked me to tell you guys that she''s much better now. She might be able to take turns with me to control this body soon. Your daughter will come back to you," Lin Wenwen, who was eating in a daze, spend a few seconds to realize that the questions were for her.


    "So¡­ Are you going to leave soon?" Mr. Dong looked at her and asked.


    "I''m not sure," Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "I haven''t even figured out what happened to me yet. Maybe I''ll have to wait longer."


    Dong Lijia and his parents looked at each other, then nodded and continued eating their food.


    After lunch, Lin Wenwen spent a short while strolling in the backyard. While she was walking, everything suddenly turned black, and then she felt the world turning upside down. The two bodyguards who were following not far away behind her both rushed up to her when she fell.


    "Miss. Dong!" They found Dong Xinxin passed out with her eyes closed tight.


    Lin Wenwen felt being dazzled, and then she saw a room. The room had no window or door. The walls, floor, and ceiling all had a weird texture, not like something often seen at all. The room was only tens of meters square, completely empty. A woman was lying in the middle of the room.


    The moment Lin Wenwen saw the woman, she felt a suction force coming from her. In the next second, she was pulled into the woman''s body.


    It was her own body; that was the first thought that popped in her mind.


    However, after entering her own body, she still couldn''t wake up. She sensed energy waves from her brain, then felt as if something was trying to surge out of her head. Only letting that something out might make her feel better.


    Eh? Was she upgrading?


    That feeling wasn''t strange to her; that was a sign of upgrading. However, in order to make the breakthrough, she needed a good amount of energy coming from the outside. Therefore, she immediately took a level-three beast nucleus out of her space and held it to absorb it.


    Dong Xinxin woke up to find the ceiling that she was looking different from before. It was no longer blurry, but so clear. Before, she saw the world like how people saw a 3D movie without the glasses. The things she saw were flat, blurry, unreal. But now, everything she saw was so clear and real.


    What did that mean?


    Dong Xinxin''s eyes instantly glowed. In the next second, she felt her body and limbs. She turned and looked at her parents and brother, then hurriedly sat up.


    The three were looking at her nervously. Seeing her wake up, they said to her with concern, "How are you feeling? Are you alright¡­?"


    Before they could finish, Dong Lijia suddenly sat up and put her arms around Dong Lijia, who was right by the bedside, and burst in tears, "Brother! I''m back! Ah¡­"


    Dong Lijia was startled by her sudden movement and loud cry. But then, upon hearing her words and sensing her tone, he stopped short and lowered his head to look at Dong Xinxin with surprise.


    "Xi-Xinxin?"


    Dong Xinxin raised her head to look at him with tearful eyes as she bit her lip and nodded quickly. Seeing that look on her face which couldn''t be more familiar to him, Dong Lijia got a little choked up as well.


    Mr. and Mrs. Dong glanced at each other with surprise, then realized what had happened.


    After giving Dong Lijia a hug, Dong Xinxin pushed him away, then lifted the blanket and got off the bed to hug her mother.


    "Mom, it''s me. I''m back¡­ This is so great. I can finally hold you guys. You are all alive¡­"


    Mrs. Dong automatically held her. She had been affected by Dong Xinxin''s strong emotions. She patted her daughter''s back and comforted her, "There, there, don''t cry. What do you mean that we''re all alive? Haven''t we all been fine?"


    At that point, Dong Xinxin finally calmed down a little. She realized that she was a little too emotional. She adjusted herself and wiped the tears off her face, then sobbed and said, "Em, no¡­ You¡­ You died after the apocalypse. Everyone else died¡­ Only Luo Yuanjun and I survived at last¡­"

 1220 Wake Up in Turns

    Lin Wenwen absorbed one level-three nucleus and two level-four nuclei in a row, then suddenly felt relieved as the surging energy inside her brain all shrank back into her nucleus.


    Then, she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up on the ground. She stood up and looked around, then walked to the wall nearby and touched it. The wall is had a strange texture. It was as cold and hard as glass.


    There was no window, or even a door. The room had no air vent at all, but she could still breathe.


    What was happening? Was that room Dong Xinxin''s space? Dong Xinxin had told Lin Wenwen that her body was in her space. Now, since Lin Wenwen had returned to her own body, had the same thing happen to Dong Xinxin?


    What should she do now? Could she go back to the future already? She didn''t think so. Dong Xinxin didn''t seem to have fully recovered.


    Lin Wenwen assumed that Dong Xinxin had returned to her own body, but didn''t know how long she could stay there. Perhaps, Lin Wenwen needed to stay in her space so she could take over the latter''s body when she was exhausted.


    After figuring that out, Lin Wenwen sat down and took a book as well as a pack of sunflower seeds, along with a small flashlight out of her own space. She decided to spend some time reading.


    Dong Xinxin''s space was very dark, so Lin Wenwen could only read under the light of the flashlight.


    At that time, Dong Xinxin had calmed down under her parents'' comforting and sat back on the bed. She was so thrilled just now, which had consumed her energy largely. So now, she looked a little tired.


    Dong Xinxin sat on the bed and said to her family peacefully, "The one who was in my body before is another girl from the future. There might be some kind of connection between her and me that caused me to bring her back from the future. When I fully recover, I''ll have to send her back to seven years from now."


    Her parents and brother looked at her in shock. Dong Lijia stared at her the way he would stare at an alien and said, "You can send people to seven years from now? Are you a time machine?"


    "You''re a machine!" Dong Xinxin picked up a pillow to hit him. But then, she weakly dropped her shoulders and said, "It''ll happen in about seventy days. Brother, get me a pen and paper. I''ll write you a name list. Bring those people to our place in any way. You can lie to them or kidnap them. And, there are some people in our family we can''t allow to stay."


    Dong Xinxin had a sad look on her face when she said the last few words. Those people couldn''t stay in the family because they would turn into zombies. The old butler was one of them.


    On hearing her words, the other three figured something out. They glanced at each other, then grew sad as well. They understood that the people on Dong Xinxin''s name list were all trustworthy who would survive the apocalypse day.


    Dong Lijia found a notebook and a pen from Dong Xinxin''s desk, then let her write.


    Mr. and Mrs. Dong made eye contact with each other. They wanted to ask Dong Xinxin about what would happen in the future. However, recalling what she said earlier and how emotional she was, they gave up on that idea. Since their daughter was from the future, she surely knew what would happen in the next seven years. As her parents, they only needed to follow her instructions.


    While writing, Dong Xinxin said to them, "There are some other people. I will try to help you guys avoid them in the future. If one day you guys meet any of them, you should try your best to stay away from them for your own safety."


    "Don''t we still have two months?" Dong Lijia finally asked a question, "Isn''t it too early to find these people now?"


    "In the last half a month, we need to leave this place for Sea City," said Dong Xinxin, "Because there will be a base for survivors. We need to get there in advance. Also, we need to separate the supplies that we now have and hide them in different places. We can''t take them all with us."


    Then, she raised her head and looked at Dong Lijia as she said to him, "Brother, you do that first. Divide those supplies into small batches, the smaller the better. Hide them anywhere you can find. The hiding spots can''t be more than three hundred miles away from Sea City though."


    Hiding supplies in separate places was a good thing. After all, if the supplies were hidden in just one place, one accident could ruin it all.


    "Sure, I''ll do it," Dong Lijia nodded and said.


    "Remember, hide them in high buildings and seal them up," Dong Xinxin thought for a moment and added.


    She finished the name list and tore the page off, handing it to her family as she said, "This is the name list. The ones on top are relatively far away from us. Go for them¡­ first¡­"


    However, while she was handing the piece of paper to Dong Lijia, she suddenly tilted her head and fell into silence even without finishing her words. The name list drifted off her hand and fell on the bed.


    "Xinxin?" The three gave a start and hurriedly came closer to the Dong Xinxin. They held her and found that she had passed out again.


    At the same time, Lin Wenwen, who was eating sunflower seeds while reading a book under the flashlight, froze for a moment and then fell to the ground. The flashlight rolled away on the ground, and the book fell on her chest.


    She woke up to feel bright light, then saw the ceiling in Dong Xinxin''s bedroom again.


    "Xinxin?" Dong Lijia''s voice was heard.


    Lin Wenwen turned and saw Dong Lijia and his parents standing at the bedside, looking at her.


    "I''m not her¡­" She sat up and said to the three, then pressed her temples with her fingers, feeling dizzy. On hearing what she said, the three instantly wore disappointment on their faces.


    Lin Wenwen understood what had happened. "Dong Xinxin was back, wasn''t she? How long did she stay for?"


    She remembered reading the big half of the book in that small space. She spent at least one and a half hour.


    "Less than ten minutes," Dong Lijia said.


    At the same time, he felt relieved. Thankfully, the other person in Dong Xinxin''s body wasn''t a man. Earlier, Dong Xinxin told him that she was a girl, which made him feel relieved.


    "Eh? Less than ten minutes?" Lin Wenwen was surprised.


    "Is something wrong?" Mrs. Dong couldn''t help but ask the question with a mild tone.


    Lin Wenwen looked at Mrs. Dong as she shook her head and said, "Oh, nothing. I guess we are both in a special condition. We have different time perception."

 1221 One Month Lef

    "How are you feeling now? Are you feeling any discomfort?" Mrs. Dong sat on the end of the bed and looked at her.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "I''m fine. I''m just a little tired."


    "Take some rest then. We''ll leave," Mr. Dong glanced at Dong Lijia and Mrs. Dong, then said to Lin Wenwen with a smile. Mrs. Dong stood up and walked out of the room together with Dong Lijia before closing the door from outside.


    Lin Wenwen sighed as she lay down and closed her eyes to rest. This time, she didn''t have a dream. She slept for a few nice hours and woke up at dinner time. Then, she energetically got off the bed to look for food.


    Dong Xinxin hadn''t written down the names of the people needed to be avoided in the future. Her family decided to ask the soul who was in Dong Xinxin''s body now. She might be able to ask her about it and help her write down the name list.


    "Oh¡­ Um, we don''t know your name yet. After all, you''re not Xinxin." Since Dong Xinxin''s family learned what had happened to her, the atmosphere between Lin Wenwen and them had been a little weird. They had been trying their best to avoid talking to each other.


    They ate at the same table, but rarely talked to each other, and hardly called each other. Only Dong Lijia would call Lin Wenwen ''Oi'' or Xinxin sometimes. But, he felt as if he was calling another girl whose name was also Xinxin instead of his little sister when he did that.


    Lin Wenwen looked at Mrs. Dong who was looking at her and said with a grin, "Call me Wen. I''m only a few years older than Xinxin."


    "Oh, okay, Wen, eh¡­ We heard that Xinxin sometimes talks to you. Can you ask her for a name list? She might tell it to you. She fell asleep before she could give us the name list." With a humble smile, Mrs. Dong asked for Lin Wenwen''s help.


    "Sure, but I think she''s resting now. I think she''ll give me the name list once she wakes up, if it''s important," Lin Wenwen nodded.


    In the next few days, Dong Lijia started dividing the supplies up and shipping them out of the city to store in different places. Meanwhile, Mr. Dong sent out his men to look for the people who had their names and features and home addresses on the list that Dong Lijia provided.


    Lin Wenwen continued exercising Dong Xinxin''s body. Many clothes which were tight before had now become loose as she was losing weight.


    This time, Dong Xinxin rested for a few days. When she woke up, she asked Lin Wenwen to write down a name list for her father.


    "I guess these people were meant to bring bad luck to you and your family." After learning about the name list, Lin Wenwen gave a sigh. Being able to foresee the future was great. Dong Xinxin at least knew what would happen to her and her family in the next seven years, and was able to avoid ending up like she did the last time.


    ''I can only say that without the law, the world would be ruled by the primitive jungle law again. Nature doesn''t restrain the desires of living beings. Humans have the strongest desires among all. For survival, no one would care about morality anymore,'' said Dong Xinxin with a cold voice.


    Another month later, when there was only one month left, Lin Wenwen managed to lose ten kilograms for Dong Xinxin. She was still short, but no longer looking like a ball. She looked much smaller in size than before. She was much healthier than before, and her muscles had grown strong.


    During the past month, Dong Xinxin woke up in her own body three times, and the span of time that she could stay awake grew longer every time. However, every time she fell asleep again, she would sleep for days before waking up in Lin Wenwen''s mind.


    That day, Lin Wenwen ran into Dong Lijia when she came out of the gym. Seeing the speechless look on his face, she couldn''t help but say to him, "Did you visit those people again? Why did you make yourself unhappy? Are you dumb?"


    She was talking about the people who had been forcibly brought to Dong Family by Mr. Dong. Those people would, of course, not treat Dong Family people friendly, as they kidnapped them without telling them anything. They would figure it out when the Apocalypse happened. By that time, they would thank Dong Family people for kidnapping them.


    Those people were the ones who helped Dong Xinxin after the apocalypse but didn''t end well.


    There were only about ten of them. The number was small, so Dong Xinxin decided to gather them before the apocalypse. First, those people could be protected in that way, and second, they would become helpful.


    "I just wanted to comfort them. I don''t want them to get too emotional. But, none of them listened to me. Apart from limiting their freedom, I''m actually quite nice to them, right?" Dong Lijia complained.


    Lin Wenwen looked at him, prepared to turn and leave. But suddenly, a picture with Dong Lijia in it flashed across her mind. In the picture, he was shooting a herd of weird creatures with a strange gun.


    She stood walking and looked at Dong Lijia''s back as she fell into deep thoughts.


    Those weird creatures looked very much like the ones that she had seen before in her mind. What kind of gun was he holding? Why wasn''t he using his superpower? She had no idea when would that happen. In the picture, he looked rather practiced with the gun, unlike a young man who newly survived in the post-apocalyptic era.


    Was that an image from seven years later? At least, that kind of gun didn''t emerge within the seven years that Lin Wenwen had experienced.


    "What''s wrong?" While walking, Dong Lijia noticed that Lin Wenwen wasn''t moving, but was staring at the back of his head.


    "Wen? Oi? Stop staring at me. Aren''t we going for the meal or not?" As Lin Wenwen didn''t react, Dong Lijia called her again.


    Lin Wenwen heard him, so she turned down her mouth corners and said, "You are not calling me Wen. I''m three years older than you are. Do you know that?"


    "Who cares. Stay here if you want," Dong Lijia carelessly waved at her, then turned and left.


    Lin Wenwen was irritated. She felt so annoyed and she wanted to punch somebody so much.


    ¡­


    While she was waiting for the apocalypse to happen, and for Dong Xinxin to recover fully and send her back to the future, Lin Qiao in All Beings Base made Xie Dong and the other zombies go into the lake nakedly one after another, and then upgraded them. Xie Dong successfully entered level-seven, while Jingyan, Yan Xiao, Liuli, and the others broke into level-six.


    During the day time, Lin Qiao needed up upgrade the high-leveled zombies and also deal with the work in the base, because Lin Feng had already gone to Sea City Base. Apart from those, she also needed to spare some energy to look after her son and suppress the dark energy inside Yuan Tianxing''s body.


    Without Yuan Tianxing''s help, she was as busy as a bee.

 1222 Going to Huaxia Base or No

    After returning to Sea City, Wu Chengyue had been paying close attention to the underground creatures that had shown up near Sea City Base. He had been sending out his men to collect information about those creatures. While trying to figure out their features and weaknesses, he had also been trying to find out about Huaxia Base''s recent movements.


    Huaxia Base had called for a grand meeting and invited all base leaders to talk about the underground creatures. Who knew if they would play some other tricks under the cover of the meeting?


    Mankind needed to unite to win the war. But, judging by Si Kongchen''s previous behavior, he might grasp the opportunity to stab Sea City Base in the back while everyone else was fighting against the underground creatures, and destroy Sea City Base.


    After all, Si Kongchen''s true purpose would only be keeping Huaxia Base safe. He wouldn''t want to help anyone else.


    He called for the grand meeting and invited the other base leaders to talk about those enormous, dangerous underground creatures, because he was seeking to find out if those creatures had anything in common, or if the others knew something crucial that he didn''t know yet.


    At the moment, Wu Chengyue, Xiao Yunlong, Zou Shihui, and a few Deputy Chiefs were having a meeting.


    "Si Kongchen called for the meeting and said that the leaders of all bases should get together to see if there''s any way to defeat those creatures. However, he didn''t give a specific time when the meeting will take place. It''s not gonna be a simple meeting, is it?" Xiao Yunlong furrowed his brows and said while reading a copy of the invitation.


    Zou Shihui nodded in agreement, "That''s what I''m thinking. I think we shouldn''t go. If we went for the meeting, either the ones who attended the meeting or our base might be facing danger. Si Kongchen won''t be able to do anything to us if we refuse to go."


    "But, all the other bases will attend the meeting, right? Besides, Si Kongchen only invited us to talk about underground creature crisis. It''s a perfectly reasonable excuse to call for the meeting. Wouldn''t it seem a little inappropriate if we don''t attend to the meeting?" Xiao Yunlong was going to agree with Zou Shihui, but he thought for a moment, and then found it to be a little inappropriate.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue joined the conversation, "Today, I heard the news that the last batch of Earth Dragon Base residents were attacked by some unknown creatures. None of them survived. Also, Sky Fire Base was under the attack of two different types of enormous insects which were never seen before. Currently, great numbers of Sky Fire Base people are fleeing toward Huaxia Base. This proves that the underground creature crisis has reached a new level. Which base will be attacked the next? I''m not saying that Zou is wrong. If we go for the meeting, Sea City Base might be in danger, but the meeting might also provide us with a gleam of hope. After all, the discussion that Si Kongchen mentioned will happen for real."


    More people, greater power¡­ The research about underground creatures that they had been doing in their own base wasn''t making great progresses. Exchanging information with the other bases might create a better chance.


    If they didn''t go to the meeting, they might miss some important information. In the post-apocalyptic era, any piece of information could lead to a chance of survival. Si Kongchen was not a good guy for sure, but they still needed to attend to the meeting.


    "So soon? A big half of Sky Fire Base people survived earlier, right? There were at least two-hundred thousand people¡­" Zou Shihui looked at Wu Chengyue and said with surprise. All the others were surprised to hear what Wu Chengyue said about Sky Fire Base as well.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Yes. I believe small numbers of survivors from the West will join our base or All Beings Base in a few days. Most of them are heading to Huaxia Base, but Huaxia Base''s entry requirement didn''t drop because of the change of environment."


    For that reason, only a few people could afford to enter Huaxia Base. Most of the commoners had no way to provide Huaxia Base with the nuclei or supplies required for their entrance.


    The others soon thought of the same thing. After all, that had happened many times before.


    "Si, are we going to Huaxia Base this time? Who''s gonna go?" said Xiao Yunlong.


    The journey to Huaxia Base would be dangerous, so whoever would be attending the meeting could not be weak.


    "Me, of course," said Wu Chengyue, "Who''s better than me for the job?"


    People found that reasonable. But in the next second, Wu Chengyue turned to ask Xiao Licheng, "The woman from All Beings Base will go too, won''t she?"


    On hearing that, the others wore complicated expressions¡­ So, did he ask to go because his future wife would go too?


    With his eye corners twitching slightly, Xiao Licheng looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "I heard she''s planning to go. She''ll also bring your son with her."


    "Oh," said Wu Chengyue blandly and smilingly, "See, she''s going to be there, so we don''t need to worry about any trick that Si Kongchen might play."


    Except for Xiao Yunlong and Kong Qingming, the other few guys who were all single grew super jealous seeing that sweet smile on his face.


    "Alright, alright, we get it. Go!" Zou Shihui waved at him and said, "Bring your wife and son back home safely."


    "Currently, no underground creatures are found very close to our base, so we are luckier than the other bases. Those creatures from Lake Tai and those weird fire beasts from Minnan province are quite far away from us. We should still pay attention to the seaside area though. I don''t think the sea is gonna stay peaceful," Wu Chengyue said while holding another report.


    "Thankfully, those blind creatures near All Beings Base had all gone to the West Lake area. Otherwise, we''d have something more to worry about. However, the underground cave could still be a problem. We don''t know what''s in there yet," Xiao Yunlong read the report and sighed with relief. But soon, he continued with a worried look, "I wonder when will Yuan get better."


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, "Based on the information provided by All Beings Base, there are some aquatic creatures in the underground lake in the cave. We don''t know if those things will come to the surface. Yuan Tianxing had sealed that place off, but he didn''t check the other side of the lake. Hopefully, those creatures will stay in the lake."


    "Oh, a red creature showed up near All Beings Base lately, right? I heard it''s from the underground too. How come Miss. Lu doesn''t seem to do anything about it?" Xiao Yunlong thought of the red cat, so he looked at Wu Chengyue with curiosity, and then at Xiao Licheng.


    Among all in the room, the two of them had spent the longest time in All Beings Base, and learned the most about those underground creatures.


    Coincidentally, just as he mentioned the red cat, the red cat visited All Beings Base once again.

 1223 The Big Cat Is Here Again

    In the zombie military base, Qiu Lili rushed in while Lin Qiao was having a meeting with the high-leveled zombies who were newly upgraded.


    "Qiaoqiao! Qiaoqiao! The big red cat is here again!" She excitedly stormed into the conference room and shouted at Lin Qiao, completely ignoring the other zombies on the scene as her long pigtails fluttered in the air.


    Lin Qiao turned to her and said, "It''s here, okay. Why are you so excited? Did it attack you?"


    "No," Qiu Lili shook her head.


    "Did it attack anyone else?" Lin Qiao asked.


    "No," Qiu Lili shook her head again.


    "It didn''t attack the base either, did it?" Lin Qiao said.


    Once again, Qiu Lili shook her head and said, "No, it didn''t."


    "Why are you so excited then?" Lin Qiao looked at her, feeling a little confused, "Tell me, what did it do?"


    "It brought a large bird to the gate. Now, it''s sitting beside the bird, looking at the wall of our base. It''s not leaving," said Qiu Lili bewilderedly.


    "Huh? How large is the bird?" said Lin Qiao.


    It put a bird by the base gate and then looked at the gate without showing a sign of leaving? That really sounded like something that a house cat would do!


    Qiu Lili folded her arms and raised a hand to scratch her chin with her fingers, then thought for a moment and said, "Hmm¡­ It''s a mutated bird, larger than the six-footed cat. It''s still alive, but the cat was pressing it with two paws, so it couldn''t fly."


    Lin Qiao turned to look at the others. The others looked as confused as she was.


    She then looked at the report held in his hand. There was still a small part left to be talked about. She thought for a moment, then turned to say to Qiu Lili, "Go and keep an eye on it, and see what it wants. If it keeps sitting there, just let it. Let''s see how long it''ll be sitting there. Maybe it''ll leave if we don''t respond to it."


    Last time, she observed the weird cat. It didn''t show any intention of attacking people, and it only ate fruits. Lin Qiao had no idea why it brought a bird to sit in front of the base gate, but she figured it wouldn''t launch an attack, as it hadn''t even been moving.


    "Are we going to close that gate? Everyone is freaked out by that cat," Qiu Lili thought briefly and asked.


    Lin Qiao turned and said to Duan Juan, who was standing behind her, "Go and seal that gate. Tell the people who need to exit the base to go through the other gates."


    "Yes, Ma''am!" Duan Juan answered quickly and then left.


    "I''m going to keep an eye on it," Qiu Lili turned and ran out of the room.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Qiu Lili''s back, then turned to Xie Dong and the others and said, "Alright, let''s continue. So everyone, remember this! Choose the ones who give out relatively light blood scent when you recruit new soldiers. As you all know, the zombies with strong blood scent aren''t suitable for joining us."


    "Yes, Ma''am!" the others responded in one voice.


    "Another thing, I''ll bring some other people to Huaxia Base this time. You guys have just come back. You will be staying in the base, stabilizing your power levels, and also watching the surrounding area for any new underground creatures. If new underground creatures show up, Jingyan, go and ask Leng Xuantong for the drug. Currently, we can''t turn the drug into weapons because we are short-handed. We have to ask Sea City Base for help. It still needs time. Hopefully, our base will stay safe until the first batch of weapon arrives." The last part of Lin Qiao''s speech was simply a good wish.


    "Clear," Jingyan nodded.


    This time, Xie Dong and Mo were the only two zombies who broke into level-seven from level six. The other level-six zombies weren''t ready for an upgrade yet, so they had to wait. Except for Jingyan, Liu Mingsong, Yan Xiao and Liuli, some more had entered level-six from level-five. That included the zombie guy and zombie girl who followed Qiu Lili the earliest, and were now Jin Jiuyang, zombie number one, and Yue Xiaoxian, zombie number two respectively. Finally, Lin Qiao managed to bring her earliest zombie followers all into level-six, which was not easy.


    The other three zombies who were brought into the level of kings and queens were Lv Feng, He Jiayun, and Su Fangfang. They had all restored their memories fully. Apart from them, one of the zombies under Xie Dong''s command had also upgraded. That was the one who discovered those mutated rats, and was super afraid of them.


    Lin Qiao didn''t upgrade all level-four zombies, because their credits weren''t enough and she didn''t have so much time. Therefore, she only, conveniently upgraded the wind-powered level-four zombie, who was scared of rats.


    That one was so shy when he was required to take off his clothes and get into the water. At last, Xie Dong kicked him into the lake.


    "One last thing, we need to guard the farm more strictly! Don''t pay all attention on those underground creatures and forget about the farm. The farm is one key protected project in our base. Xie Dong, send some earth-powered zombies to guard the farm and keep an eye on the underground area. We need to be prepared for anything that might happen," Lin Qiao knocked on the table and said.


    "Yes, Ma''am!" Xie Dong responded. He was fully responsible for the farm.


    After another half hour, Lin Qiao finally ended the meeting. She came out of the conference room and walked into the room next door, scooped up Teng, who was sleeping tight, then got into her car.


    "Let''s go to the gate to see what''s that weird cat is doing," With a gentle voice, she said to Duan Juan, who was driving the car.


    Duan Juan raised her eyes and glanced at the rearview mirror. She didn''t make a sound to respond to Lin Qiao, but the latter knew that she had heard the order. She just didn''t want to wake Teng up. Knowing that, she turned to look outside the window.


    At that moment, a huge, red cat was sitting tight on the clearing outside the west gate. Under the cat''s paws was a bird that was even larger than the cat. The gate was already closed. A group of people was standing on top of the fence wall, looking at the two creatures.


    The bird had been flatting its enormous wings and struggling. However, no matter how hard it tried, it was not able to free itself from under the cat''s paws. When it struggled too hard, the cat would pop its sharp claws and poke them into the bird''s body.


    Those claws couldn''t kill that level-five mutated bird. Therefore, the bird was still alive when Lin Qiao arrived.


    "Roar!" Sensing Lin Qiao''s scent coming closer and closer, the big cat instantly grew excited. It quickly stood up; behind its body, the over ten-meter-long, whip-like tail was wagging from side to side.

 1224 It Brought a Bird as a Gif

    Lin Qiao held Teng and slowly walked up to the wall top through the stairs, then went to the edge to look at the weird cat.


    "Roar¡­ goooo¡­" As Lin Qiao showed up on the wall top, the cat raised its head and made a strange sound toward her. Then, it lowered its head and bit on the bird under it. Dragging the desperately struggling bird, it made two steps forward, and then put the bird down.


    It might have bitten too deep. The bird struggled on the ground, trying to fly up, but couldn''t.


    "It''s really like a real cat. And, it only likes you." Watching the cat''s weird behavior, Qiu Lili moved to Lin Qiao and said to her. She had spent half an hour observing the cat. It sat there motionlessly until Lin Qiao showed up.


    At that time, Teng, who was in Lin Qiao''s arms, sensed a strange scent. He woke up and opened his eyes, finding himself in his mother''s arms. He looked around, realizing that he was somewhere high, with a wide view.


    He turned to the source of the weird scent and saw a fire-red beast.


    "Awoooo¡­ goooo¡­ goo¡­" At that point, the weird cat roared at Lin Qiao again.


    It also pushed the bird slightly forward. After that, it abruptly turned around and flipped its tail, bending its six legs before springing up and disappearing. Only the bird was left lying on the ground dying, twitching its wings from time to time.


    "Ah! It left!" Qiu Lili exclaimed out loud. She popped her eyes and slightly opened her mouth, gazing where the cat disappeared. Then, she looked at the bird on the ground, "It left the bird to us and then ran away. Is that bird a gift for us? Is it?"


    While speaking, she turned to look at Lin Qiao questioningly.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her uncertainly, then looked outside the base and said, "I think so¡­"


    Teng noticed some strangers nearby, so he didn''t say anything. All he did was rub his own eyes, then put his arms around Lin Qiao''s neck. Following his movement, Lin Qiao adjusted her posture, then gave him a glance and asked, "Have you rested well?"


    Teng held her neck and buried his head back into his chest without answering her question.


    "What should we do with that bird?" Qiu Lili asked Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao handed Teng to her as she said, "Teng, Sister Lili will hold you. I''ll go down to bring the bird in."


    Qiu Lili reached out and took the soft baby over without thinking, then she watched Lin Qiao leap off the wall and land beside the bird. As she touched the bird, it disappeared.


    "Alright, you can open the gate now," Duan Juan turned and shouted at the gate.


    "Yes, ma''am!" The leader of the guards responded, then sent his men to open the gate.


    Lin Qiao came back onto the wall top and held Teng, "Let''s head home."


    "Did it come here just to deliver the bird?" Qiu Lili followed behind Lin Qiao as she asked curiously.


    "Perhaps," Lin Qiao responded to her without thinking. However, she was actually wondering why the cat brought a bird to her. Was that a gift? Why did it give her a gift?


    The cat didn''t eat meat, did it? Why did it bring her meat then?


    Soon, the news that the weird cat brought a huge bird to the west gate spread in the base. People were all so surprised to hear about it, and curious why the cat did that.


    "Have you guys heard about it yet? A six-footed, blood-red, hairless cat brought a huge bird to our base. If only the bird weren''t mutated. It''s like the house cats that we had in our homes before. They brought home little birds or rats occasionally. What does that weird cat want?"


    "Who knows! But, I heard it didn''t show any intention of attacking our base. It''s the first time I heard about such a friendly mutated beast. But, I also heard it''s very ugly."


    "How do you know that?"


    "I know a guy who''s guarding the gate. He said the cat is enormous, with no hair, dark-red in color. That sounds super ugly. Oh, it also has a pair of horns and extra-long teeth¡­"


    As Lin Qiao went back home, Teng said to her, "Mama, I think that cat likes you."


    "How do you know?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked with surprise, "Can you read its mind?"


    Lin Qiao sat down on the couch. After that, Teng crawled to the other side of the couch and sat down, leaning against the back of the couch. "No," he said to his mother, "I can''t read its mind, but I can feel its vibe. It was trying to make you happy."


    "Do you know why it did that?" Lin Qiao smiled and asked. She herself could also tell that the cat was acting like a normal house cat that was trying to make its owner happy. She just didn''t know why.


    She thought for a moment. She didn''t remember doing anything for the cat. What made it follow her?


    Teng rolled his eyes and said, "How am I supposed to know that? I''m hungry¡­ Mama, go and make me some food."


    Lin Qiao responded to him helplessly, "Alright, I get it! Wrap yourself up with the blanket. It''s cold."


    "I''m not afraid of the coldness," said Teng carelessly, "I won''t catch a cold."


    After leaving the gate, the cat didn''t go far away from All Beings Base. Instead, it found somewhere to hide hundreds of meters from the base, and looked at the base. Only after watching Lin Qiao leap off the wall and put the bird into her space did the cat turn and look at the area where Mount Wu farm and the military base were located. It only glanced at that area, though. After making that glance, it finally turned around and left for real.


    In the area where the cat looked at before leaving, a snake, a dog, a mushroom, and a young tiger were looking at the cat quietly and vigilantly. The glance that the cat made before leaving made the hair and scales on the necks of the four creatures stand straight up. Only after the cat left did the four relax.


    "Awoooo!" Once the cat disappeared, the young tiger ran up behind Bowwow, bit the dog''s tail, and dragged the dog backward.


    "Owo!" Bowwow immediately turned and barked at the tiger and started spinning. Of course, the little tiger was hanging on his tail, flying round and round. At last, the young tiger gave a howl and relaxed its bite, making a few rolls on the ground.


    "Owowow!" Bowwow rushed up to the young tiger and lowered his upper body while raising his butt and barking at the tiger. The little tiger wasn''t afraid of the dog. It quickly struggled up and spread its legs, then roared at the dog, seemingly ready for a great battle.


    Seeing the two start a game once the cat, which was much stronger than themselves, left, the snake gave a cold glance to his friends, then turned around and wriggled away.

 1225 Go and Spend Some Time with Him

    Lin Qiao prepared Teng''s food, then talked while feeding him, "Son, I want to talk to you about something."


    "What?" Teng raised his eyes to look at his mother.


    Lin Qiao put a spoonful of milk porridge near his mouth and said, "After this meal, I want you to go into my space to spend some time with your Uncle Lu."


    "Why do you want me to spend time with him?" Teng didn''t understand.


    "Because he''s in a bad mood now," said Lin Qiao, "I think he likes you. He might feel better if you are there to keep him company."


    "Why is he in a bad mood?" Teng was even more confused, "Did he break up with his girlfriend?"


    Lin Qiao gave the boy a glare and said, "He doesn''t even have a girlfriend. Whom could he possibly break up with now?"


    "What happened then?" Teng glanced at his mother, then opened his mouth to eat the porridge.


    "Because he already knows who I really am. He''s been caring about Lu Tianyu a lot. After learning that I''m not her, I guess he''s a little upset," recalling the look that Lu Tianyi had on his face when she last time saw him, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but sigh. He was like a poor, abandoned puppy.


    "What? You told him? Well, I guess you are right. He''s been working with you for a long time. He must have had doubts. After all, you and the previous owner of your current body are different," Teng paused briefly and then said.


    "He''s been really low-spirited these days," said Lin Qiao. That was why she wanted Teng to go into the space to spend some time with Lu Tianyi. In the recent couple of days, Lu Tianyi had been sitting quietly on the stairs before Lin Qiao''s house all the time motionlessly. He wasn''t even taking care of the crops in the fields, and only let the other zombies do it.


    Only when the other zombies asked him questions did he come back to his senses briefly. Lin Qiao knew what he was thinking about. She could read his mind by paying a little attention to him.


    Currently, Lu Tianyi was feeling empty. After all, the sister that he had been caring about all the time was suddenly gone. Before, he lied to himself that he was over-thinking. But, when Lin Qiao told him the truth herself, he realized it was real.


    Like everyone who had lost family members, he was sad and feeling empty.


    Lin Qiao figured that trying to comfort him herself might lead to the opposite effect. She was wearing Lu Tianyu''s skin after all. His close friends weren''t around, so she had no other choice but to let Teng give a try.


    After the meal, Lin Qiao gave Teng a shower with warm water and put some clean clothes on him, then brought him into the space.


    Lu Tianyi was sitting on the stairs, resting one side of his jaw on his palm. Suddenly, a figure showed up before his eyes. Whom he saw the first was the little person in Lin Qiao''s arms.


    "Uncle!" Teng quickly turned and reached out, asking for Lu Tianyi to hold him.


    Lu Tianyi hadn''t seen Teng since his one-month-old party. Seeing the boy, he was stunned a little, and then his lusterless eyes started to shine.


    He stood up and held Teng in his arms, then said with a smile, "Did you miss your uncle?"


    Teng lay down in his arms as he nodded and said seriously, "Yes."


    Lu Tianyi felt warm in the heart. Then, he raised his head to look at Lin Qiao, but soon turned away with a complicated look on his face.


    "Eh-hem¡­ I''m too busy to look after him. He doesn''t like Duan Juan holding him, so I want you to take care of him for a while," Lin Qiao came up with an excuse.


    On hearing that, Lu Tianyi stopped short, then seemed to figure something out. "I get it," he nodded and said.


    Lin Qiao turned and left the space before preparing some daily supplies and clothes for Teng, then bringing them in and putting them in the living room in her house. She had also prepared some rice and mutated eggs as the boy''s food, as well as a clay pot. The pot and the food were put in the kitchen.


    Currently, Lin Qiao didn''t only have roe deers and goats in her space, but also quite some chicken, ducks, geese, and even pigs. Earlier, she asked Lin Feng to bring some of those animals back to her alive to keep in her space.


    She didn''t put the domestic fowl on the grassland together with the roe deers and goats. Instead, she put them on the clearing behind her house. She asked someone with metal power to build a few huge metal cages, and then put those low-leveled mutated chicken, ducks, and geese in those hundreds of meters square cages.


    Normally, Lu Tianyi would feed those birds with unhusked rice and dried sweet potatoes.


    Those birds ate meat too, but they didn''t hate rice and sweet potatoes either. They were omnivores.


    After the apocalypse, the chicken were able to fly. The ducks couldn''t fly, but they learned to burrow holes. The geese, which were already fierce, had grown much stronger and more aggressive than before. They fought all day long. In the cages, goose feathers were always flying in the air.


    Earlier, when Lu Tianyi wasn''t in the space, no one was feeding those birds. They were so noisy back then that Lin Qiao couldn''t stand them. So, she sometimes came in to throw some food to them to make them quiet.


    She felt as if Lu Tianyi was now the manager of the farm in her space. Without him, the place couldn''t run well. Without him, no one would be taking care of the crops in the fields and those animals.


    She threw the pigs on the grassland on the other side of the lake, letting them live with the roe deers and goats. The pigs ate grass, so they wouldn''t starve to death. But from time to time, they fought with the roe deers and goats.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao had gotten those chicken, ducks, and geese into her space. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have eggs to feed Teng. Those eggs weren''t edible for humans though. Only Teng could eat them.


    That was why Wu Chengyue always cooked for the boy with a special pot. He wasn''t worried about himself, as he had even had sex with the zombie lady herself. However, Ling Ling was still a healthy human being. He wouldn''t neglect her health.


    After preparing everything that she could think of, Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then said to Lu Tianyi, "Let me know if you need anything else."


    Lu Tianyi nodded. Teng''s appearance finally made him a little spirited. But still, he wasn''t willing to look at Lin Qiao. Intentionally or not, he had always been trying to avoid looking at her face.


    After seeing him nod, Lin Qiao turned and left the space,


    Teng looked at Lu Tianyi and asked, "Uncle, are you still sad?"


    Lu Tianyi held him and sat down on the couch, then looked at him and said with a smile, "How do you know that I''m sad?"


    Teng looked at him with his large pair of eyes and said, "You are sad because you know who Mama really is, right? It''s the second time you feel sad for your sister."


    Last year, Lu Tianyi had certainly had a hard time when he heard about Lu Tianyu''s death. After that, he met Lin Qiao the zombie and thought Lu Tianyu had come back to life. Unexpectedly, it turned out that he was wrong.


    His sister, who was known as a purely evil woman, died long ago. More importantly, she never saw him as family.

 1226 Talk to Lu Tianyi

    Lu Tianyi was a little surprised to hear Teng''s words. He looked at the boy and said, "Teng, did you always know that?"


    Teng nodded. He knew that before he was born.


    Lu Tianyi felt a little sad and sighed, "Yeah, even you know that already. No wonder you''ve been calling me Little Uncle. It turns out you have another uncle."


    Teng raised his hands and touched Lu Tianyi''s chin as he said, "What does it matter? You are my uncle. My mama now owns your sister''s body, so she''s taken up a lot of things from your sister, such as the mess she left behind and her bad reputation, as well as you as her little brother. For my Mama, having one more little brother is not a big deal anyway."


    While speaking, he dropped his hands and sat up in Lu Tianyi''s arms. Then, he folded his own arms and continued with a mature look, "Besides, Mama has been nice to you. She never treated you as an outsider. Am I right?"


    On hearing that, Lu Tianyi lowered his head to glance at the boy and ended up being humored by the look on the boy''s face. "Yes, you are right, Teng."


    Teng spread his arms and said, "What has happened has already happened. What can we do to change it? Even though my Mama isn''t your sister, but her body is still your sister''s body. And you also have me, right? I am your real nephew, am I not? Maybe my Mama will give me a little brother or sister, and by that time, you''ll have one more family member, right?"


    "You''ve really been thinking a lot," said Lu Tianyi to the boy with a smile, "You actually want your Mama to give you a little brother or sister. Will your little brother or sister be as lucky as you are? Besides, don''t you have Ling Ling as your sister already?"


    Teng spread his arms and said, "I was joking, of course! I just wanted to make you happy."


    "You''re a little baby who has an old soul, aren''t you?" Lu Tianyi said to him. Taking to the kid did make him feel better. He was now less depressed than before.


    He understood all that Teng had said. There was nothing he could do to change what had already happened. He was aware of that, but he still felt sad because of that. He couldn''t control his feelings.


    After all, Lu Tianyu was his only family member. She was evil and had done a lot of bad deeds, but she was still his sister.


    He had been feeling that Lin Qiao was wildly different from his sister, but after knowing the truth, he still had difficulty accepting it.


    He had been thinking a lot lately, and what he suspected now turned out to be true. Only the body of his sister remained. The soul in it was no longer his sister. Was she still his sister?


    Lu Tianyu never saw him as a little brother. He had no idea if he should accept Lin Qiao as his sister. Teng was right, though. Lin Qiao had been so nice to him. She found him before he turned into a zombie. He turned into a zombie anyway, but she did try to save him.


    Thanks to her, he managed to keep his human appearance.


    As a zombie, he couldn''t possibly return to Sea City Base, nor go to any other base. However, staying in All Being Base, he could not ignore Lin Qiao''s presence. He had been thinking all these days about how should he see the zombie lady who wore his sister''s skin. There wasn''t a result yet.


    He looked at Teng and asked helplessly, "Did your mother send you here to comfort me?"


    Teng nodded and said, "Yeah. She''s been paying attention to you these days. You aren''t happy, so she sent me here to talk to you."


    "And you can cheer me up?" Lu Tianyi tapped the boy''s forehead with a finger and said, "How old are you? Do you think you can solve my problem?" After saying that, he rubbed the boy''s head with his palm.


    Clap! Teng slapped off his hand. How come the adults always liked to rub his head? Wouldn''t his hair fall off because of that?


    "Who else can talk to you? Do you want my mama to come here and talk to you herself? You don''t want to see her now, do you?" Teng crossed his little arms before his chest, then lay down in Lu Tianyi''s arms and looked at his face confidently, as if he knew what he was thinking.


    His adorable look softened Lu Tianyi''s heart. "So many thoughts are going on in my head. Seeing her will only make me think even more. She is¡­ special. I don''t know what to do."


    Teng nodded and said, "If you don''t know what to do, stop thinking about it and let things happen naturally. If you can forget about the fact that my Mama is now wearing your sister''s skin, you can simply pretend that she doesn''t exist. If you can''t forget about it, you can just see her as your other sister, like how my Mama sees you as her other little brother. Sometimes, you don''t have to be genetically related to be family. Anyone who is nice to you sincerely can be your family."


    The last sentence he said made Lu Tianyi stop short. Seeing the serious look on the little boy''s face, he suddenly felt that all he had been struggling about earlier actually didn''t matter.


    The boy was right. Sometimes, families didn''t need to be related genetically. What was important was the way they treated each other. The one who cared about him with as true heart was always better than the ones who never truly cared.


    The post-apocalyptic era was not like the peaceful time before. Currently, fewer and fewer people cared about other people. Lu Tianyu was indeed cold to Lu Tianyi. She never cared about him, not even a little bit.


    "Alright, alright, your heartless sister is gone, but you still have us. You have the smart and adorable little Teng!" Teng reached out a hand and patted the back of Lu Tianyi''s hand as he said.


    Lu Tianyi found the boy''s behavior amusing. He felt much better indeed! He gave a sigh as he rubbed Teng''s fluffy head again and said, "Alright, for your sake, I''ll let things happen naturally. The life here is not bad after all."


    After saying that, he carried Teng out of the house and stood on the stairs, looking at the fields.


    The space didn''t belong to him, but many things in there were built by him singlehandedly. The vegetable field, the melon field, the rice and wheat fields, and those birds behind the house, he had spent a lot of time and effort on them. If he left and let some other people do his job, would the farm be ruined?


    "Maybe you should find me an aunty to distract yourself," Teng added, "So, you wouldn''t be having unnecessary thoughts every day. Uncle Kong and Aunty Long are doing well. They''ll soon get together. You should find yourself someone too. What do you think? It''s a good idea, isn''t it?"


    While speaking, he looked at Lu Tianyi with a grin.


    Lu Tianyi wasn''t expecting to hear the boy mention the fact that he was still single. He looked at the boy and said, "I''m a zombie. How can a zombie find himself a wife?"


    "You can get yourself a zombie wife. Many girls in my Mama''s army are nice," Teng answered his question quickly, then continued with, "And you see, Uncle Xie is going to become Tongtong''s father."


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say.

 1227 Mo Yans Reques

    Lin Qiao was listening to the conversation between Lu Tianyi and Teng. At last, she couldn''t help but laugh. The boy was good at it. He mentioned the fact that Lu Tianyi was single. It was harmless, but it diverted his attention. That was good.


    After coming out of the space, Lin Qiao made some time to cut and clean the bird that the big cat brought to her, soaking the meat in buckets full of water. In a few hours, the bird meat would be served to her zombie soldiers as a great meal.


    The oldest roe deers and goats had been living in Lin Qiao''s space for a year. The youngest baby roe deers and goats had been purified. Their bodies no longer contained the zombie virus, and only the energy from Lin Qiao''s lake. After all, the air in the space was generated from the lake.


    At first, there were only around ten roe deers and tens of mutated goats. But now, a huge herd of roe deers lived in the space, and a crowd of baby goats had emerged from the goat herd. Those baby goats and roe deers were already edible for human beings.


    Sadly, goats didn''t produce wool, so they would only be eaten.


    A few days later, Lin Feng returned to the base. Lin Qiao left him the work in the base and then drove to Huaxia Base with her people. This time, she didn''t go to find Wu Chengyue. Instead, she headed straight to Huaxia Base with her own people. She was in no rush. On the way, she stopped from time to time to observe the underground creatures she saw, and also to gather energy nuclei.


    This time, half of her team were zombies and the other half were humans. Duan Juan and Xie Dong still followed her WHILE Lin Kui and Qiu Lili stayed in the base this time. Long Qingying was summoned by Lin Qiao as well, separated from Kong Qingming when their relationship had just started to grow better. However, Kong Qingming would probably go to Huaxia Base with Wu Chengyue, so they would see each other again soon.


    Yuan Tianxing was still in a coma. Therefore, Lin Qiao brought Li Zheng and his squad under her command for the time being.


    Apart from Xie Dong, Lv Feng, He Jiayun, Su Fangfang also followed her out of the base this time. Four and Old Guo were also in the team. Old Guo said that the area where Yun Meng''s troop was stationed no longer needed to be guarded. He was bored over there, so he decided to follow Lin Qiao to Huaxia Base.


    After restoring his memory, Old Guo had been acting even more freely than before. But thankfully, he would always ask for Lin Qiao''s permission before he made any move, to show his respect toward his Chief.


    Lin Qiao believed that if she were not a zombie emperor, the old man wouldn''t be so polite to her.


    Apart from the five level-six zombies, Lin Qiao had also brought ten level-five ones. They were the ones who didn''t carry the last mission with her. She had, of course, brought her three pets as well, although there were four of them now. The proud little tiger had joined the team recently.


    Not long after they left the base, Mo Yan and his zombie girl showed up. Mo Yan first looked at Lin Qiao''s team, then gave Lin Qiao a glance.


    Lin Qiao understood his meaning, so she said straightforwardly, "Yeah, these are new. The ones you saw the last time aren''t my exclusive squad. I was only creating a chance for them to grow strong. Are you going to Huaxia Base with us to kill that man? It''s not time yet, right? You''re still weak."


    Mo Yan had just recovered to the level of zombie kings, and his energy wasn''t stable yet.


    Mo Yan pointed at his own throat.


    Lin Qiao blinked and said, "Oh, I thought you''d like to stay mute."


    Mo Yan rolled his eyes in response.


    "Alright," Lin Qiao nodded and said, "If you want to talk, I''ll help you. But, you need to take a shower before getting into my lake."


    The fact that the lake was able to vanish clothes made Lin Qiao quite speechless. Every time she upgraded her zombies, she needed to ask them to take off their clothes first. Each one of those zombies looked at her as if she were a lascivious person for the first time.


    Thankfully, Mo Yan had spent quite a long time in her space. He was used to watching her taking off her clothes before she went down into the lake every time. So, he felt nothing about it.


    But suddenly, the zombie girl stepped before Mo Yan and stared at Lin Qiao vigilantly, showing no fear under the emperor''s vibe from Lin Qiao. The look on her face made Lin Qiao feel a little speechless though.


    "What? Is he your husband? Are you afraid that I might steal him away from you? I just want him to take a shower. Nothing will happen after I see his body. Would I ever get horny for him?"


    Hearing what Lin Qiao said, the others looking at her couldn''t help but cover their mouths and laugh. Meanwhile, Mo Yan looked at Lin Qiao with disbelief. He seemed to believe that he was handsome enough to seduce her.


    ''Why am I gonna help this b*stard?'' Lin Qiao thought.


    "You? Forget about it. You look like a girl. You are really not my type!" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes scornfully.


    Mo Yan had a delicate face. His chin was a little too slim, and that made him look not masculine enough. However, he was tall and had this wicked, strong vibe, so no one would really feel that he was like a girl.


    By staring at his face, one would find him super handsome and beautiful. The dark marks on his face were gone, so he looked much prettier than before now.


    Mo Yan pulled a long face on hearing what Lin Qiao said while he zombie girl also glared at her unhappily.


    Lin Qiao impatiently tilted her head to look at Mo Yan, who was behind the zombie girl, and said, "Are you going to discipline your subordinate or not? If you want me to fix your throat, just move! Don''t waste my time!"


    Hearing that, Mo Yan had no choice but to pretend not to hear what Lin Qiao said earlier as he raised a hand and patted the zombie girl''s shoulder. With that, the pretty zombie girl reluctantly made a step sideways.


    "You don''t need to see me as your enemy. It''s pointless. He''ll come to me anyway," Lin Qiao said to the zombie girl helplessly, then brought Mo Yan into her space. She was planning to bring him in alone, as it wouldn''t take a long time. However, the zombie girl suddenly grasped Mo Yan''s hand and followed him into the space.


    ''So stubborn!'' Lin Qiao thought.


    After entering the space, Mo Yan returned to the room that he lived in and took a long shower. He hadn''t taken a good shower while he was outside, so he happily did what Lin Qiao asked.


    After the shower, he came downstairs in underpants and shocked Lu Tianyi and Teng, who were sitting on the stairs before the house nearby. Lu Tianyi automatically covered Teng''s eyes, then couldn''t help but walk to Mo Yan and say to him, "Can you at least put on some shorts?"


    Mo Yan only turned and gave him a wicked grin before walking toward Lin Qiao.


    Teng pulled Lu Tianyi''s hand off his eyes, then snorted scornfully and said with a small voice, "You''re not as well-shaped as my Daddy. You have nothing to show off."


    The looks on the faces of the others instantly grew complicated.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say.


    Mo Yan stayed silent.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say either.


    The zombie girl was also quiet.

 1228 What Are They Doing?

    Lu Tianyi covered Teng''s eyes again and whispered, "Kid, don''t look!"


    On hearing what Teng said, Lin Qiao looked at Mo Yan from head to toe, then said, "Not bad! Alright, get down."


    While speaking, she released a cloud of black mist to cover herself, then took off her own clothes. Meanwhile, she gave a sigh and wondered when she would be able to bring the energy from the lake bottom up to the air, so she wouldn''t need to go down to the bottom every time.


    She was able to control the energy in the air, but not bring the energy in the water out of the lake. She had already entered the level of zombie emperors, but still couldn''t do that.


    Mo Yan didn''t care people staring at his nudity as he walked down into the lake with composure. Lin Qiao had gone into the water before him to control the energy in the lake, so he felt no repulsion toward the lake.


    The zombie girl in a white dress was left by the lakeside, quietly staring into the lake.


    Outside the space, people were doing what they wanted, waiting for Lin Qiao to come out. Lin Qiao''s pets were darting about in the forest nearby, chasing all kinds of mutated animals.


    "Owowoooooo¡­" Bowwow was chasing a level-four mutated cat all over the area.


    "Meowoooo!" The cat screamed shrilly and fled desperately. Its hair had all stood up.


    The dog didn''t want to kill the cat just yet. He was bored, so he wanted to play with the cat before killing it. However, someone else didn''t want him to keep playing the game. A huge, black snake suddenly darted out and caught the over fifty kilograms cat that was running like hell with his jaws.


    "Meow¡­" The cat uttered another shrill howl and then fell into silence.


    "Owo?" Bowwow was stunned when Black rushed out and killed his prey. Before the dog could react, the snake threw the dead cat before him and left.


    The dog was still confused.


    The mushroom passed by, with the young tiger sitting on its head. As the dog showed no interest in the dead cat, the mushroom slowly moved toward the cat and reached a few tentacles toward it.


    The young tiger seemed to be aware that the mushroom was doing something bad. It lay on top of the mushroom quietly and looked at the mushroom''s tentacles, then at Bowwow''s face. The tiger was wondering if the dog would let the mushroom take the dead cat.


    As the mushroom got closer and closer, the dog finally turned and barked at it impatiently. ''Just take it if you want! Why are you wasting time?''


    Hearing the dog bark, the mushroom immediately hopped to the cat and swiftly wrapped it up with its tentacles before fleeing away. Watching the mushroom disappear within a blink, the dog wagged his tail, feeling so bored.


    Why did the mushroom run away? He wouldn''t fight it over the dead cat anyway.


    Finding that the dog wasn''t coming behind the mushroom, the young tiger patted its head with its paw.


    "Awo!" ''He''s not chasing us. Why are you running?''


    The mushroom was running excitedly, dragging that fifty kilograms dead cat. As the young tiger patted its head, it stopped, then turned and looked behind. Finding that the dog wasn''t chasing behind, it threw the dead cat on the ground without eating it.


    The young tiger leaped down from the mushroom''s head and sniffed at the dead cat. Sensing the scent of the snake venom, the tiger turned and left with dislike. In fact, he wanted the meat slices soaked in his owner''s lake water. He didn''t want dead animals which weren''t even skinned yet.


    As the young tiger didn''t seem to be interested in the dead cat, the mushroom poked it with its tentacles and turned it over, then pushed it toward the tiger.


    "Awo!" The tiger didn''t accept its kindness. The tiger gave the mushroom a roar, then sat down and started to lick its own paws. It seemed that the young tiger really didn''t want the dead cat. The mushroom hesitated briefly, then dragged the dead cat back to itself and inserted the tips of its tentacles into the cat''s body, which wasn''t stiff yet. Next, it started to absorb the cat''s flesh and blood.


    Soon, the dead cat shrank, and its fur became lusterless like straw. Before long, the cat became a dried dead body.


    After finishing the cat, the mushroom retracted its tentacles and wagged them from side to side. It didn''t care about the venom at all. It was able to digest even the venom.


    The young tiger hadn''t eaten any meat given by its owner for a long time. It had been eating raw meat, which tasted awful. Why wasn''t the owner feeding the tiger? Was it because she hadn''t been hunting? So, the tiger decided to do the hunting itself.


    As the mushroom finished its meal, the young tiger stood up and looked around, then climbed onto a tree nearby.


    Normal tigers didn''t know how to climb trees, but the mutated tigers did. The mutation made them nimbler than before, and their claws sharper.


    On the tree, the tiger sniffed around, then leaped back down and quietly lunged toward one direction. The mushroom had no idea what the tiger was doing, but it quietly followed behind the other.


    Before long, Xie Dong and the others saw the tiger and the mushroom come out of the forest together. The tiger was holding a large rat alive in its mouth, and the mushroom had a few mutated animals struggling while being wrapped in its tentacles.


    "Eh? What are they doing?" Duan Juan curiously looked at the two and said to the others.


    Normally, they would feed themselves well before coming back to the team. How come they brought preys back alive today?


    "I don''t know? Are these for us?" Xie Dong thought for a moment and said.


    Duan Juan gave him a glance and said, "For us? I don''t think so. These might be for Chief."


    "These are for Chief then," Xie Dong shrugged and said carelessly.


    By the time Lin Qiao came out of her space together with Mo Yan, whose throat was already fixed, people all turned to look at her.


    "What?" She looked glanced at them with confusion.


    The people turned and pointed at the other side together. Lin Qiao twirled and saw her four pets sitting on the ground in a straight line, and lying before them were some dying prey.


    "What is going on here?" Lin Qiao said, "What are they doing?"


    The others shook their heads and spread their hands.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. She looked at her four pets with confusion. What did they want?


    "Wow!" Bowwow barked at her, wagging his tail.


    Lin Qiao walked to them confusedly and stood before the dozen prey, then looked at them.


    The four had caught quite a lot of preys, and all of them were alive. Most of them were at level four or five, but the two rats before the young tiger hadn''t even reached level-two yet.

 1229 They Want Mea

    Lin Qiao observed those dying animals. The ones before Black weren''t bitten but strangled. Their bodies were twisted, but they were still alive. The animals lying before Bowwow all had broken legs.


    "Awooo!" The young tiger abruptly howled at Lin Qiao, then patted the big rat in front of it with a paw. It found two rats that had relatively pure vibes. It wasn''t able to catch larger prey as it was still weak. Catching the rats at level-two was the best it could do at the moment.


    "What do you want?" Lin Qiao walked up to the little tiger and lowered her head to look at it.


    "Awo!" The tiger pushed the rats which were at their last breath toward her feet.


    "Are these for me?" Lin Qiao watched its movement and asked with confusion.


    "Awo!" The young tiger raised its head and howled again.


    "I don''t speak your language," said Lin Qiao helplessly, "How am I supposed to know what you mean? Since you''re giving them to me, I''ll just take them."


    After saying that, she put the rats into her space.


    "Awo!" Once she made the rats disappear, the young tiger immediately sprung up and roared at her agitatedly. It circled around Lin Qiao''s feet and patted her shanks with its paws.


    What did that mean? Lin Qiao was confused again.


    She saved the little tiger''s life, but hadn''t spent much time trying to communicate with it. She didn''t understand its meaning.


    Did the tiger not want her to put the rats into her space?


    With that thought, she took the rats back out.


    As she thought, the little tiger immediately quieted down. It sat down by the rats and patted them again with its paw, and then pushed them toward Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao was utterly confused.


    At last, she turned to ask the others, "What on earth does it mean? Does it want to give me those rats or not?"


    "We don''t know," Duan Juan laughed, "We are not its feeders. How are we supposed to know what it means? It doesn''t even let us get close."


    Earlier, someone passed by and the four pets of Lin Qiao bared their teeth and roared at that person together.


    Lin Qiao turned to Xie Dong, who said helplessly, "If these aren''t for you, maybe it wants you to feed it."


    "Feed it? Hasn''t he been with those three and feeding itself lately? Why does it suddenly want me to feed it?" Lin Qiao was even more confused.


    At that point, Mo Yan came over with a hand on his chin. His approach made the young tiger and the three grow alert immediately. However, because of his emperor''s vibe, the four didn''t dare to growl at him, and only stared at him vigilantly.


    They knew Mo Yan, but still did not want him to come close!


    Mo Yan looked at the four and said, "Are you going to start a zoo or an animal farm? You have a tiger, a snake, goats, and roe deers."


    His voice was hoarse, like the voices of all zombies. However, it was also uniquely clear and attractive. It was not beautiful, but not unpleasant to hear either. It was a special voice that could give people a special feeling.


    On hearing him, Lin Qiao gave him a glare and said, "Running a zoo is not bad. What? Do you have a problem with it?"


    Mo Yan immediately shook his head as he turned up one side of his lip corners and said, "No, no. This little tiger of yours is interesting though. What does it want?"


    "That''s what I want to know," said Lin Qiao, "Why don''t you help me and make a guess?"


    "Why would I guess what a tiger is thinking about?" said Mo Yan, "I don''t know it well. Why don''t you ask your little brother to talk to it? He knows about the little tiger more than I do, doesn''t he?"


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao had her eyes glowing. "Yeah! I''ll bring Lu Tianyi out and let him figure out what the little thing wants."


    She flashed into her space right after she said that. A short while later, she came back out together with Lu Tianyi and her son. She took Teng over, then asked him and the little boy, "Figure out what this one wants. It pushed the rats to me but didn''t let me put them in the space. Why did it give them to me then?"


    At the sight of the little tiger, Lu Tianyi happily walked to it and scooped it up as he said, "Whoa, Flower, you''ve grown bigger! You''re so heavy now!"


    "Awowow!" The young tiger struggled briefly, then put both forepaws on Lu Tianyi''s shoulder and lay in his arms.


    Lin Qiao looked at Lu Tianyi and said, "When did you name it Flower?"


    "A long time ago," Lu Tianyi smiled.


    Lin Qiao looked at him as if he were retarded. "Seriously," she said, "Why on earth did you name a tiger ''Flower''?"


    "Awo!" As soon as she said that, Flower started struggling again. The tiger was strong, so Lu Tianyi failed to hold it tight and let it leap back to the ground.


    Flower hadn''t realized how girly its name was. What it cared about was food. Once again, it ran back to the rats and patted them.


    "Awo!" This time, it didn''t howl at Lin Qiao, but at Lu Tianyi.


    "It''s hungry!"


    "It''s hungry!"


    Lu Tianyi and Teng said in one voice.


    With confusion, Lin Qiao looked at Lu Tianyi, then at Teng.


    Teng glanced at the young tiger, then said to Lu Tianyi, "Is it hungry, Uncle?"


    Lu Tianyi walked to the young tiger and squatted to rub its fluffy head, then raised his head to look at Teng and asked, "Teng, how do you know?"


    "I felt it," Teng scratched his chin with his fingers and said.


    "It''s hungry, so why did it give the rats to me?" Lin Qiao asked.


    Lu Tianyi stood up and said, "It wants the meat to be soaked in your lake water. I guess this little tiger is no longer as excited about playing outside as it was before. Now, it has probably found out that the raw meat isn''t as tasty as the meat soaked in the lake water."


    The meat soaked in Lin Qiao''s lake water was delicious. All of Lin Qiao''s zombies and pets liked it.


    In the space, Lin Qiao''s pets sometimes even stole the meat that she soaked in the buckets.


    Lin Qiao hadn''t noticed that, but Lu Tianyi had.


    After hearing what he said, Lin Qiao turned to the four pets and said with surprise, "Really? Is it like what he said?"


    "Wow!" Bowwow happily barked at her. He was able to understand Lu Tianyi''s words.


    Black could understand some of Lu Tianyi''s words too. However, unlike the dog, he had been quiet all the time.


    Watching the dog''s reaction, Lin Qiao said knowingly, "I guess you''re right. I''ll leave them to you then. I''ll put them in the space, and then you''ll be doing the rest of the work. I should hurry on with my journey."


    While speaking, she glanced at Lu Tianyi. Currently, the four pets wouldn''t let anyone but Lin Qiao and Lu Tianyi get close to their prey.


    "Don''t run about in the space, I''m telling you guys," Lin Qiao warned the four, then put them into the space along with those dying animals, leaving them under Lu Tianyi''s care.

 1230 Here Came Another One

    Right after Lin Qiao put the dog, the snake, the mushroom, the tiger, and the bunch of dying animals into her space, she got into the car with Teng and prepared to leave. But, a red figure suddenly landed before the motorcade. Then, along with a thunderous bang, a huge object fell from the sky.


    ''Oh, here comes another one,'' people said in their heads when they clearly saw the red creature and the huge thing.


    Lin Qiao stuck her head out of the car and looked at the enormous red cat, then at the huge, black, mutated bull, which was thrown to the ground by the cat. Before she could react, the weird red cat turned around, wagged its tail, and disappeared again.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    She looked at the enormous bull. The vehicles wouldn''t be able to pass if she didn''t take the bull into her space.


    "Well, this one is really here to deliver food," Teng crawled onto her lap and stuck his head outside the window too. Then, the boy shrank back and stood up on the backseat, looking at the bull through the rear windshield.


    The four caught the prey for themselves, but the red cat caught the bull for his Mama.


    Duan Juan, who was preparing to drive, rested her hands on the steering wheel, then turned and looked at Lin Qiao.


    It was the second time. What did the weird cat want?


    It was like a ghost.


    The ones in the other vehicles all stuck their heads out of the car to look at the black bull, which had barred the road.


    "So huge! How many tons do you think it weighes?"


    "Three? It''s twice the size od the hairless cat, right?"


    "It''s definitely heavier than three tons. It''s even larger than an adult elephant!"


    Teng carried Teng off the car and walked toward the bull, which was probably dead already. After making just two steps, she stopped and turned around, then wore a helpless look on her face.


    "One more? Is this ever gonna stop? What is this one coming for?" Lin Qiao looked around and said.


    Teng held her neck and looked around as well. He sensed the creature much more clearly than Lin Qiao did. "Em¡­ Have you met this one already? I don''t think it''s coming close to us."


    On hearing what he said, Lin Qiao lowered his head and glanced at the boy with surprise, "How do you know?"


    "I felt it," Teng said after two seconds of silence.


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    She looked around again, then found the creature which was hiding in darkness really showed no sign of coming out. So, she turned and walked to the black bull, then put the mutated black bull, which had shiny fur, into her space. It was still alive, but not for long.


    On the clearing before Lin Qiao''s house in the space, Lu Tianyi was busy cleaning the prey that the four had hunted. The four were gathering near the stairs before the house, staring at him. The mushroom had no eyes, but it was looking at Lu Tianyi as well.


    All of a sudden, a slight thud was heard from nearby. Lu Tianyi and the four, as well as all the zombies who were working in the field , all turned to that area.


    "No way! Do I need to skin and cut this one too? This is a huge one. It''s much bigger than the ones you guys caught," Lu Tianyi was surprised to see the black bull, then he turned and complained to the four about how large it was.


    "Wow!" From the balcony, Bowwow barked at Lu Tianyi unhappily. It clearly detected the scorn on Lu Tianyi''s face.


    Black, who was coiling on the roof, reached down his head, then wriggled down to the ground, toward the black bull. He took a few circles around the bull, then crawled back onto the roof.


    Lu Tianyi glanced at the big rat which had just been skinned by him, then at the pile of prey near him. After that, he turned to the huge black bull which was thrown into the space just now.


    Suddenly, he felt so tired. He had just started feeling better, and Lin Qiao already gave him a ton of work to do. How cruel was she?


    What made him speechless was that the four wouldn''t let anyone else touch their prey! He couldn''t even find someone to assist him. The four didn''t catch the bull though. So, it would be okay for him to find someone to help him to cut the bull, right?


    He thought for a moment, then yelled at Pesticide, who was catching bugs in the vegetable field, "Pesticide, come here!"


    Pesticide raised his head and looked at Lu Tianyi without doing what the latter said.


    "Come here! Do I need to go over there to guide you?" Lu Tianyi waved at him.


    On hearing that, Pesticide slowly stood up and moved toward him.


    "Go over there and kill the bull," Lu Tianyi handed him a knife, then pointed at the bull.


    "Roar?" Pesticide was immediately confused. He did not know how to kill a bull! The bull was so huge! Would it suddenly move its hooves and kick him into the sky?


    "It''s dying," said Lu Tianyi to him impatiently, "Go over there and poke the knife into its neck, then it''ll die. Are you afraid that the dying bull might kick you? How weak are you?"


    With hesitation, Pesticide took over the military dagger and moved toward the huge bull worryingly.


    After throwing the bull into the space to Lu Tianyi, Lin Qiao turned and went back into the car. The team finally left that area and headed toward Huaxia Base again.


    Mo Yan was sitting on top of the last car, with the zombie girl in a white dress standing beside him. He glanced at the black figure that was flashing across the forest in the back from time to time, then said to the zombie girl, "I wonder why the zombie lady is so attractive to these mutated beasts. They all want to follow her. Is it because of her scent?"


    Lin Qiao''s scent was indeed different from the scents of normal zombies. She had a faint aroma. Mo Yan had no idea how Lin Qiao''s scent could affect mutated beasts. For zombies, it just smelt nice; it was refreshing and sweet.


    The zombie girl quietly glanced at him. Mo Yan knew that she had no answer to that question either, so he continued, "Those two have been following her all the way. The cat even brought her food, but the dog isn''t doing that yet. Is the dog not as smart as the cat?"


    The zombie girl stayed silent. How was she supposed to know if the dog was smarter or the cat? She wasn''t a dog or a cat.


    "If anything bad happens to me in the future, you should just follow her," Mo Yan abruptly added, "It''s safer for you."


    Currently, mankind wasn''t the only enemy of zombies anymore. Those underground creatures were dangerous for zombies too.


    "Roar!" The zombie girl gave him a deep roar and shook her head determinedly.


    ''You told me not to leave you before. Are you going to leave me now?''


    Mo Yan sighed as a trace of gloominess was added to his pretty face. "Don''t worry," he said, "I won''t go and find him now. I''ll go when I have regained all my power. You won''t be going with me."


    The zombie girl popped her eyes and lowered her head, staring at the back of Mo Yan''s head. "Roar?" She didn''t understand.


    Mo Yan raised his head and smiled as he looked at her in the eyes and said, "I don''t want you to go with me. I don''t want you to die."


    That smile of his wasn''t as wickedly charming as his usual smile, or that naughty kind of smile with one side of his mouth corners curved. It was warm, containing a slight bit of tenderness.

 1231 Their Heads Look Like Flowers

    About a mile behind Lin Qiao''s vehicles, a dark figure flashed across the forest from time to time. It was a huge, long-haired dog, nimbly leaping through the trees and following behind Lin Qiao and her friends. Further away on the mountain, a large, red figure was seen from time to time.


    Lin Qiao sat in the car, holding Teng; she could sense the vibes of the two beasts. Strangely, neither of them showed any intent of launching an attack. For that reason, she didn''t do anything to them but kept observing them. She had no idea why the two followed her.


    "I want to get into the space to see my uncle." Teng spent quite a while crawling on the backseat from side to side. He had no interest in the deserted view outside the window at all.


    "He has no time for you. He''s busy," Lin Qiao looked at the boy.


    In the space, Lu Tianyi was indeed busy cutting the meat. Teng would have to stay aside and watch him if he went in. He wouldn''t disturb Lu Tianyi, but would definitely distract him.


    "Em, Mama, you are so cruel! I''ve just made him feel better, and you immediately gave him tons of work to do¡­ He''s like the manager of your farm. Aren''t you worried that he might get angry?" Teng thought of the pile of dying animals. There were about thirteen of them, not including the enormous bull. It would take Lu Tianyi great efforts to cut them all into pieces. His poor uncle was forced to work hard.


    "I made him work, so he''ll have no time and energy to do the unnecessary thinking," Lin Qiao sighed and smiled as she turned to look outside. It might be better if she had told him the truth at the very beginning. But in that case, he might dislike her for possessing his sister''s body. Thankfully, he didn''t hate her after he started doubting her.


    That really made Lin Qiao feel relieved.


    Teng sat down on the backseat and folded his little arms, "My poor little uncle! His sister was his only family before, but she never saw him as a little brother. Then she died, and now he has a fake sister." After saying that, he gave Lin Qiao a meaningful glance.


    Lin Qiao dropped her head to look at the boy helplessly, "I didn''t want to be his fake sister. I didn''t ask to possess Lu Tianyu''s body. I don''t know what happened and how I ended up wearing her skin. Besides, I''m not seeing Lu Tianyi as my fake little brother. I''m nicer to him than I am to even Lin Hao."


    "You''re right," Teng thought for a moment and responded. His Mama was really nice to Lu Tianyi. She possessed Lu Tianyu''s body and identity now, but she didn''t steal them. Also, Lu Tianyu had died. What could be done to change that fact?


    While Lin Qiao and her team were heading toward Huaxia Base, Wu Chengyue left Sea City Base together with Xiao Licheng, Kong Qingming, and some other people. He had also brought Wu Yueling with him.


    "Daddy, when can we see Teng and Mama?" Wu Yueling was sitting in the backseat, holding the large fluffy gray rabbit. She turned to Wu Chengyue and asked him that question expectantly with a small voice.


    Wu Chengyue smiled at the little girl as he rubbed her hair and said, "They''re not joining us for the journey, so we probably can''t see them until tomorrow."


    "Oh," Wu Yueling''s glowing eyes instantly dimmed a little as she dropped her head with disappointment. Meanwhile, she was stroking the fat rabbit slowly.


    She had had the rabbit for a year. The rabbit was growing fast, and it was already large. It was fat and fluffy, as warm as a little stove.


    Feeling the girl''s disappointment, Wu Chengyue pretended to be sad and said to her, "Doesn''t Ling Ling want to be with Daddy? Daddy is sad."


    Wu Yueling raised her head and found her father still smiling. She gave her father a glare, then dropped her head again and mumbled, "It''s not like that."


    Xiao Licheng, who was driving the car, asked Wu Yueling jokingly, "Ling Ling, you saw them just a few days ago, didn''t you? How come you miss them already?"


    Wu Yueling looked at him from the backseat and said, "Hmm, I don''t want to separate with them¡­"


    "Sadly, your father hasn''t won your Mama''s heart already. It won''t take long, though. Be patient, Ling Ling," Xiao Licheng smiled.


    Before, Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao spent a few days lying on the bed hand in hand absorbing energy. How could their relationship be improved by doing that?


    At that moment, a beast vibe was suddenly sensed from the front, seeming like a huge herd of animals. Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng adjusted their expressions and looked ahead seriously.


    "Qingming, go and see what''s going on over there." Before Wu Chengyue made a sound, Xiao Licheng slowed down the car and picked up the interphone, talking into it.


    "I get it," Kong Qingming''s voice was heard from the earphone worn on Xiao Licheng''s ear.


    Then, the head car sped up forward.


    There was still a distance between the beast vibe and the motorcade. After about ten minutes of driving, Kong Qingming saw a herd of black creatures covering the road. He didn''t know what those creatures were, but the vibe told him that they were not kind.


    He got off the car, hopped onto the car roof, and looked at those creatures. After giving them a close look, he found that they were a bunch of weird-looking creatures with short limbs lying on the ground.


    Those creatures looked very strange. Their heads looked like flowers, and in the middle of each flower was a long, tongue-like thing, wagging from side to side and looking extremely disgusting.


    Their bodies were flat, without tails. On both sides of their waists or bellies were a few rows of thorns. They each had four feet, about half a meter long; they also had long and sharp claws.


    The smallest one among them was about a meter long and wide. They had their flower heads reared up, and their tongues were pointing at Kong Qingming.


    Kong Qingming and his people parked the car about four hundred meters away from them, but those creatures soon sensed them. They raised their heads and paused briefly, then suddenly charged at them.


    "Drive!" Kong Qingming leaped off the car and said to the others. Then, he raised both arms and swung forward. Following his movement, the plants on both sides of the road started growing rapidly, reaching toward those weird creatures. The plants rolled up those creatures, strangled them and crushed their bones.


    "Damn! What are these things? They look so disgusting!" Zheng Xiaonian got off the car and saw those creatures, causing his face to twist immediately.


    Their bodies looked relatively normal, just being a little too flat. However, their heads looked utterly unpleasant to the eyes. Those heads looked like flowers, each with a hole in the middle. By the edge of the hole were teeth, and coming out of the hole was a swaying tongue, which looked like a greasy rope. One could really feel uncomfortable upon looking at those creatures.

 1232 Take A Detour

    Kong Qingming told his people to drive back, and also to report to Wu Chengyue about what they found. To go through the area, they had to remove those creatures first. However, there was a massive herd of them occupying a long section of the road, and they were actually rather strong.


    Kong Qingming controlled the surrounding plants and tied up those creatures with veins and branches. It was hard to kill them though. He was able to crush the bones of the relatively small ones, but the larger ones soon escaped.


    The creatures caught by Kong Qingming''s plants screamed shrilly, their voices highly unpleasant to hear.


    The other people didn''t use their superpowers. Instead, they leaped onto high places for a wide view and each took out a strange gun. They had only one of those guns each. The bullets in those guns were customized, containing catmint juice.


    "This newly invented gun will work more or less, right? Even though it''s not yet the finished version," Liu Jing raised the gun and aimed at the middle of a creature''s flower face before pulling the trigger.


    Puff! Liu Jing was good at shooting. He was able to hit the target from two-hundred meters away.


    The creature''s flower head was as large as a water tank. The bullet flew into its mouth, and the creature immediately let out a deafening scream. After that, it froze and fell.


    It didn''t die instantly though. By the time the catmint juice inside the bullet all flowed into its body, its body suddenly exploded.


    Boom! The creature was blown into pieces.


    "Hey! It worked!" Liu Jing shouted excitedly.


    He heard that even grenades would fail in those creatures'' mouths. Through observation, scientists found it was because of their self-protection system. When a bomb was thrown into their mouth, their body would sense the danger and react automatically, releasing their energy to deactivate it. They were also able to spit out the bullets that were shot into their mouths.


    Recently, Sea City Base developed a few guns. The fluid inside the bullets would be injected into the target''s body once the target was hit and paralyze it. After the injection, the mini bomb in the bullet would detonate.


    In fact, those few guns were only half-finished products developed in a flurry. Only about ten of them were produced as the first batch, only for the people who left the base for Huaxia Base this time.


    When the flower-head creature exploded, the other flower-head creatures near it all moved away from it, seemingly avoiding its blood and flesh.


    Kong Qingming was controlling a massive number of plants. It was quite energy-consuming, but he wasn''t able to kill many flower-head creatures. He thought for a moment, then tied up some flower-head creatures with his plants and took out a catmint gun before shooting those creatures which were disabled from moving. Every single bullet from his gun hit a flower-head creature in the mouth.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Squeeeek!


    All the flower-head creatures hit by the bullets exploded. The other creatures were avoiding the dead bodies of the dead ones, but didn''t stop charging at Kong Qingming and his people.


    Meanwhile, Huang Shou drove back to the others. On the way, he reported to Wu Chengyue through the interphone, "Chief, there are a bunch of strange creatures jamming the road five miles in the front. At least a thousand of them are gathering here. We can''t get through the area now."


    Xiao Licheng pulled over and asked, "What are they like?"


    "Eh¡­ Their heads look like flowers, and their bodies are flat. They have short limbs, no tails. They are around a meter and twenty centimeters wide, three to eight meters long. They don''t look like any creature on the earth''s surface," said Huang Shou.


    Those flower-head creatures looked definitely not like anything from the earth''s surface. They were also ridiculously huge. They should be from the underground, like the ones that the base leaders were talking about a lot lately.


    Xiao Licheng ended the conversation with Huang Shou, then turned and said to Wu Chengyue, "A herd of underground creatures have blocked the road five miles in the front. It''ll take us some time to clean them out. Should we take a detour?"


    There was a massive number of those creatures. To clear the road, they needed to kill all of them. It would be troublesome, because those creatures were not easy to kill.


    "How long will it take us to take a detour from here?" Wu Chengyue asked him.


    Xiao Licheng checked at the map and said, "About an hour, if the road condition is good. If there are obstacles, we might need to spend about two hours."


    After the apocalypse, almost all the roads were jammed by abandoned vehicles. Except for the roads which had already been cleared, there were obstacles on almost every road.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Wu Yueling, then said to Xiao Licheng, "Tell Qingming and the others to come back."


    They were going to take a detour.


    Xiao Licheng nodded, then said to Huang Shou through the interphone, "Tell your boss to come back. We''re going to take a detour."


    "Yes, sir," Huang Shou responded, then turned the car around.


    With curiosity, Xiao Licheng said, "I think they''ve used the catmint guns. I wonder if those guns worked."


    Wu Chengyue smiled and responded with, "You can ask them about that when they get back."


    "They''re a few miles away from us," Xiao Licheng said, "I wonder if those creatures are fast or not. It would be troublesome if they followed us."


    "If they follow us, I''ll kill them all," said Wu Chengyue.


    Xiao Licheng turned and glanced at him as he said, "Why are we taking a detour then? Why don''t you just go over there now and kill them all?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at him with a smile and said, "I don''t want Ling Ling to see those things. Based on your description, they are really ugly. What if they scared Ling Ling?"


    He didn''t want to leave Ling Ling in the car. Among the other people, Xiao Licheng and Kong Qingming were the strongest. But, they were only at level-six. He didn''t trust them with her safety.


    Wu Yueling heard him mention her name, so she turned and looked at her father, then started thinking about the monster that the adults talked about earlier. She didn''t understand what exactly it was, but she felt them to be scary.


    She didn''t show her fear to Wu Chengyue though, and only kept stroking the rabbit.


    Before long, Kong Qingming and his people returned.


    "How did the new guns work?" While turning the car around, Xiao Licheng asked Kong Qingming through the interphone.


    "Not bad! The explosion happens less than three seconds after the shooting. The shooting range is a little short though. It won''t work if the target is over three hundred meters away," Kong Qingming said.


    "Are you sure they are from the underground?" Xiao Licheng asked another question.


    "Yes. We can''t pass even if we kill them all, because the road in the front is broken. The earth cracked, so vehicles can''t get through. We have to take a detour," said Kong Qingming.


    "I guess we have no choice then," Xiao Licheng sighed.

 1233 Green Mountain Base Needs to Move

    "Three-hundred meters is already the best we can do right now. There won''t be enough impact force to push out the fluid inside the bullets if the bullets flew over a larger distance," Xiao Licheng responded to Kong Qingming, then continued, "Do you know how hard it is to make those bullets? What gave you the right to complain?"


    "Alright, three-hundred meters is fine," Kong Qingming said helplessly, "It''s not a long range, but not too short either."


    The flower-head creatures grasped the scents of Kong Qingming and his people and followed behind their car. They weren''t moving fast though. They had no eyes, but their swaying tongues were able to sense the scents from the air.


    Thankfully, the car was much faster than those creatures. Soon, Wu Chengyue and his people moved out of the flower-head creatures'' sensation range. After that, those creatures stopped moving and swagged their tongues from side to side to search for scents.


    In Green Mountain Base, Lan Lu was reading a report with a deep frown. Sitting on the other side of the table, Chang Qingqing and Hu Daba also wore serious looks.


    "Do you think Si Kongchen really wants to share what he has found out with us? He''s not such a kind man," Chang Qingqing dropped the material and sighed, then raised her head and said to Lan Lu.


    "Even if he won''t share what he knows with us, the others will. I don''t know what Si Kongchen is planning on. It''s not gonna be anything good anyway," Lan Lu responded to her expressionlessly.


    "I wonder if Wu Chengyue and Lu Tianyu are on their way to Huaxia Base yet. Since they''re both attending the meeting, I think they already have plans," said Chang Qingqing.


    After all, those two must have thought of what she and Lan Lu could think of.


    "Hopefully, those creatures won''t make any moves before you guys come up with a plan," Chang Qingqing thought for a moment, and then said worryingly.


    Some other underground creatures had been found near Green Mountain Base recently. Apart from the disgusting multiple-eyed creatures that the zombie lady Chief found the last time, some other different types of weird creatures were seen in some other areas as well.


    As those creatures emerged massively, the dry and deserted land in the West grew even worse.


    Fewer and fewer plants could be found. The desertification and drought had been worsening, and the air quality had dropped drastically. In many areas, people had to wear face masks.


    "I wonder when will Chief wake up." Thinking about Dong Xiaowei, who was still unconscious, Chang Qingqing felt even more depressed.


    "Don''t worry, he''ll recover! I heard that both All Beings Base and Sea City Base are developing the medicine to cure the out-of-control superpowered people. We can ask them for help when there is no better way," said Lan Lu.


    "We don''t have a lot of food left in storage. The soil condition isn''t getting better. What should we do when we rUn out of food? Are we gonna purchase food from Huaxia Base?" Chang Qingqing thought of the fact that the food left in her base could only last for less than half a year. Currently, only Huaxia Base still had rich food storage. It was said that they did have the soil-less cultivation technology. That was the reason why they weren''t as short in food as the other bases.


    Chang Qingqing also knew that making deals with Huaxia Base was not easy. They were not only greedy, but also unreasonable. Their unreasonable requirements could really give people a headache, and one could easily fall into their traps.


    "Why do we have to make deals with them? We can do it with Sea City Base," Lan Lu didn''t care much about the food problem.


    Chang Qingqing looked at him and asked, "Sea City Base? Isn''t it too far away from us? That is not the main problem. The problem is, do they have newly produced food? Based on what we know, they don''t have the soil-less cultivation technology. Even if they are able to grow food, they can''t possibly be expecting rich harvests. The food they grow might be barely enough for their own people. Will they sell their food to us?"


    Green Mountain Base had a small population. However, if Sea City Base were in shortage of food itself, the ones who ran that base would, of course, not sell their food to Green Mountain Base. Not to mention the long distance between Green Mountain Base and Sea City Base. That would be a dangerous journey. The longer the journey was, the more dangerous it could be.


    "Don''t worry! Doesn''t Wu Chengyue always have a plan B? How could he possibly turn against Huaxia Base openly without having a few cards saved? I think he''s not worried about food. I''ll talk to him and find out," Lan Lu smiled. He thought more thoroughly than Chang Qingqing did.


    Then, he continued, "Besides, traveling a long journey to make sure that our people don''t starve sounds better than falling into Si Kongchen''s trap."


    "Roar!" Hu Daba, who had been quiet the entire time, let out a sound to agree with Lan Lu.


    "Why don''t we move then? If we have to always travel from here to there, we might as well move to somewhere closer to both Sea City Base and Huaxia Base. After all, the environment in the West isn''t going to allow us to survive for many years. The life here is getting harder and harder," Chang Qingqing pondered briefly, and then gave her suggestion.


    On hearing that, Lan Lu stopped short, then turned to Hu Daba and said, "Daba, what do you think?"


    Lan Lu had been wanting to move the base since long ago. After all, the environment in the West wasn''t suitable for human beings to live anymore. He just never had a chance to bring up that idea. There was always so much work to do.


    Hu Daba fell into deep thoughts after hearing Chang Qingqing''s words. As Lan Lu asked him for his opinion, he raised his eyes to look at the two.


    "Roar," he gave a roar. ''I''m fine with it. If we are going to move, we should start as soon as possible.''


    Lan Lu smiled and said, "Okay. Since you both agree, I''ll be looking for a suitable place on my way to Huaxia Base. We''ll make the decision after I have found the place that can be our new base."


    The other two both nodded in agreement.


    "I need to get ready and get on the way. This time, I think I''ll take Ye. Lei Cheng will stay here." As the two nodded, Lan Lu clapped his hands and grinned.


    ¡­


    As same as Wu Chengyue, Lin Qiao and her people also ran into a group of weird-looking creatures after spending a few hours on the journey. Before most people saw those creatures, Lin Qiao and Teng had both sensed them.


    "Mama, guess what they look like? Are they insects?" Teng''s eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement. He was excited to see some underground creatures with his own eyes.


    ''Well, I think they''re not going to be pretty,'' Lin Qiao said to herself. Judging by the extremely ugly creatures that she had seen before, Lin Qiao believed the ones which would show up soon would be ugly too.


    She didn''t sense the vibe of those creatures on her way back to her base. It seemed to be a new type of underground creature. Why were there so many different kinds of them? Why weren''t they all the same?


    If they were all the same, it would at least be easy to study them.

 1234 Lin Qiao was wrong

    While Lin Qiao and Teng were making guesses about the number of those creatures, a red figure flashed across the air and darted before her car like a shooting star.


    "Hey, the cat pulled ahead!" Teng said with surprise as he reached his head outside the window and popped his eyes to look around, as if he were really able to see the cat.


    "It''s been following behind us quietly," Lin Qiao was also confused, "How come it suddenly went ahead of us?"


    Duan Juan who was driving joined the conversation, "Why is the cat not like the other underground creatures? All the other creatures emerge in herds. They ruin the environment and attack other animals once they come out. Why is the cat alone? Is it a rare species?"


    Lin Qiao tended to agree with her. "Rare species? It''s indeed largely different from the other underground creatures. It''s strange indeed. It affected the environment when it came up from underground, but it''s not affecting the plants anymore."


    What was even stranger, the cat ate fruits instead of meat. But, why did it always bring meat to Lin Qiao?


    Was that because the cat had seen Lin Qiao catch quite some mutated animals? It was not so smart, was it?


    "Why does it follow only you?" Since the cat visited All Being Base and dropped the bird, people were sure that Lin Qiao was its target, because only when she showed up did it react.


    "How am I supposed to know?" Lin Qiao had no answer to that question either. "Baby, do you know why?" She lowered her head and asked her son.


    Teng gave her a glare and said, "The cat is following you, not me. How am I supposed to know why, when even you don''t know?"


    "The cat is following you, and the large Tibetan mastiff is too. Why?" Duan Juan was so curious.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, "Who knows if the dog is following me or not? It hasn''t done anything to me yet. It''s probably following you."


    At that moment, waves of beast roars were heard from the front.


    "Roar!"


    "Owooooo¡­"


    Lin Qiao, Teng, and Duan Juan immediately turned to the front. Teng blinked his eyes as he leaned forward to look at the frontal area.


    "Why are you popping your eyes like that? Can you see what''s over there?" Lin Qiao was amused by the look on the little boy''s face. She laughed and reached out to pinch the boy''s cheek.


    The boy was about forty-five days old. His cheeks had grown chubby, and his eyes were bright all the time. He had delicate nose and mouth, and pink cheeks. His body temperature was much lower than that of normal human babies, but still, he had been very healthy and energetic.


    He had plump and short limbs. He might have been crawling too much lately, which caused his knee skin to be a little coarse.


    Teng felt a slight pain, so he raised a little hand and slapped off his mother''s hand, then ignored her as he stared at the frontal area through the windshield. Meanwhile, he said, "I can feel it! I have a very keen intuition! Wait and see! The big red cat will solve the problem for us!"


    Lin Qiao looked at him with disbelief, "How do you know that? The cat has gone ahead of us, but you don''t know for sure that it''s able to drive the whole group of underground creatures away."


    The big cat was only at level-seven. The vibes coming from the frontal area were faint, but clearly stated the great number and power of those creatures. Reasonably speaking, those creatures wouldn''t be afraid of just one level-seven mutated beast. After all, a level-seven vibe was sensed from the herd too.


    "As I''ve said, I can feel it," Teng raised his chin and said proudly, "I won''t be wrong!"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and said, "Really? Do you have your Aunty Wenwen''s power?"


    Teng shook his head and said, "No. My superpower isn''t awakened yet. I have a nature power, not my Aunty''s power. My intuition is just a faint feeling. I need to be close to the target to feel them."


    Lin Qiao smiled at him. Seeing the proud look on his face, she had her heart softened. She couldn''t help but scoop the boy up and bury her own face in the boy''s soft and elastic cheek to give him a kiss.


    "Alright, I''ll wait and see. Let''s see if you''re right!"


    Teng quickly wiped his face with his hand and said, "Ew! Why do you leave saliva on my face every time you kiss me!"


    Lin Qiao lowered her head to look at the boy with an innocent look, "That''s not true. There''s no saliva on your cheek. You''re so young, but why are you a clean freak already?"


    "Eh!" Teng made a face to her grumpily and said, "You''re wrong!"


    Duan Juan turned back and glanced at the boy and his mother, then said with laughter, "Wenwen''s second power is special, but our Teng is special too. Our Teng is a special little baby!"


    "Exactly! Aunty Duan knows about it clearly. Mama, I can''t believe that you don''t trust me," Teng said, then crawled back to his own seat.


    Meanwhile, the car moved closer and closer to those creatures. After entering the dangerous zone, Lin Qiao told everyone to get off the car, then put the cars into her space. After that, she carried Teng and moved toward a relatively tall hill, with the others following behind her. Soon, they found a few trees on the hill to hop on and looked ahead through the distance.


    "Owooooo¡­"


    "Roar¡­" The enormous red cat was attacking a group of rat-like creatures rampantly. Every time it bit a rat to death, it threw the dead body to the side.


    "Whoa! Teng was right! What are those? Rats? They don''t look like rats. They have no hair¡­ Are they earth rats?" Duan Juan stood on another branch on the tree that Lin Qiao was standing on and exclaimed.


    They saw a herd of brown, hairless creatures, which had large and round ears and pointed noses. They looked like rats, each as big as an adult pig.


    As same as regular rats, they had sharp noses, as well as large and round ears. However, they didn''t have any hair. Their forepaws were large and strong, and rear paws were relatively small. They also had short tails.


    Their number wasn''t very large. Only thousands of them were seen, not even one in ten thousand as much as the rats that Lin Qiao had seen in the zoo area.


    They all seemed panicked under the cat''s attack, running desperately in all directions. Only the enormous, level-seven one among them, which was about half the size as the cat, had been attempting to attack the cat. However, the cat dodged nimbly every single time and turned to leave a few deep scratches on its body.


    By now, the huge rat was already covered in wounds.


    "Roar!" The cat pounced on the huge rat, and the rat darted underground within a blink. After that, the cat turned and went after the other rats, seeming reluctant to go underground.


    Lin Qiao looked at Teng and said, "So, the cat is catching rats. Alright, you won!"


    She felt as if she were slapped in the face.

 1235 The Weird Rat that Barred the Road

    Lin Qiao wasn''t expecting those newly emerged underground creatures to be a herd of rats! Did the biological chain exist underground as well? The level-seven rat was defenseless under the cat''s claws, and the cat was twice the rat''s size. Soon, the rat had to flee into the ground.


    The rat had a rather strong vibe, but it ran into its natural enemy unfortunately!


    Because of the cat, the herd of rats were running away in all directions. Lin Qiao and her people didn''t need to do anything, and they could go straight through the area.


    Suffering the cat''s attack, the huge cat was probably agitated. Not long after it crawled underground, it sprung out before the cat as it brandished its claws and jumped at the cat''s face.


    "Awooooo!" The cat scornfully bared its teeth and narrowed its red eyes. It raised a paw and easily slapped the rat down to the ground.


    "Oarrrr¡­" The rat screamed and quickly made a roll on the ground. After that, it adjusted its posture and landed all four limbs on the ground. Lowering its body, it looked at the cat and fiercely bared its sharp teeth. Unlike the teeth of normal rats, its teeth were all sharp.


    "Roarrrr!"


    The cat didn''t take it seriously at all. All it did was swing its tail toward the rat, who dodged nimbly.


    Meanwhile, the other rats either ran away or went underground. They created a few holes on the ground, but thankfully, the road could still allow the vehicles to drive through.


    Lin Qiao and her people spent a short while watching the cat and rat game, and then those rats were gone. The cat had killed a lot of rats. It failed to catch the level-seven one though. The big rat couldn''t defeat the cat, but it was good at escaping.


    "Awo¡­ googoo¡­"As the road was clear, the cat opened up the heads of a few relatively high-leveled rats and dug up a few nuclei before eating them. Then, it turned and leaped into the air, disappearing and leaving the dead rats behind.


    "See, we can just go straight through, right?" Teng held Lin Qiao''s neck and said.


    Lin Qiao was standing on a branch, leaning against the tree trunk with Teng held in her arms. She nodded and said, "I think you are right. Let''s go!"


    While speaking, she leaped off the tree and showed up on the road. There, she took out the vehicles from her space.


    After that, she threw a few dead rats into the woods in her space. She would bring those back for experiments. Soon, she and her people got into the cars and continued driving toward Huaxia Base.


    Teng''s intuition was amazingly right. Lin Qiao wondered if the boy could always foresee the near future so accurately.


    "Your intuition is so accurate! Can you feel Aunty Wenwen''s current condition?" Lin Qiao couldn''t help but ask him.


    Teng sat in the backseat, from where he said, "I''ve told you about that many times. She will come back. I''m not worried about her at all. I just can''t see Uncle Yuan''s condition."


    Spoke of Yuan Tianxing, Teng wore a troubled look.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and asked a little nervously, "How can we help him? Uninfected fresh catmint might be helpful for him, but where can we find that now? Don''t you have any feelings about that? Not even bad feelings?"


    Teng was having his head slightly dropped, thinking deeply. On hearing Lin Qiao''s words, he raised his head and said, "No, no feelings at all. No bad feelings, nor good feelings. However, I do feel an indescribable connection between him and Aunty Wenwen. Maybe I''ll know when Aunty Wenwen comes back."


    "Is that so? I guess Wenwen is the key," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said.


    Teng looked at her and said, "Don''t worry! Aunty Wenwen will upgrade successfully and come back to us. We might figure out how to save Uncle Yuan when she comes back, because her second power is amazing."


    Lin Qiao nodded in agreement, "You''re right! Will she see the future even more accurately than before when her second power enters level-two? Or, maybe it''ll become easier to control."


    The vehicles moved closer and closer to Huaxia Base while large batches of people from Sky Fire Base had been heading toward Huaxia Base too. Their journey wasn''t as easy as Lin Qiao''s. In cities, they were surrounded by great numbers of zombies, and in the suburbs, they were attacked by mutated animals and plants. What was even worse, they even ran into giant herds of underground insects sometimes.


    As a result, half of them died on the way.


    Small numbers of people who weren''t welcomed by the group had no choice but to head to Sea City Base. If they attempted to go to Huaxia Base, the other Sky Fire Base people would kill them. They might die before they could arrive in Huaxia Base. Therefore, they were forced to go to Sea City Base. Those people also suffered heavy casualties on the way.


    "Where are all these monsters from? Are they from the underground too? How come so many strange creatures are coming out of the underground lately?"


    "If they keep coming out, I think not even Huaxia Base can survive them. Do you think we can survive by joining Sea City Base?"


    "Where else can we go? Those b*stards would find us if we went to Huaxia Base. They''d kill us."


    "No base can survive these massive herds of monsters. I don''t think we''ll survive them in Sea City Base. Those creatures will break the fence wall. Is there still hope of survival for mankind?"


    "I don''t know. Right now, we can only try our best to survive. At least, Sea City Base has Wu Chengyue. He is a level-eight man. He''ll be able to deal with those monsters. With him, we''ll have a better chance to live."


    "You''re right! He''s a powerful level-eight man. As long as he''s in the base, those monsters won''t be able to break into the base easily."


    Those people saw Wu Chengyue, a level-eight man, as their last hope. As Huaxia Base wasn''t an option, their only choice was Sea City Base.


    In Huaxia Base, Si Kongchen received the reports about the newest movements of the leaders of the other base. After spending a short while reading the report about Wu Chengyue, he turned and said to Xie Longyun, who was standing near the window, "Are you sure you can do this? There will be consequences if you fail."


    Xie Longyun was wearing a tight military top and a marten hair cape. Her thighs were exposed in the air. As always, she was also wearing a pair of knee-length boots.


    She leaned against the window frame as she lazily turned around and glanced at Si Kongchen. "Relax!" she said, "I won''t fail. Doesn''t Wu Chengyue care a lot about that woman? He will fall into my trap if he really cares about her. You just need to do your part. Can you really stall that woman? She has a space. Her space is alive."


    Si Kongchen responded to her with confidence, "Don''t worry! I''ve confirmed that her space isn''t mobile. She needs to exit her space on the exact same spot where she enters it. I will disable her from coming out of her space."


    Xie Longyun shrugged and said, "Your plan better work. I won''t take the responsibility if any problem occurred on my side due to you."

 1236 The Scheme of Si Kongchen and Xie Yunlong

    "Wu Chengyue isn''t gonna be gullible. Just do what you have to do." Xie Longyun''s words made Si Kongchen frown. He warned her, then stopped talking.


    Xie Longyun turned up her sexy red lips to give a faint smile and said, "Even a smart man will panic in front of his beloved girl, unless he doesn''t love her sincerely."


    Si Kongchen looked at her questioningly, "How do you know he''s sincere to her? What if that woman isn''t so important to him?"


    Xie Longyun raised her eyebrows and smiled confidently, "Based on what I know about him, he wouldn''t possibly spend a whole year on her unless he really loved her. Believe me!"


    Si Kongchen stayed silent as he looked at her.


    "How are you going to stall that woman?" Xie Longyun asked him, "She seems smart too, not to mention the fact that we attempted to steal her prey not long ago. She''s certainly alert against you already."


    Si Kongchen responded expressionlessly, "So what? In my place, I have plenty of ways to deal with her. Haven''t we received the strong version of the superpower-restraining drug from a foreign country lately? It''s effective even on me. I don''t think she can be an exception."


    Xie Longyun furrowed her pretty eyebrows slightly and said, "I know you have the drug. But, how are you gonna use it on her? Don''t tell me that you''re going to mix it in her food or water. It''s too hard to get close to her without being suspected."


    "Who said I''m going to make her eat the drug? She doesn''t need to eat it, only inhale it," Si Kongchen sneered and dropped his eyes to look at the file in his hand with a grim face.


    Xie Longyun stopped short, then looked at Si Kongchen with surprise and said, "Really? Is that drug so powerful?"


    "I''ve tried it," Si Kongchen raised his head and gave her an expressionless glance.


    Once again, Xie Longyun raised her brows as she looked at him and said, "You''ve tried that? How did it work? You are at level-eight. Is the drug really effective on you?"


    Si Kongchen turned his head slightly, said, "I paid a huge price for that drug. It wasn''t easy to get it. My people have figured out its recipe. Sadly, a few special ingredients can''t be found in our country. To get more of that drug, we have to keep working with them." He sounded a little excited, as if he had gotten a true treasure.


    "Oh!" Xie Longyun said, "I guess you did pay a big price for the drug. Since they''ve already created a drug like this, I assume they''re much more developed than we are. If you have the drug, why don''t you just kill that woman?"


    Si Kongchen lowered his head and started reading the file again. Meanwhile, he said, "I will certainly kill her when I can. The drug can only be used at special periods of time, because its effect isn''t strong. It can only disable the superpower of a level-eight being for five seconds. Within that short period of time, her superpowers will be limited, but not her activity. She would die if no accidents happened. But, I''m not sure if she has other ways to save her own life¡­ But at least, her power will be limited, and your plan can be carried out."


    Xie Longyun nodded and said, "If you have something that good, give me some, so I can use it on Wu Chengyue. Won''t that be easier?"


    Si Kongchen sighed as he leaned against the back of his chair and looked straight at her, "I''d certainly give you some if I had more. The problem is, I only have two doses. They wouldn''t give me more. One dose is already used for experiments, so there''s only one dose left. So, I can''t give you any."


    Xie Longyun turned down her lips and complained, "Why didn''t you get more?"


    "I wanted to," said Si Kongchen, "But, they can''t produce it in large batches yet. So, they refused to sell more to me."


    "Alright then, we''ll stick to the plan. I got to go," Xie Longyun said, then turned and left.


    ¡­


    The next day, Lin Qiao sensed the vibes of Wu Chengyue and his people when she was still tens of miles away from Huaxia Base.


    "Daddy is here!" Teng had also sensed his father''s vibe. He excitedly put both hands on the window frame and looked outside. Wearing thick clothes, he looked like a baby bear.


    Lin Qiao smiled faintly as she pinched his cheek and said, "Why are you so excited? You saw him just a few days ago."


    "Because I don''t need to eat poorly tasted porridge when Daddy is around! I want Daddy''s porridge!" Teng glanced at Lin Qiao scornfully, straightforwardly criticizing her poor cooking.


    He was used to Wu Chengyue''s food. Wu Chengyue had raised him into a picky boy.


    "You''re just picky! My porridge isn''t so bad!" Lin Qiao argued with him.


    "Your porridge always tastes the same. I''m so sick of it already," Teng turned down his lips with dislike.


    Indeed, Lin Qiao''s cooking wasn''t as bad as he said, but her porridge had only one flavor. After trying all kinds of baby porridges that Wu Chengyue made for him, Teng felt that living on Lin Qiao''s porridge was pure torment. Enduring her food for so many days was already the best he could do!


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say. The boy was still so young, but he was picky already. How was she supposed to raise him?


    "You got to get used to my food too, because you can''t stay with that guy every day. What are you gonna do when you''re with me?" She thought for a moment and decided to try to make the boy less picky.


    Teng agreed with her, so ghe looked at his mother and fell into silence. At last, he decided to be nice to himself and said, "Can you at least try to create a few more flavors for me? Having the same flavor every day is really exhausting."


    "I''ll try my best. Allow me some time," Lin Qiao grinned at him. For some reason, her grin gave Teng a not-so-good feeling


    After returning to All Beings Base from Huaxia Base, Teng had truly learned what bad cooking really meant. Lin Qiao had to spend a very long time to learn how to make edible food without blowing up the kitchen. Could someone like that possibly learn how to make different types of delicious food within a short span of time?


    Teng was forced to try her creative dishes every single day. He regretted asking his mother to cook something different for him so much, but there was no way back. He had a strong stomach that allowed him to survive on any food. However, the awful tastes were killing him.

 1237 Visiting Huaxia Base the Third Time

    Lin Qiao and her people had pulled over when Wu Chengyue saw them. She was sitting on top of a car, holding Teng. The others were also quietly sitting on car roofs. Of course, the zombies and humans were separated.


    "I can''t believe you brought Ling Ling. What were you thinking?" Seeing Ling Ling running toward her, Lin Qiao put Teng on the car roof and leaped off the car. Then, she bent over and scooped Ling Ling up. Then, she turned and put her together with Teng.


    "Because you''re here¡­ You can put the kids in your space," Wu Chengyue walked up to Lin Qiao and said to her with a smile.


    Lin Qiao turned AND picked up the two kids from the car roof, then the three of them disappeared together.


    After spending the whole night working, Lu Tianyi finally cut all the meat into pieces. By the time he finally soaked the meat and internal organs in the buckets, Lin Qiao''s pets already couldn''t wait to eat the meat which was soaked in the buckets the first.


    The meat soaked in the water first was from the rats that the young tiger caught. The two rats were only enough for the tiger itself, and the other three all had large appetites. The rats could barely satisfy them.


    Except for Bowwow, who attempted to steal a piece of rat meat, the other two had been patiently waiting for their own food.


    "Awooooo!" As the dog reached his head toward the tiger''s food, the young tiger immediately rushed at him and roared ragingly, with all its hair standing up. If the dog dared to dip his mouth into the water, the tiger would slap him on the face.


    The dog drooled at the meat. He sniffed at the meat in the bucket, then looked at the small but fierce little tiger. At last, he licked around his own mouth and reluctantly turned around to sniff at Black''s food.


    As a result, Black swung his tail over and gave the dog a slap on the face, warning him not to drool over someone else''s food.


    But, Bowwow had super thick skin. As Black refused to let him sniff at his food, he turned to someone else. In the next few hours, he sniffed at his own food some times and approached the others'' food when they weren''t paying attention. The young tiger bared its teeth and growled at the dog every time.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know that Wu Chengyue had arrived until Lin Qiao put Wu Yueling and Teng into the space.


    "So, we''re arriving at Huaxia Base, right?" After finishing his work, Lu Tianyi didn''t feel tired, only relived. He sat on the couch in the living room to keep the two kids company, watching them chase the fat rabbit all over the place.


    The rabbit hadn''t returned to the space for a long time. At the moment, it was excitedly bounding in the living room. Wu Yueling wanted to catch it, but the fat rabbit was actually fast and nimble.


    Before long, Four, Old Guo, and the other zombies were all brought into the space by Lin Qiao as well.


    "Oi, Yi! You''ve cut all the meat already! You are now Chief''s exclusive pet feeder! Congratulations!" Old Guo came in and saw Lu Tianyi sitting on the couch leisurely. He instantly hunched his back and talked to the other with a grin while brushing his beard with his fingers.


    Except for Four and Old Guo, the other zombies didn''t dare to come into Lin Qiao''s house without permission. They stayed outside, standing, sitting, or strolling in the field.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know the old man well. As the old man seemed rather friendly, he smiled at him politely and said, "I''m honored to be able to help her."


    Mo Yan and his zombie girl didn''t enter Lin Qiao''s space. They weren''t planning on joining Lin Qiao and her team, so they went missing during the journey.


    Lin Qiao put her vehicles into the space, then sat in Wu Chengyue''s car. Together, they headed toward Huaxia Base. According to Xie Dong, Lan Lu was also arriving at the Huaxia Base. The leaders of Heilong Base and Mongols Base arrived a day ago.


    Huaxia Base had the gate opened since long ago to welcome them.


    Wei Haichao was the one to welcome them at the gate. It used to be Hou Guozhong''s job, but the latter never woke up after being attacked by Lan Lu. So now, Wei Haichao took his place to welcome the guests.


    "What a surprise to see you again so soon, Chief Lu, Chief Wu! Did you two have a safe journey?" Wei Haichao stood in the middle of the road. As the cars were stopped, he greeted the guests as if he was an old friend of theirs. He was actually talking to Lin Qiao. After all, the two of them had seen each other not long ago in the northwest.


    Lin Qiao responded to him with a small smile. "Yeah," she said, "I wonder if Deputy Chief Hou is getting better? Chief Lan was really heavy-handed. I''m worried that Deputy Chief Hou might never be able to wake up."


    She said those words smilingly and made them sound like a joke. But in fact, she was implying that Hou Guozhong and his people should not attempt to get something which did not belong to them, and that Hou Guozhong had gotten exactly what he deserved. Hou Guozhong was Si Kongchen''s right-hand man. As a Deputy Chief, he needed to do a lot of work for Si Kongchen.


    Putting him down equaled cutting off an arm of Si Kongchen. Of course, the latter brought that to himself.


    The smile on Wei Haichao''s face froze briefly. But, he managed to keep his facial expression under control.


    "I believe our doctors will soon cure him. Miss. Lu, thank you for your concern." He did not plan to simply endure Lin Qiao''s verbal attack. Instead, he launched a counterattack.


    Lin Qiao''s base had no skillful doctors currently. Aside from doctors, her base was also in short of all kinds of technicians. At least in Wei Haichao''s eyes, All Beings Base relied on Sea City Base for survival.


    Lin Qiao didn''t react strongly to what he said. She gave a polite smile and said, "Yeah? I guess my concern is unnecessary then. I''ll be expecting the good news about Deputy Chief Hou. Alright, we are done with the small talk. Shouldn''t you be guiding us in?"


    "Of course! Please!" Wei Haichao''s vibe was completely suppressed by Lin Qiao''s, and his words barely affected her. With a grin, he guided Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue into his base, but he sulked deep inside because of her.


    Seeing the composed smile on Lin Qiao''s face, he sneered in his heart. The woman was good at maintaining a calm look. He had had interactions with her a few times; she was definitely not easy to deal with. Before, when she was still at level-seven, she already had the guts to disable an arm of a level-seven chairman from Huaxia base. Now, she was at level-eight, almost as powerful as Si Kongchen himself. Wei Haichao couldn''t imagine what she might do when she was infuriated.

 1238 Are You Guys Crazy?

    When Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue arrived at Huaxia Base, Lin Wenwen was receiving the last batch of goods that she had ordered online while the Dong Family was preparing to head to Sea City. When the last batch of goods was put into her space, her space would be totally filled up. The money she used to buy all those things was borrowed from Dong Lijia. That didn''t cause her any difficulties to purchase all the supplies that she wanted though.


    "Are you done packing yet? Are we good to go?" Dong Lijia was able to clearly differentiate Lin Wenwen from Dong Xinxin now.


    Lin Wenwen was counting the goods in her exclusive storage. The goods were in paper boxes, piling on the ground.


    Dong Lijia walked over and glanced at those goods, wearing an embarrassed look. All those boxes were marked by the brands of sanitary towels. All kinds of brands could be found.


    He turned to look somewhere else and said awkwardly, "Eh-hem¡­ We''ll leave tonight. Do get ready." After saying that, he quickly turned and left.


    "Oh, I get it. Don''t worry, I''ll be ready before it gets dark." Lin Wenwen was busy counting those goods, so she responded to him without thinking at first. But, as the young man ran away, she gave him a glance. After that, she turned back to find the sanitary towel brands on the boxes, and couldn''t help but roll her eyes.


    As she finished receiving the goods and returned to Dong Family mansion, she saw Dong Lijia sitting on the couch in the living room, looking around in a daze. He seemed to be a little reluctant to leave.


    Lin Wenwen stopped walking and asked him, "Didn''t you warn Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun? Aren''t they your best friends?"


    Dong Lijia turned to her and said, "Xinxin said that they will both survive. In the first few years after the apocalypse, their lives won''t be too bad. So, she wants to find herself a strong foothold first. We will be helping them after we settle down ourselves. They won''t die within two years anyway. Telling them about what will happen would cause unpredictable changes to their lives. We don''t know if those changes would be good or bad. So, we decided not to do it."


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and stayed silent for a second, then said, "Xinxin is right, but have you guys ever thought that ever since Xinxin and I came back here, your lives have been changed already. Those are the direct changes. There are also indirect changes, which might affect some other people. Everyone related to you and your family might be affected."


    The return of Lin Wenwen and Dong Xinxin had already changed the lives of everyone who was a part of Dong Xinxin''s life. Their future lives might be or might not be the same as Dong Xinxin already knew.


    On hearing her words, Dong Lijia stopped short, then looked at her and said with a serious look, "What do you mean?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and said, "Never mind. You won''t understand. Even if you''re not going to find them, they''ll soon find you. I''ve told you, their lives have already been changed because of the return of Xinxin and me. Their lives won''t be the same as what had happened once."


    Earlier, Dong Xinxin mentioned that she didn''t want to do anything to help the people who would survive the first apocalypse, and would let them live the original way. However, she never thought of the fact that her return had already changed the lives of the people who had made contact with her.


    Dong Lijia furrowed his brows. Neither he nor Dong Xinxin had thought about what Lin Wenwen just said. They were focusing on how to keep their family safe and create a better life after the apocalypse. They paid all their attention on gathering supplies and how to face the dangerous post-apocalyptic world. They did think about their friends; Dong Xinxin believed that they would survive, because they survived last time.


    But before Dong Lijia said anything else, a guard knocked on the door and told him that Young Master Luo and Young Master Deng had come to visit him.


    Lin Wenwen spread her hands and said, "See. In Dong Xinxin''s previous life, Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun shouldn''t have been visiting your family at this time. But now, they are here. I guess the two of them won''t let you leave unless you give them a clear explanation."


    After saying that, she smiled as she turned and went upstairs.


    Dong Lijia looked at her back. She now looked much slimmer than she was two months ago. Soon, the noises of sports cars were heard from the outside.


    "Dong Lijia, what''s wrong with your family? Why on earth did you sell all your stocks?" Luo Yuanjun''s voice could be heard before he even came in.


    "And you have sold your own companies too. Are you guys crazy? What is going on here? I spent only one month abroad and I heard about that once I came back. Are you trying to freak me out here?" Luo Yuanjun stormed in as he asked a series of questions to Dong Lijia, who had just stood up from the couch.


    Deng Chenfei followed him in. He stayed silent, but as same as Luo Yuanjun, he also stared at Dong Lijia with confusion.


    Lately, he had been busy, paying little attention to the news. Earlier, Luo Yuanjun suddenly gave him a call and told him that the group company run by Dong Lijia''s family had switched owners. The stocks held by the family were sold out. Apart from that, Dong Family had also sold most of their properties in the quickest way.


    He immediately searched online about the news, which was reported by several media outlets. No one knew the reason why Dong Family suddenly sold their company yet. Many people attempted to approach Dong Family to see if any internal information could be found. However, after selling the company and properties, Dong Family people had been hiding in their mansion all the time. There were more guards in the mansion than before, and all those guards were very capable. The reporters couldn''t find any chance to take even one useful picture.


    Currently, the media and the people in business were all making guesses about what had happened to Dong Family.


    After reading the news, Luo Yuanjun and Deng Chenfei headed to Dong Family mansion without even giving Dong Lijia a call. They heard about the big news a whole month after it happened. They spent a lot of time with Dong Lijia before, but the latter never leaked even a trace of the reason why his family would sell their business.


    The three of them grew up together and were like brothers. Why was Dong Lijia keeping such a big matter secret from them? Why?


    The two rushed straight into Dong Lijia''s family house to find out why.


    Seeing the look on their faces, Dong Lijia realized that the two wouldn''t give up until he gave them a satisfactory explanation.

 1239 The Questions that Had Been Asked

    Dong Lijia glanced at Luo, then at Deng Chenfei. Then, he looked at them both and said, "Would you guys believe me if I told you the truth?"


    Luo Yuanjun made eye-contact with Deng Chenfei, then said, "Of course! I just want to know what made you guys sell the huge group company of yours! Has someone been threatening you? Is there a serious problem with the company? Why did you sell all the stocks? Don''t tell me the company is dying."


    Deng Chenfei looked around, then blinked and said, "All the valuable things in your house are gone. What''s going on? Are you going to run?"


    He looked around the living room carefully. The house used to be decorated with some really valuable art pieces, antiques, and other objects. Now, it was almost empty. Except for some furniture pieces, nothing valuable could be found in the living room. The place even looked larger than before.


    On hearing Deng Chenfei''s words, Luo Yuanjun paused briefly with surprise, then started paying attention to the house. After taking a glance around, he gave a start and said, "No way! Are you guys going to run away? What kind of crisis made you sell out all your stocks and everything in your house? You didn''t sell your little wife too, did you¡­"


    Dong Lijia sighed as he raised a hand to stop him from keep imagining. "It''s not like what you think. But¡­ I have sold my little wife already indeed."


    Luo Yuanjun popped his eyes with disbelief and said, "It''s not like what I think? If it''s not like what I''m thinking! How could you possibly sell your beloved car! If you needed money, you could ask us for help! We''re like your brothers. We might not be rich enough to save your family company, but we would help you as much as we could. We can figure out something together. Isn''t that what friends do? Or, do you think that we''re the kind of friends that you can only have fun with?"


    Deng Chenfei nodded with a serious look. He didn''t say a word, but he clearly agreed with Luo Yuanjun.


    Seeing how agitated Luo Yuanjun was, Dong Lijia hurriedly put an arm around his neck and said to him, "I''ve told you, it''s not like what you think it is. The situation is probably worse than you imagined. You definitely can''t imagine it."


    On hearing that, Luo Yuanjun furrowed his eyebrows, then closed his eyes for a second. After that, he re-opened his eyes as he pointed at Dong Lijia and said, "Just tell me what happened."


    Dong Lijia looked at him, then at Deng Chenfei. Next, he walked to the couch and took a seat as he waved at the two, "Chenfei, do you remember the question I asked you at the beach?"


    Deng Chenfei stopped short as he looked at him with slight confusion and asked, "The question you asked me¡­ at the beach?"


    Luo Yuanjun and Dong Lijia were both looking at him. Before Dong Lijia could say anything, the impatient Luo Yuanjun asked his own questions, "He asked you a question? What is it? Did he ask you that question when we were at the beach? Is that question special?"


    Deng Chenfei spent some time thinking. Did Dong Lijia ask him a question a month ago at the beach? He had a good memory. He thought hard, then recalled that question Dong Lijia asked him when they were strolling on the beach.


    Abruptly, he blinked his eyes as he stared at Dong Lijia and said, "That question? I thought it was a joke."


    Dong Lijia nodded as he gave an unconfident smile and said, "Would you think that I''m crazy if I told you it''s gonna happen for real?"


    Once his voice faded, Deng Chenfei gawked at him with disbelief.


    "What? What are you guys talking about? Chenfei, what question did he ask you?" Luo Yuanjun hurriedly urged Deng Chenfei to explain to him, as he didn''t even understand the conversation between Deng Chenfei and Dong Lijia.


    Seeing Deng Chenfei stare at Dong Lijia as if the latter were crazy, he grew even more curious. He was so desperate to know the truth, and his curiosity was killing him by now.


    "Oh, he asked me what would I do if the apocalypse happened someday. Then, he said it was just a joke. I asked him what kind of apocalypse it would be. Would it be a volcano eruption? Or a massive earthquake? Or tsunami, or some other kind of natural disaster¡­" Deng Chenfei couldn''t finish his words.


    "Huh? Apocalypse? What the hell?" Luo Yuanjun was utterly confused. He didn''t understand why Dong Lijia asked a question like that. But in the next moment, an idea crossed his mind. He immediately turned to Dong Lijia and said, "You''re not gonna tell us that the question you asked Chenfei is gonna happen for real, are you?"


    Under the gaze of the two who clearly didn''t want to believe him, Dong Lijia nodded helplessly.


    "Are you okay? You didn''t lose your mind, did you?" Unlike Deng Chenfei, who was merely staring at Dong Lijia with disbelief, Luo Yuanjun said the words out loud. He widened his eyes so much in surprise that his eyeballs even seemed to fall out of his face.


    Dong Lijia spread his hands and said, "See, I''ve told you that you wouldn''t believe me. You wanted me to tell you the truth, and now you think I''m crazy. I really wish that I''m just crazy."


    After saying that, he gave a sigh, then leaned against the back of the couch and continued with, "When my sister comes downstairs, you''ll know who''s crazier."


    "They''re talking about you. Why do you mention me?" A silvery voice was heard from the upstairs.


    The three turned to the stairs and saw a small-sized, adorable girl walk down the stairs with a bland face. She wore no expressions, but her voice sounded a little cold. Her words didn''t make the three react strongly, but her body shape did. Luo Yuanjun and Deng Chenfei both popped their eyes in shock. They stared straight at her as if she were a ghost.


    "Oh my God! Dong Xinxin! Are you Dong Xinxin?" Luo Yuanjun sprung up and looked at Dong Xinxin, who had already lost over fifteen kilograms. She not only looked much slimmer than before, but also had full breasts, a beautiful waist, and straight legs¡­ Those legs weren''t super slender though. Her face stayed round, but was much less fleshy than before.


    Her face looked delicate and lovely. Her small size made her look like a cute little bird. Without seeing her chest, one might think that she was only about fourteen years old!


    Luo Yuanjun was honestly dumbfounded, and so was Deng Chenfei. After all, they remembered Dong Xinxin as a very chubby girl, who looked literally like a ball.


    As the boys were gawking at her, Dong Xinxin suddenly put on a frosty face and swiftly darted down the stairs. She rushed up to Luo Yuanjun and grasped a hand of his, then turned and bent over, putting forth her strength through her legs as she raised her round and strong hip.


    "Ah!" In the next second, Luo Yuanjun was thrown to the other side of the tea-table.

 1240 Luo Yuanjun Got His Butt Kicked

    Thud! Luo Yuanjun was thrown to the area before the tea table.


    Deng Chenfei stayed silent in shock.


    Dong Lijia didn''t say anything either.


    Luo Yuanjun sat on the ground with his mouth gaped, without even knowing what just happened. That was not the end though. Dong Xinxin lunged up to him with big steps, clenched her fists, and punched him right in the face.


    "Ouch! Wait¡­ wait! Why did you hit me again?" Luo Yuanjun, who just sat up from the ground, didn''t even manage to react before being punched in the eye. He covered that injured eyes and screamed out loud, then looked at Dong Xinxin as if she were a ghost.


    "Xinxin?" Dong Lijia finally realized what was happening. The one who punched Luo Yuanjun was probably his sister. But, why did Dong Xinxin punch Luo Yuanjun at the sight of him?


    After giving Luo Yuanjun that punch, Dong Xinxin stood up as she turned to Dong Lijia and said, "It if weren''t for him, I would never die and end up back here."


    After saying that, she gave Luo Yuanjun a cold glance, then snorted as she turned and sat down on the couch.


    "What? It was because of him?" Dong Lijia''s expression changed the moment he heard Dong Xinxin''s words. He immediately rolled up his sleeves and walked to Luo Yuanjun, seemingly wanting to punch Luo Yuanjun too.


    "Oi! Wait, wait! Dong Lijia, what are you doing? Dong Xinxin¡­ What did you mean? Why did you hit me? What did I ever to do you?" Seeing Dong Lijia coming at him aggressively, Luo Yuanjun hurriedly struggled up from the ground and reached out one hand to stop him as he kept covering his eye with the other. With deep confusion and anger, he looked at Dong Lijia and his sister and asked them.


    "You don''t believe what my brother said, do you? Wait and see in half a month. Don''t blame us for not warning you guys. You think I worked out so hard just to lose weight? Hehe¡­" Dong Xinxin tittered scornfully at them.


    "Wait a second! What does what your brother said have to do with the fact that you hit me? Wait, do you believe what he said? Also, what did you mean by you died and ended up back here? I am so confused right now. I don''t understand what''s going on here! Chenfei, do you have a clue?" Luo Yuanjun widened his one eye as he looked at Dong Xinxin and her brother, and then at Deng Chenfei.


    Deng Chenfei stayed quiet. He looked at Luo Yuanjun expressionlessly, then at Dong Xinxin and Dong Lijia. With his eyes narrowed, he looked at Dong Xinxin and said to her, "How can you guys prove what you said? Only by selling your family business and losing your weight?"


    Dong Xinxin shrugged and said, "Believe it or not. As I''ve said, you wait and see in half a month."


    "Come here, now tell me! What did this guy do before you came back here?" As Luo Yuanjun had created a safe distance from him, Dong Lijia gave up on kicking his ass and asked Dong Xinxin a question.


    "Oh, I went to save him. I told him to go back to the base without me, but he refused to do it. In the end, we both died. I tried so hard to save him, but ended up getting myself killed as well!" Recalling what happened back then, Dong Xinxin glared at Luo Yuanjun angrily.


    Luo Yuanjun had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "What the hell?" He looked at her and said with confusion.


    Dong Lijia reacted in a different way. "What? Why did you tell him to leave without you? Weren''t you trying to save him? The two of you should be leaving together."


    Dong Xinxin looked at Dong Lijia and said, "I had one broken leg. Taking me with him, he couldn''t possibly survive in that kind of circumstances. So, I told him to leave without me. If he survived, my life wouldn''t be lost in vain. But in the end, he wasted his life. I consumed up all my energy to save him, but he chose to die together with me."


    "You! How dare you waste the opportunity of survival that my sister earned for you by giving up her own life! I''ll kill you!" Hearing Dong Xinxin''s words and sensing her grievance, Dong Lijia was infuriated instantly.


    "What on earth are you guys talking about? I don''t even understand a word you said!" Luo Yuanjun hurriedly moved to the side to dodge Dong Lijia''s attack.


    Dong Lijia rolled up his sleeves again, prepared to give Luo Yuanjun a serious punch. But, after making about two steps, he paused and struggled, "Wait, actually¡­ If he abandoned you and ran, I''d truly kill him."


    Dong Xinxin looked at him speechlessly. ''So, exactly which side you''re on?'' she wanted to ask him that question.


    Deng Chenfei, who had been ignored by the others, couldn''t help but join the conversation, "You guys haven''t answered my question yet."


    "Haven''t we?" Dong Lijia turned and looked at him as he said, "What I wanted to say is the same as what Xinxin has said. It''s your choice to believe it or not. As your friend, I am now telling you this, even though you might think that I''ve lost my mind. In half a month, you guys can meet us in Sea City. As for the company, just stop thinking about it."


    "My brother is right. Since you don''t believe us, don''t ask about the reason why we did what we did. We are all friends. We have no reason to lie to you guys. But Luo Yuanjun, if what I said is gonna be real, remember, you owe me a life!" Dong Xinxin''s pretty face wore a very serious look. She really didn''t seem to be joking at all. When she looked at Luo Yuanjun, actual anger could be detected from her eyes.


    "I¡­ I¡­" Luo Yuanjun looked at her in the eyes. Under her strong vibe, he almost believed her words. However, his sanity told him that it would be impossible. However, the punch that Dong Xinxin gave him was not gentle at all. It hurt like hell!


    "This is why I didn''t tell you anything. I knew you wouldn''t believe me. Relax, in half a month, almost half of all people in the world will die, but you guys will survive. Remember, go and find us in Sea City," Dong Lijia sighed, then turned to Dong Xinxin.


    "What? You make this sound like a real thing. I don''t even know what this so-called apocalypse is gonna be yet! And Dong Xinxin, you actually hit me!" Luo Yuanjun looked at Dong Lijia bewilderedly, then at Deng Chenfei, and at last, he turned to Dong Xinxin grumpily.


    Dong Lijia walked back to the couch and sat down as he looked at him and laughed, "I''ve told you that you''d be hit by Xinxin at some point. You wouldn''t believe me. She''s rather short-tempered now!"


    Deng Chenfei looked around, then glanced at Dong Xinxin and said, "So, Xinxin''s strange behaviors, and you guys selling the family business¡­ Were all these because of the joke that you told me? If that''s really gonna happen, what did you guys need money for? The money would be useless, wouldn''t it?"


    Seeing the look on his face, Dong Lijia realized that he had already started to believe the apocalypse. "You had given the answer yourself, haven''t you? When I asked you that question."


    Deng Chenfei thought for a moment. Dong Lijia asked him what he would prepare in advance if the world was going to be occupied by zombies and virus. His answer was¡­


    Food, water, vehicles, and gasoline!

 1241 You Guys Can Feel I

    Recalling the answer that he had given, Deng Chenfei looked at Dong Lijia with surprise. Uncertainly, he said to Dong Lijia, "Was what you said true? How-how did you guys know about it then? It''s not happening yet, is it?"


    Were they even able to foresee the future?


    Dong Lijia pointed at Dong Xinxin and said, "Oh, she told me. Don''t you guys feel that she has changed a lot? Come on, you guys can feel it."


    While speaking, he stood up and pulled his sister up from the couch.


    Dong Xinxin didn''t know what he was going to do. With confusion, she was dragged to the middle of the living room, then she saw her brother make a posture preparing to fight. Only after that did she understand her brother''s meaning.


    "Really?" Dong Xinxin said to Dong Lijia.


    "Yeah," Dong Lijia nodded.


    The other two bewilderedly looked at Dong Lijia and Dong Xinxin. Were they going to fight each other?


    At that moment, Dong Xinxin suddenly made a movement. She lunged and lowered her body to launch a sweep kick. While Dong Lijia nimbly leaped backward, she made a swift step forward and punched his stomach at a lightning speed.


    "Ouch!" Dong Lijia gave a muffled moan. He already reacted very fast, but still, he suffered that punch.


    However, Dong Xinxin hadn''t stopped yet. After giving Dong Lijia a punch in the stomach, she launched a heavy kick. This time, he managed to dodge that attack. Meanwhile, he quickly punched at Dong Xinxin. She dodged that punch easily by tilting her head, and also raised an elbow to push his punching arm upward.


    Their movements were simple but very fast. Deng Chenfei was able to read their moves. But unlike him, Luo Yuanjun could barely see their movements clearly. He popped his eyes as he watched Dong Xinxin throw Dong Lijia into disadvantages.


    They even created a series of swishing noises. While fighting, they stared at each other with serious looks, and both of them gave out strong vibes. Luo Yuanjun was dumbfounded watching the nimble and fierce Dong Xinxin.


    Was she still Dong Xinxin the Fat Ball, who would never attack him when he called her fat, no matter how angry she was? He knew her for more than ten years, but never knew that she could actually fight. She wasn''t only fighting her brother now, but was fighting skillfully!


    "Ch-Chenfei, have you discovered anything yet?" He asked Deng Chenfei, the fighting master among his friends. Meanwhile, the look on the latter''s face grew more and more serious.


    "Ou!" Dong Lijia was a step late, and ended up being punched by Dong Xinxin right on the nose. The pain made his tears gush out of his eye sockets, and also made him scream.


    "Stop! Stop! It hurts!" Dong Lijia immediately covered his nose. Within a blink, he stepped back to three meters away from Dong Xinxin as he looked at her with tearful eyes and yelled.


    "You said you wanted a real fight," Dong Xinxin shrugged to him.


    "Oh, it hurts! You hit me too hard even for a real fight! You nearly broke your brother''s nose!" Dong Lijia closed his eyes and said with a painful look.


    Deng Chenfei didn''t answer Luo Yuanjun''s question, but narrowed his eyes as he walked up to Dong Xinxin. He slightly turned his body and made a preparing posture.


    "Fight me."


    "Whoa, really?" Seeing Deng Chenfei, who was taller than six feet, stand before Dong Xinxin, who was barely five feet tall, Luo Yuanjun couldn''t help but pop his eye again. Of course, he was still covering his other eye.


    Covering his nose, Dong Lijia moved to Luo Yuanjun''s side and said, "Do you want to try? You were already beaten twice, weren''t you? Doesn''t your eye hurt anymore?"


    Luo Yuanjun didn''t say a word.


    Dong Xinxin raised her head as she looked at Deng Chenfei. He gave out a fierce vibe, and so did she. Carelessly, she nodded and said, "Sure."


    While speaking, her vibe changed a little, and she grew slightly alert. She was confident about her combat skills which were developed during her battles against zombies, but after all, Deng Chenfei was much stronger than Dong Lijia.


    "You first or me?" Dong Xinxin showed no fear toward the tall and strong Deng Chenfei, but stared at him in the eyes as she asked.


    "You first," Deng Chenfei would, of course, not attack the girl, who was much smaller the size than himself. He only planned to defend.


    Dong Xinxin suddenly bent her legs and charged at him. Her fists were small, but her punches were swift and heavy. Within a blink, she sprung up and punched at Deng Chenfei in the face.


    Deng Chenfei immediately crossed his forearms to shield his face against her fist. As her fist landed on his arms, he sensed a severe pain and numbness, and then he made a slight step backward.


    But before he could think, Dong Xinxin turned in the air and launched a sideways kick toward his neck. Ordinary people couldn''t possibly make that kind of movement. It not only required an agile body, but also all kinds of training.


    Dong Xinxin''s move was perfectly smooth.


    Hearing the swishing noise caused by her foot, Deng Chenfei automatically raised an arm and clenched his fist to protect his ear.


    Thud! The arm that Deng Chenfei raised to block that kick of Dong Xinxin was thrown to the side by Dong Xinxin''s heavy kick. Thankfully, he had moved his head in advance, or that kick would also land on his head. Dong Xinxin''s punches and kicks were all especially heavy. Normal girls couldn''t possibly have that kind of strength. She was even stronger than some men.


    After that kick, Dong Xinxin nimbly flipped backward and landed back on the ground steadily.


    As she prepared to charge again, Deng Chenfei suddenly stepped backward and raised both hands, "Stop! Alright, I get it."


    Dong Xinxin stopped moving.


    Through that short combat, Deng Chenfei could tell how good she was. His judgment might not be accurate though, because she might be stronger than what he had seen. However, he did discover something from her moves, speed, strength, and her way of attacking.


    One couldn''t possibly learn to fight like that within three months.


    "So, how did this happen?" He looked at Dong Xinxin and asked.

 1242 Deng Chenfei and Lin Feng

    Even after fighting Dong Lijia and Deng Chenfei in a row, Dong Xinxin wasn''t out of breath or sweating at all. She turned and sat down on the couch while speaking, "Didn''t you ask me why I know about the apocalypse already? It''s because I''m from seven years in the future, after a rebirth. I''ve died once, because of him!"


    While speaking, she pointed at Luo Yuanjun, who was now utterly shocked and confused.


    "Wh-what? You died? Rebirth? Seven years in the future? Fat Ball, you didn''t have your brain damaged, did you?" Luo Yuanjun gave a start and said to her with disbelief.


    "Without those seven years, where do you think I learned all these from? Why do you think I lost weight? Also, if you call me Fat Ball again, I''ll turn your other eye black. You can give it a try," Dong Xinxin stared at Luo Yuanjun and said.


    At the point, Deng Chenfei already believed eighty percent of what Dong Xinxin and Dong Lijia said. He wore a slight frown that was rarely seen on his expressionless face, and fell into thoughts. He walked back to his seat and sat down, then looked at Dong Xinxin.


    "So, what do you mean by you and him dying together? Are you saying that you now have extra seven years of memory and experience?"


    Dong Xinxin nodded, said, "Yes. My superpower is special, so I came back. Hm¡­ brother¡­"


    Before she could finish her words, she suddenly closed her eyes and furrowed her brows as she raised a hand to support her head, seeming very uncomfortable. Both Luo Yuanjun and Deng Chenfei were surprised to see that. Unlike them, Dong Lijia nodded calmly and said, "Hm, I get it."


    As he said that, Dong Xinxin abruptly leaned against the back of the couch and stopped moving.


    "Wh-what''s happening to her now?" Luo Yuanjun dropped his hand which was covering one of his eyes as he looked at Dong Xinxin and asked that question while blinking that injured eye of his. Deng Chenfei turned to Dong Lijia as well.


    "Oh, it''s nothing," Dong Lijia responded to them, "It''s just a daily thing. Her body is switching owners."


    "Switching owners?" Deng Chenfei squinted at him with confusion.


    "Yeah, what does that mean?" Luo Yuanjun looked at Dong Lijia, also confusedly, then at Dong Xinxin.


    At that moment, Dong Xinxin slowly opened her eyes and sat up. Seeing Dong Lijia''s nose, she smiled and said, "Xinxin hit you much harder than I did." After saying that, she raised a hand and clenched her fist, "But this time, she stayed for a longer time after the fight than she did the last time."


    "Yeah, she did stay a little longer than the last time," Dong Lijia nodded in agreement.


    Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun had just received a massive amount of new information, which caused their brains to work a little unwell at the moment. Hearing the conversation between Dong Lijia and his sister, they were once again confused.


    Dong Xinxin seemed to have suddenly changed. Her tone of speaking became weird. She called her own name as if she were talking about someone else, but she made that sound natural. The ones who heard her felt truly strange. Dong Lijia''s attitude toward her was also different. He seemed to be talking to someone else, and not his sister.


    The one who woke up this time was, of course, not Dong Xinxin, but Lin Wenwen. She stood up and looked at Dong Lijia as she said, "Alright, I''m going upstairs. You guys carry on¡­ Ooh¡­"


    As she prepared to walk upstairs, her eyes scanned across Deng Chenfei. At that very moment, an image suddenly popped in her head.


    "Wen!" Seeing that Lin Wenwen nearly fell, Dong Lijia gave a start and sprung up from the couch.


    Lin Wenwen only felt a little dizzy but didn''t fall. She stopped moving and sat down as she closed her eyes. In the meantime, she raised a hand toward Dong Lijia and said, "I''m fine¡­ Don''t worry."


    With her eyes closed, she focused on that image in her head. She saw Deng Chenfei in it and some other people, who weren''t supposed to be together with him.


    The image was moving. She heard Deng Chenfei talking to another person. "That was what we saw. It was too dangerous, so we didn''t manage to get close enough¡­ I''m really sorry!" He said.


    While speaking, Deng Chenfei''s cold face actually wore a look of guilt. The one standing in front of him was no one else but Lin Wenwen''s big brother, Lin Feng.


    Lin Feng seemed agitated. He suddenly put both hands on Deng Chenfei''s shoulders as he stared at the latter with red eyes and said, "Are they still alive? You did nothing wrong. You don''t need to apologize to me. I just want to know if they were still alive when you saw them the last time."


    Deng Chenfei nodded and said something.


    This time, Lin Wenwen couldn''t hear what he said, and the image soon faded.


    Abruptly, she opened her eyes, then turned and stared straight at Deng Chenfei. She wanted to know what exactly was happening to Lin Feng and Deng Chenfei in that image she saw, and what they were talking about. However, when she looked at Deng Chenfei again, nothing emerged from her mind.


    What was that? What did Deng Chenfei see? Why was her brother so nervous and agitated? What happened?


    "Wen, are you okay?" Dong Lijia looked at her and asked. He saw her stare at Deng Chenfei, as if something serious had just happened.


    Earlier, Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun watched Dong Xinxin suddenly become like another person. They were already confused. And now, hearing Dong Lijia call her Wen instead of Xinxin, the two of them honestly felt as if their brains had stopped working.


    "I''m fine¡­" Lin Wenwen spent a short while looking at Deng Chenfei. After confirming that no other image would occur, she turned her eyes away with disappointment.


    "Wait¡­ Seriously, what are you guys doing here?" Luo Yuanjun gave up on trying to figure things out by himself. Instead, he asked the question out loud.


    "Oh, she''s not Xinxin. Let me introduce her to you guys. She''s Wen, the other¡­ um, soul that exists in Xinxin''s body. We don''t know her real name, identity, or age. I think she''s a year older than I am. She''s a girl too. She came from the future together with Xinxin," Dong Lijia introduced Lin Wenwen to his two friends.


    Seven years ago, Lin Wenwen was twenty-one, one year older than Dong Lijia, who was twenty.


    "Oh, I think I''m gonna lose my mind. What on earth is happening to this world? Why do I feel that all I''ve heard and seen today isn''t real?" At last, Luo Yuanjun looked at the ceiling and gave up on thinking about anything that had something to do with Dong Lijia and his sister.


    Deng Chenfei looked at Dong Lijia and said expressionlessly, "The apocalypse, rebirth, seven extra years of memory, and now another soul¡­ Your sister is such a magical being¡­"


    Even as an aloof and cold person, he, at that point, couldn''t help but complain!

 1243 Believe It or No

    "I''m not feeling well. I''m going back to my room," Lin Wenwen stood up from the couch and walked upstairs.


    "A-are you okay? Is there''s a problem with Xinxin''s body?" Dong Lijia stood up as well and looked at her with concern. What he was more worried about was Dong Xinxin''s health of course.


    "Relax! Your sister is perfectly healthy. It''s my problem. This won''t happen again when I leave," Lin Wenwen took a deep breath and then responded to him with a frown.


    She was thinking about the image she saw about Deng Chenfei and Lin Feng, wondering what happened to her brother and what was his relationship with Deng Chenfei. What she saw was the future, so Deng Chenfei, Dong Lijia, and his sister should all be able to survive.


    The conversation she heard was short, but it contained a massive amount of information. What did Deng Chenfei see? He mentioned something too dangerous to be approached, and he seemed guilty.


    His words delivered a message that something bad had happened, and it was too late for him to save the situation.


    Lin Feng agitatedly asked him if ''they'' were still alive. ''They'' and ''alive'' were two keywords. Lin Wenwen had no idea who ''they'' were. Those people that Lin Feng was worried about might have encountered some kind of life-threatening danger. That was why Lin Feng asked Deng Chenfei so nervously if they were still alive.


    After watching Lin Wenwen leave while thinking about something seemingly so important, Dong Lijia turned to the other two as he sat down and said, "Do you have any other questions? Ask all your questions now, because we''ll be leaving tonight."


    "Leave? Where?" Luo Yuanjun immediately asked him.


    "Sea City," said Dong Lijia.


    Luo Yuanjun and Deng Chenfei glanced at each other. They felt that they needed to go back home and take some time to process what they had learned today. Should they believe Dong Lijia or not? What he said didn''t sound possible at all. But, what if it were real? What if the apocalypse would really happen? They would certainly regret not believing their friend!


    "You said there''ll be a virus infection, so I assume it should start from only one region. How come the whole world will suddenly be infected?" Deng Chenfei tried to believe it, but he had to figure out exactly why.


    According to Dong Lijia, the whole world would be occupied by zombies. It would require a certain span of time for the virus to spread, wouldn''t it?


    "Oh, the girls said the virus won''t be leaked from a lab. Instead, it''ll be some kind of gas coming from the underground, mixing with the air, and causing all living creatures on the earth''s surface to mutate." Dong Lijia didn''t know what exactly would be happening yet, so he told the exact words that Dong Xinxin and Lin Wenwen said to his friends.


    "From the underground? What does that mean? Not man-made? Are you saying that it''s gonna be a natural disaster?" Deng Chenfei looked at him with surprise. That was different from what he thought.


    "Not man-made¡­ What kind of man-made disaster can destroy the whole world within just one night?" Dong Lijia waved a hand at him.


    Luo Yuanjun looked at Dong Lijia, then at Deng Chenfei. After staying silent for quite a while, he finally started talking again, "A natural disaster? How will it happen? Really?"


    Dong Lijia gave him a glare and responded, "Believe it or not, but I''ve talked a lot. I''m done talking now. Since you don''t even believe me, why do you care how it will happen?"


    Luo Yuanjun looked at him and struggled, "But, who would believe something like that? It doesn''t sound like anything that can happen for real."


    He wanted to believe it, but how could he? Some kind of gas coming out from the underground, turning into virus, and then ending the world? What the hell was that? He would believe it if Dong Lijia told him that the world would end in a relatively normal way.


    If that kind of gas existed underground, the geologists would have discovered it long ago!


    "Then you tell me, how did Dong Xinxin become like this within such a short time? I believe my sister. She wouldn''t lie to me, nor make this kind of joke with me." As Luo Yuanjun still didn''t believe him, Dong Lijia started losing patience. His tone of speaking grew cold as well.


    "I''ll go home and think about it," Deng Chenfei suddenly stood up and said to Dong Lijia. He wasn''t so sure anymore. He wanted to believe Dong Lijia, but still had some questions. Only after he had figured everything out could he make his judgment.


    After saying that, he walked outside.


    Seeing Deng Chenfei leave, Luo Yuanjun looked at Dong Lijia with hesitation, then said, "I''ll go back and think about it too. We still have about two weeks, right? I''ll have two strings to my bow, okay? Let''s see if what you said will really happen in half a month!"


    He didn''t know if he should believe Dong Lijia or not, so he decided to do some preparation as he waited.


    While leaving Dong Lijia''s place, Deng Chenfei was thinking about the same thing as Luo Yuanjun. However, after spending a night pondering, he decided to believe the former. He started purchasing food, gasoline, and replacing his vehicles as quickly as possible. In the meanwhile, he also began to sell out his properties.


    He was from a super rich family. It took him less time to do those things than it took Dong Lijia; however, the processes were still very complicated. In order to get the money as soon as possible, he had to sell his properties at very low prices.


    Anyhow, two weeks were still not enough.


    Luo Yuanjun didn''t have so many works to do, because his family business wasn''t run by him. Instead, it was all under the management of his father and big brother. He had no way to dip fingers in his family business, so he didn''t have any business to sell.


    He took out his own money. He never worked hard, but he was good at investing in stocks. Hence, he was rich as well.


    After withdrawing the money from the stock market, he spent some time imagining the post-apocalyptic world, then took out a piece of paper and made a list of food, weapon, vehicles, and some daily supplies. For vehicles, he wrote down off-road cars, trucks. Gasoline was, of course, in his shopping list. For weapons, he would need Deng Chenfei''s help.


    Sadly, he didn''t have too much money to spend, and could afford only one helicopter.


    After making the list, he suddenly thought of what Dong Lijia had done.


    "Damn! No wonder he told us to look for them! I''ll definitely do that!" Dong Family had sold out their business and everything valuable owned by the family. The mansion was probably mortgaged to the bank for a big sum of money too. They had used all the money to buy food, weapon, and other supplies. They were fully prepared already! The apocalypse was not a threat to them anymore!


    Luo Yuanjun decided that if the apocalypse happened for real, he would go directly to Sea City to find Dong Lijia and his family!

 1244 The Last Day

    As time went on, half a month soon passed. The day before the apocalypse, Lin Wenwen suddenly had a feeling about the coming future.


    "Xinxin, I think we''re gonna say good goodbye to each other," Lin Wenwen stood on the balcony of Dong Xinxin''s new bedroom, which was located in Sea city, and looked at the setting sun as she talked to herself.


    ''Why? Do you feel anything?'' Dong Xinxin''s voice was heard from her mind.


    Recently, Dong Xinxin had been growing more and more energetic, and she was able to stay in her own body for a longer and longer time. She could control her body for days without doing any intense exercises. However, as intense exercises could boost her mind power, she chose to shorten her time of controlling her own body and use the time to exercise, then let Lin Wenwen take over the body and continue exercising.


    Lin Wenwen hadn''t told Dong Xinxin about her own superpowers. However, by sharing the same body with her, Dong Xinxin had felt her powers more or less. One of them was able to travel through the time to the past while the other one was able to foresee the future.


    "Yeah, I saw it. Tonight, you will fall into unconsciousness again, and your superpower will wake up. I guess the awakening of your superpower will pull some kind of trigger and send me back. I think I can go back to where I came from," Lin Wenwen smiled. Dong Xinxin''s face looked chubby and young. When she smiled, a pair of tiny dimples could be seen on her cheeks.


    However, there was a sharp contrast between that face of hers and her current character. She was quite violent now. She wasn''t gentle at all when she practiced combat skills with Dong Lijia, and when she was facing Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun. As same as her moves, her personality had grown strong and fierce.


    She was now a violent little girl!


    She looked small-sized, like an adorable little animal. One might think that she was a timid little girl, but the truth was not like that at all. Her appearance was too deceitful.


    "My power will awake tonight? This is indeed different from the last time. Last time, my power woke up a few years after the apocalypse," Dong Xinxin sighed and said with a complicated tone.


    "This time, you don''t need to do anything. This body will belong to you only when you wake up the next time," said Lin Wenwen.


    In the three months that she spent with Dong Xinxin, Lin Wenwen learned that the other was actually a nice girl. She was just forced to be cold and selfish by the apocalypse.


    Lin Wenwen took a nap after lunch, during which she had a dream about tomorrow morning. As same as last time, the world was weirdly quiet that morning. Usually, many breakfast places would open about six in the morning, and the streets would gradually be crowded by the people going to work or school. But that morning, only a few people could be seen outside. The stores that opened early every day wouldn''t open, and the roads were almost empty.


    Lin Wenwen wouldn''t be there to see that morning. She foresaw the next morning, but when she opened her eyes again, she would be back in All Being Base in the future.


    In her dream, the cold morning suddenly became blurry. Then, she found herself in a hospital room. She walked to the window and looked outside, seeing some reconstructed buildings. The sky was gray, and the air was pressing. Moroever, many familiar vibes could be sensed.


    "Yeah? Don''t I need to do anything? So, I won''t be doing what I promised you," Dong Xinxin wasn''t very happy to hear what Lin Wenwen said.


    She saw commitment as an important thing. She promised someone something, and she intended to fulfill her word. If her effort was no longer required for the thing that she promised to do, she would feel as if she had failed to keep her word.


    If she failed to do what she promised, she would keep thinking about that.


    "What does it matter? As long as I can go back to where I came from¡­" Lin Wenwen didn''t care about it.


    "It matters," said Dong Xinxin, "I brought you back here against your own will, and I made you exercise my body. I didn''t do anything for you in return. I took advantage of you! I don''t like taking advantage of people!"


    Hearing the girl''s stubborn speech, Lin Wenwen smiled sand said, "I don''t think so. I borrowed a lot of money from your brother, and I don''t intend to pay him back. Also, I''ve collected so many supplies from the pre-apocalypse world. I think I''ve gotten more than I expected."


    She borrowed money from Dong Lijia more than five times during the past few months, and she actually felt a little guilty about that. Dong Lijia clearly understood that the money would not be returned, yet he had no choice but to give her the money. Every time, the struggling look on his face amused Lin Wenwen.


    "Do you think Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun will burn incense and worship you after they see what''ll happen tomorrow morning?" Thinking about tomorrow and how people would react, Lin Wenwen wondered what Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun would feel when it really happened. They would feel lucky, wouldn''t they? At least, they were smart enough to do some preparation.


    "Burn incense and worship me? Why? I''m not dead!" Dong Xinxin complained on hearing Lin Wenwen''s words.


    "Who said you have to be dead to be worshiped? In the temples, people worship Buddha," Lin Wenwen smiled.


    "I''m not a Buddha," said Dong Xinxin.


    "You now know everything that is going to happen in the coming seven years. You are exactly like Buddha. You can see the future," Lin Wenwen made a joke.


    The sunlight grew dimmer and dimmer, with a rarely seen purple-red color. It was so beautiful. Many people raised their heads to look at the stunning sky without knowing what would happen to them in the night.


    In the room next-door, Dong Lijia was also standing on the balcony, looking at the sky. The beautiful scenery couldn''t be seen every day. However, the splendid sky didn''t ease the depression that was brought to him by the incoming disaster, which he already knew clearly about.


    The peaceful era was going to end soon. Tomorrow, the whole world would fall into chaos and panic.


    He and his family had made some arrangements. The ones that they kept by their sides were all selected by Dong Xinxin himself. Those people were kind and reliable. Facing life-threatening situations, they would not do anything immoral.


    "Tonight, everyone stays indoors. Stay in your own rooms and lock the door up. From tomorrow morning on, do not come out, no matter what you hear. If you want to know what''s going on out there, look outside your window! Come to meet the others in the hallway in three days!" After it got dark, Dong Lijia gave a strict order to his people.


    They rented the entire building, replaced the wooden doors and windows with alloy products, and added a double-layer anti-thief door to every unit. Normal zombies were probably able to break wooden doors, but not the metal ones.


    Dong Lijia gave everyone food and water that could last three days. Each unit in the building included a small balcony and a bathroom.


    They lived on the top three floors and left the lower floors empty. The front door leading into the building was locked up, and all entrances of the building were sealed up.

 1245 The First Morning of the Apocalypse

    Dong Lijia and Dong Xinxin chose a relatively remote area in the city to settle down. A few modified off-road cars and three trucks were parked downstairs.


    Except for the four members of Dong Family, no one else knew what they were doing. However, since they were hired by the family, they had no choice but to follow their employer''s command.


    About ten people were caught by Dong Lijia and Mr. Dong, and put under confinement. It had been over a month. At the moment, those people had either calmed down or grown numb about their own situation.


    Dong Lijia had told them that they could choose to leave after the coming night. So far, those people had no idea why Dong Family caught them and locked them up, and then provided them with food and accommodation without asking them to do anything. They were treated well, but their freedom was limited.


    They tried to resist at first, but no matter what they did, they could not free themselves. Over time, they calmed down and accepted Dong Lijia''s explanation. After the coming night, they would be able to make choices anyway.


    "Why do they have to stay with us?" Dong Lijia went to Dong Xinxin''s room and asked her.


    After giving Dong Xinxin her body back, Lin Wenwen stayed in Dong Xinxin''s weird small space, reading a book. The small space was very unusual. She could feel it, but not put anything in it, except for Lin Wenwen. She wasn''t able to put other people in or out of that space either.


    She had no idea about the nature of the small space.


    "Because they''ll be helpful to us. Just stop asking me about that. Don''t forget to check every entrance, and make sure it''s sealed off. Tonight, people might not feel anything," Dong Xinxin waved at him and reminded him.


    In the coming night, people would fall in deep sleep, and then their bodies would start to change slowly. If one left the door open, the zombies might get into that person''s place in the morning before he or she woke up, which would be troublesome.


    "I know. Didn''t you say that all the people here won''t turn into zombies? No other people live near this building. If anyone here would have a problem, that''d be someone inside this building," Dong Lijia nodded.


    "I remember those people and what happened to them the last time. However, I can''t guarantee that things will stay exactly the same as the last time," Dong Xinxin shrugged.


    What if she didn''t remember rightly, or, what if there were to be an accident?


    They needed to be prepared for all possible situations!


    The sky grew darker and darker. The moon was supposed to be seen that night. It wouldn''t be a full moon, but still, there would be some light to illuminate the world. But for some reason, the moonlight was very faint, and even that faded at last.


    Dong Xinxin locked the door and window, then turned on the light and lay down on the bed. She didn''t sleep, but stared at the ceiling.


    Click! The light flicked and died; the room instantly fell into darkness.


    Dong Xinxin started to have a weird feeling. She felt as if she were falling. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, so much so that she could barely keep her eyes open.


    ''Here it comes!''


    The people who had fallen asleep already weren''t feeling that. Only the ones like Dong Xinxin, who stayed awake to wait for it to happen, had that feeling. Dong Lijia and his parents stayed awake as well. They realized that something was happening when they started feeling as if they were sinking in water.


    In Dong Xinxin''s space, Lin Wenwen was also feeling something different. She felt a pressure from Dong Xinxin''s space. She raised her head and shone her flashlight on the wall, only to find the wall coming closer and closer to her while twisting in a strange way.


    She looked around and then realized that the space was shrinking. All four walls and the ceiling were both coming close to her.


    Why did the space suddenly start to shrink? Would it crush her? What should she do?


    Despite those thoughts, Lin Wenwen wasn''t really worried. She felt that Dong Xinxin''s space was the key for her to go back to the future.


    "Xinxin?" Watching the twisting space, Lin Wenwen called Dong Xinxin, yet no response was heard. "Dong Xinxin?" she called her again.


    Still, Dong Xinxin didn''t reply to her.


    Lin Wenwen figured that the mutation of Dong Xinxin''s body had begun. That was why the small space started changing too. As the walls came closer and closer to her, she felt a stronger and stronger pressure. She closed her eyes and felt as if something was pressing on her chest, disabling her from breathing.


    When she started feeling suffocated, her head grew heavy. Then, her mind was blurred and she gradually lost consciousness.


    After Lin Wenwen fell into unconsciousness, the space squeezed her entire body and twisted into a swirl along with her. Next, both Lin Wenwen and the space disappeared.


    Dong Xinxin, who was also unconscious, didn''t know that Lin Wenwen was gone. Everyone in the building was lying quietly in the dark room, with their eyes closed. Of course, the people in the whole world were all in the same state at that moment.


    Some of them gradually stopped breathing and died. In the darkness, their faces started turning pale and bluish. Their eye areas became dark, and their hair grew dry and lusterless. Their nails started growing long and sharp, and their joints became stiff.


    Soon, dawn arrived, and a dim, gray light spread from the edge of the sky.


    In a building, a couple were lying together in a bedroom. The man''s face was pale, and eyes strangely dark. His black and shiny hair had become like straws.


    The woman looked the same as usual. She woke up and rolled her eyeballs slightly as she opened her eyes. After spending a few seconds in a daze, she focused her eyes and then turned to look at her husband.


    "Ah¡­ D-darling?" She turned to see her husbands'' pale face and huge dark circles under his eyes. His lips were blue, and hair were yellow and dry. The woman gave a start, then automatically moved backward as she screamed out loud.


    Hearing the scream, the man opened his eyes. His eyeballs were purely black, looking terribly creepy.


    "Ahhhhhhh!"

 1246 Lin Wenwen Returned

    When Lin Wenwen opened her eyes again, she found herself lying on a bed. She sat up and looked around. The room looked a little familiar; she felt that she had seen it somewhere before.


    She turned and scanned the room with her eyes, then realized that it was exactly the room she saw in her dream.


    So, she was back!


    With that thought, she quickly got off the bed and ran to the window side barefooted to look outside. The buildings she saw were reconstructed. She sensed some familiar vibes, then raised her head to see the gray and pressing sky. All those were familiar and strange to her at the same time.


    She was back! This time, it wasn''t a dream. It was real!


    While Lin Wenwen was sighing with relief, Lin Hao, who was on the other side of the building, suddenly sensed a familiar vibe. He immediately dropped the medical materials in his hands as he sprung up from his chair and ran out of his office, toward Lin Wenwen''s room.


    Something crossed Lin Wenwen''s mind after she spent a short while looking outside the window. She closed her eyes to feel her space. After confirming that everything in her space was still there, she relaxed, then turned and walked to the door.


    The door wasn''t locked, so she pulled it open easily.


    "Wenwen!" She heard someone call her name from the other side of the hallway. She turned and saw Lin Hao running toward her nervously and excitedly.


    Lin Hao rushed up to her and pressed both hands on her shoulder as he looked at her from head to toe while asking her nervously, "Where have you been? What happened? Are you feeling okay? What about your superpowers?"


    Lin Wenwen was two years older than he was, but he rarely called her sister. Normally, he called her by her name.


    Seeing the nervous look on Lin Hao''s face, Lin Wenwen asked him, "How long have I been gone for?"


    "About half a month," Lin Hao looked at her and answered the question.


    He spent some time observing Lin Wenwen. Finding that she seemed healthy, he finally gave a slight sigh of relief. Then, he looked at her in the eyes and said, "We thought you were taken away by someone, but they checked your room so many times, and then said that no other people had ever been in that room. We searched through the base too. But, not even a trace of yours was found. After that, they made a guess that you were probably in your own space. We couldn''t prove that though. Where on earth have you been in the past half a month?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and said with a mysterious smile, "You may not believe this. Look¡­"


    While speaking, she took a bagful of catmint out of her space and threw it toward Lin Hao.


    Lin Hao was waiting for her answer curiously. He saw her throw a bagful of grass out of her space. He was confused first, but when he gave the grass a closer look, he suddenly popped his eyes with surprise.


    "This is¡­"


    "Surprise!" said Lin Wenwen, "I foresaw the future when I was over there. I thought this might be important, so I managed to get a lot of it. So, what exactly can catmint do?"


    "Is this¡­ uninfected catmint? Really?" Lin Hao had already squatted and opened the bag. He picked up a handful of catmint and carefully observed it. He focused his sensations and surprisingly, he didn''t even sense a trace of the virus from the plant.


    That was the purest catmint!


    "It''s really uninfected! Great! This is amazing! Wenwen, where did you get this? No, I mean¡­ How did you get this? Where did you find them?" After repeatedly confirming that the catmint was really uninfected, Lin Hao stood up and said to her excitedly. He even failed to organize his language.


    After all, it was almost impossible to find even one uninfected catmint plant in the post-apocalyptic era, not to mention a whole bagful of them!


    "From before the apocalypse," Lin Wenwen looked at Lin Hao and said with a smile.


    As she expected, Lin Hao paused with surprise, then looked at her and said with confusion, "Before the apocalypse? What does that mean?"


    He didn''t understand. What did she mean by before the apocalypse? Did she go back seven years ago? How was that possible?


    Lin Wenwen had foreseen that funny look on his face, so she laughed and said, "Yeah, before the apocalypse. Where else could so many uninfected plants be found?"


    On hearing that, Lin Hao stayed silent for three minutes, then looked at her and said, "Is this a joke?"


    Lin Wenwen found the look on his face very interesting. She had hardly seen her smart brother wear that kind of look ever since he grew up. So, she covered her mouth, tittered, then explained, "You asked me where have I been, right? I was back seven years ago, before the apocalypse."


    Lin Hao folded his arms as he looked at her and said, "Have you lost your mind? You are not a time traveler. How could you possibly go back to seven years ago?"


    As her brother refused to believe her, Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes, then snorted and said, "Believe it or not. I didn''t lie to you. Where do you think I found these catmint plants? Look, I also have these fresh fruits and vegetables!"


    To prove that she had really traveled through the time to the past, Lin Wenwen showed Lin Hao some of the fresh fruits and vegetables that she had stored in her space.


    Lin Hao looked at the tomato and cabbage in her left hand, and the apple and pear in her right hand. Those fruits and vegetables were all as pure as the catmint on the ground. They did seem uninfected.


    He still wasn''t sure. He took over those fruits and vegetables and carefully felt them with his hands. Those were pure indeed. No complicated energies or virus could be sensed from those fruits and vegetables.


    "Is-is this real?" Lin Hao looked at Lin Wenwen. He was both confused and shocked.


    Lin Wenwen was happy to see her little brother being dumbfounded as she nodded and said, "It''s real. You said I was gone for half a month, but I spent three months there. I relived the three months before the apocalypse."


    Lin Hao popped his eyes in shock. He looked at her, then at the fruits in his hand, then turned back to her, and then looked at the fruits again. At last, he spent a long time staring at the bagful of catmint on the ground in silence.


    "Isn''t it magical? At first, I didn''t believe that I''ve traveled through time to the past either. I felt as if I were in a dream! Also, I landed in someone else''s body instead of my own," Lin Wenwen walked to the side of the hallway and leaned against the guardrail as she said with a smile.


    Then, something else crossed her mind. She instantly furrowed her brows and said, "Oh, who in our base has turned purple? Is he poisoned? Who is he?"

 1247 Who Is that Person?

    Lin Hao stopped short, then looked at her and responded with, "How do you know? Can you guys do telepathy?"


    Clearly, she was talking about Yuan Tianxing. He was the one whose body had turned purple entirely, seemingly poisoned.


    "Who''s that person? What does that person have to do with me?" This time, Lin Wenwen was the one to be nervous and anxious. That man was definitely very important to her. Except for Lin Feng and Lin Hao, the only one she could think of was¡­


    With that thought, she blinked her eyes as she rushed up to Lin Hao and grasped his collar before he could say a word.


    "Is it Tianxing? Is it him?" She widened her eyes, and a complicated look could be detected from her eyes. She had figured out the answer but didn''t want to believe it. She couldn''t accept it, so she asked Lin Hao, hoping to hear a different answer from him.


    With regret, Lin Hao nodded and said, "Yes, it is Tianxing. Earlier, he encountered something not good when he went down into the underground cave to search for important clues. He got hurt."


    Lin Hao''s words confirmed Lin Wenwen''s guess. For a moment, despair flashed across her mind. She blinked and froze for two seconds, "H-how is he now? He''s still alive, right?"


    In the scene that she foresaw in her mind, the man was still alive. She could sense his life-force.


    Lin Hao nodded and said, "He''s still alive. But¡­ we couldn''t cure him¡­"


    "What do you mean by you couldn''t cure him!" Lin Wenwen''s expression changed when she heard what Lin Hao said, and she anxiously interrupted her brother.


    Lin Hao hurriedly comforted her, "Calm down, calm down. Can you just let me finish this? I was trying to tell you about the most important thing."


    "Tell me then!" Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but grip his collar and shake him.


    "Alright, alright. Tianxing''s condition is serious. We couldn''t cure him, so our big sister put him in the lake in her space to suppress the harmful energy inside him. The destructive energy inside his body has been spreading, and we couldn''t stop it. But now, you brought back uninfected catmint. This is the cure. That''s why I told you we couldn''t cure him before¡­ But now, he can be cured! Oh, how much catmint have you brought back in total? Don''t tell me this is it!" While explaining to Lin Wenwen, Lin Hao suddenly thought of something very important, so he looked at her nervously and asked.


    "I tried my best to collect more. I''ve visited quite a few planting bases, and got about five-hundred kilograms of fresh catmint plants, as well as many seeds. We can grow them in our big sister''s base!" Lin Wenwen said the first part with slight frustration, but mentioning the seeds, she sounded expectant.


    "Five-hundred kilograms! That''s a lot! And you''ve also brought back seeds! Great! Seeds are even more important!" On hearing Lin Wenwen''s words, Lin Hao instantly had his eyes glowing brightly. He was so excited that he even held her hands and looked at her with a huge smile on his face. "The catmint will cure Tianxing. It might also help us to deal with those underground creatures out there!"


    "Underground creatures? What underground creatures? Those eye-less, gorilla-like ones?" The first thing popped in Lin Wenwen''s head was those underground gorillas.


    Lin Hao shook his head as he let go of her hands, and also conveniently pulled her hands off his collar. After that, he picked up the bagful of catmint and walked out of the room toward his office. In the meantime, he said, "Not those ones¡­ Let''s go to my office. I still have a lot of questions for you."


    "Not those underground gorillas? Are there other underground creatures? How is Tianxing now? What exactly can the catmint do? Can it really save Tianxing?" Lin Wenwen cared only about Yuan Tianxing right now, so she followed behind Lin Hao and asked a series of questions.


    "He''s in Big Sister''s space now, but she is not in the base at the moment. We¡­ we have to wait until she comes back. When she comes back, we''ll start Tianxing''s treatment. The catmint juice can paralyze the underground creatures. More and more of them have been coming out of the ground. Even the mutated catmint is harmful to them, so the pure catmint is definitely more effective," Lin Hao explained to her while walking.


    "Wenwen! It''s really you!" A small figure suddenly showed up before the two.


    Earlier, Qiu Lili had sensed Lin Wenwen''s vibe from Mount Wu area, so she headed straight to the hospital. Only when she saw the latter standing beside Lin Hao in a hospital gown was she sure that she was right.


    "Yeah, I''m back! I''m sorry that I couldn''t come back earlier. You guys must have been so worried about me." Seeing Qiu Lili look at her with surprise in that pair of big red eyes, Lin Wenwen comforted her smilingly.


    "Wh-where have you been? Why did you disappear?" Qiu Lili calmed herself down, then finally asked the question that she had been harboring for such a long time.


    "Let''s go. I''ll tell you guys everything when we sit down in Lin Hao''s office," Lin Wenwen smiled at her.


    "Oh," Qiu Lili followed her toward Lin Hao''s office, still gawking at her.


    As the three of them almost arrived at Lin Hao''s office, Lin Kui showed up. He was with Qiu Lili, actually. However, he really couldn''t catch up with Qiu Lili, who possessed level-seven wind power. That was why he showed up later than she did.


    With surprise, he looked at Lin Wenwen from head to toe. But soon, the bagful of plants in Lin Hao''s hands caught his attention.


    "What''s that?"


    On hearing that question, Lin Hao grinned and said, "Oh, no way! Are you sensitive to this? Really? You have panther''s power, but you''re not a real cat. The catmint can''t really make you high, can it?"


    Lin Wenwen and Qiu Lili heard what Lin Hao said and immediately looked at Lin Kui in an indescribable way. The look on Lin Kui''s face grew complicated too. "Eh¡­ catmint?"


    "Eh? Are you feeling something?" Qiu Lili spent a few seconds thinking after she heard Lin Hao''s words, then couldn''t help but ask a question out of curiosity.


    Lin Kui turned his eyes away awkwardly, then replied to her with, "A little bit¡­"

 1248 Could That Really Happen?

    Being stared at by Lin Wenwen and the other two, Lin Kui tried to stay calm, but he still couldn''t help but want to look at the bagful of catmint.


    Qiu Lili sneakily moved closer to Lin Hao and took out a catmint plant from the bag, then walked to Lin Kui with a wicked smile. Then, she abruptly put the catmint plant right before his face.


    As she expected, Lin Kui''s eyes were immediately stuck on the plant. As she moved her hand from side to side, he started moving his head to follow her movement. He couldn''t control himself at all!


    "Hah!" Seeing the man act like a cat, Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but burst into laughter while Lin Hao watched their interaction with great interests.


    "Alright, stop!" After realizing what was happening, Lin Kui immediately held Qiu Lili''s hand and stopped her.


    "It''s real! He is actually attracted to the plant! This is so interesting!" said Qiu Lili with excitement, as if she had found out something extremely funny.


    The others kept walking toward Lin Hao''s office. While walking, Lin Hao talked to Lin Wenwen about what had been happening on the outside recently, "Something strange started to happen when you fell into unconsciousness. For some reason, different kinds of weird creatures came out of the ground all over the country. Some creatures that look like both crocodile and lizard emerged from the Lake Tai area, which you visited the last time. There are a few things in common among those creatures. They showed up in big herds, and they all brought out highly harmful gases. They are not only dangerous for living creatures on the earth''s surface, but also for the plants."


    "No wonder I saw that kind of scene in my head. Why did they suddenly cop]me out of the ground? Is there a cause?" Lin Wenwen furrowed her brows.


    At that moment, Qiu Lili looked at her feet and said, "Wenwen, aren''t you feeling cold leaving your feet bared?"


    Qiu Lili was a zombie, so the air temperature could barely affect her. However, she felt chilly watching Lin Wenwen walk on the cold floor with bare feet.


    Lin Wenwen stopped walking and dropped her head to find that she was wearing no shoes!


    "Oh, I wasn''t paying attention to my feet! I can''t believe I forgot to wear shoes!" While speaking, she took a pair of shoes out of her space and put them on.


    As a superpower possessor, she was rather healthy and strong, so she barely felt the chill.


    "Were you able to see the things here when you were in the past? Has your second superpower upgraded successfully?" As she put on the shoes and walked into the office, Lin Hao asked her a question.


    "I think so. I''m no longer feeling a headache or dizziness, and my space power is recovering. I guess my second power has upgraded already. I did see some future scenes¡­" Lin Wenwen nodded and said.


    "Where have you been? Weren''t you in your space?" Qiu Lili had a problem understanding their conversation.


    "Well¡­ I wasn''t in my space. I was in another timelime," Lin Wenwen spent a moment thinking before answering the question. Unlike Lin Hao, who had already heard her explain her experience, the other two both looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Hao held the bagful of catmint as he sat down behind his desk, then started observing it closely. Hearing what Lin Wenwen said, he raised his head and said, "She said she went back to seven years ago. Look at this¡­ She brought this back from seven years ago."


    "Huh?" Hearing that, Qiu Lili and Lin Kui were as shocked and confused as Lin Hao was before. Lin Kui stayed relatively calm while Qiu Lili was almost gaping. Lin Hao found the looks on their face amusing, but then he figured that he must have looked the same earlier.


    "Yeah, I did go back seven years ago. I didn''t do that voluntarily though. Instead, I was accidentally brought to the past by someone else. But, I don''t think it was a bad thing," Lin Wenwen sat down by the other side of Lin Hao''s desk as she pointed at the bagful of catmint and said.


    On hearing what to she said, Qiu Lili glanced at the big cloth bag, then at the catmint plant that was taken from her by Lin Kui.


    "Really? Could that really happen? Is it because your superpower has upgraded? Are you not only able to foresee the future, but also travel to the past?" Qiu Lili thought about it in a very simple way. She believed it had something to do with Lin Wenwen''s superpower.


    "It''s not like that," Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "Haven''t I just told you that I was accidentally brought to the past by someone else?"


    "No wonder you suddenly disappeared," Qiu Lili looked at her with surprise, "We spent half a month looking for you, but didn''t even find out why you disappeared."


    Lin Wenwen smiled and said, "I couldn''t control it. I didn''t even know how I went to the past. Where''s my sister? Isn''t she in the base now?"


    She was so worried about Yuan Tianxing. Knowing that he was in Lin Qiao''s space, she wanted to bring the catmint to Lin Qiao right now and ask her to save him with it.


    "Qiaoqiao went to Huaxia Base," Qiu Lili looked at her and said.


    "Why did she go to Huaxia Base again?" Lin Wenwen was surprised to hear that. She thought her sister left the base to deal with those underground creatures. How come she went to Huaxia Base again?


    "Because Huaxia Base called a grand meeting about those underground creatures. I guess they just want to know what other people know about those creatures," Qiu Lili turned down her lips scornfully.


    Hearing that, Lin Wenwen roughly guessed out about what was happening. She furrowed her brows and said, "I wonder what trick Si Kongchen is going to play this time."


    Her sister had left for Huaxia Base. She couldn''t go there too, because she might cause an extra problem for her sister by doing that. So, the only thing she could do now was to stay home and wait for her sister to come back.


    "What about Teng? Is he in my brother''s place?" She thought of Teng. The adults had left, but the kid should be in the base. He was most likely being left in Lin Feng''s place by his mother.


    Lin Hao shook his head and said, "No. His mother brought him to Huaxia Base."


    That was unexpected. Soon, Lin Wenwen stopped thinking about that and continued with, "When will she come back? Can Tianxing still wait?"


    "He''ll be fine. Don''t worry! Chief will take care of him. Even though her space can''t cure him, it can stabilize his condition. He''ll be safe as long as he stays in the lake," Lin Hao said to her a little impatiently. She seemed to only care about Yuan Tianxing. "Alright, since you''ve brought back so much catmint, you should go to Big Brother now to make some arrangements about the catmint. You need to first send some to Leng Xuantong, then some to Sea City Base."

 1249 Meet with Leng Xuantong

    "Oh!" Lin Wenwen was soon kicked out of the office. Then, she got changed and went to see Lin Feng.


    But before she left the medical department, she saw Lin Feng come to her hurriedly in the lobby.


    "Wenwen?" Lin Feng called her name with disbelief.


    "Brother!" Lin Wenwen smiled at him and walked to him.


    "It''s really you! You''re back!" Lin Feng walked up to her with big steps. As same as Lin Hao, he pressed both hands on her shoulders and then looked at her up to down. Only after confirming that she was perfectly fine did he sigh with relief.


    "Great! You look fine! Tell me, where have you been? Do you know how worried we all were? You just disappeared!"


    "Let''s go to Leng Xuantong''s place. I''ll tell you everything on the way," Lin Wenwen held his arm and walked outside.


    "Have you met with Lin Hao?" Lin Feng said while being dragging outside. He figured that she wanted to see Leng Xuantong for something important.


    "Of course! This place is run by him after all. We were done talking before I came down here," said Lin Wenwen. The two of them walked out of the building and got into Lin Feng''s car before heading toward Base Number Two.


    "Brother, I brought back some uninfected catmint. I heard from Lin Hao that catmint is very important. Is it?" After sitting down in the car, Lin Wenwen took out a catmint plant and showed it to Lin Feng.


    Lin Feng stopped short, then fixed his eyes on the plant and said, "Where did you get this?"


    While speaking, he took over the plant from Lin Wenwen''s hand. He couldn''t believe his own eyes. After spending quite a while staring at the green plant, he turned to her with confusion.


    He felt the vibe of the plant and clearly sensed that it was truly the purest plant, which was never seen in the post-apocalyptic era. It was completely uninfected, as if the apocalypse never happened to it.


    "You may not believe this, but I brought it back from seven years ago," said Lin Wenwen with a grin.


    "Seven years ago? Have you been keeping this since seven years ago? That''s not right. If you picked it seven years ago, it should have dried a long time ago. If you grew it recently, it should be mutated," Lin Feng failed to understand her meaning. He thought she accidentally kept the plant seven years ago. However, how could the plant stay so fresh after seven years? That wouldn''t be possible unless it was planted in the soil.


    "It''s from seven years ago indeed. However, it didn''t experience the past seven years. I put it in my space seven years ago, and then brought it straight back here. It was picked merely about two months ago. Thankfully, my space was able to keep it fresh. Don''t you want to know where have I been during the past half a month?" Lin Wenwen explained?


    "It didn''t experience the past seven years? It was picked two months ago? What does that mean?" Lin Feng looked at the catmint bewilderedly, then continued with, "Haven''t you been in your own space in a coma in the past half a month?"


    He tended to believe what Lin Hao said earlier. After all, Lin Wenwen was a space possessor, and similar cases had occurred indeed. After failing to find clues about her so many times, he chose to believe that she was in her own space.


    "No. I¡­ um¡­ Well, I traveled through time! I went back seven years ago and relived the three months before the apocalypse. I spent three whole months there, until the day the apocalypse came. I came back here that day," Lin Wenwen thought for a moment and said.


    "You traveled through time?" Lin Feng looked at her expressionlessly. Seeing the look on his face, Lin Wenwen nodded smilingly. Meanwhile Lin Feng stayed expressionless, staring at her.


    Seeing that, she didn''t know what to say.


    They both looked at each other and stayed silent. The atmosphere in the car suddenly grew weird. Even the driver couldn''t help but keep raising his eyes to observe their expressions from the rear-view mirror.


    The driver was utterly confused too.


    What did he just hear? His boss''s sister said that she traveled through time! That was an amazing power! She went to the past and then came back to the future! How unbelievable!


    After spending about seven seconds looking at Lin Wenwen in the eyes, Lin Feng finally broke the silence, "Really?"


    Seeing that his brother seemed to fail to maintain his standard serious and calm face, Lin Wenwen wanted to laugh. She didn''t laugh for real though, and only nodded blandly as she responded, "Hmm, yeah. it was real, not a dream. Do you think I could bring this back from a dream?"


    While speaking, she pointed at the plant in Lin Feng''s hand.


    Lin Feng didn''t know what to say.


    By the time they arrived at Leng Xuantong''s lab which was located in Base Number Two, Lin Feng still didn''t want to believe what Lin Wenwen had said. However, he had to believe her, because the catmint proved her words strongly!


    "You said that you''ve brought back quite some of it. How much did you bring back? How do you know that we were right in need of this?" After getting off the car, Lin Feng finally thought of some important questions to ask.


    "I saw it with my second superpower. I didn''t know exactly what was going to happen, but I felt that this could be important. So, I bought as much as I could," Lin Wenwen said.


    The guards outside the building quickly guided Lin Feng and Lin Wenwen to the lab, then went in to inform Leng Xuantong.


    "How much did you bring back?" Lin Feng asked.


    "Five-hundred kilograms, and about eighty kilograms of seeds," Lin Wenwen answered the question.


    "You also brought seeds back? Great! You''re so smart!" Hearing that, Lin Feng turned to look at her excitedly.


    Lin Wenwen gave a proud grin and said, "Sure! I, your sister, have always been smart!"


    At that moment, Bao Xiaoguo and Bao Xiaoying walked out, said, "Deputy Chief, Director is in the lab now. He said that you two can go straight in."


    "Em, let''s go!" Lin Feng nodded.


    The group of people walked to the lab together. Lin Feng pointed at the series of test tubes in the lab and said, "These are all body parts from the underground creatures that we found. Leng Xuantong has been trying to find out a way to kill these things."


    Lin Wenwen carefully observed those test tubes. Every test tube was marked with the name and nature of the creature, and the time when the experiment was done.


    "Eh? Wenwen, you''re back! This is great!" Leng Xuantong, who was bending over to look at something on the experiment table, heard the noises and raised his head. He turned to see Lin Wenwen and greeted her delightedly.


    "She just got back. She brought us some good stuff!" With a smile, Lin Feng handed the catmint to Leng Xuantong carefully, as if he were presenting a treasure.


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 1250 Send Some to Sea City Base

    As he expected, Leng Xuantong popped his eyes at the sight of the plant, then rushed up to him and grasped the plant with excitement, "This is uninfected! This is uninfected!"


    Leng Xuantong held the plant and carefully felt it with his hand. It was unbelievably pure!


    "Where did you get this? Do you have more?" Leng Xuantong looked at Lin Feng, thrilled.


    Lin Feng pointed at Lin Wenwen and said, "She brought it back. She has five-hundred kilograms of fresh plants and some uninfected seeds. As long as those seeds are planted in Chief''s space, we''ll never be short of uninfected catmint again."


    "Really? Oh, this is amazing! But¡­ Wenwen, where did you find so much of it?" Leng Xuantong was overwhelmed with joy at first, but he soon turned to Lin Wenwen questioningly.


    "I''ll keep that secret for now," Lin Wenwen said to him with a smile, then took a step backward and waved a hand. Following her movement, three large bagfuls of catmint showed up on the ground before her feet.


    Leng Xuantong''s eyes glowed brightly when he saw the three bagfuls of plants. He even wore a greedy look on his face, like how some people might react when they saw three huge bagfuls of cash before the apocalypse.


    "Are these enough for your research? I have more. Should I be sending some to Sea City Base?" Lin Wenwen first talked to Leng Xuantong, then to Lin Feng.


    "Yes, yes! These are all uninfected. These will be more effective than the ones were used before by a hundred times over. It can be diluted before being used for experiments!" Leng Xuantong nodded quickly.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Sea City Base is producing catmint weapons. We can send them some of these. I think they''ll be able to make better weapons with pure catmint."


    Sea City Base had been working together with All Beings Base to produce the weapons. All Beings Base provided catmint and information while Sea City Base was responsible for developing the weapons. Thirty percent of their products would be given to All Beings Base in return.


    After leaving the lab, Lin Feng sent Lin Wenwen straight to Sea City. Jiang Anan, Qin Yu, Sun Lunan, Dou Yunfan and Jiang Anan, who were recently trained in the base, formed a squad together with zombie Number Three, Six, and Jingyan, to escort Lin Wenwen.


    Jiang Anan joined the army once she followed Lin Qiao to All Beings Base. As a level-four earth-power possessor, she was considered as a capable one. Moreover, she was familiar with Sea City Base.


    Ever since she experienced what Bai Xuer had done to her, she became even more aloof than before. She cared about her missions only. In the army, she was always alone, training herself. Her scarred face was always as cold as ice. Her fierce vibe grew slightly soft only when she went home to see her mother.


    The journey from All Beings Base to Sea City Base was peaceful. Apart from a few mutated beasts, no trouble occurred, and no underground creatures were seen either. Soon, they arrived at Sea City Base safely.


    The zombies didn''t enter the base, but stayed outside and found a place to rest as they waited for Lin Wenwen to come out. Meanwhile, Jiang Anan, Qin Yu and the others followed Lin Wenwen.


    The one who was responsible for the development of catmint weapons was a weapon scientist. He was a gray-haired old man who was respected by the entire base. Even Xiao Yunlong didn''t dare to talk loudly to him.


    Of course, Xiao Yunlong wouldn''t take Lin Wenwen and her people into the research base for weapons. Lin Wenwen was an old friend, so he conveniently guided her into the reception room.


    "You look good. I guess Lin Feng and Lin Hao were so worried when you disappeared. They just couldn''t find you." The first thing Xiao Yunlong did when he saw Lin Wenwen was to observe her. Lin Wenwen only smiled silently in response.


    "Why did Lin Feng send you to deliver materials to us this time? He usually sends someone else for the job," Xiao Yunlong had no idea what Lin Wenwen was delivering. According to Lin Feng''s message, it was some important material.


    "Because it''s safer to keep it in my space. Also, the quantity isn''t small," Lin Wenwen looked around, then gave Xiao Yunlong an eye signal. The latter soon understood her meaning. Clearly, it needed to be kept secret.


    He waved a hand and signaled for his men to leave.


    Then, Lin Wenwen told Qin Yu and the others to leave too. At last, only Xiao Yunlong, Meng Yue, and herself stayed in the room.


    Lin Wenwen stood up from the couch and walked to the middle of the room, then took a hundred kilograms of catmint out of her space and put them on the floor.


    "There is a hundred kilograms of pure catmint, completely uninfected. I think it''ll be very helpful for you guys," she looked at Xiao Yunlong and said.


    Xiao Yunlong stared at the pile of bags full of catmint. Hearing Lin Wenwen say that the plants were all uninfected, he looked at Lin Wenwen with disbelief and said, "Uninfected? That''s impossible! Can you still find uninfected plants now?"


    Lin Wenwen shrugged as she stepped back to the couch and sat down, "Check them yourself if you don''t believe me."


    Before Xiao Yunlong made a move, Meng Yue, who was sitting by his side, stood up and walked to those bags. She then touched a bag with her fingers and said, "She''s right! They are all pure, not infected at all."


    "No way! Really?" Xiao Yunlong was surprised.


    Meng Yue was a green power possessor. She said those plants were uninfected, so they were certainly uninfected. She couldn''t be wrong. But, how was that possible? The plants that now existed in the world had mutated twice, and uninfected plants had probably died out. How did All Beings Base people find so much uninfected catmint?


    Xiao Yunlong walked to the bags with disbelief and opened one to find some fresh catmint plants. Indeed, he didn''t sense any virus energy from those plants.


    Meng Yue was stunned too. She looked at Lin Wenwen and asked her, "Where did you find these?"


    "That''s a secret," Lin Wenwen smiled and said, "We''ll be able to keep providing it to you on one condition. I want ten percent more of the weapons."


    Meng Yue and Xiao Yunlong didn''t react strongly to her request, and only glanced at each other as they fell into thoughts.


    Lin Wenwen''s requirement was reasonable actually. Catmint was the main raw material needed for the weapons, and uninfected catmint could certainly deliver the best effect. If All Being Base could provide such catmint, giving them forty percent of the finished products would be fair. Sea City Base wouldn''t suffer any loss by taking only sixty percent of the finished products. After all, Sea City Base only needed to provide the metal.


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 1251 Meet Du Kunsheng

    "No problem! If all these are purely uninfected plants, thirty percent is too little for you indeed," Xiao Yunlong nodded, then turned to say to Lin Wenwen.


    "Thank you for cooperation!" Lin Wenwen smiled. "Oh, can you please do me a favor?"


    On hearing that, Xiao Yunlong stood up and walked back to his seat while responding to her, "How can I help you?"


    Lin Wenwen took out a piece of paper and put it on the tea table as she said, "Help me to look for a few people. They should be in your base."


    Meng Yue walked to the table and picked up the piece of paper before spreading it, "Dong Xinxin? Dong Lijia? Why do you want to look for them?"


    "Do you know them?" Lin Wenwen looked at her and asked.


    Meng Yue shook her head and said, "No. I''m just curious. I''ll look for them."


    "Thank you!" Lin Wenwen nodded at her smilingly. Next, she stayed in Sea City Base, waiting for Meng Yue to find Dong Xinxin and her people.


    At that time, Lin Qiao, Li Zheng, Wu Chengyue and the others were accommodated in an embassy building in Huaxia Base. In the lobby, they met Du Kunsheng, the current leader of Heilong Base. He was as good-looking as ever. The sunny smile on his face made him look much younger than he really was. He was in his thirties already, but looked like a twenty-five years old young man. However, when he wasn''t wearing that smile, he still looked gloomy.


    "Long time no see, Chief Wu, Chief Lu! You guys aren''t the last ones to arrive. Some people are still on their way," Du Kunsheng stood up to greet Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao with a smile.


    "You''re talking about Green Mountain Base, right? I guess they''ve been quite busy lately," Wu Chengyue smiled at Du Kunsheng.


    Lin Qiao had never met Du Kunsheng before, and it was her first time seeing him in person. So, the two of them gave each other a polite smile.


    "This is the pretty Chief lady from All Beings Base whom I''ve heard so much about lately, right? I am Du Kunsheng from Heilong Base. Nice to meet you!" Du Kunsheng looked at Lin Qiao from head to toe with great interest. That was a little impolite, but he didn''t mean anything unwell.


    He had been curious about the Chief lady indeed. He wanted very much to know what the woman that Wu Chengyue was attracted deeply to was like. Now, he learned that she was pretty and sexy. She was wearing a military uniform, but her full breasts, slim waist, and long and slender legs still couldn''t be concealed.


    What a beautiful lady! No wonder Wu Chengyue had been pursuing her so hard!


    Lin Qiao was also observing Du Kunsheng with a smile. "Chief Du, I heard that you''re a weird person. But, I''m surprised that you didn''t give up on Heilong Base the last time and leave like what Gao Haoyun did."


    On hearing that, Du Kunsheng smiled and said, "Am I a person like that? Fortunately, I didn''t run away like Gao Haoyun. Otherwise, I might have ended up the same way he did."


    "Well, he''d have died anyway even if he didn''t leave," Lin Qiao knew that he was joking, so she responded to him also jokingly. Then, she continued with, "Alright, why are we talking about a dead man here? Chief Du, since you were the first one to get here, I wonder if you have heard anything yet."


    While speaking, she walked to the couch and sat down, then raised her head to look at Du Kunsheng.


    Du Kunsheng understood that she was talking about Huaxia Base''s plan, so he sat down as well and said, "I''m curious about their plan too, but sadly, I haven''t got any useful information yet. I heard that those underground creatures firstly emerged in your territory. Have you guys figured out a way to deal with them yet?"


    He was talking about underground gorilla. Indeed, they were the first batch of underground creatures that came to the earth''s surface.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "The ones that emerged in my territory are highly aggressive, but they have a big weakness. They are afraid of the sunlight. So, they didn''t invade my base. As for the way to deal with them, yes, we have developed an efficient way, but I can''t tell you about it yet."


    On hearing what she said, Du Kunsheng had his eyes glowing slightly. As Lin Qiao refused to share the method with him, he nodded knowingly.


    He thought for a moment, then changed the topic again. "Chief Wu, Sea City Base terminated the cooperation with Huaxia Base the last time, so I''m surprised that they still invited you this time," he turned and said to Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him with a smile and said, "I was surprised too. I thought they''d isolate us."


    Du Kunsheng''s face grew cold for a second when he heard that. "They did plan to do that," he said, "Earlier, they even tried to forbid me from making deals with you guys. I just ignored them. I was waiting to see what their next step would be. However, before they did anything, those underground creatures came out."


    "Si Kongchen did that?" Lin Qiao was a little surprised, and she made eye-contact with Wu Chengyue. It seemed that Si Kongchen intended to control Heilong Base.


    "I guess you said no to him. He''s not gonna let you get away with it just so easily, is he?" The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face faded.


    Du Kunsheng sneered as he spread his hands and said, "He inserted quite some people in my base when he and Gao Haoyun were working together. I took the opportunity to clear those people out when Gao Haoyun left. Now, he no longer has eyes in my base. Even if he''s planning on something, he''s not gonna make any reckless moves. He''s running out of time, isn''t he? I guess those underground creatures have ruined his plan. Oh, I also heard that he made a trip to the Northwest not long ago, but came back empty handed."


    While speaking, he looked at Lin Qiao again. A gloating smile was seen on his young and handsome face.


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue both understood that he was talking about Si Kongchen''s attempt at murdering Dong Xiaowei. Because of Lin Qiao, he harvested nothing and even had his assistant injured.


    Si Kongchen probably hated Lin Qiao for that now. At the grand meeting, he wouldn''t likely to show any good attitude toward her.


    "I was passing by. Si Kongchen was just unlucky," Lin Qiao grinned and spread her hands.


    "I didn''t know that there was a level-nine man already," said Du Kunsheng, "It turns out Lan Lu has been keeping him secret. I was surprised!"


    "Green Mountain Base is not as small and fragile as we thought it is," said Wu Chengyue, "Otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to hide so well until they decided to let the world see them.


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 1252 Lin Kuis Abnormal Behavior

    "Si Kongchen is now in close contact with some foreign countries. He''s not even hiding that anymore, and has been showing no respect to us. Chief Wu, Chief Lu, what do you guys think about it?" Lately, Si Kongchen had been making deals openly with some foreign countries without trying to conceal it. Obviously, he was planning on do something to the domestic bases that refused to obey him.


    Since he attempted to murder the level-nine leader of Green Mountain Base, his ambitions had been growing more and more obvious.


    "Sea City Base and Huaxia Base are different, with no common goal," Wu Chengyue said, "We were planning on walking our own way after terminating all deals with Huaxia Base. However, Si Kongchen didn''t seem to like that. Of course, we will not let him do whatever he wants to us."


    Du Kunsheng looked at him and sighed, "Sea City Base has the power to contend against him. But in terms of weaponry, I assume you guys are in disadvantages, right?"


    As everyone knew, Sea City Base was a few steps behind Huaxia Base in terms of technology.


    On hearing Du Kunsheng''s words, Wu Chengyue smiled faintly and said, "Our weapons are not as good as theirs, but we will be turning that situation around soon enough."


    Du Kunsheng stopped short when he heard what Wu Chengyue said, and then he said, "I guess you have yourself prepared, don''t you? The leader of Sea City Base is indeed more thoughtful than the others."


    Wu Chengyue''s meaning was pretty clear. Sea City had collected quite some useful information about Huaxia Base and had a thorough plan. Clearly, it didn''t need any outsiders to worry about it.


    At that time, in All Beings Base, Qiu Lili suddenly lost track of Lin Kui. His vibe couldn''t be found in the base.


    ''Eh? Where did he go?''


    On top of a tall building in the base, Qiu Lili looked around and searched for Lin Kui. Before long, she followed the scent that he left behind slowly out of the base. She had no idea why he left the base, but she remembered that he took the catmint plant that she got from Lin Wenwen earlier. Did he go out with that plant?


    She went miles away from the base and found Lin Kui, who had already turned into an enormous black panther. Weirdly, he was rubbing his body against a tree.


    Qiu Lili landed on the roof of a building nearby and looked at the panther with confusion as she asked him, "What are you doing?"


    On hearing Qiu Lili''s voice, Lin Kui stopped moving and turned to look at her, wagged his long, black tail. A mysterious light shone out of his panther''s eyes.


    For some reason, Qiu Lili had a not-so-good feeling when she looked at him in the eyes. She was planning on leaping off the tree and going to his side, but that feeling made her hesitate and stay where she was.


    Lin Kui didn''t answer her question. Instead, he turned around and fixed his eyes on her as he walked to her step by step. Behind his body, his long tail was wagged slowly from side to side.


    "Eh? What are you doing?" Qiu Lili suddenly felt as if she had become the target of a fierce beast. The bad feeling instantly grew stronger. Alertly, she stared at Lin Kui, who was coming closer and closer to her.


    At that moment, Lin Kui suddenly stopped, looking at her silently.


    "Oi! Say something! Are you mute?" Seeing him stop moving, Qiu Lili somehow sighed with relief. Then, she yelled at him unhappily.


    Lin Kui sat down on the ground and put both forepaws before his body. However, he still didn''t say a word, and only stared at Qiu Lili with a mysterious look in his eyes. Seeing that, she was more and more confused. She had no idea what exactly was happening to him. He wasn''t answering her questions, but kept staring at her.


    The girl and the panther spent a few seconds looking at each other in the eyes, and after that, the black panther finally started talking, "Lili, do you like me?"


    "Huh?" Qiu Lili was stunned at first. As she realized what Lin Kui had just said, the look on her face became complicated. She first looked at him with confusion, but in the next second, she started turning her eyes from side to side without having the courage to look at him in the eyes again.


    "W-what are you talking about?" She felt so shy and awkward that she didn''t even dare to look at his eyes.


    "Lili, I like you," Lin Kui continued.


    Qiu Lili paused with surprise, then abruptly looked at his eyes and said, "What did you just say? Is that real?"


    Lin Kui stood up and made a circle, then raised his head to glance at Qiu Lili, who was on top of the building. Next, he bent his limbs slightly and hopped onto the roof.


    As the panther hopped onto the roof within a blink, Qiu Lili automatically made two steps backward. She was still shocked by what he had said just now.


    Lin Kui slowly walked to her with elegant steps. She wanted very much to run away, but she also wanted to know what exactly did his words mean. Why did he think that she liked him? He also told her that he liked her!


    She liked to be with him, but she didn''t know if she was fond of him or not. Yet, the big cat suddenly told her about his feelings and that made her a little panic.


    Lin Kui didn''t get close to her immediately, but started to make circles around her. Step by step, he moved unhurriedly as he said, "I know that you like me. But, do you like me like this? Or, do you like me in my human shape?"


    Qiu Lili''s red eyes glowed. If she were a human being, she would have blushed already. "You¡­" she stuttered, "Who said that I like you?"


    Lin Kui paused briefly and said, "Don''t you like me? Would you miss me if I left?"


    "What?" On hearing that, Qiu Lili stopped short, "You want to leave? Where are you going?"


    "Can you please answer my first question?" Lin Kui walked up behind her and rubbed his head against her hand.


    Qiu Lili shuddered. She immediately retracted her hand as if she were hit by an electric current. She popped his eyes and looked at him, seeming to be struggling. She hated to admit to his face that she liked him. However, telling him that she didn''t like him at all was impossible!


    The problem was, why did Lin Kui suddenly ask her that kind of question?


    Since she saw him, she had been feeling that he was in a weird state. The look in his eyes was weird as well!


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 1253 Do You Like Me?

    "What happened to you? You look like something is wrong with you!" Qiu Lili didn''t answer Lin Kui''s question, but prepared to turn around and look at him.


    "I''m good! I''m very, very good!" Lin Kui''s voice was a little trembling. He rubbed his head against Qiu Lili''s hand, and then pressed his entire body against her.


    The panther was about four feet tall even when he was standing on all fours, and his head almost reached Qiu Lili''s chest. As he leaned toward her, Qiu Lili was forced to make a few steps backward.


    "Big Cat? Do you want me to pet you?" After stepping back, Qiu Lili looked at the panther confusedly. After all, cats rubbed their bodies against people''s feet when they wanted to be petted.


    On hearing Qiu Lili''s words, Lin Kui paused briefly, then coiled Qiu Lilis long hair with his tail, shaking slightly.


    "How would I ever do that kind of thing? Only kids do that," he said. He was not asking for petting! What he was doing was courtship!


    "I think that''s exactly what you''re doing now," Qiu Lili turned around and said to him.


    At that moment, the panther came behind her and suddenly disappeared.


    Qiu Lili turned her head to look at him, but suddenly, a strong pair of arms came around her shoulders from behind.


    "Silly! I was professing my love to you just now. Lili, I like you. Do you like me?" Lin Kui held his bare arms around Qiu Lili''s body, then buried his head in her neck to sense her scent.


    "Ah¡­ I¡­ I¡­" Qiu Lili was startled when he suddenly held her. Hearing him say ''I like you'' again, she was even more panicked than before. She was happy and confused and helpless at the same time, having absolutely no idea about how to react. More importantly, Lin Kui was holding her now while he was naked! Should she first complain about that or tell him that she liked him too?


    She didn''t want to lie to both him and herself and tell him that she didn''t like him. However, the idea of telling him that she likes him too made her nervous. Couldn''t he put on some clothes first?


    "Eh? Do you like me? Lili, you like me, don''t you? You like spending time with me. You are an isolated little girl. Except for Chief, you''re never close to anyone else. But, you like being with me, and you often visit my sister. Lili, be with me, okay?" While speaking, Lin Kui abruptly turned Qiu Lili''s body around and looked at her affectionately.


    "What? I¡­ I''m still young! Don''t make me look at your human body¡­ I don''t want to see it!" Qiu Lili gave a start and automatically closed her eyes as she pushed his chest with both hands. She turned her face away, but still didn''t dare to open her eyes.


    "Your body has stayed young, but your mind has been growing. You''re an adult already. Come on, open your eyes, look at me and answer my question," Lin Kui pressed a hand on her shoulder as he held her chin with the other hand and looked at her face. His eyes scanned across her closed eyes and nose, and then landed on her cherry-red lips.


    "Even-even if my mind is mature, my body still isn''t! I¡­ let me think about it!" Qiu Lili spent a short while struggling. At last, she abruptly pushed him, then turned and attempted to run. However, before she pushed him away, he had nimbly grasped her wrist and dragged her back into his arms.


    "Don''t run! Why do you need to think about it? It''s a matter of fact already. Lili, look at me," Lin Kui put both arms around her tightly, then lowered his head to look at her.


    Normally, Lin Kui wouldn''t hold Qiu Lili and refuse to let her go like that. But today, as same as Qiu Lili had said, something was wrong with him.


    "Ah! You¡­ You let me go!" Qiu Lili wasn''t expecting him to drag her back and not even let her run. She turned her head and saw his strong chest muscles, which were a little pale. She dropped her head to avoid looking at it, but in the end, something even scarier bumped into her eyes.


    She froze for a second, then immediately closed her eyes and raised her head.


    "No. You have to answer my question first," Lin Kui held her as he looked at her and said stubbornly.


    "Alright, alright, I get it! I do like you a little, okay? Can you let me go now? Can you please put on some clothes first? Is it really appropriate for you to be naked when you tell me that you like me?" Qiu Lili collapsed and finally admitted it before complaining.


    Lin Kui didn''t care about being naked at all. After hearing Qiu Lili''s answer, he suddenly held her face with both hands, then lowered his head and kissed her deep on the lips.


    "Ooh¡­" Feeling the kiss, Qiu Lili opened her eyes. After realizing what was happening, she immediately popped her eyes, then automatically started struggling.


    But, Lin Kui seemed to be preparing for that. So, he quickly bent over and put his arms tightly around her waist, then raised a hand and pressed against the back of her head. In the meanwhile, his tongue invaded her mouth.


    Qiu Lili was freaked out by his movements. She slapped his shoulder, but froze when she touched his naked skin.


    She couldn''t help but want to use her superpower. But on a second thought, she realized that it might hurt Lin Kui. She didn''t have the heart to hurt him, so she hesitated briefly and decided not to attack him with her superpowers.


    Lin Kui''s tongue was stirring in her mouth, rolling up her own tongue and disabling her from closing her mouth. A thin stream of saliva streamed down her mouth corner. She even felt something hard against her lower stomach, making her feel a little comfortable. Without thinking, she pushed it with her hand.


    That thing had a weird texture. It felt like flesh, but hard, and slightly warm!


    She froze when she realized what she had touched. Meanwhile, Lin Kui grasped the chance to put his hands all over her.


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 1254 Ill Take the Responsibility

    Qiu Lili woke up to find herself in the arms of Lin Kui the panther. Her body was buried under the panther''s soft and fluffy belly while his head was in her neck.


    She spent two seconds in a daze, then some indescribable memory flooded into her head. She froze and moved her legs. She didn''t feel any stickiness or dryness between her legs. She felt comfortable, as if someone had cleaned her body.


    Lin Kui had even helped her get dressed.


    The panther opened his eyes once she moved. He raised his head to look at her and said, "You''re awake. Are you feeling any discomfort?"


    Qiu Lili stared at him for a few seconds, then abruptly pushed him away as she sat up and got off the bed. She awkwardly put an arm before her chest and then pointed at him as she said, "You¡­"


    She wanted to scold him, but she suddenly didn''t know what to say. After all, she did say yes to him at last. She thought for a moment, then realized that she was a little angry at herself. In the end, she dropped her hand and glared at the panther.


    Seeing the girl''s angry face, Lin Kui quickly leaped off the bed and walked up to her as he asked, "What''s wrong? Are you mad?"


    "It''s all your fault! If you didn''t eat that plant, how would this ever happen!" Qiu Lili said to him, then turned and ran to the stairs. She threw out a fireball and blew up the door, then flashed across the air and disappeared.


    "LIli?" Qiu Lili trashed the door and left before Lin Kui could react. He hurriedly followed her out of the building, but she had disappeared without a trace. All he could do was follow her scent.


    Lin Kui knew that she might be emotional when she woke up, but didn''t expect her to run straight away. After a brief pause, he swiftly darted out.


    It was his fault indeed as he ate that plant. He never thought that the catmint would become an aphrodisiac in his system¡­ That was a good thing though. It was definitely good for him, but the dose was a little too strong.


    He wasn''t able to resist the scent of the catmint. It was like a person who was heavily addicted to cigarettes suddenly smelt a cigarette after living a long time without any. He could not control himself.


    He was attracted to the scent, and then he somehow put the catmint into his mouth and ate it. Thankfully, he didn''t lose his mind and do something awful, apart from feeling strangely excited and sexually aroused.


    He did feel a little guilty to coax Qiu Lili into accepting him. So, at that time, how could he let her run away alone? If he let her run, how was he supposed to find her back?


    He could absolutely not let her run!


    Qiu Lili possessed the power of fire and wind, so it was hard to catch up with her. Lin Kui was fast too, but by running on the ground, it was still not easy for him to catch up with the girl who was flying in the sky.


    He hopped onto a high place and sensed Qiu Lili''s vibe more clearly, then darted out like a shred of shadow.


    Qiu Lili ran to a long distance away before she calmed down and landed on top of a tall building in the downtown area. She stood by the roof edge and looked where Lin Kui''s vibe was coming from, then raised both hands to rub her own face.


    She could not believe that she actually did that with Lin Kui! What she couldn''t believe even more was that Lin Kui did that to her! How could he do that to her? She looked like an underage girl after all! Even if he were on drug, his mind was still clear. But still, he did it anyway.


    Was he into underage girls especially? That didn''t make sense. He told her that he liked her. Besides, he tolerated her all the time. She liked to rub his fur and pet his head, and he was never unhappy about it.


    She knew that Lin Kui wouldn''t let anyone but her and Lin Jing touch his head and fur.


    Judging by his behavior, he probably wouldn''t force her if she strongly refused. Would he lose his mind and fail to control himself at last like what he said?


    What really surprised her was that the catmint Lin Wenwen brought back could actually deliver such an effect. Was it effective on all zombies or just him?


    It worked somehow like an aphrodisiac on Lin Kui after all.


    Thankfully, Lin Kui was really fond of her. He told her about that frankly before doing that thing. That made her feel a little sweet in the heart.


    "Lili!" While Qiu Lili was having a lot of thoughts in her mind, the black panther showed up on the roof. He didn''t dare to approach her, and only looked at her from distance.


    Qiu Lili quickly turned to look at him, but then, she immediately turned around. She didn''t dare to look at him in the eyes. She didn''t know how to face him. She just felt so shy!


    Lin Kui stood on the other side of the roof, about ten meters away from Qiu Lili. He watched her pull her long hair before her chest and grip on it. He hesitated shortly, then asked her, "Can I come over?"


    Qiu Lili didn''t answer his question. With her back to him, he said, "What else do you want to say? The drug has worn off, hasn''t it?"


    "I, of course, have something else to say to you," said Lin Kui, "But, I want to say it to your face."


    Qiu Lili didn''t say anything this time, and only stood there quietly.


    "I''m coming to you, okay?" Lin Kui said to her, then leaped to the middle of the roof and slowly walked to her. Sensing him walk, Qiu Lili turned around and said to him, "What else do you want to say?"


    Lin Kui walked to her side and sensed his own scent from her body as he happily wagged his long tail.


    "Are you still mad at me?" He raised his head to look at her eyes and asked.


    "No," Qiu Lili shook her head.


    "Why did you run away then? You scared me," said Lin Kui.


    "I''m just mad at myself! I can''t believe I actually let you do it¡­ You''ll take the responsibility for it, won''t you?" Qiu Lili pouted grumpily, then looked at Lin Kui and said.


    Lin Kui smiled and his whiskers reached to the sides. He dropped his head to rub her stomach while saying, "I''ll surely take the responsibility. I wouldn''t want to let you go, even if you didn''t want me."


    Qiu Lili pushed his head away and said with a snort, "You boys are all good at sweet-talking. Who knows if you''ll change in the future?" After saying that, she turned her head away to avoid looking at him.


    On hearing what she said, Lin Kui instantly moved to her other side and looked at her eyes as he said, "That''s impossible. I swear I''ll always love you."


    While speaking, he sat down and raised a paw to his ear level, looking like a fortune cat.


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 1255 She Came out to Disturb Them

    That adorable look of his hit Qiu Lili. "Who knows about the future? Don''t be too confident."


    Lin Kui thought the cute look move would soften the girl, but to his surprise, it didn''t work as well as he had hoped. So, he dropped his paw and moved to her side, then leaned his body against her and said, "From now on, you''re the only one that I care about. What do I need to say to make you believe me? Besides, the things between us have already come so far. Are you still going to leave me?"


    Qiu Lili looked at him, seemingly struggling. However, deep down, she had given up fighting already.


    Lin Kui coiled her hand with his fluffy tail and said, "Lili, promise me, don''t leave me."


    "Ahyaya, just say yes to him. Qiu Lili, haven''t you always been decisive? Why are you hesitating now? I''m out of patience!" Another voice was suddenly heard. The two quickly turned and saw someone stick her head out from behind another building. That was Yun Meng looking at the two with a look of anxiety.


    "You! When did you get here?" Qiu Lili gave a start when she saw Yun Meng and spoke out loud without thinking. Lin Kui turned to Yun Meng and sat down beside Qiu Lili, then said, "Oh, she''s been here for a while."


    "Eh? Can you sense me? I was invisible!" Yun Meng was surprised to see Lin Kui react so calmly. Normally, no one was able to sense her when she turned invisible. Did Lin Kui have some kind of special ability that allowed him to sense her presence?


    "It''s probably because we have the same kind of power. I think I can sense you faintly," Lin Kui raised a paw and rubbed his panther face.


    The two of them both possessed animal power. It was like how animals sensed each other. He wasn''t sure who was hiding nearby; he just sensed a living being vaguely. That living being didn''t show any hostility, so he didn''t do anything about it.


    After all, Qiu Lili was more important to him at that moment.


    Yun Meng moved to Qiu Lili''s side, then leaned forward and sniffed at her. Then, she pinched her nose with a hand and made a step backward as she said, "Oh my, you''re covered in this panther''s scent! I can''t believe that you two have become so close already. I''m so surprised!"


    "So, why are you guys still fighting since your relationship is so close already?" she continued.


    Lin Kui raised a paw and said, "It''s because of her, not me." After saying that, he pointed at Qiu Lili with that paw.


    Qiu Lili slapped on that paw, then looked at Yun Meng and said, "This is between us. What are you doing here?"


    Yun Meng shrugged, then crossed her arms and said, "Apparently, I''m here to watch the show! I was so anxious, so I decided to come out to interrupt you guys, haha¡­"


    Earlier, she saw Qiu Lili hesitate all the time for an unknown reason. So, she lost her patience and decided to come out to disturb the two a little! Besides, since Lin Kui seemed to turn Qiu Lili into his girlfriend, she started to not like him a little.


    However, since he was sincere, and the situation seemed to be good to Qiu Lili, and the latter seemed to like being with him, Yun Meng had to admit that she was happy to let the good thing happen, even though she was a little jealous of him.


    "You''re just here to disturb us!" Qiu Lili rolled her eyes; she knew Yun Meng quite well. However, after being disturbed by Yun Meng, she managed to slowly calm herself down from the nervous and panicked feeling. She glanced at Lin Kui, who was sitting next to her, feeling purely happy.


    "I''m just curious. Lin Kui, you''ve become a zombie already. Um¡­ Do you still¡­ have feelings?" Yun Meng asked another question, "I wouldn''t believe what you guys have done if I didn''t sense the scent you left on Lili!"


    The straightforward question asked by Yun Meng made Lin Kui feel a little embarrassed. Thankfully, he was in his panther shape and the embarrassed look on his face wasn''t obvious. He was only turning his eyes from side to side.


    "Eh-hem¡­ Would you like to try it? I can''t guarantee that it''ll be work for you too. After all, it''s supposed to be effective for catamount only," He pretended to be calm and answered Yun Meng''s question.


    "Catamount?" Yun Meng didn''t know about the catmint. On hearing Lin Kui''s words, she looked at Lin Kui and Qiu Lili with confusion. However, in the next second, she felt that something wasn''t right. "No. No! I''m not gonna try it!"


    Qiu Lili looked at her and said, "Alright, are you done here? Can you please leave? He and I, we aren''t finished yet."


    Yun Meng looked at her, then at Lin Kui. "Aren''t you finished? The result is pretty obvious, isn''t it?" she said, "Look how close you two are now? I think you should just go home with him to meet his family now."


    After saying that, she turned and leaped off the building.


    After hearing what Yun Meng said, Qiu Lili turned back to look at Lin Kui. She found him standing quietly by her side, but she wasn''t feeling his presence as strongly as she did before. It seemed that they had gone back to the time when they enjoyed keeping each other company, but now, they had become closer than before.


    Lin Kui did hear Yun Meng''s last sentence, so he looked at Qiu Lili and said, "You''ve met my sister long ago, but I still want to introduce you to her again¡­ as my girlfriend."


    Qiu Lili felt as if her cheeks were turning warm. She wondered if that were an illusion. "Won''t that be too¡­ soon?" she turned her face away and asked.


    Lin Kui''s eyes glowed as he narrowed those panther eyes and smiled, "You''ve agreed? If you think now is too soon, we can go a few days later."


    "Oi, I haven''t said yes to you yet," Qiu Lili quickly said to him.


    Lin Kui squinted at her as he bared his sharp teeth in a grin, "So you tell me, when can we do that?"


    He ignored Qiu Lili''s words. She was just being shy, and didn''t mean what she said.


    "I¡­ Let me think about it," Qiu Lili glared at him a little grumpily, then leaped into the sky and flew back toward the base. Lin Kui watched her leave, then leaped off the building and followed her home.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue spent a night in Huaxia Base. The next day, some Huaxia Base people came to inform them to go to the reception room and meet the other base leaders.


    Si Kongchen, Lin Qiao and Lan Lu, who had seen each other not long ago and even fought a battle, greeted each other peacefully, as if what happened in the northwest was just a dream.


    Si Kongchen handed out some materials to the other base leaders, then sat down and said, "This is the information we gathered about those underground creatures and the reports of our researches. These materials are showing you everything we know about them."


    Lin Qiao and the others carefully reach the materials he provided. The contents were actually quite detailed.


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 1256 Talk About the First Step

    The materials provided by Huaxia Base detailed the appearances, sizes, power levels, and natures of different kinds of underground creatures, some common features, and how they could harm human beings and the environment. However, what people really wanted to know was not included.


    "Huaxia Base has always been the most technologically advanced base in the country. Haven''t you guys figured out a way to deal with those creatures yet?" After reading the materials quickly, Wu Chengyue smilingly asked Si Kongchen.


    Si Kongchen looked at him expressionlessly as he responded, "I''d like to know how to deal with those creatures too. There are a lot of scientific researchers in my base, but they need time to solve the problem. Based on the present progress of their projects, I think finding an efficient way against the threat coming from those underground creatures will not be easy."


    Wu Chengyue said with a smile, "Oh, really? Since you guys have research projects about them, I assume you already have some plans. Am I right, Chief Si?"


    Si Kongchen looked at him peacefully and said, "I do have some plans, and have done some experiments. However, no good results have been achieved yet, which is why I gave up. Now, I''d like to hear what you all think about it. Chief Wu, have you found a way against those creatures?"


    "If I had a method, I''d surely be willing to share with all of you. But sadly, I don''t have that kind of ability. Even those top scientists in Huaxia Base haven''t managed to solve the problem yet. So, how could I possibly come up with a solution?" Wu Chengyue smiled and spread his hands.


    In the first meeting, people would usually try to feel each other out without leaking any useful information. However, since Huaxia Base had shared what they knew about underground creatures so far, the other bases also handed out the materials about the underground creatures that had emerged in their territory.


    The contents of those materials were mostly some facts about the underground creatures. The materials provided by all bases were similar.


    "Since these creatures are from the underground, why don''t we send a team underground? Maybe we can find some crucial clues underground. Those creatures must have come out of the ground for some reason, right? If we figure that reason out, we might be able to think of a way to stop them from running rampant on the earth''s surface." After reading the pile of materials, Lan Lu started talking.


    Du Kunsheng clapped his hands and said, "That''s what I''m thinking. However, selecting the members of this team will be a difficult thing. After all, we don''t know dangerous the underground world can be."


    "It''s dangerous for sure," Lin Qiao joined the conversation, "My Deputy Chief went less than a thousand meters deep underground and got injured. He''s still in a coma now. The weak ones shouldn''t go, because they won''t be helpful. On the contrary, they might hinder the others."


    Du Kunsheng nodded in agreement, "You are right. The ones who will go down into the ground need to be relatively strong. At least, they should all be able to protect themselves."


    The number of people who are strong enough for the mission was limited, most of them being base leaders. Huaxia Base and Sea City Base each had multiple leaders, but unlike those two bases, All Beings Base, Green Mountain Base, Heilong Base, and Mongols Base each only had one or two level-seven leaders. None of the people under their commands were good enough for the mission, but if they took part in the mission themselves, no one would be left to run their bases.


    One needed to be at level-six at least to carry a dangerous mission like that. The level-five ones might not be strong enough to protect themselves down underground, and they might even cause unnecessary trouble. The mission was too important to be carried by only one base. Each base should send out their people for the mission, to keep the balance of the current overall situation.


    "Chief Si, what do you think?" Wu Chengyue looked at Si Kongchen, still wearing a faint smile.


    Si Kongchen nodded with a poker face and said, "I''m surely okay with it."


    "In this case, I think we''ll need a few days to form the team. As for the meeting, it''ll take place after the mission is done," Wu Chengyue said with a smile.


    "That''s the only way, and I''m fine with it. What do you guys think?" Lan Lu said as he scanned the others'' faces with his eyes.


    "I agree. But, we need think to think about whom to send for the mission," said Du Kunsheng.


    He didn''t have high-leveled subordinates, and he was now the only level-seven person in Heilong Base. If he decided not to go himself, he would have to send two level-six ones.


    Sea City Base was slightly weaker than Huaxia Base, but was much stronger than the other bases.


    "Okay. Now, we''ll decide where to enter the underground realm from. In three days, send your people there. We''ll make further decisions when they come out," Si Kongchen said.


    No one had any objections. The others nodded, and one said, "Does anyone have a good idea about where to enter the underground world from? Any suggestions?"


    "Since we''re going to do this together, why don''t we chose to do it in the middle of the country? I know about a deep hole that''s located near the northern edge of Hunan Province. Let''s see if we can find anything in there," Wu Chengyue shared his opinion. There was indeed a large and deep hole, and the creatures that came out of the hole were huge.


    Those large-sized creatures must have left wide tunnels underground, which would provide people with convenience.


    "I agree. Let''s pick the middle of the country then. Those creatures have left holes all over the country now. We can choose any of those holes to go into," Lan Lu accepted Wu Chengyue''s suggestion. It would be very fair if the gathering spot would be in the middle of the country.


    "I''m fine with it," Du Kunsheng nodded.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Si Kongchen as she smiled and said, "I agree."


    Receiving that glance from her, Si Kongchen looked at the others. Three had said yes, so saying no at that point would not change the situation, and would only worsen people''s attitude toward him. So, left with no other choice, he nodded in agreement as well.


    "Good!"


    Then, people turned to Bao Chengzhi, the leader of Mongols Base, who was also at level-seven, waiting to hear his thoughts.


    "You''ve all agreed. Can I possibly say no? I''m obviously fine with it!" As everybody looked at him, Bao Chengzhi instantly said with laughter.


    "Alright, since my suggestion has passed unanimously, I''ll give you guys the location of the place soon," said Wu Chengyue smilingly.


    With that, the meeting was over, and people left to start preparing for the mission.


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 1257 Si Kongchen and Xie Yunlong Change Their Plan

    "What? The plan has changed again?" After the meeting ended, Xie Longyun heard the news and came to meet with Si Kongchen right away.


    Si Kongchen sat behind his desk with an expressionless face as he spoke with a bland tone, "They want to go underground to see what''s happening down there. They can do it. Either Wu Chengyue or the woman will go down there, so let''s adjust our plan. You''ll be finding an opportunity down there to stop them from coming up."


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were both at level-eight. In Si Kongchen''s eyes, their bases were like one whole. Therefore, he believed one of them would certainly go underground, to ensure the success rate of the mission.


    "What? You want me to go down there? I''ve met that woman already. She''ll definitely be alert against me. How am I supposed to do anything to her?" Xie Longyun furrowed her narrow brows with discontentment.


    "If that woman joins the mission, all you need to do is to find a chance to release this tube of drug within the area five meters around her. It''ll work for her. With your superpower, you can easily toss the tube into that area without even approaching her, right?" Si Kongchen looked at her peacefully, as if everything was under his control.


    After hearing what he said, Xie Longyun spent a few seconds thinking and said, "I can do that, if it''s really like what you said."


    "I''ll send Liu Zhinan to go with you. With his help, it''ll be much easier," Si Kongchen put a hand on the desk and gently knocked on it with his fingers.


    Xie Longyun thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright then, I get it."


    At that moment, someone walked to the door and knocked before entering. "Hey, Miss. Xie, what a surprise to see you here!"


    Xie Longyun had finished talking with Si Kongchen. She turned and walked out while saying, "We''re done here. You guys take your time."


    After watching her leave, Wei Haichao handed the newest intelligence report to Si Kongchen and said, "We found out something about Sea City Base."


    "What is it?" Si Kongchen asked him while taking over the report.


    "Sea City Base isn''t cultivating crops currently, but they have still been providing their people with fresh vegetables and fruits every day. We have no idea where those fresh vegetables and fruits are from. But, Sea City Base is now very close with All Beings Base. Our people haven''t managed to get into All Beings Base yet. I think All Beings Base might have some secret soil remedy," Wei Haichao said to Sea City Base while handing the report to him.


    "Does the soil remedy that Sea City Base mention not belong to itself but to All Beings Base?" Si Kongchen knitted his brows slightly as he started reading the report.


    According to the report, the soil in Sea City Base was still not suitable to grow food. The report also included the names and amounts of fresh food provided in Sea City Base''s canteens every day, and the fact that Sea City Base would receive a batch of supplies from All Beings Base every week. The exact content of those supplies hasn''t been found out yet, as Sea City Base had been keeping that strictly secret.


    "The information about this All Beings Base has always been so hard to get. All Beings Base and Sea City Base seem very close now. That woman''s base is getting more and more mysterious." Wei Haichao said with great interest toward All Beings Base, and his eyes even glowed.


    Seeing the look on his face, Si Kongchen figured out what he was thinking about. "Since you''re so interested in that base, just go and do it," he nodded and said, "The woman doesn''t have the time to take care of her base now. You can take this chance and lead a few level-six men to go there. See if you can find anything."


    Level-six people might be rare in other bases, but Huaxia Base had large numbers of level-six members. That was why Si Kongchen made it sound like a small thing. After all, he had spent a lot of resources to cultivate all those level six and five superpowered people for his future use.


    "Yes, sir!" Wei Haichao nodded.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was heading back to her room. Wu Chengyue and Lan Lu both followed behind her. Before her door, she stopped walking, then turned to the two and said, "Can I help you? Your rooms are that way."


    The two men made an eye-contact with each other, then turned back to her and nodded. Lin Qiao had no other choice but to invite them in and offer them seats.


    With curiosity, she looked at Lan Lu and said, "How come you suddenly want to go underground? Have you found something in your territory?"


    On hearing that question, Wu Chengyue turned to Lan Lu as well. Lin Qiao was probably right. Lan Lu might have found something, or else he wouldn''t bring up that suggestion right in front of everyone else.


    "You''re so smart that you actually guessed it out," Lan Lu glanced at Lin Qiao smilingly, then took a piece of paper out of his inside pocket and handed it to Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue.


    "What is it?" Wu Chengyue took it over and looked at it.


    Lan Lu leaned against the back of his chair and said, "I had sent my men down earlier. We didn''t dare to go too far underground, but we did find something interesting."


    Before he could finish, Wu Chengyue read the contents on the paper and said, "Underground space? Your men went more than three-thousand meters deep?"


    "The underground space is only a guess of mine," said Lan Lu, "My men didn''t find that place. However, according to what they''ve seen down there, there is indeed an unknown underground world."


    Wu Chengyue lowered his head and read the paper again, then said, "Such strong air streams were detected over three-thousand meters deep underground. I guess there is a massive space underground. What are these plants?"


    Lan Lu said, "Yes. These strange plants are the reason why I''m sure there''s a large space underground. However, my men only collected a small number of plants from there. We can''t tell what exactly the underground world is like yet."


    "Didn''t you send them to go further down?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked.


    With grief, Lan Lu responded to her with, "Something very powerful stopped them. Only two of them came back alive."


    "Are you saying that apart from the unknown underground space, there are also some monsters down there, like the ones that we''ve seen on the earth''s surface?" Lin Qiao grasped the key information in Lan Lu''s words.


    "No. The creatures underground are stronger than the ones that have come to the surface. Their number wasn''t large though. However, one alone was strong enough to destroy my team," Lan Lu shook his head and said.


    "Are they solitary?" Lin Qiao thought of the red cat. It was alone, no weaker than a level-seven mutated beast. It was a powerful being, but weirdly, it lived on fruits.


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 1258 Shes the Best Person for the Job

    "Yes, my men met three of them, all of whom acted alone, unlike the herds on Earth''s surface. All three of them were at or above level-seven," Lan Lu nodded and said with a serious look.


    His words made the other two glance at each other and wear a serious look as well.


    All three creatures that Lan Lu''s men met were at level-seven or even above. His men didn''t reach the bottom of the underground world, meaning that stronger creatures might exist deeper underground. Monsters at level eight or even nine could exist down there. The team which would be sent underground this time could very likely be unable to come back. At the very least, it would be a very dangerous mission.


    "So this time, I think the people that we''re going to send down there have to be at level-six at least. You two should think carefully about whom to send. Make sure they''re at level-six or higher. It would be even better if they have some special life-saving skills," Lan Lu thought for a moment and then gave a suggestion.


    Recalling what had happened to Yuan Tianxing, Lin Qiao said, "Apart from dangerous creatures, there might also be some poisonous gas or liquid, or other natural traps down there."


    Wu Chengyue spread his hands and said, "At least one level-eight person should be leading the team. But currently, there are only four level-eight ones. How do you think we can make Si Kongchen lead the team himself?"


    Three of the four level-eight ones were now sitting in Lin Qiao''s room. Making Si Kongchen lead the team himself was not likely to happen. He was not stupid enough to leave his base unprotected under the eyes of the other three level-eight people. After all, the current situation was pretty obvious that Lan Lu, Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue were all on the same side.


    Huaxia Base had so many secrets. Without him staying in the base and guarding them personally, those secrets might not stay secret.


    "He won''t go no matter what. For him, the underground mission isn''t important, neither is the meeting after the mission ends. What''s really important is his secret plan," Lin Qiao gave a cold smile as she pointed out the truth straightforwardly.


    Lan Lu looked at her and said curiously, "Do you know about his secret plan?"


    Lin Qiao replied, "I think his plan will be to target me or Wu Chengyue. It''s not gonna have anything to do with you guys."


    Earlier today, Lin Qiao saw Si Kongchen at the meeting. She wasn''t able to read his mind, but from the look in his eyes, she could tell that he did have some kind of secret plan under the cover of the grand meeting this time. She could also feel that his target would be her or Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue smilingly glanced at her, then said, "Whatever plan he has, we have nothing to be afraid of." If Si Kongchen dared to make a move, they would just deal with it.


    Lan Lu smiled and said, "Chief Wu, you sound confident. I guess you two are already fully prepared, aren''t you?"


    "Of course!" Wu Chengyue also smiled, "Si Kongchen''s purpose is so obvious. We are surely prepared. So Chief Lan, other than your discovery from underground, do you have anything else to say to us?"


    "No," Lan Lu paused briefly when he heard the last few words Wu Chengyue said, then realized that the latter was signaling for him to leave. He thought for a moment and then continued, "Since Si Kongchen is not gonna take part in the mission, which one of us do you think is the most suitable for the job?"


    Lan Lu was not a fighter. His spirit power might allow him to grasp every detail underground, but it wouldn''t be as useful as Lin Qiao''s powers. Also, his body was relatively fragile. If he encountered some kind of creature that was spirit-power-proof, he wouldn''t even be able to run for his life.


    "I have spirit power. As you know, I''m weak. I''m afraid I won''t be able to protect the entire team in the underground world, so you guys can stop looking at me," he spread his hands and said frankly.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him, then at Lin Qiao.


    Currently, all three in the room believed that Lin Qiao was the most suitable one for the job. She was a zombie, possessing poisonous fire and a space. She wouldn''t need to worry about her own safety at all. Wu Chengyue was powerful too, but his lightning power could be too destructive. With even a slight carelessness, he might end up burying the whole team and those underground creatures together in the earth.


    As the two men turned to her simultaneously, Lin Qiao said, "I''m fine with it. I''d like to see if there''s really an unimaginable space underground like you said."


    She was indeed curious about what made so many underground creatures come up to the earth''s surface. After hearing what Lan Lu said, she started to believe the existence of the underground world. If it didn''t exist, where did all those weird creatures from? The emergence of huge numbers of underground creatures didn''t seem like something that could happen within a short time.


    Lan Lu smiled. Unlike him, Wu Chengyue seemed to struggle a little.


    "What''s wrong? Are you worried about Miss. Lu''s safety? I think she''s much better at self-protecting as you are. So, she has a better chance to come back from the underground world alive than we do." Seeing the smile on Wu Chengyue''s face fade, Lan Lu said to him jokingly.


    One important part of the underground mission was for people to stay alive and bring back their discovery. As base leaders, Wu Chengyue and Lan Lu both took the big picture as their first priority when they thought about the mission. However, Wu Chengyue was not very happy to let his girlfriend carry the dangerous mission. Lan Lu was right though, as she was the most suitable person for the job.


    If he himself carried the mission instead of her, she might have to deal with Si Kongchen''s scheme. That would be dangerous too.


    Lin Qiao was confident about protecting herself. After all, her zombie body and her space were her double insurance. Her body was stronger than the bodies of human beings by many times over. Her power and sensations were both as sharp as those of top-graded level-eight beings. She believed that nothing but a level-nine mutated beast could threaten her life.


    Of course, there would still be a lot of dangers. Some unknown things or creatures underground might affect zombies somehow.


    As Lin Qiao seemed to have made up her mind, Wu Chengyue had no choice but to agree as well. He turned to Lan Lu and once again asked him, "Alright. Anything else?"


    It was the second time he tried to ask Lan Lu to leave, so the latter gave him a meaningful smile. But this time, he didn''t stay anything as he stood up and walked toward the door.


    "Alright, this is it," he said and then walked out.


    Only after watching him leave did Wu Chengyue feel slightly relaxed. He turned around to talk to Lin Qiao, but before he said anything, Duan Juan showed up at the door.


    "Eh-hem, I''m sorry to interrupt you, but there''s news from the base," Duan Juan knocked on the door, then looked at the two and said with a smile.


    Seeing that, Wu Chengyue felt a little speechless.


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 1259 Lin Fengs Message

    Looking at Wu Chengyue''s slightly sullen face, Duan Juan walked in with a smile.


    "What''s the news from our base? What happened?" Lin Qiao looked at her and asked.


    The message that came from All Beings Base at that moment was definitely urgent. Did something bad happen in the base?


    Hearing Duan Juan''s words, Wu Chengyue gave a sigh and waited to hear the news. Lin Qiao didn''t ask him to leave, meaning that he was allowed to hear the conversation that was going to happen between her and Duan Juan.


    "It''s good news. Wenwen is back," said Duan Juan to Lin Qiao with a grin.


    Lin Qiao was delighted to hear that. "Oh! Really? How is she?"


    "She seems fine. I heard that her second superpower has upgraded successfully. Her space has expanded largely too. She brought back a lot of great stuff. Look!" Duan Juan pointed at the letter in her hand while speaking. There were some things that she could not speak out loud.


    Lin Qiao read the letter, then popped her eyes with surprise. "Eh? No way! Is this real?" she exclaimed.


    The letter was written to her by Lin Feng. Lin Wenwen did not only return safely, but also explained to the others about why she disappeared earlier. She was not in her own space. Instead, she traveled through the time to seven years ago.


    "Is this real?" Lin Qiao couldn''t even believe it, "Can she do that?"


    "Yeah," Duan Juan looked at her and said excitedly, "Or else how did she bring back all those things? The things she brought back are all important."


    Lin Qiao kept reading the letter. At last, she was even gaping with disbelief.


    According to the letter, Lin Wenwen went back to seven years ago and spent three months in the peaceful world. She not only brought back great numbers of unexpired supplies, but also brought back five-hundred kilograms of fresh catmint plants and some seeds.


    "How did she know about that?" Lin Qiao couldn''t help but ask Duan Juan when she read the part about the catmint.


    "Don''t you forget about her new superpower. I guess she had foreseen it," Duan Juan smiled.


    "What on earth did she bring back? Where has she been all these days?" Lin Qiao''s reaction made Wu Chengyue very curious.


    "She''s been somewhere that you can never imagine," Lin Qiao glanced at him and said.


    "What is that place? What did she bring back to make you so excited?" Wu Chengyue looked at her and asked with a smile.


    After reading the letter, Lin Qiao released a wisp of dark fire and burned it. She looked at Wu Chengyue and said, "She brought back some good stuff. I just wonder if the finished product can be delivered to me within three days."


    Wu Chengyue was utterly confused. He didn''t even know what she was talking about.


    What Lin Qiao was thinking at the moment was that even though Lin Wenwen had delivered uninfected fresh catmint to Sea City Base, Sea City Base wouldn''t immediately turn them into weapons. After all, they needed to first run experiments to find out the actual effect of the catmint. Three days was just too short of time.


    It was not impossible though.


    "Send your men back to your base to tell Xiao Yunlong to speed up the manufacturing. Hopefully, the finished product can be delivered to me before I go underground. I''d like to try it out," Lin Qiao said to Wu Chengyue. If the new weapon worked well, the mission would be easier.


    "Speed up the manufacturing? What?" Wu Chengyue looked at her with confusion.


    "Let''s talk somewhere else," Lin Qiao stood up and walked to Wu Chengyue, then dragged his arm and brought him into the space. Meanwhile, Duan Juan sat down in the room, waiting for them to come out.


    Wu Chengyue was dragged into Lin Qiao''s space, landing in the living room inside nher house. Wu Yueling and Teng were playing on the couch. Seeing the two come in, the kids called them happily.


    "Daddy! Mama! Do you guys finally have time to come here?" Teng was small, but he was the loudest.


    "Daddy¡­" Wu Yueling called her father with a low voice.


    Wu Chengyue felt a better mood at the sight of the two kids. He walked to the couch and scooped Teng up as he sat down beside Wu Yueling. With a smile, he looked at Teng, then at Wu Yueling, "Did you guys miss Daddy already?"


    "No. But I''m happy to see you come here," Teng shook his head, then laughed.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the three of them, then walked outside and took a look around. She didn''t see Lu Tianyi in the field before the house, so she went behind the house. As she thought, he was there spending time with those big ducks and geese.


    He was holding a large goose with his left hand and a big duck with the other. The two birds were reaching their heads toward each other to launch attacks while he was trying very hard to separate them.


    Quack! Quack!


    Lu Tianyi was standing there with a sulky face, holding the two birds. He even had some feathers on his face and head.


    "Hah¡­ What are you doing here?" Lin Qiao looked at him and laughed.


    Lu Tianyi parted his arms as he walked to a cage and threw a bird in, then to the other side to throw the other bird into another cage. Only after that did he clap his hands and remove the feathers off his face.


    "These two are all male. They hate each other. I don''t know why they can always unlock the cages and fight each other," he said with a tired face.


    He still had a feather on one of his ears. Looking at him, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but laugh, "So¡­ you often have to stop them from fighting?"


    Lu Tianyi raised a hand to take off the last feather on his head, then rolled his eyes and said, "Or? Am I supposed to let them fly to my field and ruin my vegetables while fighting each other?"


    Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say, so she turned and went back into the house.


    She walked to the couch, where she rubbed the head of her son who was lying in Wu Chengyue''s arms and said to the boy, "You were right. Aunty Wenwen has already come back. She brought back something that might cure Yuan Tianxing."


    If she remembered right, catmint juice was able to remove the destructive energy inside Yuan Tianxing''s body. She didn''t know if it would work well or not yet. But, the new catmint would certainly be rather effective without a doubt.


    "Eh? Really? Where did she go?" Teng looked at her with surprise. The boy''s big eyes glowed with curiosity.


    Wu Chengyue was also looking at her curiously. The look on the faces of the father and son was exactly the same. The man and the boy both fixed their eyes, which looked similar to her.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao felt as if a feather had brushed across her heart, caused a subtle but magical feeling.


    She felt slightly itchy, warm, and sweet.


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 1260 So Thats What Happened

    Lin Qiao walked to the armchair nearby and sat down as she said, "She went back seven years ago and brought back uninfected catmint."


    Wu Chengyue, Teng, and Wu Yueling all popped their eyes and looked at her.


    "What does that mean?" Wu Chengyue looked at her with confusion, failing to understand her meaning. Teng and Wu Yueling were even more confused than their father. Teng didn''t believe it, and Wu Yueling didn''t understand what ''back seven years ago'' meant.


    Wu Chengyue knew what it meant but didn''t think it was possible, which was why he looked at Lin Qiao with confusion.


    Lin Qiao spread her hands and said, "I don''t know what has happened to her exactly. According to Lin Feng, she went back seven years ago and brought back a big amount of uninfected fresh catmint from the past. She has already sent a part of the catmint to your base. That''s why I asked you to send your men back there to tell Xiao Yunlong to speed up the manufacturing, and then send a few samples to me to let me try them."


    Wu Chengyue had a strong mind, so he soon calmed down. But, he still had doubts.


    "So, you''re saying that she disappeared because she traveled through the time to the past?" He looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao believed that he wouldn''t tell anyone else about it, so she told him the truth straightforwardly. He seemed not to want to believe it, but also felt that he had to believe it. The look on his face made her want to laugh. "Yeah. Don''t you believe me? Yeah, it does sound unbelievable. But, once your men return to your base, you''ll be hearing about the catmint," she said.


    Wu Chengyue spent quite a while staring at her, then nodded and said, "It''s not that I don''t believe it. I just needed some time to process it. However, as I''ve learned what has happened to you, I now think that your sister''s story is probably true."


    On hearing his words, Lin Qiao stopped short, then recalled what happened to herself. Exactly, she herself died and then came back to life wearing someone else''s skin. She didn''t know what brought her back to life, but she guessed that Lin Wenwen''s foreseeing power might be what brought her back to the past.


    She had even forgotten about what happened to herself. It seemed that she had gotten used to Lu Tianyu''s body.


    Teng looked at Lin Qiao and took a tumble. He slightly opened his little mouth, then said, "Oh, so Aunty went back to the past! How amazing! No wonder I felt that she''s fine. She traveled through time! She managed to bring things back from the past? She was still able to use her space when she was in the past?"


    That was such a marvelous skill! She was actually able to bring things from seven years ago to the present!


    "Unimaginable, right? I never thought that she''d experience something like that. I guess she was not only able to use her space in the past, but also her power to see the future. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have brought back the catmint," said Lin Qiao.


    "Oh, Okay. I''ll soon tell Licheng to send some people back to inform the base," Wu Chengyue nodded.


    Speaking of catmint reminded Lin Qiao of something. She narrowed her eyes to look at the outside and found that Duan Juan was still in her room. Then, she quickly stood up and disappeared in front of the kids and their father.


    Wu Chengyue and Teng were confused by her movement, having no idea why she left suddenly.


    Lin Qiao came out of her space and said to Duan Juan, "Duan Juan, did Lin Feng send something to me along with the letter?"


    Duan Juan smiled as she stood up and nodded, "Yes." While speaking, she raised a hand and handed her a bagful of roughly packed catmint. She was holding the bag when she came in, but neither Wu Chengyue nor Lin Qiao noticed it.


    "I knew it!" Lin Qiao happily took it over and then disappeared in front of Duan Juan.


    After giving the bag to Lin Qiao, Duan Juan turned and left the room.


    As Wu Chengyue and Teng were still wondering why Lin Qiao suddenly disappeared, she came back while holding a bag.


    "What''s that?" Wu Chengyue immediately noticed the bag in her hand.


    "The cure for Yuan Tianxing," Lin Qiao dropped the bag while speaking, then opened the bag and took the catmint out. Then, she found a bowl and poured some water in. Next, she crushed the catmint with her hand and put it in the bowl. After stirring in the bowl with her finger a few times, she put the bowl on the table and left.


    "What is she doing?" Wu Chengyue glanced at the bowl, then at Lin Qiao''s back.


    "What do you think she''s doing? Didn''t she just say this is the cure for Uncle Yuan? She''s going to get Uncle Yuan out of the lake, of course!" Teng rolled his eyes and said to his father.


    Being reminded by the boy, Wu Chengyue recalled that Lin Qiao had put Yuan Tianxing in her lake earlier.


    "Tianyi, prepare a bathrobe for me, or a big towel." On her way out, Lin Qiao said to Lu Tianyi who was passing by. At the lakeside, she released a cloud of black mist and took off her clothes, then leaped into the water.


    Lu Tianyi stopped walking. After watching Lin Qiao jump into the lake, he helplessly turned around and walked into the house to find her the bathrobe she asked for.


    A short while later, Lin Qiao brought Yuan Tianxing out of the lake and threw the naked man out of the mist, straight to Lu Tianyi, who was waiting for her by the lake. He wrapped Yuan Tianxing up with the bathrobe, then carried the man in his arms and walked toward the house.


    As Lin Qiao put on her clothes and came into the house, Yuan Tianxing was already put on the couch. Lu Tianyi was standing next to the couch with Teng held in his arms while Wu Chengyue was staring at Yuan Tianxing with his arms folded. Ling Ling was hiding behind her father''s legs, looking at the purple-skinned Yuan Tianxing with fear.


    Yuan Tianxing did look a little scary at that moment.


    Looking at Yuan Tianxing, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but twist his lips and look at Lin Qiao as he said with discontentment, "When can people go down into your lake without taking off their clothes? Or, when can you bring the energy in the lake up to the land? Isn''t it a little inappropriate for people to always get into your lake naked?"


    "Haven''t you gotten used to it yet?" Lin Qiao gave him a bland glance and said, "I don''t even mind. Why do you mind?"


    "Of course, I mind." The smile on Wu Chengyue''s face was gone, and he looked at her expressionlessly. How could he possibly not mind? He was clearly aware of the condition of her lake, and had been telling himself not to care too much about it. However, watching her bring the naked Yuan Tianxing out of the lake while she herself was naked too, he felt utterly uncomfortable, even though he understood that she had no choice.


    How weird was her treatment method! It was reasonable for him to be unhappy about others touching her body. Which man would be happy to let other people see or even touch the body of the woman that he liked? He honestly felt uncomfortable about it. He felt very uncomfortable!


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 1261 Cure Yuan Tianxing

    Lin Qiao glanced at him speechlessly, then picked up the bowl of crushed catmint that was soaked in water. The catmint juice had mixed with the water, and after the soaking, the water now contained a high percentage of pure catmint juice.


    She put the bowl near Yuan Tianxing and started pouring the liquid in the bowl into his mouth carefully. Meanwhile, she responded to Wu Chengyue, "What can I do about it? I can''t control it. The water dissolves the clothes once it touches them. I can''t stop it."


    After slowing pouring the liquid into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth along with the crushed catmint, Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to observe the inside of his body. Wu Chengyue had no words to argue with her, so he stopped talking and looked at her unhappily.


    As same as Lin Qiao, Lu Tianyi and the kids were all having their eyes on Yuan Tianxing. Teng''s pair of bright eyes were fixed on his chest.


    Yuan Tianxing''s purple skin was glowing with a weird, green light. It was because he was shrouded in the energy from Lin Qiao''s lake for a long time. but currently, the faint green light was fading slowly under the effect of the purple, destructive energy.


    Lin Qiao knew what was happening. A small amount of lake energy lingered inside his body as he had stayed in the lake for a long time. Now, since he had left the lake, the energy of the lake was no longer suppressing the dark energy, and the dark energy instantly boosted itself. That was why the green energy was fading.


    As Lin Qiao poured the catmint juice into his mouth, a different kind of green energy that was richly colored spread from his stomach and started fighting against the purple energy. That green energy was many times purer and stronger than the energy from the catmint juice that Lin Qiao got from Leng Xuantong the last time, and it immediately showed an obvious effect against the purple energy!


    "Hah! It''s working!" Lin Qiao''s eyes glowed slightly with excitement.


    "Yeah, it''s working!" Teng nodded in agreement.


    On hearing the boy''s words, Lin Qiao turned and gave him a glance as she asked him, "Eh? Teng, can you see it too?"


    Teng shook his head and said, "What? I can''t see it, but I can smell it! I have a very keen nose! I can tell how it''s going by sensing the change of his vibe!"


    Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue, and Lu Tianyi all looked at the boy with surprise as if they were looking at a real treasure.


    "Teng, I didn''t know you have that skill! I''m amazed!" Lu Tianyi rubbed the boy''s tender little face. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao dropped her head and kept observing Yuan Tianxing. The rich green energy inside his body had been spreading very slowly. In the meantime, the green energy and purple energy were devouring each other.


    Teng slapped Lu Tianyi''s hand off his face, then patted him on the shoulder as he pointed a finger at Yuan Tianxing and said, "Little Uncle, take me over there. I want to touch Uncle Yuan."


    "Why?" Lu Tianyi asked him curiously. Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue turned their eyes on the boy as well.


    "Don''t ask me why just yet. Just take me there," Teng refused to answer his question, but patted him on the shoulder again.


    With curiosity, Lu Tianyi carried the boy to Yuan Tianxing and waited to see what he planned to do. As he was put near Yuan Tianxing, Teng reached out a hand and pressed on the latter''s skin.


    After spending a short while feeling the energies inside Yuan Tianxing''s body, he retracted his hand, then folded his little arms before his chest and said, "I think the bowl of catmint juice isn''t enough. But, we can''t give him more now. We have to wait until the catmint''s effect wears off completely this time to give him more uninfected catmint juice. I guess he won''t wake up until we have repeated this process a few times."


    After spending a short while observing the energies inside Yuan Tianxing''s body, Lin Qiao did the math and roughly figured out the amount of the energy contained in the bowl of catmint juice and its consumption rate. As a result, the bowl of catmint juice would be able to neutralize twenty-five percent of the dark energy.


    So, Teng was right. She did need to give Yuan Tianxing a few more doses of catmint juice.


    "It''s okay. As long as it''s effective. I don''t care how many times we need to do this," Lin Qiao sighed with relief, then smiled at Teng. Now, she knew for sure that Yuan Tianxing would be cured. Finally, she had one less thing to worry about.


    Wu Chengyue was paying attention to the look on her face. He knew that she not only needed to worry about Lin Wenwen earlier, but also about Yuan Tianxing''s condition. In the meantime, she had to keep her eyes on the overall situation on the outside and think about how to deal with Si Kongchen''s scheme.


    However, seeing her care so much about another man and try so hard to help him, Wu Chengyue felt more and more uncomfortable. Why did she never care so much about him?


    "Alright. Tianyi, carry Yuan Tianxing to the house next-door and find him a room to lie there." Lin Qiao threw Yuan Tianxing to Lu Tianyi once after she made sure that he would be cured. Lu Tianyi put Teng into Lin Qiao''s arms, then carried Yuan Tianxing in his arms and walked out to the house next door.


    Lin Qiao held Teng as she looked at the catmint left in the bag and fell into thoughts.


    "What''s wrong? Is there some other problem?" Seeing the look on Lin Qiao''s face, Wu Chengyue couldn''t help but ask.


    "I''m thinking that this might not be enough. I need to go out and ask Duan Juan to get some more," Lin Qiao sat down on the couch as he put Teng beside her.


    "Who do you plan to bring to the underground world with you?" Wu Chengyue sat on the armchair near her as he reached out to pull Teng toward himself and rubbed the boy''s hair.


    "Just the ones who followed me here this time. The strong ones will go down with me while the weaker ones will stay in my space," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said.


    The underground world would be very dangerous. The ones she brought with her this time were mostly at level-five or six. However, among them, human beings were rather weak, and a few of them were even at level three or four. She planned to put the relatively weak ones in her space and let the strong ones follow her underground.


    "There''s one question that I''ve been wanting to ask. Normally, space possessors won''t bring people into their spaces. Don''t people always like to hide their spaces? Your space has so many secrets. Aren''t you afraid that people might find out about those secrets?" Wu Chengyue was suddenly curious about what she was thinking.


    He understood that she was probably pretty confident that things like that would never happen, but what if there was an accident?


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "Why would I hide it? Compared with using this space as a storage room, I prefer using it as a weapon. In this place, I am able to control the life of every living being and read everyone''s mind. The ones who cast greedy eyes on my base are all dead. Besides, the number of space possessors is small indeed, but we are not rare, are we? Why do I need to hide my space? I''m even planning to build a zombie army in my base. Isn''t it cool to take a zombie army everywhere with me?"


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 1262 Im Looking for Dong Xinxin

    Lin Qiao understood what Wu Chengyue was talking about. Some space possessors who were extra cautious wouldn''t let people know about their space power. After all, some people might covet the things in their spaces after knowing about them. No matter what exactly was kept in their space, it would be seductive to some people.


    However, Lin Qiao thought in a completely different way. All she wanted was to get the most out of her space. She wanted to use it as weapon, storage space, or even a farm. In that way, she couldn''t possibly keep hiding it. Therefore, instead of keeping it secret, she decided to exploit as much value out of it as possible. Besides, in her space, she was even able to kill the ones stronger than herself, so what was there to be worried about? Her space was under her full control. If anyone learned about the value of her space and grew some evil intent toward it, she would feel it. She was able to read people''s minds. Of course, she tended to make use of that ability.


    Therefore, what Wu Chengyue was worried about didn''t concern her. But of course, she had been staying vigilant all the time. She was now much stronger than before, but still, she wouldn''t bring just anyone into her space. Apart from the ones who had her complete trust, the ones who could be brought into her space were either to be killed or saved by her.


    "You''re thinking about this in a unique way. I guess you''re the only one who has the guts to think this way. After all, your space is special. Some people might attempt to control you after learning that your space can even grow food, "Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said.


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said, "What does it matter? I always select the people that I will bring in here, alright? I''m not stupid enough to let just anyone in."


    The people who were given access to her space could be divided into three kinds, the ones to be killed, the ones she fully trusted, and the ones that she tended to make use of. Wu Chengyue thought for a moment, then realized that what he said was a little unnecessary.


    "Alright," Lin Qiao stood up and said, "It''s about the time for you to go out, right?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at the time, then nodded and said, "Yeah." Then, he said to the two kids, "You two stay here. Don''t cause anyone any trouble."


    "Em," the two kids nodded together.


    "We''ve been well-behaved all the time," Teng said with his head tilted.


    "Yeah, yeah, you guys have always been the best. Your uncle will come here soon. We got to go. There''re things that we need to do," Lin Qiao scooped Teng up and kissed him on the cheek before putting him back on the couch and standing up.


    Wu Chengyue stood up as well. He walked to the other side of the tea-table and waited for Lin Qiao to bring him out.


    Next, Lin Qiao brought him out of the space, then the two of them went separate ways to do their own works.


    Wu Chengyue asked Xiao Licheng to send some people back to the base and inform Xiao Yunlong to speed up the manufacturing of the new weapons. At the same time, Lin Qiao secretly let Xie Dong out of her space and told him to go back to the base to bring her more catmint.


    Then, she stayed in Huaxia Base and waited for the day the underground mission started. With the catmint that Lin Wenwen brought back and the weapon that Sea City Base produced, she didn''t worry much about the underground creatures for the time being.


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, Lin Wenwen asked Xiao Yunlong to help her find some people. Before long, Meng Yue returned to her with the information she wanted.


    "These people run the top hunter group in Sea City Base. Do you know them?" Meng Yue handed the files of those people to Lin Wenwen and said.


    Lin Wenwen read the file about the hunter''s group. It was a five-star hunter group in Sea City Base, having about a thousand members. The few people that Lin Wenwen was looking for weren''t playing important roles in Sea City Base, but each of them had built tens of thousands of credits. For other people, that kind number was hard to achieve.


    "They aren''t willing to join Sea City Base officially, not to mention the army. I feel that they''re waiting for someone," said Meng Yue confusedly and uncertainly.


    "Waiting for someone? Whom?" Lin Wenwen looked at her questioningly.


    Before the apocalypse, when she came back to the future, Dong Xinxin and her people were fully prepared. They were totally able to enter the core team of Sea City Base soon after the base was built up.


    While reading the files with curiosity, Lin Wenwen said to Meng Yue, "If I''m right, they should be the first batch to join Sea City Base. They should be living a very good life in this base by now."


    Meng Yue sat down as she smiled and said, "They are living a very good life indeed. But still, they aren''t willing to join our base. This girl, Dong Xinxin, is so mysterious. These three men are the face of this hunter''s group, but in fact, they take Dong Xinxin''s opinion very seriously. They wouldn''t do anything that she disagreed with, no matter how tempting it might be."


    Hearing her mention Dong Xinxin''s name, Lin Wenwen gave a smile.


    Meng Yue wore a confused look again as she said, "I didn''t notice this before, but after digging into their backgrounds, I found that everything seemed to be as right as rain for them in the past seven years¡­"


    Almost everyone else who survived the past seven years had been through unimaginable difficulties. Even the people who were powerful and had high-status now struggled before the base was founded.


    "Maybe they have some special abilities," said Lin Wenwen, "One of them might have some kind of secret power to keep them safe. Dong Lijia and Dong Xinxin were the kids of a wealthy family before the apocalypse. Perhaps, their family knows someone with a special power."


    She would, of course, not tell Meng Yue that Dong Xinxin had traveled through time and relived the seven years after the apocalypse. She made up something to divert Meng Yue''s attention.


    "That''s possible. Why do you want to find them? Do you need their help?" Meng Yue asked those questions out of pure curiosity. After all, Lin Wenwen must be looking for those people for a reason.


    "Yeah, I need their help," Lin Wenwen nodded and said.


    Meng Yue stood up and said, "Alright, since you need to talk to them, I''ll let you get to it."


    "Thank you for finding them for me," Lin Wenwen walked her out of the door and thanked her with a smile. After that, she and her people instantly headed toward the address that Meng Yue provided.


    In a nice neighborhood in District A, Lin Wenwen showed the pass that Meng Yue gave her. Then, she brought Jiang Anan, Qin Yu, and the others straight to where Dong Xinxin Lived.


    Dong Xinxin''s place was guarded. The guards politely stopped Lin Wenwen and her people, said, "Hi, may I ask who are you looking for?"


    "I''m looking for Dong Xinxin," Lin Wenwen answered the question with a smile.


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 1263 She Said Something Mean to Him Once She Saw Him

    The two men who were guarding the hallway looked at Lin Wenwen, then at Jiang Anan and Qin Yu, who were behind her. Then, they turned back to Lin Wenwen and asked her, "Who are you people? Why do you want to see Xinxin?"


    The two people looked alert, and judging by their way of addressing her, they were pretty close with her. With a smile, Lin Wenwen responded to them, "You don''t need to know who I am. Just tell her that Wen wants to see her. I believe she''ll be happy to see me."


    The two men glanced at each other, then turned back and spent three seconds observing Lin Wenwen uncertainly. After that, one of them said, "Wait here." Then, he turned around and walked to a closed door before knocking on it. The door was soon opened, and Lin Wenwen heard the man talking to the people in the room.


    "A girl named Wen wants to see Xinxin." The man said to the people in the room.


    "Wen? Ah! Where is she?" A young man''s voice was heard from the room. He first murmured the name Wen, then asked the question eagerly and excitedly.


    The man at the door made a step backward, then raised an arm and pointed at Lin Wenwen as he said, "They''re at the stairs."


    Next, Lin Wenwen saw a head pop up from behind the door. She knew that person. She couldn''t even bear looking at that face of the young man, which used to be pretty seven years ago.


    The sunny and handsome young man was now strangely dark-skinned! It was as if he had spent the past seven years in Africa! But thankfully, his eyes were still bright, and his facial features were still perfect. In fact, he could still be counted as a handsome boy, with dark skin though.


    He fixed his brightly glowing eyes on Lin Wenwen curiously, then asked the man at the door, "Eh? Three girls? Which one of them is Wen?"


    "The one in the front," the man dropped his hand and answered the question.


    On hearing that, Luo Yuanjun landed his eyes which were scanning across the faces of Lin Wenwen, Jiang Anan, and Qin Yu on Lin Wenwen.


    "Hah! Young Master Luo, I haven''t seen you for just a few days. How come you''ve become like an African already? That change happened a little too soon!" Before Luo Yuanjun said a word, Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but cover her mouth with a hand and say with laughter.


    Sensing her joking tone, Luo Yuanjun froze for a second, then wore an unhappy look. That sulky look on his face made his face seem even darker than it really was!


    Luo Yuanjun was excited, but unexpectedly, Lin Wenwen laughed at him over his skin color once she saw him. After spending two seconds in a sulk, he said to her, "A few days? It''s been seven years, okay? When do you think you met us?"


    He understood the meaning of Lin Wenwen''s words, and knew what she was really talking about. What she said was like a secret code, that allowed him to confirm that she was the one who used to share a body with Dong Xinxin.


    Apart from him and Lin Wenwen herself, no one else on the scene understood what Lin Wenwen was talking about.


    "Emm¡­ Wait, I think I''ve seen you somewhere before," Luo Yuanjun abruptly stared at Lin Wenwen''s face and continued.


    "She''s Lin Wenwen from All Beings Base. She''s also the little sister of the former leader of Hades Base," a deep man''s voice was heard from behind him.


    Lin Wenwen recognized that voice. It sounded more mature than before though.


    A cold-faced, tall and strong man showed up behind Luo Yuanjun as he looked at Lin Wenwen peacefully. He looked even more frosty than he was seven years ago, and the expression on his face was as cold as a glacier. Hiding under that bland look in his eyes was a ferocity.


    Under his gaze, Lin Wenwen felt some pressure. The pressure wasn''t very strong though, so she simply ignored it. She spread her hands and said, "So, can you invite me in and offer me a seat or not?"


    Deng Chenfei coldly glanced at the man standing before Lin Wenwen. The man immediately took a step backward and made the path for Lin Wenwen and her people.


    "You guys wait here," Lin Wenwen turned and said to Sun Lunan and the others. Then, she walked toward the room together with Jiang Anan and Qin Yu. Sun Lunan, Dou Yunfan, and the others glanced at Deng Chenfei''s people, then found a corner to stay and wait in.


    Deng Chenfei gave a glimpse to Lin Wenwen''s people, then quickly turned and walked back into the room. Luo Yuanjun gave the man at the door a hand gesture and signaled for him to return to his position. Then, he stayed near the door, observing Lin Wenwen.


    "So, it was you. You look much different from the way you were in Hades Base. No wonder I found your face familiar but don''t remember who you are," Luo Yuanjun said after spending a short while looking at Lin Wenwen.


    Lin Wenwen walked up to him together with the other two girls. She glanced at him and stayed silent as she walked straight into door and looked at the people in the living room.


    Apart from Deng Chenfei, Dong Xinxin and her brother were also standing in the living room. They were both looking at Lin Wenwen with a complicated expression on their faces, containing curiosity and interest.


    Dong Xinxin looked the same as she was before Lin Wenwen left her body. Her vibe had become more restrained, and as same as Lin Wenwen, she had cut her hair short. She didn''t grow much taller during the past seven years. Meanwhile, Dong Lijia''s face had become chiseled. He now looked much more mature than he was at the age of twenty. His mildly handsome face now wore a fake smile, and his eyes were narrowed.


    "Dong Lijia, can you please open your eyes?" Lin Wenwen looked at him and said, "Your eyes are supposed to be big. Why are you now smiling like a retarded person?"


    Dong Lijia didn''t know what to say.


    "Haha!" Dong Xinxin burst in laughter, and so did Luo Yuanjun. "Hahahaha! Told you! I knew I''m not the only one who finds your smile silly!"


    Dong Lijia stayed silent for a few more seconds.


    "Can''t you be nice? We haven''t seen each other in seven years. Why on earth are you so mean to me at this moment of reunion?" Dong Lijia''s fake, foxy smile was finally gone as he looked at Lin Wenwen and complained.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t let Jiang Anan and Qin Yu in, but told them to wait at the door. After she came in, Luo Yuanjun closed the door, so the two girls didn''t hear their conversation.


    "She''s mean to you because she loves you. Thankfully, I wasn''t so close with her, so she was only slightly mean to me," Luo Yuanjun looked at Dong Lijia and said, feeling lucky. After all, all Lin Wenwen had said to him outside the door just now was that he looked like an African.


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 1264 Dont You Regret?

    Dong Xinxin spent a few seconds staring at Lin Wenwen''s face, then sighed, "You''re pretty! Why didn''t you tell us your full name?"


    If they knew who she really was, they would be able to help her after the apocalypse. With their help, her sister wouldn''t be so unprepared for the disaster and end up losing her base and life.


    Being reminded by Dong Xinxin, the other three in the room instantly turned to look at Lin Wenwen''s face. Before, they were all thinking about who Wen really was, and then they found her face familiar. As they were all focusing on her identity, none of them paid attention to how pretty she was.


    After hearing what Dong Xinxin said, the three started looking at her carefully. They had seen her pictures before, but to their surprise, she looked prettier in person. She looked largely different from the girl in the pictures though. Now, she didn''t look like the Lin Wenwen from Hades Base, but very much like Wen that they knew seven years ago.


    Lin Wenwen had also been looking at Dong Xinxin from head to toe. "Hmm, not bad!" she nodded and said, "At least, you didn''t regain the weight that I managed to lose for you!"


    After saying that, she walked to the couch and found a place to sit down, then answered Dong Xinxin''s question, "I know what you wanted to say. You wanted to say that if you knew who I really was, you''d be helping me or my sister during the past seven years. But, when I was wearing your skin, I didn''t want to change my current situation. If you helped me before I met you, the lives of my family and me would be different. All Beings Base might not exist now. With your help, my sister might not have died, but it was her death that created my today."


    More importantly, her sister had come back to life. She built a new base, and she was now stronger than before by many times over. Her sister was at least three times stronger than she was a year ago. Also, she was now a zombie emperor who would never die.


    If she let Dong Xinxin and her friends change the lives of her and her family, her sister wouldn''t become such a powerful being. In the second explosion of the zombie virus, her mother became a zombie. If her sister weren''t a zombie, and if she didn''t have the space and the lake in it, her mother would be slaughtered right in front of them as a zombie.


    Her sister was now living with another identity, but she didn''t abandon her family. That was enough; no change needed to be made.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t look sad because of the death of her big sister, so Dong Xinxin felt like she was unable to understand her. With confusion, she looked at her in the eyes and asked, "But, you lost your sister. Don''t you regret it?"


    Lin Wenwen knew that Dong Xinxin cared about her sincerely. However, she could not tell the latter the truth. So, she responded to her vaguely, "For some things, changing the past might not deliver the most ideal result. Perhaps, things would turn out for the worse."


    If Lin Qiao didn''t come back to life and become Lu Tianyu, she would certainly do something to try and change that when she went back to seven years ago. However, her sister was still alive now, and her life was even better than before. Hence, the current situation did not need to be changed.


    Dong Xinxin and the others looked at each other with confusion. None of them understood Lin Wenwen''s words. However, as she didn''t seem to regret at all, Dong Xinxin decided not to ask further questions.


    It was indeed the death of the leader of Hades Base that created the current Lin Wenwen. She was no longer a proud, spoiled girl, but more like a survivor in the post-apocalyptic era. She had cut off her long hair, but she was still pretty.


    Dong Xinxin sat down beside her and said, "The day the apocalypse arrived, I woke to find that you were gone. That small space of mine was gone too. I couldn''t sense your vibe, so I guessed that you might have come straight back here. So, during the past seven years, I''ve been waiting all the time. I believed that you''d be looking for us when you came back."


    Lin Wenwen nodded knowingly and said, "No wonder you guys never joined Sea City Base. Have you been waiting for me? Isn''t Sea City Base good? Why didn''t you settle down here?"


    She didn''t understand. Dong Xinxin was fully prepared before the apocalypse. The supplies that she had stored were enough to even support a small base for many years. If they offered a part of those supplies to Sea City Base, their status in the base would be completely different. Why were they waiting for her? In the past, she didn''t tell Dong Xinxin and her family much about herself. But still, they spent seven years waiting for her, without making the decision to settle down. Why?


    The look on Dong Xinxin''s face grew a little complicated at that moment. She glanced at Dong Lijia, who was narrowing his eyes again, then looked at Lin Wenwen and said, "Em, it does have something to do with you. At first, I was indeed planning to settle down here in Sea City. However, before we made that decision, I suddenly had a feeling that this place is probably not the best place for us to live in the post-apocalyptic era. After that, I spent days considering, then decided to give up on Sea City Base, and to wait for you to show up."


    "No way!" Lin Wenwen looked at her with surprise and said, "Have you triggered the power of predicting the future? Is your current superpower still time traveling?"


    It seemed that Dong Xinxin had attained the power of foreseeing the future. But, why did she wait for Lin Wenwen? Would something bad happen in Sea City Base?


    Dong Xinxin shook her head and said, "It''s not that kind of superpower. It''s just some kind of keen sensation, like how animals sense danger. I can''t explain. I never felt the same about other things."


    Lin Wenwen had roughly understood her meaning. She nodded, then turned to the other three. After that, she couldn''t help but look at Dong Xinxin again and ask, "Deng Chenfei looks not so different from before, but what has happened to Luo Yuanjun and your brother? The sun can be hot after the apocalypse, but it wouldn''t turn his skin so dark, would it?"


    Seeing the confused look on Lin Wenwen''s face, Dong Xinxin smiled and showed a pair of dimples. "Oh, it might have something to do with his superpower," she said, "Guess, what''s his power?"


    Lin Wenwen turned to look at Luo Yuanjun questioningly, "This is the first time I heard that superpower can change the skin color. I thought he got tanned on purpose."


    "I''m not brain-damaged. Why would I want to turn my skin so dark?" Luo Yuanjun immediately disproved Lin Wenwen''s ridiculous guess.


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and said straightforwardly, "That''s not impossible. The apocalypse could damage your brain."


    After saying that, she shrugged and looked at Luo Yuanjun, who had no idea how to continue that conversation.


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 1265 What Is She Looking At?

    "He has fire power. But, his power isn''t the same as normal fire power," Dong Lijia explained, "His power allows him to absorb the energy of the sun. The temperature of his fire is thousands of degrees higher than normal fire."


    "I didn''t know the fire power can get one''s skin tanned," Lin Wenwen looked at Luo Yuanjun with great interest.


    "His body has evolved under the effect of his superpower. It automatically absorbs solar energy and turns that into his own energy even when he''s not using his power. His skin under the clothes is in the same color as his face," said Dong Lijia with a smile.


    Lin Wenwen gave Luo Yuanjun another few glances, then accepted his new look. People had triggered many different types of superpowers currently. It was normal that some people had their bodies changed under the effect of their powers.


    She turned to look at Dong Lijia and said, "Is your power the reason why you can''t open your eyes wide now?"


    "Hah, no. It''s because his personality has changed. Do you think that he''s still the silly boy you knew seven years ago?" Dong Xinxin laughed and said.


    Lin Wenwen quickly glanced at Dong Lijia from head to toe. She herself and the tall and strong Deng Chenfei were both wearing camouflage suits. Unlike them, Dong Lijia was in a white leisure suit and a light-brown, tight sweater, looking handsome and elegant. The smiling fox eyes of his made him seem very hard to see through.


    He looked mild and elegant, but also inaccessible. He could even be described with the word ''dangerous'' now.


    Lin Wenwen spent a short while staring at his face. No image popped in her head, meaning that she wasn''t able to see his future. But, something crossed her mind and made her twirl to Deng Chenfei.


    She remembered seeing Deng Chenfei and Lin Feng in her head before she came back. She saw her big brother being very anxious.


    It was about Lin Feng, so it was important for her. Lin Wenwen focused her mind power and stared at Deng Chenfei as she narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, she lost her sight and saw an image in her mind.


    Deng Chenfei was walking in building that looked like a large factory. Following a sudden boom, the place was overwhelmed by a massive spread of fire. A huge herd of ferocious-looking creatures emerged from the fire, charging at him. He turned to find the emergency exit and soon rushed out of the building, but what was waiting for him outside was an even larger group of monsters.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen noticed a few people who were right near Deng Chenfei, surrounded by a large group of scary-looking creatures. However, something seemed to have been disabling those creatures from touching those people.


    One of those people was very familiar to her. That was her sister-in-law¡ªCheng Wangxue. Her hands were tied up behind her body, so she couldn''t move freely. The people surrounding her were all wearing masks, with their faces covered entirely.


    The picture ended there.


    "Wen? Wen?" Dong Lijia''s voice suddenly woke Lin Wenwen up. The latter turned to look at him with confusion in her eyes. But soon, she focused her eyes again and turned back to Deng Chenfei.


    The others were all looking at her bewilderedly, even including Deng Chenfei himself. This time, she spent about ten seconds staring at him, but no other images popped in her head.


    "What''s she looking at?" Dong Lijia finally couldn''t help but ask Dong Xinxin, who shook her head. Dong Lijia thought for a moment, then wore a mysterious smile and said to Lin Wenwen, "Stop looking at him. He likes my sister."


    Dong Xinxin, Lin Wenwen, and Deng Chenfei looked at him together in silence. Dong Lijia looked at the three of them and said, "Eh? Isn''t that why she''s looking at you?"


    Lin Wenwen rolled up her sleeves and said to him with a smile, "You are aware that talking nonsense might get your ass kicked sometimes, aren''t you? When did I say that I like this boy?"


    Watching her movements, Dong Lijia immediately recalled how brutally she used to torture him in the gym seven years ago. So, he silently turned his eyes up to look at the ceiling.


    Lin Wenwen started looking at Dong Xinxin and Deng Chenfei. Next, she turned to Luo Yuanjun and said, "Hmm, seven years ago, I found that both of you have been fond of Xinxin. It seems that neither of you managed to win her heart yet."


    Ever since she came in, both Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun had been keeping an appropriate distance from Dong Xinxin, without making any intimate interactions with her.


    "Eh-hem¡­ Why suddenly mention this?" Dong Xinxin awkwardly kicked Lin Wenwen''s foot.


    During the few months that she and Lin Wenwen shared a body, Dong Xinxin learned things about Lin Wenwen. After experiencing the few years after the apocalypse and learning how evil human beings could be, she somehow became dependent on Lin Wenwen. it wasn''t like the way she relied on Dong Lijia. It was because Lin Wenwen was the only girl who didn''t dislike her because of her fat. On the contrary, Lin Wenwen spent a great effort to help her to lose weight.


    She rarely showed her face to the world during the past seven years. All the works were done by Dong Lijia, Deng Chenfei, and Luo Yuanjun. Only the core members of the hunter group knew about her existence. The three men had her protected well these years, to the point that many people outside hadn''t even heard her name.


    After giving Lin Wenwen a gentle kick, Dong Xinxin asked her, "Why were you staring at him? Did you see anything?"


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Yeah. My power is only at level-two, so I didn''t see it clearly¡­"


    Just now, she saw her sister-in-law in that future scene. Her situation didn''t seem good. No wonder Lin Feng looked so anxious in the last picture she saw.


    Only Dong Xinxin understood what she was talking about. The three men had completely no idea what she meant.


    "What picture? Are you able to see something different by staring at him?" Luo Yuanjun curiously looked at Deng Chenfei, then at Lin Wenwen.


    "I can see something very important!" On hearing his words, Lin Wenwen turned and carefully glanced at Deng Chenfei again.


    Deng Chenfei was wearing no expression, but a slight curiosity could be detected from his eyes by the people who knew him well.


    "I guess you two have both been pursuing Xinxin openly, right?" Lin Wenwen looked at Deng Chenfei, then at Luo Yuanjun. If they weren''t pursuing her openly, Dong Lijia wouldn''t say that just now.


    On hearing her question, both Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun glanced at Dong Xinxin awkwardly, then looked at Dong Lijia. Lin Wenwen finally figured out why was Dong Xinxin still single after seven years! It turned out that her brother was still highly protective of her!


    "What are you two looking at?" Dong Lijia said to the two smilingly, "My Xinxin is so petite and adorable. Only a powerful man at level-seven or above will be able to protect her! You two are still lingering in level-five, not even reaching level-six yet. So, don''t even think about it!"


    Deng Chenfei didn''t know what to say, and Luo Yuanjun stayed silent as well.


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 1266 I Do Miss You

    Lin Wenwen looked at Dong Xinxin and asked, "Will you ever be able to get married?"


    Dong Xinxin rolled her eyes and said, "I''m ignoring him."


    Lin Wenwen laughed, "It might take you many years to wait for them to get to level-seven."


    Dong Xinxin shrugged and said, "It''s okay. My parents have all the patience anyway."


    Lin Wenwen didn''t think of Mr. and Mrs. Dong until Dong Xinxin mentioned them. "How are Uncle and Aunty Dong?" She had lived with them for three months after all. They were both nice.


    Dong Xinxin nodded and said, "They''re good. But, neither of them triggered a superpower. I''ll take you to see them later. They''ll be happy to see you."


    "Sure!" Lin Wenwen nodded.


    "Why didn''t you come to us earlier? Did you come back here just recently?" Luo Yuanjun pulled over a chair and sat down on the other side of the tea-table as he asked.


    Lin Wenwen said, "I passed out half a month ago, then woke up to find myself wearing Xinxin''s skin. I came back here a few days ago. I spent three months in the past, but the time here only passed about twenty days."


    On hearing that, the others all wore a look of surprise.


    "No wonder none of the girls that we found who''s gone missing for three months seemed to be you," Dong Lijia looked at her and said.


    "I don''t know what exactly had happened either," Lin Wenwen smiled and said, "But fortunately, I managed to come back. I wonder if I''d ever have another chance like that."


    If she could travel through the time again under her own will, she might be able to figure out many ways to deal with the current problems.


    The catmint she brought back was a great example. The catmint wasn''t able to solve the underground creature crisis completely, but at least it could protect her base efficiently. With the catmint, human beings would no longer be defenseless under the attacks from those underground creatures, especially the relatively weak people. For those people, the catmint could be a crucial, life-saving treasure. However, if those creatures dug tunnels and drilled into the base, things would become troublesome. She had brought back uninfected catmint seeds, but people didn''t dare to plant them in the soil.


    People had to rely on weapons to fight those creatures.


    ¡­


    While Lin Qiao was in Huaxia Base, waiting for Duan Juan''s people to bring her the second batch of catmint, Wu Chengyue sent Xiao Licheng back to his base to tell Xiao Yunlong to produce the new catmint bullets as soon as possible, then bring them back to him.


    In the space, Lin Qiao was holding the second bowl of catmint drug while narrowing her eyes to observe the inside of Yuan Tianxing''s body. Through forty-eight hours of recovery, Yuan Tianxing''s condition had grown much better than before. The rich green energy inside his body was gone while twenty-five percent of the destructive, dark-purple energy had been neutralized.


    Lu Tianyi was standing nearby, holding Teng in his arms. Wu Yueling was standing beside his legs. From Lu Tianyi''s arms, Teng reached his head toward Yuan Tianxing and said, "Mama, Uncle Yuan is doing good. You can tell him to marry Aunty when he wakes up, hehe¡­"


    Lin Qiao, who was preparing to pour the drug into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth, paused, then turned to say to the boy, "Do you know what your Aunty wants?"


    "Yeah! I know a lot of things," Teng said.


    Lin Qiao gave him another glance and said, "Don''t say it out loud. Wenwen brought him the drug to save his life, but that doesn''t mean he has to marry her for that. We are not ancient people. If he doesn''t like her with a true heart, the two of them wouldn''t be happy even if they forced themselves to be together."


    Having finished talking, she bent over and opened Yuan Tianxing''s mouth with one hand while pouring the drug in.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue came to Lin Qiao''s room. The room was empty, so he figured that she was in her space. He sat down on a chair in the living room, waiting for her to come out.


    In the space, Lin Qiao gave the drug to Yuan Tianxing, then watched the two different types of energies devour each other in his body. At that point, Yuan Tianxing''s limbs had turned back to the normal color. His face was still purple though.


    Holding the empty bowl, Lin Qiao left with the others and returned to her own house. Then, she sensed Wu Chengyue''s vibe from her room outside, so she flashed out of the space.


    "Have the samples arrived already? So soon?" Lin Qiao asked Wu Chengyue a question at the sight of him.


    "No," Wu Chengyue raised his eyes to look at her and shook his head.


    "What are you doing here then?" Lin Qiao looked at him questioningly.


    "What do you mean?" Wu Chengyue turned down his mouth corners as he looked at her with a bitter face, "Am I allowed to see you at work only? Can''t I simply come here to visit you?"


    "Didn''t you see me yesterday?" Lin Qiao looked at him with confusion, leaving him speechless He missed her, so he came to her room to see her. Was that wrong? If he said that to her frankly, she would complain again, wouldn''t she? Did she even like him or not?


    Lin Qiao looked at his face. He seemed to have something to say, but was also having difficulty to say it. She folded her arms and circled around him, then said to him uncertainly, "You''re not gonna tell me that you came here to see me because you miss me, are you?"


    "Is something wrong with that?" Wu Chengyue looked at her straight in the eyes and nodded. Since she had pointed that out, he didn''t intend to deny it.


    "No¡­" This time, Lin Qiao didn''t know how to respond to him.


    Wu Chengyue walked up to her and smilingly put his arms around her waist as he said to her, "I do miss you."


    Lin Qiao raised her eyes and looked at his handsome face. On hearing his words, she couldn''t help but roll her eyes and say, "Oi, we saw each other about ten hours ago. I remember that you weren''t so clingy before¡­"


    Holding her slim waist and smelling her special, tempting aroma, Wu Chengyue said with a smile, "I wouldn''t be like this if you agreed to sleep with me at night. I''ve been poisoned by you. I feel panicked and unable to control myself after a short while not seeing you. What can I do?"


    ''Damn¡­ Let go of me, I want to rub the goosebumps off my skin!'' Lin Qiao thought.


    "This is someone else''s base. Can you please restrain yourself? Also, who taught you to talk like that?" Lin Qiao struggled out of his arms with her body hair bristling as she looked at him with a complicated expression and said. The man attempted to sneak into her bedroom and sleep with her in the past two nights, but she kicked him out every time. After all, they were in their enemy''s base. They needed to stay vigilant. Actually, they would still be able to stay alert even if they were sleeping on the same bed.


    She simply did not want to act too close with Wu Chengyue in someone else''s territory.


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 1267 Dont You Even Think about Leaving Me

    On hearing her words, Wu Chengyue smiled lightly and said, "Restrain what? Is it necessary to hide our relationship like that?"


    He, of course, wanted the whole world to know that Lin Qiao was his girlfriend. Most people had known about it already. So, he believed it wasn''t necessary to keep their relationship secret anymore.


    Lin Qiao looked at him unhappily and said, "What relationship do we have? Have you been over-thinking?"


    She had indeed started to accept him already, but she hadn''t accepted him fully yet.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him with a sad face and said, "You''re doing this again! Am I over-thinking? It''s you who''s been over-thinking! Don''t you have feelings for me at all? Am I not good enough?"


    Lin Qiao had seen a lot of looks on his face, including his fake smile, the serious look he wore in the kitchen, as well the look of jealousy and anger. None of the others had the luck to see as much as she had.


    It wasn''t the first time she saw the sad look on his face. She had no feelings about that before, but now, she didn''t have the heart to see him like that. So, she turned her face away, "You are a great man. But, I¡­ Give me more time. I can''t make the decision just yet."


    Recently, she had started to feel his sincerity. But still, she didn''t have the courage to risk her own future. People tended to change. He did care a lot about her now, but that didn''t mean he wouldn''t change in five, ten, or twenty years. Even though she had already started to accept him, she still needed more time to think about it.


    Looking at her, Wu Chengyue secretly sighed with relief. At least, Lin Qiao had already started to think about that. He was impatient, but he was aware that he should not push her too hard.


    "Alright. I''ll give you the time to think about it. Don''t take too long though. I don''t want to wait until Teng learns to run!" He adjusted his expression and said to Lin Qiao with a smile.


    As he directly agreed to give her time, Lin Qiao somehow had a subtle, strange feeling.


    "If your answer is no, I¡­ I''ll learn to give up," Wu Chengyue continued. When he said that, the smile on his face grew a little bitter, and a trace of sadness was detected from his eyes. He was not an extremely stubborn person. If Lin Qiao decided not to be with him at last, he would learn to give up on her. That would be his only choice.


    He truly loved Lin Qiao. Even thinking about giving up on her made him feel as if someone was cutting his heart into pieces. He could tell that even though she had started to open herself up to him, she had yet to fall for him. There was still a locked door between him and her. The door wasn''t as thick as the previous one though. If he failed to open that door at last, he would have no choice but to learn to give up.


    That was the worst case scenario. After all, a relationship needed to involve two people. He didn''t know how long he could keep loving her without receiving her response. Perhaps, he would be exhausted over time.


    On hearing what he said, Lin Qiao froze and gawked at him in the eyes.


    She had gotten used to being with him already. She was used to being surrounded by his vibe. She had been hesitating about if she should truly accept him, but never thought that he might leave one day. He had been following her all the time, so she never even imagined his leaving.


    But just now, he said that he might give up. The words he said opened a door in her heart. And behind the door was not a beautiful world. Instead, it was coldness, emptiness, like a black hole. She felt as if something very important was suddenly gone.


    That feeling made her shudder, then she felt as if she had lost control of herself.


    She stared at him and said, "Are you saying that you''ll give up¡­"


    Wu Chengyue detected her weirdness. Seeing the darkness spread in her eyes, he gave a start and yelled at him, "Stop!"


    Lin Qiao heard his voice and the bad feeling was suddenly gone. Next, she fell into his warm arms, being held by him tightly.


    "I''m not giving up! I''m not giving up! I was lying. Don''t take it seriously! It was my fault. I said something that I shouldn''t have said. I''m sorry!" Wu Chengyue held her tight as he looked at her face and said to her nervously.


    He never thought that what he said could actually disable Lin Qiao from restraining her zombie nature. A disaster had almost happened!


    The darkness in Lin Qiao''s eyes faded slowly and she closed her eyes briefly. Those eyes turned back normal as she opened them again.


    She raised her and , glanced at Wu Chengyue, then dropped her eyelids and quietly stayed in his arms. She wasn''t expecting such a strong emotion swing either. It was all because of a few words he had said.


    Just now, her vibe was disordered. If that kept worsening, her zombie emperor vibe would be leaked. That was why Wu Chengyue yelled at her to wake her up.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with fright. He could never think that talking about giving up on her would make her react so strongly.


    "You are not allowed to leave! You have already bumped into my heart. Are you gonna leave after that without taking any responsibility? I will be with you, okay? You knew that I''ve started to accept you. Why did you tell me that you''ll be giving up at this point?" Lin Qiao spent a short while to calm down, then suddenly raised a hand to grasp his arm. Next, she raised her head and stared at him in the eyes as he said to him a little emotionally.


    If his leaving would leave a black hole in her heart, she might as well lock her up in her heart! He brought himself into her world, but now, he was thinking about giving up. How could he possibly come and go just like that? Was her heart a public place?


    "Alright, I get it! I won''t leave you!" Wu Chengyue stroked her back with a hand to comfort her.


    Lin Qiao let go of his arm, then gripped his collar with both hands and raised her head as she said to him through clenched teeth, "It''s too late! From this day on, you are not allowed to even think about leaving me! You wanted me to make this decision, so now, you''re going to take responsibility for it! If you betray me, I will make you suffer a miserable death!"


    Wu Chengyue dropped his head as he looked into her fierce eyes and said to her with a grin, "This is exactly what I wanted."


    Lin Qiao relaxed her grip on his collar and put her arms around his neck, then brought his head down and pressed her own lips heavily against his. At that very moment, someone suddenly broke into the door while saying, "Eh-hem¡­ Um, sorry to interrupt, but there is something that you guys need to know!"


    Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao turned to the man together silently.


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 1268 Being Interrupted

    Lin Qiao looked at the man at the door coldly and said to him through clenched teeth, "Lan Lu, you better have something really important to say to us, or I''ll make you suffer sexual dysfunction for three years."


    Wu Chengyue was holding Lin Qiao in his arms. On hearing her words, his smiling face froze for a second. Soon, he adjusted his expression and said to Lan Lu slowly with a small smile, "Mr. Lan, are you aware that interrupting people might cause you to suffer a lightning strike?"


    Following his voice, a series of lightning sizzle was heard from the ceiling. Meanwhile, Purple lightning bolts flashed across the ceiling, seeming about to descend at any time.


    "No! No, no¡­" Lan Lu hurriedly raised both hands and made a step backward. After moving out of the door, he carefully stuck his head out from behind the door and said with embarrassment, "Eh-hem, I do have something important to say to you. It''s very, very important!"


    Lin Qiao pushed Wu Chengyue away, her eyes still fixed on Lan Lu. After letting go of her, Wu Chengyue held her hand and walked to the couch, then sat down side by side with her.


    Wu Chengyue was smiling at Lan Lu, but the fire of anger in his eyes seemed to burn Lan Lu already. It was the very first time Lin Qiao took the initiative to kiss him. But, before he could enjoy that sweet kiss, Lan Lu the b*stard showed up.


    "Could you not wait at the door for ten seconds before you started talking? No¡­ you should have waited for thirty seconds!" Wu Chengyue stared at Lan Lu and said through gritted teeth.


    Lan Lu slowly walked in. While looking at the ceiling, the floor, and every other corner of the living room, he inched his way to the two while they stared at him. Obviously, they were both so displeased that they even wanted to bite him. Under their gaze, Lan Lu felt a great pressure. Being bitten by Wu Chengyue wouldn''t be a problem. After all, Wu Chengyue was a human being, and as a human being, he wouldn''t likely bite another person. However, Lu Tianyu was not like him. She could really bite a person! Moreover, a bite from her might turn a person into a zombie!


    However, thinking about the news that he came to deliver, he calmed down.


    "Eh-hem, this is really important! It''s about you two. I came here to kindly deliver the news to you two. Who knew you were busy!" While speaking, he walked to the two and sat down in an armchair. After saying that, he glanced at the hands of Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao which were held together, then sighed with jealousy, "Your relationship seems to have achieved a major breakthrough!"


    Wu Chengyue raised his other hand, with a tiny bolt of lightning sparkling in his hand. He looked at Lan Lu and said, "You''re just here to find out about our relationship, aren''t you? The so-called important news is only an excuse, right?"


    Lan Lu instantly sat straight as he put both hands before his chest, facing his palms toward Wu Chengyue, "No, no! I am really here to share some important information with you, for free. Why am I being treated like this?"


    "It''s because of your bad timing!" Lin Qiao pulled her hand out of Wu Chengyue''s hand, then folded her arms and leaned against the back of the couch as she looked at Lan Lu lazily.


    "Tell us, what is it about? Just finish talking and then leave as soon as you can!" Leaning on the couch, Lin Qiao glared at Lan Lu and urged him impatiently.


    "Alright! So, I''ve been keeping a close eye on Si Kongchen lately. I wonder if you guys have found that he''s been rather close with the woman named Xie these days. I accidentally heard something about their plan, that has something to do with the underground mission. They will not only attempt to hurt Chief Lu underground, but will also do something to Chief Wu on the earth''s surface. This morning, two special teams left the base secretly. I think they''re heading to your bases," Lan Lu put on a serious look and said to the two.


    Unexpectedly, Lin Qiao rolled up her sleeves as she stared at him and said, "Is that all you wanted to say? Have you ever thought that I might have known about all that already? Do you want me to tell you the exact plan of Si Kongchen and that woman who loves to bare her thighs?"


    On hearing her words, Lan Lu stopped short with surprise, then looked at her and said, "What? You already know?"


    Lin Qiao said to him with a cold smile, "Do you think that I''ve spent the past two days here in this room?"


    Lan Lu immediately wore an embarrassed look and spent two seconds gawking at Lin Qiao. He really did not know that the zombie lady had already known about Si Kongchen''s plan.


    But then, he pondered upon it and found it understandable. After all, both the zombie lady and Wu Chengyue were very capable. They definitely had the capability to dig out important information like that.


    "Do you think that we''re stupid? We are going to venture into an unknown world with Si Kongchen''s people. Don''t we know that we need to stay alert against them?" With her sleeves rolled up, Lin Qiao sat straight, seemingly preparing to give Lan Lu a solid punch.


    At that moment, Lan Lu started realizing that maybe his timing was really bad. He didn''t know that the two had found out about Si Kongchen''s plan so soon indeed. However, normally, the two wouldn''t be so angry for being interrupted like that.


    "Um¡­ Since you already know, I have nothing to say here! You guys can continue doing whatever you were doing just now. You can ignore me¡­" As Lin Qiao had sat straight, Lan Lu felt an incoming danger. So, he hurriedly stood up and sneaked toward the door while speaking.


    "So, you were just here to interrupt us. The so-called important information was an excuse!" Wu Chengyue smilingly threw the tiny lightning bolt at Lan Lu.


    "No! No! I didn''t know that you already know about that! Since you guys already know, you should be having a plan already! I''m gonna leave you guys alone! I''m sorry! I''m sorry!" Lan Lu dodged, and the tiny lightning bolt landed on the ground. While speaking, her ran away really fast, soon disappearing without a trace.


    The two looked at the area outside the door, which was already empty, then gave each other a glance.


    After being interrupted by Lan Lu, Lin Qiao had calmed down completely. She looked at Wu Chengyue and said awkwardly, "Eh¡­ Just now¡­"


    Earlier, she was unable to control herself at all. Under the unusual, strong emotion, her mind was a little blurred. That was why she did what she had done and said what she had said. Her mind wasn''t clear. All she was feeling at that moment was a desire to possess Wu Chengyue.


    If Lan Lu didn''t suddenly show up to interrupt her, she might have done something even worse. She would probably drag Wu Chengyue straight into her room in the house in her space and press him down on the bed.


    Now, as she had fully woken up, she felt utterly embarrassed. Deep down, she actually thanked Lan Lu for showing up.


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 1269 You and the Whole World

    Seeing the look on her face, Wu Chengyue erased his smile and looked at her seriously, "Don''t tell me that you want to take back what you said just now. I''m not gonna let you do that."


    Lin Qiao blinked. Thinking of what she had said while she was emotional, she honestly wished there was a hole for her to crawl into and hide.


    ''You had bumped into my heart, so you''re not allowed to leave'', ''I''ll be with you''¡­ She also told him that she had already started to accept him! She felt so embarrassed right now. She couldn''t believe that she said those words to him with an aggressive tone. That was so awkward! She really wanted to take those words back!


    "Alright, I''m not gonna take back those words. It''s just that¡­ I was in an abnormal condition just now¡­ What I said¡­" She wanted to tell him that she said those words while her mind wasn''t clear, so he didn''t need to take them seriously. However, he seemed to have grasped those words so tightly and left her no way back.


    After experiencing what happened just now, she felt that something wasn''t right. She had no idea that Wu Chengyue was already so important to her.


    Seeing her being confused and struggling, Wu Chengyue held her face with both hands, then leaned his head toward her, until he could see his own reflection in her eyes.


    "I swear I will never leave you, never. No matter what state you are in, I won''t give up on you. But as I''ve said, I will give you the time to adapt to our relationship. Since your nature has chosen me, please trust me, okay? I will not betray you. Believe me! Can you believe me? Believe me!" he said to her very seriously.


    He said ''believe me'' three times in a row, looking at her in the eyes so determinedly and affectionately, seemingly even to drag her into his eyes. He meant what he said one-hundred percent. No matter what Lin Qiao might turn into, he would not give up on her. Besides, she was already a zombie. How worse could she be?


    "Lin Qiao, I''ll be waiting for you until the end of my life! If I ever think about giving up on you, you can just kill me. I won''t run, and I won''t fight!" He rarely called Lin Qiao''s real name, but every time he did that, he was saying something very, very serious.


    Lin Qiao was sinking into his eyes, as if there were a swirl in his eyes to suck her in. She was so attracted to those eyes that she could not avoid looking at them. All she could do was to silently look into those eyes.


    His words came into her ears and echoed in her mind. Her brain wasn''t running, as if something was controlling it.


    She took a deep breath, then spent a great effort to close her eyes and avoid looking at Wu Chengyue in the eyes. Then, she turned her head and pulled her eyes away from him.


    "I''m a zombie. What happened just now, I think, was because of my zombie nature. If I lost my mind one day, forgot everyone I know, and turned into a monster-like zombie, would you still want to be with me?" She looked at the floor and asked peacefully.


    Once again, Wu Chengyue raised her face to make her look at himself and said, "Lin Qiao, I''ve told you that no matter what you might turn into, I won''t give up on you! Even if people find out what you really are and the whole world is against you, I''d still be seeing you as my wife! I will never abandon you, Ling Ling, or Teng, even if I have to leave the whole world behind."


    "Alright, I get it! You don''t need to compare me with the whole world!" Lin Qiao found his exaggerated way of expression both sweet and annoying. The last sentence he said was really dramatic! The whole world?


    She thought for a moment, then continued with a grim face, "Judging by what happened just now, I think something is happening to me! Something must be wrong! I have a bad feeling! Wu Chengyue, I''m serious! One day, if I lost my mind and did something to hurt you, Teng, or any other human being, you must stop me! If you can''t stop me, you need to kill me before I start eating people, by any means! I don''t want to feed on human beings!"


    What happened earlier gave her a very bad feeling. She knew that something was wrong with her, but she couldn''t figure out what. However, if the situation continued to worsen, the result must be something that she did not want to see!


    She did not want to become a zombie that fed on people and had no humanity! Picturing herself lying upon human beings, eating their flesh and drinking their blood, made her feel despairing.


    That was why she told Wu Chengyue to kill her if that really happened. After all, he was the strongest among all human beings.


    "What are you talking about? Do you think that I was joking?" Wu Chengyue''s face grew especially sullen when he heard what she said. "If you lost your mind, I''ll find a way to wake you up! Don''t worry, there will be a way! We still have Teng, don''t we? Even if I can''t figure something out, Teng will! He''s our son, and he''s such a magical boy. He has keener sensations than both of us. He''ll certainly know how to help you!" said Wu Chengyue to her with a deep voice.


    Lin Qiao''s words made him a little angry and nervous. In the meantime, he was also delighted, because earlier, she had basically freaked out because of him.


    He put an arm around her shoulder and brought her into his arms, then put a hand on one side of her head and pressed it toward his chest. "Don''t be afraid, I''m here!" he comforted her, "I won''t let anything bad happen to you. Besides, you can ask Teng to give you a check-up. I think he''ll know something. If something really happened, I won''t let you fall into a bad situation. You are my lover, so it''s my responsibility to protect you. No matter what you might become, I won''t give up on you, even if you turn into a monster!"


    The two of them sat on the couch, holding each other. Lin Qiao heard his heartbeat and his words, and she gradually calmed down. Wu Chengyue raised her chin with a hand and fixed his eyes on her red, moisturized lips for three seconds, then slowly lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers once again.


    However, at that very moment, both of them froze for a moment and then parted their lips, unhappily turning to the door.


    "Eh-hem¡­ Th-the bullet samples are delivered¡­ W-would you like to take a look at them?" Xiao Licheng, who didn''t manage to flee, stepped into the room and stuttered.


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 1270 The Enemys Plan

    Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao both stayed quiet, staring at Xiao Licheng, who was standing at the door. Under their gaze, the other wanted very much to turn around and run away. However, he did not dare to do that, as the two bosses didn''t give him permission to leave. He had just ruined their sweet moment, so he might suffer a thunder strike at any moment.


    Looking at Wu Chengyue''s hand which was already raised, with a fist-sized lightning ball dazzling upon it, Xiao Licheng didn''t have the courage to move even a finger.


    "It''s our second time being interrupted. But still, I didn''t throw the lightning on your head. Are you touched?" Wu Chengyue said with a smile.


    "N-no¡­" Xiao Licheng said.


    Lin Qiao pushed Wu Chengyue away and said to Xiao Licheng, "Let me see them."


    Finally, Xiao Licheng sighed with relief and carried the small suitcase as he walked further in.


    He opened the case, with the space inside divided into three layers, containing three different types of guns. All three guns were small and portable. Besides each gun were about thirty special bullets.


    Lin Qiao picked up a bullet and gave it a close look. After spending a short while sensing the vibe inside the bullet and its main components, she dropped it and picked up a gun. She weighed the gun with her hand and then put it back into the case. Based on the cold and hard texture of the gun and its weight, she figured out the level of the weapon. She was excited about trying those new bullets.


    She put the suitcase into a small space, then looked at Xiao Licheng and asked, "Have those two batches of people arrived yet?"


    Xiao Licheng nodded and said, "They were only about twenty miles away from Sea City Base last night. But, they didn''t seem to make a move immediately."


    Lin Qiao smiled and said, "They''re waiting for tomorrow, when we''ll be leaving. By that time, people will pay all their attention here and relax the guard over there. Tomorrow will be their best chance."


    Both Xiao Licheng and Wu Chengyue had thought about that.


    "Since they aren''t taking any action, we will," Wu Chengyue smiled and said, "Let''s see what Xiao Yunlong will do this time."


    After he found that Si Kongchen had secretly sent two batches of people to Sea City Base and All Beings Base, he told Xiao Licheng to follow them and deliver the news to Xiao Yunlong, who was in Sea City Base. Xiao Yunlong''s mission was to give those people a surprise attack tonight.


    "It seems that Si Kongchen has secretly cultivated a lot of superpowered warriors. He''s not gonna keep hiding those people. All that he sent out this time are at level five or six. Maybe he thinks your Sea City Base doesn''t have that many strong fighters." Lin Qiao said with a sneer.


    Si Kongchen hadn''t been taking All Beings Base seriously. He probably believed that it was relying on Sea City Base for protection.


    So, Si Kongchen had sent out about five-hundred people this time. One hundred of them were at level-six, while the others were all at level-five. Three among them were mysterious and powerful, possibly at level-seven.


    Unexpectedly, Si Kongchen had such a strong, secret force under his command. He couldn''t possibly have sent the entire secret force to Sea City Base, but the ones he sent out were at least thirty percent of that force.


    "The hundreds of people are mostly at level five or six. There are also a few level-seven ones. I''m not in Sea City Base right now, so Si Kongchen probably thinks there''s no one left in my base to fight this force of his. Even if there''s someone to stop the three level-seven people, it would still be hard for my base to fight against the hundred level-six men. My base wouldn''t survive this sudden attack, unless I gathered some hunter groups to defend my base in advance," said Wu Chengyue.


    "He doesn''t think you have so many level-six superpower possessors in your base. But, he didn''t send out those people to start a war against your base. He has some other purpose," Lin Qiao said.


    "What does he want?" Wu Chengyue asked her. He knew that Si Kongchen sent out those people for some kind of purpose, but didn''t know what exactly it was. On hearing Lin Qiao''s words, he figured that she was going to tell him about it.


    Lin Qiao glanced outside the window, then turned back and said to him with a bland tone, "He has found out that your base isn''t able to grow food, and that you now have a mysterious son. One of the two batches of people he sent out this time is aiming at finding out the details of the regular trading between Sea City Base and All Beings Base while the other batch is going for your son."


    While speaking, she looked at Wu Chengyue in a meaningful way.


    "Wait!" Wu Chengyue looked at her and said, "What do you mean by a mysterious son? Why is my son so mysterious?"


    "Because they don''t know who the boy''s mother is," Lin Qiao said to him.


    "Hah!" Xiao Licheng heard her and burst in laughter for some reason.


    "How dare you laugh! I haven''t made you pay yet for what you did just now! Wait for it!" Wu Chengyue squinted at Xiao Licheng, who immediately stopped laughing. But soon, the former adjusted his expression and erased his smile, "Are you sure that Si Kongchen is having his eyes on Teng now?"


    "Yeah," Lin Qiao nodded and said, "That''s what he said to that woman last night. He''s gotten some kind of drug from a foreign base that can disable the powers of level-eight superpowered possessors. He has prepared to give the drug to that woman and let her use it on me in the underground realm. He does not plan to let me come back to the earth''s surface."


    "I can''t believe Si Kongchen chose to take action at this point. I guess he does plan to make use of the current troublesome situation to get rid of you two. Isn''t he worried about those underground creatures?" Xiao Licheng said with a slight frown.


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue were both level-eight powerful beings who could fight side by side with Si Kongchen against those underground creatures. Reasonably speaking, killing them would not do Si Kongchen any good under the current circumstances. Shouldn''t he be working together with them at the moment?


    Did Si Kongchen intend to fight against all underground creatures with his very own force?


    "He has sent his people to Sea City Base, so I think not only Teng, but Ling Ling is also his target. He wants to threaten me with my kids, to make me fight those underground creatures for him. So of course, he''ll try to hurt her during the underground mission, because If she accomplished the mission and came back safely, he''d have no energy left to control me," Wu Chengyue expressionlessly made his guess about Si Kongchen''s plan.


    "I guess he never thought that both the kids are with us now. I think what he wants to know about the details of the food trade between Sea City Base and All Beings Base more. He''s found out that your base isn''t able to grow food, so the fresh food served in the canteens in Sea City Base must have aroused his suspicion."


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 1271 The Enemy from Huaxia Base

    About twenty miles away from Sea City Base, a troop was hiding quietly in a deserted chemical plant. From the distance, a man silently approached the area. He didn''t show his face until he arrived at the plant.


    "Are you guys ready yet?" A man in black quickly came out of the plant to meet with the man.


    "We are almost ready. What about you guys? Haven''t you located the two kids yet?" The man first answered the question, then asked one of his own.


    "We''re still waiting for the news," the man in black said, then glanced at his watch and continued with, "We still have ten hours. Be patient!"


    After the short conversation, the man walked into the plant. He was wearing a camouflage suit and Sam Browne belts around his chest, back and waist, carrying multiple weapons. As he walked in, the man in black followed behind him. The difference in their status was pretty obvious.


    "You guys are too slow. We''ll be taking action tonight, yet you still haven''t located the targets," the man in a combat suit said with discontentment while walking in. Following behind him, the man in black responded, "The situation has changed. We already reacted as fast as we could."


    "Wu Chengyue has gone to Huaxia Base. He must have left the kids with the people that he trusts. Have you checked Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue? He''s very likely to ask those two to take care of his kids," the man slightly knitted his brows. His average-looking face wore an extra serious look.


    "We''ve sent out people to keep an eye on them. But weirdly, they were never seen together with the kids. We''ve tried many ways, but we still couldn''t find a trace of the two kids," the man in black frowned slightly and wore a look of confusion.


    The two people walked into the temporary operational headquarter in the office building in the plant. Inside the room was a long council table, with maps and action plans on it. The maps of Sea City Base and All Beings Base could be found on the table. The map of All Beings Base was smaller than the one of Sea City Base, but wasn''t as detailed as the latter.


    "The information about this All Beings Base is so hard to get. The woman isn''t relying on just Wu Chengyue. She herself is very powerful as well, and cannot be underestimated. I guess Xie Yunlong will be suffering some bad result this time," the man in a combat suit spent two seconds looking at the map of All Beings Base and then said with laughter.


    The map of All Beings Base was vague. In fact, it only showed the landforms of the area around the base. On the map, the base was a blank area.


    The man in black poked his own nose with a finger and said, "We''ve sent so many people to All Beings Base, but none of them got in. I wonder how the woman has been keeping her base so strictly guarded."


    None of the people he sent to All Being Base ever returned!


    Some of those people attempted to make a way into the base while others aimed at catching some All Being Base members. However, none of them succeeded. They either went missing or were found dead in the deserted area around the base. Their bodies were brought back to Huaxia Base, but not a clue about All Being Base was found from their bodies.


    Those people were killed in a quick and neat way. Most of them had lethal wounds on their necks. Not even a bullet was used on them.


    "If those people got the job done, our Captain wouldn''t have to accept the mission this time. Let''s see what secrets does this All Beings Base have!" The man in a combat suit said while looking at the blank area on the map of All Beings Base.


    The man in black gave him a glance and said, "You seem to be happy to see the pretty lady fail the mission."


    The man shrugged and said, "It''s time for her to learn that there is always someone stronger than she is. She''s been considering herself the best in the world."


    The man in black smiled and said, "I heard that Chief got some kind of drug from a foreign base that can even put down level-eight people. He''ll certainly use it on that woman. I also heard that the pretty Chief lady from All Beings Base entered level-eight just recently. Miss. Xie might really take her down!"


    The man in a combat suit glanced at him and smiled, "You are so naive. Do you want to bet?"


    "Ten-thousand credits?" the man in black instantly nodded.


    "Ten-thousand? You crazy b*stard! Three-thousand tops!" the other man gave him a glare and said expressionlessly.


    The man in black didn''t bargain with him, but nodded to agree, "Alright, three-thousand is it. If the Chief lady won, I''ll give you three-thousand, and if Miss. Xie won, don''t eat your words!"


    The man in a combat suit looked at him scornfully, said, "Am I that kind of person?"


    At that moment, about ten miles away from All Beings Base, a group of people was standing on top of a tall building, looking at the base.


    "There''s a level-seven superpower possessor in that base. I think he or she is new at level-seven. No wonder this small base could be founded successfully. Including the Chief lady herself, they have two powerful beings at level-seven and above," a man who was obviously shorter than the others stood before the crowd, slightly narrowed his eyes and said, facing All Beings Base.


    A young man with a ponytail stood by his side, looked at him and said, "Captain, will that level-seven superpower possessor discover us when we made the move?"


    If there was a level-seven superpower possessor in that base, that person would certainly detect their vibes and stay alert against them.


    The short man opened his eyes wide. A white light flashed across his black eyes. "No," he said, "Because I''ve hidden all your vibes before we came here. A level-seven superpower possessor can only sense the vibes within twenty miles round. Besides, your vibes have been concealed by me."


    On hearing his words, the woman quickly nodded and said, "You''re right. Captain, I almost forgot about that skill of yours."


    About seven people were standing behind them. Their vibes were either highly restrained or very strong.


    "Oh, I heard that this small base used to be surrounded by a crowd of zombies. Where are those zombies now?" One of the short man''s subordinates asked a question.


    "I heard that they''ve made some kind of deal with Lan Lu. Hasn''t Lan Lu developed a drug that''s similar to the ones that our base created? His people have talked to this small base long ago," said the captain blandly.


    "Oh, so that''s why! I''m just wondering what kind of people have been protecting this base. Our Chief has tried so many times but the people he sent over never brought anything back to our base. Some of them didn''t even make it back home," the subordinate looked at All Beings Base and said with curiosity. He looked a little excited.


    "There might be a superpower possessor who has extra keen sensations. I guess that person is quite capable, or else Chief wouldn''t have sent me here," the captain didn''t look scornful nor serious enough. He was only slightly more serious than usual when he said that.


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 1272 Dont Let Anyone of Them Go

    The group of people didn''t notice that an invisible figure was leaning against the wall near the stairs behind them.


    Yun Meng nodded. She indeed had extra keen sensations. After all, zombies were always sensitive to the scents of human beings.


    She quietly left the building, without being detected by the group of people at all. Then, she speedily returned to her base and entered the conference room in Base Number One. A group of people had already been waiting there for her.


    "Who are they?" Lin Feng couldn''t help but stand up when he saw Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng shook her head and said, "I don''t know, but I''m sure that Si Kongchen sent them. The one leading those people is a level-seven man. I don''t know what''s his power, but he''s able to conceal the vibe given out by the energy inside his body. He has a strong vibe. If he''s a fighter, I think only Lili is able to fight him among us. If he doesn''t have highly destructive power, I think he''s probably dual-powered, and one of his superpowers is some special kind of sensation."


    His words made everyone on the scene wear a serious look. They weren''t nervous though. After all, three level-seven zombies exited among them. As long as that man hadn''t reached level-eight yet, Qiu Lili would be able to deal with him, even if he were dual-powered.


    "Aside from that level-seven captain, the rest of them are at level-six. There are nine of them," Yun Meng gave the number.


    "Si Kongchen really does not want peace. The situation has become so tense, yet he''s still playing these dirty tricks!" Lin Feng said with anger, "Couldn''t he send those people to fight those underground creatures out there? All he ever wanted is to hurt his own kind and show off his ambition!"


    "He has ambition, fine. But, casting his greedy eyes on us is a mistake. He''s made so many mistakes already, but he still insists on making one more," Yun Meng gave a scornful smile.


    Most of the people sent out by Si Kongchen to dig the secrets of All Beings Base were handled by Yun Meng directly. She never gave those people any chance to approach the base or anyone from All Beings Base. The large batch of people that Si Kongchen sent over last time was destroyed completely. However, he failed to learn a lesson from that failure and tried again. It seemed that the multiple failures never shrank his ambition.


    "This time, he has sent ten people here. He seems confident," Yun Meng continued.


    "Those are one level-seven and nine level-six. In their eyes, our base is a small one with just thousands of residents. Normally, it''s impossible for a base like that to have nine level-six members to fight against them," Chen Yuting, who was sitting on Lin Feng''s right side, joined the conversation.


    Sitting in front of him, Lin Kui thought for a moment and said, "I think Si Kongchen aims at finding out our secrets while our Chief and Chief Wu are both away, instead if invading our base. He only intends to attack Sea City Base."


    "Hm, I heard that the truth about the farm in Sea City Base has already been leaked. Sea City Base people have still been having fresh food every day. That must have aroused their suspicion. I guess they have already found out about Sea City Base''s source of food and started to suspect us. I think that will be one of their main targets this time, or else why would they send a level-seven man?" Lin Feng made his guess about Si Kongchen''s real purpose and continued, "Si Kongchen thinks we have only one level-seven being in our base. That''s why he only sent one level-seven man."


    He wondered how the level-seven man would react when he was facing Yun Meng and the other level-seven zombies.


    "Same as usual, don''t let any of them get away," Qiu Lili gently patted the table and said.


    "They''re going to take action tonight. I''m gonna feel them out, and the black panther will block their way back. They think we don''t have nine level-six, so we''ll send them eighteen. Alright, that''s it!" Yun Meng gave a sneer and said to the others.


    "Let''s do that then," Lin Feng nodded.


    "Do you think a part of the troop that they sent to Sea City Base will come here tonight?" Lin Kui asked.


    "I''ll be keeping a close eye on Sea City Base. You''ll be informed if anything happens," said Lin Feng.


    As the meeting was over, Yun Meng and Qiu Lili gave out their orders to all the level-six zombies in the army, telling them to get ready to fight. The combat type of zombies would take action the first.


    But before long, Lin Feng received a message about the Huaxia Base troop which was stationed near Sea City Base, and he called for an emergency meeting again.


    "We''ve prepared ourselves for this. We aren''t afraid of the hundred people." According to the message that was delivered to Lin Feng, about a hundred people secretly headed toward All Being Base from Sea City Base after it got dark. On hearing that news, Yun Meng sat down and snorted scornfully.


    "Since there are now more of them, we''ll send out more too. Among the hundred people, only twenty are at level-six. Clearly, Sea City Base is still their main target. However, they''re going to fail again, because their targets aren''t in Sea City Base," Lin Feng knocked on the table and adjusted the plan. After that, he added the last sentence with a gloating smile.


    Yun Meng nodded and said, "We have a lot of fighters. They''ve been looking forward to a real battle since long ago!"


    Except for the ones who followed Lin Qiao to Huaxia Base, all the zombie soldiers had been training in the military base recently. Of course, the job for the level-six ones was to train the lower-leveled ones.


    ¡­


    It was pitch dark outside, with no moonlight. The dark night was perfect to launch a surprise attack.


    The group of Huaxia Base people stayed on top of the building which was located about ten miles away from the building. The short captain was sitting on the highest spot on the roof, looking at All Beings Base with a peaceful look in his eyes while fiddling with a dagger, which was glowing with a cold luster.


    The woman with a ponytail quietly leaped up behind him and looked around as she said, "Captain, will squad two and three accomplish their missions successfully? They couldn''t even locate the targets. Has the enemy found out about our plan already?"


    The captain stopped short. Three seconds later, the dagger once again started spinning quickly between his fingers. "There must be a problem," he said, "However, even if they fail to find the two children, we can still stick with the plan, as long as Xie Longyun accomplishes her mission."


    The woman thought for a moment, then said, "What do you think Chief will do to Wu Chengyue''s son if he really got him?"


    The captain gave her a bland glance and said, "Why? Do you feel sad for that boy? He''s only about a month old. Chief can raise him if he wants to. But, from what I know about the man, I think he''ll definitely kill that child to prevent future problems."


    The woman with a ponytail furrowed his brows slightly and said, "He''s only a baby after all. He''s still so young¡­"


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 1273 Fight Outside the Base

    The captain said to her with a bland tone, "Why are you thinking so much? Squad two and three need to get their jobs done first. They can''t even locate the targets right now. I think this mission is gonna fail."


    "It''s weird though. They located the targets before. How come they didn''t find out that they were wrong until they got here?" the woman asked a question.


    The captain prepared to say something to her, but before that, he suddenly raised his head and looked straight ahead. Before long, the woman and all the others on the roof felt something too and turned to that direction together. Next, they all stood up and grew alert.


    "Get ready to fight!" The captain abruptly sprung up as he uttered a shout and then darted out.


    His subordinates made moved one after another and scattered over the roof. Their captain told them to get ready to fight and not to take action, meaning that they had already been spotted and the enemy had come to them.


    "You guys came here without an invitation, so I think maybe you should stay here forever." A man''s voice was heard from a distance away.


    "Let''s see if you have the power to stop us!" The captain sneered at the man, then flashed across the air and flew at the man within a blink. If he had guessed right, the one who started the conversation was the only level-seven superpower possessor in All Beings Base for the time being.


    "Me? Oh, you got it wrong. We have a girl here who wants to play with you. You can have some fun with her first." It was Lin Feng talking to the man with a peaceful tone.


    The captain followed Lin Feng''s voice as soon as possible. However, the one waiting for him there wasn''t Lin Feng, but a tiny, pink girl. What surprised the captain was the fact that he did not detect the girl''s vibe, not even after he saw her!


    Only when the pink figure rose into the sky and darted up to him did he see her clearly. That was a teenage girl! She was wearing a white dress, but her body was glowing with a dim fire. Her pair of long ponytails fluttered in the air, looking greatly impressive. What caught the man''s attention was that the girl was wearing a pair of sunglasses in night!


    Puff! The fire on Qiu Lili''s body boosted like an enormous lotus blooming in the air the moment she rose into the sky, illuminating the area tens of meters around her. As the fire grew stronger, a stream of scorching hot air spread in all directions. The whole area instantly became like an oven, and even the air seemed to be burned.


    In the meantime, a powerful stream of energy spread as well, suppressing the short captain, who was not far away from Qiu Lili.


    "You! Who are you!" Being suppressed by Qiu Lili''s vibe which was released suddenly, the short captain immediately changed his bland expression. He paused in the air above her and wore a look of surprise. He popped his eyes as he stared at her and observed with shock.


    "I''m someone from THE All Beings Base. You guys don''t seem like friends. Do you think you can hurt us easily because we''re a small base? Well, I''m gonna prove how wrong you are!" Qiu Lili''s eyes were covered by the sunglasses, so the enemy didn''t know that she was a zombie.


    Her powerful vibe was almost as strong as that of a level-eight being. She hadn''t entered level-eight yet, but she was at the top level among all the level-seven ones.


    The captain was at level-seven, but he hadn''t reached the peak of that level yet. He was merely a medium-high-graded one among all at his level. Therefore, facing Qiu Lili, who had her power fully released, he fell into a disadvantage immediately.


    More importantly, he did not know about the existence of Qiu Lili, so her sudden appearance surprised him. Thankfully, as a captain, he soon calmed himself down despite the shocked look that was still lingering on his face.


    He soon responded to Qiu Lili''s provocative words by making a move before she did. He lunged at Qiu Lili and released a weird vibe to wrap himself up.


    Qiu Lili stayed exactly where she was but raised an arm. Following her movement, a stream of flame flew out of the enormous fire bloom behind her. Within a blink, a strong gust of wind merged with the fire and grew into a small-scale fiery tornado in the next second, spinning toward the short captain.


    The fiery tornado grew larger and larger, stronger and stronger, generating a suction force. Watching the tornado grow, the short captain sensed a greater and greater danger. He knew that he could not let the tornado hit him, but the great suction force limited his mobility.


    Being limited by the suction force from the tornado, the captain was much slower than before when he tried to dodge.


    Bang! He was a step behind, and the fiery tornado landed on his body.


    As the fiery tornado hit the man, his body suddenly released a cloud of white mist. The tornado exploded, but failed to cause any actual harm to the man.


    "White mist? What kind of superpower is that?" With curiosity, Qiu Lili looked at the white mist that was drifting around the man''s body.


    As the two were fighting in the sky, the others had met their opponents too.


    The one hundred men under the captain''s command scattered while groups of people silently showed up in all directions and blocked their ways. The hundred-men divided into groups of ten and scattered to flee, but they only managed to make it to tens of meters away from the building before countless people showed up from the darkness and stopped them.


    "W-why are there so many of them?" The woman and her subordinates knitted their brows as they fixed their eyes on the people who had barred the road with disbelief.


    "Do you guys want to leave? You have to ask our permission for that! How can you just come and go any time you want? There''s no such rule in our All Beings Base! If you want to leave this place, you have to die first!" A hoarse woman''s voice was heard.


    The voice wasn''t pleasant to the ears. It was dry and deep, seemingly uttered from a broken throat, and could barely be recognized as a woman''s voice.


    Before long, the people in the darkness showed their faces. They were wearing camouflage suits, hats, and sunglasses. Only the lower half of their faces were seen, so they all seemed rather mysterious.


    "You sound quite arrogant! Let''s see if you guys can take our lives!" The woman with a short ponytail erased the surprised look on her face as she stared at those in camouflage suits and said coldly.


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 1274 The Man with the White Mis

    "Do it! Don''t let any of them go!" Yue Xiaoxian, who barred the road before the woman with a short ponytail from Huaxia Base, gave her order with a cold voice, then raised a hand and sent a massive wave of wind blades toward the latter.


    Jingyan and Yan Xiao, who were by her sides, disappeared from where they were and soon showed up above the enemy as they launched surprise attacks. The two fire power possessors each let out an enormous fireball toward those Huaxia people.


    The Huaxia woman smiled on seeing Yue Xiaoxian release the wind blades, then raised both arms and built a huge wind wall to protect herself. She was a wind power possessor as well. Moreover, no wind-powered human beings below level-seven could hurt her.


    Under Qiu Lili''s leadership, all the zombies had restrained their vibes and tried their best to cover their zombie vibe using their superpower energies. Therefore, the Huaxia people only sensed their energies and thought they were just human beings.


    Those Huaxia people wondered why they all wore sunglasses in the middle of the night. Did those sunglasses have some kind of special function?


    Unexpectedly, the woman''s windshield failed to stop Yue Xiaoxian''s sharp wind blades.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The inch-wide, palm-long wind blades pierced through the wind wall, blowing at the woman without slowing down.


    "What!" The woman was surprised to see her wind power fail to block the enemy. But, she didn''t have the time to feel surprised, because the wind blades were coming at her. She hurriedly leaped high and moved toward the other side. However, before she rose into the sky, a kick was launched to her from behind, and she didn''t even notice that.


    Thud! The woman only had the time to let out a muffled moan before she was thrown to the ground.


    She flew up tens of meters high in the sky, then was thrown back to the ground from that altitude. She didn''t even have time to react before she fell onto the cement ground and lay there for a while without being able to struggle up.


    "Eh-hem-hem¡­ Pah!" A breath of air was stuck in her chest because of the sudden impact. She tried to prop up her body with her elbows, but once she raised her head, a stream of blood gushed out of her mouth.


    Right at that moment, another wave of wind blades came down at her.


    At that point, no one could spare any attention to help her. So, she used all her strength and rolled to the side.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Over a hundred wind blades landed on the area where she was lying before, creating a series of small holes on the ground. The woman managed to dodge, but a few wounds were left on her body by some wind blades nonetheless. Blood immediately flowed out of those wounds.


    At that moment, the other Huaxia people finally found out that none of their enemies was weaker than themselves, and the number of the enemy was larger than their own by two or three times over! That meant each of them had to deal with two or three as strong as themselves!


    Realizing that, all Huaxia people wore a very sullen face.


    On the other side, Qiu Lili had started a face-to-face battle against the man. His white mist was special. However, facing Qiu Lili''s wind and fire power, it was useless.


    The mist around the man grew thicker and thicker, and he soon disappeared in it. Qiu Lili quickly waved both arms and brought down a few enormous tornadoes that connected the sky and the earth. The tornadoes did not only dissipate the mist, but also rolled up the surrounding buildings and trees, and everything else.


    Qiu Lili swung her arm again and sent a few flame streams into the tornadoes. The fire grew large in the wind within a blink and burned the sky red.


    Soon, the short man showed up.


    His white mist surprised Qiu Lili. Both his vibe and scent were gone once he released the mist. That was a great skill of hiding. Not even Qiu Lili''s zombie nose could detect him when he was hiding in that mist.


    Thankfully, by combining her wind and fire power, she dissipated the thick cloud of white mist. If the mist spread to seven or eight hundred miles away, it would be hard for her to locate the man.


    Qiu Lili sent out fiery wind blades to the man once he was spotted. As a level-seven being, her wind blades were faster than Yue Xiaoxian''s by ten times over. Within a blink, the wind blades approached the man.


    Along with a series of shrill swishing sound, the wind blades created a few large holes in the building that the man hid into.


    Bang! The wall soon collapsed.


    However, the short man disappeared again.


    Qiu Lili narrowed her eyes and sniffed at the air, then turned and fixed her eyes on an area and moved that way swiftly.


    At that time, in the Base Number Two in All Beings Base, something was happening in the lab next to Leng Xuantong''s.


    Shui Mingjun was holding a small test tube, looking at the liquid in it while asking Yan Huiguang, who had his eyes on the data showing on the screen of a device nearby, "Are you sure it''s gonna work this time?"


    Yan Huiguang responded to him coldly and expressionlessly while staring at the device, "Just give it a try and find out. Why do you ask me?"


    Shui Mingjun was used to his bad attitude. Before, he didn''t like talking much, and currently, he only talked with that mean attitude. Shui Mingjun didn''t even know whom to blame for that.


    He thought for a moment, then murmured to himself, "I''m not a zombie, so how am I supposed to try it. I need to ask for someone''s help¡­ Maybe I should ask Leng Xuantong''s wife to give it a try."


    Next, he turned and left the lab with the test tube as he walked to Leng Xuantong''s lab. Soon, he found the latter in a corner of the lab and said, "Director Leng Xuantong, come on, I need a favor from you."


    "What?" Leng Xuantong looked at him questioningly.


    "Can I borrow your wife?" Shui Mingjun said to him.


    Leng Xuantong furrowed his brows. Before he said anything, Shui Mingjun continued, "Don''t misunderstand me. Look at this."


    He raised the test tube to show Leng Xuantong the drug in while , saying, "We''ve been working on this recently. If it works on your wife, it''ll be considered highly helpful for the entire zombie army in this base!"


    Leng Xuantong''s interest was instantly aroused. "What are you guys working on this time?"


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 1275 The Virus Detector

    "This drug can allow the zombies in our base to pass the virus scan at the entrances of the other bases and enter those bases like healthy human beings. Our zombie soldiers were always left outside the base when our people visited another base. The other people don''t have a massive space like our Chief did, so they couldn''t bring any zombie soldiers into another base like how she does it. So, Yan Huiguang and I developed this. If this works, our zombie soldiers will be able to get into the other bases, right?" Shui Mingjun explained to Leng Xuantong.


    During the daytime, Yan Huiguang''s main job was to help in the medical department in Base Number One. At night, he would do some small science projects, or occasionally help Leng Xuantong with his projects.


    "Have you guys tested it?" Leng Xuantong held the test tube and asked Shui Mingjun. If the drug really worked as Shui Mingjun said, it would indeed be a good thing for the zombie army. At least, the zombie soldiers would have a big chance to get into the other bases.


    Shui Mingjun shook his head and said, "No. That''s why I want to borrow your wife."


    "It''s not harmful to zombies, is it?" Leng Xuantong looked at him and asked. That was his wife. How could he possibly let her test the drug without knowing if it were harmful or not?


    Shui Mingjun responded to him confidently, "It''s definitely harmless, or else I wouldn''t have asked to borrow your wife. If I wasn''t so sure, I''d just go outside and catch a normal zombie to test the drug."


    Going outside to catch a zombie would cost him some extra time. Since there was someone who could test the drug right next door, he believed going outside would be unnecessary. The drug wouldn''t be hurting anyone anyway.


    Leng Xuantong looked at him with doubts, not seeming to be convinced at all. Seeing the look on his face, Shui Mingjun sighed, "Alright then. I''m going outside to find a zombie to try it."


    That was his wife after all. It was understandable that he didn''t want her to do the drug test. However, as Shui Mingjun turned and prepared to leave, Leng Xuantong called him, "Wait. I''ll let Lansheng take a look at the drug. She''ll know if its harmful or not."


    His wife was already a level-three zombie, so her sensations had grown much keener than before. She could easily tell if something was harmful to herself by smelling it.


    After saying that, he brought Shui Mingjun the door of another lab and said, "Lansheng, come out for a second."


    The zombie lady who was observing the experimental subjects in the lab turned and looked at him questioningly with a pair of dark eyes.


    "Come here!" Leng Xuantong waved at her, and the zombie lady came over to him. She walked up to find him reaching out his hand, holding a glass test tube that contained some unknown liquid.


    "Take a look at this, see if you can use it," Leng Xuantong said to her.


    The zombie lady took over the test tube and unplugged it, then sniffed at it and looked at Leng Xuantong with confusion. She didn''t know what it was. She knew about almost all experiments that Leng Xuantong had done or was doing, but did not know when he made the liquid in the test tube.


    "Oh, they made it. It''s supposed to allow zombies to pass the virus scan." Leng Xuantong read the look on her face and figured out what she was thinking, so he pointed at Shui Mingjun and explained it to her. Then, he said to Shui Mingjun, "I think it''s fine. Do you guys have a virus detector?"


    "No," Shui Mingjun shook his head and said, "She''ll have to go to the gate and try it there."


    "I''m going with her," said Leng Xuantong.


    "Sure!" Shui Mingjun nodded.


    Leng Xuantong glanced at the drug in his wife''s hand, then asked Shui Mingjun, "Alright. How to use that?"


    "Drink it and wait for three minutes," said Shui Mingjun.


    Leng Xuantong nodded, then looked at Qi Lansheng and said, "Give it a try."


    Qi Lansheng gave him a glance, then poured the drug into her mouth. Three minutes later, before the others felt anything, Qi Lansheng''s son, who had been leaning against her leg, wore a confused look.


    "Something is going outside the base now," Shui Mingjun turned to look outside the base. The vibes of Qiu Lili and some others were sensed from that area.


    "It''s those Huaxia people again," said Leng Xuantong blandly.


    "Do you know who they are?" Shui Mingjun glanced at him and said.


    "I don''t even need to guess," said Leng Xuantong.


    At that moment, Yan Huiguang also raised his head and cast a glimpse at that area. Then, he dropped his head again and sank back into his project, as if what was happening out there had nothing to do with him at all. He was sure that those people would not detect him, because he had installed a device in the base to block people''s sensations. The device was created by himself.


    That was the reason why the level-seven man from Huaxia Base failed to sense the level-seven zombies in All Beings Base. He didn''t sense the existence of Yan Guanghui, who was also a level-seven being, either.


    By the time Yan Huiguang raised his head to glance at that area, the battle that was taking place outside the base was about to end.


    "Pah!" The short captain was sent flying away by Qiu Lili with a gust of wind, vomiting blood, and thudded against a building.


    "You¡­ How is this possible?" The man fell to the ground and looked at Qiu Lili in shock. They were both at level-seven, but he was defenseless under her attack! She had been torturing him since the beginning!


    Qiu Lili didn''t waste any time talking to him, but raised an arm and sent a massive wave of sharp wind blades toward him.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The short man immediately released a thick cloud of white mist.


    Hearing the noises, Qiu Lili figured that her wind blades had missed their target.


    At that point, the short man had disappeared from where he was. Within a blink, he reappeared about a hundred meters away from Qiu Lili, wounded. He was running away from her, seemingly attempting to flee.


    Qiu Lili floated high up in the sky and looked around. She couldn''t sense the man''s presence for a short while. She cast a glance at one direction, then looked around again. After making sure the situation was under control, she flashed across the air to chase that man.


    The man had already run pretty far away from the battlefield, but before long, Qiu Lili caught up with him.


    As the man was running, half of the relatively weak ones among the troop from Huaxia Base had been killed. The ones who were still alive had realized that something was wrong with their plan. They were definitely not expecting so many enemies.


    Every single one of those enemies was stronger than themselves. If they continued fighting, the result for them would not be good.


    "Retreat!" Under the attacks from both Yue Xiaoxian and Jingyan, the woman with a short ponytail shouted at her walkie-talkie decisively. Meanwhile, she had been trying her best to find a way out and to save her own life.


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 1276 The White Mist Turned into Poisonous Mis

    All the Huaxia people who were still alive gave up on fighting and scattered to run.


    "Wanna run? How can that be so easy?" Yue Xiaoxian suddenly raised her speed, charged at the woman with a short ponytail. This time, she didn''t use her superpower, but attacked the woman with a heavy kick. At the same time, Jingyan threw a huge fireball toward the woman and successfully barred her path to escape.


    As the woman was forced to stop, Yue Xiaoxian''s kick almost landed on her body. Hearing the swishing noise, she turned to find the latter''s foot in a customized combat boot swinging at her head. Judging by the speed and strength, the woman figured that kick would bring her severe harm if she let it land on her. Hence, she hurriedly moved to the side to dodge.


    As her first kick failed to hit the target, Yue Xiaoxian immediately turned around and launched the second move, which was a swift sideways kick. The woman with a short ponytail didn''t manage to dodge this time.


    Thud! The woman automatically crossed her forearms before her face to defend herself against that kick.


    Crack! Suffering that heavy kick, she heard a cracking noise from her arm bones.


    Her bones were broken!


    "Ah¡­" The severe pain made the woman scream shrilly as that kick sent her a few meters backward. But, before she landed on the ground, a figure showed up behind her and sank an entire hand into her chest from behind.


    Puff! The woman froze and dropped her head, popping her eyes in shock to stare at the bloody hand that came out of her chest. She saw long and sharp claws on those fingers.


    That¡­ That¡­ That was not a human hand!


    At last, the woman realized what that hand meant. But soon enough, another hand sank into her head and twisted it violently.


    Crack!


    "Whoa! Was that really necessary? Do you like ripping off heads?" Yue Xiaoxian landed beside Jingyan, looking at the latter holding the woman''s headless body with one hand and her head with the other. Blood was dripping onto the ground from that head.


    "I wouldn''t do it to the others, but to her, I just couldn''t help! Jingyan now looked like a female demon. A brutal vibe could be sensed from her body, and her pair of dark eyes were shining with a bright red light.


    "Eh? No way? Do you know her?" Yue Xiaoxian was surprised to hear that.


    Puff! Jingyan crushed the head with her hand and held the energy nucleus as she shook her hand. After that, she threw the dead body in her other hand to the ground while saying, "Yes."


    Next, she turned, leaped high and left, without giving Yue Xiaoxian any chance to ask questions.


    On the other hand, the short man made it to hundreds of meters away, but then Qiu Lili threw a huge fireball at his head.


    Boom! The four or five meters wide fireball exploded near him, swallowing half of the trees and buildings in that area.


    The short man wasn''t hurt though as he rolled about ten meters away and dodged the fireball. His body was wrapped in a faint layer of white mist which clung tightly to his body without fading.


    The thin layer of mist was what concealed his vibe and allowed him to clearly sense the enemy''s movements and intent of attack. That was the reason why he managed to dodge most of Qiu Lili''s attacks.


    "Why are you hiding all the time? Don''t you know how to attack?" Qiu Lili found the man weird. He was sent out to carry a mission, but he had been dodging or running without launching an actual attack since the beginning. She didn''t notice that at first, but she had started to now. He was trying to draw her away from her troop. He must have some kind of plan.


    What was he planning on? Qiu Lili decided to ask him about that directly.


    She turned and glanced back, finding that there was already a distance between her and the battlefield.


    On hearing Qiu Lili''s question, the short man stood up and stared at her with a fierce look as he said, "I''m afraid that you''ll be having no fun once I attacked."


    His vibe suddenly grew stronger, and he no longer looked like that desperately running loser that he was like just now. Having finished talking, he raised both arms. Following his movement, the thick, white mist rapidly spread from his body to all directions and rose. Gradually, the white mist turned yellow.


    Qiu Lili couldn''t see the color of the mist though, as it was only gray in her eyes. All she could tell was that the mist had grown thicker than before, and that a pungent was added to it. That smell didn''t make her feel threatened, but it obviously wasn''t a good thing.


    As Qiu Lili found the mist growing thicker and thicker, covering a wider and wider area, she suddenly sensed sharp chilliness from her back. It made her give a start and turn her body.


    Bang! A silver beam of light flashed across the air, followed by a gunshot. The bullet almost brushed across her body when she turned.


    She could sense the destructive power coming from the bullet. The bullet might have left a hole that could not be fixed in her body if it hit her!


    The man distracted her by expanding and thickening the mist, then sneaked up behind her to attack her with a gun.


    What surprised her even more was that he actually had a weapon that was powerful enough to threaten her life!


    "You dodged! Your sensations are keener than I thought! I''m surprised that my poisonous mist didn''t manage to blur your mind! Maybe you should leave the small base and come to Huaxia Base with me. You''ll be treated better than you are here." The short man stood on top of a building behind Qiu Lili as he looked at her and said seriously.


    Qiu Lili floated in the air while a raging fire was burning on her body. She knitted her brows, snorted scornfully and said, "Who wants to go to your bullsh*t Huaxia Base? Si Kongchen doesn''t even deserve to be a member of this country! He should die!"


    While speaking, she wielded an arm and sent a fiery dragon out of the raging fire around her. The dragon bared its teeth and brandished its claws, charged at the short man.


    The short man nimbly leaped high and a thick cloud of mist was released from his body once again.


    Every time a Huaxia person fled out of the battlefield, a black figure would show up from the darkness, bare its teeth, and popped its claws as it pounced on that person.


    "Ah!" Another level-six man was pressed down to the ground and bitten to death by a three-meter-long black panther, who had a three-meter-long tail.


    "Pah!" The black panther spat. He had bitten so many people tonight. Would his mouth smell bad later and displease Qiu Lili? He was a little worried.


    However, it was his instinct to pounce on the targets and bite them, and he couldn''t help it. By the time he realized what was happening, his mouth was already filled with blood!


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 1277 Give up on the Mission in Sea City

    At the moment, the people stationed near Sea City Base weren''t taking any action even though they were supposed to. They stayed where they were to discuss something that they just found out.


    "Are you sure that''s real? Why would Wu Chengyue put the two kids in that small base? Isn''t Sea City Base a safer place?" The man in a combat suit looked at the other man confusedly.


    It was a bearded man that he was looking at, who said, "That''s what I''ve found out. Since we couldn''t find those kids in Sea City Base, I think Wu Chengyue has very likely sent them to All Beings Base. He''s done that many times before, especially during the most recent half a year. Before his son was born, he often sent his daughter to All Beings Base. He hasn''t been leaving his daughter under the care of Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue, whom he trusted the most as he used to for a long time."


    The man in a combat suit crossed his arms and lowered his head as he thought for a moment and said, "We can''t find the two kids in Sea City Base, but that doesn''t mean they were sent to another base. After all, Sea City Base is huge. It''s easy to hide two kids in that base."


    "Should we send someone to inform Captain and see if he has any discoveries?" the bearded man pondered briefly and said.


    "What should we do next?" the man in a combat suit asked him.


    The bearded man thought for a moment, then said while rubbing his beard with his fingers, "Since the information we have turns out to be wrong, I think we should give up on the mission. Even though Sea City Base currently doesn''t have many powerful people guarding it, it still has a large population. We haven''t located the targets yet, so we don''t need to start a real fight against them. We might as well help Captain to accomplished the mission in All Beings Base first."


    The man in a combat suit glanced at the others on the scene, then said, "What do you guys think?"


    "I agree."


    "Agree."


    "Agree."


    The others all nodded to agree with the bearded man.


    "Alright, since you''ve all agreed, let head to the All Beings Base now," the man in a combat suit nodded and made the decision. Next, the group of people started gathering their people and packing their belongings. Soon, they got into the vehicles and headed toward All Beings Base.


    The battle which was taking place near All Beings Base was intense at the moment. The invisible Yun Meng had been guarding a road near the battlefield to make sure that no Huaxia people could run. At the moment, she was turning to approach another Huaxia man, who was preparing to flee.


    The level-five man was feeling a little relieved, as no one was chasing him and no one could be seen around him. He thought he was safe, and he even planned to rest a little. However, an invisible figure quietly climbed onto the tree behind him and leaped down all of a sudden, sinking her claws into the man''s head.


    Crack! Yun Meng ripped off his skull and dug the level-five energy nucleus out of his pink brain matter.


    The energies contained in these superpowered human nuclei were getting thinner and thinner, seeing which she clicked her tongue and wiped the nucleus on the dead man''s clothes. After that, she spent a few seconds observing the energy contained in the nucleus, then put it into her pocket and zipped it up with a frown.


    Next, she raised her head and hopped onto a tall building, carefully looking around to search for anyone who attempted to run. She and Lin Kui each guarded one side of the battlefield; on the other side was All Beings Base. They formed a triangle and trapped the group of Huaxia people.


    Of course, the two of them weren''t only ones guarding the roads near the battlefield. A group of level five and six zombies were doing the same job.


    Before long, the entire troop from Huaxia Base was cleaned out except for the short man, who was the strongest among all.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The short man fired three times at the fiery dragon.


    Boom! The enormous fiery dragon exploded: His bullets actually detonated Qiu Lili''s energy.


    Qiu Lili was very unhappy to see the man break her fiery dragon with a gun. She pouted and turned down her lips corners as she snorted coldly. Then, she raised an arm and released another fiery dragon. A stream of wind power was sent into the new fiery dragon.


    Along with a fierce gust of wind, the new fiery dragon swooped down at the short man much faster than the last dragon. In the meantime, Qiu Lili wielded both arms and sent four or five more fiery dragons toward the man.


    The man stayed perfectly calm. While dodging unhurriedly, he kept trying to convince Qiu Lili, "Calm down and think about what I just said. This All Beings Base is so small, and it''s relying on Sea City Base for survival. You are a level-seven being. You deserve a better place! What can that woman possibly give you? Whatever she can give you, we''ll double it. Isn''t that good enough?"


    While speaking, he released a thick cloud of mist with one hand and fired the gun at the fiery dragons with the other.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Every bullet he shot accurately detonated a fiery dragon. After that, he disappeared into the thick mist, so the last fiery dragon lost its target.


    Qiu Lili couldn''t sense his vibe, so all she could do was to make the fiery dragon fly in the air.


    As she was looking for her target, the man showed up on top of a building behind her and raised the gun to fire at her back.


    Bang! The moment the gunshot was heard, the bullet was already less than two meters away from Qiu Lili''s back.


    "Roar!" At that very moment, a raging beast roar was heard from near behind the short man. The man immediately turned and saw an enormous black beast pounce on him. The beast''s claws shone with a silver light.


    He hurriedly got down on the ground and rolled to the side to dodge.


    "Hrrr¡­" The beast missed its target and landed on the ground along with a gust of wind. Then, it turned and fixed its eyes on the man. In the next second, the huge black panther turned around to look at Qiu Lili, who was still in the sky.


    Qiu Lili was floating in the sky, perfectly unharmed. She pointed at the short man and yelled at the black panther, "Why are you looking at me? Bite him!"


    After confirming that Qiu Lili was fine, the black panther immediately turned back and jumped on the man, wagging his long tail.


    The man launched a surprise attack. But thankfully, Qiu Lili reacted quickly. She turned her body and easily dodged that bullet.


    Lin Kui was just startled, as he came to assist her and happened to watch the bullet fly toward her.

 1278 The Moving One and the Non-moving One

    The short man fell back to the side to create a safe distance from the panther, then looked at the huge, black panther and said with surprise, "Eh? Have you guys been raising and training mutated animals? Nice! I wonder if it''ll survive my poisonous mist."


    While speaking, the man waved a hand toward Lin Kui and released a thick, yellow stream of mist.


    Normally, his poisonous mist was highly effective on both human beings and mutated beasts. However, unexpectedly, he soon saw the black panther unhurriedly walk out of the poisonous mist as it bared its teeth and growled before jumping at him.


    "How is that possible!" The man popped his eyes and stared at the panther in shock, but still remembered to move backward and create a distance from Lin Kui.


    "Roar¡­" The black panther nimbly leaped toward him and landed on the edge of the roof, fixing its eyes on the man and waiting for the best opportunity to attack.


    "It''s a level-seven beast. No wonder my poisonous mist is ineffective on it." The man gave Lin Kui a close look and found the latter''s vibe not weaker than his at all.


    Looking at the level-seven dual-powered girl and the level-seven beast, the short man had to be more cautious than before. The look on his face grew much more serious than it was a short while ago.


    "What''s going on? Lili, I understand that you might have problems handling him by yourself, but there are two of you now. Why can''t you guys still take him down?" Yun Meng showed up on top of the building behind the short man and asked Qiu Lili


    "This mist of his is special, and the weapon in his hand is very powerful." The mist concealed the man''s vibe and allowed him to hide perfectly while the gun was able to block her attack. That was not an ordinary weapon.


    Qiu Lili hated to admit it, but that was a fact. As long as the man still had the weapon, her attacks wouldn''t deliver any actual effects. All she could do was launch physical attacks to the man from a short distance.


    However, her powers were suitable for launching long-range attacks, and not close combat. And as a clean freak, she wouldn''t want to attack the enemy with her claws unless she had to.


    "I''ll handle him then," Yun Meng understood Qiu Lili''s meaning. Soon, she disappeared from where she was.


    As Yun Meng showed up, the short man became even more sullen-faced than before.


    Who said that All Beings Base only had one level-seven member apart from the Chief lady? Well, he said that himself actually.


    Where were all those level-seven people from? What did that small base have to make so many level-seven beings stay?


    Yun Meng''s presence made him feel dangerous. She had keen sensations too. Just now, she showed up behind him and he didn''t sense her approaching at all. That meant she had some kind of ability to avoid his radar. She had the same type of power as he did.


    "You need to get rid of his weapon first," Qiu Lili yelled toward the short man, then stepped back to a distance away to watch.


    When Yun Meng disappeared, Lin Kui leaped away from the roof of the building to Qiu Lili''s side and sat down as he started watching too. Soon, Lin Feng showed up and joined them.


    The short man realized that he had been encircled by three level-seven superpower possessors and a level-seven mutated beast. At the moment, he had no chance of winning at all, even though he was holding the newest weapon developed by Huaxia Base.


    He tried to stay calm, but he was already thinking about how to run. This time, he really wanted to run and not pretend to do so to lure his enemy away from the battlefield like just now.


    As he was vigilantly looking around, preparing himself for a surprise attack, the invisible Yun Meng got down on all fours a nd started transforming into her beast shape. Her limbs turned into claws, covered in scales. Sharp and strong thorns grew out of her forearms and elbows. She curled her tail into a ring and slowly crawled toward the man.


    The short man looked around alertly while releasing more mist. His mist disabled Yun Meng from locating him by his scent. As the mist reached toward her, she stopped moving.


    She had no idea if the weird mist could allow the man to detect her. Qiu Lili had told her that the mist was special, so she had to be cautious.


    Before long, the entire roof was covered by the thick mist, and the short man disappeared into it without a trace.


    Yun Meng stayed where she was for a while to see if the mist could allow the man to locate her.


    The short man was moving quietly in the mist. He was trying very hard to find Yun Meng, and in the meantime, he was very worried that she might find him. He planned to release as much mist as he could. By the time the mist covered a few miles in radius, he would have an opportunity to run.


    He needed time to release so much mist. During that process, he could not let Yun Meng find him. More importantly, he was not able to sense his enemy''s presence in the mist even though he clearly knew that she was right in the mist.


    Usually, he was able to locate his enemy in the mist by sensing the air streams that touched his enemy. But now, he couldn''t do that. Neither of them was able to locate the other. One of them quietly stayed where she was while the other was moving around silently.


    The people who were watching that battle could only see a massive, thick cloud of mist.


    "Oi, just tell me, what did that woman do to you?" Yue Xiaoxian, who was already cleaning the battlefield, was following behind Jingyan. She was curious, so she followed Jingyan everywhere and kept asking her the same question.


    The population of human beings had shrunk by ninety percent, but still, millions of people existed in the world. There was only a small chance for one to find someone familiar among the people who came to invade her own base!


    "Why are you so curious about that?" Jingyan looked at her and said, "Were you a reporter?"


    "Eh? How did you know?" Yue Xiaoxian looked at her with surprise.


    Jingyan stopped short, then looked at her and said, "I was just guessing. Were you really a reporter?"

 1279 How Did You Die?

    Yue Xiaoxian shrugged and said, "Yeah, is anything wrong with that? Ah, forget about me. Who was that woman?"


    Jingyan stayed silent for a few seconds and asked her a question. "How did you die?"


    Hearing that question, Yue Xiaoxian paused briefly, then sighed and said with a faint sadness, "Me? I was pushed into a zombie crowd."


    Jingyan found a flat rock to sit down and said, "Unlike you, I became a zombie because of that woman. She was my cousin."


    Yue Xiaoxian nodded and said, "Oh, she was a relative of yours. What happened? How did she make you turn into a zombie?"


    The look in Jingyan''s eyes grew cold. "You were pushed into a zombie crowd, but my story is different. I got injured, then someone spread zombie blood on my wound. After that, I died slowly and became a zombie."


    "That woman did that?" Yue Xiaoxian asked.


    Jingyan shook her head and said, "No. It was another person, but that person did it under her command.


    "Whoa. I can''t believe you killed her just so quickly," Yue Xiaoxian said, "Was that enough for you? If I knew this earlier, I''d catch her alive and then torture her slowly to death! But, she was your cousin, right? Why did she do that to you? Did you two always hate each other?"


    While asking that question, she already had some guesses. That woman probably did that for food or a man.


    Jingyan shook her head and said, "We were never in a close relationship, but we didn''t hate each other. After the apocalypse, I attained a superpower before she did. So at first, I was protecting her and her family. We were looking for a base together. Later on, we met some other people. A man among them was also a superpower possessor, the strongest among them. The woman had her eyes on that man, but he didn''t like her."


    "He liked you, didn''t he?" Yue Xiaoxian could guess the rest of the story.


    That woman was fond of that man while the man fancied Jingyan, her cousin. She couldn''t have the man, so she started hating her cousin. In the post-apocalyptic era, any kind of friendship or family-affection could break at any time.


    In fact, the woman wanted to be the man only because she wanted his protection. According to Jingyan, the man was the strongest among them, so without a doubt, he was a leader. Being with a leader would definitely deliver all sorts of benefits.


    The man liked Jingyan, so her cousin was jealous of her. At last, she grasped an opportunity to kill her.


    Hearing Yue Xiaoxian''s words, Jingyan stayed silent.


    "Have you been hearing anything about that man lately?" Yue Xiaoxian asked another question, "Is he in Huaxia City?"


    The woman was from Huaxia Base, meaning that the group of people joined Huaxia Base at last.


    Jingyan stayed silent for another few seconds and said, "He''s dead."


    "Enough about me. What about you? You remember everything now. Haven''t you thought about finding those people who threw you into the zombie crowd and take your revenge?" Jingyan didn''t want to talk more about that man. That man had died. He didn''t even get a chance to become a zombie. He was killed by a mutated plant. At last, his body turned into fertilizer. It was pointless to talk about him now.


    Yue Xiaoxian sighed and said, "Of course, I want to do that! I haven''t found them yet though. I''m still waiting. They better all stay alive, so I can kill them slowly. I want them to know how it feels like to be bitten to death by countless zombies!"


    After saying the last few words, she laughed viciously.


    Jingyan looked at her up to down, then asked her, "Weren''t you thrown into a zombie crowd. Why don''t you have any wound on your face and body?"


    Yue Xiaoxian sighed, "Yeah. Have you seen Jin Jiuyang''s body? He shielded me from those zombies back then. Thankfully, his face wasn''t damaged badly."


    Jin Jiuyang was the male zombie who followed Qiu Lili''s lead together with Yue Xiaoxian. They were friends. When the two of them were thrown into the zombie crowd, Jin Jiuyang shielded her with his own body. Soon after that, Qiu Lili showed up and scared off all the zombies. That was why the two of them weren''t bitten into pieces. However, they inevitability turned into zombies.


    "You still haven''t found those people? Which base were they heading to back then?" Jingyan said curiously.


    "Earth Dragon Base," Yue Xiaoxian said, "That base is gone, and the survivors have moved to the other bases long ago."


    Jingyan nodded and said, "I see. It''s indeed not easy to find them. You only restored your memory six months ago. If you met Chief and fixed your memory sooner, it might be easier for you to find them."


    Yue Xiaoxian nodded, then stood up and said, "Let''s go and take a look at the tough cookie that not even Lili can deal with. How come they still haven''t taken him down?"


    Jingyan turned and spent a moment sensing the vibes of Qiu Lili and the others. The vibe of the Huaxia man had faded, but Qiu Lili and the others never left that area. That meant the man was still alive!


    Yun Meng''s vibe was gone too. However, Jingyan and Yue Xiaoxian believed that she was just in her invisible mode instead of being dead.


    Based on the vibes they sensed, they figured that the man wasn''t dead yet. Four level-seven beings failed to kill one level-seven being in such a long while. That man seemed to have some special skills!


    Jingyan stood up as well, and the two of them turned around and swiftly moved toward that area.


    At that moment, Yun Meng and the short man were still on the roof, both searching for each other''s vibe. The mist was growing thicker and thicker, and the short man had started to slowly approach the edge of the roof, to see if he could find any chance to run.


    Yun Meng spent a short while lying on the ground. After realizing that the enemy couldn''t locate her in the mist, she started moving slowly.


    "Are the two of them playing hide and seek in the mist? It''s been a while, but nothing seems to be happening," Qiu Lili murmured with curiosity as she opened her eyes wide to stare into the mist, trying to find the short man. She had night vision, but all she could see was a thick cloud of mist. Not even a trace of that man could be found.

 1280 He Falls

    Both of them were invisible inside the white mist. They were like two blind people fumbling for each other''s vibe.


    The short man was approaching the roof edge exactly where Yun Meng was. Unexpectedly, the two who were not able to locate each other happened to be moving toward each other.


    While Yun Meng was crawling slowly, a foot suddenly landed on one of her forepaws. Both of them stopped moving as if time froze at that moment.


    Yun Meng turned, looked at that foot. ''I''m sorry, you stepped on me.''


    The short man even wanted to kill himself at that moment. ''Is it too late for me to take my foot back now?''


    Despite all the thoughts that were going on in their minds, Yun Meng sprung up and pounced on the man in the very next second. She deactivated her invisibility and swung her sharp claws at the man''s throat and stomach.


    The short man reacted swiftly, but he was still slightly slower than Yun Meng. He didn''t manage to dodge her claws, so he automatically raised both arms to shield himself.


    Thud! Yun Meng scratched the man, but in the meantime, the man gave her a kick. She lifted a knee to fend against that kick while stepping backward.


    Woosh! Yun Meng nimbly turned her body in the air and then landed on the ground as she raised a strong air stream. When she raised her head again, the short man was gone.


    Of course, she wasn''t feeling frustrated. On the contrary, she delightedly licked the blood off her claws.


    It was great! She scratched the man, so the man would become a zombie.


    The virus from a level-seven zombie attacked quickly. Within a blink, the mist on the roof started dissipating rapidly. Three seconds later, the short man was spotted, kneeling on one knee under the guardrail by the roof edge and covering the wounded forearm with a hand.


    Red blood flowed out of that wound. In the darkness, the color of the blood couldn''t be seen.


    The short man clearly sensed coldness spreading toward every corner of his body from that wound. At that very moment, he felt as if the blood, muscles, and even bones of both his arms were icy cold already.


    "You! Your claws are venomous!" He twirled as he stared at Yun Meng and yelled with surprise. In the meantime, he fumbled through his pocket with his unwounded hand and took out a small bottle. Unplugging it, he poured the medicine in it into his mouth.


    Yun Meng stood up with her tail wagging behind her body. With a sneer, she said, "You think that''s some ordinary kind of venom? The antidote isn''t gonna work."


    After taking the drug, the man still felt cold. He couldn''t even feel his hands anymore. The coldness reached his shoulders and chest and made him find it hard to breathe.


    The antidote developed by Huaxia Base wasn''t able to detoxify every kind of toxin, but it had an inhibitory effect on most kinds of toxins in the world. It was developed by the top medical scientists in the base, possessed exclusively by them. It could be counted as very precious.


    For level-seven superpower possessors, as long as the antidote inhibited the toxin, they would be able to slowly excrete it by using their superpower energy. At least, they wouldn''t need to worry about their lives! The antidote worked well in tests. But currently, it wasn''t working for the short man. That fact really made the man panic.


    At the moment, he started losing control of his energy. He felt colder and colder, so much so that he automatically curled his body and even dropped the gun in his hand.


    Yun Meng shifted back to her human shape. Her sleeves and trouser legs had all been torn by her shape-shifting. She didn''t say a word to the man but disappeared from where she was.


    Seeing her disappear, the short man immediately forced himself to stay on alert. However, he couldn''t even release his power anymore, not to mention the fact that he couldn''t see Yun Meng. However, as a level-seven superpower possessor, he was still able to sense the danger instinctively.


    The sudden chilliness from his spine and the back of his head made him spring up and roll in a random direction.


    Woosh! Yun Meng showed up in the spot where he lay before and swung her claws, then turned around to glance at the man and disappeared again.


    "He actually dodged Captain Yun Meng''s attack like that! This Huaxia Man is good indeed!" Watching the short man dodge the attack launched by the invisible Yun Meng, Yue Xiaoxian couldn''t help but exclaim.


    "So what? He''s not gonna live for long anyway. He''s infected by the zombie virus," said Jingyan blandly.


    At that point, Yun Meng had all the patience in the world. She was only trying to find out how long the level-seven man could last under the effect of her virus.


    Because of his movements, the virus had spread all over his body. He felt as if he were walking in a place tens of degrees below zero without wearing a piece of clothing. He shambled and leaned against a wall, then turned to look at Yun Meng as he held the wall and tried his best to move forward and create a distance from her.


    At that moment, he had realized that he would die soon. Even if he managed to escape from the short-haired girl that he was looking at, the other enemies on the scene wouldn''t let him go just so easily.


    While he was holding the wall and moving forward with his eyes fixed on Yun Meng, an idea suddenly crossed his mind.


    The antidote he just took was able to inhibit almost all toxins in the world except for the zombie virus and the toxins from underground creatures. It wasn''t working on him, so did that mean that what he was having was actually the zombie virus?


    He then thought of how Yun Meng attacked him before. He thought she was an animal-power possessor, but as he thought back about the battle, he found her way of attacking almost the same as that of zombies. Most importantly, she had claws and she wore sunglasses at night!


    "You¡­ Are you not huma¡­ Ahhhh!" That idea made him pop his eyes and stare at Yun Meng in shock. However, before he could finish, he missed a step. He dropped his head to find a hole under his feet caused by the explosion which happened earlier, and then he fell.


    If he remembered right, the building had over twenty stories.


    Yun Meng was a little speechless.

 1281 Another Batch

    Boom!


    Everyone watched the short man fall off the building without knowing what to say. With a complicated look on her face, Yun Meng moved to the edge of the hole and looked down.


    "He didn''t fall to his death, did he?" Qiu Lili said.


    Sitting on the ground, Lin Kui said, "Yun Meng''s virus completely disabled his superpower. Also, he was in shock before he fell. So¡­"


    "Eh-hem, Mengmeng, what''s going on?" said Lin Feng.


    Yun Meng cast a glance downward, then turned around and spread her hands as she said, "He''s dead."


    The man fell on the cement ground, and blood splashed everywhere. The sweet, blood scent was thick and strong, yet his vibe was gone for good.


    The others didn''t know what to say.


    That was a little awkward way of dying!


    Yun Meng leaped down. From the short distance, she confirmed that the man was really dead. After spending a few seconds looking at the man''s smashed head, she looked around and found a stick nearby. Using the stick, she picked the glowing level-seven energy nucleus out of his head.


    Soon, Lin Feng and the others all landed near her.


    "Superpower possessors have strong bodies, but his power had been disabled, and he wasn''t able to control his body. Falling from such a high altitude with his head hitting the ground could really kill him. After all, without his superpower, he was nothing but an ordinary man," Lin Feng glanced at the dead body and said.


    His head was broken, and his energy nucleus was dug out. He didn''t even have the chance to become a zombie.


    Qiu Lili was holding the gun that the short man used before. No one knew when she picked it up.


    "Their weapons are getting more and more advanced. If they''re allowed a few more years to develop, Huaxia Base might really grow strong enough to rule the whole country," she said with a serious look while observing the gun closely.


    Lin Feng squatted and searched the short man''s body as he collected all his weapons. As the mission was accomplished, everyone turned and prepared to go home. However, after turning around and making a few steps, they paused simultaneously and glanced at each other, then disappeared from where they were.


    In the next second, they showed up on top of a tall building, facing Sea City Base.


    "Aren''t these people going for Sea City Base? How come they suddenly came to us? Have they changed their plan?" Lin Feng gazed into the darkness and said with a slight frown.


    "Who cares!" Yun Meng snorted, "Since they have the courage to come, we''ll just take their lives. There''re only hundreds of them anyway."


    "These people are so annoying!" Qiu Lili narrowed her eyes and said unhappily.


    Once she finished talking, Qiu Lili and Lin Kui disappeared.


    "Are you going?" Yun Meng turned to Lin Feng and asked.


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "No. I''ll stay. There''re only two level-seven ones among them. I believe you won''t need my help."


    "Oh, so this is it. Wait for the good news," Yun Meng nodded at him and then leaped high and disappeared as well. Following the three level-seven zombies, the other zombies quickly left as well. Soon, the area became empty and quiet, and only the wind could be heard, sounding like creepy cries.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, who were in Huaxia Base, had now been holding the two kids while staying in Lin Qiao''s bedroom in her house in her space. The two kids, who were supposed to be sleeping at that time, were still awake. Teng was even wearing a very serious look on his little face.


    "Can''t you tell what the problem is? Will any unpredictable situation happen in the future?" The look on Teng''s face made Wu Chengyue worry. After saying that, he turned to Lin Qiao, who was sitting on the couch.


    Wu Yueling was lying on her lap, her eyelids dropping from time to time. Lin Qiao had been stroking her slowly from the head to the back like petting a cat. However, her eyes were fixed on Teng, who was in Wu Chengyue''s arms.


    Compared with Wu Chengyue and his son, Lin Qiao was calm. "Based on my own feelings, I think even if there were to be some kind of problem, it won''t happen now. This body doesn''t really belong to me¡­ So, it''s a normal thing for problems to happen."


    Teng folded his little arms before his chest and furrowed his brows slightly, seemingly thinking very hard about something. Only after hearing what his parents said did he raise his head to look at them and said uncertainly, "Since Mama has felt it herself, I think it''s basically like what she said. But, as far as I can feel, it''s actually a good thing for Mama as long as she can get through what might be happening."


    "Why? Did you feel anything?" Wu Chengyue lowered his head and looked at the boy questioningly.


    Teng gave a long sigh and said, "I can''t feel it clearly yet, but I can guess about it. Mama''s body doesn''t belong to Mama originally, so her mind never completely merged with this body, which means Mama isn''t in full control of it. Now, Mama has entered a high level, so this body has been strengthened as well. This is a zombie body, and her zombie nature isn''t gone for good."


    The boy''s explanation enlightened Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue.


    "Are you saying that as this body has grown strong, and its own nature wants to wake up, to fight me over the right of control over this body?" Lin Qiao said.


    Teng thought for a moment and nodded. But soon, he shook his head and said, "Something like that, yeah, but I don''t think it''s gonna be as simple as fighting you over the right of control. It might devour you!"


    Hearing that, Lin Qiao didn''t know what to say.


    Unlike her, Wu Chengyue had questions to ask, "Do you mean that as Lin Qiao has grown strong, the instinct of her body woke up, and now it wants to devour her mind? If it succeeded, your Mama would¡­"


    "Mama would no longer be Mama," Teng raised his head and looked at Lin Qiao.


    She nodded and thought for a moment, "So, if that happened, I would become a pure zombie with no sanity or humanity, right?"

 1282 Zombie Instinc

    Lin Qiao''s words put a grim look on Wu Chengyue''s face, and Teng looked very upset as well. "Yeah, that''s basically what it is¡­ But, the nature of your body hasn''t fully woken up yet. It will wake up slowly¡­ It needs time. It won''t be serious at first, so Mama, as long as you can control it, you won''t become a zombie like that. But¡­ but¡­"


    "But, it''s not a long term solution, right? No matter how I try to control it, it''ll only get back on me harder. At last, I might fail to stop it¡­" Lin Qiao knew what Teng was trying to say, so she said it in his stead.


    Teng pouted and stayed silent. The look in his eyes told Lin Qiao that she was right.


    "That''s only my intuition¡­ I''m not very sure¡­" What he said was just a guess he had made. His intuition had always been accurate though. The idea that Lin Qiao might become a pure zombie who had no humanity or sanity made him so sad.


    Wu Chengyue was also sullen-faced. But, he still remembered something Teng said before. "But Teng, didn''t you say that it can also be a good thing for Lin Qiao? Why? Did you mean that if she managed to defeat the nature of the body, the body will belong to her entirely?"


    According to Teng, the nature of that body would be its zombie instinct. Something belonged to Lu Tianyu might still remain in that body too!


    Teng nodded quickly and said, "Yes, as long as Mama defeated the nature of this body, the body will surely belong to Mama. I can feel that Mama is now facing both a crisis and an opportunity. It''s not completely a bad thing!"


    On hearing that, both Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue sighed slightly in relief. They raised their heads and glanced at each other, then turned to the kids in their arms.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Wu Yueling, then looked at Lin Qiao. After that, he dropped his head and rubbed Teng''s head as he said to him determinedly, "Don''t worry. Daddy is here. Daddy won''t let anything happen to your Mama. I will find a way to kill the nature of her body."


    Lin Qiao gave a faint smile and said, "Didn''t you say that it''s also an opportunity? That means I, your Mama, still have a great chance of surviving. I won''t let myself die in this body, for your sake."


    Teng didn''t tell the others about what would happen to Lin Qiao''s soul if the nature of her body woke up. But still, except for Wu Yueling, who didn''t really understand what they were talking about, the others on the scene all understood that if Lin Qiao failed, she would not wake up from that body ever again.


    Wu Yueling didn''t understand what ''nature'', or ''instinct'' meant. However, she could read the grim look on the faces of her Daddy and Teng. She had realized that something not good was probably happening to her new Mama.


    She realized that, but didn''t know what to do. All she could do was to lie on Lin Qiao''s thighs and hold her as she prayed for her. ''Mama, get better, get better!''


    Teng hesitated briefly, then nodded and said, "Yes. Mama is the best!"


    Wu Chengyue rubbed his head and said, "Alright, go to sleep. From tomorrow, you won''t be seeing me for a while. Sleep together with Daddy and Mommy tonight, alright? We can all share this bed. This bed is big enough!"


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Lin Qiao''s large bed, then stood up and carried Teng toward the bed with a smile.


    "Sleep together! Sleep together!" Teng wasn''t the most excited one to hear Wu Chengyue''s words. Instead, it was Wu Yueling. She sprung up from Lin Qiao''s laps and repeated the two words with a big smile.


    Looking at the adorable girl, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but rub her head and speak with laughter, "Alright, alright, we''ll sleep together."


    Wu Yueling immediately turned and ran to the bed. At the bedside, she quickly kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed. She never forgot about the idea of sleeping together with Mommy and Daddy. However, that wish of hers never came true before, because her Mama didn''t need to sleep at all.


    "You''re really excited to sleep together with us," Lin Qiao looked at her and smiled. After saying that, she stood up, then turned and walked toward the bathroom, "You kids get on the bed. I''ll take a shower first, then come to sleep with you two."


    Wu Chengyue immediately put on a grinning face and said to her, "Shall we shower together? We can save both time and water that way."


    Lin Qiao turned, gave him a glare and said, "Go away. Do I need to save water here?"


    After watching Lin Qiao walk into the bathroom and close the door, Wu Chengyue put Teng on the bed with disappointment, then looked at the kids and said, "When do you think I can give you two a little brother or sister?"


    Hearing that she might have a new little brother or sister, Wu Yueling immediately had her eyes glowing.


    Teng looked at Wu Chengyue with a pair of big, watery eyes, which were full of scorn, while saying, "Not to mention if Mama can get pregnant again without my help, you guys aren''t even that close yet! Daddy, you need to work harder to make that possible¡­"


    While speaking, he made a roll on the bed, then started rolling and crawling all over the bed.


    Crawling on the bed felt so nice!


    Watching Teng craw from one corner to another once he touched the bed, Wu Chengyue said to the boy helplessly while spreading the quilt, "Alright. Can you please stop? Are you a puppy? Stop crawling around and lie down, get to sleep!"


    "If I''m a puppy, you''d be a dog daddy!" Teng didn''t stop. On the contrary, he argued with his father while crawling.


    Wu Chengyue didn''t even know what to say. The boy was so tiny but how come he was so clever already! That was reasonable, though. After all, that was his son!


    "Alright, I''m the dog daddy, okay? Can you please stop? Just get into the quilt. Learn from your sister. Look how nice your sister is," Wu Chengyue watched the boy crawling all over the bed and pointed at Wu Yueling, who was already under the quilt. He had no choice but to agree with his son.


    Teng decided not to cause himself trouble. He had already crawled a few nice rounds on the bed anyway. So, he stopped and looked at Wu Yueling, who was lying in the middle of the bed. "Eh?" he stopped short, then said, "No way! This is such a great chance. Are you gonna let us sleep between you two and ruin it? Daddy, are you stupid?"


    Wu Chengyue honestly didn''t know what to say.

 1283 Gather before Action

    Lin Qiao came out to find the two kids lying near the wall while Wu Chengyue was near the edge of the bed. There was a large space between him and the two kids, which was clearly saved for her.


    She glanced at Wu Chengyue, then at the two kids, who were pretending to sleep. After that, she said, "What does this mean? Do you guys want me to sleep in the middle of the bed?"


    Lying on the bed, Wu Chengyue looked at her with a smile, then patted the empty area on the bed and said, "You''re not gonna absorb any energy nucleus tonight, are you?"


    "Then lie here together with you for a few days again?" Lin Qiao reminded him of what happened last time.


    Wu Chengyue gave an innocent smile while saying, "Who knew something like that would happen? Didn''t you agree to sleep with me? It''s hard to avoid physical contact when two people are sharing a bed. How was that my fault?"


    Lin Qiao still had a towel on her head. While drying her hair, she walked to the bedside and looked down at him, "So, it was my fault then? Cut the crap and go to the shower."


    Wu Chengyue was kicked off the bed, so he had no choice but to walk into the bathroom for a shower. Looking at the bathrobe that was prepared for him, he was a little disappointed. She had prepared him a bathrobe, so he couldn''t wrap a towel around his waist and walk out to ask her for something to wear, and also show off his perfect body shape.


    Lin Qiao sat by the bedside to dry her hair. Before her hair was dried, Wu Chengyue came out of the bathroom.


    "How do you think Si Kongchen will react tomorrow after he learns about tonight?" Lin Qiao remembered that Si Kongchen''s people would be taking action tonight. Barring any accidents, his troops would be destroyed completely.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, "I guess he''ll look sullen-faced tomorrow. He might also look at you with a slight intent of killing."


    "Hm, will he be too angry to even control his facial expression?" Lin Qiao tilted her head and put her hair before one of her shoulders as she kept drying it with the towel. In the meanwhile, she responded to Wu Chengyue and looked at him.


    Wu Chengyue walked to her and shrugged as he raised his brows, "He doesn''t plan to let you come out of the underground realm alive this time. In his eyes, you''re dead already."


    While speaking, he walked to Lin Qiao''s side and took over the towel from her hand, then smoothly started drying her hair for her. His movements made Lin Qiao stop short. She raised her eyes silently and gave him a glance, then dropped her eyelids and let him rub her hair gently with the towel.


    She didn''t need to dry her hair completely. She wasn''t a human being anyway. Unlike some humans, she wouldn''t suffer headaches after she slept with moist hair. But still, she could not get onto the bed with wet hair.


    Lin Qiao felt a little awkward at first, but soon, she relaxed.


    Her body wasn''t sensitive to pain but was to some other feelings. She felt nothing when she was drying her hair by herself, but now, as someone else was doing it for her, she felt a little comfortable. She wondered if it were a psychological effect.


    He rubbed her hair in the towel gently, like how he always dried his daughter''s hair, while she was sitting there quietly, enjoying the comfort. Both of them fell into silence. Teng sneakily opened one eye to cast a glimpse at his parents, then quickly closed that eye and pretended to sleep.


    "Alright, it''s good enough." As her hair were almost dried, Lin Qiao moved her head away from Wu Chengyue''s hands, then took over the towel and stood up. She walked to the bathroom and dropped the towel before coming back out.


    She got on the bed and tucked the kids in before lying down herself. Next to her, Wu Chengyue soon lay down as well. Lin Qiao was lying on one side, having her back to him. So, he didn''t hesitate to put his arm around her.


    Even though he didn''t hesitate, he was a little worried actually. He was afraid that Lin Qiao might suddenly say something to stop him, or directly take his hand off herself. However, she didn''t make any sound or movement in the next two or three seconds. So, Wu Chengyue sighed with relief, then started feeling delighted.


    Lin Qiao turned her head to give him a glance, and her body stayed motionless. She could clearly feel how happy he was because she allowed him to hold her. She couldn''t help but feel warm and indescribably glad too.


    ¡­


    The next day, a couple of hours before the underground mission started, all people arrived at Huaxia Base. After spending the whole morning to complete the last preparations, people gathered before the Southern Gate of Huaxia Base two hours before the agreed time for the mission to start.


    The ones who would follow Lin Qiao to the underground realm were the ones she brought out of the base this time. She looked at the others and said, "I''ll be leading the people from All Beings Base and Sea City Base. There are twenty of us in total, including ten level-six and ten level-five. Have you guys arranged your people yet?"


    Lan Lu responded to her the first. "We''re always short-handed," he said, "So, we can only send out seven people. I hope you guys understand. Chief Lu, please look after my people during the mission, thank you!"


    While speaking, he raised a hand and crooked his fingers. Following his movement, a group of people walked out of the crowd behind him along with a large, mutated dog. Among them, Lin Qiao had already met Lei Cheng, Zheng Hao, Ye Yingyue. The rest four were unfamiliar to her.


    Lei Cheng was at level-seven, Zheng Hao and Ye Yingyue were at level-six, and the rest four were at level-five.


    Lin Qiao gave him a faint smile and said, "I''ll surely look after them for you if I can."


    As a squad came out of Heilong Base''s troop, Du Kunsheng said with a grin, "We should all look after each other. After all, unity is strength."


    He sent out over ten people for the mission. The leader among those people was a level-seven man. He was probably new at level-seven, because his vibe wasn''t very strong. About five among that squad were at level-six, while the rest were at level-five.


    Lin Qiao looked at the new level-seven man from Heilong Base, then at the few level-six ones behind him. Then, she said to Du Kunsheng with a meaningful tone, "I guess Heilong Base isn''t as weak as what Gao Haoyun made us think."


    No wonder Du Kunsheng managed to lead his people to survive that disaster caused by Mo Yan. Aside from his superpower, he clearly had some other abilities.


    On hearing her words, Du Kunsheng smiled and said frankly, "It''s because he and I never really agreed with each other."


    While the other base leaders were introducing their people who would take part in the mission, Wei Haichao showed up silently and went to Si Kongchen, who had been quiet all the time, then whispered something to the latter.


    From the corners of her eyes, Lin Qiao noticed that sneaky move of theirs and gave a small smile. As she expected, she found Si Kongchen wear a grim face a few seconds later, then abruptly raise his eyes to look at her.


    She turned and made an eye-contact with him, making it look like an unwitting move. As a result, she saw a trace of the intent of killing flash across the man''s eyes, just as she had thought.

 1284 The Argument before the Action

    Wu Chengyue moved to Lin Qiao''s side and whispered to her while looking at the others, "I guess he has received the news."


    "How did it go?" Lin Qiao asked him, "It''s almost like what we expected, isn''t it?"


    She knew that Wu Chengyue had received the message too. Judging by the extremely displeased look on Si Kongchen''s face, she figured he suffered worse than failure.


    Wu Chengyue turned his eyes from side to side, then said to her smilingly, "They were going to take actions on both sides, but at last, they gave up on Sea City Base and gathered their people toward your base. However, Lin Feng and the others found out about their plan long ago. So, they were all harvested."


    Hundreds of energy nuclei at level five and six were harvested, together with three level-seven ones. Those would be enough for Lin Qiao to upgrade another batch of her zombie soldiers.


    "Look at these people here. There aren''t many level six and five ones. The ones that Si Kongchen had sent to your base were over a hundred level-six ones and hundreds of level-five ones. He also lost three level-seven ones. Of course, he''s pissed off!" Wu Chengyue continued.


    "He brought that upon himself. Whom can he possibly blame?" Lin Qiao snorted and said coldly.


    At that point, Mongols Base presented their people for the mission as well. They had sent out eight people, one more than Green Mountain Base did. They were three level-six superpower possessors and five level-five ones, but no level-seven ones. As all the other bases had presented their people for the mission, everyone turned to Si Kongchen.


    "Alright, I guess these are our people for the mission. I wonder how many people Huaxia Base will send?" Lan Lu asked Si Kongchen with a smile.


    So far, Heilong Base sent the largest number of people out for the mission, over ten people. Sea City Base was known as the second-largest base in the country. However, as Lin Qiao would take part in the mission, Wu Chengyue only sent out ten people. After all, his base and hers could now be considered as an entity. Lin Qiao was a level-eight being, who wouldn''t need many to help her.


    Si Kongchen''s heart sank once he heard Wei Haichao''s words. As Lan Lu mentioned Huaxia Base, he raised both hands and clapped near one side of his face with a sullen look. Next, a group of people walked out from behind the crowd of Huaxia people, being led by a gorgeous, long-legged woman.


    Her beautiful face, perfect body shape, and long and slender legs immediately caught the attention of every man on the scene.


    While speaking, she pointed at the man beside her. That was the vice-captain of the team. Having finished talking, she scanned the people on the scene with her seductive eyes, wearing a charming smile. Some men were greedily looking at her from head to toe. Their eyes lingered mostly on her chest and snow-white thighs. Hearing her voice, those men even swallowed saliva.


    Xie Longyun not only looked stunning, but also had such a beautiful body and tempting voice. Those men who had been horny for years almost collapsed under her charm.


    Following behind Xie Longyun was a group of men in camouflage combat suits, armed with advanced weapons and giving out strong vibes.


    "Huaxia Base is indeed full of talents. I didn''t know you have such a pretty lady in your base!" Du Kunsheng said with laughter. His eyes boldly swept across Xie Longyun''s body, especially her thighs. He was always interested in pretty ladies, and he did love beautiful legs!


    On hearing his words, Xie Longyun gave him a bland glance, without concealing the scorn in her eyes. Then, she soon turned to Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao, who were standing side by side.


    "These are my people," said Si Kongchen coldly, "Since we''ve sent out more people than you guys have, we should be leading this action. During the action, everyone should follow our lead."


    What he said instantly changed the expressions of the others, who seemed to be a little displeased.


    Du Kunsheng objected the first, "Wait. Follow your lead? Why? Why didn''t I hear anything about that before?"


    Lan Lu joined the conversation with a smile, "That''s right. That wasn''t mentioned in the meeting. Besides, why decide who to lead by the number of people? Why don''t you decide by the level of power? Miss. Lu is from a small base, but she''s a level-eight superpower possessor. You want her to follow the lead of this level-seven captain from your base? Is that really appropriate?"


    While speaking, he cast a glance at Xie Longyun with a faint scorn in his eyes. After that, he continued, "All Beings Base is a small base indeed, but we still need to respect its power, or, there might be consequences to suffer."


    He straightforwardly told Si Kongchen that in spite of the small size of All Beings Base, its leader was a level-eight being. Any powerful being should be respected. If she were displeased, she might destroy the entire Huaxia team in the underground realm and then come out. Si Kongchen wouldn''t even able to stop her from doing that. After all, she was also in close partnership with Sea City Base.


    His words worsened the sulky look on Si Kongchen''s face.


    "We''ve never heard about that, and we''ve never agreed on that. Chief Si, what gave you the confidence that the others would follow your lead in the underground realm?" Wu Chengyue said with a smile as those smiling eyes of his glowed with a cold light.


    "Chief Si, are we stupid in your eyes? Can you at least give us a fair reason? Besides, aren''t we going to go on our separate ways after we get down? When did we agree that all people would be following someone''s lead?" Lin Qiao looked at Si Kongchen like she was looking an idiot. She didn''t understand why the man suddenly came up with such an idea.


    "I don''t think people should go separate ways down there. After all, the underground world is not safe. For safety, I think the entire team should stay together. However, as this is a large team, there will certainly be disagreements. Following someone''s lead will allow action to be taken in an efficient way," said Si Kongchen with a dark face. He made it sound like he made that decision for everyone''s good. No one could figure out his real purpose.


    "I don''t think that''s necessary. After all, none of us has been down there before. No one knows what''s gonna be there waiting for us. I think we might as well explore the underground world in our own ways. Besides, who can guarantee that your pretty captain''s decisions will always be right?" Du Kunsheng disagreed again.

 1285 Get into Action

    "I''m sorry. I''m not going to do what you said, or act together with this pretty captain of yours. Aren''t you aware of what situation we''re now in? I don''t like anyone to hinder me down there," Lin Qiao said blandly. While speaking, she looked at Si Kongchen coldly, without even glancing at Xie Longyun.


    "I agree with Chief Lu and Chief Du. It''s really unnecessary for such a large team to stick together. Such a large group of people can easily become a target. It might cause unnecessary trouble," Wu Chengyue held his hands behind his body and said to Si Kongchen with a smile.


    Lan Lu nodded and said, "It''s indeed safer for people to all stay together, but sometimes, trouble can also be attracted that way. If there has to be someone leading the team, I think Chief Lu is capable of doing that. After all, we''ve witnessed her power. As for Miss. Xie here, we don''t know her well yet."


    He could accept to let the team act together, but the one leading it had to be Lin Qiao. Otherwise, people should go separate ways.


    As everyone else objected, Si Kongchen stayed silent for a long while, looking black as thunder. He was sullen-faced since the beginning. Meanwhile Xie Longyun stayed composed, and the smile on her face never faded. "Alright. Since you guys don''t agree with us, we will do it your way. We''ll go separate ways after getting down."


    After saying that, she turned and gave Si Kongchen an eye signal. In fact, the latter had foreseen that result. He believed that no one would agree to follow Xie Yunlong''s lead. What he really wanted was for people to go separate ways, so she would have an opportunity to do something to the others.


    "Since everyone is here, let''s start," Si Kongchen said with a deep voice after two seconds of silence.


    The spot that people had decided to enter the underground world from was about a hundred miles away from Huaxia Base, and it would take them about two hours to drive there. Everyone got into their cars and headed toward the destination according to the location provided by their leaders.


    Lin Qiao got into her car. But before that, she glanced at Wu Chengyue and said, "The things up here will be left for you to handle. I don''t want to see anything that I wouldn''t like when I come back from the underground."


    "Don''t worry," Wu Chengyue responded to her with a smile, "That won''t happen. Be careful!"


    He didn''t need to say much, because he knew what the zombie lady could do.


    Lin Qiao nodded as she sat into the car and told Duan Juan to drive.


    They were driving an armed off-road vehicle. Apart from the two armed off-road cars, Huaxia Base had also sent a military truck.


    "They''re going in action now. Let''s head back and wait for the result." Watching the motorcade leave, Lan Lu started prepared to leave the first.


    "I need to go too. See you around, guys!" Du Kunsheng waved at the others as he turned and got into his car, leaving with his people.


    While the other base leaders were heading back to their own bases, Lin Qiao and the rest of the team had driven to miles away. At that moment, a red figure flashed across the sky. It was so swift that people couldn''t see it clearly, but everyone sensed its vibe.


    Lin Qiao raised her head and glanced at it, but made no other reaction. On top of a car belonging to Green Mountain Base, the dog abruptly stood up and reared up its head to stare at the red figure in the sky, with its tail held between its legs.


    Lei Cheng stuck his head out of the window and spent a short while observing the creature in the sky, then retracted his head.


    "What is it? Is it just passing through?" Ye Yingyue looked at him and asked.


    Lei Cheng shook his head expressionlessly as he slightly furrowed his brows and said, "I can''t tell what it is. It doesn''t look like someone that''s simply passing through though."


    While speaking, he raised his eyes and glanced upward again.


    "It''s not passing by? Is it following us then? Where did it come from?" Ye Yingyue stuck her head out of the window to look at that creature as well.


    In another vehicle, Xie Longyun also raised her head to look at the red figure in the sky, but she didn''t say anything.


    "Captain, aren''t we gonna do anything about it?" One of her subordinates said to her.


    Xie Yunlong was holding a bottle of nail polish, preparing to paint her nail. On hearing her subordinate''s question, she said to the man without even raising her head, "Do what? Did you see anyone else do anything? Let''s just wait and see. Maybe it''ll be gone soon."


    While speaking, she carefully painted one of her beautiful nails, then pouted her red lips and blew at it gently. After that, she raised the second finger.


    That kind of nail polish was created by some people in Huaxia Base. They collected the blossoms of some slightly mutated plants and turned them into nail polish through multiple processes. Due to the rarity of the raw materials and the complicated processes, the product could be considered luxurious. In Huaxia Base, nail polish like this was very hard to get.


    The subordinate stuck his head out to look at the red creature again and said, "Why do I feel that it''s following us and intending to attack."


    "Let it attack us then," said Xie Longyun blandly, "Don''t we have a level-eight one in the team? Do I need to worry about that level-seven flying beast?"


    "Oh," the subordinate didn''t know what else to say.


    At that time, in Lin Qiao''s car, Duan Juan said to her, "Is it following you underground? Will it cause us any unnecessary trouble?"


    Lin Qiao leaned against the back of the seat a she closed her eyes and said, "Judging by what happened before, it won''t cause us any trouble. It has been keeping a distance from us all the time. I''m just curious why it keeps following us."


    "It''s following you," Duan Juan smiled and said, "But, it''s not gonna be a good thing if it acts friendly toward you in front of the people from the other bases."


    That would arouse some people''s suspicions, especially of the people from Huaxia Base. For them, that could be a perfect excuse to do something to Lin Qiao.


    "I don''t know if that''ll happen or not," Lin Qiao stayed silent for two seconds, then said, "Let''s hope it won''t suddenly descend from the sky!"


    The big cat had no hostility toward her, but Lin Qiao doubted if it knew when to do what. If it came down right now and start interacting with her, the others would certainly have suspicions.


    However, as the group of people was all observing the red creature that was flying high in the sky, the big cat suddenly sped up and disappeared.


    People sighed with relief. At least, they wouldn''t need to worry that it might suddenly come down to attack them. They weren''t afraid of it, but they didn''t want any unnecessary trouble. To deal with the cat, they would have to interrupt their journey. They didn''t want any problems on the way, and only hoped to get to the destination safely and smoothly.

 1286 The Current Situation of the Zombie Army

    In the All Beings Base, Yun Meng and the others were discussing the report from Shui Mingjun.


    "This is nice. Can we all get into the other bases now? We don''t need to sneakily go over the fence wall anymore!" Yun Meng and the others were interested in the drug that could allow zombies to pass the virus scan.


    The drug could provide them with so much convenience. With that, they were finally able to go straight into the other base through the front door instead of getting over the wall. If their Chief were acting together with them, she always put them in her space and brought them in. But when she wasn''t around, they had to get over the fence wall to enter another base.


    "Are you sure it''ll work?" Lin Feng looked at the sample drug and then picked up the report to read it.


    "Last night, when you guys were out there taking action, we tested it at the base gate, and it worked. But, we don''t know if it''ll work with the virus detectors used by the other bases. Maybe the ones they''re using are different from ours," Leng Xuantong sat on the other side of the table and looked at the others as he spoke.


    Currently, most bases were using the same kind of virus detector. However, no one could guarantee that some base was using different ones as well. Huaxia Base was a good example. Their virus detectors were much more advanced than those used by the other bases, and could deliver more accurate results.


    "Let''s find out about the types and functions of the virus detectors used by the other bases," Lin Feng said.


    Leng Xuantong nodded and said, "That''s what I''m thinking about. But at least, our virus detectors are the same as the ones in Sea City Base. So, next time we visit that base, we don''t have to leave our friends waiting outside anymore."


    "I''ll give it a try," Qiu Lili picked up a bottle of the drug before unplugging it and drinking the drug. After that, she stood up and ran out.


    After she left, Lin Feng started talking to Yun Meng about some other things. "Seventy percent of the energy nuclei that we harvested last night will be given to the zombie army. Last time, Chief only upgraded the level five and six ones. But this time, she can upgrade the level-four ones. Chief said before leaving that now is a great chance to expand the zombie army. She''ll improve the quality of the army when she comes back."


    After spending a few seconds looking at him and thinking, Yun Meng said, "Are you gonna use those nuclei to get most of our level-four soldiers ready for the upgrade?"


    In that way, Lin Qiao would be able to upgrade them safely when she came back.


    Upgrading was more dangerous for zombies than it was for human beings. Therefore, the zombie soldiers in All Being Base needed Chief''s permission to upgrade. She cultivated all those soldiers with considerable energy and time, so it would be a great shame if they died during the upgrade.


    One level-five zombie was able to fight two level-five human superpower possessors without falling into disadvantages.


    The level-three zombies in Lin Qiao''s army were selected from the huge crowd of zombies that she brought back from Hades Base and left in West Lake District, then trained in All Being Base. During the past year, the zombies in West Lake district had been killing each other for zombie nuclei; the fierce ones managed to break into level-three.


    As a consequence, about a thousand level-three zombies recently joined the army.


    Currently, there were no vacancies left in the third corps of Lin Qiao''s zombie army, and she was ready to start the fourth corps.


    Hearing Lin Feng mention expanding the army, Yun Meng thought that more zombie soldiers needed to be recruited at first. After spending a short while thinking, she figured out what he really meant.


    Lin Feng planned to give the zombie army seventy percent of the energy nuclei. The rest thirty percent would, of course, be given to the human army in Base Number One. Currently, Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing had only about two-thousand soldiers under their command, mostly commoners. They planned to give a part of those energy nuclei to the small number of superpowered soldiers under their leadership, and use the rest to recruit more soldiers.


    More and more survivors had been joining All Beings Base. Currently, the population of the base had risen to eight thousand from four thousand.


    Sky Fire Base fell not long ago. Most of the survivors went to Huaxia Base, a small number joined Sea City Base, and an even smaller number of them chose to come to All Beings Base. Because of what happened to Sky Fire Base and Earth Dragon Base, the last batch of survivors in Hidden Cloud City Base had given up on the base and had run.


    "Yes, that''s what I meant," Lin Feng said, "Earlier, we''ve been focusing on cultivating the level five and six ones. Now, we should start paying attention to the lower-leveled ones."


    "No Problem!" Yun Meng nodded and said.


    Lin Feng looked at her and said seriously, "Xie Dong isn''t in the base right now. You and Lin Kui should keep a close eye on the army."


    "Em, I get it," Yun Meng nodded.


    The size of the zombie army had reached a considerable degree. She and her friends should keep an eye on it indeed.


    After the meeting, Lin Feng walked out of the conference room to see Chen Yuting walk over to him while holding a letter. The latter waved at him and said, "There is good news!"


    "What good news?" Lin Feng looked at him questioningly.


    Chen Yuting walked up to him and handed the letter as he said while walking, "It''s from your little sister."


    Seeing the mysterious smile on Chen Yuting''s face, Lin Feng couldn''t help but open the letter and start reading while walking. The letter was indeed from Lin Wenwen. In it, she said that she would bring a batch of people from Sea City Base to All Being Base. She wanted Lin Feng to get ready to accommodate them.


    Accommodating some people would be no problem. However, the number of that batch of people was unexpectedly large.


    "Over ten-thousand? What happened? How did she convince so many people to join our base?" Lin Feng was a little surprised.


    Chen Yuting shrugged and said, "I''ve heard about that hunter group before. They''re powerful, but quite mysterious. They''ve been keeping a low profile all the time. I didn''t know they have so many members already. But, I don''t think all these people are the members of that group. Weirdly, that hunter group never joined Sea City Base. They''ve been in some kind of¡­ em, partnership with Sea City Base. Chief Wu tried to convince them to join the base a few times, but they always refused."


    Those people were powerful but mysterious, meaning that no one knew exactly how strong they were. They might be stronger than what people thought. Even Wu Chengyue had tried to persuade them to join his base. It seemed that he did think highly of them.


    How on earth did Lin Wenwen talk those mysterious, capable people into joining her base? Did she play some kind of trick?


    Lin Feng thought hard but couldn''t figure out why.

 1287 How Small Is That?

    The news that Lin Wenwen would bring a large group of people back to All Being Base from Sea City Base made both Lin Feng and Chen Yuting curious and excited.


    "No matter how she persuaded those people, it''s amazing that she managed to bring over thirteen thousand people to our base! I guess Xiao Yunlong''s heart is twitching with pain right now. He and Chief Wu have been having their eyes on those people for six or seven years. But now, Miss. Lin is gonna take them away just like that¡­ Hahaha¡­" Picturing the bitter look that would emerge on the faces of Xiao Yunlong and Wu Chengyue when the two heard the news, Chen Yuting couldn''t help but laugh.


    Lin Feng looked at him and asked with curiosity, "Why wouldn''t they join Sea City Base? Wu Chengyue invited them a few times. Why did they reject the invitation?"


    Chen Yuting shook his head and said, "I don''t know. Not even Xiao Yunlong and Chief Wu know the reason. They just didn''t want to join Sea City Base. But, I do know something important about them. The three men who have been running the group weren''t the ones in charge. The one who''s really in charge is actually a small-sized girl!"


    "What do you mean by a small-sized girl? How small is that?" Lin Feng found his description funny, so he asked a question out of curiosity.


    Chen Yuting smiled and said, "Eh-hem, not very small, actually. She''s about five feet tall. I only saw her once. When I saw her, she was standing side by side with a man who''s over six feet tall. You know, their height difference¡­"


    Lin Feng pictured a short girl and a tall man standing together. That scene in his head was a little indescribable. "How were they looking?" he asked Chen Yuting.


    "The man was tall, and the girl was kinda adorable. They were like a poker-faced brother and a small-sized, cute little sister," Chen Yuting spent a few seconds thinking and said. If the girl weren''t standing with an extra-tall man the first time he saw her, his first impression of her wouldn''t be of a very small-sized girl.


    "Who do you think she is? Why do the others all listen to her?" Lin Feng came back to the original topic. While speaking, they walked to the door of Lin Feng''s office. "I know nothing about her, except for her name and the fact that she''s one of the leaders of the hunter''s group. I don''t even know anything about her superpower. I don''t think she ever carried out a mission."


    Lin Feng walked into his office and put the materials to be used in the meeting on his desk. Meanwhile, Chen Yuting sat down on the couch and continued, "I don''t know why those men are all willing to listen to that small-sized girl. They have kept everything about her secret. She''s been under strict protection, so many are curious about them. Some even hired people with high prices to dig into their background. But so far, no one has found out anything about that girl yet."


    On hearing Lin Feng''s words, Chen Yuting immediately pictured the same scene. He replaced the old witch''s face with the face of the girl that he had seen though. Thinking that, he shuddered and said, "Ew! How could you say that? She''s an adorable little girl! Why did you call her witch?"


    "Since they wouldn''t join Sea City Base, why did they agree to join All Beings Base now?" Lin Feng asked, "Our base was founded a year ago. Why didn''t they come here earlier? Why now? Eh¡­"


    He thought of Lin Wenwen. She was the one who convinced those people to join All Being Base. Not long ago, Lin Wenwen traveled through time to seven years ago. Soon after she returned, she talked a huge group of people into joining her base. Did that have something to do with her time travel?


    He couldn''t tell that directly to Chen Yuting, so he let out an ''eh'', then looked at the latter with confusion. The latter looked back at him, who seemed to be having some thoughts, but was not coming up with a conclusion yet. So, he spent a few seconds looking at him quietly, without making any sound. He didn''t want to interrupt the other''s thoughts. However, the eye-contact between them lasted for quite a few seconds, but the look on Lin Feng''s face never changed.


    What was he thinking about?


    "What''s wrong? Do you have something in your mind or not?" Chen Yuting couldn''t help but ask the question out loud.


    Lin Feng shook his head as he said, "Em, I have one idea, but I''m not sure. There will be an answer when Wenwen and those people arrive."


    ¡­


    At that time, in Sea City Base, Lin Wenwen, Dong Lijia, and some others were sitting in Xiao Yunlong''s office, looking at Xiao Yunlong.


    Xiao Yunlong was also looking at them, unhappily. Six or seven people were on the scene. The entire office was in a weird silence.


    "Eh-hem, Chief Xiao, you don''t seem happy." The atmosphere was getting strange. Lin Wenwen had no choice but to start a conversation to break the silence.


    "What? Oh, I''m happy. They never wanted to join our base anyway. They''ll be leaving sooner or later. It''s a good thing that they''re going to All Beings Base. There''s only a short distance between your base and ours, after all. I''m happy, as long as they won''t be joining Huaxia Base or any other base!" Hearing Lin Wenwen talking to him, Xiao Yunlong responded with a bitter smile.


    Lin Wenwen paid a visit to his base, and as a result, she decided to bring over ten thousand people away. Sea City Base had a population of over two-million, so losing ten thousand people wouldn''t be a big deal for it. However, many among those people who decided to follow Lin Wenwen to All Being Base were very capable.


    Not to mention the mysterious Dong Xinxin, her brother, Dong Lijia, was at level-seven already. He upgraded not long ago. Luo Yuanjun and Deng Chenfei were both at the peak of level-six. Their hunter''s group had over a hundred level-five members, and over ten level-six ones. All those people were following their lead with a hundred percent loyalty. No one knew how they recruited those people.


    When Lin Wenwen asked Meng Yue to find those people for her, she didn''t say their people out loud. Therefore, Xiao Yunlong didn''t care much about that at first. Later on, after Meng Yue told him the names of those people, he started to have a bad feeling.


    Soon, what he was worried about came true. Dong Lijia had talked to him and handed in the application for leaving a couple of hours ago. What was even worse, his group wasn''t the only one that was preparing to leave. Quite a few hunter''s groups had decided to follow them!


    Wu Chengyue had been paying close attention to those people. He talked to them a few times, but they never wanted to join Sea City Base. He had no way to change their minds.


    Xiao Yunlong could imagine how frustrated Wu Chengyue would feel when he came back and learned about the those people''s leaving.

 1288 Move the Entire Group

    Lin Wenwen was taking the hunter''s group to her base. Xiao Yunlong wasn''t happy to let them go, but he had no other choice. He also didn''t want to make himself look stingy or narrow-minded. However, how could the others not see the look on his face? Everyone understood how he felt, but they all pretended not to see the frustration on his face.


    "We want to thank Sea City Base for helping us during the past years. In the future, if you ever need our help, please come to find us in All Beings Base," Dong Lijia expressed his gratitude to Xiao Yunlong with a smile.


    Hearing his words, Xiao Yunlong stopped short and waved his hands as he said, "Ah, you don''t need to thank us. In fact, you''ve been very helpful for us too. We were simply helping each other. We did no more than providing you guys with temporary accommodation. In fact, we didn''t give you any help that you really needed. I don''t think we deserve your gratitude."


    With a smile, Dong Lijia said, "That''s not true. You guys provided us with a place to settle down. That was already a huge favor. The small things that we did for Sea City Base were nothing."


    Lin Wenwen couldn''t bear hearing the two trying to be as humble as possible, so she hurriedly interrupted them, "Alright, since Chief Xiao has no objections, we''ll be leaving this afternoon. Will that be okay, Chief Xiao?"


    Xiao Yunlong looked at her as he shook his head and said, "Sure, no problem! I guess you''re ready, right?"


    He first responded to Lin Wenwen, then turned to Dong Lijia and his people as he asked a question.


    Dong Lijia nodded and said, "Yes, we are ready. We can leave once you approve our application."


    "You guys acted quickly," said Xiao Yunlong with a bitter smile, "Well, I guess I can only wish you bon voyage in that case."


    It suddenly crossed Lin Wenwen''s mind that something seemed to have happened in All Beings Base last night. She wondered if the problem were solved. So, she asked Xiao Yunlong, "Oh, Chief Xiao, I heard that something happened in our base last night. Huaxia Base seems to have sent some other people there to do something. How did that end?"


    Xiao Yunlong looked at her with surprise and said, "Haven''t you received the message yet? Your people destroyed them and harvested a bunch of lives¡­ eh, energy nuclei, I mean. None of them got away!"


    Lin Wenwen first paused with surprise, then responded to him with a smile, "I hadn''t heard about it yet. It''s a good thing that they''ve all died though. Things would be troublesome if some of them got away."


    She knew that those people wouldn''t end well once they set foot in the territory of All Beings Base. However, she was worried that accidents might happen. If any of them survived, All Beings Base could be in trouble.


    She felt relieved after hearing his answer.


    "Some of them were ambushing outside Sea City Base at first," Xiao Yunlong continued with, "They were preparing to take some kind of secret action. But, for some reason, they suddenly all moved to All Beings Base. I had my people ready to take care of them. However, they decided not to give their lives to us, but to you guys instead."


    Lin Wenwen tittered scornfully and said, "They''re so over-confident! The same thing has happened so many times, yet they just won''t learn a lesson! They keep targeting us instead of those underground creatures. I wonder if their brains are damaged!"


    "Si Kongchen is clearly aiming to cause trouble at this critical moment," said Xiao Yunlong.


    Lin Wenwen nodded as she looked at the others, who had been quiet the whole time, and said, "We''ve said what should be said, so I think we should get going."


    She needed to go back to her base to keep her eyes on someone. She could not let what she saw in her mind come true.


    Following her words, the others quickly stood up. Xiao Yunlong turned and picked up a file from his desk, and then handed it to Dong Lijia. That was the application of leaving the base, handed in by someone under Dong Lijia''s command not long ago.


    Dong Lijia took over the file, but didn''t open it. He knew that Xiao Yunlong had signed and stamped the file. Holding the file, he nodded at the latter and said, "See you then. Chief Xiao! Don''t trouble to walk us out."


    Xiao Yunlong walked them to the door, and then nodded, "Alright! All Being Base isn''t far away from us. We''ll surely see each other again. See you!"


    After leaving the office, Dong Xinxin asked Lin Wenwen, "You seemed to be in an urgency to go back to the base. Is it about what you saw in your mind last time?"


    "Yeah, I''m a little worried," Lin Wenwen nodded, then glanced at the tall and strong Deng Chenfei, who was behind her.


    What she saw in her head last time had been making her a little anxious. The person she saw was her sister-in-law. She wanted to go back to the base as soon, so she could keep an eye on Cheng Wangxue, in case anything bad happened to the latter.


    She remembered what she saw in her mind. She saw Lin Feng anxiously asked Deng Chenfei if ''they'' were still alive. He said ''they'' instead of ''she'', meaning that Cheng Wangxue wasn''t the only one in danger. Who else was in danger?


    Was it Xiaolu?


    Xiaolu was always staying in the base safely. Why would anything happen to her?


    So many questions now existed in Lin Wenwen''s head, making her feel uneasy. Currently, all she could do was keep an eye on her sister-in-law and Xiaolu, and to take all the precautions she could think of.


    Over ten-thousand people leaving Sea City Base had, of course, become big news, not to mention the fact that they had to ship their belongings out of the base in a series of large trucks. Apart from a small number of people who had heard about it in advance, the whole base was shocked by the news.


    They remembered All Beings Base recruiting in Sea City Base. People were living a stable life in Sea City Base, so very few were willing to go to the new base, which didn''t look promising at all. But now, such a huge group of people suddenly decided to leave Sea City Base for that new base, and some of those people were rather capable.


    Those people''s departure instantly made many others start to take All Beings Base seriously. After all, how could it possibly attract so many people if it were just an ordinary small base?


    All Being Base was founded a year ago. During the past year, the base had always been mysterious. However, it seemed to be doing better and better.


    "Is that All Beings Base really so good? How come all these hunter groups decided to join that base?" Some people didn''t understand why those hunters chose to leave Sea City Base for that small base. But, after those people joined it, that small base would probably grow twice as strong as before.

 1289 Garage and Gasoline

    About thirty modified off-road cars and over ten modified large trucks marched out of Sea City Base. Of course, those vehicles weren''t enough to contain over ten-thousand people. In those vehicles weren''t people, only their luggage.


    Most of those people walked out of the base.


    "Eh? Don''t they have enough vehicles? These people aren''t gonna walk to All Beings Base, are they? No one arranged any vehicles for them?" The people who watched them walk out got curious. After all, All Beings Base was about a hundred miles away from Sea City Base. They couldn''t possibly get there by foot, could they?


    Dong Lijia and his people would, of course, not let those people walk to All Being Base. Those people were only walking to the gathering spot, which was the isolation zone outside the base.


    "They''re gathering outside base. There will be vehicles to pick them up, right? Where will those vehicles be from? All Beings Base?"


    "I guess All Beings Base will send vehicles for them. After all, they''re all going to that base. No wonder they didn''t need Sea City Base to give them a ride. Their ride has been arranged already."


    Before long, a series of large trucks arrived. Thirty percent of the people gathered outside the base got onto those trucks and left. People thought the rest of the people would have to wait for one or two hours, but unexpectedly, about twenty more trucks arrived in just ten minutes.


    "So soon? These are another batch of trucks, aren''t they? Does All Beings Base have so many trucks? They''re so rich!"


    Those people did not know that those trucks were driven out of a huge underground garage that was about ten miles away from Sea City Base.


    Lin Wenwen looked around at the deserted area. Before the apocalypse, that area was a suburb. She did not know that Dong Lijia had secretly built a large underground garage in that area seven years ago, and kept it secret all this time.


    "You haven''t come here for long, have you? This place is dusty!" Lin Wenwen said after spending a short while observing the garage.


    "We didn''t want to catch any attention, so we only sent people here once a year in secret to check the vehicles. Luo Yuanjun led the squad himself every single time," Dong Xinxin stood in the garage and said. The three men stood behind her like always, looking like her bodyguards.


    Lin Wenwen looked at her, then at the three tall and sturdy men behind her. After that, she turned her eyes to Dong Xinxin again, and then turned back to the three boys. She felt that Dong Xinxin was like a princess now who had three knights protecting her.


    Didn''t those three need to work? Why were they staying by Dong Xinxin''s side? Were they worried that Lin Wenwen might abduct her?


    Standing behind Dong Xinxin, Dong Lijia folded his arms as he looked at Lin Wenwen and said, "Wouldn''t the round trip consume extra gas? To save gas, we might as well drive them all to the new base this time. Oh, come here, there are some things for you."


    Something crossed his mind while he was speaking, so he unfolded his arms and waved at Lin Wenwen as he turned and walked toward a gate.


    "What is it?" Lin Wenwen asked him with curiosity while following behind him. Dong Xinxin and the other two also followed them toward that gate.


    That was a large, iron gate. Dong Lijia waved at one of his subordinates as he looked at the door and said, "Open it!"


    "Yes, sir!" A man in a gray coat ran over. On hearing Dong Lijia''s order, he quickly took out a string of keys from his bag. After spending a short while finding the right key, he inserted it into the keyhole of the lock hanging on the gate and opened it.


    After opening that lock, the man found another key and inserted it into the keyhole on the gate, turning a few times to open three locks in a row before finally opening the gate.


    "What is being hidden here? Why did you put on so many locks?" Lin Wenwen watched the man spend a while opening the gate and push the gate open. But, she was left gaping once the gate was opened, "Whoa! This is¡­ gasoline!"


    The space behind the gate was filled with countless sealed large, iron buckets. A faint smell of gasoline could be sensed.


    Lin Wenwen grasped that smell immediately and had her eyes glowing. But soon, she calmed down as she turned and asked Dong Lijia, "Did you say that these are for me? So much? How many buckets do you have here?"


    She had stocked quite some gasoline before she returned to the past. But still, all human bases were in desperate shortage of gasoline! Without gas, all vehicles would become useless.


    "Three-thousand buckets. We saved these especially for you. After all, if it weren''t for you, Xinxin might have stayed asleep forever. Without your help, her body condition wouldn''t allow her to adapt to the environment in the early years after the apocalypse. Her two minds from two different stages wouldn''t possibly exist together in her body. So, I think, if you weren''t there, Xinxin''s mind that traveled back to her seventeen-year-old body would put her body into a deep sleep, and she might have never woken up," Dong Lijia said to her with a smile.


    Dong Xinxin''s soul, or mind, was very weak when she traveled through the time to the past. But, despite how weak it was, it could not exist together with her seventeen-year-old soul or mind. Fortunately, Lin Wenwen traveled through time together with her. Without Lin Wenwen''s help, Dong Xinxin might have failed to win over her body from her seventeen-year-old self, meaning that she might have failed to come back to life.


    If she failed to come back to life, the seventeen-year-old her would still die in seven years.


    Even if she managed to occupy the body, she still wouldn''t be able to inform her family about the apocalypse without Lin Wenwen''s help. After all, her mind was so weak that she would fall into unconsciousness, probably forever.


    Lin Wenwen did do her a huge favor. She managed to convince Dong Xinxin''s family that the apocalypse was coming. She did that by beating Dong Lijia pretty hard, though.


    Thinking about that, Dong Lijia suddenly realized that Lin Wenwen and his super adorable little sister could both be violent sometimes, especially his little sister! Ever since the apocalypse, she had become so fierce. She could kill zombies, mutated beasts, plants, and even human beings, without any hesitation!


    For some reason, she preferred to kill zombies with knives than guns! She chopped zombie heads like watermelons!


    When he and his family first saw a zombie, they were so shocked. They had prepared themselves for that, but still, seeing a zombie with their own eyes was a completely different thing from what they had imagined before. The fear was inevitable.


    The longer they survived after the apocalypse, the more strongly they realized how helpful Lin Wenwen was for them. Therefore, when Dong Xinxin told Dong Lijia that Lin Wenwen had returned to the future without needing her help, Dong Lijia felt that he owed her a huge one. He felt that the millions of yuan that he had given to Lin Wenwen were far from enough to pay back for what she had done for his family!

 1290 Three-thousand Buckets of Gasoline

    "So, you saved these and spent seven years waiting for me?" Lin Wenwen blinked her eyes while looking at them, who nodded together.


    "These are only a part of what we plan to give you. The rest is stored somewhere else. We''ll take you to get it when we have time," Dong Xinxin glanced at those iron buckets and smiled.


    Hearing that, Lin Wenwen paused briefly with surprise, then said, "What? There''s more for me? How many supplies have you stocked before the apocalypse?"


    "We have several storages. During the past seven years, we''ve only taken out a part of our stock. After we moved into the base, we started eating the same food as the others in the base. After all, the supplies we have in stock are our last safeguard we''ve been saving," Dong Lijia said with a smile.


    Lin Wenwen turned and glanced outside the door. Thankfully, she didn''t sense the vibe of anyone else. The conversation that was happening at the moment was top-secret. Things could be troublesome of anyone with foul intentions heard it.


    "Was it really appropriate for you to just let me know?" Lin Wenwen spread her hands and sighed.


    "You already know about it anyway. We believe that you will never betray us," Dong Xinxin raised her eyes to look at her and said seriously.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "You have to know that people change, especially in this post-apocalyptic era. Don''t trust anyone too much except for yourself. Don''t even over-trust your big brother!"


    While speaking, she abruptly pointed at Dong Lijia.


    Hearing her words and watching her point at himself, Dong Lijia immediately grew unhappy. He turned up his lip corners and complained, "Wait a second! What do you mean by she can''t even trust me? I agree with you that one should trust oneself more, but I love Xinxin so much! Why would I ever betray her? Did the enemy send you to us? Are you trying to ruin the relationship between Xinxin and me?"


    He didn''t understand why Lin Wenwen seemed to grasp all opportunities to make him unhappy. They were friends who had reunited not long ago. They were supposed to be nice to each other.


    Dong Xinxin gave Dong Lijia a glance, then turned back to Lin Wenwen as she nodded and said, "You''re right. You don''t know what people are thinking about. Who knows when and under what condition the people you trust will change their minds? Dong Lijia hasn''t met the girl he likes yet. When that girl shows up, he might even forget about me, his little sister."


    Lin Wenwen laughed while Dong Lijia didn''t even know what to say. At that moment, the expressionless Deng Chenfei joined the conversation, "If your brother ever did anything to hurt you, I''ll kill him for you."


    Luo Yuanjun also came to Dong Xinxin and said to her with a grin, "Yeah, and me, and me!"


    Being kicked to the side, Luo Yuanjun shrugged and said, "I want to protect her. That''s my business. It has nothing to do with you."


    Lin Wenwen rolled her eyes and said, "Alright, alright, stop this! Since these are all for me, I''ll just take them. Thankfully, my space is large enough now, or else there wouldn''t be enough room for so many iron buckets."


    Luo Yuanjun waved at her as he urged, "Just take them! I wonder how long it''ll take you to put all three-thousand buckets into your space."


    Lin Wenwen turned around and put both hands on the iron bucket before her. As same as Lin Qiao, she needed to touch with her hand and use her will power at the same time to put something into her space.


    Her space wasn''t as large as Lin Qiao''s, but it wasn''t small either. Currently, the supplies that she collected seven years ago had only taken about thirty percent of the room in her space. So, after she put in the three-thousand buckets of gasoline, there would still be plenty of room in there.


    "We really didn''t think that the Wen we met seven years ago would be you. You guys built a new base seven years after we met. No wonder I always felt that we could not just stay in Sea City Base. I guess it''s because your base needs fresh blood like us to strengthen it," Dong Xinxin folded her arms and put a hand on her chin as she looked at Lin Wenwen and said.


    Currently, the All Beings Base was still young, a small base with a small population. It needed to take in more people to expand the scale of the base. After all, one wouldn''t take a small, young base like that seriously when it was located right near the large, mature Sea City Base.


    While putting the gasoline buckets into her space, Lin Wenwen turned and said to her, "Yeah, because Sea City Base is right near us. Our base was founded under Sea City Base''s protection, so of course, we have to take their influence seriously. But it''s okay. Our base is built up already. Things will get better and better."


    Currently, All Beings Base had all the supplies they needed and the zombie army. By the time her sister made the zombie army great enough to face the world, All Beings Base would have the power to get a strong foothold in the post-apocalyptic world.


    Also, because of the zombie army, All Beings Base didn''t need a large human population for the time being. So, they had to be patient and to expand the base step by step.


    "Why did you guys choose to build the base here? Why didn''t you build it further away from Sea City Base?" Luo Yuanjun asked a question.


    Lin Wenwen paused briefly to think, and then she responded, "About that¡­ I think I need to ask our Chief. It was her decision. I guess it was because we needed Sea City Base''s protection at first. After all, Hades Base was destroyed and so many people had died. We were desperately short-handed at that time."


    Luo Yuanjun thought for a moment and nodded. "I''m surprised that Sea City Base people were actually willing to let you build the base right near theirs," he said, "Your base is located about a hundred miles away from theirs, but still, their hunting ground shrank because of the rise of your base. How did you guys convince them?"


    "Well," Lin Wenwen replied, "We have our things to offer. Otherwise, how could we cooperate with Sea City Base?"


    Before the base was founded, it was Lin Qiao who needed the negotiations and she made some deals with Wu Chengyue. But now, the two of them had become family!


    "I''m more curious about your Chief. How come she''s become like a totally different person? Did you know her before?" Dong Lijia was curious about the relationship between Lu Tianyu and Lin Wenwen and her family.


    In his eyes, Lu Tianyu had become a completely different person since she died a year ago. That was not a strange thing. The strange thing was that she helped the survivors of Hades Base and even built a new base for them. That was really hard to understand.


    Lin Wenwen thought for a moment and nodded, "Hmm¡­ we did know each other!"


    Before Lu Tianyu''s death, Lin Wenwen didn''t know her, but she knew her after that.


    "No wonder she helped you guys," Dong Lijia nodded as he thought for a moment and continued, "She was hiding her real power so well! She made people think that she was relying on men for survival, but in fact, she was super powerful! I guess she wouldn''t have revealed her true power so soon if she didn''t get killed a year ago."

 1291 Give You a Heads Up

    Lin Wenwen accepted the gasoline that Dong Xinxin gifted her. Dong Lijia seemed to have some misunderstandings about Lu Tianyu, but she only responded to him with a smile, without saying anything.


    She looked at them and said, "I''m really surprised that you decided to come to All Beings Base with me once you saw me. Thank you for trusting me so much! Believe me, I won''t do anything to hurt you. But in the future, something that you might have difficulties to accept might happen in All Beings Base. By then, no matter if you guys decide to stay or leave, you don''t need to worry about me."


    Dong Lijia and the others glanced at each other with confusion and turned back to Lin Wenwen. "Why did you say that? Is there a big secret in your base?" Dong Lijia said.


    Lin Wenwen smiled at them and said, "There are some secrets indeed. But, we''ll try not to affect your life in the future. We are building a special base that is not the same as all the other bases. I just want to give you guys a heads up, so you can prepare yourselves for what might happen."


    "Your base has been mysterious the whole time. It''s a normal thing that you guys have secrets. However, what you said has made me curious. I guess what you''ve been keeping are some huge secrets that even we might not be able to accept," Dong Lijia looked at Lin Wenwen and said with a meaningful smile.


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "You guys only have to keep in mind that as long as you trust me, I will never try to hurt you. But, if some big changes happen, you don''t need to worry about me when making decisions."


    Lin Wenwen tipped off Dong Xinxin and her people. After all, they spent seven years waiting for her without knowing who she really was, then decided to join her base without hesitation. That was enough for her to give them that warning in advance. After all, not everyone could accept the existence of a group of zombies who were stronger than human beings and had memories, sanity, and wisdom.


    The first thing they would think about the zombie army would be how harmful they could be for the mankind. That was why she told Dong Xinxin and her people that if the zombie base''s secret was leaked one day, they could choose to leave without worrying about her, as long as they wouldn''t¡­


    "And, if you chose to leave, I hope you wouldn''t become our enemies." Thinking about that possibility, Lin Wenwen felt upset. She stopped moving and stood beside those gasoline buckets as she turned her head back to look at Dong Xinxin and the boys. A cautious look was detected from her eyes, along with trust and a slight trace of begging.


    Even if they couldn''t be friends, she didn''t want to be enemies with them.


    Seeing the look in Lin Wenwen''s eyes, the four wore a serious look. What she was talking about sounded important. Would that even cause them to become enemies?


    "Oi, we haven''t even gotten into your base yet. Are you trying to drive us away already?" A short while later, Luo Yuanjun broke the silence with a joke.


    Lin Wenwen smiled bitterly and said, "I''m not trying to drive you away. I just want to give you a heads up about what might happen in the future. I''d be so happy if you eventually decided to stay! However, it''s your right to choose, and I won''t force you guys. But, there are some things that might really be hard for you to accept."


    When Lin Wenwen first learned that Lu Tianyu was a zombie, and was also her dead sister, she was so shocked that she couldn''t even believe it. It did take her and her family some time to accept the current Lin Qiao.


    "That won''t happen. Since we have already decided to join your base, I think we will never leave. Also, I have a hunch that our decision won''t be wrong this time. Can you see the future about any of us?" Dong Xinxin said to Lin Wenwen with a serious look on her face.


    "No," Lin Wenwen shook her head and said.


    Dong Xinxin waved her hand and said, "See! You can''t see any future related to us, meaning that our relationship won''t end up too unwell. Besides, I trust you. I know that at the very least, you won''t try to hurt us."


    She really trusted Lin Wenwen, as she shared the same body with her for three months. During that period of time, she learned that Lin Wenwen was not a bad person. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have determinedly waited seven years for her.


    The three boys nodded together and said, "Yeah. We''ll do whatever Xinxn says."


    Lin Wenwen said to the three of them, "Can you guys please not be so obviously obedient to her? I can''t even bear watching this."


    Dong Xinxin shrugged helplessly, "I have no way of changing that. Ever since the apocalypse happened, they''ve been following my exact words like psychopaths. They don''t have their own opinions at all. Young Master Luo even needed my permission to go to the toilet at first. If I ignored him, he''d drag me to the toilet with him¡­"


    "Ahyaya, let''s not talk about the past!" Hearing Dong Xinxin mention the embarrassing thing that he had done seven years ago, Luo Yuanjun immediately shouted out loud to interrupt her.


    "Oh, yeah! I was going to kick his ass so hard!" Standing behind Dong Xinxin, Dong Lijia agreed with his sister with a grin.


    "Enough! Enough! You two! Don''t I deserve some respect?" Luo Yuanjun felt both annoyed and ashamed, so he turned and pounced on Dong Lijia, who was behind Deng Chenfei. The other turned his body and easily dodged his attack, and then continued, "You have no idea how badly he was scared by his zombie dad. He was almost dying when he came to find us."


    Lin Wenwen nodded knowingly as she turned and continued putting the gasoline into her space. In the meantime, she said, "I know. Everyone was freaked out at that time. It was normal."


    During those couple of days, everybody was in a panic. No one could stay calm when they were attacked by their families, who had turned into zombies.


    As Lin Wenwen was bringing Dong Xinxin and a huge group of people back to All Beings Base, Lin Qiao and the others arrived at their destination. Everyone got off the vehicles and observed the surrounding environment first.


    That was the suburban area of a small city in Henan Province. The natural environment in that area had changed drastically: what people saw was a post-disaster scene. The earth had cracked, and upon close observation, one would find that all the cracks on the earth were pointing in one direction.


    After getting onto the highest spot in that area and locating the entrance to the underground realm, everyone started sharing their plans.


    The people from Sea City Base and All Beings Base planned to act together, and the ones from Green Mountain Base decided to join them. The team from Heilong Base planned to act alone.


    Meanwhile, Mongols Base people decided to follow the team from Huaxia Base.

 1292 The Expedition Team Gets into the Hole

    "I guess we''ll split up after we get down there." After listening to the others'' plans, Lin Qiao nodded as she clapped her hands and said, "Good, let''s get to it!"


    The vehicles had been put into the spaces of space possessors. Lin Qiao was one, and there was another in the team from Sea City Base as well. Lin Qiao had met the latter before: Her name was Luo Gefei. She was an aloof girl, a level-six space possessor with great combat skills as well. Before the apocalypse, she was doing a special, very dangerous job: She used to be a mercenary, and the missions she carried out were highly dangerous.


    The one leading the team from Sea City Base was Kong Qingming. He applied to Wu Chengyue for the job in order to carry the mission together with Long Qingying.


    "All plants in this area have died out. There''s nothing left here, not even a zombie. Whatever came out of this hole was clearly a disaster for the natural environment here," Kong Qingming squatted on the ground and picked up a stick. After spending a short while observing the area, he stood up as he looked around and gave a sigh.


    The earth in that area was dead, full of cracks. Nothing but the brown, gray, and black rocks could be seen in that deserted place, along with some rotten, withered trees.


    The space possessors at level five and six put on gas masks and checked their guns, getting ready to get down into the underground world.


    Lin Qiao didn''t wear a gas mask, but Long Qingying and the others under her lead each put one on. After all, they didn''t have the level-eight power as she did. As a level-eight superpower possessor, her self-protection system was strong enough to protect her from any kind of poisonous gas.


    The ones at level-seven also had strong self-protection systems. Apart from Lin Qiao, Lei Cheng, Xie Longyun, and the person leading the team from Heilong Base didn''t wear gas masks either.


    "We''ll take the action if you''re ready!" This time, Xie Longyun made her voice sound before Lin Qiao did. After saying that, she flashed across the air and disappeared. Following her, all the people under her command moved swiftly toward the hole.


    The hill that they were on was at least two miles away from the center of the hole. That distance would only take the superpower possessors at level five, six, and seven less than ten seconds. Soon, over a hundred people swiftly flashed to the hole and stopped at the edge.


    That was an oval-shaped hole, at least a hundred meters long and fifty meters wide. It was pitch black on the inside, and a gray gas had been coming out of it, drifting in the air.


    Xie Longyun stood by the edge of the hole and looked down into the hole with her eyebrows furrowed. With dislike, she waved a hand before her nose and said, "Eh¡­ This smell is so awful!"


    "Since we''re going to act separately, who is willing to get down first?" She said that while looking at Lin Qiao. Clearly, she wanted the latter and her people to get down first. In that case, if any unpredicted danger occurred, the people from All Beings Base and Sea City Base would deal with it and give the others the time to react.


    How could Lin Qiao not know what that woman was thinking? She had said that out loud so straightforwardly. She not only brought everyone''s attention to Lin Qiao, but also implied that she should not say no. After all, Lin Qiao was a level-eight superpower possessor. People would laugh at her if she shrank.


    The woman really had a smart plan.


    Lin Qiao didn''t plan to argue with her. She would need to get down into the hole sooner or later anyway. However, she would not serve as a danger detector for Huaxia people like they wished.


    Lin Qiao smiled at Xie Longyun and said, "Since Huaxia people do not have that kind of courage, I will go down first and take a look. However, since we''re going to act separately, no matter who goes in first, the result will be the same, right? Unless some people don''t plan to get down at all. If that''s the case, I wouldn''t know what that person really wants."


    Having finished talking, she waved at her people and then leaped into the hole. Following behind her, Duan Juan, Long Qingying, Kong Qingming, Luo Gefei, and the others all leaped down one after another. Watching them jump into action, Lei Cheng glanced at the big dog by his side.


    "Erlei, go!" Lei Cheng said to the dog, then leaped into the hole with his people.


    "Wow!"


    Within a blink of an eye, the people from All Beings Base, Sea City Base, and Green Mountain Base all disappeared from the edge of the hole. The rest didn''t follow them down immediately, but stayed outside to wait, observing the area carefully.


    "Let''s go!" As Lin Qiao and her people had all gotten down underground, the man who was leading the team from Heilong Base gave his order. They had spent a short while waiting outside, but as nothing was heard from the hole, the man and his well-trained soldiers leaped in as well. At last, only the people from Huaxia Base and Mongols Base stayed outside. Xie Longyun was still wearing a perfect, faint smile, but her eyes glowed with a cold light.


    She didn''t say anything, but raised an arm and swung downward. The people behind her got into the hole following her movement, but she herself stayed outside by the edge of the hole.


    As everyone else leaped into the hole, she turned and looked around. Then, she took out a face mask and put it on before leaping down.


    Feeling herself falling, Lin Qiao calculated how deep the hole was based on her falling speed and time. The hole was vertical, not tilted like the path that led into the underground gorilla nest.


    After about four seconds of falling, Lin Qiao landed on a solid surface. The surface wasn''t flat, though. She saw the ground before landing, so she reacted nimbly and landed safely.


    Woosh! Woosh! Thud! Thud! Hearing the noises caused by the others landing, Lin Qiao counted the people.


    "Let''s go!" She said to the others after confirming that everyone was there.


    The hole was actually a huge earth crack. The rock face was no longer vertical where they were standing. It was tilted toward the center of the hole like a very cliffy ramp. But still, it provided Lin Qiao and her people with a foothold.


    After landing on the ramp, everyone leaped further downward.


    The rock faces on both sides of the hole tilted toward the center. Lin Qiao and her people landed their feet on the rock faces left and right alternatively while leaping further down into the hole. With places to land their feet, the group of high-leveled superpower possessors moved further deep underground more easily than before.


    Soon, the space in the hole grew smaller and smaller. From the area where the rock faces on both sides were only meters away from each other, a wider space was suddenly seen below.


    Lin Qiao nimbly landed near the lower edge of the rock face and squatted as she looked down into that space. The lower part of the hole was very narrow, looking like a crevice from the other side. Both ends of the crevice couldn''t be seen. Below it was a massive, empty space, the bottom of which was flat.

 1293 The Space Under the Crevice

    Quite a while after the entire group got into the hole, an enormous red creature showed up by the edge along with a gust of wind.


    The big cat landed near the hole and bent its pair of forelimbs while raisings its butt as it reached its head into the hole and sniffed. Soon, it started sneezing. After a few sneezes, it stood up and wagged its long tail as it moved from side to side at the edge of the hole.


    The cat made a few circles around the hole and stopped, lowering its head while twitching its nose. Next, it leaped into the hole and disappeared into the darkness.


    After the big, red cat jumped in, a huge, long-haired, black dog showed up. The huge Tibetan mastiff also sniffed at the hole. Right after that, it quickly stepped backward and moved over ten meters away from the hole. From that area, it leaned its head forward to stare into the hole. It spent a long while looking at it quietly, seemingly hesitating if it should get down there or not.


    The gas that came out of the hole was highly harmful to it. If it inhaled the gas, its internal organs would be corroded.


    Through the thick hair, the dog''s purely dark eyes were fixed on the hole for a while. After that, the dog turned its eyes away and looked around. At last, it leaped in one direction and disappeared.


    Underground, Lin Qiao spent a short while observing the massive space below. She sensed no dangerous vibe, so she gave the others a hand gesture to let them know that it was safe. After that, she jumped.


    She landed on the ground and then raised her head to look at the crevice above her head. The crevice was at least twenty meters away from her. She looked around and found the space seeming like a hallway. Both ends were occupied by darkness, so she had no idea where the hallway led to. She could feel the wind coming from both sides though.


    She confirmed that the place was safe and raised her hand to signal for the others to come down.


    Seeing that, everyone else jumped as well. After landing, they raised their heads to look upwards, feeling that some other people had come down from the hole on the earth''s surface. They were now deep underground while those people had just leaped into the hole. It would take those people a while to catch up to them even if they fell straight down, not to mention the fact that the rock faces were tilted in the huge crevice. Those people would need some time to leap down slowly like how they did it.


    Lin Qiao looked at both sides of the underground space, and then turned and waved her hand toward the side from where a stronger wind was blowing while speaking, "Let''s move! Be careful!"


    A battle seemed to have happened in that place. Those mysterious creatures fought the battle so hard that they even broke the earth. For that or some other reason, the underground creatures went up to the earth''s surface to create disasters.


    Lin Qiao led her people and moved forward. She had the best night vision in the group. Superpower possessors were able to see things in the darkness too, but their sight varied according to their power-levels. The level-five ones had the worst sight in the team. After all, the underground world was pitch dark, and not even a slight trace of light could be found.


    On the earth''s surface, they were able to see things more clearly than they could underground. After all, the starlight and moonlight would illuminate the world at night for their powers. But, things were different this time, as there was no source of light whatsoever. Therefore, their vision was highly limited.


    They couldn''t turn on their flashlight, because they didn''t want to attract some strange creatures to them. So, with no other choice, they moved in the darkness and followed every word Lin Qiao said.


    Lin Qiao made her people run forward. Nothing useful could be found where they had just bee, so she needed to dig deeper.


    She chose the place where a strong wind could be sensed from, because it smelled much different from the wind on the earth''s surface. The wind underground delivered a very strong earthy smell, unlike on the surface. Moreover, this wind had something else in it.


    The ones who were now under Lin Qiao''s command were all humans. They didn''t have the keen sense of smell as she did, so she could only rely on her own to differentiate the scents underground from the ones on the earth''s surface.


    The space underground was huge. Waves of badly smelling wind could be sensed from time to time.


    Lin Qiao and her people kept moving forward. Before long, the road before them ended. Standing by the end of the way, they saw nothing but the darkness. There was another huge crevice before them, obviously very deep.


    "There is another crevice! Is that a new crack in the earth?" Long Qingying stood by Lin Qiao''s side and looked around as he said to Lin Qiao.


    The latter squatted and looked down. She couldn''t see anything inside the crevice, but was able to see the rock surface near her. She shook her head and said, "I don''t think this is new. These layers and textures can be seen on both sides of this crevice. These seem to be caused by wind erosion over a long time. I think there should be a way to go down the crevice."


    Lin Qiao sensed the scents coming from the inside the crevice. She sensed the scents of some underground creatures and moisture. There was water down there!


    She stood up while looking down and said, "There''s water down there. You guys wait here."


    She didn''t know how deep the crevice was, so she decided to get down herself first, then come up to tell the others about how to go down. There was water down the crevice, which might be toxic. She had to be careful.


    Having finished talking, she leaped down the crevice and released a stream of dark mist in the meanwhile, gathering it under her feet to stop herself from falling. Under her control, the dark mist supported her feet. Only after that did she relax slightly and descend.


    According to her feeling, she was already over a mile deep underground. The temperature had risen obviously, and even the wind down here was warm.


    She was afraid of heat the most. During summertime, she hated standing under the sun in the middle of the day, when the temperature was reaching forty degrees. Now, the deeper she went underground, the higher the temperature got.


    She wondered how those underground creatures had been surviving. There was lava underground, right? Why weren''t they all burned? Of course, the layer of molten rock was located over ten miles deep underground. About ten-thousand meters deep underground, flowing lava could be found everywhere.


    It was understandable, though. Those underground creatures were even able to protect themselves from all sorts of superpowers. No wonder they managed to survive under such harsh conditions. Perhaps, it was something underground that caused the apocalypse.


    Seven years ago, the apocalypse came out of nowhere. And in the first half of last year, the second explosion of the zombie virus happened. After that, underground creatures started to emerge. All those creatures were from the underground.


    Anyhow, Lin Qiao wished that she would not become a roasted zombie this time.

 1294 Si Kongchens Bad Idea

    As Lin Qiao went deeper and deeper underground, she sensed the scorching hot wind blowing up. But weirdly, she didn''t see any lava. By the time she saw the water at the bottom of the crevice, she felt that she was at least two more miles away from Long Qingying and the others.


    She controlled the dark mist under her feet to allow herself to float in the air while looking down at the bubbling water.


    Yes, that was an underground river with steaming hot water. The water temperature was at least eighty degrees, so hot that it could even boil eggs!


    The river wasn''t small; the water surface was wide. Lin Qiao looked around and found that the river under her feet was over ten meters wide.


    She narrowed her eyes to observe the river water, which was not only hot, but also contained a thick energy. It was the same type of energy which had been gushing out of the ground where she came in from.


    She spent a short while observing the river water, but heard no noises from it. Then, she turned to look at the rock faces on both sides of the river. As she expected, she found some different shaped caves. Those caves were located one or two meters away from the water, seemingly created to provide the users with the convenience to fetch water from the river.


    The vibes of a large numbers of different creatures could be sensed from those caves.


    ¡­


    At that time, Wu Chengyue and his people returned to Sea City Base to hear from Xiao Yunlong that Dong Lijia and his people had left, also bringing away quite a few high-grade hunter groups.


    "What? They just left? Without any hesitation?" Wu Chengyue looked at Xiao Yunlong and asked with surprise.


    "No! They handed in the application of leaving the base in the morning of the third day after they had a meeting with Lin Wenwen," Xiao Yunlong sighed.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment. It was about Lin Wenwen again. Was that a coincidence?


    He thought of the pure and fresh catmint that Lin Wenwen brought back and figured that those people might have something to do with her during the period she was missing.


    That made sense. Dong Lijia and his people had been mysterious ever since Wu Chengyue met them. Right after the apocalypse, they were already capable enough to build their own armed force. Wu Chengyue was surprised to learn about that from their files. They stayed calm when everybody was in panic. They never hesitated to kill zombies, and they seemed to have stocked a sufficient amount of supplies.


    At first, Wu Chengyue felt that those people seemed to know about the apocalypse in advance. He didn''t really believe so though. After all, no one would ever believe something that even if they were told so. At least, no normal people would believe it¡­


    It turned out that they were prepared for the apocalypse before it even started.


    But unexpectedly, the one they had been waiting for was Lin Wenwen. Wu Chengyue wondered what the girl had done to them while she was in the past.


    "Well, so be it! After all, she''s the one that they''ve waited for," Wu Chengyue smiled.


    "Eh? Are you willing to just let them go?" Xiao Yunlong looked at him questioningly.


    Wu Chengyue looked at him and said smilingly, "Why wouldn''t I be? After all, they''ve made their choice already."


    Xiao Yunlong didn''t understand his meaning. He only felt as if a juicy slice of meat that he and his people had been having their eyes on was eaten by Lin Wenwen at last. However, since Wu Chengyue had said that, what else could he say? He decided to just focus on other stuff.


    "Oh, do you know why Si Kongchen''s people suddenly left our base for All Beings Base last night?" Before, Wu Chengyue only delivered the message that those Huaxia People would ambush outside Sea City Base, but didn''t tell the reason why.


    "Because their targets weren''t in Sea City Base," said Wu Chengyue with a smile, "So at last, they decided to leave." As a result, those people were all hunted down by All Beings Base, and not a single one of them survived.


    On hearing Wu Chengyue''s words, Xiao Yunlong looked at him with confusion. The latter glanced at him and explained, "Si Kongchen was planning on kidnapping Teng or Ling Ling, then threaten me with them. That was only one plan of his. He has other plans."


    That man had many plans against Wu Chengyue.


    On hearing that, Xiao Yunlong was infuriated. "What? Si Kongchen cast his eyes on the kids! How dare he! How shameless! I can''t believe he was going to play such dirty tricks!"


    "He was never a decent man, so it''s normal that he''d play this kind of a trick. War allows deceit. To defeat the enemy, any means can be used. The man doesn''t have many principles. Besides, that was a smart plan indeed," Wu Chengyue maintained the smile on his face and said.


    Lin Qiao gave the two kids to Wu Chengyue before leaving Huaxia Base, not bringing them down to the underground world. She had a space that was able to keep herself safe, but accidents might still happen. She prepared herself for the worst-case scenario, so she would not bring the kids down to the underground realm.


    According to Teng, Lin Qiao''s condition wouldn''t get worse any time soon, and she still had at least three months. The journey underground wouldn''t take her three months, would it?


    "When do you think they''ll come out?" As same as Wu Chengyue, Xiao Yunlong was also thinking about the underground mission.


    "That depends," said Wu Chengyue, "Anyhow, she''ll send someone up in ten days to inform us about whatever is happening underground, no matter how the mission is going. If she still can''t come out after that, she''ll send up another person in another ten days. That''s what we agreed upon."


    In that way, the people on the earth''s surface would be able to learn something about how the team was doing underground.


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and said, "That''s a good idea! I wonder what''s going on underground right now. Maybe something changed in the flowing layer underground and caused the most recent eruption of the virus. What do you think?"


    "Who knows?" Wu Chengyue said, "Not even lava can kill the virus. I don''t think it''s just some kind of virus. I think it''s some special kind of energy."


    "Do you think there''s a chance that it''s from the earth''s mantle? You have to know that the rock density and pressure near the earth''s mantle are both especially high. If the virus can survive under that kind of condition, it''d surely be invincible. The environment has made it indestructible," Xiao Yunlong had roughly heard about the structure of the earth. He never had a chance to verify his guess though.


    The earth''s mantle was located between the core and crust. Among all parts of the earth, it had the largest volume and quality.

 1295 Boiling River Water

    Lin Qiao confirmed that some tunnels on both sides of the river were leading to deeper areas, then controlled the dark mist to bring herself higher.


    As she prepared to get back to the others, Long Qingying and the others sensed a human vibe from behind them. They turned back and carefully looked around, but the vibe was gone. Long Qingying and Kong Qingming, who were standing by each other''s side, made an eye-contact, both with a mysterious look in their eyes.


    "Someone is following us stealthily, but leaking her vibe to let us find her on purpose," said Duan Juan coldly, "What does she want?"


    "They''re either hiding somewhere, waiting to launch a surprise attack, or brewing some kind of scheme," Kong Qingming glanced backward and shared his guess.


    Long Qingying snorted coldly and said, "That woman is gonna suffer if she dares to do anything that we wouldn''t like."


    Her Chief had already known about the enemy''s plan. She must have had a plan to deal with the woman. However, Long Qingying didn''t say that out loud, as she didn''t want the enemy to know it. Meanwhile, the people from Green Mountain Base quietly looked around and waited to see how things would go.


    After that short conversation, they didn''t look back again, but turned around to look down the crevice, because Lin Qiao''s vibe had risen. Soon, she showed up in front of them. She first raised her eyes to glance into the tunnel behind them, then turned back and floated in the air as she said to her people, "There''s a boiling river, about a thousand and six-hundred meters down from here. The air temperature down there is high as well, not to mention the river itself. Don''t fall into the water if you don''t want to be boiled. There''re some caves with traces left by some creatures. We''ll land by the riverside."


    "Got it!" Kong Qingming responded to her. Then, he waved at his people and leaped down the crevice. His people followed him down, along with the people from All Beings Base. Next, the Green Mountain Base people also jumped without hesitation.


    People calculated the depth of the crevice based on the falling speed and time. As the air temperature grew higher and higher, they launched what they had prepared together.


    None of the people on the scene had wind power,so they weren''t able to float in the air before breaking into level-seven. Therefore, if Lin Qiao didn''t warn them in advance, they might leap straight down and end up being boiled in the water.


    At that point, the whole team had fixed themselves on the rock face. After attaining a clear vision of the river, they carefully descended toward the riverside. Thankfully, they were all wearing tailored combat boots. The bottom of their shoes was made from alloy, so the hot ground wouldn''t burn their shoes.


    Lin Qiao soon landed on a rock near the riverside, and she couldn''t help but take off her coat and throw it into her space. It was really hot after all!


    The others would have done the same long ago if they weren''t worried that the mist might enter their body through their pores to harm them. Lin Qiao had a body that was impenetrable and indestructible. Unlike her body, their own bodies were still fragile. So, they could only watch her take off her coat and wear only a vest, tying her hair into a ponytail.


    Lin Qiao turned around to look at the caves behind her. There were a few near her, and some on the other side of the river. She looked around and chose the cave that had the strongest scents, "This way!"


    Unlike the humans who leaped straight down, the dog from Green Mountain Base inserted its claws into the rockface and slipped down to the riverside. Its sharp claws were inside the especially hard rock all the time! After landing, it shook its head and sneezed a few times, almost throwing away its mask.


    The dog was wearing a gas mask to keep it from inhaling any harmful gas.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the quiet dog and thought of her extra noisy zombie dog, sighing in her head. No matter how annoying that zombie dog could be, it was still her dog. Thankfully, the nice Black had been keeping an eye on the dog, or else Lu Tianyi would be driven crazy every single day.


    Her gaze made the dog grow vigilant and turn to her immediately. But three seconds later, it couldn''t help but sneeze again.


    People packed their gears and adjusted their body temperatures with their superpowers. In the meantime, they moved toward where Lin Qiao was pointing at.


    Away from the riverside, the air temperature dropped largely. They walked into the cave and found the ground and rockfaces on both sides worn out. Quite some claw marks could be seen on the ground as well.


    "We are about four miles away from the earth''s surface now, right? As we thought, many creatures are living down here," Kong Qingming shone his flashlight from side to side and carefully looked around.


    Lin Qiao was moving forward. On hearing his words, she responded, "There are some strong scents here. At least twenty different types of large-scale creatures have walked through this tunnel."


    Before the apocalypse, the creatures who were able to survive thousands of meters deep underground were extremely rare, not to mention the large-sized ones.


    "Twenty? So many!" Kong Qingming heard what Lin Qiao said and paused with surprise at first. But, he soon realized that more than twenty different types of underground creatures had already shown up on the earth''s surface.


    While paying attention to the environment and suspicious marks in the tunnel, everyone moved forward carefully.


    At that time, a group of people showed up above the crevice. Xie Longyun, who was leading the team, looked around, then leaned her head forward to look into the crevice. The darkness in the crevice gave her a faint but not good feeling. Clearly, it was dangerous down there.


    She took a step backward and pointed at a level-six wind-powered man under her command, "Get down and take a look. Move quickly! Don''t let those people get too far away from us. Don''t let them sense our presence too clearly either."


    "Yes, ma''am!" The man nodded as he released his power and leaped into the crevice. He had wind power, and it was very easy for him to get down into the crevice, as a strong wind had been blowing out of it.

 1296 Dont Mess with Women

    Xie Longyun and her people were waiting above the crevice. A short while later, the man flew back up.


    "Captain, there''s an underground river about two-thousand meters down from here. The river water is hot, almost boiling. There''re many caves on both sides of the river. Sea City Base people have gone into one of those caves," the man reported to her.


    Xie Longyun immediately waved at the people behind her and said, "We''ll get down when you are ready."


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    She had completely no idea that an enormous, red figure was hiding behind her and her people, looking at them curiously with a pair of large, round eyes. As they all jumped into the crevice, the red figure slowly approached the area.


    The red cat was enormous, but its six feet actually caused no sound when it was walking.


    By the edge of the crevice, it leaned its head forward to look down and then looked around. After that, it made a step toward the left side and moved to the upper stream of the river.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao and her people kept moving forward. Soon, the tunnel split into two parts; lying before them was a fork road.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand to signal for the others to stop as she started observing both the two roads. The road on the left side was relatively wide and seemed nothing different from the part of the tunnel behind them. Meanwhile, the road on the right side was narrow, and from it came a strange, fishy type of smell.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and decided to choose the broader way to go.


    "We''re already over four-thousand meters deep underground, but we still haven''t found a trace of those creatures. They don''t live in the layer of lava, do they?" Kong Qingming stayed by Long Qingying''s side as he looked around and said.


    Lin Qiao turned back and gave Lei Cheng a glance before moving forward, and also asking him a question, "What did you guys find underground?"


    Lei Cheng, who had been expressionless the whole time, responded to her with, "We found a type of plant growing under rocks, about three-thousand and six-hundred meters deep. Its leaves were as hard as metal. It drilled out from under the rocks and even pushed the rocks to the side."


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao stopped walking and turned to him as she asked, "Did you bring the plant back to your base for study?"


    "Yes," Lei Cheng nodded and said, "But, we haven''t figured out its composition yet."


    Lin Qiao turned back and kept moving forward while saying, "You guys encountered danger at only about three-thousand meters deep. Why haven''t we met any creature yet?"


    Lei Cheng corrected her, "The altitude in the Northwest is higher than here. If compared with this place, we actually found those plants about two-thousand and eight-hundred meters underground."


    "We can easily get lost this way. We don''t know how deep that underground space is yet," Duan Juan left marks all the way while talking to the others worriedly. She understood that there was no better way though. After saying that, she sighed, "If only we had a guide, so we wouldn''t need to spend so much time searching."


    "A guide? Where can you find an underground resident to guide your way? It might eat you before you ask!" Kong Qingming said to her with laughter.


    Duan Juan gave him a glare and said, "I was just saying. Couldn''t you tell that?"


    Kong Qingming could, of course, tell that she was just saying for the sake of it. But now, he had to pretend that he wasn''t aware of that. "Oh, really?" He said, "I didn''t know. I thought you really want to find an underground creature and make it our guide! If you intend to do that, you need to find one that''s actually from here. If you make one of those gorillas who live near your base guide us here, it''ll probably take us wandering around in this place."


    Duan Juan didn''t know what to say. He was right; if she really intended to find a guide, she would need to find a creature that actually lived in that area.


    As she didn''t manage to win the argument with Kong Qingming, she instantly grew unhappy. Since she wasn''t happy, she didn''t intend to let him be happy either. So, she reached out and pulled Long Qingying, who was quietly walking side by side with Kong Qingming, to her own side and said, "Qingying, you see, this man couldn''t even tell what I really meant. You never like talking. It''s impossible for him to understand you, right? I don''t think you two are suitable for each other. Why don''t you find someone who really understands you?"


    Kong Qingming popped his eyes and stared at Duan Juan in shock.


    At that moment, Li Zheng walked over and patted Kong Qingming on the shoulder, "Don''t mess with women. They are strong creatures who bleed for five or six days without dying every single month. You can never know what a woman is thinking. Do not displease them!"


    After saying that, he returned to his team with a gloating smile.


    Long Qingying gave Kong Qingming a glance as she nodded and said to Duan Juan, "Hm, I''ll think about it."


    "No, no, no! She''s not gonna think about that! She doesn''t even need to talk to me now, because I always know exactly what she''s thinking about. She can communicate with me smoothly without doing much talking! I think you should really find someone who understands you and get married as soon as possible! Don''t try to ruin someone else''s relationship!" Kong Qingming hurriedly moved to Long Qingying and held her hand before dragging her back to his side. After that, he complained to Duan Juan.


    "I don''t need that. I''m perfect being single. Being free is so great. Why would I want a man to annoy me? Qingying, maybe you don''t feel annoyed by him yet, but I''m telling you, you will at some point," Duan Juan said with a cold smile before turning away.


    Kong Qingming said, "You think that way because you haven''t found the right person. Our brother Licheng is a great guy. Why don''t you think about giving him a chance? After all, you two see each other a lot, and you''ve been doing similar jobs. He should be able to understand you."


    Kong Qingming brought Xiao Licheng, who stayed on the earth''s surface, into the conversation.


    At that moment, the latter was in his office, preparing materials for Wu Chengyue, when he suddenly gave a loud sneeze.


    "Ah¡­ Choo!"


    The guard by his door was startled by that loud sneeze. He stuck his head in from behind the door and gave Xiao Licheng a glance before turning back. The latter rubbed his nose and murmured, "Who''s talking about me behind my back?"


    He couldn''t possibly catch a cold anyway. As a level-six superpower possessor, he wouldn''t get any small diseases like that. So, the first idea that popped into his mind was that some people were talking about him behind his back.

 1297 Another Big River

    Lin Qiao stopped short when she heard what Duan Juan said, and then she kept moving forward. She felt that the latter''s idea wasn''t entirely impossible! She did make an underground gorilla obey her and managed to communicate with it with zombie roars. But, before she could try to do that to an underground creature from this area, she had to find one.


    Duan Juan and the others didn''t know what Lin Qiao was thinking about. They made a few jokes with each other while following her forward.


    At that moment, the ground started declining. Lin Qiao had been detecting the changes of the surrounding scents and vibes. She would stop walking and spend a short while observing if she sensed anything strange about the surrounding scents or the wind.


    After the fork road, the ground had been inclining downward all the way while the meters tall tunnel was growing narrower and narrower. The slope became steeper and steeper, and the air temperature started dropping drastically.


    Duan Juan shone her flashlight on the ground. The rock was moist, and the air contained high moisture. "Why is the air temperature so low? The ground is moist. Be careful, don''t slip!" She followed behind Lin Qiao and turned back from time to time to tell the others to be careful with their heads and feet.


    Lin Qiao abruptly stopped walking as she raised a hand to signal for the others to be careful.


    Seeing that, the others stopped as well and looked at her. She had stopped moving, meaning there might be something dangerous in front of her.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while looking around and said, "Let''s go!"


    Next, she made a few steps forward and leaped.


    People walked to the spot where she leaped down from and found a pool down below, about ten-meters in diameter, looking like a large well. The water surface was perfectly still. No one could tell where the water was sourced from. The water was either from the upper area or the lower area.


    She raised her head and looked up. Nothing up there looked strange, as it was just a flat rock roof. The water surface reflected the light of the flashlights like a large mirror, dimly illuminating the roof. The bottom of the pool couldn''t be seen nonetheless.


    Around the pool was a large, dry area, on the other side of which was a cave. Lin Qiao walked to the cave and looked inside. Then, she came back to the pool and looked around it. She felt the temperature drop as she approached the pool. The water in the pool was probably icy cold; she couldn''t figure out why though.


    "It''s so cold here! We saw a boiling river earlier, and now a cold pool. The underground world is really beyond my imagination." Kong Qingming came down to the lake and couldn''t help but murmur.


    They stood by the cave and looked down into it, seeing a large river that was ten times larger than the boiling river they saw just now. The water was flowing slowly, seemingly very clear. The river was at least two-hundred meters wide. On the rockfaces on both sides of the river were a large number of caves. They shone their flashlights upwards but couldn''t see the top of the space.


    A dim light shone out of the water and brightened the area slightly.


    As people were gathering outside the cave and looking down, an enormous, dark figure slowly rose from the bottom of the river before slowly sinking back down. As the dark figure emerged, the peaceful water surface immediately rippled. As it sank back to the bottom, the water surface quieted down again.


    "Something is in the water!" Everyone instantly grew alert.


    The dark figure was tremendous. The river was about two-hundred meters wide, and the dark figure was about thirty meters wide and tens of meters long. It moved across the bottom of the river like a fish as it dove into the deeper parts.


    Based on their experiences, the people on the scene felt that the creature in the water would not be easy to deal with.


    Lin Qiao looked around. The upper stream and lower stream of the river had the same width, and the flowing speed of the water remained the same in different sections of the river. Judging by those facts, she figured that the river was deep. The dark figure which emerged from the water just now made her feel that there might be another world underwater.


    She spent a short while staring at the river surface and confirmed the vague but not good feeling that she had been having. The river might not be dangerous for her, but it could be lethal for the people behind her.


    "Follow me and stay away from the river! What''s in the water can be very dangerous." She turned her eyes away from the river and warned her people before nimbly leaping forward.


    She didn''t leap far. Instead, she clutched the rocks that stuck out of the rockface with her claws and landed her feet on the rock as well. Like a professional rock climber, she agilely moved downward. About three meters away from the water surface was a large cave, from where Lin Qiao sensed a kind of wind. The others followed behind her and nimbly climbed down, soon landing in the cave.


    There were a lot of caves and tunnels caused by wind and water erosion, added with other mysterious things underground. Nature sometimes created unimaginable works indeed.


    Lin Qiao saw a faint, light-green light from the end of the cave once she got in. She had no idea what it was, but could say for sure that it was definitely something special.


    A faint, special type of energy could be detected from that area. With her back toward the others, she fixed her eyes on the green light and waved at the other people, signaling for them to not to make any reckless moves.


    Right at that moment, the green light died and the other end of the cave fell into darkness.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes as she stepped back to the entrance of the cave and glanced up. Then, she spent a few seconds sensing the surrounding vibes. She could still vaguely sense the presence of the group of Huaxia people, especially that woman! She sensed a strong scent from that woman.


    She slightly furrowed her brows, then lowered her head and walked back into the cave.


    "Don''t we need to find a way to get rid of them?" Lei Cheng, who had been silent the whole time, abruptly asked Lin Qiao a question.


    "Be patient!" Lin Qiao waved at him and said with a low voice. After that, she walked further into the cave. The cave was large inside; its entrance was only about three meters tall, but the inner space was much taller and wider. The ground in the cave was lower than the ground outside, so the space in the cave was larger than it seemed.

 1298 Superpower Scan

    As Lin Qiao and the others were heading deeper underground, Lin Wenwen finally brought Dong Xinxin and over ten-thousand others to the front gate of All Beings Base. Lin Feng leaped off the fence wall as he saw from the wall top their motorcade slowly approach the gate.


    Lin Wenwen brought Dong Xinxin and the others to him to greet him. She pointed at the latter and said to Lin Feng, "This is Dong Xinxin, who''s been mentioned in the letter." Then, she turned to Dong Xinxin and the others as she pointed at Lin Feng and said, "He is one of the current deputy chiefs of All Beings Base. I assume you guys know him already."


    The group of people nodded at Lin Feng smilingly.


    Next, Lin Wenwen introduced the others to Lin Feng, "This is Dong Lijia, this is Deng Chenfei, and this is Luo Yuanjun. And these are the leaders of the other hunter groups."


    "Nice to meet you all. Welcome to All Beings Base!" Lin Feng nodded and greeted them. After that, he continued, "I''ve already arranged accommodations for you guys. You are welcome to come with me and take a look at the place now. Please let me know if you find the place not good enough."


    After saying that, he turned and walked into the gate before raising an arm. Soon, an off-road car was driven over and parked before him. Lin Wenwen followed Lin Feng into that car while Dong Lijia and the others returned to their own vehicles and told their drivers to follow Lin Feng''s car.


    The vehicles behind slowly followed them into the base. No one was asked to go to the examination room for a virus scan.


    "Why didn''t they ask us to do a virus scan? Is it because they know us? Isn''t this too incautious?" Luo Yuanjun stuck his head out and glanced back at the gate. The gate was wide open. On both sides and the top of the gate were soldiers standing straight in lines. Weirdly, all those soldiers were wearing sunglasses. Perhaps, it was because the sunlight was dazzling.


    With that thought, he raised his head to look at the sky, and the sunlight immediately blurred his sight.


    They had no idea that people could enter All Beings Base without doing a virus scan. After all, it was a highly important thing for all the other bases. The infected people had to be kept strictly out of the base, because once someone got infected inside the base, a public panic would be aroused.


    The zombie virus was lethal. The was only one end for those who got infected, which was turning into zombies.


    "Perhaps Wenwen and her people have some special arrangements," Dong Xinxin said to him, "After all, we have brought so many people here. If all those people are required to do the scan one after another, the whole process might take days."


    "Emm¡­ You''re right¡­ They can open a few more gates though. Oh well, that''d be troublesome too¡­" Luo Yuanjun found Dong Xinxin''s words making sense, so he thought for a moment and nodded.


    Dong Xinxin and her people had no idea that when they drove into the gate, they had already been scanned by countless human-shaped virus detectors.


    The Base Number One of All Beings Base was not small. In order to accommodate more people, it had even been expanded. After the fence wall was built up, people started to examine and repair all kinds of buildings in the base. Currently, the base didn''t have a large population, so a lot of buildings were still empty.


    This time, Lin Wenwen brought back over ten-thousand people, so it would need one or two residential areas in the suburban district to accommodate all of them.


    Soon, they arrived at their destination, where Lin Feng and Lin Wenwen got off the car outside a residential area. As Dong Xinxin and her people all got out of the cars, Lin Feng pointed at the buildings in that area and said, "This is Outer District Two. Here, there, and there, these areas all belong to this district. I''ll give you the floor plans of these buildings for you guys to make arrangements. You guys came in a haste, so I''m afraid you have to do the specific arrangements by yourselves. After settling down, you only need to provide us with information of all residents."


    "What? Are we just gonna move straight in? Aren''t you going to send some people here to scan us for the virus?" On hearing Lin Feng''s words, Luo Yuanjun asked a question. The others also looked at him questioningly, waiting for his answer.


    Before Lin Feng answered the question, Lin Wenwen said with a smile, "You guys have been scanned already."


    Once she said that, Dong Xinxin and the others immediately looked at each other with confusion. Then, they all turned back to Lin Wenwen with puzzles in their eyes.


    "We''ve been scanned already?" Dong Xinxin popped her eyes and looked at Lin Wenwen bewilderedly.


    Dong Lijia erased the smile on his face and opened his narrowed eyes wide as he looked at Lin Wenwen, asked, "When did that happen? Why don''t we know about it?"


    Lin Wenwen looked at them quietly while wearing a mysterious smile as Lin Feng explained to them, "You don''t need to worry about that. Someone has scanned all of you when you came in through the gate¡­ well, because he has a special power. From a short distance, he can detect the virus."


    He described the zombie army as a man with a special superpower.


    "Does that kind of superpower really exist? So handy!" Hearing Lin Feng''s words, Dong Xinxin and his people showed great interests.


    "After all, there are too many of you. It''ll take forever for you guys to go into the examination room and get scanned one after another. So, we asked him to stand on the gate and watch you guys come in."


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, "Yeah. In order to save time, we didn''t ask you to do that. Let''s go and take a look at the place where you''re gonna live."


    While speaking, she walked into the residential area. The place used to be a garden community, including over twenty buildings. Every building had over ten stories, and on each floor were four suites. Each suite included three bedrooms, one living room, and one dining room. Hence, it could accommodate quite some people.


    Holding the floor plans and indoor graphs, Dong Lijia observed the surrounding environment while walking. The others also came to him to look at the floor plans in his hands, doing the math to try and figure out how many people they should put in each suite.


    "All these suites are not small. Each suite includes three bedrooms, a living room, and a dining room. One bedroom can be shared by two people, so each suite can accommodate six people. We have plenty of housing resources now, so we don''t need to put too many people in one suite," Lin Feng said while walking side by side with them.


    There were four suites on each floor. If each suite accommodated six people, there would be twenty-four people on one floor. Each building had sixteen floors, meaning that one building could accommodate three or four hundred people. The area included over twenty buildings, which were almost enough to accommodate the entire batch of people. Moreover, the residential area nearby was also for them to live in.

 1299 The Condition for Joining the Base

    "These are your temporary accommodations," Lin Feng turned and said to them.


    In the future, they would be able to apply for their own rooms or even their own apartments. The harder they worked, the better their lives could be.


    "Not bad! These apartments aren''t as good as the ones in Sea City Base, but there''s plenty of space," Luo Yuanjun looked around and said.


    After the second eruption of the virus, all plants had gotten infected and mutated. So currently, no plants could be seen in any human bases. The soil couldn''t grow healthy plants anymore. As all the plants in the base had been removed, the base looked like a city of metal and cement.


    "In the future, your base will have more and more people, and there will be less and less space," Dong Lijia wore a smile again.


    "It would be a great thing if our base can be filled up at some point. That would be a sign of maturity for our base," Lin Feng guided the people into the area.


    While they were looking at the buildings, the vehicles were driving into the area one after another. People didn''t get off the vehicles immediately, but waited for orders. By the time Dong Xinxin and the others took a tour in the area and came out, the road on the outside was already filled up by vehicles.


    Dong Lijia asked Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun to talk with the leaders of the other hunter groups about how to accommodate their people. At the moment, they could do no more than some random arrangements. In the next couple of days, they would re-accommodate some people according to their power levels and current positions in their groups.


    As the others started a short discussion by the entrance of the area, Dong Xinxin and Dong Lijia followed Lin Feng and Lin Wenwen out, getting into the car and heading toward the administration building in the base.


    "Those underground creatures haven''t shown any sign of approaching a human base yet, but that can happen at any time. Are you guys ready to deal with that kind of a situation?" Dong Lijia asked Lin Feng a question he had been worrying about.


    "We have a way to ease the problem now, but we still have to wait until our Chief and the others accomplish their current mission to solve the problem for good. As you guys already know, superpower attacks can hardly hurt those creatures. They came out from the underground without warning. In fact, it''s hard for them to adapt to the environment on the earth''s surface. They came out in huge herds, so I guess something changed drastically in their original habitat that caused them to come out. The best way to solve the problem will be to drive them back to the underground world. We can''t possibly kill them all. The harm we can do to those creatures with our current power is too limited," Lin Feng explained to him about the current situation.


    To save mankind from them, people needed to either develop some kind of weapon that was powerful enough to hurt those creatures badly but harmless to the environment, or figure out a way to drive them back to the underground realm where they really lived.


    Defeating those creatures by harming the environment was not allowed. Therefore, things like nuclear weapons could not be used. One nuclear bomb might be able to kill huge numbers of underground creatures, but the nuclear pollution was nothing that the current human beings wanted to see. The current natural environment was already miserable, and people had been trying their best to save the environment. How could they possibly choose to do something to hurt it?


    Therefore, the leaders of all bases had been trying to figure out some other ways to solve the problem.


    "I heard that the grand meeting was supposed to be about how to solve the underground creature crisis. How come they decided to send a team underground at last?" Dong Xinxin asked with curiosity.


    "That''s reasonable. Only after learning what exactly is in the underground realm can people come up with better solutions," Dong Lijia nodded and said.


    Lin Feng nodded in agreement, "Yes. We need to know more about them to think of a better way to deal with them."


    In Lin Feng''s office, everyone took their seats. After that, Lin Feng talked to Dong Xinxin with a formal attitude, "Miss Dong, do you have any condition for joining our base that you''d like us to take into consideration?"


    He knew that Dong Xinxin was the decision-maker among her team, so he addressed that question directly to her.


    Lin Wenwen''s letter only stated that she would bring a batch of people back to the base, but did not mention any conditions. Lin Feng and Chen Yuting had been curious about how she convinced those people to join her base.


    Dong Xinxin glanced at Lin Wenwen and turned back to Lin Feng as she said, "There''s one condition, it''s nothing special. We only want to be able to stay in this base as original residents. Within at least fifty years, we don''t want to be cast out for any reason unless we violate some rules of the base."


    Lin Feng, who was wearing a serious look, paused briefly with surprise when he heard Dong Xinxin''s words. He glanced at Lin Wenwen questioningly, wondering if he had misheard. Lin Wenwen barely made any reaction, as if she had known that already.


    "Eh¡­ Just that?" As Lin Wenwen didn''t change her expression at all, Lin Feng turned back and confirmed it with Dong Xinxin.


    "Yes, that''s the only condition we have," Dong Xinxin nodded and said.


    "What kind of condition is that¡­" Lin Feng couldn''t help but murmur. He thought that Dong Xinxin and her people would at least ask for some important positions in the base or some special treatment. But to his surprise, she only brought up a condition that sounded barely like one.


    "Oh, I was going to ask for something else, but I changed my idea on my way here," Dong Xinxin glanced at Lin Wenwen with a smile.


    If Lin Wenwen didn''t tell her that something might happen in the base in the future that might cause them to want to leave, and that she hoped they wouldn''t be enemies with her and her base even if they chose to leave, Dong Xinxin wouldn''t worry that her and her people might be cast out of the base someday.


    Lin Wenwen didn''t know what to say.


    Lin Feng stopped short again, and then he looked at Dong Xinxin and asked her, "What? You changed your mind on your way here? Why did you change it into this kind of¡­ Hm, it doesn''t sound necessary at all. Who would want to cast you guys out if you didn''t violate some important rules?"


    He really didn''t understand it. What made Dong Xinxin change her condition into one that sounded almost like a joke? That wasn''t making sense.


    "You can''t tell for sure. After all, who knows what''ll happen in the future? We just want a guarantee," Dong Xinxin said with a smile. The pair of dimples on her cheeks made her look very adorable.

 1300 The Agreement is Made

    "Eh-hem! Alright, alright, that''s the condition then! As long as you guys won''t regret it!" Lin Wenwen noticed the bewildered look on Lin Feng''s face and also saw Dong Xinxin look at her in a meaningful way. So, she hurriedly joined the conversation to try and settle the matter down. If someone asked more questions, her secret might be revealed!


    "We won''t regret it, Wenwen! We chose to believe you, and we''ll take the responsibility for our decision," Dong Lijia looked at Lin Wenwen with a smile before nodding at Lin Feng determinedly.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Alright then! I''ll have someone draft an agreement for you guys to sign. Um¡­ Is there really nothing else that you want us to do for you guys?"


    Lin Feng still found their condition unbelievably simple.


    Dong Lijia and his sister shook their heads together.


    Lin Feng sighed with relief and said, "Good! In three days, I''ll hold a meeting with you guys and the leaders of the other hunter groups. The agreement will be signed at the meeting. In the next three days, you guys can take your time to see our base and have some discussions with each other. If you decide to stay eventually, you can sign your names on that agreement."


    There was Base Number Two in the base. Many people knew about it, but had never been there, because humans were forbidden from approaching that area. The human residents in All Beings Base thought the reason why Base Number Two was so mysterious was that it was a military base.


    To keep new residents from approaching Base Number Two out of curiosity or some kind of bad intention, All Beings Base managers would always state clearly in the agreement that the people who lived in the base weren''t allowed to approach Base Number Two without permission from base managers.


    "Okay, no problem!" Dong Lijia and Dong Xinxin nodded as they stood up and shook hands with Lin Feng before leaving the office. When Lin Feng and his little sister were left alone in the office, he finally looked at her and asked, "Did you say anything to them? They glanced at you just now when they brought up that condition."


    He didn''t need to observe Dong Lijia and Dong Xinxin closely to feel the weird way how they looked at Lin Wenwen. So, he could easily guess that his little sister had something to do with the reason why they changed their mind on their way here.


    Lin Wenwen put on a serious look and said, "Brother, I''ve seen some future scenes in my head lately. They weren''t good."


    Lin Feng stayed silent, wearing a grim face, as she continued with, "I saw something related to my sister-in-law and you. From now on, you need to send some men to protect sister-in-law and Xiaolu strictly."


    Lin Feng''s vibe was disordered for a moment. He furrowed his brows and stared at Lin Wenwen as he said, "How can it be about your sister-in-law and Xiaolu? What did you see?"


    However, she could not turn Dong Lijia and all the others down for that reason. She was worried that some of those people might cause trouble, so she spoke to Lin Feng that way. The latter dropped his eyelids and gave a sigh, "Indeed, there''re over thirteen-thousand people. Even their leaders can''t know if any of them is working for the enemy."


    "What else did you see?" He raised his head and asked Lin Wenwen another question.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, "No, but I have a feeling that something big is going to happen, and that it''s gonna be about our base¡­ I''ve thought about it carefully. I think it''ll probably have something to do with my sister''s true identity, the zombie army, or our farm."


    Those three secrets were the biggest secrets of All Beings Base. If even one of them leaked, All Beings Base would have to face the doubts coming from the entire mankind.


    Lin Feng understood her meaning. He nodded and did not look as worried as Lin Wenwen anymore. "We have plans for that kind of situation, no matter which one of those three secrets might leak. You don''t need to worry too much about that. In the worst-case scenario, we''ll be independent. What can they possibly do to us? Did you say something to your friends for that cause?"


    Lin Wenwen sat down and nodded as she leaned against the back of the chair and said, "Yeah. I told them that if something big happened in our base one day, they don''t need to worry about me when they want to leave. Then, I told them that even if they chose to leave, I hope they wouldn''t become our enemy."


    Lin Feng looked at her and stayed silent for two seconds before nodding knowingly, "I understand. They don''t know about our secrets yet. They might have problems accepting it when they find out that we have so many zombies in our base."


    They thought they had come to a human base from another one. What they didn''t know was that they were about to join a zombie base instead of a human base. They would be living together with a great number of medium to high leveled zombies while knowing nothing about that. They might feel deceived and betrayed when they found out the truth.


    "Yeah, so I warned them in advance. However, Dong Xinxin thought I wanted to cast them out. I wonder what she''s thinking," said Lin Wenwen helplessly.


    Lin Feng thought for a moment and looked at her with confusion as he said, "Does she really trust you so much? You''ve warned her like that, but she still brought up such a condition. By doing that, she was trying to bind herself and all the other people together with the base. Isn''t that too reckless? Why did she do that?"


    Thinking about that, he felt that Dong Xinxin seemed to trust Lin Wenwen a little too much. Wasn''t she worried that she might regret her decision someday? She herself might not regret, but what about the others in her group?


    Lin Feng wondered how his little sister managed to make Dong Xinxin and the others follow her with such great loyalty.


    Lin Wenwen shrugged and said, "I think she did that to make sure that she''ll be able to help us in the future. She was an unsophisticated girl who valued friendship greatly. After experiencing the apocalypse, she grew mature and tended to trust the people whom she believed were trustworthy, even more than she would ever before. The warning I gave her before might have made her realize that our base might be in some kind of trouble in the future."


    Judging by the fact that Dong Xinxin and her people had spent seven years waiting for her, Lin Wenwen figured that she was a rather stubborn person. Once she made up her mind, she wouldn''t change it easily.

 1301 Its a Bit Difficult to Fix Them Up

    Lin Feng heard from Lin Wenwen that Dong Xinxin and her people spent seven years waiting for her to show up after the apocalypse. The girl really seemed to trust her fully. It was probably because she wanted to thank her for traveling to the past and saving her family.


    There was not a big chance of meeting such a grateful girl in the post-apocalyptic era. What a nice girl!


    "Oh, this girl doesn''t have someone she likes yet, does she? Maybe we should let her spend some time together with Lin Hao?" Lin Feng thought for a moment and then said.


    Hearing him, Lin Wenwen didn''t know what to say. The change in the topic happened so suddenly. The latter really wanted to say to his brother, ''Do you really need to worry that Lin Hao might not be able to find a girl to marry? Why don''t you ask him if he already likes someone or not? How can you just make a match like that? Isn''t that a little too abrupt?''


    "I don''t know if there''s someone she likes or not, but to marry her, the boy would first need Dong Lijia, her big brother''s permission, because he basically has a sister-complex. And then, he needs to get through the challenge from Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun, his two rivals in love. Also, Xinxin might not even like Lin Hao!" After complaining in her head, Lin Wenwen couldn''t help but share some of her thoughts out loud.


    "What? Sister-complex?" Lin Feng said, "Dong Lijia has that?" He was in his forties, and he could understand the term ''complex''. It meant that someone was deeply obsessed with something or someone. So, thinking from another angle, he figured that the boys who had sister-complex would see their sisters as the most precious treasures in the world and forbid any other boy from approaching them.


    Thinking about that possibility and about his little brother who was not so easy to get along with, Lin Feng instantly erased the smile on his face. Oh well, it did seem a bit difficult to fix those two up!


    Speaking of someone being fancied, Lin Wenwen suddenly thought of the person she was fond of. Yuan Tianxing was still lying in a coma in her sister''s space. Feeling a little sad, she gave a sigh and said, "I wonder when sister will come back, and how Tianxing''s doing."


    Hearing her mention Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng hurriedly said to her, "Oh, I forgot to tell you the good news about Tianxing. I sent Lin Qiao a letter a few days ago, along with some of the pure catmint you brought back. Lin Qiao has sent someone to deliver a message back to me, saying that your catmint has been highly helpful for Tianxing''s condition, and that he''s recovering rapidly now. I think you''ll be able to see him alive and healthy by the time she accomplishes the mission and returns."


    "Really? Oh, that''s wonderful!" Lin Wenwen was thrilled on hearing what Lin Feng said. She immediately sat straight and popped her eyes to stare at the latter, her eyes glowing brightly.


    She had been so worried all the time ever since she heard that Yuan Tianxing had gone through an accident. Hearing Lin Feng''s words, she finally felt relieved. She was so happy to hear the good news that she even seemed a little emotional.


    Lin Feng nodded, "Yeah, so you don''t need to be so worried about him anymore."


    While the two of them were talking about Yuan Tianxing, Lu Tianyi in Lin Qiao''s space was holding a bowl, pouring the medicine into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth. Lin Qiao had started carrying out her mission, so it was his job to administer the medicine. Lu Tianyi had nothing else to do in her space anyway.


    Lu Tianyi didn''t have the keen sensations Lin Qiao and Teng had, so he wasn''t able to see things inside Yuan Tianxing''s body. He was now an ordinary level-five zombie. In his eyes, Yuan Tianxing''s purple skin was actually dark-gray.


    Nonetheless, he could see that the skin on Yuan Tianxing''s four limbs had turned lighter and turned back to normal. A few days ago, his entire body was dark-gray, but now, such a big part of his body had turned back normal.


    "After taking this bowl of drug, I think his thighs and stomach area will grow better. That''s the essential part," Xie Dong stood nearby and watched Lu Tianyi pour the medicine into Yuan Tianxing''s mouth. He thought for a moment and said, with his eyes fixed on Yuan Tianxing''s lower abdomen.


    "I don''t know," Lu Tianyi looked at him and said, "But, I think you are right."


    Noticing where Xie Dong was looking, he glanced at that area of Yuan Tianxing''s body too and then added, "Hopefully, some function of his body won''t be disabled¡­"


    "He''s lucky," Xie Dong turned his eyes away and said, "Someone actually found the cure for him and brought it back from seven years ago."


    Lu Tianyi turned and put the empty bowl on the table nearby before standing by the bedside and spending a short while observing Yuan Tianxing silently. After that, he asked Xie Dong, "Do you feel that Yuan Tianxing''s vibe has grown much weaker than before? His condition is getting better, but his vibe is turning weaker and weaker."


    Xie Dong came closer and bent over, pressing a hand on Yuan Tianxing''s chest to feel his heartbeat. Then, he retracted his hand and said, "It''s normal for his vibe to grow weak. Before, the intrusive kind of energy has been damaging his body, and then he was thrown into the lake by Chief, so the energy in the lake can suppress the bad energy. Now, the different types of energies have been devouring each other inside his body. His body is like a battlefield. Will the battlefield remain thriving and lively when the battle is over? It surely won''t! If his original level-seven energy hadn''t been protecting his body, I''m afraid this body of his would be destroyed by the time the two types of energies consumed each other up completely."


    He explained quite clearly, so Lu Tianyi immediately understood his meaning and nodded knowingly, "Oh, no wonder his vibe is growing weak! So, it means he''ll probably wake up really weak when the intrusive energy is removed from his body completely, right?"


    "Yes," Xie Dong nodded, "His power will reduce largely. It''ll take him some time to regain it all."


    Lu Tianyi looked at Yuan Tianxing and said, "It''s already great that he can actually recover. It''s all thanks to the catmint that Lin Wenwen brought back from seven years ago."


    Xie Dong casually folded his arms before his chest and said expressionlessly, "Wenwen can see the future. She must have foreseen something back there. Otherwise, she wouldn''t possibly bring so many plants back. These plants can be both weapon and medicine. Oh, I wonder how deep Chief has gone by now, and if she has some new discoveries."


    Lu Tianyi picked up the empty bowl. On his way out, he said, "You guys are still here, so I guess the time hasn''t come yet."

 1302 Lava Pool

    At that time, Lin Qiao was leading her team downward through a series of underground tunnels.


    Hundreds of meters above their heads, Xie Longyun and her people had been moving in the same direction as Lin Qiao and her team.


    Behind Xie Longyun and her people, a red figure had been quietly gliding above the boiling river. It flew into a large tunnel and made a few turns, leaping up and down. Occasionally, it was stuck in narrow areas that needed struggling to get through. After a long journey like that, it came to a spacious area and saw a huge river.


    By that time, Xie Longyun and her people had still been wandering in a cave.


    The big cat hovered above the river and spent a moment sensing the scents coming from the lower part of the river and then flew quickly toward Lin Qiao and her people.


    While flying, it rose suddenly. Following a loud water clattering sound, an enormous dark figure came out of the water and pounced on the six-footed cat.


    That was a huge fish that had four limbs with webs between its fingers. Its body was over twenty meters wide, and about ninety meters long. A few long thorns were seen on its tail, and in its giant mouth were sharp teeth that looked like sawteeth. The fish widely opened its mouth to bite the cat, but the latter had foreseen the attack long ago, which was why it suddenly rose high.


    The fish leaped ten meters high from the water surface and brought up huge splashes of water before falling heavily back into the river. Loud noises could be heard as the peaceful river surface was stirred intensely by the fish, and the water splashed on the rock surfaces on both sides.


    Watching the big fish fall back into the water, the big cat wagged its tail in the air and then flew away swiftly. Where the big fish fell, a few enormous dark figures were moving in the water. As the cat''s vibe faded away, those figures sank back down to the bottom of the river.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao and her people had again entered a scorching hot area: that was a lava cave. The lower part of the cave was filled with boiling, glowing red lava. The heat couldn''t be dissipated, so the air temperature in the cave was very high. The dim red light shone out of the cracks of the solidified layer of lava, illuminated the cave. Thankfully, there was still a distance between Lin Qiao and her people and the lava, or else they might be burned directly.


    "How far away are we from the earth''s surface now?" Lin Qiao hadn''t been keeping track of the distance, so she turned to ask Duan Juan about it.


    Duan Juan did the match basing on her own moving speed and the grade of the slope of the paths leading, downward, got a result with about three-hundred meters of error. "Six-thousand and three-hundred to six-thousand and eight-hundred meters."


    "We are moving in a random direction. No one knows which way is the right way. There is no right way or wrong way. That''s why we''re searching here," Duan Juan said to him while leaving a mark in the lava cage.


    "She''s right. There are some traces left by underground creatures. We haven''t found them yet, meaning that they''re hiding somewhere deeper. Also, most of them have gone up to the earth''s surface," Lei Cheng looked around to observe the surrounding environment, agreed with Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao squatted near the edge of the cave, carefully observing the bubbling lava which was giving out a strong odor.


    Seeing the look on her face, Long Qingying immediately raised a hand to signal for the others to stop talking.


    People understood that she was trying to tell the others to stay quiet and not to distract Lin Qiao, because Lin Qiao was observing something.


    "Something is coming out of the lava. Watch out!" Lin Qiao suddenly stood up and said to the others. Her eyes were fixed on the lava without blinking.


    People immediately packed their tools and took out their weapons, restrained their vibes, looking at the lava pool alertly.


    The lava pool suddenly started waving and boiling, causing loud puffing noises, as if something was rising from the bottom of it.


    Soon, people saw a few car-sized lumps emerge from the boiling lava pool.


    People were curious about what was coming out of the lava. Clearly, there was more than one of them, and they would certainly be some monsters. They had already seen several lumps in the lava, and now they wondered if there would be more.


    While people were making guesses, they saw five or six new lumps emerge from the lava.


    Puff! The lava was very sticky. The creatures in it seemed to have difficulties coming out, because the lumps had emerged for quite a while but the creatures hadn''t shown their faces yet.


    The dozen large lumps reached to about two meters tall, then suddenly stopped growing. After pausing for three seconds, they began dropping slowly.


    Eh? Why were they dropping? Were they going down to take some rest? Would they try again?


    With that thought, people watched all lumps reach two meters tall and then drop one after another.


    With curiosity, Lin Qiao and her people waited for those lumps to rise again. They waited for quite a while but nothing happened. At last, the lava pool quieted down again.


    Did those mysterious creatures sink back down to the bottom? Did they sink?


    Three seconds later¡­


    Ten seconds later¡­


    Three minutes later¡­


    Nothing happened. Lin Qiao and her people all felt confused. So, whatever those creatures were, they just sank back down. Weren''t they coming out? Seriously?


    Somehow, Lin Qiao and her team felt as if they had been fooled. Was that a joke? They were looking forward to meeting the creatures which were about to come out of the lava! In the end, those creatures sank back down after creating a few lumps in the lava pool. Did they go home?"


    A weird atmosphere spread among the team. Finally, Lin Qiao said, "I don''t think they''ll come up again¡­"


    "I agree," said Duan Juan.


    "You are probably right," said Kong Qingming.


    "Maybe, yeah¡­" said Lei Cheng.


    Then, people fell into silence again.


    About ten seconds later, Lin Qiao abruptly turned around and said to her team, "Alright, we should keep going. Whatever are those things that almost came out of the lava just now, we need to stay careful, because they might suddenly come out to attack us."


    After saying that, she leaped across the lava pool, landed on a flat area on the other side of the pool. The others also leaped carefully to that area one by one.


    The lava pool was only about twenty meters in diameter. Leaping across it was not a problem for the superpower possessors above level-five.


    Standing by the side of the lava pool, Lin Qiao carefully observed the lava and the surrounding area, in case something show up suddenly to attack her people while they were jumping across the pool.


    As everyone jumped over, she turned around and walked through the flat area, deeper into the cave.

 1303 Sudden Attack

    As Lin Qiao and her people were preparing to leave the lava cave, some noises were heard from the lava pool again. The familiar puffing noise made the group of people stop moving and turn back to look down at the lava. As same as before, a few large lumps were rising again in the pool.


    "Hmm, here it comes again," Kong Qingming turned to look down at the lava and said.


    "These things aren''t fooling around with us, are they?" Li Zheng said suspiciously while observing the lava. The others obviously weren''t as nervous as before. But still, they kept a safe distance from the lava.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes as she looked into the lava. A large amount of red energy had been surging inside the lava, which should be its fire power. Within the flowing red energy, a few dark-red energy spheres were slowly moving upward.


    Those energy spheres contained thick and condensed energy, but did not give out strong vibes.


    Earlier, Lin Qiao thought those mysterious creatures would come straight out, so she didn''t observe the energies inside the lava with her eyes. However, those creatures sank back to the bottom for some reason instead of coming out.


    She wondered if they would sink back like the last time or come out and show their real faces.


    But this time, Lin Qiao did not plan to let them go, whether they would come out by themselves or not. The energy contained in the few spheres was enough to upgrade a few level-four fire-powered zombies under her command to level-five.


    "Guys, don''t move!" As those lumps reached about two-meters tall, Lin Qiao suddenly shouted at her people and launched a move. By wielding her arm, she threw out a series of black fire flakes.


    When Lin Qiao''s voice was heard, the things in the lumps suddenly came out of the lava and pounced on her and her people. At the same moment, Lin Qiao let out the dark fire and fended against those creatures which had come out of the lava to launch an attack. Next, she boosted her dark fire and wrapped those creatures'' heads in it.


    Being shrouded in Lin Qiao''s dark fire, those creatures instantly grew agitated and started struggling intensely. Only until then did people find that the rest of their bodies were still in the lava.


    As Lin Qiao prepared to devour those creatures using her dark fire, she suddenly sensed the explosions of the energy spheres, and in that very moment, the devouring rate of her dark fire was lowered by tens of times!


    Because of Lin Qiao''s attack, those creatures started wagging from side to side. Their roots were tightly connected with the bottom of the lava pool.


    "Oh, not even Chief''s fire can burn them out. I''m impressed!" Li Zheng looked at the lava and couldn''t help but say.


    Duan Juan disagreed, "It can burn them out, but only very slowly. Also, these weird things have finally started moving."


    Lin Qiao reached out a hand and clenched her fist in the air. Following her move, the fire wrapping those lumps instantly grew stronger. The things inside the fire had been swinging intensely, but the dark fire stuck to it tightly under her control.


    A while later, those things slowly stopped swaying. Lin Qiao waved a hand and dissipated the dark fire on them. The dark fire faded, and the mysterious creatures were finally exposed. What people saw were a few enormous, dark-red flowers.


    "Eh? Flowers? Are these mutated plants?" Kong Qingming said at the sight of those large dark-red flowers. The flowers were about two meters wide, and in the middle of each flower was a dark hole. The mutated plants on the earth''s surface normal had teeth in the middle of their flowers, but unlike them, the dark-red flowers had teeth on their petals.


    Those flowers looked like lotuses. They had triangular petals with finger-thick white thorns on the edges. The petals had been spreading and shrinking all the time as if they were trying to bite something. What was even stranger was the tiny wisps of fire coming out of the tips of the petals.


    "Mutated man-eating flowers?" Li Zheng leaned his head forward to look at those large dark-red flowers.


    "These are true fire flowers," said Duan Juan, "They''d look quite pretty if they don''t have those teeth."


    After seeing the true face of those fire flowers, people felt no threat at all. Feeling relaxed, they watched Lin Qiao harvest those lava flowers.


    It was impressive that those plants survived inside the lava after mutation. Everyone wondered how those flowers looked before the mutation. It was definitely the virus infection that gave them the current fierce look they had.


    The roots of those flowers were, of course, not normal roots. They looked like rock chains in the lava. The flowers came out of the top of the rock chains, which were swaying in the lava. Lin Qiao couldn''t tell if the rocks were controlling the flowers or if the flowers were controlling the rocks. The rocks were especially rich in energy, so her dark fire couldn''t devour them within a short time.


    The fire flowers slantingly stood in the lava, and the fire on the petals had almost died. Meanwhile, the movements of the petals had slowed down greatly.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to observe those flowers. As her dark fire had devoured a part of the flowers'' energy, the energy inside the flower was now less rich than before. Most of the energy the flowers had was gathered in the area where the bottoms of the flowers and the rocks were connected.


    As Lin Qiao prepared to go down to pick those weird flowers, the entire lava cave suddenly started shaking. Hearing a rumbling noise, people sensed that the ground under their feet had started to vibrate.


    "What''s going on? This isn''t an earthquake, is it?" The first thought popped up in people''s minds was an earthquake or collapse. Instantly, they raised their heads and looked around.


    "Look down!" Long Qingying suddenly pointed at the lava pool and said to the others with a deep voice.


    Lin Qiao had her eyes fixed on that intensely waving lava pool at that moment. This time, there weren''t several small lumps. Instead, something huge rose from the pool.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Those dark-red flowers which had quieted down earlier rose higher rapidly, and larger parts of the stone stem came out of the lava. In the meantime, more fire flowers grew out of the pool.


    Those flowers swung quickly in the pool and whipped on the surrounding rock faces, even biting on the rocks with their teeth.


    Crack! A few pieces of the extra hard rocks got bitten off and fell into the lava pool, causing a puffing noise.

 1304 Fight Alone in the Lava Pool

    Following a series of clattering noises, the thing rising from the lava soon showed its face, looking like a huge rock.


    The bottom of the lava pool was only about thirty meters wide, and the rock that came out took up one-third of the space in the pool. It hadn''t exposed its entire body in the air yet, as it was still rising.


    At that moment, the dark-red flowers connected with the rock became alive again. They spread their petals and bared their sharp, finger-sized teeth, as they swung themselves toward Lin Qiao and her people swiftly.


    Bang! Everyone hurriedly moved back toward the entrance of the cave. A dozen flowers bumped into the area together but failed to bite any of those people, striking off many rock pieces instead.


    Lin Qiao leaped into the air and put dark mist under her feet to support her body. She observed the rock creature and found that all flowers were attached to it.


    The fire on the flowers grew stronger again, the vividly red fire flowers illuminating the cave like lanterns. Compared with their behavior earlier, those flowers were now highly aggressive. Their range of attacks had grown much wider than before. Currently, they were able to reach any corner in the cave.


    At that moment, those flowers were like sucking discs. They sucked on the rock face and shredded it. If they sucked on a person, the person might be turned into meat paste.


    "Are these flowers that thing''s tentacles?" Watching half of the cave entrance collapse, everyone drew back to a deeper area in the cave and made a guess.


    Lei Cheng turned and glanced at Erlei before turning back to look at those flowers which were darting all over the cave. Meanwhile, he said, "We can''t sense this thing''s vibe, but it''s definitely super dangerous."


    After all, his Erlei was now hiding behind the group of people with its tail between its legs. Lei Cheng figured the creature in the lava was probably more dangerous than he had estimated before, because he could not sense the vibe of the thing in the lava even as a level-seven being! The creature in the lava was clearly powerful enough to restrain its vibe completely. Otherwise, why could they not sense its vibe even after it started attacking?


    They were probably deluded! They couldn''t feel the danger, so they relaxed their vigilance. That was very unsafe!


    No wonder even the level-eight Chief from All Beings Base didn''t manage to devour those flowers within a short span of time by using her superpower.


    "Back off! Back off! Move away!" Lin Qiao flashed to the entrance of the cave as she gave her order with her back to the others. Before the people made their moves, the dog from Green Mountain Base sprung up and ran away.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Duan Juan and the other All Beings Base people responded to Lin Qiao and hurriedly kept moving forward along the tunnel deeper in the cave, together with the people from Sea City Base and Green Mountain Base.


    The creature in the lava instantly turned all flowers to Lin Qiao, who was in the air. It might have sensed the departure of the others.


    Lin Qiao raised both arms and released two dense streams of dark fire from her palms. The fire burned ragingly behind her body. As the lava creature sent the flowers toward her, she quickly moved her hands and sent out a dozen dark fire streams.


    This time, she released a larger amount of energy to devour the fire on the flowers fiercely.


    The dozen large flowers were wrapped in Lin Qiao''s dark fire, with their energy being drained. They instantly started shaking, even wagging hard to try and free themselves from the dark fire under Lin Qiao''s control. It didn''t work well though, because Lin Qiao was controlling the dark fire with great power.


    "Roar!" At that moment, a thunderous roar was heard from the lava pool, even causing the cave to start shaking. Lin Qiao lowered her head to see the enormous rock monster in the pool. It had finally reached its head out of the lava.


    On its head were two huge, red eyes, looking like a pair of giant light bulbs and glowing much brighter than the lava in the pool. The rock monster had multiple stone horns on its head, and its widely opened mouth was like a deep hole. Anything that fell into that hole might go straight to its stomach and then get digested.


    Lin Qiao caught the flowers the rock monster sent to attack her with her dark fire, so it was obviously agitated. It swung the rock chains that connected the flowers with its own body and released a purple-red energy to the flowers. Lin Qiao had a feeling that the energy sent into the flower might erupt from the holes in the middle like what happened just now.


    The lava monster was at level-eight at least, and it wasn''t afraid of Lin Qiao''s dark fire! At that point, she found it rather troublesome. Even if she managed to kill it, she wouldn''t be able to use the energy contained in its nucleus to upgrade her zombies or any humans. Any human being who absorbed the monster''s energy might end up in the same condition as Yuan Tianxing.


    Woosh! The rock chains twisted quickly and started gusts of wind in the cave.


    "Roarrrrr!" The rock monster suddenly raised its head and uttered a long, resonant roar toward Lin Qiao.


    "Ouch!" On hearing the sound, she instantly furrowed her brows. Her will power, which was being used to control the dark fire, was shaken slightly. As a result, the dark fire behind her body also quivered for a moment.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! At that very moment, all the flowers broke free from the dark fire, and the energy spheres in the middle of the flowers glowed once they were freed.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Soon afterward, a few fireballs flew out of the holes in the middle of the flowers toward Lin Qiao. The fireballs were rich in a very strange kind of energy which was actually able to devour Lin Qiao''s energy while being devoured by the latter.


    All of a sudden, she drew a gun and flashed into the lava pool, landing on the lava monster''s back and shooting a bullet into its widely opened mouth from a short distance.


    Bang!

 1305 Test the New Weapon

    The gun and the bullets in it were the newest types of catmint weapons developed by Sea City Base. Lin Qiao brought them down to test their effect on the underground creatures.


    Bang! The bullet flew into the rock monster''s mouth and exploded inside its body, shaking its body.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to look at the monster. As expected, she saw a green type of energy surging inside its body.


    "Roarrrrrr¡­" The monster burst in rage. It roared thunderously asitmoved its limbs and crawled out of the lava pool. Clearly, the shot that she gave it had made it very uncomfortable and enraged.


    It raised its head and widened its mouth, once again letting out that strange roar. "Roarrrrrrrr!"


    Puff! Puff! Puff! The sticky lava in the pool was stirred by the monster.


    "Roarrrrr!" The monster crawled to the edge of the pool, with its body covered in lava. The flowers on it were waving about in the cave aimlessly.


    As the monster came out of the lava, Lin Qiao finally saw its entire body.


    It looked like a soldier crab carrying a giant rock. Its limbs and the rock tentacles connected with those flowers arose from both sides of its head. Despite the huge rock dragged behind its body, it nimbly crawled out of the pool.


    With the catmint energy flowing rampantly inside its body, the rock monster was quite angry. The dozen rock tentacles swept across the cave over and over again, attempting to bring Lin Qiao down from the air.


    Lin Qiao nimbly dodged those flowers which tried to bump or bite her as she narrowed her eyes to observe the inside of the monster''s body.


    She found that the purple-red energy had surrounded the green energy, and the two different types of energies were slowly consuming each other. It was the same as what happened after she gave Yuan Tianxing catmint juice. The two types of energies eliminated each other in a self-destructive way.


    The energy from Lin Qiao''s bullet was obviously much weaker than the energy in the monster''s body. So, the monster managed to slowly suppress it with its own energy. After all, the energy in the greater amount would win.


    Lin Qiao flashed into her space and came out within a second, landing on the rock face and thrusting her feet against the rock to avoid the flying flowers. Then, she flipped backward in the air and leaped toward the back of the rock monster.


    The monster didn''t sense Lin Qiao land on its back. While roaring madly, it kept swinging the red flowers toward the rock faces.


    Boom! Boom!


    Lin Qiao landed on the monster''s back. Thankfully, the creature''s back wasn''t as hot as the lava, so her feet wouldn''t be burned. She stealthily moved toward its head. The creature was enormous, so its movements weren''t large. All it had been doing was constantly waving those huge flowers.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! After shooting three bullets into the monster''s mouth, she swiftly leaped high.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! The bullets exploded in the monster''s throat.


    "Roar!" The monster gave a painful roar and suddenly stood straight. Next, it fell backward to the ground and rolled into the lava pool.


    "Roarrrrr!" It didn''t sink to the bottom, but started struggling in the pool. The scorching hot lava splashed all over the cave, landing on the rock and flowing back into the pool.


    "Roar¡­" The catmint energy contained in the three bullets didn''t kill the rock monster directly but turned it crazy, making it struggle madly in the lava pool.


    Lin Qiao landed in a dent on the rock face and put a hand on her chin while watching the rock monster rolling in the lava. The catmint energy contained in the three bullets speedily spread inside the monster''s body, which was why it struggled.


    Seeing the monster stay energetic after being shot by three catmint bullets at one time, Lin Qiao gave a sigh in her head.


    It was so difficult! The level-eight mutated creatures underground were indeed not the same as the ones on the earth''s surface. The underground creatures were better at self-protection.


    She wouldn''t need to spend such a long time to deal with a level-eight creature from the earth''s surface. The rock monster''s energy could pollute her space, so she honestly didn''t want to bring it into her space and kill it there.


    Also, its energy nucleus seemed to be useless for her. Why on earth did she waste so much time on it? At first, she thought she could use the energy contained in the fire flowers to upgrade her fire zombies. But now, it turned that she was obviously wrong.


    That rock monster actually knew how to lure prey to itself!


    Since the monster''s energy nucleus was valueless for her, Lin Qiao decided to use it to test the new weapons.


    The new catmint bullets that Sea City Base developed had indeed brought some harm to the rock creature,which was already great. Even though the bullets failed to kill the level-eight creature, judging by the current result, one catmint bullet might be able to deliver an impressive effect when the target was at level five or six.


    As the gun in her hand wasn''t powerful enough, Lin Qiao decided to try another one.


    She put down the gun in her hand and took out another one. The new gun was larger in size than the previous one, and designed in a more complicated style.


    For normal people, using that gun with one hand could be dangerous, because a strong recoil would be generated when firing. However, that wasn''t a problem for Lin Qiao. She easily loaded the gun and aimed at the rock monster again.


    As she was preparing to try out the second gun, the rock monster suddenly quieted down and started sinking into the lava. It was probably going to hide. However, because if its giant size, it sank very slowly.


    There might be a large space at the bottom of the lava pool, or else such an enormous rock monster wouldn''t be able to hide in the pool.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes as she looked inside the monster''s body. With surprise, the catmint energy wasn''t devoured by the monster''s energy entirely. The two types of energy had currently reached a balance, which was obviously not a good thing for the monster.

 1306 Showed up out Suddenly

    As the rock monster was hiding away, Lin Qiao immediately shot at its head.


    Bang! A bullet that was larger than the previous ones by three times flew out of the gun and sank into the monster''s eye before it could close it.


    Puff!


    "Roarrrrrrrrr!"


    The bullet detonated and turned the monster''s eye into a hole, agitating it again.


    The rock monster screamed shrilly and shrugged in the lava as the wounds in the eye brought it an extreme pain. The energy in its nucleus automatically flowed to that eye to ease the pain and stabilize the injury.


    The balance between the two types of energies in its body was broken. As the monster''s energy flowed to other areas, the catmint energy was instantly freed. Once again, it spread rapidly in the monster''s body.


    Bang! Bang! The fierce pain from the eye made the monster roll out of the pool and bump into the rock wall. Over and over again, the monster bumped its head against the wall.


    The cave was shaken intensely along with the deafening noise.


    Lin Qiao figured the noise was loud enough to be sensed by those Huaxia people and wondered where those people had been. They were following behind her at first, but then suddenly went missing. Did they get lost?


    At that moment, the rock monster roared thunderously while bumping its head into the rock.


    Right then, a red figure suddenly descended from the sky while brandishing its claws and teeth, pouncing on the rock monster within a blink.


    "Roar!" Sensing the incoming threat, the rock monster immediately turned around. But in the next second, the red cat widened its mouth and bit down. The cat wagged its tail as it leaped onto the rock wall and started pulling the rock monster upward.


    The rock monster was huge and, of course, heavy. If its neck were too weak to hold the weight of its body, its head might be ripped off by the cat.


    Lin Qiao squatted in the hole on the rock wall which was created by a flower of the rock monster, speechlessly watching the six-footed cat crawling on the vertical rock wall like a house lizard, with the rock monster''s head held tightly between its teeth.


    The monster''s head was huge. The cat had widened its mouth as much as possible but only managed to hold half of the monster''s head. The cat had strong teeth though. Those teeth actually broke the rock monster''s skin, which was as hard as a rock.


    Where did the cat come from? Why didn''t Lin Qiao sense its vibe before?


    Lin Qiao curiously looked upward and found a hole in the cave roof. The hole wasn''t there just a short while ago!


    "Roar!" The rock monster, which was lifted by the cat with its head held in the cat''s mouth, uttered a series of roars. It swung a dozen flowers toward the cat''s body, but the latter accurately slapped the flowers off with its pair of forepaws every time!


    While fending off the rock monster''s attack, the cat had also been crawling upward, dragging its body higher and higher. Lin Qiao had no idea where it wanted to take the rock monster to!


    The cat was smaller than the rock monster by three times, but its strength wasn''t weaker at all. With the monster held tightly in its mouth, it dragged the monster upward on the vertical rock wall. That was so impressive, not even mention the fact that the monster was larger than it.


    As the cat suddenly showed up and made a move, Lin Qiao decided to watch. Its appearance surprised her. Even though it followed her all the way on the earth''s surface, she wasn''t expecting it to follow her down to the underground realm. Lin Qiao wasn''t angry at the cat for showing up suddenly to steal her prey. She was just more and more surprised by the monster.


    Maybe because of the catmint energy which had still been spreading inside its body, or the sharp pain coming from its eye, or the puncture wounds on its skull caused by the big cat, the rock monster''s flowers dropped weakly, and the movements of its limbs had grown slow as well.


    The big cat still held the monster''s head firmly in its mouth, with its claws clasping the rock walls to crawl upward. From time to time, it hooked the bulging places on the wall with its tail to keep itself from falling.


    Lin Qiao watched the cat bring the rock monster higher and higher. The rock monster''s neck was elongated, with its enormous body hanging on it. Its neck was strong too, but it didn''t have a texture like the texture of rock. Instead, the skin on the creature''s neck looked like coarse tree bark.


    There were some wounds on its neck, probably caused by the few bullets that Lin Qiao shot into its mouth earlier. After all, those bullets had exploded in its throat. Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and saw a large amount of green catmint energy lingering in the creature''s neck.


    Suddenly, the big cat stopped moving and popped its eyes as it stared at Lin Qiao, who was right in front of it, and uttered a series of growl from its throat.


    Lin Qiao was confused. Why was the cat looking at her?


    "Errr¡­" The cat kept growling at her deeply as it raised a forepaw slightly.


    "I''m sorry, I don''t speak cat language," Lin Qiao looked at the cat bewilderedly.


    The big cat was looking at her and growling with a deep voice. Clearly, it was trying to deliver a message. However, the other was a zombie and not a cat. How could she possibly understand the cat''s meaning?


    "Errr¡­" The big cat didn''t understand Lin Qiao''s language either, but seemed to read the look in her eyes. It patted the rock wall again with a paw and then reached out the paw to point at the rock monster''s neck.


    It was literally pointing at the monster''s neck, because it had even popped a hook-like nail while doing that!


    Lin Qiao stayed silent. That movement of the cat was quite clear, but she still wasn''t sure what the cat wanted.


    "Do you want me to attack its neck for you?"


    Before Lin Qiao could figure out what the big cat wanted, the rock monster suddenly let out a roar and started struggling again.


    "Roarrrrrr!" Earlier on, it quieted down, seemingly to take a rest. Now, as it had gotten enough rest, it again started to struggle. The dozen large flowers raised their heads again to attack the big cat fiercely.


    The big cat immediately grew alert. It clutched the rock wall with its four rear paws while defending itself against those flowers with its forepaws and its tail.


    It was a little difficult for the cat to protect itself against all the flowers with only two paws and a tail, because it needed to spare its attention to clench its teeth and hold the wall tightly with the other four paws.

 1307 Its Finally Dead

    Seeing the battle turn a little strenuous for the cat, Lin Qiao followed the thought in her head and drew her gun again before shooting at the rock monster''s neck.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! A few bullets sank into the rock monster''s neck in a row and exploded. Its strong neck was actually broken by the bullets.


    Boom! With that, the creature''s enormous body fell to the ground and landed by the edge of the lava pool.


    Lin Qiao was a little stunned. She made a guess about what the big cat wanted her to do but wasn''t expecting it to be right.


    Seeing the rock creature''s neck, which was as thick as a large water tank, be broken by a few bullets, Lin Qiao couldn''t believe that the big cat had really pointed at the creature''s neck to tell her to fire the gun.


    The cat was a little too smart! Lin Qiao knew that all level seven and eight mutated creatures could be smart, but the big cat seemed to be smarter than she could imagine! Maybe she was wrong, but she felt that in comparison with the cat, Strong even seemed a little silly!


    Woosh! There was a large flat area by the lava pool. The big cat jumped andlanded there, putting the rock creature''s head on the ground and then lowering its head as it started biting while wagging its tail, causing a loud cracking noise.


    After taking a glance at the rock monster''s body, which had fallen near the lava pool, Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to observe those flowers. She found a sphere of fire energy inside each flower, like what she saw at first.


    While the big cat pressed the creature''s head with a forepaw and bit it, Lin Qiao landed near the creature''s body to give a closer look at those flowers.


    The fire on the petals had died, as the rock monster was dead and the source of energy was gone. The vivid dark-red flowers had now turned black, and the sharp white thorns had become like straws.


    The flowers became wrinkly, seemingly withered, and a little like a rock. Only in the hole in the middle of each flower existed an energy sphere.


    Lin Qiao raised arm and swung her claw toward the nearest flower, which was immediately cut off by her sharp claws.


    Thud! The dried flower fell on the ground and created a muffled sound.


    Lin Qiao jumped off the creature''s body. The rock near the lava pool was scorching hot, but her boots were thankfully made from special heat-proof materials.


    She walked to the rock flower that she cut off and raised a foot to step on it.


    Crack! Following the noise, the flower shattered under her foot. It actually shattered!


    Lin Qiao froze for a moment before putting her foot down. She wasn''t expecting the flower to be so fragile. It broke into pieces so easily under her foot.


    In the middle of the shattered flower was a red piece of crystal. The irregular shaped crystal didn''t contain the monster''s energy, only the fire energy from the lava.


    She put the crystal on her palm and spent a short while sensing the energy inside it. Only after that did she put the crystal into her space and turned to collect the other flower crystals. Sadly, a few flowers fell into the lava, and she couldn''t fetch them.


    Lin Qiao collected nine fire-power crystals and threw them all into her space.


    "Pah!" At that point, the big cat finally crushed the rock creature''s head with its teeth. It spat with dislike before widely opening its mouth and quickly shaking its head.


    Lin Qiao watched the cat fumble through the broken head of the rock monster with a paw while shaking its head with its tongue hanging out of its mouth. A purple-red, diamond-shaped piece of crystal rolled out of the creature''s head. That crystal was much larger than the ones that Lin Qiao collected before. It was as large as the fist of an adult, glowing with a dazzling purple-red light, looking stunning but very dangerous.


    In the next second, the big cat rolled the crystal, which was glowing with a beautiful light, with its tongue and swallowed it. After that, it licked its mouth with its tongue and wagged its tail as it sat down on the burning hot ground. It put its forepaws and middle-paws before its body, looking at Lin Qiao while blinking its pair of large, round eyes.


    "Are you playing cute-pet with me?" Lin Qiao said to the cat.


    "Meow¡­" The big cat opened its mouth and let out a soft voice.


    Lin Qiao looked at the cat speechlessly. After a few seconds of silence, she gave the cat a roar.


    "Roar!"


    "Meow! Owooo!" The cat immediately responded to her. Its voice was not only soft, but also gentle.


    Lin Qiao raised her brows, "Eh? No way? Do you like to hear me roar?"


    "Meow!" The cat meowed at her again with confusion.


    "Alright," Lin Qiao sighed, "I guess you like hearing me talk to you with zombie language, but it''s not the time to talk now. Let''s go! Some other people are coming here!"


    After saying that, she leaped toward the tunnel which Duan Juan, Kong Qingming, and the others had walked into. After entering the tunnel, she quickly disappeared, leaving the big cat behind. She believed that since the cat wanted to follow her, it would certainly find a way to stay close with her in secret.


    Huaxia people were approaching her at the moment. She could not let those people find out the friendly relationship between herself and the cat.


    "Meowoooo?" Watching Lin Qiao flash into the tunnel and leave, the big cat quickly stood up and confusedly glanced at the tunnel. Then, it turned to look at the entrance of the cave, where Lin Qiao and her people came in through. Some other scents and vibes were sensed from that area.


    The six-footed cat leaped nimbly toward the cave roof and soon disappeared from the cave, leaving the dead creature''s body, which looked like a giant piece of rock, by the side of the lava pool. The creature''s body had turned into a real rock already. No one would be able to tell that it used to be a highly aggressive living creature.


    About ten minutes later, another group of people entered the cave through the entrance that Lin Qiao and her people came in from.


    Xie Longyun stood by the entrance of the cave and carefully observed the cave. She had taken off all the unnecessary clothes and tied her long, curly hair up behind her head. Currently, she was only wearing an army-green top that could only cover her chest, and a pair of shorts, with her slim waist and tempting thighs exposed. As usual, the rest of her legs were wrapped in over-knee boots.


    She wore all kinds of guns on her waist, arms, thighs, even lower legs.


    After looking around the edge of the lava pool, she said to her people slowly, "There are signs of a struggle!"

 1308 I Think I Found I

    Xie Yunlong looked into the lava pool. The lava that splashed out of the pool earlier was still glowing. Some small rock pieces were seen by the poolside, obviously fallen from the wall. Quite some dents could be found on the rock wall as well, seemingly freshly created. The entrance of the cave seemed to have partially collapsed not long ago as well.


    "Great! Those people cleared the way for us," said a man behind Xie Longyun. While speaking, he also looked into the lava pool.


    Xie Longyun gave him a glance and said blandly, "But, if there were any good stuff, they wouldn''t leave it for us."


    "What should we do then?" The man looked at her and asked, "Shall we keep following them like this?"


    "Sure, why not?" Xie Longyun twisted her full, red lips in a smile and said, "This underground realm is so huge. She can''t possibly find all the good stuff. Also, our main job is to find out what''s down here and make sure the people from Sea City Base and All Beings Base never leave this place."


    After she said that, a cold light flashed across her pretty eyes and the smile on her face grew bigger.


    Lin Qiao quickly ran into the tunnel and soon caught up with Duan Juan and the others. The group of people was waiting for her before a fork in the road. At the sight of her, they instantly stood straight.


    "We should go. Those people are right behind us," Lin Qiao walked over and first looked into the two tunnels in front of her before swiftly entering one of them, from where a vibe similar to the vibe of the rock monster could be sensed. The others followed tightly behind her into the tunnel.


    After a short walk in the tunnel, Lin Qiao found the road under her feet end. Instead, there was a hole on the ground, about five meters wide. She looked down from the edge of the hole but didn''t see the bottom. Clearly, the hole was very deep.


    The edge of the hole seemed to have been scratched by some creatures with sharp claws, and many parts of the rock were cut off. Judging by the irregular shape of the hole, it was probably dug through from the bottom up. More importantly, a strong and peculiar vibe was coming out of the hole. That was the reason why Lin Qiao chose this way to go.


    As she squatted by the end of the road, the others shone their flashlights toward the front and found the hole before her.


    Seeing them come over, Lin Qiao stood up and said, "There''s no time for you guys to stay here and wait for me to go down and feel the way for you. I''m going down now, and you guys follow behind me. Keep high vigilance though."


    But still, they all needed to stay alert to prevent any possible accidents.


    Having finished talking, Lin Qiao jumped into the hole and disappeared within a blink. Following her, Duan Juan, Long Qingying, Li Zheng, and all the other All Beings Base people jumped without hesitation. After them were Kong Qingming and his people, and then Lei Cheng and his team.


    Once she made the jump, Lin Qiao found how special the hole was. The deeper she fell, the bigger the space in the hole became. Still no bottom could be seen; it was all dark, with nothing visible at all.


    After making the jump, the others tried their best to maintain a safe position in the air while falling, so that they could react to any possible situation timely. That hole wasn''t like the hole near the earth''s surface, which had a slope underneath it for them to land their feet and walk deeper down the ground. In the current hole, leave alone a slope, there wasn''t even a vertical rock face. The rockface in the hole was hollow!


    One minute¡­


    Three minutes¡­


    "How much longer are we going to fall for?" Kong Qingming finally couldn''t help but ask. He was having his back to the bottom of the hole and arms folded before his chest. While speaking, he observed the surrounding rock face.


    They had been falling vertically for over ten minutes, but still, no bottom could be seen! It was actually like skydiving underground!


    "I''m more worried about if we can still go back the way we came." Duan Juan looked up and said. To do that, they might need to do some rock climbing! It was too high though¡­


    She wondered how the underground creatures climbed up! Were they all like a gecko?


    "Prepare for landing!" Another while later, Lin Qiao suddenly gave her order. On hearing that, everyone immediately pulled out the crossbows from around their waists and shot at the nearby rock face.


    Clang! The arrowheads attached to ropes sank into the rock. The rock down there was so hard that only one-third of every arrowhead sank into it. But still, the arrowheads and the ropes provided people with strong holding spots.


    Lin Qiao released a cloud of dark mist to support her body and leaped straight down, because she had seen the ground down there. It was a weird type of yellow-colored soil.


    Puff! She was the first to land. The ground was covered in soft yellow soil, which had the texture of sand but was even finer. It felt soft and loose against her feet.


    The others used the ropes to slow themselves down and then relaxed their grip on the ropes, landing on the ground one after another. After landing, they stayed motionless, observing the yellow soil under their feet. They were worried that something dangerous might be hiding in the soil.


    "Let''s move! This place is safe," Lin Qiao looked around and then said to her people. After that, she warned them, "I think this is the place we''ve been looking for. Be careful!"


    The last few words she said made everyone grow highly alert.


    Lin Qiao and her people had landed in a spacious area with only one exit. The exit looked like a wide breach.


    What aroused her curiosity was the pale-blue light shining out of the exit. It told her there was a dim source of light on the other side of the exit.


    "Eh? Why is there light?" Some other people had the same question as Lin Qiao did.


    That was not only a light spot. Instead, the light illuminated the area outside the exit like the dim but clear light of a crescent moon. No details could be seen under that kind of moonlight, but one could see the outlines of things like buildings, plants, and roads.

 1309 Enter the Mysterious World

    Of course, there were no buildings or other signs of civilization down there. What could be seen were some weirdly shaped plants, looking dark and blurry under that cold and dim light.


    Everyone moved closer to the exit as they curiously observed to strange plants that had huge leaves. They looked like both trees and bushes.


    Those plants had large leaves but weren''t growing upward like trees. Instead, their twisted branches reached in all directions. Drifting above those plants was a thick layer of mist, similar to the mist on top of Lin Qiao''s space. The mist wasn''t white but had a dark-purple color. The mist was obviously rolling and swirling. Some tornado-shaped swirls were even connected with some plants on the ground. Over ten swirls like that could be seen within the area tens of meters in radius. There were more in the further areas, but those couldn''t be seen clearly.


    Lin Qiao brought her team out. The exit was about ten meters away from the ground outside.


    She could clearly feel that the energy contained in the thick dark-purple mist was the same kind of energy that had intruded Yuan Tianxing''s body!


    "I think we need to split up from here. Remember this place. We''ll find a way to go up from here if we can''t find any other way out," Lin Qiao looked around and then said to the others.


    "Got it!" Kong Qingming nodded. He knew that Lin Qiao was prepared to let out the ones in her space.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Lei Cheng before flashing into her space in front of the others.


    "Everybody, come here!" Standing before her house in the space, she gave a shout. Within a blink of an eye, groups of zombies came out of the three houses or the nearby areas. Some of them came from behind the houses, and some leaped down the roofs. Some zombies were ready for the call long ago. They had gathered on the ground floor of the three houses, waiting for Lin Qiao''s order.


    Lu Tianyi waved at the dozens of level three or four zombies in the vegetable field while saying, "She isn''t calling you guys. You guys stay where you are."


    Those zombies were preparing to go to Lin Qiao. But, on hearing what he said, they looked at her and found that she really wasn''t looking at them. So, they all stopped moving, with their eyes fixed on her while hesitating.


    Lin Qiao heard Lu Tianyi''s voice and cast a glance at the vegetable filed. Then, she nodded and said, "You guys don''t need to come here. This has nothing to do with you."


    As Lin Qiao disappeared, Duan Juan and the others each made a few steps backward to create some space for her. Soon, she showed up together with a group of zombies.


    Those zombies weren''t all under her command. Half of them were from Green Mountain Base.


    The group of zombies quickly split into two groups: one stayed behind Lin Qiao while the other moved to Lei Cheng and his people.


    "Alright!" Lin Qiao nodded at him.


    Lei Cheng and his people didn''t waste any time. As Lin Qiao nodded, they turned around and quickly disappeared in that weird-looking place.


    Lin Qiao looked around, then glanced at her people, said, "Let''s leave this place first."


    After saying that, she turned around and darted out toward the right side, stepped on a three-meter-long, over ten-centimeter thick leaf, jumped onto another leave and then swiftly moved forward.


    The tens of people behind her all flashed across the area and disappeared from before the cave along with her.


    The plants in that area were all enormous, and some leaves were meters wide. The branches were twisted, and the serpent-like vines reached upward from the ground, being covered in huge leaves. The shapes of those plants were all different, some bigger and some smaller. However, even the biggest plants were only about ten meters tall, and some were connected with the strange swirling mist coming from the upper space.


    There were also some strange-looking grasses on the ground.


    The others stepped on the exact same leaves that Lin Qiao stepped on. They didn''t dare to step on any other areas, because they didn''t know the plants under their feet. Mutated plants could be very dangerous, and following Lin Qiao''s lead made them feel safer.


    Under Lin Qiao''s lead, they avoided the swirling mist and kept moving forward for a while, only to stop in the clearing underneath an underground plant.


    Lin Qiao looked down at the ground under her feet and then at the place above her head and the surrounding area. After making sure the place was safe, she waved at the others and said, "Stop!"


    The others immediately landed in the safe area around her. While waiting for further orders, they observed the surrounding environment.


    "Xie Dong, you take five level-five zombies and act together with Kong Qingming and his team. Lv Feng, you, Su Fangfang, take five level-five zombies and act together with Qingying. Li Zheng, you guys go with Qingying too. The rest of the team will come with me. Remember, your own safety will always be the most important thing! Be as careful as possible, so you''ll have a bigger chance of survival!" Lin Qiao divided the team into a few groups and warned her people.


    After all, they were now in an underground space over ten-thousand meters away from the earth''s surface, and there were living creatures down there. Any living being in that place could be highly dangerous before they learned about it! They needed to stay very careful. Any reckless move might cost them their lives.


    "Yes, ma''am!" The people understood her meaning. They responded to her in one voice and left in different directions, leaving her and the rest of the team staying where they were.


    The ones stayed with Lin Qiao were Lu Tianyi, He Jiayun, Duan Juan, Li Hongsheng and Ding Datong, who were both from Duan Juan''s squad, and eight other level five and six zombies.


    Lin Qiao glanced up and thought for a moment before warning Duan Juan and her people, "Do not take off your masks. The air in this place is toxic."


    Looking at the thick, rolling purple mist and the swirls connected with some plants, Lin Qiao could sense that the energy coming from those swirls had filled the entire space up. Duan Juan and her people might get poisoned if they took off their mask and inhaled the toxic air.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Duan Juan and the others who were wearing gas masks nodded.


    Lin Qiao raised her head and looked around before looking at the mist in the upper area again. She had a hunch that the mist was one of the reasons why those underground creatures went up to the earth''s surface.

 1310 The First Wave of Attack

    Soon after Lin Qiao and her people exited the cave, a red figure flew out and flashed across the air, flying toward Lin Qiao. An hour after that, Huaxia people came down as well.


    Like Lin Qiao, Xie Longyun was surprised to see the illuminated area outside the cave. After spending quite a while observing the surrounding environment, she raised a hand and gave her people a gesture while saying, "Squad Nine stay here! Guard the entrance, don''t let them come back and go back up from here. Squad one and two, come with me. The others, split up into two groups, go left and right to explore this place. Remember, don''t take off your gas masks!"


    While finishing her speech, she raised a hand to point at the dark-purple mist in the upper area and warned them that inhaling the raw air in that place wouldn''t lead to any good result.


    "Yes, ma''am!" About fifty people behind her responded in one voice. After that, a few squads quickly moved toward both sides.


    "What about us?" The Mongols Base people looked at Xie Longyun and asked.


    Xie Longyun turned back to give them a glance and shrugged, "You can do whatever you want, of course! I''m not your boss. Why are you asking me?"


    "Alright¡­" On hearing her words, those people nodded and left.


    Xie Longyun didn''t want those Mongols Base people to follow her, because she was now going to do something to that woman from All Beings Base. Letting those people know too much about her plan wouldn''t be a good thing, even though she could push them out and use them as human shields under critical situations.


    After watching the Mongols Base people leave, Xie Longyun took a squad and left as well, following behind Lin Qiao and her people while leaving a squad in the cave.


    ¡­


    While passing by a mist swirl coming down from the upper space, Lin Qiao sensed the pressure accumulated inside that tornado-like swirl and the flow of the energy within. Getting closer, she found the plants underneath the swirls especially tall and strong, twisting around.


    She suspected that the mist, which was formed from energy, was what made the underground creatures go up to the earth''s surface. So, she intended to figure out where the energy was from and what generated it.


    Along with the spinning mist swirl, the plants within at least a hundred meters in radius underneath it had been swaying from side to side like patients who had no drugs. Lin Qiao didn''t want to approach those plants, because they contained the most purple-red energy among all plants in the area. She guessed those plants might even be conscious and highly aggressive.


    She and her people stopped nearby and landed on the roots of a giant plant, which was above the ground. The main body of the plant wasn''t visible; Lin Qiao could only see its especially strong roots partially come out of the ground, looking like an enormous worm.


    That area was miles away from the cave. Lin Qiao extended her sensations but detected no animals in that area, only plants. Those plants weren''t easy to deal with though.


    "Bee¡­ Bee¡­" Soon after Lin Qiao and her people stopped moving, a slight but weird noise was heard, and then a long and narrow dark figure darted out from behind them as it launched an attack.


    "Watch out!" Lin Qiao shouted out loud before the others realized what was happening. In the meantime, she turned around and raised an arm to release a stream of black fire to wrap that dark figure up.


    "Hiss¡­" The dark figure immediately shrank back when Lin Qiao''s dark fire touched it.


    It was swift, but Lin Qiao still saw it clearly.


    It was a tree root, a very strong tree root!


    As Lin Qiao let out the shout, the others quickly scattered and looked around vigilantly.


    "There are mutated plants. Be careful!" Lin Qiao warned the others after getting a clear vision of that dark figure.


    As the tree root drew back, the area again fell into quietness. However, the quietness delivered an obviously tense atmosphere.


    Lin Qiao was also looking around. The plant that she and her people were standing on contained the weakest purple energy among all the plants in the area. That was why she led her people to land there. Therefore, the plant which launched the attack just now was not the one they had their feet on.


    As they were looking around alertly, that weird kind of noise was heard again, this time from all directions. "Bee¡­ Bee¡­"


    In the next second, a series of swishing noises could be heard. Along with the noises, countless dark figures came at Lin Qiao and her people.


    Those dark figures moved so fast that the people couldn''t even see them clearly. They launched surprise attacks like snakes ambushing their prey in grasses. It was almost impossible to defend against them effectively.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao''s people had all been staying highly vigilant. Before those tree roots made any sound, they had already been preparing for the attack. And when the attack was launched, they all managed to react in time.


    However, the superpowers they automatically released failed to deliver any effects on those dark figures!


    Duan Juan had earth power. She landed on the ground and squatted, pressing both hands on the ground. Following her movement, a half-meter-thick earth wall rose before her to shield her against the dark figure which was coming at her.


    Bang! In no time, the dark figure broke the earth wall and came straight toward her. Hence, she had no choices but to leap away and dodge.


    Puff! The dark figure fiercely poked into the spot where she was squatting in and sank one or two meters deep into the ground.


    The mutated plant grew in the earth. Therefore, Duan Juan''s earth power could barely cause it any difficulty.


    The ground in that area wasn''t composed of hard rock like the ground in the other areas which Lin Qiao and her people had been before. The earth in that place was special, with a low density. It was much harder than the soil on the earth''s surface, but still relatively soft. Otherwise, Duan Juan might not even be able to release her power, let alone create a half-meter-thick earth wall.


    However, to create that earth wall, she had to consume three times more energy than what was normally required.


    Even she, a level-five superpower possessor, failed to block the dark figure''s attack. So, Li Hongsheng and the others under her command, who were only at level-four, could only dodge.


    Right at that moment, a red figure suddenly descended from the air.


    "Meow!" The red big cat swooped down and accurately caught a dark figure that was launching an attack before biting on it.

 1311 Its Ugly, and Youre Ugly Too

    "Mewooooo!" The meters long big red cat swiftly pressed its paws on the twisting dark figure and made a bite. The tree root pressed under the cat''s paws was as thick as an adult''s thighs. It twisted intensely to struggle free from the cat''s grip.


    "Errr¡­" The cat pressed it tightly on the ground with a pair of forepaws and sank its ten sharp, hook-like nails into the giant root as it gave it a hard bite while letting out deep growls from its throat.


    As the big cat bit one of the tree roots, all the other roots paused and then turned and lunged at the cat. They seemed to be seeing the cat as a major threat, so much so that they even gave up on the other prey and attacked the cat together.


    Anyhow, the cat didn''t seem to be afraid of those tree roots at all. It bit harder on the root in its mouth as it moved its forepaws away and twisted its neck, swinging its head from side to side.


    Crack! A part of the root was ripped off by the cat. Next, the cat bent its six legs slightly and sprung up swiftly. Meanwhile, the broken root shrank into the nearby jungle and disappeared within a blink, along with the other roots. By the time Lin Qiao and her people realized what had just happened, those things were already gone without a trace.


    The cat held a meters long section of the root in its mouth as it landed near Lin Qiao. Then, it put the root on the ground and pressed it with one paw before lowering its head and biting it. Soon, a light-purple, glowing liquid seeped out of the corners of its mouth.


    The liquid was from the ruptured root.


    "Is anyone hurt?" Lin Qiao looked at the people surrounding her and carefully observed them. Detecting no scent of blood, she sighed with relief in her head.


    "No!"


    "No!"


    Everyone responded as they curiously looked at the big cat next to Lin Qiao.


    "It actually followed us all the way here! How impressive!" Duan Juan looked at the cat, which was focusing on the food without even looking at the group of people.


    "How did it come here? Ah¡­ It''s so ugly! Is it eating the tree root?" Lu Tianyi looked at the cat carefully. It was the first time he had seen the cat, and he couldn''t help but keep looking at it. The weird-looking cat was so ugly in his eyes.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glance and said, "You think it''s ugly, and in its eyes, you''re very ugly too."


    Lu Tianyi didn''t know what to say.


    "That''s true!" Duan Juan nodded in agreement.


    At the same time, the big cat raised its eyes to give Lu Tianyi a glance and wagged its tail with obvious dislike in its eyes. After that, it turned around and kept eating the root. Sensing the dislike on its face, he honestly didn''t know what to say.


    The big cat reminded Lin Qiao of her pets, who were still in her space. So, she immediately flashed into the woods in her space.


    "Owooooo!" Soon, a dog bark was heard along with a swishing noise that came closer and closer from a long distance away.


    The dog darted up to Lin Qiao''s tree and raised his head to look at Lin Qiao while wagging his tail very quickly. From the tree behind the dog, an enormous black snake quietly crawled down as it let out his slim and long fork tongue, staring at her with its cold, rhombic eyes.


    Lin Qiao jumped off the tree and waved at the two while saying, "Come here. Come here¡­ Eh? Where''s the big mushroom?"


    She looked around but didn''t see the mushroom, so she asked the two where it was. Then, she saw Bowwow and Black turn in one direction together.


    Lin Qiao reached her sensations to that area and found the big mushroom squatted under a tree with the young tiger sleeping on its head. The mushroom didn''t respond to Lin Qiao''s summoning because it didn''t want to wake the young tiger up.


    Knowing that the mushroom had decided to babysit instead of going out with her, Lin Qiao didn''t call it again but brought the two out of the space. She didn''t need to warn them; they were both at level-six after all. They were able to identify danger and tell what was helpful and what was harmful.


    Once out, Lin Qiao started keeping a close eye on the two, because she wasn''t sure what the underground air might do to them. She wasn''t so worried about Bowwow actually, only about Black.


    Black was a mutated beast while Bowwow was a zombie beast; the former needed to breathe while the latter didn''t. Therefore, Lin Qiao didn''t need to worry about Bowwow.


    She fixed her eyes on Black. Three seconds after coming out of the space, Black started reacting to the new environment.


    "What''s it doing?" Everyone watched Black swing its head up and down pretty hard.


    "He''s just sneezing," said Lin Qiao.


    Black curled its body up and couldn''t stop sneezing. Of course, its sneeze sounded like heavy snorting.


    The people present didn''t know what to say.


    "I think it''s because of the air. The dog from Green Mountain Base has a gas mask. Aren''t you gonna give him one?" Duan Juan felt pity for Black, who could not stop sneezing.


    "I don''t have anything like that," Lin Qiao shook her head and said, "I just want to know if he can adapt to the air here. If he can''t, I''ll just send him back into the space."


    At that moment, Black suddenly shuddered and relaxed its curled body before tossing on the ground, seemingly in great pain. Lin Qiao immediately flashed to the snake''s side and brought it into the space, throwing it into the big pool that was dug by Lu Tianyi earlier.


    The enormous Black curled up on the bottom of the pool and made the water spill.


    "I guess you really can''t go out, because you aren''t a local resident in this area¡­" Lin Qiao said a few words to Black before leaving.


    She went out to find her dog chasing the big red cat, which was larger than itself by many times over, and trying to bite it. The big red cat raised a paw and slapped the dog away with a cold look on its face. It would have bitten the dog directly to death if it didn''t know that the dog was on Lin Qiao''s side.


    "I think the cat''s saying ''stupid dog'' with the look on its face," Lin Qiao moved to Duan Juan''s side and heard the latter say.

 1312 Shes Taking Action

    Watching Bowwow messing around with the big cat, Lin Qiao nodded in agreement, "You''re right. That''s exactly what it''s trying to say!"


    "Owowowowo!" The dog had his attention attracted by the big red cat once he came out of the space, so he had no idea what his friend had just been through. At that moment, he was barking at the cat with his head reared up.


    The big cat stood on a huge and thick leaf as it licked its mouth and teeth, looking down at the silly dog coldly and proudly. The dog wanted to attack the cat but lacked the courage, as he himself was weaker. If the cat ignored him, he''d rush up to bite its tail, and when the cat turned around to scratch him, he''d flee away very quickly before barking at the cat from a safe distance.


    "Alright, Bowwow, stop barking! If you attract some other things to come and eat you, I''m not gonna save you," Lin scared the dog. She found Bowwow''s behavior amusing and annoying at the same time. The dog seemed to very much want to cause trouble but didn''t have the courage.


    "Wowooo¡­" On hearing her words, Bowwow immediately turned and growled at her.


    "This is his territory, and your level is even lower than his. Can you please stop provoking him? Be careful!" said Lin Qiao to the dog.


    Bowwow glanced at the big cat before turning and walking over to Lin Qiao reluctantly.


    Lin Qiao looked around to observe the surrounding area. Hearing no sound, she said to Duan Juan, "Those things seem to be afraid of this red cat. They never came out again since this cat showed up."


    Duan Juan nodded, "Yes. I think they''ve gone far away by now."


    Lin Qiao turned back and looked at the area where she and her people came from as she tittered and said, "Those things have gone away, but some people are making moves."


    Duan Juan understood what she meant. "Are Huaxia people here?" she glanced at Lin Qiao and asked, "Is that woman finally taking action? Si Kongchen is so persistent! What made him think the woman is strong enough to kill you? Doesn''t he know about your true power level already?"


    Lin Qiao turned to look at her and say, "You''re wrong. He doesn''t plan to fight me with his actual strength. He always likes to play dirty tricks. Or, he has probably developed some new kind of weapon or drug."


    Duan Juan furrowed her brows and thought for a moment. Then, she paused briefly and raised her head, "Are you saying that Si Kongchen has prepared some kind of drug or weapon for that woman to deal with you?"


    Lin Qiao looked at her and then turned around, "Of course! You''d also choose other ways to hurt your enemy over a face-to-face fight if you''re not strong enough to win. In a good way, this is called circumventing. War allows deceit. To destroy your enemy, you can use any method."


    "Yes, ma''am!" Receiving the order, the others immediately scattered and hid away. Meanwhile, Li Hongsheng and the other human team members gathered in front of Lin Qiao in a straight line.


    "You guys will stay in my space. You might hinder the others by staying out here." Lin Qiao threw out a rope for them to hold, and in the next second, she disappeared together with them.


    Back on the earth''s surface, she told the others that all who would follow her into the underground realm were at or above level-five. But in fact, she was talking about her zombie teammates back then and not including the humans. Her plan was to put the lower-leveled ones in her space when the battle was about to start.


    After throwing the lower-leveled ones into her space, she glanced at Bowwow, who was squatting nearby, and said, "Bowwow, the enemies are coming here. Watch out!"


    Bowwow immediately stood up on all fours as he closed his mouth and retracted his tongue, raising both ears straight and putting his tail between his legs.


    "Go and hide!" Lin Qiao pointed at the jungle nearby and shouted.


    Woosh! Bowwow seemed like a black gust of wind as he disappeared into the area that Lin Qiao was pointing at.


    The big red cat had stood up as well. It slightly lowered its head and wagged its tail from side to side rhythmically.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the cat, who didn''t need to be warned, because it had already grown alert. After turning around and giving another glance at the area where the Huaxia Base woman''s vibe was detected from, Lin Qiao disappeared within a blink.


    The others had all found places to hide as well, and the area suddenly fell into absolute stillness.


    A distance away, Xie Longyun abruptly stopped moving and landed on a slanting branch of a plant as she put a fist beside her ear. She first focused her eyes on the front area and then looked around.


    Following her movement, the people behind her all quietly stopped moving and waited for her further instructions. After two seconds of silence, Xie Longyun blinked her eyes and said, "She hid away. Has she found out about our plan already?"


    "That''s impossible! We''ve been keeping our operation strictly confidential. How could she possibly know?" The vice-captain behind Xie Longyun said questioningly.


    Xie Longyun looked straight ahead as she spent a short while carefully detecting the vibes of Lin Qiao and her people. Then, she pointed a finger ahead and led her people to keep moving forward.


    Before long, she came to the area where Lin Qiao and her people fought the tree roots. Looking at the leaves which newly fell on the ground and some signs of struggles, Xie Longyun had the look on her face growing cold gradually.


    She sensed the vibes that the All Beings Base woman and her people left behind. Her people had obviously scattered while her own vibe disappeared right where it was, as if she never left that spot but vanished into thin air instead. Or, she might have hidden into her space.


    Xie Longyun looked around. As she found her guess very likely to be right, her pretty face grew colder and colder.


    If that woman had really found out about her plan and hidden into her space, her mission could now be considered to have failed. In that case, she could only wait for the next opportunity or find out a way to lure the woman out.


    "Let''s go!" With that thought, Xie Longyun left the area with her people decisively.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao was actually standing on a leaf of a tall plant right near Xie Longyun, watching her and her people. After the latter and her people leave, Lin Qiao didn''t show her face immediately.


    The red cat showed up before she did, holding a strange-looking, black fruit in its mouth. It stood on the side and looked around but didn''t find Lin Qiao. Anyhow, it stayed quiet and found a large leaf to gently put the black fruit on. Then, it squatted next to the leaf, seemingly waiting for Lin Qiao to show up.

 1313 Magical Frui

    Lin Qiao curiously looked at the fruit that the big cat had brought over. The fruit was black, as big as a baby''s fist, and round. She could feel a special energy flowing inside it. What was even more surprising was that some changes seemed to be happening in the area near the fruit.


    She narrowed her eyes to observe the area and found the faint purple energy drifting in the air being forced away once it approached the black fruit. For that reason, the air surrounding the black fruit was completely purple-energy-free, as if the fruit were isolated.


    Eh? Was that a fruit a cure for the purple energy?


    With the new discovery, Lin Qiao made a guess as she quietly leaped forward and airily landed on a large leaf in front of the cat. Instead of showing her face, she walked straight up to the cat and patted on its forepaw.


    The big cat was about eight meters long, and it looked even taller than usual when sitting down. Standing in front of it, Lin Qiao looked like a child.


    Feeling Lin Qiao pat on its paw, the big cat gave a start and then made a hop backward. After that, it popped its eyes and gazed at the area where it was sitting before. It spent a short while looking at that area but failed to see anything. It raised its tail and tilted its head as it fixed its eyes on that area without blinking.


    Lin Qiao found its reaction amusing. After spending some time watching the cat, she said, "Come here."


    She talked to the cat but still didn''t show up.


    On hearing her voice, the big cat shook its ears and looked around with both surprise and confusion. Then, it abruptly turned to stare at the area where Lin Qiao stood.


    If it didn''t mishear, her voice came from that area.


    The cat looked at that place carefully but still didn''t see anything. Anxiously, it stomped its feet and wagged its tail.


    "Errr?"


    That confused look on the cat''s face really made Lin Qiao want to laugh, especially its pair of large and red eyes which were now filled with puzzlement!


    Lin Qiao felt that the big, red cat was exactly like a normal cat on the earth''s surface, aside from the fact that it was a vegetarian.


    "Errrrhhh?" Once again, the big cat uttered a deep sound from its throat, which sounded so confused. It didn''t understand the words that Lin Qiao said just now.


    "Roar," Lin Qiao gave the cat a soft roar. ''Come here,'' she said.


    The big cat quickly tightened its ears when it heard Lin Qiao''s roar. It still looked bewildered, but did start to move toward her slowly with curiosity. Clearly, it understood Lin Qiao''s roar and recognized her voice.


    As same as Strong, the cat was able to understand zombie roars. Lin Qiao really wasn''t expecting the cat to understand her zombie roars. She thought only Strong could do that.


    She was going to ask the cat if the fruit was a cure, but changed her mind on a second thought, because she wa worried that the cat might not understand the word ''cure''.


    "Hrr!" The big cat immediately nodded.


    "Do you want me to eat it or the others?" Lin Qiao asked the cat another question.


    She, of course, didn''t need to eat the fruit, because the energy in the air couldn''t deliver any negative effects to her. So, the fruit was probably for the humans, or Black. After all, Black reacted to the air intensely just now.


    The cat shook its head and wagged its tail as it tilted its head and thought for a moment. After that, it scratched the giant tree root under its feet with its claws, but then it took a few circles in where it was, seemingly unsatisfied with the marks it created on the root.


    Seeing the cat circling with its eyes on the scratches it created, Lin Qiao went up to it while holding the fruit. She lowered her head and carefully looked at those twisting claw marks on the root, but couldn''t figure out what the cat had tried to draw.


    "What did you draw?" Lin Qiao looked at the cat and asked.


    "Hrr¡­ Hrr¡­" After taking a few more circles, the cat abruptly stopped moving and faced Lin Qiao as it swung its head hard up and down a few times. The cat''s movement reminded Lin Qiao of the way Black sneezed earlier.


    "Roar?" ''Is it for the big black snake?'' she asked the cat.


    "Meow!" The big cat immediately stopped moving and squatted before her as it gently patted the ground with a paw twice and nodded.


    Lin Qiao looked at the cat with surprise and then glanced at the fruit as she murmured, "Eh? Really? It makes sense though. Normally, a natural cure would exist in the area with poisonous snakes or plants."


    It was shocking that the cat actually brought the cure to her. What was even more magical that the cat knew the fruit would be helpful for her.


    What a smart cat!


    "Roar!" ''I''m gonna give it a try!'' she roared at the cat.


    The cat quietly looked at the empty area in front of it and wagged its tail. Next, Lin Qiao brought the fruit into her space and showed up by the pool, where she squatted and stirred the water with a hand.


    In the water, Black moved its body reluctantly to let Lin Qiao know that it didn''t want to come out of the water at the moment.


    "Come up here!" Lin Qiao slapped the water surface.


    Finally, Black moved its huge body and pop its head out of the water, looking at her unhappily. The snake''s face wasn''t wearing an actual unhappy expression, but Lin Qiao could read the look in its eyes.


    "Alright, cheer up! Come on, try this! Open your mouth¡­" Lin Qiao said to the snake as she threw the fruit toward its mouth. Seeing her throw over a small black fruit, Black automatically opened its mouth and caught it. The snake knew that she wouldn''t make it eat anything harmful.


    The fruit entered the snake''s stomach and soon was melted by the gastric juice. The special energy was immediately released, being absorbed by its body.


    That energy was rather stimulative for Black.


    Lin Qiao stood by the poolside as she watched the snake eat the fruit. Three seconds later, it shuddered and started shaking, as if it were hit by an electric current. It looked quite funny as it suddenly reared up its head in the middle of the pool and looked like a pillar. The snake somehow looked a little silly that way!


    Black only maintained that silly posture for three seconds before its body grew soft. After that, it slowly twisted its body from side to side and crawled toward Lin Qiao.


    Apparently, the fruit had worked well. It had already neutralized the underground energy that made the snake feel very uncomfortable.

 1314 Two Proud and Aloof Beings

    "I''m going to take you out again. You''ve taken the cure, so let''s see what''ll happen this time," Lin Qiao patted on the snake''s head, which was right next to her, and said. However, once she mentioned taking the snake out again, it immediately moved meters away to create a distance from her.


    "What? Are you afraid? You''ll be fine. If you feel uncomfortable again, I''ll bring you back here immediately. Come here!" Seeing the snake move away from her within a blink, Lin Qiao waved at it and said.


    "Hiss¡­" Black stayed still and just let out its tongue toward her.


    Lin Qiao looked at the snake speechlessly. So, she had to coax the snake into going out now, didn''t she? Was the snake in an unhappy mood?


    "Come on! Really, you''ll be fine. You''ve taken the cure already! You''ll be okay!" Like a child, Black grew afraid after suffering discomfort once. So, Lin Qiao had no choice but to coax it like coaxing a child.


    Black looked at her with hesitation, but it had already lowered its head slightly.


    Sensing the snake''s resolution begin staggering, Lin Qiao immediately nodded and said affirmatively, "Come on, this place is funny. None of us has been here before. Don''t you want to go outside and see what this place is like? It''ll be fine as long as your nose doesn''t make you feel uncomfortable, right? Come on! Bowwow is having such fun out there. Don''t you want to go out?"


    As she expected, Black moved its body slightly once she mentioned its friend Bowwow.


    The snake did want very much to go out and have some fun. But earlier, the air outside made it feel extremely uncomfortable. So, it was normal for the snake to be a little scared at the moment.


    As Lin Qiao was still trying to convince Black to go out with her, a figure suddenly flashed out of the woods and darted up to Lin Qiao, catching the hem of her clothes with a tentacle.


    "Awooooo!" The young tiger''s unhappy roars were heard from behind as well.


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds looking at the mushroom which had suddenly shown up by her side. By the time she turned to look at the tiger that was running over from behind, the tiger was only a few meters away from her.


    "You can''t go out! You are too weak! That place is very dangerous!" Looking at the young tiger which had rushed up to her and held one of her legs with its paws, Lin Qiao shook her head.


    The little tiger was holding her leg with a pair of fluffy paws. How adorable!


    Seeing Lin Qiao shake her head, the little tiger held her even tighter and rubbed its face against her knee as it let out a series of roars.


    Lin Qiao could clearly feel how much the tiger wanted to go out. The little tiger really wanted to go out together with the mushroom and Black and play outside. Besides, once she brought out the other three, it would be left in the space all alone! That really made the little tiger unhappy.


    "Hrr!" As Lin Qiao refused to bring it out, the little tiger immediately relaxed the grip on her leg before turning and rushing into the woods. Soon, it disappeared from her sight.


    "Hey! It''s mad!" Lin Qiao sighed helplessly as she turned and said to the mushroom, which was standing by her side quietly. The mushroom gently swung its tentacles under its head.


    "Alright, so Black, are you going out?" Lin Qiao didn''t pay more attention to the little tiger but said to Black and then turned to the mushroom again.


    The mushroom was a mutated plant, different from Black. She wondered if the mushroom could adapt to the underground energy or not. She wasn''t so worried though. Even if the underground environment did make the mushroom ill, she could simply ask the big cat to find her another black fruit.


    She believed that there was more than one fruit like that. The mushroom could run really fast anyway. It should be able to run away from any kind of danger.


    As the mushroom showed up, Black gave up resisting and finally wriggled to Lin Qiao, who brought the two outside. She showed up in the underground realm to see the big red cat only; no one else was there.


    Seeing her show up together with the two, the big cat quickly stood up, in case the two harassed it at the sight of it like what the crazy dog did. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao carefully observed her two pets. Once out, the mushroom excitedly gave itself a tour in the area with its soft and bouncy tentacles swinging from side to side.


    This was not what Lin Qiao had expected. She thought the mushroom would feel uncomfortable upon being exposed to the underground air. Clearly, she was wrong. She rolled her eyes and turned to look at Black. Black had alertly curled up its body and reared up its head, even expanding its neck and showing the pair of fake eyes on the back of its neck.


    "Relax¡­" Lin Qiao raised her head to look at Black''s face and comforted the highly vigilant snake.


    Black maintained that state for about six seconds and then finally relaxed slightly. It hid the fake eyes on its neck and slowly turned its head from left to right. After spending a while carefully feeling its own breath, it realized that it was really not feeling suffocated like the last time, nor any there was any other discomfort. Only after that did the snake relax its body fully and started wriggling about in that area.


    "That cat found you that fruit. You need to thank it," Lin Qiao suddenly pointed at the red cat and said to Black, who understood the words she said. Also, she was pointing straight at the cat. Of course, the snake understood her meaning.


    As Lin Qiao pointed at the cat, the cat turned to look at the snake. The two enormous creatures looked at each other in silence.


    Lin Qiao looked at Black and then at the big red cat. She spent three seconds staring at the two. As she was wondering if they would keep gawking at each other, she saw Black move slightly and nod at the big cat. The big cat responded to the snake by raising a paw and casually wiping its own face. It had probably accepted the snake''s gratitude.


    "They''re both so proud and aloof¡­" Lu Tianyi showed up beside Lin Qiao and said.


    "Em," Lin Qiao turned to look at him and shrugged.


    Lu Tianyi gave her a glance and suddenly turned to the direction which Xie Longyun and her people left, "What are you gonna do with those people? Are you gonna let them keep following us and trying to cause trouble?"


    Lu Tianyi really didn''t like people playing dirty tricks behind his back like that.


    Lin Qiao cast a quick glance at that area and said, "We don''t have the time to do something to them especially. Exploring this place is our first priority. But, if she dares to make another attempt, I''ll find a way to make her pay."


    Lu Tianyi looked at her and nodded. Then, he turned and saw a dark figure stealthily approaching the tail of the big red cat. The big cat didn''t change the expression on its face, but judging by the movement of its tail, it had obviously sensed the one sneakily coming at it.

 1315 Women and Children

    "Alright, stop it!" Lin Qiao turned and glanced at the one behind the big red cat.


    Bowwow, who was sneakily inching his way to the cat, immediately stopped moving and wagged his tail disappointedly as he hopped to Lin Qiao''s side. She looked at the cat and thought for a moment before giving it a roar. "Roar?" ''Are there more? The fruit?''


    She wanted to collect more of the fruits that the big cat brought to her earlier. Those would probably be helpful for her and her team during the rest of their journey underground.


    The big cat stood up and raised a paw before waving at Lin Qiao. Then, it turned around and leaped forward after giving Lin Qiao a glance.


    "Go!" Lin Qiao gave her order immediately and quickly followed behind the cat. Following her movement, some figures flashed out of the woods in the behind and quietly followed her and the cat.


    Black and his friends swiftly followed Lin Qiao as well.


    About two miles away, Xie Longyun turned and glanced at the area where Lin Qiao and her people were and stopped paying attention to it.


    "Is it those people?" The vice-captain beside her noticed her movement and asked her a question.


    "No," Xie Longyun shook her head and said, "It''s just a few mutated beasts."


    "The mutated beasts down here should be the same as the ones on the earth''s surface, right?" said the vice-captain with disappointment, "Do we really not need to keep looking for those people from All Beings Base and Sea City Base?"


    "They''re already alert against us," said Xie Longyun, "We can''t find them now. It''s pointless wasting our time searching for them. So now, we might as well take a look at this underground space. Maybe we''ll get lucky and run into them."


    "You''re right," the vice-captain nodded. Soon, the group of people took out all kinds of detection devices to collect all sorts of information about the underground space.


    ¡­


    At that time in the Chief''s office in Huaxia Base, Si Kongchen was sitting in his chair expressionlessly, leaning against the back of the chair and resting his elbows on the chair arms, his fingers rubbing each other and eyes staring at the desk. A while later, someone showed up by the door of his office.


    Wei Haichao gently knocked on the door before coming in.


    "Did you find anything?" Si Kongchen asked a question at the sight of him.


    With a sullen face, Si Kongchen said, "That woman is the strongest one in their base. Lin Feng is at level-seven, but he only upgraded recently. He might be able to fight one of our level-seven men, but the one who fought him was the captain. He couldn''t possibly kill the captain."


    He couldn''t figure out how those people were killed. He, of course, didn''t think that his people might still be alive after losing contact with the base. Normally, the only possible explanation for people disappearing without a trace like that was that they had all been eliminated by the enemy.


    The people he sent to All Being Base were undoubtedly powerful enough to destroy the small base entirely. How on earth did they end up being crushed by that small base? There must be something about that base he didn''t know yet. That base had been mysterious all the time. They were probably keeping some big secret or possessing some super-powerful weapons.


    "Keep looking! Since they''re so difficult, we''ll change our way. We don''t have to fight them face-to-face!" Si Kongchen gave Wei Haichao his order with a cold voice.


    Wei Haichao hesitated for a moment and said, "But, we''ve tried everything we could. How are we supposed to keep looking? We can''t even approach their base. Without a way into their base, we can''t get any useful leads."


    "What about Sea City Base? Still nothing?" Si Kongchen knitted his brows and asked.


    Wei Haichao spread his hands and said, "We''ve looked in Sea City Base too. All Beings Base shipped some goods into Sea City Base every a few days in secret. Apart from that, we didn''t find anything else. Oh, a few days ago, Lin Feng''s sister, Lin Wenwen, brought over ten-thousand people to All Beings Base from Sea City Base. Actually, I''ve been trying to find an opportunity to put some of our people into All Beings Base during this couple of days."


    "How''s it going?" On hearing that, Si Kongchen had his eyes glowing.


    Wei Haichao shook his head and said, "It''s not gonna happen anytime soon. I haven''t gotten an opportunity yet. I need time."


    Si Kongchen furrowed his brows and said, "But we don''t have much time left. If we can''t bring down this suspicious All Beings Base, they might ruin our plan of invading Sea City Base. We have to figure out All Beings Base''s secret as soon as possible. We absolutely cannot let anything threaten our plan of invading Sea City Base."


    Wei Haichao knitted his eyebrows as well. Si Kongchen''s order lay an obvious pressure on him. All he could do was to try his best to accomplish that mission. "I get it. I''ll do my best to find a way."


    "Wait! Since we can''t get Wu Chengyue''s children, we should seek a chance to get Lin Feng''s sister or wife, or his child," Si Kongchen blinked his eyes and came up with an idea. Abducting women and children would certainly be much easier than hurting Lin Feng.


    "But, his wife and daughter never leave the base," Wei Haichao said, seeming embarrassed, "How are we gonna do anything to them?"


    Si Kongchen glanced at him and said, "Can''t you find a way to lure then out? But, better not to choose the ones who have recently joined All Being Base from Sea City Base for the job. Lin Feng will certainly stay vigilant against those people, as it was such a large batch of people that joined their base this time. You can choose the ones responsible for shipping goods from All Being Base to Sea City Base. They might provide you with a bigger chance. You can also find someone from Sea City Base. Keep a close eye on both the bases. There will be a chance."


    "I get it," Wei Haichao thought for a moment and said.


    Si Kongchen waved at him, prepared to tell him to leave. But then, something else crossed his mind. "Oh, haven''t you found anything about Yuan Tianxing still?" he said, "Something must have happened to him, or else the woman wouldn''t put Lin Feng in charge of the base before she left."


    Recently, Lin Feng had been the one managing All Beings Base, and Yuan Tianxing had disappeared without a trace. Something must have happened to him.

 1316 Huaxias Secre

    Hearing Si Kongchen ask about Yuan Tianxing, the other Deputy Chief of All Beings Base, Wei Haichao thought for a moment and responded, "No, not even a clue. You know, things about All Beings Base are always very mysterious. Perhaps, he was sent somewhere by Lu Tianyu for a secret mission."


    "That''s possible," Si Kongchen nodded and said, "Alright, you can leave."


    Wei Haichao nodded and turned to leave Si Kongchen''s office.


    At that time, in Wu Chengyue''s place, Wu Yueling and Teng were playing on the sofa in the living room while Wu Chengyue was sitting in the armchair nearby, reading some files. On the other side of the tea-table, the tall and sturdy Xiao Yunlong was sitting in another armchair with one side of his body facing the back of the chair.


    "Teng, come here to your uncle," Xiao Yunlong looked at Teng, who was crawling from side to side on the sofa.


    Teng gave him a glance and asked with his baby voice, "Uncle Long, do you have a lot of free time?"


    Xiao Yunlong shook his head and replied to the boy confusedly, "No. Why do you think that way?"


    Teng took over the fat rabbit from Wu Yueling''s arms and sat down with his legs crossed. Then, he put the rabbit on his short legs and raised his head to look at Xiao Yunlong. "If you don''t have a lot of free time, why are you sitting here playing with me?"


    Xiao Yunlong shrugged as he raised his brows and said, "I''m not here to play with you. I''m here to talk to your father."


    Teng kept looking at him and said, "You''ve been sitting here for quite a while. I haven''t heard you talking with my father about anything serious!"


    Xiao Yunlong had sat there for half an hour already.


    "Your father is reading the files. I''m waiting for him to finish. Besides, I was summoned by your father!" Xiao Yunlong spread his hands.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue raised his eyes from the files to glance at Xiao Yunlong and the boy. Then, he dropped his eyelids and kept reading. Teng turned down his lips corners and lowered his head, putting the rabbit back onto Wu Yueling''s thighs.


    About ten minutes later, Wu Chengyue put the files in his hands on the tea table and looked at Xiao Yunlong, "Is something wrong with those people Lin Wenwen took away from our base?"


    Xiao Yunlong shook his head and said, "Not so far. We haven''t found any of them doing anything suspicious. But, I think Si Kongchen will grasp this opportunity to put his people into All Beings Base."


    "Lin Feng won''t relax his vigilance about that," said Wu Chengyue, "He''ll run a thorough background check for every one of those people, even though they were brought into his base by his little sister."


    Wu Chengyue put on a faint smile as he picked up the glass of water from the tea table, speaking smilingly, "Tell me about it. He heard the news yesterday before the team went underground. He was black as thunder, but he couldn''t do anything to vent his anger. I think he hates Lu Tianyu''s guts now, as well as All Beings Base."


    "He deserves it. He asked for it, didn''t he? He couldn''t find a chance to play a dirty trick on us, so he cast his eyes on All Beings Base. He probably thinks that All Beings Base is a small base with a small population, which can be destroyed easily," Xiao Yunlong sneered. Si Kongchen had such a good plan, and the others knew well about it.


    "He probably thought that way at first. However, after failing so many times and suffering so many bad consequences, I think he might have already gotten interested in the secret of All Beings Base. He isn''t stupid. He is just still underestimating them," Wu Chengyue waved at Xiao Yunlong and analyzed the other''s current thoughts.


    On hearing his words, Xiao Yunlong furrowed his brows slightly. As something crossed his mind, he quickly said to Wu Chengyue, "Are you saying that the more seriously he takes All Beings Base, the harder he''ll try to find out their secrets?"


    "Yes. I think he''ll take some further actions," Wu Chengyue nodded while thinking.


    "Shall I tell Lin Feng to be careful?" Xiao Yunlong looked asked.


    "I think All Beings Base won''t be broken so easily," said Wu Chengyue, "And I guess Lin Feng will think of this too. Let''s see what other arrangements he''ll make."


    "Oh, so we don''t need to warn him?" Xiao Yunlong looked at him uncertainly.


    Wu Chengyue nodded slightly and said, "We don''t need to worry about them. Currently, our first priority is to figure out Si Kongchen''s plan. Let''s find out what exactly he''s aiming at. He''s already in contact with some foreign bases. I wonder what secret weapon he''s gonna create next."


    Without a doubt, Si Kongchen would use those secret weapons on Sea City Base.


    Xiao Yunlong knitted his brows into a deep frown, feeling a little frustrated. Ultimately, he let out a heavy sigh and said, "The problem is, they have their base guarded strictly. It''s a little difficult for us to gather useful information about them."


    He said ''a little difficult''. Apparently, he intended to keep trying even though it was hard. He had to figure out what exactly Si Kongchen was planning on after all.


    Si Kongchen was trying everything he could to get to the secrets of All Beings Base while Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong were seeking for any possible method to find out Si Kongchen''s secrets. After Wei Haichao left, Si Kongchen stood up and walked out of his office. Getting into his car, he left Huaxia Base in secret and drove toward somewhere far away from the base.


    An hour later, Si Kongchen''s car was parked somewhere around ninety miles away from Huaxia Base. It was a remote mountain area with thick and deep forests. Hiding in the thick mountain forest was a secret building that was strictly and secretly guarded.


    Nothing unusual could be seen a mile around the entrance to the building, but in fact, the area was filled with powerful automatic machine guns. Any living beings that accidentally entered the area would be shot into pieces by those powerful weapons.


    One weapon like that might not be able to hurt a zombie or a mutated beast at level-six efficiently, but when hundreds of weapons like that all focused on one prey, not even a level-six mutated beast could survive.


    If a living being luckily avoided the bullets that came from those guns and approached the building further, the security system in the building would sense it when it was less than three hundred meters from the building. What came next would be another wave of machine-gun mass shooting with automatic aiming.


    No matter how fast that living being could move, it wouldn''t possibly survive the rain of bullets.

 1317 The Laboratory in the Mountain

    Si Kongchen''s car was marked to pass the security, so he drove all the way into the area. On each side of the gate was a ten-meter-tall sentry post, guarded by soldiers. As Si Kongchen showed up, the soldiers in the sentry posts and by the gate all saluted him quietly.


    Si Kongchen walked straight through the gate, into a metal building which took up about three-hundred meters squared area. In the building was an entrance to the underground space. Si Kongchen walked in and took the stairs down.


    A door was located about ten meters deep underground, behind which was an elevator. Si Kongchen walked into the elevator, and then it moved downward for three minutes. As the elevator door opened, what Si Kongchen saw was an experimental base. The research projects being carried there weren''t the same as the ones in the secret underground lab in Huaxia Base.


    It wasn''t as large and roomy as the underground lab in Huaxia Base. The space was divided into several small laboratories by translucent tempered glass.


    As Si Kongchen showed up, the people who were working in the experimental space only gave him a quick glance before turning back to continue doing their jobs. Soon, a man in a white lab suit walked over and nodded slightly to Si Kongchen, "You''re here."


    "Where''s your professor?" Si Kongchen looked at him and asked.


    "Professor is in Section C," the man in a lab suit took a sideways step backward.


    "Take me to him," Si Kongchen looked at the man and said expressionlessly. The latter nodded and turned to move toward the other side.


    They made a few turns and spent a couple of minutes walking before coming up to a door marked with ''Section C''. Section C was different from the area near the elevator. There were no small labs, because Section C was a large lab itself. Some cylindrical glass containers were standing in the lab in straight lines. Each container was about three-meters-tall and one-meter-wide, filled with a turbid, green liquid. Some dark figures could be seen drifting in the liquid, but not clearly.


    Walking into that large lab, one could see at least a hundred glass containers like that at the first glance, and there were more in the back. Both ends of each glass container were connected with several electrical wires of different sizes. Between the containers were tables lined up, and on the tables were all kinds of devices and equipment for experiments.


    The man led Si Kongchen through countless lines of glass containers and finally found a group of people in white coats busy before a row of tables.


    Si Kongchen walked over as he looked at them. Those people were busy dealing with a glass container behind them, and didn''t even glance at him. He didn''t say anything to disturb them but stood and waited quietly.


    "Professor Bai!" Si Kongchen nodded at him and said, "I got here two minutes ago."


    The old man turned back to continue doing his work while saying, "Em, why didn''t you say anything? How can I help you?"


    Si Kongchen made two small steps forward yet stayed outside the working zone, watching those people do their work. In the meantime, he responded to the old man with, "You were working and I didn''t want to disturb you. I wouldn''t dare to come here to trouble you if I didn''t need your help!"


    The old man was holding a test tube with one hand and another container with the other. While carefully dripping the liquid in the test tube into the container, he said, "Tell me, what''s it about?"


    Si Kongchen folded his arms and slowly moved from side to side while saying, "I just want to know how things are going on here. Can we start? On the outside, they''ve already gone down to explore the underground realm. After all, so many weird underground creatures have come out and caused severe effects. People are all panicking right now. This is a great chance for us. I''m afraid that if we wait until after the underground creature crisis is solved, there might be some kind of accident that could cause our plan to fail, even though the enemy might be relatively weak by then."


    The old man turned and gave him a glance as he said blandly, "Why so impatient? The eruption of the underground energy forced out those underground creatures, but the true monsters haven''t shown up yet. Let''s wait until those came up. Hehe¡­ Those people went down? Well, the monsters aren''t supposed to come out so soon, but those people might make them want to come out sooner. Oh, have you sent people down as well?"


    While asking the question, the old man gave Si Kongchen another glance.


    Si Kongchen stopped moving and nodded, "Yes. I want someone to stay down there forever."


    The old man knowingly nodded and then kept doing his work. He didn''t stop talking, though. "You didn''t have to send anyone down there actually, because whoever went down might not have a chance to come back up. The ones you sent down, and the ones you want dead, all of them probably won''t come back alive. You think those underground monsters are so easy to deal with?"


    On hearing that, Si Kongchen changed the expression on his face slightly, saying, "Why didn''t you tell me this earlier? I sent your daughter down!"


    The old man immediately raised his head and turned to glare at him as he said with a deep voice, "What!"


    The look on Si Kongchen''s face had grown peaceful again. He said, "She applied for the mission. I didn''t send her actually."


    Detecting the angry look on the old man''s face, Si Kongchen immediately told him that Xie Longyun applied for the mission herself. He made the whole thing sound as if it had nothing to do with him.


    "Naughty girl! Why didn''t she tell me that she wanted to go down there? Eh! Does she have any idea how dangerous that place can be? Does she think that her level-seven superpower can keep her safe down there? Oh, she always makes me worry about her!" Hearing Si Kongchen''s words, the old man sighed with frustration and furrowed his face, which was already wrinkled.


    "Is that place really so horrible? She has the drug you gave her, doesn''t she? She also has the drug I got from abroad. Her life will be safe, right?" Si Kongchen asked the old man uncertainly.


    The old man handed the things in his hands to his assistant, who had been staying silent the whole time, and then he walked toward the outside. While walking, he took off his gloves and said, "The drug I gave her can only be used twice within twenty-four hours, and three times within seven days. If she uses it more than three times within that span of time, her body will collapse. The underground realm is much more dangerous than you can imagine!"

 1318 Professor Bai and His Daughter

    As Professor Bai walked out, Si Kongchen followed behind him and asked while walking, "Are you saying there is a side effect of your drug?"


    Professor Bai said, "Of course, there is! The drug will activate all the potential of your body, but after that, you''ll need some time to slowly recover. By stimulating your potential, the drug will also consume your energy. Using it once or twice will be bearable for your body, but the third time won''t. Besides, all your energy would be squeezed out when you use it the first two times. If you use the drug again before your body has recovered and attained new energy, what do you think would happen?"


    After saying that, Professor Bai gave Si Kongchen a glance.


    Professor Bai had white hair and a wrinkled face, but he was actually very healthy and strong. He was over six feet tall, looking imposing and sturdy. He walked quickly, light on his feet and with steady steps.


    Xie Longyun was his daughter. She didn''t take his family name because he divorced his wife when his daughter was a little girl, and then his daughter left with her mother. Later on, his daughter took her mother''s family name.


    His and his daughter weren''t really close. However, she was his only family now. He had to take care of her, even though she wasn''t close with him.


    On hearing Professor Bai''s explanation, Si Kongchen nodded as comprehension dawned on his face, "Oh, I see! Having three chances to boost one''s power to a higher level is very helpful already!"


    The two walked out of the gate of Section C, and Professor Bai guided Si Kongchen toward his office.


    "I''m currently doing experiments for improving the drug, but I need time," Professor Bai said after walking into his office. Then, he picked up his cup from his desk and poured himself a cup of water, also pouring a cup for Si Kongchen.


    Si Kongchen took over the cup of water and sat down as he looked at him and asked, "So, is this the reason why you''ve been holding the plan without calling an action?"


    Professor Bai sat into his chair and put the cup on the desk as he leaned against the back of the chair. Then, he waved a hand and said to Si Kongchen, "No. The drug is very helpful for us, even though each soldier can only use it twice or thrice. If we''re gonna use it on the other bases, I''m sure it''ll work well. Even if all the other bases forme an alliance, there will only be three for four level-eight people in total. We only have to send out a few level-seven ones to deal with them. They''ll be able to defeat those level-eight people after taking the drug. After that, we can simply flatten their base using our weapons. That''s simple, right? What''s been making me worry are those underground creatures. If we can''t solve that problem, they''ll become a bigger threat to us than the other human bases."


    Professor Bai gave him a quick glance and said, "I guess before your missile could hurt them, they''d grab it and throw it back to you!"


    His words made Si Kongchen gave a slight start, "Really! They can catch missiles? What did you see down there?"


    Professor Bai and his people started exploring the underground world in the third year after the apocalypse; he spent nearly two years underground. During that period, he sent people up to the earth''s surface to bring supplies underground from time to time. At the end of the second year, he and a small part of his team suddenly ran out desperately from the underground realm. Most of the people he brought down there didn''t make it out.


    So, in fact, Professor Bai had known about the underground realm long ago. Recently, great numbers of underground creatures suddenly came to the surface. He was surprised to see that, and he also guessed that something might have happened underground.


    After coming out of the underground realm, he never sent anyone down again. It was hard to imagine what had changed down there during the past two years. Judging by the fact that large batches of underground creatures had come to the earth''s surface recently, he figured the changes that had happened underground must be drastic.


    One could easily imagine how dangerous it was to go down to that place now. It might be even more dangerous than Professor Bai estimated!


    While Professor Bai and Si Kongchen were talking, Xie Longyun got into trouble underground.


    She was going to ambush Lin Qiao, but as the latter seemed to have foreseen her action in advance, she gave up on that plan and prepared to lead her people to explore the underground realm. When the Chief lady from All Beings Base relaxed her vigilance, she would then take further action.


    However, soon after she and her people started their exploration, a tree blocked their way, looking really weird. It was only about eight meters tall but extremely luxuriant. Branches reached in all directions from the tree trunk. Those branches were twenty, even thirty meters long, so the tree looked like a child holding a huge umbrella. The leaves of the tree weren''t large, only a few centimeters long. The tip of each leaf split into two, each part having a hard and sharp thorn in the end. The thorn was a thick as a baby''s little finger, about ten centimeters long and very sharp!


    The tree was quiet at first when Xie Longyun and her people approached it. However, just as those people were less than thirty meters from it, it suddenly started moving. The branches swiftly swung toward then while countless sharp thorns flew at them from the leaves.


    Xie Longyun and her people were startled to see the massive wave of thorns coming at them. They hurriedly released their powers to shield themselves. As superpower possessors at level five or six, they believed they would be able to stop those thorns from approaching their bodies.


    However, it turned out that they were wrong.


    Puff! Puff! Puff!


    "Ahhhhh!"


    Waves of shrill screams were heard along with the puffing noise of the thorns sinking into flesh. All those people were turned into hedgehogs!


    Xie Longyun was the only one who didn''t end up like a hedgehog, because she had turned her skin into metal. But still, she furrowed her pretty brows into a deep frown. Those thorns failed to penetrate her skin but left tiny dents on her skin when her entire body was turned into metal.

 1319 Deal with It Alone

    Xie Longyun turned to look at her people. With countless thorns stuck in their skin, those people fell to the ground and curled up while screaming in pain desperately. None of those people at levels five and six managed to dodge those thorns. Those thorns sank deep into their body. That must hurt like hell.


    "Ah¡­ It hurts!"


    "He-help¡­ It hurts!"


    Those people lay on the ground, twitching with pain. They didn''t dare to make any movements, because they might accidentally push those thorns deeper into their skin by trying to turn their bodies and cause themselves even worse pain.


    "Don''t move! Don''t move!" Xie Longyun immediately shouted at them. Then, she turned around and raised an arm, pulling out the blade that was carried on her back and throwing it into the air. Meanwhile, she raised her other hand and enlarged the blade by using her power. The blade became a ten-meter-long, enormous sword as it flew at the weird mutated tree swiftly.


    Boom! The sword landed on the tree trunk but failed to cut through the tree which might need five adults to put their arms around it, getting stuck in it instead. Xie Longyun raised her arms but found that she wasn''t able to pull the sword out.


    A series of rustling noise was heard as the tree retracted the first batch of branches and swung another batch toward Xie Yunlong, along with a huge wave of thorns flying at her like heavy rain.


    Her weapon was out of her control and she was now facing another massive attack. She immediately wielded an arm and released a few fist-sized metal balls. Those metal balls expanded and started shifting shapes the moment they were thrown out. Within a blink, they turned into an enormous shield.Under Xie Longyun''s control, the shield soon covered her and her people, shielding them from those thorns.


    Before long, Lin Qiao, who was less than three miles away, heard the noises caused by Xie Yunlong and the tree. She stopped moving and landed on the ground, turning toward that area as her eyes glowed with a cold light.


    That woman was hiding her vibe earlier, but now, her vibe was suddenly released. It seemed that she was in some kind of trouble, or else she wouldn''t unwittingly release her vibe.


    Currently, her energy was spreading in the air. Lin Qiao could sense it even from ten miles away, let alone the mere three miles between them at the moment.


    She raised a fist to signal for the others to stop moving and then dropped her hand, turning back to where Xie Longyun was.


    "Hrr¡­" Bowwow hopped over and landed by her side as it wagged its tail slightly. He glanced at Lin Qiao and then at the area where she was staring. The dog raised its nose to sniff at that area and then immediately started to shake its head.


    "What''s wrong?" Lu Tianyi landed beside Lin Qiao and asked. His level wasn''t high enough to allow him to sense Xie Longyun''s vibe from three miles away.


    Lin Qiao had detected that woman''s vibe, meaning that she wasn''t adapting well to the underground environment. Lin Qiao didn''t plan to kill her so soon, because she thought the woman would hide and wait for an opportunity to approach her.


    To her surprise, that woman wasn''t far away from her; the distance between the two was actually short. Since the woman had delivered herself to Lin Qiao, she decided to take her life conveniently.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and changed her plan after she sensed Xie Longyun''s presence. Instead of staying vigilant for the dirty tricks that the woman might be playing, she decided to go and kill her and her people alone. Lu Tianyi, Duan Juan and the others would continue carrying their mission, so there would be no delay.


    "Yes, Ma''am!" Her people responded to her in one voice.


    Lin Qiao glanced at Bowwow as she raised a hand and shouted at Black and the mushroom, "Bowwow, Black, Mushroom, you guys come with me!"


    She waved at the three while speaking and turned, leaping toward where Xie Longyun was. Soon, she disappeared in front of the others. The big red cat followed behind her without needing her order.


    "Roar?" Lin Qiao raised her head and gave the cat a roar. ''Are you going to attack my prey for me later?''


    "Awooooooo!" The big cat, which was flying above her head, lowered its head and responded to her with a roar.


    Lin Qiao and the four beasts quickly approached Xie Longyun and her people. Three miles of distance only took them a few seconds.


    She pointed at the mushroom and said to the other three, "You guys follow this one. Don''t get lost!" After saying that, she turned both her body and vibe invisible. Only the mushroom was able to sense her when she switched to her invisible mode.


    Bowwow and Black didn''t get Lin Qiao''s meaning when she told them to follow the mushroom. Only after watching her disappear did the two figure out what she meant.


    The large mushroom wagged its tentacles and roots as it ran like a gust of wind. Judging by the movements of its tentacles, it was obviously delighted at the moment. Thankfully, it understood what Lin Qiao said and still followed behind her.


    After fighting against another wave of attack from the tree, Xie Longyun suddenly sensed the vibes of a few beasts coming toward her speedily and immediately grew nervous. The tree was troublesome enough. How come there were more coming to worsen her situation?


    At that very moment, a familiar type of energy descended from the air and shrouded her metal shield entirely. Sensing that devouring energy, Xie Longyun burst in ferocity.


    "Is taking advantage of another''s perilous state to launch a sneak attack something a base leader should do?" She growled ragingly. While speaking, she suddenly pulled out a gun. While controlling the metal shield with one hand, turning it into a hood to cover herself and her people, she swiftly raised the gun and fired.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Lin Qiao showed her face with a sneer as sne easily dodged the bullets. Standing on another tree, she looked down at Xie Yunlong and said, "How ridiculous! How come you and Si Kongchen are allowed to attack me sneakily but I''m not allowed to do the same to you? We''re already enemies. Do we still have to be polite to each other?"


    She wielded her arms while speaking, and following her movement, the dark fire that covered Xie Longyun''s metal shield grew stronger.


    Xie Longyun''s metal shield was probably made from some special materials, which caused the devouring speed of Lin Qiao''s power to drop slightly. The black fire burned on the shield for a few seconds but still didn''t burn through it.


    If the shield were made of ordinary metals, it would have melted the moment it touched the fire.

 1320 Xie Longyuns Teleportation Ability

    Many with discerning eyes had known about the relationship between All Beings Base and Huaxia Base, who had been incompatible like fire and water since long ago. When the leaders of the other bases were on the scene, Lin Qiao was willing to have a verbal battle with Si Kongchen. But now, in the underground realm, she really had no reason to be too nice to someone who was about to die.


    Boom! Under Lin Qiao''s control, the dark fire on the metal shield suddenly erupted and transformed into a black dragon. It rose into the air before swiftly turning around in the midair and swooping down to give a bite on Xie Longyun''s metal shield.


    Xie Longyun sensed the power and pressure generated by Lin Qiao''s energy. She had a feeling that the dragon''s teeth were able to break her metal shield which was made from special materials. If the shield were broken, her people under its protection would be devoured by the black dragon.


    She quickly threw out another few metal balls. Before Lin Qiao''s black dragon sank its teeth into her metal shield, those metal balls formed a new shield that covered the old one.


    The moment the dragon closed its jaw, Lin Qiao raised a hand and clenched her fingers. The black dragon''s teeth caused a thunderous clang against the metal shield. Then, a shattering noise was heard from the metal shield.


    "Eh¡­ Pah!" Xie Longyun, who was reaching both arms toward the metal shield to control it, shuddered and then coughed blood. Watching the two metal shields shatter, she retracted her arms before turning and disappearing.


    Meanwhile, Lin Qiao swung her fist heavily down.


    Boom! Woosh! Following her movement, the black dragon bumped into the ground after it crushed the metal shields and pushed those Huaxia Dark Department members, who were still covered in thorns, into the ground by ten centimeters. They couldn''t even utter a scream before the black dragon turned into raging black fire and devoured them.


    Lin Qiao didn''t even glance at those people. She dropped her hand and turned to the direction which Xie Longyun left in. She twisted her light-purple lips in a sneer and said, "Wanna run? So na?ve! This time, I won''t let you get away so easily as you did in the Northwest."


    After saying that, she disappeared.


    Xie Longyun''s vibe vanished the moment her body disappeared: that was her second superpower. As same as Lin Qiao, she possessed space power. However, her power wasn''t to own a space for storage, but to be able to move by using the space energy.


    That was why she turned invisible sometimes in the Northwest; it was similar to Lin Qiao''s invisibility.


    The thin air underground limited her range of movement using her space. The moment she showed up, Lin Qiao grasped her vibe and located her. It took the latter less than two seconds to catch up with her!


    Before Xie Longyun could catch her breath, she sensed a chill from her back and immediately turned around to find an enormous black fireball falling toward her from the air.


    Boom! Xie Longyun hurriedly stepped away to dodge. The two-meter-wide black fireball landed on her original spot and exploded, sending out waves of dark energy in all directions that devoured all underground plants in that area within a blink.


    "You!" Xie Longyun popped her beautiful eyes in shock, staring at Lin Qiao with disbelief. She wasn''t expecting the woman to locate her so soon. Did the woman figure out her space-teleporting power? That would be impossible! Not even a level-eight being could figure it out! How could anyone possibly see her moving tracks in another space?


    She was right though. Lin Qiao could not see her moving tracks in her space, but could accurately sense everything ten miles around him. Therefore, once Xie Yunlong came out of her space, she would be able to locate her by her vibe. Lin Qiao was always able to catch up with Xie Yunlong, because she was fast, and the latter wouldn''t go too far away.


    Lin Qiao didn''t want to waste time talking to Xie Yunlong. While the woman was still in shock, she conveniently waved a hand.


    The black fire that she threw to the ground earlier once again gathered together and transformed into a few two-meter-tall black wolves. The five muscular, black, fiery wolves bent their limbs in the air, raised their ears, lowered their heads, and bared their teeth toward Xie Longyun. Next, as Lin Qiao flicked her finger, they pounced on the latter.


    "Roar!" The fiery wolves swooped along with the black fire, the whooshing sound caused sounding like the howling of wolves.


    Xie Longyun automatically made a step backward. As same as last time, she disappeared before the wolves'' claws touched her.


    The wolves missed their target and landed on the ground, wagging their tails, seeming a little frustrated. Then, they dissipated into wisps of dark fire and drifted back to Lin Qiao''s palm.


    Lin Qiao took the dark fire back and then disappeared from where she was.


    Xie Longyun looked around nervously as she came out of her space again. She wasn''t able to sense the outside world while she was moving in her space, so she wasn''t sure if Lin Qiao could locate her again.


    This time, she carefully looked around but didn''t sense Lu Tianyu''s vibe. She sighed slightly with relief and wondered if she were wrong just now. Perhaps, that woman just accidentally sensed her location last time!


    She did have doubts. She wasn''t willing to believe that Lin Qiao just located her by accident.


    She had no idea that the invisible Lin Qiao was standing on a weird-looking underground tree behind her, quietly watching her observe the surrounding environment.


    Accident? How could that be an accident?


    Lin Qiao was only about eight meters away from Xie Longyun, so she could clearly read the latter''s mind.

 1321 Drag Her into the Space

    It turned out that Xie Longyun had a second superpower¡ªspace-teleportation. That was such great power for escape and sneak attack!


    No wonder Si Kongchen let her carry the missions from the Dark Department. She was a perfect assassin! Her space-teleportation power and metal-power allowed her to launch fierce attacks and made her a great member of that secret department of Huaxia Base.


    However, she was facing Lin Qiao now.


    Lin Qiao quietly observed Xie Longyun. The latter looked around a few times and sighed with a relief as she didn''t see the former.


    ''Relaxing already? How naive.'' Lin Qiao thought.


    The moment Xie Longyun relaxed, Lin Qiao moved her feet and leaped off the tree, landing two meters behind the other. Then, she swiftly approached the woman and popped her claws.


    Xie Longyun scanned the surrounding area again with her eyes and confirmed that the woman from All Beings Base was really not there, consequently relaxing slightly. However, in the very next second, a hand suddenly pressed on the back of her neck. Xie Longyun gave a start and shuddered as she turned at her quickest speed while swinging an arm sideways. Meanwhile, her arm had turned into metal and her fingers had become sharp blades.


    As she twirled and wielded her arm, the hand on her neck pushed her hard forward and the owner of that hand dodged her attack easily. By the time she turned around and landed her eyes on the enemy, she found herself in a completely strange place. She looked at the tall and strange trees around her, and then at the woman in a vest who was standing meters from her, immediately figuring out where she was.


    "Is this your space? You can put living human beings in here! Not bad! I guess you think you can kill me as long as you''ve brought me here, right?" Xie Longyun looked at Lin Qiao coldly with a scornful smile. While speaking, she put a hand behind her body. In her hand was a small bottle of red liquid drug. She unplugged the bottle with her thumb and quickly raised her head, pouring the drug into her mouth.


    After swallowing the drug, Xie Longyun crumbled the small bottle with her hand and threw the pieces to the ground as she gave Lin Qiao a sideways glance. She always found the latter''s breasts very unpleasant to her eyes!


    Lin Qiao was wearing a tight vest and loose-fitting, camouflage combat trousers. Her clothing emphasized her slim and soft waist. As she was wearing a vest only, her full breasts had become very eye-catching.


    She herself had large breasts as well, but not as full as Lin Qiao''s! In comparison with the latter''s breasts, hers even seemed a little swollen and saggy.


    No wonder she found Lin Qiao''s breasts unpleasant to the eye!


    Xie Longyun had no idea that her thoughts were fully exposed under Lin Qiao''s sense.


    She was joking, and the sarcastic tone of hers was very obvious. As she expected, Xie Longyun pulled a long face on hearing her words and watching her puff out her chest. She stared at Lin Qiao sullenly and the intention of killing in her eyes was so apparent.


    She glared at Lin Qiao and said through clenched teeth, "Let''s see what your space can do. I''m a level lower than you are? Hehe¡­"


    She suddenly uttered a creepy laughter as she raised her chin and spread her arms.


    Lin Qiao clearly sensed her vibe grow rapidly. She narrowed her eyes to observe the energy inside Xie Longyun''s body and found a strange type of energy erupting from her heart and growing sharply. The energy from her heart surged into the energy nucleus in her brain and soon boosted her original energy to the peak of her current level. It seemed that she was going to break into a higher level.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes to see Xie Longyun''s face. Her face, neck, and limbs were all covered in bulging veins. All of a sudden, she became a scary-looking being from a pretty woman.


    "No way! Are you evolving into a monster?" Lin Qiao suddenly recalled Yang Chao, the previous leader of Sea City Base. He turned himself into a monster through some kind of secret experiment. Xie Longyun now looked a little like Yang Chao the monster.


    Xie Longyun''s energy was still growing, without showing a sign of stopping. Before the energy in her energy nucleus broke into a new level, Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and abruptly reached out an arm as she clenched her fist toward Xie Longyun.


    Bang! Xie Longyun suddenly curled her body, and in the next second, she spread her arms again. A muffled bang was heard from her body, followed by waves of energy bursting out of her, surging in all directions.


    "Pah!" Xie Longyun quivered and spouted blood for the second time. She knelt on the ground as her legs had suddenly grown weak. Supporting her own body with her arms, she raised her head to look at Lin Qiao with disbelief.


    "How-how is this possible? You¡­ What did you do? Eh¡­ hem!" While she was asking with panic in her eyes, a large stream of blood flowed out of her mouth.


    Lin Qiao retracted her hand and folded her arms before her chest as she said, "Huaxia Base does have some marvelous scientists. I guess you guys have managed to do what Yang Chao failed. The drug you just took can boost your powers and bring you to a higher level within a short span of time, right?"


    Once again, Xie Longyun looked at Lin Qiao in shock. She couldn''t talk at the moment, because blood had been constantly gushing into her mouth. She raised a hand to cover her mouth, but as a result, her pretty face was soon covered in blood.


    "Eh¡­ Mm¡­"


    Even though she couldn''t say a word, Lin Qiao was still able to tell what she wanted to say by reading the look in her eyes. With a small smile, the latter said, "If there''s nothing to stop your energy from rising when you''re on the drug, you''d indeed be able to reach level-eight or even the medium-grade of level-eight. But as you have said, this is my space. This place is my space. I can bring you in, and in here, I can, of course, control you! It''s because this entire space is controlled by my will power. Do you understand it?"


    Speaking the words ''will power'', Lin Qiao raised a hand to point a finger at her own head.

 1322 Kill Xie Longyun

    "As long as you''re in my space, you might not be able to defeat me, even if you''ve broken into level-eight already, not to mention that you''re only a level-seven one who attempted to strengthen herself with the drug. Don''t you think that you''ve been underestimating level-eight beings a little too much?" With a faint smile, Lin Qiao looked at Xie Longyun, who was still vomiting blood.


    Lin Qiao was a level-eight being, a zombie emperor, but Si Kongchen sent a mere level-seven one to kill her. What could possibly happen even if the woman managed to bring herself into level-eight using the drug? Not even Si Kongchen himself, who was a real level-eight being, could guarantee winning a face-to-face fight against her, let alone killing her.


    "Ehhhh¡­" The energy provided by the drug failed to break into the energy nucleus in Xie Longyun''s brain because Lin Qiao blocked it earlier. As a result, the energy of the drug got stuck in her heart and erupted from there. So, Xie Longyun''s heart was already damaged as of now. Not only her heart, but her liver and lungs had nearly shattered under the energy explosion as well. That was why she kept vomiting blood without being able to talk.


    Xie Longyun was so shocked that her brain wasn''t even working at the moment. She couldn''t have imagined that Lin Qiao possessed such kind of power. The latter was stronger than she imagined by two or three times!


    Her internal organs were damaged severely, but that wasn''t the worst thing. At the moment, the energy released from her heart by the drug had been surging all over her body, because it wasn''t able to enter her brain. That energy was strong enough to expand her muscles, bones, and veins.


    "Ehhhh-hem¡­ Ahhhhhh¡­" In a few seconds, Xie Longyun fell on the ground and curled up before rolling in pain. Her body started to expand and shift shape. Like Popeye, her arms and legs grew thicker; rock-like muscles bulged from her slender legs, soon bursting her clothing.


    Those clothes were still hanging on her body but failed to cover the vital parts.


    Looking at her, Lin Qiao had her mouth corners twitching slightly. ''Oh my, this is hurtful for my eyes!''


    After making a few rolls on the ground, Xie Longyun propped up her body with her distorted limbs. Without seeing her undamaged face, one might think that she was a mutated beast! That face of hers was also a little scary though, as it was covered in blood and bulging veins, looking hideous.


    "Hrrrr¡­ Hrrr¡­" She hunched her back and slowly stood up.


    As she grabbed the bag and shook it hard, some small pieces fell out of it¡ªsome round and some angular. Xie Longyun clenched her fingers toward those small pieces, which flew into her hand and were held by her within a blink. In the next second, she threw them at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao waved an arm to release a stream of dark fire toward those small metal pieces that were flying at her. In the meantime, she disappeared without a trace.


    Puff! Puff! Puff! Those small metal pieces didn''t get blocked by Lin Qiao''s fire. Instead, they flew through the fire and descended toward where she was standing earlier, sinking into the ground.


    "Come out! Why are you hiding? Aren''t you so confident? Come out! Come out!" As Lin Qiao disappeared, Xie Longyun''s face grew twisted while the white parts of her eyes had turned blood-red. She made a circle and scanned the surrounding area with her eyes but failed to see anything.


    "No. I don''t want to see you now. You look so unpleasant to the eyes. Should I give you a mirror to let you see yourself? I think even those mutated beasts out there are cuter than you!" Lin Qiao''s voice was heard from all directions.


    Before Xie Longyun said a word, she continued with, "Besides, I can kill you without showing my face."


    "Ahhhhh!" On hearing her words, Xie Longyun quickly dropped her head to glance at her own body. In the next moment, she popped her red eyes and uttered a scream as she shrank her arms and legs and covered her chest and crotch area with her hands.


    The moment she panicked, the dark fire before her, which hadn''t disappeared yet, suddenly grew stronger and came for her. Seeing that, she gave a start. Covering her chest and crotch area, she stepped backward in a flurry, even forgetting to defend herself and only drawing back to dodge.


    She was, of course, not as fast as the black fire. In the next second, she was surrounded by the fire and wrapped up within.


    Lin Qiao showed up at that very moment. She stood on a tree as she reached out both arms and pressed her hands down toward the dark fire.


    "Ahhhhh!" Xie Longyun''s hoarse scream was heard from the dark fire, and then she started darting about along with it.


    Under Lin Qiao''s control, the dark fire stuck tightly to her body. Earlier on, she caused the energy in her heart to explode using the power of her space, and as a result, her original energy was stuck in her brain without being able to flow to the best part of her body. So currently, she wasn''t able to turn her skin into metal to stop Lin Qiao''s dark fire from devouring the energy generated by the drug and her skin, blood, and flesh.


    The fire burned her body, causing her a severe pain that made her screech hoarsely.


    All of a sudden, Lin Qiao moved her feet and flew toward Xie Longyun. Soon, she reached out and sank a hand of hers into the latter''s chest, nailing her to a tree and disabling her from moving.


    "Ehhh¡­" Xie Longyun looked at Lin Qiao, stunned. Slowly, she turned her eyes from the latter''s face to her hand, which was inside her chest, which was penetrated. With slight confusion, she raised her head and looked at the latter again as she murmured, "You¡­ you¡­"


    Lin Qiao coldly pulled her hand out of Xie Yunlong''s chest, holding a beating heart. In the dimly illuminated space, one could still see the blood dripping from her hand.


    "I told you that I can kill you without showing my face, but this heart of yours seems to be useful for me," Lin Qiao looked at the heart, which slowly stopped beating, and then she glanced at Xie Longyun.


    Xie Longyun still had her eyes fixed on Lin Qiao''s hand. The black, sharp nails of that hand put a shocked look on her face.

 1323 Xie Longyuns Death

    Xie Longyun''s heart was dug out, but she hadn''t died yet. She saw the black nails of Lin Qiao''s hand and popped her eyes in shock.


    Noticing the look in her eyes, Lin Qiao glanced at her own hand and smiled with comprehension dawning on her face, "Oh, you figured it out, didn''t you? It''s good. Now you know why you''re dead."


    While she was speaking, her eyes grew purely dark and she raised the other hand, putting the forefinger and the middle finger together. The nails of those two fingers grew into sharp zombie claws as she lunged them into Xie Yunlong''s forehead.


    Puff! Xie Longyun was so shocked by the discovery that the woman in front of her was a zombie that she didn''t even manage to react when the other launched the attack. By the time Lin Qiao''s fingers penetrated her skull and sank entirely into her head, she still had that shocked, confused look on her face.


    "Flower, come here!" While stirring inside Xie Longyun''s brain with those two fingers, Lin Qiao turned and shouted, "Come here! I have something for you!"


    "Awo!" As a tiger roar was heard, the young tiger with orange and black stripes ran out of the woods.


    Lin Qiao threw the fresh heart at the tiger and said, "Here, this is for you. This is the heart of a level-seven superpower possessor, filled with energy. I can tell it''s delicious by the smell of it."


    "Awoo!" The young tiger nimbly leaped up and caught the heart with its mouth before chewing.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao pulled her fingers out of Xie Longyun''s skull. Held between her fingers was a level-seven energy nucleus.


    "A level-seven energy nucleus with space power¡­ This is rare! Wenwen can use this," Lin Qiao looked at the sparkling energy nucleus between her fingers and smiled with satisfaction.


    "Thud!" Xie Longyun''s huge body fell to the ground. As the source of energy was gone, her muscles started shrinking slowly.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and crooked her finger. Following her movement, the dark fire drifted down from midair and covered Xie Longyun''s body.


    As Xie Longyun stopped breathing, an alarm was suddenly heard in the secret experimental institution where Si Kongchen was in at the moment.


    Professor Bai, who as talking to Si Kongchen, immediately stood up from his chair and quickly came out from behind his desk before rushing out of the office. The expression on his face changed the moment he heard the alarm.


    Si Kongchen gave a start when Professor Bai made that sudden move. Bewildered, he stood up as well and followed the latter out of the office curiously.


    "What''s wrong?" He came out and made a turn to see that a door near Professor Bai''s office was open. He walked in and saw the tall and sturdy Professor Bai standing in that room, quietly staring at a device on the wall.


    The alarm was heard from that device. The few screens of the device had been flashing quickly.


    "What? What had you put inside her body? What do you mean by her vital signs are gone?" Si Kongchen had the look on his face changed as he asked with surprise.


    "I put a sensor inside her body to monitor her vital signs. I can see her vital signs from here even if she''s on the other side of the planet. Now, all her vital signs are gone. It means that she''s dead." Watching the numbers on the screens turn to zero and the lines stop fluctuating, Professor Bai understood that Xie Longyun had died. He had been having a bad feeling since he heard from Si Kongchen that she had gone to the underground realm, but never thought it would happen so soon!


    "How is that possible? She has the space-teleportation ability and the drug you gave her to strengthen her power. She should be able to escape from any kind of danger. How can she¡­" Si Kongchen refused to believe it.


    He knew what Xie Longyun could do. She was a dual-powered level-seven being. The ability to launch fierce attacks and the teleportation power made her a strong assassin. How could she possibly die in merely three days after she went down underground?


    "As I''ve said, the underground realm is full of dangers. That place is even dangerous for level-eight superpower possessors. I had been preparing myself for this result ever since you told me she''s gone there." Professor Bai abruptly dropped his head and raised a hand to cover his forehead. His voice had become dry and deep.


    He figured that Xie Longyun was killed by some underground beasts or the traps of some underground plants instead of the mission to kill Lin Qiao, which Si Kongchen gave her.


    Si Kongchen looked at Professor Bai and stayed silent. Instead of saying anything to comfort him, giving him some quiet to process the bad news might be a better choice. Meanwhile, he wondered if Xie Longyun had managed to kill the woman from All Beings Base before she died.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao burned out Xie Longyun''s body with a cloud of black fire. Then, she turned to the young tiger, who was already licking its mouth, and asked, "It was delicious, wasn''t it?"


    "Awo!" The young tiger bared its pair of sharp canine teeth and gave her a roar.


    Lin Qiao put the energy nucleus into her pocket before clapping her hands, "Alright, as long as you liked it¡­ Consider that making up to you for not letting you go out. Stay here! I''ll take you out for some fresh air when I return to the earth''s surface."


    After saying that, Lin Qiao flashed out of her space. Her other four pets were already waiting for her out there.


    "Alright, the problem here is solved. Red, take us to the fruits!" Lin Qiao glanced at her pets and then said to the big red cat. The cat didn''t understand her human language. Hearing her say those words to itself, the cat wagged its tail and howled to let her know that it couldn''t understand her.


    With no other choice, Lin Qiao repeated her words in zombie roars. The big cat wore a subtle but strange look on its face when it heard her address it as ''Red''.


    It reached its head toward Lin Qiao with its eyes glowing as it raised its ears and the tail tip. Seeing that, Lin Qiao looked at the cat with surprise. ''Eh? Is it happy?''


    "Woof!" Bowwow suddenly gave a bark. Apparently, it was running out of patience. It wanted to run, jump, and have fun!


    Lin Qiao gave the dog a glance speechlessly before giving Red another roar. The big cat reared up its head and raised its tail before turning and flying out in one direction.


    "Let''s go!" Lin Qiao immediately waved at the other three and followed behind the cat toward the fruits together with them.

 1324 The Place Where the Black Fruits Grow

    After spending a few minutes following behind the cat, Lin Qiao and her pets soon arrived at a new area.


    The area was bright and roomy, about four square miles. Small-sized, black plants were scattered sparsely in that area. Those plants were shorter than a meter, with daisy-like, red leaves. A small part of them each had one black fruit just like the one Red brought for Lin Qiao earlier. Some of those fruits weren''t black but grey.


    Some of the trees that didn''t bear fruits had a small flower each. The bright light illuminating the area was emitted from those flowers. It was a bright-yellow glow that seemed very beautiful. However, as the number of flowers wasn''t large, not a large area was illuminated. Yet, in the dark underground realm, that light already made for a beautiful scenery.


    The leaves were red, and the flowers were yellow, but the fruits were gray and black. Lin Qiao figured that the fruits turned black only when they were ripe,


    Lin Qiao looked around to observe the surrounding environment and found the place to be rather unique. That area was far away from those energy swirls in the air. It seemed as if those energy swirls were avoiding that area on purpose.


    She narrowed her eyes and looked around again as she sniffed. Indeed, the air in that area was cleaner and fresher than that in all the other places that she had been to. The glowing yellow flowers had been giving out a refreshing scent. The energy contained in the fruits still on the tree spread to a larger area than from the fruit that the cat brought her earlier.


    It was probably because the first fruit was picked from the tree.


    "This place is beautiful! I wasn''t expecting to see such a great scenery underground," Lin Qiao looked at those trees. Thankfully, she was no longer color blind, or the scenery wouldn''t be so beautiful in her zombie eyes.


    Puff! Puff! Red stopped moving at the edge of the area and squatted on top of a meters tall plant, not seeming ready to enter the area.


    The cat was an underground creature. The energy in the fruit conflicted with its own energy, so it didn''t like the vibe in that area at all. It wouldn''t have come here to pick the fruit for Lin Qiao if it didn''t know the fruit was helpful for her.


    Earlier, she came here, picked the fruit, and left as soon as possible without lingering for even one extra second.


    Lin Qiao looked at the cat and figured it out. She also found the place making her feel comfortable and safe. There was no danger nor crisis to be sensed.


    On the contrary, for underground creatures, that place was like a forbidden zone.


    "Woof?" A dog bark was suddenly heard. Bowwow didn''t care how beautiful and quiet the place was. The dog was just amazed by the glowing flowers. It couldn''t see the color of the light, but it loved the aroma of the flowers, which made it excited.


    Lin Qiao looked at those plants and suddenly wondered if they had the same kind of effect as the catmint that Lin Wenwen brought back from the past. Which one of the two kinds was better?


    Judging by what happened to Yuan Tianxing after he took the catmint drug, using catmint underground was obviously a bad choice, because the two types of energy would attack each other fiercely. The underground energy was so strong and had gathered into a thick layer in the air. If a human being came down to that place after taking the catmint drug, the underground energy in the air might be drawn over to attack that person!


    Unlike the catmint energy, the energy contained in the black fruit was much gentler. It grew underground and was immune to the energy in the air.


    In comparison with the reactions of Bowwow and Black, the mushroom''s action was much more direct. It reached out its tentacles and, quickly picked some fruits, and absorbed them. It ate those fruits!


    Lin Qiao turned to find the mushroom picking and eating the fruits smoothly. The full and lustrous fruits withered in its tentacles within a single second.


    "Mushroom! Don''t eat all of them! Save some for me!" Lin Qiao shouted at the mushroom.


    While speaking, she immediately started picking fruits as well. Both she and the mushroom picked the ripe, black fruits only and not the gray ones. The energy contained in those gray fruits was obviously very little.


    Wherever the mushroom reached, all black fruits were gone. Seeing that, Black vigilantly reared up its head and encircled about ten trees with its body. After that, the snake raised its head and watched the movements of Lin Qiao and the mushroom. Its meaning was pretty obvious.


    As Lin Qiao started picking fruits as well, the mushroom moved even faster than before. The mushroom had quite a few tentacles while Lin Qiao had merely two hands. She pointed a finger at it and yelled, "Stop! You! Or I''ll kick your ass later!"


    On hearing her angry growl, the mushroom paused briefly. However, in the very next second, it forgot about her threat completely.


    The zombie and the mushroom started a very intense fruit-picking competition. In less than a minute, all the black fruits, apart from the ones on the trees encircled by Black, were harvested by Lin Qiao and the mushroom.


    After that, Black, who was watching the competition between Lin Qiao and the mushroom with great interest, saw the two come to itself and stand right beside it, staring straight at the trees in its territory. The snake immediately grew alert and showed the fake eyes on its neck as he glared at the two.


    ''You are not allowed to touch mine!''


    "You''re not eating them now," said Lin Qiao, "They''ll rot if we leave them here. You can either eat them or let me have them."


    The mushroom stealthy reached its tentacles into the snake''s territory, but Black lashed them away using its tail.


    Black didn''t want to pick those fruits because the amount of energy contained in each fruit wouldn''t be as large as it currently was once it was picked from the tree! It wondered if those trees could be transplanted into Lin Qiao''s space.


    With that thought, Black cut into the earth around the roots of a tree with the tip of its tail and dug out the tree entirely with its tail, handing it to her.

 1325 The Second Wave of Attack

    Lin Qiao immediately figured out the snake''s meaning when it dug the tree out and handed it to her.


    ''Oh, do you want me to plant this in my space? That''s a wonderful idea, but¡­''


    After watching the plant wither even before she reached out to take it over, Lin Qiao looked at Black with regret.


    The plant withered in less than three seconds after Black dug it out of the ground. That was awkward!


    Black turned and looked at the withered black fruit which had shrunken to the size of a baby''s fist, blinking its eyes with confusion.


    ''Eh?''


    Lin Qiao took the withered plant over from Black''s tail and carefully observed it. Along with her movement, the soil on the tree roots fell off. She then turned to the other trees and fell into thoughts.


    Black looked at the withered tree in Lin Qiao''s hand confusedly and then at the other trees.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment before swinging a finger gently toward another tree. Along with a series of puffing noise, her sharp claw stirred the air and cut into the soil around the tree, creating a triangle around it.


    Lin Qiao didn''t walk over to dig the tree out immediately, but stayed where she was and spent a few seconds staring at it. As she thought, even though she didn''t uproot the tree, the tree still withered in three seconds, exactly like what happened to the tree that Black dug out earlier.


    "I guess they can''t leave the soil. I might be able to move them into my space by cutting out this entire piece of land and putting it in there, but that won''t work. The soil here still contains that harmful kind of energy, so I can''t put it in my space. These plants don''t contain that kind of energy, but they rely on the energy in the soil for survival," Lin Qiao looked at Black and pointed at the soil with one hand and the energy in the air with the other, explaining helplessly.


    Black was very smart. It didn''t understand every word Lin Qiao said, but after witnessing what happened, it understood her meaning. Those plants couldn''t survive once they left that area, not even in her space. So, all that could be done was to pick those fruits and store them. Those trees were very special mutated plants.


    Black lowered its head and took a glance at the fruits which were still hanging on the last few small trees in its territory, feeling a little frustrated.


    "Woof!" Bowwow came over and barked at Black while wagging its tail, seemingly trying to comfort him.


    Lin Qiao tried again to put a tree into her space. This time, she did it as fast as she could to see if things would be different. As a result, she sensed the repulsion her space had toward the plant once it was put in. The space didn''t seem to attack the tree, but it still couldn''t keep its life-force from fading.


    Lin Qiao had found out since the beginning that the energy contained in the ripe fruits was different from the energy in the unripe fruits and the plants. She figured the energy had transformed while ripening.


    "No, it''s not working," Lin Qiao shook her head toward Black.


    Black looked at her and then at the fruits left on the trees. Abruptly, it turned around and opened its mouth wide, swallowing all those fruits.


    Lin Qiao gave the snake a glance. As those fruits were eaten already, there was nothing left in that place to keep the snake. So, she turned around and waved at her pets before moving toward Duan Juan and the rest of her team.


    "Let''s go! It''s time to rejoin the team."


    Deep in the underground realm, about ten miles away from Lin Qiao, an enormous creature suddenly raised its head and turned to look at Lin Qiao and her pets with greed. The moment it turned over, both Lin Qiao and Red paused.


    Lin Qiao landed on a huge vine and furrowed her eyebrows as she looked into that direction. Her hunch had always been accurate. She had a sense of crisis, as if she had become a target. That was chilliness coming rising her back to the back of her head. She knew exactly what it meant.


    "Hrr¡­" Red immediately grew on alert. The cat bent its limbs and popped its claws, lowering its neck and head while baring its teeth and uttering a series of deep roars toward that direction.


    Lin Qiao stayed where she was and clicked her tongue, "Are we in trouble again? I guess we''re not gonna deal with a plant this time."


    While speaking, she suddenly disappeared, and her vibe faded away completely.


    "Roar?" As she expected, the enormous creature in the distance stopped short and started looking around.


    As Lin Qiao suddenly disappeared, Black and her friends restrained their vibes. They were relatively safe actually. Their levels were low, so their vibe couldn''t reach a long distance away. That was why the enemy hadn''t discovered them yet. It wouldn''t pay attention to them even if it had discovered them anyway.


    Unlike them, Lin Qiao had a very strong vibe. Red was at level-seven and slightly weaker than Lin Qiao, but still good enough for that predator.


    Sensing that creature''s vibe, Lin Qiao realized that Red and the other underground creatures were really forced out of the underground realm. If she were right, the owner of that vibe was at the peak of level-eight at least.


    Creatures at that level normally loved the food that came with energy, meaning that they liked to hunt high-leveled creatures, especially the ones at the same level as themselves.


    The lower leveled ones didn''t have enough energy, while the higher leveled ones were too strong to be defeated. Therefore, the creatures at their own levels were their best targets. Each level could be divided into the beginning stage, medium stage, and peak stage. The ones at the peak stage of that level liked to hunt the ones at the beginning stage of that level the most.


    That was an easy way for those creatures to attain the nuclei which could provide them with a sufficient amount of energy.


    The energy contained in Lin Qiao''s zombie emperor nucleus strongly attracted the level-eight underground creature. However, that creature wasn''t expecting her to turn invisible and hide her vibe. Soon, it lost its target.


    "Roar¡­" That mysterious creature didn''t give up just like that though. It looked around but didn''t find Lin Qiao''s vibe, so it gave an angry roar and charged at where she was.


    Boom! Boom! Booms! The rumbling noise came closer from a distance away, and the earth started shaking.

 1326 Dodge the Bulle

    "Ei? What''s going on? What''s that noise?"


    "What''s happening? Why is the earth shaking?"


    "Something big is coming out!"


    Not only Duan Juan, Lin Qiao, and all her people, but the squads that Xie Longyun sent to different directions earlier had also sensed that fierce vibe and the rumbling noise.


    Lin Qiao and her pets soon showed up beside Duan Juan and the rest of the team. She stayed invisible while giving Duan Juan and the others her order, "Hide! Something is coming out. Don''t expose yourself in front of it! Try to avoid it when you have eyes on it."


    Based on the noise that creature caused, Lin Qiao figured it was still more than ten miles away from her. She assumed the creature was at the same level as Strong, but was much stronger than it. She believed that she would be able to protect herself from it, but her team and pets might not be able to do the same.


    The creature might get agitated on seeing them and eat them all like snacks.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Everyone responded to Lin Qiao in one voice, even though they didn''t see her when her voice was heard. Of course, Even before she pointed it out, they had already faintly sensed the threat coming from a distance away.


    "Follow my direction! Nine o''clock, straight ahead, go!" The invisible Lin Qiao gave them instruction.


    That creature was coming straight at her, and she intended to avoid it and take a detour. The place she guided her team toward was where she picked the black fruits from earlier. She assumed that the mysterious creature wouldn''t want to approach that area.


    The team received her order and swiftly followed her direction. Lin Qiao quietly followed behind them, paying attention to all the sounds coming from the surrounding area and the noises created by that mysterious creature behind her.


    As the rumbling sound came wave after wave, growing louder and louder, the earth quaked more and more intensely.


    While leaping forward, Lin Qiao landed her feet on some safe plants from time to time as she turned her eyes from side to side. Right now, those eyes of hers had turned entirely black.


    As the mysterious creature got closer and closer to her, the sense of crisis that she was having grew stronger slowly and obviously. It told her that she could definitely not fight that creature face-to-face.


    It was an underground creature about to enter level-nine, definitely much stronger than Strong. Thankfully, it didn''t seem to hide at all, but charged aggressively with its vibe fully released. It was probably not so smart.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! A black, fluffy, enormous creature was running like a gust of wind, at least thirty meters long and ten meters tall. Its four feet were especially strong, which allowed it to flatten all kinds of underground plants on its way and storm straight ahead.


    The creature had small eyes and a huge mouth. It brandished its claws and teeth as it rushed at Lin Qiao like a thunderstorm, causing deafening noises. It didn''t even try to avoid the energy swirls but bumped straight into them.


    Massive waves of energy burst when the energy swirls were dismissed by the creature but didn''t affect it at all. The noises it caused scared some relatively weak creatures in the area thirty miles back into their own nests, making them curl up and shake.


    But, outside that area, a few other enormous creatures located in different directions had their attention attracted slightly.


    They had all been paying close attention to their old enemies. However, as that creature wasn''t going to their territories, they didn''t take its movement seriously and only curiously observed it, wondering why it went crazy again.


    Lin Qiao and her people quickly left the area targeted by the mysterious creature. As the creature didn''t seem to turn to her, she sighed with relief.


    She had no idea what that creature was, but she could tell it wasn''t easy to deal with. She had herself prepared for all the possible dangers in the underground realm, so she soon calmed down.


    Her team had crossed the black fruit woods and was heading in another direction now.


    Lin Qiao didn''t think that mysterious creature was able to cast tens of thousands of underground creatures from different kinds out of the underground realm all by itself. Earlier, she hopped onto a high spot and gave a look around, finding the underground space to be boundless.


    She did not know exactly how large it was, but it wasn''t small for sure.


    "What on earth was that?" As Lin Qiao ordered her people to slow down, Duan Juan asked. She knew that Lin Qiao was able to hear her, so she didn''t turn to her while talking.


    "I don''t know, but it''s something stronger than Strong. I don''t know if I can kill it, but I can protect myself from it," Lin Qiao''s voice was heard.


    "No way! Not even you can guarantee to win?" Duan Juan looked around with surprise and said.


    "You''ve sensed its vibe. It''s nothing so easy to deal with. Besides, all underground creatures are immune to superpowers. I''m afraid my claws can''t even cut into its skin," Lin Qiao made a guess.


    That was one common feature of the underground creatures, and it made Lin Qiao feel a little frustrated. To hurt those creatures with her dark fire, she had to throw the fire into their mouths, because it wouldn''t deliver a great effect by simply burning on their skin.


    Wu Chengyue might be able to cause those underground creatures some actual harm with his thunder strikes if he were down there.


    After hearing what she said, Duan Juan sighed in response, "You''re right. We have no choice but to hide from it. Hopefully, there won''t be another one."


    Lin Qiao told the others to stop moving as she sensed that there was already a safe distance from the creature. After that, she showed her face with her brows furrowed, turning to the area behind from where the creature''s vibe could still be detected faintly.


    They had merely reached the edge of the underground realm, but they already ran into a peak-graded level-eight underground creature. What would happen when they went further down?


    Lin Qiao hopped onto the tallest plant nearby and looked around. She first glanced at the cave entrance where she entered the area from, and then she turned to the other side of the space. At first glance, she saw countless energy swirls connecting the air and the ground.

 1327 Reds Show

    Lin Qiao had been observing ever since she entered the underground realm but hadn''t figured out what exactly made all those underground creatures rush up to the earth''s surface. Did the food chain down here break? Did something threaten them? If there were something to threaten them, why weren''t those higher-leveled underground creatures threatened as well?


    Lin Qiao looked around and suddenly had her eyes fall on the big red cat that was sitting quietly near her. Her eyes immediately glowed, and she clapped her hands.


    Why didn''t she ask that question to the cat, which was an underground creature itself?


    With that thought, she turned around and hopped up to the big cat, raising her head to look at it. Seeing her come up to itself, the cat tilted its big head and looked at her bewilderedly, wondering what she was going to do.


    "Come here!" Lin Qiao waved at the cat.


    Recalling that the cat didn''t understand human language, she asked the question with zombie roars. "Roar¡­" ''Come on, Red, tell me why you and your friends went up to the earth''s surface?''


    While asking that question, she pointed a finger upward to help the cat understand.


    "Ao?" The cat looked at her but didn''t understand why she asked that question.


    Lin Qiao nodded at it and said, "Hm, Roar¡­" ''Tell me, why did you go up?''


    "Hrrr¡­ Awo?" The big cat rolled its large, red eyes, and then lowered its head and growled at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at it bewilderedly. She didn''t understand what the cat said.


    "Ao?" Seeing the bewildered look on Lin Qiao''s face, the cat became confused too.


    "Well, the cat understands your language, yet you don''t understand its¡­" Lu Tianyi came over, looking at her from meters behind her.


    Duan Juan came to her too and nodded in agreement, "You two speak different languages. Let''s see how you are gonna figure out its meaning."


    Lin Qiao turned and gave them a glance, before turning back to look at the cat speechlessly.


    As Lu Tianyi and Duan Juan showed up, the big cat immediately stood up and glared at them. Clearly, it didn''t like them.


    "Oh, this kid doesn''t like us!" Lu Tianyi found the cat''s reaction interesting.


    "Hrr¡­" Being stared at by him, the big cat stomped a foot against the ground and continued glaring at him.


    "Alright, alright, don''t interrupt us," Lin Qiao waved a hand before the two''s faces to stop them from staring at the cat. Then, she said to the cat with zombie roars, ''What did you say? I don''t understand¡­''


    On hearing that, the cat looked at her very confusedly.


    ''What? You don''t understand what I said? How am I supposed to answer your question then¡­''


    It abruptly turned and looked around before quickly running to Black. It held the snake''s tail with its mouth and dragged it off the tree.


    Black was startled by the cat''s sudden movement. It first struggled with confusion and then ended up being dragged down to the ground.


    The big cat dragged the snake off the tree and threw it on the ground before pressing a paw on its body and patting the ground near it with another paw. If the cat didn''t give the snake a black fruit earlier, the snake would have bitten it already. However, the smart Black seemed to understand what the cat wanted. It coiled its body and rested its jaw on its own body, staying still.


    As Black quieted down, the big cat immediately turned around and flashed to Bowwow. Before Bowwow could react, the cat caught the dog''s tail and dragged it toward the snake.


    "Wwowowowowo!" Bowwow immediately turned to the cat and bared its teeth as it barked fiercely.


    "What''s it doing?" Lu Tianyi squatted on the side, watching the cat''s movement. His curiosity was aroused, so he asked Lin Qiao that question.


    Lin Qiao, Duan Juan, and the others had all been looking at the cat and wondering what it was doing.


    The cat dragged the dog to the snake''s side and pressed it down to the ground with a paw. Bowwow struggled intensely, but facing an enemy that was a level higher than itself and twice its own size, the struggling would, of course, be in vain. The dog still barked at the big cat aggressively, but its head was pressed tightly on the ground.


    Bowwow wasn''t as smart as Black. Once the cat relaxed its pawn slightly, the dog attempted to spring up. But in the next second, the cat pressed it down again. The same thing happened repeatedly for a few times.


    "Alright, Bowwow, stop moving! The cat wants you to stay still!" Lin Qiao said to the dog.


    "Woof!" On hearing that, Bowwow immediately barked at her with discontentment, but it eventually stopped fighting against the cat.


    As the dog gave up on escaping, the big cat retracted its paw and turned to look at the mushroom. It didn''t go to find the mushroom though. Instead, it stepped back meters away from the dog and the snake. Then, it raised its forepaws and stood up, opening its mouth widely to bare its white, shiny teeth in a very dramatic way. Then, it started to brandish its claws and roar at Bowwow and Black.


    "Roar¡­" Despite its exaggerated movement, its voice wasn''t very loud. While roaring, it wielded its four forepaws. After the roaring, it lowered its body and made a posture of attacking the dog and the snake.


    The dog and the snake looked at the cat with confusion, having completely no idea what it was trying to say. Unlike them, Lin Qiao folded her arms and put a hand on her chin as she started thinking while watching the cat''s moves.


    Seeing that look on her face, Duan Juan figured that she probably had figured out something. "Do you know what the cat''s doing?" she asked Lin Qiao curiously.


    On hearing Duan Juan''s question, Lu Tianyi curiously turned to Lin Qiao as well, waiting for her answer.


    As the dog and the snake both seemed very confused upon hearing its roaring, the big cat stopped roaring and pushed the dog backward with its head while kicking the snake backward with a paw.


    "I guess the cat is trying to tell us that some kind of very powerful creature cast them out¡­ Or perhaps that creature has gone mad? Black and Bowwow should be those underground creatures which have been driven up to the earth''s surface or ordered to go up? I don''t know if I''m right. We need to ask the cat if I have guessed right," Lin Qiao leaped off the tree and landed beside the big cat while speaking.

 1328 Difficult Communication

    Lin Qiao waved at the cat and roared, "Roar¡­" ''Come on, I''ll ask you questions and you''ll answer them, alright? If what I say is right, you''ll nod like this. If I am wrong, you''ll shake your head like this. Can you do that?"


    While speaking, she showed the cat how to nod and shake its head. The big cat sat on the ground as it curled its tail and nodded at her in response.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at the cat''s chin. Alright, the cat was really gigantic!


    With zombie roars, she asked the cat, ''Were you and your friends ordered to leave this place?''


    The big cat nodded as she expected: It did leave under an order.


    ''Was it a very powerful creature that ordered you to leave?'' Lin Qiao asked another question.


    The big cat nodded again.


    ''How powerful is it? Is it even stronger than the owner of the vibe we sensed just now?'' Lin Qiao compared the mysterious creature which caused loud noises earlier with the powerful creature.


    The big cat tightened its ears and rolled its pair of big eyes as it glanced around a few times. Only after that did it lower its head and nod at Lin Qiao.


    Judging by its movement, Lin Qiao could tell that the cat was very afraid of that powerful creature. It couldn''t sense that creature''s vibe at the moment, but it still feared that powerful being instinctively.


    Moreover, the cat nodded. Did that mean there was a level-nine mutated creature ruling the underground world?


    Lu Tianyi, who was standing on a tree, said, "It seems to be afraid of that powerful creature. That creature must be so strong that even mentioning its name scares the cat."


    Ever since he turned into a zombie and moved into Lin Qiao''s space, he had been spending most of his time with zombies and mutated animals, including the little tiger, Black, and Bowwow, who occasionally came out of the woods to cause trouble. Then there were also those mutated chicken, ducks and gooses, and the roe deers and goats on the other side of the lake.


    After spending quite some time observing those mutated animals, he was now able to read some of their movements.


    Duan Juan turned to give him a glance and said, "Is the cat so afraid of that creature? The cat''s at level-seven, isn''t it? I guess the level-nine creature is the ruler of this underground realm. Is it the only ruler?"


    That was a level-nine mutated beast that lived underground. Perhaps, even Dong Xiaowei, the level-nine superpower possessor, was weaker than that creature.


    As Lin Qiao was thinking about pretty much the same things as Lu Tianyi and Duan Juan, Red reached a paw toward her and patted the ground with it as it shook its head.


    "What do you mean?" Lin Qiao saw the cat''s movement and asked with confusion.


    "Roar¡­ hrrr¡­" Red raised a pair of forepaws and waved before Lin Qiao''s face.


    Hearing that, Red stopped moving and rolled its eyes with disappointment.


    "Whoa! Did you see that? The cat rolled its eyes! It thinks you''re dumb!" Lu Tianyi noticed Red''s expression with surprise before turning to Lin Qiao. The latter stayed silent. ''The kid no longer seems sad. How come I feel that he could really use some ass-kicking?


    Duan Juan glanced at Lu Tianyi and turned back to the cat to continue observing it. In the meantime, she said curiously, "What''s it trying to tell us now? Was what Chief said wrong? But, it nodded just now. It nodded, so the creature that''s been ruling this place is stronger than the one we almost ran into just now, right? Why is the cat shaking its head now? Isn''t that right?"


    "That creature is super strong. I think that''s right. Or, the cat wouldn''t have looked so frightened just now. I''m sure that it was frightened," said Lu Tianyi.


    Lin Qiao looked at the cat and then at the others. She didn''t understand why the cat shook its head either. Anyway, she now knew for sure that there was a very powerful being ruling the underground world. Perhaps, this place had more than one ruler. After all, it was a natural law that creatures would submit themselves to the rule of the one stronger than all of them.


    Level-nine underground creature¡­ Lin Qiao couldn''t imagine what that creature was like, but she was aware that she should never fight it face-to-face.


    She still had questions though. Why did that creature only send some lower-leveled underground creatures up to the earth''s surface? Were those expendable soldiers? Would it send up all the level-seven and level-eight ones later? Why did it send all those creatures out? Did that action serve any purpose?


    Those questions lingered in Lin Qiao''s mind. No matter how, she needed to figure out everything about that powerful creature. Some clues might be found through patient observation.


    With that thought, she looked at Red and asked, "Do you know where that creature lives?"


    On hearing that question, Red sprung up and made two steps backward as it tightened its ears and looked at Lin Qiao with both confusion and fear. Clearly, it did not want to visit that place.


    "What? Don''t you want to go?" Lin Qiao guessed out its meaning based on its reaction.


    "Roar¡­" Red nodded quickly at her.


    Lin Qiao put a hand on her chin and thought for a moment before murmuring to herself, "But, without observing it, we have no way of finding out what it wants. Do you know what it wants?"


    She turned to look at Red while speaking.


    Then, she repeated the question with zombie roars, "Why did it order you to go out? Hmm¡­ That might be a little hard to understand. Well, what did it order you to do?"


    Red spent three seconds staring at her and then shook its head.


    Lin Qiao looked at the cat with confusion. "Why is it shaking its head? Can you guys figure it out?"


    She turned to look at the others and found them as confused as she herself was.


    Lu Tianyi shrugged and said, "I guess the cat has no idea why that creature sent it and the others out either¡­ That''s what I think."


    Lin Qiao looked at him and then at Red. ''Do you not know why it ordered you to go out? Did it simply order you to go out?'' she asked the cat with zombie roars.


    "Looo¡­" The big cat nodded; Lu Tianyi had guessed correctly.


    ¡­


    While Lin Qiao and the cat were communicating with difficulty, Yuan Tianxing suddenly woke up in her space. The purple color on his skin had almost faded. Only the wounded area on his shoulder remained purple.


    He opened his eyes to see a ceiling that he had never seen before. Then, he turned his head to look around and found the outside to be not very bright, looking like dusk time. He moved his body and propped himself up with his arms. After looking around at the room, he dropped his head to look at his own body.


    He felt weak. That feeling told him that even getting off the bed and taking a few steps would make him out of breath now.


    His memory was a little blurry. He felt as if he had lost some of his memory.


    He struggled up and put a hand behind his back to support his body. Sitting on the bed, he closed his eyes and spent a few seconds thinking hard, finally remembering what happened before he fell into unconsciousness.

 1329 Yuan Tianxing Wakes Up

    Yuan Tianxing remembered going into the underground gorillas'' cave to explore the underground world. In order to save the others, he let the water from the river there pour on himself. He clearly remembered the burning pain he suffered back then, feeling as if his entire body were going to melt. He remembered losing consciousness on his way out. As for how he returned to the base, he didn''t recall that.


    Where was he now?


    His body gave him a weird feeling after he sat up, having to spend a great effort merely to do so. He got off the bed, feeling weakness in both his legs. But thankfully, he could still stand up.


    After spending a short while standing there, he took a deep breath and walked toward the window. Holding the window frame, he looked outside and found the place looking a bit familiar. He turned his eyes from side to side and then confirmed that the place was inside Lin Qiao''s space. He recognized that quiet lake, the large vegetable field near it, and the boundless grassland on the other side of the lake, as well as the white fog in the sky.


    A twitching pain suddenly rose from his shoulder. He raised a hand to cover it in response as he sighed with relief. He figured that Lin Qiao had brought him into her space and probably given him some kind of treatment. Otherwise, he might have never woken back up.


    He turned and pulled his shirt downward to check the wound on his shoulder. Then, he slowly moved back to the bed and sat down. He didn''t only feel weak, but also felt that his brain was completely empty. He couldn''t feel his superpower energy at all.


    He had no idea what had happened to him, but he was apparently left with a sequela of whatever it was. Fortunately, he survived nonetheless. Becoming weak didn''t make him all that sad.


    Li Hongsheng, Fang Datong and the others who were thrown into the space earlier by Lin Qiao sensed Yuan Tianxing''s vibe and ran up to the house he was in.


    "Did Deputy Chief Yuan wake up?" Feng Yuming raised his head and glanced at the window on the second floor as he walked into the house while speaking.


    "He woke up! He woke up! I saw him standing by the window just now!" Fang Datong said affirmatively while walked toward the stairs in big steps.


    The others immediately swarmed upstairs. In no time, they rushed to Yuan Tianxing''s door.


    Yuan Tianxing took some rest sitting on the bed when he heard a series of footsteps coming closer, seemingly toward his room. Before he was sure, his door was pushed open.


    "Deputy Chief!" the group of people crowded in and popped their eyes as they stared at Yuan Tianxing.


    "Hey, guys¡­" Yuan Tianxing raised a hand slightly to greet them and said with a weak voice, "Good to see you here. Tell me what''s happening now. Did Chief cure me?"


    Yuan Tianxing found a comfortable posture as he looked at the others and asked them, "Why are you all here?"


    Shouldn''t they be in the base doing their work? Li Zheng and Duan Juan were absent, but all people under their direct command had gathered in Lin Qiao''s space. Clearly, something was happening.


    "Deputy Chief, how do you feel now?" Lin Yu and the others didn''t answer his question immediately but asked how he felt with concern.


    "I''m good. I just feel weak, but nothing else apart from that. Answer my question first. Did Chief cure me? Why are you guys all in this place?" Yuan Tianxing looked at them and repeated his questions.


    Those people glanced at each other, and Feng Yuming couldn''t help but start talking, "Well, if you want to know who cured you, it was Chief indeed. But, the essential medicine which saved your life was brought to you by Wenwen. Without that, not even Chief could save you. I heard that Chief was only able to stabilize your condition but not wake you up."


    "So, the main credit should be given to Wenwen! Deputy Chief, you now owe her a life! How do you plan to pay her back for that?" Lin Yu leaned toward Yuan Tianxing and said with a meaningful smile.


    "What? Wenwen is back? When did she come back? Do you guys know where had she been?" On hearing that Lin Wenwen was back, Yuan Tianxing looked at those people with surprise. Then, he added with curiosity, "What did she bring back?"


    Lin Wenwen came home while he was in a coma. He wasn''t expecting to wake up to hear that good news.


    "We don''t know what exactly it was. As far as we know, she brought back some kind of plant, which is very important. It was highly helpful for your condition. Chief will give you the details, but she''s in the middle of something right now," Li Hongsheng stood said from the side.


    Those people didn''t know much about what had happened to Lin Wenwen, as their positions only allowed them to know some superficial things. However, their bosses¡ªDuan Juan and Li Zheng¡ªshould know everything.


    "Really? I do need to find out the details. I could never think Wenwen would be the one to save my life. Lin Yu is right, I do owe her a life." Yuan Tianxing was surprised to know that Lin Wenwen also took part in saving his life. He now owed it to both her and her sister.


    Lin Qiao had saved his life more than once, and he couldn''t possibly clear that debt. After all, he and Lin Qiao had been comrades for over ten years. It was the first time for him to be saved by Lin Wenwen though.


    "We are now very deep underground, at least ten-thousand meters deep. We came down together with Chief. We''ve found a huge, mysterious underground space down here. We are too weak, so Chief threw us in here, in case we end up hindering the others," Lin Yu finally answered Yuan Tianxing''s second question.


    On hearing that, Yuan Tianxing realized that the people in his room were all at level three or four. Their bosses, Li Zheng and Duan Juan, were both absent.


    That was a lot of information. Yuan Tianxing paused for a few seconds to process it and said, "Did you say that Chief brought you guys over ten-thousand meters deep underground? Who else did she bring with her?"


    "Just our squad and Captain Duan''s squad. We''re the only human members of the team. The rest of the team are all from Chief''s secret army, including Deputy Head Xie. Apart from us, all the others in the team are at levels five and six." Lin Yu glanced at the others. As they all stayed silent, he answered the question.

 1330 Are You Serious?

    Xie Dong had been promoted to Deputy Head of the secret army. Meanwhile, the Head was, of course, his Chief. Xie Dong was currently serving almost as a Deputy Chief of Base Number Two. Including Yun Meng and Qiu Lili, All Beings Base now had five Deputy Chiefs in total. The people from the other base didn''t know about that though. In their eyes, Lin Qiao was the sole leader of All Beings Base, and under her command were Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing, the only two Deputy Chiefs.


    "I guess the underground space is indeed very dangerous, or Chief wouldn''t have put you all in here," Yuan Tianxing pondered upon Lin Qiao''s arrangement and then roughly figured out about the outside situation.


    So, that underground space might be the base camp of all underground creatures. Based on the power of the ones that had already gone to the earth''s surface, Yuan Tianxing figured there might be even stronger ones staying underground in their nests.


    Feng Mingyu poured him a glass of water and walked to him as he said, "It''s indeed not safe out there. The underground mutated plants are more aggressive than the ones on the earth''s surface. The air underground isn''t safe for humans either. The air there is filled with the energy that invaded your body. It has gathered into a thick layer, floating right on top of the space."


    Yuan Tianxing took over the water and nodded.


    At that time, Lin Qiao and her zombies were all watching the cat make all kinds of gestures.


    "So, is it trying to tell you that it doesn''t know why that big boss sent it out of this place?" People squatted on trees as they spent a while watching the red cat''s movements and reached a conclusion.


    Lin Qiao looked at the cat and asked, "You don''t know why it sent you to the earth''s surface, do you?"


    The cat immediately sat down and propped its upper body up with a pair of forepaws while nodding.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the others and dropped her head to think for a moment, "It ordered them to go out, but didn''t tell them what to do. Does it want them to do whatever they want up there? That''s what they''ve been doing so far."


    At that moment, she stopped short and said, "You guys stay here."


    After saying that, she flashed into her space and showed up right before the door of Yuan Tianxing''s room. After knocking on that door, she said to everyone in that room, "Are you guys in there?"


    On hearing her voice, all the people in the room turned to the door while automatically stepping to both sides.


    Lin Qiao walked in. While walking, she first observed Yuan Tianxing''s face and narrowed her eyes to look into his body. After that, she said, "Some of that energy is still lingering in your chest and shoulder area. You better stay on that bed."


    "Yes ma''am," Yuan Tianxing looked at her and nodded with a smile, "I owe you another one. How many times have you saved my life?"


    Speaking of that, she gave the others a glance. Receiving her signal, Lin Yu and all the others all knowingly stepped out of the door.


    "Speaking of the people who owe Chief a life, I''m one of them," Lin Yu murmured after closing that door.


    That time, he truly thought he was going to die. He survived in the end, but his sister had gone missing. He never found her, not among the captives rescued from Earth Dragon Base, Hidden Cloud City Base, or Sky Fire Base. He didn''t even know if she were still alive.


    In the room, Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Qiao and asked her with curiosity, "Where on earth had Wenwen been? And, how come she managed to bring back the exact plant that could save my life?"


    Lin Wenwen pulled over a chair and sat down in front of Yuan Tianxing, a meter from the bed. Then, she folded her arms and leaned against the back of the chair while speaking, "That wasn''t a coincidence. Did you forget about her second superpower? She foresees the future. She knew the plant would be helpful for us. If you want to know where she had been, well, you may not even believe this. She traveled back to seven years ago¡­ like a time traveler. How magical was that!"


    "What? Back to seven years ago?" As Lin Qiao expected, Yuan Tianxing slightly popped his eyes in a shocked look.


    Did he mishear? Did Lin Qiao say it in the wrong way? However, she emphasized that Lin Wenwen went to the past like a time traveler. It didn''t sound like a joke. But that was so¡­ unscientific.


    "Are you serious?" Yuan Tianxing looked at her, stunned.


    Lin Qiao found the look on his face rather adorable. Yuan Tianxing wasn''t a baby-faced man, but he was a man who liked to smile. He had been a composed person, and his eyes were normally narrowed slightly. He rarely popped those eyes. Even when he was angry, those eyes of his usually remained narrowed, staring at the person who made him unhappy like a pair of daggers.


    Lin Qiao had known him for a very long time, but she hardly ever saw him widen his eyes in surprise or bewilderment. Seeing that look of disbelief on his face, she pointed at herself and said while raising her brows, "I''m serious. I am."


    Yuan Tianxing didn''t know how to respond to that.


    That was right. She died once and then got a new body, becoming someone else!


    The look on Yuan Tianxing''s face made Lin Qiao laugh. She folded her arms again and said, "Everyone reacted the same way. I haven''t seen you with this kind of look for a long time. Anyhow, this time, Wenwen foresaw the future and brought the herb back from the past and saved your life with it. How are you gonna thank her for that?"


    It was the second time Yuan Tianxing heard that question. He helplessly looked at Lin Qiao and said, "How about I give her my life? But, how am I gonna pay you back for saving my life so many times?"


    Lin Qiao immediately raised a hand and said, "Oh, you don''t need to pay me back. You can''t afford to do that anyway. Just look after Wenwen!"


    "I surely will," Yuan Tianxing gave her a glance with discontentment. Was he a heartless person? He owed it to her, so he would certainly try his best to pay her back. Lin Qiao made it sound like he was an ungrateful person.


    He followed Lin Qiao after the apocalypse, not only because he liked her, but also because she once went against the order and saved his life by risking her own. That happened during a mission they carried out together before the apocalypse.


    That was also the reason why he gradually fell in love with her. He loved her, but she only saw him as a friend, a brother, a comrade, without having any other feelings toward him.

 1331 You Need to Res

    Lin Qiao gave him a helpless glance. Alright, did the man not get the hidden meaning in her words, or was he pretending not to understand?


    By ''take care of Wenwen'', she wasn''t talking about the normal kind of caring! She was aware that no matter how much she wanted to fix up Wenwen and Yuan Tianxing, she could not force the two of them into a relationship. But, she honestly lacked confidence in her little sister. How long would it take that girl to win the man''s heart? Based on what she knew about Wenwen, she guessed it would probably take ages for the two of them to get there!


    "Oh, how are things going on the outside now? Will the others be okay without you?" Yuan Tianxing asked Lin Qiao about the outside.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Hm, it''s safe out there, for now. Currently, we have no way to find out exactly how large this underground space is. The top of the entire space is occupied by a thick layer of mist formed with energy. Because of that energy, all plants there are very aggressive. Those plants aren''t at very high levels, but are much more dangerous than those on the Earth''s surface."


    She paused briefly before she put a hand on her chin and continued, "But now, we''ve already figured out why those underground creatures went up to the earth''s surface. They were cast out by a mysterious level-nine creature. That creature sent them out for no clear reason. We don''t know why it did that yet. We detected quite some dangerous vibes after we entered the underground space, but their owners are all far away from each other."


    Right after entering the underground space, Lin Qiao carefully scanned the area fifteen miles in radius to search for the vibes that made her feel unusual. She didn''t sense anything at first, actually. Only until the level-eight creature caused loud noises did she detect the other vibes in the underground space and the movements of their owners.


    Those vibes all came from powerful creatures that made her feel threatened. Those creatures were scattered sparsely in the place.


    The underground space wasn''t crowded, but it was very dangerous.


    "Did you run into something?" Seeing the look on her face, Yuan Tianxing guessed it out.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Yes. At first, we ran into a mutated plant. Red scared it away though. We also witnessed Huaxia People encounter a fierce mutated tree. I took the opportunity to give them a strike."


    "Huaxia People are there too?" Yuan Tianxing blinked.


    "We''re not the only base that is exploring the underground space. We came down together with the people from the other bases. Si Kongchen''s people attempted to play some kind of dirty tricks to hurt me, so I dealt with them. Si Kongchen didn''t only send people after me. Earlier, he also sent a batch of people to our base to cause trouble, but Lili and the others killed them. I think he''ll take some further actions against us and Sea City Base."


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and said, "Do you doubt his ability?"


    Yuan Tianxing leaned on the headboard as he shrugged and said, "I''m not doubting. After all, Sea City Base isn''t as good as Huaxia Base in terms of both weapon and technology. Overall, Sea City Base is certainly the weaker one. So, if Huaxia Base attacked them with all its power, Sea City Base would be in danger. Chief Wu is a powerful man, but he can''t protect the entire base on his own."


    Huaxia Base might use some weapons of mass destruction or launch multiple long-range missiles at one time. Sea City was a huge base, so it would be difficult for Wu Chengyue to guard the entire base by himself.


    "Don''t worry," Lin Qiao said, "Si Kongchen won''t make such big move for now. He''s always been a man of small tricks. Before coming down here, we took out a batch of his secret warriors, and he was so upset. I remember him looking as black as thunder a couple of days ago before we came down. Based on what I know about him, I can tell for sure that he won''t give up on finding out the secrets of our base. So, I think he''ll try harder to stick his nose into our base this time and, of course, he''ll fail harder too."


    "He''s really persistent," Yuan Tianxing snorted coldly.


    Lin Qiao stood up and said, "Alright. You''ve woken up, but you still need to rest. You should have sensed your own condition already."


    Yuan Tianxing nodded at her. Then, he looked at her and said, "Thank you!"


    Lin Qiao sighed, "You''re welcome. You know, if you died, I''d be in trouble. You need to stay alive to help me run the base."


    After saying that, she gave him a smile and spread her arms.


    "I guess I''ll have work for you all my life," said Yuan Tianxing helplessly.


    "I think so. But, it''ll be fine if you don''t want to work for me. I''ll let you go as long as you find me someone who can take your place," Lin Qiao said jokingly and then disappeared.


    Exiting her space, she found the others staying where they were quietly.


    They had managed to figure out why those underground creatures went up to the earth''s surface. Summoning them back to the underground world didn''t seem possible. How could anyone possibly make a level-nine creature follow the order from human beings and summon back all the underground creatures which it sent out earlier?


    If anyone attempted to do that, the level-nine creature might respond to that person with a fierce claw strike!


    As there was no other way, the only measure that could be taken to stop more underground creatures from going up to the earth''s surface was to blow up every exit after pouring a huge amount of catmint into it. That measure couldn''t guarantee success though, because those underground creatures were totally able to create new exits. So, that was only a temporary measure, and couldn''t solve the problem for good.


    The most efficient way to solve the problem was to find out why the level-nine creature sent all those underground creatures up to the earth''s surface. Only after figuring out what it wanted could people fight against its army with efficiency.


    Currently, the problem for Lin Qiao to solve was how to coax the big cat into leading her and her people to the level-nine creature''s territory.


    The cat tightened its ears immediately when Lin Qiao looked at it.


    Lin Qiao gave the cat a glance before she looked at the others and said, "How should we convince this cat to take us to the level-nine creature''s nest? Any idea?"


    The underground space was huge, and searching aimlessly wasn''t an option. The cat seemed frightened earlier merely because the level-nine creature was mentioned. Before it could agree to guide Lin Qiao and her people to the level-nine creature''s territory, the cat needed to conquer the fear.


    The others glanced at each other before shaking their heads and spreading their hands. "How are we supposed to know? We don''t know it well."

 1332 Follow the Big Ca

    The group of people glanced at each other before turning to Red together. Seeing them all stare at itself, the latter immediately grew alert again. In response, the cat popped its pair of red eyes and looked at those people with vigilance.


    "Maybe you can take us to that area," Lin Qiao said to the cat again with zombie roars.


    "Goooo?" ''Which area?''


    Red tilted its head with confusion.


    "Where the creature that ordered you and your friends to leave lives. You don''t need to take us to the exact spot. Just take us to the area," said Lin Qiao.


    She should be able to detect that creature once she approached that area. Even if she couldn''t sense the creature''s presence, she would have a way to lure it out. Of course, to do that, she had to approach that area. Judging by the vibes that she could currently sense, the area she was now in was clearly not that level-nine creature''s territory. The creatures who lived nearby were all at level-eight, and they each occupied a part of the area.


    To find the level-nine creature''s territory, one surely needed to pass through the territories of those level-eight creatures. Lin Qiao needed the red cat to guide her way, so she wouldn''t waste time searching aimlessly.


    "Whooo¡­" Red lowered its body and moved slightly backward. However, hesitation could be detected from its eyes which were fixed on Lin Qiao.


    "Or, maybe you can point out the direction for us. You don''t need to take us there," Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said to the cat.


    The zombies on the scene were able to understand Lin Qiao''s zombie roars. Based on that, they could roughly guess the contents of her conversation with the cat. Unlike them, Duan Juan and Li Zheng were utterly confused at the moment. They had no idea what the zombie and the beast were talking about. All they heard was Lin Qiao and the cat roaring at each other.


    "What is she saying?" Duan Juan couldn''t help but ask out of curiosity.


    "Oh, she told the cat that if it doesn''t want to take us to the level-nine creature, it can just take us to the area where the creature lives. If it doesn''t even want to do that, it should at least point out the direction for us, so we don''t have to search blindly." Standing on her side, Lu Tianyi answered.


    Duan Juan nodded and said, "Em, that will work. We can''t count on the big cat to draw us a map, but it can show us the way."


    "Aooooo¡­" On hearing Lin Qiao''s degraded request, the big cat stood back up and shook its whiskers. Then, it opened its mouth and gurgled toward Lin Qiao.


    "What do you want to say?" Lin Qiao spent two seconds looking at the cat and then asked


    The cat stopped short and realized that Lin Qiao didn''t understand what it just said. It gave a long sigh and sat down before scratching the ground with a paw.


    "Obviously!" Lu Tianyi nodded affirmatively.


    At that moment, Red stood up and turned around while wagging its tail. Then, it turned back to give Lin Qiao a glance. After that, it raised a paw and waved at her. "Obviously," Lu Tianyi nodded affirmatively. Next, the cat sprung up and hopped onto a mutated vine plant.


    "Follow the cat!" Lin Qiao immediately glanced at the group of people on her right side and gave the order. Then, she followed quickly behind the cat and headed forward. The group of zombies and people followed her and the cat swiftly through the weird-looking underground woods.


    With the cat guiding the way, Lin Qiao and her people easily avoided the dangerous zones, heading straight toward the deeper underground world. No accidents happened on their way.


    The deeper underground the cat led them two, the wider the space became. The poisonous energy that gathered on top of the space grew thicker and thicker; even the whirlwind-shaped swirls were thicker than the ones in the upper area.


    After spending a long while running, the big cat abruptly stopped, standing on a leafless plant as it raised its ear and wagged its tail to look around. It stomped its six feet against the plant but never made another step forward.


    "What''s wrong?" Lin Qiao asked the cat.


    "Looooo¡­" The cat turned to her and uttered a weird sound. Then, it sat down on the branch and stopped moving.


    "Are we getting there?" Lin Qiao thought for a moment and asked.


    She had been keeping track of the distance. Her current location was less than a hundred miles away from the previous one. Did she arrive already?


    The big cat shook its head as it raised a paw and pointed at the ground. Following the cat''s caw with her eyes, Lin Qiao saw the thick wood of underground plants. She narrowed her eyes to observe the area and saw nothing but the purple-red energy above her head. Nothing unusual was found.


    Then, she sniffed at the air and sensed a water scent.


    "Is there a source of water in the front? Did you stop moving because the water area is dangerous?" Lin Qiao turned to the cat and murmured to herself after sensing the water scent.


    Duan Juan, Li Zheng, and the others landed not far away behind Lin Qiao. On hearing what she said, Lu Tianyi nodded and said, "I sensed the water too. It''s about a mile away from us. Is the cat afraid of water?"


    Lin Qiao gave Lu Tianyi a glance before turning back to the cat. Shaking her head, she said, "No, it''s not afraid of water. I think it''s afraid of something in the water. Can you sense the vibes hiding in the water?"


    The question was for Lu Tianyi.


    Lu Tianyi shook his head and said, "No. It''s too far away. I''ll be able to sense them if I can touch the water."


    He had water power, so he could sense the things in the water times more strongly than the others could. By touching the water, he could find out what was hiding deep within.


    Lin Qiao furrowed her brows slightly as she thought of the river she saw earlier. "Maybe it''s like the river we saw earlier. Maybe the water contains some other kind of energy. Anyhow, we need to get there and take a look. The cat led us here, so this must be the only way to go¡­ We might need to cross the river."


    After saying that, she looked at the cat and asked it with zombie roars, "How far are we from the destination?"


    "Looooo¡­" The cat raised a paw and pointed ahead a few times.


    Lin Qiao still didn''t understand what the cat meant. She pointed at head and then said, "We will keep going. Aren''t you coming with us?" But, she understood the cat''s meaning in the next moment. "Oh, are you saying that you''re not going, and that we can go alone? We just need to go straight ahead, right?"


    As she expected, the cat nodded at her this time.

 1333 Above the River

    As Red nodded after hearing what she said, Lin Qiao responded, "Alright, since you''re not going, we''re gonna get there by ourselves."


    After saying that, she turned and waved at the others before moving forward fleetingly.


    After Lin Qiao and her people all disappeared into the distance, the big cat sat down on the leafless tree and looked like a giant red fruit on the tree.


    Lin Qiao and her people found a dark river less than a mile ahead, looking black as ink. The surface of the river was perfectly still, looking almost like a black mirror. The river was tens of meters wide, and one had to be able to fly or swim to cross it.


    With surprise, Lin Qiao found that the dark river didn''t reflect any light at all. That seemed unusual. She raised an arm and said to the people behind her, "Don''t approach the river just yet."


    Meanwhile, she narrowed her eyes to observe the water in the river. Once she narrowed her eyes, the river in those eyes immediately changed color¡ªthe black water became dark-purple. The purple color of the water was so deep that it still looked a bit black.


    Lin Qiao raised her head and noticed that the energy in the water was thicker than that in the air. Obviously, no one should touch the river water. Any human beings who touched it would suffer what Yuan Tianxing did. As a zombie, even she felt that the water was dangerous for her as well. The energy contained in the water was highly condensed, so it might corrode a zombie''s skin and energy at least, even if it couldn''t kill it.


    "Do not touch the water. Step back!" Lin Qiao opened her eyes and ordered her people with a serious look. Lu Tianyi was going to touch the water. However, once he approached the river, he instinctively felt how dangerous it could be.


    Since the water was dangerous, Lin Qiao and her people had to fly across the river. Before doing that, she needed to put the others into her space.


    The cat was able to fly as well. However, it wasn''t willing to approach the river. Why? Was the cat afraid of the energy in the river? That shouldn''t be possible. Its own body contained the same kind of energy as well. The energy in the river shouldn''t be able to harm it at all.


    Why wouldn''t it come near to the river?


    "Come here! I''m gonna put you all into my space and let you out after I cross the river," Lin Qiao waved at her team, signaling for them to line up.


    Seeing that, the team quickly lined up in two straight lines in front of her, and she threw a long rope to each group. As everybody had a hand on the ropes, she pulled them and brought all the people and zombies into her space, throwing them before a house.


    "Stay here and wait for my order," Lin Qiao left them a few words and then flashed out.


    "What''s going on? Why did she put you all in here?" Yuan Tianxing''s vibe had grown much stronger after he took some rest. He at least had the strength to talk now. From the window, he looked at the people down there and asked.


    Hearing him, everyone turned simultaneously. They weren''t surprised to see him, because Lin Qiao had told them that he was awake.


    "There''s a river we can''t cross. So, Chief needs to cross it alone," Li Zheng, who was standing on the side nearest to Yuan Tianxing, answered the question.


    Yuan Tianxing grinned, "Thankfully, Chief has this space. This space makes the mission a lot easier, right?"


    "No other bases possess something like this," Li Zheng gave a grin as well.


    After exiting her space, Lin Qiao stood meters away from the riverside. She didn''t rush to fly across the river but narrowed her eyes again to observe the energy flow in the river. She felt that something else existed in the river which was filled with poisonous dark energy.


    Standing near the riverside, Lin Qiao spent nearly three minutes observing the river but failed to detect any creature in the river or find anything unusual. After confirming that nothing was wrong, she sprung up and wielded an arm, releasing a stream of dark mist to support herself. After rising about thirty meters high in the air, she started moving toward the river.


    She paid all her attention to the river down below. As she was above the river, a pressure suddenly descended to her from the air.


    Lin Qiao immediately raised her head and saw a series of swirls emerge from the dense mist about a thousand miles away from her head. The moment she raised her head, the swirls came down together and landed on the river surface within a blink, stirring the peaceful river.


    The sound of water immediately broke the silence as the swirls descended and created a series of whirlpools in the river.


    Lin Qiao flashed to the side and dodged the energy swirl that was the nearest to her. However, she was trapped among countless energy swirls. Those swirls were merely meters away from each other, all spinning swiftly. They created a strong suction force, seemingly to suck Lin Qiao in. If she let herself being sucked into one of those swirls, she would undoubtedly fall into the river.


    It was dangerous indeed. Lin Qiao finally understood why the big cat wouldn''t approach the river. One or two energy swirls might not be able to threaten its safety, but dodging countless of them would be difficult. More importantly, it definitely didn''t want to fall into the river.


    While thinking about why the red cat wasn''t willing to come near the river, Lin Qiao raised both arms to steady the dark mist under her feet. If she relaxed slightly, she might be sucked into an energy swirl. The power of the dark mist was way weaker than the suction force generated from the swirls. Therefore, she released a stream of black fire. The fire merged into the mist and then grew large under her feet.


    She was now surrounded by energy swirls. To cross the river, she had to go through the space between the swirls. That was a simple idea, but not easy to accomplish. She had to control her own energy steadily to maintain the balance between her own power and the suction force, and in the meantime, she needed to move through the space between the energy swirls using her power. Any slight carelessness might cause her to lose the balance and be sucked into a swirl.

 1334 They Intend to Recruit Those People

    While Lin Qiao was carefully exploring the underground world, All Beings Base had taken in the entire batch of people that Dong Xinxin and her brother brought into the base. Through the past few days, all the required procedures and paper work had been done.


    The hunters'' group started by Dong Xinxin and her brother was called Three Months Hunters'' Group. The others had no idea why it was named Three Months, but Dong Xinxin and her people had the answer. Three Months meant nothing but the three months that she spent in the past after traveling through time.


    At first, Dong Lijia was going to name the group ''New Life'', while Luo Yuanjun came up with a silly name¡ªRevitalizer. Deng Chenfei gave a relatively considerable suggestion, which was Mysterious Hunter''s Group. That was what other people said about their group. They were known as a mysterious, powerful group, which always kept a low profile and was able to foresee dangers.


    However, Dong Xinxin didn''t take their advice and named the group ''Three Months'' at last.


    Currently, Three Months Hunters'' Group was very famous in Sea City Base, known by almost every resident in that base. However, not many had met Dong Xinxin and her friends. After all, they were mysterious and they always kept a low profile.


    The people from the other few hunters'' groups that joined All Being Base together with Dong Xinxin''s group surely didn''t know her, only the managers of Three Months.


    Dong Xinxin had told Lin Feng that she couldn''t say for sure if there would be spies among the people that she brought into All Being Base. After all, that was a huge batch of people. She and her friends couldn''t possibly find out the background of every one of those people, or what they had been up to recently.


    Lin Feng showed Dong Xinxin his understanding and didn''t say much about that. He didn''t trust those people yet and had been staying vigilant against them.


    "A new batch of supplies needs to be shipped to Sea City Base. Are the soldiers from Base Number Two going to enter Sea City Base along with the cargo?" Chen Yuting found Lin Feng, holding the list of the supplies as he asked.


    The drug developed by Leng Xuantong and Shui Mingjun worked very well. At least, the detectors using by Sea City Base couldn''t detect zombies after they took that drug. So, the zombie soldiers were able to pretend to be human soldiers and enter Sea City Base along with the supplies.


    "Who''s in charge of the mission this time?" Lin Feng was reading the files of the new residents. He raised his head to give Chen Yuting a glance as the latter came in, and then he pointed at a chair.


    "Jingyan and Yan Xiao from Unit One in Base Number Two, and Du Yuanxing, from our side," Chen Yuting sat down and answered the question.


    Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "Jingyan and Yan Xiao can enter the base if they want to, but the other soldiers don''t need to get in."


    The zombie soldiers at level-five or below still had zombie features on their faces or hands, so it would be too risky to send them into Sea City Base. Even though the virus detector wouldn''t spot them, the soldiers from Sea City Base might discover something with their eyes.


    Unlike them, Jingyan and Yan Xiao both looked almost the same as human beings, apart from their purely dark eyes. As long as they wore sunglasses or cosmetic contacts, people wouldn''t likely find out what they really were.


    "Just the two of them? Alright. It''s time for them to get into Sea City Base and take a look there," Chen Yuting nodded. Noticing the stack of files on the desk, he continued with curiosity, "So many people joined our base this time. Will it be fine?"


    While turning the pages of those files, Lin Feng said, "There will certainly be problems, so we have to take a lot of precautions to prevent potential problems. In that way, we''ll be able to come up with a solution in time when any accidents happen."


    Lin Feng had deployed a lot of soldiers all over the base to guard it. However, the number of human soldiers was still too small.


    He had been recruiting soldiers all the time, but as the number of residents rose, their backgrounds grew more complicated than before. To ensure the safety of the base, the requirements for recruiting soldiers had been raised, and only a small number of people met them.


    All the newly recruited soldiers needed to be tested for loyalty and moral quality. In their first three months of service, they weren''t allowed to apply to join the base-guarding troop. It was only after that time would they have the right to apply. However, they needed to wait for another three months for their applications to be approved. During those three months, they would be tested strictly. If no problems were found, they would be accepted by the base-guarding troop once they passed the inspection period.


    Currently, the relationship between All Being Base and Huaxia Base had been very intense, so no carelessness could be allowed. Thinking about that, Chen Yuting gave a sigh and said, "The number of residents in our base is still too small. We can''t raise a strong army just yet. We now have some new residents, but we can''t recruit all of them to the army at one time. Hmm¡­ Maybe we should recruit the people from Three Months Hunters'' Group." That idea popped in his head while he was speaking. With gleaming eyes, he looked at Lin Feng and said.


    On hearing that, Lin Feng paused briefly and raised his head to look at the other, "Are you talking about breaking the protocol and recruiting them? It''ll be good if we can convince them to join the army."


    While speaking, Lin Feng fell into deep thoughts. The more he thought about that, the more doable he found it to be.


    Chen Yuting had no idea why Three Months Hunters'' Group suddenly decided to follow Lin Wenwen to All Beings Base, but Lin Feng knew the reason. The leaders of that group were willing to spend seven years waiting for Lin Wenwen. They might have some other purpose, but after all, the group had been showing great moral quality all the time. Chen Yuting had lived in Sea City Base for a long time, but he never heard anything bad about the group, meaning that they were all decent people. Besides, even Wu Chengyue wanted to recruit them into the army in Sea City Base. Apparently, that hunters'' group was indeed strong.


    "Wu Chengyue might be so angry if they really agreed to join our army," Lin Feng suddenly started wondering how Wu Chengyue would react. He wondered if that man would still be able to maintain the smile on his face when he heard the news.


    Chen Yuting responded with a smile, "What could he possibly say? Our Chief won''t give him a chance to complain. But, what''s gonna be the requirements to recruit them? Do you have any idea already?"


    "Sponsors. The people recommended by the first or second batch of residents in our base or the leader of their group can be recruited. But, I still need to talk to Dong Xinxin and her brother about this," Lin Feng thought for a moment and said. It would be embarrassing if they rejected him after he made the offer.

 1335 The Delivery Mission

    The two men were coming up a plan to blend into the transport team from All Beings Base, but one of them wasn''t confident to accomplish the mission on his own.


    "But, I can''t do it alone. All Beings Base is a small base, but they''ll surely be extra cautious about confidential missions like this. I don''t think I''ll find a chance to blend into the team even if follow them all the way, unless something happens on the way to cause chaos. Also, if I fail, the next time will be even harder for you guys," the man shared his opinion.


    If he were spotted, All Being Base people would certainly raise their vigilance next time, meaning there would be even less chance. So, no action should be taken unless success could be guaranteed.


    Currently, people rarely suffered zombie attacks anymore, as each base had gotten some kind of drug to prevent that. The mutated plants between Sea City Base and All Beings Base had been removed. Therefore, no natural accidents would possibly happen to the transport team from All Beings Base.


    "Besides, based on what we''ve learned in Sea City Base, Sea City Base also pays great attention to the supplies that will be delivered from All Beings Base. Those are all fresh food after all. They''re precious," the man added.


    The other man found his words making sense. After a short silence, he said, "I think they''ll relax their vigilance slightly after the supplies were delivered. How about I take some people to bar their road as pretend robbers to create an opportunity for you? That''ll work, won''t it?"


    The transport team would be focusing on the robbers and the man would have a chance to blend into the team. Even if there would be no chance, he could always create one!


    On hearing that, the other man nodded and said, "My chance of success will certainly rise if you are willing to help."


    "This can''t wait," said the first man, "Our Chief has been preparing to bring down Sea City Base all the time. To prevent accidents, we still need to figure out the secrets of All Beings Base before taking action. We can''t let that small base become Sea City Base''s chance for survival!"


    The other man was a little confused. "Sea City Base is a large base, but we are not afraid of it. Why should we worry about that tiny base? They might have some abilities, but they aren''t strong enough to save Sea City Base, are they?"


    In his eyes, All Beings Base was a tiny base with a population of less than ten-thousand. Huaxia Base had a population of over a million, including hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Among all bases in the country, Sea City Base was the only one who had the strength to compete with Huaxia Base. What could the tiny All Beings Base do to ruin Huaxia Base''s plan? The man didn''t understand why Huaxia Base leaders took that mini base so seriously.


    "I agree with you, but you can''t underestimate that base, or we might end up suffering losses," the other man glanced at him scornfully.


    All the people that Si Kongchen sent to that small base had been destroyed. Otherwise, Si Kongchen wouldn''t have paid so much attention to that base. What kind of a force did he send the last time? Those were hundreds of superpower possessors at levels five and six armed to the teeth. Normally speaking, a force like that was strong enough to tear down a base of that size, but those people vanished without leaving a trace in the end!


    If even that failed to make Si Kongchen pay extra attention to the small base, he would be considered unqualified as the leader of Huaxia Base. If he didn''t take All Being Base seriously enough, he wouldn''t have put the spies in Sea City Base in use.


    "You don''t need to worry about that. Just follow my instructions!" The man thought for a moment and then said to the other man.


    "I get it," the other man nodded in agreement.


    That afternoon, two-hundred armed soldiers left All Being Base under Chen Yuting''s leadership to ship tons of fresh vegetables and fruits to Sea City Base. Jingyan and Yan Xiao each led an elite zombie squad to escort them in secret.


    "Are you sure this thing will really work." Yan Xiao carefully looked at the drug handed out to her by her superior. What if the virus detector still spotted her after she took the drug? If that happened, the secret of All Being Base would be revealed! Things would go out of control if that made big news in Sea City Base!


    Jingyan wasn''t as worried as her. "Don''t worry," she said, "The troop that is going to guide us into the base will be a special one in Sea City Base. Even if they found out that we aren''t humans, Xiao Yunlong wouldn''t let them spread the word. Also, we''re going to enter the base through a side door. No irrelevant people will be on the scene. More importantly, I think the drug will work fine. Leng Xuantong has done plenty of experiments to test its effect. He said it''ll work, and I tend to believe him."


    Leng Xuantong even tested the drug on his very own wife. What problem could it possibly have?


    Yan Xiao gave a sigh, still feeling a little worried. "Hopefully it''ll work fine!"


    The two of them acted together with Chen Yuting''s team. The soldiers under their command had been moving along with the team in secret. To keep the action secret, the transport team from All Beings Base always started off in the middle of the night. It would be about three in the morning by the time they arrived at Sea City Base.


    For the same reason, Sea City Base would always open a side door far away from the busy areas for them. It was hard for anyone to find out which door that would be, unless he or she gathered information through multiple sources on purpose.


    In the middle of the night, the transport team from All Beings Base arrived at the side door as safe as always. The soldiers from Sea City Base had been waiting there for them since long ago. This time, the one who was there welcoming them wasn''t Xiao Yunlong''s assistant, Huang Ming, but Xiao Licheng.


    On hearing the noise of the vehicles, Xiao Licheng gave his soldiers a gesture to signal for them to open the door. The vehicles from All Beings Base didn''t drive straight in but stopped before the door.


    "Eh? You?" Chen Yuting was a little surprised to see Xiao Licheng. All Being Base and Sea City Base each had a new man for the job this time. What a coincidence!


    Xiao Licheng stood near the vehicle and saw Chen Yuting stick his head out of the window to look at him curiously. "Huang Ming suddenly started upgrading earlier today. So, I''m here," he said to Chen Yuting.


    Hearing that, Chen Yuting once again paused with surprise. After three seconds of silence, he said, "Did he and Du Yuanxing make an agreement to upgrade together?"


    "Eh-hem, what a coincidence indeed!" said Xiao Licheng.

 1336 The Delivery Mission

    The two men were coming up with a plan to blend into the transport team from All Beings Base, but one of them wasn''t confident to accomplish the mission on his own.


    "But, I can''t do it alone. All Beings Base is a small base, but they''ll surely be extra cautious about confidential missions like this. I don''t think I''ll find a chance to blend into the team even if follow them all the way, unless something happens on the way to cause chaos. Also, if I fail, the next time will be even harder for you guys," the man shared his opinion.


    If he were spotted, All Being Base people would certainly raise their vigilance next time, meaning there would be even less chance. So, no action should be taken unless success could be guaranteed.


    Currently, people rarely suffered zombie attacks anymore, as each base had gotten some kind of drug to prevent that. The mutated plants between Sea City Base and All Beings Base had been removed. Therefore, no natural accidents would possibly happen to the transport team from All Beings Base.


    "Besides, based on what we''ve learned in Sea City Base, Sea City Base also pays great attention to the supplies that will be delivered from All Beings Base. Those are all fresh food after all. They''re precious," the man added.


    The other man found his words making sense. After a short silence, he said, "I think they''ll relax their vigilance slightly after the supplies were delivered. How about I take some people to bar their road as pretend robbers to create an opportunity for you? That''ll work, won''t it?"


    The transport team would be focusing on the robbers and the man would have a chance to blend into the team. Even if there would be no chance, he could always create one!


    On hearing that, the other man nodded and said, "My chance of success will certainly rise if you are willing to help."


    "This can''t wait," said the first man, "Our Chief has been preparing to bring down Sea City Base all the time. To prevent accidents, we still need to figure out the secrets of All Beings Base before taking action. We can''t let that small base become Sea City Base''s chance for survival!"


    The other man was a little confused. "Sea City Base is a large base, but we are not afraid of it. Why should we worry about that tiny base? They might have some abilities, but they aren''t strong enough to save Sea City Base, are they?"


    In his eyes, All Beings Base was a tiny base with a population of less than ten-thousand. Huaxia Base had a population of over a million, including hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Among all bases in the country, Sea City Base was the only one who had the strength to compete with Huaxia Base. What could the tiny All Beings Base do to ruin Huaxia Base''s plan? The man didn''t understand why Huaxia Base leaders took that mini base so seriously.


    "I agree with you, but you can''t underestimate that base, or we might end up suffering losses," the other man glanced at him scornfully.


    All the people that Si Kongchen sent to that small base had been destroyed. Otherwise, Si Kongchen wouldn''t have paid so much attention to that base. What kind of a force did he send the last time? Those were hundreds of superpower possessors at levels five and six armed to the teeth. Normally speaking, a force like that was strong enough to tear down a base of that size, but those people vanished without leaving a trace in the end!


    If even that failed to make Si Kongchen pay extra attention to the small base, he would be considered unqualified as the leader of Huaxia Base. If he didn''t take All Being Base seriously enough, he wouldn''t have put the spies in Sea City Base in use.


    "You don''t need to worry about that. Just follow my instructions!" The man thought for a moment and then said to the other man.


    "I get it," the other man nodded in agreement.


    That afternoon, two-hundred armed soldiers left All Being Base under Chen Yuting''s leadership to ship tons of fresh vegetables and fruits to Sea City Base. Jingyan and Yan Xiao each led an elite zombie squad to escort them in secret.


    "Are you sure this thing will really work." Yan Xiao carefully looked at the drug handed out to her by her superior. What if the virus detector still spotted her after she took the drug? If that happened, the secret of All Being Base would be revealed! Things would go out of control if that made big news in Sea City Base!


    Jingyan wasn''t as worried as her. "Don''t worry," she said, "The troop that is going to guide us into the base will be a special one in Sea City Base. Even if they found out that we aren''t humans, Xiao Yunlong wouldn''t let them spread the word. Also, we''re going to enter the base through a side door. No irrelevant people will be on the scene. More importantly, I think the drug will work fine. Leng Xuantong has done plenty of experiments to test its effect. He said it''ll work, and I tend to believe him."


    Leng Xuantong even tested the drug on his very own wife. What problem could it possibly have?


    Yan Xiao gave a sigh, still feeling a little worried. "Hopefully it''ll work fine!"


    The two of them acted together with Chen Yuting''s team. The soldiers under their command had been moving along with the team in secret. To keep the action secret, the transport team from All Beings Base always started off in the middle of the night. It would be about three in the morning by the time they arrived at Sea City Base.


    For the same reason, Sea City Base would always open a side door far away from the busy areas for them. It was hard for anyone to find out which door that would be, unless he or she gathered information through multiple sources on purpose.


    In the middle of the night, the transport team from All Beings Base arrived at the side door as safe as always. The soldiers from Sea City Base had been waiting there for them since long ago. This time, the one who was there welcoming them wasn''t Xiao Yunlong''s assistant, Huang Ming, but Xiao Licheng.


    On hearing the noise of the vehicles, Xiao Licheng gave his soldiers a gesture to signal for them to open the door. The vehicles from All Beings Base didn''t drive straight in but stopped before the door.


    "Eh? You?" Chen Yuting was a little surprised to see Xiao Licheng. All Being Base and Sea City Base each had a new man for the job this time. What a coincidence!


    Xiao Licheng stood near the vehicle and saw Chen Yuting stick his head out of the window to look at him curiously. "Huang Ming suddenly started upgrading earlier today. So, I''m here," he said to Chen Yuting.


    Hearing that, Chen Yuting once again paused with surprise. After three seconds of silence, he said, "Did he and Du Yuanxing make an agreement to upgrade together?"


    "Eh-hem, what a coincidence indeed!" said Xiao Licheng.

 1337 Sneak in through the Front Door

    Huang Ming possessed level-five ice power, and Du Yuanxing was at level-five as well. Currently, the two of them had begun to upgrade simultaneously. The others wondered which one of them would make the breakthrough first.


    "I think Du will make it first," Chen Yuting got off the vehicle and waved at the driver, signaling for him to drive through the virus detector. While watching the vehicles slowly drive in, he and Xiao Licheng talked with low voices.


    On hearing his words, Xiao Licheng responded without thinking, "Why?"


    "Because we have the drug," Chen Yuting gave him a smile and said.


    "Oh, you''re right. I almost forgot that your Chief seems to have that kind of drug. She used it on Ling Ling before," Xiao Licheng recalled that.


    Ling Ling''s energy erupted and then turned disordered when her superpower was awaking. It was the Chief of All Being Base who had solved that problem.


    "Come here, I need to ask you a favor," Chen Yuting abruptly grabbed Xiao Licheng''s neck and dragged to him to a corner where no one else was there, "Later, I''ll send two special girls through your virus detector. If any accidents happen, please cover for us."


    "What special girls?" Xiao Licheng looked at him bewilderedly. After pausing for a moment to think, he quickly continued, "Wait, they are not from your Base Number Two, are they?"


    Chen Yuting nodded at him.


    "Why?" Xiao Licheng looked at him with confusion, "The alarm will certainly go off if they''re from Base Number Two."


    That was so obvious. The detector would certainly spot them. No matter how much they looked like healthy human beings, their blood and flesh had changed already. They were full of the virus! The detector might start beeping even before they could go through.


    Chen Yuting looked around to confirm that no one was paying attention to their conversation. Only after that did he explain with a low voice, "They are supposed to pass the virus scan if everything goes as planned. I''m just worried that there might be an accident. That''s why I asked you to cover for us."


    After hearing what he said, Xiao Licheng furrowed his brows slightly and spent a short while staring at him. Then, he said, "What the hell? What did you plan? Are they even able to pass the virus scan now?"


    Chen Yuting nodded at him with a smile, "Yes, according to the results of our experiments that have succeeded. Don''t worry, though! We won''t give them that kind of drug unless it''s necessary, so it won''t leak out of our base."


    The drug would only be handed out to the ones in charge of special missions before the missions started. Therefore, it wouldn''t leak out from the base. No zombies on the outside would happen to find it and threaten human bases with it.


    "You guys created something like that?" Xiao Licheng looked at him with surprise, "You guys have been efficient!"


    Chen Yuting patted on his shoulder and said, "You should know the two girls who are about to enter your base. They''re Jingyan and Yan Xiao. Keep an eye on them."


    After saying that, he walked back to his team and gave a hand gesture to the people in a car in behind.


    They brought five military trucks full of fresh fruits and vegetables and all kinds of food. Under Liu Jun''s careful management and the dedication of large numbers of zombie soldiers, the soil that was soaked by Lin Qiao''s lake water had been proving All Beings Base with rich harvests. The crop output was far more than enough for all the residents in All Beings Base. The rest would all be shipped to Sea City Base.


    Therefore, Zou Shihui, who had failed to come up with a doable solution to ease the food crisis lately, even started to plan to get more from All Beings Base. The negotiation had to be done by Wu Chengyue though. He wished that Wu Chengyue could get married with Lin Qiao soon. Everything would become negotiable after the two bases became a family.


    Seeing Chen Yuting''s hand gesture, Jingyan and Yan Xiao got off the vehicle. They were both wearing camouflage suits and sunglasses, with their hair tied up on the back of their heads.


    Xiao Licheng and the others who often made contact with zombie soldiers from All Being Base had gotten used to see them wear sunglasses at night. Unlike them, the Sea City Base soldiers who were guarding the door cast an extra glance at the two girls. They didn''t pay more attention after that though.


    Wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night seemed weird, but it would be understandable if the sunglasses had some special functions, such as night-vision.


    The two girls walked up to Xiao Licheng and Chen Yuting and greeted, "So, can we get in?"


    Chen Yuting turned and gave Xiao Licheng a glance, and then he turned back to nod at them.


    Jingyan and Yan Xiao quickly turned and walked toward the door. Behind then, both Xiao Licheng and Chen Yuting were watching them.


    They walked into the virus scan path for people, but the alarm didn''t go off. Three seconds after the two of them entered the base, the alarm still didn''t go off. Watching that, both Xiao Licheng and Chen Yuting sighed with relief.


    "Alright, now we have the answer. It works fine. You look a little nervous. Aren''t you guys all prepared?" Xiao Licheng said to Chen Yuting.


    Chen Yuting sighed helplessly but said relaxedly, "It''s like how a drill is different from an actual test. Even if you smoothly passed everything in a drill, you''d still be nervous for the actual test, right?"


    "Oh, you''re right!" Xiao Licheng shrugged.


    The two pretty zombie girls successfully entered Sea City Base without letting the human soldiers from Sea City Base know what they really were. After all the vehicles passed the virus scan as well, Xiao Licheng and Chen Yuting entered the base too and then closed the door.


    After entering the base, Yan Xiao whispered a little excitedly, "That felt great! I can''t believe we just came in through the front door! Before, we always had to hide in Chief''s space and let her bring us in."


    Jingyan leaned on the back of her seat as he glanced at her and said blandly and expressionlessly, "What is there to be so excited about? We have plenty of ways to get in here."


    "It just felt different!" Yan Xiao looked at her and said with a grin.


    As the vehicles were driven into the base, two men were hiding on top of a building about a mile away from that side door, looking at the door through a night-vision telescope.


    The man who had the telescope dropped it and said, "They''re here. They''ll only stay for one or two days and then leave at night. That''s what happens every time. They''ve replaced the man in charge. It used to be a level-five man, but now it''s a level-six one. I wonder if they have felt something and grown alert."

 1338 Lin Feng Recruits People

    The day after Chen Yuting left for shipping supplies to Sea City Base, Lin Feng found Dong Lijia and talked to him about recruiting soldiers from his group.


    "Do you want people from our group only? What about the ones from the other groups which followed us here?" Dong Lijia sat in front of Lin Feng and said.


    "We want them too, of course. But, for the other groups, what we''re about to offer them will be slightly worse than what we intend to offer you," Lin Feng sat straight as a soldier like always as he nodded and said expressionlessly. He wasn''t surprised to hear that question from Dong Lijia.


    To recruit people from the hunters'' group, the base would surely offer the groups something to pay them back. If Dong Lijia and his people were willing to recommend their group members to join the army, the base would pay them back with credits, nuclei, supplies, or other valuable things. The amount of the payment would be decided by the number of the people they recommended.


    If the people they recommended were from another hunters'' group, what the base would offer that group would be slightly less than what would be offered to Dong Lijia''s group.


    "Oh, you''re treating people differently!" On hearing the answer, Dong Lijia said to Lin Feng smilingly. Then, he couldn''t help but ask a question, "Their people won''t be paid less than our people, will they?"


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, "No, everyone will be paid the same after they join our army. We''re just about to offer better compensation to your group than the other groups. After all, Three Months Hunters'' Group is raised by you guys single-handedly. What we are going to do is like turning some of your members into ours. The other groups weren''t raised by you guys, and you''ve never invested resources on them. So, you don''t need us to compensate you for them, right?"


    "You''re right. Alright, I''ll help you on that. I''ll see if any of our members are willing to join your base. After all, providing for so many people isn''t an easy thing!" Dong Lijia nodded with a smile.


    Lin Feng only planned to recruit soldiers from the hunters'' group, but not recruit the whole group, because he didn''t know if they would want that. However, he still decided to make the offer.


    "And of course, if the core team of your group is willing to join us, you''ll certainly be welcomed," he looked at Dong Lijia and made the offer.


    Dong Lijia didn''t take the offer but maintained the smiling face as he looked at the other with narrowed eyes and nodded, "Oh, well¡­ We don''t have that kind of plan for now. We''ll think about joining your army if we change our mind one day. I wonder if your offer will still be on the table by then."


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Of course, you can join us any time you want!"


    "Thank you!" Dong Lijia nodded smilingly.


    While speaking, he stood up. Dong Lijia stood up as well, walking Lin Feng out of the office. Then, he came back and sat down to readi the files provided by Lin Feng carefully.


    That afternoon, he found the others and had a discussion with them. Dong Xinxin read the files and said, "By joining the army, we''d be giving away some of our powers, and there would be more restrictions. I don''t think that''s necessary. We''ve joined the base already. If the base is facing a crisis one day, we''ll fight side by side with them to save it. So, I think we are not suitable for their army."


    Her group had a mature management system. The army wouldn''t possibly allow the group to keep its own system, so joining the army meant that the original structure of the group would break. Also, there would be some rules and limitations in the army to restrict the soldiers. Joining the army also meant less freedom.


    The good side of joining the army was that they would be paid. However, they still had their own sources of supplies and were able to find other sources by themselves. They didn''t need to rely on the army for survival.


    "I agree," Deng Chenfei gave Dong Xinxin a glance and nodded in agreement.


    "Me too," Luo Yuanjun nodded as well.


    "Oi, can''t you two have your own point of view? Don''t always listen to whatever Xinxin says." Dong Lijia looked at the two and complained.


    "I got nothing to do with that. Don''t drag me into that conversation," Dong Xinxin rolled her eyes as she folded her arms and leaned against the back of the couch.


    "Since we''re not joining ourselves, I think we should send some other people to join the army. After all, the number of soldiers in this base now is pathetically small," Dong Lijia thought for a moment and made the decision.


    The soldiers in the army would be paid with credits and nuclei each month, while also being provided with weapons, meal tickets, and accommodations. The people from the bottom of hunters'' groups might be attracted by credits and nuclei only. After all, even though being a zombie hunter was a dangerous job, the hunters never needed to worry about food and accommodations.


    However, earning credits and nuclei could be rather difficult for hunters. By contributing to the group, hunters could earn nuclei, but to earn credits, they had to work for the base. One could buy anything with credits. That was the same in every base.


    Therefore, as long as Dong Lijia released the recruiting notice in his group, many would be tempted.


    "What do you guys think?" Dong Lijia looked at the others.


    Dong Xinxin shrugged and said, "I''m fine with it."


    Deng Chenfei nodded quietly.


    "I agree," Luo Yuanjun nodded as well.


    "Alright," said Dong Lijia, "I''m going to send the message to Lin Feng and see when he''ll hold the meeting to get the contract signed."


    ¡­


    After delivering the supplies to Sea City Base, Jingyan and Yan Xiao spent two days wandering in Sea City Base. The second night, they gathered up and headed home.


    As they were about forty miles away from Sea City Base, both Jingyan and Yan Xiao suddenly had the look on their faces grow cold. They glanced at each other and gave the driver an order, "Keep driving."


    Then, the two zombie girls opened the door and flashed out of the moving vehicle. One of them hopped onto Chen Yuting''s vehicle and the other disappeared. Yan Xiao knelt on the truck roof on one knee and bent over to slap Chen Yuting''s window.


    Chen Yuting rolled down the window and stuck his head out to look up at her, "What''s going on?"


    "Some people are barring our road. There''re about a hundred of them," Yan Xiao spent a second sensing those people''s vibes and then lowered her head.


    "I get it," Chen Yuting nodded and said. Then, he took out the speaker and said to the entire team, "Everyone, get ready to fight!"

 1339 Theres an Ambush Ahead

    On hearing Chen Yuting''s order, people drew their guns and grew on full alert immediately. Yet, the moving speed of the motorcade stayed the same.


    At that time, Jingyan and a squad of zombie soldiers had already been moving forward. Following the aroma of living human beings, she gave her soldiers a hand gesture to signal for them to restrain their vibes. Soon after that, she stopped moving hundreds of meters from those people and hopped onto a high place. Taking a look around, she turned and took a detour toward the enemy.


    She and her soldiers moved as fast as the wind. That was a windy dark night, so the noises caused by her and her squad could barely be heard.


    About two hundred meters from the enemy, Jingyan raised a hand to give her soldiers another signal. Following her movement, her soldiers scattered swiftly and silently as they started approaching the unidentified enemies from all directions. As there were still two-hundred meters of safe distance from the enemy, they only formed half a circle for the moment.


    Next, Jingyan started moving forward alone. She stopped tens of meters from the enemy and tried her best to hide her vibe as she looked at those people closely, carefully sensing their vibes.


    Those people had been trying to hide their vibes as well. Their vibes weren''t fully restrained though. Chen Yutin''s team was still at a distance away, so they weren''t yet on full vigilance. That was probably why they leaked some of their vibes.


    Jingyan approached them quietly. Based on the vibes she had detected, she slowly figured out that the strongest one among those people was at level-six only. However, about ten of them were at level five. The rest were at levels three and four, and some were commoners.


    Those people showed up in the middle of the night on the only way led from Sea City Base to All Beings Base. They were hiding by the roadside, restraining their vibes. Apparently, they planned to ambush Chen Yuting and his team!


    Jingyan didn''t run up to those people directly but hid up somewhere leeward and about thirty meters away from them. Hiding there, she listened carefully to any noise those people caused. As long as the wind didn''t change direction, she could hear some of their conversations through the wind. Zombies mostly had great hearing. She had reached level-six already, so her hearing had surely grown even sharper.


    She needed to figure out who those people were. She guessed they were from Huaxia Base.


    With that thought, she closed her eyes and focused on her ears to listen to their conversations.


    "Boss, the targets are two miles away from us!"


    "Hmm, keep a close eye on them. Come back to me when they are one mile from us!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Don''t worry. We''re only about to draw him away and not kill him¡­ Our job is only to distract them."


    "If you''re going to pretend to be a robber, you need to act like one¡­ You know what those robbers would do¡­"


    "I get it¡­"


    Jingyan didn''t hear the full conversation but had already gathered quite some information from what she had heard. Those people were planning to pretend to be robbers and bar the transport team''s road. They didn''t seem to aim to destroy the team. What did they really want?


    Based on what she had learned, Jingyan figured that it should be a trap. The enemy might have some further plans.


    Meanwhile, Chen Yuting''s team came closer and closer. As the motorcade was about a mile away from the enemy, Jingyan left abruptly and landed somewhere hundreds of meters from the enemy, hiding in the darkness and waiting quietly.


    Two seconds later, two men quietly came toward her. They were obviously going to report to the people who were ambushing Chen Yuting and his people. One of them had green power and one with wind power; they were both at level-four.


    Jingyan hopped onto the highest spot on the road before them and hid there. The moment the two men came to her, she leaped down and pounced on one of them like a bolt of lightning, sinking her fingers into the man''s skull. Before landing, she flashed across the air and showed up behind the other man, who hadn''t yet realized that his friend was dead already.


    Puff! The second man heard the strange noise caused by Jingyan when she killed the first man. He turned to see what happened but didn''t see his friend. As he paused with surprise, prepared to search for his friend, the zombie girl showed up behind her and then the zombie claws penetrated his heart.


    "Eh-hem¡­" The wind-powered man stood on the tree stiffly as he popped his eyes in shock and stared at the human hand came out of his chest. Then, he slowly turned back and saw a pair of zombie eyes which were purely black but with red pupils.


    Before he realized what had happened, he suffered a piercing pain from his head and then he died.


    Crack! Jingyan broke his skull, dug out his energy nucleus, and then quickly collected all his weapons and gear. After that, she collected everything the first man she killed had too.


    After doing all that, she turned and quickly moved toward Chen Yuting and his team.


    Chen Yuting''s team stopped moving once Jingyan showed up. "What did you find? Who are they?" Chen Yuting asked her.


    Jingyan had put her sunglasses back on. Standing in front of Chen Yuting, she said, "About a mile ahead are people on both sides of the road. They''re from Huaxia Base. But this time, they don''t intend to kill all of us. They plan to pretend to be robbers to distract us and then send their people to blend into our team and hide to find a way into our base."


    On hearing what she said, Chen Yuting thought for a moment and responded, "I guess Si Kongchen has adjusted his plan. He now intends to send people into our base to find out our secrets."


    "How''s their power level?" he asked another question.


    "There are one-hundred and thirty-five of them, including one level-six, ten level-five, about sixty commoners. The rest are all at levels three and four. They are all armed to the teeth, and their weapons are all new. Look."


    While speaking, she put the weapons she got from the two men on the hood and showed them to Chen Yuting. Those were the latest models of energy guns developed by Huaxia Base, many times more powerful than ordinary pistols. The firing range of those guns was much longer than that of pistols as well.

 1340 Ambush and Be Ambushed

    "Only one level-six? He sent over a hundred of them last time! Is this a joke?" Chen Yuting couldn''t help but snort with laughter after he heard what Jingyan said.


    Yan Xiao leaped off the truck roof and said, "I guess he doesn''t want to fight face-to-face with us again. After all, his plan never worked."


    Jingyan looked at Chen Yuting and said, "What are you gonna do?"


    Chen Yuting quickly responded, "You two take your squads to approach them from two different directions and deal them a surprise attack. They want to pretend to be robbers, so let''s pretend to be real zombies and play the game with them. I''ll keep move forward. You two first go and gather some wild zombies, and then make the move before they make any. Do you guys remember our goal?"


    "Not let any of them get away¡­ I know that," Yan Xiao tilted her head and said with a grin.


    Jingyan nodded and said, "Let''s start now!"


    After saying that, she disappeared from where she was. Yan Xiao left along with her as well.


    As Chen Yuting got back into the truck, the motorcade started moving forward again.


    The two scouts who had their eyes on the motorcade from All Beings Base were killed by Jingyan, so the people in ambush didn''t know where Chen Yuting and his team were at the moment. But, while waiting for the message, the level-six man had also been doing the math based on the moving speed of the motorcade to estimate its current location.


    He believed that his scouts would bring him more accurate information, so he didn''t pay much attention to the result he got in his head. Therefore, he missed something.


    Soon, he started to grow suspicious, because the two scouts who were supposed to come back to him didn''t show up. At that very moment, he suddenly heard two zombies roar from both sides behind.


    "Roarrr¡­"


    The zombie roars were bright and resonant, seemingly to deliver some kind of message. All Huaxia people on the scene had their attention attracted to the zombie roars. The zombies sounded very close to them after all.


    "What''s going on? Are they medium-leveled zombies or high-leveled?"


    "I don''t know! But, something is wrong! How come two of them showed up at one time! It sounds like they''re gathering a zombie crowd!"


    "Something is wrong indeed! There shouldn''t be zombies on this road! The zombies in this area should have been cleaned out long ago."


    "Maybe they''re from somewhere else. You, you and you, go and see what''s happening over there! I think those two zombies are probably up to something!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    The two zombies which had shown up somewhere they weren''t supposed to be were obviously not just passing by.


    The soldiers who were sent to both sides in the back soon found large numbers of zombies gathering toward them from all directions. Those zombies weren''t shambling slowly. Instead, they were running at their highest speed with their faces twisted, teeth bared, and claws brandished. Some of them even got down on all fours and crawled like beasts.


    They saw those zombies swarming madly at them but didn''t find a trace of the two that gathered those zombies. The scouts immediately realized that something very bad was happening. They turned and ran back to the others, reporting to their boss, "A small zombie crowd is coming at us from the left side!"


    "The same thing is happening on the right side!" Soon, another squad returned and reported the same situation.


    "Are they coming at us?" Their captain, who was also the man who talked the spy in Sea City Base into accepting this mission, said with a sullen face.


    "They''re coming toward us, but we''re not yet sure if we are their target!" said one of the scouts.


    The man who was supposed to find an opportunity to make a way into All Beings Base thought for a moment and said, "Those zombies are coming right in time actually. We can make them attack the team from All Beings Base. Then, you guys can follow them to launch further attacks. In that way, I think I''ll have a better chance to blend into the team. You all have the drug that can keep zombies away from you, right? I think they won''t attack you guys."


    "Take the drug now! We need to take the drug whether those zombies are coming at us or not!" The captain immediately gave an order. Then, he looked at the man and said, "I think God is helping you. If you miss a perfect chance like this and fail to get into All Being Base, I think you might not deserve to go to Huaxia Base."


    The two of them had a perfect plan. But soon, they realized that they were wrong. Two minutes later, great numbers of zombies showed up around them.


    "What''s going on? Haven''t we all taken the drug already? Is there anyone who didn''t take it?" Looking at those zombies which had still been approaching him and his people, the captain scanned his soldiers with his eyes and then yelled at them.


    "No!"


    "No!"


    "No¡­"


    A few soldiers answered the question. Everyone had taken the drug as they were ordered to.


    "Why are they still coming at us?" The captain shouted with anger and gave another order, "Fight!"


    In the next second, Chen Yuting and his people who were hundreds of meters away heard all kinds of gunshots and explosion sounds.


    "You guys want to play robbers and get into our base, right? Get past the zombie crowd first." Chen Yuting stood before a truck and said. While speaking he was looking closely at a gun that was newly developed by Huaxia Base.


    In the battlefield, Jingyan and Yan Xiao made eye-contact and separated, sneakily approaching the captain from both sides. Meanwhile, the zombie soldiers under their command had their eyes on the ten level-five superpower possessors.


    One of those people had been moving toward the road where Chen Yuting and his team were on, with his vibe hidden as well as possible. That man possessed a special superpower. That was the power of one type of insects¡ªcolor-mimicking mantis, the natural disguiser.


    The mantis man was at level-five only, but his special power made him perfect for intelligence work. That was why Wei Haichao wanted him to blend into the transport team from All Beings Base and make a way into that base.


    He was not only able to hide his vibe and turn himself invisible, but was also undetectable for some detectors. He was able to enter any place easily. It was hard for people to discover him!


    However, the ones who were two levels or more higher than him were still able to sense his existence.

 1341 The Invisible Man

    The mantis man told Huaxia people that blending into the transport team of All Being Base was a very difficult and dangerous mission. But in fact, he wasn''t as nervous as he looked. He was pretty confident in his ability. Huaxia people didn''t yet know exactly how capable he was.


    He had taken the drug that Huaxia Base developed to keep zombies away from people, so he wasn''t worried that he might be attacked. In fact, he was actually very confident. He had the confidence that he would be able to easily blend into the team.


    He acted like it was mission impossible only because he wanted better treatment after accomplishing the mission.


    Jingyan, who was preparing to give the captain a surprise attack, abruptly give Yan Xiao a hand gesture to signal for the latter to stop. Yan Xiao looked at her with confusion and saw her point at the area behind. From that area, a weird scent was approaching Chen Yuting and his team.


    After taking the drug, the scents of the group of Huaxia people suddenly changed. That was the drug''s effect.


    The drug didn''t remove their scents entirely but turned it into another scent. It was like a freshly cooked piece of meat suddenly smelt like rotten raw meat. That was why zombies would lose their interests in the people who had taken the drug.


    The zombies like Jingyan who was as smart as human beings would, of course, not ignore the people on the drug as normal zombies would.


    Jingyan gave Yan Xiao a signal and the two of them split up, jumping into action. Jingyan intended to meet the person who so confidently believed that he was able to blend into their team. As for the captain, he was only at level-six. Yan Xiao was able to deal with him by herself. Jingyan sent Yan Xiao after the man, and she would later come back to see if the latter needed help.


    Yan Xiao understandingly responded to her with another hand gesture and kept moving toward the captain. Meanwhile, Jingyan turned and quickly moved toward the person who had been approaching Chen Yuting and his people.


    She followed the scent to its source and looked around first before leaping across the source of the scent and landing on a small building. Leaning against the guardrail on the roof, she fixed her eyes on one area and surprisingly saw nothing!


    She couldn''t see colors but she saw everything clearly. She had her eyes fixed on exactly where the scent came from but couldn''t see the source of it!


    No wonder Huaxia sent the person to carry the mission alone. It turned out to be someone with some special kind of power! The man hid his vibe and body perfectly, but he probably didn''t know that his scent was detected by Jingyan.


    She sensed another movement of the invisible person. Without doing anything else, she followed the person in the darkness, and as she expected, she saw him get into the trunk of one of the trucks without being noticed by Chen Yuting.


    Those military trucks were now empty as the cargo had been unloaded in Sea City Base. Before, about ten soldiers stayed in each truck, but they had now all gotten off the vehicles and scattered around the trucks to prepare for the coming battle.


    Jingyan gave that truck a glance and sneered in her head. Next, she suddenly showed up in front of Chen Yuting and whispered at his ear before he could react, "A rat got into the fourth truck."


    Chen Yuting immediately turned to her with surprise. However, neither did he nor Jingyan turn around to look at the fourth truck, as if they weren''t paying attention to it at all.


    "How is that possible? Why didn''t I detect his presence? Does he have a special power? When did he get in?" Chen Yuting was stunned a little at first, and then he furrowed his brows as he asked some questions with a low voice.


    "He does have a special power," said Jingyan, "He got in a minute ago. Even I can''t see him, let alone you. I followed his scent all the way but I couldn''t find a trace of his. I guess he has the same kind of power as Captain Yun Meng."


    Chen Yuting nodded and said, "We can''t kill the rat in the truck. We have to make him come out and also make sure he doesn''t run away."


    After all, making the move in the truck might lead to the destruction of that truck.


    "Throw a gas bomb in it," Chen Yuting turned and said to Jingyan.


    Jingyan quickly nodded and turned to fetch the gas bomb. The air was safe, so the man surely wouldn''t wear a gas mask or anything like that. He would react to the gas bomb as long as he was a human being.


    The mantis man was squatting in the fourth truck, thinking that his mission was already accomplished by a big half. Currently, all he needed to do was to wait for the truck to drive into All Beings Base.


    Why didn''t Huaxia Base send someone with invisibility like him to carry missions like that earlier? That was such an easy thing for him. He was best at such things! However, instead of sending him for the job, those idiots from Huaxia Base always told him to wait for the right moment and not do anything unnecessary, in case he got exposed.


    He could find out any secret he wanted to know. He was the one who found out that the soil in Sea City Base could not grow food. If it weren''t for him, Huaxia Base people would still be fooled by the lie that Xiao Yunlong, Zou Shihui, and Wu Chengyue made up.


    Suddenly, a gas bomb was thrown into the truck, and a thick and pungent odor instantly spread in the truck. The mantis man gave a start and hurriedly covered his nose as he darted out. Once he got out, a large web descended from the sky and wrapped him up.


    Thud! The invisible man in the web fell on the ground, revealing his existence very clearly.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! The moment he landed, three gunshots were heard in a row. Three bullets hit the center of the web.


    "Eh¡­ You¡­" Following a muffled moan, a man showed up in the web. Lying there in shock, he gawked at Chen Yuting, who was putting his gun back into the holster. He wanted to ask a question, but before letting out another word, he collapsed to the ground.


    He was dead.

 1342 Watch out for Traitors

    After the mantis man died, Jingyan immediately left and quickly moved toward Yan Xiao.


    Facing two elite zombie squads and over a thousand wild zombies, the hundred-men team from Huaxia surely didn''t manage to escape the fate of being eliminated. They all ended up becoming the wild zombies'' meal with their nuclei dug out.


    Chen Yuting and his people didn''t waste much time there but kept heading back to the base.


    The day after returning to the base, he handed Lin Feng his report early in the morning. Reading that they encountered ambush last night, the latter knitted his brows.


    The enemy had started to send out people with special superpowers. They might send out other special superpower possessors next time. That mantis man would definitely not be the only one serving Huaxia Base who possessed a power that could allow him to turn invisible and pass all sorts of detectors, even being able to hide his own vibe. Huaxia Base had a large population, so it was understandable that all kinds of talents existed among its residents.


    "I think Si Kongchen is finally making this serious. We are able to keep the secrets on our side, but Sea City Base might not be able to do the same. After all, many who work for Chief Wu know our secrets," Chen Yuting looked much more serious than usual.


    Si Kongchen would certainly be paying greater attention to Sea City Base. If he found All Beings Base''s secrets from Sea City Base, not only would All Beings Base be in danger, but Sea City Base, which was in close partnership with it, would be facing a crisis as well. After all, nearly a million people lived in Sea City Base. If they found out the truth about All Beings Base, they would start a riot from the inside, which would be difficult for the three base leaders to quell.


    Violence wouldn''t be a choice, because it would only lead to worse results.


    Lin Feng gave a sigh, "That day will come sooner or later. Chief isn''t back yet. All we can do is prepare ourselves for the worst. Send the message to Wu Chengyue and see what he''ll plan to do."


    The worst-case scenario would be people discovering the zombie army in All Being Base. No matter how the other humans would think of the zombie army, the residents in All Beings Base would first start a civil war. The situation would be difficult if the enemies were to come from both inside and outside, so trying to prevent the civil war would be a better thing to do currently. After all, the base was shared by zombies and humans, and the secret would be revealed eventually. Since the secret couldn''t be kept forever, the base managers might as well do something in advance to make people accept their zombie friends.


    Hearing his words and noticing the sudden frown on his face, Chen Yuting was a little confused. "Worst-case scenario? Are you saying that¡­"


    To wash people''s brains, all kinds of methods could be used. Threatening or tempting, they would, by any means, make those people accept the existence of the zombie army from Base Number Two.


    However, some of those people might not be honest to the base leaders. They could pretend to accept the zombies in the base and plan something in secret. After all, they were humans. Humans could be paranoid and stubborn sometimes.


    "That''s plan A. If that doesn''t work in the end, we''d have two choices to make them keep the secrets forever. However, the final decision has to be made by Chief. We won''t be taking actions like that until the last moment. Right now, we should think about how to improve our confidential work," Lin Feng said expressionlessly and nodded.


    Chen Yuting thought for a moment and said, "Thankfully, they had all signed the agreement when they joined the base. We still have the initiative."


    Since the base was founded, Lin Qiao had started to make everyone who decided to join All Being Base sign a confidentiality agreement. The residents in the base weren''t allowed to leak any information about the base. Only by following that rule could they live a carefree life in the base.


    "But, we can start with the army already. Make it like counseling. We can slowly give the truth to more people," Lin Feng knocked on the desk with a finger as he thought for a moment and said.


    In fact, quite some people in the army in Base Number One had already known about the zombie army. But still, they needed to carefully select the people to give the counseling to.


    "Maybe we should hold a meeting with the few from Base Number Two and ask for their opinion," said Chen Yuting.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "That''s what I''m thinking. Send them the message now and prepare to have the meeting tonight. The message for Chief Wu is more urgent though."


    "I get it. I''m doing that right now," Chen Yuting stood up and said.


    ¡­


    Qiu Lili, Yun Meng and the others were all surprised to receive Lin Feng''s message. On the roof, Qiu Lili, who was curled in Lin Kui the black panther''s arms, said with surprise, "Do you think Lin Feng''s plan is too risky?"


    That was the first thought that popped up in their minds. After all, letting all people in the base know the secret would raise the possibility of a leak.


    Lin Kui shook an ear and said, "He said that''ll be the last step. He''s actually trying to say that if our base belonged to zombies only, there would be no chance for the secret to leak as long as we stay careful enough. However, our base is shared by both humans and zombies. We all live together. The humans will eventually find out the secret of Base Number Two. If they found it out and leaked it before we knew, there might be trouble and we might not be able to react in time. So, I think he now intends to bring all human residents under control to prevent traitors from emerging. In this way, we can take the initiative and gain the upper hand."


    After all, it was always hard to prevent damage caused by the enemies within.


    On hearing his explanation, Qiu Lili started to understand it, "Oh, I see." She turned to the North. A bright red light flashed across her ruby-like eyes as she said, "It seems that the first big war relating to the future of our base is going to start soon. I hope Qiaoqiao returns soon."

 1343 A Wise Choice

    Lin Kui lashed his tail as he turned and licked her hand, "Don''t worry, we won''t be exposed so easily. Even if the people in the base find out the truth, we won''t let them leak the secret. But we do need to take preventive measures to prepare ourselves for any possible problem, so we can always react in time."


    Qiu Lili shrugged and said, "You''re right. We should have nothing to be afraid of even if the whole world knows that our base is a zombie base. In the worst case scenario, we can simply cast all humans out! We are zombies, but we have the right to live too."


    As Lin Feng was making plans for preventing the secrets of the base from leaking, a nurse in the hospital had been stealthily searching for something in Lin Hao''s office.


    The nurse was a commoner, not a superpower possessor. However, she managed to sneak into Lin Hao''s office, as she had spent a long time learning his daily schedule. At the moment, Lin Hao was in the isolation ward designed for the superpower possessors in upgrading, checking on Du Yuanxing. That provided the nurse the opportunity to search through his office.


    The nurse spent a short while rummaging in the file cabinet. She pushed away some files and found a hidden compartment behind it. That discovery made her excited.


    ''I knew I could find it!'' With that thought, she reached her hand in to touch the hidden compartment. She pressed it and delved into it, finally uncovering it. However, she then put on a look of disappointment, because inside it was a keyhole that required a key to open.


    The nurse recalled that Lin Hao always carried a set of keys with him. He put the keys aside only when he performed operations in his patients. She had to wait until he performed another operation to get the keys.


    She angrily closed the compartment, then put the files back where they were. After that, she spent another while searching in the office but found nothing else. So at last, she had no choice but to leave with empty hands.


    After leaving Lin Hao''s office, she quickly went to the monitoring room. The few security staff on duty were lying on the desks and sleeping tight.


    The nurse walked in with her face covered and quickly turned on the surveillance cameras. After that, she quickly left the monitoring room. Before leaving, she took out a glass bottle and poured the drug into the room. The drug generated a cloud of yellow smoke once it made contact with the air and gave out a pungent odor. Two minutes later, the smoke faded away, and the few security guys woke up gradually a few minutes after that.


    They woke up muddle-headed, and only after spending about ten seconds in a daze did they have their minds clear again.


    "Eh? How did I fall asleep?" The security guy who woke up the first looked around and found his three colleagues lying on the ground or the desk, sleeping.


    The others soon woke up. They looked around and then at the monitor screen; nothing unusual was found. They all thought they were probably too tired last night.


    "I guess it''s because I didn''t sleep well last night. I''ve been tired all day today. Ah¡­ I''m still tired," said a security guy while yawning. They didn''t realize that their minds were a little unusually slow after they woke up, and they didn''t wonder why they all fell asleep together.


    ¡­


    That night, Lin Feng, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng and the others had a meeting talking about how to brainwash the human residents in the base.


    "I''m not saying that we should take these actions right now. I think we should wait until we can''t keep the secret anymore. But, I''m also thinking that maybe we can select a small number of people from the army in Base Number One and tell them the truth, making them accept it. I want your people to give them one-on-one counseling, to let them see who you really are. I think that''ll work better," Lin Feng looked at the others and said.


    Yun Meng rested both elbows on the desk and thought for a moment before speaking, "Do we have to do that? What if they pretend to accept us but secretly refuse? We are not Chief. We can''t read their mind, so we won''t know how they really think. It would be a huge disaster for us if any of them managed to leak the secret."


    "I''ll be selecting the people from the army," said Lin Feng, "And there won''t be many of them. Let''s see how the first batch of people reacts and then decide if we''ll continue doing that based on their reactions."


    Yun Meng spent a short while thinking. She found that a little too risky, but Lin Feng seemed to have made his mind already. However, since he would only be running a test on a small batch of people, things would be under control. Further decisions would still be made by Lin Qiao when she returned.


    She glanced at Qiu Lili and Lin Kui as she asked, "What do you guys think?"


    Qiu Lili didn''t think as much as Yun Meng did and spoke frankly, "The people living with us now will find out sooner or later. I think it might be a good thing to let them know in advance, so they won''t overreact when they find out by themselves and do something to cause trouble. Besides, we can''t possibly hide like this our entire lives. Our army eventually will become a part of this era openly, and one day, we won''t have to wear sunglasses and lots of clothes to disguise ourselves anymore."


    "Also," she continued, "We are zombies, but we have the right to live as well. It''s not like we''ll hurt them for no reason. If they discriminate against us or gather up to attack us, let them do that. We won''t be afraid of them!"


    After saying that, she raised her chin and snorted coldly.


    Yun Meng looked at her, feeling a little speechless. "Si Kongchen might throw a missile into our base. Can you protect the base from missiles?" she said.


    Qiu Lili let out her tongue and said carelessly, "Of course, I can totally catch the missile in the air and throw it back to him! Besides, why would we wait until he starts to throw missiles at us? We should take the initiative to launch a strike! Huaxia Base is our enemy already!"


    Yun Meng couldn''t think of a word to argue with her. Qiu Lili was right. Why did zombies have to be afraid of humans? She and her friends could flatten Huaxia Base by gathering all the zombies in the province! Why should they be afraid of missiles?


    "Huaxia Base will be destroyed sooner or later. Si Kongchen will soon die. If we can provide all the other bases with food, they should be willing to sign a peace agreement with us under the current food crisis. After all, wars will only make mankind suffer greater damage and reduce the human population. If we can guarantee not to hurt them, choosing to fight a war against us will certainly not be a wise decision for them," said Lin Feng to the others.

 1344 Lin Haos Keys

    Zombies didn''t eat vegetables, so all the crops produced by All Being Base were for humans. Under the current circumstances, it would be really stupid for them to think about fighting their own base instead of their own future.


    "You''re right! they might discriminate against us, but to be fair, humans are just selfish and ambitious. The world is under a food crisis now. They''ll incline to a compromise for the sake of the food that we''ve been providing for them, whether they want it or not," Lin Feng looked at the others and said.


    They would make an outward show of acceptance, but deep down, they would certainly want more. Humans were hardly satisfied with what they were provided with.


    "Are you talking about signing a peace agreement with the other bases to avoid wars?" Yun Meng didn''t know that Lin Feng had already thought about what to do when the secrets of All Being Base were revealed completely.


    "That''s not my idea. It''s Chief''s idea," Lin Feng shook his head and said.


    The farm in Mount Wu area wasn''t only for the residents in All Being Base. Lin Qiao aimed at creating a larger farm. The other bases would take the value of that farm into consideration before they decided to turn All Being Base into an enemy.


    Yun Meng and Qiu Lili glanced at each other. They had no idea that Lin Qiao had thought about that already. She was a far-sighted Chief indeed.


    ¡­


    As they were running that discussion, the nurse who had entered Lin Hao''s office earlier quietly showed up in a room. The others in the room looked at her expectantly once she came in.


    "Did you find anything about that woman?" A man looked at her and asked.


    The nurse was now wearing a black casual suit. She came into the room and looked outside as she closed the door before taking a seat.


    "No, but I found a hidden compartment. I couldn''t open it though, as it''s locked. I think what''s in it should be files that Lu Tianyu often went to the hospital to look into earlier. I couldn''t open it, so I don''t know what''s in it," the nurse said as she spread her hands.


    "The woman has changed drastically. There must be a reason! We have to dig out her secret. It''s gonna be priceless! We can''t get close to the farm in Mount Wu, but the hospital is much easier. You need to be careful though. Don''t expose yourself!" Another man looked at the nurse and reminded her.


    "I get it," the nurse nodded and said.


    "Even if we manage to get some important information, we might not even be able to send it out. Lin Feng has the base strictly guarded. I heard he''s been having his people secretly tailing everyone who leaves the base. That''s how he finds out if those people would covertly sell confidential information about the base to other bases."


    "People aren''t allowed to approach Base Number Two either. It seems empty though. Why would they want an empty area in their base?"


    "Is it really okay for us to do these things? This base seemed small and weak, but you see, Hidden Cloud City Base, Sky Fire Base, and now Huaxia Base, not a single base managed to dig out a single secret about this base. I somehow felt as if the woman has a mysterious force behind her back! Do you guys remember those zombies outside the base we saw when we first came here? I think something was wrong with those zombies!"


    "Something is definitely wrong with those zombies! They seem to have a way to control those zombies. Those zombies are gone now. I wonder where they''ve sent those zombies to. Huaxia Base would pay a great price to know how they''ve been controlling those zombies."


    The nurse quietly listened to their conversation without saying another word. Those people were from Hidden Cloud City Base, Earth Dragon Base, or other bases. They came to All Beings Base and signed the confidential agreement as they were asked to, in order to survive. However, they weren''t satisfied with their current lives. After spending a while living a peaceful life, they started to have some other thoughts.


    In fact, All Beings Base was only a temporary home for them. Their ultimate goal was still to join Huaxia Base. So, no matter how, they would eventually choose to leave All Beings Base and join another base.


    As Huaxia Base was paying a great attention to Sea City Base and All Beings Base currently , they realized that the confidential information about those two bases would be highly valuable. If they dug out the secrets of All Beings Base, they would not only get a lot of supplies from Huaxia Base, but also quite some weapons.


    In their eyes, All Beings Base couldn''t possibly survive if Si Kongchen decided to destroy it seriously. Therefore, they chose to create some possibilities for themselves.


    "The other things can wait. Let''s think about how to get Lin Hao''s keys now!" As the conversation went further and further off the point, the nurse finally reminded them of the really important thing. Only after revealing the secrets of All Beings Base could they find out how valuable those secrets could be. Before finding out what the secrets actually were, talking about their value would be pointless.


    "Do you know where he keeps his keys? How do you plan on getting them?" Someone asked her.


    "He has a set of keys that he carries everywhere with him," said the nurse, "I think the key we need is one of them. He only puts those keys aside when he operates on his patients."


    "Does he carry those keys to the shower?" someone asked her.


    The nurse glanced at the man and said, "Can you get into his apartment? I can''t do that."


    The building where Lin Hao and his family lived was strictly guarded. Some people attempted to sneak in before, but they either got spotted before entering the building or never came out after getting in. Through observation, the nurse had found that it was impossible for anyone to enter the area where the important base members lived without permission. Taking an action there would be more difficult than making a move in the hospital!


    On hearing her words, the other fell into silence briefly. "Alright, do it when he performs another operation."


    Lin Hao, who had no idea that some people had already cast their eyes on the keys around his waist, was standing outside of Du Yuanxing''s ward, observing the man through the window.


    Du Yuanxing possessed a special type of electric power. Currently, his body was covered in a layer of sizzling electric currents. The bed he was lying on was made from plastic, wood, and other insulating materials. The entire ward was protected by plastic paper, in case his electric power suddenly erupted and burned the whole hospital.


    "What do you think? His energy is active enough, isn''t it?" After spending a while looking at Du Yuanxing, who was lying on the bed, Lin Hao turned to ask the medical staff beside him.

 1345 The Fishes Flew out of the River

    "Based on the date, I think he''ll make the breakthrough in about four hours," said the medical staff to him.


    Lin Hao looked at Du Yuanxing. Thankfully, he still had a good amount of lake water left by his sister. He made Du Yuanxing drink three glasses of it and managed to stop the man''s electric power from bursting out of his body. A few days before, people had to wear insulating suits and rubber gloves to touch him, and they were all worried that they might be burned to ashes with the slightest carelessness.


    "This is so great! We are finally about to have another level-six member!" Lin Hao nodded and then gave a sigh. The number of superpower possessors in Base Number One was way too small. Thinking about the number of level-six zombies in Base Number Two, he felt that Base Number One was so much weaker than Base Number Two. He wondered when Base Number One could have as many level-six members as the other.


    The medical staff smiled at him and said, "There''ll be more and more in the future. Aren''t there over ten-thousand new members of our base now? There are quite some level-six ones among them, right?"


    Lin Hao thought for a moment and then nodded, "You''re right! There are over twenty level-six ones among those people, about ten of whom are from Three Months Hunters'' Group. Wenwen had indeed done a great job!"


    The medical staff thought that by ''a great job'', he was talking about Lin Wenwen bringing those people from Sea City Base to All Beings Base. But in fact, Lin Hao meant what she did seven years ago. She helped those people, which was why they paid her back now.


    After confirming that Du Yuanxing would make the breakthrough and enter a new level in a few hours, Lin Hao returned to his office. He wasn''t a zombie, so he couldn''t detect the scent left by the people who had been in his office. The nurse was a commoner. She didn''t have a superpower, so she wouldn''t leave any energy behind. Therefore, Lin Hao had no idea that someone was in his office searching for something not long ago.


    He sat down and spent a short while reading the data about Du Yuanxing''s energy changes these days, and then he put the file on the desk as he stood up. He turned and walked to the file cabinet, moving away the files before the hidden compartment. Then, he found a key from the set of keys around his waist and unlocked the compartment.


    In the compartment weren''t Lin Qiao''s files as the nurse estimated. Instead, those were the files of the superpower possessors in the base who had recently upgraded.


    He opened the hidden compartment and then turned around to pick up Du Yuanxing''s file, putting it into the compartment as well. Next, he locked the compartment, put the files back to cover it, and sat back down to read other files.


    And at that time, Lin Qiao was still trapped above that river!


    There seemed to be a magnetic field between the energy in the air and the energy in the river. Anything that went through the space between them could cause an energy swirl to descend from the air.


    Lin Qiao watched the energy spin swiftly and move about in the area. While controlling the dark fire under her feet to avoid bumping into one of the swirls, she also needed to resist the suction generated by them.


    It was indeed very difficult to cross the river. If she hadn''t been controlling her own power in a perfect way, she would have been sucked into one of the swirls long ago. The situation was dangerous, but she still managed to move toward the other side of the river slowly.


    At that moment, dark figures suddenly emerged from the whirlpools in the river, and a sharp sound was heard.


    Sizzling!


    Lin Qiao lowered her head to find a series of human-sized creatures standing up from the whirlpools, leaping high into the air, and then magically diving into the energy swirls. Next, they started moving through the energy swirls like swimming in the water.


    They were all coming toward Lin Qiao!


    ''Damn! What the hell are these things!'' Lin Qiao almost burst into curses when she saw those newly emerged weird creatures.


    Those creatures weren''t tall, only about two-meters in height and slightly larger than human beings. They looked like fishes, as they had fish mouths and even gills. On both sides of their necks were hand-fan-like fins, and on their back were a series of thorns. They also had large fishtails.


    They had huge mouths, reaching from ear to ear and filled with sharp teeth. On their heads were mushroom-like combs, looking very strange.


    Following the sizzling noise, those flying fishes came out of the water and moved freely through the energy swirls. They were able to stay still within the energy swirls, as if the energy was supporting their bodies.


    Lin Qiao dodged a flying fish that was charging at her. Once the previous flying fish brushed across her, she needed to move to avoid the other one that came from behind.


    The situation that was already not good instantly turned for the worse. What made her angry was that those flying fishes were swift. As long as they folded their wings that looked a lot like chicken wings, they could fly as fast as an arrow. Every time one flying fish did that, all the others would immediately follow. So, from time to time, the flying fishes came at Lin Qiao in waves. She was able to control her power precisely but still found it hard to cope with the current situation.


    What gave her a headache was the fact that those flying fishes weren''t afraid of her dark fire at all!


    "Eh¡­" Lin Qiao hurriedly hid into her space.


    The people who were standing in two lines before the house thought that Lin Qiao had crossed the river when they saw her. They were all waiting for her to take them to the outside. Unexpectedly, she gave a sigh and said helplessly, "I got stuck above the river. I can''t cross the river now or go back to the other side."


    If she only had to face those moving energy swirls, she would be able to slowly move to the other side of the river by controlling her power very carefully. The problem was those flying fishes which showed up suddenly. She had to pay great attention to them. After all, those fishes moved way faster than those energy swirls.


    On hearing her words, everyone immediately glanced at each other with bewilderment.


    "What? Not even you can cross that river?" On the second floor of the house next-door, Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Qiao and exclaimed. His voice wasn''t loud, but she heard him clearly.


    Lin Qiao turned to give him a glance while saying, "Would you like me to take you out to see what''s going on out there now?"


    Yuan Tianxing immediately shook his head with a smile and responded, "No. I''m a disabled man now. Those things might eat me like a snack."

 1346 A Giant Fish Shows Up

    "What''s going on out there?" On hearing what Lin Qiao said, Duan Juan and the others figured that some unexpected situation was probably happening outside.


    Lin Qiao gave them a hand gesture to signal for them to dismiss and said while walking into the house, "There''s a magnetic field between the air and the river. I guess my appearance broke the magnetic field and caused a great number of energy swirls to descend from the air. Those energy swirls aren''t like the one we''ve seen before. They can move."


    Hearing the keywords like ''a great amount'' and ''they can move'', Duan Juan, Li Zheng and the others immediately pictured the crazy scene out there. A series of energy swirl would certainly generation suction force. At last, they might even merge into a huge energy tornado, and the energy contained in it could not be touched. It was indeed not easy to move through such an energy swirl group.


    Everyone was aware that crossing the river wouldn''t be easy, but they never thought that not even Lin Qiao, a level-eight zombie, could do it. That was indeed a little unexpected!


    Sensing their confusion, Lin Qiao explained, "I''d be able to cross the river with some extra time and energy if I only needed to deal with those energy swirls. However, as a group of flying fishes came out of the water, I start to feel that it was a little too hard. Those underground creatures are all so weird. We''ve seen a flying cat, and now there''re some flying fishes with combs. They''re so ugly!"


    At last, she couldn''t help but complain about how ugly those fishes were. The mushroom-like combs on those fishes'' heads were honestly so unpleasant to the eyes!


    "Fishes? Flying fishes?" The other gave a start upon hearing about the flying fishes. However, they realized that they shouldn''t have been surprised at all. After all, it was a perfectly normal thing for fishes to exist in a river.


    Besides, flying fishes wasn''t something unheard of. After all, there was a kind of fish that was able to leap high and almost fly before the apocalypse, let alone the mutated fishes that emerged after the apocalypse. Some of them were not only able to fly, but also run! They had actual feet!


    "Are there many of them?" If those fishes made even Lin Qiao feel so troubled, there must be a large number of them, and they were probably fast.


    Lin Qiao nodded. As everyone came in, she pointed at the couches in the living room to signal for them to sit down.


    "There are a lot of them, and they fly as fast as arrows. Every one of them seems to be at level five or six. They''re not so easy to deal with," Lin Qiao sat on a couch and leaned on the back as she folded her arms and said. After saying that, she narrowed her eyes to look outside her space. After she disappeared, those fishes started flying all over the area aimlessly, darting through the energy swirls.


    Worst-case scenario, she could wrap herself with the black fire and rush straight to the other side of the river. She wouldn''t get injured by doing that but would have to consume a lot of her energy. Also, if she were accidentally sucked into an energy swirl and thrown down into the river, she would probably need to worry about her own safety.


    After Lin Qiao disappeared, the flying fishes lost their target and started flying around aimlessly, gradually slowing down. However, the energy swirls didn''t slow down like the fishes.


    The fishes slowed down but didn''t seem to leave. Instead, they kept flying through those energy swirls, seemingly waiting for Lin Qiao to show up again.


    Lin Qiao stayed in her space quietly, waiting for the outside to settle down. Meanwhile, the others found some places for themselves to sit down, stand, or squat. About ten minutes later, she finally found those fishes start to dive back into the water one after another.


    She immediately grew excited, assuming that those fishes had finally given up. But soon, she realized that she was wrong.


    As all the flying fishes went back into the water, an enormous fish emerged from the river. It was at least fifty meters long and ten meters wide. Its fins on both sides of its body spread like the wings of a plane.


    It leaped hundreds of meters high and then it folded its fins and flipped in the air. When it was about to fall back into the water, it spread its fins again and started to hover around. It was flying airily, lashing its huge and soft fishtail like how it swam in the water. That would be a pretty scene if the fish didn''t look so ugly.


    Its huge body dissipated the energy swirls near it when it came up into the air and flipped.


    Lin Qiao looked at that extra, extra, extra-large flying fish and wanted again to complain about how weird its comb looked. In fact, the fish''s body looked normal. Its body had no scales, black and shiny with a huge and long tail and a pair of wing-like fins, not looking ugly at all. However, its head looked so weird that she couldn''t even bear to look directly at it.


    She even hoped that the fish could have some thorns or horns or scales on its head instead of that huge mushroom-like comb!


    As the big fish showed up, all the small fishes disappeared without a trace. The big fish came out of the water and hovered above the river, dissipating the energy swirls. The whirlpools in the river disappeared along with the energy swirls as well.


    Looking at the enormous flying fish, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but wonder if it would look like the mythical flying fish from ancient China if it were slightly better-looking. However, the face of that fish disabled her from associating it with a mythical ancient Chinese creature.


    Nonetheless, she was surprised by what happened after the big fish showed up. It came out and destroyed those energy swirls, and by doing that, it actually did her a favor.


    Between a huge obstacle and a series of obstacles that would have her surrounded, Lin Qiao would choose the former. It would be much easier if there were only one obstacle. The fish had done her such a big favor by making those energy swirls disappear.


    With that thought, she quickly stood up and disappeared in front of the others. Once she flashed out of the space, she wielded an arm and sent a stream of dark fire under her feet, bringing her swiftly toward the other side of the river.

 1347 Dangerous Vibe

    The big fish danced in the air and stirred up the energy swirls. At that moment, Lin Qiao grasped the opportunity to flee toward the other side of the river. As expected, her showing up immediately caught the big fish''s attention. It turned around and fixed its eyes on her as it opened its mouth filled with sharp teeth and uttered a roar.


    In the meantime, it lashed its tail and charged at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao was, of course, no slower than the fish. Without those energy swirls to hinder her, she flew to the other side of the river within a blink. She didn''t stop there though, as the big fish was still chasing her.


    "Roar!" The fish flapped its fins, which were serving as wings at the moment, and followed closely behind Lin Qiao as it swiftly came at her with its mouth wide open. She took a sudden turn and wielded an arm to throw a huge sphere of black fire into the fish''s mouth.


    "Hrrr¡­" The big fish caught the black fire with its mouth. As a result, dark smoke rose from its mouth.


    It not only missed its target, but also had its mouth filled with the awful-tasting black fire. The big fish angrily let out a breath and exhaled the dark smoke before turning around to charge at her again.


    At that point, Lin Qiao had no interest in playing with the fish at all. It would take her quite a while to kill it, and judging by how it caught the dark fire with its mouth and then let it out, she figured the fire wasn''t able to hurt it at all!


    Since she came down to the underground world, Lin Qiao had been feeling that her power had grown much weaker! Her power was almost invincible on the earth''s surface, but it was barely helpful here!


    However, even though she might not be able to defeat the big fish, she could run away! It would be a lot easier for her to run on the ground than in the air!


    Lin Qiao landed on the ground and then turned invisible. The invisible her darted through the weird plants and raised her head to look at the flying fish in the air. As she expected, the big fish started to hover in the air as it had lost its target. It flew from side to side, searching around for her traces with its eyes.


    After looking around a few times and failing to spot anything, the fish suddenly swooped.


    "Hrr¡­" Its enormous body brushed across the plants, and its pair of fins cut some plants into pieces. The fish started a fierce gust of wind, pressing the plants down on the ground.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the fish, which was flying aimlessly in the air, and turned to keep moving forward. While moving, her heart started to sink. A random fish that came out of the river could be at level-eight already, and earlier, she had sensed some other level-eight vibes. How many level-eight creatures existed in the underground world?


    They probably wouldn''t use that kind of power until the last moment, but once they used it, their enemies would be in trouble.


    Lin Qiao more and more strongly felt that the underground creatures were hard to kill. And there was still no way to deal with the underground creatures which were now on the earth''s surface.


    Things would be under control if they ate zombies only, but the problem was that they ate everything! They ate everything on the earth''s face, probably including earth! After all, the earth on the earth''s surface was much softer and smoother than the rock underground.


    Since no superpower could hurt them, Lin Qiao had no choice but to try to dig their weaknesses from where they came.


    The level-eight underground creatures were already so hard to deal with, and Lin Qiao had no idea what to do to the level-nine one even if it could be found. Gradually, she started to feel a strong pressure.


    As Lin Qiao moved away from the river and the big fish, which was still flying in the air, two spots that were about thirty meters parted from each other in an enormous pit located thousands of miles away from her shook slightly a few times. Then, the earth in the two areas suddenly turned up, exposing a pair of huge, mirror-like eyes.


    The pair of eyes blinked, and then from between them, a puff of sand was sent into the air along with a puffing noise.


    A strong vibe suddenly spread in all directions.


    Then, the pair of eyes seemed to look up at the air. After staying like that quietly for one minute, they closed again and the pit fell back into stillness.


    The giant pit was miles in radius like a dried lake, around two-hundred meters deep.


    At that very moment, Lin Qiao suddenly felt panicky. She quickly landed on a plant and stood straight as she furrowed her brows and closed her eyes to sense the surrounding environment.


    That panicky feeling lasted only about a second. It was gone by the time she stopped moving, but it was imprinted in her mind.


    Every time she had that kind of feeling, a great crisis would come afterward. That meant the deeper she went, the more dangerous the journey would become. But of course, even though she was aware of how dangerous the journey might be, she could not shrink back.


    She stood there and spent a short while sensing before leaping forward again.


    Behind her, the red cat was pacing around anxiously on the other side of the river. It was moving in circles with its head reared up to look into the direction that Lin Qiao was moving in. Its tail was dropped to the ground.


    It turned left, then right, raised its head and turned left again. Then it went right and raised its head again. Its pair of large red eyes were filled with anxiety. After making a few circles, it couldn''t help but make a few steps toward Lin Qiao, but then it stepped back.


    "Aooo¡­ Looo¡­ Aooo¡­" It shrank back as it raised its head high, opened its mouth, and uttered a series of resonant roars, seemingly to deliver a message to Lin Qiao.


    As same as the cat, the other underground creatures had started to restrain their vibes as well. Even the big flying fish had also quickly dived back into the water. Even the mutated plants which were able to move their branches and leaves had curled up without moving even an inch.


    Lin Qiao, who was running forward, suddenly stopped again and turned to look back with confusion.


    She seemed to have heard Red''s voice. Did she mishear?

 1348 She Found Its Nes

    Lin Qiao turned back and knitted her brows with confusion. She should be over ten miles away from Red already. Despite her great hearing, she couldn''t possibly hear the cat through such a long distance, unless the other was following her.


    She glanced back again, not feeling that. She could faintly sense that Red''s vibe was still staying where it was before. She thought for a moment and then turned back to keep moving forward. The further she went, the more frequently she sensed a chilliness from her spine. Her instinct was trying to tell her that she couldn''t go further near that dangerous being.


    She walked to a flat and empty area with no plants at all. The ground was covered in black rock and soil, seeming boundless. The condensed energy in the air in that area was extra thick, closer to the ground than other areas. But weirdly, there were no energy swirls reaching from the air to the ground. The energy layer up in the air was very quiet.


    Lin Qiao sensed a special scent once she arrived in that area. The scent clearly told her that the area did not allow invasion, and that any intruder would be destroyed. Let alone the flat area itself, no scents of other creatures could be sensed from even the surrounding area.


    Lin Qiao stood on a tree that was located near the distinct edge of that area. She knew that she had arrived at her destination.


    The vibe coming from the area was the same as what had been making her feel uneasy, meaning that the danger which she had been sensing was coming from that very area, also meaning that the level-nine creature was already awake. It was no longer in sleep.


    Nothing could be seen in the area, but because of the dangerous vibe, it had become a mysterious and terrifying forbidden area.


    Lin Qiao took a deep breath before leaping forward and entering that area. She was in her invisible state, so she could only run with her feet. She could still use her superpower, but by doing that, she would be releasing her vibe and end up catching the mysterious creature''s attention.


    She was running but not slow. As a level-eight zombie, her physical strength was, of course, considerably great. She ran like a gust of wind, so fast that commoners wouldn''t even be able to catch her with their eyes. Her feet made very slight noise against the ground, so despite how quiet the area was, her footsteps still couldn''t be heard.


    From the edge of that area, she wasn''t able to see the boundary. Judging by that, she figured the area was at least twenty miles squared. However, as she spent a while following that scent forward, she found that she was probably wrong. The area might be larger than she expected.


    The level-nine creature occupied such an extensive territory; clearly, it was a tremendous one.


    Following the strong scent, Lin Qiao moved closer and closer to the pit. There was absolutely nothing around her; if she didn''t have a very keen sense of direction, she might get lost in there.


    As she wondered how far away she was from the creature''s nest, she saw a huge pit in the distance. By the time she was miles away from the pit, she suddenly sensed the scent stronger a hundred times over.


    It was there!


    Lin Qiao was sure about that. She immediately slowed down and walked to the edge of the pit step by step before looking down into it.


    There was no water in the pit. The pit was about two-hundred meters deep, and the bottom was rugged. The strong smells that came from it made Lin Qiao cover her nose. Apart from the scent of the creature, a rotten odor was also sensed. She had no idea what kind of creature it was. The center of the pit was clean, but the bones of all kinds of creatures were piled by the edge. The ones on top were still fresh while the ones in the middle layers were rotten already. The terrible smell of those rotten bones could even kill people!


    Lin Qiao observed those bones and found them to be huge. Some head bones were over ten meters wide, and the rib bones were all thick, varying from three to six meters in diameter.


    The level-nine creature seemed to have a great appetite! Judging from the energy lingering in those bones, none of those dead animals was below level-seven.


    If the creature had such a big appetite, why did it send so many underground creatures up to the earth''s surface? Wasn''t it afraid that it might starve to death? Were the level-eight ones which stayed underground the stored food of that level-nine creature instead of its subordinates?


    With that thought, Lin Qiao glanced back and turned to look around the pit. After that, she lowered her head to look at the center of the pit and started thinking.


    During her journey underground, she had sensed not only some level-eight creatures but also quite some level-seven ones, not including the ones who had their vibes hidden. The level-seven ones could be detected more easily. The ones which were sent to the earth''s surface were mostly below level-seven. Only a small number of them were at level-seven. Why were most of the level-seven ones allowed to stay underground?


    With the question, Lin Qiao observed the barren land and then cast a glance backward. She wasn''t able to see those underground woods anymore.


    She couldn''t figure it out on her own, so she decided to go into her space and run a discussion with the others. With that thought, she immediately disappeared by the edge of the pit.


    As she showed up, the others all looked at her quietly without saying a word.


    Lin Qiao gave them a glance and found that Yuan Tianxing had joined them too. He was sitting on an armchair, leaning against its back.


    "I found the level-nine creature''s nest. It''s hiding in a pit. I think it''s resting, but not in a deep sleep. As far as I''ve seen, its territory is vast, with no plants, animals, or even stones¡­ nothing. The ground is dark rock and soil, very flat! However, there''s a pit in the middle, about five miles wide and two-hundred meters deep. It''s hiding in there. Beast bones are piled up by the edge of the bottom of the pit, almost forming a circle. I think it has a huge appetite! I''ve detected quite some level-eight and level-seven creatures on my way there, but not many level five and six ones, apart from those fishes in the river."


    Lin Qiao sat down on a sofa as she talked to the others in the living room about what she had found on the outside.


    "So, why do you think it drove so many low-leveled underground creatures, that could also be its food, up to the earth''s surface?"

 1349 Send a Batch Back

    After hearing what Lin Qiao said about the outside, everyone first wore a look of surprise and then started thinking.


    "Are you saying that it''s a creature that has a great appetite and needs a lot of energy? The underground creatures we''ve seen on the earth''s surface are all below level-seven, and now, there are no creatures below level-five here underground. So, I guess the level-nine creature doesn''t need to feed on those low-leveled creatures, and hence it didn''t have to do anything to them¡­" Duan Juan dug into the information provided by Lin Qiao and shared her opinion.


    "So, why did it suddenly cast out those creatures that it didn''t care about at all?" Standing near her, Lu Tianyi folded his arms and asked, and then another question crossed his mind. "Oh, I noticed that all the plants we''ve seen so far seem undamaged, which means those underground creatures probably don''t eat them. So, are there no herbivores underground?"


    "Each one of those plants contains the energy from the air. Perhaps that''s why those creatures don''t eat the plants. After all, they can even eat the soil on the earth''s surface. I''ve been thinking that that might have something to do with the thick layer of energy in the air."


    The behaviors of the creatures that she had seen in the underground world and how Red had been avoiding the energy swirls coming from the air made Lin Qiao think that way. Red''s fear of the energy grew even more obvious as it came close to the riverside.


    Did the level-nine creature cast them out because the energy had affected them in some way?


    "Maybe the level-nine creature was experiencing a crucial period, or the energy layer on top of the underground realm has changed some way," said Yuan Tianxing, "We now still have no idea why the level-nine creature cast out the lower-leveled underground creatures, or if it did that out of a good or bad will. It''s hard for us to find out the reason. So now, all we can do is spend more time observing the level-nine creature''s behavior and pay attention to the energy layer in the air to see if it''ll change drastically. That''s the only way to find the answer."


    Studying nature and wild animals had always been a time-consuming task.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to look outside. As it was still peaceful, she opened her eyes and thought for a moment before nodding, "You''re right. I wonder how much the big one eats for each meal. The level seven and eight ones here are all enormous, but judging by the size of the level-nine creature''s nest, I guess the level-nine creature is larger than the level-eight ones by many times over. I think maybe not even a ten-ton animal can make a full meal for that creature."


    She should be able to get more information by observing the creature feeding and figuring out its food habits and eating frequency.


    "I''m now curious about what it looks like. All those underground creatures look weird. None of them was previously seen on the earth''s surface," said Li Zheng from a corner.


    All the underground creatures that Lin Qiao and her people had seen so far were extremely weird-looking. Humans could be curious; they had a fear of the unknown but also curiosity.


    To find out more about the level-nine creature, Lin Qiao and her people stayed patiently near its nest, waiting day after day. The zombies didn''t need food, but the humans did. Thankfully, she had all kinds of food in her space, and the ones who weren''t in her space had brought enough to eat with them.


    They spent eight days waiting but nothing happened, and it was already time to send everyone back to the earth''s surface to make reports. Therefore, Lin Qiao exited her space.


    The journey back took much less time than the journey to the creature''s nest, as the destination was clear. But still, Lin Qiao had to spend half a day to run out of the level-nine creature''s territory and then fly back to the river by using her power.


    She paused briefly by the river. This time, she didn''t cross the river slowly but darted through the river as quickly as she could. She crossed the river almost within a blink of an eye, but still, hundreds of energy swirls descended from the air and stirred the river before she reached the other side.


    That didn''t cause her many difficulties though. Last time, she stayed cautious and slow because she didn''t know what might happen. But this time, she was wildly clear that she could not linger above the river for long, or those flying fishes might come out again. So, she boosted her power and crossed the river within a short time. Then, she kept heading toward the cave where they came from.


    Apart from herself, no one in Lin Qiao''s team had invisibility. Therefore, for safety, she decided to send up a squad of three, including one human being and two zombies.


    She needed to fly the three up, because climbing all the way up would be a little difficult. The space grew narrower along with the altitude, and the rock faces inclined and formed acute angles with the ground, so flying out was the only choice. After all, they couldn''t climb the rock face like those underground creatures.


    Near the cave, Lin Qiao sensed the scents of some human beings who were alive. She blinked her eyes. The woman from Huaxia Base had left some people there. How dare her!


    The strongest one among those people was at level-six only. Lin Qiao turned invisible and then released a stream of dark fire that swallowed those people within a blink. Then, she brought Li Zheng out of her space along with two level-six zombies, sending them straight out of the hole. It took them a while leaping down, so flying up took a while as well.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao who was able to fly and send Li Zheng and the other two up safely. Of course, she didn''t leave immediately but stayed there waiting. Before long, the team from Green Mountain Base and the team under Kong Qingming''s lead showed up, together with Xie Dong, Lv Feng, and the others who were sent to other directions by Lin Qiao earlier.


    "I knew you guys would return here at this time. How did it go? You didn''t find another way out, did you?" Lin Qiao looked at them and asked.


    Lei Cheng shook his head, "There is no other way out other than this hole."


    Xie Dong and the others shook their heads as well.


    Lin Qiao looked at those people and found that except Xie Dong and his team, the others all seemed weary. They seemed to have encountered something dangerous too during the past days.

 1350 The Enormous Monster Wakes Up

    Even Lin Qiao herself found what she encountered hard to deal with. So, seeing the others looking a little exhausted but all perfectly unharmed, she sighed with relief.


    "Have you sent the messengers up yet?" Lei Cheng asked


    "Yes," Lin Qiao nodded and said, "Have you guys found anything?"


    "Some Huaxia People tried to cause us trouble at first, but we avoided them. Some of our friends found that all underground creatures down here are at high levels. Also, the creatures down here seem to upgrade multiple times faster than the ones on the earth''s surface. Creatures at levels seven and eight can be found everywhere down here," Kong Qingming rested his hands in his pockets as he reviewed his experiences.


    "Yes," Lei Cheng nodded in agreement, "All the plants and animals down here are powerful and dangerous."


    Lin Qiao didn''t tell them that Xie Longyun had left some of her people there. She had dealt with that already, so it did not need to be mentioned.


    "I have some discoveries. There is a level-nine creature here, and I think it''s probably the one ruling this place. That creature was what suddenly cast out all the low-leveled creatures. I don''t know the reason yet. Through observation, I found that creature has a great appetite. I guess it ate a lot for every meal. The creatures staying here shouldn''t be enough to feed it for a long time," she said to the others.


    After finishing all the level eight and seven ones, the creature would probably catch the lower-leveled ones to fill its stomach. However, it had cast all of them out¡­


    As Lin Qiao and the others were sharing their discoveries, down in that barren area, the level-nine creature which was hiding in that pit once again opened its enormous pair of eyes. Then, the earth started shaking as something rose from the rugged bottom of the pit. A gigantic creature slowly crawled out, its eyes sparkling dimly like a mirror.


    It slowly raised its head. As its entire head popped out of the earth, its body came out as well. It propped up its upper body with its huge pair of forepaws and then its lower body with its rear legs. As it stood up, a strange-looking, animal-shaped dent was left in the ground.


    The creature stood up and shook its body before turning its enormous head from side to side, looking around with its two-meter-wide eyes. It was tens of meters tall, standing on all fours. From head to tail, it was about three-hundred meters long.


    Since it stood up, the energy layer above its head started rolling. Next, a huge energy swirl descended from the air and slowly landed on its head.


    Lin Qiao abruptly stopped talking and turned to where the level-nine creature was located. Then, she narrowed her eyes and raised her head to look at the energy layer in the air. The thick mist above her head was now slowly moving toward the level-nine creature. By narrowing her eyes, she saw the energy flowing in that direction as well.


    As Lin Qiao suddenly stopped talking and raised her head to look at the air, the others raised their head as well.


    "What''s going on?"


    "Is the mist gathering toward that area?"


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes and said, "It woke up! You guys stay here. I''ll go and take a look!"


    It was a great chance to observe the creature. She had been waiting for it to wake up all this long. Unexpectedly, it woke up right after she left.


    Lin Qiao quickly finished talking and then disappeared from where she was, leaving the others glancing at each other. They obviously didn''t have the courage to follow her, because she said that the level-nine creature was awake.


    Lin Qiao turned herself invisible and flew swiftly toward that area.


    She moved way faster than the mist in the air. She had to fly across the river using her superpower, but this time, no energy swirl descended from the air when she flew across the river, probably because the energy had been gathering toward the level-nine creature.


    After crossing the river, she quickly turned herself invisible again and then kept heading forward. She wasn''t sure if the creature could detect her through such a long distance. She wished that she wouldn''t be spotted.


    Near the barren area, she slowed down and ran into the area.


    After entering the area, she felt a great pressure. Her instinct had been warning her not to get any closer to the creature.


    But, how could she get what she wanted without taking the risk? How could she find out what the creature wanted without observing it closely?


    She watched the mist above her head quickly gather toward the pit. At hundreds of meters from the pit, she found herself unable to get any closer!


    The level-nine monster gave out an immense vibe that was even stronger than the vibe of Dong Xiaowei the level-nine superpower possessor. Even the energy mist in the air generated a great pressure.


    Lin Qiao wasn''t afraid, but she couldn''t control her body. She wasn''t able to control her limbs anymore, as if her instincts were trying to rip her body and mind apart.


    She stood there motionlessly, looking at the level-nine creature''s nest. The situation immediately gave her a bad feeling.


    She almost forgot that she nearly lost her mind earlier and that her zombie nature had almost taken control of her body.


    The energy mist above the pit grew thicker and thicker, getting closer and closer to the ground. Right at that moment, the pit suddenly started shaking.


    "Roar¡­" Following a resonant roar, the energy mist above the pit exploded and fierce air streams blew in all directions. The thunderous roar made Lin Qiao tremble. Her brain was suddenly relaxed and her mind grew blurred.


    She generated a thought before losing her mind to send herself into her space.


    Thud! She fell from the sky in the space, because she wasn''t able to control her body. Her mind was not clear at that moment.

 1351 Lin Qiaos Unusual Behavior

    Lin Qiao entered her space and fell on the grass before her house, simply lying there. Her eyes had grown purely dark, as if her pupils had melted.


    "Eh¡­ Roar¡­" She felt that she was slowly losing control of her body. She tried to focus her mind to control her body but failed.


    The zombies and beasts in the space noticed Lin Qiao''s strange behavior as soon as she came in. Her vibe had erupted in a disordered way. Along with that weirdly disordered vibe, her energy had been changing slowly, becoming strange. However, it also seemed like that her energy was supposed to be like that.


    Lin Qiao bared her teeth and made a roll on the ground with her face twisted. On all fours, she spread her fingers and sank her nails into the ground. Her nails grew black, long and sharp, leaving deep scratches on the ground.


    "Roar¡­" Lin Qiao sank her claws deep into the ground and suddenly raised her head as she opened her mouth and uttered a zombie roar. In her mouth, her teeth had already turned different from usual.


    Her even teeth had become sharp. Before, she had only one pair of sharp canine teeth, but currently, all her teeth had grown sharp, shining with a cold luster. That was what zombie teeth should be like.


    Noticing Lin Qiao''s weird behavior, the dozen level-four zombies who were in the vegetable field all stopped moving and fixed their eyes on her.


    Most of the level-four zombies in Lin Qiao''s army hadn''t regained their human memory, but through training, they had all recollected some common sense that humans should have. At the moment, those level-four zombies instinctively felt that she was turning into a strange being instead of their Chief. Her level-eight vibe had been spreading in all directions, putting a great pressure on them.


    Currently, those level-four zombies weren''t standing there under their own will. They were disabled from moving.


    They weren''t able to fight the pressure from Lin Qiao at all, and their bodies were no longer under their control. Under the suppression coming from a powerful being who was four levels higher than themselves, they couldn''t even think. All they could do at the moment was stand there motionlessly while looking at Lin Qiao.


    "Roar¡­ Roar¡­" Lin Qiao clenched her fists and kicked her legs. Then, she suddenly retracted her arms and slowly propped up her body with all fours.


    She got up slowly like a beast and slowly raise her head. Her hair that had become disheveled when she fell and covered her face.


    "Roar?" Flower the young tiger, which was left in the space all the time, ran to the edge of the woods and popped its eyes as it looked at Lin Qiao with confusion. It wanted to go near her to see what was happening to her, but the unusual vibe that she gave off scared the young tiger.


    On all fours, Lin Qiao stretched her body and then slowly raised her head higher. Under her hair, her face looked ferocious. A few weird black lines had shown up near the corners of her eyes.


    Her pair of strangely black eyes could be seen through the hair.


    She slowly raised her upper body and stood up bit by bit, swaying from side to side. The way she stood seemed strange.


    After standing up, she dropped her head again and bent her knees. She spread her fingers as much as she could and then clenched her fists, repeating the movements.


    At that moment, the other zombies had found her vibe to be completely different from usual, as if she had become an entirely strange zombie.


    No one outside the space knew about that. After the level-nine creature uttered a raging roar and shook the energy mist in the air, the mist started to fade. Then, the creature raised a forepaw and slowly crawled out of its nest.


    Boom! Boom! Every step it made quaked the ground. Its heavy body moved slowly forward while it turned its head from side to side.


    On its way forward, it stepped into the air slowly and went up step by step, as if there were invisible stairs under its feet, supporting its body. Its steps on the ground sounded so heavy but seemed weightless in the air. It stopped at hundreds of meters from the ground and rolled its huge eyes to look around before fixing those eyes in one direction.


    Hundreds of miles away, the people from All Beings Base, Sea City Base and Green Mountain Base all sensed that vibe and felt as if something had descended from the sky to press them down. That pressure didn''t only make them feel depressed, but also seemed to take away the control of their bodies.


    "The big guy seems really powerful. Is this vibe almost the same as the vibe of your Chief?" Kong Qingming looked at where the vibe was coming from and asked Lei Cheng.


    Lei Cheng was looking in the same direction as he was. After hearing the question, he stayed silent for three seconds and then said, "It''s much stronger than the vibe our Chief had at in his peak state. This is definitely something from a higher level."


    The others glanced at each other. The people from All Beings Base couldn''t help but show concern in their eyes.


    They wished that their Chief wouldn''t be spotted by that creature. Facing a powerful creature like that, even a zombie emperor could be vulnerable. After all, they had sensed the level-nine creature from even hundreds of miles away and gotten scared.


    Lei Cheng knew how powerful his autistic Chief could be. Last time, Dong Xiaowei''s power erupted and destroyed sixty percent of the buildings in their base. The level-nine creature might tear down their entire base within a very short time.


    The two of them were really not at the same level.


    Under the current situation, what people could do was stay as far away from that creature as possible.


    "Our Chief said even a large-scale level-eight beast might not make a full meal for it," Li Zheng said.

 1352 Her Mind Fights Back

    The gigantic monster fixed its eyes in one direction in the air and suddenly lashed its tail, causing a deep, muffled swish. Next, its enormous body disappeared and reappeared above the woods near the barren area''s edge in the next second. Its colossal body blocked the light and dimmed the area.


    The level-nine monster lowered its head and looked around before abruptly opening its mouth. A bright light shone out of its mouth and poured on an area tens of meters around it. A few seconds later, a series of cracking noises could be heard as all the plants in that area withered instantly. The dead branches fell on the ground and crumbled apart, turning into earth.


    As all the plants died, the ground suddenly sank along with a series of booms.


    "Roar¡­" A raging roar was heard from underground, following which, a level-eight beast rushed out from the woods nearby. The beast didn''t fight the level-nine monster but turned and ran. However, a paw descended from the air and pressed it firmly down on the ground once it moved its feet.


    "Roar¡­" The level-eight beast, which had horns all over its body, only had the time to raise its head and let out a hopeless scream before the monster made its bite.


    Puff! The level-nine monster was larger than the level-eight one by three or four times. Its head was, of course, larger than the head of the level-eight one as well. As the monster made the first bite, the level-eight beast''s head was almost ripped off.


    The beast''s blood splashed everywhere, landing on the surrounding plants and quickly melting them.


    The level-nine monster started chewing with a great appetite. It soon swallowed the part in its mouth and then lowered its head to bite off the rest of the level-eight beast''s head. After finishing the head, it lifted the beast''s body with its paws, put the neck into its mouth, and started to suck.


    Lin Qiao was right: a tens of meters long level-eight beast wasn''t enough to fill up its stomach.


    The lizard-like level-eight beast which had horns all over its body was soon drained of blood. After that, the monster started gulping the beast''s body.


    Lin Qiao, who had been wanting to watch the level-nine monster feed, missed what she wanted to see. In fact, she felt at the moment as if she were trapped in somewhere dark, not standing but lying. However, she felt nothing supporting her body, as though she was floating in the air.


    She struggled to move her limbs, but as nothing was supporting her body, she found it hard to control her body.


    She had a feeling that she must stand up as soon as possible, or she might regret it. So, she started to try to turn over. But at that very moment, something invisible gushed out of the darkness, wrapped her up, and pulled her downward.


    When Lin Qiao started struggling in the darkness, Lu Tianyu suddenly buried her head in her arms and let out deep, hoarse roars.


    "Hrrr¡­ Hrrr¡­"


    The harder Lin Qiao struggled in the darkness, the louder Lu Tianyu screamed.


    "Roar¡­ oar¡­ er¡­"


    At that point, Lu Tianyu looked exactly like a zombie that had just broken into level-two. She instinctively held its head and roared, automatically squatting with her head between her arms all the time.


    When she squatted, her vibe became disordered again.


    By that time, Lin Qiao had already figured out what was happening in the darkness. The force that was pulling her downward should be Lu Tianyu the zombie''s will power. That force wasn''t very strong, so Lin Qiao focused her mind once again and tried to stand up.


    She found that as long as she focused her mind, her movements would become easier.


    She tried her best and managed to stand up slowly. Then, she found the darkness before her eyes fade slowly. Next, she shuddered and regained her sight, seeing the things before her eyes.


    She dropped her arms that were holding her head and lowered her head to look at her nails. With a thought, she made those sharp nails disappear.


    She sighed with relief before raising a hand to put her hair, which had her face covered, behind her head. After that, she looked around and found that she was still in her space.


    The zombies who were frozen near her instantly relaxed. With lingering fear, they stared at Lin Qiao and each made a few steps backward.


    Lin Qiao glanced at them but didn''t say anything as she she narrowed her eyes to look outside.


    When she was in the space, her vision of the outside would be limited. So, what she saw at the moment was still the barren area where she entered her space from. She had to go outside to find out what was happening there.


    With that thought, she opened her eyes. The darkness in her eyes was fading slowly, and the black marks near her eye corners were gone. She breathed a few times deeply to stabilize her disordered energy and flashed out of her space.


    She detected the immense vibe the moment she exited her space. The level-nine monster''s vibe was so strong that it could even be sensed from any corner of the underground world.


    Lin Qiao immediately rushed at the level-nine monster. As she got closer and closer, she sensed a level-eight vibe mixing together with that of the level-nine one, also sensing a strong scent of blood.


    The monster was feeding! She wondered how many beasts it had eaten. She had sensed only one extra vibe form it so far, so she figured that the banquet had just started.


    The closer she came to the monster, the greater pressure she felt. Suddenly, the monster started moving from one spot to another within a blink.


    Lin Qiao gave a start. Instead of following the monster, she went to where it had its appetizer. She found a large hole on the ground and some bones and body pieces of the dead beast. The fresh blood scent told her that the beast was eaten just now.


    She thought the monster would bring the prey back to its nest and eat them there. How come it ate the entire beast right on the spot?

 1353 Amazing Appetite

    She spent a short while observing the residue left behind by the monster and hopped onto a tree to sense its current movement. Soon, she figured out why the monster didn''t drag its first prey back to its nest.


    It was because the monster was still hunting.


    "Roar¡­" Boom! Boom! Along with the thunderous roar and the shaking of the earth, another level-eight underground beast was dragged out of its nest by the monster. Two different types of energy conflicted against each other, only for a very short time though.


    Lin Qiao leaped high and flew toward that area. Her invisible body flew across the woods, quickly approaching the level-nine monster. She didn''t witness the battle, but based on the changes of the two vibes, she figured that the level-eight creature was killed by the level-nine one within three moves.


    She saw the familiar bloody scene as she got close enough. The enormous monster had a creature much smaller than itself pressed under its paw, and it was tearing the creature with its teeth.


    Finally, Lin Qiao had her eyes on that monster. It was hundreds of meters long and tens of meters tall, looking like a gigantic, prehistoric creature. Nothing like it was ever seen on the earth''s surface. How come the underground creatures were all so huge? The higher the level, the larger the size.


    But thankfully, it didn''t have the same ugly mushroom-like comb on its head as the big fish from earlier.


    The monster looked mighty. It had four strong limbs, with thorns on the joints, and a pair of short and thick horns on its head. A line of long and sharp thorns pointing at the sky extended from the back of its head to its tail.


    Near the outer corners of the monster''s huge eyes were two curve thorns on each side, looking a little like eyelashes. The creature had a large, pointing mouth that could open widely. Its sharp teeth were now covered in blood and dirt.


    That was how wild beasts fed. The scene like that was commonly seen in the post-apocalyptic era. But, as the monster was tremendous, the scene now was actually a little terrifying.


    Lin Qiao sneakily approached the monster and clearly watched it chew and swallow the prey, which was half its own size, within a short span of time. After finishing the level-eight beast, the monster stood up and raised a paw to lick it. Then, it leaped into the air and disappeared within a blink.


    Watching the creature vanish, Lin Qiao furrowed her brows and then turned to another direction with a look of confusion on her face. She could sense the monster''s movements. It wasn''t going back to its nest but heading to another area.


    ''It''s not satisfied yet!'' Lin Qiao thought, ''It''s gonna catch more!'' No one targeted by the monster could ever survive. The monster caught them as easily as catching domestic animals in its backyard.


    It bit the last prey to death like it did to the last twelve ones. But, instead of eating the beast, the monster held it in its mouth and leaped into the sky, flying toward its nest.


    This time, it flew much more slowly than before. Before, it could vanish within a blink of an eye. But now, it was flying unhurriedly, as if taking an after-meal walk.


    It had a dozen level-eight creatures for one single meal. What a scarily great appetite! It would starve to death if it went to the earth''s surface, wouldn''t it? On the earth''s surface, level-eight creatures were too rare to fulfill its appetite.


    Lin Qiao followed the level-nine creature to its nest and watched it lay down in the pit, slowly chewing the last prey. Since it had eaten so many level-eight creatures in a row, Lin Qiao wondered how often it went out hunting. If it hunted frequently, it would probably run out of food very soon.


    All the underground creatures that had gone up to the earth''s surface seemed so starved. Did the level-nine creature send them out of the underground world because there was too little for them to eat down here to allow them to upgrade quickly enough to feed the monster?


    The rich resources on the earth''s surface would allow those creatures to grow and upgrade rapidly. So, when the monster ate up all the creatures left underground and decided to go up, the ones on the earth''s surface should have grown large enough to fulfill its stomach.


    The level-nine underground monster enjoying the food in its nest did not know that an intruder was right near it.


    Lin Qiao guessed that the monster sent the lower-leveled underground creatures to the earth''s surface to allow them to grow faster. So, it could go out in a while and find a rich source of food.


    ¡­


    As Lin Qiao was observing the monster, Wei Haichao in Huaxia Base received the news about the failure of the most recent mission, reading the report with a sullen face. He wasn''t expecting that mission to fail. He had even sent out a man with invisibility! How could he possibly fail the job? How on earth did All Beings Base people discover him?


    Reading the report, he realized that Si Kongchen would probably scold him again.


    Wei Haichao sighed as he stood up and brought the report out of his office, heading toward Si Kongchen''s office.


    Si Kongchen was reading files in his office. Feeling Wei Haichao come in, he raised his head to give the man a glance before lowering his head to keep reading, "Has the mission failed again?"


    "How did you now? Can you tell?" Wei Haichao stood before him and asked with surprise. He guessed that Si Kongchen figured it out by reading the look on his face.


    He handed the report to Si Kongchen as he sat down on the chair before the desk, "I just don''t understand why the All Beings Base is so difficult. Do they happen to have someone with a super sharp nose in their team to spot our man this time?"


    Si Kongchen dropped the files in his hand and took over the report before browsing it. Then, he threw it on the desk and said, "I guess there is no way into that base. Have you found anyone who can help us from inside their base?"


    Wei Haichao shook his head, "The people in that base hardly come out. The ones who did come out have been tailed by some other people from the base. It''s hard for us to approach them."


    "Tell our people to try every way they can think of, as soon as possible," said Si Kongchen expressionlessly, "We don''t have much time left."


    Wei Haichao immediately raised his head and asked, "Why? Are we going into action soon?"

 1354 The Confrontation at the Exi

    Si Kongchen leaned on the back of the chair and said, "Professor Bai has been in a bad mood these days. So, when I suggested doing so, he didn''t object. I guess he has no mood to think about this."


    "When do you plan to take action?" Wei Haichao asked.


    Si Kongchen replied with a scornful look in his eyes, "Let''s first wait for the news from underground. I thought Xie Longyun would last longer down there and be helpful, yet she died so soon and wasted that precious drug."


    Wei Haichao looked at him as he stayed silent for two seconds and then said, "Weren''t you confident in her? How come she failed the job so soon?"


    That was like a slap on his face.


    Si Kongchen gave him a glance and said, "Reasonably speaking, she wouldn''t die so easily even if she failed to kill that woman. She might have encountered some kind of accident, I guess. We don''t know what happened down there. Professor Bai has said that humans should not set foot in that place."


    Wei Haichao nodded quietly.


    ¡­


    Li Zheng and the other two safely returned to the earth''s surface, all sighing with relief as they finally saw the sunlight. However, a few groups of people were waiting near the exit. As Li Zheng and the two showed up, those people immediately fixed their eyes on them.


    A few seconds after Li Zheng and the two crawled out of the howl, they suddenly sprung up together.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! A series of gunshots were heard and a few bullets sank into the ground. The bullets would have hit them if they didn''t jump up to dodge.


    "Who is it!" Li Zheng gave a growl as he landed on a tree nearby, staring where the bullets came from with a cold look.


    "Don''t push it too far! We are still here! What do you want!" Another voice was heard.


    Li Zheng turned to find Xiao Licheng and his men near the shooters, so he immediately leaped off the tree and moved toward them.


    "Oh, don''t get us wrong. We just want to offer this mister here some tea," said a man, who was obviously the shooter.


    Li Zheng saw the shooters and recognized the one talking in a bland tone as Li Yuelong, one of the Deputy Chiefs in Huaxia Base. He sounded as if he and his men didn''t fire their weapons at all.


    By offering some tea, he was simply trying to get the first-hand information from the underground world. Huaxia Base wanted to be the first one to get the information and didn''t want the others to get it.


    They fired their guns in front of everyone else on the scene. Clearly, they didn''t tend to pretend to be friends with Sea City Base people.


    Xiao Licheng gave a cold smile and said, "I''m sorry, they''re with us. Since you guys don''t want cooperation, you should wait for your own people to bring out the message. We''re not gonna share information with you guys, bye."


    "Stop! We are acting together now. We surely have the right to know what they know as well! You people have no right to hold the information to yourselves!" Li Yuelong wielded an arm. Following his move, his men quickly barred the road before Xiao Licheng and his people.


    Li Zheng said coldly, "Acting together? Why don''t I know about that? We had agreed to act separately before we went down. So, what do we have to do with you guys?"


    After saying that, he turned and said to Xiao Licheng, "Let''s go!"


    In the next moment, all Huaxia people on the scene pointed their guns at them, not ready to let them go at all.


    "No one is going anywhere today. Since you don''t want to come with us, we have no choice but to kill you. I still want to suggest you to just come with us though. After all, if we start a battle here, you people will have no chance to win. Isn''t that right?" said Li Yuelong with a cold voice.


    He was merely a level-six superpower possessor himself, but he currently had a strong force under his command. Currently, tens of superpower possessors at levels four and five had barred Xiao Licheng''s way, and there were even more standing behind him.


    Xiao Licheng had tens of people under his lead, but not all of them had superpowers. Moreover, the superpower possessors in his team were at relatively lower levels.


    If there were indeed a battle to fight, the superpowers and weapons possessed by those Huaxia people would put the Sea City Base people on the scene into a disadvantage.


    However, neither did Xiao Licheng nor Li Zheng was worried about that. Li Zheng made eye contact with the former and turned back to Li Yuelong as he said calmly, "Are Huaxia Base people allowed to do anything you want? Do you think that we''re afraid of you?"


    As the atmosphere grew tenser and tenser, as if the fight were about to begin, a girl suddenly joined the conversation, "Ahyaya, what is happening here? I hate to say this, but you Huaxia People really like to solve problems by brandishing your guns. You seem confident about your weapons!"


    The people turned to find a doll-faced girl with long and curly hair standing on a tree nearby, with one hand holding the tree and the other resting on her waist as she looked at those Huaxia people and talked with a scornful tone. Behind her, were a group of people standing in straight lines, all wearing sunglasses.


    "I thought Green Mountain Base people wouldn''t show up until we made a move. Aren''t you being a little too impatient?" Li Yuelong first scanned Ye Yingyue''s face and body with her eyes and then said with a meaningful smile.


    Ye Yingyue shrugged and said with an unfriendly tone, "You should thank me for stopping you, because if I didn''t, you and your men would suffer. Do you understand?"


    The strong scornfulness delivered by her words displeased Li Yuelong. He pulled a long face as he glared at the girl and said, "B*tch, how dare you look down on us?"


    Ye Yingyue looked at him with confusion and said, "What do you mean? Are you guys super strong? Oh, yeah, you do have a little more people than we do."


    "Yeah, you''re right. We''ve outnumbered your people! It seems that you really would like to know what might happen to you when you challenge us. I''ll let you give it a try then," Li Yuelong stared at her and said viscously as he waved a hand. Following his move, the people behind him immediately turned their guns and fired at Ye Yingyue and her men.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! As the gunshots were heard, the people who had Xiao Licheng''s way blocked pulled the triggers as well. Of course, Xiao Licheng and his men reacted swiftly by jumping away.


    At that very moment, two figures flashed over from a distance away. The two of them had been observing the confrontation from a hill about two miles away from the exit of the underground world.

 1355 Clear Away the Ones in the Way

    They were a male in black and a female in white. The girl in a white dress had black, long, and straight hair; her beautiful eyes were purely black as well. Meanwhile, the man by her side was breathtakingly handsome. He wore a faint, wicked smile and gave out an evil and seductive vibe.


    They were none other than Mo Yan and his loyal zombie girl.


    Mo Yan had still been lingering at level-six, although he was only a breath away from level-seven and would soon get back to that level.


    He had rested in Lin Qiao''s space for a while and had drunk quite some water from the lake in that space. Therefore, he had been regaining his power easily and quickly. Without the help of the lake water, he wouldn''t be able to bring himself back to level-six within such a short span of time.


    Of course, his pretty zombie lady had been helping him a lot by hunting zombies for him. As thunder-powered zombies were rather rare and the zombie nuclei with other types of energies were hard to abosrb, the zombie girl had found him quite some plant nuclei. Plant nuclei were easier to absorb after all.


    Mo Yan spent a while observing the situation on the battlefield from a distance away. Huaxia Base people definitely had the numbers. They fired their weapons right under the watch of everyone else on the scene. It seemed that they were tired of pretending to be friends with Sea City Base and All Beings Base.


    It was a little difficult for the alliance of Xiao Licheng and his men and Green Mountain Base people to fight the Huaxia Base people, as they were outnumbered, and the enemies were all superpower possessors armed to the teeth. However, they still had a chance.


    Xiao Licheng and his men reacted in no time, and more importantly, a special force had been protecting the lower-leveled ones and commoners from Sea City Base. That special force was, of course, from All Beings Base. Their zombie instincts and high-leveled superpowers allowed them to easily dodge the bullets shot by those Huaxia Base people, who had been using their new weapons all the time instead of their superpowers.


    Xiao Licheng understood that they were actually showing off the power of the weapons developed by Huaxia Base. They tried to let the others know that their weapons were powerful enough to allow them to eliminate the enemies without using their superpowers, and also to create an image of the super powerful Huaxia army. In addition to that, they also used their weapons to consume the enemies'' powers. By the time they ran out of ammo, the enemies'' energies would have been consumed largely. They would then have a great chance of winning by putting their superpowers in use.


    For superpower possessors, even dodging required energy.


    On hearing him shout, some Huaxia people gave a start.


    Li Yuelong stopped short and looked around vigilantly but sensed nothing. He thought Xiao Licheng was bluffing, so he snorted coldly and said, "What are you doing? Were you trying to scare us? Let''s see if anyone will actually show up to save your life."


    At that very moment, a giant fireball suddenly showed up in the sky and descended toward him and his men. The fireball contained an immense amount of energy, and only level-seven superpower beings could create something like that. Clearly, whoever threw out the fireball was a level-seven superpower possessor.


    "I dislike arrogant people like you the most. You should try to know better about your opponents before underestimating them." A soft, slightly dry voice was heard. Along with that voice, a girl in white showed up.


    Showing up together with the girl was a huge black panther, that was about four meters long. The black panther was like a dark shred of shadow, following by the side of the girl who had long ponytails. The girl was wearing a white dress, looking very eye-catching standing side by side with the black panther.


    Boom! Before Li Yuelong and his men had a clear vision of the two, the enormous, swiftly spinning fireball exploded. A destructive wave of energy erupted from the fireball and spread in all directions. Then, a strong wave of wind power rose from the fire and blew in all directions.


    The moment the fireball descended, everyone from All Beings Base, Sea City Base, and Green Mountain Base stepped backward, moving far away from it as if they had all received the same message at the moment. By the time their enemy realized what was happening, the fireball had exploded already.


    Sea City Base and All Beings Base both knew that Lin Qiao would send a batch of people out from the underground realm these days and had guessed out what Huaxia Base might do. Therefore, they each sent a capable one to help.


    Lin Kui the panther looked at the group of Huaxia people with icy cold eyes. He did not forget what those people had done to him after they had him chained.


    Thud! The superpower-proof combat uniform worn by the man couldn''t protect its owner from the physical attack like that. Lin Kui''s paw was strong enough to shatter a rock that weighed tons, so no matter how great the uniform was, the man''s bone was going to be crushed.


    The man didn''t even manage to scream before he found himself flying in the air. He sank into a wall, and Lin Kui pounced on him before he could fall to the ground, biting off his head. The panther quickly spat the head out and then turned to his next target.


    At the same time, Qiu Lili started attacking Li Yuelong. As a level-six superpower possessor, Li Yuelong had no chance of surviving, since he was now Qiu Lili''s target. What made him feel even more hopeless was the soldiers in camouflage suits who suddenly showed up in the surroundings. They had the vibes at level-five or even higher; all of them were powerful superpower possessors.


    Before, the people from Sea City Base and All Beings Base each needed to fight several Huaxia people, but the situation was twisted as the girl with ponytails showed up together with the army.


    Of course, Li Yuelong didn''t live to see the end of his people, because one of Qiu Lili''s fireballs land on his head. That was not just fire; waves of sharp wind blades came out of the fire as well. He managed to protect himself from the fire but failed to dodge the wind blades. Before long, he was covered wounds and blood before being rolled up by a tornado she created.

 1356 Deliver the Message

    Since Qiu Lili and Lin Kui had joined the fight, the people from Huaxia Base gradually became defenseless, even though they were all armed with advanced weapons. After finishing off those people neatly and quickly, Qiu Lili and other others gathered up.


    "If you want details, I''m gonna have to ask you to come to our base with us," Qiu Lili looked at Ye Yingyue and said.


    Ye Yingyue nodded smilingly and said, "Mm, okay, we''ll go with you."


    Next, the group of people headed toward All Beings Base.


    "How did it go? Have you guys found the place?" In the car, everyone asked the three all kinds of questions.


    "We have. It''s about eleven-thousand kilometers deep underground. There is a huge space down there. We don''t know exactly how large it is yet," Li Zheng answered the question quickly.


    "Over ten-thousand kilometers deep? You guys went so deep underground? Is it dangerous down there?" Xiao Licheng turned back from the front seat and looked at Li Zheng with curiosity.


    The latter nodded and said, "That space is filled with poisonous energy mist. The air there is unsafe for humans, so we had to wear gas masks. However, a special friend of our Chief helped solve quite some problems."


    "A special friend?" Xiao Licheng said.


    "Yeah," Li Zheng didn''t give more information and only let the people know about the existence of that special friend. Xiao Licheng didn''t ask more questions about that special friend and changed the topic, "What''s that underground space like?"


    "It''s a fantastic place. There are many plants there that we have never seen or even imagined. A thick layer of energy mist occupies the top of the place. It''s underground but not entirely dark. It''s dimly illuminated actually. And of course, it''s full of dangers. Half of the plants we saw were mutated and dangerous. Also, all creatures that exist down there are at level seven or eight, very powerful."


    From on the information provided by Li Zheng and the two level-six zombies who came out together with him, the others gained some preliminary knowledge about the underground realm.


    Back in the base, Li Zheng and the two wrote reports and drew some pictures to let Lin Feng and Wu Chengyue know about everything they had seen underground.


    "So, the big cat went down together with Qiaoqiao," Qiu Lili guessed out it was the big cat once she heard about Lin Qiao''s special friend.


    "I''ve been wondering why the big cat follows her," Wu Chengyue, who had come to All Being Base together with Ling Ling and Teng, heard her and shared his puzzlement. Everyone on the scene had already known that the big red cat liked to follow Lin Qiao everywhere.


    Lin Feng thought for a moment expressionlessly and joined the conversation, "Why does our Chief let the cat follow her? Is it because the cat never attacked humans?"


    Lin Feng also believed that was not the only reason why Lin Qiao allowed the cat to follow her. Did she know that the cat would be helpful for her current situation?


    On hearing what he said, the others glanced at each other. They thought for a moment but failed to come up with an answer, so they focused on the underground space again.


    "All creatures down there are at level seven or eight. We''d be in huge trouble if they decided to come up someday!" Based on the current information, that was what Lin Feng was worried about the most.


    "That''s not the most important thing. According to the information provided by your Chief and her attitude, she''s still trying to find out why those underground creatures came out. That means, apart from those level seven and eight ones, there''s definitely something even more dangerous," Wu Chengyue said to Lin Feng with a smile.


    Lin Feng glanced at him and said, "You''re right, but what I said can still happen. Why are there so many high-leveled creatures down there and why didn''t they come out? Did they send out those lower-leveled ones to scout around the earth''s surface?"


    Wu Chengyue looked at Li Zheng and asked him, "What did she say?"


    Lin Qiao told him not to say too much about the level-nine creature, so Li Zheng thought for a moment and said, "She wasn''t sure yet, but she suspected that a very powerful level-nine creature has been ruling the underground world."


    Wu Chengyue made eye-contact with the others and exclaimed, "Level-nine? Really?"


    There were so many level-eight ones underground, so it should be a normal thing for one of them to break into level-nine.


    Based on the known common features of underground creatures, they figured that the level-nine creature must be unimaginably strong.


    "That''s only a guess of hers," said Li Zheng, "Before finding that creature, she doesn''t want people to know too much about her guess. But, she does want to warn us that we should prepare ourselves for what might happen. The next batch of people will bring out more details."


    "Huaxia people didn''t get what they wanted this time, so I think they''ll send a strong force to guard the exit next time. Our people have come out, but theirs have not. Si Kongchen must be eager to know what has happened down there."


    "He''ll soon learn that his plan has failed again. I guess he''s gonna get upset again," Wu Chengyue said with a smile.


    "Have you found out anything about his plan yet?" Lin Feng asked him.


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, "We don''t know what''s his big plan yet. So far, we only know about some small moves that he''s been making."


    Lin Feng nodded, "Recently, the underground creatures have been gathering in all the main areas of the country. I feel that something is about to happen."


    Yun Meng, who had been quiet, joined the conversation at that point, "Maybe it has something to do with what''s happening underground now."


    "Perhaps. Our top priority now is to figure out why they are gathering," said Wu Chengyue.


    "I hope our people can bring us some useful information," Yun Meng gave a sigh.


    Many things had been happening lately. Soon after those annoying Huaxia people were dealt with, the news that underground creatures suddenly started to gather in each main area of the country was delivered. No one had any idea what was going to happen.

 1357 The Situation on the Earths Surface

    At that time, all kinds of underground creatures were devouring each other in the areas where they had been gathering.


    The level-nine creature in the underground realm wasn''t the only one that had a great appetite. The underground creatures on the earth''s surface had a huge appetite for food and energy as well.


    Currently, they had been fighting each other crazily. They were killing and eating each other, but weirdly, they didn''t attack the ones that were feeding. They didn''t attack their own kind either.


    Each battlefield was guarded by several powerful creatures at level seven or eight. They each guarded one side, quietly watching the chaotic battle among the lower-leveled underground creatures. Some of those creatures were of their own kind, but they had only been observing quietly.


    The lower-leveled creatures fought each other as hard as they could. After killing their opponents, they ate up the bodies right on spot and then immediately started searching for the next opponent to start a new round of battle. They had no superpowers and fought with physical strength, but their bodies were all full of energy. They had nuclei in their brains too. After killing their opponents, they would first dig out the nuclei and swallow them, and then start to feed on the bodies.


    All those underground creatures had been doing the same thing¡ªkilling their opponents, eating them, and looking for a new one.


    That was a massive dog-eat-dog scene.


    About a mile away, a group of people had been observing the battlefield through telescopes. They were confused to find those creatures killing and eating each other.


    "What''s going on? Are they killing and eating each other?" Qian Xiaoai asked while observing those creatures through the telescope.


    Li Yue Shan from Sea City Base was standing by his side, holding a telescope as well. He thought for a moment and then said, "I think they''re upgrading. Look at the ones who managed to eat their opponents. Their vibes have been growing rapidly! No wonder! These underground creatures have eaten a lot of creatures from the earth''s surface, including humans, mutated plants, and animals, but none of them has upgraded. So, it turns out that they need to eat their own kind to upgrade, right?"


    Qian Xiaoai put down his telescope and turned to him, "Really? Eh? Have you guys been paying attention to that?"


    Li Yue Shan nodded and said, "Yes, we''ve been following some of them and observing them for a long time. They''ve been feeding all the time, but none of them has upgraded so far."


    Qian Xiaoai raised a hand to rub his bald head as he thought for a moment and said, "If you''re right, they probably gathered together to upgrade. They absorb the energy that belongs to the others of their kind to bring themselves to higher levels¡­ That way of upgrading is so¡­"


    He didn''t finish his words.


    Other people were standing near them as well. Qian Xiaoai and Li Yue Shan, who represented All Being Base and Sea City Base, weren''t the only ones who came out to observe those underground creatures'' abnormal behaviors this time. The people from some hunters'' groups were there as well.


    The team from Three Months Hunters'' Group was led by Luo Yuanjun. He was a man with strong curiosity, so he had been in charge of the intelligence work.


    His group was now in close partnership with All Beings Base, so Luo Yuanjun didn''t mind acting together with All Beings Base people. He even teamed up with them. At that moment, he was standing beside Qian Xiaoai and observing the battlefield. Comprehension dawned on his face as he heard Li Yue Shan''s words.


    He still had other questions, though. Why were those higher leveled creatures guarding the battlefield? What did they want?


    A huge-scale gathering of underground creatures was happening in that area; at least a hundred thousand underground creatures had gathered there. The higher-leveled ones picked fights against the ones at their own levels in order to upgrade. Fighting the lower-leveled ones would be a waste of time, because the lower-leveled ones couldn''t provide them with enough energy. However, it required a great effort to kill an opponent at their own level.


    Finally, a winner emerged from the first batch of level-six creatures. The creature covered in wounds stood before a dead level-six one and reared up its head. It was at the top of level-six, about to enter level-seven.


    "Roar¡­" It bit its opponent to death and first opened its bloody mouth to utter a resonant roar. After that, it lowered its head and started to feed on its dead opponent.


    Its appetite was as great as that of all the other underground creatures. It ate fast, gulp by gulp. The other underground creatures brushed past it but didn''t attack it.


    The level-six creature quickly ate up its dead opponent, even chewing and swallowing the bones. After that, it abruptly bent its limbs, lowered its body, and dropped its head. Then, it tightened its neck and gave a deep growl.


    "Roar!"


    "Look, I think that one is starting to upgrade." Luo Yuanjun was the first to discover it and said to the others without thinking. He looked carefully and found that no one among the underground creatures that had been fighting the battle was above level-six. The level-seven ones were all standing by the edge of the battlefield, quietly looking at the lower-leveled ones.


    "Where?" Luo Yuanjun''s words aroused other people''s curiosity.


    "The west side," said Luo Yuanjun.


    The others turned their eyes to search through the battlefield and soon spotted that weirdly-behaving level-six underground creature. It had its body lowered, teeth bared, and growling deeply. After spending a short while roaring, it started to shake more and more intensely.


    Next, waves of energy burst out of its body and spread in all directions, forcing away all the other underground creatures near it.


    After being forced to a distance away from it, those creatures started fighting each other again.


    The level-six creature''s condition soon attracted the attention of the higher-leveled ones, who were standing by the edge of the battlefield and watching.

 1358 The Way of Upgrading

    The higher-leveled underground creatures at the edge of the battlefield fixed their eyes on the level-six one that appeared to be upgrading while their vibes started to show some minor changes.


    Before, their vibes had been still and stable, but they started to restrain and hide them at that moment. Normally, beasts and humans hid their vibes on purpose and made themselves invisible either to prepare to hunt or do something else.


    They didn''t make any immediate moves but seemed to be waiting for something.


    "The higher-leveled ones have started to hide their vibes. They''re going to take action." The group of people had noticed the changes in those creatures.


    "They seem to be waiting for an opportunity."


    "What are they waiting for? Are they waiting to see the result of the level-six one''s upgrade?"


    "Could be that, or maybe something else."


    Everyone started making guesses about what was happening at that moment.


    The humans were paying attention to the whole battlefield while the higher-leveled creatures were staring at the upgrading one, seemingly waiting for an opportunity. Qian Xiaoai and the others all had a feeling that nothing would happen soon, but something would definitely happen at some point.


    As expected, they spent four days waiting.


    The level-six underground creature that started to upgrade the first hadn''t succeeded yet, but some others had started upgrading as well. Their levels varied from three to six. Meanwhile, the higher-leveled ones finally started taking action instead of sitting there and watching quietly.


    A level-five one suddenly attacked a level-four one which was upgrading. Within a blink, a level-seven one watching from the edge of the battlefield pounced on the level-five one that was launching a sneak attack.


    The level-five one had caught the attention of the higher-leveled underground creatures once it made a move. The level-seven one was much stronger and faster than it. Before it touched the level-four one, it was pressed under the level-seven one''s paw and beaten to death before it could react.


    The level-seven creature that bit the level-five one to death didn''t eat it but threw it to the side and then turned to leave. Before long, the level-five underground beast was eaten by the ones who didn''t have opponents at the moment.


    The higher-leveled ones appeared to have been maintaining the order of the battle. Of course, that shouldn''t be their sole mission. They might be there to serve some other purposes as well.


    As the humans were trying to figure out the meaning of those higher-leveled ones'' behavior, one creature was finally about to upgrade successfully.


    The land had been devastated, utterly damaged. The strong scent of blood rose into the sky, and beast roars were heard wave after wave.


    Soon, it became a level-six one. But, instead of joining the battle again, it turned and quickly left the battlefield. The higher-leveled ones didn''t try to stop it from leaving either.


    Another level-five one failed to enter the new level. Its vibe grew disordered and out of control, and then its energy started to shrink and spread repeatedly, meaning that its upgrade had ended up as a failure. Next, its energy might explode, and then it would die. The energy explosion wouldn''t blow up its entire body but twist it.


    As the level-five one failed to upgrade, the ones near it that had been waiting for a chance since long ago immediately rushed at it. Another chaotic battle was inevitable.


    That was allowed though, as the higher-leveled creatures didn''t stop them.


    However, when a level-six one failed its upgrading, the other underground creatures didn''t dare to rush up and attack it. They wouldn''t get anything anyway, because a level-seven one did that before they could.


    The level-seven ones seemed to have been waiting for that moment. Unlike them, the level-eight ones made no movements. There weren''t many of them though. Only about ten percent of the higher-leveled creatures on the scene were at level-eight.


    The level-six ones that had successfully entered level-seven didn''t leave as the new level-six had. Instead, they moved to the edge of the battlefield to watch.


    "So, the highest level these creatures can reach is seven, right? Aren''t those level-seven ones going to upgrade themselves in the same way?" After spending days observing, Luo Yuanjun asked a question.


    "Maybe level-seven is a special level. Maybe, they''ll have a new way of upgrading at that level. But, I guess they''ll still have to kill each other to do that. After all, eating a level-seven mutated animal from the earth''s surface won''t help them to upgrade," said Li Yueshan.


    "Can this be counted as some kind of balance? I thought these creatures don''t have any natural enemies. I thought they''d run rampage in the whole world and reproduce endlessly. In that case, the earth would become a dead planet in less than a decade," Qian Xiaoai sighed.


    His base and Sea City Base had been studying some kind of herb that was highly harmful to underground creatures recently, but due to the huge population of those creatures, it would still require tens of years to eliminate them, even with that highly effective herb. No one could tell how many plants and animals and zombies would be able to survive in tens of years.


    The existence of those underground creatures had been threatening the future of earth much more seriously than the existence of zombies, which fed on humans and their own kind only.


    At least the zombies didn''t feed on plants.


    If all the plants on the Earth were gone, the food chain on the planet would break, and Earth would die in the long run.

 1359 Huaxias Missile

    "The law of nature stays the same, even in the post-apocalyptic era," Li Yueshan nodded.


    "They''re fighting to upgrade. I wonder when the battle will end," Luo Yuanjun picked up the telescope and started observing again while murmuring to himself.


    Through days of fighting, some creatures had to kill and eat quite a few others to upgrade. Some killed and ate their opponents but suffered fierce attacks before they could upgrade. Meanwhile, some lucky ones managed to upgrade successfully after killing and eating only one opponent.


    The number of those creatures had been reducing rapidly, and at least half of them had died at the moment. Some of them were killed by the others and some died when failing to upgrade. Only the successfully upgraded ones were allowed to leave. The rest of them had to stay and keep fighting. In the end, they would either die or break into a new level.


    Apparently, not many of them would survive.


    "Aren''t they worried that the population of their kind might grow smaller and smaller, and they might die out in the end?" Watching that cruel scene, Qian Xiaoai couldn''t help but share his puzzle.


    "They reproduce fast actually. It''s just that they have to spend a long time upgrading. And look, we can''t see any under level-three on the battlefield. So, these underground creatures must already have a way to maintain their population."


    Qian Xiaoai nodded, "I see. I guess they do have their own way of surviving."


    "We need to send the message back to the base," said Li Yueshan, "This is good news for us anyway. At least, we might be able to figure out a way to catch all of them in one swoop, since they''ve all gathered together."


    Soon, they sent someone to bring their discovery back to the base. After receiving the message, Lin Feng, Wu Chengyue, and the others all wore complicated expressions.


    "This way of upgrading means that many of them will die trying to upgrade, but this is a very efficient way. The survivors are growing stronger and stronger. So many level-eight ones have emerged already, along with a bunch of level-seven ones. Any of those level-eight ones can tear our base down," Lin Feng thought for a moment with his brows knitted as he gave a sigh and said.


    The others nodded in agreement with slightly sullen faces.


    "I wonder how often they upgrade like this," Chen Yuting fixed his eyes on the report as he said.


    While they were having the meeting, a quick series of footsteps were heard from the outside. Li Zheng walked to the door while holding a piece of paper. He looked at the people in the room and gently knocked on the door.


    "There''s an urgent message from Huaxia."


    All the others turned to him immediately.


    "Urgent message?" Lin Feng put on a serious look.


    If it weren''t urgent, Li Zheng would not knock on the door and walk straight in while the meeting was still going on.


    Li Zheng walked in while holding the piece of paper and saying, "They bombed the nearest underground creature gathering spot with missiles. The missiles contained something special that killed all underground creatures in that area."


    "It killed them?" Everyone was surprised to hear that.


    Reasonably speaking, not even missiles could kill so many underground creatures so easily, not to mention there were level-eight ones on the scene. Those were definitely not easy to kill. They had such strong self-defense. The missiles might kill the lower-leveled ones, which were right in the explosion area, but the ones at and above level-five should be fine.


    However, Li Zheng said that all those creatures were dead, and more importantly, the missiles contained something special.


    Li Zheng nodded with a serious look, "We''ve confirmed it several times. Some higher-leveled ones at the edge of the battlefield got away, but the ones near the explosion center have all died. The explosion wasn''t what killed them. They seemed to have died of poison. The missiles exploded and released a mist that spread in that area. Huaxia Base launched tens of missiles like that and blew up the entire crowd."


    "Tens of missiles? Huaxia Base knew how to kill those creatures since long ago but still summoned us to discuss the solution. I guess Si Kongchen has been planning this since long ago!" Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes; the smile on his face was gone.


    Clearly, Huaxia Base started developing the weapon and coming up with the plan a long time ago, because they couldn''t possibly produce tens of missiles within such a short time. But still, Si Kongchen summoned the leaders of all the other bases to his place to talk about how to solve the crisis caused by the underground creatures. His purpose couldn''t be that simple. Moreover, he kept that secret very well. None of the others had heard a word about his missiles.


    But now, he suddenly launched those missiles. He had started to show his ambition.


    "I think he was probably planning to take some kind of sneak actions when he summoned all base leaders to Huaxia Base. But then, the leader of Green Mountain Base suggested exploring the underground realm, so he probably changed his plan after that, because he knew either you or our Chief will go underground," Lin Feng said with a sullen face.


    Even if Si Kongchen had changed his plan, he never stopped taking small actions. And now, he had finally taken a big one.


    "Why is he exhibiting his best weapons now?" Yun Meng, who had been listening to the others talking the whole time, finally asked a question.


    "These underground creatures are very dangerous," said Wu Chengyue, "They have such powerful weapons, so the future of mankind will be under their control. In that case, we''ll have only two choices¡ªeither to use their weapons to fight those creatures or fight on our own."


    His words solved everyone''s doubts. Without effective weapons, they would suffer great losses if they chose to fight on their own. However, uf they wanted to use Huaxia''s weapon, they would have to pay any price named by Huaxia Base.


    The timing was perfect. The missiles killed a huge number of underground creatures while they were gathering. That result was shocking and impressive.


    On hearing what Wu Chengyue said, Yun Meng furrowed her brows and said, "Does Si Kongchen think he''s the only one who knows how to kill those underground creatures? I''m impressed, though. They''ve actually found something that can kill those creatures. Do you guys know what it is?"


    Li Zheng shook his head and said, "We''ve collected some of that material and sent it to Leng Xuantong''s lab, but we don''t know what it is yet. We have to wait for the scientists to tell us. But, I think Huaxia Base found it a little too soon. Those underground creatures only showed up recently, so I wonder when they started to develop that kind of a missile."

 1360 Lets Go Back

    "I guess they want to use the weapon to make the other bases yield to them. They''ll protect the ones who yield," Wu Chengyue turned up his lip corners, but no smile could be detected from his eyes.


    "I don''t think it''s that simple. If they only wanted the others to yield, they could have let us know about the weapon long ago, instead of waiting until now," Lin Kui, who hadn''t talked much until now, shared his opinion. The others looked at him while Wu Chengyue and Lin Feng dropped their eyelids and fell in thoughts.


    Standing by the window, Qiu Lili turned to the others and asked, "What else does he want?"


    The others glanced at each other. None of them could guess out what Si Kongchen wanted.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Lin Qiao watched the level-nine creature get back into its nest and left quietly, heading back toward the entrance of the underground realm. Duan Juan and the others waiting near the entrance found the noises caused by the level-nine creature quiet down gradually. Only after that did they sigh with relief.


    The underground realm seemed even quieter after the level-nine monster finished its meal.


    Soon, Lin Qiao returned safely. She looked at the others and said, "It filled up its stomach and then went to rest. It''s a miracle that the creatures down here haven''t died out yet. It has such a big appetite after all."


    The others didn''t approach the monster, as its vibe was way too strong, so they couldn''t sense how it was feeding. As Lin Qiao returned, they all looked at her curiously, waiting for her to share what she had found out.


    "How many did it eat?"


    "Twelve," said Lin Qiao, "All level-eight. After finishing those up, it caught another one and brought it back to its nest to chew on slowly."


    On hearing that, people popped their eyes in shock.


    Twelve level-eight ones! Level-eight beasts on the earth''s surface were rather rare, but how come there were so many of them down underground? The monster ate twelve level-eight creatures for only one meal. How often did it feed? Why hadn''t it eaten up all living creatures underground yet?


    "It has a huge appetite indeed, just like the ones up there. What are we supposed to do next? Shall we keep watching it?" Kong Qingming first gave a sigh and then looked at Lin Qiao as she asked.


    The mission was to explore the underground creatures, and most importantly, find out why those underground creatures suddenly went to the surface of the earth. Lin Qiao and her people managed to find the monster''s nest and roughly figure out the reasons they were looking for.


    They were obviously sent up there by the level-nine one.


    However, the level-nine creature''s motive was not yet known. The complete answer might not be found within a short time.


    Of course, she couldn''t spend all her time underground. Since she had already figured out what happened, she decided to leave some people down there to observe the monster from a distance. As long as they didn''t get too close, the monster wouldn''t have its eyes on them.


    "Xie Dong, I''ll leave you a few zombie soldiers. You guys stay down here keep observing the level-nine creature from the distance. Find out when it''ll feed again. The others and I will go back to the surface. You guys stay here and play by the ear. If you encounter danger, come back as soon as you can," Lin Qiao looked at Xie Dong and gave him an order. He had three wind-powered zombie soldiers under his command, so flying someone up to the surface would be easy for them.


    She left Xie Dong a level-seven zombie, four level-six ones, and the level-five wind-powered one who was under his lead all the time.


    "Yes, ma''am!" Xie Dong and the few zombie soldiers nodded in response.


    "What''s your plan?" Lin Qiao turned to Lei Cheng from Green Mountain Base and Kong Qingming from Sea City Base, who glanced at each other.


    "Go home and make the report, then wait for the bosses to make decisions," Kong Qingming thought for a moment and said.


    "Same here," Lei Cheng glanced at him and then nodded at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao gave both of them a glance and said, "Okay, let''s go up together. Xie Dong and his boys will stay here observing the big one."


    The level-nine creature would surely cause loud noises when it comes out to hunt again. By observing from distance, one could easily find out what was happening. As zombies, Xie Dong and his boys would be fine, as long as they kept a distance from the monster that is.


    Lin Qiao once again glanced at where the level-nine monster was located and threw everyone apart from Xie Dong and his soldiers into her space. After that, she walked out of the cave and shouted, "Come here! We''re going home!"


    "Owoooo!" A dog bark was heard from the woods nearby, followed by a series of swishing noises: Bowwow, Black, and the mushroom quickly ran up to Lin Qiao. She threw the three of them into the space and looked around, not seeing Red. She spent a short while searching through the surrounding area but still didn''t find the cat, so she gave up.


    The cat was always like a ghost. It was missing now, but it might show up right behind her in awhile. So, she didn''t waste more time finding the cat but flew up toward the hole where she entered the underground realm from.


    In the space, Yuan Tianxing saw a large group of people being sent in by Lin Qiao. "What? Did something else happen?" he couldn''t help but ask a question.


    He witnessed what happened to Lin Qiao earlier, but he knew it wasn''t the time to talk about that yet. He saw her turn back normal from that weird state, but he still intended to ask her what exactly happened at that time.


    "We''ve found out what we wanted to find out, so we''re going home to report it to the bosses and then wait for them to make decisions. A few will stay here and keep observing though," Kong Qingming answered his questions.


    Yuan Tianxing nodded and didn''t say anything else.


    As Lin Qiao thought, not long after she left, the red cat showed up and leaped out of the ground.


    Lin Qiao felt that she not only needed to deal with those underground creatures, but also had to finish off those Huaxia Base people as soon as possible. Before her own problem grew serious, she needed to eliminate Huaxia Base, the biggest threat.


    Without the threat from Huaxia Base, Lin Feng would be able to manage the base and keep it safe even if something bad happened to her and caused her to leave the base temporarily. If there were something that Lin Feng could not handle by himself, Wu Chengyue would aid him.

 1361 Lu Meiqing the Nurse

    While Lin Qiao and her people were returning to the earth''s surface, Si Kongchen visited the secret lab which was located outside the base again.


    "The batch of people that came out of the ground this time got away, and our people didn''t get a thing. We have no idea what happened to your daughter, but I think if she''s really dead as you said, it must have something to do with the woman from All Beings Base," Si Kongchen sat in the sofa in Professor Bai''s office and leaned against the back of the sofa as he looked at Professor Bai and said.


    Professor Bai was wearing a sullen look. His wrinkles seemed to have grown deeper, and his back had become hunched. He looked quiet and listless. On hearing Si Kongchen''s words, he sat behind his desk motionlessly, looking at Xie Longyun''s photo, which was on the desk, without saying anything. Si Kongchen looked at him and fell into silence as well.


    After staying silent for a while, Professor Bai finally dropped his head and started talking, "You''ve been failing a lot recently. Why?"


    On hearing that, Si Kongchen furrowed his brows slightly and put on an unhappy face as he responded to Professor Bai immediately, "Professor Bai, don''t you know about my ability? That All Beings Base is really difficult. It''s not my fault. I''ve been trying to find a way. I will figure out their secret before we take serious action. Believe me!"


    While finishing his speech, he sat straight and looked at Professor Bai determinedly.


    Professor Bai didn''t look at him but fixed his eyes on the photo. A few seconds after the other finished his speech, he replied with a bland tone, "I work with you because I believe in your capability. You becoming less capable than before is not a good thing for me. At least I don''t intend to switch partners now."


    "Don''t worry!" Si Kongchen looked at him and said seriously, "I won''t give you that kind of chance."


    At the same time, Cheng Wangxue was carrying a lunch box with a hand in All Beings Base, holding Lin Xiaolu with the other while walking to the hospital manager''s office. A nurse who came from the other side of the hallway saw them and smiled delightedly.


    "Hi, Ms. Cheng, you''re here delivering lunch to your little brother again! You probably should find him a wife and let her do the job. Don''t you find it too hard to do this every day?" The nurse looked at Cheng Wangxue and made a joke.


    Lin Hao had no time to cook for himself. He worked in the hospital all day and couldn''t possibly have the time to go home to cook. He sometimes went to Lin Feng''s place for dinner when he got off work on time, and if he worked late, he would simply skip dinner.


    Their superpower energies would maintain their body functions, but they would still feel hungry. That was a torment.


    So, Cheng Wangxue and Lin Wenwen took turns to deliver meals to Lin Hao.


    On hearing what the nurse said, Cheng Wangxue laughed, "Oh, this is not hard, just a small thing. But, you''re right. We do need to find Lin Hao a wife. He''s not attracted to any girl though, so we don''t know what to do."


    The nurse was Lin Hao''s assistant. As Cheng Wangxue and Lin Wenwen often came to visit Lin Hao, she had grown rather familiar with them.


    Lu Meiqing held some files with a hand as she unlocked the door of Lin Hao''s office with the other and stood by the side, pushing the door open and letting Cheng Wangxue in. However, no one was in the office. Seeing the empty office, Cheng Wangxue asked, "Is he busy working again?"


    Cheng Wangxue brought Lin Xiaolu into the office and put the lunch box on Lin Hao''s desk. Lin Xiaolu quietly walked to a chair and sat down as well.


    Lu Meiqing put the files in her hand on Lin Hao''s desk as well, also conveniently tidying the desk. While doing that, she responded to Cheng Wangxue with a smile, "Yeah, he''s examining a patient. I''m afraid it''ll take a while. Are you two gonna wait here until he finishes the meal or leave the food here?"


    Cheng Wangxue smiled at her and said, "I don''t have the time to wait for him. I need to get back. I''ll leave the food here. He''ll eat it when he comes back here. He''ll know it''s me who brought the food to him."


    "You''re right," Lu Meiqing nodded and said.


    After saying that, she quietly glanced at the lunch box and turned to Cheng Wangxue, "I guess you''ve been busy too. Earlier it was Wenwen who brought the food to Mr. Lin."


    "Yeah, I''m a little busy indeed," Cheng Wangxue nodded and said with a smile.


    "He''s gotten used to you guys bringing him the food. Aren''t you guys worried that he might never go home?" Lu Meiqing tidied the desk and paused before asking another question casually.


    Cheng Wangxue shook her head slightly, "No. He knows what''s right. He''ll go home when he should."


    On hearing that, Lu Meiqing knitted her brows slightly. She hurriedly turned around, in case Cheng Wangxue noticed the look on her face.


    She didn''t get what she wanted and was reluctant to give up, so she continued, "Our director is a workaholic. He always brings home a stack of files when he''s not working late here."


    She didn''t really know if Lin Hao would bring files home. She said that because she wanted to get some useful information from Cheng Wangxue.


    She was Lin Hao''s assistant, but he didn''t tell her everything. She had searched through his office but didn''t find anything. And now, Cheng Wangxue was appearing to be more difficult than she thought.


    Cheng Wangxue smiled and said, "I didn''t know about that. Alright, the food has been delivered. We''ll take our leave. Xiaolu, let''s go! "


    Lin Xiaolu immediately turned to her mother and stood up from the chair before walking to her. While raising a hand to hold Cheng Wangxue''s, the girl gave Lu Meiqing a casual glance. Her pure and innocent eyes contained an indescribable meaning.


    Lu Meiqing didn''t notice the look in Lin Xiaolu''s eyes. As Cheng Wangxue prepared to leave, she hurriedly said to the former that she needed to leave too, because she didn''t want to be considered suspicious.

 1362 Shes a Mole

    After coming out of Lin Hao''s office, Cheng Wangxue and Lu Meiqing walked separate ways.


    At that time, Lin Xiaolu, who was holding her mother''s hand, turned and gave a glance to Lu Meiqing, who was walking away. Then, she turned back and raised her head to look at Cheng Wangxue.


    "Mom, that person is a bad one!" Lin Xiaolu raised her head higher and said to Cheng Wangxue.


    Cheng Wangxue stopped walking and lowered her head to look at her daughter questioningly, "Why did you say that?"


    She knew that Lin Xiaolu said that for a reason. She believed what her daughter said, because she knew well about the girl. Also, Lin Xiaolu''s superpower allowed her to read people''s minds. Cheng Wangxue believed that her daughter wouldn''t lie to her.


    "She has been wanting to know Aunty''s secret," said Lin Xiaolu, "But, she doesn''t want you guys to know about that."


    Cheng Wangxue immediately knitted her brows. She raised her head and looked around before bringing her daughter to a corner. She squatted and looked straight at the girl in the eyes as she asked, "Xiaolu, is that real? Does the nurse want to know your aunty''s secret? What else do you know?"


    Lin Xiaolu thought for a moment and continued slowly, "She wants to tell Aunty''s secret to some other people and then let them bring the secret out of our base."


    On hearing her daughter''s words, Cheng Wangxue turned her face slightly to the side with a cold look flashing across her eyes. However, she soon calmed down and turned back to Lin Xiaolu to ask another question, "Are you saying that she intends to tell your Aunty''s secret to some other people in our base?"


    That meant quite some people who were on the same side with the nurse were hiding in the base.


    Lin Xiaolu nodded at her and said, "Yes, she has friends here."


    Cheng Wangxue stood up and gently rubbed the girl''s head as she said, "Alright, I get it. Let''s head home. I''ll let your uncle know."


    "Em," Lin Xiaolu nodded.


    After that, the two of them left the hospital. Cheng Wangxue stayed as calm and composed as always, but the look in her eyes had grown much more serious than before. A sharp look could also be seen from those eyes from time to time. While the base managers were trying so hard to take precautions against the enemies from the outside, some people in the base had betrayed the base and planned to stab the base in the back.


    After leaving the hospital, she didn''t take Lin Xiaolu straight to the administration building to see Lin Feng. Instead, she went home as she usually would and waited for Lin Feng to come back.


    She wasn''t sure if she was really under watch, but she believed that staying vigilant was the right thing to do. Also, she wasn''t worried that an extra couple of hours might allow the nurse to get some useful information from Lin Hao. She didn''t know when the nurse started to search for information in Lin Hao''s place. Did she start recently? Had she been doing that since a long time ago? One thing for sure though, that she hadn''t found what she wanted yet, and she wouldn''t possibly find it within merely a few hours.


    ¡­


    That night, Lin Feng came home from work and found to his surprise that his dear wife, who was supposed to be in bed already, was sitting in the living room.


    "Um¡­ were you waiting for me?" She wouldn''t be sitting in the living room for no reason, so he assumed that she was waiting for him.


    Cheng Wangxue stood up. After Lin Feng closed the door and walked to her, she said, "Earlier today, Xiaolu and I delivered lunch to Lin Hao. After that, Xiaolu told me that the nurse who''s been assisting him is a mole. She''s trying to dig out Chief''s secret and leak it to another base. I think she works for Huaxia Base. Moreover, she should have quite some friends here."


    On hearing her, Lin Feng stopped walking and gave her a glance with surprise before putting on a serious look.


    "Are you sure?"


    Cheng Wangxue gave him a glare and said, "Your daughter said that. Don''t you believe her?"


    Lin Feng walked to the couch and sat down, "Give me some details."


    Cheng Wangxue sat on the armchair next to him and said, "The nurse showed up when we arrived at Lin Hao''s office and went in together with us. We even had a chat. She didn''t say much though. And soon, we left the office together. But after we left, Xiaolu told me that the nurse was thinking about something else. By having a small talk with me, she was actually trying to make me tell her where Lin Hao kept Chief''s file."


    No wonder the nurse told her that Lin Hao brought patients'' files home after work. She probably didn''t know if Lin Hao would really do that or not. She said that to get the answer out of Cheng Wangxue. By responding to her with yes or no, Cheng Wangxue would be giving her the answer that she wanted.


    Thankfully, Cheng Wangxue didn''t give her any specific information back then.


    On hearing that, Lin Feng furrowed his brows slightly and asked, "Was she feeling you out?"


    She tried to get information about Lin Hao from other people, meaning that Lin Hao didn''t trust her fully, even though she had been working with him. She clearly wasn''t able to get any useful information from him.


    It seemed that her work as a mole hadn''t been making any progress. Also, judging by the fact that she had changed her way of gathering information, the people whom she worked for had probably urged her and were losing patience.


    It seemed that Huaxia Base had been trying everything they could to dig out the secrets of All Beings Base. They might be making some big moves soon. After all, they had already put their secret weapons against underground creatures in use.


    "She was feeling me out indeed. I didn''t give her anything though. What are you gonna do about this? Should we let Lin Hao know?" Cheng Wangxue looked at him and asked.


    Lin Hao knitted his brows as he thought for a moment and said, "We certainly need to let Lin Hao know about this. As for what I''m gonna do about it¡­ Don''t alert her just yet. I want to know who she''s been working with."


    "But, Lin Hao hasn''t been coming home these days," said Cheng Wangxue, "How are we supposed to let him know? Should I talk to him about it next time I deliver food to him?"


    Lin Feng nodded and said, "Send him the message the usual way. I''ll send some people to keep the nurse under watch. Alright, leave it to me."


    "Okay, I get it," Cheng Wangxue nodded and said.

 1363 Lin Haos Reaction

    The next day at lunchtime, Lin Hao returned to the office together with Lu Meiqing.


    "Hey, Ms. Cheng! You brought food to Director Lin again!" Lu Meiqing came into the office to find Cheng Wangxue standing before Lin Hao''s desk. On the desk was a lunch box; that should be Lin Hao''s lunch.


    Seeing Cheng Wangxue, Lin Hao nodded at her and greeted her. Then, he looked around and asked, "Eh? Didn''t you bring Xiaolu with you today? Did you bring her here yesterday?"


    Cheng Wangxue turned around and stepped to the side as the two entered. She smiled and responded to him while packing the lunch box from his last meal, "No, she''s playing with her friends today, so I didn''t bring her here."


    Lin Xiaolu''s friends were none other than Tongtong, Ling Ling, and Teng.


    Being reminded by Cheng Wangxue, Lin Hao recalled that Ling Ling and Teng were both staying at Sea City Base earlier, so Xiaolu hadn''t seen them for a while. This time, Wu Chengyue had brought the two kids to All Beings Base, so Xiaolu would surely go and play with them.


    "Oh, I see!"


    Cheng Wangxue nodded at Lu Meiqing smilingly and said, "Alright. I just got here. If you don''t have any urgent work to do now, finish the meal while it''s still warm. I''m leaving."


    While speaking, she pushed the lunch box on the desk slightly toward the center of the desk.


    Lin Hao sat down on his chair and nodded as he put down the things in his hands on the desk and said, "Okay, I get it."


    Cheng Wangxue picked up the lunch box from his last meal and then left.


    "Director, maybe you should go home for meals instead of letting your family bring the food to you all the time," Lu Meiqing said to Lin Hao, sounding casual. While speaking, she brought some files toward the file cabinet on one side of the office.


    Lin Hao shrugged as he dragged the lunch box toward himself and opened it, "Do you think I have the time? If I went home for lunch, I''d have to run back here as soon as I finished. That''d be so inconvenient. Actually, I''ve told them that I can eat in the canteen. They just insist on bringing food to me. What can I do about that?"


    Earlier, he was busy working and not feeling hungry. However, once he opened the lunch box and sensed the aroma of the food, his stomach instantly started grumbling.


    He was starving! He wanted food!


    His eyes were fixed on a spot in the lunch box for a few seconds when he opened the box, but the movements of his hands weren''t interrupted. He smoothly opened the box and sniffed at the delicious food. "But, my sister-in-law''s food is indeed better than the food from the canteen. This smells so nice!"


    She was only a commoner after all. If she didn''t have the job at the hospital, she might not even be able to guarantee herself three meals a day.


    While speaking, she stepped out of Lin Hao''s office.


    After watching her walk out and close the door from the outside, Lin Hao took out the first layer of the lunch box and looked at the rice in the second layer. Next, he took out the rice bowl and found a piece of paper underneath it. That was for him.


    Just now, he opened the box to find a red spot by its edge. That red spot only showed up when there was a confidential message in the lunch box. That was why he acted like he was going to enjoy the meal. He did that to let Lu Meiqing know that he needed some private space to eat.


    As he expected, Lu Meiqing took the hint and left.


    After she left, Lin Hao started reading the secret message from Cheng Wangxue.


    He spread the note and read it while raising his eyebrows slightly. His facial expression didn''t change drastically, but he did glance at the door. The note warned him that he needed to keep Lin Qiao''s file safe, because if some other people found it, the whole base would be in trouble.


    Lin Hao wasn''t surprised to read the note. After all, Lin Qiao was the leader of a base. It was a normal thing that many wanted to know her secret, not to mention the fact that she died once. Lin Hao felt lucky that the three people who witnessed Lu Tianyu''s death were long gone.


    He knew that there might be some moles in the base. After all, despite the small size of the base, its population had reached twenty-thousand already. The first few batches of residents were from other bases, and it was reasonable that some of them didn''t feel comfortable following Lu Tianyu''s lead. Therefore, Lin Hao had been keeping Lin Qiao''s personal files strictly secret. He would have burned all those files if they didn''t have great research value.


    A bunch of zombies lived in Base Number Two. If any of them got pregnant someday, Lin Qiao''s case could serve as a guide.


    Learning that the person who had been trying to dig out the secret from him was Lu Meiqing who had worked with him for only a few months, Lin Hao twisted his lips slightly.


    He hadn''t been suspecting her, but he never trusted her either. He didn''t trust anyone, in fact.


    Through the note, Lin Feng told Lin Hao to act like he didn''t know, because he intended to dig out the entire team that was behind Lu Meiqing. Lin Hao burned the note after reading it and then started eating.


    Lu Meiqing knitted her brows into a deep frown once she came out of Lin Hao''s office.


    She walked back to the nurse duty room and sat down with a frown as she started thinking about how to find the secret guarded by Lin Hao. He had been keeping the secret so ridiculously well. It was even as if he had an invisible shield covering his whole body and hiding all his secrets. She had spent months being close around him but still failed to find a way leading to those secrets.


    The people she worked for had started to lose patience recently. Huaxia Base had shown its own secret, meaning that what Huaxia people had been secretly planning was about to start officially. If Lu Meiqing and her people failed to deliver some valuable information to Huaxia Base before it took action, the situation might turn for the worse.


    That was why she tried other ways. She failed to make a breakthrough with Lin Hao, so she tried the people who were close to him.


    Hence, she would show up almost every time Cheng Wangxue or Lin Wenwen came to Lin Hao''s office, pretending to run up against them and then have a chat with them. It would be easier for her to get the information she wanted if she became friends with them after all.

 1364 Someone Delivered the Message

    Lu Meiqing had a great plan at first. She believed that she would be able to find some valuable clues as long as she got close to Lin Hao. Unexpectedly, after spending a few months working with Lin Hao, she still didn''t know where to start. She knew that Lin Hao would take precautions but never thought that he''d keep the secret so well that she couldn''t find anything at all.


    She was going to be patient and look for the secret slowly. However, the current situation didn''t allow her to waste more time. She tried to get something out of Lin Hao''s sister and sister-in-law, but to her surprise, those two women weren''t easy either.


    After work, Lu Meiqing didn''t go home but went straight to the people whom she worked for. Of course, she didn''t realize that she was already under watch.


    She arrived at the area where her people gathered and looked around to confirm that no suspicious people were on the scene. After that, she walked into the neighborhood, entered a building, and knocked on a door rhythmically. Soon, the door was opened. The person behind the door looked vigilant at first but relaxed upon seeing her and let her in.


    She went into the apartment and walked straight through the living room, toward a bedroom.


    "How is it going? Did you bring us good news?" As she went in, the people in the room all looked at her expectantly.


    Lu Meiqing came into the room and sighed helplessly as she shook her head and said, "No, nothing. I haven''t tried to talk to Lin Wenwen yet. She''s smarter than her sister-in-law. I''ve talked to Cheng Wangxue, but she didn''t say anything useful."


    The four men sitting in the room all seemed disappointed on hearing her words. One of them knitted his brows and said anxiously, "We don''t have much time left. Haven''t you gotten those keys yet? Doesn''t he have any operations to perform recently?"


    Lu Meiqing knew how anxious he was, but she couldn''t say anything to make him feel better. "He hardly performs operations," she said, "For normal illnesses, he can heal his patients using his superpower. He doesn''t need to perform operations unless the patients are suffering some serious injuries or some other severe conditions."


    She had to wait for Lin Hao''s next operation to steal his keys.


    "Haven''t there been any severely injured patients for him to save recently? We can''t wait longer. Maybe we should send him a patient who''ll need him to perform an operation on." The other man thought for a moment and then gave a suggestion.


    "What do you want to do?" Lu Meiqing looked at him with surprise.


    The man said with cruelty in his eyes, "We want him to take the patient seriously and perform an operation to save the patient, so it has to be someone he cares about. The adults will be difficult, as they''re all highly alert. The kids might be easier."


    The man turned to the one who said that as he shook his head and said, "Who said I''m gonna hurt the girl? I''m gonna hurt the little boy who''s very close with the girl."


    The others glanced at each other with confusion.


    "The boy?"


    One of them figured out whom he was talking about before the others did. "Oh, you''re talking about the boy who was used by his father and got abandoned, right? The boy''s mother has been quite mysterious though. She''s been managing the farm."


    "Yes, him. I know about the kid. His mother often takes him to the farm. Somehow, she has taught the kid well. The boy never talks to anyone about the farm," said the man grumpily.


    He tried to learn some about the farm from the kid, but the latter never mentioned a word about it to the people he wasn''t familiar with.


    He failed to get close to the kid and dig information out of him, but he had heard things about the boy. He spent a while observing the other and found that the boy never talked to people about the farm. If someone asked him about it, he would shake his head silently or tell the person that his mother forbade him from talking about it.


    "Oh, I know about the boy that you''re talking about. But, I don''t think it''s easy to get the boy. He''s either been with his mother or with the girl from Lin Family," said another man.


    "Xie Dong hasn''t been in the base recently. The boy spends time either in the farm or with the girl lately, who has quite some guards. Will your plan work?" Lu Meiqing joined the conversation, sounding disapproving.


    "Those guards are for the girl only, and they barely keep an eye on the boy. The boy isn''t under as strict protection as the girl. So, it''ll work as long as we don''t touch the girl," said the man.


    The others glanced at each other and then fell into silence.


    ¡­


    The next day, Du Yuanxing and Chen Yuting were both sitting on the couch in Lin Feng''s office, looking at the other sitting behind his desk.


    "Are you sure it''s these people?" Lin Feng read the name list provided by the two and confirmed it with them.


    Du Yuanxing nodded in response, "Lu Meiqing met these people last night. We dug into their backgrounds and found out that they''ve indeed been taking some secret actions all the time."


    Chen Yuting added, "They''ve been keeping their actions highly secret, and they''re all alert. We wouldn''t have found out what they''ve been doing if we didn''t find out that Lu Meiqing is a mole."


    Lin Feng looked at Chen Yuting and asked, "You found so many of them in just one night? Have you brought them all under control?"


    He was a little worried that the two might have acted too rashly and alerted the rest of the enemies.


    "No. They haven''t realized that we know yet," Du Yuanxing shook his head and then said, "Someone delivered the message to us."


    "Someone delivered the message to you?" Lin Feng looked at him with surprise.


    Chen Yuting nodded and responded, "Yes, someone secretly delivered a message to us. I guess that person is one of them."


    "Who is it?" Lin Feng''s face, which wore a serious expression all day, showed a look of surprise at that moment.


    "We don''t know. But last night, we''ve confirmed that all the information the person provided is authentic," said Du Yuanxing.


    Lin Feng silently read the name list again.


    At that time, Li Zheng ran over and said to the three in the office, "That person just sent us another message. Those people have made Tongtong a target. They plan to attack Tongtong to injure him severely, so Lin Hao would have to perform an operation on him. They want Lin Hao''s keys."

 1365 Lure the Snake out of Its Hole

    On hearing what Li Zheng said, the three in the office first gave a little start and then knitted their brows. Lin Feng snorted coldly and said, "I''d like to know how those people plan to hurt Tongtong!"


    Those people actually targeted a child! They had no bottom lines. For every single base, children were the most treasured beings. They were the future, the hope of mankind. Who would want to hurt them?


    "These people are outrageous! I can''t believe they''re gonna hurt a child! We only have a few children in our base. How dare they!" Du Yuanxing was surprised at first, and then he immediately grew enraged. Chen Yuting wore a sullen face as well.


    Ever since Shen Yujen became a zombie, he accepted the fact that he might never have a child. That had become the regret in the hearts of his and Shen Yujen. Therefore, he always had a special feeling when he saw the kids in the base. Hence, he was infuriated when he heard that someone planned to hurt a child.


    Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "Good.! They intend to hurt the kid, so let''s play the game and let them do what they want."


    The others immediately turned to him without agreeing with him.


    "How can we do that? What if they really hurt Tongtong?" Du Yuanxing instantly disagreed.


    "That''s too risky!" Chen Yuting didn''t agree with him either.


    "Without a reason that''s good enough, how can we hunt all of them down? I''m worried about Tongtong too, so we''ll stop them in time when they make the move. Believe me, Tongtong will be fine," Lin Feng said.


    Chen Yuting made eye-contact with the other two and said, "We need to talk to Liu Jun about that and see if she''s okay with it."


    Lin Feng immediately looked at Li Zheng and said, "Go and invite Liu Jun over."


    Li Zheng glanced at the others before nodding and leaving.


    "I''ll let Wangxue protect Tongtong closely. She''s fast, so it''ll be very difficult for those people to hurt the boy. Don''t worry, we''ll try our best to keep Tongtong safe," Lin Feng looked at Du Yuanxing and Chen Yuting and gave his promise. The two glanced at each other and didn''t know what to say.


    Lin Feng was going to send his wife to protect Tongtong and leave his own daughter behind. What else could they say? Also, he was right. Cheng Wangxue''s super strength and speed made her the perfect bodyguard.


    Before long, Li Zheng brought Liu Jun to Lin Feng''s office.


    Liu Jun came in to find all three of them on the scene. She stood before Lin Feng with confusion and looked at him quietly. Instead of asking a question, she waited for him to start talking.


    Liu Jun grew nervous once she heard that someone intended to hurt Tongtong. But then, she cooled herself down and listened to what Lin Feng said carefully as she started to ponder over his meaning.


    It took her a little while to figure out what Lin Feng meant. She looked at the latter with a frown and said, "Are you gonna use Tongtong to lure those people out?"


    Those people already had their eyes on Tongtong. If Tongtong was suddenly hidden away, they would certainly grow suspicious, and then they would stop their secret actions and hide deeply. In that case, it would take quite some time and effort to find another opportunity to accuse them of crimes. If they got caught while attempting to hurt Tongtong, there would be solid evidence of the crime against them. In that way, Lin Feng and his people wouldn''t need to spend any extra time and energy to deal with them.


    "I''ll send Wangxue to protect Tongtong herself, so you don''t need to\\ worry about his safety." Seeing Liu Jun knit her brows, Lin Feng thought that she was worried about Tongtong''s safety, so he gave her a promise.


    Liu Jun looked at him. To be honest, she was really worried about Tongtong''s safety and didn''t believe in what Lin Feng said fully. She knew that Cheng Wangxue would try very hard to keep Tongtong safe, but accidents could still happen.


    However, Lin Feng offered to let Cheng Wangxue protect Tongtong, which put Liu Jun in a difficult situation. She didn''t know much about Cheng Wangxue''s ability, but she clearly knew that if the other was going to protect Tongtong, she would have to leave Xiaolu alone. Liu Jun didn''t have the heart to say no to that, because she was aware that she could not protect her son herself.


    After all, any move she made would arouse the enemies'' suspicion.


    Seeing Liu Jun hesitate, Lin Feng thought for a moment and then said, "What about I ask Yun Meng for help? She should be a better protector than Wangxue."


    To ease the worry of Tongtong''s mother, Lin Feng decided to ask Yun Meng for help. Yun Meng was a level-seven zombie with invisibility. If she stayed close with Tongtong, no one would be able to hurt the boy.


    On hearing that, Liu Jun paused briefly and then fell into silence. If Yun Meng agreed to protect Tongtong, she would have nothing to worry about. She thought for a moment and then asked, "Are you sure we can get all of them in that way?"


    Lin Feng glanced at the others and nodded at her, "Yes, you don''t need to worry about that." The others nodded as well.


    "We already know about their plans. We know about their every move. As long as we strike before they can react, they won''t be able to get away," Du Yuanxing looked at Liu and said.


    "Alright," Liu Jun nodded and said, "Okay, I agree if you''re so confident. I hope that you won''t let go of any mole who''s been trying to tear our base down from the inside. I also want my Tongtong to stay safe."


    "Tongtong''s safety means a lot to all of us. I''ll talk to Yun Meng about it carefully," said Lin Feng to her with a serious look.


    After Liu Jun left, Lin Feng asked Li Zheng a question, "Did that person give us the specific time when they plan to take action?"


    Li Zheng shook his head and said, "No. He said they''ll do it soon, and he also told us to be prepared as soon as we can."

 1366 Start to Catch the Mole

    The others weren''t disappointed to hear Li Zheng say that there wasn''t a specific time. After all, it was already amazing that the mysterious person was willing to secretly deliver the message to them. They were curious about that person but didn''t try to find out his identity. The man wasn''t willing to expose his identity, so Lin Feng and his people decided to respect him.


    "Alright. I''ll make some time today to go to Base Number Two and talk to Yun Meng. This is settled. Also, stay alert these days and keep a close eye on the farm area. We have quite some moles in our base now. We can''t let those people bring us trouble at this point," Lin Feng said to the others.


    "Yes, sir," the three nodded and responded in one voice.


    Lin Feng then said to Du Yuanxing, "Du, prepare the squads and keep an eye on their lair. When they make the move, catch the ones left in the lair. Chen, you pay attention to Tongtong. Keep him safe, and don''t let any accident happen to him."


    "Yes, sir," Du Yuanxing and Chen Yuting nodded and responded together.


    After giving the instructions, Lin Feng first sent someone to inform Yun Meng and then went to see her.


    "What? Moles! I''ve told you guys that none of those people from Hidden Cloud City or Earth Dragon Bases really want to stay here. It''s them, isn''t it?" Yun Meng pulled a long face the moment she heard that some moles were planning on starting trouble. Her dark-green eyes shone with ferocity, and even the color of her pupils grew deeper.


    Lin Feng found the girl''s angry face funny. "People change," he said, "Maybe they take this place as a shelter for a temporary stay. When the crisis is gone, they might start to think about where they really want to go. People have different thoughts, and that''s normal. Maybe they think our base isn''t perfect for them, and maybe they think we''re not strong enough. But whatever they''re thinking, it''s impossible for them to leave our base with our secrets. We don''t allow that kind of a thing."


    For the people who knew nothing about the secrets of the base, Lin Feng would let them go if they wanted to. However, no one would be able to take the base''s secrets out of the base. That was a hundred percent impossible.


    Yun Meng always wore a very cold look when she was angry. She stayed silent with her lips pressed together and her eyes sharp. Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, who were standing by her side, took it e\\sier than she did. Lin Kui was the only one who managed to stay calm, actually. Qiu Lili also had her lips pressed together; her cheeks even bulged slightly with anger.


    "Let them do it! We wouldn''t be able to spot them if they did nothing. We have a lot of people in the base now. Without a doubt, some of them don''t really want to stay. Since they don''t want to stay, we should kick them all out!" Qiu Lili said grumpily.


    Lin Feng shared the plan with Yun Meng and her friends and then continued with, "They''re losing patience. We should let them show their claws. Only after that can we grasp solid evidence against them. By then, it''ll be reasonable no matter what we want to do to them."


    "I can''t believe that Junjun said yes to your plan. It must be difficult for her! Alright, I''ll try my best to keep Tongtong safe. But, please don''t let any of those moles get away."


    "If we succeed this time, the other people who are having inappropriate thoughts might stop taking actions for a while. I hope this plan will buy us enough time to prepare ourselves for what might happen in the future."


    The action that they were about to take would certainly have an influence. It might make the other moles want to restrain their actions, which would be a good thing. After all, there would always be moles in a base. As the population of the base grew larger and larger, it would be harder and harder to control the minds of the people. That was why each base had set rules to discipline their people and let them know that the ones who violated the rules would be punished.


    "Take precautions. We''ll destroy them if they do anything that we don''t like!" said Yun Meng coldly.


    Soon, Lin Feng and Yun Meng reached an agreement, after which, she immediately went to Tongtong and turned herself invisible to guard the boy closely. Liu Jun was doing her work in the farm as always. But in secret, she had sent more people to patrol by the edge of the farm, and the patrolling area had grown larger than usual.


    As Yun Meng had left to protect Tongtong, Qiu Lili and Lin Kui were put in temporary charge of the army in Base Number Two. Qiu Lili didn''t like doing administration work and knew nothing about the military things, so she let Lin Kui do the work.


    Thankfully, Xie Dong had trained quite some talents for the administration work. As he was not in the base at the moment, the army had been managed by those, and the soldiers had been trained by them too.


    Lu Meiqing and her people didn''t yet know that Lin Feng had already learned about their plan. They were watching Tongtong closely and looking for an opportunity to take action. They didn''t intend to expose themselves, so they planned to do it covertly by creating an accident.


    After spending some time observing, they finally prepared to make a move that day on Tongtong''s way back home from Lin Xiaolu''s place. Tongtong''s protection at that hour was the weakest during the whole day.


    ¡­


    At that moment, Lin Qiao came out of the underground world. She came out invisibly, because before she reached the exit, she sensed the scents of a bunch of people from near it.


    Someone was waiting out there. She wasn''t surprised though, and she had foreseen that. She turned herself invisible and came out quietly, so no one found a trace of hers.


    She came out and looked around, finding no one from her own base among the few groups of people on the scene. She came out early, so her people weren''t there yet. Anyhow, she didn''t care about that. Those people were waiting there for her to come out, and she intended to let them keep waiting.


    She left quickly.


    Not long after she left, a red figure flashed out of the hole and rose straight high into the sky. The big cat glanced down from the sky and then lashed its tail as it flashed across the air and disappeared. It vanished before the people on the scene could see it clearly.


    "Is that an underground creature? It can fly!"


    "What''s so strange about that? All underground creatures are weird. Quite some of them can fly or leap very high. Stop paying attention to that creature. It''s not what we''re waiting for."

 1367 Lin Qiao Comes Ou

    Lin Qiao didn''t head back to All Beings Base, but to Huaxia Base. Before going home, she needed to make a visit to Huaxia Base to find out if Si Kongchen had made some moves recently.


    Miles away from the hole, Lin Qiao found a quiet area and let out the ones in her space, along with her four pets.


    "Phew, we''re finally out." All of them felt relieved to see the sun again. Zombies and humans shared the same feeling. Zombies had great eyesight, but after all, they still had human souls. They all felt depressed being in the dark underground world.


    "Ah, I could really use a sunbath. I feel that I''m covered in either mold or that weird, poisonous energy," Kong Qingming raised his pretty face to shower under the sun, taking a deep breath and lowering his head while rubbing his arms.


    The others acted more calmly than he did. Long Qingying expressionlessly walked up behind Lin Qiao and found a flat area to stand together with Duan Juan. Lu Tianyi took only one glance at the sky after he came out and then squatted by Black''s side, watching the three run about.


    In the underground world and on the earth''s surface, Bowwow and the mushroom always ran like unbridled wild horses once they came out of the space. The young tiger, which was left in the space earlier, was also freed this time. It followed behind the two, running all over and sharpening its claws on trees from time to time.


    "We''ll take our leave then," Lei Cheng expressionlessly told Lin Qiao that he and his people needed to head home and report to their boss about the accomplished task.


    "Alright, see you!" Lin Qiao turned to him and nodded.


    Lei Cheng and his people left quickly, leaving the teams from All Beings Base and Sea City Base on the scene. They didn''t know where they were yet, so they adjusted their moods and started exploring the surrounding area.


    "Where are we?"


    "You and your men can go back to Sea City Base to submit the report," said Lin Qiao to Kong Qingming, "I''m heading to Huaxia Base to find out what Si Kongchen and his men have been up to. We''ll talk about the next step once I get back."


    On hearing that, Kong Qingming didn''t say anything but glanced at Long Qingying and then looked at Lin Qiao pitifully.


    "Why are you looking at me?" Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said, "She doesn''t want to go with you. I can''t change her mind. Just go, go, go!"


    While speaking, she waved at Kong Qingming like waving off a fly.


    Kong Qingming looked at her speechlessly and then gave Long Qingying another glance. The other turned her eyes away to look at somewhere else. With no other choice, he left with the others from Sea City Base, driving a car which was put in Lin Qiao''s space earlier.


    The hole leading to the underground world was located right between Huaxia Base and All Beings Base, so she decided to make a trip to Huaxia Base before going home. She intended to tear Huaxia Base down, and to do that, she needed to figure Si Kongchen''s plan out .


    While driving, Duan Juan couldn''t help but ask, "Will the level-nine monster come up to the earth''s surface? If it really came up, who''d be able to defeat it? Not even the level-nine man from Green Mountain Base has a chance against it, right?"


    Humans had discovered that among zombies, mutated plants, animals, and human beings at the same level, humans were probably not the weakest, but the underground creatures were definitely the strongest. Humans couldn''t even win against zombies at their own levels, not to mention those underground creatures, which weren''t afraid of superpowers.


    Lin Qiao was sitting in the front seat with her elbow resting on the window frame. On hearing Duan Juan''s question, she looked outside the window and said, "I don''t know if it''ll come out in the future, but it won''t come out right now. Maybe it won''t be willing to come to the earth''s surface. It''d be fine if it comes out alone without spreading that poisonous energy. If it does bring out the dark energy, we''d have no choice but to grow stronger as soon as we can and combine our powers to take the big guy down. We might not win by fighting separately, but we will win together."


    Humans didn''t have the power to kill the level-nine monster currently, but that didn''t mean they wouldn''t in the future either. Everyone still had a large room for growth. One level-nine human might not have a chance to win against the monster, but two might. If two level-nine humans still couldn''t win, the third one would join the battle. If the monster really came up along with the dark energy to hurt the environment on the earth''s surface, humans would unite and eliminate it. Being able to unite was the most important feature of humans!


    "Our biggest problem now isn''t the monster, it''s humans. The situation has come to this stage, yet Si Kongchen that b*stard is still thinking about attacking Sea City Base instead of bettering the situation. I wonder if his brain is infected by the virus," said Lin Qiao.


    Duan Juan held the steering wheel with one hand as he looked straight ahead and responded, "I don''t think his brain ever worked properly. Only crazy people would do what he''s been doing."


    She knew that Huaxia Base had a lot of scientists, and many of them were controlled by Si Kongchen in nasty ways. Not everyone was working for Huaxia Base willingly. They had no choice as Si Kongchen had something on them. But of course, half of them were working for him out of their own wills. After all, the treatment was not bad.


    Only crazy people would do anything to get what they wanted and satisfy their ambitions without having a bottom line.


    Mankind wasn''t just threatened by the existence of zombies, but also the worsening environment, mutated plants and animals, as well as underground creatures. All those caused difficulties for humans to survive. Under such circumstances, all human bases were supposed to unite and come up with a plan together. They needed to figure out how to provide conditions to survive for humans under the current terrible circumstances. However, as the leader of the largest base in the country, Si Kongchen used the future of mankind as an excuse to cover his real intention of hurting other humans.


    Lin Qiao sometimes wondered what exactly Si Kongchen and his men were thinking.


    She sighed and said, "You healthy human beings can''t understand the crazy ones¡­ Well, we zombies don''t understand them either."


    The last part of her speech was obviously a joke. Duan Juan turned and gave her a glance speechlessly.


    "You''re a zombie, but you have a human soul. That''s enough."


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, "I used to find it hard being a human, but now I feel that being a zombie who never lost her humanity but also has the wild nature of zombies is even harder."


    Humans were disciplined by moral standards and differentiated by moral qualities. She had become a zombie but was still restricted by the moral criteria of humans, so she needed to fight her zombie nature, the urge to feed on humans. If she accidentally ate a human being, she would enjoy the taste physically but feel an extreme disgust mentally.

 1368 Sneak Around Firs

    "In fact, even humans need to fight their evil impulses at times, don''t they? It''s all the same," said Duan Juan, "It depends on how you control it."


    Humans had wild natures too. Some people were born heartless, and some grew extreme thoughts through their life experiences. Otherwise, why would there be so many sick people in society?


    Some humans were worse than zombies, and some zombies who still had human memories might not be as scary as humans, as their behavior would be affected by those memories.


    "Sadly, we can''t turn zombies into humans. I once watched a zombie movie. It was a story about how a male zombie turned into a man. That was just a movie though. I''ve been wondering how the zombie''s heart started to beat again. That wasn''t a fantasy film. That was a science fiction story. Can''t it be explained in a scientific way?" Lin Qiao pressed a hand on her heart and murmured to herself.


    Her heart was still as always, and her skin was cold. Her body was showing no sign of turning back into a human being, but Teng, whom she gave birth to, had a beating heart. Why?


    The post-apocalyptic era was an era of science, yet she came back to life after she died, wearing someone else''s skin. Using that zombie body, she gave birth to a baby whose heart was beating. Also, her little sister traveled through time to seven years ago.


    She somehow felt that she wasn''t living in a world where people believed in science and shared the living space with zombies, but in a world where ghosts and spirits and magic existed.


    While Lin Qiao was thinking about the strangeness of her life, the few who were sitting quietly in the backseat finally joined the conversation.


    "Maybe we''ll be able to do that in the future. Don''t forget that you''ve given birth to a human being," Lu Tianyi couldn''t help but share his thoughts.


    "I wish you can turn into a human," Duan Juan gave a sigh.


    After all, zombies couldn''t see the beautiful colors and taste the delicious food; all they could taste was human flesh. It was like their right to enjoy food was taken away, along with many other rights.


    "The whole world is mutating now. Maybe there''s something that really can turn zombies back into humans. Natural elements mutually reinforce and neutralize each other. Maybe there is a cure? We should always have dreams and hope," said Yuan Tianxing with a smile. He was also brought out of the space by Lin Qiao to have some fresh air. He had lost his fighting capabilities, so she had to send a few others to guard him.


    About ten miles away from Huaxia Base, Lin Qiao stopped the car and ordered her people to scatter. Instead of putting them back into her space, she told them to wait outside the base while she went in herself.


    So, Lin Qiao sneaked into Huaxia Base and followed Si Kongchen''s scent. He wasn''t at home, but in his office in the administration building. The administration building of Huaxia Base was composed of a few buildings connected together. Many staff and guards were in the building and many had been going in and out. Nonetheless, it was convenient for Lin Qiao to make a way in. Instead of taking the elevator, she took the stairs. Climbing tens of floors was nothing for her anyway.


    At the moment, Si Kongchen was sitting in the office alone, reading a proposal. He had a few pieces of paper spread out on the desk, which he was reading over and over again.


    His door was closed by the time Lin Qiao found his office. She surely couldn''t get in through the door like a ghost, so she had two choices: wait by the door for someone to come to open it or find a way in by herself.


    Judging by the scent coming from the office, Si Kongchen was in there alone. As no one was talking in the office, she couldn''t get any information by putting her ear against the door.


    She glanced at the two guards who had been guarding the door and then at the office next-door. After that, she made two steps backward and walked to the room next-door. That door was open; it was a meeting room, empty at the moment.


    She walked into the room and over to the window. Then, she stuck her head out to look at Si Kongchen''s office.


    It wasn''t hard to crawl to Si Kongchen''s window from the window of the meeting room. She just needed to make sure the window of Si Kongchen''s office was open.


    At that moment, she heard footsteps coming from the outside.


    Lin Qiao immediately moved back to the door and looked outside. She felt relieved to see the man out there, because it was Wei Haichao walking toward Si Kongchen''s office. Since the man was going to enter the office, she didn''t need to climb in through the window.


    Wei Haichao, who was wearing a dark-green military suit, was holding a file and reading it while walking. He walked up to the door and knocked on it before pushing it open and walking in.


    "How''s it going?" Sitting behind his desk, Si Kongchen raised his head to give him a glance and ask a question. Then, he lowered his head to keep reading the proposal.


    Wei Haichao looked at him and said, "We got a message from Sea City Base, look. Is it about time?"


    He handed the file to Si Kongchen after walking in. The latter didn''t stand up but took it over while sitting in his chair.


    Wei Haichao glanced at the papers spread on the desk and said, "Our people in Sea City Base are ready. Can we make a move now?"


    While reading the file, Si Kongchen responded to him without raising his head, "Professor Bai hasn''t given the order yet."


    On hearing him mention Professor Bai, Wei Haichao gave a sigh and said, "I really don''t understand what Professor Bai is thinking. Isn''t now the perfect time? What is he waiting for?"


    "It''s his plan after all. We can''t interfere in it too much ," said Si Kongchen.


    While the two of them were talking to each other, Lin Qiao had sneakily moved to their sides and leaned her head forward from a corner of Si Kongchen''s desk to read the proposal and the drawings on the desk.


    Reading those, she almost failed to restrain her vibe. But thankfully, she managed to stay cool and prevent her mood swings.


    She spent a while reading and then found something special in that proposal. It had something to do with that Professor Bai that they mentioned. What made her angry was that the first step of their plan would be initiated from inside Sea City Base.


    Earlier, he summoned the leaders of all the other bases to Huaxia Base because he wanted Wu Chengyue to leave Sea City Base. Before that, he and his people had managed to put something that was bad for the residents in Sea City Base into the base. Their moles in Sea City Base were clearly not cleaned out by Xiao Yunlong.

 1369 Huaxias Plan

    Lin Qiao held Teng and slowly walked up to the wall top through the stairs, then went to the edge to look at the weird cat.


    "Roar¡­ goooo¡­" As Lin Qiao showed up on the wall top, the cat raised its head and made a strange sound toward her. Then, it lowered its head and bit on the bird under it. Dragging the desperately struggling bird, it made two steps forward, and then put the bird down.


    It might have bitten too deep. The bird struggled on the ground, trying to fly up, but couldn''t.


    "It''s really like a real cat. And, it only likes you." Watching the cat''s weird behavior, Qiu Lili moved to Lin Qiao and said to her. She had spent half an hour observing the cat. It sat there motionlessly until Lin Qiao showed up.


    At that time, Teng, who was in Lin Qiao''s arms, sensed a strange scent. He woke up and opened his eyes, finding himself in his mother''s arms. He looked around, realizing that he was somewhere high, with a wide view.


    He turned to the source of the weird scent and saw a fire-red beast.


    "Awoooo¡­ goooo¡­ goo¡­" At that point, the weird cat roared at Lin Qiao again.


    It also pushed the bird slightly forward. After that, it abruptly turned around and flipped its tail, bending its six legs before springing up and disappearing. Only the bird was left lying on the ground dying, twitching its wings from time to time.


    "Ah! It left!" Qiu Lili exclaimed out loud. She popped her eyes and slightly opened her mouth, gazing where the cat disappeared. Then, she looked at the bird on the ground, "It left the bird to us and then ran away. Is that bird a gift for us? Is it?"


    While speaking, she turned to look at Lin Qiao questioningly.


    Lin Qiao glanced at her uncertainly, then looked outside the base and said, "I think so¡­"


    Teng noticed some strangers nearby, so he didn''t say anything. All he did was rub his own eyes, then put his arms around Lin Qiao''s neck. Following his movement, Lin Qiao adjusted her posture, then gave him a glance and asked, "Have you rested well?"


    Teng held her neck and buried his head back into his chest without answering her question.


    "What should we do with that bird?" Qiu Lili asked Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao handed Teng to her as she said, "Teng, Sister Lili will hold you. I''ll go down to bring the bird in."


    Qiu Lili reached out and took the soft baby over without thinking, then she watched Lin Qiao leap off the wall and land beside the bird. As she touched the bird, it disappeared.


    "Alright, you can open the gate now," Duan Juan turned and shouted at the gate.


    "Yes, ma''am!" The leader of the guards responded, then sent his men to open the gate.


    Lin Qiao came back onto the wall top and held Teng, "Let''s head home."


    "Did it come here just to deliver the bird?" Qiu Lili followed behind Lin Qiao as she asked curiously.


    The cat didn''t eat meat, did it? Why did it bring her meat then?


    Soon, the news that the weird cat brought a huge bird to the west gate spread in the base. People were all so surprised to hear about it, and curious why the cat did that.


    "Have you guys heard about it yet? A six-footed, blood-red, hairless cat brought a huge bird to our base. If only the bird weren''t mutated. It''s like the house cats that we had in our homes before. They brought home little birds or rats occasionally. What does that weird cat want?"


    "Who knows! But, I heard it didn''t show any intention of attacking our base. It''s the first time I heard about such a friendly mutated beast. But, I also heard it''s very ugly."


    "How do you know that?"


    "I know a guy who''s guarding the gate. He said the cat is enormous, with no hair, dark-red in color. That sounds super ugly. Oh, it also has a pair of horns and extra-long teeth¡­"


    As Lin Qiao went back home, Teng said to her, "Mama, I think that cat likes you."


    "How do you know?" Lin Qiao looked at him and asked with surprise, "Can you read its mind?"


    Lin Qiao sat down on the couch. After that, Teng crawled to the other side of the couch and sat down, leaning against the back of the couch. "No," he said to his mother, "I can''t read its mind, but I can feel its vibe. It was trying to make you happy."


    "Do you know why it did that?" Lin Qiao smiled and asked. She herself could also tell that the cat was acting like a normal house cat that was trying to make its owner happy. She just didn''t know why.


    She thought for a moment. She didn''t remember doing anything for the cat. What made it follow her?


    Teng rolled his eyes and said, "How am I supposed to know that? I''m hungry¡­ Mama, go and make me some food."


    Lin Qiao responded to him helplessly, "Alright, I get it! Wrap yourself up with the blanket. It''s cold."


    "I''m not afraid of the coldness," said Teng carelessly, "I won''t catch a cold."


    After leaving the gate, the cat didn''t go far away from All Beings Base. Instead, it found somewhere to hide hundreds of meters from the base, and looked at the base. Only after watching Lin Qiao leap off the wall and put the bird into her space did the cat turn and look at the area where Mount Wu farm and the military base were located. It only glanced at that area, though. After making that glance, it finally turned around and left for real.


    In the area where the cat looked at before leaving, a snake, a dog, a mushroom, and a young tiger were looking at the cat quietly and vigilantly. The glance that the cat made before leaving made the hair and scales on the necks of the four creatures stand straight up. Only after the cat left did the four relax.


    "Awoooo!" Once the cat disappeared, the young tiger ran up behind Bowwow, bit the dog''s tail, and dragged the dog backward.


    "Owo!" Bowwow immediately turned and barked at the tiger and started spinning. Of course, the little tiger was hanging on his tail, flying round and round. At last, the young tiger gave a howl and relaxed its bite, making a few rolls on the ground.


    "Owowow!" Bowwow rushed up to the young tiger and lowered his upper body while raising his butt and barking at the tiger. The little tiger wasn''t afraid of the dog. It quickly struggled up and spread its legs, then roared at the dog, seemingly ready for a great battle.


    Seeing the two start a game once the cat, which was much stronger than themselves, left, the snake gave a cold glance to his friends, then turned around and wriggled away.

 Chapter 1370 - Tail Him out of Huaxia Base

    Lin Qiao prepared Teng''s food, then talked while feeding him, "Son, I want to talk to you about something."


    "What?" Teng raised his eyes to look at his mother.


    Lin Qiao put a spoonful of milk porridge near his mouth and said, "After this meal, I want you to go into my space to spend some time with your Uncle Lu."


    "Why do you want me to spend time with him?" Teng didn''t understand.


    "Because he''s in a bad mood now," said Lin Qiao, "I think he likes you. He might feel better if you are there to keep him company."


    "Why is he in a bad mood?" Teng was even more confused, "Did he break up with his girlfriend?"


    Lin Qiao gave the boy a glare and said, "He doesn''t even have a girlfriend. Whom could he possibly break up with now?"


    "What happened then?" Teng glanced at his mother, then opened his mouth to eat the porridge.


    "Because he already knows who I really am. He''s been caring about Lu Tianyu a lot. After learning that I''m not her, I guess he''s a little upset," recalling the look that Lu Tianyi had on his face when she last time saw him, Lin Qiao couldn''t help but sigh. He was like a poor, abandoned puppy.


    "What? You told him? Well, I guess you are right. He''s been working with you for a long time. He must have had doubts. After all, you and the previous owner of your current body are different," Teng paused briefly and then said.


    "He''s been really low-spirited these days," said Lin Qiao. That was why she wanted Teng to go into the space to spend some time with Lu Tianyi. In the recent couple of days, Lu Tianyi had been sitting quietly on the stairs before Lin Qiao''s house all the time motionlessly. He wasn''t even taking care of the crops in the fields, and only let the other zombies do it.


    Only when the other zombies asked him questions did he come back to his senses briefly. Lin Qiao knew what he was thinking about. She could read his mind by paying a little attention to him.


    Currently, Lu Tianyi was feeling empty. After all, the sister that he had been caring about all the time was suddenly gone. Before, he lied to himself that he was over-thinking. But, when Lin Qiao told him the truth herself, he realized it was real.


    Like everyone who had lost family members, he was sad and feeling empty.


    Lin Qiao figured that trying to comfort him herself might lead to the opposite effect. She was wearing Lu Tianyu''s skin after all. His close friends weren''t around, so she had no other choice but to let Teng give a try.


    After the meal, Lin Qiao gave Teng a shower with warm water and put some clean clothes on him, then brought him into the space.


    Lu Tianyi was sitting on the stairs, resting one side of his jaw on his palm. Suddenly, a figure showed up before his eyes. Whom he saw the first was the little person in Lin Qiao''s arms.


    "Uncle!" Teng quickly turned and reached out, asking for Lu Tianyi to hold him.


    He stood up and held Teng in his arms, then said with a smile, "Did you miss your uncle?"


    Teng lay down in his arms as he nodded and said seriously, "Yes."


    Lu Tianyi felt warm in the heart. Then, he raised his head to look at Lin Qiao, but soon turned away with a complicated look on his face.


    "Eh-hem¡­ I''m too busy to look after him. He doesn''t like Duan Juan holding him, so I want you to take care of him for a while," Lin Qiao came up with an excuse.


    On hearing that, Lu Tianyi stopped short, then seemed to figure something out. "I get it," he nodded and said.


    Lin Qiao turned and left the space before preparing some daily supplies and clothes for Teng, then bringing them in and putting them in the living room in her house. She had also prepared some rice and mutated eggs as the boy''s food, as well as a clay pot. The pot and the food were put in the kitchen.


    Currently, Lin Qiao didn''t only have roe deers and goats in her space, but also quite some chicken, ducks, geese, and even pigs. Earlier, she asked Lin Feng to bring some of those animals back to her alive to keep in her space.


    She didn''t put the domestic fowl on the grassland together with the roe deers and goats. Instead, she put them on the clearing behind her house. She asked someone with metal power to build a few huge metal cages, and then put those low-leveled mutated chicken, ducks, and geese in those hundreds of meters square cages.


    Normally, Lu Tianyi would feed those birds with unhusked rice and dried sweet potatoes.


    Those birds ate meat too, but they didn''t hate rice and sweet potatoes either. They were omnivores.


    After the apocalypse, the chicken were able to fly. The ducks couldn''t fly, but they learned to burrow holes. The geese, which were already fierce, had grown much stronger and more aggressive than before. They fought all day long. In the cages, goose feathers were always flying in the air.


    Earlier, when Lu Tianyi wasn''t in the space, no one was feeding those birds. They were so noisy back then that Lin Qiao couldn''t stand them. So, she sometimes came in to throw some food to them to make them quiet.


    She felt as if Lu Tianyi was now the manager of the farm in her space. Without him, the place couldn''t run well. Without him, no one would be taking care of the crops in the fields and those animals.


    She threw the pigs on the grassland on the other side of the lake, letting them live with the roe deers and goats. The pigs ate grass, so they wouldn''t starve to death. But from time to time, they fought with the roe deers and goats.


    Thankfully, Lin Qiao had gotten those chicken, ducks, and geese into her space. Otherwise, she wouldn''t have eggs to feed Teng. Those eggs weren''t edible for humans though. Only Teng could eat them.


    That was why Wu Chengyue always cooked for the boy with a special pot. He wasn''t worried about himself, as he had even had sex with the zombie lady herself. However, Ling Ling was still a healthy human being. He wouldn''t neglect her health.


    After preparing everything that she could think of, Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then said to Lu Tianyi, "Let me know if you need anything else."


    Lu Tianyi nodded. Teng''s appearance finally made him a little spirited. But still, he wasn''t willing to look at Lin Qiao. Intentionally or not, he had always been trying to avoid looking at her face.


    After seeing him nod, Lin Qiao turned and left the space,


    Teng looked at Lu Tianyi and asked, "Uncle, are you still sad?"


    Lu Tianyi held him and sat down on the couch, then looked at him and said with a smile, "How do you know that I''m sad?"


    Teng looked at him with his large pair of eyes and said, "You are sad because you know who Mama really is, right? It''s the second time you feel sad for your sister."


    Last year, Lu Tianyi had certainly had a hard time when he heard about Lu Tianyu''s death. After that, he met Lin Qiao the zombie and thought Lu Tianyu had come back to life. Unexpectedly, it turned out that he was wrong.


    His sister, who was known as a purely evil woman, died long ago. More importantly, she never saw him as family.

 Chapter 1371 - Do Something before Leaving

    After hearing what Professor Bai said, Si Kongchen stayed silent for two seconds and then said, ¡°So, we¡¯re gonna have to wait for another half a month to take action?¡±


    Professor Bai nodded and said, ¡°The zombie virus drug that I gave you has an incubation period of five to seven days. So, you can take action in ten days. About half a month after that, the drug will start to kick in and the underground creatures will start launching attacks at the same time. Facing those two problems at one time, I bet even Wu Chengyue will be caught off-guard.¡±


    Lin Qiao heard their conversation expressionlessly as she figured that Professor Bai might have been studying underground creatures since a very long time ago. The experimental subjects in his lab were larger than the ones in the labs near the entrance, meaning that they were at higher levels.


    She had also learned something else from their conversation, that large numbers of underground creatures had been upgrading on the earth¡¯s surface, and after the upgrade, their bodies would go through some kind of changes. They might not attack human bases if they were merely hungry. They ate anything after all. But, why were Si Kongchen and Professor Bai so sure that they would attack human bases?


    Lin Qiao spent a while thinking and then something crossed her mind.


    If she guessed right, Professor Bai and Si Kongchen planned to use something to lure those starving underground creatures to the other human bases. After all, each base had hundreds of thousands of population. Every human base could serve as a rich source of food for those underground creatures. However, someone needed to gather them together and guide them to the human bases.


    That was probably a part of their plan. Lin Qiao didn¡¯t read about it in Si Kongchen¡¯s proposal earlier though. Apparently, they had already done it. Currently, they were only waiting for the result to show.


    As Professor Bai didn¡¯t reject his suggestion this time, Si Kongchen relaxed slightly and said, ¡°The underground creatures gathered near the bases are about to finish upgrading. Let¡¯s wait and see which base will be attacked first.¡±


    They didn¡¯t stop walking while speaking as they walked into Professor Bai¡¯s office together, with Lin Qiao following them in. While listening to their conversation, she looked around at the office. There were some files on Professor Bai¡¯s desk, but sadly, none of them was open, so she couldn¡¯t read a word.


    She glanced at those files, trying to think of a way to find the database of the experimental base. She intended to find out what kind of experiments Professor Bai had been carrying out.


    After Si Kongchen left, Professor Bai didn¡¯t stay in his office but left and headed back to his lab.


    Lin Qiao stayed in his office alone, collecting the files. She did not only take all the files on his desk, but also emptied the file cabinet near the desk.


    As for the locks of the cabinets, she melted them using her superpower. After throwing every useful thing in the office into her space, she started looking for the database. She was sure that a secret database was hidden in Professor Bai¡¯s office. After all, he wouldn¡¯t possibly put those confidential files right on his desk or in the main database of the lab.


    The room was filled with Professor Bai¡¯s scent, through which she found the place where Professor Bai kept the confidential files.


    That place wasn¡¯t too hard to find anyway: it was under his chair, underneath the floor. Lin Qiao squatted and looked closely at the floor in that area, finding it to be a little too clean. She knocked on it and as she thought, it was hollow.


    She pressed a hand on the floor and gathered her power in her palm. Soon, the floor was gone, and the stairs leading downward were exposed.


    The staircase wasn¡¯t long; about three meters underground was a small door. Lin Qiao devoured the door using her power and then saw the space behind it. Thankfully, the door wasn¡¯t connected with the security system of the entire lab, so the alarm didn¡¯t go off.


    It was all dark in the space, but Lin Qiao was able to see everything in it.


    It was a secret room, with stacks of files placed on a cabinet on one side. A lot of glass jars were also found in the room; some organs were soaked in unknown liquids inside those jars .


    The room looked like a place for storing specimens belonging to a sick scientist.


    Lin Qiao quickly glanced at those organ specimens. There were labels on each jar, indicating what kind of creatures the organs came from.


    After checking all of those jars, Lin Qiao lost her interest in them. She turned and walked to the file cabinet, finding the files divided by types and marked with years. She expressionlessly touched them and put them all into her space.


    After collecting all those files, she turned and left the secret underground room.


    Professor Bai, who had returned to his lab, had no idea that most of his cherished research materials had been harvested by someone else. He was observing his experimental subject with composure, having no clue what was going to happen to him next.


    After leaving the old man¡¯s office, Lin Qiao started observing the entire experimental base. She visited every zone like a ghost; no one knew about her existence.


    She found the place to not be small at all. Based on the map in the hallway, she roughly figured out how large it was. The place was divided into three floors, with a total area of thirty or forty thousand square meters.


    She was on the first floor underground, and there were two other floors underneath. Lin Qiao looked at the two lower floors on the map and suddenly wore a wicked smile. After that, she turned and headed downstairs. She made her way into that experimental base, so she intended to do something before leaving. Her journey there would be in vain if she didn¡¯t do anything. After all, she was the leader of their enemy!


    Thinking that, she went down through the fire escape. What was kept on the second floor were living experimental subjects, and on the third floor were frozen subjects. The frozen ones were all dangerous creatures.


    Lin Qiao went straight down to the third floor, reached out a hand, and made the door in front of her disappear. Next, she raised both arms and released a raging dark fire.


    With that, shrill alarms instantly echoed through the entire underground experimental base.

 Chapter 1372 - Destroy the Place

    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±


    People gave a start upon hearing the alarm, and then panic grew and spread. They were in a secret, special experimental base after all. They could all die there!


    Also¡­


    Many automatically ran toward the exit when they heard the alarm. However, the doors at the exits soon closed loudly one after another, and then the doors of each experimental zone shut as well, locking in the ones who didn¡¯t manage to get out.


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    Watching the doors close, all who failed to get out burst in despairing screams. They threw themselves onto the doors and pushed the opening buttons as hard as they could. However, those metal doors remained closed without moving even an inch.


    Professor Bai, who was doing his experiment with composure, also changed the look on his face slightly when the alarm went off. He reacted fast though. Before the others, he rushed out of the door of his lab, and only until he made the move did the others realize what was happening. So, they immediately followed Professor Bai out, their faces distorted by panic.


    By the time they ran out, the doors of each experimental zone had closed already. However, that could not stop Professor Bai from leaving. He swiped his badge in the electronic door lock and then the door opened. After he went out, the door closed itself again.


    ¡°Professor! Professor! Wait for us! Professor! Professor!¡± His assistants who came out a step behind watched Professor Bai leave without looking back. He ignored those people who were scratching the door and howling with despair.


    After releasing the dark fire, Lin Qiao quickly ran up to the second floor and set that place on fire too. After that, she turned and ran to the first floor, where she found the door of the fire escape closed.


    She wasn¡¯t surprised though. After all, the entire alarm system was ringing. Anyhow, the door could never stop her. She made it disappear by conveniently raising a hand and throwing a flake of dark fire on it.


    ¡°Roarrrr¡­¡± Apart from the alarm which was still ringing, a series of beast roars could also be heard from the second floor underground.


    Lin Qiao came to the first floor underground and found many doors closed. She assumed that the same thing had happened on the other two floors as well. However, in her dark fire raged and vanished those doors soon .


    After entering the first floor underground, she threw out a few streams of dark fire instead of heading straight out, causing the fire to burn out the doors on that floor. She had noticed that all researchers on that floor were actually commoners, and none of them possessed any superpowers. The vibes of superpower possessors could only be sensed from the soldiers who had been guarding the place.


    Lin Qiao didn¡¯t want to waste time finding out if those people were working there willingly or not. She guessed that many low-grade researchers who worked in the experimental base didn¡¯t even know what kind of projects had been going on in that place.


    All she wanted was to destroy the place first and then kill Professor Bai, who actually had the guts to work with Si Kongchen. Whatever project he was working on, she did not intend to let him live. He was working together with Si Kongchen and planning to attack Sea City Base and All Beings Base. That sole fact could make a good enough reason for her to end his life.


    Also, that old man had some special abilities. Letting him run would probably lead to some bad results.


    Professor Bai left behind his assistants and returned to his office using his badge without difficulties. Instead of leaving immediately, he calmly went back to his office to fetch some important materials.


    He knew it would take some time for the system to initiate the self-destruction of the base. He had no time to think about what triggered the alarm. The alarm was telling him that he needed to leave as soon as he could, because the place would start to destroy itself soon, and everything in there would be gone.


    He invested seven years in that experimental base. It hurt him to watch it tear itself apart, but he still considered his own life more important. That was why he stayed so calm and went back to his office to collect some important materials before leaving.


    However, he almost vomited blood when he got back into his office and found out what had happened there.


    His desk and his file cabinet were both wiped clean!


    He first froze with surprise and then suddenly had the look on his face change as something crossed his mind. Next, he rushed to his seat and looked down. The entrance leading to the space underneath his office was wide open, indicating that some intruder had paid a visit to that place.


    He went down the stairs with a bad feeling and found the few file cabinets down there all empty. Finally, he couldn¡¯t help but pop his eyes, raise his head, and burst in a raging roar.


    ¡°Ah¡­! Who did this!¡±


    The extreme anger generated an impulse of violence and he suddenly swung an arm toward the secret space. As a while light flashed across the place, all jars in there were frozen within a blink.


    As he swung his arm again, those frozen jars shattered.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    After everything in the place fell into frozen pieces, Professor Bai turned and rushed up the stairs, out of the door of his office. By the door, he stopped moving and looked around, and then he turned and rushed in one direction.


    He quickly ran to the door and opened it using his badge. Behind the door was a monitor room with no one in it. The entire room was filled with monitor screens.


    Professor Bai first let a device scan his palms and fingers a few times. Then, he sat down before the computer in the middle of the room and started watching the surveillance video. He opened his eyes wide and watched the videos carefully.


    He saw nothing but pure darkness in the second and third floors underground. But, from the surveillance videos earlier, he saw a stream of dark fire surge into each experimental zone.


    ¡°Dark fire? Dark fire¡­ It¡¯s that woman!¡± Seeing the dark fire, Professor Bai first paused briefly and then thought of Lin Qiao from All Beings Base. ¡°She didn¡¯t die? She got out!¡± he said to himself in shock.


    ¡°Yeah, I got out.¡± A cold female voice was heard from behind him.


    Professor Bai immediately turned back and saw a long-haired woman leaning on the door frame with her arms folded, looking at him with a smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s you!¡± Professor Bai stood up at the sight of Lin Qiao as he swiftly swung an arm toward her a few times, sending a few beams of white light toward her.


    Lin Qiao dodged; where she was standing before was immediately covered in ice, and then the ice exploded.


    At that very moment, Professor Bai turned around and lunged to the side, pushing on the wall with both hands. A door emerged along with his movement, spinning and bringing him to the other side of the wall.

 Chapter 1373 - Retribution and Consequences

    Lin Qiao gave a sneer when she saw Professor Bai disappear into that door.


    ¡®Wanna run? How can that be so easy?¡¯ With a sneer, she threw a dark fireball at that door.


    The old man didn¡¯t hesitate to run, as his superpower had reached level-seven only recently. Facing Lin Qiao, who looked like a level-eight superpower human but was actually a zombie emperor, he would die for sure if he didn¡¯t run! But of course, he might not be able to run away from her.


    He, of course, wouldn¡¯t stay and wait for death. He intended to give it a try even if there were only a sliver of hope.


    Puff¡­ Along with a soft noise, the fire created a hole in that revolving door.


    Lin Qiao rushed in to find an elevator shaft. The small elevator was moving rapidly upward as she raised her head and saw its bottom. While raising her head, she crooked her fingers. Following her movement, the dark fire immediately rose.


    Puff! Within a blink, the fire merged into the bottom of the elevator and created a large hole in it. Professor Bai was shrinking in a corner, looking down, flustered.


    Lin Qiao made a leap and hopped into the elevator. As she leaped up, Professor Bai wielded an arm to send a series of white beams of light to her while pressing some buttons behind him with the other hand. The white light immediately froze everything down below.


    However, Lin Qiao was faster than his power. When the space underneath the elevator was frozen, Lin Qiao was already standing before Professor Bai.


    Instead of wasting time talking, she thrust a foot against the wall behind her to push her body forward and spread her fingers as she lunged her black and sharp nails toward Professor Bai¡¯s neck.


    She launched the attack so fast that Professor Bai could barely see her movement clearly.


    Right after Professor Bai released his superpower and pushed the buttons, his eyes were dazzled and then his neck was caught by a strong hand. He couldn¡¯t breathe, and even his brain stopped working.


    ¡°Eh¡­ Hem¡­ You¡­ You!¡± Professor Bai popped his eyes and glared at Lin Qiao. The pain and the suffocation distorted his face.


    He never even imagined that that woman would find his lab! That woman! His daughter died in the underground world, but that woman came out alive! How could that happen! Why didn¡¯t she die down there!


    ¡°I¡¯d be such a shame if I let you run away just like this, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± said Lin Qiao. She was a zombie emperor after all.


    Lin Qiao looked at his twisted face with a smile; she could read his mind clearly. She was surprised to know that Xie Longyun was actually his daughter. What a coincidence! She killed his daughter and she was going to kill him too. The old man might not know the truth about his daughter¡¯s death yet.


    The elevator was still going up. Lin Qiao trod on burning dark fire, with her left arm reached out. Her sharp nails had already sunk into Professor Bai¡¯s neck.


    ¡°So, you already know that your daughter is dead,¡± she said with a smile, ¡°I wonder if you know that it was me who killed her.¡±


    The last few words she said successfully stirred up Professor Bai¡¯s emotion.


    She ignored how strongly the old man reacted but continued with a smile, ¡°Your daughter¡¯s death is your retribution for what you and Si Kongchen had done. Now, it¡¯s your turn. Sadly, you are not gonna witness the end of Si Kongchen. But don¡¯t worry, I promise you that he¡¯ll suffer as much pain as you.¡±


    ¡°Eh-hem¡­ hem¡­¡± Professor Bai glared at Lin Qiao with hatred, pain, and anger. He automatically reached both hands to his neck to try and free himself from Lin Qiao¡¯s grip. The pain coming from his neck made him realize something. He didn¡¯t have the time to figure out what exactly caused the pain though. His brain was occupied by hatred and rage, but he could not fight against Lin Qiao.


    By gripping his neck, Lin Qiao actually managed to stop his energy from flowing from his brain into the rest of his body. His energy was stuck in his brain, so at the moment, he could not launch a superpower attack using his hands.


    Ding! The elevator stopped and then the door opened.


    Lin Qiao didn¡¯t give the old man the chance to survive. She put forth her strength through her fingers and twisted her wrist, snapping the man¡¯s strong neck and conveniently throwing him out of the elevator door.


    Thud!


    After finishing off the old man, Lin Qiao walked out of the secret elevator. As she thought, the elevator didn¡¯t lead to the main entrance of the experimental base, but to a jungle area about a mile away from there.


    She hopped onto a tree and looked at the experimental base. Muffled explosion sounds could be heard from the underground in that area, mixing together with human screams and beast roars.


    She could sense the earth vibrating from time to time. The experimental base was probably trashed. Judging by the muffled explosion sounds that never stopped, the place was probably torn down by some newly developed weapons.


    She wondered if Si Kongchen would cough blood with anger when he found out that the secret experimental base was destroyed. After all, along with the destruction of the lab, some advanced technologies were gone as well. Perhaps, he would thank Lin Qiao for killing Professor Bai, who thought of himself as the big boss.


    Lin Qiao didn¡¯t spend much time thinking but turned and quickly left. About ten miles away from Huaxia Base, she called the others.


    ¡°Come on, you guys get in to do the reading.¡± Lin Qiao threw those people into her space once they gathered up.


    ¡°Read what?¡± Duan Juan, who was left outside to drive for Lin Qiao, looked at the latter and asked.


    ¡°The research materials about Si Kongchen¡¯s biochemical weapons,¡± Lin Qiao got into the car and answered the question with a bland tone.


    At that moment, Xie Dong, Yuan Tianxing, Lu Tianyi, and the others who were thrown into the space by Lin Qiao were standing in Lin Qiao¡¯s house, looking at the huge pile of files and materials in the living room silently.


    Yuan Tianxing shrugged and said, ¡°Well, alright. This is the only kind of work that I can do now.¡±


    While speaking, he turned and waved at the people sticking their heads in from outside to see what was happening and shouted at them, ¡°Why are you guys all standing so far away from us? Come on! There is work for you guys too. Get in and let¡¯s start from classifying these files!¡±


    Lin Yu, Feng Yuming, and the others who were given with the unexpected task looked at that hill-sized pile of files, feeling their heads ache. They would rather go out to fight beasts and zombies. The clerical work could really be tormenting for them.

 Chapter 1374 - Piss Si Konchen Off

    Lu Tianyi looked at the huge pile of files and said, ¡°Did she empty the database of Huaxia¡¯s lab? Who can understand these things? We¡¯re not researchers. We should let the people who¡¯re working on weapon science do the reading, right?¡±


    Unlike Yuan Tianxing and Lu Tianyi, Xie Dong didn¡¯t say anything but walked to the files and sat down on the ground with his legs crossed before reading.


    Of course, the first step was to classify those files. They first sorted the files by years and then smaller categories. The sorting and reading kept the group of men busy enough to forget about anything else.


    Not long after Si Kongchen returned to Huaxia Base, one of his subordinates ran to him and reported in a flurry, ¡°Chief! Something happened in the place you just visited!¡±


    Si Kongchen, who had just taken a seat, raised his head to look at the man and asked, ¡°What happened?¡±


    He had just been there. The place was fine when he was there and when he left. What could happen within such a short time?


    The man stood a little nervously before his desk as he said, ¡°We just received an urgent message, saying that the place was blown up entirely¡­¡±


    Si Kongchen immediately stood up as he stared at the man expressionlessly and asked, ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°About ten minutes after you left, some intruders destroyed the second and third floors underground entirely, then detonated all the finished products and half-produced products in the weapon storage. The mountain has collapsed already.¡± The man puffed out his chest and reported to Si Kongchen loudly in detail.


    ¡°What about Professor Bai?¡± Si Kongchen asked through clenched teeth, his eye corners twitching.


    The man stayed silent for two seconds and then responded, ¡°We haven¡¯t found him yet.¡±


    Si Kongchen stayed quiet for a few seconds after hearing that and asked, ¡°Do you know who did it?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re trying to find out,¡± said the man.


    Clearly, the answer was no.


    Si Kongchen walked out from behind his desk to the cloth rack and picked up his coat before heading outside his office while saying, ¡°Prepare the car.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    The look on his face stayed peaceful, yet his vibe had leaked out of his body, spreading in all directions. He seemed to be agitated.


    Lin Qiao didn¡¯t know how Si Kongchen reacted, but she could guess it out. She was sure that he would be infuriated, because what she did severely harmed his interest. In the post-apocalyptic era, nothing could be more important than interests.


    After hearing about what had happened from Lin Qiao, Duan Juan couldn¡¯t help but burst in laughter. ¡°You¡¯re lucky!¡± she said, ¡°I guess Si Kongchen is gonna be so angry. You destroyed his secret weapon factory right after he left that place.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that he¡¯s unlucky to have me as his enemy?¡± Lin Qiao shrugged and asked.


    Duan Juan glanced at her and laughed, ¡°You¡¯re right. Si Kongchen could have messed with anyone else, but he picked you. He¡¯s definitely not gonna end well.¡±


    Earth Dragon Base, Hidden Cloud City Base, and Sky Fire Base had all been torn down in miserable ways. No enemy of Lin Qiao could end well, and she was now even stronger than before. Maybe because she had turned into a zombie, or that she had died once, the current Lin Qiao was more brutal than the old leader of Hades Base by many times over.


    Lin Qiao gave Duan Juan a glare and said, ¡°How come that doesn¡¯t sound right to me? Am I an evil big boss? Or a devil? Well, even if Si Kongchen didn¡¯t mess with me, someone¡¯d punish him for what he¡¯s been doing sooner or later. His deeds will lead to consequences.¡±


    Duan Juan glanced at her and said, ¡°But I think it¡¯s not gonna be easy for Chief Wu to deal with him without your help. Sea City Base was always much weaker than Huaxia Base. If there¡¯s a war between those two bases, I think Sea City Base would fall into a disadvantage.¡±


    After all, he wasn¡¯t the only level-eight one. Si Kongchen could keep Wu Chengyue busy himself, and without the latter, the army of Sea City Base wouldn¡¯t be able to guard the base against the army from Huaxia Base.


    Si Kongchen might not be able to win against Wu Chengyue with his current power, but he might have some way to boost his power temporarily. Huaxia Base had been doing all kinds of research after all. Earlier, Xie Longyun had leaked that Huaxia possessed drugs for that kind of use.


    Lin Qiao tilted her head and said with a peaceful voice, ¡°I¡¯m not talking about now. In the future, there will be someone who¡¯s powerful enough to bring him down.¡± After saying that, she turned to look outside the window and murmured, ¡°We got to make sure that Huaxia won¡¯t be a problem for us in the future, as soon as possible.¡±


    On hearing that, Duan Juan gave her a glance and said, ¡°You sound impatient about that, are you?¡±


    Lin Qiao turned and glanced at her, staying silent.


    Last time, the level-nine underground monster somehow shocked her and almost awakened the zombie nature of Lu Tianyu the zombie. With some effort, Lin Qiao somehow regained control of her body. But ever since that, she had been having a bad feeling. She felt that the nature of Lu Tianyu the zombie had already woken up, and that it was looking for another opportunity to come out.


    Therefore, she needed to deal with the problem started by Huaxia Base as soon as possible, and then find somewhere quiet to exterminate Lu Tianyu¡¯s zombie nature. How could she allow another consciousness to exist in her body and always try to win control of the body?


    No wonder Teng said that things would turn for the better as long as she could win. She indeed needed to make that other consciousness disappear for good. As for how to do that, she didn¡¯t have a clue yet.


    Maybe Teng would know.


    She somehow felt that Teng knew everything. The kid had been extra knowledgeable since he was still living in the space. Where did he learn all that from?


    Si Kongchen arrived at the secret experimental base to find it to be a huge hole in the ground and almost exploded in anger. Soon, he found that both Professor Bai and all the research materials were gone, nearly vomiting blood as a result. He didn¡¯t even know who did all that.


    Of course, the one who did that had already returned to her own base. By the time she let Yuan Tianxing and the others out of her space along with the pile of files, those men were already feeling dizzy.


    Clearly, it was the reading that did that to them.


    Before Lin Qiao arrived at the base, Yun Meng, Qiu Lili, Lin Kui, and some others sensed her coming.


    ¡°Eh? Is Qiaoqiao back?¡± Qiu Lili looked at Lin Kui and asked him.


    Lin Kui nodded at her and said, ¡°I think so. I felt that too.¡±


    Lin Qiao had her vibe restrained, but the other zombies could still sense her through the special connection between zombies. Therefore, some high-leveled zombies in the base sensed her return before Lin Feng, Wu Chengyue, and the others.

 Chapter 1375 - Catch the Mole

    When Lin Qiao was on her way home, Yun Meng, Qiu Lili, and some other zombies all sensed her return. However, they didn¡¯t go out to welcome her home, because those moles were preparing to carry out their plan of attacking Tongtong.


    Tongtong had just had dinner. It was the time for him to go home, so Cheng Wangxue sent some people to escort him. From the window, Lin Xiaolu watched Tongtong leave. After that, she turned to ask Cheng Wangxue, ¡°Mom, can you guys catch the bad guys?¡±


    Lin Xiaolu¡¯s superpower hadn¡¯t reached level-two yet, so she wasn¡¯t able to read her parents¡¯ minds unless they let her. However, she heard Cheng Wangxue and Lin Feng talk about that in the living room earlier. Knowing that some people were planning on hurting her friend Tongtong, she got worried, so she asked Cheng Wangxue about it.¡±


    Cheng Wangxue found a way to let the girl know that Tongtong would be well protected and the bad guys who were attempting to hurt him would soon be caught, telling the girl not to worry.


    On hearing Lin Xiaolu¡¯s question, Cheng Wangxue, who was sitting on the couch, raised her head and said, ¡°Yes, we will. Tongtong will be fine.¡±


    After leaving Lin Xiaolu¡¯s place, Tongtong was given a ride home. When the vehicle was driving through a quiet alley, a large metal board suddenly fell from the roof nearby. There were buildings on both sides of the alley. No one lived in those buildings yet, so the area was all empty.


    The driver broke hard. The tires caused shrill noises against the ground, and then there was a loud bang. The metal board landed right before the car. The deafening sound gave Tongtong a start. The boy immediately shrank his body, buried his head in his arms, and curled on his seat.


    A man showed up on the roof where the metal board fell from. Next, a few steel pipes fell toward the vehicle. Those steel pipes which were over ten meters long didn¡¯t land on the car roof, because a mysterious force sent them flying to the side from the midair.


    ¡°Go!¡± Lin Feng, who had been watching all that, immediately gave his order through the interphone.


    Following his order, a few squads immediately headed toward the building where Lu Meiqing and her people had gathered. On the roof, the man who threw out the steel pipes saw the pipes being sent away and realized that something was wrong. He quickly turned to run but found a group of people standing right before him and pointing guns at him.


    Boom! He, of course, wouldn¡¯t allow himself to be seized without putting up a fight. He raised both arms and released his level-four fire power.


    Lu Meiqing, who was waiting for the message, was still sitting in the duty room in the hospital. She didn¡¯t notice that the people surrounding her had all left suddenly. She sat there quietly until a few people showed up at the door and gave her a start. Those were a few soldiers in green combat suits, standing by the door silently and pointing guns at her head.


    ¡°Hands up! Stand up slowly.¡±


    Seeing those soldiers, Lu Meiqing froze. She gawked at them and didn¡¯t even react to their order.


    ¡°Hands up! Stand up slowly.¡± The soldier near the door repeated the order.


    Finally, Lu Meiqing realized what was happening. She soon calmed down as she slowly raised her hand and asked the soldiers with confusion, ¡°Wha-what¡¯s going on?¡±


    The soldiers didn¡¯t answer her question. As she raised both hands and stood up slowly, one of the soldiers gave her a shout, ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡±


    The soldiers pointed their guns at her and carefully walked toward her. As they got close enough, they swiftly put both her hands behind her body and brought her out of the room.


    Seeing the soldiers¡¯ cold faces, Lu Meiqing realized that something was going wrong. She panicked and didn¡¯t know what to do.


    Anyhow, she stayed silent and let herself be brought out of the room. Around the corner in the hallway, she saw Lin Hao leaning on the wall with his arms folded, looking at her peacefully.


    Lu Meiqing looked at him, wearing no expressions. While walking him, she suddenly said to him, ¡°I guess you found out long ago, right?¡±


    Lin Hao gave her a glance without answering her question, and then he turned and left. He didn¡¯t know what she had been up to. He just never trusted anyone, except for his family. How could he possibly trust the woman who had worked for him for merely a few months?


    Lin Wenwen walked over from the other side together with Jiang Anan and saw Lin Hao, ¡°Lu Meiqing is good at being a mole actually. At least, she¡¯s worked for you for months and you never found out that she¡¯s a mole. She wouldn¡¯t have gotten exposed if it weren¡¯t for Xiaolu¡¯s superpower, right?¡±


    Lin Hao gave her a glare and said, ¡°Why? Are you speaking for her now?¡±


    Lin Wenwen shrugged and said, ¡°I just feel that she¡¯s rather capable. Maybe we should convince her to join us and then train her well. She¡¯ll be helpful.¡±


    Lu Meiqing was a commoner. In a world that was ruled by superpower possessors, a commoner certainly should learn to maximize the courage and capability she had.


    Lin Hao looked at her and said, ¡°You can give that suggestion to Big Brother.¡±


    By Big Brother, he was talking about Lin Feng.


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯m going to do that right now. At least, it wasn¡¯t her who came up with the idea of hurting Tongtong. I think she¡¯s not hopeless,¡± Lin Wenwen put a lunch box into Lin Hao¡¯s hands and then turned and left with Jiang Anan.


    Lin Hao held the lunch box, watching the two girls leave. Then, he tilted his head to look at the lunch box and murmured to himself, ¡°I don¡¯t need to go home because you guys bring me food every day. It¡¯s you guys who turned me into a workaholic. It¡¯s not my fault.¡±


    Lin Wenwen said to Jiang Anan curiously, ¡°Who among the people that we¡¯re gonna catch this time do you think is the one who secretly sent the message to Lin Feng?¡±


    Jiang Anan, who had half of her face covered by hair and was quiet all the time, responded, ¡°I think he¡¯ll let us know it was him if he got caught along with the others.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Lin Wenwen nodded and said, ¡°He¡¯ll do that if he¡¯s smart enough.¡±


    In Lin Qiao¡¯s place, Teng, who was lazily lying on the couch, suddenly stood up and yelled at the kitchen, ¡°Daddy, mama is back!¡±


    Before Wu Chengyue could respond to him from the kitchen , Wu Yueling, who was sitting on the other side, raised her head and looked at the little boy with glowing eyes while saying, ¡°Really?¡±


    Teng nodded at her and then reached out his arms toward the girl, saying, ¡°Take me to the balcony. I¡¯ll let you know where she is now.¡±


    Wu Yueling came to him and lifted him from the couch, caring him to the balcony. At that moment, Wu Chengyue stuck his head out of the kitchen and said to the kids, ¡°Be careful. Don¡¯t get too close to the guardrail.¡±

 Chapter 1376 - Maybe He’s a Person Who Bends with the Wind

    The two kids came to the balcony, which had a chair set against the wall. Wu Yueling carried Teng and sat down as she asked the boy, ¡°Where is Mama now?¡±


    Teng pointed a finger ahead and said, ¡°She¡¯s miles away from the gate of the base.¡±


    ¡°Miles¡­ How far away is that?¡± Wu Yueling asked curiously. She was barely seven years old. She didn¡¯t yet have a clear understanding of a ¡®mile¡¯.


    Teng thought for a moment and then explained, ¡°Em¡­ it¡¯ll take a couple of minutes driving and about an hour walking.¡±


    Wu Yueling nodded without fully understanding his words. ¡°So, will Mama be back in a couple of minutes?¡± she asked another question.


    Teng shook his head and said, ¡°Mm, I guess she¡¯ll first go to her office instead. Maybe she won¡¯t come back here until it¡¯s dark.¡±


    While speaking, he pointed at the sky, which had started getting dark already. The sun had just sunk and the sky was still bright.


    ¡°Oh.¡± Learning that she might not see Lin Qiao until it was dark, Wu Yueling pouted and murmured with disappointment.


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue came out of the kitchen while wearing an apron, asking Teng while wiping his hands with a towel, ¡°How do you know that your Mama is back? Why didn¡¯t I sense her coming?¡±


    Teng gave him a glance and then said, ¡°Because she gave birth to me, that¡¯s why I know. She didn¡¯t give birth to you, so you don¡¯t know!¡±


    Wu Chengyue first looked at him speechlessly and then smiled awkwardly, ¡°Oh, I see.¡±


    No joke! He definitely did not want to be Lin Qiao¡¯s son. He intended to be her man!


    Wu Yueling looked at Wu Chengyue with confusion and then at Teng. She didn¡¯t understand their conversation at all. Seeing the look on her face, Teng couldn¡¯t help but reach out a hand and pinch her cheek gently, ¡°Oh, Ling Ling will understand when she gets older.¡±


    Wu Chengyue looked outside the base and said with a slight frown, ¡°Isn¡¯t it too soon for her to come back? It has only been about two weeks, but she¡¯s come out already. Did she manage to figure out what¡¯s happening down underground within such a short time?¡±


    Teng folded his arms before his chest as he thought for a moment and then said, ¡°Well, Mama came back earlier than I expected. So, there are two possibilities. One, she has got the answer she was looking for, or two, there was an accident that caused her to come out ahead of schedule.¡±


    Wu Chengyue gave the boy a smiling glance and said, ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. Those are probably the only two possibilities. Teng is very smart.¡±


    On hearing the sudden compliment, Teng immediately raised his chin and said with a proud face, ¡°Of course! I¡¯m not just some ordinary boy!¡±


    ¡°Alright, whatever is the reason, we¡¯ll know when she gets home. Come on, wash your hands, let¡¯s have dinner.¡± Wu Chengyue lifted the proud little boy and said. He was a little worried at that moment.


    ¡®Will this kid grow into a girl?¡¯ he thought.


    Thankfully, Teng was only able to read his mother¡¯s mind but not his father¡¯s. If he knew what his father was thinking at the moment, he would probably cough some blood and then bite his father with anger.


    Lin Qiao came back to learn that Lin Feng and the others had caught some moles.


    ¡°Good job! Who are those people?¡± She sat down behind her desk and asked with curiosity. It was a normal thing that moles existed in a base, so she wasn¡¯t surprised. Catching moles was a part of Lin Feng¡¯s job, but still, she wanted to give him the compliment for doing his job with such high efficiency.


    ¡°Some among the last few batches to join our base. Most of them are from Hidden Cloud City Base and Sky Fire Base. Um¡­ but this Lu Meiqing is from Hades Base.¡± Duan Juan was standing before he desk and reading the report. She paused briefly when she read Lu Meiqing¡¯s file.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°What¡¯s so strange about that? Anyone can choose the side that¡¯s the best for themselves. Maybe she finds our place to not be good enough and wants to go somewhere better. That¡¯s normal.¡±


    That was not a strange thing at all. Many would make that kind of choice.


    While reading the last part of the report, Duan Juan said with a weird look on her face, ¡°Oh, there was a mysterious person who secretly delivered a message to Deputy Chief Lin. We don¡¯t know who that person is yet.¡±


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao looked at her with surprise and said, ¡°Are you saying that one of those people sold the others out? Did they know that they were betrayed by one of their own?¡±


    That was interesting! It was like a double betrayal.


    Duan Juan shook her head and said, ¡°I guess they don¡¯t know that someone has sold them out. Deputy Chief Lin and his men are looking for that person now. I guess they¡¯re trying to find out if he¡¯s one of those that got caught this time.¡±


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, ¡°I guess that person is a rather capable one. He¡¯s been such a successful double-sided spy.¡±


    He sent messages to Lin Feng, but the latter didn¡¯t know who he was. It was possible that Lin Feng didn¡¯t try to find out who he was because he intended to show the man some respect,.


    What was the purpose of that person?


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds thinking and then asked another question, ¡°Was that person¡¯s messages the only source that allowed us to find out what those people wanted?¡±


    Duan Juan handed the report to Lin Qiao after finishing reading and responded, ¡°I¡¯m more curious about why the person chose to do that. He leaked the message before those people took action. But, he wasn¡¯t the one who exposed the existence of those moles. Instead, it was Xiaolu. Maybe the man chose to be on our side to survive.¡±


    If that were the truth, the person should not be allowed to stay in the base. Maybe he¡¯d change his mind again someday and choose to stand with other people.


    Lin Qiao took over the report and started reading. In the meanwhile, she nodded and said, ¡°Perhaps. Maybe he discovered that he and his people were exposed already. It¡¯s understandable that he changed his side under that circumstance.¡±


    People like that would bend with the wind.


    While the two of them were talking, Lin Wenwen received the news that Lin Qiao brought back, and also heard that Yuan Tianxing had already woken up.


    ¡°Really? He¡¯s woken up? Great!¡± She finally stopped worrying and grinned with relief.

 Chapter 1377 - Create an Opportunity for Lin Wenwen

    ¡°I heard that he was into your sister for a very long time. How come you still can¡¯t get over him?¡± Dong Xinxin looked at Lin Wenwen, who seemed to be thrilled. She found the girl a little silly when it came to relationships. She was extremely loyal to the man that she was fond of, even though the possibility of him falling for her was pathetically low. Under that kind of circumstances, she should either give and try to forget about him, or help him win the heart of the woman he loved, so she could give up for good. How would any girl keep making efforts for the man without letting him know like Lin Wenwen had been doing?


    In a good way, that was selfless love, but in a bad way, it was self-abuse. Lin Wenwen was not an ancient woman who had a super traditional mind. Why did she let herself fall deeper and deeper into her feelings toward that man?


    Long Qingying, who had just returned, was quietly leaning against the window frame. She heard what Dong Xinxin said and partially agreed with it. But in the meantime, she also wished that Yuan Tianxing could give up on Chief and pay some attention to Lin Wenwen.


    Yuan Tianxing had given up on Lin Qiao already. What could he possibly do even if he didn¡¯t give up? She was the mother of someone else¡¯s son already.


    That fact gave Lin Wenwen a bigger hope, but still, a relationship could not be forced. If Yuan Tianxing had no feelings for her, there would be nothing to change that.


    Hearing Dong Xinxin¡¯s words, Lin Wenwen gave a faint smile and said, ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m already taking it a lot easier than before. I¡¯m not so obsessed with him anymore. But, he¡¯s the man I love after all. It¡¯s hard to fall in love with someone and it¡¯s even harder to give up on a man that you love. Xinxin, you don¡¯t have someone that you love yet, so maybe you can¡¯t understand how I feel when I can¡¯t help but want to care for him and pay attention to him.¡±


    Yuan Tianxing was no longer Lin Wenwen¡¯s first priority since she experienced Lin Qiao¡¯s death and the fall of Hades Base. However, he had still been taking an important place in her heart, and that would never change.


    Dong Xinxin glanced at Long Qingying before turning back to Lin Wenwen, ¡°But, don¡¯t you feel tired? You need energy and a motive to love someone. What¡¯s your motive? Are you expecting him to fall for you someday?¡±


    After saying that, she gave a sigh and continued, ¡°That¡¯s not likely to happen! That kind of man is the most difficult type. You are so silly. There are so many men in the world, so many good ones. Why on the earth did you pick someone who might never want to be with you? At the very least, you should pick one who is not already in love with someone else. What about my brother? My brother is a nice guy and he¡¯s capable. I think he¡¯s quite interested in you.¡±


    Dong Xinxin abruptly started advertising her brother.


    Lin Wenwen immediately furrowed her brows, looking at Dong Xinxin as she said, ¡°What the hell? Your brother is younger than me, isn¡¯t he? I don¡¯t like to be with a guy who¡¯s younger than me!¡±


    Long Qingying also gave Dong Xinxin a glance with surprise, blinking her eyes.


    Dong Xinxin didn¡¯t give up. She raised a hand and started to count the good things about her brother. ¡°What are you talking about? My brother is a mature man. He¡¯s not so much younger than you. He¡¯s only about a year younger than you and that¡¯s nothing! There¡¯s an old saying that marrying a woman who¡¯s three years older than himself can get a man rich! My brother isn¡¯t even three years younger than you are! Besides, my brother is not worse than Deputy Chief Yuan, is he? He¡¯s strong, and he¡¯s the leader of a top-ranked hunters¡¯ group¡­¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s one of the leaders¡­¡± Lin Wenwen interrupted Dong Xinxin before she finished counting.


    Dong Xinxin immediately gave her a glare and said, ¡°Can you please let me finish? My brother is in as good shape as Deputy Chief Yuan, and he¡¯s a decent man¡­¡±


    After struggling to survive for years, Dong Lijia was no longer the young and naive boy that Lin Wenwen had met before. He had grown muscles and he was tall, even though his eyes had grown smaller and that made him look a little like a . Indeed, he could be counted as a great man, except for that¡­


    ¡°He¡¯s not handsome enough¡­¡± said Lin Wenwen.


    Dong Xinxin almost vomited blood. After all, she could not deny that fact. Yuan Tianxing was indeed much better-looking than Dong Lijia. The appearances of those two weren¡¯t at the same level.


    ¡°Well¡­ he¡¯s not as handsome as Deputy Chief Yuan, but he¡¯s not ugly!¡± That was what Dong Xinxin said at last. She didn¡¯t sound as confident as before though.


    Lin Wenwen looked at her and said, ¡°I don¡¯t like Yuan Tianxing for how he looks. I¡¯m not one of those girls who care only about appearance. I won¡¯t fall in love with your brother even if he¡¯s more handsome than Tianxing.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t say that just yet,¡± Dong Xinxin hurriedly said, ¡°You need time to forge a relationship! You can start from spending some time with him! Give it a try!¡±


    She winked at Lin Wenwen while saying that, looking very much like a professional matchmaker.


    Lin Wenwen looked at and complained, ¡°Alright, stop it. Are you an old lady from the countryside? Don¡¯t always try to make matches!¡±


    Dong Xinxin looked at her and said helplessly, ¡°What else can I do? My brother is picky! He might have all the patience, but I don¡¯t. I¡¯d like to have a nephew or niece! Also, I¡¯m doing this for you too. You shouldn¡¯t always fix your eyes on just one man.¡±


    While the two of them were talking, Lin Qiao finished her conversation with Lin Feng about those moles and also thought of Lin Wenwen and Yuan Tianxing, ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t think Wenwen needs to leave the base anytime soon. Why don¡¯t we let her assist Yuan Tianxing in reading those files?¡±


    Duan Juan looked at her and laughed, ¡°You seem to really want the two of them to get together. Aren¡¯t you worried that Deputy Chief Yuan might be sad about it?¡±


    He was into her, yet she always tried to set him up with her little sister!


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do this before,¡± Lin Qiao sighed and said, ¡°But now, things are different. He has decided to give up on me, so I might as well give him a push. Wenwen will be happy about it too. Isn¡¯t that a good thing for both of them?¡±


    Lin Wenwen had been fond of Yuan Tianxing for such a long time, and Yuan Tianxing had made up his mind to give up on Lin Qiao. Wasn¡¯t that a perfect opportunity? Lin Qiao understood that she shouldn¡¯t push them too hard, but at least, someone should create some chances for the two of them!


    Lin Feng intended to bring Dong Xinxin and Lin Hao together while Dong Xinxin wanted to set Lin Wenwen up with Dong Lijia. And in the meantime, Lin Qiao was planning on creating opportunities for Lin Wenwen and Yuan Tianxing. That was such an awkward coincidence.


    Duan Juan followed her words and thought for a moment before nodding, ¡°You¡¯re right. But, if he really got together with Wenwen, wouldn¡¯t you two feel awkward to see each other again?¡±


    The relationship between them would be very complicated.


    ¡°No,¡± Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°Tianxing and Wenwen both tend to love someone whole-heartedly, but they are also decisive. When he really decides to give up on someone, he¡¯d give up for good.¡±

 Chapter 1378 - The Conversation at Home

    Lin Qiao was going to send a message to Sea City Base, but she heard that Wu Chengyue was staying in her place, so she didn¡¯t need to send someone to deliver the news to Sea City Base.


    She sorted the materials that she would need for the meeting tomorrow and went home.


    In the hallway, she found the door of her apartment open. The two kids were sticking their heads out, seemingly waiting for her to come home. Lin Qiao felt warm in the heart at the sight of them. ¡°Have you two already sensed that I¡¯m coming back?¡±


    Wu Yueling was carrying Teng, leaning on the door frame and sticking her head out. Her long pigtails were hanging on the sides of her head. Seeing Lin Qiao and hearing her words, the little girl nodded with her eyes glowing.


    ¡°Mama!¡±


    ¡°Mama¡­¡±


    The two kids called Lin Qiao together. Teng¡¯s voice was loud and clear, while Wu Yueling¡¯s voice sounded a little weak. Lin Qiao heard them both, feeling her heart melt. They were like pets that were eagerly waiting for their owners to come home. Those pets would always make passionate sounds to welcome their owners when they got home.


    She walked to the door and bent over to lift Teng from Wu Yueling¡¯s arms. Then, she held the little girl¡¯s hand and walked into the apartment. In the meanwhile, she glanced at the girl with surprise.


    The girl just called her Mama. Maybe Teng affected her, or maybe she truly thought of Lin Qiao as her mother, Ling Qiao could sense the pure but also complicated feeling the girl had when she called her Mama. It wasn¡¯t like the real mother-daughter connection, but for sure, the girl was relying on her.


    Lin Qiao walked into the apartment to find Wu Chengyue sitting on her couch, wearing pajamas as if he were having some leisure time at his own house while reading some files. Sensing Lin Qiao¡¯s arrival, he raised his head to give her a smiling glance and then lowered his head to start reading again, ¡°Teng told us that he sensed your scent a couple of hours ago. How come you came home so early?¡±


    Lin Qiao put the kids on the couch and took off her coat before throwing it to the side. After that, she sat down on the armchair and said, ¡°I¡¯ve roughly figured out why those underground creatures came out from underground. But now, something else is bothering me. I need to find the answer¡­ I made a trip to Huaxia Base before coming back here and collected some information. I¡¯ll write you a proposal later, don¡¯t forget to read it.¡±


    The proposal that she was going to write down was the one which she had read in Si Kongchen¡¯s office. Her brain worked fast currently and her memory was great. So, she could memorize pretty much everything that crossed her eyes and was able to write down the exact proposal which she had read.


    On hearing her words, Wu Chengyue had a feeling that the proposal that she was talking about was not gonna be anything simple. He couldn¡¯t help but raise his head and ask, ¡°What did you find out?¡±


    ¡°Si Kongchen¡¯s plan, of course,¡± said Lin Qiao, ¡°You think I was just having a tour there?¡±


    Wu Chengyue¡¯s curiosity was instantly aroused. He slightly widened his eyes and asked, ¡°Really? Did you get his entire plan figured out?¡±


    He currently felt that the zombie lady was able to find out anything she wanted. After all, there was probably no one in the world who could break her invisibility yet.


    Lin Qiao nodded with a bland face and said, ¡°Yes, he has started making arrangements for the first step of the plan to bring Sea City Base down. It¡¯ll be initiated in about ten days. Guess what he plans to do to you guys as the first step?¡±


    Wu Chengyue narrowed his eyes and looked at her in the eyes with a smile as he said, ¡°Si Kongchen never liked face-to-face battles. I guess it¡¯s gonna be some kind of bioweapon again, right? Poison?¡±


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. You know him quite well. But I think there¡¯s one thing that you can¡¯t guess out. He didn¡¯t come up with the plan by himself. He had a partner. Well, that man is gone now though. He has already put a new type of virus that was developed from zombie blood into your base, which was his first step. I¡¯ll give you a name list later. Those people are all from your base, and they have that new virus. Their mission is to spread the virus in your base in the most direct way to infect all residents in your base, as well as the army. Currently, the underground creatures out there are gathering together to upgrade. When they finish upgrading, they¡¯ll start to attack human bases.¡±


    Lin Qiao¡¯s words successfully erased the smile on Wu Chengyue¡¯s face and put an extra serious look on that pretty face of his. He didn¡¯t interrupt her, as he knew that she had more to say.


    ¡°I guess Si Kongchen will send out his men in about two weeks to guide those underground creatures to Sea City Base in some way,¡± Lin Qiao continued with, ¡°When you¡¯re busy dealing with those underground creatures, his people will sneakily spread the virus in your base. In this way, your base will suffer heavy losses for sure.¡±


    After saying that, she spread her hands and leaned on the back of the couch as she looked at Wu Chengyue¡¯s face. The latter didn¡¯t say anything but expressionlessly lowered his head to read the files in his hands. A few seconds later, he said, ¡°Please write down his plan for me, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Okay, but let me take a shower first,¡± Lin Qiao nodded and then stood up, heading toward the bedroom.


    ¡­


    The next morning, Lin Wenwen accepted the task of helping Yuan Tianxing read some files.


    ¡°What kind of files are those? Why does he need me to help him with the reading?¡± Lin Wenwen looked at Long Qingying and asked with curiosity.


    Long Qingying responded to her expressionlessly, ¡°Chief destroyed a secret weapon lab belonging to Huaxia Base yesterday and harvested some research materials. There are quite a lot of them, so Deputy Chief Yuan needs someone to help him with the sorting and reading.¡±


    ¡°How many exactly?¡± Lin Wenwen asked.


    ¡°Thousands?¡± Long Qingying looked at her and said uncertainly.


    On hearing that, Lin Wenwen fell into silence.


    Did her sister empty their database? Maybe not. After all, there should be more than just thousands of books of files to make a whole database.


    ¡°Chief has let Deputy Chief Yuan and Deputy Chief Xie from Base Number Two sort those materials out yesterday on her way back. They managed to classify them but didn¡¯t have the time to read the contents carefully yet.¡±


    They weren¡¯t scientists, so they wouldn¡¯t understand everything in those files even if they read carefully. Therefore, they classified the files according to the catalogs first for the others to read more conveniently.


    Speaking of research materials, it crossed Lin Wenwen¡¯s mind that All Being Base was indeed in short of scientific talent.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have weapon experts in our base. Leng Xuantong and Yan Huiguang are majoring in biology and medical science, so I guess no one can understand those research materials about weapon science. Our base is really in lack of weapon specialists.¡±

 Chapter 1379 - The Meeting in the Base

    In the morning, Lin Qiao had a meeting with the base managers.


    Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, Xie Dong, the Deputy Chiefs of the base; Du Yuanxing, Chen Yuting, Yun Meng, Qiu Lili the captains; Leng Xuantong, Lin Hao and the others who were responsible for special scientific projects, were all summoned to the meeting.


    Last night, Lin Qiao wrote down the plan against Sea City Base that Si Kongchen and Professor Bai made, and had it copied. At the moment, a copy of the plan was put on the table before everyone¡¯s seat. All Beings Base and Sea City Base weren¡¯t Si Kongchen¡¯s sole targets. He planned to destroy all the other bases, including Heilong Base, Green Mountain Base and Mongols Base. He wanted every other base but his own to suffer attacks from Underground creatures.


    People wore uniforms for the formal meeting. Lin Hao and Leng Xuantong were in white coats, while the others were wearing military uniforms. The ones from Base Number One wore green, while the ones from Base Number Two wore black. The styles and colors of their uniforms were different.


    People took seats and put their hats by their right hands as Lin Qiao said, ¡°Before you is Si Kongchen¡¯s whole plan and some drawings I read in his office. Luckily, he was reading these when I got into his office. He seemed to be eager to take the second step.¡±


    While she was speaking, everyone started reading the materials in front of them.


    ¡°Today, I¡¯m gonna talk about three things. First, I¡¯m gonna talk about those underground creatures. I¡¯ve already put what I¡¯ve seen underground into the material that you¡¯re now reading, including some specific information. Second, I¡¯ll talk about Si Kongchen¡¯s plan. We need to come up with some solutions to prepare ourselves for his plan in advance. The third thing I¡¯m going to talk about is those research materials that I brought back this time. We need to read through them and find out the information hiding within as soon as possible.¡± Lin Qiao rested her forearms on the desk and held her hands together as she glanced at everyone in the room and started speaking.


    ¡°About the reason why such a great number of underground creatures suddenly showed up on the earth¡¯s surface, I¡¯ve let Li Zheng bring the message to you earlier,¡± she continued. ¡°I am now telling you guys for sure that there¡¯s a level-nine creature down underground. None of us, nor any other living creature on the earth¡¯s surface, is strong enough to defeat it, not even Dong Xiaowei from Green Mountain Base. That creature ordered the other underground creatures to come up to the earth¡¯s surface. We definitely don¡¯t want it to come out itself.¡±


    On hearing that, Lin Feng couldn¡¯t help but knit his brows and ask, ¡°Why did it send those creatures up to the earth¡¯s surface? Is the underground world not suitable for them to survive anymore?¡±


    The others all looked at Lin Qiao, waiting for her answer.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, ¡°Through observation, I found the natural environment underground to be very poor. Herbivores barely exist down there. All that live there are carnivores. They do not eat plants but feed on each other. That was fine for the high-leveled ones, but for the low-leveled ones, it¡¯s not a good thing. It¡¯s really hard for them to find food down there. If they also feed on each other, underground creatures would die out sooner or later. I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s the reason why the level-nine creature cast all the low-leveled ones out.¡±


    ¡°No wonder all the underground creatures which have gathered together for upgrading are all above level-three. Is that the reason?¡± Lin Feng thought for a moment and said.


    ¡°Currently, those underground creatures aren¡¯t our main problem. At least, we still have catmint and the kind of fruit I found underground. With those, we¡¯ll be able to deal with one or two waves of attacks from those underground creatures. Also, I don¡¯t think the level-nine creature will come out anytime soon, so we don¡¯t need to worry about that for now. Our priority now is to figure out how Si Kongchen will lead those creatures to our base. And secondly, we¡¯re going to talk about his entire plan. The answer to the question I just brought up might be found in his proposal.¡±


    ¡°The first step of Sea City Base¡¯s plan was supposed to be initiated in about two weeks. However, I¡¯m not sure if he¡¯s gonna stick with that schedule, because I destroyed a very important weapon lab that belonged to him. Maybe he¡¯ll decide to start carrying out his plan ahead of schedule out of anger. Maybe he¡¯s infuriated enough to take action right now. The first step of his plan is targeting Sea City Base. He plans to do the same to the other bases too. I¡¯ve already told Wu Chengyue about what¡¯s been happening in his base, and he¡¯ll deal with it when he gets back.¡± Lin Qiao opened the file before her and said seriously.


    Meanwhile, everyone read the proposal as quickly as they could. Learning that Si Kongchen planned to sneakily use zombie virus as a bioweapon against Sea City Base, they couldn¡¯t help but furrow their brows into deep frowns.


    ¡°Is he crazy? How can he hurt other bases like this only for his very own interest? Don¡¯t the lives of the people from other bases mean anything to him?¡± Qiu Lili said out loud before the others.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t care about anyone who has no value for him. I wonder how he managed to become the leader of Huaxia Base. Does pure power make someone a leader?¡± Yun Meng joined the conversation.


    Lin Qiao gave her a glance and said, ¡°Mengmeng is right. Violence was indeed what Si Kongchen used to bring the entire Huaxia Base under control. That¡¯s not a strange thing.¡±


    One had to be strong enough to control two million people. He made those people follow his lead by threatening and tempting them. Threats were the most important means, and to do that, he needed strength. The temptation was only supplementary.


    The others weren¡¯t as surprised to know about what Si Kongchen had done as the two girls were. They had that guessed out long ago. What Lin Feng was worried about was if Sea City Base would be able to deal with the virus that Si Kongchen had planted in their base. After all, the sources of the virus were already inside.


    ¡°Wu Chengyue will be able to handle it, right?¡± He looked at Lin Qiao and asked.


    Lin Qiao glanced at him and said, ¡°I¡¯ve given him a list of the names of all the people who are carrying the virus. If he still can¡¯t solve the problem, I¡¯d consider myself blind.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a name list? In that case, it won¡¯t be a problem.¡± Lin Feng shrugged and didn¡¯t ask any other questions.

 Chapter 1380 - The Moles in Sea City Base

    ¡°About the materials that I brought back, Deputy Chief Yuan is now in full charge of the reading work. Our job is to firstly find the research reports about underground creatures, and secondly, find out if they had run any experiments or tests underground in the past few years. I suspect that what they did down there might be part of the reason why the underground environment became so poor.¡± Having finished talking about Si Kongcen¡¯s plan, Lin Qiao started telling others about why she brought those research materials back.


    She folded her arms and leaned against the back of the chair as she looked at Yuan Tianxing and continued, ¡°Since we don¡¯t have any weapon experts in our base, Deputy Chief, I¡¯m afraid you need to invest some extra efforts to figure those two things out. You¡¯re still recovering, so I¡¯m gonna let Lin Wenwen assist you. She has no other missions lately, so I think she can ease some of your burdens.¡±


    In fact, Yan Huiguang could be quite helpful for Yuan Tianxing. However, he joined the base only recently and was not yet trustworthy enough to take missions like that. Therefore, Lin Qiao did not plan to let him do the work.


    On hearing her words, Yuan Tianxing couldn¡¯t help but give a glance at him and then at Lin Wenwen. He seemed to want to say something but hesitated on second thought. At last, he didn¡¯t say what he wanted to. Clearly, Lin Qiao had already made the decision. Any suggestion of his would be rejected¡­


    On hearing Lin Qiao mention her name, Lin Wenwen quickly responded, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Xie Dong, you¡¯ll still be keeping an eye on those underground creatures that have gathered up. Find Si Kongchen¡¯s men who¡¯ll be guiding those creatures to each base, and then figure out how exactly they¡¯ll do it.¡± Lin Qiao turned and gave Xie Dong an order.


    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am!¡± Xie Dong nodded and responded with a bland tone.


    Lin Qiao then looked at Lin Feng and said, ¡°Lin Feng, keep in touch with Sea City Base. Let me know if anything happens there ASAP.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± Lin Feng nodded.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue, who had returned to Sea City Base in the morning, called a meeting as well. He sat at the head of the table, with Xiao Yunlong and Zou Shihui sitting by his sides expressionlessly. He smilingly glanced at the people on the scene, who were all looking at him quietly.


    ¡°The Chief of All Beings Base brought us an urgent message. It turns out that our base hasn¡¯t been guarded strictly enough. Some people still managed to bring something bad into our base. It¡¯d be a true disaster if we let them actually use that thing on our base.¡± Wu Chengyue was still wearing a faint smile when he said those words, but the look in his eyes was as cold as a sharp sword.


    The others in the meeting room felt a great pressure suddenly descend on them. The room was so quiet that people could even hear a pin drop.


    After saying that, Wu Chengyue stayed quiet and kept looking at the others with a smile. Xiao Yunlong looked around and leaned on the back of his chair as he put a hand on the table and knocked on it. He wore no expression, but his eyes were cold as well. ¡°Em, I just heard about that,¡± he said, ¡°I have been trying to better the security work in our base. However, better an open enemy than a false friend. It¡¯s hard to dodge a stab coming from the back. I was surprised when I found the names of some of our own in the list of moles.¡±


    On hearing that, the others on the scene changed their expressions slightly. Most of them started avoiding eye contact. Soon, people found some on the scene becoming pale all of a sudden and detected obvious panic from those people¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Why are you guys panicking? The look on your face is really ugly. You seem flustered. Are you telling us that you are the moles?¡± Zou Shihui wore no expressions either, but he had been extra perceptive. Once he said that, the ones who wore awkward looks had their faces grow even paler. Some of them even seemed to be stunned. Noticing the weird look on their faces, the others immediately fixed eyes on them.


    Xiao Licheng stood up as he stared at Li Yueshan and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Why? What¡¯s your reason?¡±


    As a member of the intelligence department of Sea City Base who was under Wu Chengyue¡¯s direct command, Li Yueshan was the perfect man to hide the truth and spread false information.


    They just didn¡¯t understand why he did that. Did Sea City Base not treat him well enough? Was he not paid high enough?


    Li Yueshan¡¯s masculine face now looked very pale, but he wasn¡¯t panicking. On the contrary, he even seemed to be relieved a little. On hearing Xiao Licheng¡¯s question, he raised his head to give the other a glance, and then he looked at Wu Chengyue and the other two base leaders.


    Wu Chengyue was looking at him as well. He never thought that one of his own men would betray him. As far as he knew, Li Yueshan would have no reason to do something like that. Therefore, he was curious about the answer to the question that Xiao Licheng just asked. What made Li Yueshan, who had been his subordinate for seven years, choose to betray him?


    Li Yueshan sat there motionlessly. After looking at Xiao Licheng and Wu Chengyue, he dropped his head silently.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you gonna say something?¡± Xiao Licheng looked at the man with a deep frown.


    While he was speaking, a large group of soldiers ran into the meeting room and pointed their guns at the pale-faced ones, waiting for Wu Chengyue¡¯s order. Those people would be arrested once he gave a nod.


    Li Yueshan did not answer Xiao Licheng¡¯s question. As the man made no reaction, Xiao Licheng couldn¡¯t help but turn to Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue looked at Li Yueshan and finally erased the smile on his face. Then, he seriously said to the man, ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything to say to us? At least, let us know why you did it. Is that hard?¡±


    He could find it out, but he preferred to hear it from Li Yueshan himself.


    Clap!


    ¡°Say something! Tell us why if you¡¯re a man! Li Yueshan!¡± Xiao Licheng slapped on the desk as he glared at the other and shouted. He was rarely so emotional. He had been seeing Li Yueshan as a brother of his, a real brother. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t feel so bad on learning the truth.


    Li Yueshan finally raised his head slowly as he looked at Xiao Licheng and said with sadness and coldness, ¡°What do you want me to say? What¡¯s the point of talking about the reason now?¡±


    Xiao Licheng didn¡¯t know what to say.

 Chapter 1381 - Send Moli to Ask Him

    ¡°So tell us when you want to. I¡¯ll give you a chance to talk,¡± Wu Chengyue said to Li Yueshan and then waved a hand toward the soldiers standing by the latter¡¯s side. The soldiers immediately stepped up and dragged him up from his chair, put his arms behind his body, and brought him out of the meeting room.


    After a series of noise, a few people were brought out of the room and the atmosphere grew even tenser than before.


    Wu Chengyue knocked on the table and said, ¡°Alright. The ones who needed to leave have left. So apart from them, there are some other people on the name list that I have. Read the files before you. All these people are carrying the newest zombie virus that Huaxia Base developed. We cannot let the virus spread. The virus can not only pass the detectors, but can also turn humans into level-three zombies within three seconds. We definitely don¡¯t want a bunch of level-three zombies jumping around in our base. Imagine that! Xiao, I let you deal with the people on this list. Go!¡±


    Xiao Yunlong immediately stood up as he picked up the files in front of him and left together with Huang Ming, his subordinate.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe Si Kongchen did something like this just to bring us down. The man has no bottom line! If we lose to him, all the other bases in the country would fall under his control, right? If that happened, there¡¯d be no hope left for mankind,¡± Zou Shihui said with a sullen face.


    ¡°In his eyes, the future of mankind isn¡¯t the most important thing. All he cares about is what he can get from all the other people and his ridiculous desire to rule the world,¡± Wu Chengyue gave a small smile and said, ¡°He didn¡¯t only plan to tear our base down, but also did something to those underground creatures.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s planning to guide those creatures to every single base in the country but his own? Are we not his only target?¡± Zou Shihui read the file and asked.


    Wu Chengyue gave him a glance and said, ¡°As you just said, he¡¯s attempting to control all the bases in the country. So of course, we¡¯re not his only target. Earlier, he blew up some underground creatures with a new kind of bomb. If all the other bases ended up facing underground creatures defenselessly, he¡¯d have a perfect opportunity to bring all of them under control, wouldn¡¯t he?¡±


    Zou Shihui wore a deep frown and said, ¡°So, he¡¯s gonna create that opportunity for himself, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you figured it out,¡± Wu Chengyue nodded at him.


    Zou Shihui abruptly turned and asked, ¡°Those underground creatures aren¡¯t making a move now. does it mean that he hasn¡¯t started yet?¡±


    Wu Chengyue nodded in response with a smile, ¡°No, he hasn¡¯t started yet. But, I have a feeling that he¡¯ll start very soon.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± On hearing him say that so confidently, Zou Shihui looked at him and asked.


    ¡°Because of anger,¡± Wu Chengyue said, still with a smile, ¡°He might take action ahead of schedule, because he¡¯s infuriated.¡±


    His words immediately raised people¡¯s curiosity. Clearly, something had happened, or else why would Si Kongchen be infuriated? On hearing that Si Kongchen was infuriated, Zou Shihui hurriedly said with great interest, ¡°What happened? Did the leader of All Beings Base do something again?¡±


    The zombie lady could be such a troublemaker! The news was brought back by herself. She must have done something else other than merely collecting information when she was in Huaxia Base.


    ¡°You know her quite well,¡± Wu Chengyue gave him a smiling glance and continued, ¡°Yes, she did something. She blew up a very important weapon lab that belonged to him and stole all their research materials.¡±


    On hearing that, everyone present burst into laughter. Wu Chengyue¡¯s answer didn¡¯t disappoint them. What Si Kongchen was proud of the most was his weapon technology. The destruction of the weapon lab could certainly make him explode with anger. Wu Chengyue used the word ¡®very important¡¯, so the lab was certainly highly valuable.


    ¡°Good job!¡± Some people couldn¡¯t help but exclaim.


    ¡°So now, apart from dealing with the moles in our base, we also need to go to the gathering spots of underground creatures and search for Huaxia Base people. We have to find out how exactly they prepare to lead those creatures to our base. Also, we need to let others know about Si Kongchen¡¯s plan.¡±


    After the meeting, Wu Chengyue walked out of the meeting room as the smile on his face faded away. While walking, he said to Xiao Licheng, ¡°Find out what¡¯s wrong with Li Yueshan. Judging by his reaction earlier today, I don¡¯t think he betrayed us out of his own will.¡±


    He was definitely not happy to know that one of his subordinates had betrayed him.


    ¡°I get it. I¡¯ll send Moli to talk to him.¡± Xiao Licheng nodded and said.


    Moli had level-five spirit power. Li Yueshan possessed level-five green power, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to resist her spirit attack when he couldn¡¯t use his superpower.


    Huaxia Base wasn¡¯t the only base that managed to develop a drug to restrain superpowers. Sea City Base had developed the same kind of drug by analyzing the components of the drug from the former. Therefore, it was no longer a problem that the prisoners might use their superpowers to break out.


    Under the effect of the drug, Li Yueshan wouldn¡¯t be able to resist Moli¡¯s power with his own. In other words, she would be able to do whatever she wanted to him.


    Moli, who was serving as a psychiatrist in the hospital, looked at Xiao Licheng with surprise when she heard the news. ¡°How can it be Li Yueshan? Why?¡± she said.


    ¡°I want to know the reason too,¡± Xiao Licheng looked at her and said helplessly, ¡°But he wouldn¡¯t tell us. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here asking you for help. Chief thinks that he might be forced to do it. We are wondering if Huaxia Base has something on him. The Li Yueshan I know would never do something like this, but he actually did it. There might be a reason that left him with no choice.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Moli nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to talk to him right now.¡± After saying that, she sorted the files on her desk and stood up before walking out of her office.


    ¡°Send the report directly to the Chief when you¡¯re done. I have some other work to do. Thank you!¡± Xiao Licheng smiled and followed her out of the office. After that, he left the hospital and prepared to take his men to investigate Si Kongchen¡¯s plan related to the underground creatures.

 Chapter 1382 - The Reason of Betrayal

    Moli went where Li Yueshan was kept. He was sitting on the bed in that cell, with his legs curled and his head buried between his knees.


    Moli stayed outside. She first spent a short while observing Li Yueshan through the glass window of the cell and then turned to nod at the guard next to her. The guard unlocked the door with a key and pushed it open to let her in.


    Sensing that someone was coming in, Li Yueshan slightly moved his head but didn¡¯t raise it to see who that person was. He had recognized her by her vibe. Meanwhile, the guard locked the door from the outside after Moli went in.


    ¡°Tell me. I want to hear you tell me yourself. I don¡¯t want to use my power on you.¡± She stood near the door and looked at Li Yueshan as she spoke. As same as Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng, she was friends with Li Yueshan. Therefore, she wanted him to tell the reason willingly. That was her respect for him.


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to say. Do whatever you think is right to me.¡± Li Yueshan said with a deep voice. That voice of his was weak, toned with lifelessness and sadness.


    Moli spent a while looking at him with silence and said, ¡°Do Huaxia people have something on you?¡±


    Li Yueshan fell into silence.


    Moli looked at him and continued, ¡°I know that you wouldn¡¯t do such things to Sea City Base out of your own will. Tell me, what exactly happened. I don¡¯t think you¡¯d like me to use my power on you.¡±


    Li Yueshan slowly turned his head to look at her. Then, he spread his body and turned around to lean against the wall, facing Moli while crossing his legs. Leaning on the wall, he said coldly, ¡°You¡¯ve found out what I¡¯ve done. You got the entire plan. Sea City Base people are going to survive. What¡¯s left to be told? Is my reason so important?¡±


    ¡°Do you want to die so much?¡± Moli glared at him and asked.


    People asked Li Yueshan to explain because they hoped that there would be a reason for them to give him a light punishment. Li Yueshan clearly knew about that, but he didn¡¯t care. Did he want them to kill him?


    The virus did not spread in Sea City Base. Therefore, if he were forced to betray his base, he would receive a lesser punishment than he was supposed to. After all, being forced to betray was largely different from betraying willingly. The influences would be different too. If he did what he did out of his own will, he wouldn¡¯t be so calm and peaceful at the moment.


    Moli stood in the cell, resting her hands in the pockets of her white coat. She peacefully looked at him and asked, ¡°As far as we know, you didn¡¯t do anything else apart from keeping their plan secret. Was that the only thing they asked you to do?¡±


    Li Yueshan leaned on the wall and slightly raised his chin to look at Moli as he said with a sneer, ¡°Wasn¡¯t that enough?¡±


    As an intelligence worker, he knew how important intelligence could be. He kept the information about the virus secret, so the virus could be put into Sea City Base successfully. As long as it was put into food or water, or spread through the air, large numbers of Sea City Base people might turn into zombies. That would be a disaster.


    ¡°But, you didn¡¯t try to cover for them, did you? You still wished that someone else could discover their plan. Right?¡± Moli saw through his sneer.


    Keeping a secret was different from covering for something. To cover for something, one would need to divert people¡¯s attention from what was needed to be covered. To keep a secret, however, one simply needed to avoid telling people about the secret. The former was more active while the latter was more passive.


    Li Yueshan didn¡¯t try to cover for Huaxia people; he only ignored their plan. In fact, he wished that someone else could find out about their plan. As long as he wasn¡¯t the one who pointed it out, it would have nothing to do with him.


    Moli didn¡¯t use her power on him, but she could guess what he was thinking through his expressions and the look in his eyes, as well as based on his usual behavior.


    Li Yueshan looked at her but didn¡¯t say anything. Moli stayed quiet as well. In the stillness, the two of them looked at each other. A long while later, he turned his eyes from Moli to a corner and murmured, ¡°They¡­ They have my brother.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Moli looked at him and said with surprise, ¡°Isn¡¯t your brother dead?¡±


    ¡°I thought he was dead,¡± said Li Yueshan to her, ¡°But he¡¯s alive. It¡¯d be better if he were dead though.¡±


    Moli knitted her brows and said, ¡°What does that mean? I seem to remember that your brother was thrown into a zombie crowd. Right? It¡¯s been years. He should have become a zombie long ago!¡±


    Li Yueshan shook his head and said, ¡°No. He was lucky that he didn¡¯t get bitten by zombies. He wasn¡¯t infected but was caught by a mutated plant and nearly drained. Some people found him and saved his life. However, he was poisoned by that plant and never woke up. In the end, he was handed to the scientific research institute of Huaxia Base as a research subject.¡±


    ¡°Did they find you and let you know about that?¡± Moli¡¯s expressionless face now wore a questioning look.


    She was sure about her guess. After all, Li Yueshan thought his brother was long gone, so he probably wouldn¡¯t try to look for him. Huaxia people must have contacted him and let him know that his brother was still alive. After all, his brother had become a research subject. Huaxia people had certainly dug up the man¡¯s background. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to find out who he was, but over time, they would dig out his identity bit by bit. In fact, he turned out to be Li Yueshan¡¯s little brother, which was definitely good news for Huaxia people. Li Yueshan was playing an important role in Sea City Base, so Huaxia people must have threatened him with his brother¡¯s life.


    Li Yueshan and his brother were close. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have spent a year to torture the people who threw his brother into the zombie crowd slowly to death.


    ¡°Have you seen your brother?¡± Li Yueshan didn¡¯t answer her first question, so Moli asked another with a frown. She knew that Li Yueshan would not let the enemy ship the virus into Sea City Base without confirming that his brother was still alive. They threatened him with his brother¡¯s life. His brother was in a persistent vegetative state, but he was still alive!

 Chapter 1383 - The Plan on the Outside

    Moli asked Li Yueshan if he had seen his brother. But in fact, she already had the answer.


    Li Yueshan looked at her with silence; he didn¡¯t want to say anything else. He didn¡¯t want to make it sound like he was trying to exculpate himself. He had done something wrong, and he intended to take on the consequences.


    As he stayed quiet, Moli didn¡¯t ask more questions. She already had the answers to the questions she wanted to ask. She had also figured out the reason why he did what he did.


    So, she looked at him and said, ¡°I guess you don¡¯t believe in the power of our base. That¡¯s why you did what they asked, right?¡±


    He could have told Wu Chengyue about it and used the power of Sea City Base to rescue his little brother. In that case, he wouldn¡¯t have to betray his base under threat.


    Moli turned and left after finishing talking, leaving Li Yueshan in the cell to wait for his punishment. Soon, Wu Chengyue received her report. ¡°So, his brother isn¡¯t dead. No wonder they managed to make him do that,¡± he said as comprehension dawned on his face.


    Li Yueshan¡¯s little brother was very important to him, and Wu Chengyue knew about that. If Huaxia people threatened Li Yueshan with his own life, he¡¯d choose to die. However, it was his little brother. He considered his little brother¡¯s life much more important than his own, even though his brother was already half-dead.


    After the apocalypse, his brother, Li Yue He, saved his life a few times. Hence, Li Yueshan owed it to his brother! He was even the reason why his brother was thrown into a zombie crowd. Therefore, he would give up his own life for his brother.


    Huaxia people were lucky to find his brother, as without him, they would never be able to make Li Yueshan work for them.


    ¡°How are we gonna punish him?¡± Moli stood before Wu Chengyue¡¯s desk as she looked at him and asked.


    Wu Chengyue gave a smile and said, ¡°Punishing him isn¡¯t our first priority now. What we need to do now is rescue his brother. After that, we¡¯ll think about the punishment.¡±


    ¡°I get it. So, my job is done.¡± Moli said blandly as she turned and left.


    Wu Chengyue reread her report and spent a moment thinking. Before taking action to rescue Li Yue He, he needed to send someone to Huaxia Base to find out where exactly he was.


    ¡­


    In All Beings Base, Lin Qiao finished the meeting and returned to her office. Wu Yueling and Teng were sitting on the couch in her office, playing with each other. Shen Yujen was standing outside the door, watching the kids.


    Sensing Lin Qiao¡¯s return, Teng sat straight and reached his head to look at his mother. Wu Yueling was holding the gray rabbit, which had grown pretty large. The girl also raised her head to look at Lin Qiao. Looking at that large rabbit, Lin Qiao asked the girl, ¡°Aren¡¯t you tired holding it all the time?¡±


    The rabbit was already as large as a medium-sized dog! It was fluffy, but because of its extra-large size, it was no longer adorable.


    ¡°Not heavy¡­ Warm.¡± Wu Yueling shook her head and said.


    It was winter, and the weather was cold. Warm and fluffy pets like the rabbit could be rather popular under such weather. The rabbit had grown quite familiar with Wu Yueling, so it let the girl hold it as much as she wanted.


    ¡­


    At that time, in Huaxia Base, Si Kongchen was sitting at the head of the table in the meeting room, staring at the table with cold eyes. At the table were a group of senior base managers. They were all silent, not even daring to breathe loudly. They had been trying to minimize their sense of presence. Everyone could tell how upset Si Kongchen was at the moment, and he might vent his anger on anyone on the scene.


    They had learned that Professor Bai¡¯s research base was blown up. They didn¡¯t say a word about it, but deep down, some were happy about it.


    Liu Zhinan was one of those people.


    Si Kongchen wasn¡¯t saying anything. All he did was sit there, releasing a frosty atmosphere. After sitting there for a short while, Liu Zhinan couldn¡¯t help but start talking, ¡°Chief, are you trying to freeze us all to death?¡±


    Among everyone in the room, he was the least afraid of Si Kongchen. Ever since Hu Zhiyong and Han Xiao died, he lost many comrades on his side. Therefore, he was thrilled to know that Si Kongchen¡¯s partner, who was also a capable scientist, was killed.


    He himself was a scientist as well. He and Professor Bai had always been enemies. Si Kongchen chose to stand on the same side with Professor Bai and ignored Liu Zhinan completely. For that reason, Liu Zhinan and Hu Zhiyong had hated Professor Bai for a long time. Hence, they were really happy to hear about Professor Bai¡¯s death.


    His voice stirred the atmosphere in the meeting room. Si Kongchen gave the other people a glance and then said with a deep and cold voice, ¡°Plan Zero will be carried out ahead of schedule.¡±


    On hearing that, Liu Zhinan crossed his arms as he leaned on the back of the chair and asked, ¡°Why?¡± Many of those underground creatures haven¡¯t upgraded yet. Only a small number of them have managed to make the breakthrough. Besides, a lot of high-leveled ones are still there. Will we be able to make them follow us?¡±


    In simple words, it was not yet the time, so the effect might not be as good as expected.


    Si Kongchen gave him a cold glance and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that we should carry out the plan as soon as possible? How come you¡¯ve changed your mind?¡±


    Liu Zhinan smiled and responded, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that taking acting too early might affect the final result? To achieve the perfect result, I¡¯m surely happy to stick with the original plan. Are you now making this decision on an impulse?¡±


    He intended to disagree with Si Kongchen, no matter how. Si Kongchen may have changed his mind, but regarding the major plan, he should not act impulsively. If the action failed, he might not be able to take the responsibility, even though he was the leader of the base.


    ¡°What if our drug can make those level seven and eight ones follow us too? I said the plan will be carried out ahead of schedule, but I didn¡¯t say now. In a few days, those underground creatures will reach the peak of upgrading. That¡¯ll be a good chance to lure them away from the gathering spot. As long as the high-leveled ones are following us, whether the rest will be able to upgrade or not won¡¯t be important anymore.¡±


    ¡°What about the first step of the Sea City Plan?¡± Wei Haichao abruptly joined the conversation, ¡°Will that be initiated at the same time?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Si Kongchen shook his head and said, ¡°It¡¯ll be initiated when Sea City Base is busy dealing with those underground creatures.¡±


    The underground creatures would attack Sea City Base from the outside. When Wu Chengyue and the other leaders of Sea City Base focused their powers on them, the virus would be released from inside the base, and some commoners in the base would turn into zombies. By then, Sea City Base would fall into chaos.

 Chapter 1384 - One of Them Got Away

    ¡°We need some time to attract those underground creatures. We just need to be prepared.¡± After saying that, Si Kongchen gave Wei Haichao an order, ¡°In three days, send out your men and tell them to get ready. Wait for my instructions.¡±


    Hou Guozhong was still in a coma, so Wei Haichao had been Si Kongchen¡¯s only right-hand man.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    After the meeting, Wei Haichao went over to the army and research institute to give out tasks.


    That night, Sea City Base received the news as well. After all, moles existed not only in Sea City Base, but also in Huaxia Base.


    After receiving the message, Wu Chengyue said to Xiao Yunlong with a smile, who happened to be in his office and talking with him, ¡°See, I told you that Si Kongchen¡¯s mad.¡±


    Xiao Yunlong was sitting on the couch, lazily leaning back. On hearing what the other said, he raised his eyebrows, ¡°Are they really gonna take action ahead of schedule?¡±


    Wu Chengyue held the files and said, ¡°In three days, he¡¯ll send people to those underground creatures and start to prepare. Those people will take action once they receive Si Kongchen¡¯s order.¡±


    Xiao Yunlong sat straight and rested one hand on his knees as he said with surprise, ¡°In three days?¡± I guess Si Kongchen isn¡¯t out of his mind yet, despite how angry he is!¡±


    Si Kongchen stayed sane enough to wait for three days. Also, he told his people to wait for his order.


    ¡°Oh, when does he prepare to take action from inside our base?¡± Since the action outside was about to be taken, the work inside the base would certainly start soon too. Of course, Si Kongchen had yet to find out that the virus which he shipped into Sea City Base was almost cleaned out by Xiao Yunlong.


    Xiao Yunlong made a move to arrest those people very efficiently, but someone was still alerted in advance and got away. He came to Wu Chengyue¡¯s office at night for no other purpose but to talk about whether the person who got away carried the virus or not. The news from Huaxia Base was delivered before they could finish that conversation.


    On hearing Xiao Yunlong talk about that, Wu Chengyue again read the message from Huaxia Base and said, ¡°He won¡¯t give his order to release the virus until we¡¯re busy dealing with underground creatures.¡±


    ¡°This means he plans to stab us hard from the back while we can¡¯t spare any attention from those underground creatures, right? That¡¯s an old trick. It¡¯d work well though, if things went as he had planned,¡± Xiao Yunlong snorted coldly as he said with a frown and a scornful tone.


    ¡°I¡¯ll let Licheng and All Beings Base know about this. You need to hurry up and find the person who got away. He might still be in the base. There¡¯d be trouble if he managed to spread the virus.¡± Wu Chengyue said that with a faint smile on his face, but the look in his eyes was serious.


    Xiao Yunlong quickly stood up and adjusted his coat. Then, he put on his hat as he nodded, ¡°I get it. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get him by dawn.¡±


    After saying that, he walked out of Wu Chengyue¡¯s office with big steps. Turning around the corner, he saw Meng Yue come out of the elevator. ¡°I was looking for you. We¡¯ve located that man,¡± she said.


    ¡°So soon?¡± Xiao Yunlong looked at her with surprise, ¡°Let¡¯s go and get him then. We can¡¯t let him get away again.


    While speaking, he dragged Meng Yue back into the elevator.


    ¡°Don¡¯t we need to report it to Wu Chengyue first?¡± Meng Yue glanced at him uncertainly.


    ¡°No need. I just told him that I¡¯ll get the man by dawn,¡± said Xiao Yunlong.


    At that moment, a person was shrinking in a corner in a dark sewer. He didn¡¯t look good. Vigilantly, he had his eyes fixed on the other side of the sewer. Held in his hand was a seven-centimeter-long glass test tube, and in the tube was dark-purple, opaque liquid.


    The man gripped the test tube. That was the last thing he had that might save his life.


    He spent a few minutes squatting there and realized that he couldn¡¯t stay for too long. So, he carefully observed the other side of the sewer and then quietly moved toward it. He planned to search for a safe exit on that side of the sewer.


    However, as he made a turn on the other side of the sewer, he saw someone standing in front of him. The man gave a start and stopped moving immediately. Next, he turned and found two people standing silently behind him, about ten meters away. On his left side was the wall, and the right side was the river of sewage.


    There was no way for him to get away, unless he jumped into the sewage.


    Plop!


    ¡°Don¡¯t come near me, or I¡¯ll smash this thing! You should have found out what this is, and you should know how it can spread!¡± The man jumped into the sewage without thinking. The sewage wasn¡¯t deep; the surface of the muddy and stinky water only reached his knees. He raised the test tube and pointed a finger at the people surrounding him as he yelled nervously.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be the first one to turn into a zombie if you break that thing. Do you have the guts to do that?¡± The man near the corner slowly came close to him and said to him with composure.


    As expected, the man hesitated. But in the next moment, he again glared at the pursuers and shouted, ¡°I don¡¯t care! You¡¯ll kill me after you caught me anyway! I¡¯ll drag you all to hell unless you let me go! I¡¯d be happy to die together with you all!¡±


    As soon as he broke the test tube, the virus would spread through the air.


    ¡°Give it a try. I¡¯m telling you, if you break that test tube, you¡¯ll be the only one to turn into a zombie,¡± said the man around the corner with a very calm voice.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you see the hazmat suits that we¡¯re all wearing?¡± Another man couldn¡¯t help but remind him.


    On hearing that, the man finally realized that all the three men were wearing isolation suits that had their entire bodies covered. Those suits were made from special materials and were even fire-proof. It was impossible for the virus to go through the suits.


    The virus was able to spread through the air, but to infect someone, it had to make direct contact with the person¡¯s skin or be inhaled by that person.


    ¡°S-still, it¡¯ll go out through the air vent! You may not turn into zombies, but what about the people out there? Don¡¯t you care about their lives?¡± The man made two steps backward in a flurry and yelled at the three.


    ¡°Are you aware that the spreading range of this virus is limited? We have evacuated this area. It won¡¯t possibly hurt anyone else but you.¡± The man near the corner calmly provided him with some unknown information and threw him into despair.

 Chapter 1385 - The Cause of Reincarnation

    The man¡¯s words successfully made the one with the virus freeze. That was completely unexpected. He naively believed that as long as he broke the test tube, everyone in the base, and even some people outside the base, would become zombies.


    ¡°Tha-that¡¯s impossible! How can it be limited? They didn¡¯t tell us about that¡­¡± The man¡¯s resolution started to stagger.


    At that very moment, the water suddenly froze. The ice extended from the man¡¯s feet to the rest of his body, and before he could react, he was entirely frozen. Huang Ming leaped down from the roof on the other side of the sewage stream and clapped his hands.


    He possessed level-five ice power while the frozen man was merely a level-four wind power possessor. He wasn¡¯t able to neutralize Huang Ming¡¯s power, so he could only stand there like an ice statue.


    Huang Ming walked to the man on the frozen water surface. The frozen man still had his hand, which was holding the test tube, raised. He walked up to the man and then took the test tube out of his hand.


    The liquid in the tube was frozen as well. Huang Ming put it into an isolation box and handed it to someone else as he turned to the frozen man. He froze the man with fifty percent of his power, which would not kill the latter. As the virus was stored safely, he turned back to boost his power.


    He put both hands on the man, whose body was covered merely in a thin, transparent layer of ice. However, following his movement, the ice quickly grew thick and white. Meanwhile, fear of death could be detected from the man¡¯s eyes.


    Next, Huang Ming pushed the man.


    Crack¡­ Bang! The ice statue fell and shattered into pieces. The man¡¯s body fell apart without shedding even a drop of blood.


    ¡°Alright, the job is done.¡± Huang Ming walked to the side of the road as he waved a hand to melt the ice. The man¡¯s body pieces sank into the sewage, being flushed away.


    The four came up from the sewer, where a group of people was waiting for them.


    ¡°How did it go?¡± Xiao Yunlong and Meng Yue asked in one voice as the four came out.


    Huang Ming responded to them with a gesture of ¡®OK¡¯.


    Seeing that, Xiao Yunlong and the others sighed with relief, saying, ¡°That¡¯s more like it. Where¡¯s the thing?¡±


    Huang Ming glanced at the men behind him. A man who just got out of the sewer handed the virus box to him. He took it over and then handed it to Xiao Yunlong.


    ¡°It¡¯s here. Where did Chief get the name list?¡± Huang Ming asked Xiao Yunlong with curiosity.


    ¡°He got it from his wife,¡± Xiao Yunlong shrugged and said. On hearing that, everyone present had comprehension on their faces.


    ¡°Our Chief is so lucky! He actually won the girl¡¯s heart! How come no girl fancies me? My girl doesn¡¯t need to be as pretty and strong as Chief Lu. I just want an ordinary girl!¡± Huang Ming¡¯s good-looking face wore an envious look. Speaking of girls, he even had his eyes glowing, and he was almost drooling.


    Xiao Yunlong slapped him on the back of his head and said, ¡°Can you please erase that nasty look on your face? Look at yourself. Which girl would like someone with that kind of look on his face?¡±


    Huang Ming suffered pain from that heavy slap, so he couldn¡¯t help but glare at Xiao Yunlong with a grievance, ¡°You¡¯ve forgotten about your miserable days of being single, haven¡¯t you? Do you still remember the days when you were pursuing Meng Yue desperately?¡±


    Xiao Yunlong burst in proud laughter under Huang Ming¡¯s sour glare, saying, ¡°You just need a goal to make efforts for! Do you have someone that you want to be with? What are you complaining about if you don¡¯t?¡±


    Huang Ming did not know what to say. Indeed, there was no one that he wanted to be with.


    ¡°Eh, I wonder when can Wu actually get married to his future wife. Will he have to wait until his son is old enough to shop groceries on his own?¡± Xiao Yunlong gave a grin and then sighed helplessly.


    ¡°That¡¯s his business. Why are you so impatient about it?¡± Meng Yue glanced at him and said.


    Xiao Yunlong looked at her, staying silent.


    All the moles in Sea City Base who carried the virus had been cleaned out. In All Beings Base, Lin Qiao was staying in her apartment, reading the materials roughly sorted by Yuan Tianxing and Lin Wenwen.


    Some information about the underground creatures was indeed found from those materials. The information was collected by Professor Bai and his men years ago in the underground realm. What Professor Bai saw in the underground world back then was different from what Lin Qiao had seen.


    Teng crawled over. Seeing his mother reading the files with a frown, the boy couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Mama, have you found anything?¡±


    Lin Qiao turned to look at him and asked, ¡°Teng, do you know why the underground world became like this?¡±


    Teng looked at her with confusion, saying, ¡°How am I supposed to know? I¡¯m not God.¡±


    Lin Qiao scanned the boy¡¯s tiny body with her eyes, saying, ¡°But you seem to know everything about me. Even I don¡¯t know as much as you do.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I know,¡± Teng looked at her, still with confusion. ¡°I can feel many things about you. I could feel your body changing¡­ I was conscious when you died.¡±


    After saying the last few words, he dropped his head. Back then, he watched his Mama detonate herself. Lin Qiao¡¯s hatred and despair stimulated and urged him to help her, but he wasn¡¯t able to do anything to ease her pain.


    He hated himself so much for being unable to help. When he sensed his Mama¡¯s despair and her strong desire to survive, he suddenly felt that something in his heart break, and then he sensed some kind of force wrapping up his Mama and himself.


    After that, Lin Qiao came back from death to life together with him. He instinctively tried to help her, and as a result, she woke up in a fresh zombie body. Meanwhile, he himself woke up in the space a while after that.


    The space was actually generated by Teng¡¯s superpower, which was buried inside him when he was still in Lin Qiao¡¯s uterus. He created the space under the stimulation coming from her emotions. Therefore, when he was still in the space, he had full control of the space while she was only partially in control of it.


    Later on, he set a trap for his mother and allowed her to give birth to him and handed her the right to control the space fully later on. That was why she felt finally in complete control of the space after giving birth to her son.


    On hearing what the boy said, Lin Qiao paused briefly and gawked at the boy, seemingly stunned.

 Chapter 1386 - Man-Made Mutation

    After spending a moment being shocked, Lin Qiao looked at Teng and asked, ¡°So, was it you who saved me?¡±


    Reading Teng¡¯s mind, she was even more surprised. She couldn¡¯t help but look at the boy from head to toe with her eyes popped in shock. She couldn¡¯t have thought that his son actually possessed such a power. He was the one who brought her back to life! Did all space possessors have such magical powers? The boy brought his mother back to life and gave her a new body while Lin Wenwen traveled through time to seven years ago!


    Teng thought for a moment and said, ¡°Em, I think so. But my power wasn¡¯t really awake back then. I don¡¯t know how it suddenly erupted¡­¡±


    He started to recall things clearly only after he was born. Before that, his memories were disordered and unclear.


    Mothers tended to protect their children from dangers at any cost; that was in the nature of mothers. What Teng did for his Mama was probably due to the same kind of reason.


    Lin Qiao dropped the files in her hand and lifted the boy to put him on her lap. She held him tight in her arms and rested her chin on the boy¡¯s hairless head.


    ¡°I used to hate Yang Jianhua¡¯s guts, but now I have to thank him for bringing you to me.¡±


    She never figured out why exactly she came back to life from death, but she never thought that it was Teng who saved her. The kid gave her a second chance to live.


    Sensing Lin Qiao¡¯s complicated feelings, Teng gently patted her arm and said, ¡°Em, I¡¯m also grateful to him for letting me become Mama¡¯s son!¡±


    Wu Yueling looked at the boy and his mother with confusion. She didn¡¯t understand their conversation, but seeing Lin Qiao hold Teng affectionately, she couldn¡¯t help but spread her arms to join the hug.


    Lin Qiao lifted Wu Yueling and put her on the couch, rubbing her head.


    ¡°Alright, you two should go to bed. Ling Ling, bring Teng to the bed and go to sleep.¡± After rubbing the girl¡¯s head, Lin Qiao put Teng in front of her.


    ¡°Mm¡­ Goodnight, Mama.¡± Wu Yueling slid off from the couch and lifted Teng as she said goodnight to Lin Qiao. Then, she turned and headed toward their room.


    ¡°Goodnight,¡± Lin Qiao responded to her. After watching the two kids walk into the room, she picked up the files and continued reading. In the file was what Professor Bai experienced in the underground world and what he had done down there.


    After spending a whole night reading, Lin Qiao finally figured the whole thing out.


    Professor Bai and his men went underground to find the source of the zombie virus, which caused the apocalypse. Many scientists believed it had something to do with what existed underground, and that was why they went down. Down there, they encountered a lot of mutated creatures. It was less than two years after the apocalypse, and mankind didn¡¯t yet have strong superpowers or weapons. Therefore, facing those ferocious, extremely strong underground creatures which were not afraid of superpowers, those people were undoubtedly defenseless.


    Professor Bai wasn¡¯t the kind of man who would give up easily. While hiding from the underground creatures, he explored the underground realm and performed all kinds of tests and experiments. During all that, he mixed something together by accident and caused the air in the underground space to change. At first, underground creatures could not upgrade as rapidly as they could now. But after what Professor Bai did, upgrading became easier for underground creatures. When things went out of control, he and his men suffered attacks from the underground creatures.


    After reading the report, Lin Qiao snorted in her head. It was just like how she guessed. Professor Bai was indeed the person who caused the underground realm to be filled with that dark kind of power. Thankfully, Lin Wenwen brought back uninfected catmint from the past. Without that, the poisonous energy from the underground couldn¡¯t possibly be fully neutralized.


    In the worst case scenario, the underground energy might gush out to the earth¡¯s surface someday, and Lin Qiao had been preparing for that. After learning that the energy from her space and the catmint were able to neutralize the underground energy, she had started growing catmint in her space, using the seeds that Lin Wenwen brought back from the past. Of course, the one taking care of those seedlings was still Lu Tianyi, the only manager of the farm in her space.


    Lin Qiao sent another batch of zombies into the space to work under his command. After all, he needed a lot of manpower to develop new fields and sow seeds. Sadly, Xie Dong already had Liu Jun¡¯s heart. If that didn¡¯t happen, Lin Qiao would make her and Lu Tianyi a match. They were both farming experts, after all!


    As Lin Qiao had that thought, Liu Jun, who was working in the Mount Wu farm, sensed a chill in her back. She had no idea where that feeling came from. Lu Tianyi, who was working in Lin Qiao¡¯s space, experienced the same.


    Then, Lin Qiao started thinking about her little brother and little sister, who were both still single. She wondered when could those two each find someone.


    Lin Hao wasn¡¯t a boy anymore. Was there a girl who could make a match with him?


    Lin Qiao waved a hand near her head to help her get rid of those thoughts and lowered her head to continue reading.


    Through five years of development, the underground energy had almost filled up the entire underground space, and it would certainly leak out in a couple of years. The underground creatures had found their way up to the earth¡¯s surface, so the energy would certainly be able to come out as well. Moreover, it could grow further stronger, and the result of that would be hard to imagine.


    After finishing reading, Lin Qiao entered her space and saw some level three and four zombies loosening the soil under Lu Tianyi¡¯s lead. The work was in full swing. She looked at Lu Tianyi and felt that it was about the time to upgrade him. He was still at level-five, clearly not strong enough. Lin Qiao decided to bring him up to level-six before the problem started by Huaxia Base was solved.


    Not only Lu Tianyi, but also the ones who followed her underground would all be upgraded. However, she needed some more zombie nuclei to bring the level-six ones to level-seven. She probably needed to ask Yun Meng and the others to go out of the base to collect some.


    After Lin Qiao entered level-eight, her space had grown much larger than before, and the lake had grown larger as well. The land near the three houses, the woods, and the land in front of the houses, all those three areas had become much wider than before. The boundary of the land on the other side of the lake could no longer be seen. The three smaller spaces located behind the houses were now miles away from the houses, barely visible.


    The clearing before the houses was saved for all kinds of activities while the rest of the land surrounding them was occupied by crops or fowls.

 Chapter 1387 - Lu Tianyi at Level-six

    Si Kongchen wasn¡¯t making a move yet, so Lin Qiao decided to use the time to upgrade Lu Tianyi. With that thought, she used her will power and placed a few zombie nuclei with water power into her own hands ¨C one level-six nucleus and five level-five ones. Next, she flashed straight to Lu Tianyi¡¯s side. In her space, she was able to teleport herself to any corner by using her will power after all.


    As Lin Qiao suddenly showed up by his side, Lu Tianyi put down the hoe and stood straight, resting both hands on the pole as he turned to look at her. ¡°How can I help you?¡±


    Lin Qiao showed him the nuclei, saying, ¡°Let them do the work. You come with me. Let¡¯s get you into a higher level.¡±


    ¡°Now?¡± Lu Tianyi looked at her with surprise.


    Wasn¡¯t the war with Huaxia Base about to start? Did she still have the time to help him with the upgrade?


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lin Qiao nodded, ¡°Si Kongchen isn¡¯t taking action now. I¡¯ll upgrade you today and check Huaxia¡¯s most recent moves tomorrow before deciding if I want to upgrade all who carried the last mission with me before the war started. Come on!¡±


    She finished talking and waved at Lu Tianyi before heading toward the lake. Lu Tianyi walked out of the field with the hoe carried on his shoulder. He first put it down and then walked toward Lin Qiao slowly, because he couldn¡¯t approach the lake until she suppressed its power.


    Lin Qiao walked to the lakeside, took off her clothes, and threw them to the side. Meanwhile, she wrapped herself up with a black mist and got into the water, soon gathering all the energy in the water to the bottom of the lake.


    As the pressure coming from the lake disappeared, Lu Tianyi walked to the lakeside and glanced at Lin Qiao¡¯s clothes before at his own. With a frown, he struggled to strip himself. Before taking off the last piece, which was his underwear, he paused briefly and looked back. In the distance, some zombies simultaneously turned their heads away, continuing their work as if nothing was happening.


    Lu Tianyi sighed.


    Pesticide covered Xiao-xiao¡¯s eyes with a hand, but he himself was staring straight at Lu Tianyi¡¯s crotch area, seemingly to measure the other¡¯s size with his eyes. Lu Tianyi turned and took a deep breath, spending a moment thinking if he should get into the lake with his underwear on or take it off. The lake would eat his underwear, so if even he went down wearing it, he would still come out naked and need to find new underwear. Hence. he decided to take it off. Those zombies wanted to watch him, and he decided to let them. He believed that he was of a bigger size than Pesticide!


    With that thought, he took off the underwear and then jumped into the lake. As soon as he fell into the water, he felt that something wrapped himself and quickly dragged him down.


    ¡®What took you so long? Were you showing off your body up there?¡¯ He heard a voice from his mind. Lu Tianyi rolled his eyes and said in his head, ¡®No. They peeked at me. Not my fault.¡¯


    Lin Qiao dragged him down and had his back to herself. After that, she put the zombie nuclei around his body for him to absorb.


    It wasn¡¯t the first time Lu Tianyi upgraded with Lin Qiao¡¯s help. Seeing those nuclei, he picked one with each hand and started absorbing them. Meanwhile, she pressed a hand on his back to help him filter the energy in the nuclei.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Lu Tianyi to break into a new level. He had water power, which was relatively gentle. The energy of the lake entered his body under Lin Qiao¡¯s control and filtered the energy from the nuclei. Not long after that, his nucleus was saturated, and in the end, she helped him make the breakthrough using the level-six nucleus.


    In a couple of hours, Lu Tianyi and Lin Qiao came out of the water.


    Lin Qiao put on her clothes in the mist. Lu Tianyi didn¡¯t have anything to cover his body, so he silently glanced at the zombies in the field. The zombies quickly turned their heads away and kept doing their job.


    After getting dressed, Lin Qiao looked at the still lake surface while sighing, ¡°I wonder if I¡¯ll be able to upgrade you guys on the land when I break into level-nine. If only I could extract the energy from the lake¡­¡±


    Lu Tianyi, who was putting on his pants with his upper body bared, glanced at her and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t bad. You get to see a lot of bodies.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not interested in the art of nudity,¡± Lin Qiao gave him a glare and said. Not everyone¡¯s nude body was pleasant to the eyes!


    Somehow, she thought of Old Guo.


    ¡®Eh? Something weird got into my mind!¡¯


    Lin Qiao hurriedly waved her hand to help herself to cast Old Guo¡¯s wrinkled body, which she had seen when the old man was taking a bath, out of her mind.


    Lu Tianyi put on all his clothes and turned to glance at the lake. He had water power, but he couldn¡¯t control the water from the lake. He couldn¡¯t even sense the energy of the lake. The lake was probably generated by some special kind of power.


    Once Lin Qiao came out of the lake, the heavy pressure spread from it once again . Lu Tianyi stayed by the lakeside for only a few minutes and then started feeling uncomfortable. So, he quickly walked away from the lake toward Lin Qiao¡¯s house.


    The next morning, Lin Qiao left early to have a meeting with the others.


    ¡°According to the news from Sea City Base last night, Si Kongchen prepares to send his men to those underground creatures in a few days. Should we stop them?¡± Holding the report from Sea City Base, Lin Feng looked at Lin Qiao, who was sitting at the head of the table, and asked.


    Lin Qiao leaned on the back of her chair as she folded her arms and glanced at him without answering the question. Then, she turned to Xie Dong, who was sitting on her left side, ¡°Have you found out the paths that Huaxia plans to take to the south and the east?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Xie Dong nodded.


    That was easy. Si Kongchen intended to draw those underground creatures to human bases, so he would certainly do something in their gathering spots. The gathering spots between the east and south China had all been located already.


    Lin Qiao blinked her eyes and turned to Lin Feng, ¡°Let¡¯s send our people there for an ambush. We¡¯ll give Si Kongchen a surprise and see if he¡¯ll like that.¡±


    ¡°Are we going to send a squad from Base Number Two?¡± Lin Feng asked.


    Lin Qiao shook her head and said, ¡°No. The force from Base Number One will perform the task. It¡¯s about the time for your soldiers to be sent out for some actual practice. My soldiers have carried out almost every mission. I guess your men are even getting rusty, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    Lin Feng wasn¡¯t expecting Lin Qiao to decide to send out human soldiers this time, so he looked at her with surprise.


    ¡°What? Is there a problem?¡± Lin Qiao raised her brows and said to him.


    ¡°Of course not!¡± Lin Feng quickly shook his head. After saying that, he turned and made eye-contact with Yuan Tianxing.

 Chapter 1388 - The Meeting Regarding the Action

    Ever since All Beings Base was founded, Lin Qiao hardly took soldiers from Base Number One out of the base to perform tasks. Lin Feng sometimes took them out to collect supplies, but most of the human soldiers were still being trained in the base. The force of Base Number One was small in numbers, so the base didn¡¯t even need to prepare a training ground for them. They found a clearing area right near Base Number One and turned that into their training ground.


    The army in Base Number One had merely about three-thousand people, and a small part of them died during the second explosion of the virus. Later on, the number reached about five-thousand after a few rounds of recruitment. Currently, most of them were still new and needed training.


    ¡°Lin Feng, you¡¯ll take action with three basic corps. I¡¯ll send a group from Base Number Two to escort you in secret. Huaxia is going to send out a strong force armed with powerful weapons. You guys, be careful!¡± Lin Qiao looked at Lin Feng, who was sitting on her right side, and gave the order.


    ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am,¡± Lin Feng nodded at her.


    Lin Qiao then turned to Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, who were sitting at the left side of the table, saying, ¡°Lili, Lin Kui, you two lead the corp and follow behind them. Don¡¯t make any move unless the situation goes out of their control.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Qiu Lili responded to her while Lin Kui nodded silently.


    ¡°Yun Meng, take all level-six zombies from Base Number Two out to collect as many nuclei as you can. Zombie nuclei, animal nuclei, plant nuclei, anything¡­¡± After giving an order to Qiu Lili and Lin Kui, Lin Qiao gave instructions to Yun Meng, who was sitting by the side of Xie Dong.


    ¡°Eh? Collect nuclei? Now?¡± Yun Meng was a little confused.


    There would be a war to fight. How come Lin Qiao still wanted her to collect nuclei? If she took away all the level-six zombies, there would be no one left in the base to handle possible emergencies?


    Lin Qiao gave her a small smile and said, ¡°Yes, now. You have five days. Send someone to bring back your harvest each day, no matter how many you collected that day. Don¡¯t worry, Si Kongchen won¡¯t make any big moves in five days, and we¡¯ll be able to handle all the small moves that he might take. Also, even if he does plan to take major action within five days, his target will be Sea City Base, not us.¡±


    She decided to seize the time to bring all level-five zombie soldiers to level-six. Every level-six zombie had the power to summon surrounding wild zombies. A good number of level-six zombies would guard the base safely from any possible actions that Huaxia might take.


    To achieve high efficiency, Yun Meng needed to collect nuclei as quickly as possible. After hearing what Lin Qiao said, she nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±


    Lin Qiao looked at her and repeated, ¡°You guys have to collect as many nuclei as possible, as quickly as you can.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Yun Meng understood her meaning.


    After giving out the urgent tasks, Lin Qiao started talking about the other thing, ¡°Another thing¡­ According to the materials that Yuan Tianxing read yesterday, it was something that some humans did underground that caused the underground environment to change. Many lower-leveled underground creatures failed to survive, and the higher-leveled ones are smart. They found their way out, and they won¡¯t possibly go back. I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to make them go back underground. In the coming few years, more and more underground energy will seep out, unless we seal the underground space up. To deal with that energy, we need to grow the catmint, which Lin Wenwen brought back, in large quantities. But before that, we need to purify the soil. I plan to do that after we take out Huaxia Base and Si Kongchen. And about that, we need to run discussions with Sea City Base and the other bases to come up with a plan in detail. Currently, we can try to grow some on our own and see how much we can produce.¡±


    That was a long-term project. To grow purely uninfected catmint, the soil needed to be purified. Currently, only Lin Qiao had the power to do that. She had the lake in her space, which would never dry!


    The other way to grow pure catmint was through the soil-less cultivation technique developed by Huaxia Base. However, soil-less cultivation products contained much less energy than the plants which were nourished by the soil.


    Mount Wu farm was currently under Liu Jun¡¯s management. After the first pool, a dozen new ponds were dug near the farm. Of course, not all the water in those pools was from Lin Qiao¡¯s space. The water in those pools was from the rivers nearby, mixing together with the water from Lin Qiao¡¯s space. Lin Qiao¡¯s water purified the regular water, so it could be used to water the soil.


    It would take a while for the water to remove the virus energy from the soil completely. When the soil was entirely virus-free, it would be ready to grow healthy crops.


    Growing catmint in Mount Wu farm was not a difficult thing. After all, the farm was mature now , and the farmers working in it had rich experience. The difficult thing was that the catmint¡¯s effect could only be delivered in huge quantities. It also required two or three years for the plants to grow, so it would take some time for the plants to develop a sufficient amount of energy and spread it in the air. Only when the energy was rich enough could it resist the dark energy from the underground.


    ¡°Eh? So we need to grow those plants? But that gas from the underground has been spreading widely. How many years do we need to grow catmint before we can neutralize the underground energy with it? Can¡¯t we just seal up the underground space?¡± Yun Meng didn¡¯t understand it.


    Reasonably speaking, sealing up the underground space was the most efficient way to solve the current problem. The dark energy wouldn¡¯t come out as long as all the paths connecting the underground world and the earth¡¯s surface were cut off.


    ¡°That¡¯s one thing we¡¯re going to do,¡± said Lin Qiao, ¡°But at the same time, we also need to prepare ourselves for the worst-case scenario. We have to deal with the problem from different angles. You see, underground creatures have been showing up not just in our country but also in the rest of the world. That means there are a lot more than ten paths leading from the underground to the earth¡¯s surface. I guess there are hundreds, even thousands of paths like that. We can¡¯t possibly locate them all, not to mention seal them all up. Besides, smart creatures exist in the underground realm, so they¡¯ll find a way to unseal the paths. For the long run, we should start growing catmint now. That¡¯ll do us good anyway.¡±


    The others glanced at each other and fell into silence while Yun Meng started pondering upon Lin Qiao¡¯s words.


    ¡°Of course, our first priority now is to deal with Huaxia Base. When Huaxia Base is no longer a problem, we¡¯ll take our time to dig into the underground realm. That¡¯s nothing to be achieved rashly. It¡¯s not just our problem, but also the problem of the whole world. So regarding that, we need to run discussions with the other bases.¡± After saying that, Lin Qiao added some small details and then ended the meeting.

 Chapter 1389 - Upgrade in Batches

    That afternoon, everyone quickly jumped into action. Lin Feng selected three basic corps from the army in Base Number One while Qiu Lili selected a zombie corp. They gathered together and left the base for the nearest underground creature gathering spot later in the afternoon to deliver an ambush. They didn¡¯t head to Sea City Base, because Wu Chengyue had made similar arrangements as Lin Qiao.


    At lunchtime, Yun Meng left the base together with twenty level-six zombies from Base Number Two to hunt for nuclei. That night, Lin Qiao received the first batch of nuclei collected by Yun Meng and her team. Those were some nuclei from level five and six, belonging to zombies, plants, and animals.


    With those nuclei, she started upgrading the first batch of level-five zombies. That night, Lu Tianyi saw a few level-five zombies standing near the lake in a line, waiting to get into the lake for upgrading. They went down into the lake as level-five zombies and came out as level-six ones.


    Chong, whose full name was Wan Lizhong, was a zombie leader. This time, he was brought into level-six and Nine got upgraded as well. He was a troublemaker, but also a good fighter. Six had been keeping an eye on him, so Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t worried that he might cause some serious trouble.


    After upgrading the first three zombies, Lin Qiao started to lose patience. She came out of the lake and wrapped herself in the dark mist, scanning the rest of the zombies by the lakeside while thinking.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lu Tianyi came over and talked to her.


    ¡°This is too slow,¡± said Lin Qiao, ¡°I need to do it more efficiently.¡± She thought for a moment and then pointed at the three zombie leaders, who were left standing by the lakeside, saying, ¡°You, get down together.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you want to upgrade them in batches,¡± Lu Tianyi looked at her and said.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to give that a try.¡±


    The three zombies glanced at each other, feeling lucky that they were all male.


    Lin Qiao went back into the water. After making eye-contact with each other, the three zombie leaders quickly stripped themselves and unwittingly glanced at each other¡¯s crotch areas with meaningful looks in their eyes.


    Only after that did they walk into the water together.


    In the water, Lin Qiao closed her eyes to sense the three zombies. After locating them, she dragged them down to the bottom of the lake using her will power. She was able to sense the three zombies, but the three couldn¡¯t feel her presence. All they felt was that something was dragging them down.


    Lin Qiao threw the nuclei to the three zombies and then used her will to instruct them to absorb as much energy as they could. At the same time, she focused the energy of the water, divided it into three streams, and sent them into the hearts of the three zombies.


    Thankfully, it didn¡¯t require many nuclei for zombie leaders to upgrade in the lake. Normally, three or five level-five nuclei and one level-six nucleus would allow a zombie leader to upgrade successfully. The energy from the lake purified the energies of the nuclei and allowed the absorbed energies to replenish the nuclei of Lin Qiao¡¯s zombies in a better way.


    The three zombies who had successfully entered level-six had been standing quietly in a line about ten meters from the lake, waiting for Lin Qiao to come out.


    While she was upgrading her zombies, a red creature showed up outside the base. Instead of approaching the base, the red cat made a turn in the air and flew toward Mount Wu farm. Following the cat, a large black figure in the ground also flashed toward the area.


    Bowwow and Black, who had been resting in the mountain area, immediately raised their heads, looking at the sky. Bowwow quickly sprung up and turned to hide behind Black, who had its body coiled like a small hill.


    Black quietly glanced at the dog and then turned back to keep gazing at the sky. The zombies who were working at night all paused, turning to where Black and the dog were looking at.


    Fox and Keng-keng, who were both at level-six, showed up before Liu Jun¡¯s cabin at that moment.


    ¡°It¡¯s the big red cat again. What does it want?¡± said Keng-keng with curiosity.


    Fox, who had a round, chubby face, responded, ¡°I heard from someone who went out with Chief last time that the cat followed Chief all the way. Does it want to be her pet?¡±


    ¡°Our Chief has a mutated snake, a zombie dog, and a running mushroom. I think it¡¯s not gonna be strange if she decides to keep this big red cat,¡± Keng-keng shrugged.


    Liu Jun smiled and said, ¡°It means no harm anyway. Where¡¯s that big dog from?¡±


    ¡°Oh, are you talking about that fluffy Tibetan mastiff? I don¡¯t know where it came from. It likes to follow Chief around too, just like the red cat,¡± Keng-keng thought for a moment and said.


    ¡°No,¡± Fox shook her head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think the dog is following Chief. I think it¡¯s more interested in Bowwow, Chief¡¯s dog.¡±


    ¡°Eh? How do you know that?¡± Liu Jun and Keng-keng both looked at her with curiosity.


    Fox grinned. When she grinned, her round cheeks squeezed her eyes into lines, making her really look like a little fox.


    ¡°My hunch told me that! I¡¯m a fox! That¡¯s my animalistic hunch,¡± she said while grinning.


    Liu Jun and Keng-keng didn¡¯t know what to say. Fox did possess a very rare kind of animal power; she was literally a fox.


    At dawn, the cat and dog would leave in a haste, and they would return at night.


    Lin Qiao came out of her space to do her work in the daytime and continued upgrading level-five zombies at night. After spending three nights upgrading her zombies in batches, she had tens of new level-six zombies under her command.


    That morning, she received the message from Xie Dong not long after she came to her office and sat down: Huaxia Base had already sent their people toward those underground creatures.


    Lin Qiao read the message and said with a smile, ¡°Come on, we¡¯ve been expecting you guys.¡±


    Huaxia Base had sent out a few teams toward the east, northeast, and southwest. Its targets in the east were undoubtedly All Beings Base and Sea City Base. In the northeast and southwest, Huaxia¡¯s targets were Mongols Base and Green Mountain Base. Of course, Si Kongchen didn¡¯t plan to attack Mongols Base.


    Mongols Base had already chosen to yield to Huaxia Base, so the threat would be unnecessary.

 Chapter 1390 - Give Bowwow an Admonitory Talk

    Lin Qiao was sitting in her office when Duan Juan knocked on the door and entered, ¡°Aren¡¯t you gonna do something about those pets of yours?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lin Qiao raised her head to look at her.


    ¡°They have shown up in the Mount Wu area every night. What do they want?¡± said Duan Juan.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°How am I supposed to know? But I think they won¡¯t do anything bad.¡±


    During the day, she needed to keep her eyes on Huaxia Base and those underground creatures, so she could react to any possible situation in time. At night, she needed to upgrade her zombie soldiers. All in all, she did not have the time for those pets.


    They would not do any harm anyway, so Lin Qiao decided to let them do whatever they wanted. She couldn¡¯t cast them away, could she? At the same time, she could not invite them into the base either.


    ¡°They won¡¯t do anything bad?¡± Duan Juan looked at her with surprise, saying, ¡°Junjun, Keng-keng, and the others are pissed off!¡±


    ¡°What? They¡¯ve been trying to help, haven¡¯t they?¡± Lin Qiao looked at her with confusion.


    ¡°They¡¯ve been more of a hindrance than help,¡± Duan Juan rolled her eyes and said.


    Indeed, Lin Qiao¡¯s pets had been trying to help. Lin Qiao had ordered Liu Jun to exploit new fields, so the farm¡¯s zombies had been reclaiming the land day and night. Bowwow would join the soil-loosening work if he were in a good mood. However, every time he did that, Keng-keng and Fox had to drive him away using hoes.


    The farmers dug about twenty centimeters deep into the earth to loosen the soil. Unlike them, Bowwow created one or two meters deep holes. What would the holes like that be needed for? To bury dead bodies?


    So, Keng-keng and Fox had to drive the dog away every time and then fill the hole up.


    Bowwow wasn¡¯t happy to see his holes be filled up. So, when the farm managers weren¡¯t paying attention to him, he often sneaked into the new fields to dig more holes. The red cat and the fluffy dog had learned to do the same. Even worse, their huge paws could create giant holes in the ground very easily!


    Liu Jun, Keng-keng, and the other farm managers often beat them with hoes. However, those mutated creatures were so strong that hoes could barely cause them pain. Liu Jun and her friends almost wanted to attack them with superpowers!


    The two dogs were smart. They would turn and run every time they saw someone coming at them holding a hoe or a shovel. Meanwhile, Black and Red would be staying on the side and watching them leisurely.


    Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t around anyway, and no one else could make them follow orders.


    ¡°Red, I know, but what does the mastiff want?¡± Lin Qiao said with laughter, ¡°Is it fond of Bowwow? No way. I thought Bowwow was a boy, wasn¡¯t he?¡±


    The Tibetan was, of course, a boy as well.


    ¡°How could I know what it wants?¡± Duan Juan raised her brows and said, ¡°I don¡¯t speak the language of dogs. I think you should make some time and take a look at them, or else they might really dig holes everywhere. We¡¯d have to send people to fill those holes. How troublesome would that be?¡±


    ¡°Alright, I get it,¡± Lin Qiao nodded.


    In the afternoon, Lin Qiao finished her work of the day and then brought the two kids to Mount Wu. The land near the foot of Mount Wu had been exploited by Liu Jun and her zombies almost entirely. The mountain was divided into two parts, one turning into an orchard while the other had been serving as a training ground for zombie soldiers.


    Bowwow and his friends usually stayed in the orchard.


    They sensed Lin Qiao¡¯s vibe once the latter approached. As soon as she showed up near the cabin, her two giant pets showed up.


    ¡°Black, Black, come here!¡± Before Lin Qiao called their names, Teng, who was held in her arms, waved at Black. Black was moving slowly toward Lin Qiao at that moment. Hearing the boy, Black paused and reared up his head to give the boy a glance. Then, he lowered his head and kept wriggling toward Lin Qiao.


    ¡°Mama, I want to sit on its back!¡± Teng raised his head and said to Lin Qiao.


    Teng was still a tiny baby, barely half a meter tall, while Black was enormous. He was nearly a hundred meters long and his body was thicker than a bucket. He always took the main roads instead of the narrow paths by the field edges, because he knew that he would crush the edge of the field.


    So, Teng could totally sit on its body.


    As Teng was talking to Lin Qiao, Black had already come up to both of them.


    ¡°Why do you want to sit on his back? You can sit on Flower¡¯s back or Bowwow¡¯s,¡± Lin Qiao looked at her son and said. She was surprised that the kid chose the hair-less Black over the fluffy ones.


    ¡°I like Black¡¯s smooth texture,¡± Teng said. He seemed to have read Lin Qiao¡¯s mind.


    Lin Qiao still didn¡¯t understand but put the boy on Black¡¯s back nonetheless and let him spread his legs to sit down.


    Teng was tiny and wasn¡¯t able to walk yet, but he sat on Black¡¯s back stably without showing a sign of falling. Judging by how well he could crawl, he was good at controlling his own body. He just couldn¡¯t stand up yet, maybe because his legs were still not strong enough.


    The few huge creatures¡¯ showing up instantly made the place crowded. The other two didn¡¯t come too close. The cat was flying in the sky while the dog was looking at Lin Qiao and the others from about thirty meters away.


    ¡°Come here, Bowwow.¡± After putting her son on Black¡¯s back, Lin Qiao turned and waved at Bowwow. She thought for a moment and turned to wave at the bigger dog, who was tens of meters from her. ¡°And you, come here.¡±


    The mastiff was squatting on the ground, looking as huge as a buffalo. Its curly tail instantly dropped when it heard Lin Qiao. Instead of coming to her, the dog stayed where it was and looked at her quietly.


    As the dog didn¡¯t follow her words, Lin Qiao pointed at Bowwow and said, ¡°I¡¯ll put him into my space if you don¡¯t come here.¡±


    ¡°Woof!¡± Upon hearing that, the mastiff immediately gave her a growl. Its sound expressed an obvious discontent!


    ¡°You don¡¯t want that? So come here!¡± Lin Qiao waved at it again.


    The dog understood her words even more clearly than Bowwow could. On hearing what she said, it reluctantly walked toward her step by step. As it was coming closer, Bowwow hid behind Lin Qiao with fear.


    Lin Qiao slapped on his head and said, ¡°Why are you hiding? Do you have any idea what you¡¯ve done? You dug huge holes! The others need to fill up your holes! Are you here to make trouble? Why did you make him dig holes together with you?¡±


    While scolding Bowwow, Lin Qiao glanced at the mastiff.


    ¡°Errr¡­¡± Suffering that slap, Bowwow immediately dropped his head. He glanced at her from the corners of his eyes and then found her wearing a very serious look. So, he quicklydropped his eyelids.


    Watching Lin Qiao hit Bowwow, the mastiff paused briefly. It looked at Lin Qiao and then at Bowwow. Only after that did it keep moving toward Lin Qiao, albeit slowly.

 Chapter 1391 - The Dog Army

    Chapter 1391: The Dog Army


    The buffalo-sized mastiff, which had black, fluffy hair, walked over. It would be delivering a strong vibe if its eyes were to be seen. Lin Qiao tilted her head from side to side but still failed to see the dog¡¯s eyes through its hair.


    Lin Qiao looked at the dog with confusion. Then, she dragged Bowwow out from behind herself and asked the Mastiff, ¡°Why do you like him so much? You two are different species now, aren¡¯t you? Is there still that dog-to-dog kind of connection between you?¡±


    The dog walked to Lin Qiao and sat down meters away from her, just looking at her silently. She couldn¡¯t see the dog¡¯s eyes through its thick hair, but she could feel that it was looking at her.


    ¡°You can help if you want to, but you can¡¯t do what he did. Don¡¯t dig holes, but dig gently, okay?¡± Lin Qiao said to the mastiff and then looked around, saying to Junjun, ¡°Please hand me a hoe.¡±


    Liu Jun fetched a hoe from the storage room before the cabin and handed it to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao looked at the mastiff and said, ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll show you. See, I¡¯m not digging deep. You have to do this¡­ You dig out the soil chunks and pat them loose¡­¡±


    The others on the scene didn¡¯t know what to say. They could hardly react to what they were watching ¨C their boss teaching a dog how to loosen the soil.


    The mastiff watched Lin Qiao¡¯s movement and then glanced at its own paws. It spread its claws and then shrank them, gently digging into the earth. It still dug a little too deep, but that was already much better than creating a deep hole!


    Next, the dog poked its claws into the soil chunks and loosened them, just like how Lin Qiao taught it to. Yes, it loosened the soil by poking its claws into the chunks.


    ¡°Yes, yes! That¡¯s right! That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about! You don¡¯t have to dig holes! If you dig holes, the others would need to fill them back up!¡± Lin Qiao looked at the dog¡¯s work and praised it with a grin.


    Bowwow turned his eyes between Lin Qiao and the mastiff. Teng patted on Black¡¯s neck. Following the boy¡¯s movement, Black wriggled to Bowwow. Teng looked at the mastiff and said to Bowwow, ¡°Look, he¡¯s much smarter than you! Haven¡¯t your wits woken up yet?¡±


    Bowwow turned to look at the boy with confusion, staying silent.


    At that time, Lin Qiao flattened the area where she dug through before with her feet and said to Bowwow and the mastiff, ¡°Come here. Come with me if you want to help so much.¡±


    Everyone on the scene watched Lin Qiao bring the two dogs to the land which was waiting to be exploited. ¡°Come here. You two have sharp claws, so you can first help us to remove these trees and grasses and then start to loosen the soil. Remember, don¡¯t dig too deep!¡±


    She pointed at the grasses and bushes on the mountain as she spoke while wielding an arm and cutting some plants. The two wanted to help, so she decided to let them do some actual help.


    ¡°Wow?¡± Bowwow glanced at Lin Qiao confusedly and then suddenly jumped into the woods, cutting the plants with his claws. Meanwhile, the mastiff stayed motionless. Lin Qiao observed the dog and found that it was actually measuring the area with his eyes. It was probably trying to figure out exactly how large the area was.


    After scanning the area with its eyes, the dog abruptly raised its head and uttered a resonant howl. ¡°Owoooooo¡­¡±


    ¡®Eh? What is it doing?¡¯ Lin Qiao looked at the dog bewilderedly.


    In the next second, she heard dog barks coming from all directions, wave by wave. Hearing htat, the others also started to look around.


    ¡°Um¡­ It¡¯s not gonna summon a bunch of dogs, is it?¡± Fox said with both surprise and confusion.


    Once her voice faded, waves of swishing noises could be heard, and then the scents of different mutated dogs were sensed.


    Lin Qiao stayed quiet, and the others on the scene didn¡¯t know what to say.


    What was happening?


    Before long, countless mutated dogs started to show up in all directions. They were all in different sizes, looking different as well.


    ¡°Wowowow¡­¡±


    ¡°Wowowow¡­¡±


    ¡°Wowowow¡­¡±


    The dogs showed up by the edge of the field. Instead of coming closer or stepping in, they took seats on rocks or trees.


    Lin Qiao speechlessly looked at the mastiff. She had no idea why the dog summoned the army!


    ¡°What do you want? Are you trying to invade my mountain?¡±


    Those dogs were at different levels. Some of them were at level-five, and two were at level-six, as same as the mastiff itself. One of them had erect ears while the other was a Labrador.


    ¡°Woof! Woof!¡± The mastiff barked at the other dogs. Following its sound, all the level four to six ones came over. None of them stepped into the field, of course. Instead, they jumped across the rows like what farmers would do.


    The largest dog among the crowd was only slightly bigger than Bowwow, and none of them was as large as the mastiff. The mastiff was like the king of those dogs.


    Duan Juan showed up by Lin Qiao¡¯s side and said with curiosity, ¡°If it had so many friends already, why did it come here?¡±


    The ones she saw were only a small part of the dog army. The rest were waiting in the distance.


    Lin Qiao shook his head and said, ¡°How am I supposed to know? I don¡¯t speak their language!¡±


    Everyone quietly watched those dogs, waiting to see what they were going to do. They saw those dogs line up under the mastiff¡¯s instructions and then start to remove plants from the area that Lin Qiao just showed to the mastiff.


    They stood in straight lines. The two level-six ones were supervising the others while the mastiff was standing behind them, giving instructions.


    ¡°This Tibetan mastiff is even smarter than Bowwow! Unbelievable!¡± Duan Juan couldn¡¯t help but exclaim when she saw what happened. Those cattle-sized dogs cut the plants using their sharp claws, soon clearing the whole area. The plants that they cut off spread all over the ground.


    Next, the mastiff summoned the lower-leveled dogs and ordered them to drag those plants to the side. After that, a dog with fire power burned those branches and grasses out.


    How wonderful! Lin Qiao hadn¡¯t even taught the dog to do that. The dog learned that from the zombies!


    ¡°Did you see that? He is really different from you!¡± Lin Qiao turned and patted on Bowwow¡¯s head as she said with a sigh.


    Bowwow stayed very quiet.


    Liu Jun and the others came up behind Lin Qiao.


    ¡°See, they¡¯re really helping now, aren¡¯t they?¡± Lin Qiao turned to them and said.


    ¡°A-are they really dogs?¡± Liu Jun asked with disbelief.

 Chapter 1392 - What a Surprise

    As the dog army joined the team, the land development progress was instantly accelerated. Those dogs weren¡¯t able to carry out difficult tasks, but they were good at devastating the original forest. The two level-six ones under the Tibetan mastiff¡¯s direct command were very smart. Their kinds could be considered as smart even as normal dogs, let alone the fact they had gone through level-six mutation and were literally as smart as humans.


    While the dogs were tearing down the trees and burning them, as well as loosening the soil, Liu Jun and her team pumped water from the nearest pond to water the soil. The soil needed to be watered three times a day, a few days in a row. After that, it would take one or two weeks for the water to sink to the bottom of the soil and it to dry. Only after the soil was completely purified could the seeds Lin Wenwen brought back be sowed.


    The water wouldn¡¯t flush away the nutrients contained in the soil. On the contrary, the soil watered by the diluted lake water would grow richer and richer. Therefore, Liu Jun didn¡¯t need to worry that the crops might not thrive.


    Through two hours of observation, Lin Qiao found that all those dogs were well disciplined. Under the supervision of the three level-six ones, none of them had been causing any trouble. After confirming that, she decided to let them do what they wanted, and she herself returned to the base with Teng and Wu Yueling.


    Soon after she took a seat, Xie Dong showed up in her office.


    ¡°How did it go?¡± Lin Qiao asked as soon as he walked in.


    Xie Dong nodded and said, ¡°Si Kongchen¡¯s men are already stationed near the gathering spot. They haven¡¯t started taking action though. Si Kongchen already knows that Sea City Base has eliminated all the sources of virus that were smuggled in, and he¡¯s infuriated.¡±


    While speaking, he wore a very faint smile.


    Ever since he was betrayed by a friend of his, killed, turned into a zombie, and then betrayed again by the woman whom he loved, he rarely smiled. During his days under Lin Qiao¡¯s command, he always had a bland look, which hardly changed. He was almost invisible. Lin Qiao had no idea if he made himself invisible for the intelligence work that she gave him, or he simply wanted to avoid attention.


    On hearing his words, Lin Qiao grinned. ¡°Oh, Sea City Base has taken out his moles, so he¡¯d surely find out about that. Wu Chengyue didn¡¯t seem to want to hide it either. I guess he probably wanted to give Si Kongchen a surprise. Clearly, the man was really surprised!¡±


    It was already the second time he burst in a fury because of the failure of his plan, and it definitely would not be the last time.


    At that moment, Si Kongchen was black as thunder in the Chief¡¯s office in Huaxia Base. He glared at Han Xiao and Wei Haichao as he spoke with anger, ¡°What the hell happened? How come Wu Chengyue was suddenly informed about our plan? He even had the name list! How on earth did he find out about our plan?¡±


    He stared at the two, his eyes sharp with suspicion.


    That was such a strategic, detailed plan. However, the enemy had found out about it right before it was carried out. It had taken a long time to come up with the plan, but how come Wu Chengyue had never detected a trace of it until the last minute?


    And weirdly, Wu Chengyue had even obtained the list of the people who carried the virus sources. He had those people eliminated, and thus Si Kingchen¡¯s plan as well.


    Si Kongchen firmly believed that some had leaked the plan to Wu Chengyue.


    Under Si Kongchen¡¯s cold, suspicious gaze, Wei Haichao and Han Xiao were both sullen-faced. As senior base administrators, they couldn¡¯t explain themselves, so they had no other choice but to stay silent and suffer the rage coming from their boss. Si Kongchen suspected them, and they found that reasonable.


    They were also suspecting their own men. As same as Si Kongchen, they also believed that the plan was leaked from the inside. If not, how had the enemy sneaked in and found out about the plan?


    Si Kongchen looked at them coldly and asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything to say to me?¡±


    He had no idea that the plan wasn¡¯t leaked by anyone under his lead.


    Wei Haichao didn¡¯t say anything, so Si Kongchen turned to Han Xiao. Han Xiao was the one in charge of the whole intelligence system of Huaxia base, and he knew everything. When it came to important matters like that plan, he was responsible for keeping them secret.


    He had failed in his duty and let the plan leak.


    Sensing Si Kongchen¡¯s gaze, Han Xiao immediately raised his head and puffed out his chest, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you an answer in three days.¡±


    Si Kongchen took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and stayed silent for a few seconds. Only after that did he manage to keep his veins near his temples from standing out under his skin. ¡°Good,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯ll give you three days. If you can¡¯t give me a satisfactory answer in three days, you know what to do.¡±


    On hearing that, Han Xiao sighed with relief and then turned and left. Before leaving, he glanced at Wei Haichao but didn¡¯t say anything.


    Feeling that glance, Wei Haichao knitted his brows slightly. Then, he looked at Si Kongchen with composure and said, ¡°Perhaps, the plan wasn¡¯t leaked by one of our own. The woman from All Beings Base has returned ahead of schedule. Also, Sea City Base cleaned out the moles the very next day after our weapon lab was attacked. That woman has definitely visited our base.¡±


    Si Kongchen changed his countenance as he remembered that the woman could come and go like a ghost. In the next second, he said through clenched teeth, ¡°Are you saying that it might be her who found out the plan and brought it to Sea City Base?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my guess. How can there be such a coincidence? The second afternoon since the woman returned to her own base, Sea City Base initiated the sweeping capture operation. Also, Wu Chengyue was staying in All Beings Base even after the woman returned. I think he learned about our plan from her and then returned to his own base to deal with it as soon as he could.¡±


    After hearing Wei Haichao¡¯s analysis, Si Kongchen fell into thoughts with a deep frown. Wei Haichao was probably right; the woman returned just one day before Sea City Base took action. That was way too coincidental. Also, Wu Chengyue had been staying in her base before she returned, but after she came back, he suddenly left for Sea City Base. Why?


    Something must have happened after the woman returned! Connecting all the facts together, Si Kongchen felt that Wei Haichao¡¯s guess could very likely be true.


    ¡°And, hasn¡¯t the name list been kept by you the whole time?¡± Wei Haichao added, ¡°You never gave it to us.¡±


    ¡®So, why are you suspecting us? We don¡¯t even have the name list. The other materials and drawings about the plan were all kept in your office as well. You have failed to keep them safe, and now you¡¯re blaming us for it? That¡¯s unreasonable!¡¯ he thought. He didn¡¯t dare to say that out loud though. It might not be a good thing to infuriate Si Kongchen after all.

 Chapter 1393 - Huaxia Base is Changing the Plan

    Wei Haichao didn¡¯t make it specific, but his implication was clear. Si Kongchen looked so glum that his face almost turned blue. He clenched his teeth, staring at Wei Haichao silently. The latter was staying silent as well. Standing before Si Kongchen¡¯s desk, he looked at him with both hands behind his body.


    Boom! Si Kongchen suddenly slapped on the table, his face twisted with anger. Wei Haichao gave a start. He couldn¡¯t help but furrow his brows and ask, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    Si Kongchen widened his eyes and said, ¡°If the woman has taken the name list from here, she should have known about our entire plan already!¡±


    The name list was kept together with the other materials about the plan. If the woman had read the name list, she must have read the other things too.


    On hearing Si Kongchen¡¯s words, Wei Haichao opened his mouth and paused briefly, ¡°Are you saying that¡­¡±


    Before he could finish, a quick series of footsteps could be heard from the outside. The two of them turned to the door together and found Han Xiao, who had left only a while ago, returning.


    With a sullen face, Han Xiao said to them as soon as he came in, ¡°The people whom we sent out to lure those underground creatures are exposed. According to the news from Sea City Base, our men got ambushed even before they could initiate the action.¡±


    Bang! This time, Si Kongchen punched on the desk. Every object on the desk quaked when his fist landed on it. After punching, he threw himself into his chair and leaned back while raising a hand to cover his eyes and forehead. Han Xiao looked at him with confusion, and then he turned to Wei Haichao.


    Wei Haichao said expressionlessly, ¡°It turns out that I guessed right.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Han Xiao looked at him confusedly.


    Wei Haichao explained, ¡°Do you know who leaked our plan? Think about the person who destroyed our secret weapon lab a few days ago. Think about her time of return and the time when Sea City Base started to take action.¡±


    Once he finished speaking, Han Xiao slightly widened his eyes. After spending a moment thinking, he looked at Wei Haichao and said, ¡°Are you saying it was that woman?¡±


    Wei Haichao nodded, ¡°Who else could do that? Or, do you believe that it was just a coincidence?¡±


    Han Xiao stayed silent. He thought for a moment and then looked at Si Kongchen, who was still covering his eyes, saying, ¡°But, if she were here, how come Chief didn¡¯t sense her presence? She¡¯s at level-eight indeed, but I think she upgraded only recently. Chief should be able to detect her even if she might have had her vibe fully restrained. Chief, didn¡¯t you sense any trace of her?¡±


    Si Kongchen quickly dropped his hand and looked at him coldly, ¡°What are you trying to say? Are you trying to say that I let her in on purpose?¡±


    ¡°No! Of course not!¡± Han Xiao hurriedly dropped his head and responded nervously.


    Si Kongchen sat straight as he knitted his brows and waved at the two, ¡°Alright. You two, go and prepare for an urgent meeting. We need to suspend all our current actions!¡±


    Han Xiao and Wei Haichao glanced at each other. Then, they both stepped out of Si Kongchen¡¯s office to prepare for the meeting. The enemy had found out about their entire plan. Therefore, no schemes would work anymore. They probably needed to switch to some overt actions.


    Si Kongchen came up with that plan to reduce weapon consumption. However, the situation had changed, and weapon consumption could no longer be avoided. Therefore, he decided to launch an open, fierce attack.


    ¡­


    Lin Qiao soon received the news from Lin Feng, Qiu Lili, and the others: Their mission was accomplished successfully. Soon, Lin Feng, Qiu Lili, and Lin Kui came to her office to report to her about the mission.


    ¡°Guess what they prepared to lure those underground creatures with?¡± The three sat around Lin Qiao¡¯s desk as Lin Feng asked while holding the report without showing it to Lin Qiao. She glanced at the report and raised her brows while saying, ¡°If it¡¯s not their favorite food, it should be some kind of drug that can mess with their minds. Huaxia people are good at this kind of a thing.¡±


    Lin Feng raised his eyebrows and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. They planned to use both actually, right?¡± He glanced at Qiu Lili and Lin Kui.


    Qiu Lili nodded as she took out a glass bottle with red liquid in it and handed it to Lin Qiao while saying, ¡°Look, they planned to use this on those underground creatures. They didn¡¯t get a chance to use it though, as we killed them before they could do anything. I¡¯ve run a test with this drug. Its scent can irritate those creatures and throw them into a state similar to the superpower possessors who were out of control earlier on. This drug can also boost their hunger.¡±


    The drug would drive those creatures crazy and make them feel starving. While they were in that crazy, starving state, someone would be able to draw their attention using their favorite food very easily.


    ¡°Apart from this drug, they have also brought a batch of commoners. I think they prepared to use the drug on those creatures first and then use those people to draw them all the way to our base,¡± Qiu Lili put the glass bottle on the desk and said to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t surprised; she could guess that out. She leaned forward and picked up the bottle of drug. First, she put it under her nose to sniff at it and then unscrewed the lid.


    A weird scent came out of the bottle. It wasn¡¯t terrible, but it wasn¡¯t good either.


    Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes to observe liquid in the bottle and found two different types of energy mixing together in the liquid. They had the fluorescent colors of green and purple. The liquid itself looked fluorescent as well.


    Lin Qiao sniffed at the liquid and put the lid back on.


    ¡°The energies in this liquid are ineffective to both zombies and humans. But according to you, they can indeed do something to those underground creatures. I guess these energies probably have something to do with those creatures themselves.¡± After studying the liquid and making sure it wasn¡¯t dangerous for both zombies and humans, she finally spoke to the others.


    ¡°Nearly a thousand people were brought out of Huaxia Base as baits, some of whom are superpower possessors. Those people are all drugged though, and their powers have been disabled. So, they¡¯re now even weaker than commoners. How come Huaxia Base likes to use living humans as bait so much? In Si Kongchen¡¯s eyes, what exactly are those people?¡± Lin Feng frowned and said with discontentment.

 Chapter 1394 - Get Yourself Together

    Thinking about the fact that Huaxia Base always used living human beings as bait, not only Lin Feng, but Lin Qiao also knitted her brows. The human population had already dropped drastically. Under the current circumstances, using living human beings as bait or experimental subjects was even more unacceptable than it was in the old world.


    ¡°Have you found out who those people all are?¡± Lin Qiao looked at Lin Feng and asked.


    Lin Feng nodded and said, ¡°It¡¯s pretty obvious, actually. They¡¯re the people that Huaxia Base wants to get rid of. Ninety percent of them are commoners ¨C weak, ill, severely injured. About a hundred of them are superpower possessors, probably on death row.¡±


    Those people who had been brought to the underground creature gathering spot weren¡¯t supposed to return to Huaxia Base alive. But, little did Huaxia people know that Lin Qiao had found out about their entire plan and set an ambush for them, and those human baits had luckily survived. They had all been brought back to All Beings Base, and some of them had been sent to Lin Hao¡¯s hospital.


    ¡°I guess Lin Hao is gonna need to start working around the clock again,¡± said Lin Qiao. Not all of them needed medical help, but at least half of them did.


    ¡°Yeah, just let him do the work. He has no interest in finding himself a girlfriend anyway,¡± Lin Feng nodded and said while handing the report over.


    That afternoon, Xie Dong suddenly showed up at the door of Lin Qiao¡¯s office. He walked in while holding a file and wearing a serious look.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Noticing the look on his face, Lin Qiao asked.


    Xie Dong walked up to her desk and handed her the file while saying, ¡°Si Kongchen has suspended all his current actions.¡±


    Lin Qiao took over the file and read it expressionlessly before spending a short while thinking.


    ¡°I guess Si Kongchen has already found out about what happened in Sea City Base recently. That makes sense, though. After all, his moles in Sea City Base have all suddenly gone missing. I believe he¡¯ll soon learn that his plan about those underground creatures has failed too¡­ Hehe,¡± Lin Qiao tittered with a bland voice. Imagining Si Kongchen¡¯s angry face made her feel good indeed.


    Xie Dong looked at her expressionlessly and said, ¡°He already knows.¡±


    Lin Qiao looked at him with surprise, saying, ¡°Oh, he¡¯s well-informed.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why he suspended all his current actions. I think he¡¯s going to change his plan,¡± said Xie Dong.


    Lin Qiao nodded in response, ¡°I think so too. Wouldn¡¯t you want to change your plan when you learn that your enemies have found out about it? The plan would be pointless if you can no longer catch your enemy unprepared. I wonder what Si Kongchen will want to do to us next.¡±


    Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t worried about Si Kongchen¡¯s new plan, though. His old plan was already exposed, and both All Beings Base and Sea City Base had started taking all sorts of precautions. Therefore, Si Kongchen couldn¡¯t possibly play any other dirty tricks successfully. He should have realized that already.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye on Huaxia Base,¡± said Xie Dong.


    After Xie Dong left, Lin Qiao summoned Duan Juan and asked, ¡°Haven¡¯t you found the double-side spy who provided us with information earlier yet?¡±


    Duan Juan shook her head and said, ¡°No. We¡¯ve caught all of those people though. Maybe that person isn¡¯t one of them.¡±


    ¡°If he¡¯s not one of them, how did he know about their plan so clearly?¡± said Lin Qiao.


    Duan Juan couldn¡¯t answer that question. ¡°Then why hasn¡¯t he shown his face yet?¡± she said, ¡°He¡¯ll be spared from the punishment once he exposes himself to us, won¡¯t he?¡±


    Lin Feng had sent his men to interrogate Lu Meiqing and her people after having them arrested. He had given them hints to try to let them know that if they had provided All Beings Base with information, they should expose themselves for a lighter punishment.


    However, no one responded to his hints. None of those people claimed to be that mysterious spy.


    ¡°Who on earth is that person?¡± Lin Qiao asked with curiosity, ¡°We can¡¯t kill those people until we have found that person.¡±


    She didn¡¯t want to kill the one who had helped her, because doing that would make people think of her and her base as being cruel and heartless.


    ¡­


    While Lin Qiao was keeping an eye on Huaxia Base and handling the other things in her base, Xiao Yunlong and Wu Chengyue were trying to come up with a plan to rescue Li Yueshan¡¯s brother. Of course, they hadn¡¯t exempted Li Yueshan from punishment, even though he was forced to do what he had done.


    He had done wrong after all. No matter what the reason was, he still needed to deal with the consequences. He was kept in prison; he might be released if he behaved well there. His heart was almost dead though, and he was lifeless all day. Through just a few days of prison life, he had become an unshaven, frustrated man.


    Xiao Licheng went to visit him one day. Seeing the hopeless man, he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Do you have to be like this? Put yourself together! If you give up on yourself, who¡¯s gonna look after your little brother when he comes back?¡±


    Hearing Xiao Licheng mentioning his little brother, Li Yueshan finally changed his expression slightly. He slowly raised his head and looked at Xiao Licheng, his lusterless eyes expressing confusion. ¡°My brother? What do you mean?¡±


    Xiao Licheng sat down on the other side of the table and said, ¡°Chief is trying to find a way to save your brother from Huaxia Base. So, be prepared! You might be able to see him again.¡±


    Li Yueshan gave a start first and suddenly had his eyes glowing. He looked at Xiao Licheng with disbelief and asked, ¡°Really? Is Chief really planning on saving my brother? But why?¡±


    Xiao Licheng sighed, ¡°You¡¯ve been working for him for such a long time. Don¡¯t you know about him at all? We are his subordinates, but when has he ever treated us like subordinates? He saw us as his brothers the whole time. You are like a brother to him! Thankfully, you didn¡¯t betray us willingly.¡±


    Li Yueshan looked at Xiao Licheng quietly. A while later, he lowered his eyelids slightly while saying, ¡°I know¡­ I just¡­ I can¡¯t watch my brother die again. He¡¯s saved my life more than once.¡±


    Xiao Licheng nodded, ¡°Em, we all know what has happened to you two. We¡¯re trying to rescue him. So, stop acting like a dying man. Get yourself together and wait for the good news!¡±


    After saying that, Xiao Licheng left.

 Chapter 1395 - Borrow a Few People from Her

    Before Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong could gather any information about Li Yueshan¡¯s brother, Li Yue He, and come up with a rescue plan, the information they needed was delivered to them.


    Xiao Yunlong looked at the file that was sent to him by Huang Ming, asking, ¡°Who gave you this?¡±


    Huang Ming shook his head and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I found this outside the security room of your apartment. I¡¯ve asked the security guys, and they said they don¡¯t know who put it there. We¡¯ve checked the surveillance footage. There was a guy in the footage, with his entire face covered. He went near the security room, dropped the file, and left quickly.¡±


    Xiao Yunlong stayed silent and read the file. A while later, he put it on his desk. The file included not only the information about Li Yue He, but also the news that Si Kongchen was going to change his plan.


    He thought for a moment and then said to Huang Ming, ¡°Go and verify the information. We¡¯ve foreseen that Si Kongchen might want to change his plan, so put the main attention on the information about Li Yue He.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Huang Ming nodded and left.


    The next day, he came back to Xiao Yunlong with the latest news.


    ¡°It¡¯s true. Li Yue He is indeed kept in Liu Zhinan¡¯s lab. They¡¯ve been doing blood research on him. His blood seemed to have changed somehow after he was poisoned. Currently, his blood contains a strange type of energy, which is being studied by Liu Zhinan. No result has been obtained yet, though,¡± Huang Ming stood before Xiao Yunlong¡¯s desk and reported about Li Yue He¡¯s current condition, causing the latter to furrow his brows.


    He figured that Li Yue He was under strict guard as the subject of such a research project. It had been years, but Liu Zhinan¡¯s research still hadn¡¯t come to any result. Xiao Yunlong wondered what exactly he had been studying. He was also surprised by the fact that Li Yue He was still alive. Perhaps, it was the change of his blood that provided him with a chance to survive.


    ¡°Who on earth is that person who leaked this information to us? What does he want? Does he hate Huaxia Base? Or, does he hate Si Kongchen?¡± Xiao Yunlong thought for a moment and asked.


    Huang Ming shook his head; he had no idea what that person wanted. The information had proven to be authentic. Based on that fact, he guessed that that person might have been trying to jeopardize Huaxia¡¯s plan. That didn¡¯t make sense though. That person wouldn¡¯t have to find out about Li Yue He if he were only trying to bring trouble to Huaxia Base or Si Kongchen.


    Li Yue He wasn¡¯t the only person being locked in Liu Zhinan¡¯s lab as an experimental subject. There were more people like him in Huaxia Base. Earlier on, Hu Zhiyong had been doing the same kind of thing to people. Perhaps the mysterious man wanted Wu Chengyue to rescue all the human experimental subjects. But, he had never requested that.


    Xiao Yunlong and Huangming spent quite a while thinking but failed to figure out anything. They had confirmed the authenticity of the information but couldn¡¯t be sure if there would be a trap or not. They had no way to find out about that.


    ¡°What are we supposed to do now?¡± Huang Ming asked him about the next step.


    ¡°I need to talk to Wu about it,¡± said Xiao Yunlong. Next, he brought the file to Wu Chengyue and told the latter about what had happened.


    ¡°Our mysterious friend has kindly delivered the information we needed to us, so no matter how, we¡¯ll take action. It doesn¡¯t matter what that person wants. Even if there will be a trap set for us, we¡¯ll still have to jump straight into it. How are we supposed to rescue our man without giving every possible way a try?¡± Wu Chengyue learned about what had happened and shared his opinion.


    ¡°But it¡¯s gonna be dangerous. It can very likely be a trap.¡± Xiao Yunlong was worried.


    ¡°Then our people will have to play it by ear,¡± said Wu Chengyue. It meant that the task had been performed by some capable ones who were able to cope with any possible situation. They probably also needed to come up with a series of different plans. There would always be a way leading to success.


    ¡°Who are we going to send then?¡± Xiao Yunlong asked. It had to be someone capable of sneaking into Huaxia Base to perform the rescue task. The task would not be easy.


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, ¡°Emm, I think I¡¯ll borrow a few people from All Beings Base.¡±


    On hearing that, Xiao Yunlong looked at him with surprise and asked, ¡°Who do you want to borrow?¡±


    ¡°Yun Meng. She can be like a ghost, and she¡¯s capable. While rescuing our man, she can also try to find out about Si Kongchen¡¯s new plan,¡± said Wu Chengyue with a smile.


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯m thinking about the same thing. But, will Chief Lu agree to let us borrow her?¡±


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him and said, ¡°Why not? It¡¯ll mean a lot to both All Beings Base and us if she manages to find out about Si Kongchen¡¯s new plan. Si Kongchen already knows that his entire plan has been exposed, so he¡¯ll certainly adjust it. Won¡¯t it be great if we can know about that new plan of his?¡±


    Xiao Yunlong didn¡¯t know what to say.


    About an hour later, Lin Qiao received Wu Chengyue¡¯s message.


    Yun Meng hadn¡¯t returned yet. She had been outside, collecting nuclei, but Lin Qiao didn¡¯t reject Wu Chengyue¡¯s request. She spent a while thinking and figured that Yun Meng and Xie Dong¡¯s intelligence system together would probably be able to dig deeper into Huaxia Base.


    She spent a short while thinking and then summoned Qiu Lili.


    ¡°Go and replace Mengmeng. Tell her to come back. You and Lin Kui will continue her current mission. Remember, collect as many nuclei as possible. I can¡¯t wait to find out how many level five and six superpower possessors Si Kongchen has under his command, and if that force of his is strong enough to fight our zombie army.¡±


    Qiu Lili accepted the new task happily; she was free anyway. After leaving Lin Qiao¡¯s office, she went straight to Lin Kui. He was at his sister, Lin Jing¡¯s place, having a meal.


    When Qiu Lili showed up, Lin Jing smilingly offered her a seat and said to her, ¡°I heard that the ones from Base Number Two occasionally eat some special meat. I bought some of that meat from Director Cheng for you two. You two can¡¯t always sit there and watch me eat, right? Ah, I feel like I¡¯m having two large pets. I¡¯ve been thinking about getting food for you the whole time. We used to call the food for dogs dog-food, and the food for cats cat-foot. Should we call your food zombie-food?¡±


    Under Lin Kui¡¯s attentive caring, Lin Jing had become much more energetic than before. She had gained some weight, not looking as sallow and skinny as she once was.


    The two zombies who were referred to as pets didn¡¯t know what to say.


    Qiu Lili watched Lin Jing put the food in two clean plates for her and Lin Kui. It was raw meat that smelled like the meat soaked by Lin Qiao¡¯s lake water, almost scentless. That was indeed the most common food in Base Number Two.

 Chapter 1396 - Three-To-One

    ¡°Did you buy this with your own credits?¡± Looking at the meat, Qiu Lili asked to Lin Jing a little unhappily.


    Lin Jing was currently working in the hospital. Because of her previous condition, she had spent a lot of time in the hospital. After she healed, she found herself a job there to earn herself food.


    She didn¡¯t really need to worry about food because Lin Kui would always look after her. However, she wanted to work; being able to work made her feel at peace.


    She hadn¡¯t been earning a lot of credits by doing that job though. If she wanted to have a meal with Lin Kui and Qiu Lili, she could have asked them to bring their own food.


    Qiu Lili pouted unhappily; she believed that Lin Jing¡¯s credits were spent unnecessarily. Unlike her, the latter was very delighted, as it was the first time she had treated Lin Kui and Qiu Lili with food. Finally, she felt truly like the elder one in the family.


    Seeing Lin Jing¡¯s happy face, Lin Kui stayed silent. He looked at the meat on his plate and then the meat in Qiu Lili¡¯s plate. Thinking about what his sister had said about dog food, cat food, and zombie food, he felt weird. Somehow, he felt as though he was really a pet.


    What was happening? Was he supposed to switch to his panther shape and then start eating?


    ¡°We have a task to perform, so we need to leave soon. This task might take days or even two weeks,¡± Qiu Lili took over the metal knife and fork that Lin Jing prepared for her, elegantly cutting off a piece of meat and putting it into her mouth. She didn¡¯t start talking until she had swallowed the meat.


    ¡°Are you having another task? You¡¯ve been getting quite a lot of tasks recently,¡± Lin Jing paused briefly and said.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Qiu Lili nodded and said, ¡°We¡¯re going through an eventful period.¡±


    Most of the current problems were related to Si Kongchen and Huaxia Base.


    Lin Kui quietly picked up his chopsticks and started eating. Qiu Lili found herself and Lin Kui using different tableware. ¡°Eh? How come he¡¯s using chopsticks while I¡¯m using a knife and a fork?¡± she asked Lin Jing.


    She wasn¡¯t a Westerner.


    Lin Jing smiled and said, ¡°Oh, I just felt that you¡¯d look nice eating with a knife and a fork, so I prepared them for you.¡±


    Qiu Lili didn¡¯t know what to say. Was that a compliment?


    After the meal, Qiu Lili and Lin Kui left Lin Jing¡¯s place and went out to look for Yun Meng.


    Yun Meng was fighting a level-seven zombie when they found her. She was doing the fighting while the other zombies were trying to distract the enemy.


    Bang! Despite the numerical superiority on her side, she suffered a heavy strike and sank into a wall.


    The level-seven zombie was strong and had metal power. Its entire body was giving out a strong scent of blood, mixing together with an awful odor. The scent of blood was from not only humans, but also mutated beasts.


    The zombie wasn¡¯t picky at all, as it even fed on animals. Normal zombies weren¡¯t interested in animals, especially mutated ones. Its way of fighting was special as well. It gathered the surrounding metal objects, melted them, and turned them into a thick armer to guard itself.


    Yun Meng was at the same level as it. She popped her claws to attack the zombie, but that armor protected the zombie firmly from her claws. The zombie wasn¡¯t weaker than her; moreover, it was super strong and fast. Therefore, Yun Meng had fallen into an arduous battle. Neither she nor the zombie could hurt the other efficiently.


    She didn¡¯t even find the zombie; the latter found her, probably attracted to her by her zombie vibe.


    In the eyes of wild zombies, two beings from the same level could never exist together in one territory. One of them would have to die in that kind of a situation. When two zombies at the same level ran into each other, they would fight until one of them died, both eager to devour the other to strengthen themselves. The level-seven zombie was smart. It was aware that finding another level-seven zombie wouldn¡¯t be easy, so of course, it would not let Yun Meng go.


    ¡°Wow, poor Mengmeng!¡± Qiu Lili threw out a fireball at the level-seven zombie once she arrived and then jumped to Yun Meng¡¯s side, bending over to look at her face. She and Lin Kui had sensed the level-seven zombie¡¯s vibe while they were still at a distance away. Therefore, they restrained their vibes and sneaked over.


    The zombie was focusing on the intense battle with Yun Meng, so it didn¡¯t notice the arrival of Qiu Lili and Lin Kui. The two had had their vibes hidden after all.


    ¡°Pah! I can still fight!¡± Yun Meng crawled out of the collapsed wall, covered in dust. She spat out the sand in her mouth and stood up while speaking . After that, she turned to Qiu Lili with surprise, saying, ¡°Eh? What are you guys doing here?¡±


    While the two of them were talking, Lin Kui had already turned into a huge black panther and started fighting that metal-powered zombie.


    ¡°Qiaoqiao sent us here to take over your job. She wants you to go back to the base. She has another task for you,¡± Qiu Lili looked at her and said. In the meanwhile, she turned around, raised an arm, and sent out another scorching fireball.


    ¡°Oh, alright, I¡¯ll bring this level-seven nucleus back with me. Chief can use it to add another level-seven zombie to our army.¡± Yun Meng wiped her face with her hands, having no idea that her hands were even dirtier than her face. After that, she lashed her tail and turned herself invisible, once again sneakily approaching the zombie from the back.


    The zombie had paused briefly when Qiu Lili and Lin Kui showed up. As the three attacked it together, it immediately realized that its life was probably in danger. So, it turned without hesitation, attempting to run.


    However, Yun Meng lashed on the zombie with her large tail and sent it flying back. Her lizard tail was incredibly strong after all. Next, the black panther caught the zombie and pressed it down before opening his mouth wide and biting on its neck.


    Crack! The black panther had sharp teeth that penetrated the thick metal armor but failed to hurt the zombie¡¯s neck. Only when the zombie¡¯s energy was consumed up could the armor be broken; a fire might work too.


    Metals tended to soften under high temperatures. It would take some time to burn that zombie¡¯s armor soft, though.


    Together, the two zombies with animal power and the one with the powers of fire and wind laid siege to the metal-powered zombie. Yun Meng and Lin Kui threw the zombie from side to side while Qiu Lili was releasing her fire to burn the zombie constantly, trying to speed the consumption of his energy.


    The zombie consumed the energy contained in its nucleus to protect itself against Qiu Lili¡¯s fire. At last, its energy ran out, and it could no longer maintain the metal armor. Only after that was it killed.


    ¡°Eh, the energy in this nucleus has been consumed greatly already,¡± Yun Meng dug out the nucleus and complained.


    The zombie died when its energy almost ran out, and the energy left in its nucleus was very thin. However, that amount of energy could still be counted as abundant for a level-six zombie.

 Chapter 1397 - An Eye for an Eye

    By combining their powers, the three finally killed the level-seven zombie. It might have been easier if that zombie didn¡¯t have metal power.


    Yun Meng returned to the base with that level-seven zombie¡¯s nucleus and some level five and six nuclei. She found Lin Qiao and poured the tens of nuclei on the latter¡¯s desk while saying, ¡°This is our harvest this time.¡±


    Lin Qiao looked at those nuclei and said with surprise, ¡°Oh, you even got a level-seven one!¡±


    By rights, Yun Meng, as a level-seven zombie, shouldn¡¯t have been able to kill another level-seven zombie by herself.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Yun Meng nodded and said, ¡°Lili and Lin Kui showed up just in time. That zombie found me. I couldn¡¯t have killed it alone.¡±


    Lin Qiao nodded as she picked up the nucleus and gave it a closer look. After learning that it contained metal power, she put it aside and said, ¡°Metal power¡­ Emm, we have quite a few level-six ones with metal power. Who should I give this to?¡±


    Old Guo, Eight, Mo, and the other two level-six zombie soldiers from her army all had metal power. Among them, Old Guo had served under her command for the longest time. Should she give the nucleus to him?


    Yun Meng stayed quiet. She didn¡¯t care whom Lin Qiao would decide to give the nucleus to.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then decided to give the nucleus to Old Guo. After all, he was the first metal-powered zombie to follow her lead.


    ¡°Oh, Lili said that you have a new task for me. What is it?¡± As Lin Qiao had made the decision, Yun Meng asked her about the new task.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°Sea City Base wants to borrow some people from us. I want you to lead the squad and act with them. You have two tasks: one, cooperate with Sea City Base to rescue a man, and second, find out about Si Kongchen¡¯s new plan, such as what he plans to do to Sea City Base and us next.¡±


    ¡°Rescue a man?¡± Yun Meng looked at her with curiosity, saying, ¡°Who?¡±


    Lin Qiao looked at her and said, ¡°You know Li Yueshan, don¡¯t you? He¡¯s one of the moles who got caught in Sea City Base this time. Huaxia Base has his little brother. Do you understand?¡±


    Yun Meng surely understood her meaning. Huaxia Base had his little brother, meaning that he was threatened. Yun Meng didn¡¯t know Li Yueshan well, but had heard about him.


    ¡°Oh, so he has a little brother,¡± said Yun Meng to Lin Qiao with surprise.


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what Sea City Base people said. They said that his brother is kept in a lab in Huaxia Base. They¡¯re doing some kind of experiment on him.¡±


    ¡°That again?¡± Yun Meng said with a frown, ¡°Huaxia Base is really¡­ How come they always use living humans as bait or experimental subjects?¡±


    Lin Qiao smiled and said, ¡°Si Kongchen will soon be suffering the consequences of that.¡±


    The batch of people who had been brought to All Beings Base by Lin Feng earlier could prove Huaxia¡¯s evil deeds. Also, Sea City Base planned to do more than just rescuing that man this time.


    Huaxia Base had nearly two million residents. Those people might not have any idea about what Si Kongchen had been doing to people. If they were all informed about that, he would probably be in trouble.


    A base was supposed to protect human survivors, but instead of doing that, Huaxia Base used living human beings as bait and experimental subjects. That was against the meaning behind the existence of human bases.


    Yun Meng blinked as she looked at Lin Qiao and asked, ¡°Eh? Are you saying that we¡¯re going to strike first?¡±


    ¡°You think I¡¯ll let him keep harassing our base?¡± said Lin Qiao, her eyes glowing with a cold light, ¡°We¡¯ll fight back sooner or later! This time, Si Kongchen¡¯s main target is Sea City Base, so Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong will deal with him. He¡¯s learned that his plan is already exposed, so he¡¯ll certainly make a new plan. He taught us how to stab someone in the back. Well, let¡¯s say¡­ An eye for an eye.¡±


    Yun Meng paused briefly with surprise, ¡°But, do we have enough time? He¡¯ll soon start to carry out his new plan, won¡¯t he?¡±


    Lin Qiao said to her with a meaningful tone, ¡°We don¡¯t need a lot of time. Spreading the message won¡¯t take us long. As long as you and the others expose his secret labs, we¡¯ll ask the people that Lin Feng earlier brought back, who were supposed to be used as baits, to stand up and prove Si Kongchen¡¯s evil deeds. I guess they all hate Si Kongchen¡¯s guts now.¡±


    Anyone who was treated in that way would have hatred in their hearts, not to mention the fact that most of the superpower possessors among those people were sentenced to death only because of their dissatisfactions with Huaxia Base, or because they had found out about Si Kongchen¡¯s dirty deals.


    ¡°Are you saying that we¡¯re going to throw his base into chaos when he comes out to attack Sea City Base?¡± said Yun Meng, her eyes glowing. That was indeed very similar to what Si Kongchen had planned to do to All Beings Base earlier.


    ¡­


    That afternoon, Yun Meng left for Sea City Base with five level-six zombies. All of the five new level-six zombies possessed nature power. They were good at hiding their own traces, and that made them perfect for that task. She also conveniently brought Lin Qiao¡¯s plan to Wu Chengyue. After learning about it, he decided to give his full support.


    In the meanwhile, Lin Qiao started discussing the plan with Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing. Lin Feng was responsible for convincing those victims to testify against Huaxia Base.


    The enemy¡¯s enemy could be a friend, and those victims from Huaxia Base agreed to Lin Feng¡¯s request without hesitation. Not all of them had agreed to help though; half of them were still lying in the hospital.


    Since Lin Qiao had made Lin Wenwen and Yuan Tianxing work together, Lin Wenwen had recently become his assistant. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from looking after him. She worked very hard on those materials to lighten his burden and also took care of his daily life.


    Yuan Tianxing was still healing, and he felt tired all the time. He was still able to work, but not as hard as he used to. He wanted very much to work harder, but Lin Wenwen strictly forbade him from doing that. She was currently staying by his side with a fair reason, and he had to listen to her.


    About that, Yuan Tianxing felt a little helpless. He didn¡¯t know what to do. He did not want to follow Lin Wenwen¡¯s words, but his body did. He was often exhausted and powerless.


    His body was nearly disabled. What else could he possibly say?


    ¡°Alright, it¡¯s dinner time. Drop that file!¡± As Yuan Tianxing was thinking about how useless he currently was, Lin Wenwen¡¯s voice was heard from near the door.


    ¡°Can you please let me finish this file?¡± he asked helplessly. He liked to finish a part of his work each time, but she always interrupted his work and called him for meals. He was really not used to that.


    ¡°No,¡± Lin Wenwen gave him a cold glance and said, ¡°You have to eat regularly, so that you can heal better. You know that your body needs rest. Take your body seriously.¡±

 Chapter 1398 - Mo Yan Is Back

    ¡°Are you thinking that I¡¯m meddling? You have to know that you¡¯re working for my sister. If you die, my brother would have to work twice as hard, wouldn¡¯t he? I know that you want to work hard, but you have to be healthy enough to do that.¡± While speaking, Lin Wenwen put the food on the tea table in Yuan Tianxing¡¯s office and stood straight, turning to look at him.


    Yuan Tianxing could never last more than three seconds under her gaze. As he came to the tea table for dinner, she walked to his desk to read the file that he was reading. It was a new proposal made for Huaxia Base. After reading it, she said, ¡°Si Kongchen came for wool and went home shorn this time.¡±


    Yuan Tianxing dragged a chair to the tea table and sat down. Then, he picked up his bowl and chopsticks before eating. While eating, he said, ¡°He asked for it. I can¡¯t believe he actually thinks that he can swallow the other bases using merely his army and weapons. He wants to rule the country. He has great ambition, but he doesn¡¯t know how to use it right.¡±


    Recently, Si Kongchen had been acting more and more boldly. He no longer bothered to cover for his ambition. If he used his ambition to pursue peace, mankind might develop faster than now. He never thought about how to better the living environment for the people in his base, nor about the future for the next generation. All he had been thinking about was to destroy the other bases. Maybe his brain was damaged somehow.


    Lin Wenwen looked at him and said, ¡°People have different thoughts and want different things. You can¡¯t force other people to accept what you believe. He wants to die and we shall let him. You can stop him once, but he¡¯ll keep trying.¡±


    She dropped the file as she spoke and started sorting the other files on Yuan Tianxing¡¯s desk, separating the ones that had been read from those waiting to be read. Watching her do that, Yuan Tianxing realized that the work he had planned to complete at night would have to wait until tomorrow. After dinner, he needed to go home to rest, and he couldn¡¯t bring work home!


    ¡­


    After meeting with the people from Sea City Base, Yun Meng and her squad headed toward Huaxia Base to carry out the mission. Lin Qiao stayed in the base, trying to solve the underground creature problem. In the nighttime, she also needed to upgrade her zombie soldiers by batches.


    Qiu Lili and Lin Kui had taken over Yun Meng¡¯s work, collecting more nuclei than her by one and a half times. In the recent couple of days, more and more nuclei had been delivered back to the base.


    At that time, Mo Yan, who had disappeared for long, returned to the base with his zombie girl in a white dress. He had re-entered level-seven and his power was already stable.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯ve forgotten about our conversation,¡± Lin Qiao looked at the zombie man who was curving a corner of his mouth in a smile and raised her eyebrows as she spoke.


    Mo Yan was good-looking, although that weird smile on his face had degraded his good look.


    Mo Yan was wearing a black coat, sitting on the sofa in Lin Qiao¡¯s office with his feet on the tea table and legs crossed. His slightly long hair were hanging loosely over his forehead, partially covering his perfect face. The zombie girl in a white dress was standing by his side, looking like a bodyguard.


    ¡°What? Am I not welcomed?¡± Mo Yan looked at Lin Qiao and gave her a bigger smile. That smile emphasized the handsomely wicked look of his, making him look like the prince from the dark world. He still had a strong vibe. He hadn¡¯t returned to his peak yet, but he had reached level-seven nonetheless. He could already be counted as powerful.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to come back. I¡¯ll send someone to find you when I need you.¡±


    ¡°I come back to ask you when do you guys plan to eliminate those Huaxia people. I have a request. Can you let me finish Si Kongchen?¡± Mo Yan looked at her and said.


    ¡°Why?¡± Lin Qiao was curious. ¡°Is there some kind of issue between you and him?¡± Something crossed her mind right after she said that, and hence she continued, ¡°Is he ¡­ one of those people?¡±


    Mo Yan nodded at her while a strong intent of killing could be detected from his eyes. ¡°Yeah. If he hadn¡¯t eaten my flesh, would he be able to enter level-eight so easily?¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Lin Qiao nodded, comprehension dawning on her face. ¡°Okay. I just want him dead. I don¡¯t care who¡¯ll take his life. However, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re powerful enough to kill him right now.¡±


    Mo Yan had the power of lightning, which was highly destructive. However, he was only at level-seven currently. He might not even be able to defeat Si Kongchen, who was a level-eight being, not to mention killing him.


    Mo Yan raised his brows as he looked at Lin Qiao with a smile and said, ¡°Who said that I¡¯ll deal with him alone? You can beat him half-dead, and then I¡¯ll kill him.¡±


    Lin Qiao stayed quiet.


    So, it turned out that Mo Yan wanted her to put Si Kongchen down first so that he could launch the final strike to take the man¡¯s life.


    ¡°You see, you¡¯ll be tired when you beat him half-dead. So, by then, I¡¯ll finish the work for you. You just want him dead, right?¡± As Lin Qiao didn¡¯t look very pleased, Mo Yan continued with a naughty smile.


    ¡°I might as well launch a fierce strike and kill him nicely and neatly,¡± Lin Qiao rolled her eyes and said, ¡°Since you want me to be your muscle, you got to offer me something in return. Right?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ are these good enough?¡± Mo Yan stayed silent for a short while and then reached a hand toward the zombie girl. The latter quickly put her black shoulder bag on his hand. He zipped open the woman¡¯s bag and put it on the tea table.


    Before the bag was zipped open, Lin Qiao detected nothing from it. However, once he opened the bag, several different types of energy burst from it. Clearly, in the bag were various nuclei. Judging by the energies types, they were from zombies, mutated beasts, and plants.


    The bag was bulging, so it probably contained a good number of nuclei.


    ¡°These are one-hundred and ninety-three nuclei, from zombies, plants, beasts, including three level-seven ones from plants, thirty-eight level-six ones, and a hundred and fifty-two level-five ones,¡± Mo Yan put the bag on the tea table and leaned on the back of the sofa as he said to Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the bag and nodded, ¡°These will be enough.¡±


    The pretty Mo Yan gave her another smile as he raised a hand and brushed his bangs, ¡°Oh, do you have a skillful barber here? I¡¯d like to have a haircut.¡±


    Lin Qiao stayed quiet. At last, she sent Mo Yan to the farm to ask Liu Jun for a haircut.

 Chapter 1399 - What’s Done by Night Appears by Day

    For the sake of the bagful of nuclei, Lin Qiao agreed to let Mo Yan take Si Kongchen¡¯s life.


    At that time, Yun Meng and the people from Sea City Base were preparing to rescue Li Yueshan¡¯s brother, Li Yue He. The squad from Sea City Base was led by Kong Qingming, a possessor of green power. Under his lead were a dozen men at level four and five. His squad was obviously much weaker than Yun Meng¡¯s. The team on her side had six members only, but they were five level-six and one at level-seven, all being zombies.


    No wonder they were all strong.


    ¡°How generous is your Chief! She not only sent you, but also five level-six ones ¡­ Do you have a lot of level-six soldiers now? How come she sent out five of them so easily?¡± Kong Qingming said to Yun Meng at the sight of her.


    Yun Meng glanced at him and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you like them? How about I send them back and replace them with a few level-five ones? You¡¯re right. We have plenty of level five and six soldiers now.¡±


    They even had a large number of level-seven ones.


    Kong Qingming quickly shook his head and said, ¡°No, no. They are great, perfect! You do not need to replace them.¡±


    Soon, the two squads got on the vehicle and quietly left Sea City Base. To get familiar with each other, they sat together in the car.


    ¡°How do you plan to punish Li Yueshan? He¡¯s betrayed your base, after all.¡± Yun Meng asked Kong Qingming, who was in the front seat, with curiosity.


    Kong Qingming slightly turned to her and said, ¡°Em, he¡¯ll be in jail for a few years at least. But it depends on his performance. If he can redeem himself with good service, we¡¯ll reduce his jail time accordingly.¡±


    ¡°Redeem himself with good service?¡± Yun Meng looked at him with confusion.


    ¡°If we can bring his brother back safely to ease his worry, we¡¯ll still let him perform tasks in the war with Huaxia Base,¡± said Kong Qingming.


    Yun Meng nodded and said, ¡°Oh, so you guys will still offer him opportunities, right?¡±


    Kong Qingming nodded and said, ¡°Yes. But of course, it¡¯s only when he performs a task can he leave the jail. After the war, we¡¯ll bring him to trial and sentence him according to his contribution. We¡¯re doing human-based management in our base. Every case is different. We¡¯re not as cold-blooded as Huaxia Base.¡±


    In Huaxia Base, the ones who betrayed the base wouldn¡¯t have any chance to redeem themselves, and they would be executed immediately. Huaxia Base wouldn¡¯t care if they had betrayed the base willingly or if they were forced.


    ¡°What do you think Si Kongchen will plan to do to us next? We¡¯ve found out about his plan and ruined it twice. Do you think he hates us?¡± Yun Meng asked Kong Qingming.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Kong Qingming said, ¡°He hates your Chief¡¯s guts. He hates her alone.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Yun Meng didn¡¯t understand. How come Si Kongchen hated Lin Qiao alone?


    Kong Qingming smiled, saying, ¡°I guess you don¡¯t know about this yet. Si Kongchen has already guessed out that it was your Chief who leaked his plan. His plan was ruined twice because your Chief informed our base about it. He was infuriated when he found out about that, acting like the whole world owes him. Our Chief thinks that even though our base will still be the main target for his next action, he will try to do something to your base too.¡±


    On hearing that Si Kongchen was infuriated, Yun Meng sneered and said, ¡°He deserves it! What is done by night appears by day. He has attempted to hurt us, and we would certainly fight back!¡± She paused briefly and continued, ¡°Oh, how confident are you about the rescue? Do you have the exact location? Do you have the blueprints?¡±


    Kong Qingming turned and handed her a file, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you guys the details when we arrive. You can read them now.¡±


    Yun Meng took over the files and started reading carefully. There was a map of Huaxia Base and a construction blueprint, marked with the exact location of Li Yueshan¡¯s little brother. Reading the detailed information on the map, Yun Meng said to Kong Qingming with surprise, ¡°Eh? This is pretty detailed. These files should be confidential. How did you get them? Only the ones very familiar with the base can get these, right?¡±


    Kong Qingming smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. You seem to have learned a lot in your base. Someone provided us with this information. We¡¯ve confirmed that it¡¯s authentic.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so someone else gave you these. I thought your people have gotten into the core of Huaxia Base, and that it was them who gathered the information for you.¡± Yun Meng guessed out that the one who provided the information wasn¡¯t from Sea City Base.


    ¡°No, it was no one from our side,¡± said Kong Qingming.


    Maybe because he now had a girlfriend, Kong Qingming had become more masculine than before. His face looked more manly than before, no longer like the face of a girl. Most of the credit went to his crew cut.


    ¡°So, who is this person that provided you with the information?¡± Yun Meng asked without thinking.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. That person didn¡¯t disclose his or her identity,¡± said Kong Qingming.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a trap, is it?¡± Yun Meng furrowed her brows slightly. After all, the information coming from an unknown source could be unsafe.


    Kong Qingming turned his head around and said, ¡°We had the same kind of worry at first. However, we couldn¡¯t think of a reason why that person would set a trap for us. So this time, we need to prepare ourselves for any possible trap. We have to stay alert and play it by ear.¡±


    ¡°You guys are so reckless!¡± Yun Meng couldn¡¯t help but complain.


    About ten miles from Huaxia Base, they parked in a sheltered place and then started talking about the plan of action. Kong Qingming spread the map that he had shown to Yun Meng and said, ¡°We will split into three squads. We have three plans here, and we¡¯ll first give Plan A a try.¡±


    ¡°The first step is to rescue our man. After that, we¡¯ll try to find out about Si Kongchen¡¯s new plan. Yun Meng, you and your squad need to summon some wild zombies and create a small-range massive zombie attack to divert the attention of Huaxia people. While you¡¯re doing that, we will sneak into the lab to rescue our men. If we fail, we¡¯ll initiate Plan B and break in using violence. If that doesn¡¯t work either, we¡¯ll have to use our last plan.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the last plan?¡± As Kong Qingming paused, Yun Meng asked.


    Kong Qingming looked at her and said, ¡°You¡¯ll have to turn invisible and sneak into the lab to rescue the man by yourself! If Plan A and B both fail, you¡¯ll have to perform that task alone. We¡¯ll stay outside and cover you.¡±


    Yun Meng stayed silent. Somehow, she felt that that was the real plan, made for her exclusively.

 Chapter 1400 - Small-Scale Zombie Attack

    Si Kongchen was having a meeting with the others, talking about whether they should directly attack Sea City Base or do something else. After all, they would need a formal reason to attack Sea City Base openly.


    Si Kongchen¡¯s original plan was to control those underground creatures, make them attack Sea City Base, and release the virus inside in the meantime. After that, he would be able to accuse Sea City Base of carrying out illegal studies on the zombie virus and attack it openly. He would be able to find all kinds of reasons to accuse Sea City Base. As long as the virus was leaked, the base would need to take responsibility.


    ¡°What reason do we have now to attack Sea City Base? They have found out about your original plan already. We can¡¯t attack them for no reason, can we?¡± Wei Haichao glanced at the others and then asked Si Kongchen.


    Si Kongchen had been black as thunder the whole time. ¡°Why do we need a reason? We don¡¯t need any reason!¡± he said in a cold voice.


    Some of the others gave a slight start as they looked at him and fell into thoughts.


    ¡°Are you talking about attacking them without any reason?¡± Liu Zhinan looked at him and asked.


    All the others had their eyes fixed on Si Kongchen.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Si Kongchen snorted coldly and said, ¡°Why do I need a reason? You¡¯ve come up with all kinds of plans and yet they¡¯ve found out about all of them. We should start a real war this time. Let¡¯s see if they have the power to fight us.¡±


    ¡°But, won¡¯t the other bases be against it? Also, the residents of our base won¡¯t like it. What if they protest against the war?¡± Han Xiao found Si Kongchen¡¯s plan inappropriate.


    ¡°The other bases? They soon won¡¯t be having the right to go against us. Which exact base will be against us? Heilong Base? Green Mountain Base? Mongols Base? Or that All Beings Base? What power do they have to go against us? As for our own residents¡­ That won¡¯t be a problem. Our base is over-populated anyway. The products of soil-less cultivation can¡¯t feed them all. They can leave if they don¡¯t want to stay here,¡± Si Kongchen raised his brows and said.


    Wei Haichao looked at the others as he thought for a moment and said, ¡°That¡¯ll be nice. It¡¯ll save us a lot of trouble. I think it¡¯s a good plan.¡±


    At that moment, a squad leader walked quickly to the door of the meeting room and reported something to Wei Haichao¡¯s assistant, who was staying by the door. On hearing what the squad leader said, Wei Haichao¡¯s assistant immediately knitted his brows. After that, he quietly pushed the door open and walked up behind Wei Haichao. Bending over, he whispered something in the latter¡¯s year without disturbing the others in the room.


    Wei Haichao had noticed his assistant when the latter walked in. After hearing his report, he immediately furrowed his eyebrows and then turned to look at the latter questioningly, who nodded. As Wei Haichao stayed silent for a few seconds, he waved at him and then turned and left.


    He had kept as quiet as possible. However, everyone in the meeting room had noticed his entrance. Once he left, they fixed their eyes on Wei Haichao.


    After all, the assistant wouldn¡¯t interrupt such an important meeting if he didn¡¯t have something very important to report to his boss. Anything not so urgent could wait until the meeting was over.


    After signaling for his assistant to leave, Wei Haichao raised his head and looked at the others as he said, ¡°There are a crowd of zombies at the west gate. They made no reaction to our anti-zombie drug. I think they¡¯re controlled by higher-leveled zombies.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t the anti-zombie drug work? How large is the crowd?¡± On hearing that the anti-zombie drug which was developed in his base was not working, Si Kongchen couldn¡¯t help but feel annoyed. As same as Wei Haichao, he had his brows knitted as well.


    All the actions he had taken recently had been ruined. Not a single good thing had been happening to him. And now, even his anti-zombie drug wasn¡¯t working anymore.


    All kinds of negative emotions were surging inside him.


    ¡°About ten-thousand of them,¡± said Wei Haichao, ¡°They¡¯re rushing fiercely at our base. I don¡¯t know what exactly is happening, but I guess there¡¯s a level-seven zombie controlling them.¡±


    For such a large group of zombies acting uniformly, there was always at least one level-seven zombie controlling them. Only the top-leveled zombies could neglect the anti-zombie drug which was spread miles away around the base.


    Si Kongchen immediately stood up, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go and take a look. Let¡¯s see what kind of level-seven zombie it is. How dare it challenge us!¡±


    While speaking, he put on his hat and turned to walk out of the meeting room with large steps, wearing heavy combat boots. He was just in need of a target to vent his anger on. He was going to vent his rage on Sea City Base, but as the zombies had brought themselves to him, he decided to take them as the appetizer!


    After watching Si Kongchen leave with a tense vibe, the others glanced at each other and shrugged as they followed him out. Wei Haichao glanced at Han Xiao, saying with his eyes ¨C ¡®He¡¯s been quite angry lately!¡¯


    Han Xiao looked at him and responded ¨C ¡®That level-seven zombie is gonna suffer.¡¯


    Wei Haichao nodded in agreement.


    At that moment, Yun Meng and her squad were standing behind the zombie crowd outside Huaxia Base. They roared out loud from time to time to summon more zombies. ,


    Yun Meng had developed a new skill recently: She was now able to summon zombie beasts. Maybe because she possessed animal power, she was able to utter a different kind of sound to summon zombie beasts once she shifted to her beast shape.


    Zombie beasts had always been faster and nimbler than zombies, who were transformed from humans.


    The zombie crowd summoned by Yun Meng was approaching Huaxia Base from a distance. Yun Meng didn¡¯t plan to let the zombies attack Huaxia Base for real. She only wanted to create some noises to distract Si Kongchen and his people. In other words, she was bluffing.


    While Yun Meng was summoning more zombies to intimidate Huaxia Base people, Kong Qingming and his people had already sneaked into Huaxia Base with the help of the spies who had been inserted in Huaxia Base long ago. After that, then quickly moved toward where Li Yue He was.


    The lab Li Yue He was kept in used to be managed by Hu Zhiyong. After Hu Zhiyong was disabled, Liu Zhinan took it over. However, Liu Zhinan was mainly focusing on his own lab, and he wasn¡¯t taking Hu Zhiyong¡¯s lab seriously.


    That was perfect for Kong Qingming and his people!

 Chapter 1401 - I’m Talking About You

    As Hu Zhiyong was gone and Liu Zhinan wasn¡¯t taking the lab seriously, the one currently in charge of the lab was a vice-director who knew the lab the best. As a scientist, he was as good as Hu Zhiyong, but he was weaker in terms of superpower.


    Following the map, Kong Qingming and his people sneaked into the lab building through a cover tunnel. They were all armed to the teeth and highly vigilant. After sneaking in, they observed the place extra carefully but detected no danger at all.


    No danger at all!


    They walked under the surveillance cameras and found them to be not working. Then, they walked to the hallway and found no one there. They spent a few minutes stealthily walking in the hallway but saw not even a single person! That was a lab, but how come no one was there?


    The further in they went, the more strongly Kong Qingming felt that something was not right.


    It seemed way too easy! Was it really a trap?


    His teammates all started feeling confused as well. From time to time, they turned to look at Kong Qingming questioningly.


    ¡®Boss! This is too easy! How come this doesn¡¯t feel right?¡® They all had the same question.


    Kong Qingming responded to them with a hand gesture ¨C ¡®I too feel that something isn¡¯t right. Be careful!¡¯


    They had spent quite a while walking in the building, but not even a single person was found. None of the surveillance cameras that they had seen was working. It was obviously abnormal! The map didn¡¯t say that the surveillance cameras in this area would shut down at this time of the day!


    Was someone expecting them? Did the enemy turn off the cameras to relax their vigilance? Was there an ambush waiting for them where Li Yue He was? There must be an ambush!


    With that thought, Kong Qingming started hesitating. Perhaps, he should directly switch to Plan B. However, the place was completely empty, so it was pointless to use violence to break in. There were no obstacles, after all! Should they storm directly to the destination, fight the enemies as hard as they could, and then take the opportunity to rescue Li Yue He?


    As Kong Qingming paused, the rest of the team all looked at him, waiting for his decision.


    Watching them hesitate, the person who had been hiding in the darkness waiting for them to take Li Yue He away was also anxious. He even wanted to drive the group of people into Li Yue He¡¯s room with a stick, or maybe a machete!


    He had gone through all the trouble to clear all the obstacles. He only wished that Kong Qingming and his people could rescue the man as soon as possible. Why were they hesitating?


    Did he need to say something to urge them?


    As Kong Qingming was thinking about if he and his people should leave, the loudspeakers surrounding them suddenly uttered an anxious man¡¯s voice, ¡°Oi, can you please hurry up and rescue the man? What are you guys waiting for? If you shrink back just like this, I¡¯ll follow you to Sea City Base and kill you all! Why do you think I made you guys such an easy way in? I risked my own life doing that! If you flinch, you, yes, you! I guess you¡¯re the team leader, but how come you look like an idiot? Are you gonna rescue the man or not? Go and take him if you still want to rescue him! I¡¯ve worked really hard to make this easy for you earlier today! Do not make all my efforts be in vain!¡±


    On hearing the scolding, Kong Qingming and the others were all stunned.


    They were startled! They thought their action was perfectly secret, but all of a sudden, someone yelled at them on the loudspeakers, complaining about how slow they were! That was scary! They felt as if they were hearing the voice of a ghost!


    On hearing the voice from the speaker, Kong Qingming, and his people were both shocked and confused. As the man said that Kong Qingming looked like an idiot, people glanced at each other and then fixed their eyes on him.


    Meanwhile, Kong Qingming himself didn¡¯t know what to say.


    ¡°Hurry up! I¡¯ve only given those people half an hour of break time. They¡¯ll soon come back! Go to District D right now. That place is safe now. If you took one step toward the outside, I¡¯ll give you a cathartic and make you guys spend the rest of your day in the toilet!¡±


    Kong Qingming and his people didn¡¯t even know what to say.


    ¡°Why should I believe you?¡± Finally, Kong Qingming managed to calm down. He raised his head to look at the loudspeaker above his head and said.


    ¡°I asked you to rescue him because he¡¯s a friend of mine. I can¡¯t send him away myself, or else I wouldn¡¯t have to give you guys the information. Alright, you don¡¯t need to know the details. All you need to know is that I would never hurt Li Yue He. If you don¡¯t trust me, fine. You can go out now and then I¡¯ll put Li Yue He somewhere else. After that, you guys can sneak in and try to find him. I bet you¡¯d never be able to find him!¡± The man snorted coldly with scorn.


    Kong Qingming turned and exchanged glances with the others as he thought for a second. At last, he decided to believe the man¡¯s words. He made a hand gesture to signal his men to forward at full speed and then left the area.


    He wasn¡¯t willing to trust the man, but he had to take the risk. It was worth trying even if what the man said was only one percent true. If it were really a trap, Yun Meng would come to save them. She was supposed to come in to meet with Kong Qingming and his people in a while, so if it were a trap, she would know.


    As they finally started approaching Li Yue He, the man behind the speaker sighed with relief.


    Kong Qingming and his people quickly headed toward where Li Yue He was kept; nothing was there to stop them. They still stayed alert against all possible dangers though.


    Anyhow, nothing threatened them at all as they easily and safely found the lab where Li Yue He was kept in. Kong Qingming looked around, thinking about how to open the door of that lab. At that moment, the man by his side poked his shoulder.


    He turned around and saw the man pointing at a corner that the surveillance camera couldn¡¯t reach. In the corner was a sticker, saying ¨C ¡®The door isn¡¯t locked. Just get in.¡¯


    Kong Qingming didn¡¯t know what to say. He didn¡¯t know how to describe his feelings. He felt as though he were looking at a road sign.


    ¡®Are we tourists? Did he have to put a sign in this place?¡¯ he thought.


    While thinking that, he twirled the door open extra carefully. He was worried that the sign might be a trap and that maybe the alarm would go off once he twirled the doorknob.


    However, nothing happened.


    The door was indeed open!

 Chapter 1402 - The Man is Rescued

    Kong Qingming was still thinking about whether the message on the sticker was real or not. He twirled the doorknob and then the door opened quietly. Still, no sound could be heard and no danger occurred.


    He pushed the door open and quickly entered the room. Two people stayed outside guarding the door while the rest of the team followed him in.


    The room had no windows, and in the middle was a bed near the wall . A hairless man was lying on the bed with his eyes closed. All kinds of tubes and lines were connected to his head and some devices. He was lying there quietly, wearing an oxygen mask. Some transfusion tubes were on the arms which were exposed in the air, and some fluids were flowing in them.


    The man was skinny, and his eyes were deeply sunken. However, one could tell that he used to be good-looking. He looked very much like Li Yueshan. Therefore, Kong Qingming and his people didn¡¯t even need to verify his identity.


    ¡°If you¡¯re thinking about pulling out those tubes directly, I can tell you that he¡¯ll die within a minute after you do that!¡± The mysterious man¡¯s voice was heard from a small loudspeaker in a corner of the room.


    ¡°What should I do then?¡± Kong Qingming stood by the bed and asked. He didn¡¯t dare to touch Li Yue He.


    His original plan was to take Li Yue He back to Sea City Base, no matter if he were dead or alive. Even if the man died, he could still be sent to All Beings Base and turned into a zombie. Being a zombie would be better than being the enemy¡¯s experimental subject. Huaxia people might throw him outside the base and feed him to zombies someday anyway.


    However, the mysterious man seemed to want Li Yue He to stay alive.


    ¡°Walk to the left side of the bed and put your hand underneath it. You¡¯ll find a bottle of a drug and a research report there. Give the drug to him. It¡¯ll contain the toxins inside him for three days. You¡¯ll have to collect all the materials that are required to keep him alive. There¡¯s a list in the report. I hope your doctors will be capable enough to save his life.¡± After saying that, the man turned off the loudspeaker. Clearly, he didn¡¯t plan to say anything else to Kong Qingming and his people.


    Following the man¡¯s instruction, Kong Qingming found a bag underneath the table taped on the other side of the bed plank. He took the bag out from under the bed and opened it to find the bottle of drug and research report.


    He didn¡¯t know how to read that kind of report, so he handed it to someone else. The man quickly leafed through it under the flashlight; then,he raised his head and nodded at Kong Qingming.


    Kong Qingming didn¡¯t give the drug to Li Yue He. After all, he didn¡¯t know who the mysterious man was or what he wanted yet. He didn¡¯t intend to do whatever the man said. He had found Li Yue He indeed, but he was still worried that the whole thing might be a trap.


    Li Yue He was found, so the mission was already halfway accomplished. Kong Qingming and his people had done some preparations before initiating the mission.


    He took out another bottle of drug, took off Li Yue He¡¯s oxygen mask, and poured it into his mouth.


    After learning that his little brother was still alive, Li Yueshan had started gathering all information about him. He wasn¡¯t able to rescue his brother alone but did manage to get the information about his physical condition. As an intelligence worker, he had his ways to access the information about Li Yue He.


    Before Kong Qingming and his people left Sea City Base, Moli had asked Li Yueshan for Li Yue He¡¯s information and then created a dose that could keep him alive temporarily.


    After giving Li Yue He the drug, Kong Qingming ordered his people to pull out all the tubes in Li Yue He¡¯s body. The mysterious man might have done something to disable the alarm from going off when all the devices were disconnected from Li Yue He¡¯s body.


    Soon, Kong Qingming and his people brought Li Yue He out of the building. The way out was as easy as the way in. Nonetheless, Kong Qingming was feeling confused even after leaving the building. He didn¡¯t know how to describe his feelings. It was like a dream, as though the whole thing wasn¡¯t real.


    They went out of Huaxia Base ahead of schedule and ran into Yun Meng, who was on her way in to meet with them. At that point, Kong Qingming and his people were still feeling surreal.


    ¡°Hit me.¡± Kong Qingming said to one of his teammates.


    Clap! The man slapped heavily on the back of his head.


    ¡°Ouch! It hurts! Did you have to hit me so hard?¡± Suffering that slap, Kong Qingming buried his head in his arms and screamed in pain.


    ¡°I needed to hit you hard so that you can feel it for real!¡± said the man.


    Kong Qingming didn¡¯t know what to say.


    Yun Meng looked at them with confusion, saying, ¡°Eh? How come you¡¯re out early? Didn¡¯t we agree to meet at the base? Did Plan A fail?¡±


    The only possibility that Yun Meng could think of was that the action had failed.


    ¡°No. We didn¡¯t fail. Look!¡± On hearing her question, Kong Qingming quickly dropped his arms and then pointed at Li Yue He, who was carried on a strong teammate¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Eh?¡± Yun Meng felt even more surprised. They had succeeded, and it took much less time than planned. Unbelievable!


    Bewildered, Yun Meng turned to look at Li Yue He while asking the others, ¡°Um¡­ How did you guys do it within such a short time?¡±


    ¡°Because it was super easy!¡± The man who had slapped his captain¡¯s head answered the question before Kong Qingming could.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Yun Meng didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a long story. Let¡¯s go and find somewhere to hide. Then I¡¯ll explain it to you.¡± Kong Qingming waved at Yun Meng with a complicated look as he got into the car that was hidden somewhere in that area.


    With curiosity, Yun Meng followed behind him and asked, ¡°Just tell me!¡±


    In the car, Kong Qingming told her about what had happened. After hearing the story, she popped her eyes with surprise, saying, ¡°Um, so, you just brought him out like that? What does the man want?¡±


    Kong Qingming shook his head and said, ¡°We don¡¯t know what he wants. But, there wasn¡¯t an ambush indeed. The man has also provided us with the drug that¡¯s supposed to keep Li Yue He alive. We didn¡¯t give the drug to him though. Now, we¡¯ve brought him out successfully and there¡¯s no one chasing us. So, I assume the man wasn¡¯t lying to us. He did want us to bring Li Yue He out safely.¡±


    They had gone miles away from Huaxia Base already, yet no pursuers were found behind them. Clearly, the mysterious man wasn¡¯t lying to them. However, as they were still in Huaxia Base¡¯s territory, the man couldn¡¯t be cleared of suspicion yet.

 Chapter 1403 - Gather More Information

    Kong Qingming and the others parked the vehicles in an outlying area about ten miles away from Huaxia Base. After that, he sent most of his men to escort Li Yue He back to Sea City Base and left only two by his side. Then, the three of them ran a discussion with Yun Meng about the information-gathering task.


    ¡°Si Kongchen is going crazy in the zombie crowd. I guess he has so much anger to vent. After all, his plan has failed multiple times,¡± Yun Meng told Kong Qingming about what was happening on Si Kongchen¡¯s side.


    She had summoned over ten-thousand zombies and zombie beasts to draw Si Kongchen¡¯s attention, so that Kong Qingming and his people would have enough time to react if their action failed. She successfully attracted the attention of Si Kongchen and the others while Kong Qingming¡¯s mission turned out to be effortless. Someone from Huaxia Base had even offered him help.


    At the moment, Si Kongchen was launching fierce attacks on the zombie crowd. He kept releasing his fire power to burn the zombies. Of course, his level-eight power was causing severe damage.


    Fire power was always highly effective in battles. As a level-eight being, he could easily throw out a giant fireball and make it explode like a missile. In addition, the temperature of his fire was exceptionally high; it could turn earth into lava within a blink.


    Yun Meng hadn¡¯t expected that Si Kongchen would come out of the base to deal with those zombies himself. She thought he would probably send out Wei Haichao, Han Xiao, or some other people under his command. Instead, he came out himself and started throwing his fire power at the zombie crowd madly.


    He looked obviously agitated.


    Speaking of Si Kongchen¡¯s anger, Kong Qingming and the others laughed with gloat, ¡°He deserves that! He asked for it, actually. He shouldn¡¯t have tried to bring us trouble.¡±


    ¡°So this time, I¡¯ll first get into Si Kongchen¡¯s place to try and find out his next plan. You guys can look somewhere else, such as the offices of Han Xiao, Wei Haichao, and the other chairmen of the base. They must know about Si Kongchen¡¯s new plan as well,¡± Yun Meng gave her suggestion as she looked at Kong Qingming and asked, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    Kong Qingming nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯m fine with it. But do be careful, and don¡¯t get too close to Si Kongchen. He¡¯s a level-eight man after all. Your invisibility might be ineffective against him.¡±


    ¡°I understand,¡± Yun Meng nodded and said.


    Next, the four of them split up and sneaked into Huaxia Base again to gather the information they needed.


    Si Kongchen and his people soon cleaned out the ten-thousand zombies. However, he didn¡¯t find the level-seven zombie that he thought would be on the scene. Standing on a hill, he narrowed his eyes and looked around. Then, he turned back to question Wei Haichao, ¡°Where¡¯s that level-seven zombie?¡±


    Wei Haichao was looking around as well. On hearing Si Kongchen¡¯s question, he realized that the former was probably unhappy. But in fact, Si Kongchen had already given vent to some of his anger. So, despite how sour he sounded, he was feeling slightly better than before.


    Wei Haichao turned his head from side to side, saying with confusion, ¡°This is weird. How come not even a level-five zombie exists among such a large crowd? It¡¯s probably hiding somewhere.¡±


    The zombies below level-seven couldn¡¯t possibly summon such a large crowd of zombies. Si Kongchen was, of course, aware of that. He wanted to know where the high-leveled zombie was.


    ¡°Find it! It couldn¡¯t have gone far!¡± He gave Wei Haichao an order with a cold voice.


    ¡°I get it! If it hasn¡¯t run away, we¡¯ll certainly find it,¡± Wei Haichao nodded and left quickly. He was confident, believing that he would be able to find at least some traces of that level-seven zombie. However, he soon realized that he was wrong. He searched through five miles round but failed to find any trace of any level-seven zombie.


    With a frown, he gazed into the distance, wondering if the level-seven zombie had left already. He had nature power, so all the plants within miles surrounding him were his ears and eyes. Through them, he could sense every living being in that area. However, he never sensed any trace of any level-seven zombie, even though he had taken a few circles in that area and his search had covered a wide range.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a special zombie that can hide all its traces,¡± Wei Haichao murmured to himself as he turned and went back to Si Kongchen.


    Si Kongchen wasn¡¯t angry when he heard from Wei Haichao that the zombie couldn¡¯t be found. Instead, he looked at the latter blandly and snorted, ¡°It ran away long ago, yet you still bothered to find it.¡±


    Wei Haichao immediately stared at him with discontentment, saying, ¡°If you already knew that it had run away, why did you still send me to look for it?¡±


    Si Kongchen didn¡¯t say anything but turned back to the base and disappeared. Wei Haichao didn¡¯t know what to say either.


    On the other side of Huaxia Base, Yun Meng sneaked into Si Kongchen¡¯s office building, avoiding the people walking in the hall. It took her a while to find his office.


    She didn¡¯t go inside, because the door was closed. Before finding the information she needed, she could not expose herself. Therefore, she left the office to search the rest of the building.


    As Yun Meng and Kong Qingming were performing their task, Lin Qiao was upgrading her zombie soldiers using the nuclei that Mo Yan gave her while waiting for Huaxia Base¡¯s next move. The threat from Huaxia Base was the reason that she upgraded her army. However, Si Kongchen had been extra quiet recently. No actions had been taken by him at all.


    Lin Qiao used the time to upgrade all medium-leveled zombies under her command. Currently, she had about eighty level-six zombies in her army. In the meantime, she made a trip to West Lake and brought back the ones above level-three from the crowd of zombies that were kept in that area. After returning to the base, she threw those zombies into the training ground as well.


    The zombie army had grown larger recently. Currently, the number of zombie soldiers had reached about seven-thousand.


    After Yun Meng left for Huaxia Base, Lin Qiao had sent Old Guo to the army. The army required at least one high-leveled zombie to maintain order. Lin Qiao herself visited the army for inspection only occasionally. After all, she still had other work to do for the base. Lin Feng would go through everything first and then pass the work that needed to be done by Lin Qiao herself to her.


    That day, Lin Wenwen came to Lin Qiao¡¯s office to deliver the research materials that had gone through the second round of screening. She came in and saw Lin Qiao, but before she could say anything, darkness came over her eyes.

 Chapter 1404 - The Marvelous Teng

    Lin Qiao heard Lin Wenwen coming in, so she raised her head to look at the latter. It was then that she saw her suddenly lower her head and cover her forehead with a hand, pausing near the door.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with her?¡± Lin Qiao glanced at the two kids who were sitting on the sofa while asking.


    Teng and Wu Yueling, who had been playing on the sofa, both turned to look at Lin Wenwen. On hearing Lin Qiao¡¯s question, they turned to her and shook their heads. They didn¡¯t have the answer either.


    Lin Wenwen didn¡¯t say anything but stood there with her head lowered for a few minutes. After that, she slowly raised her head and waved at the kids as she walked to Lin Qiao with a frown. The latter was sitting in the chair and looking at her. As Lin Wenwen seemed fine and clear-minded, she asked, ¡°What have you seen?¡±


    Lin Wenwen walked to her desk, pulled over a chair, and sat down on the other side of the desk. She nodded as she put the files in her hands on the desk. After that, she started talking with a complicated look, ¡°Emm¡­ I did see something¡­ Give me a second¡­¡±


    Lin Qiao took over the files and then said curiously, ¡°Just tell me what you saw. I¡¯ll help you sort it out.¡±


    Lin Wenwen raised her head to look at Lin Qiao and said, ¡°I saw you¡­ You looked weird. You were¡­ attacking our base.¡±


    Lin Qiao knitted her brows slightly when she heard that and said, ¡°Did I look like a real zombie?¡±


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, ¡°Yes. You didn¡¯t only look like a real zombie, but also had black marks all over your face¡­ You know what that is, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Judging by Lin Qiao¡¯s question, Lin Wenwen figured that she must have realized something already.


    Lin Qiao sighed as she glanced at Teng and said, ¡°Since you¡¯ve seen it, I¡¯m not gonna keep it secret from you. I can¡¯t stay up here for long.¡±


    ¡°Up here?¡± Lin Wenwen was first confused by the words she used, but something soon crossed her mind. ¡°Are you going back down to the underground space? What will happen to you?¡±


    Lin Qiao looked at her and stayed silent for a short while. After that, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone else about this. My body has indeed been in an abnormal condition lately. After all, it doesn¡¯t really belong to me. Its zombie nature still exists, and I think it¡¯s waking up.¡±


    Lin Wenwen spent a few seconds gawking at Lin Qiao. Then, she slightly widened her eyes to look at Lin Qiao and said uncertainly, ¡°Are you talking about Lu Tianyu¡¯s zombie nature?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°It has shown up twice¡­ I need to find a way to eliminate it. Now isn¡¯t the time yet, though.¡±


    After all, Huaxia Base was casting its greedy eyes on All Beings Base. Her base might suffer severe losses if she left at this time. She had to wait until Huaxia Base was no longer a problem. After that, she would find a place far away from all human bases to deal with Lu Tianyu¡¯s zombie nature.


    ¡°Can you do that?¡± Lin Wenwen looked at her with concern and said, ¡°That¡¯s the instinct of this body. It¡¯s gonna be hard to remove it, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    It was too abstract, like mind-control. It must be very difficult. How was Lin Qiao supposed to do that? Did she need to create a mental world and then fight the zombie nature there using her will power? Would it be like a VR game?


    Lin Wenwen figured it should be a spiritual war.


    She herself had never experienced anything like that, so she couldn¡¯t tell what it would feel like. However, she was very worried about her sister. It would be a disaster if her sister lost to Lu Tianyu¡¯s zombie nature.


    Sensing the complicated and worried look in Lin Wenwen¡¯s eyes, Lin Qiao gave her a smile and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I, your sister, at least still have an undamaged soul. I¡¯ve fought it twice. It¡¯s not as strong as you think.¡±


    She made it sound quite easy, because she didn¡¯t want Lin Wenwen to worry. But in fact, when the zombie nature showed up the second time, she had clearly felt that it was much stronger than the first time.


    She couldn¡¯t tell that to Lin Wenwen though.


    At that moment, Teng, who was sitting on the sofa, abruptly turned to Lin Wenwen and said, ¡°Aunty, don¡¯t worry. Mama is going to be fine.¡±


    Lin Wenwen looked at the boy and said to him curiously, ¡°Eh? Do you know about it so well?¡±


    Teng nodded as he turned back to continue his game with Wu Yueling without saying anything else to Lin Wenwen. As the boy wasn¡¯t continuing the conversation with her, Lin Wenwen bewilderedly turned back to Lin Qiao and said, ¡°He didn¡¯t seem to worry about you at all. Why?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°But I think he knows about my body better than I do. I will probably need his help.¡±


    At that point, Teng said loudly to his Mama while leaning forward to look at Wu Yueling¡¯s drawing, ¡°Mama, you can put me at the bottom of your lake when you fight the zombie inside you. There will be two of us against the zombie alone. We¡¯ll certainly win.¡±


    ¡°Can you do that?¡± Lin Wenwen glanced at the boy and then turned back to Lin Qiao and said with surprise.


    Lin Qiao was surprised as well. She tilted her head to look at Teng and asked, ¡°Will that work?¡±


    With his back to the two of them, the boy responded confidently, ¡°Sure! So, don¡¯t worry!¡±


    Lin Wenwen gave the boy another glance with confusion before twirling back to Lin Qiao, ¡°Where is that confidence from?¡±


    ¡°Well, if he says I¡¯ll be fine, I guess I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Lin Qiao smiled and said, ¡°After all, if it wasn¡¯t for him, I¡¯d have been gone for good two years ago.¡±


    Lin Wenwen felt a little speechless.


    The worst thing that had happened two years ago was Lin Qiao¡¯s death. Recalling how everybody felt when it happened, Lin Wenwen started feeling a little depressed. However, she soon adjusted her emotions, and then she realized something shocking. ¡°Eh? Was he the reason why you came back to life wearing this zombie¡¯s skin?¡±


    Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°In fact, my space originally belonged to him. He was still a fetus back then. I don¡¯t know how, but when I detonated myself, he activated the space, and then the space absorbed both our minds. After that, we ended up in the body of Lu Tianyu, who was freshly dead, by chance.¡±


    Lin Wenwen even opened her mouth slightly with surprise. After spending a few seconds in a daze, she said, ¡°Whoa! Really? Had he actually done that to protect you when he was still a fetus?¡±


    She couldn¡¯t have imagined that the little boy was capable of something like that when he was still a fetus!

 Chapter 1405 - Deal with It in the Old Way

    Lin Qiao glanced at Teng smilingly and then said to Lin Wenwen, ¡°He remembered the past only recently. Before he was born, he didn¡¯t remember a thing, and neither did I.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and he was a big vine plant,¡± Lin Wenwen laughed.


    Lin Qiao opened the files that Lin Wenwen brought and changed the topic, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s stop talking about me. You¡¯ve seen it already, so you should know that we need to speed up here. I really need to seize the time to finish Si Kongchen off as soon as possible. Then, I can deal with Lu Tianyu, who has become a zombie but can still create troubles.¡±


    Hopefully, Lu Tianyu wouldn¡¯t hinder her in her war against Si Kongchen.


    ¡°How do you plan to deal with Si Kongchen?¡± Lin Wenwen asked, ¡°He¡¯s not taking any action now. I wonder how he¡¯s going to attack Sea City Base.¡±


    Lin Qiao glanced at her and said, ¡°I¡¯m not gonna wait for him to make a move. To get rid of him as soon as possible, we¡¯ll have to do it in the old way.¡±


    ¡°What old way?¡± Lin Wenwen didn¡¯t get her meaning.


    ¡°Do you remember how we tore Earth Dragon Base and Hidden Cloud City Base down?¡± Lin Qiao spoke with a bland tone.


    On hearing that, Lin Wenwen instantly had her eyes glowing. ¡°Are you talking about eliminating their heads?¡± She figured out what Lin Qiao meant this time.


    Lin Wenwen knew that Lin Qiao wouldn¡¯t want to hurt the innocent people in Huaxia Base. She would probably start from the army or the leaders of the base. However, in the next second, she continued with confusion, ¡°But, Si Kongchen is at level-eight as well, so killing him isn¡¯t going to be easy, is it? You are at the same level as him, and you¡¯re probably stronger than him. However, if he tries to run, will you be able to stop him? You can¡¯t kill him with one single move, can you?¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t give him any time to run,¡± said Lin Qiao with confidence. She planned to drag him into her space. Inside, he would be able to run as fast as he wanted but would never be able to escape the fate of being killed by her. Lin Qiao had killed quite a few level-eight beings in her space. She would have killed Si Kongchen in that way long ago if she weren¡¯t busy finding out the truth about those underground creatures.


    She had planned to let Wu Chengyue deal with Si Kongchen while she herself focused on studying underground creatures and the underground space. As long as she stayed in her base, the base would be safe, no matter what Si Kongchen might attempt to do.


    She couldn¡¯t leave her base for the time being, because once she left, the people and zombies in the base might face dangers, even though there were tens of level-seven zombies in the zombie army currently. After all, Si Kongchen still possessed the drug that could boost one¡¯s power within a very short time.


    Also, she firmly believed that Huaxia Base had more level seven and eight members than people thought. Si Kongchen was the only known level-eight being in Huaxia Base. Judging from the fact that he intended to destroy the Sea City Base, those advanced weapons were clearly not the only force that could support his future actions.


    Zombies were normally stronger than human superpower possessors in the same level. However, a zombie couldn¡¯t defeat a human superpower possessor who was a level higher than itself. Also, the drug that Huaxia Base possessed was indeed able to boost one¡¯s power rapidly.


    Huaxia was a large base. Among the two million people who lived in it, some powerful ones who had a grievance against Si Kongchen¡¯s aggressive and violent rule certainly existed. Hence, once he died, both his supporters and opponents would make moves. By then, Huaxia Base would certainly fall into chaos. Whatever happened after that wouldn¡¯t even have anything to do with All Beings Base.


    Sensing her sister¡¯s confidence, Lin Wenwen asked, ¡°If you are confident that you can kill him, why didn¡¯t you do it earlier? Why did you wait so long?¡±


    Lin Qiao pointed at the file in her hands with her chin while saying, ¡°I¡¯ve been busy dealing with those underground creatures.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± said Lin Wenwen.


    ¡°Huaxia Base is such a troublemaker though,¡± she continued with, ¡°I can¡¯t believe they have even visited the underground world and done things there. They caused trouble and then refused to deal with it, yet all they want is to destroy the other bases. I wonder what those people are thinking about. None of the other bases has done any harm to them, right?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re strong, so their ambition exploded. They want to rule the world using violence. The desire for control is a part of the ill-nature of humans, and the apocalypse reinforced it. It¡¯s a normal thing, actually.¡± Lin Qiao knew the answer.


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Lin Wenwen responded without knowing what to say.


    ¡°The underground creature problem was indeed caused by Huaxia Base, so we have another reason to bring them down now,¡± Lin Qiao continued while the look in her eyes grew cold.


    ¡°According to the latest message, those underground creatures will finish upgrading in about three days. After that, they¡¯ll probably go rampant even without the drug. The drug that Huaxia Base has can drive them crazy, but even without it, they still won¡¯t be easy to deal with. The good thing is they won¡¯t be able to find human bases easily, unless someone is guiding them,¡± said Lin Wenwen, ¡°When do you plan to kill Si Kongchen?¡±


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and said, ¡°I¡¯ll take off tomorrow. Apart from killing Si Kongchen, I plan to do more. Who doesn¡¯t know how to start trouble? It¡¯s just that my purpose isn¡¯t the same as his.¡±


    While speaking, she twisted her lips in a small smile. That smile wasn¡¯t like her usual warm or cold smile. Instead, it expressed an intent of killing. Lin Wenwen recognized that smile, even though her sister was now wearing a different face. Ever since she was a little girl, she had known that someone would be suffering once her sister smiled like that.


    ¡°Tomorrow? When will you come back then? What are you going to do to those underground creatures after they completed upgrading?¡± Lin Wenwen asked.


    ¡°It depends,¡± said Lin Qiao, ¡°I¡¯ll be back in two days if everything goes well, or ten days if something stalls me. I think I¡¯ll get back in time. However, I probably won¡¯t be able to help you guys deal with those underground creatures, because I need to find a way to bring those weapons that can hurt underground creatures effectively back from Huaxia Base.¡±


    Lin Wenwen felt a little speechless. She had a feeling that his sister¡¯s main task was to steal those weapons from Huaxia Base. After all, All Beings Base didn¡¯t yet have any powerful weapons to protect itself from the underground creatures.


    Sea City Base had developed some catmint weapons, but the catmint that Lin Wenwen had brought back wasn¡¯t enough to support any weapon of mass destruction, and could only be used to produce some bullets or small bombs. The current catmint weapons that Sea City Base possessed would be able to fend against a small group of underground creatures, but not a massive herd.


    Lin Qiao read the look on Lin Wenwen¡¯s face. ¡°It¡¯d be a waste if I don¡¯t get those weapons. The problem was started by Huaxia Base, so it¡¯ll be fair for us to solve it using their weapons.¡±

 Chapter 1406 - Cause Trouble in Huaxia Base

    Lin Qiao believed that since the problem was caused by Huaxia Base, it would be fair to use their weapons to solve it, even though she was planning on stealing those weapons. Lin Wenwen found her point sensible, but she soon thought of something else. ¡°Does my brother-in-law know about your body condition?¡±


    Lin Qiao felt weird hearing Lin Wenwen call Wu Chengyue ¡®brother-in-law¡¯. Her relationship with that man was really complicated. She hadn¡¯t announced her relationship with him yet, so it was too early for Lin Wenwen to call him ¡®brother-in-law¡¯.


    With that weird feeling, Lin Qiao said, ¡°He knows about that, but he doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m going to kill Si Kongchen.¡±


    Some words he had said was exactly what woke up the zombie nature inside her body. He was the reason that Lin Qiao now had to fight Lu Tianyu the zombie over her body.


    Learning that Wu Chengyue had known about Lin Qiao¡¯s current situation, Lin Wenwen felt slightly relieved. ¡°Oh! Are you going to deal with the problem of your body alone, or are you going to take him? Won¡¯t he be worried if you decide to go alone? If you fail¡­ Eh, I mean, you won¡¯t fail.¡±


    Lin Wenwen was worried about Lin Qiao, even though she didn¡¯t say so. What if her sister failed and returned as a crazy zombie?


    Accidents could always happen!


    Lin Qiao promised Lin Wenwen that she would be fine repeatedly. It took her a while to ease the latter¡¯s worry and send her out of the office.


    The next day, before dawn, Lin Qiao left the base together with Duan Juan, who served as her driver. No one else was in the car. Apart from those zombies stationed in Lin Qiao¡¯s space, they were the only two performing the task.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to tell Chief Wu about this action?¡± While driving, Duan Juan asked Lin Qiao.


    Sitting on the front seat, the latter rested her head on the back of the seat and closed her eyes while folding her arms. ¡°Why should I tell him?¡± she said, ¡°I can do this myself. What does this have to do with him?¡±


    Duan Juan couldn¡¯t help but give her a glance, saying, ¡°Isn¡¯t your relationship hitting a new level now? How come you guys still keep secrets from each other?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not keeping a secret from him,¡± Lin Qiao responded with, ¡°I don¡¯t need his permission to do things. Do I need to tell him about everything that I plan to do?¡±


    Duan Juan thought for a moment and then shook her head, ¡°Em, no.¡±


    ¡°Even married people need privacy. Besides, our relationship isn¡¯t formal yet.¡± Lin Qiao had made the decision about her relationship with Wu Chengyue, but she believed it was still not the time to say that out loud. Last time, she acted aggressively to Wu Chengyue only because she was affected by the zombie inside her.


    Duan Juan glanced at her again, saying, ¡°Seriously sister, when are you going to make up your mind? You already have feelings for him, don¡¯t you? And Chief Wu is serious about you. I think you guys make a great couple. Why do you still not want to accept him fully?¡±


    Duan Juan knew about Lin Qiao¡¯s past. Sensing her attitude, she immediately figured out the reason.


    It had been nearly two years since Wu Chengyue started pursuing Lin Qiao. He was a patient one; he had been making efforts the whole time while she was always trying to avoid him. She had even given birth to his son, but she still didn¡¯t want to face it.


    ¡°My relationship isn¡¯t a problem. What about you? You¡¯re not a little girl anymore.¡± Lin Qiao finally opened her eyes and glanced at Duan Juan as she threw out a question. The latter stayed silent, regretting bringing up the topic.


    She felt frustrated when she heard Lin Qiao say that she wasn¡¯t a little girl anymore. As a zombie who would never grow old, Lin Qiao had the look of a twenty-year-old girl. In comparison, Duan Juan, as a woman in her thirties, was indeed not young.


    She didn¡¯t look old, but she wasn¡¯t a little girl anymore indeed. Lin Qiao, who used to be at the same age as her, had switched to a younger body. About that, Duan Juan was very jealous of her.


    ¡°I¡­ I haven¡¯t met the right person yet,¡± said Duan Juan helplessly. Thinking about her real age made her a little unhappy.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°You¡¯re going to become a single middle-aged woman if you can¡¯t find the right person soon.¡±


    Duan Juan honestly didn¡¯t know what to say. Anyhow, she didn¡¯t want to talk to Lin Qiao anymore.


    Soon, they arrived at Huaxia Base, and Lin Qiao told Duan Juan to wait on the outside. She planned to enter the base alone, as she believed that she was able to accomplish the mission by herself.


    She turned herself invisible and then sneaked into Huaxia Base. Instead of going straight to Si Kongchen, she moved toward Yun Meng and found her in about ten minutes. Yun Meng was on top of a building, also invisible.


    Not even a shred of shadow could be seen on the roof, but Lin Qiao could locate Yun Meng by the latter¡¯s scent. She walked toward a corner and stood there, glancing at some small cement pieces near the mottled wall. Abruptly, she kicked on a cement piece, which was smaller than her fist.


    Clap! The cement piece flew across the air and then landed on the ground.


    The invisible Yun Meng, who was standing by the wall, quickly turned her head around and looked behind her. After that, she heard her Chief¡¯s voice, ¡°I threw the stone at you because I didn¡¯t want to startle you.¡±


    Yun Meng immediately showed her face and looked where the voice came from. Meanwhile, Lin Qiao showed her face as well. Standing beside Yun Meng, she nodded. They were no longer invisible, but their vibes were still perfectly hidden. They didn¡¯t want to be spotted by Si Kongchen or the other enemies.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Yun Meng looked at her and asked.


    ¡°Have you found out what Si Kongchen plans to do next?¡± Lin Qiao threw a question back.


    Yun Meng nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ve roughly learned about his new plan. I think he¡¯s going to attack us directly. Currently, he¡¯s gathering the army, including the armed force and superpowered force. They haven¡¯t taken action yet.¡±


    ¡°Is he waiting for something?¡± Lin Qiao thought for a moment and asked.


    Yun Meng nodded again, ¡°Yes, he said he¡¯s waiting for those underground creatures to finish upgrading. Those creatures will naturally run rampant. He¡¯ll try to draw them to the other bases, and after that, he¡¯ll take the opportunity to attack Sea City Base and our base.¡±


    On hearing that, Lin Qiao sneered and said, ¡°He¡¯s come up with a new plan within such a short time. But sadly, I¡¯m here to ruin his plan again!¡±


    Yun Meng looked at her as she thought for a moment and said, ¡°I knew you¡¯re here to make trouble. What are you going to do?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to kill Si Kongchen,¡± said Lin Qiao coldly.

 Chapter 1407 - Sneak into Huaxia City

    Upon hearing Lin Qiao say that she intended to kill Si Kongchen, Yun Meng paused briefly with surprise before she could react. ¡°Eh?¡± she said, ¡°Why do you suddenly want to kill him?¡±


    Looking at her, Lin Qiao didn¡¯t tell her about the true reason. ¡°I just think that by killing him, we can solve this whole Huaxia problem as soon as possible. I don¡¯t fancy being someone¡¯s target.¡±


    ¡°So, why didn¡¯t you take the convenience to kill Si Kongchen the last time when you were here destroying that secret lab?¡± Yun Meng looked at her and asked.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent for a few seconds and then responded, ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that back then.¡±


    At that time, all she had been thinking about was the underground world and those underground creatures that were running rampant all over the world. She did consider killing Si Kongchen, but back then, she didn¡¯t have such a strong motive yet. She believed that he wouldn¡¯t be able to do any severe harm to her base, unless he decided to utilize all his power against her. Recently, she discovered the problem of her own body, and that made her a little anxious. Only after that had she decided to kill him.


    She couldn¡¯t tell how long she would need to solve her own problem. Also, she had a feeling that once Huaxia Base started a serious war against Sea City Base, Wu Chengyue would be busy dealing with Si Kongchen and would have no spare time to protect All Beings Base.


    Therefore, Lin Qiao had to find out a way to solve the Huaxia problem before leaving her base to fix her own problem. She had no idea what would happen to the people in All Beings Base if she left them under the current circumstances. She didn¡¯t intend to tell Yun Meng about these because it would be difficult explaining it all to the latter.


    ¡°You really have a bad memory¡­ Is it because of the memory loss that you had earlier?¡± Yun Meng rolled her eyes.


    Lin Qiao did not know how to respond to that.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s stop talking about that. Oh, um, do you know where they keep those new weapons that can be used against underground creatures?¡± She quickly changed the topic.


    Yun Meng thought for a moment and then nodded, ¡°Yeah, I have some clues. But I haven¡¯t started looking for those weapons, so I don¡¯t have any details yet. We might need to ask some other people about them.¡±


    Lin Qiao knew that she was talking about the ones under Xie Dong¡¯s command, who had been inserted in Huaxia Base.


    ¡°Maybe you can wait here while I go and find out,¡± Yun Meng looked at Lin Qiao and said.


    ¡°Go,¡± Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°But I¡¯m not going to wait for you. While you¡¯re looking for those weapons, I¡¯ll be taking care of Si Kongchen, the troublemaker. Come back here and wait for me when your job is done. I¡¯ll come back as soon as I finish.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Yun Meng said.


    ¡°So, let¡¯s start!¡± After saying that, Lin Qiao turned and disappeared from where she was, and so did the other.


    At that time, Si Kongchen was sitting in his office, reading a stack of files on his desk with a frown. The sofa and the tea table before it were both covered by all kinds of files as well. Wei Haichao, his assistant, and Si Kongchen¡¯s assistant were all sitting on the sofa, reading files carefully.


    ¡°Won¡¯t those stolen files cause us problems, even though we have copies? It was the woman from All Beings Base who stole them, wasn¡¯t it? Will she use those files against us? Maybe she¡¯ll disclose what we¡¯ve done,¡± Wei Haichao asked Si Kongchen while searching through the files for the information he needed.


    ¡°So what? The change of the underground environment was caused by Professor Bai indeed, but he didn¡¯t do that on purpose. That was an accident. We¡¯ve been trying to find out a way to eliminate those underground creatures, haven¡¯t we? We¡¯re trying to fix the problem. However, that woman destroyed our lab. It wasn¡¯t our fault,¡± Si Kongchen blamed everything on Lin Qiao.


    Wei Haichao raised his brows and then nodded, ¡°Well, I guess you¡¯re right.¡±


    ¡°Cut the crap and read those files!¡± Si Kongchen threw the file in his hand on his desk as he stood up and walked out of the office.


    Wei Haichao sighed while murmuring to himself, ¡°Why do we have to read these? He could have simply summoned those researchers and asked them about what he wants to know. Those people know more than we do, right?¡±


    His assistant responded to him with a weak voice, ¡°I guess Chief was worried that some among those people might be moles. Ever since his last plan was leaked, he¡¯s not been trusting anyone.¡±


    ¡°It was his own problem that the plan leaked,¡± said Wei Haichao blandly.


    ¡°Shh! Boss, don¡¯t say that! He¡¯d get upset if he heard it,¡± Wei Haichao¡¯s assistant shushed him.


    The drug that was supposed to be used on underground creatures had been destroyed by Lin Qiao along with the underground lab. Professor Bai was responsible for keeping the drug safe, so Si Kongchen didn¡¯t have it. Hence, he had no choice but to find the production method of the drug and produce another batch.


    That was the reason why those men were reading material copies in Si Kongchen¡¯s office. The original files had been stolen by Lin Qiao after all.


    By the time Lin Qiao came following Si Kongchen¡¯s vibe, Si Kongchen was standing by a window at the end of the hallway, smoking. He was thinking that since he had failed to spread the virus inside Sea City Base, maybe he should make those underground creatures crazier than he previously planned. He wanted those creatures to charge at Sea City Bas together like a tide. He doubted that Wu Chengyue would have the power to fend them off.


    Wu Chengyue might think that those underground creatures wouldn¡¯t be able to find human bases by themselves. However, that was wrong. The higher-leveled ones would lead the newly upgraded ones toward the humans once the upgrade was completed. That was one thing that Si Kongchen had recently found out about from those files. Professor Bai might have known about it, but he never mentioned it to him.


    After learning about that fact, Si Kongchen felt that the failure of his original plan was no big deal. While smoking, he imagined himself flattening Sea City Base. Unwittingly, he put on a proud and perky look.


    Lin Qiao spent a short while standing by his side and observing him. She couldn¡¯t read the mind of a level-eight being, but based on the man¡¯s facial expression, she could guess out what he was thinking at the moment. It was probably about attacking Sea City Base. Judging by the complacent look on his face, he was clearly confident about winning.


    Abruptly, Si Kongchen turned his head and looked around, looking slightly alert. Lin Qiao hurriedly turned her eyes away and stepped slightly to the side.


    It turned out that Si Kongchen was able to sense her presence. She really needed to be more careful.

 Chapter 1408 - Detonate Two Arsenals

    Si Kongchen was watchful. He couldn¡¯t sense Lin Qiao when there was a distance between her and himself, but once she came closer, he would definitely detect her. Therefore, it might not be easy for her to directly bring him into her space and kill him.


    She had to find a way to distract or agitate him.


    Lin Qiao watched Si Kongchen finish the cigarette and then head back toward his office. She followed behind him, keeping a distance from him. She didn¡¯t follow him all the way into the office, because the office was only about a hundred square meters. He might detect her if she went in.


    She couldn¡¯t release her power into the office either, as all level-eight beings were highly sensitive to superpower energies and vibes and could detect even a slight amount of energy. That was why Si Kongchen was able to sense Lin Qiao¡¯s presence when the latter was invisible.


    To distract him, Lin Qiao had to agitate him. How was she supposed to do that though? Since she couldn¡¯t touch him or show her face, she decided to carry out some destruction in his base.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and then turned and left. She walked to the end of the hallway and then jumped out of the window, heading toward one military training ground of Huaxia Base.


    The inner sector of Huaxia Base covered an area tens of miles squared. However, not many people lived there; most of the area was used for military or scientific purposes. Apart from the few different typed military training grounds in the inner sector, some other training grounds existed in the outer sector, which covered about two-hundred square miles.


    Lin Qiao headed toward a military training ground in the inner sector. After arriving at the training ground, she caught a level-three soldier and forced him to give her the locations of the arsenals and the artillery troop before killing him. Next, she visited the artillery troop and found the arsenals. Many soldiers were in that area, but no one discovered her presence.


    About an hour later, Lin Qiao showed up on top of a utility pole hundreds of meters from the military camp. Looking at the camp, she pressed a button on the remote control held in her hand.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    A series of explosions was suddenly heard, and the earth started quaking.


    Si Kongchen and the other few men, who were sitting in the Chief¡¯s office in the administration building in the inner sector, raised their heads to look outside the window simultaneously.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Si Kongchen furrowed her brows, looking outside the window.


    Wei Haichao put down the files and stood up, walking to the window. Standing before the window, he looked around and said, ¡°This is loud. Did the arsenals explode?¡±


    The explosions hadn¡¯t stopped yet, and the sounds seemed to be from exactly where the arsenals were located.


    Wei Haichao spent a short while looking outside. Then, he abruptly turned back and said to Si Kongchen, ¡°It¡¯s from the military area in the inner sector!¡±


    As he was speaking, Si Kongchen stood up and walked toward the door in big steps, obviously in haste. By the time Wei Haichao came out of the office, he was already gone. He could sense that the latter had already arrived in the military area.


    Wei Haichao quickly headed to the military area. When he saw Si Kongchen again, the latter was already wearing a very sullen look with a dangerous light shining out of his eyes. The former couldn¡¯t help but bury his forehead in his hands after he learned what was happening.


    Not far away, the explosion was still continuing, as though a mining cluster had been detonated.


    Si Kongchen and Wei Haichao could do nothing more than watch, because what was exploding was an arsenal of that military area, where all the bombs were kept!


    The soldiers were desperately running for life. While running, they were also trying their best to bring away all objects that might detonate.


    They made efforts to reduce the losses as much as possible.


    Wei Haichao turned to glance at Si Kongchen with a frown. As he thought, the man was black as thunder at the moment. A fire of rage had almost burst out of his eyes.


    ¡°What the hell is going on here? Tell me!¡± said Si Kongchen through clenched teeth. He was pointing the finger at the man who was in charge of that military area. The man came over as soon as he sensed Si Kongchen¡¯s presence.


    ¡°Chief! We don¡¯t know what happened! It-it just, blew up!¡± The level-six commander said to Si Kongchen in a fluster.


    Si Kongchen glared at him with cold eyes, without saying anything. Under his gaze, the commander shrank his neck, not even daring to look at him.


    ¡°Go and find out about the cause! Also, can you stop the explosion?¡± Wei Haichao asked the man with a frown.


    The commander shook his head, saying, ¡°We¡¯ve removed all ammunition near the explosion range, but we can¡¯t stop the current explosions¡­¡±


    They had to wait for the explosion to stop. The arsenal was blown open and all the ammunition kept inside was exposed. The explosion wouldn¡¯t stop until all those were detonated. Therefore, all they could do at the moment was just watch the explosions continue.


    ¡°We¡¯ve already started searching. However, the buildings near the arsenal have all collapsed, including the monitor room. So, we might not be able to find out the cause within a short time,¡± the commander said with a trembling voice while wiping the cold sweat on his forehead.


    ¡°How come that sounds a little familiar to me?¡± said Si Kongchen with a frosty voice.


    On hearing that, Wei Haichao blinked and turned to him, ¡°Are you talking about¡­ No way! Her again?¡±


    As the two of them were making a guess, another series of explosions were heard from the outer sector. Si Kongchen and Wei Haichao immediately turned to that direction and listened to the sounds carefully. It was another military area!


    ¡®She¡¯s gonna regret this!¡® Si Kongchen thought while knitting his brows. Within a blink, he disappeared from where he was.


    Before following him away, Wei Haichao turned to the commander, who was standing on the side with his back hunched, and said, ¡°Keep the situation under control and stop the explosion as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The commander hurriedly nodded and responded. What else could he do but follow every word his boss said?


    The fire of anger in Si Kongchen¡¯s heart was growing stronger and stronger. The first arsenal was still booming while the second arsenal detonated. It was obvious that whoever caused the explosions was trying to create trouble!


    Si Kongchen was sure that it was the woman from All Beings Base who did this. His secret underground research base was destroyed in the exact same way. Who else but her could hide so perfectly from his radar?

 Chapter 1409 - Do You like Surprises?

    As the explosions of the two arsenals hit Si Kongchen into a fury, Lin Qiao sneaked into the third arsenal. She was able to sense his location while he couldn¡¯t detect her presence. Therefore, when Si Kongchen headed to the east, she moved to the west, and when he turned left, she headed right.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Waves of thunderous explosions could be heard from every corner of Huaxia Base.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±


    ¡°Is our base under attack?¡±


    The residents in the base looked around with surprise, making guesses about what was happening. Judging by the earth-shaking explosion sounds, something serious must be happening.


    As three arsenals were blown up one after another, Si Kongchen almost exploded with anger as well. He wasn¡¯t able to catch Lin Qiao while she was showing no sign of stopping.


    She was a level-eight being who had invisibility; not even an army could stop her. Even Si Kongchen himself had no way to locate her, let alone those lower-leveled ones.


    ¡°Is she going to blow up all our military areas?¡± Wei Haichao asked Si Kongchen with a deep frown.


    ¡°This is ridiculous! Why is she doing this? Is she trying to stop me from attacking Sea City Base?¡± Seventy percent of the ammunition kept in the three arsenals had been detonated, and that was a heavy loss. Si Kongchen even had veins standing up under the skin near his temples. He clenched his teeth as he ragingly stared at the thick, dark smoke rising in the surroundings.


    ¡°That¡¯s possible,¡± said Wei Haichao.


    Si Kongchen¡¯s face twisted in a vicious look. That look and the veins near his temples made him look ferocious. ¡°She thinks this can stop me? That¡¯s not gonna happen!¡±


    ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Wei Haichao looked at him with confusion.


    Si Kongchen opened his mouth. However, before he could say a word, Han Xiao showed up by his side with a sullen face, saying, ¡°The plantation base is destroyed too.¡±


    Si Kongchen still stayed silent, so Han Xiao continued, ¡°And, our weapons for underground creatures which were kept secretly have all been stolen.¡±


    Si Kongchen still stayed silent. Wei Haichao didn¡¯t know what to say either. They couldn¡¯t describe the feelings that they were having at the moment.


    Boom!


    ¡°Damn! That b*tch!¡± After spending quite a while in silence, Si Kongchen suddenly turned and kicked a wall.


    At that moment, Lin Qiao and Yun Meng were standing about two-hundred meters away behind Si Kongchen, smilingly watching his reaction.


    ¡°He is infuriated. You blew up his arsenals and destroyed his plantation base, and then you stole his weapons. Meanwhile, he can¡¯t do a thing to you. He can¡¯t even find you.¡± Yun Meng said to Lin Qiao with gloat.


    ¡°He messed with me first,¡± Lin Qiao clicked her tongue and said, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have done all this if he hadn¡¯t provoked me. He cast his greedy eyes on us, so he should have been prepared for the consequences. This isn¡¯t the best part of the show yet. I¡¯ll soon erase him from the world.¡±


    It was about time!


    ¡°Go and wait outside,¡± Lin Qiao turned and said to Yun Meng, ¡°Your job is done. I¡¯ll handle the rest.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Yun Meng glanced at her before flashing across the air and disappearing.


    After kicking the wall collapse, Si Kongchen said through gritted teeth, ¡°I¡¯ll find her!¡±


    ¡°Hey, are you looking for me?¡± A woman¡¯s voice was suddenly heard from behind him.


    Si Kongchen and the others immediately twirled back and saw a woman in a black military suit floating in the air. Her long hair were fluttering in the air, and her hands rested on her waist. Looking down at Si Kongchen and his men, the pretty woman wore a scornful smile.


    Lin Qiao waved an arm and generated a black fire under her feet. In the meanwhile, she looked at Si Kongchen and his men and said, ¡°How do you feel? Do you like the surprises that I presented to you?¡±


    Blowing up the underground research base was the first surprise, finding out about his entire plan and ruining it was the second, and blowing up the arsenals was the third. She had indeed presented him with three surprises.


    ¡°I-love-them!¡± Si Kongchen glared at her fiercely, clenching both fists. The icy-cold intention of killing burst from his eyes.


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome!¡± Lin Qiao responded to him with a faint smile.


    The two of them were already archenemies. Si Kongchen surely wouldn¡¯t waste time asking Lin Qiao why she did all that. He was, in fact, surprised to see her show her face.


    ¡°Great! Since you¡¯ve brought yourself to me, I think I should thank you sincerely for what you¡¯ve done.¡± He fixed his eyes on Lin Qiao and said. Once his voice faded, he raised an arm and threw a scorching fireball out.


    Lin Qiao swiftly moved to the side to dodge the fireball and then smiled at him, ¡°Oh, you really don¡¯t need to thank me. Be patient. I have more surprises for you!¡±


    While speaking, she wielded an arm and released a massive stream of black fire. The fire covered the sky and darkened the whole area. As the black fire expanded in the sky, people started running in a panic. They were worried that Lin Qiao might swing her arm and bring the fire straight to them.


    They clearly remembered what that Chief lady could do!


    As Lin Qiao had released such a vast spread of black fire, Si Kongchen quickly let out a raging fire as well. Lin Qiao¡¯s fire was cold, and his was scorching hot. Lin Qiao¡¯s fire had no temperature while Si Kongchen¡¯s fire had an extremely high temperature. The two different types of fire mixed together in the sky, looking fabulous. It was terribly dangerous though; anyone who got too close might die.


    Si Kongchen¡¯s fire suppressed Lin Qiao¡¯s fire temporarily. In the meanwhile, Si Kongchen leaped high into the sky, releasing his power through both hands and trying to press her fire down.


    However, he soon started finding it difficult, as his power failed to conquer Lin Qiao¡¯s fire. His fire couldn¡¯t overcome Lin Qiao¡¯s black fire. On the contrary, the black fire was devouring his energy.


    He immediately realized that Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t easy to deal with, and her power seemed to be suppressing his. They both had fire power, but her fire was able to absorb energy from his fire.


    Wasn¡¯t the woman new to level-eight? Si Kongchen wondered how she was able to suppress his power. He had entered level-eight before she did, so he was supposed to be stronger than her. However, no matter how much stronger he was than her, he could not resist her devouring power.


    He might have stronger energy than her, but she was able to absorb his energy!

 Chapter 1410 - Si Kongchen at Level-Nine

    The two level-eight beings floated in the sky, facing each other, battling. In the meantime, they were also doing a verbal fight.


    ¡°You¡¯re not planning to go home alive, are you? I was looking for you, and you kindly brought yourself to me!¡± While trying to suppress Lin Qiao¡¯s black fire, Si Kongchen glared at her and said loudly.


    ¡°Oh, do you think that you can make me stay here forever?¡± said Lin Qiao to him with composure, ¡°You can certainly try, though. I don¡¯t plan to leave soon anyway.¡±


    Sensing the look on her face and her tone, Si Kongchen almost coughed blood with anger. He clenched his teeth so tight as he spoke to her, ¡°What else do you want to do?¡±


    He was in such a fury that he almost exploded. However, as the real battle started, he realized that his opponent wasn¡¯t easy to deal with. After that, he restrained his impulse and forced himself to calm down. Based on what she said, he figured that she still had some further plans.


    ¡°I want you and the entire Huaxia Base to know that you aren¡¯t the ruler of the time. You guys don¡¯t have that kind of quality and power!¡± Lin Qiao erased the smile on her face and said to Si Kongchen coldly. After that, she suddenly raised an arm and sent a series of black fire streams toward him. Next, she turned herself invisible and swiftly moved toward his back.


    The fire streams flew at Si Kongchen¡¯s face at lightning speed. He hurriedly turned his body to dodge, and right after that, he abruptly turned back and moved to the side fleetingly. He sensed the danger coming from behind him, so he automatically dodged.


    Lin Qiao missed her target, so she showed her face and glanced at Si Kongchen with disappointment while knitting her brows. Something didn¡¯t seem right with him.


    She had been having that feeling since the very beginning.


    Both he and she were at level-eight, but he was able to sense her presence while she was invisible. Not even Wu Chengyue could do that.


    That was unreasonable!


    Si Kongchen either had a second superpower that allowed him to be extra sensitive or was at a higher level than he seemed to be. He was probably at the peak of level-eight, only a breath away from level-nine. Or maybe he had entered level-nine already but had been hiding his real power. Had he used that power-boosting drug already?


    After the face-to-face battle, Lin Qiao realized that killing Si Kongchen might not be as easy as she estimated. The man was probably stronger than people thought!


    Lin Qiao paused as she turned and looked at Si Kongchen.


    ¡°Roar!¡± Once she turned, an enormous, purple-red fire lion pounced on her, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws. The fire lion was generated from solid fire energy. Therefore, its teeth and claws, and even tails were all highly dangerous.


    Lin Qiao raised a hand and threw a black fireball into the lion¡¯s mouth. At the same time, she moved backward to dodge.


    ¡°Hrrr!¡± The purple-red fire lion jumped to where she was standing before, treading on the air. It caught the black fireball with its mouth and swung its head to spit it out.


    It didn¡¯t swallow the black fireball, because Si Kongchen didn¡¯t let it.


    ¡°Do you think that you can still leave? How naive!¡± At that very moment, Si Kongchen suddenly showed up before Lin Qiao¡¯s face and said to her ferociously. Next, his vibe started growing rapidly, breaking from level-eight into level-nine within a blink and also turning agitated. Within that very short span of time, he turned into a level-nine superpowered man from a level-eight one. That level-nine vibe that he gave out even made Lin Qiao feel a pressure!


    Lin Qiao reacted swiftly by moving hundreds of meters away from him with one single step.


    ¡°Wanna run? Do you think you can run?¡± Si Kongchen¡¯s face twisted with a vicious look. He glared at Lin Qiao fiercely, looking like a mad lion. If he had sharp teeth and claws, he would have bared them to threaten her.


    He lunged at Lin Qiao once he finished talking while wielding an arm. Following his move, a few enormous fire beasts showed up in the sky and jumped at Lin Qiao¡¯s black fire, tearing it with their teeth and claws.


    It only took them a few seconds to tear Lin Qiao¡¯s black fire apart.


    They miraculously tore the black fire apart! The black fire was covering the sky like a massive dark cloud, but those fire beasts tore it into pieces as though it was a piece of rag.


    As the fire broke, Lin Qiao suffered a counterforce, which gave her a swelling headache.


    She hurriedly cut off the connection between herself and the dark fire in the sky. After that, she swiftly moved to the side because a fire snake was flying at her. The snake was letting out its fork tongue, fixing its eyes on her as if she were its prey. Its rhombic eyes were filled with fire but giving out a coldness.


    Lin Qiao darted to the side and created a safe distance from Si Kongchen. As he wasn¡¯t chasing her, she looked at him with a frown and said, ¡°You¡¯ve been hiding your true power quite well. Do you think you can rule all human bases only with your level-nine power?¡±


    ¡°The weak people yield to the strong one. That¡¯s the law of nature. What¡¯s wrong about that?¡± Si Kongchen gave her a twisted smile and said.


    ¡°So, if there¡¯s someone stronger than you, will you and your base yield to it?¡± said Lin Qiao.


    Si Kongchen didn¡¯t answer her question immediately. Two seconds later, he said with scorn, ¡°Can you find someone stronger than me? Wu Chengyue? Not even his lightning power can defeat me now.¡±


    ¡°There is, of course, someone stronger than you. It lives underground. Why don¡¯t you go down there and deal with it? Don¡¯t forget that you guys created it!¡± Lin Qiao reminded him with a cold voice, ¡°A level-nine underground creature is waiting for you down there.¡±


    ¡°Why should I listen to you? Don¡¯t you underestimate me! I didn¡¯t create it. The one who created it has been killed by you. It was Professor Bai!¡± Si Kongchen didn¡¯t take Lin Qiao¡¯s words seriously and suddenly moved.


    When he made that move, Lin Qiao sensed chilliness from behind her and automatically leaped sideways. Next, she turned back to find Si Kongchen standing where she was standing before. She then twirled to the other side but didn¡¯t see him where he was supposed to be.

 Chapter 1411 - She Can’t Lick Him, So She Decided to Hide

    Si Kongchen was so fast that Lin Qiao couldn¡¯t even see his movements clearly. Just now, it was her instinct that told her to dodge. Thankfully, she could still sense his scent, or she wouldn¡¯t know how to locate him, because she could no longer detect his vibe.


    She confirmed that Si Kongchen was already at level-nine and realized that her mission would end up as a failure. She couldn¡¯t defeat him, not even if she exposed her zombie nature and fought him with all her power. Anyhow, it was not yet time for her to disclose her zombie nature. To avoid that, she could only bring half of her power into play.


    Knowing that she couldn¡¯t possibly win, Lin Qiao didn¡¯t waste any time talking to him. She dodged his attack and then entered her space. Inside her house in the space, she sat down on the couch with her brows furrowed.


    She hadn¡¯t expected that instead of killing Si Kongchen, she would break his disguise and find out that he was already at level-nine. She wondered if he had broken into that level naturally or used some kind of drug. Anyhow, neither she nor Wu Chengyue had the power to kill Si Kongchen at the moment.


    Also, Si Kongchen had exhibited his level-nine power in front of so many people. Clearly, he didn¡¯t intend to keep hiding it. Lin Qiao believed that others would hear about it soon. She didn¡¯t even need to bother to send the message back home.


    Sitting on the couch, she folded her arms, thinking about how to deal with him.


    Si Kongchen had been acting very aggressively recently. Lin Qiao now figured out why. However, after learning about the truth, she didn¡¯t know what to do.


    Si Kongchen didn¡¯t seem to take her seriously, and he was strong enough to not care about the others either. Lin Qiao wondered why he bothered to make so many complicated plans before. As a level-nine being, he could have done whatever he wanted.


    Lin Qiao had destroyed his secret research base, stolen and ruined his plan, and blown up his arsenals. He probably hated her guts by now. In such a scenario, she found him rather tolerant actually. She had done so many bad things to him, but he hadn¡¯t been reacting much.


    So, Lin Qiao guessed that he would try to destroy her base personally to vent his anger and hatred.


    Lu Tianyi came in to find Lin Qiao sitting on the couch motionlessly with a deep frown, thinking about something. ¡°What happened?¡± The look on Lin Qiao¡¯s face told him that something bad had happened.


    ¡°I just blew up a few arsenals of Huaxia Base,¡± Lin Qiao glanced at him and said.


    ¡°What? Really?¡± Lu Tianyi looked at her as he paused briefly with surprise and then said.


    Lin Qiao nodded in response.


    ¡°How come you don¡¯t look happy?¡± Lu Tianyi asked with surprise. Blowing up a few arsenals of the enemy should be a happy thing. Si Kongchen was probably infuriated again.


    ¡°Another thing¡­ Si Kongchen has just shown his level-nine power. I can¡¯t defeat him, not even if I fought him with all my power,¡± said Lin Qiao to him with a bitter face.


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± Lu Tianyi changed countenance, looking at her with shock.


    Lin Qiao hadn¡¯t been expecting that Si Kongchen was already at level-nine when she decided to piss him off. Now, the man was infuriated, and she would be facing his vengeance. She had no idea what to do.


    Maybe her decision to provoke Si Kongchen wasn¡¯t a good one, but even if she didn¡¯t do that, he would soon attack Sea City Base. Things would be even worse if she and the people from Sea City Base didn¡¯t know about his real power until then.


    It was a good thing that she knew about Si Kongchen¡¯s real power. However, she had irritated that man, and that was a huge problem!


    ¡°No wonder he¡¯s been so confident the whole time, thinking about controlling the other bases. It turns out that he is the strongest one indeed,¡± Lu Tianyi wore a bitter look as well. His facial expression was exactly the same as Lin Qiao¡¯s. They were both thinking with their brows knitted.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the only reason,¡± Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°A part of his confidence is from his advanced weapons and medicine. He thinks we can¡¯t resist those either.¡±


    Lu Tianyi thought for a moment and asked, ¡°Why are you here now? Are you hiding from him?¡±


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°Yeah, I couldn¡¯t win. What else could I do but run? He¡¯s at level-nine now. Both his speed and power have risen dramatically, and he¡¯s much stronger than I am. I can even barely run away from him, so I¡¯m hiding here. Thankfully, he can¡¯t detect me while I¡¯m in here.¡±


    ¡°I wonder what you¡¯d do if you didn¡¯t have this space,¡± said Lu Tianyi.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent. She had, indeed, made a mistake.


    On the outside, Si Kongchen floated in the air, looking around to search for Lin Qiao. As not even a trace of hers was found, he suddenly wielded an arm with an angry look and released an immense stream of purple fire.


    He sent the fire into the sky. Clearly, he hadn¡¯t forgotten that he was still in his base. He couldn¡¯t find Lin Qiao, so he released his power toward the sky to channel his anger.


    He had foreseen that the woman would hide into her space, but he still felt annoyed when it really happened.


    Si Kongchen cleaned out the dark fire in the sky and then landed back on the ground. At that time, Wei Haichao looked at him with surprise, saying, ¡°Have you broken into level-nine? When did that happen?¡±


    Si Kongchen still looked angry. On hearing Wei Haichao¡¯s question, he responded with a frosty voice, ¡°Do I need to report to you about that?¡±


    Wei Haichao was shocked by Si Kongchen¡¯s vibe. He gave a start and then shook his head, said, ¡°Oh, no, of course not!¡±


    ¡°So cut the crap! Go and clean that woman¡¯s mess!¡± Si Kongchen glared at him and then disappeared from where he was. He didn¡¯t go far away, though. He left merely to find somewhere to hide.


    He was waiting for Lin Qiao to come out of her space. He believed that he would seize her this time, even though she had invisibility. As a level-nine being, he was able to detect any living creature which possessed superpower energies near him, as long as he paid attention to the surrounding area.


    Earlier, when Lin Qiao was fighting Si Kongchen, Yun Meng, who had been sent outside Huaxia Base, had sensed the energies of both of them. She got a bad feeling, and because of that, she moved further away from Huaxia Base. She knew that the capable and smart Lin Qiao would be fine, but she was still a little worried.

 Chapter 1412 - Who’s More Patient

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    This time, Yun Meng figured that Lin Qiao might not come back anytime soon, because she could feel that Si Kongchen was staying right there, waiting for her. She thought for a moment and then decided to bring the news back to her base without Lin Qiao. In the meantime, she talked to Kong Qingming and asked him to bring the news back to Sea City Base.


    Before long, both All Beings Base and Sea City Base received the news saying that Si Kongchen had already broken into level-nine. Only until then did Wu Chengyue learn that Lin Qiao had attempted to kill Si Kongchen alone and that she was now stuck in Huaxia Base.


    ¡°She has also blown up Si Kongchen¡¯s arsenals? No wonder he is so angry that he doesn¡¯t even bother to keep hiding his level-nine power,¡± Wu Chengyue looked at Kong Qingming, who brought the news to him, sighing.


    Kong Qingming nodded and said, ¡°How come you don¡¯t look surprised at all?¡±


    Wu Chengyue furrowed his brows slightly and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been guessing that maybe he¡¯s already at level-nine. I wasn¡¯t sure though. But now, because of her, everybody knows the answer. Hasn¡¯t it ever occurred to her?¡±


    He didn¡¯t understand why Lin Qiao attempted to kill Si Kongchen alone. He thought the idea that Si Kongcheng might be at level-nine already had occurred to her as well.


    Judging by Si Kongchen¡¯s recent way of acting, he clearly possessed some kind of force, strong enough to allow him to ignore what all the others thought. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have started to show his hostility openly toward Sea City Base and All Beings Base.


    He either had developed some kind of weapon powerful enough to destroy the whole world or brought his personal power into a whole new level. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have dared to do that. As a sneaky man who liked playing dirty tricks, how could he ever act so arrogantly and aggressively without any solid power?


    ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± Kong Qingming looked at Wu Chengyue and asked seriously.


    ¡®Boss, your wife is still trapped in Huaxia Base. Aren¡¯t you going to go and rescue her? How come you act like this is no big deal?¡¯ Kong Qingming thought.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Even though Si Kongchen has exposed his level-nine power, he won¡¯t attack us right now. Didn¡¯t you say that he¡¯s waiting for those underground creatures to finish upgrading? I think he won¡¯t make a move until then,¡± Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said. As for how to deal with Si Kongchen, a level-nine superpower possessor, that was indeed a problem.


    Kong Qingming looked at Wu Chengyue, feeling a little speechless. ¡°I meant, aren¡¯t you gonna find a way to rescue the Chief of All Beings Base?¡± he made his question clearer. He wasn¡¯t asking Wu Chengyue about how to deal with Si Kongchen.


    ¡°Do I need to rescue her? She¡¯s hiding in her base, isn¡¯t she? Relax, she can handle that kind of situation! Don¡¯t forget that this isn¡¯t her first time facing a level-nine being. She¡¯ll be safe, even though she might be stuck there for a while,¡± Wu Chengyue first glanced at Kong Qingming with confusion and then explained.


    Kong Qingming sighed, ¡°I think you¡¯re about to lose your wife.¡±


    ¡®You want to spend the rest of your life with her, so you should at least act like you¡¯re worried about her safety, even if you believe that she can handle the situation by herself. How is she supposed to feel your concern if you don¡¯t express it?¡® Kong Qingming didn¡¯t understand why Wu Chengyue wasn¡¯t worried about the zombie sister at all. ¡®No wonder your relationship with her is getting nowhere even after you guys had a baby. I think you¡¯re hopeless!¡¯


    While criticizing his boss in his head, Kong Qingming changed the topic, ¡°So, do you know how to deal with Si Kongchen?¡±


    That man was at level-nine now. Sea City Base currently had no power to resist level-nine attacks.


    ¡°Well, we don¡¯t have a level-nine one on our side,¡± said Wu Chengyue, ¡°But we can borrow one from Lan Lu.¡±


    Kong Qingming figured out his meaning. ¡°Eh? Are you talking about the mysterious Chief who has entered level-nine long ago? I thought he¡¯s in a coma¡­¡±


    Wu Chengyue shook his head and said, ¡°No. He woke up a long time ago, and he¡¯s as powerful as ever. Lan Lu just kept the secret and made people think that he¡¯s still in a coma.¡±


    Kong Qingming was thrilled to hear that. ¡°Oh, I see!¡± he said, ¡°Indeed, if we have his help, Si Kongchen won¡¯t be a problem anymore. But I heard that Si Kongchen is good at long-range attacks while the Chief of Green Mountain Base is good at close combat. Is that true? If that¡¯s true, we¡¯ll have to create an opportunity for him to fight Si Kongchen closely.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask him to defeat Si Kongchen. We just need him to help us fend against the other¡¯s attacks,¡± said Wu Chengyue.


    ¡°How?¡± Kong Qingming didn¡¯t understand, ¡°Can he create a giant shield or something like that?¡±


    Wu Chengyue clapped his hands and responded to him with a smile, ¡°Bingo! Level-nine beings can freely control the energies surrounding their bodies and their own energies to create energy shields, for defense, not offense.¡±


    Kong Qingming didn¡¯t know what to say. He hadn¡¯t expected that he would guess right.


    ¡°How do you know?¡± he asked.


    Wu Chengyue nodded and said, ¡°Lan Lu told me about that. He sold that knowledge to me for a batch of supplies. I also know that after the current crisis has ended, they¡¯ll be moving to a new place.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to give you a letter, and then you¡¯ll take the helicopter to the northwest to see Lan Lu. Tell him that we need to borrow his Chief, and in return, we¡¯ll promise them three favors. I¡¯ve talked to him about that, actually. I think he¡¯ll agree to help.¡± Wu Chengyue thought for a second and picked up a pen to write down a note and a simple contract. Then, he signed his name and put them into an envelope, handing it to Kong Qingming.


    ¡°No wonder you¡¯ve been staying so calm!¡± Kong Qingming took over the envelope and said, with comprehension dawning on his face. Then, he turned and headed toward the outside. But before leaving the office, he abruptly turned back and said, ¡°Um, are you really not worried about the zombie¡­ I mean, about Miss. Lu?¡±


    ¡°Relax,¡± Wu Chengyue said to him with confidence, ¡°She¡¯s a smart girl. She¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    The woman that he was fond of was, of course, smart. Si Kongchen was indeed at level-nine, but Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t weak. Besides, she had a huge space. She wouldn¡¯t possibly die unless an accident happened.


    Wu Chengyue knew Lin Qiao well. He believed that she would not let any accident happen to herself, and that she must be fully prepared before taking action. Also, she was already hiding in her space. Si Kongchen wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt her while she was in there. He probably wouldn¡¯t keep waiting for her to come out either unless he decided to give up on attacking Sea City Base.


    In some way, Lin Qiao was actually earning more time for both Sea City Base and All Beings Base. So, what came next would be a competition of patience. He was waiting outside while she was hiding in the space. The one who lost patience the first might lose.

 Chapter 1413 - Feed Them Up

    Wu Chengyue wasn¡¯t worried about Lin Qiao, because he believed in her capabilities. He knew she wouldn¡¯t be killed so easily under her current situation.


    He wanted to help her, but he also understood that she did not need his help at the moment. His experiences told him that her pride wouldn¡¯t let her accept his help now. On the contrary, she might feel annoyed if he offered her help.


    Those were the reasons why he wasn¡¯t worried about her.


    Wu Chengyue couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly sorry for Si Kongchen when he learned that Lin Qiao had blown up his arsenals. But soon, he started taking pleasure in the other¡¯s misfortune.


    During wartime, nothing could be worse than losing weapons or army provisions!


    Learning that Lin Qiao was stuck in Huaxia Base and Si Kongchen was waiting for her to exit her space didn¡¯t make All Beings Base people worry. Si Kongchen couldn¡¯t sense her space, meaning that she was safe. As for how she would exit her space, they had no idea about it. After all, according to Yun Meng, Si Kongchen was now able to detect Lin Qiao¡¯s presence even when the latter was invisible. She might not have a chance to come out of her space unless something distracted him.


    By keeping Si Kongchen busy, Lin Qiao was actually buying time for the others. People could use the time to brainstorm and come up with an idea about how to protect themselves against the level-nine man. Who else could contend against Si Kongchen but the other level-nine beings?


    ¡°Green Mountain Base has a level-nine man, doesn¡¯t it? Can he help us?¡± Sitting in the conference room, Lin Feng looked at the others and said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he in a coma?¡± Yuan Tianxing looked at him and asked.


    Lin Feng shook his head and said, ¡°Earlier, Lan Lu sent me a message, saying that his level-nine chief has woken up, and that the man didn¡¯t lose any power. Lan Lu has also told me that since we¡¯ve been helping him the whole time, we can ask him for any help we need. I think he¡¯s guessed about Si Kongchen¡¯s true power long ago.¡±


    Everyone turned to Lin Feng with surprise and then nodded with comprehension.


    ¡°So he¡¯s willing to help us, isn¡¯t he?¡± Qiu Lili looked at the others and asked. After Lin Qiao left, she and Lin Kui had returned to the base. Sitting beside her, Lin Kui nodded at her.


    ¡°So, how are we going to deal with the underground attack that¡¯ll happen soon?¡± Since Si Kongchen would have an opponent, the underground creature attack would be the only problem left. After asking the question, Yun Meng looked at the others.


    In the recent couple of days, they had found some traces of high-leveled underground creatures near the base. Those creatures were scouting the area; clearly, the group upgrading was about to finish.


    The underground creatures that had upgraded successfully all seemed starving, as they had been hunting crazily everywhere. That was exactly the same as what Si Kongchen expected. The upgrade had made those creatures extremely hungry. However, none of those creatures had gone far away from the gathering spots. They stayed within miles round and returned to the gathering spot once the high-leveled ones summoned them.


    More and more traces of underground creatures had been found near the base. Those creatures were probably planning to have a banquet after the upgrading formally ended. For them, a human base could be like a farm.


    People believed that soon enough, those scary monsters would show up around their base and hunt for them.


    ¡°We¡¯ve made Wenwen¡¯s catmint and those dark fruits that Chief brought back from the underground into powder and spread it around the base. But I¡¯m not sure how long its effect will last.¡± Speaking of those underground creatures, Lin Feng put on a worried look. After all, the amount of catmint and black fruit wasn¡¯t large enough, and the new batches were still growing. The powder that the base currently possessed wasn¡¯t enough to cover the entire surrounding area of the base, so some areas were missed.


    Those creatures were afraid of those two types of plants, which was why the powder could keep them away from the base. Thankfully, those starving monsters weren¡¯t crazy enough to rush straight through the powdered area.


    None of the creatures that had shown up recently had approached the powdered areas. The powder was working, but that effect might not last long. No one could guarantee that those creatures wouldn¡¯t ignore the powder and storm straight into the base ultimately. After all, they would need a huge amount of food, and humans happened to be social animals. A human base would make a full meal for a herd of underground creatures.


    That was a great temptation.


    Those underground creatures had fought battles amongst themselves during the upgrading. Their numbers had dropped drastically, as only twenty percent of them managed to upgrade successfully. However, about eight gathering spots existed near All Beings Base, meaning that tens of thousands of underground creatures would come at the base after the upgrade finished. For All Beings Base, that would undoubtedly be a disaster.


    And at that critical moment, their Chief was stuck in Huaxia Base¡­


    ¡°I have an idea,¡± Lin Wenwen, who was sitting behind Yuan Tianxing, abruptly joined the conversation.


    ¡°What idea?¡± Everyone immediately turned their eyes to her.


    Lin Wenwen stood up and slowly walked from side to side while saying, ¡°Our base isn¡¯t the only source of food for those hungry creatures. Don¡¯t you forget that our base has more than humans. We can easily feed them up, and then they¡¯ll leave!¡±


    Her words enlightened the other people.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right! They also feed on zombies! We can summon wild zombies and gather them outside the base to feed them! They¡¯ll leave when they¡¯re full!¡± Yun Meng clapped her hands and said excitedly.


    The others had all been focusing on how to fight those underground creatures using violence or some ways. None of them had tried to come up with a solution from a different angle.


    ¡°We should hurry up then. To feed them up, we¡¯re going to have to gather a huge crowd of zombies!¡± Lin Feng sighed with relief and then said to the ones sitting on the other side of the table, who were responsible for Base Number Two.


    ¡°No problem! We¡¯ll take action right now,¡± said Yun Meng while the others nodded together.


    ¡°Oh, um¡­ Do you guys need my help?¡± A relaxed voice was heard from a corner.


    Everyone turned and saw a pretty man standing in a corner, leaning against the wall. ¡°Mo Yan? When did you get in?¡± Qiu Lili glared at the man and said.


    ¡°This is the conference room. We¡¯re having a meeting here! How could you get in without permission?¡±


    ¡°Oi, Lili, it seems that you still don¡¯t like me. Who said that I¡¯m not allowed in here? There isn¡¯t a sign on the door saying ¡®don¡¯t come in¡¯! Also, I¡¯m standing right in here, and no one is asking me to leave!¡± Mo Yan said to Qiu Lili jokingly with a naughty smile.

 Chapter 1414 - The Hair of the Dog

    They didn¡¯t want to respond to Mo Yan¡¯s absurd reasoning. As he had offered to help, they tried to be friendly to him. But still, they did not want to talk to him!


    Qiu Lili turned her face away and showed Mo Yan the back of her head while saying, ¡°It¡¯s because I don¡¯t have a good first impression of you!¡±


    Mo Yan spread his hands carelessly, even a little proudly, while saying, ¡°I was trying to be nice to you! Wasn¡¯t that nice?¡±


    ¡°Alright, shut up! Don¡¯t you forget that you were trying to attack our base!¡± Yun Meng glared at him and said.


    Mo Yan tilted his head slightly and stopped talking.


    ¡°Alright, we have four zombie dominators here. Please, summon as many wild zombies as you can and bring them to the four gates of our base. We have to be ready before those underground creatures finish upgrading,¡± Lin Feng took the opportunity to make his request.


    On the other side of the table, Yun Meng and the others stood up together.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go to the southern gate,¡± said Yun Meng.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking the north,¡± said Qiu Lili.


    ¡°West,¡± said Lin Kui.


    ¡°Oh, so I¡¯ll take the east,¡± Mo Yan said with a grin.


    Next, the four of them turned and left, heading toward the roof. On the roof, they each faced a gate and disappeared.


    The area surrounding All Beings Base had been zombie-free since long ago. Therefore, they had to go at least ten miles away from the base to summon wild zombies. To gather a huge crowd, they needed to go even further away. By the time Sea City Base learned about All Beings Base¡¯s action, large numbers of zombies were already gathering toward All Beings Base.


    ¡°Eh? Are they going to feed those zombies to those underground creatures? Can that be counted as the hair of the dog?¡± Xiao Licheng said with surprise.


    Both zombies and underground creatures were arch-enemies of humans. Making them hurt each other was clearly a good thing for humans!


    Kong Qingming nodded and said, ¡°I think so. After all, we have over a billion zombies in this country. They should be enough to feed those creatures. At least, we¡¯ll have a few years to think of a way to eliminate them!¡±


    Wu Chengyue said with a smile, ¡°It turns out that All Beings Base¡¯s zombie army is rather handy! Shall we borrow a few level-seven zombies from them? Em¡­ Or, level-six ones!¡±


    ¡°How come I feel like we¡¯ve been taking advantage of All Beings Base the whole time recently? They¡¯ve been providing us with food, catmint, and they¡¯ve helped us to rescue Li Yue He¡­ Em, their help wasn¡¯t really needed for that task anyway. And now, we¡¯re going to ask them for help again¡­ Aren¡¯t we going to make any efforts ourselves? We have so many people in our base after all,¡± Sitting on the side, Xiao Yunlong couldn¡¯t help but share his opinion. The others on the scene didn¡¯t know what to say. They thought for a moment and realized that he was right!


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s drop this topic. We can¡¯t help now, but that doesn¡¯t mean we won¡¯t be able to help them in the future,¡± Wu Chengyue hurriedly changed the topic. With a smile, he continued with, ¡°They and we are on the same side. At least, we can offer them some scientific help!¡±


    While people were changing their plans because Si Kongchen had exposed his level-nine power, Lin Qiao was stealthily detecting the vibes outside from inside her space. Si Kongchen had hidden away, but she could still sense a faint trace of his vibe from inside her space. Judging by that, she was sure that he was waiting for her outside. Hence, she couldn¡¯t exit her space any time soon.


    With nothing else to do, she took a walk in the field.


    Lu Tianyi, Xiao-xiao, Pesticide, and tens of other zombies at level three, four or five, were working hard growing catmint. Lin Qiao walked into the field and found Pesticide eating worms.


    ¡°How come you like worms so much?¡± She looked at the zombie and asked.


    Pesticide raised his head to glance at her and then quietly turned to leave.


    Lin Qiao felt utterly speechless. ¡®Um¡­ Can¡¯t I have any respect?¡® she thought.


    Lu Tianyi walked over and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering how his brain is structured too. He¡¯s clearly nothing like the normal zombies.¡±


    Lin Qiao turned and looked at the catmint plants in the field. Those were the first batch planted in her space. The special environment in the space allowed them to grow exceptionally fast. They were almost good for harvest, and they looked vividly green and energetic.


    They were also perfectly clean.


    ¡°So, you said that you can¡¯t go out now, but what about the base?¡± Lu Tianyi stood beside her and asked.


    ¡°What about the base?¡± Lin Qiao turned and glanced at him.


    ¡°The underground creature problem hasn¡¯t been solved yet, has it? I heard that those creatures are all very smart. What if they found our base?¡± Lu Tianyi was worried about the base.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± said Lin Qiao, ¡°Lin Feng and the others will guard the base. They¡¯ll know what to do. And Wenwen, her power should have given her some hints under the current situation.¡±


    Lin Wenwen was now like a fortune teller. She hadn¡¯t foreseen All Beings Base¡¯s destruction, meaning that the base would be fine.


    Earlier, Lin Wenwen had foreseen Lin Qiao attacking her own base. Based on that, Lin Qiao figured that she herself would be the key threat to All Beings Base in the future. Therefore, she felt that maybe staying in Huaxia Base was a good thing for her. If she stayed there, it would be the enemy¡¯s base to suffer when an accident happened to her!


    Lu Tianyi looked at her and said, ¡°You seem to believe firmly in their capabilities.¡±


    Lin Qiao smiled at him and said, ¡°Yes, of course! Apart from myself, they¡¯re the only ones that I can trust.¡±


    Those people had never disappointed her. The people who had disappointed her were already gone.


    ¡®Poor Wu! He¡¯s not one of them,¡® Lu Tianyi thought.


    ¡°Do you think Si Kongchen will postpone his plan of attacking Sea City Base and All Beings Base for you?¡± After feeling sorry for Wu Chengyue, Lu Tianyi thought for a moment about the current situation.


    ¡°That¡¯ll be even better,¡± said Lin Qiao, ¡°As long as he stays here with me, the two bases will both be safe. If he left, I¡¯d have to go out and find a way to stop him. Thankfully, we still have Dong Xiaowei. Saving him was really a good decision.¡±


    She had foreseen Dong Xiaowei¡¯s awakening. After all, her lake water had never failed to wake up crazy superpower possessors. It had even woken up Wu Chengyue, so it would, of course, wake up Dong Xiaowei as well. The efficacy of the lake water didn¡¯t tend to vary according to the users¡¯ power levels.


    ¡°Dong Xiaowei?¡± Lu Tianyi didn¡¯t know who that was.


    ¡°The level-nine chief from Green Mountain Base,¡± said Lin Qiao.


    Being reminded by Lin Qiao, Lu Tianyi recalled that he had indeed heard of that mysterious level-nine man named Dong Xiaowei.

 Chapter 1415 - Strong Wakes Up

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that chief still in a coma? How come you made it sound like he¡¯s woken up already?¡± Lu Tianyi felt a little confused.


    While walking in the catmint field, Lin Qiao responded, ¡°Relax! The energy from my lake will always work.¡±


    Lu Tianyi turned to glance at the lake and didn¡¯t say anything else. Lin Qiao had given him the answer, so he didn¡¯t need to ask any other questions. Walking in the catmint field and looking at those thriving catmint plants, she sighed with relief.


    ¡­


    Si Kongchen spent a few days staying where he was, waiting for Lin Qiao to exit her space. During that span of time, he had never sensed any trace of her. He couldn¡¯t even tell if she was still hiding in her space or had slipped away using her invisibility.


    Even though he believed that he was able to detect anything that contained energies, he wasn¡¯t confident that he could catch Lin Qiao. After all, she was a special one. He wasn¡¯t sure if she had some other abilities that could allow her to hide from his radar. Therefore, the longer he waited, the more agitated he felt.


    Wei Haichao found him and said, ¡°Those underground creatures have finished upgrading. The ones that have successfully upgraded are now gathering again. The drug is still in production, so we can¡¯t drive them crazy now. They¡¯re starving but still sane.¡±


    To deliver a better effect, they had to make those creatures go mad.


    ¡°Have All Beings Base and Sea City Base been taking any actions?¡± Sea City Base asked.


    Wei Haichao nodded and said, ¡°Yes. In this couple of days, large numbers of zombies have gathered around All Beings Base. The zombie crowds are surrounding the entire base from four different directions. But for some reason, those zombies stopped moving forward exactly ten miles from the base.¡±


    A massive zombie crowd showing up near a base was a very normal thing. That had happened just a few days ago to Huaxia Base. However, zombies surrounding a base while keeping a distance from it was definitely abnormal. Usually, a zombie crowd wouldn¡¯t scatter, unless it was controlled by a very powerful zombie.


    Earlier, the lightning-powered zombie emperor had done that. However, that was the only known zombie emperor so far. For zombies, upgrading wasn¡¯t an easy thing.


    Was there another zombie emperor? Or, did that lightning-powered one return? Was that zombie emperor giving All Beings Base trouble again?


    Si Kongchen would be happy to see that happen. Zombies had surrounded All Beings Base; that was, he believed, surely not a good thing for the base.


    ¡°I guess they¡¯ll have to face both those zombies and those underground creatures this time,¡± Si Kongchen said with a vicious smile. He also learned that the underground creatures had scouted around some human bases and were clearly preparing to launch attacks. Their traces weren¡¯t only found near All Beings Base, but also spotted around Huaxia Base.


    As for the zombies around All Beings¡¯ Base, Si Kongchen believed that they were going to attack that base for sure. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have shown up near that base. After all, the blood and flesh of humans were as tempting to zombies as drugs.


    At that time, in an old zoo on the southwest side outside All Beings Base, a special group of underground creatures was quietly hiding in the underground cave, hunting mutated rats. They were special because first, they were afraid of light, and second, they didn¡¯t take part in the group upgrade. Also, they looked like gorillas.


    They had settled down in the zoo area because that area provided them with a rich source of food. Those rats lived underground as well, so they didn¡¯t need to go up to the earth¡¯s surface for hunting anymore.


    The number of underground gorillas wasn¡¯t large, but the population of mutated rats was gigantic. Those rats also reproduced rapidly, even though they had undergone mutation. As same as before, they normally had over ten pups in one birth.


    Strong, who had been sleeping for months, suddenly opened his eyes and mouth and uttered a growl. His voice traveled in the underground tunnels and soon was heard by the other underground gorillas. On hearing his order, the other underground gorillas immediately jumped into action and headed toward a rat nest.


    After giving that roar, Strong closed his eyes and lay down again. Soon, a series of squeaking sounds were heard from a distance. Those sounds made him reopen his eyes and slowly get up.


    About ten large rats were dragged toward his cave. Those rats were at level five or six, able to burrow swiftly. Therefore, those underground gorillas had to grip on them very tightly while bringing them toward Strong¡¯s cave, in case they got away. If they let go, those fluffy animals would dig into the earth and escape within a blink.


    Strong crawled out of his cave and walked to his children. Then, it picked up a screaming rat with each hand and started eating.


    Crack! He sank his teeth into a rat¡¯s neck and then pulled its body outward, causing blood to splash everywhere as the rat¡¯s head was instantly separated from its body. Strong chewed the rat¡¯s head loudly and quickly swallowed it. Then, he bit off the head of the other rat. While chewing the second rat head, he started walking toward the outside.


    He chewed his food in the darkness, and blood spilled out of his mouth from between his teeth. The two rat bodies held in his hands were still shedding blood.


    As Strong was walking toward the outside, his children who were providing him with food followed him and kept handing him more rats. After finishing about ten rats, Strong finally walked out of the deeper area of the underground cave.


    He walked near the exit and leaned forward to sniff outside, seemingly trying to sense something from the air on the outside.


    An underground creatures gathering spot was located about eight miles away from the cave. At the moment, no underground creatures were there fighting each other anymore. What they had left was body parts all over the ground, a strong blood scent in the air, and the energies that had leaked out of their bodies during the upgrade.


    Sensing all that, Strong figured out about what had happened. He shrank back and exhaled a few times heavily before shaking his head and waving a hand under his nose. He seemed to not like that odor from the outside.

 Chapter 1416 - Prepare for the War

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    After waking up, Strong didn¡¯t intend to take his herd to join the other underground creatures, nor did he plan to return to All Beings Base. He had already made a big concession by promising Lin Qiao not to attack humans. He would never go back to protect them.


    At that time, a huge crowd of zombies had shown up around ten miles from All Beings base. Meanwhile, more and more zombies were still coming to the base from surrounding towns and cities.


    The underground creatures, which had finished upgrading and gathered together again, had noticed those zombies. For the lower-leveled ones that weren¡¯t picky for food, zombies were edible. However, the ones above level-five weren¡¯t willing to eat stinky zombies. They found their taste awful!


    They wanted to eat the ones living behind the tall walls, who walked upright. For the underground creatures, the living beings behind the walls were delicious.


    Massive zombie crowds had shown up near Sea City Base as well. Wu Chengyue had borrowed two level-seven zombies and tens of level-six ones from All Beings Base, and those zombies had summoned a lot of wild zombies. Sea City used to be a densely-populated first-tier city, so without a doubt, huge numbers of zombies currently existed in the city.


    ¡°Do you think these underground creatures will fly straight across those zombies into our base?¡± Standing on top of the fence wall, Qiu Lili looked outside the base and asked worryingly.


    Lin Kui was standing straight beside her and looking where she was looking, wearing a military suit. Under the brim of his hat, his eyes were sparkling with a cold light. One would consider him as a very serious man without noticing his hand behind his back, which was fiddling with Qiu Lili¡¯s long ponytail.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Those high-leveled ones are smart and strong. What you said can very likely happen if those zombies aren¡¯t attractive enough to them. However, for the lower-leveled ones, it¡¯ll be hard for them to contain their desire for food when they¡¯re starving. You wouldn¡¯t care much about the taste of food when you¡¯re in extreme hunger. Instead, you¡¯d find everything you can eat delicious.¡± Lin Kui believed there was a small chance for what Qiu Lili said to happen.


    The lower-leveled underground creatures weren¡¯t picky about food. They didn¡¯t care about the taste. All they wanted was to fill their stomachs. After all, they were already starving; they would even eat earth right now if they could.


    Unlike them, the high-leveled ones were smarter, with more complex thoughts and desires. They tended to look for more choices. Also, they were better at self-control.


    ¡°You said the low-leveled ones won¡¯t do that. So, will those high-leveled ones fly across the zombie crowd into our base?¡± Qiu Lili understood what Lin Kui meant.


    ¡°I think Wenwen has come up with a great idea to help us keep most of those underground creatures outside our base,¡± Lin Kui nodded to her and said.


    Qiu Lili nodded while saying, ¡°Oh, but there are a lot of high-leveled ones. Will we be able to defeat them if they fly into our base?¡±


    Currently, not even one level-eight being existed in All Beings Base. The strongest ones in the base were at merely level-seven while the underground creatures had five level-eight ones on their side! That number did not include the level-eight ones near the other bases.


    Among the six human bases in the country, only five level-eight people were known, including Lin Qiao, a fake human being. Of course, there were also two level-nine ones. That could be counted as a major breakthrough. However, the underground creatures had much more top-leveled ones on their side.


    Lin Kui turned and gave Qiu Lili a mild smile as he said, ¡°It¡¯s okay. Wenwen said that we¡¯ll be fine. She hasn¡¯t foreseen any danger, meaning that our base will be safe.¡±


    Qiu Lili recalled Lin Wenwen¡¯s special power. ¡°Oh, right,¡± she said, ¡°Wenwen can foresee dangers!¡±


    Those creatures surrounded the base as the level-eight ones each led over ten-thousand starving monsters, watching All Beings Base. In the west, very close to West Lake, a large group of underground creatures was crowding together, all looking ferocious. They had different looks, some like worms and some like the animals from the earth¡¯s surface. Some were able to jump tens of meters high, and some weird insects could fly at low altitudes.


    The level-eight creature leading them was an enormous one. It had a pair of sharp horns pointing straight at the sky, two rows of thorns on its back, and eight feet. It was about six meters tall, having a small pair of eyes and a huge mouth. Its teeth were sharp, and its long tongue was hanging on its jaw. The creature had a round head and a short nose. On both sides of its face were some scary-looking thorns.


    It was lying upon a hill which was hundreds of meters tall, quietly looking at All Beings Base.


    None of the other underground creatures dared to approach the hilltop. They gathered on the hillsides and around the hill foot, eating up all plants and animals on the hill. The hill was turned bare within a blink.


    The same kind of scene could be seen in the other areas surrounding the base. The terrifying level-eight monsters were casting their eyes on the base, and under their leadership, those starving low-leveled creatures were even eating the earth.


    In the base, the humans were prepared for the battle.


    The same thing was happening in Huaxia Base as more and more underground creatures gathered around that base. After all, Huaxia Base had the largest population among all bases in the country. A dozen level-eight creatures had shown up near Huaxia Base. Led by them, huge herds of underground creatures were approaching the base like tidewater.


    Si Kongchen had ordered Wei Haichao and the others to prepare the weapons designed for underground creatures. Lin Qiao had stolen only half of them, but the other half was hidden in a secret place by Si Kongchen. Now, those could be put into use.


    ¡°Are you still going to wait for her? What about the outside?¡± Wei Haichao found Si Kongchen and asked. He was the only one who was capable of killing level-eight underground creatures. However, He couldn¡¯t leave. He still needed to stay in the base to prevent Lin Qiao from causing more damages.


    What if that woman took the opportunity to come out and cause more destruction to his base once he left?


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! They can sense my vibe. They won¡¯t dare to come in,¡± Si Kongchen wasn¡¯t taking those underground creatures seriously. After all, his level-nine vibe was highly dangerous for those creatures, and those high-leveled underground creatures were smart enough to realize that.

 Chapter 1417 - Underground Creatures Make a Move

    Si Kongchen was right. After he released his vibe, the underground creatures near Huaxia Base never dared to make a single step forward.


    He looked where Lin Qiao had disappeared from earlier, believing that she was still there!


    The others were busy finding out ways fending against underground creatures, but he wasn¡¯t worried about that. He believed that as long as he, a level-nine being, stayed on the scene, those creatures wouldn¡¯t have the guts to invade the base. Even if they did attack the base, there would be weapons prepared exclusively for them.


    His attention was focused on Lin Qiao at the moment. He doubted that she could hide in her space forever. He believed that she must have known about the current critical situation already, and that she wouldn¡¯t want to stay in her space for long.


    She was definitely worried about her own base, Si Kongchen thought.


    Lin Qiao had, indeed, thought about the safety of her own base. However, she wasn¡¯t very worried about it. She wondered how long he would stay outside waiting for her.


    While she was staying in her space without worrying too much about her base, Si Kongchen was staying near the spot where she had disappeared from, waiting for her to come out. In the meanwhile, countless underground creatures were staying quietly around the base.


    The underground creatures outside Sea City Base and All Beings Base weren¡¯t as quiet as the ones near Huaxia Base. They stayed around ten miles away from the bases, and the longer they waited, the more agitated they got.


    They were starving! They wanted food! They didn¡¯t want to keep eating earth!


    Under the leadership of the high-leveled ones, the low-leveled ones weren¡¯t allowed to leave their spots. After eating up the plants in the surrounding, they had no other choice but to eat the earth. The mountains had even shrunk after they showed up.


    After spending a few days observing carefully, the underground creatures near All Beings Base and Sea City Base finally started approaching the zombie crowds surrounding the base, albeit very slowly.


    Those zombies were all at the lowest levels, and the strongest ones among them were at merely level-two. The ordinary zombies and the level-one ones weren¡¯t able to sense danger, so they ignored those underground creatures which were approaching them.


    The level-two ones had sensed the danger coming, so they started running and hiding in a flurry. However, they were forbidden from leaving by Lin Kui, Qiu Lili, and the other high-leveled zombies.


    Sea City Base had two strings in its bow. While keeping a close eye on the underground creatures outside the base, they made contact with Green Mountain Base and brought Dong Xiaowei to their base.


    ¡°I¡¯m so impressed. You came up with such a smart idea ¨C feeding them with zombies. But, what about those high-leveled ones? Those are smart and picky! They¡¯re not as easy to deal with as the low-leveled ones,¡± Ye Yingyue, who came along with Dong Xiaowei, stood on top of a building in the outer sector of Sea City Base and looked outside the base while talking to Kong Qingming.


    Kong Qingming shook his head and said, ¡°Oh, we didn¡¯t come up with that idea. All Beings Base did. We just borrowed it from them.¡±


    Upon hearing that, Ye Yingyue nodded and said, ¡°Oh, I see. But, how come I feel that you won¡¯t be needing my Chief¡¯s help at all? Si Kongchen is refusing to leave his own base at the moment. Will he come here to attack you guys?¡±


    Kong Qingming rested both hands in the pockets of his camouflage pants and glanced at her, ¡°I don¡¯t know. After all, he¡¯s spent a long time planning on attacking us. I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll give up so easily. However, I guess he won¡¯t leave his base until he has found Chief Lu. After all, leaving that troublemaker in his base alone doesn¡¯t sound smart at all!¡±


    Hearing him call Lin Qiao ¡®troublemaker¡¯, Ye Yingyue laughed. Kong Qingming was right, actually. For Si Kongchen, Lin Qiao was exactly a troublemaker!


    ¡°Si Kongchen is pissed off, isn¡¯t he? Quite a few of his arsenals have exploded, and his soil-less farm is destroyed as well. He¡¯s suffered such severe losses!¡± Ye Yingyue¡¯s round face wore a grin, showing a pair of dimples and her white, shiny teeth. She had an adorable pair of canine teeth.


    That gloating grin on her face made Kong Qingming smile. ¡°Yeah,¡± he said, ¡°He¡¯s infuriated. I¡¯d have vomited blood if I were him! Chief Lu is really good at making trouble!¡±


    He still remembered what had happened when Lin Qiao returned to Sea City Base for the first as a zombie. She exposed Yang Chao¡¯s evil deeds and killed his entire family.


    ¡°Chief Lu might be in an unideal situation now, but she¡¯s buying us time. If Si Kongchen showed up here right when those underground creatures attacked, your base might be in serious trouble,¡± said Ye Yingyue with a complicated look.


    Kong Qingming stayed silent. Ye Yingyue had no idea if he agreed with her or not.


    At that very moment, one of his men ran up to him in haste, saying, ¡°Boss, those underground creatures have started making moves!¡±


    Kong Qingming and Ye Yingyue glanced at each other and then leaped off the roof together. Instead of heading toward the outside, they went to the commanding center.


    Sitting in the conference room in the commanding center were Wu Chengyue and some other people. They were waiting for the scouts to bring back the latest news. Before those creatures started making moves, Wu Chengyue required his soldiers to return to the commanding center once an hour to report to him. As soon as those creatures started taking action, he asked the soldiers to bring back every piece of news as quickly as possible.


    Wu Chengyue had hung a map of Sea City on the wall. The map was marked with the location of Sea City Base, the catmint circle, and the zombie crowds.


    ¡°They¡¯re moving at a speed of about eighty miles an hour, not very fast. They¡¯re about miles away from the zombie crowd at the moment, and they¡¯ll be making contact with the zombies in a few minutes.¡± Standing by the map, Xiao Licheng pointed a pen at a spot a few miles away from the base and said to the others.


    Wu Chengyue was sitting on the other side of the map. He raised his head to look at the map, and then he turned to the people standing near the door, ¡°Keep a close eye on them when they make contact with the zombies. Come back and tell us what happens as soon as you can.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Standing by the door were the signalers responsible for delivering messages. After receiving Wu Chengyue¡¯s order, they quickly turned and left, spreading Wu Chengyue¡¯s words through the communicators held in their hands. In a few minutes, the latest news was delivered. A signaler wrote the message down in the communication room next door and delivered it to the conference room as quickly as possible.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the latest message!¡±

 Chapter 1418 - Huaxia’s Doubts

    As the news was delivered, everyone braced themselves up, looking at the signaler. Seeing the man hand the message to Xiao Licheng, they couldn¡¯t help but start to ask questions.


    ¡°How¡¯s it going? Are they attracted by the zombies?¡± Xiao Yunlong was the first one to speak.


    Xiao Licheng hurriedly took over the message and read it. After that, he sighed with relief and said, ¡°They have stopped! They have stopped moving! The low-leveled ones didn¡¯t cross the zombie crowd but started to attack and eat them!¡±


    On hearing his words, everyone sighed with relief.


    ¡°Keep an eye on them and see if they¡¯ll keep eating those zombies or make other moves. Also, initiate level-two alert!¡± Wu Chengyue gave his orders with composure.


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    All Beings Base was in the same situation as Sea City Base. Most of those underground creatures weren¡¯t picky for food. While eating those slow-moving ordinary zombies that weren¡¯t able to sense danger, they liked first to rip open their skulls and look for nuclei.


    Five percent of ordinary zombies had nuclei, and ten percent of all ordinary zombies with nuclei could upgrade to level-one. The higher the levels, the harder the upgrade could be.


    Even though upgrading was a very difficult thing for zombies, the gigantic population of zombies allowed a great number of high-leveled zombies to emerge. A medium-scale city usually had hundreds of thousands to millions of residents, while the first-tier cities had over ten-million people each. Ninety-nine percent of all humans had turned into zombies, so despite the difficulty of upgrading, many high-leveled zombies existed in the world.


    Lin Qiao¡¯s lake water had strengthened the zombie soldiers in All Beings Base. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be able to upgrade so easily. So far, none of them had failed in upgrading.


    Knowing that the underground creatures were willing to eat zombies, the people in All Beings Base all felt relieved. Clearly, the method that Lin Wenwen came up with had shown a rather good effect. They were still not relaxed, though. They needed to keep observing those high-leveled creatures and find out if they would break through the zombie crowd to attack the base.


    As the zombie defense lines of All Beings Base and Sea City Base started to show effects, Si Kongchen and some other Huaxia Base people realized that something wasn¡¯t right.


    Dong Xiaowei, who was in Sea City Base, hadn¡¯t released his vibe, so the underground creatures near the base didn¡¯t sense his presence. Nothing kept those creatures from approaching the base.


    If Dong Xiaowei had let his vibe fully out, the underground creatures near Sea City Base wouldn¡¯t have kept a distance from the base, like the ones near Huaxia Base. If that happened, Si Kongchen would soon figure out that there was a level-nine being in Sea City Base.


    Si Kongchen didn¡¯t yet know that there was a level-nine man in Sea City Base expecting him, but he did notice the weirdness of the zombies outside Sea City Base and All Beings Base.


    Those zombie crowds looked very strange, nothing like the normal zombie crowds.


    ¡°Have those zombies been staying where they are these days? Aren¡¯t they attacking All Beings Base and Sea City Base?¡± Standing on top of a building that was not far away from Lin Qiao, Si Kongchen turned and asked with a frown.


    ¡°No, those zombies didn¡¯t go crazy. They¡¯ve been staying exactly where they are. It seems like they¡¯re feeding themselves to those underground creatures! Since when have level-seven zombies started to protect human bases? Aren¡¯t they supposed to attack human bases?¡± Wei Haichao asked with confusion. As he spoke, he fixed his eyes on the report held in his hands, which was about the latest news from Sea City Base and All Beings Base.


    Earlier, when he and his people first heard that Sea City Base was surrounded by zombies, they had expected a great show. However, after spending a few days waiting, they found those zombies still staying quietly outside the base, doing absolutely nothing.


    The zombies didn¡¯t seem to attack the base, but the underground creatures had started to do that. Moreover, those zombies stopped those creatures. It looked like those zombies had built defense lines outside Sea City Base and All Beings Base.


    With a sullen look, Si Kongchen thought for a moment and turned back to where Lin Qiao disappeared. ¡°Perhaps they¡¯re controlling those zombies with some kind of method,¡± he made a guess, ¡°Don¡¯t you forget that when All Beings Base was founded two years ago , it was surrounded by a crowd of zombies the whole time.¡±


    On hearing his words, people looked at him with comprehension dawning on their faces.


    ¡°No wonder!¡± Han Xiao threw the pen held in his hand at the desk, saying, ¡°Do they have high-leveled zombies kept in their base?¡±


    The others glanced at him.


    Si Kongchen raised his brows and said, ¡°I think you¡¯re probably right. I¡¯m thinking the same thing. How could they possibly control over a hundred thousand zombies if they don¡¯t have high-leveled zombies under their command?¡±


    Everyone exchanged glances. At that point, even Liu Zhinan couldn¡¯t help but join the conversation, ¡°That¡¯s only your guess. How can you prove it? Can you find the high-leveled zombies that are kept in their base?¡±


    He was very interested in that! Learning that some people might have managed to accomplish something that humans weren¡¯t supposed to be capable of, he, as a scientist, was compelled to try everything he could to figure out how those people did it. Most importantly, he had been having similar ideas and even been doing some relative experiments. He never succeeded, though.


    Therefore, when he heard that All Beings Base might have achieved what he couldn¡¯t, his interest was instantly aroused.


    ¡°If you put it that way, I think the few people under the woman¡¯s command are quite suspicious,¡± Wei Haichao shared his opinion.


    ¡°What people?¡± Liu Zhinan asked.


    Si Kongchen and Han Xiao both glanced at Wei Haichao, as though something had crossed their minds.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that woman always have people wearing sunglasses following her around? I¡¯ve never seen those people take off their sunglasses,¡± said Wei Haichao. Then, he started counting using his fingers, ¡°First, Xie Dong. He was from Sea City Base, gone missing during a mission. None of his teammates returned to the base alive! However, not long after that, he showed up in Sea City Base together with that woman. And ever since that, I think he never took off his sunglasses. And the two girls named Qiu Lili and Yun Meng, those girls always wore sunglasses or tinted spectacles when there were other people around.¡±


    He always felt that something about the All Beings Base people was very weird. Now, as he gave it a thought, he realized where the problem lay.

 Chapter 1419 - The Current Situation of Underground Creatures

    ¡°No way! Those are all the woman¡¯s trusted followers. It¡¯s horrible if it¡¯s really like what you think, that the ones around the woman are all level six or seven zombies. Also, they don¡¯t look very much like zombies, except for their eyes.¡± The other senior leaders of Huaxia Base couldn¡¯t believe it, despite how affirmative Wei Haichao sounded.


    First of all, those people behaved exactly like normal human beings. Were they able to mimic humans? They couldn¡¯t possibly have learned to do that within a short time, could they? Second, the woman often brought them to the other bases. Wasn¡¯t she worried that their true nature might be exposed? The woman could be considered super bold if that was the truth.


    ¡°Go and dig into their backgrounds in detail!¡± Si Kongchen gave Han Xiao an order.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Han Xiao immediately figured out his meaning. Si Kongchen wanted him to do background checks of the people whom Wei Haichao just talked about. He wanted to know if they had survived some kind of critical situations or if they had never lived in other human bases before.


    If they had never lived in any other human bases, they could be very suspicious. However, it was not easy to find out if they had lived in other human bases before or not, because a few bases had already been destroyed. Their records would be hard to find if they were from one of those bases.


    Only less than twenty percent of the survivors from those bases had joined Huaxia Base. Getting information about Lin Qiao¡¯s people from those survivors would be impossible. Therefore, Si Kongchen and Han Xiao didn¡¯t pin their hope on the background check. To prove Wei Haichao¡¯s guess, they needed some solid evidence.


    ¡°No wonder that base is always so hard to break. We¡¯ve sent so many people there, but none returned alive. If All Being Base people were able to detect the intruders by their scents, how could our people not be spotted?¡± Something else crossed Wei Haichao¡¯s mind.


    ¡°That¡¯s possible,¡± Si Kongchen nodded and said, ¡°Sea City Base and All Beings Base are now allied. If All Beings Base can do that, Sea City Base must be capable of it too.¡±


    ¡°Will those underground creatures still be interested in humans if their appetites were satisfied by zombies?¡± He knitted his brows and continued. If that were the case, Sea City Base would survive again, wouldn¡¯t it? How come it was always so lucky?


    ¡°So, we still need to drive those monsters crazy, don¡¯t we?¡± Liu Zhinan sneered and said.


    Si Kongchen glanced at him and asked blandly, ¡°Can you make that kind of drug?¡±


    Liu Zhinan gave him a glance with surprise, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t you have the formula? You never gave it to me, so how am I supposed to produce the drug?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give it to you when I find it,¡± said Si Kongchen expressionlessly.


    Liu Zhinan shrugged.


    In the space, Lin Qiao had her eyes on Si Kongchen and his people, who were not far away from her. She couldn¡¯t help but feel speechless. Si Kongchen was staying exactly where he was, waiting for her to exit her space. However, the people under his command had been doing a lot of work.


    She wondered how things were going on in her own base. Lin Feng and the others should be able to handle the situation, right?


    She wasn¡¯t worried that some serious kind of crisis might occur in her base, but she wasn¡¯t feeling good being stuck in Si Kongchen¡¯s base either. She was, of course, still worried about her base.


    At that time, over ten-thousand kilometers underground, the enormous level-nine monster once again crawled out of its nest.


    ¡°Roar!¡±


    Once it came out, the entire underground space fell into stillness. Soon, the monster started hunting again. This time, it hunted twice as many prey as the last time!


    As same as the last time, it dragged a prey back into its nest as the finishing dessert of that meal. In the meanwhile, it raised its head and glanced upward.


    On top of the underground space, the thick, rolling energy mist seemed to be changing.


    The ones that stayed there under Lin Qiao¡¯s order were carefully observing the monster from afar. Finding that it had hunted much more prey than the last time, they started feeling confused.


    It was already the third time since their Chief left. How come the monster came out to hunt for food so frequently? And why was its appetite growing larger and larger?


    It felt like the monster was preparing for something!


    The people on the earth¡¯s surface didn¡¯t know about what was going on in the underground world, while the ones underground had no idea what was happening on the earth¡¯s surface.


    Outside All Beings Base, a large herd of dogs had gathered around the foot of a mountain near Mount Wu farm. In front of them was a group of underground creatures. The one leading the group wasn¡¯t a level-eight one but a level-seven creature with countless tentacles.


    At the moment, the tentacled creature was confronting the six-footed big cat.


    The cat had its back to the farm as it glared at the tentacled creature, baring its teeth fiercely and preparing to launch attacks. If the tentacled creature made another step forward, the cat would jump on it and start an intense battle against it.


    The underground creatures were afraid of the cat. The cat was at level-seven, and so was their leader. Underground creatures couldn¡¯t resist the pressure coming from higher-leveled beings.


    The tentacled creature was the only one who had the courage to confront the big cat. It was huge, with no feet. The upper part of its body was small, while the lower part was larger, and it had tentacles all over its body. When it moved, it had to prop its body up with those tentacles.


    The cat looked at the tentacled creature carefully and found it looking familiar, a little like a giant pile of poop.


    Yes, it looked exactly like a giant pile of poop, albeit with hair! It was also giving out a terrible odor, so bad that it could even make some people feel dizzy!


    That odor made the dogs on the scene feel as if their noses were disabled. Some said that dogs liked eating poop, but for sure, they did not like the smell of that tentacled-poop-monster!


    For underground creatures, those dogs could be a delicious meal. However, the cat wouldn¡¯t let them eat those dogs.


    The dogs, who had realized that they were targeted as food, weren¡¯t happy either. They bared their teeth while uttering deep, warning growls from their throats from time to time. The hair on their necks and backs stood straight up as well.


    Not far away, Old Guo and some zombie soldiers were standing on top of a hill, looking at those creatures.


    ¡°Thankfully, the one leading those creatures isn¡¯t a level-eight one. The big cat stopped them and saved us a lot of trouble.¡± Old Guo hunched his back, with a hand holding a walking cane carved with a tiger head and the other scratching his chin. Standing by his sides, Liu Jun and the others nodded in agreement. They summoned a crowd of wild zombies to protect the farm from underground creatures, but it turned out to be unnecessary.

 Chapter 1420 - What Are They Waiting For?

    For a couple of days, the underground creatures fed on the zombies that had gathered outside the human bases. The high-leveled ones weren¡¯t eating zombies, and neither did they drive the lower-leveled ones closer to the human bases. They endured hunger and fixed their eyes on the human bases, staying motionless.


    As they made no move, the people in the bases took no action either.


    ¡°Roarrrrrr¡­¡±


    Those weird-looking underground creatures were either pouncing on the zombie crowd with their teeth bared or already had zombies pressed under their paws. They lowered their heads to chew the zombies; their mouths were filled with black blood, and their teeth were stained with blood, flesh pieces, or brain matter.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t come straight in, nor did they eat those zombies. I guess they simply want to eat humans.¡± Standing on the fence wall, Xiao Licheng said to Wu Chengyue, who was by his side.


    ¡°They¡¯re waiting,¡± said Wu Chengyue, who was also looking at the underground creatures.


    ¡°Waiting for what?¡± Xiao Licheng asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Wu Chengyue said, ¡°But look, they aren¡¯t eating the zombies like the lower-leveled ones, and they aren¡¯t leaving either. So, I think they still intend to attack our base. However, they haven¡¯t launched a move yet. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re waiting for, but I¡¯m sure they¡¯re waiting for something.¡±


    All of a sudden, Xiao Yunlong showed up beside the two of them, saying, ¡°I have bad news about All Beings Base.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± Wu Chengyue and Xiao Licheng both turned to look at him questioningly. ¡°Is their base attacked by underground creatures?¡± Wu Chengyue asked.


    Xiao Yunlong shook his head and said, ¡°Huaxia Base people are now suspecting that All Beings Base is keeping zombies. They¡¯ve secretly sent out people to do background digging about some from All Beings Base. I¡¯m talking about the ones under Chief Lu¡¯s direct command.¡±


    The faint smile on Wu Chengyue¡¯s face faded when he heard Xiao Yunlong¡¯s words. With a frown, he looked at the latter and said, ¡°How come they suddenly have that kind of suspicion¡­ Oh, I think I know the reason. It¡¯s because of those zombies out there, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    While speaking, he turned to look at the zombie crowd outside the base that was suffering attacks from the underground creatures.


    ¡°But I think they¡¯re not suspecting Chief Lu yet. That can be good news. Xie Dong, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the others are all on their list,¡± said Xiao Yunlong.


    Xiao Licheng snorted coldly, saying, ¡°I think Si Kongchen will spread the word soon enough, saying it has been confirmed that All Beings Base is keeping zombies. He¡¯ll probably accuse All Beings Base of threatening the safety of the other bases or the entire humanity, and then use that as an excuse to attack them. He always has plenty of reasons to attack the other bases.¡±


    Huaxia Base had started digging into the backgrounds of the ones from All Beings Base, meaning that Si Kongchen was thinking of that as an opportunity. He already suspected them, and he would make his guess true, no matter if it were true or not.


    ¡°Si Kongchen is a level-nine man. His vibe is keeping those underground creatures away from his base, so he isn¡¯t worried that they might attack his base. See, how nice it is being a top-leveled individual!¡± Wu Chengyue turned to the north and said.


    ¡°Si Kongchen has been upgrading a little too fast!¡± said Xiao Yunlong with a frown, ¡°Is it so easy to get into level-nine?¡±


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, ¡°He has probably used some special method to get himself into that level. It¡¯s been so many days, but he has still maintained his level-nine vibe. Clearly, it¡¯s not a temporary thing. He has, indeed, broken into level-nine successfully.¡±


    ¡°Do you think he¡¯s weaker than the ones who entered level-nine naturally?¡± Xiao Yunlong asked.


    ¡°Even if he¡¯s weaker than the other level-nine ones, neither of us can defeat him,¡± Wu Chengyue glanced at him and said.


    Currently, the only one who had the power to fight Si Kongchen was Dong Xiaowei, who had already been brought to Sea City Base. Anyhow, Si Kongchen was not what made Wu Chengyue worried at the moment. He carefully observed the high-leveled underground creatures, wondering what they were waiting for.


    ¡°Licheng, I¡¯m curious about why these creatures are staying here. Go to All Beings Base and talk to Lin Wenwen. Ask her if she has foreseen something special.¡± Abruptly, he turned to Xiao Licheng and gave an order.


    ¡°What do you mean by something special?¡± Xiao Licheng didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°I think these things are waiting for something,¡± said Wu Chengyue, ¡°Go and talk to Lin Wenwen. Her second superpower is special. Give her some hints. She might be able to foresee something that¡¯ll happen in the future.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Xiao Licheng nodded and said.


    Currently, the people in All Beings Base and Sea City Base had to spread catmint juice all over their bodies and carefully avoid those underground creatures when they needed to exit their bases. Thankfully, those creatures hadn¡¯t had their bases thickly surrounded yet.


    Before long, Lin Wenwen met with Xiao Licheng.


    ¡°Oh, you want to know if I¡¯ve foreseen something special? Not really,¡± Lin Wenwen looked at Xiao Licheng with surprise.


    Xiao Lichen came to ask her if she had foreseen anything from the future, but the answer was a solid ¡®no¡¯. Last time, she foresaw Lin Qiao attacking the base, but nothing else since then. When she was trapped in the past, she often saw images about the underground creatures in her mind. However, since she returned, she had never foreseen anything about underground creatures again.


    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ve foreseen nothing?¡± Xiao Licheng sighed with relief after hearing her answer but still wanted to confirm it with her again.


    Lin Wenwen nodded and said, ¡°I really didn¡¯t see anything about those underground creatures. Why are you asking me about that? Is there a special reason?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s because our Chief thinks the ones above level-five are waiting for something. We can¡¯t figure out what they¡¯re waiting for though. So, he sent me here to ask you if you¡¯ve foreseen anything, or if you know anything about that.¡±


    Lin Wenwen thought for a moment and said, ¡°Em, we¡¯ve noticed that too. But I haven¡¯t seen any future scenes about it. Probably, it¡¯s not the time yet.¡±


    ¡°The time?¡± Xiao Licheng looked at her with confusion and then turned to the others.


    Sitting by the side, Yuan Tianxing explained, ¡°When it comes to those who¡¯re not very close with her, or the general situation, she can only foresee the near future. That means, there¡¯s a time limit on her power. She won¡¯t be able to see it unless it¡¯s going to happen very soon.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I see!¡± Xiao Licheng finally figured it out. ¡°So, nothing bad will happen any time soon at least. Is that right?¡±


    Simply speaking, Lin Wenwen¡¯s second superpower wasn¡¯t strong enough, because she didn¡¯t have a sufficient amount of energy to support it.


    ¡°You can say that¡­ Ouch!¡± Lin Wenwen wanted to nod, but the look on her face changed suddenly as she buried her head in her own hands and gasped for air.

 Chapter 1421 - The Erupting Mist

    Lin Wenwen¡¯s movement gave others a start. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xiao Licheng looked at her with concern.


    At that moment, Lin Wenwen had no spare attention to respond to the others, because her mind was occupied by disordered images.


    Yuan Tianxing hurriedly raised a hand to signal for Xiao Licheng not to disturb her. ¡°I think it¡¯s her superpower,¡± he said, ¡°She should be seeing something in her mind. I don¡¯t think she can talk to us now.¡±


    ¡°Is this because of the question that I just asked her?¡± Xiao Licheng made a guess, ¡°Did my question trigger her power?¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± Yuan Tianxing turned and glanced at him.


    Xiao Licheng stopped talking. He and Yuan Tianxing quietly looked at Lin Wenwen, waiting for her to recover. Fortunately, her abnormal state didn¡¯t last long. In a few seconds, she slowly raised her head and closed her eyes while rubbing her temples with her fingers.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Yuan Tianxing looked at her and asked.


    Lin Wenwen opened her eyes, which were still a little unfocused. She had to close her eyes for another two seconds so she could see things clearly again.


    ¡°Em, I saw something, but I don¡¯t understand it,¡± she said with confusion.


    ¡°What did you see? Tell us,¡± Yuan Tianxing asked her to share what she had seen.


    Lin Wenwen raised her head and looked at him, and then at Xiao Licheng. After that, she said, ¡°I saw streets, not the way they look like now, but the way they were before¡­ I saw people walking on the streets, and many cars. The trees by the street sides looked normal too. It was so peaceful¡­ I think what I saw is the world before the apocalypse.¡±


    Xiao Licheng and Yuan Tianxing exchanged glances, both feeling confused. They turned back to look at Lin Wenwen together, and then Yuan Tianxing asked her, ¡°Nothing else?¡±


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said with a look of confusion on her face, ¡°No. That was all. Nothing strange, except for the fact that there were some scenes from before the apocalypse. Everything seemed normal.¡±


    She had no idea about the meaning of the scene that she had seen.


    Lin Wenwen¡¯s words made Yuan Tianxing and Xiao Licheng feel even more bewildered. ¡°Why did you see the scenes before the apocalypse?¡± They started to think about all possibilities.


    Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Wenwen, recalling that she had traveled through time to the past. She had just seen the past in her mind. Did that mean that she would travel to the past again?


    Why would she be traveling to the past again? Or, would something happen to make her go back to the past?


    ¡°Was there anything special? No?¡± After spending a while thinking, Yuan Tianxing couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    Lin Wenwen shook her head and said, ¡°As I¡¯ve said, there were people and cars on the streets, buildings, and stores, but nothing else. The trees by the roadsides looked perfectly normal too.¡±


    Yuan Tianxing turned and glanced at Xiao Licheng. He didn¡¯t know if the latter knew about Lin Wenwen¡¯s time-traveling story, so he didn¡¯t ask any further questions.


    Xiao Licheng thought for a moment and said, ¡°Maybe there was something very important in the scenes that Miss. Lin has seen, but she doesn¡¯t know about it yet. After all, she has been seeing the future before, not the past. What she has seen this time might have something to do with what we¡¯re about to face.¡±


    Upon hearing that, Lin Wenwen knitted her brows and carefully recalled the images that she had seen earlier, searching for any missed details. It was like playing a game of finding differences between two highly similar pictures.


    But at last, Lin Wenwen failed to think of anything unusual, and Xiao Licheng returned to his base with disappointment.


    He reported to Wu Chengyue about what had happened when he got back. After hearing his report, Wu Chengyue put on a look of confusion as well. With a slight frown, he said, ¡°Her superpower worked after she saw you, that means your questions triggered her power. So, what she has seen must have something to do with what you¡¯ve said. She can¡¯t control her power to see whatever she wants to see. It requires a trigger. Something must have triggered it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I thought,¡± Xiao Licheng nodded and said, ¡°But what was the trigger?¡±


    Wu Chengyue stayed silent with his brows furrowed.


    In a few days, the underground creatures had eaten a big half of the zombie crowds, and they were probably full at that point. Si Kongchen was still staying in his own base, waiting to catch Lin Qiao. In the meanwhile, he had been sending out his people to keep close eyes on All Beings Base. As for Lin Qiao, she was staying in her own space comfortably, planting catmint.


    She was not worried about the outside, but Lu Tianyi was. ¡°You¡¯ve been here for so many days. Is this really okay?¡±


    Lin Qiao was squatting on the ground, transplanting a catmint seedling into the earth. She held the seedling with a hand while burying its roots with the other. In the meantime, she said to Lu Tianyi, ¡°It¡¯s only been about two weeks. If something serious is really happening, I think they¡¯ll find a way to distract Si Kongchen and let me go out.¡±


    Si Kongchen was super powerful now. It would be impossible for people to come straight into Huaxia Base to look for Lin Qiao under his watch. Therefore, to create an opportunity for her to exit her space, they would need to distract Si Kongchen. Catching his attention without approaching him was doable.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting Si Kongchen to be so patient,¡± Lu Tianyi said, ¡°He never left. He¡¯s been here for so many days. Isn¡¯t he worried about those underground creatures?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be worried about,¡± said Lin Qiao, ¡°He¡¯s a level-nine man. None of those creatures is stronger than him. They won¡¯t have the courage to come in here, will they?¡±


    Lu Tianyi thought for a moment and agreed with her, ¡°I think you¡¯re right. So, you seem to be stuck here. When will he leave?¡±


    Lin Qiao wouldn¡¯t exit her space until Si Kongchen left.


    Lin Qiao rubbed her chest while looking at the ground and falling into thoughts. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said, ¡°But I guess he won¡¯t be staying here for long.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Lu Tianyi didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain. Just wait and see,¡± Lin Qiao shook her head and said.


    During the recent days, she had been having a feeling similar to palpitation, as though something bad was about to happen. It was like the feeling she had in the underground realm when she was very close to the level-nine monster.


    The feeling she was having now wasn¡¯t as strong as back then, so she wasn¡¯t on the alert yet. But indeed, it was warning her.


    Before long, Si Kongchen, Wu Chengyue, and the people from the other bases all received a message.


    The message said that a large amount of mysterious mist was rising from the holes where the underground creatures came out from. This time, the mist was bringing itself out, instead of being brought out by the underground creatures.


    Every hole was now like a mist sprayer. Large clouds of mysterious mist rose from them, high into the sky and spreading in the air.

 Chapter 1422 - She’s Faking It

    The areas near the holes were already barren. When the underground creatures came out, they brought out all kinds of mysterious mists that killed all the plants nearby. Currently, those areas were entirely lifeless, with no animals or plants. All that could be seen was the devastated lands.


    However, the mists had stopped coming out of the holes soon after the underground creatures left. Therefore, the environment didn¡¯t continue worsening. The area hundreds of meters in radius around each hole had been turned lifeless, but outside that range, everything had been staying the same as usual.


    This time, however, the sparkling red-purple mist spread along with the wind. It soon covered about a thousand meters in radius and was still spreading to farther areas.


    ¡°It¡¯s the energy mist from the underground realm. It¡¯s highly poisonous and aggressive. If it keeps spreading, it might soon devour all lives on the earth¡¯s surface.¡± Kong Qingming recognized the mist at the sight of it. After all, he had visited the underground world.


    ¡°It¡¯s not easy to seal those holes. The mist is very harmful to humans. To approach its source, we need to make sure it can¡¯t hurt us,¡± said Wu Chengyue with a slight frown.


    No one had any idea how the poisonous energy mist came up from over ten-thousand meters deep underground.


    ¡°Also, if we want to seal the holes near our base, we¡¯ll have to take care of those underground creatures out there first. The low-leveled ones are easy to deal with, but the high-leveled ones are going to take some effort.¡± Xiao Yunlong also had his brows furrowed. Wearing a serious face, he was searching through his mind for any possible solutions.


    ¡°Based on the current spreading rate of the mist, it¡¯ll come to our base in less than a month if we don¡¯t stop it,¡± Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and then said, ¡°We can¡¯t seal those holes up forever. I think we might as well find a way to neutralize the mist.¡±


    Before finding a way to neutralize the mist completely, sealing its sources was the only solution. However, there were large numbers of holes in the country, and it would be an impossible mission to seal up all of them. The southwest and southeast currently had very few residents. It would require a huge amount of time and workforce for people to travel to those areas and seal up the holes there.


    The mist wasn¡¯t spreading very fast, and the nearest hole was located tens of miles away from Sea City Base. According to Wu Chengyue¡¯s calculation, Sea City Base would probably be shrouded by the energy mist in about a month.


    ¡°Does it have something to do with the level-nine creature underground? When we were down there, Chief Lu told us that the level-nine creature seems to be able to control the mist,¡± Kong Qingming thought for a moment and recalled something that Lin Qiao had said when they were underground.


    Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t sure at that time, though.


    Wu Chengyue, Xiao Yunlong, and the others all turned to him. ¡°That level-nine creature again? Wasn¡¯t the mist generated through the changes of the environment?¡± Wu Chengyue asked.


    ¡°That was only my guess,¡± Kong Qingming didn¡¯t have the answer either. ¡°Maybe we need to ask Chief Lu about it. She¡¯s the only one who¡¯s approached the level-nine creature.¡±


    Wu Chengyue and the others stayed silent for a short while. They all believed it was necessary to have a talk with Lin Qiao about the matter.


    ¡°Wait a minute! Did you say that Chief Lu has approached the level-nine creature? Wasn¡¯t she spotted?¡± Xiao Licheng, who had been staying quiet the whole time, abruptly looked at Kong Qingming and asked.


    The others on the scene stayed silent, and the atmosphere instantly grew weird.


    She was able to go near to the level-nine creature and leave without being noticed by it. So, how come she couldn¡¯t hide from Si Kongchen¡¯s radar? Underground creatures always had sharper sensations than humans, not to mention a level-nine one!


    Lin Qiao herself must have realized that too!


    Was she faking her current situation?


    Xiao Yunlong turned to Wu Chengyue and asked, ¡°Why do you think she¡¯s doing this? Is she stalling Si Kongchen? For what?¡±


    Wu Chengyue looked at him expressionlessly. He had no idea what Lin Qiao was doing either!


    She was hiding in her space the whole time, so people assumed that she was afraid of Si Kongchen. Her behavior also made Si Kongchen believe that she was stuck.


    Why did she do that?


    ¡°Do the All Beings Base people know about this? I think they should be aware of it¡­¡± said Xiao Licheng, even though he didn¡¯t sound sure. He just assumed that Lin Qiao¡¯s people already knew about her plan.


    Wu Chengyue immediately sent Xiao Licheng to All Beings Base to ask Lin Feng and the others about it, but the answer was unexpected.


    ¡°Oh, really?¡± So, Chief is just pretending to be stuck there. Does this mean that she¡¯s actually free?¡± Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Feng while the latter was looking at Lin Wenwen, who in turn was looking at Yuan Tianxing.


    All in all, everyone looked confused.


    ¡°I guess she hasn¡¯t told you guys about it. To deceive the enemies, she needed to deceive her own people first. Maybe that¡¯s why she didn¡¯t tell you about it.¡± Watching the reaction of All Beings Base people, Xiao Licheng started to figure Lin Qiao¡¯s purpose out .


    ¡°She made Si Kongchen believe that as long as he stayed in his base, she wouldn¡¯t dare to come out. I think her first purpose is definitely to make him stay inside the base¡­ But, that¡¯s only slightly beneficial for us. So now, we don¡¯t need to deal with him and can focus on dealing with the underground creatures. However, is she doing it merely for this?¡± Lin Feng knew Lin Qiao well, so he made a guess about her motive.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary. Si Kongchen would certainly go for Sea City Base first. We don¡¯t really need to worry about him for the time being¡­¡±


    ¡°The chief of Green Mountain Base is now in Sea City Base. Si Kongchen would definitely come at us if he failed to break Sea City Base,¡± Lin Wenwen joined the conversation.


    Lin Feng and the others instantly fell into silence; Lin Wenwen was right. Lin Qiao must have known that Sea City Base would ask for Dong Xiaowei¡¯s help. Si Kongchen wouldn¡¯t be able to break Sea City Base, but he could always switch his target to All Beings Base, which was nearby.


    If Wu Chengyue sent Dong Xiaowei to protect All Beings Base, Sea City Base would be in danger again.


    Lin Qiao knew Wu Chengyue well, and she knew that he wouldn¡¯t give up on the lives of the residents in Sea City Base. Therefore, before Si Kongchen made a move, he would probably bring all the residents in All Beings Base to Sea City Base for their safety.


    Wu Chengyue had done that already. A few days ago, the common residents in All Beings Base had been secretly sent to Sea City Base. The ones currently staying in the base were the superpower possessors and the zombie army from Base Number Two.


    ¡°Maybe apart from buying us time, she¡¯s also been waiting for an opportunity. Perhaps, she already knows that something would happen in the underground world at this time. Is that what she¡¯s been waiting for?¡± After spending some time thinking, Xiao Licheng looked at the others and shared his opinion.

 Chapter 1423 - Stay in the Base

    Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and the others looked at each other.


    ¡°If you put it this way, I think she¡¯s trying to make Si Kongchen and Wu Chengyue hold each other off, and is also waiting for some kind of twist of the situation. As for if she knows that something would happen in the underground, it¡¯s hard to say. Maybe she already knew about it, or maybe she just took a guess.¡± Lin Feng found Xiao Licheng¡¯s words making sense.


    Among all people present, Lin Qiao knew about the underground world the best. Hence, she was likely to foresee the changes in the underground world.


    Si Kongchen was able to keep the underground creatures away from his base but could not stop the poisonous gas from spreading. Huaxia Base would be facing the same problem as the other bases eventually. By then, he would have no time to attack the other bases. At that point, Lin Qiao could sneak out of her base and find an opportunity to attack him.


    ¡°Is the level-nine creature coming out?¡± Yuan Tianxing said with a frown, looking at Lin Wenwen, ¡°Wenwen hasn¡¯t foreseen anything about that. So, it¡¯s not coming out, is it?¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t see that for sure,¡± said Lin Wenwen, ¡°I didn¡¯t foresee that, but it doesn¡¯t mean that wouldn¡¯t happen!¡±


    At that time, Li Zheng showed up by the door and knocked on it while looking at the others. As Lin Feng nodded to signal for him to come in, he walked inside.


    ¡°The high-leveled underground creatures are behaving abnormally,¡± Li Zheng stood by Lin Feng¡¯s side and said.


    ¡°What did they do?¡± Lin Feng raised his head to look at him. The others all looked at Li Zheng as well. The high-leveled creatures¡¯ abnormal behavior must have something to do with the poisonous mist.


    ¡°They have become agitated. I think they¡¯re preparing to attack our base. The low-leveled ones don¡¯t seem to be motivated enough, so they¡¯ve started giving up on them,¡± said Li Zheng.


    That meant the underground creatures above level-five would gather together to attack human bases. That would be a strong force. Their numbers weren¡¯t large, but human bases still wouldn¡¯t possibly be able to resist their attacks. Those level-eight ones could flatten a base all by themselves!


    Lin Feng and the others instantly felt under pressure. They had no idea what Lin Qiao was doing in Huaxia Base. How come she didn¡¯t seem to worry about her base at all?


    ¡°Do you think your Chief may have left you guys something to guard your base? Even though most of your people have moved to Sea City Base, I still think she wouldn¡¯t just leave your base behind like this.¡± Xiao Licheng looked at Lin Feng and the others and said uncertainly.


    Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing exchanged glances and then shook their heads together. Then, Lin Feng turned to Li Zheng and said, ¡°Go and talk to the ones from Base Number Two. Ask them if Chief had said something to them, or if she had left them something special.¡±


    ¡°What? What special?¡± Li Zheng looked at him with confusion.


    ¡°Just ask them the questions,¡± said Lin Feng.


    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Li Zheng nodded and said.


    After Li Zheng left, Lin Feng said to Yuan Tianxing and Xiao Licheng, ¡°I don¡¯t think we should pin our hope on that. Now, let¡¯s think about what to do. If those high-leveled creatures really charge at us, we¡¯ll have to draw back.¡±


    Yuan Tianxing sighed and said, ¡°Yeah. What else can we do?¡±


    Lin Qiao had stolen the weapons that Huaxia Base created to fend against the underground creatures, but she hadn¡¯t shipped those weapons back to her base yet! Catmint powder had been spread around the base, but people doubted it could stop those smart high-leveled creatures.


    Soon after Li Zheng left, Qiu Lili and the others came over.


    ¡°You guys guessed right. Chief did leave us some words before she left. She told us to stay in the base, and everything will be fine,¡± Yun Meng came in and said to the others.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Yuan Tianxing and the others looked at her with confusion.


    Lin Qiao wanted her people to stay in the base and not to worry. However, those high-leveled underground creatures were about to storm in and eat them all. How could they possibly stay in the base without doing anything?


    Yun Meng shrugged, saying, ¡°She said that. Didn¡¯t you send your man to ask us about it?¡±


    Qiu Lili walked to the window and leaned on the window frame while Yun Meng and Lin Kui each found themselves a seat.


    ¡°Chief did say that,¡± said Lin Kui seriously, ¡°She said, if even we can¡¯t stop them from rushing into our base, we should stay in the base and not go anywhere else.¡±


    ¡°Did she tell you why? There has to be a reason, right?¡± Lin Feng asked.


    ¡°No.¡± Qiu Lili and the other two shook their heads and responded in one voice.


    Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and Xiao Licheng didn¡¯t know what to say.


    ¡°Will we really be fine? How come I don¡¯t feel that way?¡± Yuan Tianxing said.


    Xiao Licheng glanced at him and said, ¡°She¡¯s your Chief. Don¡¯t you know if her words are reliable or not?¡±


    Yuan Tianxing didn¡¯t know how to respond to that.


    ¡°I believe in her. Maybe we should wait and see what¡¯s going to happen. We can always leave when the situation becomes too dangerous,¡± Qiu Lili raised her hand and said to the others.


    ¡°I agree,¡± said Lin Wenwen. She had asked Dong Xinxin to stay. If any unexpected danger occurred, that girl would be able to help. As for Sea City Base, the people from All Beings Base didn¡¯t need to worry about it. In the worst-case scenario, they would ask Dong Xiaowei to release his vibe and keep those creatures away. The level-nine vibe would stop those creatures from rushing straight into the base, no matter how crazy they might be.


    Lin Feng stayed silent for a short while and said, ¡°Since she has said that, I think we should follow her words. She probably said that for a reason. It¡¯s her order, after all.¡±


    They, of course, could not disobey their Chief¡¯s order. After all, their Chief wasn¡¯t an unreasonable person.


    As people were making guesses about Lin Qiao¡¯s plan, she was observing the outside from inside her space. Han Xiao and Wei Haichao had been coming to meet with Si Kongchen more and more frequently in recent days. Noticing that, she felt that it was about the time.


    She closed her eyes and exited her space with invisibility. Standing there quietly, she looked at Si Kongchen. A few seconds later, she turned and headed toward the inner sector of Huaxia Base.


    Sensing Lin Qiao exit the space, Lu Tianyi was surprised and confused. Why did she go out at this time? Wasn¡¯t it dangerous on the outside?


    However, as Lin Qiao had already gone out, he couldn¡¯t ask her. He would have to wait for her to come back.


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds to make sure that Si Kongchen wasn¡¯t reacting to her movement, and then she headed toward her next target. That target was located somewhere in Huaxia Base.


    Si Kongchen had no idea that whom he had spent two weeks waiting for had sneaked away. He didn¡¯t sense her movement at all. After spending two weeks waiting, he already firmly believed that Lin Qiao wouldn¡¯t exit her space unless she wanted to be spotted by him!

 Chapter 1424 - Take the Last One

    Lin Qiao knew that Si Kongchen was able to sense any living being at a lower level than himself. She wouldn¡¯t be able to hide from his radar if she were an ordinary level-eight zombie or human. However, she also remembered how she approached the level-nine monster in the underground world using her invisibility without being spotted. Based on that, she figured that Si Kongchen shouldn¡¯t be able to detect her presence either.


    She still stayed alert, though. She wasn¡¯t sure if Si Kongchen would be unable to detect her presence like the level-nine monster or not, but she was eighty percent confident about it.


    She hadn¡¯t exited her space before, because first, she wanted Si Kongchen to think that she couldn¡¯t escape under his watch, and second, she was waiting for things to change on the outside.


    There was a reason why she had been staying so calmly in her space. In other people¡¯s eyes, she was stuck, but in fact, she was waiting for the underground world to change. She couldn¡¯t foresee the future like Lin Wenwen, but she could sense things from what she had seen. She had always been insightful.


    In the underground world, she had seen the energy inside the level-nine monster¡¯s body transforming speedily. That was the reason why the monster had been eating a lot. It needed the blood, flesh, and energy of those level-eight creatures to replenish its own energy.


    The energy inside the monster¡¯s body wasn¡¯t the same as the energy on top of the underground space. It was turning into another kind of energy in the creature¡¯s body. The level-nine creature¡¯s energy was more dangerous than the energy in the underground space, and it was able to suppress the underground energy firmly. For that very reason, the monster was ruling the underground world.


    When Lin Qiao approached the monster, she had, with surprise, discovered that she was able to read the monster¡¯s mind. It wasn¡¯t smart; actually, it was less smart than the level-eight ones. However, it had horrifying wild instincts. That was why the level-eight ones were afraid of it.


    She could read the monster¡¯s mind but hadn¡¯t really understood what it was thinking at first. Only when she noticed the creature raise its head to look up from time to time did she guessits thoughts.


    It probably wouldn¡¯t stay underground for long.


    Later on, she came back to the earth¡¯s surface and saw the underground creatures gather together. At that time, she guessed that they weren¡¯t gathering only for the upgrading.


    That was actually a special ceremony.


    By connecting the behaviors of the level-nine creature and the underground creatures on the earth¡¯s surface, Lin Qiao had figured that the big one would soon come out from the underground.


    The timing was perfect, and Si Kongchen would be dealing with it. As she had said before, the level-nine creature was waiting for him. Since he wasn¡¯t willing to go and face it, Lin Qiao decided to guide the monster to him.


    She headed quickly toward the inner sector of Huaxia Base and soon found what she was looking for.


    She knew that Si Kongchen had quite a few underground labs, some of which were built inside Huaxia Base. She remembered that one of them was located near the center of Huaxia Base. She didn¡¯t know what it was for, but since it was right near the base center, it must be very important.


    She came to Huaxia Base to give Si Kongchen trouble. She had failed to kill Si Kongchen, but she wasn¡¯t willing to leave just so easily. So before leaving, she decided to destroy another underground lab of Si Kongchen. Hopefully, the man wouldn¡¯t mind.


    At that time, Si Kongchen was still standing on top of the building. Wei Haichao and Han Xiao were standing in front of him, reporting to him about the most recent moves of the underground creatures outside the base, and the result of the background check about All Beings Base people.


    ¡°The nearest hole is thirty miles away from us. The mist travels about a thousand and two-hundred meters every day, so it¡¯ll come to our base in less than a month. Currently, nothing can stop it from spreading. What should we do in a month?¡± Wei Haichao looked at Si Kongchen and asked.


    ¡°Haven¡¯t we been producing gas masks urgently?¡± Si Kongchen asked.


    ¡°We can¡¯t possibly make over a million gas masks in just a month!¡± Han Xiao joined the conversation.


    Huaxia Base used to have about two million residents, but half of them died during the second explosion of the virus. Currently, the population of Huaxia Base had reduced to a million and two-hundred-thousand, while Sea City Base had only about seven-hundred-thousand residents left.


    At present, the total population of the country was less than three million.


    ¡°Don¡¯t we have two-hundred-thousand finished products already? We still have a month. There¡¯ll be nothing we can do if the gas masks are still not enough in a month. The ones who won¡¯t have gas masks will have to blame their bad luck,¡± Si Kongchen said blandly and then asked, ¡°Have you found out if those All Beings Base people are humans or zombies?¡±


    On hearing that question, Wei Haichao turned to Han Xiao. He was also curious about the answer to that question.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t find anything about the two girls,¡± Han Xiao knitted his brows slightly, saying, ¡°But I managed to identify the man named Lin Kui. He is the level-seven zombie that was stolen from our base at the beginning of last year.¡±


    His words made Si Kongchen, and Wei Haichao pop their eyes. ¡°Him? It¡¯s him! The woman took him away¡­¡± said Si Kongchen, ¡°How come he¡¯s become like a human being? The two girls are suspicious too. You can¡¯t find a thing about them. It doesn¡¯t mean that they¡¯re humans. Actually, I think it¡¯s more likely that they¡¯re not humans!¡±


    Wei Haichao looked at Han Xiao with surprise, saying, ¡°No way! Is he the zombie with animal power? He looks completely different!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s him,¡± Han Xiao nodded and said, ¡°He showed up by the woman¡¯s side soon after he disappeared from our base. Thankfully, we still have some of our men in Sea City Base. They risked their lives to get that information.¡±


    Si Kongchen snorted coldly and then turned where Lin Qiao was before, saying, ¡°I think they¡¯re all zombies! He can¡¯t be the only zombie around her! No wonder her base used to be surrounded by zombies, and those zombies never attacked the people in the base. They were clearly under control!¡±


    Wei Haichao looked at Han Xiao and said, ¡°Are you really sure Lin Kui is that zombie? Your men managed to identify Lin Kui, but why can¡¯t they find any information about the others?¡±


    Han Xiao turned to him and said, ¡°You think finding information about them is easy? The man found out that Lin Kui is the zombie stolen from us by chance. That was pure luck! My other men weren¡¯t as lucky as he is! This Lin Kui is enough to prove how unusual the woman¡¯s people are.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. The woman might have a large number of high-leveled zombies in her base. I wonder how she changed those zombies¡¯ appearances¡­ Oh, hasn¡¯t the woman died once?¡± The bland look in Si Kongchen¡¯s eyes suddenly changed.

 Chapter 1425 - He Decides to Abandon It

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true. But I don¡¯t think she¡¯s a zombie. She has no zombie features at all.¡± On hearing Si Kongchen mention Lu Tianyu¡¯s death, Han Xiao and Wei Haichao exchanged glances, thinking that his guess wasn¡¯t likely to be right.


    After all, the suspected ones had liked wearing sunglasses. None of them had ever shown their eyes in public. The eyes could be the strongest evidence to prove that someone was a zombie. The woman¡¯s eyes were normal, and she had never covered them.


    ¡°I¡¯m impressed that these zombies have actually become exactly like humans. Many high-leveled zombies have their faces mostly healed, but none of them has healed so perfectly. It¡¯s also so weird that they can talk!¡± Standing aside, Wei Haichao folded his arms and said with a puzzled face.


    ¡°Keep digging. The woman might be a human, but we still need to dig out the backgrounds of the suspicious ones around her. Let¡¯s see if the twenty-thousand people in her base will have the guts to stay in a zombie base,¡± said Si Kongchen coldly, ¡°Wu Chengyue is actually working with a base like that. Is he going to betray humans and help the zombies?¡±


    ¡°No matter what his purpose is, the fact that he¡¯s working with zombies has already violated the common rule of human bases,¡± said Han Xiao.


    Zombies fed on humans and humans were supposed to kill zombies; those two species were meant to be enemies. They were supposed to strive to destroy each other. Under these circumstances, Wu Chengyue has been working with zombies. That is against humanity! That is a betrayal of humans. This can never be allowed!


    Feeding on humans was in the nature of zombies, so zombies and humans were deadly enemies.


    ¡°The woman keeps zombies in her base. But what has she been feeding them with? Does she feed them with humans? No wonder none of our men could return alive,¡± Wei Haichao murmured.


    At that time, All Beings Base and Sea City Base had both noticed that Huaxia Base was doing background digging about All Beings Base people. After learning that Lin Kui¡¯s identity had been exposed, they figured that the secret of All Beings Base wouldn¡¯t be kept for long.


    Lin Feng and the others were prepared for that kind of situation since long ago, and they had solutions for what might happen. However, Sea City Base might be brought into trouble as well.


    Lin Feng had sent a man to inform Wu Chengyue about it. If the zombie army in All Beings Base were exposed, he would have to choose between betraying Sea City Base to help All Beings Base and disconnecting Sea City Base from All Beings Base, turning against the latter.


    Sea City Base currently had about seven-hundred-thousand residents. He couldn¡¯t possibly make all of them accept the existence of the zombie army, even though those zombies had never hurt them. They were zombies, and that only reason was enough for people to hate them.


    At the moment, Wu Chengyue was sitting in his office. Xiao Yunlong and Xiao Licheng were sitting on the other side of his desk while Kong Qingming was standing by his side. The three were all looking at him, waiting for him to speak. After a short silence, he said expressionlessly, ¡°If that¡¯ll be the case, Yunlong, the base will be left to you and Zou.¡±


    ¡°Is that your decision?¡± The three glanced at each other. Clearly, Wu Chengyue didn¡¯t plan to take them to All Beings Base, and neither did he plan to convince all Sea City Base to accept the existence of the zombie army from All Beings Base. After all, that would be impossible.


    He didn¡¯t want to give up on All Beings Base either. He had known about Lin Qiao¡¯s true identity since long ago, and everything about her base. He had never thought about giving up on her ever since he fell in love with her. He also knew that she would never give up on her base and her army, so he didn¡¯t intend to convince her to do that.


    ¡°I guess you had made that decision long ago,¡± Xiao Yunlong raised his brows and said.


    The truth couldn¡¯t be kept secret forever. Besides, All Beings Base wasn¡¯t trying to hide its zombie army for good. Otherwise, Lin Qiao wouldn¡¯t have brought her zombie soldiers everywhere to perform tasks. If they really did not want the others to discover their true nature, they would have hidden away.


    Instead of doing that, Lin Qiao brought her zombie soldiers out of her base frequently.


    Based on that, people figured that she didn¡¯t plan to keep her zombie army secret in the long run. Once the zombie army was exposed, she would become the enemy of humans.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to leave us all here, do you? We can go with you.¡± Xiao Yunlong looked at Wu Chengyue with a frown, saying.


    Wu Chengyue slightly shook his head and said, ¡°If you choose me, you¡¯d be against all the other humans. That won¡¯t do you guys any good. Do you still want to follow me?¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯ll be there, and you won¡¯t be running Sea City Base anymore. What¡¯s the point for us to stay here?¡± Xiao Yunlong shrugged carelessly.


    They founded the base together, but Xiao Yunlong believed that if Wu Chengyue weer gone, the base would mean nothing to him. Compared with the base, he and the others all preferred to follow Wu Chengyue.


    They could always build a new base if the old one was gone, but if their friendship were gone, there would be no way to rebuild it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go wherever you go,¡± Xiao Licheng nodded in agreement.


    Kong Qingming lazily spread his hands, saying, ¡°Lu Tianyi is on their side anyway, so I¡¯ve been wanting to leave already. This base is huge, and there are always so many works to do.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it because of Long Qingying?¡± Wu Chengyue smiled at him.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s fifty percent because of her. Didn¡¯t you make your decision for the same kind of reason?¡± said Kong Qingming.


    Lin Qiao was definitely the reason why he decided to abandon the base that he founded.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at Xiao Licheng and then turned to Xiao Yunlong and asked, ¡°Are you sure that Yue will be willing to leave with us?¡±


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and said, ¡°You¡¯re worried about that? You¡¯re more important to her than I am! If you¡¯re leaving, she¡¯d be the second to leave. But to be honest, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to make the decision this quickly.¡±


    Wu Chengyue founded Sea City Base almost single-handedly, and everyone else knew how much effort he had spent on it. But for the woman he loved, he had decided to give up on it.


    Wu Chengyue smiled faintly and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been having this idea since I proposed to her, and I became surer about it when I learned who she really is. I can build another base, but I probably won¡¯t be able to find another woman that I love. These days, getting a wife is more difficult than building a base!¡±


    With his current power, he was able to build a new base easily. However, finding a woman that he could be fond of and was suitable for him would be extremely difficult. Also, the woman whom he was currently in love with was the mother of his son. Who else could he be with but her?


    Xiao Yunlong nodded and then patted Xiao Licheng on the shoulder, ¡°It¡¯ll be good. They have more girls than we do. Licheng might be able to find himself a girlfriend over there. She can even be a zombie! Apart from the special case of Wu and his future wife, Chen Yuting and his wife are doing quite fine as well!¡±


    Xiao Licheng didn¡¯t know what to say.


    How come the topic suddenly became about him finding a girlfriend?

 Chapter 1426 - Clarify One Thing

    As Wu Chengyue decided to choose his wife and son over Sea City Base, which he founded single-handedly, Lin Feng and the others called a plenary meeting with the human residents who were still staying in All Beings Base.


    Apart from the soldiers under the command of Yuan Tianxing and Lin Feng, most of the members of the Three Months Hunters¡¯ Group, which was led by Dong Xinxin, also stayed in the base. The people from the other hunters¡¯ groups that joined the base together with Three Months Hunters¡¯ Group had all been sent back to Sea City Base along with the commoners. However, Dong Xinxin and her people refused to leave. They had only sent some families, who weren¡¯t capable of fighting, to Sea City Base.


    On the square in the inner sector of the base, the corps led by Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing were standing on one side orderly. In the middle of the square were the new corps that had joined the base less than three months ago. Standing on the other side of the square were Dong Xinxin, her people, and the other residents who were able to fight and weren¡¯t willing to take the shelter in the Sea City Base.


    ¡°What are they doing? Why did they suddenly summon all of us? Aren¡¯t we gonna do anything about those creatures out there?¡± Among Dong Xinxin¡¯s people, Luo Yuanjun was the first to start asking questions. Because of his dark skin, his handsome face now looked much more manly than before. As he spoke, his bright eyes rolled from side to side.


    Deng Chenfei and Dong Lijia turned to Dong Xinxin together.


    Dong Xinxin shrugged and said, ¡°Why are you guys looking at me? How am I supposed to know what¡¯s going on?¡±


    Dong Lijia looked from side to side with his eyes narrowed and mouth corners twisted in a small smile. The others couldn¡¯t tell if he were really smiling or not. He looked around and said, ¡°They¡¯re not going to ask us to leave, are they? Do you guys remember what Wenwen had said to us when we first came here?¡±


    Being reminded by him, Dong Xinxin immediately recalled Lin Wenwen¡¯s words. She had said that they might need to choose between staying and leaving at some point, and that if they chose to leave, she would hope that they wouldn¡¯t see her and her people as enemies.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Dong Xinxin looked at Lin Feng and the others, saying, ¡°They¡¯re here.¡±


    At that moment, Lin Feng and Yuan Tianxing walked onto the podium. Following behind them were Li Zheng, Lin Wenwen, Chen Yuting, Du Yuanxing, and the others.


    Standing on the podium, Lin Feng expressionlessly glanced at the thousands of people on the scene and started talking loudly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Even though you are all here, we still have some other people guarding the base against those underground creatures out there. Those creatures won¡¯t be able to rush into our base for the time being. Today, we called you together to clarify one thing. A small number of you have already known about it, but most of you haven¡¯t.¡±


    After saying that, he paused briefly to give people some time to process his words and prepare themselves mentally for what he was about to say. The small part of the people that he mentioned included Qin Yu, her partner Sun Lunan, Dou Yunfan, and Jiang Anan, Lin Jing, and some others.


    On hearing his words, Dong Xinxin and Dong Lijia glanced at each other, and both had comprehension dawning on their faces.


    ¡°You were never informed about what Base Number Two is like and what¡¯s in there, and why you are forbidden from approaching that area. I am going to give you the answers now, because even if I don¡¯t do that today, you¡¯ll probably hear about it soon.¡± In a military suit, Lin Feng stood straight with his legs apart, his cape swaying slightly in the wind.


    Under the brim of his hat, his eyes wore a cold and serious look. ¡°I am now going to tell you why we forbade you from approaching Base Number Two,¡± he continued, ¡°Without the residents in Base Number Two, this base could never have been built up. Without them, your life here wouldn¡¯t have been so comfortable. However, they are not humans. In fact, some other people think that they are the enemies of humans.¡±


    ¡°Not humans?¡± The last part of Lin Feng¡¯s speech successfully stirred the crowd on the scene.


    Dong Xinxin and her people glanced at each other with confusion. ¡°Not humans? Are they mutated animals? Or even zombies?¡± said Dong Xinxin.


    ¡°Wowoooo!¡± As people were making guesses, a dog bark was suddenly heard from a corner of the square.


    People turned and saw a big black dog hopping onto a small building in that area, barking at the people in the square. ¡°Wowowow! Wowoooooo! Wooooo!¡±


    Lin Feng and his people felt utterly speechless. Dong Xinxin and her people shared the same feelings. Many of the people on the scene were stunned for a moment.


    Noticing the people on the scene show comprehension on their faces, Lin Feng and his people had their mouth corners twitching.


    ¡°No way¡­ Do they really have a bunch of mutated animals in this base?¡± said Dong Xinxin.


    Once her voice faded, she saw a mutated snake quietly show up by the dog¡¯s side. The black snake was even larger than the dog. Its body covered the entire roof. It coiled its body and reared up its head, quietly looking at the crowd of people, seeming like a creature who had lived for over a thousand years.


    Lin raised a hand and slapped on his own head. Then, he hurriedly waved at the people to catch their attention, saying, ¡°Um, to be clear, I wasn¡¯t talking about them!¡±


    Dong Xinxin and the other people turned back to him, feeling very puzzled.


    Not them? Dong Xinxin almost believed that Base Number Two was a zoo of mutated animals!


    There was nothing that Lin Feng and his people could do to Lin Qiao¡¯s pets. After all, they only followed her words. As she wasn¡¯t around, they were all free. Lin Feng had no idea how they sneaked into the base today and why they made noises while he was giving a speech.


    ¡°Seriously, what I¡¯m trying to say is that Base Number Two isn¡¯t a base for humans. In fact, you can often see the residents from there. After all, they wear military suits just like yours. The only difference is that they needed to have their eyes covered.¡± Speaking of military suits, Lin Feng turned to the army.


    The people on the scene had already started growing nervous. Compared with the other residents, the well-trained soldiers stayed relatively calm. They weren¡¯t saying anything, but some of them were exchanging glances with their comrades.


    ¡°Are you saying that the ones kept in Base Number Two are zombies?¡± Finally, one of the residents asked the question. The man said those words with a strong questioning tone. Also, he used the word ¡®kept¡¯, which didn¡¯t sound friendly.


    Once the man¡¯s question was heard, people started talking to each other.


    As Lin Feng had said, the residents in Base Number Two wore military suits but had their eyes covered. People could often see them patrolling in the base, all wearing sunglasses. They never took off their sunglasses, no matter what the weather was, and they never talked.


    Realizing that they had been living in the same base with some zombies who pretended to be humans, and had never been informed about that, people couldn¡¯t stay calm. After all, they could be eaten or infected at any time!

 Chapter 1427 - Leave or Stay

    Dong Xinxin and her people looked at each other with surprise.


    ¡°So that¡¯s what this is about. I¡¯ve never thought this way!¡± Dong Xinxin sighed with a look of surprise.


    Dong Lijia couldn¡¯t maintain the fake smile on his face. He widened his eyes and nodded expressionlessly, ¡°No wonder Wenwen said those words to us when we first came here. She was probably worried that we wouldn¡¯t be able to accept this.¡±


    Deng Chenfei knitted his brows slightly, staying silent.


    ¡°Why are they living together with a group of zombies?¡± said Luo Yuanjun curiously, ¡°And Lin Feng just said that without them, the base wouldn¡¯t have been built up. He also said that those zombies have been guarding the base.¡±


    ¡°Look at the army here,¡± said Deng Chenfei, ¡°The base has been existing for two years, but still, it only has thousands of soldiers. Don¡¯t you feel that the number of soldiers here is a little too small? Think about it. They didn¡¯t even have enough manpower when they built the base. They had to hire workers from Sea City Base.¡±


    The other three instantly fell into silence. They looked at Deng Chenfei quietly, because he was absolutely right.


    ¡°Did Wenwen and the others always know about this? Are those really zombies? They look just like humans, except that they like wearing sunglasses and never talk. They behave exactly like normal humans!¡± said Dong Xinxin with confusion.


    How could zombies like that even exist? Weren¡¯t zombies supposed to attack any human being they saw? How come the zombies in the base behaved so much like humans?


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you inform us about the fact that this base is a zombie base when we joined the base?¡± Some of the residents questioned Lin Feng and his people with anger.


    ¡°Would you have stayed if we told you about it?¡± said Lin Feng blandly, ¡°This information was confidential. If you were informed about it when you applied to join our base, do you think you could still leave safely with our secret?¡±


    ¡°Did you trick us into here to feed your zombies? No wonder the base was surrounded by zombies when we first came!¡± People were angry about the truth. Some of them even yelled at Lin Feng and his people wrathfully.


    ¡°Exactly! No one would have come here if we knew this place is a zombie base! You kept the secret from us because you want to feed us to those zombies!¡±


    ¡°This is so disgusting! They guys are keeping zombies! Zombies are the deadly enemies of humans! I can¡¯t believe you actually want us to share living space with them! Are you going against humanity?¡±


    ¡°I think they¡¯re controlled by zombies. That¡¯s why they tricked us in! They¡¯re definitely going to feed us to those zombies!¡±


    As the residents were yelling angrily, some of the new soldiers burst into complaints as well. The senior soldiers glanced at each other with hesitation, staying silent.


    Lin Feng and his people had foreseen these reactions. They looked at the people peacefully, and a while later, Lin Feng said with a loud voice, ¡°I understand your worries. So this time, I¡¯m going to give you choices.¡±


    His voice delivered the strong vibe of a level-seven superpower possessor, making everyone quiet down. On hearing him talk about choices, people were still angry, but also curious.


    ¡°If you want to leave, I¡¯ll let you walk out of this base safely. You can go anywhere you want. However, after you leave, you won¡¯t be allowed to come back,¡± said Lin Feng.


    ¡°Who¡¯d want to come back to your zombie base! We¡¯re not stupid!¡± Someone shouted sarcastically once Lin Feng finished talking.


    ¡°Exactly!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    Many agreed with that person.


    Lin Feng smiled coldly, saying, ¡°Alright, remember what you¡¯ve said. The north gate is open now. You are free to leave. Our people will even escort you through the areas occupied by those underground creatures. You¡¯ll leave safely.¡±


    Those people had been living a good life in All Beings Base. Once they left, they would learn how seriously food and other supplies were running short in the other bases, especially in the bases with millions of people. The living conditions in those bases were terrible.


    Currently, All Beings Base had its own farm to grow food. It possessed clean land sources, and pure, uninfected catmint. Soon enough, the people who chose to leave would realize how wonderful the life in All Beings Base was.


    The smart people would think of those before making the decision!


    ¡°We don¡¯t need to be escorted! Who knows if you¡¯ll escort us to death? We can get through the areas with underground creatures by ourselves!¡± The people who wanted to leave said agitatedly. They knew that the base wasn¡¯t entirely surrounded by underground creatures yet, and they could simply avoid running into them. They suspected that Lin Feng¡¯s people would kill them and feed them to zombies once they exited the base.


    Lin Feng nodded carelessly, saying, ¡°Suit yourselves. You can leave or stay. You¡¯ll be living the same kind of life as you¡¯ve been living before if you chose to stay.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯ll want to stay? We¡¯re not idiots! Let¡¯s go! Everybody, let¡¯s go! Be careful! They might be up to something else, or else why would they tell us the truth now?¡± The people who wanted to leave said to Lin Feng scornfully and then turned to gather the ones who also wanted to leave.


    While people in panic were teaming up and preparing to leave, someone suddenly said, ¡°I¡¯m not leaving! I¡¯ll stay!¡±


    The man who said that was a masculine-looking, sturdy man, who was in his thirties. As his voice was heard, the scene suddenly quieted down and everyone turned to look at him.


    With a calm look on his face, he said, ¡°We might not survive by leaving here and joining Sea City Base or Huaxia Base. They are both in severe shortage of food now. Also, Huaxia Base isn¡¯t accepting new survivors now. And, all the farmlands have been polluted. Only this place can grow safe food. If we leave here, we might not be killed by zombies, but can very likely be starved to death.¡±


    The man was a survivor from Hades Base, the leader of the people who joined All Beings Base as the second batch. His name was Wang Jian. As a commoner, he was more insightful and braver than the others, and also extra cautious. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have managed to bring a group of people from Hades Base to All Beings Base safely.


    He had had a vision of the situation of the other bases since long ago. Sea City Base was the best choice for the people who wanted to leave All Beings Base. However, as a large base with a great population and without a farm, it was suffering a serious shortage of food. He had heard that All Beings Base was now Sea City Base¡¯s source of food.


    Going to Huaxia Base was impossible. Not to mention the long and dangerous journey, Huaxia Base currently wasn¡¯t open to new residents at all! Therefore, leaving might not be the right choice. Wang Jian believed that staying was the right thing to do. After all, people and zombies had been sharing the base peacefully in the past two years.


    At last, Wang Jian looked at Lin Feng and said, ¡°We are willing to stay, but we need to know the whole truth. At least, we need to know about our current situation, and the situation of them, the ones in Base Number Two.¡±

 Chapter 1428 - : Official Meeting

    Wang Jian¡¯s words made many people hesitate, because he was right. Even though they hadn¡¯t been informed that they were living together with zombies, it was undeniable that their lives had been safe and comfortable during the past two years. The living condition in the base was not bad, and in fact, was growing better and better. If they left this base for another base, they would certainly need to face a much harder living condition.


    That risk was even bigger for the commoners.


    ¡°Some of you just said that we¡¯re keeping zombies,¡± said Lin Feng, ¡°That is wrong. They built this base, so they are the true owners of this base. You are living in their place. Some of you are worried that you might be fed to zombies. Let me ask you something. Has this base ever limited your freedom? Have any residents in this base disappeared without a trace? Have they done anything to harm you? They are zombies indeed, but they aren¡¯t like the zombies out there. They don¡¯t need to feed on your blood and flesh, and neither do they need to replenish themselves with your energy nuclei. They used to be our families and friends. They have turned into zombies, and to protect us, they built a base. Some of the residents of Base Number Two might be your very own families or friends who have died once.¡±


    His words successfully made everyone quiet down. Earlier, people were agitated because they suddenly learned that they had been living together with zombies for two years without being informed about that. They hadn¡¯t thought about the quality of the life that they had been living during the past two years. Now, upon hearing the words of Lin Feng and Wang Jian, they instantly hesitated.


    Before they thought it through, Lin Feng continued, ¡°Anyhow, I accounted for the truth today because I want you guys to allow yourselves to make choices. You can choose to stay or leave. For the ones who intend to leave, please do not come back once you leave. For the ones who are willing to stay, you are, of course, welcome. Someone just asked me about oursituation and that of the residents of Base Number Two. I can only tell you that they and us, we are all equal.¡±


    ¡°What if they lost control and attacked us humans? Will you be able to stop them from doing that?¡± Someone had their attitudes changed. They asked the most important question about living together with zombies.


    Zombies fed on humans; that was in their nature. They could hardly control themselves.


    ¡°We have rules for you, and we also have rules for them. The ones who violate the rules will be punished,¡± Lin Feng answered the questions seriously.


    ¡°Don¡¯t believe them! They¡¯re all liars! We¡¯re all equal? That¡¯s a lie!¡± The man first to suggest to leave said loudly with anger. He had noticed that some of the people on his side had started to hesitate.


    ¡°Believe us or not, that¡¯s your own decision to make,¡± said Lin Feng, ¡°We won¡¯t force you to believe us.¡±


    Dong Xinxin exchanged glances with the three boys, saying, ¡°We had brought up a condition when we joined the base: They can¡¯t kick us out no matter what happens. I believe in Wenwen. She must have kept the secret from us for a reason. I¡¯ll talk to her about it, and I¡¯ll stay. What about you guys?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever you say.¡± Dong Lijia showed no sign of objecting. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting that those people are zombies! I¡¯m suddenly so curious about them! What made them be almost like humans? They behave and think like humans. How did that happen?¡±


    He was greatly curious about that. And weirdly, he felt no fear or repulsion at all. Maybe it was because Lin Wenwen had warned him at the very beginning. Lin Wenwen and her brothers seemed to be in a very close relationship with Base Number Two, or else she wouldn¡¯t try so hard to defend them.


    The brother and sister looked at Deng Chenfei and Luo Yuanjun, waiting for their response.


    Luo Yuanjun rested a hand on his waist, holding his chin with the other hand while saying, ¡°Seriously, I¡¯m also curious about them. This base has been peaceful the whole time, hasn¡¯t it? Base Number Two has been quite mysterious, yet its residents often show up in the base! If Lin Feng gives us more details about Base Number Two and lets us meet its residents officially, I won¡¯t mind staying here. Besides, we¡¯ve spent so many years waiting for Wenwen. It¡¯d be embarrassing if we got kicked out so soon, right?¡±


    During the past seven years, he and his people had rejected Wu Chengyue¡¯s invitation countless times. If they ended up being kicked out of All Beings Base only a few months after they joined it, they would become a total joke.


    Having finished talking, he turned to Deng Chenfei. ¡°Stay,¡± Deng Chenfei said with a cold, expressionless face. To be honest, he was curious as well!


    At that moment, Wang Jian looked at the man who had been shouting about leaving and said, ¡°He¡¯s right. So, to prove that you¡¯re not lying to us, please ask the leaders of Base Number Two to meet with us officially. Also, I¡¯d like to know which side the Chief of this base belongs to.¡±


    ¡°This base has one Chief only. Both Base Number One and Base Number Two belong to her,¡± a silvery voice was heard. Next, a few figures showed up beside Lin Feng and his people.


    The one talking was Qiu Lili, wearing a white dress, a pair of white shoes, and a two-meter-long ponytail. Standing on the podium, she raised her chin and took off her sunglasses, showing her black eyes that had ruby-like, glowing pupils.


    ¡°I¡¯m Qiu Lili from Base Number Two. I¡¯m a level-seven zombie, the commander of Unit One of the army in Base Number Two.¡±


    From behind her, Yun Meng stepped forward. The dark green military suit made her look much more serious than usual. Her short hair were neatly cut, and her comely face was perfectly clean. She took off her sunglasses and said with a peaceful tone, ¡°Yun Meng, level-seven. The commander of Unit Two from Base Number Two.¡±


    Standing behind them, Lin Kui and the others stayed silent, because only the two girls and Xie Dong had official posts in the army. Xie Dong wasn¡¯t in the base at the moment.


    As Yun Meng finished talking, Lin Jing, Yan Xiao, Jingyan, and the others all took off their sunglasses. The group of high-leveled zombies stood on the podium and released their vibes, which immediately suppressed the vibes of Lin Feng and his people.


    Seeing those formally-dressed, perfectly clean, high-leveled zombies standing there with a mighty vibe, the people on the scene were all stunned. The unrestrained vibe of top-leveled zombies wasn¡¯t something that medium-leveled superpower possessors and commoners could stand after all.

 Chapter 1429 - Swaying Minds

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    In fact, most people on the scene more or less considered this base their home. Otherwise, they would have left for Sea City Base together with the ones who weren¡¯t capable of fighting. They were angry because Lin Feng had kept the secret from them, but they couldn¡¯t deny that they were satisfied with their lives in the base.


    Seeing Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, and the other zombies take off their sunglasses, the people were all stunned. They had already been shocked when they heard about those zombies, and now, seeing them with their own eyes, they were astonished.


    ¡°They¡¯re really zombies! We really have zombies in our base!¡± People automatically panicked at the sight of the zombies. They all believed that zombies were monsters feeding on people. That long-held belief made them afraid of zombies.


    Qiu Lili and Yun Meng often showed up by Lin Qiao¡¯s side, and the entire base had known about them. They had always been mysterious, but now their mystery was explained: They turned out to be zombies.


    They were actually two level-seven zombies!


    ¡°Do you have other questions? You¡¯ve signed an agreement with the base, and so have we. As same as you guys, we also need to follow the rules of this base. We never intended to disturb the life of the residents of Base Number One.¡± Standing beside Qiu Lili, Yun Meng looked at the people who were drawing back in a flurry and said.


    ¡°You would keep the secret forever if it weren¡¯t leaked, would you?¡± Some of the people said angrily. They had created a distance between the podium and themselves.


    ¡°We kept the secret from you so that you can live without worry. If you were all informed that this place was a zombie base, would you still live here? If you knew about the truth, would there still be a space for them to live?¡± Lin Feng said calmly, pointing at Yun Meng.


    ¡°They are zombies now, but they never forgot that they used to be humans. They were used to their old lifestyle. Even though they¡¯ve become zombies, they still have their old habits and humanity. They want to live a peaceful life like humans, so they needed to fight their zombie nature. They are zombies, but they also have the right to pursue the life they like,¡± Lin Feng continued.


    Those zombies would never hurt humans. In fact, as same as Lin Qiao, all the zombies with human memories were in a quite embarrassing situation at present. They weren¡¯t humans nor a hundred percent zombies. They were stuck between the two species, and neither of the two sides wanted them. That was why Lin Qiao built the base for the zombies who shared her embarrassing situation to live in. She built the base for the ones like Liu Jun, Qiu Lili, Yun Meng, Xie Dong, Shen Yujen, and the others.


    ¡°Since this base belongs to zombies, you shouldn¡¯t have opened to human residents if you don¡¯t want to hurt them!¡± Some people still had discontentment. However, their voices had grown weaker than before.


    ¡°You asked to join us. We didn¡¯t even invite you. And my brother has said, your life has nothing to do with the residents in Base Number Two. You live your life, and they live theirs. We took you in out of kindness. If you see our kindness as fake, we¡¯re now offering to send you away. You can think of our two years of service as a charity. You are free to leave right now!¡± Lin Wenwen stepped up from behind Lin Feng and said to the people with a sarcastic tone.


    Apart from the ones who were brought back from Hades Base by Lin Qiao, the rest of the residents had joined the base willingly. But now, those people were having some negative thoughts about the base, which displeased Lin Wenwen.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to stay this once again. This base isn¡¯t just for zombies. It¡¯s for humans too. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t have divided it into two parts. If you can¡¯t accept this, please leave. And if you can accept it, you are welcome to stay. We will be responsible for your lives and safety,¡± Lin Feng continued loudly.


    The people who had earlier shouted about leaving were now looking at the ones surrounding them with hesitation. If they chose to leave, they would have to join another base, which could be Sea City Base or Huaxia Base. Not to mention the possibly awful living conditions in those bases, merely the journey itself could kill them. After all, the world was full of zombies, mutated animals and plants, and underground creatures. Currently, there was also a poisonous mist spreading everywhere. Their chance of survival would be very low. If they chose to stay, they would be sharing the base with a group of zombies, facing the risk of being eaten by those zombies. They might even be seen as enemies by the people from the other bases. But at least, they would have enough food and daily supplies.


    Food was essential; no one could live without food. When there was no stable source of food, everything else would be meaningless!


    ¡°We¡¯re not leaving. We just want to stay alive, after all. How are we gonna stay alive if there¡¯s no food?¡± Abruptly, Dong Xinxin said with a loud voice.


    Behind her were the hunters under her command. They had been following her lead since before the apocalypse and were all trustworthy and reliable. They were willing to follow her every word, and she was right anyway. In the post-apocalyptic era, everyone was striving to live. For them, food was the most important thing, and nothing else mattered.


    Besides, the zombies in the base wouldn¡¯t hurt humans anyway; Lin Feng had made that very clear in front of all the people. In the future, those zombies would be under the supervision of the entire base.


    ¡°No matter what you say, it¡¯s pointless. In their eyes, we are monsters. They won¡¯t accept our existence, no matter how hard to try to convince them. We can¡¯t keep the secret anymore, so let¡¯s just cast all the humans out! If we let them stay here, we¡¯ll have to keep them safe and mentally healthy. That¡¯s going to be so troublesome.¡± A slightly hoarse, careless voice was heard.


    People raised their heads to see a tall and slim man standing on top of a utility pole, looking down at the people. His handsome face was wearing a proud, faint smile, and his hands rested in his trousers pockets. Near him, a girl in a white dress was quietly standing on top of another utility pole,her long hair dancing in the air. Her body was in perfect shape, and her pretty face was expressionless. She coldly looked at the people in the square; her black zombie eyes were glowing with a weird white light.


    ¡°Mo Yan, shut up! I want to punch you every time I hear your voice! How can we possibly cast all humans out? What about Lin Feng and his family? Aren¡¯t they humans? Are you going to cast them out too? I think you¡¯ll be the first one to be cast out by Chief when she comes back!¡± Qiu Lili glared at him and said.


    Mo Yan shrugged, saying carelessly, ¡°They can leave, and they can stay. They can do whatever they want.¡±

 Chapter 1430 - Ask Teng About It

    ¡°We¡¯ll stay! We just want to survive after all. For the sake of Deputy Chief Lin and Deputy Chief Yuan, we¡¯ll trust you this time!¡± As Dong Xinxin and her people had decided to stay, Wang Jian and his people made their decision as well.


    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ll stay. I¡¯m alone and I can live anywhere, but I like this base. I don¡¯t want to leave,¡± A weak but determined voice was heard from among the soldiers.


    ¡°I¡¯ll stay.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll stay. I don¡¯t care where I live. I just need to make sure that I won¡¯t get starved.¡±


    More and more voices like that came from the army.


    ¡°You¡¯ll regret your decision! I can tell you for sure. This is definitely a trap! It¡¯s so ridiculous that you guys actually believe that you can live together with zombies in peace. I don¡¯t even know if I should call you innocent or stupid!¡± As many expressed the willingness to stay, the one who was the first to suggest people to leave shouted loudly. In the meantime, he led some people toward the outside.


    His words made many hesitate again. Earlier, they wanted to leave because of what Wang Jian and the others said, and how, they weren¡¯t sure about it.


    As those people were still hesitating, Yuan Tianxing said to Lin Kui and the others, ¡°If you¡¯re all in here, who¡¯s guarding the base out there?¡±


    They hadn¡¯t forgotten about those underground creatures out there, had they?


    Yun Meng turned to glance at him and said relaxedly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Those things are acting restless indeed, but it seems that they¡¯re also hesitating, as if there is something in our base that scares them. No wonder Chief told us not to worry.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± Lin Feng turned back and asked curiously.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Yun Meng shook her head and said, ¡°She didn¡¯t give us the details. Maybe you can talk to Teng about it. He might have the answer.¡±


    Lin Feng, Yuan Tianxing, and the others glanced at each other with confusion.


    Had Lin Qiao talked to Teng about that?


    After switching glances with the others, Yuan Tianxing said to Lin Feng, ¡°Alright, give them some time to think. Let¡¯s go and talk to Teng, see if he knows something.¡±


    Lin Feng nodded and turned to the people, who were still running discussions about whether they should leave or not, saying loudly, ¡°We¡¯ll let you take your time to make your decisions. You are free to leave or stay.¡±


    After saying that, he turned back and walked down the podium together with Yuan Tianxing and the others, taking a ride to Base Number Two. Du Yuanxing and Chen Yuting were left on the scene maintaining the order. Yun Meng and her friends disappeared from the podium. They always liked flying more than taking cars. The cars were slow, and they preferred to be fast.


    Teng and Wu Yueling were staying at Lin Qiao¡¯s apartment, under the care of Duan Juan and Shen Yujen. Currently, Wu Yueling would no longer feel uncomfortable without the company of Wu Chengyue or Lin Qiao. As long as Teng was by her side, she could stay in a place quietly, drawing or playing with her rabbit. Occasionally, she chatted with Teng. However, most of the time, Teng was the one talking and she was the one listening.


    Shen Yujen who was outside, detected the scents of Lin Feng and the others. She pushed the door open and said to Teng, who was lying on the couch and feeling bored, ¡°Teng, I think your uncle and some others are here for you.¡±


    Teng immediately got up and leaned on the back of the couch as he nodded and said, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve smelt them too.¡±


    ¡°Are there many people?¡± Wu Yueling turned and asked her.


    Teng counted with his fingers, ¡°Yeah. They¡¯re my elderly uncle, Uncle Yuan, Aunty Wenwen, and Sister Lili and the others.¡±


    Hearing that so many people were coming over, Wu Yueling instantly sat straight, looking a little nervous. Teng thought for a moment and then crawled to her before sitting on her lap, saying, ¡°Hold me, so that you won¡¯t be scared!¡±


    He knew about Wu Yueling¡¯s condition, which had grown much better than before. But still, she tended to become nervous when more than three people whom she wasn¡¯t familiar with showed up in front of her together. She was learning to control herself though and was making great improvements.


    Having something to hold would help her to relax. Therefore, Teng decided to be her cuddle bear.


    As Teng crawled onto her lap, Wu Yueling naturally put her arms around his tiny and soft body. Beside her, the gray rabbit, which was even larger than Teng, was squatting on the couch.


    Duan Juan walked out of the kitchen, wearing an apron. While drying her hands with a towel, she asked, ¡°Why are they here? Aren¡¯t they having a meeting? Is the meeting over already?¡±


    Sitting in Wu Yueling¡¯s arms, Teng put a hand on his chin as he thought for a moment and said, ¡°Em, I guess they¡¯re going to ask me questions about those underground creatures out there.¡±


    ¡°Why would they want to ask you about that?¡± Duan Juan asked the boy.


    Teng shrugged as he looked at her with a pair of large and sparkling eyes, shaking his head, ¡°That was just my guess. If they aren¡¯t going to ask me questions about those creatures, why are they here together? I guess it¡¯s what Mama said before leaving that made them think I should know something.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right,¡± Duan Juan nodded as she glanced at Teng, sighing. The boy was only a few months old, but his mind was already as mature as an adult. She wondered how the boy developed that mind in Lin Qiao¡¯s uterus. Or, had his mind developed in advance when he was in the space?


    Before long, Lin Feng and the others came to the door and saw Shen Yujen. Before they said anything, she invited them in. ¡°Please come in. Teng is already waiting for you guys.¡±


    Lin Feng raised his brows, saying, ¡°Has he sensed our scents already?¡±


    He and the others were all aware that Teng¡¯s sense of smell was no worse than that of zombies.


    Shen Yujen smiled and said, ¡°He has also guessed out that you¡¯re here to ask him about the underground creatures.


    Yuan Tianxing, who was following behind Lin Feng, laughed, ¡°The boy is really smart. He actually guessed correctly.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s Qiaoqiao¡¯s son, and he¡¯s as amazing as her,¡± said Qiu Lili.


    Everyone walked into the room to find the two kids sitting on the couch and Duan Juan standing on the side. As they came in, she offered them seats and served them with the tea which was prepared long ago.


    The tea was produced in Lin Qiao¡¯s space and tasted refreshing and sweet.


    ¡°Ahyaya, Little Teng! Come and give your Aunty a hug,¡± Lin Wenwen rushed at Teng and asked for a hug at the sight of the boy. However, Teng raised a hand to stop her before she could even come close, saying, ¡°Wait a minute! You can¡¯t hug me just yet.¡±


    While speaking, he pointed at the nervous Wu Yueling with his little finger.


    As Lin Wenwen came over, Wu Yueling was automatically shrinking backward. The girl popped her eyes and stared at Lin Wenwen nervously, holding Teng tighter.


    Seeing that, Lin Wenwen figured out what the problem was. Without a choice, she gave up and stepped back, ¡°Alright then. But when they all leave, you¡¯ve got to let me hold you.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Teng spread his hands and said.


    Lin Feng sat down as he looked at Teng and asked the question directly, ¡°You seem to have known why we¡¯re here. Do you have the answer?¡±


    ¡°I think I do,¡± Teng nodded at him and said, ¡°Look at that.¡±


    While speaking, he raised his hand and pointed at a sealed glass bottle on a cabinet. It was a bottle with a capacity of 500ml, about the same size as a spring water bottle. The bottle was half-way filled with a dark-red liquid.


    ¡°What¡¯s that? It looks like some kind of blood¡­¡± Everyone turned to look at the bottle and some made a guess.


    ¡°It is blood¡­ It¡¯s Mama¡¯s blood. It¡¯s for me to drink,¡± said Teng.

 Chapter 1431 - The Secret Weapon

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    ¡°Drink? Why do you need to drink that?¡± Lin Feng and the others looked at him with surprise.


    ¡°Do you know what other ingredients it contains apart from Mama¡¯s blood? It also contains Aunt Wenwen¡¯s catmint, the black fruit that Mama brought back from the underground, and her lake water. You guys can¡¯t drink it, but I can. It works magically on me, but you guys can¡¯t tell.¡±


    Lin Wenwen blinked as he stared at the boy and asked, ¡°Are you what those creatures are scared of?¡±


    On hearing that, everyone fixed their eyes on Teng. ¡°Eh? So it¡¯s you! What exactly is going on here? Are you the secret weapon that your Mama left us?¡±


    Teng nodded seriously while saying, ¡°Yeah. You are not those underground creatures, so you can¡¯t sense the change in my vibe. But feel it carefully, and I think you¡¯ll be able to tell the difference.¡±


    That was the reason why the boy hadn¡¯t been restraining his vibe.


    That was actually a little secret between him and Lin Qiao. The boy was special; sometimes, he could predict the future almost as accurately as Lin Wenwen. His vibe was special as well, and Lin Qiao had noticed that since long ago. She discovered Red¡¯s strange attitude toward Teng earlier when she brought the boy to the farm to deal with the trouble caused by her pets.


    At that time, the cat seemed to be both curious about the boy and alert against him.


    The mixture of Lin Qiao¡¯s blood, the lake water from the space, catmint, and the black fruit could deliver some strange effects. That was Leng Xuantong¡¯s newest discovery. The mixture could significantly better zombies¡¯ physical conditions and improve their powers, making them terrifying for the underground creatures.


    By accident, Teng discovered the mixture and found it tempting. He had a hunch that it would be good for him. Therefore, he asked Lin Qiao to let him drink a little of it. Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t sure about it at first, but since he always had accurate intuitions, she agreed to let him taste it. She was also curious about what effects the drug could give the boy.


    Once Teng drank the blood mixture, Red, who was near him, sprung up and ran away at least a mile away. Only Lin Qiao and Teng knew about that. Not even Leng Xuantong, who created the blood mixture, had been informed about that.


    Lin Feng and the others carefully sensed Teng¡¯s vibe. Qiu Lili and her friends detected the difference first.


    ¡°No wonder I started feeling weird when I came near this area, and that feeling grew stronger when I entered this room. So it¡¯s from you!¡± Qiu Lili twitched her nose, tilted her head, and looked at Teng from head to toe with curiosity.


    Lin Wenwen nodded with comprehension dawning on her face, ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s you! I can¡¯t believe my sister didn¡¯t tell us about something so important! So, those underground creatures didn¡¯t march straight into our base because they¡¯re afraid of your vibe, eh? But you¡¯re weak, while some of those creatures are at level seven and eight!¡±


    Yun Meng twitched her nose as she shook his head and said, ¡°You¡¯re wrong. This boy¡¯s vibe is weak indeed, but it does give out a strong pressure. I think it¡¯s because of Chief¡¯s blood.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Lin Wenwen glanced at her with confusion.


    Qiu Lili and Lin Kui both nodded, ¡°Yes.¡±


    As zombies, they felt things much more clearly than Lin Feng and the other humans. Lin Qiao¡¯s blood emitted the vibe of a zombie emperor. Teng had drunk her blood, so a part of her vibe had turned into his. The humans weren¡¯t able to sense it, but the zombies and mutated beasts could feel it more or less.


    As they figured out Lin Qiao¡¯s secret life-saving method, the people left in the square by them finally made their choices. They were frightened when they saw those talking zombies, but after confirming that the zombies wouldn¡¯t hurt them, they started feeling curious about them.


    After all, they used to believe that zombies were all like monsters, always baring their teeth and roaring crazily. It was such a new and fresh experience for them to see some zombies talking clearly and fluently.


    After recovering from the shock, they thought carefully about the choice that they were going to make. Without food, they wouldn¡¯t be able to survive for long in any of the larger bases, so they might as well take the risk and stay.


    Chen Yuting and Du Yuanxing looked at them quietly without saying anything to hasten them.


    The ones who had decided to stay, stayed in the square. Dong Xinxin and her people had moved to the side to make way for the ones who wanted to leave. The people who eventually decided to leave left the square in groups.


    At last, about one-third of the people on the scene chose to leave. They still couldn¡¯t accept living together with zombies.


    As no more people were leaving, Chen Yuting nodded at Du Yuanxing and got on the podium before speaking to the ones who had chosen to stay loudly, ¡°Thank you all for choosing to stay here with us. We assure you that the residents of Base Number Two will not disturb your life. They will not enter Base Number One, at least not until you have all accepted their existence. But once again, they are equal with us. So for the ones who will settle down in Base Number One, please stay away from them, just like how they will stay away from you. Here is a new agreement for you to sign.¡±


    ¡°I have a question,¡± Wang Jian looked at Chen Yuting and said.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Chen Yuting nodded at him politely and said.


    ¡°Maybe we won¡¯t be hurt in the base, but as this is a zombie base, the other bases will certainly see us as an enemy. What if they attack us? Will you take responsibility for that kind of situation too?¡± Wang Jian looked at him and asked the question seriously.


    Chen Yuting nodded at him, saying, ¡°We will. Our leaders will come up with a solution about that as soon as possible.¡±


    Upon hearing his answer, Wang Jian nodded and said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll sign the agreement.¡±


    The ones who had decided to leave had left, and the base was still surrounded by underground creatures. However, those creatures didn¡¯t have the courage to make a way in. As the situation was growing stable, Wu Chengyue summoned all the leaders of Sea City Base for a meeting.


    He talked about one thing only ¨C he would resign from his post as a Chief of Sea City Base.


    The news from the two bases was soon delivered to Si Kongchen.


    With a sneer, he said, ¡°Great! They disclosed their secret themselves. I don¡¯t even need to keep digging. They actually spread the news by themselves. Wu Chengyue has brought the Chief of Green Mountain Base to Sea City to guard his base, but he himself gave up on the base at this point. He is definitely going to help the zombie base.¡±

 Chapter 1432 - He Couldn’t Stay Calm

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Si Kongchen had been trying to find a way to find out All Beings Base¡¯s secret, but before he could come up with an idea, All Beings Base people revealed the secret themselves. By doing that, they had given him a perfect reason to attack their base. It was like a gift and he, of course, intended to make good use of it.


    Also, Wu Chengyue had left Sea City Base. That was just what Si Kongchen wished for! After all, Sea City Base had a strong army and powerful weapons. Attacking Sea City Base would consume some of his own weapons. Now, as Wu Chengyue had left Sea City Base, he no longer had the right to use Sea City Base¡¯s weapons to defend himself, meaning that he was now much easier to deal with than before.


    The woman from All Beings Base had destroyed half of his weapons, and Si Kongchen felt wrathful every time he thought about that. He had so much anger in his heart, and he couldn¡¯t give vent to it.


    Boom! As he was feeling delighted because of the news, a thunderous sound was heard from the inner sector of his base. He immediately turned his head and fixed his eyes on that area.


    ¡°What happened?¡± On hearing the sound, Han Xiao immediately realized that something bad had happened. Before long, a few men showed up in the office and reported, ¡°Sir, the lab for purchased products in the inner sector has blown up.¡±


    Before the man could finish, Si Kongchen disappeared from where he was.


    ¡°Who did it?¡± Wei Haichao asked with a deep frown.


    ¡°The Chief lady from All Beings Base,¡± the man said with hesitation.


    Han Xiao and Wei Haichao both gave a slight start and turned to where the sound came from. After that, they turned back to look at the area where Lin Qiao entered her space from.


    ¡°Hasn¡¯t she been here the whole time? Had she left already?¡±


    Had Si Kongchen stayed there for ten days waiting for nothing?


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t she leave then? Did she stay here so she can laugh at our Chief? Or, is she planning something?¡± Han Xiao furrowed his brows with confusion.


    Wei Haichao shrugged, saying, ¡°It¡¯s hard to guess out what the woman is thinking. But it¡¯s easy to figure out what our Chief is thinking at the moment.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s probably gonna vomit blood this time,¡± said Han Xiao, ¡°He¡¯s been fooled by a woman so many times. He thought he¡¯d finally catch her this time, but he failed again like he always does.¡±


    Si Kongchen had sensed Lin Qiao¡¯s vibe when his man came to report to him about what had just happened. She released her vibe purely to make him feel humiliated!


    He was so angry at the moment that his face had even twisted. His veins stood out under his skin near his temples, and his eyes were popped. His facial muscles were tightened, teeth clenched, and lips pressed together.


    The woman fooled him over and over again! She had truly humiliated him!


    He wanted to catch her and torture her slowly, no matter if she were a human or a zombie! He wanted her to feel the humiliation that he was feeling now! He wanted to destroy her base and torture or kill all the people that she cared about right in front of her.


    He wanted her to be punished!


    Lin Qiao had attacked Huaxia Base a few times in a row, without leaving any trace. Si Kongchen couldn¡¯t find her, nor could he do anything to All Beings Base. He was already upset, and now, as she was mocking him openly, he could not stay calm!


    By the time he stormed to the explosion site and saw the collapsed underground building, the woman¡¯s vibe was gone.


    She had disappeared again!


    In that collapsed lab were some new weapons he had purchased from abroad with a huge price, as well as some technologies. That lab had been kept strictly secret. He hadn¡¯t expected that she would know about it!


    Apart from Professor Bai¡¯s secret lab, the lab was the secret weapon that Si Kongchen had been saving for the last moment. He had paid so much attention to it, and everything in that lab had cost him great efforts! To purchase those weapons and technologies, he had to send large numbers of his people abroad and give out a lot of supplies!


    Seeing the devastated site, Si Kongchen suffered heartache and almost coughed blood!


    He couldn¡¯t stand it. Suddenly, he wielded an arm and brought a purple-red, enormous fireball down from the sky, throwing it onto the collapsed lab.


    Boom!


    After that, he turned to face All Beings Base with a wrathful look.


    Lin Qiao, who hadn¡¯t gone far, turned back and glanced at the raging fire as she turned up her lips and flipped her long hair before leaving.


    ¡®I might not be able to kill you directly, but I might be able to make you die of anger!¡® she thought.


    The poisonous mist was still spreading. A series of rumbling noise was heard from the hole where Lin Qiao and the others had earlier entered the underground world from. Meanwhile, the ground was sinking bit by bit, and the dust rose in clouds.


    Boom! Boom! The earth quaked more and more intensely. Before long, the hole collapsed.


    ¡°Eh-hem!¡± A few figures crawled out from the collapsing hole in a flurry.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back and report this to the base leaders!¡± Xie Dong turned to glance at the collapsing area behind him and left with his soldiers while speaking.


    As Xie Dong and Lin Qiao were both heading back toward the base, Wu Chengyue left Sea City Base. Most of the residents of Sea City Base had learned that All Beings Base was a zombie base, and they could hardly believe it. Soon, they heard that their strongest leader was leaving the base for that zombie base.


    ¡°They actually keep zombies in their base! I can¡¯t believe it!¡±


    ¡°Mind your language. Those zombies live there freely. They built the base actually. In that base, humans are the outsiders.¡± Sitting at the head of the conference table, Zou Shihui expressionlessly looked at the man who said those words.


    Sitting beside him was a tall and strong man, looking expressionless. He was wearing a black Chief¡¯s uniform, and under the brim of his hat, his eyes were covered. A young girl with an adorable round face and a cold-looking man were standing behind him.


    Wu Chengyue and Xiao Yunlong had both left, so Zou Shihui, as one of the three Chiefs, was left to manage the base alone.


    On hearing Zou Shihui talk about All Beings Base so calmly, the others looked at him with surprise.


    ¡°Chief Zou, did you always know what they are?¡±


    Zou Shihui nodded.


    ¡°Why? They¡¯re zombies. Why are we working together with them? Is it only because of Chief Wu¡¯s personal relationship with them?¡±


    They believed that the partnership between All Beings Base and Sea City Base was generated merely from the relationship between Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao. That was true, actually. After all, it was impossible for someone to do something without any selfish motives. Wu Chengyue might not have any private purpose when he started the cooperation with All Beings Base, but over time, that private purpose of his was generated bit by bit.


    ¡°If it weren¡¯t for Chief Wu¡¯s personal relationship with them, many of our people would have starved to death. Do you have a problem with it? Don¡¯t you forget that it¡¯s them who have been providing you with the food that¡¯s been keeping all of you alive,¡± Zou Shihui glanced at them coldly and said.


    1

 Chapter 1433 - The Situation of Sea City Base

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Zou Shihui¡¯s words immediately threw people into silence. When it came to food, they had to stay reasonable.


    ¡°But they¡¯re zombies. They¡¯ve eaten so many humans. They¡¯re our deadly enemies. Even though we¡¯re working with them for a good reason, it¡¯s still hard for me to accept it,¡± someone said with repulsion.


    ¡°So, are you willing to serve Huaxia Base, be inferior to them, and beg them for protection? All Beings Base is a zombie base, but at least they treat us equally,¡± Zou Shihui glanced at the man and said.


    Currently, only Huaxia Base and All Beings Base were able to produce food. Sea City Base had a large population but no farm. Without the food coming from All Beings Base, there would be a great number of people starving to death every single day.


    ¡°They¡¯re all zombies, but ever since they joined that base, they never hurt humans again. Also, every piece of vegetable and every single grain of rice you can have now was grown by those zombies.¡±


    Fewer and fewer people had gratitude in the current world. It was almost impossible for Sea City people to thank the zombies in All Beings Base, so Zou Shihui only intended to let them know that they would have no food without those zombies.


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t we rent their land and farm by ourselves? Or, we can buy the soil purification technique from them,¡± someone suggested with a weak voice.


    ¡°We¡¯d still be depending on them in that way, wouldn¡¯t we? Are you thinking that we can first learn their techniques and then turn against them? I can only tell you that they have no such techniques. They purified the soil with something that only their Chief has.¡± Zou Shihui had guessed out what the person was really thinking about.


    After learning that All Beings Base had a large number of zombies living in it, people instinctively felt repulsion against it, which was normal. Not everyone could accept that fact so easily.


    However, the current situation was clear. All Beings Base had secret weapons while Sea City Base didn¡¯t. Sea City Base wasn¡¯t strong enough to take those secret weapons from All Beings Base by using violence either. After all, the world had been occupied by zombies.


    Therefore, Sea City Base people should stay sane and reasonable, despite how hard it was for them to accept the truth about the other.


    ¡°Is that woman so important? I can¡¯t believe that Chief Wu just left like this. He founded this base single-handedly! And Xiao Yunlong, Xiao Licheng, and the others¡­ Doesn¡¯t this base mean anything to them?¡± People didn¡¯t want to continue thinking about the zombie base, so they changed the topic.


    They weren¡¯t happy about Wu Chengyue¡¯s leaving. After all, losing one powerful man meant that the base might need to face a greater danger.


    ¡°You¡¯re not his wife and son. Of course, you¡¯re not as important to him as his wife and son!¡± Zou Shihui didn¡¯t even bother to explain, and they didn¡¯t know how to respond to him. After all, Wu Chengyue wasn¡¯t a man with a heroic spirit. Before leaving, he had, at least, brought a super-powerful man to the base to guard it. That was the last thing he could do for the base.


    After the meeting, Zou Shihui received the news saying that a batch of All Beings Base had joined Sea City Base. He had foreseen that. After all, most of the people couldn¡¯t accept leaving together with zombies. He had known that some people would choose to leave All Beings Base after its secret was disclosed.


    What surprised him was that the number of people who chose to leave was smaller than he thought. Clearly, a large part of them chose to stay.


    ¡°I guess those people didn¡¯t lose their minds. Between a risky but promising life and the fate of death, they chose the former,¡± said Zou Shihui.


    The Deputy Chief sitting beside him was a gray-haired elderly man, looking strong and energetic. The elderly man adjusted his glasses, saying, ¡°After all, the greatest difficulty in this world now isn¡¯t zombies or mutated beasts, nor those underground creatures. It¡¯s food. Nothing is more important than food.¡±


    For that very reason, the senior administrators of Sea City Base reluctantly agreed to continue their partnership with All Beings Base. After learning that only one person in All Beings Base was capable of purifying the soil, and that person was the Chief of that base, they realized that they could never get the soil remedy, not even by using violence. Only when the Chief lady was willing to share it with them could they have it.


    After all, that woman was a level-eight being, surrounded by a large group of zombies at level seven and six. She might even have zombie emperors under her command!


    Everyone pictured those high-level zombies showing up outside their base, summoning huge crowds of zombies, and making them charge at the base like locusts. That imagined scene in their heads terrified them.


    At that time, Wu Chengyue arrived All Beings Base with Xiao Yunlong and his other old friends, learning that his son was actually able to scare away underground creatures.


    ¡°You can do that? My good boy! Come on and let your Daddy give you a kiss!¡± Wu Chengyue smilingly lifted Teng up and kissed on his cheek.


    Teng rolled his eyes blandly and said, ¡°I can do a lot of things, but I¡¯m not telling you about them! Besides, my capabilities have nothing to do with you. It¡¯s all because of my Mama and my own gift.¡±


    Among all, Wu Yueling was the happiest one to see Wu Chengyue. She was dependent on her father like the normal kids. Lin Qiao and Teng had shared a part of her dependency on her father, but Wu Chengyue, as her father, was still the person she was the most familiar with.


    Therefore, she was always thrilled to see Wu Chengyue again after being separated from him for a while.


    However, her way of expressing happiness was merely sitting on the side and watching the interactions between Wu Chengyue and Teng with a smile.


    ¡°Mama is coming home soon! So next, you two can figure out a way to deal with that poisonous energy mist. It¡¯d be bad for my uncles and aunt if it came into our base.¡± Sitting on Wu Chengyue¡¯s lap, Teng thought for a moment and said with a serious face.


    ¡®Apart from the poisonous mist, there was also a huge problem underground to be dealt with. Oh, the man in Huaxia Base who always caused Mama and Daddy trouble needed to be taken care of first.¡¯ The boy thought.


    Seeing the boy fall in deep thoughts, Wu Chengyue rubbed his head and said with a smile, ¡°Stop thinking about that. Your Mama and I will solve the problem. It¡¯s not yet your turn to worry about it. You¡¯re still a baby!¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Teng raised his head and looked at his father as he pondered upon his words. Then, he nodded in agreement.


    Indeed, no other babies would need to worry about the problems that only adults can deal with. Actually, not even ordinary adults could deal with those problems!


    The first thing that Lin Qiao did when she returned was to call a meeting. Seeing Wu Chengyue walk into the conference room, she couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°How weird is this? Shouldn¡¯t you be at Sea City Base at this time?¡±


    Wu Chengyue spread his hands, saying, ¡°Sea City Base has nothing to do with me anymore. From now on, I¡¯m yours.¡±


    Lin Qiao didn¡¯t know what to say, and everyone else on the scene felt speechless.


    ¡®Someone, please take this man away,¡® some of them wished.


    1

 Chapter 1434 - It Crawls Out

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Lin Qiao started focusing on finding solutions for the current situation of her base once she returned. After all, the secret of her base was no longer a secret. There was a lot of work for her to do. Therefore, she hadn¡¯t heard about Wu Chengyue leaving Sea City Base yet. On hearing his words, she turned to look at Lin Feng, who was sitting beside her.


    ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡±


    ¡°Wu is not leading Sea City Base anymore. He¡¯s resigned,¡± said Lin Feng.


    ¡°Why?¡± Lin Qiao looked at Wu Chengyue with surprise. He was doing fine as a Chief of Sea City Base. Why did he resign?


    Once she asked that question, all the others on the scene landed their eyes on her. Their meaning was pretty obvious.


    Lin Qiao didn¡¯t know what to say.


    ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t think this was necessary. You can stay as a Chief of Sea City Base. I think we won¡¯t be affecting Sea City Base much.¡± After staying silent for a few seconds, Lin Qiao finally spoke.


    The most possible effect that might happen to Sea City Base because of the disclosure of All Beings Base¡¯s secret would be related to its partnership with the latter. Sea City Base could simply end its partnership with All Beings Base to protect itself. It would be fine as long as it had nothing to do with All Beings Base.


    Would Sea City Base people attempt to attack All Beings Base? Lin Qiao believed that would be impossible. All Beings Base was their source of food after all! Those people wouldn¡¯t want to attack All Beings Base unless they stopped providing them with food.


    ¡°If I stayed in Sea City Base, I wouldn¡¯t be able to come here to see you and Teng openly,¡± said Wu Chengyue with a smile, ¡°It¡¯d be meaningless being a Chief of the base if the base were to set boundaries for me, right? For me, my wife and children are more important than the base. Besides, I¡¯m not what¡¯s important for them either. Without me, they still have the base. They¡¯ll still have food, a place to live, and Zou to take care of them.¡±


    All he wanted was to be with the zombie lady. He wouldn¡¯t have the liberty to maintain a close relationship with Lin Qiao if he kept being a Chief of Sea City Base. He would have to give up on her under the pressure coming from the residents of Sea City Base.


    He wouldn¡¯t need to care about that if he were an arbitrary leader. However, he wasn¡¯t a leader like that. On the contrary, he believed in democracy. Therefore, since he wasn¡¯t able to convince all Sea City Base people to accept All Beings Base, he decided to give up on his base.


    He didn¡¯t care about power. He became a Chief because he was the strongest person in the base, and people wanted him to lead.


    Lin Qiao gave him a glare silently. ¡®Who¡¯s your wife? I haven¡¯t admitted that yet. Can you please mind your language?¡¯


    She didn¡¯t feel like debating about that with him in front of all the other people. That was a personal issue, after all. Currently, the first priority was to deal with the problem that the base was facing.


    ¡°Thankfully, I¡¯ve grown quite some catmint in my space, and I¡¯ve brought back those black fruits. Those are still not enough, even though the human population of our base has dropped. I need to get back underground and find more of those fruits. Also, the level-nine creature likes strong opponents. If it comes out, it¡¯ll first go for Si Kongchen or Dong Xiaowei. Therefore, we need to find a way to guide it to Huaxia Base, instead of letting it come at us.¡± The news Xie Dong had brought back didn¡¯t surprise Lin Qiao. She had foreseen all that and had been thinking about how to lead the level-nine creature to Si Kongchen since long ago.


    As for the poisonous mist, she already had a solution. She still had some black fruits left in her space. The mixture of the black fruits, catmint, and her lake water could keep people from being affected by the underground energy mist. That formula had successfully worked on the people who had followed her to the underground world earlier.


    It was Red who found the cure for her at first. The lake water from her space was able to boost the energy of the black fruit. Therefore, it would take only a slight amount of the fruit energy to protect one person from the underground energy. If even that didn¡¯t work, she still had catmint.


    So currently, All Beings Base only needed to face two real problems ¨C Si Kongchen and the aftermath of the exposure of Lin Qiao¡¯s zombie army.


    ¡°That hole has collapsed. We need to find another entrance to the underground space.¡± After hearing Lin Qiao talk about going back down for more black fruits, Xie Dong provided a piece of important information.


    ¡°And we have to wait for those fruits to ripe,¡± Lin Qiao sighed.


    ¡°That can wait. The poisonous mist isn¡¯t reaching our base so soon anyway. Even if it¡¯s already here, we still wouldn¡¯t need to worry about it, because we have the cure. So, let¡¯s not worry about that now and talk about when that level-nine creature will come out. Also, you¡¯ve really pissed Si Kongchen off this time. He might even decide to attack us before Sea City Base,¡± Lin Feng said while glancing at Lin Qiao.


    His sister was such a trouble-maker!


    Lin Qiao smiled and said calmly, ¡°I wanted to piss him off. He can come to attack us if he has the guts. I¡¯ve destroyed a lot of his weapons, so we don¡¯t need to worry that our weapons might not be as good as his now. Besides, since we have already unveiled our secret, I intend to let the whole world know about it in the most direct way. I didn¡¯t only want Si Kongchen to know that we¡¯re not so easy to deal with, but also want the whole country to learn that.¡±


    Her zombie base was no longer a secret. The people who intended to give her trouble had to prepare themselves for the zombie army.


    That was not Lin Qiao¡¯s long-term plan though. Her base wouldn¡¯t be able to depend on zombies forever. Human society was still developing rapidly. One day, humans might develop some lethal weapons against zombies, and by then, her base would be in severe danger.


    ¡­


    That night, a wild level-nine vibe came up to the earth¡¯s surface and spread tens of thousands of miles from its source. That was the strongest vibe that anyone had ever sensed.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The thunderous roar echoed through the sky. Si Kongchen, Dong Xiaowei, Lin Qiao, Wu Chengyue, Lan Lu, and all the other high-leveled humans or zombies received the monster¡¯s challenge.


    Yes, it came up to challenge them!


    Its roar delivered a message, claiming that the entire land was its territory. All living beings on its territory must follow its order strictly!


    As the earth-shaking roar was heard, the underground creatures near every human base all turned and ran toward the level-nine monster, leaving their prey behind.


    ¡°It¡¯s here,¡± Lin Qiao stood on top of a building, looking where the roar came from. At the same time, all the others above level-seven put on serious looks as well, including Si Kongchen.

 Chapter 1435 - Burn Catmint to Keep the Beasts Away

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    The top-leveled beings who had already gotten used to their unique leading status tended to grow agitated when they detected other equally powerful beings. They could never tolerate any other powerful beings existing in their territories.


    After all, one nation couldn¡¯t have two queens.


    The level-nine creature came out of the underground world and detected the existence of Si Kongchen and Dong Xiaowei, both at the same level as itself, and naturally intended to kill them.


    People in All Beings Base and Sea City Base had known that the monster was coming up, so they weren¡¯t surprised. Unlike them, Si Kongchen changed his expression in shock, saying, ¡°Why did it come out? Isn¡¯t it supposed to be staying underground?¡±


    The monster¡¯s vibe was strong and aggressive, much more powerful than his. He had a feeling that he was definitely no match for it, so the sense of crisis instantly emerged from his heart.


    The level-nine monster¡¯s enormous body floated in the sky, slowly rising high. Clouds of poisonous energy came out of his mouth through its sharp teeth. It turned its gigantic head from side to side and twitched its nose. Then, its cold and huge eyes showed hesitation.


    It was looking at Sea City Base and Huaxia Base; level-nine vibes were coming from both those two opposite directions. It had to choose one to deal with first and then come back for the other one.


    In Eastern China, Lin Qiao was standing on top of the tallest building in her base. Standing behind her were Lin Feng and the others.


    ¡°Will it come here?¡± Facing where the monster¡¯s vibe was coming from, Lin Feng asked with a serious face. The monster¡¯s vibe was so wild and strong that he could sense it clearly even from thousands of miles away. The monster released its vibe on purpose; it was marking its territory using its vibe. Many animals had that kind of habit.


    ¡°It¡¯ll come here eventually,¡± said Lin Qiao expressionlessly. The monster would come over as long as at the level-nine man stayed in this area.


    Lin Feng turned and looked at Lin Qiao. Seeing the latter¡¯s expressionless face, he figured that she couldn¡¯t think of an idea to keep the monster away at the moment. Fighting it was not an option; they had no chance to win.


    If the Chief of Green Mountain Base and Si Kongchen could join hands and fight it together, there might be a glimmer of hope on mankind¡¯s side. However, that wouldn¡¯t likely happen.


    Lin Qiao dropped her head as she put a hand on her chin and thought for a moment, ¡°There¡¯s only one way. I just don¡¯t know if we have enough catmint.¡±


    ¡°What way?¡± everyone looked at her.


    Lin Qiao raised her head to look at them and said, ¡°Burn all the catmint that we have. The catmint smoke will spread. That thing won¡¯t like the smell, so it¡¯ll go to Huaxia Base. We won¡¯t be able to keep doing it for long though, because we don¡¯t have much catmint left.¡±


    The catmint plants in her space grew times faster than the ones outside, but still, the total amount of catmint wasn¡¯t enough.


    People needed to think of a way to bring the monster down for good. After all, they couldn¡¯t possibly send Dong Xiaowei away at this point.


    Earlier, Dong Xiaowei was invited to Sea City Base to guard the base against Si Kongchen. But now, he was attracting the level-nine monster, which was even more dangerous than Si Kongchen, to the base. However, both Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue believed that he shouldn¡¯t be sent away for that reason. Neither did they tend to turn their backs on the ones who had done them a favor.


    ¡°We can only fight it if there¡¯s no other way,¡± said Wu Chengyue.


    Running was not an option, as the level-nine monster could catch up with them within a blink if it wanted to. They couldn¡¯t possibly escape.


    Lin Qiao took out the catmint from her space, which was grown by Lu Tianyi, and asked Lin Feng to send his men to burn it on the roof. As the dense smoke rose into the sky, the people with wind power blew it to the north.


    Soon after that, the level-nine monster turned to All Beings Base and twitched its nose. After spending a short while sensing the scent in the air, it uttered a deep and muffled roar.


    ¡°Roar¡­¡±


    Next, it turned to Huaxia Base and disappeared.


    The moment it moved, Si Kongchen sensed it approaching Huaxia Base at lightning speed through the air.


    ¡®This isn¡¯t good! It¡¯s coming at us!¡¯ Si Kongchen changed countenance when he realized that.


    At the same time, Lin Qiao and her people sighed with relief.


    The catmint worked well! She wanted to go and witness Si Kongchen¡¯s death, but she didn¡¯t have the time. After all, the monster would come back for Dong Xiaowei as soon as it finished Si Kongchen off.


    She went to Teng and asked him if he had any idea. Teng had sharp intuition, and Lin Qiao was willing to believe in anything he might say.


    However, he shook his head and said to her, ¡°I only have a rough feeling about this. I don¡¯t know what exactly we should do, but I feel that we¡¯ll be fine. So I guess nothing too bad will happen to us!¡±


    ¡°Teng is trying to say that we¡¯ll find a way to keep ourselves safe at last. He just doesn¡¯t know what exactly the solution will be,¡± Wu Chengyue said after hearing Teng¡¯s words.


    ¡°If we want something more specific, maybe we can talk to someone else,¡± Lin Qiao thought for a moment and asked Duan Juan to bring Lin Wenwen over.


    Lin Wenwen came over, knowing what Lin Qiao wanted to ask her about. ¡°Do you want me to try to see into the future about the monster?¡±


    Everyone nodded in response.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try.¡± Lin Wenwen narrowed her eyes and slowly glanced at everyone on the scene. However, no future scenes popped in her mind.


    Soon, the atmosphere started to become depressing. Would they have to fight that monster at last? They obviously had no chance to win! Underground creatures could even kill humans at higher levels than themselves! A level-nine human being would have absolutely no chance against a level-nine underground creature.


    Lin Qiao sighed as she raised her head and leaned on the back of the chair, saying, ¡°Eh, I wish there were an animal trainer who could tame this huge monster. How nice would that be!¡±


    ¡°In your dreams!¡± Wu Chengyue gave a bitter smile.


    ¡°If there¡¯s really a person who can do that, I¡¯d kneel before him or her!¡± said Lin Feng with no expression.


    Everyone turned and looked at him silently.


    ¡°No, brother, you wouldn¡¯t need to kneel. I¡¯ll kneel!¡± said Lin Qiao.


    The people turned to her, still staying silent. They didn¡¯t know what to say about the short and weird conversation between Lin Qiao and her brother.


    ¡°No¡­ Neither of you two will need to kneel before that person, because he¡¯s your son and nephew!¡± Lin Wenwen suddenly dropped her head and buried her forehead in hand. In the meantime, she raised her other hand and spoke.


    The other people immediately twirled to her, and then, following her finger, looked at Teng, who was in Lin Qiao¡¯s arms.


    ¡°Eh?¡± Teng popped his large eyes with confusion. ¡®What does this have to do with me?¡¯

 Chapter 1436 - The Twist in the Situation

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Lin Qiao gawked at Teng for a moment and looked at Lin Wenwen, figuring something out. ¡°Have you seen anything?¡±


    Lin Wenwen stood up and walked up to Lin Qiao. Then, she bent over and lifted Teng up, who was also looking at her with curiosity, ¡°Aunty, what did you see?¡±


    Lin Wenwen smiled at him and said, ¡°I saw you sitting on a giant monster¡¯s head.¡±


    She then turned to Lin Qiao and asked, ¡°Does the level-nine monster have a pair of short and sharp horns, a little like bull horns? Also, does it have thorns from the back of its head all the way down to its tail, and around its eyes? Are its eyes huge?¡±


    Among all on the scene, only Lin Qiao had seen the level-nine monster. Therefore, Lin Wenwen asked her about it.


    On hearing her description of the monster, Lin Qiao nodded and said, ¡°Yes. It has thorns on its head and around its eyes and on its back and tail.¡±


    Recalling what Lin Wenwen had said about Teng sitting on the monster¡¯s head, Lin Qiao glanced at Teng and couldn¡¯t help but continue with, ¡°You saw him sitting on the big thing¡¯s head? I guess he looked like a flea on that creature¡¯s head.¡±


    Teng felt speechless while Lin Wenwen burst in laughter. The others didn¡¯t know what to say either.


    ¡°So, you again? Teng, what do you have to do with those underground creatures?¡± Qiu Lili couldn¡¯t help but ask the question, looking at Teng with strong curiosity. The kid was able to scare away the underground creatures at level eight and seven, and now he even had the potential to tame the level-nine one! That was unbelievable! He was a half-human and half-zombie boy, so if he had the power to affect some other living beings, those should be zombies. How come he was able to affect the mysterious underground creatures?


    Teng looked from side to side, seeing people stare at him as if he were a rarely seen animal in a zoo. While shrugging, he said, ¡°How am I supposed to know? I¡¯m curious about it too. After all, neither my Mama nor Daddy have that kind of genes. Why do those creatures react to me so strongly?¡±


    Lin Wenwen held him, shaking him gently while saying, ¡°Maybe it has something to do with your superpower. Your power isn¡¯t formally awake yet!¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Teng nodded and said.


    Lin Qiao looked at Teng as she thought for a moment and said, ¡°Teng¡¯s power isn¡¯t awake yet, but he already has such capabilities.¡±


    ¡°So, he¡¯ll be ruling the world when his power awakens,¡± said Du Yuanxing, who had been quietly standing in a corner.


    Everyone found that to be funny.


    ¡°Don¡¯t pin such a big hope on me,¡± said Teng, ¡°I¡¯m just a baby.¡±


    Lin Wenwen pinched his little cheek and laughed, ¡°Does any other baby have the guts to sit on the head of a level-nine monster?¡±


    Teng looked at her curiously, saying, ¡°This is so weird. How come I¡¯m not feeling anything? Is what you¡¯ve seen the real future?¡±


    To be honest, he had no feelings about the level-nine creature at all, nor any intuition. So, what exactly was going to happen?


    ¡°I think you¡¯re probably the savior sent to us by God,¡± said Lin Wenwen to the boy, ¡°There¡¯s still hope for humans.¡±


    ¡­


    In Sea City Base, the tall, sturdy man wearing a cape was standing on top of a building, his head lowered slightly. The brim of his hat covered his eyes. Ye Yingyue, Lei Cheng, Zou Shihui, and others were standing by his sides, looking anxious and worried. However, they had all been forcing themselves to calm down.


    Finally, the tall man changed countenance slightly, saying, ¡°It¡­ left.¡±


    On hearing his voice, all the others turned their eyes on him.


    ¡°Left? What does that mean?¡± Zou Shihui immediately asked a question.


    However, the man dropped his head deeper without saying anything. He was never willing to show his eyes. His sight was limited to a very small range.


    Ye Yingyue thought for a moment and exchanged glances with Lei Cheng. After that, she said to Zou Shihui, ¡°Our Chief said that the level-nine thing is heading somewhere else, that it¡¯s not coming here.¡±


    Upon hearing that, the Sea City Base people on the scene immediately sighed with relief. ¡°Really? Is it heading to Huaxia Base?¡± Someone asked.


    Judging by the nature of beasts, they figured that the level-nine monster wouldn¡¯t allow any other living beings as powerful as itself to exist in its territory. It would hunt those living beings down or drive them away.


    It had only two targets. So, if it weren¡¯t coming at Sea City Base, it must be heading to Huaxia Base!


    Ye Yingyue thought for a moment and said, ¡°Perhaps, but I can¡¯t say for sure yet. We need to send someone to find out.¡±


    The base was no longer surrounded by underground creatures, so the situation had become easier than before. Next, people only needed to find a solution to the poisonous mist. As same as Huaxia Base, Sea City Base didn¡¯t have a cure for the poisonous mist either. So currently, Sea City Base was manufacturing large numbers of face masks for its people. The lake water provided by All Beings Base and catmint were put into every face mask.


    Learning that the level-nine monster wasn¡¯t coming at them for the time being, people felt relieved but still didn¡¯t stop worrying. After all, it would still come back for Dong Xiaowei as long as it finished Si Kongchen off.


    ¡°We¡¯re safe for now, but¡­¡±


    Sea City Base people now looked at Dong Xiaowei in a weird way. At first, he was there to help, so they didn¡¯t have the heart to ask him to leave directly. Some of them were thinking about how to ask him to leave politely and nicely.


    If only he could take the initiative to leave, they thought.


    Ye Yingyue and the others were smart enough to figure out what those Sea City Base people were thinking about. Since Sea City Base people didn¡¯t want them to say, their mission could be counted as accomplished. Hence, it was pointless for them to stay.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll leave tomorrow,¡± Ye Yingyue abruptly turned and glanced at those Sea City Base people, saying directly.


    Zou Shihui and the others gave a slight start and wore an embarrassed and complicated look. After all, sending Dong Xiaowei away was the best way to keep the hundreds of thousands of residents in the base safe under the current circumstances.


    As Sea City Base people were feeling relieved, the atmosphere in Huaxia Base became tense and depressing, because a super dangerous enemy was coming at it.


    ¡°Roar!¡± A nearly thousand meters long monster showed up above Huaxia Base while a strong and fierce vibe descended. The monster had grown many times larger than it was in the underground space. Floating in the air, its gigantic body cast a vast spread of shadow on Huaxia Base. In the meantime, the other underground creatures were gathering toward Huaxia Base in groups from all over the country like waves of tidewater.


    Huaxia Base people were so frightened that they even wanted to run away from the base. However, all the gates had been closed. The commoners couldn¡¯t leave; some superpower possessors leaped across the wall to escape, but none survived the massive beast crowds outside.


    The ones that stayed inside the base still had a glimmer of hope to live, while the ones who chose to run out all died immediately.

 Chapter 1437 - The Fight in Huaxia Base

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Large numbers of underground creatures gathered around Huaxia Base, and all the other animals and zombies had been driven away. No one in the base could leave, not even the level-seven ones like Han Xiao. Every time a relatively strong person attempted to leave the base, a level-eight underground creature would come out of the crowd to attack that person.


    As the level-nine monster gave a thunderous roar and released its mighty vibe, many commoners in the base popped their eyes and fainted, falling to the ground with their eyes, nose, and mouth bleeding.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Wei Haichao stood behind Si Kongchen, looking at the latter. He was actually trying to remind him that it was time for him to step up. After all, he was the only level-nine superpower possessor in the base, the only person who had a chance against the monster. If he refused to fight the monster, the entire Huaxia Base would be flattened by it.


    Si Kongchen raised his head to look at the monster, which had even covered the sky, staying silent and motionless. Wei Haichao turned and glanced at Han Xiao, who was standing by his side. They both knitted their brows slightly. As Si Kongchen silently stared at the monster in the sky without making any move, Han Xiao abruptly turned to leave.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Wei Haichao asked.


    Han Xiao turned his head slightly back and responded, ¡°We still have some weapons for these monsters. I¡¯m going to take those out and put them in use. We can¡¯t kill the one in the sky, but we can certainly take down the ones on the ground.¡±


    After saying that, he left without looking back. He didn¡¯t even ask Si Kongchen for permission.


    At that time, Si Kongchen finally started talking, ¡°Prepare the cannons. Tell everyone to get into the underground shelter.¡±


    ¡°I get it,¡± Wei Haichao nodded and quickly turned and glanced at his subordinate, who was standing behind him. The man nodded and then hurriedly left together with a few other men.


    Si Kongchen clenched his fists slightly and lifted his heels. In the next second, he rose into the sky like a bolt of lightning. At the same time, a giant, purple-red fireball descended from the air.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The monster raised its head and glanced at the dazzling fireball. A trace of scorn could be detected from its eyes. Next, it turned back, looking at Si Kongchen, who was floating in the air, not far away from itself.


    Looking at the monster, Si Kongchen had a hand raised and fingers spread, as though he was holding something. Suddenly, he brought that hand down and then swung his arm toward the monster.


    Boom! The enormous fireball in the sky flashed across the air and showed up at the back of the monster¡¯s neck, landing on its neck. The monster didn¡¯t attempt to dodge, but let the fireball land right on its neck.


    As Si Kongchen was fighting the monster in the air, an alarm in Huaxia Base went off. The alarm was special, not like the kind that people would usually hear when enemies attacked.


    ¡°What does this alarm mean?¡± Some people turned to where the alarm was heard from with confusion.


    ¡°This alarm¡­¡± The soldiers who were guarding on top of the fence wall all gave a start when they heard the alarm. Then, as something crossed their minds, they started drawing back quickly.


    ¡°Retreat! Retreat!¡± The commander abruptly gave the order loudly. While shouting, he led his soldiers toward the underground shelter quickly.


    After the alarm went off, the military force in each district started to gather the residents and open the entrances to the underground shelter for them.


    As Si Kongchen launched his first attack, people raised their heads to look at the monster in the sky. They saw the fireball explode on the monster¡¯s neck, but its body stayed still, floating in the sky.


    Si Kongchen¡¯s face immediately grew sullen as he found that his attack was completely harmless to the monster. They were both at level-nine, but his power was ineffective to the monster.


    As the raging fire and the dense smoke both faded, the monster¡¯s head could be seen again, perfectly unharmed. It looked at Si Kongchen coldly, even blinking its eyes.


    Next, it opened its mouth toward Si Kongchen and uttered an earth-shaking roar.


    ¡°Roar!¡±


    That roar was not the same kind as it had given earlier. As that deafening roar was heard, many people on the ground coughed blood and fell. This time, they wouldn¡¯t wake up again.


    The ones who were still outside, and the ones who had already run into the underground shelter, almost all people fell to the ground when the monster roared. About ten seconds later, some of them slowly struggled up with their faces twisted in pain. They looked at the ones lying around them and put their fingers under those people¡¯s noses, finding that many had already stopped breathing.


    Fear, despair, and confusion overwhelmed the people who were still awake. Their instinctive desire for living made them try their best to drag their injured bodies toward the shelter.


    The monster¡¯s roar killed one-third of the people in the base. In the sky, Si Kongchen was pushed to a mile away by that roar.


    ¡°Hem!¡± As his body stopped moving, he couldn¡¯t help but cough out a mouthful of blood. His vibe had grown much weaker than before.


    That was the monster¡¯s attack, which was indiscriminate. Even all the other underground creatures outside the base had automatically lowered their bodies under that roar.


    Apart from Huaxia Base people, the people at the other bases and the other living beings in the country all had their hearts thumping at the moment, even including the ones thousands of miles away from the battlefield.


    The difference between Si Kongchen and the monster was seen clearly as soon as the monster launched its attack. Si Kongchen was no match for it. They were at the same level, but he was much weaker.


    After giving that roar, the monster blinked its huge glass-balls-like eyes and delightedly lashed its tail.


    Woosh! Woosh! Its hundreds of meters long tail wagged from side to side and stirred the air, generating strong gusts of wind.


    Si Kongchen raised a hand to wipe the blood on his mouth corner slowly and hard. Under the brim of his hat, his masculine face wore a ferocious look. In the next second, he disappeared from where he was and showed up behind the monster¡¯s back.


    ¡°Hrrrr!¡± The moment he showed up at the monster¡¯s back, it turned its head to look at him quietly, seemingly waiting for his next attack.


    Si Kongchen didn¡¯t disappoint it as he raised both arms high. Along with his move, fireballs as large and scorching as the first one emerged from the sky. This time, countless fireballs flashed toward the monster like a meteor shower.


    On the ground, the injured Wei Haichao and the others were covering their chests, directing the soldiers to prepare a massive weapon.


    ¡°Part A initiation completed!¡±


    ¡°Part B initiation completed!¡±


    ¡°Part C initiation completed!¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°Part Z initiation completed! Ready to charge!¡±


    ¡°Charge!¡± Wei Haichao gave a shout when he heard the soldiers.

 Chapter 1438 - Should We Help or Not?

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    At that very moment, large-sized cannon-like weapons quickly rose from twenty-six spots in Huaxia Base, covering both the inner and outer sectors. The cannons were about five-meters tall, with the barrels half a meter wide. Their metal bases were buried deep underground.


    As Wei Haichao gave the order while covering his chest with a hand, the weapon operators immediately pointed the cannons at the sky and reported that the weapon was ready to fire. When the order of firing was delivered, they each pressed a red button.


    Boom! A glowing red ray was ejected from each cannon. As their ends met at the same spot high up in the sky, the twenty-six rays formed a cage and enveloped the monster entirely.


    ¡°Roar! The monster raised its head to glance at Si Kongchen¡¯s fireball, and then it opened its mouth wide and inhaled deeply. A strong suction force gathered all Si Kongchen¡¯s fireballs together and brought them into the monster¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°This is impossible!¡± Si Kongchen was stunned to see his level-nine fire power being swallowed by the monster directly. That was his superpower; his fire wasn¡¯t like the natural fire. The temperature of his fireballs was over a thousand degrees. Each of those fireballs could create an immense hole on the ground and evaporate everything near it.


    He was a level-nine firepower possessor, and he had brought the sun¡¯s energy to generate those fireballs. Simply speaking, his fireballs were solar-powered, and each of them could cause the same effect as a piece of meteorite. However, those destructively hot fireballs had actually been swallowed by the monster.


    He knew that the monster wasn¡¯t afraid of his superpower, but he hadn¡¯t been expecting it to swallow his fire!


    Seeing the twenty-six rays rising from his base, his confidence was swaying. Could those cannons really kill the level-nine monster?


    Earlier, he learned that Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning power could hurt underground creatures< and those cannons were designed based on that knowledge. They weren¡¯t designed for attacking, but for defense.


    They were designed for the last minute, to keep the base from being destroyed.


    Si Kongchen used to believe that those cannons would never be put in use. Unexpectedly, a level-nine monster came out of the underground world and came straight to Huaxia Base.


    Some scouts from the other bases were observing Huaxia Base¡¯s situation from afar and delivering messages back to their own bases continuously.


    Sea City Base, Zou Shihui, and his people weren¡¯t really happy to learn about Huaxia Base¡¯s miserable situation. What they had felt were the deaths of the people and their despair and fear. They worried that their own base might end up in the same way as Huaxia Base.


    They felt sad for the loss of their own kind. Huaxia Base was their archenemy, but its people were still humans after all. No one wanted to see the end of mankind.


    Thankfully, there was a man from Sea City Base named Wu Chengyue, and the man fell in love with the Chief of All Beings Base named Lu Tianyu, and, Lu Tianyu had a magical son! Mankind would be doomed if that boy didn¡¯t exist!


    For that very reason, none of the senior administrators of Sea City Base dared to show any unfriendly attitude to All Beings Base. After all, that base was filled and surrounded by zombies, and its people knew about the monster¡¯s weakness!


    Only a few old leaders of Sea City Base knew about that though. Wu Chengyue had shared the information with them because he trusted them. The people from the other bases didn¡¯t know about that. After learning about Huaxia Base¡¯s situation, Lan Lu had his brows knitted as well.


    Du Kunsheng read the message from his men with a sullen face. He could guess how bad the current situation of Huaxia Base was.


    He was able to hear the noises coming from Huaxia Base, from over a thousand miles away. So, it wasn¡¯t hard to imagine how brutally the monster was devastating Huaxia Base.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think Si Kongchen can deal with the level-nine creature alone. If Wu Chengyue reached level-nine and joined hands with him, they might have a chance. We were too optimistic. The hope is smaller than we thought,¡± he sighed.


    It might be a little difficult for Wu Chengyue and Si Kongchen to fight side by side, even though some believed that people should drop their personal issues for now and unite to try to save mankind.


    ¡°Do you think Green Mountain Base will send their Chief to help Huaxia Base?¡± The current Deputy Chief of Heilong Base stood beside Du Kunsheng and asked.


    ¡°Lan Lu knows what¡¯s important. He¡¯ll certainly take his Chief to Huaxia Base. But I¡¯m not sure if the two of them can bring the monster down.¡±


    Dong Xiaowei from Green Mountain Base had super strength; he was able to flatten a mountain with a single punch. However, the monster wasn¡¯t a mountain. Neither superpower attacks nor physical attacks could bring severe harm to it.


    It was as hard to kill as a monster from a Hollywood movie!


    At that moment, a secret letter for help was delivered to Wu Chengyue from Huaxia Base.


    Sitting near him with Teng on her lap, Lin Qiao held the letter brought to Wu Chengyue by Xiao Yunlong, saying curiously, ¡°They want you to go and help him? Are they going to give you that power-boosting drug to lift you into level-nine temporarily and let you fight the monster together with Si Kongchen and Dong Xiaowei? Who sent the letter?¡±


    Wu Chengyue was standing by the window with his arms folded. He turned back and said to Lin Qiao with a small smile, ¡°I guess it¡¯s the person who has secretly provided Sea City Base with some very useful information.¡±


    Earlier, someone had covertly delivered Si Kongchen¡¯s plan to him and helped Kong Qingming with the rescue of Li Yue He. Wu Chengyue figured that person made those arrangements because he or she wanted Wu Chengyue to lend a hand and help to save Huaxia Base at a critical moment such as this. After all, Huaxia Base still had over a million residents. One-third of them have died, and about seven hundred thousand of them were alive now.


    ¡°Should I go or not?¡± Wu Chengyue looked at Lin Qiao and asked smilingly.


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°That¡¯s your choice to make. They asked you for help. You can do whatever you want. I guess you¡¯re their last hope.¡±


    Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning power could hurt underground creatures. His power was probably the only kind of superpower highly harmful for the level-nine creature.

 Chapter 1439 - The Condition for Agreeing to Help

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Wu Chengyue thought for a moment and said, ¡°I have no problem helping the other people in Huaxia Base, but I don¡¯t want to team up with Si Kongchen. I¡¯d rather team up with you. Your power can hurt those underground creatures too. Si Kongchen is a level nine, but he can¡¯t hurt them. So, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary for me to team up with him.¡±


    On hearing his words, Lin Qiao paused briefly to think, ¡°Are you saying that you want me to go with you? What does that have to do with me?¡±


    Wu Chengyue looked at her with a smile, saying, ¡°This is for the future of your base. Think about it. We still have Teng, the ultimate weapon for the monster. If you join the fight too and defeat the monster together with us, Huaxia Base will have no excuses to attack All Beings Base. They won¡¯t bring you any trouble again in the coming twenty years at least!¡±


    If Huaxia people decided to requite kindness with enmity, Lin Qiao would have every reason to destroy them.


    ¡°I understand what you think, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary. They¡¯re going to suffer severe losses this time, even if they can survive the monster. They won¡¯t recover from this disaster in twenty years, so why will I be afraid of them?¡± Lin Qiao shrugged as she looked at Wu Chengyue and said.


    She minded the trouble. She didn¡¯t need to join the fight, so why would she do that?


    ¡°Then, will you let me bring Teng over there alone?¡± Wu Chengyue looked at her and asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Lin Qiao objected immediately.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about me? What if I can¡¯t come back?¡± With Teng¡¯s help, Wu Chengyue would have a bigger hope of defeating the monster. They might not be able to kill it, but taming it would be good enough.


    He just couldn¡¯t bear watching all Huaxia people die. Those were all human beings after all.


    Lin Qiao stayed silent for a short while and then sighed as she turned to Teng and asked the boy, ¡°Teng, what do you think?¡±


    Teng was sitting in Wu Yueling¡¯s arms at the moment, with his little arms folded before his chest. He was carefully listening to the conversation between his parents before he heard his Mama¡¯s question.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m fine with it,¡± he said, ¡°I think Daddy will have a bigger chance to win if he takes me with him. Also, I¡¯m curious about what my Aunty said earlier. I wonder how I will tame that big monster.¡±


    ¡°In this case, let¡¯s go and take a look,¡± Lin Qiao pressed her lip together and agreed to Wu Chengyue¡¯s request. She had been having no worries about the monster because her base was safe under Teng¡¯s guard. However, she was also aware that Wu Chengyue wouldn¡¯t have the heart to ignore Huaxia¡¯s request for help and watch all Huaxia people die. She sounded reluctant, but in fact, she had agreed to help in her mind a long time ago.


    As she agreed quite easily, Wu Chengyue walked to her delightedly. He sat down by her side and held her face with both hands, saying smilingly, ¡°I knew that you¡¯d go with me even if you said no.¡±


    Lin Qiao pushed his hands away, saying, ¡°I can go with you if you want to go, but ask them to remove Si Kongchen from the Chief¡¯s office first. Think of that as him paying the debt for harassing my base the whole time.¡±


    Her help came with a price. She would not kindly help her enemies. Si Kongchen had been attempting to bring trouble to her base the whole time, so she wanted him to pay for that.


    As his hands were pushed away from her face, Wu Chengyue coiled a lock of hair of hers with his fingers, saying smilingly, ¡°I am thinking about the same thing. I¡¯m not going to help them for free.¡±


    Teng watched his father flirt with his Mama while saying something serious and couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. ¡®Come on, there¡¯re kids here,¡¯ the boy complained in his head.


    Lin Qiao pulled back her hair as though she had read Teng¡¯s mind. Then, she glanced at Wu Chengyue and said, ¡°Keep your hands off me while you¡¯re talking. I don¡¯t want the kids to learn these things.¡±


    After saying that, she turned and glanced at the two kids.


    Teng raised his eyes to look at the ceiling and said, ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t see anything. Right, Ling Ling?¡±


    Ling Ling looked at him with confusion, and then at Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao. She wanted to say that she had seen it, but Teng winked at her.


    Did the boy want her to pretend she didn¡¯t see anything?


    Seeing the kid¡¯s reaction, Wu Chengyue smiled at Lin Qiao and said, ¡°They¡¯re too smart to learn the bad things.¡±


    Besides, the boy had to know about that kind of stuff, or he might have difficulties finding himself a wife in the future.


    That afternoon, Lin Qiao had a meeting with the others discussing helping Huaxia Base. After all, all the other bases had shown their willingness of helping Huaxia Base. Her base was a zombie base, but its great power was already well-known.


    Most importantly, Wu Chengyue had moved to All Beings Base.


    Lin Feng and the others believed that in the long run, helping Huaxia Base was doable. However, they still wanted Si Kongchen to die. Therefore, they decided to ask Huaxia Base to give up on Si Kongchen before offering help.


    ¡°They agreed almost without hesitation. I guess they¡¯ve hated him for a long time!¡± After hearing about the response of Huaxia people, Lin Qiao couldn¡¯t help but exclaim.


    ¡°Since they¡¯ve accepted your terms, when will you guys leave?¡± Lin Feng looked at her and asked.


    ¡°As soon as possible. That cannon thing in Huaxia Base has pissed the monster off already. There¡¯ll be no one left in that base for us to save if we don¡¯t get there soon. We¡¯re leaving now,¡± Lin Qiao sighed as she stood up and headed outside. After leaving the conference room, she went up to the roof to find Wu Chengyue standing straight by the edge of the roof, looking ahead. His coat was fluttering in the wind.


    He was wearing a normal combat suit. He had stopped wearing a chief¡¯s uniform after resigning from the post of Sea City Base¡¯s Chief.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Lin Qiao walked up behind him and said. After that, she hopped onto the fringe stage by the roof and disappeared together with Wu Chengyue.


    Lin Feng and the others stood by the window of the conference room, looking outside. ¡°Huaxia is going to suffer severe losses this time,¡± said Lin Feng, ¡°Hopefully, they¡¯ll become friendlier without Si Kongchen,¡± said Lin Feng.


    Sitting in her seat, Qiu Lili leaned forward as she put an elbow on the desk and rested her chin on her palm, speaking lazily, ¡°He wanted so much to know about our secret, so we let him know. Those human bases are busy protecting themselves now. We¡¯ll have a couple of years developing ourselves in peace, I think.¡±


    After the current crisis ended, Huaxia Base, known as the strongest base in the country, would no longer be the strongest. Sea City Base wouldn¡¯t be a threat either, as Wu Chengyue had left it. Green Mountain Base had a small population, but they also had Dong Xiaowei. Their secret would probably be unveiled soon, just like the secret of All Beings Base.


    Green Mountain Base was also going to move into the central area of the country. After all, the living condition in the northwest was too awful. They intended to build a new base somewhere closer to the other bases, so that they wouldn¡¯t have to travel a long and hard journey every time they asked the other base for help or offered their help to the others.

 Chapter 1440 - Huaxia’s Crisis

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Apart from Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, some people from the other bases were approaching Huaxia Base as well. However, none of them had the courage to go very close.


    The monster was in a rage at the moment, and Huaxia Base was the eye of the storm.


    ¡°Roarrrrrr!¡±


    After being hit by the solar-power gathered by the cannons, the monster roared in fury above Huaxia Base as it rose higher into the sky and flew out of the cannons¡¯ shooting range. It hovered in the sky, letting out waves of thunderous roars.


    Every time it roared, a vibrational wave would go underground, injure the people in the underground shelter, and make them cough blood. All superpower possessors and commoners were suffering. The superpower possessors were doing relatively better, while the commoners were miserable.


    ¡°Chief, let out the energy shield! Only your energy shield can hold off its sound attack now!¡± Wei Haichao showed up near Si Kongchen, shouting at him anxiously. The energy shield of a level-nine superpower possessor could more or less neutralize the level-nine monster¡¯s sound attack.


    However, Si Kongchen didn¡¯t plan to let out his energy shield. He ignored Wei Haichao¡¯s request but stood on top of a building, looking at the monster quietly while thinking about something.


    His attack was harmless to the monster, and only the cannons could hurt it. However, it required a lot of time and energy nuclei for the cannons to launch an attack.


    Without responding to Wei Haichao¡¯s request, he gave another order, ¡°Prepare the cannons for the second strike!¡±


    ¡°Chief!¡± Si Kongchen didn¡¯t care about the lives of the people in the base. All he wanted was to attack the monster. Realizing that, Wei Haichao called him with disappointment.


    Under waves of monster roars, a big half of the residents of the base had died. Meanwhile, the ones who were still alive had all been injured badly.


    ¡°Shut up! The cannons can hurt it! Hit it a few more times and it¡¯ll die!¡± Wei Haichao¡¯s calling agitated Si Kongchen. With a twisted face, he turned and glared at the former.


    Wei Haichao heard his yell as he looked at him silently for two seconds and then abruptly turned and left.


    ¡°Chief, the cannons will be ready in thirty minutes!¡± The commander in charge of the weapon ran over and reported to Si Kongchen.


    ¡°What? That¡¯s too long!¡± Si Kongchen grew angry as soon as he heard that.


    ¡°But Chief, the cannons can¡¯t be fired until they¡¯re fully charged!¡± The commander looked at him and said with a weak voice.


    It was getting darker and darker. The monster had been hovering upon Huaxia Base for nearly five hours. During the past five hours, it had killed about seventy percent of the residents of the base. Currently, about four hundred thousand people were still alive, all badly injured.


    At dusk, the monster in the sky rolled its body more and more frequently. It was high up in the sky, so people couldn¡¯t see its movements clearly.


    ¡°Look, I think the monster is rolling!¡± Some people still noticed its moves.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on? What is it doing? It has started circling! Why is it circling?¡±


    After rolling a few times, the monster suddenly started drawing a huge circle in the sky using its body. Following its movement, a strong gust of wind was brought up, spinning rapidly.


    The monster was moving faster and faster, and the speed of the wind rose along with its movements. Within a minute, an enormous tornado descended from the sky, generating a strong suction force that rolled up the objects on the ground.


    The tornado grew larger and larger. Soon, it turned at least three-hundred-meter wide on the outside and one-hundred meters wide on the inside.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t good. It¡¯s gonna disperse the cannon rays, isn¡¯t it?¡± Seeing the roaring tornado coming down, the people in the base were worried that it might crush the cannons¡¯ defense.


    In the sky, the monster was moving so fast that people couldn¡¯t see it clearly anymore. Only the gigantic tornado was left to be seen, still expanding and bringing down a destructive vibe. It seemed about to turn Huaxia Base upside down and then flatten it entirely.


    ¡°What are we going to do? Look at this tornado! The entire inner sector is going to be crushed if it really comes down here,¡± Han Xiao showed up beside Wei Haichao, asking nervously with his brows furrowed.


    Wei Haichao turned to his assistant and asked, ¡°How long do we have to wait until the cannons are ready?¡±


    ¡°Sixteen minutes,¡± the assistant glanced at his watch and said.


    The tornado was descending at a very high speed. It would reach to the ground in just a few minutes, definitely before the cannons were ready to fire again.


    Wei Haichao glanced at Si Kongchen and then turned to Han Xiao, ¡°Tell everyone to go back into the underground shelter. We¡¯ll go there too.¡±


    They couldn¡¯t wait for sixteen minutes. Even if the weapon managed to hit the monster again, it wouldn¡¯t kill it immediately or disperse the tornado! The only choice now was to hide underground and let the earth shield them from the enormous tornado.


    Lin Qiao and the others saw the tornado from tens of miles away.


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a huge tornado! Did the level-nine creature create it? It¡¯s going to tear the entire Huaxia Base down, isn¡¯t it?¡± Standing on top of a mountain, Lin Qiao looked at the tornado which connected the earth and the sky , and couldn¡¯t help but exclaim.


    ¡°According to the latest news, they¡¯ve already sent all the survivors into the underground shelter, and their army is drawing back to the shelter as well. But a lot of people have died due to the monster¡¯s roars. Hundreds of thousands have died. Is that creature able to create lethal sonic waves?¡± Wu Chengyue said.


    ¡°Its sound can be dangerous,¡± Lin Qiao narrowed her eyes and said, ¡°I don¡¯t think I should get too close to it now.¡±


    She was worried that the beast¡¯s roars might wake up Lu Tianyu¡¯s zombie nature!


    ¡°Why?¡± Wu Chengyue read her expression and realized that she wasn¡¯t joking.


    ¡°Because its roars might wake up the zombie inside me,¡± said Lin Qiao to him.


    Wu Chengyue knitted his brows upon hearing that, saying, ¡°Are you saying that the creature¡¯s sound might wake up Lu Tianyu, the zombie?¡±


    She nodded, causing him to furrow his eyebrows into a deeper frown.

 Chapter 1441 - Betray Si Kongchen

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    On hearing Lin Qiao say that the monster might wake up Lu Tianyu the zombie, Wu Chengyue knitted his brows, saying, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that earlier? Why did you come with me then?¡±


    She knew it was dangerous but still followed him there!


    Lin Qiao looked at him and said with composure, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t I? I can hide from it now, but can I hide from it my whole life? Besides, would I ever let you and Teng come here alone?¡±


    She took the journey for multiple reasons actually. She was worried about Wu Chengyue and Teng, and she also wanted the monster to wake up Lu Tianyu the zombie. After all, she didn¡¯t seem to be able to wake up the zombie herself. It required an external force to wake it up.


    She needed to solve the problem sooner or later. Hence, she intended to solve it as soon as she could, so that she could stop worrying about it constantly.


    She followed Wu Chengyue to Huaxia Base partially for that purpose.


    The relaxed smile on Wu Chengyue¡¯s face was gone. With a deep frown, he said, ¡°Would you be able to control yourself if you suddenly turned into a real zombie during the fight?¡±


    She was right. Judging by the critical situation of Huaxia Base, he might not be able to protect Teng alone. After all, apart from the monster, he also needed to stay alert against Si Kongchen, who was still a threat to him. Teng was able to deal with the monster but couldn¡¯t do anything to Si Kongchen.


    He had to bring Teng with him, because he wasn¡¯t confident that he could defeat the monster alone


    ¡°I wonder if Si Kongchen will flee under the current situation. I think we should get there as soon as we can. Our top priority is to bring down the monster, but we can¡¯t let Si Kongchen run either!¡± As Wu Chengyue was staring at her silently, Lin Qiao figured that he was measuring the possible consequences of the whole thing.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at her with a deep frown and then nodded as he turned, ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡±


    The two of them disappeared from the mountain top.


    At that time, almost all Huaxia Base people had hidden into the underground shelter. Apart from the cannon operators who were still holding fast to their positions, waiting for the weapon to be ready, no other people could be seen in the base.


    The tornado was coming closer and closer to the ground, and its spinning tip crossed the cannon rays that were staying perfectly still. A great spinning force started to tear buildings apart. Window glasses were rolled up into the sky, and so were the rocks, trees, and other objects around the buildings.


    The corners of the buildings and the platforms on the roofs were all crushed by the wind. After the buildings fell into pieces and the windows fell off, the wind twisted the rebars in the buildings. Shrill swishing sounds caused by the tornado grew louder and louder.


    Above the tornado, the monster could no longer be seen. Meanwhile, the base had fallen into chaos on the ground.


    Si Kongchen gazed into the sky. He wanted very much to go up and bring the monster down. However, he was aware that nothing could hurt it but the solar-powered attack launched by the cannons.


    Unfortunately, the cannons required too much time to launch a strike. Also, the nuclei in store only allowed the weapon to launch three strikes. After three strikes, there wouldn¡¯t be enough energy left even to initiate the defense mode of the weapon.


    One cannon strike wasn¡¯t enough to bring the monster down from the sky. Therefore, he could never defeat the level-nine monster, no matter how hard he tried. As a level-nine superpower possessor, he found himself like a joke in front of the monster.


    Si Kongchen blinked his eyes, thinking about something. As the tornado was descending, his eyeballs started rolling from side to side.


    At that moment, Wei Haichao and a few others were standing outside the underground shelter. All people at or under level-five had gone into the shelter. The ones who stayed on the outside were all at level-six or above.


    Standing beside Wei Haichao, Han Xiao asked, ¡°What do you think he¡¯ll do?¡±


    Wei Haichao snorted coldly and said, ¡°He can¡¯t win. He¡¯ll run away if he doesn¡¯t want to die. I hope he¡¯ll just run and draw the monster away from us. But now, he still has hope in the cannons. I guess he isn¡¯t willing to give up just so easily.¡±


    ¡°Wu Chengyue is here!¡± A man suddenly showed up beside Wei Haichao and Han Xiao, reporting to them.


    Wei Haichao quickly made eye contact with Han Xiao as he took out a potion and handed it to the man.


    Instead of taking it over, the man looked at him and said, ¡°He said he needs two.¡±


    Wei Haichao and Han Xiao asked in one voice, ¡°Who else is here?¡±


    ¡°The Chief lady from All Beings Base,¡± said the man.


    ¡°Lu Tianyu?¡± Han Xiao said with surprise.


    They had only asked Wu Chengyue for help. What was that woman doing here?


    ¡°Fine, he can have two. Ask them to solve the problem in the sky as soon as possible.¡± Wei Haichao took out another potion and handed it to the man without hesitation.


    The man took over the two potions and then quickly left.


    ¡°Wu Chengyue has actually given up Sea City Base for a woman. I doubt anyone else would do the same,¡± Han Xiao gave a sigh. He believed that a Chief of a base could have as many women as he wanted. Why would anyone give up such great power for just one woman?


    ¡°You think this way because you have no love,¡± Wei Haichao glanced at him and said, ¡°Do you know anything about that? You have no love, so you don¡¯t understand the people who do.¡±


    Han Xiao stayed quiet, finding Wei Haichao¡¯s words sounding weird. Was the latter mocking him for being single?


    ¡°Like you understand it. Would you do the same if you were him?¡±


    Wei Haichao shrugged and said, ¡°Who knows? Don¡¯t people say that love messes with your brain? I might lose my wits and make that kind of decision too if I were in love.¡±


    At that moment, Wu Chengyue, who was referred to as a man who had lost his wits by Wei Haichao , received the potions from Wei Haichao¡¯s man. ¡°Em, I have a question,¡± he said to the man, ¡°Have you tested this drug on zombies?¡±


    ¡°Eh? I don¡¯t think so¡­¡± The man looked at him with confusion and said.


    ¡°Oh, okay. We¡¯ll be there in a moment,¡± Wu Chengyue smiled at him and said.


    While speaking, he handed one potion to Lin Qiao. ¡°Drink it,¡± Lin Qiao took it over as she glanced at him and said. After saying that, she poured the potion into her mouth.


    In fact, the drug was ineffective on her. She didn¡¯t intend to tell anyone about that, though.


    Wu Chengyue sensed a stream of energy flow into his body as soon as he took the potion. The energy exploded inside his body and aggressively gushed straight into his brain, into his nucleus.

 Chapter 1442 - Temporary Upgrade

    As Wu Chengyue was feeling the energy erupt, both his power and vibe were growing rapidly. Sizzling purple lightning bolts started emerging from all over his body.


    Lin Qiao looked at him, sensing his growing power. The eruptive energy was still under his control. At last, the energy quieted down, and his vibe stabilized. However, that vibe of his had become depressing and suffocating.


    Rumbling thunders were heard from the sky, as though lightning bolts would fall at any time.


    Wu Chengyue absorbed the energy surrounding him and opened his eyes. Only after a series of purple electric currents flashed across his eyes did those eyes turn black again. Next, he raised a hand and clenched his fist.


    Sizzle! A burst of lightning flashed across his fist.


    He turned to look at Lin Qiao from head to toe. Two seconds later, he asked, ¡°How come nothing happened to you?¡±


    Lin Qiao shrugged and said, ¡°Maybe the drug is ineffective on zombies.¡±


    Wu Chengyue stayed quiet for a short while and then looked at her deep in the eyes, saying, ¡°You and Teng should get into the space now. I¡¯m going for the monster. Don¡¯t bring Teng out unless I lose.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to fight it alone?¡± Lin Qiao asked.


    Wu Chengyue looked at her and said, ¡°Your problem can wait. Now, we need to deal with the monster and Si Kongchen. After that, you can do whatever you want.¡±


    He had figured out that Lin Qiao must have some secret plans. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have taken the journey with him.


    Lin Qiao thought for a moment and nodded, ¡°Alright. But if you can¡¯t defeat it, I¡¯ll do what I want to do, and I want you to stay out of it.¡±


    Wu Chengyue had forced himself into level-nine with the help of the potion. But still, he wasn¡¯t as strong as the monster.


    Wu Chengyue nodded at Lin Qiao and turned to head toward Huaxia Base. At the same time, Lin Qiao disappeared from where she was.


    Right at that point, the tornado had hit Huaxia Base. It tore the cement off the buildings and brought the cement pieces, glass, metals, and other parts of the buildings into the sky.


    The twenty-six cannons in the base were still charging; they weren¡¯t ready yet.


    Si Kongchen had drawn back to the roof of a building that was located in the outer sector of the base, far away from the tornado. Wei Haichao and the others were still staying at the entrance of the underground shelter. They needed to keep the gate of the shelter from being lifted up by the wind using their energy shields.


    Wei Haichao, Han Xiao, Liu Zhinan, and the others had all brought themselves from level-seven to level-eight using the drug. The effect of the drug could only last for a limited amount of time. Therefore, they saved it until the last minute and didn¡¯t take the drug until Wu Chengyue arrived.


    Once Wu Chengyue broke into level-nine, both Si Kongchen and the monster that was hovering in the sky gave him a glance. Si Kongchen was surprised, because he hadn¡¯t been expecting to see Wu Chengyue at this time. He sensed the other¡¯s vibe and found it similar to the vibe that he had had once after taking the power-boosting drug.


    Did he¡­


    As that possibility popped in his head, he changed countenance and twisted his face with anger, hatred, disbelief, and confusion. Those complicated, interweaving emotions even distorted his face.


    At that very moment, Wei Haichao suddenly showed up by his side. Wei Haichao looked at him and said, ¡°You felt it, didn¡¯t you? We asked him for help. We had to do that for the base.¡±


    ¡°So you betrayed me?¡± Si Kongchen glared at him fiercely.


    Wei Haichao responded to him with a peaceful tone, ¡°I didn¡¯t betray anyone. Don¡¯t you forget that I¡¯m a member of Huaxia Base, not your subordinate.¡±


    Si Kongchen glared at him but didn¡¯t say anything. He couldn¡¯t think of any words to argue with Wei Haichao.


    ¡°We might still have a chance to win if you fight the monster together with Wu Chengyue,¡± Wu Chengyue continued.


    ¡°You want me to join hands with him?¡± said Si Kongchen through clenched teeth, ¡°Is he willing to do that?¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to get away from the monster anyway. The only way to solve the problem is to defeat it. To do that, you need Wu Chengyue¡¯s help. Or, are you thinking about running away alone?¡±


    He might not be able to run even if he wanted to. He had no choice.


    Wei Haichao planned that result, which was why he could still talk to Si Kongchen so calmly. He knew that the latter would be infuriated, but also would think about his current situation carefully.


    As he expected, Si Kongchen stayed silent. He glared at Wei Haichao so wrathfully that his dagger eyes even seemed to create holes in Wei Haichao¡¯s body. After about thirty minutes of silence, Si Kongchen said coldly, ¡°You invited Wu Chengyue here and provided him with the power-boosting drug. But, do you think the drug can allow him to kill the level-nine underground creature? Stop dreaming! Not even the cannons can kill the monster. He has mere lightning power. What do you expect him to do?¡±


    Then, he turned to look at the inner sector of Huaxia Base, which was already devoured by the tornado, and suddenly gave a weird smile. ¡°You want Wu Chengyue to deal with the monster,¡± he said, ¡°So let him do it. I¡¯d like to see how he¡¯s gonna deal with that problem.¡±


    ¡°Are you going to leave? You know that you can¡¯t leave. It¡¯ll follow you,¡± Wei Haichao glanced at him with a frown. He had guessed that Si Kongchen might want to run but hadn¡¯t been expecting to see him do that for real.


    ¡°Who said that I¡¯m leaving? I¡¯ll stay here and watch. You want me to fight together with Wu Chengyue? I wonder why you have such naive thoughts. I¡¯ve told you that I¡¯d like to see how Wu Chengyue is going to deal with the monster alone,¡± Si Kongchen looked at him like he was an idiot.


    Wei Haichao said to him coldly, ¡°You don¡¯t want to help, fine. From now on, Huaxia Base has nothing to do with you anymore. There will be a new Chief.¡±


    ¡°You think Huaxia Base is still going to be like before?¡± Si Kongchen said with a scornful, frosty smile, ¡°This is a disaster area now. Whoever wants it can have it. I don¡¯t care.¡±


    Wei Haichao nodded as he turned and left without saying anything else.


    At that very moment, the eruption of a new type of level-nine energy was sensed.


    Si Kongchen immediately put on a sullen look. That energy belonged to Lan Lu. He had entered level-nine as well. It seemed that he had taken the drug too.


    So currently, there were three level-nine superpower possessors on the scene, not including Si Kongchen himself.

 Chapter 1443 - Black Lightning

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    The powers of three level-nine superpower possessors, in combination, could destroy the world. However, the level-nine monster was super powerful too. It was immune to most of the existing superpowers!


    Thankfully, Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning was still able to hurt it, and so could the dark fire that belonged to the Chief lady from All Beings Base. It seemed that some special kinds of superpowers could be harmful to it.


    Would Lan Lu¡¯s spirit power be able to hurt it effectively?


    The possibility was low, but Si Kongchen still decided to stay and wait to see the result.


    At that time, the clouds in the sky started to grow thicker and press down. The tornado had darkened the sky, and the growing dark clouds dimmed the daylight even further.


    Boom! Boom!


    Muffled, rumbling thunders were heard from the dark clouds while purple lightning bolts started flashing.


    Woosh!


    The monster suddenly stopped hovering and raised its head alertly to stare at the dark clouds that were coming closer and closer. It showed no sign of flinching though, and it only gazed at the sky with confusion and hesitation.


    At that very moment, a bolt of lightning burst along with a deafening sound. The lightning fell from the sky, striking straight at the monster. The energy contained in the lightning made the monster dodge automatically. However, it wasn¡¯t fast enough, so the lightning landed right on its back.


    ¡°Roarrrr!¡±


    The monster roared in rage. That lightning hurt it ten times more than the cannon strike did!


    The thunders grew louder and louder as the clouds came closer and closer to the ground, along with an invisible but fierce and depressing vibe.


    At that point, the monster¡¯s pair of huge eyes finally showed fear. It bared its sharp teeth and widened its eyes, glaring at the sky ferociously, as though there was an invisible enemy in the sky who was hiding in the darkness and hitting it with lightning.


    As the monster became alert against the sky, another purple lightning bolt, which was as thick as an adult¡¯s thighs, descended from the sky.


    This time, the monster dodged swiftly. It had been fixing its eyes on the sky the whole time after all. However, another lightning bolts blasted on its tail right after it dodged to the side and generated a deafening sound. It didn¡¯t even notice when the second lightning bolt fell.


    ¡°Errrrr!¡± A piece of flesh near the root of its tail was blown off, and the monster screeched in pain.


    The sizzling noises caused by lightning still didn¡¯t end. As the monster was screeching, a wave of lightning bolts fell from the sky. Those lightning bolts were no longer purple but dark-purple.


    It took less than one millisecond for the wave of dark lightning bolts to fall from the clouds.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The monster flashed to a mile away within a blink, but a few wounds were still left on its body. Those wounds weren¡¯t lethal for its enormous body, which was over a thousand meters long. However, the pain was driving it crazy.


    ¡°Great! Wu Chengyue¡¯s power is working! We made the right choice!¡± Wei Haichao and the others were thrilled to see the monster¡¯s reaction.


    ¡°Roarrrr!¡± A mile away, the monster turned and roared at the dark clouds in the sky, launching its sound attack.


    ¡°Eh!¡± Wu Chengyue, who was standing on the ground and controlling the lightning coughed blood.


    He summoned the lightning in the sky, using a great amount of his own energy. The natural lightning generated a greater power and forged the dark lightning. He was already having difficulty controlling the natural power that was way too strong for him. After all, he wasn¡¯t a real level-nine superpower possessor. His power was boosted forcibly. Therefore, as the monster roared at the dark clouds, a counterforce was generated to hurt him.


    He had wounded the monster, and the latter had given him internal injuries in return. The two of them seemed to have broken even.


    Lin Qiao was sitting in the living room of her house in the space, with her eyes closed to observe the situation on the outside. Teng was sitting by her side. This time, they didn¡¯t bring Wu Yueling along but left her at Lin Feng¡¯s place with Lin Xiaolu¡¯s company.


    Sensing the monster¡¯s vibe closely, Lin Qiao felt that something inside her get agitated. When the monster roared at the clouds, she felt as if her heart were thumping. Sitting beside her, Teng stayed quiet in deep thoughts.


    Lin Qiao opened her eyes to find the boy thinking with a frown. She couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Have you figured out a way to bring the monster down?¡±


    Even from inside the space, Teng was able to sense the energy fluctuations on the outside and roughly read the battle situation. He didn¡¯t have the image though, so he couldn¡¯t grasp all the details.


    He hadn¡¯t expected that his father could be so strong at level-nine! He could feel the energy contained in Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning. That was an explosive kind of energy, stronger than the natural lightning energy by tens of times over, also creating a weird magnetic field.


    Judging by its vibe, the monster was extremely dangerous indeed. But compared with the power coming from the dark clouds, it was actually weaker.


    Wu Chengyue might be able to defeat the monster if he were a real level-nine superpower possessor, or at least drive it away. However, he wasn¡¯t really at level-nine yet. His power had been boosted to that level temporarily, but it was still not as strong as the true level-nine powers. Also, he could only maintain that power for a limited time. When the time was up, he would drop back to level-eight.


    On hearing Lin Qiao¡¯s question, Teng raised her head, looked at her and said, ¡°I can¡¯t sense its weakness from here. I need to go out.¡±


    The space was like a screen, weakening his sensations.


    Lin Qiao spent a moment measuring the current situation. Wu Chengyue was keeping the monster busy while Si Kongchen and Lan Lu were watching. No accidents should happen, she assumed.


    With that thought, she decided to send Teng out to let him find the monster¡¯s weakness. He was the only one capable of that after all.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking you out so you can take a look at it. But make it quick!¡± She said to Teng.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± said Teng to her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll be able to suppress the zombie inside you even if it wakes up.¡±

 Chapter 1444 - Being Locked

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Feeling her son¡¯s confidence, Lin Qiao took a deep breath and then carried the boy in her arms, flashing out of the space. Once out, she sensed multiple vibes pressing down on her. Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning, the crazy monster, the tense atmosphere created by Lan Lu and Dong Xiaowei against Si Kongchen in the outer sector of the base, all those gave Lin Qiao a feeling of depression.


    That something agitated inside her was stimulated more intensely. It started to reach her mind, seemingly trying to take control of her body. Anyhow, she tried her best to stay calm and to cool down.


    Teng turned to look at the monster with his arms around his mother¡¯s neck once he came out of the space. The monster paused briefly when Teng came out and swiftly dodged Wu Chengyue¡¯s attack before looking at Teng.


    At that very moment, Teng built a connection with it, as if their minds had just merged into one.


    After that, he looked at the monster and automatically uttered a series of growls with his baby voice. ¡°Whoaaaaaa¡­ Errrrr¡­¡±


    Lin Qiao felt a little speechless. The boy¡¯s facial expression looked fierce, but his soft baby voice ruined that fierceness. However, the monster let out a deep humming from its throat when it heard Teng¡¯s roar, which was not intimidating to Lin Qiao at all.


    ¡°Urrrrr¡­¡±


    As Teng caught the monster¡¯s attention, Wu Chengyue raised his arms again and brought a new series of lightning down from the sky.


    He had been injured, and his energy was a little disordered at the moment. So currently, he was only able to bring down a few dark lightning bolts from the sky.


    After suffering a solid strike, the monster had been paying close attention to the sky. Any sound coming from there would make it dodge. So this time, Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning didn¡¯t hit it.


    It turned in the sky and circled back, abruptly flashing toward Teng and Lin Qiao.


    The monster was swift. Within a blink, it showed up behind Lin Qiao. She reacted as quickly as she could but still didn¡¯t manage to draw back in time. She froze when the monster showed up behind her, feeling as if she were disabled from moving.


    Seeing the monster show up behind his wife and son, Wu Chengyue almost exploded. He popped his eyes and charged at it at the lighting speed. However, when he was only hundreds of meters away from Lin Qiao and the boy, the monster swung its huge tail over and sent him flying away.


    Clap!


    Lin Qiao watched Wu Chengyue be lashed into the sky by the monster¡¯s tail, without being able to move. She didn¡¯t have the time to worry about Wu Chengyue though. That mere strike wouldn¡¯t kill him anyway.


    She needed to deal with her current situation.


    She couldn¡¯t move, but Teng could. He held Lin Qiao neck and brought himself higher, before turning back to look at the monster in the eyes. The monster was less than a hundred meters away from him. He could see its enormous head clearly.


    ¡°Roarrrr!¡± Teng roared at it using zombie language.


    The monster let out a breath through its nose, without making any sound. However, it started to wag its tail from side to side rhythmically.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on now? How come I¡¯m feeling a little confused?¡± Wei Haichao and Han Xiao, who were standing near Lan Lu, both raised their heads to look at the monster with confusion. To be precise, they were actually looking at the monster¡¯s head and Lin Qiao, who was standing right before it.


    Wu Chengyue landed hundreds of meters away on his feet. Seeing that the monster wasn¡¯t attacking Teng and Lin Qiao, he forced himself to stay calm. He had no idea what was going on between Teng and the monster either, but he was less confused than the other people. After all, Lin Wenwen had foreseen Teng taming the monster. ¡®Let Teng handle it,¡¯ he said to himself, ¡®Maybe the boy¡¯s power is just starting to show.¡¯


    Apart from him and Lin Qiao, all the others were feeling utterly confused. They thought the monster would swallow the woman and the boy when they first saw it charge at them. But unexpectedly, the monster and the boy were now staring at each other in silence.


    Lin Qiao was carrying Teng in her arms stiffly. Being stared at by a level-nine, gigantic monster from the back was terrifying. That was probably the most dangerous moment she had experienced since she came back to life.


    If Teng couldn¡¯t deal with the monster, both of them would be doomed, because Lin Qiao couldn¡¯t even enter her space at the moment. She couldn¡¯t move at all. Her mind was still clear, but her body was no longer under her control.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re talking to it,¡± she said to Teng.


    She understood Teng¡¯s roars but not the monster¡¯s. It seemed like the boy and the monster were communicating with each other.


    ¡°Roarrr!¡± Teng gave the monster another series of roars.


    ¡°Roarrr¡­¡± The monster responded to him with a deep growl and then quietly looked at Teng while floating in the air motionlessly. After that, Teng turned to Lin Qiao and said excitedly, ¡°Yeah, yeah, I can talk with it! In fact, it¡¯ll understand you too if you talk to it using zombie language.¡±


    At the same moment, Lin Qiao suddenly felt relieved. She no longer felt being locked by a super-powerful being.


    Teng¡¯s words reminded her of Red and Strong. They were both able to understand her zombie roars, and they had smartly communicated with her using actions after learning that she didn¡¯t speak their language.


    ¡°What did you say to it?¡± Lin Qiao asked her son while turning to face the monster.


    From a close distance, she found the creature looking weird. It had a pair of horns on its head and a few thorns near its eye corners, pointing upward. The long and thin thorns at the corners of its eyes looked like eyelashes.


    It had huge eyes, which looked like two light balls on its face. It had a long face and a sharp snout, a little like the mouth of a dog. That mouth seemed enormous when it was opened wide, or when the teeth were bared.

 Chapter 1445 - Change Happened

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Lin Qiao asked Teng what he had talked about with the creature, and the boy responded to her with a chuckle, ¡°I asked it what it is, and it said it doesn¡¯t know. Then, I asked it why it¡¯s here, and it said it came out because its home broke.¡±


    ¡°Broke?¡± Lin Qiao looked at him with confusion. What did he mean by ¡®broke¡¯?


    Teng turned and glanced at the creature again, saying, ¡°I think it likes me! I¡¯m sensing its joy.¡±


    Lin Qiao looked at him curiously and said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe that you actually can talk to it. How amazing is this! Ask it if it can go back underground.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Teng shook his head without even asking the question, ¡°It just told me that its home was broken, meaning that place is no longer suitable for it to live in. That¡¯s why it left.¡±


    Lin Qiao supported the boy¡¯s little butt with an arm as she turned to look at the creature while asking, ¡°What should we do now then? Can you tell it to leave? If it can¡¯t go back to the underground space, it can go somewhere else.¡±


    Teng thought for a moment and said, ¡°Why do we want it to leave? I think it can stay around here. It won¡¯t do anything bad to human bases as long as we don¡¯t provoke it. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s interested in humans.¡±


    The creature already considered the area as its territory. It certainly wasn¡¯t willing to leave.


    Teng believed it would be fine letting it stay around, as long as it didn¡¯t hurt humans. It didn¡¯t seem to have an interest in feeding on humans. Ever since it showed up in Huaxia Base¡¯s territory, it had only been attacking Si Kongchen alone. It had never assaulted any other humans nor eaten them.


    Lin Qiao and Teng didn¡¯t smell human blood from its mouth, only the blood of many other living beings.


    ¡°It¡¯s not interested in humans? But it¡¯s attacking Huaxia Base now,¡± said Lin Qiao.


    Teng shook his head and said, ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t care about other people. It only wants the level-nine guy. It¡¯s interested in his nucleus. That¡¯s a level-nine nucleus after all.¡±


    He turned to glance at Si Kongchen and the others as he spoke. After that, he turned back and continued, ¡°Plus, I¡¯m here. I think I can negotiate with it, and it¡¯ll agree to my request.¡±


    Lin Qiao glanced at the creature, which was staying perfectly still, and asked Teng, ¡°What will you be negotiating with it about?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to ask him to stay away from human bases, of course! It¡¯s such a big world. It can go anywhere it wants!¡± Teng said to her with confidence.


    ¡°Will it listen to you? Will it leave just because you ask it to?¡± Lin Qiao glanced at Teng with doubts, wondering where the boy¡¯s confidence came from. She doubted that the boy could really convince the monster to leave.


    Teng gave her a mysterious smile, looking at her proudly with a pair of sparkling eyes while saying smilingly, ¡°Mama, haven¡¯t you heard about tricking someone into something? Well, in a good way, you can also call it persuasion.¡±


    Lin Qiao paused briefly, looking at the boy with disbelief.


    ¡®So, are you going to trick it into leaving? Kids shouldn¡¯t lie! Emm, but I think you can give it a try if you think you can really convince it,¡® Lin Qiao thought. She believed that her son was well aware of what was the right thing to do.


    As Teng was preparing to talk the monster away from the base, an immense beam of light suddenly descended from the sky, striking straight at the enormous creature. The light contained the scorching energy coming from the sun.


    ¡°Watch out!¡± Wu Chengyue, who had been keeping a close eye on the monster, Lin Qiao, and Teng, burst in a shout and lunged at them.


    No one was expecting the light beam. The level-nine creature reacted the first. However, instead of dodging immediately, it swung its tail sideways and sent Lin Qiao and Teng flying away.


    Boom! The solar-power beam, which was about ten meters in diameter, landed directly on the creature¡¯s body.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The creature rolled downward under the strike and automatically gave a raging roar.


    ¡°Eh!¡±


    ¡°Eh!¡±


    ¡°Eh!¡±


    Wu Chengyue, who was rushing toward his wife and son, and Lin Qiao and Teng, who were sent away by the monster¡¯s tail and were about to enter the space, all coughed blood.


    ¡°Who fired the cannons!¡± After giving a start, Wei Haichao asked the question with anger.


    ¡°The operators are all under his command. We can¡¯t control the cannons without his permission,¡± said Han Xiao calmly. He was talking about Si Kongchen.


    The cannons had been charging the whole time before, and it didn¡¯t stop after Wu Chengyue and the others showed up. It was reasonable that the second strike was launched at that moment. Si Kongchen would love to see either Wu Chengyue or the monster get injured.


    Wei Haichao¡¯s face grew sullen as soon as he heard Han Xiao¡¯s words.


    The enormous creature had quieted down just now, but the strike agitated it again. It would launch a new series of destructive attacks to revenge, he assumed.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The creature rolled in the air and fell for hundreds of meters before turning and rising back up into the sky as it uttered a series of wrathful roars. The sound wave swept across the land like the tidewater.


    ¡°Pah¡­¡± Before long, Wei Haichao and the others who stayed on the ground all started vomiting blood. It wasn¡¯t the first time they vomited blood under the monster¡¯s roars.


    ¡°Don¡¯t run! Si Kongchen, where do you think you¡¯re going?¡± A resonant voice was heard. On hearing that voice, people found Si Kongchen disappeared from where he was, heading outside the base speedily.


    It was Lan Lu who gave that shout. He suffered the least effect from the beast¡¯s roar, because his mind power had improved drastically after breaking into level-nine.


    He darted out from where he was as he let out his sound. Moving by his side was another level-nine man.


    ¡°Xiaowei, follow me! Let¡¯s kill that b*stard! Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± Lan Lu shouted at Dong Xiaowei while chasing Si Konchen.


    Dong Xiaowei¡¯s body flashed across the air as he sped up. Soon, he surpassed Lan Lu and disappeared in the latter¡¯s sight. Lan Lu¡¯s power had broken into a new level, and his mind had grown super-strong, but his body stayed weak and fragile. So currently, all he could do was to watch someone else chas Si Kongchen.


    He didn¡¯t really need to be anxious, because his spirit power had already caught Si Kongchen.


    He was able to affect his target¡¯s mind as long as his target was less than a thousand miles from him.


    ¡°Ah!¡± As Lan Lu had expected, Si Kongchen suddenly froze and fell from the air not long after he started running. The beast had made him cough blood a few times; both his body and mind had been weakened largely. Therefore, under Lan Lu¡¯s spirit attack, he suddenly collapsed.

 Chapter 1446 - Lu Tianyu the Zombie

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Seeing Si Kongchen fall from the sky under Lan Lu¡¯s attack, Dong Xiaowei immediately rushed and leaped high as he swung his fist.


    Si Kongchen had suffered Lan Lu¡¯s spirit attack, but he still had power left in him. He was a real level-nine superpower possessor, after all. He recovered half-way from the strike before landing, and after landing, he raised both hands and created a fire shield against Dong Xiaowei¡¯s fist.


    Boom! Dong Xiaowei¡¯s fist landed by the edge of his fire shield and dented it, as though that fist weight a thousand kilograms. Sadly, he failed to break the fire shield. On the contrary, the counterforce sent him flying away.


    As Lan Lu and Dong Xiaowei were chasing Si Kongchen, Wu Chengyue lunged near the monster, looking for Lin Qiao and Teng.


    Earlier, he saw Lin Qiao and Teng fly away, but at the moment, he couldn¡¯t sense their vibes at all. That made him feel relieved, because that meant Lin Qiao had brought Teng into her space.


    Little did he knew that Lin Qiao was in a different state at the moment inside the space.


    ¡°Roar!¡± She was standing there with her hair spread messily over her face, head lowered, back hunched, and legs slightly bent. An agitated vibe was emitted from her body, totally different from her original vibe.


    Teng wasn¡¯t in her arms anymore. The boy was now held in the arms of Lu Tianyi, who was standing on the side.


    ¡°She¡¯s become like this again!¡± Carrying Teng, Lu Tianyi created a safe distance from Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao seemed to have become a total stranger to him. Her vibe had turned weird and was making him feel a constriction in his chest.


    ¡°She¡¯s your real sister. It¡¯s just that she has turned into a zombie,¡± said Teng to him.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Lu Tianyi looked at him and asked.


    ¡°She¡¯s not my Mama now,¡± said Teng, ¡°The zombie inside her has woken up. It¡¯s your sister, Lu Tianyu, who has become a zombie. She¡¯s a normal zombie now, with no memories. And she¡¯ll attack you. Ah! She¡¯s coming!¡±


    ¡°Roar!¡± Before Teng could finish, Lu Tianyu raised her head and showed her twisted face while uttering a roar. In the next second, she leaped high and pounced on Lu Tianyi and Teng.


    Lu Tianyi couldn¡¯t move, because he was locked by Lu Tianyu and disabled from moving. He was merely at level-five, unable to resist the attack from a zombie emperor.


    Watching Lu Tianyu come at him, Lu Tianyi grew panicky. Clearly, the zombie woman wasn¡¯t going to have a catch-up conversation with him!


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± At that very moment, Teng suddenly screamed at Lu Tianyu, who was about to land upon Lu Tianyi and him. On hearing the boy¡¯s voice, Lu Tianyu wore a look of confusion. She ceased to attack, her black eyes covered in misty gray and vibe no longer locking Lu Tianyi.


    Feeling that he was free again, Lu Tianyi immediately turned and ran away.


    ¡°Go, let¡¯s go down the lake!¡± Teng held his neck and said.


    Lu Tianyi ran toward the lake without thinking, but before approaching the lake, he stopped and said, ¡°I can¡¯t get close to the lake!¡±


    ¡°Throw me into the lake!¡± said Teng.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Lu Tianyi asked.


    ¡°Do it! Do it! She¡¯s coming!¡± Teng didn¡¯t have the time to explain. He patted Lu Tianyi¡¯s shoulders with his little hands while yelling.


    At that moment, Lu Tianyu blinked her eyes and erased the confusion from her face. She knitted her brows and twirled around, fixing her eyes on Lu Tianyi again.


    Lu Tianyi had to spend an effort to raise Teng and throw him into the lake, which was about ten meters away, like throwing a basketball.


    Plop! Teng fell into the water.


    The moment he fell into the lake, the energy in the lake gathered on him. At that time, Lu Tianyu raised both arms and charged at Lu Tianyi, who was the nearest to her. Once again, Lu Tianyi watched her come at himself. He closed his eyes, waiting for the coming torment. However, right when he closed his eyes, Lu Tianyu disappeared from where she was.


    ¡°Eh?¡± Lu Tianyi suddenly felt relieved. Then, he opened his eyes to find Lu Tianyu gone.


    Lu Tianyu the zombie looked ferocious with messy hair, veins standing up under her skin, cold and fierce dark eyes, bared teeth, and awkwardly crooked limbs. That was his sister, who had become a zombie, scary and twisted.


    Lu Tianyi didn¡¯t mind how terrifying his sister now looked, but he couldn¡¯t accept the fact that she wanted to attack him!


    Teng popped his head out of the water and then pulled the water with his short limbs as he crawled ashore. Once he left the lake, the energy of the lake spread again. Lu Tianyi could only stand five meters from the lake and watch Teng crawl toward him.


    ¡°Did you get her out?¡± Lu Tianyi popped his eyes and looked at the boy, who was crawling at him.


    After Tianyu fell into the water, he sensed the energy in the lake gather together, followed by a tremor. After that, Lu Tianyu was gone.


    Didn¡¯t the space belong to Lu Tianyu? How come Teng was able to control it?


    Teng crawled to his side and then reached out both arms to signal for Lu Tianyi to hold him. As the latter lifted him up from the ground, he said, ¡°Yeah, I sent her out. She has nothing to do with this space anymore, so I have control of it again.¡±


    Lu Tianyi carried the boy toward the house. While taking off the boy¡¯s wet clothes, he asked, ¡°Again?¡±


    He felt so confused. What did the boy mean by he had control of the space again?


    ¡°You think this space belongs to my Mama?¡± said Teng, ¡°Well, that¡¯s wrong. This space was mine at first. I gave it to her. Now, my Mama isn¡¯t around anymore, so the space is mine again. Your sister is just a normal zombie, who has nothing to do with the space. That¡¯s why I could send her out.¡±


    ¡°It works like that?¡± Lu Tianyi looked at him bewilderedly, saying.


    So, it turned out that the space was not Lin Qiao¡¯s superpower. Where did it come from in the first place then?

 Chapter 1447 - Lu Tianyu Shows Up

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Teng dropped his head and continued, ¡°But this space is important for Mama too. Hurry up, put some clothes on me, and then let¡¯s go out to find Mama!¡±


    ¡°How are we going to do that?¡± Lu Tianyi asked.


    Lin Qiao had become Lu Tianyu the zombie, so where exactly was Lin Qiao now? Was she still in that body? The space was no longer hers, so what could possibly be done when they found her? Lu Tianyi had so many questions.


    ¡°To help Mama, we have to find both of them,¡± Teng said. He seemed to have read Lu Tianyi¡¯s mind.


    While putting some dry clothes on the boy, Lu Tianyi continued asking questions, ¡°What do you mean? Are you still able to help her?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Do you not want to help us?¡± Teng nodded. But abruptly, the boy turned to look at Lu Tianyi and asked.


    Lu Tianyu the zombie had woken up. Currently, it was her mind that existed in that body. She had become a zombie with no memory, but still, she was Lu Tianyi¡¯s sister.


    Lu Tianyi looked at Teng with silence.


    He needed to choose between his real sister and Lin Qiao. He couldn¡¯t deny that he loved Lu Tianyu only. If Lin Qiao hadn¡¯t taken over his sister¡¯s body, if she weren¡¯t keeping the body alive, he wouldn¡¯t want to stay by her side. Not to mention the fact that Lin Qiao had kept the truth from him for a long time.


    However, he also remembered that Lin Qiao had helped him multiple times after she woke up wearing his sister¡¯s skin. He was not an ungrateful person.


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m going to help you! You call me Uncle, don¡¯t you?¡± After a few seconds of silence, Lu Tianyi sighed and said to Teng.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get out now.¡± As Lu Tianyi¡¯s attitude became clear, Teng said with a happy face. He grasped Lu Tianyi¡¯s shirt with his little hand, and then they both disappeared from the house.


    ¡­


    On the outside, the monster was rolling in the sky, letting out waves of roars and making Wei Haichao and the others, even the ones in the underground shelters, vomit blood.


    ¡°Roarrrrrr!¡±


    However, after giving a series of roars, it started hovering above the base, looking for something.


    Wu Chengyue kept a distance from it while Wei Haichao and Han Xiao quickly brought the cannons under control. A distance away, Lan Lu finally arrived on the battlefield of Si Kongchen and Dong Xiaowei. In the next short while, he and Dong Xiaowei combined their powers and launched fierce attacks on Si Kongchen.


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Si Kongchen had suffered some internal injuries already. His energy shield could protect him against Dong Xiaowei¡¯s punches, but not Lan Lu¡¯s spirit power. The piercing pain coming from his brain twisted his face. He popped his eyes and fought as hard as he could; his eyes had already turned blood-red.


    In just a few seconds, he gave up on fighting and ran, with Lan Lu and Dong Xiaowei following closely behind him.


    The monster spent a short while hovering above Huaxia Base but failed to find what it was looking for. Abruptly, it turned to Si Kongchen, flashed across the air, and disappeared. The tornado that was roaring above Huaxia Base finally started calming down.


    Wu Chengyue showed up beside Wei Haichao and the others as he raised his head to look at the twenty-six rays in the sky.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that you can hit the monster with this thing but can¡¯t keep it away,¡± he said to Wei Haichao.


    ¡°The energy consumption for one strike is as large as that for fifty defensive moves. This thing can shield the base against some regular attacks but not the monster. It¡¯s a level-nine creature, after all. I doubt anything can stop it,¡± said Wei Haichao.


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right,¡± Wu Chengyue nodded and said.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going after Si Kongchen?¡± Wei Haichao glanced outside the base and said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he can¡¯t run,¡± Wu Chengyue looked outside the base as well, saying.


    Wei Haichao understood his meaning. He had also sensed Lan Lu and Dong Xiaowei following behind Si Kongchen.


    ¡°Roar!¡± At that moment, a shrill zombie roar was suddenly heard. A strange, violent zombie vibe suddenly emerged from the sky, right above the center of the base.


    Wu Chengyue and the others quickly turned to that area and saw a figure floating in the air. She had her back hunched, head dropped, and hair fluttering in the air. Her hair danced in the wind behind her body like the tentacles of the devil as the zombie emperor¡¯s vibe spread in all directions.


    ¡°Roarrrrr! Roarrrr!¡± The zombie emperor¡¯s roar made all the zombies within three-hundred-miles round swarm at the base.


    ¡°Where is this zombie emperor from?¡± Wei Haichao looked at the zombie and asked. The dancing long hair made her look like a witch.


    The zombie emperor raised her head and gave another roar, seemingly to answer his question.


    This time, a part of her face that was covered under her hair was exposed, and Wei Haichao and the others saw it. As high-leveled superpower possessors, they were able to see everything clearly within three miles round. They recognized the zombie¡¯s face, even though they had only seen one side of it.


    After that, they all wore surprise on their faces.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Chief lady from All Beings Base?¡± Han Xiao looked at Wu Chengyue and asked.


    Wu Chengyue was looking at Lu Tianyu with a sullen face, knowing that she was not Lin Qiao anymore.


    Wei Haichao glanced at Lu Tianyu a few times. Then, he took a tumble, saying, ¡°I knew it! I was wondering how she came back to life after being killed by you.¡±


    While speaking, he looked at Wu Chengyue in a meaningful way.


    Wu Chengyue glanced at him and admitted it frankly, ¡°Yes. She is a zombie. She has been a zombie this whole time.¡±


    Lin Qiao¡¯s zombie nature would be exposed sooner or later. All Beings Base had unveiled its secret, so it was no longer necessary to keep Lin Qiao¡¯s true nature hidden. However, it would never occur to the other people that it was another soul existing in the zombie¡¯s body.


    Wu Chengyue definitely didn¡¯t intend to tell the reincarnation story. That was much more unbelievable than Lin Qiao¡¯s zombie nature. If that were disclosed, even the people who had no interest in Lu Tianyu the zombie might grow great interest in Lin Qiao.

 Chapter 1448 - The Situation Twists Again

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    ¡°So, she¡¯s really a zombie!¡± Han Xiao put up a look of surprise as well. They had had that kind of guess before but never expected to hear Wu Chengyue say it out loud so straightforwardly. Wasn¡¯t Wu Chengyue worried about the situation?


    Wu Chengyue smiled at them, ¡°Whether she¡¯s a human or a zombie, she¡¯s mine. Don¡¯t get too interested in her.¡±


    Wei Haichao and Han Xiao shook their heads together. One of them said, ¡°Oh no, don¡¯t worry about that. Our taste isn¡¯t as weird as yours. What¡¯s going on with her now? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s normal.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± said Wu Chengyue with composure, ¡°Just stay away from her. Switch on your cannons to protect your base. The massive zombie attack is coming.¡±


    After saying that, he lunged at the zombie emperor in the sky.


    Wei Haichao and Han Xiao glanced at each other, both feeling utterly confused. ¡°What on earth is happening now?¡± Wei Haichao asked.


    ¡°Nothing good, I guess,¡± Han Xiao shrugged and said, ¡°And, the massive zombie attack is coming.¡±


    While speaking, he turned to look outside the base.


    Based on Wu Chengyue¡¯s facial expression, the two figured that some unexpected situation had just occurred. Despite how calmly Wu Chengyue acted, the crazy zombie lady made them feel that whatever the problem was, it was not easy to deal with.


    That was a zombie emperor, a level-eight zombie. A level-eight man couldn¡¯t possibly win against her. Wu Chengyue had upgraded to level-nine already, but still, he wasn¡¯t a real level-nine superpower possessor. So, he had little chance to win.


    Also, the effect of the drug was about to wear off!


    ¡°Roar!¡± Lu Tianyu turned and roared at Wu Chengyue as the latter came at her and then charged him at lightning speed. In the meantime, she raised both arms and released a massive amount of dark fire that spread behind her body.


    Wu Chengyue decided to fight her because he knew that Lin Qiao¡¯s mind was currently controlled by Lu Tianyu¡¯s. He had no idea how to help Lin Qiao against Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind, but he believed that bringing her body under control was the right thing to do.


    At that moment, Lu Tianyu¡¯s eyes were dark as ink. Her mouth was opened so widely that her mouth corners even seemed to rupture. Her sharp teeth were bared, long hair fluttering behind her body and making her look like a monster.


    Boom! As Lu Tianyu moved, Lu Tianyu brought down a purple lightning bolt from the sky that landed accurately on Lu Tianyu¡¯s body.


    ¡°Errrrr!¡± Lu Tianyu screamed. However, the lightning didn¡¯t make her fall. Instead, she continued lunging at Wu Chengyue.


    The lightning did burn her hair and turned her face black, and her clothes were almost ragged. Thankfully, the important parts of her body were still covered.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The lightning strike seemed to have enraged Lu Tianyu. After uttering a roar, she disappeared from where she was. Wu Chengyue raised his head in the next second, because she had shown up right above his head. She swooped at him, as fast as a beam of light.


    By the time he raised his head, the scary-looking zombie was already less than two meters away from his head! She swung her sharp, dark claws fiercely at his face, which were glowing with a dark luster. Wu Chengyue turned his body and leaned backward to dodge those claws. Those claws didn¡¯t hurt him, but the sharp air streams caused by them did.


    Puff! The sharp air blades brushed against his chest, and blood splashed everywhere.


    ¡°Eh!¡± Wu Chengyue gave a muffled moan, regretting showing mercy just now. He shouldn¡¯t have struck her with the dark lightning instead of the purple one!


    He covered his chest with his hand and stepped backward. His shirt was already soaked in blood. But before he had a firm foothold, he raised both arms and swung at Lu Tianyu.


    Sizzle! A dark lightning bolt fell from the sky.


    He brought down the lightning as quickly as he could, but Lu Tianyu swiftly turned to the side and dodged it, as if she had foreseen his attack.


    Bang! The dark lightning landed on a building nearby, exploded, stirring up a raging fire and a huge cloud of dust.


    After the fire and the dust faded, everyone present found that the building no longer existed. Only some ruins were left on the ground.


    ¡°Damn! The level-nine monster just left and how we have a level-eight zombie! What the hell is going on here!¡± Wei Haichao watched Wu Chengyue fight the zombie intensely, feeling both confused and frustrated.


    Wu Chengyue and Lin Qiao had come to Huaxia Base to offer help. How come the two of them started a fight in that base? What on earth was happening? Their battle was causing great damage!


    After dodging the dark lightning, Lu Tianyu quickly wielded an arm and sent the dark fire to Wu Chengyue from behind her body. The fire rolled and descended upon him like tidewater, the aggressive devouring power contained in it scaring him. He couldn¡¯t touch the fire, or the fire would devour his energy, and then his body.


    He knew what the black fire could do. He had been lifted to level-nine temporarily, but still, he would not underestimate the power of Lu Tianyu the zombie emperor.


    Boom! Watching the dark fire coming down at him from the sky, Wu Chengyue immediately raised his arms and summoned a wave of lightning bolts. The lightning bolts flashed across the dark fire, which covered the sky, but failed to disperse it.


    Seeing the lightning bolts land on the ground and leave a series of huge pits, Wei Haichao and Han Xiao didn¡¯t even know what to say. On the other side, Liu Zhinan was having his eyes fixed on Lu Tianyu, who was fighting an intense battle against Wu Chengyue in the sky. His lip corners twisted in a weird smile while greediness dawned in his eyes.


    Two were fighting in the base while the others were watching. On the outside, Si Kongchen¡¯s way of escape was suddenly barred by the monster, which was faster than him by tens of times over.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The monster teleported itself right up to Si Kongchen and blocked his way. Then, it turned back, widely opened its mouth, and gave a raging roar.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t good!¡± At that very moment, a bad feeling attacked not only Si Kongchen, but also Lan Lu and Dong Xiaowei, who were chasing him.


    As they expected, they shuddered when they heard the monster roar. Their minds went blank, and then they suffered a muffled pain from their chest. Next, a stream of blood gushed out of their hearts.


    ¡°Eh!¡± All three of them exhaled loudly. Of course, Si Kongchen suffered the worst among the three.


    This time, he was very close to the monster, so the monster¡¯s roar hurt him the worst. He was already injured seriously after all. Not even a level-nine man could take such great harm and stay fine. At last, he lost his eyesight and fell unconscious.


    As he fell from the sky with his eyes rolled up, the monster flashed across the air, widely opening its mouth. Next, Si Kongchen¡¯s body disappeared into its mouth.

 Chapter 1449 - She’s Trying to Run

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    ¡°Xiaowei, over here!¡± Feeling Si Kongchen¡¯s vibe disappearing in the monster¡¯s month, Lan Lu sent a message to Dong Xiaowei using his spirit power, who flashed across the air and showed up by his side.


    The monster swallowed Si Kongchen and then turned right toward Dong Xiaowei. Lan Lu and Dong Xiaowei both grew alert immediately, preparing to fight it anytime. But at that very moment, the monster rolled its huge eyes and cast a glance at Huaxia City. Then, it turned and disappeared, leaving Lan Lu and Dong Xiaowei behind.


    In Huaxia City Base, the folks were watching Wu Chengyue fight Lu Tianyu the zombie. Suddenly, Lu Tianyi showed up on top of a building on the other side, with Teng held in his arms.


    ¡°Ahhhhhh!¡± Teng screamed at Lu Tianyu as soon as he came out of the space. That scream was especially high-pitched and resonant and long-lasting.


    ¡°Errrrrr¡­¡± Lu Tianyu, who was swinging her claws at Wu Chengyue, suddenly paused when she heard Teng¡¯s voice. She then turned to Teng as her pure dark eyes showed confusion.


    Wu Chengyue flashed to the side of Teng and Lu Tianyi. His chest was bleeding, and his shirt near his chest was even soaked.


    Teng twitched his nose and sniffed him.


    ¡°What should we do now? We can¡¯t control this thing. Can your Mom really win?¡± Wu Chengyue asked when he showed up beside the two. He had discovered that Teng¡¯s scream seemed to be effective to Lu Tianyu the zombie, but not strongly effective. After all, the zombie recovered from that confused state in just two seconds.


    ¡°Roarrrrrr!¡± Lu Tianyu the zombie roared at the three of them with anger and then disappeared from where she was. The moment that happened, Wu Chengyue raised his arms and created a light shield, covering himself and the other two. Purple lightning bolts were flashing across the light shield, interweaving within and seeming to form a lightning web.


    Bang! Right after he created the lightning shield, Lu Tianyu showed up behind him and swung her claws at him. The lightning shield stopped her though.


    Lu Tianyi gave a start as he turned to find her right behind himself, baring her teeth.


    ¡°Whoa! What¡¯s wrong with her face?¡±


    Wu Chengyue and Teng turned and saw black marks emerging from near her eyes, covering the entire upper half of her face. Her face was covered under her messy hair, looking very scary.


    ¡°Shhhhh¡­ Roar¡­¡± She bared her teeth toward Teng and roared at the latter with a fierce face, seemingly wanting to pounce upon him and tear him into pieces. However, Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning shield hit her every time she touched it.


    Teng narrowed his eyes and sniffed at her again. Abruptly, he turned and said to Wu Chengyue,


    ¡°Daddy, her mind power is growing. The stronger her mind is, the worse it is for Mama.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Wu Chengyue looked at him and asked.


    Tianyu glanced at Lu Tianyu and then turned and said to Wu Chengyue, ¡°Hit her! Hit her with your lightning power!¡±


    ¡°You think I don¡¯t want to do that?¡± Wu Chengyue sighed and said, ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to hit her since the very beginning, but she¡¯s way too fast. I can¡¯t lock her up.¡±


    Teng fell into silence. The light shining in his eyes grew a little dim as he was trying to think.


    At that very moment, a weird roar was heard from a distance away. Everyone on the scene recognized that roar as the level-nine monster¡¯s roar. On hearing that roar, Teng¡¯s eyes suddenly shone. ¡°Yes, it!¡±


    Lu Tianyu, who was floating in the air and trying to break Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning shield, suddenly raised her head and vigilantly glanced where the roar came from. Then, she turned and disappeared from where she was.


    ¡°No, don¡¯t let her run!¡± Watching the zombie disappear, Teng immediately shouted at Wu Chengyue nervously. Then, she turned and let out a zombie roar toward the monster, which sounded like the roar of a baby but strangely shrill.


    ¡°Roarrrrrrrrr!¡±


    On hearing Teng¡¯s words, Wu Chengyue immediately wielded his arms in one direction.


    Sizzle! A series of black lightning bolts suddenly fell two miles away.


    ¡°Roar!¡± Meanwhile, a figure showed up behind the lightnings.


    As Teng¡¯s roar faded, the light in front of his eyes suddenly grew dark as the enormous monster showed up right above his head and covered the sky.


    ¡°Come on uncle, carry me and jump onto its head!¡± As soon as the monster showed up, Teng put his arms around Lu Tianyi¡¯s neck and said to the latter.


    ¡°What?¡± Lu Tianyi was surprised by his request.


    That was a level-nine monster! How could anyone just jump onto its head? It might easily shake its head and swallow them!


    ¡°Come on! Do what I said! If your sister got away, we¡¯ll be in serious trouble. She¡¯ll become a real zombie with no humanity at all!¡± Teng grew a little anxious.


    He knew how to deal with Lu Tianyu the zombie, but he had to catch her first. If she got away, her mind would stay awake and gradually absorb the energy of her body to strengthen itself. Then, it would slowly suppress Lin Qiao¡¯s mind. One day, Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind would grow stronger than Lin Qiao¡¯s and devour the latter.


    ¡°But¡­ are you sure it won¡¯t eat us?¡± Lu Tianyi looked at him with surprise.


    ¡°No, it won¡¯t! Uncle, hurry up! Get onto its head! I know how to bring her under control!¡± As Lu Tianyi didn¡¯t seem to believe Teng¡¯s words, the boy anxiously slapped his shoulders.


    Lu Tianyi was still hesitating, but feeling how anxious Teng was, he had no choice but nervously and alertly jump at the monster.


    The monster was right above his head, so he made a leap and easily hopped onto its paw.


    But before he made another move, the monster raised its paw and sent him and Teng on top of his head.


    Lu Tianyi carried Teng and landed on its head with surprise. He wanted very much to ask Teng about what just happened, but as there was something more important to do, he kept the curiosity to himself.


    ¡°Roar!¡± Teng lowered his head and roared at the monster.


    ¡°Roar¡­¡± The monster responded with a gentle sound as it turned and disappeared within a blink.

 Chapter 1450 - Lu Tianyu Passes Out

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Lu Tianyu the zombie had her road barred by Wu Chengyue¡¯s lightning. As soon as she stopped moving, the latter showed up. He was floating in the air behind her. He had a wound on his chest but he still stood straight. He fiercely stared at the zombie as he suddenly raised an arm and swung.


    ¡°Roar!¡± Seeing his movement, Lu Tianyu realized that he was launching an attack. So, she immediately roared at him and then disappeared from where she was.


    Boom! A series of lightning bolts fell the moment she disappeared and landed where she was standing before. At that very moment, Lu Tianyu the zombie suddenly showed up behind Wu Chengyue and wielded her claws at him. Black fire was burning on her claws, drawing a dark line in the air along with her movement.


    Wu Chengyue turned in time and dodged her attack. He would be in deep trouble if he let her burning claws cut into his body.


    He wasn¡¯t expecting that the level-eight zombie could be so hard to deal with, even though he was still at level-nine. She was so fast that his lightning couldn¡¯t hit her. Also, she was traceless and liked to launch surprise attacks from the back.


    ¡°Errrrr¡­¡± Lu Tianyu the zombie grew agitated, as she couldn¡¯t hit Wu Chengyue the whole time. So, she gave him a ferocious roar.


    Wu Chengyue noticed that the black marks on her face seemed to have grown thicker than before. Those marks had now covered both sides of her face, and only the areas under her nose and near her mouth and chin still remained normal.


    ¡°Roarrrr!¡± At that very moment, a gigantic creature suddenly showed up above the heads of Wu Chengyue and Lu Tianyu while a sky-shaking roar was heard from the air.


    ¡°Eh¡­ Pah!¡± Both Wu Chengyue and Lu Tianyu the zombie trembled on hearing the roar, suffering a sharp pain from their brain.


    ¡°Roar!¡± Lu Tianyu the zombie suddenly raised her head, stretched her neck, and opened her mouth very wide to give a roar with her face twisted. Wu Chengyue coughed out some blood and suddenly became powerless, falling from the sky. He fell onto a mutated tree and caused a series of rustling noise.


    The expression on the zombie¡¯s face suddenly froze after she let out that roar. Next, she fell as well.


    ¡°Ahhh!¡± Teng gave the gigantic beast a roar at that moment.


    The beast flashed across the air and suddenly showed up underneath Lu Tianyu who was falling from the sky, to catch her with its head, where Tianyu and Lu Tianyi were.


    ¡°Catch her!¡± Teng immediately reminded Lu Tianyi.


    Lu Tianyi had automatically raised an arm to catch Lu Tianyu when he found her falling toward him. Teng didn¡¯t even need to remind him to do that.


    He caught Lu Tianyu¡¯s cloth when he heard Teng¡¯s words. In the next second, the image before his eyes suddenly changed as he was brought into Lin Qiao¡¯s space.


    Plop! He heard something fall into the water and turned to find himself standing near the lake, holding Teng.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t throw her into the lake, did you?¡± He asked without thinking.


    ¡°Yeah. Throw me into the lake too.¡± Teng said to him.


    ¡°What? Again?¡± Lu Tianyi paused with surprise.


    ¡°Yeah, hurry up! Don¡¯t wait until she wakes up! I can¡¯t handle her when she¡¯s awake!¡± Teng anxiously slapped his arm.


    ¡°Alright, I get it!¡± Teng raised Teng high and threw him into the lake again.


    Plop! The pressure coming from the water faded the moment Teng fell into it.


    The boy moved his limbs and quickly swam toward Lu Tianyu, who was sinking to the center of the lake. The energy from the entire lake gathered around her and trapped her inside.


    Lu Tianyu¡¯s clothes were already gone. Her limbs were spread, and her long hair were floating behind her body like seaweed. Her eyes were closed tight, and her entire face had already been covered by black marks reaching her ears and neck.


    When Teng was only three meters from her, she suddenly opened her purely black eyes, and the expression on her face changed instantly. She opened her mouth wide and roared at the boy fiercely.


    ¡°Roar¡­¡±


    Her voice couldn¡¯t be heard in the water, so Teng could see her ferocious expression without hearing the sound coming with it.


    While roaring, Lu Tianyu started struggling but couldn¡¯t move even an inch.


    Teng quickly swam up behind her like a fish with four limbs, and then he put her arms around Lu Tianyu¡¯s neck as he laid himself on her back. Then, he closed his eyes. At the same time, the energy in the surrounding started gathering toward the two of them. At last, the energy wrapped their bodies entirely up.


    ¡°Roar!¡± Lu Tianyu¡¯s face grew even more twisted than before after Teng held her neck. Her face even showed anxiety and panic. She tried to pull Teng¡¯s arms away from her neck but failed.


    Meanwhile, her sharp nails left a few bloody lines on Teng¡¯s arm.


    Teng suffered pain but didn¡¯t show a sign of letting her go. As more and more energy gathered around her, Lu Tianyu¡¯s movement grew slow and weak. At that moment, Teng started calling his Mama using his mind power. ¡°Mama, Mama, Mama¡­¡±


    ¡°Roarrrrrr!¡± Lu Tianyu¡¯s movements had slowed down, but her face was growing more and more twisted. She first popped her eyes and then suddenly closed them tight, knitting her brows into a deep frown. Sometimes she clenched her teeth, and sometimes she opened her mouth wide.


    At that time, Lin Qiao was trapped in an expanse of nothingness, surrounded by darkness. She couldn¡¯t move, as if something was disabling her from moving. She had been in that place before, so she knew what state she was in.


    She was there, unable to move, knowing nothing. It seemed that Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind had woken up. That was why she was trapped in that place.


    To have her body back, she had to free herself first.


    However, that invisible suppression was great in intensity. Moreover, the longer she was trapped there, the stronger it became. At first, she could still struggle a little, and move her hands and feet. But after a couple of minutes, she started finding it harder and harder to move.


    She knew that the situation was turning worse and worse for herself. She didn¡¯t give up but struggled as hard as she could. However, no result was showing.


    That situation lasted until she heard a beast roar. At that moment, she suddenly felt slightly relieved.


    She was able to move again!

 Chapter 1451 - Dead or Not?

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Lin Qiao turned and got up the moment she was able to move again. She was lying flat the whole time, so she got up rather easily. She could see nothing under her feet but felt like she was standing on solid ground.


    Right when she stood up, the space between her face suddenly vibrated and then a vibe that was both strange and familiar at the same time could be sensed. Next, a blurry, dark figure showed up.


    ¡°Roar!¡± The figure pounced on Lin Qiao fiercely the moment it appeared. Lin Qiao automatically swung her claws at it, but at that moment, she started feeling pressed again and it made her movement slow down.


    She recognized that vibe: It was Lu Tianyu¡¯s vibe. However, she was always trapped in that dark space whenever Lu Tianyu was awake. So, she had never sensed her vibe or scent before.


    Still, she had a feeling that the vibe coming from the blurry figure before her belonged to Lu Tianyu .


    Was that Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind?


    With that thought, Lin Qiao immediately realized that her chance had come. If she broke Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind, would the body belong to her fully?


    ¡°Roarrrrr!¡± While Lin Qiao was thinking, Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind wasn¡¯t stopped by anything. She jumped upon the other within a blink, opened her mouth wide, and bared her black, sharp teeth while biting at Lin Qiao.


    Lin Qiao felt a sharp cbill from her back and at the same time, and a sense of crisis suddenly rose from her heart. She had a feeling that she would be in deep trouble if she let that mouth bite her.


    She hurriedly moved backward using all of her strength. However, because of the invisible force that was limiting her movement, she was tens of times slower than usual. She couldn¡¯t dodge!


    Her sight suddenly grew dark. The situation was critical. Lin Qiao thought she would end up being bitten for sure. However, at that very moment, a familiar baby voice was heard in her mind.


    ¡®Mama¡­¡¯


    Lin Qiao gave a start and then saw the blurry figure before her eyes pause. A familiar energy came into her mind from an unknown source, and then that trussed feeling began to fade. At that time, Lu Tianyu was somehow frozen.


    ¡®Mama¡­¡¯


    No one but Teng would call her like that.


    After hearing the boy¡¯s voice, Lin Qiao felt the energy from the lake flow into her brain. As the energy grew stronger and stronger, the trussed feeling became lighter and lighter.


    She hurriedly responded to Teng, wondering if he could hear her. ¡®Teng, is that you?¡® She talked to the boy using her mind power.


    Right in the next second, she heard Teng¡¯s thrilled sound. ¡®Mama! It¡¯s me! I put your body into the lake. I¡¯m suppressing your body with the energy in the lake. How are things going on your side? The zombie¡¯s mind seemed to have disappeared suddenly¡­¡¯


    Saying the last few words, Teng suddenly sounded confused.


    Lin Qiao felt a greater and greater energy gather in her brain, and in the meantime, she also felt her power growing stronger and stronger.


    ¡®Her mind is here with me. She was going to bite me just now,¡® she responded to Teng. ¡®But she¡¯s frozen now. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on.¡® Was the energy from the lake affecting Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind?


    As more and more strength came back to her, Lin Qiao hurriedly moved backward. She discovered that she was able to move within a small range. So, she brought herself behind the blurry figure within a blink as she raised her claws and swung at it fiercely.


    That was a spiritual being, so she wasn¡¯t sure if her claws could harm it or not. However, she instinctively wanted to attack it that way.


    Puff! The very moment her claws cut into that blurry figure, it was dissipated.


    Watching that figure fade didn¡¯t make Lin Qiao relax her vigilance. Instead, she focused her mind and carefully observed the surrounding environment.


    She believed that Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind wasn¡¯t so easy to deal with. Even though her last attack worked, she didn¡¯t think that could possibly defeat her directly. Therefore, she alertly waited for the other to show up again and prepared herself for the latter¡¯s sudden attack.


    However, after she spent less than three seconds waiting, her entire body suddenly shook and a refreshing energy ran through her body. She felt as if her eyes were dazzled, and then her whole body felt relieved.


    When she reopened her eyes, she felt that she could feel her body better than before. Back in that dark and empty space, she was still able to feel her body, but not in the real way. It was all blurry and vague.


    Light came into her eyes, and she still felt as if something were wrapping around her neck.


    She automatically raised her hand to grab the thing around her neck and found it to be a little arm. She immediately turned her face and called the boy using her mind power ¡®Teng?¡¯


    The little arm that was holding her neck tight instantly relaxed. A little face reached out from behind her body, looking at her expectantly. ¡®Mama!¡¯


    Lin Qiao spent a few seconds feeling the surrounding environment and then quickly absorbed the energy in the water around her. She felt that her head was still swelling, but the energy in the lake water seemed to be able to make her feel better.


    She was right. The lake energy did slowly ease that swelling pain in her head.


    Seeing Lin Qiao absorb and control the lake energy by herself, Teng knew that his mission was accomplished. He let go of her as he left her a few words and then swam toward the water surface.


    ¡®Go for it, Mama!¡¯


    Lin Qiao was left in the water, quickly absorbing the energy to ease the discomfort in her head while slowly regaining the control of her body. Aside from the pain in her head, she also felt that her entire body was stiff and numb, as if she had lain in one posture for a very long time. She could feel her body but hadn¡¯t regained the full control of it yet. Once she tried to move her limbs, she suffered a discomfort that contained soreness, pain, and numbness.


    That feeling was hard to describe. She could move very slowly, but if she tried to make a bigger and quicker movement, she would want to cry.


    It felt like countless ants were eating her neurons . That feeling was extremely unpleasant!


    As she was regaining the control of her body, she felt as if she had forgotten something.


    So, was Lu Tianyu¡¯s mind dead or not? It was dead, wasn¡¯t it? Was it dead?


    At the moment, she couldn¡¯t feel another mind existing in her body at all, which was why her body was so stiff that she even felt as if countless ants were biting it.


    So, did Lu Tianyu the zombie¡¯s mind die or not?

 Chapter 1452 - The Big Fight is Over

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    The energy from the lake slowly came into her brain, wrapped her nucleus, and slowly seeped in.


    Before that, the energy from the lake wouldn¡¯t enter her nucleus, and only filled up her body to help her with the healing. But currently, the lake energy was seeping into her nucleus, and the black energy in the nucleus was trying to stop it.


    The black energy in her nucleus wasn¡¯t trying to stop the green energy from the lake in an offensive way, but an defensive way. Therefore, Lin Qiao wasn¡¯t feeling a headache and a swelling sensation from her nucleus.


    Lu Tianyi spent days waiting by the lake before he saw Teng¡¯s head suddenly pop up from the water, and then the boy quickly swam toward the lakeside like a puppy.


    Seeing that, Lu Tianyi immediately stepped into the water to catch him. The energy in the lake was gathered to the bottom, so the pressure from the lake was all gone. That was why he was now able to approach the lake to catch Teng.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get out.¡± Teng said to Lu Tianyi once the later scooped him up, even though he was still naked. Next, the two of them both disappeared from the space.


    As Teng and Lu Tianyi suddenly showed up, the people who had spent days waiting in Huaxia Base right under the pressure coming from the monster finally sighed with relief.


    As the effect of the drug had worn off, Wu Chengyue and the others had all dropped back to their original levels. Thankfully, the monster didn¡¯t attack Huaxia Base after that. It seemed to have lost its interest in Dong Xiaowei, who was at level-nine, too. However, as long as it was still there, people couldn¡¯t relax.


    ¡°Daddy, Daddy! Take some high-leveled nuclei. I¡¯ll send you into the space. Go down to the lake for Mom.¡± Once out, Teng asked Lu Tianyi to bring him to Wu Chengyue and then said to Wu Chengyue with a low voice.


    ¡°How¡¯s your Mom?¡± Wu Chengyue asked the first question expectantly and then looked at him confusedly as he continued with the second question, ¡°She needs nuclei?¡±


    ¡°Go!¡± said Teng, ¡°Mama has succeeded. But there¡¯s one last step. She needs to absorb energy from nuclei.¡±


    After saying that, the boy and Wu Chengyue disappeared into the space, leaving the others with confusion.


    The confused people looked at where the two of them disappeared from and then anxiously raised their heads to look at the monster quietly floating in the sky.


    They went into the space again? What about the big one in the sky? When would they come out? The rest of them wouldn¡¯t have to wait for another few days, would they?


    ¡°Why did they go back in?¡± Lan Lu was the first to show up by Lu Tianyi¡¯s side and start asking questions.


    Lu Tianyi looked at him and sighed with relief, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I think they¡¯ll come out soon.¡±


    Before his voice faded, Teng showed up where he was before. But this time, no one was holding him.


    He showed up in the air and started falling. Thankfully, Lu Tianyi squatted quickly enough and caught him.


    As some others were on the scene, Teng didn¡¯t speak but patted Lu Tianyi¡¯s shoulder and pointed at the top of a very tall building. The latter figured out his meaning right away, so he carried the boy, made a few leaps, and easily hopped on top of the building.


    The monster turned its head to Teng once the boy arrived at the top of the building. Once again, Lu Tianyi carried Teng and hopped onto the monster¡¯s head.


    ¡°Ahhhhya!¡± On the monster¡¯s head, Teng gave a roar.


    Next, people saw the monster turn its body and slowly move toward the south. It slowly flew away, leaving the ruined Huaxia Base.


    ¡°Great, it¡¯s finally leaving. But, where are they going? They¡¯re not going to All Beings Base, are they?¡± Watching the monster fly away, Lan Lu finally left out a big sigh of relief.


    Wei Haichao showed up by his side and said, ¡°I think so. But those two are still here. The boy is bringing the monster home. Is that okay?¡±


    Lan Lu shrugged and said, ¡°Why is that not okay? Didn¡¯t you see how tame the monster became since he showed up? He¡¯s bringing it home now. I think it¡¯ll become a super guard of their base.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right¡­¡± Wei Haichao said with a complicated look on his face. He turned and glanced at Huaxia Base. The base was so devastated that he couldn¡¯t even bear to look at it directly. The creature responsible for that was tamed by a nine-month-old baby, and the baby brought it home as a guard. Who in the world would ever have the guts to mess with All Beings Base again?


    All Beings Base was now not only a zombie base, but a base with an enormous monster. The monster could kill all the enemies with one mere roar. Sadly, none of his own people was able to tame a monster like that.


    ¡°I¡¯m more curious about Lu Tianyu¡¯s situation. Judging by the boy¡¯s face, I think the problem is already solved,¡± said Lan Lu with interest in his eyes.


    ¡°Wu Chengyue is inside the space too now, butI think they¡¯ll come out soon.¡± Wei Haichao left a few words as he turned and started sending out people to clean up the mess.


    At the same time, Wu Chengyue was thrown into the lake by Teng. His clothes were immediately melted by the lake, but the nuclei he had were still held in his hands. He tried to give those level eight and seven nuclei to Lin Qiao before, but she rejected them. Surprisingly, they could be put in use now.


    The lake had become much clearer than before, and the light in the lake had grown stronger. The visible range was larger than before, so he soon found her body in the center of the lake, with the seaweed-like black long hair spreading behind her.


    He swam toward her. From a short distance, he saw her clearly: Her eyes were closed, and the dark marks on her face were gone.


    Her body was still in a perfect shape, with slender limbs, full breasts, slim waist, and the mysterious little bush between her legs. That body could make any man¡¯s blood boil and make him find it hard to control himself.


    Right at that very moment, she opened her eyes. Those eyes were still filled with darkness, with no white parts at all.


    She opened her eyes and glanced at him before blinking. After that, she turned her eyes and looked at the nuclei floating around him, shining with different-colored lights.


    Following her eyes, Wu Chengyue raised his arms as he held the nuclei and swam up to her, extending them toward her with both hands.


    Looking at the man¡¯s pretty face and the eyes which were fixed on herself, Lin Qiao stayed quiet for quite a while before raising her hands to gently take over those nuclei. Tens of nuclei quickly formed a circle around their waists, glowing with different-colored lights. Tens of streams of energy started flowing into their bodies.


    Lin Qiao slowly raised her arms and put them around Wu Chengyue¡¯s neck. Her tempting body was pressed against his, and her cherry-like lips twisted in a smile. Next, she kissed him with those lips.

 Chapter 1453 - They’re Back

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    When Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue came ashore together, the latter couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°How should we address a level-nine zombie?¡±


    Level-nine zombies were called zombie emperors, so what about level-nine ones?


    After coming out of the water, Lin Qiao wielded an arm and released a cloud of dark mist to wrap her own body up, which quickly turned into a black suit. Standing by the lake, she turned back and reached her palm toward the lake center. Following her movement, the energy from the lake rose and formed a dark-green mist, drifting up and down.


    She didn¡¯t need to take off her clothes and get into the water again when she wanted to upgrade someone, because she could now do that on the shore!


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Super zombie, maybe?¡± She waved her hand gently and sent the dark green mist back into the water, before looking at Wu Chengyue.


    Wu Chengyue couldn¡¯t wear his superpower as clothes, so he was standing next to her naked.


    ¡°That sounds good.¡± He looked at Lin Qiao as he thought for a moment and said.


    She was now stronger than him. After doing something together down in the lake, they had both absorbed a great amount of energy and entered a higher level. However, he was still suppressed by Lin Qiao¡¯s vibe.


    He was now a true level-nine lightning-power possessor, but his vibe was still weaker than hers.


    If they ever needed to fight each other, he wouldn¡¯t have a chance to win!


    ¡°I feel totally different from being a level-eight. Maybe we can pick up a fight somewhere later when we get out.¡± Lin Qiao abruptly stared at him and said with excitement.


    Wu Chengyue honestly didn¡¯t know what to say. If he said yes, would he have to come home with dark eyes and swollen face?


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Lin Qiao looked at him with a smile.


    ¡°What?¡± Wu Chengyue sighed, ¡°Can you please hand me some clothes first? Underwear at least?¡±


    Lin Qiao¡¯s eyes went downward and then her face reddened in a suspicious way. She acted like nothing happened as she turned and prepared to get into the house for clothes. However, she paused once her eyes landed on the houses behind her.


    Noticing her reaction, Wu Chengyue followed her eyes and saw a mass of green ¨C all three houses were covered in vines. The perfectly managed vegetable fields and the catmint fields on the other side were growing crazily everywhere, filling the entire place up.


    Lin Qiao turned to see the grassland on the other side of the lake. As she thought, the grasses were growing thrivingly too. The border of the grassland could no longer be seen.


    Next, she turned to the weird woods. The trees had grown taller than before by many times over, and the mist in the sky had turned thinner. The space was dark before, but now it was bright like a normal, cloudy day.


    The space had grown many times larger than before. It seemed to have something to do with Lin Qiao¡¯s upgrade.


    Lin Qiao disappeared from where she was. Three seconds later, she showed up again with a suit for men held in her hands.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go out.¡± After watching Wu Chengyue put the clothes on, she said a few words. Without even holding him, she brought both of them out of the space.


    Once they exited the space, two different-typed level-nine vibes spread immediately.


    Wei Haichao, Han Xiao, Liu Zhinan, Hong Yijie, as the only four chairmen of Huaxia Base, immediately flashed out of the base. Standing on top of the buildings near Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue, they looked at the two of them with confusion.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Didn¡¯t the drug wear off? How come you¡¯re level-nine again?¡± Wei Haichao looked at them and said with surprise. He didn¡¯t remember giving them the second dose. How come they were at level-nine again?


    Also, what was going on with the zombie lady? Wasn¡¯t the drug ineffective for her? Or, did it take days to work for her?


    ¡°On, there was a small accident. It seems that your problem has been solved. So the rest of the work can be done by yourselves. We still have something else to do, so we¡¯ll take our leave.¡± said Wu Chengyue to Wei Haichao with a smile.


    ¡°Eh¡­¡± Wei Haichao opened his mouth. However, the two in the air didn¡¯t give him a chance to talk before they disappeared from where they were.


    At the same moment, an enormous creature was slowly hovering high up in the air above All Beings Base, about a thousand meters away from the ground. Sitting on its head was a little body. The boy patted its head and talked to it from time to time.


    In a room, a group of girls were chatting. Lin Wenwen put both hands on the window frame to support her body as she stuck her head out of the window to look at the monster in the sky. ¡°If it keeps hovering above our base like that, who¡¯s ever gonna have the guts to come to our base?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but say to the others.


    Shen Yujen, who was sitting beside her, laughed, ¡°Do you want people to come or not?¡±


    Long Qingying, who was standing next to Lin Wenwen and leaning against the window frame, coldly looked outside and said, ¡°It can¡¯t always fly up there. It¡¯ll have to come down and rest at some point.¡±


    ¡°I wonder when Chief and Wu will come back. They should come back and bring this big thing away as soon as possible. It can guard our base well, true, but it¡¯s very scary!¡± Qiu Lili showed up suddenly and stuck her head out of the window.


    Everyone turned to her and asked with curiosity, ¡°Eh? Aren¡¯t you staying together with your black panther anymore? It¡¯s not usual to see you alone.¡±


    Qiu Lili pouted and said, ¡°He¡¯s busy! He has no time to even talk to me. I¡¯m like invisible to him now.¡±


    After what had happened in Huaxia Base, the zombie army was no longer a secret, so there were many works to do in the base. The Chief was not in the base at the moment, so Lin Feng, Xie Dong, and the others had to handle it, including building new rules and continuing the farming work, as well as the security work to support the personnel exchange between Base Number One and Base Number Two.


    As for enemies, that was no longer a problem. As long as their Chief returned, the situation would grow stable. At least from now on, the farm products from their base would perfectly ease the relationships between their base and the others.


    As Xie Dong, Lin Feng, and the others started to bring All Beings Base back into order under the pressure coming from the monster in the sky, two different types of mighty level-nine vibe were suddenly sensed from the air above the base.


    ¡°They¡¯re back!¡± Everyone in the base said excitedly.

 Chapter 1454 - Teng the Troublemaker

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Three years later¡­


    One day, Lin Hao showed up in Lu Tianyi¡¯s office and pointed at the boy on the couch as he shouted, ¡°Wu Qiteng, get over here!¡±


    The adorable three-year-old boy swiftly slipped off the couch and rushed at Lu Tianyi, who was behind his desk, while screaming, ¡°Ahhhhh! Uncle! Help!¡±


    While screaming, he threw himself onto Lu Tianyi¡¯s lap.


    Lu Tianyi raised his head and said blindly to Lin Hao, who was standing by the door, ¡°My office needs silence. Stay calm, President Lin.¡±


    The look on Lin Hao¡¯s handsome face was a little twisted as he pointed at the boy and yelled, ¡°This little b*stard put a woman in my bed, again! Naked! He¡¯d have succeeded if I didn¡¯t discover his plan timely! I¡¯d have to take the responsibility if the girl¡¯s reputation were ruined!¡±


    ¡°Hah!¡± Lu Tianyi couldn¡¯t help but laugh.


    At that time, the boy who was shrinking in Lu Tianyi¡¯s arms said to Lin Hao with a weak voice, ¡°Uncle Hao, you should find me an Aunty. Or, are you going to find me a¡­ um¡­ another uncle? Why does that sound weird? Maybe a male Aunty?¡±


    Teng confused himself. It would be fine if his Uncle Hao got him a male Aunty!


    ¡°Is that something you should worry about? Get over here, you little b*stard! Don¡¯t think that you can hide in Lu Tianyi¡¯s place!¡± Lin Hao walked over with anger.


    Lu Tianyi looked at Teng and laughed while patting his head, ¡°Teng, which girl did you put into his bed this time? Haven¡¯t you learned your lesson yet from the last few times?¡±


    Teng turned and put his arms around Lu Tianyi¡¯s wrist and turned his head back as he said to Lin Hao, ¡°I¡¯ve thought for a very long time this time. I think Jiang Anan and Uncle Hao are a really good match for each other.¡±


    ¡°No, we¡¯re not!¡±


    ¡°No, we¡¯re not!¡±


    Two people said in the same voice. Lin Hao, Lu Tianyi, and Teng all turned to the door.


    Jiang Anan was standing there. Her hair were no longer covering a half of her face, but were tied up behind her head. The scar on her right check seemed like a very faint pink tinge. It did affect her appearance more or less, but compared with the way she looked before, she was now much prettier.


    At the moment, she was standing by the door with a sullen face, staring at Teng with a pair of eagle eyes. The boy actually drugged her and threw her in Lin Hao¡¯s bed. She had nothing to do with Lin Hao at all!


    Lin Wenwen walked over from the other side with Long Qingying as she said to Teng with laughter, ¡°Teng, why don¡¯t you send me into your Uncle Yuan¡¯s bed? You¡¯re so concerned about Uncle Hao, why aren¡¯t you concerned about me?¡±


    Teng rolled his eyes and said, ¡°You¡¯ve been casting your eyes on Uncle Yuan thirstily every single day. Uncle Yuan even wants to run every time he sees you! Actually Aunty, if you can be a little more open-minded and just go for him, he might be yours already! It¡¯s your problem! You¡¯ve been hesitating for three years. You don¡¯t have the courage to just do it!¡±


    Following behind the three women, two little girls stuck their heads into the office from behind the door.


    Lin Wenwen moved her eyes to the ceiling as she coughed and said, ¡°Eh-hem! Lin Hao, carry on. We didn¡¯t see anything.


    Teng felt speechless.


    ¡°He came here. Uncle Lu is protecting him. Uncle Hao isn¡¯t going to do anything to him!¡± Lin Xiaolu, who was now a big girl, put her hands on the window frame and joined the conversation.


    ¡°Yeah!¡± Wu Yueling, who was next to her, nodded in agreement.


    ¡°Lu Tianyi, hand him over! Would he ever become so unruly if you haven¡¯t been spoiling him all the time!¡± Lin Hao stood before Lu Tianyi¡¯s office as he stared at Lu Tianyi and said.


    Lu Tianyi was holding the boy without moving even an inch. Lin Hao couldn¡¯t just drag the boy out of his arms. He believed that the boy wouldn¡¯t repeatedly put girls in his bed if Lu Tianyi hadn¡¯t spoiled him so much. In fact, it wasn¡¯t the first or the second time Teng did something like that. That was how his parents got together.


    The more Lin Hao thought about it, the more he felt that someone needed to teach the boy a real lesson.


    ¡°He is my nephew. What¡¯s the problem with me spoiling him? You¡¯re an adult. Why¡¯re you mad at a kid? Also, you shouldn¡¯t displease him, or he might put a mutated female gorilla into your bed next time.¡± Lu Tianyi looked at him with a naughty smile.


    The look on Lin Hao¡¯s face suddenly grew complicated.


    ¡°Hah¡­¡± Lin Xiaolu, Lin Xiaolu, and the other girls giggled, as if they were picturing something hilarious in their heads.


    At that time, Shen Yujen came over to deliver some files. She knocked on the door and looked at the people in the office curiously as she said, ¡°Eh? Why are you all here?¡±


    Seeing Teng, who was holding Lu Tianyi tightly, and Lin Hao, who was with a weird look on his face, she immediately figured something out and nodded, ¡°Teng, what did you do to your uncle this time?¡±


    ¡°No, I just did something good!¡± Teng said.


    Shen Yujen came in with a smile and said while putting the files on Lu Tianyi¡¯s table, ¡°If it were a good thing, your Uncle wouldn¡¯t be having such a face. Be careful! If you got him really mad, he might ask your Mom to punish you.¡±


    ¡°My Mom has no time for me now,¡± said Teng carelessly, ¡°She¡¯s busy expanding the base. Also, my father, who¡¯s trying to make me a little brother or sister, is keeping her busy too.¡±


    ¡°You are such a troublemaker!¡± Lin Hao adjusted his expression and yelled at the boy angrily.


    ¡°Alright, apologize to Anan! Next time, at least ask for the girl¡¯s permission first. What you did is wrong. If Anan is willing to be with your Uncle, he¡¯d be thrilled, but she¡¯s apparently not. That¡¯s why your Uncle is mad. Also, can your Mom really give you a little brother or sister?¡± Lu Tianyi first criticized Teng¡¯s behavior and then brought the topic to Teng.


    ¡°Sister Anan, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll bring you to my Uncle¡¯s bed again when you start to like him.¡± Teng made the apology as he was told to, but what he said after that made Jiang Anan and Lin Hao feel utterly speechless. Lu Tianyi didn¡¯t know what to say either.


    Teng then continued with, ¡°My Mom can make a little trouble or sister, but to make that happen, my Daddy will have to work harder. But recently, I feel that he¡¯s having some waist problems¡­¡±


    On the other side of the base, Wu Chengyue sneezed. He looked around and then rubbed his nose as he said to Xiao Yunlong, ¡°It¡¯s only been three years, and Zou is already feeling exhausted. I ran the base for seven years¡­¡±

 Chapter 1455 - : Are You Gonna Sneak Away Now?

    Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations


    Three years after what happened, Green Mountain Base finally moved to the middle of China from the barren Northwest. Not long after that, they let the world know about their zombie friends and became the second zombie base. They had also built a partnership with All Beings Base.


    They held a party to celebrate their mov. Many other bases sent people and presents to congratulate them. Only Mongols Base, which had been keeping a low profile, sent just presents.


    Huaxia Base sent Wei Haichao as a representative; Sea City Base sent Kong Qingming, who had already broken into level-seven; and All Beings Base sent Yuan Tianxing, together with Wu Chengyue and Lin Wenwen.


    Wu Chengyue was with All Beings Base people, but he also represented Sea City Base, because¡­


    ¡°Boss, I think Zou is gonna lose his temper if you don¡¯t say yes to that thing! You don¡¯t want to make him really mad. Don¡¯t think that no one can make you suffer only because you¡¯re at level-nine now.¡± After the party began, Kong Qingming first proposed a toast for Green Mountain Base and then sat down by Wu Chengyue¡¯s side while holding a glass of wine.


    ¡°What¡¯s the rush?¡± said Wu Chengyue calmly, ¡°The entire Sea City Base isn¡¯t as important as my third baby. I will never go back until I successfully make my third baby!¡±


    Kong Qingming looked at him and rolled his eyes, saying, ¡°Zou might steal your first two babies if you don¡¯t go back.¡±


    He was talking about Wu Yueling and Wu Qiteng. After all, Zou Shihui liked to do scientific research. If he were really mad, Wu Chengyue might not die, but he would definitely suffer.


    Wu Chengyue had left Sea City Base under his management, and he wanted to quit three months after that. All those works kept him too busy to do his research. As a scientist, he wasn¡¯t able to do the research that he liked, but had to do the management work that he was the worst at. That was a torment for him!


    Therefore, not long after the level-nine monster crisis and underground creature problem was solved, he sent people to find Wu Chengyue and ask him to come back to Sea City Base to manage it.


    However, Wu Chengyue was trying to make another kid with Lin Qiao. Unexpectedly, that still didn¡¯t happen after three years of hard work.


    Lin Wenwen, Lin Hao, Teng, and all the others were all waiting for the good news excitedly at first, but three years later, they had lost their hope!


    Lin Qiao had all the patience about that. She believed that the baby would come to her naturally when the time was right. She found it funny that the other people were more anxious about it than herself.


    Upon hearing Kong Qingming¡¯s words, Wu Chengyue said carelessly, ¡°It¡¯s okay. Zou¡¯s always alone, so he must be lonely. It¡¯s a good thing that the kids can occasionally keep him company. Also, it¡¯s not the first time he tried to steal the two kids from me!¡±


    Kong Qingming didn¡¯t know what to say. The two leaders¡¯ attitudes made him feel speechless. Somehow, he felt like the leading position in Sea City Base was suddenly as cheap as cabbages. Oh, actually, cabbages were super expensive now, especially the ones produced by All Beings Base. Those cabbages were sweet and delicious, even healthier than the cabbages from the old world.


    The food for the party was mostly provided by All Beings Base.


    Lan Lu treated the guests with a big batch of wine that was stored in his base. So at night, most of the guests returned to their rooms drunk. They didn¡¯t use their superpowers to remove the alcohol from their bodies, because they didn¡¯t want to waste it. Instead, they chose to let their bodies digest the wine slowly.


    Yuan Tianxing took a shower and washed the smell of alcohol off himself. With a towel wrapped around his waist, he walked out of the bathroom while wiping his hair with another towel.


    Bang! Suddenly, someone violently bumped his door open. A short-haired girl shambled into his room, holding a bottle of wine.


    Yuan Tianxing paused, pressing the towel on his hair and looking at the drunk girl, asking, ¡°Lin Wenwen, did you drink all of Lan Lu¡¯s wine? Why are you so drunk?¡±


    Lin Wenwen staggered from side to side while holding the wine as she stared at Yuan Tianxing silently with a frown. The latter looked at her with a weird look, waving a hand before her face, ¡°Oi, do you still know who I am?¡±


    All of a sudden, Lin Wenwen slapped away his hand and threw the bottle to the ground.


    Yuan Tianxing gave a start and glanced at the shattered bottle before raising his head. Meanwhile, Lin Wenwen ripped open her own clothes and stared at Yuan Tianxing fiercely as if he were a prey. After taking off her coat, she took off the vest and showed her bra.


    ¡°Oi, oi, stop it! What are you doing!¡± Seeing the woman stripping herself right in front of him, Yuan Tianxing was stunned for about three seconds before he could react.


    ¡°Ha, it¡¯s beginning!¡± At that moment, a very small voice was heard from the door.


    Yuan Tianxing turned and saw two little heads sticking out from behind the door. He immediately pointed at them and said, ¡°What are you two looking at? Come over and stop her!¡±


    How come they seemed like they were watching a show?


    ¡°Oh, only you can stop her. We¡¯re just here to take a look. Go ahead, do what you have to do. We¡¯re leaving, bye!¡± Qiu Lili and Jiang Anan quietly stepped back, also conveniently closing the door.


    ¡°Oi!¡± Yuan Tianxing looked at the closed door with confusion. When he turned back, he felt as if his eyes were going blind. He said about two words with the two girls by the door and during that short span of time, Lin Wenwen had stripped herself completely.


    How could she be so fast!


    Lin Wenwen still didn¡¯t say anything and only walked toward Yuan Tianxing with her eyes fixed on him.


    ¡°Stop it! Stop! Lin Wenwen, wake up!¡± Yuan Tianxing looked at her come at him like a predator, and he couldn¡¯t help but step back quickly.


    How come he felt as if he were going to lose his virginity?


    The drunk girl girl was going to rape him! What should he do? She was much stronger than him now!


    After three years of healing, he had grown much stronger than before, but his superpower had only come back to level-three. He was no match for Lin Wenwen, who was at level-seven!


    Lin Wenwen¡¯s second superpower had reached level-four, and her space power had provided her a new skill after it reached level-seven. She was now able to freeze a certain range of space, and within that frozen space, she was the only creature movable.


    Yuan Tianxing was frozen after he made a few steps, and then he was carried onto the bed.


    He was carried onto the bed!


    The second day, at dawn, Lin Wenwen woke up to feel a dull pain from her head. She pressed a hand on her head and sat up before freezing, because she saw her own naked chest.


    Her heart sank a little, and at that very moment, she felt a warm feeling from her thigh coming from another human body. Her legs had also felt the smooth skin of that person.


    She turned and saw that person, and then didn¡¯t know what to say.


    Ten seconds later, Yuan Tianxing couldn¡¯t help but open his eyes before propping himself up with a hand while looking at Lin Wenwen, who had put on a shirt and was holding the rest of her clothes, trying to stealthily open the door and leave.


    ¡°Are you going to sneak away now?¡±


    Lin Wenwen, who had just opened the door slightly, paused and froze in that thief-like posture.


    A few seconds later, she slowly turned around and looked at Yuan Tianxing embarrassedly, saying, ¡°Eh, I don¡¯t remember what happened last night. Can you please pretend like nothing happened?¡±


    She really didn¡¯t remember what happened last night, and it seemed like he was the one who took all the advantages.


    Yuan Tianxing got off the bed and walked to her nakedly.


    Seeing that thing dangling between his legs, Lin Wenwen couldn¡¯t help but close her eyes and turn away her face.


    Yuan Tianxing stood before her face and reached out a hand to push the door closed. Then, with one hand holding the door, he turned Lin Wenwen¡¯s body around and trapped her between himself and the door, lowering his head while looking at her with a smile.


    ¡°You¡¯ve done it already, so why don¡¯t you take responsibility? You know, there¡¯s no free lunch in this world.¡± After saying that, he raised her chin with his fingers and gently bit her lips.


    Lin Wenwen was first stunned, and then she suddenly popped her pretty big eyes. After that, those eyes suddenly turned misty.


    ¡°Alright, don¡¯t cry. I know you always loved me. If I didn¡¯t have feelings for you, do you think you could really succeed last night? I was surprised that you liked to do that when you¡¯re drunk¡­¡± Something seemed to have crossed Yuan Tianxing¡¯s mind when he was talking, and it made him wear a naughty look in his eyes.


    ¡°Wha-what? What did I do?¡± Lin Wenwen couldn¡¯t help but cry after hearing what he said. She even sounded nasal when she talked.


    Yuan Tianxing was right. His body wouldn¡¯t have reacted to her if he had no feelings for her, unless she drugged him. So, what did she do last night?


    ¡°You did something very interesting. Well, you can take your time to remember it bit by bit. So now, let¡¯s do what we haven¡¯t finished last night. Do you know how awful it feels to suddenly pause in the middle?¡± Yuan Tianxing gave her a mysterious smile and complained a little.


    After saying that, he lowered his head and pressed his lips heavily against hers, sending his tongue straight into her mouth, which still tasted like wine, violently tangling with her tongue.


    The crazy drunk girl almost made him lose his mind last night, but right before the last moment, she actually fell on his chest and feel asleep. Her forehead had even bumped against his. That area must have swollen by now!


    Lin Wenwen¡¯s pretty face still had tears on it. Under that passionate kiss, she couldn¡¯t help but raise her arms and put them around Yuan Tianxing¡¯s neck.

 Chapter 1456 (END) - The End of the End

    Translator: ;Henyee Translations ; ;Editor: ;Henyee Translations


    On the way back from Green Mountain Base, Wu Chengyue sat into the same car with Yuan Tianxing on purpose.


    ¡°I heard that you got raped. How was it? Are you happy?¡± Wu Chengyue looked at Yuan Tianxing and asked with a smile.


    Yuan Tianxing responded to him with the same kind of smile, ¡°Weren¡¯t you raped too? You tell me.¡±


    Wu Chengyue first didn¡¯t know what to say, but then he said, ¡°Judging by the smile on your face, I think you are happy.¡±


    Then, he turned to the driver and said, ¡°Stop the car. Let him out.¡±


    The driver felt speechless while Yuan Tianxing said smilingly, ¡°Your car is in the back. I think this one is mine.¡±


    Wu Chengyue didn¡¯t know what to say.


    ¡°Stop the car, let me get out!¡±


    Du Yuanxing, as the driver, said to the two of them helplessly, ¡°Alright, can you two please stop this and let me drive?¡±


    On hearing that, both Wu Chengyue and Yuan Tianxing realized that they were being a little childish.


    Still carrying a smile, Yuan Tianxing said, ¡°If you don¡¯t go back to Sea City Base to clean up the mess you left as soon as you can, I think Zou will not only steal Teng and Ling Ling from you, but he might also steal your wife from you!¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Wu Chengyue looked at him with confusion.


    Yuan Tianxing said, ¡°He wants to trade the land around Sea City Base for our soil-purifying formula. I think Lin Qiao said yes. Don¡¯t know you about it?¡±


    The smile on Wu Chengyue¡¯s face faded a little as he said, ¡°I really didn¡¯t know about that! Why do those two like land-trading so much?¡±


    After three years of stable development, the farm in All Beings Base had grown much bigger than before. The expansion was for meeting the needs of all existing bases. However, the total population of Green Mountain Base, Sea City Base, Heilong Base, Huaxia Base and Mongols Base was beyond three-million. After three years of development, the population of Base Number One in All Beings Base had grown too, and the number of zombies in Base Number Two had tripled.


    But still, the farm was short-handed. It was really not easy meeting the needs of all the other bases, so Lin Qiao decided to let Sea City Base people grow their own food. However, the soil-purifying formula was highly important. If it were handed to Sea City Base without a reliable person there to guard it, the situation might become chaotic again soon.


    ¡°So, I think Chief wants you to go back too. After all, it¡¯s so annoying that you¡¯re staying at her place everyday,¡± said Yuan Tianxing.


    ¡°But if I went back to Sea City Base, my chance to have the third kid will become even lower than now,¡± said Wu Chengyue.


    Yuan Tianxing really wanted to roll his eyes. ¡°That can¡¯t be forced. The baby will come to you if it¡¯s meant to be yours. If not, you¡¯ll never have the third baby, not even if you¡¯re exhausted to death in bed?¡±


    Wu Chengyue¡¯s face even grew dark. What did he mean by exhausted to death in bed? How come the more he looked at the guy, the more annoying he became? How dare he curse him right in front of him!


    Back in the base, Lin Feng saw Yuan Tianxing and said, ¡°You¡¯re finally an official family member!¡±


    ¡°Brother-in-law,¡± said Lin Hao.


    ¡°Hey, Brother-in-law,¡± Lin Qiao looked at him with a meaningful smile, ¡°Don¡¯t ever break my little sister¡¯s heart, or I¡¯ll make you regret.¡± She then clenched her fists and continued with, ¡°You¡¯re in a different place now, so you¡¯ll be treated differently as well.¡±


    Tianxing didn¡¯t know what to say. When he saw the files on his desk, which were twice as many as usual, he figured out what Lin Qiao¡¯s words meant.


    Unlike what Yuan Tianxing experienced, Wu Chengyue wasn¡¯t expecting to be kicked out by his wife once he got home.


    ¡°Get back to your Sea City Base. Get out of my way!¡± Lin Qiao cast a glare at him and then turned and left. He quit as a Chief and then came to her place to be a jobless man. Now, the more she saw him, the more annoyed she felt.


    Wu Chengyue didn¡¯t know what to say. Anyhow, he had no choice but to pack his things and return to Sea City Base. What else could he do? His queen had given him the order. How could he not follow it?


    On the other side, Kong Qingming returned to the base and showed up in the hospital.


    ¡°When can he wake up?¡± Kong Qingming looked at the man lying in the ICU as he asked Moli, who was beside him.


    ¡°The toxins inside him have mostly been removed. But as for when he¡¯ll wake up, it depends on his own will power.¡±


    At that moment, a few people came over from the other side of the hallways. They were four men surrounding another man. The man in the middle had a bearded face and was wearing loose-fitting clothes. His face showed frustration.


    ¡°Hey.¡± Kong Qingming nodded at the man.


    He was no one else but Li Yueshan. The one lying in the room was his brother, who was rescued by Kong Qingming.


    ¡°What about your decision? This is your last time seeing your little brother, right? You can¡¯t see him anymore if you don¡¯t say yes.¡± Kong Qingming looked at him and said.


    Li Yueshan walked to his side, looking into the room through the glass wall. After spending a while looking at his brother, who was in a deep sleep, he nodded and said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Kong Qingming patted on his shoulder and said, ¡°You should have said yes a long time ago. Why waste so much time? The mission is dangerous, but even if you can¡¯t come back alive, your brother¡¯s treatment will still continue. He¡¯ll wake up one day.¡±


    Li Yueshan shook his head and said, ¡°No. I didn¡¯t say yes because I wanted to see him a few more times, to see if he were getting better. He is getting better. Now, I can go without worry.¡±


    His mission wasn¡¯t hard. It was basically to go down to the underground space and gather herbs.


    The monster left because the place wasn¡¯t suitable for living anymore. Currently, the place was filled with a great amount of poisonous gas and all kinds of mutated plants. It was highly dangerous. Normally, only about fifteen percent of the people who carried that mission could come back alive.


    Therefore, after discussion, the leaders of Sea City Base decided to send prisoners to perform that kind of mission. No matter if they could return safely or not, the mission could be considered as their punishment and redemption.


    As for Mo Yan. Lin Qiao failed to let him kill Si Kongchen as she promised, so she agreed to fix the voice of his zombie girl. After she did that, she looked at Mo Yan and the girl in a very weird way.


    That look in her eyes made him feel very uncomfortable. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± he asked.


    Lin Qiao glanced at the pretty zombie girl and then smiled, ¡°Nothing.¡±


    To her surprise, the pretty girl with Mo Yan the whole time was actually a¡­


    It shocked her that there were transvestites even among zombies.


    What shocked her even more was the fact that Mo Yan had no idea that the girl was actually not a girl. She could really laugh about that for a whole year!


    Mo Yan always liked pretty girls. He kept the girl only because she was pretty. But¡­


    The fake girl kept the secret the whole time and followed Mo Yan from the beginning to the end. She must be so deep in love with him!


    Lin Qiao really wanted to keep the pretty fake girl¡¯s secret, but sadly, Mo Yan was smart. The look in Lin Qiao¡¯s eyes made him suspicious. So, he came to Lin Qiao and asked her what that look meant repeatedly, every single day. She refused to answer the question first, and he started to harass the girls around her, making people fight him¡­


    Lin Qiao felt so annoyed, so at last, she told him the truth.


    Looking at Mo Yan¡¯ stunned face, Lin Qiao tried very hard to not laugh out loud, ¡°You asked me to tell you! I told you that knowing the truth might not be a good thing for you!¡±


    After spending about ten seconds being shocked, Mo Yan suddenly turned and left. Two days later, Lin Qiao saw him again, and the way she looked at him became even weirder than the last time.


    ¡°I¡¯m going blind. You are actually a bottom!¡±


    Mo Yan stayed silent, wanting to die.


    When he learned that he was fooled the whole time, he was so angry. He went to the girl to question him, but while asking the questions, the girl¡­ well, actually, the man suddenly laid himself upon him. The man suddenly became as tall as him and even more stronger and powerful. He didn¡¯t even know how that happened. Why the hell did the man make himself look like a girl who was weaker and shorter and prettier than him, just to stay around him this whole time?


    ¡°It¡¯s because of love! I think he really loves you!¡± Lin Qiao answered the question in his head.


    Mo Yan still stayed silent. He felt like he was going to vomit blood until he died.


    Then, it was Duan Juan¡¯s story. Someday, she ran into Xiao Licheng and his team while performing a mission. Xiao Licheng and his men were poisoned by some kind of mutated plant, and not even Lin Qiao¡¯s lake water could detoxicate it completely.


    Their lives were saved, but they suffered a weird sequela.


    By the time Duan Juan and her people found them, the group of men were holding trees or each other, kissing, twisting their bodies, or even tearing clothes. Duan Juan and her people covered their eyes and turned their heads at first, because that scene was so unpleasant to the eyes.


    But after that, they started laughing and even took their phones to take videos of them.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that this average-looking man can be a little tempting like this.¡± Looking at the red-faced Xiao Licheng, who was breathing heavily with his eyes narrowed and lips slightly opened, Duan Juan felt as if something deep in her heart were switched on, and that led to a sudden impulse.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± Her assistant looked at her.


    Duan Juan hurriedly adjusted her expression and put on a serious look, ¡°Give then our antidote and see if it¡¯ll work. If it¡¯s not working, knock them out. I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll stay in this state for long. They¡¯ll recover over time.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± The assistant did what she said. Then, he turned and found her holding Xiao Licheng, walking toward the other side. ¡°Captain, where are you going?¡±


    Duan Juan turned and looked at Xiao Licheng¡¯s face as he said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m going to help him.¡±


    The assistant asked the man with confusion, ¡°Why can¡¯t she help him here, with all the others? Why is she taking him somewhere else?¡±


    The man was confused too. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    An hour later¡­


    ¡°They were gone for an hour. How exactly is she helping him?¡± said the assistant.


    The other man seemed to have guessed out something but didn¡¯t know if he should say that out loud.


    By the time Xiao Licheng came back, the look on Xiao Licheng¡¯s face had turned back normal. However, if one observed him carefully enough, they¡¯d find him keeping an indescribable distance from Duan Juan.


    Duan Juan didn¡¯t mind and only looked at him smilingly from time to time.


    Xiao Licheng was screaming in his head ¨C ;¡®Damn it! I was raped by a woman who is probably a hidden sadist! What can I say? Could I scream for help? No! That was too shameful!¡¯ ;


    Also, how come All Beings Base women were so into raping men? Was that something contagious?